By Rev. D. M. MACDONALD.
IN some respects our present age might be compared to the Restoration period in England when after the return of King Charles II., ordered liberty gave place to general licence and loose living. Morally there are many signs that we are as a generation, becoming more and more reckless in our manner of living. We are responsible beings and under law to God. He has not given us permission to live as we please. The Moral Law has been given to us as a rule of life and it is as binding on us as it was on the Jews who first received it. Many seem to think that it was simply a Jewish Institution and ceased to function with the passing of the Old Testament dispensation, but that is a false assumption.
The world is under the control of chemical and physical laws given by God, and man is under obligation to obey the precepts of Law and Gospel. The Sabbath law seems to be singled out for public attack more than any other because it is one of the strongest bulwarks between us and many forms of evil. When the Jews of old profaned the Lord’s Day they were soon mastered by other sins which frequently brought upon them divine chastisements. This sin was one of the root causes of their national apostasy and seventy years’ captivity in Babylon.
Nehemiah testified boldly against the people of Judah for trafficking with the men of Tyre on the Sabbath, and when the merchants and sellers sought to enter Jerusalem he shut them out warning them at the same time that he would take stern measures against them unless they ceased their Sabbath profanation. His protest was not in vain for they came no more on the Sabbath. In Ezekiel’s time Israel’s crowning sin was a desecration of God’s Holy Day along with a defilement of His sanctuary. This was a sore grief to the prophet for he knew that these sins would not go unpunished.
We regret to say that this sin is becoming a serious menace to the welfare of Britain. Sabbath trading, ‘bus, train, and steamer excursions together with Sabbath sports and amusements are undermining our national prestige. Protests have met with little success and unless the Government will safeguard the Lord’s Day by proper legislation it will very soon become industrialised throughout the country. Our Nation has been a God-honoured one because of its past reverence for God’s Day and Word. The legislators who framed the ancient laws on our Statute Book protecting the Sabbath had a right conception of their duty and knew that our country could not prosper unless we honoured the Fourth Commandment. They thereby laid the foundation of Britain’s greatness.
Multitudes even of religious people have need of being reminded of their solemn obligations to keep the Lord’s Day holy for they are in some respects as guilty as the irreligious classes of abusing the Day of Rest. It is quite a common thing for them to use the day as they like. Joy-rides, excursions, unnecessary visitations, involving absence from God’s house, motoring and hiking call many to the countryside from the public worship of God. The flimsy excuse is advanced that they can worship God in the open and through the works of His hands contrary to the exhortation that we ought not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together to worship God in spirit and in truth. Truly many religious professors have need of repenting of their abuse of this precious gift of God.
An evil practice that is becoming common, especially among the young of our own congregations, is to appear once in God’s House on His Day. They would very soon grumble if they got only one meal on Sabbath for their mortal bodies but to starve their immortal souls is a trifling matter in their eyes. We would warn those who are guilty of this to cease being half-day hearers and to make a good beginning on the first day of the week by seeking God morning and evening in the House of Prayer. It has been well said: “The whole purpose of the Sabbath through the years has found its culmination
and completion in men and women coming apart awhile to worship their Creator and Redeemer. Let us then worship Him in the beauty of holiness. The Father seeketh such to worship Him. In prayer we are occupied with our needs; in thanksgiving we are occupied with our blessings; but in worship we are occupied with Himself.”
During the past few years all kinds of expedients have been entered on to restore National prosperity but no lasting success can be assured till the Nation honours the Lord’s Day as it should. If our Statesmen had a truly conscientious regard for the Sabbath the introduction of many things profaning God’s Day would have been impossible. Both in Church and State we have too many time-servers who are utterly indifferent to the claims of the Day of Rest. Some who profess to have a regard for Sabbath observance base their support of it purely on the ground of expediency and not on the perpetual and binding obligation of the Fourth Commandment. Taking this low ground will never ensure the success of measures to prevent the secularisation of the Day of Rest.
One minister stated in the press that it would be very harsh to deprive poor shopkeepers of the right to trade on Sabbath because of the loss it would cause them! This is an extraordinary argument to use by one who should know that all unnecessary work is forbidden on that Day and this false position is taken up by many who ought in virtue of their office to be out and out defenders of God’s Day. If only the pulpits of our land would ring with denunciations against Sabbath profanation and faithful proclamations of the consequences to individuals and to the nation of abusing the Lord’s Day, we believe, with the blessing of God, a change would take place and the cutting out of all that is useless, worldly, profane, selfish and God-dishonouring on His Day would save the nation’s soul.
The Committee note with satisfaction that on the whole the sobriety of the people is improving. There are various causes for this, among them being the high cost of intoxicating drink,
and the change in the public outlook on temperance. Temperance is looked upon with more favour and commends itself to the people generally more than it did in the past. At the same time, some of the young are being caught in the drink snare even in remote places and they would be well advised to abstain absolutely from intoxicating drink, except for medicinal purposes. It has been reported in the press that the vice of methylated spirit drinking has been replaced in certain quarters by the consumption of surgical spirits.
It is the determined purpose of distillers and brewers to encourage the consumption of drink among our population regardless of the consequences to the consumers. In proof of this we quote the following from a speech delivered by Sir Edgar Sanders, Director of the Brewers’ Society, in Birmingham, some time ago:—”The chief customers of the public house to-day are elderly and middle-aged men. Unless you can attract the younger generation to take the place of the older men there is no doubt that we shall have to face a steadily falling consumption of beer. That is a very serious matter indeed for an industry of this sort. If once we attract a new class of customers we shall see the brewing trade turning round and starting on the ascending scale. We want new customers. We want to get the beer drinking habit instilled into thousands, almost millions, of young men who do not at present know the taste of beer.” This Baachanalian speech shows the insolence, the aims, and objects of the liquor trade.
The annual expenditure on drink is still well over £200,000,000, we believe, and to any person who has the welfare of the country at heart this must be regarded as gross waste and extravagance for a nation with nearly 2,000,000 unemployed. An eminent economist has said that he would like to see our expenditure on drink reduced to nothing at all. “They must,” he went on to observe, “spend their money wisely and not foolishly, and one of the best ways of saving was not to spend money on alcohol. Rather should that money be spent on productive
industry.” Governments are always too ready to consider the claims of vested interests and last year the brewers prevailed on Parliament to reduce the tax on beer when it would have been a hundredfold better had they given this money to purchase adequate milk supplies for the children of the unemployed in our towns and cities. Just think of it, wealthy brewers supported and poor children neglected.
An attempt was made to show that Prohibition in America was causing more deaths through alcoholism than legitimate drinking—an average of 4538 per annum. This figure was proved to be lower than the number of deaths associated with alcohol in Great Britain for the year 1931, which number amounted to 5000. Considering that our population is less than half of America it follows that America under Prohibition has been a great deal better off than we have been under our licence system. Relatively to population Great Britain has had fully double the number of deaths from “Alcoholism” that America has had. This shows that there is much need of controlling very stringently the sale of intoxicating drinks.
Another vice, that has forced the Government to take measures to curb it on account of its debasing and injurious effects on all classes given to it, is gambling, with which is associated betting. A Bill is now passing through Parliament for controlling and regulating betting. There is a prospect that the recommendations of the Royal Commission appointed to deal with this matter will be embodied in the Government Bill which should have a deterring effect in combating this evil but the best way would be to make all public betting illegal.
At a public conference in England it was declared that there are three specific evils which cause infinite harm to society; sexual impurity, gambling, and intemperance. In connection with gambling it was said that the desire to gain something for nothing and the passion for excitement it nourishes are always demoralising and in their worst forms lead to utter corruption of character. One eminent Scottish Judge gave it as his opinion that Bookmaking—that is professional gambling, like,
fortune-telling, should be made an unlawful calling and an English Judge declared that the existence of the bookmaker is an insult to the law.
Our leading newspaper, “The Times,” stated that they were prepared to go a great length in suppressing betting news and tips. This is the right attitude for a great public paper, and if other newspapers would follow this out they would help materially to reduce this growing evil. To bring home to our people and especially to the young the insidiousness of this vice we may give a few concrete particulars about it.
A man gives ten shillings to a Hospital Sweepstake and loses. He may console himself by saying it has gone to the hospital, but in reality that institution has only got $1/10\frac{1}{2}d$ out of it. As charity begins at home rather than in Dublin, if he had given $2/6$ to a local hospital, charity would benefit more and he would be in pocket. Any chance of a prize is infinitesimal; so much so, that each time a ticket is bought the money is as good as lost. The odds against winning any prize, even the smallest, are about 3000 to one, and the odds against one of the big prizes are 100,000 to one. These calculations have been worked out, and the writer goes on to say:—”There is something of illusion in this silly business. While the prize winner stands out clearly in magnified proportion the 100,000 losers are forgotten. The truth is that the least suspicion of a hope is a hopeless exaggeration of that tiniest fraction of a chance which sweepstake promoters and ticket-sellers magnify. It is their interest to do so for they want your money.”
A Dublin writer who knows the facts, says that the last thing he could wish for any of his friends would be that he should win one of the big prizes in the Sweep unless he was a man of the very steadiest character. Yet, even if a man were, the prize might easily spoil his life. This has been the case with some winners. That the position is grave is clearly indicated by the fact that there is a turn-over of almost £400,000,000 per annum in this wretched business. The nation
from the economic standpoint can ill afford this. In addition, the untold miseries connected with this vice are ruining multitudes throughout the country.
Coming to the question of the Cinema, we are glad to observe that one prominent director of these houses of amusement is now opposed definitely to the American control of British screens, the overwhelming predominance of American films with their vile exhibitions of gangster life and brutal scenes, and the predominance of sex and crime appeal pictures, but above all, to the opening of such places on the Lord’s Day. This is very encouraging, that one directly associated with the trade should state publicly the evils connected with it and especially the terribly demoralising effect the opening of such houses on the Lord’s Day will have on the young of our generation. At his own expense he has carried on the campaign against Sabbath cinemas with a fair measure of success and hopes with the help of those who love the Lord’s Day to go on from victory to victory. Part of his appeal to his fellow countrymen on behalf of the Sabbath is as follows:—
“You are not true to your manhood if you surrender to the foreign film-supplier—a possession your forefathers held so dear—a possession that humanity can never replace or provide an equivalent for—a possession that all men should hold sacred. No, we will not allow these people to rob us of it! We will fight for it as one man—with our whole might, strength and intellect. Yes, fight as we have seldom fought before, fight for our children and our children’s children and so make certain that no man shall rob us of our ‘Sunday.’ We wish him every success in his noble work, and our prayer is that the Lord of the Sabbath will support him and raise up others likeminded throughout the nation to combat the forces of evil that are becoming so aggressive.
The Committee view with sorrow the increasing power of Rome in Scotland. Year by year the Roman Catholic Church is becoming more and more arrogant in its claims. This is very evident by the enforcement of the Ne Temere decree in our
land, which means that the marriage of a Protestant and Roman Catholic is not legal unless they are married by a priest. In other words they are not married at all but simply living together. Here is a case in point. It came before one of the Judges in the Court of Session some time ago. The petitioner was granted decree of divorce against his wife. He was a Protestant and she, a Roman Catholic. He hoped that the bride would become a good Protestant in time. They agreed to be married by a Protestant minister and the marriage felicity was unbroken till the arrival of a son. The wife’s relatives raised the question of the particular communion into which the child should be introduced. One day when the family had been there the husband kissed the defender goodbye, on going to work in the afternoon. At tea-time he found the house deserted, the defender and child gone, and a note saying:— “Dear Jim, I have gone for good.” The husband went to her parents’ house. The father came to the doorstep, the defender was somewhere behind and the father, not the wife, said they would require to be married in the Roman Catholic Church. The pursuer’s reply was that they were married already, and he did not desire any priest to govern his house. The Judge remarked that it was only just and right to emphasise the fact that there was no foundation whatever for anyone instilling into the mind of a happy wife that a regular legal ceremony in the Established Church of Scotland was not a sufficient marriage before God and man, or required to be supplemented by any other religious form.
The Ne Temere decree is being used with increasing effect both in England and Scotland in control of mixed marriages, not only to compel submission of a non-Romanist party before marriage but also to disturb the relation of parties to a mixed marriage before Protestant ministers. This was the situation in New Zealand some time ago and it became so intolerable that an Act of Parliament was passed making it an offence to allege that any persons lawfully married are not truly and sufficiently married and that their children are illegitimate.
Roman canon law is now secretly over-riding British law to the great misery of many persons while in the work of discovery of mixed marriages Roman Catholic medical men who are coming over in no inconsiderable number from Ireland, play their part, as they do also in reporting cases of the lapsed.
The shocking thing about this abominable law was its sheer inhumanity and cruelty. It is high time our countrymen were roused up to resist the arrogant claims of Romanist priests who are supplanting the civil law and undermining our civil liberties. Surely Scotsmen are not going to lie low and tamely submit to this state of matters. For the benefit of our people we may here state the doctrine of the Confession of Faith on this important subject:—”It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry who are able with judgment to give their consent: yet it is the duty of Christians to marry only in the Lord. And, therefore, such as profess the true reformed religion should not marry with infidels, Papists or other idolaters, neither should such as are godly be unequally yoked by marrying with such as are notoriously wicked in their life, or maintain damnable heresies.” The Committee would stress the point that Protestants who marry Roman Catholics are storing up a great deal of trouble for themselves.
The 1918 Education Act has proved a veritable gold mine to the Roman Church in Scotland. It has been estimated that it cost something in the region of 20 to 25 million pounds to carry out the provisions in that Act favouring Romanism. That this should be the case in the land of John Knox, Andrew Melville, Samuel Rutherford and the godly Covenants, thousands of whom were persecuted for maintaining Christ’s crown rights and cause, is scarcely believable! Unless something is done speedily they would have the yoke of Rome firmly fixed on the back of Scotland. During the past few years the Church of Rome had been buying up property in town and country and establishing her religious orders there with the result that we had now among us Blackfriars, Greyfriars, and Whitefriars, for the first time
since the Reformation. All these were doing what they could quietly to permeate our social and educational institutions with Romish ideals.
Most of our modern literature is sensational giving very distorted views of life and biasing the minds of readers in favour of ideas that are subversive of Christian morality. In the new morality taught by some of our prominent authors no law is recognized but natural human instincts and the institution of marriage is treated with derision although it is divinely appointed. Divorce should be allowed, they maintain, for many reasons and ought to be a commonplace incident in the lives of men and women. This is pagan morality and if followed out to its logical conclusion would result in a complete disruption of all social relationships. We would warn all to beware of the modern novel.
It is the Christian religion that has made our country great and without it we would be much worse than we are. Some of our largest cities, were it not for Christian influences, might become like the city of Shanghai in China where in the course of a year one hundred bodies of human beings were found lying dead in the streets of the city on an average every day. Thirty-six thousand corpses, of which 34,000 were those of infants, were picked up throughout the year by special collectors sent out every morning. They would be found lying in secluded streets and alleyways, or cast out on garbage heaps on waste land. It is truly the glorious gospel of Christ that has saved many of our towns and cities from being like this.
The world is in a state of unrest. There have been wars, outbreaks, strikes and bitter racial animosities in many different lands, during 1933. All this shows that until the nations give obedience to God’s Word their efforts to come to stable conditions and concord between themselves will prove unavailing.
We have many reasons as a nation and individuals for thankfulness to the Lord, among them being His forbearance with us in the face of many provocations, His goodness in
providence and grace, and the fact that He is still waiting to be gracious. He has not dealt with us according to our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
In conclusion we would urge upon young and old to consider their ways, and like the psalmist, “to turn their feet unto God’s testimonies,” to make haste, and to delay not in keeping His commandments. Our prayer for them is that they may obtain eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Notes of Sermon.
Preached by the Rev. E. MACQUEEN, in St. Jude’s Glasgow,
24th April, 1933.
II.
(Continued from page 51.)
“For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children. That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children. That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments. And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation: a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God” (Psalm lxxviii. 5-8).
(1). Let me notice again that He gave many revelations of His love to them—many revelations of having made choice of them; and the first revelation I would ask you to notice is His words: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore, will I punish you for all your iniquities.” If you are a chosen one, the Lord will have His rod on your back. First of all, the rod of His law, and secondly, the rod of His providence, just like a good father. You will know a loving father; he will not allow his child, or children to go wrong, or grow careless. He will lay the rod on their back. I may say that I see the mark of the
beast coming on this generation by the behaviour of many fathers and mothers, who are supported by some governments and school authorities. They think the rod should not be used in correction. You will find a fool of a mother going to the schoolmaster and shouting: “Did you strap my child?” He must be brought before the school authority. That is just breaking down all law and order and making those youngsters to be the masters. One reason why an idolatrous generation is up in arms against true religion, is because it punishes their children for wrong doing. Therefore they manufacture a new religion for themselves, and for those whom they think such beautiful children; children, according to them, who have never sinned and have had no connection with Adam at all. They were born good, and have no necessity for the New Birth. From the gospel which they read, God and the New Birth are ousted entirely. My friends, it is not a gospel at all, but just a hotch-potch of something else that is so prevalent in our midst to-day.
(2). Next I would point out that He shows His love to His people by giving them the sacraments. That night long ago in Egypt the blood was put on the two door-posts and the lintel, and the people were given to feed on the Passover Lamb. That which typified—”the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” Oh! my friends, did you not see a mark of the Saviour’s love when you saw that Table spread, and the symbols of the broken body and shed blood of the Lord of Glory on that Table. It was a seal, a mark of God’s love to poor sinners in this congregation. Not only has He given them that mark, He has given them another mark. What was, or is that mark? It was separateness. The poor Jews are still seeking for the Messiah to come. I suppose that if you were to go among the children of Abraham, according to the flesh, in the city of Glasgow, you would find that they have the outward mark of circumcision in the flesh. That mark shows that they were cut away from every other nation, and they were accepting the Most
High as their covenant God and they were giving themselves up to Him as His Covenant people. They were separate. We are told! “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.”
II. I proceed to notice next what the Most High gave.
Here we are told: “He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel.” You will find that the Word of God at the time when this Psalm was given to Asaph had not many books. At the same time let us notice how did they look upon these books? Did they, and did the Holy Ghost look upon them as some of the professors in Scotland did, and do? They did not. We do not know all that is being said, because we are away from them now. Some said that some of the books of Moses were a wilderness of weary waste. I remember, even when I was a boy, our minister was getting so frail that he required an assistant or helper as they were sometimes called. The helper had to preach at a certain place which was very outlandish with no road from it for a gig, or cart. A crofter took his horse and put the minister in the saddle, and was just on the verge of setting out for Portree. The minister was anxious to find out from the crofter whether he was having family worship in his home. The man said, “Certainly, I have been born and brought up to keep family worship.” “Do you read all the Books of the Bible?” asked the minister. “Certainly! I read them all,” was the reply. “Well,” said the minister, “I would advise you not to read the Book of Deuteronomy, especially among women and children, there are so many immoral things in the Book of Deuteronomy.” The crofter called: “Come down out of that saddle, and go on your own pins to Portree. A man who says that the Book of Deuteronomy is immoral is not fit to sit on the back of my horse.”
(1). Notice now first of all in regard to God’s testimonies. When a man is giving a testimony he is put on oath. My
friends, the God of Heaven in giving us His Word, has given it on oath, and He has given us the truth, and nothing but the truth. When a man is brought before a judge as a witness; before he gives his evidence he is asked to hold up his right hand and say: “I swear by Almighty God, as I shall have to answer unto God at the great day of judgment, that I will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Here it is brought before us by the Most High Himself, that He established a testimony.
Let us notice His testimony regarding Himself. Look you, my friends, at the five Books of Moses: at the outset we see God as a Creator. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” That is God’s testimony regarding Himself. That He is Creator is very clear. There is nothing hazy there. Any haziness is in human minds. Some people say to me: “Oh! minister, you are too blunt, you ought to go round about things a little.” If I may use the words, “God is not ambiguous.” In all His declarations about Himself as Judge He is very clear. “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return. That unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess.” Is there anything ambiguous there? He brings before us here the testimony of Himself that He is the Covenant God of His people, and their Saviour; as it is written: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.” Is there ambiguity there? There is not. That is a very clear testimony. You know that a will which is drawn up simply is all the better. A testimony or will is made in connection with the death of the testator. If I may so put it, there is nothing clearer in the Word of God, than that the Testator making this testimony was to die Himself, in order that He would seal that testimony in His own blood. Is there ambiguity there?
(2). Notice in the next place that God gives a glorious testimony even in the Books of Moses of the things regarding
“the fall of man.” He is very concise, for God does not require to use many words. In the first chapters of the Book of Genesis you will find an account of the “fall of man.” “God created man, male and female, after His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness,” says our Shorter Catechism. “Being left to the freedom of their own will, they sinned and fell in Adam’s first transgression.” Death and misery followed the trail of man’s sin. Is there ambiguity there? That is a clear testimony revealed all down the ages to this moment. I may say that I feel myself to be in the fourth generation since I began to preach here. I need not say that I cannot see the original congregation of thirty-eight or thirty-nine years ago. But God’s testimony regarding them stands. The time comes for each one to die, even, although there were among them many gracious men and women. For “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
(3). Notice in the third place, that God gave a clear testimony as to how a sinner is to be saved.
First of all, there is the testimony of the ceremonial law; that it was only by the shedding of blood remission could be obtained. Yet it is clearly pointed out that the blood of bulls and of goats could never take away sins. When the Second Person of the adorable Trinity came into the world He said: “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body has thou prepared me.” Though this is a mystery of God, yet it is the testimony of God that by the death of Emmanuel the way for the sinner has been opened. Some would say it was only His humanity which died. Never was His humanity separated from His divinity. It was the Eternal God in human nature, and no other who died, and He died to make reconciliation for the sins of His people. The Father gives clear testimony of Him. “Deliver from going down to the pit: for I have found a ransom.” Let me point out, has it not been established in St. Jude’s that it was by the regeneration of the Holy Ghost, it is possible
for us to embrace Christ. Are we now to put from us the necessity of being “born again,” and the necessity of sanctification? For “without holiness no man shall see the Lord.”
“He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel.”
There were three kinds of law—the ceremonial, which was political. There was also the moral law which took and takes to do with every individual in every age. Men to-day, and many of them in high places, do not believe this. Nelson, when he got the command from the admiral of the fleet, put the glass to his blind eye and carried on and won the battle. Men in high positions in our day when it comes to concerns between God and men, put the glass to the blind eye but never win any battles for good. They rob God of what belongs to Him. They give God’s property to men. Are we not as a nation immoral? There is the ceremonial law, and there is the moral law. People may say what they like and think as they please, but they cannot get away from the moral law. The moral law takes to do with you. You may be unconscious of the moral law, but it is a truth: man cannot get away from the moral law, either in time or eternity. Angels high in glory cannot get away from it and as angels cannot get away from it neither can you or I. God has appointed laws, and they will be to the end of the world, and throughout eternity. Yes! the moral law will meet the soul in a lost eternity, but the Almighty has appointed another law, the law of the gospel. Oh! blessed be the name of God for ever for the law of the gospel. “Ah! minister,” someone may say, “now in that connection you are wrong altogether, what’s happened when you call the gospel a law?” Yes! and if you were more of a theologian than you are an Arminian you would see that the Apostle Paul calls the gospel a law, and it is a Law of all laws. And where is the gospel called a law? In the eighth chapter of the epistle to the Romans, there he speaks of two laws, (1) “the law of sin and death;” (2) he speaks again of “the
law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.” That is the law of the everlasting gospel. Blessed be the name of the Lord. God has appointed these laws and given them to us, and has given them to His Church. Whatever may become of some of us before we leave the world we cannot deny but that we felt the power of the Lord Jesus delivering us from the law of sin and death.
III. We will now consider the charge God gave.
“And charged our fathers it to show to their succeeding race.” I know and acknowledge before the Most High His protection and goodness, and I put it to your own hearts, that although the Almighty has been so good to you, do you when you rise in the morning, commend Him? Do you speak of His laws at your work, and when you come home for your meals? “Ah!” you will say, “that is really too much.” Yes! it is too much for the carnal man. Most people are ashamed to be seen going to Church with a Bible or going to Church at all. Are you ashamed of the Bible? Most of the people to-day in Scotland are ashamed of Presbyterianism. You see how the Church of Scotland is going over to Episcopacy. Oh! Scotland, Scotland, what—hast thou come to be ashamed of Presbyterianism? Ashamed of the clear testimony of the God of Heaven. Ashamed of the religion for which John Knox contended. Ashamed of the things for which Alexander Henderson and men like him suffered so many years ago. “Ah! yes, minister,” you will be saying, “but it’s fine to see a minister dressed with a beautiful white gown, instead of your dull black coats.” Ah! yes! for the carnal mind it is fine to have a man dressed like that going up to the altar, having the collection sanctified and all the rest of it. “Fine! fine!” you say. Poor Elders! Poor Elders of the Church of Scotland! they are going in with their eyes open to what is not the clear testimony of the God of Heaven. Can you find Episcopalianism in the Word of God? You cannot.
One of the many reasons why the Church of England is as it is to-day, is because Henry the Eighth wanted to be Pope himself. As far as the Episcopalians are concerned the majority of them in our day, with their bishops and priests, are Roman Catholics. And we know ourselves that there are many in the Church of Scotland as popish as the Episcopalians in the Church of England.
“His testimony and His law
in Israel He did place,
And charged our fathers it to show
to their succeeding race.”
I was born of Presbyterian parents. I am not ashamed, of it, and I hope I will die a Free Presbyterian. I hope to be enabled as long as I live to hold up the banner of Presbyterianism. I am not a prophet, but I believe the day is not far off, when there will be a big union and a Bill brought before Parliament appealing that there be only one Church. Black outlook for Presbyterianism! Are you charging your sons and daughters to read the Bible? Are you charging your young men with God’s testimony? Do you pray? Do you keep to God’s Word? Are you walking in the testimony of the Lord, in that way which God has pointed out to you? You may think that you can get rid of God’s testimony and God’s law. You never can. He charged our fathers and their succeeding race, for the reason that the children might set their hope in God. I was about five months living in England and I went to an Episcopalian Church. Between the bowing and responses and everything I saw and heard, my brain was reeling, so that I would be saying to myself: “I wish I could get out without being seen.” At one time the minister (or should I say the priest) cried out: “The Lord be with you, the Lord cause His face to shine upon you!” Then the congregation would respond “and be with your spirit,” and commence bowing. That my friends, and things like that, is that which is wooing the hearts of so many of the poor Presbyterians of the Church of Scotland.
“Charged our fathers.” Why? “That they might set their hope in God.” If there is one thing required more than another in this day, it is that you set your hope in God. “What are you to do this Communion Monday?” I believe God is saying to us!
“Set your hope in God,
and suffer not to fall
His mighty works out of your mind,
but keep His precepts all.”
And be not like the fathers in the days of Asaph, “a stiff rebellious race.”
Dear friends, in conclusion, some of us are nearing the end of our journey. Death has taken away your former minister, and now by the goodness of God you have got another. Be attentive on the means of grace, to the testimony and laws of God.
“Set your hope in God,
and suffer not to fall
His mighty works out of your mind,
but keep His precepts all.”
Keep to Presbyterianism, not because it is Presbyterianism, but because it is the clear testimony of God. Presbyterianism is based on God’s Word. It is founded on God’s law. You keep to it.
The late Mr. Alex. Mackenzie, Elder, Dingwall.
ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, our late elder, passed to his rest on Saturday, the 27th day of January, 1934, at the age of 80 years. He was born at Ardessie, Little Lochbroom, and was to trade a shipwright. Owing to his trade and family circumstances, he settled down in early life for a period in Glasgow, where he enjoyed God’s appointed means of grace, for a time, in St. Jude’s Church. On account of his trade, he was a good deal abroad, on ships, and also on yachts in
home waters, during the summer seasons. Latterly, he settled down near Dingwall and then in the town itself, where he was a most helpful and conscientious elder in the congregation.
Of Alexander Mackenzie, it could be said that the spirit and substance of the 84th Psalm was in his soul. The place of God’s honour was lovely to him. He loved God’s Word, God’s Day, God’s Cause. It grieved him to the heart to see, and know of, all forms of Sabbath-breaking. On one occasion, he reproved boys who were amusing themselves on the Lord’s Day on the street. They watched him until a suitable opportunity was got, and running behind him, knocked off his hat into the roadway. Such occurrences may seem of light moment to thoughtless boys and young men, but these misdeeds and the spirit of revenge following reproof are but scabs of the moral leprosy and malice within which shows itself in these outbreaks. The disease of immorality rages within, and will do so eternally, unless repentance and divine mercy reach such miserable souls. He had the blessing of such as are hated and reviled for righteousness’ sake. “Great is your reward in heaven.”
He had internal trouble some years ago from which he recovered to a great extent, in the good providence of the Lord. About August of last year, he fell ill again. Complications set in, and it could be seen that the tabernacle was coming down apace. He suffered much, and it was repeatedly thought that one of the severe turns which came upon him would mean his end. He was spared, however, until the 27th of January, as mentioned already. His fellow-elders and others were most mindful of him when on his deathbed—also ministers who could spare the time to visit him when passing through. He was beloved in the congregation for his modesty, humility and gracious Christian character and consistency. We miss him much in Dingwall. He has been taken home to be with Christ, which is far better. His remains lie near
those of the late John Maciver, Scorraig—his brother in the Lord—in Dundonell Cemetery, until Christ come the second time. With his daughter, who attended upon him devotedly to the end, and with the other members of his family, we sincerely sympathise. May they follow his faith, and consider the end of his conversation!—D. A. MacF.
The late Mr. Simon Campbell, Beauly.
THE late Simon Campbell, who died in Beauly, in November of 1932, was an Israelite indeed in whom was no guile. He was brother-in-law to Alexander Mackenzie, of whom we have just been writing. They were both exemplary in their lives, alive to the plague within, rejoicing in the remedy, fearing God and eschewing evil, yet how greatly they differed from one another in characteristics and temperament! Simon Campbell was, after a manner, an exposition of the word, “Happy art thou, O Israel!” He was happy in being allowed of the Lord to attend His house at all!—and doubtless the Lord of the house gave him from time to time that meat to eat which the world knoweth not of. He could neither read the Gaelic nor the English Bible, but the word dwelt richly in him for all that. The gospel that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth from all sin, made Simon Campbell happy. “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice,” was no burdensome appeal to Simon, although he was not ignorant of Satan’s fiery darts and his own stoniness. He suffered long and patiently in his closing days, and was lovingly cared for. He had little to say of himself, at least in the way of complaint, when one visited him. He had such a lengthy mental list of friends whom he longed to know of that one might think he scarcely was weak and ill at all. To be in the company of the brethren, to be able to go to the house of God or to a Communion was Simon’s
heaven upon earth. Had this aged Israelite lived in Judah’s land in Old Testament times, he would have been among the foremost to be up at the holy feasts thrice in the year. He would not have felt the command grievous although a cypher were added to the figure three, for going up every year to Jerusalem, “to God’s name thanks to pay.”
We need not remark much on the details of his life in the world. He belonged to Scorraig—was by occupation a shepherd, went to the Falkland Isles, and fled from them on account of unnecessary Sabbath-work—finally came to reside in Beauly and died at the age of 76 years.
Mr. Samuel Fraser, elder, wrote to me at the time:—”Dear old Simon Campbell passed away to his eternal rest on Sabbath morning at 5 a.m. (i.e., 13th November). What a Sabbath it would have been for him! . . . The funeral is to take place . . . to the Urray Cemetery. Rev. Mr. Macqueen is expected to be present, and Rev. D. J. Matheson may be there also . . . .” A number of the brethren were able to be present at his burial, and is not Simon Campbell among Christ’s “kings,” for that he did good in Israel, both toward God and toward His house?
May the Lord deal bountifully with the household of this worthy man that they may be with him when the former things are passed away!—D. A. MacF.