Sermon

PREACHED BY THE REV. JAMES A. TALLACH, LONDON.

“Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him.”—Psalm cv., 19.

TO the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. Even trial, when rightly understood, can be meat and drink to the household of faith. There is a desire in every believer’s heart for the sweet comforts, the pleasant feelings, the joyous emotions of the Gospel; and no one likes trial for its own sake. Nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby. The growing children of God require such food, food fitted for the stern realities of the battlefield rather than the ease and security of the nursery. Strong food, well adapted to produce valiant defenders of the faith, who are called upon to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Do not be surprised, believer, if you are for a time put upon a diet of affliction. Trial for righteousness sake is a truer mark of future glory than pleasant feelings, in that it is more akin to the Cross—and “if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Moreover, trial is necessary, necessary to the proving of faithfulness, to the development of Christian character, to the confirming and establishing in the faith. Trial purifies, weans from creature confidence; teaching that hardly-learned lesson, “Cursed is he that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm.” It issues in this blessed condition of mind, “My soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him.”

Not only must we be prepared to endure trial without resentment, but we must learn to profit by it. If we do not profit by our trials then they fail of their very purpose, and we loose much thereby, besides exposing ourselves to more severe and searching visitations of God’s judgment. If we persist in being like the horse and mule we may expect to be treated with bit and bridle. Scripture when searched is found to be peculiarly rich in providing us with examples of godliness tried in the fire. We do well to study carefully these examples for our guidance and comfort. Joseph is one of those examples. Let us notice (I.) The source

of Joseph’s trial: (II.) The nature of it; (III.) Some lessons to be learnt.

I. The source of Joseph’s trial is briefly stated here to have been the Word of the Lord. (a) No doubt, as a young Hebrew born of pious parents, Joseph would have learned much of the revealed will of God from his parents and acquaintances; but the special reference here is doubtless to those visions which he had seen in his youth. You remember God had twice visited him in his slumbers with remarkable dreams. The first was a representation of the harvest field, in which, while his sheaf stood upright, the sheaves of his brethren bowed and did obeisance to it. The second showed him sun and moon and the eleven stars doing homage unto him. These dreams were more than mere fancy to Joseph. They conveyed to him a direct and definite message—a message of prophecy. Even Jacob and his other sons understood the meaning, although they hardly guessed the divine significance of them. But Joseph himself recognised them as the infallible word of truth to him—the Word of the Lord, and nothing else, containing a promise of future eminence for himself. Now Joseph had not asked for this supremacy nor for the promise of it. It was given freely of God. But what long, weary years intervened between its reception and its fulfilment! The Word of the Lord tried him.

The Word of the Lord to-day conveys the promise of high destiny to each subject of grace. They are all children of God and heirs with Christ. Heirs of a glorious inheritance; destined to occupy cities, mansions, and thrones, the glory of which puts completely in the shade the pomp and circumstance of earthly kings and princes. On this point the Word of God is no mere fancy, it is a definite promise, a certain prophecy. Yet it is all of grace; the promise and the inheritance are both the free gift of God. A gift bestowed, not of right or merit on the part of the recipients, but rather in spite of their unworthiness and sin. Thereby God makes himself freely responsible for the carrying out of what He himself has freely promised. To us that responsibility is pledged in the blood of sacrifice and sealed by the Spirit of truth. But every redeemed soul may expect that, in between the reception of the promise and its fulfilment, a period of trial more or less intense, and more or less prolonged, will certainly intervene. The Word of the Lord freely given will, where it is received, be productive of trial.

Hence do not hastily conclude because everything is not being carried out with respect to yourself as you had planned and expected, that you are all wrong. This principle holds true, not only with respect to the ultimate glory and triumph of Christ’s kingdom and each of His people, but in its own degree it also applies to every promise of temporal good to each individual believer. The point that we must be careful about is that such a promise—referring to temporal good—does indeed apply to us.

(b) The Word of the Lord tried him. Joseph was no doubt tried by the base treachery of his brethren. Their unnatural envy vented itself in binding him and then selling him for a paltry sum of money. He, the younger brother, had every right to look to them for protection: instead they became the very instruments of his banishment from home and all its hallowed associations. But notice it was not so much the ill-usage which he received from his brethren that tried him. What tried him was that, what his brethren had done was, in its tendency, directly contrary to the promise of God to him. That promise contained nothing of treachery and slavery; yet here was he bound helpless, sold as a slave. So far as Joseph could see there was not the faintest resemblance between the terms of that promise and the actual course of events. Was the Word of God wrong then? If not, what was wrong? Something certainly appeared to be wrong. The question contains the germ of the trial.

You who believe in the Word of God and cherish its hopes are often led to ask the question, “What is wrong?” Oh! how often, in these days, do we see power, ecclesiastical and civil, in the hands of unscrupulous, envious, selfish men who, directly contrary to the Word of God, abuse their power, and for the time being God permits them their way. The wicked flourish like a green bay tree and overspread the land. In face of this abused power all you have is a promise, against the fulfilment of which the whole course of events seems to be directed. It is in the cherishing of such a promise that the trial lies. But remember that in face of all earthly power the promise is the Word of the Almighty.

(c) The Word of the Lord tried him. Notice further that Joseph’s trial did not arise from the dishonour cast upon his name when down in Egypt. While he was serving in the house of Potiphar his master’s wife

falsely accused him of a vile intention. Her indictment was only too successful, and Joseph was cast into prison. He knew himself he was innocent, but against the alleged evidence he was helpless. God also knew he was innocent, yet He allowed the false accusation to go unchallenged, and Joseph to suffer the consequences. Public dishonour and shame unjustly cast upon a pure character can be acutely painful. We bitterly resent the casting of an unjust reflection on our honour, a false construction put upon our motives, especially when we have been, like Joseph, most careful to preserve our character unsullied, and this is all our reward. Judged in public, condemned and sentenced; and God is silent; there is no voice from the throne of righteousness and truth. No doubt the mind of Joseph was often concerned about his own reputation as a man and as a godly son of Israel, but notice, it was not there his chief trial lay. He was too noble a character. His trial lay in the fact that all the treatment he received went directly in the teeth of the promise of the Living God. It was the honour, the integrity, of his God that concerned Joseph. His own good name was of importance only in so far as it was bound up with the honour and glory of the name of his God. He realised the power and authority of that Scripture principle, “If when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God” (see II. Peter, xix., 24). Instead of casting the Word of the Lord from him in a spirit of petulance, as so many in like circumstances would have done, and devoting his energies and time to clearing his own name, he rather bore all patiently and humbly and waited on God to vindicate him—God who had promised. He did not wait in vain.

(d) There is a further point to be noticed with reference to the matter. The trial did not result from any consciousness Joseph had of having sinned. No doubt much of the perplexities of Christians do arise from this source. Such was David’s: “Against thee, thee only have I sinned.” There is sin and consequently the prison, with all its attendant miseries. But the blame of such misery and bondage must not be laid upon the Word of God, but upon the sinner’s own folly and wickedness. No wonder the promises of God are frequently spoiled of their comforting power when we deliberately defy the principles upon which they are based; principles not of licentiousness on the part of those cherishing them, but of righteous-

ness and faithfulness. The case we are treating is the very opposite. The Word of the Lord tried Joseph, not because he defied it and disobeyed it, but just because he had been true to it. “How can I do this great evil and sin against God.” But his integrity did not keep him out of prison; yet he could not find the cause of distress in anything he had done, and on that account his trouble becomes all the more unaccountable. Did he then turn against God and charge Him with unfaithfulness to His own freely-given promise? No, he retained the promise, preserved his integrity—and suffered.

Thus the Word of the Lord tried Joseph, and many a Joseph has it tried similarly. There seemed to be an utter contradiction between the clear terms of the promise of God and the progress of events. The more Joseph thought of the matter the more involved the problem became. He still waited on God.

II. Having considered the source from which Joseph’s trial arose, let us now notice the nature of it. (a) It was spiritual. Here we have the case of a young man to whom God had given great and precious promises. He cherished them. They were the Word of God to him. Now it is by the quickening and sustaining power of the Word of God that believers live. They are called from nature to grace, from death to life, from darkness to light, by the powerful operation of the Word of God upon their hearts. That operation and transformation are spiritual, and the life created and sustained is a spiritual existence. So that the Word of God becomes the very life of their souls. The Word of the Lord tried Joseph: that means that the trial was one that affected his spiritual life, affected the very life of his soul; how intense and deep that trial must have been; not easily shaken off, not easily borne, but of that nature which involved his highest interests. How intense is the pain and anxiety occasioned by disease which attacks the seat of physical life. But spiritual life is a much more precious and delicate thing than physical life. How much more difficult then is that anxiety and grief which arise from trial affecting the very life of the soul. Such is that occasioned by the Word of God entering into the life of the soul as a sharp weapon—hence the iron entered into his soul. This is what hides pride from man. Joseph’s trial was spiritual, searching, intense: known to himself alone in a hostile, friendless land. Of earthly things, only the

cold, unsympathetic walls of his prison were witness to his unspeakable anguish. Such branding of spiritual lessons may never be forgotten; not even when subsequently looked back upon from the right hand of Pharaoh’s throne.

(b) The iron entering into his soul doubtless affected each exercise of spirit. His faith was affected. You remember the sneering challenge of his brethren, “We will see what will become of his dreams.” To their own confusion they did live to see; but for the time being at least Joseph’s visions appeared to be but dreams. How often would Joseph in the lonely confinement of his prison find that reflection returning to his mind. Was it all a dream and nothing more? A sweet experience, but a false one? A mere delusion, if for a moment, a happy one? A dream frustrated by the envy and craft of impious brethren and enemies. And if that was a dream merely, then what of my soul itself—its life, its hope, its happiness. If what I have taken to be the word of life to my soul is all a vain fancy, then what of my salvation, what of the sin of my soul, death, eternity, God. By such reflections—known to many a Joseph—what an alarming insight must he have got into the power and workings of unbelief. Never after would he be altogether ignorant of the devices of a tempting devil. Yet through it all his faith held. It would not have been a trial otherwise. There were two forces at work in the breast of Joseph as there are in each believer—truth against error, fact against fiction, faith against unbelief: and by faith Joseph conquered. He throughout the whole perplexing experience clave to his dreams, fed upon them. Oh! how they grew in preciousness the longer and harder he had to fight for them. So is faith purified and strengthened the more it is tried. False faith would long ago have given up the struggle, but true, God-given faith struggles on to life. The Word of the Lord, which he believed in, tried him, and if you believe it, it will try you also.

(c) Those repeated set-backs he received doubtless affected his expectations also, and contributed to his general distress. He left his father’s house with hopes bright; expectations which he probably thought would soon be realised with little or no difficulty. Were they not God’s promise to him. Many a youthful Joseph set out on the life of grace as bravely and hopefully as the son of Jacob. But bitter disillusion came to him first in the pit, then bound to the Midianites’ caravan, until

down in Egypt hope seemed a vain mockery. Perhaps for a time it rose again as he trusted in the butler to bring his case before the Egyptian King, but day succeeded day and no word of release; so neglect gradually starved hope from that source to death. Thus did Joseph experience the increasing bitterness of hope long deferred making his heart sick, and he fell back upon his dreams. He had nothing else. As the darkness increased the nearer he drew to Egypt, the brighter glowed the light in his bosom. The oftener man disappointed him the firmer hold he took upon God. The oftener his own plans miscarried the better he learned to leave all with God. Oh! how increasingly precious were his dreams to him the more impossible they seemed of realisation. Give them up! Not he, never. “We have a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.” So the darker the world is; the more precious does Christ become: the more hopeless the Christian’s expectations when judged by worldly standards, the more necessary does the hope of the Gospel grow. Give it up! You would sooner part with your life. You esteem your dreams, your spiritual memories, your spiritual experiences, you esteem Christ more than your necessary food—even Christ with a prison, Christ with disappointment, Christ with sorrow. The more of disappointment, the longer the prison, the deeper the sorrow; the brighter shines the star of hope. Why, trial and disappointment are well worth while on that account alone. Thus “we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; patience experience; and experience hope.”

(d) But the Word of the Lord tried him. In every believer’s heart there is a deep-rooted love for the Word of God; not a shallow sentimental attachment, but an abiding oneness of mind. A mind enlightened and graciously empowered to close with that God whose beauties are described in His own Word. A God seen and known to be worthy of love and the full trust which is essential to true love. Here we get Joseph loving God’s Word for the message it brings to his heart. A love deep, sincere, and trusting, finding its satisfaction in the glorious fulness of the love of an infinite Saviour, who had promised. But into this harmony of a soul at one with his Maker there enters the serpent of sus-

picion, of doubt, distrust. The Word of the Lord whom he loved tried him. This doubt arose from the whole course of events relative to his imprisonment. Was that God worthy of love, was His promise worthy of trust, who could permit this child of His to be the victim of such foul plots? Has his mercy clean gone for ever, fails His Word evermore? Did Joseph’s love wither and die? Was the poison of suspicion fatally successful? Nay, there is a quality of endurance in true spiritual love which defies all mistrust. However contradictory the testimony of circumstantial evidence may be, however dark the present, however gloomy the future; in the darkness and gloom God speaks—His Word is sure and speaks to the heart. And oh! how precious does the object loved become according to the intensity of the struggle we have to retain it. It is in such fires as these that the gold is purified and the dross is burned up. While we are never to court trial, yet where true love to God is, we need not fear it. Trial never yet burned the image of Christ out of any gracious heart.

(e) There is, however, one feature of this trial which must not be overlooked. It affected the life of his soul, tried his faith, proved his hope and tested his love, but it was limited, measured—until the time. There was a time set, when that time came, the trial ended. Until the time that His word came—the word of release, of liberty, of realisation. That word which released his soul, confirmed his faith, exceeded his expectations, and satisfied his heart. “And Joseph knew his brethren . . . and Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them . . . and he turned himself about from them and wept.” In such cases tears are a better indication of relief than laughter, they are tears of joy, of a holy joy inexpressibly sweet, the joy of a glorified Redeemer: the joy of the glorified redeemed.

According to the particular blessing He has in view for you, God has measured your trials. The time is set, the boundaries are marked. The time may be long to you, it is not longer than God: the boundaries may be wide to you, they are not wider than God. The pain may be severe and deep; it’s not deeper than the love of God. Outside of those boundaries of time, space, and intensity; hell and earth, in evil combination, will not touch a hair of your head.

III. There are many lessons to be learned from such considerations. Among others: (a) It appears very evi-

dent that “God’s ways are not our ways nor His thoughts our thoughts.” We are so ignorant, yet think ourselves so wise. Man sees such a little way ahead, and he thinks he sees so far. He knows so little of God, and he thinks he knows so much. Hence before we can learn anything aright we must first be taught that we know nothing. That we are nothing. O sinner, learn this, that it becomes you at all times to bow in absolute and unquestioning submission before the will of a Sovereign God. That God to whom alone belongs power, wisdom, and honour. Who alone claims absolute independence as His right. Who, although He promises, always reserves the right of appointing the times, prescribing the means, and arranging the circumstances by which His promise is carried out; the object in all He appoints being twofold. That man, even gracious man, may be humbled in the dust under a deep and continuous sense of his own utter helplessness; and that God may be glorified as the wonder-working Jehovah for every promise He gives and fulfils.

(b) We learn that the Word of the Lord is to be trusted for its own sake alone. Vain man looks for signs and wonders; we expect sensible evidences to back up our faith; if these are lacking we become faithless. But God’s promise is to be trusted when all sensible, circumstantial, and incidental evidences point directly against its fulfilment. O, you say, if only this or that circumstance were more favourable to me I would find it so much easier to believe. Well, the less of that kind of faith you have the better it will be for you when you stand before the Great White Throne; when the Word of God will be the only standard of righteousness. It is only as the result of severe discipline that we learn habitually to trust the Word of God, when it brings no sensible joy, no present comfort, and when the prospect itself is utterly discouraging to reason. For wise reasons God sees such discipline to be necessary to teach us, and to encourage us in the exercise of true saving faith, which endures to the end as seeing Him who is invisible. Faith relying upon a promise which does not need signs and wonders to prove its truth. The greatest wonder is, and the strongest sign is, “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Let that suffice.

(c) Of course the most evident lesson is that, as a matter of fact, there is nothing contradictory between the revealed Word and promise of God and the actual

course of events in the world. In the case of Joseph the issue proved this. The day did come when Joseph stood in the midst of his brethren, and they bowed and did obeisance to him. And each incident, however small and however contrary to expectation, supplied its own contribution to the complete fulfilment of the promise. Joseph saw it all now just as God had seen it all from the beginning. You, poor, tried believer, will also see it all when the time comes, even as your God sees it all now. But until that time comes the Word of the Lord will try you, test you, and prove you. “Blessed are they who have not seen yet have believed.”

The Late Mr A. MacAskill, Missionary, Braes, Portree.

OUR late worthy missionary, Mr A. Macaskill, Braes, was a native of North Uist, and was born there about 73 years ago. His mother was a sister of the late Rev. D. Macdonald, Sheildaig, the fragrance of whose life and preaching shall long remain in the Church. He seems to have had serious impressions when quite young, but it was through the instrumentality of the late Rev. Mr McLellan, at one time minister of Clachan, that he became savingly acquainted with the adorable Saviour of the lost. For this servant of Christ he cherished the greatest regard.

The passage that gave him relief when under conviction of sin was John iii., 16: “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” At this time the love of Christ took possession of his soul, and ever afterwards he delighted to dwell on the love of the Saviour for lost sinners.

He took a worthy part in serving the old Free Church, we believe, but when that body forsook her original principles he could not longer stay in her, and followed his venerable uncle in the stand he made for the truth, along with his beloved friend, the late Rev. D. Macfarlane, Dingwall. He never regretted this step, and was a strong support to the Free Presbyterian congregation in North Uist.

Over nine years ago he agreed to become missionary in the Braes section of Portree congregation, and dis-

charged the duties of his office faithfully to the end. He was thoroughly conscientious in everything, and could be depended on to fulfil any duty entrusted to him. His services were highly appreciated, and he was greatly respected by all who knew him.

After the death of Mr Neil Mackinnon, who was a tower of strength to the Free Presbyterian Church in Skye, the association of Mr Macaskill with the Portree congregation was a great source of help in ruling and administering ordinances.

The children of God are not ignorant of Satan’s devices, and there were some temptations which gave our friend great trouble. On one occasion he was at the death-bed of an ungodly man, whose conscience was awakened. After going home he went to the barn to pray, and on opening the door he saw before him the image of the dying man in the article of death—a terrible vision. Although a strong-minded man, he felt as if the hairs of his head stood on end, but the Lord came to his help with these words: “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.” His fears disappeared immediately, and he felt as if he could stay there all night. He regarded this as an attempt by Satan to prevent him from praying in the dark, for if he had succumbed to his fears at this time it would be long before he could pray in the dark again. No doubt the Devil had other objects in view by this attack.

At another time Satan accused him of having committed the unpardonable sin—the sin against the Holy Ghost. He very often assaults God’s people with this temptation, his purpose being to lead them to despair. When relief came from this trial it was accompanied by a most precious assurance of his sin being pardoned through the blood of Jesus; and this sweet season he never forgot.

He loved the whole of God’s Word, but seemed to find great comfort in Psalm 25. No doubt he saw some of his own experience depicted there by the inspired psalmist of Israel.

Owing to his health being somewhat indifferent he went to Glasgow a year last winter, and was under treatment in the Western Infirmary for a short time. He was in doubt at times whether he would ever be able to return home, but one day he remarked to a friend who was visiting him often that he was going to return home once more. “I am not yet ready,” he went on to say, “to leave the world. There was a time in my life when my cup was overflowing with the love

of my Redeemer, but now I feel so barren and not yet ready to go to be with Him for ever.” He then wept, and his friend could not refrain from weeping with him.

Although his health was not restored he was able to carry on the duties of his office, and when at Raasay a year last July he passed away suddenly on the Saturday of the Communion. He had spoken with great freedom and unction on the preceding Friday fellowship meeting, so that it came as a great shock to his friends to learn that he had passed away on the following morning, to be for ever, we believe, with his Saviour. Some time previous he said to one who knew him well that his sojourn in this wilderness was drawing to a close, as he now felt loosened from every earthly bond.

Mr Macaskill was married twice, his two wives predeceasing him. Both were a help and comfort to him, especially the first, who was a daughter of the late Malcolm McCorquodale, missionary, North Uist.

It is worthy of note that the only son in this country has succeeded his father as joint missionary in Braes, and is faithfully following his fine example and testimony.

To all the members of his family we extend our deepest sympathy in their great loss, and may his God be their covenant God in Christ Jesus.—D. M. M.

The Late Mr Alexander Gray, Elder, Laig.

ALEXANDER GRAY was born at Culmaily, Laig, Sutherlandshire, on the 27th September, 1843. The writer did not know his mother. His father, Angus Gray, was a man of no ordinary intelligence and of integrity in things pertaining to God and men. This being so, we may safely conclude that he did his duty faithfully in his own family, and that the subject of this short obituary was brought up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

Alexander Gray, like some of the sons of Adam, lived for many years carelessly without God and without hope in the world. The first thing that awakened him out of his spiritual stupor as to the realities of his danger in prospect of death, judgment, and an endless eternity, was a railway accident, in which several of

his fellow-travellers were killed. His conscience challenged him with the fact that if he had been killed he would be immediately in everlasting torment and despair. He was not without true Scripture knowledge of the fact that all who die without repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ are irreparably lost. The writer took notice of his earnest and serious attention to the Word of God in the public services held on a hillside at Laing shortly after the separation of 1893. On a certain evening, during sermon on that hillside, he noticed now and again a spark of dazzling light below Alexander’s face, which resembled the light reflected from a diamond by a ray of the sun striking upon it. What this could be he was anxious to ascertain. After the sermon was finished, and during the singing of the concluding psalm, he noticed this spark again. He watched intently so as if possible to solve the problem. It became evident that this was caused by a ray of the sun striking Alexander’s tears falling from his eyes profusely. The writer came to the conclusion that this was a pouring of the Spirit of grace and supplication upon Alexander, which turned out to be very true in all his after life.

Not many years after the above, on the Saturday of the Communion at Laing, and while the members were receiving tokens at the tent, the writer noticed that Angus Gray had his right hand on Alexander’s shoulder standing some distance from the tent. He heard Angus say to him: “You come before the Session, and they will deal faithfully with you. If they will conclude, after examining you, that you should not go to the Lord’s table, they will tell you so.” So he persuaded him to come. After examination (during which the railway accident was made known) the Moderator asked the elders whether they were satisfied that Alexander should be received as a member in full communion with the Church, they all answered that they were fully satisfied. Angus said with emphasis: “I am fully satisfied also.” On the following Sabbath Alexander was tempted that he should not go to the Lord’s table. When the minister was inviting the members to come to the table he quoted the Scripture: “Let all thy wants lie upon Me,” and this encouraged him to go to the Lord’s table, and to obey the Lord’s command—”This do ye in remembrance of Me.” After he went home from the service he was much tempted by Satan that the words, “Let all thy wants lie upon Me,” were not in the Bible at all. This caused him to be greatly cast

down in his mind. In this state of mind, when dinner was finished, he was asked to return thanks. This he could not take upon himself to do. As they were urging him to do it, his father came to his rescue by saying: “You better leave him alone just now.” Angus Murray also repeated the words: “They that are broken in their hearts and grieved in their minds He healeth, and their painful wounds He tenderly upbinds.” This gave him great relief. These fathers were not ignorant of Satan’s devices, and they well knew that Satan would do all in his power to tempt and harass poor Alexander. In the year 1907 Alexander Gray was elected and ordained an elder in the Free Presbyterian congregation of Laig. To all the duties of his office he attended with diligence, faithfulness, and Christian discretion. He was held in high esteem by all the Lord’s people who had the privilege of knowing him as a man who could be implicitly relied upon in everything. He was a true, steadfast, and an unswerving Free Presbyterian elder, who acted from first to last in strict adherence to the position taken in 1893, and to which position he bound himself at his ordination. The brotherly love which characterised him and his fellow-elders, in which they did abound towards one another, was really exemplary; and none of them exceeded Alexander Gray in this precious grace. But, on the other hand, no one known to the writer had a lower opinion of himself as a sinner than he had. This appeared in many ways, especially when he approached the Lord in prayer. It then became very evident that it was the prayer of the Publican that suited him and not that of the Pharisee—that all his hope was in the mercy of God through the blood of Christ. The same sense of sin and unworthiness appeared when he was called to speak to “the question” on Communion Fridays. Christ and Him crucified was manifestly his sheet anchor within the veil, and “all his hope and confidence were placed in Him alone.”

The following letter which the writer received from him in March, 1925, will show better his spiritual exercises than anything that can be written by another:—”The least I ought to do is to endeavour to acknowledge receipt of your most kind and sympathetic letter. Its first effect on me was to take tears from my eyes. I have to say that I am still where the Son of Man has power to forgive sins. Although I have been finding myself beyond this, I am not like Job on the whole, but I am like him in some things. He said, “if I

say that my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my smart, then Thou scaarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me with visions.” I am even finding myself so much resembling, in my heart and mind, those who will be lost for eternity. Everyone now expects to go to heaven at death, but I realise that heaven for me, and me being unholy, would be to me a more terrible hell than the hell of the lost; for there is nothing my corrupt and sinful nature hates like God and holiness . . . The Most High only knows if I will ever be able to go out again to the means of grace. Oh! how low His cause is in this place—almost out of sight—but what was it the better of myself; with a name to live but being dead. But He will arise and will have mercy yet upon Sion, when the time to favour her is come, the time that He has set.” No one should conclude from the low tone of the above that Alexander Gray’s experience was always at so low an ebb as this. He had rejoicing of heart in his hope of being saved by the Lord Jesus Christ from all the inward corruption of which he so bitterly complains. Like the Apostle Paul, he was wretched on account of sin warring against grace in his members, and like him he could thank God through the Lord Jesus Christ for the hope of eternal salvation—”As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” These experiences are unknown to formal professors of religion, and, therefore, they cannot understand them; but all who are born of water and of the Spirit both know and understand them by their own experience.

It could truly be said of him that he walked in all the commandments of the Lord blamelessly. In words and in all his actions seriousness and watchfulness became manifest to all who knew him. He did truly adorn the Gospel of our Lord in the midst of a perverse and crooked generation. There could not be a more constant and faithful friend than he, and the writer is very conscious of having lost one of his truest friends on earth the day that Alexander entered into the joy of his Lord.

His minister sent us the following appropriate summary of his usefulness in the congregation and to the public concerns of the people in general:—”Very many thanks for your sincere sympathy with my congregation, and with myself, in the great loss we have recently sustained by the removal of Alexander Gray to the rest that remaineth to the people of God. Truly his removal is a real loss, for though he was unable for a year or

more to attend the public services regularly, he was earnestly pleading in private for the advancement of Christ’s cause in these parts and throughout the earth. Though his prayers are now at an end, we believe they will yet be answered. Mr Gray took an active part in public affairs. He was a member of the School Board and of the Parish Council, and an Inspector of Poor for a considerable number of years. He was also Clerk of our Kirk-Session and treasurer of our congregation until two years ago when he resigned. He was a man of a very strong personality—most upright in his dealings with all men—of a very keen intellect and discernment. As a public man he was highly respected by all who came in contact with him, and as a Christian he adorned the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ his Saviour.” All who knew Mr Gray will accept this summary as being a true statement of what he was as regards temporal and spiritual matters.

Mr Gray’s health was not in a robust condition for a considerable number of years before the end came, but he was able to attend the public means of grace with some regularity till within a year of his departure. The health of Mrs Gray became seriously impaired about three years ago. This affected him very much, especially as he was unable, through old age and infirmities, to assist her as he would wish. At the same time he uttered not a murmur concerning the Lord’s dealings in providence towards them; but on the contrary praised Him for His long suffering, goodness, and mercy with which he followed them all their days. Their family attended most dutifully, especially their daughter, on them both. Mr Gray passed away to his everlasting rest on the 12th day of February, 1929. His remains were laid to rest in Laig burying-ground to await the blast of the trumpet on the last day which will awaken all the dead that are in their graves. He will then in his resurrected body and soul enter into the joy of his Lord.

The writer desires to convey his sincere sympathy to Mrs Gray in her loneliness and physical weakness, and to each member of their family. May the Lord enable them by His grace to make choice of the God of their fathers and grandfather as their God and portion.

—N. C.

When one eye is fixed upon our graces, let the other be always fixed upon the God of Grace.—Brooks.

The Teacher’s Daughter.

SOME of our readers may remember reading a tract under this title, which was printed in the Magazine some years ago. The late Miss Jessie Russell, Inverness, so well know to a number of our ministers and people, when on her death-bed expressed a wish that the tract should be sent to the Editor of the Magazine for publication in its pages. After her death the tract could not be found, as it had gone amissing, but it was ultimately found in a book and sent to the Editor for publication. The next part of the story is unfolded in a letter which we received the other month from a Dutch reader of the Magazine in the U.S.A.—

Dear Friend,—I am enclosing one dollar for another year’s subscription to the “Free Presbyterian Magazine.” I enjoy very much its pithy articles, and I have some hope that it has been a means of spiritual blessing for me, especially those articles of the “Teacher’s Daughter.” While reading and re-reading them I obtained such free and open access to the throne of grace and such courage, yes, I would almost say boldness, to cling and cleave unto Christ as I had never been able to do before; also have I experienced a peace of mind as never before. Since that time I have made public confession of faith in the Christian Reformed Church, and been admitted to the Lord’s Holy Supper, also there I might be cleaving to Christ during the last administration. How hard a lesson it is to learn, “This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.” I have for almost 20 years been pleading God’s promises, often wrestling earnestly in prayer. But never in all those years (I am now 40 years) could I realise that God’s grace was so free and so great as I see it now. I wish to relate this to the honour of the triune God and to encourage you in your work. I also have been encouraged to keep on seeking and praying, though doubts will still arise at times whether it was true saving grace. But I sometimes think “if I perish it will be at his door facing him.”

Hoping that through God’s grace you may be enabled to bear much fruit. I remain, dear friend, sincerely yours—Wm. Van Drunen, jun.