I.
IN writing the History of the Free Presbyterian Church there was a number of matters which, owing to the lack of space, could not be dealt with at the length which their interest and importance demanded. Among these was the history of our South African Mission. The beginning of the Mission gave no indication how it was to grow in a few years under the blessing of the Most High. It was about ten years after the formation of the Church that two coloured young men appeared in Edinburgh—M. F. Saki and John B. Radasi. As to their conversion we have no account on record; neither have we much knowledge of their antecedents. It is true, that Mr. Radasi in a letter refers to his father, who was a retired government pensioner, lamenting on his death-bed the innovations in worship introduced by modern churchmen into the South African churches.
*This sketch of the history of the South African Mission is founded upon material gleaned by a diligent reader of the Magazine from the reports of the Mission annually submitted to the Synod. In many places the very words of the typescript sent us are reproduced. The copy of the above was submitted to the Convener of the Foreign Mission Committee and to our Missionaries in South Africa. Their suggestions and corrections have been incorporated in the account now being presented to our readers. Should any error of statement be noticed a note pointing it out will be appreciated.—Editor.
Both these young men were taken under the care of the Church and began their study for its ministry by attending classes at the University. Mr. Saki, on adopting Plymouth Brethren views, left the Church. Mr. Radasi remained true to the Church of his adoption till his death in 1924. On Wednesday, 16th November, 1904, he was ordained by the Southern Presbyterian as a missionary of the Free Presbyterian Church in South Africa. There are many difficulties common to missionaries in the foreign field though one might think that Mr. Radasi’s would be less on account of being African born. Yet this was not so and in allowing Mr. Radasi to open a mission without the supervision of a white man this was a concession granted by the Government which was influenced in doing so by the high testimonials held by Mr. Radasi. The first difficulty with which he was confronted was the securing of a pass for travelling. After some negotiations this was granted and then came the question of the consent to open a mission church and school. When permission was granted him to begin a mission he set out to have an interview with Chief Ngege who had reached the allotted span. The Chief had been receiving letters but was unable to read and when Mr. Radasi read them to him great was his surprise to know that a man could tell him the names of his son and friends by simply looking at the paper. The Chief was desirous that a school would be built. Ten acres of land were secured on a five-year renewable lease at a pound a year at a place called Ingwenya,* 29 miles from Bulawayo. It was not long until a square thatched building was erected.
It might be well here to take a brief survey of what was yet to be the present sixty acre centre of our extensive mission field. As to the location the place was twenty degrees south of the Equator, about as high as Ben Nevis, but very healthy in climate and having an open view towards two tributaries of the great Zambezi river. The population—about five thousand to-day—was not a dense one, the natives usually renting their farms from
*This is the native word for “a crocodile.”
European, including British, farmers, who, besides owning the best of the land in Mr. Radasi’s early days were usually averse to the education of the natives. Now-a-days Europeans are not permitted to take land among the natives, but they may have their farms around the Reserve. Taking a survey of the situation we may visualise a very different scene from that which met the eye of David Livingstone when he arrived at Dr. Moffat’s Kuruman station. Here was, he says “a picture of civilised comfort, a great contrast to the waste that stretched around it. The mission houses were built of stone, and the gardens which were well watered by a rivulet, and stocked with the finest of fruit trees, vines, vegetables and grain owed all their beauty to the manual labour of the missionaries. The natives, decently clad, attended church and school regularly.” It was no such view that presented itself to Mr. Radasi.
Our mission to-day stands on one of the smallest Native Reserves. When Mr. Radasi arrived in the area the Fingoes held the ground. These Fingoes were at a later date shifted to a part a mile and a half away, and were joined up with Fingoes already there on what is still called the Fingoe Location. The Government then extended part of a Matabele Reserve to include the ground the Fingoes had vacated, and sent up Matabele families to take up holdings. All the ground, including the mission part, on which the Matabele were, was then called Intabazinluna Reserve, and on it our mission now officially stands. Originally the great Bantu people were divided into Mashonas, Matabele, Zulus, Fingoes, and Xosa, the latter having been designated Kafirs, meaning “Unbelievers” by the Mohammedans. Now-a-days the designation Kafir is usually used to denote a mixture of peoples and is applied to all the Abantu people. It is, however, a name, says the Rev. John Tallach, resented very much by all natives, including our own people, and ought not to be used by their friends. The Beehuanas were a people living at a greater distance from our mission, but whose territory bordered on Matabeleland. In the time of Chief Ngege the
peoples might well be divided into three classes, the Amakaranga, who were natives of Matabeleland, were conquered by the Matabele, and were afterwards treated by them as slaves, the Matabele who went to that part of Africa in 1837 under King Mziligazi, spoke no English, and were easily recognised by the transverse slit in the soft part of the ear of both men and women, and the Fingoes who were a civilised people speaking English, and were brought there by Mr. Cecil Rhodes for peace reasons. These Fingoes who were under our care at Ingwenya, and who at the beginning were the main support of the mission were the followers of Chief John Hlazo, an eminent Christian. They were fairly well educated and enterprising and finding the ground given to them too small for their growing families they rented ground at Que Que, and went to live there. They now constitute our mission at that place. The Matabele and the Fingoes do not mix. The Fingoes speak isiXosa, the Matabele speak isinDebele, and both are very conservative about their language. They differ in customs and will not intermarry. It is to be remembered that in the early days the Fingoes took the British side against the Matabele, and the bitterness of that opposition has not yet died out. At the beginning we had some dealings with the Mashonas also, but this work was discontinued a number of years ago.
(To be continued).
The late Mr. Donald Taylor Halkirk.
THE congregation of Halkirk, like many others in the Church, has to record the removal by death of a number of faithful witnesses for Truth during the year 1934. Such were Mr. Donald Taylor, Coal-Merchant, Miss Georgina Sinclair, Miss May Sutherland and Mrs. Sinclair Polson. To them “to live was Christ and to die was gain.” Their gain is our loss.
Donald Taylor, familiarly known as “Dannie,” was born of God-fearing parents, who instilled the Scriptures into the minds
of their children from infancy, and endeavoured to bring them up in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Dannie’s extensive knowledge of the Word of God was a proof of the value of this early instruction. “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it,” is a scriptural exhortation to which parents would do well to take heed in this crooked and perverse generation, when comparatively few homes have got even the form of family worship. If the minds of the youth of our day were imbued with a taste for the Word of God, there would be no room in them for the garbage of modern literature.
Dannie was, like others by nature, ruined by the Fall, and a hater of God and godliness, but a day came with him when “old things passed away and all things became new.” “Old Adam” did not die but the “New Man” was there too, and the conflict continued until death separated them for ever. Information supplied leads us to the conclusion that the great change in Dannie’s life took place during his youth under the preaching of the eminent Rev. John Fraser, Rosskeen. In his early years he used to attend Sacramental gatherings at Latheron, Olrig, Dunnet and Thurso, along with his like-minded companion, the late Mr. John Mackay, Missionary, Greenock. His memory retained much of what he heard, and the fragments then gathered were distributed to others in after years in the form of note and anecdote. He loved, particularly in the closing years of his life, to relate the experiences of the worthies of a former generation. In his soul’s experience he seemed to have much in common with them.
He had distinct poetical gifts and various poems appeared from his pen in the earlier issues of the Magazine. The Memoirs of the late Rev. D. Macdonald, Sheildaig, closes with several verses of a poem written in genuine appreciation by Dannie and signed D. T. His love for the late Messrs. Macfarlane, Dingwall, and Macdonald, Sheildaig, flowed from gratitude for the testimony for truth which they were instrumental in raising
in 1893. When his parents severed their connection with the old Free Church in July 1893 on account of its cutting itself adrift from scriptural moorings he saw eye to eye with them. Along with others, who had similar convictions, they formed the Halkirk Free Presbyterian Congregation. At this time he was in such a delicate state of health, and cast down in soul that some feared he would not recover. A friend who had “the secret of the Lord,” remarked concerning him thus “His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s” (Job, xxxiii. 25). He recovered and, in due course became an office-bearer in the congregation, occasionally acting as precentor also. In the Friday Fellowship Meetings he took a lively part and he loved to glean in the Song of Solomon.
Two days before his death, he wrote a letter to the Press on the subject of Sabbath desecration. It duly appeared and touchingly revealed his grief for the growing disregard of the Fourth Commandment. As he neared the end of his journey a fragrance and mellowness accompanied his exercises in prayer. This was specially commented on after the weekly meeting on 7th March. On the following Sabbath morning he was preparing to attend church but feeling unwell, he lay down again and soon gently breathed his last at the age of 73. Thus ended the wilderness journey of one in whom the grace of God revealed itself strongly through all imperfections. To the sorrowing widow we extend sincere sympathy in her bereavement and to all who mourn his removal.—W.G.
The late Miss Georgina Sinclair, Halkirk.
WHILE she was yet in her teens, the power that opened the heart of Lydia to receive the truth appears to have done likewise for the late Miss Georgina Sinclair. She was enabled by divine grace to follow the Lord from her early girlhood till she finished her course honourably beyond the allotted span of
life. Her worthy father, the late Mr. George Sinclair, was a man of deep piety, who rendered valuable service to the cause of Christ in his life time. When she was employed for some years as a teacher it was evident that she had a real interest in the spiritual welfare of the children committed to her care. This was true of her in regard to all the children with whom she came in contact to the end of her course.
The grace of discernment, together with Christian courtesy, and a commendable determination when the cause of truth demanded it, made her to be beloved of the righteous and highly respected by others. In herself she had nothing to commend her to God. Under the Holy Spirit’s teaching she learned that sin stripped her of original righteousness and holiness, left her under the condemnation of the law, without one plea of merit. She loathed the common delusion that fallen man has “a spark of the divine” left in him and that merely a little kindling of this is needed to make a Christian. Man is dead spiritually, and when life comes it is as the “Gift of God.” The sinner saved is a willing debtor to free and sovereign grace a miracle of grace. Being a regular attendant at Sacramental gatherings, she was well-known to many of our congregations. Her place in Church on Sabbath, and on week-day was rarely empty. The trifling excuses of many for being once-a-day-hearers had no sympathy from her. As a professing Christian she desired to set an example before others. On one occasion she quoted to the writer, as expressive of her soul’s experience that day, the verse:—
“One thing I of the Lord desired,
And will seek to obtain,
That all days of my life I may
Within God’s house remain.”
Her journey through life, was comparatively smooth. The remarkable freedom from trouble enjoyed, seemed to exercise her mind latterly and particularly so on 9th September, 1933. That same evening she met with a serious accident, which brought
her for the first time into the hands of earthly physicians. She was wonderfully upheld in soul, and submissively remarked:—”This was in the covenant, and there is a ‘must needs be.'” For three months she was in this tribulation. For a time recovery was hoped for, but with grief, friends saw a change for the worse in her condition. Out of this refining fire of trouble she passed to her eternal rest on the 15th December. A painful blank is felt in her home, in the congregation, and among friends elsewhere.
Her regular visits as one of the Congregational Collectors was a pleasure to those like-minded with her. The words of Proverbs, xxxi. 26, were applicable to her:—”She opens her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” We need that praying men and women would be raised up in these days of spiritual apostasy, when “for sins of those that dwell therein fat land is being turned to barrenness.” So that again, by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in our midst the desert might rejoice and blossom as the rose.
To her bereaved sisters, and other relatives both at home and abroad we extend our sympathy in their loss.—W. G.
The late Mr. Kenneth MacIver, Elder, Strathpeffer.
THE Dingwall congregation has occasion to record for the second time within a year the removal by death of one of its Elders.
The late Mr. MacIver, who passed to his rest on the 15th day of August, 1934, was a most diligent, earnest servant of the Lord. He was born and brought up in the lovely valley of Strathconon, and there his mortal remains were laid to rest, among those of his forefathers and kinsfolk, until the heavens be no more. In early life he had to go forth into the world to earn his livelihood, and in the holy providence of the Lord, settled down for a season in England.
While in England, he so greatly missed the pure preaching of the gospel that at length he sold his business, and, in order to be near St. Jude’s Church, went to Glasgow. His course there was not the smooth and pleasant one which he expected. He had sore trials which he referred to once and again. On one particular Sabbath, he was greatly relieved and assisted through a sermon of the late Rev. N. Cameron, on the text, Phil iii. 2-3—”Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision, etc.” He shortly after this gave up his business in Glasgow, and came to Inverness to live with his brother and sister.
During much of the time in Inverness, although the gospel was preached there, his lament was “Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the first-ripe fruit.” This experience sent him occasionally to Dingwall to seek the bread of life there. At the January communion in Inverness in 1909, and at the concluding service on Monday he obtained his desire, his lament was changed into a song of praise, he partook richly of the “feast of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees will refined.” The best wine seemed to be kept to the last. Animated by his subject, the preacher’s face shone (the late Rev. D. McFarlane) as in the words of his text he gave forth the exhortation, “Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him, in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart” (Song of Solomon, iii. II). Kenneth’s soul obtained ravishing views of the “King in His beauty and the land that is far off.” This experience acted as a spur urging him to go the more often to Dingwall where his hungry soul got many a crumb of the living bread; so much so indeed, that he longed to sit regularly under Mr. McFarlane’s ministry. His opportunity came when a coal merchant’s business was for sale in Strathpeffer. He bought it and went to reside there.
For many years after going to Strathpeffer, he used to walk to the Dingwall Church on Sabbath. Given to meditation, in order not to be disturbed, he often left the highroad and walked by a bye-path. While going by this bye-path on one occasion he came upon a sheep entangled in a thorn bush, and so famished and exhausted by its long struggle to get free, which but increased the entanglement, that it lay helpless and half-dead on its back. The sight touched a responsive chord in his heart. Unable to release the poor creature in any other way, he had, perforce, to cut the bush which held it, near the root. Feeling itself released seemed to give the sheep new life; up it sprang and trotted slowly away carrying the bush on its back and likely to do so until its fleece should be removed. Later at a Fellowship Meeting he recounted this incident and compared the plight of the sheep to that of the believer overtaken by a strong temptation which holds him the more tightly the more he struggles to free himself until his strength being gone he falls down helpless. But, be his plight what it may, he is watched over by the Good Shepherd who in His sovereign way, when hope appears lost, sends from heaven deliverance, yet the believer will carry the mark of that trial with him until he lays down the earthly house of this tabernacle at death. One who was present and heard his remarks afterwards thanked him, saying she derived great comfort from them as they so fitted her case.
Being unable to attend the Inverness communion on one occasion and knowing his Pastor was going there he went to the Dingwall station at the hour at which he expected him to depart. He found him seated in the train. “You are going to Israel’s testimony, to God’s name thanks to pay,” he said. The salutation so rejoiced his Pastor’s heart that on his return he preached refreshingly from that text. Thus “he that watereth is watered himself.”
It is due to the memory of Mr. MacIver to put on record that he manifested his deep attachment to the late Rev. D. Macfarlane, by writing out so many of his sermons. He, as a rule, weekly
for a period, came to Mr. Macfarlane’s Manse, to accomplish this labour of love. He also received from Mr. Macfarlane an account of the latter’s life which was made full use of in the Memoir of Rev. D. Macfarlane. It was noticeable how any remark which reminded him of Mr. Macfarlane or other worthy men whom he knew would cause him to rejoice in soul. He himself was not slow to do what he could to help his brethren, although felt unworthiness would often lead him to seek that others should hold the service in preference to himself. The tabernacle had been falling rapidly for quite a period before the end. Others realised that, more even than he himself.
He was visited on the Sabbath evening before his end and wished Psalm 130 to be read and sung. On the Wednesday evening in the presence of quite a number of us, he passed peacefully away.
He was tenderly cared for to the end. His widow and other members of his household had great privileges in having his exercises at family-worship and otherwise while he was with them. We sympathise with them in their loss. May they have like precious faith, love, and diligence to use the means of grace as he had! Such shall then not be put to shame at Christ’s appearing and His Kingdom.—D. A. MacF. and F. B.
Short Gleaning.
INFINITE COMPASSION.
There is One whose compassions are infinite. The love and tenderness of ten thousand earthly friends, of ten thousand mothers towards their sucklings, if compared with His, are less than a drop of water to the ocean; and His power is infinite, too. Why, then, do our sufferings continue, when He is so compassionate, and could remove them with a word? Surely, if we cannot give the particular reasons (which yet He will acquaint us with hereafter, John viii. 7), the general reason is at hand; He afflicts not for His own pleasure, but for our profit, to make us partakers of His holiness, and because He loves us.—John Newton.
Nadur an Duine ‘na Staid Cheithir Fillte.
(Air a leantruinn bho t.-d., xxxix, 510).
CEANN I.
ATH-GHINEAMHUIN.
“Air dhuibh bhi air bhur n-ath-ghineamhuin, cha’n ann o shiol truailidh, ach neo-thruailidh, le focal an Dé bheo agus a mhaireas gu siorruidh.” 1 PHEAD i. 23.
(4). Tha bhi marbh ann am peacadh, ‘gur dèanamh iomchuidh air a bhi air bhur fileadh suas ann an lasraichean pronnise, mar ann an eudach mairbh; agus gu bhi air bhur n-adhlacadh ann an slochd gun iochdar, mar ann an uaigh. Bu mhór an éigh a bha ‘san Eiphit, ‘nuair a bha cheud-ghin anns na h-uile teaghlach marbh; ach nach iomadh teaghlach, ‘sam bheil iad gu léir marbh? Ní h-eadh, tha mórán a tha “dà uair marbh, air an spionadh as am freumhaibh! Bha iad uair-eiginn d’am beatha air an dùsgadh le grabhan bàis agus na tha ‘na dhéidh, ach tha iad a nis cho fad air an slighe gu tìr an dorchadais, as gur gann a tha’n leus is lugha aca de sholus o nèamh. (5.) Tha dorchadas bhur n-intinn ‘na roimh-chomharra air dorchadas siorruidh! O an t-aincolas uamhasach fuidh ‘m bheil cuid de dhaoine ‘nan luidhe mar fuidh phlãighibh! am feadh a ta cuid eile a fhuair beagan de dheàrrsa solus-maidne ‘nan cinn, tur-fhalamh de sholus spioradail ‘nan cridheachan! ‘Nam b’ aithne dhuibh bhur staid, ghlaodhadh sibh a mach. Och, dorchadas! dorchadas, dorchadas, a ta dèanamh rathaid air son duibhe an dorchadais gu siorruidh! Tha’n còmhdach-aghaidh oirbh cheana mar mhuiintir a ta fuidh bhinn bàis; ‘s cho fagus as sin a ta sibh do dorchadas siorruidh! Is e Iosa Criosd a mhàin as urrainn stad a chur air a’ bhinn o bhi air a cur an gniomh, an neapaicean a spionadh o aghaidh a’ chiontaich dhite, agus maitheanas a chur ‘na làimh, Isa. xxv. 7. “Agus sgriosaidh e air a’ bheinn so an còmhdach a chòmhdach aghaidh nan uile shluagh.” Is e sin, còmhdach-aghaidh a ta còmhdachadh nan aingidh, mar ann an cor Haman, Ester vii. 8. “An uair a chaidh am focal á beul an righ, chòmhdach iad aghaidh Hamain.” ‘S an àite, mu dheireadh, Tha na slabhruidhean dorchadais leis am bheil sibh air bhur ceangal, ann am
priosan ‘ur staid thruailidh (Isa. lxi. 1.) ‘gur dèanamh iomehuidh gu bhi air bhr tilgeadh auns an àmhuinn theinntich dhian-loisgich! Och na daoiné truagh! Tha ‘n coguisean air uairibh air an gluasad an taobh a stigh dhiubh, agus tòisichidh iad air smuaineachadh air an slighibh ath-leasachadh: Ach mo thruaighe: tha iad ann an slabhruidhean, chan urrainn iad a dhèanamh! Tha iad air an cuibhreachadh le ‘n eridhe; tha ‘n ana-miannan a’ ceangal cho dlù riu as nach urrainn dhoibh, seadh chan àill leo, an crathadh dhiubh. Mar so feudaidh sibh fhaicinn an dàimh a ta eadar staid neo-iompaichte, agus staid na muinntir a ta air an damnad; staid truaighe gun leasachadh. Bithibh cinn-teach air an aobhar sin, gur éiginn duibh a bhi air bhr breith a ris. Cuiribh mór-mheas air an nuadh-bhreith, agus iarraibh gu durachdach ‘na dèidh.
Tha ‘m bonn-teagaig ag innseadh dhuibh, gur e am focal an siol leis am bheil an nuadh-chreutair air a dheilbh: Uime sin, thugaibh an aire dhà, agus thugaibh aoidheachd dhà; oir is e bhr beatha e. Thugaibh sibh féin a suas do leughadh an Sgriobtuir. Sibhse nach urrainn a leughadh, thugaibh air muinntir eile e leughadh dhuibh. Feithibh gu dichiolach air searmonachadh an fhocail, mar am meadhon araichd a dh’ òrdueich-eadh le Dia chum iompachaidh: “Oir—bu toil le Dia, le amaideachd an t-searmonachaidh iadsan a shlànueachadh a ta creidsinn,” 1 Cor. i. 21. Uime sin, na cuiribh féin á rathad Chriosd; no cuiribh eul ri meadhonnan nan gràs, air eagal gu’m faighear sibh a’ tabhairt breith oirbh féin nach fù sibh a’ bheatha mhaireannach. Thugaibh aire dhùrachdach do ‘n fhocal air a shearmonachadh. Eisidibh ris gach searmoin, mar gu ‘m biodh sibh ag eisdeachd air son sìorruidheachd; agus thugaibh an aire, nach spion eunlaith an athair suas an siol so uaibh, mar a ta e air a shiol-chuireadh, Marc. iv. 15. Thoir thu féin gu tur dha, 1 Tim. iv. 15. Na gabh ris mar fhocal dhaoine, ach mar is e gu fìrinneach focal Dhé, 1 Tes. ii. 13. Agus éisd ris le co-chur, ag amharc air mar theachdairceadh air a chur o nèamh do d’ ionnsuidhse gu h-àraidh ged nach ann do d’ ionnsuidhse a mhàin. Taish. iii. 32. “An ti aig am bheil cluas, eisdeachd e
ris an ní a deir an Spiorad ris na h-eaglaisibh.” Taisgibh suas e ’nur eridheachan, beachd smuainichibh air: agus na bithibh mar na beathaichean neo-ghlan nach enamh an cír: ach, le úrnuigh dhùraechdach, guidhibh gu’n tuit drìùchd nèimh air bhur eridhibh, a chum gu’m fàs an siol suas an sin.
Gu h-àraidh, (1.) Gabh ri teisteas focail Dhé, mu thimchioll truaighe na staid neo-iompaichte, peacadh na staid sin, agus am fior-fheum a ta air ath-ghineamhuin. (2.) Gabh ri teisteas an fhocail, mu thimchioll Dhé, cho naomh agus fior ’s a ta e. (3.) Rannsaich do shlighibh leis; eadhon smuaintean do chrìdhe, briathran do bhile, agus cleachdamh do chaithe-beatha. Amhairc air t’ ais tre cuairtibh fa leth do chaithe-beatha, agus faic do pheacaidh o àithnte an fhocail; agus ionnsaich a bhagraidhean, ciod d’ am bheil thu buailteach, air son nam peacaidhean sin. (4.) Gabh beachd de thruaillidheachd do nàduir, leis a’ chòmh-nadh cheudna, focal Dhé; mar ann an gloinne, a thaisbeanas ar n-aghaidh mhi-mhaiseach air sheòl soilleir. Nam biodh na nithean sin air am freumhaechadh gu domhain aans a’ chridhe, dh’ fheudadh iad a bhi ’nan siol de ’n eagal agus de ’n bhròn sin, mu thimchioll staid t’anama, a ta feumail gu d’ullachadh agus gu d’ bhrosnachadh gu amharc an déidh Slanuighir. Suidhich do smuaintean airs an a ta air a thairgse dhuit ’san t-soisgeul, mar uile fheagagarach do d’ staid; air dha le ’umhlachd gus a’ bhàs, làn-dioladh a thabbhàirt do cheartas Dhé, agus firinnteachd shìorruidh a thabbhàirt a steach. Feudaidh so a bhi ’na shìol irioslachaidh, iarrtuis, dòchais, agus creidimh; agus do chur air t’ aghaidh gu d’ làimh sheargta shìneadh a mach d’a ionnsuidh air ’aithne féin.
Rachadh na nithean so domhain gu’r eridheachan, agus dèanaibh cleachda dùrachdach dhiubh. Cuimhnichibh, ciod air bith a ta sibh gur éiginn duibh a bhi air bhur breith a ris; no mur bi, b’ fheàrr dhuibh nach robh sibh riamh air bhur breith. Air an aobhar sin, ma chaitheas neach air bith dhibh bhur beatha, agus ma bhàsaicheas sibh ann an staid neo-iompaichte, bithidh sibh gun leisgeul, air dhuibh rabhadh soilleir fhaotainn air bhur cunnart.
AN T-AONADH DIOMHAIR EADAR CRIOSD AGUS CREIDMHICH.
Is mise an fhionain, sibhse na geugan.—EOIN xv. 5.
Air dhomh labhairt air an atharrachadh a ta air a dhèanamh, le ath-ghineamhui, orrasan uile a shealbhaicheas a’ bheatha mhaireannach, o’n staid a thaobh nàduir mar staid truailidheachd; théid mi nis air m’ aghaidh a labhairt mu ‘n atharrachadh a ta air a dhèanamh orra, ‘nan aonadh ris an Tighearn Iosa Criosd, o’n staid mar chiontaich an làthair Dhé—staid truaighe. Tha aonadh nan naomh ri Criosd, ‘na nì a ta gu ro-shoilleir agus iomlan air a theagasc, o thoiseach an dara rann deug de ‘n chaibideil so a tha ‘na earrann de shearmoin mu dheireadh ar Tighearn d’ a dheisciobluibh. Lion do-bhròn a nis an eridheachan; bha iad ullamh air a ràdh, Och! ciod a thig oirnn, ‘n uair a bheirear ar Maighstir o’r ceann? Có theagaisgeas an sin sinn? Có dh’ fluasglas ar n-amharusan? Cionnus a bhios sinn air ar neartachadh fuidh ar deuchainnean agus diobhail-misnich? Cionnus a bhios sinn comasach air a bhi beò, a dh’ easbhuidh a’ cho-chomuinn bu ghnàth leinn a bhi againn ris? Air an aobhar sin tha ar Tighearn Iosa a’ teagasg dhoibh, ann an àm iomchuidh, mu dhìomhaireachd an aonaidh ris, ‘ga choimeas féin ris a’ chrann-fhionain, agus iadsan ris na geugan.
Ri lean tuinn.
Gràs anns a h-uile Suidheachadh Leis an Ollamh Love.
GHEIBH gràs rathad gu e féin a chleachdadh anns a h-uile suidheachadh anns am bi e. Co dhiubh a gheibh e a shealbhadair ann an inbhe àrd no ional—maighstir no seirbhiseachchan ‘eil e a’ cur feum air atharrachadh ‘na suidheachadh ach a mhàin ‘na rathad ann a bhi coimhliodadh nan dleasdanasan a bhuneas do ‘n inbhe sin: agus so tha e a’ dèanamh tre ‘n chaochladh a tha e a’ dèanamh air a chridhe. Tha ‘n aon ghne a tha dèanamh maighstir Criosdail diadhaidh cuin, glie agus iriosal, a’ dèanamh seirbhisich Criosdail, dileas, agus strìochdte ann an ùmhlachd. Tha slighe ann tre ‘n urrainn neach anns
an t-suidheachadh as isle, Dia a ghloirachadh agus sgèimh a chur air aideachadh diadhachd. Nochdaidh cogais air a deagh theagasg do dhuine an t-slighe sin, agus treòraichidh eridhe aig a bheil mothachadh innte e. Ma tha an nì tha r’ a dhèanamh beag ann fhèin rannsaicheamaid a mach e, agus bitheamaid dìleas ann. Mur dèan sinn ar gnothach anns an nì sin a tha beag ciamar a tha sùil againn a nì sinn an gnothach ann an nithean as motha.
Tha ar crannehur air a thoirt dhuinn le Dia, gu beachd a ghabhail air agus sinn féin a ebleachdadh ann. Gabhamaid aig a làmhan-san e mar an nì sin gun teagamh as freagarraiche air ar son. Mar a tha na gairmean agus na gnùomharan as fheàrr agus as uaisle air an isleachadh le inntinn thruaillidh, mar sin tha na nithean as isle annta fhèin air an togail agus air an àrdachadh le inntinn spioradail. Faodaidh breitheamh no ministear rùinteann suarach a bhi aige agus a ghairm àrd a a thoirt a nuas g’ an ionnsuidh sin, agus rùinteann arda, eadhon glòir Dhé, a bhi aig seirbhiseach bochd agus mar sin a ghairm àrdachadh a chum na eriche àirde so.
Bu chòir dhuinn ar n-inbhe, ge b’è air bith ciod e, a ghabhail bho làimh Dhé mar an nì a shuidhich esan: agus ag amharc air mar sin bu chòir dhuinn a h-uile car dheth a ghabhail le striochdadh agus aontachadh iriosal—’ga chunntadh tuilleadh agus math air ar son— ag aideachadh “gur ann de thròcairibh an Tighearna nach ‘eil sinn air ar eaitheadh,”—a’ toirt buidheachais dha air son e bhi roghnachadh dhuinn le a ghliocas neo-chriochnach, an àit’ e bhi ‘g ar fàgail gu bhi roghnachadh air ar son fhìn le ar n-amaideachd; agus, uime sin, a’ creidsinn nach fàilnich e ann a bhi ‘g ar n-uidheamachadh le neart gu dhol air adhart leis a’ ghnothach sin a chuir e air leth dhuinn, agus nach urrainn duinn fhàgail gun easùmhlachd dhàsan.
Tha cuid a ghràsan ann a tha de ghnè fhollaiseach agus chomharraichte—mar iad sin a tha air am foillseachadh anns na martaraich air son aobhar Chriosd. Tha gràsan eile ann freagarrach air son suidhichidhean uaigneach nach ‘eil daoinne
a’ smuaineachadh mórán diubh, mar a tha macantas, ciùine, foighidinn fo ehrann-ceusaidh diomhair air nach ‘eil fhios aeh aig beagan.
Tha iad so mar an ceudna mór ann an sealladh Dhé: agus ‘s ann mar sin bu chòir dhaibh a bhi ‘nar sealladh-ne. Tha cuid de ghràsan a chum feum coitcheann, freagarrach do obair gach duine. Tha cuid eile freagarrach do thachartasan àrda nach ‘eil ach cuid air an gairm d’ an ionnsuidh. Chan ‘eil an gràs as lugha air a chur an cleachdadh—an nì as lugha a tha air a dhèanamh bho chrìch ghlain—gu diomhain: oir tha fhios againn, “ge b’è maith air bith a nì aon neach gu’m faigh e an nì so féin o an Tighearn ma ‘s saor no daor e.”—Eadar-theangaichte le I. M.
Notes and Comments.
A Right Decision.—Down at Clacton-on-Sea the devil was holding high carnival on the Sabbath with the able assistance of theatrical managers and public entertainers in the Town Hall of this Essex watering place for some time. The Rev. S. M. Morris, the local Baptist minister, condemned these entertainments in language that was by no means too strong and his remarks were published in the Evening Standard. The entertainers considered themselves insulted and brought an action for libel against the minister and the newspaper. Men who care nothing for God’s honour show remarkable keenness to defend their own. In doing so they could scarcely have anticipated the exposure their sinful fooling on the Lord’s Day was to get and the crushingly severe comment of the learned judge on the character of their entertainment. Mr. Morris’s words were mild in comparison with those of Mr. Justice Avory. “Having seen Mr. Morris in the witness-box,” said his lordship, as reported in the Daily Telegraph (London), “it is for you (the jury) to say whether you have ever seen a witness who was more obviously honest and straight-forward.” His lordship further characterised certain parts of these entertainments as “vulgarity and filth” . . .
“calculated to deprave and appeal to all that was ignoble and base in man.” The jury returned a verdict for Mr. Morris and the newspaper. The entertainers got a well-deserved exposure, rebuke, and humiliation. The verdict in this case will not put an end to Sabbath entertainments but it will encourage those who regard them as sinful to lift up their voice against them in condemnation. [This note, with others, was written for our April issue but was crushed out].
The Bag-Pipes in the Pulpit.—The following is reported in the press:—”A sensation was caused in Scottish church circles when the report was received from Sydney that the minister in the Scots Church there wears Highland costume and plays the bagpipes at the forenoon and evening services on ‘Sunday.’ The kilted piper parson is the Rev. Lewis A. Sutherland, of St. James’, Paisley, who has adopted the novel plan of wearing Highland costume and playing the bagpipes to attract worshippers to his church. He is now stated to be the most popular parson in Sydney, and seems to have solved the problem of how to fill empty churches.” The individual in question was at one time one of the Inverness ministers. It is unspeakably sad to see a professed minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ making sport for the Philistines as Mr. Sutherland is doing and to learn that he is gaining popularity in the estimation of the gaping crowd by such conduct.
The German Goliath.—General Ludendorff has been reconciled with the Nazi party and has announced, according to Reuter’s correspondent that any limitation of armaments is immoral. He also delivered the following Philistine sentiments, according to the above correspondent:—”I am not merely an opponent of Christianity, but literally an anti-Christian and heathen—and proud of it. I have long since said good-bye to Christianity. According to its own words, in the gospel of St. John, Christianity aims at detaching the individual from his people, his tribe and his nation, and promises him only a heaven. Thus, in a ‘Christian’ State no firm unity of the people can
arise. Christian teaching is there for only one purpose—to help the Jewish people to domination. If the British want to stay Christian, that’s their own look-out, but then they will slip further and further down from their former heights. Only that people can thrive which declares loyalty to racial principles. At the moment we Germans are the people which has freed itself furthest from the teachings of Christianity. Only through the complete renunciation of Christianity will the German people achieve the unity which it needs.” This is the man who is to be glorified by the German people. He has thrown down a challenge to the God who said: “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Ps. ii. 7-9). Poor ignorant Ludendorff! how soon he may be before that God.
Lunacy and Religion.—A correspondent has sent us a copy of the Forres, Elgin and Nairn Gazette (Forres), 27th March, with a marked paragraph under the above heading. The paragraph purports to be remarks by a writer in a Wick paper. The medical authorities suggest that the increase of insanity in the North is due to depopulation and increasing loneliness in some measure, but this writer whose spiritual outlook is not of the sanest has something to add to this. “I would add,” he says, “to that the type of religion—gloomy and fatalistic—which has been foisted on the Highland communities. It is mostly formal and superficial, hurling anathemas at innocent enjoyment, and frowning in particular on ceilidhs and dancing. It has few contacts with the religion of Jesus. It is unduly doctrinal. It does not believe in inherited goodness, innocence and love. Do you wonder that insanity is increasing where such travesties of religion are proclaimed? It is to be hoped that the British Medical Council will examine this suggested cause of the increase of insanity in the Highlands.” There is nothing new in this
charge but it betrays ignorance, prejudice, and ill-concealed hostility to a type of religion that does not fit in with that so-called expansive broad-mindedness of the writer. There was a type of religion once in the Highlands which turned sinners into saints—a religion which adorned the doctrine of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. That is the type of religion that this writer is tilting against and not the fantastic conception of his erratic imagination as portrayed above. That type of religion is fast dying out and will soon be as non-existent in the land as it is in the soul of the paragraphist. But as it is dying out and the newer type of religion dear to the heart of the paragraphist is being introduced insanity is increasing!
Canonization of Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher.
—The Catholic (Dublin) for April has an interesting and instructive article on “The Peculiarities of Roman Canonization.” The writer raises the question: “Why is it that there are so few Popes and Cardinals in the Romish calendar of saints since official canonization came into vogue?” One would naturally think that the calendar of so-called “saints” would consist largely of these but it is not so. There are 85 Popes reckoned as “saints” but of these at least 81 lived before the official system came into being. Ferraris, who has devoted attention to this subject, is of opinion that the first canonization was celebrated by Leo III. in 804. The Pope, as the writer of the article points out, is discovering Irish and English “saints” in recent years though the Irish probably must have grave doubts about the discernment of the Pope in including English “saints” in his list! The Catholic concludes by saying: “It would be interesting to make an analysis of recent beatifications and canonizations. It would most probably reveal that there is a political motive behind the majority of cases. We doubt very much if More or Fisher would have been certified as entitled to practice in the Court of Heaven on behalf of their clients down on earth had their claims been of mere sanctity.” Another peculiarity of the Roman practice is that while it canonizes New Testament
saints, e.g. St. Paul, etc., it denies saintship to the Old Testament saints (St. David, St. Enoch, etc., are not the Old Testament saints of that name). It is for this invidious reason and wrong distinction that all Protestants worthy of the name should renounce speaking of Saint Paul, Saint John, etc. The titles in the Authorised Version with the affixed title “Saint” are not in the original as readers acquainted with Gaelic can see from the Gaelic Version whereas the Roman Catholic Gaelic Version of the New Testament has the title “Naomh” prefixed to the name e.g. Naomh Matu.
A New Phase of Sabbath-breaking Checked.—The question whether the manager of a lending library could be convicted for breaking the Sunday Observance Act (1677) when he lent a novel on the Sabbath Day was discussed before Lord Hewart and Justices Avory and Humphreys in a King’s Bench Division Court recently. Mr. Ralph Lee, who manages a library in Hull, supplied a borrower with a book for twopence on a Sabbath last May. In the local Police Court, he was charged that—”On a Lord’s Day, he unlawfully exercised a certain worldly business in his ordinary calling of a lending library, the same not being a work of necessity or charity contrary to Section I. of the Act of 1677.” He was fined five shillings, and now appealed. Mr. Lee’s appeal was dismissed with costs by the Court. The case is interesting as shewing that the old acts on Sabbath observance, at least some of them, are not obsolete through desuetude as is so often maintained.
Intemperate Language by Temperance Advocates.—Recently the Scottish Christian Union of the British Women’s Temperance Association held a conference at Dunfermline. The question of unfermented wine at Communion was discussed and some of the speakers used most intemperate language. Mrs. Barton, a prominent Temperance advocate, said she had sat in a church “with the place smelling like a public-house,” while Mrs. R. J. Govan said she had been in a church that “smelled like a brewery.” One wonders what these ladies would have said
if they had been present at the marriage of Cana of Galilee. We believe in temperance—in language as well as in drink—but this movement to do away with fermented wine at the Lord’s Table is not the kind of temperance inculcated in the New Testament. At the same meeting suggestions were put forward by some of the speakers that mothers should use their influence with their families to abstain altogether from going to Communion services. Those who would abstain from communicating for the above reasons would certainly be better away.