©2006 Christian Focus Publications, 125 pages in paperback.

Christianity does not end with regeneration. Christians must apply their faith using the gifts God has given them in the places where God has called them to serve.

This volume is an account of God’s work in the lives of seven men from Cambridge whom God brought together for the purpose of foreign missions. With the exception of C.T. Studd their names—Stanley Smith, Montagu Beauchamp, D.E. Hoste, W.W. Cassels, and brothers Arthur and Cecil Polhill-Turner are long forgotten in Christian history. Their lives lived with growing purpose and passion for Gospel advance provide much encouragement for readers today.

The book spans six years (1879-1885) of their lives. In this period, God worked in their hearts in a saving way and brought them together in the bonds of friendship with one another. The D.L. Moody evangelistic meetings were used by God to shape their lives and to give some of them a first-hand experience of working with the lost. The book well illustrates God at work in their lives even in the midst of their great diversity. Some were noted college athletes. Others were in the military and one was preparing to labor as a priest in an English parish. All shared a great devotion to God and a desire to spend their lives ministering to the unsaved. As their paths crossed providentially their prayer life and Bible study for mutual edification grew.

There is still more to the account, as is so often the case. Unknown to the Cambridge seven, God had laid on the hearts of others to pray fervently for members of this group. A missionary to China had long prayed for God to raise up more missionaries for the needy China field. A widow had prayed for years for the children of the Polhill-Turner family.

Yet the sovereign God ultimately gifted these men and brought them together to work with Hudson Taylor in the interior of China.

The story in these pages is of great encouragement and interest to Christians in our day. God calls Christians to serve Him in many vocations. This book provides a clear reminder of God’s patient providence in directing His people into paths He has planned for them to walk. We are mindful of the growing church in China today. Here is an account of seven who were raised up to sow Gospel seed that bore fruit over time. To obey God in this manner, a number of them gave up great wealth or sure careers in England, and some had to overcome parental dismay at their decisions. Throughout, the reader is reminded of the lordship of Christ as one desires to be faithful in one’s own callings.

Only a few pages are devoted to their labors in China. No doubt many readers would like to see an expanded edition with additional chapters devoted to their labors on that field.

The book is well-written and can be read with profit and education in regard to God’s unfailing work in history and His use of ordinary people for His glory.

 Review ©2007 Byron Snapp, Hampton, Virginia