10 People with reduplicated names

1. Bev Bevan, English drummer with The Move, ELO
2. Magnus Magnusson, Icelandic journalist and TV presenter
3. Kris Kristofferson, American country singer and composer
4. Boutros Boutros Ghali, Egyptian former UN head
5. M(arj)o(rie) Mowlam, English politician
6. Jo(seph) Johnson, English politician and brother of the PM
7. William Williams, Welsh hymn writer and preacher
8. Jerome K Jerome, English novelist
9. Ford Maddox Ford, English novelist
10. Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer

Westminster Conference 2017 Day Two

We have had another good day here in Oxford Street. The first two sessions were taken up with the connected subjects of Jacob Arminius and the Synod of Dort. Phil Arthur gaveus the background to Arminius himself and his writings and then Benedict Bird described the Synod of Dort which began nine years after Arminius's death in November 1618 (it went on until the folliwng year). It was good to have the details set out. We had good discussions especially as there were Arminians present. We also touched on the halfway house of hypothetical atonement or Amyraldianism.
Traditonally, the closing paper is a biography with no discussion. This is the third message I've heard on William Williams Pantycelyn this year and perhaps th ebest - may be because it was given by a minister (Mark Thomas from Wrexham).

LORD, I long to be in thy Presence, 
Tis my Joy and whole Delight;
Sweeter than delicious Honey,
Fairer than the Morning Light;

All the Assaults of Sin and Satan,
I could stedfastly withstand,
And would stem all Woes and Perils,
Having Thee at my right Hand.

I can suffer every Affliction,
And encounter every Foe,
And the Depths of flowing Jordan
Venture also fearless thro',

Only let thy gracious Presence
Then my feeble Soul assist, 
Tis thy Strength eternal only,
That can conquer and resist.

Death and Hell, and all Destruction,
Shake and tremble at thy Might;
And thy Presence hush to Silence
All the roaring Wolves of Night.

Lord Jehovah! Lord Almighty!
Is thy gracious holy Name,
O let me, unworthy Sinner,
Feel the Power of the same.

Good days. Next year we meet again, God willing December 4 and 5

Aber 2017 Seminar on Williams Pantycelyn

The only non plenary session I have attended in this last week in Aber is an excellent paper on Wales's greatest hymn writer William Williams, given by local man Gwyn Davies. Gwyn is an indidividual and this was a highly interactive lecture that was designed chiefly to draw attention to Pantycelyn and his wonderful hymns and other writings, that have been translated into English (ie The experience meeting and parts of Theomemphus). The lecture included a little moan about the modest three piece combo employed in the main meetings here. I don't think any Pantycelyn hymns have been sung in the main sessions this week.
The seminar is accessible onYouTube here.

Here is a less familiar translation of one of his Welsh hymns (best known in Bobi Jones' version In Eden sad indeed that day). I've had a go myself too.


Can I forget bright Eden’s grace,
My beauteous crown and princely place,
All lost, all lost to me?
Long as I live I’ll praise and sing
My wondrous all-restoring King,
Victor of Calvary.

Lo! Faith, behold the place, the tree
Wheron the Prince of Heaven, for me,
All innocent, was nailed;
One here has crushed the dragon’s might;
Two fell, but One has won the fight;
Christ Jesus has prevailed.

In Eden, this I'll long review - 
The blessings lost, more than the dew,
How my good crown fell too.
But victory on Calvary
Back again to him has won me - 
I'll sing while life I see.

On Calvary, as heat strength drains,
Our great High Priest he feels death's pains,
And blood flows from his veins;
Righteousness mine, there is no fee;
The books of heaven are cleared we see,
With no demand on me.

(Yn Eden, cofiaf hynny byth,
Bendithion gollais rîf y gwlith,
Syrthiodd fy nghoron wiw;
Ond buddugoliaeth Calfari
Enillodd hon yn ôl imi,
Mi ganaf tra fwyf byw.

Ar Galfarî, yng gwres y dydd,
Y caed y gwystl mawr yn rhydd,
Trwy golli gwaed yn lli';
Does dim heb dalu, rhoddwyd iawn
Nes clirio llyfrau'r nef yn llawn
Heb ofyn dim i mi.)

Congregational Studies Conference 2017

I was with my Congregational friends last Saturday and had a very nice time. I used to see the conference advertised and think about cming along but never made it until last year when Michael Haykin was speaking. Anyway this year Digby James its convenor asked me to speak on libraries (a reciprocation for my asking him to speak for the Evangelical Library perhaps). I spoke on Libraries and their value and enjoyed preparing and speaking.

The other speakers were Paul Lusk on pluralism today a very stimulating non-Christian Institute approach to this whole difficult matter on which Paul has recently published. It being the 300th anniversary of the birth of William Williams Pantycelyn we had a fine  message from young Nathan Munday who is currently doing a Welsh PhD on the sweet singer of Wales. Great stuff.

Digby also gave us a nice presentaiton on the fifty year history of the EFCC.

The papers will be printed in due time. I just sent mine off now.

Next one March 17 in Wesley's Chapel. This one was in the Dr Williams Library.

EFCC Website here.

Some Church History Anniversaries 2017

   

367 Death of Hilary of Bishop of Poitiers,  sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians"
1467 Birth of John Colet, English churchman and educational pioneer. Dean of St Paul's.

1517 The day before the Feast of All Saints, the 33-year-old Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg

1717 Births of three hymn writers

Baptists Benjamin Beddome (Jan 23) a pastor in the Cotswolds and Anne Steele the daughter of a pastor in Hampshire.

And Welsh Calvinistic Methodist William Williams Pantycelyn (Feb 11)

Also, the death of Madame Guyon, a French mystic and one of the key advocates of Quietism, although she never called herself a Quietist. Quietism was considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church, and she was imprisoned 1695-1703 after publishing a book on the topic, A Short and Easy Method of Prayer.

1767 Death of Michael Bruce, short lived Scottish poet and hymn writer.

(also failed Baptist minister Thomas Flower)

1867 Birth of Amy Carmichael, Protestant Christian missionary in India, who opened an orphanage and founded a mission in Dohnavur. She served in India for 55 years without furlough and wrote many books about the missionary work there.
What have I missed?

Westminster Conference 2014 Day 1

It was a good day today in Oxford Street at the Westminster Conference. Today had a very Welsh flavour with three Welsh speakers (Stephen Clark, Adrian Brake and Andrew Davies) and three Welshish subjects. Welshmen seemed thicker on the ground than usual too.

The first paper was called holy worldliness (almost the same name as this blog). After a laudatory introduction concerning Whitefield we moved to the way he and Harris were less than perfect in their approach to marriage. Certainly the Harris, Whitefield, Elizabeth James affair is bizarre and Harris's obsession with Mrs Griffith wrong but I felt it was harsh to criticise Whitefield's unsuccessful letter of proposal to Elizabeth Delamotte. Failures by two men in one area does not justify the accusation of dualism. Anyway we had a half decent discussion following the paper.

We then had an excellent introduction to Thomas Charles who died in 1814. His Bible Dictionary had an incredible impact. It makes you wish you spoke Welsh. It begins

"The Holy Scriptures are a treasure house of all profitable and essential knowledge ….. Since they have all been given by the inspiration of God, they must partake of his perfection, and befit it. Because of the perfection of his knowledge, he cannot err; and because of the integrity of his nature, he will not deceive us in any matter; therefore, the knowledge given to us in the Scriptures is lofty, certain and complete. There is nothing which pertains to our condition and our blessedness in another world; nor anything which pertains to our circumstances and our duties in this world, that God, in his holy word, has not given us full instruction, how to behave in all things, in all situations, and towards everyone. The great plan of salvation, through a Mediator, shines clearly and fully in it, before a world of sinners."

You can get one in leather on ebay for around £60-70. There appear to some volumes available online.

The final paper was on Calvinistic Methodism and so the focus was on Wales again but it went well beyond that. The discussion after limped along a little.

A few words on forewords 2

An emphasis on the necessity of a personal knowledge and experience of grace
This is what lay behind much of the Doctor's interest in biography. In 1962, in his foreword to Howell Harris and the Dawn of Revival he asserts that “nothing is more profitable, after the reading of the Bible itself and books that help us to understand it, than the reading of the biography or autobiography of a great Christian man”.
You can see what he is seeking from his statement in his foreword to Pastor Hsi's biography (1949)

The ultimate way of judging the true value of a book is to discover its effect upon our personality as a whole. Many books entertain and divert, others provide intellectual stimulation or appeal to our artistic sense, but the truly great book affects us more vitally, and we feel that we shall never quite be the same again as the result of reading it. Such is the effect produced by this Life of Pastor Hsi. To read it is to be searched and humbled - indeed at times to be utterly humiliated; but at the same time it is stimulating, and exhilarating and a real tonic to one`s faith. In all this of course it approximates to the Bible itself.

It was the thing that drew him to Whitefield too. In a foreword to the Sermons (1958) he says

Whitefield was not only the greatest preacher and orator of the eighteenth century, he was also one of its most saintly characters, if not the saintliest of all. Certainly there was no more humble or lovable man amongst them. ... To read the wonderful story of his life is to be reminded again of what is possible to a truly consecrated Christian, and how even in the darkest and most sinful ages God in his sovereign power is able to revive his work and shower blessings upon his People.
There is also the argument we have already mentioned “what can be more profitable, next to the Bible itself, than to read something of the life of such a man and to read his own words!”

No doubt his interest in church history was also fuelled partly by this same interest. In 1973 he wrote an introduction for William Williams' little book on the Experience Meeting. There he explains how these societies were formed

to provide a fellowship in which the new spiritual life and experience of the people could be safe-guarded and developed. The great emphasis was primarily on experience and the experimental knowledge of God and his love and His ways. Each member gave an account of God's dealings with him or her and reported on any remarkable experience and also their sins and lapses and so doing compared notes with one another in these respects. The societies were not ‘bible study’ groups or meetings for the discussion of theology. Of course great stress was laid on reading the Bible as well as prayer, but the more intellectual aspects of the Faith were dealt with in the preaching services and not in the societies. Here, the emphasis was on daily life and living, the fight against the world, the flesh and the devil and the problems that arise inevitably in the Christian's pilgrimage through this world of sin.

Williams' book was written to help people to learn how to lead such small groups. Lloyd-Jones comments that “his genius, his spiritual understanding and what would now be described as psychological insight stand out everywhere and are truly astonishing”. This leads to some remarks typical of Lloyd-Jones' emphases.

The experimental or experiential aspect of the Christian life has been seriously neglected during the present century. Certain factors and tendencies have led to this unfortunate condition. Chief among these has been a superficial evangelism which has neglected real conviction of sin and repentance and encouraged an easy believism. Secondly, there has been a theory of sanctification, more psychological than spiritual and scriptural, which has discouraged self-examination and taught that we have only to 'leave it to the Lord'. Thirdly. and more recently. has been an unbalanced emphasis on intellectual understanding of Truth, the social application of Truth and the manifestation of particular spiritual gifts. All this has greatly impoverished the spiritual life of both the individual Christian and the churches and led to coldness, barrenness, and loss of power. The greatest need of the hour is a return to the emphases of the Evangelical Awakening. It is in the belief that this classic of the spiritual life and warfare can greatly stimulate and hasten that return that I encouraged my Wife to translate it, and am now happy to commend it and to advise all Christians to read it.

It was no doubt the Doctor's stress on the experiential side of Christianity that got him so excited about that rather strange book More than notion by the anonymous Mrs Alexander for which he wrote a foreword in 1965. His attitude is the same as he had to the Pastor Hsi biography. He writes

There are some books of which it can be said that to read them is an experience, and one is never the same again. The extracts out of the lives of these various people who came in varied ways to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ are, at one and the same time, convicting and encouraging. Some were poor and ignorant, others well placed socially, and learned and cultured; but all came to the same glorious experience.

What he felt in particular was that “in reading about them one is shown the vital difference between a head knowledge of the Christian faith and a true heart experience.”
He goes on to say that it “should be made compulsory reading for all theologians especially, but ... will prove valuable also to those who long for a vital Christian experience.” He says that many who had read it as the result of his recommendation “have testified to the blessing they have received. In one church known to me the reading of the book by one man led to a prayer-meeting such as they had not experienced before.” He concludes “In these superficial and confused days I thank God for a book such as this and pray that He may bless it to countless souls.”
It has to be said that not everyone shared his enthusiasm but at least we ought to appreciate what it is that he was enthusiastic about.
It is the same desire for an experience of grace that had made him enthuse over the book about Howell Harris a few years before

But the object of Richard Bennett, the original author, was to allow us to see the working of God's Spirit in the soul of Howell Harris in the detailed manner recorded in Harris's own Diaries, in these first formative and thrilling years. Bennett therefore rightly felt that his own remarks should be reduced to a minimum, and that all that was required of him was to supply the connecting links in the story so as to enable the reader to understand the various allusions to actual events.

For this Lloyd-Jones, for one, was profoundly grateful.

DMLJ 14 Williams Experience Meeting

The Experience Meeting by William Williams (Translated by Bethan Lloyd-Jones in 1973)

INTRODUCTION

The Methodist or Evangelical Awakening of the 18th century began in Wales some two years before that in England, and was quite independent of it for a number of years. That they were part of the same movement of the Spirit of God is shown clearly by the many features that were common to both.

There was the same inspired, fervent, warm preaching, with great emphasis on repentance, justification, regeneration and assurance of salvation, the same itinerant ministry outside the bounds of the particular parishes of the preachers, and the open-air or field-preaching which attracted the masses who never attended the churches.

However, in many ways the most striking similarity was the way in which, independently of each other, the leaders were led to gather together the converts into little groups or societies for further teaching and nurturing in the Faith. These men of God had a great concern for the souls of the people and realising that the parish churches were so spiritually dead that they could provide neither the fellowship nor the teaching that was necessary for these raw converts, they developed the idea of 'religious societies' where such people could meet together regularly every week.

The object of the societies was primarily to provide a fellowship in which the new spiritual life and experience of the people could be safe-guarded and developed. The great emphasis was primarily on experience and the experimental knowledge of God and his love and His ways. Each member gave an account of God's dealings with him or her and reported on any remarkable experience and also their sins and lapses and so doing compared notes with one another in these respects. The societies were not ‘bible study’ groups or meetings for the discussion of theology. Of course great stress was laid on reading the Bible as well as prayer, but the more intellectual aspects of the Faith were dealt with in the preaching services and not in the societies. Here, the emphasis was on daily life and living, the fight against the world, the flesh and the devil and the problems that arise inevitably in the Christian's pilgrimage through this world of sin. At first the preachers themselves were able to conduct these societies but as the numbers soon greatly multiplied it became necessary to appoint lay leaders to conduct the various local societies. The preachers now became superintendents of a number of local societies which they visited periodically for the purpose of examination and giving advice.

Of these preachers and leaders the Rev. William Williams, the great hymn-writer and poet, though second to Howell Harris in organising ability, soon became the outstanding and recognised leader and authority in this respect. The task of conducting these 'experience-meetings' obviously called for great wisdom, spiritual insight, tact, and discretion. They could easily degenerate into exhibitionism on the part of extroverts and lead to scandal, as very private matters were related involving others. It was in order to obviate such troubles and disasters and to instruct the leaders in this most important work, that the Rev. William Williams wrote this little book now translated into English for the first time.

His genius, his spiritual understanding and what would now be described as psychological insight stand out everywhere and are truly astonishing.

The experimental or experiential aspect of the Christian life has been seriously neglected during the present century. Certain factors and tendencies have led to this unfortunate condition. Chief among these has been a superficial evangelism which has neglected real conviction of sin and repentance and encouraged an easy believism. Secondly, there has been a theory of sanctification, more psychological than spiritual and scriptural, which has discouraged self-examination and taught that we have only to ‘leave it to the Lord'. Thirdly. and more recently. has been an unbalanced emphasis on intellectual understanding of Truth, the social application of Truth and the manifestation of particular spiritual gifts. All this has greatly impoverished the spiritual life of both the individual Christian and the churches and led to coldness, barrenness, and loss of power. The greatest need of the hour is a return to the emphases of the Evangelical Awakening. It is in the belief that this classic of the spiritual life and warfare can greatly stimulate and hasten that return that I encouraged my Wife to translate it, and am now happy to commend it and to advise all Christians to read it. I would particularly urge ministers and pastors to read it, not only because it will prove to be an invaluable help in what is now called counselling of individuals, but also because I would press upon them the importance of introducing such meetings into the life of their churches. Much untold blessing would follow.

D. M. Lloyd-Jones.

Hymns Pantycelyn 09

Headed 'The Best Treasure' this is 28 in Hosanna to the Son of David

Gloomy darkness now approaches,
As a horrid deluge, o'er
The creation which shall perish
In oblivion evermore.
The elements shall to their former
Rude and messy chaos turn,
And the starry hosts of Heaven
In the conflagration burn.

Other worlds I must inhabit,
There where time imperial reigns,
And in streams of endless pleasures
Overflow the eternal plains ;
Ocean without bounds or limits,
A beginning or an end,
Millions of revolving ages
Can't it's vastness comprehend.

In those mansions ends my journey,
Where my God sits on the Throne,
And my dearest Mediator
For his brethren does atone.
O what pleasures! O what comforts
Shall detain my ling'ring Flight
From a world of woe and trouble
To the realms of purest light!

All the creatures in connection
Loudly summon, "Come away,
Thou thy precious time hast loiter'd
Careless on the narrow way."
Every tongue now bids me hasten
On the wing whilst I have breath,
Lest the shades of night eternal
Draw the curtain o'er in death.

Have the glorious luminaries,
From their rising to their set,
In the vast extensive heavens
With such object ever met?
Are their treasures in the mountains,
Or the bottom of the sea,
In the thousandth part as precious
As my dear Redeemer be?

Hymns Pantycelyn 07

This is number 24 (in Gloria in Exclesis)

Come, Jesus, haste, make no delay,

Conduct me in the narrow way,
That leads unto the Promis'd Land;
Be my Conductor and my Guide,
I'm weak, and prone to turn aside
From thy most holy pure command.

Ten thousand objects here are found
To tempt and tease me all around,
To steal my thoughts combin'd in one
Lord, show thyself; a glimpse of Thee
Excels all objects fair to me,
Thyself most beautiful alone.

How sweet are all things that are Thine,
Thy comforts are delicious wine;
Thou art the only God and Friend:
Thy absence is a horrid night,
Thy presence is a pure delight,
A blessed feast without an end.

Thy beauties in sweet order shine
With glorious lustre, all divine ;
Sweeter thy love than can be known;
My life, O Saviour, let me spend,
From the beginning to the end,
Gazing upon Thyself alone.

Hymns Pantycelyn 06

This is the third part of a series of hymns and is numbered 19 in Hosanna to the Son of David.

What is the world, and what is life,
And what are honours vain,
When Thou art absent from my soul,
But only grief and pain ?

I ask not those seraphic flames
That ravish thrones above,
Nor what the perfect spirits taste
Of that immortal love.

But bliss that Thou art wont to give,
And promis'd in thy Word ;
Communion with Thyself alone
Is all I want, my LORD.

O! let me see those beams of light,
Feel that celestial spark,
That veils the beauties of the world
In an eternal dark.

One drop of that o'erflowing stream,
That angels taste above,
One smile from my Redeemer's face
Would kindle all to love.

And make the passage of my life,
Tho' rough, but smooth and bright,
Direct my slow unconstant steps
Unto the realms of light.

Hymns Pantycelyn 05

This fourteenth hymn (like the thirteenth) is on the cross.

Ye Sons of Men, lift up your Heads,

The greatest Wonder see,

Jesus the Saviour and the God
Nail'd to the cursed tree.

He brought in life, immortal, pure,
By his redeeming grace,
Pardon and holiness and bliss,
For the believing race.

Grim death here lost its poisonous dart,
By spilling precious blood ;
Hell swallowed up in victory,
Now man enjoys his God.

O Mystery ! That life should spring
From death that mortal foe;
And cruel death to Jesus should
Deliver us from woe.

My God, my God! How couldst thou die
For poor and worthless me ?
I am astonish'd, and must say
That all thy grace is free.

O shall Worms presume to understand
The secrets of his love?
Reason is mute, and all the choir
Of Cherubim above.

Hymns Pantycelyn 04

This twelfth hymn deals with contentment.

Why should ambition proud and vain

Our deathless souls invade?
And discontentment e'er prevail
To starve our tender blade?

If wealth's our aim, the more we seek
The greater is our pain;
Ambition blind disturbs our rest,
Embitters all our gain.

Thus wearied of the carnal mind,
I earnestly do groan,
And nothing wish beside Thyself,
Thou art enough alone.

Had I the world and all its wealth,
Its pleasures and its gain,
Without Thyself the greatest bliss,
All other were but vain.

My heavy-laden soul would wish
Its rest in Thee to find;
'Tis only Thou that can compose
My ever roving mind.

Hymns Pantycelyn 03

This is number 6 and is headed The atonement. I have altered the word 'immerg'd' to 'immers'd' in line 1.

My soul thou art immers'd in Sin,
So deep that none can trace;
Look to the ransom God decreed
To clear the guilty race.

The Atonement made once on the Tree,
Can balance many more
Than all the Sins of Adam's race,
If number'd o'er and o'er.

He paid the mighty sum and died
For Sinners yet unborn;
From men, the works of his own hands,
He suffer'd shame and scorn.

Had I the guilt of all the world,
He's able to forgive:
Why should I fear? The Debt is paid
If only I believe.

Hymns Pantycelyn 02

This is the third hymn in HTTSOD headed Love unspeakable. (Above, the house where Pantycelyn lived. I once visited there with a friend and was kindly shown a lock of Pantycelyn's red hair by the couple living there).

The enormous load of human guilt
Was on my Saviour laid;
With woes, as with a garment, he
For sinners was array'd.

And in the horrid pangs of death
He wept. He pray'd for me,
Lov'd and embrac'd my guilty soul
When nailed to the tree.

О love amazing ! love beyond
The reach of human tongue;
Love which shall be the subject of
An everlasting song.

Eternity, though infinite,
Is short enough to trace
The virtues of his healing wounds,
The wonders of his grace.

Ye Men rejoice in Jesu's blood,
Ye angels, join your lays,
In one harmonious endless choir
Sing his eternal praise.

Hymns Pantycelyn 01

"Hosannah to the Son of David; or Hymns of Praise to God for our glorious redemption by Christ. Some few translated from the Welsh Hymn Book, but mostly composed on new subjects" is the first collection of hymns in English by William Williams Pantycelyn. It was first published in 1759. This is the second of the 51 hymns there.

My Saviour is my only life.
My treasure is his cross;
And everything besides himself
Is emptiness and loss.

Here treasure lies ; whoever hath,
He thirsts, he wants no more;
And yet professes still to be
Both indigent and poor.

He stays himself upon the Rock
Of his Redeemer's breast,
Where envious Satan, death, or hell
Can ne'er disturb his rest.

Come, sinners, then, in numerous throngs.
The blind, the halt, the poor,
To Jesus, wretched as ye are,
And ye shall fear no more.

Nor qualify nor first compose
Yourselves into a frame,
Which would you do a thousand times
You would be just the same.

Come, then, a sinner as thou art,
A miserable one,
And thou shalt find th' atoning blood
Thy comfort here alone.

Christmas Books 2007

Among other gifts, I received a few books this Christmas - all secular and all spot on for me. I suppose people think I've enough Christian books. My sons gave me QI: The book of general ignorance by Lloyd and Mitchinson (more here) and Grumpy old Christmas by Stuart Prebble, which I've started - in the midst of the humour there are some serious points made.

My wife got me Philip Ardagh's Book of absolutely useless lists (more here) and a small AA pocket guide book to Tenerife (as we're off there next month), which it turns out is written by our neighbour Andrew Sanger (see here and here).

From my parents-in-law there was a nice hardcover I Never Knew That About Wales by Christopher Winn and a Sudoku puzzle book.

While in Aber I also treated myself to Cleopatra's face fatal beauty by Michelle Lovric and two Welsh books in Oxfam. One was Llais y doctor Welsh language pieces by Lloyd-Jones, which I'll probably never be able to read and the other was the second volume of the works of Pantycelyn, which at least contains all his English hymns as well as his Welsh ones. (More here and here).

Gray's Notes 06