IMDB

I notice that I am now listed on IMDB as I am a talking head in the new documentary film The essential church. Still not seen it yet.

Recent Podcast for Kids Why the Pilgrims Left England

I should have drawn attention to a podcast aimed at chidren that I recently took part in. We were sligtly at cross-purposes some of the time but someone has managed to put together a decent enough programme I hope.

You can find the link here. Also see here.

Christmas with Kate Rusby on the Southbank 2019

As noted we were at the Royal Festival Hall on Tuesday evening for another of these annual Kate Rusby Christmas concerts. The format appeared to be similar to previous years - about 16 carols and other songs, lots of talking, a short period when Kate is off stage and Damien and the boys do some instrumentals, an audience video for Facebook and a two song encore. About half the twelve songs on the new album were done along with pieces from the other albums. One quibble our Barnsley nightingale suggested that many of the carols sung in pubs were kept out of the church by the Victorians. That would suggest that Kate has never heard of Sankey's Sacred Songs and Solos or Sankey's Sacred solos and sea shanties as some humorously call it. There aren't many carols in Sankey it is true but Rolling downward, Once in royal David's, While shepherds watched, Hark the herald, etc are all there. Great evening.

Gracelife Summer Institute 2019 Day 4

The final day of the Steadfast Conference at Grace Life was a bit different in some ways. The first session featured Rick Holland on 1 Peter 2 and the call to be aliens and strangers in this world. Excellent. This was followed by an impromptu prayer time before the break. I then spoke on The Great Ejection 1662. I looked at three men - Thomas Manton, Joseph Alleine and Philip Henry - and mentioned others. That seemed the best way to go at it. The message was appreciated by many. I spoke afterwards to a Dan Pugh who told me about a new documentary he has filmed with Philip H Eveson on Henry's son Matthew. See here for more. After lunch Phil Johnson spoke from Hebrews 10:21 on the powerful, penetrating and precise Word of God. I was always taught that the verse referred to the preached Word which was implied though not stated. Interestingly Owen saw it as a reference to Christ the incarnate Word. Paul Washer then spoke in his typical forthright way. Then came a question panel, which I was involved in. I seemed slightly out of kilter with the others but may be that is just my perception. Over all I felt in line with these men although may be there was a fundamentalist and premillennial message in there that I would find hard to fully sign up to. I missed the last session of the conference as I needed to back home. What a privilege to have sat with these men of God and to have heard them and to have met so many believers present to hear. A great foru days. Next year it will be on the church.

On Sabbatical

In was at The Heart Hospital yesterday and they seem quite happy with progress made. My Sabbatical leave officially started last Lord's Day and so I have spent the week reading and writing. I have various projects on hand including a little local church history and a book for pastors as well as further research on 19th Century Baptists, the period 1660-1689, etc, etc. I've mad a good start and hope I can keep it up.

Evangelical Times Review of 1662 The Great Ejection

I notice the positive review in ET for October by church historian Dr Robert Oliver

 

Who governs the church, Jesus Christ or the state? In practical terms, what determines the doctrine and practice of the church? Is it the Bible or is it public opinion? Throughout the long history of the church, Christians have had to face and answer such questions. Once again they have been thrown up by the debate about the nature and character of marriage. It is good to be able to consider the way in which our fathers approached such issues. The record of the legislation of 1660-1662 and its aftermath provides us with such an opportunity. The year 2012 was the 350th anniversary of what has become known as the ‘Great Ejection’, when almost 2000 Puritan pastors and their flocks were forced out of the Church of England because they were unable to submit to unbiblical conditions of service. The theses included acceptance of the divine right and authority of diocesan bishops and an allegiance to the Prayer Book in terms which could only be given to the Bible. Hundreds of men, unable to bow to parliament’s decisions on these issues, were deprived of their charges and compelled to accept the prospect of poverty in a social and political wilderness. Gary Brady has given us a fine account of these events. He explains the issues and discusses the reasons why Puritans, who had only recently seemed so secure in their ministries, were suddenly plunged into a crisis of conscience after 1660. The story moves from the high politics of Charles II’s reign to the very human story of the sacrifices and triumphs of hundreds of Christian people. Lists of excluded ministers are included and may be useful for reference purposes, but the great value is the inspiring way in which the experiences of local churches and their members and ministers are described. This inspiring record should be widely read and studied by Christians today. It is very highly recommended.

Robert W. Oliver

How many ejected?

One of the things that arose in Lee Gatiss's paper on 1662 is a question of how many were ejected. In my book on 1662 I say this

Estimates vary but it seems that, including those ejected before 1662 and some who jumped rather than waiting to be pushed, nearly two thousand ministers and others were silenced or ejected. There will always be some vagueness about the figure as some changed their minds. A G Matthews says that some 210 later conformed. A contemporary writer, John Walker, says of an Evan Griffiths of Oxwich in South Wales, who was ejected but then conformed, that he became as violent against dissenters as he had once been against royalists. Also, the ejection included not only ministers but also lecturers and even private tutors. Further, some such as Cornishman Francis Howell 1625-1679 present anomalies. Howell, “a man mighty in the scriptures” according to Calamy, was expelled both as Principal of Jesus College, Oxford in 1660 and as incumbent of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant in North Wales in 1662.

In his Nonconformist Memorial Calamy deals with some 2,465 people altogether. Matthews and Watts say that the number unwilling to conform in 1662 was 2029, around 936* in England and 120 in Wales. Some 200 of these were university lecturers. Matthews points out that a further 129 were deprived at an uncertain date between 1660 and 1663 and with the ejections of 1660 as well, he gives a total of 1760 ministers (which is about 20% of the clergy) thrust out of the Church of England, silenced from preaching or teaching because they could no longer conform by law and so deprived of a livelihood.

Gerald Bray comments that “almost all of these were Puritans, and so the Act may be said to represent the expulsion of Puritanism from the national Church.” On the other hand, John Spurr points out that Puritans remained within the state church and others, like Quakers and General Baptists, were ejected. He quotes John Corbet 1620-1680, saying, "it is a palpable injury to burden us with the various parties with whom we are now herded by our ejection in the general state of dissenters."
*I seem to have that figure wrong. Perhaps it should be 1,936

Westminster Conference 2012 02

I chaired the second session and once again we were looking at 1662, this time with my old LTS church history teacher Andrew Davies, whose brief was to give us some biographies of ejectees. Being a Welshman, he plumped for Philip Henry, who ministered in North Wales and the lesser known Samuel Jones, who ministered in South Wales. We also had a snippet on Thomas Gouge which will appear in the published paper. It was an excellent paper. The discusiion wasn't too bad although we weren't very good at sticking to the subject of what authority we are obliged to submit to and on what issues. All the messages are being recorded and will be available on CD. The published papers usually appear in six months time.

Westminster Conference 2012 01

The Westminster Conference began today. The opening paper was on 1662 and all that and the speaker was Lee Gatiss, perhaps controversially, an Anglican. Being an Anglican he was a little afraid that we would be bored and so we began with 15 minutes of introduction that included some audience participation as we were examined on a range of beliefs such as what we thought about keeping pistols ready at home or the Queen as head of the church. The serious point behind this apparent frivolity was to demonstrate that things have changed a great deal since 1662 and few of us hold to a range of views quite acceptable in days gone by. We then had half an hour on 1662 itself, which included what I thought was a controversial attempt to get the numbers of the ejected as low as 900 and to claim that even these were not all Puritans. The rest of the time was spent defending Anglicanism - quite understandable from an Anglican I guess.

Dr Robert Oliver chaired and some good points were made from the floor, especially Iain Murray's about the need to recognise spiritual movements and political movements, which sometimes coalesce but inevitably oppose each other. We were probably far too gentle with Lee I guess whose view seems to be that 1662 was a massive mistake but the Anglican church hasn't been all bad since and indeed has improved in some ways. Certainly there was no sign that 1662 gives him any pause to consider leaving.

Westminster Conference 2013

This is just a reminder that the Westminster Conference is on next week (Tuesday, Wednesday Dec 4 and 5) at Regent Hall (The Salvation Army) 275 Oxford Street, London W1C 2DJ.

The programmes is as follows

 

1662 and all that (Lee Gatiss)

Two eminent ejectess, Philip Henry and Samuel Jones (Andrew Davies)

Hagiography and history (Andrew Atherstone)

 

Pascal: Truth Through the Mind and Through the Heart (David Gregson)

Christian attitudes to Islam (Roger Welch)

Henry Martyn (Peter Law)

 

The cost is £40. More details here.

 

Speaking at Historic Venues

On Saturday there was another opportunity to preach in Trafalgar Square with Biblical Gospel Ministries. I preached alongside several others on John 3:16. The opportunity to pass on TBS Bibles and to witness was a blessing. A Christian worker I know happened to be passing through the square and she stopped to listen, which was nice. I have had that sort of thing happen before. Slightly surreal.

Then yesterday (Monday) I was speaking again on 1662, this time in Cambridge for PTS. The meeting took place in the Round Church, which I was told is the second oldest building in the city. We were only around 20 or so but I knew some of those present (Gearoid Marley of PTS, William Wilson from Norwich and someone I was in CU with all those years ago in Aber. Her husband chaired and had taken the trouble to look in here to have some material for introduction purposes). Beforehand I was able to meet up with a girl from the church here who is studying at Clare College who kindly showed me round before heading to a lecture on Old English riddles (We enjoyed seeing the portrait of Hugh Latimer in the Great Hall). I was also able to meet up with Ian Hamilton, minsiter of CPC, who would have been in the meeting but who was speaking that same night to the Chinese Fellowship. 

Speaking on 1662 in Wrexham

It was gratifying to see fifty or sixty last Saturday night, gathered at Borras Park Evangelical Church in Wrexham, many of the faces more or less familiar to me. I was speaking again on 1662 and tried once more to tailor it to the audience by looking not only at Joseph Allein but also Philip Henry and mentioning two or three other locals including Judge Jeffreys (as the church is in Jeffreys Road). We had a good question session and sold a few more books (the book now has a second impression, which is good). I also got to spend a short while with my good frienc Chris Buckingham (to whom the book is dedicated). The journey there had been a little traumatic in that I left later than intended as our car broke down the night before and could not be fixed so I had to hire a car. Coming back was a breeze as I had an extra hour to play with.

Big round up

We're over half way through the month already and I have been rather slow reporting on what's been going on. Sometimes there is so much on that there is not time to write things up.

At the beginning of the month I spoke twice on the Great Ejection of 1662. At the Westminster Fellowship on the first I chiefly worked my way through a work by John Corbet that was written as an apologia for those who were ejected in 1662 (see here). It was good to be with men I know and respect to discuss these important matters. Then on the Saturday (6th) I was at Buckingham Baptist Chapel, Bristol speaking to the Clifton and Bristol Protestant League. This time I covered the persecution that went on, as set out in one of the chapters of the book. There were good sales of the book at both venues so that was good.

On the following Monday I was at the LTS for the Theological Study Group where we were discussing the book The Mission of the church by Kevin de Young and Greg Gilbert. Clearly written, although it is for the American market it says some helpful things regaridng what is mission ans what are good deeds. Worth reading. In the evening there was a committee for the LIP down in Soho, which went off okay. I was at LTS again this Tuesday (16th) for the Board meeting. Everything seems to be going ahead very encouragingly. 

Carlo Crivelli, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The next morning I was down at the National Gallery near Trafalgar Square. I am attending a course of lectures on the history of art and our lecturer had a arranged for an expert to show us five or six renaissance works (Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks, Crivelli, Titian, etc). Very interesting and informative, though as ever in this country when it came to Bible knowledge there was a slight slip I noticed.

 

On Saturday my father-in-law took us to the Prince of Wales Theatre for Let it be, which was a brilliant Beatles tribute band with knobs on. I liked Two of us best and became more convinced of the merits of While my guitar gentle weeps.

A busy week passed by

The week before last was such a busy week I haven't quite recovered yet. I did want to report back, however, so better late than never I hope. There were four main things that took up my time.

1. The John Owen Centre 2012 Conference on Adam in the Bible the Church and the World. Monday 10, Tuesday 11. This was a very good conference featuring six speakers over seven sessions, of which I caught five. It was very orderly so we began with vice principal David Green on Adam in the Old Testament and ended with Michael McClenahan (a new name to me) on Preaching Adam to Adam's Race which looked at Psalm 1 and the parable of the sower. I only caught the first of Lane Tipton's messages on Adam in the New Testament, I'm afraid. Garry Williams on Adam in the covenant of works was the stand out paper perhaps though the whole thing is worth getting to hear. See here.

2. The September 2012 Kent Evangelical Ministers Meeting. Monday 10. On the Monday evening I was not able to be at LTS because I was speaking at Waterford House, Strood. The pattern there is to begin with a meeting for pastors and elders at 5 pm and a more open meeting later at 7.30 pm. I spoke first on the session of Christ and then on the men of 1662, which seemed to be appreciated and lots of people snapped up copies of my new book, which was gratifying. See here.

3. GBM's Engage get together in Guildford. Thursday 13. Grace Baptist Mission have organised a series of three get togethers for supporting churches to discuss future strategy. Some 40 gathered at this second session in Chertsey Street, Guildford, and it seemed very worthwhile given that GBM endeavours to be a church based society. The real test will be what happens I guess. See here.

4. The LIP Annual Meetings for 2012. Saturday 14. The fourth thing was a series of meetings down at Orange Street, Trafalgar Square. We began with a trustees committee. Then in public, we had first a report on the work and then a preaching meeting which I chaired with former worker Ben Thomas from Criccieth speaking on 2 Kings 6. The project is due to end next August. More here.

Radio Broadcast due

You may be interested to know that I did an interview about the new book on 1662 recently and it is scheduled to be broadcast next Thursday, Sept. 27 at 2:30am; 12:30pm and 9:30pm PDT (BST is 8 hours ahead) on "His People" over the Pilgrim Radio Network and at pilgrimradio.com here.

New book promo

Another book, another promo

Like London Buses

Here in Childs Hill London buses often don't appear for a while and then come along two or three at a time. Well, I've just taken delivery of brand new copies of my latest book only a couple of months after the last one. This one is on the Great Ejection of 1662, which happened 350 years ago this year. I do hope it sells well and serves to make people better informed about an important subject. It is also my hope that the inspiring example of the men and women who suffered at that time. If you think winning Olympic gold is tough get your head round this stuff.

Today is the day

Today is the day 350 years ago when 2000 or so were ejected from the national church in England and Wales for the sake of conscience. It is right that we should give thanks for their noble stand and pray that we too may be men and women willing to follow conscience and to do what we believe is according to the Word of God regardless of what it costs.

An anonymous prayer from 1662

This prayer was prayed 350 years ago today on the Lord's Day before the Great Ejection

To thee, O Lord Jesus, we commend ourselves: To thee who judgeth rightly, thy poor Servant resigneth, and committeth this Congregation. The Lord pardon unto me wherein I have been wanting unto them: The Lord pardon unto them, wherein they have been wanting in the hearing of thy Word, that we may not part with sin in our hearts. Unto thee who judgest uprightly I commend them. The Bishop of Souls take care of them: Preserve them from the love of the World: teach them to wait on thee, and to receive from thee whatever any one or Family may stand in need of.

Provide them a Pastor according unto thine own will, only in the mean time give us that Anointing [that] shall lead us out of our own wills and ways, that we may walk in the ways of Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus say now amongst them, I am your Shepherd, you shall not want. Say to them as thou didst to thy Disciples, Let not your hearts be troubled, you believe in the Father, believe also in me. So far as we are able we put thy Name upon them: we name the Name of the Lord Jesus over them. The Lord Jesus bless them; teach them to follow Holiness, Peace, and a Heavenly Conversation. The Lord make them useful to each other. The Lord Jesus be a blessing to them, and me and all ours. The God of Peace and Consolation fill them with blessings according as thou seest every one stand in need of. To thee, O Lord, we commend them, do thou receive them, that under thy counsel they may be preserved blameless, until the day [of] Jesus, where we may all meet crowned with Glory. Amen.

Good day at the Evangelical Library

It was great today to be at the Evangelical Library with about fifty others for our study day on 1662 and nonconformity. People had come from a little distance in some cases, including even one man from Texas! 

Dr Garry Williams kicked us off with an excellent paper on the historical background. After a short break it was my turn to put some flesh on the bones, which I tackled by focusing on Thomas Manton, Joseph Alleine and Philip Henry. After lunch Dr Robert Oliver helpfully took us on through 1689 and beyond. We closed the day with a question time and discussion chaired by Robert Strivens.

It was a worthwhile day and it was good to be there. I am glad we were able to organise it. Big thanks to all who helped with drinks and registration. Dr Ian Densham kindly dealt with the recordings and these should be available in due time through the Evangelical Library.