Fisher of Men at Glasgow Docks by Sam Laughlin; published by, and available from, John Ritchie Ltd; 192 pages. Price £8.99. (9781907731754)
This inspiring book relates how one man, with the heart of a true evangelist, reached out to seafarers from around the world on the many ships docked at Glasgow. In the Foreword, Alan Gamble tells how Sam Laughlin “of Ulster stock … spent most of his working life in the Clyde shipyards.” After his retirement at 65, he continued to visit the docks on a regular basis for 16 years. Together with his wife Wilma they opened their hearts and their home, welcoming strangers from all corners of the globe. Alan Gamble states that “God’s work today needs many more servants like Sam.”
The Introduction sets the scene, with Sam driving through the empty Glasgow city streets early one Christmas morning to visit the ships. This was his yearly custom, and “the ships that were in dock welcomed [him] with open arms.” Each seaman received a bag containing biscuits, a hand-knitted hat, a calendar, and a New Testament. Christian literature in their own language was also included where possible.
During his many visits to the docks as Port Missionary, with permission from Clyde Port Authority, hundreds of men and women were brought under the influence of the Gospel, and many visited Sam and Wilma’s home for supper after responding to his invitation to hear the Gospel preached on a Sunday evening at the Gospel Hall in Linthouse.
The book is divided into short chapters, with titles such as “Fire in the Galley”, “The Brave Aberdonian”, and “The Bottle Thrower”, and includes many illustrations and photographs, enabling the reader to enter into the atmosphere of Sam’s experiences, and the colourful characters that he encountered on the ships over the years.
Alan Cameron
The Song of Solomon by Thomas Newberry; published by, and available from, John Ritchie Ltd; 90 pages. Price £6.99. (9781907731686)
Ritchie’s Classic Reprint series already contains works by Thomas Newberry. The inclusion of The Song of Solomon indicates the high regard in which this godly student of the Word continues to be held, more than a century after his death. Most believers’ bookshelves do not contain many commentaries on the Song of Solomon, although, in 2005, John Ritchie Ltd published J M Flanigan’s exposition of the Song in their What the Bible Teaches series.
The interpretation of the Book is not as thoroughly treated as it is in Flanigan’s commentary. However, Newberry’s purpose was not to seek to interpret the events chronicled in the Song of Solomon, but to apply their teaching to the believer’s relationship with Christ and, more particularly, to the Church’s relationship with Christ. On page one, Newberry suggests that in Solomon’s Gentile wife “is shadowed forth the great mystery, Christ and the Church (Eph 5.23-32).”
Some of Newberry’s applications are unusual, but many of them are telling, and his appreciation of Christ is striking throughout this little volume. His prepared marginal notes for readers with no access to the Hebrew text are included, and a brief article by Newberry entitled “The Bride of the Lamb” is also appended to this helpful devotional work. An editorial note observes that the article has been helpful to some who have encountered teaching suggesting that “the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife” is not the Church, but “a restored Israel of the future”.
Tom Wilson
