Westminster Fellowship July 2026

Thomas Cross, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I don't always mention the Westminster Fellwoship but I was there yesterday and it was a particularly good one. Around twenty gathered to hear Dr Garry Williams from London Seminary on the Davidic covenant and, as one would have expected, it was incisive and stiimulating as he interected with the Bible and the literature. His main focus was on a 1657 work called Mysterium & medulla bibliorum, the Mysterie and Marrow of the Bible by Francis Roberts (see above). We normally make our own arrangements for lunch but Henry Dixon arranged fro us to have sandwiches together and that worked well. This is my last official Westminster Fellowship (although I have agreed to speak next year). Once I am in Wales I am not sure if I will travel up (although Jeremy Bailey does regularly). I am also thinking through the while question of retired ministers and fraternals and conferences.

Banner Conference 2025 02

Tuesday at the Banner was a full day with an afternoon break featuring two morning addresses and two evening ones. We started with prayer and a very helpful message on lifetime ministry and the Son of God from Garry Williams who also spoke later in the day on the same subject. The second part of the morning was led by retired minister David Johnston on life and ministry, reflecting on the ministry of Moses. The last session of the day was from Jeff Kingswood from Canada on 1 Corinthians 15:58.

Garry Williams was particularly insightful and helpful as he took us to the temptations in the wilderness (particularly the third) at the beginning of Christ's ministry (Matthew 4) and Gethsemane at the end of it (Matthew 26). In the wilderness, Christ was the new Moses, the new Israel and the new Adam. Taking us to Psalm 2 he helpfully pointed out how the first two temptations begin If you are the Son of God ... whereas the third begins All this I will give you .... He pointed out that the problem was not so much with what the devil offered Jesus as with the menas he suggested for securing it. There was also a proper emphasis on Christ as Saviour first and then example.

In the second message on Gethsemane we had a full and helpful treatment of the theological difficulties and lessons to learn about stress in the ministry, with nice quotations from Hilary of Poitiers, John Calvin et al.

... And whence came his sorrow and anguish, and fear, but because he felt that death had something in it more sad and more dreadful than the separation of the soul and body? And certainly he underwent death, not merely that he might depart from earth to heaven, but rather that, by taking upon himself the curse to which we were liable, he might deliver us from it. He had no horror at death, therefore, simply as a passage out of the world, but because he had before his eyes the dreadful tribunal of God, and the Judge himself armed with inconceivable vengeance; and because our sins, the load of which was laid upon him, pressed him down with their enormous weight. There is no reason to wonder, therefore, if the dreadful abyss of destruction tormented him grievously with fear and anguish. Calvin

That which He has not assumed, He has not healed. Gregory of Nazianzus

Jesus dies on the cross, but not of the cross. B B Warfield

Pastors Academy Christmas Reformed

 

Had a very nice morning at the seminary last Thursday with about 15 others in the capable hands of Garry Williams. There are various approaches to the season for churches and I have long held my own view but it was good to hear Garry tackle it theologically. The view is basically that it is perfectly appropriiate to look at the theme od the incarnation at any time of the year and that inckudes December. We were warned against infantilising the story and misunderstanding what actually happened. This was all bulked out with some solid expostion of Matthew 1, much appreciated as that is the very place I hope to preach from this Christmas.

London Seminary Annual Thanksgiving 2021

It was a great pity not to be able to be at the seminary today for the end of year meeting. At least we were able to tune into YouTube for a live feed. About 70 were watching. (I have no idea of how many were present at the Kensit Church). The meeting was chaired by Hugh Collier and after Bill James's upbeat report on what has been a difficult year some 13 leaving students spoke. This included a Frenchman who will be working in Paris and two Dutchmen already back in the Netherlands. Benjamin Saunders has been based with us (not that there has been much opportunity for interaction, sadly) and will be going on to work with Robert Strivens in Bradford on Avon, where Dan Jarvis is originally from. James Tredgett is an LCM evangelist. One man was leaving to be a music minister in an Anglican church. Such a statement bemuses me as do one or two other things about the seminary. Garry Williams preached a fine sermon from Isaiah 6.

The recording is available. Click here.

Pastors' Academy Conference 2019 Sons of Jacob Day 1

We had a very good first day of conference at the seminary today with Academy leader Garry Williams giving us two sessions and US based Mark Garcia, president of Greystones Theological Institute. About 40 of us were present. Garry spoke on the subject of typology, giving a brief and interesting history and urging a cautious but willing use of typology. His focus was on the story of Joseph. He sought to lay down parameters for the employment of this tool. We had a good couple of discussions on the subject with several taking part.

Mark Garcia spoke at the end of the day on Genesis 38. He began with these observations

1. We should be happy to admit that its placing is jarring and unexpected at first sight
2. Tamar reminds us of Eve and her desire to be blessed with children and to see Messiah
3. There is also the link forward to David and his family, including a namesake Tamar
4. Tamar is the first woman mentioned in the New Testament
5. At the very end of the canon we meet the final king Christ on his throne, the lion of the tribe of Judah who has a glorious bride, which takes us back not just to Eve but to Tamar.

The story is a smaller type scene of the larger Joseph type scene. Dr Garcia focussed on the moment where Tamar asks Judah to recognise whose beongings she had. This echoes the request of Jacob's sons to him to recognise Joseph's coat.

At the end of Ruth Tamar is remembered in reference to fruitfulness

Here in Genesis 38 is a type scene 

Expectation is followed by deception and counter-deception, admission of guilt and final denoument. There are many examples of this in Scripture.

Judah deceives Tamar just as his son has. It is Judah who in the wider Joseph narrative is the spokesman for the deception toward Jacob. Again in th wider narrative we have Joseph remaining unknown to his brothers adn so on, leading to a similar revealing and resolution moment.

When preaching we might want to back further and point out how the story refects the history of the world. Thecross is the final resolution.

Very stimulating stuff, and a good discussion again to follow.

John Owen Centre Conference 2017 Day 1

The two day conference at the London Seminary/John Owen Centre in Finchley began yesterday and continues today. We were around 50 again. There seems to be a core of twenty or thirty of us with another changing bunch of newcomers and occasional attenders. The atmosphere is a good one - theological but with a practical edge. We are all men this time I think, mostly pastors. The theme is two brothers (in Genesis) inspired I'm sure by the nearby fish restaurant. David Green kicked us off with a fascinating walk through the various birth narratives found in Scripture focusing on the birth of brothers but culminating with the birth of Christ. He was keen to debunk Matthew Henry and the way moral lessons are drawn from a story like that of Lot and his daughters. People seemed persuaded but I think we should be slow to jettison past exegetical insights too quickly. The points made on this and Tamar were very helpful nevertheless.

Garry Williams ended up taking both the other two sessions, due to the illness of Flavien Pardigon. Garry looked at Abel and his death and at Galatians 4 a classic exegetical minefield. As we have come to expect these were thorough and thought provoking presentations. Some of the new covenant types were not so happy with his understanding of Sinai but there was general appreciation. I though the paper on Abel was particularly good.

So good papers, good conversation in between times with friends new and old and good discussion following each paper this was an excellent day and a great blessing to all who were present.

10 Things - a nice website

As readers of this blog, we like lists of 10 here. Most of these lists are rather inconsequential I'm afraid but look at this website here for any number of such lists well worth a decko. See here.

Here's ten by Garry Williams on God's love.

1. God’s love is incomprehensible
2. God’s love can be known
3. God is known by analogy
4. The pictures of God in the Bible regulate themselves, including pictures of his love
5. We quickly leap to the wrong conclusions about God’s love
6. God’s love must be "read" within the rest of what Scripture teaches about his divine attributes
7. God’s love must be "read" especially within what Scripture teaches about his triune life
8. Reading God’s love in its wider context keeps us from error
9. Understanding the different manner of God’s love helps us to see its immeasurable magnitude
10. God’s love truly perceived always draws out from us a response of love

Banner UK 2017 Final Sessions Garry Williams, Ed Collier

Our final morning was given over to two sessions. The first was a second message from Garry Williams, this time on the living Word.

The main argument was that while we must get back to Bible days we must also get forward again to today, not in a liberal or Barthian sense but an evangelical one. We are not eavesdropping on what God said to others but we are hearing the very Word of Gdo to us. The technical work of recapturing the context is important but it is only part of the work. The Bible is designed for believers in all ages.

He finished with six wonderful consequences, etc

1. An incredible demonstration of the genius of God

Everything that will ever come up has been covered already in God's Word

2. It is present to all time

Bavinck

Scripture is the ongoing rapport between heaven and earth, between Christ and His church, between God and His children. It does not just tie us to the past; it binds us to the living Lord in the heavens. It is the living voice of God, the letter of the omnipotent God to His creature. God once created the world by the word, and by that word He also upholds it [Heb. 1:2, 3]. But He also re-creates it by the word and prepares it to be His dwelling. Divine inspiration, accordingly, is a permanent attribute of Holy Scripture. It was not only ‘God-breathed’ at the time it was written; it is ‘God-breathing.’

You can open the Bible with your three year old adn they can hear God speak.

3. The risen Jesus is present to us now in all the fullness of who he is

4. Where Jesus is Satan will be

5. Preach it in a way that fits its character

Exegesis will not be enough nor even just application. People need a bold Word from God today. 

6. Doesn't the whole meeting need to reflect that?

Does each part of the service reflect what the Bible is? The Lord's Day ought to be the most dramatic day of the week.

Michael Horton "something dramatic and important is happening" when we gather before God.

His final illustration referred, I think, to Dan Smith’s Dream Shop and Tool Chest, which is a collection of woodworking tools to satisfy the most avid woodworker. His point is that in the Bible we have such a dream shop and tool chest.

The second half of the morning was the conference sermon from Ed Collier of Sheffield on the Parable of the Sower from Mark 4. He spoke very warmly and well on what he called "a perseverance producing parable for preachers" that brings about both realism and hope and expectation.

Looking at the sower the seed and the soils he made two main points

1 There will be frustrations

Some will be 
1 Snatched away

"Whatever odd ideas might come into a man’s head when he was shut up alone with his books, a healthy dose of 'real life'… was enough to show him that all 'that sort of thing' just couldn’t be true." C S Lewis (Screwtape)

2 Scorched away
3 Strangled away
2. But there will be fruit
The yields promised are way beyond what might have been expected at that time.
We are not always best placed to know how fruitful we are being. We need to rest our assurance of fruit on what the Lord's promise.
It also often takes a long time to appear. harvests take time.

Banner UK 2017 Session 3 Garry Williams

On our first full day of conference our first speaker was Dr Garry Williams on the subject of a functional doctrine of Scripture. We began with a reminder that at the root of the Reformation was a rediscovery of Scripture as originally given. Unlike Luther the scholastic Zwingli and Calvin were humanist scholars and all their lives they took a humanist approach. Luther too was involved very much in a close engagement with Scripture.

Garry's plan is to look at the literary Word of God this time and the living Word of God next time. Some take the view that a commitment to one mitigates against a commitment to the other . However, the more committed we are to the literary, the better we will be able to treat it as the living Word. This is assuming the ordinary means. One caveat is that God cannot be put in a box and it is true that God can use the weakest of sermons, even errors in sermons! Even unregenerate preachers can be used!

Nevertheless, if we slacken our grip on the literary Word then we are failing to grapple with it at all.
Further caveats. There are many wrong ways of seeing the Bible in literary terms. It is not just an ANE text, it is a divine ANE text. We cannot read it just like any other book. We have a vigorous doctrine of the origin of Scripture and so we should have an equally vigorous one of Scripture and how it is to be interpreted. It is not enough to look at Scripture in purely human terms. We need to have in mind the divine dimension. n the other hand, we must take careful note of the context. Vern Poythress argues that "Because God is all-wise, he takes into account social and historical circumstances when he communicates to people in particular circumstances. In fact, he takes circumstances into account thoroughly, much more so than a merely human author with human limitations."
Further, we cannot get always so caught up in detail that we fail to get the message across. The message this morning is really just a reminder that we must, nevertheless, give full attention to detail. John's comment at the end of his Gospel about there being more to tell than can be recorded alerts us to the fact that every little detail is important.

1. The details of a text can locate the text in its right place
Eg 2 Samuel 11
... From the roof he saw a woman washing. The woman was very beautiful, (good) and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, ‘She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’ Then David sent messengers to get her ....
David is like Adam and so as great a king as he was, he is not the King we need as Christ is.
2.  The details of a text often reveal the nature of it
Eg Genesis 11:1-9

This passage also raises the theological question of what punishment is and shows that punishment is an answer to sin. Jonathan Edwards said "Sin says, God is a despicable being, and not worthy that the sinner should fear him; and so affronts him without fear." God answers such affrontery.
3. The details of a text can show us the character of God
That is something that is also seen in the Genesis passage. The quid pro quo of the passage shows that God is what Owen calls "a rational fire".

Application
1 Read more in biblical studies we were told.
2 Isn't this a remedy to tediousness?
3 Delight in the fact we have a detailed text. We need such a book to describe such a God.

New Appointment at The John Owen Centre

Garry Williams Director The John Owen Centre London Seminary writes

I am delighted to be able to tell you that the John Owen Centre has appointed John Benton, of Chertsey Street Baptist Church in Guildford and Managing Editor of Evangelicals Now, to a new role providing pastoral support for pastors.

John’s ministry will broaden the ways in which London Seminary seeks to provide life-long help for pastors through the John Owen Centre, complementing our existing theological work.

As I meet with pastors on our Study Projects to help them with their theological work, I am struck by how often our conversation turns to the ups and downs of ministry. Many are thriving, but my sense is that more are struggling, and a significant minority are in serious difficulty and on the brink of leaving the ministry - a fact confirmed by the sad attrition rate for pastors. I frequently find myself thinking ‘Wouldn’t it be good if we had an experienced pastor available to sit down to spend time talking this through properly, offering biblical counsel and sharing the wisdom that he has gained during a long ministry'. This is the role that John will fill. As we have met with John it has been exciting to hear him speak about his vision for the role, his deep understanding of the challenges that pastors face, and the ways in which he has already been used by the Lord to help and encourage younger men in ministry.

John will begin the work in January 2017. He will be available to meet with pastors 1:1 to provide them with counsel, support and encouragement. His work will not involve mediation, and it is intended to complement and encourage rather than to bypass existing pastoral support structures. If you are a pastor and would like to arrange to meet with John when he starts, please contact us (johnowen@londonseminary.org). I will write later with further information on John’s availability to teach groups of pastors on topics relating to the challenges of ministry.

John Owen Centre Annual Conference 2016 Day 1

Over fifty men gathered yesterday at the John Owen Centre in Finchley to consider the Old Testament figure Melchizedek. This first day was very much an in house affair with new boy Flavien Pardigon giving two sessions, first on the passages in Genesis, Psalm 110 and Hebrews that refer to the priest king, and then on the matter of hermeneutics more generally, in light of the way the subsequent writers make use of the Genesis material. Monsieur Pardigon is an engaging speaker with a straightforward style but (as he himself admitted) little grasp of time (I notice he spends a lot of time in Africa). What he had to say was helpful, although I did not think he needed to be disparaging about the grammatico-historical method. It seemed to me that was the approach he was using - but I may have misunderstood. The final session of the day was led by Garry Williams, Director of the Centre. He took us back to the matter of original sin, which arises from the writer to the Hebrews' comments on Levi being in Abraham's loins, as it were. Garry looked at Shedd and Hodge, examples of two extremes on this matter - Shedd at the Traducian end and Hodge at the federal. With John Murray he argued for a more tempered view. I must admit I got bit lost at some point. Anyway a good day. Perhaps we could have had more discussion but it was good to meet friends old and new adn set one's mind on Scripture afresh. Looking forward to today.

John Owen Centre Annual Conference 2015 Day 2

Our second day of conference has been refreshing again. We were around 60 or so once more - a slightly different 60 from yesterday.

Garry Williams started us off with a paper arguing against the everything is ordinary approach that suggests that everything inimalized so that the divinely different in Christian worship is removed. “God does not indwell a place as he is always in us by his Spirit" goes the argument "and our whole lives are worship so someone should be able to move from mowing the lawn into public worship without setting off any alarm, until the single moment of preaching the cross.”

Garry countered with a theology of the divine presence of God, who fills all things - not circumscriptively or definitively but repletively (He added three clarifications - Creation is 'contained' by him, not him by it; God is everywhere but in a non-physical manner [not by mixture, division, multiplication, extension or diffusion]. There are different types of divine presence. He is present everywhere by essence. He is distinctively present by visibility and activity, by operational omnipresence. In heaven is “the court of his majestical presence, but not the prison of his essence” (Charnock). With his people he is present graciously and covenantally. In hell, by essence and wrath. He leaves and attends - “he departs from us when he leaves us to the frowns of his justice; he comes to us when he encircles us in the arms of his mercy” (Charnock)

His essential presence is foundational. Examples of applying the distinctions would include the presence of God in corporate worship and especially preaching, the Lord's Supper and prayer. Ethos and habit is the thing here. The question is not How would you behave if Jesus was here (bodily) but what are the practical implications of the fact Christ is here to do this? It is not A speaking to B about C but C to B in the words of A. This leads to fear and joy. How should we conduct ourselves in public worship? In sum, in a way that is appropriate to what God is doing.

Discussion followed. After lunch Bill James spoke helpfully on the means of grace as identified by Garry beforehand and again said helpful things. I chaired that one (hence no photo of Bill, sorry). Gerard Hemmings brought things together to close giving us boast important principles from Matthew 13 and some pragmatic suggestions for growing conservative churches.

Covenant Theology at the John Owen

It was possible once again this week to sit in as an auditor for a series of lectures from Garry Williams on Covenant Theology. There was a  bumper turn out of some 14 men, most of whom are doing the MTh course. Garry's approach was to give us his notes with a series of questions which we worked through as well as tackling a number of set texts (by Boston, Petto, etc) presented by the students working for credits. It was great to work through the material on the various covenants trying to come to some conclusions on the various issues. If they repeat the course, it is one well worth attending.

His love endures forever

The new book by Garry Williams on the love of God, His love endures forever is a great read. Its twelve chapters are characterised not only by an unsurprising theologicality but also by a good deal of devotion, very important for such a subject (each chapter ends with a meditation of varying length and a short prayer - rather Anglican then but okay). Garry also has a nice way with his illustrations and supporting stories, some covering several pages. Not an academic book there are plenty of footnotes and a measured tone. The burden of the book is that we understand God's love as it is set out for us in God's Word rather than in terms of any merely human understanding. Few people will find it difficult to read and it is commended to all and sundry as an excellent opportunity to immerse oneself in what is a central and vital doctrine. The bibliography at the end is also useful. I thought the chapter on The love of an ever-present Father was particularly well handled.

Semper Reformanda

It was good to be at the fraternal in LTS last Tuesday, The North London Network. Garry Williams spoke on always reforming. The bulk of his excellent paper (very similar to the one given at last year's Banner conference - but we were allowed to interrupt). The bulk of the time was given over to delineating false conservatism as described by Abraham Kuyper in 1870 in his "Conservatism and Orthodoxy: False and True Preservation" .

The seven sins of false conservatism were outlined in this way

1. It denies the resurrection principle at the gospel's heart

2. It limits the historic progressive flow of the kingdom

3. It warps major doctrines such as the inspiration of Scripture and the Christian life

4. It encourages a proxy Christianity

5. It preserves transient forms but not the essential core

6. It fosters a gloomy and desperate nostalgia

7. It is marked by a fearful retreat from the present

 

Lord's Day May 11 2014

By God's grace I was able to get along to church again last Lord's Day. All the novelty of the previous week was gone and so it was  something of an effort. I slept all afternoon to make sure I was up for the evening service. Robert was preaching in Bradford and Andrew in Cambridgeshire but Garry Williams (Director of the John Owen Centre) kindly came in the morning and in the evening Adrian Diaper (former LTS student now pastoring in Rickstones, Essex). Both had interesting things to say - Garry on Christ the Shepherd (from Mark 6:6b-44) and Adrian on the resurrection focusing on the opening of Revelation (and 1 Peter). Neither was keen on firstly, secondly, thirdly, which I love but they were easy to listen to and made challenging and apt points to believer and unbeliever alike. One of our deacons led in the morning. We were slightly down on numbers perhaps but not noticeably. One unusual feature of the day was the arrival, morning and evening (and at our tea together at 5 pm), of 10 Romanians (Roma may be). They have hardly any English and have come in search of work, having nowhere to live or anything much more than the clothes they stand in. They appear to be Pentecostal Christians of some sort. Free movement of persons may all sound very dandy on paper but it creates a host of problems. It is hard to see what we can do to help them. Thankfully a Romanian speaker in the congregation was able with Garry to get across the gist of the sermon at the end of the morning meeting.

Noah Conference at the John Owen Centre

I haven't been able to report until now on the John Owen Centre conference on Noah, partly because I have been suffering with toothache (I actually missed Stephen Clark's Lloyd-Jones lecture on Noah and the future on the Monday night, though I hear it was good).

On day one we had Steffen Jenkins and Garry Williams looking at Noah in a biblical theological way. Steffen simply looked at the text in Genesis 6-9 and spoke of the context in Genesis 1-5, the ruin of creation while God remained steadfast in purpose (6:1-8), Noah the new Adam and Noah's new world the global foundation of all future salvation. Garry looked at the Noahic Covenant dissenting from VanDrunen (see elsewhere on this blog) and arguing that it is redemptive.

On day two we had Ian Hamilton on the faith of Noah, Mark Garcia in America (by the wonders of modern technology) on Noah, the church and the sacraments (on ravens, doves and rainbows) and Geoff Gobbett on Noah the preacher for preachers.

It was all very interesting and stimulating. I'm sure most of us are not as well thougt through as we ought to be on Noah and his covenant. Steffen Jenkins (a new name to me) was perhaps the most stimulating with his very thorough exegesis of the Scriptures in Genesis regarding Noah. Garry Williams and Mark Garcia were also very interesting. The conference as whole was a blessing and the discussion of a good standard. Around fifty were there. The recordings are worth looking out for.

Here are some quotations that struck me

Steffen Jenkins quoted Gordon Wenham saying "The call of Abraham is the answer to the problems of the world" (See Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey)

Ian Hamilton quoted Bavinck saying, in his Dogmatics (III) “common grace and special grace…flow in a single channel” and Calvin on Romans 4:20 " Let us also remember, that the condition of us all is the same with that of Abraham. All things around us are in opposition to the promises of God: He promises immortality; we are surrounded with mortality and corruption: He declares that he counts us just; we are covered with sins: He testifies that he is propitious and kind to us; outward judgements threaten his wrath. What then is to be done? We must with closed eyes pass by ourselves and all things connected with us, that nothing may hinder or prevent us from believing that God is true."

Geoff Gobbett quoted George Orwell (in the novel 1984) "In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act." and Boris Johnson writing several years ago in response to a horrible crime

"Bourgeois Britain is going through a bit of a panic about the role of God in society, largely fuelled by nervousness of Islam. Attacks are made on faith schools, or on BA staff who wear the cross, and the idea seems to be that we can only voice reservations about one religion if we bash them all impartially.

That is why Richard Dawkins is having such a soaraway success with an atheist tract called The God Delusion, ...

Alert readers of this column will know that my own faith is a very feeble tinsel object. I sometimes think there might be some kind of celestial radio signal, but it is about as intelligible as Radio Tirana. ... My only thought, as I stare at the faces of Carty and Brown, is that, if we throw out religion, then we lose a useful tool in changing lives. You and I lead comfortable existences, full of pleasure and interest, and generally so heavily regulated that we do not face that many moral challenges. We may feel that we do not have much of a spiritual void to fill.

But look at these creeps, the shambles of "sperm fathers" and gang warfare and violence. It's not so much that they have been deprived of love, but that they have been deprived of authority of any kind, and our feminised paedophile-obsessed culture means there is less and less chance that they will find a male role model in the classroom.

However ludicrous it may seem, religion sets boundaries; it suggests to bad and loveless people that they are loved. It provides a framework.

Of course it would be nice if Carty and Brown were not recruited to some militant Islamic group; it would be nice if they turned to the good old milquetoast Church of England. But it doesn't really matter. We can't just string these people up. We can't flog them. We are forced to incarcerate and hope for the best.

Before we go all the way with Dawkins and chuck out religion, we should look at the savage and remorseless faces of Carty and Brown, and reflect that, if we are to have any hope of changing them for the better, then God is a useful card for society to keep up its sleeve." (See article here)

Noah Conference

Hoping to be at the Noah Conference at the John Owen Centre Monday and Tuesday. More here. A little bird told me one of the sessions will be on Skype.

EMA 2013 Day 3

A combination of events today meant that I only caught the session with Garry Williams. So I missed both main Mark Dever sessions somehow and only caught his seminar, which I now see is all pretty much written out here. The irony is that it was Dever's presence that helped me decide to come. That and the opportunity to meet people. I particularly enjoyed spending an hour with my friend Paul Pease from Hook. What a good bloke.

So, Garry Williams. He was given the history slot and looked at Augustine's City of God by briefly surveying Augustine's life and background then giving us an anatomy of the cities of God and earth and three applications. Garry is not as hip as Mike Reeves (no dead white guys here, rather references to amateur dramatics and secondary authors) but he is able to read big books and succinctly synthesise and summarise them and that is quite a skill. Simply to hear someone in this context say that we need theologians not pragmatists is a breath of fresh air. It would be interesting to know what members of the state church (half the people there were Anglicans) thought of his contention that the state is not neutral.

The anatomy

1. Only unfallen angels and saved people are in the City of God. All others are outside of it.

2. Both cities manifest themselves in different ways down the years of history.

3. Satan is behind the earthly city.

4. Both cities are driven by love - love for God or love for self.

5. You can, therefore, rightly understand the earthly city as being dominated by disordered love. He added that Augustine believed that all created things are innately good. Satan creates nothing he only destroys. By nature it is as if man is hanging upside down.

6. The earthly city is divided against itself. Self-idolisation means everyone wants to be God and so the lust for dominion means peace is impossible.

7. The earthly city ends in eternal death.

The application

1. There is no neutral ground and so we must expect conflict.

2. Don't pin your hopes on this world.

3. Where is the earthly city? Out there but we are not without sin and the need for grace and repentance is constant.

*

So a good conference on the whole. The venue just about works. I'd hate to think what they are paying for it (they charged us £82 more than you will pay for next week at the Met Tab). It is all set for next year too and you can book now. I've already forgotten the memorable title they've chosen. (I can't see many people paying £6 for the lunches next year if they are not improved). Dominated by non-Anglicans and in a neutral venue, the claim that this is not an Anglican conference looked stronger than ever this year. As with all conferences, the best thing about it is the chance to meet old friends and new which I very much enjoyed.

LTS Alumni

Principal Robert Strivens

Garry Williams of the John Owen Centre

Bill James speaking

 

The gathered alumni and present students

Today I was at the first meeting of the LTS Alumni. About fifty gathered with the present students and staff. Philip and Jenny Eveson were there too. We had lunch together and then Nathan Pomeroy chaired and we heard Irving Steggles (Chairman of the Board), Dr Strivens and Dr Williams. Bill James then spoke and we had a time of prayer and a cuppa. Good time indeed. I was the second oldest there (in terms of attending the college - I came in '81). Only Tim Burdon and Andrew Heron are senior. Someone said Mike Plant was there who beats us all but it must have been a flying visit. A bonus was seeing Miguel Pabalito from The Philippines and Clinton Stone (as well as Irving) from South Africa. of course, it was so brief that I didn't get to speak to all the people I wanted to. At least 50 people missing too.