A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,On earth is not his equal.D…
Favorite Martin Luther Quotes
1. “Hierstehe ich; Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen!”2. “If I professwith the loudest voice and clearest exposition every part of the truth of Godexcept precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at thatmoment…
The Fundamental Orders
On this day in 1633, the little Puritan and Pilgrimcongregation at Newton, in the fledgling Massachusetts Bay Colony—since renamedCambridge—held a day of fasting and prayer at the end of which they choseThomas Hooker as their pastor. Hooker had onl…
St. Crispin’s Day
Two legendary battles, both immortalized in English literature, took place on this day, the Feast of St. Crispin. The first, in 1415, was the greatBattle of Agincourt. England’sKing Henry V and his long bow archers defeated the overw…
All Heaven and Earth
”When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humor and ships at sea by night—there’s all heaven and earth in a book, a real book I mean.” C…
Paul Johnson Books Since 2003
1. The Vanished Landscape2. Washington 3. Creators4. Heroes5. Churchill6. Humorists7. Jesus8. New Journeys into Chaos9. Civil War in America10. Brief Lives11. Socrates
God’s Victory
Three days after French troops under the command of Jean Baptiste de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, and the Marquis de Lafayette helped George Washington’s ragged forcesdefeat the British Army, the men celebrated the formal surrender of LordCornwallis.&n…
Tool Box
“My books are mytools. They also serve as mycounsel, my consolation, and my comfort. They are my source of wisdom and the font of my education. They are my friends and mydelights. They are my surety, whenall else is awry, that I …
Texas: A Whole Other Country
On this day in 1836, former Tennessee congressman, senator, and governor, Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first constitutionally elected president of the Republic of Texas.
Let There Be Light
On this day in 1878, ThomasA. Edison invented a practical incandescent lamp in his laboratory at MenloPark, New Jersey. “The longerit burned,” he said, “the more fascinated we were…there was no sleepfor any of us for forty hours.”
Johnson’s Latest
In 2003, when Paul Johnson published his massive and magisterial Art: A New History, he announced it would be his last book. Since then, he has published by my count, eleven new books. Thanks be to God. The new books have mostly been …
The Louisiana Treaty
The United States Senate ratified the Louisiana PurchaseTreaty by a vote of 24-7 on this day in 1803. The vastregion encompassed more than 800,000 square miles of territory and comprisedpresent-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota west of the …
From Depths of Woe
William Cowper (1731-1800), the pastoral English poet, collaborated with the curate John Newton in publishing the Olney Hymns—a classic collection of Evangelical and Reformed hymns. Cowper who generally wrote about simple pleasures of countryli…