Throughout last year, there was a rather one-sided debate in the internet concerning the alleged difference between preachers in pan-Biblical times and those of today. These were mostly carried out by para-church groups who had words such as ‘spiritual’ in their titles and were obviously against a settled ministry in a local church, some even arguing that the office of a preacher was only used of a peripatetic, itinerant servant of God. On most of these sites one found that the writers denigrated all modern preaching, presenting themselves, of course, as ‘spiritual’ preachers who were the exception to the sad rule. The result of this campaign was that a number of brethren copied quotes from these sites and sent them to… Full Article
Preachers Today
Mar 22
The Practical Divinity of Universal Learning: John Durie’s Educational Pansophism By George M. Ella Preface What awaits the reader of a book on John Durie’s pansophism? “Pansophism” – that sounds like an esoteric secret science, like special occult teachings, like “Theosophy” and “Anthroposophy”. In fact, the opposite is true. Not an exclusive secret knowledge for the few, but free access to the entire knowledge of mankind for all, regardless of race, social class, age and gender, is what a correctly understood pansophism aspires. It does not look for an exclusive knowledge of God, man or the cosmos, but rather for an integration and connection of all knowledge and its free distribution. Pansophism is not… Full Article
Post-enthronement problems After Cromwell’s enthronement, his time was much taken up by the wars with Roman Catholic Spain, but his elevation, as Queen Christina of Sweden foretold, began to earn respect for him abroad. Thurloe’s State Papers include a letter from the English ambassador in Spain now informing Cromwell that Spain was eager for a treatise between the ‘King of England and the King of Spain’. The matter was most delicate as Durie and Penn at the time were campaigning for ecclesiastical and political agreements with England in Protestant Switzerland, Germany and Holland, but Roman Catholic France had put a price on their heads. Spain strongly supported the Roman Catholics against the Protestants in these… Full Article
The New Babel Confusion. Before Charles was placed in his coffin at Whitehall, it became clear that a number of the judges, now faced with punishment, had refused to sign the death warrant and others had been compelled to sign by force. Cromwell is said to have examined the head of the King at Whitehall to make sure it was totally severed and he was really dead, before saying, ‘If he had not been King, he would have lived longer’. The regicides now refused permission for Charles to be buried in Westminster Abbey and told Bishop Juxon that he could not give Charles a Church of England Prayer Book burial. The King was then interred on 9 February, 1648 (old style) at Windsor Castle. An enormous pamphlet war now took… Full Article
Lecture III: The Watershed: the Restoration of Uniformity My task and my sources My task is to present an overview of the 17th century lead-up to the Act of Uniformity of 1662. My primary sources besides the Prayer Book are the Calendar of State Papers; the Common’s Journals: the Thurloe Papers; Gardiner’s Constitutional Documents, Cardwell’s History of Prayer Book Conferences, the Hartlib Papers; Byfield’s Assembly Minutes; Walker’s and Shaw’s records; Evelyn’s and Pepys diaries: Burnet’s, Durie’s, Laud’s, Prynne’s and Fuller’s eye-witness accounts and the Bodleian Library’s Special Collections. My secondary research includes Hooker, Strype, Benton, Huntington, Butler, Parker, Blunt, Tatham,… Full Article
The Practical Divinity of Universal Learning: John Durie’s Educational Pansophism By George M. Ella O.St.R. (Land NRW); I. Staatsprüfung Sek. I und II (Duisburg); II. Staatsprüfung Sek. I und II (Essen); Översiktskurs in Theologie (Uppsala); fil. kand. (Uppsala); BD (London); PGCE (Hull); Dr. phil. (Duisburg); Dr. theol. (Marburg). ‘I highly recommend Dr. George Ella’s insightful work The Practical Divinity of Universal Learning. Dr. Ella sheds new light on the pioneering work of John Durie (1596-1680) in early attempts at universal education and Protestant church unity. Dr. Ella convincingly proves that Durie’s contributions to Europe’s educational and political reforms in the late 17th and early 18th… Full Article
REFORMATION SOCIETY AUTUMN CONFERENCE THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER – its value and benefits at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford August 28th-30th 2012 Cost: £120.00 Full-time Students £60.00* *There is a special rate for men training for the ordained ministry of the Church of England Dr. D. A. Scales, General Secretary, Protestant Reformation Society, 15 Grange Court, Cambridge, CB3 9BD PROGRAMME Wycliffe Hall has an excellent position in Oxford. It is situated in the Banbury Road, which leads off St. Giles’ towards north Oxford TUESDAY Arrive TUESDAY afternoon 4.00 Tea 4.45 First Session* Why Liturgy? The Rev. Dr. R. T. Beckwith, M.A., B.D., D.D. (formerly Warden, Latimer House, Oxford; Vice-President of P.R.S.; Chairman of… Full Article
On a web-site run by a Brother Galyon, my name has been repeatedly dropped in association with alleged Hyper-Calvinists. However, Brother Galyon has now produced a list of what he considers Hyper-Calvinism and I find I disagree with every point. This should be sufficient proof for my brethren to stop calling me a Hyper-Calvinist and an Antinomian but when I protest against such slander, my protests are ignored. I thus sent the following explanation of my views to Brother Galyon’s blog-site a number of weeks ago but it has still not been passed by the moderator. Before dealing with Galyon’s points I must stress that I certainly do not strive to exceed Calvinism, indeed, I have argued for over forty years that Calvin was never… Full Article
Recently, I have been soundly scolded in a lengthy article on Peter Ditzel’s website both for my beliefs and for allegedly misrepresenting those of the web-master with ‘sarcasm’ and ‘verbal violence’. This article was chiefly, it appears, a reaction to my refutation of Ditzel’s criticism of my doctrine of justification. Several years after writing this rebuttal, Ditzel sent me two personal letters demanding an apology from my refusing to accept his version of what I believe on the grounds that he held his severe criticisms to be just. Indeed, he described my defense of my views in the most depreciating language. Now brother Ditzel has published, without prior notification, some of our correspondence, including a letter… Full Article
