The Confession of Faith by A. A. Hodge. Banner of Truth Trust, 404 pages, price £4.00.
This reprint of the Westminster Confession of Faith with commentary by Dr. A. A. Hodge appeared in the early part of last year, published by the Banner of Truth Trust. Little requires to be said in commending this fine volume which, since it first made its appearance in America in 1869, has been extensively used in the Presbyterian Church on both sides of the Atlantic and elsewhere ever since. Dr. Hodge’s well known powers of concise analysis and his gift of lucid exposition are apparent everywhere as he unfolds and explains the rich doctrines of the Confession which makes this, in the words of Professor Patton of Princeton, “a very useful book”, for A. A. Hodge “held the Reformed theology as a sacred trust”. The need for such a manual of Christian doctrine was felt by office-bearers in the Presbyterian Church in America as they prepared to subscribe the full Standards of their Church which included the Westminster Confession It was not, therefore, designed to be controversial but to stimulate interest in the Confession and to promote the reverent study of the doctrines of God’s Word. This present volume is the 5th reprint of A. A. Hodge’s Confession by the Banner of Truth Trust in this country. When the first issue of this volume appeared in 1958, the prospects of a wide sale were not encouraging for in the foreword of that edition the Confession is spoken of as falling into oblivion in the low religious state into which the Evangelical Churches had fallen. May the present work awaken renewed interest in the Westminster Confession and lead to a deeper understanding of its doctrines.
The exposition by A. A. Hodge is severely textual and confined to the explanation of the doctrines of the Confession. When the Confession was adopted by the Presbyterian Church in America in 1788 as the doctrinal part of her Constitution, certain modifications were made by the General Assembly, mainly on the nature, powers and duties of the civil magistrate. The chapters affected were to a small extent chapters 20 and 21, and to a much greater extent, chapter 31. Over against the American doctrine on this subject, such works as Shaw on the Confession should be consulted to keep in due perspective the Confessional doctrine of the Westminster divines.
The present edition includes an Introduction consisting of A Short History of Creeds and Some Account of the Origin of the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. These two chapters and the chapters of the Confession itself are furnished with relevant questions to promote further enquiry and study, and a full Index. The print is large and clear and the binding is strong and the whole volume handsome and attractive which, offered at a moderate price, should enjoy a ready sale and be valued as a distinct acquisition on the book shelves of our ministers and people.
A.F.M.
Charges and Addresses by J. C. Ryle, First Bishop of Liverpool. Banner of Truth Trust, 384 pages, price £4.50.
These Charges and Addresses of Bishop Ryle were delivered originally to the clergy of Liverpool but because of the importance of the matters discussed are of more than local interest, and while they remain issues in the Church will continue to have a wide appeal. John Charles Ryle was the first Bishop of Liverpool, newly formed out of the large, ancient, sprawling diocese of Chester. Lord Beaconsfield, better known as Disraeli, recommended Ryle, who at the time was at Stradbroke and had just been made Dean of Salisbury, to the Queen for the See of Liverpool in 1880. This was his last act before giving up office after the defeat of his Tory Party by the Gladstone Liberals, some think in retaliation against the High Church party who were mainly responsible for returning Gladstone once more to power as Ryle was the outstanding leader of Protestant and Evangelical thought in the Church of England, abhorrent to Gladstone and the pro-ritualistic party. However that may be, Ryle had all the qualifications to fit him for high office in the Church, wide scholarship, a fine presence, great gifts of leadership, not afraid to controversy in which he displayed independence of judgment and wielded a trenchant pen, and above all a vivid love for the grand doctrines of the bible. A Cheshire man himself, he welcomed the appointment. Now at the age of 65 and entering upon the autumn of life, he took up the difficult task of organising and introducing order into this long neglected district of the Church with vigour and zeal. He held diocesan Conferences yearly and every three years what he termed Triennial Charges to the Clergy in which he gave guidance to his clergy and met the various committees and societies on Education, Temperance, Bible Distribution, and Mission and Pastoral work in his large diocese; he also in passing made outspoken comments on questions of national importance. In his first pastoral letter Ryle said: “Let us on no account be colourless Christians destitute of distinct opinions”. For the next 20 years, Ryle continued to deliver himself of vigorous observations upon a great variety of topics.
From time to time, these Charges and Addresses were printed separately, and in 1903 all those copies which were obtainable were gathered into a volume which makes this book the rarest of all Ryle’s works. Not all the Conference Addresses are here. The volume contains 17 articles, arranged into chapters, consisting of six Triennial Charges, eight Conference Addresses, a sermon delivered at Liverpool in 1889, an Address to Hull Conference in 1890, and his Farewell Address to his diocese on 1st February 1900. There is a short Introduction with a sketch of Ryle’s life, full and interesting notes on some of the chapters, a fine head portrait on the front dust cover and a helpful Index completes the volume. That same year of his Farewell Address, on 10th June Ryle passed to his reward, worn out by incessant labours and full of peace and honour, and was buried at Childwell, Liverpool. No better or more appropriate epitaph could be written of Bishop Ryle than the words on his gravestone: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” — II Tim. iv, verse 7.
Through these chapters three main themes recur, to which Ryle returns as often as he felt fresh comment was called for, the Cathedral, Romanism and Ritualism, and Higher Criticism. He had been accused of resisting the move to build a Cathedral at Liverpool but on this subject, while admitting the great need of a religious centre for the proper conduct of his large parish, more pressing matters came first, more clergy, more buildings to bring the Gospel to the people, and until these claims were met he continued to speak of a Cathedral, even as late as 1895, as “a beautiful luxury”. During his life time at Liverpool, St. Peter’s served as a pro-Cathedral, destroyed, it is interesting to note, during the last war. The present modern Cathedral, opened last year by the Queen, was begun by his successor, Bishop Chavasse. During his episcopate, Ryle waged unrelenting war against the Romanising and Ritualistic party in the Church. This theme, perhaps, predominates over all others. When the Revised Version of the Bible appeared in 1882, Ryle subjected the work to a critical review, and strongly recommended his clergy to stick to the noble King James Version in their public work.
These talks are written in the homely, racy style made familiar in Ryle’s Upper Room and Principles for Churchmen and shows the bishop in conference with his clergy and with them discussing the larger questions which concerned the Church. Here, we are given the considered thoughts of the greatest churchman of a past age on such subjects as Romanism and Ritualism, Modernism and Higher Criticism, Discipline, Church Reform, Prayer Book, etc, many of which are still doing their deadly work and undermining the very foundations of the Christian Church. Here, too we may follow Bishop Ryle as he labours to make the cumbersome machinery of the Church of England, which he says is “the grandest old Church of Christendom”, serve the interests of evangelical religion — the flaws of the episcopal system should be apparent to any informed Presbyterian and Bishop Ryle himself sadly confesses “discipline is dead”, “every clergyman does what is right in his own eyes”. Here, too, is a book to which ministers may turn with interest who are faithfully labouring in the vineyard against disheartening odds. Isaiah’s words are true of the present age: “This is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy”. The Christian Church today is faced with the same destructive forces which were gaining strength in Ryle’s time. These papers are therefore timely. We are grateful to the Banner of Truth Trust for rescuing these fine Charges and Address from oblivion. The volume is in handsome binding, at a moderate price a worthy addition to the other works of Ryle printed by the Trust, and for this volume we wish a wide and ready sale.
A.F.M.
Princeton Sermons by Dr Charles Hodge. Banner of Truth Trust. £3.75.
Through the use of different paper this Banner of Truth reprint is a slimmer volume than before, but its 373 pages are no different. They are filled with nearly 250 excellent sermon outlines. These are full enough to give one the feel of the original discourses. Reading and thinking over one per day would be a rewarding exercise. The outlines are grouped in ten sections. Three on the Persons of the Godhead are followed by one on Satan and sin. Conversion from sin to God comes next, followed by no fewer than 163 sermons on Christian experience and kindred subjects. A section on the believer’s responsibilities and duties follows, then others on the means of grace, death and the fulness of redemption, and a few addresses from the last year of his life. For the Christian who wishes to be informed widely on the truths of his religion, this book could be a home-study course taught by a “master in Israel.”
A.McP.