DISCARD 46653 ff J4-* '?€,^tA^-^ St. 3ut)e^0 ST. JUDE'S BY IAN MACLAREN \^ i^\^ ^Cfc^A] WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY Ralph Connor PHILADELPHIA THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TIMES COMPANY 1907 cil Copyright, 1906, 1907, by John Watson Copyright, 1907, by The Sunday School Times Company Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, 1907 Nachliruck verboten, Uebersetzungs Recht vorbehaltbn 1lntro&uction 'X'WELVE years ago, to while away the hour of a journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow, I bought The British Weekly and began to read, at first idly, then with interest, and at last with delight, a story entitled "A Lad O' Pairts." " Read that," I said, thrusting the paper into the hands of my Scotch professor friend in Glasgow. He stood up at the mantel, but had not gone far in his reading when, "Jean," he called to his wife in the next room, "come in here and listen to this ; " and with eager, almost fervid enthusiam he began again, and read till, unawares, his voice failed, broke, and I dis- covered him with shamed face looking at us through tears. "I know him," he cried, when he had done. But loyalty forbade that he should tear aside the veil his friend had hung over his name. A few minutes later, however, apropos of nothing in particular, he introduced the name of John Wat- son, of Sefton Park, and I knew that I had dis- covered the author of " A Lad O' Pairts. ' ' Through the following months I learned to watch for The British Weekly, and, with many, to love his people, Domsie and Drumsheugh, Marget and Geordie Howe, Donald Menzies, Lachlan Campbell, Mrs. V Introduction Macfadyen, Dr. Maclure, and the rest. I love them all still, and ever shall. Now, with another book by Ian Maclaren in my hands, comes the startling message that he is no longer with us. I turn the pages and, reading, I find myself renewing my emotions of twelve years ago. Here is the same pawky humor, the same kindly searching satire, the same shrewd analysis of the theological, logic-chopping, conscience-ridden, terrible Scot. Once more, as twelve years ago, I am conscious of that sudden rush of emotion, as the drill in the hands of this master of his art, piercing through the stubborn granite of canny worldliness, of rigid theological formalism, reaches the living spring of tenderness. As I turn the pages I dis- cover new friends among Carmichael's flock, worthy to stand with those others I discovered twelve years ago : the old Inquisitor, Simeon Mac Quittrick, of the deUcious seven ; Colonel Roderick MacBean, a new type ; the inimitable, majestic Mrs. Grimond ; the soft-hearted Angus Sutherland ; Murchieson, with his heart of limestone and lava. Alas, he is gone from us ! Only a few weeks ago 1 bade him farewell. He is gone from us, but his children are with us still, and for his sake, as for their own, we shall ever love them. Charles W. Gordon. ("Ralph Connor.") vi Contents Prologue : The Wisdom of Love 3 A Local Inquisition 19 A Soldier of the Lord 45 An Irregular Christian 71 Nathanael 97 A Domestic Difference 123 A Ruler in Israel 149 The Power of the Child 175 Her Marriage Day 201 Righteous Overmuch 225 Euodias and Syntyche 249 A Faithful Steward 299 vii Iprologue : ITbe TOi0^om of Xovc prologue : Ube XIGlisOom ot %ovc It was the custom in the Free Kirk of Dmm- tochty that the minister should sit in the pulpit after the service till the church had emptied. As the people streamed by on either side, none of them would have spoken to him, nor shown any sign of recognition, for that would have been bad manners, but their faces softened into a kindly expression as they passed, and they con- veyed as by an atmosphere that they were satis- fied with the sermon, (li the minister, on his part, had descended from the pulpit and stood below in his gown and bands, shaking hands with all and sundry, and making cheery remarks, the congregation would have been scandalized, and would have felt that he had forgotten the dig- nity of his office. He was expected to keep his place with gracious solemnity, as a man who had spoken in the name of the Lord, and not to 3 ^^c 5-3 St. Jude's turn the church into a place of conversation. If he rose, and, leaning over the side of the pulpit, asked a mother how it fared with her sick daugh- ter, or stretched out his hand to bid a young man welcome after years of absence from the glen, this rare act was invested with special kind- liness, and the recipients, together with their friends, were deeply impressed^ When old Bell Robb, who brought up the tail of the procession, used to drag a little in the passage with simple art, arranging her well-worn shawl, or replacing the peppermint leaves in her Bible, in order that she might get a shake of the minister's hand, no one grudged her his word of good cheer, for they knew what a faithful soul she was, and how kind she was to blind Marjorie. And if the minister had a message for Bell to carry home to Marjorie, and Bell boasted that she never went empty-handed, the glen was well content, for no one in its length and breadth had suilfered so much as Marjorie, and none was so full of peace. Donald Menzies would sometimes stand at the pulpit-foot upon occasion till the minister descended, but those were days in which his 4 The Wisdom of Love soul had come out of prison, and he rejoiced upon his high places. Otherwise they departed quietly from the house of God. Then the min- ister went up through the silent church to his little vestry, and it was his custom to turn at the door and look down the church to the pulpit, imagining the people again in their pews, and blessing in his heart the good men and women who were now making their way by country roads to their distant homes. To-day John Carmichael sits in the pulpit with his head bent and buried in his hands, for he has been deeply humbled. When he was ap- pointed to the Free Kirk he knew that he could not preach, for that had been faithfully im- pressed upon him in his city assistantship, but it was given him during his first six months face to face with the critics of the glen to learn how vast was his incapacity. Unto the end of his ministry he never forgot the hours of travail as he endeavored to prepare an exposition and a sermon for the Sabbath service. He read every commentary on the passage which he possessed, and every reference in books of dogma; he 5 St. Jude's hunted literature through for illustrations, and made adventurous voyages into science for anal- ogies. There was no field from which he did not painfully gather except conventional relig- ious anecdotage, which in even his hours of de- spair he did not touch. Brick by brick he built up his house, and then on Sunday it would tum- ble to pieces in his hands, and present nothing but a heap of disconnected remarks for the con- sideration of the people. This morning he had come to a halt trying to expound the dispute over meat ofifered to idols in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and he had omitted one head of his sermon and the whole of the practical application, simply because he was nervous and his memory had failed. But he could not conceal from himself that if there had been any real unity in his thinking, and if he had been speaking at first hand, he would not have been so helpless. The people were very patient, and had made no complaint, but there was a limit, and it must have been reached. Be- sides, it was not honorable or tolerable that a man should undertake the duties of a profession 6 The Wisdom of Love and not be able to discharge them. It was now evident that he could not preach, and it did not seem likely he would ever be able to do so, and as in the Kirk no man can ever have the most modest success or the narrowest sphere of labor unless he can produce some sort of sermon, his duty seemed plain. He had not chosen the min- istry of his own accord, but had entered it to please one whose kindness he could never repay. His action had been a service of piety, but it had been a mistake in practice, and one thing only remained for him. During the week he would consult the only person affected by his step and resign his charge. The people troop- ing by, with nothing but friendly thoughts of him, could not guess how bitter a cup their min- ister was drinking, but the sound of their foot- steps fell upon his heart like drops of fire. There were other fields open to him, and he might live to do good work in his day, but his public life had started with a disastrous failure, and as long as he lived he would walk humbly. When the last of the congregation had left, and there was not a sound except a thrush welcoming spring 7 St. Jude's with his cheerful note, and caring not that win- ter had settled down upon a human soul, Car- michael rose and crept up the forsaken church, a broken man. And as he stood in the vestry, his chin sunk on his chest, and resolved to wait there for a little lest a straggler should be loitering about the manse gate, some one knocked at the door. It was the elder who, of all the session, was chiefly loved and respected. As soon as Car- michael saw his face, he knew as by an instinct why he had come and what he was going to say. If there was any difficult task in the congre- gational life requiring both courage and delicacy, it was always laid on Angus Sutherland, and he never failed to acquit himself well. Never had he come on a more unwelcome errand, and Car- michael felt that he must make the course as smooth as possible, for, without doubt, the elder had been sent to make a just complaint. It required a brave man to come, and Carmichael must also play the man, so he pulled himself to- gether, and gave a courteous and, as far as he could, a cheerful welcome to the good elder. 8 The Wisdom of Love "It is good weather that we are having, sir," began Angus, speaking English with the soft Gaehc accent, for he was a West Highlander who had settled in the glen. "It is good to see the beginning of spring. We will be hoping that the spirit of God may make spring in our own hearts, and then we shall also be lifting up our voices. But I must not be detaining you, when you will be very tired with your work and be needing rest. Maybe I should not be troubling you at all at this time, but I have been sent by the elders with a message, not because I am bet- ter than my brethren, but only because it is my fortune to be a little older." Carmichael knew then that he was right in his anticipation, and he asked Angus to say what was given him frankly, and to make no delay. And he tried to speak gently and humbly, for in truth his own conscience was with the elders, and, as he believed, their embassy. "You may not know, sir, but I will be telling you, that after the service is over, and the peo- ple have gone out from the house of God, the elders speak together below the big beech-tree, 9 St. Jude*s and their speech will be about the worship and the sermon. You are not to think," added Angus with a gracious smile, "that they will be criti- cizing what is said, or hardening their heart against the counsel of the Lord declared by the mouth of his servant. Oh, no ; we will rather be storing up the bread of God, that we may eat thereof during the days of the week, and have strength for the way." Carmichael assured Angus that he knew how fair-minded and kind-hearted the elders were, both in word and deed. And he braced himself for what was coming. "This morning," continued Angus, "the elders were all there, and when we looked at one an- other's faces, we were all judging that the same thing will be in our hearts. It was with us for weeks, and it was growing, and to-day it came to speech. We knew that we were not meeting together as the session, and it is not business I will be coming with ; we met as the elders of the flock, and it is as your friend that I am here in much humility. But it is not easy for this man to say what has been laid upon him." lO The Wisdom of Love Carmichael was sorry for him, and signed him to go on. "You were chosen, I will be reminding you," said Angus, with a gracious expression on his face, "by the good will of all the people, and it was a very proud day when the clerk of the Pres- bytery stood in his place and said that the call would be left with the elders, so that all the peo- ple might be having the opportunity of signing it, and I stood up and replied to the reverend gentleman, , it is not necessary; they have all signed.' Oh, yes, and so they had, every man and every woman that was upon the roll. And the young people, they had written their names, too, upon the paper of adherence, every one above sixteen years of age. And the very children would be wishing, that day, that they had something to sign, for the hearts of the people had gone out towards you, and there was one voice in every mouth, "Blessed is he that Cometh in the name of the Lord." Carmichael gave Angus to understand that he would never forget those things while he lived, and that he prayed God that he might be a better iz St. Jude's man for the people's confidence in him. But his heart was beginning to break as he thought of their bitter disappointment, and the trust which had failed in his hands. *'It is six months since you entered upon your ministry among us, and you will not be angry with me if I am saying to you that you are very young to have so heavy a weight upon you, for there is no burden like the burden of souls. And the elders will be noticing, and so will all the people, for they are not without understanding, in Drumtochty, that you are giving yourself with all your mind and all your heart unto the work of the Lord. The people are seeing that what- soever talents the Lord has been pleased to give are laid out at usury, and they are judging you very faithful, both in your study and in their homes. But," softening his voice till it was like a whisper at eventide, "you are very young, and the ministry of the Lord is very ardu- ous." Amid all his sufifering Carmichael could not help admiring the courtesy and consideration with which Angus presented the petition of the 12 The Wisdom of Love session, and he asked Angus to declare at once all that was in his mind. "So the elders considered that the full time had come for their saying something to you, and I was charged by them all to wait upon you in this place, and to say unto you on behalf of the elders of the flock, and all the flock which is under your care" (and now it is impossible to imagine the tenderness in his voice), "that we are all thankful unto God that he sent you to be our minister, and that we are all wondering at the treasures of truth and grace which you will be bringing to us every Sabbath, for we are being fed with the finest of the wheat. Oh, yes, it is not the chaff of empty words, but the white bread of God which is given unto the peo- ple. And the very children will have their por- tion, and will be saying pleasant words about the minister as they go along the road." Carmichael was as one that dreamed, for no man had ever spoken of his preaching after this fashion. This strange thing also happened, that while a minute before the manhood in him had 13 St. Jude's been strong, it now began to weaken and fail, and Angus still continued: "The elders will also be noticing that your words are heavy-laden with the greatness of the truth, and that you are sometimes brought to silence as it has happened unto God's prophets in the ancient time. We will all be wanting to hear everything that the Lord has given unto you, and to lay it past, even to the smallest grain, in our souls, and so if at any time it appears unto you as if some part of the message has not been given, we would count it a great kind- ness that you should go over the truth again, and if it would be helping you to meditate for a space we would all be glad to sing a psalm, for we have plenty of time, and it is good to be in the Kirk of Drumtochty during these days." Carmichael was learning that hour that kind- ness takes all pride even out of a young man, and turns him into a little child. As he could find no words, and indeed was afraid that he had no voice wherewith to utter them, Angus went on his way without interruption, and came to the end in much peace. 14 The Wisdom of Love "There was just one other thing that the brethren laid upon me to say, and it was Donald Menzies who would not let me go till I had promised, and you will not be considering it a liberty from the elders. You are never to be troubled in the pulpit, or be thinking about any- thing but the word of the Lord, and the souls of the people, of which you are the shepherd. We will ask you to remember when you stand in your place to speak to us in the name of the Lord, that as the smoke goeth up from the homes of the people in the morning, so will their prayers be ascending for their minister, and as you look down upon us before you begin to speak, maybe you will say to yourself, next Sab- bath, they are all loving me. Oh, yes, and it will be true from the oldest to the youngest, we will all be loving you very much." Angus Sutherland was, like all his kind, a very perfect gentleman, and he left immediately, so gently that Carmichael did not hear his going. When the minister passed through the garden gate half an hour afterwards there was no man to be seen, but the birds on every branch were IS St. Jude's in full song, and he marked that the hawthorn had begun to bloom. And that is why John Car- michael remained in the ministry of Jesus Christ, most patient and most mindful of masters. 16 H 'was the kindness of Dramtochiy thai made Carmichaet strong for his loork in St, Jude^s/' Ian Madaren, H Xocal Unqufsitton His first service in St. Jude's Church was over and Carmichael had broken upon his modest din- ner with such appetite as high excitement had left; for it is a fact in the physiology of a min- ister that if he preaches coldly he eats vora- ciously, but if his soul has been at a white heat his body is lifted above food.. It had been a great change from the little kirk of Drumtochty, with its congregation of a hundred country people, to the crowd which filled every corner of the floor below and the galleries above in the city church. While the light would that Sunday be streaming into the Highland kirk and lighting up the honest, healthy faces of the hearers, the gas had been lighted in St. Jude's, for the Glas- gow atmosphere was gloomy outside, and when it filtered through painted windows was as dark- ness inside. There is no loneliness like that of a solitary man in a crowd, and Carmichael missed the 19 St. Judc's company and sympathy of his friends. This mass of city people, with their eager expression, white faces and suggestion of wealth, who turned their eyes upon him when he began to preach, and seemed to be one huge court of judgment, shadowed his imagination. They were partly his new congregation and partly a Glas- gow audience, but there were only two men in the whole church he knew, and even those he had only known for a few months. When he rose to preach, with the heavy pall of the city's smoke and the city fog encompass- ing the church, and the glare of the evil-smelling gas lighting up its Gothic recesses, his heart sank and for the moment he lost courage. Was it for this dreary gloom and packed mass of strange people that he had left the sunlight of the glen and the warm atmosphere of true hearts ? There were reasons why he had judged it his duty to accept the charge of this West End Glasgow church, and selfish ambition had cer- tainly not been one, for Carmichael was a man rather of foolish impulses than of far-seeing pru- dence. He had done many things suddenly 20 A Local Inquisition which he had regretted continually, and for an instant, as he faced his new environment and before he gave out his text, he wished that by some touch of that fairy wand which we are ever desiring to set our mistakes right or to give us our impossible desires, he could be spirited away from, the city which as a countryman he always hated, back to the glen which he would ever carry in his heart. While vain regret is threatening to disable him the people are singing with a great volume of melody : Jerusalem as a city is compactly built together; Unto that place the tribes go up, the tribes of God go thither: and his mood changes. After all, the ocean is greater than any river, however picturesque and romantic it be, and no one with a susceptible soul can be indifferent to the unspoken appeal of a multitude of human beings. Old and young of all kinds and conditions, from the captains of industry whose names were famous throughout the world to the young men who had come up from remote villages to push their fortune, to- 2Z St. Jude's gather with all kinds of professional men ad- ministering justice, relieving suffering, teaching knowledge, were gathered together to hear what the preacher had to say in the name of God. His message would be quickly caught by the keen city intellect and would pass into the most varied homes and into the widest lives, and there was an opportunity of spiritual power in this city pulpit which the green wilderness could not give. As he looked upon the sea of faces the depths of Carmichael's nature were stirred, and when his lips were opened he had forgotten every- thing except the drama of humanity in its trag- edy and in its comedy, and the evangel of Jesus committed into his hands. He spoke with power as one touched by the very spirit of his Master, and in the vestry the rulers of the church re- ferred to his sermon with a gracious and encour- aging note. He walked home through the gloomy street with a high head, and in his own room, and in a way the public might not see, he received the congratulation he valued more than anything else on earth. For Kate was 32 A Local Inquisition proud that day of her man, and she was not slow either in praise or blame as occasion re- quired, being through all circumstances, both dark and bright, a woman of the ancient High- land spirit. She was not to be many years by his side, and their married life was not to be without its shadows, but through the days they were together his wife stood loyally at Car- michael's right hand, and when she was taken he missed many things in his home and heart, but most of all her words of cheer, when in her hon- est judgment, not otherwise, he had carried him- self right knightly in the lists of life. His nerves were on edge, and although it mattered little that he was interrupted at dinner, for he knew not what he was eating, he was not anxious to see a visitor. If it were another elder come to say kind things, he must receive him courteously, but Carmichael had had enough of praise that day; and if it were a reporter desiring an interview he would assure him that he had nothing to say, and as a consolation hand him his manuscript to make up a quarter column. But it was neither a city merchant nor a news- ?3 St. Jude's paper reporter who was waiting in the study; indeed, one could not have found in the city a more arresting and instructive contrast. In the center of the room, detached from the bookcase and the writing table, refusing the use of a chair, and despising the very sight of a couch, stood isolated and self-contained the most austere man Carmichael had ever seen, or was ever to meet in his life. He had met Cal- vinism in its glory among Celts, but he had only known sweet-blooded mystics like Donald Men- zies or Pharisees converted into saints, like Lachlan Campbell, the two Highland elders of Drumtochty. It was another story to be face to face with the inflexible and impenetrable subject of Lowland Calvinism. Whether Calvinism or Catholicism be the more congenial creed for Celtic nature may be a subject of debate, but when Calvinism takes hold of a Lowland Scot of humble birth and moderate education and intense mind there is no system which can pro- duce so uncompromising and unrelenting a par- tisan. Carmichael always carried in mental photo- 24 A Local Inquisition graph the appearance of Simeon MacQuittrick as he faced him that day — his tall, gaunt figure, in which the bones of his body, like those of his creed, were scarcely concealed, his erect and uncompromising attitude, his carefully-brushed, well-worn clothes, his clean-shaven, hard-lined face, his iron gray hair smoothed down across his forehead, and, above all, his keen, searching, merciless gray eyes. Before Simeon spoke Car- michael knew that he was anti-pathetic, and had come to censure, and his very presence, as from the iron dungeon of his creed Simeon looked out on the young, light-hearted, optimistic minister of St. Jude's, was like a sudden withering frost upon the gay and generous blossom of spring, "My name is Simeon MacQuittrick," began the visitor, "and I'm a hearer at St. Jude's, al- though I use that name under protest, consider- ing that the calling of kirks after saints is a rag of popery, and judging that the McBriar Me- morial, after a faithful Covenanter, would have been more in keeping with the principles of the pure Kirk of Scotland. But we can discuss that matter another day, and I am merely protecting 25 St. Jude*s my rights." As Carmichael only Indicated that he had received the protest, and was willing to hear anything else he had to say, Simeon con- tinued : "Whether I be one of the true Israel of God or only a man who is following the chosen peo- ple like a hanger-on from the land of Egypt is known to God alone, and belongs to his secret things ; but I have been a professor of religion, and a member of the kirk for six-and-forty years, since the fast day at Ecclefechan when that faithful servant of God, Dr. Ebenezer Howison, preached for more than two hours on the words, 'Many be called, but few are chosen.' " And Carmichael waited in silence for the burden of Simeon's message. "It was my first intention," proceeded Simeon, as he fixed Carmichael with his severe gaze, "to deal wi' the sermon to which we have been lis- tening, and which I will say plainly has not been savory to the spiritual and understanding souls in the congregation, although I make no doubt it has pleasantly tickled the ears of the worldly. But I Vv^ill pretermit the subject for the present 26 A Local Inquisition ■ — first, because time would fail us to go into it thoroughly, and second because I am come to offer a better opportunity." Carmichael indi- cated without speech that Simeon should go on to the end. "Ye will understand, Mr. Carmichael, that the congregation gathering in your kirk is a mixed multitude, and the maist part are taken up wi' worldly gear and carnal pleasures like dinners, dancing, concerts and games ; they know neither the difference between sound doctrine and un- sound, nor between the secret signs of saving faith and the outward forms of ordinary re- ligion; as for the sovereignty of the Almighty, whereby one is elected unto light and another left unto damnation, whilk is the very heart o' religion, they know and care nothing. "Gin the Lord has indeed given ye a true com- mission and ye have been ordained not by the layin' on o' hands, whilk I judge to be a matter of kirk order and not needful for the imparting of grace, as the Prelatists contend, but by the inward call of God, it will be your business to pull down every stronghold of lies, and to 27 St. Jude's awaken them that be at ease in Zion with the terrors of the Lord. And ye might begin with the elders who are rich and increased in goods, and who think they have need of nothing. But I have my doubts." And the doubts seemed a certainty, but whether they were chiefly about the elders' unspiritual condition or Carmichael's need of a true call Simeon did not plainly indi- cate. "I am very sorry, Mr. MacQuittrick" — and Carmichael spoke for the first time — "that you consider the congregation to be in such a dis- couraging condition, especially after the faithful ministry of my honored predecessor, but I trust out of such a large number of people that there must be a number of sincere and intelligent Christians." Which was a bait Simeon could not resist. "Ye speak according to the Scriptures, Mr. Carmichael, for in the darkest days when Elijah testified against the priests of Baal — and he is sorely needed to-day, for there be many kinds of Baal — there were seven thousand faithful people. Yea, there has always been a remnant, 28 A Local Inquisition and even in those days when the multitude that call themselves by the name of the Lord are hankering after organs and hymns and soirees and Arminian doctrine, there be a few who have kept their garments unspotted, and who mourn over the backslidings of Zion." "Well, I hope, Mr. MacQuittrick, that some of the remnant can be found in St. Jude's." And Carmichael began to enter into the spirit of the situation. "It doesna' become me to boast, for indeed there are times when I see myself in the court of the Gentiles, aye, and maybe in the outer darkness, but ye will be pleased to know that there are seven men who meet ae night every week to protest against false doctrine, and to search into the experiences o' the soul. Myself and another belong to the faithful remnant of the Scots Kirk, whilk the world calls the Camero- nians ; two have been members wi' the original secession; ane came from the black darkness o' the Established Kirk; and two were brought up in the Free Kirk, and I'll not deny, had a glimmerin' o' light. When the godly minister 29 St. Jude*s who has gone to his reward, as we will hope, but the day alone will declare, lifted up his voice in the pulpit of St. Jude's against Sunday cars, opening the girdens on the Lord's Day, singing paraphrases at public worship, the worldly pro- posals for union with the Voluntaries, the preaching of teetotalism, and the blasphemy of the Higher Critics, we came to this kirk and foregathered here as in a haven of refuge. "It came to our mind, Mr. Carmichael" — and the representative of the remnant concluded his message — "that it would strengthen your hands to know that ye have some discernin' professors in your kirk, with whom ye could search into the deep things of God which might be beyond the depths of youth, and who will try the doc- trine which ye may deliver from Sabbath to Sabbath. And we will be gathered together on Thursday night at 272 Water street, by eight o'clock, to confer with you on the things of the kingdom." When Carmichael arrived at the meeting-place of the remnant he had a sense of a spiritual ad- venture, and when he looked at the seven gray 30 A Local Inquisition and austere faces, he imagined himself before the Inquisition. His host — the brand plucked from the burning of the Establishment — shook hands with gravity, and gave him a vacant chair at the table, where before him and on either side sat the elect. After a prayer by an original seceder, in which the history of the Scots Kirk from the Reformation and her defections in the present day were treated at considerable length and with great firmness of touch, and some very frank petitions were offered for his own enlightenment, the court was, so to say, constituted, and he was placed at the bar. If Carmichael imagined, which indeed he did not, that this was to be a friendly conference be- tween a few experienced Christians and their young minister, he was very soon undeceived, for the president of the court called upon Sim- eon's fellow-covenanter to state the first ques- tion. "It is one, Mr. Carmichael, which goes to the root of things, for he that is right here will be right everywhere ; he that goes astray here will end in the bottomless pit of false doctrine. 31 St. Jude's Whether would ye say that Christ died upon the cross for the salvation of the whole world, and that therefore a proveesion was made for the pardon of all men gin they should repent and believe, or that he died only for the sins of them whom God hath chosen unto everlasting life, and who therefore shall verily be saved accord- ing to the will of God." And there was a si- lence that might be heard while the seven waited for the minister's answer. When Carmichael boldly declared that the di- vine love embraced the human race which God had called into being, and that Christ as the In- carnate Saviour of the world had laid down his life not for a few but for the race, and that therefore there was freeness of pardon and fulness of grace for all men, and when finally he called God by the name of Father, the in- quisitors sighed in unison. They looked like men who had feared the worst, and were not dis- appointed. "Arminianism pure and simple," said one of the favored children of the Free Kirk, "con- trary to the Scriptures and the standards of the 33 A Local Inquisition Kirk. Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated; a strait gate and a narrow way, and few there be that find it. And the end of this deceiving error which pleases the silly heart is Universal- ism — nae difference between the elect and the multitude. But there were ither questions, and our brother Mr. MacCosh will maybe put the second." Although it was evident hope was dying out both for Carmichael and for the in- quisitors. "Do ye believe, Mr. Carmichael, and will ye preach that the offer of the gospel should be made to all men in the congregation, and that any man who accepts that offer, as he considers, will see the salvation of God ; or will ye teach that while the offer is made in general terms to everybody with words such as, 'Come unto me all ye that labor,' it is only intended for certain who are already within the covenant of redemp- tion, and that they alone will be enabled by effectual grace to accept it, and that for them alone there is a place at the marriage feast? "And I am asking this question because there are so-called evangelists going up and down the 33 St. Jude's land offering the invitation of the kingdom unto all and sundry, and forgetting to tell the people, if indeed they know it themselves, that it mat- ters not how freely Christ be offered, and how anxious they may be to take him, none of them can lift a little finger in his direction unless by the power of the Spirit, and the Spirit is only given to them who have been in the covenant from all eternity." Carmichael felt as if he were again making his vows before ordination, and any sense of the ludicrous which was a snare unto him and had tempted him when he came into the room, was burned out. He was face to face with a con- scientious and thoroughgoing theology, against whose inhumanity and ungraciousness both his reason and his soul revolted. f"May I in turn put a question to you, sir, and the other brethren, and if you will answer mine I will answer yours. Would you consider it hon- est, I will not say kindly, to invite twelve men to come to dinner at your house, all the more if they were poor and starving, and to beseech them to accept your invitation in the most tender 34 A Local Inquisition terms, while you only intended to have six guests, or shall I say three out of the twelve, and had been careful to make provision for only three? You would despise such a host, and, Mr. MacCosh, will you seriously consider God to be more treacherous and dishonorable than we frail mortals?^ "Very superfeecial," burst in Simeon; "there is no question to be answered. Human analo- gies are deceiving, for nae man can argue from the ways of man to the ways of God, or else ye would soon be expectin' that the Almighty would deal wi' us the same as a father maun deal wi' his bairns, which is the spring o' that soul-destroying heresy, the so-called Fatherhood of God. Na, na" — and MacQuittrick's face glowed with dogmatic enthusiasm, in which the thought of his own destiny and that of his fel- low-humans was lost — "he is the potter and we are the clay. Gin he makes one vessel for glory and another for shame — aye, and even gin he dashes it to pieces, it is within his just richts. Wha are we to complain or to question? Ane cot o' twelve saved would be wonderful mercy, 35 St. Jude's and the eleven would be to the praise of his jus- tice." And a low hum of assent passed round the room. "After what has passed, I'm not judging that it will serve ony useful purpose to pit the third question, Mr. MacCosh," said the brand from the Establishment, "but it might be as well to complete the investigation. It's a sore trial to think that the man whom we called to be our minister, and who is set over the congregation in spiritual affairs knows so little of the pure truth, and has fallen into sae mony soul-enticing errors. Oh ! this evil day ; we have heard wi' our ain ears in this very room, and this very nicht, first Arminianism, and then Morisonianism, the heresy of a universal atonement and of a free offer. I'll do Mr. Carmichael justice in believin' that he is no as yet at ony rate a Socinian, but I'm expecting that he's a Pelagian. Oor last question will settle the point. "Is it your judgment, Mr. Carmichael" — and there was a tone of despair in the voice of the president — "that a natural man, and by that I mean a man acting without an experience of 36 A Local Inquisition effectual and saving grace given only to the elect, can perform any work whatever which would be acceptable to God, or whether it be not true that everything he does is altogether sinful, and that although he be bound to attempt good works in the various duties of life they will all be condemned and be the cause of his greater damnation?" And when, at the close of this carefully-worded piece of furious logic, Car- michael looked round and saw approval on the seven faces, as if their position had been finally stated, his patience gave way. "Have you" — and he leaned forward and brought his hand down upon the table — "have you any common reason in your minds ; I do not mean the pedantic arguments of theology, but the common sense of human beings ? Have you any blood in your hearts, the blood of men who have been sons, and who are fathers, the feelings of ordinary humanity? Will you say that a mother's love to her son, lasting through the sacrifices of Hfe to the tender farewell on her deathbed is not altogether good? That a man toiling and striving to build a home for his 37 St. Jude*s wife and children and to keep them in peace and plenty, safe from the storms of life, is not ac- ceptable unto God? That a man giving his life to save a little child from drowning, or to protect his country from her enemies, is not beautiful in the sight of heaven? That even a heretic, standing by what he believes to be true, and los- ing all his earthly goods for conscience's sake, has done a holy thing — tell me that?" And Car- michael stretched out his hands to them in the fervor of his youth. No man answered, and it was not needful, for the minister's human emotion had beaten upon their iron creed like spray upon the high sea- cliffs. But one of them said, "That completes the list, downright Pelagianism," and he added gloomily, "I doubt Socianism is not far off." The court was then dissolved, but before he left the room like a criminal sent to execution, a sudden thought struck Carmichael, and in his turn he asked a question. "It is quite plain to me, brethren" — for so he called them in Christian courtesy, although it was doubtful if they would have so called him 38 A Local Inquisition — "that you have suspected me of unsoundness in the faith, and that you have not been alto- gether unprepared for my answers ; I want to ask you something, and I am curious to hear your answer. There are many names attached to the call given to me by the congregation of St. Jude's, and I do not know them all as yet, but I hope soon to have them written in my heart. The people who signed that call declared that they were assured by good information of my piety, prudence and ministerial qualifications, and they promised me all dutiful respect, encour- agement, support and obedience in the Lord. I have those words ever in my memory, for they are a strength to me as I undertake my high work. May I ask, are your names, brethren, upon that call, and if so, why did you sign it?" As he was speaking, Carmichael noticed that the composure of the seven was shaken, and that a look of uneasiness and even of confusion had come over their faces. He was sure that they had signed and he also guessed that they had already repented the deed. It seemed to him as if there was some secret to be told, and 39 St. Jude's that they were challenging one another to tell it. And at last, under the weight of his responsi- bility as president of the court, MacCosh made their confession. "Ye must understand, Mr. Carmichael, that when your name was put before the congrega- tion we, who have been called more than others to discern the spirits, had no sure word given us either for or against you, and we were in perplexity of heart. It was not according to our conscience to sign lightly and in ignorance as many do, and we might not forbear signing unless we were prepared to lay our protests with reasons upon the table of the presbytery. We gathered together in this room and wres- tled for light, and it seemed to come to us through a word of our brother Simeon Mac- Quittrick, and I will ask him to mention the sign that we judged that day to be of the Lord, but it may be it came from elsewhere." "That very morning," explained Simeon, with the first shade of diffidence in his manner, "I was reading in my chamber the Acts of the Apostles, and when I came to the words 'send 40 A Local Inquisition men to Joppa,' I was hindered and I could go no further. The passage was laid upon my soul and I was convinced that it was the message of God, but concerning whom and concerning what I knew not. But it was ever all the hours of the day, 'send men to Joppa.' "That very afternoon I met one of the elders who is liberal in his gifts and full of outward works, but I judge a mere Gallio, and he asked me whether I was ready to sign the call. I an- swered that I was waiting for the sign, and I told him of the words said to me that day. 'Well,' he said to me in his worldly fashion, 'if you will not call a man unless he be at Joppa you may have to wait some time, MacQuittrick ; but, by the way, I hear that Mr. Carmichael is stay- ing near Edinburgh just now, and there is a Joppa on the coast next to Portobello.' "He may have been jesting," sadly continued MacQuittrick, "and he is a man whose ear has never been opened, but the Almighty chooses whom he will as his messengers, and spake once by Balaam's ass, so I mentioned the matter to the brethren. And when we considered both the 41 St. Jude's word of Acts and the saying of this Gallio, we accepted it as a sign. So it came to pass that we all signed your call. But it pleases God to allow even the elect to be deceived; behold are there not false prophets and lying signs? And it may be ye were not at Joppa." And when Car- michael declared with joyful emphasis that he had never been at Joppa in his life, MacCosh summed up the moral of the call and the con- ference. "It was a sign, but it was from Satan." 4a H SolMet of tbe Xort) H SolMer of tbe Xor^ Every animal has its congenial haunt, into which it fits by its very color, and the retired military officer is as much out of place in a stir- ring commercial city as a grouse would be in a public park. Those veterans congregate by an instinct in watering-places, where they estab- lish clubs into which no tradesman is allowed to enter and arrange for stores where they can obtain their goods at economical prices ; they march up and down the main roads as if they were on parade, and criticise the mismanage- ment of the army with strident voices, and form a society of their own, narrow and prejudiced, into which no idea ever filters, but honorable and clean-living, in which no base act would be tolerated. Their outlook on life is from a tent-door, and absolutely different from that of a doctor or a merchant. What one of the warriors says on any subject, political or social, they all say, just 45 St. Jude's as every one is as straight as a rod, has close- cut gray hair, clean-shaven cheeks, and a stiff, aggressive mustache. No one is admitted to their set unless he be in one of the services, and by preference the army, and no civilian could endure the atmosphere. There is only one di- vision in the class, and that is made by religion. As the church is, in their judgment, a part of the constitution, like the throne and the House of Lords and the magistracy, they will not en- dure a word against Christianity. They were very particular in their day about church parade, and took care that any complaint of a chaplain had full effect. They abominate every one who criticises the Christian faith, and are not only ready to call him an infidel, but express at the same time their idea of his future state. So many feel that at this point they are entitled to halt, and they would not be inclined to call themselves religious. They are very much shocked, indeed, if they should be supposed to cross the line, and to usurp the position of chap- lains of other pious people. One dear old colo- nel was once reading the service of the Church 46 A Soldier of the Lord of England in the absence of the chaplain, and in his ignorance gave the absolution. His adju- tant whispered to him that he ought not to have read that passage, whereupon the colonel, with great presence of mind, told the regiment that he had made a mistake ; then shouted in his best drill voice, "As you were." He was much con- gratulated at the mess on his smart retrieval of a difficult position, and he is still telling the story of his skilful escape from an unexpected ambus- cade. A certain proportion of the colonels are not formally, but sincerely and strenuously, relig- ious, and they afford a unique type of piety. They have been, as a rule, converted by a ser- mon or by a book in some particular way which they can describe, and on some definite date which they hold in a retentive memory. With them religion is no decent observance or vague opinion ; it is a pronounced and unchanging con- viction, and embraces not only the larger mat- ters of the law, but also its jots and tittles. With them it has been right wheel about, and they have never varied in their steady march in the 47 St. Jude's new direction. Neither on the camping-ground nor in the mess have they concealed their faith or been ashamed of their colors. They have been good soldiers of their country, and they are good soldiers of their Lord, bringing into his service all the unswerving loyalty and un- questioning obedience, as well as dauntless cour- age, which they have learned in the other army. If they are Episcopalians, then they are generally low-churchmen, and are fierce against the slight- est concession to ritualism. If they belong to the Scots Kirk, then they stand fast on the con- fession of faith, and will have no deahngs with modern thought. Very often they are Plymouth Brethren, and then they will refuse to hold inter- course with another colonel who belongs to some other and less orthodox meeting in that remarkable community. Whatever they be or whoever they are, one can depend upon the colonels to be thorough- going and effective members of their church; and St. Jude's congregation had a legitimate pride in Lieutenant-Colonel Roderick MacBean, who had, for family reasons, settled in their city, 48 A Soldier of the Lord and had been for many years an elder in the kirk. No one could say that he had been a brilliant soldier, for he had not risen to the rank of general, and he had never been on the staff, but every one knew that he had been a sound and distinguished officer, who had done hard and gallant work on the Indian frontier. His friends always said that MacBean ought to have been made a Companion of the Bath for the masterly way in which he brought a raiding Afghan tribe to their senses. He obtained what is perhaps better, the Victoria Cross, for dashing in among the enemy and rescuing a wounded sergeant from the cruel Afghan knives ; and he carried for life the mark of this encounter in a cut on his upper lip, only partially concealed by his short mustache. No one called him by his name, and some of the congregation hardly knew what it was ; both among the elders and among the people he was the Colonel, and when a worthy member of the church who kept a large dry goods store ob- tained the same rank in the volunteer force, and some one complimented him by his title, the vol- 49 St. Jude's unteer entreated that this should never be done again, for it were to bring him into painful com- parison with our one and only Colonel. A tall, gaunt man, with large bones, and hardly an ounce of superfluous flesh, his face bronzed by long Indian service, and his hair passing from iron gray to white, his eye keen and alert, like one who has long been watching a tricky foe or drilling men on the parade ground, dressed quietly but always with severe taste, he was the most picturesque figure in St. Jude's, as he stood in the singing of the Psalms at the end of his pew, or behind the plate at the door, for all the world like a sentinel on guard, looking straight before him, and taking no notice of what the people cast into the treasury, or carrying the vessels of the Lord in stately procession during the sacrament, as he had once carried the colors of his regiment when he was a young subaltern. He was the one touch of romantic color in a congregation of practical and enterprising mer- chants — as it were, a red coat standing out from the hodden-gray. His wife and certain traditions of his family 50 A Soldier of the Lord had prepossessed Carmichael in favor of sol- diers, and his eye had already detected the Colo- nel's erect figure in the kirk. It was therefore with eager courtesy that he went forward to meet MacBean w-hen, one morning, he came into the study with the air of one leading a battalion. "When two men are going to fight a cam- paign together," explained the Colonel, "and I hope that you and I, if the Almighty spare us, will be fellow-soldiers for many years, it's a good thing that they should agree about the line they're going to take. Of course you're in com- mand, and I am only a regimental officer ; but I always found it useful, when we were starting out on an expedition, to give the senior officers an idea of what I was after. From what I have seen and heard, I rather think you would like to take your fellow-officers into your confidence. Eh, what? "Quite so, sir," went on the Colonel, "just what I expected from your face. I think I know a man when I see him. Well, as I take it, the great thing is to stand together upon the truth, and I mean the practical truth, for ourselves as St. Jude's a nation. If we know what we are in the provi- dence of God, and what part we have to fulfill in his purposes, why, then, we know where we are and what we've got to do ; we know our marching orders, in fact, and what position we're expected to take from the enemy. What do you say to that?" When Carmichael indicated his agreement, and invited the Colonel to go into details, Mac- Bean proceeded with much cheerfulness : "It is years ago, Mr. Carmichael, since I dis- covered that the Lord's work can never be prop- erly carried on in the world, or the human race won to Christ unless Great Britain — for I don't like that talk of England as if Scotland were only a conquered province, which, thank God, it never was, and never shall be — unless Great Britain, as I was saying, knows her own history and her own destiny. Why, as long as I thought that there was no difference between our people and the German people, or any other that the Lord has been pleased to have mercy upon, and that we were just one of the ordinary Gentiles, I had no idea of our responsibility; I was like a 52 A Soldier of the Lord man who was heir to an estate, and had never claimed it; you follow me, sir?" Carmichael began to suspect many things, and regarded the Colonel with hopeful delight. ''It was an Englishman, and a very good fel- low — Lancelot of the Irregular Horse — who first showed me the truth when we were both invalided to the hills after a frontier scrimmage. I'll never forget the day when, after three hours' Bible reading, he proved to me as clear as a pike- staff, and I've never had the slightest doubt since, that we are the lost ten tribes." Car- michael -understood everything then, but thei Colonel mistook the expression on the minister's ingenuous countenance. "You do not seem to be quite with me, eh? what? surely a man of intelligence like you — if I may be allowed to say so — has never fallen into that other descent of the ten tribes — the most dangerous error and childish rubbish that ever entered into the human mind, and which has no support whatever from the inspired writ- ings. I never met one sensible man except Pon- sonby of the Artillery, who was as sound as oak, 53 St. Jude's and died like a good soldier, who held that ab- surdity about the Afghans ; for it is stark raging nonsense." Then Carmichael remembered that every sect has its heretical counterpart, and that the Anglo-Israelites were much annoyed by cer- tain heretics who, in the perversity of their minds, if not the corruption of their hearts, held that the Afghans were the descendants of the lost ten tribes. And the minister hastened to assure his anxious visitor that whatever errors he may have fallen into in the course of an im- perfect life, he had never been an Afghan- Israelite. "Wouldn't have believed it if a man had told me." And the Colonel was much relieved. "Have read too much, and got too clear a mind to be caught in that trap. Afghans, indeed ! Mind you, Mr, Carmichael, and just between ourselves there is a distinct touch of the Jew about the rascals' faces, for I have seen plenty of them both in life and death. But that is all ; not a trace of the Lord's people in any other shape or fashion, you may take my word for that, and I have been watching, and fighting 54 A Soldier of the Lord them, making bargains with them, and hearing them tell lies, for more than half a lifetime. Not that they aren't good fighting men; we must give the devil his due, and the Pathans can put up just about as good a skirmish as you would wish to see, quite fit to be called a battle." And the Colonel seemed much pleased with some recollections. "But the ten tribes, I never heard in my Hfe such lunacy. No, no ; I was sure you would be sound in Anglo-Israelism, Mr. Carmichael." And the minister had not the heart to check the Colo- nel's enthusiasm, or to explain that he had never heard of the doctrine of Anglo-Israel except as an amiable eccentricity, held by old ladies at watering-places, and Indian civilians with a sug- gestion of sunstroke. He contented himself with modestly asking the Colonel to explain the prac- tical good of this faith. "Why," said the excited veteran, "it's the same as a man coming into his heritage ; it takes us out of the run of nations, and gives us the first place as the chosen people, to whom belong the covenants and the promises. Bless my soul, 55 St. Jude's sir, we were in the ranks before; now we are commissioned officers, and not rankers, mind you — mere proselytes taken into Israel from other nations, but the true Israel itself. It makes me twice a man to go into Westminster Abbey and see the Coronation Stone, and to know that it was the very stone on which Jacob laid his head when he had his vision and saw the heavens opened. "When I saw Her Majesty pass, God bless her! the first time I came home from India, after I'd received the truth and said to myself, 'There is the descendant of King David in direct line,' I tell you, if it was possible, she was twice my monarch. What is a Hanoverian, what is a Stuart, to a member of the royal house of Israel? When a man knows that he is of Israel, and a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he has a right to lift up his head, for salvation is of the Jews, to him first, and through him to the world." And beneath the tan the Colonel's face burned with pride. Carmichael knew not what to say, for, although he remembered one delight- ful colonel of evangelistic tendencies who used 56 A Soldier of the Lord to visit the Caraegies, this was practically a new study in religion. "But that is not really what I came to speak about, for I knew that you and I would join our forces over this mighty truth. I have something new to tell you Mr. Carmichael, and something which will give you as big a lift as it gave me." "Of course, the great matter is to know that we are the ten tribes, but I often said to Lance- lot that I wished to know to which of the ten I belonged, Lancelot used always to say, 'That will be revealed in time ; we cannot bear all the light at once.' Well, I've hoped and prayed for that revelation, and I received it yesterday. Packenham used to be in the Bombay Fusileers, and saw a lot of service. He wrote an article on unfulfilled prophecy, and is very strong on Daniel. Well, Packenham has been working on this thing for years, and now he has written a little book called 'The Tribes Identified.' A copy came from him yesterday morning, and I was all day working it over, and before evening I was quite convinced that Packenham had made a wonderful discovery." 57 St. Jude*s Carmichael indicated that he was dying to hear. "Of course, Mr. Carmichael, it is quite obvious when you hear it, and I cannot make out how it has not been found out before. You have just to read the description of the tribes in the 49th chapter of Genesis, and you can identify every tribe. As for this city, why it's the clearest word I ever read, and yet, until good old Pack- enham gave me the scent, I never saw it. I wonder whether you could guess who we are? Well, just let me ask you a question or two. Aren't we close to the sea, haven't we got a big harbor, aren't we rich in ships, doesn't our com- merce go out to the ends of the world? Eh! what, have you taken it yet? I believe you have, but you just want me to read the passage. Here it is," and the Colonel turned up his pocket Bible, and gave it out with great triumph : "Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea ; and he shall be for a haven of ships, and his border shall be upon Sidon." And nothing could exceed the satisfaction of the Colonel. "Glasgow, quite clearly — eh, what? 58 A Soldier of the Lord "You are rising to it, I see," and the veteran surveyed the silent minister with huge delight. "We know our tribe now; we are the men of Zebulun, and every promise that was ever made to Zebulun belongs to us. We have a new ground for prayer now, and you have a fine text for next Sunday morning. Unless I am mis- taken, this discovery should waken up St. Jude's, and if we do our duty, the whole city should share the blessing." The good man was much grieved when his fellow elders received the communication on Zebulun in a suggestive silence, and politely but firmly refused to spread the truth as they vis- ited their districts. To tell the truth, the breth- ren gradually became alarmed when they saw the Colonel making for Packenham's historical dis- covery, and Carmichael had to intervene at the merest hint of Zebulun. The Colonel was seri-j ously hurt when he was not allowed to address' the prayer-meeting upon this vital subject, and to read a paper which he had laboriously pre- pared under the pleasing title, "The Localization of the Ten Tribes, the Latest Revelation of 59 St. Judc's Scriptural Truth." As Carmichael would not have offended this simple heart on any consider- ation, he was immensely relieved to find that the Colonel had, after a time, lost interest in the tribe of Zebulun, and had embarked on a new quest. He was very mysterious, and only dropped hints ; but the minister was allowed to know that, however important was the achieve- ment of Major Packenham, Colonel MacBean had far exceeded him. "It was in the Revelation, and one morning in my daily reading, that I got the first sugges- tion, and I will just tell you, sir, it was through a number. Where would we be without the numbers in that wonderful Book? Since then I have been working, I may say, night and day, and the truth is opening up in every book of the Bible, and not in the Bible only, but also in human history from beginning to end. Why, the daily newspapers are shedding light. I've spent three afternoons examining a file of the Times. When I mention the battle of Waterloo and Napoleon Bonaparte, I suspect you know my country. But not another word to-day. One 60 A Soldier of the Lord has to see that the evidence is conclusive before he says a word." "I've no doubt, however, sir," said the Colo- nel before leaving that morning, "that I shall soon have concluded my labor of love. I've never enjoyed anything more, and I hope on this occasion to be able to show this wonder- ful discovery, not merely to the mind, but also to the eye — eh, what? to the eye, sir. I used to be pretty good at maps, and although I haven't done anything for some years in that depart- ment, I rather think my hand will not have lost its cunning." And on this occasion the min- ister could only faintly imagine what astounding treasure the veteran had found in his Bible. The Colonel did not go much into society, partly because he was not at home with civilians, partly because he saved his time for esoteric study in Holy Scripture ; but he clutched greed- ily at an invitation to dinner at one of the elders, which was really intended to be a social function for the Session. He inquired anxiously some days before whether Carmichael was certain to be there, and expressed his hope that he would 6i St. Jude's meet most of the elders. The impression grew in Carmichael's mind that the Colonel was to utilize the evening, and redeem it from any ten- dency to frivolity by making his brethren par- takers of the last result of Bible study. But even Carmichael was astonished when MacBean drove up to the door with two huge maps eight feet long upon the roof of the cab, and the cab- man's face between their projecting ends was most vivacious. He pointed gayly with his thumb over his shoulder to the Colonel within, and indicated that there were great sources of amusement in his fare; and when the Colonel, assisted by Carmichael, worked this remarkable luggage into the hall, the cabman was firmly con- vinced that time would fly that evening. While the guests were assembling in the draw- ing-room the veteran, with much cunning and the bribed assistance of a waiter, had fastened his maps on the dining-room wall, but had adroitly covered them with sheets, so that no one knew what was underneath. The conver- sation during the feast was a little distracted by the mystery on the walls, and the stimulating 62 A Soldier of the Lord allusions of the Colonel, who was in great spir- its, and gave it to be understood that if they had not risen to Zebulun, they would this even- ing be absolutely captivated. When the hostess left the room, curiosity had risen as near fever height as it ever could with solid merchants and douce Scots elders. So the clerk of the Session suggested that the veil should be removed and the company be taken into the secret. His brethren were not unaccustomed to the Colo- nel's Scriptural eccentricities, but there was a general tribute of quite unaffected admiration for his originality when they saw the maps un- veiled. It was felt then, and freely expressed afterwards, that the Colonel had excelled even himself, and had reached high-water mark in his line of Bible investigation. For the first map contained what might be called a detailed religious history of the human race, from Adam and Eve, whose likenesses were inserted at the top, on to the Franco-Prussian War, with a lifelike portrait of the Emperor William, and the map was black with lines of connection, rich in texts from the prophets, and here and there 63 St. Jude's illuminated by thumb-nail sketches of tabernacles and battlefields. If this map reduced the brethren to a reverent silence as the Colonel rapidly traced the purpose of Providence through every kind of circum- stance, and found its instruments in every kind of man, the second map plunged them into abso- lute despair. For it was the plan of the future, and anticipated the story of the human race through all the changes to come on to the battle of Armageddon. The ramifications v^^ere even more intricate than in the other map, and the texts ten times more ingenious, v^^hile the Pope figured from time to time, and the likenesses of certain of the Napoleon family, who were to command army corps at the decisive battle which would conclude the era, left nothing to be de- sired. If the more quick-witted of his brethren were able to keep this daring explorer within sight during his resume of the past, no one pretended to follow him in his lightning progress through the future. Everyone, however, admired his vivid description of the great battle, in which 64 A Soldier of the Lord his military knowledge served him bravely, and when he ceased — having given the date with the utmost confidence and exactness — there might have been some little hesitation about his pro- phetic facts, but there was a general feeling of pride that a man of such brilliant imagination and superhuman ingenuity should be an office- bearer in St. Jude's Church. The Colonel still carries his maps with him, especially when he goes to visit his former brothers-in-arms and present colleagues in Bible study, and, from what he told Carmichael, the eflfect produced on a little gathering at Major Packenham's was quite monumental. Rumors reached his brethren of visits to re- ligious conferences up and down the country, where he was heard greedily on account of the freshness of his views, and the unction of his spirit, and religious periodicals chronicled a de- fense of verbal inspiration by our Colonel which is quoted to this day. "If any one here has fallen into the snare of the Devil, and has lost his belief in the full and perfect inspiration of the Bible," so the Colonel 65 St. Jude*s was reported to have said, let him turn to the vision of Isaiah, and he -will get his feet again upon the rock. What happened to the prophet ? One of the seraphim, laid a live coal upon his mouth, and, mark you, just to show how exact Scripture is, touched Isaiah's lips. Not one lip, you observe, but lips, both lips. Well, friends, what followed? Of course his lips were burned away, and after that he had no lips ; but you say to me, was he not a prophet, and did he not speak, and how can a man speak if he has no lips? Quite right to ask the question; that brings you to the very depth of the matter, for the Scriptures are a great deep. He could not speak after his lips were taken away, and so the Lord spoke through him as through a trumpet. Will any man after that say that the writers of the Bible were not inspired?" The Colonel was very modest over this vindication, but he did feel that he had been the means of safeguarding truth against the attacks of the enemy. It may be frankly confessed that there were times when his brethren were apt to smile at the veteran, and that Carmichael was not able — 66 A Soldier of the Lord simply through his youthfulness, the Colonel believed — to accept the more recondite truths which the good man offered ; but every one loved him, and even apart from his career and the cut on his lip, they knew that he was a man, and also a gentleman. While he was fiercely and unflinchingly orthodox, and was never weary of denouncing rationaHsm and Romanism, and speaking of their defenders as if they were Afghan tribes, yet he intensely loathed every form of persecution for religion's sake, and would have nothing to do with ignoble methods. When Simeon MacQuittrick came before the elders, and complained to them of Cannichael's unsound teaching on the fatherhood of God, and proposed to substantiate his charges, not from what the minister had said in public, but from what Carmichael had said to AlacQuittrick in his own study, the Colonel grew restless, and as soon as Simeon had sat down, he sprang to his feet. "Do I understand that Mr. MacQuittrick pur- poses to avail himself of a private conversation for the purposes of a public prosecution? I 67 St. Jude's earnestly hope that I have misunderstood this gentleman's intention, and if I have I will in- stantly apologize to him for such an unworthy suggestion." On learning that that was exactly what Simeon intended to do, and that it was what was always done in such cases, and that it was something MacQuittrick thought ought to be done, and that, in short, everything was lawful in the serv- ice of the faith, the Colonel turned purple with indignation, and glared on the miserable man as if he had been an Afghan spy caught in the act of assassination. "We ought to love the truth !" thundered the Colonel, and to this day Carmichael hears the knightly accent in the gallant veteran's voice : "we ought to study the truth, we ought to defend the truth, if need be we ought to die for the truth, but as God made us, and our Lord re- deemed us, we ought to live and die like gentle- men of Christ.'* 68 Bn HrrcGular Cbriettan Hn Irregular Cbristian By the sovereign will of the seat-letting com- mittee, which did as it pleased with every person in St. Jude's Church, this young man was planted, a solitary male, in a pew of old maiden ladies. He came by evident arrangement late, when the good women had settled themselves, and after nodding cheerfully to them, and receiving in re- turn a subdued but gracious salutation, he set himself down with an air of confidence at the end of the pew. Carmichael's range of vision was not far, and not conspicuously accurate, but he had no doubt whatever regarding that seat- holder. From the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, by his smart dress, his alert expres- sion, his keen attention, any one could identify him as a business man, and one who was not going to be left in the race. If he were a clerk, he would be a manager; very likely he was already a junior partner. He gave close atten- tion to whatever was said, but one knew that he 71 St. Jude's would reserve his judgment, and that he would not be taking any twaddle. If occasionally he withdrew his mind, and occupied himself with a private problem, it was because the minister had become technical, and was speaking of things beyond his province. Carmichael got into the habit, after a month or two, of addressing pas- sages to him personally, and wondered whether he had been convinced by the argument, and whether he would yield to the appeal. His face never gave any sign, and a strong curiosity took hold of the minister's mind to know where that hearer was and what he thought. Once a week the minister invited young men who lived in rooms to come to his house and spend the even- ing, and he used to look expectantly as each man came, but this face never appeared. He concluded at last that this was not the kind to come with young lads from the country, or with Sunday-school teachers. So he wrote a letter inviting him to spend an hour in the study, and received a short but perfectly courteous answer of acceptance. Carmichael's distant impression of Sturrock 72 An Irregular Christian was confirmed when he entered the room, and immensely deepened before he left it. His vis- itor was not forward nor conceited, but he was distinctly self-respecting and absolutely self- reliant; he was not garrulous in speech nor opinionative, but he had clear-cut ideas and an incisive, laconic style. Small talk he would regard as a waste of time, and no one except a fool would offer him conventional religious re- marks. If you have anything to say worth hear- ing, let me have it; if there is any information I can give you, tell me what it is, was the sug- gestion of his manner, and Carmichael hastened to explain that as minister he wished to know his congregation, and therefore he had taken the liberty of asking for this interview. As Sturrock simply bowed and waited for Carmichael to give the lead, there remained nothing for it but an inquiry about the state of business. Sturrock, who had his own ideas of the ignorance and futility of the clerical mind, glanced doubtfully at his host, but when he was convinced that Car- michael was in earnest, desiring to know about every province of life, and that amid a multi- 73 St. Jude*s; tude of faults he was not an affected humbug, the visitor spoke clearly and to the point. Within ten minutes Carmichael had learned more about the iron trade on all its sides and in all its ways than he had ever gathered from every kind of source all his life. Before Sturrock left, Car- michael paid him an honest tribute of admira- tion, and recorded his conviction that what Stur- rock did not know about iron, at least as an arti- cle of merchandise, must be relegated to the province of nonsense. "Well," said Sturrock with perfect modesty, "I know as much about iron as most men of my age, but of course I take no credit. Iron is my business, and by iron I am going to succeed. The way I look at it is this : if a man is to do any- thing big, he must not spread himself over a lot of departments and interests ; he must concen- trate and do one thing. I read iron, I think about iron, I deal in iron, I dream about iron." And as Sturrock proclaimed his mission, Car- michael began to regard him with a respect which is due to a man who has fixed upon the prize of life and means to have it, and it seemed 74 An Irregular Christian to him as if the iron in which he worked had passed into his blood. "I wish every man was as keen about his Hfe- work," said the minister, ''You fairly brace a fellow up by your talk. But I say, have you not got any relief from iron or any recreation? What about your by-products? Do you go in for books, or are you a sportsman? One can't live on iron, can one?" "No, I grant that, and I used to play football in a Rugger team, but I gave that up two years ago, as I got rather badly hurt, and that inter- fered with business. My side-show is music. I would rather hear a first-class singer than have any other pleasure in life. My luxury is a con- cert, and I am going to keep up my musical taste for the future. No man can work forever at my rate, and I have determined to make my pile before I am fifty. Next year I expect to get a partnership, and after that do not think I shall ever look back. When a man retires, he must have something to do ; then I shall go in for music, just for my pleasure, — music and a gar- den in the country." As Sturrock spoke of his 75 St. Jude's final ideal, the finest of the arts and the sweetest of places, his face gentle, Carmichael realized that the man was not all iron. That evening he did not think it wise to speak to his visitor about religion, for he was not a man whose confidence could be forced ; but after several visits, during which Carmichael learned to respect the simplicity and sincerity of the man, he broached the chief subject of hu- man life. And then Sturrock stated his posi- tion, and, as usual, he had made up his mind. "I am not an infidel, and I hold that no man knows enough, or can ever know enough, to deny that there is a God. On the contrary, I believe that a God is the best working explana- tion of this universe, which is a very complicated aflfair, but, on the whole, must be intelligent and moral. I am certain, so far as I can gather, — for I have been too busy with iron to read much, — that Jesus is the most reasonable relig- ious preacher, and the most perfect man in human history. When I was young my mother taught me the Bible, and it makes me mad to hear some glorious fool attacking the Book. I 76 An Irregular Christian have promised my mother to go to church once a day, and I would like to say that I feel better when I go to my rooms, — I mean more reverent and more kindly, as well as more determined to do what is right; but I want to say quite straightly that I am not a Christian, and that I do not see my way to become one." And when Carmichael thanked him for this confidence and asked him if he would go a little further and give his reasons, he responded with perfect frankness. "Upon the whole, I have two reasons. One is Christianity, especially as it is stated in the Sermon on the Mount ; that is a passage which I often read, and it seems to me simply magnifi- cent, but it is impossible, no one could live up to that ideal, and it is better not to attempt what you can't do, or to pretend to be what you are not. So I admire, but I do not profess. Attending church, so long as you are not a communicant, I do not think commits me, but I have determined never to take the sacrament." And then Carmichael asked for his other rea- son, and Sturrock was again quite downright. 77 St. Jude's "It is Christians; if you knew the kind of men in our business, and in the other markets who are elders in the kirk, and address meetings and generally pose as representatives of Chris- tianity, you would understand why many a plain man who tries to do his work decently and does not play the fool is sick of religion. What can be more disgusting and destructive of morals than a man prating about the atonement and conversion, while you can't depend upon his word in a bargain, and in his last bankruptcy he paid five shillings and sixpence in the pound. Of course I know that there are many perfectly honorable Christians, but we have got too many of the other sort, therefore I prefer to stand outside." And, although Carmichael plied him then and afterward with many arguments, he could not shift Sturrock from his position. It was only a week after this conversation that Carmichael was summoned in hot haste to Sturrock's rooms, and found him dangerously ill. Within forty-eight hours his strength had departed, and one looking on his face could not rid himself of the fear that this man, so charged 78 An Irregular Christian with life in mind and body, was going to be cut off in his strength. But he was as clear and composed as usual, and did not whimper about this sudden disaster. "You did not expect to find me on my back, Mr. Carmichael, next time you saw me," and he smiled cheerfully, as one accepting the haz- ards of life. "Two days ago I was a sound man, now I am as weak as a cat. Medicine men, the world over, make a great mystery of their work, and, although my doctor is a very decent, as well as clever fellow, I can't dig the truth out of him ; I know what is wrong with me, but I can't find out whether I am going to pull through ; on the whole I think the chances are against me, and that I shall peg out. So I thought you wouldn't mind me troubling you to look in for five minutes, as there are one or two things I should like to speak to you about. Of course if I live, all right, but I take no risks." Carmichael, who was a little shaken to see the change, began to express his sympathy, and his hopes for a good issue, but Sturrock at once interrupted him. 79 St. Jude's "Thanks very much, I knew you would be rather hit when you saw me down, and I don't mind confessing- that I had hoped we should have been good friends for many years; you and I may not think quite ahke on everything, which after all one couldn't expect, but you are the kind of parson I like and have been looking for. But if it's all the same to you we won't speak about my illness; medical details are rather bad form. As regards death, that of course is one of the incidents in a man's life, a very big one, no doubt, but sooner or later in- evitable ; if it comes to me to-morrow it will be sooner rather than later, that is all the differ- ence. If a soldier falls, and some of our people have been killed in battle quite as young, nobody makes a moan about it. When my uncle was mortally wounded on the slope of Alma he said to his men, 'On you go, lads, I'm all right;' an hour after that they found him dead on the field. Why should civilians take themselves so seriously, and make such a drama of dying? I call it sheer want of pluck, and a lot of self- conceit. 86 An Irregular Christian "My slight affairs are all arranged, and I'm not going to trouble you about business, for that is out of your beat, but if it won't bother you, especially as I don't feel equal to writing, I would be awfully obliged if you would give a message to the one person I love dearly, and whom I may say, without cant, I love with all my heart. No," he said with a smile, "it's not what you imagine ; I've been too busy a man for that. I never told you about her, but you know my mother is living, and, while every man thinks his to be the best, or ought to, I tell you mine, as children say, is the very bcstest; she is the truest, bravest, faithfulest, tenderest woman I ever came across, or ever expect to see. My worthy landlady wanted to send for her yester- day, but I would not allow her, for I am deter- mined she shall not come until the issue is set- tled. If I am going to die I do not want her to see th