10 Welsh names ending in R (Girls)

1. Fflur
2. Elinor
3. Mair
4. Gaenor
5. Gwenhwyfar
6. Meinir
7. Einir
8. Gwener
9. Ilar
10. Eilyr

10 Welsh names ending in R (Boys)

This came up in a discussion about how hard names ending in R are for monoglot English speakers.

1. Peredur
2. Emyr
3. Pedr
4. Tudur
5. Elidir
6. Talyr
7. Bedwyr
8. Gwynfor
9. Llyr
10. Brynfor

10 women with rhyming names

1. Mia (Farrow)
2. Nia (Long)
3. Pia (Zadora)
4. Priya (Anand)
5. Sia (Furler)
6. Lia (Williams)
7. Kia (Pegg)
8. Ria (Mae)
9. Tia (Carrere)
10. Brea (Grant)

Legal Marriage/Priodas Gyfreithiol, Aber

The reason I am in Aber, if you don't know, is for the wedding of my fourth son, Gwïon, to Lydia. Yesterdy was the legl bit and tomorrow will be the main bit ina converted barn just outside town. Looking forward.

10 Favourite TV Theme Tunes

1. Don't Ask Me (House of the King by Focus)
2. BBC Cricket (Soul Limbo by Booker T & The MGs)
3. Tomorrow's World (Johnny Dankworth)
4. Batman (Neil Hefti)
5. Doctor Who (BBC Radio workshop)
6. Golden Girls (Thank you for being a friend by Andrew Gold)
7. Thirty Something (W G Snuffy Walden)
8. Friends (I'll be there for you by The Rembrandts)
9. Cheers (Where everybody knows your name by Gary Portnoy)
10. Robinson Crusoe 1964 TV Series (Robert Mellin and Gian-Piero Reverberi)

10 Nicknames for Workmen

1. Sparky - electrician
2. Chippy - carpenter
3. Bricky - bricklayer
4. Dunny diver (Aus) - plumber
5. Roughcaster or muck chucker - plasterer
6. Gofer - labourer
7. Arc angel - welder
8. Slosh and tosher - painter and decorator
9. Spanner monkey - mechanic
10. Green thumb - gardener

Proc Trust EMA 2024 Second Afternoon

It was good to hear Conrad Mbewe again giving his first address on the second day of the conference. He spoke form 2 Corinthians 2 on God's power in preaching. Sadly, I wasn't abe to stay for the last session of the day - Nigel Styles 1 Thessalonians 2:1-3:8 - as I had to get home to travel to Aberystwyth. I also missed the third andd final day of Kevin DeYoung (on the daughters Zelophehad) Conrad Mbewe (on preaching, from 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 20) a second round table (with different participants) and Nigel Styles (on 1 Thessalonians 5). Needs must, however, as my fourth son is getting married.

Proc Trust EMA 2024 Second Morning

Our second morning followed the pattern of the first, with Kevin DeYoung and Mike Reeves speaking in the two sessions. This second time Kevin DeYoung took us to Leviticus 8, another difficult chapter that he was again able to highlight in very helpful way. Mike Reeves carried on with what he had to say about evangelicalism, this time warning us against the dangers of the revelation, redemption, regeneration paradigm. I guess this is the meat of his book Evangelical Pharisees just as yesterday was (I think) bsed on his book Gospel People.

Proc Trust EMA 2024 First Afternoon

 

Our afternoon was taken up with a round table duiscussion featuring our morning speakers and Cnrad Mbewe who is slated to speak tomorrow. The chair was Liz Cox, a PT Trustee. Questions discussed included preaching and prayer, chief elements in the Christian ministry.A very pleasant post-prandial hour.  (There was an alternative seminar with Andrew Sach  on preaching 1 and 2 Kings which some attended). The day finished with an exposition of the opening chapter of 1 Thessalonians from Nigel Styles, who for the last eight years has been Director of the Proclamation Trust and Director of the Cornhill Training Course. He begins work this summer with Cross Connections an international work that has grown out of the Proclamation Trust work and now has twenty ‘International Hubs’ training expository preachers. His expositon was typically Proc Trust - careful exposition of the text. Good to chat with people again (Ken Brownell, Dan Jarvis, Adrian Tribe, Phil Venables, Chris Hawthorne, etc, and my father-in-law). Good day then. Hot but okay.

Proc Trust EMA 2024 First Morning

It was good to be for the first time in a long time at the 41st Evangelical Ministry Assembly organised by The Proclamation Trust. The EMA has been in the Emmanuel Centre for a while now but it was my first time  here. We began with an excellent expositon of Genesis 38 by Kevin DeYoung. It was very thorough, helpful and well executed. It was a privilege to be here.  In the second half of the morning Mike Reeve spoke of evangelicalism, remindng us of the central matters of the faith in his usual clear tones. Loads here, some of whom I know. Had a nice chat with Dave Gobbett who I had enjoyed listening to on catch up on Sunday. See here.

Steve Taylor retires from the Evangelical Library

A little group of us gathered recently at the Evangelical Library in Bounds Green to say farewell to the Librarian, Steve Taylor as he steps into retirement (at least from this job). It was good to be able to thank Steve for all his work over these many years (38 altogether). We wish him and his family all the best for the future. The new librarian is Shaunee Deleon.

Lord's Day June 23 2024

A fairly typical Sunday last Snday I guess - good congregation in the morning though plenty missing for unknown reasons and in the evening just creeping into double figures. We carried on in the Sermon on the Mount in the morning and did our penultimate famous text Ephesians 2:8, 9 in the evening. One Iranian family are still not sorted out for the future yet and so we keep prayig for them.

London Seminary end of year 2024

It was good to be at the end of year service in the London Seminary, Finchley. Bill James gave a report on the past year, Spencer Cunnah chaired, Edward Malcom preached (Acts 9:20) and the five above, all leaving this year spoke (sometimes movingly) of their time in the seminary. We then had tea on the lawn in the sunshine. The seminary is constantly changing in small ways but it continues to do the important work of preparing men for the ministry (plus the church planting course, the pastors academy and the flourish courses for women). If only there were more men coming to the seminary and preparing for ministry.

Leonardo de Chirico

I was at the London Seminary once again today for two sessions. The first was a mini-conference with Leonardo de Chirico from Rome, the author of Same words; different worlds. He very helpfully described Roman Catholicism and spoke of the way to reach such people. It was a master class. So much in Catholicism seems to be the same as Protestantism but there are aubtle differences we need to understand. This meeting was organised by AGBCSE as a shop front for their group and was much appreciated. Jim Sayers chaired and Andrew King spoke about the association. Our churh does not belong to an association but if we did join one this would be the obvoous move.

10 Shapers of Christianity

Spending the week listening to Nick Needham has reminded me that in 2022 and 2023 Nick did a series of articles in the Banner of Truth Magazine on Shapers of Christianity. I think there were 12 all told. Here are ten

1. 705 Irenaeus of Lyons (fl 175-195)
2. 706 Gregory of Nazianzus (AD 330-390)
3. 707/8 Anselm of Canterbury (AD 1033-1109)
4. 709 Theophylact of Ochrid (1050–1109)
5. 710 John Wycliffe (c 1320-1384)
6. 711 Peter Martyr (1499-1562)
7. 712 Tikhon of Zadonsk (1724–83)
8. 713 J Gresham Machen (1881-1937)
9. 716 Frances Turretin (1623-1687)
10. 717 John Wesley (1703-91)

(The other two were - 719/20 Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield 1851–1921 and 721 Philip Schaff 1819-1893)

What's So Funny About God? Steve Wilkens

This is the second of my birthday books that I have now read (or almost read in this case). The great things about this book is that it is full of jokes. Some of these I would personally reject as unwholesome but there are not too many of these. Wilkens is a philospher but he attempts a general theology of humour and has some good things to say on the whole. He has read all the other books on this subject, it seems, and footnotes a number of these books. His subject is not humour in the Bible but he does include two interludes on Sarah and Esther and he inevitably touches on the subject. A very interesting read.

The Nazis and the Occult Paul Roland

I read quite a few books on Nazism and such matters and was immediately drawn to this volume when I saw it going cheap. It was the title that grabbed me. I had assumed the author would try and argue the case that the Nazis were greatly influenced by occult forces. However, he does not do that. The book is quite well written but its sources are often dubious, as he admits, and so the reader gets a little frustrated by it.

William Robertson Smith and B B Warfield

The last two subjects in the series of ten biographies were the Scots heretic William Robertson Smith 1846-1894 and the American theological giant B B Warfield 1851-1921.

In 1889 Spurgeon wrote in The Sword and Trowel

"The Free Church of Scotland must, unhappily, be for the moment regarded as rushing to the front with its new theology, which is no theology, but an opposition to the Word of the Lord. That church in which we all gloried, as sound in the faith, and full of the martyrs’ spirit, has entrusted the training of its future ministers to two professors who hold other doctrines than those of its Confession. This is the most suicidal act that a church can commit. It is strange that two gentlemen, who are seeking for something newer and better than the old faith, should condescend to accept a position which implies their agreement, with the ancient doctrines of the church; but delicacy of feeling is not a common article nowadays, and the action of creeds is not automatic, as it would be if consciences were tender. In the Free Church there is a Confession, and there are means for carrying out discipline; but these will be worth nothing without the personal action of all the faithful in that community. Every man who keeps aloof from the struggle for the sake of peace, will have the blood of souls upon his head."

Smith (along with A B Bruce to some extent) was the man who brought Free Church students under liberal teaching and was at least removed from office.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881), though not really evangelical or orthodox himself, offered his own assessment of what was going on, saying, “Have my countrymen’s heads become turnips when they think they can hold the premises of German unbelief and draw the conclusions of Scottish evangelical orthodoxy?”

As for B B Warfield the focus was on his stand for inerrancy, his view of Darwin and his far-sightedness in dealing with racism.

Some quotes

The mystical tendency is showing itself in our day most markedly in a wide-spread inclination to decline Apologetics in favour of the so-called testimonium Spiritus Sancti. The convictions of the Christian man we are told, are not the product of reasons addressed to the intellect, but are the immediate creation of the Holy Spirit in his heart. Therefore, it is intimated, we can not only do very well without these reasons, but it is something very like sacrilege to attend to them. Apologetics, accordingly, is not merely useless, but may even become noxious, because tending to substitute a barren intellectualism for a vital faith.

Christian men, under the pressure of their race antipathy, desert the fundamental law of the Church of the Living God, that in Christ Jesus there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman.

Warfield quoted William James with approbation saying 

And here religion comes to our rescue and takes our fate into her hands. There is a state of mind, known to religious men, but to no others, in which the will to assert ourselves and hold our own has been displaced by a willingness to close our mouths and be as nothing in the floods and waterspouts of God. In this state of mind, what we most dreaded has become the habitation of our safety, and the hour of our moral death has turned into our spiritual birthday. The time for tension in our soul is over, and that of happy relaxation, of calm deep breathing, of an eternal present, with no discordant future to be anxious about, has arrived. Fear is not held in abeyance as it is by mere morality, it is positively expunged and washed away.

Dr Needham ended by saying

The treasure-trove of Warfield’s writings shows us one of the finest intellects that ever lived, expounding the many-sided truths of biblical Christianity with profound scholarship and in crystalline prose. When (if I may so put it) I have nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon, I know I can use my time to excellent effect in picking up and perusing a volume of Warfield, whether on the Divine Messiah of Old Testament prophecy, the emotional life of Jesus, or any of a hundred other topics. 

10 Church Leaders in the 19th Century

1. Friedrich Schleiermacher 1768-1834
2. Samuel T Coleridge 1772-1834
3. Edward Irving 1782-1834
4. Félicité de La Mennais 1782-1854
5. John Henry Newman 1801-1890
6. John W Nevin 1803-1886
7. Soren Kierkegaard 1813-1855
8. Albrecht Ritschl 1822-1889
9. William R Smith 1846-1894
10. B B Warfield 1851-1921

10 Leaders who left the Church of Scotland in 1843

1. Thomas Chalmers
2. James Bannerman
3. James Begg
4. Andrew and Horatius (and James) Bonar
5. David Brown Aberdeen
6. James Buchanan
7. Robert Candlish
8. William Cunningham
9. ("Rabbi") John Duncan
10. George Smeaton (Also Patrick Fairbairn, etc)

(Over 400 left in 1843 See more here)

Nevin, Newman and Ritschl

Yesterday it was the American Presbyteran theologian, John Williamson Nevin (1803-1886), the Anglican turned Roman Catholic, John Henry Newman (1801-1890) and German liberal theologian Albrecht Ritschl (1822-1889) from Nick Needham. Dr Needham like Nevin but he fell out with Charles Hodge and William Cunningham over how to understand the Lord's Supper. Hodge ended up claiming that Calvin's view of the real presence was not really Reformed and an uncongenial foreign element that was extreme and dubious. Hodge seems to have somehow been unaware of Calvin's views.

Alexander Whyte was a fan of Newman's early sermons printed up in eight volumes and never repudiated by Newman. Whyte quoted favourably this statement

"Dr. Newman's sermons stand by themselves in modern English literature; it might be said, in English literature generally. There have been equally great masterpieces of English writing in this form of composition, and there have been preachers whose theological depth, acquaintance with the heart, earnestness, tenderness, and power have not been inferior to his. But the great writers do not touch, pierce, and get hold of minds as he does, and those who are famous for the power and results of their preaching do not write as he does. His sermons have done more perhaps than any one thing to mould and quichen and brace the religious temper of our time; they have acted with equal force on those who were nearest and those who were furthest from him in theological opinion."

I found it hard to get a handle on Ritschl. I'll need to look at that again.

Midweek Meeting June 19 2024

Eight of us gathered on Wednesday evening (with a few extras online) to look at Romans 4:18-25 and to pray. It is always good to be at these meetings.

Fake History by Graeme Donald

 

This is the second book with this title that I have read in recent years. This one is well written and debunks various myths such as those concerning Joan of Arc, Robin Hood, the Marie Celeste, the death of General Gordon, etc.

The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland

One of the books bought for my birthday was The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland. This is a biograpy of the Auschwitz escapee Rudolf Vrba. Vrba, a Jewish Czech teenager, wanted to escape from Auschwitz in order to alert the world to what was going on but found it very hard to get a hearing. The book is well written especially the Auscwitz episodes. The book covers the whole of Vrba's story. He died in 2006. The book is the opposite of hagiography but is respectful to its subject who seems to have been a unique character in many ways. One of the interesting things that arises in the book is the fact that merely informing people of what was happening was not enough. At one point we read

"... information alone was not enough. The inmates of the Czech family camp had had the information. They could see the crematoria with their own eyes; the chimneys were just a few hundred yards away. They had known that the Nazis were murdering the Jews they had brought to Auschwitz. The trouble was, they never believed this scheme applied to them. The reason for their special status had been a mystery to them, as it had been to the other prisoners in Auschwitz but special they believed they were. They had been certain that they would be exempt from the death sentence the SS were carrying out on their fellow Jews. Only when it was too late did they see that they had been entirely wrong."

It is not enough to inform people that judgement and hell is true. Even when confronted with clear proof they will not want to believe and will reject the message.

Edward Irving and Félicité de La Mennais

Today at the seminary we looked at two more nineteenth century figures with Nick Needham - Edward Irving (1792-1834), of whom I had heard thanks to Arnold Dallimore's book (see here), and Félicité de La Mennais (1782-1854), of whom I knew nothing. La Mennais was a Catholic liberal in a word. On Irving's death, M'Cheyne famously said "I look back upon him with awe, as on the saints and martyrs of old. A holy man, in spite of all his delusions and errors. He is now with his God and Saviour, whom he wronged so much, yet, I am persuaded, loved so sincerely."

Schleiermacher, Coleridge and Kierkegaard

A good chunk of yesterday was spent at the London Seminary. They have a week of special lectures with Nick Needham. Nick has not been well enough to travel but is delivering the lectures on 19th century church history remotely. That worked quite well with very few glitches. The main audience (half online, half in person) is the students but there are a few of us others also sitting in. Nick, an excellent lecturer, is doiung tbings biographically and yesterday we considered Freidrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834), Samuel T Colerdige (1772-1834) and Soren Kierkegard (1813-1855). All very interesting.

Two quotes for you

Herman Bavinck

"Schleiermacher has exerted incalculable influence. All subsequent theology is dependent on him. Revelation in nature and revelation in Scripture form, in alliance with each other, a harmonious unity which satisfies the requirements of the intellect and the needs of the heart alike."

W G T Shedd

"Now as the defender and interpreter of this decidedly and profoundly theistic system of philosophy, we regard the works of Coleridge as of great and growing worth, in the present state of the educated and thinking world. It is not to be disguised that Pantheism is the most formidable opponent which truth has to encounter in the cultivated and reflecting classes. We do not here allude to the formal reception and logical defence of the system, so much as to that pantheistic way of thinking, which is unconsciously stealing into the lighter and more imaginative species of modern literature, and from them is passing over into the principles and opinions of men at large. This popularised Naturalism - this Naturalism of polite literature and of literary society - is seen in the lack of that depth and strength of tone, and that heartiness and robustness of temper, which characterise a mind into which the personality of God, and the responsibility of man cut sharply, and which does not cowardly shrink from a severe and salutary moral consciousness .... The intensely theistic character of the philosophy of Coleridge is rooted and grounded in the Personal and the Spiritual, and not in the least in the Impersonal and the Natural. Drawing in the outset, as we have remarked above, a distinct and broad line between these two realms, it keeps them apart from each other, by affirming a difference in essence, and steadfastly resists any and every attempt to amalgamate them into one sole substance. The doctrine of creation, and not of emanation or of modification, is the doctrine by which it constructs its theory of the Universe, and the doctrine of responsible self-determination, and not of irresponsible natural development, is the doctrine by which it constructs its systems of Philosophy and Religion."

10 People who may have been addicted to opium

1. Samuel T Coleridge
2. Thomas De Quincey
3. John Keats
4. Francis Thompson
5. George Crabbe
6. Charles Baudelaire
7. William Wilberforce
8. Hector Berlioz
9. Elizabeth Siddal
10. Branwell Brontë

Lord's Day June 16 2024

It was good to be with the Lord's people once again on the Lord's Day. We looked at the subject of fasting in the morning from Matthew and then in the evening at that famous text, Romans 8:28. About 11 in the evning and many more in the morning, but still with several missing.

Justification by Faith

It was good to be over in Cranford, West London, on Saturday night for a meeting where John Benton spoke very helpfully on the subject of justification by faith (the meaningm the grounds and the instrument - faith). The meeting was organised by my good friend and former assistant, Robin Asgher and pastor friends among the Teugu speakers of London. The bonus was some very nice Siouth Indian food to follow. It is hoped that further such meetings will be possible.

10 Song Titles containing the word Best

 

1. “You’re My Best Friend” Queen
2. "Simply the best" Tina Turner
3. "My best friends' girl" The Cars
4. "The girl of my best friend" Elvis Presley
5. “Best Years of Our Lives” Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
6. "Bestof my liive" The Emotions
7. "The Best of my Love" The Eagles
8. (Arthur's Dream) "Best that you can do" Chris Cross
9. "Best Day" Taylor Swift
10. "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" Marilyn Monroe

10 Song Titles Containing the Word Better

1. Better Regina Spektor
2. Better Day Ocean Colour Scene
3. Better Things The Kinks
4. Getting Better The Beatles
5. It's Getting Better Mamas and the Papas
6. Gonna Get Better Gabrielle
7. I Should Have Known Better The Beatles
8. You Better You Bet The Who
9. Nobody Does It Better Carly Simon
10. I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better The Byrds

Catalyst Conference 2024 Day 3

Day 3 has lived up to the promise of the first two days. We had the same speakers as before and all four of them did well. Sinclair Ferguson took us to the New Testament for the final part of his triptych, focusing powerfully on Romans 8. David Filson, as dapper as ever, then spoke on the whole gender question. After lunch, Matthew Mason gave a long but helpful esposition of the matter of mrtification of sin. For the fonal session Kent Hughes took us to the final verses of 1 Corinthians 13. Very helpful. He began with this quote from David Brown

"Remarkable it is that an Epistle written under a tempest of conflicting emotions, breathing in some places indignation, reproach, and sadness, at being driven to self-vindication against worthless detractors who should never have been listened to that precisely this Epistle is the one that closes with the richest and most comprehensive of all the benedictions in the New Testament, the one which the Christian Church in every land and of every age has found, and will find as long as the world lasts, the most available for public use, as a close to its worship."

Two stories

At the conference, David Filson framed his message around two contrasting stories, one from Nietzsche and one from C S Lewis in The Silver Chair.

First Story

Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market-place, and cried incessantly: "I am looking for God! I am looking for God!"

As many of those who did not believe in God were standing together there, he excited considerable laughter. Have you lost him, then? said one. Did he lose his way like a child? said another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? or emigrated? Thus they shouted and laughed. The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances.

"Where has God gone?" he cried. "I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition? Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whosoever shall be born after us - for the sake of this deed he shall be part of a higher history than all history hitherto."

Here the madman fell silent and again regarded his listeners; and they too were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern to the ground, and it broke and went out. "I have come too early," he said then; "my time has not come yet. The tremendous event is still on its way, still travelling - it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time, the light of the stars requires time, deeds require time even after they are done, before they can be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the distant stars - and yet they have done it themselves."

It has been further related that on that same day the madman entered divers churches and there sang a requiem. Led out and quietened, he is said to have retorted each time: "what are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchres of God?"

Second story

There was a moment's struggling on the cliff edge. Jill was too frightened and dizzy to know quite what she was doing, but two things she remembered as long as she lived (they often came back to her in dreams). One was that she had wrenched herself free of Scrubb's clutches; the other was that, at the same moment, Scrubb himself, with a terrified scream, had lost his balance and gone hurtling to the depths.

Fortunately she was given no time to think over what she had done. Some huge, brightly coloured animal had rushed to the edge of the cliff. It was lying down, leaning over, and (this was the odd thing) blowing. Not roaring or snorting but just blowing from its wide-opened mouth; blowing out as steadily as a vacuum cleaner sucks in. Jill was lying so close to the creature that she could feel the breath vibrating steadily through its body. She was lying still because she couldn't get up. She was nearly fainting: indeed, she wished she could really faint, but faints don't come for the asking. At last she saw, far away below her, a tiny black speck floating away from the cliff and slightly upwards. As it rose, it also got further away. By the time it was nearly on a level with the cliff top it was so far off that she lost sight of it. It was obviously moving away from them at a great speed. Jill couldn't help thinking that the creature at her side was blowing it away.

So she turned and looked at the creature. It was a lion.

Without a glance at Jill the lion rose to its feet and gave one last blow. Then, as if satisfied with its work, it turned and stalked slowly away, back into the forest.

"It must be a dream, it must, it must," said Jill to herself. "I'll wake up in a moment." But it wasn't, and she didn't.

"I do wish we'd never come to this dreadful place," said Jill. "I don't believe Scrubb knew any more about it than I do. Or if he did, he had no business to bring me here without warning me what it was like. It's not my fault he fell over that cliff. If he'd left me alone we should both be all right." Then she remembered again the scream that Scrubb had given when he fell, and burst into tears.

Crying is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later and then you still have to decide what to do. When Jill stopped, she found she was dreadfully thirsty. She had been lying face downward, and now she sat up. The birds had ceased singing and there was perfect silence except for one small persistent sound which seemed to come a good distance away. She listened carefully and felt almost sure it was the sound of running water.

Jill got up and looked round her very carefully. There was no sign of the lion; but there were so many trees about that it might easily be quite close without her seeing it. For all she knew, there might be several lions. But her thirst was very bad now, and she plucked up her courage to go and look for that running water. She went on tip-toes, stealing cautiously from tree to tree, and stopping to peer round her at every step.

The wood was so still that it was not difficult to decide where the sound was coming from. It grew clearer every moment and, sooner than she expected, she came to an open glade and saw the stream, bright as glass, running across the turf a stone's throw away from her. But although the sight of the water made her feel ten times thirstier than before, she didn't rush forward and drink. She stood as still as if she had been turned into stone, with her mouth wide open. And she had a very good reason; just on this side of the stream lay the lion.

It lay with its head raised and its two fore-paws out in front of it, like the lions in Trafalgar Square. She knew at once that it had seen her, for its eyes looked straight into hers for a moment and then turned away—as if it knew her quite well and didn't think much of her.

"If I run away, it'll be after me in a moment," thought Jill. "And if I go on, I shall run straight into its mouth." Anyway, she couldn't have moved if she had tried, and she couldn't take her eyes off it. How long this lasted, she could not be sure; it seemed like hours. And the thirst became so bad that she almost felt she would not mind being eaten by the lion if only she could be sure of getting a mouthful of water first.

"If you're thirsty, you may drink."

They were the first words she had heard since Scrubb had spoken to her on the edge of the cliff. For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken. Then the voice said again, "If you are thirsty, come and drink," and of course she remembered what Scrubb had said about animals talking in that other world, and realised that it was the lion speaking. Anyway, she had seen its lips move this time, and the voice was not like a man's. It was deeper, wilder, and stronger; a sort of heavy, golden voice. It did not make her any less frightened than she had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a different way.

"Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.

"I'm dying of thirst," said Jill.

"Then drink," said the Lion.

"May I—could I—would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realised that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

"Will you promise not to—do anything to me, if I do come?" said Jill.

"I make no promise," said the Lion.

Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

"Do you eat girls?" she said.

"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.

"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.

"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."

"There is no other stream," said the Lion.

It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve the Lion—no one who had seen his stern face could do that—and her mind suddenly made itself up. It was the worst thing she had ever had to do, but she went forward to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand. It was the coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted. You didn't need to drink much of it, for it quenched your thirst at once. Before she tasted it she had been intending to make a dash away from the Lion the moment she had finished. Now, she realised that this would be on the whole the most dangerous thing of all. She got up and stood there with her lips still wet from drinking.

Midweek Meeting June 12 2024

Just five of us gathered last night for our midweek meeting. We looked at Romans 4:1-17 and then after gathering materials for prayer, we prayed.

Catalyst Conference 2024 Day 2

 

So Day 2 was perhaps not quite up to Day 1 but then in the afternoon Matthew Mason was really quite scintillating on the temptation of Christ. Kindly but definitely rejecting several current Christian theories on this subject, he argued that we must see Christ's temptations as unlike ours because, of course, he is sinless. This was quite moving at times. The other messages were worth hearing too - Sinclair Ferguson's next triptych from Job 16, David Filson on critical race theory and Kent Hughes on Paul's paradoxes from 2 Corinthians 4. Lots of good things once again then. This quote from Calvin was striking "Satan’s aim is to drive the saint to madness by despair". Lots of other good things too.

Catalyst Conference 2024 Day 1

Some 280 are booked in for this year's IPC Conference. It was good to be there once again. We followed the usual pattern of two messages before lunch and two after. Sinclair Ferguson started us off looking at Genesis 3 and seven aspects of Satan's rebellion (the first part of a three part triptych, as he described it). We had lots of wonderful things here - eg the importance of the atmosphere of a text of Scripture, the importance of the affections, the way the references to the LORD God disappear when Satan comes in (he never refers to the LORD) and the idea (drawing on Alfred North Whitehead's similar statement about Plato) that the whole of the Bible is really a footnote to Genesis 3:15. We then had a wonderfully flamboyant man called Dr David Filson, Pastor of Theology and Discipleship for Church and Academy at Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Nashville, Tennessee. He gave a wonderful introduction to Westminster Seminary style apologetics and the whole matter of our battle with the world that was gripping.

After lunch with my father-in-law, Geoff Thomas, and fellow Aber graduates Ed Collier and Emyr James, we had Matthew Mason from the Pastors Academy on the flesh and this whole matter of concupisence, which has come into our thinking again mainly due to the whole question of how to regard same sex attraction. Like Matthew Roberts he rejects the idea of John Stevens and some of the advocates of the view that to be same sex attracted is not wrong in itself. Very helpful. The final message was from R Kent Hughes, very well known by reputation but rarely seen this side of the Atlantic I believe. He took us to Paul and his thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan. A helpful exposition.

So a good day. I headed off after it to visit a member in hospital.

A quotation from day one

“But there are some people, nevertheless - and I am one of them - who think that the most practical and important thing about a man is still his view of the universe. We think that for a landlady considering a lodger, it is important to know his income, but still more important to know his philosophy. We think that for a general about to fight an enemy, it is important to know the enemy’s numbers, but still more important to know the enemy’s philosophy. We think the question is not whether the theory of the cosmos affects matters, but whether, in the long run, anything else affects them” (G. K. Chesterton, Heretics, in The Complete Works of G. K. Chesterton, ed. David Dooley, vol. 1, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986, 41).

Lord's Day June 9 2024

I dubbed last Sunday our Super Sunday as we had baptisms, thanksgivings for children and a fellowship meal. I preached on John 6:28, 29 in the morning and on James 1:2, 3 in the evening (in the famous texts series.) One of our Iranian couples had a little boy recently so we gave thanks for him (and also for a baby born to another couple). We baptised two new Iranians who also gave their testimonies. We thn had a meal together - a wonderful mix of African, Iranian, Filipino and European cuisine. A very encouraging Lord's DAy.

Midweek Meeting June 5 2024

Rather behind with this but we did meet last week in the church parlour - eight present and one or two online. We looked at the final verses of Romans 3 and then spent time in prayer. We also had our annual church members meeting the day after.

10 Things about the New Testament Missionary Barnabas

1. He was a Jewish man
2. He was from the priestly tribe of Levi
3. His name was Joseph
4. He was nicknamed Barnabas (son of encouragement) by the Apostles
5. He was wealthy but generous; he sold a field and gave the proceeds to the Apostles
6. He was from Cyprus but moved to Jerusalem
7. He was cousin to John Mark
8. He was a pastor in Antioch
9. He was the one who went to Tarsus and brought Paul to Antioch
10. He accompanied Paul on his first missionary journey

Have you seen this? Childs Hill Baptist Church Building Project

PS We now have planning permission

Living in a pricey area

One of the issues that faces us here in Childs Hill is the prohibitive cost of housing. Over the years many have had to move away because it is so costly here.

New figures from the Office for National Statistics show where properties are likely to set you back the most in Barnet, and where you could snap up a bargain.

The Garden Suburb neighbourhood was Barnet's priciest, with a median value of £1,150,000 among the 161 sales in the area last calendar year.

The next most expensive was the Childs Hill area, where a house could set you back £885,000, and Totteridge, which had a median price of £850,000 in 2022.

Meanwhile, the Burnt Oak neighbourhood saw the lowest house prices, with buyers paying an average of £438,000 across 82 sales last year.

This was followed by Colindale and Woodhouse, where buyers spent £440,000 and £512,250 respectively.

Aware of this we have embarked on a major project to turn the lower ground floor of our building into accommodation.

10 ministers ordained but only later converted

This list was prompted by this week's lecture. It can probably be improved and may need correction but I think it's right.

1. Alexander Henderson c 1583-1646
2. Elias Keach c 1665-1699
3. John Wesley 1703-1791
4. William Grimshaw 1708-1763
5. Samuel Walker Truro 1714-1761
6. Thomas Scott 1747-1821
7. Alexander Stewart Moulin 1754-1821
8. Thomas Chalmers 1780-1847
9. William Haslam 1818-1905
10. Abraham Kuyper 1837-1920

The Art of Shepherding 2024

Aaron

Jonny

Brad

I have spent the day at my second Art of Shepheding Conference. About 60 ministers met in St Giles Mission, Islington (up from 40 last year). This free conference had four sessions and plenty of time for coffee and chat and even a mid-day meal. We also met at the end of the day for a curry. The sessions were led by Phil Heaps, Aaron Prelock (visiting from the USA) and Brad Franklin with a final session from Jonny Prime. Phil took us to Acts 20 and the lessons for pastors there and Aaron spoke on pastors and authority. Brad brought us some insights from the writings on pastoralia of Eugene Peterson. Jonny Prime spoke form his own long experience on the priority of patience, the protection of purality, the problem of professionalism, the pain of pastoring and the peril of power. So a great day.

Evangelical Library 2024

For the first time in a long time, it was possible to hold an in person meeting at the Library in Bounds Green last Monday (June 3). The lecturer was David Campbell, a Baptist pastor in Preston. He spoke on Alexander Stewart of Moulin 1764-1821. The only disappointment was that only 15 people were there to hear the lecture. Stewart entered the ministry as an unbeliever but was not only converted by the grace of God but saw revivial in Moulin. David Campbell drew attention to this and urged us to pray for unconverted ministers and befriend them where possible. He also pointed out how it was the fortitude in suffering of the sister of Stewart's friend David Black that was a catalyst for Stewart's conversion. Hopefully, the lecture will appear on the Library's YouTube channel soon and a written version will be published in In Writing next Autumn.

The Banner of Truth are soon to publish the biography of Stewart by James Sievewright. See here.