BY THE LATE REV. CHRISTOPHER MUNRO OF KILMUIR, SKYE,
AND STRATHY, SUTHERLANDSHIRE.
Preached at Kilmuir on 2nd July, 1864.
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”—JOHN XIV. 27.
HERE Christ may be said to be making His last will and testament in behalf of His disciples, and in it there is an answer to Peter’s question who said at one time, “We have forsaken all things and followed thee, and what will thou give us? or what shall we receive?” With many other things that may be learned from the context, we have one of them in the passage read as a subject of meditation on peace, the nature of which peace is declared in the statement—“my peace.” Let us consider, first, this peace as explained by Christ; secondly, the manner in which it is given, “I give it you, not as the world;” and lastly, the fruits—freedom from trouble and fear.
I.—Let us consider the nature of the peace spoken of by Christ. There is no peace, says God, to the wicked, that is, to the sinner as such, for with him God is at variance, because man has transgressed the law and continues to offend his Maker, and, by doing so, provokes Him more and more. We see, at times, among men, what may be taken as a faint illustration of this state of variance. There is a man of high rank, of great wealth and honour. A son of his commits some act or other that deeply offends his father. As it reflects on his rank and honour, or because it disgraces him in the eye of society, he banishes his son from his presence, disowns him as one of his family, disinherits him and suffers him not to come near his house, and denies him all access to his presence. This must be painful to the son; he feels that his father is displeased at him, and has no peace for the loss of his inheritance. This grieves him and makes him unhappy, and leaves him to the upbraids of his own conscience. But the state of man as a sinner is far worse than this, for it is God who is offended by him: He who has power over him in time and eternity; who has his life in His hands, and who can kill both soul and body in hell for ever. As much as God excels the creature, so much does peace with Him exceed in value peace with any man. As the wrath which sin has kindled in God cannot be appeased, but by a complete satisfaction being given to Him as a true righteous and holy God, man can never procure peace by anything he is able to do or suffer. This being foreseen and God having purposed to save many men, He laid the chastisement of their peace on His Son. He appointed Him to procure peace, and,
therefore, Christ calls it here His peace. He came to the world to stand in their law room, and till He finished the work He had to do, this peace was not His in a certain sense. While on earth His feelings in general were of the nature that rendered Him “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” These are the results of sin. “In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” “In sorrow thou shalt eat bread.” Christ felt no sorrow, no grief on account of any sins of His own, but He was dealt with as if He were a sinner, and that because the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of all His people. He sinned not, but for the sins of His people He bore the curse and the punishment of sin, and in enduring this, He experienced what it is to have no peace with God; what it is to do with the anger and wrath due to sin. His state of feeling under these is indicated in what He said on several occasions. “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.” There never was such an appeal as this made to the mercy and love of God. A sinless Son, the object of eternal love, overwhelmed with trouble, appealing to one of infinite compassion and claiming Him as His Father, never thinking of anyone else, never looking in any other direction for help, nor expecting any from another quarter, and yet there could no relief be granted. In what striking light does the expression used by Him set the intensity of His feelings! “What shall I say?” He who knew all things, and who spake as never man spake; He who had a word of instruction to every one that applied to Him for information; He who could speak to the deepest yearnings of humanity; who could administer comfort to the sorrowful of every description; who could warn and exhort and unfold the treasures of divine wisdom and knowledge, and, with ease, lay bare the most hidden workings of a heart deceitful above all things; He seems here at a loss what to say in the circumstances in which He stood. He saw at a distance as if it were a dark cloud accumulating; He knew it was charged with divine wrath, even the wrath which His people deserved, and that it would have to burst forth with fury on Him as their substitute. At the contemplation thereof His holy soul was troubled, and cried out, “Father, save me from this hour.” “But it was for this I came unto the world. It was in order to stand in their room and bear this wrath and so turn it away from them forever.”
See Him again in the garden, stretched on the cold ground, under the chilling shades of night, and in a bloody sweat caused by the agony of soul into which He fell from the same cause. See Him at Pilate’s tribunal, where every indignity was done Him that cruel scioner could invent. See Him on the Cross, and hear Him cry out, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”
In all these it is seen what it is to do with God angry at sin. Having finished the work, having died and risen from the dead, in possession of what peace is He seen? This is His peace; His
purchased peace, His possessed peace, which is a part of the glory into which He entered after His sufferings, and in which He dwells forever. The darkness that hid His Father’s countenance passed away, and it now shines on Him in its full glory and sweetness and joy, never more to be obscured nor hidden from Him. With what joy He ascended into glory accompanied by the heavenly host! With what acclamations are the eternal gates of heaven called upon to open that the King of Glory may enter! With what welcome is He met there as the good and faithful servant! What must be His soul satisfaction now at the right hand of the Father! What peace is here! It is that which is His as the Head of His Church, and which He bestows on His people: this is part of the legacy that He has left to His Church on His departure from earth. It could not have been procured but by His leaving them and going to the Father in the manner He did. No wonder then though He said, “It is expedient for you that I go away.” It is not of their securing, nor does it depend on their merits. As enjoyed here it does depend on their walking with God or in the ways of His commandments, but, strictly speaking, Christ is their peace; its source is in Him, so it shall never fail.
II.—Let us consider the manner in which this peace is given. “Not as the world giveth.” The world give to those whom they consider worthy of their bounty. They give sometimes in order to gain fame, and not with any desire to benefit those on whom they bestow. Christ no doubt gives to receive glory, but never without having the highest welfare of those on whom He bestows it on view. The world often give, and would afterwards deprive men of their gifts; but this never takes place with Him. The world sometimes in giving fail to accomplish their intentions in the least degree, or, instead of doing good, increase the evil they would remove; but He never fails to alleviate the miseries of those whom He succours. He upbraids not when He gives liberally. “According to the riches of His grace” He gives. But this is never done by men; they give but little to any according to their means, but He gives according to His riches in glory.
III.—Let us now consider the advantages flowing from Christ’s peace. They are these—peace with God and peace of conscience. In consequence of these advantages, they have no cause to be troubled or to be afraid in want or sickness, in distress or in calamity, in the prospects of trials, in the expectation of death, in going through the dark valley of the shadow of death, or at the resurrection, when they shall be raised up from the long sleep of death, and see Christ coming in flaming fire to take vengeance on all the ignorant and unbelieving. For, though appearing in such glory and terrible majesty, yet He shall even then be their peace, so that they need not be in trouble or fear. No wonder then, though it is said to pass all knowledge, and that it is said of them whose it is, “Happy art thou, O Israel! who is a people like unto
thee; a people saved by the Lord?” Abide in Him, then, ye who have believed in Him, and follow peace with all men. Walk in His ways, and hear and obey His voice daily that “your peace may flow as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea.” Ye who are unbelievers, this peace is not yet yours. You may now think that you can easily do without it, but the day is coming that shall prove to you that there is nothing more dreadful than to be destitute of peace with God. May it be in mercy! Amen.
Christ’s Glory.
“And we behold his glory.”—JOHN i. 14.
WE give thanks, Well-beloved, to Thee,
For Thy grace and Thy truth—sung of old,
‘Mong the crownèd now at rest,
In the mansions of the blest;
And we joy to have Thee extoll’d.
Thou art Love; Thou hast grace for the vile,
For the loveless, the wretched, the bann’d,
Freed to walk the living way
To the realm of lasting day—
Happy highway to Immanuel’s land.
Thou art Truth; all Thy types are fulfilled—
All the promises Amen in Thee:
And a seed shall aye arise,
Bless’d with thought and counsel wise;
And the travail of Thy soul Thou’lt see.
Grace and Truth! Heart-reviving Lord!
May our hearts with our lips accord
In singing oft the story
Of the risen Lord of Glory—
The anointed and anointing Word!
Let us praise, let us bless Thy name,
For whose sake all blessings flow—
Thou, the glory of the Father,
And of angel hosts who gather
With Thy ransom’d, Thy fulness to know.
LAIRG.
HE who gazes long at the sun becomes unsusceptible of impressions from inferior luminaries; and he who looks much at the Sun of Righteousness will be little affected by any alluring object which the world can exhibit.—Payson.
The late George Sutherland,
FORSE, LATHERON, CAITHNESS.
IT is with sincere regret we record the passing away of this worthy man; our loss, however, is his gain. George Sutherland was born in Clyth in the year 1831. His parents were victims of the Sutherland clearances. On his mother’s side he was related to Angus Baillie, of whom Sandy Gair remarked that the death of his children was like cutting off his fingers, but Angus’ removal was like taking away his side.
George Sutherland was like other young men until God, who was to show him mercy, spoke to him. The first serious impressions wrought in his mind were produced in rather an unexpected way. A catechising had been announced for the district in which he resided, but caring for none of these things, he purposed going away from home on the day appointed. On his outward journey he was met by a friend who asked him if he was not going to the catechising. “No,” replied George, as a feeling of resentment to the things of God got possession of him. He had not gone far, however, when he was led to consider what a dangerous course he was pursuing in fleeing from that which might be for his everlasting good. Accordingly, he turned back and went to the catechising, and from that day onward he became a seeker of God’s salvation, and bore abundant evidence that the work begun that day was not of man.
George was of an exceptionally retiring disposition, a Nathanael indeed, in whom was no guile. Of him, it could be truly said that he adorned the doctrine of God his Saviour, and was an epistle known and read of all men. Owing to his extreme diffidence he could not be prevailed on to accept office, though elected two or three times to the eldership. Owing to the same cause he never took part in prayer in public, or presided at any of the prayer meetings. But he was a man of prayer, and his very presence in a meeting was a help and encouragement to the person upon whom fell the responsibility of conducting the meeting. He was a lover of good men, and, though always in the background himself, he delighted in listening to the exercises of experienced Christians, and in noting down on his return home any sayings that appealed to him. In this way he gleaned quite a number of sayings of the Caithness and Sutherland “Men,” which were placed at the disposal of the editor of the Magazine, and some of which have appeared in its pages.
He was sometimes sorely tried as to his interest in Christ, and on one particular occasion he tells how he was much concerned as to whether the thoughts working in his soul were of nature or of grace, when the words of Scripture came to him with refreshing power:—”I suppose I have written briefly exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein you stand” (1 Peter
v. 12). He had seasons when Christ as His Saviour was unspeakably precious. A friend, who knew him well, told me that on one occasion, while visiting him, the conversation turned on the depravity of the human heart. One remark led to another until the mystery of iniquity grew deeper and deeper, and, as the worthy man looked into the unclean depths and thought of what he had been delivered from, he gave expression to his feelings in the words, “My lovely Lord and Saviour! what He delivered me from!” uttered with an intensity of feeling that made an indelible impression on the mind of his companion.
When the Free Presbyterian Church was formed in 1893, George cast in his lot with the Free Presbyterians, and through the years, in good report and evil report, he faithfully adhered to the position taken up at that time, while many around him, who made much more noise, fell away from their steadfastness. He counted the cost when he took the step, and valued the testimony that had been raised against the prevailing errors of the day.
No minister could wish for a more helpful or attentive hearer. Before leaving home for the means of grace he spent some time in prayer, and on returning home, the first thing he did was to devote a short time in secret, asking God to bless His truth. He loved “the finest of the wheat,” and could discern between it and husks. Men of George Sutherland’s stamp are becoming rarer and rarer, and though he did not occupy as large a place in public as those who knew of his knowledge of divine truth and deep experience could have wished, still his removal is a great loss to the part of the country to which he belonged, and to the Free Presbyterian Church. One more praying man has gone from Caithness, and those of us who knew him well feel the blank that has been made in the ranks, while cherishing the sure hope that he has gone to be “with Christ, which is far better.” D. B.
BITS OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE FROM NOTE-BOOK OF LATE GEORGE SUTHERLAND.
The worthy subject of above sketch was, in his early days, fisherman as well as crofter. This explains the allusions to the sea in the following notes of his spiritual experience:—
In a Boat at Sea.—A south-east wind coming ahead of us, we had to go to Portmahomack. After getting into the harbour we lay all night in the boat, expecting to be away early, as there were some more Caithness boats with us. I was lying in the mainsail, and slept for some time, but awakening some time before daylight, my mind was sick and weak for my sins, particularly for the ast temptation I was tried with, when these blessed words came ree and full into my soul in an instant, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jer. xxxi. 3), which had such force of consolation as to carry away my troubles, as a river would clear all before it. This happy state of strength of assurance of Christ’s
love did not continue long. Before next night came I was almost as empty in my feeling as ever, although, in the strength of the Most High, I will not forget it in some measure while I live. My trials or temptations did not come to an end, but it defeated Satan and gave deliverance for the time.
1869.—16th October.—Had a precious enlargement at secret prayer after worship in the house, and especially from the words, “Dear in God’s sight is his saints’ death” (Psalm cxvi. 15, metrical).—5th December.—Had a good time, but short, and hoped I saw a great deal in the words, “To be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe” (2 Thess. i. 10).—Had another precious time on these words, “And so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. iv. 17).
1871.—24th September (Sabbath night).—Before going to bed, reading in the prophecy of Micah (fifth chapter) how Christ was to arise to be ruler over Israel, especially over His spiritual Israel, and meditating on the chapter as I could best understand it. After going to bed I dreamed of seeing a man in the house, who, I hope, has gone to his rest, with another man of the same who is yet in time. But I thought they were leaving the house and going away, and as I was thinking with myself, “Who will instruct or advise us now?” I thought as if there came a strong light through my mind, the meaning of which I understood to be that I could do nothing on earth so much to serve God, or to oblige Him, as I understood it, as to believe in Christ; or this, “You wish to know how to serve Me, but the most you can do for Me on earth is to take Christ for your own soul, and believe in Him.” Although we cannot (strictly speaking) oblige Him in anything, but are rather obliged to Him for everything, and helpless in ourselves, if we saw ourselves, the above brought through my mind such a happy sweetness as I could not express in words. But it soon vanished away from that sweet light.
Being one Sabbath evening at Invergordon, went to a prayer meeting or “reading,” where a number of people were assembled. Being under sad and fiery temptations, and having got nothing in the school for help or deliverance, was about to go away as the people were dismissing, when a man in the far-off end of the house rose and said, “Stop, people; till I tell you a note from Dr. M’Donald, Ferintosh. He was saying that, although the lion would be roaring and the serpent hissing, none of the election of grace would be taken off the earth till Christ had accomplished all His designs in them and by them.” This reached me as life from the grave. “A word spoken in season, how good is it.”
CHRIST has a sword of justice and a sword of grace: a sword of justice to cut off incorrigible offenders, and a sword of grace to subdue His chosen people and make them willing in the day of His power.—Payson.
Why are the Nations being Wasted by War?
A SERMON BY THE REV. E. TEAZ, REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, HALL LANE, LIVERPOOL.*
“The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish: yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.”—ISAIAH lx. 12.
MEN may give different answers to the above question, and assign different causes for the horrible conflict of the nations now proceeding on the continent of Europe. But the real explanation, which lies behind all others, is that furnished by God Himself through the pen of the prophet. The words contain a solemn message for all rulers, but especially at this time for the rulers of the belligerent nations. Never since the first battle was fought on this earth between the opposing factions of the human family has there been such a wastage of national resources as has been proceeding, by land and sea, for the past two-and-a-half years. Blood is being poured out with a ruthlessness, and treasure with a prodigality, which strains and stuns the imagination. “War, that child of hell whom angry heavens make their minister,” has never before exhibited his horrors to such an appalling degree. The vastness of the tragedy almost paralyses thought.
One result of this conflict of the nations has been the revival of the study of geography. Many a town and river and hill on the continent, hitherto unknown or little known, has assumed prominence and an interest it never had before, and is traced on the map with the utmost care. Another result has been an increased interest among Christians in the Old Testament scriptures. Many a historic and prophetic chapter of the Old Book has assumed a new significance and brought a new message to the child of God in these days of stress and anxiety.
The prophetic utterance of the text is one of these portions. In it He who is the Prince of the kings of the earth pronounces the doom not merely of those nations who oppose or neglect His claims, but of those who refuse to serve Him and seek to promote the interests of His cause and kingdom and to acknowledge His authority in their national capacity. Such disobedient and rebellious nations “shall be utterly wasted.” This is both a prediction uttered concerning them and a sentence passed upon them.
I. The disobedient and rebellious nation which refuses to serve God is sure to be utterly wasted, because He who cannot
* A friend has sent us this instructive discourse by the Rev. E. Teaz. Free Presbyterians going to Liverpool would be well advised to take note of the address of the Reformed Presbyterian Church there.—ED.
lie has said so. “God is not man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Man may speak in ignorance or in folly, and on more mature deliberation change his mind and refrain from executing his purpose. Or he may speak in weakness, and the event prove that he is unable to accomplish his design. But none of these contingencies can affect the unchanging word or purpose of God, who is infinite in wisdom and power. “His truth endureth to all generations.” Hence the nation that refuses to serve Him and obey His law—however strong, whatever be the extent of its resources or the multitude of its armies—is sure to be “utterly wasted.”
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The nation which refuses submission to the authority of God and withholds its service from His cause will be utterly wasted, because there is no punishment for rebellious nations, as such, hereafter. The disobedient and rebellious citizen may escape punishment in this world, because there is a judgment-seat before which he must appear in the world to come. “For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” Such is the description we have in the Word of God of the final judgment. That dread tribunal is for man in his individual, not in his corporate, capacity. If a nation sins as a nation it must be punished for its national offences in this world. It cannot hope for a postponement of the day of retribution. He who is the Prince of the kings of the earth may bear long with such a nation. He may utter many warnings and bring many chastisements, but if it still refuses to serve Him it will be finally overthrown by His terrible judgments, and its place and power will be given to another people. “And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say, every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city? Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and have worshipped other gods and served them” (Jeremiah xxii. 8).
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The solemn truth that the nation which refuses submission and service to God will perish utterly is verified by the doom which has overtaken the rebellious nations of the past.
This is not only a truth of Scripture, it is a fact of history. Egypt at one time served God by providing bread and a home for His people in the days of famine. But by-and-bye it began to serve itself by the oppression of His people. In rebellion and insolence the king demanded, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” Then the nation was plagued, her first-born were slain, and ultimately her armies perished in the sea. Egypt has been ever since the hunting ground for the other nations of the earth in their turn.
The Canaanites served their idols instead of God, and, though
they were borne with till their iniquity was full, they were at last utterly wasted by the sword of Israel. Their land, which they had defiled, spued them out.
Babylon was one of the greatest nations of antiquity. Herodotus tells us that its capital had a circumference of seventy-five miles; that it was surrounded by a wall two hundred cubits high, and so broad that two war chariots, each harnessed with four horses abreast, could easily pass each other upon it; that one hundred gates of brass formed the entrances to the city; that its streets were 150 feet broad, and its houses were four storeys in height; while its gardens made it the praise of the whole earth. But Babylon refused in its pride to serve God, and it ultimately became a heap of ruins from which the modern archaeologist exhumes the mouldy remains of its long-departed magnificence.
The Jews not only refused to serve the Lord, but in the days of His flesh rejected and crucified Him, and for over nineteen centuries, though nationality has been stamped upon them, they have remained without a nation.
Imperial Rome, the subjugator and moulder of the nations, whose victorious legions were once the terror of the world, and whose Emperors gave names to the months of the year, refused to recognise the claims of God, and Rome declined and fell.
In more modern times Spain, which once commanded the seas and planted her colonies in the uttermost parts of the earth, rejected the claims of God, becoming the home of the Inquisition, and shedding the blood of the saints. Spain has been weakened, and wasted, and stripped of her colonies.
But never before in the history of the world has this ominous prediction of the prophet received such a tragic fulfilment as in the case of the nations now at war. The Central Powers of Europe have long since repudiated the claims of God as well as the rights of humanity. Turkey has worshipped the sword and the assassin. Austria has exalted the tyrant, and bowed to the Anti-Christ. That might is right is the national creed of Germany: her god is militarism, and her ambition a world-wide empire. Her philosophers have sought to expel God from His universe, and her theologians have striven to eliminate the supernatural from His word. Her rulers, if they acknowledge God at all, would take Him by force and make Him not their king, but their servant. The wasting process has set in. It has come upon them at their own invitation, and the whole military situation to-day indicates that it will continue to the point of exhaustion. Though the Allies themselves will be wasted in applying the process, the Central Powers will be “utterly wasted” when it is completed.
Where does Britain stand to-day with regard to the doom of rebellious nations—Britain, which was once bound in solemn covenant to the service of the Lord? For generations Britain,
with all her faults, has done for the world what no other nation could or would do. Hence the Messenger of the nations has made her rich and strong, expanding her empire until it encircles the globe. But, should Britain cease to be a blessing, or should she become a curse to the other nations of the earth, she must, sooner or later, resign to another her dominant place, and be relegated to the derelict Powers of the past. Instead of recognising the claims of God our Government has for years been yielding to the demands of the Papacy. At the bidding of the Papal representatives in Parliament, when our present King came to the throne, our national testimony against the idolatry of the Mass was removed from the Coronation Oath. Maynooth College, which has been described by a prominent Roman Catholic writer as “a hatchery of treason,” has been financed from the British Exchequer. Under the late Chief Secretary in Ireland the control of three-fourths of the educational institutions of the country was handed over to those who were the avowed enemies of England, the teaching staff in these being salaried to train in treason the youth of the country. Some of the evil fruits of this policy were reaped in the recent rebellion. Yet many people in England were astonished to find so many youths among the rebels, forgetting that they themselves had contributed to their training.
But the crowning act of apostacy was reached on the 11th December, 1914, when an envoy was secretly appointed to the Vatican, at a salary of £3,600 a year, with expenses. This was not only a recognition of the seat of blasphemy by our Government, but was also a violation of the British Constitution. The Bill of Rights forbids the King, under penalty of the forfeiture of his throne, “to have any communion with the See or Church of Rome.”
It is not only the Papacy that Britain has been serving. Mohammedanism has now been practically endowed in Egypt and Brahminism in India. The Pantheon, which imperial Rome erected before the days of her decline, has been re-erected on a more extensive scale in the British Empire. Godlessness pervades the whole social and political fabric. By the State and municipality the divine law has been systematically violated. In both, thousands are induced and hundreds compelled to violate the sanctity of the Sabbath by working during its sacred hours. In a large measure “gain” has become the god of the merchant and the manufacturer. The tax on war profits last year, claimed by the State, amounted to some £78,000,000. Such is the disposition to prey upon the necessities and agonies of the nation.
In our capital city only one person in five attends the house of God on the Sabbath. Our late Queen is reported to have said that the Bible was the secret of England’s greatness; yet we only spend £202,000 annually on the circulation of the Scriptures,
while our national devotion to football is represented by the sum of £7,000,000; to the theatre, by £16,000,000; to gambling, by £50,000,000; and to strong drink, although it is daily hindering us in the war, our devotion is represented by the sum of £166,000,000!
It may well be asked, “Can God make us victorious without condoning our iniquities?” The wasting process has now been proceeding for two years and a half. Our treasure is being poured out at the rate of £5,700,000 a day, and the best of our manhood are going to death by the thousand. Our shipping is being gradually sunk in the seas. No wonder that some of our naval and military leaders recognise the Hand of God in this War, chastising us for our national sins, and are eagerly looking for national repentance as the sure harbinger of peace and victory. Sir David Beatty wrote from his ship in the North Sea, “When religious revival takes place at home then we can begin to count the days towards the end of the War.”
How long will a rebellious nation refuse these tokens of success to our brave forces who face the enemy by sea and by land? How long will it rebel and expose itself to the wastage of War? The gracious promise is: “If my people, which are called by my name, humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron. vii. 14).
“Now therefore, kings, be wise: be taught,
Ye judges of the earth.
Serve God in fear and see that ye
Join trembling with your mirth.
Kiss ye the Son, lest in His ire,
Ye perish from the way,
If once His wrath begin to burn:
Bless’d all that on Him stay.”
The late Mrs. Cameron, Oban.
MRS. Cameron, of Lundavra, passed away in peace at her house, Argyle Square, Oban, on the 20th December, 1916, in her 78th year. Her removal has left a blank in our congregation, which is very keenly felt.
Mrs. Cameron was the daughter of the late Mr. Donald Cameron, a manager for a long time to Mr. Campbell of Monzie, Inverness-shire. Her husband was the late Mr. Donald Cameron, farmer, Lundavra, Lochaber. In her youth she not only saw and experienced true piety, but she received a liberal education which, combined with grace, made her a lady of a loving, broadminded, gentle deportment. From the way in which she often spoke of the late Rev. Francis M’Bean, of Fort-Augustus, we gathered that he had been the instrument in God’s hand of establishing her in the faith—if not in her conversion.
Mrs. Cameron began life in an age when the rampant delusions in religious matters so common in our day were unknown, except, perhaps, in the discredited theories of the schoolmen. The Sabbath was kept: there was very little, if any, cry about non-church-going then, because sound doctrine was the rule and not the exception, as in our day, in the pulpits of Scotland. Many eminent ministers and men used to frequent her father’s house: she had pleasant memories of these, among whom were the two Rev. Messrs. Cook. Dr. Kennedy, in later days, was her personal friend. When the late Rev. C. H. Spurgeon visited the Western Highlands, she was one of a deputation who went out from Fort-William pier in a small boat to meet Mr. Spurgeon’s yacht with a request to that great man to preach to the people of Lochaber. It was delightful to hear her talk of that incident in her life. Mr. Spurgeon’s sermon, and his lively conversation afterwards, left an indelible impression on her refined intellect.
When errors began to gain the ascendancy in her beloved Free Church, Mrs. Cameron felt the seriousness of the situation, and especially when many, who were making a great noise about what they were going to do for Christ and His cause, drew back in the “day of battle.” But when a stand was made by our Church for the cause of Christ alone, she, along with many others of “the salt of the earth,” saw the path of duty, not only in the light of a way in which as Christians they were bound to walk, but as a way of escape from the errors, hypocrisy, and snares, by which they had been at that time encompassed. She never regretted the step she then took. Her heart was in the testimony of the Free Presbyterian Church, and it was her delight to commend to others a Church which was true in her practice to what she professed in her creed. On her death-bed she blessed God for the Free Presbyterian Church, and left her blessing with the congregation here. The Oban congregation and the Church at large have lost in her a staunch and prayerful supporter.
Mrs. Cameron came to Oban shortly after we left the then Free Church. She realized the force of the truth “In the world ye shall have tribulation” for, after the death of her husband, she met with severe trials in providence, but she knew the Hand that guided her lot, and like another, could say, “What! shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” The Lord, however, counterbalanced the troubles of her pilgrimage with goodness and mercy, and raised up many friends for her, when He removed others by death. The late lamented Mr. Crawford, and Mr. MacDougall, Oban, were to her sympathetic and helpful friends, and she always spoke of them with admiration and affection. In this congregation she was looked up to as one of its most conspicuous members, and wherever trouble was, in the congregation, or outside its circle, she would be there a source of comfort and strength by her presence and counsel. She had many friends among rich and poor, and she was equally at home
among both classes, and we believe she never omitted to commend “the way of life” to all with whom she came in contact.
When Mrs. Cameron came to the end of her wilderness journey the midnight cry did not find her slumbering and sleeping. She had her lamp trimmed, and was eagerly watching and longing for the coming of the Bridegroom. She had everything ready, as far as setting the earthly house in order was concerned, and she literally “gave commandment” concerning her “bones.” Her son, John, was privileged to be with her in her last illness, and he did everything in his power for her, and she lacked nothing. The night she passed away she asked her son to read the twelfth chapter of Isaiah and the hundred and third Psalm in Gaelic. Then she herself prayed, and in about two hours afterwards “the Bridegroom came,” and she went in with Him into the Father’s house, to resume His worship without interruption.
We regret very much that our sketch is so imperfect and short, but we trust her friends will be glad to have even this meagre account of their worthy friend, and that others also may not find it unprofitable to peruse it.
The Lord is calling home His loyal witnesses, and our sky is very overcast, but the Master who saw His disciples toiling in rowing and the wind contrary, on that dark night on the Sea of Galilee, still sees and remembers His tempest-tossed people, and He will assuredly come—as He did of old—and command deliverance for them. Meanwhile, it is their duty to emulate the disciples and carry out the commands of the Master, whatever wind and waves may be contrary; and when He comes then will be fulfilled what the Church of old sang in anticipation:—
“Then are they glad, because at rest
And quiet now they be:
So to the haven He them brings,
Which they desired to see.”
Mrs. Cameron is survived by four sons and a daughter. Two of her sons are in the Army—one in France and the other on home defence duty in this country. To them all we extend our deepest sympathy, and pray that, instead of the fathers, God would be pleased to take the children and make them noble princes in the land.
A. M’K.
THE Rev. John Brown, of Haddington, in a letter of paternal counsels and cautions to one of his pupils newly ordained over a small congregation, wrote thus:—”I know the vanity of your heart, and that you will feel mortified that your congregation is very small, in comparison with those of your brethren around you; but assure yourself, on the word of an old man, that when you come to give an account of them to the Lord Christ, at His judgment-seat, you will think you have had enough.”