THE BIBLE AND THE CLOSET
by Thomas Watson and Samuel Lee, Sprinkle Publications. £11.50.
The author of the first part of the volume under review was the well-known and highly esteemed Puritan divine, the Rev. Thomas Watson. His contribution, which is entitled, “How we may read the Scriptures with Most Spiritual Profit,” is based on Deuteronomy 17: 19 and occupies 46 pages of excellent guidance on how to use the Word of God which, as Augustine says is a golden epistle sent to us from God. It has often been said that Watson is one of the most easily read of the Puritans and certainly there is no ambiguity in his writing about the Scriptures nor in the practical nature of the advice which he gives. “Learn,” he writes, “to apply Scripture; take every work as spoken to yourselves. When the Word thunders against sin, think thus: God means my sins; when it presses any duty, God intends me in this. . . . Compare yourselves with the Word and see how the Scriptures and your hearts agree; how your dial goes with this sun. Are your hearts, as it were, a transcript and counterpart of Scripture? Is the Word copied out into your hearts? The Word calls for humility: are you not only humbled but humble? The Word calls for regeneration: John 3: 7; Have you a change of heart? Not only a moral and partial change but a spiritual. Is there such a change wrought in you, as if another soul did live in the same body?” The second part of the volume entitled, “Secret Prayer Successfully Managed,” is by the Rev. Samuel Lee who was the pastor of St. Botolph’s Church in London until ejected in 1662 and is based on Matthew 6: 6. It is a most edifying and helpful directory containing many precious thoughts and observations on private prayer. “It is true,” he says, “hypocrites may pray and may pray alone and pray long, and receive their reward from such whose observation they desire, but a hypocrite takes no sincere delight in secret devotion, he has no spring of affection to God. But, O my dove, says Christ, that art in the clefts of the rock, let me hear thy voice, for the melody thereof is sweet. A weeping countenance and a wounded spirit are most beautiful prospects to the eye of heaven, when a broken heart pours out repentant tears from the rock smitten by the rod of Moses’ law in the hand of a mediator.”
The last and longest part of the book is devoted to the important duty of family worship and could be described as a kind of anthology of the writings of Doddridge and others on the subject. While not, in the opinion of the present reviewer, up to the standard of the first two parts of the volume, it does contain advice and guidance which is particularly apposite in these days when the duty of family worship is largely neglected.
The volume, as a whole, is thoroughly recommended and will be appreciated by all who value the highly spiritual flavour of the writings of our Puritan forefathers. It is attractively produced with few errors, and the print size is very well suited to readers with failing eye sight. Spinkle Publications is to be congratulated for the high standard of this production.
DRM
THE POWER OF FAITH AND PRAYER
by Samuel Rutherford, Reformation Press, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis. £4.50.
Samuel Rutherford needs no introduction to readers of the Free Presbyterian Magazine or indeed to any who appreciate the high spiritual tone of the writings of this eminent servant of Christ. The volume under review is an exposition of Matthew 9: 27-31 which records Christ’s healing of the two blind men. While deeply searching this little book is replete with encouragement suited to the spiritual needs of exercised believers. The saviour of Rutherford’s insights are best illustrated by quoting from the work rather than writing about it. “There may be much praying,” writes Rutherford, “where there is no crying. In some prayers there is much tongue, little spirit and life; so, in some others there is much spirit and little tongue. Light sorrow will speak, extreme grief is dumb and cannot command one word. The deepest floods in their motion speak least, and slide down their banks without noise; shallow brooks flow with great tumbling and din. Some desires are above words, and come out in nothing but sad sighs and deep groans (Romans 8: 27)”.
This work was first published in 1713, over 50 years after Rutherford’s death. Readers of the little volume (88 pages) will feel indebted to the Reformation Press for its republication in such an attractive format. DRM
THE LIFE AND WORK OF CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON
by G. Holden Pike, 2 volumes, Banner of Truth. £29.95.
This biography was first published in 1894, two years after Spurgeon’s death. The author, G. Holden Pike observed Spurgeon “at close quarters and knew him intimately” over a period of thirty years. While the volumes give a vivid and detailed account of the indefatigable labours of this able and greatly blessed minister of the gospel yet, understandably, they do not reflect the spiritual life of this man of God to the same degree as do the autobiographical volumes, The Early Years and The Full Harvest.
It is well-known that Spurgeon earnestly contended for the faith once delivered to the saints in opposing the propagation of heresy by proponents of the New Theology within his own Baptist denomination and beyond and that he severed his connection with the Evangelical Alliance and separated from the Baptist Union in 1887. It is surprising, therefore, that Holden Pike, who must have been aware of the extent to which Spurgeon was preoccupied with and concerned about the departures from the faith which occasioned the Down-grade Controversy, devotes so little space to that important period in his life. In spite of this defect the two volumes constitute an authoritative source of information of the life of this remarkable man and make absorbing reading.
The books are beautifully produced and up to the standard we have come to take for granted from the Banner of Truth. DRM