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Thirsting SoulThe saving work of God in the heart of manSalvationTHIRSTING SOUL The author is a retired pastor who has ministered in both the UK and Canada: even if he had not been explicitly told, the reader would have known because of the warmth of the pastoral heart which infuses the text. The book is a series of gentle studies on God's work of salvation in an originally spiritually dead man and would be a great help and encouragement to any Christian who loves the Scriptures, or indeed useful material for a small group course on Christian basics. This is Reformed doctrine at its most accessible: there are few presuppositions other than the authority of Scripture which is liberally and helpfully quoted, little theological jargon and a serviceable structure. The ten main chapters cover all the doctrines of grace faithfully under user-friendly dual titles like 'Rescued by Death - Atonement' and 'An Effective Invitation - Invincible Grace'. Each chapter ends with a few homework questions which could either facilitate private study or stimulate group discussion: indeed the author is a fine teacher as he anticipates difficulties in understanding and uses analogy and illustration most helpfully. Problematic areas are negotiated sure-footedly and familiar truths are presented winsomely. Much of the material must have been refined in the furnace of preaching with the clear burden of the author that his reader should learn and be changed by the truth. In particular, in the epilogue (titled on the last page 'epliogue' one of the very few misprints), he urges a response from the Christian to the challenge of these assembled truths and also pleads with the non-believer to seek God with all his heart. The book could profitably be given to a thinking non-Christian. Occasionally an infelicitous phrase creeps in (e.g. on page 118 the author declares that Proverbs 4.18 agrees with the Shorter Catechism Question 34 - one would rather have hoped the latter would agree with the former!) and technical words like imputed appear without definition. However, the abiding impression of this book is of much-loved truth being expounded enthusiastically and sensitively by a shepherd who knows his sheep and desires that the thirst for truth of thirsting souls will be insatiable. Irving Steggles,
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