The Christian’s Great Interest. By William Guthrie. Carlisle: Banner of Truth. Reprinted, 2002.

William Guthrie, student of the great Samuel Rutherford and minister from 1650-1664, was known in his day as the greatest practical preacher in Scotland. He inherited this title because during his ministry, he led many thousand people to saving faith in Christ. By “interest,” Guthrie means relationship with God through Christ. By “closing with Christ” he means receiving or embracing Christ as Savior and Lord.

It becomes readily apparent that Great Interest was written by a great evangelist because the book is essentially a plea for the Gospel. Guthrie opens his work by describing various hinderances to true faith such as slothfulness or dependence upon evidence. He then works through the ways men are drawn to Christ and the evidences that a sincere interest in Christ has taken place such as becoming a new creature. Guthrie also addresses the difference between a true believer and a hypocrite, why some believers doubt, what it means to “close” with Christ, objections and answers, and personal covenanting with God in Christ. As can be seen, Guthrie covers well the ground of evangelism.

One point of departure for me was Guthrie’s handling of the sin against the Holy Ghost. Guthrie understood Jesus’ condemnation of those who sin against the Holy Ghost to be the same offense as what is condemned in the warning passages of Hebrews. I see those as two separate violations. The sin against the Holy Ghost seems to be committed by someone who has no inclination for faith in Christ at all and attributes the saving work of the Spirit to Satan. Hebrews seems to be a warning against those who appear to have faith in Christ but actually do not.