1Taken, with editing, from the “Account of the Author” prefixed to Black’s Sermons on Important Subjects. Black (1762-1806) was minister of Lady Yester’s church in Edinburgh. A sermon of his appeared in this Magazine last April.
Presbytery trials.
Thursday, 19 [February 1784], was appointed for my examination before the Presbytery. It passed without censure, so that in due time, if the Lord spare me, my trials will go on. In the several steps of this affair, I acknowledge and adore the hand of providence. How little would it signify to me to have the favour and approbation of my fellow creatures, if I thought I did not have the call of God Himself to undertake this great work. Men may mistake our qualifications. They cannot penetrate into the secret purposes and dispositions of the heart, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. He knows whether our aim is single or not – whether it is a sincere desire of being useful, an ardent love to Christ, and a generous compassion for the souls of men that are our chief motives, or whether our minds are influenced by the mean desire of worldly payment, ease or honour. Great Searcher of hearts, hast Thou not caused me to choose this employment, as that in which, by Thy grace, I hope with most success to glorify Thy name and advance the best interests of my fellow creatures. If ever I have indulged other views, show me the deceit and hypocrisy of my heart, and let me bitterly repent of my grievous folly. I think at this moment, if I know my own heart, I should willingly prefer the honour of being a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, however despised, to the dignity of the greatest ruler on earth. Since ever I was capable of anything, I have always been inclined to devote my time and talents to the work of the ministry and have never, from my earliest years, seriously thought of any other profession. A concurrence of favourable circumstances, under the direction of providence, gradually succeeding each other, has tended to confirm my inclinations; and on the whole, now that the Lord has brought me thus far and made my way plain before me, what can I say but, Father, Thy will be done; glorify Thy great name in me and by me and fully qualify me for the work Thou hast appointed for me in Thy vineyard. Let my own soul be daily and richly fed with the heavenly manna, the bread of life that came down from heaven; and endow me with the divine skill of dispensing to everyone, like a faithful householder, their portion of meat in due season.
When licensed to preach.
(Wednesday, 25 August 1784, a day which I hope never to forget.) I have now received a new character, and entered on a new and important office. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. This is now the outcome of many fears and hopes and prayers. Hitherto the Lord has helped me. I have undertaken a great work; but, blessed be God, He sends none a warfare at his own charges, but gives strength according to the day.
In autumn 1789 he suffered a severe and dangerous illness. After his recovery, he expressed himself as follows.
(11 October 1789.) Again permitted, by the kind providence of God, to enter the pulpit after being debarred from this privilege for about four months. I preached on this occasion from Job 34:31,32, a passage which afforded me some comfort in the time of my sickness. Life in itself, with all the cares and troubles that attend it, would hardly be desirable for its own sake, but as it is the season of usefulness, as it gives an opportunity of advancing the interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom, it is highly valuable, and in this view I desire chiefly to value it. O Lord, watch over my soul, that I may watch for the souls of my people. Help me to live a life of closer fellowship and communion with Thee; and then, in health or in sickness, serving Thee or receiving suffering from Thee, I shall be satisfied, cheerful and happy.
On the death of a child.
(6 February 1799.) An event which for some time we have been looking for but still is felt as a very sharp stroke and hard to flesh and blood. Never was there a lovelier child; she had reached an age specially interesting, when the first dawns of reason begin to appear. But it is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him good. It is His will. Our dear child is now, I trust, with Christ in heaven, joined to her kindred spirits about the throne. What a marvellous change! What a glorious transition – from a sickbed to a throne of glory; from a world of sin and suffering to a world of perfect holiness and endless blessedness! How inconceivable the expansion of faculties that must take place in the case of an infant on its first entrance into the unseen world! It is an almost overwhelming thought that our sweet babe already knows more than the most perfect saint on earth. Let my soul bless God that I have been honoured as the instrument of bringing one into existence who is now added to the Redeemer’s company above. Soon shall the last trumpet sound and the sleeping dust of countless generations awake to life. I shall then see my dear child, not the feeble infant which she was on earth, but a glorified saint, conformed to the image of her blessed Lord. O glorious hope!
Happy communion season.
(Wednesday, 11 November 1801.) Last Lord’s day was our communion here, and much cause have I to observe the abundant grace and goodness of God. It was as sweet and solemn a day as ever I experienced in Lady Yester’s. The number of communicants greater, I believe, than on any former occasion, and some of those admitted gave hopeful evidences of a change having recently been wrought in them. Preached on Exodus 12:14. “This day shall be unto you for a memorial”. I find enough to keep me humble, even in the most favoured seasons. May the Lord keep His good hand about all who have been at His table! May the impressions of this delightful solemnity long remain upon my own heart and excite me to watchfulness and diligence!
Anniversary of ordination.
Lord’s day, 15 September 1805, brings me to the twentieth anniversary of my ordination to the sacred work of the ministry. It is a weekly and serious thought that I have been spared and honoured to preach the gospel so long. In undertaking this great work, I hope I was actuated on the whole by pure motives, and that in the course of my ministry I have been seeking, not to please men, but to profit their immortal souls. I can truly say I have found Christ to be a good master, and His work sweet and delightful, so that I would not exchange employments with the greatest prince on earth. No material change of sentiment has taken place since I began to preach; only, if the Lord spare me, I would study to be more practical and more particular in the description of character, and more faithful in dealing with the consciences of men.