IT is with great pleasure we publish the following letter from Mr. GEORGE FORREST, Brucefield, Canada, to Rev. JOHN R. MACKAY, Gairloch. A very interesting letter of Mr. Forrest’s appeared in this Magazine for September, 1896, in which he gave some account of the faithful contendings of a few in Canada against the defections of the Presbyterian Church there, and expressed, as he did in a still earlier communication to one of our ministers, the warm sympathy they had for our Church in the home country. The following letter, like the former, will be perused with much interest by our readers, and special note will be taken of the rather remarkable providential circumstance whereby this Magazine became the means of sending a minister in Manitoba to preach for a time to our friends in Canada. The isolation and the weakness of their condition far exceed in degree anything of the same kind in this country, and should lead us to be thankful for our privileges. We would desire again to commend their case to the sympathy and prayers of our Church at large.
BRUCEFIELD, ONTARIO,
CANADA, 5th September, 1898.
REV. J. R. MACKAY,
MY DEAR FRIEND,—It is a long time since there was any correspondence between us, and I would like very much to renew it; and especially as I would like to tell you of some of God’s goodness to us, and more especially as you were, in a certain sense, the means in God’s hand of bringing a little reviving and refreshing to us. How true is that word, “He leadeth the blind in a way that they know not.” I suppose you will remember a letter that I sent to you describing our position here, and also one that Mr. John Morrison sent you sometime later, and very much to the same purpose; both of which you got published in the Free Presbyterian Magazine. And thus they found their way to Manitoba, and Rev. James Patterson, a Presbyterian minister, who had to break his connection with the Presbyterian Church of Canada because of the innovations and un-Presbyterian practices of that Church, read them, and began a correspondence with us; and as a result, he came here about the beginning of July, and began a three months’ sojourn among us. He was one month in East Williams, where Rev. R. D. Mackay had been labouring; and he has finished another month’s work in Brucefield. He preached here four Sabbaths, and on the fourth he dispensed the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. And I think that in some respects it was a remarkable occasion; for although there are only six persons in connection with us that meet regularly in Brucefield for public worship, yet on that occasion we were able to constitute a Session of one minister and three elders, and fourteen communicants partook of the Sacrament; and there were only two persons present that did not partake of it. It was our friends from a distance that made up this number, and we kept up the old fashion of meeting on the three days before the Communion Sabbath, and also on the Monday following it. To strangers there may not be anything very remarkable in all this, but to us, in our isolated and destitute condition, there is something very remarkable, for some of us were almost losing hope of getting any supply of ordinances. We are indeed poor and needy, but the Lord thinketh on us, and hath sent us help from a very unexpected quarter. “The Lord of us hath mindful been, and he will bless us still.” And we would fain raise our Ebenezer and say, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. I dare say, in “The Days of the Fathers of Ross-shire,” when the people congregated in thousands to hear the Gospel and to partake of the sacred feast, such a gathering as we had from the 18th to the 22nd of August would appear very small indeed. But to us, who are accustomed to meet in half dozens, a gathering of twenty or thereabouts, for five days at one time, is something to be thankful for. And I think it may be truly said, We were all of one accord in one place. And if it cannot be said, that of the rest durst no man join himself to them, it can truly be said, of the rest no one did join themselves unto us. But while this is all true, it is also true that nothing occurred to distract or annoy us in the least degree; but we could meet from day to day in peace and quietness. And I believe that all that were present could say, “It is good to be here.” And we would fain call on our souls to be stirred up to magnify His holy name.
When Mr. Patterson has finished his three months’ labour among us, he will return to Manitoba (where his family are living) in the hope that the Lord will, in some way, open a door of usefulness for him; but there are but very few indeed among the leaders in the Church that have any sympathy with him. But the Lord does not send any on a warfare on his own charges, and He will not leave him to fall before his enemies. His word is still true, “Him that honoureth me, I will honour.” But we have surely fallen upon evil times, for if we look around us, in every direction we see defection from the truth, and innovations in worship. There is, indeed, a fussy activity in the external work of the Churches, but is there any corresponding spirituality in the inner life? There seems to be more of the Laodicean spirit manifested almost everywhere. But there is a better time coming. I may not live to see it, but the word of the living God is pledged to it: “For God in his glory shall appear, when Zion he builds and repairs.” In the meantime Christ’s witnesses may have to prophesy in sackcloth. It is still true that they that will live godly in this world will suffer persecution. The enemy has indeed changed his tactics. Christ’s witnesses are not now dragged to the scaffold or the stake, as they were in former times; but flattery and delusion is the way that the enemy is now leading men away with from the simplicity of the Gospel. Satan is transforming himself into an angel of light, and inducing men to follow the light of their own carnal reason, instead of the light of revealed truth, and in this way accomplishing his wicked purpose more effectually than he could by force and cruelty. But it shall not be always thus, for Christ shall bruise Satan under the feet of His saints shortly; let them not weary in well-doing, for in due time they shall reap if they faint not. He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry; now “the just shall live by faith.” But it is lamentable to think how the churches in Scotland are drifting away from the high and honourable position that they once occupied as witnesses for Christ’s Royal Prerogatives. The Church of Scotland fought valiantly to set the crown on Christ’s head, but now they are tearing it from Christ’s head, and setting it on their own. They are doing this by usurping Christ’s authority, by changing the ordinances of worship which He has appointed to be observed in His own house; and by doing so they are following the footsteps of the Man of Sin—or I should rather say, the Mother of Harlots, who has daughters following in her footsteps. May the Lord, who is infinite in mercy and compassion, arrest them in their downward career, and turn them once more to the stronghold before the door of mercy be shut against them.
When I began to write I did not think of going out on this line, but one thought led to another, and this is what it has come to.
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and trust that the Free Presbyterian Church is yet faithful in maintaining truth in doctrine and purity in worship. No doubt you will have many trials if you contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, but if your trials abound, your consolations will much more abound, for in keeping His commandments there is great reward. You remember Christ’s promise, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life,” and “He is faithful that has promised, who will also do it.” He has never failed in the keeping of His word yet, and He never will. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but His word shall not pass away. May the Free Presbyterian Church always take that Word as her rule and guide. It will be a light to her feet, and a lamp to her path.
My dear friend, if you can at all spare the time, I would like so much to have a few lines from you. I know your time is fully occupied, and it does not seem altogether right to impose more labour upon you. You will find time to write a short note, if not a long letter.
We have not given up hope of sometime being able to receive a deputation from the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Our sympathies and preferences are still in that direction, and if God in His providence opens up our way, we may yet get into closer relationship. In the meantime we wish the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland God speed, and may He grant you all needful grace and strength for the work that He has given you to do; and to Him be all the praise.
I remain, yours sincerely,
GEORGE FORREST.