Bunhill (Bonehill) Fields burial ground

Here to reflect on the grace of Jesus in the gospel so evident on the life and lyric of 

Isaac Watts

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
  Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
  Dies at the opening day.

WHY WAS I MADE TO HEAR THY VOICE AND ENTER WHILE THERE’S ROOM
WHEN THOUSANDS MAKE A WRETCHED CHOICE AND RATHER STARVE THAN COME? 

‘TWAS THE SAME LOVE THAT SPREAD THE FEAST THAT SWEETLY DREW US IN; 
ELSE WE HAD STILL REFUSED TO TASTE, AND PERISHED IN OUR SIN. 

PITY THE NATIONS, O OUR GOD, CONSTRAIN THE EARTH TO COME; 
SEND THY VICTORIOUS WORD ABROAD, AND BRING THE STRANGERS HOME. 

WE LONG TO SEE THY CHURCHES FULL, THAT ALL THE CHOSEN RACE 
MAY, WITH ONE VOICE AND HEART AND SOUL, SING THY REDEEMING GRACE.

Joseph Hart

Lo! th’ incarnate God, ascended,
Pleads the merit of His blood;
Venture on Him, venture wholly;
Let no other trust intrude:
None but Jesus, none but Jesus,
Can do helpless sinners good.

John Bunyan 

Who would true valour see,
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather
There’s no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.

Whoso beset him round
With dismal stories
Do but themselves confound;
His strength the more is.
No lion can him fright,
He’ll with a giant fight,
He will have a right
To be a pilgrim.

Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit,
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies fly away,
He’ll fear not what men say,
He’ll labor night and day
To be a pilgrim.

Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe, 1719

John Owen, The John Calvin of England 

Toplady, Watts, and Winchester

Cowper got it right: God does indeed move in mysterious ways. Because of a hurricane in Georgia and the flight cancelations and delays I found myself running from terminal to terminal at Heathrow airport, the international airport serving Europe's largest city. I got lots of cardio workout on our first day on the hymn tour but finally managed to get everyone in the same place. The Renault 9passenger van is working out great, and so far I have managed to stay on the wrong, that is, left side of the road.

Sorry for the haste but here's a quick over view. First day visit to Windsor where Samuel Stone author of The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. First night in the very English country inn in Yateley was wonderful. The gang said to tell my wife who finds all these places that this was definitely a keeper.

Farnham for church at the 14th century church Augustus Toplady was baptized in was a perfect introduction to the C of E for the tour. I read from my new EP biography of him and then we had a really good talk about justification
and sanctification and the gospel, all the while lounging on ancient gravestones in the morning sunlight. Stacie got a Cadbury bar for reciting WSCs 33 and 35, way to go!

Drove to Southampton where Isaac Watts was born, chatted about hymns and psalmody around the statue of him at the Watts Park. From there to Winchester for evensong in the cathedral where Jane Austen is buried and where Thomas Ken wrote his evening hymn and the doxology. Dinner in a quiet pub along the river then a stroll around this ancient city of the Anglo Saxon king Alfred. We watched the closing ceremony of the Olympics with some 2,000 folks, the evening lights glowing on he cathedral. I'm off to bed.