On Reading Herman Bavinck

Shortly before his death, J. Gresham Machen wrote a brief telegram to his beloved colleague, John Murray: “So thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.” So what is the active obedience of Christ? Why had a man like Murray held it before his friend’s heart, and why did it bring Machen such lively and solid hope? Andy Young traces the development of this doctrine, define it, and  explain why it remains such a precious notion for God’s people, not only giving them confidence in life but also hope in the face of death.

At the very beginning of 1930, J. Gresham Machen’s book on the virgin birth of our Lord was published, based on lectures Machen gave at Columbia Theological Seminary in 1927. With trademark clarity, Machen demonstrates just how vital it is to grasp the truth of Jesus Christ’s supernatural conception, tracing out its connection to the gospel which we believe and in which we delight. Paul Levy will guide us through the main themes of the book, and show us how this truth, as Machen handles it, remains both truly sweet and genuinely significant.

John Elias (1774–1841) was a man greatly used of God in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Wales, a mighty gospel preacher through whom God was pleased to revive and establish his people. His name is often lost among those now better known, but his example remains full of lessons to those who long to see God work in similar ways today. Alun Ebenezer will trace something of the ways in which God formed and used John Elias as an instrument for his glory, and draw out some of the help that we can still derive from his example.

While Puritan history provides us with stimulating examples of pastoral practice, and Puritan literature abounds with profound treatises on pastoral duty, the portrait which John Bunyan provides in The Pilgrim’s Progress offers a vivid and lively portrait of the pastor in action. The allegorical setting provides the opportunity to take a view of pastoral ministry which sets before us both principle and practice in a way that surely reflects Bunyan’s own sense of what it means to care for pilgrims travelling to the Celestial City, and still offers much help today.