Description
Author: Islip Collyer, paperback, 205 pages. First published by the Christadelphian in 1959, this is the fifth printing published in 2015.
The articles appeared serially in The Christadelphian: PRINCIPLES (13 chapters) in 1923-24; and PROVERBS (19 chapters) at intervals during 1934 to 1938.
"Some of the articles reflect the discussions of the time when they were written, but that does not affect their abiding worth. The writer effectively contributed to the thought of the community in a style of writing distinctively his own. he died in 1953." From the forward to the first edition.
The Principles commented on are:
Guidance in Life
Balance
The Weightier matters
"The heart is Deceitful"
"A Lying Tongue"
The Blessedness of Giving
The Church of God is one Body
The Brethren of Christ
Ploughing and Looking Back
The principles governing fellowship
Scriptual principles governing controversy
The meaning of sacrifice
Application of principles
The Proverbs commented on are:
Things old and new
Proverbs referring to God
Wisdom and Knowledge
The heart
Strife
Companions
Parents and Children
Diligence and sloth
Speech
Justice
Blessing
Mercy and kindness
Control of temper
Service
The seven abominations
A wise man's heart
"Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee"
"Whoso despiseth the Word shall be destroyed"
Wisdom for everyday life
Book Review (Luke Nicholls)
Principles and Proverbs was originally a series of articles which were published in the Christadelphian PRINCIPLES between 1923-1924 and PROVERBS at intervals between 1934 to 1938. This book was then collated and published in 1959 which was six years after Brother Islip passed away.
Despite being written over sixty years ago, the language used in the book is easy to read and the ideas captured, based on God’s word, are as relevant as ever
Because it was originally written as individual articles in a series, each chapter has a clear theme and summarises the theme well within a few pages, which means it’s an easy book to pick up and read a chapter of without getting lost or needing to re-read previous chapters to understand the context.
The book is split into two sections, as the title suggests – principles and then proverbs.
The book addresses certain principles…
It talks about
- balance being “the idea of moderation and sobriety – not being self-righteousness” and considering all of God’s principles – not just the ones which appeal to us
- paying attention to “the weightier matters” or the essentials which Jesus teaches
- our need to recognise our human nature - the heart being deceitful and the tongue being prone to lying and how recognising this in ourselves can help us to avoid pitfalls
- it highlights the blessedness of giving and states “if only we could have an ecclesia with everyone intent on giving” which is a great thing for us to strive for
- It goes on to talk about the ecclesia being one body and the need to care for each other as brethren of Christ
- it also addresses some tough principles, that are important for us to understand…
- the principles governing fellowship
- scriptural principles governing controversy and our calling to avoid strife and unnecessary provocation
- in the final chapter of the first part it talks about the application of principles and the need to having an understanding of all God’s principles when considering an issue, not just focusing heavily on one principle to make a point as our nature predisposes us to do
Then in part 2, Brother Islip teases out the meaning and application behind proverbs on certain themes and these will be familiar themes that jump out of proverbs when we read it including
- things new and old
- wisdom and knowledge
- the heart
- strife
- companions
- the diligent and the sloth
- control of temper
- mercy and kindness
I found this was particularly useful in that it draws together multiple proverbs and shows how they complement and add weight to each topic. They provide interesting themes which we can look out for when we read through proverbs ourselves as these proverbs are scattered throughout the whole book
The book finishes with a chapter on wisdom for everyday life which is really practical and gives us thoughts to reflect on in our daily lives as we see the wisdom of God is failproof.
The book has 32 chapters total and each chapter is about 5-6 pages. If you are the sort of person who needs a challenge or benefits from setting a goal – you could aim to read one chapter a day for a month and double up on the last couple of days and you’d make your way through the whole book!