Designed to assist the Labour of Missionaries and other Instructors of the Ignorant.
BY THE LATE REV. JOHN LOVE, D.D.
(Continued from page 184.)
SEVENTH ADDRESS.
BRETHREN and sisters, who desire to know the living God, we have declared to you some of the wonders of Jehovah; but there is no end of His wonders. When your minds come into the light of Jehovah, you will see one wonder following after another, as one wave follows after another all over the face of the ocean. When your minds come into the light of Jehovah, you will then be as in a new world, where all will be astonishing around you. You will then be surprised to see Jehovah manifesting Himself before your eyes, on the right hand and on the left, over your heads, and under your feet. Yea, when you consider your own bodies, and the immortal spirits which dwell in them, you will be astonished, and will say, “Behold the work of Jehovah, how fearfully and wonderfully hath He made us!”
Beloved friends, we desire to make you glad, by declaring to you the great Saviour of the world. In Him you will find rest and delight. He will smile sweetly upon you. And when you see Him with your minds, you will almost forget where you are; you will forget all that you ever saw, or heard, or enjoyed. But it is, at the beginning, like climbing up a steep mountain; if you grow sluggish and weary, and lie down upon the ground, you cannot get to the top of the mountain. And there are some other things which we must now tell you of, that you may duly regard and understand the glad tidings of the love of Jehovah.
Hearken, and understand, ye people of Otaheite! Our God, who made all things, is a Spirit, an invisible Spirit. By His unseen power He created the whole of this great world; He made all of it good, beautiful, and pleasant. But He did not design this great world to be His chief residence. Our God hath no body. It is with invisible spirits that He converseth. It is among invisible spirits chiefly that He dwells. Therefore, at a great distance, far above this world, far above the sun, the moon, and the stars, Jehovah created another world, much larger, and brighter, and more glorious than this world. That world is called heaven. That world is the place of the glorious residence of Jehovah; in comparison with it, this world which we think so great is but like a little tent or cottage. In that high and bright world Jehovah created a great multitude of invisible spirits. At His call they came pouring forth from their original nothing, in great armies, thousands of thousands, and myriads of myriads, till the vast heaven, which God made, was thronged with them, as you see a clustering multitude of winged fowls, sometimes,
darkening the air. These invisible spirits, called angels, are so glorious that if one of them were now to put on a visible form, and to appear in the midst of us, we would be all afraid and ashamed, and would fall flat upon the ground. And as you see the sky sometimes all bespangled with bright stars, from the surface of the earth and sea, all round upwards to the very top, so heaven, the residence of Jehovah, was in a moment filled with those bright armies.
When the numberless armies of bright angels rose up in heaven, immediately they saw Jehovah there; they saw that He was infinitely brighter than themselves; they knew that He had made them; they knew that they were as little grasshoppers or emmets before Him. Then the glorious armies of angels fell down before Jehovah and felt the awful majesty of His presence. But He said, “Fear not, ye sons of light, I welcome you into existence; I welcome you into the everlasting abode of Deity; I welcome you to the participation of My felicity and all-sufficiency; drink abundantly of these sacred springs which open to your view, and which pour their waters in all directions through this paradise. Be happy and glorious for ever; only be humble and grateful, and love your Creator.”
Then the blessed angels began to lift up their shining faces towards the bright throne of Jehovah, and there was a sweet murmuring of music softly breathing all over heaven, and the universal song of praise and thankfulness to Jehovah became gradually louder and louder, till it was like the roaring of the ocean, or like the solemn thunder of the skies.
You are glad, ye inhabitants of Otaheite! to hear of the bright world of Jehovah above these skies. You say, O that we might see that bright world full of glorious angels! Harken to the tidings of great joy which we bring you concerning the Saviour of the world. If you regard Him and trust in Him you shall go, as soon as you are dead, into that high and bright world; you shall be in the midst of the blessed angels; you shall hear their songs; you shall sing aloud in the midst of them.
The whole numberless armies of angels were singing aloud the praises of Jehovah. They sang together with exceeding great joy, and every one of them was singing to Jehovah with all his might. But at length there was one of them (observe attentively what we now say), there was one of them who began to sing more feebly than before, and while all around him were looking to the face of Jehovah, he began to steal away his eyes and to look at those who were near him; and though he was like a little grasshopper or emmet before Jehovah, who created them, he began to look proudly at himself, and an evil imagination rose up within him. He said within himself, “I will be like the Most High; I will not sing the praises of Jehovah; I will have the angels to praise and admire me.” Thus he became wicked, and he soon seduced many of the blessed angels to become wicked with him.
The multitude of good angels continued praising their Creator, not in the least imagining that any one could be so wicked as to rebel against the blessed Jehovah, till they saw some spots of darkness amidst the bright splendours of the throne of Jehovah, and the face of Jehovah seemed to frown with an awful terror, which obliged them to turn their eyes gently aside. Then they beheld many of their companions no longer singing to Jehovah, no longer bright, sweet, and joyful, but louring, black and ghastly, and turning round to flee out of heaven.
These wicked angels liked not to remain any longer amidst the assembly of the pure angels who continued to shine and rejoice as before. They were ashamed, and slunk away to the extremity of heaven, far from the throne of Jehovah. But, looking back, they saw from afar the flames of the wrath of Jehovah flashing amidst thick clouds, and “out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices.” And now, suddenly the ground withdrew itself from under them, and they were as hanging in the empty air, and looking down they saw an immense abyss of blackness unfolding itself. They started back, and would have held fast the brow of the precipice. But a whirlwind of fire came rolling forth from the throne of Jehovah, and hurled them forward like a great heavy mountain falling. They sank lower and lower for a long time. At length a vast world opened around them, large like heaven, but overspread with a tremendous blackness, under which was hid an astonishing expanse of fiery clouds like an ocean shoreless and bottomless. Into that fiery ocean these wicked, ungrateful angels were plunged, there to reside for ever, and to know the power and terrible glory of Jehovah, whom they had despised. The name of this world is Hell.
The name of that angel who first became wicked is Satan. When the first man and women were created, he came flying from his black prison; he saw the man and the woman; he hated them because they were good and loved Jehovah, and loved one another. Satan persuaded the man and woman to turn away from Jehovah and to become wicked like himself. And ever since he and many of his angels have often come into this world. Men and women, we perceive that they are in this island though you do not see nor hear them. They have been here persuading you to be wicked. These vile spirits take great delight to see men and women mingling together like the beasts of the field, without any true love to each other, and forgetful that they bear the image of Jehovah on their souls within their bodies. These wicked spirits take pleasure in blood, especially in the blood of little harmless infants.
We are come in the name of the great Saviour of the world to drive these wicked spirits from this island, and to show you, ye people of Otaitehe, how you may be saved from their power while you are living, and from going to their black world when you are dead. Therefore we advise you to go into some secret place
alone several times before we next speak to you. Then fall down before Jehovah, who sees you in secret, and say to Him, “Great Jehovah, Creator of this world which we behold, Creator of the worlds of spirits which we see not, give us to know Thee in our minds, give us to know the Saviour of the world, make us to understand the words of Thy servants concerning Him. Oh let not the wicked spirits deceive us; let them not make us wicked any longer; let them not draw us down unto their hell when we are dead!”
(To be Continued.)
A Letter from Rev. John B. Radasi.
THE following letter has been received by the Rev. John R. Mackay, M.A., Inverness:—
C/O NATIVE COMMISSIONER, BEMBESI,
MATABELELAND, SOUTH AFRICA, 30th July, 1908.
MY DEAR MR. MACKAY,—I was very glad to receive your kind letter of the 24th of June. It’s a good long while since I heard from you last, and I was just beginning to think that perhaps you did not get my last letter. I know how busy you are always, and that you have not much time to write often, but you may be sure I shall always be glad to hear from you whenever you can find time to write. I always get encouraged whenever I get a letter from one of our ministers. I was glad to hear that Mr. Donald Macleod had finished his Course of Study and that he had been ordained and sent as a missionary to our people in Canada. May the Lord go with him, and greatly bless his work there! I think that our people in Canada will be very pleased to have a minister of their own now.
I received the very interesting little book you sent—”Summary of Christian doctrine.” I am still reading it with great interest. I shall be very glad if you will also send me the other book you spoke of when you write again.
We have now got Shorter Catechisms in Kaffir. It is a great pity that the whole of the Psalms were never put in metre; it would be so very nice if we could get one to do it. I think Mr. Cameron spoke to some Bible Society people in London to see if they could not get someone to put all the Psalms in metre, and I hope that he will be successful. Pray for me that I may get grace to keep near to God, and to live by the faith of the Son of God, and that the Lord might hasten the time when Ethiopia will stretch out her hands to God.
Mrs. Radasi and the baby girl are still well. I do not know when she will be baptized yet, or whether it will be possible for one of our ministers to come or not, as the expense of coming is so great. . . . . . With kindest regards to you all, Mrs. Radasi joining.—Yours faithfully,
J. B. RADASI.
Address to His Majesty King Edward VII., ANENT ROMISH AGGRESSION AND THE EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS.
THE following Address was drawn up during the past month by a Committee of the Southern Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church, and forwarded to the Secretary of State for Scotland, for presentation to His Majesty King Edward VII.:—
“May it please your Majesty:
“The Southern Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland would most humbly and loyally, but very seriously, remind your Majesty that the policy of pandering to the intrigues of the Roman Catholic Church, and refusing to listen to the remonstrances of true, loyal Protestants, expelled the House of Stuart from the throne of Great Britain and Ireland, and that, if the present attitude of your Majesty and the Royal family be continued towards the Papacy, and if the expostulations of your Majesty’s Protestant subjects be persistently ignored, a bloody struggle of a Third Reformation may have to be fought, with consequences disastrous to your Majesty’s family, and most grievous to your Majesty’s loyal Protestant subjects.
“The Presbytery would humbly submit the following reasons for this their remonstrance and protest against any connivance on your Majesty’s part with this intriguing conclave—’The Roman Catholic Congress’—which forms part of a general attempt, in the name of religion, to undo, if possible, the whole work of the Reformation in your Majesty’s dominions, religiously, civilly, and politically.
“(1) The nations which emancipated themselves from the spiritual and civil thraldom of the Papacy at the Reformation became the homes of freedom, enlightened, powerful, and prosperous, whereas the nations which continued under the yoke of the Papacy are to-day weak, and for the most part poor, ignorant, and superstitious—full of anarchy and lawlessness.
“(2) The Papacy boasts of being always the same. This implies that the same intolerant and persecuting principles which, according to true history, produced in the past, by means of Jesuitical and diabolical intrigues, the most horrible acts of cruelty and massacre on innocent men, women, and children, who suffered for conscience’ sake, are still alive, and that if the Papacy gets ascendancy again, the same deeds of horror shall be perpetrated anew.
“(3) The Papacy aims at political supremacy over kings and their subjects. France has had such a bitter experience of this fact that she was recently compelled to expel the Jesuits, who tampered with her army to the extreme danger of the French nation, and to take strong measures to curb the power of the Papacy. Spain made an effort in the same direction, but failed to
free herself. But it is lamentable to observe that our country has opened her doors widely to these plotters and intriguers, and it is certain that our public press, army, and public offices will soon be filled with men disloyal to your Majesty’s throne, and a menace to the peace of this nation.
“(4) The ‘Eucharistic Congress,’ which is to be held in London this month by Roman Catholics, is to be presided over by a legate from the Pope. This Presbytery consider this a bold step against the laws of this realm still on the statute-book. The very name chosen for this Congress—’Eucharistic’—offers an insult to your Majesty, who, upon oath, declared the Mass a blasphemous fable and deceit, and also to your Majesty’s most loyal Protestant subjects, but, above all, it is a dishonour to Christ our Lord. Notwithstanding this, if reports be true, your Majesty intends to give these representatives of Papal Rome a grand reception, which your petitioners hope will not take place.
“For the above reasons, and others not stated, the members of this Presbytery, in their own name and in the name of many of your Majesty’s obedient and loyal subjects, protest against any reception being accorded these emissaries of a foreign power hostile to the best interests of this country, by your Majesty, the Royal family, or the members of the Government.”