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 apostacy, 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.