The British Particular Baptists -- Volume 5

If you are anything like me there is usually one person that stands out in a compilation biography that draws your attention to buy it. In this case it is Archibald M’Lean, essentially the founder of Baptists in Scotland. This review will focus primarily on his chapter while I do look forward to reading the other notable persons in this volume. This bio was written by Scottish pastor and scholar Brian Talbot. He did an overall good introduction to the life and story of the man. He was even sure to distinguish AM from the English Particular Baptists that are usually focused on in these volumes. To be clear, AM was what we refer to as a five point Calvinist Baptist in Scotland but he had a few ecclesiological and Theological differences from the English five point Baptists, like he believed in the necessity of a plurality of elders contra the English. Talbot does a good job on the ecclesiological differences but for some reason he does not discuss the major controversy between AM and the English and Andrew Fuller. This involved the nature of Saving Faith. Fuller believed Faith included the will and emotions of a man and not just his intellect. AM contrasted this showing that Faith is a passive gift of God and is not of the will of man. This is a serious negligence on the part of the author. I have read other works by the author in which he discusses in depth this debate between AM and AF, so he is aware of it. Why he chose not to include this in this volume is a mystery to me. It may be that he lacked the freedom from the editors to include it but I see later on they allowed other authors in the volume to take sides in this debate (p. 168 n. 47). The editors also allowed for mention of other serious debates such as William Buttons disagreement with AF on duty Faith. This leads me to wonder if it was just the misgivings of Dr. Talbot. Either way it was a great inclusion in the volume. I would encourage readers to research further AM’s works for much scriptural fruit. For those who doubt he should be in the volume at all since he was not an English Particular Baptist, I can just say that many others that did not toe the line are included in other volumes. I do not consider John Bunyan or the Haldane brothers as Baptists and yet they are in previous volumes to this series. They were credobaptist evangelicals true but not Baptists. As to the quality of the production of these volumes this volume as the others is truly a professional top class production. We live in an age where home made books are the fashion, but this volume is beautiful and will shine in your library. Thanks to the editors and the authors for their labors and Soli Deo Gloria most of all.