CHRISTIANITY AND LIBERALISM, by J. Gresham Machen, D.D., Assistant Professor of New Testament Literature and Exegesis in Princeton Theological Seminary, New York: The Macmillan Company.
Both in the States and this country the naturalistic teaching of “modernism” or “liberalism” is sapping the very foundations of the Christian faith. Professor Machen deals with the teaching of liberalism in this volume in a masterly way. The great doctrine of man’s total depravity, the necessity of the new birth, the vicarious nature of the atonement and salvation by grace without the works of the law, are ably and lucidly set forth. Dr Machen deals in a very pertinent manner with the two twin doctrines of modernism—the universal Fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man—and shows that they have no place in Scripture. He fights the new theology all along the line, and says—“After listening to modern tirades against the great creeds of the Church, one receives rather a shock when one turns to the Westminster Confession, for example, or to that tenderest and most theological of books, the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ of John Bunyan, and discovers that in doing so one has turned from shallow modern phrases to a ‘dead orthodoxy,’ that is pulsating with life in every word. In such orthodoxy there is life enough to set the whole world aglow with Christian love.” In joining issues with “modernism,” Dr Machen, while condemning with no uncertain voice Chiliasm or premillennialism, Arminianism, Popery, etc., says that the errors of these are small compared with modernism. There is no doubt truth in this so far, but the deadliness of some of the errors in these systems is too great to permit us to be guided even by the questionable rule “of two evils choose the less.” We join issues with Dr Machen when he goes further, and says that true evangelical fellowship is possible between Arminians and Calvinists, this is a fellowship which would lead to unfaithful compromises with the truth. While the great Churches are asleep in this country, it is different in the States. The gage of battle has been thrown down, and a great controversy between the Modernists and the Fundamentalists is shaking the Baptist and Presbyterian Churches. The question of the right of men with Modernist views to remain in the Presbyterian Church of America came up at the General Assembly, which met at Indianapolis, and it is gratifying to know the Modernists were defeated by a substantial majority, but it is a matter of regret to learn that they had so many supporters.
FIFTY YEARS IN THE CHURCH OF ROME, by Pastor Chiniquy, London: Robert Banks & Son, Crane Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C. Price 4s 6d net.
THE PRIEST, THE WOMAN, AND THE CONFESSIONAL, by Pastor Chiniquy. Same Publishers. Price 2s 6d.
These books by the late Pastor Chiniquy are sufficiently well-known to need no description by us. But we have pleasure in calling the attention of our readers to their republication at such reasonable prices, and it is to be hoped the publishers will be encouraged in their laudable enterprise by a large sale.
THE DEVIL’S MISSION OF AMUSEMENT, by Pastor Archibald Brown. Robert Banks & Son, Crane Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C. Price one penny; 1s 2d per dozen, post free; 8s per 100, or £3 10s per 1000, carriage paid.
Messrs Banks have reprinted this excellent little booklet by the late Pastor Archibald Brown, London. It has now reached its 307th thousand, and if there was need for it in Pastor Brown’s day, there is a hundredfold more need of it now. The extent to which the devil has captured the professing Church by way of amusements in this country is almost incredible.