Ministers of Christ.

Sermon preached by REV. ROBERT R. SINCLAIR, Wick, on Tuesday evening, 16th May, 1957, at the Ordination, in Inverness Church, of Rev. Petros Mzamo, Africa.*

“Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ; and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.” I. Cor. Ch. 4, vv. 1-2.

“Now in the preceding chapters in this first Epistle to the Corinthians, you will find that the Apostle Paul deals very largely with matters which concern himself and others who were bringing the gospel to their fellow sinners in the world. There is a great deal of teaching regarding gospel affairs in chapter 1; but in chapter 2 he turns to what I may call the manner of preaching—for instance, he says, “when I came to you I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.” In this second chapter he also makes it very clear that the great and blessed things of God which he calls once and again “the deep things of God,” were what a man, the natural man, could not understand or enter into, but as he would be led by the Divine Spirit, as he says, “the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” In chapter 3, he handles another matter with regard to the discharge of their gospel duties; that whatever outstanding features there were in his ministry as he says, “I have planted,” and whatever outstanding features there were in the ministry of Apollos, of whom he says, “Apollos watered,” that it is the Lord of Heaven and earth that can make effectual all the varied ministrations—of course of the same gospel—that it is the Lord Himself who can give a spiritual saving and blessed increase in the experience of sinners and saints. So you see that the Apostle herein takes to do with matters pertaining to the discharge of gospel duties by men. And so he comes in the

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*What appears here of this Sermon and of the Addresses which follow, is entirely from notes taken in shorthand by a hearer.—Editor.

beginning of this 4th chapter to admonishing more so, than to exhorting or enjoining upon all classes—and especially the church at Corinth that they were to have regard to himself and Apollos and Cephas and other ministers of the gospel, that they were to respect and appreciate them, and look upon them as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. And he adds to that, “moreover” or “in addition,” it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

Now, as the Lord may enable me, I would like First of all to bring before you some facts which have an immediate application to the office of the ministry of the gospel; facts which have a very vital application to those who are called here “ministers of Christ.” Secondly, I wish to consider what I may call just now the particular work that is said here to be delegated unto ministers of Christ, that is their being “stewards of the mysteries of God.” And then the Third and last matter before us in these verses is the outstanding aspect of character required in ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, “that a man be found faithful.”

As to the first matter then, some particular facts that have an immediate application to those who are described here as servants of Christ.

Well, of course, in beginning this we must say something, indeed with regard to Christ Himself. Ministers of Christ are ministers of the Son of God—that is who they are. Ministers of the Son of God, are ministers of Him who was, and is, and shall be forever the Eternal Son of the Everlasting Father, equal in Divine power and glory with the Father and the Holy Ghost. But they are the servants of the Son of God who became Man, and so was and continued to be God and Man in two distinct natures and one Person forever. They are thus servants of the Saviour, the Saviour of lost men, and that is a glorious and wonderful matter. And He is the Divine Saviour of all who were given to Him from everlasting, in the everlasting and the new and better Covenant. They are servants of Christ as the alone Head and Lord and King of His church, of His people, and over everything that contributes to the promotion of His honour and glory in relation to His church, and He is the alone Head with regard to everything that the church requires, possesses, practices and professes, etc.

Now, I would like to come to some particulars that have an intimate relation to those who are described as servants of Christ.

Right away (a) the servants of Christ must be converted men, and that subject would take us the whole night if we would allow our minds to dwell on it, but that would be most unwise. This is one of the first foundation truths with regard to servants of Christ, as servants of Christ are referred to and spoken of by the Holy Ghost. There was never a servant of Christ upon the face of this earth but was a

converted man—that is, in regard to what we are speaking of just now. This is the first requirement, that that man be one who knows in his own experience what effectual calling means, and what it means to be dealt with personally in heart and will by the Holy Ghost under law and gospel, and brought to know what sin means, and what it is to be enabled and persuaded to embrace Christ as He is freely offered in the Gospel. To be a servant of Christ a man must be a true believer, and that arising out of the New Birth. In the light of the Bible, I know very well that the Lord had many servants, that is of a kind, in different ways. But we are speaking of the ministry of the gospel wherein that ministry, as applicable to men, they are herein described as servants of Christ. They are men “born again,” and it is quite a solemn thing for me to say here to-night with regard to the application of the matter to myself. I am just speaking from what I believe personally to be the truth with respect to those who confess to be and are true servants of Christ—they are born from above. They are men who have been brought to have a God-given, and saving faith upon the Divine Redeemer. If you make application of that truth, well, you can come to serious and critical conclusions about many who profess to be servants of Christ to-day.

(b) The second matter which particularly applies to servants of Christ is this, that they are such as have received a special and particular call and commission to be servants of Christ, and personally I feel strongly on this, and I was thinking to-day on this question. I cannot understand and you are here and you cannot understand it either, how anyone in seeking to assume the office of the ministry of the gospel, how that person does not have light and is not sure whether they are called or not. If it comes to the point where the Lord, the Great Head of the Church, wants a man to be His servant (that is additional to the fact that every believer is a servant of the Lord in their own right) in regard to the office of the ministry, I cannot understand that such an one may not be clear whether they are called or not. I don’t follow that because I read in the Bible that the Lord called Jeremiah to be a prophet, and there was no question who came to Jeremiah, and I guarantee that Jeremiah had no question about his call. The Lord spoke to Ezekiel that He was sending him to be His prophet and so on. And what do you read of the Apostle Paul? You will find in chapter 1 that he says that Christ sent him to preach, and Christ sent him not to baptise but to preach. And do you think that that is a thing that happens in the dark, or with lack of clarity? I cannot personally accept that. I am speaking thus intentionally and with point and with purpose. However depleted the church of Christ will be, the Lord is reigning. The Lord in Heaven, the Head of the Church surely knows how to rule and reign better than the wisest on earth. The Lord knew Moses whom He wanted, although Moses discussed with the Lord to be

allowed free from such duties as leading Israel, and so on. This is the point I am at, that the servant of Christ is a man, in my humble opinion (I know there are diversities of working with God without going into these details) to whom the Lord has made it clear, that apart from the ordinary run of Christian activities and burdens, this man is to devote himself to Christ and the duties of the Gospel Ministry. And don’t let men assume this ministry if they are not sure of this, on the basis of the Word of the Lord and the directions of Providence, but especially the Word of the Lord and the authority of that Word, that this is what the Lord will have them to do, and nothing else.

(c) The next matter I would deal with is that the servants of Christ are fitted for their work, as those called and commissioned by the Lord, and that to such special work, service and activities. And as is recognised, there is no more noble work on the face of this earth than for one to be set apart to serve the Blessed Jesus in the Gospel of His Grace. The servant of Christ in being converted first of all, and then called and commissioned by the Lord’s Word and His Providence, is the Lord bringing into His service those who are unfitted for it? As far as we find in the Word of God, they whom the Lord brought to be His servants, the Lord fitted them for their work.

The Lord fitted, and does fit, those who are called, according to the measure of grace that He will give them, and in the bestowal of the gifts that He sees they require to be His servants. He is at the beginning of this, and He is in the centre of it, and at the end of it. Is the Lord behind in fitting such to be His servants? That cannot be at all. They are given graces and gifts in varied degrees, but according unto the mind and will and purpose of the Lord. Titus was not an Apostle Paul nor in all things like Timothy or Philip. Everyone is not a John Knox, and everyone is not a Dr. Kennedy, Dingwall; but for the work the Lord has to do, He will call servants, and He will fit them and He will give them the graces, spiritual gifts and mental gifts, etc., for the work He has for them. If you believe, as you ought, that whatsoever comes to pass in regard to every human being, is known to Him, then the Lord knows exactly what a man has to do for him, and He will fit that man with the necessary graces and gifts, and these in some cases are more outstanding in one than in another. The Lord does not call any man to go a warfare at his own charges.

(d) I come to another point, and it is, that the term “ministers” here denotes and indicates an entire subjection to Christ. That is a matter in regard to the servants of Christ. They are under His authority entirely and altogether—they have no inherent authority of their own. You would think that some men to-day had all the authority in the church when they change and alter and rule and reign without any regard to the Divine authority, will and mind of the Great Head of the Church, as set forth in the Bible. This is very

evident in these times. Well, you see, the servants of Christ are to be in subjection to Christ’s Divine authority. What has His stamp and authority upon it, is what they are to do and recognise. His Word, and mind and will and guidance and laws, and so on, and everything in regard to them are what concern their serving Him. It is not what any man will say; but you see, the servants of Christ are to be under the authority of Christ. What does Christ authorise? What the servant sees in the Word of God gives him authority to act and speak in any given matter. Well, the servant of Christ is to have his authority from Christ. Men to-day are doing what they like. Our fathers, according to the Word of God even with regard to church government purged the land of Episcopacy. Men to-day are taking in Episcopacy and wanting Bishops in Scotland. Where is their authority? That is a foundation question in regard to anything in connection with the name of Christ—have you Christ’s authority for it? Is it according to the Word of God? If not, then men are disregarding the honour and claims of the Head of the Church. What is that? That is sin, that is rebellion, that is dishonour to the Great Head of the Church; so the servants of Christ are bound by, in a word, the Bible, as to what they teach, as to how they live, as to how they worship, as to how they govern the church, and further, as to how they exercise discipline.

(e) The next thing I would like to bring before you in this, that the servants of Christ are many a time men who appear in their circumstances and experience and persons, like what the Apostle says of them as “earthen vessels.” They have their trials, their weaknesses and their limitations—I don’t mean just now so much morally or spiritually. They don’t appear as influential and powerful men as far as the world is concerned. Yet the true servant of Christ, enabled to serve Him, has behind him in the greatest difficulties from the enemies of Christ, and the devil, and difficulties and trials serving the Lord, what Christ said prior to entering into His glory, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” Following upon that assertion by the risen Head of the Church, He commands His Apostles, thus: “Go ye therefore and teach all nations.” Do you think that that assertion and command on the part of Christ, the Great Head over His body the Church, do you think that that has ceased, so to speak, to have any relationship to-day with the servants of Christ? Never! The One who is at the right Hand and who has servants in this world, whoever they are (and we believe they are among us) these servants of Christ have that declaration behind them, that the One whom they serve has delegated to Him, all power in Heaven and in earth. The Great Head Himself will cause the power that He has to be exercised in whom, and through whom, He Divinely pleases. But my point is that that power and authority is ever behind the gospel ministry, behind the true gospel ministry, behind those who have been truly brought to

serve Christ in the gospel ministry. That authority is behind them. However tried, however many disappointments the servants of Christ may have in their ministry, and so on, they have also, we believe, this promise as it was given, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” I say again, the Lord is sovereign as to how, when and in what measure He may fulfil that promise, and give His servants out of that promise. Although we would like to see evidence of the power of the Lord, as the late Mr. Beaton used to say when we were students, “John did no miracle,” and he said that might be true of the ministry of some; yet the Lord is with His true servants and behind them in view of His claims and glory, although they would never know that they were the means of converting one sinner. They shall fulfil Christ’s purpose in their ministry. And those who may be saying they are servants of Christ and are not, they have not got these promises. They have not the right to fall back on this, “Lo, I am with you alway.” There is a great difference between professing and being in possession. A man with this promise in his weakest hours may well face the greatest troubles in this world, and on the other hand, fear the face of no man on this earth.

(f) The servants of Christ are such as to whom it is applicable, that they are not to please men primarily. They are not to please men at all, that is, to have regard to pleasing and satisfying men when the claims and the desires of men conflict, or come into conflict with the claims and the mind and the will of the Blessed Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle says if he was to please men, he would not be the servant of Christ. But this is a generation in which this has been going on apace. Please the people, tell them a great deal about the supposed universal Fatherhood of God, and that everybody is a child of God. Tell them they are all going to Heaven. This is the ruinous doctrine of to-day. Yet there are multitudes going to Hell under the blight of such doctrines, and that because men are more concerned with pleasing those who are sitting in front of them, than to serve and please the Blessed Jesus. Well, let the day never dawn in the Free Presbyterian Church when those who are professed servants of Christ will be allowed and permitted by the Lord to seek to please anybody, father, mother, brother or sister, or the most intimate person and friend, with regard to the promulgation of the Gospel of Christ. That is the bane and the curse of the visible church today in our land. There is one thing I want to speak of for one moment, because it has been on my mind for months now, and that is with regard to serving the Lord Christ and not pleasing men, but pleasing Him. We live in a day when the doctrine of everlasting punishment is put into the background in the churches.

Christ and Heaven and the goodness of God is preached for a whole life-time and not a word about the just judgment and Holiness

of the Great God of Eternity, or of punishment for the unbelieving. You could be in this pulpit preaching for seventy years and not preach a word on eternal punishment. But the evangelical faith, once delivered to the Saints, and that comes within the ministry of the Gospel, is not seventy-five per cent. of the doctrines of the Bible, but all the doctrines. The evangelical faith has to be declared in order to please Christ, without regard to pleasing men, and contains the great truths of the everlasting punishment in hell of unbelieving sinners who die in their sins. That is just one phase of this, pleasing Christ and not pleasing men. That is a matter that applies to the servants of Christ. Please the Master; and oh! what a Master! A Master and a Lord who will never ask His servants to speak, think, act anything, other than what will be for His own honour, and what will be calculated to bring about blessing and good for sinners. The Lord is not asking His servants to do anything, or say anything, but what will contribute to the blessing and the good of immortal souls. And that includes what I have been saying, for us to be warned against sin and its consequences in a lost eternity. Are we pleasing Christ if we are putting that in the background? That is a part, although only part, of the glory of the Divine Head of the Church that He saves from sin and wrath and Hell, and truly blesses with grace and glory and likeness to Himself. Now in the Old Testament, we have the case of Daniel himself, and the case of Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego. When the claims of men came in conflict with the claims of their God, their Divine King, their Master, as believers in the Old Testament, they were by Divine grace determined as to whom they were going to please, and that was the Lord of heaven and earth. Neither Darius nor Nebuchadnezzar could make them compromise. And that will be true of the true servants of Christ. A christian compromising, trying to run with the world and trying to serve Christ at the same time—oh! what a cursed leaven that is within the visible church to-day. “Be not ye the servants of men.” When the claims of men are contrary to the mind of Christ, the servant of Christ is to serve and please Christ and not man.

(g) Now further, I would like to touch on this, that the servants of Christ, as is shown in the Bible, are not to expect in the experience of the activities of the Gospel of Christ, to have nothing but comfortable experiences throughout life as such. It is not going to be very easy for them to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. You are all familiar with what the servants of Christ suffered as seen in the Bible, and in the history of our own land here. “Marvel not if the world hate you.” “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you.” The servants of Christ are, by Divine strength, not to be ashamed of the Blessed Jesus and His Cause and Kingdom. The servants of Christ are in many cases “nothings” in the view of men. Why, I say, should the servants of Christ be afraid of the face of those who

are dust, who will go to dust like themselves? And friends, this is the cursed fear of man which bringeth a snare. It is the Lord Himself that can break that cursed fear. What is another man but dust and ashes going to the grave like yourself and myself? The servants of the devil are diligent enough, and you are here and you know that those who are doing the work of the devil will have their say in face of all. They are not ashamed; and why should the servants of Christ be ashamed or afraid of any man or men, to serve Christ, and to speak for Christ and to stand up for Christ and His kingdom and His glory?

The servants of Christ have need of grace to be kept from the fear of man, and to be prepared for reproach and hatred for the sake of Christ after all the Saviour did for His people. Poor christians and poor ministers we are, if we are not willing to suffer a little for Christ. Poor christians who profess the Name of the Lord and they are not prepared to suffer anything for Christ, and the Lord went to the Cross of Calvary. The servants of Christ are to be prepared to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, but I see I must pass on.

(h) Another particular I would like to mention is that the servants of Christ are to seek to have this mind, to spend themselves and to be spent for Christ. Now there is no good me trying to qualify this at all. I am saying what is in the Word of God. It is a matter applicable to the servants of Christ that they are to seek strength of soul, strength of mind and body to spend themselves and be spent for Christ. Take care of yourself, not at all! The Lord, of course, does not ask anything unreasonable; but as far as strength indicates and allows, the servants of Christ are to spend and to be spent and there is to be no retirement. So long as the Lord gives you strength of soul mind and body, there is to be no retirement. That is what I think, and you are here and you think the same. No retiral, till when? Till the Lord will say, “You have to retire now” whether it is here or away to Glory. If the Lord is giving you strength, be spent for Christ. “Be not weary in well doing.” No. “For in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not.” Maybe the servant of the Lord will think he is going to faint many a time. It is wonderful how the Lord will uphold and deliver out of difficulties, and enable them to be spent for the Saviour.

(i) The last thing under this section of the text is as to what the servants of Christ are to say after they have done all. After they have been enabled by the Lord to obey His Word, and preach the gospel, to meet with trials often, to be tempted and tried, and to be concerned in Christ’s Cause and Kingdom and service according to what He requires and commands, they have to say, “We are unprofitable servants.” That is what they are to say. “We are unprofitable servants;” and that is what the Lord directs them to say, “When ye have done all.” As was said by a quaint divine about Adam in his

innocency, “He was just doing what he ought to do; perfectly serving the Lord.” This is to be the mind of the servants of Christ, whatever they are enabled to do in His service as regards preaching the gospel, and all other duties, pastoral duties, government of the Church, and so on. This is to be his view of all his services to the Blessed Jesus. He is just a poor, unworthy servant at the best.

The time is more than past and I cannot deal with the other two main parts of my subject, as you know there are other solemn duties before us this evening. May the Lord bless His own Word to us all.

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Address to Rev. Petros Mzamo.

Address to the newly ordained minister
by REV. D. A. MACFARLANE, M.A., Dingwall.

Well, you are now an ordained servant of the Lord, and indeed I find great difficulty in addressing you to any great extent after the sermon that we got in the fear of the Lord and in the love of the gospel from His servant there. It is a pleasure for you and for me to be here to-night to hear such a sermon, and may the Lord make you indeed like the beloved servant here and give you unction, and me also, poor sinners indeed. May He give us the unction of the Holy Spirit to live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit.

One or two portions of Truth were coming before my mind in connection with addressing you very briefly, and I may just mention them. How holily and graciously the Lord has blessed you, my dear friend, in bringing you here and in blessing you as He has both in providence and in Grace. “Blessed is the man whom Thou dost choose” and how blessed you are having an interest in that portion for Eternity. And another portion which I thought came before my mind in your connection is “Blessed is the man in whose heart are Thy ways; who passing thorough Baca’s vale therein do dig up wells.” Especially these two portions, and also what I noticed Mr. Sinclair had in the opening prayer of our Presbytery this afternoon—I thought it came before me also, what you had and you have, and perhaps the older you get and the more quick of understanding in the fear of the Lord and the everlasting gospel of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the more you will have it. “Who can his errors understand, oh, cleanse Thou me within from secret faults.” Perhaps the older you get the more you will seek humbly, just on the knees of your soul, a softness of heart and a loving and holy submission of soul, the more you will prize these words, and be glad that the Psalmist ever wrote them: “Oh, cleanse Thou me within.” I was reading recently and I thought I was greatly refreshed in reading a book by an eminent servant of the Lord in the days of the Disruption, Dr. James Buchan, on the Holy Spirit. Perhaps he does not write in the same way as Owen, and you are probably acquainted with these writings, in view

of your being under the Rev. James Fraser, and he is an eminent servant of the Lord. The following two prayers which the children of the Covenant, I believe, need in all ages and the older they get the more they feel their need of them, are “All mine iniquities blot out,” and “Create a clean heart.” Some might think that if they were converted they would not need the prayer, “Create a clean heart.” And the other prayer was from Psalm 143: “Teach me the way that I should walk,” and the children of the Covenant of whom we have been hearing to-night, who loved the Covenant and the Church, then these have these two prayers. They may have them half-consciously, or semi-consciously as it were, under their breath: “Teach me the way that I should walk.” Now may the Lord enable you to live holily and that with your whole heart and body.

Mr. Sinclair just referred to “the mysteries of God.” The Bible is like a box and when the Spirit lifts the lid of the box, then these holy mysteries come into the understanding. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,” and you have been eating them and drinking them in. And you are taking your stand on the side of Mr. MacFarlane of 1893, and the late Rev. James Sinclair, and the late Rev. N. Cameron, Glasgow, and godly women not a few. I would humbly suggest if, and as you get the opportunity, you would have useful conversation, and indeed you could catechise some of the godly elders in the church. Now I suppose down in Mr. Campbell’s congregation, Edinburgh, he will have one or two there, who remember a great deal about Mr. MacFarlane and Mr. MacDonald. I think it is a great benefit you got to Scotland at all; and I think you feel the Holy Hand and Divine Hand of the Lord in enabling you to meet those who are alive, and to hear about those who served the Lord. And I was going to say about books, if I can give any help in the way of giving some of my books to you, which probably I may not be allowed to read, I will do my utmost. I will gladly send on a number of books if they are of any help to you. I hope I can say they are treasures, and still I would give them away seeing they are grounded on the Confession of Faith, and they are the gold that perisheth not.

Now in speaking on behalf of my beloved brethren and this assembly, including those from the other presbyteries of the church, I corroborate what our worthy friend here was bringing before you. We wish you well in the Lord. The unction of the Holy One be upon you. The Lord lift upon you the light of His countenance, and reign in our minds and hearts by Christ Jesus. I wish you well in the Lord.

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Address to the Congregations in Africa by REV. WM. GRANT, Halkirk.

Mr. Moderator and Brethren, when an ordained minister is inducted to a congregation in Scotland it is the practice for one to address the congregation. To-day Mr. Petros Mzamo has been licensed and ordained

to the ministry in Rhodesia. I would address a few words to those to whom he is returning to preach the gospel, and to you assembled here to-night, and also to the congregations of the church.

People of Africa, the gospel of Jesus Christ knows no colour bar, and we in Scotland lovingly desire your souls’ salvation. In 1904 the godly John Radasi was ordained in Glasgow to labour in Africa, his native land. He laboured for many years and then he was called home to receive the Master’s “well done.” He went out alone to begin the Mission there, yet he was not alone, for He who commissioned him said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” When he was called home, another was there to take his place—Rev. John Tallach. He finished his work and came home after many years. He, too, was called home. In 1947—Rev. James Fraser was ordained in Dingwall and he went out to continue to sound the gospel trumpet there, and now we say to the people of Africa—who was it that made thee to differ? Recall what you were. You were, as millions in dark Africa are to-day, worshipping the spirits of their ancestors, others worshipping wild beasts, calling upon Witch doctors—the worship of Devils. What power was that, that separated some of you in Africa from that dense darkness and brought you into the marvellous light of the Gospel? It was the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. That is the gospel that must needs be continued, and to-day you have another going out into your midst in Africa to proclaim the gospel and we ask you in Africa to bear him much on your spirits in prayer, in private and in public.

We say to the congregation here to-night and to the congregations of the church, remember those who are labouring in distant lands, habitations of horrid cruelty, who have gone forth in obedience to the command and who have hardships many, discouragements many.

Let us bear them on our spirits in prayer at a Throne of Grace. Let us follow them thus. And we say to all who have gone forth from our midst to labour there, to native office-bearers, members and adherents, “We are with you.” We ask Mr. Mzamo to convey to them all our greetings and to express our hearts’ desire for their prosperity in body, soul and mind. May they and we value the gospel. May there be an exalting of the Name of Christ—that will mean an insulting and an enraging of the devil. “My grace is sufficient for you,” He says to all who go forth in His name, and “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” May we and those in Africa who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good and gracious, be found seeking to extol the Name that is above every other.

“His name forever shall endure,
Last like the sun it shall,
Men shall be blessed in Him, and bless’d
All nations shall Him call.

Now blessed be the Lord our God,
The God of Israel,
For He alone doth wondrous works.
In glory that excel.
And blessed be His glorious name
To all eternity
The whole earth let His glory fill.
Amen, so let it be.

(Ps. 72, vv. 17-19, Metrical Version.)

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Address by REV. JOHN COLQUHOUN, Glendale.

Well, Mr. Moderator, fathers and brethren, this has been thrown on me without any thought and it is not easy to say anything; but Mr. Mzamo is going out to labour among his own people. I know something of that, for I try, I hope, according to the strength and grace given to me to labour among my own people, and that has its difficulties and it has its advantages too. However, you must always take your stand, you must always be the minister of the gospel, and you must take your stand where the great Apostle of the Gentiles took the stand, “For I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” That must be your theme from now on, till the Lord will be pleased to take you out of the vineyard. You must always seek to have a holy dependence upon the Christ of God and let us remember that this is written for your encouragement, and for the encouragement of all who are in the same position as you are in, and for the encouragement of all true believers, “My grace is sufficient for you, and My strength is made perfect in weakness.” And that will suffice for you and me.

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Address by REV. D. MACLEAN, Portree.

Mr. Moderator, fathers and brethren, since I have been sitting here two things in particular have been before my mind in connection with Mr. Mzamo. When I saw him sitting here, a lonely person so far as outward appearances are concerned, surrounded by people of a different nation from the nation to which he belongs, it reminded me very forcibly of what Mr. Sinclair has referred to, that is the first time I met Mr. Mzamo and his wife and children. On that occasion, I was the one who was the stranger among people of a different nation, different colour, a different tongue and a different custom, and all I would like to say to Mr. Mzamo is this, that I hope that he has been as much at home and has felt as spiritually united to Free Presbyterians in Scotland, as I felt at home and spiritually united to Free Presbyterians in Rhodesia among his native people. And I believe that Mr. Mzamo does feel that in his soul, because where grace is, and where union to Christ is, and where the favour, and work and power of the Holy Spirit is, there is a union and there are bonds that join together

those who are thus united, that no difference in language or skins can ever affect in any real and solid and lasting way, and in regard to this it can be said, “Behold, how good a thing it is and how becoming well, together such as brethren are, in unity to dwell.”

The second thing is that Mr. Mzamo has now become a more public servant for Christ than he ever was before, and I may say from my knowledge of Mr. Mzamo’s history, told me not by Mr. Mzamo himself, that Mr. Mzamo has been enabled to be a very outstanding witness for Christ in the places where he has laboured; but now he has become a more outstanding witness for Christ than he was in days gone by, by his being ordained to the ministry. I was thinking of what was true of Christ Himself, when he was young He grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and men, but as He exercised His ministry as the Faithful and True Witness, and preached the Word that the Father gave Him to preach, then the enmity of men rose against Him. And Mr. Mzamo must expect, as every faithful witness of Christ must expect, to meet with the enmity of men, and while he desires their greatest good that he only incurs the enmity of the world that lieth in wickedness, and he has need of looking to the One of whom the Apostle said, “Consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds.”

As the Moderator has said, I am very interested in Mr. Mzamo, and like his other brethren here, I wish him well in the Lord. I hope that the Lord will make him a polished shaft among his people.

* * *

Address by REV. DONALD CAMPBELL, M.A., Edinburgh.

Mr. Moderator, I shall endeavour to say a few words although I did not expect to be called upon to address Mr. Mzamo, I can assure the brethren, the newly ordained minister, and the congregation that it is a very great pleasure to me to find myself standing where I am. I take it as a token for good, and I think that the whole church at home and abroad should take it as a token for good, that this is to us another proof that the Lord has not forsaken us, but rather that He is crowning our efforts as a Church, in seeking to advance His cause and Kingdom in the world, with success. I think that is something that we should acknowledge and praise the Lord for. We have reason to praise Him for his provision in providence, in that the hearts of our people are opened to give so liberally of their means, so that the church through its courts and officers are able to labour in the vineyard, and that applies to Africa. As a member of the Foreign Missions Committee, I would take this opportunity of thanking our people for their generosity towards that part of the church’s work. Along with the other brethren, I desire on my own behalf and on behalf of my brethren in my Presbytery, to express my good wishes for Mr. Mzamo in the work which he is now about to engage in, and it is my prayer that the Lord will bring him in safety to his people and sphere of labour.

Address by REV. WM. MACLEAN, Ness.

Mr. Moderator and brethren, I would seek to corroborate what Mr. Campbell has already said, and the other members, in wishing Mr. Mzamo all success in his labours in the Gospel among his own people in Africa. That he would be strengthened with the Truths which Mr. Macfarlane mentioned—these precious Truths, “Blessed is the man whom Thou dost choose” and the other Truth. I mention them because, I hope they were made precious and helpful to myself in connection with entering the ministry. I was greatly concerned with my own unfitness to undertake any work in connection with the Courts of the Church, and the first time I attended a Presbytery I woke that morning with that Truth, “Blessed is the man whom Thou dost choose, and mak’st approach to Thee, That he within Thy courts, O Lord, may still a dweller be.” I find the courts of the church, as well as communion seasons refreshing to my own soul, for the Lord Himself has promised in connection with His Courts that where two or three are gathered together in His name, that He is in their midst. I believe that Mr. Mzamo will find, in connection with the courts of the church, that to have in view primarily, not only the business of the court and the work on hand, that he be found seeking the Lord Himself in the courts of His house where He has promised to be. In doing so, he will find the courts as wells in the Vale of Baca, which the Lord has promised to fill with the rain that cometh down, that is His own gracious Presence.

On behalf of the Outer Isles Presbytery, I wish you every success in the Lord.

* * *

Address by REV. DONALD MACASKILL, Locharron.

Mr. Moderator, Fathers and brethren, I concur with the brethren of the Court in what thy said. The Creator says that, “Ethiopia to God, shall soon stretch out her hands” and here we have the proof of it this evening, that they will turn away from the witchcraft and the worship of their ancestors and all such superstition, to worship the One living and True God, who made Heaven and earth. We read quite early in the history of the New Testament church that the Ethiopian Eunuch was brought under the influence of Jesus through the teaching of Philip, and that not only was the Scripture expounded to him by Philip, but he came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, who had been promised. You might say he was the first fruits of Ethiopia. Not only did he come to believe in Jesus, but he was baptised by Philip before he went any further, and then he went on his way rejoicing. He had good news for his fellow countrymen.

We hope and pray that it will be the same with this brother that has come from the Foreign Field, that he will be the same as that person going on his way rejoicing to his own country with the great news of the gospel of the Christ of God. We hope that he will have a safe journey and that his labours will be greatly blessed.

The Duty of Self-Examination.

(A Sermon by Rev. John Kennedy, D.D., prepared in view of the Communion.)

(Continued from page 133.)

Friend, you are not required to ascertain that you are “up to” Him, nor are you expected while here to be, in the full measure of your own small capacity, perfectly conformed to Him; but you are commanded to examine whether, in some degree, you are self-denied as He was. You are not expected by God, and do not yourself expect, to be void of selfishness till you die, but you are expected to be in pain because of this and to appear ashamed because of this before the Lord. Sometimes this is all the trace of self-denial the Christian can find in himself, and far better evidence it is than all the busy bustle of fussy, forward service on the part of those who are utter strangers to such pain and shame. Do you really wish to deny yourself in your service? Is it your desire to yield yourself unreservedly to the Lord, to be used by Him as it pleaseth Him? Are you given to prayer for grace to bring you to this? Have you been accustomed to watch, lest self should deceitfully obtain an advantage over you, to the disowning of the claims of Christ? Has your consciousness of the subtle and persistent working of self kept you humble and ashamed before the Lord? Have you gone on in a course which seemed to you to be dutiful, in the interests of Christ’s Cause, though it exposed you to reproach? Have you ever been grieved by finding self disposed to make much of your self-denial? Have you ever discovered that in a seeming course of self-denial, you were acting as the unconscious dupe of self? Know you what longings are for the hour when selfishness shall be utterly annihilated, and for the eternity throughout which, with all your heart, you shall glorify the Lord? According to the true answer which you have to give to these questions, will you have good grounds for judging whether you have or have not evidence of Jesus Christ being in you.

II. Are you like Him in love to the brethren? This is given us in Scripture as a sure evidence of having “passed from death to life” (I. John iii. 14). There are persons who happen to take a liking to some of the Lord’s people, but not at all because they are in Christ, and Christ in them. Their disposition may be pleasing, and their manner agreeable, or they are accessible and may seem to have taken a kindly interest in you, or they may have indiscreetly given you reason to think that they regard you as a Christian. But whatever be your reason for happening to like some who fear the Lord, unless it is because they fear the Lord, you have no evidence of Christ being in you. Others there are who like to associate with the Lord’s people, in order either to win some credit by being in their fellowship, or in the expectation that it will add to their security to win their favour. But this is all over, and all through, and all down to its roots an utterly

selfish affection, and is evidence only of being “reprobate.” But when there is true love to the brethren, the liking for them will be in the measure in which you have hope regarding them, that they are in Christ, and yours will be a love of complacency in the measure in which you discover traces of Christ being in them. You will chiefly delight in those who most resemble Christ, even though they are the very persons in whose presence you are most ashamed—whose attainments help to humble you. You will not, if your love be genuine, choose as your most intimate companions those with whom you can favourably compare yourself—in whose society you can be chief. And genuine love to “the brethren” will be expressed before God in prayer in their behalf, in the desire to have spiritual intercourse with them, in sympathy with them in their joys and sorrows, and in doing what lies in the power of your hand in helping them in their “times of need.” Is yours such love as this?

III. Are you like Christ in His prayerfulness? Who can be like Him in this? You may be disposed to ask, for though we read in the record of His life frequent instances of His engaging in prayer, yea, of His spending a night on the mountain in prayer to His Father, He was altogether so “wonderful” that no one can in prayer be like Him.

True, He was singular. He was, in many respects, quite alone in His incomparable wonderfulness, but it is just in that measure there is force in His example of prayerfulness, and will those who love Him be moved to desire to remember Him. It is wonderful beyond all conception that He should be in a state in which He would have to pray “with strong crying and tears unto Him, who was able to save Him from death,” but in the measure of my wonder, as I think of this, must be the force of His example constraining me. He with all the fulness of the Godhead eternally subsisting in His person, and the fulness of the Holy Ghost resting on His human nature, was crying to heaven for help in a time of extreme weakness. He engaged, in human nature, with all its sinless infirmities to finish the work which the Father gave Him to do; and in carrying on that work, all the hostile opposition of the world, all the malicious assaults of the mighty and horrible hosts of hell, and all the ineffable fearfulness of divine wrath combined to give Him, in the consciousness of His humanity, a sense of weakness, such as none besides Him ever had on earth. And His work being given Him to do for God, help in doing it must come from the Father, who, in relation to Jesus, His Christ, represents the Godhead. This help was promised Him, and he pleads that promise as His warrant for asking it. His was prayer “in the Spirit,” His was prayer for “help in time of need,” and His was the prayer of faith. In these respects you, if “Christ is in you,” will desire in prayer to be like Him. You will feel your dependence on the aid of the Holy Ghost. Not, unfrequently, all your prayer is crying for grace to dispose and enable you to pray. Happy you cannot be, if you are not made happy

in prayer. It is like strangling to your soul to be unable to breathe out your heart’s groanings before the Lord. O friend, never try to manage the business of prayer without the aid of “the Spirit of grace and supplication.” And you never pray if you are not consciously needy. Don’t go about it as you would about a bit of court etiquette in presence of an earthly sovereign. How many prayers there are that are no better than a maniac’s ravings, as they are poured out in a stream of hosannahs over a heart that is a stranger both to visits from heaven and assaults from hell. The prayer of “the poor and needy” is the prayer that will be according to the prayer of Christ, and it is the answer to that prayer that brings songs from the broken heart. This is the kind of prayer you desire to offer, if you desire in prayer to be like Christ. But you desire to be like Him in having “the prayer of faith.” Without faith you are helpless in your feeling, and what can you be but dumb before the Lord. You need faith in order to find a warrant to speak at all to God, and you feel your need of it in order to your praying in hope of receiving. And it will be your habit, if “Jesus Christ is in you,” to seek such an exercise in prayer. You seek this often when others are asleep; you seek this when engaged in the duties of your lawful calling; you seek this in your closet, at the family altar, and in the house of God. And the more you seek this, the more will you be dependent on the gracious help of the Spirit of prayer. How is it with you as to this? Do you at all in prayerfulness, resemble Christ?

IV. Those who have “Jesus Christ in” them desire to be like Him in His purity. “Every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” He who hath this desire and this hope finds himself to be a loathsome leper in the light of Christ’s spotless purity. But it is beauty to his eye, and in the measure in which it makes him vile, it draws forth his desire to be conformed to it. It rejoices him that it was God’s purpose that His chosen should “be conformed to the image of His Son,” and it greatly adds to his gladness that he may ask for sanctifying grace in order that he himself may attain to be so. The more he sees and admires Him, as the “Lamb without blemish and without spot, the more polluted in his own sight he is. But the more persuaded he is, at the same time, that God was “well pleased” with Him, and that in His right he may hopefully ask for grace to make him like Him. And in desiring to be like Christ in His purity, we must keep our eye on the details of Christ’s practice, as well as on the beauty of Christ’s image—on how he behaved towards his disciples, towards enquirers, towards the multitude, and towards his open enemies; on how He acted as a Teacher and as a Healer, on what His Spirit and His way were in times of temptations, and in hours of sorrow; on how He lived and on how He died, and in all the analogous circumstances of our own lot we must desire to follow His example. It is this as our habitual aim at all stages of our life that will keep us humble

and watchful and prayerful, and excite any measure of intenseness in our longing for the change that will perfect our conformity to the Beloved. It is thus with thee? In some measure it must, if Jesus Christ is in you.”

In examining yourselves you are to bring yourselves, as you find yourselves to be, to the test of the Word of God. You must “prove your own selves,” and you must do so in dependence on the gracious aid of the Holy Spirit. It is only as He effectually tests you by the truth, that He can attest you as genuine believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is such a thing as an attestation of one’s evidences of being in the faith by the Holy Ghost. He revives His own work, and shines on its exercises and fruits and shows, in the light of the Word, the correspondence of these to “the fruits of the Spirit,” as exhibited in Scripture, and thus brings the soul to the comfortable conclusion that he has really “passed from death to life.” This is what all who profess to be in the faith should desire, and this all who are really so, will seek to attain. And in view of the solemn profession to be made, on a communion occasion, by all who approach the Lord’s table, this with special intensity should be desired.

The solemn alternative is “Jesus Christ” being in us, or our being “reprobates.” What mind, but God’s own, can appreciate the difference between these two states? If Jesus Christ be in us, then we are “in the faith,” and have an interest in all the grace revealed and promised in the gospel. If Christ be in us, then are we in intimate relation to God, through His Son. If Christ be in us, then we have the high honour of being the temples of God’s presence. If Christ be in us then there is in us “a well of living water springing up to everlasting life.” If Christ be in us, then we have all the security furnished by His death and life, and by the omnipotence and grace of the Holy Ghost, for the communication to us of all the covenant grace required to prepare us for everlasting glory.

The other alternative is, being “reprobates.” We call some “reprobates,” because they were excluded from fellowship with God’s chosen in the decree of election—or, in God’s purpose of saving the objects of His love. This is not the meaning of the word here. Others are called “reprobates” because, by presumptious sinning, they provoked an anticipation of the final judgment in a judicial sentence, passed upon them in this life, finally excluding them from the favour of God, and shutting them up under the power of sin and Satan, till hell at last is entered. Not such is the meaning of this word in the text. It indicates those who are not approved before God as being in the faith. They are not according to their profession. They are liars when they say that Jesus is in them. Who can conceive the measure of their iniquity in making a false profession? Who can conceive what these want in lacking what they profess to have? And who can describe or even

approach to an adequate conception of what lies before them? They are still, notwithstanding their profession and their hope, under the wrath of God, and the reign of sin, while, to all that is fearful in that state, they have added the iniquity of a false profession. Any amount of religion, which they had only served to harden their heart, to aggravate their guilt, and to make their case more hopeless than that of “publicans and sinners,” who made no profession of religion at all. The most hopeless of all cases are those of the men who made the highest profession, and who, without having “the root of the matter” in them, have made a “fair shew in the flesh.” The seemliest “form of godliness” is always linked to the darkest prospect of conversion, and they who have most of this, and have no more than this, are of all the most hostile to “the power” of “godliness,” and to those who have had experience of it. But I must not continue to exhibit the contrast between the two alternatives, as I am anxious to enforce the duty of self-examination and to address a word of warning to those who utterly neglect it: (1) The divine injunction ought to be enough to assure us that this is a profitable exercise, as well as an imperative duty. If it were not for the Church’s good, self-searching would not be enjoined; and whether we can discover or not the way in which it can be profitable, the divine counsel imperatively demands that we engage in it; (2) And surely the force of the alternative adds power to the authority of the divine injunction. In presence of such an alternative, what insensateness there must be in our heart and conscience, and what madness in our mind, if we are not aroused by it anxiously to enquire whether we are “in the faith” or whether after all our profession and our hope, we still are “reprobates.” All the desirableness of the one, and all the awfulness of the other, should combine in one great overwhelming force urging us to examine and prove ourselves; (3) And the greatness of our profession should influence us in the same direction. If you and I are professing before God and angels, and devils, and men that we are “in the faith,” and that “Jesus Christ is in us,” how false we must be in the presence of the God of Truth if that profession be a lie. The Omniscient must know if we lie. Angels know it, for they know to whom the Lord calls them to minister, devils may know it, for we cannot but think that they are aware of where the power of “Jesus Christ” in a soul, meets their attempts to deceive and destroy; and even men who have no eyes wherewith to discern the excellence of divine things, may be able, to some extent, to mark the difference between those who truly, and those who falsely, make a profession of being the Lord’s. If you would not, therefore, be an object of loathing to God, if you would not be one to be avoided by angels, if you would not be an object of scorn to devils, and if you would not be exposed to the contempt of the world, and be an outcast to the Church. O carefully and faithfully examine yourself; (4) How without habitual and careful self-examination can you be prayerful?

It is only by keeping a watchful eye on yourself you can know what the case is which you have to lay before the Lord, and you can discover what you need to ask from His gracious hand. Prayerfulness and self-examination can never be parted; (5) How, if you neglect this duty, can you be kept from being easy and proud? You need to know the plagues of your heart in order that you may not lapse into formality, and you need to know them that you may not be lifted up in pride. All “the vessels of mercy,” as well as all vessels besides, exposed to storms at sea, need ballast to steady them, and these can find no substitute that can act, as ballast does to the ship, for a sense of both their wants and their ailments; (6) How without this exercise can you watch against the deceitfulness of the old heart? Neglect it and far may you go in a course of backsliding, and not be aware of your declension, and a forbidden thing may be cherished to your soul’s hurt, and both the guilt and the harm be unfelt; (7) And how without this can you ever acquire skill to meet “the deceit and violence” of the “wicked one?” You cannot otherwise be aught else than his dupe; (8) And without the habit of searching your own heart, how can you acquire any power to “try the spirits whether they be of God?” Keeping on the surface of your own case, you will search no deeper into the cases of others. I used once to wonder that the Apostle John was inspired to write “believe not every spirit,” thinking surely no one was in danger of doing so. But in these days this counsel is very seasonable, for there are those who profess to be Christians, and are ambitious of being leaders of religious thought and activity, who, in the blindness of a carnal sentimentalism, are ready to approve of any movement in which earnestness is exhibited, whatever sacrifice of truth and wisdom it may involve. Crowds may parade our streets marching to the sound of drum and trumpet, and in attire, and with songs and shouts, more in unison with what might be expected from maniacs than from sane and sober men, and they may conduct their religious meetings in a way more befitting demoniacs than Christians, but if over all their din and disorder they exhibit “salvation” or their flag, they will find not a few of the so-called Christians of these days to give them countenance and support. In the “Salvation Army” we have the fullest development of the active religious spirit of the times, the force of whose earnestness is seen, in that sect, to be rushing into a recklessness which shall ere-while shatter into fragments, that will form contemptible rubbish before the eyes of the world. A blind charity meanwhile rejoices in the present bustle, and is sanguine as to the future. But nothing born of God is born blind, and true love will have as its eye the discernment to judge which is given by “an unction from the Holy One,” and the skill to try the spirits which self-examination supplies.

Some of you neglect this duty in the spirit of Galileo who “cared for none of these things.” Others avoid it, because there is an inoperative conviction in their minds that they have never “known the grace

of God in truth” and they shrink from its being searched by aught that would rouse it into activity. Others, still, owe to their religion the neglect of this duty. They take to do only with what is objective, since the flush of their first peace passed away. They only “look out,” that a sense of their corruption may not disable their power of believing, and disturb their feeling of security. But it is a poor, feeble faith that can act only as the state of the soul is ignored; and it is such that the loss of it would be gain. But to all who profess to be “in the faith,” self-examination is enjoined, and they only will neglect it, who care not though they “be reprobates.”

— The Maura Lyons Case.

We publish below two extracts from The Protestant Woman issue of July-August, 1957.—Editor.

In the Ulster High Court to-day the Lord Chief Justice (Lord MacDermott) made Maura Lyons, aged 16, a ward of court and appointed her father guardian. The girl is to reside in the parental home subject to the conditions that the father undertakes not to send her out of the jurisdiction of the court, not to allow any pressure to be brought upon her to change her religion, not to send her to a convent, and not to allow her to enter into any matrimonial alliance without the consent of the court.

The girl left her home in Iris Drive, Belfast, on October 23 last, and was not heard of again until about a week ago in Belfast.

The case came before the court on application by her father, Hugh Denis Lyons to have the girl made a ward of court as “a person of fortune,” he being appointed guardian. A sum of £5 had been lodged in court by the father.

District-Inspector Marion McMullen said that Mr. Lyons reported that his daughter was missing. A warrant was issued on December 13 for the girl’s detention and she was now held under an interim order of the juvenile court. The witness said that it was correct to say that when she saw Maura Lyons on May 10 she was afraid to go home. That was because she would be subject to religious influence.

Mr. E. W. Jones, Q.C. (who appeared for the minor).—She was afraid of being sent to a convent?—She was.

Counsel—Has she told you she wants to remain a Protestant?—She has.

In an affidavit, Maura Lyons said that she got interested in the Protestant religion and on October 19, 1956, she joined the Free Presbyterian Church* Her father beat her with his fists. When she got

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* Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster.

home one day, three Roman Catholic priests were at her home and for three hours tried to make her return to their faith. She left home because of her father’s action.

Giving judgment the Lord Chief Justice said: “This is a very difficult case and indeed a very crucial one in many ways.” The principle which must be remembered throughout was that “in these unfortunate circumstances” they must have regard to the welfare of the child above all else. She had just turned 16, and it was quite obvious from all they had heard that she had by force of circumstances found herself between two opposing influences. There were those who wanted her to be a Protestant. There were those who wanted her to be a Roman Catholic, and undoubtedly there were those who naturally thought she should have lived in the faith in which she was brought up and nurtured. “I have to bear in mind she has found herself between these opposing forces,” he said.

His Lordship said that he had to bear in mind also that they had not heard the full story. “We do not know who is responsible for taking this girl out of the jurisdiction,” he continued. “We do not know who was responsible for taking her from place to place throughout England. We do not know whose money kept her and provided for her journey and sustenance during that period. It is quite clear that there are people in this jurisdiction who were responsible for that and who aided and abetted.”

“It seems to me I should be doing less than my duty if I refused the application that this girl should be taken into wardship and placed under the protection of the court. I therefore order that she shall be a ward of court and brought under the protection of the court.”

Before he was appointed guardian the girl’s father was asked by the Lord Chief Justice to go into the witness box and give an undertaking that he would not interfere with the girl’s religious beliefs. That he did on behalf of himself and his family.

* * *

It is with great thankfulness to God that we record the successful termination of all the efforts that have been made known by so many faithful unknown people, to rescue Maura Lyons from the dreadful fate of being immured in a Roman Catholic Convent against her will.

On Monday, May 20, the Lord Chief Justice of the High Court of Northern Ireland, Lord MacDermott, ordered the father to give the undertaking for which our Union and others, like Mr. Porter, M.P., have been struggling so long, that he would not coerce her into a convent or the Roman Catholic Faith. It is significant that he evidently did not feel that he could trust the father, for in order to

ensure all this, he made her a ward of Court, “as a person of fortune,” under legislation usually only applied where an important inheritance is at stake. This seems to constitute a remarkable precedent which in itself achieves all that the Union has been asking for in its circularisation of Members of Parliament; for, whereas, when we asked the police to obtain a Magistrate’s order to restrain the father from coercing her, they replied, “Impossible!” Now they would have to say, “Oh, yes, she can be protected by all the machinery which formerly was only applicable for those who, because of an inheritance, need special protection.”

It rejoices us to realise that his Lordship recognises the freedom as the priceless inheritance so well worth protecting by a British Court. There was obviously no need to convince anyone of the reality of her need since if the newspaper accounts are to be believed the occasion seems not to have passed without blows, and she had a bottle of “Holy Water” thrown over her by vociferous parents and relatives, so that she had to cry out strongly that, under no circumstances, would she go back to them and undergo the risk of being placed in a convent, when the police brought her parents to see her on the day when she had voluntarily reported to them because it was her 16th birthday, and she believed that at that age she was safe.

I cannot help wondering whether the Irish Roman Catholic Member of Parliament will have the temerity in the next session of the Northern Ireland House to classify as “blackmail” the action now taken by the Lord Chief Justice in ordering, in almost exactly the same terms as Mrs. Standage proposed, that the child should only be allowed to go home if her father would give the undertaking not to influence her religion or try to force her into a convent. If rumours are to be believed, Maura Lyons’ valiant stand has already given courage to some others to come out, and there can be no doubt that, as the facts about her become more widely known, more youngsters of both sexes will be assisted by her example to realise that wherever the British flag flies the law must protect against Rome’s coercions.

It is a happy duty of all our members to make as widely known as possible the joyous fact that there is now in existence what is equivalent to legislation for protection of minors for conscience’ sake. The precedent has been created . . . they can be declared “wards of Court as a person of fortune” (Lord MacDermott’s phrase), and their parents, restrained from molesting them.—L. W.

When the decision was announced, a Prayer Meeting was being held, at which all present belonged to the Union. All realised the dangerous influences surrounding Maura, and joined in earnest prayer for her. They pledged themselves to constant prayer for her.—E. B.

Searmonan.

LEIS AN URR TEARLACH C. MAC AN TOISICH, D.D.

(Air a leantuinn bho t.d. 148.)

I. An toiseach, chi sinn i ann an staid tur-aineolais, caoin-shuarachais, agus saoghaltachd. ‘N uair a dh’ioraslaich Iosa E fein, sgìth le ‘thuras, agus ‘n a shuidhe aig an tobar, gu deoch iarruidh oirre, a bha air a dhiùltadh dhà gu mi-mhothail agus gu neo-choimhneil; agus, ‘n uair, a toirt buaidh air a h-ole-se le maith, agus ann an cleachdadh a chomasan naomh agus neamhaidh, a rinn e feum de’n uisg a theirgeas gu bhi eur soluis air an uisg a tha “sruthadh suas a chum na beatha maireanaich”; ‘n uair a rinn E aithnichte dlith a ghràs agus a lânachd fein mar Shlànnuighear, a chumhachd, agus cho deonach ‘s a bha E gu ise dheanamh gu siorruidh sona, cia aineolach ‘s a bha i air ciod a bha E eiallachadh. “Cha’n eil inneal tarruig agad, agus tha’n tobar domhain: uime sin cia as a tha’n t-uisg beo sin agad?” Cia cho tàireil ‘s a dh’fheoraich i, “Am mo thusa na ar n’athair, Iacob, a thug dhuiinne an tobar so, agus a dh’ol as e fein, agus a chlann, agus a sprèidh?” Cha robh cùram aic aich air son a chuirp a theirgeas agus air son nithean a t-saoghail so. Na’n robh Iosa air labhairt rithe ann an eainnte choimhich, na ma thimelioll nithean a bha ‘gabhail àit ann an saoghal eile, cha b’urrain i bhi na bu ro-aineolaich thaobh eoid a bha E eiallachadh na bha i ‘n uair a labhairt E rithe mu thimelioll Fein mar Thiodhlac Dhé, agus mar an t-uisge beo. Bha slàinte, beatha shiorruidh, air a toirt dlùth dhi, ach cha robh flios aic air. Cha’n eil e’g atharrachadh firinn na eainnt’ sin ge da bheireadh-mid fodh’n car a briathran—”A Thighearn, thoir dhomhsa an t-uisge so, chum nach bi tart orm, agus nach tig mi an so a tharruig uisge.”—mar ni a bha eur an cèill a h-ioghnadh agus a h-urram ‘o ‘n leth a muigh, mar a dh’fhaodadh cuid beachdachadh air; ged a dh’fhaodadh e bhi cheart cho nàdura beachdachadh air mar air a labhairt anns an aon spiorad ris an ni thubhairt i, “Am mo thusa na ar n’athair, Iacob?” Nis, am b’e coire Iosa nach robh a bhriathran air an tuigsinn leatha—briathran a bhuinneadh do a sìth shiorruidh? Nach bu chor dlith an tuigsinn, an tuigsinn cho fhad agus gu’n cùntadh i na h-uile ni na chall a chùm agus gu’m bitheadh a h-anam air a thearnadh, agus gu’n òladh i de’n uisge bheo.

Is ann mar so a tha e do’n a pheacach, foghlumaichte na neo-fhoghlumaichte, ‘n uair a tha’n soisgeul an toiseach air a chur fodh chomhair, ‘n uair a theid Criosd ‘n a fhoal ann an comhluadar ris. Tha aire air nithean talamhaidh, agus eu-comasach air a bhi tuigsinn “nithean Spioraid Dhé.” Uime sin, mo thruaighe, nach ann mar so a tha e thaobh a pheacach ‘n uair a chluinneas e’n soisgeul an toiseach, agus a thaobh mòran a tha ga chluinntean re ùine fhada. Cha’n eil sealladh aca air a luachmhorachd. Na’m bitheadh, blitheadh tigh na h-ùrnuigh

bithcheanta air fhaireachadh leo a bhi ‘n a thigh Dhé agus ‘n a gheata na’n neamhan. Cha’n eil mothachadh air bith aca air luachmlorachd Tiodhlac do-labhairt Dhé, maillé ris nach eil na h-uile nithea amhian-naichear ri bhi air an coimeas. Tha iad fathasd ag ràdh, “Co nochdas dhuinn ni maith?” Cha robh riamlh tart air a dhùsgadh na’n anamaibh an deigh an uisge bheo. Seadh, agus am feadh a tha iad a cumail ri creud thallain agus a tha ni-eigin de bheachdan aca mo Chriosd agus mu bheannachdan sláinte, na’n ceasnaicheadh siad iad fein gu mionaideach, gheibheadh iad a mach gu’m bheil iad cho cìnteach ain-eolach air Criosd agus a bha bean Shamaria. Am bheil e mar so fior dha do thaobh-sa? An sin ‘s e guth Dhé dhuit-sa, “Mosgail, thusa a tha a’id’ chodal, agus èirich o na marbhaibh, agus bheir Criosd solus duit.”

II. A ris, chi sinn i ann an suidheachadh aon a tha air a dùsgadh gu eùram spioradail, gu eolas peacaidh, agus gu mothachadh air a bhi ‘n a peachach an láthair Dhé. B’e aon ni sònraicht’ a bhac i bho bhi tuigsinn briathran Chriosd, agus bho bhi’g eisdeachd riutha le dùrachd domhain anama, a h-aineolas air a staid mar pheacach. B’eigin, uime sin, gu’m bitheadh so air a tharrachadh air falbh. Bha feum air tuilleadh ‘s sin, ach so anns a cheud àite. Agus cia mar a bha so gu bhi air a dheanamh? Dh’fheumadh peacadh a beatha agus a eridhe bhi air fhoillseachadh dhiith, mar a tha e air fhoillseachadh le solus an lagh, na (ni a tha ciallachd an t-aon ni) ann an solus cliù an Dia sin a tha rannsachadh nan eridheachan, a tha naomh, agus ceart. Chaidh Iosa, uime sin, air adhart gu bhi ga teasasg ann an eolas peacaidh, anns an aon dòigh anns an gabh sin ruigheachd air leinne—eolas air mar ni a bheanas dhuinn, a tha dlùth-leantuininn ruin, ni is leinne, ni tha gabhail seilbh oirne—uime sin, an t-eolas fein-fhiosrachail air. Ga fhoillseachadh fein mar an Tì tha uile-leirsinneach, labhair E ann an dòigh a bha air a chiallachadh gu bhi ga treorachadh bho eolas air cho peacach ‘s a bha a beatha, gu eolas air cho peacach ‘s a bha a eridhe, agus mar sin gu a staid chaillte am fianuis Dhé. Ach cha’n e mhàin gu’n do labhair E na bha freagarach gu bhi ga dùsgadh agus gu bhi toirt dearbh-shoilleireachd dhiith mu pheacad—cia iomadh focal geur agus sòlaimte a labhair Iosa gu minic a dh’fhag a luchd-eisdeachd fathasd neo-mhothachail agus neo-aithreachail—anns a chùis so, cho-chuir E a shearmon fein mar a labhair se e; dh-fhosgail E a eridhe gu bhi toirt fodh’n car; chuir E a shaighdean dhachaidh. Ma bhitheas e air fheorach, c’ar son anns a chùis so seach ann an eùisean eile? cha’n urrain sinn ach freagairt gur ann mar so bu toil lo ghràdh e:—”Seadh, Athair, do bhrigh gu’m b’ ann mar sin a bha do dheadh thoil-sa.” Cha b’ann mar thoradh air airidhcachd nàdurra, a bha anns a bhean so ann an teis-meadhon a h-uile mi-dhiachd, na ann an togradh air bith gu bhi gabhail ris an fhirinn ‘n uair a bha i air a cur fodh comhair, a ghabh i ri, agus a dh’aidich i, Iosa mar a’

Mesiah; ach be’n t-aobhar gu’m b’e so am cumhachd Chriosd agus am gràdh Chriosd, ‘n uair a bha E gu bhi tarruig ga ionnsuidh fein am peacach bochd so, agus ‘n uair, uime sin, a chùm gu’n tuigeadh i’n coibhneas gràdlhach leis an robh i air a tarruig, a bha E toirt oirre bhi faireachadh eiod e bh’ann neach a bhi ‘n a phacach.

‘S e so an seasamh anns am bheil Iosa air a chur fodh’r comhair, a dèilgeadh ris a bhean so anns an dòigh a bha feumail a chùm agus gu’m bitheadh i air a dùnadh suas Ris Fein, Slàn-uighear an t-saoghail, mar Shlàn-uighear a h-anama; cha’n e mhàin a cur fírinn fodh comhair o’n leth a muigh anns an dòigh a bu fhearagaraich (‘s e so a’ rinn E ghnàth, so cha b’urrain E tighinn gearr air a dheanamh) ach le a ghràs gu diomhair agus gu h-èifeachdach a tarruig a h-ìntinn ‘s a eridhe, a chùm agus gu’n deanadh an fhirinn a h-obair air a coguis agus air a h-aignidhean. Gu sòrnaicht, chi sinn E gairm air a coguis, a coguis a bha fada air a mùchadh, gu bhi dùsgadh, agus leis an t-solus a bha air a toirt dhith le bhi cuimhneachadh peacaidh agus le sealladh air eilù Dhé bhi air tòiseachadh ínte, gu bhi deanamh, easaid oirre, ga tarruig a dh’ionnsuidh caithir-breitheanais Dhé, agus ga díteadh an sin. Agus, uime sin, cha d’leig Esan a bha’g iasgach air a h-anam as a ghreim oirre an deigh dha greim a dheanamh oirre le fhocal. Na’n robh E air a fagail dhi fein, theicheadh i mach as an lion, agus b’e ‘n aon bhuaidh a bhitheadh aig a coinneachadh Ris gu’m bitheadh ise ni bu truaighe ‘s a bheatha so agus ni bu truaighe ‘s an t-siorruidheachd. Rinn i na b’urrain dhi gu teicheadh. Dh’fhaodadh e bhi math gu leor a bhi cluimtinn mu’n uisge bheo; cha robh ni ann an sin a bhitheadh a dùsgadh faireachidhean neo-shòlasach; ach cha robh e taitneach a bhi cur ‘n a cuimhne a nàire agus a peacaidhean, agus a bhi faireachadh toiseach glùasad an coguis a bha air a dùsgadh. Rinn i oidheirp làidir gus an còmhradh atharrachadh a chùm agus gu’m faigheadh i bhi cur air falbh cuimhneachain chraiteach. “Rinn ar n-aithrichean aoradh ‘s an t-sliabh so: agus tha sibhse ag ràdh, gur ann ‘an Jerusalem a tha’n t-ionad anns an eòr aoradh a dheanamh;” mar gu’n abradh i, “Thig, atharraicheadh-mid an còmhradh; tha’n so euspàir nì’s freagaraiche gu bhi labhairt air, fior àite an aoraidh.” Agus bha i ullamh gu leoir gus an gnòthuch argamaideachadh ris an Fhear-shaoraidh. O cia lion iad a tha, mar so, a cur crioch air dùsgaidhean tròcaireach agus glùasad an coguis. Cia lion iad a their, maille ri Felies, “Imich romhad an tràth so; ‘n uair a bhitheas ùine agam, cuiridh mi fios ort.” Cia gann iad a tha air an deanomh toileach a bhi fàilteachadh foillsichidhean air peacadh, agus air am bheil eagal a bhi air am fagail ann an aineolas air a chuid is miosa na’n cùis. Rinn am boireannach bochd so no b’urrain dhi gu bhi’g ioradh a h-anam do’n t-saoghail. Ach sheas Chriosd eadar i agus sgrios, a chùm a bhi ga saoradh bho a eridhe cealgach, aingidh fein. Agus rinn E so ann an dòigh a tha a reir a chliù Fèin.

Cha robh an ní a thug a bhean a stigh, ann fein, gun luach. Bha’n fhírinn air taobh na’n Iudhach. Chuir Iosa an ceill so, “Tha sibhse a deanamh aoraidh do’n ní nach aithne dhuibh: tha sinne a deanamh aoraidh do’n ní is aithne dhuinn: oir is ann o na h-Iudhaich a tha sláinte.” Ach bha ní ann a bha ni b’fheumail do’n a bhean colas a bhi aic air na’n t-ionad aoraidh a bha air a shuidheachadh le Dia —eadhon eliu gloir a Chuspair aoraidh, agus gnè an aoraidh a bha co-fhreagrath ri ‘nàdur, agus anns am b’urrain tlaeht a bhi aige. “Is Spiorad Dia, agus is eigin da luchd-aoraidh, aoradh a dheanamh dha ann an spiorad agus ann am fírinn.” Rinn E feum do’n chòmhradh a thug ise a stigh gu bhi deanamh domain na láraichean a bha air a h-inntinn a thaobh a staid peacaidh agus truaighe. Cha’n urrain sinn teagamh a chur ‘s a chuis, ‘n uair a labhair Iosa na briathran so, nach d’thàinig a stigh air a h-inntinn air son a cheud uair a leithid de mhothaichadh air glòir an Dé neo-ehriochnach, agus a ghloir, agus an t-eagal, agus an gràdh a bhuineas dha, agus a ghiulain maille ris, cha’n e mhàin dearbh shoilleireachd gu’n do ghniomhaich i iomadh peacadh ‘n. a aghaidh, ach nach do dh’altrum i riamh aon smuint cheart mu thimchioll, na aon togradh ceart dhà thaobh; gu’n robh i beo ‘n a coigreach dhà, agus ann an ceannaire ‘n a aghaidh, agus mar a tigeadh fuasgladh da h-ionnsuidh ann an rathad nach b’aithne dhi, gu’m bitheadh i truagh gu siorraidh. Bha ni-eigin coltach ris an staid inntinn so air a thoirt mu’n euairt, tha sinn a creidsinn, le briathran Iosa a bhi tighinn le cumhachd ga h-ionnsuidh. Agus ‘s e so a tha sinn a eiallachadh le dara ceum a h-eachdraidh spioradail. Thoisich i an co-labhairt so, fein-fhíreanta agus le eridhe slàn, a dh’aindeoin a beatha pheacach. Dh’fhairich si i fein a nis ‘n a peacach.

Am bheil an ceum so de fhèin-fhiosrachadh anam na h-aon air am bheil sinn eolach? An deachaidh sinn thairis air?—Co dhiubh bha’n ùine ni b’thaide ‘n a bu ghiorra, co dhiubh bha e ni bu mhotha ‘n a ni bu lugha, gu mothachail, truagh agus eagalach dhuinn. An robh sinn an fhaid so air ar ‘n ullachadh gu bhi tuigsinn an t-soisgeil, le bhi faireachadh ar feum air an naigheachd aoibhnich? Bho pheacaidhean ar beatha an robh sinn air ar treorachadh gu eolas air oleas ar eridhe, air ar feum air Eadar-mheadhonair agus Slànuighear? Mar a’ robh, tha sinn fathasd ‘n ar coigreich do’n Dia fhiar agus dha Chriosd. Ma tha, faodaiddh sinn, mar an ceudna, a thuigsinn bho ar fein-fhiosrachadh fein an treas ceum ann an eachdraidh spioradail bean Shamaria, ‘n uair a rinn Iosa E Fein aithnichte dhith mar am Mesiah le cumhachd tarruig. Is cínnteach nach do threoraich Criosd riamh peacach gu bhi faireachadh eolas air Slànuighear gu’n a bhi ga fhoillseachadh dhà ‘n a ghris, ‘n a uile-fhreagarachd, agus ‘n a uile-fhoghainteachd.

(R’a leantuininn.)