A Defence of Reformation Principles.
A Defence of Reformation Principles. By Peter M. Chisholm. Printed by W. Hodge & Co., Glasgow and Edinburgh. A copy of this book, newly issued, has been sent us by the author. His name is already known to our readers as that of a student who figured in a recent case before our Church courts. He writes professedly in defence of “Reformation Principles,” but his chief object is clearly a defence of his own past procedure and present attitude in regard to the Free Presbyterian Church.
It may be explained that the author was at one time a member of the present Free Church, and that then he became for several years a member of the Free Presbyterian Church, while now he appears in the present volume as one who has renounced all connection with the Church of 1843, and has adopted the distinctive views of the Original Secession Church. His career has been marked by variability. With this so far we would take nothing to do, if he had made his change of mind in an honourable manner, but such he has not done so far as the Free Presbyterian Church is concerned. As was already explained in these pages (see Magazine, May, 1913) he was informed by the Presbytery, at the time he was received as a student, that it was his duty (according to a certain Church rule), should he change his mind about any of the doctrines or principles of the Church, to immediately inform the Church courts and not pursue divisive courses, and he then declared that he “highly approved” of this rule. But when he found an actual opportunity for showing his approval of it, he did the very reverse, and thus broke faith with the Church that received him.
Instead of coming to the Church courts and faithfully telling them they were wrong in certain matters, when he made the supposed discovery, he took the most dishonourable advantage of his occupancy of the pulpit of St. Jude’s, during the minister’s absence, and without the least warning to said minister, poured forth, in the course of ordinary sermons, his charges against the Church. He talks of “treachery” in the present volume, but if anyone has been guilty of it, he himself is the man. Manifestly ignorant of the most elementary rules of Christian procedure, he stands forth as a Church reformer. The case calls more for pity than for anger.
But to the volume. Here he denounces in extravagant terms, which have their condemnation written on their face, the courts and ministers of our Church as guilty of “tyrannical dealings, apostacy, deceit, equivocation, treachery, violation of ordination vows,” and what not. We consider it unnecessary to enter into details, but a few other features may be noticed. In one section he stands for what is equivalent to close communion out and out, but in another he leaves the door open for occasional communion on the part of persons outside. Again, he condemns the right of ruling elders in any circumstances to deliver a discourse from a text or to give a lecture to a congregation, and yet he allows that they may make “general and hortatory remarks,” from the Word, and address fellowship meetings. Where is the essential difference? This is the self-contradictory style which marks the author’s crude attempts at argument. As to matters of fact in connection with his case as a student, we regret to say that his book contains several statements which are not in accordance with truth and must not be accepted simpliciter by the reader. The reports given of Church proceedings, both in Glasgow and in Lewis, are more caricatures than anything else.
Let no one be misled by Mr. Chisholm’s apparent sincerity. He was dealt with in a considerate and honourable manner by ministers and courts of the Free Presbyterian Church (if every ancient rule had been rigidly adhered to, he, as an Arts student, though studying with a view to divinity, would never have had his mouth open in a Free Presbyterian pulpit), but disorder and lack of sympathetic consideration have marked his own proceedings from first to last. Perhaps we should mention in conclusion that more than half the volume (which has 220 pages) consists of lengthy extracts from old divines, which are only in a comparative degree pertinent to the argument in hand.
Calvinism: Historically and Doctrinally Considered.
Calvinism: Historically and Doctrinally Considered. By B. A. Warburton: Farncombe & Sons, 30 Imperial Buildings, Ludgate Circus, London, E.C. This is an interesting booklet. The writer deals with his subject in an able and lucid manner, and his three lectures are worthy of attentive perusal. The third on the practical fruits of Calvinism is very telling. As a member of the Strict Particular Baptist body, Mr. Warburton writes from a somewhat different standpoint than ours, but, in the main, he pursues a satisfactory line of exposition which will be pleasing to Scottish as well as English colonists.