THE writer of the letter that follows was a grandson of the late eminently pious man, Alexander Cattanach, who was well known to the Lord’s people in several places in the north. Angus Cattanach’s father died many years since, leaving his widow with three young boys to care and provide for. The letter shows the son’s appreciation of the manner in which she performed her duty.
Angus Cattanach came to Glasgow several years ago, and was a very regular hearer in St. Jude’s. In August, 1915, he joined the army, and after being about three months in training at Inverness was sent to France at the beginning of November. All his letters since revealed a mind deeply exercised in the great concerns of his interest in Christ and prospects for eternity. He was wonderfully preserved in the midst of deaths often, until the 23rd day of last July. That day he fell in action on the Somme. This letter was found in his pocket, addressed by his own hand to his mother.
We offer our sincerest sympathy to his poor mother and two brothers, and also to all other friends. N. C.
“Friday, 21st July, 1916.
MY DEAREST MOTHER,—It is with tears in my eyes that I commence to pencil this note, realising that owing to the uncertainty of time and that which is ahead of us on the morrow, there is the probability that I may not see you again in time. Oh! may God grant if it is His will that I should fall that we may meet at the Great Assembly at His right hand, arrayed in the spotless garment of Immanuel’s righteousness. That is what should be my chief concern now, but I have to confess, alas, my proneness to be more concerned with the things of time. Oh, that He would make me truly penitent—that I might have that repentance which needeth not to be repented of.
Dear mother, I am going forward into the uncertainty of tomorrow, desiring to put my trust for time and eternity upon Christ who is the alone sure foundation: praying that, not for any merits in me, for ‘I am of all creatures the most miserable,’ but for His own name’s sake, He would take saving dealings with me and deliver me from this body of sin and death; that He would make me a fit subject for the kingdom of glory. Oh, if that be in accordance with His blessed will, may He answer your prayers and that of all the kind friends, that He would be with me and cover my head in the day of battle and keep me from all harm and bring me through in safety the terrible ordeal through which I am likely to pass. What I ask for myself—oh, how selfish we are!—I would desire grace to seek at all times that it might be the portion of all who are with me. Oh, that He would pour out a spirit of repentance upon us, that we as a Company, a Battalion, a Brigade, a Division (and Divisions all over), would confess our great transgressions and seek even at the eleventh hour His forgiveness and His help, rather there would be success upon success attending our efforts. As for myself, may He help me to go forward, having no great reliance on man or his weapons of destruction, but having my whole confidence in the ‘God of battles.’ ‘If God be for me, what need I care though thousands ten should round encompass me.?’
I have been reading now and for some time in Psalms 32 and 91, and 94, 9, 17, 20, 23, 27, 34, 46, 51, 62, 103, 121, 140, from particular verses (which are marked in my ‘Pocket Selected Psalm Book’), in each of which, if I am not deceived, I hope I derive ground for hope and confidence in the saving mercy of God.
My battle cry will be that of the godly of Old Testament times — ‘The Sword of the Lord and Gideon.’ (Into Thy hand, O God, do I commit all my concerns. Remember my beloved mother. Spare, strengthen and help her to endure whatsoever in Thine all-seeing providence Thou mayest have in store for her. I thank Thee now for the greatest of all temporal and human gifts, a godly mother. Hear her prayers on behalf of us, her unworthy children, and may we turn unto Thee while we are still on mercy’s ground and in the place of hope. If it be Thy blessed will, O God, take me back in safety to see and enjoy the fellowship of my dear mother, and grant that at all times I may do and act according to the godly example which she has set before me. Hitherto, O Lord, Thou hast helped me. Continue Thy favour, for Christ’s sake, towards me and carry me through this battle, covering me under Thy wings if it be Thy blessed will.)
Now, dear mother, my thoughts are and will be with you and all the dear friends. If I die in a foreign country, I will seek to do so, trusting in the merits of Jesus that we may meet again ‘on that bright shore’ where sin and sorrow and pain will be unknown.
God have mercy on us all. Good-bye! mother, Alick and Ewen. Love, from Angus.
‘In God have I put my trust, I will not fear what man can do unto me.’ ‘Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of Thy wings.’ ‘Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.’
All my belongings and what may fall to me, will be my mother’s property.
(Signed) A. M. CATTANACH.”
It is better to be a melancholy saint than a mad sinner. If saints have doubts, fears, and groans, they have sufficient joys in and at the end of their way to overbalance them. Though sin live in them it cannot reign, nor they live in it. The more they are acquainted with themselves, the more readily will they prefer their neighbours; and while they live like saints they will pray like sinners. Their sins can never triumph, their graces never die, nor their souls ever be lost or separated from the love of Christ. Satan can as soon pluck Christ out of heaven as pull Him out of His throne in a believer’s heart.—John Brown.