Day in London

Yesterday I was in London, on my way to Israel. I worked it out to have an extended layover so I would have a few hours before my connecting flight. I had to objectives: visit the Metropolitan Tabernacle and see Codex Sainaiticus and Codex Alexdrinus. I did both. It was great.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle is well known for one of its pastors who served there (1854-1892), Charles Haddon Spurgeon. During his ministry, revival occurred and lead to the relocation to the Metropolitan tabernalce (shown in picture). The church had previous met at Park Street Chapel near the tower bridge. Spurgeon is said to have preached to tens of thousands with his natural voice (no electronic amplification). I was exposed to a great resource on the life of C.H. Spurgeon recently. Phil Johnson gave a series of talks about his life and preaching. I don't know if this resource can still be obtained. If you're interested you might want to research his blog or attempt to contact him to ask.

I wasn't able to take pictures of Codex Sainaiticus or Alexdrinus because photography was not permitted in the exhibit (which itself was dimly lit to help preserve the texts...not exactly ideal for displaying books) in the British Library. These are 2 of 3 of the most notable early copies of the entire Bible: CS in the 4th century and CA in the 5th century.