Spiritual Worship¹

A Sermon by Archibald Alexander

Philippians 3:3. We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit.

Everything around us shows that there is a God, and that He is wise, powerful and good. Our own minds lead us to believe that God approves of good conduct, and will punish evil doers. From the Scriptures, we learn that God is Almighty and can do whatever He pleases, that He knows all things and is perfectly acquainted with our most secret actions and the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts, that He is a witness of every word we speak and of everything we do, and that we cannot escape from his presence.

How beautifully this is expressed in Psalm 139: “O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising; Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether. . . . Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. . . . If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to Thee.”

The duty of worshipping God – praising Him for His glorious perfections and wonderful works; thanking Him for the blessings, both temporal and spiritual, that He gives us; confessing before Him our dependence and sinfulness; and praying to Him in humble confidence for such things as we need – is so evident to every serious mind that it is unnecessary to spend time proving it. The proper method of performing this duty and the benefits to be expected from it will be the subjects of this sermon.

1. God should be worshipped with a knowledge of His true character. To worship our Creator, without knowing what kind of being He is, is to worship an “unknown God”. This is the great fault of heathen religion. They may take great pains in their worship, but they do not know the true character of God; therefore they ascribe the passions and frailties of men to the imaginary beings they worship. They foolishly bow down to wood and stones and pay homage to gods of gold and silver which they have made. No service can be acceptable to God which is not founded on a right knowledge of His character. To offer Him worship, imagining Him to be the opposite of what He is, is to offer an insult to Him. Hence the great importance of true religious knowledge, and you know where this may be obtained.

¹Taken, with editing, from Alexander’s Practical Sermons:

The works of God in creation all proclaim His power, wisdom and goodness. If we look at our bodies and consider how wisely they are formed, with everything adapted to a good purpose, we may again adopt the words of Psalm 139: “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”. If we do not then learn to know God, it is because we do not like to retain Him in our knowledge, and so are without excuse. This, Paul assures us, was the real origin of idolatry, with all its vile abominations. Many grow up to manhood without ever reflecting seriously on God’s works, or raising admiring thoughts to the great Creator of the universe. As men do not desire the knowledge of God or make use of their opportunities of knowing Him, it is just in Him to leave them to the darkness they have chosen, and to punish them for the enormous sins they are constantly committing.

But as man is a fallen creature, the knowledge which reason can furnish is not sufficient. It does not reveal the mercy of God to sinners. It does not show how man can be reconciled to a holy God – how sin can be pardoned, or how the corrupt nature of man can be purified and restored to the image of God which has been lost. Therefore God in great mercy has made a further revelation of His character in His Word. In the time of Moses, God’s communications were committed to writing and, from time to time, inspired men added other books to those of Moses, until the canon of the Old Testament was finished by Malachi.

Then, after four or five hundred years, Christ, the promised Deliverer, came and taught the way of salvation much more clearly. Having died for sin and risen again, He commanded His apostles to instruct the world. These holy men were inspired to write in the books of the New Testament all that was necessary for the instruction of the Church for all time to come. From these two parts of the Bible, all necessary information may be obtained. So plain are the lessons of instruction given here that “the wayfaring men, though fools,” need not err. Those with access to the Bible can therefore have no excuse for not knowing God. Let them come to it with a humble, teachable disposition, and they will not go away disappointed. Those of the weakest understanding may here become wise unto salvation. And if they learn the true character of God, as given by the unerring pen of inspiration, they will be led to worship Him with knowledge and will be delighted to ascribe glory and honour, praise and blessing to this majestic Being.

1. God should be worshipped with reverence, or godly fear. It is natural to feel overawed in the presence of one greatly our superior. How proper this is when we draw nigh to the great God in worship! There is a slavish dread which leads men to flee from God, and there is a superstitious fear which arises from erroneous views of His character; but godly fear is so necessary

to true worship that worship is often expressed by fear in Scripture. The wicked are described as having no fear of God before their eyes; and the common character of the righteous is, “they that fear God”. Several inspired writers declare that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Nature itself dictates that God should be worshipped with reverence. All nations, when they worship, put themselves in an attitude of reverence. They bow their heads, fall on their knees, or prostrate themselves on the ground. Indeed, the literal meaning of worship is to bow down, or to lie prostrate.

Everywhere in Scripture, worship is coupled with fear or reverence; so there is no true worship where this is lacking. God is a jealous God and will not be mocked with merely the external forms of worship; much less will He accept service that is prompted by pride and levity. “God is greatly to be feared in the assemblies of His saints, and to be had in reverence of all that are about Him.” “Him shall ye fear, and Him shall ye worship.” Reverence is represented as most remarkable in the worship in heaven, where the most exalted among creatures veil their faces and fall prostrate before the throne of the Almighty. The wise preacher has left us this precept: “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools; for they consider not that they do evil”.

It seems then that a lack of serious consideration is the common evil to which men are liable when attending the worship of God. It is shocking to see the thoughtless levity with which many enter the place of worship, and the careless indifference of most of them. This is a great evil, but it is not laid to heart. Many feel they perform a meritorious act when they spend an hour in the house of God, whereas God, who searches the heart, may know that they did not have one solemn impression of His presence during the service. Reverence may thus be considered a criterion to distinguish true religion from the spurious. False religion may have as much fervour as true, but one may notice that the fear of God is not felt in the raptures of the fanatic. Such people often show a disgusting familiarity with their Maker, using a freedom with Him which would not be allowed towards an equal. Where religious feeling runs to excess, reverence for the presence of God’s majesty is always defective. A consciousness of this would preserve the mind from indulging human passions as sometimes happens in public worship.

1. Humility is another essential ingredient in a truly devotional spirit. Whatever service lacks this, and however exactly conformed to God’s rule it is in other respects, it will appear abominable in the sight of God, instead of being a sweet savour. For we know from the Word of God that nothing is more odious in His sight than pride; and of all pride, religious pride is the most hateful. The parable of the Pharisee and the publican was intended to

teach this very point. The Pharisee represents the proud worshipper who boasts of his own performances and of his superiority to other men; the publican represents the humble penitent, who brings the sacrifice of a broken spirit. We are taught emphatically that “a broken and a contrite heart [God] will not despise”. We do not need here to make any distinction between the humble spirit and the penitent disposition. They are produced by the very same views; indeed humility is an essential part of true repentance.

This is the spirit that is more pleasing to God than any other He sees in the human heart; and this is found in no heart but that which is renewed. “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” “Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: where is the house that ye build unto Me? For all these things hath Mine hand made, and all these things have been, saith the Lord; but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.” And again, “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” says the Saviour, and, “Blessed are they that mourn”. The Psalms express every variety in the feelings of true worshippers; thus we find humility strongly expressed in a large portion of them.

That worshipper who approaches the throne of God, clothed with the modest robe of genuine humility, always meets with acceptance. Let us then worship the Almighty with a humble and contrite spirit, and let us seek such a frame of mind more earnestly than ecstatic delight or overflowing joys. Set it down as undoubted truth that, as your views of the character of God are exalted and spiritual, you will in the same proportion sink down in deep abasement, from a view of your own vileness and unworthiness. And when you rise to join the worshippers in the courts above, this same sentiment of profound humility will accompany you and you will feel that you are, in the presence of the Most High, less than nothing and vanity. You will also, with unceasing and unaffected humility, acknowledge your unworthiness of the dignity to which you shall be advanced, and the happiness which you will enjoy there for ever. But the deeper your feelings of self-abasement, the more ardent and constant will be your gratitude to Him that loved you and washed you in His own blood, and made you kings and priests unto God.

1. “Without faith, it is impossible to please [God];” for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Indeed, without faith all worship must be a mere empty form and, however decent and orthodox this form may be in itself, it is no better than

the worship of idols in the sight of God. To exercise faith when praying is expressly required in many places of Scripture. The Saviour attributes a mighty efficacy to prayer offered up in faith. We must rely implicitly on the promises of God, believing assuredly that He will perform what He has said.

The question is often asked, Ought we to believe, in every case, that we shall receive what we ask? Those who had the gift of miracles possessed a faith of miracles, and also most of those for whom the miracle was wrought. This was a full persuasion that, by the power of God, the miracle would take place. But since miracles have ceased in the Church, there is no room for faith of this kind. The confidence, or faith, which should now accompany prayer is a full belief that whatever we ask, in accordance with the will of God, will be granted. God’s promises should be our guide in offering up our petitions. But if we pray for blessings not specifically promised, we have no certain ground of confidence that the blessing shall be given, for we do not know that it is agreeable to God’s will. But when we pray in humble submission to the will of God, believing that He will grant whatever is best, we may rest assured that our prayers will be answered and that we shall receive the thing asked, or something as good or better.

The principal exercise of faith in worship has respect to Jesus Christ, the divine Mediator. As guilty sinners, we cannot approach a just and holy God. We must draw near in the name of Him whom God has appointed to be the great High Priest. As, under the Old Testament, no one could offer a sacrifice but by a priest, so all our sacrifices must be offered through Christ, the great High Priest. It is only through Him that any of our services can be acceptable. He must offer up our imperfect prayers and praises, giving them efficacy through His own precious merits. In our worship then we should look constantly to the Lord Jesus Christ as our Mediator, Advocate and Intercessor and expect to be accepted only for His name’s sake.

It will be found profitable to have in our minds such promises of God as it may be proper to rely on in our petitions, and which we may plead before the throne of grace. We cannot stand on more favourable ground, when we appear before God, than when we rest on His word. We should fill our mouths with arguments derived from His faithful promises, and then we shall be sure to prevail. “He cannot deny Himself.” He will never disappoint the hopes which rest upon His word.

But we should see that our faith is scriptural in its nature, as well as in its object. It must not only be a speculative assent, cold and ineffectual – but a spiritual, cordial persuasion of the truth as it is in Jesus. A true faith may be always known by this: it works by love and purifies the heart.

1. God should be worshipped with fixed attention of mind and fervency of

spirit. Spiritual worship is especially interrupted by the wandering of our thoughts. It is to be feared that most worshippers do not have their thoughts steadily directed to the great object of all true worship. They lay no restraint on their thoughts, ever prone to wander, and when they stray, they are not watchful and resolute to bring them back, and place them on their proper object. Even pious people are much to blame for negligence in this respect. They are indeed troubled when they reflect seriously on the matter; but they are apt to forget the sinfulness of professing to worship God while the heart is far from Him. This is one of the accusations God brings against His ancient people. “This people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me.”

Fervency of spirit is properly joined with fixedness of attention, for they go together and influence each other. If the affections are lively they will carry the train of thought with them, and if the attention is fixed on the object of worship, fervency of spirit will be kindled. The offering of the affections of the heart is the soul of devotion. Such offerings alone will God accept. All external services without this, however solemn and decent, are abominable in His sight. The crying defect of our worship is the lack of heart; it is mere formalism or hypocrisy. We should strive then to worship God in spirit, and this we can only do by the aid of the Holy Spirit. We should be much concerned to have that blessed Monitor abiding with us at all times. Keep your hearts with all diligence when you seek to worship God, in public or in private. Let your attention be fixed and your spirit fervent.

1. God must be worshipped according to the Scriptures, only by such ceremonies as He has appointed, and not by forms and institutions of man’s devising. As to the external circumstances of worship – time and place, for instance – they should be regulated by Paul’s comprehensive rule: “Let all things be done decently and in order”. But as it relates to the worship itself, nothing should be introduced but what is authorised by the Scriptures: including prayer, singing the praise of God, reading the Bible and administering the sacraments. “In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Appointing ceremonies belongs exclusively to the Head of the Church. If men may decree one ceremony, they may decree a thousand; and by adopting this principle, the Christian Church was burdened with ceremonies devised by man until her ritual was more burdensome than the ceremonial law of the Jews. The ceremonies introduced often savoured of paganism; they were adopted to conciliate pagans and reconcile them to the Church. But God is jealous of His authority, and His challenge to all these is: “Who hath required this at your hand?”

It is very important for the spirituality of our worship that its simplicity

and purity is preserved. Striking ceremonies may attract attention for a while, but then people’s minds will be occupied with externals, and they will trust in these human rites. Faith and spirituality in the worship of God will be banished. There is a constant tendency in human nature to lay great stress on externals. After a while, human actions and signs acquire, in the view of men, a sacredness which only belongs to what God has appointed; and these too may be so observed that the external rite is substituted for the spiritual grace which it was merely intended to represent.

1. God should be worshipped constantly. Men are not required to spend all their time in the worship of God, because they have other duties which the law of God requires. But God should be worshipped daily, morning and evening; and the Lord’s day should entirely be devoted to His service as far as possible. In the temple, the daily sacrifices took place every evening and morning, by God’s appointment, and were accompanied by prayer and praise. On the Sabbath the services were doubled, as God directed this day to be sanctified by a rest from all worldly pursuits. We cannot go to an excess in the worship of God, unless we make this duty exclude others which ought not to be neglected. Some people may be so situated that they can devote their whole time to prayer and other devotional exercises, as did the aged Anna, who spent all her time in fasting and prayer at the temple. And some aged widows now might pursue a similar course.

But all who have families and worldly occupations must attend not merely to one duty, but to them all. A woman in England took up the opinion that her whole time ought to be spent in prayer, and she entirely neglected her family and other duties at home. A godly minister visited the house and saw everything lying in filth and confusion. He raised his voice and asked authoritatively, “Is there no fear of God in this house, that the care of the family is so neglected?” This cutting reproof had the effect of reclaiming the misguided woman from her error. But, in our day, there is little need to warn people against spending too much time in their devotions, especially in private. There is more need to excite them to greater diligence in this noblest employment in which a creature can be engaged. We find that the saints, in Scripture, were frequent in their prayers. David says in one place, “Seven times a day do I praise Thee because of Thy righteous judgments”; and, “Evening and morning and at noon will I pray”.

Our prayers and praises should not only be frequent, but constant. It is asked, “Will [the hypocrite] always call upon God?” Perseverance in prayer is often taught by the Lord and His apostles. Success is especially ascribed to earnest continuance in prayer – in the case of the oppressed widow, and the neighbour seeking bread to set before his friend. Paul’s exhortations are

frequent and urgent on this point: “Pray without ceasing”; “continuing instant in prayer”; “Pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands.”

Application. 1. Under all dispensations and in all worlds, the highest duty of all rational creatures is to worship God; and all who live in the neglect of divine worship are in a state of rebellion against the King of heaven. They constantly disobey one of the fundamental laws of His kingdom and are practical atheists, for they are “without God in the world”. They are more inexcusable than the atheist; he does not worship God because he does not believe in His existence; yet these believe and refuse to worship. They are more irreligious than the heathen, for all these worship some sort of gods.

1. How unreasonable it is for a creature to refuse to worship his Creator, from whom he derives his being! What base ingratitude it is to receive the blessings of providence and yet never acknowledge Him from which they come! How preposterous is the hope of such people that they shall go to heaven when they die – for they have no taste for the activities of heaven! There God is worshipped without ceasing by all the inhabitants, but what would they do in such society who have always hated prayer and devotion? Their presence would disturb the harmony of the heavenly songs. If by accident they could enter that holy place, it would immediately be necessary to cast them out. And they would wish to depart, for the songs of saints and angels could bring no pleasure to those whose hearts are alienated from God.

2. If any wish to know how they may glorify God most effectively and most in accordance with His will, it is by sincerely engaging in His worship. Then the noblest exercises of the soul are elicited: adoration, love, gratitude, joy, faith, repentance, humility, confidence, self-dedication and hope. The more often and the more purely we worship God, the more is genuine piety kindled, and the more constantly will the holy flame be kept alive. And the livelier our spirit of devotion is, the stronger will be the impulse which will bear us on in performing other good works. And this spirit, like leaven in the mass of meal, will pervade and sanctify all our other doings.

If the Christian desires a happy life, let him cultivate a devotional spirit. This is how pure joy may be drawn from the fountain of living waters. Certainly our chief joy should be in God, and this joy of the Lord would be our daily strength. In the dark day of adversity, when all His billows go over us, what will be our condition unless we have a refuge from trouble in God? If heaven is a place of sublime devotion, what better preparation can we make for it than by cultivating the spirit of genuine devotion? If we find it to be our highest privilege and greatest pleasure to draw near to God here in devotional exercises, we shall not be reluctant to be translated to that world where we shall be able to worship Him perfectly.

Coming Near to Death (3)¹

Thomas Halyburton

To two ministers who came from the country to visit him, Halyburton said, “Brethren, I’ll only say this, we need to take care, with the great Apostle, lest when we preach Christ to others, we be castaways (1 Cor 9:27). If it is so, we have need to fear; happy is the man that fears always. Be diligent in preaching the gospel. I presume, in the case I am in, to suggest this advice, that it may not only be your care to be diligent in composing sermons, but, above all, to examine your own hearts, and make use of what discoveries you get there, to enable you to dive into consciences, to awaken hypocrites, and to separate the precious from the vile; and to do it with such accuracy and caution as not to make sad the hearts of those God has made glad (Ezek 13:22). This is the great point in religion and in the management of your ministry: that you may obtain the testimony of the great Shepherd, when He shall appear.

“Now, it is probable I may not be far from the conclusion of my work. As to the work of the ministry, it was my deliberate choice. Were my days lengthened out much more, and days as troublesome as they are like to be, I would rather be a contemned minister of God than the greatest prince on earth. I preached the gospel of Christ with pleasure, and I loved it; for my own soul’s salvation depended upon it; and since I lay down, I have not changed my thoughts about it. I commend it to you all, to make it your business to double your diligence; there may be hard conflicts. You have a prospect of difficulties between you and the grave; we are all good when untried; but we have need to have ‘on the whole armour of God’ (Eph 6:11), to watch and be sober.” . . .

To his successor in the parish from which he was transported,² he said, “I have this to say, as to my congregation, the people were my choice. With much peace and pleasure I preached as I could, though not as I should, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Though in all things I acknowledged myself to have sinned exceedingly before the Lord, yet I have peace that I aimed with concern at leading them to the Lord Jesus, and other foundation can no man lay. I hope you will build on that same foundation; as you will in that way save

¹This is an extract, lightly edited, from “an account of some of his last words on his deathbed” in 1712, taken from Faith and Experience, volume 4 of the James Begg Society edition of Halyburton’s Works. This article is a continuation of the report of what he said on September 18, as printed last month. This is the final article at present.

²Halyburton had been minister in Ceres, a village 7 miles from St Andrews, before he was appointed a professor of divinity in St Andrews University.

your own soul, so it is the way to save them that hear you. From experience I can say that pursuing this sincerely is the way to salvation. Signify to them that, if it please the Lord to take me away, I die rejoicing in the faith and profession of what I often preached to them under a low state of body, and without this I could have no relief. I would have my people understand that that gospel which I recommend to them, if it is not received, will be a witness against them.”

His successor said, “I am persuaded you have seals to your ministry in that parish”. He answered, “We are like our Master, ‘set for the fall and rising again of many’ (Lk 2:34). Though we can reach no more, if we are faithful, ‘then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them’ (Ezek 33:33).”

To one that came in to him, he said, “Learn to die. It is rare to die as a Christian; the most part think there is nothing more to do but to lay down their heads and die. This is even as if one would cover his face and leap over a rock into the sea.”

To a lady he said, “I may cry shame on me, and woe is me, that began not sooner and ran not faster; for the Lord’s way is as silver tried. We should never, in matters of eternal moment, choose a way that we will repent of again. I will not detain you; you will have your uncle: he will be a good friend to you; follow his advice; and follow the example of such persons as he. In a word, follow the example of Jesus Christ, and be acquainted with the Word; be careful in not only reading the Word – you may soon weary of that – but cry for the Spirit of the Lord to make the Word alive, and then you will be with it as the child that cannot live without the breasts. Be diligent in attending the ordinances. The Lord bless you. As for me, for anything I see, I am dying; but I die – I bless His name – in the way that I have hitherto chosen deliberately, and I have no ground to complain. Commend me to all friends. Carry this commission along with you – what I say to one, I say to all – Seek the Lord. And all I have to seek is that I may stand fast.”

To a private Christian he said, “Seek the Lord, and be in earnest about religion; content not yourself with the form of it. A mere profession will not serve the purpose; this will be but the shell without the kernel; but they that are sincere shall inherit the crown. Let not the scorn and contempt that is cast on religion cause you to give it up. It is not in vain to seek the Lord; you have found it.

“The Scriptures of truth are a book contemned by men, but they are able to make you wise unto salvation. Beware of quarrelling with them, and throwing them by as a useless book, but converse with them, and you will find your account in them. All the books of the world could not have stood me in the stead that since yesterday they have been to me. Choose good

company; beware of ill company; keep at a distance from it. Seek that God may guide you into religious company, and make good use of it – persons by whom you may learn something, without learning anything which may be hurtful. You have a sad set of gentry round about here; take heed ye be not drawn aside by them. This is a friend’s advice, that is suitable for me in my circumstances especially to give, and suitable for you to receive.”

After a little pause, he said, “I will tell you one difference there is this day between my case and the case of many in the world. The course I have followed, though feebly, has been at least to join with them that are on God’s side. Now it is come to a push, and I have peace; I always wish to have God for my God, and the heritage of His chosen. But they that walk contrary to God and forsake Him – I have seen them when they were come to a strait – they frequently cry then, O shame upon the way I have been following.”

In the night time, to some present he said, “Do you observe this growing weakness of my eyes?” They answered, “No”. He replied, “Yea, but I know it is so; now that is a foreshadowing of a change. If He shut my eyes, He will open my eyes, no more to behold vanity. But I shall behold Him in righteousness, and when I awake I shall be satisfied with His likeness.”

Afterwards he said, “If this be the day of the ending of my conflict, I would desire even humbly to seek of the Lord that He would of His great mercy condescend to be tender to one that loves His appearance; that as He has dealt wonderfully and condescendingly with me, so He may even deal tenderly to the end, in loosing the frame of my tabernacle, and that I may be helped to honour God by a composed resignation of my spirit into His hand. O, religion and the glory of it, in this degenerate age, has been much on my heart; and He has said, ‘Them that honour Me I will honour’ (1 Sam 2:30).”

Robert Findlater¹

2. “The Great Sacrament”

When Findlater came to Lochtayside, there were between 500 and 600 communicants in the district – everyone above a certain age unless they were guilty of some serious outward sin. But he feared that not many of them were converted, although the people were well acquainted with scriptural

¹The first section of this Theological Conference paper appeared last month and spoke of Findlater’s early years: his studies, his profession of faith, his appointment as a missionary minister at Rothiemurchus and then at Lochtayside, in Perthshire. All page references that are otherwise unidentified are from: William Findlater, Memoir of the Rev Robert Findlater, Glasgow, 1840.

truth. Yet a few among them prayed earnestly for better days spiritually. Some of the followers of the Haldanes so criticised the Church of Scotland, her ministers and her doctrines that many people treated all her ministers as unsound, rejected her services and even The Shorter Catechism. The work of some Independent preachers, including John Farquharson, who proclaimed the gospel briefly in the Isle of Skye, was blessed to the good of souls in the wider area in Perthshire.

Writing some years after Findlater’s death, a neighbouring minister spoke of the earnest piety of the missionary minister at Lochtayside, his humble disposition, and how clearly, faithfully and in the spirit of the gospel, he expounded Scripture and applied its doctrines to the conscience and the heart; the result was that he gained the esteem of the congregation. Findlater was responsible for a district with a population of about 1500, extending more than five miles on each side of the middle of Loch Tay, which is over 14 miles long and about a mile wide. The manse was at Ardeonaig, on the south side of the loch, but he lodged for the first year on the other side at Lawers, near the foot of Ben Lawers, one of the highest mountains in Scotland.

The story is told of a young woman who came to visit her daughter’s grave at Ardeonaig the first Sabbath that Findlater preached there. She had walked some miles over a hill and arrived well before the people gathered for the open-air service. When she was ready to leave, the congregation were assembling in the churchyard and she felt obliged, against her will, to join them. Before the minister was halfway through his sermon, the woman was so much arrested by his manner and doctrine that she forgot for a time why she had come there. Before he had finished, she was so convinced of her lost, sinful condition that sorrow because of her daughter’s death gave way to concern for the salvation of her immortal soul. She heard too, in that sermon, of a living Saviour and she was to give evidence for the rest of her life that she was indeed trusting in Him. The minister just quoted wrote, “She uniformly maintained a holy and consistent profession and was distinguished as one of the most pious and zealous for the glory of God and the salvation of sinners, in her day, in that part of the country” (p 138).

There seems at first to have been only one service on Sabbaths, alternately on each side of Loch Tay, perhaps a long service by our standards today. Later Findlater began to hold a second service about 5 pm, on the opposite side of the Loch, while there was sufficient daylight. One motive was that otherwise, in his own words, “the Sabbath must be profaned by idleness and indifference to their religious concerns” (p 156). He did not expect many to cross the Loch for the second service but, as it turned out, so many wanted to cross that the difficulty was to find enough boats to take them over.

In October 1812 Findlater tells his brother about a recent communion season, when John Macdonald – then in the Edinburgh Gaelic chapel and later Charles Calder’s successor in Ferintosh – made what was presumably his first visit. Findlater commented, “May the Master of assemblies crown the work with His blessing! I hope it was not without His presence” (p 158). After some future communions there could be no doubt of the Master’s presence and blessing.

In a letter to his brother, the following December, Findlater speaks of planning to begin a prayer meeting and adds, “We are very destitute of spiritual life”. When the dark afternoons prevented the people coming to a second service, he visited the Sabbath school he had begun the previous summer; he reported that it “continues to flourish and increase in numbers, and really their progress is commendable. I find more pleasure in it than with the old people” (p 159). Indeed he believed that two of the pupils, about 14 or 15 years old, were under “deep concern” of soul. His catechising sessions revealed that, while some said there was a real improvement, he felt that it was, on the whole, only a change “from open unconcern to formality”. Though people were acquiring knowledge, he said that “it would grieve a feeling mind to observe the vanity and want of concern of a rising generation. At this season of the year they collect at the public houses to dance. Nothing effectual will do but omnipotent grace – the exercise of which, alas, is little to be seen or felt in our day or generation” (p 160).

It must have been rather encouraging for Findlater when a young man started walking nine miles from Glenlyon to hear his preaching in Lawers, having to climb over part of Ben Lawers in the process. Two years later, in 1814, one or two others joined him; in 1815 a few more; and in the spring of 1816 the number increased to 12 or 14. During their morning journey one man, in some ways a leader of the group, might recount what he had heard or read about revivals in various parts of Scotland. On their way home they would go over the sermon they had heard that day. Over a period of months in 1816 people felt that Findlater’s sermons were becoming more and more impressive. They noticed that he “was unusually urgent in pressing home truth upon the consciences of his hearers. . . . Some confessed a sense of shame for withstanding so much earnestness” (p 180). Findlater had in fact been influenced to seek an outpouring of the Spirit in his own district by reports that had reached him of a work of grace in Ferintosh, under Macdonald’s preaching. Local prayer meetings were set up and, not long afterwards, people were coming to Findlater under concern of soul.

The increased spiritual impressions continued till, in August, the Lord’s Supper was held in nearby Killin. Donald MacGillivray, then of Strathfillan

– described as “truly faithful and godly” – preached on the Sabbath evening in the churchyard, on the “fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (Zec 13:1). The people from Glenlyon who were attending Findlater’s preaching in Lawers were present and “felt a more than ordinary solemnising influence on their minds under the preaching of the gospel” (p 178). John Kennedy of Dingwall, in his life of John Macdonald, soon to be known as the Apostle of the North, describes Findlater as “a godly man, a faithful, fervent preacher, and the lack of learning and talent in his discourses was well supplied by the unction of a broken heart”.² If Findlater’s abilities were indeed comparatively limited, it is clear that the results of his preaching were all the more clearly brought about by the Holy Spirit – by divine power rather than human power.

A month later a communion season was held at Ardeonaig, and John Macdonald, now of Ferintosh, took most of the services. During Macdonald’s sermon on the Thursday, “an extraordinary degree of attention was excited, and towards the close of it a young woman from Glenlyon cried out, unable to repress her feelings”. He preached again on the other side of Loch Tay later in the day; the service was followed by a night so dark that the people from Glenlyon could not return home. In any case, some were quite unfit for the journey; they were so deeply convicted of their sin. Those who walked home the next morning told of the tremendous effects of Macdonald’s preaching; the result was that most of the people in Glenlyon were at Ardeonaig for the Sabbath morning service.

Macdonald preached for two hours and 20 minutes with particular unction to a congregation reckoned to be between 4000 and 5000. His text was: “For thy Maker is thine husband” (Is 54:5). Findlater reported to his brother: “I may say, during the whole sermon, there was hardly a dry eye. Eagerness to attend to the word preached was depicted on every countenance, while tears were flowing very copiously . . . The most hardened in the congregation seemed to bend as one man, and I believe, if ever the Holy Ghost was present in a solemn assembly it was then. Mr Macdonald himself seemed to be in raptures. . . .

“The people of God themselves were as deeply affected as others, and many have confessed they never witnessed such a scene. It will be a day remembered through the ages of eternity, as many, I trust, have enjoyed eternal good” (p 182). Many hearers cried out as they listened to the sermon, in spite of their efforts to restrain themselves. Kennedy once met a man who had been converted under this sermon; everyone who knew him believed he

²John Kennedy, The Apostle of the North, Inverness, 1932 reprint, p 64. This valuable book has been reprinted by Free Presbyterian Publications.

was truly godly. The man testified that he knew 50 in all who had been awakened under that sermon, and that he was the only one of the 50 whose conversion he was tempted to suspect.

Macdonald preached again on the Monday on: “Give an account of thy stewardship” (Lk 16:2). “Several”, wrote Findlater, “were pierced to the heart and some came to speak to him [Macdonald] after [the] sermon. I have seen and conversed with some of them myself and have every reason to believe that they are under the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit. Some of them probably I may never see or hear of in this world, but it is a glorious consideration that real good is done in the conversion of sinners and in the edification of His people” (p 183). Findlater expressed the hope that the impressions made on those who attended the services would not wear off quickly and asked for prayer that what had taken place would be only a beginning of glorious days in the district. He went on: “Let our thanksgivings be accompanied with continued and fervent prayers for [God’s] blessing to accompany His own Word and ordinances and that we may not grieve His Spirit to withdraw His gracious influences from us”. Nearly 60 years later, this time was still referred to in the district as “the great sacrament”, and the main preacher as “the great Macdonald”.³

God’s Wisdom in Redemption (2)¹

W S Plumer

Redemption is God’s chief work. He has expended more on it than on all His other works, more than in creation and providence. Of Jehovah it is said: “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him” (Is 59:16). Jehovah was the sole author of redemption. He alone devised it. He alone executed it. He alone applies it. “Salvation is of the Lord.” Let us notice some particulars.

1. God’s wisdom shines out in redemption, as His plan reconciles all His attributes. Redemption must not weaken God’s government, must not impair His honour. God could consent to nothing that might indicate the possibility of Him denying Himself. When human governments pass by offences, it is a confession of weakness. God could ignore no offence. Yet the eternal ruin of all men would have meant that men and angels would never see a single case of mercy being shown to the guilty.

³Duncan Macgregor, Campbell of Kiltearn, Edinburgh, 1874, pp 29,41.

¹Another edited extract from Plumer’s The Rock of Our Salvation; it follows last month’s.

“Mercy pleads, If man is ruined, the creation is in vain. Justice pleads, If man is not sentenced, the law is in vain. Truth supports justice and grace abets mercy. What shall be done in this seeming contradiction? Mercy is not manifested if man is not pardoned; justice will complain if man is not punished. Therefore an expedient is found out by the wisdom of God to answer these demands and adjust the differences between them.

“The wisdom of God answers, I will satisfy your pleas. Punishment shall be inflicted, yet pardon shall be bestowed. Justice shall not complain for lack of an infliction of wrath, nor mercy for lack of an exercise of compassion. I will have an infinite sacrifice to meet the demands of justice, and the virtue and fruit of that sacrifice shall be the delight of mercy. The rights of both those attributes shall be preserved, and the demands amicably brought together in punishment and pardon, by transferring the punishment of sinners’ crimes upon their Surety, exacting a recompense from His blood by justice, and conferring life and salvation upon them by mercy without one drop of their own blood being required.

“Thus is justice satisfied in its holy severities, and mercy in its gracious indulgences. The riches of grace are entwined with the terrors of wrath. The glories of divine mercy are wound about the flaming sword of justice; and the sword of justice protects and secures the glories of mercy. Thus is God righteous without being cruel, and merciful without being unjust. His righteousness remains inviolable, and the sinner becomes recoverable. Thus is resplendent mercy brought forth in the midst of all the wrath threatened to the offender.”²

This scheme has no parallel in heaven or earth. Such a suretyship as that of Christ was never before heard of. It stands by itself. Around the cross of Christ were assembled Jews and Gentiles, men and devils; but in the cross of Christ justice and mercy, righteousness and peace, severity and compassion embrace and kiss each other. So that now forgiveness to the believing sinner is no less consistent with justice than is the destruction of the unbelieving reprobate. God is just to forgive sins, and to cleanse from all iniquity. All penitent souls may say, We are “justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Rom 3:24,25). God’s rational creatures had never before seen it on this wise. So far from being able to devise or execute such a scheme, man is not able to comprehend it. All he can do – at least the best he can do – is to embrace it, obey its calls, wonder and adore.

²Quoted from Stephen Charnock.