I.—Sin.
SIN is a great block and bar to our happiness, the procurer of all miseries to man, both here and hereafter. Take away sin and nothing can hurt us; for death, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, is the wages of it. Sin, and man for sin, is the object of the wrath of God. How dreadful, therefore, must his case be who continues in sin; for who can bear and grapple with the wrath of God? No sin against God can be little, because it is against the great God of heaven and earth; but if the sinner can find out a little God it may be easy to find out little sins. Sin turns all God’s grace into wantonness; it is the darer of His justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love. Take heed of giving thyself liberty of committing one sin, for that will lead thee to another, till by an ill custom it becomes natural. To begin sin is to lay a foundation for a continuance; this continuance is the mother of custom and impudence at last the issue. The death of Christ giveth us the best discovery of ourselves; in what condition we were so that nothing could help us but that; and the most clear discovery of the dreadful nature of our sins. For if sin be such a dreadful thing as to wring the heart of the Son of God, how shall a poor, wretched sinner be able to bear it?
II.—Affliction.
Nothing can render Affliction so heavy as the load of sin. Would you, therefore, be fitted for affliction, be sure to get the burden of your sins laid aside, and then what afflictions soever you meet with will be very easy to you. If thou canst hear and bear the rod of affliction which God shall lay upon thee, remember this lesson, thou art beaten that thou mayst be better. The Lord useth His flail of tribulation to separate the chaff from the wheat. The school of the cross is the school of light; it discovers the world’s vanity, baseness, and wickedness, and lets us see more of God’s mind. Out of dark affliction comes spiritual light. In times of affliction we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the Love of God. Did we heartily renounce the pleasures of this world, we should be very little troubled for our afflictions; that which renders an afflicted state so insupportable to many, is because they
are too much addicted to the pleasures of this life; and so cannot endure that which makes a separation between them.
III. Repentance and Coming to Christ.
The end of affliction is the discovery of sin; and of that to bring us to the Saviour; let us, therefore, with the Prodigal, return unto Him and we shall find ease and rest. A returning penitent, though formerly bad, as the worst of men, may, by grace, become as good as the best. To be truly sensible of sin is to sorrow for displeasing God; to be afflicted that He is displeased by us more than that He is displeased with us, your intentions to repentance and the neglect of that soul-saving duty will rise up in judgment against you. Repentance carries with it a divine rhetoric and persuades Christ to forgive multitudes of sins committed against him. Say not to thyself, to-morrow I will repent, for it is thy duty to do it daily. The gospel of grace and salvation is above all doctrines the most dangerous, if it be received in word only by graceless men; if it be not attended with a sensible need of a Saviour and bring them to him; for such men only as have the notion of it, are of all men most miserable for by reason of their knowing more than heathens, this shall be their final portion, that they shall have greater stripes.
IV—Prayer.
Before you enter into prayer, ask thy soul these questions—(1) To what end, O my soul, art thou retiring into this place? Art thou to converse with the Lord in prayer? Is He present? Will He hear thee? Is He merciful? Will He help thee? Is thy business slight, is it not concerning the welfare of thy soul? What words wilt thou use to move Him to compassion? To make thy preparation complete, consider that thou art but dust and ashes; and He the great God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that clothes Himself with light as with a garment, that thou art but a vile sinner, and He is a holy God; that thou art but a poor, crawling worm, and He the omnipotent Creator. In all your prayers forget not to thank the Lord for His mercies. When thou prayest rather let thy heart be without words, rather than thy words without heart. Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer. The spirit of prayer is more precious than thousands of gold and silver. Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan.
Noted Preachers of the Northern Highlands.
Rev. Duncan Campbell, Kiltearn.
KILTEARN had the high privilege of enjoying the Apostolic ministry of the Rev. Thomas Hog in Covenanting times, and in more modern times it enjoyed the ministry of the Rev. Duncan Campbell, a preacher whose labours were signally owned by his Master. Mr Campbell was born at Roroyar, Glenlyon, on the 21st August 1796. At the age of twenty-one he came under the influence of the truth through a sermon preached by the Rev. Robert Findlater, Lawers and Ardeonaig, from Jeremiah viii. 22—”Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” Mr Campbell was licensed at Moulin by the Presbytery of Dunkeld, on 1st March 1832, after he had finished his arts and divinity courses at Edinburgh University. On his licensure to preach the Gospel, he was appointed one of the agents of Perth City Mission. His ordination took place on 23rd January 1834, when he was inducted to the Mission Church of Lawers. In 1837 he was translated to the parliamentary charge of Innerwick, Glenlyon, and on 17th March 1842, he was inducted as minister of the parish of Kiltearn, Ross-shire.
Reference has already been made to his conversion at the age of twenty-one, and the following extract from a letter of his son-in-law, the Rev. John Macpherson, Lairg, is of interest:—”I heard Mr Campbell observe that before his conversion he was as free from gross outward sins as any such person could be, but this made no difference to him; that his unbelief of itself was enough when the truth came to him in demonstration of the Spirit and power. After he was thus convinced of his sin and of his utter helplessness, he was graciously delivered from the spirit of bondage which is unto fear, through these words in the Epistle to the Ephesians—”But God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He has loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved” (Eph. ii. 4, 5).
Both Duncan and his brother David, who succeeded him at Lawers, were greatly beloved by the people of their native place as heralds of the Gospel. As illustrative of this, it is told that while Duncan was a preacher in the City Mission of Perth that on one occasion while
riding from Perth to Glenlyon, news of his approach spread among the harvesters in the fields. They threw down their sickles and followed him to Balnaguard Inn, where he was to rest his horse. Soon a congregation of some hundreds had gathered, and requested him to preach to them. This he willingly did, and many afterwards noted as Christians in Strathay traced the beginning of their new life to the solemn truths they heard that day.
When Mr Campbell began his ministry at Lawers he entered into the labours of Mr Findlater, and some idea of the kind of pasture into which he led his flock may be gleaned from the following texts on which he preached:—”Because of the savour of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth” (Song i. 3); “And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt” (Is. xxvii. 13); “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children” (Is. liv. 13); “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me” (Ez. xxxiii. 7); “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore, with loving kindness, have I drawn thee” (Jer. xxxi. 3); “Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope” (Zech. ix. 12); “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Gen. v. 24); “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. xi. 28); “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” (Luke xii. 32); “And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it” (Luke xix. 41, 42), and so on.
In 1835 he married Margaret, daughter of Dr Macdonald, Ferintosh, and the marriage connection brought the great Apostle of the North to Lawers on several occasions. Mr Campbell’s biographer (the Rev. Duncan Macgregor) gives a vivid description of a sermon preached by Dr Macdonald on one of his visits, from the words—”And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Is. xxxv. 10). “I can remember,” says Mr Macgregor, “the portly figure, the long, glossy satin vest, the cheery, joyous expression of his eye, as he rose in the tent to begin the
service, and scanned the mighty crowd; the eager and breathless expectancy of the people, when the preacher had fairly begun, the masterly analysis of his text, the enunciation of his topics, and how, as the sermon rolled on, the mighty, trumpet-like voice went pealing through the crowd, and the subject stood out in vivid realisation before our very eyes and souls. The body of the sermon was one glowing description of the bright ascent of the ransomed. The far-off land seemed very near. ‘We could almost think we gazed through golden vistas into heaven.’ But at the close he made an appeal to the unsaved which was literally overwhelming. After speaking of the need of a ransom, an atonement, a satisfaction by blood, in consequence of man’s deep guilt, and the spirituality and unchangeableness of God’s law, he showed the impossibility of justification by works, and urged all to accept the glorious righteousness gratuitously offered in the gospel. Then he pointed out the terrible doom of despisers, slowly quoting the words of Heb. x. 26, 27—’There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries’; and suddenly raising his voice, he cried in his very loudest tone—’Agus a chnuimh nach bàsaich gad chagnadh gu siorruidh’ (the worm gnawing for ever)! It was as if a flash of lightning had struck the congregation. The effect was indescribable. Hundreds wept as they sang the parting Psalm—
They shall be brought with gladness great,
And mirth on every side,
Into the palace of the King,
And there they shall abide.”
As already stated, Mr Campbell was translated to Kiltearn in 1842, and spent thirty-two years in that parish, first as parish minister, and then as minister of the Free Church. He faithfully discharged his duties as a true pastor, but there was none of the outstanding blessing following his preaching in Ross-shire that attended it in Perthshire.
As he drew near his end, he spoke much of indwelling sin and his own exceeding vileness. “Oh, when I think of sin,” he was wont to say, “that abominable thing which God hates: my own sins, original and actual, the depth of my spiritual pollution; I feel as if my very flesh would consume.” At other times he would quote the words—”My soul doth melt and drop away, for heaviness and grief,” and again, “Behold I am vile”—”I abhor myself, and repent in dust and
ashes.” But he had a good hope through grace, and if, at times, cast down by abounding iniquity, he had also times when he could say—”Oh, the love of Christ! The blood of Christ! I thank God for Jesus Christ my Lord.” He remarked on one occasion—”Sometimes I cannot say I have full assurance. But I have got one evidence, ‘I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.’ I can—I can say that.” While he loathed himself as a sinner, he magnified Christ and His salvation. “Chief of sinners though I am,” he said, “I believe God will be more glorified in my everlasting salvation through Jesus Christ than in my destruction.” As he drew near the end of the journey, he said to his biographer—”As to my illness I have no will in the matter. I’m wholly resigned to His will. I lie passive in His hands. His will is best. If He will leave me here a little longer, I’m satisfied; if it is His will to take me home, His will be done.” Ere the end came he sent for his elders, and bade them a solemn farewell, and they heard the last words before he stepped into the river—”Jesus—Jesus—Christ crucified—Come with me now through the swellings of Jordan.” So died Duncan Campbell on the 21st day of October 1873.