By REV. JOHN COLQUHOUN, Glendale.
THE title of this article has behind it a revelation of how corrupt man will abuse God’s greatest gifts and prostitute them to the service of the devil. In the day when the children of Israel were bitten by the fiery serpents, God conferred a great blessing on them when He said to Moses, “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live” (Numbers xxi, 8). We have here sin and its punishment, and God’s remedy. “The people spake against God, and against Moses . . . And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died . . . And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” This incident, which took place, literally, in the journeyings of the children of Israel in the wilderness, is symbolical of a greater deliverance, for the Saviour Himself tells us that “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John iii, 14, 15). In both cases the remedy was a wonderful revelation of God’s great mercy to perishing sinners, and in each case man shows what a sinful creature he is. In the case of the deliverance wrought by sending a Saviour into this world, men despise Him and refuse to look to Him, vainly hoping that as God has shown so much mercy in sending Him that He will not let them perish. In the case of this type of the Saviour, while we do not read that any refused to look to the brazen serpent, yet men sinned grievously in connection with it.
In connection with the reformation which Hezekiah wrought, we read that “He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan” (II Kings xviii, 4). They had failed to see in it a type of the Saviour of sinners and made a god of it. The generation in which Moses lived had seen the mighty work of the Lord in healing those who were bitten by the fiery serpents and were bound to declare this to the generations that came after them, but these generations, being blinded by sin, did not see that the brazen serpent was only a means ordained by God to meet with special circumstances at a particular time, and began to pay it a superstitious reverence, instead of giving all the glory to God. “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things” (Rom. i, 21-23).
There are various ways in which men put to a wrong use the blessings which God gives. It was a great blessing for the Jews to be Abraham’s seed, for thus they were the children of the covenant which God made with him, but when they said, “We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?” they showed that they were not able to see beyond Abraham and God’s covenant
with him, to Him of whom the eternal Father says, “I have made a covenant with my chosen.” This is the way with many who had godly parents in the world. They imagine that they are different from others and seem to expect that God will deal with them differently from others because of their godly ancestors. They have no personal religion and their only talk is about the religion of their parents. This degenerates into something worse than the ancestor worship of the heathen Chinese, for the heathen do it in ignorance, while those who do it in our Christian land do it against the plain declarations of Scripture.
Again we find Nehushtan raising its head in connection with the witness of particular branches of the Christian Church. In Scotland it was at one time very necessary to sign the Covenants and possible to carry out these Covenant obligations, and also there were good grounds for political dissent, but neither the fulfilling of Covenant obligations are possible, nor political dissent necessary, in our day, yet these are made terms of communion by branches of the Christian Church in our beloved land, though for practical purposes they have ceased to be anything but “a piece of brass.” Further, there was a witness made in Scotland on behalf of the Headship of Christ in His own Church against Erastianism, and round that banner the cream of the godly gathered, so that the Church which raised that witness became “fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.” The fine gold, however, became dim and that body broke up into fragments. One fragment, whose separation from the rest was not in order to conserve the truth, but in order to conserve money and property, seized upon the name by which the whole body was formerly known, and because of a successful appeal in the court of Caesar, maintain that they alone are the representatives of those who raised the witness originally. So much value did they place on this name that it became a stumbling block to union with other Christian Churches, when they themselves held that such a union was absolutely essential in order to preserve the last spark of evangelical religion in Scotland. Such a name, under such circumstances, becomes Nehushtan.
Further, Nehushtan may creep in to mar a real witness for the truth. In our own Church a priceless heritage has been handed down to us. Those who have no love for us agree that we have the distinction of being the only Church in Scotland who separated because we objected to unsound doctrine. Others proclaimed loudly that if the Declaratory Act was passed anyone who liked could pronounce the funeral oration of the once glorious Free Church of Scotland, for the issues involved were, “Bible or no Bible, Confession of Faith or no Confession of Faith.” As a Church, we acted on that and raised a witness on behalf of the Bible and against error. That witness has still been preserved among us, for we are on the very foundation on which the Church stood when men, weak in themselves but strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, raised aloft the standard which became the rallying point of such as loved the truth more than money or property. Let us, however, beware, if we do not act according to that witness in faithfully cleaving to it, asserting, maintaining and defending the doctrines for which our fathers took up a separate position, and exercising the discipline of the Church on all who would, directly or indirectly, undermine that witness, and content ourselves with priding ourselves on our stand, Nehushtan may be written on our separate position.
When the Lord Jesus ascended up on high, we read that He “received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.” Of these gifts we read that “He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” The Apostle Paul sternly rebukes the Corinthians for their abuse of these gifts, for he found that some of them said, “I am of Paul”; others, “I am of Apollos,” and others again, “I am of Cephas”; while a fourth division, evidently professing superior sanctity, said, “I am of Christ.” These parties each could give their own reasons for taking up a separate position and following those ambassadors who are named, but it is very evident that their positions were not taken up in defence of the truth, for the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle, says to them, “For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” (I Cor. iii, 3, 4). He shows that Paul and Apollos are “but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man,” and that Paul is only to be followed even as he is also a follower of Christ. With these factions it was otherwise. If Paul or Apollos said a thing it would be the end of all controversy with their self-styled followers. Peter, at Antioch, may have acted in such a way that it was necessary for Paul to withstand him “to the face,” and give him a terrible rebuke when the Church of Christ was in grave danger of suffering loss, but Peter’s conduct, in the estimation of those who were saying, “I am of Cephas,” would be the very essence of an upright Christian conduct. This shows that it was the man they were following and not Christ, and if there were any of the Lord’s people among them, as it was possible that some of them were carried away with such divisions, they would have a day when they would see their idol broken in pieces and called Nehushtan. In view of these matters there is need of the exhortation of the Holy Spirit, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (I John v, 21).
The late Mrs. Catherine Morrison, Sandwich, Stornoway.
THE subject of this obituary was born in Sandwich, a village in the parish of Stornoway, where she spent her whole life. She was the daughter of Donald Maclean, a native of Skye and a man who feared the Lord greatly. His wife died a comparatively young woman, and Catherine made it her duty to stay with her father, before and after she married. Her regard for her father made this a pleasant duty to her. She married at the age of twenty-one years a Kenneth Morrison, a young man of twenty-two years of age, and they were happily married for many years.
Mrs. Morrison began to follow the means of grace when she was a young woman, and on one occasion she was as far afield as Portree, Skye, at a Communion. In those days transport facilities were not as advanced as they are to-day, so that one is inclined to think that only a desire for the bread of life would induce her to cross the Minch in order to attend a Communion season. In her own native island, she attended the Communion seasons in the different parishes as domestic and other circumstances
permitted, but she had a special regard for Ness, as it was there she first entertained a hope that she had passed from death to life.
She was not one who talked much of her religion, but she loved to exchange Christian experiences with those in whom she had confidence that they were the Lord’s people. The writer recalls when he and the late Mr. Neil Nicolson called on her. She was then near the end of her pilgrimage, but wonderfully active in both body and mind. In listening to those two believers in conversation, one was impressed by their mutual dread of sin. Their hope was in the one sacrifice, even Christ. That was their only hope, and it was immovable although they seemed more sensible of its weakness than of its strength.
Mrs. Morrison was of a very modest disposition, and through grace her knowledge of herself made her little in her own estimation. She was, however, faithful to her principles and a loyal member of the Church for many years.
It is worthy of note that while she could read neither Gaelic nor English, she practically remembered the whole Bible, and would correct any mistake when she heard the word read. It would seem that she had a most retentive memory, and this compensated for the lack of the art of reading. She was a most intelligent woman, but her opportunity to acquire education in her youth was hampered by the fact that she was obliged to keep house for her father. Besides, the means of acquiring education was not what it is to-day. Her name may well be recorded among the honourable, of whom there were not a few in the Free Presbyterian Church.
The whole Bible was precious to her, but there were certain passages which were more so than others. Among the latter were the 118th Psalm, particularly the sixth verse, the 119th Psalm, and the 12th chapter of Hebrews. These portions of God’s Word she loved to hear read to her, because her soul was, in a peculiar manner, fed by them.
For some considerable time after she entertained a good hope for eternity, she had not the strength to make a public profession of her faith in Christ, but when the time came she was given the needed strength to own her Lord publicly.
Mrs. Morrison adorned her profession by a life truly worthy of the Gospel. In walk and conversation she was exemplary. Although she lived to the good old age of 86 years, the end came somewhat suddenly. She and her daughter Mrs. Mackenzie, who tenderly nursed her in her old age, were preparing to go to the North Uist Communion, when she had a seizure, and after a few days she passed away to join the redeemed of the Lord in heaven.
To her daughter, who dutifully looked after her, and to the rest of the family, we extend our sympathy. May they, like her, be enabled to make choice of the good part that shall not be taken from them.—D. C.
Christ and Satan divide the world. Christ will bear no equal, and Satan no superior, and therefore thou canst not hold in with both.—Gurnall.
Searmon.
Leis an Urr. IAIN LOVE, D.D.
(Air a leantuinn bho. t.d. 18.)
Tha aon nì fhathasd ri bhi air beachdachadh air chùm agus gu mothach sinn làn neart an t-samhladh a tha anns a cheann-theagaig, agus gu’n tuig sinn ciall an Spioraid ann. Tha na nithean a chàidh aimmeachadh a cheana, co-cheangailt’ ri gràdh pòsaidh na nàdur fiorghlan. Bheir an gràdh so leis, air dhà bhi air a chumail an taobh a stigh de chrioichaibh sònraicht’ le focal agus Spiorad Dhe, milseachd do-labhairt, agus còmhdaichid e le dealradh seachd uairean nis motha, na nithean a tha tarruig gu chèile pearsachan agus cuspairean. Tha e coltach gu robh faireachadh aig Solamh air cùmhaichd mòr an aignidh so, gu h-àraidh an toiseach a laithean, ged a thainig e ris gu bhi na eisimpleir uamhasach air an laigse agus an truaillidheachd sgriosail a tha ann an cridhe an duine. Bha e air a threorachadh, ann an sgriobhadh an leabhair so, gu bhi taghadh na faireachaidhean a b’fhiorghlaine a bha na chridhe ann an cleachdadh laghail gràdh pòsaidh, mar ghrùnd litireil a chosamhlachd naomh so, a tha’g eirigh gu bhi comharrachadh a mach na glusadan is maisiche a th’anns na h-aignidhean co-cheangailt’ ris a phòsadh dhiomhair eadar Iosa Criosa agus a chèile spioradail. Tha’n samhladh so mu phòsadh, a tha air fhaotainn, cha’n ann a mhàin an so, ach tre na Sgriobtur an naomh air fad (agus co leis an dàna coire fhaotainn dhà ach neach a tha’g abachadh air son lasruichean agus pronosg an loch theinntich?) ri bhi air a chumail an sealladh anns na briathran fa’r comhair. Tha oirdheirceasan do-labhairt Iosa air fhaicinn leis an fhiar eaglais do anamaibh naomha, cha’n ann le sealladh fuar an fheallsanaich, ach le sùlean a ghràidh-phòsadh sin nach aithnich traoghadh tre àlaibh neo-chriochnach na siorrudheachd.
Chi sibh, mo bhraithrean, cho cothromach ‘s a tha na briathran samhlachail sin ga’n càradh fein ri ar Tighearn Iosa Criosd beannaicht’. Tha iad a glusad gu bhi socrachadh ar smùaintinn air a mhaise do-labhairt, agus gu bhi glusad ar cridheachan le milseachd na glòir nach gabh nì bhi air a choimeas rithe.
II. Ann a bhi leantuinn an glusad naomh, agus gun a bhi ga’r ceangal fein ri litir nan samhlaidhean so, oidhirpich-mid, anns an dara àit, beachd a ghabhail air maisè shònraicht’ agus bharrachd’ Iosa Criosd —Imanuel—Slànuighear iongantach pheacach.
“Tha e gu leir ionmhuinn.” Annsan tha a coinneachadh ar sùlean a tha làn ioghnaidh, dealradh meagachd gach uile oirdheirceas, neo-chruithaicht’ agus cruthaicht’, diadhaidh agus daonnachdail, pearsanta agus dreuchdail. Ach co chuireas an ceill ni nach urrainn cridhe air bith a bhreithneachadh. Tha sinn air ar bacadh anns an oidhirp le mothachadh air doille agus neo-fhoghainteachd, le mi-mhodh nan daoine ladurna a tha ullamh gu fanoid a dheanamh air anmhuinneachd ar beachdan, ach gu h-àraidh, tre eagal a bhi mi-naomhachadh an ni sin a tha neo-chriochnach naomh, agus a bhi “dorchachadh comhairle le briathran gun
eolas.” Gidheadh bheir sinn an oidhirp, gu bhi comharachadh a mach na puingean is soilleire air son treorachadh beachd-smuainteachadh nan iorasal, far nach gabhdadh ceruban an ard-aingeal air fein làn-iomradh a dheanamh.
Faodar beachdachadh air maise agus milseachd cliù an Fhir-shaoraidd fòdh thri seallaidhean. ‘S e sin oirdheirceasan a Dhiaidhachd, a dhaonachd agus a dhreuchdan.
(R’a leantuin.)