“Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the Shepherd of his flock? Where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him?
That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name?
That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble? As a beast goeth down into the valley the Spirit of the Lord causeteth him to rest; so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name” (Isaiah lxiii. 11-14).
ALTHOUGH there may be some disagreement about the interpretation of certain details in our text, yet there is general agreement that the reference here is to the deliverance of Israel from the Red Sea. For this reason, these verses are often stated in connection with deliverances afforded to the Church of Christ during its history in the world. As the Spirit spoken of here will be pleased to lead me, I desire to speak to-day of that deliverance, as yet not very far distant from ourselves, and yet far enough in the past to make forgetfulness of some of its important aspects easy—the deliverance afforded by the Lord to the church of our fathers. Let us then speak in the following order:—First—A Solemn Deliverance. Then let us briefly look at some of the Spiritual aspects of this deliverance. We shall then propose: An Anxious Inquiry. That will lead us to consider: A Partial Withdrawal. We shall follow that with: A Hopeful Observation, and finally we shall try to open this door of hope still wider.
Deliverance of Conscience.—When an honest man finds himself in a binding partnership with unjust men, he cannot but feel bondage of conscience. It may be true that he himself is incapable of any dishonest act, yet since he is partner in a system which supports dishonesty, his condemnation must cover both the dishonesty and his own relationship to it. So long as this relationship continues, and conscience speaks, he can but feel most miserable.
Our fathers, men of enlightened conscience found themselves caught up in an unholy alliance with the enemies of God’s Word. In passing the Declaratory Act, the majority in the Free Church got what they wanted and what their consciences approved of, but while they were jubilant, our fathers went into deep bitterness of spirit. They regarded the passing of this Act as a blow to the veracity of God’s Word and their beloved Free Church as the instrument delivering the blow. There was another party who disliked the Act, and were very vocal in their condemnation of it, but who, as yet, felt no defilement of conscience following their decision to remain in the apostate church. Since the Act left them free to go on preaching and teaching as they used to do, apart from voicing their condemnation, they took no further responsibility in the matter. For reasons of their own, they looked past the fact that they were active members in a church which was now Free Church only in name, but the Declaratory Act Church in reality. From this weak and temporizing attitude, our fathers turned away in disgust and abhorrence. They were enabled to look the matter in the face, and this was how they saw things. “With the full approval of our consciences, we took ordination in the Free Church, in name that Church continues, and we are still active members in it. But it is now a church of two creeds while still remaining an organic whole, we cannot keep our old creed without supporting the new, and the new practically cancels out the old. In remaining, we remain to support a new creed, a new church, with both creed and church running contrary to God’s Word. If we are to partake of this evil we must also reasonably partake of the consequent responsibility and guilt involved.”
And so until there was separation there was bondage, bondage of the most trying kind for honest men. They felt defiled and guilty, they lost confidence in each other, they could hardly look one another in the face, they could take pleasure in nothing, and they could not engage in their old duties as Christians with any of the old liberty and joy. The questions which hourly pressed on them concerned their liberty. “When, how and by whom can we be delivered?” Not to man did they carry these weighty questions; they carried them before the Lord. “Send deliverance, Lord, stir up thy strength and might.” And the Saviour of the oppressed, heard and answered: “For the cries of the needy, rise will I.” He sent leaders for the deliverance of Israel as our text shows, and now anew He came forth to break the uncongenial and unnatural yoke. “Let my people go.” He it was that gave them a church free of the abhorred Act. A church as pure as the Free Church should be pure, took form, drew near, and established itself in the religious life of our fathers. As the reproach of dishonesty and disloyalty was removed, a load fell off their consciences; anguish was withdrawn from their hearts. Once again they were honest Christians, once again they were under an unsullied banner, once again they could meet without the cloud of uncertainty over them, once again they could go to their work in the vineyard without disturbing qualms of conscience and without painful reservations. “The Lord hath done great things for us, hence joy to us is brought.” What clearing, what humbling, what praise, as the cream of Highland Christianity in the “secret places of the stairs,” met to renew its vows with the Lord, and to stand shoulder to shoulder along the line of Evangelical truth in the Highlands.
The Scriptures.—The Word of God is not bound and it will accomplish that which the Lord pleases. Its work is directly with the church of Christ’s redemption and in its application to each of the Redeemed it will accomplish that which He pleases, but if they could, enemies would bind it. Hence, although we have an open Bible in all the pulpits in Scotland, the Word is not permitted to speak for itself. Very, very often on such important matters as the Divinity of Christ, the fall of man, the corruption of man’s nature, the enmity of the natural heart to God, the love of God, and the veracity of the Word itself, it is commanded to keep silence. Where it would speak clearly, precisely, and with authority, it is permitted not so much as a whisper. Any fallen man with a little brain-power and a large estimate of that little, thinks that he has liberty to tell out the mind and will of God on everything spiritually important. And so to-day we have darkness for light.
How did this state of things come about in Scotland? When did it begin? Well, in a semi-secret way it began in the Divinity Halls of the Free Church prior to the passing of the Declaratory Act, but what up to then had been done covertly, now, through the passing of the Act, received full and open acknowledgment and approval. The Act, while inferring that the church as a whole still took the Word as its supreme authority, quietly substituted men’s ideas of God’s matters for the truth itself. It went further. It opened a wide door for further inroads into God’s Word; a door that has been taken full advantage of during the last 50 years. By this door, hundreds of men of corrupt minds and unbelieving hearts have found their way to the pulpits of Scotland. They found an open Bible in every pulpit, which with the hearty approval of their church, they straightway began to silence the Word of God, and the revealed mind of God has been made to bow the knee before the small wisdom and large folly of fallen men. To our fathers a church without the word supreme and final was as a church with a bound Bible, and the shame and dishonour cast on it loaded their souls down to the dust, and their prayers came in before Him who is the Word Incarnate.
Thus they prayed and thus the Lord answered: “Lord give us grace to stand by Thy Word, Lord give us a church which will give that place we know to be due to Thy Word.” The Lord heard their prayers, special grace was given, and the result is a matter of history. Very tenderly, very lovingly, did Mr. McFarlane and our fathers, his henchmen, lift the despised Word from before the seat of the scoffer, very firmly did they carry it with them “without the camp,” and there very solemnly did they again crown it Lord of All in the affairs of the Kingdom of their Master. And very clearly too, did the Lord give them a church in which they could have the assurance that the Word would be supreme; supreme in pulpit, pew, court and home; held supreme by ministers, tutors, office-bearers, preachers and members, and that supremacy maintained and defended by preaching, teaching and writing. If those who passed the Declaratory Act got what they wanted they got it from men. Our fathers, too, got what they wanted, but they got it from the Lord. “To them deliverance came.” This supremacy of God’s Word has reached us, their children, not by any accident nor on account of human power nor merit. May we get grace this day to receive it, each one, as our fathers did—from the Lord. And as they did, crown it in our hearts with that sovereignty with which God the Holy Spirit has invested it.
The Confession of Faith.—The Confession of Faith was founded on the principle of making the Bible interpret itself and consequently our fathers found in it a compendium of Gospel truth which was in full accord with the mind of the Spirit. They received it not only as a teacher and guide but as expressing in an able and precise way their own convictions. They could not think of ordination vows, nor church courts, nor pulpit teaching without it. Further than that, it became a household friend and companion, as well as a standard and test in all the matters relating to doctrine and practice. Indeed, it had become so much a part of themselves that their theological vocabulary was largely cast in the mould of its language and terminology. Neither were they unacquainted with the other works of the framers of the Confession, and they often resorted to their writings for spiritual refreshment. It will be seen by this that the Westminster Confession of Faith was something indispensable to them, something which had been built into the pattern of their spiritual life, something they could not live without.
When the Declaratory Act rose as competitor to the Confession a new question emerged. It was this: “What are you to do with the Confession of Faith?” There was no doubt what the majority, now wearied of our fathers’ beloved Confession, were to do. From its time-honoured place in study and session, in pulpit and presbytery, in Theological hall student circles (thanks to a cunning clause inserted into the Act), it was now, at one bound, relegated to the place of things obsolete and useless. From henceforth neither minister nor member could be taken to task on points of confessional obedience or doctrine. Orthodoxy and heterodoxy, the world and the church, nature and grace became meaningless and seldom used terms.
What were they to do with the Confession? Let it go into perpetual obscurity with no more protest than a doubtful disappointment uttered? This question raised another, yet more serious. What were they to do with the Church which had hitherto been characterised as a Church of the Confessional creed? What were they to do with those truths grouped under the system of Sovereign Grace? What were they to do with election, particular redemption, effectual calling, Gospel offer and Gospel responsibility? to mention but a few. Were these to go from Scotland forever? I am not forgetful that there were some who loved these doctrines, but in spite of all, decided to remain in the Declaratory Act church. I judge them not. History has already judged them. I am thinking of the church in the only way in which we can think of a church—as an organic whole. And again I ask the question: “Was there to be no church in Scotland which would continue to hold, complete and entire in doctrine and practice, the Confessional standards? This was the serious question our fathers had to face day by day. They did more. They laid it before the Lord of these doctrines and again He heard and sent deliverance.
When the late Rev. D. McFarlane went to the Assembly in 1893 he went with the prayers of our fathers, and the burden of these prayers was: “Lord, give us a church bound only by our beloved Subordinate Standards.” May I be permitted to put it this way? When Mr. McFarlane drew near the table, there were two creeds lying there—the new creed embodied in the Act lying in the place of honour in the centre—the old creed left inconspicuously somewhere near the edge of the table. Let us again ask the question: “What are you going to do with the old Creed?” “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” He tabled his protest, denied the court any jurisdiction over him and came away. But he did not come away empty-handed. He carried with him that Confession which had been and now continued to be the subordinate standard of our fathers’ church. By God’s grace he left the one and took the other, and the Lord wrought a great deliverance in Israel that day. If the Confession was a receptacle of Evangelical truth and the Declaratory Act a pot of Arminianism; under the Lord, who was that day custodian in Scotland of the true Gospel? A church free of all taint of Arminianism came into being and therein did our fathers rejoice.
A Solemn Deliverance.—The deliverance wrought for our fathers was a solemn one. It is solemn to see one earnest man in prayer and still more solemn to witness an answer to his prayer. It is solemn to see thousands of agonising Christians on their knees and to know that their prayers have had an entrance before their Lord. Solemn to observe serious-minded men come under vows to God—still more solemn to see the same men, whatever the cost, determined to honour these vows. Above all, it was solemn to see the hand of the Lord raised for the protection of His people and the things He loved in them. To see the Most High, in holy jealousy for His glory, moved out of His holy place to vindicate the right and to preserve His own precious things, is surely a solemn thing. To see the Power of Heaven raising Himself to take His weak things to confound the mighty is surely something to hold in awe. When the protection ordinarily afforded, now in place, time and manner, becomes extraordinary almost to the miraculous, and when the Good Shepherd interposes His intercession and majesty between His little flock and the robbers who care for none of the sheep, who can fail to see the hand of Him who is Judge within His holy place? Surely this is a solemnity of demonstrated power, of faithful covenant keeping, of holy and jealous love, a solemnity of that holiness and righteousness which is of the holy place itself. Solemn for the delivered, solemn for those left to the error they loved. Solemn in retrospect, solemn to-day. Solemn for us who are privileged to receive direct benefit from this deliverance. May we seek grace, to-day and every day, to stand in awe of this holy wonder.
Some Spiritual Aspects.—I find it necessary to refer briefly to some spiritual aspects of the events we are now considering, as there is danger of our losing their significance under the weight of details attending the doings of these stirring days. For a moment I should like to lift them out of the arena of controversy with its dust, heat and confused noise; out of the atmosphere of mere dates, movements, debates and Latin phrases, to the plane from whence they had their origin. I should like to view them in the light of the purposes of Him, who, as King in Zion, ever ruleth by His power in the affairs of his church.
Means.—Whatever friends or enemies may deny our fathers, they cannot, in the light of after events, deny them these—loyalty to God’s Word and their own vows, tenderness of conscience about the things of God, spiritual discernment, holy resolution, devotedness to the coming generations in Scotland, readiness to forego all to secure spiritual interests and holy living. On the human side, it was out of these attitudes of mind and characteristics of soul that the movement began, took shape and grew. Nor can it be denied that these are the graces through which the Holy Spirit normally works in order to keep the preservation of his truth from generation to generation. We had leaders from whom we will take nothing of that credit due to them, but they in turn were led by the Holy Spirit and only followed as He gave them grace. To-day, let us look past these leaders and let us see clearly the true and only efficient source of our existence as a church. The work of the Holy Spirit was a great reality to our fathers in those days and it is our responsibility to have a care that, as all was of Him in the past, all must be of Him in the present.
A Work Prepared to Hand.—Some of us present here to-day remember the beginnings. They were small but full of promise. Was there not an almost immediate expanse and increase? Did it not appear as if in very truth a “nation was born in a day?” United in the truth, our fathers were united in the purpose to spread it. The Lord gave his blessing, there was power with the Word, there were conversions, there was a forth-reaching, an opening of doors, a possessing of the land, a people prepared, and uprising and forward surging of spiritual life. These are all matters of history now, but who gave point, direction, and fullness to a movement which had for its modest beginning, a lone man and his separation from an apostate church? Again we humbly bow before that Spirit of all grace who in very truth is to-day our life, as yesterday He was our birth.
Doctrine.—I might speak of a number of doctrines which were brought into prominence when our church was formed, but to-day I shall speak only of two. (a) First, we have the redeeming work of Christ. A side attack was made by the Declaratory Act on this foundation doctrine and the reply of the Holy Spirit was to give this truth great prominence in the church formed for His testimony. As a fruit of their election, Christ’s people are blood-bought. His precious blood is confined neither by place nor time; it is here now and it will be in eternity. There is but a short step from the Reformation to Calvary, a short step from 1893 to the Cross. The command of the blood to law and justice was then: “Let my people go,” and when this command found ready obedience from law and justice, the blood again commanded, but this time to death and the Devil. Again the solitary majesty of the blood prevailed and effectual calling became an experience in each blood-bought sinner. But these bought by the Lamb must have the Lamb as their necessary food, their pastures must fall within the plot bounded by Gethsemane, Calvary and the empty tomb. The Declaratory Act would leave them outside these pastures, but the Lord who brought them out provided food convenient for them. From henceforth the redeemer and redemption, the redeemed elect and the redeemed called, the redeemed preserved and the redeemed sanctified, the song of the redeemed here and their song hereafter were to be the main themes of the church of the Lord’s founding. This surely was His purpose in this particular, and to-day we humbly acknowledge the loving kindness of that hand that has placed redeeming love in the forefront of our pulpit ministry.
The Place of the Holy Spirit.—What is the teaching regarding the Holy Spirit in churches to-day? Is it not so vague that one often wonders why they do not drop the mere mention of His name altogether? According to most preachers, human nature has outgrown the need of those experiences which the Word regards as essential to salvation. This evil teaching is a child of the Declaratory Act. Our fathers believed that the Holy Spirit is God the Third Person and that the church on earth has been given into His hands in order to its preparation for Christ in glory. Apart from Him and His life-giving power, there is nothing but death and the devil. The objective knowledge of salvation and the inwrought experience of it, and both by the Holy Spirit, were doctrines gifted to our fathers by the Lord, and it is He who still gives this prominence to His work in our thought and preaching. To-day we have not one but many “aids” to salvation, with the Holy Spirit as a doubtful aid among the many, but for us there is definiteness in this matter. As we glory in being closed into Christ for salvation so do we glory in being closed into the Holy Spirit for the application of that salvation. No membership without regeneration, no regeneration without the Holy Spirit, no membership without the Holy Spirit—seems to be to be the order of our kirk sessions on this important matter. As our fathers stood witnesses to a salvation entirely of God in the soul of man, so to-day would we point a directing finger to God the Holy Spirit and with them witness—”neither is salvation in any other.”
(To be continued.)