The Bible Tells Us So, by R. B. Kuiper. Banner of Truth Paperback. 132 pp. Price 80p.
This posthumous work of R. B. Kuiper consists of a popular presentation of basic Christian teachings. It gives a clear presentation of the various teachings of Scripture with which it deals. It should prove of immense value to university students especially as it includes in each case a brief exposure of anti-biblical teaching. Nothing is more necessary for the young and particularly for students at university than that they would have a clear understanding of what it is that the Bible teaches and how it may be defended. There is a foreword by the late Prof. John Murray in which he commends this as well as the other writings of R. B. Kuiper. We feel that the expression on p. 75, “hellish agony” is an unhappy one, as referring to the cry of dereliction.
D. B. M.
Christian Leaders of the 18th Century, by J. C. Ryle. Banner of Truth Paperback. 432pp. Price £1.75.
This reprint of Bishop J. C. Ryle’s well-known “Christian Leaders” is very welcome. Ryle begins with a historical chapter outlining the low spiritual and moral state of England in the first half of the 18th Century. He follows this by a chapter dealing with the means God was pleased to use to bring about a mighty change in the sentiments of the people — that is by raising up a number of clergymen, chiefly of the Church of England, who went forth with the Gospel of God’s grace.
The first seven of whom Ryle writes were Whitefield, Wesley, Grimshaw, Romaine, Rowlands, Berridge and Venn. “These seven men,” Ryle says, “appear to me to stand alone in the religious history of England a hundred years ago.” (He was writing a century ago). “Besides them, no doubt, there were many others of eminent grace and gifts. But none attained to the degree of the first seven.” In addition, Ryle gives an account of four other men who were “less well known than some of their contemporaries and yet were eminently useful in their day and generation.” These were Walker of Truro, James Hervey, Toplady and Fletcher of Madeley. The brief biographies Ryle draws up of these men, consisting of one, two or three chapters, are full of interest and indicate plainly the beneficial effect that the Gospel had on England in the 18th Century. Not all of these men were Calvinists. John Wesley and Fletcher of Madeley were Arminians. Yet it is not to Wesley, perhaps the most widely known of all those Christian leaders, that Ryle assigns the first place but to George Whitefield. He says: “Of all the spiritual heroes of a hundred years ago none saw so soon as Whitefield what the times demanded, and none were so forward in the great work of spiritual aggression. I should think I committed an act of injustice if I placed any name before his.” Ryle does not hide the errors of Wesley and Fletcher of Madeley, nor does he defend what he calls Wesley’s “objectionable opinions.” He says: “Personally, I feel unable to account for any well-instructed Christian holding such doctrines as perfection and the defectibility of grace, or denying such as election and the imputed righteousness of Christ.” But he goes on to plead that we should distinguish between things that are of the essence of the gospel and things which are of the perfection of gospel in judging a particular preacher. How persuasively he argues his case we leave the reader to judge.
We have no doubt that ministers and others will find these brief biographies of Christian leaders of two centuries ago stimulating and helpful.
D. B. M.
Why Psalms Only? by J. W. Keddie. Scottish Reformed Fellowship. Price 35p.
This 16 page booklet argues briefly but cogently the case for the exclusive use of the Psalms in the public worship of God. A section deals with the textual evidence, particularly with the references in the New Testament to hymns and spiritual songs and concludes that there is no evidence from these texts for the use of non-inspired materials in the public worship of God. Another section deals with historical evidence. This considers mainly the recognition of the “regulative principle” by the Reformed Church and how this effectively excluded everything but the Psalms of David from the public worship of the sanctuary until a very late date when this principle was departed from in some instances. The last section summarises the conclusions of the brief study. These emphasise the unwarrantableness of anything but Scriptural Psalmody.
We welcome this booklet and recommend it.
D.B.M.