“Trust in Him at all Times.”

PSALM lxii. 8.

DAVID, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, was a man of war from his youth. It was his appointed lot to contend at all stages of his career with foes of various kinds—outward and inward, visible and invisible. His troubles therefore were neither few nor small. They were frequently overwhelming to a degree, and seemed more than sufficient to sink him in dark and irrecoverable despair. “I sink in deep mire where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.” But although thus tried and afflicted by his numerous and powerful enemies, he was not without a door of hope to flee to. He had been taught from his youth also to look to Jehovah, the God of Israel, as his Saviour and his Deliverer in all extremities, and his faith, though often weak and trembling, had again and again its humble confidence honoured in the experience of wondrous help in the time of need. His testimony is: the Lord “sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.” These valuable things were written for our learning and encouragement “upon whom the ends of the world have come.”

It is our present purpose to call the attention of our readers to a verse in the sixty-second Psalm, which, with the divine blessing, may not prove unprofitable as a subject of meditation at the beginning of a New Year, during a time of much conflict and trouble. “Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah” (verse 8). In the previous part of the Psalm, the Psalmist tells us of his own exercise of waiting upon God for defence and salvation in view of the plots of his enemies and of the confidence he had attained that he would not be greatly moved; seeing that the Lord was his rock and refuge. And now, at the eighth verse, he feels strongly

encouraged to exhort others to a like trust. The door was open for them also to seek and find their salvation in the Lord.

I.—Let us, first, then observe the glorious Object of trust here presented to our view, namely, God Himself as the sinner’s refuge: “God is a refuge for us.”

1. He is a refuge from the flaming sword of justice. There is a more dreadful sword hanging over the heads of everyone of us as children of disobedience than that of any human foe whatsoever—the sword of God’s just displeasure on account of sin. He made man upright at the beginning, but man disobeyed His commandment, and was justly cast out of Eden. A flaming sword was placed on the east side of the garden to prevent his return. This sword, as an instrument of justice, would have devoured the whole human race, but God in the riches of His mercy provided a great deliverer. He sent His Son “in the fulness of the time” to bear its stroke on behalf of a countless multitude. “Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and the man that is my fellow.” The Lord Jesus satisfied all the law’s demands and quenched the burning sword in His own precious blood. God is now in Him, “reconciling the world unto himself,” and poor sinners, feeling their guilt and danger, may flee with all haste to Him as their complete and perfect refuge from the sword of justice. God is “just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.” There is no safety anywhere but in a gracious God in Christ.

2. He is a refuge from the fiery darts of the Evil One. As sinful rebels against the Divine majesty, we deserve to be exposed to and overcome by these darts, but God, in the riches of His love, sent His Son to destroy the works of the devil. Satan was permitted to shoot all his fiery arrows against Christ, but by His holy obedience He repelled them all, and obtained an eternal victory for all His people from the assaults of the prince of darkness. The Captain of salvation, “having suffered being tempted, is able to succour them that are tempted.” Here, then, is the refuge and help of poor sinners who are pursued by Satan’s burning arrows. Let them not fight in a spirit of self-sufficiency, but look unto Jesus, who is willing to give them His own almighty strength to resist and overcome.

3. He is a refuge from the poisonous gases of the world that lieth in wickedness. Our soldiers on the field of battle have often to encounter a poisonous gas of destructive and fatal tendency, against which they require to adopt special means for protection. The world, morally and spiritually considered, is full of poisonous, soul-destroying gases. Multitudes of sinners are kept asleep in the stupor of spiritual death by these evil influences; nothing short of the power of God can awaken them. And when any of them are in mercy awakened, they are apt to be overcome again unless they flee to the Lord as their refuge. The world’s gases have often a pleasant, insinuating smell to the flesh, but they are

none the less dangerous on that account. The only safety of the poor soul is to endeavour to keep close to the Divine Saviour. “Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”

1. He is a refuge from the painful strokes of common affliction. Many such strokes are being experienced by God’s people and others in the present awful time of war and bloodshed. He evidently does not intend that many shall escape the pain of trial and loss—such is designed as an important discipline—but still He continues to show Himself gracious as a refuge for the oppressed in a way of spiritual help and consolation. “The Lord killeth and maketh alive; he bringeth down to the grave and raiseth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich; he bringeth low and lifteth up.” None but He can provide any adequate help or comfort in view of affliction. Vain is man’s help. There is, however, a sufficiency in Him to carry poor sinners through the sorest trials, and to enable them to say, “Thy will be done.”

II.—Let us now notice a second general point in the text—the exhortation to trust in the Lord as our refuge. “Trust in him at all times.”

1. The Psalmist speaks not only for himself as a man of experience, but as an authorised messenger of the Lord of hosts. He calls upon God’s children in particular, and the sinful sons of men in general, to put their trust in the Most High in view of all possible emergencies. Not that any can obey this call apart from divine life and help, and yet disobedience to it is sin and sin is guilt. We are the authors of our own unbelief, though not of our faith, if we possess that grace. Confessing the sin and shame of our distrust, we ought to apply to the Giver of every good gift for the living trust that is needed to our soul’s eternal happiness.

2. Consider the nature of the trust that is enjoined. For one thing, to trust in the Lord is to believe His Word. He has spoken to us in His truth concerning ourselves as guilty sinners in danger of many evils, both in time and in eternity, and He has spoken to us concerning Himself as the only and all sufficient Saviour and Refuge in His Son Jesus Christ. Where there is a genuine trust in God, there is a belief of what He has said with personal application. The sinner believes the truth with regard to sin and salvation, and as a consequence desires to be vitally and experimentally interested in God as his refuge. More than this, where such trust exists, there is an actual soul reliance upon the Lord for what He promises to be in His Word, and a consequent experience, in more or less degree to apprehension, of what He is as a gracious God in Christ. The sinner is brought nigh, and hid in the Rock Christ. To this Rock he is vitally united; and to this Rock he mainly clings in view of his needs and dangers.

3. Observe the call to trust in Jehovah at all times. Though God’s people never lose the principle of faith, they do not always have faith in due and proper exercise. Unbelief often asserts

itself, and gains a temporary ascendancy. As a corrective to unbelief, the exhortation is much required.

It is theirs to trust in Him in times of prosperity, whether temporal or spiritual. Let them seek at such seasons to exercise trust in a way of realising their dependence upon Him for all the benefits they enjoy. There is in times of comfort a danger of self-satisfaction and self-dependence, and so their safety is to constantly recognise that as guilty sinners they deserve no good at the Lord’s hands, and that they are continual debtors to His free grace for all the kindness in providence and in grace they experience. Trust is much needed, though not always present, in times of prosperity.

It is theirs, further, to trust in Him in times of adversity. Possibly the emphasis of the Psalmist in the present case is on these times. Seasons of sharp adversity are often the occasion, through the subtle temptations of Satan and the wickedness of the fallen heart, of breeding unbelief and distrust—even in the minds of God’s people. They are apt to think and exclaim, “All these things are against me.” They are liable to cherish hard thoughts of God, and to conclude that He has forsaken them and become their enemy. The Lord’s messenger here calls them to exercise trust even in the darkest and most trying times. The Lord is just in all His ways and holy in all His works, and let it be observed that there is a degree of trust in exercise when a soul recognises and confesses this under sharp trials, and says, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” The Lord is also good and gracious in all His dealings, and He chasteneth His own children in love. They indeed trust in Him, who are enabled to endure trials, believing this to be true, and humbly and lovingly acquiescing in His will. The Lord is, further, the fountain of all grace, and they possess genuine trust, who in their most depressing hours and greatest extremities, cast themselves at His feet, pleading, on the ground of His own word and of the merits of His Son, for supplies out of His inexhaustible fulness. To trust in Him at all times, is to believe against unbelief, and to hope against hope that the Lord will do as He has said, and “deliver the needy when he crieth.” Such trust will not be put to shame.

III.—The last general point to be observed is the special direction given as to the exercise of trust: “Ye people, pour ye out your heart before him.”

The Psalmist here appears to give direction as to how they were to express their trust towards God. He urges them to pour out their heart before Him, or in other words, to make known all their thoughts, feelings, and wants to Him in prayer, as one who was able and willing to help and save. It is not common among men for one person to pour out his heart to another unless there is trust felt in the person addressed. Similarly is it true in the relations of men to God. There is manifestly a degree of trust in exercise when a poor sinner is enabled to pour out his heart to

God and make known all his need to Him. Unbelief shuts up the soul in spiritual bondage God-ward, but faith produces liberty, and the soul makes an open breast of all his sins and miseries, needs and desires, unto God through Jesus Christ.

Now, let us remark, in conclusion, that this counsel is well worthy of most earnest attention on the part of every sinner that has the least desire after God in Christ as his refuge from the sword of justice, the darts of the Evil One, and the poisonous fumes of a world lying in wickedness. Pour out your heart before Him in confessions of sin, cries for mercy, petitions for deliverance from every form of evil, and entreaties for an interest in God’s great salvation, in the name of the meritorious Redeemer. Persevere thus, refusing to take a denial, and you will not be disappointed. “Though the vision tarry, wait for it.” The Lord has regard to the importunate soul, and will give him all that he needeth (Matt. xi. 5-13).

A Sermon.

BY THE REV. NEIL CAMERON, ST. JUDE’S, GLASGOW.

(Taken down by a Hearer.)

LET us consider for a short time, as we may be enabled, a passage of God’s Word which you will find in the chapter read—the Gospel according to Matthew, twenty-eighth chapter, and at the eighteenth verse:—”And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”

We have in the Gospels a history of Christ during the days of His humiliation in the world. We have an account given of His birth and of the place where He was born, and of a considerable number of the things that happened to Him and in which He had a direct hand during thirty-three years in the world. We have also an account given in the Gospels of how men dealt with Christ. Even His very enemies had to confess that “never man spake like this man,” and they had to confess also that He had done all things well when He made the blind to see, and the deaf to hear. And notwithstanding of all this, they took Him and, by wicked hands, put Him to death and brought Him to the grave. In this chapter it is recorded that He rose from the grave. He rose by His own power from the dead and out of the grave, and we have here interviews which He had, first with the women who followed Him, and afterwards with His apostles, and we have an account given here of His last charge to His disciples and of His ascension into heaven.

In the verses which we have read we shall notice three things in particular:—

I.—The power which Christ declares here is given unto Him: “All power in heaven and in earth.”

II.—The duty which He committed to these men, and that duty they were to attend unto in the world: “Go ye, therefore”—that is, because all power in heaven and in earth is given unto Me—”and teach all nations,” etc. That was their duty.

III.—The promise which He gives: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world”—not only during the apostolic age but until the end of the world.

I.—We shall notice, first, a few things in connection with this power which is given to Christ and of which He speaks here. The first thing we have to notice concerning this power is that, as He was God—the eternal Son of God—He required no power. He was the glory of the Father, the express image of His person, and He was upholding all things by the word of His power, that is, as God. Even when He appeared in the world in human nature as a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” “God manifest in the flesh,” the whole universe hung upon His power even at that time. But we shall notice, in the second place, that when He speaks here of power given or delegated to Him, He speaks of the power that He received as the Mediator between God and guilty men; that is, as He now appeared in the world as the Saviour, the second Man who is the Lord from heaven, and the last Adam. This power was given to Him as the God-man, and He says first here that all power in heaven was given to Him.

Now we shall notice, in connection with this, a few things as to what we know from the Scriptures; and we know absolutely nothing, my friends, about these things that are unseen and eternal but as we know them in the Scriptures. Take away the Word of God from men, and you make them just as dark as to eternal and invisible things as the heathen. They may have speculations, but they shall have nothing but mere speculations. But in this Word we know what these things are. And the first thing we have to notice in connection with “all power in heaven” is this—it belongs unto God not only to create the whole of rational creatures, but it belongs to Him also to provide for His creatures, and this power was given to Christ Jesus, as it was true in the case of Joseph in Egypt, taking that as an illustration. Pharaoh said, “I am Pharaoh,” and in all other things in Egypt, except that Pharaoh was on the throne, Joseph had all power and authority put into his hand. That is an illustration of Christ as the Mediator. The Father gave over to His own Son in human nature all power in heaven to rule. As He says Himself, “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father.” The Father, as it were, put all power into the hands

of Christ in heaven in this way, that He should rule over all rational and irrational creatures, and also that He should have the elements of the material universe under His control. The second thing which we desire to notice in connection with these powers “in heaven,” as it is revealed to us in this Book, is this—God the Father, in the covenant of grace, the covenant of salvation, or the covenant of peace, made over to Christ gifts which were to be bestowed upon men, and one of these gifts, which certainly is in heaven, was the Holy Ghost. God, the third person, was given unto Christ, the Mediator, in order that He might be upon Himself as the spirit of wisdom and of understanding and of knowledge and of might and of the fear of Jehovah in working out salvation for perishing men, but He was given to Him also to apply to lost men the salvation which He purchased for them by His obedience unto death. Consequently, Christ said to His disciples before He left them, “It is expedient for you”—or as the word might be translated—”It is profitable for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send him unto you, and when he is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.” This, my friends, is put into the hands of Christ—the Holy Ghost, in all the fulness of His person—and power to apply the redemption which He purchased by His own obedience unto death, to all whom God the Father gave unto Him, before the foundation of the world, to be saved by Him.

But we read of another power in heaven, and that is the power of angels. Angels, my friends, are mighty beings, powerful beings. One angel did not think it too heavy a work for him to be charged with the destruction of the whole Assyrian army in one night. We are told that God sent forth an angel who slew one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians, and when they arose early in the morning, they were all dead men. Was not that power? Well, they are all given to Christ. You read that He said to Peter and to the other Apostles that if He were to pray the Father He would give Him twelve legions of angels. All these principalities and powers and mights and dominions that are in heaven are given to Christ and are all under His command.

The last thing I desire to notice about this first part of the power that was given to Christ is this:—God has given to His own Son power to open the door of heaven to the guiltiest of the children of men. He hath given Him power to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, however lost and guilty and ruined they may be. Christ has all power to forgive sin to the sinner who will return to Him confessing his sins, and the sinner does not need a Virgin Mary or a Saint to come between him and Christ. He invites him to come to Himself directly, as He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” and you need not, my friend, be afraid that

there is any power in heaven that will stand against you the day you return to God, repenting of your sins. All power in heaven is absolutely in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Mediator and as the Saviour whom God sets forth before perishing men in the gospel.

Now, we shall notice again that Christ not only says that all power in heaven but also that “all power in earth is given unto Him,” but time will not allow us to enter into these things very minutely. We know of powers among men, kings and lords, but Christ, my friends, is King of kings and Lord of lords. You see God the Father gave Christ all power on earth, and the kings of the world are but His vassals, His subjects, as well as the crofters in the Highlands. Christ has no respect of persons, and He will yet show that the soul of the beggar who comes to your door for a piece of bread is just of as much value in His eyes as the soul of a king or an emperor. You would think to-day, if you knew nothing but what you see and hear among men, even, when the power of Christ is so manifest, that there was no such power in existence as the power of the Son of God. No. You hear and read about men, the bravery of men. Well, we do not despise bravery—quite the reverse—but we would like, my friends, that we had the least modicum of commonsense as a nation to acknowledge the Son of God, whom God set up as His King upon His holy hill of Sion, and concerning whom He gives a charge to kings as well as to subjects. “Now, therefore,” He says, “kings, be wise: be taught, ye judges of the earth.” These are visible kings, or as Samuel Rutherford used to call them, “kings of clay,” but there is an invisible King, a King who is at the right hand of God in the heavens, and His authority is more stable and real than the authority of visible kings. It is impossible to overturn His throne, for God says, and He speaks about Him as Mediator:—”Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness; therefore, God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows,” so that all power among men is absolutely in the hands of Christ.

The second thing I desire to notice in connection with the powers upon earth is this. You see, my friends, there are mighty powers working in this world, and Christ reveals that He has full control, absolute control, of men that He may do with them as He sees proper, and He has also absolute control over the irrational creatures and over the elements of this creation, and He revealed this. He revealed, my friends, that He had absolute power in this world over the mightiest power known to us in it, and that is the power of death. He only had to say to the dead daughter of Jairus, “Talitha cumi,” that is to say, “Damsel, arise,” and she immediately arose. He had only to touch the bier of the young man of Nain, and he sat up immediately. He only had to say to Lazarus, who was stinking in the grave, “Lazarus, come

forth,” and death could not resist His command for one moment. He pointed out that as the Father hath power to quicken the dead, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will, and He did it. We are not considering as we should the miracles of Christ, or else we would see that His miracles proved that He was God, for who could call the dead back into life again but God? Christ did that. You will notice also that He had power over evil spirits, not only over one or two, but He could command a legion to come out of a man and immediately they did it, and not only was it true that He had power to make them come out of the man but they confessed themselves that He had power to torment them, to send them down to the pit. He has absolute power over the devil and over all his angels, and this is part of the power which is given to Christ. You will notice again that He had power over the elements. When men thought in the storm that they were drowning, the ship being full of water—and these men, remember, were not at all landward men, but fishermen who knew very well what they said when they cried, “Master, we perish”—Christ just arose and rebuked the wind and immediately the wind ceased, and rebuked the waves, and the face of the waters was as smooth in an instant as the face of a mirror, and all who know anything about the sea know that, supposing a storm were to cease, the waves will continue for hours, sometimes for days. But you see Christ by His power, the power He had on earth, could command the storms and they ceased at once; He could command the waves and they obeyed Him immediately, for this was the Creator of both wind and waves. This was the voice that brought them into existence, and He could well command them, for He had power over them all. I desire to notice also that Christ has all power over the irrational creatures, and He could make the most abject of them, such as flies, a terrible scourge to men. You remember how He plagued the Egyptians by frogs, lice, flies, etc. Christ has power even over the lice, although our men in the trenches do not realise it. You may think that uncouth language here, but it is scriptural language. He has power over locusts; He has power over flies; He has power over frogs. “All power on earth is given unto Him.”

Now, I desire to notice in the third place before leaving this head, why it was that He made this declaration that He had all power in heaven and all power in earth given unto Him. Well, it was on this account—the disciples knew perfectly well how the world dealt with the Son of God Himself when He appeared among them, and they might really conclude “What is the use of our making an effort to go forth to preach the gospel to men who slew the Prince of Life?” but he shows them here that they had no need to fear. They had no cause of fear from Satan or his angels, from kings or lords, or the elements or anything in the world, and that because all this power was put into His hands. It was true that in the night the children of Israel left Egypt not

even a dog barked, and you know perfectly well when a concourse of people is moving in the night on streets or country roads, what a noise the dogs will make, and no wonder! But here you have 600,000 men, who were capable of bearing arms, along with women and children and all their cattle and everything belonging to them, marching through the land, and to show the control which the Son of God has over creatures, there is not a bark in the land of Egypt, and if He should like to order it, there should not be a dog in the world that could bark at any of His people. No man or woman or any of the irrational creatures could do you any harm. We must confess that in thinking over this very text, we have changed our mind exceedingly about how men may deal with their fellow-men in the world, and that we ought in everything to look to Christ, for this power is in His hand and they could do nothing unless He gave them permission to do it. You see that when David had to flee from his own unnatural son, Absalom, and Shimei the Benjamite cursed him and threw earth and stones at him, David said, “God commanded him to curse David.” Shimei was, in his judgment, God’s messenger sent to him, and that in order that he might derive some benefit from this. Well, Christ made this declaration to His disciples, and it is written to this day in order that those who go forth with the gospel might have this before their minds:—”My Master has got all power in heaven, and He has got all power on earth, and nothing can happen to me but as He wills it.” No! and if He wills that you should have bitter cups to drink in the world, what are we? What do we know what is good for ourselves? We like always to get something sweet. Well, sweet things are generally not healthy, but God gives bitter cups to His people in the world in order that they may be more healthy spiritually, and it is not because He has no power to bring kings and lords under control, evil spirits under control, all the elements in the world, and irrational creatures under control. He has nothing to do but to rebuke them, and they shall stop at once. You see, in Egypt, whenever He wanted the locusts to go, they were off before the morning; flies were the same; thunder and lightning the same.

II.—Let us notice a few things under the second head which we mentioned, namely, the duty which Christ laid upon these men, and upon all their successors till the end of the world. He says here their duty is to teach all nations. “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations.” It is necessary, my friends, that we should have the authority of the Son of God to go forth into the world to teach perishing men His truth. It is an easy matter for a man to run, but if God did not send the man, where is his authority? Satan can laugh at him and he will only turn out to be his servant, but when He says here, “Go ye, therefore,” this is their commission from His mouth, and men to this day are receiving their commission to go from the mouth of Christ. He said concerning His

Apostles, “He that receiveth you receiveth me, and He that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me.” You see there is a very close connection between the sending of Christ by the Father and the sending by Christ of men to teach all nations. I read once about the king of Abyssinia, that he had some British subjects in prison being very badly treated. The governor or consul we had at that time in Egypt appealed to the king of Abyssinia to let these men go, and he did this with instructions from the Foreign Office at home, but the king never let on as much as that he got his letter. Queen Victoria, however, wrote a letter with her own hand to the king of Abyssinia that she was bound to look after her subjects, and that if he would not let them go, she would have to send an army to deliver these men, and the prison door was opened immediately and they were out. So those whom God sends and to whom He says, “Go ye,” He goes with them, and the world and the devil will know that there is a power with them which they can neither resist or overthrow, however much they may hate it. Now, I am only mentioning that as to the commission here, but let us notice as to their duty. What really was it now that they were to do when they would go forth to teach all nations? What were they to teach them? Was it the speculations of the brains of men who might call themselves learned men? No! but you will notice, although I am not going into this subject, that thousands went out in this country in the name of Christ to teach, not what He commanded them, but what they learned from Germans, what they learned from the enemies of Christ—from men who now show really and truly before the whole world what they are, and they filled this land with lies concerning God’s Book, concerning the doctrines of that Word, and they filled the minds of men with heresies. You know very well—such of you as know anything about country life—that whatever may come of the good seed of oats, of barley, of wheat, which you sow in your field, if you sow dockings in it, you may rest assured not one seed of it will die, and that is the way with heresies. Human nature is suitable ground for such doctrines, and they have brought forth such fruit in this land that we cannot see, my friends, how we could benefit by anything without repentance, and it matters little how bountifully God may deal with us in His providence, how He may deal with us as a nation in removing the scourge that is upon us—if we turn not from our sins, our national sins, our individual sins, we are gone, and, as I said already, profanity has gone forth into all the land from the prophets of Jerusalem. If you trace up where all these things took root, you can trace them up to treacherous and profane prophets. “Her prophets are light and treacherous persons,” as you will find the prophet Zephaniah had to say in his day. Now, I am only speaking this before I come to say something about the fulfilment by His servants of the command of Christ, when He says:—”Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations.” You see if He left it at that, men might turn

round and say, “He has given us a wide field. We may teach what we like. He has laid down no rule.” But you find the rule laid down here when He says, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” It would be a very strong statement should He have said, “all things that I have commanded you,” but this is much stronger, “all things whatsoever.” Men may say, “This is a small thing; there is no use in the world making a row about this thing,” but is it one of the “whatsoever”? Is it included there? “Well, if it is, I am bound,” the servant of Christ says, “to teach that, if Christ commanded it.” If men were looking to their Bibles more carefully and seeing what they are bound to teach as servants of Christ, they would see that they are not their own masters, and that they are bound not to teach for doctrines the commandments of men, at the hazard of their eternal damnation and the loss of other men’s souls also; they are bound in their infirmity to teach, not the things which will suit the generation in which they live, but whatsoever Christ commanded, let men hear them or let them forbear. That is not their responsibility; but they are bound to teach whatsoever Christ commanded to be taught.

It used to be the habit of men in this country who were teaching divinity students the doctrines of the Bible, to set before them models in the way of sermons and lectures, in accordance with which they were to frame their own discourses. And you find that Christ left models in His Word for those whom He sent, in order that they might consider them and see what were the doctrines that He taught, and how He dealt with sinners and also with His people in His preaching. I am under the impression that the man who will study closely the discourses which Christ has given, and also His apostles, and who will endeavour to keep as closely as he can to the example that is set before him, may expect to be as successful in the world as any other.

I desire to point out here that the first thing which we have on record that Christ taught to His hearers is this, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He begins at repentance, and remember, my friends, that everyone whom Christ sends and commissions to go, He makes him first realise in his own soul that there must be repentance and a forsaking of sin, not only in the conduct but in the heart also; and He sends him forth to teach to others not what he learned from his fellows but what he learned by experience from the Spirit of God. You cannot find one servant of Christ—take the prophets, take the apostles, take all the orthodox fathers down from the time of the apostles, who have left anything on record in the way of doctrine; take godly ministers even in the generation that is past, and from among others I would point out the late Dr. Kennedy of Dingwall and Mr. M’Coll of Lochalsh,—who did not call upon his fellow-sinners everywhere to repent, to forsake their evil ways and their thoughts, and to

return to the Lord, and that He would have mercy upon them; and they declared with emphasis to all men that except they repented—whatever they might have—they should certainly perish. You have done nothing, friend—you have not begun to learn the alphabet of Christianity—if you have not repented, and so far as the Gospel is concerned, you derived no benefit from it. Supposing you have been taught it, and that even by a Christ-sent messenger, if sin has not begun to prick you at your heart and to cause you to realise your need of coming out of the world—the godless world, the vain world—and to be separate from them, you have derived no benefit. No. For this is the first thing that Christ taught His hearers. John the Baptist taught the same thing. Peter taught the same thing on the day of Pentecost. Paul, all the apostles, and all His servants from that day till now, call upon their fellow-sinners to turn to God from wicked works; and they do it, not at all by their own authority or believing that men are able to cease from sin when they like themselves, but they do it, my friends, by the authority of Christ, who has all power in heaven and in earth. But you say, “I cannot repent.” No; that is true. But you know, friend, that Christ is at the right hand of God, a Prince and Saviour, for this very purpose—to give repentance—and He says to you, “Son, give me thine heart.” Go with your heart as it is—a desperately wicked heart, which is full of unbelief—and give it to Christ, and He promises to take the heart of stone out of your flesh and to give you a heart of flesh and to put His precepts in your heart and mind. Men have been crying out, “Preach the Gospel; never mind the law.” And, indeed, the fruits of their labour show clearly that the hands of Moses were not kept up, or else the Amalekites would not have gained the victory in the valley. But God forbid, my friends, that the day should come upon Scotland in which there would not be men in it who would warn their fellow-sinners of the evil of sin and of their need of forsaking it and of turning to God, and who would assure their fellow-countrymen that God is merciful and that He is gracious, and that He will certainly forgive sin to the sinner who confesses and forsakes his sin; and that, however hard the heart of man is, Christ can take away the hardness, and however impenitent, He can give him repentance—“godly sorrow for sin, not to be repented of.” If you feel that you need repentance, go to Christ, ruined as you are, for “he came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” It is not better men or men in a fitter condition than you that the Son of God came to seek and to save, but just the lost, and He invites you to come to Him—lost and guilty and corrupt—and put the whole work into His hands, and He will begin by giving you repentance, that you may begin to smite, not upon God or your neighbour, but upon your own breast for your sins. But that is not all.

It is a great thing for a poor sinner to hear that God is inviting

him to turn from his evil ways and that He will have mercy upon him. That is a very great part of the gospel, great news for guilty men, but, remember that there is more than this, and what is it? It is, that man must be changed as to his nature. How did Christ preach the gospel to Nicodemus? That brings before my mind a letter which I received from a God-fearing man in the 7th Seaforths from the trenches in France, and he said that there is not one word heard there of the doctrine which Christ, the Son of God, preached to Nicodemus. No! And that is, that man must be born again. It is not, my friends, a patching up of the old man. That is man’s religion; that is man’s way of salvation, but God’s way of salvation is this:—He makes the man a new creature. He creates a clean heart, a right spirit, and it is in this clean heart and right spirit that repentance works, not in the old man, in the old nature. He will never put a finger to that to make it better, but He causes, through His Word and Spirit, such a change in the man, in his heart and mind, as that He Himself calls him “a new creature.”

But you notice also that Christ sets before Nicodemus that “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life,” and the serpent in the wilderness was God’s remedy for perishing men. We are told that none who obeyed God’s command and looked to it in order that he might live, died. And such is Christ in the gospel. He is lifted up in the gospel, crucified, as God’s remedy for you, a guilty and lost sinner who will certainly die eternally, and that in order that you might look to Him and put all your hope and confidence in Him alone. As sure then as the servants of Christ have to preach repentance towards God, they have to preach faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and faith is the gift of God. It is the eye which the soul receives to see Christ, and the hand to lay hold on Him and to appropriate Him as its own. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” And faith, you see, is a thing that rests upon warrant, rests upon the promises of God and receives them as absolutely true. Many, many a sinner went to eternity rejoicing in such a promise as this: “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy sins, and thy transgressions and iniquities will I remember no more.” When the Spirit of God speaks thus to the sinner, He enables the sinner to believe “He means me; that is spoken to me, and I believe it.” Now, as they had to preach that all men are lost by nature, on the way to eternal ruin, and have need of turning from their evil ways unto God by repentance, so they have to set Christ before sinners as the one way, the only way to the Father, and that by faith in Him, by receiving Him as their own personal Saviour, turning to Him with their whole heart and soul and mind and closing in with Him as their own Saviour for time and for an endless eternity, they shall be saved.

The third thing I desire to notice in connection with the things

they have to teach is this. They have to teach that all who repent and believe in Christ ought to show that they have really undergone this change by their holy walk and conversation in the world. See, if men in the generation that is passing along with ourselves—I am not speaking just now about the generation that are only boys and girls going to school, but the generation that are men and women—if they had not become idiots, they could not believe that men had repented and believed in Christ and yet that these men could bring the vain song into the house of God. It was enough for a madman to think or to believe that such a thing could be done by a man who was born of the Spirit of God, but such is the case. But God says that “holiness becometh His House” and He calls it “a house of prayer unto all people,” although men before and men in this generation made it a den of thieves. Now, holiness is to be stamped upon everything, on our walk, on all our practice in the world, on our words, and, if it is not seen, you have no right to conclude that it is a good tree which brings forth bad fruit; but you are not to judge the disconsolate soul by his own low opinion of himself. There was a man in the North who said, when called to speak to “the question,” that although speaking of the marks of a saving work in the soul, yet he could give his oath that he had not a spark of grace in his own soul. When Alexander Gair was called after him, he said that he believed there was not one of the brethren of Joseph who would be more ready than Benjamin to give his oath that Joseph’s silver cup was not in his sack, but yet it was found in Benjamin’s sack. So if you see by his or her fruit that the fruit is unto holiness, you have good ground to believe that that is a good tree, although the sinner would say, “I am the worst tree.” That matters nothing. It is not by the profession of a sinner you are to judge, but by the fruit he or she bears.

Now, I desire to notice this other thing. You see, when He says, “Teaching them all things whatsoever I have commanded you,” He brings in not only doctrine—the doctrine of the fall of man, the doctrine of regeneration by the Spirit, the doctrine of repentance towards God, the doctrine of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine of justification, the doctrine of sanctification which must show itself in the life in the world—but He also sets before men how they are to worship God. Christ said to the woman of Samaria, “Ye worship ye know not what; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.” And He told her that God was a Spirit and “they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” There was nothing to be in God’s worship but what was done by the “spirit” in man and by the Holy Ghost, and nothing there also but the truth, and they are to keep to this. This is part of the “all things,” and it is certainly included in particular in the word, “whatsoever.” We are to add nothing to, we are to take nothing from, God’s Word. That is not the

work which Christ gives at all to such as He sends forth, but to teach men what they find in this book and to give all diligence night and day to study it in order that they may bring forth its doctrines before men. They are to warn sinners that, if they shall go on despising Christ in the gospel and refusing obedience to His commands, it shall not be well with them. No! As you will find in the prophecy of Isaiah: “Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him.” The Sabbath-breaker, the swearer, such as take the name of God in vain, liars, and such as live an unholy, corrupt life in the world, drunkards; all sinners are to be warned that if they will continue to go on in their ways, it shall not be well with them. You would think in our day that men have gone forth into the world in order to excuse such statements in the Bible, to tell sinners that God will not carry out these threatenings and that wicked men will go to heaven. Oh, my friends, who asked such men to go to apologise for God? Who? Did God ever ask any man to go and make an apology to the wicked because He would punish the wicked? No, never, and He never shall. He commands those whom He sends to tell the wicked unflinchingly that it shall be ill with them, and if they will dare go on in sin that God will make it as hot as the lake of hell to them at last, so that men may not be deceiving themselves in thinking that God is something else than what He is, for, remember, He says that “the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God.”

The last thing I desire to notice on this head is that they were to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

When man sinned in Eden, sin separated between him and God. God departed from man’s soul then, and that not only from the souls of our first parents but also from all their posterity. It is written that “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” God made a covenant of grace and redemption with His own Son, to restore many of our lost race to His favour in which eternal life consists, which covenant Christ sealed with His own blood. The ordinance of baptism was given as an outward seal to believers in Jesus Christ. In baptism, God—the Three Persons—makes Himself over to the believer as his God.

Jehovah gave a free promise to Abraham that He would be his God and the God of his seed, Abraham believed the promise, and God gave him the seal of circumcision as an outward sign of the stability of the promise in order that his faith would be strengthened. This was given not only to himself, but also to his seed. Baptism has come in the place of circumcision, as the Lord’s supper supersedes the passover. The children of believers in God’s promise through Christ in the gospel have been baptized, because God still becomes the God of the believer and that of his seed after him. Circumcision of itself did not regenerate the seed of

Abraham, neither does baptism regenerate the children of believing parents now. As Paul taught the Jews that they were the children of the promise, so such as are baptized now are also the children of the promise. If such children believe not in Christ, who is the sum and substance of the promise, they shall not be saved. It is only faith in Jesus Christ that saves any sinner. Those who are baptized should lay this to heart. The vows of God are upon them, as they have publicly taken Him to be their covenant God, and if such be lost, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on the last day than for them. But, I must not enlarge.

III.—Now, let us notice in the third place—and I am only going to make a few remarks as to this last head—the promise which the Lord gives them here of His own presence with them. You cannot see Him. You may have seen some who were as truly sent of Christ as the apostles, and to whom He said, “Go and teach men everywhere my truth.” You could not see Him but you could see them, but He says, “Lo, I am with you,” and “I am with you always,” or, as the word might be translated, from day to day, yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow.

The first thing I desire to notice in this connection is that He is with them by His Spirit. It was the Spirit of Christ that spoke in the prophets, and it is the Spirit of Christ that speaks in His servants still, although they are not inspired. They are only to search diligently into the things that God has given to them in His own inspired word. Well, my friends, He has given His Spirit to go forth with them in order that the word might be made effectual. What was the difference between that sermon which was preached by Peter on the day of Pentecost, and the discourse—and a marvellous discourse it is indeed—you will find in the seventh chapter of Acts, which was delivered by Stephen before his accusers in Jerusalem? What was the cause that the one party were pricked in their hearts and began to cry out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Well, if you were present there, you would see nothing. You see, my friends, God the Holy Spirit, is invisible, and it was the Holy Spirit who convinced men that day of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. It was the Holy Spirit who made use of the words which were spoken to open the eyes of sinners to see God’s salvation in Christ crucified, but, in the case of Stephen, the Spirit was not there. Perhaps it was true that God said, “My Spirit shall not strive any more with these men.” I would not give up hope of you with whom God’s Spirit is striving through the Word, and making you feel lost on account of sin, and your need of deliverance through the blood of Christ; but you, on the other hand, who can listen year in, year out, to God’s messengers declaring His truth and telling the wicked it shall be ill with them, and the effect it has upon you is that you gnash your teeth at the speaker; take care that it may not mean that God has given you over in judgment, for you see that He says here, “Lo, I am with you.”

The second thing I desire to notice is this. He says, here, “Lo, I am with you alway,” or from day to day, and they had need of Him, not only to make their message effectual to the salvation of perishing men, but also to protect themselves from day to day, to keep them and to uphold them. You find that He told them that, when they had to go before magistrates and kings and judges for the gospel’s sake, they were not to think beforehand what they should say. It is a terrible thing for a man to appear before his enemies who are bent upon his ruin, and bent also upon having some excuse to put the man to death, trying their utmost to see if they can get one word upon which they can base their sentence of death; but He told them not to concern themselves in such trying times as to what they should say, for He would give them the words to answer. There were in this country, more than once, poor, unlearned, servant girls, who confounded the most learned judges in the land, and that by the mouth and the wisdom which Christ gave them, and He is the same to-day. This is from day to day, for “Christ is the same, yesterday and to-day and for ever,” and we are told in the Scriptures “that they shall never be put to shame who wait upon him.”

May God bless to us anything consistent with His mind!

Death of Mr. Angus Clunas,

GENERAL TREASURER, INVERNESS.

IT is with profound sorrow that we announce this month the death of Mr. Angus Clunas, our esteemed General Treasurer, who passed away at his house, 35 Ardconnel Terrace, Inverness, on 6th December. Mr. Clunas was ailing more or less for about a fortnight before his decease. We have difficulty in expressing how deeply we feel the great loss that has been sustained by the Free Presbyterian Church in the removal of its worthy and efficient Treasurer, who took up the duties of his office at the very beginning of the Church’s distinctive existence 22 years ago, and discharged them regularly up to his death with a fidelity and accuracy beyond all praise. Mr. Clunas was a man of God as well as a capable man of business. His heart was strongly knit to the cause of truth, and he gave abundant proof that he did all that he did, with a single eye to the glory of God and the good of His kingdom. The minister (Rev. J. R. Mackay, M.A.) and congregation of Inverness have also suffered a great loss by his death, and we desire to extend to them our deep sympathy. Mr. Clunas, who was predeceased by his wife and two children, is survived by one child, a daughter, aged fifteen years, for whom the very deepest sympathy is felt. May her father’s God be her God and portion for ever and ever!

To bless God for mercies is the way to increase them; to bless Him for miseries is the way to remove them.—Dyer.

Memoir of the Rev. Hector M’Phail of Resolis, Ross-shire.

BY THE LATE REV. ROBERT MACDOUGALL, RESOLIS.*

THE story of the “Highland Kitchenmaid”—with the prayers “Show me myself” and “Show me Thyself“—has had a very wide circulation, but the revered instrument of the Badenoch girl’s conversion is to most readers little more than a shadowy name. The writer of this sketch often heard in infancy anecdotes regarding Mr. Hector M’Phail from one whose father knew the devoted pastor and evangelist; and he hopes the following information may prove interesting.

Mr. M’Phail was born in Inverness in 1716. He studied at the University of Aberdeen. At the time of the battle of Culloden he was a student in divinity, and he was licensed by the Presbytery of Inverness to preach the Gospel on the 20th December, 1746. For some months he preached as a probationer in the parishes around Inverness that happened to be vacant. Resolis parish is in the Black Isle of Ross-shire, which is separated from Inverness-shire by a Ferry more than half-a-mile broad. It lies in a straight line fifteen miles N.E. of Inverness. This parish became vacant in July, 1747, by the death of Mr. Thomas Inglis, who had laboured there with much diligence and success for thirty-two years. Mr. M’Phail had preached repeatedly in the vacant parish with such acceptance that he was called by the unanimous voice of the people to be their pastor; and he was ordained over them on the 22nd September, 1748.

But for seven long years his ministry proved unedifying. “The hungry sheep looked up and were not fed.” The elders and others in the congregation found out soon that they had merely an amiable formalist for a minister of the Gospel, and they “spoke often one to another” and to God at prayer-meetings for the conversion of their blind leader.

These private conferences for prayer were by no means satisfactory to the self-righteous pastor. In 1755, he married Elizabeth Balfour, the pious daughter of the worthy minister of the neighbouring parish of Nigg. She was not long in the Manse of Resolis before she perceived to her sorrow that she was unequally yoked with one who had only a name to live. Within a few miles of her there lived the famous Mr. John Porteous, of Kilmuir. He was the grandson of one of Cromwell’s “Ironsides,” who had settled in the town of Inverness. This famous minister had been labouring with signal success at Kilmuir for twenty-one years, and his ministry had been much blessed to Mrs. M’Phail before her marriage.

* This Memoir is reprinted with kind permission from The Gospel Echo of 1893.—ED.

One Sabbath morning she told her husband that her soul was famished, and that she must go to hear Mr. Porteous. Her intense anxiety overcame all opposition on the part of Mr. M’Phail, and he accompanied her more than a mile on the way. Arrived at the Manse of Kilmuir, some time before service, her dear friend Mr. Porteous asked, in surprise, what could be her errand, and she forthwith replied that she was hungering for that bread of life which her poor husband could not supply. Mr. Porteous sympathised greatly with her in her sorrowful situation, and after some time spent in devotion in his study, rejoined her, and said, “If I am not much mistaken, you will not long have the same reason for leaving your own church; for I expect that the Lord will soon give you by the hand of your husband the very finest of the wheat.”

So, verily, it turned out. That very morning, in returning home, after parting with his wife, Mr. M’Phail was pricked at the heart. His eyes were opened, and, like his own well-known prayer, he began to see himself. “My people,” he sobbed out in secret, “have been long sick of the husks I have been offering them from the pulpit, and now my dearly-loved wife has to go to another parish for spiritual nourishment.” Overwhelmed in spirit, he retired to a neighbouring wood to pray. The hour for preaching arrived, but the minister could not be found. One of the elders at length, attracted probably by the groanings of the prisoner, came upon his hiding-place, but he firmly refused to occupy the pulpit. Many days and nights of sore anguish of soul passed over him. Into the same fiery furnace of conviction that Luther passed through in his monastery, and Bunyan laboured in at Elstow, M’Phail was led of the Spirit.

At length, despairing of relief, and refusing to be comforted, he resolved to resign his office. Near him, on the opposite side of the Cromarty Firth, lived the famous and godly theologian, Mr. James Fraser, of Alness (author of an admirable and often reprinted treatise on Sanctification); and him Mr. M’Phail asked to cross over and intimate his demission of the ministry publicly before the assembled congregation. Mr. Fraser, who knew so well the soul-cutting convictions and sore anguish of his neighbour, complied readily with the request to preach on the day assigned. Of the resignation he resolved to make no intimation, as he hoped soon to see his distressed brother compassed with songs of deliverance. He came as a Barnabas in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. The large audience present was deeply moved, but none half so much as the long despairing minister. His bonds were loosed. Starting up to his feet, his eyes streaming with tears, and his hands stretched out towards his honoured brother in the pulpit, he exclaimed, “My father! my father! the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” This exclamation was instantly followed up by the sobbing of the people. Mr. Fraser paused for some minutes until the emotion

had somewhat subsided. Then, addressing his weeping brother, he asked, “Do you still persist in your resolution to resign?” “O no, no,” he replied; “I adopted that resolution hastily, but so help me, my Father in heaven, I resolve in His name and strength to devote myself to His service, in soul and body, mind and spirit.”

For the period of three years afterwards scarcely a Sabbath passed in Resolis without one or more being brought under saving impressions of divine truth.

Mr. Fraser remained all night at the Manse. Next day, full of hope and gladness, Mr. M’Phail accompanied him to Alness Ferry. On his way back he called at the house of one of his elders, who had long wrestled in private for a blessing on his distressed minister, and who now asked, “What news to-day?” “Good news,” said the minister; “Hector M’Phail is not to preach to you any more.” The elder sadly replied, “Ah! other and better news I looked for.” “No,” said the minister, “Hector M’Phail is not to preach any more, but the Spirit of God is to preach to you through him.” “Oh! that is good news, indeed,” cried the elder, in an ecstasy of joy.

Mr. M’Phail having passed through the fiery ordeal mentioned, became one of the foremost evangelists of the north of Scotland. His heart on fire with the love of Christ, eternity ever in view, and “conscious of his awful charge,” he determined henceforth to spend and be spent in his Master’s service. In the anguish of his soul, in compunction, he had vowed that if God gave him deliverance he would never meet or pass a human being without talking to him or her about “the one thing needful;” and by the grace of God he was enabled in a marvellous manner “to pay the vow which his lips uttered, and his mouth spoke, when he was in trouble.”

Fifty-seven years ago, a successor in the ministry (Mr. Sage) published: “Hector M’Phail was a man of primitive simplicity, fervent piety, and most eminently successful in his ministerial labours. His resolution was never to meet any of his parishioners, or indeed any individual whatever, whether high or low, young or old, without opening up to them and pressing on their consideration that ministry of reconciliation with which he was intrusted, and which he had the happy talent of doing in a manner as striking and impressive as it was easy and familiar. Many persons still living in the parish, now very old men, recollect well and better than more recent circumstances, the very words of those solemn and affectionate exhortations which were addressed to them when children by this eminent man of God.”

It was when on his way to the General Assembly of the Scottish Church—a journey of nearly 200 miles—and while passing the night at the Inn of Baldow, some miles on this side of Kingussie, that he fell in with the Highland Kitchenmaid. On a similar occasion, when thus riding to Edinburgh, on the highway between

Inverness and Perth, the carriage conveying the judge who was to hold the Circuit Court (or Assize) at Inverness came in sight. He signalled to the coachman to stop. Saluting the judge, he said in respectful and impressive tones: “My lord! you are on your way to preside at criminal trials that may issue in sentences of death. May I beg of your lordship to remember that there is a higher Judge before whom you and I must one day stand to await acquittal or condemnation?” So far from being annoyed at the interruption, the judge was greatly pleased and impressed with the genial and kindly manner, and appropriate remarks, of the stranger. Knowing that he was on his way to the Assembly he cordially asked him to put up at his house during his ten days’ sojourn in Edinburgh—an invitation which was cheerfully accepted. The judge became warmly attached to him. In after years when he met any acquaintance from Easter Ross he was in the habit of asking—”And how is my worthy friend, Mr. M’Phail?”

A well-known grey pony carried the evangelist on his rounds over the badly-constructed roads of those days. Often, ordering the pony to be saddled, he would drop the bridle rein over its neck (in pastoral visitations of his parish) and allow the animal to wander or proceed at its will. At the door where the pony stopped the rider would dismount, enter the house, read and expound the Scriptures, and pray with the inmates and assembled neighbours. Remounting, he would proceed in like manner, as the pony carried him, to another cottage, farm or hamlet, and engage in similar exhortations and prayer. Of course the minister was, like Abraham’s servant devoutly praying, “Send me good speed this day,” and the pony was the unconscious instrument of bearing the Gospel message to the homes that needed it most. The reader may perhaps recall other instances in which holy men in indecision (sometimes in danger) have given loose rein to the horses on which they rode, as they commended their cause to God in prayer; and “being in the way, the Lord led,” prospered, and blessed them.

On a certain occasion when some parishioners met together at the manse, he rose somewhat abruptly, and proceeded to the stable for his pony. The animal with loose rein proceeded about a mile, and stopped at a deep tarn or pool surrounded by wood. There, on the brink, the minister observed a woman in a state of intense agitation, and seemingly preparing to fling herself into the depth below her feet. On being asked what she was doing there, she wildly replied, “Oh! I am to drown myself, because for me there is no hope here or hereafter.” “Stop,” said Mr. M’Phail; “whence are you come?” “From Alness.” “And are there no pools in Alness?” “Oh! I could not bear the idea of bringing on the parish of so holy a minister as Mr. Fraser the disgrace of my suicide.” “And, wretched woman that you are, do you propose to bring back that black stigma on my parish?” Then,

addressing her in tones of pitying sympathy, he asked her to accompany him to his house, to which in her forlorn condition she consented. No one was better fitted to administer balm to a wounded conscience than M’Phail, and his words spoken in season were soon signally blessed to a soul tempted well-nigh to distraction. Next morning she returned to her home, rejoicing in the bright dawn of deliverance. She was the bearer of a letter to her minister, in which Mr. M’Phail congratulated him on the high favour shown to Alness parish. The devil was not permitted to cause desperate sinners to destroy themselves there. Would-be suicides had to cross over to Resolis to carry out their fearful designs. Forthwith Mr. Fraser wrote back: “How much greater the honour and blessing conferred by the Head of the Church on Resolis! Those who left Alness purposing self-destruction have returned from your parish in the joy and peace of salvation.” The woman thus remarkably rescued from ruin proved in after life a worthy and exemplary Christian.

One of Mr. M’Phail’s best and most-loved ministerial friends was Mr. James Calder, of Croy—a church and parish 16 miles south of Resolis. Of Mr. Calder there is undoubted testimony that “he was of gentle manners, great humility, extensive charity, fervent piety, combined with unwearied diligence and zeal in his office.” Visiting Mr. Calder on one occasion, “Mr. M’Phail found him greatly distressed that a respectable farmer in the neighbourhood, whose wife had become violently insane, had determined to consult the Romish priest at Strathglass (many miles distant) in the expectation that he could remove her disease. (A stupid delusion still lingers in some parts of the Highlands that priests can cure epilepsy!) Both ministers waited on the farmer, and attempted to dissuade him from his purpose. Failing in this, they went in to the farm-house to offer such consolations as were in their power, and it led to a request that Mr. M’Phail should offer up prayer in behalf of the sufferer, which was done with even more than his usual fervour and earnestness, in which he used the following language:—’O, thou who art three times holy, I implore of thee not to allow me to rise from my knees, should they rot to the earth, until thou makest it visibly known here that there is a God in Israel’ (cf. 2 Kings i. 3). The prayer was speedily heard and answered; as before the pious and good man rose from his prostration, the patient was loosened from her bonds, and so calmed and restored that she sat up and conversed with him and the others in a sound mind, giving glory to God.”

To no Scottish minister could the words, “The zeal of Thine House hath eaten me up,” be more appropriately applied. The population of Resolis was then about 2,000, and for their conversion “he travailed in birth.” As one waiting to give account, “he watched for souls.” His manse for some time after his conversion was opposite and in full view of that of Alness, and in the long winter nights he used to sit up studying and

praying until he saw the light kindled in the study of his laborious neighbour. Tradition will have it that the hearts of both ministers were so “knit together in love,” and zeal, and sense of responsibility, that they agreed thus to divide the night. And so one of them could always be found at Peniel wrestling for a blessing on both parishes. He used to pray in public that not a single soul within the bounds of the parish would become the prey of the devil. To his elders—worthy and prayerful men though they were—such a petition seemed unreasonably large, and on one occasion they ventured to remonstrate. His calm and meek reply was, “Nothing short of the fulfilment of the comprehensive petition you complain of will satisfy me.” Perhaps, as a worthy friend remarked, “it may have been granted according to his faith.” Anyhow, towards the close of his wonderfully blessed ministry, the parish seemed to competent judges “like a well-watered garden,” fenced, cultivated, and planted. Some hamlets were as Bethels, and not a house in the parish but was believed to contain one or more trophies of Divine grace adorning the Gospel in life, conduct, and conversation. What a sad change has come over this “garden enclosed” since then!

(To be continued.)

Free Presbyterian Chaplain in France.

WE have pleasure in stating that letters have been received from the Rev. Ewen Macqueen of Kames, who is now acting in France as an official Chaplain, giving some account of his work. Mr. Macqueen informs us that he is engaged at No. 22 Casualty Clearing Station, as the Chaplain for non-conformists. There are two other Chaplains on the ground, a Church of England clergyman and a Roman Catholic priest, who attend to men of their respective religious persuasions. All other men are under Mr. Macqueen’s supervision. We understand a Casualty Clearing Station to be a temporary hospital, where wounded and sick men are examined, kept for a short time, and then sent, if possible, to other hospitals farther from the firing line—in France or even in England or Scotland.

Mr. Macqueen tells us that he is well in body and, on the whole, comfortable in mind. Difficulties there must be, and are, no doubt, but he loves the work, and desires the Lord’s people to pray earnestly for him, that he may be carried honourably through, and that his labours may be blessed. He states that opportunities occur for showing kindness to the soldiers that pass under his notice—(many of them have no money, and cannot procure notepaper or other little necessaries and comforts)—and he will esteem it a favour if friends at home would send small contributions for such purposes, either directly to himself or through ministers or others at home. His own address is No. 22

Casualty Clearing Station, B.E.F., France. The Editor of the Magazine will be pleased to act as one of the channels through which such contributions may be forwarded. All will be duly acknowledged, with thanks. We cannot do enough to show sympathy to the brave men who are suffering so much for their country’s interests in a just cause. Our sins have certainly procured chastisements for us, but the knowledge of this does not weaken our sympathy towards our suffering soldiers and sailors. May the Lord bring the greatest good out of the present troubles!

Mr. Macqueen is constantly distributing New Testaments to soldiers who require them. Rev. J. S. Sinclair has sent Khaki Testaments and Bibles to the value of 35/- (reduced rate) of monies already received. He acknowledges receipt also of 3/- from “Friend,” Glasgow, and 10/- from “Pulteneytown,” for this purpose; and £1 from Captain Finlayson to Rev. Mr. Macqueen, for “Comforts for the Front.”

“Suffer little Children to come unto Me.”

DONALD IAN M’GILLVRAY.

DONALD Ian M’Gillvray was the youngest child of Captain and Mrs. M’Gillvray, Oban. He was born on 27th October, 1909, and died on 4th September, 1915. He passed away before he was six years of age. During his whole short life he differed greatly from other children. Not that we believe that any child of Adam differs from another by nature, for “in Adam all die;” but the grace of God makes a difference in children just as it does in adults. Donald was a lovely, little boy as far as beauty of countenance was concerned. In fact few boys excelled him in this respect. But his youthful mind marked him out early in life as one who gave indications of an early departure from this world. Yet those who loved him dismissed these premonitions of death as imaginary.

He took ill about a year before he died, but it was not when he became ill that he began to think and speak about “death and the grave.” When he first began to speak, his little mind seemed to be daily—just like that of a Christian man or woman—occupied with eternal things. The questions he used to ask his mother long before his illness were marvellous. One day when he was about four years of age, he was busy playing with his toys, when he stopped suddenly and said with a sigh, “And, we must all die.” This is only a sample of what was daily his mental attitude with regard to these matters. His surroundings were everything that would naturally lead a child to have a delight in childish things, but no toy could keep Donald long from thinking about “death and the grave.” His mother early taught him about God and the Bible, but his own mind was thinking independently of any

teaching, for the questions he asked his mother far outstripped the teaching given. He came to church on Sabbath three times a day after his third year, and he also attended regularly the prayer meeting along with his mother. From the first time that he entered church till laid aside by his illness he was the most attentive listener in the congregation. He would sit like an old man of seventy right through the service. When he went home on Sabbath nights and after going to bed he would, instead of going off to sleep like other children, put his arms about his mother, and say, “Mamma, tell me now about God.” When his mother would say to him, as she did sometimes to try him, that she was tired, and that he was to sleep, he would say, “Surely you are not tired to speak about God.” She taught him a good number of the Shorter Catechism questions, and many verses of Psalms. He had a most retentive memory, and he learnt the whole of the twentieth Psalm without any teaching other than hearing it read at worship.

When he took ill, the doctor advised the infirmary, and his mother took her darling child to Glasgow, only to find that a malignant disease had begyn in his hip joint, and that no medical skill could save his life. It was a terrible hour for his parents and friends when they heard that Donald Ian was beyond recovery. But after a little reflection, his former history shone with a very different light, and it was seen that God had given indications that He did not intend to leave Donald long here, although these signs were not understood by those about him. He was taken home to Oban from the infirmary, and he knew himself that he was going to die. “I shall never get better,” were his words to those about him who hoped against hope that he would be restored.

He always loved the Bible, but when laid on his bed of sickness the Bible was his delight. His mother was constantly beside him night and day during the eight months that intervened between his return from the infirmary and his death. When his father came home, as he generally did once or twice a week, he would say to Donald that he should allow his mother out to get the fresh air, so Donald would allow her sometimes, but always on one condition, and that was that on her return she would read to him five or six long chapters from the Bible. This was the order of the day, when his mother had to go out anywhere. He was never tired hearing the Bible read. His mother told him one day that she would read to him a part of the Pilgrim’s Progress, of which he was very fond, and his answer was, “You may read any book you like for your own benefit, but you will only read the Bible to me.”

When we used to go and see him and hold worship, he always told us the Psalm we were to sing just like an aged Christian. We shall never forget one time we went there at the Communion season, when one of our ministers, whom he liked very much, accompanied us. We asked him what verses he would like sung, and he said, “I waited for the Lord my God” (Psalm xl.). We

did not sing these verses with dry eyes. He did not know the number of the chapters or Psalms he asked to be read to him, but he knew better: he knew the actual words, and always quoted the portion he wanted. He did not know even the letters, having never gone to school, but he often said, “I wish I could read the Bible myself.” One day he said to his mother that he was afraid that he would not get to heaven because he was so bad. He on another occasion said to his mother that he used to hear other boys swear, but that it made him tremble, and that he had to leave them and come home. Another day he asked her what was faith, and she said that he was such a clever boy himself that perhaps he would tell her what faith was, and he replied, “Is it to give your heart to Jesus?” His mother sometimes wept when he would be saying such things, and he said to her once, “Mamma, I would tell you many things, but you will cry.”

His bodily suffering increased as the disease advanced, and latterly it was very difficult for him to lie or sit in bed, but he hardly ever complained. In fact, he became at last like an old man: “For the child shall die a hundred years old.” Donald’s short career is a warning and an encouraging lesson to children to seek the Saviour in the days of their youth. It is also a refutation of a very common argument that children are too young to understand the Bible and its teaching, and too young to be brought to a place of worship. Such is not the case. They are not too young to need salvation; not too young to die. They are not too young to be brought to the Saviour; not too young to be savingly taught by the Holy Spirit. Donald was an instance of this, and there are many such instances on record.

We desire to express our deepest sympathy with the parents and family of Donald Ian M’Gillvray, and we hope this short and very imperfect narrative of the brief life of one of Christ’s little ones may be blessed to the parents and children of our congregations.

A. M’K.

It is recorded of Saladin, the Saracen conqueror, that, after he had subdued Egypt, passed the Euphrates, and conquered cities without number, he finished his life in the performance of an action that ought to be transmitted to the most distant posterity. A moment before he uttered his last sigh he commanded his herald, who had carried his banner before him in all his battles, to fasten to the top of a lance the shroud in which the dying prince was soon to be buried. “Go,” said he, “carry this lance, unfurl this banner, and while you lift up this standard, proclaim, ‘This, this is all that remains to Saladin the Great, the Conqueror, and the King of the Empire, of all his glory!'”—J. A. James.

ALAS! many may say, in reference to the world, what Cardinal Wolsey did in reference to his king: “Had I served God with half the zeal that I have served Mammon, He would not have forsaken me in my old age.”

The late Mr. Alexander MacLean, Lentrán.

THE Free Presbyterian Congregation of Inverness has, within the last four or five weeks, suffered great and sore bereavements. Not to mention the names of some worthy persons, who were known only in the congregation, we have to chronicle the removal from among us of two of our worthiest men, in the persons of Mr. Alexander MacLean, Lentrán, and of Mr. Angus Clunas, General Treasurer of the Church. I can only, for this month, notice the case of Mr. Alexander MacLean.

Alexander MacLean was born at Aird, Kishorn, in March, 1835. His father, Donald MacLean, carpenter, Kishorn, is said to have been a truly pious man, and his mother, Anne MacLennan, although she does not seem to have made a public profession of her faith, was quite a superior woman. Alexander’s parents were in comparatively poor circumstances, and as their family was large, Alexander himself had to leave his home in order to earn a livelihood as a herdboy, ere he had quite fulfilled ten years of his life. Having thus early left Kishorn, it was on rare occasions, and for short intervals, that he ever returned to it again. But he did not forget his parents; and, regularly, out of his, at first, small wages, sent his parents what he could to keep them. It shews the grit that was in him, that, although he started life with little or no education, practically all the years of his manhood were employed as either foreman, manager, or farmer. He would not have been much past twenty when he became foreman with a certain large farmer—Mr. Begg—in the parish of Cromarty. Then seems to have come the turning point in his life. One Mr. MacEchern, who some years after finished his course in Australia, was at that time Free Church (Gaelic) minister of Cromarty. Alexander was very regular in attendance upon his services, and there is reason to think that it was under Mr. MacEchern’s ministry that he underwent the great change of passing from death to life. He naturally enough cherished the warmest regard for Mr. MacEchern ever after. From Cromarty, when he was still under thirty, he came to Drime, parish of Urray, where for some years he acted in the capacity of manager for one Mr. Beaton, farmer, Drime. Drime is about six miles from Dingwall, but that distance was no real obstacle to Alexander in his regularly availing himself of Dr. John Kennedy’s powerful evangelical ministry in Dingwall. This stay in Drime gave him, in fact, his first opportunity of forming Dr. Kennedy’s acquaintance, until at length he was received as an intimate friend. When fully thirty, Alexander removed to Allan Fearn, near Inverness, to act with another master in the same capacity of manager. It was in the course of his stay at Allan Fearn that he married Margaret MacLennan, a worthy helpmeet, who survives him, by whom he had a large family of five sons and four daughters. After a stay

of three-and-a-half years in Allan Fearn he accepted service in a capacity similar to that held by him in Allan Fearn in Balfried, Black Isle. Here he was again within, at least, occasional call from Dingwall, and in the company of such like-minded men as Murdoch Kennedy, John Campbell, and Thomas Forbes, used now and again to make his way to hear Dr. Kennedy at Dingwall.

His next house was in Kiltearn, Ross-shire, where he used not infrequently to hear Dr. Kennedy in the morning, and Rev. D. Matheson in the evening. He had one of the most memorable experiences of his life, in a spiritual sense, whilst in Kiltearn. It was at a time when his wife and family were laid low with a fever which, I believe, was proving deadly to many, and, because the memory of it seemed to come back to him with freshness towards the end of his days, I shall here put it on record, albeit that in itself, the circumstance may seem sufficiently simple. When, then, he was in great distress on account of his wife and family, as it looked as if he were to be deprived of all or nearly all, he betook himself to the Lord in prayer, in some out-house. When thus engaged, the words of David, 2 Samuel iii. 39, “I am this day weak, although anointed king,” opened up to our friend in such a kindly gracious way that he was both enabled to trust in the Lord anew for mercy towards himself a sinner, and to hope that the trouble with which his family was afflicted would not prove fatal. And as he hoped, so it proved to him; and, just as one once put it to the writer, “a little that the Lord gives, goes very far,” so this mercy, experienced some forty years ago, became, because renewed, so recently as a few weeks ago to our friend a reviving of his hope.

After leaving Kiltearn, Mr. MacLean was for fully three years manager for Miss Duncan at Naughton in Fifeshire, and again for thirteen years, manager at Flemington, Inverness-shire. In 1901 he gave up service as farm manager, and found himself in a position to take for himself the fair-sized farm of Craigaig, Kirkhill, where he finished his course in this world on Wednesday, 17th November, 1915.

As already said, it would seem that we may connect Mr. MacLean’s conversion with Mr. MacEchern’s ministry, and we shall not be astray if we connect his establishing in the truth, and in constitutional principles, with Dr. Kennedy’s preaching, for although our late friend had not the privilege of waiting long at a time a hearer of that noted divine, his privileges were repeated, and taken advantage of to the uttermost. It was during his stay at Flemington that Mr. MacLean became an elder in the congregation, of which the Rev. Mr. MacLeod, now U.F. minister, Creich, was then minister. When the Free Presbyterian Church was formed in 1893, as a distinct denomination, Mr. MacLean’s sympathy was whole-hearted for the movement, and, because there was no congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church nearer than Inverness, he joined himself to the Inverness Free Presbyterian

Congregation, and he, and the late worthy Mr. Alexander Fraser, were the first elders of the Free Presbyterian Congregation, Inverness. Through good report and through evil report he continued steadfastly in this capacity of elder in Inverness all the time from 1893 to his death in November, 1915. He was very whole-hearted in his devotion to the cause. He was well and favourably known in almost every corner of the Free Presbyterian Church. In 1903, he accompanied the present writer to Ontario, Canada, and one may truly say that he never ceased to have a lively interest in the wellbeing of the many Christian friends whose friendship and acquaintance he formed during a short sojourn in that large dominion. In London, in Glasgow, and in Wick, he was personally known, and highly esteemed, by those whose sympathies were with the Free Presbyterian Church.

Mr. MacLean was a man who sought to walk near to God. He was by no means harsh in his judgment of such as differed from him ecclesiastically, but he was himself steadfast as a rock in his devotion to what, for the last twenty-two years of his life, he regarded, as in a peculiar sense, the cause of God in Scotland. We reckon that the words of the Psalmist were applicable to him: “They shall still bring forth fruit in old age.” He seemed to mellow with years, and we doubt if we saw him in a happier and more beautiful frame, during all the years of our acquaintance with him, than in the last week of his life. About a week before the end came, he went up to Glasgow in order to be present at the Communion Services in St. Jude’s Church, on the second Sabbath of November, where he was the guest of his much-esteemed friend, the Rev. Neil Cameron. It was his own confession to the writer that he never seemed to have enjoyed Communion Services more. Shortly before coming up to this Communion, he pled with God, to give him some word upon which he might lay his weary head with a view to an endless eternity. He had scarcely made known his petition when the answer came, “The mountains shall depart and the hills shall be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee,” and that with such comfort, that he could not but answer back: “It is enough, Lord.” Thus comforted, he came, as I have said, to the solemnities in Glasgow, and was enabled to enjoy the services not a little.

On Tuesday, 16th November, he returned to his own home apparently none the worse for his journey to Glasgow. On Wednesday night, however, shortly after retiring to rest, he complained of a pain in the region of the heart, and, in a few minutes, was in eternity. He leaves a widow, and eight of a family, all of them grown up to manhood or womanhood, and to them all we extend our sincere sympathy. In Alexander MacLean the Free Presbyterian Church in general, and the Free Presbyterian Congregation of Inverness in particular, have lost a true, whole-hearted, and generous friend.

J. R. M.

INVERNESS, 20th December, 1915.

An Nadur agus am Feum a tha air Aithreachas.

(Air a leantuin o t. d. 318.)

1. Tha aithreachas a comh-sheasamh ann an doilghios neo-chealgach air son peacaidh, comh-cheangailte ri creidimh anns an Fhear shaoruidh ghloirmhor, agus dochas trocair d’ a thríd-san. Gun tomhas eigin do chreidimh agus do dhochas, tha sinn a’ g’ aithneachadh, nach ‘eil cridhe peacaich gu brath air irisleachadh gu firinneach. B’ e’ m brosnuchadh coitchionn chum aithreachais a bha air a sparradh le Criosd agus Abstola, “Tha rioghachd neimh am fagus; deanaibh aithreachas agus creidibh an soisgeul.” Ni dochas ann an trocair Dhe an cridhe mhaothachadh, ceannsaichidh e ‘n t-anam ceann-laidir agus oibrichidh e bhristeadh cuibhrichean a pheacaidh.

Cha ‘n urrainn an duine sin a bhi ann an staid thearuinte a tha aithreachas a ‘g eirigh a mhain o’ mhothuchadh air e bhi ann an staid chaillte, agus a tha gu h-uile na choigreach do chreidimh agus do dhochas an t-soisgeil. Tha e air a radh gun do ghabh Iudas aithreachas; ach bha e co fada o on dochas maitheanais a bhi aige, air chor, is ann an an-dochas domhain agus dorcha, gun do chuir e croich air a bheatha fein. Cha ‘n fhaic sinn aon choslas air fior aithreachas ann an Cain. Lan uamhais agus buaireis, ghlaodh e mach, “Is mo mo pheanas na gur urrainn mi ghiulan,” agus theich e o lathair an Tighearn. Fuadaichidh an-dochas duine o chruith-fhear; ach bheir aithreachas am fagus e. Faodaidh uamhasan Dhe a choguis a lionadh le geilt, ach taingidh a chaoimhneas-graidh am peacach aithreachail ga ionnsuidh fein. “Le gradh siorruidh ghradhaich mi thu, uime sin tharruing mi thu le caoimhneas gradhach.” Tha aithreachas chum slainte air a chur sios gu soilleir anns a chuibhrioinn chomharaichte sin do fhocal Dhe. Sech. xii. 10. “Agus doirtidh mi air tigh Dhaibhidh, agus air luchd-aiteachaidh Ierusalem, Spiorad nan gras agus nan athchuingean; agus amhaircidh iad airson a lot iad, agus ni iad caoidh air a shon, mar a chaidheas duine airson aoin mhic, agus bithidh an doilghios air a shon mar dhoilghios air son ceud-ghin.” B’ iad ar peacanna a bha nan aobhar air bas an Fhir-shaoruidh. B’ iad doilghios anama. “Lotadh e airson ar peacaidh-ne, bhruthadh e air son ar n-aingidheachdan.” Agus iadsan aig am bheil an Aithreachas a reir an t-goisgeil, tha iad a’ g’ amharc air Criosd mar air a lot air an sgathsan, agus a basachadh air son an lochdan. Is e toradh an t-seallaidd so caoidh, oir ann am fior Aithreachas tha doilghios neo-chealgach air son peacaidh, agus cradh cridhe air son a pheacaidh fein. Mar so tha ‘n salmadair ag radh, “Bithidh mi doilich airson mo pheacaidh”; air son a pheacaidh a chuir mi ‘n gniomh an aghaidh Dhe a tha neo-chriochnach ann an trocair agus am maitheas; air son a pheacaidh a bhrosnaich esan, a chuir doilghios air a Spiorad Naomha, agus a thog cradh dha na chridhe.

Tha ‘n t-aithreachan a caoidh airson peacaidh anns an fhreumh aige co maith is anns na geugaibh aige; airson truailleachd a naduir, co maith ri eucaertan a bheatha. Is i canain a pheacaich aithreachail, “Feuch, ann an eucaert dhealbhadh mi, agus ann am peacaidh ghabh mo mhathair mi ‘na broinn.” Tha mi uile gu leir mar ni neo-ghlan. Tha m’ fhiar chridhe graineil, cealgach thar na h-uile nithe, agus do-leigheas. “Nuair a b’ ail leam am maith a dheanamh, tha ‘n t-olc a lathair agam. Och is duine truagh mi! co a shaoras mi o chorpa’ bhais so?” Gu cinnteach, cha robh riann air aghaidh na talmhainn, truaghan co graineil, agus co truailidh riurnsa. Agus am bheil fathast trocair ann do neach co neo-aridh, agus co ciontach? Tha dochas d’ a thaobh so na eallaich throm air m-anam, aig a cheart am anns am bheil e toirt saorsa dha.

Tha ‘n doilghios so airson peacaidh, mu ‘m bheil sinn a labh-airt, treibh-dhireach agus laidir. Tha ‘n cridhe air a bhristeachd. Tha ‘n duine do spiorad leointe, agus a criothnachadh roimh fhocal na firinn. Tha e tuiteam sios ann an doimbne irisleachd an lathair Dhe. Tha e ‘g aideachadh gur e fein ceann-feadhna nam peacach, agus neo-aridh air a chuid is lugha do uile throcairibh Dhe. Tha e air a shaoradh o ‘n uabhar chridhe sin aig an robh uachdrianachd thairis air aon uair, agus tha e nis do spiorad iriosal.

Tha ‘n doilghios so anns am bheil dearbh nadur fior aithreachais a combh-sheasamh, air a dhusgadh suas le foillseachadh creideach air fulangasaibh agus bas Chriosd air son ‘ar peacannaibh. Na fhulangasaibh agus na bhas, tha olcas a pheacaidh air a thaisbeanadh. An so, faodar fhaicinn cia mor a chulaidh bhrosnachaidh a bha ‘n ‘ar peacannaibh do ‘n Ti is airde. Chum reite dheanamh airson ‘ar peacanna, sgeudaich Mac Dhe e fein le feol bhasmhor, striochd e do ‘n bhochduinn a b’ isle, ruisgeadh e do naire agus do mhasladh, bha e ann an cruaidh ghleachd anama sa gharadh, sheas e tosdach agus air a dhteathd aig mod Philait, bha e air a thairneachadh ris a chrann-cheusaidh, agus an sin thug e suas an deo.

“Mo leonadh!” tha am peacach aithreachail ag radh, “bha doilghiosan Uain neo-lochdach Dhe air an toirt air le ‘m lochdaibh-sa, agus air am fulang air mo sgath-sa! Air son mo pheacanna bha e air a thoirt thairis do lamhaibh dhaoine an-iodhdmhor; agus dh’ ol e cupan searbh na truaighe. Sharaich m’ eucaertan anam naomha, agus rinn iad e ro bhronach eadhoin gu bas. Thug mo lochdan a sos Tighearna na gloire le naire agus cradh dh’ ionnsuidh na h-uaghe. Air mo shon-sa lotadh e le droighionn, lotadh e leis na tairnibh, lotadh e leis an t-sleagh, agus, an ni bu mho na sin uile, lotadh e le chlaidheamh uamhasach ceartas, a bha air a ghairm a mach gu dusgadh na aghaidhsan, na uile uamhasaibh lasairch. An urrainn mi smuain-teachadh air a so agus gun e dhruighadh orm? Nach sil mi sileadh deoir do dh’ aithreachas air son mo pheacanna, nuair a

tha mi faicinn Iosa a dordadh fhala luachmhoir g an glanadh aifalbh? Fhulangaiche ghloirmhoir! Am bi mise na’s caomhanr taiche air mo dheoir, na bha thusa air t-fhuil?

Ni gradh Chriosd air fhoillseachadh na bhas, an cridhe leaghadh chum fior Aithreachais. Gradhaich e sinn, agus dh’ionnlaid e sinn o’ar peacannaibh na fhuil fein. O sealladh dhruighteach! Am feadh a dh’amhairceas sinn r’a chrann-ceusaidh, agus a bheachdaicheas sinn air a ghradh san a chrochach air, ‘s maith a dh’fhaodas air doilghios diadhaidh bhi air a dhusgadh, agus deoir an aithreachais sileadh gu frasach.

Ni smuainteachadh air na sochairean a tha sinn a faotainn o bhas an Fhir-shaoruidh trid grais, a ghne shona inntinn a tha sinn a ‘g ainmeachadh, a chuir air aghaidh; nuair a tha sinn fo chudthrom le mothuchadh air meudachd agus uamarachd ‘ar peacanna, air ‘ar deanadh comasach, tre chreidimh, gu amharc air Uan Dhe a ta toirt air falbh peacaidh an t-saoghail, agus misneach air a thoirt dhuinn gu dochas altrum air son slainte ionlan d’a thríd-san.

Tha sealladh do throcair a tha toirt maitheanais ro-eifeachdach a maothachadh agus a leaghadh a chridhe chum bron diadhaidh. Bhrosnaich so Muire aithreachail gu gul aig casaibh an Fhir-shaoruidh, gu an ionnlaid le e deuraibh, agus gu an tiormachadh le falt a cinn. Bha moran aice air a mhaitheadh, ghradhaich i gu mor, agus rinn i caoidh mhór. Cha b’e so doilghios an-dochais, cosmhuil ris a sin aig Iudas; ach doilghios air a mheasgadh le creidimh agus dochas. Tha aig sealladh do shaorsa agus dochas a trocair buaidh chaomhail air an inntinn, a dh’fhosglaidh nan tobraichean aig doilghios diadhaidh.

1. Ann an Aithreachas frinneach tha duine a cuir cul ris na h-uile muinghinn na fireantachd fein. Tha e tighin gu bhi marbh do’n lagh, mar choimh-cheangal oibre. Tha bheul gu brath air a dhruideadh o luaidh a dheanamh air fireantachd fein, mar steidh gu dheanamh taitneach ann an lathair Dhe. ‘Se’m Fear-Saoruidh gloirmhor a nis aon chuspair earbsa. Cha ‘n ‘eil aon dochas aige a sith ri Dia, a fireanachd na lathair, na a sonas siorruidh, ach trid Iosa Criosd.

2. Tha aithreachas a criochnachadh ann an tionndadh o pheacadh gu naomhachd ann a bheatha agus sa ghiulan. Cha chomasach a chomhdach gu bheil e treibh-dhireach as eugmhais so. Tha toraidh iomchuidh ann chum Aithreachais. Ma tha iad sin air chall, is diomhain duinn aidmheil a dheanamh gu ‘n deachaidh oibreachadh annainn. Tha ‘m peacach aithreachail a treigsinn an ni sinn air son am bheil e ri bron. Ghuil Saul, dh’umhlaich Ahab e fein, ghabe Felis eagal mor, ghabh Iudas aithreachas, ach cha d’ thug a h-aon diu co fhad sa’s ‘fhiosrach sinne, a mach toraidh iomchuidh do ‘n aithreachas.

Mar a ta am fior aithreachan a’ g’ aideachadh a pheacanna do Dhia le saorsa agus farsuinneachd, is amhail a tha e cuir cul riu ann an cleachduinn. Agus co air bith a dh’ aidicheas agus a threigeas a pheacadh gheibh e trocair.

Cha choir dhuinn breith thoirt air eifeachd ar n-aithreachais le leithid do chomharan caochlaideach agus neo-chinnteach, is a tha sruthadh na’s mo o’ chail a chuirp, na o’ ghne na h-inntinn; na ‘n tuilleadh o’ aignidhibh ealamb, agus o’ ghlusas laidir, seach o’ inntinn shuidhichte. Tha deoir gu tric air an sileadh far am bheil beagan doilghis, agus tha ‘n doilghios is doimbne aig amanna air fhaireachduinn gun deoir sam bith. Esan nach ‘eil a faireachduinn aon doilghios airson peacaidh, tha aobhar aige teagamh a chur ann an treibhdhireas aithreachais; o’n a tha e’g amharc cosmhuil nach ‘eil e d’ a rireadh mothachail do ‘n fhiar olc a tha anns a pheacadb, ach cha bhi ‘n tomhas is airde do dhoilghios na lan chomhara air aithreachas, mar ‘eil gne suidhichte na h-inntinn air atharrachadh, agus mar ‘eil toraidh iomchuidh do ‘n Aithreachas air an toirt amach anns a chaithebeatha agus sa ghiulan. Cha ‘n fhaod aon tomhas do dh’ uamhasaibh san leth a stigh aig a choguis, cha ‘n fhaod aon seirbhis spleanasach do chrabbadh o ‘n leth a muigh a bhi air a chuir suas ann an aite com-chumadh gniomhach ri toil Dhe, mar dhearbhadh air Aithreachas.

Tha an nuadhachd beatha a tha comh-cheangailte ri aithreachas a gabhail a stigh a bhi cuir cul ris na peacannaibh sin d’ an robh sinn roimhe ciontach, agus cuir an gniomh nan dleasnas sin a rinn sinn gus a so a dhearmad.

Bu choir ath-dhiol a bhi air a dheanamh mar an ceudna, co fada sa cheadaicheas ‘ar cothrom e do ‘n dream air an d’ rinn sinn eucoir ann an laithibh ‘ar n-aineolais. Bu choir dhuinn ‘ar culaidh-mhathaisa dheanamh a chur air an rathad cheart neach sam bith a mheall, na chuir sinn air seacharan roimhe. Ma chuir sinn a choir fein a dhith air duine sam bith, feumaidh sinn a cheud chothrom a ghabhail air a h-aiseag dha. Ma rinn sinn eucoir air deadh-ainm neach sambith, na ma mhill sinn a chliu air doigh sam bith le tuaileas, bu choir dhuinn, gun suim do ‘n naire na do ‘n mhasladh a dh’ fhaodas teachd oirn, meadhonan iomchuidh a ghabhail a chuir an aghaidh an deireis a rinn sinn le’r breugaibh. Cha bu choir ni sam bith a bhi air a leigeadh seachad a ghabhas deanamh, a chuir an aghaidh nan droch cleachduinn aig ar giulan mi-chothromach san uine chaidh seachad. An urrainn dhuinn a smaointeachadh gu bheil aidmheil an duine sin a thaobh Aithreachais treibb-dhireach, a tha gleidheadh an ni a spion e air falbh o ‘n t-sealbhdair dhligheach le slaoit, anaceartas, na foireigin? An seas cuir am fiacha airson creidimh, agus sambladh diomhain do chrabbadh deothasach, na riaghailtean mor agus neo-chaochlaideach aig reusan agus ceartas atharrachadh; na ‘n d’ thoirt iad dha coir gus an ni sin a ghleidheadh nach robh aon choir aige gu thoirt leis? Gu cinnteach cha dean. Tha sinn a faicinn cia mar a dh’ oibrich Aithreachas ann an Sacheus, Lucas xix. 8. “Feuch, a Thighearn, a ta mi toirt leth mo mhaoin do na bochdaibh: agus ma thug mi aon ni ‘o neach air bith le casaid-bhreige, tha mi toirt dha a cheithir uiread.” Is e so an

doigh anns am bheil gras an t-soisgeil a ‘g oibreachadh an cridhe an fhior aithreachain.

Ciod air bith na meadhonan leis¹ an robh sinn air ‘ar dusgadh o mharbh chadal a pheacaidh, ma tha ar n’ aithreachas treibh-dhireach bithidh gne ar n-inntinn air atharrachadh, agus bithidh ar cridheachan treibh-dhireach ann an reachdaibh Dhe. Bithidh sinn comasach air a radh maile ris an t-Salmadair, “Uime sin measam do reachdan uile a thaobh gach ni ceart: is fuathach leam gach slighe bheugach.” Bithidh grain againn do’n ni sin a ta olc, agus sin a chionn gu bheil e mar sin. Bithidh e na ghnothuch mor re fad ar beatha sinn fein aicheadh, ‘ar crann-ceusaiddh a thogail, agus Iosa a leantuin. Claidhidh sinn gniomh-ara na colla trid cuideachaidh eifeachdaich an Spioraid Naoimh; ceusaiddh sinn an fheol maile ra h-an-tograibh agus a h-anamianaibh; ni sinn stri an aghaidh peacaiddh, agus ni sinn faire agus urnuigh chum nach tuit sinn ann am buaireadh. Bithidh ‘ar cridheachan air an aomadh chum teisteis Dhe, o ghradh d’ a ainn, o shuim d’ a ughdaras, agus o thogradh air son a ghloir,—chum nach faigh ainn Dhe agus a theagasg toibheum trid aon eisimpleir do dhroch-ghiulan annainne. Bithidh sinn trid gnath chleachduinn fo churam, gu ‘m bi Dia, anns na h-uile nithibh, air a ghloruchadh leinne; agus gu ‘n dean sinn a theagasg maiseach le bhi giulan moran toraidh. Tha so uile air a chomh-arrachadh a mach ann an cor an aithreachain rioghaíl: “Chnuasaich mi mo shlighean, agus phill mi mo chasan ri d’ theistesaibh. Rinn mi deifir, agus cha robh mi mairnealach, chum t’aitheantan a choimhead.”

Is e shambuil so aithreachas. Tha e filleadh ann atharrachadh iomlan air an inntinn a thaobh an ni uile sin a b’ aon aobhar air a dheanamh feumail. Tha e comh-sheasamh ann an doilghios diadhaiddh air son ‘ar grainealachdan iomarcach ann an cridhe san gluasad, ceangailte ri creidimh anns an Fhear-shaoruidh ghloirmhor, agus dochas a trocair d’ a thrid-san. Tha e gabhail a stigh dubh-chul a bhi air a chur ris gach uile earbsa anns an fheol, agus amharc air son a bhi taitneach an lathair Dhe, trid fireantachd Iosa Críosd amhain. Agus tha e crochnachadh ann an tionndadh o pheacadh gu naomhachd, ann an caitheadh-beatha san gluasad.

Agus feumaidh sin gu cinnteach a bhi mor chudthromach, a tha deanamh a suas teachdaireachd shonruichte o Dhia gu daoine peacach.

Bha roimh-ruithfhear an t-Slanuifhear gloirmhoir na shearmon-uchie air Aithreachas, agus dh’ orduich e dhoibhsan a thainig gu bhi air am baisteadh leis, toradh iomchuidh do ‘n Aithreachas a thoirt a mach. Thainig Iosa Críosd e fein leis an teachdaireachd so o ‘n airde: “Deanaibh sa aithreachas, agus creidibh an soisgeul.” Tha e saoradh a shluaigh, cha ‘n ann annta ach o ‘m peacaibh. Is i chanain, “Mur dean sibhse aithreachas, sgriosar sibh uile.” Tha e ‘g innse dhuinn, nach d’ thainig e ghairm nam

firean, ach nam peacach chum Aithreachais. Dh’ orduich e d’a dha abstol-deug an teagasg ceudna shearmonachadh. An deigh aiseirigh Chriosd, bha ‘n t-ordugh aca air urachadh; ach bha e’ fathast do ‘n ghne cheudna, gu ‘m biodh Aithreachas agus maith-eanas peacaidh air an searmonachadh ‘na ainm-san do na h-uile chinnich, a toiseachadh aig Jerusalem.

An deigh dol suas Iosa, nuair a bha na h-abstoil air an lan sgeudachadh le cumhachd ‘o na h-ardaibh, chaidh iad mu thim-chioll na h-oibre moire aca anns an doigh so, fo dheachdadh an Spioraid Naomh, ag radh, “Danaibh aithreachas, agus bithibh air bhur baisteadh gach aon agaibh ann an ainm Iosa Criosd, chum maitheanais pheacanna. Air an aobhar sin deanaibh-sa aithreachas, agus bithibh air bhur n-iompachadh, chum gu ‘m bi bhur peacanna air an glanadh as.” D’an samhuil sin is a bha aithnichte a bhi ann an domblas na seirbhe, agus fo chuibhreach, na h-eucorach, bi ‘n teachdaireachd aca, Gabh aithreachas, agus guidh air Dia. Chuir iad an ceill, gu ‘n d’ aithn Dia a nis do na h-uile anns gach ait aithreachas a dheanamh: do bhrigh gu ‘n do shuidhich e la anns an toir e breth air an t-saoghal am fireantachd, tre ‘n duine sin a dh’ orduich e.

Cha do gheall Dia na ghrais agus na throcair riamh maitheanas do pheacach neo-aithreachail; ni mo tha aon eiseimpleir againn ann am focal Dhe, air maitheanas pheacanna as eugmhais Aithreachais. Is e guth trocair do dhaoinibh ciontach, Deanaibh-sa aithreachas, chum gu ‘m bi bhur peacanna air an glanadh as. “Treigeadh an t-aingidh a shlighé, agus an duine eucorach a smuainte; agus pilleadh e ris an Tighearn, agus nochdaidh e trocair dha; agus ri ar Dia ne, oir bheir e maitheanas gu pailt.” Nuair a tha Criosd, an Ceannard agus an Slanuifhear urramach a toirt Aithreachais, tha e mar an ceudna toirt a bheannachaidh gun choimeas maitheanas pheacanna.

Ma’s e aithreachas atharrachadh buileach air an inntinn o pheacadh gu naombachd, le atharrachadh freagarach na chuid-eachd air a chaitheadh beatha’s air r ghiulan, feumaidh e bhi uile fheumail chum sonais deireannach air neamh. Oir as eugmhais naombachd cha ‘n fhaic neach air bith an Tighearn. Bhiodh e ‘n aghaidh gliocais, fiorghloine, firinn, agus eadhoin grais agus trocair na Ti a ‘s Airde, peacach neo-aithreachail a thoirt do neamh. Bhiodh e ‘n aghaidh a ruin ghloirmhoir a thaobh slainte; oir is e sin, trid naombachaidh an Spioraid, chum umhlachd, agus crathadh fala Iosa Criosd. Thagh Dia sinne annsan, chum gu ‘m bitheamaid naomha. Bhiodh e ‘n aghaidh a shior dhoigh ghnath-aichte. Is i shior dhoigh ghnathuichte, Aithreachas chum na beatha a dheonachadh dhoibhsan uile a bheir e’ gu sealbh anns a bheatha sin, mar a thiodhlac fein Iosa Criosd.

Ann an aon fhasal; is co cudthromach sa tha shamhuil sin do ni is Aithreachas a thaobh Dhe, is gu bheil aig an neach a tha ‘ga shealbhachadh coir ann an geallannaibh agus an gras an t-soisgeil, agus tha esan nach ‘eil ga shealbhachadh buailteach do choruich uamhasaich an De sin a tha na dhioghaltair air peacadh.

Uime sin, arsa Pol ri seanairibh Ephesuis, “Tha fhios agaibh, cionnus nach do gheidh mi ni sam bith am folach a bha feumail dhuibhse, gun a nochdadh dhuibh, agus gun sibhse a theagasc am follais, agus o thigh gu tigh. A’ deanamh fianuis araon do na h-Iudhaich, agus do na Greugaich, mu Aithreachas a thaobh Dhe, agus mu chreidimh a thaobh ar Tighearna Iosa Criost” (Gniomh. xx. 20, 21).