THE FIRE DIVINE
Westminster Conference Papers 1996
Available from the Conference Secretary, 8 Back Knowl Road, Mirfield, West Yorks. WF14 9SA.
164 pages. £4.50 (inc. p&p.)
The six papers which make up this slim volume are a feast of historical research, full of relevance to our contemporary situation.
Subjects covered include Puritan thinking on marriage and divorce, and biographical sketches of the eccentric 18th-century evangelist Rowland Hill, the Quaker George Fox and Martin Luther (this last paper leans a little too heavily on quotation). There are two high points. The first is Robert Oliver's paper on Evangelicalism in Britain 1800 to 1835. This turns out to be deceptively important period with great numerical increase, but the rise of hyper-Calvinism and the initial impetus for the Oxford movement. The second is the contribution of Dr. Hywel Jones on Gresham Machen and his view of the veracity of Scripture. Similar battles to Machen's need fighting in our generation.
