Rev Donald MacLean
Another year has drawn to its close and the new begins to unfold, with all its unknown events as yet hidden from our eyes. And as we cast our minds back over the year that is gone, how different are the sensations which we feel in our bosoms. How thankful many of us should be as we survey our family circle and see it still complete and its members preserved from sickness and death! It was this that added peculiar point to Job’s confession: “I have sinned; what shall I do unto Thee, O Thou preserver of men?” (Job 7:20). God is our preserver and therefore we should heed God’s counsel: “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Prov 3:6).
To others of you, this day is marked by a shadow. A loved and loving figure has been removed from your home. Last New Year’s day, they were with you; perhaps you read my letter to them, or they read it to you; but today that voice is silent on earth and they are in eternity. So death stalks through our families and congregations, armed with divine authority to remove such as are reaching the end of life’s journey, from the presence of men, to appear before God. Surely it is a solemn business to live, to have an immortal soul and to expect that, shortly, the issues of our eternal destiny, either in heaven or in hell, will be irrevocably settled. To the bereaved, I extend my heartfelt sympathy and my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that these sore strokes may work, through God’s blessing, for their salvation.
The world situation continues dark and troubled. We are already partially
1The pastoral letter that Mr MacLean wrote to his Portree congregation at the beginning of 1951, printed here with some editing.
engaged in war2 and there is every appearance of that war spreading and involving, in all its tragic suffering and sorrow, multitudes of the families of the earth. In face of such clear evidences of God’s displeasure, our rulers and people remain hard of heart and impenitent. Instead of seeking mercy and forgiveness, we seem determined to provoke God more and more. Such a spirit has been clearly seen in the recent Act for keeping open the 1951 Festival of Britain on the Lord’s Day. This black spot on our national history shall surely be visited with retribution from heaven.
Our own personal and individual sins are more than can be numbered, and if God was to mark the iniquities even of the year that is now past, who could stand? Yet there is forgiveness with Him, that He may be feared. This forgiveness becomes the priceless possession of all who have Christ as their Saviour. All others are under condemnation. “He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God” (Jn 3:18). Whatever distinction of position, wealth, or age may exist among us, the issues for eternity are sharply defined. We are either in Christ, the Ark of eternal safety, or exposed to the floods of divine wrath against our sins.
It is in the means of grace that Christ is exhibited as the Saviour of the lost. By the Word of God in preaching, praying and singing of His praises, Christ is revealed as the Redeemer. In the glory of His person, in the perfection of His finished work, and in the suitability of His offices as prophet, priest and king, Christ is set before sinners. And the invitation, full and free, is sent out: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28).
It is a mark of God’s love to any people that He should leave His Word with them. This was true of Israel. “He showed His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgements unto Israel.” The Psalmist, taught by the Holy Spirit, found material for praise in such a blessing.
“To any nation never He such favour did afford;
For they His judgements have not known. O do ye praise the Lord”
(Ps 147:19,20).
The same mark of divine love has been ours, for, in the testimony handed down to us by our fathers, at no little cost to themselves, we have God’s Word in its purity, God’s worship in its scriptural simplicity, and God’s testimony in its spiritual fulness.
Heavy indeed will be our guilt if we despise such evidences that God is not willing that any should perish, and, by persevering in our sins, enter a lost eternity! Heavy also is the guilt of those who forsake this testimony as
2A reference to the Korean War (1950-53).
some have done during the past year. Other considerations have weighed more heavily with them than the salvation of their souls and they have turned their back on Christ’s cause. To them now such an act may appear of little moment. How different matters will appear before the Judgement seat of Christ!
Let us therefore seek that the Holy Spirit may be poured upon ourselves, our families and congregation, that Christ may be made precious to us and that, in Him, we may obtain everlasting salvation. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Lk 11:9). Only by an outpouring of the Spirit from on high can the wilderness begin to blossom as the rose and the captivity of Zion be returned, so that those who go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, may return rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them.
With best wishes for your spiritual and temporal welfare.