The Puritan Hope by Iain H. Murray—Banner of Truth Trust—£1.20
Obtainable from: F.P. Church Bookroom, 160 Pitt Street, Glasgow C2 and other religious bookshops.
The hope in the title is that cherished by a majority of the Puritans that the cause of Christ would yet flourish so greatly that it would ultimately become the dominant influence in the world. The subject of this book is therefore one worthy of Rev. Iain Murray’s pen, and one to which we think he has done justice. The author’s interest in the teachings of the Puritans is well known, and is reflected in many of the books published by the Banner of Truth Trust of which he is the leading member.
As a young Christian Mr. Murray held the pre-millenarian view that the Gospel would make only a slight impact on the world until the second coming of Christ, but after that it would enjoy world-wide success and secure a thousand years of peace and blessing until the last judgement. He came to see, however, that Scripture makes Christ’s return and the end of the world coincide, and later still he realised that God’s Word does appoint the Church of Christ a great future prior to these events. This hope Mr. Murray found to abound in the sermons and writings of the Puritans, springing from a theology which emphasised the ability of the Holy Spirit to enthrone Christ in the hearts of men from Gentile nations and the Jews alike, so that the Redeemer’s glory would fill the earth.
The first two chapters are devoted to showing how in England and Scotland those awakened and saved through the Reformation and Puritan movements, understood that the power behind it all was that of the Holy Spirit. He revives, gives life where there was death, and when poured out, even nations can be affected as did happen at the Reformation. What had been seen of the Spirit’s reviving power in the apostolic era and at the Reformation could be expected again as God in sovereign grace willed. This was the Puritan outlook, a hopeful one resting on the truth of God’s Word and a full belief in the power of his Spirit.
Thus Mr. Murray next turns his attention to the Puritans’ interest in unfulfilled prophecy and the place given in that to the ingathering of the Jews as a forerunner of the blessing to be enjoyed by the whole world. A minority belief in the pre-millennial appearance of Christ in order to all this is noted. Another chapter is devoted to an examination of Paul’s words concerning the Jews in the eleventh of Romans, and the next to the piety which the hope of future blessings for all nations stirred up in the Puritans, so that they longed and prayed for the extension of Christ’s Kingdom.
Then the revival of true religion which affected the English-speaking world from around 1740 is shown to have given rise to the missionary activity which sent a stream of devoted missionaries to India, America, Africa and The South Seas. Interesting remarks are made on the missionary strategy of Scotland’s pioneers in this sphere. And so the book comes to what it calls the eclipse of the hope brought about by the re-emergence of pre-millennial teaching. The part played in the 1820’s by Edward Irving, that “shooting star of a preacher”, and also by the Brethren, the followers of J.N. Darby, makes extremely interesting reading. Any who lean towards Dispensationalism should give good heed to what this book reveals of its pernicious effects upon the Church at large and its missionary efforts in particular.
The proper place which Christ’s second coming should occupy in the Christian’s thinking is then indicated, and the book closes with a chapter called, “The prospect in history—Christ our life” The Church’s hope remains what it always has been, that through the faithful, scriptural preaching of Christ crucified, in complete dependence on the Holy Spirit’s power to make that teaching life to dead souls, God will yet give his Son the world-wide domination which He promised. “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession”. (Ps. 2 v 8) This and the earnest, importunate prayers of his people that his kingdom would come is what is required.
This is a good book; interesting, stimulating and well printed. We wish it a wide circulation and a large one. Mr. Murray’s views on this topic are similar to those held by ourselves except that he does not commit himself to the belief that Christ’s cause will greatly prosper for a millenium. Thus he cannot be described as a post-millenarian. In the last chapter Mr. Murray refers to the rapidity with which the Disruption Free Church declined, and gives the credit for preserving the Free Church testimony to the 27 ministers who refused to enter the United Free Church in 1900. We cannot but regret this overlooking of the two ministers and their followers who in 1893 really kept the Free Church in being, albeit they had to adopt the slightly different name of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
A. McP.
Colossians, by William Hendriksen. Banner of Truth Trust. 237pp. Price £1.20
In the Commentary on Colossians and Philemon, Dr Hendriksen has succeeded in maintaining the standard, as well as following the pattern of his previous productions. The Epistle to the Colossians is perhaps, in some parts, the most difficult of Paul’s Epistles, dealing not only with the profound and magnificent statements regarding the Person and Work of Christ, but also with certain subtle and bewitching errors with which the church in that area was infested. It is to the credit of the author, that he has not been daunted by these difficulties, but has laboured to resolve and explain them.
A fascinating feature of the book is the author’s ability to demonstrate the relevance of the contents of the two Epistles to the era in which we live, with its peculiar problems and questions. He shows us the definite place in, and relation of the Saviour to the ‘space age,’ to the ecumenical age, with its minimal emphasis on doctrine, and its readiness to call in question the very idea of the finality of the Christian religion; and to the all-sufficiency of Christ, which stems from His Eternal Deity. The present undue stress on pragmatism, the equality of all men in the sight of God, and the much vexed and increasingly complex problem of human relationships, are all dealt with in a clear, orthodox, contemporary and devotional manner.
No ordinary measure of exegetical skill combined with an understanding of the times in which we live, make this commentary worth reading and perusing. The remarks, however, on chapter 3 verse 16 of Colossians should be read with caution.
F.M.