Andrew Gray, A Door Opening Into Everlasting Life: An Essay Tending to Advance Gospel Holiness, and to Establish the Hearts of True Believers against Their Many Doubts and Fears (Grand Rapids: Netherlands Reformed Book and Publishing Company, 2017), 385 pages.
“I have always thought that good books (being silent teachers of goodness) are the best part of a man’s furniture in his house, and the choicest goods of a commonwealth,” wrote Andrew Gray. While the term “furniture” may have narrowed in its meaning since those words were written in the 17th century, they remain true, and Gray’s book, A Door Opening Into Everlasting Life, is an excellent piece of furniture for any home. The book runs to just over 200 pages and is comprised of five treatises:
- Arguments for Leaving Sin and Living Holily
- Directions How to Attain Eternal Blessedness
- The Character of a True Believer
- A Resolution of Many Doubts and Cases of Conscience
- The Happiness and Privileges of a True Believer
The book is of excellent use to both the converted and the unconverted. The earlier parts of the book are heart-searching, and calculated to expose formalism, lukewarmness, and spiritual nonchalance. Gray says in his preface that to despisers of godliness, his book will be “an unsavory breath in their nostrils,” and indeed he does not spare to use language like the following: the wicked man “is more miserable than a toad. Look upon the foulest toad that creeps abroad in a summer’s night. It is a blessed and beautiful creature in comparison to a wicked man. The toad is God’s creature, but the wicked man is the devil’s creature, as he is sinful and wicked.”1Gray, A Door Opening Into Everlasting Life, 29.
The third treatise, “The Character of a True Believer,” sets forth marks of grace with clarity and fulness, drawing black-and-white distinctions between those in the state of sin and in the state of grace. For instance, Gray writes: “A true believer enjoys duties as well as privileges. He would not only enjoy the blessings God hath promised, but his heart is bent to the duties God hath commanded. He loves not only the privileges of God’s children, but their work also. He loves not only the advantages of religion. Many do the easy duties of religion, and yet leave the difficult duties undone. They will hear, pray, read, come to the Lord’s Supper, but as for the severer duties of mortifying their corruptions, combatting and fighting against temptations, they do not know or practice them… They will pray, but not fervently; walk, but not swiftly; strive, but not wrestle and combat. They will make an offer for heaven, but do not offer violence to heaven.”2Ibid., p. 82. This third treatise is excellent for use in self-examination before the Lord’s Supper, or for a parent to read through with a covenant child who is exercised about his soul, to help the child discern his own present state.
The true believer who reads this book will surely be convicted at many points, and will thank the Lord for the precious oil of being smitten by a righteous man. But lest the believer faint or despair because of his remaining sin, “A Resolution of Many Doubts and Cases of Conscience,” is like a cruse of oil for the wounded soul. If you resemble Mr. Fearing from the Pilgrim’s Progress, who abhorred the thought of turning from the Lord, but could only ever sound the bass note of conviction and never took up the harp of joy, you should read this fourth treatise. For instance, Gray raises the case of one who says, “My obedience and righteousness is so weak and imperfect, that I know not what to call it, obedience or disobedience, righteousness or unrighteousness. Is it possible that for such a lame and imperfect obedience to find acceptance with God?” Gray answers, in part, “Is it not thy intention in what thou doest to please and glorify God? Is it not the consideration of God’s will, and the desire of God’s glory, that primarily sway thee? If so, obey God in truth and sincerity, if not in perfection. Now sincerity is the seat of duty; it is a support to the soul in the greatest trials and a succor against the day of death. He that is sincere has a right to all the creatures, the comfort of all the Scriptures, the sanctification of all afflictions, the benefit of all mercies, the power of all ordinances, and the help of all the promises.”3Ibid., 125.
The fifth treatise traces the privileges of a believer all the way through to his death and resurrection. The author’s life had a heavenly direction as well. He entered glory at age 22, in accordance with his own desire, after two years of public ministry.
The modern edition of this book is a well-bound hardcover. It offers nothing in terms of eye-pleasing graphic design, multiplied endorsements, or even section headings within the five treatises, but it abounds in spiritual riches. The language is easy to understand, and has a fluency that reflects spiritual power and fulness. The Spirit of the Lord made Gray’s tongue a ready writer’s pen. This reviewer may say of him what Spurgeon once said of Richard Sibbes, that “he never wastes the student’s time, he scatters pearls and diamonds with both hands.”
