By the late Rev. DONALD MACDONALD, Shieldaig.1
“My Beloved spake and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.”—SONG ii. 10-12.
THERE is no temporal relationship so close as that of husband and wife; they are “one flesh.” The husband chooses his wife from among all others; and the wife also makes choice of her husband, looking to his beauty to please, his strength to uphold, and his wealth to sustain. The Church is the mystical spouse of Christ, and she here declares what her Beloved has said to her. Jesus uses tender language, as an affectionate husband to an afflicted wife. He is united to His people in a spiritual marriage which is indissoluble. He chose His people in Himself before the world was, and His people were made willing in time to choose Him, and renounce all other lovers. “We forsook all and followed thee.” They forsook the works of the law, and followed the works of faith with Moses. They forsook the world, Satan, and the works of the flesh. Their minds became absorbed in Christ’s beauty. “We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” That glory was human and divine, created and uncreated. When His divine glory appeared, its effulgence darkened the glory of all created objects, because it was infinite and eternal, surpassing all created glories.
I. When Christ addresses His Church in this verse, she was under a spiritual winter.
Christ calls her His “love,” or beloved. He had loved her from all eternity. In the exercise of this love in the bosom of God, He had unspeakable joy, for He looked forward to the time when He would purchase, redeem, and deliver her. “My delights were with the sons of men.” Christ gave proof of His love to His people in His bodily and soul sufferings in the furnace of God’s wrath. That love was hotter than the furnace; along with the satisfaction He rendered to the law, it quenched the fire of the furnace. He set them free from the curse.
Christ here tells her to rise up, and it is clear from this that her soul had been “among the pots,” and was lying low. Her enemies had got the victory over her; sin, awakened by temptation, had pulled her down from her elevated position in fellowship with the Lord. Sin was an old Canaanite, which, after the land of Canaan was reached, was still a thorn in the flesh. It was “the law in the members warring against the law of the mind.” (Rom. vii.) Or Satan might be groundlessly accusing and tormenting her as in the case of Job. Or God Himself was permitting her to be cast down through worldly persecution, so that her faith would be glorifying Him in the fires.
The Church had a winter before now, when she was convinced of sin and its guilt, and the wrath of God, as storms, floods, and darkness went over her head, and her hope perished from the Lord. But Christ made Himself known to her as her Saviour, and restored her to His favour. Christ the Sun with His refreshing beams of life and light broke in upon her soul. The winter disappeared, and the summer of consolation set in upon her soul, and she began to apprehend what God in Christ had done for her and in her. She began to be fruitful in the Lord. It was a time of love, enjoying communion with God, like the sweet moments our first parents had with Him before the Fall.
But the severe winter sets in again upon her soul. God withdraws from the soul when sin gains ascendancy. His blessed face was withdrawn, as the sun when he hides himself. Darkness sets in, and the soul now becomes dark with respect to his hope of safety. And Satan tempts the afflicted soul to believe that it was all delusion, its pretension to godliness. The storm and floods of God’s wrath play heavily upon the imagination; the soul is tossed at the mercy of these tempests mixed with the thunders of the threatenings which conscience arouses for sin. The poor soul is like a vessel that has lost her anchor and moorings.
In winter one needs shelter, clothing, and a friend. God’s people need friendship in the bosom of God. They need the shelter which Christ, as their tower, has secured for them in the covenant of grace. They are afraid they are not clothed with Christ’s righteousness. They need the favour of God renewed to their souls as they once enjoyed it. This sad winter took away everything they had from the Lord. The natural winter leaves nothing of the beauty and fruitfulness that preceded it; everything around looks dull, dark, and dreary. The birds that used to sing are dumb and shivering with cold. It is the same in the spiritual winter of the soul. The joy the soul had with God is gone. Her ability to worship Him is at an end in her estimation. Prayer becomes empty of God. Instead of rejoicing she is mourning.
II. Christ says to her “Rise up.” His heart is full of sympathy towards her. He comes through the promise, and anew infuses life and light into her soul. He declares that she is still His beloved. She could not be satisfied in His absence with any other. She loved Him and was looking through faith to Him to make up her wants. Like Job, though He should slay her, yet she would trust in Him. “Rise up,” He says, “with me, your God, your Creator and Husband, to take your journey to glory.”
“Rise up, my love, my fair one.” Christ uses the word “my” twice to encourage her against unbelief, and to assure her she was His. “You are My love that got room in My thoughts and affections from eternity. Many sore thoughts I had about you when bearing you and your sins, when wrestling at Gethesemane and suffering at Calvary. Alas, you often let Me out of your sight and thoughts, which is ungrateful in you—for example, when you slept with the foolish virgins. But I have never let you out of my sight or thoughts; I have carried you all along to glory. I began then to intercede for you, and the floods of the Spirit’s supplies that came down to refresh you are the blessings that flowed from My death and intercession, which remind you that your Husband is your Advocate within the veil.”
Christ declares that she was His fair one, beautiful as she was shining with His own image, and increasing in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. She was fair in Christ’s sight when she appeared to herself to be very ugly. The more sense one has of a filthy heart, and the more one abhors it and pants after a new heart, the more dependent is the soul upon Christ for cleansing in His blood. The less confidence one has in oneself, the more one is beloved and admired of God. The soul has no love for those that brought it into spiritual bondage, no more than the Israelite had to the Egyptians that brought them into natural bondage. The more progress holiness is making in any soul, the more that soul hates sin, and the more vehement is its desire to get rid of it. Christ says, “My fair one, you call yourself black, and you mourn over your blackness. Satan and the world also say you are black. But you are not black in My estimation, considering the time is short until you shall be white all over. You are fair through My blood, My righteousness, and My Sanctification. (Song iv. 7.) You are fair with tears of repentance, you are fair, longing to be perfectly white. I see you very fair. I do not like to be always putting you in remembrance of your blackness, for you are tired remembering it yourself; and it is not worth My while to find fault with your defects, seeing you shall soon be with Me in heaven, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. It encourages you greatly when I declare you are fair. Faith infers from this declaration that you will soon be white.”
III. “Lo, the winter is past.” It had been the winter of God’s wrath. There never was a winter in nature like it. People are weary of the severity of winter. Oh, how weary is a child of God of the winter of God’s chastisements!
How did the winter of God’s judicial wrath go away at first, when he dealt with the sins of His people? His wrath did not return to Himself. Christ met the severity of it, and it exhausted itself upon Him. Otherwise it would have annihilated the whole elect in a minute. Oh, what glorious news it was to the Church when she heard that His anger was turned away! Although all the saints in heaven and earth should tell the Church that God’s wrath was removed, she could not have peace till God Himself would speak peace to her. The people of God shall have winters and summers all the way to heaven. On the meadows of glory they shall have an eternal summer. Their winters here shall make their happiness in glory more precious to them. Their winters here shall not destroy them, no more than the fire destroyed the three children in the fiery furnace.
But you, that are out of Christ, you have no sense that God is angry with you for your sins that are not pardoned. Your winter is not past. If you go with your sins to God’s bar, you shall endure an eternity of God’s wrath. When millions of years are past in hell, you shall be saying, “Alas, when shall my winter be past?” but Christ shall never say to you, “Arise from eternal torments; your winter is past.”
Christ says to His spouse, “Rise up; the winter that laid you low is past.” She replies, “I am so weak; I cannot rise; for strangers have eaten up my strength.” He answers, “My grace is sufficient for thee; roll all your burdens on Me and My finished work; My strength is made perfect in weakness. I shall be life and light unto thee. Rise; you cannot do without Me, and I cannot do without you. The honour of My name is in danger, if I will not implement My promises relative to you. Arise from sorrows, doubts, and fears to partake of the full blessings that you can realise at the throne of grace. Come to the means of grace, to prayer, to reading, to hearing the Word preached. Come with an enlightened mind to dive into the mysteries of My death and resurrection, that you may see what I have done for you: that I have purchased and redeemed you from the curse of the law, from sin and its various evils; that I have overcome all your enemies that would have delighted to destroy you eternally. Come to Mount Pisgah to see a view of the land of Canaan above. When you shall come, I shall put you in the Spirit, and you shall see more clearly, and there shall be less dimness upon your eyes, yet it shall be through a glass darkly. A view of the glory of Immanuel, and the sweet odour of honey off the land, and its riches shall be a strength to you going down to the chambers of death.” Faith is the telescope which shows the rich fruit of the land to the souls of God’s people. Their hope revives as a man whose bands are broken and dances with joy, the heart, thoughts, and affections joining in the dance. “Come, ‘the flowers appear on the earth,’ they are breaking forth upon the ground.” The promises are coming with power and conveying all needed comforts. As apples are pretty and sweet, so are God’s promises.
“Come with Me through a frowning Providence. I shall be with thee, as I was with Job and David. Come with Me through pain and sickness. I shall bless you and make everything work for your good at last. Come with Me from Lebanon, which is sometimes termed a pleasant and glorious place, at other times a barren wilderness, abounding with wild beasts. ‘Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon; look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.’ Come with Me, because where you are is barren and dangerous, exposed to privations and ill-treatment from tyrants and persecutors as savage and bloody as wild beasts. Come with Me to Mount Zion to consider your glorious and exalted position, as also the heavenly society to which you belong. (Heb. xii, 22-24.) Come with Me to death and then to glory, to perfect your happiness and to drink eternally out of the wells of living waters, and where My presence shall put you in possession of an eternal summer.”
1 This Sermon is taken from the “Memoir and Remains” of Rev. D. Macdonald, by Rev. D. Macfarlane, Dingwall.—Ed.
Searmon.
LEIS AN URR. ARCHD. COOK, A BHA ‘N DEIMHIDH.
“Mur gleidh an Tighearn am baile, gu diombain ni am fear-coimhid faire. Salm cxxvii. 1.
‘SE a tha ann suil a’ Chruiththeir anns an fhocal a bhi ‘cur chreutairean peacach a mach as an neart fhein agus bhi ‘gan toirt ann a eisimeil fhein. ‘Se sin a tha ann an suil a’ Chruiththeir anns a h-uile freasdal agus meadhon grais, bhi toirt an anama ‘na eisimeil fhein airson slainte, agus cha-n ‘eil sin furasda. Their daoine gu bheil e furasda do’n Tighearn ni sam bith a dheanamh, ach ‘s ann o’n aineolas orra fein a their iad sin. ‘Se creutair peacach a thoirt an eisimeil Dhe airson tearnaidh ni a bha faig air Dia o shiorruidheachd, agus tha E a’ labhairt air mar mhor-chumhachd Dhe, agus tha sin a’ foillseachadh nach eil e furasda. Ann an cruthachadh na cruitheachd cha-n ‘eil sinn a’ leughadh moran mu mhor-chumhachd Dhe. Ach ann an toirt air ais an anama dh’ ionnsuidh Dhe ‘s e th’ann mor-chumhachd Dhe— “foillseachadh gairdean an Tighearn.” Tha E a’ labhairt air a’ chruthachadh mar “oibre a mheur,” ach air tearnadh an anama mar fhoillseachadh “gairdean an Tighearna”; mar sin cha-n ‘eil e furasda anam a thoirt air ais a dh’ ionnsuidh Dhe. Tha e labhairt anns an t-sailm roimh so air toirt air ais braighdeanas Shioin agus iadsan a chuireas siol le deuraibh buainidh iad le gairdeachas; thig e ris le gairdeachas ag iomchar a sguab. Ach mur gleidh an Tighearn sin gu diombain ni am fear-coimhid faire.
Ann a bhi labhairt o na briathraibh so tha sinn a’ runachadh a bhi nochdadh,
I. Gur e dleasdanas a h-uile aoin a bhi ri faire,
II. Mur gleidh an Tighearn am baile gur diombain a ni am fear-coimhid faire.
‘SE e dleasdanas a h-uile aoin aig am bheil anam neobhasmhor a bhi ri faire, agus gu n-araidh ‘s e dleasdanas an anama ghrasmhoir bhi ri faire timchioll na cruitheachd. Thusa, a fhuair gras, thainig farsuinneachd a stigh a ghabhas ni’s mo na thu fein. Thusa, a tha gun ghras, tha thu cho cumbann’s nach teid thu ni’s fhaide na thu fein. Ach’s e dleasdanas an anama ghrasnoir curam a bhi aige dhe na h-uile creutair anns an t-saoghal, agus cha-n’eil anam grasnoir sam bith anns nach’eil iarritus gu’m biodh anaman eile air an tearnadh, agus mar sin tha ann ni a tha dol a mach ann am faire air an t-saoghal uile. Cha-n’eil anam grasnoir sam bith a bhiodh riarachte le a shlainte fein a mhain. Chuala sinn creutairean ag radh, “ma theid mise dh’ ifrinn theid iomadh comhladh rium,” ach cha-n’eil mi a’ leughadh gu’m bi sin ‘na chomhfhurtachd dhoibh ann an ifrinn, moran a dhol maille riu ann. Meudaichidh sin an cruidhneadh. Ach tha sinn a’ leughadh, gu’m bi “aoibhneas air neamh airson aoin pheacaich a ni aithreachas.” Agus tha an spiorad sin air a chomhpairteachadh riu air an talamh. Tha sinn ‘gam faicinn air uairibh mar gu’m biodh iad a’ toirt buaidh air an Tighearn fein airson pheacach, mar a chi sinn Heseciah. Tha e ‘na chomharradh maith air neach, spiorad na caithris a bhi beo ann; agus an t-aon aig nach ‘eil sin tha aobhar aige a bhi gairm a staid ann an ceisd.
Tha an t-anam grasnoir a faicinn ni eigin de’n aineolas air Dia a tha anns a’ chreutair gun ghras. Tha sinn a’ faicinn an fhaidh air a thoirt a mach agus air a chur sios ann am meadhon a’ ghlinne a bha lan de chnamhan agus feuch bha iad ro-thioram. C’airson a fhuair e an sealladh ud? Direach, chum spiorad comhfhulangais agus truais a dhusgadh. Ciod a bu chomasach cnamh tioram a dheanamh air a shon fein? Cha mho na sin a tha e’n comas anam gun ghras a dheanamh air a shon fein. Thusa, a fhuair spiorad na caithris, tha thu a’ faicinn an aineolais air Dia a tha anns an anam agus aineolas air peacadh. Am bheil e comasach a nis an neach a fhuair aithne air sin gu’m bi e gun truas ri ‘chochreutairean a tha aineolach air Dia? C’aite an teid an creutair le sin ach a dh’ ionnsuidh an Tighearn fein? Cha-n’eil creutair anns a’ chruitheachd anns nach ‘eil an sgal sin ris an anam, cha-n’eil cabhair agam dhuit. Nach priseil drap de’n chomhfhulangas so anns a’ chreutair a tha ri caithris? ‘S e obair na Morachd bhi’gleidheadh an t-saoghail agus bidh e air ‘fhaicinn anns an t-siorruidheachd mar a bha E a’ caithris urnuighean agus curaman an anama.
‘Nuair a ta an t-anam ag amharc air an aineolas air Dia tha anns an t-saoghal bidh sin ‘na phian da. Cha-n’eil aon anns an t-saoghal a fhuair aithne air a mhilleachd a tha ann an Dia nach bi drap de phian ‘na anam gu’m biodh neach anns an t-saoghal dealaichte ris. Tha cridhe na Morachd iongantach farsuinn, ghabhadh e stigh a’ chruitheachd uile. Drap a tha tighinn a mach o Dhia tha e de’n aon ghne ri Dia agus mur ‘eil Spiorad Chriosd aig neach cha bhuiu e dha. Faic an t-anam gun ghras am bheil pian sam bith ann airson gu’m biodh muinntir eile ann an ifrinn? Cha-n’eil Thusa, a tha gun ghras, tha thu de’n aon inntinn ris an diabhal. Ach ‘nuair a tha an t-anam a’ tighinn gu aithne air a’ Chruithear agus a’ faicinn eucomas a’ chreutair air tighinn a dh’ ionnsuidh Dhe gur e a nadur a bhi teicheadh o Dhia an comasach e nach bi truas aige ris na creutairean sin? Oir fhuair e an nadur sin ann fein; tha e anns na h-uile, agus mur gleidh an Tighearn am baile, gu diomhain ni am fear-coimhid faire.
Tha sealladh aig an anam ghrasmhor air peacadh mar a tha e an aghaidh Dhia, mar nathair a’ lot Dhia. Tha so a’ deanamh a’ chreutair ni’s miosa na na bruidean. Tha aig cloinn Chriosd drap broin ‘nan anam airson a bhi ‘lot Dhia! ‘s e sin a tha ‘fagail an t-saoghail falamh dhoibh nach fhaic iad ni aca ach ni a tha cràdh Dhia. O’s milis sin an creutair ag iarraidh naomhachd a chum gu’n sguireadh e dhe bhi lot Dhia. Ach mur gleidh an Tighearn am baile gu diomhain ni am fear-coimhid faire. Tha am peacadh uamhasach. Loisgidh e gus an ifrinn a’s iochdaraich. Nam faiceadh neach so, an comasach e bhi nach biodh bron ann a’ faicinn neach air fhagail anns a’ staid sin? Ach ‘s iongantach an sealladh a nis gu’m faicteadh aon ri bron airson peacanna a theaghlaich. Cha-n ‘eil peacaidhean na cloinne a’ toirt pian do’n pharant.
Thig croich air la nan gras do’n t-saoghal agus tha a h-uile la mar gu’m biodh e ‘toirt sin ni’s fhaigse, mar gu’m biodh e falamh-achadh stor fad-fhulangas Dhe. Tha sinn a’ faicinn a’ Chruithir mar gu’m biodh E a’ giorrachadh la a’ chreutair airson peacaidh, “na bi ro-aingidh; c’airson a dh’ eugadh tu roimh d’ am?” “Chamhair daoinn fuileachdach agus cealgach leth an laithean.” Tha cuid beo ann am peacadh ‘s tha gloir Dhe ag agairt gu’m biodh iad air an gearradh as. O pheacaich, sguir dheth, sguir dheth. Thig croich air la nan gras agus feudaidh sin a bhi ni’s fhaigse ort na tha thu an dùil. Nis ‘nuair a tha an t-anam ghrasmhor a’ faicinn mar tha sin, an comasach e bhi gun churam air, ‘s nach bi e ri caithris? Cha-n ‘eil ni a’ pianadh an diabhuil ni’s mo na la nan gras agus taigse trocair do pheacaich. ‘S e tha an diabhul ag iarraidh gu’m biodh creutairean air an cumail mar phoit air ghoil gus an teid la nan gras seachad agus tha uiread de phlannachan aig cuid ‘s ged a bhiadh iad beo gu la a’ bhreitheanais nach ruig-eadh iad an croich. Nis ‘nuair a tha an t-anam ghrasmhor a’ faicinn gur ann mar sin a bha e fein aon uair beo nach bi comh-fhulangas ann riu-san a tha mar sin a’ call an la? Tha an creutair gun ghras cho cumhann ‘s nach teid e ni’s fhaide na e fein, ach nam faigheadh tusa drap de ghras rachadh tu mach gus a’ chruith-eachd uile agus cha tuig thusa millseachd caithir nan gras gus a sin, “Ach mur gleidh an Tighearn am baile gu diomhain ni am fear-coimhid faire.”
(Ri leantuin.)
Acknowledgments.—The treasurer of the Dingwall Manse Building Fund begs to acknowledge receipt of £2 from friends in Rogart, also £1 from J. H., Arran.—Rev. Neil Cameron acknowledges receipt with thanks of £1 10s. towards St. Jude’s Building Fund from “Two Wellwishers,” Partick.