Martin Keuning, ed., CALVINIST CADET GUIDE BOOK. Grand Rapids Calvinist Cadet Corps. 1954.

When the Federation of Reformed Boys’ Clubs (later renamed the Calvinist Cadet Corps) was organized on October 30, 1952, the speaker for the occasion, Mr. Gerrit Likkel of Kalamazoo began his speech with these words: “Fellow Servicemen! I greet you this evening in the words of the Apostle Paul, a great serviceman in the Kingdom of God: ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living Sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service’ (Rom. 12:1). You are the leaders of the future leaders in the Christian Reformed Church. You have an important job. You are taking our boys at a crucial period in their lives. Just when they need the greatest amount of care. You are molding characters for life. Think of it, for life! Never to be undone attain” (p. 1 of the supplement to Guide Book for counselors).

To most of us, no doubt, the Calvinist Cadet Corps is still a new name, if not altogether an unknown quantity. But as suggested above, it is simply the boys clubs coming out with a new name. And from the looks of this Guide Book this idea is going to be popular with our boys. It is one of the finest things that I have seen to stimulate real activity and interest in our teenagers and to guide them in the ways of righteousness and service of the great King.

The Guide Book shows concretely and systematically how the youthful member becomes a Recruit in the club, is initiated and then rises through the ranks of Pathfinder, Builder and, finally, to be a Guide himself. The foundation of the building that is visualized under the motto: Living for Jesus, is the Bible. The verse of Scripture that sets the tone is: “If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.” And the Corps pledge is: “Thankful to Jehovah, for his gifts to me, I pledge myself to be ready to serve God, my parents, my country, my church, my neighbor and my Corps.” The code of the Cadets calls for: reverence, obedience, compassion, consecration, trustworthiness, purity, gratitude, loyalty, industry and cheerfulness. AI! of these are defined first of all in relation to God and secondly in relation to man. Here is no cheap sentimentality or humanitarianism, a be good, do good modernism, but a deeply spiritual Calvinism. And for that reason this reviewer believes it is just the thing we need in the place of the Boy Scout movement which has once and again been signalized by our leaders and by the Christian Reformed synod as being humanistic and moralistic.

The main emphasis of the Cadets is to let the light of the Word guide them in every part of life, hence Bible study is an essential part of the program. Bible lessons. Set No. I, a separate booklet of 86 pages, accompanies the Guide Book. Here the basic ideas of the code are worked out in their Scriptural setting, which is followed by a study of the parables.

Let no one conclude, however, that there is an imbalance here. The proper place is given to patriotism and the flag, while first and and prevention of accidents is given 16 pages. This is followed by woodworking, braiding, plastics, marble painting, etching, soap carving, nature study, etc. Many games are also outlined both for indoor and outdoor pastime. Bible quizzes and Bible puzzles are added at the end for good measure. A model constitution is suggested so that any group of boys with a counselor could start a club of their own without being affiliated necessarily with any particular church or national organization. All in all this is a worthwhile project. Of course, the success depends upon the counselors. They must be consecrated and imaginative!

This booklet is highly recommended not only for the specific purpose which the author has in mind, but to all fathers who would guide their young sons.

HENRY R. VAN TIL, Grand Rapids, Mich.

John Calvin, DEVOTIONS AND PRAYERS. Compiled by Charles E. Edwards. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House. 120 pp., $1.00.

This little, pocket-size guide for devotions contains fifty-two meditations on the minor prophets with an appropriate prayer at the end or each. It is as refreshing as it is profound. It would serve as the finest stimulant and introduction to a study of these prophets not only, but it gives as well an insight into the soul of a spiritually minded man. By way of introduction I can think of nothing better than to quote one of these meditations of Calvin in its entirety. This is number 21, the second of two on the book of Jonah. Here is the Scripture with comment:

Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd. for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow: which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six-score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand: and also much cattle?”Jonah 4:4,11.

God shows here how like a father he provides for mankind. Each one of us is cherished by him with singular care: but yet he presents here a large number, that it might be more manifest that he has so great a concern for mankind that he will not inconsiderately fulminate against anyone nation. God shows here to Jonah that he has been carried away by his own merciless zeal. Though his zeal arose from a good principle, yet Jonah was influenced by a feeling far too vehement. This God proved by sparing so many infants hitherto innocent. And to infants he adds the brute animals. Oxen were especially superior to shrubs. If only Jonah justly grieved for one withered shrub it was far more deplorable and cruel for so many innocent animals to perish. We hence see how opposite are all the parts of this similitude, to make Jonah loathe his folly. and to be ashamed of it: for he had attempted to frustrate the secret purpose of God, and in a manner to overrule it by his own will, so that the Ninevites might not be spared, although they labored by true repentance to anticipate the divine judgment. The prayers likewise are simple and childlike.

HENRY R. VAN TIL, Grand Rapids, Mich.

J. D. Eppinga, A PASTOR SPEAKS TO THE SOUL OF THE CITY. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 1954. 93 pp., $1.50.

This book is different. I began the reading of it not knowing just what I would find in it. The title and the table of contents had me guessing. After reading two of three pages I knew I had something quite unique in my hands.

Only one who is interested in people could want to write a book like this. Only a pastor whose sights are broad enough to see over the fences of his own parish could be disposed to produce these chapters on, The Ears of the City, The Productions of the City, The Children of the City, The Lost of the City, The Defenses of the City, The Proverbs of the City, The Parades of the City, The Speed of the City, The Fences of the City, The Rival of the City.

It is light reading, but not trivial. It probably will never be quoted in a philosophy classroom, but it has philosophical substance. I doubt whether a professor of literature will take much note of it, but should he do so he will underline some elegant sentences.

Rev. Eppinga writes with a well-furnished mind and with a devout heart—and with a chuckle, too! Perhaps, it is that kind of mind, and that kind of heart, that produces the best humor.

The author is pastor of the Lagrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is a graduate of Calvin and Westminster Seminaries.

LEONARD GREENWAY, Grand Rapids, Mich.

L. Penning, GENIUS OF GENEVA (A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN CALVIN). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 1954. 392 pp., $3.00.

Penning, a Dutch author of historical fiction, writer of many books on the Boer War, here tried his hand at biography. The translation was made by B. S. Berrington, a clergyman who wrote rather pompously for our day. In spite of this fault the book reads rather easily and once one has caught the spirit of the times, which is graphically communicated to us by Penning’s fervent style, the Reformation begins to come alive. This is the real value of the book.

Also, some of the malicious slanders concerning Calvin are shown to be false. But this is counter-balanced by the inadequate theological perception of the author, for he states that the doctrine of predestination was the very heart of the Institutes. Fact is, the first edition of the Institutes did not include a treatment of this doctrine, and Calvin only added it because there arose certain deniers of this precious truth.

However, the book as a whole gives one a fine perspective of the Reformation as a mighty work of God. And Calvin stands out clearly, as he should, as a great man of God as well as a genius of learning and the literary art. But all of this greatness and fame did not diminish Calvin’s humaneness and humility. He is seen as a true friend, a loving spiritual brother and a faithful pastor of souls, which he was through all the persecutions of those days.

Finally, Penning makes some pertinent and brilliant observations which we might well consider carefully. He tells us, for example, that it is an impossible task to reform the church from within (p, 36), that Calvin and Farel were actually exiled because they were disturbers of the peace (p. 10), that Calvin would overlook minor points of difference in order to preserve the larger unity (p. 141). The author also shows us that Calvin was not personally vindictive, that he was heroic in face of the dangers of the plague, and that he favored shorter sermons than Farel was accustomed to preaching. Many other personal glimpses are provided of the genius of Geneva. One of the most touching scenes in the book is the description of Calvin’s farewell to the members of the Geneva city council.

“Your worships,” said Calvin, cannot thank you enough for the honor and kindness you have shown me, and especially for the inexhaustible patience with which you have borne with my great shortcomings and faults. I have met with many discouragements and great opposition in my career, but that was not your fault, but was according to the decree of God who tries each o[ his servants, Wherever I have failed in my duty I earnestly beg you not to impute this to my will, but to my inability. Above all, venerable sirs! am I indebted to you for so kindly and gently bearing with my too great vehemence, This and my other faults I am heartily sorry for, but I earnestly hope that God has pardoned these bulls” (pp. 376 f).

All of which depicts the godliness and childlikeness of this great-souled Reformer. Well might Beza in his funeral oration cry out: “My father! my father! the cha riots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!”

HENRY R. VAN TIl, Grand Rapids, Mich.

       

         

Ilion T. Jones: A HISTORICAL APPROACH TO EVANGELICAL WORSHIP, 319 p. Abingdon Press, 1954.

There was a time in the history of Protestantism when nearly all controversy involved doctrine. Those days are passed, and we are witnessing at present a serious struggle in the area of worship. Not only have the externals been largely modified during recent decades, but the underlying ideas seem to have shifted. The author is convinced that Protestantism has incorporated many of these changes without realizing what has happened. He thus calls a halt and asks us to consider “the nature of evangelical worship in the light of its history, thereafter lays down it broad basis for formulating a doctrine of worship in harmony with that nature, and to implement the doctrine in respect to the various elements that go to make up a suitable cultus.”

This is an ambitious program and in general the author succeeds admirably.

Much material is, of course, considered in the first section which is chiefly historical. Jones is convinced that the evangelical, spiritual tradition of Christian worship is “prophetic” in contrast with the “priestly” or formal and ceremonial which has always threatened the church. The roots of evangelical worship he finds first of all in the Old Testament, especially among the prophets. The movement which they represented he feels was the most significant of all in human religious history, even though its immediate results were few. Post-exilic Judaism also contributed heavily to the development of the “prophetic” tradition which moulded Christian worship, for in spite of the emphasis placed on the temple worship, the synagogue arose to claim a place in the religious lives of the people and replace sacrifices with prayer.

Jesus regarded it as his function, according to Jones, to bring the word of prophets to completion. Of course, one wonders by what show of right he excludes what our Savior plainly said about the law or Moses which included ceremonial regulations? Jesus is to be regarded as a “layman” who believed himself called by God. We are further told that he never actually made a choice between temple or synagogue worship, but his preference undoubtedly lay with the latter. Yet he left it up to his disciples and the new Christian community to shape its worship according to its own insights and needs.

The author is convinced that the early church began correctly by stressing the prophetic ministry, but soon lost its course and began to emphasize the place of the priestly. Thus the history of the church cannot be properly understood apart from the obscuringof the prophetic voice and the consequent entrenchment of priestly power which brought corruption. As priests and people were steeped in unspirituality and ignorance, the need for reformation became increasingly apparent. The author has done service by pointing up the undeniable fact that the Reformation cannot be properly understood and evaluated apart from the craving for a more spiritual form of Christian worship than that afforded by the medieval church and her ceremonial trappings, This aspect seems to have been too long ignored, with the result that the Reformation is assessed rather as an intellectual and doctrinal revolt instead of a total spiritual reaction against the paganization of the church. The reformers, we are told, found themselves in a major revolution without ever intending this. They only sought to purify the church of some gross abuses. Yet circumstances compelled them to proceed with a thorough purging, Jones finds Luther too conservative and reluctant, although he agrees that several oC his innovations have done great service towards reintroducing evangelical worship. The Strasburg reformers did much for the development of a spiritual form of worship, and their influence upon Calvin as well as others has been too long neglected. The sympathies of the author lie quite clearly and consistently with Zwingli. His interpretationof Calvin, particularly on the Lord’s Supper where he affirms that it differs hardly at all from that of Luther, is inaccurate. He goes so far to discredit the positions of both Luther and Calvin that he affirms. “In the last analysis it takes a good deal of fine theological and semantic forensic to distinguish between their views and the doctrine of trans-substantiation.” It is rather regrettable that Jones feels compelled to make indefensible judgments such as these in all effort to eulogize the position of Zwingli.

In concluding the historical section he directs our attention to the churches in America where the Puritan tradition has bulked large. The change has come in largely after 1850. Today in Protestant churches we find altars and divided chances, a growinguse of the arts and symbolism and vestments, significant changes in the place accorded the Lord’s Supper, a lengthened liturgy and a changing ministry in which the preacher is fast being replaced by the priest. This points tip the problem with which the book grapples: Is the Protestant movement going in reverse with this return to medievalism? Are we really ready to exchange evangelical for a formal, liturgical worship which our brothers repudiated? Can we truly have an orderly, fixed worship without quenching the Spirit?

In the light of his historical survey the author seeks to construct what he conceives to be a truly evangelical type of worship. In this connection such salient subjects are discussed as the nature of an evangelical cultus, the proper interpretation and observance of the Lord’s Supper, the use of the symbolism in the churches, the several materials which may properly be used in spiritual worship and the order of service. It is surprising how thoroughly Dr. Jones is ableto deal with his material in a book of ordinary size.

Some excellent passages ought not be passed by without careful notice. His trenchant criticism of those who divorce religion (worship) from ethics is much to the point and undoubtedly demonstrates an inherent weakness in much ritualistic worship. There is also an excellent and suggestive passage on the priesthood of all believers and the consequent responsibility of all church members for worship. Jones never pleads for an actual return to the forms ofthe New Testament, important as these were for those days. This is impossible, since we don’t know exactly what did take place :It that time. Forms of worship have always been in a state of fluidity, and this is to be preferred since it meets actual needs and prevents formalism. Much attention is given to the place or the Lord’s Supper. This is occasioned by the fact that many Protestants are arguing vehemently that this sacrament instead of preaching is the normative and focal point in Christian worship. Without it preaching then is supposed to have but little significance. Jones feels that baptism may be lightly dismissed in this connection, since it happens but once in a person’s lifetime rind really involves no important principles of worship. With this we would, of course, disagree. Possibly one reason why there is so lillIe evidence of clear insight into the nature and place of the worshipping congregation in this volume may be traced to the author’s lack of understanding the significance of baptism.

The book closes with a challenge to the reader. In fact, to problem this has been the avowed purpose of the author. He feels that the system of worship is the major factor in shaping the convictions and conduct of Christians. Thus if people are to remain evangelical Christians, they must breathe an atmosphere which is saturated with that spirit. This requires an evangelical form of worship—simple, straight-forward, with the appeal to the mind instead of the senses. Sharply he exposes the superficiality of those who would introduce ritualistic elements on the grounds that these will help create a worshipful atmosphere and hence satisfy the spiritual cravings of the worshippers. His contention that these externals only speak to the Roman Catholics because of the ·whole theological structure of Romanism is entirely correct. Hence we should beware of dressing up our church buildings, unless we are ready to agree to some of the fulfillments of the Roman theology. Much of the liturgical movement Jones is ready to characterize as a return to “priestIy paganism.” The dangers inherent in this reversal are serious in his opinion because “when Protestantism goes in to eclipse, the Western democratic culture closely associated with it and for which it is partly, if not largely responsible will go into eclipse; and the political and social gains of many centuries will he lost for generations to come.”

The great value of this book lies in the challenging way in which the author points up the present-day revolution in American Protestant worship. Too many seem entirely unaware of what is going on, and still more are unwilling to recognize its implications. Jones argues cogently at many points that these changes strike at the very heart of Protestantism. They are not merely externals designed to make our worship a little more beautiful and compelling. Rather, with their adoption the increasing shift from a prophetic to a priestly religion becomes apparent.

Moreover, these innovations have largely been superimposed by the clergy. In but few instances have they been inspired by the will of the majority of members in the churches. Yet the ministers feel they have been quite successful, since the majority have followed. To the author this gives evidence to the point that we have drifted far from our Protestant moorings. To save the churches from becoming formal and ritualistic, the members must again see their duty and consciously choose and work for a free, spontaneous kind of prophetic religion which has made Protestantism strong.

It is regrettable that the author, who says so many stimulating and challenging things on this important subject, fails as we see it at the most crucial point. He speaks at great length about the difference between the prophetic and the priestly forms, yet he gives no c1ear·cut definition of the prophetic form of Christianity in terms of the contents of the message. And that after all is the heart of the matter. Unless we believe that the gospel of Christ has been authoritatively revealed and must be accurately transmitted, we will have a church which may speak but which isn’t truly prophetic.

Undoubtedly the weakness of the book lies in its admitted presuppositions. The author seeks to defend and justly “evangelical” worship as the only truly spiritual and therefore valid form of Christian worship. Yet he can advance no other arguments than those which are borrowed from the relative historical situation. Nowhere does he intend to claim any normative significance for the Biblical teaching on worship. His view of the Scriptures largely invalidates any claim to the accuracy of his interpretation of this material. Thus we find a person arguing for evangelical worship without stating clearly what the evangel is.

On such a basis he also fails to explain the strength of the Reformation. Indeed, he points out that it recovered the prophetic task of the church, but he fails to understand that this meant the proclamation of the abiding Word of God called the Holy Scriptures. Jones seems to be enamored of the prevalent liberal notion that the preacher must find his own preaching material. To be relevant to present needs it may be historically conditioned by the Bible but never normatively controlled by it.

Because of these presuppositions and their influence on his thinking, the work of of Jones, valuable as it is in several respects, can only have relative significance for those who take the Bible seriously as the sole rule for faith and practice (worship included). Indeed, he points up the present situation with its grave dangers in a challenging way. To a large degree he is able to analyze some of the fundamental issues which must be and are being decided. Yet he fails to present any adequate solution.

Dr. Jones can and does tell Protestants that with regard to the principles and practice of Christian worship they are largely lost in the woods. That makes it all the more regrettable that he hasn’t been able to tell them the real way out.

PETER Y. DE JONG, Pella, Iowa

Dr. H. Kakes. De Doop in de Nederlandse Belijdenisgeschriften. Kampen: J. H. Kok. 1953. 174 pp.

Prof. Dr. F. W. Grosheide of the Free University, Amsterdam, said in his review of this book in a Dutch magazine something to the effect that he found the thesis or this work interesting but. that he would like to have a talk with the author. This statement summarizes my feelings very neatly.

In 1944 the battle concerning the meaning of the sacraments was at its peak in The Netherlands, with the result that a disastrous schism came about in De Gereformeerde Kerken, (sister church of the Christian Reformed denomination in the U.S. and Canada). The fury of that struggle has subsided somewhat in recent years, but occasionally a flare-up will re·occur. Dr. Kakes hopes with this book to bring the opposing parties together once again, and so he attempts to give a dear picture of the several factors that are responsible for the perpetuation of the present division among these people of Reformed persuasion. Against the back·ground of the sixteenth century Kakes traces in particular the doctrine of holy baptism as it is taught in the three creeds: the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dordrecht.

Specifically, the greater part of the book is taken up with an evaluation of questions and answers 65 through 74 of the Heidelberg Catechism, articles 33, 34 and 35 of the Belgic Confession, and with chapter I, paragraph 17 of the Canons of Dordrecht. In our opinion this work lacks sound Scriptural exegesis. Kakes’ method is to exegete the Heidelberg Catechism, for example, come to a conclusion and then superimpose that conclusion upon certain passages dealing with the sacrament of baptism from Scripture.

Ursinus is shown to believe that God offered the benefits of the Messiah to the people of the Old Covenant head for head, without exception, but he promised these blessings only to the elect. That, declares Dr. Kakes, is the Scriptural line of argument as reflected in Romans 9:6, 8. Once having accepted that he quite easily comes to the following conclusion: The sacraments are only for the believers; others have no right to them whatsoever. It would be unwise, says our author, to assume that children eligible for baptism have been regenerated before or during baptism. The Synod of the Gereformeerde Kerhen declared in 1944 that such a conclusion would be more or less inaccurate. The sacraments do not signify and seal present faith, but they most certainly seal faith unless it appears later in the years of discretion that such an assumption is unwarranted.

Anyone who is looking for debate and argument can see all the makings of a full scale present here. If Dr. Kakes really maintains that the expression “more or less accurate” is actually a piece of theological carefulness and wisdom, then we sincerely doubt whetherhis attempt to heal the breach in the Reformed community in The Netherlands will be successful. Actually the breach is wider than ever! For it is true that the sacraments are for believers just like that, or are they for the benefit of the believer?

The Rev. E. G. van Teylingen wrote in a pamphlet at the time of the aforementioned schism: “The Reformers would be shocked if they heard that baptism administered to an unbeliever is not really a sacrament in the fullest sense of the word.” But now writes Dr. Kakes: “The Rev. Mr. van Teylingen never got to the bottom of the problem. Otherwise he would have discovered that Ursinus sometimes refused to speak about sacraments in this connection For the unbeliever salvation is offered in the sacraments, not promised or sealed.”

I would rather agree with Dr. Oorhuys who comments: “Baptism does not signify and seal unto us that which we can find in the heart of the covenant child, but seals unto us that which lives in the heart of God with respect to this child.”

Actually, however, what does it benefit us to have all sorts of theologians parade down the boulevard of sacramental studies? We know now that there is a difference of opinion between the authorities: Ursinus says one thing, John Calvin another. Let’s have more sound Scriptural exposition on this matter!

We can recommend this scholarly investigation into the nature of the sacraments to all who are interested in this particular issue, The book docs not read easily—there is a veritable flood of quotations which the author expects one to struggle through, but perhaps that is a sure sign or a genuinely scholarly thesis.

LAMBERTUS MULDER, Neerlandia, Alberta

Samuel G. Craig, CHRISTIANITY RIGHTLY SO CALLED. Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, Philadelphia. 270 pp. $2.25.

This is a good book. It is hardly extravagant to say that nothing as good, in this kind of a book, has been written since Warfield laid down his pen or Machen wrote hisChristianity and Liberalism. Indeed while Dr. Craig often quotes from these two authors and even more often sounds like them it is clear that this is not mere copying but stems from the fact that he has the same deep commitment to historic Christianity that motivated them, the same deep insight into current religious trends and the same happy precision and clarity in style.

In his foreword Dr. Craig declares that he writes to do something to remedy the confused situation in the field of religious discussion resulting from the fan that “those engaging in it have radically different conceptions of what Christianity is.” That the book now appears in a third revised edition is only one indication of his success. He holds, and demonstrates, that “whatever may be thought of the truth or value of Christianity there is no good reason why men should be in doubt as to what its essential features are.”

Dr. Craig correctly contends that Christianity rightly so called is supernatural, historical, and redemptive and this contention he supports by irrefutable evidence drawn both from Scripture and from history. Especially cogent is his development. (chapter 5)that “Christianity consists of facts and therefore of doctrines” and that over against those who would belittle either. All example of the fine biblical balance which marks most of the book is found (chapter 7) in the author’s insistence that Christian ethics is essential to Christianity but that it cannot be maintained apart from Christian doctrine. The praiseworthy charter of the chapter on “Christianity and History” (2) is indicated in a concluding assertion: “What is Christianity?, is from first to last an historical question” but how, in the light of this statement can Dr. Craig entertain (p. 23) a hope that those neo-supernaluralists who deny that historical facts are essential to Christianity may have arrived at a “tenable fundamentalism”?

Examples of the uniform value of the book in the way of accurate definition are found (p. 235 ff.) in the discussion of Christian Polemics and Christian Irenics and (p, 87): “Christianity is essentially that ethical religion that has its origin and that has its continuance in Jesus Christ conceived as God-man; more particularly it is that redemptive religion that offers salvation from the guilt and corruption of sin through the atoning death of Jesus Christ and the regenerating and sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit.” The manner in which he illustrates the various distinctive facets of Christianity is nothing short of compelling. He is both generous and accurate in showing the manner in which various groups within Christendom have been, through the centuries, committed to its essential tenets.

While the author is no doubt right in asserting that the core or the book will he found in the chapter (3) entitled “The Essential Content of Christianity” this reviewer finds great significance in the chapter (9) dealing with “Deformations and Falsifications of Christianity.” His distinction between falsification and deformation is both valid and valuable as is his observation that in dealing with the latter (p. 233) “two extremes are to be avoided—that or the indifferences and that of the perfectionists and absolutists.” When he adds (p. 238) “but whatever the differences between the various deformations-we have previously expressed the view that all present-day expressions of Christianity are in some degree deformed they are small compared with the difference between all that can rightly be called Christianity and everything that cannot,” one wonders whether Dr.. Craig’s attack against falsifications is or can be wisely and fully implemented on the supposition that the differences between a biblical Calvinism on the one hand and either Romanism or Arminianism on the other hand are even relatively small. Has his irenic temper so silenced his polemic responsibility that he writes such a book as this without so much as hinting that the only ultimate answer to modernistic falsifications is a full-orbed Calvinism? Does his admission (forword vii) that the book is incomplete in containing no discussion of “Christianity and the Church” sufficiently account for his never mentioning the doctrine of election as essentialto Christianity rightly so called or is Kuyper’s cor ecciesiae not essential to true Christianity? Are we right in asserting that the doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of God in the natural as well as in the spiritual realm is the fundamental doctrine of consistent Christianity but nevertheless justified in an evaluation of the present picture which omits that doctrine?

The present reviewer is too impressed with the great value of this book to be dogmatic in adverse criticism but docs timidly suggest that the above questions may properly be kept in mind as the book is read. Surely Abraham Kuyper in his famous Stone lectures established that world system must be opposed to world system and that the system which gives expression to the supernaturalistic, historical and redemptive principles which Craig so well sets forth is the Calvinistic and only the Calvinistic. Moreover, the struggle of recent decades in Presbyterian circles, waged so valiantly by Dr. Craig in his editorial labors demonstrated in a tragic way that victory can be attained only by an insistence upon the distinctive tenets of that system and not by the assertion, however accurate and vigorous, of that which is common to all approximations to Christianity that are not clearly falsifications. Perhaps this is not so much a criticism as a plea that another book should be written even as Dr. Machen added to Christianity and Liberalism such forthrightly Reformed volumes as The Christian Faith in the Modern World and The Christian View of Man before his untimely death elided the series. The book under review is a good book. A book which every Christian should read and in which he should rejoice and this is especially true of those Christians who hold the Reformed Faith.

ROBERT L. ATWELL, Roslyn, Pennsylvania