THE BEST MATCH or The Soul’s Espousal to Christ by Edward Pearse.
Published by Soli Deo Gloria, 1994, hardback, 205 pages, price £15.95, but available at £13.55 from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom, 133 Woodlands Road, Glasgow, G3 6LE.
EDWARD Pearse, an English non-conformist minister who pastored St. Margaret’s, Westminster, died in 1673, aged about 40 years. His contemporaries said he was an “affectionate and useful preacher.” When he discovered that he was dying from tuberculosis, he resolved to write something that “might be useful after his decease.” This book is one of the fruits of that resolution.
Using the illustration of marriage he deals with the union between Christ and the believer. The manner of his dealing with the subject may be gathered from his opening words: “A covenant relation to Christ is certainly a concern of the greatest weight and highest importance to the sons of men of any in the world: it is what lies at the foundation of all true happiness, both in time and eternity.”
He traces the soul’s union to Christ in five particulars: 1, free and cordial donation; 2, near and intimate union; 3, sweet and lasting communion; 4, strong and ardent affection; 5, mutual rest and complacency for ever. On the first of these, he says, “In this spiritual espousal or marriage relation between Christ and His people, there is a giving of themselves each to the other. Christ on the one hand gives Himself unto the soul. ‘I will be yours,’ He says to the soul, ‘yours to love you, to save you, to make you happy in me and with me. I with all my riches and treasures will be fully and forever yours’.” This quotation gives something of the flavour of this excellent volume.
The chapters are divided into useful divisions, many of which could stand on their own as clear expositions of aspects of the glorious relationship between Christ and the believer. Each section would be sufficient for a daily reading for those who cannot give as much time as they wish to reading. Two sections which are particularly useful are, “How we are to view and apprehend Christ” (see page 276 of this issue), and, “Rules to make a Right Choice of Christ.” The titles of the chapters accurately reflect their content, for example: Chapter 7, “Which shows what manner of husband Christ is, and how qualified for the endearing of Him to souls, and rendering Him desirable in a conjugal union;” Chapter 8, “Which shows what great things Christ does for His spouse;” and Chapter 10, “Which directs souls and shows them the way to attain to this sweet and blessed espousal to Jesus Christ.”
This is a book which we thoroughly recommend, and we compliment the publishers for making it available to present day readers. There are many facets of the Saviour’s love displayed in it, and to those who seek a deeper personal insight into this wondrous subject we say, Read it, pray over it, relish it.
Rev. D. J. MacDonald
Protestant View
Some evil results of enforced celibacy
THERE is no doubt that the characteristic of apostasy, of which the Apostle Paul spoke, “Forbidding to marry” (1 Timothy 4:3), is applicable to none so much as to the Roman Catholic Church. One purpose of marriage is to prevent uncleanness (cf 1 Corinthians 7:2), so no one need be surprised that one of the evil consequences of celibacy being enforced on the priests of Rome is that some of them have resorted to fornication and worse.
Following the cases of a number of priests in Britain who have been convicted in past few years of sexual abuse of young boys, and the case of the priest Brendan Smyth who was recently jailed in Dublin for 12 years for the same kind of crime in the Irish Republic, it is now reported that the Roman Catholic diocese of Dallas in Texas has been ordered to pay £80 million in damages to 10 victims of similar abuse.
The Papacy, however, refuses to soften its policy on enforced celibacy. Indeed, it presents celibacy in a glowing light — as a sign of “the undivided love of the priest for God and for God’s people,” as the Pope said in 1992, or, as Cardinal Basil Hume said, “as a fine witness to love. It is a value we have to observe.” And thus Rome further deludes many of its devotees, both men and women.
At the present time, the Roman hierarchy in Scotland, in an attempt to reverse the decline in numbers of those entering the priesthood and convents, is sending teams of priests and nuns into Roman Catholic schools to persuade teenagers to take up a life of celibacy. No doubt many youngsters will be duped by the idealistic sounding prospects presented to them — with further ill consequences for themselves and others. ☐