PAGE.

| “BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK,” | 1 |
|———————————————————————————————————————–|—-|
| A SERMON. By the Rev. Duncan Mackenzie, Gairloch, Ross-shire, | 5 |
| ACCOUNTS OF MISSION TO FORCES IN ENGLAND. By Rev. D. Mackenzie,
Gairloch, and Rev. D. A. Macfarlane, M.A., Rogart, | 15 |
| ERRORS OF GREAT MEN, | 18 |
| THE LATE REV. WALTER SCOTT, CHESLEY, ONTARIO, CANADA, | 19 |
| TWO STORNOWAY ELDERS. By the Rev. Neil Macintyre, Stornoway, | 25 |
| FREE PRESBYTERIAN CHAPLAIN IN FRANCE, | 29 |
| MU OIBREACHADH ‘AR SLAINTÉ FEIN, | 30 |
| NOTES AND COMMENTS, | 34 |
| LITERARY NOTICE, | 35 |
| RESOLUTION OF SOUTHERN PRESBYTERY, | 36 |
| ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF DONATIONS, | 37 |
| CHURCH NOTES, | 38 |
| THE MAGAZINE, | 39 |

N. ADSHEAD & SON,

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PRICE TWOPENCE HALFPENNY.

THE Free Presbyterian Magazine And MONTHLY RECORD.

VOL. XXI.

MAY, 1916.

No. I.

“Behold, I Stand at the Door and ‘Knock.'”

REV. iii. 20.

THE Apostle John saw, in the isle that was called Patmos, a remarkable vision of the Son of man in His exalted glory, and received from His immediate lips instructions to write the things which are recorded in the Book of Revelation. Among these things were messages which the risen Lord commanded him to send to the angels or ministers of seven Churches, then in Asia. The most of these Churches would appear to be in a back-slidden condition. Two only—Smyrna and Philadelphia—receive commendation without rebuke. The last Church addressed is that of the Laodiceans, and it would seem from the message that in very important respects the last was the worst. A loathsome lukewarmness and a delusive self-complacency were its characteristics. “Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” And still—wonderful to observe—the Lord addresses to this people the most gracious counsel to “buy” of Him gold, white raiment, and eyesalve, that they may have their poverty, nakedness, and blindness removed, making, as it were, the depth of their destitution an occasion for the manifestation of the riches of His grace. In addition to this counsel He speaks other words of encouragement, admonition, and promise, among which are these: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with me.” Now, it appears to us that the misguided self-complacency of the Laodiceans is an outstanding feature of many people in the present day, especially in matters of religion—spiritually poor and blind and naked, and yet all the while ignorant of the same, imagining that they are rich and increased with goods, having need of nothing. Such a state of

things prevails among people with a profession of religion, and among people without it. We now proceed to consider our immediate subject bearing upon the case, and observe, first, Christ outside “the door”; secondly, Christ standing and knocking; and, thirdly, Christ’s gracious message.

1. First, then, let us notice that Christ is outside the door. No doubt, He is “at” the door, but still it is on the outside. It is very necessary to observe this. For unless people who are without Christ begin to see that they lack Him, they will not deplore His absence, or desire Him to come in. Imagining that He is already in the house, they move about in a delusive self-security.

We must therefore call attention to the fact that there are several houses, outside whose doors Christ is to a large extent at the present moment. (1) He is to a great extent outside the house of the visible Church. The Inspiration of His Word is denied, the doctrines of grace and salvation are set aside, the purity of New Testament worship is defiled, and spiritually ignorant men are exalted to the highest places of trust. Where these things are, Christ is absent. (2) He is almost wholly outside the house of the State. Christ is King of Nations as well as King of Zion, and He has a divine right to acknowledgment and obedience as such. We do not deny that some things morally Christian are done by our statesmen in the present day, but there are many things done, by way of omission and commission, which are directly contrary to Christian truth. God and Christ are not acknowledged in public deliberations and speeches. Statesmen talk and act as if there was no God or Christ governing the affairs of nations, and as if puny creatures could accomplish everything by their own wisdom and strength apart from God altogether. We see also the great deference that is shown to Antichrist, the enemy of God and man. Papal Rome is recognised and flattered, and its emissaries helped and advanced. Moreover, the Lord’s Day, which is the standing memorial of the great works of Creation and Redemption, is robbed of its sacredness and rest, and made a day of common recreation and traffic. The State thus violates the Fourth Commandment. (3) Christ is to a lamentable degree outside the house of the Family. He is not acknowledged in family life as He once was in this highly privileged country of ours. In only a very small number of homes is Family Worship observed, while many people partake of their meals, like brute beasts, without asking a blessing from, or giving thanks to, the Giver of all good. Where such practical atheism prevails, Christ is not present. No wonder that families grow up, ignorant, careless, and corrupt. (4) Lastly, He is outside the house of the individual Soul. How few there be in our generation who have the fear of God in their hearts, and in whom Christ dwells as the hope of glory! The vast majority are without God, without Christ, and without hope, and hardly any of them have the least sense of their awful destitution. There may be widespread profession of Christianity—

many names upon Communion rolls—but profession is one thing, and possession another.

1. Observe that Christ stands at the door and knocks. Consider the infinite grace of His conduct towards the rebellious sons of men. It is an act of rich grace on His part to permit a sinner to come to His door, but it is still greater grace for Him to come and stand at the sinner’s door and seek admission. People think it a great honour when the King of Great Britain comes to their door and pays them a visit. But what is that honour in comparison with the honour which the King of kings and Lord of lords confers upon unworthy sinners when He draws near their door, desiring to be their friend and guest?

The Lord Jesus knocks in various ways. He knocks by His Word—by His law and by His gospel. He gives an alarming knock by the one, and a winning knock by the other. He knocks by His Spirit. His Spirit accompanies the Word, and reproves, and encourages. He knocks by his providence—by events of prosperity and of adversity. Though it is oftentimes little noticed prosperity is a knock at our door. “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” His kindness should dispose us to receive and exalt Him as the fountain of all blessing. He knocks in a very stirring manner by adversity. This is a knock which people are more or less familiar with in all generations, whether they recognise it to be Christ’s or not. The Lord is constantly sending adversity of one kind or another to communities and individuals, and it has a solemn and gracious message, warning us of the evil of sin, showing us the vanity of the creature, and pointing us to God and Christ as the only satisfying and everlasting portion. The knock of adversity is much louder at some seasons than others.

The Lord Jesus is knocking with a loud and terrible knock at our door by the present awful calamity of war. He is knocking at the door of the Church, the State, the family and the individual, and He is arousing them to consider that it is a dreadful thing to cast out His Word, His authority, His Gospel, and Himself, and to admit the wild beasts of Rationalism, Popery, Atheism, and Materialism. Such suicidal conduct calls for judgment, and brings on sore retribution. One cannot take fire into his bosom without being burned, and the “wages of sin is death.” And yet this terrible knock, that is ringing like thunder in our ears, has grace in it. “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore and repent.” We do not say that His special love is in the dispensation to any but His elect, but there is a general and gracious benevolence in the awakening sound. He is calling sinners to give up their evil ways, and to seek His favourable presence, and woe be unto those who turn a deaf ear to His appeal. Very often the knock of adverse providence is the last knock of all. Manasseh, king of Judah, would not listen to the word of the Lord from the lips of the prophets, and it was

then the Most High sent the Assyrians with the sword to punish him and his people. This was like the final warning, and it was a great mercy that he was brought to listen to it and to humble himself before the Lord his God. Would that the present awful dispensation would bring rulers and people among us to their knees in repentance before God, and in earnest seeking for His spiritual return to our country!

1. Christ’s gracious message. “If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him and he with me.” There is no doubt the Lord was here at first addressing a community of professing Christians, but He does not speak to them in the bulk merely; He individualises the message, and appeals to each one of the people separately. “If any man hear my voice.” So it is still. He addresses all individually in Church, and State, and community—”any man.”

Now, it is perfectly plain from Scripture elsewhere that no man will or can hear His voice, and open the door to saving purpose, apart from the effectual operation of the Spirit, but there is no mention of that here. Evidently Infinite Wisdom did not consider it necessary or appropriate in this particular verse. His appeal is to man’s responsibility, and to the duty of opening the door of the heart for the Lord’s incoming in response to His call. Let it be remembered that, when the Lord opens the door of a sinner’s heart, He does so by inclining and enabling the sinner to do so. The opening is the action of the sinner’s renewed will, which he exercises freely, while the power is entirely from the Lord. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.” The sinner performs the act of opening the door as heartily and freely as if it were all from himself; and as an act of obedience to Christ’s voice in grace and providence, it is the soul’s tribute, as a reasonable and responsible creature, to the authority and claims of Christ. “This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.”

The Lord does not address them as elect or convinced sinners, but simply as men, and says in effect, “If there be any man among you—it matters not how great a sinner he has hitherto been, and how much he has grieved my Spirit—who hears my voice and opens the door of his heart for my entrance (I speak not meantime how this is done), but if it be done—it is the fact of the matter that I am insisting upon—I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me.” And when is the door opened, it may be asked? Just when a poor sinner is made willing to renounce his evil ways, and to receive God in Christ as His complete and perfect Saviour from sin and all its consequences, on the terms of free grace.

The Lord Jesus here addresses, then, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, and declares His willingness to “come in to” such as a friend and have a feast of fellowship with them, if they but simply, by grace, open the door—not making

“one hair white or black,” not improving themselves in any way by any ability of their own. This will prove a joyful and satisfying occasion. Christ will rejoice and be satisfied in seeing the fruits of His soul-travail in the repentance, faith, and love of the sinner, and the sinner will rejoice and be satisfied in the benefits he receives through Christ—forgiveness, renewal, adoption, strength for obedience and trial, the sense of God’s love, and the hope of eternal life. This mutual feast will be a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb before the throne of God.

Now, the Lord’s knock and voice in His Word and providence are calling us to such a glorious reception of Christ as this, and the soul-shaking times in which we live should, according to their native tendency, be soul-converting times. It will be deplorable in the extreme if sinners continue hard and impenitent all through this dispensation. May the Lord send the power of His Spirit forth to convince and renew, and to His name shall be the praise!

A Sermon.

BY THE REV. DUNCAN MACKENZIE, GAIRLOCH, ROSS-SHIRE.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”—MATTHEW xi. 28.

IN the first part of this chapter we have a discourse by our Lord arising out of the message sent by John the Baptist. In verse 20th He upbraids the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done because they repented not. In the 25th verse He addresses His Father: “I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” Then follows the invitation given in our text.

I shall divide this text as follows:—

I.—The Invitation: “Come.”

II.—The Inviter: “Me.”

III.—The Invited: “All ye that labour and are heavy laden.”

IV.—Conclusion.

Salvation is entirely of God. He provided it in the past eternity, and He reveals it in His word: the Holy Spirit applies it to believers, and maintains it throughout. Salvation is provided for all those set apart in the covenant of grace. The gospel is the means set up by God for the accomplishing of all His glorious purposes regarding the sheep of His pasture.

I.—The Invitation: “Come unto me.” Here Emmanuel manifests His tender care towards the toiling masses of our fallen race. He always went about doing good to the souls and bodies of men, women, and children. Had He Himself not come to

invite sinners to Himself, no sinner would come to Him. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Christ never did, and never will, save but lost, undone sinners. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The invitation issued by the Sent of the Father is free, full, and clear. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” “I will give unto him that is athirst of the water of life freely;” “and the Spirit and the bride say Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

As it proceeds from the lips of the Saviour to a lost sinner, the word “Come” is very precious. It is not only “Come,” but “Come unto me:” every other coming is useless. All who in truth come to Jesus testify that it is not only profitable, but pleasant and joyous. A sinner led by the Spirit to the only Saviour of lost sinners, enters upon a life of everlasting bliss and happiness. “It is good for me that I draw near to God.” Come, then, just as you are, to the only Redeemer of God’s elect. Do not linger, do not delay, do not hold back, in order that you may make yourself better, that you may make yourself more acceptable to the thrice Holy One. Delaying in order to improve yourself will only make you worse, for you cannot make yourself one iota better in a spiritual sense. Clothing yourself in the filthy rags of your own righteousness is not only profitless work, but it is highly offensive to the Most High. It is really a despising of God’s way of saving sinners, for no sinner was ever saved, nor can any sinner be saved, by his own efforts to make himself more acceptable to God. The invitation is “Come unto me,” and not “Tarry till you make yourself better than you now are.” Certainly, Satan does not object to sinners doing their level best to commend themselves self-righteously to the Lord Jesus. Satan instigates poor sinners to engage in such delusive and destructive work, for all the time he is urging on his army to despise the only way of salvation from sin.

Thoughtless sinner, what are you doing? You are offering to the Most High the filthy rags of your own righteousness, and refusing the spotless righteousness of Emmanuel. Do not insult your Maker afresh; you have been long enough at that insulting work. “O, ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame!” If salvation is to be yours, your own filthy rags must go. What does your conduct declare? You really say to the thrice Holy One, the inhabitant of eternity, “Here I am: I offer you my own works, my own righteousness, for I value my own righteousness far more than the righteousness you are offering to me.” What base conduct! Who could bear with such conduct? No creature could do it. The wonder is that the Most High does it. Let us not presume on the Lord’s forbearance and

long-suffering. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.” Ye that are far off from righteousness, listen to the word of the Lord: “I counsel thee to buy of me white raiment, that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.” Unless you are clothed in that raiment, all the rags that our fallen race possess will never cover the shame of your nakedness. Unless the Lord, whom you are despising, have mercy upon you, the shame of your nakedness will yet be made so bare that it will be an eternal disgust to yourself and to others. Hearken, then, to the voice of the Saviour: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Come now; come as you are. He hates putting away. By your own doings you can never commend yourself to the Most High. Nothing of yours stands in the court of God. Christ Jesus the Lord alone has given satisfaction to outraged justice and transgressed law. It is on the ground of the satisfaction rendered by Christ that Heaven proceeds to offer salvation to lost, perishing sinners. O do, then, come unto the Lord Jesus. Do not come with your own deeds; but come to Him, that He may strip you of them. “God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Come and see for yourself the greatest of all sights ever witnessed in this world. “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.” That’s the sight that ever cheers the hearts of poor, lost sinners. Come, see, and hear. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him.” This is the great sight and attraction in glory. It is the only soul-satisfying sight in the world. “Hear, and your soul shall live.” “Where dwellest thou?” was asked of Jesus long ago. “Come and see,” was the answer given. The inquirers went, and they never regretted that they did go with the Redeemer. The sight they saw captivated their whole being, and the possessions they received, and the honours conferred upon them, were so rich and precious that Christ Jesus and they never parted. They were bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord their God. Happy is that people whose God is the Lord. May it be so with us!

Caesar said, “I came, I saw, I conquered,” but all who, in truth, have obeyed the invitations of the Lord Jesus, have had to say, “I came, I saw, and was conquered.” Come, for all things are now ready. It is only waste of time, health, and strength, to feed on your own provisions. You have nothing that can give health of soul. Your only provision is the husks that the swine eat, and these husks only tend to the famishing of the soul. You have nothing that the only appointed of the Father can accept. He has food, drink, and clothing; He has eternal salvation, and all you stand in need of for time and eternity. Come, then, and accept now of the gospel invitation, lest it be withdrawn from you.

It is not in yourself, or in any created being, you have salvation. Salvation is entirely of God. There is nothing in the creature but destruction. “Thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help.” Come along then, poor helpless sinner, for all things are ready. Everything you need here and hereafter is in Christ. Cease at once from yourself: look away from yourself, for there is not the shadow of relief there. “Look unto me, all the ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for I am God, and there is none else.” Why stand aloof? Why stand in the cold? Why stand in doubt? Do you not hear the Lord Jesus saying to you, “Come near unto Me, I pray you?” It is He Himself that speaks to you. Though you have so often turned a deaf ear to Him, He yet says to you, “Come unto Me; come near unto Me.”

What have you then, fellow-sinner, to say to the invitation of Jesus, “Come unto me?” Answer you must one way or another. Is it a refusal? It is a matter between the Lord and you. Settle it then with Him now. It must be done in judgment or in mercy. Which is it to be? Are you really proof against the invitation of Christ? “Come now, and let us reason together: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Come, that He may have some plain and pointed talk with you about your state and character. May the Lord send forth the rod of His strength out of Zion, that sinners be converted unto Him, for the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul that lies in sin!

What is it, then, to come to Christ? It is very evident that more than bringing our bodies to Him is implied: more than mere curiosity is embraced in it. In the days of Christ’s humiliation many came to Him, and they failed to comply with this invitation. Even in our own day many come to church, and it may well be said that they bring only their bodies, for their mind and heart are not fixed on the things that belong to their eternal well-being, but on the fleeting vanities of this present life. They come and go without transacting any business with the Lord of glory. Jehovah Tsidkenu is nothing to them. They are still strangers to God and to grace. It is very sad that so many spiritual idlers are found at the market of free grace. Persons may attend church, and yet be, all the time they are there, only serving sin and Satan, instead of serving the Most High. Instead of seeking the Lord, and pleading with Him to have mercy upon them, they are more taken up with their fellow-sinners around them than with the message of eternal salvation. Many present themselves at the market of free grace, but all the time they are at the market of free will. This is setting up an opposition market. Salvation is entirely of God’s free and sovereign grace: not of man’s free will. “By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Many come to see and be seen instead of coming to see the Lord of glory!

Searcher of hearts and trier of reins, visit our congregations and

dispose of them in such a way that they become, like others who said, “We would see Jesus.” Coming to Him, or following Him, for ulterior ends, is not a compliance with this invitation. Many came to Christ in the days of His flesh, and followed Him, not because they had any saving dealings with Him. They were satisfied with the loaves and fishes, and not with Christ Himself. In our day their representatives are legion. The Lord Jesus pointed out to them their fatal error: “Ye seek me, not because ye have seen the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled.” But He also gave them a friendly and faithful advice. “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for Him hath God the Father sealed.” Did they act upon that advice? It is to be feared the majority of them did not. There are many, even in our own time, who attach themselves to the professed cause of God, not from true love to God Himself, but with a view to some social position or kindred advantage. But those who obey the gospel invitation do so entirely on account of the person who issues it, for they have been captivated by Him. Hopeless, helpless sinners are thrice welcome to the Saviour of sinners. Many professed to be followers of God, and were loud in their profession, but completely failed to give obedience to this invitation. These were numerous in the days of Christ. The Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees, the prominent religious leaders of that day, were avowed enemies of Christ and His cause. They treated Christ and His followers with contempt, yet they were quite shocked when told by the Lord that they did not know God. Who but they, the religious possessors of everything sacred, never in bondage to any man, yet the persistent, active bond slaves of the evil one! They prided themselves on their ancestry, their high privileges, and their traditions. They had far more respect for their own tradition than for the Scriptures. They had God’s Word, but did not know it savingly. They knew not the Saviour therein offered to sinners.

Those who add to or subtract from the Word of the Lord reject the invitation of Christ. Those who approach the Most High with their mouth and honour Him with their lips, while their hearts are far from Him, are only insulting the great I AM. Mouth-and-lip worshippers have only a name to live, while they are dead, and even that name will be taken from them. “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.” To the religious leaders of that day, who gloried in themselves and in their Temple, the Lord said, “Your house is left unto you desolate.” It is very sad when a land is studded with churches void of spiritual life and occupied by graceless ministers. Those who are wise and prudent in their own estimation raise a dark cloud between themselves and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and thus they despise the invitation, “Come unto me.” Those who

appear before the Most High sounding their own praises and applauding their own works, know nothing rightly of this invitation or of the Inviter. Such was the proud Pharisee, who looked with disdain upon the poor publican. Coming to Christ means coming with the sentence of death in ourselves—condemned by the law and by the Gospel, for both have been abused by the sinner. One cannot utter one word in one’s own behalf, for even our best actions deserve eternal destruction. The only Mediator between God and men gives relief in such cases. A mere intellectual assent to the truth comes short of this invitation. The evil spirits themselves believe that there is a God. Nothing short of believing with the heart unto righteousness, and confessing with the mouth unto salvation, will avail us. Professing to come to Christ, and at the same time rolling sin under the tongue as a sweet morsel, is really an attempt to cheat one’s Maker, like others who, even when God’s hand was against them, flattered Him with their mouth and lied unto Him with their tongues, for their heart was not right with Him, neither were they steadfast in His covenant. Coming to Christ means that the individual understands something of his own apostasy from God, the depravity and corruption of his nature, the holiness of the Most High, and the necessity of faith in Jesus Christ. Prior to this, sin caused little or no trouble, but now, by the work of the Holy Spirit, sin is seen in its true colours. The dishonour to the Most High and the filthy, putrifying nature of sin itself, are the causes of no small grief to the soul. Sin is known as an abominable and loathsome disease—an heart-plague—incurable by all created skill.

“For a disease that loathsome is
So fills my loins with pain,
That in my weak and weary flesh
No soundness doth remain.”

It is a disease that God alone can remove. The soul is lovingly persuaded of the ability and willingness of the Lord to afford relief.

Coming to Christ with a knowledge of one’s own helplessness and hopelessness and unworthiness—relying wholly on the authority of Jehovah, who cannot lie—renouncing all confidence in the flesh—complies with this invitation. Those who come to themselves, as did the prodigal son, fall in with the royal invitation of heaven. “I will arise and go to my Father.” Coming to Christ as the woman who had the issue of blood came, is a true acknowledgment and acceptance of the Inviter and the invitation. “If I may but touch the hem of his garment, I shall be made whole.” In accepting the invitation we accept the Inviter. The publican who smote upon his breast, and could not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, exclaiming, “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” did embrace the offer here made. He went down to his house justified. Coming to Christ is taking no refusal, as did the

Syrophoenician woman, and as Ruth did. “Entreat me not to leave thee.” Orpah, at the outset, had many promising features, but she went back to her gods and her idolatrous people, and she sinks into obscurity, but Ruth shines forth brightly in history. Coming to Jesus is receiving Him by faith, as He is freely offered in the Gospel. Coming unto Jesus means that the Father is drawing the soul to Christ. “No man can come unto me except the Father who sent me draw him.” Coming to Jesus implies that He is the only way of access to the Father. By Him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father. All who come to Jesus as babes give due heed to the Gospel message: “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye can in no wise enter into the kingdom of God.”

II.—The Inviter.—He is none other than the Second Person of the glorious Trinity: Emmanuel; the glorious Prophet, the Great High Priest, Sacrifice, Altar, Reconciler, and Intercessor; the King of Glory; the King of Saints; the High and the Lofty One; the Inhabitant of Eternity; the Lamb of God; the Messenger of the Covenant; the Prince of Peace; the Christ of God. Those names bespeak an eternity of blessing to every one to whom they are made known by the Holy Spirit.

III.—The Invited: “All who labour and are heavy laden.” All labour more or less. Labour and sorrow are universal, but if our labour and toil do not lead us to realise that it is an evil and bitter thing that we have forsaken the Lord our God, we really do not value the invitations given by the Lord of glory.

Sin has so stupified us spiritually that we do not really know how far gone we are, and how dreadfully dangerous is our state. “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” This precious invitation of Christ—”Come unto me,” fragrant with heavenly music, part of the glad tidings of great joy—is to the majority only a discordant sound, and that because of the discordant state of their own senses. While all within the hearing of the Gospel are invited by the Saviour, yet the majority treat the invitation with criminal indifference. Others were so rich and increased with goods that they had need of nothing. Graceless church workers—zealous and devout in their own way—are proud and self-satisfied.

Who are the labourers and the heavy laden?

1. Those who realise they are deeply stung by the old Serpent, by themselves, and by the law of the Most High. These cry out for the only Physician who heals and gives life. This is not an experience confined to one solitary period in one’s history.

2. Those who find out how insatiable the law is in all its righteous demands. After long and protracted periods of futile and fruitless attempts to give the law its own, it appears more merciless than ever; and then the burdened and worn-out sinner gives up in despair. The sinner has died to all hope of relief

from himself, from the law, and from all mortals. Then comes relief from heaven. “Thou hast delivered my soul out of the lowest hell.” “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

1. Those who have the fountains of their hearts opened to such an extent that they are brought into deep waters, and ready to perish, and hear in power the voice of the Lord Jesus saying, “Come unto me.” After the Lord opens the fountains of corruption in their hearts, He shows them the fountain of love in His heart. He cleanses them from their sins and corruption, and sheds His love abroad in their hearts. Then they sing of their Redeemer’s righteousness and holiness.

2. Those in whom Satan lets fly his fiery darts, causing such furious storms within, as if the pit itself were let loose there. Such soul agony! “Woe is me now, for my soul is wearied because of murderers.” Then follows a storm of fears, dread, faintings, weaknesses, strugglings for life, calling upon God for relief. “Carest thou not that we perish.” Then by and by the soul hears the music of the Spirit from the lips of the Sent of the Father, “Come unto me,” and the storm is, at once, changed into a calm. Holy peace takes possession of the soul.

3. Those burdened with a guilty conscience. The burden overwhelms soul and body. Sins, like regiments in regular order, march before the eye of the soul, each sin thundering home the guilt connected with it, causing deep bitterness of soul. The distressed sinner is led to apply to the only Advocate appointed to meet such cases, and he is not disappointed. He tastes that the Lord is gracious. “O taste and see that God is good:”

“God hath heard my weeping cries:
God hath my supplication heard,
My prayer received graciously.”

“The storm is changed into a calm
At his command and will,
So that the waves which raged before
Now quiet are and still.”

“O thou, my soul, do thou return
Unto thy quiet rest;
For largely, lo, the Lord to thee
His bounty hath exprest.”

1. All who renounce their own righteousness and accept of Jesus Christ and His righteousness. “In the Lord have we righteousness and strength.”

There are certain diseases Adam’s race got by the Fall, and the heavy load now felt by the soul is caused by the work of the Holy Spirit in making known these Fall diseases. The sinner now sees his own likeness, as portrayed by the Holy Spirit in the Truth. A few of the Fall diseases are:—

(1) Blindness.—”The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not.” Blind they were to their own

lost condition; blind to the rich provision of God in Christ Jesus for sinners; but God, who is rich in mercy, commanded the light of the knowledge of His own glory in the face of Jesus Christ to shine into them. “Blessed are the eyes that see what ye see.”

(2) Death.—There was no spiritual move in the soul till power from on high came. Every one in a state of nature is dead in trespasses and in sins. “You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins.” “The time is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.” Jehovah-Jesus is the only Deliverer from death.

(3) Deafness.—Sin has brought on spiritual deafness. We have no ear for the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many sinful agencies at work that deafen us more and more to the glad tidings of great joy that are unto all people that a Saviour, Christ the Lord, has been born in the city of David. The concert and the dance, and the theatre, drunkenness, uncleanness, filthy communication, gambling and many other sins increase spiritual deafness. Beware of that which keeps you from listening to and obeying the gospel of God. The majority are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and they bring forth no fruit unto perfection. The Lord of glory doeth wonders. He doeth all things well. He quickens the dead, He makes the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the lame to walk. If our ears are not open to Christ, they are open to all the vanities of this life. The vanities of life drown one in perdition, but Christ gives a life of everlasting bliss. “Blessed are the ears that hear what ye hear.”

“O greatly blessed the people are,
The joyful sound that know,
In brightness of Thy face, O Lord,
They ever on shall go.”

(4) Dumbness.—Sin has paralysed our vocal organs. While sin has possession of our tongues we cannot render acceptable praise to God. Only the forgiven praise the Most High. We need that our hearts be made the abode of the Eternal, and when Jehovah dwells there our tongues will be under the power of grace. Then shall we, in our daily life, show forth the praises of Him who calls out of darkness into His marvellous light; and with joy we shall draw water out of the wells of salvation.

Those made conscious by the Holy Spirit that they are suffering from these various diseases, and by the same Spirit convinced that from the womb they are estranged from God, cheerfully accept of this blessed invitation of Jesus Christ.

The Most High has for long been saying to our Empire, “Come unto me,” but our ears are deaf to all His most loving entreaties. We are acting most shamefully towards the Governor of the nations. Therefore the heavy scourge of this gigantic

European War is upon us. It is very deplorable that we have become so brutish that we do not acknowledge that the Most High has a controversy with us. The grace of God, and not judgments, changes our natures. Righteousness alone exalteth a nation. We are now, for more than eighteen months, fighting for our very existence, still going along the razor-edge of danger—thousands of the flower of the land hurled into eternity, and as many, if not more, maimed for life—and yet, neither as nation nor empire, have we acknowledged the Most High. In fact, since the War began more money, is spent on intoxicating liquors and pleasures than formerly. Total abolition of the liquor traffic would not only prove a rich revenue to the whole empire, but would be a great boon and blessing. Sabbath desecration has increased by leaps and bounds. The Sunday newspaper is a public scandal to this professing Christian nation. The Sunday newspaper is more honoured than the Word of God. In addition to our other manifold transgressions, the peace of the Lord’s Day is broken by the cries of the newsboys in our streets. Thus we are not only refusing to come to the Lord Jesus, but we are perpetually defying Him. This is very cruel conduct towards the Creator and Upholder of heaven and earth. A day of reckoning is in store. Idolatry is financed and legalised by the land. For many years we have been drinking in German heterodoxy, and to-day we are paying the penalty for our, disloyalty to the Almighty. Because we refuse to receive from the King of kings the sword of the Spirit and wield the same, strong nations are smiting us with the edge of the sword. The Lord speaks to disobedient nations by the sword. It behoves kings to be wise and judges of the earth to be taught, and to join trembling with their mirth. Nations that refuse to obey the King of Glory will ultimately be ruled by a rod of iron, and be dashed in pieces. If we refuse to drink the wine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we shall be made to drink the wine of the wrath of God. Without repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ we shall perish. O, highly-favoured Britain! break off by righteousness thy sinful works, surrender to the King of kings and Lord of lords, lest thou be driven from thy dwelling “till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.”

“O that my people had me heard,
Israel my ways had chose;
I had their enemies soon subdued,
My hand turned on their foes.”

IV.—Conclusion.—The invitation of Christ the Lord is left with you. If you refuse it, no small sin lies at the door of your heart. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” There is then a quarrel between you and your Maker. You are the aggressor. You have rebelled against the only Saviour of sinners; but, yet, after all, you have done against Him, He says, “Come unto me.”

Why then, perish, when such a Saviour, and such an invitation, are presented to you? Know the day of Thy merciful visitation lest those precious possessions be forever hid from Thine eyes. Accept the Saviour now. To-morrow may be too late. You have been for years despising the gospel invitations. To-day, He says, “Come unto me;” but if your ear is deaf to His voice, He will yet say to you, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Will you then have Christ Jesus the Lord as your righteousness, Christ’s righteousness instead of your own filthy rags? Your rags will bring you to everlasting destruction. Christ’s righteousness frees from everlasting condemnation, and brings to everlasting salvation, and to eternal glory.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

May the Lord add His blessing, and His name shall have all the glory. Amen.

Accounts of Mission to Forces in England.

BY THE REV. DUNCAN MACKENZIE, GAIRLOCH, ROSS-SHIRE.

DEAR MR. EDITOR,—On 20th January I arrived at Euston Station, London, and left on 29th February. On my arrival I was met by Mr. William Grant, 8 Wellington Square, Chelsea. There I had my headquarters for the six weeks I was in England, and the company of Mr. Grant and Rev. D. M. Macdonald made my stay there very much more pleasant. Chatham and Portsmouth Naval Barracks are visited every alternate week. Mr. Wm. Grant accompanied me to Chatham on 22nd January. The services were held at Chatham on Saturday, Sabbath, and Monday at 7 p.m., and at Portsmouth on Friday and Sabbath at 7 p.m. On Sabbath, 13th February, on account of infectious diseases among the sailors, I was debarred from preaching at Portsmouth. On Saturday, 19th February, I met with a motor accident, which prevented my visiting Chatham that day. I had a most remarkable deliverance, in which the hand of the Most High was vividly seen.

Before I left Portsmouth it was arranged to change the hour of service to 7.30, and also to hold a service every Sabbath at 10 a.m., in a hall in the Sailors’ Home Buildings kindly granted for that purpose. That arrangement came into force on the first Sabbath of March. The Commander at the Barracks gave permission to the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders to attend the 10 a.m. service. At the various stations I received every courtesy from the officers, petty officers, and men.

A service is now held in Whale Island, Portsmouth, and Thursday evening is fixed for that purpose. I preached there on 24th February at 7 o’clock. The services, on the whole, were well

attended. A large number of the men left before and after my arrival, but others came in. A preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ ought, at all times, to realise the value of immortal souls, and that salvation is entirely of God. This should be much more so when one proclaims the whole counsel of God to men called upon to fight for their King and Country. When Duncan Matheson saw the sights at the Crimean War, he exclaimed: “O, Lord! stamp eternity upon my eye-balls.” I visited Haslar Naval Camp, Gosport, three times. There were not many Highlanders. The majority of them were in hospital. I did not preach at Haslar Camp, but conducted private devotional exercises.

A number of the sailors had no Gaelic Bibles, and the Rev. Neil Cameron, Glasgow, forwarded fifty copies, a gift from the National Bible Society, Glasgow. The sailors at Chatham, Portsmouth, and Whale Island were very glad to get them. A printed Gaelic sermon was also distributed. The majority of the sailors were from Lewis, others were from Skye, Harris, Rona, Gairloch, Greenock, and Gigha.

It is very cheering in these distressing and alarming times, when true piety is so very rare, to meet with sailors who fear the Lord and whose hearts are kept warm by the Truth. May their number be greatly multiplied! Weekly prayer meetings are held by the men, and it is refreshing to hear them pleading with the Most High. Some of these men were more than a year at sea, and, during that time, had not heard a Gaelic sermon preached. They, like the Psalmist, yearned to appear before God in Zion, and when they did appear there the preached Gospel was doubly precious to them. It enlivened one to meet with these warm-hearted Christian sailors. A number of the indifferent have, of late, become more studious readers of that wonderful living Book that converts souls that lie in sin. Faith cometh by hearing the Word of God.

The sailors appreciate the kindness of the Church in supplying them with Gaelic preachers, and the Church should pray that the Lord be gracious to sailors and soldiers and preachers, and be their Protector and Deliverer.

It was very sad to see in the London hospitals young Highlanders, and others, wounded to such an extent as to necessitate their being discharged from the Army. The wounded soldiers were wonderfully cheerful, and spoke of the criminality of those who quarrel at home, and stand aloof, when the nation is fighting for its very existence.

May the Eternal bless the preached Gospel to our Naval and Military Forces!—Yours, etc.
DUNCAN MACKENZIE.

LONDON CONGREGATION.

I was very much impressed with the part our London Congregation plays in that important and huge city. It may be like a voice in the wilderness; but yet the dead have there, in mercy, heard the gracious voice of the Son of God. Quiet voluntary

missionary work, which is not without the Divine blessing, is carried on regularly.

Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Inverness, Argyll, and other parts are represented in this congregation. The spiritual welfare of the young is well attended to. We should pray to, and praise, the Most High for this flock. Our Highlands owe much to it. At present funds are being raised to build a church, and we should heartily and speedily help them to attain their laudable object. Mr. Donald Sutherland, 201 Lavender Hill, Battersea, London, S.W., and Mr. William Grant, 8 Wellington Square, Chelsea, London, S.W., receive and acknowledge contributions. D. M.

BY THE REV. D. A. MACFARLANE, M.A., ROGART, ETC.

DEAR MR. EDITOR,—In keeping with the custom of the deputies who hitherto visited the Naval Reserve men in England, I may give a brief account of my visit there. I arrived in London about the beginning of March, and was indebted then, and onwards to the close of my visit, to Mr. W. Grant, of the London Mission, for guidance and help in as far as lay in his power. The Rev. D. M. Macdonald kindly obliged by going to Chatham on the first Sabbath of March, and to Portsmouth on the second Sabbath of April, while I, in turn, held the services in the London hall on these days.

The number of Gaelic services held during each visit to the Naval Stations is four. It is a cause of thankfulness that the men meet at 10 a.m. on the Sabbath morning at both Stations, as well as on specified evenings. At Chatham the usual place of meeting is the R.N.B. Schoolroom. At Portsmouth this morning service, which men from the various sections attend, is held in a hall kindly lent by Miss Weston, of the Sailors’ Rest. The evening services are held at the Barracks and Whale Island.

It is encouraging to know that there are praying men among these defenders of our land who can exercise direct influence on the many whom they come in contact with. The claims of our soldiers and sailors, in these dark days, are worthy of all consideration and sympathy on the part of such as profess to be trustees of the Gospel tidings. A change of eternal benefit indeed takes place when a soul, by the Holy Spirit and His word, receives incorruptible treasure into the earthen vessel. May the Most High grant that they and we may have as our own the creed of the Apostle: “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

As to Hospital work, there was little of it to be done as far as numbers were concerned. It would be well, however, if relatives of the wounded who are in hospital in London would send the names and addresses of such as they wish visited to the deputy for the time being, so that he may visit them.

It may be remarked, in concluding, that our chaplain in France on his return thither, addressed us in the London Hall on his work among the wounded. The heartfelt desire of his hearers, and of those interested in his welfare and work, is, doubtless, that he may abide in the secret place of the Most High, and be a means of beckoning others to the safety and shelter of the Smitten Rock.—I am, yours, etc., D. A. MACFARLANE.

Errors of Great Men.

FEW men have lived to make more impression on the world than Martin Luther. We scarcely know of a human character that so impresses us with the greatness—yea, the majesty—of its elements as does his. But in proportion as the good points in the character of a great man work for good, in the same proportion do his errors work for evil. And one error of Luther’s has destroyed nations—that is, his error respecting the Christian Sabbath.

In most things Luther restored evangelical truth to its power upon the nations that felt its influence. But he failed in reality to give to those nations the Christian Sabbath as a day strictly and exclusively devoted to religious uses. In his views of the Sabbath—which were to be so extensively diffused through Protestant Europe—although not so unsound as some represent, yet he left a lump of the leaven of Popery, and gave the people too much of a Romish Sabbath. And this is one among other reasons why the Protestantism which he spread did not last. It has, in a great measure, died out, for want of a Sabbath.

Protestant Germany now presents a desolation, so far as the religion of the Gospel is concerned—a desolation which in all probability can be traced mainly to this source. For what would the religion of our own land be if her Sabbaths were made days of sports and dissipation? And in Germany the remnant of good men begin to feel that there has been a grand mistake, and that they must have a Sabbath—the Christian Sabbath—or all hope of reviving religion is vain.

We see, then, how much to be deplored is this one error of a great man. And we see how much to be dreaded and guarded against are all the errors of great men. Those of moderate men are of less consequence, for they do not wear so broad an influence, nor produce such wide-spread mischiefs.

It is too common for the admirers of men of distinguished talents to regard their works with less scrutiny, in an assumption that they must be right of course. But the power which distinguished men wield is itself a reason why their errors should be watched with double scrutiny. For those errors take, from their high source, a breadth and momentum in working evil, which makes it important that they should be early arrested.—Taken from an old “Christian Treasury.”

The late Rev. Walter Scott, Chesley, ONTARIO, CANADA.

WE now give a sketch of the life of the late worthy Mr. Scott, our minister at Chesley, Ont., who died on the 18th January of this year. We are indebted to near relatives of the deceased, chiefly to his brother, the Rev. William Scott, Edinburgh, for interesting information regarding his ancestors and early career.

The Rev. Walter Scott was born at Edinburgh on the 8th October, 1854. He was descended from godly parents. On his mother’s side he had a line of pious ancestry, extending at least to four successive generations. The “Religious History and Experience of Thomas Stobo,” his great-grandfather, was privately printed in 1849, and “Religious Letters” of his grandmother, Agnes Stobo or Macleod, are collected, though they have never appeared in print. A brief notice of Mr. Scott’s mother, who sat in her girlhood under the famous Dr. M’Crie, and was strongly attached to the early Original Secession testimony, appeared in this Magazine in 1908, soon after her death.

Mr. Scott’s father, Mr. Alexander William Scott, was, in days before the Disruption, under the ministry of the Rev. William Nixon, of Montrose, the Dr. Nixon of later times who valiantly opposed all departures in the Free Church from its constitution and standards. When the Disruption actually took place in 1843, Mr. A. W. Scott was in Canada, but he immediately left the Established Church and identified himself with the Free Church. Ten years later he returned to Scotland, and resided for a time in Edinburgh, where he attended the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Hetherington, the well-known Church historian, in Free St. Paul’s Church. It was during this period that the subject of our notice was born. He was baptised by the Rev. Robert Gordon, of Buccleuch Free Church, who was preaching on the occasion for Dr. Hetherington. In 1855 Mr. Scott’s father removed to Perth, where he became a member in Free St. Leonard’s congregation, and was under the successive ministries of the Revs. Messrs. Huie, Milne and Cowan. Subsequently in 1876, he returned to Edinburgh, and became a member in the congregation of the eminent Dr. Begg, where he was ordained an elder, and later became Session Clerk. These particulars appear to us very interesting, as showing the kind of atmosphere in which Mr. Scott was brought up—an atmosphere with Free Church and Original Secession associations, where adherence to the old paths was rightly valued as of great importance. It may also interest our readers at the present time to know that Mr. Scott’s father was a military man, who served the Army for the long period of over forty-one years, and that without a single mark of any kind being put on record against him. He carried his religion with him into the service, and “among those under him no profane swearing

was known. This rule he carried out with consent of his men by gaining their confidence. So observable was this reformation that men, whose conduct in this and in other respects was reprehensible to a more than ordinary degree, were transferred to his company.” When he finally left the Army, in 1876, an order was issued by Viscount Stormont, his Colonel, that there be inserted in the Regimental Orders for preservation a testimonial, expressing his high appreciation of the most exemplary manner in which Mr. A. W. Scott had carried out the duties of a highly-responsible position.

As the offspring of worthy parents, Mr. Scott received “a religious training for which in after life he was wont to express his gratitude to God.” It would seem that he was serious and religiously disposed from his very earliest years. When as a child, two or three years old, he was first taken to the house of God, he sat perfectly still, and continued to the close of the service, with his eyes fixed upon the minister. His piety became decidedly manifest in his boyhood. Those who then knew him intimately were convinced that it was not in any respect affected, but genuine and sincere. A very interesting reminiscence and testimony concerning those early days has been given since his death by a gentleman of position in an east coast city, who was one of Mr. Scott’s playfellows at school:—”I don’t know if I ever told you that from Walter I got my first knowledge of the real meaning of the petition in our Lord’s prayer, ‘Lead us not into temptation.’ We both must have been pretty young boys . . . We were playing inside the Square, when we heard a noise outside in Canal Street, arising from a fight between some men, and I started to run for the gate to see it, when Walter quoted the petition I have mentioned, and I went no further . . . In all ways open to him he was always loyal to his Lord. I am sure the community ministered to by Walter are to-day poorer because he is not of them, and will cherish glad memories of his faithful service.” Mr. Scott’s early piety is further seen in letters which he wrote when quite young. When he was fourteen years of age, he wrote thus:—”I am fourteen years old. What cause for thankfulness! I trust that as long as I live I may be enabled to serve God, and that I may place my confidence in Him. ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.'” Again, he writes to his mother:—”May I be enabled by the guidance of God to be an obedient, loving and affectionate son to thee; and also that I may go to Christ with all my troubles, and rise higher and higher in the knowledge and understanding of the Holy Scriptures, and be led to study in the days of my youth, and wait patiently and see what the Lord hath got for me to do.” Still another letter to his brother runs as follows:—”How grateful I ought to be that have so many kind friends to advise me! But, better still, that I have one Heavenly Friend to whom I can make known my wants at any time. Referring to what you said in your

letter, I would ask you earnestly to pray for me that there might be a turning point in my life for the better, and also that God would direct my steps and lead me to acknowledge Him in all my ways.” At the early age of fifteen he sat down at the Lord’s table for the first time. It may be pointed out that early communicating was more common even in the best days in the Lowlands than it has ever been in the Highlands. In October, 1871, when he was seventeen, he thus writes, after a Communion season:—”Since I last wrote you, another critical season has passed by, and I have again been privileged to sit down at the Communion Table. This is a high and all-important ordinance of Christ’s visible Church. . . . It ought to be looked forward to and prepared for, that, when the time comes, it may be partaken of with joy and gladness. I experienced comfort and fellowship in it, and would pray that it has not gone by without accomplishing the end whereto it was instituted. I could have desired more though, for it is a kingly, a royal feast, at which great nourishment and blessing may be expected. May this stir me up to a closer examination and more preparation in the future. This is your Communion week in Edinburgh. May the voice of Jesus be heard saying, “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away”; that His children may respond, “He has brought me into his banqueting house, and his banner over me is love!” And may the King’s presence be felt, and His fruit be sweet to the taste, that it may be a time of upbuilding and growth in grace.” Mr. Scott’s life at this early age corresponded with his profession. The Bible was his constant companion, and he also took pleasure in reading other good books. He was at pains to distinguish between the truth of God and error. Nothing delighted him more than the company and conversation of the godly, and religious exercises were something far more to him than mere forms.

In 1874, when he was twenty years of age, Mr. Scott severed his connection with the Free Church and joined the Original Secession Church, which met in Forrest Road, then under the pastorate of the Rev. Andrew Lambie, an Anti-Burgher minister who did not unite with the larger body known as the United Associate Synod of Original Seceders. This step was taken by Mr. Scott owing to backsliding movements in the Free Church. He was a great admirer of the Rev. Dr. Begg, and felt it a trial to part with him and other valiant witnesses. Under Mr. Lambie, Mr. Scott and his brother both solemnly renewed the covenants, and he heartily assisted his brother (first as a member, and then as an elder) after the latter became pastor in 1880.

At this point, we may notice Mr. Scott’s entrance on a profession. The work of the ministry was not his first intention. In Perth, where he received his early education, he became, in January, 1870, an apprentice to a legal firm. He was then at the age of fifteen. In October, 1872, he obtained another situation in the office of Messrs. Dalgleish & Bell, W.S.,

Edinburgh. Here he attended the Law Classes at the University. In February, 1877, “the Association for the Maintenance of Purity of Worship” in Edinburgh offered three prizes in competition of £25, £15, and £10 respectively, open to all the students in all the Universities and Theological Halls of the different denominations in Scotland for the best Essays in opposition to the Recent Innovations in Public Worship, including especially the use of Instrumental Music in Worship.” Mr. Scott, who was then a student at the University, took part in the competition. His Essay was awarded the first prize, the second prize being gained by Mr. Smellie, now Dr. Smellie of the United Original Secession Church. In 1883, with a view to qualify himself further, he entered upon the Arts curriculum, which he pursued for four sessions, ending in 1887. In several of his classes, notably the Philosophy and English Literature ones, he acquitted himself with distinction and credit. It was while thus employed that Mr. Scott was led seriously to consider the question as to whether or not God was calling him to devote himself to the gospel ministry. “One thing was manifest, that his heart was being more and more led by God in this direction. A variety of providences, ranging over several years, served not a little to strengthen his conviction that God was calling him to that sacred work; and at length he felt that he was no longer at liberty to resist this conviction. He then resigned himself to the leadings of Providence. From the first he made the subject one of much prayer.” At this very time his health became delicate through overwork. This necessitated his seeking a change of air, and accordingly for several years “he was wont to resort to various parts in the shires of Aberdeen, Caithness and Ross,” where he found “society agreeable to him, as well as climate beneficial to his health. It was his delight to engage in religious exercises in the many dwellings which he visited.” His health, however, continued to get worse, and his medical advisers recommended him to spend a period in Australia. Providentially, through the kindness of the late worthy Sir William Mackinnon, Bart., whom he met in a Free Church manse in the Highlands, and who offered him a free passage to Australia, a way was opened for his giving effect to their advice.

Mr. Scott sailed for Australia in the S.S. “Jumna” in 1889, and landed in Queensland, where he remained for a time. Thereafter he travelled over considerable parts of New South Wales and Victoria. He became in this way acquainted with ministers of the Free Presbyterian Church of Victoria, a body which refused to join in a Church Union of Presbyterians formed in Australia some fifty years ago. He found himself drawn by similarity of views to the Free Presbyterians in the colony, and desired to join them, but, as he was strong for express recognition of the Scottish Covenants, National and Solemn League, he did not do so until an Act on this subject was issued in 1891. He then applied to be received as a student, and was admitted as such. After some

period of training, he was ordained a missionary to the Back Country Mission, New South Wales. Ultimately he received two calls to regular charges. One of these he accepted, namely, that to the Brushgrove-Grafton Presbyterian Congregation, Clarence River, N.S.W., and in September, 1895, he was inducted to the pastorate in Woodford Dale Church. Here he laboured with much faithfulness and self-sacrificing zeal for over fourteen years. Here also he married the lady (Miss Macdonald) who is left as widow to mourn his loss. In Australia he proved himself an active and energetic witness against all forms of Sabbath desecration, and his efforts were not without some measure of success. During this time—in 1900—he paid a visit to the home country for a period of six months, and was associated with our Church.

In 1909 Mr. Scott resigned his charge, and returned to Scotland. Latterly, owing to various changes, he was very much alone, as a minister of truth, in Australia. In July, 1910, our Synod issued “A Declaration anent Reformation Attainments,” and in the November following Mr. Scott applied for admission to the ministry of the Church. His application was granted, and on the 2nd January, 1911, he was formally admitted by the Southern Presbytery after answering the usual Questions and signing the Formula. In the summer of 1912 Mr. Scott was sent as Synod Deputy to our Canadian Mission. He and Mrs. Scott had in some respects an eventful voyage across the Atlantic, for their ship was on the ocean, sighting icebergs, at the very time that the great steamship, the “Titanic,” on its first voyage, struck an iceberg and sank with the loss of many hundreds of lives. (See F. P. Magazine, December, 1912.) While in Canada Mr. Scott had occasion to visit the Associate Presbyterian Church of Chesley, which had desired supply from our Synod. There he preached three Sabbaths, and during this time the congregation decided at a public meeting (8th May) to join the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. A petition was immediately forwarded to our Synod, and at its meeting on 2nd July, the Court resolved to receive the Chesley Congregation “as one of the congregations of this Church,” on the basis of the Free Presbyterian constitution. In succession to this petition, a call was addressed by the congregation to Mr. Scott to become its pastor. Mr. and Mrs. Scott returned to Scotland at the end of August, and on 4th October Mr. Scott declared his acceptance of the call to the Chesley Congregation, to the pastoral charge of which he was inducted on the 11th of the same month by the Southern Presbytery, met in St. Jude’s Hall, Glasgow. A week later he and his wife (accompanied by her sister, Miss Macdonald) sailed for Canada, and landed at Montreal after a voyage of ten days. When they reached Chesley, they were cordially welcomed by elders and people. Mr. Scott began his ministry in the Chesley Church on the first Sabbath of November, when he preached three times, and read the extract minute of his induction at the end of the services. Since that

time, up to within a few months of his decease, in January last, he diligently attended to the duties of his office. Mr. Scott had all his ministerial days to battle with a delicate constitution, and it was marvellous to consider what he was enabled to accomplish amid much weakness and difficulty. When he appeared totally unfit for preaching work, he would rise out of his bed, proceed to the pulpit, and conduct the services of the day to the edification of the hearers. The Lord was very gracious in giving him strength for his work, time after time, when he seemed to outward view quite unfit for the tasks laid to his hand.

We have given a very brief and scanty account of some of the stages of Mr. Scott’s career, especially of his time in Australia, but we hope our friends in the colony will excuse us, as, though much might be written to profit, we cannot unduly enlarge in a general sketch of his life. A brief word in conclusion as to Mr. Scott’s character and gifts. No one who knew him could fail to perceive that he was a man of genuine and elevated piety, who sought above many to live in the fear of God and the faith of Jesus Christ. Several of his brethren at home have frequently borne testimony to their esteem of Mr. Scott in this respect. He was a man of great conscientiousness in matters of religion, and, though gentle in manner, was an outspoken witness against the evils of the times, indeed, everything he considered wrong in doctrine, worship, or practice. He was well-read in Scottish Church history, and was deeply imbued with the teaching of our forefathers at the First and Second Reforms. For the witnesses of the Covenanting period he had the intensest admiration. Mr. Scott’s pulpit gifts were above the average. He took a comprehensive view of any subject he handled, and was able to express himself in correct and well-cultivated English. (His lack of the Gaelic language limited his usefulness to some extent in our Church.) He possessed a clear, musical voice, which could be well heard in most buildings, and when he warmed with his subject, he spoke with a fluency, unction, and earnestness that produced a deep impression on his hearers. He preached the doctrines of grace with accuracy and fulness, and his principal theme was “Jesus Christ and him crucified.” In private intercourse, he was courteous in bearing and affectionate in disposition, and with his extensive knowledge of men and things, proved an instructive conversationalist.

Our March Magazine contains a touching account of Mr. Scott’s happy death-bed from the pen of his respected widow. His end was truly that of the righteous. He desired his congregation to be told that he died in the faith which he sought to preach and live. May the Lord sanctify the bereavement to all, and speedily heal the breach in Zion’s walls! It may be remarked, in conclusion, with all confidence regarding our departed friend, that to him to live was Christ, and to die was gain.

J. S. S.

Two Stornoway Elders.

BY THE REV. NEIL MACINTYRE, STORNOWAY.

THE December number of our Magazine recorded the death of two worthy elders of our congregation—John Macdonald, Stornoway, and Donald (Danie) MacIver, Laxdale. It was promised then that a fuller account would be given in a later issue. My apology for the long delay is that I was indisposed, and not able to write. The sudden removal of these two men, within twenty-four hours of each other, from the congregation was a blow which words cannot express, and the great blank made cannot readily be made up. May the Lord heal our breaches!

JOHN MACDONALD, STORNOWAY.

John Macdonald was born at Shader, Barvas, Lewis, about the year 1850, and was thus called away at the age of 65. He, very early in life, proved that he was a fallen son of Adam. In all the sports and frivolities among the village boys he was recognised as the leader. An old woman in the village, when she heard of John’s conversion, said: “Nach ann air Satan a chaidh an call” (What a loss to Satan!). Probably his love for sport in his young days was the reason why he took the part of boys in their youthful pranks, when others would be inclined to be severe.

When a boy he had a miraculous escape from death. He fell over a huge precipice 200 or 300 feet high, but was caught in a fissure of the rock and was thus miraculously saved. In after days he saw the Lord’s special care over him in sparing his life at that time. When about the age of 22 he left his father’s house with the intention of going to America. While waiting in Glasgow for a companion, who was to sail along with him, he went to work in a timber yard; but on the first day he began work a log of wood fractured his leg, and he had to be conveyed to hospital, where he lay for several months. He was finally brought home on a stretcher to Lewis, to his father’s house, where he remained practically helpless for two years. This accident put all thoughts of going to America out of his mind. After serving his apprenticeship as a tailor, in Stornoway, he went to Glasgow to learn cutting, and afterwards returned to Stornoway, where he set up in business for himself. It was while in Glasgow that the Lord opened his eyes to see his lost state as a sinner, and so vivid was eternity and the lost state of his soul before him that he would sit on his bench all day, practically doing nothing at his trade but bemoaning his sad condition. Hell loomed near, and Heaven was hopelessly beyond him. He used to wonder afterwards that his master did not dismiss him, seeing that he was so useless. How, or through whom, deliverance came we cannot say, but that it did come all who knew him would testify. To a friend, shortly before his death, he said, in speaking of the misery of the lost: “I tasted

a little of the misery of hell on the tailor’s bench in Glasgow, and I have a good hope, through grace, that I’ll never taste of it again.”

He was ordained a deacon in the Free Church, but when the Free Presbyterian Church was formed, in 1893, he was one of the first to join and organise the Stornoway congregation. In 1896 he and his friend, Donald MacIver, were admitted as deacons in the congregation. In 1904 he was ordained to the office of the eldership, the duties of which he faithfully performed till the end.

One of the most outstanding features of his life was his extraordinary diligence in attending the means of grace. We often wondered at the efforts he made, in his lameness and weakness, in this respect. Indeed, we feel that it is not too much to say that it was easier for him to cast the world aside and take his place in the House of God than any man which we, at least, knew. For several years he attended to our Mission Station at Achmore, nine miles from Stornoway, without any remuneration, and many a stormy day he had to face.

During the severe trial through which the congregation passed in 1905, when the minister left to join another Church, he (Mr. Macdonald), along with the other office-bearers, spared no effort to keep the congregation together, and they had the satisfaction of seeing their labours amply rewarded. His presence at communions in the island, which he regularly attended, will be greatly missed. He was a very fluent speaker, both in addressing a meeting or speaking to “the question,” and he seldom spoke on these occasions without referring to the prevailing sins of the times, and how we, as a nation, were backsliding from the laws of God. He was a man much given to prayer. We were told by one who knew that it was his daily habit to spend some time in private prayer after each meal.

His end came suddenly and unexpectedly. The day on which his friend, Danie MacIver, died he went out in the evening, in his usual health, along with other friends, to hold family worship with the bereaved family. He got back about 10 o’clock, sat down, and immediately expired. The blow, which was sudden, was severely felt both by the family and the congregation, but to him we are confident it was a happy change. He was much esteemed in the community by all classes, high and low, and this was testified to by the large gathering, representative of all denominations, at his funeral. He has left a widow and six sons, one of these (Rev. D. M. Macdonald) being a minister in our Church, to mourn his loss. To them we extend our sincere sympathy. May the Lord raise up the sons instead of the father!

DONALD MACIVER, LAXDALE.

Donald MacIver (familiarly known as “Danie”) was born at Ranish, parish of Lochs, Lewis, sixty-five years ago. His parents were pious people, his father, the late Alexander MacIver, Ranish,

being one of the most eminent men in Lewis in his day. There was a family of six, but death removed them all when young, except Danie, and two years after his birth his mother was also taken away.

When very young he was sent to his uncle’s to herd cattle, but even at this early age the Lord was striving with him. Often he had to leave his companions, when playing, and resort to prayer, but when he returned to their company he would be carried away as formerly, and this would give him much trouble afterwards. Thoughts of eternity and his lost condition were much upon his mind, and thinking that salvation was to be procured by works, “being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish his own righteousness,” he did not submit himself “unto the righteousness of God.” At this time he asked his father if ever he got a promise from the Lord regarding him. His father replied that he did, but that he was not to trust to that for salvation. When he was brought to realise that “by the works of law no flesh could be justified in the sight of God,” and to feel himself on the brink of despair, the words—”This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief”—came with much power and was the means of delivering his soul from bondage. Shortly after this deliverance a severe pain started in his side, which he thought would prove fatal. On his way to Stornoway to consult a doctor, this passage came very forcibly to his mind: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God” (Rev. iii. 12). Still the temptation continued, for he reasoned that he was to die, and the words could not apply to his case. But the truth prevailed and he got the victory. Though he did not take a prominent part in the formation of the congregation in 1893, yet he was most helpful, both with his presence and prayers. It was often a touching scene when the father, who generally presided at the services at that time, would say to the son, when others would refuse to pray: “Danie, rise, and confess your sins to your God.”

Danie was of a most loving and peaceable disposition. Perhaps one of the most outstanding features of his character was his love to God’s people and cause. How he would rejoice to see or hear of anyone, and especially young people, showing signs of concern about their souls! His public and private life was “a living epistle, known and read of all men.” Though an edifying speaker at all times, whether addressing a public meeting or speaking to “the question,” yet he was entirely dependent on the liberty the Spirit would vouchsafe at the time. He excelled in prayer more than in any exercise, and one felt that it was no formality with Danie, but a wrestling with God for what he felt himself and others standing infinitely in need of. Private prayer was his forte, and seldom or ever he did anything without laying the matter privately before the Lord and being guided by what was revealed to him by His word. Two instances might be given. On one

occasion, when the congregation were taking steps to call a minister, he laid the matter before the Lord in private, and these words came forcibly to his mind: “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God” (1 John iv. 1). This greatly disturbed him, and he was much relieved when told that the minister under call refused to come. On another occasion, when the congregation were proceeding to call a minister, the words which impressed his mind were: “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” This greatly encouraged him, and he was pleased to think that such a pastor should be sent, for he had no doubt he would come; but when the minister under call refused he was much cast down, concluding that all his past experiences were a delusion. When, however, it was pointed out to him by a friend that the passage did not necessarily refer to that particular minister, and that it might be fulfilled in the case of some other one, he was greatly relieved.

We already noticed that in 1896 he and his friend, John Macdonald, were ordained deacons in the congregation, and in 1904 he was elected an elder, but owing to his absence from home his ordination was put off. However, in 1911 he was received to that office in the congregation. He acted for many years as missionary in several of our stations with great acceptance. While acting in this capacity in North Uist, two years ago, he took suddenly ill, which illness developed into serious trouble which was the cause of his death. From North Uist he came home to Lewis, and was appointed to the Breasclete Mission Station, where he laboured until within a few months of his end. One circumstance in connection with his labours as a missionary, which grieved him much, was the apparently small fruit which followed his efforts. This often cast him down, and as often made him think of giving up the Mission.

In common with others of the righteous, his troubles were many in the world. His first wife, a pious woman, died shortly after their first child was born. The child was sent to its grandfather’s home, while Danie himself went to the East Coast fishing. Not long after leaving home he received the sad tidings that the child had died from measles. These trying dispensations crushed him so much that he was afraid for a time that his mind would give way. Five years ago his youngest daughter, by the second wife, died. This girl, of whom a brief notice appeared in a former number of our Magazine, was a remarkably bright and promising Christian, and her death was a severe blow to him and the family.

On Thursday, before his death, he presided at the weekly prayer meeting, and read the 3rd chapter of 1st John. In making a few remarks on the first verse—”Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God”—he evidently got such a view of the love of a Triune God that he was scarcely able to speak. On Friday night

he was much interested in reading Bunyan’s account of “Christian” crossing the river, and so engrossed was he in this subject that his wife had to appeal to him several times to put the book away and conduct family worship. At worship he read the 14th chapter of John’s Gospel—”Let not your hearts be troubled,” etc. This was the last chapter he ever read. He went to bed in his usual health, but at 1 a.m., Saturday, his trouble, which came on periodically, returned, and, unconscious of pain or trouble, he crossed “the river” at 2 a.m., to be forever with the Lord. We extend our sincere sympathy to his sorrowing widow and two surviving daughters, and may the God of their fathers be their comfort and consolation!

As already noticed, the removal of these two worthy men has caused a great blank in their families and in the congregation, a blank which is more keenly felt as time goes on. We may state that, on the Sabbath previous to their death, we were led to speak at both the morning and evening services from the words, “I have fought a good fight,” etc. (2 Tim. iv. 7-8), when they were both present. The righteous man is being taken away from the evil to come, and we have reason to mourn the breaches made here and there in our midst on the walls of Sion. “Arise, O Lord, and plead our cause!”

N. M.T.