Sydney Frank Paul, A Pillar in the Church, edited by Matthew J Hyde, published by Gospel Standard Trust Publications, hardback, 413 pages, £16.95, obtainable from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
Sydney Paul (1883-1971) was, as the sub-title of this volume indicates, “a faithful deacon at Galeed Chapel, Brighton, editor of the Gospel Standard Magazine and a faithful servant among the churches”. The book contains a biography of him written by Matthew J Hyde, the current pastor of Galeed Chapel, along with an autobiographical account and a selection of Sydney Paul’s writings, notes of sermons that he heard, and several appendices of spiritual and historical interest, one of which is a list of the books written or edited by him.
The subject of this book was well known to Free Presbyterians from the 1970s as the author of a series of books for young people – Bible People (1968), Bible Places (1968), Bible Animals (1970), Bible Miracles (1972), Bible Prophecies (1974) and Bible Histories and Truths (1975). Many of these books were used as prizes and awards following the completion of the Scripture and Catechism exercises in The Young People’s Magazine. Additionally, for those who, like the reviewer, have an interest in the history of English Nonconformity, he is also remembered as the author of a Historical Sketch of the Gospel Standard Baptists (1945) – a small book detailing the origins of that branch of the visible Church of which he was a member. This was followed by an invaluable set of six substantial volumes recording the histories of Gospel Standard congregations.
He was brought up by godly parents at Galeed when its pastor was the eminent James Kidwell Popham (1847-1937). The young Paul was an intelligent boy who obtained scholarships for schools and colleges where his parents could not have afforded to send him. He finally went, on a scholarship, to the
Royal College of Science which is today part of Imperial College, London, and graduated as an Associate of the Royal College in 1905. He spent his entire working career as an examiner of patents in the Patents Office in London where he specialised in patents for engines of cars and aeroplanes. A work of grace was begun in his life in 1901 when he was 18. It was, however, another 25 years before he went before the church confessing his faith. He was baptized by Mr Popham in October 1926, and elected a deacon four years later.
Paul retired early in 1943, at the age of 60, and spent the remaining 28 years of his life in the service of the Gospel Standard Churches. Dr Hyde correctly describes him as “a pillar of the Church”. He made a major contribution as an author. Besides writing 30 books, he was from 1951 to 1964 the editor of The Friendly Companion, a magazine aimed at children and the family circle. Then from July 1964 to December 1970, when he was between the ages of 81 and 87, he edited The Gospel Standard Magazine. To these publications he contributed numerous articles; the volume Christ as Revealed in the Old Testament, published in 2006 and edited by John R Broome, consists of two series of articles that he contributed to the Gospel Standard Magazine.
However, his service to his denomination did not end with his work as an author. In 1942 he was elected a member of the Committee of the Gospel Standard Societies and two years later he became the secretary of a sub-committee that set up a fund to assist the elderly in their churches who had no godly relatives to care for them. This resulted in the opening of the Bethesda Care Homes. Sydney Paul played a major role in three further projects of his denomination. The first resulted from the remnant of Mr Popham’s library being left to Galeed Chapel, where he catalogued the collection, which led eventually to a purpose-built denominational library being set up that is now an essential facility for historical research on the Gospel Standard churches and wider nonconformity. The second project was the setting up of a Trust to provide help to chapels to meet their legal responsibilities and to assist with repairs and maintenance of chapels. He was also intimately involved in a third project, that of publishing books with a particular relevance to the Gospel Standard churches.
The biographical account of Sydney Paul includes several references to Free Presbyterians. As a young man he used to go on holiday walking tours in Scotland with his brothers and always worshipped in Free Presbyterian congregations and made notes of the sermons he heard.2 The book contains
2It is very probable that his link to the Free Presbyterian Church had been encouraged by J K Popham who had visited Caithness in 1908 and had preached in the Halkirk church.
notes of six such sermons from the years 1909 and 1910, one each of Rev Neil Cameron and Rev Donald Graham and four of Rev Ewen Macqueen. Following his marriage in 1912 to Ellen Oram (1876-1961), Paul, who had so appreciated the Communion seasons, arranged their holiday to be in Scotland. They stayed first in Thurso and then at Portree on the Isle of Skye in order to be present at communion seasons (pp 26-28).
When Rev Donald MacLean was in the Royal Navy, he was stationed in Brighton taking an officer training course and attended Galeed Chapel between March and June 1942. The Pauls often invited him to their home between the Sabbath services. Their only son Isaac Paul had been killed in action in December 1941. Matthew Hyde in his biographical account writes, “Mr MacLean was stationed in Hove for a time on Naval training and attended services at Galeed, arriving just about the time that Isaac Paul was killed in action. Mrs Poole (a daughter of the Pauls) often spoke of how Mr MacLean reminded her father of his son, and Mr MacLean’s presence in the Paul home when on Lord’s Day leave was a great help to Mr Paul” (p 30).
Ellen Paul died in 1961, when they were on holiday in Edinburgh. On the last day of the holiday, Mrs Paul was taken ill while walking in the Botanical Gardens and was rushed to the Western General Hospital. There her husband was told it was pneumonia and that her heart was giving way under it. Sydney Paul was supported at the time by Rev Donald J Macaskill (1909-1995), then the newly inducted Free Presbyterian minister on Raasay. Mrs Macaskill also was in the Western General Hospital at the time (after several more months of illness, she passed away on 1 January 1962). The Pauls had heard Mr Macaskill at the Gilmore Place church during their stay, and he visited Mrs Paul in the hospital shortly before her death (p 62).
Dr Hyde has produced an excellent account of an outstanding Christian who, though not a minister in the Gospel Standard Churches, was one of their leading men – “a pillar in the Church”. The book is produced to a high standard and is well illustrated both by photographs (five of Free Presbyterians) and of drawings by Isaac Paul. We warmly recommend it to our readers.
Roy Middleton