BY THE LATE REV. JOHN DUNCAN, LL.D.,
Professor of Hebrew in the New College, Edinburgh.
Preached 12th April, 1835.*
“Be still, and know that I am God.”—PSALM xlvii. 10.
THE Apostle, writing to the Hebrews, says, “Ye have need that one teach you again what be the first principles of the oracles of God”; and, alas, that it should be so, the same thing is true concerning us. We have not yet learned these principles as we ought. We have indeed to go on to perfection, but this in the way of return to our first lessons in order that we may learn them better. No truth, you will say, can be more plain than that contained in our text, and it is most true. No truth is more important to us to rest upon, in order to our reaching the stature of perfect men, in Christ Jesus, than this very truth, that Jehovah is God.
The call here addressed to the Church of God consists of two parts—one of exercise, a being still; and a knowing that Jehovah is God; a being still so as to know this.
And, first, the particular circumstances of the Psalm teach us that the stillness which is meant is a stillness amidst troublous times; a being still when there is everything to agitate us; everything to toss us about; everything to make us like the waves of the sea, driven about by the tempest and tossed. Such is the situation of things when the mountains are carried to the midst of the seas, when the waters of the sea roar and are troubled, when the heathens rage, and the nations are moved, and when Jehovah is uttering His voice. Such times naturally produce not stillness but excitement, such as the heathen nations are excited when they roar and are troubled; the waves of the sea being used in Scripture as a figure to express the commotions of the people, and the mountains to express forms of government. In such times the Church of God is called to a very peculiar exercise, that of being still. You will say, how is it possible to be still in such circumstances, when those parts of nature which are of a movable quality like the waters of the sea are agitated, and those parts which are of a fixed quality like the mountains, shake? To this we have little more to answer, through our ignorance, than this: that must be possible which Jehovah commands, “Be still.” There is nothing to be gained either by the agitation of the warring waves, or the shaking of the mountains. Let the potsherds of the earth strive with the potsherds of the earth. The pride of the one clashes
* Dr. Duncan was born in 1796. This sermon was preached a year before he was ordained to Milton Church, Glasgow. His ordination took place on 28th April, 1836. Began his work as Professor in November, 1843. Died 26th February, 1870. The present discourse was previously published by Miss Parker, Aberdeen, in 1897.—Ed.
against the pride of the other; the insubordination of the one clashes with the tyranny of the other; the selfishness of the one with the selfishness of the other. The universal frame of things is disorganised. Sin has vitiated the course of nature; the course of rational and moral nature as well as of physical nature. And in this state of things it becometh immortal souls to listen to the voice which comes from the Lord Jehovah, “Be still.”
But absolute quietness is not what is meant. That were not a real good. To be simply still would be to be as stocks and stones, or worse still; it would be to be man and not have the feelings of man. It would be to degrade beyond the degradation in which the mass of the unregenerate are sunk. But the stillness to which God calleth is a stillness with a purpose; it is a stillness for an end. “Be still and know,” or be still that you may know (which is the meaning of the conjunction “and”) “that I am God.”
The universal frame of things is neither in quietness nor in agitation finally for its own sake. The universe of created things is not all that exists. Beyond this mighty sphere, beyond the solar system, and beyond the whole planetary systems extending through the void of space; beyond astronomers’ conceptions as well as calculations; beyond these immaterial existences of minds—themselves created—remains the throne of the eternal God. And the whole mighty congeries of created worlds, of created systems, as well as all the affairs of this planet with its one sun, are moving on under the control of that intelligent Mind which gives being to all, and which upholds all, and which directs all, to an end worthy of these mighty effects which are produced; I mean, to the putting forth of a manifestation of His eternal excellency, showing that He is God. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” And if comeliness and order be diffused through the works of God, it is then that we may trace the operations of Him who maketh peace in His high places; and if agitation and confusion and turmoil prevail in any part of His dominions, it is for the purpose of directing our minds to that glorious high throne from the beginning which is the place of His people’s sanctuary, into which nought of turmoil can penetrate, and against which, though the waves of created agitation toss themselves, they cannot prevail, but like the sea’s waves breaking against the foot of some projecting rock, just dash themselves in vain.
But passing from the universal system of things to this world of ours, in which God, in that He has sent His Son into it and in that He has voluntarily come and taken the dust thereof to be His own body, has shown that He has a peculiar interest, and out of which He has chosen His ransomed Church to be a kind of first fruits of His creatures, we are called upon amidst all there is to agitate or distress on the right hand or on the left, to “be still and know that I am God.” But why be still to know this? May
it not be learned even amidst the agitation? It may be and it may not. It may be known, blessed be God, amidst the agitation sufficiently to stop the agitation. Amidst the raging of the heathen and the moving of the nations, to those who are carrying on the agitation against God and His Christ, in the midst of all their fury and all their zeal (and they have a zeal of God though not according to knowledge), the command may come home with sufficient power, saying, “Be still and know that I am God.” In stillness and tranquility must all be learned, save the very lesson which calls to be still, which may be communicated in the midst of the broil. It is alone in secrecy and privacy between God and the individual soul, that this great lesson can be learned—that Jehovah is God. Though all this world—though all that God hath made—speaks of Him, yet are they and we so constituted that amidst the turmoil we lose the lessons which they teach of God; and it is only in the retirement which Jesus points out to us when He commands us to go and repair to our closets, and shut the doors after us, and call upon the Father in heaven, who seeth in secret, knowing that He will reward us openly, that God is to be found. The lessons, though many, pass unregarded till the first lesson be learned which shuts into the closet. But the closet in itself is not absolute stillness. Into its quietness the bustle of the world may be brought. We may be in the midst of all evil there, as well as in the midst of the congregation and the assembly. We must not only be in alone, but we must be alone with God in order to learn that He is God. We must be separated, not from the corporeal only, but from the mental world. We must be brought as individual souls to feel we are with the God who, whilst He pervades universal nature, is undoubtedly present as Creator, Preserver, Lawgiver, Judge, and Inspector of the soul. And other thoughts impeding this must be banished, in order that this thought may pervade the whole soul, that every thought may be subordinate unto and consistent with it.
“Be still, be still.” Perhaps thou art in great troubles and in deep waters. Raging and commotion will not mend the matter. Thou mayest fret against the framework of society, civil and ecclesiastical. Thou mayest think that an alteration of external things would mend the case, but it will not. Thou mayest think that taking pains will mend the matter, but it will not. Nothing but internal goodness. By all thy painstaking thou canst not reach the evil; it is within. And while all within is evil, nothing external can rectify it. We are then called to the stillness, in the first place, which self-despair and which creature-despair inspire. There is an activity which will be exerted as long as a sinner, feeling consciousness of sin and misery, thinketh that there is ought within or without him to mend it; but when it is made a certainty that there is nought either within or without him to mend the matter, such a discovery is fitted and likely to inspire stillness. He feels despair, not absolute but universal, of all
around him or within him. He is “still.” He is shut up from all false hopes, except that which the knowledge of Jehovah being God can inspire. It is of no use then to rage and fret yourself; you can help yourself not one iota. The world may turn any way you please. If you were to get the scheme of things you desire you would be as bad still. You would be as poor and miserable and blind and naked as before. Therefore, “Be still.” Know for certain that we are ruined, absolutely ruined, creatures; that sin has brought, not simple disorganisation, but perdition into our universe, perdition into our souls, perdition into all our services. No alteration of things can mend this. Be still and know that true good is not in the universe. You may say, “Not in the universe as things in the universe are now.” It is not in the universe of created things. Might things be as you pleased, no constitution of created nature could give true felicity to an immortal soul. What, then, are you called to do in this stillness? To know that Jehovah is God; to know that the created universe is not all that exists—that there is something else than all that ever was made, than all that rolls through the ages; to know that there is a self-existing King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, who alone hath immortality, dwelling in that light which is unsearchable and full of glory—a God who existed when there was no sun, no moon, no stars, no earth nor ocean, no mountains, nor fountains abounding with water; that there is an eternal God who is above them all—an eternal God who would continue to be, were all things swept away into their original nothingness; a God having self-existence, having infinite perfection; Jehovah, I am that I am; and I am, because I am the God that hath life in Himself.
Man fell first from his state of innocence from his not being still. Had Eve been still and known this, would she have listened to her tempter? Had Adam been still and known this, would he have listened to any solicitation? Had the tempter been still and known this, would one thought of apostacy have entered his mind? But does not this truth assume a peculiar aspect with regard to us fallen men? This truth, which is the fundamental truth of all religion, which meets alike the religion of angels and that of fallen men on earth, and that of saints in heaven (though we fundamentally assume a particular aspect unto us fallen men for the knowledge that Jehovah is God), implies in it the knowledge that He hath in Himself all that perfection which renders the salvation of lost men possible and, as we have heard this day, honourable unto Him. “Be still, and know that I am God.” This voice, coming forth from the throne of the Eternal, and ever heard, maketh peace in the high places. The holy angels are still, and know that God is God; God able to uphold them, and therefore a God in whom they have security that they shall never be devils. And as this knowledge is what makes Michael and Gabriel know that they shall never be devils—for there is nothing in themselves to hinder, but because Jehovah is God, and because they know sufficiently His power and gracious purpose to have confidence in
Him that He will preserve them—so the hope in men of renewed rectitude, tranquility, and joy, when they have been lost, is just the farther development of the same knowledge, the knowledge that Jehovah is God.
Let us view this in several instances. What art thou agitated with? Be it what it may, “Be still, and know that I am God.” And when thou hast known this, thou hast known all thou needest to know. Art thou agitated with this—”I am without God?” Some who reach glory are agitated with it. “I know not for certain if there be a God. Oh, that there were a God! Oh, that there were such a God as the Bible speaks of!” Be still, and know that Jehovah is God. Art thou plagued and tormented with Atheism? Even though thou art so befooled as to say, “There is no God,” yet dost thou wish there were? There is the whole Bible heaping proof upon proof and demonstration upon demonstration that there is, and to assure thee that every excellence which created nature can conceive, and every excellence which created nature cannot conceive, reside in Him who is over all, God blessed for ever. Wilt not thou, to whom Atheism of heart is a complaint, be comforted to know that there is a God? Art thou going to weep and break thy soul in secret places as if there were none? Stop, stop before thou yield to this view of nature’s wide range! View thy conscience and moral law feeble fragments within. View the Holy Scriptures. View Mount Sinai’s perfect moral law. View the Son of God magnifying and making it honourable. View the whole system of God’s revelation of Himself in creation, in providence, and in grace. See him giving the Son of His love, and if thou canst with undazzled eyes behold this, see Him clothing the grass, and behold that it is true that there is a King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only wise God. But if thy complaint is—”I know that there is a God, but things go so contrary to apparent moral right that I cannot comprehend how this should be consistent with the government of an eternal God; and as for me, like Asaph, my steps are nearly gone, and I am grieved because of the prosperity of the ungodly, for they are not plagued as other men, nor tried as others are. Believing that there is a God and seeking to serve Him, I daily and all day am harassed, while I see those who care not for Him rejoicing, God bringing to their hand abundantly; and I say, Can there be knowledge in the Highest?” “Be still, and know that Jehovah is God.” His moral government has a vaster aim than our puny minds can fathom. It takes in a wide system, all particulars of which are ever present to an omniscient intellect, to be finally adjusted in a day which God hath appointed, whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He raised His Son from the dead. Then shall it be seen out and out that Christ loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity; that the moral administration of the world is according to His law; that holy cause is even promoted and encouraged; and that the whole might of Godhead is opposed to iniquity.
But oh, sayest thou, “Instead of consoling me now, instead of quieting and making me still, that is the very thing that agitates me, for I am a sinner, and I know that He is a God of judgment, and that by Him actions are weighed.” But oh! mark what the terror would be did’st thou not. Thou mayest have little thought of this, but if thou wouldst let go this truth, what terror would be in the background! It is a joyful terror, even that fearful looking for of judgment which puts away the blacker case of Atheism. But that is not all. “Be still, and know that I am God”—God that justifieth the ungodly. And what hast thou here? It is worlds of wonder and astonishment, but it must be true, for God has said it. As for myself, God knows I never could have said it, did it not stand written in the Book. This cold, unbelieving heart of mine has pored over it day and night, and cannot get itself rightly to believe it yet, but that is my fault. Here it is; Romans iv. 5, “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him,”—that is, on God—”that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Could I have imagined it—had all the angels in heaven and all the men on earth said it—I could not have believed it; but here it is, clearly written in God’s Book, “God that justifieth the ungodly.” Blessed be God for it. So incredible is it that if all the ministers on earth should preach it to you, you would not believe it on their word; and yet, incredible as it is, here it stands: “God that justifieth the ungodly.” Now, be still and know that, and never say, “Now I shall be in a fury and rage, for I am ungodly.” Oh, but you will say, “I am not only ungodly, but so ungodly.” Why, if God justify the ungodly at all, it is easy to believe that He can justify the most ungodly. The difference between an innocent and an ungodly being is so great that the difference between ungodly beings is nothing in comparison. And if God justify the ungodly at all, there is nothing to hinder but He may justify the most ungodly. If God will pass over that immense gulf which separates innocence from guilt to come over one sin, why may He not come over one million? But you will say, “I have never been a day but I have been sinning; never said a word but it was sinful; never done an act but it was displeasing to God. This I have been doing all my days; and since I knew this holy law of God it is my distress that I can find no peace.” “Be still, and know that I am God”—God that justifieth the ungodly.
But I must add farther, that were it not for something else which that Book declares, I could scarcely believe the Book which says that. There I find written not only that “God justifieth the ungodly,” but that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I could scarcely believe there was forgiveness with Him that He might be feared (for sin is an infinite evil), did I not believe that with Him there is plenteous redemption. But be still and know that Jehovah is God—a just God, a Saviour; just while He justifieth the ungodly,
else you might think it was a lie and a fancy that He doth so, and a thing the ministers have got hold of to cheat you with. But don’t look only at God’s forgiving sin, but also at His punishing sin. That is credible. Now, if this is credible, that God should bruise His innocent Son, standing in the law-room of the guilty, then it is credible that God should justify. If He condemned and made His own blessed Son a curse—if the law, which we have violated by the commission of infinite evil and sin against God, hath been made glorious by the Son of God obeying it and enduring its infinite curse—then it is credible. And then, although a sinner, yet, by the grace of His Holy Spirit, I will listen with faith to the word which says, “Be still, and know that I am God”—God that justifieth the ungodly; God that giveth redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
Oh! but, some will say, “There are so many hindrances: there is such an agitation in the world, and such mischief within me. Everybody tempts me; the devil tempts me; all the devils in hell tempt me; and I tempt myself worst of all. God pity me, but how can I be still?” That may be all true, but what follows from that? Just that if more be not for us than all that are against us, we are gone. That follows, and nothing more. The whole world is against us, and all hell is against us. If there are not more for us, we are gone and perish for ever. Shall we then be agitated and fretful for all this? Surely not. What is the voice that comes down from heaven? “Be still and know that I am God”—God that quickeneth the dead. And read as the consequence of this, “God is able to make all grace abound towards you,” and be still. We heard of the Holy Ghost; we have heard the promise of the everlasting Gospel, “I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and make known my words unto you.” “Be still, and know that I am God,’ that the Holy Ghost is God. If the Holy Ghost sanctify, He is stronger than all the devils in hell, and than all in the world.
But you say, “Woe’s me, I take evil out of everything. I know God, the Holy Ghost, is stronger than all the devils and sinners together, but I do mischief to myself.” Well, you are called to be “still” in the knowledge of all this. Know this for certain that if the devil and all the men in the world and yourself, too, can keep you from being holy, then you will never be holy. But the promise, “I will pour out my Spirit upon you,” is not a promise to be stopped by all that the devil in hell, or the wickedness of your own heart, or of all creatures, can do to prevent its fulfilment. To this discouragement, then, oppose the power of the Spirit. If the guilt of sin oppress you, oppose to it that Jesus Christ who died is God; and if the power of sin oppress, oppose to it that the Holy Ghost, who sanctifies, is God. Be still, and know that Jehovah is God. You will not dare to say, I am stronger than God; but, on the contrary, I know that but for omnipotence I am lost. But I know that Jehovah is omnipotent, and therefore I will be still. Therefore when sin and temptations assail me, in order to
give strength and encouragement to resist them, I must just be still, and know that He is God.
But some may be thinking within themselves, “These are strange times in which we live. What, though it should be so with myself, though I should be justified, sanctified, glorified, what am I to do with the world and the Church? God knows I cannot put up with the thought of going to heaven by myself. I wish God’s name to be hallowed on earth, His kingdom to come, and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven; and I cannot but wish peace were in Israel, and for the house of the Lord my God; I can’t be happy alone.” Well, it does not become us to say in regard to any individual person or country what God will do; but here we are called not to be agitated, as if God could not do what is best. “Be still, and know that I am God.” There is no good that we can wish, which, if it be altogether good and productive of the highest good, does not fall under that scheme of good which God has purposed and resolved on and will effect; therefore, with regard to all things, let us be still, and know that Jehovah is God. If the waves roar, let us say, “That is only a roaring wave, and Jehovah, who is on high, is mightier than the noise of many waters.” If the mountains shake, and so tumble into the sea, let us say that “it is only a mountain.” No doubt it would crush us, but it is only a mountain; there is a stronger and a greater than the mountain; yea, and if the earth shake and be removed, it is only the world going to pieces. The throne of the eternal God still stands. And then there are the capabilities of rebuilding if God sees good to rebuild; yea, the capabilities, when the heavens and earth are dissolved, and the elements melt away with fervent heat, to rebuild a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
In application, permit us to address those who this day at the Lord’s table have not got all they desired. You have been presenting petitions at the Lord’s footstool, and he has not yet granted them; and you have not yet sought to live by faith so as to leave a petition at God’s throne, and to know that a petition lodged in the name of Christ through the blood we have this day been hearing of, and the High Priest we were hearing of, is as good as answered. Well, be still, and know that Jehovah is God. Be not like a fretful being whose time is always ready, who cannot wait for a moment. Your time is wholly in His hands, and His time is the best. You say you have not got your petition, and you have need of importunity, for you do not know how long you may live—your time is always ready, and you have not a moment to trust to. But God teaches that our time is wholly in His hands, and though we dare not idle or delay, because we have not one moment to trust to, yet the sovereign God can delay, and delay without injury to His people, because the times are in His hands. Know that the eternal God need be in no hurry—duty must not be delayed, for that passes upon us. But God’s grace need be in no hurry. Though our lives be to us uncertain, nothing is
uncertain to God. Let us therefore, if we are trusting in Jesus, leaving all our wants and all our cares upon Him, wait patiently upon Him. To Him belongeth the times and the seasons.
Let us now apply this truth, which is good as regards our duty, unto His procedure. But be still, and know that He is God, and, knowing this, let us wait upon Him in other appointed ordinances of His grace to-night, to-morrow, and the next day—knowing that He is the eternal God, and knowing that the good, the peace, the purity, the usefulness which His people may have sought in their attempted preparation for communicating, and on their communicating, and afterwards with reference to their communicating—all these he can give at any time. He does not confine the good of communicating to the moment, but extendeth it over the whole period of His people’s life.
But we must hasten. Ye raging heathen and moving kingdoms, ye shaking mountains and roaring waves, will ye not be still? Be ye also still, and know that Jehovah is God. Ye haters of God, what are ye to do? Consider the end before you go any farther. Is it possible to remove the Almighty from His throne? Shall this mountain be removed out of his place? Is it possible to set aside eternal laws? Is it possible to prevent the issues of the Great Day, and the ascension of the Son of Man to His throne of judgment? Is it possible to undo the death of the Son of God, or to prevent the spread of the everlasting Gospel, which He hath insured to His Son for His reward, and which shall be proclaimed, that His name may endure as the sun and moon endure? Is it possible to root up the Church of the living God, which is based upon the eternal purpose of God, based upon the distinctions of the Godhead; the Church, elect of God the Father; the Church of Christ bought with the blood of Christ, called by the Spirit of God, upheld by all the power of the Covenant God? Be still, and before you oppose God in His legislation or in His grace, be still, and count the cost. Be still, and know that He is God, as able and as determined to thwart the way that is contrary to Him, and the persons that take that way, as He is to maintain eternal truth, to bring the disobedient to His Church by converting grace, and to keep them when brought in.
Having laid before you these few imperfect hints, may the Lord guide us in this exercise into calm, tranquil, believing reflections on the perfections of God as they are displayed in all His dealings, and in all His works of Providence, especially as they are unfolded in His eternal redemption of His Church through the Son of His Love, and in the fulfilment of all these promises of God to His Church, which He hath engaged for to His Messiah as the reward of His obedience. May the Lord grant that in this way we may each be led to experience the blessedness of the man whom God keepeth in perfect peace because His heart is stayed upon Him; and may the Lord teach us all that diligence which is the result of being still, and of knowing that Jehovah is God, the only wise God, to whose name through Christ be all praise!
The late Malcolm Kennedy, of Kishorn and Inverness.
OUR readers would have learned with sorrow, by the June Magazine, of the death of Mr. Malcolm Kennedy. The deceased was so long and so favourably known to the Church of God in many parts of the north of Scotland, that we feel we owe to his worthy memory a brief obituary notice. The exact date of his birth we are unable to give, but his own account was that he was born in the year preceding the Rev. Lachlan Mackenzie’s death, an event which took place at Lochcarron in the year 1819. Malcolm would thus have been born in the year 1818, and at the time of his death had attained to the ripe age of ninety-one years. His birthplace was Kishorn, Lochcarron. He was only a boy at school when, from all that we could learn from him or about him, we conclude that he became, through the distinguishing grace of God, a disciple of the Lord Jesus. Although he knew much and distressing mental affliction, he was altogether, physically, a very healthy man; and our impression is that—in the humble capacity chiefly of a day labourer—he most honourably conducted himself towards all and sundry during a long lifetime.
Malcolm was a man who shone most of all in private life and conversation. His love to the Church of God was tender, extensive, and unaffected. We may be permitted to remark that, having been privileged to see him less than a fortnight before the end, nothing struck us more than the manner in which the beauty of his love to the brethren shone. His allusions to some of them were altogether characterised with such a savour of the love of God that we could not but remark afterwards that we might have known from the abundance of the Spirit of love which was upon him that his end was near. Love to the Word and love to the Lord’s people made him, during many a year, take long journeys in order to be present where the gatherings of the people were, and in this way he became known to a very large number of the excellent of the earth, and was everywhere esteemed by them as one of the worthiest. Another grace in which he excelled was private prayer. A quaint remark of his, bringing out this characteristic, occurs to us, and as it gives point to our observations, we may rehearse it. He was a few years since at a Communion in Garloch, and was lodged with a kind friend, whose house had about it not a few bushes of brushwood, where Malcolm often resorted to secret prayer. He came on the following week to the Inverness Communion, and notwithstanding all that friends could do for him there, Malcolm felt that there was a freedom in the solitude of the country that could not be had along with privacy in the town. A friend, passing over one of our suspension bridges in his company on a fine summer evening, remarked how beautiful the situation was. “Ah,” said he, “‘se
bha briagh pris Ghairloch” (’twas the Gairloch bushes were bonny).
But while it is the case that Malcolm most of all shone in private, he was a man whose exercises in public many found edifying and interesting. His acquaintance with the Scriptures was very wide and exact. He had the privilege of listening to most of the ablest preachers of the north of Scotland in his time, and his mental endowments and heart interest in the doctrines of grace were such that he profited much, and he could himself, in consequence, give expression to his views of truth with exactness and discrimination. Perhaps he owed more in this respect to the Rev. Alexander MacColl, of Lochalsh, than he did to any other human instrument. He conducted at one time a Sabbath School in Kishorn, and although the last few years of his life were spent in his son’s house in Inverness, his interest in all that pertained to the well-being, and especially to the spiritual well-being, of his native place, was strong, and indeed one would say, unabated to his last breath. He was, of course, mostly known to the congregations which he visited as a speaker to the question at our fellowship meetings on the Communion Fridays, and as a wrestler in prayer at the public prayer meetings. His exercises oftentimes in this way were refreshing to the Lord’s people; and his evident interest in the eternal well-being of his fellow-sinners, as well as his regard for the glory of God, showed itself in such a way that he would be a hardened sinner indeed who did not feel drawn to him.
He filled for many years the office of elder, and possibly in that capacity nothing struck his fellow-office-bearers more than his zeal to maintain a proper discipline in the Church of Christ. That, we believe, was at the root of his decision in 1893, when, leaving the society of many with whom he had before then gone peaceably to the House of God, he concluded it his duty to cast in his lot with those who showed themselves prepared to suffer the loss of much rather than that the purity of doctrine, worship, and discipline, with which, through the kindness of the Head of the Church, the Free Church of Scotland had been long beautified, should become a thing of the past.
During, however, the history of the Free Presbyterian Church, Malcolm’s health was considerably affected. On this account he, some years since, came to Inverness, and spent the remaining part of his life with his only son, Donald Kennedy. At his son’s house he peaceably finished his course here below on Friday, 30th April.* His remains were, according to his oft-expressed wish, conveyed on the following Tuesday to the burying-place in Kishorn. “The memory of the just is blessed.” J. R. M.
* We regret stating, by mistake, this date as 7th May in our last issue.—ED.
Correction.—At the end of poetry entitled “The Rising of the Romish Church in Britain,” the initials should have been “F. B.,” not “J. B.”
Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Death of the Rev. Jonathan Ranken Anderson on 10th January, 1859.
ADDRESS DELIVERED BY JOHN PARKER, M.A., ABERDEEN, TO
THE REMNANT OF THE DECEASED’S CONGREGATION IN
THEIR HALL, 7 MARGARET STREET, GLASGOW, 10TH
JANUARY, 1909.*
WE are, every now and then, hearing of public celebrations, and our meeting here to-day to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the death of our late pastor recalls a crisis in the history of the Church of Christ in our land, the effects of which we realise at the present moment. The friends and enemies of the late Mr. Anderson have, with himself, mostly passed away from the field of time to await the final judgment of the great day, and their works follow them. God, in His all-wise providence, visits with retributive punishment the prosperity of fools, and the effects of the folly of the Free Church, in face of warning, in not only discouraging but endeavouring to put to silence such men as our late pastor and those who befriended him, are clearly seen in the lamentable state of matters which exists among the Presbyterian and other Protestant Churches in our land at the present time.
The United Free Church, accepting, by way of open question, the voluntarism of the United Presbyterians, and having, in face of warning, rushed the Union, holds its property under the “Churches Scotland Act, 1907,”—a creature of Statute—thereby more closely tied to the chariot wheels of the State than the present Established Church itself, thus stultifying their Protest of 1843. So we have the spectacle of endowed and unendowed voluntarism. It may also be observed that the Free Church of fifteen years ago unjustly ejected two faithful ministers, with their congregations, from their churches and manses, namely, the Rev. Donald Macfarlane of Raasay, and the Rev. Donald Macdonald of Shieldaig, Lochcarron, for righteously resisting the faithless majority in passing the Declaratory Act of 1892, and thereby breaking the ordination vows, to which these two ministers and their congregations were faithful. These ministers and their congregations ought at least to have been allowed the use of their premises, to which in equity they were entitled. In the recent Church property dispute the legal Free Church has not shown, in my opinion, a conciliatory spirit towards their brethren in the United Free Church. If they had done so, there is a possibility that the United Free Church might have seen it wise to rescind
* This Address is published at special request.—Ed.
the Act of Union, and to return to the old paths. Golden opportunities have been lost, and the question now arises, “What is to be done?”
In answer, we say that the plain duty is to return to and abide in the simplicity that is in Christ, and to see what can be done to get hold of those who go to no church at all. We are called to remember the example and exercises of the disciples and the godly women associated with them from the time of Christ’s crucifixion to His ascension, as recorded in the Gospels and Acts, first chapter. We have also a good example in the procedure of this congregation, when they left Knox’s Free Church in 1852, and met in a Railway Hall in Bridge Street, Sabbath and week day, shortly before calling anew our late pastor in their and his new position, where he preached till the “Tabernacle” in Margaret Street was built in 1856. There were some in the early sixties (1860-65) who were very glad to look our way, and died in our fellowship. I have been astonished at the stand taken by some who seemed quite indifferent in spiritual matters, and learned the lesson from the parable of the sower regarding the seed sown in good ground (Matt. xiii. 23).
The advancement of Rationalism, Ritualism, and Romanism in our country is a very manifest fulfilment of the warnings given by our late pastor, neglected and rejected by churchmen, or most of them, at the time. Not only Mr. Anderson, but the late Dr. Duncan of the Free Church College, Edinburgh, said that “Great Britain will have to bow to Rome,” or words to that effect. The indifference to the faithful preaching of the Gospel, yea, even the discouragement of it by the generality of the clergy and laity in the churches in our land, has contributed in no small degree to account for the Rome-ward state of matters with which we are faced at this moment. In the English Churchman of 24th December last (1908), page 849, the article headed “Roman Catholic Ascendancy,” is a very seasonable warning at this present time. The Government got into power chiefly by the Protestant vote in this country, and we see how ready it is to play into the hands of the Romish hierarchy. The stoppage of the Romish procession on Sabbath, 15th November last (1908), is doubtless a redeeming feature, but that is a small matter when we consider the passing of Mr. Birrell’s notorious Irish University Bill. The article in the English Churchman above mentioned would be too long to quote here, but a few sentences may be given:—
“Our inquiry however is, How would the power of Rome probably be exercised under a concession of the freedom to which she aspires? One of the first designs would be, we suspect, to impose some restriction on the circulation of the Bible. The canon law, of course, would be enforced little by little, as the ecclesiastical authorities felt it possible. But Protestants would soon find that when they attempted to assert their liberty, the law was against them, and that when they invoked its aid the priest
would triumph. If we look around us, do not we see both political parties willing to meddle with the Royal Declaration and then to tamper with the Protestant Constitution of the realm? Do not we see members of Parliament—pledged as candidates at the hustings to oppose any such policy—absent from the House when the subject is under consideration, or voting in support of Mr. Redmond’s Bill? Is there no fear lest the worldliness of the day, the love of pleasure, the spiritual indifference, the exigencies of political parties, and the restoration to the Church of mediæval ritual prevalent in many parishes at this moment, may provide a favourable opportunity for the designs of the Vatican?” More might be quoted, but let warning be taken from the whole article. “The enemy is coming in like a flood.” Let us pray that “the Spirit of the Lord lift up a standard against him.”
I am glad to see in this month’s (January) Free Presbyterian Magazine, page 359, notice of number 62 of the John Knox Tracts, “The Outcasts Gathered,” by one of the ministers of the Church of Scotland, in the last paragraph of which he pays a just tribute to our late pastor. The very fact of this congregation having to-day a representation shows that God is not done with us. We have thus encouragement to, and would prayerfully consider how we can, influence the young and rising generation of our day by means of the open Bible and the Westminster Shorter Catechism, in which some of us were more or less drilled in our younger days. We now realise the value of the foundation then laid for a superstructure of right living, both for time and eternity. This leads me to notice that the present generation and the rising one are largely destitute of this sound moral and religious foundation, or rather fundamental training, and the temptations to sin are increasing in number and force. Hence the terrible crimes and cases of violent death, of which we hear and read so much in the newspapers; the disregard of our time-honoured Sabbath, on which the encroachments in the direction of pleasure and amusement are fitted to lead us and others to great thoughts of heart.
I am glad to see in the Free Presbyterian Magazine of this month, page 350, the article “What we have come to,” which bears on this subject. We should take warning from the history of God’s ancient people, the Jews, who, for their disregard of the Sabbath, were sent to the long captivity of seventy years in Babylon. The Lord’s Day International Congress, which met in Edinburgh from 6th to 9th October last (1908), has been a means of ventilating the subject of Sabbath observance, towards the restriction of labour on that day otherwise lawful on week-days. There was at the Congress some plain speaking on the increasing neglect of God’s claims on us to sanctify the Sabbath. If our Sabbath goes, we may rest assured that our country’s destruction will follow in due course. The recent earthquakes in Calabria and Sicily, of which we are hearing so much from the loss of so many lives, nearly 200,000, about a third of the population of
Glasgow, and more than that of Aberdeen, are seasonable warnings to us to consider our ways in that and other respects.
The departure in our educational system, whereby, since 1870, the Bible has been deprived of its time-honoured place in our schools, of which we are reaping the fruits, is a sinful concession to the Rationalists, Ritualists, and Romanists in our country, and the sooner we restore the Bible to its wonted place in our Board Schools the better. It is not too late to retrace our steps in this direction, and I think the country has now an opportunity. This subject was ventilated some years ago by the Rev. James Smith of St. George’s-in-the-West, Aberdeen, in a Synod sermon, and Mr. Smith told me, “I have scholars in my Sabbath School whose parents, one or both, are Roman Catholics, and the priest dare not interfere.” I can mention a case which came under my own eyes in connection with Sabbath School work. A Roman Catholic boy asked me for a Bible, which I was quite willing to give, but he said, “You must not tell the priest,” to which my reply was that I had no acquaintance of priests here, and wished none, so that he need not fear my telling any priest. In course of a few days I called on his parents, was well received by them, and gave them the Bible for their son, advising them to read the Bible prayerfully and carefully themselves, and not to mention the subject to their priest. The father is a Presbyterian and belongs to the Established Church; the mother is a Roman Catholic. They, as well as their son, were very grateful for the Bible.
An analysis of the Confession of Faith, published anonymously in our late pastor’s lifetime, deserves favourable notice. It is sometimes wise to publish anonymously, for some persons who would not have looked at this book had they known who was the author, were quite delighted with its help in their Sabbath School work. It deserves a wide circulation in contrast to the “New Theology,” so called, and other forms of error now so prevalent, and, alas! so popular.
I mention these things for your encouragement. You know that when the ocean tide comes to its lowest it will rise again. Our extremity is God’s opportunity. Let us look to God, or as James puts it (iv. 8), “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”
Useful Tracts.—The Imperial Protestant Federation has published a very useful tract—Roman Catholics in Office. It gives a very good idea of the rapidly extending influence of Romanism in official positions in the British Empire. Another very useful tract is Dr. Rumfitt’s Mass Vestments; it deals with the important question whether those Vestments should be legalised or not. All interested in the struggle going on in the Church of England should read it. Both these tracts may be had from D. Catt, 74 Strand, London, for 11/2d. each.
Scottish Heroines of the Faith.
BY THE REV. D. BEATON, WICK.
(Continued from page 55.)
MARCHIONESS OF ARGYLL.
LADY MARGARET DOUGLAS, as she was before her marriage, was the second daughter of William, seventh Earl of Morton. Her father, one of the richest noblemen in Scotland, was an enthusiastic supporter of Charles I. in his effort to set up Episcopacy in Scotland. He sold his property of Dalkeith and other estates, yielding an annual rental of £100,000 Scots, in order that he might advance the cause of the King. Lady Margaret was born about 1610, and at an early age was espoused to Archibald, Lord Lorn, afterwards eighth Earl and first Marquis of Argyll. Lady Margaret and her husband were of one mind in ecclesiastical matters, both being staunch supporters of the Presbyterians. Anderson says:—”We are not exactly informed as to the time and circumstances in which either of them became the subject of serious religious impressions, but, in both cases, it appears to have been early. True religion shed its hallowed and ennobling influences over their domestic life, sweetening its enjoyments as well as lightening its trials, and rendered their whole deportment a living epistle of Christ, known and read of all men. It was the custom of the Marquis to rise at five o’clock in the morning, and to continue in private till eight o’clock; and, besides family worship and private prayer in the morning and evening, he usually prayed with his lady at the same seasons, his valet and her maid servant being present.” It was a fit preparation for those years of heart-rending sorrow through which both had to pass. Both evidently enjoyed the pure preaching of the Gospel, and were privileged to enjoy the ministrations of David Dickson for two years at Inveraray.
The Marchioness’s trials may be said to have begun with the worldly wise scheme on which her husband, the Marquis, embarked, to bring about an alliance between his daughter and Charles I. Argyll, on Charles’s arrival in Scotland in 1650, suggested to him that the best possible evidence he could give of his interest in the Presbyterian cause was by marrying into some family of rank which was devoted to that cause. But the Marquis went further, and herein is seen his worldly ambition which was to bring to him and his household such bitter sorrow, for he suggested to Charles that he should marry Lady Anne Campbell, his own daughter. Charles consented to the proposal, but it must have been with a mental reservation. At least, he never fulfilled his promise. The Lady Anne, all unsuspecting of what was awaiting her, buoyed up her mind with hopes of being Queen of
Britain, and in these fond dreams of her young inexperienced heart she was encouraged by her father. When she was made to realise that Charles never meant to make her his queen, the blow fell upon her with staggering effect. Her reason, unable to stand the strain, gave way, and she became quite insane. The worldly wisdom which planned this scheme, which after all miscarried, had disastrous results, and the price paid for worldly ambition must have been terrible to a parent’s heart. Kirkton says, all that the “poor family had by the bargain was a disappointment so grievous to the poor young lady, that of a gallant young gentlewoman, she lost her spirit and turned absolutely distracted.” “So,” he further adds, “unfortunately do the back wheels of private designs work in the puppet plays of the public revolutions in the world.”
It is not known definitely whether the Marchioness was opposed to the match or not, but Anderson thinks there are good grounds for believing that she entertained a very low opinion of Charles long before he showed himself in the darker and more reprehensible features of his character. This surmise is founded on the following anecdote:—When Charles came to Scotland in 1650, he found it exceedingly difficult to act as a saint, though he had very little difficulty in taking paths and making promises that would require him to be one. His dissolute habits greatly offended the more serious-minded of his courtiers, and Argyll was asked to remonstrate with the Prince. Argyll’s opportunity at last came on a Sabbath evening at Stirling, and he faithfully, with all humility, pointed out to Charles the sinfulness of his behaviour. Charles, like the hypocrite that he was, professed to be deeply affected, and even shed tears, and “so earnest,” says Anderson, “did the matter to all appearance become, that they prayed and mourned together till two or three o’clock in the morning.” The Marquis was deeply impressed with the seeming contrition of Charles, and made known to his lady the happy night he had spent with Charles. The Marchioness took quite a different view of the matter, and plainly expressed herself to her husband that it was her belief that Charles’s tears were only crocodile tears, and that the Marquis would yet pay dearly for remonstrating with the dissolute Prince, an estimate of Charles’s character which had a painful realisation in the coming years. Charles never forgot nor forgave the man who dared to reprove him, and when Charles felt himself secure upon the throne, the long cherished feelings of revenge found satisfaction in the execution of Argyll.
Events swiftly ran their course in England and Scotland, and the Restoration, with years of nameless sorrow in its train, at last came. Charles ascended the throne of his fathers. To the Marchioness the mad, hilarious joy, with which the Restoration was received by so many in Scotland, filled her with deep feelings of fear and alarm. And these feelings were to be justified by events that were already hastening to their accomplishment.
Attention has been already directed to the reception that the Marquis met with when he went up to London to pay homage to Charles. The cruel, vindictive spirit of Charles, cherished for years, showed itself in a peremptory order to imprison Argyll. Kirkton maintains that he “died a sacrifice to royal jealousy and revenge”—a verdict that has much to confirm it. During his imprisonment, the Marchioness, dreading the worst, made an attempt to get her husband out of prison. The plan was that she would don her husband’s clothes and remain in prison while the Marquis would don his wife’s, and escape out of prison in this way. The plan, however, miscarried by the Marquis’s determination to stand by the cause he had espoused, and suffer the uttermost. When the death sentence was passed on the Marquis, his devoted lady hastened to the prison. “She was there,” says Anderson, “before he reached it, and on his entrance a most affecting interview took place between them. ‘They have given me till Monday,’ said he, on seeing her, ‘to be with you, my dear, therefore let us make for it.’ The afflicted wife, in the agony of grief, burst into a flood of tears, and embracing him, exclaimed, ‘The Lord will require it, the Lord will require it!’ The meeting between the condemned man and his wife was very affecting—all in the room being moved to tears. The Marquis at last getting some command of himself restrained his tears, and, turning to his beloved wife, affectionately addressed her: ‘Forbear, forbear,’ he said, ‘truly I pity them; they know not what they are doing; they may shut me in where they please, but they cannot shut out God from me: for my part, I am as content to be here as in the Castle, and as content in the Castle as the Tower of London, and as content there as when at liberty, and I hope to be as content upon the scaffold as any of them all.'”
The Marchioness made an appeal to Middleton on behalf of her husband. He had been deeply indulging in strong drink, but he received her graciously. When she announced the subject of her interview, Middleton told her plainly that he could not grant her request, for he had received strict injunctions from Charles to behead the Marquis. On the day of his execution, the Marchioness, along with Mr. John Carstares, spent the forenoon of the day wrestling with God, pleading that the Lord would seal his charter with the words: “Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee!” This request was graciously granted, for it is related that the Marquis, after settling some matters in connection with his worldly affairs, rose, and, bursting into tears, said:—”I see this will not do; I must declare what the Lord hath done for my soul! He has just now, at this very instant of time, sealed my charter in these words: ‘Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee.'”
The Marchioness bore the heavy stroke with Christian resignation. Law, in his Memorials, says, in reference to her: “His lady, Lady Margaret Douglas, a lady of singular piety and
virtue, bore this sad stroke—with other, both personal and domestic, afflictions—with great patience and incredible fortitude, giving herself always to prayer and fasting, and ministering to the necessity of the saints.” Mr. John Carstares, who proved a true friend to her in her great grief, wrote, saying: “He [God] hath given the highest security, ‘that all things (having a special look at all their afflictions, as the context, in the confession of most, if not all, judicious commentators, putteth beyond debate) shall work together for good to them that love God, and are the called according to His purpose’; where he hath, to speak so with reference to His Majesty, condescended some way to abridge His own sovereignty and absolute dominion, engaging Himself by covenant, that, though He may do what He will, yet He shall will to do nothing but what shall be for His people’s good, so that in all His dispensations towards them His absolute dominion and His goodwill shall be commensurable and of equal extent, the one of them never to be stretched one hair’s breadth beyond the other. And even in the most dark, involved, intricate, abstruse, and mysterious providences wherein they can read and take up least of His mind, and wherein He (seeming to walk either in the greatest absoluteness of His dominion or in the sharpest severity of His justice) refuseth to give particular account of His matters and motions, He hath wonderfully stooped and condescended to give this general, sweetly satisfactory account: That they shall work for good, even their spiritual good and profit, to the purging of sin and their further participation of His holiness.”
About a year after her husband’s execution the Marchioness met with a new trial in the condemnation of her eldest son, Lord Lorn, to death—a sorrow from which she was to a great extent relieved by the non-execution of the sentence. The Marchioness lived seventeen years after the execution of her husband. Her exemplary character and virtues are set forth in a letter written by the Rev. Mr. Gillies, which may be quoted at length:—“Neither shall I stay to tell you,” he says, “before this what is so well known to all who knew or heard tell of her, how much the Lord had enabled her to bear many a heavy cross, through a long tract of time during her widowhood, besides what had passed the rest of her life, which seldom wanted some remarkable cross. Of her it might well be said that she endured a sore, a tedious, and constant fight of afflictions (old ones continued and new ones frequently superadded), yet she was enabled to bear through with that faith, patience, submission, and Christian magnanimity that were very visible, commendable, and exemplary, and (which I cannot forget, being a thing that I often admired) such diligence and assiduity in following the duties of praying, reading, hearing, praise, all the acts of worship, a constant waiting upon all ordinances and duties, public and private, and even upon the weekly catechising, at which she delighted to be present, and by which she confessed that she had ever profited much; all these
she so attended that it was a rare thing to find her in an omission to as to any of them. And as if a child under the inspection of a teacher, or one put to task (and indeed she did task herself), so did she follow and keep close to these duties, being conscious that she had One who stood over her head always, that was witness to all her ways, to whom she must ere long give an account of herself. The rest of her time she did spend in overseeing her children or grandchildren (of which there were still a number about her), and Christian entertainment of such as came to visit her, with such exemplary gravity and sobriety, and other good entertainment, as was much observed and commended; moreover, her cheerfully welcoming and helping such as came for help, or advice for their bodily diseases. For this she was so famous that they came frequently and in great numbers. Of such she never wearied, nor was dissatisfied with their coming, except in so far as they did disappoint themselves (as she in her humility denied expressed it) by putting such confidence in her skill, which she said was no skill; yet the experience that so many had, of the Lord’s blessing, with good success, the advices and helps she gave brought so many to her, who seldom missed of the intent of their coming and diverse of them would have within some time returned to show what the Lord had done to them by her means, and to give her thanks, for which she was very thankful to Him who had so blessed what she did. And that she might be the more useful this way, she had always good store of medicaments beside her; many of them brought from the apothecaries, but most of them she caused make herself, never adventuring to give anything but what she knew was safe, and could do no hurt. Neither was she behind any in the generation for charity to the poor distressed, especially to such as were of the household of faith. Great numbers of poor people did flock to her; nor could the coldest weather and most dangerous storms hinder them to come to her from afar, although they knew they were to pass over ferries (the place of her residence being surrounded by waters), and it was the observation of neighbours about, that her being there brought multitudes on them; but to these she was so liberal as I need only say, that I am persuaded she gave with as much Christian compassion as any, ‘drawing out the soul to the hungry,’ etc., and that the receivers themselves were oftentimes astonished when they got so largely, as that in many miles, they got not so much from all as from her alone, and it was the admiration of many how this could hold out with her; but God blessed all. And when sometimes it was told her that many of those she gave to were but cheats and rogues (as indeed many of them were), she would freely answer, ‘While we have opportunity let us do good to all men, but especially to the household of faith,’ and that she gave what she gave to them, not as to cheats, but as to needy persons; and that if she gave with a single eye she would be accepted, whatever they were, and whatever use they made of what
she gave; yet did she little regard profane randy beggars though even these still got something by her order; and when with any whom she had ground to believe were of the household of faith, to these she was most liberal, and gave them with such compassion and kindness as did show what a living member of Christ’s body she was. Whilst she was daily exercised for most part as I have now hinted, she did not trouble herself with household affairs (except in causing provide things necessary for housekeeping), having laid over these matters entirely on some whom she trusted, of whose skill and fidelity she had long experience, and her being exonerated of this care and burden she often acknowledged as a great ease to her, and a great help to her, being taken up with things of another nature, which was her main work and delight.” Such is the character given of the good Marchioness by one who knew her well. “Her life,” he further adds, “is well known to have been filled with godliness, righteousness, sobriety, charity, and all Christian virtues, with a constant adherence to the truths and ways of God, without any fall or stain upon any part of her life.”
(To be Continued.)