A Letter to the late Rev. David Black, Edinburgh.
BY THE LATE REV. ALEXANDER STEWART, D.D., OF MOULIN DINGWALL, AND EDINBURGH.
(Fourth Edition, 1815.)
(Continued from page 185.)
FROM that time I began to teach and preach Jesus Christ with some degree of knowledge and confidence. From August, 1797, to January, 1798, I preached a course of sermons on the fundamental doctrines of Christianity; following, for the most part, the selection and order of texts in the tract entitled, “Short Sermons.”
* The texts in the above-named pamphlet are as follows:—What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world; and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his own soul? Matt. xvi. 26. Sin is the transgression of the law, 1 John iii. 4. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, Rom. iii. 23. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them, Gal. iii. 10. The wages of sin is death, Rom. vi. 23. What shall I do to be saved, Acts xvi. 30. Repent ye, and believe the gospel, Mark i. 15. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief, 1 Tim. i. 15. Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out, John vi. 37. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom. v. 1. Unto you which believe He is precious, 1 Peter ii. 7. Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord, Heb. xii. 14. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, Tit. ii. 13. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? Luke xi. 13. It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment, Heb. xii. 27. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? Heb. ii. 3.
I was now enabled to shew from Scripture that all men are by nature enemies to God, disobedient to His law, and on that account exposed to His just indignation and curse. I therefore addressed them not as persons who were already from education, birth-right, or local situation, possessed of saving faith and other Christian graces, but as sinners under sentence of death, and who had “not as yet obtained mercy.” I did not as before merely reprove them for particular faults or vices, and urge them to the practice of particular virtues; but told them that the whole of their affections and inclinations needed to be pointed in a new direction, and even their virtues to be new modelled. I shewed, that this, supposing it done, could not atone however for past offences, nor wipe away guilt already contracted; and that sin could not be remitted without satisfaction made to the broken law of God; that neither could purity of heart and constant obedience in future recover their title to the reward of eternal life, which had been at first conferred as a free gift by God, and was now wholly forfeited by sin; yet that their case was by no means desperate, for we had the glad tidings to tell that God had made provision for the complete salvation of sinners; that He had appointed His own eternal Son, in the human nature, to procure for sinners the pardon of sin and a title to glory by His own obedience and sufferings; that, in conferring these blessings, God acts as the sovereign dispenser of His own gifts, not in consideration of any merit (for there is none) in the person on whom He bestows them; that a conformity of our will to the law of God, which I formerly considered as the ground of our acceptance, was itself a gift bestowed by God in consequence of His having first justified, accepted, and adopted us to be His children; that in this great salvation wrought out by Christ for sinners, love to God and man, an abhorrence of evil, and a disposition to what is good, were included as essential parts inseparably connected with the rest; inasmuch, that if a man is not renewed in the spirit of His mind, neither are His sins pardoned, nor His person accepted with God. I urged them to attend to what the word of God declared to be their condition; not to be deceived with vain hopes of recommending themselves to His favour by their own exertions; but as humble needy supplicants to apply to Him through the merits of Christ for pardon, and the gift of His Spirit to make them serve Him with fidelity and delight, to be diligent in studying the word of truth, which alone can make us wise unto salvation; and having obtained grace from God, to practise diligently every active and self-denying duty, and to abound in good fruit, to their own advancement in holiness and comfort, to the temporal and spiritual benefit of their fellow-creatures, and to the praise of Him who had called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. I thought it right often to caution them against judging of their state by transient impressions or emotions of which they might be conscious; but only by a prevailing habitual preference of God’s honour and service to their own gratification appearing in the uniform tenor of their purposes and actions.
The novelty of the matter, and some change in my manner of preaching, excited attention. People began to think more, and sometimes to talk together, of religious subjects, and of the sermons they heard; but I did not yet know of any deep or lasting impressions having been made. The two persons before mentioned as earliest converted had by this time got clearer views of the Gospel, were enabled to derive comfort from the word of salvation, and began to bear their testimony to the grace of God, their Saviour. They were in use of visiting occasionally a poor, infirm woman who had long walked with God, and who now lived alone in a mean cottage in the neighbouring village. It was proposed that they should come together to her house at a time appointed, and that I and some of my family should join them, and spend an evening hour or two in reading, conversation, and prayer. In process of time different persons, who were inquiring after the one thing needful—hearing how we were employed, and believing that God was with us—were at their own request admitted of our party. In this poor woman’s little, smoky hovel we continued to hold our weekly meetings to August, 1799, when she was called away to join the general assembly of the first-born above. Her growth in grace had been very conspicuous and her death was triumphant.
In summer 1798, the Lord’s Supper was dispensed in our congregation at the usual time of the year. For some weeks before, I endeavoured in preaching to explain more fully, and with more application to the conscience, the nature of the ordinance; and the character of those who, under the denomination of disciples, were commanded to keep it. The exhortations and warnings then given, appeared to be accompanied with a divine blessing. Some of the ordinary communicants, judging themselves to be in an unconverted state, kept back, of their own accord, from partaking of the sacrament. Others, after conversing with me privately on the subject, took the same resolution. Many of those who might otherwise have applied for admission, forbore to apply. I inferred this from the comparatively small number of persons applying. For some years before, the number of candidates for admission each summer amounted to thirty, forty, and sometimes near fifty. In summer 1798, there were not above twelve; of whom nine were admitted. The sacrament was dispensed the same year again in November, on which occasion there were only six more new communicants admitted.
Although the number of communicants was thus for the time diminished, yet the number of those who were brought under concern about their eternal interests was increasing. This concern shewed itself chiefly among the younger people under twenty-five or thirty. Their knowledge was yet imperfect. A natural shyness often hindered them long from discovering to others what they thought or felt. They had as yet no friend or intimate whom they judged able, from experience, to understand their situation, or to give them counsel. Some of them began to visit one of the two earlier converts formerly mentioned, from whose reading and conversation they derived considerable benefit. By means of this common friend, they were brought more acquainted with each other. One might now observe at church, after divine service, two or three small groups forming themselves round our few more advanced believers, and withdrawing from the crowd into the adjacent fields, to exchange Christian salutations, and hold Christian converse together; while a little cousin, or other young relative, followed as a silent attendant on the party, and listened earnestly to their religious discourse.
As the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper had been much abused by admitting, without strict examination or special instruction, all candidates who could give a tolerable answer to common questions, and who were free from grosser immoralities; so it must be confessed, that the sacrament of baptism had been still more profaned. Nothing but one kind of scandal was understood to preclude a man from admission to this ordinance. Gross ignorance, or immoral behaviour, only laid a man open to some admonition or reproof; or at most laid him under the necessity of procuring another sponsor; but hardly ever hindered the baptism of his child. Nothing subjects a man to greater disgrace and obloquy among us, than to have his child remain unbaptised. The dominion of custom in this matter is so despotic, that most parents would choose rather to carry their children a hundred miles to be baptised by a Popish priest, than to be refused baptism when they demand it. The superstitious notions, and other abuses attending our celebration of this sacrament, called loudly for reformation. Last year, I preached a short course of sermons on baptism. At the same time, agreeably to a recent resolution and recommendation of the presbytery to which I belong, I revived the laws of the church, which had fallen into disuse, relative to this ordinance, particularly that which prohibits private baptism. Acts of Assembly, 1690, X. Whenever I baptise a child on a week day, whether in the church or elsewhere, I give previous intimation of sermon, and after preaching I administer the ordinance in the presence of the congregation.
* In process of time, I found that this practice needed some restriction. It was always desirable that both parents should be present at baptism, as being parties peculiarly interested in the solemn transaction. They could rarely attend on the ordinance in the church, without risking the health of the new-born infant, and of the mother not yet fully recovered. It was likewise inconvenient for private families, especially in such circumstances, to have a mixed congregation of people assembled at their houses; nor could many be accommodated. Therefore, instead of intimating sermon, I have now been long accustomed to allow the head of the family to ask such friends or neighbours as he chooses to have present, and I read and expound a portion of Scripture, in presence of the parents and the company assembled. This private exposition and application of the word of God, I have found profitable, as well as the more public preaching of it.—Fourth Edition.
By these means many have been brought to understand better the nature of this sacrament, and to attend to it with more reverence. It had been long customary for the parent to give an entertainment, according to his station, to his neighbours and connections, immediately after the baptism; by which means this sacred ordinance, instead of being regarded as a most solemn religious service, had degenerated into an occasion of carnal mirth and festivity. The more religiously disposed amongst us have set the example of discontinuing this practice.
In February, 1799, it pleased God to call home my dear wife, after we had been married little more than five years. She too had been growing in grace during the last two years of her life.
She laboured for some months under a gradual decline, which impaired her strength, and occasioned sometimes a languor of spirits; but her faith and trust in her Redeemer were on the whole uniform and steady. Her dismissal from the body was gentle, without pain or struggle. Her meek and humble behaviour, her growing love to her Saviour, and the joy she expressed at the prospect of being soon with Him, were blessed to the edification of our pious neighbours, who often called to visit her.
The following month, March, 1799, I began a course of practical sermons on Regeneration, which I continued to the beginning of July following. These were attended with a more general awakening than had yet appeared among us. Seldom a week passed in which we did not see or hear of one, two, or three persons, brought under deep concern about their souls, accompanied with strong convictions of sin, and earnest inquiry after a Saviour. It was a great advantage to these that there were others on the road before them; for they were seldom at a loss now to find an acquaintance to whom they could freely communicate their anxious thoughts. The house of one of our most established Christians became the chief resort of all who wished to spend an hour in reading or conversing about spiritual subjects. Some who had but newly begun to entertain serious thoughts about religion, and who had not yet come so far as to speak out their mind, would contrive an errand to this person’s house, and listen to her talk. She was visited at other times by those who were drawn only by curiosity or a disputatious spirit, who wanted to cavil at her words, or draw her into controversy. Such visitors she did not avoid, and at last they ceased to trouble her.
Other experienced Christians among us have been extremely useful to their younger brethren or sisters. Their conversation and example have been principal means of turning the attention of the young to religion and of edifying those who have been already awakened. Such persons I find most serviceable auxiliaries. If they be neither prophets, nor apostles, nor teachers, yet their usefulness in the church entitles them to the appellation of helpers (1 Cor. xii. 28). Nor do I think an apostle would hesitate to acknowledge them, both men and women, in the relation of fellow-labourers (Phil. iv. 3). Nor has success in this divine work been confined to instruments raised up among ourselves. The same happy effects have, in a certain measure, attended the preaching, the prayers, or conversation of pious brethren, who have assisted at the celebration of the Lord’s supper, or made us other occasional visits.
(To be continued.)
An Italian gentleman who suffered martyrdom, said, when entreated to recant, “Death is much sweeter to me with the testimony of truth than life with its least denial.”