March - the Free Presbyterian church of Scotland

Book Reviews 87David C Searle’s abridgement of Calvin’s five-volume commentary onthe Psalms is to be welcomed if it succeeds in attracting a wider circle ofreaders who would perhaps not otherwise take up the full unabridged version.We find here the authentic voice of Calvin speaking with authority and faithfulnessto the plain teaching of the text. Searle has done his literary workwell in that regard. Yet in some ways it is a sad indication of the superficialityof the present state of religion that such an abridgement is deemednecessary, at least as far as preachers are concerned. As Searle himselfwrites in the Foreword, “During my years of ministry at Rutherford House,I was often saddened by the realisation that few teachers and preachers ofthe gospel ever used Calvin’s commentaries, either on the Psalms or on therest of the Christian Scriptures”.The Introduction contains a useful summary of Calvin’s method ofinterpretation and the leading doctrines he emphasises. Calvin referred to thePsalms as “an anatomy of all the parts of the soul” and we see his pastoralsensitivity in such comments as the following on Psalm 118:18: “We shouldalways recognise our adversities as coming from God’s hand to crucify oursinful natures . . . and humble us so that we might meditate on the heavenlylife. Those who champ impatiently on the bit do not see that their afflictionsare God’s rod administered in fatherly care . . . He deals in mercy with Hispeople, that His chastening may serve as medicine and be their cure.”No doubt many useful passages have been omitted for the sake of condensationand it is to be regretted once again that the English Standard Versionis generally used for quotations. Nevertheless, this handy and attractive commentarywill prove useful to anyone desiring to get a lucid and brief overviewof the contents of each of the Psalms and may lead them on to study theunabridged version for themselves.(Rev) A W MacCollWhen Christians Suffer, by Thomas Case, published by the Banner of TruthTrust in their Pocket Puritan series, paperback, 122 pages, £3.25.Case (1598–1682) was an English Puritan who suffered imprisonmentduring a time of political turmoil and believed that “discourses on afflictioncan never be out of season”. This little book has been reprinted, with editing,from his Treatise of Affliction (1652).Among Case’s “21 lessons which God usually teaches His people in asuffering condition” are: “self-denial and obedient submission to the will ofGod”, “more acquaintance with the Word of God”, and increase of grace.“Anything on this side of hell”, he writes, “is pure mercy.” And some finallessons include: “No man is blessed just because he is afflicted”; “If God hastaught you, as well as chastened you, you are a blessed man”; “Those whom