By REV. JOHN COLQUHOUN, GLENDALE.
THE President of the Glasgow and West Coast Mission when giving his report to that body in 1936, as reported in the pages of the Free Presbyterian Magazine at the time, referred to religion in the Highlands as “a terribly gloomy thing,” and deplored the lack of a “gospel of cheerfulness and laughter.” He has, however, left his hearers in the nebulosity of conjecture as to where they were to get this gospel of cheerfulness and laughter. There is a cheerfulness and laughter mixed up with religion in our day which makes a mock at sin and causes the sinner to forget his need of salvation, but that cheerfulness and laughter is as the “crackling of thorns under a pot”—it will make plenty of noise, but it will not last long, and it will leave the blackness after it forever. Alas! it is to be feared that this is the kind of religion that is preferred to true religion by the majority in the present generation.
There are at least two classes of people who look upon the religion of the Bible as a gloomy thing. There is, first of all, the world who make no profession of religion. Though by no means excluding those advanced in years, this is in a special manner true concerning the young. They are full of vigour and thirsting after all the pleasures which this world can afford. They promise to themselves many years in the world, and they put the day of death very far away. Why should they think of preparation for death? That is very well for old men and women who are drawing near the brink of the grave, but for the young to think of their need of Christ and of preparation for death would be to spoil all the pleasures they have in this world. Their very nature rebels against the idea of even thinking of such a gloomy thing as religion, and they thoughtlessly go on in their own ways, little realising that the day of account may be very near.
The other class who think that true religion is a “gloomy thing” is the professing world. They want, according to their own language, a religion by which they can make the best of both worlds and hope that after getting their fill of the pleasures of this world, all will be well at last. This is an easy religion. It gives those who adopt it a name to live but alas! without the life that should accompany the name. There are no struggles with Satan, with the world or with the flesh in themselves, and they can indulge in all the vanities which this world can give. Their religion is a religion that can allow them plenty of “cheerfulness and laughter” in the “pleasures of sin for a season,” but it is a religion which is in accordance with that “carnal mind” which is “enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,” and, therefore, such a religion cannot be anything but a counterfeit of Satan.
True religion is not gloomy because God is the source of it, and “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” It is God who draws nigh to the sinner and manifests His love to him, causing the sinner to exclaim, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” When a sinner comes to taste of that love in his own experience, not only is there joy in his own soul, but there is joy in the presence of the angels and in the Church on earth when the fact becomes known. The only place where there is gloom is in the kingdom of Satan because a faithful slave is lost to it forever.
True religion, as set forth in the Word of God and in the preaching of that Word, is not gloomy for it presents to the view of sinners a crucified, risen, and exalted Redeemer. It sets before us a work by which the broken Law of God was magnified and made honourable, and justice eternally satisfied. It presents to our view a Substitute, who stood under the stroke of the sword of divine justice, who redeemed His people from the curses of the Law, being made a curse for them, and who has gone before them to intercede for them, and to welcome them to that abode where there is fullness of blessing and pleasures for evermore.
Those who are the subjects of it bear witness that true religion is not a “gloomy thing,” for they are sinners made willing in a day of the power of the Holy Spirit to embrace Christ as their own personal Saviour and their only hope for eternity, and where that has taken place there is a desire to be conformed to the image of Christ and a fear of sin, such a fear as will cause those who have it to keep as far as possible from the cause of the “cheerfulness and laughter” of this world. That continues with the true child of God from the moment when true religion is planted in his soul till he draws his last breath in the world.
Further, when one considers what the eternal state will be of all who have true religion one sees no cause for gloom there. There was no gloom with the Apostle Paul when he was looking forward to his speedy dissolution and viewing by faith the “crown of righteousness” which was laid up for him, nor had he cause to be gloomy, for he was soon to be ushered into that place where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. All that the Word of God reveals concerning that rest which belongs to those who have true religion, begets thoughts other than that of gloom, for they will enjoy world without end the unbroken fellowship of a Triune God. “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
We must not, however, forget that while true religion is not a gloomy thing, it is contrary to the nature of things that there should be joy and happiness always. The Holy Spirit through Solomon tells us that there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance,” and those who have true religion have these times. The psalmist could say, “I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping;” but he could also say, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup; thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” The child of God finds much his own heart and in the world around him to put him among the “afflicted and poor people” in the midst of the land, but his trust in the name of the Lord will keep him from giving way to gloominess, yea it will make him rejoice with Habakkuk when he was saying, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
True religion in those who have it will give them such a cheerfulness that they will be “Kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer,” and those who come into daily contact with the Lord’s people in the Highlands can testify that these elements are in the Highland religion which the President of the West Coast Mission considers such a very gloomy thing. As for the “cheerfulness and laughter” which is to-day commended in religion, God’s people in the Highlands and elsewhere, would do well to leave it with those spoken of by the prophet Amos; they “put far away the evil day and cause the seat of violence to come near; that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; that chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music like David; that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph.” Such a cheerfulness will suit the carnal mind and beguile sinners to a lost eternity.