(continued from page 124)
On one occasion he said: “Purifying their hearts by faith.” “I saw a woman once in a rivulet cleaning the many plies of a sheep. She turned over a fold and exposed much filth that had to be cleaned. When she cleaned this fold she turned over another which revealed as much impurity as the first, and so she went on turning over a fold at a time and cleaning behind it till she went over the whole. I thought to myself, surely it is clean now; but the woman knew better. She began again to turn the plies over backward, and you would really think it was as dirty as ever. So is the heart of man. When one thinks that it is being cleansed by faith and that good progress has been made, another ply is turned over and the poor sinner concludes that nothing has been done at all in purifying it.”
The Dying Godly man
One of the elders of the congregation called to see a godly man who was seriously ill. The elder asked the man if Archie Crawford had been seeing him. The man said he had not and that the reason was that the Lord told Archie Crawford that he was a hypocrite and would not let him come. The elder went straight from the sick man’s house to Mr Crawford and told of the man’s serious illness and of the temptation he had. Mr Crawford went to see the man. As soon as he came into his bedroom he said to him: “He has allowed you to come at last.”
Mr Crawford told him that he had only heard that very day that he had been sick and that he came as soon as he heard. But the man held to his opinion — that he found out from the Lord that he was a hypocrite, that the Lord would not let him come to see him and that he was now to be lost forever notwithstanding all the profession he had made in the world. Mr Crawford did his utmost to disprove the two statements — that he was a hypocrite and that there was no hope for him now — but he saw that there was an ingenuity in the man to turn every truth in the Bible against himself that indicated that it emanated from Satan. So Mr Crawford made up his mind that he had to deal with Satan and not with the man. He quoted the truth: “Who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him?” “Do you know,” he asked. “No,” said the man and immediately the tempter left him. The man died in full assurance of faith and in much comfort. Mr Crawford told us that he never saw Satan more vividly than he saw him in pursuing that man’s soul.
Visiting the Sick
It was very rarely he visited any of the sick. We often wondered why a man so tender, kind and accommodating should neglect this duty. One day he told us that he was asked once to go to visit a young man who was seriously ill. He went and he saw that the young man was not likely to live long. He spoke to him of his great need that the Holy Spirit would open his eyes so that he might see his lost and ruined condition and his need of being saved by Christ. When he rose to leave the young man said to him, “Will you not pray before you leave?” Mr Crawford asked him: “What do you wish me to pray for?” “That my eyes may be opened to see my lost state,” the sick man said. “Is that all you wish me to pray for?” he asked. “Yes,” said the young man. Mr Crawford prayed and went away. He was not more than half a mile away from the house when the young man began to cry out and roar that he was lost and that he felt the fire of the wrath of God burning him already. He passed away to eternity in that condition. Ever after that day Mr Crawford felt it extremely difficult for him to visit any in sickness and especially such as spent their time till sickness came in forgetfulness of God and their own everlasting interests. Others are at liberty to condemn him for this if they feel so inclined; but we declare we feel very great sympathy with anyone who feels the same difficulty, for we feel it very much ourselves.
Covenant with the Ploughman
During the early period of his life he held the farm of Kilbride in Cowal and was in the habit of keeping two ploughmen — a grieve and an underploughman. He wanted an underploughman one year and there was none that he could think of who could do his work but a man who was notorious for drunkenness. He went to him and told him that he wanted a ploughman and asked him if he desired to be engaged. The man told him he would be quite willing to enter into his service. Mr Crawford undertook to engage the man if he would agree to one condition while he was with him. The man asked him what might that be. “You will have to promise that you will not get drunk during the time you are to be engaged by me. If you will get drunk and break your promise, you will lose all the wages you will have earned and you will leave my service immediately.” The man promised this at once, and he engaged him. Three months passed without his taking any strong drink but then he arrived home one night drunk and began to boast how little he cared for Mr Crawford or any other man. Mr Crawford told his housekeeper to give the man his supper and let him away to his bed. This was done. Next morning, Mr Crawford went out early and found the young man brushing his horses in order to prepare to go out to plough in the field. He said to him, “You better prepare yourself and leave my service forthwith for you know the covenant that was between you and me, which you are aware you have broken.” The man said to him, “Surely you will forgive me for once.” Mr Crawford replied: “No. Once a covenant of service is broken it can never be made up, so you will have to leave as soon as you will take your breakfast and you will get nothing for the time you have been in my employment.” He went away and left him. After breakfast he asked the grieve, how the young man had taken what he had said to him. The grieve told him that he had been sitting in one of the stalls weeping ever since. “That will do,” he told the grieve, “I will go out to speak to him now.” He went out to the stable and said to the young man; “The covenant is broken and cannot be made up any more; but if you will agree to it, I will make a new one with you.” The young man asked what that one would be. “Well,” said Mr Crawford, “I am prepared to take you from this day to the term on the condition that you will promise me that you will not get drunk till the term day, and I will give you the proportion of wages that will be due to you from this day till the term and the portion you have forfeited along with it.” “That is a far better covenant than the first one,” said the young man. The young man continued in his service and became a sober man from that day.
This will bring vividly before the mind of the intelligent reader, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. Although there is no mercy in the law once it was broken by man, there is mercy in the covenant of grace and one gets in that covenant, not only good things for the future but also all that he lost in the broken covenant. The sagacity of Mr Crawford’s mind appears very conspicuously in this business.