THESE Scotch words in their archaic dress form the motto of the Keiths (the Earl Marischals of Scotland). It would be hard to find words so forcible to express the speaker’s utter disregard of and detachment from the babel of irresponsible tongues by which he was surrounded. The Keiths, of course, like other Scotsmen, did not always act up to their motto. They were as keen as others of their countrymen to draw the sword and give a good account of themselves when occasion demanded it.
There are circumstances, however, in which it might be necessary in the interests of truth not to “lat them say.” At the beginning of the Free Presbyterian Church a host of sharpshooters met us and aimed their arrows at the struggling cause. Some of these bowmen were mighty men in their own estimation and had never learned to use their words in moderation. Here is how one of them expressed himself: “The Free Presbyterian movement is the most mischievous movement of modern times and calculated only to do most serious harm to the cause of truth and godliness in our beloved Highlands.” This slinging, reckless charge came from a quondam friend, the Rev. Murdo Macaskill, who at another time said: “If this Declaratory Act becomes part of our constitution, what remained of our former principles is wholly obliterated and any one who pleases may pronounce the funeral oration of the once noble Free Church of Scotland. . . . She is no longer the Free Church of our early love and loyal adhesion but a false claimant to honours and dignities which she has wilfully and shamefully forfeited.” But enough of this talk. Let us now turn to another phase of attack.
At this time there arose an order of prophets who evidently were carried away with the idea that they were called upon to prophecy and the burden of their prophecy was the extinction of the F.P. Church. They felt fortified in this foolish idea by the fact of her weakness and lack of funds. They only saw a leaderless Church as far as influential men of the world were concerned. So without ever considering that God does take the base things of the world to confound the mighty they went on with their prophecying. There was no hesitating note in their utterances—the Free Presbyterian Church was doomed and they were the men who
saw it and must announce it. It is now over 60 years since this order of prophets arose. Their prophetic utterances came to nothing and their bodies have long ago turned to dust. Such a fate one would have thought would be a warning to others who had a desire to don the prophetic mantle. But no! Only recently a paragraph appeared in the official organ of the Free Church which we are reproducing for the benefit of our readers who may not have seen it—what the Monthly Record of the Free Church thinks of the Free Presbyterian Church.
The heading of this extract and the italics are ours. The critic begins on a fairly high level preaching the finer virtues of our faith but he soon descends to a lower level and we have in the criticism an illustration of the gulf that may exist between preaching and practice. Here is the paragraph as it appeared in the Free Church Monthly:—
“The Free Presbyterian Church.—Hitherto we have scrupulously avoided any reference in these columns to the more recent internal dissension that bids fair to rend the Free Presbyterian Church into fragments. This was not because we were totally ignorant of the facts—our information, strange as it may seem, was both first-hand and detailed—but because we regarded it in the light of the Divine chastisement of a body that had been entrusted, as we believe they were in 1893, with a precious deposit of truth but that had, under misguided leadership, used their position to foster towards their fellow-Christians in other denominations a self-righteous and malignant spirit that is now accomplishing its perfect work within the denomination itself. An article, however, from one of their ministers, that receives pride of place in the May issue of the Free Presbyterian Magazine has driven us to the conclusion that it is no chastisement that is being meted out to that body, but fearful judgment from the hand of the Most High. Chastisement is a merciful dispensation that leads to penitence, humility and restoration, but, if the article in question be any true guide (and if it is a misrepresentation it ought never to have seen the light), the turmoil of dissension and strife through which they are passing has but confirmed them in spiritual pride and self-righteousness. We do not wish to quote from a document that from beginning to end un-Christian in our understanding of the spirit of Christ in His Church, but its gratuitous attempts to besmirch a sister Church that owes its origin to the same determination to conserve Divine truth and witness, savours so much of the judicial blindness and hardness of heart that are the precursors of destruction that we agree with the many who regard the Free Presbyterian body as passing out of existence in the Nemesis of fearful retribution. We regard this prospect with unfeigned regret, for spurious as have been its official pretensions and misguided its leadership, it had and still has, within its communion men and women who feared the Lord and trembled at His Word. Far from this being a matter for the Free Church to gloat over, it provides her with a beacon of warning and confirms before her eyes the truth of Scripture that they who sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.”—August, 1946.
Fortunately for himself, unlike some mushroom prophets (to use a Canadian description of the order) that spring up during convulsions in the world, our critic does not mention a date when the threatened catastrophe is to happen. Our readers, however, need not be unduly disturbed in their minds as though something terrible is to happen. The Church which was
broken into fragments and rent from top to bottom, is showing by her activities at home and abroad that it would be a wise thing for prophets of doom to look to other quarters and other events.
Might we conclude by saying that Job’s “miserable comforters” who without any hesitation set about interpreting God’s providential dealings in His afflictive dispensations towards His people met with the crushing rebuke of heaven, and ought to make us very certain of our ground before we set out classifying these under “chastisements” and “judgments.” We are loathe to believe that the Free Church Monthly criticism represents the mind of the best people in the Free Church but as far as we know there has been no protest against it. So to fall back on our critic’s own deliverance—if it expresses the mind of the Free Church then our leaders were clear-sighted men when they warned Free Presbyterians not to unite with the Free Church and if it only represents the opinion of the critic, “it ought never to have seen the light,” for it certainly does not savour of that charity which thinketh no evil.
* “They have said: What say they? Let them say.”
Induction of the Rev. D. J. Matheson.
ON Friday, the 20th day of September, the Rev. D. J. Matheson was inducted and admitted to the pastoral charge of St. Jude’s Congregation, Glasgow. Public interest in the proceedings was manifest in the very large number of people present throughout the service.
The Congregation had been without a settled Pastor for nearly two years. During that time the interests of the Congregation had been in the hands of the Rev. J. MacLeod, Interim Moderator. Mr. MacLeod was successful in securing the services of several of our ministers and students, who willingly ministered to the people at different times. These services were greatly appreciated, but they were recognised to be of a temporary nature, and the desire of the Congregation was to have a Pastor settled over them as soon as possible. In the good Providence of the Lord that desire has now been realised.
The Rev. D. J. Matheson has been labouring in the Congregation of Lairg and Criech for over twenty years. He was among those who gave of their services during the vacancy. At a Congregational Meeting held on Tuesday, the 30th day of April, 1946, it became apparent that the mind of the Congregation was very much united in desiring that Mr. Matheson would become their Pastor. At a later date, a Call, signed by 486 members and adherents in favour of Mr. Matheson, was put into his hands, and to the satisfaction of the Congregation, he intimated his acceptance of it. Friday, the 20th day of September, was appointed for the Induction.
Owing to indisposition, the Rev. J. MacLeod was unable to be present, and the service was presided over by the Rev. N. MacIntyre, Edinburgh, Moderator of Presbytery. The sermon was preached by the Rev. J. A. Tallach, who spoke upon II. Cor. iv. 7: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” Thereafter, the Moderator put the Questions usually put to Pastors-Elect at such a time, and these, having been answered satisfactorily, Mr. Matheson signed the Formula in the presence of the Congregation. The Moderator
then engaged in prayer, which being ended, he formally, in the name of the Southern Presbytery, and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ did Induct and Admit the Rev. D. J. Matheson to the pastoral charge of the Congregation.
The newly admitted Pastor was then very suitably addressed by the Moderator, who based his remarks upon Paul’s “Charge to Timothy,” and the Congregation was addressed by the Rev. J. A. Tallach, who spoke on the subject of “Unity.”
The proceedings were brought to a close by the singing of Psalm cxxii., last three verses:—
“Pray that Jerusalem may have peace and felicity:
Let them that love thee and thy peace have still prosperity.
Therefore, I wish that peace may still within thy walls remain,
And ever may thy palaces prosperity retain.
Now, for my friends’ and brethren’s sakes, peace be in thee, I’ll say.
And for the house of God the Lord, I’ll seek thy good alway.”
He must have been possessed of a hard heart indeed, who was present in that large assembly without having been deeply touched by these beautiful and appropriate words. It is the prayerful desire of many throughout the Church that the ministry now begun in Glasgow will be largely owned of God.—JAS. A. TALLACH, Presbytery Clerk.
Notes* of Gaelic Sermon.
(Translated into English.)
Preached by Rev. Neil Cameron in St. Jude’s on Sabbath morning,
January 24th, 1933.
THIS book contains the visions which the Apostle John received in the island of Patmos. It begins by giving the divine authority of the Book and a promise to the reader and hearer of the prophecy and the keepers of the sayings of the Book. John is commanded to write to the angels or ministers of the seven churches in Asia separately and give the character suited to the case of each particular church to which the letter is directed, whether for encouragement or condemnation just as he received it from Christ.
*The writer in submitting these notes for publication says in a note that as they were memorised, the writer took full responsibility for any mistakes.—Editor.
“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulations, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev. vii., 13-17).
After this, John sees the Throne of God in heaven and round about that Throne were seated four and twenty elders clothed in white raiment and crowns of gold on their heads, but we don’t mean to dwell on this meantime. After this we have the Book sealed with seven seals which no man was worthy to open and loose the seals thereof. Then there is the opening of the seven seals one after another and what they represented.
Now, in coming to the chapter we have read it begins with the words:—”And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth that the winds should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree, and I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the living God and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, ‘Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.'”
The four winds, spoken of here, are probably errors or false doctrines which afterwards plagued the church but Christ as the Angel ascending from the east and having divine authority from the Father over angels and every living creature, did not allow these winds to blow till the true people of God were sealed on their foreheads, the most conspicuous part of the body, so that they might be known by all men. These are not blown away like chaff when the winds of false doctrine and error blow upon the Church of God.
John heard the number that were sealed in the different tribes of the Children of Israel amounting to one hundred and forty and four thousand but we do not take this as a definite figure of all that were saved in Israel. It may be taken as an arithmetical representation of the literal converted to Christ because Israel, as descended in the line of promise, was a numbered people. After this, John beheld a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues which stood before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands.
It is in connection with this our text comes in from the 13th verse to the end of the chapter. One of the elders put the question to John, “What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?” The elder here was one of the saints now made perfect in holiness. He did not ask the question because he did not know who they were and whence they came neither did he think that the Apostle John was ignorant of who they were and where they came from. It is always profitable that people should ask questions about spiritual things and it shall be profitable to the Church of God down to the end of time that the elder asked such a question here. Although John knew very well who they were he preferred that the elder himself should answer the question and therefore he said, “Sir, thou knowest.” The elder then answers the question:—”These are they which came out of great tribulations and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” We shall first consider some of the tribulations of the people of God passing through the wilderness of this world. Secondly, the work in which they were constantly employed while passing through the wilderness—washing their robes. Thirdly, where they are now come to. They are standing before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes and palms in their hands. No doubt some of those mentioned here had a good share of the troubles and trials of this world while yet in a state of nature, for the wicked are not without troubles and trials. This is the fruit of sin, for by the fall, man lost communion with God and is under his wrath and curse and made liable to all the miseries of this life to death itself and to the pains of hell for ever.
But the tribulations of the people of God are of a different nature from the troubles and trials of the wicked. We may say that the tribulations mentioned here begin in the day when God by His Spirit convinced them of sin. The sinner is now convinced of his lost and ruined condition and sees no way of escape. God is angry with him. God’s law demands obedience which he cannot give, and justice demands satisfaction. He would give anything now that he could go out of existence. He cannot go. He sees eternity before him and no place for him but the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels. He might have laughed at this before but it is not a matter for laughing now. He can now say with the Psalmist, “The pains of hell took hold on me, I grief and trouble found.” He now justifies God if He sends him there; his mouth is stopped and he is brought in guilty before the bar of God. The Psalmist says in another place, “When as I did refrain my speech and silent was my tongue, my bones then waxed old because I roared all day long. For upon me both day and night thine hand did heavy lie, so that my moisture, turned, is in summer’s drought thereby.” Although God does not allow His own people while under conviction of sin to come to absolute despair, yet they are brought so low as to throw away every false hope. It is when they come to this stage that God, the Holy Spirit, sets before them a way of escape, enlightens their eyes in the knowledge of Christ, persuades and enables them to embrace Christ as he is freely offered in the Gospel.
They are now amazed at the love of God to perishing sinners that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have eternal life. They could say now, like the Psalmist, “For but a moment lasts His wrath, life in His favour lies, weeping may for a night endure, at morn doth joy arise.” They could not express in words the joy they felt. It was unspeakable and full of glory. They might have thought now all their tribulations had come to an end, and that this joy would continue. We do not say that all got the same measure of this but we say that all experienced it in some measure. Their tribulations, however, did not end there, the devil, whom they so faithfully served before, has now become their bitter enemy. Their former companions now begin to cast scorn at them and call them by all sorts of names: even their own flesh and blood turn against them. Graceless professors of religion call them narrow-minded bigots and so on. This is not at all an easy matter for flesh and blood but this warfare continues as long as they are in the world. It is through faith alone that they gain the victory of which we have to speak later on. We have an account given in the 11th chapter of Hebrews of the marvellous work faith can do and what some had to suffer for faith. They were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection and others had trials and cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute afflicted, tormented of whom the
world was not worthy, they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.” This actually took place in our land—in Scotland.
Another tribulation they had was when they saw men whom they gave a place to in the world as being truly gracious men fall into sin. What grief of heart this caused them! They were also harassed with an evil heart of unbelief, a corrupt nature and a perverse will, so that they could say with the Apostle Paul: “For that which I do I allow not; for what I would that I do not but what I hate I do for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good. I know not: for the good that I would do not but the evil which I would not that I do,” and this caused them to cry out: “Oh! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
In the second place, we shall consider the work in which they were employed while passing through the wilderness of this world—washing their robes. In the day of their justification they were clothed in the unspotted robe of Christ’s righteousness and this robe can never be defiled so that it would be nothing less than blasphemy to think that any human being could ever make it whiter than it is, so that the robe that they are washing cannot be this robe. We take these robes which they are continually washing to mean the robes of their profession. This is a robe which every Christian should do his utmost to keep clean. If it is once defiled it is not an easy matter to get it back to its original colour. This robe is continually getting spots on it no matter how careful the Christian may be in trying to keep it clean; the devil is trying to throw all the filth he can on it. The world that lieth in sin is doing its utmost to throw mud on it so that the true Child of God is continually at the washing tub with his robe. His whole ambition is to keep it white before the world for nothing would please the world more than to see them going about with defiled garments. The cleaning of our temporal clothes does not trouble us much for the women do it for us. They have what they call the washing-day. So it is with graceless professors—the washing of their garments does not trouble them—they don’t know how to wash them or where to wash them, they leave them till the washing-day—a false delusion that all will be well at the end. But this is not the way with the believer for he is continually in the wash-tub at the Throne of Grace confessing his sins and seeking forgiveness for Christ’s sake. They know from experience that nothing will take away the guilt and sin but the blood of Christ, child of God, of whom it is true that this is your daily practice and who may be on the verge of giving up, take courage, the time will not be long till you rest from your labours. “The troubles that afflict the just in number many be, but yet at length out of them all the Lord doth set him free.”
In the third place, we shall now consider briefly the third and last head. Where are they now? They are now in eternal glory along with the glorious Trinity, the holy angels and the saints of God, arrayed in white robes and carrying palms of victory in their hands, singing, “Unto Him that loved us and washed us in His own blood.” Neither themselves nor the world, nor the devil can put a spot on the garment in which they are now arrayed, for nothing shall ever enter in that defileth, for he that is righteous let him
be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still. All their tribulations in this world are now behind them for ever. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat. Many a hungry and thirsty day they had going through the wilderness as we have in the psalm in which we were singing: “For thirst and hunger in them faints their soul,” and this kept them continually crying to the Lord as David did in Psalm xlii.: “Like as the hart for water-brooks in thirst doth pant and bray; so pants my longing soul, O God, that come to Thee I may. My soul for God, the living God, doth thirst: when shall I near unto Thy countenance approach and in God’s sight appear?” But He led them in the right way that they might go into a city of habitation. Their hunger and thirst were of such a nature that the world nor the things of the world could never satisfy it. They desired holiness, full communion with God and to be with Christ for ever. The heat of the sun causes great thirst to travellers passing through the wilderness where water cannot be found, so the corruption of their nature and the tribulations through which they were passing in the world caused them to thirst more and more for the time they would appear before the Lord in Sion, but the sun shall not light upon them now, nor any heat; all these things are behind them for evermore, for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them into living fountains of water and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
There have been different opinions about these fountains and some went even the length of making pictures of fountains as we have them among the hills in the Highlands. But we have always been of the opinion and are more confirmed in it now, that these fountains mean the attributes of God—the Fountain of His Love, the Fountain of His mercy, etc. Although they are perfect in holiness and their hunger and thirst fully satisfied, yet they will be going into the mysteries of the glorious attributes of God, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Many a tear they shed in the Valley of Baca: “Thou tears of sorrow giv’st to them instead of bread to eat.” “Yea, tears instead of drink Thou giv’st to them in measure great.” They had many reasons for shedding tears in the world—their own condition; the condition of their nation; the condition of their congregation; the condition of their near and dear ones. All this caused them to be shedding tears and sighing when others would be sound asleep. But God Himself will wipe these away and they shall never shed a tear again. Woe unto you, Christless sinner, when God takes away to glory those that were shedding tears over you in this world!
Oh! what bliss, what joy they have now following the Lamb to Fountains of living waters throughout the ages of eternity.