Christ Victorious, Selected Writings of Hugh Martin, edited by Matthew J Hyde and Catherine E Hyde, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, hardback, 437 pages, £16.50, obtainable from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
Born in 1821, Hugh Martin was a native of Aberdeen. He became the Free Church minister of Panbride, six miles inland from Arbroath, on the east coast of Scotland. After 14 years, he moved to a church in Edinburgh, but he had to resign just five years later because of ill-health. When possible he continued to preach and to write. At least five significant books were published during his lifetime. These included The Prophet Jonah and The Shadow of Calvary, and all of them have been reprinted in the last 70 years. He wrote a large number of articles and published several individual sermons, and some of these have been gathered up in the volume under review.
The book has three sections. First, there are 10 sermons, some of which have been printed in this Magazine in recent years; some of the sermons appeared first in magazines such as The Family Treasury and others were published as individual booklets. The second section consists of nine essays, all of them selected from the pieces he contributed to The British and Foreign Evangelical Review. The third section consists of letters written by Martin, all but one of which were written to Christina R Auld, wife of the Free Church minister in Olrig, Caithness; she was latterly a member of the Free Presbyterian congregation in Halkirk. These 18 letters were originally published in the early issues of The Free Presbyterian Magazine. The final letter was written by Martin to his daughters, and is, in effect, a short treatise on “The Prophetic Office of Christ”.
It has to be recognised that Hugh Martin was by no means always the easiest of writers. His books on Jonah and Simon Peter are more accessible for many readers. In Christ Victorious, much of what he wrote to Mrs Auld is easier to understand than some other parts of the book. Martin had exceptional insight into Scripture and we have much to learn from him. Some quotations may illustrate the profit that may be obtained from his writings.
First, in a sermon entitled, “Christ Liveth in Me” (Gal 2:20), he states,
“Take away the gospel, and you take away Christ. He has bound Himself inseparably to His gospel in His dispensations to the sons of men. He has seated Himself in the chariot of His gospel, and His goings forth have been, and to the end of time will be, as seated there. He has clothed Himself with His own gospel, and in these robes alone does He appear in His Church below. He that is blind to the gospel is blind to Christ. He that believes not the gospel believes not on Christ; he that rejects the gospel, it is Christ whom he is rejecting.”
An essay entitled, “The Exchange of Places”, deals with the truth expressed about Christ in 2 Corinthians 8:9: “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor”. “Rich in independent possession”, Martin writes, “of infinite, eternal, infallible life, He became poor unto death.” And he exhorts, “Come, then, you poor and needy – so poor as to be pining, dying, perishing – come, and in respect of life, life inviolable and eternal, be made rich in Christ”. And he insists, “My responsibility is not affected by the secret decree [of God]. I am called upon to come, and, by faith in Christ, receive, through His poverty, the destruction of my poverty and the enriching of my position and person before God for ever. It must be offensive to Christ if I affect to be rich when I am so poor. It must be offensive to Christ if I continue to be poor, when I may be so rich.”
In a piece on “The Spirit of the Father Glorifying the Son”, Martin expounds John 16:8-11: “In the reproving work of the Spirit, eminently He will do you good:
“1. He reproves you of sin – the sin of unbelief – the proof being that the object of faith is worthy of all acceptance, and that you are bound by Divine authority to receive the gift of God.
“2. He reproves you of righteousness – the proof being that Jesus has gone to the Father, and we see Him no more. For no more do we need to see Him here below, His work of atoning righteousness being perfected on earth and accepted in heaven; and Him the heavens, therefore, must righteously retain till the righteous restitution of all things.
“3. He reproves of judgement – the proof being that the prince of this world is judged; not merely that Satan personally is judged; that to me is but a small matter, however solemn, and exemplary, and instructive, and impressive it may be. But, as the ‘prince of this world’ – the leader of this evil and apostate state of things in which I am immersed, and which has such paralysing hold upon me – in that character and capacity Satan is judged. In other words, the very life-centre and nerve-centre of the evil and apostate world-power that paralysed me, and made my return to God hopeless and, indeed, impossible, is itself smitten with paralysis, inasmuch that I am this
moment absolutely and wholly free, simply if I will; and, escaping from the judgement, like Lot from the cities of the plain, and taking hold by faith of the righteousness and victory of this conqueror of the world-power and its prince, I may stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ makes me free.”
Other sermons by Hugh Martin are still in existence (including some that have come to light recently) and other magazine articles that came from his pen, but no more letters are known to have survived. It is hoped, God willing, that this further material will be published by Free Presbyterian Publications.
Christ Victorious may not be the first book by Hugh Martin that anyone should read; yet it is well worth reading. Those who take up this volume may benefit even more from a second reading.
The Confessional Presbyterian, vol 16, paperback, 280 pages, £19.95, obtainable in the UK from James A Dickson Books.
The Confessional Presbyterian is a journal of “Presbyterian doctrine and practice” published by Mr Chris Coldwell in Dallas, Texas, of which volume 16, for 2020, has just appeared. Much of the present issue is devoted to the seventeenth-century Episcopalian James Ussher, who was held in high regard by many who disagreed with him on church government. The opening article discusses the life and work of Ussher and his significance for “confessional Presbyterians”.
One short note by Matthew Vogan considers the reported visit of Ussher to Samuel Rutherford in Anwoth and attempts to place this in historical context. Another contribution by Mr Vogan is on David Dickson, and there are also articles on John Owen, the London Presbyterian ministers’ Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici (1646), and various aspects of American Presbyterianism, with many pages of detailed book reviews. Perhaps most valuable of all is the reprinting of the elder Thomas M’Crie’s excellent articles on the “Marrow Controversy”, which first appeared in the Edinburgh Christian Instructor in 1831 and 1832.
Mr Coldwell does a valuable service in producing this substantial journal and we wish it a wide circulation.
(Rev) D W B Somerset