| | PAGE. |
|———————————————————-|——-|
| “THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD,” | 321 |
| A SERMON. By the Rev. Neil Cameron, St. Jude’s, Glasgow, | 325 |
| THE LATE MRS. H. MACKAY, LOCHCARRON, | 335 |
| “AND WHEN THEY HAD SUNG AN HYMN,” | 337 |
| INTERESTING DOCUMENT DISCOVERED IN EGYPT, | 341 |
| THE MEMOIRS OR SPIRITUAL EXERCISES OF ELISABETH WEST, | 344 |
| SEARMON. Leis an Urr. Mr. Eoin Broun, Wamphray, 1680, | 347 |
| SERMONS BY J. K. POPHAM, | 352 |
| THE LATE MRS. MACLEOD, LAIDE, | 354 |
| THE LATE MRS. MACKENZIE, DOCHNACLAIR, FODDERTY, | 355 |
| PROTESTANT NOTES, | 366 |
| NOTES AND COMMENTS, | 368 |
| CHURCH NOTES, | 360 |
| THE MAGAZINE, | 360 |

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THE Free Presbyterian Magazine And MONTHLY RECORD.

VOL. XII.

JANUARY, 1908.

No. 9.

“The Lord is my Shepherd.”

PSALM xxiii. 1.

THE Twenty-third Psalm is one of the sweetest songs in the inspired Psalter, and has been justly admired for the chaste and tender beauty of its poetry as well as for the bright and lively faith of its piety. The Psalm in its metrical form is well known in almost every clime, and is one of the first spiritual songs that the child in Scottish households learns at its mother’s knee. It is to be feared, however, that multitudes, who are constantly singing this Psalm, never get beyond the natural figures of speech in which it is couched, and never penetrate into its real spiritual meaning, while it is equally certain that many who appropriate to themselves with ease the language of assured faith and confidence that runs through the Psalm, were never taught the same by the Spirit of the living God. It is not, indeed, at every time that even the true Christian can sing this Psalm for himself. Its comforts are so rich and its faith is so unwavering that the trembling child of God may often feel that the Psalm is entirely beyond him, and that it expresses rather an elevation of soul that he would fain attain unto, than such as he can honestly claim as his own. Unbelief may also be bold enough to suggest that the experience is too high to be attained, but this evil thought must be resisted, for this Psalm, as surely as the others, was designed as a well of faith and comfort for the benefit of the weak as well as the strong of Christ’s flock to the end of time. The humblest believer may at times, by divine grace, join “the man after God’s own heart” in his loftiest songs.

It is not our intention on the present occasion to handle the whole of this Psalm in detail, but simply to enlarge a little on the opening verse with some general reference to what follows. “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” How simple are these words, and yet how rich and precious are the thoughts that they express! The soul that can appropriate them in the exercise of a living faith is made up for eternity.

The first thing that we observe is that the Psalmist here speaks of Jehovah as his “shepherd.” While the Lord might direct any

of his inspired servants to the use of this appropriate comparison, there appears a peculiar fitness in David’s employment of it. He was a shepherd of his father’s flocks in the days of his youth, and knew by personal experience all the careful activities of a shepherd in relation to the natural sheep. But now the scene is changed; he is himself the sheep, and the Lord Jehovah is his Shepherd. And he has evidently found in the spiritual sphere that he had all the needs of a silly, helpless sheep, while the Lord had all the provision of a rich and gracious Shepherd.

The underlying thought of this Psalm suggests the profoundest need and dependence on the part of God’s people. Here are depths as well as heights—the deepest depths of spiritual need as well as the highest heights of faith and confidence toward God. This is not in any sense a song of self-sufficiency—it is the song of “the poor man” who has been made rich in spiritual blessings, and who, having nothing in himself, possesses all things in Christ.

The Psalmist came to know the Lord as his shepherd in the depths of his first spiritual experience. He had found himself a poor lost sheep in a horrible pit and among the miry clay, sinking down to destruction, and utterly unable to recover himself from the imminent danger to which he was exposed. He cried, and the good Shepherd, who was in search of the lost sheep, found him, and took him out of the dreadful pit, set his feet upon a rock, established his goings, and put a new song in his mouth, even praise to the Lord. And it is in this lost condition the Shepherd of Israel finds all His people under the New Dispensation as well as the Old. They do not all pass through the same depths of spiritual anguish, but they are all made to see that they had destroyed themselves by sin, and that they are now debtors for salvation to the grace and loving kindness of the good Shepherd who goeth after “that which is lost, until he find it.”

But it was not alone in the time of first deliverance that the Psalmist felt he had needs which none but the Divine Shepherd could supply. He is still dependent—never more consciously dependent than now. Though he was a man of great natural gifts and acquirements, he did not rely upon these for the maintenance of the life of faith, or the walk of godliness, in the discharge of the duties of his high vocation. He depends on God alone, and his needs are many. He feels himself still a dark, ignorant creature, who needs guidance; a hungry, thirsty soul that must get provision from Zion’s “green pastures” and “still waters”; a wanderer ready to go astray and often requiring restoration; and a pilgrim, trembling and fearful, who, in view of dark valleys of trial and temptation, needs comfort and courage, until he reach the house of everlasting rest at last. And surely if a man of such remarkable attainments as he, has such real and felt necessities as these, need we wonder that the humbler sheep of Christ find themselves in a similar case? Their spiritual needs are many and great, and they must live in entire dependence upon their great Shepherd.

Let it be carefully noted, then, that the relation here brought before us of the Lord to His people teaches a truth that is apt to be forgotten, the truth of their profound spiritual necessities all through their earthly pilgrimage, and of their absolute dependence upon Him as the fountain of all good.

We now pass on to observe the fulness of supply that is presented in the fact that the Lord is the “shepherd” of His people. It may suitably concentrate our thoughts on this blessed truth to think of the Lord here as the Son of God, the second person of the glorious Godhead, to whom the title “shepherd” is given in a special way in the Scriptures. He said Himself in the days of His flesh, “I am the good shepherd,” and spoke of the children of God as His sheep. As the mediator of the new covenant, He is the shepherd unto whom the Father has committed the work of redeeming and saving lost sinners of Adam’s race, and He shall yet present all those who were given Him, in safety and without spot, before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. The Lord Jesus, in His pre-incarnate state, was David’s shepherd, as surely as He is the Shepherd of poor sinners since He appeared in the flesh. David also saw the day of His incarnation and redeeming work afar off, and, like Abraham, was glad.

It is the office of a shepherd to guide, to feed, and to protect his flock, and these three things the Lord Jesus performs on behalf of all His sheep. He is their guide. They are ignorant and foolish, and He gives His word as a light to their feet and a lamp to their path. It is their privilege to walk in the paths of righteousness He has marked out, and all their thoughts, desires, and ways are to be regulated by a regard to His revealed will. Not the wisdom of men or angels, but the wisdom of Christ is their true guiding star in the things of God, or in regard to the way to the heavenly country. He is their guide from darkness to light, from distress to peace, and sometimes from peace to conflict. He is the provider of His sheep. He supplies them with heavenly food, and gives them meat to eat that the world knows not of. He leads them to the green pastures of His Word, and beside the still waters of His Spirit. He speaks of Himself as the living bread which came down from heaven, and He has provided abundant food for the mouth of faith in His incarnation, obedience, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension to glory. “Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, there is no life in you.” It is by a believing contemplation of these blessed mysteries that the souls of God’s people are nourished, strengthened and sanctified, and made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. He is also their protector. This glorious Shepherd already protected His poor guilty sheep from the stroke of the sword of justice. He endured the full weight of the stroke Himself, and died in their room and stead that they might be saved from eternal death, and he now protects them from every other foe to which they are exposed. Sometimes, in His mysterious wisdom, He allows their enemies to secure a triumph,

but it is only temporary, and He shall yet make His people more than conquerors over sin, Satan, death, hell, and all their foes. He will carry them safely through every danger until they enter at last the house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. The Shepherd has made complete provision for all the need of those who put their trust in Him.

The second thing we note in the verse before us is the Psalmist’s confidence, in view of the excellency of his Shepherd, as expressed in the words “I shall not want.” We have already unfolded the grounds of this confidence, and shall add but little. The Psalmist felt, no doubt, that if he were left to created resources he might soon come to want. Earthly riches often take wings and flee away, and the well of received grace is soon dried up by the power of sin and carnality. He felt that he required an infinite fountain of blessing, and, being assured that the Lord was his Shepherd, he did not fear that he would lack any good thing. He believed the Shepherd’s riches were boundless, and that His love and faithfulness were pledged for the bestowal of these treasures upon every poor soul that He had rescued from the jaws of the destroyer. And truly we may add that as long as this glorious Shepherd has, His sheep shall never want, and that is, for ever and ever. He may not give them all they would like; and He may try them in various ways by losses and crosses; but He shall not withhold anything that His infinite wisdom sees good for them. They shall not want what is really necessary for body or soul, though they may be kept sometimes long waiting for an answer to their petitions. “None perish that Him trust.” At other times they may get more than they asked for, or thought of, and be constrained to exclaim, “My cup runneth over.”

The question should come home to each of our readers—”Is the Lord my Shepherd, or am I still pursuing my own way on the mountains of vanity?” We may be solemnly assured of this, that, if Jehovah is not our shepherd, the devil is still our master, and if we continue in his service to death, he will carry us away to eternal destruction. Christ, as the Shepherd of souls, still addresses us in the gospel, and declares His willingness to save the very chief of sinners who comes unto Him. And if any of our readers answer that they cannot come of themselves, which is also a solemn truth, we have to state that the arm of this Shepherd is long enough to reach them in the deepest pit of misery on this side of hell. He is mighty to save—able to save to the very uttermost. See that you cry to Him, and wait upon Him, whose arm is not shortened that it cannot save, and whose ear is not heavy that it cannot hear. “They that wait for him shall not be put to shame.” And let every doubting soul that has reason to think he was enabled, in a day of mercy, to embrace Christ as an all-sufficient Saviour, seek diligently at a throne of grace a well-grounded assurance of his personal interest in “the great Shepherd of the sheep,” who loves and keeps even to the end.

A Sermon.

BY THE REV. NEIL CAMERON, ST. JUDE’S, GLASGOW.

“And let the whole earth be filled with his glory.”—PSALM lxxii. 19.

THIS Psalm has been understood by the Old Testament Church as referring to Christ, and in the light of the New Testament no other opinion is tenable. The last prayer of David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, is recorded in it, and our text contains the last words of it, which were the last he uttered in time. He prayed for the coming of the kingdom of God throughout all the nations of the earth, and died after serving his own generation. The two last things he did before he died were to declare his satisfaction in the covenant of grace, and to pray for the spread of the knowledge of the Lord’s glory over all lands as the waters cover the channels of the deep. Christ and the covenant of grace have been, and shall continue to be, the only and real ground of the hope of all the people of God. Here, like David, they find all their salvation and all their desire. Upon this they exercise their minds daily, and upon their knees in their own secret chambers (where no eyes of man see them) they plead for the downfall of the kingdom of Satan and the coming of the kingdom of Christ. Such wrestlers with God in secret are few and far between in this poor generation. There is a form of godliness, while the power of it is denied; but the religion that will not separate the heart and mind, as well as the outward conduct, from the world and its ways, will not keep the sinner from hell at death and at the great day of judgment. But notwithstanding the awful lukewarmness and self-sufficiency of the bulk of professors, there are even yet a few who sigh and cry for all the abominations done in the land, and the Lord’s eyes are on the just, and His ears are open to their cry. “When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.” When we look to the exercises of the Lord’s people in the past, how we are made to blush! Where can you find to-day a Jeremiah saying, “Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people”? This would be very like Christ—“And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” May the Lord pour upon us the spirit of grace and supplication, so that we may be led to look upon Him whom we have pierced and to mourn for Him. Sin shall cause mourning to every sinner either in this world or in eternity. If in this world, the truth shall be fulfilled which says—“But they that escape of them shall

escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys; all of them mourning, every one for his own iniquity.” Then shall Christ be made glorious in their eyes.

But let us consider, as we may be helped and guided by the Holy Spirit, the words of our text.

I.—What we may understand by the words, “His glory.” And

II.—Let us consider the petition, and the form in which it is expressed—”And let the whole earth be filled with his glory.”

I.—We are to consider first what we are to understand by the words, “His glory.”

(1) The glory of His person should be considered. The Scriptures with one voice throughout teach that Christ is God. The Gospel according to John begins with a clear statement of this fact—”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Spirit proves from the Old Testament Scriptures that the Messiah was none else but God. He quotes the Father addressing Him thus—”Thou art my Son. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” The Scriptures also teach as clearly that He was true man. “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Again, “And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.” So that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and man—two distinct natures in one person. Isaiah spake of His glory as Mediator when he said, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” This is the only Redeemer of God’s elect. This doctrine forms the foundation upon which the true Church of God is built, as the confession of Peter shows—”Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered, . . . Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

(2) The glory of Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King, calls for consideration when we speak of His glory. As a Prophet He revealed the whole mind and will of the Father to man. It was Christ, by His Spirit, that communicated to the prophets under the Old Testament dispensation the truths they declared and put on record. Into these truths they searched in order that they might attain to somewhat of their meaning—”Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did

signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” The counsels and purposes that were in the mind of God were known only to the Three Persons. It was absolutely necessary that these should be revealed, because God purposed to save sinners of mankind. The truth about man’s fall; the guilt and misery in which that involved himself and all his posterity; the mercy and love of God in providing a Saviour; the way in which salvation could be procured; and the way in which lost men could be made partakers of the salvation purchased by Christ for them; along with the hope of eternal glory, were things which could never enter into the heart of man had not the Son of God taken upon Himself to become the Bearer of these glad tidings to men. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” The infinite distance between God and the creature, needed to be bridged by God Himself, as it is written—”Who only hath immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see.” Had not our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Prophet, reduced these great, unspeakably great things into human words, they could never become known to lost men. He alone could declare the name of God unto His brethren. Christ sent forth prophets and apostles, but He alone is the Apostle of our profession. The Father sent Him.

Christ alone can teach men savingly the truths set forth by Him in the Bible. The dead will not hear the voice of man or angel until Christ speaks to them by His Spirit, and then they shall live and hear. He may and does use men as His servants in setting forth the way of salvation; but He tells them—”Without me you can do nothing.” All His true messengers have been made fully conscious of this. “A people shall be willing in the day of his power.”

Christ has glory as priest. God purposed to save sinners of mankind, and elected them to eternal life; but He, at the same time, appointed the means by which they were to be saved. He made it a condition that His justice should be fully satisfied. In other words, that without shedding of blood no sins should be forgiven. Consequently He revealed in Eden to our guilty parents the promise of a suffering Saviour. All the sacrifices of the Old Testament dispensation of the covenant of grace, were types of Christ crucified. This was the manner in which the gospel was taught during four thousand years. But we are told that the blood of bulls and of goats could not take away sin.

The great day of atonement was an eminent type of Christ. This day had to be observed once in each year in the Jewish Church. On this day the high priest offered first for his own sins, and then for that of the whole people of Israel. He sacrificed a he-goat upon the altar, after confessing the sins of the people on his head, and brought the blood into the holiest of all. He

sprinkled the blood upon the mercy seat and seven times before the mercy seat upon the ground; and afterwards interceded for the sins of the people. He immediately came out. This showing that the way to the holy place was not yet manifest while the first tabernacle was standing. This taught that there was to be a great day of atonement in this world.

When Christ came as the great High Priest, the Father provided Him with a sacrifice; this sacrifice was the body He prepared for Him. Christ, as our great High Priest, offered Himself without spot to God. He needed not to sacrifice for Himself, for He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate for sinners. Therefore, He needed only a sacrifice for the sins of the people. The Father laid on Him the iniquity of all His people, and He, by one offering, for ever perfected all them that are sanctified. He finished the work the Father gave Him to do, and He finished it perfectly and for ever. God the Father’s eye was on this one sacrifice in forgiving sins during the four thousand years that were past, and His eye is on it still. The eye of guilty sinners, who were taught of the Holy Ghost, were on this sacrifice during that time. You will see this in the case of Abel, for he brought an offering in faith. Christ crucified, in the matter of forgiveness, is the object of faith. Since the death of Christ on Calvary’s cross, God never asked nor accepted any other offering for sin, and never will. It was not by any other blood, but by His own, Christ entered into heaven itself for us. Because the satisfaction which His blood gave to God’s justice was perfect, He will never need to offer another sacrifice, and He is now in heaven before the throne of mercy interceding for the remission of all the sins of His people. His intercession for His people is all prevailing, as it is written—”Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips.”

The Son of God is our only High Priest, as He appears in heaven for us. All who pretend to offer sacrifices as priests now vilify the glory of Christ. They do this as regards His one offering, and also as regards His intercession. He was appointed for this office by God the Father, as it is written—”Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedech.” And again—”We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” The day Christ died on Calvary was the great day of atonement for a lost world, and the eyes of guilty men look to that day backwards, as the eyes of others looked forward to it. All who are taught of God will say with the great Apostle of the Gentiles—”God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

Christ has glory as king both over all rational creatures, and over His Church. All power in heaven and on earth has been given Him as Mediator by the Father. He is King of kings, and Lord of lords on earth; and therefore kings are admonished to be

wise, to obey Him in loving obedience for fear His wrath may be kindled against them, and they perish. He has absolute power over all flesh for the good of His Church. Nations may revolt against His Kingly authority, but to no avail, only to their own ruin. “For the nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish; yea, these nations shall be utterly wasted.” Earthly kings pass away, and all their vain glory vanish with them; but He is the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God to whom honour and glory are due for ever and ever. This Isaiah had a vision of—”In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.” The glory of this great King caused him to say—”Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Proud Nebuchadnezzar learned this great fact by sad experience as he confessed—”Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment; and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”

Christ is also King over His own Church. He rules by His Word and Spirit in the hearts of His own people. They obey His voice speaking in the Scriptures, and take it as their only rule for glorifying Him in this World. It was because the people of God refused to obey earthly kings and rulers in their manner of worship and faith that they were persecuted unto death. But Christ promised them that not a hair of their heads should be lost. This was made manifest in Babylon, when the three young men refused to obey Nebuchadnezzar, and were cast into the fiery furnace. They came out without even the smell of the fire being off their garments or persons. It was for the same cause that some have suffered often since. They know that He rules in His providence most holily and most wisely over all His creatures and all their actions, and that no one can do them the least harm unless He permits. This makes the righteous bold as a lion in the affairs of God’s house in this world. Wicked men and devils are absolutely under His control, and, therefore, the righteous flee to Christ, their King, to protect them when Satan and men begin to roar. The views they get by faith of this King in His beauty and the land that is very far off, cause them to say that all the gilded glory of this world is nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit.

(3) The gospel in its purity, preached to a lost world, is also declared in the Word of God to be the glory of Christ.

The holy law reveals much of the glory of Christ. This glory—at the giving of it—made the children of Israel fear and quake. They could not stand before such glory. The Apostle describes it: “For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.” The law of God has much of His glory set forth in its authoritative

declarations, and nothing can ever awaken the consciences of men, dead in trespasses and sin, but the voice of Christ in the law. Saul of Tarsus felt this when He spake to him on the way to Damascus and said, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” The voice of God’s law brings a sense of terrible glory and majesty into the human soul. The Apostle tells again his experience that day, and says, “And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.” The despisers of this law will one day see their folly, as it is written—”The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God.”

But Moses, after he beheld the glory of the holy law, desired still to see the glory of God. “And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. . . . And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.” This is the glory of the gospel, which is a glory that exceeds that of the law. In the gospel God’s love, mercy, pity, and graciousness appear, and this to rebels of mankind. He calls to sinners to turn to Him by Jesus Christ, and offers to show mercy, and to forgive sins freely; throws the gates of mercy open, and calls to whosoever will to take of the water of life freely. This the Apostle Paul calls “the glorious gospel of the blessed God.” “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” But we must proceed.

(4) The ministers of the gospel are called the glory of Christ. This you will see expressed in the words—”If our brethren be inquired of, they are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ.” This is certainly not applicable to all who bear the name of being messengers of Christ, for it must necessarily be restricted to the true messengers of Christ. These are very few among men in our day.

II.—Let us consider this petition, and the form in which it is expressed—”And let the whole earth be filled with his glory.”

In considering this petition we desire to notice two things: (1) That the iniquity with which the whole earth is filled must be removed; (2) That the place iniquity now holds should be filled with the glory of Christ.

1. That the iniquity with which the whole earth is filled must be removed. This will appear clearly to every careful reader of the Word of God. To be a sinner in a state of nature is to be darkness, and to be in a state of grace is light, in Scripture language. Now these two elements—light and darkness—cannot exist together, as the one departs as soon as the other comes. We will divide this darkness into four parts:—(1) The darkness of

heathenism must depart before the glory of Christ shall fill the whole earth. This is so self-evident that none can gainsay it, and both the Old and New Testaments prove it beyond doubt. Its idolatry, its horrid cruelty, its games, races, and plays, and its ignorance of God—both as a just God and Saviour—shall be dispelled. This was the effect of the gospel among the heathen everywhere since the beginning of the Christian era.

(2) The idolatry, superstition, and enmity to God’s truth, and the profession of it which is according to godliness, shall have to be destroyed out of Roman Catholic countries, and from among the followers of the false prophet, i.e., the Turk. It will be by the breath of the nostrils of Christ—i.e., the Holy Spirit—that this great change will be effected. There are really wonderful changes taking place in the most of the countries which have been up till now under the sway of the Pope. In some of these the people seem to be really hating the Roman harlot and eating her flesh; while—to our great shame, be it said—we in this kingdom seem to be healing the wound which our forefathers gave the Beast. But when the glorious millennium will come Babylon will fall, never to rise any more for ever. These great changes will be brought about by the Word of God, but not probably until awful things will happen in the holy ruling of divine providence.

(3) The poor benighted Jews will have to be undeceived. They are still as bitter against the gospel of Christ as they were in the days in which Paul declared that wrath had come upon them to the uttermost. But the Word of God promises a bright day yet for the poor Jews, for it says—”For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?” The time when this glorious change will take place is indicated in the truth which says, “That blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” All true praying people should earnestly plead for these great changes, both among the Gentiles and Jews.

(4) All the Churches designated Protestant will have to turn from their backslidings, idolatry, atheism, hypocrisy, and worldliness before the whole earth shall be filled with His glory. The Protestant Churches almost over the whole earth have departed from God’s truth, in doctrine, form of government, worship, and discipline. The Word of God has been brought into doubt, and the men who did so have been raised up to the highest places in churches. These men are really atheists at heart, and hold the very same opinions with those men who were called atheists in the past. They have made atheists of the people by their pernicious errors. This is true at our very doors. Notwithstanding, these teachers profess faith in Christ, and for the sake of worldly gain act the hypocrite. In worship they have introduced the most of the things which were cast out at the Reformation, and thereby build up the church of Rome again so that, in the name of Protestantism, almost all the isms with which the Church of God

was tried in the past have been resurrected by this generation. All these things will have to be cast out before we can expect His glory to fill the whole earth. When you consider the four divisions we have made of the whole earth, the strong hold Satan has got of each, you will have to conclude that this work is on man’s side impossible; but not so on God’s side; for with God all things are possible. Therefore prayer can be made in faith in the power and promise of God that all these obstacles may be removed.

1. That the place which iniquity now occupies should be filled with the glory of Christ. We have an absolute promise and the oath of God, that it shall be so—”But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” He explains to us what He means by—the glory of the Lord—in these words—”For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Then (1) The knowledge of the glory of Christ as the only Mediator between God and guilty men shall fill the hearts and understandings of all the peoples of this earth. I don’t mean mere speculative and brain knowledge, but true saving knowledge. They will believe in the doctrine of His person, and those who teach that Christ is only a man will get none to listen to them, or to believe them. All men everywhere shall know that Christ is God and man, two natures in the one divine Person. They will rejoice in this glorious Person who is equal with the Father, and also, being man, has true fellow-feeling with His people in all their trials. He will have the heart-love of every one you will meet with when His glory shall fill the whole earth. As sure as it was the Father in heaven that taught Peter to know Christ, it will be His teaching, by His Word and Spirit, that will bring about this great change. The heathen will burn their images, and cease their heathenish practices; Papists will forsake the Pope, burn their images, crosses, altars, etc.; Turks will throw away their Koran, forsake the false Prophet, and all his worship; Jews will look to Him whom they pierced, and mourn, being amazed at their former blindness; Protestants will cast out of their creeds and worship, all the unscriptural matters they now haul with cart ropes; and all these will with one mind turn to Christ as their only Saviour and Hope.

(2) Christ as the Mediator, in His offices will be then believed in by all men. They will not listen to men who teach that there are errors in the Bible. These men, should any of them exist, will get none anywhere to listen to their doctrines. Higher critics will be brought very low. The motto will be—”To the law and to the testimony; if they will not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

There will be no priests then; for Christ will be their only Priest. To Him as the Great High Priest every sinner will come looking to the merit of His one offering and blood, as that which fully satisfied justice and which can purge the conscience from the guilt of sin. They will consider Jesus Christ, the Apostle and

High Priest of their profession. They will all be taught how to come to God by Christ as their Priest, and all other so-called priests shall get none to come to them.

The whole earth will acknowledge Christ, and their kings shall become very useful to His Church—”And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth.” Now-a-days when kings visit one another they forget God, spend the time in sin, and bring wrath upon themselves and on their subjects; but at this time kings will think it their business to honour Christ, and to do what they can to advance His interests in the world. They will take the Word of God as the only rule to direct them how they may glorify God. Nothing will be done in Church or State but in accordance with the perfect rule set forth in the Old and New Testament Scriptures. All the subjects in every kingdom of the whole earth will become the willing vassals of the Lord, as it is written—”The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

(3) The gospel of Christ, in its purity, will spread over the whole earth. There is a very promising thing taking place in our day—the Word of God is being spread among the heathen with extraordinary diligence and success. The heathen are also being taught to read God’s Word for themselves. This is true in every part of the inhabitable earth. Great pains are being taken to translate the Bible into the languages of the heathen; and what is very extraordinary, this is done, in many instances, by men who hold unsound views on inspiration. In any case the Word of eternal life is being put into the hands of our fellow-sinners in Africa, India, China, etc., with great diligence. This is especially the case with the Bible Societies, who are doing great good. Their Colporteurs go from village to village, and from house to house, spreading the Word of God among the people. This is particularly true in India. This is very hopeful, for God says of His own Word—”It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” So we may expect the rich harvest of the millennium to be reaped from the sowing of the seed of the kingdom of heaven in the earth. It seems to us that the lands which have had the gospel for ages, and despised it, are most likely to be the last parts of the whole earth that shall be filled with the glory of Christ.

When the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the gospel there will be but one fold and one Shepherd then. All false doctrine, false ways of worshipping God, and false ways of Church government will disappear, and the Church will be governed according to the Presbyterian order set forth in the New Testament. In the family God will be worshipped morning and evening, and in secret by each member of these families. This will not be only in one house, town, or kingdom, but in every house, town, and kingdom under the sun.

The people will be gathered together into congregations and Churches, and will joy in going up to the House of God. Every pulpit will be occupied with a minister full of the knowledge of the glorious gospel of the grace of God, as it is written—”For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering, for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.” In these days the gospel will be preached from every pulpit throughout the whole earth, and not in one here and there, as it is to-day. May the Lord hasten it in its time.

Let us now consider the form in which this petition, in the last prayer of David, the son of Jesse, is expressed.

(1) The word “let” is sometimes in scripture equivalent to a command; “let all things be done decently and in order,” and in many other places of the Word it has this meaning. “Ask ye me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the works of my hands command ye me.” You will find Daniel using language to this effect when he prayed—”O Lord hear; O Lord forgive; O Lord hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God; for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.” The same holy boldness appears in Jacob—”I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. . . . And he blessed him there.” We think David had the same faith in the promise of God; and therefore wrestled with Him in his last words with the same holy boldness. There were many of the Lord’s people since, who, like Esther, took courage to ask no less than the presence of the king to the feast, also her life and people—”If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.” This is prayer taking the kingdom of heaven by violence. Not the presumption of the graceless.

(2) This word “let” is also used in Scripture as equivalent to a grant or leave to do a thing—”Let us come boldly to the throne of grace.” This sets forth the willingness with which the Lord receives His people, and how ready He is to grant their requests put forth in the name of Christ. “Let me hear thy voice.” Especially this is true in the things which concern His glory and the salvation of men in the world.

(3) “Let” also means a rebuke—”Refrain from these men and let them alone.” This is a rebuke to all the adversaries of the cause of Christ. It is a rebuke to His enemies among men—also to devils—to stand aside and let the glory of Christ fill the whole earth. So God can at any moment command His enemies to stand aside. He will bind Satan and cast him into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, and say to His enemies among men, “Why persecute ye me?”

There are about four thousand years since this prayer was put up, and you will say it is not fulfilled yet. Yes; but do you not

remember that it is written—”But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” You would not think it too long to wait for the answer of your prayer four days. The prayers of the Lord’s people will certainly be answered, in so far as they may be in accordance with the Lord’s will, and this prayer is in accordance with His promise and oath. Therefore, let us pray—”Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.”

The Late Mrs. A. Mackay, Lochcarron.

THE many friends and acquaintances of the late Mrs. Alexander Mackay, Ardineaskin, Lochcarron (better known as Flora Dunvegan), would be expecting that some notice would have been taken of her in our Magazine, and we have to express our regret that this was not done before now. The Lord of the harvest is fast taking home his sheaves, while we may be compared to those described by the prophet Micah who “gathered the summer fruits.”

Flora was born at Dunvegan about 37 years ago, and grew up like her companions in sin and folly, especially in Sabbath desecration, sins on account of which, she would afterwards say, that it was of the Lord’s mercies that she was not consumed. In her young days she attended the Established Church along with her father, her mother being an adherent of the Free Church. In those days she had a bitter hatred to Free Church ministers, especially those of them who denounced the Established Church. Flora’s case should be of much interest, particularly to Free Presbyterians, as she was supposed to be one of the first, if not the first, at least in Skye, to be brought under the saving power of the truth in the Free Presbyterian Church. In 1893, shortly after we took up a separate position from the then so-called Free Church, one of our ministers preached on a Sabbath evening in Edinbane school, and this happened to be also the Communion Sabbath of the Free Church in Flashadder, and Flora’s mother attended the Communion. In the evening her father went with his conveyance to bring her mother home, and Flora thought it would be a fine outing for her to go with her father to Edinbane. While waiting for her father and mother, she heard that a peculiar man who had left the Free Church, a recommendation which no doubt appealed strongly to her, was to preach in the school, and, from curiosity, she thought she would go and hear him. As she was entering the place of worship the precentor was giving out the last line in verse 2 of Psalm 42 (“And in God’s sight appear”), and the words as arrows pierced her heart. During the sermon, which was based on John vii. 37, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink,” the arrows of the Almighty were fast

sticking in her. On her way home she tried all in her power to quench the fire that was now burning in her conscience by laughing and vain talking, but “who would set the briers and thorns against Me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.” How long she was in this state of mind, or how she was brought to the liberty of the gospel, we are unable to say, but that she was made free by “the Son” was never doubted by any who knew her, and her after life and conversation was ample proof of this. She was much harassed with temptations, and often cast down through unbelief, but could also say with David, “He took me from a fearful pit, &c.” She was also a great sufferer from asthma, and we often wondered at and admired her diligence in attending the means of grace under great bodily affliction and weakness. There were few Communions held on the island and the neighbouring parishes on the mainland, but Flora attended, and her genial presence was greatly appreciated and is now sadly missed by all. She was a faithful rebuker of sin, wherever she met it, whether it be in lay or cleric.

About two years ago she married Mr. Alex. Mackay, Ardineskin, and continued since in good health until this summer when she had to go to Glasgow to undergo an operation. Nothing serious, however, was anticipated, and she got safely through the first operation. She herself fully expected to recover as she was much comforted by the words “But David encouraged himself in the Lord.” On the day on which she was to leave the Infirmary, the doctor examined her and found that there was something much more seriously wrong with her than the occasion of her first operation, for which she would require to undergo another serious operation. This passage of Scripture then began to speak to her, “Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me,” from which she concluded that the time of her departure had come. After going through the operation she improved for a few days, when a relapse took place, from which she never recovered. A few minutes before she died she said to her husband, who stood at her bedside holding her hand, “Let me go.” When asked where she was going to, she replied, “To be for ever with Christ.” Shortly after, we believe, she entered the joy of her Lord.

To her bereaved husband and parents we tender our sincere sympathies in their great loss, and trust that the “Friend which loveth at all times” and the “Brother born for adversity” may be their consolation.

N. M.

Convent Enquiry Petition.—The great petition which the Protestant Alliance intends to present to Parliament on this subject has now received 600,000 signatures at the time of writing. The time for signing closes on the 31st of December, and by the time this issue of the Magazine is in the hands of our readers preparations will be made for the presentation of the petition to Parliament.

“And when they had sung an Hymn.”*

THESE words record an incident in the solemn and ever-memorable transactions of the night in which the Son of God was betrayed into the hands of His enemies. The Lord’s Supper had been instituted by the Lord Jesus, and the solemn announcement made to the disciples that He would not drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when He should drink it new with them in the Father’s kingdom. Thereafter, according to the record of Matthew and Mark, “when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives” (Matt. xxvi. 30, Mark xiv. 26). Here a matter of no small importance presents itself in regard to the exclusive use of the Psalms in divine worship. If the “hymn” which was sung on this memorable night was one of human composition then the advocates of the use of hymns in divine worship have certainly gained a point. But here we join issues with them, and in doing so we ask ourselves the question—Are we in a position to affirm that the hymn sung on the night of the betrayal was neither more nor less a portion of the Book of Psalms? If this point can be established, with a high degree of probability, if not with absolute certainty, then the position of the advocates of the exclusive use of the Psalms in the worship of God is strengthened. Meantime we need not stay to discuss the usage of the word “hymn” as applied to some of the Psalms; we shall have occasion to do so later on in dealing with the classic passages in Ephesians and Colossians where references are made to “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” Our purpose meantime is to get some definite idea of what was sung by the Lord Jesus and His disciples on the occasion referred to by the Evangelists.

Now it so happens that there is a remarkable consensus of opinion among commentators that the Hymn which was sung by the Lord Jesus and His disciples was what is described as the Hallel, or at least a portion of it. The Hallel consists of the group of Psalms from the 113th to the 118th inclusive. These are thanksgiving Psalms in which the word “hallelujah” often occurs. These Psalms in the later Temple worship at anyrate were sung in connection with the service of the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Dr. M’Clenahan in an excellent paper—”The Psalms in the Old Testament Church”—in the volume under review quotes extensively from distinguished Christian Hebraists, and from acknowledged rabbinical authorities, in order to prove that the Hallel was sung at the Passover. We cannot do better than quote at length from his paper. “Dr. Lightfoot,” he says (p. 77), “of Westminster Assembly fame, who still remains one of the greatest authorities on the

* The Psalms in Public Worship: United Presbyterian Board of Publication, Pittsburgh, 1907. See first article, page 249.

Talmud and Mishna, and as well on the services of the Temple, in speaking of the Passover, says, ‘Now the song that was sung at this time while they were killing the Passover, was called the Hallel.’ The Babylonian Talmud says: ‘Every company said over the Hallel three times; for their paschals were many and they were bound to the singing of the Hallel at the slaying of them.’ They chanted during the killing of the Passover Psalms cxiii. and cxviii. inclusive. Maimonides, on the authority of the Talmud, says: ‘All the time they were killing and offering the Levites said over the Hallel; if they had finished the Hallel, and the company had not yet done, they said it over again; and if they had finished saying it over again and the company had not yet done, they set to it a third time.’ In another paragraph Maimonides says: ‘This Hallel was said over eighteen days in the year and one night, viz.: at the killing of the Passover, at the Feast of Pentecost, on the eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles, on the eight days of the Feast of Dedication, and on the night of the Passover.’ The ‘saying of the Hallel’ means of course the chanting of it. The same authority in his treatise on Megillah and Chanuchah says: ‘The custom of saying over the Hallel in the days of the former wise men was thus: The chief among them that was to read the Hallel, after he had said a prayer, began thus, Hallelujah; and all the people answered Hallelujah. He goes on and says ‘Praise ye the servants of the Lord,’ and all the people answered Hallelujah. He proceeds and says ‘Praise the name of the Lord,’ and all the people answered Hallelujah. He says further, ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth, even forever more’; and all the people answered Hallelujah And so at every passage till they answered Hallelujah one hundred and twenty-three times over; and of that number were the years of Aaron. Now when he that read it came to the beginning of any Psalm as when he read ‘When Israel came out of Egypt,’ the people repeated and said ‘When Israel came out of Egypt,’ but when he said ‘And the house of Jacob from a strange people,’ then the people answered Hallelujah; and so forward until he came to ‘I love the Lord because He hath heard my voice,’ and there the people repeated ‘I love the Lord because He hath heard my voice.’ And so when he said ‘Praise the Lord, all ye nations’ they repeated ‘Praise the Lord, all ye nations.’ And when he came to ‘Save now, Lord, I beseech Thee,’ the people repeated ‘Save now, Lord, I beseech Thee’; though it be not at the beginning of a Psalm. And when he said ‘I beseech Thee, now, send prosperity,’ they rehearsed and said ‘I beseech Thee, now, send prosperity.’ And when he said ‘Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,’ all the people answered ‘Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.’ A careful comparison of this long quotation with Psalms cxiii. and cxviii. inclusive will show the following order of service: When the leader repeated the first line of any one of these Psalms the people

chanted it after him. But when the leader repeated any of the other lines in these Psalms, the people answered Hallelujah. To this order there were two exceptions, viz., when the leader read the first lines of verses 25 and 26 respectively in Psalm cxviii., the people chanted them after him, instead of saying Hallelujah as in all the other lines. It should be noted that while the first line of Psalm cxiii. is translated, ‘Praise ye Jehovah,’ it could as appropriately be translated Hallelujah, for in the Hebrew it is just the compound word Hallelujah. No one can doubt that the Hallel consisted of Psalms cxiii. and cxviii. inclusive. These Psalms were sung over and over again at every feast observed by the Jews. The Talmud and the Jewish writers generally go into further detail describing just how and when these Psalms were sung. There were four cups of wine drunk in observing the Passover. Dr. Lightfoot in his great treatise on ‘The Temple Service,’ says: ‘And now we are come to the fourth cup. which was called the “cup of the Hallel”; for he finished the Hallel at it, and at it he said the blessing of the song. He had begun the Hallel over the second cup; for he concluded the Haggadah, or showing forth of their deliverance (as 1 Cor. xi. 26), with the rehearsal of the cxiii. and cxiv. Psalms. And now he begins with the cxv., and rehearseth that and the cxvi., and the cxvii., and the cxviii.; for these six Psalms were the Hallel, as was observed even now.’ If a fifth cup was drunk, they sang with it what is called the Great Hallel. What was the Great Hallel? Rabbi Judah says, from ‘O give thanks’ to ‘By the rivers of Babylon,’ that is Psalms cxxxvi. and cxxxvii. inclusive. Rabbi Jochanan says from ‘A Song of Degrees’ to ‘By the rivers of Babylon.’ Psalm cxx. has at its head ‘A Song of Degrees’; it is the first of the fifteen ‘Songs of Degrees.’ Rabbi Jochanan’s testimony is to the effect that the Great Hallel which was sung with the fifth cup consisted of Psalms cxx. and cxxxvii. inclusive. Sometimes also at these feasts they sang Psalm cv., and at others Psalm xcvi. In connection with the bringing in of the first fruits Psalms cxxii., cl., and xxx. were chanted. Psalm xxx. was also sung at the Feast of Dedication. All this and more is given on the authority of the Talmud, the Mishna, Maimonides, Dr. Lightfoot, and Jewish Rabbis who are recognised authorities in such matters.”

In the very nature of things it was to be expected that the “hymn” referred to by Matthew and Mark should have been one or some of the Psalms used at the Passover, and in favour of this view, as has already been observed, there is a remarkable consensus of opinion among divines and commentators. Edersheim says:—”The ‘hymn’ with which the Paschal Supper ended had been sung. Probably we are to understand this of the second portion of the Hallel sung some time after the third cup, or else Psalm cxxxvi., which in the present Ritual stands near the end of the service. The last Discourses had been spoken, the last Prayer, that of Consecration, had been offered, and Jesus prepared to

go forth out of the city, to the “Mount of Olives”—(Life and Times of Jesus, the Messiah, vol. ii., 533).

Geikie, in referring to the subject, writes:—”Now, at the close, the voices of the eldest of them chanted, with slow, solemn strains, the remainder of the Hallelujah—the rest responding with the word Hallelujah, at the close of each verse. The anthem began fitly—’Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name, give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth’s sake,’ and closed with the words of the hundred and eighteenth Psalm—’Blessed be He that cometh in the name of Jehovah;’ the Apostles responding—’In the name of Jehovah, Hallelujah.’ And now all was over, and the Eleven, following their Master, went out into the night. They were on their way to Gethsemane”—(The Life and Words of Christ, vol. ii., p. 475). So also Meyer, in his Commentary on Matthew, in commenting on the Greek word translated in the Authorised Version, “They had sung an hymn,” says “the second portion of the Hallel.” Alexander thus refers to the passage in the Gospel according to St. Mark:—”When they had sung a hymn, in Greek a single word, hymning (or having hymned), referring, no doubt, to the series of Psalms usually chanted at the Passover, and known in the later Jewish ritual as the great Hallel”—(Commentary on Mark’s Gospel). It would be an easy matter to multiply quotations all pointing in the same direction. The main point to be observed, however, in these quotations is the unanimity of the different writers as to the opinion that it was Psalms that were used at the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Whatever differences exist among these writers, and we need not commit ourselves to tell the positions they lay down, yet notwithstanding these differences they are agreed on this point, that when the Supper of the new Dispensation took the place of the Passover of the old Dispensation the Psalms were sung at the inauguration of this solemn Feast.

From the evidence produced Dr. Binnie is justified in saying—”The singing of the Hallel by Christ and the Eleven in the guest-chamber on the night of His betrayal may be said to mark the point at which the Psalter passed over from the old Dispensation into the new; for it accompanied the celebration of the new ordinance of the Lord’s Supper as well as the celebration of the expiring Passover”—(The Psalms, their History, Teachings, and Use). No doubt it is owing to this ancient custom observed at the Passover, of singing the Hallel, that the Church in Scotland has in her best days used, in connection with dispensation of the Lord’s Supper, such Psalms as the 116th and 118th, both of which are included in the Hallel.

In a future issue we purpose to return to the discussion of the classic passages in Ephesians and Colossians, and in doing so to call attention to an excellent paper—one of the best in the whole volume—by Prof. John M’Naugher, D.D., LL.D., on “A Special Exegesis of Col. iii., 16, and Ephesians v., 19.” D. B.

Interesting Document Discovered in Egypt.

TO Old Testament students Egypt is, in interest, third with Israel and Assyria. At the present moment Egypt is of supreme interest on account of the valuable finds which the spade of the excavator is every now and then turning up. Its climate and soil are so dry that its dust heaps have preserved unimpaired, for thousands of years, documents of great interest, albeit written on fragile papyrus. Perhaps the most valuable document of this kind which has hitherto come to light, is one, of which a translation from the original Aramaic, by the capable scholar, Professor Margoliouth of Oxford, appears in the December number of the Expositor. This document, which is in the form of a letter, whose date is 20th November of the 17th year of Darius, was discovered recently at a place called Elephantine (near Syene) in Upper Egypt. The letter was written on behalf of a colony of Jews who must have settled in the Syene district a considerable time before the date now given, and it was sent to one Bagoas, Governor of Judea at the time.

Readers of the Bible will remember that shortly after Nebuchadnezzar had, in the 11th year of Zedekiah, burnt Jerusalem with fire and carried most of its inhabitants captive to Babylon, a miserable remnant of Jews, dragging Jeremiah, the Prophet, and Baruch, the son of Neriah, along with them, made their way into Egypt (Jerem. xliii. 5, 6). One of the last glimpses we get of Jeremiah is in expostulating in Upper Egypt (Pathros) with his fellow Jews on account of their idolatrously cleaving to the queen of heaven (Jerem. xliv. 15). That was shortly after the year 587 B.C. Now, this recently discovered letter, whose date, as we saw, is 20th November of the 17th year of Darius was, as we shall show, written some 117 years after Jeremiah and his company came into Upper Egypt, and probably by descendants of that very company. The 17th year of Darius is 410 B.C., for Darius II. must be here intended, Darius I. being out of the question, and Darius III. not having ruled for 17 years altogether, and the 17th year of Darius II. is 410 B.C. Mr. Stanley A. Cook, of Cambridge, I observe, gives 410 B.C. without hesitation as the date of the letter. From this letter we learn that some time before 525 B.C., when Egypt became part of the Medo-Persian Empire, the Jews had built a temple at Elephantine to the God of heaven. That Cambyses, the Medo-Persian King, shortly after subduing Egypt, destroyed a great part of its temples, has been a long known fact. This letter corroborates the truth of that piece of ancient history, and, in addition, gives us for the first time the interesting item, that the temple raised to Jehovah by the Jews of Elephantine was not interfered with by Cambyses. “When Cambyses,” we read, “came to Egypt, he found the temple built. And they destroyed all the temples of the Egyptian gods, but no one did any injury to that temple.” But the Jewish temple was not destined to be thus favourably

treated for all time. In the year 414 B.C., i.e., 111 years after the demolition of the Egyptian temples by Cambyses, one Vidrang, Medo-Persian Governor of this district of Egypt, having been moved thereto by the heathen priests of the locality, utterly destroyed this Jewish temple, and from that time up to the time at which this letter was written, that is, from 414 B.C. to 410 B.C., the Jews of Upper Egypt “were clad in sackcloth and fasting, they had not anointed themselves with oil nor drunk wine.” Hence the letter, in which Jedoniah and other priests plead with Bagoas on behalf of this Jewish colony, that he might use his influence towards the rebuilding of their temple at Elephantine. And they promise Bagoas one thousand silver talents if he should do this for them.

The part of this letter which is of greatest interest to us is that in which the writers inform Bagoas that when the mischief was done in September of 414 B.C. they forthwith wrote to Johanan, the high priest, and his associates, the priests at Jerusalem, “but the nobles of the Jews,” say they, “sent no letter at all to us.” For it is extremely important for us in this way to learn that in 414 B.C., however much earlier, Johanan was high priest in Jerusalem. For the higher critics, relying upon Josephus, who wrote some five centuries after the event, place Johanan considerably later than 414 B.C., and have not hesitated on this ground to charge the book of Nehemiah, and especially that of Ezra, with glaring anachronisms. It was long known that Josephus had got mixed about the respective places of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes in Babylonian history, while the lately-come-to-light monuments of Babylon have proved the Bible history on those matters true. This letter which we are now noticing shows that Josephus is as little to be relied on in the dates he assigns to the high priesthood of Eliashib, Jehoiada, Johanan, and Jaddua (Nehemiah xii. 22), as in the places he assigns to Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, and once again the truth of Bible history is confirmed. Let me explain. Ezra, we read (Ezra x. 6), after having made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel to swear that they would put away their strange wives, “rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan, the son of Eliashib.” The exact year in which Ezra did this is not known—we know that he came up from Babylon in the year 458 B.C., and that Nehemiah’s first visit to Jerusalem took place in the year 444 B.C. Ezra’s going into the chamber of Johanan may have taken place at any time between those years. Now, Ezra does not say that Johanan was high priest at the time. The manner in which his name is mentioned, as the son of Eliashib, looks rather as if he were not quite then high priest. But from this recently discovered letter we learn that Johanan was certainly in the high priest’s office in 414 B.C. He may have been high priest for many years previous to 414 B.C. The only contemporary documents are Ezra, Nehemiah, and this letter. Ezra, in effect, says that sometime

after 458 B.C., possibly a good few years after that date, he had on a certain occasion gone into the chamber of Johanan, son of Eliashib. This letter, in effect, says that in 414 B.C., and possibly for several years before that date, Johanan was high priest. There surely is no discrepancy between these two statements, and they are the only contemporary statements bearing on the point. And yet Stade and other higher critics, with only Josephus to go upon, think it necessary to place the high priesthood of Johanan not earlier than 399 B.C., and on that reckoning impugn the veracity of Ezra. 399 B.C., it is now seen, is an impossible date for the commencement of Johanan’s high priesthood.

This letter also confirms as against Josephus and those higher critics who here build on him, the truth of the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah, whose date is, say 432 B.C., places as we know the satrapy of Sanballat in Samaria contemporaneously with his own government in Jerusalem. Josephus on the other hand introduces Sanballat as a contemporary of Alexander the Great, say in 333 B.C. The letter in question corroborates the truth of Nehemiah’s history. For towards its close Jedoniah and his associates inform Bagoas that a copy of the same letter was being sent to Delayah and Shelamyah, sons of Sanballat. Nehemiah’s trouble with Sanballat was before and about the year 432 B.C. Twenty-two years later these Jewish colonists in Upper Egypt recognise Sanballat’s sons as in power. Could anything be more in order?

Josephus being thus shewn to be wrong not only about Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, but also about Sanballat, while the Bible is, by evidence unimpeachable and external to itself, shewn to be correct in both these regards, it follows that Josephus cannot be trusted in what he says about Jaddua, son of Johanan, as having met Alexander the Great in peace when the latter was approaching Jerusalem, nor is it worthy of men claiming to be scientific historians to conclude that Nehemiah xii., 22, is too late for the Governor Nehemiah to have written it, merely because Josephus gives 331 B.C. as the date of the death of Jaddua, seeing that Jaddua’s father, Johanan, is now seen to have been high priest in 414 B.C., and Jaddua himself may have been high priest shortly afterwards. If Nehemiah was, say between 30 and 40 years of age in 432 B.C., he would have been by no means a very old man in 414 B.C., and he might have lived during part of Jaddua’s high priesthood.

This letter shews, we may add, by means of one word, that Nehemiah’s book bears the hall-mark of Nehemiah the Governor’s own time. Everyone knows what trouble Nehemiah had with the nobles of Jerusalem. The word Nehemiah uses for nobles is “Horim,” a rather unusual word, occurring, however, seven times in Nehemiah, and in that way more frequently than in the rest of the Bible altogether. When the writers of the letter reviewed remark that the nobles of the Jews had not replied to them, they used the same term “Horim.” The use of the term in these

virtually contemporaneous documents helps to reveal to us more plainly where we are standing.

God’s word is true from the beginning. It is so, also, throughout. Corroboration after corroboration is being given to the truth of Scripture, and that as regards points concerning which objections were raised, to which it was difficult to give an answer that should silence gainsayers on grounds of reason alone. But there is not one of these corroborations but ought to give us to lay to heart that, as surely as the truth of the Bible on matters of past history are thus to our agreeable astonishment being daily vindicated, so surely will the truth of the Bible doctrine of reconciliation, of the new birth, of holiness, of death, of judgment, and of an endless eternity, one day be vindicated as being the weightiest and most solemn realities. J. R. M.

The Memoirs or Spiritual Exercises of Elisabeth West.

(WRITTEN BY HER OWN HAND.)

(Continued from page 307.)

THE Sabbath before the fast for the Union I came to Edinburgh to hear Mr. Webster, who was on the Prodigal Son, “who would fain have filled his belly with husks”; which he compared to false doctrine, and applied to the Church of England, which was corrupted with the false husks. He named very many of their errors, but my memory cannot retain them distinctly, which gave me occasion to think he designed this against the Union, though at this time he knew not the articles of it. When I came home to the rest of the family they told me that, had I been at Libberton-kirk, I would have been pleased, for he seemed to be flat against the Union. I told them I was at no loss, being so well where I was; but I was very well pleased to hear that any of the godly was against it, and the truth is, the most part of the godly in Scotland were against it, and that on just and solid grounds. As for my own private case, it seemed to leave me for a time so that I was not so much troubled anent my own perplexities concerning myself, for I thought, let the Lord do with me as He will, but Scotland, Scotland lies near my heart!

The night immediately before the fast-day I found myself in a very ill-frame, capable for no duty, I was so dead and lifeless, nowise in order for the day approaching, which was heavy on me. This ill frame continued with me until I was just casting off my clothes to go to rest; then I found a vehement desire arose in me to be at prayer again, which motion I followed, and desire to bless the Lord therefore. For in this place I enjoyed a sweet (though short) while of communion with God, where clouds were removed,

and I got leave to plead for my mother-Church, that He would make Jerusalem a quiet habitation. What a comfortable time this was! I intended only to ask good things for the Church, but my liberal Lord not only gave me good things for Scotland, but many great and good things for myself too.

I saw that sore judgments were abiding this land, and this Union was a forerunner of them; but that I might not be swallowed up in sorrow, these cordials were given me from His Word: “I will cause the enemy to entreat you well. Surely it will be well with thy remnant.” I also saw that there was a glorious day abiding Scotland, the like of which hath not been yet, and that my eyes should see it. This was confirmed to me by three Scriptures: “Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty. Ye shall not taste of death till you see the kingdom of God come in power. Ye shall be brought to the grave in a good old age, as a shock of corn full ripe.” These sweet Scriptures came with life and power, and I was made to believe and lay stress on them. This bred in me hope of a good fast-day approaching, and I thought may be the Lord will confirm this to me in public. In the morning I was allowed near access to the throne of grace, when that word came with power, when I was pleading for the Church of Scotland, Christ’s married spouse, and my mother, “Ask what you will, and it shall be granted to you.” Where I was strengthened to put up these requests, “That God, for Christ’s sake, would preserve the ark among us, pure, without the mixture of popery, prelacy, and the Church of England, with its errors in doctrine and worship. O let us be a Church and nation as long as the sun and moon endure. Revive Thy covenant-work among us. O come back with days of Thy wonted power, and let the womb of the Gospel become fruitful, and bring forth many sons and daughters to Christ.” I also did put up some requests against the Union, and was answered with that word, Psalm xxxiii. 10, 11: “The Lord bringeth the counsel of the wicked to nought, but the counsel of the Lord that shall stand. He breaketh the ships of Tarshish with the east wind.” When I came to the public, where I thought to be strengthened, I found the contrary; for I was wounded, and that to the heart. Mr. Semple was on that place: “At what instant I spoke against a nation or kingdom,” &c., where he endeavoured to please both parties, but especially those that were for the Union. He said, “It is expected I will speak anent what this day is set apart for—concerning an Union betwixt Scotland and England.” “The truth is,” said he, “we are all one kingdom, we are all one island, we are all one religion, they are the greatest bulwark against popery.” Thus he went on, to the grief of some, and to my grief also, for the application was very easy, that he spoke here for the Union. After sermon, I got leave to tell my mind again in secret against this black bargain. I would fain have believed that a stop would be put to it, yet I remained very discouraged with fear it would be. I was enquiring

how the ministers of Edinburgh were pleased; they told me that Mr. Sandilands said in his sermon, that if this Union was carried on, England would make us hewers of wood and drawers of water. This, indeed, looked something like plain dealing, and, as he was watchman, to warn his people of their danger.

A little after this the articles appeared; but this is such an unpleasant subject, that I weary to write how every thing contributed to the grief of my spirit. To see our noblemen and gentry, that were parliamenters, so mad as to go in with so unreasonable terms. There were none among them all to witness and appear for this poor nation but my Lord Belhaven, who spoke to good purpose in his two speeches against the Union; but to no effect, for this was concluded.

After all was done and over I began to have some sad reflections on what had been done, and how melancholy it was that we were sold to the hands of our enemies, who ever sought our hurt, but never our well; for then were these things brought to my consideration: First, It but fares with Scotland as it did with Christ Himself; for He was sold into the hands of His enemies, and what needs it be thought strange though they have sold His house and family! Secondly, Christ was sold by those in His own house and family, and so was poor Scotland! It was our own nobles and some of our gentry that did this mischievous thing. Thirdly, Judas sold Christ for money, though he was not the richer of it; so our Judases sold this land for money, as they call equivalent; O sad equivalent! Fourthly, After Christ was sold by Judas, then did they mock, reproach, and use all manner of contempt to this ever-blessed plant of renown; so it is with us, are we not become a reproach to all our neighbours? And those to whom we are sold, they use very bitter and malicious speeches against us, and with venom do they spue them out, to the grief of the most part of the godly in this land; and even they that are but true Scotsmen cannot but be touched with such indignities done to us. There was a word went much with me for some time, which I applied to this case: Isa. xxiv. 16, “The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.” I desire to bless the Lord however it went; I was sometime, now and then, getting the King’s ear in secret, which kept up my heart when almost sunk. As for the public ordinances, they were much deserted as to me; I found little of the Lord’s mind there. I shall lay the blame on myself and no other. I went to several places where the Sacrament was given, but I found an absent Lord; yet I dare not say this altogether, for I heard Mr. John Flint at one of them on Rev. iii. 12, “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.” O what I felt of the love of God in this sermon! In every sentence I thought I found life and power, and a vehement desire to be where I would go no more out to sin and a vain world again.

(To be Continued.)

Searmoin.

LEIS AN URR. MR. EOIN BROUN, WAMPHRAY, 1680.

“An sin thubhairt an Tighearn rium, Ged’ sheasamh Maois agus Samuel a’m’ lâthair, cha bhiodh m’anam leis an t-sluagh so; cuir a mach iad a m’fhianuis, agus siubhladh iad air falbh.”—IEREMIAH xv. I.

ANN an àm, do thaobh peacaidhean follaiseach a bhi ’meud-achadh, ’sam bheil an Tighearn a’ tabhairt air agbaidh trioblaidean follaiseach agus coitchionn, air doigh àraidh an leithid ’sa tha sguabadh air falbh am firean maille ris an aingidh, agus nach b’urrainn sin a bhi air a bhacadh no air a chumail air ais, le uile urnuighean agus asluchaidh a phobuill, ciod sam bith co dhùrachdach ’sa bhiodh iad a’ guidhe, cha mheasar e na mhìr ro bheag do dhoillbeachd, cionnas a choisneas creid’mhach gu beatha sam bith a bhi aige, no aithne a bhi aige ciod e sin beatha a bhi aige, ann an leithid sin do latha brònach. Feudaidh e uime sin bhi air son féum gu’n labhair sinn beagan uime so, gu sònruichte do bhrigh ’s gu’m bheil e gle chosmhail gu’r e so cor na ginealaich so.

Tha na briathran so, agus an leithid so do dh’earrainnean, a’ nochdadh dhuiinn, gu dearbh gu’m bheil àm ann, ’nuair a tha Dia mar so air a bhrosnachadh le peacaidhean an t-sluagh, an deigh mòr fhoighidinn agus fhad-fhulangais a mhìghnathachadh, naca éisd e ri athchuinge gus a bhuille a chumail air ais a tha e h’ rùnachadh a chuir, no a bhagair e do thaobh brosnachaidhean, ni mò a bhitheas a chuid is urramaich do a luchd fàbhair agus gleachd, a bhuaidhaich aig cuid do dh’amaibh mar phrionnsaibh maille ris, nach bi iad comasach air seasamh ’san rathad, agus a bhuille a chuir seachad, le’n uile urnuighean agus athchuinge’ dhùrachdach. Bha Dia a’ rùnachadh a thabbhairt air sluagh Iudah an fhàsalachd a bhagair e o chian-fhada, an ni a chuir e an céill le a sheirbhiseach Ieremiah, ag radh anns vii. caib. 14, 15. Gu’n deanadh e r’a thigh aig Ierusalem a dh’ainnicheadh air-san, agus anns na chuir iadsan an dòchas, mar a rinn e ri Siloh; agus gu’n tilgeadh e iad a mach as a shealladh, mar a thilg e mach am braithrean, an t-iomlan de shliochd Ephraim. Agus a chum ’s gu’n tuigeadh Ieremiah cinnteachas a bhagair so, tha e ’cuir ris, anns an 16, “Uime sin na dean thus urnuigh air son an t sluaigh so, ni mò a chuireas tu suas glaodh no athchuinge as an leth, ni mò a ni thu eadar-ghuidhe rium-sa, oir cha’n éisd mise riut.” Cha’n ’eil an Tighearn a’ ciallachadh cho mòr le so is gu’m b’ail leis gu’n sguireadh Ieremiah, agus nach deanadh e urnuigh tuille as an leth, mar air son cinnteachas a rùn agus a shuidheachadh gus a bhreith-eanas a thoirt air a h-aghaidh, air a leithid do dhoigh ’s nach buadhaicheadh uile luchd eadar-ghuidhe no eadar-mheadhoin. Agus tha so a ris air ath-nuadhachadh, anns a xi. 14. Uime sin na dean thus urnuigh air son an t-sluagh so, ni mò a thogas tu

sua glaoth no athchuinge as an leth, oir cha’n éisd mise ‘san àm anns an glaoth iad rium ‘nan airc. Mar gu’n abradh e, tha’n t-ordugh a nis air dol a mach, ni mò a bhudhaicheas iad air an son féin, no thus as an leth. Gidheadh cha b’urrainn do Ieremiah tròcaireach an di-chuimhneachadh ann a chuid urnuighean, ach tha e ag eadar-ghuidhe gu dûrachdach ris an Tighearn air an son, Ieremiah xiv. 1, ‘o thus a chaibideil gus an 10 rann. Ni mu’n dubhairt an Tighearn ris an treas uair, rann 11, Na guidh as leth an t-sluaigh so air son an leas. Gidheadh air son so uile, tha Ieremiah o’n 19, gu deireadh a chaibideil, a’ dol air aghaidh ann an obair na h-urnuigh, a’ guidhe sa’ tagair gu dûrachdach air an son. Ach a nis tha’n Tighearn ag innseadh dha, caib. xv. 1, Nach buadhaicheadh Maois no Samuel as an leth; agus uime sin gu’m feudadh esan a bhi na’s fearr air a thoileachadh gu chluinn-tean nach deonaicheadh Dia athchuingean féin air an son.

Tha’n leithide sin againn air a radh ceithir uairean thairis, Esec. xiv. 14, 16, 18, 20. Ged’ bhiodh an triuir fhear so, Noah, Daniel, agus Iob, innte, cha saoradh iad ach an anama féin le’m fireant-achd, deir an Tighearn Dia. Agus a ris, ged’ bhiodh an triuir dhaoine so ann, mar is beò mise, tha’n Tighearn Dia ag radh, cha saoradh iad aon-chuid mic no nigheanna, shaoirteadh iad féin a mhain, ach bhiodh am fearann fàs. Tha chùis ma seadh, air am bheil sinne gu aire thabhairt follaiseach; ‘se sin, gu’m bheil àm ann, ‘nuair a thig peacaidhean sluaigh gu a leithid sin do dh’airde, ‘s nach caomhainn Dia air sgàth eadar-ghuidhe duine beò. Cha’n éisd e ri athchuinge sam bith. Bha sin na bhinn neo-chaochluid-each agus dosheachanta ann an aghaidh tigh Eli urramaich, 1 Sam. iii. 14. Agus uime sin mhionnaich mi do thig Eli, nach glanar as aingidheachd tighe Eli, le h-iobairt no le tabhairteas gu bràth. ‘Nuair a b’aill leis an Tighearn toiseachadh, b’aill leis criochnachadh mar an ceudna, mar a tha e air a radh, rann 12. Mar an ceudna, Isa. xx. 14. Agus dh’fhoillsicheadh le Tighearn na’n sluaigh ann mo chluasaibh, gu deimhin cha ghlunar an aingidheachd so air falbh uaibh gus am faigh sibh bàs. Tha àm ann, ‘nuair a tha chrioch air teachd, agus ‘nuair a bheir an Tighearn breith air sluagh do reir an slighibh, agus a dhiolas e orra an grainealachdan uile; agus nach caomhainn a shuil, ni mò a ghabhas e truas; mar ann an Esec. vii. 2-10. Agus nach gabh an Tighearn seachad orra nì’s mò, Amos vii. 8; viii. 2.

Cha’n urrainn a leithid do dh’àm agus do fhrithealadh ‘sa tha’n so gun bhi trioblaideach agus doilghiosach do gach neach a tha fo churam mu thimchioll na cuis, agus feudaidh beachd air na nithe sonraichte so bhi nochdadh cia dubhach ‘sa ta e, ‘nuair a tha’n Tighearn air a bhrosnachadh ann an aghaidh sluagh ann an leithid do dhoigh ‘s nach dean eadar-ghuidhe na dream is mo fabhair maile ris, muinntir aig cuid do amaibh, aig an athchuinge gu’n d’fhoillsich e co-aontachaidhean iongantach de e ghras, nach buadhaich iad gus a bhuelle a chumail air a h-aig; cha dean aon chuid Maois no Samuel so le cheile.

1. Gu’n d’rinn an Tighearn moran air eadar-ghuidhe agus athchuinge an dithis so, air mhodh araidh Maois agus Samuel; air son Mhaois, faic Exod. xxxii. far an robh an Tighearn fo’ leithid do dh’fhearg is do dhiumadh ris an t-sluagh air son pilltinn cho grad as an t-slighe, agus deanamh an laoigh oir, is gu’n dubhairt e ri Maois, rann 9, 10, Chunnaic mi an sluagh so, agus feuch is sluagh rag-mhuinealach iad. ‘Nis, uime sin, leig leam, a chum’s gu’n las mo choruich ‘nan aghaidh, agus claoidhidh mi iad; agus fathast air eadar-ghuidhe Mhaois, ag radh, ann an rainn 11, 12, 13, C’ar son, a Tighearn, a ta do choruich a’ lasadh an aghaidh do shluaghaigh, a thug thu mach a talamh na h-Eiphit, le cumhachd mhòr, agus le laimb threin, &c. Tha e air a radh, rann 14, Gu’n do ghabh an Tighearn aithreachas d’an olc a bhagair e a dheanamh air a shluagh. Air an doigh cheudna mar air son Shamuel, chi sinn, 1 Sam. vii., ‘Nuair a bha clann Israel fo’ eagal mhòr mu na Philistich, thubhairt iad ri Samuel, rann 8, Na sguir do ghlaodhaich ris an Tighearn ar Dia, air ar son, a chum’s gu’n saor e sinn o laimb na Philistich. Agus air son so ghlaodh Samuel ris an Tighearn air son Israel, agus dh’eisd an Tighearn ris. Faic, mar an ceudna Salm xcix. 6. Nach brònach an ni, gu’m bheil an Tighearn, a rinn aig cuid do dh’amaibh cho mòr air eadar-ghuidhe na dream so, a nis co mòr air a bhrosnachadh’s nach gabhadh e suim d’an eadar-ghuidhe, ‘s nach caomhnadh e air an iarrais?

2. Gu’n do chaomhainn an Tighearn gu minig, agus gu’n do chum e bhuilt air ais o a shluagh air sgath eadar-mheadhonair-eachd muinntir eile, mar Amos vii. 2, 3, 5, 6, ‘Nuair a rinn e urnuigh air son an t-sluaghaigh, agus a thubhairt e, O Tighearn’ Dhe, maith, guidheam ort; co thogas suas Iacob? oir tha re o bheag. Ghabh an Tighearn aithreachas dheth so: cha tachair so. Agus a ris rinn e urnuigh an dara h-uair, agus fhuair e am freagrachd ceudna. Air an doigh cheudna Nehemiah ix., agus Daniel ix., agus Asa, 2 Eachd. xiv. 11, agus Iehosaphat, 2 Eachd. xx., agus muinntir eile.

3. Gu’n do chum an Tighearn aig cuid do amaibh air ais a bhuilt, eadhon ‘nuair a rinn muinntir gun ghras, aig nach robh maoidean araidh ann am fabhair Dhe, ‘nuair a rinn iad urnuigh agus a dh’rioslaich siad iad fein; mar a chaomhainn e Ninebhe, an deigh gn’n d’rinn an sluagh nàdurach sin iad fein iroslaichadh. Agus an duine aingidh sin, Ahab, a rinn olc ann an sealladh an Tighearn os-cionn na h-uile a bha roimhe, 1 Righre xvi. 30, 33, ‘nuair a reub e eudach, agus a chuir e saic-eudach air fheoil, agus a thraisg e’sa luidh e ann an eudach-saic, agus a dh’umhaidich se e fein, chuir an Tighearn dàil anns a bhuilt agus cha d’thugadh e an t-olc air a thigh na là, 1 Righre xvi. 27, 29. Cia dubhach a dh’fheumas e bhi ma ‘seadh, esan, aig cuid do amaibh a phill o ghaire a choruich, agus a chum air ais an t-olc a bhagair e, air son glaothaich muinntir gun ghràs, nach éisd e a nis ri guidhe na dream a’s mò na fhabhair?

4. Taisbeanaidh am frithealadh so mar an ceudna ni’s ro

thrioblaidich’ agus dhubhaich’, ma bheir sinn fainear am meas mor a th’aig an Tighearn ann an urnuighean agus ann an eadar-ghuidhe a phobuill ainmeil. Leithid do chliu ‘sa tha aig orra, ‘s gu’m bheil aithris air gu dearbh gle ainneamh agus comhraichte. Leig dhomh, a deir e ri Maois, Exod. xxxii. 11, mar gu’m bu treise Maois na esan, agus gu’n do cheangail e suas a làmhan; no mār nach b’urrainn Dia a bheag sam bith a dheanamh as eugmhais ordugh no aont’ Mhaois. ‘S amhuil a thubhaint e ri Jacob, Gen. xxxii. 26, ‘nuair a bha e ‘gleachd ris le urnuighean agus athchuinge-an, Hosea xii. 4. Leig as mi; mar nach b’urrainn e falbh a dh’easbhuidh cead agus ordugh Iacoib; agus tha e air a radh mu Jacob gu’n d’thug e buaidh mar phrionns maillle ri Dia, agus uime sin gu’m bheil ainm air ath’rachadh gu Israel.

1. Cuir ri so mar-an-ceudna na geallaidhean minig a rinn an Tighearn gu’n eisdeadh e ri’n leithide sin do thaobh muinntir eile, Gen. xx. 7. Thubhaint an Tighearn ri Abimelich, thoir air a h-ais do’n duine a bhean, oir is fàidh e, agus ni e urnuigh air do shon, agus bithidh tu beò. Mar an ceudna, Iob. xlii. 8. Sheòl an Tighearn cardean Iob gu a chuir air obair na h-urnuigh air an son, le gealladh gu’n soirbhicheadh e leis. Rachaibh a dh’ionnsuidh m’oglach Iob, agus iobraidh e iobairt loisgte air bhuir son féin, agus ni m’oglach Iob urnuigh air bhuir son, oir ris-san gabhaidh mi. Cia brònach ma ‘seadh a dh’fheumas e bhi, ‘nuair nach éisd an Tighearn ri’n leithide sin. Faic mar an ceudna, Seumas v. 14, 15, 16.

2. ‘Seadh aig cuid dò amaibh tha sinn a’ leughadh, gu’n do shaor an Tighearn, ‘nuair nach robh eadar-mheadhonair ann, Isa. lix. 16, 17. Agus chunnaic e nach robh eadar-mheadhonair ann. Uime sin dh’oibrich a ghairdean féin slainte air a shon, agus ‘fhireantachd féin chum i suas e. ‘Nach e a choruich ma ‘seadh a dh’fheumas bhi mòr, ‘nuair nach caomhainn e, agus nach gabh e truas, eadhon ge d’ bhiodh a phobull a’s ro-aimeil, air am bheil e a’ cuir mòr urram, na’n seasamh ‘na lathair, agus a’ cuir suas an athchuinge air son sluagh peacach?

3. Thubhaint e, Salm l. 15, Gairm orm ann an latha teanntachd, agus saoraidh mise thu. Nach brònach an ni ma ta, ‘nuair a tha aingidheadch air teachd gu leithid do dh’airde, ‘s nach e a mhain nach éisd an Tighearn ris an t-sluagh iad féin ‘nuair a ghlaodhas iad; ach mar an ceudna nach éisd e ri guidhe no ri aslachaidh na dream a’s mò a bhuadhaich maillle ris aig amaibh eile?

4. Mar an ceudna ma bheir sinn fainear cia co neo-fhreagair-each ‘sa tha so a’ taisbeanadh a bhi do’n ainm agus do’n tiodal a fhuair e, agus thug beachdachadh air an ni cheudna, misneach do sheirbhisich gu gairm air-san: Mar Salm lxv. 2. “O thus a dh’eisdeas ri h-urnuigh, thugad-sa thig gach feòil.” Cha’n urrainn a leithid do fhrithealadh ‘sa tha so gun bhi dubhach agus craiteach.

Ma bhitheas e air fheorach c’uin a thugheas sinn an t-àm a bhi a leithid as nach éisd an Tighearn ri eadar-ghuidhe, no urnuighean,

no athchninge an dream a’s mò fabhair, air son sluagh peacach, an aghaidh am bheil an Tighearn a’ teachd ann an breitheanas? Freagram, ged’ nach feud sinn a bhi iomlan ann an so, a’ fiosrachadh gu’m bheil an Tighearn aig cuid do amaibh a’ gabhail tlachd ann a bhi gniomhrachadh do reir ard-uachdranachd a thròcair, air son gloir a shaor-ghràis agus a thruais; agus uime sin feumar rùm fhàgail do dh’uachdranachd saor-ghràs: gidheadh, ma bheir sinn fa’near staid an t-sluaigh so, mu’m bheil so air a radh, agus gu’m faic sinn ciod an aingidheachd d’an robh iad ciontach aig an àm so, feudaidh sinn a bheachdachadh gu’m feud suil a bhi ris an ni cheudna, far am bheil Dia anns an ni cheudna agus air an doigh cheudna air a bhrosnachadh, agus ‘nuair a tha e a’ teachd ann am breitheanas ann an aghaidh sluagh, aig am bheil na h-uile cheudna ri chuir as an leth, tha e na aobhar eagail nach dean urnuigh, no eadar-ghuidhe aon neach no neach eile an gnothach gus a bhuille no a bhreitheanas a chumail air a h-ais. Mu pheacaidhean an t-sluaigh so air son nach éisdeadh an Tighearn ri eadar-ghuidhe sam bith, ainmichidh sinn tearc dhiubh, a chum’s gur fhearr a thui geas sinn cainnt frithealaidh Dhé san àm air lathair; agus a chum rannsachadh agus fhaicinn co-dhiubh a tha aobhar eagail ann no nach ‘eil, air son an e breitheanas do-sheachanta is crannchuir do na ghinealach so.

1. ‘Nuair a tha peacaidhean agus ceannairc ann an aghaidh an Tighearn air teachd gu airde ro mhòr, agus ‘nuair a tha claonaidhean mòr agus soilleir air tòiseachadh, agus air an tabhairt air an aghaidh le cuirt agus duthaich, an sin tha’n Tighearn fo cheangal air son ainm agus a cheartas a dhion ‘an sealladh an t-saoghail, a chum as gu’m faic na h-uile nach ‘eil esan na fhear dion aingidheachd, eadhon ann an sluagh a ta air an gairm air ainm. Mar so bha e ann an laithean Mhanaseh, neach maileiri a chlùirt a ghniomh’raich a leithid do dh’aingidheachd. anl tromaichte, nach robh riamh roimhe ‘san àite sin air an cuir an gniomh, mar a chithear ann an 2 Righre xxi. 1-10, 2 Eachd. xxxiii. 1-11, anns an robh an tir gu h-iomlan air a ribeadh. Uime sin bhagair an Tighearn, 2 Righre xxi. 12, 13, 14, &c., Agus sinidh mi mach os cionn Ierusalem sreang-thomhais Shamaria agus sreang-riaghailt thigh Ahaib; se sin, gu’n deanadh e ri Ierusalem mar a rinn e ri Samaria agus ri tigh Ahaib, agus nach caomhnadh e iad so ni ‘s mò na iad sud. Agus (ni a tha gle chomhraichte) an aingidheachd so cha mhaitheadh an Tighearn, ge d’ fhuair Manaseh féin tròcair, agus ge do dh’ath-leasaich e ann an iomadh ni roimh a bhàs, fathast ge do bha ath-leasachadh ni bu ro choitchionn ann an laithean Iosia ogha, mu am bheil e air a radh nach robh a leithid do righ ann; oir tha e air a radh, 2 Righre xxiii. 25, 26, 27, “Cosmhail ris-san cha robh righ air bith roimhe, a phill a dh’ionnsuidh an Tighearn le uile chridhe, agus le ‘uile anam, agus le ‘uile neart, a reir lagh Mhaois uile; agus na dheigh cha d’eirich a shamhail. Gidheadh, tha e air a radh, cha do phill an Tighearn o theas fheirge mhòr, leis an do las fhearg an

aghaidh Iudah, air son na’n uile bhrosnachadh leis an do bhrosnaich Manaseh e. Agus thubhairt an Tighearn, ath’raichidh mi Iudah mar an ceudna as mo shealladh, &c.; agus anns an aite cheudna, Ierem. xv., an deigh gu’n d’thubhairt an Tighearn, rann 1, Ge do sheasadh Maois agus Samuel na lathair, nach biodh inntinn leò; ach gu’n tilgeadh se iad a mach as a shealladh, “a chum a bhàis, a chum a chlaidhe, a chum na goirt, agus a chum na braighdeanais,” rann 2, “gus a chlaidheamh, a chum na’n con, a chum eunlaith an athair, agus a chum beathaichean na machrach,” 3. Tha e ag radh, anns an 4 rann, Agus fuadaichidh mi iad air feadh uile rioghachdan an domhain, air son Mhanaseh, mhc Heseciah, righ Iudaih, air son na nithe sin a rinn e ann an Ierusalem.

(Ri leantuin.)

Sermons by J. Ik. Popham.*

THIS tastily-got-up volume of 283 pages contains twenty-five sermons, which are arranged in four groups. These groups are: Justification. Confession and Prayer, Constraining Reasons to live to the Lord, and Restoration. These discourses are serious and godly. The book is really a unit, and ought to be read from beginning to end. The doctrine of these sermons will be then seen to be comparable to a stream which, breaking forth from the roots of great mountains, after passing through places—some smooth and others rough, some sombre and others bright—at length issues in a sweet, broad river, whose waters are peaceful and exhilarating.

To those of our readers who do not have the privilege of a personal acquaintance with this Strict Baptist preacher, we shall most easily and faithfully convey what is his theological standpoint by saying that he belongs to the same school of thought as did the late well-known Mr. J. C. Philpot. Not that Mr. Popham’s preaching—save for its clearness, seriousness, and spirituality—reminds one much of Mr. Philpot. Mr. Philpot was one of the greatest textual preachers of modern times, and his expositions, which, as a rule, are at once so energetically and spiritually true, remain ever after with spiritual readers as a precious inheritance. As an experimental preacher, Mr. Philpot had a remarkable insight into, and dwelt very largely upon, the doctrine and experience of effectual calling. Mr. Popham’s mind, although not trained altogether as Mr. Philpot’s was, is, in the technical sense, of a more theological cast, the doctrines to which his soul most fully responds being such as the Trinity, the Person of Christ, and Justification. In the field of experience we find Mr. Popham’s great exercise to be concerning indwelling sin and sanctification.

* London: Farncombe & Son, 30 Imperial Buildings, E.C.
Brighton: Mr. Popham, “Normandien,” Surrenden Road.

We prize these sermons on account of the persistent manner in which, in order to salvation, a thorough change of a sinner’s state and nature is insisted on. We prize them for the comfort which they are fitted to convey to those whose experience is that “the depths have closed them round about, that the weeds are wrapped about their head;” and we prize them still further for the sane, practical advice given to anxious enquirers. As illustrating our last remark, take the following from a sermon whose heading is “Faith’s Labour For Rest”:—”These and all other other gracious invitations,” says Mr. Popham, “such as ‘Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool’—these all constitute a great and immovable, gracious and suitable warrant for poor people to stand on, mention, and plead in prayer before the Almighty. You may stand and hesitate, saying to yourself, ‘I do not know if my thirst is right, if my convictions are of the Spirit, if my want of rest is not only natural.’ Or you may say, ‘Those portions have not been given me.’ But do let me invite your strict attention to this—do you find such a point raised in any of the Scriptures I have quoted, or in any part of the Word of God? There is His revealed will, our warrant—not only the portions that have been made over to us, nor whether we have grace already wrought in us according to our own judgment. Christ says ‘the sick need a physician, etc.'” We should like, did not space forbid, to give several quotations from these practical and savoury discourses, but let what has been quoted for the present suffice.

Mr. Popham has, no doubt, followed in the line of the greatest Strict Baptist preachers in maintaining, as in the sermons, “Justification Twofold,” that Justification is a state belonging to the people of God ever since Christ rose from the dead on their behalf. We prefer the Westminster Confession’s way of stating this matter:—”God did from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect; and Christ did, in the fulness of time, die for their sins and rise again for their justification: nevertheless they are not justified until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them.”

We hope it shall not be thought ungracious that we have thus referred to the solitary doctrinal point with which we find it difficult to agree with Mr. Popham in a volume of sermons which we have experienced as being well fitted to solemnise, to convict, to instruct, and to comfort, in a healthy manner, precious, sinful souls. We hope the volume may have a large circulation.

J. R. M.

A notice of the late Mr. Thomas Forbes, elder, Inverness, is, we regret, held over till next issue. Death is busy at present. Mrs. M’Callum, Auchenlochan, Kames, a very aged and worthy person, known to some of our readers, has just passed away.

The late Mrs. Macleod, Laide.

IT is now nearly a year since the subject of this brief notice came, we believe, to the end of the days of her mourning. Mrs. Macleod, Laide, was born some 73 years ago at Sheildaig, Lochcarron. When a comparatively young girl, she heard that eminent Catechist, William Urquhart, father of the late William Urquhart, Cove, conducting a prayer meeting in Plockton, and the impressions that day received lasted with her throughout life. In 1873 she was left a widow, with a young helpless family of three sons and one daughter. Even then the Lord Himself was her stay and her help; and her experiences of the faithfulness of her God during those years of trial were, it is not too much to think, a means of disciplining her, so as that in later years, when the cause of truth became low, and its friends few, she was enabled without shame or slavish fear to be foremost among those who identified themselves with the much despised and suffering cause.

Mrs. Macleod, besides being a woman of deep experience of the power of the truth, and strong in faith in her reliance on it, was a person whose intelligence was considerably above the average. Her talents, in this regard, were recognised by the Free Church, who at one time employed her for several years in succession as a Bible reader among the Highland fisher girls employed at Fraserburgh and Peterhead. In this capacity Mrs. Macleod was very acceptable, and won the confidence of those to whom, in a humble way, she ministered. After this she received some training in nursing in a hospital at Gairloch, which the late Mr. Francis Mackenzie, of Bulgaria, had established and was then supporting. With this training she came, some 31 years ago, as a nurse to Laide, Aultbea, and at Laide she continued to live until her course here below was finished, on the 25th January, 1907. It is not too much to say that Mrs. Macleod was the most noted Christian woman in that district, at least within recent years. Ever since the appointment, in 1889, of Dr. Dods to the Professorship of New Testament Exegesis in room of the godly Dr. George Smeaton, she felt her position in the Free Church an uncomfortable one, and used, we are told, to be much exercised in those days with the words of Isaiah lii. 11—”Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing, go ye out of the midst of her, be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” The separation, which took place in 1893, was, on this account, a relief to her; and she was, besides, oftentimes the means of comforting those who, along with her, stood for the truth with those consolations wherewith she herself was upheld by the Word of the Lord.

The writer cherishes the sincerest reverence for her precious memory, and on that account, though a reference to her removal is so delayed, trusts even at this late hour that some space may be found in the pages of the Free Presbyterian Magazine for a brief notice.

J. R. M.

The late Mrs. Mackenzie, Dochnaclair, Fodderty.

WHILE we ought to be thankful that our Dingwall Congregation is somewhat increasing in numbers, we regret to have so often to mention the removal by death of some of God’s people from our midst.

The subject of this sketch was an eminent Christian woman—brought under the saving influence of the Gospel, and nourished, under the ministry of some of the most eminent ministers of Christ that lived and laboured in the Highlands of Scotland in the past, and who have long since entered the rest that remains to the people of God. Mrs. Mackenzie was brought under the saving influence of the Gospel at a comparatively early age. We are not able to give the exact date of her conversion, but from information received it would appear that she would be between twenty-five and thirty years of age when the great change took place. She was brought under conviction of sin by means of a sermon preached by Dr. Kennedy from Rev. iii. 20, and brought into the liberty of the Gospel by a sermon preached by the Rev. John Macrae (Big M’Rae) from Jer. xxiv. 7. Being near Dingwall she often heard Dr. Kennedy, for whom she had the greatest regard, and under whose ministry her soul was fed and edified. After that majestic preacher had been removed to his eternal rest, she sat under the ministry of that sweet and neat preacher of the Gospel, the Rev. Mr. Macdougall, Fodderty. Under the ministry of these eminent men of God she grew in grace, and bore the stamp of the bright Christians who are now fast disappearing out of this sinful world, to shine in the perfect image of Christ in the world of purity, light, and happiness.

When the banner was displayed in 1893 in defence of the truth—when an indefinite Creed was adopted by the Free Church, which allowed its office-bearers and members to do what was “right in their own eyes,” Mrs. Mackenzie joined the Free Presbyterian Church, that adhered steadfastly to the principles and doctrines of the Free Church of 1843; and she was to the end a worthy member and liberal supporter of our Congregation at Dingwall. As an evidence of her attachment to the cause of God in our Church, and of her liberality in support of it, she gave £20 sterling in aid of our Church Building Fund. She was a widow for eighteen years. Her husband, though not a professing member of the Church, was believed to have had “good hope through grace” towards the end of his course in this world. On his deathbed his prayer was that of the Psalmist in the Fifty-first Psalm (verses 7, 8, and 9), and Forty-third Psalm (verse 3). His last prayer the morning he died was that of the publican, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner.” They had a family of twelve—eight sons and four daughters. Five sons and three daughters

were present at her funeral. Mrs. Mackenzie, on her deathbed, felt greatly concerned about the eternal salvation of her family, and prayed earnestly for them. She wished them to acknowledge the testimony our Church had raised in defence of God’s cause in the land, and to support it. One, at least, of her family is connected with our Congregation in this town, and is a member in full communion, who is enabled by grace to follow the good example of her godly mother.

Mrs. Mackenzie was, for some years before her end, unable to move much from home, but she made an effort to be present at our Communion till, through the infirmity of old age, she could not venture the journey to Dingwall. In her last illness, which lasted two months, the Rev. J. R. Mackay, Inverness, and the writer visited her. Though weak in body she appeared happy, and when she began to speak of “the days of old” her face beamed with joy. She expressed her great admiration of the late Dr. Kennedy, and told us that it was when hearing him, in her younger days, preach from the text already mentioned that she was brought under concern about the salvation of her immortal soul. She knew she was dying, but death had no terror for her—the sting was taken out of it. She was weary of the body of sin, and was longing to be delivered from it. She loved the singing of Psalms, and shortly before she expired she repeated the Twenty-third Psalm, and spoke of the efficacy of the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all sin. She fell asleep in Jesus on the eleventh day of April, 1907, at the ripe age of eighty-one years.

D. M.F.

Protestant Notes.

Irish Priests, and what a Friend has to say about them.—Miss Katherine Lyan (Mrs. Hurksan), writing in the Fortnightly Review, speaks in glowing terms of the Irish priesthood. Here is how she describes them:—”They love the gaieties of the country and the people. They dine out, they are leading—one had almost said the leading—figures at weddings and christenings. They are sportsmen, they love a race-meeting or a game at cards, they enjoy a good dinner and a glass of punch to follow. Yet it is in the midst of this social, and one may say, material enjoyment, that the high vocation of the Irish priest is to my mind so manifest. I have looked on and taken part in hundreds of card games where priests were among the players. In all my experience, I cannot recall one instance in which a priest was greedy, ill-tempered, or anything but a gentleman and a sportsman—winning and losing with equal equanimity. . . . I have seen them on the racecourse dispensing their wonderful hospitality, spreading geniality as they went about among friends and neighbours, ‘putting their bit’ in a sweepstake, and enjoying their losing or their winning with the same cheerful equanimity as at the card-table.” Pity the flock when such are the shepherds!

The Bible in Portugal.—Recently the Colporteur of the British and Foreign Bible Society was brought to trial in Portugal for selling Bibles, but fortunately the Judges of Appeal acquitted him, and in doing so they said that the so-called Protestant Bible contains no word or passage that is not found textually in the Catholic Bible; the permission for the exercise of the Protestant religion in this country accorded in the Constitutional Charter; and the prohibition also contained therein against prosecution for religious reasons.

The Bishop of Newcastle and the Ritualists.—Dr. Straton, the new Bishop of Newcastle, was not long in his see when the Ritualists were made to feel that he is not a man to be trifled with. In the parish of St. Philip, Newcastle-on-Tyne, a new Mission Church had been erected. The curate-in-charge is the Rev. V. Jackson, an extreme Ritualist. On making application to Dr. Straton for a license for the new Church the Bishop refused to grant it unless the services should be conducted in accordance with the law of the Church of England. The curate refused to give this promise, with the result that the Bishop refused to license the Church as a place of worship. The Bishop’s firm attitude on the matter is causing no small commotion among the Ritualists.

Grievances from Ireland.—If one wishes to get some idea what Ireland would be like under Roman Catholic ascendancy, he would do well to study carefully the material gleaned from the Irish press, and presented monthly in the pages of “Grievances from Ireland.” It is only recently that Lord Ashtown, who is doing his best to expose Irish Roman Catholic methods in this periodical, narrowly escaped with his life. It is almost inconceivable that in a civilized land such daring outrages would be perpetrated. Lord Ashtown and his assistants deserve every encouragement in their work. We, living in Scotland, could have no idea of what is taking place in Ireland were it not for this useful monthly. It may be had through the Imperial Protestant Federation, Dudley House, Southampton Street, Strand, London. Its price is one penny per month; twopence if sent by post.