Notes of a Sermon

Preached by the REV. D. MACFARLANE, DINGWALL,
on Sabbath, 1st September, 1918.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”—ROM. i. 16, 17.

THE Apostle Paul wrote this Epistle to the Romans, in which there are all the doctrines that pertain to the Christian faith. At that time there was a congregation in Rome, in which there were many true Christians. He addresses his epistle to these, describing them as “beloved of God and called to be saints.” The word “saints” does not apply only to a certain class of God’s people, as some hold, but it applies to all of them, as all of them are to some extent holy or sanctified. He thanks God that there were such in Rome, and they were so famous that “their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world.” He prays for them and longs to see them. He often purposed to visit them, but was hitherto hindered. He desired to go to Rome to preach the gospel to them, that he might establish them in the faith. On account of God’s great mercy to himself personally, he felt that he was under obligations “to preach to the Greeks (Gentiles), and to the barbarians, and to the wise and the unwise”; so that as much as in him was, he was “ready to preach the gospel to them at Rome also.” His intended visit would, he hoped, be of mutual benefit to them and to himself. He hoped to impart spiritual gifts to them, to the end that they might be established, and that he might himself be comforted by his intercourse with them.

In addressing you from the words of our text, we shall notice—

I.—That the apostle was “not ashamed of the gospel of Christ”; and

II.—The reason he gives for this confidence.

I.—He was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. This implies that some were ashamed of it. Not only the Jews who put Christ to death were ashamed of it, but the pagans in Rome, who thought so much of their own false religion, were ashamed of the gospel of Christ and persecuted those who professed the Christian religion. To look for salvation to a person who suffered an ignominious death, was a thing of which they would be ashamed. Rome was the capital of the then known world, and contained learned men, such as philosophers and others, who thought much more of their own learning than of the gospel of Christ, and despised those that preached the gospel; but Paul was not ashamed to preach the gospel to these. He gloried in preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. vi. 14). Some who are in the land of the gospel are ashamed of the

gospel. They want something new; something strange. Christ’s ministers are not ashamed to preach the gospel, howsoever much they may suffer from their enemies for their work. They are often ashamed of themselves, because of their imperfections and shortcomings in performing their duties in connection with the glorious work which God has given them to do. Many are ashamed of the gospel who are not ashamed of sinning against God. The proud and self-righteous are ashamed of the gospel, but not those who have found out their great need of the gospel.

II.—The reason why he is not ashamed of the gospel. There are two things in the reason.

(1) “Because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” The gospel is the channel through which God exerts His power to save sinners. He created the world by the word of His power, but He saves sinners by the word of the gospel. The bare word is not sufficient for this end; it requires the power of God, by the agency of the Holy Spirit, to accompany it in order to salvation. So the word of the gospel came to the Thessalonians, as the apostle states, “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost” (1 Thess. i. 5). The end for which God exerts His saving power through the gospel, is salvation. The salvation of our souls is the most important thing for us. If we are not saved, we shall be miserable for ever in eternity. Many are satisfied if they are supplied with everything that their bodies need, and care not what may become of their souls; but “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark viii. 36).

In order to be saved, faith is necessary. The gospel is the power of God to every one that believeth. What are we to believe? And in whom are we to believe? We are to believe the gospel, as it testifies of Christ; and we are to believe in Christ by means of the gospel. You cannot believe in Christ savingly without believing the word of the gospel. When Christ began His public ministry, He said, “Repent, and believe the gospel” (Mark i. 15). And when the jailer at Philippi asked, “What must I do to be saved?” the apostle said unto him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” The gospel has been experienced to be the power of God unto salvation by many who are now in heaven and by some who are yet in the world. The Christians in Rome, to whom the apostle wrote this epistle, are in heaven, and they praise God for sending the gospel to them while on earth and for making it effectual unto their salvation. The gospel will not benefit you unless you believe it.

While the apostle declares that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, he shows the sinful and miserable condition in which all men, Jews and Gentiles, are by nature. They are all exposed to the wrath of God on account of

their sins. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (v. 18). The description he gives of the Gentiles shows how abominable they had been in their practice, and in the third chapter he states that there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles as they are by nature. Before the gospel is blessed to sinners, the Spirit convinces them of their sins and misery, in order that they may see their need of Christ to save them. In the preaching of unconverted ministers, there is little or nothing said about the necessity of the work of the Spirit in applying Christ’s redemption, though the necessity of being “born of the Spirit” is clearly taught in Scripture. It was the first lesson that Christ taught Nicodemus, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John iii. 5).

(2) The second thing in the reason that the apostle gives for not being ashamed of the gospel of Christ is that “therein is the righteousness of God revealed.” The righteousness of God here is the righteousness on the meritorious ground of which sinners are justified and saved. It is called the righteousness of God, because it was appointed by God the Father, and approved by Him, and because it was wrought out by God the Son in our nature. This righteousness is revealed in the gospel, and is imputed to every sinner that believes in Christ. We had no hand in working out this righteousness in whole or in part, and God imputes it to us as our own. The sins of His people were imputed to Christ; although He had no hand in committing these sins. He endured the penalty of our sins that we might receive the benefits merited by His righteousness. Many refuse to be saved on the ground of Christ’s righteousness, because they expect to be saved on the ground of their own righteousness. They are under a covenant of works, and expect to be saved on the ground of their own works, though Scripture clearly teaches that “by the works of the law no flesh can be justified in the sight of God.” Nothing can root out self-righteousness from the hearts of sinners but the grace of God, and the teaching of the Holy Spirit, which declares that all our righteousness are as filthy rags. Before Paul was converted, he trusted in his own righteousness, but after his conversion he said that he had “no confidence in the flesh.” All his hope for salvation was founded upon the righteousness of Christ, and the Spirit that taught him this is the same that teaches all true Christians. The standard of righteousness is the law of God, and no sinner by his own works can come up to that standard, but Christ by His obedience unto death satisfied all the requirements of the law, and if His righteousness is imputed to us, the law is satisfied with us on the meritorious ground of His righteousness.

This righteousness is “revealed from faith to faith,” that is, according to some interpreters, from the faithfulness of God in

His testimony concerning this righteousness, to the faith of believers in receiving that testimony; and according to others, from the first act of faith to repeated acts of faith during our time in the world. The latter seems to be the meaning, as it is spoken by the apostle in connection with the words, “The just shall live by faith.” It is said of believers, not only that they came unto Christ, but that they continue to come unto Him “as to a living stone” (1 Peter ii. 4), and that as they continue to run the race set before them, they are by faith looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith. The exercise of faith is continued during our time in the world. There are some who say that they believed in Christ once, and that they have no need of believing in Him again. But that is not the case with us; if we are true Christians, we need to come to Christ by faith daily. When we enter the closet to pray in secret—when we gather at the family altar for family worship, or attend the prayer meeting and the preaching of the gospel in public—we need to look to Christ by faith, till faith is swallowed up in vision when we enter heaven at death. If Christ and His righteousness are yours, you are a rich and a happy person although you would be stripped of all temporal possessions, as Job was. The Lord sometimes deprives people of their wealth and health, that they may make choice of Christ as the good part that shall not be taken away from them.

In closing this great subject we ask, “What do you think of the gospel of Christ? Is it great and precious in your estimation, or are you ashamed of it as a thing of no value to you?” Oh, how thankful we ought to be to God for revealing to us the way of salvation in the glorious gospel! “If it is hid, it is hid to them that are lost,” who are blind and cannot see it.

If you have experienced the gospel as the power of God unto salvation, you are a changed person, changed in your nature, in your state, and in your practice. There are many in the land of the gospel who manifest by their filthy language that they are still in a state of sin and misery. They curse and swear, and if you ask them why do they use such bad language, they would say, if they spoke the truth, “We speak the language of our father the devil, the language that is spoken in hell.” It would not be a wonder to us, although such bad language might be heard among the heathen; but it is a shame to hear it in the land of the gospel. But heathens in the land of the gospel are worse than those in heathen lands, and their punishment in eternity shall be greater than that of those who never heard the gospel. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Eph. iv. 29). To those to whom the gospel is blessed the Lord promises to turn a pure language. “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent” (Zeph. iii. 9).

Noted Preachers of the Northern Highlands.

BY THE REV. D. BEATON, WICK.

(Continued from page 143.)

III.—REV. ALEXANDER GUNN, WATTEN.

THOUGH, in the strictest sense, Mr. Gunn cannot be reckoned among Highland ministers inasmuch as he was not a Gaelic speaker, yet, in view of the fact that he was of pure Highland descent, and that his ministry was carried on in Caithness, in a district closely in touch with the Celtic part of that county, he may be included in the series. Alexander Gunn was born at Lochend of Watten in 1773. His father, John Gunn, was tacksman of Hestigrow, in the parish of Bower. One section of his clan claimed for him the honour of the chieftainship, but at a meeting at Thurso it was adjudged to a rival. He was a descendant of Donald Gunn of Braemore, who, on his death-bed, evidenced more the martial spirit of the Highland, than the Christian, warrior by addressing his sons around him in the words:—”I bequeath Braemore to you. I gained it by the sword, and if you cannot retain it by the same title, you deserve to lose it.” Alexander Gunn’s mother was Jane Horne, daughter of John Horne of Scouthal, and sister of John Horne of Strokoke, the ancestor of Lieutenant-General Horne, who has made a name for himself in the Great War. Her grandson, the Rev. Alexander Auld, has given a sympathetic sketch of this worthy woman in his Ministers and Men of the Far North. “It was interesting,” he writes, “to hear her tell of old times in Caithness (for, when she was born, the agitation of the rebellion of ’45 had not subsided), when manners were simpler, and the habits of society kindlier. Her early religious life was associated with the ministry of Mr. Douie of Thurso,* to hear whom she used to ride on Sabbaths a distance of twenty-four miles; and, even until she was nearly ninety years of age, she rode to the church of Watten. Fondly we remember her mild countenance and venerable form, as latterly by her own fireside she sat meditating daily on the Word of God. To that Word, as to what alone was worth the holding, she clung, when her failing faculties had lost their grasp of everything else.”

Shortly after the birth of Alexander Gunn, a godly maternal uncle, on coming to the house, took the child into his arms, and remarked that the Lord would use him for the advancement of His cause. In his early youth there were not wanting signs that the Lord was preparing him for His own work in the vineyard. His

* Rev. Robert Douie or Dowie was minister of the Associate (Anti-Burgher) Congregation of Thurso from 1777-1797. James Haldane, in his Journal, refers to him as a “pious Anti-Burgher minister.”

father evidently had taken notice of these things, for on Alexander returning after a day’s herding with the requisite number of cattle, but few of them his father’s, his carelessness only called forth from his father, a quick-tempered man, the words:—”I suspect the Lord has other work for this boy than minding my cattle.”

Alexander attended the Wick parish school, taught by Mr. Milne, afterwards minister of Canisbay. Afterwards, he was sent to the parish school at Reay, which at that time was under the care of a noted teacher, Mr. William Munro. Among his fellow-scholars was John MacDonald, afterwards the famous Apostle of the North. Here a warm friendship began between them which ripened and deepened with the years as it passed from a merely natural to a Christian fellowship. At the early age of eighteen Mr. Gunn went to Aberdeen to study. It was no light undertaking in those days to go from Caithness to Aberdeen. “Travelling thither from Caithness,” says Rev. Alexander Auld, “was not an easy undertaking. The roads were often mere tracks; there were no public conveyances, and very seldom communication by sea—so students generally journeyed the whole way on foot. Mr. Gunn’s father sent horses with his son across the Ord of Caithness. There were certain manses on the road where students met with hospitable entertainment. One of these was the manse of Resolis; and there, during a temporary sojourn, Mr. Gunn first met his future wife. Her father was the Rev. Mr. Arthur, of Resolis, and her mother, daughter of Mr. Munro, of Poyntyfield.”*

As was customary in those days, divinity students acted as tutors in families during the interval when the University was closed. Mr. Gunn, following this custom, was employed as tutor to the family of the Rev. Robert Gunn, Latheron. At this date a meeting-house had been erected in the parish at Berriedale, which was under the care of the Rev. William Mackintosh, afterwards minister of Thurso. It was announced that Dr. Mackintosh, Tain, was to preach at the Berriedale meeting-house, and Mr. Gunn, with others, went to hear this noted herald of the Cross, and it was the beginning of days for him. At the beginning of his spiritual life he had not that remarkable sense of assurance of his interest in Christ as he afterwards enjoyed. But it was the dawning of the day that shone more and more unto the perfect day. It may be interesting, at this place in our narrative, to quote Mr. Auld’s words in reference to the way in which Mr. Gunn attained to higher spiritual attainments. “The writer,” he says, “was told by Dr. MacDonald of Urquhart, that on the occasion of one of his visits to Caithness, passing a day at the manse of Watten, he was so struck with his friend’s unusual spirituality of mind and conversation, that he asked him the reason of so marked a change. Mr. Gunn replied that after reading, some time ago, Scott’s Force of Truth, he felt that he needed an attainment in the divine life such as he had not

* Ministers and Men of the Far North, p. 19, 2nd edition.

hitherto known; that thereupon he besought the Lord to lead him into this knowledge of Himself; and that, before rising from his knees, he got what he sought.”*

Mr. Gunn was licensed by the Presbytery of Caithness in 1803, and was for some time thereafter appointed assistant to the minister of Orphir, Orkney. While here his preaching was blessed to not a few, some of whom were in the habit of coming on sacramental occasions to Watten after he had been settled there. In 1805 he received a presentation to Watten, and preached his first sermon from the words, “A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.”

The condition of Caithness at the time of Mr. Gunn’s induction was anything but prosperous from a spiritual standpoint. Mr. Gunn presented the truths of the gospel in a forcible and fresh manner, and multitudes listened to the precious message setting forth God’s great salvation. His style of preaching and the burden of his message has been well set forth in Mr. Auld’s words, who was an intelligent and appreciative hearer:—“Great fulness of doctrinal statement,” he says, “marked Mr. Gunn’s preaching. Some work not exclusively, yet most frequently, a special field of truth: he wrought more equally the whole. During the earlier years of his ministry he preached a good deal what is called ‘the law.’ We do not, of course, mean legal doctrine, but a spiritual out-bringing of fallen man’s condition before God.† This is needful at all times, but it was specially so then, when man’s present state and eternal prospects were so superficially dealt with as to be practically ignored, and when reconciliation by Christ Jesus, if referred to, was so mixed up with human merit, that it was like the feet of Nebuchadnezzar’s image, ‘part of iron and part of miry clay.’ To preach the law at that time was therefore doubly incumbent on a faithful minister—not only for the instruction and humiliation of his fellow-sinners, but also for the overthrow of the errors referred to. And Mr. Gunn did this powerfully, exhibiting the purity and justice of God as reflected in His holy law, setting forth man’s guilt and exposure to wrath everlasting, because of his breach of that law; and his being wholly powerless, because ‘dead in trespasses and in sin,’ to do anything whereby he might regain a standing in the sight of God. These, it may be said, are common doctrines. They were not so then, and they are not so at any time, in the way he handled them. Let it not be supposed, however, that his declaration of the gospel remedy was straightened. Far otherwise. The love of God the Father, the grace of God the Son—personal and mediatorial—and

* Ministers and Men of the Far North, p. 20, 2nd edition.

† It is recorded that, on preaching one of his earliest sermons at Watten, the parish minister remarked on their return home: “You were not popular to-day, sir.” “In what respect?” asked Mr. Gunn. “You spoke too much of the badness of our hearts. You had nothing to do with that. If our hearts are bad, we ought to make them better.” It was doctrine of this kind Mr. Gunn set out to combat, and combated very successfully.

the power and fellowship of God the Holy Spirit, were not only declared, but also largely held forth; and towards the latter years of his ministry, these truths received from him singularly full treatment.”* This preaching bore abundant fruit through the rich blessing of God’s Spirit, and those awakened under his ministry were notable for the genuineness of their piety and the sincerity of their Christian profession.

Watten became a notable place to which God’s people resorted on communion occasions. On such occasions Mr. Gunn would have assisting him Rev. Archibald Cook, and his brother, Rev. Finlay Cook; Rev. John Munro, Halkirk, and Rev. Walter Ross Taylor, Thurso, the very pick of the Caithness evangelical preachers of that period. These were high days in the spiritual experience of God’s people gathered from all parts of Caithness, and many found under the hospitable roof of David Steven, one of the most noted of the Caithness “men,” more than merely the bread that perisbeth.

Mr. Gunn had a stiff fight with many of the questionable social practices that existed in the parish. He sternly set his face against smuggling and dancing and drinking revels, and, as time went on, the influence of the minister increased and the power of the revellers for mischief diminished. At the beginning of the nineteenth century it was customary throughout Caithness to advertise in the churchyards when the congregation were dismissing, all the sales and public meetings for the week. Mr. Gunn also set his face against this, and soon it was abandoned, not only in his own parish, but throughout the county. The following incident shows how Satan over-reached himself. At the election of a Member of Parliament for the County, the usual proclamation was brought to Watten to be read in the church at the conclusion of divine worship. Mr. Gunn objected to this, with the consequence that the Sheriff wrote him warning him that the consequences of his action were imprisonment and confiscation of goods. Mr. Gunn replied that where God’s honour was concerned a fine of five shillings or imprisonment and confiscation, were all alike to him. The Sheriff again wrote peremptorily demanding whether the officer would be permitted to read the proclamation. To this, the minister replied that it might be read to the walls of the church which belonged to the State, but he would not allow it to be read to the people. Accordingly next Sabbath the congregation met outside. Mr. Gunn, on rising to give out the psalm said, “Let us sing to the praise of our redeeming God.” He preached with great power and unction, and took no notice of the occasion of their meeting in the open. The Sheriff Officer came to Watten, but found the church empty. The legal lights of the county vowed all sorts of punitive measures on the daring minister, but ultimately allowed the matter to drop. However, when the next election came round, they were determined

* Ministers and Men of the Far North, pp. 26, 27, 2nd edition.

not to be outwitted by the minister of Watten. To make sure of having the proclamation read, the Officer rose and began to read the proclamation as the minister rose to pray. “Put that man out,” said Mr. Gunn. “That is all I want,” said the man as he left the church and made off to Wick. The legal authorities now thought they had the minister completely in their grasp as he had been involved in the deforcement of a law-officer. But the tables were completely turned when it was discovered that the officer laid himself open to be charged for disturbing divine worship. Mr. Gunn’s remark on the turn of events was: “They fall into their own pits.”

Mr. Gunn had his own trials in going through the wilderness, which he bore with a fine Christian resignation. While conducting family worship after the death of one of his sons, he expressed his resignation to the divine will in these words: “Not only this one, Lord, we surrender, but them all, shouldst Thou call for them.” In the autumn of 1836 Mr. Gunn set out to the west coast of Sutherland in the hope of benefiting his health. His friends at the manse of Thurso in parting with him expressed the hope that the tour would be beneficial to him. “As to that,” he replied, “I cannot say; but this I can say—

He will not be in glory
And leave me behind.”

He had not gone further than Farr, however, when he felt he was unable to proceed, and, returning, called at the manse of Thurso and took to bed, from which he never rose again. He died in September, 1836, aged 62 years. It is a point worthy of note that it was in the Thurso manse (the home of the Rev. Walter Ross Taylor), that the Rev. John Munro, Halkirk, also died. And these were the two ministers who preached at Mr. Taylor’s induction—the former in English and the latter in Gaelic.

Unfortunately there is not much written material of Mr. Gunn’s to give one an idea of the subjects he dealt with. In the Free Presbyterian Magazine (I., p. 348), there is given Notes of the Address to Rev. W. R. Taylor at his induction to Thurso in 1831. The address is founded on the words—”Study to shew thyself approved unto God” (2 Tim. ii. 15). He puts the question, How is the work to be carried on? and answers it thus:—”Only in and through the faith of Christ’s word of promise, ‘Lo, I am with you.’ That is sufficient for you, be against you what may; that is the promise you are to plead, and to employ in answer to all the difficulties that may beset you, and all the opposition that may assail you. No doubt you may sometimes want the sense of Christ’s presence, your inward peace may be interrupted, and your outward lot may be perplexing. But whatever be your case, cleave to the Lord’s word, and keep to His work, and assuredly He will cause you to hear His promise anew in your experience, saying to you, ‘Fear not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God.’ O! then cleave to

the Lord at all times, cleave to His word, and to the work to which you are called, steadfastly pursue the great ends of the ministry, faithfully testify of Christ, and prayerfully warn souls, and you will find the Lord ever nigh unto you for all that you wait upon Him for. And may God bless you out of Zion, and give you to see the good of Jerusalem, and at length lift up your head with joy.”

In addition to the above address, there is also a sermon in print on the text—”But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick” (Matt. ix. 12).* Even to this day the name of Mr. Gunn is held in the highest esteem in Caithness, and the respect and reverence he inspired may be gathered from what Mr. Sage says concerning him. “During my residence in Caithness,” he writes, “I had become slightly acquainted with him, but this was the first time I had the opportunity fully to enter into and estimate the excellency of his Christian and ministerial character. The simplicity of his faith, the soundness of his views, and the heaven-tending earnestness of his spirit made me feel that, while I was scarce a disciple, he was truly a master in Israel.” † There is an excellent biographical sketch in Rev. Alexander Auld’s Ministers and Men of the Far North, to which the writer acknowledges his indebtedness.

We cannot do better, by way of concluding this sketch, than by quoting the words of David Steven, himself a master in Israel:—”Thou hast left this dusky stage, and thou hast left behind thee many sorrowful hearts and tearful eyes. At the time of thy entering the vineyard, the hedges were broken down—thorns and thistles covered the face of it, and wild beasts browsed on it without interruption; but through grace thou didst faithfully proclaim the name of Zion’s Lord and King, and didst earnestly contend for the honour of her laws and crown rights. To thee was given much of the undaunted spirit and courage of the Reformers, so that thy fame spread abroad and shamed many lazy shepherds who heeded not the desolations and the reproach that had fallen upon Zion. By thy life and conversation, by thy example and instructions, thou hast left thy fellow-sinners without excuse. What are now-a-days called harmless amusements, thou didst call by their true scriptural names, ‘revellings and such like.’ And when we read the Bible, and find there the texts from which thou, as a herald of mercy, didst declare the truth of God, for the admonishing and building up of souls, we are brought back to days long gone by. If we are lost at last, our blood will not be found in thy skirts. The memory of the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance, and truly thine is sweet and savoury to those thou hast left behind.”

* Free Presbyterian Magazine, xiii. 245, 287. This sermon was preached in 1809, and is the only discourse, with the exception of the above address of Mr. Gunn’s, which was ever published.

† Memorabilia Domestica, p. 411, 1st edition.

The late William MacBeth, Applecross.

WILLIAM MACBETH was born at Kenmore, in the parish of Applecross, in the year 1835. His father, Farquhar MacBeth, was an eminent Christian, and his mother was considered by all who knew her, a gracious woman. His parents removed from Kenmore to Callakille, in the same parish, when the subject of this obituary was seven years of age, so that William MacBeth lived all his lifetime in the same parish.

He received a sound religious training in childhood and youth from his pious parents, and saw from day to day the best example of true godliness, but William gave evidence that human training and example will not change the heart or mind of the sinner. We are not able to say how the Lord dealt with him in bringing him to Himself, but on account of many statements we heard from him while speaking to the question, we conclude that he passed through an experience similar to that of the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. One day a man was called to speak to the question, who began by saying that the first thing the sinner felt was the love of God. William whispered to the man who sat beside him: “Ah! it was the smooth comb that was used on this man’s head to begin with.” But that William drank deeply the consolations of the gospel of the grace of God was very evident. His deep knowledge of the corruption of man’s nature, and of the power which Satan and unbelief exercise in the soul of the believer, caused his exercises to be very helpful to the Lord’s people. Like the Apostle Paul, he could say: “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Cor. i. 3, 4). Many of the Lord’s people felt often that William MacBeth’s exercises, whether in prayer or speaking, were truly a means of solving their doubts and of comforting their souls.

In reading the book of Job, he came to the confession Job made to the Lord: “Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not” (Job xlii. 3). This passage of Scripture threw William into a labyrinth of painful doubt about the innerancy of that portion of the Bible. He could not see how Job spoke the truth if he did not understand himself the things he had uttered. He made up his mind to go to see the late Mr. Duncan Macrae, Letterfern, who was an eminent Christian, and a man of profound understanding in spiritual matters. After he had been awhile in Duncan’s house, he said to him: “How am I to understand the words expressed by Job: ‘I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not’?” Duncan answered him,

“Do you not utter things yourself which you do not understand.” William answered, “I don’t know.” “Do you speak about sin?” Duncan said. “Yes,” replied William. “What do you know about sin?” he said. “Do you speak about grace?” he asked. William said, “Yes.” “What do you know about grace?” Duncan queried. So William’s difficulties vanished, or as he said himself, “He caused me by a few words to feel that I was myself acting daily like Job.” William’s admiration for Duncan Macrae continued to the end of his natural life in this world, although his friend predeceased him by more than twenty years.

It could be said of William that he lived in accordance with our Lord’s injunction to His disciples: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He kept a very cheerful countenance in the midst of the many trials which fell to his lot in the world. One day he met the Rev. Alexander MacColl, late of Lochalsh, who said to him: “You seem to be always cheerful, William.” He replied: “It would be a very unwise thing for a man to present his empty vessel to one who could put nothing into it.” Mr. MacColl said: “That is truthfully said.” But William had his dark hours. We were at the Applecross communion one year, and we noticed that he was under a very dark cloud. He lived in the same house with us. We asked him several times to engage in prayer, but he always refused. As he told us that he had made a vow that he would never refuse absolutely to pray when asked to do so, and urged us not to press him too hard when we saw it was difficult for him, we allowed him. At last we made up our mind that we would not take refusal. So we told him to ask a blessing on food we were to partake of, and told him that he was not to get off that time. He began to utter a word now and again, weeping as he went on. He stopped, and then expressed himself in the following words: “Why should we be like this? Do we not read that when Thou wast in the world, lepers came to Thee and were cleansed, lame men and maimed men came to Thee and Thou didst cure them, so that they could walk like other men. Yes, and the man that was rotting in the grave Thou hadst only to speak one word to him, and he was the next day walking on the road along with his neighbours, and why should we be like this?” So dear William’s bonds were loosed by thinking of the power and mercy of his Lord and Saviour.

The first time we saw him was at the Shieldaig communion in September of 1893. He had not separated then from the party who had changed the Creed of the Free Church. There were a few of the men who came there on Friday in the same position ecclesiastically with William, but it was decided before the meeting began that the men should be called that day as they used to be without making any distinction. This was done owing to the fact that the ministers, who were called the Constitutional party in the Church, advised the men to remain as they were until the following General Assembly, and that steps would be taken then

to separate from the Rainy party in that Church. William MacBeth was the last man called to speak to the question. Having heard about him before then, we were anxious to hear him speak. He rose up at once. He looked around on the people, and said: “You will say to me, Is this not a very dark day? I answer, Yes. You will then say, What shall I do then? I will tell you what you should do; keep your eye upon God’s word and look to Him for guidance, and should the prospect before you be as dark as if you had to look through the bottom of a boiler, the Lord and His word will keep you in the right path.” We concluded at once that whoever would go into crooked ways, William would certainly be guided in the way that he should go. Rev. D. Macdonald had left the meeting before William spoke. When we went into the manse we said to him, “It is a pity you did not hear William MacBeth speak.” “Why?” he asked. We then told him what he had said. Mr. Macdonald’s face brightened up and he said, “Poor man, he will not remain long where he is.” So it happened. When he went home he sent the book for collecting sustentation to the minister and a message along with it to the effect that he could no longer collect sustentation money for that Church. William did not continue long his connection with the Declaratory Act Church, but left it next spring. He continued to adhere faithfully to the Free Presbyterian Church till his course here came to an end.

He came into the house of John Stewart, elder, Lochcarron, on his way home on the Monday of a communion there. After dinner, one of the ministers assisting there at that time, gave out the last three verses of the seventy-second Psalm:—

“His name for ever shall endure;
Last like the sun it shall:
Men shall be bless’d in him, and
bless’d
All nations shall him call.
Now blessed be the Lord our God,
The God of Israel,

For he alone doth wondrous works,
In glory that excel.
And blessed be his glorious name
To all eternity:
The whole earth let his glory fill,
Amen, so let it be.”

After these verses were sung, William sat motionless with the palms of his two hands upon his two knees. He continued some time in that position, quite unconscious of his surroundings. At last one of the ministers said to him: “You would add your own amen to that, William.” He lifted up his head and said, “Wouldn’t I, man?” It was true of him that the Lord Jesus Christ, and His Word, and cause and people in the world were precious to him. He could truly say: “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God” (Ruth i. 16).

William was a very humble man. He tried to persuade us, if we should be spared after he should be taken away, that we should not write anything about him; but we did not promise him that we would not. He often told us about two eminent men, who

made very free the one to the other as regards their spiritual exercises and condition. The one said to the other one day as they were walking together, “Do you know that I think it was because the Church had lost the spirit of discernment that caused that we were received into membership?” William said: “I am of the same opinion concerning the two of us.” His humility was such that he felt himself so far behind in everything he put his hand to about the worship of God, that he would not take offence for being told that others could do things better than he could. As an example of this, he was asked to sing in a certain place. He said, “I cannot sing properly.” The minister who asked him said, “As there is no other one to sing, you better not refuse.” “Very well,” he said, rising quite cheerfully to sing.

He was a man who was possessed of uncommon tact. He spoke on a Sabbath day in the presence of one whom he loved and admired, but he knew that it would not be an easy matter to get his friend to pray at the conclusion of his exercise. When William had finished, he said to his friend: “Now, if you have agreed with what you have heard to-day, rise and pray; but if you did not agree with it, don’t rise.” Of course, the man got up at once and prayed. On another occasion he had to preside at a prayer meeting, because another worthy man refused absolutely to do it. After singing verses of a psalm, William asked the man who refused to preside, to pray. The man desired him to ask another: “No,” he said, “if you will not make a gaffer, you must make a labourer.”

William had a wife who was in every sense an helpmeet for him. The love and harmony that existed between them was really admirable. One Sabbath day of a communion season at Gairloch, he overtook her on the road after leaving the Leaba, and said to her: “Well, Ann, what kind of a day had you?” She answered: “Well, William, I have got something from the Lord to-day.” “How pleased I am that you got that, Ann; O, how pleased I am that you got it!” She predeceased him several years ago.

Of all the ministers he heard in his day, Dr. Kennedy, late of Dingwall, was his favourite. He often referred to the Friday evening of a communion season at Kinlochewe as an outstanding landmark in his experience. The Doctor came that day purposely to hear the men speak to the question. He was prevailed with to preach in the evening. He took as his text: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivereth him out of them all” (Psalms xxxiv. 19). The Doctor spoke first of the righteous; secondly, of the afflictions of the righteous; and lastly, of the Almighty Deliverer of the righteous. The discourse delivered by Dr. Kennedy that evening remained fresh on William’s mind to the last. Rev. Alex. MacColl, late of Lochalsh, was a great favourite of William. He very often spoke of these two faithful servants of Christ. He is with them now in everlasting joy and gladness whither no sorrow nor sighing can ever enter.

Although his health was not very robust during the last few years of his life, he was able to attend to his duties as a missionary till the last year. He was also able to attend communion seasons in most of the surrounding congregations. At such solemn seasons, his presence and exercises added much to the happiness and comforts of the Lord’s people. The happiness he often enjoyed inwardly could be discerned in the expression of his beautiful countenance. We mourn for our great loss; but we rejoice in his unspeakable gain; for he is now with Christ and the noble band who sing the praises of the Redeemer on Mount Zion above.

For a few months before his end came, he was unable to come any distance from his house; but was able to rise every day until a few days before he departed this life. He passed peacefully away from this world of sorrow and sighing at the end of September, 1917.

We desire to express our sincere sympathy with his two daughters, and all who feel that an eminent Christian has been transferred from the Church on earth to the Church in glory. An Israelite, indeed, in whom there was no guile, departed the day William MacBeth left this vale of tears. May the Lord raise up Jacob when he is small! N. C.

The late Daniel Clarke, Egmondville, Ontario.

IN the early hours of Thursday, 30th May, there passed away the most familiar figure amongst our Ontario congregations. On that morning Daniel Clarke, of Egmondville, breathed his last. It is not easy to draw a faithful word portrait of any man. To outline the figure of Daniel Clarke as a spiritual force, so that friends may recognise the man they used to welcome, is more difficult still. Yet there are some facts which it is well to chronicle that those left behind may benefit.

Daniel Clarke was born at Heisbrechy, Tongue, Sutherlandshire, Scotland, on 18th December, 1831. As a little herd boy he used to read the New Testament. As he read the Gospels, he would weep over the cruel conduct of His enemies towards the Lord Jesus. But he was a lively lad who joined with his companions in their play with eagerness of heart. In their troubles, sometimes with their teacher, as he would tell with a frankness all his own, he was loyal through and through. So, as too often is the case, he learned with them the wicked habit of taking the Lord’s name in vain and of using profane language. His weeping then would soon be forgotten, and he could swear when angry. Yet some convictions would arise, and the self-condemning thought would seize his mind, “Ah! you are swearing now after being so pious.”

When sixteen years of age, he removed with his parents to Oxford County, Ontario. Many godly persons settled in the part where now he found his home. Gospel privileges had not been

left behind. Yet the memory of the Sutherland clearances burned itself into his mind, and he was as one who left behind a home he loved. Thus he would emphasise, as one to whom the lesson had cost him dear, that in Canada “Jack is as good as his master.” But he was soon to find in the strange land to which he came, that One over whose experience of cruel treatment he used to weep. Rather was he found of Him.

About two years after his coming to Canada he fell in with a book of Willison, of Dundee. He used to work out with the farmers about his home. The family, with whom he was working this summer, had the book on loan from a neighbour. With commendable regard for the property of others, he was asked to carry the book home one evening. It was given into his care. He thought he would like to have a look into it himself before returning it, and so sat down to read it. He was reading but a short time when the truth went like an arrow to his heart. He was seized with the awful conviction that he was on his way to eternal perdition. So sorely did this conviction lay upon him that he could not stay in the house that evening. The shaft was truly from Him who subdues the people to Himself. As is the case regularly, where the Spirit works with power, he sought to be alone and apart. He would enter into his closet now and shut his door about him to plead and pray. What he wanted was, not to be seen of men, or to be spoken of by the godly and serious as a promising case. The business was quite too commanding and serious for that. Outward show there could not but be when the blithe and lively youth was gripped by such solemn thoughts. Yet it was not of his devising, for “the kingdom of heaven cometh not with observation.”

For many a day and night he went with heavy heart and troubled soul. He was a guilty soul whose conscience was no longer lulled to sleep. In Satan’s service he had too long spent his strength. So his sleep was disturbed by the dread of Satan’s preparing to bind him to cast him into the furnace. At times he would cry aloud out of his sleep for deliverance. He feared death, because he expected to drop into hell the moment of death. Thus for upwards of two years his distress continued, though not always with like intensity. At one season he was engaged gathering stumps and roots into heaps for burning in the process of clearing the land to till it, but was so sorely beset that he would have to retire behind the stump heaps for a minute or two to plead for mercy. Thus he would spend the day trying to do what his hand found to do with all his might, but finding what he had to do above all else in pleading for mercy.

Sometimes he was particularly tempted to give over praying as vain. What answer was he ever getting to his cries? He was only getting at times into deeper trouble, and the prospect was not bright. But when he seemed at the point of giving up, he was stirred up to greater earnestness and diligence in pleading by

the words of the Lord Jesus, “Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you; ask and ye shall receive.” These words followed him to keep him from falling from prayer. Thus he waited upon the Lord, for unto whom could he go, for He alone has the words of eternal life? Nor did he wait in vain. Relief came to his soul through the words, “Thy Maker is thy husband.” He could not tell their place in Scripture for many a day after, but they came with such authority and shed such a light abroad in his mind with accompanying effect upon his heart, that he was released from bondage and had much joy in his new-found liberty.

His heart now meditated some return for the Lord’s goodness to him; but what could he do? He thought that if he lived a few years, he would surely be a great Christian, and he had a desire to be a preacher. Circumstances prevented his following this desire after the ministry of the Word. Being the oldest of the family, he had to help to bear the burden of care, which was not small. He came to live near Brucefield, and so under the ministry of Rev. John Ross there, when about twenty-one years of age. Some time later he took unto him a godly wife; but she was left with him only a few short years when she died. For many years before his death he was much troubled with palsy in his hands, and was wont to say, “That I got for my rebelliousness against this dispensation.” He never much indulged the hurtful passion for self-justification, and would rather question than approve the line of his own conduct, where others could see no need for his questionings. It was in the year 1875 that he removed to Egmondville, where he resided till his death. Throughout the greater part of this period he had the comfort and enjoyed the care of his hospitable and worthy help-meet who survives him.

The Union in 1861 of those Presbyterian Churches in Canada which corresponded, broadly speaking, to the Union of 1900 in Scotland, gave him much anxiety. He admired the stand of opposition taken toward it by Dr. Bayne of Galt. Yet, as John Ross of Brucefield was an ardent supporter of it, and he was thus left in an isolated position, he remained in communion with the United Church. He did not see the same ground for opposition to the Union of 1875, which corresponded in a way to that now agitated for between the Established Church and the U.F. Church in Scotland. However, John Ross was out and out against Union this time, and his good friend sympathised with him. About this time Daniel Clarke was asked to become an elder in Brucefield congregation, but as he was removing to Egmondville, he did not accept. He was largely instrumental in building up a congregation in the community, where now he had his home. But after some years, much to his grief, he found himself almost alone in the congregation in his earnest opposition to departures from purity of worship. On the occasion of his seat in church being

vacant, as he no more could find it proper there to join in worship, a young man of the congregation, being told the reason of his absence, said, “Well, I had rather see Daniel Clarke in his seat, than the church full of organs.” How sad it is that those who are marked as men of God are yet readily brushed aside, in order that the cravings of the carnal may be nourished! This is to put the Lord outside the door.

It was about the year 1898 that Daniel Clarke began to become a familiar figure amongst our people north and south. He was requested to act as a missionary amongst our various groups. He soon made a place for himself amongst us, and his was a unifying influence throughout amongst our scattered groups. His comely, intelligent and open countenance became ever more welcome in the homes and meetings of our people to the end. He regularly attended with the visiting deputies at the various stations during their ministrations. The weight of his years began to tell upon his strength, and gradually the pins of his earthly tabernacle were being loosed in preparation for its dissolution. On one occasion his doctor could not see that he could possibly recover; but, on telling him, received the reply to the effect: “I shall recover, for I have it from the Physician who knows better than you.” He did recover, yet by such strokes he became too weak latterly to accompany our deputies, whose visits to him at his home he highly appreciated.

His was a deep and weighty character, transformed by the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. He might at times appear cold and almost forbidding to such as were not acquainted with him, but the high regard in which he was held by old and young, wherever known, due to the goodwill he regularly manifested toward his fellow-man, sets that fact in its true light. On one occasion at family worship, he declined, on being asked, to conclude with prayer. He was on his knees before another word could be spoken. The one, who asked him, afterwards asked him why he had acted so. He gave a kind and tactful reply. Some years later, he asked a friend who was present at the incident, if he remembered it. On learning that his friend did remember it, he gave the true explanation. For some days previously he had been in the depths and feared that all was wrong with him for eternity. Just before worship was begun that evening, and when the waters flowed most strongly over his soul, the word came with power, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.” He said that he couldn’t engage in prayer as requested, for he would break down. This recalls to mind what a friend told concerning the late worthy Hugh Jack, of Newton, Ontario. He came once to this friend’s house in such a state that he seemed ready to faint. After resting a while he explained that, as he was on his way, his mind was exercised on the word, “By Babel’s streams we sat and wept,” etc. Suddenly such a view and sense of the love of God

was vouchsafed him that he became quite weak. It is in holy resurrection bodies these saints shall forever drink in that love, of which such glimpses were granted them here.

No more shall we behold his welcome face, so restful, yet ready to beam with kindly humour and goodwill. No longer shall his wise counsels be at our command, nor his edifying services be looked forward to with desire. His memory shall linger long, and though from earth at length it fade away, yet shall it prove with him, “The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.”

To his widow and her daughters, to his son and to his friends, we extend sincere sympathy. W. M.