This article was found in the July 1950 copy of Progress, the monthly magazine of the Romford Congregational Church. It was written by R. A. Newman In the middle of the last century some little Irish boys were complaining to each other that the Church Catechism, which they had to learn, was dreadfully dull and dreary. Their godmother, Mrs. Alexander, overheard their remarks and set herself the task to write verses which would make the Catechism clear, which resulted in the boys becoming full of interest; and thus was born some of the best beloved hymns the world over, e.g.: All things bright and beautiful All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful The Lord God made them all. (Expands the truth of "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth, etc."). Once in Royal David's City Stood a lowly cattle shed, Where a mother laid her baby, etc. (Drawn from the words: "And in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, etc."). The most famous of them all, perhaps, had its first verse suggested to her by the fact that, when driving into the city of Londonderry on shopping expeditions (a city surrounded by walls) she passed a little grass covered hill, which reminded her of Calvary. When expounding to her little godsons the words: "Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, etc." the spot above referred to came to her mind and she thereupon wrote: There is a green hill far away Without a city wall, Where the dear Lord was crucified Who died to save us all. Mrs. Alexander wrote over 400 hymns, but this perhaps was the most tender and inspiring of them all. She was born in Ireland in 1823. Her father, Major Humphrey, served in the Royal Marines. Little Cecil began writing verses when only nine years old. She used to hide her poems under a carpet: this one day reached her father's ears, and he gave her every encouragement. In 1850 she married the Rev. Wm. Alexander, who later became Primate of All Ireland, and went to her rest in 1895, at the age of 72 years. Others which are well known to us, e.g.:
Another favourite of little children is: Looking upward every day Sunshine on our faces; Pressing onward every day Toward the heavenly places. It was written by Mary Butler, who lived from 1841 to 1916. She had a little niece Mary H. Butler, who was at the age of 13 confirmed at Shrewsbury in 1874, and it was a very memorable day for the child, leaving an indelible mark on mind and heart for the rest of her life. At the Confirmation Service a specially written hymn was composed by her aunt, and sung for the first time: Looking upward every day. It has been very popular ever since. There is one verse missing from our book: Every day more gratefully Kindnesses receiving, Every day more readily Injuries forgiving. I should think that Charles' Wesley's most popular, and best known, children's hymn is the one many thousands of little folk learned at their mother's knee: Gentle Jesus; meek and mild. John B. Gough at his Temperance Meetings used to tell the following story: A friend of mine seeking for objects of charity, got into the upper room of a tenement house. It was vacant and he saw a ladder pushed through the ceiling. He climbed up and found himself under the rafters. He saw a heap of chips and shavings and on these a small boy about 10 years of age. "Boy what are you doing here?" "Hush, don't tell anybody please sir, I am hiding." "Where's your mother?" "Please sir, mother is dead." "Where's your father?" "Hush, don't tell him sir, but look here." The boy turned himself on his face, and through the rags, it could be seen that his flesh was bruised and his skin broken. "Why, my boy, who beat you like that?" "Father did, sir." - "Why did he do it?" "Father got drunk sir, and beat me cos I wouldn't steal." "Did you ever steal?" "Yes, sir, I was a street thief once." "And why don't you steal now?" "Please sir, I went to the mission school, and they taught me it was wrong, and I'll never steal again, if my father kills me for it, but please don't tell him," "My boy, you cannot stay here," said the gentleman, "wait a little time and I will go and see a lady who will help me to find a better place for you than this." "Thank you sir," said the little fellow, "but would you like me to sing a little hymn." "Yes," said the gentleman, and the boy raised himself on his elbow, bruised and battered, friendless, motherless, and sang: "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon a little child; Pity my simplicity. Suffer me to come to Thee. Fain I would to Thee be bought Dearest Lord, forbid it not; In the Kingdom of Thy Grace Give a little child a place." "That's the little hymn sir. Goodbye." The gentleman went away and returned in less than two hours to take the little laddie to a home where he would be cared for. He climbed the ladder. There were the chips and the shavings, and there was the boy, with one hand by his side, and the other tucked in his bosom underneath the little ragged shirt - dead.
The Gentle Jesus had called him to a better home.
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As per last week, what follows is a compilation of extracts from Roots and some of my own thoughts, I have been attempting since 2009 to help by leading worship at Nelmes, at the start I used a library of events that had occurred on my travels, meeting with Christian folk, recounting situations that had impacted on me. At the beginning it was nerve racking it still is in 2020, both myself & Barry have over this time taken quite a few services, I think we would both say it doesn’t get any easier. So when I thought about creating Blogs during lockdown I probably didn’t think it through thoroughly, I have found writing sermons harder as the years have passed, gone are my work related stories, people at Nelmes will know that over the last couple of years I have used articles from newspapers to help to craft my message. So this Blog may not be as long as previous ones, but I hope the message is still there. - Keith Finch THE SPIRIT BESIDE US:
The Father loves you, The Son loves you, The Spirit loves you. Come and show your love. Amen. Spirit of truth, come close to us. Unite us in the body of Christ. Enable us to worship God in Spirit and in truth. Help us to support and encourage each other. Help us to love as we are loved. Sprit of truth, come and abide in us. Amen I will be using the reading from John 14: 15-21 for today’s blog, the other lectionary readings for Sunday 17th include, Acts 17: 22-31, Psalm 66: 8-20, 1 Peter 3: 13-22. I spoke last week about my Garden, how I was managing during the current problems, even if Garden centers do open I intend to cope without bedding plants, to attempt to adapt using what I have & hopefully what I have grown from seed! Gospel: John 14.15-21 The theme in this speech by Jesus spirals back round to the centrality of love (see 13.34). Loving Jesus becomes evident when we obey his commandments, the central one of which is to love as he has loved us. To help us in this, Jesus will ask the Father to give us another ‘Advocate’ who will be with us for ever, who is also called the Spirit. The Greek word translated ‘advocate’ literally means the one ‘called to your side’ and could equally be translated ‘intercessor’, ‘counsellor’ or ‘intermediary’ – and probably by a number of other words too. It is the word used in the Greek version of the Old Testament for the comforters who came to Job, so one could add a positive version of ‘comforter’ to the list. When Jerome was translating the New Testament into Latin, he felt that the term was intentionally broad and inclusive, so instead of choosing just one word and therefore one meaning, he simply turned the sounds of the Greek word into Latin, giving the term ‘Paraclete’. The Paraclete is the one who guides, counsels and consoles us, and speaks up on our behalf. Crucially, the Paraclete will never desert us in our hour of need. This speech then flows on naturally from discussing our relationship with the Paraclete to discussing our relationship with Jesus and with the Father. The kind of mutual indwelling that Jesus describes (e.g. ‘he abides with you and he will be in you’, and ‘I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you’) makes it clear that our relationship with the Paraclete is not something distinct from our relationship with Jesus and the Father, but is all bound up in that oneness with God that ensures we are not left orphans. Sources: Roots 17th May 2020 This article was written by A. Van den Brock in June 1950 and was found in a copy of Progress, the monthly magazine of Romford Congregational Church During prayer the men stand and the women remain seated. During the singing the whole congregation remains seated.
The Church takes the religious education of its youth very seriously. Although she realises that faith is the first of God she nevertheless also realises the truth of St Paul's words" "So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." She therefore teaches the Word of God to her youth starting at Sunday School and then continuing in the Boy's Clubs and Young Men's Clubs and Young Women's Clubs. The main business of these clubs is the study of the Bible, although other subjects like Missionary Literature and so on are also being discussed. All clubs have good libraries. Then there are the classes held by the Minister, usually divided in about five different groups leading up to the last class from where pupils may apply to be allowed to join the church. Every class meets as a rule for one hour a week. Although faith in Christ as our Saviour is regarded as sufficient evidence whereupon one may be accepted as a member of the Church, it is usually required from the candidates that a certain knowledge of the Bible and the creeds should have been obtained in accordance with the various intellectual standards of the new members. Few Churches have a choir, but many churches practice community hymn singing one evening a week. The Minister is being assisted in the services on a Sunday by one of his deacons who reads the hymns, reads the lesson and makes the announcements. There is in many churches a short prayer meeting immediately preceding the service held in the vestry and only attended by the deacons and the Minister. Immediately following this prayer service the Minister is accompanied to the pulpit by one of his deacons and with a handshake the deacon commits him to the help pf God. At the end of the service the congregation stands in silent prayer while the Minister and his deacons return to the vestry to end the service with a private prayer meeting. The collections are taken in small bags and not on collection plates. The idea as far as I have always been able to ascertain is to have as much secrecy as possible and not to let the left hand know what the right hand is doing, nor let the right eye see what the left hand of our neighbour is doing. The collections in Holland are certainly a black spot in the religious life. I have always been surprised at the statement of the amounts of the collections in our Church here, and most certainly any Dutch church would be jealous of such collections. In every service there is a separate collection for the poor and in the big cities a distribution of money is very often made to the poor by the diaconate at the end of each morning service. Holy Communion is not celebrated as regularly as in our churches here. The reason no doubt being that the deacons regard it as their duty to see everyone who wants to take part in the communion personally, in order to point out the grave danger of partaking in this Holy Sacrament without searching themselves first whether the right relationship exists between God and ourselves. They read the warning of St Paul that we can under certain circumstances eat and drink damnation to ourselves as grave enough to charge themselves with that duty. I think they sometimes hinder people to take part in the service, but may we judge? It certainly is very inspiring to hear an open invitation like we may hear it in church here and although a searching of our heart will no doubt make us feel guilty of many shortcomings and grave mistakes, is not God's love in Christ always bigger than out shortcomings? Needless of course to say that there is none of the Roman Catholic doctrines left in the Dutch Reformed Church that the bread is being transformed during the communion service into the body of Christ, or the wine into His blood. The Church in Holland baptises young children in a baptismal service very much alike to a baptismal service in our Congregational Church. I would say however that although her conception of the baptism is not of an ultra Calvinistic nature, the Church does regard the baptism as "the washing of regeneration" according to St Paul's Epistle to Titus, chapter 3:5. The Church also regards it as a first sign of God's grace to the baby that it was born into a family, the parents of which care to ask that the baby might be brought into God's covenant and receive the sign and seal thereof. It has always been a point of much strife and unbrotherly argument in the Church in how far this theory and the whole theory of predestination could be argued out yet or ever will because it is so much a subjectivity and not and objectivity. Our outlook in this all depends upon our relationship to God. As already said, the churches are governed by the deacons locally, and the deacons are elected for two years only, after which period they can be re-elected again after two years of absence from the diaconate. Unfortunately, the members of the churches were not always willing to undertake their duties towards the church and this has prompted a later much regretted action, namely the action to institute election bodies who did all the election work for the members. They were instituted for a period of ten years and only the death of a member caused a vacancy. This practice is now however being discontinued as much as possible. Over and above the local diaconate is the regional Classis which meets once a month. This Classis also sends a church visitor regularly to all churches, who sits for an investiture in the vestry one hour a month to hear complaints from any member who thinks anything has happened in the church which is not in accordance with the Bible or the doctrines. The regional Classis appoints deputies to the provincial synods held every quarter and they also appoint deputies for the national synod held once a year. Just a few closing words now about the various lines or directions of thought in the Church. There are confessionalists, i.e. those members who want to live out of and in accordance with the confession of the Church very strictly. There are the ethicists, who do not care so much about the confession but who pay much attention to the ethics of their religion and try to show forth their will to live as Christ has set us an example - as they say. They form what we call in Holland the right hand of the left wing of the Church. To the extreme left stands the modernist, who denies that Christ was God and who does not believe in miracles or in the inspiration of the Bible. More to the extreme right are the re-formed group of believers who although they accept the Gospel as divine truth never seem to be able to accept it for themselves. They have done much harm to the Church in as much as they have so often been the cause of demonstrations of faith, which have to be given by the Church as a whole, being abandoned. In my opinion it is a great pity that Dutch Theologians have lent themselves to be wholly and solely devoted to one of these various ways of thinking, instead of trying to bring all groups and thought more closely together. With the exclusion of the ultra modernists, I think all the other groups can claim to be guided by the Holy Spirit who will, however, lead us in all the truth and not just in one truth. There is a great desire in the Dutch Church nowadays to bring the various directions of thinking close together and member are recommended to try to speak more to members who think differently to themselves, and try to bring down the barriers which divide brothers. It is called "church members' conversation" and is recommended on a private basis, not in meetings of many members at the same time. Is there anything the Church in Holland could learn from the Church in England? I would say "Yes". It seems to me, e.g. that the Church in England is putting more effort in the attempt to influence the world through a more demonstrating personal charm of the individual members towards everybody. In other words one gets the impression that church people in England are a very kind and charming people. I think this charmingness could be taken over by our Dutch church members on no small scale. We are often unapproachable and harsh to the outside and no doubt the circumstances have made us like that to some extent. Mr Ward said in one of his sermons not long ago that the circumstances are influencing the religions of the people and no doubt this is noticeable in Holland. Remember our 80 years of struggle for the freedom of faith and our unending struggle against the water (Holland is for a large part from 10-20 feet below sea-level) and we must constantly be on guard against the water. The Church in England also can learn something from the churches in Holland. Some time ago I saw on a poster outside a church in Maidstone these words: "A living conviction is better than a dead certainty." In my opinion the Church in England wants a little more of the "dead certainty" and she will find that it is not dead but alive, and the ground on which a living conviction will flourish and bear fruit. During January, the same church had as its slogan: "I will resolves to go to church at least once on a Sunday in 1950," but I think that if members knew more of the dead certainty they would be more alive and a resolution to go to church would not be necessary. In Holland we see a "confessing church," we would like to see added: "a church with living convictions." England likes to demonstrate a church with living convictions; it should make sure that the only ground on which convictions can live, namely, on sound doctrines, is not neglected. I feel I have been hopelessly incomplete in this story but I have tried to raise points of interest to you. I want to finish with the prayer that God will pour out more and more of His Sprit into the hearts of our Minister, our Deacons, and us ordinary church members alike so as to lead us all into a better understanding of how we ought to behave ourselves and live in the House of God which is: "The Assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Notes from an address preached by the Rev. Ronald M. Ward, B.D. Originally published in the July 1950 issue of Progress, the monthly magazine for Romford Congregational Church. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2)
"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." (Acts 1:8) In the communion of the Holy Spirit the Christian Church experiences both life and power. These words represent two great aspirations of the world, and therefore the Gospel offers something that the world is already seeking. Here, then, is a bridge thrown across the gulf which separates Christians from other men. Let us examine the differences between what the world means by life and power and what the New Testament means. (1) The will to live is the basic urge which animates the whole world of nature. All living things, from the most simple organism to the most complex, are devoted to the simple goal of remaining alive as long as possible. (2) In general it may be said that life is maintained by death. Each creature exists by destroying another creature and absorbing the life that was in it. The will to live, therefore, becomes the will for another's death. (3) But since nothing wishes to die this results in strife. Nature is in an endless state of war, and her children must learn the art of pursuit and self protection if they are to enjoy any span of existence at all. (4) In order to conduct this war, power is necessary. Consequently the will to live develops of its own accord into a will to power. Evolution is nothing but the story of the accumulation of power. In some cases power was achieved through heavy weapons of offence and defence - teeth, claws, powerful muscles and so on. In others speed or silence of movement proved effective. But the most powerful of all creatures, always excepting man with his extraordinary intelligence, are the smallest of all. Nothing is stronger than bacteria, simply because they are invisible. Strength is made perfect in weakness in more ways than one. (5) There are alliances in this war. Creatures are bound together in species, and a species has common enemies, and common goals. Instinctive activities are all designed to preserve not only the individual but also the species to which it belongs. But although there are alliances in nature there is no sharing. Hungry dogs do not ration themselves. All alliances in the natural world are based on necessity. Sex, for instance, is a temporary union based on mutual need. Nature knows marriages of convenience. But she knows no friendships. (6) Man, considered on one side of his nature as an animal, is involved in this war, and because of a greatly superior brain he is the most successful competitor. Man is supreme because his intelligence provides great resources of power. And so he largely dominates all other creatures, destroying and preserving where he wills and making nature serve his needs. Still, it should be noted that in some respects he has not been wise enough to impose limits on his ability to exploit natural resources. Soil erosion over the earth's surface gives warning that one day there may not be enough food for the human family to eat. And only the other day I read an article called "The Trees are Afraid," which told of the great price we may have to pay for the prodigal waste of timber. (7) But as soon as we begin to think about man as a competitor in the struggle for life we notice a new and ominous fact. For man is not only at war with nature. Man is at war with himself. Human society is a constant struggle between various classes, interests, and personalities. In the sphere of economics the element of conflict is particularly obvious for here the competition for power in the form of material wealth is undisguised. But not until the struggle reaches its climax in actual physical warfare do we see it as naked reality, stripped of all pretences. There is a certain truth in the statement that "Man is a wolf to man." (8) Why is it that the human will to power is so much more terrible in its effect than the struggle for life in the jungle? The answer lies in the difference between human nature and the nature of animals. Animals desire simply to exist and to satisfy their instincts, and this sets a limit to their aspirations. Theirs is a realisable goal. A well fed tiger, presumably, does not hunt. Its nature is capable of satisfaction, and beyond the point of satiety it has no motive. But man has a spiritual as well as a physical nature. And to his spiritual aspirations there are no limits. The human person is not content with mere existence, else we should never have emerged from our cave dwellings of our primitive ancestors. Man wishes more than life. He wants abundant life. There is a restless hunger in his soul for a better kind of life, a richer experience, a wider world. The search for these things is both his glory and his tragedy. It is the explanation of human achievement, but it is also the source of a ruthless struggle for power which has now reached such dimensions that human society is in danger of destroying itself. (9) The appetite for a deeper and more satisfying kind of life becomes translated into a demand for material wealth. This is because a civilised man obviously has a better time than a savage. You cannot divorce a man's spiritual resources from his material resources. A highly civilised society has a deeper spiritual content than a savage one. It horizons are wider, its experiences richer. That is because its standard of living is high, it enjoys security, leisure, has time to enjoy the world and the opportunity to develop a culture. All of which provides food for the spirit as well as the body. And so the struggle for economic power conceals the desire in the soul to live richly. The violence of human society is like the violence of some monster of the ocean thrashing itself in shallow water because it is hungry for the deep. Actually, this is an indication of a largely unconscious desire for God. "Lord, thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee," Only in Him is the infinite sea of the soul's desire to be found. The will to power is a sign of our hunger for eternal life. (10) Power is satisfying in itself. It is an end as well as a means to an end. The man who seized power - whether as money or in some other form - feels that he is consequently a bigger man, leading a larger life than his fellows. To feel a superior person, looked up to and admired and perhaps feared by others, feeds the appetite of the spirit. No animal knows anything about this. It is a spiritual hunger, and therefore and infinite one. There is no point at which it has had enough. That, perhaps, is why hell has no bottom to it. (11) The will to power in the struggle for life ultimately defeats its own end, however. For fellowship is the condition of life in the spirit. And ruthless competition destroys fellowship. Its intention is to eliminate everyone but oneself. No one is more lonely than a successful Dictator. An absolute Dictator would be friendless and therefore a dead soul. Power, which seems to lead to life, leads to a desert. It is the path of death. So the will to power, which emerges from the will to life, leads to isolation and consequent destruction. The best symbol of this extreme dilemma is the H-bomb, which might conceivably be used by a nation demanding more living space. But its use would probably destroy us all. (12) Somehow the human race must transcend this situation. It must put an end to the competitive struggle which up to now has seemed an inevitable pattern for life, or else it will perish. Socialism is an attempt to do this. According to Socialist theory the element of competition could be eliminated on the basis of common ownership. There is much to be said for this in theory, but in practice it has no saving power because it fails to notice that the source of conflict is in the spirit, quite as much as in physical need. Common ownership cannot settle the problem of human pride. (13) The world of ruthless conflict which we have described is not, however, the real world. We have simply imagined the universe with love left out. If there were no love in it life would be nothing but a struggle for power. And this is, in fact exactly what it looks like through the eyes of a Marxist. But we believe that the love of God is the supreme fact which changes the face of existence, and in the communion of the Holy Spirit we see new and wonderful possibilities. For in that communion we find the words "life" and "power" used in a different context. When life finds its source of love, it issues not in destructive competition but in fellowship. Love is the sacrifice of one's own self, not of other selves. And power finds itself in service, not in domination. "Whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant." This situation can only begin to exist in Christ, for He is the source of the the life which the New Testament calls "eternal." By His sacrifice of Himself upon the Cross He gave a new power to the world. The Church alone knows of this fact and the Church does not compete in the world's war, for it is in the world but not of it. And what of us, the members of this communion of the Holy Spirit? It would be idle to deny that we have scarcely begun to live according to its principle of sacrifice and service. But it is our task to transform the will to power into the will to love. By the grace of God it can be done, and the existence of a universal Church which is in truth a communion of the Holy Spirit may yet save even such a desperate world as this. As per last week, what follows is a compilation of words from Roots & Fresh from the Word as well as some of my own thoughts.
In our opening prayer we reflected on Jesus’s words – I am the way! He also said I am the truth & the life! You all should be aware by now that if I had been taking Church services I would have spoken about “Words” but I suppose the theme goes on, it is in fact eternal, words and how we use them, how we extract the meanings from them, I remember many years ago as a very junior Church teaching assistant having to be re-educated by Martin Dakin in the true meaning of certain passages from the bible. What follows is an extract from Roots, “The limitations of human language and our imaginations makes us think in terms of physical buildings and places, and heaven as a ‘happy place’ – somewhere! But is that naive? Remember that Jesus said not only that he is the ‘way’, but also that he is the ‘truth’ and the ‘life’. These are all things that are important now, in this life. Perhaps this passage is more about this life, the here and now, than the next one. Perhaps Jesus is helping his disciples understand how they are to live – once he is gone. You need a way to live your life – Jesus is the way; he shows us the way to live. You need to know what is true and good, and what isn’t – Jesus is the truth; learn from his teaching. You want to live a good fulfilling life? Jesus is the life. Abundant fulfilling life is what he came to bring; we learn about life from what he did. What do you think this means in practice?” Extract from Roots 10th May 2020 In these time of loss, where we are reminded every day of the personal stories of loss, that are the fabric of those daily figures that benchmark where we are on this long road we are travelling on, nobody knows when the path will level out but I am sure of one thing, we need to use our faith, even when we question it to support our community, we will all have stories to tell, we hear every day of the devotion of a person or group of people to others, so although a lot of us are limited by definition to what we can do, just remember these words Jesus said “I am the way”, he is our Sat Nav (but we know he will not send us in the wrong direction) As with some of my plants not all will bring forth flowers, but it’s really good having a go! May God bless you, guide you and direct you. May God bless you, give you strength and the assurance of his love. May God bless you and fill your life with his presence – today and always. Amen (Roots May 10th) This article was found in the June 1950 copy of Progress, the monthly magazine of the Romford Congregational Church. It was written by R. A. Newman William Cowper, the Olney (Bucks) poet, was born in 1731, and was the son of a Chaplain to King George II, also Rector of Berkhampstead, Dr. John Cowper. When only six years of age his mother died, a blow which had a lasting effect on a very sensitive lad. He was trained for the Bar, but never practised. When embarrassed financially, he was offered a post as Clerk of Committees of the House of Commons, but was told this would mean the passing of a public examination. The prospect brought on a fit of insanity and he attempted to commit suicide. After careful nursing he recovered his health and wrote There is a fountain filled with blood, number 373 in our Hymnary. Then his mind gave way again, and he ordered his coachman to drive him to the river that he might end his life. The man purposely lost his way, and brought him a roundabout way home. Once again he recovered his reason, and in a fit of contrition sat down and wrote that fine hymn No. 56: God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. We have eight of his hymns in our collection, and many more people consider his finest composition to be: Hark, my soul! it is the Lord; 'Tis thy Saviour, hear His Word; Jesus speaks, and speaks to thee, "Say, poor sinner, love's thou Me?" A humorous incident is recorded of a mother coaxing her little girl to sleep at night by singing a hymn. One night the child, aged six, wanted a hymn about a "She-bear". After long thought, it dawned on the mother that is was the third verse of the aforesaid hymn: Can a woman's tender care Cease towards the child she bare? Yes, she may forgetful be, Yet will I remember thee. Another of his hymns well known to all of us is O for a closer walk with God, also, Sometimes a light surprises, The Christian while he sings. Cowper also wrote the humorous poem known to all English-speaking people: John Gilpin was a citizen Of credit and renown. A close friend of Cowper was the Rev. John Newton, Curate of Olney for 16 years, afterwards Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, in the City of London. Newton was born in 1725 and died in 1807. He was the son of a sailor, and spent many years at sea, leading a reckless and profligate life. There was no kind of wickedness which he did not boast of having committed. At one time he commanded a ship in the service of an African Slave dealer. At the age of 30 he came under religious influences, and coming upon a copy of Stanhope's book, Thomas á Kempis, it set him thinking, and later came particularly under the influence of Wesley and Geo. Whitefield, who completed his conversion. While at Olney, he with Cowper, compiled the collection known as The Olney Hymns. I suppose Newton's most famous hymn was, How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds, In a believer's ear, but we also have Glorious things of Thee are spoken, Zion City of our God, also, Begone unbelief; My Saviour is near. When he had passed his four-score years, he continued preaching. Having great difficulty in reading his manuscript he took his servant with him into the pulpit, who stood behind with a wooden pointer to trace the lines of his notes. One Sunday morning Newton came to the words in his sermon, Jesus Christ is precious, and wishing to emphasise, he repeated Jesus Christ is precious. The servant behind him, thinking he was getting confused, whispered loudly "Go on, go on, you said that before." Newton looked round to the man and replied "John, I said that twice, and now I am going to say it again," and with all the force at his command he reiterated Jesus is precious. Newton wrote his own epitaph, as follows: John Newton, clerk, Once an infidel and libertine; A servant of slaves in Africa; Was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Preserved, restored, pardoned, And appointed to preach the Faith He had long laboured to destroy. Near 16 years at Olney in Bucks, And 27 years in this Church. He was buried at his London Rectory, which is close to the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England. He attracted large crowds to his church, and it is said no London clergyman of his day had a greater influence than John Newton. When dying his last words to a friend, William Jay, was: My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things - That I am a great sinner, and That Christ is a great saviour. At the age of 82 he fell asleep.
As per last week, what follows is a compilation of words from Roots & Fresh from the Word as well as some of my own thoughts.
I have only used a single lectionary reading for today, for those wishing to delve deeper go to: Acts 7: 55-60, Psalm 31: 1-5, 15-16, 1 Peter 2. 2-10 Gospel: John 14.1-14 Jesus is speaking to his disciples before his death. He explains that he and the Father are joined in a close relationship to one another (John 14.10-11), so close that whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father (14.9). This is why Jesus can assure the disciples that they will not be left abandoned and that he himself is the way which they need to travel – he is both the means and the route. A fuller life awaits them: ‘I am the way, and the truth and the life,’ he declares. He is life itself, even in the face of his own approaching death. He is truth – the most complete and accurate truth, truth that he promised would, by its very nature, set them free. And he is the way – the way for them to be fully united with God, and the way that they need to journey, in order to serve God. No wonder he can promise, ‘I will come again and take you to myself.’ This is a promise of unity with him within this life, not just after death. Jesus is commissioning his disciples for service. He speaks to them about praying and believing and doing even greater works than he has done. He describes his return to the Father not as a separation from the disciples but the way in which their relationship with God will be even clearer and stronger, when they are drawn up into the love between the Father and the Son. Our satellite navigation systems give us directions? In my last job I travelled the length and breadth of the UK. Initially I had to use an old fashioned map to plot my trips, when I first purchased a Sat-Nav some of the well-established colleagues laughed (but they all new there individual areas very well, they all covered different quadrants of the UK) in the end over a twelve year period all my colleagues were using them, I didn’t totally trust them they were a guide, and if I had the time I would share some of the mishaps I had along the way, but overall they were a benefit. But we can totally trust the guidance Jesus gives us through his teachings. This article was written by Margaret R. K. Parrish in the June 1950 edition of Progress, the monthly magazine of Romford Congregational Church. Tuesday, May 9th, was one of those rare occasions when I read the Times, and I thought it a coincidence to find in it no less than three references to Congregationalism. One was a small paragraph referring to a resolution to be brought before the May Meetings expressing concern about the decline in church membership during the last 20 years. The other references consisted of two full columns entitled "'The Gathered Church': Robert Browne and the Tradition of Congregationalism", and a leader of the same subject.
These historical articles were inspired by the fact that as far as can be ascertained it is four hundred years since Robert Browne was born. He was a pioneer of Protestantism in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and, like Thomas Cartwright, one of the leading Puritan thinkers of the time, he was educated at Cambridge. He was still up at the University when Cartwright, from the University pulpit and from his Chair as Professor of Divinity, was drawing attention to the differences between the ministry as it was in the New Testament, and the English Episcopate. There was at the time a strong Puritan movement in the Church of of England and the Church was divided by a struggle about the wearing of vestments by the clergy. Although this might seem a trivial subject for controversy, to the Protestant reformers it had a special significance because their break away from the Church of Rome was comparatively recent and they were then facing a strong Roman counter-reformation lead by the Jesuits and backed by the political power of Spain. Moreover they felt that by using vestments they were dividing themselves from the Continental reformers of Geneva and Zurich with whom many of the English churchmen were on close terms. Contrary to what one might gather from some history text books, the Reformation was not a sudden event introduced by Henry VIII, but the climax of a reforming movement which had been evident ever since the days of Wyclif and the Lolards. Religious ideas had been introduced into England from the Continent and more particularly from Holland, whence Dutch refugees had brought with them their Anabaptist faith. A glance at Fox's Acts and Monuments shows that a surprising amount of radical religious literature was in circulation in the early years of Henry's reign, some of it native in origin and some smuggled over from Holland. In the year 1580, Robert Browne formed his first separatist church in Norwich on the basis of a covenant. The members agreed "to join themselves to the Lord in one covenant and fellowship together and to keep and seek agreement under His laws and government." The idea of the covenant is one which dominated Puritan thought, and, derived as it was from Scripture, was applied first in the Church and then in politics. Those who heard Mr. Dean Acheson's broadcast speech at the Pilgrim Society's Dinner will remember his reference to the way in which the Pilgrim Fathers entered into a covenant to form a civil government from which developed the New England town meeting and from them in turn, the American conception of democracy. Our spiritual forefathers "solemnly and mutually, in the presence of one another" convicted and combined themselves together "in a civil body politic ..." thus forming themselves into a proper democracy. Incidentally, it is interesting to notice that one of the signatories to this document as recorded in the Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers, was Francis Cooke, presumably the man who is commemorated on the walls of our own church. The poet Milton was the clearest and most trenchant exponent of the covenant conception of the origin of government, and in his political prose writings describes government as being based on a covenant or contract between men among themselves, and between the people and their rulers. Such a theory made it possible for Puritans to claim that a monarch or ruler who tyrannised over his people had broken the contract of government and could be dethroned by his people. Naturally the autocratic Tudor and Stuart monarchs thought such a democratic idea was dangerous, and indeed it was - for them. It was an idea which followed naturally from the puritan church covenant. When the Church covenant was first advocated by Robert Browne it resulted in his having to leave the country in order to escape persecution, and he found asylum in Holland where Thomas Cartwright was also in exile. It was at this time that the differences of view between Browne and Cartwright became clear. Cartwright wanted to stay in the Church of England and direct a reformation on Presbyterian lines from within the Church, while Browne thought the time had come for making a complete break with the established Church because he thought the attempts at reformation were ineffectual. In fact Queen Elizabeth herself was entirely opposed to a Puritan reformation of the Church of which she was Governor, and events justified the steps which Brown took. He laid down the principles of Congregationalism in a book called "Reformation without Tarrying for Anie". declaring that the members of a church must be Christians (not merely all the people living in one particular parish) and the one and only ruler of the Church was Jesus Christ Himself. "The Church planted or gathered," he said, "is a company or number of Christians or believers, which by a willing covenant made with their God, are under the government of God and Christ, and keep His laws in one holy communion ... The Church government of the lordship of Christ." The book was considered so dangerous that in June, 1583, a royal proclamation was issued against it in England, commanding the destruction of all copies of "the same or such like seditious books", and before long three men were hanged for reading it. The comment of the Times leader writer on this teaching is interesting. He compares the Catholic view of the Church as a "divine society established at a particular time and in a particular place, embodied in a visible and permanent institution and acting as a necessary mediator between God and the worshipper", with a Protestant view (which emphasises the purely spiritual bonds which unite believers, and stresses the direct relationship between God and Man). He comes to the conclusion that Browne's Congregationalism is an almost pure expression of Protestantism and then suggests that the idea of the independence of the small religious groups which came as a "bombshell to an age which held absolute community of faith and ritual within any country to be a condition of public safety, has acquired a new meaning for the twentieth century." Ever since the modern German State has revealed "how far a centralised State could go in stifling independent centres of life within its borders" European political thinkers of many difference persuasions "have looked to the small governing group for the best protection against State absolutism and anarchic individualism. Though the controversy in its modern form is widely different from that of Browne's day, he may be seen in his struggle with Tudor authoritarianism as one of the pioneers of this movement towards decentralisation and voluntary social organisations". In recent years Congregationalists have emphasised the spiritual nature of the Church meeting and its obedience to the Holy Spirit rather than its democratic aspect, and quite rightly, because the Church meeting is not supposed to be a kind of ecclesiastical committee. One might say that the theocratic nature of the Church government has received more attention than democratic. At the same time Congregationalism has apparently ceased to make the distinctive contribution to political thought which it once did. The first fact is not necessarily the cause of the second, and the emphasis which is now being laid on the true nature of the Church meeting is being made in order to save something which our churches had in many cases almost lost. The vigorous political thought which characterised our puritan forefathers went together with a high churchmanship and a strong belief in the Spirit. Their faith was firmly based on Scripture from which they derived both their religion and their politics. To quote from the Times again, "Browne has an incontestable right to be remembered as one of the earliest champions and most thorough exponents of a theory of the nature of the Church which to-day ranks with Roman Catholicism and Presbyterianism as one of the three main categories of thought on the subject." There are many otherwise uneducated people who regard Congregationalism as one of those obscure Christian bodies which exist outside of the Church of England. In fact a proper study of history shows that Congregationalism has had a major influence in matters of Church and State, and spread as it now is over the whole world, still has a special contribution to make. Browne was indeed justified in demanding "reformation without tarrying for any." As per last week, what follows is a compilation of words from Roots & Fresh from the Word as well as some of my own thoughts.
Jesus said, I am the way – come! Jesus said, I am the way and the truth – come and receive. Jesus said, I am the way the truth and the life – come receive and respond. Amen. (Roots May 10th) Our opening prayer grew line by line, it came from Roots, I could have used similar wording myself, as I thought about these opening words, I realized that my garden has been on a journey, through all its array of Spring colours, because we as a family are like many of us in semi isolation, I have had more time to attend to my garden, to try out new ideas, to grow more from seeds, I don’t know how affective this is going to be, I will attempt to keep you posted. The current situation has given me time to think, how are we going to manage without traditional bedding plants, we have been buying less & less since I retired & my Fuchsia’s & Pelargonium’s seem to have come through the winter quite well. I think we, that is those that follow a faith, will be in some ways like the seeds I have planted some will grow well, some will start to grow and then fall away, and some won’t germinate at all. I thought this extract from Fresh from the Word was quite appropriate: “This week we will be hearing from poets and chroniclers of an ancient world, about a walk with God that’s not always straightforward: uncertain first steps, moments of confusion in a journey of exploration. The blaming can begin as soon as things go wrong. No one wants to accept responsibility. Instead, hostility and fear can mean that nations build walls and block the way for others. But God can show wanderers in the wilderness that there is another better way.” Jan Sutch Pickard ( Fresh from the Word) In my opening remarks I was once again reflecting on how we use words, in prayer, in hymns, in poetry – our walk with God, or in simpler terms my garden which could be a metaphor for our faith journey, we all tend to blame others when things go wrong, I am very slowly learning how to look after my plants along the way I have had many failures and there will be more to follow I am sure, I do accept my garden failures ( too much water, too much sun, not the correct growing medium, ) the list is endless, and so it is with our faith journey. This article was written by A. Van den Brock in April 1950 and was found in a copy of Progress, the monthly magazine of Romford Congregational Church The history of Holland starts about 100 years before Christ when the Bataves lived in some parts of Holland; they worshipped gods of wood and stone and they believed in selectivity and the history books tell us that babies of just over one year old were thrown into the water to see whether the gods approved of them or not. If they emerged fighting for their breath they were acceptable but if they were too weak to do this they were abandoned.
Then there were the Friesians who made their children go through flames for the same reasons and it was to them that the first Missionaries went out. It was in the year 496 that Irish Missionaries made their first converts in the South of Holland. King Clovis who ruled under the higher authority of a Frankish Monarch was baptised. But it was not until the year 640 that the first Missionary known by name arrived in Holland. He too came from England and his name was Willebrord. He was a Roman Catholic and later went to Rome to be consecrated by Sergius the First as the First Bishop of the Friesians. Slowly the Gospel became established but it was to be at first the Gospel in fetters as dictated by the Roman Popes and Emperors, and so we move though the Middle Ages, the times of the Crusades, the time of the mighty power of the Roman Catholic Church, the time also of the inward corruptness and ungodliness of that Church, the time leading up to the reformation. It is in this time that the Dutch reformed Church was born. About this period historians say, "The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church." Yes, there were martyrs in Holland at that time, hundreds and thousands. It started in 1517 shortly after Martin Luther had nailed his 95 points of disagreement with the Pope on to the door of the church of Wittenberg in Germany. Luther had found the Bible which had been kept from the people for so long. He had found in its pages the Gospel of forgiveness and sins through the redeeming death of Christ and through the spreading of that message Christ reformed His Church. In Holland, too, ordinary people started to read portions of the Bible which were handed from hand to hand because the orders of the King were that anybody who was found in possession of the Bible or any part thereof was to be burned or drowned. Perhaps it is partly through this time and through these martyrs death that the love and honour for the Bible established itself so firmly in the Dutch people. It is at this time, too, that the Church was being assembled together. The more people that were murdered for their open confession of faith in Christ as their Saviour, and for their refusal to pay to the Church a ransom in money to obtain forgiveness of sins the more new confessors there came. It is almost unbelievable that thousands of people were prepared to die for their faith and actually did die rather than obey the then ruling Roman Catholic Church but such are the facts, and can you wonder that when we look back to these times we feel a sacred duty to stand unflinchingly guard over the treasures of faith and confession for which these people died in their thousands. I will not trouble you with the stories of pain and tribulation which are so vividly given to us by the historians; let me read to you just one confession of faith spoken by one of these martyrs upon hearing the word "guilty" pronounced. His body was tied to a fifteen feet high pyre to be burnt to death. This is what he said: "I have sinned and as a sinner I am worthy of eternal death, but Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour and through Him only I trust in faith that I shall be an inheritance of eternal life." It is in these days of persecution and terror that the Church confesses its faith. It is, therefore, that this confession is so sacred to the Church in Holland. Written behind hedges and in empty barns where the Church used to assemble it is not only the confession of the church but also its defence. The King had decreed that anybody who subscribed to the new doctrine as apart from the Doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church could not be a good citizen of the land. Under the leadership of Guido de Bres (who died a martyr's death in 1567), the Dutch confession of faith was drawn up and sent to the King to prove the Church did not pursue any of the bad things it had been charged with by the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. It would take too long to give you even a short sketch of these articles in which every aspect of the faith of the Church has been put down and explained. Please remember that these 37 articles were written by the Church as a defence against false accusations and not as so often argues as a ways and means to rule the faith of others or to dictate its dogmas or principles to others. Reading the confession as such, one cannot help subscribing to it and one must come to the conviction that the Spirit of God moved in the hearts and minds of the people who compiled it. Another important work was done during these terrible years. The Church adopted as a Catechism the doctrines as set out at Heidelberg by two German followers of the reformation Gaspar Oleveanus and Zacharias Ursinus and a certain Peter Datheen translated the catechism into Dutch. It is still valued by almost all denominations in the present church in Holland and most of the ministers base their evening sermon on its doctrines. It is divided into fifty-two chapters and the idea is to deal with one chapter each Sunday and so keep all the doctrines fresh and living in the hearts and minds of all members of the church. Can you imagine all this and more happening in a church of which the members are open to be seized any time and to be called to justice with the terrible consequences of death by torture? Yet this is true and it would be terrible for another 80 years. In 1568, under the leadership of William the Silent, the church agrees to help in the resistance against the tyranny of the King of Spain and during the following 80 years the church has known its saddest days and its finest days in its fight for freedom to read the Bible and to confess its faith in Christ. |