Misreading the Providences of God

IN the Book of Job we have one of the most remarkable accounts on record of resignation to God’s will in the face of the most desolating and upsetting circumstances that could meet a child of God in this world. It was not a single blow that smote the patriarch but a series, all the more trying as they fell upon him when he was in the midst of abounding prosperity. Bereft of all his possessions and his family snatched from him he stands before us as one who might well call forth our pity. But the Book of Job was not written to awaken pity for a sorely stricken man. Its message is forever of interest to the Church of God. To the careful reader, no doubt, the figure of Job in the midst of the desolation that sweeps around him must of necessity arrest his attention and command his sympathy. But while the narrative sets before us the endurance of one who was faced with a series of calamities that seldom befall the lot of men and a faith that seemed to burn brighter the fiercer the tempest raged yet there is something more in this wonderful book. For in it there is presented to us one of the great mysteries of the providence of God towards His people. The correct solution to a seemingly insoluble problem is answered in the book and the answer is God’s. The book opens with a brief account of the character of Job and his great possessions; this is followed by the appearance of Satan on the scene whom the Lord addresses as follows: “Hast thou considered my servant Job?” This question at once awakens in the mind of the Arch-Enemy his hatred to all who belong

to God and he does not hesitate to say that Job is not disinterested in his integrity. But his evil surmising does not stop there. He boldly asserts that if God, instead of blessing His servant as He has hitherto done, would “put forth His hand and touch all that he hath . . . he will curse thee to thy face.” Satan’s lying charge is to be put to the test and the Church of God in all ages is to witness a contest in which it looks like the suffering one is to be overcome in the tremendous onset. Satan receives permission to begin his attack (he could not touch Job without that permission)—”Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thy hand.” No sooner was permission given than Satan struck with a series of blows that were intended to shake to its foundations the faith of the patriarch in his God and if possible show to men that this faith was a weak and useless thing in the hour of trial. As each messenger came with his doleful news to the patriarch one cannot help picturing him as a giant oak smitten by the storms with such vehemence that it must be torn up by the roots. But the victory is not to be Satan’s—faith is not the weak and worthless thing the Devil would make men believe it is. This heavenly grace is shown us as it weathers the storm, growing stronger, and as it endures the hot furnace, growing brighter and brighter. When the last messenger came with his sad tidings Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshipped saying: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job thus acknowledges that his present position was no worse than when he came into the world; neither was it any worse than when he would leave it as far as possession of the blessings he had enjoyed were concerned. But the patriarch’s words are not the confession of the unbelieving fatalist; there is the acknowledgment that all the gifts he had lost were given him of God—it was the Lord that gave. We make bold to say that failure to emphasise this point in the patriarch’s acknowledgment robs it of much of its beautiful spirit of resignation. Instead of fixing his eyes on what he had lost he turns his eyes to the God from whom he had received all these blessings. Job thus rightly stresses the point that all the blessings we possess in this world come

from God and should we lose any of them or all of them then we have no good ground to complain—at the worst when all is gone we are no worse than when we came into the world. This was Job’s philosophy of life which was never yet taught in any of the devil’s colleges and the assertion of which by the lips of the stricken patriarch must at the first stage of the onset have been peculiarly disconcerting to Satan. There is something truly enobling in the utterance—it was the Lord who gave. God was only taking back what He had given and why should a man with such a view of God complain? There is no murmur, no complaint—any secret tendency, if there was such, was silenced and we hear Job saying: “Blessed be the name of the Lord” and we witness a stricken saint worshipping his God. Satan’s lie concerning Job is thus exposed and the character of the tried one comes unscathed through the terrible ordeal. The attempt so far to damage the reputation of Job has miserably failed—”in all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly.” But Satan was not by any means at the end of his resources and in some respects the succeeding onsets were more terrible than the first. Smitten with boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown his wife made to him the terrible suggestion to curse God and die. Satan’s subtlety is seen here in the choice of the instrument he makes use of and his selection of Job’s condition labouring under sore bodily affliction as he was. Then his friends hearing of his sad plight came to mourn with him and to comfort him. His lamentable condition moved them deeply—”they lifted up their voice and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.” So overcome were they that for seven days and seven nights they spoke not a word to him. We are not to think that this grief was a sham and that its outward manifestations were artificial and hypocritical. Job’s condition evidently was so heart-appealing that they could not look on unmoved. Their silence was in keeping with the sad circumstances and it would have been to their own credit had it continued much longer than it did and also more to Job’s comfort. When they did break the long silence they soon revealed what were their thoughts as they viewed the pitiable condition of their friend. They had got hold of a certain truth in God’s

over-ruling providence, viz., that great sinning is visited by sore punishment and this truth they were to press with remorseless logic utterly regardless as to whether it had any bearing on the particular case before them or not. Job must have committed some extraordinary sin ere these unheard of afflictions could have befallen him. Against this the conscience of Job protested with a vehemence that staggered his friends. This led them to say things about Job that had no foundation in fact and which were the fruits of their own fertile imagination. The tender solicitude for their suffering friend as expressed in their early speeches was soon to give place to words of bitterness and charges unjust and cruel fell from lips that began by blessing and ended in cursing. It was quite true that God does often visit great sinning with severe punishment but they erred in concluding that all affliction is punishment for gross transgression. They fell into the same error as the disciples when they asked their Lord: “Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John ix., 2). A man may be guilty of many things and yet be entirely innocent of certain matters with which he is wrongfully charged. This accounts for such expressions in the Psalms and in the speeches of Job that seem to indicate that the arraigned persons are taking up a position inconsistent with what they are as fallen creatures. When Job said “My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go; my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live,” we have not here the words of a man sheltering himself behind the shield of his self-righteousness but the attitude of one rebutting charges of which he was innocent. Job was no self-righteous hypocrite without any consciousness of manifold transgressions; his speeches make that quite plain. A careful examination and just appreciation of the circumstances will make it quite clear that the righteous are justified in vindicating their integrity when unjust charges are brought against them. At the same time many would be ready to say that Job had the worst of the argument and that his friends left the field as masters of the debate. Such an estimation shows how incapable many are in accepting a plausibly presented case which has one fatal and damaging defect, viz., that is quite false. In this particular case the world would be ready to say that Job was speaking

as a self-righteous man who had no sense of his imperfections; such a verdict, as we have seen, would be monstrously unjust. In the wordy ordeal with his friends Job evidently spoke unadvisedly with his lips at least that seems to be the import of the Lord’s words to him: “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” This divine challenge had a sobering and humbling effect upon Job and accomplished in a moment what the long speeches of his friends utterly failed to do. “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth,” and again, “wherefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes”—such were the confessions that came from the lips of Job when brought face to face with the Holy One of Israel. Job’s friends are now summoned before the bar and God’s sentence must have been very disconcerting to men who probably had in their own imagination made a case against Job so flawless in its logical presentation that it was simply irrefutable. The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite who spoke much: “My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends; for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.” That does not mean that all they said was wrong and false for no one can read these speeches without being impressed with many beautiful and scriptural truths contained in them. But Job’s friends in their lengthy discourses failed utterly to understand that God’s purpose in dealing with Job was entirely different to what they so persistently argued it to be. Job came out of the terrible ordeal after Satan had done his utmost, refined in the furnace of affliction, and he who uttered the words so full of resignation—”The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord”—has the Holy Spirit’s record concerning him: “So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.”

He, who seeth perfectly through all your evils, and knoweth the frame and constitution of your nature, and what is most healthful for your soul, holdeth every cup of affliction to your head, with His own gracious hand. Never believe that your tender-hearted Saviour will mix that cup with one drachm-weight of poison. Drink, then, with the patience of the saints, and the God of patience bless your physic!—Samuel Rutherford.

Salvation is of the Lord.*

A Sermon preached by the Rev. W. C. BURNS
on the death of Rev. ROBERT MURRAY MACCHEYNE.

“Whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them he also glorified.” (Romans viii. 30.)

THE design of the Gospel is to bring many sons unto glory; and in this passage we shall first of all notice that glory to which God’s children are at last brought. Now, we cannot speak at large on this; but we may observe that when God’s people are glorified, they will be delivered from all evil of every kind; and, first, they will be delivered finally, perfectly from all sin. Yes, when they reach glory, there will be a final and an eternal separation between their souls and sin! This is a prominent part of the glory to which they are raised; and those of you who know anything of sin will understand what it is to be delivered from it—to be freed from its very presence—to have its last remains taken away from the soul, and the soul left in the state in which Adam was created, or rather in a higher state—a state of perfection, including in it some graces which unfallen Adam was a stranger to. The soul of the glorified saint will be possessed of all those excellencies which belong to the human nature of Christ. It will be rendered holy as God is holy, and pure as He is pure. The mind which used to be dark will now be full of the light of God’s own Spirit. The conscience will be perfectly free from all deadness. The heart will be entirely purified, and will be centred on God Himself. It will be fixed on God’s excellency—on God as its portion. The will, too, shall then be entirely conformed to the will of Jehovah; and thus the soul will be in all respects conformed to the image of God’s dear Son. The body, also, will be delivered from all evil. The body of a child of God is subject to disease and death in this world, like the bodies of others; but when the glory of God’s children is completed at the last day, it shall be raised up in glory, fashioned like to Christ’s

* The above sermon was preached at St. Peter’s, Dundee, on Sabbath evening, 2nd April, 1843. Many of our readers will recall that it was while Mr. W. C. Burns was supplying the pulpit of his beloved friend, Mr. MacCheyne, that God so signally blessed Mr. Burns’ labours.

glorious body, and shall shine in union with the soul as Christ’s body did on the Mount of Transfiguration, or as it now shines in glory at the right hand of the Majesty on high. This, then, is one part of the glory to be revealed in the saints.

Another and a still higher part of it is, that they shall see Christ as He is. All glory centres in Emmanuel, as the only begotten of the Father, and the brightness of His glory—the Mediator of the New Covenant—the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world—the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who triumphs over all His enemies, and is exalted above all as the Head of His body the Church. This glory of Christ it is the present bliss of God’s children to contemplate by faith, and as in a glass darkly; but when they reach the heights of heaven, they shall see Him face to face, and shall be to all eternity filled with the ineffable view of His glory, and more and more changed into the same image from glory to glory.

The saints, when glorified, shall share also in Christ’s triumph, and reign with Him on His Throne. If we suffer with Him we shall reign with Him. “To him that overcometh I will give,” He says, “to sit with me on my Throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on His Throne.” The saints receive a kingdom—a kingdom that cannot be moved. The redeemed are kings to reign as well as priests to serve, and they shall reign with Christ for ever and ever; and the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them, and shall lead them to living fountains of water, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Now, dear friends, will you notice this little word “He.” “Whom He justified, them He also glorified.” The glory conferred on the saints is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord; and in as far as that glory belongs to the character of His people, and consists in their conformity to the image of Emmanuel, it is God’s work and God’s work alone. It is He that begins the work of grace, and it is He that perfects it. He carries it on mightily and wondrously from step to step, until at last the finishing touch is given to it, and it is set apart as glorious and matchless, to be admired for ever. Ah! how wondrous must be the work of God in the soul of a believer at his departure, when the old man is utterly destroyed, and the soul is left completely and for ever free from

the last remains of sin! This is the doing of the Lord. “Whom He justified, them He also glorified.”

Now there are two great changes noticed here which must precede this glorifying. The one is justification, the other the divine calling. And, first, of Justification. We are here assured that God glorifies none but those whom He has previously justified. Now there are two things implied in justification. The one is that the sinner is made righteous, the other that he is declared to be righteous. Many have got the idea that justification is declaring a sinner to be righteous, and treating him as righteous, though he is not really so. But this is not the case. When God justifies, He makes the sinner righteous, and then declares him to be righteous—declares him to be what he really is. But how then is the sinner made righteous? On what ground is it that he is righteous, and is declared to be so? Not assuredly on the ground of anything in him, or that he has done or can do. No! The law demands perfection, and it will regard nothing else than that perfection which meets its demand. Such perfection can be found nowhere in the world as belonging properly and personally to any man; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; and yet God justifies men, yea He justifies the ungodly! But how? It is by their union to Emmanuel, the Mediator of the New Covenant, the Magnifier of the Law, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, who hath finished transgression and made an end of sin, and brought in an everlasting righteousness, which is unto all and upon all them that believe. This righteousness is the ground—the only, the all-sufficient, the everlasting ground—of a sinner’s justification; and when the sinner is vitally united to Emmanuel, whose work this is, he becomes in the eye of the Law and of the Judge not only righteous, but “the righteousness of God!” and being thus righteous, he is declared by God to be so. Nor let us wonder at this; for the union of believers to Emmanuel is so intimate, that we are said to be members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. Nay it is even compared to the essential and eternal union of the three divine persons in the one undivided glorious Godhead! Now mark again the word “He.” “He justified.” It is God’s work to justify. God alone is judge, and therefore God alone can justify. But when God

justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is God who, in the person of the Son, has wrought out and perfected that righteousness which is the ground of justification; it is God who, in the person of the Holy Spirit, reveals this righteousness to the sinner’s conscience, and leads him to embrace it as his only hope; and it is God the Father who, acting in the character of Judge, and sustaining the glory of the Godhead as injured by the sinner—it is He who imputes this righteousness to the soul, constitutes the sinner “the righteousness of God in Christ,” and declares this wondrous sentence both now within the conscience, and openly to all at the day of final judgment. And mark, again, the connection between the two—justification and future glory. It is intimate, it is inseparable. “Whom He justified, them He also glorified.” None can enter heaven that are not justified. This is contrary to God’s very nature; but it is equally sure that none who are justified can fail to reach the glory to be revealed. The work of Jesus redeems from iniquity: it redeems unto God; and none for whom His blood has been shed, and to whom it is divinely applied, can possibly come short of the inheritance provided for them. If there be a soul now present that is justified—mark, that is justified—not merely that thinks itself to be so—that soul will be glorified. Let earth and hell combine their power, they cannot keep that soul out of heaven.

And then, dear friends, there is to be noticed the other change which is here mentioned as preceding an entrance into glory. This is the “calling” of the sinner. You will mark that this “calling” is not that which Jesus speaks of when He says, “many are called, but few are chosen.” That refers to the outward invitation which is given to all to whom the Gospel comes; but this is that calling which is described as “high,” “heavenly,” and “holy,” by which the soul is turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Without this mighty call of God, Christ would continue despised, the sinner’s heart would remain unchanged, and Satan would retain his dominion. But God puts forth his mighty power. “As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will.” In the days of His flesh, Jesus called whom He would, and they followed Him. The dead in trespasses and sins heard the voice of the Son of

God and lived; and so it is now. He calls the sinner with that power which said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” His call casts out the devil from the heart, so that he can hold it no longer; it breaks the dominion of sin in the soul, slays the enmity of the heart to God, unites the soul to the person of Christ, raises it up with Him from the grave of trespasses and sins, creates within it a holy nature, begets it again unto God to be a kind of first fruits of His creatures, and implants in it all those gracious principles which make it like to God, and render it meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. This is indeed an high and holy calling, and it is a calling inseparably linked to justification. “Whom He called, them He also justified.” We are not indeed to imagine that the work of God quickening the soul is in any way or in any degree the foundation of the sinner’s acceptance—that is Christ’s work alone; but it is by this calling that he is united vitally and eternally to Emmanuel as His righteousness. And not less connected is it with future glory than with justification. That life which God implants in the quickened soul is everlasting life. It cannot die, because Christ is its principle, and the Holy Spirit dwelling in the soul creates and supports it. And this mighty change is to be ascribed to Jehovah alone. It is not the work of the sinner. All that he does is to hate and fight with God until God changes his will by an exertion of omnipotence. It is not the work of ministers, nor of any outward ordinance. These are, indeed, employed as channels, but the power is Jehovah’s; and the very reason why He calls His chosen through such means is to show that the work is wholly His own. The treasure is in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Natural impressions are, indeed, made by particular instruments and particular ordinances; but all these come short of that life which is spiritual, supernatural, and divine. Outward means may embalm the dead, but cannot give them life. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit; and Jehovah is the only author of the new creation, as of the old. We may suppose, indeed, that because we have rendered this change necessary, we can

ourselves effect it. But how vast is the difference between the power to do evil and the power to do good. A little child can easily take away the life of an insect or a worm; but all the creatures of God cannot give back that life when it is gone. Sin has accomplished a ruin which none but Jehovah can repair; the repairing of which in my soul is the greatest wonder of God’s wisdom and power, as well as of His grace and love. Jehovah calls the dead. Jehovah justifies the ungodly. Jehovah glorifies the children of wrath. He calls, He justifies, and then He glorifies; and whom He calls, them He also justifies; whom He justifies, them He also glorifies. The work is His from its beginning to its close; and where He begins, He will carry it on to the day of Jesus Christ.

And now we must retreat a step farther back, that we may reach the cause and fountain of that salvation, whose progress and perfection we have been endeavouring to trace. Whom He did predestinate, them He also called, &c. God worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will, and especially that salvation which is the greatest work accomplished in the history of time. The Mediator was set up from everlasting, and appointed to His glorious work before the foundation of the world. The covenant of redemption in behalf of the Church was made, and help was laid on One mighty to save, even from eternity. Yea, all the means through which men are brought into union with Christ, as well as the Spirit’s own agency by which this is brought to pass, with the glory to which at last the Church is raised—all these were ordained from eternity, and are accomplished in the times appointed of the Father. Here, however, in the words before us, we are specially taught that the particular persons who are called and justified, and at last glorified, were chosen to be so from eternity. “Whom,” it is said, “whom He did predestinate, them He also called.” And this is a truth evidently taught in many places, and one that is implied in every other part of the Gospel. God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. Jacob He freely loves, and Esau He justly hates. And who that knows what salvation is, can doubt that electing love lies at the foundation of it—particular, personal election? Does God call one rather than another, because He finds that soul better disposed than the other? No, surely. The carnal mind is enmity against Him,

and every elect soul hates and fights against God until the will is changed by an act of almighty grace. It is not of works, but of Him that calleth. Who maketh thee to differ, O believer? True it is, you obeyed the call which others resisted; but why did you obey it? The Lord made you willing in a day of His power. And had you not been called in another way than those around you, you would, like them, have been lying at this moment loathsome and condemned in the grave of your trespasses. You came to Christ because the Father drew you. He drew you in the time appointed, because you were one of those who from eternity were given to Jesus; and all that the Father hath given Him shall come to Him. Him also that cometh unto Him, He will in nowise cast out! There is no effectual calling but that which is the act of God’s creating will; there is no justification without that heavenly calling which unites to Emmanuel; and there is no future glory, except for those who are called and justified. All is thus to be traced back to that infinite love which alone has provided salvation, and which fixes upon those who are to partake of this salvation, not for their sakes, but for the glory of Jehovah, as the God of love. Nor can those who are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world fail to reach that glory which is provided for them. Whatever enemies may oppose their entering into heaven—whatever obstacles may stand between them and the glory of God—they cannot but reach it. The purpose of God, according to election, shall stand. Whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Let us now mention a few general inferences from this great subject. 1. How great God’s salvation is!—This salvation takes its rise from the infinite ocean of the Father’s love and compassion—it is purchased at the hands of Divine justice, by the manifestation of God in our nature, and His bearing His people’s sins in His own body on the tree—it is applied by the agency of the Divine Spirit, and it will fill the eternal heavens with the hallelujahs of a great multitude whom no man can number. The scheme of this salvation is the centre of Jehovah’s eternal

counsels—its accomplishment is the great event of time—and its completion will be admired and celebrated throughout eternity. Like God Himself, this salvation is high as heaven, what can we do? deeper than hell, what can we know? the measure thereof is longer than the earth, it is broader than the sea. Oh! thou heir of glory, thou child of God, how little have you known of this salvation! How little have ministers said of it! When we enter heaven, it will seem as if we had never heard of it before. How shall ye escape who despise it—who neglect it? It has been all freely offered to you by Jehovah times without number, and yet you have preferred the world, or self, or sin, before it. Oh! what your loss will be! How awful and how just your condemnation! Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

1. Salvation is of Grace.—Grace reigns in its eternal plan, in its purchase by the blood of Emmanuel, in our effectual calling, in our final glory. It is all free—free electing love, free calling, free justification, and free glory! All is the gift of God! and thus it suits the case of the lost, who have nothing to commend them to God’s love but that they are enemies—nothing that can invite the Spirit but that they are dead—nothing to recommend them to pardon but that they are unrighteous—nothing to give them a title to glory but that they deserve eternal death. It is suited for you, oh! lost sinner, and it is all freely offered to you. You cannot, indeed, know that you are one of God’s elect, but none ever knew this till they came to Jesus. Begin with the freeness of grace, and then consider the sovereignty of it; take the doctrine of the 3rd chapter of the Romans, and when you have been condemned to die, and have received Christ as your righteousness, you will then turn to this chapter, and rejoice to trace all up to God’s eternal electing love, and to say, “I love Him, because He first loved me.”

2. Salvation is infallibly secured to all the seed.—Were it left to the free will of fallen man to determine whether Jesus should reign or not, his whole work would be in vain, because all would reject Him. God has, however, provided against the possibility of this by giving to His Son a chosen people as the fruit of the travail of His soul; and He hath engaged His truth and faithfulness in covenant to His Son, that these shall be gathered unto

Him in due time. Were none elected, none would be saved. The people of God would perish like the world, and Jesus would lose His glory. Let this doctrine humble sinners, but not discourage them. We must attend to the free offers of salvation first; and be assured that him that cometh, Jesus will in nowise cast out. His sovereignty does not limit His love, but shews its greatness. True, He might have saved all, but He does not, and for acting thus He has wise and holy reasons. He will show His wrath as well as make known His mercy. He will manifest His justice in condemning as well as His grace in saving. But remember that all evil is of the creature, all good of the Creator. It is on account of sin, and that alone, that sinners are condemned; and the only reason why all who hear the Gospel are not saved is this, that they will not come to Jesus, but madly reject Him, through enmity, pride, and love of sin.

1. The glory of Salvation belongs to God alone.—It is all of God, and therefore all the glory is His. The love which originated it is His—the righteousness which purchased it is His—the grace which makes it ours is His—the glory to which it leads is His—and, therefore, all the glory belongs to Him. Learn, child of God, to trace all you are by grace, and all you hope to be in glory, back to Jehovah. If He hath called you, give Him the glory—give it to no means—to no instrument—to no effort of your own. It has come to you through human channels, but it has come from Jehovah—it is a fruit of His free, fathomless, eternal love and compassion. Learn this in your own case, and in the case of others. You have lived in a wondrous time, and in a favoured spot. It is exactly four years ago this day since I first met you in this place, and what wonders have been taking place since that time. Many parts of Scotland have been visited of the Holy Spirit in a way unparalleled among us, for at least a hundred years, and this place has not been passed over. How many ministers have preached among you since that time! how many sermons you have heard! with what fulness and power from on high the terrors of the Lord and the unsearchable riches of Christ have been set forth! Who has done all this? who has made this place to differ from others that have not been rained upon? Many among you have been impressed, who, alas! have trampled under foot the Son of God, and have done despite to the Spirit

of Grace; and to such, if they repent not, there remaineth nothing but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour God’s adversaries! But some among you have been saved—some of the young—some of the middle aged—some of the old—a few of the rich—and more of the poor. Not a few have been called and justified, and some are even glorified! Now, to whom does the praise of all this belong? Does it belong to you, O follower of Jesus? Does it belong to those who have preached among you? Ah, no! Salvation is of the Lord. Let no flesh glory in His presence; but he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. The Father sent the Saviour of His free love, and He draws the sinner to Him of the same love. The Saviour is sent, the sinner is drawn, and thus they meet and are united—the sinner is saved, the Saviour is glorified.

And this great truth you ought specially to apply to your present circumstances, as bereaved of a faithful and beloved pastor, who three weeks ago stood in this place in full health, but is now stretched in the newly-closed grave beside us! In a case like his you have all need—yea, the people of God have need—to beware of glorying in men, and to see that, while you recognise the excellencies of his character, you judge by the standard of the sanctuary; seeing that the things which are highly esteemed among men are an abomination in the sight of God. You must separate between what was of the flesh and what was of the Spirit in him; leave the shame of the one to the creature, and give the glory of the other to Jehovah, remembering what is said of Paul—”They glorified God in me.” You must not glory in the man, but glorify God in him. To do the one is idolatry, the most heinous of all sins, and the one which God will most awfully avenge. To do the other is to give to God that revenue which is His alone. Keep these things in remembrance while I bring to your recollection one or two of those genuine excellencies which have struck myself as evidencing the grace of God in your lamented pastor.

(1). He was eminently endowed with natural gifts.—These, indeed, had he remained under sin, might never have remarkably distinguished him in a world where not many of the wise are called, and where the finest powers of intellect and genius are

seen to be so often devoted to the service of Satan; but, when sanctified by grace, they contributed to render him what he was, and what I cannot describe—one of the most amiable, accomplished, and attractive among the children of God, or among the ministers of Christ. But I shall rather dwell on what he was through grace. Many have admired his amiable and engaging character who could see no beauty in that which above all distinguished him, and will distinguish him to all eternity. I do not know—it is remarkable I never asked from him—the early history of God’s work in his soul, but it was easy to observe, and this I was struck with when I first saw him and heard him speak, in a missionary meeting at Glasgow, five years ago, that Christ lived in him. This is the hidden and mysterious fountain of all graces in God’s children. Christ is their life. He liveth in them. From this resulted that evident and constant nearness to Christ which marked his character and shone in his ministry. Christ and His salvation and His love were not with him as with many good theologians and well-informed professors—a collection of doctrines or mere principles—but he realised the presence and rejoiced in the love of a living Emmanuel, dwelling in him as his life. This appeared in him at all times—in private, in the family, in the pulpit, and in his labours from house to house. No one could be with him without feeling that he rejoiced in the presence of a living Saviour; and when he spoke to sinners they could not but feel that he commended them not merely to dead principles or an abstract salvation, but to Him who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last, who was dead and is alive for evermore, and hath the keys of hell and of death. From Christ as his life he was constantly drawing, as he fed on His Word with great delight, and as he waited on Him from hour to hour and from day to day, at His footstool and in His work.

As Christ was his life and lived in him, so he lived not to himself but to Him who died for him. What could you find him engaged in that did not directly concern the work and glory of Emmanuel? It seemed to him as his meat and his drink to labour for Him—vindicating His honour and commanding Him to a perishing world. And in all this he truly seemed, through

grace, to seek Christ’s glory as his end. Alas! we may do much in connection with Christ and His cause, and yet please and exalt self in the whole. “Ye did it not to me,” is a word which will reach many who dream not of it, and consign them to a portion among the enemies of God, when they hoped to be among His friends. We cannot judge the heart; but our dear departed brother seemed peculiarly to have triumphed over that sin which holds so many captive. He rejoiced unfeignedly, and almost equally, in the work of God, as being His alone, whether he or another were the instrument employed in it. I had myself a peculiar opportunity of marking this which I would now allude to for God’s honour. You know that it pleased God, during his absence in 1839, to visit this people with His salvation in a remarkable manner; and doubtless my heart and the hearts of many of you were knit together at such a time in a peculiar degree. Coming back in such circumstances to a people among whom he had been blessed, and whose affections had gathered round him, there was much that met him to excite, and that in the case of one less sanctified would have excited, suspicion and jealousy. And yet, though others might be jealous or suspicious who were less exposed to the temptation, I never on one occasion, even in a look, could say that I discovered such a thing. The imperfections and sins which attached to much that was done at that time, were noticed indeed by others, and by many magnified beyond the truth; but from the first he rejoiced in all that was of God, and gave Him the glory, seeming to leave it to others who had more delight in it, to seek for causes of offence. And indeed, from that day till the last when I parted from him, he acted towards me with an openness and tenderness which rendered his friendship the most endearing that ever I enjoyed, or can almost hope to be a second time favoured with. I record this to the glory of God, because it was one of the greatest trials of his character in public life, and one in which he seemed to be more than conqueror through Him that loved him.

(2). In his ministry, from the very first the sum and centre of his teaching was Jesus Christ and Him crucified. All that he taught either spoke of Him directly, or was taught in connection with Him. He taught the law of God to lead to Jesus

and shew the glory of His work. He dwelt on His glory, personal and mediatorial, His grace, His love, His fulness, His suitableness to the case of every sinner, and His willingness to save. And when he opened up the duties of the children of God, Christ was their example, and Christ their strength, and Christ’s glory their end. He spoke of Jesus with the solemnity and savour of one who knew and adored Him, and with the fulness of an overflowing heart. In this he was a follower of Paul, and of all faithful and successful ministers of Christ. And, as you know, there was no view of Christ which he more dwelt upon than that which is strangest and most opposed to the carnal man, but dearest of all to the true Christian—His obedience and His blood as the surety of God’s Church. He found Christ’s glory in every part of the Bible—in every book, in every page; and from this enlarged acquaintance with the discoveries of Him, of which His Word is full, his exhibitions of Him had a sweet freshness and variety, and were brought before you as newly plucked flowers, fragrant with the dew of God’s grace. In preaching of Christ, his dependence rested solely on the power of the Spirit. He knew from the beginning that men were dead—literally dead—in sins, and that no means could quicken them without the agency of the Holy Ghost. And I think that his impressions of this grand truth became deeper as he advanced in acquaintance with his own heart and with the hearts of others. He, therefore, rejoiced in the Gospel as the ministration of the Spirit, and pleaded incessantly for the promise of the Father. These two truths—justification by the righteousness of Emmanuel, and regeneration by the agency of the Holy Spirit—are, indeed, the very poles of the whole system of revelation; and they were certainly the truths to which all his doctrine pointed, and in which his life as well as his ministry was centred; and thus we may explain his success. Nothing will make up in the ministry of the Gospel, or in the life of an individual soul, for the want of the righteousness of Christ as the foundation of our acceptance. Along with this saving religion lives or dies. Nor will this be retained as a living doctrine, and produce living results, unless equally with it we hold fast the truth that man is dead in sin, and must be created anew by the Holy Ghost, partaking of the power of Christ’s resurrection, as well as the fellowship of His sufferings.

Oh! if these grand foundations of our faith and hope were more fully declared and acted on, saints would be fed, sinners would be gathered, and God would be glorified. In this, as in other things, our departed brother was an example to many, although, let it be remembered, that he is not our standard. He had much to learn, doubtless, in regard to these things, and we are only to follow him as he followed Christ.

(3). Which of you can forget the graces which he displayed in his ministry and in his life? To take an instance, he was eminently faithful. In public, he kept back nothing that he knew to be profitable. He feared not to tell the truth, whosoever it might reach; and his faithfulness was not that which takes refuge in the pulpit, and is overborne by fear or flattery out of it. If there was a difference, he was more faithful to individuals than he was to congregations; and whether in his letters, as some of us know, or in conversation, he would not suffer sin upon another, but was jealous over all with a godly jealousy, seeking to profit rather than to please, and yet to please while he profited, by uniting the most winning openness and tenderness with his fidelity. He was gentle naturally, and yet, as many of you know, he was bold as a lion when the good of souls and the glory of the Lord were at stake. Remember, for instance, the noble part he acted in connection with that fearful sin of Sabbath-breaking in which the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Company persist, in defiance of Jehovah, and under the dark shadow of His coming judgments! I remember also, on one occasion, having followed him when he went in—an unwelcome visitor!—upon a company of young people as they danced in a place not far from this, and I can never forget the awful solemnity with which he warned and entreated them to flee from the wrath to come. Oh! how many of you, how many around you, have a testimony to his faithfulness within you this day, and shall know the awful power of such testimony, when unheeded, in that day when you meet God’s servant at the great white throne! Surely, sinners, backsliders! ye have been warned. Ye are witnesses that God’s servant is free from your blood—ye are witnesses against yourselves, if ye repent not and believe the Gospel!

These are but single examples from among the multitude which his life furnished, and which the memories of many of

you can supply, of the earnestness, fidelity, and zeal, with which he laboured, both among you and in places around, in season and out of season, to bring souls to Jesus, and to guide, direct, and edify those who sought the way to Zion. Were I to mention all the features of his character, I would need to enumerate almost every one which should belong to a minister of Jesus Christ. I shall only, therefore, notice further, that he was a man of prayer—an Enoch, who walked with God, pleading not at set times only, but from hour to hour, for nearer conformity to the image of Jesus, and a saving blessing on his flock and on the world at large. In no respect is our loss greater than in this, that he is no longer allowed to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus as an intercessor for sinners and for the Church of God. He came forth from his closet on many occasions with much of Jehovah’s presence in his soul, and in his countenance. Now he has exchanged the throne of grace for the throne of glory. He has ceased to pray, and has, we doubt not, joined the eternal hallelujah of the redeemed, crying, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain! Salvation unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever!

Those who knew not your beloved pastor may suppose that I have spoken in a manner stronger than was warranted of his graces and labours; but those who knew him will feel that it is not easy to declare all that the Lord had made him; and now, when we look around the Church of our fathers, in this the day when she is placed in the van of the Lord’s army—the post at once of honour and of danger—we cannot easily fix the eye on any one who is in all respects like him, or will fill his place. Our loss is great indeed; but we must remember that the Lord’s grace was great in giving us so much to lose. And though he is gone, and gone from us at a time when he seemed peculiarly needed, it becomes us to be dumb with silence, not opening the mouth, because the Lord hath done it. May his death awaken those for whom his life was spent in vain! May the people of God among you, having seen him bearing the cross, and at last receiving the crown, follow in his footsteps, until you see him again in glory! And may we who are left behind him in the battle-field be faithful unto death, and, like him, receive the crown of life! To God be the glory. Amen.

The Wolf of the Forest.*

By a Brazilian Pastor.

IN the state of Minas I became acquainted with one of the most feared gunmen of the region. Obliged to defend his father’s home from highwaymen, this man became an outlaw and, as row followed row, he got to be the most feared man in that region. His appearance at any place was cause for apprehension and horror; he was charged with many crimes, and was called “The Wolf of the Forest.” While engaged in one adventure of his uncertain and hazardous life, he passed through the district where I lived, and I invited him to come to my house, which he did. He placed his Winchester (rifle) against the wall, and, while waiting for the customary cup of coffee, he with bitterness related to me the episodes of his vagrant, uncertain and restless life, always pursued by the police and by his rank enemies. As a token of his visit I gave him a New Testament, and also a Pilgrim’s Progress.

After a year, more or less, I was surprised by another visit from that “Wolf of the Forest.” He was not carrying his Winchester this time, nor his pistol nor his knife. He told me he had been converted, and he came to deliver himself to the authorities and to be judged by them. His stay in my home was short, and soon I saw him disappear round the corner on his way to the police station. Before we parted, however, he made me promise to wait for him on the day of his trial at the meeting of Barra do Manhaussu for, he said, if he should be absolved, on this same day he would make public profession of his faith, as was his ardent desire to do. But, in case he should not be pardoned, it was his intention then, during his long years of imprisonment, to occupy his time in the evangelization of the criminals.

On the day of the trial I went to wait for the result, as agreed upon, about a mile and a half from the city. To me it seemed

* The above extract is taken from a recently published book—”Through Brazilian Jungle Lands with the Book,” by F. C. Glass. The thousands of Indians still unvisited by any missionary agencies is a loud call to the Christian Church. The story of the conversion of this desperado is an illustration of what God’s Word can do when it is blessed by His Holy Spirit.—Editor.

impossible that he should be absolved; he had committed so many crimes, and was so feared, that only an act of Providence could save him. We spent the time, while waiting, in prayer. The hours dragged on. The night advanced. Near ten o’clock we heard steps approaching. Then a nervous knock. We opened the door. It was he. The court had found extenuating circumstances for his crimes and, taking into consideration that the criminal had delivered himself up voluntarily, and his good deportment during the long months of waiting for the trial, resolved to pardon him.

Free from prison, his great wish was to profess his faith. He was examined; he knew the truth of redemption, and gave proof of being sincerely repentant; and I decided to receive him, and baptize him. When he departed I accompanied him through the yard, and as I bade him goodbye, I felt the fragrance of the near-by forest enveloped us both. I insist it is impossible to estimate the value of the service rendered to Brazil by the Bible Societies, which stand forth sublime and invincible through the regeneration of her sons.

Richard Cameron.*

“LORD, spare the green and take the ripe.” With these words on his lips, Richard Cameron led his small force of Covenanters into battle on a July day three hundred and fifty years ago this week. A month earlier, on the first anniversary of Bothwell Bridge, he had issued, at Sanquhar, the famous Declaration disowning “Charles Stuart, that has been reigning (or rather tyrannising, as we may say) on the Throne of Britain these years bygone.” Charles had forfeited the Crown of Scotland “by his perjury and breach of covenant both to God and his Kirk,” and Cameron, with some twenty followers, solemnly declared “war with such a tyrant and usurper . . .

* The above appeared as one of the leading articles in the “Glasgow Herald” (22nd July) and is reprinted by the kind permission of the editor, Sir Robert Bruce. We have pleasure in presenting it to our readers as coming from one of the most important organs of the provincial press and as showing a sympathy with the Covenanters not too common even in Scottish secular journals.—Editor.

and against all such as have strengthened him, sided with, or anywise acknowledged him in his tyranny.” The King had been a perjured man for some twenty years, for it was in 1660 that he repudiated the subscription to two Covenants which had been extorted from him as a condition of recognition as King of Scots in 1650. Posterity is inclined to regard the royal tyranny and misgovernment as graver crimes than the royal perjury, but Cameron and his disciples were convinced that the tyranny followed logically from the perjury, and they placed it in the forefront of the monarch’s offences.

The little band at Sanquhar and the small body of troops that gathered to the standard of the Covenant believed that, after so many years of suffering, the Day of the Lord was at hand, and that the weak things of this world were about to be chosen to confound the strong. At Ayrsmoss, or Aird’s Moss, this confidence was put to the test, and Providence seemed to be on the side of the big battalions. The Covenanters were hopelessly defeated; Richard Cameron was among “the ripe” who fell, and others of the leaders were reserved for a more cruel death. Cameron was not much over thirty, but hunted men grow old early, and all who followed him into battle looked upon him as ripe for the Master’s Kingdom. His prayer had been granted, and he was preserved from the evils that were to come in the next eight years.

Yet his sacrifice was not in vain. It is likely enough that he, like those who bore his name, would have disapproved of the conditions under which the Revolution brought victory to the Presbyterian cause, but he had his share in that victory. His biographer, the late Principal Herkless, remarked about him that he died, if he did not always live, for civil and religious liberty, and his name is rightly honoured as that of a martyr. Fate has conferred upon him two other distinctions, one, at all events, of which he would have disowned. The title of “Cameronians” as applied to a body of Christian people would have seemed to him to be an undue elevation of the “creature.” The servant’s name should not be given to the Master’s followers. This was the feeling of those who maintained his testimony, but the reverence paid to his memory was so great that, in spite of themselves they had to accept the designation. The other

significance of the term Cameronians is not open to the same objection. From the followers of Richard Cameron, in the summer of 1689, the Earl of Angus and Colonel Cleland formed a company of soldiers. It developed into the famous regiment which has borne for nearly two centuries and a half the name of the minister of the Gospel who fell at Ayrsmoss, and has fought many a stubborn fight for freedom.

My Friend.*

I.

How often I’d longed for a trustworthy friend
On whom at all seasons my heart might depend
Both my joy and my sorrow to share;
But I met with so much disappointment and pain
That I feared all my seeking might prove to be vain
So I nearly gave up in despair.

II.

I was friendless and sad, my heart burdened with grief,
And I knew not to whom I could look for relief
When I heard a voice gentle and calm—
Oh, come unto me, lay thy head on my breast
And I will refresh thee, in me find thy rest
And I’ll ever protect thee from harm.

III.

I will soothe thee in sorrow, will comfort in pain,
Thou never shalt seek my assistance in vain;
Then refuse not my offer of love.
I will heighten thy joy, I will lessen thy woes,
I will guide thee in life in the path thou should’st go
And will safely convey thee above.

* The above beautiful poem was composed by Miss Mary Mackintosh, Mihol, Gairloch, who passed away some years ago. She lived a beautiful Christian life, adorning the doctrine of God her Saviour. When she learned the nature of the deadly trouble with which she was stricken she said to a friend: “I thought my reason would give way but in the midst of my fears and dark forebodings I was calmed with these words: ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting love and with loving kindness have I drawn thee.’ “—Editor.

IV.

I listened with pleasure, so sweet was the voice,
So soothing the tone I could not but rejoice
For I felt that His sayings were true.
And now I well know that He used no deceit
For I’m sure that the hours I have spent at His feet
Are the happiest ever I knew.

V.

He stilleth my passions, He calmeth my fears,
He changeth the aspect of death as it nears
And bids me confide in His love.
He whispers His infinite power to save,
To snatch me at last from the realms of the grave,
To dwell in His presence above.

VI.

In what words can I speak of the worth of my Friend,
Having loved me once, He will love to the end,
Though I oft times forgetful may be.
Every cause of estrangement I’d humbly defy,
So deep and so long, so broad and so high
Is the love that He beareth to me.

VII.

And how can I tell of the deeds He has done,
Of the manner in which my affections He won,
Of His goodness, His kindness, His grace.
I was lost, and He found me; was blind, He gave sight.
My path was a dark one, but He made it light
And brightened the gloomiest place.

VIII.

I was filthy and foul, but He made me quite clean.
And covered with rags for a long time I’d been,
But He gave me a garment to wear.
‘Twas a beautiful robe, no defect could I see
For He made it Himself, then gave it to me
That I might look lovely and fair.

IX.

I had broken the law and was sentenced to die.
I knew I was guilty, had nought to repay,
And my conscience tormented me sore.
When my Friend came in view, showed His hands and
His side,
And told me that once in my stead He had died
That I might have life evermore.

X.

Such then is my Friend, Oh! I wish I could sound
The praise of His name to earth’s uttermost bound,
I would sound it again and again.
Do you ask who it is that hath stilled my complaint?
Oh! listen ye sinners and praise Him ye saints,
It is Jesus, the Saviour of men.