A Commentary on Matthew, The Gospel of the Kingdom, by C H Spurgeon, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, hardback, 452 pages, £15.00. This is not the kind of commentary which ministers might use to help them, for instance, understand the meaning of individual words as they prepare a sermon. Rather there is a series of comments explaining and applying each verse or, often, a few verses at once.
1All publications reviewed here are obtainable from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
Spurgeon was a remarkable preacher; every Sabbath for three decades, till his death in 1892, he could fill the 6000-seat Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, and his sermons are still highly valued today. As one would expect from the work of a preacher of such marked ability and spirituality, one reaches the end of each section with a clear understanding of its meaning.
Although Spurgeon was not able to complete this work before he died, it was finished by his personal secretary, Rev J W Harrald. He did so, Mrs Spurgeon tells us in an introductory note, “entirely from [the author’s] own spoken and written words”. Almost without exception, the headings used for each section of this “Gospel of the Kingdom” refer to “the King”, Jesus Christ.
The appearance of the original printing was rather unattractive, but that defect has been remedied in this new edition, which has been completely reset, without editing. It is a welcome reprint; it should prove profitable to those who read it. To whet the appetite here are a few extracts.
First, on 6:34: “When the morrow brings sorrow, it will bring strength for that sorrow. Today will require all the vigour we have to deal with its immediate evils; there can be no need to import cares from the future. To load today with trials not yet arrived would be to overload it. Anxiety is evil, but anxiety about things which have not yet happened is altogether without excuse.”
On the two verses following the Sermon on the Mount: “The sermon is over; what has become of it? Never was there so great a Preacher, and never did He deliver a greater discourse: how many were the penitents? How many the converts? We do not hear of any. Divine truth, even when preached to perfection, will not of itself affect the heart to conversion. The most overpowering authority produces no obedience unless the Holy Ghost subdue the hearer’s heart.”
On 8:23 (the beginning of the account of the storm on the sea): The disciples “were wise to follow [Jesus], and safe in so doing; but they were not therefore secure from trial. In the boat with Jesus is a happy place, but storms may come even when we are there.”
On 18:7: “The humble are the least likely to make others stumble”.
Finally, on 21:41: “The hallmark of a faithful minister is his giving to God all the glory of any work that he is enabled to do. That which does not magnify the Lord will not bless men.”
Some Booklets
The Reformation 1560, The Greatest Year in Scotland’s History, by John J Murray, published by the Free Church (Continuing), 60 pages, £3.00.
This booklet provides a useful summary of the events leading up to what was indeed the most significant year in the whole of Scotland’s history. After a brief survey of the country’s spiritual darkness before the Reformation and a whirlwind tour of the early Reformers, both on the Continent and in Scotland, the booklet’s focus is very much on John Knox, a man who “had a passion to put God first”. The final chapter emphasises Scotland’s need of another Reformation (yet while P T Forsyth’s thoughts on the importance of preaching are appropriate, a sounder writer might have been quoted here). But the quotation from C H Spurgeon is apt: “We want John Knox back again. . . . It were well if he did but rouse our hearts to action.”
John Henry Newman, The Greatest Perver to Rome, by Matthew J Hyde, published by the the Huntingtonian Press, 31 pages, £1.95.
As a teenager Newman was an Evangelical and professed conversion. However, he drifted; he became a Anglo-Catholic and was prominent in the Tractarian movement of the 1830s, with its Romanising doctrines and practices, before ending his life as a Roman Catholic cardinal. His beatification was the centre-point of the Pope’s recent visit to Britain.
Dr Hyde summarises Newman’s life and beliefs before drawing five lessons for today. Commenting on Newman’s “conversion”, the author emphasises the need for the work of the Spirit in bringing sinners to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus. His third point warns against putting confessions of faith above Scripture, but it is not clear who this is directed to. His final point places appropriate emphasis on the biblical doctrine of justification.
This booklet outlines an able man’s departure from the truth into very serious error. This is helpful because of the prominence that Newman has recently been given, and it is a warning to all not to rest in an intellectual conviction of the truth but to make their “calling and election sure”.
When God Made the World, The Six Days of Creation Explained to the Very Young, by Daniel and Naomi Sayers, published by Gospel Standard Trust Publications, 16 pages, £1.95.
Little children should find this booklet attractive. It provides them with coloured pictures, suitably captioned, associated with the seven days of the creation week. Appropriate verses from Genesis 1 are quoted also.