BY THE LATE REV. ARCHIBALD COOK, DAVIOT.
(Taken down by a Hearer.)
IT may be interesting to some of our readers in the far north to know that these notes were taken down by a visitor from Caithness to Daviot in the person of the late Mr. Daniel Sinclair, a brother of the late well-known and esteemed Mr. William Sinclair, rope manufacturer, Wick, and Mr. George Sinclair, Halkirk. The said Daniel Sinclair died more than forty years ago. He was a truly pious and exercised man, of more than average intelligence. To his notebook we are also indebted for the notes of sermons by the Rev. A. Cook in Glasgow, which appeared in August and September last, and also notes of sermons by Rev. John Macrae, “Macrath Mor,” and by Rev. Finlay Cook, which appeared in subsequent issues. These catechisings were conducted in Gaelic, so that the note-taker was also translator.
NOVEMBER, 1849.—NOTES OF CATECHISINGS ON THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT, “THOU SHALT NOT STEAL.”
The goodman of the house examined.—Question. What is the eighth commandment? Answer. None. Mr. C. If I were to ask you the price of a cow or of a horse you could tell me at once. Q. How many commandments are there? A. Ten. Q. How are they divided? No answer. Q. Do you not read of two tables of the law? A. Yes. Q. What do these mean? No answer. Mr. C. It is pitiful to see a man with his head getting gray—sixty years of age—with his face on eternity—without the knowledge of the principles of religion. There is not much hope of putting a person to a trade when his head is getting gray. Q. Are you guilty of this sin yourself? A. I cannot say but I am. Q. Will that shut you out on your deathbed? A. Yes, if I get not mercy. Mr. C. If a person gets mercy, he gets pardon of every sin which deserves God’s wrath and curse. One sin deserves one hell—a thousand sins a thousand hells.
The goodwife examined.—Q. Who gave this commandment, and to whom was it given? A. God, to the seed of Adam. Q. Was the nature of theft in Adam when he was created at first? A. Yes! Mr. C. If that were so he was not created, as he was, after the image of God. But when man put forth his hand to steal, all his children inherited the nature of theft, so that we are all thieves by nature, and cannot cast it up to one another. Q. Have you locks on your chests and doors? A. Yes. Q. And does not that teach us that there is a thievish nature in the world? A. Yes. Q. If a person breaks this commandment, what will the law of the land do? A. It will lay hold of him. Mr. C. Well, when Adam stole the forbidden fruit, he and his seed were banished from the presence of God.
Son examined.—Q. Why does God bring the guilt of this sin alive in the conscience of some creatures? No answer. Mr. C. It is that it may not meet them in eternity. And if you do not get hell in your conscience here for every sin, you will get a hell for it hereafter! Q. What is theft? No answer. Mr. C. It is taking the property of another. Q. Did you ever do anything in secret that you would not do in the presence of a child? A. I cannot say that I did not. Mr. C. You are hypocrites of the devil, that will do a thing in secret that you would not wish others should know of. Though only the lifting a pin, it will damn your soul if not repented of. Have you not seen people putting out their cattle at night on their neighbour’s grass, and taking them in in the morning early? How could they engage in religious exercises before or after? Have you not seen people at market not telling the faults of a horse or a cow? And have you not seen them making the pound of butter light, or putting a rotten egg in the dozen, before going to town to market? This is theft. O, is not your soul very light with you, when you will sell it for a rotten egg? As long as you have a sixpence wrongfully in your purse, the devil has an earnest in your soul. You that are eye servants are thieves. All are so except those in whom the being of it is being removed by divine grace. There was no need to lock the chests on Joseph or Daniel; they could be trusted with a kingdom, as the Lord had crucified the thievishness that was in their nature. Some children will be stealing money from their parents for dress.
A girl catechised.—Q. Which do you take more time to— dressing or praying—on a Sabbath morning? A. Dressing. Q. Have you seen the evil of it yet? A. No. Mr. C. Be praying that it may be shown to you.
Mr. C. I am not surprised to see so many broken merchants, as they steal from God the time they ought to devote to His worship morning and evening. They break and become worse than beggars—thieves, living on theft. Neglect of family worship is a worm at the root of their substance, and will be seen so at the day of judgment.
Another person examined.—Q. Which are you more concerned about—the words you use in prayer, or getting the heart engaged in prayer? A. I think the heart. Mr. C. I must confess that there will be many ministers at the great day that will be found as ignorant of what they were speaking of as the wood that was under their feet. This is theft. Would it not be better for you to have a few words from your own experience than a long prayer of borrowed words, coming before the omniscient Being? A. I confess that I am often thinking I would rather I never had got a being, or had been a toad, lest I should be called one of the children of the hypocrite at last. Mr. C. If you have even a grain of mustard seed of grace it will take you off at the judgment, but if not, you will be weighed in the balances and found wanting.
Q. Does God save His own poor ones from the being of theft?
A. Yes. Q. How? No answer. Mr. C. Is it not by the fruit of the new birth, bringing them often to the brink of despair, as Job, “Thou hast curdled me as cheese?” But by grace the Lord can entrust His glory to them and their own souls, and then they will be giving these over to God again.
“The just man” is Christ. His seed will not be beggars; they will not go to another door than His. The devil will teach some to pray. Some wives know their husband’s prayer as well as himself; it is the same as the first day they saw him—it is now an old mallet. If your wife and another would fall out, which would you rather—that your wife would be freed from scandal, or that truth would be testified? At the same time, be careful of a natural and a spiritual good name. As one said, “If you want wind, go to a high mountain, and if you want water, go to the Cross of Christ; but where will you find a good name?” What will hurt your eye will not hurt your feet. So the people of God are, like the eye, easily hurt, but those that have only head knowledge can suit themselves to any company—drunkards, Sabbath-breakers, etc. We had in Caithness a wicked gentleman, and he said, “The time was that when a minister would come into a company of blackguards, you would think they were all ministers; but now, if you go into a company of ministers, you will think they are all blackguards.” I heard of another man in Caithness who was in the habit of swearing, but would not like to hear his children swear, and so one day he went to whip one of them for it. But the child told him, “O, papa, it was you I heard doing it,” and so the rod fell out of his hand. This, as it were, took the tongue out of the parent. So it is that many a husband and wife cannot reprove their children or their neighbours, being filthy in their own lives.
Q. What is required in the eighth commandment? A. The eighth commandment requireth the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others.
Remarks.—There are some creatures that are not of use for time or eternity, which is the most miserable condition in the world. There are others that are useful for time and not for eternity. These are monsters in creation, neglecting the one half of themselves—the soul. There are a few useful for eternity and not for time. But when both things are united in one—usefulness for time and for eternity—the person is an ornament to religion, to the cause and profession of it. There are some of Christ’s poor ones who get a licence, as it were, from being engaged in the bustle of the world, and when given in this way by Him, it is a blessing. I can say for myself that I never put my hand to anything of the world but I was afraid I would lose my soul by it. And I will make free to tell you another thing. When I was in Caithness I had a small piece of land, and I knew nothing as to how to do anything about it, but the Lord revealed to me in
secret how to manage everything respecting it. Do you think that your being idle will make you one whit holier than you are? No, not one hair holier. There are some women who go about as tale-bearers, working not at all. These are a reproach to the cause. I will tell you a mark of those that have got a call to any office or situation. They are content to live as before, perhaps to lie on a straw bed, or to be satisfied with even porridge and milk for food. But if lust is inflamed by the chance of position, it is a sign that they had no call to that office.
Some young men spend foolishly, for the gratification of their lusts, what might be of much use and comfort to them in old age.
(To be Continued.)