All those who have been divinely instructed by the Spirit of truth in the knowledge of God and of His Son Jesus Christ, issuing in their deliverance from a state of sin and misery and their being graciously favoured with the gift of God which is eternal life, have thus all their salvation, their happiness and their hope of everlasting felicity and glory centred in God. As an individual this is especially true of the Christian, and it is also the case respecting the living, God-fearing Church as a corporate body in the World.
To them His Name alone is excellent and His claims upon them all paramount. And they are not only assured of these truths, but will testify to them as they who live, and desire to live, under the authority and influence of the Holy Scriptures. They are bound to have regard to the mind of God in all matters embraced within “the faith once delivered to the saints,” and the practice which is according to godliness. This is their obligation and privilege. They are to cleave to the Lord with respect to all the great doctrines of His Word; a sound, pure, whole gospel of salvation; divine worship in that order directed in the New Testament; the government of the Church as laid down in the Word; a life and conversation which becometh the gospel of Christ and as required of every believer; and in the right and proper exercise of a wise and faithful discipline as guided by Apostolic example. The Church’s office-bearers and members, are to be devoted to these fundamentals as they would serve and honour their Lord, and have in view their own spiritual edification and comfort, and peace of conscience.
Of course the Church being in the midst of a corrupt and unfriendly world, and as also reminded by the Lord Jesus that the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh weak in His people, there is therefore continual need to give a large place to the injunction to “Cleave unto the Lord.” Christians have great need today of grace and wisdom to watch and pray, lest they enter into temptation, inasmuch as the influence of the World, actuated by Satan, is subtle and powerful and ever aiming at weakening and overthrowing the faith of some and the organised and open witness of the Church as a whole. Satan goeth about as a roaring lion, also as an angel of light, as a subtle serpent and as a liar and deceiver. And corrupt men who have more than enough evil within themselves, as the instruments of the devil are a terrible potential for evil. And this present generation well fits the description given by the Saviour to the generation when He dwelt among men on the earth, viz., “an adulterous and sinful generation.”
And so believers are to cleave unto the Lord as they are confronted with two particular features of the World, among others; the one being false religion, and the other active opposition.
False Religion
As to false religion, we find that Joshua at the close of his honourable life saw reason to exhort Israel to “Cleave unto the Lord,” as follows: “Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left: That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourself unto them: But cleave unto the Lord your God . . .” (Joshua chap. 23, vrs 6-8). It thus appears that Israel had need of being reminded of the evil and danger of being contaminated by the God dishonouring false religion and practices of idolaters, that they might keep apart from and abhor what involved men in ruin.
As for today, there came to a close (for the present) last May, a powerful and subtle attempt to bring many in Scotland into Union with the Church of England which is seething with Romish practices and honeycombed with men working persistently and even openly to bring that Church back to Rome. The cry was more or less, that Christian charity called for Church union. But the requirement on the part of those seeking to undermine Presbyterianism in Scotland was that “Bishops-in-Presbytery” be introduced into the Church of Scotland. This was opposed not only inside the Church of Scotland, but from without, as many in all sections of the Nation saw the danger of a full-scale return of Episcopacy and Popery to Scotland. Our own Church made its opposition publicly known. It was a relief, when last May, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland brought to an end these negotiations for union, yet only by a moderate majority. Union with opponents to Reformation principles is a delusion and a snare, for the sake of organisational union.
Again, there is the long standing and widespread teaching of pernicious and erroneous doctrines by many who profess to instruct and teach and preach the Word of God and the Gospel of salvation in Scotland as elsewhere. The vast majority of the people who retain a Church connection are indoctrinated with false and unscriptural views of God, man, salvation, and as to how men ought to live in prospect of Eternity etc. The fact is that multitudes under this plague of false teaching are wrapped up in a truly false religion and are duly proud of it, although they do not know the least thing about the religion of the gospel of Christ, which saves the soul in sin that lies. The facts of the Fall of man, of conviction of sin, of the atoning death of Jesus Christ, of the New Birth etc., are quite foreign to them. They are respectable persons and good citizens and their Christianity and religion must not be challenged. But the living, witnessing Church of Christ must challenge and expose damnable doctrines and soul ruining religion, and shun any positive appearance of condoning it. What does Joshua say? “Turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left,” that is, from the law of the Lord and the Lord Himself.
And further, one of the conspicuous fruits of false religion and the holding of a spurious Christianity today, is that those concerned, embrace and revel in carnal and worldly pleasures and practices. They neither hear nor understand the words of truth, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” As illustrative of this, we may refer to the new type of church building being erected in different places. The Moncrieff Church at Calderwood, East Kilbride, is what is described as a dual-purpose building, having a communion table and pulpit at one end and a stage for dramatic plays and such like performances at the other. There is also such a Church at Bellfield, Kilmarnock, so constructed that what are called the transepts can be cut off and used as a stage and Session house respectively. A note describing and praising these new church buildings states, “The pattern of contemporary life is, however moulding the kind of Church that is being built in the new communities.” We agree with this assertion although with a different frame of mind to the writer of it. Truly, “the pattern of contemporary life” is such, that professors of religion walk hand in hand with everything that is carnal and stamped as “the pleasures of sin which are but for a season.” To reveal one’s disgust at this is to be looked upon as haughty, unsociable, and lacking in charity. But the Lord’s people must be concerned to conserve by divine grace their abhorrence of such a thing as a communion table and pulpit and a stage contained within the one building, erected professedly for the worship of God. Such a building was never built for the glory of the God of the Bible. Holiness becometh His house. The call to the Church stands still: “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty,” (2 Corinth. chap. 6, vers. 17-18). And of course the whist drive, the Fancy Dress Dance, the Burns’ Concert, the “Sunday” Newspaper and much more to the same effect, are part of the “contemporary life” of the most of Clergymen and Church members in the Nation today. The God whom they affect to worship is a false god, one formulated in their own corrupt imaginations who does not require of his worshippers a change of heart or conduct, but is such an one as themselves. And so in the midst of such empty, soul-ruining religion, those who know and fear the Lord are obliged more and more to seek that by the Holy Spirit’s work within them, they shall be cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and go on to perfect holiness in the fear of God. In this exercise they keep near to the Lord, and are the “salt of the earth.”
The Leaven of Hypocrisy
And now a final word on false religion, over against which Christians are to “Cleave unto the Lord.” And this is on the “leaven of hypocrisy” as it obtains outwith or maybe in the midst of the fellowship of the people of God. The Lord Jesus exposed this evil among the Pharisees of His own day on earth, and warned His own disciples to beware of it. He pronounced a “woe” to the hypocrites; and all those who have a serious and spiritual regard for the salvation and keeping of their own souls in the love and peace of God, must put their “Amen” to the Lord’s loathing of hypocrisy. They must cry out against the least workings of it in their own experience, and must condemn it in others. Some aspects of this false mode of living are easily discernable, but other features of it are so covered and obscure with a form of godliness and piety, that the omniscient eyes of God alone see where it exists. And it is He alone who can bring the hidden things of darkness to light, even in time, as in the case of Achan in the camp of Israel. Joshua acted according to the directions of the Lord in the camp of Israel, and Achan and his sin were brought to light. And when Achan was stoned, “So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger,” (Joshua, chap. 7). However painful and difficult it was for Joshua and those likeminded with him in the camp of Israel, they dealt with Achan as required to cleanse the camp, and to regain and retain the divine favour of the God of Israel. In other words they sought to “Cleave unto the Lord.” And the history of the living and faithful Church of God records many difficult tasks undertaken and accomplished, as obligatory upon those who would cleave unto the Lord in pursuance of the cleansing and purifying of the Church. In this connection we may quote what Paul wrote to Timothy regarding Hymenaeus and Alexander: “… Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck; of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme,” (1st Tim. chap. 1, verses 19-20). This reference is cited in relation particularly to the exercise of discipline and not of course to hypocrisy. They who have “a form of godliness and deny the power thereof” are far from the Lord, and “the hope of the hypocrite shall perish.” But they who truly desire nearness to the Lord and to abide in His Son Jesus Christ, are poor in spirit, of a contrite heart, and tremble at His Word. And one thing, among many, they stand in awe of, and it is that the Most High reveals in His Word that He searches the heart and that the darkness and light are both alike alway to Him. They seek continually to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, and to be under the reign of abounding grace, and to have a conscience void of offence toward God and men. And they thus cleave unto the Lord, not in their own strength, but as empowered by him. (Space will not permit us to extend this article).
Ordination Sermon.
Sermon preached by the Rev. J. A. Tallach, at Stornoway,
on Tuesday, 22nd July, 1959, at the Ordination of the
Rev. Alfred MacDonald, M.A.
“For the love of Christ constraineth us.” 2nd Cor. 5:4.
“The love of Christ constraineth us.” In a general sense, no doubt, the Apostle speaks of the effect of the love of Christ always has upon those experiencing its saving power. In a more restricted sense, but perhaps with greater emphasis, he speaks of the ministers of Christ labouring in the gospel. In speaking thus he reveals the secret spring from which their labour flows. The unbelieving world, having no knowledge of the love of Christ, can neither understand such men, nor appreciate their work. In all the labour of the gospel, and the self-denial inseparable from it, Paul can say on his own behalf, and in respect to all his brethren, “the love of Christ constraineth us.” Not all engaged in the ministry of the gospel can honestly and sincerely say that. There are, alas! very many serving in the ministry, not constrained to it by the love of Christ, but from far other motives. We have reason to thank the Lord that there are among us as a church those who have been called to the work of the ministry and who can truly say, “the love of Christ constraineth us.” Where such a ministry is, it should be greatly prized; it is altogether of the goodness and mercy of the Lord.
The words of our text, and the sentiments expressed by them will not, we trust, be altogether inappropriate to the occasion of our gathering here tonight. Let us consider:
1. The Love of Christ.
2. The effect this Love has upon those experiencing it.
3. The fruit it bears in the life and conduct.
The love of Christ must first take possession of a man’s heart, then it will undoubtedly bring forth fruit in a life devoted and consecrated to the service of the Redeemer.
I. The love of Christ is the central theme of redeeming grace, and there are many aspects of it worthy of our attention. It is like a scarlet thread running through the whole extent of Scripture, through the whole history of the Church and through the experience of each redeemed soul. Tonight, however, I wish in a simple way to confine myself to the following four aspects of this great theme. (a) The love of Christ is the love of a Saviour. A gospel which does not provide, promise and effect salvation has no place in the Word of God, nor does it serve any useful purpose among men. Why do we emphasise this point? Because men are sinners, and in relation to God and the things of God their first and greatest need is salvation. I know there is a specious kind of gospel preached from many pulpits and widely received among men, which aspires to give great place to the love of God, but completely overlooks the solemn fact of sin and the need of being saved from it. Paul knew nothing of such a gospel, except to warn his hearers against it. If we read and understand our Bibles aright, if we accept the testimony of every gracious person, we cannot but conclude that the love of Christ is saving love—a love that saves a sinner from his sins, from himself, from the power of an evil world, from the devil, and from the wrath of a just and holy God in hell. It must be so if it is going to be of any value in a sinful world; and that is exactly what the love of Christ does effect. It is the love of a divine Saviour, and in the exercise of it Christ stands as Mediator between God and sinful man: preserving and safeguarding on the one hand the glory of an infinitely just and holy God, and on the other seeking out sinners by the gospel and saving them by reconciling them to God through the sacrifice of Himself. What an instructive view of this aspect of redeeming love we have in the parable of the prodigal son. “I will arise and go to my father,” and “when he was yet a great way off his father saw him, and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” How inexpressibly sweet that first kiss of a once justly offended, but now reconciled father must have been to the broken-hearted penitent. “This my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” How immeasurable the distance between what was and what is:—he was dead, he is alive; he was lost, he is found; only infinite and divine love can measure and bridge that chasm. If the love of Christ is of any real value to you and to me, we too have found out for ourselves that this love is indeed redeeming, saving love, “save him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.” The sinner thus saved will never allow himself altogether to forget what he owes to the love that redeemed him. Paul never forgot this, the fact of his redemption and the remembrance of it are the secrets of his whole ministry. Well might he say “the love of Christ, who saved me, constrains me to seek the salvation of others.”
(b) The love of Christ is to be seen throughout the whole course of his humiliation on earth. This was that giving of Himself for His people, which was so constantly in evidence in the preaching of the Apostle—”Christ Jesus, who loved the church and gave Himself for the church.” The love of Christ is thus seen to be no mere religious sentiment, empty of all real power to save; rather is it of the very essence of salvation in that, because of it, “He who was rich became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.” How intensely real the love of Christ is seen to be when interpreted in terms of His humiliation. That the Eternal Son of God, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, should take unto Himself a true body and a reasonable soul, that He should be found in fashion as a man, that He should humble Himself, being made under the law; that He should suffer the miseries of this life, death itself, even the cursed death of the cross; that all this and much, much more should have come to Him, and should have been freely accepted by Him, surely demonstrates beyond question, love surpassing all love. On every step of the way from Bethlehem to Calvary He has deeply imprinted His love in the soul of this sinful world. Setting His face as a flint to go up to Jerusalem, He never hesitated nor once looked back. The way to which His devotion committed Him led Him on to the Garden of Gethsemane, and to this, “being in an agony He prayed the more earnestly, and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground;” and to this, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” Wherein lay the impossibility of its passing from Him? just the faithfulness, intensity and devotion even unto death, of His own free, unfettered love for a sinful people; that He might have the right to gather them unto Himself, and that He might in due time present them spotless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. From Gethsemane He is led on to Calvary, “Thy will, not mine be done.” There the cup is drained to its bitterest dregs—a cup of wrath unspeakably bitter, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” To that question there is but one answer, “having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.” May the Spirit of all Truth graciously enlighten our dark minds in the saving knowledge of this great mystery, and preserve us in a suitable frame of mind under it.
(c) But the humiliation and death of Christ is not the end of the matter: far, far otherwise! He humbled Himself to conquer, and “God hath highly exhalted Him, and given Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.” He died as a Sacrifice, that He might reign as a Prince and a Saviour, after the power of an endless life. The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ are the undeniable proofs of divine love unconquered and triumphant over all enemies and over all difficulties. In Him, redeeming love reigns on the Throne of the Eternal, and this mysterious prediction has come to pass in all its glory, “Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive; Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, even for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.” Gifts for the rebellious! in Africa as well as in Scotland. He lives on high, that through the ministry of the Word in the power of the Holy Spirit, He might effectually fulfil the great mission of His loving purpose in bestowing the blessings procured by His death—”For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren. “From the north and from the south, from the east and from the west shall they come, a great multitude which no man can number. Doubtless some will arise from the darkness, superstition and devil worship of Africa, who will put to shame gospel hardened sinners in Scotland. The power which makes the gospel effectual unto salvation is not the man who preaches it; he is but the earthen vessel containing the treasure, but the love of Christ enthroned on high and all power in heaven and earth at its disposal. It is with our eye we trust, in humble faith on this throne that we license and ordain men to preach the gospel, and we are assured that this almighty power is inseparable from the gospel, whether preached in Scotland or in Africa.”
(d) Under this head one further consideration remains to be noticed. It is absolutely necessary that the love of Christ, in its gracious and saving power should be personally experienced. Only those with such an experience can truly say, “The love of Christ constraineth us.” This is the language of grace, the language of the new creation. Prior to his experience on the road to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus could neither speak this language nor understand the speech of them who did. From then on however, how great is the transformation wrought in the Apostle’s mind, heart and conduct! “The life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” As we value our souls, let not any one of us content himself with a salvation which comes short of a personal experience of the grace and power of redeeming love, nothing short of this will do. Nothing!
We have seen then that the love of Christ is the love of a Divine Saviour: a love tested to the uttermost and proved true; a love supremely triumphant, enthroned on high; a love personally experienced by many; and the inevitable result is—”the love of Christ constraineth us.”
2. The Effect This Love Has Upon Those Experiencing It.
II. (a) This love once experienced becomes a constraining power in the soul affected by it. To some appreciable extent every faculty of the soul comes under the power of this constraint. The man’s thinking, feeling and willing are all affected; his outlook upon time and eternity is radically changed. The love of Christ exerts a constraint which takes no denial. When a stone and a sponge are dropped into water, how different are the effects produced. The stone remains hard and unaffected; the sponge sucks in the water until it is saturated through and through. So there are those who sit long under the gospel, whose hearts are hard and impenetrable as flint, while others drink in the same gospel, and it penetrates into every part of the inner man of the heart, and constrains them to be what they were not before: “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away, all things become new.” The old and sinful constraints of a state of nature pass away and give place to an altogether new and heavenly constraint—the constraining power of the love of Christ. Henceforth the language of the soul is, “what have I any more to do with idols,” too long already have I played the fool in the service of such lying vanities—was it the public-house? was it the dancing-hall, was it vain company and sinful entertainment of all and every kind? was it devotion to worldly interests? and to crown all was there a kind of church going religion of deceit and hypocrisy? Well, whatever it was, to the moles and to the bats with it! Where the redeeming love of Christ comes into the soul there is an immediate, necessary and willing putting out of all that is contrary to it. I would emphasise the willing as well as the necessary: that, it appears to me, is the constraining effect of the Redeemer’s love. Once begun, the process may take many years of sanctifying grace before it is finally complete, but from the first moment that Christ takes possession, the soul is constrained to depart from evil. Let us make no mistake about this. It is so easy for some today to speak much of the love of Christ; and even to make a public profession of it, who yet know absolutely nothing of the gracious and holy constraint of it in their hearts, “having a form of godliness, they deny the power of it.” Let us never be deceived by such a religion!
To be continued.
Address to the Minister Ordained.
By Rev. F. MacDonald, M.A.
It is not without very good reason that this service is so very solemn and impressive. It is because the work to which you are now called is a work infinitely greater than any known to the sons of men. Now that the Lord in His wonderful mercy and condescension has called you to that great work, it is my happy duty and privilege to offer you a few words of advice. The Lord knows that I feel much more my need of being advised than my ability to give counsel, but seeing that my brethren have insisted that I should speak to you on this solemn occasion, by the grace of God I will engage in this duty.
In connection with what we already heard tonight regarding the wonderful love of Christ, I venture to guess the feelings and thoughts of your heart. I feel quite sure that what you were conscious of in your own soul, was, not the presence of that love—nor yet its power, but its absence. Yet, it has been already pointed out by Mr. Tallach, that there is a sentimental kind of love, that is nothing but a feeling; a love that would take everything and give nothing. There is however, another kind of love which I fully believe you possess. Of this love, according to The Divine oracles obedient service is the highest proof, and I know perfectly well that with all your fears and with all your doubts, you would willingly go anywhere for Christ, and do anything for Him, if only you were assured that your motive was right and that He was pleased with what you did.
Now, I hardly need tell you that you live in a very degenerate age. You have only to read the lives and memoirs of the preachers of a past age, to be convinced that the tone of Christian living and preaching, is very low. Such conditions prevail, because we have grieved the Holy Spirit away. Whatever we refuse to acknowledge, we dare not deny this solemn fact, viz. that the Holy Spirit, the only One who can make the Gospel effectual, is denied to a large measure from this generation. Nevertheless, you have the promise, and God will keep to it “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
In connection with your ministry I would like to say to you first of all, “Beware of back sliding.” We have heard, and we still hear from time to time, about the curse of a godless ministry, and that is undoubtedly true to fact. One of the greatest curses of this land of the Covenants, is that of godless, graceless ministers, who never feared nor trembled in their own hearts, who never came humbly and penitently to the feet of Christ; but, let me say to you tonight, and I say it first of all to myself—that if a spiritually dead ministry is a curse what of the bane of a backsliding ministry? Should you become cold and careless regarding the state of your own soul, how can you expect those under your care to be otherwise minded? A corrupt nature, prone to sloth and ease, backed by the untiring efforts of Satan will do their utmost to damp your zeal, and cool your fervour. Remember, there is a roaring devil, and the work of the ministry, from start to finish is a conflict. Soldiers are not to expect comforts; they are out to face hard things, and their one desire and objective is to do their duty.
For this warfare, however, the best of weapons are provided by the Captain of Salvation, and make sure that you use them constantly. I will only mention two of these weapons just now. The first is prayer. What Satan aims at is to keep you as a minister of the Gospel from your knees. I know that you will pray morning and evening; I am convinced that you are no stranger to ejaculatory prayer but, I would advise you at the peril of your own soul and for the good of those under charge, to spend much time in prayer. Whatever you find time for, find time to pray. This is a great weapon. All your preaching, and all the gifts that God bestows upon men, are fruitless, without earnest, sustained, and regular prayer. Herein lies one of your most important duties and one of your greatest temptations.
The second weapon is the Word of God. Because of the relics of sin in believers, and the devil’s hatred of Truth, you will find an aversion to secret prayer and the Bible itself. You will find it comparatively easy to visit, to read good authors, to write, and to study, but not so easy to pray in solitude, and pore over the Word of God. Steep yourself in the written Word; read it again, and again, and be cautious regarding second hand thoughts. What you get direct from the Lord, on your knees with your open Bible, will have an unction, a sweetness, a saviour, and a power for yourself, and those to whom you minister. As a brother in the flesh, and in the Lord, I beseech you to lay these things to heart.
For your encouragement I would remind you, that you have the sincere affection, and prayers of many in this island, in this congregation, and other congregations—of that, I have no doubt whatsoever; but you have much more. The love of men, at best is poor and liable to change, but you are a partaker of that love of which we heard already this evening. However little love you feel in your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, your profession is that you love Him, and we fully believe that He having loved you from all Eternity, will never leave you nor forsake you. It is then my earnest prayer that the Lord may bless abundantly your labours in South Africa, and elsewhere, and that the Holy Spirit may be poured out upon you, in a special measure from this evening onwards.
Address on Behalf of Foreign Missions Committee.
By Rev. D. MacLean, Portree.
Mr. Moderator and Brethren, it gives me great pleasure to be here on this occasion at the Ordination of another young man into the work of the ministry, and it gives me particular pleasure to be here when this ministry is to have its beginning not in this land, or in these islands, but in distant Rhodesia. My first duty is to convey to you, Mr. Macdonald, through the Moderator, the good wishes and heartfelt prayers of the members of the Jewish and Foreign Mission Committee on your Ordination, and also their desire that in your travellings out to Rhodesia and in your labours there, you may be kept by the power of God—for that is the only keeping that we can have—and that is the keeping into which Christ placed all His disciples when he prayed, “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me,” and He left them to be kept “by the power of God through faith, unto salvation.”
Now the work of the ministry in a foreign land has many similarities and many differences from the work of the ministry in a land where the Gospel has been for centuries, such as in our land. It has this similarity, as we have been hearing already, as far as the Seed that the Sower is to sow, is concerned. The Gospel in Scotland and the Gospel in Africa, and the Gospel in every age and generation is one Gospel. The Gospel of which Paul was not ashamed, and the Gospel which was, and is, the power of God unto salvation unto everyone that believeth, the Gospel that is the saviour of life unto life to some, and the saviour of death unto death to others, that is the Gospel that we must preach on every occasion and in every part, and that is the Gospel that has been up till now, and we believe will be preached to the Africans in our Mission in Rhodesia.
Then, again, there is a similarity as far as the ground in which the Seed is to be sown is concerned. The heart of the natural man in Africa is as dead and as full of the carnal mind, which is enmity against God, and as full of unbelief as is the heart of the natural man in this land. As far as the heart of man is concerned, as the Word of God testifies, it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and nothing short of the Divine power of the Third Person of the Godhead, Who comes to the soul from the Father through the Son, is able to make the Word effectual in Africa as in this land here.
But there is this difference—this young man is not going to labour among those who are his own kith and kin. He is not going to labour (apart from the few who went out from this country, and one of them from this Island) among men and women who were brought up under the sound of the everlasting Gospel, who are his own kith and kin, but he is going to labour among an alien race—a race with a different background, with a different colour of skin, with a different outlook on everything that pertains to this life, and a race that is in large measure held in the power of the god of this world, buried in the worship of their ancestors and held in the grasp of superstition and in the grip of the sins that prevail wherever heathendom prevails. That is where he is to labour and that is very different from labouring at home. But the fact remains that to labour there at the call of the great Head of the Church, is to labour at the call of One Who is able to supply all our needs, and Who is able to supply the peculiar needs of those who labour in places that are peculiar, and there is no difficulty or circumstances that can arise in the experience of this young man, far from his family and former friends, but are all well known to Him Who has the tongue of the learned and Who is able to speak a work in season to him that is weary.
But, while that is true it should be a fact with regard to us whom he leaves behind, that those who labour in foreign fields, those that we do not see from communion season to communion season, those who are labouring in lonely circumstances in a foreign land should certainly not be forgotten by us at home, and I believe that I am speaking the thoughts of Mr. Macdonald here tonight as he sets his back upon his homeland and his face upon a foreign land—I believe that his thought is this—”Brethren, pray for us” and that is as we were hearing already, what we should do. When we seek to send the Gospel to those who are in the regions beyond, to those of whom it is true that many of us here will never see them in this world, yet the spirit of the gospel (and the desire of the one who feeds on the gospel) is in the word of the Psalmist, “All ends of the earth remember shall and turn the Lord unto” and their desire is that all kindreds of the nations would do homage to the glorious and glorified King of Zion. That is what we are endeavouring to do in our labours in foreign lands, that those for whom Christ died on the Cross of Calvary, where He saw His seed and when His soul was made an offering for sin, (and we believe that He saw His seed then, not only in Scotland, not only in the Hebrides, but also in Rhodesia) would be gathered in to Him.
Now, as well as that aspect of the work, Mr. Macdonald will also be called upon to engage in the supervision and instruction of education. The church in Scotland has always taken a great interest in the education of youth so that they could read the Word of God for themselves, and scattered throughout our Mission in Rhodesia are schools where hundreds and hundreds of children out from the Bush and out of heathen homes come to hear the Word of God taught. I had the privilege of visiting our Mission in Rhodesia a year or two ago and one of the things that impressed me when I went around the schools was, how the young children were there taught the fundamental truths of the faith, what we might call the three R’s—ruin by the Fall, redemption by Christ and regeneration by the Spirit. I know that I felt at that time that I wished I was as sure that these doctrines were being taught to children in my homeland as they were being taught out there. Now, Mr. Macdonald has the qualifications for that work.
In his case we have repeated to a certain extent what happened already in the Mission. When the late Rev. John Tallach went out to Rhodesia, there was one labouring there—Rev. J. B. Radasi. When Mr. Tallach arrived it was to hear the news that the one whom he expected to be his fellow labourer had been killed. Mr. Tallach was left alone but, looking at it from the point of view of the Mission the Lord Who is Jehovah Jireh—”The Lord will provide,” did provide Mr. Tallach to take Mr. Radasi’s place. Reference has been made to our friend Rev. James Fraser who was taken away more or less in his youth early this year, when many of us had looked forward to many years of usefulness from him. He was one whose energy and enthusiasm and love in all his work was one of his outstanding qualifications and one that made him very precious to all who loved Christ and His Cause. Some of you may have heard that it is often the custom with an African to express his mind in regard to a European by giving him a name, and the name that the Africans gave to Mr. Fraser was “the man who loves the people,” and that man has been taken away by the Lord who gave him, and Jehovah Jireh has supplied this young man to take his place. What a mercy, what an encouragement in the midst of an evil generation that the Lord is still showing his delight in us and still showing his pleasure in the work that we are engaging in. Therefore, though we might have been brought like David to say, “I fainted had unless that I believed had to see, the Lord’s own goodness in the land of them that living be” yet this was what he finished up with, “Wait on the Lord and be thou strong” and that is what we would like to say to Mr. Macdonald here tonight,
“Wait on the Lord, and be thou strong
and he shall strength afford
Unto thine heart; yea, do thou wait
I say, upon the Lord.”