This godly man was a native of Tain, Ross-shire, but spent most of his lifetime in the county of Caithness. He possessed a mind of original and penetrating genius, and being deeply taught by the Spirit, he was able to bring out of the treasure-house of divine truth things new and old. He was also a keen discerning of the times. His name and fame have gone far and wide. He died a few years after the Disruption of 1843. His last words were Psalm iv. 8—
“I will both lay me down in peace,
And quiet sleep will take;
Because thou only me to dwell
In safety, Lord, dost make.”
Speaking of the five porches of Bethesda, where the impotent folks lay, he said they were figures of the Two Natures and Three Offices of Christ, where sinners should apply for healing to their souls.
When discoursing upon the resurrection of Lazarus as an emblem of Christ’s raising sinners from the grave of spiritual death, he remarked that in whatever way Christ in His sovereign grace began the conviction of a sinner, his deliverance would always be by “the word,” and that, although Christ by His own almighty power raised sinners from their spiritual graves, as He raised Lazarus from the natural grave, yet He would make use of His servants to loose them out of their trials and difficulties, as He made use of those around Him at that time to loose off the grave-clothes of Lazarus.
Sandy Gair used the following comparison in regard to false and true conversion:—”When a young horse is born, he can play and jump and do something for himself, but when a man is born, he is wholly helpless. But before the man is at his full growth and stature, the horse is dead and his carcase is with the dogs.” (The allusion here is evidently to the falling away of unsound converts.)
He said that some persons wished to get great and large deliverances out of their spiritual difficulties. But, he added, “Some got that, and have fallen grievously and taken very wide steps afterwards, wherein, perhaps, it had been better for them not to have known their deliverance so clearly. Others, again, of those who went most cleanly through the world, were ‘all their lifetime subject to bondage.'”
Speaking of “the old man” and “the new man,” he made use of the following illustration:—He said that they were like twin brothers which were born bound to one another by the side, but each having a distinct soul and body and existence for himself. While they both lived, they did pretty well, although the one was troublesome to the other. But, latterly, one of them died, and then came the trial and the terror to him that was alive, as the dead body continued joined to the living. “So,” he said, “is the living soul born again, which cannot be separated from the old dead man that was with him in a state of nature.”
“The legalist thinks that he should be perfect before he attempts to draw near to the Lord, but the true believer goes to Christ, helpless as he is—hoping.”
“Although the glass in the window is the weakest part of the house, yet it gives light to the whole house, and will stand wind and weather.” (The reference is probably to “faith” in its weakness and its strength.)
One day at a funeral, Sandy Gair was requested to ask a blessing and to be short, as the people were waiting outside. He began, and said: “Thou wert holy in Thy birth, holy in Thy life, holy in Thy death, and the glory shall be Thine for evermore.”
One day, in speaking of Satan’s efforts to carry away the comforts and promises from God’s people, and these very promises proving the destruction of Satan and his works, he employed the following illustration. “People were at one time outside roasting meat, but an eagle soaring aloft, and having an eye upon them, descended with great speed and swept away the meat and carried it to her nest. Some of the coals, however, on which the meat was roasting, adhered to it, and burnt up the eagle’s nest, young ones and all.”
He remarked concerning Ephraim that when the prophet was bidden to “let him alone,” the Lord Himself did not intend to let Ephraim alone, as if he had said to the prophet, “Your teaching will have no effect upon Ephraim; but I will handle him myself, and teach him in a way that shall have effect.”
(To be continued.)