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Home / Publications / Free Presbyterian Magazine / 1998 to 2003 / September 2003 / Sanctification – part 1

Sanctification – part 1

In 1662 Walter Marshall was ejected from the parish of Horsley, near Winchester, by the ungodly Act of Uniformity, under that ungodly king Charles II. Because the mouths of God’s servants cannot be shut without leave of the King of Zion, he shortly thereafter became minister of a congregation at Gosport in Hampshire, where his life testified to the sincerity of his gospel preaching until he died in 1680.

The published writings of Walter Marshall are few. Apart from The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, we know of no work of his except a sermon on Justification. It is said about his writing that there is not enough attention to arrangement, there is frequent repetition of certain points and his meaning is sometimes obscure. This might well be true, but throughout the book we find that unstudied and self-denying eloquence of strong and devout feeling produced in those men who wrote and preached in the light of eternal realities. It is said that he made his own feelings and the dealings of God with his own soul the universal rule of divine conduct in the salvation of others. It has to be realised, however, that this book is the result of one man’s pilgrimage from a cold-hearted legalism to a warm-hearted piety. Though it is not characteristic of this author to make personal references, the following statement clearly indicates the personal nature of the treatise: “The doctrine of salvation by sincere obedience may well be ranked among the worst errors. For my part, I hate it with a perfect hatred, and account it mine enemy, as I have found it.”

This last sentence also indicates that the book is somewhat polemical. It is a statement of the doctrine of sanctification which has grown out of, not only a love for the truth, but also a holy hatred of all soul-destroying, heretical views of this fundamental doctrine of the Word of God. It is a loud blast of the gospel trumpet against the errors of Arminianism, Antinomianism and Neonomianism, where they touch upon the doctrine of gospel holiness. Marshall does not identify his adversaries by name, only by the principles which they hold – the principles by which they identify themselves as enemies to the truth. The main errors which Marshall refutes are the following:

Arminianism: Arminians teach that man is not totally depraved, that he has the ability to choose to be holy, that repentance and faith precede regeneration, that the human will is one of the causes of regeneration, and that faith is a good work and a ground of acceptance with God. This is of course not a full summary of Arminianism, but only of those parts of it which Marshall found to contradict the Scriptural doctrine of sanctification. (2)

Antinomianism: Antinomians deny that the law is the measure of duty for believers; they do not believe that Christians need to seek personal holiness. When the Scriptures are so pointed and explicit in requiring holiness, it is difficult to account for the origin of this error in the Church. It is the swing of the pendulum from salvation by works, the other extreme. The one is as dangerous to our souls as the other. Scriptural theology, the system of grace, which is usually termed Calvinism, was slanderously dubbed Antinomian by Arminians. The preposterous accusation is that, because the gospel excludes our own works from having any part in our justification, it excludes all personal holiness. Walter Marshall clearly shows the slanderous nature of the accusation.

Neonomianism: This is a dangerous error which makes repentance, faith and sincere obedience the conditions of our acceptance with God. Whatever truth opposes this scheme is by the Neonomians deemed a branch of the Antinomian heresy. (3)

Many divines have expressed the highest admiration for this book, among them Thomas Chalmers, Robert Traill, James Hervey and Adam Gib. The editor of our edition (4) wrote, “His directions exhibit views of the gospel so much beyond those of many other divines that . . . those who bestow on [his book] sufficient time and attention, will find it a repository of evangelical truth and worthy of all the encomiums which different writers have bestowed on it”. Rather than give a synopsis of the book, which has been done by several writers, we will attempt to give the substance of the work by identifying the principles which undergird Walter Marshall’s treatise, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification.

The first principle is: The Word of God is the rule of the sanctified life. The moral law, as the sum of the precepts of God’s Word, is expressly and exclusively identified as the rule for our obedience. It is the standard to be ardently and continually aimed at, in heart and life, privately and publicly. The keeping of God’s law, this royal law, is so great an honour that our author says, “I cannot imagine any more noble work for the holy angels in their glorious sphere” (p 20).

Antinomians deny that the Christian is obliged to keep this perfect law of liberty. Romanists and Arminians wrongly teach that God has lowered the requirement of the law. Pelagians blasphemously assert that God will not hold man responsible for what he cannot perform. Marshall will have none of this. He states the purpose of his treatise clearly: “The scope of all is to teach you how you may attain to that practice and manner of life which we call holiness, righteousness, or godliness, obedience, true religion; and which God requires of us in the law, particularly in the moral law, summed up in the Ten Commandments, and more briefly in those two great commandments of love to God and our neighbour (Matt 22:37,39), and more largely explained throughout the Holy Scriptures.”

This is not perfectionism. Where there is true repentance, “an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ” and a turning from sin unto God, there will be a “full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience” – after conformity to the law of the Lord. The believer is no longer condemned by the law, but he is obliged by the most powerful gospel considerations to pursue holiness. The mystery in sanctification is: How is a sinner – even a redeemed, regenerate sinner – to pursue this work when so much ignorance and wilfulness accompanies him and when he daily contracts further defilement? “My work”, says Marshall, “is to show how the duties of this law may be done.”

The second principle is: Neither the source, means, manner or matter of sanctification could ever be known without a revelation from God. A divine mystery is something that remains unknown by man until God reveals it to him. The way of sanctifying a rebellious, ruined sinner could never have been discovered – such is the difficulty of it – unless it was revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Here God unfolds the mystery, making known the effective means of sanctifying the sinner. Here the law shows us our utter ruin in sin and the impossibility of recovering ourselves. Here is made known the indispensable importance of union to Him who is the only storehouse of grace. Here the free offer of Christ is made to self-destroyed sinners – the unsearchable riches of the grace of Christ. However, as many examples sadly show, it is one thing to know the gospel doctrine of Christ; it is another actually to repose our ruined, sin-sick souls on the adorable foundation laid there by God.

The third principle therefore is: There is no sanctification without the Holy Spirit. The gospel way of sanctification begins in regeneration. The Holy Spirit, by the Word of God, works saving faith in us, thereby uniting us to Christ as the solitary but altogether adequate fountain of spiritual life. By means of this union, the believer has communion with the Lord Jesus Christ in respect of the life and the grace that is stored up in Him. And, as a consequence, the believer is rooted and built up in Him, and Christ is formed in him. The Holy Spirit sanctifying the soul of a redeemed sinner is a most bounteous gift of divine love.

The fourth principle rises from the last: Sanctification is perfectly impossible apart from union to Christ as the source of all spiritual life. Here lies the thrust of Marshall’s book. Vital, saving union to Christ, practically improved in the ordinary means of grace, is the powerful, divinely-ordained instrument for sanctifying sinners. By this union, a new disposition is in brought into the soul. It is a new power to govern our purposes. It is a holy principle determining the will. As Marshall says, we “receive from Christ a new, holy frame and nature whereby we are enabled for a holy practice, by union and fellowship with Him”. This new nature begins in the new birth. It is the life of holy beauties from the womb of the morning of the new birth. It is entirely different to the nature derived from Adam. It is Christ formed in the soul.

This is indeed a great mystery: Christ laying hold on a ruined soul to quicken it to spiritual life by a powerful act of intimate, loving life-giving union to Himself, and living in the believer by His Spirit in order to accomplish the purposes of God in sanctification. It is the Lord of glory setting up His kingdom in the soul of a sinner, the Lord of Hosts coming into the heart in a day of power to make the unwilling soul willing, to bring forth right judgement and to rule there until He perfects the believer’s sanctification at death. It is the Lord of battles gaining a divine conquest over the sinner; “His right hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory”.

The believer might see more of the unregenerate nature than he sees of the new nature in himself, but the new nature is striving against the old. And though the old nature strives against the new, the new will be victorious. The oil that flowed down the head of Aaron to the skirts of his garments illustrates the holy unction with which those who are united to Christ are anointed when they are about Christ in the means of grace. The woman with the issue of blood touched the garments of Him from whom power and virtue flowed out; so grace is strengthened when we draw near to Christ as those who are united to the One anointed with the Holy Spirit without measure. As the branch receives nourishment from the vine, so the believer receives grace out of the fullness of grace in Christ.

To say that a man can be holy as a result of his own choice displays monumental ignorance. Marshall identifies several grave errors at the root of this barren tree of free will: (1) that we can abstain from sin if we will; (2) that Christ has restored to fallen man the freedom of will to do good, which was lost in the fall; (3) that fallen, ruined nature is set on its feet again; (4) that man is to co-operate in salvation; and (5) that the new birth only reforms and repairs our natural state (pp 117,118,120).

Marshall states that our fallen, natural state wholly disables us for the practice of holiness, and enslaves us to the practice of sin. From Adam we are by nature enslaved to the service of sin; we have a fixed propensity to lust against the law. How can the natural man love God when he hates Him? How can he say, “O how love I Thy law”, when he has an evil inclination powerfully subduing him to the service of sin? If the soul which hates holiness is to love it, a fundamental change has to take place in the disposition of his soul. He must be born again; he must be united to a source of spiritual life which will motivate, govern and determine his will so that he will hate sin. If we are to be holy, says Marshall, “we must delight to do the will of God; it must be sweeter to us than the honey or the honeycomb . . . we are to love [holiness] not as a sick man loves his medicine, which is unpleasant but effective, but as he loveth health”.

Endnotes:

1. This is the first of two articles giving the substance of a paper presented to the 2001 Theological Conference. It dealt with the volume, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, by the Puritan, Walter Marshall.
2. See Cairns’ Dictionary of Theological Terms.
3. See Thornwell’s essay on “Antinomianism” in his Collected Writings, vol 2.
4. That published in Edinburgh by James Taylor around 1862.

This article is part 1of a series
Other articles in this series: [part 2]

Return to Table of Contents for The Free Presbyterian Magazine – September 2003

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  • Free Presbyterian Magazine
    • Historic Sermons
    • 1896 to 1904
    • 1904 to 1910
    • 1910 to 1919
    • 1920 to 1929
    • 1930 to 1939
    • 1940 to 1949
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      • October 2003
        • A View from the Outer Hebrides
        • The Untiring Travellers – Part 2
        • Sanctification – Part 2
        • The Ten Virgins
        • John Wesley 1703-1791
        • A Pastor’s Concern
        • Seeking Great Things
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • September 2003
        • A Kingdom Where Order Reigns
        • Church Information
        • The Untiring Travellers – Part 1
        • Sanctification – part 1
        • The Achreny Mission – 2. 1815 to 1843
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – part 4
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2003
        • Church Information
        • A Prayer-Hearing God – Part 1
        • The Achreny Mission – Part 3 – After the Disruption
        • Meditation – Its Blessedness
        • Obituary – John Beaton, Raasay
        • African Missions Update
        • Growing Vatican Sovereignty
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Christ as Prophet
      • March 2003
        • What We Make It?
        • King Solomon’s Chariot
        • Samuel Rutherford – St Andrews and Westminster
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – Part 4
        • The Parable of the Talents
        • The Kinsman
        • Scottish Church Initiative for Union
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • May 2003
        • A Powerful Voice
        • Notes and Comments
        • “Ye Shall Ask What Ye Will”- Part 2
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – The Religion of the Bible
        • The Prodigal Son
        • The Study of Providence
        • Poor and Needy
        • John Piper and His Doctrine
        • African Missions
        • Protestant View
      • June 2003
        • No Sense of Need
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Call of Matthew
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – The Christian Doctrine of God
        • The Sower
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 1
        • Meditation Sanctifies
        • Mbuma Zending Meeting – 2003
        • Zimbabwe Ordinations and Inductions
        • Book Reviews
      • July 2003
        • Acceptable Worship
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Grace Glorified in Election
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – Some Further Doctrines
        • The Pharisee and the Publican
        • Rabbi Duncan
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 2
        • A Plea for Prayer
        • Continuing Repentance
        • Book Review: Christmas Evans, The Life and Times of the One-Eyed Preacher of Wales
      • January 2003
        • Thankfulness
        • The Lord God of Elijah
        • Samuel Rutherford – Fair Anwoth by the Solway – 1627 – 1636
        • Manna
        • All of Grace
        • Obituary – Mr Edward Arthur Christensen, Auckland
        • Obituary – Miss Isabel Murray, North Tolsta
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • February 2003
        • Christ’s Infinite Riches
        • Protestant View
        • Church Information
        • The Lord God of Elijah – Part 2
        • Samuel Rutherford – His King’s Palace in Aberdeen
        • The Privilege of Prayer
        • In Possession of the Promises
        • The Rich Man and Lazarus
        • Humiliation and Prayer
        • Book Reviews
        • Notes and Comments
        • Book Review – Sidelights on Bible Characters
        • Book Review – Authentic Christianity: Sermons on the Acts of the Apostles
      • December 2003
        • Nineteenth-Century Drift
        • A Prayer-Hearing God – Part 2
        • The Achreny Mission – 4. After the Disruption – Part 2
        • Meditation – Its Consequences
        • Visit to the Ukraine
        • Book Review – Letters from the South Seas, Margaret Paton
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • April 2003
        • The Promised Land
        • Church Information
        • “Ye Shall Ask What Ye Will”- Part 1
        • Samuel Rutherford – The Last Years
        • The Pearl of Great Price
        • Repentance
        • A Private Among the Padres
        • Damaging Doubts
        • The Prince – Defender of all Faiths
        • Protestant View
      • August 2003
        • What Kind of Faith?
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Head Stone of the Corner
        • The Vineyard
        • Mary and the Spiritual Mind
        • The Achreny Mission – 1. 1760 to 1815
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 3
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Book Review – God’s Hymnbook for the Christian Church
      • September 2002
        • The Shepherd’s Reward
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Jubilee
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Conflict
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – Part 2
        • The Beliver’s Sanctification
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Update
        • The New Archbishop of Canterbury
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
      • October 2002
        • “My Counsel Shall Stand”
        • Church Information
        • The Way to the City
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Consolidation
        • “Your Mercy”and the Jews’ Future
        • Springing Up After Many Days
        • Book Reviews
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2002
        • Christ’s Spiritual Conquests
        • Church Information
        • The Call to the Water of Life – Part 2 (1) A Sermon by William Nixon Revelation 22:17. And the spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
        • The Right Way (1) Rev J S Sinclair
        • Obituary Mr Murdo Macleod, Elder, Stornoway
        • Book Reviews
        • Foreign Mission News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • May 2002
        • Divine Compassion
        • Book Review – The Antichrist
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Coming to Christ – Part 2
        • A Master in Israel
        • The Cleansing of the Leper
        • The Christian’s Life
        • The Puritans on Prayer
        • Advice on Preaching
        • The Great Draught of Fishes
        • Book Review – Church and State
      • March 2002
        • “Hear the Word of the Lord”
        • The Blessing of Asher
        • Thomas Cranmer – That God Might Be Truly Worshipped
        • Psalms or Hymns in Public Worship
        • Obituary – Reverend Donald Nicolson
        • Is Britain Being Protected?
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
      • June 2002
        • “Another King, One Jesus”
        • Church Information
        • Pray Without Ceasing
        • The Puritans on Prayer – Part 2
        • Inventing Religion
        • Princeton and Pelagianism
        • Among the Children
        • Hopes of Future Usefulness – A Letter of John Love
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • January 2002
        • “Religion in its Purity”
        • Notes and Comments
        • Attaining a Knowledge of Our Sins
        • The Meat Offering
        • The Strength of Faith
        • Thomas Cranmer – Moving Towards a Reformation
        • The Extent of the Atonement
        • Rev John MacDonald (1925-2000) – Obituary
        • Book Review – God and Cosmos
        • Protestant View – Queen Invites Cardinal to Sandringham
      • July 2002
        • The Need for Opened Eyes
        • God’s Wrath Against Sin
        • The Puritans on Prayer – A Wondrous Mysterious Grace
        • Revival in Arran
        • Man’s Righteousness and God’s
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
      • February 2002
        • Offering up Our Desires to God
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Look unto Me and Be Ye Saved
        • Thomas Cranmer – The Man of Extreme Caution
        • The Power of the Gospel
        • The Goodness of God in Redemption
        • Obituary – Mrs Isabella Turner
        • Book Review – Galatians
        • Book Notices
        • Protestant View
      • December 2002
        • “A Zealous, Godly Preacher”
        • The Call to the Water of Life – Part 2
        • Samuel Rutherford – From Birth to New Birth
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – part 3
        • Obituary – Mrs Annie MacIver, North Tolsta
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • April 2002
        • “I am the Resurrection and the Life”
        • Coming to Christ – Part 1
        • Thomas Cranmer – On to the Fire
        • The Plague of Leprosy
        • Divided Allegiance
        • Obituary – Miss Margaret Sutherland
        • Book Review – The Hidden Pathway
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • August 2002
        • Everything Devoted to God’s Service
        • Unity Among the Brethren
        • Those Who Have Feld for Refuge
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Conquest
        • Symptoms of Spiritual Death
        • Book Review – The King’s Daughters
        • African Mission News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • September 2001
        • Knowing God
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Path of the Just
        • Obituary – The late Miss Jean Nicolson
        • Obituary – The late Mrs Lexie MacLeod
        • Raasay Congregation – a Brief History
        • The Knowledge of Sin
        • Induction at Sengera
        • Book Review: The Source of the IRA/Sinn Fein
        • Protestant View
      • October 2001
        • Tragedy
        • “God Gave the Increase”
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – It’s Usefulness for the Church
        • Desires for Glory
        • Calling a Minister
        • The Vatican Archives
        • A Visit to Singapore
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2001
        • Scotland’s Preachers
        • Recent Inductions
        • The Rose of Sharon
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – It’s Usefulness on the Personal Level – Intellectually
        • “Be Strong and of a Good Courage”
        • God’s Wonderful Goodness
        • “Withhold not Correction”
        • Obituary – The late Mr Donald Beaton, Elder, Auckland
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Obituary – The late Mr Donald Beaton, Elder, Auckland
      • May 2001
        • Sinking in Capernaum’s Doom
        • Book Review – Irish Worthies
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Goodwill of God
        • Keeping the Heart in Temptation
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 2
        • The Garden of Nuts
        • The Son of Man Lifted up
        • Obituary – The late John Angus MacLeod
        • A Deputy’s Visit to Africa – Kenya
        • Book Review – Faith and Justification
      • March 2001
        • “Just with God”
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Set up from Everlasting
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ – Christ as Priest
        • W S Plumer- Part 2
        • Obituary – The late Rev Alexander McPherson, Perth
        • Pastoral Letter – Rev Alexander McPherson
        • Joseph MacKay
        • Book Review – Forerunner of the Great Awakening
      • June 2001
        • Blessedness
        • Church Information
        • Christ Coming for His people’s Help – Part 1
        • Who Belong to the Visible Church?
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 3
        • Religion in the Highlands After 1688 – Part 3
        • Raising Questions Against Darwinism
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • July 2001
        • Cry Aloud Spare Not
        • Christ Coming for His people’s Help – Part 2
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ
        • Our African Missions – an Update
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Spring Visit to Ukraine
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • January 2001
        • Looking Forward
        • Book Review – The Government of the Church
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Faith, Its Nature, Origin and Effects
        • Thomas Halyburton and How God May Be Known
        • The Divinity of Christ
        • Religion in the Highlands after 1688 – Part 1
        • Keep a good conscience
        • God’s True Family
        • What is the Object of Faith?
        • Communion in Singapore
      • February 2001
        • Calling the Sabbath a Delight
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Set up from Everlasting
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ – Christ as Prophet
        • Religion in the Highlands after 1688 – Part 2
        • Book Review – Daily Prayer and Praise by Henry Law
        • Psalm 122 – Henry Law
        • The enemies of the Christian
        • African Mission News
        • Protestant View
      • December 2001
        • Protestant View
        • African Mission News
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Book Review – Tell it to the Generation Following
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – Usefulness on the Personal Level
        • The Impossibility of Neutrality
        • “Christian”Entertainment
        • Attaining a Knowledge of Our Sins
        • Church Information
        • Notes and Comments
        • A View From Zimbabwe
      • August 2001
        • “There They Preached the Gospel”
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • “He Will Bless Us”
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ
        • “He Delighteth in Mercy”
        • “The Voice of Christianity in Scotland”
        • Obituary – The late Mr Ian M MacLeod, Elder, Dingwall
        • Obituary – The late Mrs Catherine MacKenzie, Stornoway
        • Book Review – Southern Presbyterian Leaders 1683-1911
        • Book Review – The Westminster Confession of Faith, Milestone, Millstone or Manifesto?
      • April 2001
        • Sowing the Seed
        • The Duty of Nations to the Church
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 1
        • “The Finger of God”
        • Obituary – The late Miss Peggy Nicolson, Inverness
        • A Deputy’s Visit to Africa – Zimbabwe
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • September 2000
        • The Resurrection of Christ
        • Church Information
        • Reading the Scriptures Profitably
        • The believer is to put those sins… into the hands of Christ
        • The Puritans and the Ministry
        • Christ Glorifying God
        • Blessed Are They That Mourn
        • The Nature of Vital Piety (2)
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • October 2000
        • The Fear of God
        • Church Information
        • Reading the Scriptures Profitably (2)
        • He indeed is rich in grace whose graces are not hindered by his riches
        • The Puritans and the Ministry (2)
        • James Stewart
        • Christ Healing a Leper
        • Visits To Eastern Europe
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2000
        • “What Are They Among so Many?”
        • Vain Religion
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Desired Haven
        • God may bear long with the wicked, but…
        • Thomas Halyburton
        • James Stewart (2)
        • The Temptation of Christ
        • Book Review
      • May 2000
        • The Church of God From Age to Age
        • Jesus of Nazareth passeth by
        • Rev Lachlan MacLeod (1918-1998) – Obituary
        • “So let him give”
        • The Solemn League and Covenant
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
      • June 2000
        • The Example of the Church in Smyrna
        • Eastern Europe – Spring 2000 Report
        • Church Information
        • The Nature of the New Birth
        • This is Indeed the Christ
        • Obituary The late Mr Alasdair Gillies, M.A., Elder, Dingwall
        • Report of Mbuma Zending Meeting – 29th April 2000
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Ma Donsa One of the Pilgrims at Ingwenya
        • African Mission News
      • March 2000
        • Two Free Churches
        • Sermon The Gracious Invitation of Christ
        • The Rev John Sinclair of Bruan (1801-43)
        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
        • Regeneration Regulating the Affections
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • July 2000
        • The Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Church Information
        • Lift up a Standard for the People
        • At the Westminster Assembly
        • The Earth Corrupt before God
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • Obituary – The late Mr Kenneth Gillies, Elder, Raasay
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • February 2000
        • The Rev. Christopher Munro (1817-85)
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • “Come unto me”
        • Joy and Peace in Believing
        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
        • Negotiations in London
        • Obituary
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Scottish Day Conference
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • January 2000
        • Another Millennium
        • Notes of a Sermon The Earth Filled with His Glory
        • The Second Coming of Christ – Three Main Views
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        • Princeton Seminary – The Majestic Testimony by David Calhoun.
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      • December 2000
        • The Divine Saviour
        • A Sermon by John Kennedy
        • Thomas Halyburton
        • The Late Roderick Macleod,
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        • Where Are We Now?
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        • Christ Given in His Fulness
        • Alexander Henderson
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      • April 2000
        • The Family Under Attack
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      • October 1999
        • Declaring All the Counsel of God
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        • God so Loved the World
        • The Rev. James S. Sinclair
        • The Glasgow Assembly
        • Calvin’s View of the Millennium
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        • Trinitarian Bible Society Annual General Meeting
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      • September 1999
        • Old Testament Types
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        • Christ Seeing of the Travail of His Soul
        • Alexander Stewart of Cromarty
        • The Intercession of Christ
        • Resolved to Abolish Episcopacy
        • “And the sun was darkened”
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      • November 1999
        • Morality and Politics
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        • Sermon
        • Rev Alexander Morrison (1925-1999) – Obituary
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        • Casting down the Walls of Jericho
        • A Visit to Singapore
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      • May 1999
        • “Upon this rock I will build my church”
        • The Blessed Poor
        • Rev Angus Mackay
        • Is Christ our High Priest?
        • Signs of Religious Declension
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      • March 1999
        • Heaven-provoking Legislation
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        • The Drawing Power of the Cross
        • The Alpha Course Examined
        • Teaching Christianity in Scottish Schools
        • The late Mrs Margaret Tallach, Glasgow
        • Letter by John Love, D.D.
        • Protestant View
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      • June 1999
        • Made a Faithful Shepherd
        • Notes and Comments
        • How May Sanctification Be Attained?
        • Protestant View
        • Mbuma Zending Meeting Report
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        • Spiritual Pride in Man
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        • Preaching the Unsearchable Riches of Christ
        • The Free Church and the World
      • January 1999
        • When the Enemy Shall Come in Like a Flood
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        • Let me see thy countenance
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      • July 1999
        • The Church of Scotland General Assembly
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        • The Pre-eminence of Christ
        • A Man Who Wished to Live Obscurely
        • The Nature of Saving Faith
        • The Light of the World
        • God is: therefore God is to be Worshipped
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        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
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      • February 1999
        • The Purposes of the Lord’s Supper
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society – Appointments
        • The Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God
        • Holy Importunity in Prayer
        • A Heavenly Eternal Crown of Glory
        • Book Review
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        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
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      • December 1999
        • The End of a Millennium
        • African Mission News
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        • Until the Day Break
        • The Charismatic Movement – The Gifts have Ceased
        • The Rev. Donald Macfarlane of Dingwall
        • The Pagan Origin of Christmas A Reminder
        • Ministers Prepared by Temptation
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      • August 1999
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        • The Marks of a Time of Revival, and the Means of Bringing it About
        • The Free Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Thy Kingdom Come
        • The National Covenant
        • Work of the Trinitarian Bible Society in 1998
        • Unsettled and Discouraged?
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      • April 1999
        • The Observance of Easter
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      • September 1998
        • The Golden Key of Prayer
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        • Weighed in the Balances
        • Christ, the Way
        • Praying as Beggars
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        • Our African Mission
        • Patrick Mzamo – A sketch of an African elder and lay-preacher
      • October 1998
        • The Westminster Assembly and Romanism
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        • Christ Liveth in me *
        • God’s Way of Bringing Sinners to Christ
        • The Effects of Television Violence
        • Sin and Sanctification
        • Book Review
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        • Philemon Ndebele
      • November 1998
        • Faithfulness or Vilification
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        • The Best Security in Evil Times
        • Pentecostal Dialogue with Rome
        • The Prayers of the Aged
        • The Religion of the Highlands – The Persecution of a Highland Laird
        • Book Review
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      • May 1998
        • The Mode of Baptism – A Defence
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • A Vessel Meet for the Master’s Use
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        • Serving the Lord with Humility
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland on the Internet
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        • The Story of Mamlotshwa
      • March 1998
        • A Minister of God
        • “I will yet for this be inquired of”
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        • Godliness With Contentment
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        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • Private Prayer and Public Profession
        • Truth and Life
        • The Free Church, Psalms and Hymns
      • June 1998
        • Family Worship
        • Notes and Comments
        • Ma Ngwenya – Mother of the late Rev. B. B. Dube
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        • The Lord is Risen Indeed
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Pastoral Epistles
        • The Church of Scotland and the Bible
        • Mbuma-Zending Meeting – 1998
        • Three Characteristics of True Faith
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      • July 1998
        • The General Assemblies
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        • The Scriptural Warrant for Creedal Subscription
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        • A Cambuslang Case of Conversion
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        • Notes and Comments
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
      • January 1998
        • Book Review
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        • MaHlabangana
        • Winter Visit to Eastern Europe
        • THE NEW YEAR
        • The Church Built and Kept by the Lord
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Fruits of the Declaratory Act In the Free Church of Scotland
        • Redeeming the Time
        • African Mission News
      • February 1998
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        • Notes and Comments
        • A Mission Day of Prayer
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        • Leaning Upon her Beloved
        • Brought Home to Heaven
        • Observing the Sabbath
        • Church Deputy’s Visit to North America
        • African Mission News
        • A Faithful Ambassador is Health
      • December 1998
        • When the Enemy Shall Come in Like a Flood
        • “My grace is sufficient for thee”
        • The People of the Great Faith
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        • A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ
        • “Give ye them to eat”
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      • August 1998
        • The General Assemblies
        • Sermon – The House of Many Mansions
        • Lessons From the Doctrine of Divine Justice
        • Book Notice
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        • Notes and Comments
        • Paul Magaya – Lay Preacher in Shangani
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      • April 1998
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Mode of Baptism – A Defence
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
        • The Manner of Coming to Christ
        • Book Notice
        • A Lily from the Ukraine
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        • Called of God
        • Threats to our Religious Liberties
        • Mazwabo’s Amazing Transformation
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