January-February - The Gospel Magazine

The Gospel Magazine
Book Reviews
35
The Gift of Grace. Roman catholic teaching in the tight of the Bible.
T. Vanhuysse. Evangelical Press, Darlington. pp. 109. f3.g5-.
We are indebted to the Evangelical Press for making this paperback translation
from the French available to the Christian public. The authoi is a former Roman
Catholic who was brought up in Belgium.
what does the phrase "gift of grace" mean? A protestant understands the
gift to be salvation and since it is not earned it is a gift given by a gracious God, a
gift of grace. A Roman catholic would not understand the phrise in that way.
For him grace itself is the gift, for he has been given the impreision that grace is a
thing, or at least a quality, a righteousness which can be poured into himlinfused
righteousness). For the Roman catholic grace is the gift, for grace is seen as
something distinct from God though given by Him, while for the protestant
salvation is the gift given to sinners because of the grace (generosity) of God.
So the very title of this book draws attention to a fundamental difference in
the way Protestants and Roman Catholics think about grace. On the back cover
we read: "This book looks at traditional (Roman) catholic teaching on grace
and justification in the light of what the Bible teaches.,'
In the introduction the author says that he wrote the book to answer the
question, what exactly is an indulgence? This question is dealt with in the proper
context of the doctrine of justification.
This book is not light reading and the author assumes that his readers will
have a fair knowledge of the Protestant/Roman Catholic controversy and be
acquainted with the councils of orange and Trent. The book abounds with
quotations from calvin, while Luther's Ninety-Five Theses are quoted in full
with comments. Other quotations make the book more attractive to the serious
student who will keep it for at least a second reading. This reviewer felt that he
was notgrasping all that was therein one reading of it.
W.J.B.
The works of Thomas Manton, vors. I, u & III. The Banner of rruth rrust.
Hardback. pp. 500 per vol. f I1.9S. The set: f32.gi.
The first volume begins with a memoir of Manton. He was chaplain to Cromwell
and minister in covent Garden. Later he was a royal chaplain. He declined the
Deanery of Rochester and stood with the puritans in the Ejection of 1662.
Imprisoned for preaching in his own house, the custodian of the prison entrusted
the keys to Manton! He died in 1677 and left a rich legacy of Siripture Studies
in 22 volumes.
In the first volume we have the cream of his devotional thoughts in the
Exposition of the Lord's Prayer (half the volume!). The rest is a study of the
Person and work of the Lord Jesus christ. First comes the study of christ's