The Papacy: Its History and Dogmas by Leopold D. E. Smith. London: Protestant Truth Society. 28 Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C.4. Price 4d.
This is an excellent pamphlet showing the pagan origin of many of the beliefs of Romanism and bringing within a narrow compass that which was so ably accomplished in Hislop’s Two Babylons. The pamphlet covers a wide field and is an effective exposure of the dangerous deceits of Popery. It is well illustrated and contains a photograph of the Vatican City which is so much in the news in these turbulent times.
Everyday Work of the Westminster Assembly by S. W. Carruthers, M.D.; Ph.D. Presbyterian Historical Society of England. Price, 12/6.
Dr. Carruthers following in the footsteps of his father has devoted much of his spare time to the work of the Westminster Assembly. His Westminster Confession of Faith dealing with the text of the Confession is a standard work and the book under review is one of the most important that has appeared since Dr. Mitchell’s Baird Lectures though with Dr. Warfield’s The Westminster Assembly and It’s Work before our mind we cannot go the length of Rev. T. C. Pears of saying in his Foreword that it is “by all odds the most important on the Westminster Assembly since the publication of the Baird Lectures by Alexander F. Mitchell in 1882.” Dr. Carruthers follows the official minutes and contemporary writers such as Lightfoot and Gillespie and has produced a most valuable book on the work of the distinguished and pious men who drew up the Confession of Faith. It should be explained that the field explored by Dr. Carruthers is not that of their great theological undertakings but more particularly their doings in other directions and which brought the Divines into contact with the stirring events of their times. He is a genuine student of the period he deals with and has given a very vivid picture of the Divines at work. The author as a true student avoids that condescending air which characterises too many of the historical writings of professed unbiased historians with a modernistic outlook. It is impossible in a short review like this to give anything like an adequate view of the contents of the book but, if opportunity offers, we may at a later date give our readers an idea of its contents. We conclude this notice with quoting the words of the last paragraph of Dr. Carruthers’ Introduction:—”The writer has risen from his studies with a greater esteem for the men, and a wider understanding of the part they played in the history of those strenuous years; and he hopes that a perusal of the following chapters may have a similar effect on the readers.”