(Rev) Neil Ross
Here we have a fine selection of the notes made by Mrs Catherine Hyde of numerous addresses by Rev Hugh Cartwright when he was the minister of Edinburgh Free Presbyterian Church. They show him explaining Scripture clearly – not only the context of his text but also each phrase and often single words of the text, all laced with pertinent application. Readers of the book who heard him in the pulpit will no doubt be distinctly reminded of his profound and lucid preaching and be glad that he who is now dead yet speaks in those pages. The notes are not mere outlines of the addresses but give the edifying substance of them.
They are arranged in thematic rather than chronological order, and are divided into five groups: “The Gospel in Galatians” (seven addresses), “Self-Examination” (three), “Coming to Full Assurance” (three), “The Christian Walk” (six, all on texts from Ephesians), and the last five addresses grouped under “Various Subjects”. Some sentences do require more than ordinary concentration, but that is to be expected from the condensed nature of notes.
In the Galatian series, the preacher rightly asserts, “Adding anything to the gospel is denying the sufficiency of the Saviour. It is most dishonouring to God and to the freeness of the gospel, and is most damaging to souls.” He adds, “Works are necessary – but as fruits – they’re not at all to be incorporated in our hope for eternity. But believers are concerned to live a life in conformity to the law of God – so much so that they are in danger of slipping it in beside Christ as part of the ground of our righteousness.” Later, he gives this cautionary encouragement, “When people were putting in something in Christ’s place, or along Christ’s side, Paul argues against them that Christ has done it all. There is nothing left to be done for a sinner to secure or experience the salvation of God.”
Under “Self-examination” there is this helpful statement, “The way in which self examination produces worthy partaking [of the Lord’s Supper] is that the soul is made to see so much of itself that the examination throws him back on Christ, and he has to flee to Christ. Whether we see our total sinfulness, or whether we are given a fresh conviction of the glory and preciousness of the Saviour, the result should be that our souls go out to Him, even if it is just by saying again, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner’.”
He says of “the full assurance of understanding”: “Assurance of personal salvation is not the same as the assurance that Christ is a suitable Saviour, although assurance of personal salvation is there in seed form in saving faith. . . . People may lack personal assurance because they do not have the full assurance of understanding.”
In giving marks of “the Christian walk” and especially of walking as children of light, he says, “God’s people may not know when and how and where they were brought from darkness to light. But what shows that they are children of light is that they’re walking as children of light. . . . The children of light are drawn to the light even if it is not a comfortable experience. They pray, ‘Examine me, and do me prove, try heart and reins O God’. They want to have fellowship with God, even though coming into fellowship with God exposes their own darkness.”
Mrs Hyde, who with her husband Matthew is joint owner of Ettrick Press, has done well in editing and publishing her notes. The book is very well produced (apart from a few typographical mistakes) and has an attractive illustration of the facade of the Gilmore Place church on the front cover. It will make an excellent gift. We heartily recommend it and hope it proves a blessing to many.