| | PAGE. |
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| “NOW THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH,” | 161 |
| NOTES OF A SERMON. By the Rev. Neil Cameron, St. Jude’s, Glasgow, | 165 |
| THE LATE MRS. DONALD M’IVER, TOLSTA, | 173 |
| SCOTTISH HEROINES OF THE FAITH. By the Rev. D. Beaton, Wick, | 175 |
| MEMOIRS OF KATHERINE COLACE OR MRS. ROSS, | 183 |
| THE LATE MRS. MACDONALD OF SHIELDAIG AND INVERNESS, | 187 |
| LETTERS OF THE LATE JOHN MACLEOD, | 188 |
| THE MILITANT CHRISTIAN, | 190 |
| CUNNTAS AITHGHEARR MU BHEATHA AGUS MU BHAS IAIN KNOX, | 192 |
| PROTESTANT NOTES, | 197 |
| NOTES AND COMMENTS, | 198 |
| CHURCH NOTES, | 199 |
| THE MAGAZINE, | 200 |
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John Ross THE Free Presbyterian Magazine And MONTHLY RECORD.
VOL. XIV.
SEPTEMBER, 1909.
No. 5.
“Now the Just shall live by Faith.”
HEBREWS x. 38.
SOME time since, in calling attention to “the life of the just,” we observed that it was brought before us in certain portions of Scripture as a life of faith in relation to the Word of God and to the great benefit of Justification.* On the present occasion we shall consider some further aspects of the life of faith, as set forth in the tenth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews.
* See Magazine, vol. xiii., November, 1908.
First, then, the Apostle here declares that “the just shall live by faith” in the matter of drawing near to God.
“Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith.” This exhortation is given with special reference to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the great High Priest, who has entered into the holiest of all “by his own blood,” and who has thus consecrated “a new and living way” for His people, by which they also may enter into the holiest and have fellowship with the Father. Christ has taken away their sins by the sacrifice of Himself, and now stands as their Intercessor and Advocate within the veil. The ancient High Priest was only a figure and shadow of this glorious High Priest, who has made an efficacious atonement for sins, and whose intercession is sure and prevailing. “The just,” then, are called to the exercise of the “full assurance of faith,” or in other words, of the fullest confidence, in the truth and worth of Christ’s work as the “High Priest over the house of God,” and they are exhorted to draw near to the Most High in the exercise of this confidence or faith towards Christ as the one new and living way by which they can obtain access. The eye of God’s people must therefore be continually fixed upon the Lord Jesus as the Mediator in all their approaches unto God at the throne of grace, and they are only to expect an answer in peace in virtue of the merit of His sacrifice and the power of His intercession. They are the best believers, then, whose faith is most occupied with their own spiritual needs on the one hand, and with the glory and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ as the way unto the Father, on the other. Faith is the gift of God; and in this, as in all its other exercises, the soul must be indebted to the operation of the divine Spirit who is promised and offered in the Gospel. “Ask, and it shall be given you.”
Secondly, it is made plain that “the just shall live by faith” in the task of adhering to their profession.
“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for He is faithful that promised.” They are here exhorted to maintain their profession of faith in Christ with unwavering confidence, but they are not encouraged to this steadfastness by any call to contemplate their own ability or loyalty. Their eye is directed to the Lord Himself as the faithful, promise-keeping Jehovah. “He is faithful that promised.” It is by faith in His word, in His promises, and in His faithfulness, that the just are expected to live and stand fast in the faith of the Gospel. Being taught by the Holy Spirit to distrust themselves and their own ability to hold fast any good thing, they are constrained and enabled to depend entirely upon the almighty strength and unswerving faithfulness of Him who is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and who has promised never to leave or forsake any of His people—any poor soul whose desire and confidence are towards Him. Such persons then must live by faith in adherence to their profession, and it is when they get strong and self-sufficient in themselves that they are on the point of coming short in this respect, if they have not already done so. Faith is a dependent grace—dependent upon the promise and power of the Lord Jehovah, who is all-sufficient and never-failing. “God is faithful by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Thirdly, it is clearly shown that “the just” must “live by faith” in the endurance of afflictions.
“For ye have need of patience that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” The Hebrew Christians were under strong temptation at this time to relinquish their profession owing to the many reproaches and afflictions they were exposed to from their unbelieving brethren, but the Apostle exhorts them to “call to remembrance the former days in which, after” they “were illuminated,” they “endured a great fight of afflictions.” They manifested at the beginning of their course a lively faith in the things of the gospel, and were prepared to endure the greatest sufferings for the sake of Christ, believing that it was the will of God that they should so suffer, and “knowing in” themselves that they had “in heaven a better and an enduring substance.” The Apostle calls them anew to the exercise of the same faith and patience that they had shown at the first. They had to learn that there was “no discharge in this war” upon which they had entered, and that it was the will of God that suffering and temporal loss should be their lot, in more or less degree, throughout their wilderness journey. The same message is to the Christian in other and later times. The Lord Jesus said to all His followers: “In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” It is given to them to suffer in a vast variety of ways, and it is their duty to seek to know and believe the will of God in every step of suffering they are ordained to take. Even when they bring sufferings upon themselves by their own hand, which are, in a sense, avoidable, they are under obligation to consider what is the will of God in these trials, and to seek the exercise of patience in a special measure in such circumstances. It is only “by faith” in the ordaining and over-ruling hand of a just and gracious God in Jesus Christ, that souls can be rightly exercised under afflictions in any form, and can exhibit that spirit of childlike endurance and submission that becomes those who profess to believe that the Lord reigneth. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”—faith in the Son of God, and faith in His righteousness and loving-kindness towards His people in all the ways in which He afflicts and chastises them. When faith is not in exercise in connection with afflictions, then unbelief and rebellion lift up their heads, and the poor soul finds himself under the heel of his spiritual enemies, and is ready to give up the conflict altogether. But where the true life of faith is, though it may seem for a time buried in the floods, yet it will rise again. The cry of drowning faith will go up to the Lord of all who sitteth on the floods, “Lord, save me, I perish,” and He will stretch forth His almighty arm, and command deliverance. Those who have not the real “root of the matter” in them may “draw back unto perdition” under the stress of trial, but not those who are truly born from above: they are “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Fourthly, it is intimated by the Apostle that “the just shall live by faith” in the confidence of complete and final deliverance from all their troubles.
“For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” It is after they have done the will of God in endurance of trial that they shall receive the promise, the great promise, in its fulfilment, of Christ’s coming again to receive them unto Himself and to lead them into the Canaan of everlasting rest. The Hebrews were apt to forget that they had to pass through the wilderness spiritually before they entered into the rest of heaven, just as their ancestors had to do so literally before they entered into the rest of the earthly Canaan. As we have already seen, the Lord has not promised that His people shall be free from trouble in this present life; rather, He has promised that they “shall have tribulation” of various kinds on their journey heavenwards. At the same time, it seems difficult for them to realise the truth of this, and to prepare for it. Very often at the beginning of their Christian course they are richly supported in soul with the comforts of the gospel, and look almost for heaven upon earth; they do not anticipate all the sorrows and trials that await them, either in the arena of their own hearts, or of the world outside; and so when they meet with these, they are ready to think they are altogether wrong. But they must learn that they have not a promise of perfect holiness or uninterrupted comfort in time, and must be satisfied with the promise that the Lord has given of complete deliverance from all sin and sorrow in eternity. “He that shall come will come” at death to set free His people from all their miseries and to welcome them to the inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away. The martyr, Stephen, immediately before his departure, got a view of Jesus “standing on the right hand of God,” and, with his last breath, cried “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” The Lord shall also undoubtedly come again at the last day when “the dead shall be raised incorruptible,” and the saints “shall be changed.” Their bodies shall be glorified, and souls and bodies re-united shall stand before the throne, and hear the joyful call from the Son of Man, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” This is the day of their final redemption from every consequence of sin, and their final glorification in the presence of God and the Lamb. This complete and final deliverance is included among the other promises which are yea and amen in Jesus Christ, and “the just” are called to live in the faith of this happy consummation. They must seek grace to endure what the Lord is pleased to appoint in the way of trial and temptation here, in the hope of a happy eternity hereafter. One moment of the bliss of heaven will make up for every sorrow they had on earth, and they will then only remember the sins and sorrows of this present life that the recollection may heighten their song of praise and adoration to a Triune Jehovah through the never-ending ages.
Death of Dr. Petticrew of Londonderry.—The Irish Presbyterian Church has, in the death of Dr. Petticrew, lost one of her ablest theologians. Dr. Petticrew was professor of theology at Londonderry and was the recognised leader of the Purity Party in the Irish Presbyterian Church. He resolutely opposed the introduction of hymns and instrumental music into the public worship of the Church, and in this capacity, was spoken of as the Dr. Begg of his Church. For many years he edited the Christian Banner, a monthly periodical, whose circulation was not confined to Ireland. He was a good man, and true; a thorough Christian gentleman, who served his generation faithfully.
Notes of a Sermon.
PREACHED BEFORE THE SYNOD OF THE FREE PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH, MET AT INVERNESS ON THE 6TH JULY,
BY THE MODERATOR, THE REV. NEIL CAMERON, ST. JUDE’S,
GLASGOW.
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.”—PSALM CXXII. 6.
JERUSALEM was to the pious Israelite the centre around which his thoughts revolved, and upon which the intensest affections of his heart rested. There were three things in Jerusalem which caused his thoughts and affections to gravitate towards that place, wherever his lot might be cast. (1) The seat of their civil government was in Jerusalem. David and his sons after him were appointed by God to rule there. The whole people of Israel crowned David as their king; swore allegiance to him, revered him for his godliness and bravery, but very specially for the absolute justice with which he ruled the poorest of the people. The fact that the most godly men he could find were his companions and counsellors endeared him to the godly among the people. (2) Jerusalem was the place in which the Lord chose to put His name. The temple, in which the shekinah appeared on the mercy-seat between the cherubims, with all the divinely instituted order of worship prescribed by the ceremonial law, was there. (3) It was at Jerusalem—at the three feasts yearly—that all the male members of their tribes were commanded to worship their covenant God together. The godly among them had an opportunity, at these stated seasons, of meeting one another to worship God in the beauty of holiness, and to enjoy, sometimes at least, so much of the presence of the Comforter that they found it impossible to separate from one another on the last day of the feast. These things caused them to love the place in which they enjoyed such wonderful fellowship with their God and with one another.
The time came when the literal Jerusalem of Scripture, with all the order of worship under the ceremonial law, passed away and came to an end for ever; because they were only shadows of good things to come. But the things so represented by these types remain in their true spiritual significance and substance. As our Lord Jesus taught the woman of Samaria at Jacob’s well, the time has come when the Father is not worshipped at Jerusalem, but is worshipped where two or three are met together in the name of Christ, in order to worship Him in spirit and truth. Jerusalem, in this spiritual sense, continues, and will do so until the trumpet of the last day shall be blown. In this way of understanding our text, we shall endeavour to speak from it as we may be enabled by the blessed Spirit to do so.
I.—Let us consider the place that we are commanded to pray for.
II.—The particular thing that we are to pray for.
III.—The promise made to such as love this place.
I.—Let us consider the place that we are commanded to pray for.
(1) In New Testament times the presence of Christ, by His Spirit, is promised to His worshipping people wherever two or three are met together in His name.
The blessed name of God, the Father, is made known to poor, lost sinners of mankind in and by the Son, as He says: “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou hast given me out of the world.” As the shekinah appeared on the mercy-seat of old, so God is in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Thither the sinner is invited to come with holy boldness, by the blood of Jesus, that he may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need. This great privilege is not held forth to our faith in types, but in reality and in truth. Christ is our temple, priest, altar, sacrifice, and mercy-seat. In Him the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily. In Him God, the Father, offers pardon freely to every sinner who will confess and forsake his sins. He is the way to the Father, and no man can come to the Father but by Him. This incalculably great privilege comes to men wherever the Gospel is declared. It came to our beloved land, most probably not later than the beginning of the second century of our era, and bore abundant fruit for nearly four hundred years. During the dark ages of Popish idolatry, the light of it was almost extinguished for nearly one thousand years; but it never left us altogether since it came. It revived gloriously at the blessed Reformation in the beginning of the sixteenth century. It was this glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus, that the Holy Ghost shined through the truth into the minds of our forefathers, and that restored them from the darkness of superstition and idolatry to a clear understanding of the way of salvation. Man’s works and merits, before God, were seen to be a lie, and men looked to Christ’s blood as the only expiation for sin. They took their eye off every false object of hope held forth to them by Satan, and they looked to Christ alone as the only hope set before them in the Gospel of the grace of God. This elevated them from being semi-savages to true enlightenment, godliness, and integrity. The same blessed results followed the great spiritual revival of the sixteenth century among several of the nations of Europe. The other nations that refused this light from heaven at that time remain till this day in darkness, ignorance, and idolatry; and have, from being the head of other nations, become the tail. In no other nation has the light of the Gospel shone more gloriously than in our poor, despised and little nation of Scotland. When, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, the mist of Popish superstition and darkness was dispelled, men began to see the meaning of God’s word, and they rejoiced exceedingly in it. The mediators of the Papacy disappeared, and the gathering of the people was to the one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
Two things were made conspicuous by the place given them in the feasts of the Old Testament (1) The great day of atonement annually; (2) The reading and expounding of the Word of God to all the people. We enjoy these things under the New Testament dispensation. The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper sets forth the death of Christ now, as the great day of atonement did in Israel. They looked forward, by faith in God’s promise, to the day on which Christ would die on Calvary and enter into heaven with His own blood, and we look back by faith to that same day upon which our Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. So that the object of faith was the same with them as with us. They had a yearly commemoration of the atonement held forth in type by a bloody sacrifice; we have a commemoration of the atonement as often as we partake of the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper. The day of Christ’s death on Calvary was the one and only great day of atonement upon which the eye of God rested from the beginning, and it shall be so unto the end. It has been and shall be the one day upon which the eye of faith rests—from Abel till the last of the elect are saved. It was there that God rested in His love, and it is there that the guilty conscience of the sinner finds true rest also.
We noticed above how the godly Israelites, occasionally at this feast of the Passover, enjoyed so much of the favour and fellowship of God together as made it painful for them to go back to the world and to their own homes. This has been often the case in Scotland at Communion seasons in the past. To leave the mount of ordinances on a Monday, after being so many days in secret fellowship with the Lord and with one another, has been often painful to the Lord’s people in this land. You will remember how truly this was the case at the Kirk of Shotts in 1630, when, according to the account given of the power of the Comforter accompanying the Word preached with saving results to the souls of men, five hundred were added to the Church on that day. The same thing has been felt often since then by our fathers, though not to the same degree. Have we not felt a little of this favour, which is better than life, in our assemblies at our Communion seasons more than once, and especially on the last day of the feast? How often have we felt that it was good for us to draw nigh to God? This experience binds man’s soul to the place and company where he enjoys so much of the favour and presence of God. This makes the tabernacles of God amiable to a poor sinner, who, like Ruth of old, says: “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” This was it that caused David to say: “One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.” Have we not good cause why we should pray for the place in which we have enjoyed so much of the presence and comforts of the Spirit? How often have we felt that the preaching of the gospel in its purity and by the Lord’s sent messengers has been like “pouring water upon the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground”? “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” These things bind our souls to the true Church of God, and to all the instituted means and ordinance which He has set up in this land. These were the very things which caused David and every godly man or woman in Israel to love Jerusalem and its peace.
II.—The particular thing we are to pray for—”The peace of Jerusalem.”
This leads us to consider some of the causes of dispeace in Church and State.
(1) We read, in the days of Eli, the High Priest, that by the wickedness of his sons, who were the officiating priests in the Lord’s tabernacle in Shiloh, the worship of God was brought into contempt and abhorrence; and that their godly but unfaithful father brought guilt upon himself and his posterity by his negligence to execute upon his own sons the punishment demanded by God’s Word for their heinous sins. This caused great and sore troubles, both to the Church and State. The Philistines slew Eli’s two sons, thousands of the people, and carried away the Ark of the Covenant to their own land. God’s worship ceased in Shiloh; the godly mourned after the Ark of the Covenant of their God. Not long after King Saul slew all the rest of Eli’s sons. Eli was truly a good man, but he neglected to attend to the Scripture rule, “First pure and then peaceable,” and consequently the Lord, to maintain the honour of His own holy name, swept the unclean thing away in judgment.
King David brought back the Ark of the Lord to Jerusalem forty years afterwards, and set up the Lord’s worship according to the order revealed in the Word of God. The temple was built at Jerusalem by Solomon, David’s son. King Solomon, in his old age, set up temples for idols. He also, although a good man, forgot the rule by which peace ought to be maintained, and this caused divisions, trouble, and dispeace. These things are written for our learning; but have we attended to them with diligence, or learned the lessons which these calamities teach?
(2) Let us now come to our own country, and let us pass under review, briefly, the dispeace and trouble which have come upon us, with a few of their causes.
For brevity’s sake, we shall not, on the present occasion, go further afield than the Free Church of Scotland. What was it that caused the Free Church of Scotland dispeace and trouble? The first thing was the toleration granted to men who propagated unsound doctrines within her pale. For, although Professor Robertson Smith was personally removed from his chair in Aberdeen, all who defended his position as a higher critic were allowed to continue undisturbed in the Church. From that time the doctrine of the infallibility and inerrancy of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, was not believed in by many of her office-bearers. This state of things was put up with by good men for the sake of peace; but did it tend to peace? No; but changes were made in doctrines and form of worship until the whole creed and worship of the Church were revolutionized. These things caused quarrelling and dispeace to begin in the courts of the Church. In her Assemblies, Synods, and Presbyteries dissensions and party spirit arose and continued year after year to the grief of all who loved her and her peace, and to the great dishonour of the name of the Lord. As the good men within her pale did not separate the clean from the vile when they ought to have done it, God, in infinite justice broke up that Church, as in the days of Eli’s unfaithfulness, so that men have to worship, “in the high places,” in the Highlands of Scotland, as they had then to do in Judah. Further, the dispeace that began in Church courts has come to our townships, households, and into our very souls. Neighbours, who used to live in peace and unity, are now opposed to one another, so much so that they will pass each other on the street or road without speaking to one another. This Church, which continued, at least outwardly, one incorporate body until 1893, is now divided into three parties. Where the whole people of a parish met together in one building to worship sixteen years ago, we find now three churches, three fragments of congregations, and generally two kinds of gospel preached. Who are responsible for these things? Those who changed the creed and worship of the Church, and, to a great extent, those who tolerated such corrupters in church fellowship. Had responsible men refused any quarter, fifty years ago, to such as corrupted the faith and practice of the Church, and had they turned these corrupters out of their fellowship, as the Word of God demanded, we would be united to-day in truth and brotherly love instead of being two against three, and three against two. The beautiful carved work of our Zion has been broken down by barbarians, who had no spiritual discernment to enable them to appreciate its grandeur. Give a hammer and an axe to the most ignorant rustic, and he will very quickly break down the finest piece of art. Ignorance of its beauty and strength of arm to work the crude instruments, are all the qualifications necessary. The Confession of Faith, and the two Catechisms of the Church of Scotland were really carved work of exquisite spiritual beauty; but Dr. Rainy and his carnal followers saw no beauty in them, and consequently they broke them down. They have made efforts to set up their own ensigns in their place, and more awkward pieces of work have never been placed before the Church. The Declaratory Act will remain an infamy on the spiritual understanding of these men in the eyes of all truly enlightened men. Their last effort, in the shape of a Catechism, is no improvement. Time will not allow me to enter further into this deplorable discussion, but all who love the peace of the Church of God in this land mourn over these things in secret.
Have we, as a Church, done our duty in holding fast the form of sound words, and in separating from a party who destroyed the faith of the people in God’s Word and in the Confession of Faith? Have we done this before the time had come when our duty towards God and the people demanded that we should have done it? The answers are clear to every unbiased mind. Had we not stood resolutely to the original Creed and Constitution of the Free Church in 1893, the end had come publicly to the adherence of the people to the infallibility of the Bible and the Confession of Faith. That might appear like peace; but would it be peace with Christ? No, but peace with His enemy. Still we are charged as being the authors of dissension and strife, and if that charge means only that we neither could agree nor hold fellowship with Rationalists—men who have broken their most solemn vows, and profaners of God’s house and day—we are not ashamed of having separated in the most public manner from them. If, on the other hand, the charge means that we were the cause of dispeace because we held firmly to the Word of God and to the Confession of Faith, we need not be ashamed. I ask in all seriousness, why have the people who composed the Free Church and gloried in her standards, turned their backs upon both the supreme and subordinate standards of that Church? But, my dear friends, let us say, “Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it.” It will be the best legacy you can leave to your son or daughter at your death. You will leave with them, unimpaired, the doctrines and order of worship set up by God in His Church.
(3) Let us now consider the duty of praying for the peace of the Church.
If we view her peace externally, our field will include all the countries in which the true Church exists. For the peace of the Church depends, not only on unity in the true faith among the people, but also upon the wisdom and integrity with which the civil governments protect, encourage, and support her. These remarks lead us to consider the parties to be prayed for. First, kings and all who are in authority. This is a duty laid upon all the Lord’s people by His own authority. To neglect it is to sin both against God and against His Church: “I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.” We ought to pray that God would give them knowledge and understanding, so that they might rule in the fear of God, and that the sword put into their hand by Him might be a terror to evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well. We are bound also to pray for all men. Our duty is, not only to have the desire that all men might be saved, but also to plead with the Lord in prayer that all men should be brought to the knowledge of the truth, that they may be saved. This entails on us the duty of declaring the truth unto all whom we can reach with our voice or pen. This is one of the chief benefits accomplished by our Magazine; because it goes much further afield than our preaching. For this cause, as well as the edification of our congregations at home, our ministers should contribute sermons or lectures as often as they could. Truth, when accompanied by the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit, bears down falsehood, error, and deception before it as the light of the sun chases away darkness when it appears in the morning. Nothing but truth can overcome men’s prejudices, ignorance, superstition, hatred of God, and of each other. It is destined to accomplish a greater work in this world than anything that has appeared yet. Nations, yea, all nations, shall yet live in peace and amity with one another, and shall vie with one another for the advance of Christ’s kingdom and glory in all the world. Let us then pray: “Thy kingdom come,” and then “the wolf shall then dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” Nothing but the old Gospel that men despise and call foolishness in our day shall be the blessed means of accomplishing such a glorious change on the fierce, destructive, and corrupt nature of men and nations. Therefore, our duty is to preach it, and to pray that it should have free course into the souls of all men. Secondly, we are to pray for the true Church of God, that peace may remain within her walls.
The Church is one family, and in a peaceable family the authority of the father ought to be supreme. The authority of God, speaking in His own Word, must be the only rule of obedience in the Church. Without this there cannot be peace. If the children begin to rule and to disobey, peace departs. So our duty is to pray that we ourselves, and all who are in Church fellowship with us, may be enabled to walk in the truth. The Apostle John in the Spirit declares: “I rejoiced greatly that I found thy children walking in the truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.” This must be our aim in our prayers and practice, for otherwise we cannot expect peace. How can we pray—”Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”—unless we unfeignedly desire to be guided by His revealed Will. This is beautifully stated in our Shorter Catechism: “The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.” Let us search for the rule of our duty in everything in His Word, and when we find His direction, let us faithfully adhere to it. Let us have no will of our own, but let His will be paramount. Our corrupt flesh cannot do this, but grace will enable us to attain to it. Then we may expect peace in the Church over which the Holy Ghost has made us overseers, and we may expect also peace in our own souls. Surely this is worth praying and labouring for.
Again, let us pray for and cultivate peace among ourselves. We are commanded to love one another as brethren: “Let brotherly love continue.” Brotherly love among men means either the natural ties of family relationship, or the love of God shed abroad in the hearts of men by the Holy Spirit in regeneration and adoption. The first, in its wider sense, includes all the human race, as the Apostle taught the Athenians: “God . . . hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.” Sin has made men hateful and hating one another, and love in this sense perished at the fall. The offspring of one natural father are called brethren. Natural love and peace may be met with among them; but since Cain slew Abel, or since the fall of mankind in Adam, love and peace in a family have been rare.
But the true followers of Christ are united to each other by stronger bonds than flesh and blood. They are one spirit with Christ, that is, they have the Holy Ghost dwelling in their hearts. “The spirit of love and of power, and of a sound mind.” The love they have for God and one another is nothing less than the love of God shed abroad in their hearts. This enables them, not only to love their brethren in Christ, but also to love their enemies and to pray for them. The Word of God shows several motives for brotherly love among the Lord’s people (1) That they have one Father: “Ye are all brethren, and one is your Father who is in heaven.” (2) The Holy Spirit that dwells in them is: “The spirit of love, and of power, and of a sound mind.” (3) The example of Christ: “Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and given Himself for us.” Again Christ’s commandment to His disciples: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” These spiritual endearments caused David to pray for Jerusalem and his brethren: “Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good.” Let us pray for the peace of the Church of God, and endeavour to maintain it, for the same reasons.
III.—The promise made to such as love the Church of God: “They shall prosper that love thee.”
(1) This may not necessarily mean much worldly prosperity;
for you remember that those who loved her in the past had to live in caves and dens of the earth, clothed in sheep skins and goat skins. Christ did not promise His followers great prosperity in this world; but on the contrary He foretold them that in the world they should have tribulation. So that worldly prosperity is not the meaning of the promise to God’s people.
(2) They shall prosper spiritually in their efforts to uphold a banner because of truth, and they shall prosper in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, in their own souls.
Adversity has had the effect of restoring the internal peace of the Church, and reviving the grace of love in the souls of the Lord’s people. This was the effect of adversity on the Jews who were carried captives to Babylon: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.” Surely that was a prosperous condition. We are told that once the demolished temple and city of Jerusalem were the objects of their thoughts night and day: “For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.” Is it not true to-day, as well as then, that, when the Church of God is brought low by the heathen, and the Lord’s people oppressed, their love to the ordinances of the Gospel in their primitive purity and to one another is rekindled? Was it not the case in our own midst sixteen years ago? Did we not feel in our own souls that the graces of the Spirit had been revived, and that, in the midst of all our adversity, our love for the Word of God, for all the ordinances of the Gospel, and for one another increased? Have we not prospered beyond any thing that we could have expected then? The Lord has tried us once and again with sore adversity since, but He has enabled us to hold fast the form of sound words. Let us conclude at this time by the confession: “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.”
The late Mrs. Donald M’Iver, Tolsta.
THE Lord of the vineyard has been making wide breaches, north and south, in our Church during the last year. Some of the most eminent men and women have been “taken away from the evil to come.” The island of Lewis has had to bear its own part of this calamity, and especially in the removal of Mrs. D. M’Iver, North Tolsta, who was translated from the Church militant to the Church triumphant on the 19th of March. Mrs. M’Iver will be sadly missed, not only by those residing in the island, but by many who were in the habit of visiting it.
The deceased was born in the Parish of Uig, Lewis, in the year 1836, and thus died in her seventy-third year. Her father, Hector Morrison, was a Gaelic teacher, and was one of the most prominent men in his day among the godly, and he lived in times when there were giants in grace. Her mother also was a pious woman. We may be sure that the spiritual interests of a child brought up at the feet of such parents would not be neglected, and the seed sown in her young mind very early took root and brought forth fruit abundantly. Being of a very reticent mind, she revealed very little of her experience even to her nearest friends, but we learned that at the early age of nine years she was brought to the knowledge of the truth. A very unusual incident occurred at a Communion in Carloway. Three generations sat side by side at the Lord’s Table—one of her grandparents, her father, and herself.
Her genuine kindness and hospitality were without reserve; high and low, rich and poor, had the same homely welcome from Mrs. M’Iver. Though of a very gentle nature she could administer a very sharp rebuke, and held most firmly to her convictions. She was of a happy, cheerful disposition; yet one felt, when meeting her, as in the presence of one on whom the realities of eternity rested heavily. She would often exclaim, “Oh, eternity, eternity, and the vanity of all things visible.” The prosperity of the cause of Christ gave her much concern, always inquiring if there were any signs of revival among the people. She was of a weak, delicate constitution, which often confined her to bed, and this trouble, no doubt, was brought on owing to death being so often in her family, all her children, except one daughter, having been removed some years before her.
Her last illness was of short duration and little pain. Asked a few hours before her death what her hope was, she replied, “The hope which I had at first is my hope now,” and quoted a passage of Scripture, which she said was of much comfort to her. Shortly after one of the elders, George M’Leod (who died since, and of whom we hope to have a short notice soon in the Magazine), came in, wishing to see her, but was told she was too weak to be troubled. He insisted, however, on seeing her, as he had a message for her, and strange to say, it was the same passage of Scripture which she quoted herself a little before that he had as his message.
We feel keenly that we are giving a very imperfect sketch of the life of one who was a great mother in Israel, but our excuse in part is her own reticence, which arose, we believe, from modesty. One of the truest friends of the cause of Christ in general, and of the Free Presbyterian Church in particular, has passed to her rest. To North Tolsta she has left the legacy of a godly example, which we trust the young especially will follow. We extend our sympathies to her sorrowing husband, who has lost a true helpmeet, and to her daughter, who has lost a faithful mother. “Mark the perfect and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.”
N. M’I.
Advice Rejected.—When a young man made an open profession of the Gospel, his father, greatly offended, gave him this advice, “James, you should first get yourself established in a good trade, then think of and determine about religion.” “Father,” said the son, “Christ advises me differently; He says, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God.'”—Dr. Cheever’s Anecdotes.