By Professor R. WATTS, D.D., LL.D.
(Continued from p. 61.)
III.
MEN may charge you with inconsistency: you can easily bear up under charges which lie equally against the preaching of the apostles. Preach the Gospel, and leave the mysteries connected with its application to the Spirit of God.
It is, of course, involved in this account of the external call that it is made only in the Gospel. There is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved, than the name which it is your life’s work to proclaim. “How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?” If faith, as the Apostle concludes, cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God—His revealed Word which has been committed to His Church—then, where that Word is unknown there can be no faith and no salvation. This may sound harshly on the ears of some, but the doctrine is in no respect or degree harsher than the stern facts of the heathen world. Those who take exception to it will not be likely to regard the author of the Ecce Homo as an intolerant bigot; and yet he gives utterance to the same truth. “Compare,” says that writer, “the ancient with the modern world, ‘Look on this picture and on that.’ One broad distinction in the characters of men forces itself into prominence. Among all the men of the ancient
heathen world there were scarcely one or two to whom we might venture to apply the epithet ‘holy.’ In other words, there were not more than one or two, if any, who, besides being virtuous in their actions, were possessed with an unaffected enthusiasm of goodness, and besides abstaining from vice, regarded even a vicious thought with abhorrence. Probably no one will deny that in Christian countries this high-toned goodness, which we call holiness, has existed. Few will maintain that it has been exceedingly rare. Perhaps the truth is, that there has scarcely been a town in any Christian country since the time of Christ where a century has passed without exhibiting a character of such elevation, that his mere presence has shamed the bad and made the good better, and has been felt at times as the presence of God Himself. If this be so,” the writer asks, “has Christ failed, or can Christianity die?”—p. 171.
Such is the testimony of one who cannot be charged with any very strong orthodox leanings. His testimony is, that in all the heathen world there have been scarcely one or two, if any, instances of men to whom the epithet “holy” could be applied; whilst, on the other hand, such instances have been common throughout Christendom. This is simply stating our doctrine in other words. To say that the heathen world has furnished no instances of holiness is simply to say that in the wide empire of heathenism, and throughout the duration of its sway, no man has been saved from sin. This witness is true. Men may tell us of the parts taken by the various religions of the world in the education of the race; and may talk as they please about “the Church of the Eternal,” but after all there is the great, the awful fact—no system but one, no name but one, has succeeded in making men holy, or delivering them from the guilt and defilement of sin. The testimony of history, without a dissentient voice, and the present condition of the heathen world, agree in confirming the verdict of the Apostle, “The world by wisdom knew not God.”
This is an awfully momentous truth. It is a truth which has deep significance, not only for those whose hands are occupied
in removing the landmarks by which Christianity is distinguished from heathenism, and who are looking to the heathen world for light to dispel what they are pleased to regard as the darkness of Christendom. For these it has no equivocal lesson. It informs them of the utter folly and hopelessness of the projected alliance. It tells them that the light they seek has never shone on any people, or in any land. It tells them that in looking from Christendom to heathendom, they are looking from the region of light, and life, and holiness, to the region of moral pollution, darkness, and death. To this ecclesiastical eclecticism, with its Gentile aspirationsthis ecclesiasticism which can embrace in its all-comprehending charity all systems except Christianity itself, it says, with an authority which cannot be questioned, “The systems from which ye seek light are the offspring of darkness. They have no balm for a wounded spirit, no relief for a troubled conscience, no fountain of cleansing for sin and uncleanness.” The fearful truth uttered by all history is, that of all the myriad millions who have tarried in the porches of Gentile philosophy, or bathed in the fountains opened by Gentile priests, not one has been made whole!
Such is the verdict of history, and such is the verdict of true philosophy. The philosopher who does not take into account the phenomena of the moral element in man’s constitution, is of course unworthy of the name, and is not to be reasoned with, for the very obvious reason, that he leaves out, not only one of the elements which unquestionably belong to our nature, but the highest, noblest element of allan element whose rightful pre-eminence and supremacy all men acknowledge. When we approach and enquire at this oracle, however, the only response we receive is one fitted to fill us with despair. That oracle, which of all the oracles of nature speaks most authoritatively of the character of God, and of the relations He sustains to us, tells us that we are guilty; and whilst it proclaims our guilt, it refuses to be pacified by repentance, reformation, or sacrifice of ours. Such is the highest revelation which is made to man
through the medium of nature, and the only knowledge it communicates is the knowledge of his degradation and guilt. There is in this fearful fact a lesson for the Rationalists and Sadducees of modern Christendom. It says to both, on the authority of the highest natural medium of revelation known to man, that, so far as human philosophy can discern, man’s case is hopeless. Thus do history, philosophy, and Scripture conspire in the one awful verdict, “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” To this verdict you need not be afraid to apply the criterion “quod semper, quod ubique, et quod ab omnibus.” It is the verdict—the permanent conviction of the human race.
Now, if this verdict be true, it has a lesson for others besides modern Rationalists and Sadducees. It has a lesson for the Church of God. It calls up, as in a vision, the heathen world, and arrays it before her gaze with its unnumbered millions perishing in their sins, without God and without hope. It points to these countless hosts as they tread the death-shade to a hopeless eternity, and, concentrating their dying wail into one deep-toned, thrilling, Macedonian cry, it calls upon those who have tasted of the salvation that is in Christ to rush to the rescue. To hear that cry and respond to that call is the great vocation of the Church of God. Other duties she has, but they are all subordinate to this. The bread of life committed to her trust is for the starving family of man. The commission she bears is not to this or that particular province, but to the entire world.
I have spoken freely, young gentlemen, in regard to what you are to preach; with regard to where you ought to preach, I shall merely ask you to let the momentous fact just stated have that measure of influence in determining your decisions to which its importance entitles it. In deciding this question, look at your native land, but look not at it exclusively. The commission under which you are to go forth as ambassadors embraces Ireland, but it embraces more. The King under whose banners you are to serve owns and reigns over, and sends His Church forth to occupy, the wide harvest
field of this fallen world. You may enter every province of it with the assurance that your Lord and Master is there—there not as a mere king de jure, but as a king de facto, to sustain and encourage you by His presence and power.
The times in which you enter upon the work of the ministry are eventful times. By providences which it were sinful to overlook, the heathen nations have been laid prostrate at the feet of Christendom; and by providences equally patent the waters of the great Euphrates, which have so long nourished and guarded the mystic Babylon, have been dried up. The Church of your fathers has not been blind to these providences of her enthroned Head. Her mission schemes proclaim her a living Church, awake to her Master’s voice. The colonies of Britain, the Empire of India, the cause of Christ on the Continent of Europe, the desolations of the South and West of Ireland, and the lost sheep of the house of Israel, have each a place in her heart, and receive from her membership no equivocal expression of their interest. And even while I speak there is coming up from her laymen, her ministers, and her Presbyteries a cry on behalf of China, which testifies that she is not satisfied with past achievements under her world-embracing commission. Such is the attitude of the Church to which you belong. Her eyes are turned to the entire field, which the Lord of the Harvest has called His Church to reap. She looks out upon the world, but she looks also to her sons, through whom alone, under God, she can hope to take possession of it. And I think it not out of order, in this place, and at this time, to say that her sons have caught her spirit, and given proof of their readiness to respond to her call. Nor do I think it too much to add that, among the many honours to which the senior class of ’67 can justly lay claim, and to which, in after years, its members will look back with satisfaction, this will hold the highest place—that it gave a Missionary to India.
Young gentleman, I shall, in conclusion, merely ask you to read the great commission in the light of the crowding providences of this last half of this wondrous nineteenth century. Read it with the cry of a perishing world ringing in your ears, and in
prospect of the final account, and under the constraining power of the love of Christ go forth and execute it.
Onward, onward, men of heaven!
Bear the Gospel banner high.
Rest not till its light be given
Star of every heathen sky.
Spread it where the Arab stranger
Faints ‘neath Asia’s vertic ray;
Bid the red-brow’d forest ranger
Hail it ere he fades away.
The late Mrs. Sutherland, Edinburgh.
THE death of many worthy men and women has been recorded in our Magazine, and we consider that the memory of the subject of this brief sketch should be perpetuated in our pages. Mrs. Sutherland, who was the daughter of the late William Campbell, our respected Missionary in Wick for many years, ended her earthly pilgrimage in Edinburgh on 25th March at the ripe age of 86 years. Her husband, Mr. Charles Wood Sutherland, school teacher, died 39 years ago, leaving her with seven of a family to battle with the difficult problem of providing for them, but she faced these difficulties heroically with her trust, we believe, in Him who promised to be a father to the fatherless and a husband to the widow, and He did not fail her.
We are not able to say when the great and momentous change, “being born again,” took place, but no one who knew her could for a moment doubt but she was one who truly feared the Lord. Three of her sons served in the Great War, one was killed and another severely wounded. Being much attached to her family, this was a sore trial to her, and in the inscrutable providence of the Lord was the means of totally depriving her of her hearing. What was wonderful and beautiful concerning her was, that though she could not hear a word of what was said
by the preacher, yet her place in the House of God on Sabbath and week days was never vacant. Nothing would prevent her from attending the means, and she would be the first person at the church and often before the door was opened. The last time she attempted to attend she collapsed on the way and had to be helped home. She always marked in her Bible the portion of Scripture spoken from, and it was rather a touching sight to see her wending her way to her bosom friend, the late Mrs. MacIntosh, Westhall Gardens, to give her the text, all that she had of the service. While it was impossible to carry on a conversation with her on any subject, yet being a very intelligent person and a constant reader, she kept herself well posted up in all matters that were taking place in the Free Presbyterian Church, in which she was so greatly interested and to which she was so much attached to the end. Mrs. Sutherland, we believe, was one who wrestled at the throne of grace for the prosperity of the cause of Christ at large. The congregation of Edinburgh has lost not only an esteemed member, but also one who took a deep interest in its spiritual welfare. She has left a fragrant memory behind her to young and old in her constant diligence in waiting upon the Lord in the means of grace, her love to His people, and in her steadfast and constant adherence to His Word in a blacksliding age. The night before she died she insisted on reading herself at family worship, and read the 3rd Psalm and the first chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians. These were the last portions she read of the Book which was her constant companion in life.
The Lord is taking His people home, to all appearance, from the evil which is to come and which may be very near, and they are to be envied who are taken away with clean garments in this adulterous generation. Signs of God’s judgments are clearly seen in that few are raised up in place of those removed.
We desire to extend our sincere sympathy to her daughter who nursed her so lovingly and tenderly, and also to her sons who mourn her loss. May the God of their mother be their covenant God.
N. MacI.