The similar phrase 'Worldly Christianity' is one used by Bonhoeffer. It's J Gresham Machen that I want to line up most closely with. See his Christianity and culture here. Having done commentaries on Proverbs (Heavenly Wisdom) and Song of Songs (Heavenly Love), a matching title for Ecclesiastes would be Heavenly Worldliness. For my stance on worldliness, see 3 posts here.

Lord's Day February 8 2024


We had a full day last Lord's Day with a meal together after the morning meeting at which I preached on the parable of the minas from Luke 19. In the evening Eddie preached, once again from Luke 15. As usual the morning congregation was much larger than the small evening one. Our Iranian friends were out in force in the morning, despite being distracted by a desire to know what is happening at home. Two younger men who have begun to attend were there, whch was encouraging. 

Thames Path - Next Bits





I was on my own on Saturday and so I thought I woud do the next two sections of the Thames Path. I got myself down to Sloane Square by opublic transport and grabbed a coffee, I then walked to Chelsea Beidge and headed back almost to the Alert Bridge then made my official start. First we passed the Chelsea Physic Garcen and the Royal Hospital. As ever, one is amazed by how much open space London contains. I noted the western oumping station and, on the other side, the pagoda in Battersea Park and the remaining facade of the Bettersea Power Station. Just beyond Grosvenor Railway Bridge I started a seond, less full section, that included Dolphi Square adn St George's Square adn finished with the statue of William Huskinson in a little park area. I walked a little way further until I fond a bus to Victoria and then home. The thing is an education.

Midweek Meeting February 4 2026


Nice and cosy in the kitchen once again, praying and looking at Romans 13:1-7 about honouring the powers that be and paying your taxes.

Day Off Week 6 2026



There was the usual reading today (Hague on Wilberforce) but I also resumed walking the London Thams Path, something I started a little while ago that I seem to have left no record of. I have  abook by David Fathers that divides the walk up into 20 odd north shore and south shore pieces. I did the first part of the north shore with my wife last year and this Tuesday I did the next two parts. For the first part (Fulham) we went down to Putney Bridge Underground and walked west as far as Fulham Palace and then came back east all the way to Wandsworh Bridge, where we had a cuppa. (Sasdly it was very windy and so parts of the Thames Path were closed then). This time I headed to Imperial Wharf Overground where we ended up last time. First, I headed back west as far as the large Sainsbury's near Wandsworth Bridge and then headed east again as far as the end of Cheyne Walk where I caught a bus to Sloane Square and had a coffee in Cote before headingto Five Guys in Victoria and home on a 13. Lots of famous people are connected with Cheyne Walk as you may have noticed in a previous post. I also saw Crosvy Hall, the statue of Thomas Moore, what was Lots Road Power Station and Chelsea Harbour. I'd been to Cheyne Walk before, to Carlyle's House, but before there I hadn't known so it was good to see how the further west fits in to the whole. On the opposite side I saw at one point the impressive St Mary's church where Blake was married. It was a dull wet day but not too cold.



10 Notable People Who Lived in Cheyne Walk, London



4 George Eliot the novelist spent the last three weeks of her life here
10 David Lloyd George the Welsh prime minister
12 Ralph Vaughan Williams the composer 1905-1928 who wrote symphonies there
13 Bertrand Russell the mathematician and philosopher in 1902
16 Dante Gabriel Rossetti the artist 1860-1882. There is a staute nearby.
21 James Mcneill Whistler the artist 1890–92. (He also lived in 72 (until his death there in 1903), 96 (1866–1878) and 101 (1863))
27 Bram Stoker the writer
93 Elizabeth Gaskell the novelist was born here
104 Hilaire Beloc the writer
119 J M W Turner the artist died here in 1851

(Also Thomas Caryle, I K Brunel, Sol Campbell, various members of The Rolling Stones, etc)

Nine Books Read Recently




No Hopeless Future: Expositions on the Book of Ruth?Dale Ralph Davis
It is always good news when a new Dale Ralph Davis volume appears even if it is as brief as these five chapters. This one is a little different to the usual in that these are sermons that have been written down with no footnotes and only minor changes from the spoken versions. The ususal elements - striking illustrations, lightly worn schoarship and rigorous expsiton are there as in the other works. Thank you Christian Focus and Major Burnam (the original transcriber).
Thirty Second Theology: Questions and Answers to Build Your Fait/Sinclair Ferguson
This is a catechism for teeanagers with a modern twist. It covers the beatitudes, the commandments, the Lord's Prayer, etc. Baptists will bristle at some phrases.
The Great Post Office Scandal - the extraordinary story behind the recent ITV drama: The fight to expose a multimillion pound IT disaster which put innocent people in jail/Nick Wallis
This is a very full and thorough account of the terrible way a large number of Post Office Subpostmasters were treated up to around 2022. The problems were caused, it would seem, by errors in the Horizon computer system, errors that the makers Fujitsu and the Post Office who used it have been extremely slow to own up to. It is a lesson in how very wrong things can go when people are less concerned with honesty and kindness than they are with profit and reputation. The book is well written but inevitably a little tedious and drawn out at times. Glad to have got the full story (so far).
Entitled: the rise and fall of the House of York Andrew Lownie
I have also recently read a book called Entitled about Andrew and Fergie. It is rather a depressing book in many ways as it describes, I think fairly accurately, the lives of two once married individuals and the excesses that they have given themselves to down the years. I don't suppose they are very different to the average Jack and Jill but because they have been exposed to so many temptations and have so often given in, we end up with a pretty discouraging state of affairs, to the extent, in Andrew's case, that he appears to be guilty of punishable crimes. Not at any point in the book do they seem to have come under the sound of the gospel and they do not seem to realise the need to repent and find forgiveness in Christ, which is their only hope. We do not know how it will all turn out before they die but it would not be a surprise if more came out. Andrew Lownie has thoroughly researched the story. He presents quite a different version of how the infamous interview with Andrew came together and appears to be quite convinced that Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself. He is also quite convinced that Andrew is guilty of sex crimes.
The Noble Liar: How and why the BBC distorts the news to promote a liberal agenda Robin Aitken
I was alerted to this book back in 2019 but only got round to reading it more recenty. Aitken is Roman Catholic and very conservative and one would not want to accept everything he says but he makes some good and helpful points with regard to the bias clearly detectable within the BBC. What he has to say about Tommy Robinson is most interesting. Other topics covered include feminism, religion and Islam. Well worth a read.
(These last three I read on kindle)
Christians and slavery Ian F Shaw
This is a book that needed to be written in light of there being so much discussion about this subject at the moment. Dr Shaw has writen very helpfully giving an accurate history of the relevant material and outlining the stance that various Christians took on the subject, people like Dabney and Machen coming out badly and Warfield and the Particualr Baptists much better. The second part of the book deals with some of the questions the history raises such as reparations and so on. It is a very helpful and interesting book.
100 Children's Books: that inspire our world/Colin Salter
Lovely book with two pages per book, one with writing and one with cover art. The books are for all ages and set out chronologically. Of the hundred books, I had read around twenty of them. Also some of the fifty listed as the second tier (eg Tom Brown's Schooldays). Some few books I had never heard of. One or two I thought I might like to try soon.
Then there have been two beautiful books aimed at children, beautifully presented. Beautiful books, aimed at kids I guess but lovely for all. These are
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost with illustrations by P J Lynch
The Fox and the Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith

Lord's Day February 1 2026


Last Lord's Day I preached on Luke 19:1-10 in the morning and then did a further study on paradoxes (The Paradoxical Christ)  in th evening. We began with communion when we were very few. The morning congregation itself was not bad but there were many missing for various reasons. We were about 14 pm.

10 Monarchs who were not first borns

Hans Holbein the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Luke Fildes, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

  1. William Rufus II (108g-1100) third son of William I succeeded him. His oldest brother, Robert, reigned in Normandy and the next brother died in a hunting accident iin 1075.
  2. Henry I (1100–1135) fourth and youngest son of William I succeeded his older brother William Rufus, who died in a hunting accident.
  3. Richard I (1189-1199) second son of Henry II became heir upon the death of his older brother, Henry the Young King
  4. John (1100-1216) fourth son of Henry II became king after the death of his older brother, Richard.
  5. Henry VIII (1509–1547) second son of Henry VII became heir after the death of his elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales, in 1502.
  6. Charles I (1625–1649) second son of James I became heir after the death of his older brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales.
  7. James II (1685–1688) second surviving son of Charles I succeeded his brother, Charles II.
  8. Anne second surviving daughter of James II
  9. George V (1910–1936) second son of Edward VII became heir after the sudden death of his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, in 1892.
  10. George VI (1936–1952) second son of George V ascended the throne following the abdication of his elder brother, Edward VIII.

Midweek Meeting January 28 2026


It was very encouraging on Wednesday to have six of us in the kitchen who all prayed plus three on zoom, two of whom prayed. Eddie helpfully led us into prayer with some verses from the end of Joshua 21. Lots to pray about as ever.

Hymn Number Boards


I am aware of Legh Richmond (1772-1827) the evangelical author of The Dairyman's  daughter but until today I had not realised that he has an interesting claim to fame in that at one of his first charges, St Mary's, Brading, on the Islof Wight, he is thought to have originated a now globally popular idea (where people still use hymnbooks that is). It is the idea of using boards with movable numbers to indicate hymn numbers during church services.

A light on the hill


On Monday we met at the Pastors Acadmy for our book group. This time the book was a local church history by a man called Caleb Morrell. Phil Heaps kindly provided with two sets of questions and a helpful outline.
1. “What Shall the Harvest Be?”: 1867–1878
2. “A Helper of the Downtrodden and Lowly”: 1878–1882  Joseph W. Parker – 1879-82 ~3yrs
3. “With Conscience Void of Offence toward God and Man”: 1882–1884 Wilbur M. Ingersoll – 1882-84 ~2yrs
4. “We Do Our Own Thinking in This Church”: 1885–1889 William H. Young – 1885-90 ~5yrs
5. “We Have a Leader of National Reputation”: 1890–1895 Green Clay Smith – 1890-95 ~5yrs
6. “The Future Is Bright with Promise”: 1896–1912 Granville S. Williams – 1895–1903 ~8yrs
7. “War, Fuel Famine, and Influenza Epidemics”: 1913–1918 John Compton Ball – 1903-44 ~41yrs
8. “No Modernism Will Be Tolerated at All in This Church”: 1919–1943 9. “Holding Forth the Word of Life”: 1944–1955 K. Owen White – 1944-49 ~5yrs Walter Carpenter – 1949-55 ~6yrs
10. “A Beachhead for Evangelical Christianity”: 1956–1960 Walter A. Pegg – 1956-61 ~5yrs
11. “Jesus Doesn’t Need a Parking Lot”: 1961–1980 R.B. Culbreth – 1961-66 ~5yrs John Stuckey – 1967-71 ~5yrs C. Wade Freeman Jr. – 1971-81 ~10yrs
12. “When a Christian Leader Falls”: 1981–1993 Walt Tomme Jr. – 1982-88 ~6yrs
Harry Kilbride – 1990-93 ~3yrs
13. “Preach, Pray, Love, and Stay”: 1994–2000 Mark Dever – 1994-present ~31yrs
14. “Doing Nothing and Church Planting”: 2001–Present
We all found the book helpful and interesting and there was a good discussion among the seven present on this occasion. Blaise Pascal next in May.
Example questions
1. What did you think of the book? Strengths / weaknesses?
2. Are there any incidents or characters that particularly lodged in your mind?
3. ch.1: What were Thomas Ustick Walter’s strengths & weaknesses, p10f? Do these things often go together? Have you ever had to change any strongly held and loudly trumpeted views, p16?
4. ch.3: What did Walter Ingersoll do wrong, and what can we learn from this episode, p59,62,65?
5. ch.4: How important are “youth, energy and enthusiasm”, p70 and “unyielding determination to succeed”, p73?
6. ch.5: Does it always feel like we are in a time of social decay and moral regress”, p82? (p90,95; p168)
7. In the early 1890s, 65% of MBC’s members were women, p98. How does that compare with our churches? etc.

Lord's Day January 25 2026

 

I was not preaching again last Lord's Day. My assistant, Eddie, preached from Luke 15. We were encouraged by visitors, one or two rand new, including someone we met giving out tracts, already a professing Christian and a visitor from another church.

Midweek Meeting January 21 2026

Photo on Getty Images Unsplash

We were in the kitchen again on Wenesday, looking at the final part of Romans 12 and spending time in prayer.

Article in the New ET


I've obviously been busy. There is an article of mine on 2 Chronicles 13 in the February Evangelical Times.

Article in the New Banner


The first part of a two part article that I have written on Experiential Calvinism is in the February Banner Magazine.