A Goodly Heritage

Richard Baxter said"Nothing can be more indecent than to hear a dead preacher speaking to dead sinners the living truth of the living God". McCheyne said. "I had rather that no voice should be heard(in his pulpit) than" the voice of strangers", from whom Christ's sheep will flee. Silence in the pulpit will not edify souls ,but it does not ruin them. And how much of this do we get in our day.Dead preachers seeking self-glory scattering the flock of God. Ezekiel 34 vs 2&3. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them. Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds: woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks.? Ye eat the fat,and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock.

From a booklet by Rev.K.A.Macrae, Stornoway. "Under the name of revival the faith mission, an organisation thoroughly Arminian in doctrine and practice, unmistakenly of the school of Finney, appeared in Skye and Lewis, as the propogators of a great revival movement. This effort , according to the account given by the mission, has been most successful, and hundreds are said to have been converted.In Lewis especially, so it is said, religion had come to a very low pass, and the people were wholly given over to materialism. The House of God was largely forsaken, and in some districts the prayer meeting had faded out. So distressing was the state of religion in the Island, that according to the account of the revival given by the Rev. Duncan Campbell at the Keswick Convention in 1952, the Free Church Presbytery in October 1949, found it necessary to call a special meeting in Stornoway, "to discuss among other things, the appaling drift away from the Church, especially the younger

Let not the Christian heart grow timid at a time of prevalent wickedness and unbelief, in the fear that ark of God may perish. The sons of Jacob shall not be consumed- the seed of Christ shall not perish. The unchangeableness of God is the sheet anchor of the church.He will be faithful to His Son ,and to his word, however disheartening external circumstances may appear to our wavering faith. Philippians .3:18.(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19. Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

It is a serious thing for a church, when those shepherds in office and influence, are sheep in opinion and heart . Led in fact. And many there are in our day,who have stood back idly as the church slides deeper and deeper into apostasy and can hardly be distinguished from the world. 2Corinthians 6: 17."Wherefore come out from among them , and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you."

From the Reformation Wall,Geneva.

Full length view of Reformation Wall. Geneva.

Old Chapel at Laide some claim was built by St. Columba in 500

The transgressions of the church give her enemies all their power against her ,calling the avenger from afar, and setting an edge on the sword of the persecutor."Where the carcase is", where the Spirit of religion has departed, and has left the body to corrupt and decay, "there the eagles are gathered together:" all the instruments of vengeance, terrestrial and infernal, flock ,by permission , to the prey. Had this not been the case with regard to Israel, Jerusalemwould have continued to be through all ages, what she was in the days of Solomon, the delight of the nations, and the joy of the whole earth. Horne

Our present portion is the earnest, not the inheritance.Here we see through a glass darkly.The wilderness will do for us till we cross into Canaan.The tent will do till the "city of habitation " comes. The joy of believing is enough till we enter on the joy of seeing. We are content with the "mountain of myrrh, and the hill of frankincense,"until " the day break and the shadows flee away." from H.Bonar Let us be content with our present portion,whatever that may be, and be as Paul who said ,that he learned in whatever situation he found himself in , with that to be content.

EZEKIEL.20. 19&20. "I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgements and do them. And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God." And the consequences of not doing. Verse21."Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me ; they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgements to do them, which if a man do ,he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths; then I said I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness."

Psalm .9:9." The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble." Until the restitution of all things shall arrive , oppression shall not cease, and times of trouble shall continue. The irreconcilable enemy will use each opportunity to malign, to vex, and to destroy. The prince of this world will hate the godly. His fiery darts will thickly fall. But a ready refuge is at hand. That refuge is the Lord, and His covert is impregnable. All acts of Satan are weak against it. He cannot force its barrier gates; he cannot scale its walls. Salvation is its ramparts; omnipotence is its strength. Henry Law.

"If life be long, I will be glad That I may long obey; If short, yet why should I be sad To soar to endless day?" Richard Baxter

Luke.18:18:-"And a certain ruler asked him, saying ,Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life." Our Lord knew the ruler's heart, and gave him the answer that was most likely to bring to light the real state of his soul. He reminds him of the ten commandments . He recites some of the principle requirements of the second table of the law. At once the spiritual blindness of the inquirer was detected. "All these ."said the man,"I have kept from my youth up." An answer more full of darkness and self- ignorance it is impossible to conceive!He who made it could have known nothing rightly, either about himself ,or God, or God's law.Does the case of this rich ruler stand alone ?Do we suppose there are none like him in this present day? If we do we are greatly deceived. There are thousands in all our congregations who have not the least idea of the spiritual nature of God's law, and consequently know nothing of their own sinfulness. They d

Hebrews.9:13.For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.? 15. And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Cry from a contrite heart:- "Yes , Thou forgivest, but with all forgiving Canst not renew mine innocence again; Make Thou, O Christ, a dying of my living, Purge from the sin, but never from the pain! "So shall all speech of now and of tomorrow, All He hath shown me or shall show me yet, Spring from an infinite and tender sorrow, Burst from a burning passion of regret." If there are consequences of sin, therefore, which are calculated to weaken the believer's strength and to mar his comeliness, they are turned in the riches of God's Grace into means of purifying his soul, of deepening his spiritual life, and of strengthening his love to God. And one day even the scars themselves will pass away, and the ransomed soul will shine in the beauties of perfect holiness, "without spot or wrinkle or any such thing."