Learning in Christ's School - BABES, CHILDREN, YOUTH AND FATHERS

In this unique account of growth in grace, ‘babes’, ‘little children’, ‘young men’ and ‘fathers’ are the stages through which the learners in Christ’s school pass on their way to the ‘academy of heaven’. While supporting and comforting beginners in the school of grace, Venning encourages all Christians to make further progress towards ‘the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ’ (Eph. 4:13).

Publisher: Banner of Truth
Type: paperback
ISBN: 9780851517643

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Born in approximately 1621 in Devon, when Ralph Venning met George Hughes, the Puritan preacher, he converted to Christ. He left for Cambridge and, in 1643, was admitted to Emmanuel College, partially paying for his fees through doing menial jobs at the college. He completed his BA and MA degrees while also serving as chaplain at the Tower of London, as well as writing and publishing two books. He then began preaching, mostly in London, in fellowship with John Owen, Richard Baxter, Joseph Caryl, and George Griffith. In 1661 he married Hannah Cope, a widow; they had at least two children. Refusing to conform to the 1662 Act of Uniformity, Venning was ejected from this post. In the years that followed, he served as co-pastor with Robert Bragge to a nonconformist congregation which met at the Pewterers’ Guild Hall in Lime Street. His last sermon, after which he was taken ill and died (March 1674), was preached to a similar congregation meeting at Joiners’ Hall.

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This could be the most thorough treatment of the Christian life ever written. Venning writes with a passion for God and for detail replete with supporting scripture and great insight. The insights and understanding of the Christian life are as helpful and timely today as when they were first written. In this work he describes four phases of the Christian life mentioned in scripture and the development of Christian character from babes, to children, to young men, to fathers. Armed with that knowledge one can learn how best to assist those younger in the Lord and the requirements and responsibilities of maturity. Stratiotes Doxha Theon