10 Characteristics of God's Decree

1. Eternal
2. Sovereign
3. Infallible
4. Immutable
5. Unconditional
6. Specific
7. Comprehensive
8. Mysterious
9. Good and wise
10. Christ-centred and God glorifying

 (I got these from the new Systematic Theology by Beeke and Smalley)

Proto-Calvinism

People often think of predestination as something John Calvin (1509-1564) invented but in 1545 a primer or manual of prayers known as King Henry's Primer was published in English. It was apparently partly translated from the Latin of 1498. It contained this prayer (my italics).

 

O Jesu, King most worthy to be loved, and friend most to be desired, have mind of the sorrow that thou hadst when thou beheldest in thy mirror of thy most clear majesty the predestination of all thy chosen souls, that should be saved by the merits of thy passion; for mind of the deepness of thy great mercy which thou hadst upon us, lost and desperate sinners, and namely for the great mercy that thou shewedst to the thief that hung on the cross, saying this, This day thou shalt be with me in paradise, I pray thee, benign Jesu, to shew thy mercy on me in the hour of my death. So be it.

 

(See R Bainton, Women of the Reformation in France and England, p 168)

Brave

We went as a family last week to see the new Pixar movie Brave (see here). I was partly persuaded to go as the film features two songs (in English) sung by Julie Fowlis. Pixar always put on a good show anyway. The film was beautifully drawn and held interest right through. It could have done with a few more jokes, I guess. On the whole it was average for Pixar but Pixar are always above average. The story was quite fresh though as outlandish as ever. It deals with that age old question of fate or divine predestination as against free will or human responsibility. The world is unable to deal with this adequately, of course, and so the basic message here was that you have to make your own fate, which is about as close as a worldly view will get. Biblical Christians simply have to live with the tension between God's predestination and our human responsibility as typified in Newton's statement about preparing sermons as if there were no Holy Spirit and preaching as though all depended on him regardless.

Getting back to it

So this week has been mainly getting back into things. Some of the congregation are still away but some are back and some never left town. The main task has been working on my messages for Wednesday and Sunday, trying to get the notices and newsletter written and thinking about how things are going to shape up over the next few months. We were a very small number at the Midweek Meeting. I've put the message here.

Some things have been different though. Rhodri is in the midst of moving out so I've been helping there a little. On Tuesday evening Eleri and I celebrated our anniversary with a meal out at Pizza Express in Golders Green then watched a DVD, Sandra Bullock in Premonition - not a film I might have seen normally. Billed as a thriller it was in fact an interesting exploration of predestination and free will. Mildly Calvinistic in its theology it sought to deal with the problem by urging kindliness and love - there are worse messages out there! (A review I found says "No, this is not a great movie, but it is a well-produced little mystery that asks the audience to engage both mind and imagination, and that is a good thing!"). See trailer here.

I spent most of Wednesday in the Evangelical Library sitting in with a regular volunteer in the Librarian's absence. It was a very quiet day - only 4 or 5 in - and Miss H did most of what work needed to be done. I concentrated on reading (I'm still busy with Machen reading for next week's lectures I'm attending) and then had a little explore. I wanted something on the session of Christ. I found something by the 19th Century Presbyterian W S Plumer but not much (see here). There doesn't seem to be much on it about. I also noticed that the works of Schaeffer associate Hans Rookmaaker are now available in six fat volumes (have been since 2002 - I've been asleep!). They retail at £100 but you can get them on CD-rom for £24. I borrowed one volume to have a little look. I started with the interviews. There is one there with the interestingly named Marc De Klein (say it quickly and it may make you smile!). Being at the Library in that way was a good exercise for me as Chairman of the EL Board. One thing that impressed me was just how diverse our membership is (ethnically and otherwise). I'd not really realised that.

On Thursday the rest of the family were out most of the day visiting friends so I grabbed the chance to pop up to Kenwood House - something I'd wanted to do last week but hadn't got the chance to. It's only a short bus ride away. There were remarkably few people there (I'm sure I spotted a disproportionately high number of pregnant women). I spent a while in the gardens and especially in the house where they have quite an outstanding collection of (mostly 18th Century) stuff - Gainsborough, Reynolds, etc. I spotted a Richard Wilson I'd not seen before (the interest there is a Welshman painting a London scene). I had another long look at the Vermeer. The guitar player is not my favourite of his 36 extant paintings but it's growing on me. The Joseph Wright of Derby piece (Dressing the kitten) was out on loan as ever. Shame. They had two there by Guardi - not a name I knew. A Venetian, he is similar in style to the older Canaletto. Anyway, good fun in lovely weather. Every time I go there I resolve to go more often. Hope I do this time.