The Cause of Christ in Australia

By REV. WM. MACLEAN, M.A., Ness.

A brief outline of the history of our Grafton Congregation in New South Wales was given in an article—The Law and the Testimony in Australia, which appeared in the April issue 1959 of the Free Presbyterian Magazine. The separate existence of the Brushgrove-Grafton Congregation was a result, as noted, of the Expulsion Act of 1884. This Act was passed by the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia. Dr. George Sutherland, a former minister of St. George’s, Sydney, and an unscrupulous unionist, was mainly responsible for the passing of this notorious Act. The Rev. Arthur Paul, minister of St. Kilda in the State of Victoria, and editor of The Presbyter, describes “The Expulsion Act” in one of his leading articles as “ecclesiastical lynch law.” “He (Dr. Sutherland) concocts a charge against three of his brethren,” writes Mr. Paul, “in a secret conclave of his own minions; and after no more than the form of reading it out in a Synod meeting, amidst deafening tumult, and having it seconded to order by a slip-shod minister of his own making, he calls the accusation proved: and without more ado, hurls three ministers of the Free Church out of the Synod, of which they are the most consistent members, and with which he never has had any other connection but that of a ‘false brother’ unawares brought in.” (The Presbyter, May, 1884).

The three expelled ministers set up the Reconstituted Synod of Eastern Australia. In 1891 the Brushgrove-Grafton Congregation united with the Reconstituted Synod. The Rev. Walter Scott became the minister of this Congregation in 1895, and laboured there for fourteen years.

“In course of time the Expulsion Act of 1884 was deleted, without any acknowledgment being made of its character or any expression of regret for the wrong that had been done. This paved the way for the union of the Synod of Eastern Australia with the Free Presbyterian Church of Victoria and the Free Presbyterian Church of Southern Australia forming the present Free Presbyterian Church of Australia. The Free Presbyterian Church of Australia is connected with the Free Church of Scotland, and is to be distinguished from the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland” (History of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, p. 221).

After the repeal of the Expulsion Act the testimony of the Reconstituted Synod was in a large measure abandoned. Mr. Scott and the Brushgrove-Grafton Congregation alone stood their ground in maintaining an unequivocal testimony on the side of purity of doctrine and purity of worship.

In 1909 Mr. Scott attended the half-yearly meeting of the Synod of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which was held in Glasgow in November. It was moved by the Clerk—the Rev. James S. Sinclair, and seconded by the Rev. Neil MacIntyre that Mr. Scott be associated with the Synod, and this was agreed to. During the Synod Mr. Scott gave an account of his work on the Clarence River, and the difficulties that attended it. He spoke of the isolation that he experienced, and said that the only minister that he found a stay and a comfort to him was the Rev. Arthur Paul of St. Kilda, Victoria, who was a venerable divine, the author of several publications in defence of the truth, and a man well read in the history of the Church.

Mr. Scott’s address is given in full in Vol. XIV. of the F.P. Magazine (pp. 335-337). The following paragraph may be quoted from it:

“His (Mr. Scott’s) only ministerial fellowship in Australia for the past few years had been the Rev. A. Paul, St. Kilda, Victoria. To the Synod or the friends present, Mr. Paul was no stranger. He had to occupy a position in Victoria similar to his own in New South Wales, in his isolation from the prevailing party, with whose methods he was not in sympathy. Mr. Paul’s fellowship had been a strength to himself, as had also been that of Mr. S. Porter, elder, East Maitland, who had represented their cause in Presbytery or Synod for over thirty years, and who, for some years now, had been in the position of having to hold a meeting in his own house on the Sabbaths for all who came to him. (Acts xxviii:30).”

“The Rev. Neil Cameron moved to the effect that the Synod thank Mr. Walter Scott for his excellent and touching address, and offer Mr. Scott and the Congregation over which he had been placed in Australia their deepest sympathy in the trying and isolated position in which they were placed in the providence of God. He said that since Mr. Scott was in this country on his former visit, he was sure the members of this Synod had been following, with real interest, the struggles of their friend and his congregation in their efforts to maintain God’s truth and worship in that far distant land. He could not conceive of any greater loss that could befall their friends there and their families than that they should lose God’s Word, and its saving doctrines, and the Scriptural forms of worship, government, and discipline, as these were set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith. He hoped the Lord would strengthen them by His grace to hold fast that which they had lest another take their crown. The motion was unanimously agreed to. The Moderator, then, in the name of the Synod, thanked Mr. Scott for his address.” (F.P. Magazine, Vol. XIV. p. 288).

Mr. Scott was admitted into the Free Presbyterian Church at a meeting of the Southern Presbytery, held in St. Jude’s Hall, Glasgow, on the 2nd January 1911.

In an article—The Australian Churches which appears in the F.P. Magazine, Vol. XV, (pp. 163-169) there is a letter from Mr. Scott, dated 22nd September 1911 and written in Edinburgh. The post-script is as follows: “A later mail from Australia brings the information that, having forcibly occupied Woodford Dale Church against the faithful remnant there congregating, the party of your correspondent (the present Free Presbyterian Church of Australia) are proceeding further to take the Brushgrove-Church also—their only remaining place of worship. The party led by Dr. Rainy at home never acted with a higher hand or with greater injustice to the suffering minority, than this small prevailing party in Australia is doing at this moment. The object, too, is the same—to extinguish the impracticable elements—the phrase used by Dr. Rainy in 1893. In this case your correspondent’s friends are endeavouring to simply appropriate what they have no shadow of claim to . . . And on this occasion, the delegate of the present Free Church in Scotland, the Rev. James Henry, now in Australia, is, it seems, mixed up with such unscrupulous actions. “The late Rev. A. Paul, wrote to me that he had warned the present Free Church against entering into relations with the party so acting. It seems they are not particular. It will be seen from the following letters of Mr. Paul that my own experience is nothing singular at the hand of that party. Other ministers have fared similarly . . . W.S.”

Two of Mr. Paul’s letters to Mr. Scott are given in full (on pp. 268 and 269 of Vol. XV.). The following is an extract from Mr. Paul’s first letter, dated 13th February 1909, from St. Kilda, Melbourne: “My dear Sir,—Your last letter greatly distresses me. I do not wonder that the pressures around you have become intolerable. Experience of the men you have to contend with renders it quite easy for me to understand what methods they are capable of pursuing. It is not easy, and for one’s own peace of mind, it is hardly advisable, to speak of them as they deserve. For you as well as me, it will be best to leave them, and their religious professions, in the hands of Him Who judgeth righteously. I have no doubt but that your refusal to ‘join’ with the Sutherland party stung them and accounts for much—perhaps most, if not all—that you have endured at their hands. They have their fraternisers in this colony also, as you know, and these would willingly have driven me out of Australia, as they have meantime driven you. But I am heartily sorry for your leaving, although far from blaming it. With your departure, as I think, departs the last shred of Alexander McIntyre’s good work on the Clarence River. I have ceased to feel surprised at the sudden changes which come over our professing Free Church people. A too general decay of spiritual life among them accounts for it. . . . There are sad situations in the old country also, and fears for Britain in the near future may not be out of place; but there is still a remnant and an organisation, and a banner appearing for the truth. You will be seeing Mr. Cameron. Will you please tell him how greatly I appreciated the long and very kind letter he sent me? And if you see my old friend, Mr. Robertson colleague to Mr. Cameron, will you please convey my very kindest remembrances?

“It will be a trial to Mrs. Scott to break up the home in which you have lived together for so many years. But I feel sure she will be content with even that rather than you should compromise your public consistency.—Yours very truly, (signed) Arthur Paul.”

A footnote on p. 268 from the Editor—the Rev. J. S. Sinclair runs: “This is the highly honoured Rev. Alexander McIntyre of Strontian, Argyllshire, who spent his last years in Australia. See Memoir of Rev. D. MacDonald, Shieldaig, pp. 6-8,—Ed.”

At the half-yearly meeting of Synod which was held in the Hall of St. Jude’s Church, Glasgow, in November 1911, a petition from the Brushgrove-Grafton Congregation for admission in the Church was read. The account appears as follows in the F.P. Magazine, Vol. XVI, pp. 295-296: “The Rev. Neil Cameron, as Convener of Foreign Missions Committee, read a letter which he had received from Mr. J. D. Kidd, Lawrence, Clarence River, New South Wales. Mr. Cameron said that Mr. Kidd was an elder in the Brushgrove-Grafton Congregation, where their worthy friend, Rev. Walter Scott had laboured. The following is an extract: ‘I received your letter of 16th August, and wish to thank you for the encouragement given. The elders have decided to send a petition to the Synod, asking for ministerial aid and closer relationship. We thought it advisable to send it without delay, that it might be in your hands by the time the Synod met. Owing to this, we are unable to obtain all the signatures of sympathising friends. Messrs. D. Maclachlan, John Maclachlan, and J. H. MacDonald our best supporters are unavoidably absent from home. I have no further particulars to give you since my last, save that the majority are putting forth their utmost endeavours to crush our position. The Free Church minister, Rev. Mr. Henry and Mr. Herbert Ramsay student, are both on the River, and are doing all they can to turn away the people. The majority have elected trustees for our Brushgrove Church and manse and we may lose these.’ Mr. Cameron then read the petition, and moved that the Synod grant the petition for closer relationship by receiving into Church fellowship the members and adherents of the Brushgrove-Grafton Congregation who have forwarded this petition. The Rev. D. Beaton seconded the motion which was agreed to.”

In spite of the cruel and unscrupulous measures of the Free Presbyterian Church of Australia to crush the testimony maintained by Mr. Scott and his Congregation, they did not succeed. They deprived them of the Woodford Dale Church, and of the Brushgrove property, but still they continued to worship until they erected a church of their own in Grafton, which was opened by the late Rev. Donald Beaton when out in Australia as the Church’s deputy in 1941. “No compromise, no surrender” has been their motto hitherto. They have the full sympathy of the Church at home in their isolation, and from events in New Zealand they should draw encouragement, where the Lord is raising witnesses who uphold and defend the principles and practices for which Mr. Scott so faithfully stood, and who resolutely refuse to condone or countenance bodies or organisations labelled “Evangelical,” which, no matter how they may trumpet their belief in the inspiration of Scripture, are nevertheless riddled with the cancer of Arminianism. “Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Cor. xv:58).

Mrs. Scott who passed to her eternal rest in June 1959, at the advanced age of 91, was a true help-meet to her eminent husband, the late Rev. Walter Scott. In his contentions for the faith, in his reproaches and persecutions for the same, she shared his convictions and upheld his hands. Throughout her long widowhood she faithfully followed in his footsteps without wavering, fully persuaded that the standard raised in 1893, and with which the Brushgrove-Grafton Congregation identified itself in 1911, was of the Lord. In the strength of His grace she handed on pure and entire, the testimony and the law which He placed in Israel:

“That so the race which was to come
Might well them learn and know;
And sons unborn, who should arise,
Might to their sons them show.” Psalm lxxviii:6.

The late Donald MacKay, Elder, Ness.

This worthy man passed to his eternal rest on the Friday of the Ness Communion, the 6th March 1959, at the age of 78 years. He was well on in life before he was called by grace. In his early manhood he was laid low with sickness which brought him to the gates of death, so that his life was despaired of. Although the Lord has oftentimes blessed His voice in the afflictive dispensations of His providence to sinners, it was not so in the case of Donald MacKay, familiarly known as DANY. His recovery to health was not accompanied with signs of spiritual life. He lived an honest, respectful life, observed family worship in his home, and attended the means of grace, but was still a stranger to grace and to God. “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Eccles. iii:1). That is true of the eternal purpose of His grace respecting the elect. “Who hath saved us” said the Apostle, “and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Tim. i:9); for “whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified them He also glorified” (Rom. viii:30).

Dany could give a reason for the hope that was in him. In speaking to the “Question” he invariably told that when convinced of his sinnership before God and his accountability to Him, he endeavoured to lay a foundation for his hope of mercy in time, and glory in eternity in the works of the Law. He appeared for a time, in his own estimation, to be getting on well with building the house of his legal hope, having its foundation in the sand of human endeavour. The Truth says, “Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him” (Prov. xxvii:22), for “the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. ii:14). God the Holy Spirit alone can remove the folly of seeking salvation by the works of the Law. The Lord, however, he would say in referring to his experience, put the crowbar of the spirituality of the law under the foundation, and brought down his house in ruins. Dany knew experimentally what the Apostle says concerning himself—”when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Rom. vii:9). He died to the Law as a covenant, that he might be married to Him who is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. In the day of his distress, the Lord revealed Himself to his soul, as the God of salvation unto whom alone belongs the issues from death, in the promise, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” (Isa. xli:10). By the blood of the everlasting covenant he was taken out of the pit wherein there is no water, and numbered among the Lord’s prisoners of hope. He now rejoiced in the God of his salvation. The word of God dwelt richly in his soul. It was quite a common experience for him at this time to awaken with a portion of the Truth. One Sabbath morning he awoke quoting the words:

“Bless, O my soul, the Lord thy God,
And not forgetful be
Of all His gracious benefits
He hath bestowed on thee.”

On arriving at the church for the morning service that was the psalm given out to be sung, and to his joy the text for the day was the verse in which he had been enabled to cast the anchor of his hope—”Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed for I am thy God, etc.” William Huntington used to say that he liked to see the sunshine in the faces of his hearers. There were times when under the preaching of the Word, a smile radiated Dany’s face. In some small measure like Moses, his face shone and he wist it not.

It was at the March Communion in the year 1944 that he was received into full membership in the congregation, and in October, 1946 he was elected and ordained to the eldership. He was a man endowed with superior mental gifts. What he read he retained, and he could draw with ease on the stores of his knowledge, not ostentatiously, but in a way natural to him which enlightened and enlivened the matters discussed.

He whole-heartedly believed in the Scripturalness of the free offer of Christ to sinners, and of their responsibility as creatures accountable to their Creator, to believe and repent, for man’s total inability through the Fall has not diminished by one iota his accountability, which still and shall remain whole and entire in time and throughout eternity. And while man’s total inability does not absolve him from his responsibility, neither is it an extenuation of his guilt, but proof of it and the just cause of his condemnation, his will and all the faculties of his soul being under the satanic bondage of original sin and actual transgression. For the religious jargon of Arminian free-willers he had no place—he had not so learned Christ—nor for the Antinomian heresy which impiously denies the Moral Law as a rule of life for believers, and thereby opens a door to laxity of conduct especially with respect to the reverence and honour due to the Fourth Commandment, the binding obligation of which Antinomians deny, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness by their erroneous interpretation of the Scripture which says, “Ye are not under the law, but under grace.” The believer is not under the law as a covenant of works. To the law as a covenant, he is dead, having learned in the school of the Holy Ghost that by the works of the law no flesh can be justified in God’s sight. “Do we then make void the law through faith?” asks the Apostle. “God forbid: yea, we establish the law” (Rom. iii:31). Saving faith worketh by love—” and this is the love of God that we keep His commandments.” The believer as the Word of God declares is under law to Christ, his keeping of it an expression and proof of His love to Christ “If ye love Me, keep My commandments” (John xiv:15). All who deny the Moral Law as a rule of life are astray from the Truth. When Antinomianism is countenanced, license is not only given in connection with the Sabbath, but also with that purity of worship which God requires in His House. “O my soul, come thou not into their secret: unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united” (Gen. xlix:6).

For years he acted as Treasurer and Session Clerk in the congregation, and discharged his duty in these offices with efficiency. He had his own share of the troubles of this life. His youngest son, Norman, was lost at sea in the Second World War; his wife also predeceased him a few years ago. These dispensations were means to wean him from this world, and to set his heart on pressing toward the Celestial City. When literally tottering with frailty of body, he would endeavour to be in the public means of grace. The language of grace is: “A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand: I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalm lxxxiv:10). He is now enjoying the “ocean fulness” of spiritual pleasures which are at God’s right hand, the streams of which he sought and tasted in the means of God’s appointment on earth.

To the sorrowing family, one of whom is the Rev. Angus MacKay, Tarbert, we extend our heartfelt sympathy, and may it be their portion to say with Moses of old: “The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him” (Ex. xv:2).

—Wm. MacLean.

The late Kenneth MacKenzie, Drumine, Inverness.

Some of the Lord’s people are like plants which flower in secret places till in the Lord’s time they are brought out of obscurity into public notice. To this class belongs Kenneth MacKenzie who after a brief profession of the Gospel passed to his eternal rest in the Summer of last year. His growth in grace was rapid, and he quickly ripened in the last few months of his life “like as a shock of corn cometh in his season.” When he came before the Inverness Kirk Session in January 1951 it was evident that the work had been developing over a long period till at last against his natural inclinations, for he loved to retire out of sight, he was constrained to make public profession of Christ. He was always highly respected in the farming community in which he moved as a man of integrity and honour. When the Lord began the work of grace in his soul, he was made to feel his own vileness and desired continually to be in the dust. His exercises in public were greatly enjoyed by discerning people, and his removal from our midst has left an empty place which in this dark and backsliding age will not easily be filled. “Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men”—Ps. xii, verse 1.

Born of god-fearing parents at Badluarach in Dundonald in 1883, Kenneth was the youngest of a family of 3 sons and 4 daughters. He enjoyed the great privilege of a strict upbringing and was carefully instructed in the word of God in his early years. We believe that this religious training in the home as well as the pious example of his parents did much not only to put a restraining influence on his life and conduct, when he went into the world, but instilled in him a respect for the pure doctrines of grace. They produced also impressions on his heart and mind which accompanied him through life, in connection with sin and its punishment and the need of salvation through the atonement which Christ wrought out on the Cross for his people. He loved the crofting life in the village on the Lochbroom seaboard where he was born, and when he married, he settled down on the farm at Culburnie in Nairnshire. Later on two of his sisters came to live with him and ended their days in his home, within a few days of each other. Some years later he moved to Drumine Farm, a few miles outside Inverness where he finished his earthly course. He was a successful farmer, labouring assiduously to improve his farm, but although he regularly attended the house of God and led an unblemished life, he later lamented what he regarded as the wasted years spent in the service of sin, and warned the young not to give their hearts to the world. His stalwart frame and strong body, inured to the rigours of his earthly life, began to break down over a year before the end came, and when he was admitted to the Royal Infirmary at Inverness he did not long survive, but after a short illness passed from this earthly life to be with Christ in the early hours of Sabbath, 25th May 1958. Exactly 2 weeks later to the day, also on Sabbath morning, his sister, Mrs. Jane MacKenzie, Inverness passed away. They were warmly attached to one another in the ties of grace as well as of nature, and are now, we believe, re-united before the Throne.

As far as we know, the sudden death of his 2 sisters, so soon after one another, was the means used to bring him to face the question of his own state for eternity. He prayed earnestly for their recovery and the scripture which seems to have given him the hope that they might be spared were the words: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God”—John xi, verse 4. He understood the passage to mean that his sisters would recover, whereas their illness proved fatal. He was greatly disturbed, and from this time onwards his soul’s salvation became the great concern of his life. He found relief in pouring out his troubles at a throne of grace, and found peace with God. It was years after this, however, before he seriously considered that it was his duty to profess Christ in public.

The outstanding thing that struck one about Kenneth MacKenzie was his unfeigned humility, for he invariably thought and spoke of himself in the spirit of meekness and fear. He loved the house of God and rejoiced when he finally retired, leaving the farm to his son, Ian, and built a small bungalow nearby, for the release from worldly cares that it brought him, so that he could give his last years to preparing for eternity. He often expressed his grief over the backsliding and religious declension in our land, the doctrines which are ruining the people and the dead, worldly ministry in the professing church. The testimony of the Free Presbyterian Church was bound up in his heart, and for such men as the late Revs. D. MacFarlane and N. Cameron, he professed the warmest love and unbounded admiration. He missed in the Church’s teaching of the present day the stern warning to the ungodly of the Day of Judgment and Eternal Punishment, and quietly seized every opportunity to warn his fellow sinners to flee from soul-ruining error, and the ministry of men who did not preach the gospel. This part of our witness as a church he highly valued, and honoured the Free Presbyterian Church for her fidelity to God’s word. He spoke evil of no man, and kept himself in the fear of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. He was given grace to preserve his garments clean in an evil day. He often spoke of his fear of death, but the last enemy did not trouble him greatly at the end.

To friends who visited him at the infirmary in his last illness, he was very thankful and wondered at their kindness in coming at all to see him. Observing some young people at his bedside, he said: “There are some young people here. I am telling them not to give their hearts too much to the world. It is all very small, when it comes to this.” After a passage of the Bible was read he said: “That is His word and He alone can give the blessing. We are in his hands as clay in the hands of the potter. ‘They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.’ We have here no continuing city. There is nothing like being humble. Oh how short a time we have on this earth—very short at the longest.” To his nephew and friends he expressed himself glad to see them: “We do not know if ever we shall meet again in time. May he lead and guide you all in every path in time and especially for eternity.” Some time before the end he seemed depressed, but this cleared away and he sang the whole of the 23rd psalm clearly and sweetly and passed quietly into the eternal world. To his widow and his two sons and daughter, we tender our sincere sympathy in the loss of such a devoted husband and father. May they be able to say: “O Lord, I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.”

—A.F.M.

Searmonan.

Leis an Urr. Tearlach C. Mac an Tòisich, D.D.
(Air a leantuinn bho t.d. 276)

II. Faodaidh na nithean sin ar ‘n ullachadh gu bhi gabhail beachd air an earail, “Leanamh naomhachd,” mar nì a tha deanamh gnothuich ris an neach a th’air ath-bhreith, na an duine ann an Criosd.

An toiseach, tha’n earail a gabhail a stigh innte nach eil obair na naomhachaidh ach a mhàinn a toiseachadh ann an iompachadh. ‘S e obair ghlòrmhor a th’ann an obair na h-ath-ghinmhuinn; ach cha’n eil i dheth leithid de ghné agus gu’m bheil an t-anam anns an do thòisich i air a dheanamh iomlan naomh. Tha fireanachadh iomlan air ball: ach ‘s e th’ann an naomhachadh ach obair a tha dol air adhart. B’urrain Dia an t-anam a naomhachadh air ball; ach, air son aobharan neo-chriochnach glic, cha’n eil E deanamh so. Tha’n t-iompachan air a choimeas ri naoidhean air ùr-bhreith; tha prionnsabal na naomhachd air a choimeas ri siol: feumaidh an toiseach am fochann a bhi ann, an sin an dias, an deigh sin an làn-arbhar anns an deis. Tha obair na naomhachaidh a dol a dh’ionnsuidh an duine gu h-iomlan, ach cha’n eil cuid air bith dheth air a naomhachadh gu h-iomlan. Tha’n seann duine air a cheusadh agus a bàsachadh, ach gidheadh tha e beo. Uime sin, is e toradh iompachaidh cogadh as ùr eadar an fheoil agus an Spiorad. “N uair a b’aill leam am maith a dheanamh,” tha’n “t-olc a làthair agam.” ‘S e dearbhadh air beatha a th’anns a chath so. Tha’n cath so a bhi ghnàth a dhìth ‘n a chomharadh air a bhàs spioradail. Cha’n eil naomhachd mar sin ri bhi air ruigheachd orra, tha i ri bhi air a leantuinn. Feumaidh, uime sin, adhartas a bhi air a dheanamh ann a bhi ga leantuinn, air chor agus gu’m bithear a teachd nis’s dluithe agus nì’s dluithe dhith. “Tha slighe an fhirean mar an solus dealrach, a dhealraicheas na’s mo agus na’s mo gu ruig an là iomlan.” Feumaidh peacadh a bhi nì’s mo agus nì’s mo air a cheusadh Tre ghràs feumaidh neach foghlum cruaidh-chàs fhulung mar dheadh shaighdeir Iosa Criosd. Feumaidh fàs a bhi ann an uile ghràsan an Spioraid agus ann an uile bhuill an duine nuaidh—fàs ann an tuigse, a thaobh eolais; anns na h-aignidhean, a thaobh gràdh agus spiorad-alachd inntinn; anns an toil, a thaobh ùmhlachd agus foghaidean; fàs ann an creidimh agus ann an aithreachas agus ann am fein-àicheadh, agus ann a bhi ullamh gu bhi deanamh agus a fulung air son Chriosd. Feumaidh a bhi gabhail freumh sios ann, agus a bhi giulain toraidh suas. Cuimhnich, ma’s a Criosduidh thu, gu’m feum thu bhi miannachadh a bhi fàs ann an gràs, agus aithneachadh co dhiubh tha na nach eil thu fàs. An sin feumaidh an obair so a bhi dol air adhart gun bhriseadh gun stad. ‘S e so aon dhe na nithean a tha air a theagasg dhuinn ‘n uair a tha beatha a Chriosduidh air a coimeas ri reis, agus ni a th’air a ghabhail a stigh anns an earail, “Uime sin na caidleamaid mar dhaoine eile, ach deanadh-mid faire agus bitheadhmaid stuama.” Faodaidh an fheoil a bhi ‘g iarruidh fois; faodaidh togradh làidir a bhi ann gu bhi gabhail fois anns na nithean air an d’ràinig sinn a cheana; ach feumaidh neach a bhi leantuinn fathasd an deigh naomhachd, Faodaidh neach a bhi air fhuasgladh, ann am Freasdal Dhé, le aois na ainmhuinneachd bho sheirbhis throm ann an aobhar Chriosd, na bhi air an deanamh eu-comasach air son a leithid sin de sheirbhis, ach cha’n eil e idir air fhuasgladh bho dhleasdanas ann a bhi leantuinn naomhachd. ‘S e so an fhior ghleidheadh an aghaidh a dhol air ais, agus fodh ghràs an Tì sin is e Fear-coimhead a shluaigh, an gleidheadh an aghaidh ionnsuidhean uile nàimhdean spioradail—miannaibh a chridhe a bhi ghnàth an deigh naomhachd. Agus tha’n earail a bhi leantuinn naomhachd dha’n a’ neach is mothà a rinn de adhartas cho maith ris a Chriosduidh òg; oir cha’n eil e ruigheachd comharadh naomhachd iomlan am feadh ‘s a thà e ‘s an t-saoghal so; oir cha’n eil aon, am feadh a tha e air a bhlàr chogaidh so, agus ceangailte ri corp a bhàis, saor bho bhuaireadh agus bho dheuchainn. Agus an creidmheach, mar a tha e fàs ann an gràs, cha’n eil e ga fhaicinn fein ‘n a dhuine ni’s naoimh cho mòr ‘s a tha e ga fhaicinn fein ni’s mothà agus ni’s mothà ‘n pheacach; agus, uime sin, am feadh ‘s a tha e gabhail beachd le sàsachadh do-labhairt air an atharrachadh a dh’ oibrich gràs ath-ùrachaidh ann, tha e ni’s mothà agus ni’s mothà air fhalamhachadh do na h-uile ni ann fein mar bhonn a bhi gabhail ris le Dia; agus mar is mothà air am bheil e ruigheachd, is ann is mothà a tha e faicinn ciod e cho mòr ‘s a tha aig ri ruigheachd air.

Tha sinn a nis air tighinn, co-cheangailte ris a mheur so de’n chuspair, gu bhi beachdachadh, anns an dara àite, air cia mar is urrainn sinn lùbadh a stigh ris an earail. ‘S e Spiorad Dhé Ughdar naomhachd. ‘S ann bh’uaith-e-san a tha sluagh Dhé air am breith a ris; gidheadh tha Iosa ag ràdh ris na h-uile, “Deanamh sbàirnn chruaidh gu dhòl a stigh air a gheata chumhann.” Is Esan am Fear-oibreachaidh eufachdach ann an obair na naomhachaidh, ag oibreachadh ‘n a shluaigh araon an toil agus an gniomh; gidheadh tha iad ri’n slàinte fein oibreachadh a mach agus a bhi leantuinn naomhachd. Ann a bhi labhairt ribh focal na h-earail, theirinn—

1. Na’n leanadh-mid naomhachd gu’m feum sinn obair chinn-teach a dheanamh dhe bhi gu toileach a gabhail ri Criosd tre chreidimh, air-son gu’n gabhair ruinn le Dia agus air son ar naomhachaidh. As eugmhais sin cha’n urrainn sinn ceum a thoirt anns a t-slighe mu’m bheil e air a ràdh nach teid an duine baoghalta air seacharan innte. Feumaidh sinn an costus a chunntas mu’n tòisich sinn air togail. Aig an aon am cha’n eil sinn ag ràdh gu’m bu chor do neach cumail air ais bho bhi leantuinn naomhachd agus a bhi stri an deigh co-chomunn ri Dia do-bhrigh gu’m faod mòr eagal a bhi air nach do ghabh an t-atharrachadh mòr a tha ann an iompachadh àite dha thaobh. Ma tha thù da-rìreadh a miannachadh a bhi air t-fhaotainn ann an Criosd agus a bhi treigsinn aingidheachd, an sin na bi ghnàth a fuireach ann an comhrag ri teagamhan agus eagalan, ach iarr air an Tighearna do naomhachadh gu h-iomlan.
2. Ma leanadh-mid naomhachd feumaidh sinn a mhiannachadh os ceann gach miann eile. Feumaidh a’ nì neamhaidh so a bhi air a mheas ‘n a nì ni’s luachmhoire na nì air bith a bhuineas do’n talamh, ma ruigeadh-mid air da-rìreadh. Feumaidh sinn cùram a bhi againn dheth ni’s mothà na nithean feumail na beatha so. “Na deanamh saothair,” deir Chriosd, “air son a bhithidh a theirgeas, ach air son a bhithidh a mhaireas a chùm na beatha shiorruidh.” Feumaidh daoine saothair a dheanamh air son a bhithidh a theirgeas; ach feumaidh iad saothair a dheanamh ni’s durachdaich air son a bhithidh a mhair-eas a chùm na beatha shiorruidh. Gheall Chriosd, agus tha fhocal firinneach, gu’n cuirear na h-uile ni eile riutha-san a dh’iarraas air tús rioghachd Dhé; am feadh, mar a tòir iad a cheud àite dha so, nach soirbhich ni air bith eile dhoibh. ‘S e so lagh beannaicht’ rioghachd Chriosd: feumaidh sinn naomhachd a leantuinn an toiseach, ma ruigeas sinn air.
3. Feumaidh sinn uile mheadhonan nan gràs a chleachdadh gu dichtollach. Feumaidh sinn gu tric fheorach cia mar a tha cùisean eadar ar ‘n anamaibh agus Dia. Cha’n fheum sinn a bhi dearmad obair mhòr an fhein-cheasnachaidh, na bhi riarachte le bhi ‘n a cheann aig amaibh agus air mhodh faoin. Feumaidh sinn cùntas aithghearr a chumail ri’r coguisean, a thighinn gach feasgar gu fuil Chriosd, a chùm ar coguis a ghlanaidh an sin. Feumaidh sinn a bhi bitheanta ann an ùrnuigh, ag iarruidh a bhi dòrtadh a mach ar cridheachan an làthair Dhé, Athair a shluaigh, agus a bhi sgaoladh a mach gach duilgheadas agus gach cùram ‘n a làthair-san—a bhi tilgeadh ar ‘n ealaichean uile Air-san. Agus feumaidh am Focal comhnuidh a ghabhail annain, mar aoidh a tha air a fhrithealadh agus urram air a chur air. Feumaidh e bhi ‘n a chompanach dhuinn gach latha, agus cha’n fheum sinn a bhi aig am air bith riarachte as eugmhais a chumhachd a tha soillseachadh agus a naomhachadh. Mar eil fein-fhiosrachadh againn air so, cha’n ann nach eil an cumhachd so ann am Focal Dhé, ach a chionn nach eil sinn ag amharc suas mar bu chòir dhuinn air son an Spioraid Naoimh a bhi ga fhosgladh suas dhuinn agus ga chur dhachaidh. Feumaidh sinn luach a chur air meadhonan follaiseach nan gràs; oir tha iad uile air an suidheachadh le Dia. Ma thig thu dh’ionnsuidh tigh Dhé, cha’n ann a cheann gur e cuid de do dhiadhachd e, ach gu bhi coinneachadh Ris agus ag aoradh do Dhia, agus gu bhi’g eisdeachd ri fhocal. Feumaidh tu iomadh uair a bhi ga bhean-nachadh air son an fhocail a bha air a fhrithealadh dhuit le a sheir-bhisich, agus a ràdh, “Is maith dhomh-sa teachd dlùth do Dhia.”
4. Ma leanas sinn naomhachd feumaidh sinn foghlum a bhi strì ri bhi beo tre chreidimh air Slànuighear nach fhaca sinn, —a leithid de chreidimh agus a ni Criosd, Criosd an t-soisgeil, na Neach aig am bheil bith da-rìreadh, a làthair agus dlùth air laimh; a bhi ghnàth a taiceachadh Air ‘n a aonar, cha’n e mhàinn mar ar Sìth agus ar Fìreantachd, ach mar ar Fear-coimhead agus ar Neart, ar Beatha, ar Caraid, ar ‘n Ard-Shagart aig am bheil co-fhaireachadh ruinn, Feumaidh sinn a bhi strì ri bhi foghlum, ni’ s fearr agus ni’s fearr, ciall briathran Chriosd, “As m’eugmhais-sa cha’n urrainn sibh aon ni a dheanamh; agus an sin, ciall briathran Phòil, “Is urrainn mi na h-uile ni dheanamh tre Chriosd a neartaicheas mi;” “N uair a tha mi lag, an sin tha mi làidir.”
5. Feumaidh sinn a bhi beo fodh chumhachd co-eigneachaidh gràdh Chriosd. Feumaidh a bheatha aig am bheil aideachadh Criosdal-achd a bhi bochd, fuar, agus neo-thorach, aig nach eil eolas air a so. Ma cho-eignich gràdh Chriosd E gu E Fein a thoirt air ‘ur son, chùm gu naomhaicheadh, agus gu’n glanadh E sibh le ionnlaid an uisge tre an fhocal, an sin air dhuibh aithne bhi agaibh air a ghràdh so—a tòiseachadh air aithne bhi agaibh air—feumaidh sibh a bhi air ‘ur co-eigneachadh gu bhi beo Dhà. O chrioch bheannaichte—glòir Chriosd. “Air dhomhsa bhi beo is e sin Criosd:” “A chùm gu’m bitheadh Criosd air àrdachadh ann am chorp-sa, co-dhiubh ‘s ann le beatha na le bàs.” O’n co-eigneachadh beannaichte—gràdh saoraidh Chriosd.
6. Feumaidh sinn a bhi air ar faiceal a thaobh ceud-chlaonaidhean. Ma tha iad air mothachadh dhoibh anns na tòiseachaidhean agus air am bacadh le gràs Dhé, bithidh sibh air bhur saoradh bho iomadh bròn. Mur eil iad air mothachadh dhoibh, dearbhaidh iad a bhi mar leigeadh a mach uisgeachan. “Thugaibh an aire, a bhràithrean, air eagal gu’m bi ann an aon neach agaibh droch cridhe mi-chreidmheach, ann an treigisinn an Dé bheo. Ach earalaichibh a cheile gach là, am feadh a ghoirear an là ‘n diugh dheth; air eagal gu’n cruadhaichear neach air bith agaibh tre mhealltaireachd a pheacaidh. Oir rinneadh sinn ‘n ar luchd-comphairt de Chriosd, ma chumas sinn, toiseach ar muinghin gu daingean gus a chrioch.” Na gabh e mar fhìrinn, agus na cleachd thu fein mar gu’m b’ fhìrinn a bh’ann, gu’m bheil cùl-sleamhnachadh ‘n a nì a dh’fheudar sùil a bhi ris anns a Chriosduidh, na nach eil focal geur aig Criosd ri labhairt an aghaidh neach a bhi treigsinn a cheud ghràdh; ach iarr a ghràs uile-chumhachdach gu bhi ga d’ chumail bho thuiteam na bho dhol air seacharan: agus na deal-aicheadh na briathran sòlaimte so riut. “Ach cha ‘n eil sinne de’n dream sin a philleas air an ais chùm sgrios.” Gidheadh, buidheachas da Ainm, ma tha briathran anns am bheil rabhadh uamhasach ann, tha mar an ceudna briathran tròcair agus gràis do luchd a chùl-sleamhnachaidh; “Pillibh a chlann chùl-shleamhnach: leighisidh mise ‘ur cul-sleamhnachaidh.” “Pill, O Israel, ris an Tighearna do Dhia, oir thuit thu le t-aingidheachd. Leighisidh mise an cùl-sleamnachadh, gràdhaichidh mi iad gu saor: oir phill mo choruich air falbh uaithe. Bithidh mi mar an drùchd do Israel: fàsaidh e mar an liligh, agus cuiridh e mach a fhreumhan mar Lebanon.”

(R’a leantuinn.)