MURDO MACLEAN was naturally what men commonly call a good boy. He differed from other children in that he never refused to obey his parents; nor was it ever known to them that he told an untruth. Still, he did not show any serious concern about his need of being saved from his sins till he came to Glasgow at the end of summer in 1915, in order to undergo an operation.
After he was admitted into the Western Infirmary, a certain minister called to see him. He read to him a chapter of God’s Word and offered a short prayer. He spoke to him of the fact that he was a sinner both by nature and practice, and that he needed repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ, and quoted the words: “The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” He also advised him to read his Bible and to pray that the Lord would forgive him his sins for Christ’s sake. He told his mother after he went home that, while he lay in hospital in Glasgow, he felt such a love to God’s Word that he could not but read it, and such delight in prayer that he used to lock himself in the bath-room for private prayer; he added, with great emphasis, “I couldn’t but go to pray.” His mother asked him: “Was it after the minister called to see you that you felt that desire to read your Bible and to pray?” He said: “It was.”
Enduring much pain one day, he said: “The Lord is laying sore trouble upon me; but if I would make good use of it, as Mr. — used to say in his prayer: ‘If it would cause me to see my need of the atoning blood of Christ which cleanseth from all sin.'” At another time he said: “Although I should suffer here for a hundred years, it would be nothing compared to the everlasting suffering in hell.” On another occasion he showed unwillingness that his mother should leave him to attend to worldly duties, and said to her: “The parting must come, mother.” She said to him, What parting did he mean? “The parting for eternity,” he said; “for although we love each other here, there the one will not pity the other; for those who will go to heaven will not pity them that will be lost.” He quoted the words: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” His mother said to him: “How could they eat His flesh?” He replied: “Oh! how, but by faith; but the Pharisees thought that He meant that they were to eat His real body.” He was heard repeating often these words: “We are in Thy hands as the clay in the hands of the potter.”
He spoke one day of the men who went to see him, and prayed with him while he was in Glasgow, and said: “I believe that Mr. —, when a boy, was just like myself.” His mother answered that she believed he was, but that he saw his need of the blood of Christ. He said: “What precious blood was shed on Calvary!” One day, his mother seeing children playing opposite the window, said to him, “Would you not like to be with them?” “No,” he said, “I would not, and I do not envy the children going to school; I am as happy here.” Seeing him in pain and weakness, his mother offered him a drop of whisky, but he refused it and said: “I would rather be a sufferer here all my life than be a drunkard.” After his father came home from church on the harvest thanksgiving day, he told Murdo that the preacher said that he believed that all the children slain by Herod in order to slay Christ among them were saved. “Yes,” he replied, “for it is written, ‘He that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it.'”
Their missionary came to see him when he was near his end, and as he stood at his bedside that truth came to his mind: “Remember me, Lord, with that love which thou to thine dost bear.” He held worship in his bedroom. When he left, his mother said to Murdo: “Did you feel tired, seeing you are so weak?” He said: “No, mother, he went away only too soon.” Shortly before he departed this life he said several times: “Well, mother, if I were prepared, I would not be sorry should I be taken away to-night.”
When he was sent home from Glasgow, Mr. William Matheson, student, went with him all the way to Kyle of Lochalsh. At Inverness Station a friend asked how he was carried to the railway carriage. Mr. Matheson told him that he carried him in his arms. The friend said: “The Lord himself carries the lambs in His arms.” Murdo took great delight in repeating these words.
An obituary of the boy Donald MacGillivray appeared in this Magazine last year. The grace and wisdom bestowed by the Lord on that boy, who did not live six years in this world, caused us to admire the teaching of the Holy Ghost. We had ample opportunities to observe the work of the Lord in the souls of these two boys, and felt struck with the similarity of the two cases. While allowing that Murdo Maclean lived till he was twelve years old, and Donald MacGillivray a little over five years, the one as well as the other seemed to us to be possessed of wisdom not often met with in fathers in the Church.
We were struck with the following things which showed themselves conspicuous in these two boys:—(1) They both thirsted after the sincere milk of the Word of God, and grew thereby in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. (2) They both felt themselves great sinners, and placed all their hope of being saved in God’s mercy, through the atoning blood of Christ. (3) They both manifested a sincere love to Christ and to His people. (4) They both showed admirable resignation to the Lord’s will in their painful sickness. (5) They both had the fullest conviction that there will be a final day of judgment, and they weighed all earthly things in the light of eternity and that day.
We would appeal, with all seriousness, to other boys and girls to read their Bibles, and pray that the Lord, the Holy Spirit, would shine its light into their minds, so that they also may hate sin, love Christ, and be saved.
N. C.