(IN TWO CHAPTERS.)
BY THE REV. J. R. MACKAY, M.A., INVERNESS.
CHAPTER I.
IT has been the common belief of Protestant interpreters of the Book of Revelation that the time when the Reformed Churches of Europe should awake to the duty of sending the gospel to the heathen nations had been anticipated in the vision of the angel (xiv. 6), which the seer saw “fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Closely following the gladdening vision of that first angel, the seer heard another angel exclaiming, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication”; and thus, according to the Protestant interpreters, intimation was given of the coming fall of Papal Rome. The sending of the gospel to the heathen and the fall of Papal Rome must, of course, be both looked upon by us as processes covering long periods of time, but it is certainly confirmatory of the truth of the historico-prophetic or Protestant method of interpreting the Apocalypse, that just as, in the prophetic vision, the angel having the everlasting gospel to preach appears immediately before the angel declaring the fall of Babylon, so, as a matter of history, the beginnings of the Reformed Churches’ active interest in missions were almost coincident with the beginnings of those judgments which, for more than a hundred years, have been befalling the nations supporting the Papacy in Europe. We need have no hesitation in saying that the first heavy blow that the Anointed King of Zion dealt the nations which, after the Reformation, supported Papal Rome, was in the form of the French Revolution (say 1793). The Revolution, in this connection, meant that, for a period at least, the Pope was deprived of the temporal power, and that in France alone, according to the common computation, 24,000 priests of Rome were slain, and some 40,000 of their churches turned into stables. Christ has been dealing the Papal powers heavy blows since the French Revolution, and it looks as if the present great war in Europe should spell the most crushing blow of all.
But what now about the awakening of the Reformed Churches to a sense of their responsibility in respect of the heathen? Its date was almost coincident with the French Revolution. True, it is that, on a small scale, the Danish Missionary Society and the Moravian Brethren did some pioneer work in the first half of the eighteenth century, but so far as Great Britain—the vanguard of the Protestant mission movement—is concerned, we may take the year 1792 as marking the commencement of active mission work. In that year the Baptist Missionary Society was formed at Kettering. The London Missionary Society, of which, by the way, the Rev. Dr. John Love was the first secretary, came next, in 1795.
So far as Scotland is concerned, the first practical step seems to have been taken by the Synod of Moray, of which Inverness is the leading Presbytery, when, in the spring of 1796, it was resolved to send an overture to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, asking that the Assembly would be pleased to appoint a collection to be made in the several congregations of the Church of Scotland in behalf of foreign missions. It was this overture that led directly, in May of 1796, to what is known as the great debate on missions in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Dr. John Erskine, the leader of the Evangelical party in the Church of those days, although not the mover of the motion approving of the overture, in supporting the motion, took up the resolution of the Synod of Moray as if it were his own. The opening words of Dr. Erskine’s speech—”Moderator, RAX ME THAT BIBLE”—have been since those days heard on many a missionary platform, but for all the warmth and power of his speech, there went with him that day into the division lobby only a small fraction of the members of that General Assembly, and so an amendment, in the sense that the overture of the Synod of Moray be immediately dismissed, became the finding of the house.
The Evangelical party and the friends of missions were not, however, to be baulked. In this same year a missionary society was formed in Edinburgh, with Dr. John Erskine as president. The intention was that, independently of the General Assembly, such as were so minded might do what in them lay to promote the cause of missions. The Edinburgh Society appears to have addressed all whom they thought likely to give help, and it is to the credit of the parishes of Moy (under the ministry of the Rev. Hugh Mackay), and of Urquhart or Ferintosh (under the ministry of the Rev. Charles Calder), that they were the first parishes in the Highlands to send help to Dr. Erskine’s mission scheme. But not at a long interval came up other Highland parishes. Tarbat (under the ministry of the Rev. George Balfour), Edderton (under the ministry of the Rev. Alex. Munro), Fearn (under the ministry of the Rev. John Urquhart), Nigg (under the ministry of the Rev. Alex. MacAdam), Logie (under the ministry of the Rev. John Ross), Ross-skeen (under the ministry of the Rev. Thomas Urquhart), Kilmuir (under the ministry of the Rev. John Matheson, one of the warmest friends that missionary enterprise had in those days), sent respectively (in May, 1797), £43, £50 11s., £50 12s., £40, £38, £33, and £50—in all £305 3s.—in support of the schemes of the Edinburgh Missionary Society.
As the interest in missions was growing apace, it was soon felt that the North of Scotland should have a missionary society of its own, with a view to focussing local effort. In February of 1800 a meeting of ministers, belonging to Easter Ross, was accordingly held in the house of a certain Mr. Allan, Evanton, when a suggestion was formulated to the effect that “a society might be formed in the North of Scotland for sending the gospel of salvation to heathen nations, and that such an institution, by the blessing of God, might prove extensively useful.” This Mr. Allan appears to have been a man thoroughly in accord with the doctrines of free grace. It is related of him that when some one at this meeting, held in his own house, raised the question where the right men for mission work could be found, his answer was—”You may make your mind easy about the men. When the Lord has any special work to do He will get His man, and may, if He choose, go to the devil’s fireside, and pick out the best bairn there and take him and make him His servant, fit to do His work.” All the ministers present at this meeting in Evanton were of one mind about missions and about the desirableness of forming a missionary society having, as its sphere of influence, the North of Scotland; but, “being persuaded that the magnitude of the object required mature deliberation and serious discussion, they resolved to correspond with other ministers and private Christians, and to meet again for prayer, before coming to any determination in the matter.” This delay, however, did not mean that the matter was to be allowed to go to sleep. The friends of the mission scheme met with much encouragement from other evangelical ministers and from private Christians of intelligence and respectability, with the result that a statement, setting forth the duties of Highlanders to the unevangelised nations, and signed by, among others, Dr. Alexander Fraser, Kirkhill; Dr. Angus MacIntosh, Tain; Mr. Lachlan MacKenzie, Lochcarron; Mr. Hugh Mackay, Moy; Mr. Alexander MacAdam, Nigg; Mr. William Forbes, Tarbat; Mr. John Matheson, Kilmuir-Easter; Mr. Charles Calder, Urquhart; Mr. John Morrison, Nairn; Mr. John Ross, Logie, was addressed to the religious public in the North of Scotland. In the course of this address the subscribers say that “since the Apostolic age, the friends of the gospel have not discovered such a warm concern for the unenlightened nations of the earth, nor made such united and vigorous exertion for promoting their salvation as shall be recorded to the honour of the present age.” “You have heard,” say they, “with pleasure, that missionary societies are instituted on the southern parts of this island, in Holland, Germany, Switzerland, America, and at the Cape of Good Hope. Evangelical ministers and private Christians of every denomination have felt it their duty to associate with each other for the benevolent purpose of sending the gospel to those parts of the earth where it is unknown. The Lord Himself has been amongst them and wonderfully countenanced their designs. . . . A missionary society amongst us will concentrate all the Christian benevolence, prudent zeal, and pious exertions, and pecuniary contributions of the genuine friends of Jesus in these northern counties. . . . Generosity is a characteristic of our countrymen; and in a nobler cause than that to which your attention is now called, generosity cannot be shown. There is, we trust, a goodly number in the North who know the power of godliness and are zealous in good works. To such characters we address ourselves with peculiar affection and confidence. You will rejoice our hearts and strengthen our hands in the work of the Lord. According to your ability you will contribute to send the unsearchable riches of Christ to the poor heathen. And though many of you move in the lower spheres of life and cannot greatly increase our funds, you will not withhold your mites. ‘For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that a hath not.’ . . . Thus we show you how you may give vent to your ardent desires of promoting extensively the glory of God and the good of your fellow-men.” The address concluded with an intimation to the effect that there should be a general meeting of the friends of missions in the North held in Tain on the last Wednesday of August of that year (1800), and that sermons (English and Gaelic) appropriate to such an occasion should then be preached, and afterwards steps taken to draw out rules for the proper working of the proposed society.
What we may call the first regular meeting of the Northern Missionary Society thus took place at Tain on 27th August, 1800. It must have been a very noteworthy gathering. The people gathered to it in large numbers. English services were held in the parish church, and Gaelic services in the open air. The principal part of the English service was taken by the Rev. Dr. Alexander Fraser of Kirkhill, “a man of God, greatly beloved, and highly respected;” his text being Isaiah xxxii. 8. He was assisted in the devotional exercises by Messrs. Calder of Ferintosh, Forbes of Tarbat, and MacAdam of Nigg. Such a quaternion! And a quaternion falling little, if at all, short of those four in the esteem of the Lord’s people, conducted the services outside. Here the principal part of the service was taken by Rev. Dr. Angus Mackintosh, Tain, his text being Isaiah lx. 3-5, and he had for his assistants in the devotional part of the service Messrs. Hugh Mackay of Moy, John Matheson of Kilmuir-Easter, and John Ross of Logie.
When the services were concluded, the clergy and many lay brethren went into the church in order to carry into effect the important object of their meeting. The Rev. Dr. Alexander Fraser of Kirkhill was called to the chair, and, after prayer, it was formally resolved that “such as were present should form themselves into a society”—the Northern Missionary Society by name. To it all friendly to the cause of missions in the North of Scotland were invited. The object of the Society was defined as—The spread of the gospel among the heathen and other unenlightened nations.
The Society, thus started, maintained a vigorous existence, and did very useful work for a period of forty-four years—that is, up to the year 1843. The official members of the Society were a President, Secretary and Treasurer, and Directors. Its first president was the venerable the Rev. Dr. Alexander Fraser of Kirkhill, then on the borders of the better land. He was perhaps the most distinguished preacher in a unique family line of six generations of eminent preachers. When the Rev. James Calder of Croy first (I suppose) heard this Mr. Alexander Fraser preach, he made this note in his diary—”On Saturday young Mr. Fraser preached—a pious youth, greatly acceptable to the Lord’s people—the son, the grandson, the great grandson, of eminent ministers of Christ.” And this distinguished line of eminent preachers did not close with the Rev. Dr. Alexander Fraser. The Rev. Donald Fraser, Alexander’s son, was almost equally distinguished as a preacher of the gospel with his father. Many of our readers will have heard how Dr. Kidd of Aberdeen, on hearing Rev. Donald Fraser preach, found his first prejudices overcome, and could not help exclaiming, as he sat behind his brother minister in the pulpit, that “he would never judge a man by the hair more.” And although the Rev. Alexander Fraser, Donald’s son, was not quite so highly thought of as either his father or his grandfather, he was nevertheless held, wherever he was known, as a true and able preacher of the evangel. After the death of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Fraser in 1802, the president’s chair was taken by the Rev. John Matheson of Kilmuir-Easter. The writer is not in a position to give a list of all the presidents of this notable Society, but it is known that the Rev. Charles Calder of Ferintosh was its president in 1803, and the Rev. Dr. John Macdonald of Ferintosh its president in 1843.
The spiritual and intellectual calibre, so to say, of the directors of this Society, may be guessed from the character of the men who first constituted the directorate. They were—Dr. Fraser, president of the Society; Messrs. Calder of Ferintosh, Urquhart of Fearn, Matheson of Kilmuir-Easter, Ross of Logie, MacIntosh of Tain, Fraser of Inverness, Smith of Bower, and Grant of Calder, ministers; and Roderick Mackenzie, Esq., of Scotsburn, chairman of the directors; John Barclay, Esq., Sheriff-Substitute of Ross-shire; Hugh McCulloch, Esq., of Dornoch, Sheriff-Substitute of Sutherland; Dr. Kennedy, Inverness; Mr. Alex. Fraser, merchant, Inverness; Mr. John Grant, Inverness; Mr. Hector Holm, merchant, Invergordon; Bailie James Taylor, Tain; and Mr. Robert Findlater, merchant, Drummond; the Rev. Dr. Angus MacIntosh, Tain, being secretary and treasurer.
I am inclined to think that under the hand of God the Northern Missionary Society owed its success to no human agency more largely than to its secretaries and treasurers. The two offices were always combined in the one person, and none held either the one office or the other during the whole period of the Society’s existence, save the Rev. Dr. Angus MacIntosh, and after him his son, the Rev. Dr. Charles Calder MacIntosh, both of Tain. Of them we may well say, in this connection, that surely they were the right men in the right place. The Rev. Dr. Angus MacIntosh died in 1831. By that time most of those who took a leading part in founding the Society had passed away. The Society held a meeting at Tain in 1832, and this is how they put on record their sense of the loss sustained through Dr. MacIntosh’s death (summarised)—“The Society had to record the great loss which, not only it, but the cause of missions in general, had sustained by the death of one of its original founders, the Rev. Dr. Angus MacIntosh of Tain, who for the long period of 32 years—ever since its commencement—conducted its business as secretary and treasurer with singular devotedness and ability. At a time when the heavenly flame of missionary zeal was but just kindled or burnt but dimly, and the heathen world was lying in the thick darkness of spiritual death, a number of eminent ministers and private Christians in the north, ‘men full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom,’ and whose praise is in all the Churches, touched by the same heavenly feeling of love to their Saviour and pity for perishing souls, united together, after much deliberation and prayer, and formed the Northern Missionary Society. One of the most active of those ‘nobles of Israel,’ now called to the upper house, was Dr. MacIntosh. He was among the first and readiest to move in the great and good cause. He engaged in the work heart and hand, not merely whilst the Society was young and the subject was novel, but the strong impulse first felt by him continued increasing to the last. He watched over the institution in its infancy with the tenderness of a nurse, and the maturity of his favourite child only enlarged the affectionate care and fond anxieties of the dutiful parent. As secretary to the institution, he brought to the trust qualities which when alone are valuable, but in him were happily combined—great discernment, sound judgment, zeal tempered by knowledge and prudence—a ready talent for writing letters, whether of friendship or business, a method of industry and conscientious redeeming of time. . . . To these qualities were added unfeigned piety, devoted holiness, and a spirit of prayer, and all were offered on the altar and dedicated to the glory of God, whose he was, and whom he served. To the interests of the Society were uniformly given his labours of love, and prayer of faith, and patience of hope. His affection for it only terminated with life, and when the master of the vineyard called this devoted servant to enter into the joy of the Lord, he left the many who knew and loved and valued this man of God, complaining, in the language of sore bereavement—‘My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof.’ But while the Society deeply felt the loss of the Church on earth, occasioned by his removal hence, and would weep for themselves and not for him, they would bless God for having given him and continued him for so many years to them; and that though our fathers are not, and the prophets live not for ever, Jesus, the King of Zion, liveth for evermore—the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever—that He hath the residue of the Spirit, and that from age to age a seed shall come and serve Him until all the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.”
As early as 1829 Dr. Angus MacIntosh, feeling that the infirmities of old age were rendering it scarcely possible for him to carry on any longer the honourable but arduous duties of the secretaryship, urged the Society to accept his resignation; and in the end it was agreed that his son, Dr. Charles Calder MacIntosh, should be associated with him in the secretaryship, and thus, for nearly three years, there was a joint-secretaryship of the two Dr. MacIntoshes, father and son. From 1831 to 1843, when the Society records close, Dr. Charles Calder MacIntosh was sole secretary. It may be said of him, as of his father, that his praise is in all the Churches. Of him the late Dr. Kennedy, Dingwall, once said—“Of all I ever met, he was the one to whom I found it easiest to open up my heart, and at whose feet I was, at the same time, most inclined to sit. He won my heart and commanded my respect as no other ever did.”
The minutes of the Northern Missionary Society—the work of the two Dr. MacIntoshes—were made use of by the late Rev. Dr. K. S. MacDonald, Calcutta, in an article which he contributed to “The Indian Evangelical Review,” when he was editor of that review, and this paper is largely based on Dr. MacDonald’s article.
(To be continued.)
“WHY weepest thou?” There is no envying of the angels at her desire after Christ. They are glad that sinners are sick of love for their well-beloved. Mary had cause to rejoice and not to weep, for Christ’s rising should be as a napkin to wipe all tears from sinners’ faces.—Samuel Rutherford.