A Garden Enclosed

Dr Poh is well-known as the founding pastor of the first Reformed Baptist Church in Malaysia (since 1983), in Kuala Lumpur. A former university lecturer, he authored Keys of the Kingdom, a key-study on biblical church government, published in 1995. This work is a scholarly survey which will be of immense interest to pastors and others in Calvinistic Baptist and independent churches. Dr Poh tells us of the key Baptist personalities of the 17th century, not omitting crucial non-Baptist ' John Owen. He surveys the different streams of thought among them, particularly their views of the church. He traces the emergence of the eldership among them, deals with their confessions of faith, their various controversies, and also of their experience with associations (into the 18th century).
A conclusion addresses unsettled issues of the Reformed Baptists, bringing the book into the era of the post-1960s, and commenting on the more widespread desire to emulate the Particular Baptists' approach to government in our time. The conclusion also calls for caution over forms of associating with other churches.
This is a highly informative and valuable treatise, clearly expressed, that should greatly help the reader's grasp of the vital points of the Particular Baptist manner of government, and where it varies from typical Congregationalism. Those who have appreciated Keys of the Kingdom will sense how good a book this is.