By the Rev. J. Thomson, Minister of Dysart, Fifeshire
Dr Balfour was distinguished for the happy union of great and amiable qualities. He was a man of deep piety. This appeared not only in the discharge of his official duties, but also in his intercourse with Christian friends. Wherever he was he uniformly maintained a deportment becoming an ambassador of Christ. Nor was there ought repulsive in his manners. On the contrary his piety was cheerful, and he evinced such real kindness of heart, such warm and enlarged charity, that his society was a source of peculiar delight to all who were privileged to enjoy it.
Possessing these qualities, this highly honoured minister of the gospel, when called upon to testify his displeasure at the conduct of transgressors, was eminently successful in tendering reproof. This is a very difficult, as well as a painful duty. If a rebuke be administered under the influence of passion, if it be ill-timed or out of place — if, in short, it be given in circumstances calculated to irritate and not to humble and reform the offender, it is manifestly worse than useless. Hence the necessity of a sound judgment to seize upon the time and mode besfitting a matter of so much delicacy, and also of general benevolence, combined with unbending fidelity, to convey to the delinquent, in the most effective manner, a just sense of the enormity of his crime. In those requisites Dr Balfour excelled. He was truly a judicious reprever. A few words from him spoke volumes. And the following anecdote which I received from more than one respectable quarter, shows that his endeavours to reclaim heaven-daring sinners were not unavailing:—
On one occasion when Dr and Mrs Balfour were on their way home from Glasgow to Stirling, they had for their fellow passengers, in the stage-coach, three gentlemen who were proceeding to India. Two of these were young lads, who had just left their native homes, and were about to embark in quest of wealth or of fame to that sultry clime. Probably to allay the pangs of separation from their beloved parents and relatives, they, like many others in similar circumstances, allowed their minds to dwell on golden prospects. Dear youths! who would not feel interested in their condition, just setting out in the journey of life, heedless, perhaps, of the spiritual privations to which they should be subjected, and of the countless dangers to which they were exposed? How important it is, therefore, that our young men, ere they leave the domestic circle, be thoroughly instructed in the principles of our holy faith, and be impressed with the conviction that the fear of God is the only effectual guard against the corruption and allurements of a world, lying in wickedness! Alas! in the present instance, it was the misfortune of these inexperienced youths to be
placed under the protection of one who, instead of acting, as he was in duty bound to do, the part of a father and a friend, set before them an example of so unhallowed a character that, if followed, would tend inevitably to ruin their immortal souls. Awful to relate! their elder companion, the third party was a profane swearer! this soon became manifest from his conversation. Ever and anon he took the name of God in vain. Nor did he seem to be in the least abashed at his own profanity. He gloried in his shame. So hardened was he in sin! so habituated was he to transgression.
We can easily conceive how painful it must have been to the godly minister to witness such daring profanation of that sacred name, every mention of which demands the most profound reverence. He saw, however, that directly to reprove the transgressor in such a place would serve no good end. But to testify his displeasure at such impious conduct, Dr Balfour availed himself of the first opportunity of withdrawing from the company of the profane man, by taking a seat on the outside of the coach. This was a silent but very expressive reproof. Nor was it altogether without effect. A guilty conscience is always jealous. And the remark, addressed by the delinquent to Mrs Balfour, “I suppose that is a parson?” told that all was not at ease within. Happily for him who used this contemptuous term that “parson” was faithful to his office, and therefore worthy of the unfeigned respect of all who value moral worth, or who have any regard for the highest and best interests of mankind.
Dr Balfour felt great pity for the profane swearer, and also for the young gentlemen under his charge. We doubt not, he lifted up his heart to God in prayer in their behalf. But he resolved to do something more. It was of the utmost consequence to have a private interview with the offender, in order if possible, to bring him to a sense of his perilous condition, and to prevail upon him to “flee from the wrath to come.” Accordingly, when they arrived at the next stage, the Dr went into the inn, and requested the said violater of the Divine law to accompany him. There, when alone, he told him his design in soliciting an interview. He brought the painful subject of his recent profanation directly and fully before him. He unfolded the nature of his sin, the heinousness of his guilt, and the tremendous consequences to which it exposed his never-dying soul. He appealed to the understanding, the heart and the conscience of the delinquent, in a manner becoming the end in view. And, considering how commanding were his talents, and how solemn and melting the tones of his voice, and how influential his Christian tenderness and fidelity, we may well believe that nought was awanting, on his part, to render the reproof available. What passed between them we cannot further particularise.
But this we know, that the delinquent not only listened attentively to what was addressed to him, but felt grateful for the kindness, as well as the faithfulness evinced by his reprever. He was evidently affected. “Sir,” said he, “I feel much obliged to you for the delicate manner in which you have conveyed your reproof. For had you reproved me in the coach, in presence of these young men, in all probability my evil passions would have been roused, and I would have insulted you.” How instructive is the fact, and how impressively does it remind us of the necessity of being “Wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
The interview was soon brought to a close. And they who were, so unexpectedly, brought together on a subject of eternal moment, parted, who could tell if evermore to meet this side of the grave? But it was the Lord’s will that this should not be their last interview. The reproved traveller, with his interesting charge, set out for a distant region, where till of late, scarcely a ray of Divine light shone on the deluded inhabitants. But even in that land of heathenism, God does not leave himself without a witness. There he is essentially present, and there, too, his sovereign grace has recently achieved many a splendid triumph. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He follows them with the language of tender expostulation, saying, “Turn ye turn ye for why will ye die?” He did so in the instance under our consideration: the profane man who, in God’s adorable providence, was brought, as it were accidentally, for a few moments, into contact with a faithful servant of Christ in Scotland, was raised up in idolatrous India, to bear a living testimony to the truth that, “the word of the Lord shall not return unto him void.” His conscience was evidently touched. He felt the justness of the reproof. He felt the overpowering tenderness that marked the expostulation of the Christian minister. That occurrence he could not forget. Wherever he went, the arrow of conviction stuck fast in his inner man, and troubled his hours of repose. A feeling of remorse haunted him by night and by day. At length he was effectually roused to a heart-felt sense of his guilt and danger, in the sight of that great and holy God, who “is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.” And that Holy Spirit who then visited him with strong and abiding convictions of sin, discovered to him, in due time, the only sure remedy, and prevailed upon him to cast himself as a perishing sinner on the mercy of the Divine Redeemer, who “came to seek and to save that which is lost.” What a wondrous change! The proud blasphemer is now become a devout and affectionate worshipper of that God, whom he had so long and so daringly offended; and he who despised the blessings of Christ’s salvation, now feels that, in comparison of these everything else sinks into utter insignificance. Behold he is now “a new creature,” a monument of
sovereign mercy. “A brand plucked from the fire.”
It is often the lot of faithful ministers not to know in this world, the good effects which, through the blessing of God, result through their instruction, their reproofs and warnings, and their exhortations and prayers. But it pleased God in the present instance, to rejoice the soul of his servant, by an exhibition of the fruit of the interview above detailed. After the lapse of several years, a gentleman called on Dr Balfour at Glasgow. Having introduced himself, and perceiving that the doctor did not recognise him, he asked if he remembered the interview that took place between them on their way to Stirling. The doctor presently recollected the occurrence. “Well,” said the stranger, “I am the person whom you then reproved, and I am come now to tell you that your reproof has had the desired effect, and that you have been the instrument of my conversion to God.” O how intensely interesting the scene! There stood the reproof and the reproved in circumstances that called for the liveliest gratitude to the God of all grace and consolation, both rejoicing in the marvellous change, and both animated by the hope of a blissful immortality. And, after such an example of usefulness, what Christian need despair? “Let him know that he who converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”