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Whenever poaaible, theae have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certainea pagea blanchea ^r QM^^Xf v-{*^^'«'?'^ ■ S^lSiJ m^ Mi: :,^^JB^ '9*M^a . TE M.T> .iHOS*?! ■rt. ■4*'^s» ''^^^ \ ,f H- -i- I . A ■■■>.-. l~A i,w:Atw*.)., :'JP' X O- I , J ^-^, . .^ t I.IM Mll"l» " ^r/^ ■/ / r y /f/^4 y \ imj^l'M^^ *%. •*^- C-J" ItHiB LATE MINISTER Oi' S' p^^5:a®!REWfe cefffloj.^^ il5.1NCJ8TOJ^, '-i^ TORONTO. JAMES CAMPBELL &■. SOW. 1873. MEMORIALS OF THE LIFE AND MINISTRY OF THE Rev. John Machar, d.d. LATE MINISTER OF ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, KINGSTON. EDITED BY MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY. J^4 TORONTO : JAMES CAMPBELL & SON. 1873. TO THE CONGREGATION OF 0t« %\\bttm*B Cl)nr(l), Kingston, THESE MEMORIALS Of THEIR LATE PASTOR ARE, IN MEMORY OF THE UNBROKEN HARMONY AND STRONG BOND OF ATTACHMENT ALWAYS SUBSISTING BETWEEN HIM AND HIS PEOPLE, * AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. I ,;:j0'ic^5'0^i?0'iHit'0'?i?0';;it PREFACE. ^VER since the removal by death of one who had been, for so long a period, the pastor of St. Andrew's Church, Kingston, it has been felt that some record of his ministry among them, as well as of his connexion with the history of the Pres- byterian Church in Canada, should be preserved. Feeling, on his death-bed, deep concern for the spiritual well-being of the congregation he was so soon to leave, he said, " I am conscious of having preached the truth to my people, though in much weakness, and I wish them to remember it when I am gone." The feeling that a short memoir should be written of his life and ministry, accompanied by as many of his sermons as could be conveniently con- tained in the volume, has been more and more strongly felt as time has passed on. Many changes and sad events have occurred in his congregation since he was taken from it, and if some record of the past years be not vii PREFACE. preserved, many circumstances well worthy of remem- brance will soon be totally forgotten. Many of those who had sat long under his minif^try are now seen no more in their wonted places, and lie near their former pastor in his quiet resting-place. Many whom he baptised, and who are now grown up, can have but an indistinct remembrance of their old minister. Others who were attached members of his congregation, during his sojourn here, are widely scattered throughout Canada and the United States, while many of them are settled in adjoining townships, continuing steadily attached members of the Church of their fathers. Such will doubt- less welcome a volume which will bring to their remem- brance how he walked among them, and the words of life which they beard from his lips. It has not been desired unduly to eulogise his memory, or to give the private experience of his inner-life, but simply to present a true, unvarnished history of his faith- fill and incessantly laborious life among his people, during the long period of thirty-n ve years. Kingston, June, 1873. vui TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. (1796— 1813.) CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH. Page Birth — Love of rural scenes — Early sorrow — A childish misdeed — Departure from early home — School days at Brechin — Death of his father — Lessons of self-reliance and dependence on God — Aberdeen University — Dili- gence in f?tudy — Return home— Dr. Simpson's remin- iscences CHAPTER IL (1813—1827.) STUDENT LIFE AND ENTRANCE ON THE MINISTRY. Degree of M.A. — Teaching at Inverury— Feelinjs of unrest — (l^uickenmg of Christian life — Intercourse with Dr. Simpson — Entrance on theological study -Student ix i0BES9 CONTENTS. Page life in Edinburgh — Extracts from diary — D^. Guthrie — Early friends — Entrance on the Ministry — Teaching at Murlingden — Assistaiitship at Brechin — Rev. W. Bums and Rev. James Bums — Disappointments as to settlement — Teaching at Bank House — Removal to Edinburgh — Assistantship at Log^e — Happiness in ministerial work — Pleasant circumstances 1 1 CHAPTER III. (1827— 1832.) FIRST YEARS OF CANADIAN PASTORATE. Vacancy of St. Andrew's Church, Kingston — Rev. Mr. Barclay — ^Application of the congregation to the Pres- bytery of Edinburgh — Choice of Mr. Machar by the Presbytery —His ordination — His voyage and arrival — First impressions— Visit to Quebec and i->terview with Lord Dalhousie — Cordial reception by his people — Enjoyment in his work — Visit to Scotland — Danger at sea, and its effect upon his mind — Increasing engage- ments — Laborious joumeys — Affecting events in con- gregation — Deeper hold of spiritual life 24 CHAPTER IV. (1831— 1832.) MEETING OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD IN CANADA, AND PASTORATE DURING 1831-7,2. First Meeting of Presbyterian Church in Canada — Its composition — Its action — Committees — Severe illness P-^* CONTENTS. Page — Friendship with General Anderson, R.A. — General Anderson's reminiscences — Pleasure in ministerial labours — Ordination of Rev. Mr. Rintoul and Rev. Mr. Ketchan — ^Varied and numerous duties — Effects on his health — Cordial fellowship among fellow-labourers — Rev. A. Connel 38 CHAPTER V. (1832— 1836.) MARRIAGE— GROWTH OF THE CHURCH— MINISTERIAL AND PUBLIC LABOURS. Marriage — Visitation of cholera — Advice to emigrants — Domestic sorrow — New labourers — Affecting death of Rev. Matthew Miller — Second visitation of cholera in 1834 — Formation of Kingston Bible and Tract Socie- ties — State of education — Origin of " Midland District Schools" in Kingston — Their usefulness— Harmonious co-operation — Death of the Rev. R. Cartwright 51 CHAPTER VI. (1838— 1844.) LENGTHENED VISIT TO SCOTLAND— ESTABLISHMENT OF QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY. Pastoral responsibilities — Military Chaplainship — Thoughts about return to Scotland— " Rebellion" of '38 and '39 — Prolonged visit o Scotland— Disputes concerning Clergy Reserves — Interest of Edinburgh xi CONTENTS. Page Committee in Canadian Church — Dr. Chahners and Church extension — Return to Canada — Parish work — Establishment of Queen's College — Seat of Govern- ment removed to Kingston — Unexpected arrival of Principal Liddell — Perplexity of Trustees — Opening of classes in Queen's College 65 CHAPTER VII. (1844.) DIVISION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA. Ecclesiastical controvers'es in Scotland — Asperities removed by time — Lord Ardmillan's speech — No rea- son existing for division in Canada — Letter of Dr. Machar to a Free Church friend — Fears of impending separation — Sorrow for resulting evils to the Church — Visit to Kingston of deputation from Free Church of Scotland — ^Accomplishment of Canadian disruption — Its effect on the Church in Canada — Correction of statement in regard to term "In connexion" — Dr. Machar's regret at the disruption — Steadfastness of his congregation 79 CHAPTER VIII. (1844— 1849.) PRINCIPALSHIP OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE— THIRD VISIT TO SCOTLAND. Visit of Rev. W. C. Bums — Visit of Deputation from Church of Scotland — Rev. Norman vIcLeod — Pleasure in pastoral work — Changes in Queen's College — Retire- xii CONTENTS. Page, ment of Principal Liddell and Prof. Campbell — Prof. Williamson — Dr. Machar requested to officiate as Principal and Hebrew Professor — References to in- creased duties — Visitation of typhus fever — Numer- ous calls upon his pastoral offices for the sick — Pros- pect of receiving an Assistant — Degree of D.D. con- ferred by University of Glasgow — Third Visit to Scot- land — Contretemps on the voyage — Railway accident — Arrival in Edinburgh and speech at the General Assembly — Visits to Scotland and London — Return home 90 CHAPTER IX. PASTORAL AND PERSONAL TRAITS. Ministerial faithfulness — Sense of pastoral responsibility — Preaching — Faithful preparation for the pulpit — Pastoral diligence — Visitation of his people — Country visiting — Pleasure in pastoral duties — Baptism — ^Visit- ing the sick — Personal characteristics — Enjoyment of Nature, of spring, of poetry — Unselfishness 105 CHAPTER X. LADIES' MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. Formation of Ladies' Missionary Association — Spiritual destitution of surrounding country — First Missionary Assistant, Rev. J. B. Mowat — His removal — Rev. D. Morrison — Rev. R. Maclennan — Rev. John Campbell • • • xiu CONTENTS. Page — Impossibility of procuring another Missionary Assist- ant — Wolfe Island — Employment of a Missionary Catechist— Rev.D. Ross — Rev. D. Camelon— Rev. W. Darrach — Rev. G. Porteous — Usefulness and success of Ladies' Missionary Association 117 CHAPTER XI. (1849— 1860.) RESIGNATION OP PRINCIPALSHIP— LABOURS CONNECTED WITH queen's college — LAST VISIT TO SCOTLAND. Cholera of '49 — Loss of attached members — Changes in the College— Death of A. Pringle, Esq.— Resignation of Principalship — Labours in connexion with Queen's College — Testimony of Principal Leitch — Cholera of '54— Secularisation of Clergy Reserves — Death of Rev. Professor Smith— Hebrew Chair— Gift of Walton's Polyglott— Hopes of an Assistant— Failure to procure one — Presentation of testimonial — Death of John Mowat, Esq.— Visit to Scotland and the Continent- Mannheim- Heidelberg— Metz— Paris— Meetings with Scottish friends — Brechin — Longings for home — At- tack of illness — Prospect of return 124 CHAPTER XII. (1860—1863.) CLOSING YEARS. Stormy passage home— Prospects of union — Failing health— Arrival of Assistant, Rev. W. Bell— Visit to xiv CONTENTS. Page the sea-side — Rapid progress of illness — Last Com- munion Season — Prostration — Intense realisation of spiritual truths — Submission to the Lord's will — Anxiety about his people — Dying experiences — Passing over the river — Sorrow of his people — Funeral Address — Moi ument erected by his congregation 1 39 XV CHAPTER I. 1796-1813. CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH. HE life delineated in the following pages, although its general character was that of quiet, unobtrusive ministerial usefulness, has, yet, a special interest attached to it, in having been, throughout most of its course, closely linked with the early history of the Presbyterian I Church in Canada, and with events and circum- 1 stances which have had and must still have, an im- ^ portant bearing on its progress and development. To those who look only, or chiefly at " things seen and temporal," the life of a faithful pastor can seldom seem one of striking interest. The aims which he follows are far other than those which usually lead to earthly distinction, and his time and strength are absorbed in constant la- bours whose arduousness few can appreciate, and in a round of daily duties, which, however important in their results, must, often, to a superficial observer, appear small and unimportant. And yet, to those who feel that, of all the varieties of work which it is given to men on earth to do for God, — that of winning back to Him souls wander- ing in the wilderness of this world, — of nurturing and car- LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. ing for the tender plant of Christian life, amid the checks and dangers to which it is constantly exposed, is, beyond measure, the highest and most important, — the record of a life 01 earnest, faithful labour for these ends will scarcely, even in itself, be devoid of interest. And in a time when, more perhaps than ever before, doubts and mists cross the spiritual vision of men, — when the path of simple faith is often difficult to find, and men wander far from it in wistful search for the light which can only be found there ; — the history of an active Christian life kept safe and unshaken by a simple and steady realization of the faith from which it sprang, and happy and healthy in its growth because engaged in happy and healthy Christian work, — may have its lesson for all. As, however, the subject of this memoir was one who never courted public notice, the personal history will be, for the most part, merged in that of the pastor, and his private life and character traced chiefly in connection with the public events with which it was associated, and the work he was privileged to do. John Machar was born in December, 1796, in the parish of Tannadice, a quiet, secluded part of Forfarshire, Scotland, a few miles from the ancient burgh of Brechin. Owing to the retired situation of his childhood's home, at a time when the absence of railways made country life more secluded than it is now, his earlier years were filled up with the simplest rural interests and pleasures, and he never lost the love of green fields, and trees, and running brooks, which had been implanted in his nature by happy early associations. He recalled vividly in after years, the gratification of being taken to a " distant wood " which had long been the goal of his childish desires, and a visit to the little county town of Forfar was looked back to as a wonderful and exciting event. His father, an intel- ligent, active, and proverbially honest man, was always busily occupied with his farming concerns and the super- vision of his flax-milL As the youngest son of a family 3 CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH. of nine, of whom the eldest alone still survives, and a child of remarkably sweet and amiable disposition, John was the favourite companion of his mother, whose culti- vation of mind and high tone of character exercised a strong influence over the formation of his own. Her father had been a follower of the unfortunate Charles Edward, and had participated in the ruin in which his adherents had been involved. Being a thorough classical scholar, he had become, when overtaken by adversity, the parish schoolmaster of Tannadice, and had given his only daugh- ter a most careful education, much beyond what was usual for girls ?n the age in which she lived. She was a woman, also, of a tenderly affectionate heart, and of high religious principle, and her memory was always regarded by her son with love and veneration. He cherished, to his last days as a relic of her, a little ancient Stemhold and Hop- kins' Psalter, which she used to carry to church, whose old English characters and angular musical notes are as antique as its embroidered satin binding. The early im- pressions made upon his heart and conscience by her Christian example and instructions moulded and influenced his character and life, and it was from her strong desire to devote him to the ministry that his mind received its first impulse towards the profession which he afterwards chose. His sisters remember him as always a most affectionate brother, and a younger one describes him at eight years old as escorting her to school and tenderly carrying her over the rough places of the road. He was early taught to feel and sympathize with sorrow, for, during his child- hood, the family was repeatedly visited with heavy trials. Three of the children, one of them a youth of much hope and promise, were removed by death, — a bitter cup of sorrow for the affectionate mother. Far from being engrossed with her own griefs, however, she was always ready to relieve and sympathize with the woes of others, and Dr. Machar often used to speak of a characteristic instance of her quick and warm feeling for others which 3 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. had made a deep impression on his childish heart. This was the vivid recollection of seeing his mother's tears flowing out of sympathy with the grief of a poor old man, who had been driven by a series of misfortunes to leave his farm and beg from door to door ; — and the impression which the scene left on the child who witnessed it was never effaced. He had from childhood a very tender conscience, which, being afterwards spiritually enlightened, was a strik- ing feature in his character. One summer day, while wandering alone in the fields, a leveret chanced to cross his path. In a momentary impulse of childish wantonness he threw a stone at the little creature, which, unfortunately struck and killed it. The moment he saw the poor ani- mal lying dead,— deprived of the life he could not restore, — ^an overwhelming fit of remorse took possession of Iiim, and he felt as if he were a murderer. He carefully took up the leveret, which he would have given anything to bring back to life, and buried it under a heap of earth, stones and withered grass ; but for months afterwards, he could not pass tue spot without a keen sense of remorse, and a haunting fear lest his evil deed should be brought to light. To the deep impression which this little inci* dent left, may be partly traceable the horror of all cruelty to animals, which was through life one of his most strik- ing characteristics. He was always disposed to study, and eager to acquire knowledge. At four years old, he set off by himself, book in hand, to the neighbouring village, to look for the school^ to which he found his way. It was holiday-time, but the master, — amused no doubt by the zeal of the little student, — goodnaturedly gave him a lesson and invited him to re- turn. His ardour did not flag when brought to the test of regular study, and, as he was naturally persevering, his progress was rapid, both at the school at Tannadice, and at the grammar-school of Brechin, where his family, about this time, went to reside. It was no small grief, even at 4 CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH. that early age, to leave a place endeared by so many asso- ciaHons which, throughout his after life, continued to cluster round that secluded early home. When visiting Scotland, for the last time, in i860, he thus wrote, — de- scribing a visit he had paid to it. " Two days ago my nephew drove me to Tannadice, where I visited my mother's grave, and many of the haunts of my early boy- hood, along the banks of the South Esk. The river flows on still as it did of yore, and some of the rocky precipices still stand, but great changes have taken place. I went to the house where we were all bom and dwelt till I was about eight. I asked to be allowed to go in. To this the good-wife very kindly and heartily acceded, and I stood in the room where I first drew breath. Having taken from her hand a drink of water, I said, ' In this room I got my first drink.' She looked up seriously and wistfully, saying* * That must be langsyner I wandered over the farm, and felt almost surprised to find how many were the associations I had with those pleasant fields. I had wandered over them with my mother, the last year we were living there, and I could still recall how she looked, when she surveyed, with almost a breaking heart, scenes where she had been so happy, and which she was so soon to leave." At the grammar school, at Brechin, he continued a regular scholar for several ^ears ; his diligence and profi- ciency making him a special favourite with his master, a somewhat stem yet kindly ^* dominie'* of the class described in Goldsmith's Deserted Village, from which Dr. Machar was wont to quote the following lines, in reference to him ; '* Full well the boding tremblers learned to trace The day's disasters in his morning face, — Fnll well they laughed, with counterfeited glee, At all his jokes, for nuuiy a joke had he ; — Full weU the busy whisper, circling round, Conveyed the dismal tidings, when he frowned, Yet was he kind, or if severe in aught, 'Twas that his love of learning was in &ult t " 5 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. Mr. Linton was indeed one of the best teachers and most accurate classical scholars of his time, aud Dr. Machar, in after years, was wont to speak with gratitude of a master under whose careful tuition he laid the founda- tion of his thorough classical attainments, and of the ex- treme accuracy which in after life characterised his scho- larship and manifested itself in everything he dia. Brechin, where these early school-days were spent, and which has lately had a wide-spread interest connected with it, as the birth-place of the late lamented Dr. Guth- rie, is an ancient, quaint little town, most picturesquely situated in the midst of a rich, undulating pastoral coun- try. Though not large in extent, it is, like all old Scottish towns, very densely built, and the grey slated stone cot- tages of which it is chiefiy composed, resound still, as they have done for generations past, with the busy hum of hand-looms for linen-weaving, by which most of its in- habitants earn their subsistence. The narrow, steeply- slanting streets slope downwards to the £sk, which, spanned by the arches of a noble bridge, " winds about," now deep and still, between wooded banks, now spread- ing out over pebbly shallows- - ** With many a silvery waterbreak Above the golden gravel ; — " and overhung to the right by the rich woods and pictu- resque old turrets and gables of Brechin Castle. Near these rises the massive, weather-beaten tower of the old Cathedral, part of which is now used as a parish church, and the broken arched windows of the choir behind, draped with ivy, remain a picturesque ruin, suggestive of associations from ages long gone by. Close to the church, and in the same beautiful old chiKchyard, thickly planted with mossy gravestones, sculptured with quaint devices, rises an ancient round tower, whose origin is lost in anti- quity, but is supposed to date at least from the time of the Roman occupation. To ascend its worn, spiral stair was 6 CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH. a favourite feat of the school-boys in their play-hours, and long afterwards Dr, Machar would vividly recall the plea- surable excitement, not unaccompanied with danger, of feeling the time-worn and battered edifice tremble slightly under the influence of a high wind, when he and his com- panions had mounted to the top. The influences of these objects surrounding his boyhood, acted very strongly upon a temperament peculiarly susceptible of such impressions, and tended to liurture and strengthen the love with which he always clung to the old poetic associations of his native land. The dark shade of sorrow, however, soon again de- scended upon his home. His father was attacked by a painful and tedious disease, which, after several years of suffering, terminated his life. The bereavement was deeply felt by the family, especially by John, who was the youngest but one, and who long afterwards, in his own last illness, spoke of the instruction he had received from his father's death-bed, and the sayings he had treasured up in his memory. He deeply sympathized, too, with his widowed mother, who was left with very slender means of support for herself and her three daughters, and deter- mined to observe the strictest economy and to use every exertion in his power, in order to be as little burdensome to them as possible in passing through his college course ; for he had, even then, set his heart upon entering the ministry. He often, in later life, expressed his thankful- ness that he had been called to bear '' the yoke in his youth," and early to feel his dependence on the provi- dence of God, which was ever with him a deep reality. The self-reliance which he was thus taught, and the self- denial which he was called to exercise, he considered a most valuable part of his education, as it obliged him to think of others before himself. He entered King's Col- lege, Aberdeen, when only a little past thirteen, and in his first session obtained a bursary by competition, which LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. opportune success greatly encouraged the young stu« dent. King's College, Aberdeen, is one of the most ancient universities in Scotland. Its massive, crown-sh?<.ped dome, — ^its irregular quadrangle, its chapel richly deco- rated with antique carvings, — ^all associate themselves with the first rise of literature and education in Scotland, and with the lustre of many celebrated names that tend to quicken the ambition and stimulate the diligence of the youths who study under such influences. Contrary to the usual custom in Scottish universities, the students had their lodgings in the quadrangle itself — a pleasant and quiet residence, highly conducive to thought and study. The parapet of the walls, and the square tower which rises from one end, — surmounted by the crown and the cross, — command a noble view, including the picturesque vicmity of the Old Town, with its massive antique cathedral; the winding course of the Don and the Dee, the fresh modem buildings of New Aberdeen, and, over a wide expanse of broken ground or " Imks," — the white curling waves of the German Ocean, and the distant sails it bears on its bosom. At this time-honoured university John Machar passed several busy years of pleasant student life, dili- gent, and successful in the studies which deeply interested him, and by his industry and exemplary conduct gaining the approbation and favour of all his Professors. Many notebooks still remain, filled with ^abstracts of the lec- tures he attended, — written out in the beautifully-formed and regular hand-writing of his earlier days, and proving that he put in practice a maxim of Lord Bacon's, which in after life he was wont to impress upon students ; " Reading makes a full man, — writing makes an accu- rate man." Without the quality of accuracy, indeed, he did not consider a/zj/ knowliedge of much value. RpDuring his Arts course at Aberdeen he formed some friendships which lasted unbroken, and with undiminished strength, throughout his life. One of these early friends 8 CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH. StU- he — the late lamented and revered Dr. Urquhart, of Corn- wall, who before his death was looked upon as the Nestor of the Synod —became in after years his neighbour and fellow worker in his distant field of labour, and the two closely-united friends enjoyed firequent opportunities of renewing the familiar intercourse of their youth, and re- calling the pleasant memories of their college days. With another, also lately called to his eternal rest, the Rev. Dr. Simpson, late Free Church minister of Kintore, in Aberdeenshire, his friendship was always of a peculiarly close and confidential nature ; and neither the changes of succeeding years nor separation by distance, nor even the unfortunate " Disruption question," which awakened so much bitter feeling and broke so many ties, — and of which they took different views — had power to weaken the strength of the bond which made them one in Christ Jesus, or to diminish the delight with which, at distant intervals, they enjoyed the renewal of personal intercourse. The pen of this much loved and valued friend has fur- nished some reminiscences of the formation of their friendship, which are given in his own words : " At the time when I first became intimately acquainted with Mr. Machar, he had been one session a student at King's College, Aberdeen, whereas I, though a few years older, was then but preparing to enter the same ancient University. Previously, we had known each other only by name, as we had attended different schools in Brechin. And I well remember the day on which I first called on him, in order to obtain information concerning College matters. Out of this simple and casual interview sprang an intimacy and friendship which proved to both of us the source of much true enjojrment; and, as I believe, of mutual benefit. From that day we became almost insepar- able companions, and during the three succeeding college sessions we had much agreeable intercourse. But it was in the summer recesses of these years that our friendship was fully cemented. In the providence of God we were 9 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. then thrown upon each other more exclusively, and our tastes and habits were thus gradually assimilated. At this period Mr. Machar lived at his father's house in the im- mediate neighbourhood of Brechin, and prosecuted his stud'es in private, free from all other engagements, while I attended the public schools, partly as the pupil and pardy as the assistant of my esteemed friend Mr. Alex- ander. My time was consequently fully occupied, ex- cept on Saturday afternoons. And in these circumstances, we met week after week in my leisure hours for reading and conversation. These happy seasons were chiefly spent in perusing the Latin classics, for which Mr. Machar, from his teacher, Mr. Linton, had imbibed a strong par- partiality, and were generally ended by a walk amid scenes of a neighbourhood to me always interesting and dear, as being my native nook, — scenes now ever vividly asso- ciated in my mind with fondly-cherished recollections of my friend's lively converse and buoyant humour." 10 ':P0m0^ trose, for six months, preaching once every Sabbath. He was afterwards assistant for eighteen months to the Rev. Mr. Whitson, of Brechin, preaching every Sabbath with much acceptance in the same old Cathedral Church already mentioned. He was privileged at this time to enjoy the society and friendship of several of the most able, devoted and useful evangelical ministers of their time. One of these was the Rev. Dr. Brewster, of Craig, whose praise is still in the Church. Another was Dr. William Bums, then minister 18 STUDENT LIFE AND ENTRANCE ON THE MINISTRY. of Dun, who afterwards removed to Kilsyth, where he died in a ripe old age ; and both in Dun, where he spent the earlier years of his ministry, and in Kilsyth, where he closed it, his memory is held in love and veneration. He was the father of the late Rev. W. C. Burns, the devoted and self-sacnficing missionary to China, and of the late Prof. Islay Eurns, of Glasgow. With the Rev. James Burns, minister of Brechin, and father-in-law to Dr. Guthrie, Mr. Machar lived in intimate friendship, wannly appreci- ating his deep piety, his great simplicity of character and singleness of heart. He was colleague to Mr. Whitson when Mr. Machar was his assistant, and they walked to- gether in unbroken fellowship. He has long since gone to rest, but his memory is still fragrant in the Church. In 1823 Mr. Machar left the neighbourhood of Brechin, and the scenes of his early joys and sorrows, his early friendships and early labours. He had already been twice disappointed in his hopes of an early settlement. The aged minister of a parish in that neighbourhood, for whom Mr. Machar had often preached, was very desirous to have him as his assistant and successor, and he was also very acceptable to the people. But it was in the days of high handed patronage, and when application was made to the gentleman in whose hands the presentation lay, the reply was that it was already promised to another. In another similar case, a like cause produced the same result. The memory of these early days of ministerial labour and changing hopes and fears, remained deeply engraven on his heart throughout his after life, and he often spoke of them with tender sadness. He entered at this time the family of Sir William Ogil- vy, of Inverquharity, — then living at Bank House, near Dundee, again in the capacity of tutor. On the death of Sir William, not long afterwards, Lady Ogilvy removed with her family to Edinburgh, where Mr. Machar con- tinued to superintend the education of the younger mem- bers of the family until January, 1825. 19 » % ^ LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. While in Edinburgh, in the autumn of 1824, he had ex- perienced a severe trial in the unexpected death of his beloved mother. Though summoned to attend her dying bed, he was too late to see her alive, — a circumstance which greatly aggravated his sorrow. To his sister he thus wrote after his mother's death, — alluding to it and to other simultaneous trials. " If we could uniformly realize the presence of God with us, and his ever watchful care over us, we should never be unhappy. We should see many of those things which we call evils, of which you and I have had our share during the eventful year just elapsed, to be in reality blessings, and though the severe loss we have experienced must be deeply felt, we should consider that we have consolations which many in like circumstances have not ; for we trust what is loss to us is gain to our dear mother. It is now more than ten years since a father on his deathbed bade me be kind to my sisters, and although my mother, to my never-ending regret, had not the opportunity of giving me the same charge under the same solemn circumstances, yet she has often given me the same command ; and ever sacred to me will be the will of those whose memory we must ever cherish and revere." Faithful always to this trust committed to him by his parents, he continued, during his whole life, to take a most affectionate interest in all that concerned his sisters, sym- pathising with them in illness and trial, and counselling them and aiding them in perplexities and difficulties. As one of them expressed it after his death, — " Never was there a kinder or a better brother ! " In January, 1825, Mr. Machar accepted an invitation to become the assistant of the venerable Dr. Clason, minister of Logie ; and left with much regret Lady Ogilvy, with whom his connection had been a most harmonious one, and his pupils, to whom he had become much attached. The parish of Logie is a lovely spot, in a beautiful part of the country, at the foot of the Ochill hills, a short distance 20 STUDENT LIFE AND ENTRANCE ON THE MINISTRY. from Stirling and from the Bridge of Allan. Opposite to it rises the Abbey Craig, upon which now stands the national monument of Sir William Wallace. The time of Mr. Machar's residence in this parish was a very happy period of his life. He entered into new relations, and came under new and what he felt to be solemn responsibilities. He lived in the Manse, and thus was much in the society of Mr. Clason, who was a man of deep and unaffected piety, and had been a faithful and devoted pastor. Mr. Machar's relation with him was one of unbroken confiden- tial intimacy and Christian fellowship. He regarded his aged friend with almost the love and veneration of a son for a father, and it was his constant aim to please him and to walk in his footsteps. In a letter written about that time he says : — " The more I see of Mr. Clason the more I love him, and I trust I shall ever account it among my greatest mercies to have been so intimately acquainted with him." He often spoke of Mr. Clason during his last illness, and expressed his sense of the benefit which it had been to him to witness the deep and and earnest piety visible in his life, both as a Christian and a pas- tor. In Divine Providence he had here a preparatory education for the future faithful labours in the pastoral office, which won for him the epithet bestowed in the ad- dress given at his funeral, of a " model pastor." He was very happy in his work, of which he thus wrote : " I have plenty' of employment to keep me busy, but not so much as to overburden me. Besides preaching on Sunday I visit from house to house at least once a week. I also visit the sick and assist Mr. Clason in instructing the young communicants. I find the exercise of visiting not only profitable to myself, but most usefiil in making me more intimately acquainted with the condition of the people to whom I am appointed to minister. And now that I have had a short trial of most of the duties of a parish minister, I can truly say that I think no life so de- lightful, if he steadily seeks the glory of God and the sal- ai LIFE Oe THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. vation of the immortal souls committed to bis care. Would that I had a deeper and a more abiding sense of these great objects !" There also he enjoyed the society, and occasionally, on sacramental occasions, the pulpit ministrations of several most estimable and earnest ministers, well-known in the Church — the late Dr. Patrick Clason, son of his esteemed friend ; Dr. Macfarlan of Greenock ; Dr. Binnie, of Stirling, afterwards of Lady Tester's Chapel, Edinburgh; and others. With them he corresponded and remained on terms of friendly intimacy, until it was terminated by death. In a letter of this period, he says : — " I have been preaching a great deal of late, up and down. I was with our common friend at Kilsyth, on the fourteenth, and spent a delightful day with Mr. Bums * On the first Sabbath of the month, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was dispensed here, when we had the presence and society of several excellent ministers, as well as the pleasure of listening to their edifying public instruc- tions. Among others, we had a gentleman whom I much admire — Mr. McFarlane, of St. John's, Glasgow. How well he spoke in the General Assembly you know. All in all, I think he is not unworthy to be the successor of Dr. Chalmers. We enjoyed his society much during the short time he stayed in the manse, and very sorry were we to part with him. I hope to see you soon. You will think of me sometimes, and remember me where it is of especial importance that I should be remembered." While at Logie, he had also the pleasure of frequent intercourse with Sir William Abercromby, brother of the celebrated Sir Ralph. He was an excellent Christian man, an elder of the parish, and took a deep interest in the spiritual well-being of the congregation in which he held office. But while Mr. Machar was peacefully and happily The father of the missionary to China. 33 STUDENT LIFE AND ENTRANCE ON THE MINISTRY. labouring in this beautiful spot, enjo}dng many pleasant friendships, and faithfully discharging his duties of preach- ing and teaching and pastoral work, a great change was, in the providence of God, preparing for him — a change which was to bring him into entirely new circumstances, and to direct his future life into a very different channel from any which he had previously contemplated or desired. Like many others, he was led to experience the truth that " a man may devise his ways, but the Lord directeth his steps." as i :• . CHAPTER III. 1827-1832. 'L 1 FIRST YEARS OF CANADIAN PASTORATE. T '*&riOL ^^ sphere of labour to which the provi- 1} *Xwn/^ dence of God seemed now to direct Mr. RV'^ Machax's course was one which his intense /^ love of country and attachment to home asso- ciations, would have prevented his voluntarily choos- ing, except under the constraining influence of Christian duty. The charge of Si, Andrew's Church, ^ Kingston, Canada West, had just become vacant ^ ^ through the sudden and deeply lamented death of the Rev. John Barclay, its young and beloved pas- tor, after a short ministry of only five years. The son of the Rev. Dr. Barclay, minister of Kettle, Fifeshire— Mr. Barclay, who was the first Presby- terian minister in Kingston, had devoted his energies and abilities, which were of a high order, to the work of his ministry, as well as to promote the interests of the Church of Scotland in Canada, then in its infancy. He was a pious and amiable man, and much beloved by his congregation, especially by the young, in whom he took a deep interest, and some of whom, now grown old, still afifectionately remember him. He had been ordained 24 ife^^A-^ FIRST YEARS OF CANADIAN PASTORATE. over St. Andrew's congregation by the Presbytery of Edin- burgii, who had been requested to make the appointment, on the 26th of September, 1821, and he died on the same day of the same month five years later. The trustees and elders representing the congregation so unexpectedly left without a pastor, again applied to the Presbytery of Edinburgh to appoint and ordain a successor to the late minister, guaranteeing his stipend, and promis- ing all obedience in the Lord to him whom they should select. The staff of elders nine in number, who had applied for their late minister, was the same as that which now applied for his successor, their number havingbeen left entire, while their young pastor had been removed. But the successor now appointed outlived by a year or two the last survivor of their number. An extract from their communication to the Presbytery of Edinburgh, on this occasion, will show how much their departed pastor had been loved and appreciated by his people. It is addressed to the Rev. W. Ritchie, D.D., Professor of Divinity, Edinburgh University. " It is in the depth of affliction and sorrow that we sub- mit to you the again destitute state of this congregation, earnestly praying that you will have the kindness to lay our case before your venerable Presbytery, that the vacancy be filled up with all convenient speed. The success which attended the ministerial labours of our late lamented pas- tor, induces us to state that the greater number of points in which the gentleman whose name you may determine to insert in the accompanying call, resemble him whose early removal from among us we so deeply and so justly deplore, the more acceptable will he be to us, and the more likely to promote the interests of this congregation." An extract from a letter written by the Rev. Harry Leith, then minister of Cornwall, C.W., which accom- panied the one from the trustees and elders, refers to Mr Barclay's services toward the Church in Canada, as as *.. If LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. well as throws some light on the state of ecclesiastical matters in the Province at that time. It runs as follows : " As no Legislative Act of the Imperial Parliament has yet secured to the Scotch Church in Canada, and imparted possession of those rights and privileges which justly be- long to it, from its connexion with an established Church of Great Britain, the Episcopal Church frequently lays claim to exclusive rights and privileges, as the Established Church in Canada (and hitherto with too much success,) which a Scottish clergyman sometimes finds it difficult to concede. In this situation of affairs, difficulties not un- fiequently occur, and we are often subjected to inconven- niences not less than those arising from the want of pecuniary support. These collisions have been most frequent in Kingston, and have on some occasions excited very strong party feelings, which are unhappily still far from being allayed. The late most lamented incumbent maintained with much firmness the rights of the Church with which he stood connt:j;ted, and effected much toward the peaceful establishment of our church in that place. Matters are not, however, in such a situation as will pre- clude the occurrence of some trial of the ecclesiastical knowledge and pmdence of his successor." The Edinburgh Presbytery felt the great responsibility of so important a trust, and chose a committee of theii- number, who endeavoured faithfully to execute the trust committed to them. While Dr. Gordon, the Moderator of the Presbytery, and the others associated with him, were anxiously looking for a suitable minister to fill the appointment, Mr. Machar was warmly recommended to them by a number of those pious men and faithful minis- ters, who had the best opportunities of knowing him thoroughly. A few extracts are here given from their recommendatory letters. The following is written by the aged minister of Logic, Mr. Clason : — " Mr. John Machar, preacher of the Gospel, was recom- mended to me as my assistant by the Rev. Dr. Andrew 36 FIRST YEARS OF CANADIAN PASTORATE. Thompson. He has assisted me for two years, much to my satisfaction and comfort, and with great acceptance to all in this parish of every rank. He has prepared uni- formly impressive public Gospel discourses, has assisted me in pastorally visiting and catechising the parish, has attentively visited the old and the sick, has assisted me in instructing young communicants for weeks, and in a word, has shown all along that he delights in every part of his ministerial work. On all which accounts I feel warranted with truth and confidence to recommend Mr. Machar as a most promising labourer in the work of the Gospel." His son. Dr. Patrick Clason, after adding his testimony to the " zeal, assiduity and diligence," with which he had discharged his ministerial duties, says, " I am aware that the judgment of his preaching rests not with me, but with those to whom judgment in the matter is committed, yet I think it quite right to say that his views of the Christian religion always appeared to me clear, correct and Scrip- tural. His preaching is plain, forcible and practical ; no parade of sentiment about it, no straining after effect. I am satisfied that he has the work of the ministry deeply at heart, and wherever his lot is cast, that people will be fortunate which receives him as its minister." Dr. Brewster, of Craig, characterises him as " a young man of very superior talents, pious principles and pleasing deportment, and his preaching as " scriptural in doctrine and delivered with much earnestness," and expresses him- self as " persuaded that in any situation he will approve himself, under the Divine blessing, a faithfiil and usefiil Christian pastor." His friends. Dr. James and Dr. William Burns, sent equally satisfactory expressions of their esteem. Dr. James Bums, on-^ of his oldest fiiends, thus wrote : — I have had the pleasure of knowing Mr. J. Machar for niany years. His conduct has been uniformly exemplary, his talents highly cultivated by diligent study. His preach- ing is eloquent, discriminating and Scriptural, fitted to be 27 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. acceptable and highly useful to any congregation. This testimony I feel great liberty and pleasure in giving, having very frequently heard him and conversed with him, especially during the last eighteeh months, while assisting my colleague, Mr. Whitson. He was also in high estima- tion, while he acted for several years as tutor to a gentle- man's family in the neighbourhood." The Committee having received these and other testi- monials to Mr. Machar's Christian character and usehilness as a preacher, and having themselves heard him, took him on trials for ordination. The Presbytery, being fully satisfied with his fulfilment of the prescribed exercises, his scholarship and theological qualifications, " the Mode- rator, Dr. Gordon, leaving the chair, did by solemn prayer and imposition of the hands of himself and the brethren present, ordain Mr. Machar as Minister of the Gospel and Pastor of St. Andrew's Congregation, Kingston, Upper Canada. After which Mr. Machar received the right hand of fellowship from the brethren present, and was suitably exhorted by the Moderator." This event, to which he always looked back, as the most solemn in his life, took place on the 27th of April, 1827. It was, perhaps, rendered more solemn by the reflection that, six years previously, on the 28th of Sep- tember, 182 1, Mr. Barclay had been ordained over the same charge by the same Presbytery, and with the same warm expressions of satisfaction as were now given to his successor. Mr. Machar had now to prepare for leaving his native land, and proceeding to Canada, then a more unknown country in Scotland than Japan, or the Sandwich Islands is to us now. To his nature it was a very severe trial to leave the country of his birth, the home of his youth, with which all his friendships, associations and sympathies, which were very deep and lasting, were so closely bound up. He had also the prospect of being settled over a parish at no distant period in case he should remain in 28 FIRST YEARS OF CANADIAN PASTORATE. Scotland, but he felt that the providence of God was call- ing him to this distant sphere of labour, and at whatever sacrifice of inclination and feeling, he would not resist the call. Having made all preliminary arrangements, and paid farewell visits to the friends from whom he parted with deep mutual regret, he sailed in June, 1827, for New York, by one of the New York sailing packets ; for in those days there were no steamships. The voyage was a very tedious one, and he did not reach Kingston until the be- ginning of September. He had been entrusted with the important documents relating to ^rch matters con- nected with the Government, in cOi.oequence of which he had to proceed to Quebec to visit Dr. Harkness, and afterwards had an interview with Lord Dalhousie, whom he found very favourably disposed towards the Church of Scotland. On his arrival at Kingston, he was met and most affectionately welcomed by the elders and trustees, as well as by the people generally, who had been anxiously awaiting his arrival. Their cordiality made him feel at home at once, and he often, in after life, recurred with pleasure to the pleasant memories of the kindness he had received from his people on his arrival among them. He always took a deep interest in all the families which at that time composed his congregation . with many of whom he continued in intimate iriendsnip, during the whole course of his ministry. The following extracts from letters written immediately after his arrival, give interesting particulars of the nearly two months^ voyage, and of his first impressions of the New World : — " My voyage, you will hear, was long, but it was otherwise far from being unpleasant, although it was a little depressing to be looking out, day after day, upon the same wild waste of waters, without ever seeing a single bit of green earth. I ■arrived in New York on the 23rd of August, having been fifty two days at sea, a voyage far exceeding in length ^e average 29 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. passages made. (Mr. Canning's death, for instance, was known in Kingston exactly twenty-nine days after it hap- pened) . Our vessel, the Manchestsr^ an American packet, was fitted up in the most convenient and superb style, and was well commanded and well manned. I had a state-room to myself ; and when wearied with gazing for hours, over the blue interminable deep, towards Scotland, or perhaps, with following the elevated fin of the shark sweeping around the ship at a respectful distance, or the nearer gambols of the shuals of dolphins that were playing close to us, I used to dive beneath to my books and amuse myself with reading or writing solus — my fellow passengers sitting down the while to whist, sometimes on deck, when the weather was fine, and sometimes below, when it happened to be surly. Our passen- gers, on the whole, were agreeable — some of them superior people. Among others was the Prince of * Musignano (Prince of the Holy Roman Empire), a aephew of Napoleon, and a son of Lucien Bonaparte, a clever and well informed young man, very like what his uncle once was. We had just got the life of his uncle, by Scott, and he was kind enough to give the volumes to me as he read them. We had many con- tests on this subject, he almost always running down our countrjnman as partial and unfair, and I endeavouring to de- fend him. Another passenger was a young American Unita- rian minister, or rather, as he loved to be called, an " Eclectic" The truth is, he did not know well what he was. He was asked to preach to us on Sundays, but chose to decline, on the plea that we were all of such varying creeds, that preach- ing would neither be edifying nor agreeable to the generality of the passengers. Not viewing the matter ir. the same light with my Eclectic friend, I did not refuse my ser\'ices, but preached regularly, and as a Trinitarian, too, during the voyage. I know not whether my fellotv-passengers were much tLd better for my sermons, but I wished much to mark the return of the Lord's Day on board, where I find it is often lost sight of. "It would not be easy for me to describe the delight with which, after so long a voyage, I set foot on the American soil. I could hardly contain my joy ; it was so delightful to gaze * Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Casino and Musignano, and father of the present Cardinal Bonaparte, said to have been recently nominated by the Pope as his successor. 30 1 i. FIRST YEARS OF CANADIAN PASTORATE. again upon the green earth. I was much pleased with New York, and indeed with every part of the United States which I had occasion to pass through. Having business at Mon- treal and Quebec, I took the Montreal route by the Hudson river, Lakes George and Champlain, and never, on any route, have I seen so much in scenery to delight me as on this. The sail up the Hudson is beautiful beyond compare. That occu- pied one day. The next, I plunged deep into the American forest, passing many a beautiful lonely lake, many a rugged mountain, and many a magnificent river. Day third was spent on Lake Champlain, again travelling by steam. The scenery here was most beautiful and interesting. Its banks are, almost everywhere, classic ground, having been the scene of well-remembered encounters between the British and the French, and between the British and the Americans at a later period. Rock Putnam, — Ticonderoga, — Crown Point, — all these famed places are on Champlain. " I arrived in Canada on the last day of Augfust, and was very glad to be once more under the sway of King George. I went to Quebec, and afterwards to Sorel, where I spent part of two days with the Earl of D ilhousie, and where I met Cap- tain Maule. I preached both at Quebec and at Montreal, finding it utterly impossible to get awc;y from my Canadian brethren, without giving them a *darg.' Kingston is a pretty large place, and contains some fine public buildings. There is, beside my church, an Episcopal, a Methodist and a Roman Catholic church in Kingston. I have been very kindly re- ceived by my congregation, the most numerous Protestant one in the place. I was met by my trustees and elders at the landing-place, and everything has been done to make me comfortable. I have already preached three Sundays, and seen a good deal of my people. Last week the pews were let, and I learned from one of my elders on Saturday that they were all let except three. I have been using my predecessor's pulpit-gown, but I am, this week, to be presented by my people with a new one. I expected I should have got one of my Canadian brethren to introduce me to my flock, but I found this impossible, and I had to introduce myself. I be- gan my labours by preaching on the i6th of September, in the forenoon from ist Corinthians ix., 24-27, and in the after- noon from Romans xii. i. I find I shall have enough to do. Last week I was as busy as it is possible for man to be." 3» LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. In July, 1828, he writes to his sister : — " I have not much to communicate, nor have I much time. I have not now the vacant hours I had at College, or even during my residence at Murlingden and Logie. I am not un- happy, however, that it should be so. I feel that I shall be then only happy when every portion of my time and strength is dedicated to the duties of my office. On the first Sabbath of March I dispensed the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper for the first time, when everything was con- ducted with as much solemnity as I ever witnessed at home. I preached twice on the Sabbath, forenoon and afternoon, and we have a Sabbath School in the evening, which I teach myself, attended by between seventy and eighty scholars. Externally, things go very well as re- spects the church. The congregation is steady, rather on the increase. Several officers of the army and navy at- tend St. Andrew's. I visit from house to house, and am very kindly received. On Sunday week I assisted at the Communion at Williamsburg, a hundred and fifty miles distant, and preached on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I trust we shall soon have Presbyterian churches more thickly planted in the colonies, and then I shall not have to make such long journeys. I am sorry that Lord Dal- housie, the Governor of Lower Canada, is going home. Our Governor in Upper Canada is an Englishman, and not very friendly to Scotchmen. The country is a good deal split into political parties as with you. There has been a good deal of controversy between the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches for some time past, in which I have not been much engaged, and anything I have done has been rather from a desire to close than to widen breaches. Many emigrants are arriving now. Poor people ; their difficulties are often great on their first arrival This will be a fine country some thirty or forty years hence, but the emigrant who goes into die woods has at first much to struggle with, though, if he is indus- 3a Saiiii \ FIRST YEARS OF CANADIAN PASTORATE. trious, his family will, by-and-by, find themselves in very comfortable circumstances." In October of the same year he writes again : " I had a pretty severe fever at the end of July, when the heat was very great, but I soon recovered, so soon that I was able to preside at our Communion on August 17th, and to go through the usual course of duty. Since then, although I have had a good deal of fatigue, and have travelled more than a thousand miles, I am quite well. Indeed, I never was in more vigorous health than this autumn." On October 7, 1829, he writes : "The present season in this country has been comparatively cool and very healthy, and I have for several months enjoyed excellent health. This season, owing to the residence here of the 79th regiment, to whom I act as military chaplain, in addition to my other duties, I preach three times every Sabbath ; but even in the hottest weather I have been enabled to discharge this duty with considerable benefit to myself. The Sacram at of the Lord's Supper was dis- pensed here on the last Sabbath of August. There were forty new communicants. Everything about our church prospers externally, and I would hope internally also. There is much religious coldness and deadness here, as with you, but there are also some favourable symptoms. May the Lord prosper His own work 1 My sentiments are changed in some points since I came to this place, but upon one thing they are more confirmed, that one thing is needful. Oh, if we only chose this one thing, other things would not grieve and depress us as they often do. My correspondence both here and with Great Britain has become so great of late that I have been utterly unable to overtake it. We are getting out a few more ministers from time to time. I expect a Mr. McGill from Glasgow this week, who will preach for me on Sabbath, and I shall have to accgmpany him to Niagara, two hundred miles and upwards from here, to introduce him to his people on the following Sabbath." » 33 m LIFE OF THE REV. JOHlv^ MACHAR, D.D. The circumstance that there was then no Presbyterian minister between Kingston and Niagara, will show some- thing of the state of matters in those days, when ministers were so few and far between, that much time was neces- sarily occupied, a^d much fatigue endured in the journeys which they were obliged to take, in order to discharge the numerous public duties which devolved upon them in the infancy of the Church. To a sister, who had been passing through a season of trial, he wrote in June, 1830 : "I know that what you have met with is very grievous to flesh and blood, but the hand of God is in it. Man can do no more than God permits, and you must not murmur against God. Woe is unto him that striveth with his Maker ! I have felt some- thing of this woe myself, for when it pleased the Lord to affiict me very grievously, I did not bow under K' ^ chasten- ing rod as I ought, and the longer I strove the darker and fuller of sorrow my path became. Oh, let us earnestly pray that He would enable us to say, * It is the Lord ; let Him do unto us what seemeth to Him good ! ' Good is the hand of the Lord, though we in our shortsightedness often think it is evil. He afflicts us not willingly, nor grieves us causelessly, but for our highest good. Let us not think it strange that we are afflicted. * Our sinsafflict us, and the Cross must bring us back to God !' Trust in God then, my dear sister! Seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you." In the summer of 1830, in consequence of impaired health, Mr. Machar visited his native land, and enjoyed exceedingly the temporary return to home scenes, and the re-union with many dear friends. He endeavoured also, as far as possible, to make his visit of use to the Church in Canada, by endeavouring to excite an interest in it among the people of Scotland, and drawing attention to its spiritual destitution. This visit was a deeply important one to himself, events which occurred to him in the course 34 FIRST YEARS OF CANADIAN PASTORATE. of God's providence exciting deeper spiritual feelings in Ihis own soul, and giving him a more vivid sense of eternal Irealities. While crossing the Atlantic on his return, a terrible Ithunderstorm burst over the ship's course, and a thunder- |bolt, striking the vessel, killed instantaneously two of the :rew who were on deck. Among the passengers there /as a sudden transition from careless merriment to awe- struck terror. With pale faces and trembling nerves, they lad just believed the danger past, when smoke was seen issuing from the hold, and the cry was raised that the ship /as on fire. Happily the exertions at once made to Iquench the smouldering fire were successful, and the ter- rible calamity which at one time seemed imminent was )rovidentially averted. But the solemn and startling ex- )erience through which he thus passed, left a very deep md lasting impression upon Mr. Machar's mind. The following letter was written to a very intimate fiiend [n Scotland, in March, 1831 : — " Your letter came to me in the evening after our Com- lunion. I was sitting alone, musing over many things, was not assisted by any minister at the late solemn season. Most of our ministers had preached for me when ^ was at home, and I could not think of so soon bringing iny of them so far again. The duties were arduous, but " was enabled to go through them with more than usual Refreshment to my own spirit, and also to many of my lellow-communicants. I had twenty-nine new applicants, lind with not a few of them I had many pleasing conver- sions previously, particularly with some of the younger )nes. One, especially, is now rejoicing in Jesus as the bortion of her soul, and already earnestly seeking the salva- iion of her nearest relatives.t Oh, it is a very awful thing [o be a minister — to think that we may be guilty of the t She was cut off by cholera in 1832, and several years afterward ^er prayers were answered in the conversion of her nearest and learest relatives. 35 1 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. blood of immortal souls ! God has spoken to me of late in a way I cannot mistake, and I must — ^and through Christ I will — spend and be spent in His service ! Surely the Lord's voice was in that thunderbolt, which had well nigh buried me in the deep. I know you would have wept for me, but through the tender mercy of God I have been spared, and I trust we shall meet again, and rejoice that Jesus has been revealed in us. I see a greater glory in the Scriptures than I ever saw before. To save man far more is necessary than many think. Far more is necessary than to remove the judicial penalties attached to sin, to shut the gates of hell or even to open the gates of heaven. To save man, his spiritual health must be restored, the power of inherent corruption must be subdued, the work of the devil in him must be destroyed, his hard and stony heart must be broken, and he must be renewed in the spirit of his mind, so that he can rejoice in the righteousness of God, as well as in His mercy. Not only must he have access to the privileges and joys of Heaven, but he must have that meetness in his own soul which alone can make them privileges and joys to him. The love of God must be shed abroad in his heart, enabling him to delight in God, and to enjoy fellowship with Him. When man was happy in Eden he was in the image of Him who created him, and when he shall be happy in a yet fairer Eden, it will be when he is renewed in that image again, when he shall have perfectly put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. This is a high and blessed calling, and nothing less is our calling in Christ, in whom God hath given to us all things per- taining to life and to godliness, through the knowledge of Him who hath called us to glory and virtue. " Several affecting events have of late taken place in my congregacion. One of my elders has lately lost his wife. She was a very amiable person, and, I trust, a true Christian, and I esteemed her vtry highly. She longed to see me, from day to day, during her last illness, but I 36 FIRST YEARS OF CANADIAN PASTORATE. Arrived only to attend her funeral. Though young, she las left several children ; one — a little daughter — has lince followed her mother. Another of my elders has ist lost two blooming children by whooping cough, and third is not expected to live. If he be taken, a whole imily — except one — will have been swept away within a few weeks. Hardly any one of the families of my congre- ^ation has been unvisited by sickness and bereavement ince I came here in 1827. Oh, may such sad events jome in aid of the Word ! May they break down the lard heart, and, by showing it how easily God can dry up [very fountain of earthly comfort, lead it to say— * And (ow, Lord, what wait I for ; my hope is in Thee.' " The following extract from an entry in a private MS. fook, was written about the same time : — " I have often said that I would be Thine ; I now record jis resolve. I give myself up to Thee ;— O Lord, truly am Thy servant ! This day I flee unto Thee for strength enable me to subdue my corruptions, and to triumph rer my spiritual enemies. I have been a fool, trusting in iy own heart, and not trusting in Thee, — therefore have j to deplore so many broken vows, and so many declen- )ns ! I have experienced much of Thy loving-kindness late, particularly in being protected by Thee amidst the mgers of the deep, and from the stroke of the thunder- )lt, in being restored to better health, and brought back safety to the flock committed to my care ; and yet, in >e very midst of these mercies, I have sinned against lee ; I have forgotten Thy goodness, and my own vows. It I desire this day to flee to Thee for strength. ' What mow not, teach Thou me !' Oh, give me to see that lere is a fulness, a complete fulness, in Christ for me, It of which I may receive grace for grace ; and oh, grant grace to draw out of it, daily and hourly, — to live con- lually as seeing Thee, who art invisible, — seeing Thy pi respecting me, and seeing that there is enough in Thee enable me to conform myself to this will. Surely, Thou It * perfect that which concemeth me !'" 37 CHAPTER IV. (1831-1832.) MEETING OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD IN CANADA, AND PASTORATE DURING 1 83 1-2. ^HE year 1831 was marked by an ecclesias- tical event of much interest to the infant Presbyterian Church in Canada, — the meet- ing of its first Synod. Hitherto the Canadian branch of the Church had existed only as an aggregate of far scattered congregations ; it was now to acquire some consistency and organization. The first Presbyterian Synod of Canada was constituted at St. Andrew's Church, Kingston, on the eighth day of June, 1831. It was a small band that met, num- bering not quite a score, fourteen being ministers, and five lay commissioners or elders, but this Uttle band had the privilege of laying the foundations of the now flourishing Presbyterian Church in Canada, several hundreds of whose ministers and representa- tive elders now meet at its annual assemblies. The ministers then assembled, eni'merated in the Minutes of Synod, stand as follows : — the Revds. Alexander Gale, George Sheed, John Machar, John Cruickshank, Alexan- der Ross, Robert McGill, Thomas Clarke Wilson, William McAlister, William Rintoul, Alexander Mathieson, Henry 38 MEETING OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD, ETC. Esson, John McKenzie, Hugh Urquhart, Archibald Con- nel. The laymen were George McKenzie, John Willison, John McGillivray, Alexander McMartin and John Turn- bull. Those founders of the Canadian Presbyterian Church have nearly all now passed away. Of the fourteen ministers, two only survive : — Dr. John Cruickshank, now of Turriff, Scotland, and the Rev. T. C. Wilson, who still preaches in the old cathedral church of Dunkeld. At the first meeting of the Synod, Mr. Machar being ^ chairman, the Rev. John McKenzie, of Williamstown, was chosen the first Moderator, and the Rev. Robert McGill was appointed Synod Clerk. It may be mentioned here that the Moderator of the second Synod, also held at Kingston in the following year, was the late Rev. Dr, Mathieson, of Montreal, and that Mr. Machar was Moderator of the third, which met at Toronto, then York. After lengthened and mature deliberation the Synod of 1 83 1 unanimously resolved : — "That this convention of ministers and elders in connexion with the Church of Scotland, representing their respective congregations, do form themselves into a Synod, to be called the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, leaving it to the Ve- nerable the General Assembly to determine the particular nature of that connexion which shall subsist between the Synod and the General Assembly of the Church of Scot- land." The Synod then proceeded to divide the charges under its care into four Presbyteries :— those of Quebec, Glen- garry, Bathurst and York (Toronto) ; Bathurst consisting of the charges of Kingston, Bytown, Perth and Lanark. Kingston, which was far separated from the other congre- gations, was afterwards formed into a separate Presbytery in 1833. Committees were appointed to draw up the memorial to the General Assembly, a petition to the King in regard to the Clergy Reserves, and an address to Sir John Colborne, Lieutenant-Governor, all of which were 39 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. approved and signed. The ministers were enjoined to draw up a report of the state of religion in their several congregations and neighbourhoods, to be transmitted for the information of the General Assembly ; and the differ- ent Presbyteries were directed, within their bounds, to see that sessions should be regularly organised and records kept of their proceedings. A Standing Commission was appointed to watch over the general interests of the church. The Synod also appointed a Committee on Missions, with power to collect funds, and appoint one or more mission- aries to labour within their bounds. Of each of these committees Mr. Machar was appointed a member, and the work that devolved upon him in connection with them added much to his ordinary labours, and entailed upon him the large amount of correspondence to which he alludes in one of his letters. Towards the close of the summer of 183 1, Mr. Machar was attacked by a severe rheumatic fever, which lasted for nearly two months. It was a season of intense phy- sical suffering, the more trying in his solitary position, separated by so great a distance from all his near relatives. He had friends around him, however, and he often, in after life, gratefully referred to the kindness which he received, during his painful illness, from many members of his congregation, few of whom now survive. In a let- ter of October 3, 1831, he says : — " I have been very ill, having been confined to bed for seven weeks by rheumatic fever, and for some weeks I could not turn myself, but through the great goodness of God, I have recovered my health, and am better now than I was before." Towards the close of the year occurs the following entry in the MS. book before quoted from, in which he again refers to his merciful preservation at sea : — " What reason have I to exclaim, ' What can I render unto the Lord for all his benefits unto me!' Twelve months ago, this day, the Lord redeemed the life of my- self and my fellow-passengers from destruction. I might 40 m MEETING OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD, ETC. then have been taken away. Thou might'st then have said concerning me, * Cut him down, — why cumbereth he the ground?' But at iL intercession of the great vine- dresser. Thou didst let me alone for a space, and give me an opportunity to bring forth fruits to the praise of the glory of His grace. But, alas ! alas ! I have not improved this season of merciful visitation, no, not although Thou hast poured upon me many a precious influence from on high. * Create, I beseech Thee, a new heart within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence, take not Thy Spirit utterly away from me ! ' " These entries, made at a time when he was faithfully and diligently discharging the manifold duties committed to him, manifest his great sensitiveness of conscience, and his deep and realizing sense of the inward sinfulness of the heart. In September, 1831, he wrote to his sister : — " You will, I am sure, rejoice that my health is greatly improved. I have not been so well for two years. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits ! The last month has been a season of much refreshment to me, and yet a season in which I have seen much of the sin that is in my own heart. How dark were the times before that, I have been taught, and I do rejoice that I have heen taught, though painful the lesson, that man has no life in himself, that there is no life except living in the lights seeing and understanding and receiving the mystery of Christy the truth as it is in Jesus." I dispensed the Sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper last Sabbath to a numerous body of communicants. The season was a solemn one, and several who enjoyed it will, I trust, long remember it. I was assisted by a young minister who left Scotland last summer, the Rev. T. C. Wilson, of Perth, Upper Canada. He preached three delightful discourses, and our private intercourse was very pleasant. Mr. Wilson is quite a young man, and very candid, and notwithstanding the use wliich has been made of Confessions of late, he looks for his faith in the Bible. I can this day look back upon all the 41 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. i ways by which the Lord hath brought me, and can say He hath done all things well. It is blessed to say with the Apostle that we are * chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world.' He might have with- holden chastening from us ; He might have given us the desires of our hearts, and sent leanness into our souls 1 Yet I am not able at all times — nor at any time aright — to glorify God by justifying His ways to me. Evil is often present with me. May we give glory to Him by practi- cally acknowledging that of Him are all things, and that to Him alone doth power appertain to make us altogether what He would have us to be ! " It seems almost selfish to be writing so much about myself when the Church of Christ requires so much all our thoughts and all our care. Pray for us, for an out- pouring of the Spirit of grace upon my congregation, and lor me, that I m.ay know the truth more, and deliver it more fully and faithfully to my people. There is much indifference among many of my congregation, but I trust there is a seed serving the Lord. The wife of the Arch- deacon* is an estimable Christian lady, and notwithstand- ing the jealousies that sometimes divide Episcopalians and Presbyterians, they do not divide us. I have expe- rienced many kind and loving attentions from her. She was very kind to me, and ministered many a comfort to me duting my long and painful illness. My visit to the dear Andersons last Spring was very delightful. I had much Christian intercourse with them. Captain Ander- son much regrets that the General Assembly has dealt so harshly and injuriously with Mr. Campbeil."t The Captain Anderson here referred to, was in after years well-known both in England and Scotland as Gen- eral Anderson, R.A. He was a man of large and loving * The venerable and well-known Archdeacon Stuart, son of Dr. Stuart, the first clergyman in Upper Canada. With him and his excellent wife Dr. Machar always maintained a close fjriendship. t The Rev. John McLeod Campbell, of Row. 4« MEETING OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD, ETC heart, a faithful soldier, and a devoted Christian, and was honoured in bringing many souls to Christ. During the long period of his i ctive service in the army, his sunny Christian character and loving genial influence made him much beloved, and helpful to many, especially to young soldiers entering upon the Christian warfare. Miss Marsh, in her Memoir of Major Vandeleur, says of his " frank and friendly kindness," — " It was offered to all who were within his reach ; and to how many that Christian and fatherly influence has been made the means of the begin- ning of a new life, or of the stablishing, strengthening and settling of that life already begun, \ ill never be known until the day when it shall be revealed, how much of the living water has been permitted to flow through human channels." While Captain Anderson was stationed in Kingston, he attended Mr. Machar's ministiy, and between the two, like-minded in Christian simplicity and earnest- ness, there grew up an affectionate intimacy, and a strong and lasting mutual attachment. After the removal of Captain Anderson from Kingston, they continued to cor- respond by letter until the death of Dr. Machar termina- ted their earthly intercourse. General Anderson survived him only about two years. He died peacefully at his resi- dence near Edinburgh, in a good old age, but still in the midst of active and happy Christian and benevolent labours. The following extracts from a letter written after the death of hij friend, in which he recalled some of the circumstances of their pleasant early intimacy, will help to fill up the portraiture of this period of Dr. Machar's life and ministry. " At that time," (the time of Captain Anderson's arrival in Canada,) " the state of religion in both the Churches of England and Scotland was in a very low and dead condition. There were some godly and devoted minis- ters in both Churches, but they were the exceptions. It was in 1829 that my company was ordered to Kingston, and I well remember the heartfelt joy and delight with 43 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. which I heard my dear friend preach on the first Sabbath after our arrival there, on Hosca xi. 3. There was a gen- uine tone and power in his sermon that gladdened our hearts, and I lost no time in forming his acquaintance. I fondly trust we were both of us in earnest in seeking to know the Truth, and enquiring the way to Zion. There was a st-vour and unction In all his pulpit ministrations that betokened a livmg man of God, and one thoroughly in earnest to discharge his duty. "As his health was by no means robust, he was seldom able for much ministerial work on the Monday, except visiting a few sick people, and he generally spent the greater part of the day with us. We mingled very little in the general society of the town, and were all the more closely drawn together. The chaplain of t!ie dockyard, a truly excellent clergyman of the Church of England, was frequently with us, and there was much endeared con- fidential intercourse between him and Mr. Machar upon the grounds of a common Christianity. I well remember their proposing to exchange pulpits, and they were pleased to submit to me the propriety of doing so ; but, as I ex- pressed my apprehension, however I would individually rejoice in seeing such an exhibition of Christian oneness of spirit, lest it might awaken unnecessary hostility on tlie part of the ecclesiastical authorities, without a cor- responding benefit, they gave up their cherished desire, while ever maintaining the warmest regard for each other. " It is my conviction that there was a manifest growth in the Divine life, even during the time that we enjoyed the privilege of sitting under his ministry, and that, each succeeding Sabbath, his sermons were more and more full of matter, and there was a great expanse in his religious views and experimental acquaintance with the truth. Just as his own soul prospered, he was made the blessed means of feeding the souls of his people, while his holy life and daily walk and labour of love more and more endeared 44 MEETING OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD, ETC. him to the afTections of his attached flock. It was a mournful day for us when we were removed from Kings- ton, but my company was sent to the Lower Province in 1830. He kindly visited us several times at St. Helen's, where we remained for three years, and we recollect to this day, a most striking sermon which he preached just after the fearful visitation of cholera, with which it pleased God to visit Montreal, from the text, — " Shall a trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid ; shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?" " Many letters were exchanged between us while we remained in Canada, which I deeply regret have been destroyed, as I am sure they would have shown rhe gra- dual and yet the most decided enlargement of his mind to the truths of the Gospel. He paid us a short but de- lightful visit, some years after our return to England, and preached a very remarkable sermon, the memory of which loi ^ remained in the Presbyterian Church of Woolwich, from the text, " I wish that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and without doubting." " You are aware that I saw it to be my duty to leave our Establishment at the time of the Disruption, and I well recollect that, when he first came to see us afterwards, he appeared not to be quite sure whether we would wel- come him as cordially as in former years : but his doubts, if they really existed, were soon dispelled, and our hearts went out in adoring grateful praise at the Lord's marvel- lous dealings with us both. "I considered it to be, on one occasion, no less my pri- vilege than my bounden duty to state, from the floor of the General Assembly of the Free Church, that, in my opinion, not only the Presbyterian Church, but the Church of Christ at large, owed a debt of gratitude to my beloved friend for raising the moral standard of the Christian min- istry in Canada, which (was certainly, at the time, much required." 45 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. I i In December, 1831, Mr. Machar wrote to an intimate friend in Scotland : — " Since I last wrote to you, there have been many sud- den deaths among us, and under very painful circumstan- ces. Three persons known to me have died from excessive drunkenness ; one of them belonged to our congregation. A Christian man also died suddenly about the same time. I have tried to turn the attention of my people to these events, and to make them of use. Oh that they may hear the gracious Saviour saying unto them, " Behold I stand at the door and knock." Alas, there is much prac- tical indifference at present ; few seem to have ears to hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches ! When I wrote to you last I was just setting out for York (Toronto). I preached there several times, and assisted Mr. Rintoul at his sacrament. Mr. Rintoul is a truly pious man. I preached, on my way from York, at the induction of the Rev. James Ketchan, to Belleville. He is now my nearest neighbour, and I have a very favourable opinion of him. It was a solemn season ; the church was new, and scarcely finished, and never had it echoed to the voice of prayer or praise before. Its site was lately the wild wood, and where now is heard the voice of sacred melody, nothing disturbed the deep repose but the wild cry of the ravenous beast, or the cry, almost as wild, of the Indian, as he pursued his prey, in search of a precarious subsistence. I had much conversation with Mr. Ketchan regarding our own dear Scotland, and felt much pleasure at the way in which he spoke of many things. In regard to the work going on at home which you mention, I would not think it right to disbelieve it, lest I should be found fighting against God. But there is daiger on either hand, either in the way of a too easy credulity, or in the way of hard- ened unbelief. Pray that in these eventful times, we may judge what is right ! Pray for the spirit of a sound mind, and let us ever feel, in respect of judging of such things, as in every other, particular, that ' the way of man is not 46 MEETING OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD, ETC. in himself — that ' it is not in him that walketh to direct his steps.' Let us ever look to God for guidance, and we shall not be permitted greatly to err." In March, 1832, Mr. Machar wrote to his sister : — " I have not been able to answer yours sooner, having been very much occupied. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was dispensed to an unusually large number of communicants on the last Sabbath of February. The Lord's gracious presence was with us. I was assisted by my worthy neighbour, the Rev. James Ketchan, of Bellf*- ville. His arrival and settlement here are events in which I greatly rejoice. We have had an unusually cold winter here, but I have, on the whole ,enjoyed good health, hav- ing never been a week without preaching twice, and some- times three times. I have increasing pleasure in my work, and though I have difficulties, and look for them, I have some success too. There is just one way to be successful ; it is to be dwelling in the light of God's countenance, and ever seeking in simplicity to know ?Iis will in all things, that we may declare it to those to whom we are sent. My dear sister, look simply to Him. Do not distrust the loving-kindness of the Lord. Do not think it presump- tion to believe God's gracious assurances to you ! * He will never leave thee nor forsake thee.' Go on your way in the strength of this assurance" In May, 1832, he writes : " I am deeply grieved to hear of the troubles in the Church. The judgments of the Lord are evidently abroad > may the inhabitants of the earth learn righteousness ! May we be earnest in prayer that the Lord would yet revive His own work in the midst of these years. I have been sometimes very poorly this spring, but never laid aside from the work of my ministry. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was dis- pensed on the last Sabbath of February. It was a pre- cious season to not a few. I felt more liberty than usual on that occasion, but I have felt great dulness and heavi- ness often during th'^ two months past ; — sometimes as if 47 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. I could not speak a word. I have not been at all strong however, yet even in this respect the Lord has dealt very graciously with me. May He enable me to be faithful to do His will in all things ! I think we have been wrong in the place we have given to our Confession as a Church, I have looked into our Confession, sometimes, during the past season, and I have been thankful to have seen so much pure truth there, but it is not truth to us unless we see it to be the truth of God's word. Where the true Church of Christ is, it will hold forth the truth ; the priests' lips will keep knowledge.' When that cannot be said of a Church, it will be destroyed at all events, and even a con- fession will not long retard the evil day. But let us pray for our Church ; let us earnestly pray that the Lord would sanctify to her those judgments which may soon be sent upon her, in common with other Churches 1 We are quiet here at present ; — no commotion — no division. Two days ago the national fast was observed, at least with great outward decorum. I was able to preach twice to large congregations. I have much to do, and sometimes health and strength seem to give way, but if I trust in the Lord, ' as my day is, so shall my strength be.' A word of Scripture was brought home to me lately, and I have sometimes tried to bring it home to others. It is, * All things are of God.*" In January, 1832, he writes — " A period of much mental suffering, about the end of 1829, with a larger portion of bodily labour then I ought to have under- taken, brought on phj'sical weakness, from which, through the great goodness of God, I am in a good measure re- covered ; yet I feel that I shall never be wholly delivered from it till I am laid in the grave." This ominous prediction was too truly verified. These over-exertions left effects from which he never fully re- covered, often suffered severely during all his after life ; and they laid the foundation of illnesses which brought upon him premature old age and shortened his life. His 48 MEETING OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD, ETC. physical constitution was never robust, and the strain upon it of preaching three times a day in the hot summer weather, during the time when he otticiated as chaplain to the Highland regiments, —although the interest lie felt in his work bore hun on at the time, — was more than it could bear without injury. His strength was much ex- hausted also, by the long and fatiguing land journeys, per- formed on wheels, over rugged and almost impassable roads, through marshes, across streams, over corduroy bridges, and tree roots. Two of tiiese formidable journeys in particular he long remembered as especially trymg \ one being a journey to Perth to perform a marriage ceremoijiy, and the other to Ottawa, to induct the Rev. John Cruik.- shank. To assist his widely-scattered brethren at their sacraments, he was often obliged to go to Montreal, Mar- tintown, and York, as Toronto was then called ; and the tedious and fatiguing travelling of those days, which in our age of railways and steam-boats can scarcely be realized, was a serious tax on both time and strength. At that time also, as well as at every subsequent period of his ministry, he had a great deal of engrossing mental labour. There was much correspondence to be carried oa concerning the temporal business of the Church, wiih the Governor, and through him with the Imperial Government. Then, owing to the circumstance that ministers were so remote from each other, they could have no reciprocal assistance or relief in their Sabbath duties. For a number of years he preached regularly every Sabbath without inter- mission, except during his visit to Scotland in 1830 and during the severe rheumatic fever already referred to. He used to express his great thankfulness that though often unwell during the week he had never been prevented from preaching by illneris, for several years, except during that single illness. He was at that time, as well as during his absence in Scotland, most kindly assisted by his brother ministers. They were a cordially united and loving bro- therhood, bound closely together in the common object of B 49 \ I ^i . ids of a number of large families were cutoff by a s;/ 4fc, itn^ several of those suddenly removed were most estimable uu mbers of St. Andrew's congrega- tion, whose loss was severely felt. One of those whose loss was deeply felt by Mr. Machar, was a gentleman of great warmth of heart, and kind and genial disposition, who was rising rapidly in his profession as a lawyer. He was a Scotchman, warmly attached to his native land, but his genial friendliness made him much beloved by all who knew him, though there may be few now surviving who remember George Mackenzie. He attended Divine ser- vice on the forenoon of the Sabbath, an excessively hot day. By midnight his spirit had departed, and his re- mains were laid in the grave at ten next morning. There were many cases equally sudden, and some even moTe so. There was much emigration that season, and many widows, fatherless children and orphans were left strangers and destitute in a strange land. But through the Christian sympathy of the inhabitants of Kingston, they were not left uncared for. The minister and members of St. Andrew's congregation did much to relieve the existing misery. One sad case may be given as a sample of many. A mason, who had come from the Highlands of Scotland, had sent for his wife and children. In the meantime he died of cholera, the week preceding the arrival of his wife and four boys, who found themselves alone and destitute in a strange land, where even the language was unintel^ 56 ( MARRIAGE.— GROWTH OP THE CHURCH. — ETC. ligible to Ihem, as they understood only Gaelic. They were supported for a time by St. Andrew's Church, in- structed and cared for till places were procured for them in the country where they became useful and industrious men. Mr. Machar, in common with other ministers, passed through many sad experiences during this afflictive sea- son. He was called to attend the sick and dying at all hours of the night as well as the day, being often aroused from sleep to minister at a dying bed, and he never shrank from promptly obeying every call. He was himself deli- vered from all fear of contagion, and often went to the sick, when near relatives were afraid to ven "e into the infected atmosphere, going fearlessly evci ; to the wretched abodes where foul air and want f c' nliness were most likely to breed contagion. Th. c um posses- sion of the mental faculties and consciousness '^' approach- • ing death, which he thankfully noticed an a striking feature of cholera, made him more esp M^ anxious to visit those dying of that disease, and speak to them the "* words of eternal life. He willingly vent, also, to sympa- thise with the beraved families, in cases where it was difficult to procure assistance for laying out the corpse, and he and his beadle were sometimes the only persons, •besides the newly-made widow or widower, or the child- less father, to follow the coffin to the grave. One aged man, decent and respectable in his appearance, had just arrived from Scotland on his way further west, with his daughter, his only child — when she was seized with cholera and died. He came in Scottish fashion to " the minister," who, deeply sympathising with him, made ar- rangements for the funeral, when he accompanied the sorrowing father to lay his child's remains in a stranger's grave. The desolate old man departed the next day, bowed down by his bereavement, but still grateful for the kindness and sympathy he had received. Such demands upon Mr. Machar's time and sympathy were incessant during that trying season. 57 i^ I UFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. In June 1835, he thus wrote to his friend Dr. Simpson: "You would wonder why I did not answer your kind letter. At the time, I was much hurried with church business. Then fol'owed a severe visitation of Asiatic Cholera, — then our meeting of Synod, so that for many months toge- ther I was necessarily occupied. It is from no lack of affection, I assure you. I do not forget by-gone days ; I never can forget them. I heard with great interest and pleasure of your appointment to Kintore, and I cease not to pray that you may be the honoured instrument of bringing many to Christ. Why have we so little success in our Master's work ? Even because we do not look for it with confidence^ because we are of little faith. The great bondage from which we should sigh and cry for deliver- ance, — the great power of the enemy lies here. He tempts us to doubt ; — he cries — * there is a lion in the streets,' — and listening to him we become weak, — weak both in the individual and ministerial warfare. I hope that you are enabled to go forth with greater vigour than I often feel, and are meeting with tokens of encourage- ment among your people. Here we grow in numbers, and in some cases also, I trust, in faith and love of the Savi- our, but the barrenness that prevails around us is very great. The church does not seem in these days to be reviving anywhere. Said a Romish priest to me the other day, on hearing of the recent change of ministry, and of the spoliation of the Irish Church, leading to that of other churches ; — * well now, you see the reigns of your Luthers and Calvins and Knoxes have had their day, and all things promise well for the establishment of the truth of the ancient church,' — meaning the Roman Catholic Church. My labour is coiisiderably increased since I left Scotland last Our church is now too small for the congregation. I hope we shall get an addition to it this summer or autumn." Although Mr. Machar's time was necessarily so much engrossed with the duties of his own congregation, and 58 MARRIAGE. — GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. — ETC. the afliiirs of his own branch of the Church at large, he took a deep and active interest in piomoting the efforts of the various general religious societies in Kingston and the surrounding country. In this work he took a special delight, as it brought into union and co-operation both the ministers and members of the various denominations of Christians in the city, who could meet in brotherly fellowship in labouring to advance the blessed work of their one Lord and Master in the salvation of souls. He was Secretary to the Religious Tract Society, at least from 1830 to 1840, and probably for a longer period, and he continued always to attend its meetings and take a deep interest in its prosperity. The Kingston Auxiliary Bible Society was to him an object of special interest, and at the time of his death he had been for several years its President. It had been originally instituted about the year 1820. A number of ministers and Christian laymen had been aroused by the great scarcity of Bibles to the need for forming a Society to bring the Word of God within the reach of all, and especially to distribute Bibles gratuitously among the poor who could not afford to purchase them, for at that time they were both comparatively scarce and very expensive. The Society was carried on for a time with zeal and activity, the Venerable Archdeacon Stuart taking a prominent part in it. along with other members of his church, and becoming himself a collector. The Rev. John Barclay, then the young minister of St. Andrew's Church, was its Secretary. But owing to the death and departure of some of its most zealous promoters this Society, so auspiciously begun, languished and died. However, after the revival of the Religious Tract Society, under circumstances of much hopefulness, the friends of the Kingston Bible Society took courage to revive it with much anxiety and after many prayers. A public meeting was held in January, 1830, and the Society was anew organised. His Excellency, Sir John Colborne, then Governor of Upper Canada, assented to the request of the 59 LIFB or THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. ^ Society that he should give his influence as Patron. From the first report of the revived Society's proceedings, drawn up by Mr. Machar as Secretary, are taken the following extracts, interesting as showing the spiritual condition of the country at that time : — " The friends of the Bible in this place feel that Upper Canada is to be their field of labour. While they contem- plate its still partially unsettled state, and look at the width of surface over which its population is scattered, they see that many years must elapse before ministers are likely to be settled in plsces where spiritual labourers are greatly needed, and they foresee that a fearful growth of carelessness and ignorance must mark the dreary interval. « « • « « Must they be left in hopeless abandonment to the natural consequences of their unhappy circumstances ? Though we may not do all for them that we might desire, may we not do something ? May we not give them the Bible — that book of whose contents it is said : ' These are written that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that, believing, we might have life through His Name.'" Three branch societies are mentioned as having been organised to co-operate with the Kingston Auxiliary at Gananoque, Waterloo, and Napanee, and a large number of copies of the Scriptures are mentioned as having been distributed to families who previously had not a Bible in their possession. A most pleasing feature of the opera- tions of the Society, besides the earnestness and zeal with which they were carried on, was the spirit of union with which the members of the different Christian denomina- tions engaged in them. The list of the Committee and office-bearers contains the names of the ministers and most respected members of the Churches of England and Scotland, as well as of other bodies, as also those of several British officers of high rank, stationed in Kingston, whose hearts were truly in the work. The results of these Christian exertions cannot be estimated now, but the Word 60 MARRIAGE.— GROWTH OP THE CHURCH. — ETC. I of God was by their means scattered throughout many destitute localities, in faithful trust in the promise that it should not return void, but should accomplish that where- unto it was sent. Of those who then took part in the work only Dr. Armstrong, now of Rochester, survives, b'lt the others did not become weary in well doing, so long as they were spared to labour in the field below. Mr. Machar acted as Secretary from 1830 to 1845, when the younger ministers who were then members took up the more active pait of the work, but he always retained a hearty interest in its welfare. In the cause of education he took a deep and active interest, willingly giving a portion of his time to visit'ng schools, and encouraging the comparatively few teach j'S who were then labouring in this important work. One school in particular, taught by a lady belonging to his own congregation, who had been for many years^ and still is, an efficient teacher, he had great pleasure in visiting and examining, and in testifying to the thoroughness and and accuracy of the teaching, and to the great attention bestowed on the moral and religious training of the child- ren. His annual visits on these occasions afforded re- ciprocal pleasure, and the few simple words of exhortation which he always addressed to them, were attentively lis- tened to and often long remembered. Free schools were in those days unknown, and the poor suffered from the want of any provision for educating children, whose parents could not afford to pay high school fees. Two schools taught by female teachers, at which the fees charged were very small, were supported for a time by the voluntary contributions of ladies, but it was found difficult to keep them up by subscription. Sever 1 years previously a society had been formed and incorporated, called the Midland District School Society, having for its object the providing a cheap education for the children of the poor. It was intended to conduct a school on the Lancasterian plan, by which a greatf^v num- 61 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. ber could be taught than in any other way, but they had been disappointed in the teacher employed, and from this and other causes the school had been discontinue for several years. In 1837 it was determined to resume operations, and to devote the property they had acquired and from which they realised a small yearly interest, to the original object in view — that of providing, at a moderate rate, education for the children of the working classes. A committee was appointed to obtain teachers and to take the general direction of the school, consisting of the Venerable the Archdeacon Stuart, the Hon. John Macaulay, T. Kirkpatrick, Esq., John S. Cartwright, Esq., the Rev. Messrs. Cartwright and Machar, Alex. Pringle, Esq., and some others. The choice of teachers was committed to the Archdeacon and the Rev. Messrs. Cartwright and Machar. In the discharge of this most important and responsible trust they acted in perfect harmony, none of them having any party bias or separate interest to serve, but seeking with one heart and mind the good of the object entrusted to them, and exemplifying in this, as in other things, the truth of the words, " Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Their objec t was to secure efficient Christian teachers, and in this aim, under the Divine guidance, they were singularly blessed with success. These efforts, carried on in so pleasing a spirit of of Christian harmony, seemed to be prospered in an especial manner. In a short time the committee liad three flourishing schools in operation, at which more than three hundred children were in attendance. The ex- penses of the third school were subscribed for by the trustees themselves, their funds not being sufficient to maintain more than two. The schools were not free, but the fees charged were very small, and in cases where even these could not be afforded, they were paid by benevolent individuals, so that not even the very poorest were ex- cluded. By this means there was a constant reciprocal 69 I MARRIAGE.— GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. — ETC. benefit to givers and receivers, education was more valued, and the attendance was more regular than they are under the present system of free schools. No poor child in Kingston, so far as was known, was then left without education ; their moral training and Scriptural instruction was carefully attended to by their teachers ; ahd there are many now occupying useful and influential positions, who have reason to look back with gratitude to the thorough teaching they received in these schools. The time of the completion and opening of these schools — about 1843 — was, however, saddened by the premature death of one of those who had been most interested and active in labouring for their establishment. In the Rev. Mr. Cartwright, cut off in the prime of his life and the midst of his usefulness, Mr. Machar lost a faithful and attached friend, and a beloved and devoted fellow-labourer in the Lord. His labours as a pastor had been abundant and incessant, overtaxing a naturally fragile constitution ; his hand and heart were ever open to the poor, and his deep sympathy with the sick and the afflicted led him continually to seek, by every means in his power, to alleviate their suffering. He was large-hearted and truly Catholic in spirit. Though warmly attached to the Church of England, and zealous for the advancement of her spiritual interests, he was always ready to sympathise and take part in every Christian work, whose object was to promote the kingdom of Christ in the hearts of men, so manifesting that where the spirit of Christian love truly exists, it is stronger than those outward walls of separation that so sadly divide Christians from each other, and cramp and fetter the expansive force of Christianity. Mr. Machar deeply felt his loss and sincerely mourned for one wi'h whom he had ever walked hand in hand in every Christian and philanthropic effort for the public good. A little incident which took place towards the close of their earthly intercourse will show how strong is the bond of Christian love, and how it will resist the «3 ii l! LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. pressure of strongly conflicting opinions. On a much disputed point, regarding the claims cf their respective churches on the State provision set apart for religioui|. purpose; Mr. Cartwright and Mr. Machar held very dif- ferent views, and had expressed them strongly in a private discussion. Fearing lest their decided difference of opinion might, in any degree, chill the warmth of their Christian friendship, Mr. Cartwright wrote, immediately after their conversation, a warm brotherly note, in which -he says : " We cannot afford to be alienated. We know not how soon either of us may require a brother's sym- pathy and a brother's prayers upon a dying bed." It was not long before this foreboding was fulfilled in his own case ; and his friend, in visiting him in this last illness, enjoyed much sweet and solemn Christian communion with his departing brother. In one of their last conver- sations, Mr. Cartwright said, " The nearer I approach to eternity, the more I see those veils rent asunder which separate Christians from one another." Shortly after- wards he was gently removed during sleep, — without tast- ing death,— to the " rest that remaineth for the people of God," J i 64 CHAPTER VI. I 838- I 844. LENGTHENED VISIT TO SCOTLAND. ESTABLISHMENT OF queen's university, ^R. MACHAR, during all his ministerial life, deeply felt his responsibility, as a pastor, to the chief Shepherd, and the value of the souls committed to his care. In his pastoral work he laboured faithfully, to the utmost limit of his strength, not only from a sense of duty, but also be- ■ cause he delighted in his work. To regular visitation from house to house he usually devoted one and frequently two afternoons in the week, embracing in his pastoral circuit long and fatiguing country rounds. These visits his kindly and genial manner always made pleasant as well as profitable to his people, and he took especial pains to make them both interesting and useful to the younger members. The following particulars of the extent of his charge at an early period, are taken from the answers sent in by him to certain official queries. The date is not given, but it was probably at an early period : — " The number of souls whom I visit pastorallv, and to whom I regularly minister, are one thousand five hundred souls: besides about four hundred others, whose children are baptized by me, and to whom I occasionally preach. Of communicants F 65 '1 1,1 It: OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D, t r the number is three hundred and fifty. Besides the number of souls under my regular ministry, there always has been a portion of Her Majesty's troops (sometimes an entire regiment) stationed at Kingston, who have not only been provided with Church accommodation, gratuitously, by the congregation, but have in the same way had the benefit of the minister's services. During all the time that the 79th Regiment was stationed at Kingston, a separate service was necessary for them — the church being too small to contain them with the congregation." He always took a lively interest in the troops stationed at Kingston. When the 71st Regiment was there, a depu- tation from the Presbyterians who belonged to it waited upon him, requesting him to baptize their children, nd expressing their earnest desire to attend the Scotch Church, if permitted to do so by their commanding officer. Mr. Machar applied to the Colonel of the regiment for the de- sired permission, but it was refused, on the ground that it had been the invariable practice of the regiment to a> iid the Church of England, and he did not feel at liberty 10 depart from it. Mr. Machar laid this correspond'^'nce be- fore the Commander of the Forces, who issued an order that the soldiers should be allowed to worship ncrord- ing to the dictates of their consciences. From ti; 1 time there was no interference with their religiou iibertv. and the officers and soldiers who were Presbyterians always attended St. Andrew's Ciiurc'; This result afforded Mr. Machar much satisfaction, ruthoiit^'^ it added considerably to his labours, without adding at mat time to his income; and he had often much enjoyment in his ministerial inter- course both with officers and soldiers, among whom he frequently met with excellent Christian men. At a later period, however, when an entire Scotch Regiment, sta- tioned at Kingston, required a separate service, he was acknowledged officially as their Chaplain, and received an occasional allowance. Except in such cases, however, his military labours were gratuitously performed, until the last year of his life, when he was recognized by the Govern- 66 LENGTHENED VISIT TO SCOTLAND. number s been a igiment) led with egation, linister's lent was sary for ivith the aliened a depu- : waited en, r)d Church, r. Mr. r the de- 1 thiU it ) at end >ertv to •nee be- n order acrord- i.v';i- time •t) . cind always led Mr. derably acome ; i\ inter- lom he a later tit, sta- le was ved an ver, his he last overn- ment as Presbyterian Chaplain, and received an allowance in proportion to the number of Presbyterians attending the church, which was continued to his successor until the final withdrawal of the British troops from Canada. In January, 1836, he thus wrote to his sister in reference to an invitation from a friend to return to Scotland to a vacant parish then in view : — " We are by no means clear that it is our duty to leave this. I might never again have a more important station, nor a more affectionate people than I now have, and if we merely pleased ourselves in changing our place, what happiness could we expect, and what evidence should we have to ourselves that the glory of God and the good of souls were objects of dear interest to our hearts ? One thing that has some' imes inclined me to think of returning to Scotland is my occasionally feeble health. Should this increase, and 1 be less able to discharge the numerous and arduous duties connected with my charge, 1 might think more seriously of returning. If we look to God, He will make our way plain in due time." On March 29th he wrote again : — "It gave me great concern to hear of the death of my old and excellent friend, the Rev. James Burns. When I think of the changes that have taken place since I was at home in 1830, both the ministers of Brechin having been called away, and many more that I knew, 1 feel deeply how uncertain is life. Be it then ours to die daily, to die to sin and to live unto righteousness, that death may bfe to us what I feel assured it was to my beloved and highly esteemed friend, Mr. Burns — the portal to our better, or rather our only life." And, referring to a second invitation to retut to Scot- land, he says : — " I love my native country, and there is much ; o draw me back to it, but it is not inclination but duty that w must hear. It would, I believe, be felt as a heavy blow by my congrega- tion were I to leave them, and when the parti , came, I be™ lieve that sore would the trial be, both to minis :r and people. The Church of Scotland in this colony is as yet in what I might call a suffering state, and it would be an unkindly thing to leave it still suffering." 67 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. On N^vrember loth, '37, he again writes on the same subject : — '* I am willing that my continuance in this land or removal from it should be entirely in the Lord's hands. I know that no change without His blessing would be anything but misery. The addition to our church is almost finished. It is pleasing in itself, and has been accompanied by some gratifying cir- cumstances. I have got a new vestry-room neatly finished, which the young ladies of the congregation have fitted up for me. I only mention this to show that it is doubtful whether I might be happier among any people than those I have been among in this country. Do not suppose, however, that I am without troubles. No minister who has the spiritual welfare of his people at heart can be without trouble in these days of the church, when so much of a spirit that is not of ^Jhrist pre- vails among nominal Christians." A letter dated January 17th, 1838, contains the follow- ing account of the so-called " Rebellion " of '38 and '39:— " Upon most people in Canada, the Rebellion came like a thunder-clap, and if we were unprepared for the outbreak of rebellion in the Lower Province, still less were we prepared to see it break out in the Upper Province, and especially unde such a leader as Mackenzie. The conspiracy was well laid, and had well-nigh succeeded. Believing it impossible that in thi= Province any number of persons could be so mad as to rise against the constituted authorities, the Governor had sent all the troops to Lower Canada, and Toronto, the capital, was altogether without defence , and its inhabitants dwelling secu "ely without apprehension of danger, but God saw meet in His great mercy to extend His protecting arm over those who were without the means of protecting them- selves. A friend of mine in Toronto writes the following account : — ' In this instance the interference of God has been so narked as to draw forth a spontaneous acknowledgment from those not used to mark the hand of Providence. Had Mackenzie come in on Muuday evening, as he originally in- tended, there is no doubt that he would have possessed him- self of the city, and as a successful opening on his part would have attracted many to his standard, it is very probable that 68 LENGTHENED VISIT TO SCOTLAND. jig arm them- [lowing Is been Igment Had illy in- him- Iwould \e that the sacrifice of many lives would have been the consequence. The reason why he did not come in that night is understood to have been the death of a man of ferocious ^h -racter, — a leader of the rebellion, — who, that very afternoon, t^al from his horse and broke his neck ; and his death made the others irresolute. At the Government House there were only four persons to defend, and, I believe, not ten at the fort ; — and in the town all was confusion. The extraordinary mildness of the season was another remarkable circumstance, as it ad- mitted of our obtaining speedy assistanee from many quar- ters, and gave us confidence. For forty-eight hours all was gloom. M. and myself were under arms. My heart almost sickened as I loaded a musket, and I could not help some- thing like a prayer that it might do no injury.' The citizens of Toronto awaking from their panic, and having armed, soon attacked the rebels in their post, totally dispersed them, and but for the sympathy and underhand aid afforded to Mac- kenzie by mobs of Americans on the frontier, he and his associates would have been totally crushed. He was able to make his escape across the lines to the State of New York, and by his misrepresentations succeeded in obtaining, among the worthless and unprincipled, both arms and soldiers. He subsequently took possession of Navy Island, situated on the Niagara river, a little abo\ e the Falls, and there he still is, but it is impossible he can hold out much longer. About King- ston all is loyal, almost ai/ are soldiers, and all points are now in a state of complete defence. According to the secret plan which has been discovered, a day was appointed for taking Kingston, but the dispersion at Toronto prevented that, as well as other attempts which would have caused destruction and bloodshed. We trust that, under the good hand of God, we shall soon be enjoying peace and quietness." The rebellion was then supposed to be suppressed, but in the following winter it again broke out, — ending in the well-known battle of Prescott, — when the leaders of the cniaite were taken, and the sad spectacle was witnessed at Fort Henry of the execution of ten of them, including an unfortunate Polish exile named Schulz, for whose untimely fate, as he had been the dupe and tool of others, much commiseration was felt. Mr. Machar, however, did not personally share in the agitation of that renewed excite- 69 1 1 V i [ I I » ^1 •\ Mi LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. ment, as he was in Scotland during that winter, having gone thither in the summer of 1838. He was then in delicate health, having had threatenings of a complaint which he feared might lay him aside from preaching for life. The advice of an eminent American physician was blest to his recovery, although he never completely recovered his strength, and his health continued fragile during the rest of his life. On landing at Glasgow, he and his wife were met by Dr. Mathieson, of Montreal, who was then in Scotland, and at that time suffering from depression of spirits, and hardly intending to return to Montreal. Soon, however, the aspect of things was changed, and he set sail in Octo- ber, in excellent spirits, to return to his charge. The Rev. Robert Neill, of Seymour, who had supplied Dr. Mathie- son's place during the greater part of his absence, came to Kingston soon after Mr. Machar's absence, and supplied his place and puli)it with much acceptance until his return. This was delayed longer than had been at first expected, on account of the dangerous illness of a near relative, but having Mr. Neill to minister in his place, Mr. Machar had no anxiety about the welfare of his people. During his stay in Scotland, he did all in his power to advance the interests of the Church in Canada. He had been commissioned by the Synod to meet the Committee of General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, to give them information regarding the state of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and to co-opernte with the Committee in representing to the Imperial (Tovernment their just claims to be recognised, and to partici]>atc in the support which had been apj^ropriated for a Protestant Clergy in Canada. The Clergy Reserves were then, as they had been for many years, a matter of disj^ute, and had aroused much heart-burning and hostile feeling between the mem- bers of the Churches of England and Scotland in the colony, — the former claiming the right to monopolise the whole endowment. These disputes were finally settled a 70 LENGTHENED VISIT TO SCOTLAND. •, having then in >mp1aint :hing for :ian was mpletely i fragile I met by Icotland, irits, and however, in Octo- rhe Rev. Mathie- , came to supplied is return, 'xpected, Ltive, but char had power to He had )mmittee to give Dyterian )mmittee heir just support Clergy in hey had aroused ic mem- in the olise the settled a few years afterwards, by the equitable decision of the Twelve Judges of England, including the different Protes- tant denominations in a participation of the Clergy Reserves. But the matter was not allowed to rest here by those who were determined not only to maintain the " voluntary " principle themselves, but to enforce it upon the whole country, and an agitation on the subject was kept up, until the whole of the liberal provisions which had been set apart for the support of religious ordinances, and for the religious instruction of the people of a large and spiritually destitute colony, was swept away from the cause of both religion and education, and applied to merely secular uses. The Edinburgh Committee, with whom Mr. Machar had several meetings, took a very warm interest in the affairs of the Canadian Church. One of those most deeply interested was Dr. Welsh, who, with some others of their number, accompanied by Mr. Machar, went to London to lay the matter, with full explanations, before her Majesty's Government. But it was not the temporal affairs of the Church that Mr. Machar deemed most important. He felt most deeply the need of labourers, and he travelled from place to place enquiring about young preachers, who were not yet employed in the ministry. Several of these, who had been recommended to him, he visited personally, urging the spiritual needs and the urgent claims of Canada as a missionary field, — but without success. He also addressed, with great earnestness, a meeting of the Divi- nity students of Edinburgh, but in all his efforts in that cause he was disappoii:ted, and sadly felt the great lack of a missionary spirit in the Church. It was during the prevalence of the Quoad Sacra Act, when there were many new charges, and young preachers were not disposed to leave their native country while they had hopes of employ- ment at home. The only one who came to Canada in that year was the Rev. W. Reid, now residing in Toronto, 71 I I ! || I LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. Moderator, during the present year, of the Canada Presby- terian Synod. The controversy between the Established Church and the advocates of " voluntaryism " was then raging fiercely. Great efforts had been mode by the Established Church in the cause of church extension, as the population had so much outgrown the church accommodation that multi- tudes were left unprovided for ; but the voluntary bodies strongly opposed the granting by Government of any aid for this purpose. Dr. Chalmers was then in the midst of his zealous labours in the cause of church exten- sion, — travelling from town to town, earnestly ])leading its cause with his warm characteristic eloquence. Mr. Machar met him at Brechin, and in the course of conver- sation asked him if he could not do something for the Church in Canada, in using his influence to obtain labour- ers for it. He replied, almost impatiently, — " There must be division of labour ! Church extension is the work to which I have devoted myself, and when it is finished I shall retire from public life for a time, for while I am ad- dressing the public, and going from place to i)lace, my own soul is withering !" Seeing Mr. Machar look disappointed, however, his generous heart seemed touched ; he enquired very kindly about Canada, and expressed his regret at his inability to do something for the Church there. The Synod of Canada was at that time feeling the urgent necessity for having a University and Theological College of its own. In the extreme difficulty of procuring from Scotland ministers to supply the fast growing needs of Canada, they felt they must ultimately depend upon a native ministry, for the education of whom a college was absolutely indispensable. As they were then projecting plans for the accomplishment of that object, Mr. Machar conferred with the Assembly Committee in Edinburgh respecting it, — finding in all of them, and especially in Dr. Welsh, a warm interest in the scheme, and an earnest desire to aflbrd all possible aid towards its acconiplish- 72 L^l^ mf LENGTHENED VISIT TO SCOTLAND. ment. It originated with them at that time, to bestow on the college an annual grant of money, which has been continued to the present time, and for which the Church in Canada owes a deep debt of gratitude. After a very pleasant sojourn in Scotland, during which he exceedingly enjoyed visiting the scenes of his child- hood and youth, and the renewed intercourse with his old friends, Dr. Simpson, of Kintore, Dr. Guthrie, Dr. Brew- ster, of Craig, Dr. Cbson, and several others, to whom he was much attached, he sailed again for Canada in August, ^^^gi and arrived at Quebec early in September. Or .-ary ist, 1840, he wrote from Kingston, referring to his return : — "On a Saturday we reached Quebec, and, after I had preached there on the Sabbath, we proceeded on our way on the Monday, reaching our home at Kingston on Thursday night. On Sabbath I preached twice to my people : it was exactly twelve years on that day since I first preached to them, on my arrival among them as their minister. Many changes had taken place among them since then, but during my last visit to Scotland, comparatively few. I have some- times said to you that, should I ever in Providence be called to minister elsewhere, I could scarcely hope to meet with a people like my flock here. Very kindly did they receive me agam on my return. Soon after my arrival the Sacrament was administered, and a large number of communicants added to the church. The new part is now filled, and it is difficult to get pews. Though these things look favourable, there are important lacks among us. Alas, alas ! we may have much of the/orm of godliness, and yet be wofully deficient in the power ! Since my arrival 1 have preached twice every Sab- bath, and occasionally on a week-day. I have also resumed my visiting and catechising from house to house, and am endeavouring to get as much as possible done while the cold frosty weather lasts. It is terribly cold ; at night every liquid thing becomes solid. — My health is better for my voyage. I have, however, too much work for my not strong constitution. The work of my parish, alone, would be almost too much for me, but week after week I am two or three days occupied with other business, especially with correspondence on the 73 '^fA IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) k A /. V Hg II 1.0 ^Ufi 1^ 11.25 Itt 9^ 1^ 1.4 1.6 Hiotographic ..Sciences Corporalion 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SS0 (716) •72-4S03 LIFE or THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. general affairs of the Church in this land, which has many difficulties to contend with. We are about to establish a College or University here, chiefly for the education of minis- ters. One thing is needful — to sit with simplicity at the feet of Jesus, and, hearing Him, to follow wheresoever He leads the way.** On March i8, 1841, he again wrote respecting his work : — '' I have been much longer in writing to you than I intended, but my avocKtions have been so numerous and so pressing that I have scarcely had a leisure hour, and have often gone to bed utterly tired and worn out. Yet I have enjoyed a con- siderable measure of health, nor have I ever been unable to preach twice every Sabbath. The population of Kingston is on the increase, and since my return I have had new families to attend to. I have also been endeavouring, by visiting and otherwise, to awaken and gather in many others who, from various causes, have become careless and indifferent. It is here with us, as in many places in Scotland. Many are sunk into a state of spiritual death, and yet not so dead but that they may be revived again, if only they are sought after, and dealt with in earnestness and tenderness. I am happy to hear from your last that intemperance is on the decline, and I rejoice to hear that the Kirk Sessions art exerting diem- selves against it. It has been a great evil here, and I fear it is not diminishing. In this country the progress of the drunkard, or I should say of the drinker, is very rapid, and seldom does a man take to occasional tippling, who does not soon become a lost creature. Lost to everything good^ he is not long in finishing his course under disease which is pro- duced by the use of ardent spirits." During the close of the year 1839, the Synod set vigor- ously to work to raise funds, and to make arrangements for the establishment of Queen's College. Feeling the great necessity for providing a theological and also a literary institution for higher education in a new country, which was then almost destitute of general facilities for the latter, both the clergy and the laity joined very warmly in promoting the object The most influenti^ members of the Presbyterian Church throughout the 74 LENGTHENED VISIT TO SCOTLAND. and Province took a deep interest in it, and aided it both with judicious advice and pecuniary aid. The late Hon. Wil- liam Morris was especially serviceable to it by his legal counsel and his political influence, as well as other gentle- men whom the world now knows no more. Those minis^ ters, too, who were so earnest in furthering the work and in devoting to it their time and labour, among whom may be mentioned Dr. McGill, Mr. Gale, Mr. Rintoul, Dr. Mathieson, Dr. Urquhart and Dr. Cook, have nearly all passed away.* A very united and enthusiastic meeting was held in St. Andrew's Church, Kingston, and many earnest heartfelt addresses were given by voices now long silent in death. Of the speakers at that meeting and the committee who were appointed to collect funds, two only survive. When, twenty-eight years after, the very existence of the College was threatened by the withdrawal of the Government grant, the meeting then held vividly recalled, to those who still survived, the one just men- tioned, in being characterised by the same spuit of union, enthusiasm and hope. In 1 84 1, the seat of Government was established in Kingston, as it was then thought, permanently ; but its continuance proved to be of very short auration. As its location there was very sudden, and there was great want of accommodation for the many strangers it brought to Kingston, every house was occupied and rents were doubled. It was just at that time that Mr. Machar re- ceived a letter from Dr. Walsh, dated October 27, 1841, from which the following extracts are taken : — "The Royal Charter for Queen's College having at last passed the Great Seal, the Colonial Committee, at their meet- ing on Wednesday last, appointed the Rev. Mr. Liddell, of Lady Glenorchy's Church in this city, to the oflfice of Princi- • The Rev. Henry Gordon, of Gananoque, should not be forgot- ten among ihose who took a warm and efficient interest in its establishment. A very liberal donation from him was called at the time the *' nest-egg " of the fund for the Collie endowment. 75 I LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. pal. Official notice will be given by the Secretary of the Committee to the Hon. W. Morris, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, but from your situation in Kingston, and your offi- cial connection with the University, I think it right that you should have the earliest possible notice. The necessary steps towards loosing Mr. Liddell from his charge are in course of being taken, and we hope he may be able to sail in the steam- packet for Halifax on the 3rd of December rext, so that you will have some idea when you may expect him in Kingston. I have written to Mr. Morris as to the anxious efforts made by the Committee, and I have no hesitation whatever in say- ing that of all the individuals thought of as likely to accept the situation, Mr. Liddell is entitled to the first place. Drs. Gordon, Buchanan, Candlish, Cunningham, Clason, Paul, and other ministers of Edinburgh who were present at the committee meeting when the election took place, all express th'smstlves to the same effect, and from his talents and acquirements and habits and principles, I should be disap- pointed indeed if he does not prove a blessing to the Institu- tion." From some erroneous information which the Colonial Committee had received, they were under the impression that everything was ready for commencing operations, and that the trustees were only waiting the appointment of a Principal, whereas the trustees had no idea that the ap- pointment of a Principal would take place so promptly, but expected that they would be apprised in time to make due preparation for the opening of the college. Accord- ingly they were quite unprepared for this announcement ; nothing was ready — intending students had not been ap- prised, and they had not even a house in which the classes could be commenced. Mr. Machar and the other trustees were placed in a situation of great perplexity. They felt the extreme awkwardness of the situation, and the disap- pointment which Dr. Liddell must feel when he arrived, which he did in the end of December, coming directly to Mr. Machar's house. It was exceedingly painful to Mr. Machar to meet Dr. Liddell, knowing the disappointment he must feel in finding things so different from what he 76 LENGTHENED VISIT TO SCOCLAND. had expected, and to have to inform him, as he imme- diately did, of the situation of affairs, expressing his regret that it should be as it was. Dr. Liddell's disappointment was very great. He had left Scotland hurriedly, leaving his family behind, lest the interests of the college should suffer from any delay. But he bore it in a noble and Christian spirit, uttering no reproach, but rather sympa- thising with the trustees in their difficulty, and expressed himself as being willing to commence immediately with whatever students they could collect, however few they might be. A house — such as they could get — was imme- diately taken and fitted up with class-rooms, the opening of the college immediately announced, and the Rev. P. C. Campbell, of Brockville, who had been elected Classical Professor, was summoned to his post. The trustees had decided, in their present circumstances, to begin with two professors — the Principal to take the theological depart- ment, and Mr. Campbell the faculty of arts. The college was opened with seven or eight advanced students who intended to study for the ministry, and some ten or twelve who were to commence their course in arts. But the ex- tremely low state of education in Canada at that time was revealed by the fact that even of that small number of students, very few were fitted to be matriculated. Professor Campbell did all in his power to remedy the deficiency, and even gave two hours a day to ground the students thoroughly in the elements of classical education. That the state of education in Canada is now so different, is owing, in no small degree, to the good work done by Queen's College, for, besides many useful members of the other professions who have done ample credit to their Alma Mater, she has sent out not a few efficient teachers, who have been of great service in diffusing thorough Grammar- school education throughout the Province. The additional duties which the affairs of the college and the presence of the seat of Government involved, occupied Mr. Machar's mind and time to such an extent 77 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. that he was often oppressed with work, and interrupted in his meditations for the pulpit. This was a great trial to him, as he ever felt deeply his responsibility as a minister, and his pastoral duties were always the most congenial and delightful part of his work. He wrote to his sister in October, 1842 : — '* I should have written to you long ere now, but I have always been occupied with many more matters than L is pos- sible for me to attend to. Formerly I used to think my situa- tion a laborious one, but the labour then was nothing to what it has been since the transferring of the seat of Government to Kingsfn, and the opening of the college. The Presbyterian population here has in consequence been greatly increased, and our church accommodation is now inadequate to meet the wants of the people. A new church and minister must be thought of, but in the meantime the whole burden of the pas- toral office lies upon me. The duties of our church courts, too, are more burdensome than they used to be. This is Friday, and this \/eek I have attended a meeting of Presby- tery a hundred miles distant, where we had a whole day's business. Such incessant, varied and often difficult employ- ments are wearing, nay, very wearing, but here, in the course of Divine Providence, is the post assigned me for the present, and as long as I am continued here, the promise will not fail, * As thy day is, so shall thy strength be.' I hope, my dear sister, you will look to this promise, and have faith in its ful- filment. Our second session of Queen's College has just commenced, with a promising increase of students. The Parliament of Canada is now sitting here, and during its meeting we have had a good many political changes. We know not what the results may be." But other changes than political ones were at hand, more immediately affecting — and that in a very painful manner — his own ministerial work. A sad ecclesiastical change was, ere long, to take place, and another Presby- terian congregation was to be formed in Kingston, under circumstances little thought of when the foregoing lines were penned. 78 CHAPTER VII. 1844. DIVISION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA. LEVIOUSLY to this time, although Mr. Machar had had much wearing labour both of mind and body, he had yet enjoyed out- ward peac? peace in his congregation, and union with his brethren. But a painful trial was now to be felt. The Controversies between the Church ' of Scotland and the Civil Courts had then been stir- ring the heart of Scotland to its core. It is unneces- sary here to enter into the merits of the questions in dispute, or their results. Many faithful ministers, rather than submit to a state of matters of which they conscientiously disapproved, were willing to suffer the loss of all things and trust in God, towards whom they desired to maintain a conscience void of offence, and their trust was not disappointed. A disruption became inevitable ; all found themselves obliged to espouse one side or the other. The Church of Scotland had long enjoyed much liberty to be faithful to Christ, but she had settled on her lees and been at ease ; and her unfaithfulness had brought upon her from the Lord the heavy chastenings of divisions and separations, — brother separated from brother, — no longer able to see 79 I LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. eye to eye, but misconceiving and condemning each other. To his own master, each man standeth or falleth. There were, and are, still, on both sides, many whose consciences are dear in this thing, and in the present time the spirit of bitterness and division is giving way to a spirit of peace and the desire for union. Love is of God, and the love of God alone can truly unite and prosper the Church. The following admirable sentiments on this subject are extracted from an address by Lord Ardmillan, a con- sistent and conscientious Free Church man, and one of the Lords of Session, given at a Conference of elders on the Union question, at which he acted as Chairman : — '*Now, I most distinctly state and emphatically declare, that I am not actuated bv any hostility to the Established Church. I cherish no such feelings, and am influenced by no such motives. The experience of the many years which have passed since the Disruption, has tended not only to allay the irritations and smooth the asperities incident to such a strug- gle, but to satisfy me that many harsh words, in these times of conflict and severance, were unmerited and unbecom- ing ; that good men remaining within the Established Church acted as honestly and faithfully, according to their ovm views and on their own principles, as I hope I did upon mine ; and that there are now vrithin the Established Church a number — I hope and believe a great number — of pious and worthy men, ministers and laymen, who are faithfully devoting them- selves to labours which God OMms and blesses in proclaiming the Gospel message, and in many ways striving to advance the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour. Those who know me will, I am sure, give me credit for saying this in all simplicitv and sincerity. I have uniformly acted in accordance with this declaration, and I do most heartily wish success to every Christian work within the Established Church. At the same time, it was for no trifling reasons, and dn no light grounds, that I quitted the Establishment. I have always felt, and now again declare, that that step was a very grave and solemn proceeding, which nothing could justify but clear grounds and deep convictions. On these grounds and convictions I acted." It is refreshing to hear, from one in so influential a 80 Si7^ DIVISION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA. own Views position, a testimony so Christian, so large-hearted and so candid, which, while decidedly avowing and adhering to his own conscientious views, admits the equal consci- entiousness and honesty of those who hold views and principles opposed to his. It may be hoped that there are many men of this type in both sections of the Church. The disruption of the Church of Scotland was deeply felt by the Presbyterians in Canada, but it could not have been anticipated that it would cause a disruption of the Church there. There were, indeed, strong opinions and sympathies on both sides, and a good deal was done to excite and intensify them ; but in Canada the causes in no dfgree existed which produced the disruption in Scot- land. There was no patronage, and there could be none. There never was nor could be any interference, jurisdic- tion or control attempted by the State over the Church, even in her temporal affairs. No voluntary Church in the world could be more free than she was. It is painful to linger over this iinhappy period of tl-se Church's history, but in justice to the memory of one who was ever con- sistent and conscientious in the course he pursued, and who was at the time much misconstrued by those opposed to him, it is right to give his own views, as expressed in his private letters to his friends on the subject. The fol- lowing letter was wrttten to his friend Dr. Simpson, of Kintore, in January, 1844 : — " Mv DEAR Friend, — I have been much longer in writing to you than I intended, but it was not from forgetfulness, nor backwardness in sympathising with you under the trouble through which you have passed, or may now be passing. It has arisen partly from the continual and urgent pressure of ministerial duty, which has of late been heavier than 1 can well bear, and partly, too, I must confess, from a shrinking from adverting to some topics of present overwhelming inter- est on which I hold views different from yours. " You say you do not exacdy know my mind upon some of the great questions that have agitated the Church of late years, G 81 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. I have, in a great measure, abstained from entering upnon the question in my letters to my friends. I very long, — indeed almost to the last, — cherished the hope that tne storm would blow over, and I was willing to shun controversies, for which, while I could, with great difficulty, find time for them, I fondly hoped there would be no necessity. Had I been a minister in Scotland, I know not how I should have acted at the late eventful crisis. I could not, however, — with my present light, — were I called upon to take a side, — make up my mind to desert the Established Church, or take one step for its over- throw. I have not been indifferent to those great principles for which you have contended. I think them deeply import- ant, and because I do so, I would yet contend for them within the walls of the establishment. My very dear friend, I scarcely intended, when I began, to say so much upon this subject. I view the matter with no violent, but with deeply sorrowful feelings. '* You may suppose that I have been sounded as to whether I would return to Scotland to occupy a post in the Established Church. My brief reply has been, — I would notj in my pre- sent circumstances, take one step to be brought home. I have been labouring to promote peace here, by entreating those of opposite views to bear with each other upon points having no bearing upon our ecclesiastical condition in Canada, and to prevent the introduction of what would only divide those who cannot afford to be divided ; but how far we may succeed in promoting peace I cannot foresee. We are in a very ticklish state, both as respects political and ecclesias- tic£d matters. Dr. Cunningham is now in New York, and should he visit us and seek our separation, there is no saying what may happen. A church which, weak though it was, was beginning to do some good, and might have done more, may be rent asunder, and that for no reason ; for, as you are aware, our connection with the Established Church implies no jurisdiction or control or interference whatever. The storm here may blow over, but it may not, and you may hear of our passing through the same scenes which you have passed through." In March, 1844, he wrote to his sister : — " Yesterday week was our Spring Conmiunion Sabbath. We had fine weather and large audiences on all the days, as well 82 DIVISION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA. as a large number of communicants. Twenty-five young communicants and twenty-eight strangers were added. Peace has hitherto reigned among us, but attempts are being made to bring about a disruption. Those who know the relation of the Presbyterian Church in Canada to the Civil Courts, may well wonder how this should have entered the minds of persons at a distance. Here we have no patronage, no interference of any kind from the State or the Civil Courts. We possess the most perfect freedom as to spiritual jurisdiction. In vain, how- ever, do we state these things. It is yet to be hoped, however, that better counsels will prevail. In such a place as Kingston, there might be twofcongregations, but in many other places, where the Presbyterians are thinly settled, divisions would in all likelihood put an end to the administration of Divine ordinances for many a day. Those among us who are for peace in regard to matters where there is no call to go to war, must lay our account to be condemned as enemies to Christ and His Kingdom. All this matters 'ery little if we are enabled to preserve consciences void of ofience towards God and towards man. The Synod meets here in July, and here, we are told by the newspapers, the battle must be fought. The meaning of which is just this ; — the poor Presbyterian Church of Canada, her ministers and people, who have not a single reason for separation, but every reason to preserve union, must, for some days, oppose each other, and then separate, to hinder each other's work, instead of unitedly advancing the Kingdom of their common Lord. Drs. Cunningham and Bums are in the Uniled States, but neither of them has yet paid us a visit. We must, however, be prepared to receive them. Receive them kr'ndly we shall some of us assuredly do, but as we are yet in a Church in connection with the Established Church of Scotland, — to be honest, we must be determined to act consistently with that title in our inter- cour-e with them. I have never agitated about the contro- versies at home, but have just continued to preach the Gospel and attend to my pastoral work." To the intention he thus expressed, he firmly adhered. He would gladly have welcomed the Free Church Depu- tation to his pulpit to preach the Gospel in brotherly kindness. But he could not admit the controversial discussion of the questions at issue, until they had first 83 i , LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. been regularly disposed of by the highest Court of the Church. On June nth, 1844, he writes again :— " The Deputation has been here, and the consequences are just what was anticipated. It is easy to excite strife among brethren ; — far easier than to unite them in the bonds of love. A storm has been raised which may not soon be laid. Wounds have been inflicted upon a Church ill able to bear them, and which half a century may not heal. Alas! these bitter conten- tions are wounding things. They try us sorely, and few there are that, passing through them, escaped unhurt. I desire deeply to acknowledge the kindness of Mr. , in desiring to forward my being brought to Scotland, though unknown to him. Were I ever to return to labour in the Church of Scot- land, I would strive for her purity. I should contend for much that many of the Free Church ministers sought, but I should, so far as I see matters, contend for them ivithin the Church. There would be many difficulties, however, in the way of my returning. The very attachment of my people at this time would render it far more difficult to leave them than at any former time ; and again, I would not go into any parish unless I were particularly called by the people, and were to receive a cordial welcome. I love my people here, and could not easily part with them, and, even if I were positively called, I do not say that I would return home. Let us seek in this, as in all other matters, to look to God, and He will direct our steps. I am much concerned about the college. The Pro- ' fessors are excellent and able men, but what can such an institution do under difficulties which would have been next to insurmountable, had the Presbyterian bodv continued united, but which are rendered much more formidable by our wretched divisions ?" The division of the Presbyterian Church in Canada was felt by those most deeply concerned for its welfare to be the greatest evil that could befall it. It is unnecessary to enter into the circumstances connected with that sad event permitted by God in judgment, but also for correction. By many it was lightly regarded, and even thought to be a good thing by some who quoted the words of our Lord, — 84 DIVISION OF TME PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA. "1 come not to send peace on earth, but rather division ,**' as if they conveyed a sanction for divisions, whereas they were spoken of those who should oppose the Gospel wherever it was preached, causing divisions even amotig families ; as our Lord foretold. The seed of the serpent is ever persecuting the seed of the woman, but the rending asunder a Church of Christ, which is one body, is a very awful thing. The worst fears of those who longed for peace were realised by the disruption which took place at the following Synod ; and the Presbyteriaii Church of Canada, which had been formed under such hopeful auspices, was broken asunder. Brethren in the ministry who were united, and worked heart and hand with each other, were separated, and thrown into a position of almost antagonism. Many congregations who had been united under one minister, who was quite sufficient for their needs, were now divided under two ministers, who, with their people, were subjected to the strong temptation of com- petition and unholy rivalry, while the poor and thinlysettled localities of the country were left spiritually destitute ',-^ evils sad enough, yet only symptomatic of deeper evil, — the quenching of the love of Christ in the Church. Had this not been so, a better way would have been found than separation. There may be activity, there may be zeal, there may be numbers in the Church ; but, if the love of Christ is not there, the real union of the Head to the Body, and of the members to one another, the /(/Sr, is wanting, for the love of Christ is the true and only life of the Church. " As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you ; continue ye in my love." ** This is my com- mandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Nor is it only the division in this particular case that iH so deplorable. The many divisions in the Church of Christ — the many isolated sections into which it is broken — are a stumbling block to the unconverted at home, and a 85 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. h r>; bindiance to missionary efforts among the heathen. It can hardly indeed be hoped that the Church, in its present divided state, can be greatly blessed in her missions to the heathen, or that she can manifest Christ as the Light of the World, while she is so far from accomplishing the design of her Lord, the Head of His Church, whose prayer is, — and that prayer shall yet be accomplished, — " that they all may be one^ as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee ;-r-that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me," The meeting of Synod at which the Disruption was accomplished took place at Kingston in July, 1844. Had tue separation not been hurried on at a time of great agi- tation and excitement, it might, in all probability, never have taken places Had the office-bearers and members of the Church delayed, in the spirit of love, another year, for calm and prayerful consideration, the Lord would have given them light in those things in which tuey were "otherwise minded," and they would have remained united. Brother would not have been ludely severed from brother; pastors would not have been severed from their flocks, nor families rent asunder, — ^nor the unseemly spectacle presented to the world, of a Church holding one doctrine, government and form of worship, torn into two parts working against each other, in a spirit of rivalry and emu- lation. There can be no doubt that the deputation sent out by the Free Church of Scotland, and the influence of the secular press, by agitating and exciting the people, had much to do with accelerating the movement In the beginning of that Meeting of Synod, two much esteemed ministers, who afterwards threw all tiieir energies into the interests of the Free Church, were asked whether they thought a disruption would take place. '* Oh, no ! " said one, "the minority will exonerate their conscience by entering their dissent, as John Willison did." " But," said the other, if there is not a disruption of the ministers^ I 86 DIVISION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA. fear there will be one of ^t people; fbr the pressure from without is great at present." Here, for the sake of truth, must be noticed a mistaken statement occurring in a letter by a minister of the Can- jda Presbyterian Church, which appears in the Life of the late Dr. Bums. The passage is as follows : " When the Synod met at Kingston before our disruption, I remem- ber going with Dr. Bums to the Governor to ascertain his mind in regard to the Government grant, should our Church carry out our resolution to follow the example of the Free Church at home. He told us that if we were unanimous, all our privileges would be confirmed, but that if any remained, they could claim them. We told this to the Synod, but some of them were afraid of losing the loaves and the fishes. Now there was no need of disrap- tion in this country ; all we had to do was to drop the words — * in connexion with the Church of Scotland.* " In regard to this statement it may be observed in the first place, that Dr. Bums was not present at that meeting of Synod at all, having left Canada some time before. But the hte Chief Justice McLean, who was present ar, an elder, explaii^ed the position of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and her right to enjoy her temporal privileges as a branch of the Church of Scotland in Canada. It was not however the words — "/« connexion with** — that caused the difficulty. Many in the Synod would have been willing to drop that designation, though they did not wish that their doing so at that time should have the effect of condemning and repudiating the Mother Church. A resolution to drop the designation, while at the same time continuing on terms of "fraternal intercourse not only with the parent Church, but with all other Presbyterian Churches holding the same standards," was moved by the Rev. Robert McGill and seconded by the Rev. John Clugston, but it was, unfortunately, not adopted by the Synod. Those, again, who seceded at that time, con- sidered "that the designation — * In connexion with the 87 ■4 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. Cnurch ofScotland, after having been distinctly explained, might without any compromise of principle be retained^ as it did not, of itself, irrespective of the actings of the Synod, imply connexion with the Established Church, or limit their freedom of action in regard to her." * What they did seek was, to repudiate that Church, to separate from her communion and withdraw from the fraternal inter- course they had hitherto held with her. This the majority of the Synod would not do, nor would their people have don"! so, even had it been done by all the ministers there assembled, who would thus have left many of their people, over whom they had been ordained, to be scattered as sheep without a shepherd. It is worthy of remark, that^ while the withdrawal of the S)mod from connexion and communion with the Church of Scotland was strongly urged by the seceding party, there was, however, with them, no opposition in prin- ciple to receiving the endowment. It was even urged by one who was most urgent for separation, that the words ^^ in connexion" might be preserved in order to sew*, the endowment^ — provided that the Synod separated from the communion of the Established Church of Scotla^id. Mr. Machar, it is hardly necessary to say, telt the dis- ruption intensely. It grieved him to the heart to be sepa- rated from his brethren in the ministry, with whom he had hitherto walked in love and in unity of spirit and purpose, and to see some of his flock, over whom he had carefully and lovingly watched, alienated from him, and even brought to believe that he was an enemy to the kingdom and the glory of Christ. He was also much grieved on account of Queen's College, in originating which the Church had been so united, and which they hi\d established with so much labour and care. ITow^ the energies of some who had been active in founding this * Quoted from resolution of the Rev. Dr. Bayne, in ihe miDUtes of the Synod of 1844. 88 ^masm DIVISION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA. much needed Institution were to be employed on a rival one, a state of things in which, as it seemed, neither could prosper. But the disruption was now a fait accompli, and it was useless to waste time in unavailing regrets over what had become a thing of the past. Feeling this, Mr. Machar, now that the excitement of the struggle was over, found a solace for the painful feelings it had occasioned, in applying him- self quietly and faidifuUy to the pastoral work which he had always loved. He now fe'it himself more truly than ever the pastor of his flock, to whom it seemed to form a fresh bond of union, that they had, as it were, chosen him a second time, manifesting their confidence in him by remaining under his ministry, while others had left it It was remarkable that, with one single exception, all the trustees, elders, and Sabbath-school teachers of his congre- gation had continued staunchly to adhere to their old church and their beloved pastor. 89 •» CHAPTER VIII. 1844-1849. PRINCIPALSHIP OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE. THIRD VISIT TO SCOTLAND. * ^OT long after the disruption, the Rev. W. C. Bums, son of Mr. Machar's old friend, the minister of Dun, afterwards the ardently pious and devoted missionary to China, visited Kingston, where he remained for some time, earnestly preaching as an evangelist in and around Kingston. He came as identified with no Church, but simply as a Christian evangelist, endeavouring to win souls to Christ. He visited the manse, where he was gladly welcomed, and the Scripture readings and Christian intercourse which he held with its inmates were especially delightful to them at a time when the bitterness of division was still deeply felt. Mr. Machar was at that time visiting pastorally in the country, and Mr. Bums requested him to intimate to the people at the week-day service held by him, the time of his own coming to preach in that locality, so ready was his Catholic spirit to co-operate with a brother in Christ Mr. Machar's people had recently built for him a sub- stantial and commodious manse, close to the church, which, as it was somewhat of the old Scottish type, was sometimes playfully styled by visitors a " model manse." Into this he had recently removed, and he much enjoyed 90 PRINCIPALSHIP OF QUEENS COLLEGE. rHIRD VISIT planning and la)ring out the grounds — a most congenial recreation to him at all times. In the autumn of 1845, the Church of Scotland sent a deputation to Canada and the l#ower Provinces, consist- •ng of Dr. Simpson, of Kirknewton ; Dr. John Macleod, of Morven ; and his nephew, the late lamented Dr. Nor- man Macleod. The latter came simply as the minister of Dalkeith, his name being then scarcely known in Canada, but all who came in contact with him were fascinated by his genial, loving, philanthropic spirit, and large-hearted catholicity. On the Sunday of the deputation's visit, he gave a most impressive and practical address to parents and children, in St Andrew's Church. He earnestly ex- horted them to fulfil the parental duty of Christian home training. He warned them against tmsting to the Sab- bath-school alone for the religious education of their children, since upon them was laid this responsibility, and unless the Scriptural instruction received at the Sunday- school were impressed on the heart and conscience m its application to the duties and relations of daily life, it would, in all probability, remain a dead letter. This im- pressive and useful exhortation was long remembered by the parents who heard it Never had Mr. Machar been more happy in his pastoral work than he was after the troublous and agitated dis- ruption times had passed away; and never had there been more life and spirituality in his preaching. It was at this time that he commenced a most useM congregational work, carried on by the ladies of his congregation, the history of which will be more fully narrated in succeeding pages. New and unforeseen trials were, however, at hand. The Principal of Queen's College, the Rev. Dr. Liddell, now minister of Lochmaben, Scotland, and the Rev. Pro- fessor Campbell, now Principal of the University of Aber- deen, to both of whom the disruption in Canada had been a very severe trial, resigned their professorships in Queen's College, and returned to Scotland. Their departure was 91 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. felt to be a heavy blow to the college. Both were gentle- men of high principle and profound scholarly attainments ; and thoroughly acquainted with collegiate training, as well as fully equipped for the duties of their respective posts. They had deeply felt the difficulties and discouragements they had had to contend with from the very low state of education in Canada, but they had been willing to devote themselves to the work of moulding and training the minds of the youth committed to them, and of raising education to a much higher standard, thus diffusing its elevating influence throughout Canada. But they now felt their position so much changed, and the difficulties of doing the good they desired to do so much increased by the division of the Church into two rival sects, that they determined to retmn to their native country. The Rev. Dr. Williamson, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, was the only professor now left to the college, to which he has adhered through all the phases of its history, a much esteemed and beloved professor, devoted to the interests of iJie University. The loss of Principal Liddell and Professor Campbell was deeply felt by the whole Synod, but by none so much as by Mr. Machar, who had walked side by side with them in unbroken friendship and harmony, and who entertained for them a high esteem and a warm personal regard. In 1846, the Synod took into their most serious con- sideration the question — what was to be done with Queen's College ? They could not think of letting it go down, needed as it was, both for the sake of higher education in the country, and, in a special manner, for the ministry of the Church. Mr. Machar was solicited to become Prin- cipal and Professor of Hebrew, for the present, at least ; and the Rev. George Romanes, then minister of Smith's Falls, and a man of vigorous ability and thorough scholar- ship, yfi\s appointed Classical Professor. As a provisional arrangement, also, for the theological department. Dr. UrqiAart, of Cornwall, and Dr. George, of Scarboro', were 9« PRINCIPALSHIP OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE. lenous con- requested to become Professors of Theology, dividing the session between their respective courses of lectures. These arrangements took effect during the following session. Mr. Machar thus wrote to his sister in October, 1846 : — " In consequence of the greatly lamented resignation of my friend Dr. Liddell of his office cw Principal of Queen's Col- lege, I have yielded to the solicitations of my brethren here, to become Principal lor a time. You may wonder at this, that, having already so much to do, I should take upon myself more. But it was unavoidable. I was unwilling to see an Institution go down that we need so much, and after all, as I am to have colleagues in the Divinity department, and as the number of students is not great, my duties in the University will not add very greatly to my labours, and will not interfere with my pastoral duties. All I have engaged to do, at present, is to preside over the Institution, to assist in its government, and meet twice in the week with the Divinity students. I really feel overworked here, however, and at times long for rest. I have now been in the harness ever since my last visit to Scotland^ — I may say without inteimission, and a pause from labour has become in some measure necessary. Whether I may be able to visit Scotland next yi^ar, I cannot yet tell. I have not yet got a missionary assist: lut, but may perhaps succeed in getting one before Spring, and if so, I may be over, if it please God to spare me. We must look to God more in all our affairs. He is our true portion in the land of the living, and I am more and more convinced, however toil- some and distracting I feel my labours here, His blessing and presence alone can make us happy anywhere. Oh ! let us seek to realise this, for, without our realising it, our religion is really nothing. My chaplaincy to the 71st Regiment, which has just terminated, (that regiment having just been removed from Kingston,) has been pleasant, though it added a good deal to my labours. I have always much comfort among my own people, with whom I dwell in peace, and that makes up for many other disquiets. Our Missionary Association scheme prospers, and all my people are anxious to get me an assistant, as they art- all persuaded that I have more to do than one man ought to have." 93 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. i To his fidend, Mr. Alexander, Brechin, he writes : — " Life, with me, has been a scene of unceasing toil, since we parted in 1839. I do not murmur at this, for I am never happier than when engaged in the duties of the ministry. It has been our hap to light upon strange times in the Church. We have seen sad things in our day, for surely it is one of the saddest things to see brother warring with brother, and des- troying one another's work for differences of opinion in mat- ters which do not practically affect them. With ^ou, there might have been cause for division, but, here division took place without a cause. This is now beginning to be felt, but the c(^viction comes too late. Wounds may be inflicted in a moment which many long years may not heal. It has been my lot, in these sad times, to stand upon one of the high places of the field, and I, of course, have had my share of attack, but I am thankful that I have been enabled to hold on the even tenor of my way. It was not difficult, indeed, for me to do so, in my circumstances. Having an attached peo- ple, who ("with some exceptions, however^ approved of^the course I adopted, and thus being peaceful within, it was com- parativelyeasy to remain undiscomposed by the storm without. Many of my brethren have had far more trial than I have had. I enjoy, on the whole, good health, but the work I have is far too much for me, and this winter it is somewhat in- creased, from my having had to accept the Principalship of Queen's College, for the time, in consequence of the much regretted resignation of Dr. Liddell." In the summer of 1847 occurred a severe visitation of typhus fever, called " ship fever " from its origination, in many cases, in the overcrowded ships that brought over Irish emigrants ; too often, only to die in a strange land. This epidemic caused serious additions to Mr. Machar's laboiu^, as well as called him frequently into scenes of deadly infection from which he never shrank. He thus wrote to his sister in July, 1847 • — " Though very busy just now, I sit down to write you a few lines this morning, knowing that you will be anxious about us in this time of prevailing sickness. There has been an im- mense emigration from Ireland this summer. Poor people, many of them will never be settled here ! Hundreds of them, 94 PRINCIPALSHIP OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE. —I might say thousands, — have been cut off by that malig- nant fever, either brought from Ireland, or generated in the over-crowded vessels which have brought them over. At every town on the St. Lawrence, on their way to Upper Canada, multitudes of them are lying sick. Here, at present, the num- ber of the sick in the hospitals, in tents and in private dwel- lings, is between three and four hundred, and there have been sometimes upwards of twenty deaths in one day. The fever is now spreading among the people of the town also. Hun- dreds who were in attendance upon the sick have died of the fever. Several Roman Catholic pn<;sts and ministers of the Church of England have died in Loiieer Canada, and a Ro- man Catholic priest died here yesterday. By the mercy of God, we have all been preserved in health hitherto, although I have been much occupied in attending upon the sick and the dying ; but the events around us are veiy solemn, and say to us * Be ye also ready.' '* On December loth of the same year, he wrote again to the same : — " By a newspaper I sent you, you will see that my people, after waiting long, and seeing no prospect of a missionary assistant from Scotland, have given an invitation to Mr. John B. Mowat, a son of one of my elders, who is now in £din- burgh' Should he accept the invitation, as I think it likely he will, I shall much rejoice, as I have a very high opinion of him personally, and also of his qualifications, and am per- suaded that he will prove an efficient as well as an acceptable labourer in the Lord's vineyard." He had, in March, 1847, received from the University of Glasgow the degree of Doctor of Divinity. The diploma, at the request of his congregation, was first transmitted to them, and by them presented to their pas- tor, in a very gratifying manner, together with iui affec- tionate address and a handsome pulpit gown. The honour was quite imexpected, as it was unsolicited. He refers to his feelings in regard to it in a letter written to his friend Mr. Alexander, October loth, 1847 •, — " I cannot tell you, my dear friend, how happy it makes me to receive your account of Mrs. A. I feel assured that shoul4 95 ll LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. she and I be spared to meet once more on earth, we shall be able to hold fellowship together in the same spirit of kindness which ever marked our past intercourse, and that when we revert to ti.e sad rendings asunder that have taken place, we shall be disposed, instead of blaming one another with bitter- ness, to mourn over the iniquities on all hands, which pro- voked these heavy Judgments, and to pray that He who can bring order out of confusion, and good out of evil, would, after showing us all our sins, and humbling us under them, graciously heal our breaches and restore peace to our Zion. You refer to the ^ief and trouble I must have had in these evil days. Of this I have no doubt had my share, but in the midst of it all I have had my consolations too, and I am thankful that I have never suffered my spirit to be embittered by what was sufficiently trying to flesh and blood. " Last year when Dr. Liddell resigned the principalship of Queen's College, I accepted the office temporarily, and this year again, at the urgent request of the trustees, I have con- sented to continue ; — with much reluctance, however. Much as my brother-professors do to lighten my labours, — and they do all in their power for me, — the college takes from me more time than I can spare for it ; — not that my people have ever made this remark in reference to my engagements in the college, for I am very happy with them. Indeed few minis- ters, perhaps, have been happier with a people than I have been with mine. Still I wish to give myself wholly to the pastoral work, and whenever I can, rightly, lay down the prin- cipalship, it will be a great deliverance. " You congratulate me on receiving the degree of D.D. I thank you for your congratulations, but if I refer to this event at all, It is to say that you heard of it long before I did — ^that I never dreamed of receiving such a distinction, and that my feelings on hearing of it were rather of depression than of elevation, remembering that there were others more entitled than I to such an honour. Yet there was one thing in regard to it which was pleasing ; it was, that as it was bestowed upon me utterly without my knowledge or privity, — so was the an- nouncement of it conveyed to me in the most gratifying way, and in terms specially referring to my labours as a pastor of Christ." In May, 1848, Dr. Machar was enabled to fulfil a desire which he had for some time cherished, of revisiting Scot- 96 PRINCIPALSHIP OF QUEEN's COLLEGE. land ; — the state of his health, after so many years of arduous and unremitting labour, very much requiring rest and change. His place was supplied, until the arrival of his assistant, by his friend, Professor Williamson. On the voyage, he experienced a very trying disappoint- ment Upon the arrival of the steamer at Halifax, he went ashore, and having been misinformed by one of the officers that the vessel would remain in port for three hours, returned, — at the end of two^ to find, to his great disap- pointment, the vessel steaming out of the harbour. In a letter from Halifax, he thus writes about what seemed at the time to be a great misfortune. " I thought, as I had so much time, I would call upon the two ministers, Messrs. Martin and Scott, which I did ; and at the end of two hours I was returning slowly to the vessel, in company with Mr. Scott, when casting my eye towards the harbour, I saw the Acadia already under weigh for England, and found that I was left behind. You know I am not easily turned from an object; — I was, for the moment, overwhelmnd, but I immediately proceeded to do everything which was pos- sible, in the circumstances, with the view of reaching the vessel. I got signals from the citadel, I procured a boat, &c., but all was in vain. I was too late ! This, you will easily con- ceive, was a severe trial ; — left a stranger, without money, separated from my luggage, — ^having no hope, as I thought at first, of reaching Scotland in time for the meeting of the Assembly, &c., &c. My disappointment and anxiety threw me for a day or two into a high fever, and Friday night, and Saturday the 6th were days I shall not easily forget On Sabbath, however, I was better, and in the great mercy of our Heavenly Father, I am again restored to my ordinary staie of health. I am staying at the house of the Rev. Mr. Scott, and nothing could exceed the kindness of both Mr. and Mrs. Scott to the stranger. If ever the Lord shall bring me back to my habitation, we must be kinder to strangers than we have yet been ! " This thing was evidently in the Providence of Him who ruleth over all ; for wise and gracious reasons, I can have no doubt, I was not permitted to go in the Acadia. This is the view of the matter which I know you will take, and instead H 97 •III [ * S«" 109 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. lieving as he did, with the Westminster Catechism, that it should be administered only to ** the children of those who are members of the visible Church." But when applied to by the ignorant and careless to administer this ordi- nance to their children, he endeavoured to make it a means of drawing the parents to look to the Saviour for themselves, and of instructing those who were ignorant from the neglect of others, foir whom he always felt much sympathy and compassion. His faithfulness in visiting the sick and dying, not shrink- ing, even in seasons of sweeping and contagious epidemics, from penetrating to the wretched and miserable abodes where infection has its strongest hold, has already been adverted to. In those early years, when the immigration was extensive — ^bringing during several seasons, fatal epi- demics in its train, and when the preparations to meet it were very inadequate, there were frequently more burdens in connexion with it laid on the one Presbyterian minister in Kingston, than properly belonged to his office. At a time when there was no hospital in Kingston, he was sometimes obliged to go out in the heat of a noon-day sun in July, ii. search of an asylum for a sick and destitute stranger, not resting until he had found one. On one occasion a young man, an emigrant from Scotland, was brought to Dr. Machar, in the delirium of a brain fever. As no suitable place could be found for him, and as the doctor said he could not recover unless he recei' ed great care, the invalid was received into the Manse and taken care of for several weeks, until he was perfectly recovered, and able to proceed to his destination. The short addresses which he usually gave at ftinerals were regarded by many who listened to them as peculiarly impressive and touching, his quick sympathies enabling him to enter strongly into the feelings of the mourners, and to speak from a deep sense of the solemnity of the occasion. It need hardly be said that his consolatory no PASTORAL AND PERSONAL TRAITS. visits in time of trial were keenly appreciated, and sorely misised by many, when the time came that they must cease. He always took a warm interest in missionary objects, abroad as well as at home. Once a month, from a very early period of his ministry, it was his custom to hold, in- stead of the usual weekly meeting " for prayer and the reading of the Scriptures," a missionary meeting, '* for the communication of missionary intelligence," and although such intelligence was then far from being so abundant as it is now, he was able to make these meetings both inter- esting and profitable, a collection being made at its close for some foreign missionary object. Missionaries from abroad, when they visited Kingston, were always warmly welcomed to his pulpit and received his cordial sympathy. Dr. Machar's disposition was naturally cheerful, genial and sociable, and he possessed a strong vein of playful humour, which, when not overborne by the pressure of ministerial or public cares and responsibilities, often en- livened his familiar conversation, though it never degen- erated into anything like levity. He enjoyed social intercourse, especially Christian intercourse, though it was a pleasure which he had to deny himself in a great me^iure, owing to the constant occupation of his time with duties which he felt he could not neglect. The frequent occa- sions when some of his brethren in the ministry were with him at the Manse, were seasons of pleasant relaxation, and often profitable interchange of thought and feeling ; and it was always a source of regret to him when, on such occa- sions, the more external matters of Church organization crowded out more spiritual and important subjects of con- verse. He often wished that he were able to have more frequent personal intercourse with his brother clergymen of other denominations, in Kingston, but from his enfeebled health, chiefly caused by frequent attacks of erysipelas in the head, which very much affected his nerves, his ordinary III ' . . n I 1 \f , 1 LIFE OP THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. avocations were often interrupted, so that an accumulation of work had to be overtaken on his recovery. But while keenly alive to simple social pleasures, he never countenanced, either by example or influence, amusements or social meetings which partook so much of the spirit of this world as to be, he believed, unfit for those who have undertaken to follow Christ, and to " love not the world.'' In regard to such things his opinion was well known, and he was faithful in expressing it when the occasion arose. He strongly disapproved, also, of meet- ings in connexion with churches, which mingle amuse- ment with sacred things, and introduce the spirit of the world into the Church. He felt that they fostered a taste which must grow with its gratification, and that they must increase the natural love of excitement, and the equally- natural distaste for spiritual things, especially in the young, to whom he believed that they must be most injurious. He was naturally careful and accurate in everything he did, and on this account found it impossible to Aurry through any part of his work. He used to say that he could not do nearly as much work in the same time as some were able to do, and that it was only by attention to method, to doing everything in its own time, and never leaving till to-morrow what should be done to-day, that he was able to accomplish what was given him to do. Whatever he undertook he was most i>ithful and con- scientious in performing, whether it was ...xe duties con- nected with his own congregation or the more public ones imposed upon him by the Church, or in connection with the college. None were ever forgotten, neglected or care- lessly performed, and every appointment was punctually kept, unless some very unusual and sufficient cause occurred to prevent it. He was as conscientious, also, in his judgments, as in the performance of active duty, earnestly seeking, at all times, to keep his mind from being unduly biassed by feeling or prejudice — a characteristic that made his opinion especially valued in Church courts, XI2 I PASTURAL AND PERSONAL TRAITS. and in the other boards of management with which he was connected. Always strictly upright, accurate, just and honest, both in speech and in transactions, and careful to obey the Apostolic injunction to " owe no man anything," he was liberal in giving, either to public or private objects, and he was always ready to help those in need of his aid, especially in cases for which he felt particular sympathy, where extreme poverty was, with difficulty, hidden under a decent and respectable exterior. " The Lord has been very kind to us,' he would say, when directing some such gift, " and we should not forget to be kind to others." Neat and orderly in all his arrangements, he was at all times scrupulously so in regard to his outward attire, both from a right self-respect and a due regard to the sacred- ness of the ministerial office. He believed that a Christian minister should always be, both in mind and in externals, a Christian gentleman. In counselling another in this particular, he wrote : — " I have said to you, dress zc^//— besides this, cultivate a courteous, graceful and kind manner. My father died when I was a student, and my funds were not always abundant, but, somehow, I managed to purchase many useful books, and, besides, to dress well." His temperament was a highly sensitive one, acutely sensible of either mental or physical pain, and after an attack of erysipelas, he was sometimes liable to a nervous irritability which was a source of great trial to him. But when, under its influence, he had spoken impatiently or unkindly to any one, it made him most unhappy, and he could not rest till he had acknowledged or made compen- sation to the individual. On one occasion, when he par- ticularly desired to be left to study without interruption, a stout able-bodied vagrant arrived and insisted on seeing " the minister." When the latter came down and saw the vigorous applicant for charity, he was rather impauent, and \ "3 i it ! ^ i i 1,1 l-K or-' THK RKV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. dismissed him summarily. A little while after, he came down saying he could not study. He had sent away the man without enquiring particularly into his case, and, after all, he mi'g/U be a person requiring relief — a stranger too, so he must go and try to find him again. He went, ac- cordingly, but, much to his regret, he could not find the dismissed beggar. Kind and genial, as he habitually was to all, — to the poor and helpless, to children, and to dumb animals, he was always especially kind. Except on his occasional visits to Scotland, he rarely left home, unless when called by duty to attend meetings of Synod and Presbytery. During the last few years of his life he yearly spent a week or two at springs or at the sea-side, his delicate health absolutely requiring such a change ; but he always rejoiced in being at home ap^:*in. His chief recreation was in superintending the care of the garden and grounds of the manse, which it gave him much pleasure to lay out and cultivate. It was a great enjoyment to him to see the trees and plants growing and flourishing from year to year, on a spot which his care and taste had converted from a piece of bare common into shady and beautiful grounds, both the beauty and extent of which have, however, by recent alterations, been con- siderably impaired. His always delicate health suffered much from the extreme cold of a Canadian winter, and he greatly rejoiced in the opening buds of spring. The first white narcissus — one of his favourite flowers — which opened its snowy petals and golden crown, was always brought in with delight to grace his study-table, and re- fresh him with its perfume ; and he, every spring, enjoyed anew the beauty and appropriateness of the sacred words — " Lo ! the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell." He had great delight in genuine poetry, both sacred and secular, and some of his own early attempts at writing "4 PASTORAL AND PERSONAL TRAITS. i came my the d, after ;er too, nt, ac- ind the Uy was Ddumb ) rarely leetings years of r at the such a e SLP''An. care of ive him a great ing and :are and on into extent en con- suffered , and he The first —which always and re- enjoyed words — ne ; the iging of )e give a 1 sacred t writing it still exist. Especially he loved the poetry of his native Scotland, with its simple and touching ballads, breathing to him so many cherished early associations ; and he was wont to say that *' there was nothing for pith and pathos like Scottish poetry." luto his happy domestic life it is not necessary to enter, farther than to say that he was a devotedly affectionate husband and father, never so happy as when at Aome. Always watchful for the welfare of his children, he found time even amidst his numerous avocations, to take fre- quent personal supervision of their studies, and even at times to become their preceptor himself, and a more care- ful and accurate one they could not have had. Of the tenor of his counsels to them the following passage taken from a letter addressed to one of them when absent from home, will give an example : — " I feel the time long that you are still to be away from us. But God, who has hitherto preserved us, may again bring us together. We will follow you with our earnest prayers, morn- ing by morning, and evening by evening. You will remember us, too, at a throne of grace, praying God to be with you in the way that you go. You will, necessarily, see much more of the evil of the world, than you have seen before. May you see it, only to abhor it, and if ever temptation to join in it overtake you, look to God for strength to enable you to over- come ii. Intellectually, you will enjoy many precious oppor- rtunities for improvement — morally, you may do so too. Oh, seek to improve them ! Read your Bible regularly, — keep the Sabbath, — think of us daily, and of what our hearts would wish you to be, — pray for the blessing of God. Do this, and all will be well." In regard to temporal matters he was ever unselfish and unworldly. His expenses were always growing, and in later years, from increased prices and the many claims on a city minister's resources, much exceeded his stipend, but of this he never asked any increase. Having some private income, he was not entirely dependent upon what "5 i r LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. he received from his people, and this being the case, he was more anxious to see the congregation freed from the debt which had long lain heavily upon it, and which be- fore his death he had the satisfaction of seeing entirely liquidated, than to add to his own emolument. He was wont to say, " I shall soon need an assistant, and my people will support one for me ;" and in this expectation he was not disappointed. iii he CHAPTER X. ladies' missionary association. \T was in 1845 that an important undertaking was first entered upon by the ladies of St. Andrew's Association, connected with the object of procuring an assistant for their minister, and with another consideration which had I long weighed heavily on Dr. Machar's mind, — the 'spiritual destitution of the country around Kingston. His periodical pastoral visitations among the people, his visiting the sick, and baptising the diildren were as much as he could possibly do ; but this was in no degree adequate to their need. Those who ctfu/ii, came long distances on the Sabbath to attend St Andrew's Church, but those who could not seldom heard a sermon from one year's end to the other. Dr. Machar, after much thought on the subject, had formed a plan whereby an assistant missionary might be supported, and had communicated the project to seve- ral others, who warmly approved of it The ladies of this congregation, in particular, took it up heartily, and sent the following requisition to Dr. Machar, with a hun- dred and three signatures attached : — " We the under- signed ' ladies, members of St Andrew's Church, feeling that your many and unceasing labours in this place demand a united effort on the part of your people to afford you relief, hereby request you to call a meeting of the congre- 117 i i • gation on an early day, to take into consideration the best means of procuring a missionary for the congre- gation, and to aid you in ministering to the spiritual wants of the population in the town and neighbourhood." By the trustees and others, this was felt to be a very serious undertaking. The congregation lay under a heavy debt, which, after the disruption, fell more heavily on those who remained, as those who left the church no longer held themselves accountable. With ;^i9oo of debt on church and manse still unpaid, it was thought by some that it would be preposterous to begin any new scheme, until that liability had been fully liquidated. But the faith and energy of the ladies prevailed. " Fear not," said one, " to enter upon a work for God ; He will prosper it, and the money for the debt will come in all the more on that account." This hope was strikingly realised, as the hope which springs from faith in God for the support of a good work ever will be. The scheme was at once put into ex- ecution. The ladies, who had formed themselves into a Missionary Association, carried out the work most ener- getically, collecting monthly from house to house for the support of the missionary and the liquidation of th^ debt, simultaneously. The people most willingly contributed for this Christian object, which prospered beyond their most sanguine expectations, and at a general meeting of the congregation on April loth, 1846, Dr. Machar was authorized by the congregation to write to Dr. Norman McLeod, requesting him to look out for a young preacher of piety and zeal, who would be fitted for the work of missionary assistant. Owing to the difficulty of obtain- ing ministers at that time, both in Scotland and in Canada, the application was unsuccessful, and after vainly looking to Scotland for some time. Dr. Machar, with the cordial consent of thr congregation invited Mr. J. B. Mowat, now the Rev. Prof. Mowat, of Queen's College, who was at that time completing his theological studies in Edinburgh, to undertake the work. He, however, was not able to 118 T.ADIES MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. now enter upon his duties until July, 1848. Both minister and congregation had cause to be thankful for the selec- tion to which they had been guided. The appointment was a most happy one, and gave unanimous satisfaction, both as regarded the preaching and the abundant and devoted pastoral labours of the missionary. It was a cause of much regret that his stay with them was of such short duration, as he accepted a call to be minister of Niagara before he had completed the second year of his labours in Kingston. The Missionary Assoc Ttion, however, continued stea- dily to carry on its work, and the Rev. Duncan Morrison, now of Owen Sound, was appointed in May, 1850, as the second missionary, and continued to labour devoiedly and with much acceptance until December, 185 1, when he accepted a call to Beckwith. In his Report of July, 1850, he mentions ten stations which he regularly visited, either on Sundays or week days, preaching at the more distant and important ones on the Sabbath, and holding week day sei: vices at those nearer to the city. Two of his stations were at Pittsburg, one in Glenburnie, one at Bal- ly-na-hinch, and one on Wolfe Island. He also visited from house to house, reporting one hundred and thirty families belonging to the church, outside the limits of Kingston, while, every week, new ones were discovered. The Rev. Kenneth Maclennan, now of Peterboro', Ont., was his successor, and was also a most faithful and labo- rious Missionary, and an acceptable preacher. He con- tinued the regular preaching and visitations, devoting much of his time and attention to instructing and cate- chising the young ; and reported a hundred and ninety families', who all, in some degree, received the benefit of his services. On his removal to the charge of Dundas, the late Rev. John Campbell, of Nottawasaga, took his place. He followed in the steps of his predecessors in faithfulness, diligence and devotedness, but he was called I 'I 119 IJFF OF THE RKV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. I 1 away from the mission field at the end of six months, to the charge in which Tie laboured up to the time of his death, eleven years after. The regret felt at his death, and the affection still cherished for his memory by his late cong-egation, is particularly referred to in Mr. Croil's* published Historical and Statistical Report cf the Church in 1866. The extreme scarcity of ministers in proportion to the number of vacant charges, made it impossible, after Mr Campbell's resignation, to procure a licensed preacher as his successor. The monthly collections were therefore suspended, and the Professors of Queen's College under- took to visit and preach in the most distant and important stations, as often as they were able. The Ladies Mission- ary Association, however, could not remain idle while they still saw so much spiritual destitution unprovided for. Wolfe Island, from its isolated situation had been particularly destitute of religious privileges, and its people, often with- out regular Sabbath servicv'— Our Lord Jesus Christ. I see no comfort anywhere but in this, * The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin! ' Dear sister, this is my comfort, so far as I am able to receive it. Oh ! see that it be yours, and that yo\i and I may, ere long, meet where there is no sin and no sorrow. Now don't be much distressed about me. I have just written to you us I feel to-day. Those around me tell me I am more depressed about my condition than there is need to be. You will tell Mr. Alexander what I have written, and ask him to speak to you particularly about the atoiiement of Christ, — how there was a necessity for it, and how He met the necessity, so that now the chief of sinners,— the very chief, may look to Him with confidence for salvation. Is not that comfort both for you and for mo? * This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, even the chief ! ' " The Communion season to which he refers in the fore- going letter was the last occasion on which he was able to be out. His addresses at the table service which he conducted were particularly earnest and impressive. The notes of them which he had written out previously, in a hand tremulous from illness, were afterwards printed for the benefit of his people, as being the last words they ever heard from his lips, and are added at the close of this volume. At the close of the table services, he waited, according to his usual custom, to watch the long train of advancing and receding communicants, according to the old Scottish custom, presenting, at one moment, nearly the whole body of communicants to his view. It was the last time he looked upon his congregation, or was seen M3 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. by them, and the wistful sadness with which his eye rested upon them was noticed at the time. Doubtless the presentiments he was feeling so strongly weighed upon his spirit, as well as the keen sense of the defects he saw in his ministry, which oppressed him during his illness. Perhaps, too, he was thinking of that large por- tion of his congregation who had passed before him into the service of the upper sanctuary. But, though neither pastor nor people knew it at the time, it was a farewell look, and a more appropriate closing scene for a long and faithful ministry could not have been devised. The increasing coldness of the weather seemed to have an aggravating influence upon his disorder, and the painful nervous excitement from which he had suffered was suc- ceeded by an entire prostration of the whole system, ac- companied by great depression, while his condition, owing to the action of the disease upon his peculiar tempera- ment, was one of such morbid sensitiveness and nervous- ness, that during his whole illness he was unable to see any one, even his most intimate friends. With the rarest exceptions, no one except his family and his medical attendant ever entered his library, where he lay during the long confinement to bed that followed a severe shock which his nervous system seemed to have received about the beginning of November. The veil would hardly have been withdrawn from the personal experiences of his inner life during the three months of painful and protracted illness passed in such seclusion, but that it is felt right to record his dying tes- timony to the divine truths which he had believed and taught, and which he now personally realised with a vivid- ness and intensity greater than he had ever before known. It is, unfortunately, too common in our day to speak slightingly of the truths of Revelation, which have been the strength and comfort of so many souls, in sickness and suffering and death, when all other stays were passing from under them — as now obsolete and unworthy the cre- 144 CLOSING YEARS. dence of an enlightened and scientific age; but he, when drawing near the unseen world, and consequently feeling the near presence of God, felt more intensely than ever that they were no "cunningly devised fables," but the very Truth of God. While he lay in a state of bodily weakness and helplessness, his mind was deeply exercised in spiritual things, and he saw, as he had never done be- fore, the holiness of God, — the depth and spirituality and purity of the divine la«7, as taking cognizance of every thought and motive, and of every desire and inclination of the heart. He saw it to be truly good, and the trans- gression of it to be evil, not in word and action merely, but in the thoughts and imaginations, — in the secret move- ments of the inward spirit. He saw that God must con- demn and punish sin, since He would not be the righteous God if He did not ; but it was not Ha^ punishment of sin^ but sin itself that he feic to be such an evil and bitter thing. It was holiness for which he longed, meetness for heaven, and conformity to the mind of Christ. He had a deep sense of the loving-kindness of God shown to himself during all his life, and felt the keenest anguish for having been, as he counted himself, such an unprofit- able servant — adopting the language of Job, " Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." Lying low at the feet of Jesus, he accounted it " a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Ghrist came into the world to save sinners, even the chief;" and his only hope was in Him in whom there is complete redemption, and whose blood " cleanseth from all sin." From the time he became so much worse he felt that "this sickness" was "unto death," and in the derange- ment of his nervous system, and the acute sensibility of every feeling, he felt intensely the pressure of the disease. But he meekly received the suffering, even in its most ajggravated form, as a Father's chastening. " He will do right," he would say ; " He knows what I need, and He will do right. Father, I accept Thv chastening ; I know K 145 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. it is in righteousness and love ! O preserve me from ever murmuring against it, but enable me to say from the heart, •Not wy will, but thine be done,' and let Thy loving pur- pose of discipline be accomplished in me i" He would often engage in audible prayer, asking his Heavenly Father to "look down upon his suffering child," to " save him when flesh and heart fainted and failed," to be " the strength of his heart and his portion for ever." He would repeat the word " Father^'' as if the very name were his comfort and stay. He would also audibly be- seech his Saviour to " cleanse him from all sin, — to leave him not, and let his faith not fail j" and the Holy Spirit, to " be not grieved away from him, to purify and make him meet for the inheritance of light," to " enable him to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus, that he might be changed into the same image." It being remarked to him how suitable were the words of Scripture for prayer, he assented to the remark, but added — " words are not prayer !" He often spoke of his congregation with warm feeling, repeatedly dwelling upon the kindness which they had always shown him. He seemed to remember every spe- cial act of kindness which he had received from any one of them, and he grieved that he had not been more faith- ful and devoted in his ministry, — that he had not more earnestly and solemnly warned them. He sometimes expressed his desire, if it were the will of the Lord to restore him, and to prolong his life, that he might yet more urgently warn and plead with his people. He could tell them how unfit was the mind, on a death- bed, to learn the knowledge of God, and repentance toward Him. In his short and earnest prayers for him- self and his family, he prayed earnestly for his flock, that there might be a revival of true religion, a real turning to God, among them. He felt that he had spoken the Truth to them, though in weakness, and he desired them to remember and give good heed to what he had taught 146 CLOSING YEARS. them, longing that they should all come to Christ in ear- nest ; — that they should be satisfied with nothing short of a real conversion of the heart to God, a personal partak- ing of the salvation of Christ. The young, especially, he would have exhorted to seek early conversion, and not to live in peace while alienated from God. During the whole period of his illness he manifested the deepest humility and self-abasement toward God, and also great meekness and humility toward his fellow-men. "I am sure you forgive everyone," it was said to him, thinking of an injury which he had received, and which it had been at the time difficult for him to forget. He emphatically replied, " I have nothing to forgive." There were a number of passages which his mind dwelt especially upon, as giving him much precious help and comfort. The .fifty-third and fifty-fifth chapters of Isaiah he particularly prized. As the forgiving love of God and the cleansing from sin by the blood of Jesus were his constant theme, he delighted in the parable of the Prodigal Son and the hundred and third Psalm. He would frequently repeat the words, ** He knoweth my frame." *'1V« cannot understand my state or my feel- ings," he would say, " but He knoweth them." Psalms XXV., XXXV., Ixxii., cxvi., cxxx., cxxxix., li., and the twenty- secolTa~p5rapIir^F^ere often quoted by him as expressive of his feelings. He spoke of a verse of Psalm xciv. as most comforting : " Blessed is the man thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law, that he may have rest from the days of adversity." He was wont to repeat one short text at a time, and dwell upon it. Th following were among his last meditations : " Oh, Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help found ;" " A man shall be an hiding-place from the storm, and a covert.from the tempest ;" — " He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and he that be- lieveth on me shall never die ;" — " I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I live for evermore, and have the 147 1 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. keys of hell and death." The latter part of Matthew xiv. being read to him in a time of deep depression, he re- peated most earnestly the words, ** O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ? " and they seemed to revive and comfort him. He had much consolation in thinking of the verse in the Epistle of Jude, " Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life ; " of which he said, on the day before his death, — " That text I laid up for this time." The thought of death was familiar to him during his whole illness, and he often calmly spoke of it, giving directions about the things he wished to have done. Some matters of business he felt it needful to arrange lest others should suffer, and as he was feeling so unfit for dealing with business affairs, they were a great burden upon his spirit until they were settled. After they had been finally arranged, he said, " I have now done with the world ; " and he never again referred to any worldly matter. " Oh, what madness it is," he would say, ** to have the heart engrossed by the world as its portion, and that spiritual and eternal realities of such infinite im- portance should be obscured by worldly things ! Some might say that this is just the effect of weakness of mind, caused by bodily disease, but, oh, it is not so ; it is only a clearer view of eternal realities." Though surrounded by his books, which he had so enjoyed and valued, he never, during his illness, seemed to care for reading or hearing any book but the Bible, except that at one time, when feeling temporarily stronger, he read a little of a favourite book — Milner's " History of the Christian Church." Passing events, too, had lost all their inteiest for him. It seemed that the Lord had taken him aside for a season, dealing with him closely and personally, teaching and chastening him " as a father chasteneth'the son whom he loveth," and deeply impressing him with a sense of the holiness of God ; the intrinsic evil and corruption of sin ; the darkness, bond- 148 Jia CLOSING YEARS. age and misery that it brings into the soul, separating it from the life of God and His blessedness. He was also deeply impressed with a sense of the "love of God, that passeth knowledge," in the redemption of his soul by the death of His own Son ; in delivering it from the bondage of sin and Satan, and restoring it again to his favour and fellowship. The power of upholding Divine grace was remarkably manifested in him during the whole of his illness, in his entire submission of spirit, and the meek- ness and patience with which he bore a dispensation of suffering that pressed most heavily upon his acutely sensi- tive temperament. Through it all he was upheld by the abiding conviction that the suffering was sent by a Father's hand, and sent in love to purify and make him a partaker of His holiness. Towards the close of January he became very weak, and it was evident that the end was near. When he felt his strength sinking, he said, " I am not able to pray now, but He who knows my frame will not impute this to me. I have commended my spirit to the keeping of my Saviour, and He will never leave me nor forsake me." When very weak and suffering much, he said, "My Father is working out His own purpose with me." " You believe that that purpose is love?" it was said to him. " Oh, yes," he said — " * He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up to death for us all, how shall He not with Him, also, freely give us all things ? ' " * It was a bitterly cold and dreary season, and he said one day, when the snow was falling thickly, " I shall go away in a cold time. Had it been summer, when every- thing was beautiful and the trees in leaf, I might have felt more at leaving. I wish to go away very quietly. If * These and the other sayings here recorded are given, not from memory, but from memoranda taken down soon after they were spoken. 49 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. 1 ) I 11 it could have been, I should have wished my funeral to be a very private one, but that cannot be." It was always a trial to him to hear the church bell ring on the Sabbaths and the Wednesday evenings, calling his people to the house of prayer, where he could no longer meet them. The last time, during his life, that the weekly evening service was held, he said, " I shall have a trial to-night ; the bell will ring for the prayer- meeting." He '11 ^ .^p, however, about the time that the bell should i ? -g i n awaking, he remarked, " The bell has not rung." H? i told that it was rung while he was asleep. " He ha,s mei ''^lly spared me that trial," — he said. Owing to his extreme weakness and sensitiveness, things unimportant in themselves sometimes assumed a special importance to him, but he always felt God's deal- ing in them all. On the day before his death he was suffering much from extreme weakness and dreadful spasms of pain which recurred very frequently, but his mind was remarkably clear to the last. He thought, though very weak, that life was still strong within him, and he had a great dread of what he might have to suffer in the last struggle. He would say, in allusion to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress — " The river is not smooth ; it looks stormy." But his Heavenly Father, who knew his frame, and who would not permit one pang beyond what was needful, smoothed the last billows into a perfect calm. Conscious suffering was all over before the last indescribable "change" took place, and when death indeed came he did not know that it was death. He lay for the last hour or two apparently insensible to all external things, while his breathing be- came gradually weaker, with longer intervals between the respirations. All unconsciously, he was passing through the " dark river," and it seemed as if his Saviour was bearing him up, that its waters " should not come nigh unto him." The moment of departure could hardly be told, and when, at last, those beside him watched in vain 150 CLOSING YEARS. for any succeeding respiration, it was less like dying, than simply ceasing to live this mortal life. " He was not, for God took him." He left iiiany besides his own family to sorrow deeply for his loss. The mournful tolling of the church bell in the early winter morning, announcing to his people that he was at length at rest, carried sorrow into many a home, and weighed down many a heart with personal grief, not for hintf — for they knew that he had only passed from long- continued pain and weariness into the rest which is eternal gain, — but for themselves, and the loss that was theirs. Many of those who had anxiously watched the progress of his illness, though, owing to circumstances already me»^- tioned, they had not seen him since that last Communi n Sabbath, now came to take a farewell look of his rempis, " sorrowing most of all that they should see his fac ■ •) more." His death took, place on the 7th of February, i8tj. On Wednesday, February nth, his body was car d *o the grave. His remains were carried by his elders .0 ihe church, which, .solemnly draped in black, was ailed v/ith an overflowing audience ; and before the long funeral train proceeded on its way, his old and esteemed friend, Pro- fessor Williamson, read the solemnly hopeful passages from the fifteenth of ist Corinthians and the fifth of 2nd Corinthians, and delivered the following funeral address : " I might, my friends, content myself with reading these solemn and affecting passages of Scripture; or I might make some remarks generally suitable to an occasion like the pre- sent. I feel, however, that I can neither remain wholly silent, nor bring myself to dwell merely on such general observations as might be appropriate in another case. I must speak, how- ever little and imperfectly, of him who is gone from among us, leaving it to him by whom, by his dying request, his funeral sermon will be preached, to offer a more fitting memorial to his worth. " We are now about to accompany to their resting place the mortal remains of one who, although quiet and unassuming 151 15 ! il i(;i I \^ LIFF, OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. in demeanour, was indeed a Master in Israel, and whose loss is deeply felt, not only by his bereaved family, but by his con- gregation, by the Church, and by the community around us. An attendance like this, on the present mournful occasion, is attribute to his memory which could have been called forth only by the universal respect for his character, as that of the good pastor, friend and citizen. I might speak of him as a friend, ever judicious in his counsels, and affectionate in his sympathies; — as a member of society, peaceful and pleasant in his manner, firm, yet gentle, hospitable and kind, and taking an active and prominent nart in every work of public benevol- ence ; — as a member of* the Synod of our Church from its very commencement, who, although speaking seldom, exercised, by the few and wise words which he spoke, an influence inferior to that of none other there; — and as a member of the Church of Christ, who, while strongly attached to that portion of the visible church with which he was connected, — I think I may say it without fear of the truth of the statement being doubted by any who have long resided here, — did more than any other to promote and maintain a spirit of unity and bro- therly kindness among all, of whatever name, who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. I might speak of him in all these respects, and while I should have no desire to do so in the language of fulsome and unmeasured panegyric, to which no one had a greater aversion than our dear departed brother himself, I could say nothing in his praise that would not find an echo in every heart. I forbear, however, to enlarge on these sad yet pleasing themes ; and shall merely briefly touch upon his character as pastor of this congregation, and as for a number of years the Principal of Queen's College. " As a minister of a congregation he was pre-eminently dis- tinguished — I might almost say he was the model of a Chris- tian pastor. Year after year, after his settlement in Kingston in 1827, as successor to his esteemed predecessor, the Rev. Mr. Barclay, his congregation increased until it was found necessary to enlarge the church in order to accommodate the growing number of its worshippers. For many years he toiled on almost alone, receiving very little help from any of his brethren, who were then comparatively few and distant. While he faithfully observed the Apostolic practice of visiting his people from house to house, and was ready at every call of the sick, the poor and the afflicted, his work for the pulpit •52 CLOSINvl YEARS. was incessant ; and when we consider the admirable nature of his discourses, which his high sense of duty always con- strained him carefully to prepare, we can have no doubt that he laid the foundation of tnat ill health with which he was often visited in later years, in his early sacrifices of his own ease for the good of his flock. We do not, my friends, sufficiently con- sider the arduous nature of the work of preparation of two sermons every week for the pulpit. I have little doubt that he wrote for the benefit of his people in the first fifteen years of his ministry, as much as some of the most voluminous authors have written in their whole lives. His discourses were uni- formly excellent in arrangement and matter, sound in doctrine, scriptural and searching in precept, and affectionate in exhorta- tion ; and as a preacher, taking him all in all, he was excelled by few clergymen in the Church of Scotland, or in any other church. And when to this I add his no less valuable minis- trations in private, his consistent walk in his intercourse with his flock, illustrating that faith and love which he endeavoured to carry home to the hearts of his hearers, his weekly prayer- meetings, and the flourishing' Sabbath-school over which he so long presided, it is not to be wondered at that he continued to the last in the enjoyment of a degree of lespect and affec- tion on the part of his people which have rarely been exceeded. " One other part of his character and life I must advert to. At a great sacrifice of time and labour he undertook, at the solicitation of the Board of Trustees of Queen's College, to act as Principal of that Institution, and with what advantage to the College and to the Church is known to all. Some of the most valued ministers of our Church were trained under his care and that of his colleagues, one of whom was the friend and the companion of his younger days, the Rev. Dr. Urquhart. This office he held for six years ; and I shall never forget the wisdom and aptitude for business with which he administered its duties, as indeed he did those of every other station which he occupied, and the uninterrupted har- mony which existed between him and his colleagues. Yet for all this, which would otherwise have cost the College a very large sum, he refused to receive any but a very inadequate remuneration ; and even that he gave towards the payment of the debt of the church in which we are met, and other public objects. " One word more and I have done. Some may have found '53 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. fault with him who is gone, and if he had been free from fault he would have been more than human. When, however, we consider his position, and the arduous duties which he had to perform, there will seldom appear an instance in which there was less fault to be found, and more to praise. See then, my friends, that you ' remember him who lately had the rule over you in the Lord, who spake unto you the wurd of God ; whose faith follow, considering the end of his conversation, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day and for ever.'" A very impressive funeral sermon was preached on the following Sunday by his former assistant and valued friend, the Rev. Professor Mowat, before a profoundly attentive and deeply moved congregation, many of whom were attired in mourning, out of respect for the memory of their departed minister. His remains lie in Cataraqui Cemetery, near Kingston, in a pleasant spot, commanding a lovely view across an undulating country, towards the distant lake, on which he always loved to look. A costly and beautiful granite obelisk has been placed there by his congregation and other members of the community, in memory of his minis- terial usefulness and consistent Christian life, and bearing the appropriate text : " The memory of the just is blessed." 154 PREFACE TO THE SERMONS. -»— CONSIDERABLE difficulty has been felt in making a selection from the large number of MS. sermons left by Dr. Machar. Many of his sermons and lectures were delivered in course. During his ministry he lectured regularly through St. Matthew, St. John, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistle to the Romans. It was, besides, his practice in the morning service to give a short exposition of the chapter read, on which account the sermon was shorter than it would otherwise have been. The sermons selected for publication are not those which would be considered most pro- foundly theological, but rather some of his more simple and practical pastoral sermons, such as might be most useful to those who may read them, as those who heard them have, in numerous cases, testified that they had conveyed to their souls precious words of life, and sus taining consolation. 'A SERMON I. Isaiah liii. 6. — All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way ; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all, N inspired Evangelist teaches us to find Jesus in this Scripture. The whole of the chapter refers to Christ ; these words, to His ■substitution and sacrifice for us. The speakers, who are plainly believers of the House of Israel of the Pentecostal day, were familiar with the transference of guilt to a victim. When Israel was in the wilder- ness, the High Priest was directed to take two kids of the goats for a sin-offering, one of which he was to slay, and sprinkle its blood upon the mercy-seat, while concerning the other this was the law, " Aaron i shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man, into the wilderness, and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inha- bited ; and he shall let go the goat in the wilder- ness." Let us imagine ourselves witnessing these impressive and significant rites — types to the Church of that day of the good things to come, when Christ should appear to " put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." The animals have been selected. The sins of Israel are typically transferred to them. The priest has laid upon them their fearful burden. All is silence and awe through- out the congregation, while they who are enlightened '57 Hi (II I" LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. 1^1' •!JI I worshippers, and can look through the shacow to " the body which is of Christ," exult with holy joy^ for, as the offering is completed, — as the one animal bleeds upon the altar that its b ood may be carried within the holy place, and the other disappears for ever from their view, as it is led away into the wilderness with its burden of curse, — the adoring language of their hearts — hearts now purged from dead works to serve the living God — is this : " He who is promised to us, who only can put away sin, surely He is stricken for our transgressions ; and surely He bears our transgressions away from us, to be seen no more." Even such is the scei.e which seems to have been present to the minds of ':he early converts, who had found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write ; and we cannot but see how natural it was for them, with the full light now thrown upon this scene by the death of Christ, to pour out their hearts in language like that in our text, — " All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way ; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Two points here present themselves to our minds, which it will be of the highest importance for us to consider, especially on this day of solemn commemoration by us of our Redeemer's sacrifice. They are the nature and misery of our condition as sinners, and the blessed means provided for our restoration. I. Let us first consider the nature and misery of our condition as sinners. Sin is wandering from God. We go astray when we transgress the Divine law ; and this we have all done. It is not the way of God in which we naturally walk ; we turn every one to his own way, casting, each in a manner of his own, the commandments of God behind our backs. The Divine law is a law of love, requiring love to God and love to man. But we have not this love. We have not the love of God in us, but are alienated from Him, none of us understanding and seeking Him as our soul's treasure, but each of us turning 158 l^rttiivi ALL WE LIKE SHEEP HAVE GONE ASTRAY, ETC. away from Him to walk in the sight of our own eyes, and in the way of oar own hearts. And alienated from God, we are alienated from one another. Selfishness is the leading principle of unrenewed men ; they live for themselves ; they seek their own. A common union to God had united them, had made them a band of brothers ; but, this union having been severed, instead of loving one another, their proper description is, " hateful and hating one another." Such is our condition as sinners, and it is compared to that of strayed sheep. " All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way." What is here presented to us is a flock of sheep that have wandered from the fold and pastures of their shepherd inio the howling wilderness ; and that, separated from their shepherd, are scattered from each other, strag- gling each on a path of its own ; and in this object we are to find a picture of the misery of our condition as wanderers from our God. It is a lively picture, revealing the destitution, the danger and the hopelessness of the state into which we have come. Our condition as sinners is a condition of destitution, of want. Survey the strayed sheep in a barren wilder- ness — away from the green pastures where once it fed, and the still waters from whence it drank ; — it is starving there, it can find no nourishment, nothing to stay its hunger, to quench its thirst. Such is our condition in our estrangement from God. The lower appetites of the body, indeed, may have something to satisfy them, but our souls hunger and thirst ; there is a craving void in them that we can get nothing to fill. Where is the wanderer from God who is satisfied, nay, upon whom, amidst all his enjoyments, there does not press a heavy and corroding sense of want ? If we could feed upon the husks of this world, if we could be satisfied from the cistern of carnal gratification, we should not be thus in straits, we should not feel this weariness and destitution. Bu. we were bom for higher enjoyments, and therefore 159 J' ■ I' 1011 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. these cannot satisfy us ; and let us have all of them that our hearts could wish, and still, if without God, we must be in want ; — " As when a hungry man dreameth, and behold, he eateth, but he awaketh, and his soul is empty ; or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold, he drinketh, but he awaketh, and behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite." The picture before us reveals, too, the danger of our condition as wanderers from God. The safety of sheep depends entirely upon their continuing under the shepherd's care ; let them wander beyond the protection of his arm, and they become an easy and unresistmg prey to every ravenous beast of the wilderness. And so with us in our alienation from God. We are menaced by danger on every side ; we are already in the hands of numerous and formidable enemies, who are ever seeking the life of our souls. Our own lusts draw us away and entice us on to our destruction. The world spreads all its fascinations before us, to allure us within its fatal circle. Our "adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion goeth about, seeking to devour " us. Still, all this were little if God were our friend, but the wrath of God abideth upon us while we abide in sin ; and wc iray at any moment fall into His hands to be " punishec with everlasting destruction from His pres^-nce, and from the glory of His power." To aggrava't: tn.s danger, we are insensible to it; we will not bc^ .ve ti it it exists; we look upon those who warn us of it as gloomy visionaries, conjuring up phantoms of alarm that have no real exist- ence. This makes our state dangerous indeed. We provide against a danger we believe in, but who provides against one that he deems imaginary, the fiction of a diseased mind r The picture here given also speaks to us of the hope- lessness of our condition. As far as depends upon our- selves it is utterly hopeless. A sheep that has once strayed fi am ♦he fold never returns to it. The dove could find i6o lit SERMON I. — ISAIAH LIII, 6. its way back to the ark. There are some other animals that have a certain power of retracing their steps — of re- gaining a situation they have left. But no such power is possessed by the wandering sheep ; once astray, it goes astray for ever, — it never comes back. And so with us. Once alienated from God, we do not of our own accord return to Him. He may seek us, but we neverseek Him. The truth is, we cannot seek Him. Our wills carry us in the opposite direction. " The carnal mind in us is en- mity against God ; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Such are the views of the misery of our condition as sinners, to be gathered from the figure in our text. It is a condition of destitution, of danger, of hopelessness. But there is one view of it where the figure does not i.old, where the case of strayed sheep fails to represent our situation. *' We have turned every one to his own way." Our own way is the way of our choice, the way we select, and determine to pursue. Such is that way of alienation from God and from man, into which, under many diver- sified forms, we all naturally turn. It is not through ex- ternal force, or in obedience to blind instinct, that we are in it. We come into it through our own voluntary choice. We remain in it through our own voluntary choice. We are in it because we will to be so. This it is that gives its darkest shade to the picture. We are not so much objects of pity, though we are to be pitied, as we are of blame. Here our case difters widely from that of straying sheep. When they wander, they are not objects of blan '^ Their straying is their misfortune — they cannot heli . Not so with us. When we stray, it is our iniquity. ir wickedness ; we stray wilfully ; we stray because we love to stray. Our errors are wilful errors ; our transgres-ions are wilful transgressions. We are moral wanderers, — wanderers who have said, "We will not have the 1 )rd to rule over us ; we have loved strangers, and after them we will go." L l6l ■ r 1 f" ill LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. II. Let US now, secondly, consider the blessed means provided for our restoration. There are means provided for this, and we may well wonder at this grace. With right views of our state, we could not have anticipated it ; previously to its bestowment, we could not have hoped that it would be bestowed. How shall creatures such as we are, be dealt with ? Can it be that there may be hope for us ? When we think of the dark features of our case, as moral wanderers from our God — with what wilfulness and determination we have broken that law of love which would have linked us to God and to one another, — how vile, how hateful we have made ourselves by our iniquity, would it have been wonderful if God had forgotten to be gracious to us, and in anger shut up from us for ever His tender mercies ? Suppose that there could still be in His heart movements of compassion towards us ; that in His mercy He might yet long to recover us from our fatal wanderings, and set us again within the shelter of His fold, — ho'v can pity be shown in circumstances like ours ? How can rnercy ever find its way over those barriers v/hich our sinfulness has placed in its way ? The law of God is a right ous law, and cannot be broken with impu- nity. Sin is an evil thing, and there is a necessity that the righteous Ruler of the universe should treat it accord- ing to its nature, and execute the righteous curse pro- nounced upon it. But how, then, can meicy reach us ? If our iniquity mu'^t be dealt with according to its desert, — if condemnation and punishment must ibllow trans- gression, how shall we be pardoned and saved ? Here is a question at which the highest created intelligence must have stood aghast, which only He who is infinite in wis- dom and boundless in resource could have answered. It it is a question whi^:h — blesstJ be His name ! — He has answered and taught us to answer. A mediator has been found, one able and willing to stand in the breach for us, " and the Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all." This mediator was no creature, but "the fellow of the 162 SERMON I. — ISAIAH Mil, 6. Lord of Hosts," — " God's own Son," — " the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person ;" and the burden wherewith he was burdened by the Fa- ther, as i\e holy Governor of the universe, was the ini- quity o." is all, — that is, as is evident from the nature of the case, as well as from express declaration, not our sin itself, our guilt, but its burden and punishment -the curse, the wrath, the woe due to us for it. It is a mysterious, overwhelming thought, that one of such dignity — one " in the form of God, and thinking it no robbery to be equal with God" — should have had such a burden laid upon him. But He who would become our Deliverer must take it upon Him, and so bear it away, and bear it to the utter- most. In any plan of restoration for us that can be con- ceived, the law must be magnified and made honourable, the perfect righteousness of Jehovah must be declared, and the Restorer must suffer for our sins, " the just for the unjust," before He can bring us to God. He must take upon Him our nature — be "made of a woman " — " made under the law,'' as making Himself one with us, and entering into our very place ; and then he must drink the sinner's cup ; He must taste death for us ; He must even descend into the very depths of our curse, and by exhausting it to the full, realizing all its horrors of thick darkness, and all its sore amazement, and all its exceed- ing sorrow, carry us through it, and beyond it, into the light of the divine countenance, and within the range of a reigning grace. Accordingly, all this has been realized in the history of our Deliverer. The Eternal "Word was made flesh ;" and He, " the man Christ Jesus," the representative, the head of the race, '* tasted death for every man." Oh ! it is no fiction, but a blessed reality, what He will this day tell us at His table, — "This is my body, broken for you ; — this cup is the New Testament in my blood, shed for many for the remission of sins." The mighty emergency has been met. It was met from eternity. The counsel of peace was between the Father 163 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. ml ( ill I Ci { and the Son, and in pursuance of that counsel the Father laid upon the Son — caused to meet upon Him, the iniquity of us all. He was bearing it when He said in Gethsemane, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." He was bearing it when He cried on Calvary, through that preternatural darkness which had at length stilled every tongue, and awed every heart : " My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" The Father laid upon Him our sins, bruised and put Him to grief as He stood for us. * id let us not suppose that the Son was less willing to bear it than the Father was to lay it upon Him. " It pleased the Lord to bruise Him and to put Him to grief." He bore our burden with a ready, a delighted mind. The victimmust not be dragged to the altar, and Christ's was no compelled, reluctant sacrifice. Dark as were the scenes He knew He must pass through. He entered upon them with cheerfulness and resolution ; overwhelming as were the woes He must endure, He shrank not from one of them. Though He had to " tread the wine-press of the wrath of God," and to tread it in loneliness and desertion, uncheered by one look of encouragement, or beam of light from earth or heaven. He trod it with firm and unflinching step. In the full view of His dying agonies, He said — " I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished ;" — " I lay down my life for the sheep ; no one taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself." " He is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." Oh ! what did this willingness to drink the full cup of our soiow bespeak? Kven that He wis the righteous Lord, loving righteousness and hating iniq^iity. He thus " condemned sin in the flesh." In thus willingly submit- ting himself to the suffering of death for sin, He declared that He judged it worthy of death, — a thing so hateful, so abominable, as to render it right that the vials of God's holy indignation should be poured oiit upon it. And 164 SERMON I. — ISAIAH LIII. 6. herein lay the reason why the sufferings of Christ were a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour to God ; — they were endured in the spirit of holy, sin-hating love. They were acceptable to God, not merely because they were suffer- ings, but because they were holy sufferings, endured through the Eternal Spirit, — the sufferer, by His patient bearing of them, continually declaring the righteous- ness of God in their appointment as the portion of ini- quity. This gave His sacrifice its value, its excellency. When God saw this sight in our nature, — when He saw sin thus condemned, and His name thus glorified, in that flesh in which sin had hitherto reigned, — then was He " well-pleased towards us for His righteousness* sake," — then did He see the sacrifice for sin in which His soul could delight, — and then did He acknowledge Jesus His " beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased ; " — " anoint- ing Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows," and " exalting Him with His own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgive- ness of sins." Such are the means provided for our restoration to God, and they are no vain means. Christ crucified is the power of God, and the wisdom of God, to every one that believ- eth. The sight of the holy sin-hating love manifested in the sufferings of Christ, slays the enmity of our hearts to God, and brings us back from our wanderings to dwell under His shadow, and in the shelter of His fold. In those who receive Christ to dwell in their hearts by faith, and know that love of His which passeth knowledge, the fire of divine love is again rekindled on the long cold altar of their hearts. They love Him who first loved them ; and loving Him, they love, too, them that are His. They thus become a flock, a united body, — one fold under one shepherd ; one family under one Father ; a multitude having one heart and soul, — all in communion with God, and all walking in love, one towards another. But mark, brethren, mark carefully, only in those who receive •65 LIFF. OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.n. ■ 11 Christ, — who rest upon Him as their atoning sacrifice, and know Him as their Life, — is this blessed change efiected ; only they who have the blood of Christ really sprinkled upon them through faith, have this love, which is of God, dwelling in them. Only with them is the darkness past, the true light shining. See, then, that ye receive Christ ; see that ye have His blood sprinkled upon you by faith. You are this day, many of you, coming to His table, to receive the memorials of His dying love, in token that you receive Himself. Oh ! let this be a real thing with you ! All things are ready, you have only to appropriate. Christ, the great Sacrifice, has been offered ; He has been " wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our inicjui- ties ; " He has had that heavy burden of iniquity laid upon Him, which He only, who beareth up the pillars of the universe, could support. Come, then, and do in regard to Him what Israel did in regard to the scape-goat — con- fess all your ini(|uities over Him, putting them upon His head, and trust in Him to bear them away, as into a land not inhabited. And He tvi// bear them away, never again to appear to condemn you. His blood will *' purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God ; " and thus, having boldness into His presence, you shall be made nigh to Him, nor shall you be any more " strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God." We can only, in conclusion, press upon you two lessons from what has engaged us ; one for those who are reject- ing the counsel of God respecting our great sin-offering, and the other for those who deem that they have embraced that counsel. You who will not rest your dependence upon the provided Sin-offering, may see the utter hope- lessness and awful danger of your condition. You despise the sacrifice of Christ, you will not lay upon His head your iniquities, choosing, rather, to carry them yourselves ; but how can you do this when you think of Gethsamane, when you remember Calvary? Behold what Christ i66 SKRM(>N I. — ISAIAH Mil. 6. endured when He took on Him the burden of our expi- ation ; and how then shall they escape who reject His great salvation, brought to them at such a j)rice ? " If these things were done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry ? '' Ix't the thought of this impel you to an immediate close with offered mercy while it is yet near. " Kiss the Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way. When His wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their tnist in Him." They who deem that they have received Christ as their salvation may see from what has been said whether it be so or not. . ^c that you are made nigh to God, and are within the fold, you will be walking in love. Our straying is our alienation from God, and from our fellow- men ; our being brought home is our re-union to Gcd, and, through re-union to Him, re-union to our brethren. Atrue " faith worketh by love ;" " we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren." As, then, we would have confidence towards God, let us love, — love " not in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." Let us " bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." To replace love in hearts from which it had utterly departed, — this was the object for which Christ "endured the cross, and despised the shame ;" and when He sees it glo^ving in these hearts, He *' sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied." The greatest of all the graces is Love. As there is nothing so dnrk and revolting as hatred, there is nothing so bright and beauti- ful as love. The more of love, the more of heaven. It makes us nearer to God, and liker to Him than all things else. Oh I had we love, the evidence of our being in Christ would not be doubtful ; it would be clear that the dark season of our wandering was past ; that we had exchanged the wilderness for the fold ; — that the far coun- try was forsaken ; — that we were in our Father's house ; — no more " as sheep going astray, but returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." 167 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I 125 £ U£ 12.0 m p5 1 L4 1 1.6 < 6" > * ^J»* Hiotographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 \ iV SJ ^^ V ^ c> '^y^ ^ ^ 4^^ y^^ 4" K<^ z 4 'f i II I l!ll !' -rii »l LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. Is it wonderful that it should be said oi love, — " Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him ? " Many calling themselves Christians, so far from having assurance, look upon it as a heresy and error to have it. But strange indeed is this ! Is he who, after a long and weary absence from the paternal dwelling, has been welcomed within its longed-for bosom, doubtful whether he be in it? Does he who, after many sad and lonely wanderings through a far-off cold world, basks once more in the sunlight of a father's or a mother's smile, require to be informed that that smile is beaming upon him ? Does he from whose heart love is tenderly emanating upon the dear inmates of a long-lost, but regained home, — as from their hearts love is as tenderly emanating upon him, — need to be told that he is in the midst of them? Surely that, at lea»t, he knows. He may need to be told many things, but he needs not to be told t/iat/ 168 V. SERMON II. St. John, vi. 15-21. — "When Jesus, therefore, perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone," &c. ^UR Lord, who was now in a desert place near Bethsaida, had just healed a multitude, con- sisting of several thousands, with five barley loaves and two small fishes. We read at the fifth verse, " When J^ 8us then lifted up his eyes, saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat ? And this he said to prove him" — that is, to try the faith of Philip — " for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little." Then we have the account of their being fed with the five loaves and the two small fishes ; and the command to the disciples, " Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Th^^'efore they gathered them together, and filled twelve bas*^ets with the fi-agments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten." What a striking miracle was this ! No wonder that the men who saw it recognised Jesus as the expected Messiah, saying, " This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world." But this was not the only 169 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. i^: 1' I : effect produced upon them by the sight of this miracle. In the enthusiasm of the moment, they wished to come and forcibly place Him at their head, as the king and liberator of their nation ; and in the first of the verses now read for lecture, we ha v e related to us the course adopted by Him in this emergency. " When Jesus, therefore, per- ceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain him- self alone." That no commotion might be excited, and no occasion found by those who sought His hurt for inter- rupting Him in the peaceful prosecution of His ministry, He immediately withdrew to a mountain, and, as will be ob- served, he withdrew a/one; His disciples were not with Him. These, as Matthew and Mark relate. He had already sent away — a thing which it might be the more necessary to do, as they, from their yet carnal conceptions respecting His kingdom, were likely enough to join with the multitude in their present design. Indeed, the word "constrained," which is employed in reference to His sending them away on this occasion, would seem to indicate a strong reluc- tance on their part just then to leave Him — a reluctance most probably arising from a disposition in them to second the views of the multitude who wished to make Him a king. Whether the proposal to exalt Him to regal dignity and power was a temptation to our Lord Himself, we are not informed. We know that Christ could be tempted, yea, that He " was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Satan had already assailed him with a temptation of this very nature, showing Him the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them, and offering Him possession of them under a sinful condition ; and it might be that at this time the Tempter was presenting to His mind the dark scenes of suffering through which He was to pass — the mockeries of Herod and his men of war — the spittings, and buffettings, and scourgings, and taunt- ings ; the apparent forsaking by God and man that should SERMON !I. — ST. JOHN VI. I $-2 1. miracle, to come ing and rses now adopted fore, per- force, to tain him- ted, and for inter- ministry, ill be ob- rith Him. ;ady sent iry to do, :ting His Ititude in itrained," em away ig reliic- iluctance o second : Him a jnity and are not ed, yea, are, yet with a ingdoms ing Him it might to His He was 5f war — d taunt- It should accompany His decease at Jerusalem, and asking Him why He improved not the present favourable moment for not only escaping all these evils, but for reaching a pitch of earthly greatness and glory to which the mightiest potentates of the world had never approached. If, as is not improbable, the Prince of this world did at this time come to our Lord in this way, he found nothing in Him. Our Lord immediately escaped from the snare of the enemy, and escaped from it by betaking Himself to prayer — "offering up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was able to save Him from death." Not listening for a moment to a proposition ordinarily so dazzling to flesh and blood. He immediately got Him away from the admiring multitudes, and went up into a mountain apart to pray, continuing in that exercise, as Matthew and Mark inform us, until three in the morning. Are we, brethren, when in society, exposed to any strong temptation ? We should immediately escape from it by going into some lonely place, and there offering up, as Jesus did, " supplications and prayers, with prolonged and strong crying and tears, unto Him who is able to keep us from temptation and save us from death." We do not well, nay, we act presumptuously, in looking for deliver- ance, if, when assailed by a temptation, we linger in a posi- tion where it has advantage to work upon us, instead of instantly making our escape from such a position ; and we are equally wrong, and equally presumptuous in our expecta- tions of deliverance, if, when we have made our escape from that position in which a temptation has most advan- tage to work upon us, we do not follow up this escape by earnest and persevering prayers for strength to endure. Why is it that so many of those who profess themselves the followers of Jesus, are overcome of the temptation by which they are assailed, and so often and so grievously fall? Just because they neglect these precautions — because they neglect what their Master did not think it safe to neglect ! Just because, when tried with Satan's '7' M II i , LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. devices, they either do not promptly shun their entangle- ments by removing from them, or, having removed from them, do not follow up the movement by earnest supplica- tion to the Omnipotent Helper. Did we attend to these things, we should never fall — we should " be heard in that we feared;" and He who has Himself known what sore temptations are, would crme to our relief in every hour of danger, — " making a way of escape for us, and not suffering us to be tempted above that which we are able to bear." Whatever be the complexion of our circumstances, whether exposed to temptation or otherwise, we ought frequently to retire apart for private prayer, nor should we allow any hurry of business or feeling of weariness to lead us to postpone or neglect this practice. Our Lord watched unto prayer in secret. The day had been with Him a day of incessant occupation, and we may well suppose that weariness and exhaustion had unstrung His bodily frame as well as His mental powers ; yet when the evening is come, it is not for repose that He seeks the mountain top, but to pour out His heart in solitary sup- plication to His Heavenly Father. And even thus should it be with us. However occupied or fatigued, prayer in solitude should never be omitted by us, and daily as the evening comes, escaping from care and rising above languor^ should we seek the secret place of communing with God, " praying always with all prayer and supplica- tion in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perse- verance." " And when even was now come. His disciples went down unto the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by re^on of a great wind that blew." Here we observe the disciples of Christ in jeopardy from the storm. If, brethren, we are disciple^ of Christ, we must expect Stprms. If we have not natural storms to meet, we are 172 SERMON II. — ST. JOHN VI. 15-21. ntangle- ed from lupplica- to these heard in wn what in every , and not are able istances, ire ought r should iriness to )ur Lord )een with may well rung His ret when seeks the tary sup- iis should Drayer in ily as the ig above iiimuning supplica- all perse- jles went and went LOW dark, sea arose J observe orm. If, t expect ;t, we are sure, if we are true disciples, to encounter spiritual storms. " In the world," said Jesus to His disciples, " ye shall have tribulation ; " and this is more or less true of them all. Some may be vexed with fewer tempests than others, and He who holds the blasts in the hollow of His hand may stay for them much of their fury ; but none have ever entered the haven of eternal rest upon whom the winds have not blown and the waves dashed them- selves, and who have not frequently had the sentence of death in themselves, fearing that they should perish. The Christian needs storms, otherwise they would not be sent. Such events, in fact, subserve the most important purposes to him. They show him his own weakness and insufficiency ; they endear to him his God and Saviour ; they awaken him to more fervent supplication ; they, in a word, lecd him to self-distrust and dependence upon God — the most blessed posture of soul in which a child of God can be. The night, it will be observed, was dark ; and added to this, the disciples had not Jesus with them in the ship, as on a former occasion. This was to lead them up to a higher lesson than they had learnt be- fore ; it was to teach them to walk by faith and not by sight. It is comparatively easy to trust in the Lord in the light ; the difficulty is to trust in Him in the darkness, and when we are cut oflf from all visible support ; but if this is harder, it is the more blessed. " Blessed," said our Lord, " are they that have not seen^ and yet have be- lieved.'^ " So when they had rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship j and they were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is I ; be not afraid." The Evange- list Mark speaks of their toiling in rowing, from the wind being contrary to them; and he says, also, that it was about the fourth watch of the night that Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. Such difficulty did they have in making any way, that even when the fourth watch of U3 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. I. 1'' the night was come, they were only a few miles from the place whence they had sailed. Among the Jews the night was divided into four watches, each consisting of three hours. The first began at six and continued till nine ; the second was from nine to twelve ; the third from twelve to three ; and the fourth from three to six. In the last of these watches — that is, in the watch between three and six in the morning — Jesus went to His disciples, pacing over that tempestuous sea, with its raging billows, as if it had been a carpet spread under His feet. The lesson we here learn is one of the highest importance. However difficult and dangerous our circumstances may be, we need not be greatly alarmed if we have come into them in obedience to a clear command of our Heavenly Master, seeing that in such a case He will think upon us and come to our relief. It was in compliance with their Lord's constraint that the disciples had embarked, and were now in jeopardy on the sea of Galilee on a dark and tempestuous night ; and we see that they were not forsaken by Him in their hour of need. If He delayed to deliver them, yet He at length brought them deliver- ance ; if he allowed the second and third watches of the night to pass, and stUl appeared not for their help, yet they saw His familiar form and heard His cheering voice in the fourth watch, when, as it would seem, the storm was at its height and their danger was most imminent. Herein lies our safety — that we keep the way of the Lord ! Only let us be where Christ would have us to be, and acting under His directions, and we may be calm whatever tempests rage, and whatever billows swell around us. He will come and save us out of all our troubles. He may not immediately appear for our relief, — he may leave us for many a weary hour to struggle through the darkness, alone, and without any sensible assistance, — " afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted ; " but He will not so leave us always / When it shall be best for us, and most glorifying to Himself, He will give us ^74 SERMON II. — ST. JOHN VI. 1 5-2 I. cm the ws the iting of Lied till e third to six. >etween isciples, billows, t. The ortance. :es may me into [eavenly upon us ith their ced, and L a dark vere not delayed deliver- ;s of the lelp, yet ng voice le storm aminent. y of the us to be, be calm 11 around troubles. •he may )ugh the itance, — id ; " but be best give us help, proving to us His faithfulness to His promise, " I will not leave you comfortless ; I will come unto you." When the disciples at first saw Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship, they were afraid. We cannot wonder that they should have been thus affected. The sight of a man walking over the tumultuous billows in the darkness of night, was a sight to strike them with awe and terror. As it was the belief of the Jews that hurtful spirits walked abroad in the night, they accounted for the marvellous appearance they saw in this way. As is elsewhere stated, " They said, * It is a spirit ; an evil demon come to work us mischief.'" And so great was their alarm from this their conviction of what they saw, that they cried out for fear, evidently appre- hending some great and sudden calamity. Thus, often, is He mistaken still. When He comes to His people in some unaccustomed form, by some unwonted way, in the shape of some heavy affliction, in the way of some painful cross, they are troubled at His presence, they think of Him as an enemy aud cry out for fear. Unde^ this impression, however. He cannot saflfer them to con- tinue, and He lifts up His well-known voice in their ears, saying, " * It is I ; be not afraid ! ' My hand is in this very event which agitates and perplexes you, and why should you be afraid ? Can you suppose that I would lay upon you one needless sorrow ? Say not of anything which I send you, * It is against me.* It is not so ; it is for you. If I come to you in this form, it is to do you good, and to put a new song in your mouth, even praise to your God ! * It is I ; be not afraid.' " These are gracious words. They mark the tenderness of Jesus to- wards His own ; His eagerness to calm their fears, to reassure their minds. They should have known better than to be so overcome of the imaginary horrors which now haunted them ; they 'lould have remembered that if they were followers of that which was good, nothing would really harm them. Yet even this foolishness of 175 B 7 M i< 1] LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. theirs, this slowness of heart in them to believe, does not hinder Him from hastening to them with the words of consolation. Let us see from this what a loving and gra- cious friend we have in Christ, and seeing this, be com- forted in all our troubles. But let us observe, too, whence Jesus had just come when He spoke to His disciples the cheering words before us. It was from that lonely mountain top where He had spent many hours of sweet communion with His Heavenly Father. It is important to remark this, as emphatically showing how untrue is the supposition that the retired habits of him who gives himself much to secret prayer, tend to separate him from sympathy with his kind, and so to deaden his active benevolence. The supposition could only be made by those who altogether misconceive the manner in which the man of secret communion with God is employed. His prayers are not all for himself. Many of them consist of earnest intercessions for his brethren of mankind, especially for those of them with whom he is more especially associated. Now, must not such an exercise on their behalf have a directly contrary effect to that of either deadening his sympathies with them, or the activity of his benevolence towards them ? Must not the habit of spreading the woes and necessities of others before God, and of beseeching His gracious interposition on their behalf, tend to kill the bitter root of selfishness within us, and, in the most powerful man- ner, quicken our sympathies with others, so that we shall come to their relief whenever we have it in our power to help them ? We can conceive an ascetic Phari- see, who prides himself on the number or the length ot his prayers, issuing from his retirement, hard-hearted, to pass another day unredeemel by one kind word : no ear that hears him " blessing him," and no eyes that see him " giving him witness ; " but we cannot conceive this of the man whose fellowship is truly with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Moses and Paul were, both of 176 .D. SERMON II. — ST. JOHN VI. 1 5-21, e, does not le words of ig and gra- lis, be corn- just come ords before sre He had s Heavenly uphatically the retired :ret prayer, i kind, and supposition lisconceive iunion with for himself, ms for his them with r, must not ly contrary =ithies with irds them ? necessities is gracious bitter root verful man- 50 that we J it in our cetic Phari- e length oi hearted, to rd : no ear tiat see him 2 this of the er and with re, both of them, men of long-continued fellowship with God in secret. Were their sympathies less tender, their labours of love less abundant on that account towards those with whom they were associated ? Did Jesus, in the privacy of the lonely mountain top, forget His toiling and endangered disciples, or show Himself slow to come to their aid ? That very night He walked upon the raging waves to their rescue. That very night He stood beside them in their extremity, and they heard from Him the words of tenderness and power ; — " Be of good cheer : it is I ; be not afraid." If, therefore, men who are living without God in the world, and who would fain have others so to live, labour to bring disrepute upon habits of secret prayer, by repre- senting such habits as deadening to active beneficence, they thereby only betray their own enmity to God. The man who dwells n. »st with the God of love, is ever the most loving man. Those in the present day who are willing to see things in the Church as they really are, think that the practice answers not to the profession. What can be the cause of this ? Perhaps we should not err if we mainly ascribed it to the little seeking unto God in secret. Of all who ever lived, the man Christ Jesus continued most in prayer to God. Well, this was His character, that " He went about continually doing good." Be ye like Him in your piety towards God, and like Him ye shall be in His benevolence towards men ! Where there is a praying heart there is an open hand — a soul of large and well-directed benevolencfe. Of the account of this voyage of the disciples, this is the conclusion: "Then they willingly received Him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went" "Then they willingly re- ceived Him." When He had come to them on the sea, and when He had calmed their terrors by these words of kindness, " It is I ; be not afraid," then it was that they willmgly received Him. We do not of our- M 177 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. selves willingly receive Christ. We do not seek Him until He seeks us. Though He is the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely ; though He is the foun- tain of all blessing and the source of all strength, so that without Him we enjoy nothing, and can do nothing, yet are we slow of heart to receive Him ; and He has to bring down upon us the dark night, and to rouse around us the angry storm, and to manifest Himself to us in these, before we will make Him our refuge, and say to Him with a willing heart, " Lord, I am thine ; save me." The bark of the Church of God is now upon the stormy sea, and it is there by His bidding ; but how small is the way which it makes ! Though the rowers seem to be rowing hard, they advance not ; the opposing storms and surges of the world are too much for them. Why is this? Is it that He sees them not, or is unwilling to come to them? No ; but because they are not yet made. willing to receive Him. But they shall be made willing ! It is said to Christ, " Thy people shall be made willing in the day of thy power," and that day is nigh at hand. Infi- delity asks, "Where is the promise of His coming?" But come He shall — come quickly. The night of toil and weeping will soon be over for the tossed rowers, giving place to that morning watch, when they shall welcome the King in His beauty, and shall, under His guidance, immediately reach the haven where they would be. Let it be our concern, brethren, that we may be found of Him in peace at His coming. Let the attitude of our souls be that of waiting for Him; nor let us be unwilling, should He appoint, to meet the dark night, and to encounter the beat- ing storm. It is but a little while that trouble can be upon us. We sorrow not as those who have no hope. Our redemption draweth nigh. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from 178 ! I iL^ SERMON II. — ST. JOHN VI. 1 5-2 1 the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and unde- filed, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now, for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold tempta- tions ; that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." 179 ' { SERMON III. St. John, vi. 66 to the end. — " From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve. Will ye also go away ? " &c. iN religion, the enlightenment of the mind and the purification of the aflfections are, both of them, things of indispensable necessity. There must be Icve in the heart, but there must be, no less, light in the head. We must be well instructed in the things pertaining to the king- dom of God, and so able to give to ourselves and to .»> others " a reason of the hope that is m us ;" nor without this shall we be able to maintain our stead- fastness in trial, and cleave to the Lord through evil report and through good report. The time at which many of our Lord's disciples are here said to have gone back and walked no more with Him, was the time when, instead of continuing to feed them, as they had hoped, with bread for their bodies, He spoke to them of that better bread which their souls needed — the bread of spiritual life — telling them that He Himself was "the living bread that came down from heaven," — that, as the Son of man, he was to " give His flesh for the life of the world," and that it was they and they only that should "eat His flesh and drink His blood," " that should have eternal life, and be raised up at the last ' day." Now, these things at once dissolved the charm which I So SERMON III. — ST. JOHN VI. 66. :harm which had drawn after Him the vast proportion of His present followers. " Ah !" said they in their hearts^ " this is not the Messiah, after all ; this is not the Prophet we look for ; He is not to give us the meat which we desire ;" and so saying, and finding a pretext for leaving Him in the hard- ness and offensiveness of His sayings, they went back from Him, and went back, as far as appears, to return to Him no more. Our Lord was not unprepared for this desertion ; He knew that in their carnal state they could not enter into the kingdom of God. He had told them that no man could come to Him except the Father which had sent Him drew him ; and He knew that, intent as they were on earthly things alone, they were in no dispo- sition to hear and learn of the Father. But though pre- pared for their desertion, it did not the less grieve Him. They were His own — the people whom He came to save ; and, to use His own loving language, he wouM have " gathered them together as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings." We may imagine, then, the sorrow with which He saw them forsaking Him ; nor only forsakmg Him, but per- verting the most gracious words which sinful men could hear, into a justification of their course. And how far will this desertion proceed ? Carried away by the conta- gion of general example, will His own familiar friends, too, go back from Him, and leave Him " as a worm, and no man," among those who were to Him objects of a love stronger than death ? " Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away ?" This question was the language of ardent affection ; it came from the depths of a loving heart. It would have grieved our Lord more than He had yet been grieved, to part v/ith His beloved disciples ; still He will have "them serve Him willingly ard without constraint. He will not keep them with Him against their will ; and if they remain with Him, it must be from a conviction that it is good for them to remain — that it is their blessedness and salvation to cleave to Him, and that i8i LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. it would be their misery and destruction to go back. He spoke to try them ; and on this occasion, as the words of their spokesman, Peter, evince, they were not found wanting. " Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." This reply showed that the twelve had not been so long with Him in vain : it showed the depth of their attachment to their gracious Master, and that it was no blind attachment, but one for which they had the strongest and most satisfactory reasons. Our Lord, it is evident, was pleased with this answer, yet, as a salutary check to the confidence with which it was delivered — to put them upon their guard, to lead them to take heed to themselves, and to fear always, He added the awful words — " Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil ? He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon ; for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve." Wiihout offering any explanation of a passage which, it will be observed, is so plain that it needs none, we will now consider it in it?, application to ourselves. In the first place, it reminds us of a temptation to which we are all liable ; and, secondly, it points out the way in whicli we shall be best prepared to overcome this tempta- tion. L The temptation of which this passage i'*iminds us, as a temptation to which we are liable, is that of departing or going away from Christ. We have come to Christ ; we profess to be His disciples, and to be walking with Him ; and what we profess in regard to these things may be true. But yet we may depart from Him ; we are liable to the temptation to do so , and we are all liable to it. To whom was it that our Lord put the question, " Will ye also go away ? " It was to the chosen twelve — those whom He had selected to be with Him, and to share His daily and hourly intercourse ; and who, with one sad exception, 182 SERMON III. — ST. JOHN VI. 66. walked in a manner becoming so high a privilege. Yet He says to them, "Will ye also go away?' while on another occasion His words to them were, " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." And if they — that chosen little band — ^were exposed to the danger of forsaking their Master — and if they did, afterwards, for a little season, forsake Him, who of us shall venture to say that this is a temptation to which we are in no danger of yielding ? It is a fearful thing to go away from Christ — how fearfu'i, is emphatically marked in the words, " If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him ;" but fearful as the thing is, even the most advanced Christian is not exempt from the possibility of falling into it. Listen to the words of St. Paul : " I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection \ lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.*' We are not forgetting the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints ; we know that " He who hath begun a good work in any will perform it until the day of Christ ;" we know that Christ has said — " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me ; and I give unto them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." But this is not to iender us secure, to pufF us up v;ith a vain con- fidence that we are not liable to temptation. We are never in more awful danger than when we deem ourselves secure, and we are safe only when, setting before us the possibility of the saddest spiritual declensions, we fear always, and look, even from moment to moment, to Him who is "the strength of our life," and who alone can " hold up our goings that our footsteps slide not." The danger of our apostatising from Christ will be especially great if we were led to follow Him at first with- out sitting down to count the cost — without a careftil con- sideration of the sacrifices which the taking such a step must involve. M. ny like the joys of religion, but shrink from its self-denial and r acrifices. They want a religion 183 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. without trouble, reproach and sufTering ; and when they find that not such is the religion of that Saviour — when they see that they can be His disciples only by " denying themselves and taking up the cross and following Him," they are offended. It now seems an evil thing to serve Him, and their " goodness is as the morning cloud and the early dew, which soon pass away." The thronging multitudes had still pressed around our Lord, and deemed of Him that He was their long-promised Messiah, if only He had continued to feed them with the loaves and fishes — it was only when He exhorted them to " labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth to everlasting life," that they said, " This is a hard saying ; who can hear it ?" and "walked no more with Him." It is even thus that we may be in danger of apos- tatising. >Vhen we find that, so far fi-om having our carnal desires satisfied, we must " mortify our members which are upon the earth," " loving not the world, nor the things of the world " — when we find that we must not be of the world as Christ was not of the world, it will be a great temptation to us to let go our profession and to return to our former course. And especially will the temptation have power if we see others falling away. The leaven of evil spreads with astonishing rapidity ; and when, of those whose faces were once set heavenward, we see one and another turning back, and bringing an evil report upon th** good ways of the Lord, it will be difficult indeed to resist the contagion of their example, and to stand faith- ful, like the chosen twelve, in the midst of the faithless. Only, indeed, as we have root in ourselves, as we have a spiritual mind, a divinely enlightened judgment, shall we be preserved from falling from our steadfastness, and bringing disgrace upon the doctrine of God our Saviour. II. We consider, secondly, what is stated in this pas- sage as to the way in which we shall be best prepa.red to overcome the temptation to depart from Christ. It is to be thoroughly persuaded of the importance of the bless- 184 SERMON III. — ST. JOHN VI. 66. ings which we have in Christ. When our Lord says to the twelve, "Will ye also go away?" this is the reply of Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life ; and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." This reply shows the high place which eternal things held in the estimation of Peter and his fellow-disciples. It was the meat that perisheth that absorbed all the concern of the multitudes that at this time came thionging around the Saviour ; but it was not so with His chosen twelve. It was the life of the soul, not of the body, that was in their eye, "the one thing needful." To be redeemed from the power of iniquity, and to have " fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ," — this they had learned to account as their best heritage, and for this they were willing to suffer even the loss of all things. In comparison with the blessing of eternal life, all other things, in their view, shrank into utter insignificance ; and this blessing they knew that Christ could bestow upon them. They understood Him, in part at least, when He said, " I am the living bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever ; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." They knew that, by nature, they were alienated from the life of God, their only true life ; but they knew that Christ was come to restore them to this life, and that, by receiving Him, they should be redeemed from their state of alienation and death, and made blessed in the presence and in the fellowship of God. They saw not as yet so clearly as they afterwards saw, what He meant by "eating His flesh and drinking His blood f but they knew that to have Him was to have life, to be renewed in the spirit of their minds, to taste that God was good. And thus it was that they stood fast when the multitudes around them fell away. Thus it was that when their Lord put to them the question, " Will ye also go away ?" they i8S ! I I !'■ LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. were able to reply, " To whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life. We seek eternal life — that life which consists in restoration to the presence and fellowship and image of God; and who but Thou can give us this blessing ? Shall we go to the wisest of the heathen? They have become 'vain in their imagina- tions,* and in the matter of eternal life, their foolish minds are utterly darkened. Shall we turn to our own scribes, the Masters in Israel ? They are * blind leaders of the blind.' We see our only hope of obtaining eternal life in Thee, and we know that it is a sure hope. We recognize in Thee our long-looked-for Prince and Savi- our ; we believe and are sure that * Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God,' having life in Thyself, and that life for all of our perishing race who believe in Thy name." Such persons, it is evident, would not be easily induced to forsake Christ. Their faith in Him was no blind faith. They knew whom they believed, and they had reasons for believing in Him — reasons, we see, of the very strongest kind. Now, brethren, is our faith in Christ of this kind ? Are we rooted and grounded in His love, as these early disciples were? Are we persuaded that we have life, even the very life which our souls need, in Him, and that it will be vain for us to seek that blessing in any other? With this persuasion dwelling in our minds, it will be no light trial that will lead us to go back from Him. We shall not indeed go back from Him, but shall be able to say, in the midst of our trials for His sake, " What things are gain to me, those I must count loss for Christ ; yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." We have need, then, to consider whether we have this root in ourselves. If we have, we shall stand fast and flourish ; if we have it not, we shall soon wither and perish. Brethren, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus is, 1 86 SERMON III. — ST. JOHN VI. 66. surely, something worthy of our pressing after, even though it should be through many trials ; and if we have really come to Him, and seen His preciousness, oh ! what is there that should reconcile us to the thought of leaving Him ? We may be tried : nay, it must needs be, if we are His, that we shall often "be in heaviness through manifold temptations ;" but what then ? Where but in Him shall we and what our souls need ? If we go not to Him, then whither shall we go ? Shall it be to the world ? It will certainly deceive us. Shall we return to sin? It will inevitably destroy us. Shall we listen to those who call religion a lie ? What can they give us in its place ? Can they comfort us in sorrow and in death ? Shall we go to the scene of unhallowed revelry, where the drunkard quaffs his cup of death, and blasphemes his God ? What should we do in the end thereof? " No !" says he who has been once enlightened, and tasted of the heavenly gift, " I can go nowhere but to Christ. Lord, let me never leave Thee, the fountain of living water and go and hew out for myself cisterns, broken cisterns,' that can hold no water." Does the Devil suggest to the believer that htt is too unworthy, too sinful, to come to Christ? Stili the answer is, "To whom else can I go? Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and He has said that He will in no wise cast out any that come unto Him. I dare not, then, keep back from going to Him. The more unclean and guilty I am, the more need I have to go to Him, whose blood alone can cleanse, and whose grace can strengthen me. No other can do for me what Christ can. I must cleave to Him, and if I perish, I will perish at His feet." This, brethren, is to have on the shield of faith — that shield behind which we shall stand unmoved in the evil day, since it quenches all the darts of the wicked one. But, secondly, that we may overcome the temptations to depart from Christ, it is needful that we be actuated by a constant fear lest we should depart from Him. That 187 I 1 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHA.R, D.D. they might learn not to be high-minded, but fear, it was, doubtless, that Jesus on this occasion answered His dis- ciples, " Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon ; for he it was that should betray Him." And this was not the only time that our Lord made to them the same statement, for we find Him, at a later period, thus expressing Himself : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me." Now, to what end did He thus speak to them? Plainly, that He might put them upon the most earnest self-examination, that He might lead every heart to make the trembling enquiry, " Lord, is it I ?" Nor only this, but that He might render them fearful of being led astray ; that He might teach them to watch and be sober, to take heed of them- selves, and to see what spirit they weer of. And these, brethren, are things which we, equally with the chosen twelve, need to do. We need to examine ourselves, and to examine ourselves with the deepest earnestness, and we need to fear always. There is no- thing so dangerous for us as the taking up of the persua- sion that all is well with us, without carefully examining whether all is indeed well. We must never be seciu^e in an enemy's land ; and such is this house of our pilgrim- age. Here, as every one might know, our own hearts ore ever ready to deceive us ; here, wherever we go, the world spreads snares for our feet ; here our " adversary the devil goeth about seeking whom he may devour." Here, then, to be off our guard, is to be undone ; to allow ourselves to cease to " be sober, be vigilant " — is to court destruc- tion — is to expose oiurselves to influences, the operation of which will drown us in perdition^ " There remaineth a rest for the people of God ;" — if we are Christ's true people we shall, ere long, enter a land where all will be quietness and assurance ; but here we cannot be in quiet, for here Satan will not let us alone, but will ply us with his devices — meeting us where we least expect him, and i88 SERMON III. — ST. JOHN VI. 06. tempting us through objects the most innocent and the most unlikely to furnish occasions of falling. Let us, then, fear always ! Knowing that dangers lurk around us, let us ** watch and pray that we enter not into tempta- tion." Knowing that the heart within is treacherous and may admit the foe, let the attitude of our souls be that of waiting upon Him whose " grace is sufficient " for us, and whose ** strength is made perfect in weakness." Thus, even in the attitude of " looking unto Jesus," shall we be kept fror* falling, until the perils of the wilderness are past, and we reach that holy mountain, where " there is nothing to hurt or to destroy 1 " 189 SERMON IV. St. John xii., 20-26. — And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast : The same came therefore to Phihp, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. ^VENTS of a most important character were now thickening in Jerusalem. There was a movement in men's minds respecting Jesus of Nazareth, such as had not been seen at any previous period of His earthly history. There was a growing conviction that He could be none other than the promised Messiah. Multitudes had gone forth to meet Him as He approached the city, carrying triumphal palms, and crying, as He drew near, " Hosanna ! Blessed is the King of Israel that Cometh in the name of the Lord ! " In a word, there were so many that now believed in Jesus, and so many others who were inclined to believe in Him that the Pharisees, who were watching all that took place with the keen eye of jealousy, said among themselves, " Perceive ye, how ye prevail nothing ? Behold, the world has gone after him." It is nothing surprising, then, to find persons who had come up at this Passover from distant places of the earth, and who might previously have heard little of Jesus, sharing in that universal interest concerning Him, and taking steps to obtain an interview with Him. 190 SERMON IV. — ST. JOHN XII. 20-26. Among these, we find there were Greeks — " And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast : The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus." Some question has been made who these Greeks were; whether Jews speaking the Greek language and living among Greeks, or proselytes to the religion of the Jews from heathenism. It may incline us to adopt the latter opinion, to remember that the Greek and the Jew are generally spoken of in Scrip- ture as two distinct classes of men, and to find, as we do, that, at the subsequent feast of Pentecost mentioned in the second chapter of the Acts, there were present from various lands persons called Jews and proselytes. Be- sides, their being of Gentile race seems to be glanced at in our Lord's language in the thirty-third verse of this chapter, obviously spoken in their hearing — " And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." However this may have been, it speaks much for the piety of these men — it might shame others under a clearer light — that they had come up to worship at the feast — that, in their desire to worship God in the way appointed in His Word, they had incurred the expense and sur- mounted the difficulty and danger of a long journey. It is known how easily many are prevented from coming up to worship God in His house by their having even a short distance to come, or by some other slight inconvenience attending their coming. Might not such persons do well to say to themselves, "Is my interest in spiritual things such as it ought to be ? Is there no cause for appre- hension on my part, that when I am weighed in the balances I shall be found wanting, and that, among those who shall rise up in the judgment to condemn me, will be found those Gentile proselytes who came so far, and encountered so much, that they might wait upon God in His temple ? Let me judge myself in this thing that I may not be judged ; and let the future witness in me a 191 •f ;. I I II ii' I LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. far different interest in keeping God's ordinances than that which has marked the past." It further speaks well for these proselytes that they approached our Lord in the manner they did. Real piety is never bold and presuming in its bearing towards those with whom it seeks intercourse ; it is modest and retiring. It shrinks from taking a high place, and loves a low one. In their eagerness to have an interview with our Lord, these Gentile proselytes would, no doubt, have desired at once to approach Him, but they were held back by the apprehension that it was not for them, since they belonged not originally to the favoured race, to claim such a favour. Accordingly, they came to Philip of Beth- saida, expressing to him their desire to see Jesus, and perhaps asking him, if he could not venture himself upon such an application in their behalf, to confer about the propriety of it with some of his fellow disciples. At all events, we read that immediately on their preferring their request to Philip— " Philip cometh and telleth Andrew ; and again, Andrew and Philip tell Jesus." It is not stated in so many words that the Greeks were successful in their application to be admitted to see Jesus. We cannot doubt this, however, as they were not of a class to be cast out by Him, and as, besides, there is evidence in the discourse of our Lord which follows, to satisfy the attentive reader that they were among its hearers, and especially in His eye when He spoke it. The Evangelist neither notices their introduction into our Lord's presence^ nor the personal salutations that took place on their being introduced. Passing over these things, as not entering into his design, or as what the brevity which he had to consult required him to drop, he comes at once to the discourse spoken by our Lord in consequence of the coming to Him of these Gentile strangers. " And Jesus answered them, saying. The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified." This seems to 193 ). SERMON IV. — ST. JOHN XII. 20-a6. nces than that they lid. Real \g towards lodest and and loves rview with oubt, have were held hem, since :e, to claim ip of Beth- Jesus, and mself upon r about the es. At all erring their ti Andrew ; rreeks were ) see Jesus, re not of a es, there is follows, to among its e spoke it. on into our ; that took over these IS what the to drop, he our Lord in ese Gentile lOur is come his seems to be a reply either to something that had been said by these Greeks, or to something which our Lord saw was passing in their mind. " He knew what was in man ;" and most probably he took up the thought that was most occupy- mg them, and addressed Himself to it They had wit- nessed His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. They had seen Him come to Zion as it had been predicted by Zechariah that He would come : they had heard, perhaps joined in, the exulting shout, " Hosanna, Blessed is the King of Israel, that cometh in the name of the Lord I " Now, these things, it is evident, were calculated to excite expectation. They were calculated to excite the expec- tation which had been formed on another occasion, that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. Surely, they must have thought, this man, whose works proclaim him to be the Son of God with power, and who has, at length, permitted himself to be publicly acknowledged as the King of Israel, is no longer to continue the obscure and lowly man he has hitherto been. Surely, as has been foretold of him, he is now to " sit as king upon the holy hill of Zion," and to have " given to him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people and nations and languages," and we in the number, " may serve him." And how does our Lord meet these thoughts ? Even by telling them that what they expected was at hand — that the time of His humiliation was hastening to its close, and that His exaltation to the right hand of power was near. "The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified." The word " hour" here is not used in its strictly literal sense, but in one in which it is very often employed, namely, the season, the time, the period. The season, the time for the Son of Man being glorified is come, and glorified He shall now be ; the Father loses sight of none of His purposes, and all that is written of the exaltation of the Son shall be fulfilled. Such was the import of our Lord's words at this time ; and we know that they were accomplished, as He said they would be ^ N 193 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. — that, at that very season, He was received up into glory, and sat down on the right hand of God, "from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His foot- stool." Brethren, let it comfort our hearts that the counsel of the Lord standeth fast, that though heaven and earth may pass away. His w ^rds pass not away. The Son of Man was glorified at th ^ time to which we are referring ; the heavenly gates then lifted up their heads to give Him entrance as the king of glory, and as the king of glory He did enter within them. But we look for a season, a period, in which the Son of Man will be glori- fied as He has not yet been, and we shall see, what we do not yet see, all things put under Him, every knee bowing to Him, and every tongue confessing, of things in heaven and things on earth, and things under the earth. We look for this, because it is written, and we look not for it in vain. At the appointed time " His glory shall be revealed ; He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired of all them that believe." Let us wait upon Him from heaven, and we shall have part in that glorious coming; "for when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory." It was true, as these Grecian strangers supposed, that the season had arrived when the Son of Man should be glorified ; but how little did they understand of the way by which alone He could enter into His glory. This He now proceeded to tell them, making use, for this purpose, of a most striking and significant figure. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." The expression "verily, verily," marks the certainty and importance of the declaration which it ushers in ; and surely, ii' ever there was a declaration needing to be thus introduced, it was this of our Lord. He tells the Greeks that the hour for His being glorified was come, but He could only be so through His dying. What a damp this must have thrown over their highly 194 0. SERMON IV. — ST. JOHN XII. 20--26. :d up into lod, "from I His foot- 3 that the igh heaven iway. The lich we are their heads and as the we look for rill be glori- ;e, what we every knee of things in ;r the earth, re look not > gloiy shall His saints, Let us wait part in that ur life, shall n glory." Dposed, that 1 should be of the way . This He his purpose, erily, verily, all into the ;, it bringeth jrily," marks on which it declaration if our Lord, ing glorified His dying, their highly raised expectations I How strange, how incredible must it have seemed to them that the way to His glorification should be through death ! But it was even so. They were familiar with the fact of life coming through death. The riches and glory of harvest were the result of a previous death. A corn of wheat that did not fall into the ground and die, produced nothing, but abode alone ; it was only when it died in the earth that it was quickened and germinated, and brought forth fruit. This said Jesus, is an emblem of me. Like the grain of wheat, I must be laid in the earth, I must die ; but out of this death there shall come life ; it is thus that I shall spring up, and be- come the fruitful source of a new and imperishable seed. You are disappointed and grieved to hear me speak of my death, but if you understood your condition and need aright, you would rejoice, for you would see that the only hope for a lost world lay in my suffering and dying. Have you understood this, my friends ? It should not be so difficult for us to understand it as it was for these Greeks, since our position is so much more favourable than theirs. " The good seed of human nature which God had planted had become corrupted in the earth ; it failed to yield the return of righteousness. God looked over the successive generations of men, but found not a single individual among them all whom He could reserve as the new root, or seed, of another and righteous succession. At last one man was found, — one only, — a man perfect and without spot. One single grain of human nature was obtained, and God took that, nourished it carefully, and planted it in a fruitful soil. That one instance of human perfection was Jesus Christ, the second Adam, * the Lord from Heaven.' He was wholly a good seed ; and God took Him and brought Him into the dust of death, that He might become the stock and source of a new and godly seed."* It was only by dying that he could become ♦ From Stevenson's "Christ on the Cross." 195 i fl M Ml III LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. the Stock and source in respect of corrupt man. It was only thus that He could take the prey from the mighty ; it was only thus that He could receive " power over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many as the Father had given Him ; " the perfections of God and the necessities of their condition equally demanded that if He should de- liver them from death, it should be by His voluntarily dying for them, and His offering Himself, without spot, to God for them. And thus it is that He becomes a source of life to them. This was the very purpose of His dying ; not that He might abide alone, but that He might have a numerous seed, that He might " see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied." And this He has already seen, and shall yet see more and more. They who receive Him in the exercise of a lively faith live through Him. They are crucified together with Him, yet they live, and yet not they, but Christ lives in them. " They are buried with Him by baptism unto death ; that like as Christ was raised from the dead, even so they also should walk in newness of life." This prepares us to understand what our Lord pro- ceeds to address to these Greeks in the twenty-fifth verse. " He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." He was Himself to die, that He might become the stock and source of a new and divine life to those who were dead in sin. This was His sacrifice, but there must be a sac- rifice, too, on the part of all to whom He was to bring life. They also must die, in order to have life. To enter fully into our Lord's meaning here, it is necessary to bear in mind that there are two things in Scripture called life ; that there is a carnal life and a spiritual life. There is a carnal life ; there is a happiness, an enjoyment in the things of the world, apart from God, for which we have a capacity through the flesh ; and this carnal life all men have in their natural state. Now, this carnal enjoyment without God is evil ; it is so, because God is shut out of 196 SERMON IV. — ST. JOHN XII. 20-26. it, and the whole charm of it is that self is exalted and worshipped. Though the natural heart is unwilling to think so, this interest in earthly things is evil now ; for " there is no peace," no real peace, " to the wicked," to those alienated from God, even here ; and it will be shown to be evil hereafter, when this state of things, in which men can have an enjoyment in the flesh and away from God, is brought to an end, and all that is evil — all that is not of God — " is cast into the lake of fire." Again, there is a spiritual life — a life which consists in knowing God and being made like to Him, and so having a capa- city for partaking of those joys which are in His presence — a life which, begun on earth, will be perfected in Heaven, when " that which is in part shall be done away, and that which is perfect shall be come." Now, keeping these two kinds of life in view, we shall see our Lord's meaning in the words before us, and we shall be sensible, as we discern their meaning, of their deep interest to every one of us. He that clings to that interest and en- joyment in present things, which is through the flesh, as his portion — he that loves his life in this sense, shall lose his life — shall lose that which alone deserves to be called life, the life of God, and shall die the second death. He, on the other hand, that hateth his life in this world — he that rejects as evil all that ungodly enjoyment in present things for which he has a capacity through the flesh — he that " crucifieth the flesh with its aflections and lusts" — he that hateth his life in this sense, shall keep what alone is worthy of the name of life, shall be " blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus 3" shall even now taste a blessedness which " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived," and at the resurrection of the just shall be made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity. Such is our Lord's meaning ; and surely there is matter here for deep and earnest self-examination. Have we been brought to this point, even the being made willing to lose our own 197 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. life that we may find the life of God ? It is this that shows that we have been grafted into the new stock, that Christ has been formed ** in us the hope of glory ;" and with what earnestness should we seek that this may be so with us ! We should even travail as in birth, that this spiritual quickening may be realised in us, for without this we have no lot nor part in the second Adam, " the Lord fi-om Heaven," but are "dead while we live," des- titute of that which alone constitutes the true and proper life of our souls. Our Lord continues. " If any man serve me, let him follow me ; and where I am, there shall also my servant be : if any man serve me, him will my Father honour." The Greeks, who had desired to see our Lord, had in all probability pressed their desire to be His servants ; here He instructs them how only they could serve Him, and points their view to those unspeakable rewards which awaited His servants. " If any man will serve me, let him follow me." He had been speaking of suffering and self-sacrifice, and the following Him here evidentiy re- spects these things. Those whom He was addressing might have borne a palm-branch at His triumphal entry into Jerusalem ; they might have shouted on that occa- sion, *'Hosanna to the Son of David!" These were easy things ; there were harder things awaiting all that should serve Him. He, as He had intimated to them, was to be a sufferer ; it was hrough suffering that He was to be glorified. So, too, with all His servants. They must be sufferers. They must suffer with Christ here, before they can be glorified with Him hereafter, before they can be with Him where He is, and be crowned, as His servants, with glory and honour by His Father. " They," as He tells them, " must drink of His cup, and be baptized with the baptism that He was baptized with." Here there are two views of Christ's sufferings, which must be carefully distinguished from each other. Or the one hand, His sufferings were propitiatory — were His atone- 198 D.D. is this that V stock, that glory ;" and is may be so th, that this for without \.daiii, "the B live," des- and proper me, let him my servant ler honour." d, had in all r\'ants; here ^e Him, and (vards which >erve me, let uffering and evidendy re- 3 addressing mphal entry n that occa- These were iting all that ted to them, ing that He •vants. They Christ here, r, before they med, as His . "They," as be baptized ^ith." Here lich must be Or the one I His atone-^ SERMON IV. — ST. JOHN XII. 20-26. ment for sin ; on the other hand, they were the road by which He passed to glory. In the first of these we have no part ; we cannot partake of the sufferings of Christ in the sense of making with Him an atonement for sin ; for to atone for sin was a work in which no creature, and surely no sinful creature, could i)0ssibly have any share. But in the other view of His sufferings, He is the pattern of our condition. While, in treading the wine-press of the wrath of God to obtain our eternal redemption, we have no participation ; — in treading the steps of holy suffering by which He, as our Forerunner, entered into His glory, we have and must have a participation, — in Mw we must fol- low His steps ; we must be made conformable to Him. A participation of the sufferings of Christ in this view of them, is, in fact, our high and blessed calling in this pre- sent time ; nor unless we thus suffer with Him now, shall we reign with Him hereafter. " If any man serve me, let him follow me." Do we wonder at this, that with us the way to the crown should be by the cross ? When Christ, " though He were a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered ;" is it strange that we, if sons, should be called to learn obedience by the things which we suffer ? There is a blessed need for our being " partakers of Christ's suffer- ings." They are from our Father's love, and are His merciful and gracious discipline to conform us to Christ's image, that we may be prepared for Christ's glory. Our suffering with Christ is, in fact, a part of the acting of that new life which every Christian lives in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God, and which he must live, and which alone it is blessed for him to live, until the body of sin and death in him is finally destroyed, and he is " clothed upon with his house from Heaven," and hence those pantings and aspirings of the Apostle, " That I may know Christ, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable 199 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. ii unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Brethren, does it pain you to hear the Christian life thus represented ? Does it grieve you to be told that, to be servants of Christ, you must follow " the Captain of your salvation ;" that you must be conformed to your Lord ; that you must "drink, indeed, of His cup, aLd be baptized with the baptism that He was baptized with ? " And is it so hard, then, that God should " deal with you as with sons ;" with you, as He dealt with His own be- loved Son who never offended Him, while you have con- stantly grieved and provoked His Holy Spirit ? And is there no present blessedness in thus suffering with Christ ? This is no joyless calling ; the sorrow that attends upon it is no sorrow of the world working death, but a Divine sorrow working life. They who have most suffered with Christ have rejoiced with a " joy unspeakable and full of glory." They who suffer with Christ, putting, by their willing and ready suffering with Him, His condemnation upon their sin ; they whose sufferings are of this holy character, have even now a joy which no man taketh from them ; and "as the sufferings of Christ abound in them, so their consolation also aboundeth by Christ." And then, what a hope is theirs when this brief season of conflict and tribulation is over ! " Where I am, there shall my servant be." " If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him." " If so be that we suffer with Him, we shall be glorified together." "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." And shall we then think it grievous that we should be called to suffer with Chrisic ? Might nre not well grieve if we were not called to suffer with Him ? For would it not be a token to us that our state was evil ; that our spirit was not the spirit of Christ ; that we were still out of the way, and had never known the path to life and immortalitj ? 200 D. I unto the ristian life Id that, to Zlaptain of i to your ip, aLd be 2d with?" i with you s own be- have con- ? And is th Christ ? mds upon t a Divine fered with ind full of , by their emnation this holy in taketh bound in hrist." ef season am, there we shall irith Him, affliction, far more shall we to suffer were not i a token J not the way, and SERMON V. St. John xiii., i to 7.—" Now, before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, — having loved his own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." \N the preceding chapter we have an account of the close of our Lord's lessons to the people at large. The curtain had now fallen around the scenes on which He had ap- peared as a public teacher ; and here the Evangelist (conducts us into the sacred circle of the chosen dis- sciples, and makes us hearers of the sublime and con- soling instructions which He gave them previously to His departure out of the world. The transaction here related, in which He gave His disciples such a ' ' touching proof of His condescension and love to- wards them, took place in an upper room in Jerusa- lem in which He and they were assembled for the piu^ose of eating the Passover. " Now before the feast of the Passover, when* Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in ^he world. He loved them unto the end." We have here a mark of the time or occasion of our Lord's giving His disciples the striking illustration of His self-sacrificing affection which follows. It was before, and, as we find, immediately before the Feast of the Passover, — that feast 291 Hi ' 111 H' »' 1)1 I' t . LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. which, while it commemorated the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian servitude, typified a far greater deliver- ance than that — even the redemption, by the blood of Christ, of a world enslaved to sin and Satan. It was the last Passover that Jesus was to keep ; and He knew that it was. He was aware that His hour was come, when he should depart out of this world unto the Father. He was just to pass into His glory through the gates of suffering and death, but His disciples were, for a time at least, to be lelt behind. They were to follow Him to His glory afterwards, but they could not do so then ; they must yet continue for a season in the world, and it was a world in which they were to be hated for His sake, and where they were to have great tribulation. How does he now act towards them? They were " His own," — given Him by His Father, chosen by Himself j His constant companions. His familiar friends,- -the objects of his peculiar affection, — the iubjeets of His saving bene- fits. They were thus His own ; and He had " loved " them as His own. He had cherished and manifested to- wards them, in all his past connexion with them, a tender and peculiar affection. And it was so still. He thought of them as in the world, and as, therefore, standing in need of His love as much as ever ; and He did love them. The near contemplation of His sufferings, calcu- lated as they were to engross His human soul, neither diverted nor diminished his affection ; " He loved them unto the end ;" He felt and He manifested towards them the depth and the tenderness of Hio regard down to the very close of His being with them in the world ; — thus showing them that " He rested in His love," that He would never withdraw it from the soul on which it had been set. We know not, brethren, who of you are Christ's own ; who of you have received Him. IVe cannot tell, for ap- pearances are deceitful, who are the Saviour's friends, the objects of His love, the subjects of His grace ; tAat is known only to God and your own hearts. If you are 202 SERMON V. — ST. JOHN XIII. I-7. Israel eliver- )od of It was i knew come, 'ather. ites of time at lim to then; and it is sake, How ! own," f; His objects g bene- loved " sted to- L tender thought ding in id love , calcu- neither d them is them the very showing Id never jt. 's own ; for ap- friends, :e ; t/tat you are Christ's own, — if conscience now gives its testimony that you love Him, and are loved by Him, let me speak to you of the rich consolation which is here given you. You are in the world, and while in the world you must needs have sorrow. " In the world," the Saviour says to you, " ye shall have tribulation." But behold the consolation that is yours. Whatever may be your circumstances, you have in Christ a fast and unfailing friend — a friend that " that loveth at all times," that will never leave, never forsake you. If He were to withdraw his love from you, you might well be cast down ; but He will never with- draw it. " The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy upon thee." " Who shall sepa- rate us from the love of Christ ? Neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pre- sent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." " And supper being ended, the Devil having now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him." — The expression here rendered, " supper being ended," should rather have been translated, " In the course of supper," or ** while they were at supper." It was during the meal that the circumstance about to be mentioned took place. By the Devil's " putting into the heart of Judas" to betray his Lord, is meant his tempting him to commit this fearful act of treason. This, we know, he did by means of his avarice. Satan is the great tempter, but Satan has no power to tempt any one ex- cept through some corrupt inclination or passion of the mind which he can make use of. Where there is such an inclination or passion, he artfully addresses himself to it, — he presents to it the objects fitted to arouse and in- flame it ; and thus gets the advantage he seeks. What he found to work upon in the case of Judas was his love of 203 ! il' i; "I 1 ^|! '• II ! LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. ■■ ^,1— .1.-- II — ii^ii. ■ I - I, ..■■■I I II- ■■ I i-i... ■^. money ; and we know with what success he did work upon this passion in him. Oh, brethren, let us beware how we lust after any evil thing — how we cherish any corrupt propensity in our hearts. Let us especially recall to our remembrance here the danger of indulging a covet- ous, worldly spirit. The love of money has been the ruin of multitudes. " They that will be rich fall into tempta- tion and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." " Jesus, knowing that thv Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God ; He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments ; and took a towel and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a bason and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded." There had been, at this time, a most unseemly contention among the disciples which of them should be the greatest ; and one object of the lowly act here performed by our Lord was to show them what con- stituted true greatness, and how mistaken they were who supposed it to lie in lording it over others. (Dur Lord at this time knew that He was just about to be betrayed into the hands of His enemies ; He had fully before His mind the sufferings and death which He must undergo. But He had before Him, too, the glory that lay beyond these. He knew " That the Father had given all things into His hands ; " that He had r jme from God as the Redeemer of a lost world ; and that through the appointed way of a complete expiation of the sins of man by the suffering of death. He was going back to God to be "crowned with glory zud honour," and to receive the rich reward of His sufferings. In these circumstances, when the intensest inward suffering, and the near pros- pect of unparalleled agonies, united with the most un- doubting anticipation of triumph and recompense in " seeing of the travail of His soul," discovered Him, in the most sublime manner, the union of the human and 2p4 SERMON V. — ST. JOHN XIII. l-J. the divine natures — in these circumstances did he stand up to show to His disciples, and to all succeeding gene- rations of men, in an emblematic action, as remarkable for its beautiful simplicity as for its profound significance, the mystery of true human greatness — to teach what it is to be " great in the kingdom of God." " He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments ; and took a towel and girded Himself After that He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded." Wonder, O heavens ! Be astonished, O earth ! He into whose hands the Father hath committed all things : He who came from God, and is going to God : He who is fully aware of all this, in the guise of a servant washes the feet of men — of simple men^-of publicans and fishermen ! He tells us elsewhere, that " He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many " ; and in what He here does, He gives us an exhibition of His saving work on our be- half. " Being in the form of God," robed in the glories which He had with the Father, He " emptied Himself ; " laid aside these glories as far as they could be laid aside; " took on Him the form of a servant," and in that form " humbled Himself," stooping t>> the lowest offices, yea, ** even to death, the death of the cross ; " and all this that we, being washed by Him, might have part in Him, being made sharers of is Hholiness, and so of His happiness." "Then cometh he to Simon Peter; and Peter said unto him. Lord, dost thou wash my feet ? Jesus answered and said unto him. What I do thou knowest not now ; but thou shalt know hereafter." The conduct of Peter on this occasion is in the highest degree characteristic. The disciples must have witnessed our Lord's act at this time with amazement, but their wonder must have been mixed with shame ; for imperfectly as they might appre- hend the meaning of the act, they could not but feel that it rebuked their worldly ambition, their desire for pre- 205 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. II 'I'll eminence and self-exaltation. Still they spoke not, suf- fering, if reluctantly yet unresistingly suffering, their venerated Master to perform towards them the part of a servant. Simon Peter alone brooked not to see his Lord so servilely employed ; with characteristic impeti'osity, he refused to submit to what he thought it was a degradation to Jesus to do for him, asking, " 'Lord, dost thou wash my feet ? ' Dost thou, the Son of the living God, perform such an office towards me, a sinful man, a worm of the dust ? This be far from thee ! " It was to receive the reply, at once so meek and so full of majesty, " ' What I do, thou knowest not now ; but thou shalt know here- after.' The design of My action is at present mysterious and unexplained ; full light will soon be thrown upon it. Meanwhile, it is thy duty to submit to My will, trusting that thou shalt receive the fullest satisfaction in regard to it, in due time." And this was written, not for the instruc- tion only of the disciples then, but for the instruction of all disciples. It was written, brethren, for our instruction. The Lord's dealings with us are often mysterious ; in vain do we try to penetrate their meaning ; we cannot think what their end will be. What in such circumstances is God's language to us ? It is this : " What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." Mean- time submit thyself calmly and joyfully to my appoint- ments ; possess thy soul In faith and patience, awaiting the time when all that is da.', and perplexing shall be made plain to thee, and thou shalt see that I did all things well. Consider, brethren, that in the Lord's present dispen- sations towards us, there will often be things which are mysterious to us. This He prepares us to expect ; He says, " I will bring the blind by a way that they know not, I will lead them in paths that they have not known." The disciples knew not, at this time, what the Lord was doing ; His providence was involved in an obscurity which they could not penetrate. And the same has been the experi- ence of the people of God in every age. His judgments 206 SERMON V. — ST. JOHN XIII. l-J. to them have been unsearchable, and "His ways past finding out." It was so with Jacob, with Joseph, with Israel in the wilderness, with Job, with Daniel ; with what feeling would all these in their day have entered into the language of the Psalmist : — " Thy way is in the sea ; and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known." And it is the same with the people of God still. If we are His people, we shall often be led in a way that we know not. His dispensations will be perplexing and mysterious to us. The reason for their being sent, — the course they are to take, the means whereby we may be relieved of them, the purposes they are to answer — all these things will be hid- den from us. But shall we stumble at these things ? Shall we permit them to give rise to dissatisfaction and murmuring in our hearts ? Because the crooked thing is not all at once made straight, because the dark thing is not immediately made light, shall we be offended, and say, " Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?" It should be enough to still ?11 such thoughts that whatever be the path in which we are led, it is the Lord who is leading us ; that whatever is done with us. He is doing it. " Trouble," my brethren, " springs not out of the ground," nothing has come, — nothing can ever come to us, but what He appoints. " Without Him a sparrow falleth not to the ground — by Him the veiy hairs of our head are all numbered" — how much more may we feel that this must be so, in regard to things which affect us more deeply ! Let us never lose sight of the great truth that the Lord reigns, and that, therefore, whatever befalls us. He can say, " I have done this," even He who cannot err, and who loves us with a love stronger than death. We become impatient only when we forget that Jesus goes before us in the way, and measures out to us in infinite kindness the troubles that befall us ; when we realise His nearness to us, and His interest in us, and how, by all His dealings, He is working out with us His gracious pur- 207 *f n li : Hi m LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. I,' i|) I!' til 111 (I »l IK ! poses, we are impatient no longer ; the storm is all quieted ; and we are still, knowing that He is God, and that He is right in all that He does. But consider farther, that what we know not now, we shall know hereafter. It must needs be that the dispen- sations of God towards us now will be often dark and mysterious. There must be much in the movements of of the leader of an army which the common soldier cannot understand ; there must be much in the conduct of a parent towards a child, the meaning and purpose of which will be unseen by that child. So it must be with us in respect of our Divine Leader, our Heavenly Father. In that Leader's arrangements concerning us, — in that Father's treatment of us, there must be much that we cannot comprehend ; — much that only a little more know- ledge and experience would convince us that it would not be well for us that we should all at once comprehend. But the knowledge which is now of necessity, and in mercy to us withheld, will not always be withheld ; there is a time coming when what is now dark and mysterious in God's ways will have the fullest light thrown upon it. That time will be, if not in the present world, certainly in the world to come. Often it will be in the present world. Think of Joseph. The ways of God to him were long dark ; but how clear to him did they at length appear, when made second in the kingdom of Egypt, he became not only the instrument of " saving much people alive," but the " nourisher of his father, and his brethren, and of all his father's household." Think of our Lord's disciples at the very period to which the passage before us refers. Much as he had done to make known to them the mys- teiies of His Kingdom, there were many things of which He spake to them which they could not understand. His sufferings, of which he forewarned them, were altogether a mystery to them ; when He told them that He should " be delivered into the hands of sinful men," and of what should be done to Him, they were offended in Him. But 208 M SERMON V. — ST. JOHN XIII. I-7. •m is all God, and now, we le dispen- dark and ;ments of er cannot luct of a ; of which nth us in Lther. In —in that 1 that we ore know- would not nprehend. ^, and in ;ld ; there nybterious n upon it. ertainly in ent world, were long th appear, le became pie alive," en, and of s disciples ; us refers. 1 the mys- s of which tand. His altogether ie should ad of what Him. But in a few days all was made plain to them, and they were glorying in the very truths at which they had stumbled, and of which they had been so impatient. Thus, often, will much that is dark and perplexing to us in God's ways, be cleared up, even in the present world. In the coming world all shall be explained to our perfect satisfaction. Here it is still night with us ; but there is "no night M^r^.^" There, no cloud will rest upon the Divine dispensations ; there, we shall discern that infinite love directed every one of those things which once so perplexed and confounded us ; there, as we retrace all our course, and see the need for every maze and winding in it, and how each particular trial worked out the glorious consummation we have arrived at, our language will be, " He did all things well !" Dear friends, let these things repress in us every tendency to hasty and irreverent objec- tions to the doctrines of Scripture, on the ground of the difficulty and mystery that clings to them. Few things are more common than the indulgence of rash and irreve- rent cavils in regard to things in the Bible which appear difficult ; but there is nothing so nnbecoming, — nothing of which the cavillers, if they at all reflected, should be so much ashamed. How many things are there, my friends, which were once dark and perplexing to us, which are now clear and satisfactory ? How many things, once deemed foolish by you, are now seen to be the highest wisdom ? And may k not be so in regard to what now may seem difficult in the Scriptures ? May it nol in a little while have such a light thrown upon it, that it shall be the ver thing in which you discern the greatest beauty and excel- lence? And is it well then, to be in haste to judge in these things ? And albeit there are things difficult to be understood in the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, is it honourable to reject them, saying, " These are hard say- ings — who can bear them ? ' Surely the sober-minded will have no difficulty in seeing that there is a more excel- lent way than this. o 209 MI Vi LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.l). Let US learn, also, from these things never to charge God rashly in regard to any of His dispensations towards us. Some heavy trial has come upon us, and we cannot see how it is to work for our good, rather we see, as we think, that it must operate injuriously upon us. In such seasons, we are tempted to murmur at what has been dealt out to us, to call in question the wisdom and goodness of the Lord. But let us resist such a temptation ! Let us remember how little we know of God's ways, and how much more likely it is that we should be wrong or mis- taken th-^n that He should err. There is a common but significant proverb which we would do well to remember here, — " Fools and children should not see things half done," — for, in contemplating the Divine manifestations, the wisest of men are but in the place of cliildren who gaze on the intricate operations of some \)rofouiid media nician, or skilful artist. Something of what is done, they may see, but into its reasons they cannot enter, or if they can, it is only a little way. Far, then, from us be the dis- position to find fault with any of the Lord's doings towards us ! Let it be enough for us that it is His hand that directs all things. Let this produce in us a calm, unquestioning, joyful submission. He loved us in our low and lost estate ; — He loved us then, so as to lay down for us His life ; — He has gone, with all that love to us, within the holy place, and can He then appoint us one thing which ha s not for its object the advancement of our highest good ? It cannot be ! His kindness never departs from us : an d those trials which He sends us, even those of them that are the darkest and most perplexing, are but varied ex- pressions of His goodness. There is not one of them all, which we shall not one day recognise as a token of love, and which, when we come to contemplate it in the light of Heaven, will not furnish us with a theme of gratitude and praise, as having formed part of that plan of grace by which we were fitted and matured for glory. 2IO charge 5 towards e cannot e, as we In such »een dealt odness of ! Let us and how ig or mis- imon but remember lings half festations, dren who lid mecha- ione, they , or if they 3e the dis- gs towards hat directs lestioning, ost estate ; lis life ; — 1 the holy which has est good ? m us : an d them that varied ex- )f them all, en of love, the light of atitude and )f grace by SERMON VI. Acts XX,, 35. — 1 have shewed you all things, how that so labourin:^ ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. T should give a peculiar interest to the words here recorded to have been spoken by our Lord, that they should have been preserved while so many others of His sayings were suffered to pass into oblivion. This saying is not I found in any of the narratives of the four Evangelists, 'but they do not profess to record all His sayings. Every word uttered by Him, of whom it was so justly said, " Never man spake like this man," was precious, was worthy of being handed down to com- ing age, but to preserve them all was impossible ; and it was thus that John, who wrote last, closes his gospel — " And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.'' It would thus happen that many of the things which Jesus spake, being not committed to writing, but left to the uncertainties of oral tradition, would soon be irrecover- ably lost. Here, however, was a saying of His too pre- cious to be suffered to share the common fate, and the great Apostle of the Gentiles was over-ruled, on the occa- sion to which he here refers, to gather up and preserve the precious fragments for the Church's use in all genera- tions. During his ministry at Ephesus, as lie here reminds 211 !« I I I ii Ifl'" N ■ i'. 't- III II iiii LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. the elders of that church, he had not neglected to incul- cate the duty of giving to the destitute, to those unable to provide for themselves, as is signified by the term " the weak ;" he had particularly instructed them in this im- portant duty, and bound it upon them by a consideration of all others the most affecting to the heart of a Christian, " I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." These words remind us of the duty of supporting the destitute, but yet, as will be observed, present to us the matter of giving to the needy more in the light of a privilege than of a duty. There is a blessedness in giving. He who withholds not his compassion from the destitute, but opens for them his heart and hand, has a happiness, a delight in what he does. There is a peculiar blessed- ness attendant on giving. It was said by our Lord, " It is more blessed to give than to receive." There is a blessedness in receiving, and a great one. Unless, where the hearts of the distressed have become utterly cold and dead to human sensibilities, a deed, or word, or even a look of sympathy in the day of their calamity, always awakens emotions of pleasure. Such manifestations of concern for them draw forth their gratitude, and gratitude to a benefactor is always a sweet sensation, especially when we contemplate the hand of God in raising him up to relieve us. But if there is a high blessedness in receiving, there is a yet higher in giving. He who be- stows is happier yet in bestowing than is the object of his bounty in receiving ; and sweet as are the emotions, he awakens in the bosom of another, yet sweeter still are those he feels within his own. And this high blessedness we may know now — here in this present time. It is not only that, upon the whole, and taking our coming eternity into the account, it will be found thus peculiarly blessed to be givers — but even now, and regarding man merely 212 SERMON VI. — ACTS XX. 35. to incul- se unable erm " the this im- iideration hristian, ouring ye the words 2d to give orting the : to us the light of a 5 in giving. I destitute, happiness, ir blessed- Lord, "It rhere is a less, where y cold and ,, or even a lity, always jstations of id gratitude , especially 5ing him up ssedness in He who be- le object of le emotions, leter still are blessedness e. It is not [ling eternity iarly blessed man merely as a denizen of this present world — this great blessedness waits upon the exercise of giving. There is a day approaching when the truth of the Saviour's sentiment will be impressed upon every heart that ever beat within a human frame, and when it will not be needful to prove to a single individual of all the countless myriads that shall have lived and died upon the earth, that " it is more blessed to give than to receive." It will be when all shall stand at the judgment seat of Christ, and when He, the King, shall say to them on His right hand, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you froni the foundation of the world : For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat ; I was athirst, and ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger, ar.d ye took me in ; naked, and ye clothed me ; I was sick, and ye visited me ; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." On such a day there will be but one feeling regarding the senti- ment in our text — that, taking the whole of man's being into view, it states an incontrovertible truth. But it is not in reference to its future recompence merely, that our Lord is to be considered as having uttered this sentiment. He speaks not of beneficence as a thing that will be found to be blessed hereafter, but as a thing that is blessed now ; he speaks of its great present reward — of the immediate peculiar felicity which will accompany it, as often as it is exercised. " It is more blessed to give than to receive." There are two points to which we would now briefly invite attention. They are, first, the peculiar blessedness which attends the exercise of beneficence, and, secondly, the means which we possess of exercising this beneficence. I. There is, as is indicated by the words " It is more blessed to give than to receive," a blessedness peculiarly great, attendant upon giving. To establish this, there needs no elaborate process of reasoning. Strange as it may seem when we consider the selfishness that is in every human heart, when we mark that passion so universal among mankind — the passion of concentrating 213 # : i LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. II ^i 11 ihIII It Will! Ill upon self— the sentiment of our Lord in the remarkable words before us commends itself to almost every mind, commanding the convictions however little it may influ- ence the practice of men. That iv may command our convictions, we have only to ask ourselves one or other of these two questions — Whom of all those whom we have observed, or whom we have heard of, do we deem the happiest? What have been those seasons when we have enjoyed the truest happiness ourselves ? Whom, brethren, of all those whom you have either observed or heard of do you deem to have been the hap- piest? We fear not to reply for you — they have been the most self-sacrificing. You have observed the activity and devotedness of maternal love. You know how utterly a mother can forget herself in caring for her infant offspring — how she can labour for them by day, and watch for them by night — and how, if only she can shield them from harm and promote their happiness, there is no personal danger she will not encounter, no personal com- fort she will not give up. Is hers a joyless existence ? You know that there is not a happier being beneath the sun than that self-sacrificing mother. You know that she is thus happy just because she is self-sacrificing, and that, were worlds to be offered her in exchange for the joy she feels in devoting herself for her helpless babe, they would be utterly contemned. You may have observed the faith- ful and laborious Sabbath school teacher. That he may feed his young charge with the bread of life, he foregoes not a little of present ease and of direct personal benefit. He might spare ^himself the pain often inflicted upon him through the inattention, the rudeness, or the unthankful- ness of those he labours to instruct. He might give the time he devotes to them to private reading and meditation, or to other exercises more pleasing in themselve > and more immediately profitable. Is he, therefore, unhappy in thus devoting himself for his charge ? He will tell you that, though he would be happy to receive the spiritual 214; SERMON IV. — ACTS XX. 35. narkable ry mind, lay influ- nand our or other rhom we we deem when we ve either the hap- lave been e activity now how her infant day, and can shield here is no lonal com- ixistence ? ;neath the w that she , and that, he joy she hey would I the faith- at he may e foregoes al benefit, upon him n thankful- It give the leditation, lelve; and , unhappy ill tell you e spiritual benefit he misses, it yet affords him a higher happiness to be the imparter of the spiritual benefit he bestows, and that in his humble walk of usefulness, he has learned of a truth that " it is more blessed to give than to receive." We have heard of the beneficence of M. In the time of his calamity, he thus sketches a scene of his former life which he only, who had been in it, could so describe — " When the ear heard me, then it blessed me ; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me, because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy." We stop not to ask whether those were blessed on whom Job thus had piety, whether their emotions were not among the sweetest known to human hearts — but who does not feel that if they were happy in receiving, yet far happier was he in giving ? We have heard oiPauVs self-sacrificing love. We have read how he spent himself, and was spent in seeking the glory of God in the salvation of his fellow-men. We have read of his toils, his perils, his watchings, his weariness, his bonds and affliction, and finally, his martyrdom in the cause of dying souls. Was his, think we, an unhappy lot ? We have only to look-iipon him while toiling and sacrificing to make others happy, to know that he himself was among the happiest of men. We have only to read over his address, in this chapter, to the elders of Ephesus, to know that its warm language could have welled up only from the depths of a supremely happy heart, and to learn that those words of the Lord Jesus, of which he reminded others, he found true in his own lengthened and latest experience, — " It is more blessed to give than to receive !" We have heard of the philanthropist, Howard. He was eminently a giver, and many in many lands, and those among the most forlorn and forsaken of our race, were the receivers at his hands. Under the impulse of a love caught from that Saviour who, he tells us, was all 215 •I LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. 2:1 «1 '" 11! I'li, '.!„, his hope, he gave up the charms of home, and of ease, and of a rural life, which he had the means of embelllish- ing with all that could minister to a taste most exquisitely refined. He forsook all this to make his way into the most noisome cells of almost every prison and hulk in Europe, that he might take the dimensions of the deep misery that was there, and force others, less actively humane than himself, to labour for its abatement ; nor did he ever rest from his labours in this self-denying work until he died on a foreign shore, a martyr to the cause of suffering humanity. Did Howard, suppose we, miss the path that led to happiness, while pursuing that of on- stant self-sacrifice ? Oh ! could we have gone with him through some of those dungeons whither he took his way, and witnessed how healingly fell his words and deeds of sympathy upon the heart of the despairing captive, we should have felt that he, indeed, had power to make others blessed, but we should have felt, the while, that if they were happy who were the objects of his bounty, yet happier still was he who dispensed it to them, and we should have th/«.s returned with another confirmation of the statement in our text, — " It is more blessed to give than to receive." All men by nature fall under the description, — " hateful and hating one another," — and all the self-sacrificing love ever found in any human heart has been only an emana- tion from that which dwelt in infinite fulness in the bosom of the Man Christ Jesus. As a giver, he left all others immeasurably behind. He '' came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." He went about continually doing good. His whole life from His first assuming our nature to His taking it with Him into heaven, was one mighty sacrifice. " Ye know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." Had He no joy in thus denying Himself for us? It made Him most blessed thus to give. " My meat and drink," 216 * SERMON VI. — ACTS XX. 35. of ease, ibelllish- quisitely into the hulk in he deep actively ent ; nor ing work cause of miss the of on- ivith him his way, deeds of 3tive, we to make le, that if •unty, yet I, and we mation of 1 to give -" hateful icing love Q emana- lie bosom ill others linistered illy doing ur nature le mighty IS Christ, ; became 1." Had It made d drink," says He, " is to do the will of my Father, and i ' nish His work ; aad who but must gather from such language that He proved in His own experience the truth of His own saying to others, " It is more blessed to give than to receive" ? But, to come now to the other question which we sug- gested we should put to ourselves, it might serve to bring to our minds a yet deeper conviction of the high blessed- ness of giving, to consult our own past experience, and enquire what have been the seasons of our life when we have enjoyed the truest happiness. Sure we are that with none of us are those the preen spots of memory when we shut our ears to the cry .he distressed, and passed by on the other side. No . such spots we would blot out from the past, if we could, for they never present them- selves to our view without giving us pain ; and if ever we have been truly happy, it has been at those times, if such there have been in our history, when, like Job, "the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon us, and we made the widows' hearts sing for joy." It must needs be so, for to give is a form of love, and love is blessedness, yea, it assimilates us to the blessed God in blessedness. For " God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." II. But it is time to consider our second point, namely, the means we posse' : of exercising the self-sacrificing beneficence of which we have been speaking. We trust none will be found to say, "What matters it that the blessedness of giving is so great, when I have nothing to give, and must consequently be shut out from such blessedness ?" You must be poor, indeed, if you have nothing wherewith to minister to the necessities of the destitute. Even the poor may have the means of doing much for those who are poorer still than they. If silver and gold they have none, yet out of what they have, they might give what would bless a neighbour that is near, while yet more richly blessing themselves. But even 217 M 1 HI It m if pi ■ . , Ill f! I Hi fl ID 5' ' ■ ,l''iir ■ "flu, LIFE OF TH^ REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.U. money they might give far oftener than they think, and so reach a brother far off. You will remember the two mites of the poor widow, and the gracious recognition it met with from Him who justly weighs each deed v/e do. You will remember what is said by Paul of the churches of Macedonia, — " How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality." But your complaint, perhaps, is not so much that you are poor, as that your expenditure exhausts your income, and so pre- cludes your giving to the needy. But could you not practise a stricter economy, and thereby have the power to give to them ? Could you retrench nothing on dress, on food, on furniture ? Surely there is no one who looks at the actual state of things among us but must see that much might be saved on each of these things, and that, if only what is squandered among us on expensive enter- tainments, and in gay and gorgeous assemblies, wholly unbefitting a Christian, were henceforward to be re- deemed, many who have now no disposable revenue for the disbursements of charity, would find themselves amply furnished for this work, and enjoy, in doing good, a higher luxury than any yet tasted by them. But, if you neither have wherefrom £o give, nor could save in order to give, could you not labour in order to do so ? Listen to Paul in our text, — " I have showed you all things, how that so labouring" — that is, labouring with their hands, as he had done — " ye ought to support the weak." And listen also to another exhortation of his to the Ephesian Church, " Let him that stole steal no more ; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have tc give to him that needeth." Oh, complain not, my friends, that you have not the means of giving to the destitute, when by labour you might acquire the means of giving to them. Will you say, — This is too lofty a benevolence for Chris- tians to practise? Who will say this, who remembers 218 SERMON VI. — ACTS XX. 35. how little it comes up to the example of His beneficence, who, to relieve our sore misery, not only laboured but died ; and who remembers, too, that Jesus has said, — " This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you " ? From this subject you may see, brethren, how greatly we, who are ministers, should err, if, while we testified to you that you are saved by faith, we did not lift up our voice like a trumpet to warn you that never is a saving faith unaccompanied by good works ; but that it is, on the contrary, a " faith that worketh by love," that must needs be doing good, and that will never be found deaf when approached by the cry of a genuine distress. Let this be borne in remembrance. Let none account of faith, as if it could be disjoined from good works, as if it could exist where there was no showing mercy on the poor, no dealing of one's bread to the hungry ; for this can never be. *' Faith without works is dead," — is, in reality, no faithat all, and only proves that the man who has it, insteadof being, as he ma} think, in the way of life, is, to this hour, abiding in death. "What doth it profit, my brethren, that a man say he hath faith, and have not works ? Can faith save him ? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them. Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled ; notwithstand- ing ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit ? Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." And to what do we invite you, when we invite you, this day, to draw forth your souls to the needy? We invite you to what the excitements of ambition could not do for you, — to what neither the accumulations of avarice nor the pleasures of dissipation could do for you. We just invite you to be blessed. By your liberality to those who need it, you may communicate happiness to their hearts, but you shall surely bring hom*; a higher happiness to your own. May you, then, give to the 219 III n LIFE OK THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. needy, adoring Him who hath made it bliss to love, — humbling yourselves in His sight for all your departures from this love, and casting yourselves upon His mercy to forgive these departures from it, and upon His strength to enable you henceforth to dwell in it ; — may you give with these views and feelings ; — then, surely, you shall have your reward ; yours shall be a blessedness known, among all the dwellers on the earth, only to the self-sacri- ficing ; yea, yours shall be a very foretaste of that bless- edness which is theirs with whom faith is changed into sight, and hope hath risen into fruition, but with whom perfect love, even the love that is of God, remains to constitute their overflowing and everlasting well-spring of felicity ! * . » •This was the last sermon preached by Dr. Machar — October 12, 1862. 220 love, — Dartures lercy to strength ou give )u shall cnown, If-sacri- t bless- jed into h whom lains to pring of ctober 12, SERMON VII. Romans, viii. 23. — "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, w aiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." iY a bold and beautiful personification com- mon in Scripture, the Apostle^ in the pre- ceding words, represents the whole creation as groaning and travailing in pain, under its subject Jon to vanity, through the sin of man, and yet, 1 nevertheless, losing sight, as it were, of its pains and ' anguish in the ravishing contemplation of its deliver- ance from the bondage of corruption at the mani- festation of the sons of God. Here he refers to the feelings of believers in their present circumstances as being analogous to those of the suffering crea- tion. And not only they, — that is, the inanimate and unintelligent creatures of this lower world, — not only do they eagerly look onwards to that period when the curse under whicii they now suffer shall be removed, and they shall again rejoice before the Lord, and under His approving smile ; but we, the chil- dren of God, — we ourselves also, which have the first- fruits of the Spirit, " even we ourselves groan within our- selves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Dear friends, is this language, as we think, plainly de- i 221 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. scriptive of the state and feelings and expectations of true Christians ? If it cannot be doubted that it is, then how momentous for us to mark it well, that, discerning from it the true featun : of the children of God, we may see whether we belong to this number, or are yet " strangers and foreigners," " without God and without hope in the world ! " May we have given to us the hearing ear and the understanding heart while we now address ourselves to the consideration of what is here written for our learn- ing ! In the first place, the Apostle speaks of himself and his fellow-believers as having the first-fruits of the Spirit. The first-fruits of the Spirit are the love, the joy, the peace, the holiness which the Spirit brings with Him when He enters the believing heart ; they are the likeness to God which this Divine Agent works in believers, and the communion with God to which He calls them. It will be remembered by those who are familiar with the usages under the law, that the first-fruits of the field were offered to God, — they who brought them thus glorifying God as the God who gave fruitful seasons, and filled their mouths with food and gladness ; and in allusion to tliis, may those graces which the Holy Spirit now confers on belie v'^rs be called first-fruits, as redounding to the glory of that God by whose blessing and energy only do they spring up and grow in the soil of any human heart. The idea chiefly intended, however, seems to be that the love, the joy, the peace, the holiness, the various graces which the Holy Spirit now confers upon believers, are a pledge and earnest to them of their coming felicity and glory. Be- lievers, as we have seen, are the children of God ; and, as being children, they are heirs, " heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." But they are not yet come to the inheritance which the Lord their God giveih them ; they have yet to wait for this inheritance for a little sea- son. But He who gives them all things richly to enjoy, as far as their present circumstances admit, gives them 222 SERMON VIT. — ROMANS VIII. 23. s of true len how from it may sec trangers e in the ear and urselves ur learn- ' and his Spirit, joy, the im when eness to and the It will le usages e oft'ered God as r mouths lay those ievv'^rs be hat God g up and a chiefly I joy, the le Holy dge and ry. Be- >d ; and, od, and come to 1 them ; ittle sea- :o enjoy, es them something of their inheritance in hand ; He communi- cates to them many a blessed foretaste of their Heavenly portion in confirmation of their hope of it, and to stimu- late their desires and endeavours to reach it. Such are the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, — the love which he sheds abroad in the heart of the children of God, — the joy and peace which He imparts to them, — the " right- eousness and goodness and truth" by the way of which He leads them ; — these first-fruits He now puts into their hands, that they may judge of the approaching harvest, and that they may be comforted and upheld until the reaping time shall come round. Brethren, do we know what it is to have received these first-fruits of the Spirit ? The Apostle, observe, repre- sents it as distinctive of believers that they have the first- fruits of the Spirit. His language shows that they who ha\'e not these first-fruits of the Spirit cannot be believers. VV^ell, then, have we these first-fruits ? Has God given us His Holy Spirit to dwell in us in enlightening, renew- ing, and consoling power? Have we ceased to draw our felicity from the muddy cisterns of earthly enjoyment, and does our joy now flow to us from a Divine source ? Is it of the same nature with the joy of the Lord — a fore- taste of the glory which will one day be revealed to His people? Does conscience answer "No?" Then, l)rethren, see your true state, that you are not yet the children of God, and go and beseech Him that He would have mercy upon you, — that you be not destroyed with the world. But are there some who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, — some into whose hearts He has put a gladness which the world could never have communi- cated ? See that ye glorify God with what you have re- ceived. As the first-fruits of the harvest were consecrated to God, so do ye, who have received the first-fruits of the Spirit, offer yourselves to God as a kmd of first-fruits. As the first-fruits of the field were offered publicly, so do ye present yourselves openly to God as living sacrifices, 223 I LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. \. !»i ■ — never concealing through cowardice, nor clouding through inconsistency, the profession of your faith, but " letting your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." In the second place, the Apostle speaks of true be- lievers as now groaning within themselves. He says, " Ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we groan within ourselves." He is referring to the feelings and emotions which, by a figure of speech, he represents as actuating universal nature, under her pre- sent blight and distress, and he says — " not only they" — the whole creation — groan and travail in pain, looking forth in eager anticipation for the coming deliverance : but W£ also, with all the advantages which we possess, even we groan ; the time with us is a time of oppression and suffering and sore burthening. Even now, indeed, the child of God is not without his consolations ; he is made to feel that " godliness has the promise of the life that now is ; " and it is of his present portion that it is said that " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive it." Even now, the believer knows how true it is that " wis- dom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths peace," nor, however poor in this world's goods, would he change his lot with the richest of the earth who know not " the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent." But still it is true of the believer, that in the world he has tribulation ; that now he must " needs be in heavi- ness through manifold temptations." We which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we groan." It cannot be otherwise with those who have the Spirit, as long as they carry about with them a body of sin and death ; for the flesh, that is in them, still lusteth against the Spirit, and while they "delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man," they see " a law in their members warring 224 SERMON VII. — ROMANS VIIL 23. against the law of their minds, and bringing them into captivity to the law of sin and death in their members." Under these restless stirrings of indwelling corruption, they are frequently in heaviness and sorrow ; and hence it is that we find the Apostle himself, in the preceding chapter, pouring forth that complaint which bespeaks so much anguish, " O, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? " and in another passage making use of the same doleful language, " For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being bur- dened." Such is the present experience of all the chil- dren of God. The sin that is in them is not to be kept under but by a sore and incessant struggle ; and hence, though they have their abounding consolations, they have at all times their disquiets and their groaning and travail. It would seem that in no other way can those who have fallen so far be matured for glory. It would seem as if such a painful experience were needful to detach us from all dependence upon ourselves, and make us see that in God alone must be all our boast. It would seem as if only through the humiliation and bitterness of our felt corruption can self be dethroned within us, and God come to occupy his rightful place in our hearts. But this ex- perience of corruption will make believers groan ; and the more they are renewed after the Divine image, the more painful to them will be the workings of the indwelling sin, and the more earnestly will they look and long for the period of their full deliverance from " the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God." " We groan," says the Apostle, " within ourselves." This distinguishes the groaning of the believer, that, unlike that of the hypocrite, which is outward, it is inward. It is a thing not for the ear of man, but for the ear of God ; it is a part of the hidden life of believers, — known only to themselves and to God. But it is an important part of their life. Bound to a body of death, whose loathsome ness they cannot but feel, they mourn in secret to God, p 225 ! li^^ I! h\ n r SI i '"DlA il: I! LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. saying, with the Psalmist, " All my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee ; " and this secret mourning in them, God regards well pleased. He puts their " tears into His bottle ; " He writes their secret groans in His book. This groaning of theirs is, indeed a fruit of the Spirit of God in their hearts ; and " blessed are they who thus mourn, for they shall be comforted." Brethren, do we know nothing of this secret groaning? We may well tremble for ourselves, for the absence of this distress shows that, as yet, we have not received that heart of tlesh which God gives to all His true children, and which alone can render us precious in His sight. While we feel no distress because of the sin that is in us, God cannot draw near to dwell with us, or bestow upon us one token of His regard, for it is to Him only of the sons of men who is of a poor and contrite spirit, that God will look. " The proud He knoweth afar off;" He " dwells " only "with those who are of a humble and contrite spirit, — to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." In the third place, the Apostle speaks of true believers as " waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body." The adoption here meant, and of which the Apostle gives the explanation, is the same thing with what is, in the preceding verses, called " the manifestation of the sons of God," and " the glorious liberty of the chil- dren of God." Believers have a present adoption, but there is also an adoption which they wait for. God has now taken them from the family of the wicked one, and placed them among His own children ; nor has He given them the rank and title of children, only ; but also the nature and disposition of children, as is evident from the manner in which they are addressed in the fifteenth verse of this chapter : — " For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." But this adop- 226 SERMON VII. — ROMANS VIII. 23. fore thee, his secret He puts eir secret B Spirit of who thus :n, do we may well s distress irt of flesh lich alone fc feel no nnot draw token of men who ok. "the bnly " with —to revive eart of the e believers emption of ■ which the y with what testation of of the chil- n, but there d has now and placed given them t also the nt from the eenth verse the spirit of ;he spirit of It this adop- tion is secret, — it may be known only to themselves ; but there is a time coming when it will be fully manifested, and they will be glorified together with Christ, their Elder Brother. Now are they sons, but as yet they are sons in a state of expectancy ; and great and glorious as their present privileges are, yet as their bodies are comiptible and mortal bodies, — bodies which are not yet conformed to the glorious body of Jesus Christ, they still wait for the entire accomplishment of their adoption, when, at the resurrection, they shall appear with Christ in glory, and " shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Accordingly, our Lord denominates the resurrection '* the regeneration," because then, not only the souls of believ- ers, but also their bodies, shall bear the heavenly image of the second Adam. Then they shall enter fully upon the possession of their inheritance ; then, fitted for their high dignity as children of the Highest, their souls having been purified, their bodies having been changed from natural into spiritual bodies, — then will Christ grant them the fulfilment of the promise to receive them unto Him- self, that where He is they may be also ; then will He say to them : " Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." This is the adoption for which believers now wait, and it is so called, because it is the accomplishment to them of what their adoption imports, — the blessed and glorious consummation of that grace which the Father exercises towards them when He takes them into His family, and along with the name, communicates to them the nature of children. This adoption, which believers now wait for, is, in fact, the glory spoken of in the eighteenth verse of this chap- ter, — the " glory which will be revealed in us." It is what St. Paul had in his view when he says, " For we that are in this tabernacle do groan^ being burdened ; — not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mor- tality might be swallowed up of life." It is what St. John 227 • I LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. I ( refers to in the passage, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him ; for we shall see Him as He is." We shall be like Him,— conformed to Him in image, and made partakers of His blessedness. We shall walk with Him in white, and with Him we shall drink of that " fulness of joy which is in God's presence, and of those rivers of pleasures which are at His right hand for evermore." Lest, however, we should fall into any error regarding the meaning of the term " adoption " in this place, the Apostle himself explains it, calling it " the redemption of the body." The spirit or soul of the believer is now re- deemed. " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus " has made his soul free from the law and the slavery of sin, and though his conflict with his indwelling corrup- tion is often so strong as to extort the complaint, "O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" — yet can he add : — " I thank God, through Jesus our Lord." His soul is thus free ; His spirit is life because of righteousness - it lives to God, and it constrains, too, the members of his body to do service to God. But still, that body is a body of death, and death has power over it because of sin. It is a mortal body, and it will soon fall under the stroke of temporal death. While the spirit of the believer at death goes to God, his body for a season returns to the earth as it was. There exists, we are told, a necessity for this. The body must thus perish for a space, in order to be prepared for incorruption and immortality. It must go down to the grave, there to leave behind it its corruption, its weakness, its dishonour. But it shall come again from the land of its captivity — it is under a charter of redemption, and re- deemed it shall be from the power of the enemy. As the seed which we deposit in the earth dies not there utterly, but passes through death in such a way as to overcome death, and to revive and fructify on the other side of death, so with the bodies of believers. They die but to 228 SERMON VII. — ROMANS VIII. 23. ar what we live. They are buried in the earth, hm co spring up as the corn and grow as the vine, and to reappear in the possession of z incorruptible and endless life, and a per- fect vision, and an undecaying beauty. " They are sown in corruption ; they are raised in incorruption. They are sown in dishonour ; they are raised in glory. They are sown in weakness ; they are raised in power. They are sown a natural body ; they are raised a spiritual body." These glorious things will be realised to the believer at the day of the resurrection ; and hence is that day called the day of redemption, as in that word, " Grieve not the Spirit of God, by whom ye are sealed unto the day of re- demption." We are redeemed even now, nor, unless our souls are now purified through the belief of the truth, shall we ever be partakers of redemption hereafter. But it is only hereafter that we are to attain the last and highest degree of our redemption ; it is in the day when the body shall be reunited to the soul, tliat we shall know the completeness of that redemption which Christ obtained for us. But then we shall know this. Then, " this cor- ruptible having put on incorniption, and this mortal having put on immortality, there shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory," and each child of God shall raise this triumphant strain, "O death, where is thy isting? O grave, where is thy victory?" In conclusion, we would address ourselves, first, to the man whose heart is in the world. You are not " waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body ;" you are not looking forward to it with desire and with expectation. So far as you understand it, you cannot desire the inheritance of the children of God, for you know that it is an inheritance Avhich you could not enjoy ; you know that to give it to you would be in effect to rob you of all that now constitutes your happiness, your life, since it has nothing that can minister to " the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life." It is 229 > IB'i rill ii LIFE OF THS REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. treasures on earth that you are laying up for yourselves — not treasures in heaven. But where will these treasures be in the day when God taketh away your soul? Is it well, is it wise, to be bartering away the hopes and expectations of eternity for the things with which you must so soon have done, from which you may even be forced to part ere to-morrow's sun shall arise ? Reflect on what you are now doing. Let the voice of Christ yet be heard by you. Consider His awful, His thrilling ques- tion — " What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul ; or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" ' But we would speak also to those who are waiting for the adoption, the redemption of the body ; and we would put to them two questions. We would ask them — should you not be heavenly-minded ? And should not you be joyful in your tribulations ? With such glorious prospects as yours, ha zing the hope of being with Christ, and being like Him, ought you to be found caring for earthly things as the children of this world care for them ? Surely con- formity to the world befits not your circumstances. The worldling may have some apology for his devotion to the pleasures of an ungodly world, for Ae knows of nothing better ; but you have no apology for devotion to them, since God has shown you a better portion. And have you no mercy upon your own souls, and upon the souls of your fellow-men, that thus you strive to defeat the very purpose for which Christ gave Himself for us — that thus you countenance and uphold a system which drowns so many souls in irretrievable destruction ? " Grieve not the Holy Spirit " by this worldliness of spirit and conver- sation. " Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transfoirned by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and perfect and acceptable will of God." Again, we ask you — ^with such glorious prospects a yours, should not you be joyfiil in all your sufferings ? 230 SERMON VII. — ROMANS VIII. 23. Suffering, if you are Christ's, you must needs have in this present time ; nor shall any reign with Christ hereafter who do not suffer with Him now. But what then ? Shall we not rather rejoice to find ourselves upon the very path by which our brethren who have gone before us have reached the glory which they now inherit? Why should we faint at any trial ? What is present suf- fering to be accounted of, when a hope so blessed, and so soon to be realised, is set before us — when every cloud that now darkens our condition is so soon to be scattered before the effulgence of the day of redemption — when there awaits us, only a little way in advance, " a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glor)-," — when He with whom our life is hid will, ere long, appear to say to us, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world ? " w£9' 231 li t \ !IIJ nOMQMIMMQM SERMON VIII. Romans viii, n6, 27. — "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities : for we know not what we shoukl pray for as we ought," &c. '^ RELIEVERS in the present world have to wait for their full redemption ; and the Apostle is speaking of the provision which has been made for our being saved, or preserved, amidst our present troubles and afflictions. An im- portant part of this provision, as the Apostle tells us in the preceding context, is hope. " We are saved by hope." God gives us a most precious and sure hope of coming glory ; and such is the power of this hope, that while we hold it fast, we ar^ preserved amid what would otherwise prove fatal to the life of our souls — we are not overwhelmed by our sufferings, nor do we fall under our spiritual enemies, nor do we f faint at our appointed labours. We look onwards to that blessed inheritance which our Heavenly Father lia<5 told us He will give us, and we realise the blessed entrance upon it which we shall soon have ; and the effect ot this is a present joy and animation, under v;hich we are lifted above our depression, nor are shaken or moved by any of the trials through which we have to reach the glorious resurrection that awaits us. In the verses now read, the Apostle presents another part of that provision by which we are preserved unto God's heavenly kingdom. " Likewise the Spirit also 232 SERMON VIII. — ROMANS VIII. 26, 27. helpeth our infirmities." The word " iufirmiiies " has respect to that state of weakness and helplessness into which we have been brought through sin. It is the same word with Ihat which is translated " without strength^'^ in the fifth chapter and sixth verse of this epistle : " For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." In our natural and unconverted state, our oppression by the devil is complete ; we are all weak- ness, we have no spiritual strength, and even when we are brought back to God, we have still no strength in our- selves, but our whole sufficiency is of God ; nor could we stand a single moment but for the forth-putting of His almighty power. The Apostle well knew this, and hence that remarkable expression of his, " When I am weak, then am I strong." It was only when feeling his own weakness, and when, und'^r that feeling, driven to take hold of Divine strength as his help — it was then only that he felt he had strength. And so it is with all the true children of God. So it is with us, if we are His true children. Others may dream of a sufficiency in them- selves, and think that their mountain stands strong, but we have done with all such vain thoughts. We know that we are all infirmity, unequal to the doing anything of ourselves, and this in a scene of difficulty and trial, where the greatest strength is needed by us. But what then ? Shall we be overwhelmed at the thought of this ? Surely not, when we hear St. Paul saying, in the name of himself and his fellow-believers, " The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities." The Spirit is the third person of the glorious Trinity — is God ; and, as God, He is infinite in understanding to know our infirmities ; infinite in com- passion to pity us under them ; infinite in power to help them. In previous parts of this Epistle, the Spirit is spoken of as performing most important offices for them that believe. We read that by Him " the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts ; " that " He dwells in us ; " that we " are led by Him ; " that He is in us a spirit 233 I LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. lit of adoption, whereby we cry " Abba, Father ; " that He " beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." In addition to all which, it is here said of the Spirit, that He helpeth our infirmities. The word in the original, rendered " helpeth^^ is a term of singular strength and significancy, and plainly conveys the idea of effectual help. It refers to a case of this kind. One is vainly striving to carry a burden which is too heavy for him. Another observes this, and placing himself on the other side of the burden from the struggling man, lifts it up, and carries it forward along with him, making that easy to him which was before impossible. It is thus that the Holy Spirit — even He concerning whom the Saviour says that " He shall dwell with us, and shall be in us ; " — it is thus that He acts towards us. He sees us strug- gling under our heavy burdens, and vainly attempting to bear them in our own strength, nor does He see this un- moved. As might be expected of Him who is, pre- eminently, the Comforter^ He comes to our relief He strengthens us inwardly. Nor only so, but He takes up the burden along with us, so that we sink no more under it, but, strong in the co-operation of our omnipotent Helper, we go lightly and cheerfully forward. Let it be observed that we are still the bearers of our burdens, and that it is our part not to relax our exertions in bearing them, but to stir up, and to put forth to the utmost the grace already given us. The help vouchsafed us by the Spirit of God is not to supersede^ but to call forth our activity ; " he that hath, to him shall more be giv^n ; " and just then when, in simple obedience to the Divine command, and in simple dependence upon Divine strength, we are addressing ourselves steadfastly to the work of bearing the burdens which must be borne by us, just then it is that the God of all grace giveth more grace ; just then it is that the Holy Spirit is with us as a never- failing and all-sufficient helper. Do you, brethren, feel your many infirmities ? Do you 234 SERMON Vni. — ROMANS VIII. a6, 27. see ihat in your heavenward patli you have many a heavy burden to carry, while in yourselves you are wholly with- out strength ? Yet be not cast down because of these things ! Think of " the love of the Spirit ; " you are not without a resource. It is true that your burdens are as weighty as you regard them, and that your strength to bear them is utter weakness. But there is One ever near to you — One who knows every step of the way that you take, and all the pressure that lies upon you ; all your conflicts, and trials, and difficulties, and all your insuffi- ciency to meet them. There is such an On'' ever near to you, and He is ready to help your infirmities, to strengthen you with all might in the inner man. He will strengthen you. He will help you. Only go forward, shrinking from no trii?l, and declining no labour to which you are appointed on the path of duty, and you shall be holden up, neither shall anything be too hard for you. It is no vain word, " The Spirit helpeth our infirmities;" and if He help, what is there that should for a moment move you ? " He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk iind not faint." "The Spirit," says the Apostle, "helpeth our infirmities ;" and to illustrate his meaning in this declaration, he gives us a particular case. " For we know not what we should pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh inter- cession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered." In prayer, which is so needful to us, we labour under great infirmity — infirmity in regard both to the matter of our supplications, and to the manner of them. As to the matter of prayer, we know not what to pray for. Such is our ignorance of ourselves, and of the things which are really good for us, that we need the constant illumination of the 235 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. j it » « 11 ;lM. *i»i I Holy Spirit to show us what we should ask of God. We are, in a great measure, blind to our wants, and therefore it is not wonderful that we should not know what to ask in supply of them. We know not where to begin in prayer, or what particular things we should make the. subject of our supplications, and we are, consequently, in danger of asking amiss — of asking what is unsuitable, or what, if bestowed, would be hurtful to us. And then, again, as to the manner of prayer,, we know not how to pray as we ought. We ought to pray with the deepest awe upon our minds, as remembering that we are drawing near to the great and dreadful God ; but how often is our spirit a light and careless spirit ! We ought to pray with holy fervour and importunity, like Jacob, who wrestled with God, and said, *' I will not let thee go until thou bless me ;" but how cold and lifeless often are our ])etitions ! We ought to pray with a deeply humble and contrite heart, but with how much of secret pride and self- consequence are we apt to approach God ! We ought to pray with an entire resignation to the will of God, and humble faith in His promises — with a holy sincerity of soul, with an ardent desire for spiritual blessings, and a simple reliance on the mediation of the Saviour ; but hov often does a repining, unbelieving, insincere, cold and selfish spirit steal upon us ! And even when our frame of spirit is better than this, and we are conscious that we are really lifting our souls unto God, how frequently are we so oppressed, so agitated, so borne down by our afflic- tions and trials, that we can neither properly conceive nor properly confess our complaints and requests to God. Now, under this infirmity in prayer, the Spirit helps us. " The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us." It is still we that intercede or pray, but the Spirit is present with us, so to illuminate our minds that we may know what to pray for, and so to cleanse our thoughts and excite our desires that we seek God in fervent, effectual intercession. This is, obviously, the meaning of the Spirit making inter- 236 SERMON VIII. — ROMANS VIII. 26, 27. cession for us. When the Spirit directs the matter of our prayers, teaching us to pray for right things, and when, also, he directs the manner of our suppHcations, enabUng us to ask for right things as we ought to ask for them, then the Spirit maketh intercession for us. This language concerning the Spirit is thus not to be understood of his acting the part of a mediator between God and us, but of his performing a work within us, even the work of helping our infirmities in our supplications at the throne of grace. Christ is our advocate with the Father above ; the Spirit directs and effectually aids our own pleadings here below. Christ intercedes for us and the Spirit is given ; the Holy Spirit intercedes for us — that is, takes hold with us of the work of intercession in which we engage, and we implore the benefits of the Saviour's death. By the intercession of Christ, all the obstacles to our salvation are removed, as they respect our offended God ; by the intercession of the Spirit, all the difficulties are taken away which arise from our weak and corrupt hearts. Through Christ, the Intercessor in heaven, our prayers are accepted — through the Spirit, the Intercessor on earth, we have light and ability to pray. The Holy Spirit was of old promised as a Spirit of grace and of supplication, and He becomes such in our hearts, not by taking the work of supplication out of our hands, but by enabling us to perform it. The meaning of the Spirit's making intercession for us will be at once seen to be such as it has been described to be, if we turn to Galatians iv. 6 : " Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father ;" and compare this with the language employed in the fifteenth verse of this chapter, " Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father." It will be plain, we think, that by the Spirit's crying in our hearts, " Abba, Father," is meant His enabling us so to cry. In like manner, then, by the Spirit's making inter- cession for us, is meant His enabling us to make inter- cession, or to pray for ourselves. 237 j i I LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. *' The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us," it is said, " with groanings that cannot be uttered." If you will look back to the twenty-third verse, you will find true believers represented as groaning within themselvvis — waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. Believers sigh or " groan within themselves." They have desires towards God which they cannot utter. The Holy Spirit gives them such views of their necessities, and of the excellency of spiritual blessings, that their hearts go forth in supplication to God for these blessings, with pant- ings and longings which no words can ever adequately express. They cannot put these pantings and longings into articulate speech, and all they can do is to lay them- selves down in the dust before the Hearer of prayer, say- ing, with David, " All my desire is before Thee, and my groaning is not hid from Thee." The Psalmist, at the time when he uttered this, was so feeble and sore broken and disquieted, that he could not embody his desires and aspirations in articulate language ; his tongue could not frame what he felt into audible sounds ; but this was his consolation, that God knew all, that his every desire was before God, and that no groaning of his was hidden from Him. Brethren, it is not for naught, or for a purpose of small moment, that we are here told of the Spirit's drawing forth and aiding and directing those groanings in our hearts which cannot be uttered. If we are the children of God, we shall meet with many an occasion when we shall feel the strong consolation arising from this particular operation of the Spirit of God in our hearts. We shall surely meet with such an occasion when we come to die. As our outward man decays, the tongue will refuse its office, and all our prayers will be confined to groanings that cannot be uttered. How precious, at that season, will the assurance before us be ! To feel, at that hour when prayer is so deeply needful to us — when Satan is making his last and fiercest onset upon us — when he is coming like a flood upon the soul, — to feel that then the 238 Spirit of the Lord is helping our infirmities— is lifting up within us a standard against our strong enemy, and strengthening our faith in God, and drawing forth deeper and more ardent aspirations for the light of the divine countenance than could be expressed in words, even had we the power of uttering them — with what peace, and even joy, shall this fill our hearts in our departing hours ! The Apostle goes on to say, in the twenty-seventh verse, " And he that cearcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." It belongs to God to search the hearts which He has made, and they are all naked and open to Him, without any outward ex- pression to indicate their state. He knoweth what is " the mind of the Spirit " — that is, those feelings, or that state of ni'nd and affection which the Holy Spirit produces in us when we are engaged in prayer. The believer, per- haps, cannot give any adequate expression to his deep, heartfelt emotions ; he can only sigh and groan within himself— unable to utter a word before God. But his inward emotions and aspirations are not therefore lost — they are most fully known to Him who searcheth our hearts, who is privy to all the intricacies of the hidden man within us. When the Holy Spirit enters into any heart, and enables that heart truly to pray. He who is God over all knows this. His eye is upon that heart, and whether it breaks forth into audible supplication, or only heaves the secret sigh. He knows its desire. Whatever longing in our hearts is of His Spirit, that He, as it were, pre-eminently knows, for that He delights more to look upon than upon any other object in our sinful world. And hence the expression ^^knowet/i" in this place, is inseparable from apprai'ing, froir» delighting in. He knoweth, and knoweth with approbation, what is the mind of the Spirit — what desires His Spirit teaches us and sanctifies us to form, because He "maketh interces- sion for the saints according to the will of God." There 2Z9 li^ LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. ; I i: * ii are three considerations here stated why God regards with such interest, or knows with so peculiar a knowledge, the supplications we make in the Spirit. First, they are sup- plications dictated by luc Spirit — by Him who is one in essence and mind with the Father ; they are supplications, therefore, which the Father cannot but approve. Secondly, they are supplications, not of the wicked, not of the un- converted ; but of the saints, of persons regenerated by the Spirit — renewed in the spirit of their minds. Thirdly, the supplications we make in the Spirit are supplications according to the will of God. The Spirit is God, and He creates no desires in us towards God but such as are in perfect harmony with the Divine will. It follows that these desires will not pass unheeded by God, but will be all treasured up by Him as precious things. So far as we pray in the Spirit, there is not a sigh or a groan in us which He does not note and remember, and to which He will not give an answer of peace. " This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will. He heareth us." And now, brethren, perhaps 1 speak to some here who do not pray at all. What can 1 say to you who are prayerless? Plainly, you are without God in the wo'ld ; plainly, you know not God ; for if you did know Him, you would be holding communion with Him in prayer ; His Spirit would be helping you eflectually to pour forth to Him, if not the expressed desire, yet the secret groan. But you are a stranger to everything of this kind; perhaps it is even a subject of mockery to you. .You know not God, nor are seeking to know Him. But is it not sad that this should be the case with you — that, contending as you are with the burdens and sorrows of life, you should have no hope in God for time or for eternity, but should be of those ♦* Who will not look beyond the tomb, And cannot hope for rest before t" 24Q SERMON VIII. — ROMANS VIII. 26, 27. But we speak to others who make their " infirmities" a reason for their not praying, or, at least, for their sparing- ly engaging in the exercise. But are not you who do this altogether inexcusable ? True, your infirmities in prayer are great — greater, perhaps, than you yet well conceive ; and when you go to the throne of grace, you neither know the things you should ask, nor the right manner of asking them. But should you therefore faint in prayer, or grow weary in the exercise ? Surely not, when the Holy Comforter — the infinitely compassionate and all-powerful Spirit of God — is with you to guide and uphold you in all your communications with the Hearer of prayer. This leaves you whollv without excuse in restraining jirayer before God, because of its difficulty to you ; it makes your conduct as unreasonable as would be that of the man who, having the treasures of the world laid at his feet for his taking up, should say, " I must still continue poor and destitute of all things." But we may be speaking to others, again, who, know- ing well that they are not God's holy ones or saints, — knowing that they retain a carnal, worldly heart, — knowing that they are not doing, and that they have no real heart- felt concern to do the known will of God, are from time to time going through a form of prayer, and perhaps making this a confidence — a refuge. To you, my friends, we would say. Remember that " if we regard iniquity in our heart, the Lord will not hear us." " The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord." But there are those who, though they pray, yet being unable to order their pleadings befo-e God as they would, or being ofttimes unable to find any la.jguage at all to utter forth their spiritual longings, unable to go beyond sigh- ings and groanings, are, because of these things, greatly cast down, and ready to conclude that surely they cannot be the children of God. Let such take courage, remein- bering that God requires not the eloquence of words in our prayers to make them acceptable ; remembering that Q 241 h i; ^ i I LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. the Spirit does not always give the eloquence of words, but that often when He is working in the heart, i/ only speaks, uttering itself in secret sighs and groans, and that yet such prayer rises in sweet memorial before God. It is well to seek to have liberty of utterance in prayer ; for this may be desirable in your private supplications, and is needful to fit you to engage in social worship ; yet be not utterly dejected, — write no bitter thing against yourselves because of your lack of this liberty of utterance, provided only there be the outgoing of earnest desire towards God. The Lord requires not in our prayers well-arranged words, nor even always requires words at all. " The sacrifices of God are a broken and a contrite heart ; " and there may be such a heart when the suppliant utters no word, nay, lifts not so much as his eyes to Heaven, " but only smites upon his breast" in token that he needs mercy, and deems himself undone if he shall not obtain it 242 SERMON IX. Romans viii. 28. — ** And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." HE connection between privilege and charac- ter must never be lost sight of^ for, if it be, a door will be opened for the grossest delu- sion, and men will be found appropriating the 'consolations of Christianity, for whom such conso- lations were never intended. Hence thi, most gracious announcements to believers are always the most guarded, and the consolation they afford is so worded, that they only to whom it of right belongs, can take it home to themselves and make it a sub- ject of rejoicing. Thus, the writer of the eighty- fourth Psalm, in speaking of those from whom no good thing will be withheld, distinctly characterises them as " those that walk uprightly." Thus, in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John, where our Lord is speaking of His sheep, it is in immediate con- nection with His description of them as " hearing His voice " and " following Him," that He makes concerning them the gracious declaration, " I give unto them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." And so, in the words before us, the Apostle, in making to us one of the most consolatory announcements in the whole Word of God, clearly defines 243 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. who, and who only, are they who may take to themselves its abundant consolations ; ** And we know that all things work together for good /d know t is not hey are ;a, they worked, ly from experience, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes ;" and to the same effect does an eminent servant of God of a later day express himself, " We fear," says he, " our best friends : for my part, I have learned more of God and myself in one week's extremity, than the prosperity of a whole life had taught me before." The people of God often see how afflictive dispensations operate for their benefit. They observe the blessed effect of trials and temptations in dis- covering to them their weakness ; in stirring up their watchfulness ; in putting life into their prayers ; in call- ing all their graces into action. Have they met with worldly losses and disappointments ? These things have weaned their hearts from the world ; have taught them to set their affections on things more stable a; d enduring ; have quickened their desires and exertions after a heavenly inheritance. Have they been laid on a bed of sickness, or visited with bereavement, or threatened with it? They have been led to a stricter self-examination, that they might see what God had had against them, and they have been led to a closer walk with God. Have they fallen into sin ? These sins, hateful as they were in the sight of a holy God, have yet, as they can see, been graciously overruled for their good ; for, by them, their self-confidence has been weakened, their self-abase- ment is increased, their godly zeal is renewed, and the blood of sprinkling rendered more than ever precious to their souls. It is not, however, always given them to see how it is that particular events work for their good, for God often moves in a mysterious manner to perform His gracious purposes towards them ; but still, though they cannot see what He is doing with them, and how this and the other event is promoting their benefit, they know that He is doing all things well. If tempted, in times of trial, to think that something has fallen out inopportunely with them — if tempted, in their haste, to say, with Jacob, of a series of dark events, " All these things are against me," 249 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. I ■! they soon check such a disposition, for, as under a loving kindness that will not be taken from them, and as the ob- jects of a guardianship that cannot err, they know and are persuaded that good is the hand of the Lord in all His appointments, that He is doing nothing towards them but what is necessary for their good, and what He is render- ing subservient, also, to their good — that, though " His way is in the sea, and His |jath is in the great waters, and His footsteps not known," yet is He leading His flock, and them as a portion of His flock, " like a shepherd " — thai though it is not given to them to discern the reasons of many of His proceedings, yet has He reasons, most gracious reasons, for every one of them, and is all the while, and by means of all that He is doing, " guiding them in the right way that leads to the city of "everlasting habitation," where faith will be changed into sight, and they shall see that their (}od did all things well, — that " all things," in His hand, "worked together for their good." In looking back upon what has now been opened up of the Lord's doings, we may see, my friends, how enviable is the condition of the true people of God — how peaceful and happy they may be. We may now be speaking to the sons and daughters of alfliction. I'he Lord may have seen meet to afflict you very heavily, and to send you not one trial, but many, and you may not know why it is so with you, — why Clod has, as it were, singled you out and set you as a mark for the arrows of His quiver. But should you, therefore, murmur or repine? Should you cherish a sorrow that refuses to be comforted ? Surely not, when you know that there is a need-be for every trial, yea, and that everything in your trials, how- ever adverse, however dark and bitter, as now seen, is a link in that chain which Clod holds, and by which He is drawing you to Himself; when you know that His tender mercies are ever over you, and that the way by which He leads you is surely "the right woy," and the way which you shall one day sec to be righl. 250 .D. SliRMON IX. — ROMANS VJII. 28. er a loving as the ob- ow and are in all His s them but is render- 3ugh " His waters, and flock, and erd "—that reasons of )st gracious while, and em in the labitation," y shall see things," in ened up of kv enviable w peaceful cing to the may have id you not ^hy it is so i you out i of His )r repine? omforted ? 3ed-be for ials, how- seen, is a ich He is lis tender which He a-y which We may be speaking to the child of prosperity, God may have given you much of this world's goods, and, con- trary to what is usual among men, you may be troubled because of the dangers that encompass a prosperous state. It is well to be alive to your dangers from this source, that you may watch and pray, but your disquiet may well be removed by the thought that your prosperity is the appointment of God, and that by it He is working for your good. We may be speaking to those who have fallen into sin, and who know something of that wounded spirit which no man can bear. Yours is a sad case, and God forbid that we should utter a word to diminish or deaden your sense of the vileness and hatefulness of your sin. But surely it should be a balm even for your wounds, that though sin is the evil and abominable thing which God hates, and His children are ever to abhor the thought of sinning be- cause His grace abounds, yet the sins and falls of His children He most mercifully turns to their good. Oh ! there is just one thing that we neea to be careful to see to, and then, whatever be our circumstances, we need not be greatly moved. It is that we " love God," and that we be '* the called according to His purpose." Only take heed as to this ; only keep yourselves in the love of God, by keeping in view His love to you in Christ Jesus ; only, by the diligent and unceasing cultivation of all the graces of the Christian life, *'make your calling and election sure," and then you may "rejoice evermore," — nay, then youtci// rejoice evermore, for then God will make you to feel that by all He does and permits. He is working for your good, and your language, even when all is frowning and dark, will be. The Lord is leading me in the right way ; " goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." But if the condition of those who "love (jod,whoare the called according to His puri)ose," is so blessed, how un- hap[)y, my friends, is that in wiiich you are who love wf 25> LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. i i'l ■ -\ i <1\ God, who are not the called according to His purpose. All things are not working for your good — on the contrary, all things are working for evil to you. True, God has no pleasure in your death, and so long as He spares you in this place of hope, so long does He order His appointments to you, so that they might be blessings to you. But you turn every good He sends you into poison. If He sends you prosperity, His goodness leads you not to repentance, but your hearts are hardened by it, and by furnishing you with larger means for gratifying your ungodly propensities, it proves a snare to your souls. If He visits you with adversity, even this leads you not to Him whose hands have vvounded, and whose hands would also make you whole ; but you rebel against Him more and more. If He puts into your hand a price to get heavenly wisdom, you trample upon the gift, and turn afresh to your folly. If He sends His Spirit to strive with you, you quench Him ; if He calls you by the Gospel to the marriage-sup- per of His Son, you have other things to occupy you, and you cannot come. Thus is everything by which God would biess you and do you good, turned through your perversity to your destruction. And how long shall this go on ? Even until you perish from the way, until you know what is meant by the awful expression, " The wicked is driven away in his wickedness." Dear friends, have mercy upon your own souls, and turn you at the reproof of your God. He is yet calling for you. He is now call- ing you by His Word — proclaiming to you afresh, through that Word, the riches of His grace, and that it is a grace that can reach you. Let the call be at length effectual — no more shut out the word in determined unbelief, but let it come to you, " not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." And you shall yet know the peace, the blessedness of the children of God. You shall be numbered with those upon whose heads the candle of the Lord shone — shone in all their darkness ; with those who can be brought into no circum- 252 SERMON IX. ROMANS VIII. 28. stances in which they cannot feel that goodness and mercy are following them, that the way in which God is leading them is " the right way," and that " all things are working together for good to them." o circum- 253 mimm^mmm^ I !> >i^ SERMON X. Romans viii. 3, 4. — *' For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Gotl sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh : That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilletl in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after 'he Spirit." HE Apostle had just described the character of those who, being in Christ j esus, are freed from all condemnation,jto be, that they " walk not after the flesh, but after U ■' Spirit ; " and as the reason why they possess li.b character, the Apostle, speaking in his own person, had added, " P'or the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the i,iw of sin and death." Some understand by " the la^ f the Spirit of life," the Gospel, which is ihy ecd the ministration of the Spirit, but, as by the phrase " the law of sin and death," is i.eant that power or principle ofcor- nipti''^!* iii V s which works unto sin and death, by the phiitse " the law of the Spirit of life," would seem more properly to be meant that new powe^ or principle of spiritual life called the Spirit, in opposition to the flesh, which believers have received through Christ in believing. It is through the communi- cation to them of this new principle or power of life that believers attain that blessed deliverance from the law of sin and death to which the Apostle so joyfully refers ; and it will be seen that the object of the verses now read is to set forth more fully both the nature and the way of th's 254 ,E1^ mi •t! •f )t do, in that 1 Son in the in the flesh: I in us, who rit," i character », are freed hey " walk t ; " and as acter, the iad added, hrist Jesus nd death." irit of life," itionofthe Df sin and pie ofcor- ind death, t of life," that new- Spirit, in ; received communi- f life that he law of jfers ; and w read is i^ay of th's SERMON X. — ROMANS VIII. 3, 4. deliverance. *' For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be flilfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." There are in these words two points of the deepest moment to us. There is, first, the blessed object which God has in view for us ; and there is, secondly, the gracious way in which this object is to be effected. I. Let us advert, in the first place, to the blessed object which, it is here stated, God has in view in regard to us. It is " that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." In that state into which we have come through the fall, and which is called our natural state, the righteous- ness of the law is not fulfilled in u>. Alas ! that law of God which is " holy and just and good," we have none of us kept ; we are "all gone out of the way" of righteousness ; and so entire is the corruption into which we are sunk, that "the carnal mind in us is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be." Now, that we should be brought out of this evi) st te — that the righteousness of the law, which has not been fi?l- filled in us, should be fulfilled in us — this is the great ob- ject of God in regard to us. We are evil, — unclean ; — evil, unclean in heart — yet God has looked upon us in thi> state, and this is His purpose concerning us, even to cj'^ate a new heart, to renew a right spirit in us. Thus He ays: " I will put my laws into their minds, and write t: em in their hearts." Thus, also, it is stat- d, " Christ bav- our sins in His own body upon the tr that we, being d^ad to sin, might live unto righteousne ." And again, " Ho who knew no sin, was made sin or us, that we might bo made the righieousness of God ii Him." Such is the object, in regard to us, of that God from whom we have so deeply revol- d We have called it a blessed object, and is it not so !' Does it not prove how excellent the loving-kindness of God to us is, how deep '55 1,^1 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.U. 11*^ f, m IS His concern for our good, lluil He should have such a design concerning us as that of raising us from the death of sin, to a Hfe of perfect conformity to the law of God ? To some, indeed, this may rot be a matter so clear. With hearts rising in rebellio. against the holy requirements of God's law — perceiving that obedience to it would compel them to sacrifice those fleshly lusts and gratifications in which they have all their life and joy, they can see no bless- edness in such a design of God in regard to them, and they would rather ihat His object in respect of them had been something of a less high and holy character — something not altogether incompatible with the retaining of their worldly idols and their carnal gratifications. So must they think who live after the flesh, for the flesh loves not and cannot love that which would touch its life, which would crucify it. But let us consider. Is this life of the flesh a life with which a creature formed in the image of God, and fitted to have its enjoyment in Him, should be so reluctant to part ? To be " alienated from the life of God,"— to be "led captive by Satan at his will," — to be under the tyra.nny of the law in the members, — to be impelled forward in a course against which conscience is, ever and anon, lifting up its accusing voice, — is this a state so desirable that the proposal to deliver us from it should be so grievous ? Are they 'lappy who live after the flesh — who have pleasure in unrighteousness ? " Misery and destruction are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known." "There is no peace to the wicked" — thus speaks the God of peace — He only who can tell us the way to peace. He sees that to be wicked is to be wretched ; and therefore, as He desires not our misery but our happiness, His loving object in regard to us is to rescue us from our misery by deliver- ing us from our sin — to raise us to blessedness by raising us to righteousness. How much, my friends, must we be overlooking the nature of the righteousness of the law, if we do not see 256 SERMON X. — ROMANS VIll. 3, 4. that the way to be truly blessed is just God's way to be so — is just to be righteous according to the righteousness of the law. The righteousness of the law is love, for "love," to God and to man, "is the fulfilling of the law." But is not love blessedness? Is not enmity misery? And does not he who casts from him this enmity, cast from him that which destroys his peace, and grow in bless- edness as be grows in love ? Again, since the law is a transcript of the mind of God, righteousness, or conformity to the law, is to be conformed to the mind of God — to be renewed after the divine image, and made a "partaker of divine nature." And must not this be blessedness, yea, the highest blessedness ? It must be so. God, in designing that we should be made righteous, designs not only that we should have happiness, but that we should have the highest happiness. The joy which He desires and seeks that we should be brought into is His own joy. The river of which He would give us to drink is the river of His own pleasures. The blessedness wherewith He would bless us> is the being made perfectly blessed, according to our measure, in the full enjoying of Himself to all eternity. Surely, then, the object of God in regard to as is a blessed object. Surely we may well be amazed at the grace which marks it. " Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." What a blessed- ness is this for those to be raised to, who had sunk so low as we have done, who were children of wrath and heirs of hell! Here, my friends, you cannot but perceive the utter groundlessness of the objection to the Gospel, that it makes void the law by destroying the obligation and necessity of yielding it obedienee. How can it thus make void the law, when it so distinctly declares that the great object which God has in view in regard to us is that we should be conformed to the law, and that there can be no life or blessedness for us except in such conformity ? R 257 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. II. Let US now, secondly, take a view of the gracious way in which this object of God in regard to us is effected. It is not through the law. The law could not secure from us the fulfilment of its own righteousness. Not that there was any defect in the law, for the law is " holy and just and good," — is the same perfect rule that it ever was ; and " had there been a law given that could have given life, verily, righteousness would have been by the law." The inability of the lav/ ^o produce in us the righteous- ness which it required arose, not from any weakness in itself, for it ever demanded from us what it was right for us to render, and ever warned us of the danger of not rendering this; still, for the purpose of producing righteousness in us, it was weak through the flesh in us, that is, our corrupt nature. The flesh, or the natural man in us, is not and cannot be subject to the law of God, for the flesh, or the carnal mind in us, is, in its very essence, "enmity against God." However good, then, the law may be in itself; let its voice be as holy as it may, and let it proclaim its terrors as it may, yet, if it speaks to those who are in the flesh, it can meet with no obedience to its requirements ; nay, the more it attempts to control the natural man, the more it reveals to him of its spirituality and its exceeding breadth ; showing him his condemnation, the more will it irritate his corruption and bring out his deep and irreconcilable opposition to its righteousness. The law is thus " weak through the flesh" to recover us to the practice of righteousness. But, besides this, there is a further barrier to our being nude righteous through the law. The law makes no pro- vision for repentance, leaves no room for a return to righteousness when righteousness has once been departed from. The law leaves nothing for those who transgress it, " but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation to devour the adversaries. The law, without conveying to sinners one intimation of pardon, without casting over the gloom of their circumstances a single ray 258 D. SERMON X. — ROMANS VIII. 3, 4. e gracious is effected, not secure Not that ** holy and it ever was ; have given y the law." righteous- eakness in is right for danger of producing le flesh in the natural law of God, in its very ;ood, then, ; holy as it y, yet, if it ;et with no it attempts s to him of lowing him corruption )position to through the [hteousness. ) our being akes no pro- a return to en departed 3 transgress ^nt and fiery aw, without on, without a single ray of hope, only utters in their ears the fearful language of inexorable justice — " The soul that sinneth it shall die." " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." It is evident, then, that righteousness cannot come to us through the law, and that if ever the righteousness of the law shall again be fulfilled in us, it must be through means which the law does not supply — in a way altogether dif- ferent from the mere revelation of the law, however righteous it is in its requirements, and however awful in its sanctions. What, then, is this way ? It is thus stated : " God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the fiesh, but after the Spirit." The necessity of our having a new power bestowed upon us in order to the fulfilment in us of the righteousness of the law, is here recognised. This power is the power of the Spirit ; and this power, which the law could not supply, is brought to us under the grace of the Gospel. " God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the fiesh." God did this, and so we have the Spirit to lead us and guide us, the power of the Spirit to live in, " the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus to make us free from the law of sin and death," and to make us righteous. Let us attentively consider the several parts of that which God is here recorded to have done, and we shall see how it follows as a consequence of what He did, that we have the power of the Spirit given to us in Christ Jesus. " God sent His Son." He sent His only begotten Son, that Son who was in the form of God, and " thought it not robbery to be equal with God." This Son God sent " in the likeness of sinful flesh" — that is, He sent Him in form and fashion as a man, a " partaker of our fiesh and blood," — " made like unto His brethren in all things," — sin only excepted. Further, God 259 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. ► -f I I thus sending His own Son in the likeness of sin ul flesh, sent Him "for sin," — that 's, as the marginal reading teaches us, He sent Him to be a sacrifice for sin. Having thus " sent His own Son in the flesh," and as a sacrifice for sin, God " condemned sin in the flesh," — that is, exe- cuted upon sin the awful sentence denounced against it, and which justice demanded to be executed upon it. This was done when God laid the iniquities of us all upon the man Christ — treated Him as if He had been the offender, and made " His soul an off"ering for sin." When " He who knew no sin was made sin for us," — when, in our nature and in our room, He " bare our sins in His own body upon the tree," and drank the full cup of wrath which we deserved to drink, experiencing a bit- terness in it so awful as to draw from Him that mysteri- ous cry of abandonment, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" — then God "condemned sin in the flesh," poured upon it in our Head the curse which was its due — the curse which offended justice required that it should bear ; thus making provision for a return on our part to righteousness, removing " the handwriting of con- demnation that was against us," and opening a way for the divine favour to flow in upon us in healing and renew- ing power. And thus it was that God destroyed the power of sin in our nature, cast it forth from its dominion over us, which, as condemning has, in some instances, the sense of destroying, has been thought by some to be the meaning of the phrase, — "condemned sin in the flesh." Sin hath dominion over men in the flesh — holding them in a cruel and hopeless bondage ; but Christ, having come in our nature and as our Head and Representative, and having " through the Eternal Spirit presented himself with- out spot to God," has brought our bondage to an end, has led our captivity captive ; for He has not only removed our condemnation and opened our way into the holiest of all, but He has been made a quickening Spirit to us. He, as our Head, has even received, for the members, the fulness 260 SERMON X. — ROMANS VIII. 3, 4. il flesh, reading Having sacrifice It is, exe- tgainst it, upon it. s all upon been the for sin." or us," — e our sins 2 full cup ing a bit- mysteri- why hast sin in the ivhich was red that it rn on our ng of con- a way for md renew- troyed the i dominion instances, 5me to be the flesh." ding them Lving come :ative, and mself with- in end, has moved our iliest of all, is. He, as the fulness of that very Spirit through which He ever prevailed against all sin, and offered Himself up holy to God, and through which, descending to us through Him, we too may follow Hin:> in the path of holiness — presenting ourselves to God living sacrifices, holy, acceptable in His sight. In reviewing what has now been said, it cannot but strike the attentive mind how practical a thing is true religion. It is to be feared that this is greatly forgotten, but there is nothing which it is of greater importance for us to remember. We may have a name to live — we may wear a form of godliness — we may make a fair and flour- \ing profession, and because of these things we may regard ourselves as the true children of God ; but we may have these things, and yet not be His true children. We are His true children only as the righteousness of His law is fulfilled in us, as we are crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts — as we are " putting off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and putting on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness ;" and unless this is our character — unless we have ceased to sow to the flesh, and have begun to sow to the Spirit — though we name the name of Christ we are none of His. Oh, see that you be not cherishing any delusion in your minds in regard to this matter ! He that is really united to Christ will be bring- ing forth fruit unto God. " Little childre.!," says the Apostle John, " let no man deceive yoi' ; he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil : who- soever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." Again, we see, from what has been said, why it is that any are not living unto righteousness, and so not enjoying the great reward connected with so living. It is solely because they are receiving the grace of God in vain, reject- ing the counsel of (iod against themselves. If they are t I 4 361 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 US lis u 14.0 IL25 in 1.4 1^ m 1.6 Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STXHT WEBSTER, N.Y. 145M (716) •72-4S03 •S5 <^ ^^ '^ LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. not crucifying the flesh in them^ it is not because there is no strength to do this provided for them, for, would they lay hold of it, there is a strength given them in Christ for this purpose, even the strength of His Spirit which He longs to bestow upon them, which He waits at the door of their hearts to give them, and concerning which He utters in their ears the gracious language, " Turn you at my reproof; behold I will pour out my Spirit upon you." Dear friends, how melancholy is our condition if, in the vic^ of this amazing mercy, we are continuing in sin. To be perishing with hunger, while there is bread enough in our Father's house and to spare ; to be keeping our deadly hurt, when the Son of God has brought a balm to heal it; to be rushing upon destruction, when the Spirit of grace is striving with us to arrest us in our course, and to pluck us as brands from the burning. What a fearful forsaking of our mercies is this ! Let us escape, and escape at once, from a course so full of madness ! " Kiss the Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way. When His wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." But we would address oiu^elves to those who have re- ceived Christ, and so have had the life of righteousness begun in them ; and to them we would say, Behold the need which you have of a fuller and more constant union to Christ, by faith ! It is only as we abide in Christ that we can have freedom from condemnation, for only in Him have we forgiveness, and boldness to come to God as children ; and it is only as we are in Christ that we have power to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts, fo "our life is hid with Christ in God ;" this is its only well-spring, and it can flow into us only through faith. You mourn under the remaining bondage of corruption ; and you wonder, perhaps, that, after all your efforts, your old man is so little crucified — the law in your members is still so strong. But this should be no cause of wonder to you if you are not cleaving unto Christ by faith, since it 969 SERMON X. — ROMANS VIII. 3, 4. there is Id thev mst for tich He le door ich He 1 you at n you." in the in. To Dugh in r deadly heal it; )f grace o pluck aking of It once, lest He wrath is leir trust have re- iousness lold the It union rist that only in to God that we )ns and lis is its ;h faith, uption ; ts, your nbers is )nder to since it is only from Him that you can receive that strength by which you can mortify the deeds of the body, and " yield yourselves linto God, as those that are alive from the dead." He is " the vine ;" and as "the branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can we except we abide in Him." He is " the bread of life ;" and as bread cannot nourish our bodies unless we receive it into union with them, no more can He nourish our souls, unless we are joined to Him, and so receive His Spirit. Oh ! see, then, brethren, that your union with Him be a real union, and that it be constant and abiding. Having believed on Him, cleave to Him with purpose of heart Thus shall you bring forth fruit unto God, and bring it forth in richer abundance. Thus shall the righteousness of the law be more and more fulfilled in you. Seeing that in that Christ died. He died unto sin, thereby casting it forth from its dominion over you ; and in that He liveth, He liveth unto God — ^liveth that He may quicken you together with Himself, through the Spirit shed down upon you, — you shall reckon yourselves to be dead, indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ ; neither shall ye yield "your members as instruments of unrighteous- ness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." And still, as you are made to drink more into the ful- ness of Christ's spirit, more of the fruits of the Spirit will appear in you — ^love, joy, peace, long-suflfering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, "against which there is no law," but which is the very righteousness that the law holds forth and requires, and which, assimi- lating us to the character, prepares us for the blessedness of " the inheritance of the saints in light." 263 SERMON XI. Romans xiii. 8. — " Owe no man anything, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath ful- filled the law." |T is a strange, yet far from uncommon delu- sion, that men should confidently rank themselves among Christians, and yet that there should be scenes and departments of their every-day life into which they do not carry with them their Christianity. By many who " have a name that they live," the " putting on of the Lbrd Jesus Christ " would seem to be considered a thing for some festival or high season, not for ordinary and every-day life — a thing which it were exceedingly wrong to neglect or not carefully to attend to on cer- tain solemn occasions, but which, when one of these is over, may very well be put away until another comes round. Religion, they think, should have its place as well as other things, and so they give it its place, and think that they do well in keeping it in it. It is truly marvellous that the vanity of such a course is not seen through by those who pursue it. Were they to go to the word of God to be taught their religion, they would learn that the Lord Jesus Christ, having once been put on, is nowhere and on no occasion to be put off — that " the man of God must be thoroughly furnished unto all good works ;" that to be followers of Christ, whom He will ^icknowledge, we must follow Him at all times ; that, in 9> 964 SERMON XI. — ROMANS XIII. 8. it to love hath fill- )n delu- y rank ret that lents of >t carry " have le Lord a thing aryand edingly on cer- Df these another liave its ^e it its it in it. Durse is they to tn, they ce been !"— that into all HewiU at, in n word, our religion, if it be worth anything, if it be not indeed an utter delufjion, is an universally actuating prin- ciple with us, influencing us as much in regard to what is little as in regard to what is great — controlling us on the week-day as well as on the Sabbath, and in our intercourse with men as well as in our approaches to God. In our last lecture we had occasion to contemplate Christianity as extending its influence over us as subjects, or members of the body politic; and looking at civil government as the ordinance of God for our good, we took notice of the duty of our being " subject to the higher powers." On the same principle — because govern- ment is an ordinance of God for the good of society — tribute or taxes are to be paid for its support. Since government cannot be supported, and its proper dignity and efficiency maintained, without expense, this, of course, should be borne by those who enjoy the blessings it pro- cures. The payment of taxes for the support of the gov- ernment whose protection we are enjoying is a debt as evidently a just one as any that can be named, and one that should be paid punctually and without evasion. And the man who, by artifice or deceit, avoids contributing in proportion to his property, is guilty of injustice and dis- honesty. He not only defrauds the government, but in effect he defrauds his fellow-citizens ; for if he evades contributing his just share, others must contribute more to make up the deficiency. These remarks apply with equal force to those who import foreign goods without pa3ang those duties which the laws require — a practice in- volving deceit and artifice, and contrary to the rules of justice and honesty. We might add that it is little less criminal knowingly to purchase any merchandise thus illegally introduced, since we thus become " partakers of other men's sins," and we tempt them also to repeat these sins, it being evident that none would introduce merchan- dise in this unlawful manner if none could be found to purchase it 265 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. On these matters, whether we be willing or not to hear, Christianity, and we might add conscience too, speak out to us in terms perfectly distinct and intelligible — " For this cause," says the Apostle, in the verses immediately preceding those now read, "for this cause pay ye tribute also ; for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render, therefore, to all their dues j tribute to whom tribute, custom to whom custom." Such precepts are sufficiently plain. But, as has been already observed, that Christianity which is of any value is an universally actuating principle, following and influencing its disciples everywhere ; and we have now to view it ac- companying them into a department where many men would seem to be yet more unwilling that it should follow them, than into that to which we have just been referring. Passing with us from the duty of paying our proper pro- portion of the public revenue, the Apostle comes to the duty of our paying our ordinary debts, when he says, "Owe no man anything, but to love one another." "Owe no man anything." There are two senses in which this may be taken. It may be viewed either as a prohibition to contract debt, or as a command to be prompt and honest in paying the debts we have contracted. It may mean "Never get into debt," or it may mean " Leave no debt you have incurred unpaid. " The latter is probably the sense in which it was meant by the Apostle to be taken; but looking at the many and fearful evils which, it is acknowledged, arise from the too common practice of contracting debt, and considering how many of these evils would be prevented by a system of ready money transac- tions, it were greatly to be desired that there were a far more general adoption of the rule — not to contract debt And certainly, in regard to pecuniary transactions, we should never contract it without necessity. We should never contract it if industry might save us from the need of doing so, nor if we might avoid it by a rigid frugality and economy, for we need scarcely observe how utterly a66 SERMON XI. — ROMANS XIII. 8. t to hear, peak out -" For mediately tribute ntinually eirdues; Such I ah-eady ue is an Huencing ew it ac- any men Id follow referring, oper pro- s to the KS, "Owe senses in ther as a nd to be ntracted. ay mean e latter is ! Apostle lis which, ractice of lese evils rtransac- ere a far ■act debt ions, we ^e should the need frugality V utterly wrong it is to borrow from another to enable us to keep up a certain style and splendour of living, since what is more selfishly base and unprincipled than to be living in luxury and splendour on other men's means ? It should be equally superfluous to remark that it is highly iniqui- tous to borrow of others for the purpose of embarking what we thus obtain from them on hazardous speculation on which it may be lost. To lay out what is our own in this way is to incur a heavy responsibility ; how much more heavy, then, the responsibility we should incur in so acting with the property of another. We only remark further here, that it should be imperative with us not to run into an amount of debt which we have no sufficient reason to believe we shall be able to discharge at the proper time of pa"ment. So much for the rule before us, viewing it as a prohibition against contracting debt ; but taking it in the other sense which has been men- tioned, regarding it as an injunction not to leave unpaid any debt which has been contracted by us, it is evidently a most important rule, and one which, as Christians, we should see that we carefully observe ; since, if we neglect it, we must inevitably bring great reproach upon the doctrine of God our Saviour. We would not interpret the words before us to mean that we should never, under any circumstances, be a debtor to any one, were it but for a day or an hour. It may not be wrong, while we keep strictly within these well-understood limits to which we have referred, to contract a debt. It may be a matter of convenient arrangement that people should borrow and lend among themselves, and there may be no sin in our becoming indebted to a neighbour, so long as the sum does not exceed our means of discharging it at the period when it becomes due. In this way we may have con- tracted debt without any blame being imputable to us ; but even then, having got into it without blame, we should be concerned also to get out of it without blame. It should be a matter of solemn obligation with us to pay what we ' 267 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. owe. For this purpose, we should, previously to the day of paying, be frugal in our living, and economical in our expenditure, that our creditor may not fail to receive his own through any waste or mismanagement on our part. And when the day of payment comes, we should pay fully. There should be no attempt to escape from any part of our obligations, or endeavour to beat down our creditor, and to get him to accept less than is his due. We should pay promptly and cheerfully as well as fully. We should not need to be called upon again and again by our creditor. We should never force him to have recourse to compulsory measures to obtain payment from us. We have been told that many in this land who even wear a Christian name, think little of doing this, and can coollv and unblushingly set at defiance the man who asks n'om them but his own. If it be so, it is a disgrace to our land. It is an iniquity to be punished by the Judge of all. What shall we think of those who will remorselessly put a creditor to all the trouble and vexation and annoyance of legal pro- ceedings before they will satisfy his just claims? The M(ord of God leaves us in no difficulty as to how to esti- mate such persons. It is the " wicked that borroweth and payeth not again." " Thou shalt not defraud thy neigh- bour, neither rob him." " Let no man go beyond and defraud his neighbour in any matter ; because that the Lord is the avenger of all such." Oh ! brethren, let not your hands be stained with this iniquity ! " Render unto all their dues." Do this " not only for wrath, but for conscience' sake." Remember that though your evading payment of just debts may not expose you to the obloquy of breaking the eighth commandment, it is really as truly a breach of that commandment as many other things which are more emphatically condemned and more summarily dealt with among men. In the remarks that have been made, we have referred principally to pecuniary debts ; and we have done so be- cause of the great practical importance of this matter, 368 SERMON XI. — ROMANS XIII. 8. The injunction, however, embraces every other kind of debt that we may owe. Thus, if we have given any one a promise, we owe him the fulfilment of that promise ; and we should sacredly stand by it. Then, again, if we have received a kindness from one of our fellow-men, we owe him a debt of gratitude ; and we should not fail to repay it as we have opportunity. No one who fears God as the God of truth, will be untrue to his promises, and no one who regards God as " the righteous Lord, loving righteousness and hating iniquity," will be guilty of the dark and hateful sin of ingratitude. But this may, perhaps, be rather struck at in the words that follow. The injunction, you will observe, is, " Owe no man anything, but to love one another." " But to love one another," Love is a debt which cannot be discharged. It is a debt which we owe all men, and which, after ten thousand payments, will yet be due. It is a debt, my friends, that we should always be paying, and yet feel that we always owe ; for it is true now, and it will be true for ever, that '* if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." We are to love one another a/zfoyj, and wh#n we have done for one another all that love can do — still never to have done loving, "because he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." That the " law of God be fulfilled in us,'' is our highest blessedness ; it was the very end for which Christ died for us upon the accursed tree. " He loved us, and gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify us unto Him- self a peculiar people, zealous of good works ;" or, in other words, that the law might be fulfilled in us. Now, " love is the fulfilling of the law." The lack of righteous- ness among men is entirely owing to the lack of love ; and were perfect love to be implanted in any hearty then there would be a perfect observ*vnce of all God's com- mandments. This the Apostle goes on to show in the verse that follows : " For this, — Thou shalt not commit adultery, — 269 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. Thou Shalt not kill, — Thou shalt not steal,— Thou shalt not bear false witness, — Thou shalt not covet ; and if there be any other commandment, it is briehy compre- hended in this saying, — namely. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself 1 " The meaning here is plain. It is as if the Apostle had said, " I have observed that he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." Let this be considered. If there were perfect love of God, there would be a perfect fulfilment of the first table of the law, since the sum of what it contains is this, — ** Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." Then, to take the second table, — its injunctions are summed up in the command, — " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." This will be at once evident to all who give the matter a thought. Nothing is more clear than that, if this command, — " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," were within the heart, it would lead to a perfect ful^lment of the fifth commandment, nor would the duty owmg to parents, and to our other supe- riors, be ever left undone. And it is equally clear that to banish all fraud, injustice, oppression, falsehood, adultery, impurity, murder, hatred, theft, evil-speaking, covetous- ness, and overreaching, there needs only that the law of love to others be in the heart. It is ihe same as the Saviour's golden rule, " Whatsoever things ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." And who does not see that if every man would so act towards others, as he would wish and think it reasonable for them to act towards himself, were he in their circumstances and they in his, — the righteousness which is in the second table of the law would infallibly be fulfilled by him. And this is yet farther confirmed in the tenth verse. " Love," says the Apostle, appealing ^.o our convictions, " Love worketh no ill to his neighbour ; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Love never injures our neigh- bour in any respect. It is not in its nature to injure him, but on the contrary to do him service. As, then, love 270 SERMON XI. — ROMANS XIII. 8. hou shalt t ; and if compre- love thy >lain. It d that he et this be ere would aw, since love the soul, and able, — its -" Thou •e at once I^othing is shalt love , it would nent, nor her supe- lar that to adultery, covetous- he law of le as the ould that n." And :t towards i for them inces and le second im. ith verse. Qvictions, re love is >ur neigh- LJure him, hen, love never does evil to one's neighbour, but is an active prin- ciple leading to the doing him good, " love is the fulfilling of the law," and therefore should it be our supreme desire to increase in love, never to consider that we have enough of this divine grace, but ever to seek to have it in more and yet more living and vigorous exercise. It is '' a fruit of the Spirit of God ,•" and only when we have ** the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit," does love spring up in our breasts. But then it does spring up within us, and we learn to say in regard to God, " We love him who hath first loved us ;" and, in reference to our fellow-men, " If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." In this view, of what unspeakable value is the Gospel of Christ ! That law, the end or the, completion of which is love, we have all of us broken times and ways without num. er ; and as a broken law it worketh wrath, leaving us helpless and hopeless under the fearful sentence — "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them." But there is help and hope for us in Christ. " He is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." And this righteousness is fulfilled in us, in our believing. " The law is not made void through faith — on the contrary, it is established through faith." It is estab- lished because, through faith, the love which is the ful- filling of the ?aw is put into our hearts ; for " faith worketh by love," and the more that our faith increases, the more does our love and consequently our obedience increase. The Holy Spirit " takes of the things of Christ, and shows them to us, and thus it is that the love which is of God is implanted within us, for thus receiving " Christ to dwell In our hearts by faith, and so being rooted and grounded in love, yea, made to comprehend what is the breadth and length, and depth and height, and to know the love of God which passeth knowledge," — the enmity that is by nature in us is displaced, and love occupies its room, even the love which constrains us to walk with God I 1 9 A\ ' ayi LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, U.D. in all holy obedience — the love which is ever asking, " What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits to me ?" and which, never satisfied with any of its renderings, still presses after a fuller conformity with the Saviour's commandment, " That we love one another as He hath loved us." You who have had the law of love written upon your hearts know that even thus was the history of its being written there. You know that if you have puri- fied your souls unto that unfeigned love which is the fulfilling of the law, it has been in *' obeying the tmth through the Spirit." You know that, if you are walking in love, " puttmg on bowels of mercies, kindness, humble- ness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another," it is because Christ loved you and gave Himself for you. Aad say then, bre- thren, is not the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord a knowledge above all price ? Is there not something in this knowledge " more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honey, comb ? " If it be so that you possess this knowledge, be thankful for it, and seek to grow in it, praying that '' the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, may shine upon you, giving you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." You will know that the light is shining upon you by your being changed into His image, even the image of Him who is love, from glory to glory. You will know that your religion is not vain, but a religion that will stand on that day when God shall try it, by its having for its fruit that love which worketh no ill, but all good to your neighbour. And this it is needful ever to bear in remembrance ; all the more so, that by many who have a form of godliness, it would seem to be lost sight of. Many would appear to forget the Apostolic declaration. " If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scriptures, thou shalt love thy neigh- bour as thyself, ye do well." But this, nevertheless, is the test of true religion, and hereby only " know we, that we ^72 SERMON XI. — ROMANS XII. 8. r asking, ■nefits to nderings, Saviour's He hath e written listory of lave puri- h is the the tnith : walking , humble- ling one ise Christ ;hen, bre- i Lord a ething in yea, than le honey, edge, be lat "the image of It of the s Christ." by your of Him that your on that fruit that eighbour. ance ; all godliness, appear to the royal hy neigh- ess, is the ;, that we have passed from death unto life." We may not speak of our faith if it be not working by love and leading us to love " in all righteousness and goodness and truth." '* Faith without works is dead ;" and if we are not living in love, doing good works unto all men as we have oppor- tunity, it were better for us to assume at once that we are yet strangers to the faith of the Gospel, and to go and receive Christ, even as if we had never received Him before ; for unless we do this, we shall die in our sins, and only discover when it is too late, that our Christianity was a delusion, and that with a name that we lived we vere dead. " For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." 273 SERMON XII. CoLOfisiANS ii. 6, 7. — "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him : rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." ,ET US enquire, my hearers, in the first place, in what manner the Colossians had '* received Christ." As the Apostle, in his exJiortation to them to walk in Christ, refers to the way in which they had received Him, the knowledge of this way is absolutely necessary to the understanding of the exhortation. How, then, we enquire, had these Colossians " received Christ Jesus the Lord ? " They had received Him, in the first place, as their peace. The Apostle, in the preceding chapter, states concerning Christ, and states it as a thing which the Colossians would well understand, that He "had made peace through the blood of His cross." They had not always enjoyed this blessing, but they en- joyed it now. As sinners they were under the curse, since " cursed is every one that continueth not in all things Jhat are written in the book o^ the law to do them ; " but they had seen " Christ redeeming them from the curse of the law by becomii^g a curse for them." As sinners, they owed to the Divine justice a debt of fearfiil amount, and which they had nothing to pay ; but they had seen Christ *' blotting out the handwriting that was against them, which was contrary to them, taking it out of the way, and nailing it to His cross." They had seen these 2174 SERMON XII.— COLOSSIANS II. 6, 7. i been taught, things, and in seeing them they had found peace ; they had had their guilty apprehensions removed. A sweet confidence in God had taken the place of that tormenting dread which they had felt towards Him. Their heart was healed. " Beauty was given them for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." The Colossians had, moreover, received Christ as their sanctification ; as one who was " exalted a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance as well as the remission of sins." To this the Apostle refers in the preceding chap- ter, v;here he speaks of their " giving thanks to the Father, as making them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light ; " and again, when he speaks of Christ's having " reconciled them in the body of His flesh through death, to present them holy, and unblameable, and unreproveable in His sight." They had been " dead in trespasses and sins," " alienated from God, and ene- mies to Him by wicked works," but Christ had been to them a quickening Spirit. They had heard th'j voice of tlie Son of God ; and hearing it, they had lived. From the moment that they had received Christ, they had be- come "new creatures;" they had "put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man which is corrupt accord- ing to the deceitful lusts, and they had put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness." Not that the old man was fully put off, for, alas ! the law in their members yet warred against the law of their minds, so that, often, they could not do the things which they would ; — still, the victory was theirs through their Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him strengthening them, they did all things ; — through the power of His might they ceased to be conformed to this world, and th jy were " transformed by the renewing of their mind, proving what was the good and perfect and acceptable will of God." The Colossians had received Christ, too, as their hope; 275 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. their hope of heaven, their hope of glory. The Apostle, in the foregoing part of this epistle, speaks to them of Christ as being " in them the hope of glory." Their abode was still the world where the curse had taken effect. It was a dirn and troubled scene which they had now to pass through, — dimmed and troubled by sin ; but there lay beyond it a land of unclouded brightness and uninter- rupted peace. The Lord of that land was their Lord, and He was maturing them for its joys. This they knew ; and therefore could they exclaim, — " It doth not yet ap- pear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is," " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to His abundant mercy, hath be- gotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorrupti- ble and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us." In this manner, my friends, had the Colossians received Christ Jesus the Lord ; they had received Him as their peace, their sanctification, their hope. In this manner must all receive Him, who would have any part in Him. If you, my hearers, have embraced Him at all, you have embraced Him iri ihe same manner that these Colossians did. You have received Him as your peace. The bur- den of sin once pressed heavily upon you. Well, how was it removed ? It was by a believing view of the cross of Christ. Your hearts were once distracted by the terrors of the Lord. How were they quieted? They were " sprinkled from an evil conscience" by the blood of Jesus, — that blood by which a way is opened for us into the holiest, and through which we hear G' d addres»5>ing to us the gladdening words — " I have blotted out your trans- gressions as a thick cloud, and as a. cloud, your sins." Again, if you have received Christ; you have received Him as your sanctification. The Spirit of Christ has been given to you, and of Him you have been bom again. He 276 SERMON XII. — COLOSSIANS II. 6, 7. Apostle, them of ' Their ?.n effect, i now to )ut there uninter- .ord, and Y knew; •t yet ap- He shall m as He trd Jesus hath be- ection of comipti- jerved in received as their manner in Him. ou have 3lossians rhe bur- ell, how :he cross e terrors ey were of Jesus, into the ing to us IT trans- >ins." received has been 5ain. He has taken of the things of Christ, and shown them unto you. He has led you into the truth as it is in Jesus, and that iruth has sanctified you. It has written the laws of God in your hearts ; it has put these laws in your inward parts. Sin has not had dominion over you as it once had ; but " you, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, have been changed into the same image." If you have received Christ, you have also received Him as your hope. You have much from Him in possession, but you have, if possible, more from Him in prospect. Amidst the sorrows that now bow you down, — amidst the temptations that now assail you, you contemplate the glorious and peaceful rest which remains for you in another world ; — you remember with delight the words of your Lord by His Apostle, — " Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word ; that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy, and without blemish." And what then, my hearers, is the exhcrtation which I would address to you from the words of our text ? It is that, even as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so you would continue to walk in Him ; that you would abide in Christ ; that you would get yourselves rooted and built up and stablished in these truths which you have been taught respecting Him. Be thankful — be very thankful for the grace you have re- ceived ; for the knowledge of Christ into which you have been led ; but go forward, grow in this grace, grow in this knowledge ; cleave unto the Lord with full purpose of heart ; there can be neither spiritual safety nor spiritual prosperity for you, but in walking in Him, knowing your completeness in Him, and living upon His fulness. You have known Christ as your peace ; you have felt the tranquillising influence of His blood ; it has removed that tormenting dread with which you once contemplated 277 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. your offended God ; it has given you boldness to enter into the holy of holies, to come unto God as a reconciled Father and Friend. This is well ; yea, it is a mercy which should call forth increasing thanksgivings to Him who bestowed it ; but, my dear hearers, you are ever to look unto Christ as your peace ; you are, from day to day, to become more and more acquainted with Him in this endearing character. The atonement of Christ is the only ground of a sinner's confidence toward God, and if you stand not firmly on this ground — if you allow your- selves to be moved away from it, you will lose your con- fidence ; a strangeness will rise up between you and your God ; you will cease to delight in Him as you were wont ; and He will have no pleasure in you, for He has said, " If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in Him." You are, further, to walk in Christ as your sanctifica- tion. You know Him as your Sanctifier already; through Him strengthening you, you have already gained many a victory over the devil, the world and the flesh. This, also, is cause for fervent gratitude ; but you are still to cleave to Christ as your Sanctifier. He is revealed in Scripture as the strength of His people, and as the Giver of repentance ; now you are to cling to Him continually in this character. You are to take to Him every corrup- tion, entreating Him to subdue it ; and every pollution, asking Him to cleanse you from its defilement. You are to entreat Him to ** bless you by turning you away from your iniquities." This is to place yourselves on a ground where " no weapon that is formed against you shall pros- per." 6^ this ground there is no safety ; upon it there is no danger. To all who thus cleave to Jesus, God says, ♦* He that toucheth you toucheth Me." " Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail; but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as 278 SERMON XII. — COLOSSIANS II. 9, 7. eagles ; they shall run and not be weary ; they shall walk and not faint." You are, finally, to walk in Christ as your hope. You still walk amidst errors and dangers and sorrows. You are still in a world where your Lord has told you " ye shall have tribulation." But a hope full of immortality is set before you ; the Lord Jesus Christ, even your Lord and Saviour, is upon the throne of the Mediatorial king- dom, and " He must reign until all enemies are put under His feet." To this prospect you are ever to cling. You are to look away from the tears and perturbations of the present scene, to the rest and joy of the heavenly world. You are to look upon the entrance of Christ into heaven as the pledge of your entrance ; His triumph over death and hell as your triumph over them, and the earnest of your admission into those joys which " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive." He is the Captain of salvation ; and of those who place themselves under His leadership He says, " I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." " He is a Sun and shield ; He will give grace and glory, and no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." He will follow them with His loving kindness through life, and He will present them hereafter " faultless and unblameable in the presence of His glory, with ex- ceeding joy." What a precious Saviour, my friends, is Christ Jesus the Lord ! How suitable to our condition are the bless- ings which He brings to us ! How amply do they pro- vide for all our wants from first to last ! Why is it that any of us continue comfortless and desponding ? Why is it that Satan gets such an advantage over us, and that sin maintains so strong a dominion in our hearts ? The only reason for these things is, we are not walking in Christ ; we are resting our dependence elsewhere than in Him ; we are forgetting that we have nothing, and never can 279 m 'I'- ' LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. have an3rthing but what we receive from Him. Oh, let us guard against this serious error, and let us henceforth walk in Christ, seeking to be wise in His wisdom, and strong in His omnipotence. As the tree takes a firmer hold of the soil the longer its roots are struck into it, so let us take a firmer hold of Christ the longer we live in union with Him. So shall we maintain our steadfastness amidst all the storms to which we are exposed, and learn to exclaim with the Apostle, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? For I am persuaded that nei- ther death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us firom the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Let us learn, further, in connexion with this subject, the importance of using every means calculated to strengthen our faith. Since it is by faith that we receive Christ at first, and ever after walk in Christ, everything calculated to strengthen this faith should be a matter of deep interest to us. Such is the Word read in private, and heard in public; such are prayer and praise; such are all the ordinances which the Lord has given to the Church. See, then, my firiends, that ye have continual recourse to these things. Let the Word of God dwell ilk you richly, and in all wisdom ; seek closer acquaintance with it from day to day ; embrace every opportunity of studying it at home, and of hearing it in the house of God. Be like the Bereans who " searched the Scriptures daily," and concerning whom we read that the result of this search was that " many of them believed." To the reading and hearing of the Word, join prayer and praise. In every exercise with which the Lord has connected a blessing^ — in that engage ; to every place which the Lord has promised to hallow with His blessing — to that repair. Habitually repair to the sanctuary on the sacred day. Most refi-eshing have been the visits of God's people to 280 SERMON XII. — COLOSSIANS II. 6, 7. that hallowed place. There He has made them glad with the light of His countenance, and chased away their de- pressing fears, and revived their dying faith. And over the recollection of their enjoyments there, have they learned to exclaim in the language of the Psalmist, " A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tent:> of wickedness." The faith which we now seek to cherish and to strengthen will, ere long, be changed into vision. Time, with all its griefs and struggles, is hastening away, and eternity is near at hand. A few days of abiding in Christ and walking with Him on earth, and we shall dwell with Him amidst the bliss and radiance of heaven. He left this promise when He left the earth ; and it is a promise that will soon be accomplished to all who look for its fulfilment : " I go to prepare a place for you ; and if I go away to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive vou unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. ' These things, however, are the heritage of those only who walk in Christ, and if you are not walking in Him — if you are not clinging to Him as your peace, your purity, your hope — if you are not seeking to be rooted and built up in Him, you have no reason to look for any part, either in the present, or in the future happiness of His people. Alas ! so far from your having any reason in this state to look for such happiness, " there remaineth for you only ^ certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation to devour the adversaries." And wherefore are you forsaking your own mercies ? To gain what desirable object are you losing your souls? Does sin make you happy ? Does it promise you happi- ness ? You know that it does not ; you know well that " vanity and vexation of spirit " might, with propriety be written over every enjoyment you have tasted in aliena- tion from God, and in estrangement from Christ. And a8i u LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. why, then, will you pursue the course you are doing? Wherefore do you spend your strength for nought, " and " your labour for that which satisfieth not ? " Oh, my hearers, I would earnestly and affectionately entreat you to " receive Christ Jesus the Lord." He is yet presented to you in all the fulness of His grace, and in all the extent of His offices. He is yet knocking at the door of your hearts, and beseeching you to give Him admission. This day is salvation offered to you afresh, through the atoning blood of Jesus. " Now is the accepted time ; now is the day of salvation," even this day. To-mor- row ! What have you to do with to-morrow ? To-morrow you may be in eternity. " What is your life ? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." Seize upon the present moment ; this night receive Christ. He is now bidding you " taste and see that He is good," but soon may He address to you different language. " Because I called and ye refused ; I stretched out my hand and no man regarded ; ye despised all my counsel and would none of my reproof; therefore shall ye eat the fruit of your own way, and be filled with your own devices." Flee from His wrath. " Kiss the Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his anger is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." 282 doing ? It, " and ionately He is ice, and ig at the ve Him u afresh, iccepted To-mor- -morrow is even a anisheth t receive lat He is Einguage. 1 out my counsel e eat the devices." )e angry, kindled r trust in PORTION OF A SERMON. Romans vi. 21.—" Vhat fruit had ve then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ? For the end of those things is death." (This sermon was intended specially for the troops, to whom it was first preached.) ^OOK once more upon those things of which the Apostle speaks. Behold their deadly end. "What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death J* You have seen the k utter unfruitfulness of sin, you have seen its shame- 1 fulness, you are now invited to contemplate its dire- ful issue. Things do not amend with the transgressors as he proceeds ; they only wax worse and worse until his doom is sealed and his misery complete. The end of his course is death. Death foUoweth sin as its natural consequence. " The bloody and deceitful man," says David, " shall not live half his days." How many bring themselves to an untimely end, by infringing their country's laws ! How many have false feelings of honour and ungovernable pride hurried to the tomb in the very morning of life ? How many have we seen, in the career of profligacy, hastening on prema- ture dissolution, or if life be prolonged, dragging out a miserable existence, with their bodies filled with the sins of their youth — incapable of relishing a single enjoyment which this world has to bestow — enduring a sort of living death ! 283 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. u But it is more important to observe that death follows sin as its mora/ consequence. " They that are far from God must perish." " The wages of sin is death j " under the righteous government of God, it can earn no other recompense, it can meet with no other reward. Sin and death never have and never can be severed. " In the day that thou eatest thereof," said the Lord to our first parents, — " thou shalt surely die." And did they not die that very day ? Did not the sentence of God take immediate effect ? Did they not instantly die, in the most important sense of the term ? Do we not behold them immediately spoiled of their original glory, driven from their lovely abode, and cut off frc in that communion with the fountain of life in which primarily consisted their heaven, their happiness, their life ? And here we feel it important to call your attention to what death really is. Death is not an eternal sleep, or in other phrase, annihilation. This view of it is, we fear, often taken, and often exerts a most mischievous influence, where the entertainment of it is altogether unacknowledged ; but no view of it could be more delusive. We are not annihilated when we die ; our being may then be changed, but it is not extinguished. A day will come when the wicked shall wish that it were, and that they could cease to be, but their wish shall be vain ; " they shall seek this death, but it chall flee from them." Neither does death mean the mere separation of the soul from the body, when the one " returns to the dust as it was," and the other " to the God that gave it." The term "death" has, indeed, sometimes this same import in Scripture; but it has a still more extensive and more awful meaning. The separation of the soul from the body is painful and revolting; but the death to which the Apostle refers is infinitely more terrible. It is the sepa- ration of the soul from God — the being cut off for ever from the fountain of all that is good and of all that is happy. It is ** everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power," an eternal 284 PORTION OF A SERMON. — ROMANS VI. 21. privation of His favour in whose favour is life — the being linked in wrath and woe with that dreadful being who stands at the head of the principalities and powers of darkness — the being " cast into hell-fire, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched," — the extinction, not of being, but of all that renders being a blessing of peace, and of happiness and of hope. This is " the second," the last, the " eternal death," mentioned in Scripture. To this issue unchecked and unrepented iniquity naturally and necessarily tends. This doc"^ the God of truth has told us. He has reserved for it. " He sr.«ill say unto them on the left hand. — Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment.'' "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." " I saw," says St. John, "the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life ; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it ; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them ; and they were judged, every man accord- ing to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." The practical conclusions arising from this subject are obvious. Are the things to which you have now listened true? Is the way of transgressors thus hard ? Is the course of sin so fiiiitless, and so shameful, and so fatal ? Then, what an evil and a bitter thing is sin^ and how earnestly should we seek to forsake it! You behold multitudes around you altogether insensible of its evil. You behold them yield- ing without a struggle to the current of corruption, and, instead of resisting the suggestions of iniquity, lending a ready ear to its vile allurements, and plunging, apparently without remorse or regret, into its miserable and guil^ LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. excesses. But is this the course which wisdom dictates ? Is this the course of which you can calmly and deliberately approve ? No, my friends, you cannot. You are sensi- ble of the madness of pursuing the sinner's path. You feel the force of the Scriptural question, Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge ? And to what should these convictions lead you ? To a prompt and vigorous abandonment of sin. Cast away its yoke ; be no more its slave ; toil no longer for its miserable wages. Be thankful that still you have opportunity to flee from its fatal path, but let the time you have lost give wings to your speed in distancing its snares. " Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him ; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." The subject of this discourse will teach you^ too, in what light you should regard those who encourage you in sin. In almost every large body of men, there will always be some of more reckless wickedness than others, who will seek to compt their fellows. You have, perhaps, met with such ; you have met with persons who, not content with being wicked alone, have laboured to bring you down to the same level with themselves — have encouraged you to profane your Maker's name, incited you to the de- grading debauch, and led your steps to scenes of impurity. And all this they have done under the mask and guise of friendship, under the pretext of making you merry and happy. But, were they your friends? Had they your true interest at heart ? Have you not found them your cruellest fqes ? Are you not exclaiming, as you think of the misery and shame they have brought upon you— as you tremble on the precipice to which they have led you, " My soul, come not thou into their secrets ; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united." This subject should, moreover, call forth our fervent thankfulness for the riches of redeeming lave. Though some transgressors are more vile than others, we are all trans- a86 PORTION Of A SERMON. — ROMANS VI. 2 1. gressors. We are all, naturally, the servants of sin ; and we nnight have been all left to reap its fearful wages. There might have been no means of deliverance from its misery and its shame — no escape from its terrible curse either here or hereafter. The God whom we had forsaken might have forsaken us and allowed us to wander and wilder in the path of our own choice, until we had ever- lastingly and irrecoverably perished. But God has not forsaken us ; and I stand here this day to proclaim in your ears the glad tidings of a deliverance from sin — from its curse and from its power. " God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." " Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye, through His poverty might be rich." You have fallen almost to hell, but you may be raised to heaven. There is a hand able to lift you over the mighty interval be- tween perdition and salvation, and there is a heart as willing as the hand is able. Shall not these things call forth your gratitude and your praise? Shall not your hearts burst forth into the song of Zacharias : " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people." Rest not, however, in mere thankfulness. Continue not in a state of vacant admira- tion. Having the way of life pointed out to you, walk therein. Seek an interest in the offered deliverance of the Gospel. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that thou mayest be saved. Remember that the salvation of Christ, precious as it is, and complete as it is, and free as it is, can be no salvation to you until it is applied, and delay not to apply it — to make it yours. Why, with all to lose, and with everything to gain that is valuable to an immortal spirit, should you stand a moment longer idle? You know that the time is short. You know the uncertainties of life ; or if you do not you should know them. You know how death and disease have of late thinned your 387 ' «3K. LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. ranks. How often, during the bygone year, have our streets been darkened by the solemn train, and our hearts been thrilled and melted by the solemn notes that mark the soldier's funeral ! You are soon to depart from this place, but where are they who marched at your side a twelvemonth ago, as gay and as vigorous as you ? They little thought that their career should so qaickly termi- nate ; and that when the summons came to remove you to another station, or to call you back to your native land, you should leave their bones to moulder on a foreign shore. But their hearts are cold and still to-day. You have fired your farewell shot over theu: narrow resting-place, and you shall see them no more until these heavens are departed, and you meet them, where uncounted millions meet, in the presence of your Judge. And who of you is marked next to fall i^ You know not ; but sure I am each of you should be exclaiming, " Lord, is it I ?" and pouring forth the fervent prayer that the God of grace would prepare you for your latter end. "In the midst of life you are in death." " Truly, as the Lord liveth, and as your souls this day live, there may be but a step between you and death." Oh, improve, then, the season of your mercifiil visita- tion^ Allow not a day to pass over your heads till you have supplicated the Almighty Redeemer to free you from the wretched vassalage of sin, and to make you the ser- vants of holiness. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do," in this matter, " do it with thy might" Are you sensible that your most important interests have to this hour been neglected ? Is God still unreconciled and sin unforsaken ? Does this wrath of God still abide in you ? Seek now to have it removed. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." " To-day hear His voice ;" to-morrow it may be too late. " Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him ; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, 388 Jl PORTION OF A SERMON. — ROMANS VI. 21. and thou be cast into prison. Verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, until thou hast paid the uttermost farthing !" 289 i c III * FRAGMENT OF A LECTURE. St. John iii. 17-21.—" For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world ; but that the world through Him should be saved." iN illustration of the declaration that "men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil," our Lord continues in verse twentieth, — " For every one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his (deeds should be reproved." The principle here ^laid down is so plain that it needs no explanation. The application of the principle is this : The Gospel is /ig/tt; it reproves the sinner ; — it does so, as showing him that his sin is exceedingly sinful. Therefore do ungodly men hate the Gospel; it is the object of their aversion and enmity, because they see that, were they to receive it, it would condemn them for their evil deeds, it would disturb their hollow peace by arming conscience against them. And here we learn the inexcusableness of unbelief. Men of infidel minds have gone far in excusing the sin of unbelief; nay, some have tried to make it out to be no sin at all, as being a thing which men cannot help ; and a living British senator, on a great public occasion, recently gave utterance to the sentiment — that " a man is no more accountable for his belief than for the colour of his skin or the height of his stature." But is, then, the unbelief that rejects the Gos- pel involuntary ? Is it indeed a tiling which men can- 290 FRAGMENT OF A LECTURE. — ST. JOHN III. 17-21. not help ? Do we not continually see that the state of the affections has the most material influence on our belief? Is it not found that men easily believe what they are inclined to believe, while they as readily disbelieve that to which they are strongly averse ? Is it not true that when truth is against a man, a man will be against truth, and that to this indisposition it is owing that he rejects it ? Oh ! brethren, it is not from want of evidence for its truth that men reject the Gospel ; — it is not because they have proved to their satisfaction that it is a cunningly devised fable, that they believe it not. The cause of their unbelief is their love of sin ; they obey not the Gospel, not because it is untrue, but because it is holy, and would compel them to forego the gratification of their cherished lusts ; and thus does their unbelief bring out the wicked- ness of their hearts in darker colours than before, show- ing them to be fitting objects of that wrath which, we are assured, will be poured upon the unbelieving. Let those who are yet abiding in unbelief look into this matter. See whether it be not the love of sin, in some shape or other that prevents you from welcoming the holy Saviour ; and if it be indeed so, think how awful must be your doom when you shall be brought into judgment ! Our Lord, in the concluding verse of this passage, ex- hibits a striking contrast to the evil-doer, — " But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God." He that doeth truth, — ^he that obeys the truth, and walks accord- ing to it — he that no longer clings to error, however pleasant it may be to his corrupt heart, but sincerely fol- lows what is truth, however painful to him may be its disclosures, — such a man comes to the light, loves it, and desires to be in it, that he may have evidence that his actions are right, are wrought in God, and are therefore such as God will approve. Here, however, it will be said to us ; — this is the character of the regenerate man ; — ^but what we would know is — how shall we be brought into 291 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. this State, — how shall that great change be effected in us without which we cannot love the light, but will cling to the darkness of our natural state ? To this we would reply : Cannot you bethink yourselves how awful it will be for you if you shall live on in darkness, and at last die in darkness, and be consigned for ever to the outer darkness and the second death ? Cannot you see it to be your true interest to come to the light, however humbling and pain- ful to you it may be to approach it ? Cannot you discern the awful madness of deceiving yourselves, and perishing with a lie in your right hand, when you might deliver your precious, your immortal souls ? Feeling how fearfully you will forsake your own mercies, if you cast away the hope of having a part and portion in the Kingdom of God, — cannot you cast youselves upon God, and cry to Him from your hearts, " Create in me a clean heart, O God, renew in me a right spirit ? '' Cannot you do this much ; yea, cannot you do yet more than this ? Seeing that it is by the Word of Truth that God sanctifies His people, — see- ing that it is not by doing any violence to their moral constitution, but by adapting Himself to It, that God re- generates them, — seeing that it is by the exhibition to tiiem of His holy, sin-hating love, as that is manifested in the Cross, that He overcomes their enmity and inclines and persuades and constrains them to become His chil- dren, — cannot you turn in deepest earnestness to the Word of Truth, and enquire into that mystery of love, " that God so loved the world that He gave His only be- gotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life ? " Surely, there is nothing to hinder you from enquiring, in a spirit of deep- est earnestness and prayer, into t^at mysterious love wherewith God hath loved us in the gift of His own Son ; and wou!^ you, in the spirit of earnestness and prayer, receive the record of God's love, the mighty step of your life would be taken, your career as sons of God would be entered upon. 292 FRAGMENT OF A LECTURE. — ST. JOHN III. 17-2I. Observe the dealings of our Lord with Nicodemus. First, He alarmed him out of his deceitful security, — ^tell- ing him, again and again, that he could not see the King- dom of God until he was bom again ; and then He preached him those heavenly things, that mystery of Divine love which we h?ve in the incarnation and death of the Son of God, — ^through the knowledge of which the dead in sin are quickened and made alive unto God. And through this dealing of oiu* Lord with Nicodemus, there is reason to believe that he became a child of God, an heir of the heavenly kingdom. And might it not be the same with you ? Oh ! seek that you may know the truth, re- membering how much depends upon your knowing it ! Ask that the Spirit of God may be given to you, to take of the things of Christ and show them unto you. Be de- termined in the strength of God, — that strength which was never yet denied to any who truly sought it, — that the god of this world shall no longer blind you, but that you shall escape from his delusions. And it shall be so. God shall help you. He " who commanded the light to shine out of darkness shall shine into your hearts, to give you the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ; so that you, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, shall be changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.'* 293 0i^0m0^0m0^i FRAGMENT OF A LECTURE. St. John i. 14. — **And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." ^E may discern here, brethren, what should be our chief concern in reference to ourselves, every day that we live. Plainly, it should be, that we may grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. If to receive i Christ, believing on His name, is the way to be made ; partakers of the Divine nature, sons and heirs of God ; and if we cannot receive Him without know- ing Him, as He is revealed in the Word, siu-ely our desire and our prayer should ever be that God would give us His holy Spirit, to take of the things of Christ and show them unto us; that " God, who com- manded the light to shine out of darkness, would shine in our hearts, to give the light of the know- ledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." And, do we not see here, too, what, if we have known Christ, and possess any of His bowels of mercies, we should seek first, and above all things, for our fellow- men ? Is it not that they too may " know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent — whom to know is life eternal ?" What do we see everywhere around us but a world lying in wickedness, abiding in death — a world sunk in ungodliness and corruption, and, as such, sunk in vast, shoreless, fathomless misery. We see but the outside of things, and therefore see but little, com- 294 FRAGMENT OF A LECTURE. — ST. JOHN I. 1 4. paxatively, of the misery. If we saw deeper, saw the whole, how appalling would be the sight I Oh, the bitter- ness, the woe, the anguish looked down upon by the sun between his morning rise and his evening decline ! And do we know of no cure for it ? If that were so, we were excusable in folding our hands, as most do, ai.d leaving our race to dree their dark doom in time, and their yet darker immortality of ill. But we do know of a cure for man's sin and misery. If we are Christ's we have our- selves found that cure in the Word made flesh — the thing that can dry up the misery ^ by dr)dng up its source, which is the sin. And shall it, then, be no concern with us to hold forth to others that Word of Life ? Shall it not be our first and last, and never-ceasing object to declare to those who are bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, what " we have seen and heard of the Word of Life," that " their fellowship, too," may be with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ ; and so their joy may be foil, while Christ sees in them of the travail of His soul and is satis- fied ? Humble as our place in the Church may be, and limited as our field of usefulness, shall we not, at the call of mercy, at the call of humanity, at the call of God, go and work earnestly with Him in die destruction of jiui^an sin and human misery; in the multiplication, in this world of woe, of rejoicing sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty ; and in the hastening of that period when the Word who once tabernacled among us in flesh unglori- fied, shall again tabernacle among us in that flesh glori- fied, and that " great voice," spoken of bv St. John in the Apocalyptic visions — that "great voice ' out of heaven shall be heard saying, " Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people ; and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God himself shall wipe away all tears from theii eyes ; and there shall be no more death, nei- ther sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain : for the former things are passed away." 295 i LAST WORDS TO HIS CONGREGATION — SPOKEN ON THE OCCASION OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE LORD's SUPPER, ON SABBATH, OCTOBER 1 9, 1 862, THE LAST TIME HE WAS ABLE TO BE AMONG THEM. SATURDAY ADDRESS. EXHORTATION TO INTENDING COMMUNICANTS. ^EAR FRIENDS,— I shall not now attempt to say much to you, and yet, as one appointed to watch for your souls, who must soon give an account, I may be permitted to advert for a few moments to the solemn and delightful cir- icumstances in which we now stand. If spared until : the morrow, we shall be once more privileged to sit down at that Table where the weary have so often been refreshed and the hungry filled with good things. The Master of the Feast has again come to us, and His voice to us is, " Behold I stand ?t the door and knock," and He but waits for our opening the door to " come in to us, to sup with us," and to admit us to sup with Him in sweet and reviving fellowship. And when is it that we shall open the door to Him ? Just then when we most feel our need of Him — when we most clearly see the evil that is in us, and that it is an evil under which, unless He deliver us from it, we must inevitably and miserably perish. Dear friends, seek to see this evil, and see it^iow, that you may raise your voice 296 SATURDAY ADDRESS. to Christ, and say, " Come in to me, Lord, and make me to taste the blessedness of which Thou hast spoken ! " These communion seasons with us recur only at distant intervals ; and it is an advantage arising from this that at their recurrence the heart is often deeply solemnized. Your hearts may now be deeply solemnized. The hand of God, which can reach us in so many ways, has touched you. You are thinking of those who have gone from among us of late years, and thinking that perhaps ere another Communion season comes round, you, too, may be gone. They are thoughts to solemnize your spirit — thoughts to awaken the enquiry, How shall I be prepared for this Communion? it may be my last on earth, with my God and Saviour. Dear friends, you will be prepared for it just as by the Holy Spirit you are convinced of sin that is in you — of its vileness — its misery — its destructive- ness — and as by the same Spirit you are enabled to open your hearts to Christ, and to count all things but loss that you may win Christ and be found in Him. Happy those among us whose sin has found them out, and who, taking the publican's place, lift up his cry " God be merciful to me a sinner !" " The sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite spirit;" and if such at the time shall be your sacrifices, your Communion with Him will be sweet. Ask then the Holy Spirit, as you examine yourselves this evening — ask Him to show you all that is in your heart, to convince you of sin. I commend you to Him who casts out none that truly come to Him. I commend you every one ! " The good Lord pardon every one that prepares his heart to seek God, though it be not prepared according to the purification of the sanctuary." " The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up the light of His countenance upon thee and give thee peace." 297 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. • ADDRESS TO THE COMMUNICANTS AT THE TABLE OF TiiE LORD, DELIVERED ON SABBATH, OCTOBER 1 9, 1 863. ^LESS the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction. In such language, Communicants, if you were to give expression to your present emotions, would you not now utter them, as you think of Him through whose blood you have remission, nor remission only, but healings — even all that you need to make you whole of your soul's plague, and to fill you with a new and pure and Heavenly life ! If so be that you have tasted that the Lord is thus gracious, what blessedness is yours ! A wondering and weeping prophet once exclaimed — " Is there no balm in Gilead — is there no Physician there?" But you are not left to make any such dark and painful enquiries. You know of a cure of infallible efficacy, you have found a physician infinite in pity and infinite in skill. Your hurt, like that of Israel of old, was a grievous hurt It polluted you and made you wretched. " The whole head was sick, and the whole heart faint." And it was a fatal hurt; it baffled all hun.an skill ; it defied all human remedies ; and you must soon have sunk under its virulence, and perished for ever. But God had mercy upon you ; He laid help for you on One mightier to save. In Christ you have a healing balm for all your spiritual maladies. His blood is a fountain opened for sin and for all uncleanness ; you have washed in that fountain and experienced the efficacy of its healing waters. And still you desire to wash in it, — still you desire to look unto Jesus, that you may have pardon and peace and purity and eternal life. And here at His 298 ADDRESS AFTER COMMUNICATING. Table you desire to meet with Him, and to put yourselves wholly into His hands, that He may give you the balm of His broken body and shed blood ; and, under the sweet experience of its cleansing and healing power, cause you to sing with exulting hearts of His power and pity, saying — " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name." Trusting that such, or similar to these, are the emo- tions and desires of your hearts, we now proceed to put into your hands the tokens of Christ's broken body and shed blood. AFTER COMMUNICATING. kOMMUNICANTS !— One who had suffered long and had suffered much, once came be- hind Jesus in the press, and touched His gar- ment, for she said, ** If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole." And hap; y was she who I thus believed ; virtue straightway went out of Him, ;and she was healed. Now, has your confidence in Jesus been like that of this sufferer, and has it been blessed? As you have said at His Table in your hearts, " If I may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be whole,"— does He know, and do you know, I that virtue has come out of Him to heal you? Adore His mercy and goodness ; let your soul bless the Lord ; let all that is within you bless His holy name. Cleave henceforth to your Physician. Have no Saviour but Christ. Resort for healing to none other but Him, for all others are physicians of no value, — they could not save you, and you would again become the prey of disease and death. Having experienced the Heavenly 299 LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MACHAR, D.D. Physician's power to heal, perform healthy acts ; engage in healthy exercises. Go forth to vour daily work in God's service until the evening. See what the Ix)rd would have you to do in your own souls, in your families, in the Church, in the world. *' To do good, and to communi- cate, forget not." There are many around you wounded by sin — wounded by it, as you were, unto death. Can you stand by and see them perish ? Surely if you have come to Jesus and been healed, you will bring others to Him that they may be healed. Did He refuse to come into personal contact with our wickedness and misery ? Instead of sending a substitute to be our deliverer. He delivered us Himself. " He loved us and gave Himself for us i " Communicants, remember this ; and when you see those who have none to care for their souls, — and they are at your doors, — pass them not by on the other side, but have compassion on them and hasten to their relief. Love as you have been loved ; give yourselves to the reco- very of the wounded and dying as Christ gave Himself for you, when you were wounded and dying. It is not long that you will have to go about this blessed work, — this only work worth living for T The night cometh when no man can work. Some have gone from among us since last we kept this Feast We, too, must soon leave our places in the Church below. Put what of this if we have been about our Master's businei \ and walked in love as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us ? Death will then have no terrors for us ; it will only sever us from a body in which we groan, being burdened ; and whether our passage over its dark waters be rough or smooth, we shall be welcomed to the joy of the Lord on the farther shore. Finally, submit to your Heavenly Physician's treatment Submit to it not less when it is painful than when it is pleasant We know not what the Lord may see meet to do with us. We know not what sore trials it may be His will to send us. But oh. Communicants, let it comfort 300 ADDRESS AFTER COMMUNICATING. sngagc G£d'8 imuni- unded Can have ers to come isery? your hearts that he will do all things well ; that He will, with unerring wisdom, appoint the things that are for the life of your spirit ; that He will, in love to your souls, deliver you from the pit of destruction ; and that the hour is not distant, when, having perfected all that concemeth you, He shall translate you to a land where the inhabitant shall no more say, " I am sick," because the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity ! Go, rejoic- ing in these things. Go now from His Table singing His praises as in the Eucharistic Psalm : — *' Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name I " we 30X 01 ' To Authors. fAS. 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