637
CAVEN LIBRARY
KNOX COLLEGE
TORONTO
A 1'Dllaitoa fcC° landaafcEdnibrargh.
MEMORIALS
ALEXANDER MONCBIEFF, M.A.,
AND
I
JAMES FISHER,
TATHERS Or THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
:
DAVID YOUNG, D.D., PERTH,
JOHN BROWN, D.D., EDINBURGH,
PROFESSOR OF EXEGETICAL THEOLOGY TO THE UNITED P. CHUBCH.
A. FULLARTON & CO.:
EDINBURGH, DUBLIN, AND LONDON.
1849.
Kl \U <#*
EDINBURGH:
FUXLARTOX AND 1LA.CNAB, PRJSTKRS, LKITH WALK
MEMOIR
OF THE
REV. ALEXANDER MOHCRIEFF
OF ABERNETHY,
- > v \
WITH A SELECTION FROM HIS WORKS.
BY DAVID YOUflG, D.D.
PREFACE.
THE task attempted in the following pages has been both pleas
ing and painful. Pleasing, because it drew attention to the
character and career of a man of God, to whom the Secession
Church in Scotland owes a debt of lasting gratitude ; and pain
ful, because the materials, which were once so plentiful, are now
so scanty, and so ill authenticated. As memory served, I have
availed myself of conversations, in years gone by, with my late
venerable colleague, the Rev. Dr. Pringle, who was connected
by marriage with the Moncrieff family, and of other sources of
oral information, to which, through vicinity, I have long had
access. But my chief dependence has been on two articles in
the Christian Magazine for 1804, written, as is supposed, by the
Kev. Mr. Whytock, then of Dalkeith. In these articles extracts
are given from a Diary of Mr. Moncrieff's, which, if obtained,
might have added much to the details of the present narrative,
but which seems to be now irrecoverably lost. To original
documents, therefore, my access has been extremely limited;
although relatives of the family, and other friends, have done
what they could to supply the deficiency. In particular, Mrs.
Captain Moncrieff of Barnhill has kindly given me every facility
for examining such of the family papers, as might seem at all
to suit my purpose; and to that estimable lady I present re
spectful thanks.
In setting down a few of the statements, which are not, how
ever, the most important, I feel myself in the predicament of
one who knows enough to convince him of their truth, while
yet he feels himself without the means of formally establishing
them to the conviction of others. " To everything there is a
time ; " and as to the third of the Four Brethren, it must now
be admitted, however regretfully, that the time for doing justice
to his life had passed away before the deed was determined on.
For the reference to the minister of Scoonie, I am also in
debted to the Christian Magazine : and for the account given
of the young Laird, to the Weekly Christian Teacher. These
may, perhaps, appear digressive; and had specific matter been
more abundant, they might, perhaps, have been passed over.
PREFACE.
But as they both are possessed of intrinsic interest, and have
each a link which binds it to the subject, the balance fell, right
or wrong, in favour of insertion.
The specimens of Mr. Moncrieff's authorship, which follow
the narrative, are selected on the principle of present utility,
and taken from his posthumous volumes as edited by his son.
The "ENQUIRY INTO THE KULE AND END OF MORAL Ac-
TIONS" is somewhat controversial, being a reply to the specula
tions of Professor Campbell, on the subject to which it refers.
But as the errors of that individual,— the character of whose mind
seems to have been pravity rather than power— lie at the root
of all ungodliness, and may be found at this day, giving impulse
as well as disguise to some of the forms of living infidelity,
Moncrieff's antidote, although olden in attire, may still be re
garded as a word in season. " CHRIST'S CALL TO THE KISING
GENERATION," although taking occasionally a wider range than
might now be taken on such a subject, is plain, pointed, and
richly evangelical, dealing closely with the youthful mind, and
plying it with those peculiar motives, which alone can prevail
in bringing it to Christ.
I). YOUNG.
PERTH, 22 May, 1849.
CONTENTS,
Page
MEMOIR, . ix
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND
END OF MORAL ACTIONS.
INTRODUCTION, .... 63
SECTION I.
Wherein it is made appear, that self - love is not, nor ought to
be, the leading principle of moral virtue. .... 67
SECTION II.
That self-interest or pleasure, is not the only standard by which
we are to judge of the virtue of our own and others' actions ;
and that actions are not to be called virtuous on account of their
correspondency to self-interest. ...... 85
SECTION III.
That self-love, as it exerts itself in the desire of universal un
limited esteem, ought not to be made the commanding motive
to virtuous actions; nor is the obtaining the good-liking and
esteem of those beings, among whom we are mixed, to be our
main end in pursuing them. ...... 99
CONCLUSION, .... 113
CHRIST'S CALL TO THE RISING GENERATION,
IN THREE SERMONS.
SERMON I.
MARK x. 14- — " But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased,
and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." . 121
Vlll CONTENTS.
SERMON II.
GEN. xxviii. 10 — 13, 19. — " And Jacob went out from Beersheba,
and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place,
and tarried there all night, and lay down in that place to
sleep : and he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth,
and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of
God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood
above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy Father,
and the God of Isaac. And he called the name of that place
Bethel." 153
SERMON III.
GEN. xxviii. 20, 21. — " And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God
will be with me, and keep me, then shall the Lord be my
God." Jer. iii. 4, 19. " Wilt thou not, from this time, cry unto
me, My Father, thou art the Guide of my youth? And I said,
Thou shalt call me, My Father, and shalt not turn away from
me." 167
MEMOIR
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF,
THE name of Alexander Moncrieff stands conspicuous
among the four, who, in 1733, began to be the found
ers of the Secession Church in Scotland. He was born
in 1695, and, being the eldest son, inherited from his
father, who died when he was only about thirteen years
of age, the estate of Culfargie, in the parish of Aber-
nethy, Perthshire, with its commodious mansion-house,
pleasantly situated on the banks of the Earn. That
the branch of the Moncrieff family from which he
sprang, is of old standing among the gentry of Scot
land, is abundantly evinced by existing documents.
Their connection with Kintillo, an estate contiguous to
that of Culfargie, can be traced back to about the com
mencement of the sixteenth century; and while some
of them did credit to their name in the civil or mili
tary service of their country, not a few bore the higher
distinction of eminent piety, and unbending integrity.
Being early written fatherless, the heir of Culfargie
of whom we write was left to the care of his mother —
whose name was Margaret Mitchell, of the family of
Balbardie in Fife — a lady singularly qualified, by na
ture and by grace, for the task which Providence had
reserved for her, and who lived to be rewarded for her
maternal solicitude in the piety and usefulness of her
X MEMOIR OF THE
darling boy. It would appear that several of his
paternal relatives were very attentive to him during
his minority; and especially Mr. David Moncrieff of
Khynd, his curator in law, to whom, after he came of
age, we find him making graceful acknowledgment, of
the considerate kindness, with which so much had been
deferred to his mother, in the management of his per
son and affairs. In those days more than in ours, it
was common for the younger sons of landholding fami
lies, to be educated for the Christian ministry, the
office of a clergyman, or even its emolument, being
regarded as an object of laudable ambition. But secu
lar motives cannot, in fairness, be imputed to the sub
ject of the present narrative. He was not a younger
son, but the heir of a good estate; and there is every
reason to believe, that, by the grace of God, his mor-
ther's judicious piety so wrought upon his mind, as to
beget in him a desire for the Christian ministry out of
love to Christ himself.
At what particular time this desire was formed, or
when expression was first given to it, we have not the
means of knowing: but we know that it was early
formed ; and there is reason to believe that, ultimately,
the history of a near relative of his own, who died
about seven years before he was born, and whose face,
of course, he never saw in the flesh, contributed more
than biography has penned, towards its formation.
That relative was the minister of Scoonie in Fife, his
paternal grandfather, after whom he was named — a
man of truly apostolic spirit — the companion and the
counterpart of the martyred Guthrie, whose fame is
enshrined in Scotland's piety — and a man the tale of
whose worth and woes, flowing softly from his mother's
lips, could scarcely fail to leave its impress on the mind
of young Culfargie. What has been said of this man
seems to commit us to say more; and although he was
not of the Secession Fathers, in the ordinary sense of the
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. XI
words, he was at one with these Fathers in principle;
the same spirit which sustained him was, forty years
after his death, inspiration to them; and an episode to
his memory, if such it must be called, while claimed by
the relationship which has just been referred to, seems
due to posterity on higher grounds.
The Rev. Alexander Moncrieff of Scoonie, then, had
been minister of the parish which bears that name,
some time before the Restoration in 1660 : for, during
the sway of Oliver Cromwell, he was noted for his
attachment to the Stuarts, for which he received the
usual thanks of that detested race. But apart from
politics, which, then as now, were variously estimated,
he was a man of pre-eminent piety, ardent zeal for the
doctrines of grace, and high moral courage in the de
fence of truth and righteousness. Instigated, as would
seem, by his faithfulness in reproving iniquity, a gen
tleman of his parish conceived against him a deep and
inveterate prejudice. To gratify his malevolence, this
gentleman ventured so far as to bring him, by libel,
before the Synod of Fife, charged with an offence of
serious import, which we have not now the means of
specifying. The accuser was defeated; his minister
was fully arid openly acquitted; and on the spot where
he hoped to be the ruin of the innocent, he was seized
with a violent distemper, which compelled him to has
ten home. At home, however, there was no rest for
him; his conscience became his own accuser; the trou
ble of his mind was far greater than the trouble of his
bo'dy; he cried earnestly for a sight of his minister
that he might confess the wrong, and ask forgiveness;
but his haughty lady forbade the interview, and he
died without obtaining it. Not long afterwards, the
lady herself fell under affliction; her conscience also
began to accuse her; the boon she so obstinately denied
to her husband she very earnestly asked for herself;
her minister hastened to pay her a visit; and in the
Xll MEMOIR OF THE
anguish of her heart she made full confession of the
deeds of infamy done against him, by her and her de
parted husband. Nor, as the record has it, did the mat
ter end here. A young man who lived in the family in
the capacity of tutor, and had appeared as a witness for
the libel, was seized with remorse for the part he had
acted, and went to a subsequent meeting of Synod for
the purpose of retracting his testimony; — but as he was
prevented from effecting his purpose, his agony in
creased till it overset his reason, and he died in a state
of insanity.
Such is a specimen of the world's enmity against the
heralds of the cross, and such the way in which THE
CRUCIFIED himself is sometimes terrible on their behalf.
But the troubles of the minister of Scoonie did not end
here. He was a burning and shining light, which the
spirit of darkness seemed determined to extinguish;
and what the malice of a local laird was too feeble to
accomplish, was sought and obtained through a higher
agency.
The Scottish Presbyterians of those days were, in
general, favourable to the house of Stuart. For their
loyalty, as they deemed it, they suffered during the
Protectorate; and no sooner was the perfidious Charles
restored to the throne, than he began to repay them
by persecution. Not long after the king's return, a
few of them, including the minister of Scoonie, met
privately to prepare an Address to him. In this Ad
dress they paid him court in terms sufficiently lauda
tory, denouncing the measures which led to the death
of his predecessor, and giving thanks to Almighty God,
for the counter-revolution which had just been effected.
But they ventured to remind the king, of the obliga
tions under which he had come to the throne, with the
course he was in virtue of them expected to pursue;
and this was enough to kindle his ire. While their
Address was yet unfinished — a mere scroll of proposals
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. Xlll
— and while they were engaged in writing their breth
ren, in various parts of the country, to meet for the
purpose of considering it, they were apprehended and
thrown into prison, first in the Castle of Edinburgh,
and then in their own houses, till the ensuing meeting
of Parliament, that is the Parliament of 1661. Such
was the conduct of Charles, to men whose only fault
was a blind attachment to his family, and a disposition
to confide where no confidence was due. It fared with
them as it usually fares with men who put their re
ligion into the keeping of princes, and look to Csesar
when they should be looking to God. Release was
promised them, on the condition of confessing to the
crime of framing the Address; but as honest men they
could not confess to crime they had never committed,
and so the persecution grew hotter and hotter.
Soon after the Parliament assembled, an indictment
was produced against two of the party, namely, Alex
ander Moncrieff of Scoonie, and James Guthrie of Stir
ling, who was afterwards put to death. For Moncriefi'
great intercession was made; the reason of the nation
being not quite extinguished, although cowardice kept
it in bondage; and his standing in society might have
proved his safeguard, but for his inflexible adherence
to principle. The Earl of Athol, and others of note,
who knew well how the tide was flowing, assured his
lady that his life would be forfeited, if he continued to
show himself so unbending, and earnestly entreated her
to do her utmost, to elicit from him some concession;
but she proved herself a wife worthy of such a husband,
and so among posterity she shares in his renown. "You
all know," said she to beseeching friends, " that I am
happy in a good husband, that I have great affection
for him and for my children; yet I know him to be so
steadfast in his principles, that nobody needs to deal
with him on that head: and for my part, before I
would contribute any thing that would break his peace
XIV MEMOIR OF THE
with his Master, I would rather choose to receive his
head at the Cross."*
Failing in these expedients, the assiduity of his
friends resorted to another, but with no better success.
According to the custom of these ignominious times, a
number of ladies of rank made a present of plate to
the Advocate's lady, hoping by this means to propitiate
his Lordship. But the present was rejected, more in
hate, there is reason to believe, than from a principle
of honour; for this same Advocate had but slender
claims to the credit of official integrity. During the
sittings of the Parliament for that year, Mr. Moncrieff
was repeatedly brought before it, and so teased with
questions and menaces, that but for the greatness of
his heart, and the grace of God which was in him, he
might have suffered many deaths in the prospect of
one. But he knew of another Judge, and had the ear
of another Advocate, to whom he calmly committed his
cause. " Prayer was made without ceasing, of the
church, unto God for him:" and when the decision
came forth, his bodily life was spared, but his official
life was taken away. Their lenity, as they called it,
was like themselves; it slew the minister, but spared
the man. He was declared incapable of any trust,
civil or ecclesiastical, and banished from his parish and
his flock. The trial was severe; to such a man, per
haps, severer than death itself; for although he loved
and was loved, as a husband and a father, and was
much attached to his circle of friends, yet the preach
ing of salvation through Jesus Christ was most of all
the delight of his heart.
This privilege, however, as hatred would have it,
was sternly denied to him, and, soon after, to many
others, in those days of rebuke and of blasphemy. In
* To see him beheaded at the common place of execution in
Edinburgh.
EEV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. XV
1664, when a report of his preaching was carried to
his persecutors, he was condemned to seek a habitation,
twenty miles away from the seat of a bishop, and seven
from a royal borough. After a while, he retired to a
sequestered spot in the Highlands, and preached to
little groups of people as God gave him opportunity.
There it would appear that, for a time, he was com
paratively free from molestation; but, being anxious
about the education of his children, and hoping that
the storm was somewhat abated, he ventured to seek
a residence in Per-th, where his preaching again ex
posed him to danger, and forced him to seek a lurking-
place, at a distance from all who were dear to him.
At length we find him with his family in Edinburgh,
where also he began to preach; for no fear of man
could restrain him from preaching; and by this time,
(1675,) being outlawed, or intercommuned as they
called it, his danger was greater than ever. But God
was with him; and his sojourn, in and about the capi
tal, presents a very remarkable conjunction of untiring
malice, and merciful deliverance. On one occasion, a
captain and his party searched every dwelling in the
close where he lodged, except the one where he was
to be found, into which they never entered, although
its door was wide open. On another occasion, as he
went out to take a walk, near to the place of his con
cealment he was met by a party sent to search for him.
As they passed, and set their eyes on him, one of them
remarked, " That may be the man we are in quest of;
for he looks like a minister;" to which it was replied,
" It cannot be he ; for he knows his danger too well to
be found walking there." So they went on, accom
plished their search, and returned without their victim.
On a third occasion, being informed that the soldiers
were on their way to apprehend him, he made no haste
to escape from them, till a friend urged him to do so;
when, with the utmost composure, and with no appear-
XVI MEMOIR OF THE
ance of haste, he went out, took a short walk in the
street, and returned to his house, just as the soldiers
had left it. These are but specimens of his perils and
escapes; till at last his friends became so anxious about
him, that they entreated him to leave the country.
But this he resolutely declined, saying in terms of
confiding pleasantry, that he preferred to suffer where
he had sinned, and would endeavour to keep possession
of the house — the land of his nativity — till its Lord
should return to it. Nor is it unworthy of remark,
that in a modified sense he did so: for he lived till the
harvest of 1688, when the arm of the persecutor was
broken, and when HE, who had preserved him from
the violence of man, caught up his spirit to the region
of blessedness, leaving his dust to sleep till the morn
ing, where " the wicked cease from troubling," and
" where the weary are at rest."
The subject of this memoir, as already stated, was
the grandson of this distinguished man; and there is
little stretch of fancy in supposing, that the mantle
which fell from the one was, after the lapse of years,
taken up by the other. Principle and emotion have
their lines of descent, as well as races of men and wo
men, and to the warm affinities of flesh and blood they
easily give the preference. Men die, but their thoughts
survive them; and back to the progenitor we are often
conducted, for the embryo of that which is developed
in his offspring. This is the way with moral evil, and
alas! for its devastations; but it is sometimes the way
with moral good, under the guidance of its compassionate
Author; and happy is the man whom God has hon
oured to give an impulse in the right direction, which
lives after him in his children, and passes on with
augmenting force till it comes to settle in the ascend
ant. In the high moral bearing of the minister of
Scoonie, we see the seeds of the Scottish Secession ;
and in the position taken by his grandson, with his
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEPF. XV 11
honoured coadjutors, we see the Secession brought
forth. Nor are our musings arrested here ; for in the
history of the Secession, down to this day, we see
principles brought into action, by which a deep-seated
delusion is progressively exposed, and the deliverance
of the church from a desolating bondage effectively
promoted.
Leaving Moncrieff of Scoonie, and returning to the
boyhood of the more immediate subject of our narra
tive, we find little to remark on his elementary educa
tion. After passing through the grammar school at
Perth, and making there a creditable proficiency, he
went to the University of St. Andrews, where he
studied for four consecutive sessions, and took out the
degree of Master of Arts. He then entered the Divinity
Hall of the same University, where he studied for three
sessions under Professor Haddow, of whose talents, and
learning, and theological attainments, he makes re
spectful mention. Of Professor Rymer also, who then,
it would appear, filled the chair of Moral Philosophy,
he speaks in terms of much respect. Apart, indeed,
from specific religion, and prior, perhaps, to its gov
erning influence, he seems to have been one of those
ingenuous youths, who, thirsting for mental improve
ment, are easily inspired with grateful esteem for those
who aid the pursuit of it; and from the little that we
know of this matter there seems ground to conclude,
;'i ' '-y the various Professors under whom he sat, his
frank and docile and studious habits were duly appre
ciated. As an evidence of the ardour with which he
prosecuted study, we find that with the facilities fur
nished at St. Andrews he did not rest satisfied. The
University of Leyden, in Holland, had in those days
a high reputation as a school of Christian theology,
earned for it by the just celebrity of John a Mark, and
his contemporary Wesselius : and it was no uncommon
thing for the more devoted of our Scottish students of
4
XV111 MEMOIH OF TilE
divinity to go there, that they might finish their course
under these illustrious masters. M'Laureu, Fullarton,
Bruce, Ainslie, and others are recorded as specimens
of those who did so, and among the rest Alexander
Moncrieff. He left his country for Leyden in Sep
tember 1716, when he could be no more than one
and twenty years of age; and so close was his ap
plication to study there, that serious apprehensions
for his health were entertained by his friends at
home. Besides spending four or five hours of the day
in attending his several classes, he used to devote seven
or eight more to private reading and study ; and that
he was a successful as well as diligent student, we hap
pen to have the testimony of Mark himself, who, in a
volume published by him at Amsterdam, in 1721,
classes him with the elite of his students for the above
year.* Among the few fragments which can now be
recovered, is a printed THESIS quite entire, On the
Future Subjection of the Son to the Father (1 Corin.
xv. 28), written in very creditable Latin, and consist
ing of eight quarto pages, with propositions and corol
laries appended, all after the manner of the schools.
As it is marked " Thesis vii." and begins without an
introduction, obviously supposing previous discussion,
it seems to have been one of a series, on various
branches of the same subject, and executed probably
by a selection of students of whom Moncrieff was one.
But taken by itself, it does honour to its author, and
speaks well for his early proficiency, both in logic and
sacred philology. t
* Referring to the exercises of that year, and recording the
" nomina Prestantissimorum Juvenum, qui, exercitationes has
publice defenderant," he inserts the name of " Alex. Moncrieff
Scoto Perth."
t This relic bears no date, and gives no hint as to the place
where it was printed ; but as it is inscribed, not only to the Rev.
William Moncrieff of Largo, David Moncrieff of Rhynd, his
paternal uncles, John Mitchell, Balbardie, his uncle by the
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. XIX
But while the youthful student from the first enjoyed
the advantage of earthly masters, and was not slack in
availing himself of it, there was another education
going on of far more commanding interest, — an educa
tion by which the heart of its subject, and all his men
tal acquirements were seasoned progressively for the
service of God in the gospel of his Son. Assiduous
domestic instruction, aided by the example of the
mother who imparted it, seems to have inspired the
future minister with an early reverence for religion;
although for a time, as he himself declares, he had no
desire for quite so much of it, as that which gave law
to his ancestor at Scoonie. That ancestor he could
admire, and perhaps was proud of bearing his name ;
but in early youth he was not prepared to take him as
his model. He could not think of disowning religion;
but neither could he think of yielding himself up en
tirely to its guidance. His early education restrained
him from the one, and his love of the world restrained
him from the other. Like many a youth in1 similar cir
cumstances, he would fain have found a middle path,
in which he might walk with God and with Mammon.
But he was shut up, and not permitted long to halt
between two such opinions. In the seventeenth year
of his age, he began to feel an engrossing concern about
the salvation of his soul; and so distressing were his
convictions, that many a time he uttered the cry,
"what must I do to be saved?" This state of mind
seems to have been produced, during the session of
college in 1711 and 12, but by what particular means
we are not informed, nor does it appear that anything,
beyond the ordinary course of religious observance, was
at that time accessible to him.
mother's side, James Haddow and Henry Rymer, St. Andrews,
but also to Mark and Wesselius, and Thomas Hoog, pastor of
the Scottish Church, Rotterdam, there can be no doubt of its
being one of the fruits of his labour at Leyden.
XX MEMOIR OF THE
After returning from college in May, he went on a
visit to his maternal uncle, the minister of Largo in
Fifeshire, from whose public instructions, and private
counsels, he seems to have derived great spiritual
benefit. But still his disquietude continued ; and he
was led to special earnestness in prayer — an exercise
for which, as we may yet have occasion to show, he
was very remarkable, during the whole of his subse
quent life. While at Largo, we are told, he often
made the church or the churchyard his oratory, where,
unknown to the eye or the ear of man, he wrestled for
relief, pouring out his confessions and supplications to
him who alone can send relief. He criqd, and the Lord
heard him, guiding the workings of his troubled spirit,
and by an infusion of Christian hope, gradually mel
lowing the bitterness of his contrition, even while its
intensity was scarcely abated. " At the communion
at Largo," he says, " I got more of a broken heart on
the Sabbath-day, than ever I found before — not in a
terrible, but in a sweet and pleasing manner, by many
degrees more than ever I had formerly experienced—
a day I ought never to forget. I hope my sorrow was
genuine and evangelical." This was in June 1712 ;
and it may be regarded as the turning point of his
spiritual history: for generally afterwards, although
with some relapses, his "joy of faith," not only re
mained, but rose occasionally into rapture. " O what
I felt," says he farther on, " at the second sacrament I
participated of at the Rhynd! I hope I got a real
manifestation, and an earnest of heaven. What thirst
for God, and love to Christ! 0 sweet church, sweet
churchyard of Largo ! where I have wrestled and seen
something of God, great, glorious, and soul-engaging !
0 sweet balk* at Forgan ! O it is good to be about
* A grassy foot-path between ridges, or small cultivated
fields.
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. XXI
HIS Land ! Many a temptation I had, many a struggle
with corruption, many a time was I foiled; but thanks
to God who giveth the victory."
Such is a specimen of the working of his mind, when
his affections were yet but young and fitful. He had
hoped that the night of sorrow was past, and a cloud
less day begun to dawn; but like many a convert in
similar circumstances, and at his stage of the Christian
life, he had new trials to pass through, and new lessons
to learn from them. In the law of God after the in
ward man he had now a supreme delight; and pleasing
was the thought that this delight would be permanent :
but he soon found that the other — the alien — law was
still in his members, warring against the law of his
mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin
and death. About the time of his going to Leyden, and
for some time after he was there, his struggles with
inward corruption were many and severe, marring the
comfort he had previously enjoyed, and awakening the
apprehension, that after all he had seen and felt, he was
still in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity. But
all this was God's way of correcting his mistakes, ma
turing his experience, and preparing him for future
usefulness, as a spiritual guide to others. " Out of the
eater came forth meat, — out of the strong came forth
sweetness ;" and he lived to be the riddle expounded.
Under this course of training, he was gradually led
to a juster estimate of sin in the heart — of its power —
of its malignity — of its infatuating tendency — and this
made him more skilful, as well as more direct, in im
proving the gracious provisions of the gospel. In a
school of theology far more effective than the soundest,
or the best of human prelections, he was taught that
the heart is deceitful above all things, arid desperately
wicked, that the work of sanctification makes progress
by vicissitude, that no power which is less than divine
can either commence it or carry it on, and that it is
XXil MEMOIR OF THE
not upon his fluctuating frames and feelings, but upon
the CROSS, and the spirit of the cross, that a Christian
must place his entire dependence. In this school, in
short, he was taught to look less to the good he had
already received, and more to that which was still in
the promise, and thereby to live, more simply, more
immediately, and more habitually by the faith of the
Son of God, improving privilege, yielding obedience,
and leaving enjoyment to ebb or to flow as God may
be pleased to measure it out. Hence his subsequent
reflections on this part of his mental history — so judi
cious, so devotional, and so instructive to all who
would know the mystery of sanctification. " It is
well worth while to notice the wisdom of the divine
conduct in dealing with some souls. The soul at first
conversion has yet a great touch of the law, and a pro
pensity to be saved by the old covenant; and the Lord
leaves it to formal, sleepy, successless prayers, to con
vince it (as I hope he has done me) of the uselessness
of all performances in order to justification before God.
Lord, teach me to fight in the name of the Captain of
salvation. Possibly it is to teach me this, that I am
so often foiled by the enemy, and fight with so little
success. I hope I have been, ere now, convinced of
the helplessness of all my duties; but oh! that I may
flee to Christ for all. I remember I did think it a
strange-like doctrine, to be saved by the righteousness
of another, and to have all for nothing. Now I think
it strange, that I do not experimentally understand
what it is to live by the strength of another. With
out this, sin will never be mortified."
These things, with Mr. Moncrieff, were not mere
theories, but matters of the gravest personal concern.
He was zealous for the dogmas of the Christian faith;
but he was more zealous for their practical effects; and
indeed it is only by zeal for the latter, that zeal for
the former is legitimized. It is not for preservation
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. XX1 11
so much as for use, that the doctrines of grace are
given to us; and so far as we fail to make use of them,
their preservation among us is put in peril. Few have
been more alive to this, than the man of whom we
write. He regarded a legal spirit, not merely as the
besetting sin of the children of this world, but as the
grand enemy of the Christian himself, especially when
young and inexperienced — a restless enemy — an in
sidious enemy — an enemy which prosecutes its aim
under pretexts which are exceedingly plausible — and
these views of it were unfolded to him by the early
workings of his own mind. So we find him penning
such sayings as the following : " I am sometimes hang
ing between the law and the gospel. I cannot get
fairly off from the old covenant, nor fairly into the city
of refuge. I see that works will not do; but I cannot
well understand the mystery of grace; how Christ can
do, and will do, and none else can. Though I have
heard much of the danger of building on a wrong foun
dation, I have been seeking terms and conditions to
bring with me, and putting my duties in Christ's room."
So much was he afraid of this spirit, that much as he
had suffered from the smitings of conscience, he decid
edly preferred them to the treacherous relief which
comes of mere self-reliance. " God has been pleased
sometimes to awaken me, as he has done now; for a
little time a plaster made up of the law and grace has
given me ease. But, Lord, now I beg, for Christ's
sake, — wound, wound, wound, till no plaster but that
of Christ's blood give any ease."
From what has already been said, the reader will
easily be led to infer that, even in his youth — for it is
of his youth we are still speaking — Mr. Moncrieff was
habituated to a close 'inspection of his own heart, as
well as punctual in his religious observances, personal
and private, not less than those which were open to the
eyes of men. Nay there is evidence, that for a time
MEMOIR OF THE
at least, he prescribed rules to himself, which were
scarcely compatible with Christian liberty; while the
attempt to observe them, with its frequent shortcom
ings, involved him in not a little perplexity. This
was a real error, although it is by no means a common
one, even with those who have Christ in their hearts;
and while it is condemned as an error, we are not
to forget, that it clearly bespeaks a tender conscience.
Still, feeling it to be an error, and beginning to gain
the mastery over it, we find our youthful Christian
saying, " I am tormented with things that are of no
moment, thinking that this word written, or that word
spoken is sin. This is a sad trouble to me. Lord
help me, and if it be thy will deliver me from it.
Whether it be that I have a devil thus daily molesting
me, or if it be something in my constitution, I am not
perfectly sure. If the devil have such power in trifles,
as to make a reasonable man doubt contrary to all
common sense, what power must he have, when per
mitted, to make men doubt of the great truths of re
ligion. Lord, pity me, and make me to place religion
where it truly is, and not in anything else; and if it
be thy will remove this trouble."
These last words suggest a darker shade of the evil
to which his extreme scrupulosity gave rise. That
scrupulosity was itself the fruit, not of true religion,
but of morbid sensibility; and the sensibility, being
morbid, naturally gave birth to the morbid idea, that
religion, as a whole, is but the fancy of a melancholy
mind. In short, on the principle that extremes meet,
and come in the long-run to support one another, its
tendency was to generate a species of scepticism. It
is not said that sceptical ideas rested on his mind, or
gained from him so much as a momentary acceptance ;
but they came up to his view; they hovered over him;
they haunted him like a demon; and they cost him
not a little uneasiness, till, by the grace of God, he
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. XXV
escaped from them by such reasonings as the following :
" I have experience of these two truths, that of man's
sin and misery, and that of the matchless and suitable
nature of the remedy" provided in the gospel; "and
am persuaded that the soul's exercise about them, in
conformity with the word of God, can be no delusion."
Again; "It is a hellish temptation, that religion is a
fancy. Is it a fancy to love Jesus Christ, to mourn
over sin, to fight with corruption, to storm heaven, to
take it by force ? No, no, it is deep delusion in spiri
tual things that gives occasion to such a profane
dream."
About the time when these sentiments were penned?
or, it may be, a little before it, Mr. Moncrieff at the
prompting of his own sense of duty, and, so far as
appears, without the knowledge of any friend on earth,
entered into a personal covenant with God; a copy of
which happens to be preserved, written out with his
own hand, and regularly signed and dated, with re
peated records of adherence to it at subsequent dates.
This interesting relic, so apt a memorial of his early
piety, it seems proper to insert; — simply premising,
that personal covenanting was much more common in
the days of our fathers, than it is in our days, — that it
is virtually exemplified in every instance, where a poor
perishing sinner really surrenders himself to Christ for
salvation, — that the formality of writing, date, and
signature, is by no means essential to it, and does not
in the least degree affect its nature as a religious exer
cise, — and that while the specimen before us, in a few
expressions, bears marks of juvenility, which the judi
cious reader will know how to estimate, the writer
being then but seventeen years of age, it seems far
better to oifend the fastidious by giving it as it is, than
by the change of a single expression to interfere with
its entireness.
" I who am the chief of all sinners, and less than
XXVI MEMOIR OF THE
the least of all his mercies, yet by the good provi
dence of the blessed, gracious, and never enough to
be admired Jehovah, had not my lot casten amongst
Turks and Pagans, Heathens, or Papists, but in a place
where the light of the glorious gospel of Christ did
shine in the brightest meridian, and in greatest perfec
tion, and where the calls of Christ to life and salvation
were most full and frequent: although alas! I have it
to mourn over, that they were too long to me a sound
ing brass or a tinkling cymbal. Yet now, blessed be
God, and to his name be the praise, if my heart do not
deceive me,
" First, I can say, that I believe that there are three
persons in the Godhead, and yet only one God, so essen
tially one, and personally three, that HE has made
heaven and earth and all things, that he has created
them, and for his pleasure, they are and were created.
"2. I believe that Adam, being created in a
state of innocence, having ability to keep all God's
commandments, but not so confirmed in that state but
that he had a liberty of breaking them, and so being
left to the freedom of his own will, he fell together
with all his posterity that came from him in an ordinary
generation, the covenant being made with him and all
his posterity after him.
" 3. Man being in this fallen, undone, and miserable
condition, God's justice was irritate ; so that man lay
open and exposed to wrath and eternal punishment, to
all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and the pains
of hell forever.
" 4. That God, in his infinite wisdom, found out a
way to reclaim poor fallen miserable man, whereby he
manifested the glory of his name, as well as of his jus
tice, viz., the covenant with his Son, that he should
give him a certain number of fallen men, to be to him
an elect and peculiar people, upon these terms, that he
should take upon him the nature of man, and become
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. XXV11
in every thing like unto man, sin excepted, that he
should live in the world, and undergo the miseries of
this life, and that he should at last offer himself a sacri
fice for his elect on the cross. So I believe that he did
come into the world, suffer many miseries and hardships
for his elect, and at length out of his wonderful love to
a certain number of poor rebel sinners, being priest
himself, willingly offered up himself a sacrifice on the
tree, and afterwards was exalted to glory, and there
makes intercession for his people.
" 5. That he is both a willing and an able Saviour,
to save all that corne to God through him, and them
that come to him he will in no wise cast out.
" 6. I do believe that I, by nature, am far from
God, an enemy to God, and can never be brought nigh
to him, but only by blessed Jesus Christ.
"7. I do renounce self, as being utterly unable to
help myself; and so I flee unto Jesus Christ, the blessed
city of refuge, that I may be clothed with the robes of
his righteousness, and that so being clothed, I may not
be found naked.
" 8. I do renounce all my sins, both original and
actual, with an endeavour after due hatred and sorrow
for them, as highly displeasing in the sight of a holy
God, and do resolve, through his strength, to run the
way of every commanded duty, and to mourn over
every thing wherein I come short; yea and to fight
against every known sin, that through his strength, no
sin hereafter, no known sin, shall be allowed or ap
proved of, or have peaceable quarter in my heart or
affections, but shall endeavour to walk in the strait
and narrow way that leads to life everlasting.
" 9. I do, with uplifted hands, accept of Christ, in
sight and presence of the all-seeing God. I accept of
Christ in all his offices, and on his own terms, as
my Prophet, Priest, and King, as my all, my Lord,
my God, my Saviour, and King; and am heartily
XXV111 MEMOIR OF THE
content to be his subject, to be at his disposal every
way.
" 10. And here I do endeavour, through his strength,
to surrender myself, and give myself to him, in soul
and body, mind, heart, and affections, and to devote
myself to him alone and to his service.
" And finally, I do disclaim all confidence in myself,
as to the performance of this covenant, knowing the
inconstancy and unfaithfulness of my heart, how apt it
is to turn aside like a deceitful bow ; and therefore I
lay the whole weight and stress of it upon him, who
works both to will, and to do, of his good pleasure;
humbly beseeching him, through Jesus Christ, gra
ciously to accept of this offer, and mercifully to pardon
my sinful weakness, and infirmities, and favourably
grant his necessary assistance, that I may go on in the
strength of the Lord, making mention of his righteous
ness, even of his only. In witness of the premisses, I
do subscribe the same with my hand as follows :
" ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF.
At Culfargie 11 day of July 1712, afternoon,
towards or near night."
" But though, oh ! my soul, because I did not know
what days of tribulation I might meet with, what per
secution, what I might meet with from Satan, or the
world, or an awakened conscience, or fears and terrors
at death, I thought convenient for thy satisfaction, and
that I might not be found guilty of burying the good
ness of God in oblivion, or the tokens of his wonderful
condescending favour to lie in the grave of forgetful-
ness — to set down these things for the help of my
memory, and thy comfort, and having reason to think
that the Lord had graciously received the offer of my
self, because of the discoveries he made to me of him
self and drawing of my heart after him in my verbal
REV. ALEXANDER MOXCRIEFF. XXIX
covenanting, and how he enlarged my heart and
strengthened me to wrestle with him.
" 2. Because after all, when I was last down in my
room that night, he made me such a discovery of him,
as made me long to be with himself in glory, and then
made me to acquiesce in his will, that I should remain
here upon the earth, if he should have any farther ser
vice for me ; backed with an earnest desire, if I should
live (that) he would above all things make me for his
glory in my day and generation : yea and he made me
sing that song, and if I was not mistaken, put that song
in my mouth :
' Whom have I in the heavens high,
But thee, O Lord alone ?
And in the earth whom I desire
Besides thee there is none.'
To his name be glory forever, Amen."
" Being on the 15 October 1712, to renew my
covenant, and to take upon me again the seals of the
covenant which I had broken, I thought it my duty to
renew my covenant with the Lord, as well as the seal.
So I acquiesce in all the articles of that covenant, and,
if my heart do not deceive me, am heartily well pleased
with the bargain, and resolve to be for him, and not
for another, and to adhere to blessed HIM and his
truths. But withal disclaim myself, as being utterly
unwilling, unable, and insufficient for these things;
but I lay the whole weight of this, and the stress of
my salvation on blessed Jesus Christ. And besides
(and 0 if he would help me to do it !) to go through
the wilderness leaning on the beloved. To his name
be glory forever, Amen. Subscribed the foresaid 15
October at Culfargie.
" ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF."
" I adhere unto all the articles of the covenant, and
XXX MEMOIR OF THE
renew it again the last Sabbath of July 1713, at Perth
before going to the sacrament. 0 that the Lord would
help me to perform all the articles of it with all my
endeavour ! 0 that he may send me help from his
holy hill ! and be my Shepherd and my guide to lead
me in the road of righteousness, and give me strength ;
for in him only is strength. To his name be glory.
" ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF."
" I desire to adhere to the articles of the covenant,
and to renew it, and do subscribe to all the premisses,
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for strength to per
form ; which I pray he may grant me, and help me to
lean upon him for strength. So with resolutions to en
deavour the performance of them through his strength,
(0 that he may help me) I subscribe
" ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF."
Such is a specimen of the way in which the heir of
Culfargie thought and felt and schooled himself, at that
period of life when the heart is full of sublunary hope,
and easily fascinated by terrestrial pleasures, of which
he had the prospect of commanding more than an ordi
nary share. It may be doubted whether the form
which his exercise assumed was the wisest or the best
for the progress of his piety. Of this there will pro
bably be two opinions, even among judges the most
competent ; and as for the literature of what we have
quoted, it is not a subject for criticism. It was never
meant to be exposed to human praise or blame ; but
we see in it the undress of an earnest spirit, working
its way in the right direction, grappling with difficul
ties which it felt to be formidable, and too much en
grossed with spiritual realities, for caring to bestow a
thought on the drapery of expression.
In the midst of these personal exercises, and not re
motely connected with them, the work of the Christian
REV, ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. XXXI
ministry, for which he was preparing himself, was now
much in Moncrieff's mind. He sought the honour of
this ministry, and he regarded it as a high honour —
far higher than any which could accrue to him from
his standing in civil society, respectable though it was
— but at the same time, he was awed by the magni
tude of the office, afraid of its responsibilities, and
anxious that his call to it might be clear and satisfac
tory. Of this we find him recording his impressions
in such terms as do him credit : — " I design to apply
myself, as closely as possible, to reading and study for
some years, in order to be a minister, if the Lord will.
I desire to give the Lord the offer of my service,
though I have nothing but sin and want. And if he
shall through Christ, accept of me, and give me all
furniture, Christ in the first place, and all necessary
gifts; making me a friend of the Bridegroom, and one
of the children of the family, and employ me as an
instrument for bringing in others; I thmk I will have
reason to praise him through all eternity." — " I hope
God is putting on my clothes, and fitting me out for
going in the quality of his ambassador, which is far
sweeter to me, than if he were to encircle my head
with an earthly crown, unless, by so doing, I could do
as much for his glory. I hope I have got some sweet
lessons from Christ. 0 ! his teaching is sweet. I
would cry to God for more love to Christ, and to have
him enthroned in my heart." — " If thou call me to the
sweet ministry of thy dear Son, Lord direct and man
age, in thy wisdom, as to the time, that it may not be
sooner or later than is for thy glory. Keep me from
a sinful hand or aim. Let me have thy glory always
in my eye, and give me thy presence. 0 God do it
or I cry that thou carry me not up hence." — " Do not
I long, 0 Lord, if thou wilt give me thy own call and
be with me, to have the happiness of commending Christ
to others? Oh ! commend him effectually to my own soul."
XXX11 MEMOIR OF THE
As his preparatory studies drew to a close these
pious breathings increased in their fervour. So when
ready to enter on his trials for licence, we find him
impressed with a truly awful view of the subject — so
awful that, were it realized, no hireling would ever be
found to obtrude himself on the flock of Christ. — " It
is a very weighty matter to be a minister. I can,
through divine aid, venture my own soul; since God
hath made it, I shall serve him with it; and I may be
severely punished if I refuse, when called to be a min
ister, because of the difficulty or danger of the work.
But shall I risk other people's souls 1 If God in mercy
do not prevent it, I may be instrumental in damning,
instead of saving them. If I be a minister, I should
have skill of my business, as every man of his trade.
I should thoroughly know the disease of sin, and the
remedy, Christ. If I know not my business, I should
not meddle with it."
At the time when these last extracts were written,
or near to it — for exact dates cannot now be given —
their author began to share in that alarm about the
state of doctrine in the Church of Scotland, which had
previously been felt by the best of her ministers,
although no public measures had as yet been resorted
to, for probing the evil, or arresting its progress. In
the providence of God, it so happened, that the min
isters with whom he was most intimate belonged to
the more evangelical class. Several of them, indeed,
were his own relatives; and as he was now a student
of divinity, considerably advanced in his curriculum,
they conversed of church matters freely in his presence ;
while he, as a matter of course, took interest in their
statements, and had his opinions modified by them.
It was in this state of mind that he went to Leyden, a
year or so before he was licensed; and while there his
opposition to the errors which were infecting the church
at home, instead of being diminished was deepened and
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. XXX111
matured. He had the means of acquiring more accu
rate and enlarged views of the doctrines of grace, than
had been furnished to him at St. Andrews, and of these
means he availed himself with great avidity. Com
plaints, as is well known, were in 1715, laid before the
General Assembly against the errors of Professor Sim-
son, which that Assembly, in its policy, refused to
entertain. This refusal, two years afterwards, the dis
satisfaction being on the increase, constrained Mr. Web
ster, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, to bring the
case of the suspected Professor, by formal libel, before the
Presbytery of Edinburgh, which libel came to be dis
posed of by the Assembly in 1717, the year Mr. Mon-
crieff was at Leyden. A particular account of Sim-
son's errors, it were superfluous to insert here, as that
has been given already — and given to good purpose —
in a previous part of the present series. * Suffice it to
say, that, from the first, they went to subvert the doc
trine of Scripture, about the fallen condition of man,
and the means necessary for his restoration, while ulti
mately they came to a flat denial of the true Divinity
of the Son of God. Mr. Moncrieff, as has been said,
was at Leyden when Mr. Webster's libel was before
the courts; but by correspondence with home, he made
himself acquainted with it; and knowing when the
Assembly was to meet, he set apart a portion of time
for special prayer to God in relation to it. Nor did
he content himself with this, but, busied as he was
with other studies, he wrote a pamphlet in defence of
the truth which Simson was charged with impugning,
in relation to which, there is reason to believe, he
obtained the advice of both Mark and Wesselius, who
shared with him in his deep concern for the purity and
peace of the Scottish Church. Indeed, it is hinted
* Historical Sketch of the Origin of the Secession Church.
By the Rev. Andrew Thomson, B. A., Edinburgh.
XXXIV MEMOIR OF THE
that during all the time of his sojourn at Leyden, this
affair " was little out of his mind;" so early did that
zeal for the truth of the gospel, which was so conspi
cuous in his later days, begin to display itself.
We come now to that period of Mr. MoricriefFs life,
for which he had made such laborious preparation, both
devotional and academic — his entrance, namely, on the
Christian ministry. He returned from Holland in the
month of August 1717, soon after the meeting of the
Assembly referred to above; and not long after this —
probably in the beginning of 1718 — having passed the
ordinary trials, was licensed by the Presbytery of
Perth, as a preacher of the Church of Scotland. It so
happened that just about this time, his native parish
of Abernethy had become vacant, by the death of tho
Kev. Mr. Dunning; and an application was made to
the Presbytery for the moderation of a call, with a
view to Mr. Moncrieff. Nor were the moderations of
those days so inane and illusory as they afterwards
became: for although the power of the patrons had
then been restored, yet it was exercised with a degree
of lenity, and did not practically outrage the freedom
of election, till some years afterward. The modera
tion took place in April 1720, in the presence of three
members of the Presbytery; and the call was found to
be harmonious. It is not said to have been unanimous ;
but as sixty-one heritors, and thirteen elders appended
their names to it, while no active opposition is at all
hinted at, the approach to unanimity must have been
considerable. The ordination followed in September
of the same year; and Mr. Monerieff of Methven, a
distant relative of the Culfargie family, preached and
presided on the occasion. It is said that, in giving
the charge, he exemplified great fidelity, in warning
his kinsman against the danger which might arise from
his connections in life, and exhorting him on no ac
count to permit his position in society to become an
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. XXXV
obstruction to his ministry. This freedom proved dis
pleasing to nearer relatives who were present; but,
when the young minister heard of their displeasure, he
remonstrated with them, warmly defending the expres
sions objected to, declaring that he regarded them as
just and seasonable, and avowing his determination,
through grace, to keep all that he possessed on earth,
in property or influence, subservient to the sacred
office with which God had invested him.
Before Mr. Moncrieff was ordained at Abernethy —
and but a little before it — what is called the Marrow
controversy* had commenced in the Church of Scot
land; and the course pursued in this matter, as step
by step it was disclosed, gave a humiliating display of
ignorance or perverseness, on the part of the General
Assembly. In the book which gave rise to the con
troversy, as in every extended composition of man,
there are expressions which admit of amendment; but
taken as a whole, and when permitted to be its own
interpreter, it is an admirable exposition of Christian
doctrine; while the relentless condemnation of it for
errors which it never taught, and for truths which its
censors could not appreciate, fixed on the leaders of
the Scottish Church a deep brand of infamy. The
contention became hot and hotter; distinct formation
was given to parties; and from what has already been
said of the young minister of Abernethy, it is not diffi
cult to foresee on which side he would be found to
place himself. He was zealous for the doctrine which
the Assembly had condemned, although not one of the
twelve who are given to history under the honoured
name of " The Marrow-men ;" and one little incident
which casts doubt on his adherence to them is easily
explained. They framed a " Representation " against
* For an account of this controversy, see Historical Sketch
ut supra. Page lo and onwards.
XXXVI MEMOIR OF THE
the Assembly's decision, and appended their names to
it, as a means of reviving the question at a subsequent
meeting ; and Mr. Boston complains that at a private
meeting held by them at Edinburgh during the sittings
of the Assembly in 1721, with a view to prepare for
introducing their cause, some brethren not of their
number were pleased to attend, and to give them not a
little trouble. Among these he mentions Mr. Warden,
and Mr. Moncrieff of Abernethy, as making themselves
very active in proposing new methods of procedure,
besides " picking quarrels with the Representation "
itself. There might be ground for this complaint —
very possibly there was ground for it, although it
seems rather peevishly made — without supposing dif
ference of opinion about the doctrines at issue. It was
to be expected that the twelve, who, at not a little
risk of standing and emolument, had put themselves
forward to the front of the battle, would think it un
seemly for those who had lagged behind, to come for
ward now and involve them in disputation. But it
does not follow — it is not even insinuated by Boston
himself — that either Warden or Moucrieff were in any
degree disposed to defend or to palliate the Assembly's
decision. Moncrieff, indeed, was then but young ; the
spirit of his mind, it may well be supposed, was but
partially known to his senior brethren ; and his sug
gestions about modes of procedure might fail to accord
with their riper judgment ; but in all this there is no
room for suspecting his sincerity. Then, again, as to
his " picking quarrels " with the " Representation," it
does not appear that these were of damaging import ;
for some of his suggestions were ultimately adopted as
acknowledged improvements ; and who knows not that
in the Marrow itself, which Boston was so laudably
eager to vindicate, there are modes of expression which
have been regretted, by the most enlightened, arid the
warmest of its friends? But if, at first, there was a
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. XXXV11
doubt of Moncrieff as a Marrow-man — which it is not
evident there ever was — that doubt was soon dispelled;
for he very cordially went along with the twelve in
all their subsequent contendings, and soon gave evi
dence not to be mistaken, that he was neither a new
nor reluctant convert to the cause they had so much
at heart.
The interest taken by Mr. Moncrieff, when a student
at Leyden, in the process against Professor Simson, has
already been noticed ; and not long after he entered on
his ministry, that unhappy individual was to him, as
well as to many others, the cause of renewed uneasi
ness. As the more judicious had predicted, the As
sembly's lenity in 1717, had been lost upon Simson.
It had been worse than lost ; for instead of restraining,
it encouraged him to go on in his course of reckless
speculation, till in 1726 a process was commenced
against him, for broadly and distinctly denying the
divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mr. Moncrieff was
not a member of the Assembly which disposed of this
charge, but was present as an anxious listener ; and
when he saw the result to be merely suspension from
preaching or teaching the students, without any farther
mark of the church's disapprobation, his spirit was so
moved, that having obtained leave to speak, he charged
the Assembly with a very flagrant dereliction of duty.
Indeed there is reason to believe that this decision so
shook his confidence in the fidelity of the Assembly, as
in some degree at least, to prepare his mind for the
position which he subsequently assumed among the
leaders of the Secession. Nor was his the only mind
which these proceedings alienated. The godly through
out the church were deeply aggrieved by them ; and
not a few were compelled to feel, that the specific doc
trines of the cross were, in point of fact, but second
ary matters to the prevailing party in the Church of
Scotland.
XXX V1U MEMOIR OF THE
For about six years after this, or between 1726 and
1732, the name of Culfargie, as they generally called
him, seems to be little mixed up with public contend-
ings. These, so far as is now known, were to him
years of comparative quietness, although not of satis
faction or hope of reform ; and we have reason to be
lieve that he devoted them to the public and private
duties of his parish, in which he is said to have laboured
so assiduously as to bring upon himself the infirmities
of a premature old age. Nor did he labour in vain ;
for as his people know his worth, and were, as a body,
greatly attached to him, so they listened to his instruc
tions with a ready mind; although his strict fidelity in
watching for souls was offensive to some of the tempo
rizing. There is an incident on record, which may
have occurred about this time or perhaps at a later
date, and which seems entitled to insertion here, partly
on account of its intrinsic interest, and partly as a
specimen of the way in which the man of whom we
write made prCof of his ministry.
In his parish, there lived a wealthy young Laird^
who in defiance of a pious education had forsaken the
God of his fathers, and struck out into a career of
headlong wickedness. He was an heritor of the par
ish, and the representative of a distinguished family ;
and as such, had occupied a conspicuous place in the
house of God. This was now deserted; and he sought
by every means to shun the presence of his minister,
at home and abroad, as well as that of his associates in
the discipline of the church. Every one saw that the
young man was hastening on to ruin. His amiable
spouse was now neglected and broken-hearted. His
very children seemed to be forgotten ; and the fireside
scenes of his former days, so peaceful and so happy,
were lost sight of and forsaken for the haunts qf drunk
enness and impiety ; while his fine estate was melt
ing away, as snow before the sun of summer, and pious
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. XXXI X
parents presenting his case to the minds of their rising
children, as a specimen of the misery which a life of
debauchery ever entails on its wretched victim. His
constitution, as a matter of course, was soon broken
down; disease began to prey upon him; his drunken
companions forsook him ; his conscience became his
accuser ; and by night and by day was he made afraid
by the terrors of the Almighty. The instructions of
his godly father, the tears of his tender-hearted mother,
the family prayers of other times, in which he had so
often been mentioned by name — all rushed on his re
collection. The very words seemed vivid before him —
" O good and merciful God, the God of our fathers,
remember in mercy our dear child ! O grant that the
grace of the good Spirit may be lodged deep in his heart :
and may he stand up in our stead, when we shall sleep
in the silence of the grave ! "
The first softening of this profligate's heart, appeared
in a gush of tenderness towards his long-neglected wife
and dear little children. One day as they were all
hanging about him, he took his wife gently by the
hand, and said to her, weeping as he spoke ; " My
dear, can you forgive me the wrongs I have done
you ?" She could make no reply, but burst into tears;
and when her surprise at such words of tenderness, to
which she had been so long a stranger, had somewhat
subsided, she replied by kissing him, first on the one
cheek and then on the other, till her tears flowed down
upon his bosom; while the children, in their turn,
melted by the unwonted softness of their father's voice,
drew near and embraced him. " My dear," said his
wife, as she wept and witnessed his mental distress,
u shall we send for our worthy minister Culfargie?"
He gave a reluctant and dubious assent; being evi
dently overwhelmed at the idea of meeting with his
minister. She, however, ventured on her own
course, and despatched a servant to tell the inin-
Xl MEMOIR OF THE
ister that his presence was desired as speedily as
possible.
Culfargie lost no time in complying with the invita
tion ; but ordering the servant who usually attended
him in his pastoral visitations to saddle a couple of
horses, he was sitting by the bed of the afflicted laird,
in the short space of forty minutes. There was a long
and distressing silence. None of the parties seemed
disposed to break it. The pastor, on his part, was
anxious to know the true state of the sufferer's mind.
He saw his agony, but had yet to learn how far it pro
ceeded from the working of his conscience. At length,
he took the laird by the hand, and began to remind
him of those things which, if penitent, he would at
once admit, and which, if impenitent, he required the
more to have distinctly and faithfully rehearsed. He
told him of the good example which had been set before
him by his godly father, and of the religious instruc
tions with which both his parents, as well as his min
ister now addressing him, had plied him from his child
hood upwards. On these things he dwelt with marked
particularity; and, "Oh! young man," said he, "what
a return have you made? We sowed wheat; but no
thing has yet sprung up but tares — all tares! Thy
Maker and thy Eedeemer called on thee, saying, 'Give
me thy heart/ Oh! how tenderly this call was fol
lowed up, by every means calculated to enforce it.
But thou didst turn away from God; and thou — thou
didst sin still more and more. Thou hast made thy
brow as brass, and thy neck as a sinew of iron ! Thou
wouldst not hear him that made thee. He stretched
out his hands to thee all the day long; but thou hast
dashed from thee the cup of mercy held out to thy
lips. Ah ! sinful young man, laden with iniquity, thou
hast forsaken the Lord, thou hast provoked the Holy
One of Israel to anger, and now that anger is burning
hot against thee."
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. xli
The pastor paused, for he was overcome with grief.
The anguish of the laird seemed now insupportable.
He groaned and sobbed out, " Wo is me, for I am un
done, mine iniquity is ever before me. Against thee,
O God — against thee only — have I sinned, and in thy
sight done all these evils." On hearing these words,
the pastor rose abruptly, and casting a mournful look
on the sufferer, hurried out of the room, and rode
directly home. But when dismounting at his own
door, he told the servant, whose name was John, not
to unsaddle the horses, nor yet to retire to bed, but to
be ready, at a moment's notice to attend his call.
John afterwards stated that, according to orders, he
remained in the anti-chamber, quite in the dark as to
his master's intentions ; although, as the night ad
vanced, he was enabled to understand them. Mr,
Moncrieff wished for a spot where he could enjoy com
plete retirement in the exercise of prayer; and he knew
of no place for that purpose equal to his own study.
During the whole night, John overheard him wrestling
in prayer for the heart-stricken penitent. Distinctly
could he hear him, all prostrate on the floor, pleading
with strong crying and tears, for " the poor perishing
son of his ancient friend." " For thy Son's sake," he
heard him say, " for his dear sake who hung upon the
tree, thine own well-beloved Son's sake, O Lord have
mercy on this sin-sick soul ! Spirit of all grace ! O
life-giving Spirit! come, in thy love, revive and quicken
him: he is broken in the place of dragons: let the
bones which thou hast broken yet rejoice. 0 bind up
that broken heart! Look on his disease and his pains,
and forgive him all his sins."
Such was the exercise of the night; and as the day
began to dawn, he summoned John to bring out the
horses, and setting off at full speed, he was again, in
forty minutes, in the sick man's chamber, wearing a
benignant smile. Like Jacob, he had been wrestling
Xlii MEMOIR OF THE
with the Angel of the covenant, and felt something
like assurance that he had prevailed. " 0 Culfargie !
come away," cried the distracted laird, the moment
his eyes fell on him; "my heart has been broken by
the terrors of your message: and how I have longed
these slow-moving hours past to see your face again!
Great was my trouble after you left me; but when I
had tried, again and again, to call on the great de
liverer, a ray of hope seemed to spring up, and it gave
me some relief. Oh, said I, there is, there is One who
is * mighty to save!' O God of my fathers! surely
thou wilt not leave me in my extreme necessity! And
now sit down, Culfargie, and preach to me this Sa
viour; and tell me if there be in the holy word, one
drop of comfort for this burning spirit of mine."
This was a joyful moment for Culfargie. He sat
down by the bed-side, secretly breathing out a prayer
for wisdom to speak a word in season to the heart
broken man, whose wife and children were also present,
sharing in the solemn softness of the scene. " It was
an hour/' said one present, " of thrilling joy to all."
Taking the laird by the hand, while tears of gladness
bedimmed his eye, Mr. Moncrieff proceeded, with more
than his wonted alacrity, to speak to him of the love
of God in Christ Jesus, and of Christ himself as God
and man our Redeemer, and the head of the everlast
ing covenant. He discoursed on the atonement of
Christ, its necessity, its reality, and its perfection; he
made a free and formal offer of Christ, to the eager and
anxious listener; and in the name of his Divine Mas
ter, he called upon him, at once and without reserve,
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; declaring to him,
earnestly and officially, that in doing this he would be
accepted and saved. He next spoke of the Holy Spirit,
his divine person, his presence in the church, his work
of grace in the souls of men, creating in them a clean
heart, and renewing a right spirit within them ; and he
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. xliii
concluded the whole with a fervent prayer for a gra
cious out-pouring of this same Spirit on his young
friend, now coming up from the fearful pit, and from
the miry clay.
When the prayer was ended, both of them for some
time wept in silence. All present were in tears. The
laird himself was the first to speak : he could no longer
conceal his emotion; and aided now by that Christian
knowledge which had been so painfully instilled into
his youthful mind, he opened his heart as follows: —
" O Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. My
Saviour, here I lay down my guilt and worthlessness
at the foot of thy cross; and I accept thy blessed right
eousness, as freely offered and given to me. My Divine
Teacher, thou blessed Spirit, O teach a poor wandering
prodigal to come to thee, O my God, and to walk in
thy ways. Blessed and pitying Saviour, accept a poor
sinner, the vilest of the vile, who ventures, at thy bid
ding, to come, in all his poverty and need, to the foot
of the cross. On thy atonement, and on that alone, I
rely. And, O Redeemer of poor perishing sinners,
may I venture to call thee my Redeemer? Then, take
this heart; it is thine: — wash it in thy blood, O my
Saviour; to thee I give it away; to thee, my God, I
dedicate this body, this soul, and my all. Oh ! what
a debtor to free grace. Thine I am, now and for ever
more; for thou hast redeemed me, Lord God of truth."
Such is, at least, an outline of this interesting narra
tive; and by the account, the sequel was a happy one.
The laird recovered from his bodily affliction, and lived
to a good old age, giving clear and convincing evidence,
that he was, in very deed, a prodigal reclaimed. The
wife found her husband again, and the children their
father; but first of all, and best of all, the God of sal
vation in Jesus Christ found a monument of his mercy.
Nor need we doubt that this incident, apart from its
exciting peculiarities, presents to our view a fair sample
MEMOIR OF THE
of the minister of Abernethy's private ministrations.
To the rich, in the intercourse of civil society, he could
render the deference which was due; but, in the things
of God, he knew no man, so as to pamper his pride, or
palliate his iniquity. Being bent on the salvation of
all, he regarded all as on the same level, and pointed
the rich and poor alike, to one and the same narrow
gate, as the entrance into life.
It does not appear that Mr. Moncrieff had any thing
like a strong propensity for controversial discussion;
but while he was yet but young in the ministry, ne
cessity was laid upon him, and he yielded to the
call of duty. The cloud which hung over the Church
of Scotland became every year more dark and lurid;
and an agitation again commenced, in which he was
to be found among the most active. In 1732, the
General Assembly chose to determine, that where a
patron should waive his right of presentation, the choice
of a minister to a vacant parish should be limited to
its heritors and elders; thus intercepting that liberty
of choice, which some, at least, of the more pliant
patrons still conceded to the communicants. The re
sults of this decision are well known, and it were out
of place to dwell on them here, although a brief refer
ence is indispensable to the continuity of our narrative.
Dissatisfaction with the decision was felt and expressed
over a large portion of the church; many Presbyteries,
as well as individuals, took vigorous measures against
it; prior grievances which had been partially forgotten,
were by means of it brought into quickened remem
brance; and a movement began, for which they who
provoked it were far enough from being prepared. It
was in October of that same year, that Mr. Erskine, in
his far-famed sermon before the Synod of Perth and
Stirling, denounced the invasion of the people's rights,
with other misdoings of the ascendant party, in terms
too explicit to be mistaken or forgiven. And when
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. xlv
the Assembly proceeded to inflict upon him the penalty
of his faithfulness, Mr. Moncrieff was one of the three
who made his cause their own. He stood by Mr.
Erskine in the Synod at Perth; he stood by him in
the Assembly ; he stood by him before the Com
mission in August and November ; and he had the
honour of being one of the four, who were cast out by
a sentence, which has branded the Assembly with in
delible disgrace. Being laid under a suspension which
they knew to be unjust, they not only protested against
it, but declared themselves to be formally separated
from the judicatories of the Church of Scotland, and
continued in their respective parishes to minister to
their flocks.
This, as is well known, was the origin of the Seces
sion — a step which could not be lightly taken by Mon
crieff, or by his associates. And, although in his case
the loss of emolument was little to be regarded, there
were other considerations, which as a man of heart and
gentlemanly habitudes, he could not so easily get over.
It threw him out of the circle with which he had been
familiar, and made him an object of dislike and avoid
ance where, heretofore, he had been courted and es
teemed. But these were matters comparatively trivial,
when set up against the claims of conscience; and the
whole four felt them to be so. Their attachment to
the Church of Scotland was hereditary and sincere;
the fear of contracting the guilt of schism — a sin in
those days but dimly defined — was constantly before
their minds; they were leaving behind them a minority
of brethren, whose personal piety, and soundness in
the faith, they readily acknowledged; their views of
the utility of a State Church were different from those
which have since prevailed; separation was then a rare
thing in the land, and in very bad repute; and, with
these things before their eyes, it seems impossible to
find a motive for their secession, short of a sense of
xlvi MEMOIR OF THE
duty to God, deeply pondered, and prayerfully ma
tured. That this was the case with Alexander Mon-
crieff, we have the most explicit evidence. It was no
easy matter for him to set at nought the authority of
his church. The step he had taken weighed so heavily
on his spirit, as to produce occasional misgivings. In
opening his mind to some of his parishioners, in whose
piety and intelligence he could confide, he urged them,
with great earnestness, to pray for direction to him;
and speaking to one of them of the sentence of sus
pension, he said with tears in his eyes, " They say I
must speak no more in his name." The Commission
had forbidden him to preach that Christ whom he
loved so well, and this was more than his heart could
bear.
But since these points have been started, a little
more may be said about them. Had the Brethren
been in doubt as to the course they had taken, — had
subsequent reflection led them to suspect, that they
had been chargeable with rashness, — an opportunity of
retracing their steps was very seasonably furnished to
them. The Assembly, which met in 1734, began to
see the impolicy, although not the sinfulness, of the
deed done by their Commission; they found that the
people, in various parts of the church, were cleaving to
the suspended ministers, and blaming the conduct of
the Commission, in terms of unsparing severity; and
alarmed at this, they instructed the Synod of Perth
and Stirling, to restore the whole four to their respec
tive charges, but not to record any opinion about the
legality or illegality of the decision they were directed
to cancel. This was odd enough; it was in effect a
plea of guilty; but whatever may be said of it in other
respects, it was an opening made for the suspended
brethren, which, in the opinion of many, was wide
enough to warrant their return, and which, in point of
fact, made some of themselves to hesitate for a little.
EEV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFP. xlvii
Instead of embracing the opening, however, they not
only kept their ground, but took steps to fortify and
extend it, which led the Assembly formally to depose
them, and thus to aggravate the evil which it feared,
by giving a new arid salutary impulse to the cause of
the Secession.
The effect of the deposition on Mr. Moncrieff's mind
was relieving rather than otherwise; it went far to
extinguish his lingering respect for the decisions of the
Assembly; and placed him in a position where he could
act, with more than his wonted freedom. Disregarding
the deposition he continued to preach in the parish
church as heretofore; and the secular authorities were
not in haste to take measures for his forcible ejection.
It is hinted that they shrunk from the odious task till
distinctly given to understand, that, unless they pro
ceeded, complaints would be lodged, which might lead
to their own ejection from office. Being at last driven
from the church, he continued to preach in the church
yard, till the building, which is still occupied by the
congregation, was ready for his reception. A consider
able portion of the cost of this building, which is large,
substantial, and for its time, commodious, was contri
buted by Mr. Moncrieff himself: and he took care to
secure to the congregation from his own estate, a num
ber of acres of glebe land, to be theirs in perpetuity,
on the single condition of their continuing, as a reli
gious body, to hold by the principles of the Secession.
As to the stipendiary emolument of the parish, there
is the most abundant evidence that he relinquished it
without a grudge; for, during the whole of his subse
quent ministry, he never took a farthing from his con
gregation, although their numbers and substance were
such, as to enable them to afford him a liberal support.
In this, however, his generosity is more to be admired
than his foresight. It did not occur to him that his
successors, although equally generous with himself,
xlviii MEMOIR OF THE
might not be in circumstances to " wait at the altar"
without being " partakers with the altar," nor that to
exempt a Christian people from the duty of supporting
the ordinances of grace, tends, in all ordinary circum
stances, not to promote but rather to hinder the right
formation of their Christian character.
After being about seventeen years in the ministry,
and ten of these in the Secession, or in February 1742,
Mr. Moncrieff was unanimously chosen by his brethren
to be their Professor of Divinity, as successor to the
venerated Wilson of Perth, whose death had occurred
about three months before; and there is reason to be
lieve, that his early education, which had been both
liberal and diversified, and was now matured by pas
toral experience, contributed not a little to sustain, or
to elevate, that tone of evangelical preaching, which
from the first had characterized the seceding ministers.
It is recorded of him by a very competent judge, who
wrote more than forty years ago, and may have been
one of his students, that he filled the chair of Divinity
" with great ability, zeal, and faithfulness. This," he
adds, " was manifested, in the character and usefulness
of a great number, who, in the course of twenty years,
were trained up by him for the work of the ministry,
some of whom are yet alive; but the greater part,
having served their generation, are fallen asleep."
Before he entered on this office, as well as after
wards, he had taken a deep interest in the progress of
the Secession, exerting himself to the utmost of his
power, to meet the new demands for sermon, which
were every year increasing, and making journeys to
distant places, at not a little toil and expense. Nor
was he less active as a member of the Associate Pres
bytery ; but went heartily along with his brethren in
all their corporate proceedings. It was by him and
Mr. Wilson that the first draught of the Extra-judicial
Testimony was prepared for consideration; and in
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF.
framing the Act concerning the Doctrine of Grace, and
the Act for Renewing the Covenants, he took his fall
share. By the first of these Acts, the Presbytery, at
once, adopted, defined, and vindicated the views of the
Marrow-men, and gave a new impulse to that free, and
full, and fervid strain of evangelical preaching, which
proved itself, in after years, so extensive a blessing to
the people of Scotland. Of the second we cannot speak
in terms so complacent ; but neither is there room for
indiscriminate censure. The National Covenant and
the Solemn League embodied an error which our fath
ers could scarcely have been expected to detect. Nor
is there any reason to suppose that we would have
detected it, had we lived in their times, or been brought
up under their training. Looking back to Moses, and
in so far forgetting Christ, our earlier reformers re
sorted, not merely to ecclesiastical, but to national
confederacy, as the likeliest means of securing the good
which the Commonwealth had attained, and averting
the danger which was still impending. They were the
godliest in the land who adopted this expedient ; its
enemies were, with few exceptions, the carnal and the
careless; defection from the Covenant and defection
from godliness were, not only supposed, but positively
seen to go hand in hand; and it was quite a matter of
course, that the Four Brethren, with those who succes
sively adhered to them, honest as they were, and ear
nest for God, would recur to the Covenant, as in their
judgment, a scriptural means, at once of excitement
and concentration. They did so, and we honour them
in the deed ; for if we now know of a more excellent
way, it becomes us never to forget, that they were the
men who, under God, pointed our way to the mountain
top, from whence we have descried it; and as they
were true to their light, in the midst of obloquy and
privation, so from their tombs there comes a voice,
calling upon us to be true to ours.
4 D
1 MEMOIR OF THE
It was not long after the passing of these " Acts,"
till the rising community, now so far extended as to
be arranged into three presbyteries, under what was
thereafter known as the Associate Synod, was broken
into two parties of nearly equal strength, by the well
known controversy about the lawfulness, or unlawful
ness, of swearing certain burgess-oaths. Into the merits
of this controversy it were worse than superfluous to
enter here, as its olden records are still accessible to
those who choose to consult them, while a very judi
cious and veritable account of it has been recently
given to the public.* Our task, however, requires us
to say, that Mr. Moncrieff took part in the contro
versy, and seems to have been active in urging it on.
He was keenly opposed to the swearing of the oaths,
for reasons which he felt to be strong and convincing.
It would appear that he was even a leader among those
who were for making a testimony against them a con
dition of ecclesiastical fellowship. Here, again, he was
right arid he was wrong. He was right in doing hom
age to his honest convictions, even by the sacrifice of
cherished friendship ; and we believe he was right in
the view which he took of the merits of the question
at issue. But he was wrong — decidedly wrong, and
so were all who followed him, especially as adherents
to the state-church principle, in taking measures which
compelled a separation from those who were cordially
at one with him on all the vital points for which they
had been hitherto contending. There was mutual
wrong in this matter; Christian equanimity was dis
turbed ; controversy, as is often the case, degenerated
into strife ; the worst things about good men gained
their advantage, while the best were, for a time, held
in abeyance ; and so they parted asunder. The day
of this parting was a dark day to the yet infant Seces-
* Historical Sketches ut supra.
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. li
sion — so dark that some have wished it were blotted
out of remembrance. But the wish is vain, and though
it were not, there is more of sect than of wisdom in it.
Let history tell the tale of the " Breach," and tell it
fully out, as a warning to the United Presbyterian
Church in years that are yet to come. Nor let it be
forgotten that, deplorable as it was, and sulphureous
some of its odours, its collisions gave out some
sparks of light, which have led us on to a better un
derstanding of the spiritual constitution of the Chris
tian church.
Mr. Moncrieff's secession from the church of his
fathers, although marked by a deep conviction of duty,
did not induce him to look upon her with indifference
or contempt. His confidence in her was gone; but
his concern about her lingered and lamented. The
corruptions of her judicatories, and the erastian spirit,
which from year to year was enthroning itself in her
counsels, cost him many an hour of sorrow. By his
personal exertions, and in concert with his brethren, he
continued to expose those evils, and to point out their
disastrous tendency. But he never confounded them
with the civil constitution of the country, nor cherished
disaffection to the family of Hanover; although, to
serve the purposes of spleen, surmises of this kind
were industriously circulated. Nay, so ardent was
his zeal against the Pretender, that, during the trou
bles of 1745, he not only prayed for the reigning
monarch in the presence of the rebels, but refused to
pay with his own hand, or permit any to pay in his
name, the cess they were exacting in support of their
cause. " When some officers and a party were sent to
distrain, he dealt very faithfully with them, and avowed,
as the reason of his refusal, that he could not do any
thing that would have an appearance of acknowledging
their authority or might in any way promote their
cause. He laid before them, with great freedom, the
Ill MEMOIR OF THE
evil of the course they were engaged in, and warned
them against it. However, they proceeded in their
purpose, and not only took away his cattle and his
furniture, but carried off his eldest son to prison, and
threatened his life if rescue was attempted ; which they
were somewhat afraid of, knowing how much the peo
ple of the place were exasperated at the treatment
given to the family. But none of their plundering.?
or threatenings could induce Culfargie to any com
pliance."
About four years after this, or in 1749, he had the
comfort of receiving this very son whom the rebels had
cast into prison, as his colleague in the charge of the
congregation. He continued, however, laboriously en
gaged in all the parts of his ministry, in teaching the
students of divinity three months in the year, and in
giving a punctual and exemplary attendance on meet
ings of Presbytery and Synod. By these labours, and
his close application to study, his constitution was
worn out, and the infirmities of old age were brought
on, at a period of life when many retain considerable
vigour. In the summer of 1761, his strength was
greatly exhausted ; and, though he still continued his
public ministrations, so far as his strength would ad
mit, he considered his death to be at no great distance.
In August of that year he attended the funeral of the
Rev. Mr. Brown of Perth, and on coming into the room
where the mourners were assembling, he said to the
brethren present, " My brother has got the start of
me. It was a question whether he or I would be first
removed. The Lord has decided it. He knows who
are ripe."
This discovered his apprehension of the near ap
proach of death ; and yet his desire for public useful
ness continued unabated. About two weeks before his
death, he took a journey of forty miles, to prosecute
measures he had in view for supporting a weak con-
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. liii
gregation, which had recently become vacant. In two
or three days after his return, an end was put to his
labours. He died on the seventh of October, 1761, in
the sixty-seventh year of his age, and forty-second of
his ministry. Twenty-four hours before his death, he
ceased to be able to speak so as to be heard or under
stood; but during the last three hours, he was distinctly
heard breathing out praises to God. On the Sabbath
after his funeral, his son and successor addressed the
people on these very touching words, " His disciples
came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went
and told Jesus." Moncrieff was indeed like the mar
tyred Baptist, " a burning and a shining light."
In his domestic relations, this servant of Christ
seems to have been peculiarly happy. His first wife
— for he was twice married — was Miss Mary Clerk,
daughter of Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik, a lady of
amiable dispositions and decided piety ; which last he
regarded as a matter of primary importance in forming
a connection so intimate. There are fragments of his
handwriting still remaining, although now scarcely
legible, which in part show how solicitous he was that
his connections in life might tend to promote the effi
ciency of his ministry. For this he had presented
many an earnest prayer; and in Miss Clerk he found
the answer of his prayers. She was spared with him,
however, for but a few years, during which she bore
him three children, namely, Matthew, his successor in
the ministry referred to above, and two daughters, who
died in their infancy. This marriage was consummated
on the 8th of March, 1722, and marked by an incident,
which tended to make it instructively memorable. Sir
John Clerk, who is said to have been a godly man, had
often remarked, in familiar conversation, that it would
be a very pleasant thing for a person to fall asleep at
night, and not to awake till he found himself in heaven.
That very pleasant thing was in reserve for himself.
Hv MEMOIR OF THE
On the night of the marriage, or the next after it,
while the young couple were still in his house, he re
tired to his bedchamber at the usual hour. Some time
after Lady Clerk followed, and wondering, as she en
tered the room, that she did not hear him breathe, took
the candle to look in his face, when she found him quite
dead, and lying as if in a pleasant sleep, with his head
pillowed on the palm of his hand.
Mr. Moncrieffs second wife was Miss Jane Lyon,
daughter of the Rev. William Lyon of Ogle, minister
of the parish of Airlie. This lady is also described as
a person of much Christian worth, whose sweetness of
temper and unaffected piety, proved a very special
blessing to her husband and family. She bore to him
fifteen children, eight of whom died in their infancy ;
and she survived him in widowhood for no less a pe
riod than thirty years. On his own demise, he left be
hind him seven children, three sons and four daughters.
Matthew, his heir, and colleague in the ministry, a man
of prompt and active habits, somewhat eccentric in his
cast of mind, and peculiarly effective as a pulpit orator,
survived him but a few years, having died in the month
of June 1767. William, his second son, was ordained
at Alloa in 1749 ; and, after his father's death, was
chosen to be his successor as Professor of Divinity,
which office he held till his own death in 1786.
The published works of Mr. Moncrieff are not nu
merous. During his life, he occasionally published a
sermon, as well as a few short treatises, intended to
expose prevailing errors, against which he was ever on
the alert. A good many years after his death, these,
with some additions from his manuscript discourses,
were collected and published, in two duodecimo volumes,
by his son at Alloa, who has just been referred to.
These volumes, while they indicate a respectable share
of the scholarship of his times, and familiar acquaint
ance with divinity as a system, are, upon the whole,
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. Iv
practical in their character, and exhibit throughout a
strong attachment to the doctrines of grace, as held
and vindicated by the Church of the Secession. Con
cern for the advancement of vital godliness — a desire
for the prosperity of his own church, chiefly as a nur
sery of godliness — and an apprehension of terrible judg
ments, coming upon the land for its abounding iniquity
— are three things which seem to have been constantly
pressing on his mind. They have prominence in
almost all his discourses; and if, in some instances,
his fears were extreme, they never fail to indicate the
tenderness of his conscience, and a cordial self-devotion
to the cause of the Redeemer.
A fair portraiture of Mr. Moiicrieff, as he lived and
moved among men on the earth, cannot now be given.
We know enough to awaken interest, but not enough
to meet its demands. Nor, indeed, would bare facts, al
though we could certify them more extensively, be found
sufficient for the task. There was a raciness about the
living man, if waning tradition can be trusted, and a
peculiarity of minor feature, which would have required
an intimate contemporary, and that contemporary skilled
in limning, to bring them out with adequate effect.
He seems to have possessed a happy combination of
practical thinking, ardour of feeling, and promptitude
in action, which fitted him very peculiarly for the work
of his day ; and he rose to his eminence, less by the
strength of his intellect, than by the frank, open, and
manly sincerity which met the eyes of all who knew
him. What he judged to be right he set himself to
prosecute, with a zeal and determination not easily
checked ; and when opposition beset his path, espe
cially from quarters unexpected, the restraints of mode
ration were sometimes apt to be overlooked. His
promptitude withal made him a reprover where others
would scarcely have ventured on reproof; while the
sanctity of his character gave him a power, which even
Ivi MEMOIR OF THE
the profane could not easily resist. It is talked of as a
specimen of what frequently occurred, that meeting a
country gentleman of his acquaintance, who had just
set out on a Sabbath-breaking excursion, he rebuked
him in terms more definite than smooth. The gen
tleman took it amiss, and angrily put the question,
"Who gave you a right to impede my movements 1" To
which Mr. Moncrieff replied, " You will learn that at
the day of judgment," and instantly walked off. The
words took effect. The gentleman, after pausing for a
little, gave up his amusement and returned to his
home.
He was the lion of the Four Brethren, as the more
calculating Wilson had jocularly called him — a man
whose spirit was so resolute and daring, that lie was
much more likely to commit an imprudence than to
compromise his sense of duty. It is not denied that
his peculiar temperament, especially in the earlier part
of his life, occasionally betrayed him into fits of pas
sion; but of this infirmity no one was more sensible
than himself. It led him out to constant watchfulness,
with many a self-abasing prayer; and it is said that,
in his riper years, his victory over it was all but com
plete. The warmth of his heart, as a matter of course,
was poured into his manner of preaching, which is said
to have been fluent, animated, and striking, well fitted
to arrest attention, and to interest the heart in the
message from heaven. Although careful in his pre
parations for the pulpit, he was not in the habit of
rigidly adhering to his notes, but took advantage of
what was suggested by the excitement of delivery.
Indeed, he seems to have been addicted to off-hand
remarks, both in the pulpit and out of it, some of which
are still rehearsed by the descendants of those who
knew him. It is told, for instance, that when he
preached at Perth on a certain occasion, in what is
still called the Glovers' Yard — the place where the
REV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. Ivii
Seceders met for worship before a church was built for
them — and that when, after the concluding psalm was
sung, he rose to pronounce the blessing, he looked for
a moment at the multitudes who had been listening to
him so eagerly, and joining so heartily in the song of
praise, and then addressed them thus: — "My friends,
I shall tell you one thing before I dismiss you, and
that is, that if the thorns of the state were as sharp-
pointed as the thorns of the kirk, there are some of
you here to-day who would have been singing psalms
in heaven."
The young of Mr. MoncriefFs flock were the objects
of his special care. In both his public and his private
addresses, he seldom forgot to have a word for them ;
and, taught by his own experience the advantages of
early piety, he was anxious to see them brought to
Christ, while yet their hearts were tender, and their
hands comparatively unpractised in the works of the
flesh. We have already seen that his heart was free
from the love of "filthy lucre;" and that he merged
the country gentleman in the laborious Christian min
ister was manifest to all. The ordinary expedients for
improving his estate, and thereby increasing the wealth
of his family, received but little of his attention. When
a friend was pointing out to Matthew, his oldest son
and heir, certain improvements which were desirable,
and suggesting that, if his father would resort to them,
they would give to the whole estate, or to the portion
of it particularly referred to, quite a new appearance,
Matthew replied with considerable emphasis, " New !
my father cares for nothing new except the new cove
nant."
But the most remarkable feature of his character,
and that which armed him with most of his power,
was a deep-toned devotional spirit. All that has come
down to us respecting him, whether recorded or oral,
represents him as eminently a man of prayer. Every
Iviii
MEMOIR OF THE
thing winch presented the least dubiety, or gave him
unusual pain or pleasure, was with him an errand to
the throne of grace. " Be careful for nothing; but in
every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanks
giving, let your requests be made known unto God,"
was remarkably the motto of his life : and he had his
reward; for, although his troubles were not few, yet in
the midst of them all, and upon the whole, " the peace
of God which passeth all understanding kept his heart
and mind, through Christ Jesus." Not only was it his
practice to engage in secret prayer three times every
day, " morning, evening, and at noon ;" but he was
observed to retire for this exercise, at other times, as
incident or inclination gave him the impulse. He
could not live without prayer; and when opportunity
of retirement was denied him, he had recourse to
ejaculation. Even when in company, it was no rare
thing for him to rise from his seat, and take a few
steps through the room, or to stand before the window,
as if looking out, that unobserved he might pour out
his heart before God. The story of the woman, who,
at one of these pauses, in the middle of a sermon, whis
pered to the person beside her in the pew, " See ! Cul-
fargie is away to heaven, and has left us all sitting
here," is more likely than otherwise to be strictly true;
and there is no lack of other anecdotes, the very exist
ence of which, although they cannot now be formally
authenticated, may be regarded as characteristic, and
tend at once to illustrate and verify the statements
which have just been made.
Such was ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF, a father and foun
der of the Secession Church. He is not held up to
the view of posterity as a man of brilliant genius, nor
as possessed of extraordinary skill in science or litera
ture, nor yet, as in every thing, above the influence of
prejudice or mistake. But let posterity be told, that
he was an honest man — a spiritually-minded man — a
EEV. ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF. lix
disinterested man — a mail devoted to the service of
Christ — a Christian hero — a man who, as much as any
of his Brethren, if riot more than any one of them,
counted all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord ; — a man, in short,
who, taken altogether, was singularly qualified, in head
and in heart, by the God of nature and the God of
grace, for the position which was assigned to him.
Nor, in these days of comparative refinement, let it be
forgotten by our living ministers, that the specific
Christian virtues which, amidst some acknowledged
defects, shone so conspicuously in their father at Cul-
fargie, are absolutely indispensable to the continued
prosperity of the United Presbyterian Church. Some
other things may be dispensed with; but these can never
be dispensed with. Some other things may be polished
away; but these ought never to be polished away.
Talents, and learning, and administrative wisdom, and
tact in argument, and ornate address, have each its
measure of value, and let no man despise them. But
they are ever to be regarded as secondary things — as
accessaries rather than essentials — as the instrument
rather than the operator — as the body rather than the
soul of the true Christian ministry, — and unless they
be all seasoned with piety — a constantly cherished and
presiding piety, — a piety which takes its fire from the
cross, and is kept in glow by the efficacy of the cross
— the church may sink into dismal degeneracy, while
they are cultivated and loudly extolled. " Not by
might, nor by power; but by my Spirit, saith the
Lord."
AN INQUIRY
INTO THE
PRINCIPLE RULE, AND END
OF
MORAL ACTIONS;
WHEKEIN
THE SCHEME OF SELFISH LOVE, LAID DOWN BY
MR. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL
HISTORY IX ST. ANDREW'S, IN HIS ' INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGINAL, OP
MORAL VIRTUE,' IS EXAMLNED, AND THE RECEIVED
DOCTRINE IS VINDICATED.
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men
shall be lovers of their own selves, — Jteady, high-minded, lovers of
pleasures more than lovers of God. — 2 Tim. iii. 1, 2, 4.
AN INQUIRY, ETC.
INTRODUCTION.
THE present modish turn of religion looks as if we began
to think that we have no need of a Mediator, but that all
our concerns were to be managed with God, as an absolute
God. The religion of nature is the darling topic of our
age ; and the religion of Jesus is valued only for the sake
of that, and only so far as it carries on the light of nature,
and is a bare improvement of that light. All that is pe
culiar to the Christian religion, and everything concerning
Christ that has not its apparent foundation in natural
light, or that goes beyond its principles, is waved, and
banished, and despised by too many. Even moral duties
themselves, which are essential to the very being of Chris
tianity, are harangued upon, without any reference to
Christ ; are placed in his room, and urged upon principles
and with views ineffectual to secure their practice ; and
more suited to the sentiments and temper of a heathen,
than of those who take the whole of their religion from
Christ.
The sufficiency of the light of nature is warmly con
tended for, even by those who do not profess to reject
revelation ; and most of the doctrines of Scripture have
been given up by some who yet declare that the Bible is
their religion. It is therefore necessary to stand up for
the honour of the great God, against those who set their
bewildered reason, and proud conceits, above the dictates
of infinite wisdom.
64 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
The reader may judge for himself how far Mr. Campbell
has adopted these modish principles: and that he may
have a view of the scheme of principles, which he has pro
pagated with so much zeal and industry, I shall transcribe
the propositions he endeavours to confirm in his writings
lately published, in the terms in which he has thought fit
to express himself: and shall at present only take notice
of such propositions as express his sentiments concerning
what he calls natural religion.
In his discourse, proving that the apostles were no en
thusiasts, and in his preface thereto prefixed, he lays down
the following principles: wz. That "the laws of nature
(i. e. natural religion) are, in themselves, a certain and
sufficient rule to direct rational minds to happiness;"*
and that " supernatural light is however necessary or fit to
give them sufficient information of the law of nature, in
its full compass and latitude, and of all things that are
necessary to work upon their passions, in order to engage
them to observe it carefully." f That "our observing of
the law of nature, is the great mean or instrument of our
real and lasting felicity." J And that "men may very
well, in a natural course and series of things, attain such
manifestations of the nature and excellencies of God, as
are necessary to engage them to love and admire him,
without any more immediate interposing of the Divinity,
than there is when a man opens his eyes, and beholds the
sun at noon-day, and feels an agreeable warmth spreading
itself through his whole body." §
He proceeds, in another || discourse, to give us a more
full account of his opinion ; in which he tells us, in the
first place, that he agrees with the author of Christianity
as old as the creation, in thinking, " that natural religion
stands on these natural principles, as its peculiar founda
tions ; namely, that God is, and governs the world by his
providence ; that the soul is immortal ; and that all men,
* Preface, p. 6. f Ibid. p. 7. f Ibid. p. 6.
§ Discourse, pp. 1, 2. j| Oratio de vanitate luminis naturae.
OP MOKAL ACTIONS. 65
of whatsoever condition, shall be rewarded or punished in
the next life after this." * He adds, in the same place,
that " the law, or religion of nature, consists in those
duties, which, because they are founded on, and derived
from nature, we are obliged to pay to G od and men : all
which duties," he says, " we are to perform to this end,
that we may recommend ourselves to God ; and that, hav
ing spent our whole lives in a careful observance of them,
we may attain everlasting life with God in heaven." And,
in the following page, he gives it as his opinion, that " all
the welfare and happiness of rational minds is compre
hended in the duties of natural religion."
In order to show, that while natural religion is a suffi
cient rule to direct mankind to happiness, yet revelation
\sfit or necessary to give them sufficient information of the
law of nature, in its full compass and latitude, he attempts
to prove, " that men, by the mere light of nature, without
revelation or tradition, are not able to arrive at the know
ledge of the being and existence of God, and of the im
mortality of the soul."t
Since these discourses were sent abroad into the world, he
has published a new edition of his Enquiry into the origin of
moral virtue. In this treatise, he takes in all those natural
principles, upon which he asserts, in his former discourse,
that natural religion stands as the foundation of virtue ;
namely, that God is, and governs the world by his pro
vidence : that the soul is immortal ; and that all men, of
whatsoever condition, shall be rewarded or punished in
the life which is to come. £ And from his supposed lead
ing principle of self-love, he derives all acts of piety towards
God, or of justice and charity towards men.§ So that we
have here a complete system of natural religion, which
Mr. Campbell has composed, by the assistance of revelation
or tradition ; and which he has declared, both in this, and
in his other performances, to be sufficient to entail upon
* Oratio de vanitate luminis naturae, pp. 4, 5. f Ibid. pp. 26. 27. 32.
t Enquiry into the origin of moral virtue, pp. 63. 79.
§ Ibid. pp. 111. 124.
4 E
66 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END OP MORAL- ACTIONS.
us, if duly observed, both real and lasting felicity, in re
commending ourselves to the favour of God, and attaining
everlasting life with him in heaven.
I have formerly made some reflections on his first two
discourses ; and seeing he has, in a Christian society, and
though clothed with a sacred character, taken it upon
him to recommend to the world a visionary scheme of his
own, as sufficient, if practised, to entitle mankind to future
and lasting felicity ; it is necessary to examine his senti
ments by the Scriptures of truth, the only test and in
fallible standard of faith and manners. It were an un
necessary labour to trace him in all the periods of such a
verbose discourse ; which, however, might be so managed,
as to expose every particular branch of his hypothesis to
the just resentment of every sober mind, were it worth
either the reader's while, or mine, to employ ourselves
in such a manner. I shall therefore confine myself to
these few things, as the subject of the following sections.
1. To show that self-love is not, nor ought to be, the lead
ing principle of moral virtue. 2. That self-interest, or
pleasure, is not the only standard by which we can, and
should judge of the virtue of our own, and others' actions ;
or that actions are not to be called virtuous, on account
of their correspondency to self-interest. 3. That self-love,
as it exerts itself in the desire of universal unlimited
esteem, ought not to be the great commanding motive to
virtuous actions: nor is obtaining the good -liking and
esteem of those beings, among whom we are mixed, to be
our main end in pursuing them. This will be sufficient
to answer my design, which is to vindicate the truths of
God, against the principles laid down in his scheme of
selfish love.
SECTION I.
WHEREIN IT IS MADE APPEAR, THAT SELF-LOVE 18 NOT, NOR
OUGHT TO BE, THE LEADING PRINCIPLE OF MORAL VIRTUE.
OUR author tells us, " That it is very certain, that all men
have implanted in their nature a principle of self-love or
preservation, that irresistibly operates upon us in all in
stances whatsoever; and is the great cause, or the first
spring of all our several motions and actions, which way
soever they may happen to be directed:"* that " self-love
lies always at the bottom of every rational mind, and is
universally the first spring that awakes her powers, and
begins her motions, and carries her on to action." f He
adds, " When you apprehend the Deity under these ideas,
that promise you so much advantage, so as to refuse to
worship him, unless he presents himself thus favourably
inclined to your interest, and studious of your happiness ;
pray, what is the generous principle that determines you ?
I see nothing here that has the least semblance of your
being disinterested. Give me leave to say, this is a suffi
cient demonstration to me ; and I suppose, to every body
else ; that, even in matters of devotion, you are absolutely
governed by self-interest." J And elsewhere, § he inserts
on the margin a citation from Arrian, in which he brings
him in, saying, That when the gods appear to cross us, and
mar our self-interest, we throw down their image-houses, and
burn their temples: and he expressly says, in that place,
" that he owns every thing in that citation, as his princi
ples." Having thus presented our Author's sentiments,
in this particular, in his own words, which he attempts to
* Enquiry into the origin of moral virtue, p. 4. f Ibid p. 101.
J Ibid. p. 460. § Ibid. PD. 451. 455.
68 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
establish in his prolix performance, I shall next proceed
to fix the true state of the question.
As to which it may be noticed, that the question is not,
Whether self-interest be a motive of our obedience to God ;
or of moral virtue, as he calls it ? This is owned on all
hands. God has implanted in us a principle of self-pre
servation ; and we may laudably have a respect to the re-
compence of the reward. But the question is, Whether
self-love be the first spring, or leading principle of virtuous
actions ? and, Whether self-interest be the highest motive
of our obedience to God 1 Mr. Campbell holds the affirma
tive, and I the negative, in the present question.
Here I must likewise observe, that though Mr. Camp
bell begs his reader not to regard him as either Jew or
Christian, but as some heathen philosopher ; yet we must
in charity think, that the principles maintained in this
book are truly his sentiments ; and, in his opinion, agree
able to all the principles of religion, whether natural or
revealed ; unless we are to suppose him to believe, and to
propagate, with a great deal of industry, " a scheme of
principles directly opposite to his Christian creed."
It is evident, from his Preface, that he recommends
moral philosophy as that which ought to be the main
study of a Christian divine, next to the holy Scriptures :
and pretends, that it is the great, and chief business of
ministers, to preach * it to their people. Nay, seeing he
has composed a system of this kind, and expresses a fond
concern for its being valued at a high rate by all who
shall peruse it ; we must conclude, that, in his opinion, it
is very proper for students to form themselves upon this
performance ; and to make it their main work, when they
shall happen to be invested with a sacred character, to
preach its morality to those under their pastoral charge.
All which, with what I have observed in the introduction,
gives sufficient ground to call it immediately to the bar
of the sacred oracles; and, according as it is found to
* Preface to his Enquiry, pp. 22, 23.
OP MORAL ACTIONS. 69
agree to that infallible standard, let a judgment be formed
about it.
I begin, with endeavouring to show, in this section, 1.
That a pretence to make self-love, interest, and pleasure,
the first spring and principle of moral virtue, is condemned
by the Holy Scriptures, which set our obedience to God
upon a quite other foundation. 2. That this notion of the
first rise of moral virtue is contrary to the plainest prin
ciples of reason. 3. That it has no manner of countenance
from the writings of the more judicious and thinking part
of the heathen philosophers, who have expressed quite
other sentiments upon this subject.
I. If we consult the sacred records upon this question,
we are assured from them, that the Holy Spirit doth renew
our natures by regenerating grace; and that this new
nature is the principle of aU holy and spiritual actions :
which might be illustrated and confirmed at great length,
from John iii. 6. 2 Cor. v. 17. 2 Pet. i. 4. Jer. xxiv. 7. and
xxxi. 33.
Nay, what true virtue can we reasonably expect to find
among mankind, in their present circumstances of sin and
guilt ? If we pay a due regard to divine revelation, we
must believe that the apostle Paul gives a just character
of them, when he tells us, that they cannot please God ;
that they are alienated from the Author of their being,
through their blindness of mind, and enmity of heart ; and
are indisposed for living to his glory, as their end, and for
moving to the enjoyment of him, as the centre of their
happiness. From which it is very manifest, that whatever
external conformity the actions of men, in an unregenerate
state, may carry to the letter of the law ; and however
useful this conformity may be to themselves or to society ;
yet it can neither be acceptable to God, nor recommend
men to his favour ; as Mr. Campbell has confidently alleged
upon this argument See Rom. viii. 7, 8. Eph. iv. 18.
Prov. xxi. 17.
God himself has declared it to be his method of proceed
ing with us in the new covenant, that he giveth us new
70 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
hearts, and writeth his laws in them : and that the effect
of this internal change is, our walking in his statutes,
and our keeping his judgments, and doing them, Ezek.
xxxvi. 26 : that is, we are led, in this way, to reform our
lives, and yield all holy obedience unto God.
We know, from the sacred oracles, that Adam, the first
man, was created in the image of God, before he had done
any good action, or was capable of performing it ; and we
are likewise assured, that mankind, in their present lapsed
state, are destitute of the image of God, which consists in
the rectitude of the whole soul, and in the powers and
abilities that were necessary for that obedience God re
quired of them. This makes it certain, according to the
saying of our Lord and Saviour, that " A corrupt tree can
not bring forth good fruit;" and that before men, in their
present state of sin and guilt, can perform actions accept
able to God, a new principle of spiritual life must be in
fused into their souls by the divine Spirit ; which, in the
nature of the thing, must be a principle and spring of
action of a very different kind from the corrupt self-love
of mankind in their present situation.
Though it can be demonstrated, that self-love neither
was, nor could have been the leading principle of moral
virtue, according to the original frame of human nature ;
yet it were idle to digress to a question that cannot be in
the field, as matters now stand. Mr. Campbell's system
of moral philosophy is composed for the benefit of man
kind in their present circumstances ; and, as such recom
mended by him to the students, to whom he says in the
plainest terms, * " That, by performing the duties of na
tural religion, we are recommended to the favour of God ;
that, having spent our lives in the observance of them, we
may attain everlasting life with him in heaven : " and that,
" all the welfare and happiness of rational minds is com
prehended in the duties of natural religion." These opi
nions he delivers in his discourse, designed for the refuta-
• 0 ratio, &c. pp. 4, 5.
OF MORAL ACTIONS. 71
tion of the deists, who contend for the sufficiency of natural
religion, in the present situation of mankind !
I am not to canvass Mr. Campbell's sentiments as to this
article of the Christian creed, whether he believes man
kind to be in a state of guilt and universal corruption or
not: it no way affects my argument. I have elsewhere
proved it from the Holy Scriptures, * that they are in a
state of entire depravation: and this, as has been there
observed, has been acknowledged by the wisest among the
heathen, and by the deists themselves. It being therefore
certain, that the self-love of mankind, in their present
circumstances, is corrupted and depraved ; it can with no
show of reason be pretended, that a vitious, inordinate
passion, can possibly be the first spring and principle of all
virtuous actions.
If Mr. Campbell pretend, that it is not a vitious self-
love, but self-love duly qualified, as having a chief regard
to God, as the head of human society, which is the prin
ciple of moral virtue ; then he must acknowledge, that our
love is either virtuous or vitious, according as God is, or
is not, preferred to the creature ; which is the same, as to
say, that supreme love to God is the first principle of
moral virtue ; an opinion which I do not oppose. Or his
meaning must be that it is upon the account of our own
self-interest, and not for his divine excellency and autho
rity, that a chief regard is to be had to the Most High ;
and then, according to him, the morality of the love pro
ceeds from a higher regard to self-interest, than to God ;
and the infinite God is made a subordinate to self and self-
interest : which is the opinion I contend against, main
taining that self-love, considered in this view, is a most
vitious and inordinate passion, and cannot possibly be the
principle of any virtuous action whatsoever.
But, to proceed: The morality which Mr. Campbell
would have the students of divinity instructed in, that, in
imitation of him, they may preach it in Christian congre-
* A review and examination of Mr. Campbell's principles, &c.
72 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
gations, being moral philosophy ; it must exhibit such a
kind of moral virtue, as bears no relation to Christ, or to
the grace and operations of the divine Spirit : for all are
agreed, that philosophy, or the bare light of nature, doth
not present moral virtue in this view: and, if he had
taken up moral virtue in this light, it cannot easily be
accounted for, that in so large a treatise, he should not so
much as have once attempted to show the defects of philo
sophical morality, or its difference from gospel obedience,
that students, as well as others, might not be led into per
nicious mistakes.
But Christian morality, in my opinion, has alone the
just claim to be preached in Christian congregations. It
proceeds from a regenerating work of the divine Spirit,
which is altogether unknown in philosophical morality :
and it is likewise the fruit of Christ's purchase and merit.
Hence our Lord says, " For their sakes I sanctify myself,
that they may be sanctified through the truth," John
xvii. 19. He prevails for the communication of it, by
his intercession within the vail : " Sanctify them through
thy truth : thy word is truth," John xvii. 17. Thus
the gospel of Christ, with the moral law ingrafted into
it, is the rule and measure of our obedience, or holy
walking with God. The moral law, or the law of nature,
in its full compass and latitude, as it is contained in the
word, was the ride of original holiness and obedience : but
it is not the adequate rule of that holiness whereunto we
are restored by Christ. The law of nature, in its greatest
latitude, cannot reveal Christ, nor those treasures of grace
which are in him, for enabling us, by daily communications
of light and life from him, to " perfect holiness in the fear
of God : " nor can it direct to faith in him, which is the
first spring of all virtuous actions ; and, as such, is cele
brated by the apostle Paul, at great length, in the llth
chapter of his epistle to the Hebrews.
The obedience that is accepted with God, is the obedi
ence of faith, Rom. i. 5. Heb. xi. 6 : thence it springs ; and
therewith it is animated. Our Lord Jesus Christ affirms,
OP MORAL ACTIONS. 73
that men are sanctified by the faith that is in him, Acts
xxvi. 18. From which it is plain, that there is no other
way to attain to that holiness, by which we are made meet
for the inheritance of the saints in light ; seeing it is by
faith our hearts are purified, and not otherwise ; and where
the heart is not purified, there can be no obedience accept
able unto God, nor any fellowship with him.
It is the peculiar glory of Christian morality, or gospel
holiness, that it " is our being conformed to the image of
the Son of God : For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his Son,"
Rom. viii. 29. To this end, among others, is he set before
us by the gospel, in the holiness of his person, the glory of
his graces, and the beneficence and usefulness of his con
versation in the world ; that we may imitate him, as the
great pattern and example of holiness. As it is a fool
ish imagination, that the only end of his life and death,
was to exemplify and confirm his doctrine ; so to neglect
to consider him, as our example, or to refuse to imitate
him as such, is most vile and pernicious. And if Mr.
Campbell had paid a due regard to the Scriptures, which
alone give us a right notion of true morality ; had he kept
his eye upon the example of our Lord, that noble pattern
of exalted virtue, with that veneration which became him,
he had not amused the world with his imaginary scheme
of philosophical morality ; nor asserted it to be the great
and chief business of ministers to preach such a system to
their people. Nor yet would he have talked in the manner
he has done, of the noble sentiments, and heroical actions,
of heathen philosophers ; it being easy to show how dim
their light was, and that their fairest virtues were blended
with the foulest of vices. But we have a Saviour that is
full of grace and truth; and certainly we had all the
greatest need of grace and truth. For whatever fond con
ceits some entertain of the sufficiency of the religion of
nature, regarding the religion of Jesus Christ only for the
sake of it, or so far as it carries on the light of nature :
yet it is manifest, that the whole human race was miser-
74 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
ably fallen into the deadly darkness of iniquity and error ;
a darkness that did still increase upon them, and out of
which they never could be able to extricate themselves : for,
even " when they knew God, they glorified him not as God,
neither were thankful, but became vain in their imagina
tions, and their foolish heart was darkened : and professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools," Rom. i. 21, 22.
This darkness had everywhere spread itself through the
earth ; as the apostle Paul does prove at length, in his
epistle to the Romans, and as the history of the gospel
plainly shows us. It is in Christ alone, that we have a
full provision made for our deliverance out of this wretched
state.
As to our author's celebrated heroes, Socrates and Plato,
what the apostle Paul has said of the heathens, in general,
held true of them ; " That God gave them up to unclean-
ness, through the lusts of their hearts, to dishonour their
own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of
God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature
more than the Creator, who is God, blessed for ever."
They who have considered the broad hints that are given
in their writings, of their being under the power of these
vile affections, must have less sense than charity, if they
can regard the apologies some have attempted to make for
them as of any value. What weight can be attached to
the sayings of men who, in practice, conformed to the
idolatry and superstition of the country in which they
lived? An instance of this we have in Socrates; who,
with his last breath, used this mean expression ; " Crito,
We are indebted a cock to jEsculapius ; offer it, and do
not forget."
But further, as Christian morality is the fruit of Christ's
purchase and intercession; and as his word is the rule
and measure of it, and his example its complete pattern :
so we are animated to pursue a course of virtuous
actions, by daily supplies of grace from Christ, " who is
given to be head over all things to the church ; which is
his body," Eph. i. 22. It hath been always granted, by
OF MORAL ACTIONS. 75
such as acknowledge the divine person of the Son of God,
that he is the head of his church ; namely, that he is the
political head of it in a way of government, and the
spiritual head, as to vital influences of grace unto all his
members. The church of Rome, indeed, cast some dis
turbance on the former, by interposing another immediate
governing head between him and the catholic church : yet
they do not deny, but that the Lord Christ is, in his own
person, the absolute supreme king and head of the church.
The latter is refused by the Socinians, and others who go
their way, because they deny his divine person. But by
all others who profess the Christian religion, this hath
hitherto been acknowledged : and it is most evidently ex
pressed in several places of scripture. The apostle Paul,
in his epistle to the Ephesians, assures us, in the strongest
language, that as, in the natural body, there are supplies
of nourishment, and natural spirits communicated from
the head unto the members ; so, from Christ, the head of
the church ; which he is as God man, there is a supply of
spiritual life made unto every member of his mystical body.
He also says, that Christians, " Speaking the truth in love,
grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even
Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together,
and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, accord
ing to the effectual working, in the measure of every part,
maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in
love." See 1 Cor, xii. 12. Eph. iv. 15. Col. ii. 19. John
xv. and xiv. 19. Eph. iv. 15, 16.
Our Lord Jesus Christ hath encouraged us to expect
and depend upon assistances of this kind, by his own gra
cious word of promise, " Because I live, ye shall live also,"
John xiv. 19. He is said to be " our life," Col. iii. 3 ; and
we are said to " receive out of his fulness, and grace for
grace," John i. 15. To the same purpose the apostle ex-
presseth the matter, " I am crucified with Christ ; never
theless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the
life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me," Gal.
76 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
ii. 20. " I am crucified with Christ : " that is, as if he had
said, The death of Christ hath a mortifying influence upon
the corruptions of my heart and nature. Christ died to
expiate sin ; we die to sin when we mortify it : but adds
he, " Nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me : and the life which I live in the flesh, I live by the
faith of the Son of God : " that is, I live a holy spiritual
life : yet I do not lead that life, considered in myself, and
what I am by nature ; for my motions as a Christian, are
not according to my natural propensions and inclinations,
but Christ, by his Spirit, liveth in me, having renewed and
changed my heart, and infused spiritual dispositions into
my soul ; so that I am enabled, by a principle of faith,
acting upon the Son of God, in his person, offices, and
mediation, to order my whole conversation, according to
the will of God, revealed in his word.
I shall not at present enlarge upon the relation which
Christian morality bears to the Divine Spirit, having given
some hints in what has been said, and treated, at some
length, of the necessity of regeneration in a former dis
course.
Yet I cannot but observe, upon the whole, that the
philosophical morality, recommended by Mr. Campbell, is
something very foreign to the Scriptures of truth. Chris
tian morality, as has been shown, bears a relation to Christ,
and the Divine Spirit : but philosophical morality can have
no such respect to these glorious persons of the adorable
Trinity, seeing the doctrines concerning their operations,
in the method of salvation, are peculiar to revealed religion ;
and are not in the least hinted at by our author, though
a Christian divine, in his whole scheme of moral philosophy.
Mr. Campbell's philosophical morality takes its rise from
his love to himself; but Christian morality proceeds from
the knowledge and love of God : his philosophical morality
springs from a corrupt and inordinate self - love ; but
Christian morality proceeds from a new nature, and the
image of God restored in the soul of a lapsed creature,
by the Holy Spirit in regeneration, and from faith in the
OP MORAL ACTIONS. 77
Son of God, as its first spring and principle. Seeing then
that the above propositions have been made evident, from
the word of God, it will be very manifest to every one that
pays a due regard to the sacred oracles, how silly a figure
this new philosophy does make, when it is viewed in scrip
ture light ; and that it can never possibly answer the ends
proposed by its author of recommending men to the favour
of God, and entitling them to future and lasting felicity.
II. But, to proceed : Since Mr. Campbell enrols himself
among the high pretenders to reason in these days, it will
be fit to examine if this, his principle, be agreeable to the
common reason of mankind.
It is most agreeable, in my opinion, to all the principles
of sound reason, that rational creatures be animated in a
course of virtue, by the knowledge and love of the Deity,
the great Author of their being, as the ruling motive of all
their actions. For it is very manifest, that the duty of
glorifying God, or celebrating his infinite perfections, is
founded in the nature of God, and the relation creatures
stand in to the Author of their being ; and that it is im
possible, in the nature of the thing, that a reasonable
creature, remaining in a state of integrity, can fail to pro
mote this great and noble end of its being and existence ;
because an holy and innocent creature cannot possibly
contemplate infinite wisdom, power, goodness, and holiness,
without supreme love and esteem, the most humble adora
tion, and most accented praises.
Mr. Campbell has had the assurance to express himself
in a very extravagant manner, maintaining, " That we may
refuse to worship God, unless he present himself favour
ably inclined to our interest, and studious of our happi
ness." Again he tells us, " That, by our happiness, he
understands future and lasting felicity, universal and im
mortal fame and renown, and God's expressing his love
and esteem of us, in such instances, as are fully propor
tionated to our natural principle of self-love."*
* Enquiry, £c. pp. 460. and 76. 83. 86. 94. Preface to his dis
course, p. 6.
78 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
This bold assertion, that we are not obliged to worship
God, that is, to esteem, love, or obey him, unless he con
ferred upon us an immortal fame and renown, and a future
and lasting felicity, had need, I think, to have been well
established by solid arguments, when it was confidently
published to the world by its author : for, if he fail in the
proof of it, he may be found guilty, of what will be con
structed, by all sober minds, to be a reproaching of his
Maker, in whose hands his breath is, and to whom he must
account for the whole of his conduct. For my part, I see
no shadow of proof, either for this, or his other opinions,
in all his wordy performance ; and therefore, till he pro
duce a claim of right to future and lasting felicity, and to
universal and immortal fame and renown, that is not
founded in the free condescension, will, and good pleasure
of God, I cannot vindicate him from the charge of having,
in this particular, made sadly too free with the great
Author of his existence.
But, to set this matter in a true light, we may consider,
that our worshipping God is a necessary duty, founded upon
the precept and law of God, which is an emanation from
his holiness, wisdom, and dominion over his creatures:
whereas the eternal felicity of a dependent being, is a
privilege voluntarily bestowed, and hath its rise in divine
goodness or bounty, which is free in its egress. Whoso
ever will consider the nature of God, and the necessary
condition of a creature, cannot, with reason, think, that
eternal life is, of itself, due from God, as a recompence to
him for his obedience. Who can think so great a reward
due, for the simple performance of the creature's duty ?
God owes nothing to the holiest creature. What he gives
is a present from his bounty ; not the reward of merit :
" for who hath first given unto him, and it shall be recom
pensed to him again 1 " What obligation could there be
from the creature, to confer a goodness on him, to this or
that degree, for this or that duration 1 If God had never
created man or angel, he had done them no wrong ; and if
he had taken away their being, after a time, when he had
OP MORAL ACTIONS. 79
answered his end, he had done them no injury.* For
what law obliged him to continue them in that being
wherein he had invested them, but his mere good pleasure 1
Although it is owned, that, in all ages of the world, men
have had a strong hankering after immortality ; yet this
is only an evidence that God designed that they should
exist beyond the grave ; but not that they stood entitled
to future and lasting felicity, from the nature and relation
of things, independently of his own free purpose and will.
For the same power that gave them a being, could have
produced them, without any appetite of that nature and
kind. And though it was this appetite which gave life and
spirit to all the reasonings of the philosophers on this sub
ject, and was itself one of the best arguments of the soul's
immortality within their reach ; yet so conscious were
mankind, that a future and lasting state of felicity was a
privilege that depended on the divine will, favour, and
bounty, that Socrates himself, notwithstanding all the
arguments by which he endeavours to encourage his
hopes, speaks doubtfully about it in the very last moments
of his life : as might be shown, from his own words, if I
could take the time to mark them down in this place.
It is true, we know, from revelation, that God will not
deprive any rational creature of its being and existence :
but can it be shown to be so inconsistent with his wisdom,
that he cannot do it if he will 1 Though he withdraw that
being he has given to some creatures, his power can raise
up others of the same, or nobler faculties, to answer the
ends of his glory. And none can prove, but that it might
have been agreeable to God's wisdom, in this manner, to
manifest his sovereignty over the works of his hands, if he
had thought fit to do so. It cannot be shown, that divine
goodness may not possibly stop short of an eternal reward
to an innocent creature, and think a less reward sufficient :
and, though justice requires, that an innocent creature
shall not be punished, by being made miserable; yet it
* Mr. Boyle's Excellency of Theology, pp. 25, 26.
80 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
doth not require, that God shall be obliged to continue
that creature in unending existence.
Now, seeing it is very manifest, that the most innocent
creature cannot possibly produce a claim to everlasting
felicity, except what is founded upon, and must be resolved
into the pleasure, free-will, and bounty of God ; must it
not be an arrogant thing for those, whose foundation is
in the dust, to talk at this rate, that they would pay no
homage or worship to the great God, if he refused to
bestow upon them so great a reward? How visionary
must that scheme be, which strikes at the first principles of
reason, and cannot subsist one moment, but by banishing
from among men all due regard for the rights of the Deity ?
But, further, I hope Mr. Campbell will acknowledge,
that himself, and all other men, are now in a lapsed state.
If he refuse it, his writings will prove it : heathen philo
sophers have acknowledged it ; and the deists themselves
have confessed it. But natural conscience must dictate
to every man, that sinful creatures, who are in a lapsed
state, have forfeited all title to happiness ; and are obnoxi
ous to justice, for violating the law of God. This might
be confirmed, by a variety of proofs from pagan writers,
as well as illustrated from the principles of reason itself.
For however some may amuse themselves with the notion
of God's benevolence, yet this will yield little comfort to
the person who is convinced of sin. Justice being pro
voked, right reason, if we attend to it, will convince us,
that it must be satisfied, the honour of God's law vindi
cated, and his hatred at sin manifested, before goodness is
extended to the guilty.
It is farther to be remarked that, as the whole writings
of pagan philosophers, notwithstanding the assistances
some of them had from revelation, discover their absolute
ignorance of the way in which God was to be reconciled
unto sinners ; so this is a plain argument, among others,
that the restoring of lapsed man to the favour of God, and
to future and lasting felicity, had its rise from grace, or
the free will and purpose of God ; and that therefore God,
OP MORAL ACTIONS. 81
if he had thought meet so to do, might have left them
all to perish in their sins, without any prospect of felicity.
Will our author, then, take it upon him to say, that if
mercy had not interposed in the manner it did, mankind
had been loosed from all obligation to obey their Creator 'I
that man, by his sin, had exempted himself from the govern
ment of God 1 that the law of God had lost its binding
power, because man, by his rebellion, had lost the prospect
of future and lasting felicity ? and that man, in these cir
cumstances, might have laudably hated, reproached, and
blasphemed the Author of his being ] These are vile and
impious suppositions ; and the scheme, from which they
follow, must be absurd in itself, and subversive of all reli
gion, whether natural or revealed.
III. Before I conclude this section, I must examine into
the sentiments of our author's celebrated writers. And,
if it be found that he has outdone his fellow-heathens upon
this argument, notwithstanding of his being a Christian
divine, I do not well know how he shall answer for it at
his next conversation with them.
The noblest sentiments that I can observe to have been
delivered by heathen philosophers upon this subject, are
these of Pythagoras, Plato, and some others, * namely,
" That it is our end to be like God ; and that conformity
to God is the chief good." And Hierocles, cited by our
author, says, That " virtue being the image of God in a
rational soul, as every image must have a pattern for its
subsistence; so, whatever is acquired as virtuous, must
refer to God, as our great pattern, in the acquisition of
virtue ; otherwise it is only an imposture, and can have
no value."
Now, if God be considered as our great pattern, and
virtue as his image and likeness in a rational soul, this
will give us the notion of quite another principle and end
of virtuous actions, than our self-love, interest, or pleasure :
for, if moral virtue is considered in this light, then God's
* Stanley's Lives, page 541.
4 F
82 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
love to himself, and to his creatures, is the great pattern
of our love to God, to ourselves, and to our fellow-men.
As it proceeds from the infinite perfection of the Deity,
that he loves himself in a supreme manner, and that it is
his peculiar glory to do so ; so, on the other hand, it pro
ceeds from the finite and limited perfection of his creature,
and its universal dependence on him, that it ought to love
God more than itself. God can love nothing above him
self and his own glory ; because there is nothing so good
or so great, or so truly lovely, as himself. And, for the
same reason, his love to his creatures must be for his own
sake, or according as some resemblance of himself, the
great pattern and standard of beauty and perfection, ap
pears in them. Thus, our love to God must be supreme,
and for his own sake ; that is, for his glorious excellencies
and perfections : and our love to ourselves, and our fellow-
men, must be on God's account, and as the rays of the
divine image do appear in them.
This I take to be a just sentiment, and the true notion
of moral virtue ; and I hope Mr. Campbell will agree with
me, that we ought to love God for himself, and that in a
superlative manner ; that we ought to love our fellow-men
for God's sake : and that he will not adventure any more
either to say that he loves himself more than the great
God, or that he loves every thing else, only for his own
sake.
As this view of moral virtue is founded in the plain and
evident principles of reason ; so it follows, by a native and
immediate consequence from it, that the knowledge and
love of God must be the leading principle of all moral
actions : which is the doctrine I do herein maintain and
defend.
Nay more, seeing moral virtue consists in the imitation
of God, he that would live in the image of God, must im
print upon his mind the most exalted idea, and the highest
esteem possible, of the holiness, the righteousness, the
moral perfection of the divine nature ; that in this way he
may awaken all the powers of his soul, to be formed to
OF MORAL ACTIONS. 83
actions, worthy of the infinite Original; and can it be
possible, but that in so doing, self, and every created be
ing, must sink infinitely low in the view of the man
employed in so noble an exercise ?
We cannot possibly imitate this great pattern of exalted
virtue, without supreme love and admiration. The more
adoring thoughts we have of God, the more delightfully
we shall aspire to, and catch after any thing that may
promote the full draught of his image in our hearts.
When the soul is ravished with the contemplation of God's
holiness, goodness, justice, righteousness, and truth, it will
desire to be like him, more than to have its own being con
tinued to it; and it will delight in its own existence,
chiefly in order to this heavenly and spiritual work. The
impressions of the nature of God upon it, and the imita
tions of the nature of God by it, will be more desirable
than any other conceivable good.
Then if God himself be our pattern, he must, in order
to this, be our end. Every man's mind forms itself to a
likeness to that which it makes its chief end. The same
characters that are upon the thing aimed at, will be im
printed upon the spirit of him that aims at it ; even as
the ambitious man thinks himself equal to the honour he
reaches after. Thus, when God and his glory are made our
end, we shall find a silent likeness pass in upon us ; and
the beauty of God will, by degrees, enter upon our souls.
As Plutarch saith, God is angry with those that imitate
his thunder or lightning, his works of majesty ; but de
lighted with those that imitate his virtue. They, how
ever, who make self-love the spring, centre, and end of
all their actions, set themselves in the temple of God, and
lift up themselves above all that is called God : they con
found and overthrow the whole order and nature of things ;
they daringly invade the awful regalia of heaven, and
react the part of that foul spirit, who, by such an impo
tent attempt, became, of a holy angel, a ghastly apostate
devil.
I shall only farther observe, that our author has over-
84 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END OP MORAL ACTIONS.
looked what Tully * has said on this subject, viz. " That
a due consideration of the heavenly bodies must lead every
thinking man to the knowledge of God ; that, from this
knowledge, springs piety, with which is connected justice,
and all the other virtues : " which is the same as if he had
said, that the knowledge and love of God is the first spring
of all virtuous actions.
I think Mr. Campbell cannot well make it out, that
Socrates was animated to pursue a course of virtue, from
the prospect of future and lasting felicity, unless his highest
motive to action had been something he was very uncertain
about ; as is evident from his words to his friends, a little
before his death : " I would have you know, said he, that I
have great hopes that I am now going into the company of
good men ; yet I would not be too peremptory and confident
concerning it."t " I am now about to leave this world, and
ye are still to continue in it ; which of us have the better
part allotted us, God only knows." $ He talks much of
the writings of the heathen philosophers, but I am confi
dent, that, when they are duly considered, it will be found
that none of them go half-way with him, except what may
be made of some expressions of the demure Stoics, and
the stupid system of the Epicureans.
Upon the whole, it has been shown, that a pretence to
make self-love, interest, and pleasure, the first spring and
principle of moral virtue, is condemned by the Holy Scrip
tures, which set our obedience to God upon quite another
foundation: that this notion of the first rise of moral
virtue, is contrary to the plainest principles of reason ;
and that it has no manner of countenance from the writ
ings of the more judicious and thinking part of the heathen
philosophers, who have expressed quite other sentiments
upon this important subject.
* De natura Deorum, lib. 2. f Plato in Phsed.
J Plato in Apol. Socrat.
SECTION II.
THAT SELF-INTEREST OR PLEASURE, IS NOT THE ONLY STANDARD
BY WHICH WE ARE TO JUDGE OF THE VIRTUE OF OUR OWN
AND OTHERS' ACTIONS; AND THAT ACTIONS ARE NOT TO BE
CALLED VIRTUOUS ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR CORRESPONDENCY
TO SELF-INTEREST.
HAVING considered what our author judges to be the first
spring or principle of moral virtue, I shall now inquire
into his sentiments concerning the rule or standard of
virtuous actions. As to which, he expresseth himself as
follows : " Since self-interest or pleasure is the only stan
dard by which we can judge of the virtue, i. e. the value
or goodness, of any action whatsoever, I do not see how a
sense of virtue can be antecedent to ideas of advantage.
For my part, I know no one action of any intelligent
being, that can be called virtuous on any other account
than from its correspondency to self-interest, or its fitness
to promote the happiness of one's nature. Thus our actions
towards the Deity are called virtuous, because they are
suitable to his self-love ; — as, on the other hand, the actions
of the Deity towards us are called virtuous, because they are
adapted to the interests of human nature."* " If we will
consider all the several moral qualities that can be called
virtuous, we shall find, that we like and approve those qua
lities, for no other reason, but for their being good to us ;
i. e. for the pleasure they give us, or for their gratifying
our self-love." t " The goodness of any action done by one
intelligent mind to another, from which it is denominated
moral virtue, immediately lies in the conformity it has to
* Enquiry into the origin of moral virtue, p. 389.
f Ibid. pp. 357, 358.
86 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
our self-love, while it concurs and co-operates with this
principle, in approving our being happy, and to secure and
promote our well-being." * " But what ideas must we have
of moral goodness ? Does this likewise lie, as well as the
other, in pleasure ? or does it signify any thing else ? I
confess ingenuously, that I neither have, nor can form any
other notion of it. And I conceive, that this sort of plea
sure, or good, is called moral, because it springs from the
mores, the manners, or the affections and actions of in
telligent beings, or rational agents, and to distinguish it
from that kind of pleasure or good, which we have from
inanimate or irrational creatures ; though it might be
called natural, with as good reason as any other sort of
pleasure or good whatsoever. One might subdivide natural
goodness into a great many particular sorts, which differ
fully as much from one another, as moral goodness can do
from every one of them. If custom would allow of it,
might not one talk of musical-goodness, picture-goodness,
landscape-goodness, &c., thereby understanding the plea
sures which we have from music, pictures, landscapes, and
the like 1 And do not all these sorts of natural goodness
differ from one another, as much as moral goodness pos
sibly can do 1 " t Thus far Mr. Campbell.
Before I consider if our author's opinion here be founded
upon the principles of sound reason, I shall first inquire
into its agreeableness with the Holy Scriptures ; and from
them, I think, it will be abundantly evident, that self-in
terest or pleasure is not the only standard by which we
are to judge of the virtue or goodness of actions; and
that the goodness of an action, from which it is deno
minated moral virtue, does not immediately lie in the con
formity it has to our self-love, although it concurs with this
principle, or tends to secure and promote our happiness.
I. We are assured, from the word of God, that the
goodness of an action does immediately lie in the con-
* Enquiiy into the origin of moral virtue, pp. 319, 320.
f Ibid. pp. 354, 355.
OF MORAL ACTIONS. 87
formity it has to the law of God, and his will therein de
clared, and its being done from a respect to the authority
of God the Lawgiver. To this purpose, God is said, by
his word, and his law and will therein published, to have
" showed unto us what is good," Mic. vi. 7, 8, 9. and " to
delight in our obeying his voice ; obedience to his will
being better than sacrifice ; and to hearken to him more
acceptable than the fat of lambs," 1 Sam. xv. 22. And
that the law of God, revealed in his word, is the adequate
and only standard by which the goodness of actions is to
be tried, appears, from his strictly requiring, that nothing
be added to it, or taken from it, Deut. iv. 2. and xiii. 32.
Prov. xxx. 6. Rev. xxii. 18. Nay it is certain, that as we are
to do only what is commanded, so whatever we do, we
are to do it because it is commanded, and from a respect
to the will and authority of God manifested in his word ;
otherwise it is no part of our obedience to God, nor will
be regarded by him as such. Hence it is said to be the
character of the righteous man, that he endeavours " to
keep God's statutes ; because he hath commanded him to
keep his precepts diligently," Psal. cxix. 4, 5. The great
God hath enjoined us to order our conversation according
to his word, Psal. cxix. 9: he hath remitted us to the
" law and testimony," as the only standard of our conduct
or actions ; and he hath required us to take heed there
to, " as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, till the
day dawn and the day star arise in our hearts," Is. viii. 20.
2 Pet. i. 19. It is affirmed of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has left us an example that we should follow his steps,
that " he pleased not himself," or consulted not his own
ease, Rom. xv. 3. but willingly exposed himself to all his
sufferings, in obedience to his Father's will ; and the
whole of his obedience, as Mediator, is described in the
glory and perfection of it, from its being performed in
obedience to the command of God : for, saith he, " Lo, I
come to do thy will, 0 my God," Psal. xl. 7, 8. The judi
cious Dr. Owen * has well observed, from the parallel
* Comment, on Heb. x. 7.
88 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
text, " That the fundamental motive unto the Lord
Christ, in his undertaking the work of mediation, was
the will and glory of God." We are obliged to honour
the law of God, not principally because of its usefulness
to us, or its suitableness to the order of the world, but for
its innate purity, as bearing on it an impression of the
holiness of God ; and he values no service unless this pro
perty be found in it. " I will be sanctified in them that
come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified,"
Lev. x. 3. Such is the principle of God's moral govern
ment ; and seeing he formed the rational creature, to
manifest his holiness in that law, whereby he was to be
governed, we ought not to deprive him of that design of
his own glory. The law of God is called holy and pure,
Psal. xix. 8. Rom. vii. 12. as it emanates from the pure
nature of the Lawgiver : and our lives are not expressive
of his holiness, when we do a thing in the matter of it
agreeable to the rule, if we do it not with a respect to the
purity of the Lawgiver beaming in it. For, if we do any
thing chiefly to serve a purpose of our own, we make not
the holiness and authority of God, discovered in the law,
our rule, but our own conveniency or happiness, which,
in that case, we put in the place of God, and make a god
to ourselves. It is very manifest, that if a man makes
himself, and his own interest and pleasure, the rule and
end of his actions, he prefers the creature to God, and
loves it supremely, contrary to the will of God. Thus he *
invades God's right, refuseth to take God for his God, sets !
up himself as his own governor, and affects virtually an
equality with God, and independency on him ; which is
that daring crime of the devil, which made him a sinner
from the beginning. I might multiply Scripture texts to
illustrate this subject ; but having elsewhere made it ap
pear, that the law of nature is insufficient to direct man
kind to happiness, and that the Scriptures alone, in which
the law of God is revealed, are the infallible standard of
our duty, I shall not at present enlarge upon this part of
the argument.
OF MORAL ACTIONS. 80
But, further, Mr. Campbell says, " That the goodness of
any action, from which it is denominated moral virtue, lies
in the conformity it has to our self-love ; and that there is
no difference betwixt natural goodness and moral good
ness." But I hesitate not to affirm, that an action is not
denominated virtuous, from its conformity to our self-love,
but from the conformity it has to the law of God. We
are assured by the apostle Paul, that the remains of the
law of nature upon the minds of the Gentiles, who had not
the written law, were the standard by which they judged
of the virtue of their actions ; that the will of God, revealed
in his word, was the rule and measure, according to which
they, who had the advantage of revealed religion, were to
measure their actions ; and that the actions of both were
to be tried and judged, good or bad, at the judgment-seat
of Christ, according to their conformity unto, or disagree
ment from the written word, or light of nature, Rom. ii.
12, 13, 14. " For as many as have sinned without law
shall also perish without law : and as many as have sinned
in the law shall be judged by the law ; (for not the hearers
of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law
shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not
the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves :
which show the work of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts
the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another ;) in
the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus
Christ according to my gospel."
The scope of the apostle in this passage is to show, that
neither Jew nor Gentile can be justified by the works of
the law. And, to illustrate the argument, he lays down
what is requisite to justification, according to the tenor of
the covenant of works ; namely, to fulfil perfectly what
ever is written in the law, or to persevere in a course of
perfect obedience. " For not the hearers of the law are
just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."
Though Mr. Campbell, then, should suppose himself as in-
90 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
nocent as Adam was in his primitive state, he cannot
recommend himself to the favour of God, upon the foot
ing of promoting his self-interest, but upon his entire
conformity, in heart and life, to the law of God, and his
subjection to the authority of God therein interposed.
And however his conscience may acquiesce in his acting
agreeably to his own interest, yet the heathens had, in this
particular, more noble sentiments; for their consciences
accused or excused them, according as their actions were
agreeable or not "to the law of God written in their
hearts." By this law written in their hearts we must
understand the first principles of right reason, in a
due exercise of which, a thinking man must deduce
some of the first rules of veneration for the Deity,
and of equity to man. This law contained some faint
draught of the written law, and in so far instructed them
what to do and avoid, which is the great property of a
law ; and because it did so, they are said " to do, by na
ture, the things contained in the law," and to be " a law
unto themselves :" that is, they had some remains of that
law in their hearts, which was inscribed, in full characters,
upon the mind of man, at his creation, and were directed
by it, in many instances, as to matters of moral right and
wrong.
As the terms in which sin is described in scripture, such
as nNftTT, PE/B, )T, ocvo^ioi, Trot^otKo^ rebellion and diso
bedience, Is. i. 2. Rom. v. 19. discover the nature of it to
consist in its disagreement to the law of God, therein de
clared ; so the apostle John expressly asserts, that sin is
" the transgression of the law," 1 John iii. 4. From which
it is very manifest, that the law of God is the great and
only standard of virtue, and that the virtue of our actions
does immediately lie, not in their conformity to our self-
love, but in their conformity to the law and will of God.
II. But, in proceeding to the second part of our inquiry,
namely, whether this opinion be founded upon the princi
ples of reason 1 we may observe, that to make self-interest
or pleasure the only standard of virtue, and to pretend
OP MOKAL ACTIONS. 91
that no action can be called virtuous, on any other account
than its correspondency to self-interest, is plainly to de
stroy all virtue, and to make our own self-love the only
ground and reason of our owing any love to God, or to our
fellow-creatures. Can it be agreeable to the nature of
things to say, that reasonable creatures owe no esteem,
love, and subjection to God, £pr what he is in himself, but
only for what he does, to gratify their self-love ? Nothing
but Deity can be the formal cause and foundation of divine
worship, which is an ascribing infinite perfection to the
object of worship, or giving expression to that love, trust,
and esteem, which is proper and peculiar to God : and there
fore our love to God, and our universal subjection unto
him, must, in the nature of the thing, be founded upon
what he is in himself, and not chiefly upon what he hath
done for us ; which is the fruit of his mere good pleasure.
None of our actions can be called virtuous, but so far as
they are done in obedience to him, and are agreeable to
his will : for, as it is highly reasonable, that an infinitely
perfect Being should prescribe a rule of action to his crea
tures ; so they do not act agreeably to the rational facul
ties with which they are endowed, if their love to him is
not supreme : that is, if, in all instances, they do not ex
press the sense they have of their dependence upon him,
and his authority over them as their great and only moral
governor.
Our author has the assurance to say, that the actions
of the Deity towards us are called virtuous, because they
are adapted to the interest of human nature. But I
thought that they had been holy, great, and good, because
agreeable to his own nature and will. All who acknow
ledge the being and perfections of God, must own that he
is not regulated by any law, without or beside himself.
He is his own law and rule ; and all his actions whatsoever
are necessarily right, because agreeable to his own nature,
will, and perfections ; and it cannot be imagined, that he
is astricted to, and governed by, a rule inferior to himself.
Can Mr. Campbell deny that God is of " purer eyes than
92 PRINCIPLED RULE, AND ENP
to behold evil," or that "he hateth all the workers of
iniquity?" Can he refuse it, that this is an holy, or, as
he irreverently styles it, a virtuous action ? Can he make
it appear that it is holy or virtuous, because it is adapted to
the interest of a sinful creature, and tends to promote its
happiness ? It must be acknowledged to be highly dishon
ourable to the great God, when men pay no regard either
to reason or revelation, in talking of his ways, but imagine
him to be such an one as themselves, and make a visionary
hypothesis of their own, the measure and rule of their sen
timents about him !
The more we consider this scheme, the more clearly does
it appear, that, according to it, the creature's self-interest
is made the sole, the paramount law, the measure of right
and wrong, and God is confined to act by it, as much as
those he has created; which is just the same as to say,
that man is not accountable to his Creator, and that God has
no authority to prescribe such laws to his creatures, as shall
oblige them, dutifully, to acknowledge his sovereignty over
them, or their entire dependence upon him. For, accord
ing to this scheme, he can prescribe nothing unto them
but what their self-interest must direct them unto, although
they were in no way dependent on him, and although he
had no authority over them. So that every man is to be
his own judge, as to whether he has, or has not, answered
the end of his creation, by promoting his own happiness.
If he has failed of this, he bears the loss of his own bad
management; but is not otherwise accountable to the
Most High for breaking his laws. Now what doth all this
amount to, but just to supposing the living God to be an
indolent Being, as Epicurus has represented him, not mind
ing what they, who are the product of his hands, may do,
in contempt of his authority !
There can be no doubt, that the duties prescribed to us
by God, when rightly performed, do tend to promote our
happiness. But to make that happiness the standard of
duty, and to say that the actions of the Deity towards us
are virtuous, because they are adapted to our interest, is
OF MORAL ACTIONS. 93
to reproach the Author of our being. For, is he not blas
phemed, when that which is peculiar to him is ascribed
to creatures 1 And is not this done, when it is maintained,
that creatures are to act for themselves as their last end ;
or that their own interest and pleasure is the measure and
rule of their actions, and not the will and law of God 1 Is
not this to make creatures, or the interest and pleasure of
creatures, as absolutely the rule of their actions, as if there
was not a God to rule over them, as if they had received
nothing from him, and were no way accountable to him,
except in so far as they had done well for themselves in
promoting their own happiness1? Mr. Campbell could not
bear it well, we see, from his preface to this edition of his
Inquiry, that Dr. Innes should have the praise of this fine
performance, as he took it to be ! and how shall the Author
of our being take it, if poor creatures like him arrogate to
themselves the praise of what they have received from him,
sacrificing to their own net, and burning incense to their
own drag ? Can they expect any thing less than that, as
God, by the prophet, has threatened, they shall lie down in
sorrow ?
Our author tells us, that God, and all other intelligent
beings, are universally governed by one common principle
of self-love. But can it be agreeable to reason itself, or to
the nature of things, to maintain, that creatures like us
have as good reason to love themselves for their own in
trinsic goodness as God has to love himself on that
account ; or that they have as good a right to act univer
sally, and only from love to themselves, as God has to act
only from love to himself? Nay, seeing, as has been shown,
and shall in the sequel be further illustrated, that it is the
peculiar and incommunicable glory of the great God, re
sulting from the infinite perfection of his nature, to act
from supreme love to himself, and for himself, as his ulti
mate end; must not an attempt to set this important
matter in a false light, and to invest poor creatures with
the prerogative of heaven, be most injurious unto the hon
our of God, and the ready way to betray unthinking men
94 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
into mistakes, most destructive and pernicious to them
selves ?
Mr. Puffendorff, who may be allowed to have been as
good a judge of the common reason of mankind as the
high pretenders to reason in our times, says, " We call
that a good action which is conformable to the law, as an
ill one is that which is not conformable to it."* He adds
elsewhere, as follows : — " Since, to the goodness of an ac
tion, it is not enough to do what the law enjoins, but to
do it also with such an intention as is agreeable to that
law ; an action cannot be deemed perfectly good, unless it
exactly, and in all its parts, answer the prescription ; and
unless the only motive that influenced the agent, was his
desire of paying the legislator a prompt and ready obedi
ence.'^ He likewise tells us, " That God, by his right of
creation, has the power of prescribing bounds to that
liberty of will he has been pleased to indulge mankind ;"$
and that, " seeing moral goodness and turpitude are affec
tions of human deeds, arising from their agreeableness or
disagreeableness to a rule or a law ; and since a law is the
command of a superior, it does not appear how we can
conceive any goodness and turpitude before all law, and
without the institution of some superior : and truly, as for
those who would establish an eternal rule, for the morality
of human actions, independent of a divine institution, the
result of their endeavours seems to us to be the joining
with God Almighty, some co-eval extrinsic principle, which
he was obliged to follow in assigning the forms and es
sences of things." § Thus far this author.
But, to proceed: It has been shown else where, || that
it is the first principle of the law of nature, that there is
a God, who governs all things. And it may, from the
same, and like arguments, be demonstrated to be the lead
ing principle of natural religion, that as the dictates of
sound reason are so many laws, made known to us by God ;
* Puffendorff's Law of Nature, &c., by Spavan, chap. 7. p. 8.
f ibid. pp. 92, 93. J Ibid. p. 3. § Ibid. p. 20. || Review, &c.
OF MORAL ACTIONS. 95
so it is his will, that we walk according to these dictates ;
and that if we walk contrary to them we violate his law,
and contemn his authority. From which it follows, that
the goodness of our actions lies in their conformity to the
law and will of God, and not in their conformity to our
self-love, pleasure, and advantage.
Indeed it is most certain, that however men may pay a
regard to some of the laws of nature, from a prospect of
their interest in so doing, as we follow a physician's pre
scription for our health, who has no authority over us ;
yet they cannot observe them as laws, because every law
necessarily implies a superior ; or one that has, or has
usurped, the right to govern and direct his inferiors.
Our author, who magnifies the law of nature, and be
stows such great encomiums upon it, must be of opinion,
either that this same law of nature doth subject mankind
to the authority of God, or that it doth not. If it doth
not, then, according to him, God has no authority over the
works of his hands ; and they are no more accountable to
God, than if they were independent of him, and had re
ceived neither existence nor preservation from him ; which
is an opinion so black, that I forbear to give it a name.
But if he acknowledge that mankind, by the law of nature,
are subjected to the authority of God, then it must be
owned, that it is God's authority only that makes the law
of nature to be a law, and that its binding force is not
from the fitness of what is prescribed by it, to promote
pleasure or self-interest, but from the authority of God
stamped upon it. Hence the nature of moral virtue must
lie, not in the fitness of the action to promote happiness,
but in its agreeableness to the will of God, declared in
his law.
Our author's scheme seems likewise to expose him to
the necessity of allowing some degree of moral virtue to
brutes. And, although there is no reason to doubt but
that brutes, as they are capable of being treated by us
either mercifully or cruelly, may be to us the objects either
of virtue or vice ; yet, to maintain that they may be the
96 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
subjects of virtue, must be wild and extravagant. But if
the tendency of an action, to promote the happiness of the
agent, be the true notion of virtue, it were unreasonable
to refuse that brutes are virtuous ; seeing they manifestly
pursue their own pleasure or their own happiness, in a
great variety of actions, and do follow the instincts and
impulses of nature more steadily and regularly than men.
Nay, if a consciousness of the moral goodness of actions, in
their conformity to the divine law, be not required to con
stitute these actions virtuous, what is there wanting to
the virtue of many a brute ?
What a moral agent primarily proposes, is to act reason
ably, or according to the law of God, made known to him,
either by the word of God as among us Christians, or by
the principles of natural religion, as among such as are
not enlightened from above. But to act merely from an
impulse to what is pleasing, or a natural good, has always
been reckoned a leading principle only among agents which
are destitute of reason and reflection; and therefore in
capable to be moved from any other spring of action. So
that, to make pleasure of any kind the chief end of a moral
agent, must be as absurd as to make truth or virtue the
property of a being who is merely sentient.
Our author, to complete his scheme, has thought fit to
reject the distinction betwixt bonum honestum, and bo-
num utile etjucundum, which has been maintained by some
of the most judicious of the heathen philosophers: and he
tells us frankly, that musical-goodness and landscape-good
ness differ from one another, as much as moral goodness
possibly can do from either. Thus the morality of our
actions, according to him, has no relation to the law, will,
or authority of God ; but our interest or pleasure is the
rule and measure of all things ; there is no difference, in
his eyes, betwixt devotion-goodness and landscape-good
ness ; our love to God, and our love to a fine house or gar
den : and there is no difference betwixt the devotions and
services of the angelical tribe, and the goodness of Mr.
Campbell's action, in looking at, or riding on a fine horse,
OF MOKAL ACTIONS. 97
but just as Mr. Campbell's pleasure is greater or less in
degree than theirs !
I suppose that no thinking man will judge it worth
while to enlarge in refuting such extravagant tenets. I
shall only tell our author, that, by resolving all obligations
into pleasure, and natural good, he has denied that virtue
is good in itself, and affirmed it to be no otherwise good,
than as it does us good. Whereas, it is certainly self-
amiable and self-worthy, and deserves our approbation and
choice. On the same ground, he has likewise denied, that
there can be any such thing as an intrinsic preferableness
of one action to another, more than of one colour to an
other. Every agent well knows what actions please him,
and what displease him ; but in themselves, according to
this scheme, they are all equally valuable, or rather equally
worthless.
But however our author may amuse himself with these
speculations, it is a thing most certain, that the communi
cation of natural good is by no means an essential ingre
dient of moral rectitude. If no natural good, if the hap
piness of no being whatever, could possibly be promoted
by piety, for instance, it would still be the duty of every
intelligent creature to reverence and worship the Deity :
for the supremacy and infinite perfection of such an object
makes this, in the highest degree, reasonable, even sup
posing no advantage did or could redound from it to any
one whatever.
Is it to be imagined, that Mr. Campbell would take it
as a compliment from his friend, if that friend told him
that he esteemed him, and testified his esteem for him on
all occasions, for no better reason, than a suspicion or fear,
that, if he carried it otherwise towards him, this might,
some time or other, turn to his own disadvantage. For my
part, I think his friend, by such an address, would very
naturally be led to tell him, that he neither esteemed nor
regarded him at all. Let him therefore seriously consider
whether he has behaved himself suitably to the Author
of his being, when he has published to the world, that his
98 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END OP MORAL ACTIONS.
leading motive for reverencing HIM, is merely his own
profit, pleasure, and advantage ; and that the reason why
he abstains from blaspheming or reproaching him, is chiefly
the fear of bringing injury on himself.
Upon the whole, I think it is very manifest, from what
has been advanced, that our actions are called virtuous,
on account of their correspondency to the law and will of
God, or to the relation creatures stand in to the Author of
their being ; and not on account of their tendency to
gratify our self-love.
SECTION III.
THAT SELF-LOVE, AS IT EXERTS ITSELF IN THE DESIRE OF UNI
VERSAL UNLIMITED ESTEEM, OUGHT NOT TO BE MADE THE
COMMANDING MOTIVE TO VIRTUOUS ACTIONS ; NOR IS THE OB
TAINING THE GOOD-LIKING AND ESTEEM OF THOSE BEINGS,
AMONG WHOM WE ARE MIXED, TO BE OUR MAIN END IN PUR
SUING THEM.
HAVING made some reflections upon Mr. Campbell's senti
ments, concerning the spring or principle, and the rule or
standard of virtuous actions; I shall now consider his
opinion, as to our great motive and main end, in pursuing
a course of virtue. On this point, he expresseth himself as
follows : " I likewise hold, that self-love, as it exerts itself
in the desire of universal unlimited esteem, is the great
commanding motive that determines us to the pursuit of
such virtuous actions.* Every man being thus naturally
joined in society to all his own species, and to God him
self, as the great Author of his being, our supreme Head
and kind Benefactor ; if his social appetite be not miser
ably perverted, he cannot but necessarily seek for, and
desire the esteem and good liking of all mankind ; and
particularly of God, under whose government we all live.t
If we settle it, as our main purpose, to recommend our
selves to the love, esteem, and commendation of God, and
of all mankind, through every stage of our eternal existence,
(which, if we follow nature, we cannot but do, as I have
already explained in my Enquiry,) every degree of esteem
we acquire here cannot but be exceedingly grateful ; and
the means that lift us up to this commendation (which 1
have likewise shown, in the foregoing Enquiry, to be the
* Enquiry, &c. pp. 257, 258. f Ibid. p. 72.
100 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
moral virtues) cannot but prove extremely agreeable.*
Upon the whole, I will conclude, that the sole and universal
motive to virtuous actions is self-love, interest, or plea
sure." t Thus far our author.
In order to fix the true state of the question, let it be
borne in mind that it is by no means denied that we may
have a respect to our own happiness : for God having made
man capable of enjoying himself, and having condescended,
at his creation, to encourage his obedience, by a promise
of future and lasting felicity, which is renewed, through
Christ, in the gospel ; it can be no part of the Christian
scheme, that men are to be denied to their own happiness,
or made willing to forego it. But the question is, whether,
in obeying the law of God, we should be chiefly actuated
by a sense of the infinite perfection and authority of the
Lawgiver, and of our subjection to him. Or whether we
ought rather, though poor dependent creatures, principally
to act from love to ourselves, aiming at our own advantage,
pleasure, and honour, as the commanding motive to virtu
ous actions, and our main end in pursuing them 1 The
first seems to me to be founded in the nature and relation
of things ; and the latter to be subversive of both.
Here I have the pleasure to observe, that I don't differ
in opinion from a reverend and learned body of men, who,
upon a certain occasion, delivered their sentiments on this
head, in the following terms : £ That " men are bound to
make the glory of God their chief end, though yet they are
called herewith to pursue happiness." And " that by the
instinct of that new nature, the Lord endoweth all his
people with in regeneration, they are enabled, by the in
fluence of grace, in some measure, and daily desire, more
and more, to serve God for himself, and his supereminent
excellencies, and not merely or chiefly for the prospect of
their own happiness." And " that it is agreeable, both to
their character and duty, to have a prevailing respect to
* Enquiry, &c. p. 273. f Ibid. p. 463.
t See State of the Process against Mr. Sirnson, p. 277.
OF MORAL ACTIONS. 101
God's glory, as their ultimate end, and the chief motive of
their obedience." Thus far the reverend committee of the
Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
In treating this subject very briefly, I shall first make
it appear, from the scriptures of truth, that the glory of
God, and not our own fame and esteem, ought to be our main
end in pursuing virtuous actions. Secondly, I shall in
quire, if it be agreeable to the principles of reason, to make
the desire of universal unlimited esteem the great com
manding motive unto them.
I. As to the first, that the glory of God, and not our
own fame and esteem, ought to be our main end, in pur
suing a course of virtue and obedience to God, appears, if
we consider, that our duty of worship and obedience is
primarily founded upon the infinite excellencies of God, or
upon what he is in himself. Thus, when God is about to
deliver a law to Israel, at Horeb, he introduceth the whole
with this solemn preface, " I am the Lord JEHOVAH," i. e. the
only true God, the self-existent, eternal, infinitely perfect
and necessary Being. It is true, it is added, " Thy God,"
that is, by creation, and a special covenant relation ; and
this is acknowledged to be a secondary and powerful mo
tive to duty and obedience. But he fitly placeth himself,
in his nature, and infinite perfections, in the front, as the
primary foundation of all his commands, and of his people's
duty in obeying them : because we must first, in order,
view him, as infinitely perfect in himself, and an all-suffi
cient Being, else he had never given creatures a being, or
well-being ; and because their duty of obedience is founded
in their relation to him, and dependence upon him : where
as their happiness, in a state of future and lasting felicity,
proceeds, as I have shown above, from his free-will and
bounty.
To this purpose, the prophet Jeremiah assigns it, as the
great reason why we are to fear and worship God; be
cause " there is none like unto him, and because he is
great, and his name great in might." Elsewhere we
are taught to glorify his name, because he only is holy,
102 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND EXD
Jer. x. 6, 7. Rev. xv. 4. And the apostle Paul condemns
those who did service to them which by nature were no
gods, Gal. iv. 8 : intimating, that God's title to our worship
is primarily founded in his Godhead or in the infinite and
supereminent excellency of his nature. In a suitableness
to this, when the Lycaonians took Paul and Barnabas for
gods, they answered them, by telling them, not that they
" could not do much good unto them," which, in a minis
terial way, they were abundantly qualified for, but that
they were weak, imperfect, dependent creatures, who had
not a divine nature, and so were not fit objects of religious
adoration. From which it is very manifest, that God's
title to our worship and service is primarily founded upon
what he is in himself, and not upon his bounty to us as
his creatures ; and his legislative authority over all de
pendent, intelligent beings, stands upon the same founda
tion. For though he has a right to prescribe laws to
those to whom he gave a being ; yet it was, in the first
place, owing to his being infinitely perfect, and infinitely
good in himself, that he gave a being to those who had
none before.
It is not merely because of what he hath done in a way
of bounty, but primarily, because he is in himself infinitely
perfect, that he is wrorthy of the highest adoration, and of
the most absolute subjection, that finite creatures are
capable of rendering to the Author of their being. From
all which, it is very manifest, that we are obliged, prin
cipally, to love, fear, worship, and obey God, for " what he
is in himself," and not chiefly from a prospect of our own
happiness, pleasure, and interest.
The apostle Paul confirms this doctrine, from that plain
topic, that God is the first Cause, and therefore he is the
unlimited End of all things. " For of him, and through
him, and to him are all things," Rom. xi. 36. " The nature
of God consists in this," says a learned author,* " that he
is the prime and original Cause of all things, as an inde-
* Pearson on the Creed, p. 23.
OF MORAL ACTIONS. 103
pendent Being, upon which all things also depend ; and
likewise he is the ultimate End or final Cause of all."
Again Solomon tells us, " That God made all things for
himself:" and it is plain he could have no other end than
himself, and his own glory, in so doing ; for there was no
thing good or great, and truly lovely, but himself; and all
rational creatures, acting as such, cannot but make him,
and his glory, their ultimate end. For, seeing it is the
brightest ray of the divine image, that a created under
standing should see and judge of things in God's light, and
entertain the same sentiments of them with him, whose
infinite knowledge makes it impossible he can fall into
any mistake ; it must therefore be the highest excellency
of the soul of man, to move to the same end with the
Author of his being.
It is very manifest, that self-love, in a supreme sense,
can only be the distinguishing character and peculiar glory
of the ever-blessed God. He can love nothing above him
self, and his own glory, because there is nothing supremely
good or great, or lovely, but himself. It therefore flows
from his own infinite perfection, that he loves himself in
a supreme manner ; and it is his peculiar glory to do so.
Upon the other hand, for a finite creature to be actuated
chiefly by a principle of self-love, argues the greatest im
perfection and depravity of nature. For, it is either to
say, that there is nothing greater or better than itself, and
what relates to itself, than which nothing can be more
blasphemous ; or, that a rational creature, acting as such,
may prefer a lesser good to a greater ; than which nothing
can be more absurd.
If it be pretended, that the creature's happiness is the
greatest good to itself, and that no rational creature can
love any thing but as good to itself; it is replied, that
while man's happiness is placed where it ought to be, in
the enjoyment of God, an infinite good, yet it may be con
sidered, either as that by which a finite creature is made
happy, which is a finite, relative, precarious good, because
mutable in its nature, and finite in its subject ; as is plain
]04 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
in the case of the fallen angels : or, it may be considered
as that by which an infinite God is glorified, which is an
absolute infinite good. Now, if a man's happiness, though
in the enjoyment of God, be chiefly sought, that the man
himself may be happy therein, then it is himself that he
ultimately and chiefly seeks and not God : and if he ulti
mately seek himself, though the noblest means, such as the
enjoyment of God, be made use of; yet they are only means
to the end, and loved chiefly for the sake of the end ; and
thus man is made his own ultimate end : and if he be his
own ultimate end, then he is his own god ; for a man can
not esteem, love, or desire any thing beyond his ultimate
end : and what a man esteems, loves, and desires most, is
his god. But if a man chiefly desire his own happiness in
the enjoyment of God, that God may be glorified in him,
and by him, he thereby acknowledges God and his glory
to be his ultimate end ; which is the very thing we con
tend for.
Whatever excels is worthy of esteem, suited to the de
gree of its excellency. Now, God's excellency being infin
itely superior to that of all creatures, they must sink
infinitely below him ; and if they act according to reason,
they must acknowledge his infinite perfection, their depen
dence upon him, and their absolute subjection unto him.
It cannot be refused to be essential to the moral perfection
of a reasonable creature, to esteem and love that Being above
all things, who is above all things, in glory, excellency, and
every perfection ; and therefore every man, acting accord
ing to the original frame of human nature, must have the
highest respect to the honour and glory of God, as his chief
and ultimate end. It is by no means asserted, that we are
obliged to a willingness to forego our own happiness ; which
is no constitutive part of a subordinate end : seeing all that
is required, is to love the ultimate end most, and the sub
ordinate less. I hope those who make God's glory subor
dinate to man's happiness, do not therefore say that they are
obliged, in some cases, willingly to give up with the glory of
God, for their own private interest. But to proceed, —
OP MORAL ACTIONS. 105
Let us further consider, that man stands in a subordina
tion to God in his being ; and therefore in a subordination
to him as his last end. Hence the apostle directs us, that
" whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we should
do all to the glory of God," 1 Cor. x. 31. The rule is gen
eral, not to be restrained to the eating of meat offered to
idols, of which the former discourse had been ; but extends
itself to whatever we do, that is, to all human actions
whatsoever. Elsewhere he tells us, " That we are not our
own, but are bought with a price, and therefore are
obliged to glorify God in our bodies and spirits, which are
his :" and it is highly agreeable to reason, that we, deriv
ing our being from another by creation, and passing into
the right of another by redemption, should employ our de
rived and borrowed all, for his honour and glory.
It was the end of our election and effectual calling, that
we should show forth the praises of him, who hath called
us out of darkness into his marvellous light, 1 Pet. ii. 9. ;
and it was one great design of the death of Christ, to re
store man to his primitive allegiance ; for he died for us,
that we should not live to ourselves, but to him who died
for us, and rose again, 2 Cor. v. 15. This is plainly the
exercise of the spirits of just men made perfect, in the
regions of light and bliss above ; who are represented, in
scripture, as employing all their faculties in adoring him
that sits upon the throne, and the Lamb for ever and ever.
God here is ALL IN ALL, the Centre and End of all ; he is
infinitely lifted up above all: and his servants do serve
him, beholding his face, and eternally losing themselves in
love, wonder, and praise !
It may be further observed, that if our own happiness
and self-interest be allowed to be the chief motive of our
glorifying God upon earth, then the chief motive of our
hatred against sin, and of our returning to God with a
penitential sorrow for it, cannot be the offence and dis
honour done thereby to God, but the ruin which it brings
upon us ; and the chief motive to the love of God, by which
we most eminently glorify him, must be our own happi-
106 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
ness, or love to ourselves. But to assert these things, is,
at once, to contradict the whole scripture, and to over
throw the plainest principles of natural religion.
Again, if self-love is acknowledged to be the leading
principle of action among dependent beings, then it will fol
low, that there is such an unintelligible thing as a creature
made by God, and yet not for God and his glory, but for
itself, and for its own private interest, as its highest end ;
and that the creature is, in itself, its own ultimate happi
ness, as well as its own ultimate end ; seeing no created
being, in a course of action, can arrive at a greater happi
ness than the perfection of its own nature.
I have elsewhere* observed, that a respect to the glory
of God was the highest and noblest principle that moved
our Lord Jesus Christ to undertake and undergo his suf
ferings ; and that a chief and primary regard to the honour
of God, as the ultimate end of his whole mediation, did
most conspicuously appear in the whole course of his obe
dience, wherein he has left us a pattern, to be followed by
us, with veneration, in the whole of our Christian course.
Therefore I shall not at present enlarge further upon this
branch of the argument ; but proceed to observe, that as
the apostle has given it as the black character of the worst
of men, that should be a plague to human society, and the
reproach of human nature, in the latter days, that they are
" lovers of their ownselves," and " lovers of pleasures more
than lovers of God," 2 Tim. iii. 1, 2, 4. ; so our Lord and
Saviour has made self-denial the distinguishing and neces
sary character of all his disciples and followers : for, saith
he, " If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross and follow me." Christ's disciples
must come after him ; that is, they must walk in the same
way that he walked in, and propose to themselves the
same high and ultimate end which he aimed at, the glory
of God. They must " deny themselves," and herein " come
after Christ j" whose birth, life, and death, were all a con-
* Sermon on Jude, verse 3.
OF MORAL ACTIONS. 107
tinued act of self-denial, Phil. ii. 7, 8. They must deny
themselves absolutely: they must not admire their own
excellencies, nor gratify their own humours, nor seek their
own things ; and they must not lean to their own under
standing, nor be their own end.
It is an excellent saying that Bernard hath upon the
nativity of Christ,* " What more detestable, what more
unworthy, or what deserves severer punishment," saith he,
" than for a poor man to magnify himself; after he hath
seen the great and high God so humble as to become a lit
tle child 1 " " And," adds he, " it is intolerable impudence
for a worm to swell with pride, after it hath seen Majesty
emptying itself."
Let us but consider how opposite a thing pride is to the
spirit of a Christian. Nothing certainly can be more so
to the Spirit of Christ. Our Saviour was lowly, meek, and
self-denying. He has assured us, a That he did not seek
his own will, but the will of him that sent him ;" the apos
tle tells us, " That he pleased not himself;" and seeing he
was of a most humble and condescending spirit, seeking
not his own things, but ours, Phil. ii. 4, 5. doth it become
us to be proud, vain, and selfish ?
It likewise deserves our consideration, upon this part of
the argument, that, by our Lord's account, the love of
God is the first and great commandment, the summary of
all the commands of the first table of the moral law ; thus
telling us that we must love God with all our hearts,
strength, soul, and mind ; importing, that our love to him
must be supreme and singular, as well as sincere ; that, in
short, we must love him more than any thing else. Now
our Lord's saying that this is the first and great command
ment, can bear no other meaning, but that obedience to it
is the spring of obedience to all the rest ; and that our
obedience to him is only acceptable when it flows from
love to God himself. And though we are allowed to love
ourselves, and to pursue happiness at the impulse of that
* Bernard Serm. 1st de Nativit.
108 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
love, yet how can it be otherwise in the nature of things,
but that we must love God better than ourselves, or any
thing else ; seeing he is JEHOVAH, a Being infinitely better
than we are, or any thing beside himself? We ought there
fore to love God supremely ; and to love him chiefly for
himself, and not mainly with a view to our own happi
ness. For to love God chiefly as good to us, is to love him
chiefly for ourselves, and so to love ourselves more than
God; than which nothing can be more impious or con
tradictory to the principles of religion, whether natural or
revealed.
A celebrated author* says, "That we must first con
ceive the object lovely and excellent in itself, before we
can wish it loving and kind to us. And let us consider,"
adds he, "how much those that are conscious to their
having virtue enough in themselves to make them prize it
in others, are in love with Cato, Scipio, and those other
heroes, upon the bare knowledge of their virtues, although
from them they derive no present advantage." "Since
then," he goes on to say, " we pay such disinterested love
to some few, faint, and ill-refined virtues, that never did
profit us; how much, on such a score, and at that rate,
should we love him, who so possesses all perfection, that
each of his perfections is infinite ? Though his benefits to
us did not entitle him to our love, his essence and perfec
tions, the only source of those benefits, would give a right
to it ; and though we owed him nothing for what we are,
we yet should owe him love for what he is."
It may be easily demonstrated, that self-love, as it is to
be found among lapsed men, is most irregular and inordi
nate. And can it be thought, that that inordinate passion
for felicity, which at once seduced both angels and men
from their true happiness, by pride and folly, can justly be
esteemed the leading principle and chief motive of all moral
actions ? Was not Adam obliged to love and obey his
Creator, even although he had made no promise to him of
* Mr. Boyle in bis discourse of Seraphic Love.
OF MORAL ACTIONS. 109
future and eternal happiness, as the reward of his obe
dience ? And, shall we imagine, that this is the genuine
fruit of God's gracious condescension, in promising and
conferring happiness on the creature, to make his love and
obedience become merely selfish and mercenary?
Love is the great thing that God demands of us ; it is
therefore the great thing we should devote to him ; and
seeing good is the proper object of love, God being good
infinitely, originally, and eternally, must therefore be loved
in the first place ; nothing being loved beside him, but
what is loved for him : and it follows from this, that our
obedience must be animated with love to God, or a due
respect to his honour and glory, as its great governing
principle.
It is certain, indeed, that if we love God above all things,
as it has been shown we ought to do, we cannot possibly
fail to celebrate his infinite excellencies, or to give him
that glory which is due to his name ; and nothing will be
farther from our thoughts, than to make our own fame or
renown to rival it with him.
Upon the whole, I think it is very manifest, from the
holy scriptures, that the glory of God, and not our own
fame and esteem, ought to be our ruling motive in pursu
ing virtuous actions.
II. I shall now proceed to inquire what reason has to
say upon this point ; and I think an ingenious writer has
set it in a true light when he expresseth himself in the
following terms :* — " It is usual for us, when we would
take off from the fame and reputation of an action, to
ascribe it to vain-glory, and a desire of fame in the actor.
Nor is this common judgment and opinion of mankind ill
founded ; for certainly it denotes no great bravery of mind
to be worked up to any noble action by so selfish a motive,
and to do that out of a desire of fame, which we could not
be prompted to by a disinterested love to mankind, or by
a generous passion for the glory of him that made us.
Spectator, vol. iv., numbers 255, 256.
110 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END
" Fame is a thing difficult to be obtained by all, but
particularly by those who thirst after it ; since most men
have so much either of ill-nature or of wariness, as not to
gratify and soothe the vanity of the ambitious man : and
since this very thirst after fame naturally betrays him into
such indecencies as are a lessening to his reputation, and
is itself looked upon as a weakness in the greatest
characters.
" In the next place, fame is easily lost ; and as difficult
to be preserved as it was at first to be acquired. How
difficult is it to preserve a great name, when he that has
acquired it is obnoxious to such little weaknesses and
infirmities, as are no small diminution to it when disco
vered ! Were no dispositions in others to censure a
famous man, he would meet with no small trouble in keep
ing up his reputation in all its height and splendour.
There must be always a noble train of actions to preserve
his fame in life and motion ; for, when it is once at a stand,
it naturally flags and languishes.
" Ambition raises a secret tumult in the soul ; it inflames
the mind, and puts it into a violent hurry of thought ; it
is still reaching after an empty imaginary good, that has
not in it the power to abate or satisfy it. — It may, indeed,
fill the mind for a while with a giddy kind of pleasure, but
it is such a pleasure as makes a man restless and uneasy
under it ; and which does not so much satisfy the present
thirst, as it excites fresh desires, and sets the soul on new
enterprises.
" Nor is fame only unsatisfying in itself, but the desire
of it lays open to many accidental troubles, which those
are free from who have no such a tender regard to it.
How often is the ambitious man cast down and disap
pointed, if he receives no praise where he expected it 1
Nay, how often is he mortified with the praises he re
ceives, if they do not rise so high as he thinks they
ought : which they seldom do, unless increased by flat
tery ; since few men have so good an opinion of us as we
have of ourselves 1 "
OP MORAL ACTIONS. Ill
I hope the above reasoning will have its own force to
persuade Mr. Campbell, that the esteem of his fellow-men,
and of those beings among whom he is mixed, is a thing
by no means so valuable as he at first apprehended ; and
that he will think of following a course of virtue for the
future, from a view to a higher end, and from a more
noble motive than self-love, interest, and pleasure.
Mr. Campbell tells us that " we are to settle it, as our
main purpose, to recommend ourselves to the love, and
esteem, and commendation of God; and that the moral
virtues are the means that lift us up to this commenda
tion." But it is very manifest that mankind are in a
depraved state, and that they have offended God ; which
is proved, by the malignity of the wicked, by the sacrifices
which obtained in the Pagan world, and by the complaints
which heathen philosophers have made of the depravation
and wickedness of the ages themselves had fallen into.
And, can it be pretended to be a principle of sound reason,
that the moral virtues, or the best actions of men in a sin
ful state, can gain them the esteem and good-liking of God,
here or hereafter 1 Nature's light will teach us, and
Plato, cited by the author,* referred to in the margin, has
owned it, that a holy and good God did not create man
kind depraved and disordered in their faculties as they now
are. Their depravation and corruption is owing to them
selves, and not to the Author of their being ; and hence
they must, in the nature of the thing, be justly obnoxious
to the divine displeasure, upon this account, and for all
the consequences of this depravation of their nature ; par
ticularly for this, among others, that they can perform no
duty in such a manner as to please God.
It is very certain that no man, in a state of depravation,
can do any thing, with that love to God, or respect to his
authority, which the law doth require ; and therefore his
best actions cannot recommend him to the esteem of the
Author of his being. For, if he is supposed to do anything,
* Gales's Court of the Gentiles, part. 4, lib. i., cap. 4.
112 PRINCIPLE, RtfLE, AND END
every way as the law requires, he is not a depraved but a
perfect creature ; and if he can do any thing as it ought
to be done, he may, by the same abilities, do every thing
as it ought to be done. But, as the best thing he can do,
coming short of the law and rule of action, is therefore
sinful : as the best actions of all men being thus imperfect
are sinful; as it is a vain imagination to pretend, that
they can render men acceptable to God, or gain his esteem
and good-liking ; so we cannot enough adore God, for the
revelation of Christ, and the hopes of being justified by his
merit, and sanctified by his Spirit.
Can it ever be thought that there is any excellency in
the most holy creatures, but what God himself has given
to them, and preserves in them ? But if it all comes from
him, it is more his than theirs ; and all the praise of it is
due to him alone. And, as to us, who are lapsed creatures,
what can he see in us but sin or moral uncleanness, the
very object of his holy aversion? It were therefore the
most absurd thing in the world, for any created being,
whether fallen or unfallen, to make his own fame and
esteem the highest end of his actions ; seeing the pursuing
of such a course would be itself a fall ; as it is absolutely
inconsistent with a state of innocence to be chiefly in
fluenced by it.
As to what our author says, about every man necessarily
desiring the esteem of all mankind, and passionately seek
ing after the good opinion of those among whom he is
mixed ; I must beg him to tell me, if he, or any other man,
can reasonably desire any greater esteem, than his merit
entitles him unto 1 And let him tell me, at the same time,
what name that passion deserves, which can inspire a man
with the remotest thought, that his good qualities deserve
such respect from his fellow-men as makes that respect a
higher motive to virtue, than a respect to the authority
and glory of the great God, from whom he has received
life, and breath, and all things.
I conclude this argument with observing, That for a
man to make himself his own ultimate end, is to make
OF MORAL ACTIONS. 113
himself the object of his own supreme love, desire, and
esteem ; because nothing can be loved, desired, or esteemed,
above the ultimate end of a rational agent : and every
thing else, being only means to that end, must, in the na
ture of the thing, have only a secondary regard, and be
loved for its sake. But for a creature to love and esteem
itself above all other beings, is at once to throw away all
regard to the Deity, and to renounce its dependence upon
him. For, it being certain, that religious worship essen
tially includes in it, that the object be loved and esteemed
above all things ; it must follow, that self is the idol to be
worshipped, according to this scheme of principles ; and
that God is to be dethroned, and neither worshipped nor
acknowledged : or if acknowledged, only in so far as self
can serve a turn by it ; which, I think, cannot well be
allowed to be any kind of worship at all, unless Mr. Camp
bell be delighted with the distinction of supreme and in
ferior worship, and have the confidence to present the lat
ter to his Maker.
Thus, I think, it has been made very evident, from the
sacred oracles, and from the principles of reason, that the
glory of God, and not our own self-love, interest, and plea
sure ought to be our main and ultimate end as moral
agents ; and that our own fame and esteem ought not to
be the great commanding motive to virtuous actions.
CONCLUSION.
I MIGHT conclude, by making some general reflections upon
Mr. Campbell's treatise, and his preface thereto prefixed.
But, seeing this would lead me into much greater length
than I intend, I shall not enter upon them at present.
Only, I think, it might have been reasonably expected,
that our author would have advanced very strong argu
ments, to support such a scheme of principles as he has
thought fit to send abroad into the world ; but if we search
his whole book, we can find none except the following, or
114 PlilNCIPLE, KTJLE, AND END
others of the like nature ; namely, that he cannot but be
governed by self-love, because he sees all the world besides
only animated by this principle.
But what although Mr. Campbell should find in himself,
and can appeal to the breasts of too many others, that a
silly vanity has the ascendancy over him; and that a re
gard to the authority of God, and a respect to his glory,
has not that prevailing influence which it ought to have
upon the actions of men ? Will this say, that such dis
order and confusion in men's breasts, belongs to the original
frame of human nature 1 No more, I am sure, than Mr.
Campbell can prove, from a highway-man's being induced,
from his self-interest, to plunder the innocent traveller,
and afterwards cut his throat, that robbery and murder
belong to the original frame of human nature.
Of all things in the world depravity is the most univer
sal. Every thinking man feels it in himself, and observes
it in others. But it were a weak way of reasoning to
argue thus : Vice is universal ; and all the world are, less
or more, under its influence : Ergo, vice belongs to the
original frame of human nature. I say, it were ex
ceeding blunt to run away with the consequence, as suffi
ciently proved, by a bare proposal of the argument ; or to
sound an imaginary triumph, in a harangue of three or
four hundred pages. However beautiful expressions, and
laboured periods, may be entertaining to a polite taste ;
yet I cannot, for my part, have any great value for a book,
however polished or prolix, whose reasoning proceeds upon
no better a foundation than petitio principii, et ignorantia
elenchi.
Neither can I think that mankind are exceedingly
obliged to Mr. Campbell's courtesy for representing them
as so many vain -glorious creatures; seeking fame, and
thirsting for renown, as the main end of all their actions.
For all that creatures have is derived from God's exuberant
goodness ; and therefore all the praise of it is due to him,
and not to themselves. Nothing truly valuable can be
found among lapsed creatures, but what is owing to grace
OP MORAL ACTIONS. 115
in its rise, progress, and consummation ; which must for
ever exclude all boasting on our part, and induce him that
glorieth, to glory in the Lord.
I may appeal to the breast of every thinking man, if it
is not reasonable that rational creatures, deriving their
being from God, as the first Cause, should employ all their
faculties and powers to promote his glory as their last
end ? and, if it is not manifest, that their agreeing in one
last end necessarily unites them, as lines meeting in the
centre ; whereas making as many last ends as there are
rational creatures, leads to universal disorder and con
fusion? I might farther ask with equal confidence, if
their pursuing the same high and ultimate end with the
Author of their being must not be worthy of their nature,
a branch of their conformity and likeness to God, and the
way to maintain union and intercourse with him 1 Where
as, to set up our own self-interest, pleasure, and esteem,
as our highest end, is either to say, that a man may at
tempt to pass into an higher rank than that of created
beings ; or that he may act otherwise than a creature is,
in reason, obliged to do, from a consideration of its depen
dence upon God, and of its own weak and limited perfec
tions.
No doubt, we are to desire, and endeavour *to maintain
our good name ; that we may be useful in the world, and
that God may be honoured by us : but to make this our
main end, and the highest and sole motive to action, and
thus to set it above the reverence which dependent beings
ought to have for the authority of the great God, is to
throw up all regard to religion, whether natural or revealed.
Such a vicious self-love ought by all means to be mortified.
To this purpose, our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ has
taught us to deny ourselves ; and an apostle has given a
check to this unreasonable passion, in these remarkable
words : " Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou
boast as if thou hadst not received it ? "
Ambition or vain -glory is most certainly a corrupt
thing ; disposing us to boast and commend ourselves, and
116 PRINCIPLE, RULE, AND END OP MORAL ACTIONS.
inordinately to seek after applause and esteem. The apos
tles of Christ did vindicate their ministry, from this as
well as other vices, 1 Thess. ii. 6. and made ostentation
the characteristic of false teachers, 2 Cor. x. 12. Our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ reproved it as the sin of
the Scribes and Pharisees, that in their prayers, alms,
fasting, affected habits, and titles, they sought the praise
of men. And as the apostle Paul did not seek glory of
men, so did he forbid it to others. " Let us not be desir
ous of vain-glory, provoking one another, envying one an
other." It is clearly a sin directly opposite to humility,
unbecoming in man, highly dishonourable to God, and
contrary to the whole spirit of the gospel ; and though
some among the heathen took it for a virtue, as they did
likewise some of the foulest of vices, yet we have not so
learned Christ.
May " the same mind be in us, which also was in Christ
Jesus ; " who being one God with the Father, and the Son
of the Father, by an eternal, necessary, and ineffable gen
eration ; yet having, by his own voluntary condescension,
assumed our nature, " sought not his own glory, but the
glory of him that sent him," John viii. 50. and vii. 18.
Phil. ii. 5, 6, 7. And may the love of Christ constrain us
to a course of holy walking with God, because " we thus
judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead : and that
he died for all, that they which live, should not henceforth
live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them,
and rose again," 2 Cor. v. 14, 15.
CHRIST'S CALL TO THE RISING GENERATION,
CONSIDERED AND APPLIED IX
THREE SERMONS
PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR.
HAVING been directed, in the course of my ministry, to preach
the gospel of Christ to you, from the texts prefixed to the follow
ing sermons, I have taken this method, to lay the truths then
delivered before you, and others who may read these discourses,
that you may deliberately consider the things which belong to
your peace, before they be hid from your eyes. In transcribing
my notes, I have not closely adhered to the periods of the ser
mons, as they were delivered in your hearing ; but have put the
substance of the discourses in such a form as I thought most
proper for edification to the private reader; while, in transcrib
ing, I have enlarged upon several heads, and added others.
In these discourses, I have not entered upon the controversies
of the times, nor dwelt upon your duty to bear testimony to the
truths of Christ, to his kingly office, and all the other branches
of his covenanted cause and interest in this land ; which is a ,
subject most useful and necessary to be handled in its own pro
per place: but considering that it is needful you have some
saving acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ, by faith of the
operation of God, in order to your being faithful witnesses for
Christ, and holding fast the word of his patience, I have there
fore endeavoured, through the Lord's assistance, to lay the fol
lowing plain and important truths before you, from the word of
God: and may the Holy Spirit breathe upon them, by his own
divine influence, that, through his grace, you may be brought
to believe on the Son of God! And if you believe in him with
120 PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR.
the heart, you have ground to expect that you shall be en
abled, by grace, according to your circumstances, to confess him
with your mouth.
I hope you will strive together in your prayers to God, that
the truths here delivered, may be blessed to the glory of his
name, and the spiritual benefit of such as shall read and
ponder them in their hearts ; and that the promises made to
our highest Lord IMMANUEL, and to us in him, may be now
remarkably accomplished in the latter days, that " the isles shall
wait for his law;" that " in his name the Gentiles shall trust;"
and that "his name shall endure for ever;" and " upon his head
the crown shall flourish ! "
SERMON I.
MARK x. 14. — " But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said
unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them
not : for of such is the kingdo
WE have here the welcome which Christ gave to some
little children that were brought unto him. In the pre
ceding verse, it is said, " They brought young children to
him, that he should touch them ; and his disciples rebuked
those that brought them." We may suppose they were
their parents that brought them : others brought their
children to Christ, to be healed when they were sick ; but
these children were under no present malady, only they
who brought them to Christ desired a blessing for them.
They brought them to him, that he might touch them ;
it is elsewhere said, that he might lay his hands upon
them ; that is, that he might bestow a blessing upon them.
Thus Jacob put his hands upon the sons of Joseph, when
he blessed them. The disciples discouraged those that
brought them ; they thought it would bring a great trou
ble to their Master, and therefore rebuked them.
But our Lord Jesus was much displeased with the con
duct of the disciples, and encouraged the little children
to come unto him, and their parents in bringing them.
They who come to Christ themselves, should bring all
they have with them, and confidently expect a kindly
welcome. They who are blessed in Christ themselves,
should desire to have their children blessed in him ; and
should testify the love they have for their children, by
a concern about their souls, as well as the honour they
122 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
desire to put upon the Lord Jesus, by devoting them
to his service. Yea we may present our children to
Christ, now in heaven, that he may touch their hearts
by his Spirit and grace. In • this way we may act faith
upon the fulness and freedom of the grace of Christ, who
has promised to pour his Spirit upon our seed, and his
blessing upon our offspring,
The words contain a gracious call or invitation, di
rected by Christ to the rising generation, and a direction
to all with reference thereto ; " Suffer the little children
to come unto me, and forbid them not." Here we
may notice, 1. The glorious Person speaking, and inviting
perishing souls to himself; " Jesus said unto them, Suffer
the little children to come unto me." Jesus said it, and
you may trust his word, little children ; Jesus, the Saviour
of the world ; Jesus, who saves his people from their sins,
has said it, that little children, such as you, are included
in his commission, to seek and to save that which was
lost. 2. We may observe the persons to whom this gospel
call is directed ; it is to you who are little children ;
" Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid
them not." Let nothing be done to hinder them, for they
shall be as welcome as any. Little children, as soon as
they are capable, ought to come to Christ ; to come with
their prayers and supplications to him, and to come to
receive the blessing from him. 3. We may notice, that
the call is laid down by Christ, in the most endearing
manner to the little children : when the disciples oppose
them, he takes their part, and gives them abundant en
couragement ; " Suffer the little children to come unto
me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of
heaven." Little children have participated of Adam's
first sin, and of the malignant influences thereof; and
they are made welcome to partake of the grace of the
second Adam, and of that righteousness which reigns unto
eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. He takes it
ill that any should exclude those whom he has received,
or cast them out from the inheritance of the Lord ; and
SERMON I. 123
he tells his disciples, that of such is the kingdom of heaven.
The children of believing parents belong externally to the
kingdom of heaven, or are members of the visible church ;
and to them pertain the privileges of visible church-
membership, as among the Jews of old ; for the Lord
has said it, "I will be your God, and the God of your
seed;" and Acts ii. 39. it is said, "The promise is unto
you, and your children."
From these words, we may deduce the following doc
trinal observation :
" That as the rising generation have the greatest need
of Christ, and of the grace of Christ ; so, whatever dis
couragements they may meet with in coming to Christ,
yet they have abundant encouragement from himself, who
hath said it, " Suffer the little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not : for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
In discoursing on this doctrine, we shall endeavour, by
divine assistance,
I. To show that the rising generation have the greatest
need of Christ, and of the grace of Christ.
II. To speak of some of those discouragements that
young people may meet with in coming unto Christ.
III. To speak of the heavenly exercise the rising gen
eration are called and invited unto, namely, to come to the
Lord Jesus in the way of faith, or believing on him
whom God hath sent.
IV. To give a hint at some of those encouragements
which the Lord Jesus hath given to the rising generation
to come unto him. And,
V. To make some application of the doctrine.
I. We proceed to the first thing proposed, namely, To
show that the rising generation have the greatest need of
Christ, and of the grace of Christ.
The youngest of you are sinners; a sinner needeth a
Saviour; and Christ is the only Saviour, for there is no
salvation in any other.
1. The youngest of you are guilty of Adam's first sin,
Rom. v. 12. " Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
124 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned : " or, as it may be rendered,
" in whom all have sinned." And Rom, v. 19. " For, as
by one man's disobedience many were made sinners ; so,
by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."
Thus you see, that you and all the posterity of Adam are
sinners, by the imputation of Adam's first sin ; even as all
the redeemed from among men are righteous, by the im
putation of the righteousness of Christ, their Head and
Representative in the covenant of promise. In Adam all
mankind died, 1 Cor. xv. 22 ; because they all sinned in
him ; for " the wages of sin is death." Infants are born
under the power of spiritual death, and obnoxious to tem
poral and eternal death. Death hath passed upon them,
and all mankind, for that they all have sinned, Rom. v. 12 ;
that is, they sinned in Adam ; for they could not sin in
their own persons, prior to their being born in sin, and
under the sentence of death, the proper desert of sin.
As mankind were made upright, and after God's image,
Eccl. vii. 29 ; so the covenant was made with mankind,
not merely with the first man, as one individual of the
species, but it was made with him, as the federal head and
representative of his posterity. His first sin therefore was
not merely the sin of one man, but the insurrection of the
whole human nature against God. It is true, the fallen
angels did every one of them act for themselves, and in
volved themselves in sin and misery : but it doth not there
fore follow, that we are free from Adam's first sin, because
we were not present to give a formal personal consent to
what was done. Shall we poor creatures take it upon us
to prescribe to God himself, that he cannot take one
method of transacting with angels, and another with man
kind? It was a thing equal in itself, to deal with man
kind in the way of a covenant and federal representation ;
and we may be assured it was the best method, seeing a
God of infinite wisdom and goodness transacted with us
in that manner. If Adam had stood, and his posterity
had thus in him been confirmed in a state of happiness,
SERMON I. 125
the whole human race had applauded it, and praised God
for it. It was therefore a transaction good and equal in
itself; and if men of corrupt principles object against it,
they only discover the corruption of their hearts, by re
plying against God ; and they may consider how unfit
they are to judge in a matter wherein they are so much
parties themselves, and with what veneration they ought
therefore to receive what God himself has revealed con
cerning this matter in his word. Had all mankind been
in paradise, they could not have declined it, that God
should transact with them in the way of a federal repre
sentation. None could have been more fit to have repre
sented Adam's posterity than himself. Mankind had a
surer prospect of happiness by the good management of
one, the fittest of mankind to act for the rest, than if every
one had been left to act a part for himself; unless we sup
pose that some of Adam's posterity would have been fitter
to act a good part for their own personal interest than
Adam was to act a wise part for his own sake, and for the
sake of all mankind his descendants. None of them could
have had better abilities than Adam ; and none of them
could have had such strong motives to exert them, as the
common parent of mankind, who, besides his personal in
terest, was made the trustee and representative of his race
and posterity.
The youngest of you, yea, all mankind, are guilty of
Adam's first sin. The inspired writer, Eccl. vii. 29, giv
ing an account of the origin of all the sin, misery, and
vanity, that now takes place among mankind, lodges the
fault and blame of all, not upon one man, but upon the
whole race of mankind : " Lo, this only have I found, that
God hath made man upright, but they have sought out
many inventions." God made man upright, not merely
one man, but he made mankind, the human nature up
right, in the first original of it : and they (that is the
human race, as represented by the first man) made apos
tasy from God, and sought out many inventions. Instead
of resting in what God had found for them, they sought to
126 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
mend themselves ; and the law of their creation could not
hold them, but they would be at their own disposal, and
follow their own sentiments. To the same purpose God
saith to Israel, and in them to all mankind, " 0 Israel,
thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help." And
how great and inexcusable was the sin of the human race !
Man had an easy law to obey ; and as the moral law was
of undoubted excellency, so was the positive law likewise :
for it was for man's safety that he had one tree forbidden,
that he might know that he as the vassal held all of God
his superior ; so that when all the creatures were subject
to him, he might remember that he was still subject to
God. This forbidden tree was a memorial to him of his
mutable state, which was to be laid up by him for his
greater caution : for man was created with a free-will to
good, which the tree of life was an evidence of; but his
will was mutable to evil, and the forbidden tree was to
him a memorial thereof: it was in a manner a continual
watchword to him against evil. And the forbidden tree
taught Adam that his happiness did not lie in enjoying
creatures, for there was a want in paradise : it was there
fore in effect the hand of all the creatures pointing man
away from themselves to God for happiness ; and it was
like unto a sign of emptiness, lifted up on the door of the
creation, with this inscription, " This is not your rest."
So that upon the whole man's ruin was most evidently
owing to himself; " Man being in honour continued not,
but became as the beasts that perish."
The youngest of you have the greatest ground to be
humbled before God for this, that you are guilty of Adam's
first sin. And if you look into your own hearts, ye will
see the features of the first Adam's face, the very linea
ments of his first sin, in the complexion of your own souls.
His posterity are infected with his sinful curiosity (Gen.
iii. 6) ; they are more concerned to know new things than
to practise known truths. "Vain man would be wise,
though he be born like the wild ass's colt." They are
ready to hearken to the " instruction that causeth to err."
SERMON I. 127
The eyes of their head often blind the eyes of their mind ;
and they are too much inclined to care for the body at the
expense of the soul. How much are we inclined, with
Adam, to hide our sin, or to extenuate it, and to transfer
the guilt of it upon others ? Seeing then that the sin of
the first Adam is imputed to you, you can no otherwise be
saved but by the imputation of Christ's righteousness, to
the justification of life : and therefore every one of you has
the greatest need of Christ, and of the grace of Christ, even
of that grace which " reigns through righteousness unto
eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord."
2. The youngest of you have an infinite need of Christ ;
for you have lost the image of God, Rom. iii. 19. You
want that original righteousness which Adam had ; that
knowledge of God, of his law, and of his will ; that holiness
of affections, and that conformity of will to the divine law,
which human nature was endowed with at its creation ;
and, having lost the image of God, you have thereby lost
your immortality, and are become subject to death. Man,
at his creation, was a freeholder of heaven; but now, by
sin, you are enslaved to your corruptions. You have lost
that calm and serenity of conscience, which was the bless
ing of man's primitive state ; and now you have an accus
ing conscience, and a storm is raised in your breast. You
have lost that love to God and delight in him which Adam
had, and that filial dependence upon him as a God and
Father. You have lost all will and power to that which
is spiritually good ; and you are lost as to the very end of
your creation, which was to see God in all his works, to
gather in the revenue of his praise from all the inferior
creatures ; and to hand it up to him, and be the mouth
of this lower part of the creation, by worshipping and
praising God upon the earth, as the angels do in heaven.
The youngest of you, then, have an infinite need of
Christ, who restored that which he took not away, Psal.
Ixix. 4. He restored glory to God, and honour to his law ;
and he only can restore the image of God to man, and bring
man into favour with God.
128 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
3. The youngest of you stand in the greatest need of
Christ ; for your natures are corrupted, and you are carnal
and altogether sinful. You are morally unclean, and your
natures are polluted, Job xiv. 4 : for " who can bring a
clean thing out of an unclean? no, not one." The
Psalmist doth acknowledge his original corruption, Psal.
li. 5. " Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my
mother conceive me :"* and our Lord hath determined it,
" That which is born of the flesh is flesh," John iii. 6.
Man, considered in his corrupted state, is here called flesh;
because the unrenewed man is fleshly and carnal, even in
his most religious performances, and is carried out wholly
by the principle of flesh within him. In supernatural
mysteries he is blind and carnal, 1 Cor. ii. 14; so that
flesh and blood cannot reveal them to us, but the Father,
Matth. xvi. 17; and this fleshly mind doth move and oper
ate powerfully in atheists and heretics. He is carnal in
his performances, because, when he doth them, it is not
from love to God, to exalt and honour him, but from love
to himself, to avoid some judgment or other. God takes
notice of the corruption of your nature, Gen. vi. 5. Psal.
xiv. 2, 3. and maketh it lie heavy upon the consciences
of his own people in their new birth ; and, while they are
in this life, they are exercised with a daily conflict with
it : you ought therefore to take notice of it, and be hum
bled for it. Your mind is clouded, and filled with spiritual
darkness, Eph. v. 8. You see not the beauty and glory of
Christ nor the vileness of sin. That your understand
ings are corrupted doth appear from the vanity of your
minds, from the swarms of vain thoughts which do lodge
within you ; and from your spiritual folly, that you pre
fer the worst things to the best ; that you prefer a crea
ture to God, earth to heaven, the body to the soul ; and
that you mind only the present time, forgetting eternity,
and the world to come.
* See these texts explained and vindicated, in the review of Mr.
Campbell's principles.
SERMON I. 129
Again, your will is corrupted in its powers, in so far that
it is not only weakened but disabled to duty. There is in
your will an averseness to good, and a proneness to evil,
Jer. xiii. last, Hos. ii. 7 ; and there is in your will an ob
stinacy and contumacy against God, so that you are wilful
in an evil course, and refuse to be reclaimed, Jer. viii. 6.
Prov. viii. 36. Ezek. xviii. 31. Your will is corrupted and
perverse, in reference to your great and ultimate end ; for
the natural man seeks not God and his glory for his high
est end, but himself, Psal. xiv. 2, 3. " They are all gone
aside." Thou art gone aside from God as thy rest, and as
thy last end. All things are from God, and therefore all
things ought to be directed to God, and to his glory ; but
turning aside from God to the idol of self, thou hast
usurped the throne of God, and hast gathered in the rents
of his crown to thyself. This is thy case whilst thou art
an unrenewed man ; thou art wholly enslaved to sin, and
canst do nothing but sin ; hence the natural man is com
pared to an evil tree, that can bring forth nothing but evil
fruit.
Your memory is corrupted ; for you remember what you
ought to forget, and forget what you ought to remember ;
you forget God's word and his works ; you forget God's
mercies and rods ; you forget yourselves and your sins ;
you forget your convictions, and the working of God's
Spirit upon your hearts ; you forget God himself, his grace
and love manifested in Christ Jesus, Is. Ivii. 11, " Thou
hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart :" and
therefore are you so propense to all manner of evil ; whereas
the remembrance of God would be an excellent antidote
against all sin.
Your conscience is defiled, Tit. i. 15. There is a darkness
and vail upon it ; whereas, if the candle of the Lord were
lighted, thou wouldest be amazed at thyself, and at thy
condition. Thy conscience by sin is become senseless and
stupid, hence it is called a " seared conscience :" and if
conscience at some times endeavours to exert itself, it is
but weakly and faintly; conscience is too weak for cor-
130 CHRIST S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
ruptions. Like Balaam, men will press forward to their
wickedness, though conscience stand like an angel with a
sword in his hand to stop the way.
Your afl'ections are corrupted, in that they are placed
and fixed upon wrong objects ; they were given to men to
be wings to their souls in their motions after God, but now
they are become clogs and impediments to us in our ap
proaches to God. So corrupted are your affections, that
they have usurped a dominion over your understanding,
so that you judge as you affect, and not as matters are;
hence you have drawn false conclusions about the state
and condition of your own soul, as if it were safe, when
you may well know that it is very bad.
You have ground to be humbled for your pollution by
original sin ; for original sin is the most diffusive sin ;
other sins are like particular sores, but this is the gan
grene of the whole man ; the understanding, the will, and
the affections, are all defiled and infected with it : all other
sins are like the streams, but this is the fountain ; this is
the flaming furnace in the inward man, and your actual
sins, as so many sparks of hell, do flash forth from that
burning lake within. Truly you are in a most deplo
rable condition ; so that you are not capable to feel your
misery, nor to get out of it, or return to God, from whom
you have revolted, till sovereign grace interpose for your
relief. Know therefore the desperate wickedness of thy
heart, Jer. xvii. 9. Psal. xix. 13. A man's heart is like
Peter's great sheet, Acts xi. 6, which was full of four-
footed beasts, and creeping things, all unclean. Look in
ward, and you will find that your sinful words and actions,
though very dishonouring to God in themselves, are yet
nothing to the sea of corruption within you, where you
cannot reach the bottom. And as you are children of
disobedience, so you are children of wrath, Eph. ii. 3,
" by nature children of wrath, even as others." You
are so by nature, that is, by original sin, which is now
natural to you ; by it you are " children of wrath," that is,
you are worthy of wrath, liable to it, and under it : wrath
SERMOX I. 131
is your heirship, and you are born to wrath, as you are the
children of the first Adam.
We say, considered in yourselves, you are liable to the
wrath of God ; for you have sinned and come short of the
glory of God ; and the Lord hath said it, " The soul that
sinneth, it shall die." And you have broken God's law : now,
thus saith the Lord, " Cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do
them." Let us consider that wrath is gone as wide as
ever sin went. When angels sinned, wrath brake in upon
them as a flood, 2 Pet. ii. 4 ; and when Adam sinned, the
whole lump of mankind was leavened, and bound over to
the fiery oven of God's justice and wrath. All men
and women are under this wrath ; the Gentiles, that
know not God, are under it, Rom. ii. 12 ; and you, who
are young ones, are under this same wrath of God ; you
were born under it, but will make yourselves twofold
more its children if you do not flee in to Jesus Christ,
who hath delivered us from the wrath to come. Nay,
there needeth not be a surer mark of your being under the
wrath of God, than that you never saw yourself to be under
it, Is. xxvii. 11. 2 Thess. i. 8. Hos. iv. 6. No outward pri
vileges can exempt you from this sad condition ; though
you be descended of godly parents, and can say, " We have
Abraham to our father ;" and though you have been bap
tized, and admitted to church privileges, yet are you
" children of wrath as well as others." There is wrath
upon your body, it is a piece of cursed clay ; and there is
wrath upon your soul, so that you can have no communion
with God while in a natural unconverted state, Psal. v. 5.
Eph. ii. 12. There is wrath upon all your enjoyments,
upon your basket and upon your store, Deut. xxviii. 17;
and you have no security for a moment from the wrath of
God coming on you to the uttermost. In a little, and
you know not how soon, death will be a dreadful messen
ger unto you ; it will come armed with wrath, and put a
charge and summons in your hand, to bid an eternal fare
well to all things in this world, to appear before the tri-
132 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
bunal of God, and to go to another world, where you will
have no portion but a treasure of wrath for evermore. It
is in hell that the full floods of this wrath go over the pri
soners for ever ; for it will be their sad and dreadful con
dition to be separated from the presence of the Lord, and
to depart from Jesus Christ into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels, where their worm will not die
and their fire shall never be quenched. Thus, by original
sin, as well as actual transgressions, you are children of
wrath ; and unless your nature be changed by the renew
ing grace of God, you must lie to all eternity under this
load of divine wrath, and be " punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the
glory of his power." We might likewise tell you of your
personal sins; your disobedience to your parents; your
Sabbath- breaking ; your neglecting of secret prayer, morn
ing or evening ; your lying and taking of the name of God
in vain ; for the sake of which things, the wrath of God
cometh upon the children of disobedience : and we might
likewise warn you of your perishing condition, by reason
of your sin of unbelief, and the need you have of the Spirit
of Christ " to convince you of sin, because you believe not
in the Lord Jesus Christ," John xvi. 8, 9. By this sin of
unbelief, Christ is despised and rejected by you ; and you
" see no form nor comeliness in him, why he should be
desired" by you, though he be truly the " desire of all na
tions, and more excellent than all the mountains of prey."
You need not think to despise the love of the Father, the
blood of the Son of God, and the promises of the gospel at
an easy rate ; for, Mark xvi. 16, " He that belie veth, and
is baptized, shall be saved ; and he that believeth not shall
be damned."
II. But we proceed to the second thing proposed, viz.,
To mention some of those discouragements that young
people may meet with in coming unto Christ. And,
1. Some of you who are of the rising generation may be
discouraged in coming unto Christ, from the temptations
of Satan leading you to delay this blessed work ; and se-
SERMON I. 133
cretly suggesting this thought, That it is soon enough for
you to come to Christ. But you are called to come. " The
Master is come, and calleth for you" by name ; and if you
sit this call you may never get another. There are young
sprigs, as well as old logs, burning in the flames of hell ;
and there are graves in the churchyard j ust of your length.
Perhaps you are tempted to security : when the Lord vis
ited you with the rod and affliction, you then poured out
a prayer, and came under many resolutions ; but, now that
the blast of trouble is over, you are following your old
course. Beware of despising the Lord's warnings: by
these very troubles Christ giveth so many knocks at the
door of thy young and sinful heart ; and after all the re
fusals you have given him, he is still calling to you and
saying, " Behold, I stand at the door and knock ; if any
man open to me, I will come in and sup with him, and he
with me," Rev. iii. 20. Or, you are tempted to despair :
but consider that " Christ is able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God through him ;" that the mercy of
God, in Christ Jesus, is great unto the heavens ; and that
he has proclaimed his name, " The Lord God merciful and
gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." Or
possibly you are tempted to think hardly of the Lord's
way, or of his yoke as burdensome and uneasy ; but know
it for a certain truth, that " Wisdom's ways are ways of
pleasantness, and all her paths are peace : " and though the
hearts of the children of Zion " may know their own bitter
ness, yet a stranger doth not intermeddle with their joy."
2. Some of you may be discouraged in coming unto
Christ, by carnal friends and relations that endeavour to
turn you away from him : for the best that ever lived have
had trials of this sort ; but the Lord Jesus " giveth power
to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth
strength ; they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they
shall walk and not weary, they shall run and not faint."
3. You may perhaps be discouraged, from fears of falling
away in the time of trial : but trust in the Lord at all
134 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUXG.
times, for " in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength :"
and thus you shall be among the preserved in Christ
Jesus ; you shall be kept by the power of God, through faith
unto salvation ; you shall be delivered from every evil work,
and preserved to his heavenly kingdom. The Lord hath said
it, and faithful is he who hath promised, Zech. x. 12, " I
will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk up
and down in his name, saith the Lord."
4. Some of you may be discouraged, from a sense of your
own sinfulness and unworthiness : but it is sinners that
Christ came to save ; and " worthy is the Lamb who was
slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood, out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." The
voice of angels is heard round about the throne, saying,
with a loud voice, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,
to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength,
and honour, and glory, and blessing." And you are war
ranted to trust his promise who hath said it, " Your
righteousness is of me, saith the Lord : and men shall be
blessed in him, and all nations shall call him blessed,"
Psal. Ixxii. 17. Are any of you discouraged from the
greatness of your sin ? then know, that Christ is the great
God our Saviour, and that he hath proclaimed his name,
saying, " It is I that speak in righteousness, mighty to
save," Isa. Ixiii. 1, 2. Or are you discouraged from the
power of your corruptions ? Then take encouragement
from his own word of promise, Rom. vi. 14, " Sin shall not
have dominion over you : for ye are not under the law,
but under grace." Again, Mic. vii. 19, " He will subdue our
iniquities ; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the midst
of the sea : thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the
mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn to our fathers
in the days of old."
III. We proceed now, in the third place, to speak of the
heavenly exercise which the rising generation are called
and invited unto, viz. to come to the Lord Jesus Christ,
by believing on him whom God hath sent.
1. Then your coming to Christ suppose th, that there is
SERMON I. 135
a call directed to you from a Trinity of Persons in the
Godhead, inviting you to come, — to come to Jesus the Me
diator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling,
that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 1 John iii.
23. " And this is his commandment, that we should believe
on the name of his Son Jesus Christ." Matt. xi. 28, " Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest." Rev. xxii. 17, "And the Spirit and the
bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come.
And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let
him take the waters of life freely."
2. It supposeth that there is room in the love of God,
in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in God's cove
nant of promise, for your welcome and reception, who are
the rising generation, Luke xiv. 22, " And yet there is
room." John vi. 37, " All that the Father giveth me, shall
come unto me, and him that coineth to me, I will in no
wise cast out."
Young ones, you may be verily persuaded that Christ
calleth you by name, Prov. viii. 17, "I love them that
love me; and those that seek me early shall find me."
Christ is a public blessing ; " for God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be-
lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
" As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so was the Son of man lifted up ; that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have eternal life." As all
the congregation of Israel had a good right and a warrant
from God to look to the serpent lifted up, and be healed ;
so all that hear the gospel, particularly you who are
the rising generation, have the call and command of God
to look unto Christ and be saved, who is the " salvation of
God to the ends of the earth." You have all access to this
Tree of life, which groweth in the midst of the paradise of
God, the " leaves whereof are for the healing of the na
tions;" and there is no cherubim nor flaming sword to
hinder your approach unto it. Take a view of the en
couraging promises ; it is the voice of them all, Come, and
136 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
welcome to Jesus Christ. Through the whole gospel,
Christ never once made an objection to any that came to
him with their sinfulness or unworthiness ; but all his
complaints are of their backwardness and unwillingness to
come to him, that they might have life, and have it more
abundantly, John v. 40. The vilest sinners that ever
were, when they came to him, were made welcome ; Ma-
nasseh, Mary Magdalene, and Paul, who had persecuted
the church of God. Consider, young ones, that it was the
great design of the covenant of grace, that sinners,
such as you are, might have a Saviour, Is. Ixi. 1, " The
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath
anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek ; he hath
sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty
to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them
that are bound." Consider with what pleasure the Lord
Jesus undertook the work of your redemption, and with
what cheerfulness he went through that labour of love.
Psal. xl. 7, 8. he saith, " Lo, I come;" or "I hasten
to come : " and when he is come, he saith, " It is my meat
and drink to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish
the work which the Father gave me to do ;" viz. by pour
ing out his soul unto death, and making it an offering for
sin, that we might receive forgiveness of sins, and inherit
ance among them that are sanctified by faith in his blood.
Consider likewise, that it is the end of all the ordinances,
that you may come unto Christ and be saved ; for what
saith the word 1 but that through Jesus is preached unto
you the forgiveness of sins. What say ministers 1 " We
are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled unto
God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him." And what saith the sacrament ? " This is the
new testament in my blood, shed for the remission of sins
unto many ; drink ye all of it." Our Lord Jesus doth feed
in the gardens, and he gathers lilies. The day of the sin
ner's closing with him, is the day of the gladness of his
SERMON I. 137
heart. The hour, wherein the soul is determined to
come to Christ, is that very hour wherein he rejoiceth
in Spirit ; and seeing the travail of his soul, is satis
fied. His forbearance with sinners, and the welcome
they get when they come, discover abundantly his good
will towards men. He accepts of a weak mint and
essay at coming to him, even of a look, or the breath
ing out of the desires of the soul after himself, as the de
sire of all nations. He is most pressing and earnest in
bearing home the calls and offers of his grace. How long-
suffering is he, and with what patience doth he wait ? even
" till his head be filled with dew, and his locks with the
drops of the night." Our Lord Jesus is much weighted
with it, when sinners will not come to him ; it is accounted
by him an affronting him, and a treading the blood of the
covenant under foot : it drew tears from his eyes, and he
wept bitterly over Jerusalem, because, like many of you,
they knew not the things that belong to their peace. The
Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world ;
you may therefore trust him with your salvation; and
seeing you are sinners of Adam's house, you are therefore
warranted to intrust your souls with him, upon his own
call in the word ; for his name is called JESUS, " because
he saveth his people from their sins." Thus you see, that
you, who are the rising generation, are called to the
marriage-supper of the Lamb, and may expect a gracious
reception from the Lord Jesus Christ, who is come to seek
and to save that which was lost.
3. Your coming unto Christ implieth in it, that the
powerful efficacy of divine grace is exerted in renewing
you in the spirit of your minds, and making you willing
in the day of the Mediator's power, Psal. ex. 3, " Thy peo
ple shall be willing in the day of thy power." And John
vi. 44, " No man can come unto me, except the Father
which sent me draw him."
4. Your coming unto Christ, implieth in it a conviction
of your sinful and lost condition, as you are children of the
first Adam ; that you are children of wrath, and that your
138 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
iniquities do separate betwixt God and you ; that you are
fatherless and orphans ; that you cannot help yourselves
by your prayers, duties, or righteousness ; and that you can
have relief no otherwise but in him, in whom the father
less do find mercy, Hos. xiv. 3. Although the light of the
Spirit of God in conviction is like unto the light of the
sun, making all things to appear as they really are ; yet
many see their sin and perishing condition only by dis
course : but when the Spirit of God is bringing a soul to
Christ, he fixeth the vain mind of a sinner upon the due
consideration of sin in its nature, tendency, and end, John
xvi. 8, 9. He discovers to the soul the real greatness of
sin, by manifesting the real greatness of God against
whom it is committed, Hos. iv. 4. Isa. vi. 3 ; and by
giving realizing views of the justice of God, who will
by no means clear the guilty; of the infinite majesty
of God, Job xxxvii. 22 ; and of the holiness and purity of
God, who hateth all the workers of iniquity. Hence the
convinced sinner is pierced with perplexing grief, and is
made to despair of any deliverance by the law or the first
covenant, and is made to inquire into the way of relief,
by Christ in the gospel, and to pant after that salvation
that is in him, from present distress and future misery,
Acts ii. 37.
5. Your coming unto Christ, implieth in it that you see
him to be the great God your Saviour, or the Lord your
righteousness : and your believing on him, or receiving
him, as offered to you in the gospel, as your Redeemer.
In short, coming to him is just believing the report of the
gospel, that Christ is the Messiah, the mercy promised to
the fathers ; that he is the Saviour of the world ; that he is
the Christ, the Son of the living God ; and that he is given
of God to you in the gospel ; for this is God's record, " that
he hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son :
he that hath the Son hath life." God giveth his Son to
you, to be received by you, with a particular application
to your own soul's case and exigencies. Christ is exhi
bited in the word, as the great propitiation, to be received
SERMON I. 139
by you in particular upon the warrant of the free call, and
encouraging promise of the gospel. As conviction is par
ticular, " Thou art the man," saith the Spirit ; so the ap
plication of faith is particular, though it be sometimes
accompanied with but a small degree of sensible comfort,
Is. xlv. 24.
6. Your coming unto Christ implieth in it your being
espoused and betrothed to him, in a marriage covenant, as
the one husband raised from the dead. " Ye are become
dead to the law, by the body of Christ, that ye should be
married to another, even to him who is raised from the
dead," Rom. vii. 4. "And I will betroth thee unto me
for ever, yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteous
ness, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies : I will even
betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know
the Lord," Hos. ii. 19, 20. The soul going forth and be
holding king Solomon with the crown upon his head in
the day of his espousals, cometh to the marriage of the
King's son, to be betrothed to him for ever ; and the soul's
motion to Christ is the fruit of God's promise of betroth
ing souls to himself, in loving-kindness and in tender mer
cies. You are thus, through grace, to come to and trust
in the Lord Jesus for your all of righteousness and
strength ; to devote yourselves to him ; to love the name
of the Lord, and to serve him ; to come with him from
Lebanon, to look to him from the top of Amana and Her-
mon, from the lions' dens, the mountains of the leopards ;
and to take him for your all of consolation, who is the
consolation of Israel.
IV. We proceed now, in the fourth place, to speak of
some of those encouragements which the Lord Jesus hath
given unto the rising generation to come unto him. And,
1. The full and ample call of Christ in the gospel, is most
encouraging to engage poor sinners to come unto Christ,
and particularly to encourage the rising generation to come
unto him ; " Suffer the little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not." The call is directed to all the sons
of men, and giveth them a good warrant to come, Prov.
140 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
viii. 4, " To you I call, 0 men ; and my voice is to the
sons of Adam."
2. The promise of grace and strength to enable you to
come is a noble encouragement to come to Jesus Christ,
Psal. xxii. 30, 31, " A seed shall serve him. They shall
come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people
that shall be born, and that he hath done this." And the
promise of welcome to all that come is most encouraging,
John vi. 37, " Him that cometh to me, I will in nowise
cast out :" or, as the word may be rendered, Him that is
a-coming unto me (him that is but essaying to come), I
will in nowise cast him out.
3. That God is most glorified by those that come to
Christ, is encouraging to come. He has condescended to
gather in to himself the revenue of his glory, from the sal
vation of sinners by Christ Jesus, Eph. ii. 6, 7 ; and this is
a most comfortable encouragement, nay, sure warrant for
sinners to come to Christ ; seeing, in this method of salva
tion by him, there is " glory to God in the highest, as well
as peace on earth, and good will towards men," Luke ii.
14. Well, that very moment you come to Christ, you put
the crown upon his head, and ascribe glory unto him ; and
his glory to all eternity shall be great in your salvation,
Psal. xxi. 25. That moment you fall in with God's great
and highest design of creating all things, and upholding
them to this very day, which is, that the burden of the praise
of Immanuel might be lifted up, and that to the ages to
come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in
his kindness toward you through Christ Jesus ; and you
put in your note in a concert with the angels and the re
deemed from amongst men, in celebrating the grace of
Christ, and that salvation he hath wrought, with the glory
of God manifested therein : and that moment you come to
Christ, there is a shout of song among the angels of
God ; for " there is joy in heaven over one sinner that re-
penteth."
4. God the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour
of the world ; John iv. 15, and this is a sure warrant, and
SERMON I. 141
good encouragement for you to come unto Christ, and to
believe on him as the Saviour of the world. This world
had been the very suburbs of hell, upon the entrance of
sin, if the Son of God had not been sent into it ; and God
had never received any thing more of a revenue of glory
from men on the earth, if the Son had not been sent to be
the Saviour of the world. But, behold, " the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us ;" and there is a shout
among the seraphims, that " the whole earth is full of his
glory," Is. vi. 3 ; for God had more glory from the obe
dience of his eternal Son, than from the obedience of all
the hosts of angels since ever the world began. The Lord
Jesus is the great High Priest, taken from among men,
and ordained for men, in things pertaining to God ; in the
nature of man he finished this work of our redemption ;
and therefore every man that hears this everlasting gospel
is warranted to come unto him, and to trust in him with a
full confidence of faith, to obtain salvation by him, who is
the Saviour of the world.
5. It is encouraging to you to come to Jesus Christ, that
when poor sinners come unto him " he seeth the travail of
his soul and is satisfied," Is. liii. 11. He had sore travail
of soul, by the sword of justice awakening against him,
that it might be quiet as to you ; he had sore travail of
soul, by the hidings of his Father's face, and drinking of
the brook in the way, that torrent of vindictive wrath
which interposed betwixt you and the city of God. But,
so to speak, he reckons himself well rewarded, and is
satisfied, for all the sore travail of his soul, in the garden of
Gethsemane, in his agony, and upon the cross in Calvary,
in his being, through his whole life, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief; when he seeth the rising genera
tion coming to him for life, for righteousness and strength;
and seeth you coming to God, through him, as to your rest,
portion, and everlasting blessedness.
V. We now proceed to make some application of this
doctrine ; and that, by addressing ourselves, 1. To the pre
sent generation. 2. To the rising generation.
142 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
(1.) Then, we would exhort you, who are the present
generation, to imitate the example laid before you in our
text, by bringing your children, and the rising generation,
to Jesus Christ, the Mediator of the new covenant.
In order to this, you should be concerned to have
some knowledge of Christ, and acquaintance with him
yourselves: like these parents here spoken of, you must
have some love to Christ, and an esteem of the grace of
Christ, and an expectation of a gracious reception from
him. The people here spoken of believed that Christ was
both able and willing to help them ; they came to Christ
themselves, and brought their children, their best things
with them, as an offering unto him. They had been with
him, we may suppose, in some mount Tabor of mani
festation, and found that it was good to be there ; and
therefore thought it was best to have their children there
likewise. Imitate their example in this, that they had
first a concern about their own souls, and then were deeply
concerned about the souls of their children ; and in that
they were persuaded it would be well with the souls of
their children if they were Christ's, and no way else. This
seems to have been their conviction, and therefore they de
voted both themselves and their children to the Lord Jesus,
in whom alone the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Let this be your exercise, to bring your children to
Christ, that they may obtain " the blessing from the Lord,
and righteousness from the God of our salvation ;" for, by
nature, they are children of wrath, and under the curse.
Bring them to him for instruction, that they may be
all taught of the Lord ; and great shall be the blessed
ness and peace of your children. Bring them to him for
redemption ; for he is a living Redeemer. Bring them to
him for quickening and spiritual life ; for they are dead in
trespasses and sins, and Christ is the resurrection and the
life. Bring them unto him, that their persons may be jus
tified, and their natures sanctified ; for he is " made of God
unto us sanctification, and in him all the seed of Israel shall
be justified, and shall glory."
SERMON I. 143
Consider the marks and characters of such as may ex
pect to succeed in bringing their children to Christ. 1.
Such as make an acceptable offering of them to the Lord,
bring them to Christ, as the altar of acceptance, Is. Ivi. 7,
" Their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted
on mine altar." 2. They are importunate with the Lord
for his grace and help ; they are humble and self-denied,
and after seeming repulses wait patiently on for an answer
of peace, Matt. xv. 22, 24, 25, 28, " And, behold, a woman
of Canaan cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, 0
Lord, thou Son of David ; my daughter is grievously vexed
with a devil: but he answered her not a word. Then
came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord help me : but
he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's
bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord,
yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their mas
ter's table. Then Jesus answered, and said unto her, 0
woman, great is thy faith : be it unto thee even as thou
wilt." 3. They maintain honourable thoughts of Christ,
and they believe and trust to his word of grace and pro
mise, John iv. 50, " Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way, thy
son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus
had spoken unto him, and he went his way : and himself
believed, and his whole house."
But it may be for a lamentation, that many of us, in
stead of bringing our children to Christ, have provoked
the Lord to leave both us and them. 1. By stoutness of
heart, in not being humbled by the thought that both we
and our children have sinned in the first Adam, that we
have lost the image of God, and that our natures are uni
versally corrupted. 2. By our ignorance of Christ; for,
had we attained to more acquaintance and communion
with him, we might have spoken of him as of a friend to our
children. 3. By our unbelief, rejecting many an offer of
Christ, and distrusting the promise given to us and to our
children, Acts ii. 39. 4. By our carnality and worldly-
mindedness ; so that little of Christ was to be seen about
us, either in our words or actions : and by our formality
144 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
in our closets and family duties, Whereas had we been
spiritual and lively, we might have transmitted a savour
of Christ to our children, and to others about us.
But let the present generation be excited to this neces
sary duty of bringing the rising generation to Christ, from
a consideration of the encouragements the Lord hath given
to them in his word. Consider, that as the promise is to
you and to your children, so those who have brought their
children to the Lord, have met with a gracious reception :
thus, when Hannah dedicated Samuel to the Lord, her
offering was accepted. Consider, the Lord has promised
to pour his Spirit upon your seed, and his blessing upon
your offspring, Is. xliv. 4, 5 ; and that he has said, Christ
shall have a seed to serve him, who shall cause his name
to be remembered to all generations, Psal. xxii. 30. and
xlv. 17. Consider also, that God hath promised to circum
cise your hearts, and the hearts of your seed, to love the
Lord your God with all your heart, Deut. xxx. 6. In
bringing your children to the Lord, in the strength of
grace, fix your faith upon these his words of promise ; and,
in so doing, you may be assured of success in this duty
and exercise.
Again, if the present generation would bring the rising
generation to Christ, then they will be inclined, 1. To
come to Christ themselves, as to a " living Stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious," 1 Pet. ii.
4 ; to abase themselves under the mighty hand of God,
who " resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the hum
ble : " to be grieved for their own sins, Psal. xxxviii. 18 ;
to be as doves in the valleys, every one mourning for his
iniquities : and to weep for the sins of the present genera
tion, the profanity, atheism, lewdness, wantonness, drunk
enness, and scoffing at religion, which prevails ; for the
public indignities done to the Lord Jesus, by all ranks, by
the courts of judgment, by the state's invading the rights
of the Redeemer's crown, and by church -judicatories,
their silent and sinful connivance at all the dishonours
done to the Lord of glory, and by intrusions made upon the
SERMON I. 145
heritage of the Lord ; thus taking away the bread of life
from the souls of the rising generation. Let your hearts
be deeply affected with the signs of the Lord's anger, and
with the apostasy of this generation. It is matter of deep
humiliation, that the false prophet and the unclean spirit
are passing uncontrolled through the land; the grossest
of errors are spread in all corners, to the perdition and de
struction of the souls of men ; the Supreme Deity of the
Lord Jesus Christ is opposed and denied ; the work of the
Spirit of God, in the conversion and sanctification of sinful
men, is assailed and subverted ; self-love is declared to be
the principle, rule, and standard of all religious actions,
and self-interest to be their main and ultimate end. If
these foundation-truths be buried, what shall become of
the rising generation, but that they will lay aside all
regard to God and religion, and be drenched in mere
atheism and infidelity, to the dishonour of God, and to
their own eternal destruction 1 What reason withal have
you to lament the neutrality of some that have in them
the root of the matter, and are, notwithstanding, con
tinuing in a conjunction with those who have denied these
foundation-truths, and are associated with those that have
given up with Christ's Headship, and take their holding
of the powers of the earth 1 It were easy to show that
such an association is most unwarrantable; as thereby
they partake of other men's sins, do not bring them to a
conviction of such enormities as are censurable by the
word of God, and thus suffer sin to lie upon them ; while,
in opposition to the rule of the word, they do not with
draw, but continue in fellowship with the workers of ini
quity. It is most manifest, that such a course as this
cannot possibly be a proper mean to assert and defend the
royalties of the Redeemer's crown, nor to maintain the
purity of doctrine, the government, worship, and discipline
of his house, or to transmit them faithfully to posterity ;
which church -officers and church -judicatories are most
sacredly bound to do, not only from the solemn oath of
God, in our Covenants, National and Solemn League, but
146 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
by the very nature and duties of their office, by all the
rules laid down in God's holy word, and by all the ties of
nature ; that is, by humanity itself, and the love and regard
they ought naturally to have for their own posterity, the
rising generation. Eli's coldness and neutrality in the
matters of God, was severely punished in that good man ;
and it was in itself a dreadful judgment to the generation
wherein he lived, being an effectual bar in the way of re
formation ; while the tribes of Israel being thereby har
dened in their course of apostasy, were brought, as the
fruit of it, under most dreadful marks of the divine dis
pleasure. 2. If you, who are the present generation, would
bring your children to Christ, then set apart some time
for secret fasting, and the prayer of faith for your chil
dren, Job L 5 ; and instruct them daily in the good ways
of the Lord, encouraging them in well-doing, and correct
ing them for their faults. Talk with them when you sit
in your house arid when you walk by the way, when you
lie down, and when you rise up, Deut. vi. 7. Talk with
them of their baptismal vows, and of their warrant to be
lieve in the Lord Jesus, and of their duty to devote them
selves to the Lord, as you have endeavoured, through
grace, to do it in their name. Talk with them of the love
of God, in sending his Son into the world, and of the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge ; of their duty to love the
Lord, and of the promise of grace, to enable them to love
him, Deut. xxx. 6. Talk with them, and tell them of the
works of God for this land, in our glorious reformation,
and wonderful revolution; "Walk about Zion, and go
round about her; tell the towers thereof; mark ye well
her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to
the generation following : for this God is our God for ever
and ever ; he will be our guide even unto death," Psal.
xlviii. 12, 13, 14. Talk with them, and tell them of the
solemn engagements these lands are under, to promote re
formation, and to walk closely with God, by our Covenants,
National and Solemn League ; and tell them of our back-
slidings and defections from the Lord, and of the breaches
SERMON I. 147
and violations of the vows of God. Talk with them of
God's wonderful appearances for us, and of their duty to
cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart. Tell them of
the ordinances, the pleasant palaces of Zion, where the
King is held in the galleries ; and of the promise of God,
which are her bulwarks. Let it be your exercise, "to
show to the generation to come, the praises of the Lord,
and his strength, and the wonderful works that he hath
done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and ap
pointed a law in Israel, that you should make them known
to your children : that the generations to come might know
them ; who should arise and declare them to their children:
that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the
works of God, but keep his commandments," Psal. Ixxviii.
4, 5, 6, 7. Talk with them of God's covenant of grace and
promise, which is his testimony established in Jacob, and
his law appointed in Israel. Talk with them of the com
prehensive blessing and promise of this covenant, that
" this God is our God for ever and ever." Talk with them
of the absoluteness and freeness of this covenant ; and of
the righteousness of Christ, its only proper condition,
which being fulfilled, the rising generation, as well as
others, may warrantably put in a claim for all its blessings
in Christ's right, and for Christ's sake ; a claim that will
certainly be sustained in the court of heaven. And tell
them to give themselves up to God, who hath raised
Christ from the dead, and given him glory, that our faith
and hope might be in God.
We now proceed to conclude this discourse, by directing
a word to you who are the rising generation, in a use of
Examination and Consolation.
EXAMINATION.
1. It is necessary that you examine and try yourselves,
whether or not you have as yet come to Jesus, the Media
tor of the new covenant.
(1.) Then, is it your exercise, with young Josiah, 2 Chron.
148 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
xxxiv. 3. to prepare your hearts to seek the Lord God of
your fathers ? Early seekers of Christ shall not seek him
in vain; for those that seek him early shall find him,
Prov. viii. 17. Young seekers of the Lord have some in
sight into the evil of sin, and they are tenderly affected with
it ; young Josiah's heart was tender, and he wept before
the Lord, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 21, 27, 30 ; he wept not only for
his original sin, and his actual sins, but for the sins of the
land, and the people among whom he lived ; and is this
your exercise ? The voice of prayer is heard among young
seekers ; they read the scriptures ; the word of the Lord
is precious to them; and they devote themselves to the
Lord, to love the name of the Lord, and to serve him,
through the grace of Jesus Christ. Josiah, while he was
yet young, in the sixteenth year of his age, " made a cove
nant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep
his testimonies with all his heart, and with all his soul,"
2 Chron. xxxiv. 31. But, in order to your devoting your
selves to the Lord in a covenant of duties, you must, by
faith, take hold of his covenant of promise ; seeing you
can no otherwise be accepted, but by the righteousness of
Christ, and no otherwise be assisted but by the grace of
Christ, which is exhibited to you in the promise of the
covenant.
(2.) Do you believe in the Son of God ? Have you got a
sight of the King in his beauty ; has your soul been made
to follow hard after him ; are your desires drawn out to
wards the " Desire of all nations ? " Is Christ precious to
you, and " more than another beloved 1 for to those that
believe he is precious," 1 Pet. ii. 7. Do you account all
things but loss and dung to win Christ, and to be found
in him, not having your own righteousness, but that which
is by the faith of Christ ? Are you in him, as Noah was in
the ark, or as the manslayer was in the city of refuge ?
(3.) Have your hearts been made to burn with love to
the Lord Jesus Christ1? Have you seen him to be the
chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely ? Do
you love him, and breathe after fellowship with him, and
SERMON I. 149
nearness to him, saying with the church, " Tell me, 0
thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, and where
thou makest thy flock to rest at noon T' Song i. 7. Do you
BO love him as to keep his commandments, and breathe after
holiness and conformity to him ? Do you love his ordi
nances, and esteem a day in his courts better than a thou
sand elsewhere, and delight in the place where his honour
dwelleth ? Do you love his people, and account them the
excellent ones of the earth, in whom is all your delight ?
Do you prefer Zion to your chiefest joy ; and are you af
fected with the desolations of the sanctuary, and grieved
for the affliction of Joseph? Do you rejoice when Christ
is honoured ; and do the reproaches of those that reproach
him fall upon you ? Is there nothing so humbling to you,
as that you have so little love to Christ ; nothing a greater
burden to you, than the weakness of your love to Christ ?
Is there nothing so comfortable to you as the promise of
the Spirit, to manifest the glory of Christ to your soul,
John xvi. 14 ; and to shed his love abroad in your hearts ?
Then you are of the number of those that love our Lord
Jesus Christ in sincerity, and of the little children of whom
is the kingdom of God.
EXHORTATION.
We now proceed to a word of Exhortation; and may the
Lord, by his Holy Spirit, persuade and determine you to
come to HIM, who is come in the name of the Lord to
save you, and who is come that you may have life, and
have it more abundantly.
1. We exhort you to believe in the Son of God ; for this
is to come to Christ, and this is the work of God, to be
lieve in him whom God hath sent. Believe the record of
God concerning his Son; and "this is the record, that
God hath given to us eternal life ; and this life is in his
Son. He that hath the Son hath life," 1 John v. 11, 12.
You may well believe what God testifieth ; but God testi-
fieth that he hath given to you eternal life, and that this
150 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
life is in his Son, as its Spring and Fountain : he testi-
fieth that he hath given to you his Son; and he that
hath the Son hath life. Faith has Christ, it has the
Son ; and faith only has him, because God has given him ;
for faith can have nothing but what God gives. God gives
Christ, and faith receiveth him, and hath him in posses
sion : but he is given to many that do not receive him ;
and this is their unbelief, that they do not, and will not,
receive God's gift of Christ, and of life in him. For though
Christ be given in possession only to those that by faith
receive him, yet Christ, and life in him, is given unto all of
you that hear the gospel, in the offer and right to put in your
claim to Christ, and life in him as yours ; and every one of
you is warranted to receive him as yours, laying claim to
him, and to all the blessings of his purchase, as your own,
in a way of grace. He is given of God to you, to be your
Kinsman-Redeemer, Job xix. 25. Is. ix. 6. He is given to
be a light to you that sit in darkness, in the region and
shadow of death ; to be a Ransomer, to proclaim the gos
pel jubilee, and liberty to the captives, Is. Ixi. 1. He is
given to be a covenant to the people, Is. xlix. 8 ; to be the
new-covenant Head, the Surety and Trustee of the cove
nant, and to dispense all the blessings of the covenant.
He is given to thee, man or woman, to be a Restorer of
paths to dwell in, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages ;
to be thy Head and Husband, to betroth thee unto him
for ever ; to be a leader to thee through all thy dark be
wildered steps ; to be a Saviour to thee from all thy sins ;
to be a Physician to heal all thy plagues ; and to be the
Salvation of God to the ends of the earth.
What God hath said and recorded, you may, and ought
to believe : now God hath said, that he offereth and giveth
to you life, in Christ the Prince of life ; that he giveth to
you life, and Christ the Fountain of life. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not
the record that God gave of his Son, 1 John v. 10. Unbe
lief doth consist in discrediting what God hath said. Now
the sin of unbelief is not your disbelieving that God giveth
SERMON I. 151
Christ to the elect, or that he giveth Christ to others ; but
your not believing that God offereth and giveth Christ to
you in particular, and that you have a warrant and right
to accept of him. Thus it was with the Jews ; the pro
mise was to them and to their children, Acts ii. 39 ; but
they did not credit the word of salvation sent unto them,
but rejected the counsel of God against themselves.
When the brazen serpent was lifted up before all the
congregation of Israel ; if multitudes of them perished by
not looking up to the brazen serpent, it was not because
the remedy was not offered and given to them as well as
the rest of the congregation, but because they did not
look to it, nor credit God's word that a look would cure
them.
2. We exhort you to come to Jesus Christ, the Mediator
of the new covenant : and it is the voice of Christ to you
who are the rising generation ; " Suffer the little children
to come unto me, and forbid them not ; for of such is the
kingdom of God." Our Lord commandeth you to be
called ; and we say to you, as it was said to the blind man,
Mark x. 49, " Be of good comfort, rise, for he calleth thee."
He calleth for your hearts ; " My son, give me thy heart."
He calleth you to come into a marriage-relation to him, and
to sweet fellowship with him, upon the mountains of
myrrh, and the hills of frankincense, till the day break,
and the shadows flee away. He calleth you to come, with
all your sins, to be pardoned ; with all your plagues, to be
healed ; with all your wants, to be supplied ; and with all
your burdens, to be relieved.
As to you who are advanced in years, though it is in
youth that God ordinarily brings in to himself, yet he is
sovereign that way. 0 sinner, if forty, if fifty years old,
we say, yet even now is the word of this salvation sent
unto you ; rise, for he this moment calleth you. Thus he
calleth some at the eleventh hour ; and thus Paul was
called when advanced in years, 1 Cor. xv. 8, " And last of
all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."
And if you who are the rising generation, would be
152 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
directed how to come, then come, depending on God's
word of promise for grace and strength to come ; for he
has said it, Psal. xxii. 31, " They shall come, and they
shall declare his righteousness." Come, looking unto
Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith, Heb. xii. 2 ; and
say with the church, " Draw me, we will run after thee."
Come in a mourning frame, that you have been so long a-
coming, that you have been amongst the last to bring back
the King: and come rejoicing, that you are yet called and
invited to come ; for " Blessed are they who are called to
the marriage-supper of the Lamb."
Come then to him with all your hosannas, and praises
of faith, Matt. xxi. 16, 16 ; for out of the mouths of babes
and sucklings he has perfected praise. Come to him with
all your supplications and prayers of faith, to be perfumed
with his incense ; and come to him with the confidence of
faith. Come, and in coming to him, depend upon the Holy
Ghost, who is the Spirit of faith ; for it is the work of the
Spirit to glorify Christ, John xvi. 14. And when Jesus is
seen in his glory, then your souls will follow hard after him,
as the chariots of Amminadib ; and the language of your
hearts will be, " Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art
the Lord our God."
(153)
SERMON II.
GEX. xxviii. 10—13, 19.—" And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and
went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried
there all night, and lay down in that place to sleep : and he
dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it
reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God ascending and
descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I
am the Lord God of Abraham thy Father, and the God of Isaac.
And he called the name of that place Bethel."
WE may notice, from these words, and their connection in
this chapter, that Jacob had this vision in his youth, and
in the day of his distress, when he was in exile from his
father's house, and had fled from the face of Esau his
brother, who sought his life.
In the words, we may remark more particularly, 1. The
season of this manifestation ; it was when Jacob was go
ing from Beersheba towards Haran, going from his native
country to a foreign land, in compliance with the call of
God's Providence. 2. The manner in which the manifesta
tion was given ; it was in a night vision ; and this was
one of the ways in which God spake unto the fathers ; but
he hath now, in these last times, spoken unto us by his
own Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things. 3.
The manifestation itself: Behold, " a ladder set up on the
earth, and the top of it reached heaven." This ladder was
an emblem of Christ, who is " the way, the truth, and the
life," John xiv. 6. And the angels are said to ascend arid
descend, as being, at his command, in the administration
of his kingdom, Heb. i. 14. John i. 51. And he saw " the
Lord standing above it;" God as in Christ reconciling the
154 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
V
world to himself, proclaiming his covenant of promise, " I
am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of
Isaac." 4. The gracious and kindly impression this mani
festation made upon Jacob ; he says, " This is none other
but the house of God, this is the gate of heaven. And he
called the name of the place Bethel." Bethel signifies the
house of God; though it was a solitary place, yet the divine
presence made it to Jacob the house of God, and the gate
of heaven.
From these words, we may deduce the following doc
trinal observation :
" That the time of youth is a special season of Bethel
manifestations, wherein God doth manifest to the souls of
men the glory of Christ, and doth reveal himself, as a re
conciled God in Christ, and condescends to show unto
them his holy covenant of promise."
In discoursing on this doctrine, we shall endeavour, by
divine assistance,
I. To offer a few remarks concerning these Bethel-mani
festations, which the Lord frequently condescends to bless
the sons of men with in the days of their youth.
II. Speak a little of these manifestations, and show what
it is he doth manifest and reveal to the rising generation,
in the days of their youth. And,
IIL Apply the doctrine.
I. We proceed to the first thing proposed, to offer a few
remarks concerning these Bethel - manifestations, which
the Lord frequently condescends to bless the sons of men
with in the days of their youth. And,
1. We remark, that there is a Bethel-manifestation of
Christ in his glory, in the morning of conversion, when
the soul is first visited with the day-spring from on high.
This was the privilege of Paul, in the day that he was
effectually called, Acts ix. compared with 1 Cor. xv. 8.
" And last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out
of due time." The day of his conversion was his birth
day, wherein he was born from above. He was a man
advanced in years, who had long opposed the gospel, and
SERMON II. 155
rejected the offers of grace ; and therefore he looks on him
self as one born out of due time : yet it was a blessed time
to his soul, and the best day that ever he saw ; it was to
him a day of manifestation, wherein he saw the holy One
and the Just, and heard the voice of his mouth. So is it,
in some measure, to all that are effectually called. Though
every one cannot distinctly tell the day and time of his
first meeting with Christ ; yet every one of them has got
such a glimpse of the glory of Christ, as has drawn his
heart, his trust, and the desires of his soul, towards himself.
2. We remark, that the Lord's people have Bethel meet
ings with Christ in the morning of a renewed manifesta
tion, after they have been mourning without the sun,
and walking in darkness, having no light. They may be
said to attain such Bethel-manifestations, (1.) When he
manifests himself unto them in the glory of his person, in
his offices, and in the freeness and permanency of his love
and grace ; and in his comfortable relations, mediation,
and powerful intercession, John xiv. 21, " He that hath
my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth
me ; — and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."
(2.) When he looseth their bonds, and maketh them to walk
in the glorious liberty of the sons of God, Psal. cxvi. 16 ;
hearing their prayers, and giving them gracious and com
fortable returns : " In the day when I cried, thou an-
sweredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my
soul." Psal. cxvi. 1, 2, " I. love the Lord, because he hath
heard my voice, my supplications : because he hath inclined
his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as
I live." (3.) When their souls are made, in a lively exer
cise of faith, to feed upon his word ; when he speaketh
into their hearts, and converseth with them by his word,
and the motions of his Spirit upon their souls, Luke xxiv.
32, " And they said one to another, Did not our heart
burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and
while he opened to us the Scriptures 1 " (4.) When they
attain, through grace, a nearness to God, Song i. 3, " The
King hath brought me into his chambers : we will be glad,
156 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNCL
and rejoice in thee : we will remember thy love more than
wine : the upright love thee." Sometimes Christians have
attained a greater nearness to the Lord, than they thought
possible on the earth, and have been made to cry out,
" Hold, Lord, for I can hold no more, for I am an earthen
vessel;'1 because their old bottles were like to break to
shivers, with a fill of that new wine of fellowship and com
munion with God. (5.) When they have had such mani
festations, that he has drawn by the vail, and they have
seen the King in his beauty, and beheld the land that is
afar off; their graces having been excited, and drawn forth
into a lively exercise, by fresh influences of the Holy Spirit ;
and the Beloved has come into his garden, to see the beds
of spices, and to gather lilies. (6.) When they have had
such intimations made unto them as, " Son, be of good
cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee ; " and " I have loved thee
with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee : " when, with power and evidence of
his Spirit, he saith " to them who are of a fearful heart,
Be strong, fear not;" and encourageth them with such a
word, " Fear not, I know that ye seek Jesus who was cru
cified ; he is risen, as he said ; come, see the place where
the Lord lay." (7.) When he giveth new and unwonted
communications unto their souls ; when he giveth strength
to them in their weakness, and life to them in their dead-
ness ; when he giveth to them peace and pardon, and giveth
to them himself, which is more than all other blessings, Rev.
ii. 28, " And I will give him the morning star." He giveth
them sometimes grapes from Eshcol, the first-fruits of the
land of promise, a Pisgah-view of the land afar off, a fore
taste of glory, some drops of that wine that goeth down
sweetly, making the lips of them that are asleep to speak.
So that, even here below, they are made to begin some
notes of the song of the redeemed ; and have such com
munion and fellowship with God through Jesus Christ,
that it is to them the gate of heaven, the suburbs of glory.
3. We remark, that there are some means and ordinances
of God's appointment, wherein the followers of Christ are
SERMON II. 157
privileged with these manifestations. It is in the sanc
tuary, in the attendance upon public ordinances, that they
see his power and his glory, Psal. Ixiii. 1, 2. It was in
hearing the gospel preached, that a great company of the
priests became obedient to the faith ; and it was by the
ministry of the word, that the Lord opened the heart of
Lydia, to attend to the things that were spoken. It is in
the field of meditation, that they get sometimes a refresh
ing view of the glory of the Lord : " When I remember
thee upon my bed," saith the Psalmist, " my soul followeth
hard after thee." And it is in reading and searching the
Scriptures, that they behold the glory of Christ, 2 Cor. iii.
18. " Often," said an eminent saint, " have I seen the in
visible God ; and when I saw him, it was in his word." It
was in the duty of prayer, Gen. xxxii. 24, 30, that Jacob had
a most remarkable manifestation of the glory of Christ. He
wrestled with the Angel of the covenant till the breaking
of the day, " and he blessed him there : and Jacob called
the name of the place Peniel ; for I have seen God face to
face, and my life is preserved."
4. We remark, that there are some particular seasons
wherein the Lord condescends to give manifestations to
his disciples and followers ; such as, when they are lament
ing after the Lord, and seeking him with a holy restless
activity, Song iii. 3, " I sought him whom my soul loveth.
It was but a little I passed from them, when I found
him whom my soul loveth : I held him, and would not let
him go." Or when humbled for their own sins, and the
sins of the land, which have provoked him to withdraw :
thus, when Daniel was exercised in this manner, it was
said to him, " 0 Daniel, a man greatly beloved," Dan. ix.
23. Or when suffering for the cause and interest of Christ :
thus Moses had a vision of Christ in a flame of fire out of
the midst of a bush, when he was bearing the reproach of
Christ at the back of the mount Horeb, and was there feed
ing Jethro's sheep : and John, when in the isle of Patmos, for
the testimony of Jesus, had the most refreshing manifesta
tions of the glory of Christ, whose countenance is like the
158 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
sun shining in his strength. Or when a person has difficult
work to undertake at the Lord's command : thus Moses
and Aaron had a manifestation of the glory of the Lord,
and could say, " The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met
with us." Or when a soul is tenderly affected with Christ's
absence, and is mourning because the Comforter is far
away, John xx. 11, 15, 16, "But Mary stood without at
the sepulchre weeping. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou ? whom seekest thou 1 She supposing
him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have
borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will
take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary : she turned
herself, and said unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Mas
ter. Mary Magdalene came, and told the disciples that
she had seen the Lord." Or in times of affliction. So was
it with Jacob : he was destitute and afflicted, being an exile
from his father's house ; but he had a manifestation of the
glory of the Lord ; and " he called the name of the place
Bethel."
5. We remark, that frequently the most sensible and
comfortable manifestations are attained to in the days of
youth ; for not only to Jacob, but to Solomon also, did the
Lord appear in his youth, 1 Kings iii. 5, " In Gibeon the
Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night."
6. We remark, that sometimes these manifestations are
surprising. Jacob saith, " The Lord is in this place, and
I knew it not." They fill the heart with a holy awe and
reverence of God ; " How dreadful is this place ! " said
Jacob : and they bring along with them some sweet taste
of heart-warming, soul-refreshing communion with God;
" This is the house of God, this is the gate of heaven."
Christ is the gate by which the righteous enter in ; and a
meeting with him brings the soul to the suburbs of heaven.
7. We remark, that the memory of 'SanSestations of
God in youth, remains with the saints through their pil
grimage ; thus Jacob could not all his life forget the mani
festations of God in his youth ; and the thoughts of them
were fresh and supporting to him on his deathbed, Gen.
SERMON II. 159
xlviii. 3, " God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in Canaan,
and blessed me." And the Lord himself doth keep a
record of his gracious visits to souls in their youth : hence
it was that he said to Jacob, " I am the God of Bethel,
where thou anointedst the pillar, and vowedst the vow."
8. We remark, that frequently the Lord doth make use
of his rod in the days of youth. As we have formerly ob
served, it was Jacob's case ; so, if it is thy case, reader,
then plead the promise of God's covenant ; " I will cause
you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the
bond of the covenant," Ezek. xx. 37. The design of the
rod is to bring you into the bond of the covenant ; and
the Lord himself hath undertaken to bring you, though
you are neither able nor willing to come of yourselves.
This bond of the covenant will not rot in the grave, for it
is an everlasting covenant ; and the blessings of this cove
nant are free to needy sinners, such as you are : hence the
blessings of the covenant, for their freeness, are called
mercies, the " sure mercies of David." Mercy, I am sure,
will answer thy case, be what it will : 0, then, trust a pro
mising God, and put the work in his hand, who has said
it, " I will cause you to pass under the rod, and bring you
into the bond of the covenant."
II. We proceed, in the second place, to speak a little of
these manifestations, and to show what it is which God
doth manifest and reveal to the rising generation. And,
1. They get a manifestation of Jesus Christ, the Mediator
betwixt God and man. Jacob saw a ladder set up on the
earth, and the top of it reaching to heaven : this ladder
was an emblem of Christ, who is called, " The way, the
truth, and the life," John xiv. 6. And he is the Mediator
between God and man, through whom we approach unto
God. Christ the Son of God, like Jacob's ladder, was set
up on the earth, in his incarnation and birth at Bethlehem ;
and he reached heaven, in his Deity or divine nature. Thus,
when he was upon earth, he affirmed of himself that he
was likewise in heaven : " No man hath ascended to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man
160 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
which is in heaven." The ladder, the foot of it upon the
earth, and the top of it in heaven at the same time, was
an emblem of Christ in his person, God-man, 1 Tim. iii. 16,
" Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the
flesh, justified in the Spirit, preached to the Gentiles, be
lieved on in the world, received up into glory." Heaven
and earth are brought together, through Christ's media
tion ; and there is an union by him betwixt God and man,
an union of peace and reconciliation, an union of friend
ship, and an union of end and design. By him also, there
is a blessed intercourse and communion betwixt heaven
and earth ; for, through him, by one Spirit, we have access
to the Father, and come to God, the Judge of all ; and,
through him, we believe in God, who raised him from the
dead, and gave him glory, that our faith and hope might
be in God. Through him, in short, we have boldness to
enter into the holiest of all, by the blood of Jesus, through
the new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us,
by the vail of his flesh. This ladder is fixed fast in the
earth, in his satisfaction upon the cross, in his death and
deep humiliation; and the top of it is fixed as fast in
heaven, in his ascension, exaltation, and intercession with
in the vail. It is a way and a ladder for the inhabitants
of the earth : the foot of it is not set in hell, for the fallen
angels ; no, there is a great and an unpassable gulph be
twixt heaven and that place of separation from God : but
the foot of it is set upon the earth, for the sons of men ;
and every man, young or old, who hears this everlasting
gospel, is invited, called, and warranted to come to God
through Christ, who is " the way, the truth, and the life."
There is no cherubim or flaming sword to obstruct your
access ; but " the Spirit and the bride say, Come ; and let
him that heareth say, Come ; and whosoever will, let him
come and take the water of life freely."
2. The Lord doth manifest and reveal himself to sinners
in the days of their youth, as he is a God in Christ, recon
ciling the world unto himself. Jacob, in this vision which
he had in his youth, saw a ladder, an emblem of Christ in
SEIIMON II. 161
his mediation ; and he saw the Lord standing above it,
proclaiming his covenant of promise, saying, " I am the
God of Abraham thy father."
God is seen, in Christ, in his ineffable glory, in the glory
of all his infinite perfections : he is the eternal, self-exist
ent Being ; he is JEHOVAH, and his glory he will not give
to another. The glory of his infinite holiness and justice
is seen in Christ, " whom he hath set forth to be a propi
tiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteous
ness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that
belie veth in Jesus."
He is seen, in Christ, as a reconciled God, well pleased
for his righteousness' sake, Matth. iii. 17, " Lo, a voice from
heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased." God is well pleased with Christ, and with all
those who are in Christ ; and those who are in Christ are
well pleased with Christ, and well pleased with God, as he
is in Christ : for God, as he is in Christ, is a reconciled
God ; yea, he is " in Christ reconciling the world to him
self;" willing, on Christ's account, to be reconciled to any
man of the world whatsoever who hears this gospel ; and
" beseeching sinners to be reconciled to him" through
Christ, 2 Cor. v. 19, 20. God is so well pleased with the
satisfaction of Christ, that he doth entreat and obtest sin
ners to believe his love and good will to them, to stand no
more at a distance from him, but to take the benefit of
peace, of pardon, of grace and glory, for Christ's sake ;
and, upon the account of what he hath done, " who was
*nade sin for us, though he knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him."
God is seen in Christ as a promising God : Gen. xxviii.
14, 15, " In thy seed shall all the families of the earth
be blessed:" and, "Behold I am with thee, and will keep
thee in all places whither thou goest." The divine pre
sence is promised ; preserving and persevering grace is
promised ; life is promised in all its fulness ; " he cominand-
eth the blessing out of Zion, even life for evermore."
God, as he is in Christ, is a giving God : " The land
* L
162 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
whereon thou liest, to tliee will I give it, and to thy seed,"
Gen. xxviii. 13. The earthly Canaan was a type and figure
of heaven : the inheritance of the saints in light is given of
God, here in the earnest of it, and hereafter in the full
possession of it ; for he giveth grace and glory, Psal. Ixxxiv.
11 ; he giveth the new heart, Ezek. xxxvi. 26; a heart to
know the Lord, to love the name of the Lord, the heart of
flesh. In the first covenant, man was to give something
to God ; in the new covenant, God giveth all things to
sinful men, in a way of free and sovereign grace : he giv
eth them to inherit all things; he will be to them a
God : and he giveth to them the kingdom ; " Pear not,
little flock, it is the Father's good pleasure to give you
the kingdom."
God, as he is in Christ, is a forgiving God ; he has pro
claimed his name, " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and
gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." He
is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, and " not
imputing their trespasses unto them ;" because he " hath
made him sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. v, 19, 21.
In Jesus, " we have redemption through his blood, the for
giveness of sins." Through him, all manner of sin and
blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men ; and we receive the
forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them that
are sanctified by faith that is in him. Through him, God
has promised to " be merciful to our unrighteousness, and
to remember our sins and iniquities no more." It is there
fore a full and free indemnity, which God has published
through Christ in the gospel.
Again, God, as he is in Christ, is a God of love, 1 John
iv. 8, 16. He is not only loving, but he is love itself; and,
by the exercise of faith, you are to believe, realize, and be
persuaded of his love to your souls through Jesus Christ,
and for his sake alone, 1 John iv. 16, 10, " We have known,
and believed the love that God hath to us ; God is love.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved
us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
I
SERMON II. 163
This God is known and revealed in Christ, as our own
God ; " God, even our God, shall bless us : " and " he that
is our God, is the God of salvation." Have you seen God
as he is in Christ ? You can have no saving, nor any com
fortable discovery of God to your sinful souls, but as he is
in Christ : out of Christ he is a consuming fire. God is
only known and revealed in Christ as love, as the portion
of his people : and if you have not seen him, as he is in
Christ, standing above Jacob's ladder, you have never yet
known him, nor seen him as he is.
3. God doth frequently manifest and reveal to sinners,
in the days of their youth, his holy covenant of promise.
Jacob, in his youth, saw this ladder, an emblem of Christ,
and JEHOVAH standing above the ladder, proclaiming his
covenant of promise, saying, " I am the God of Abraham,
and of Isaac ;" and " I will be with thee, and will keep
thee." The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him,
and he showeth them his covenant ; he showeth them the
freeness, the excellency, the stability of his covenant, and
the great and glorious blessings and privileges that are in
his covenant.
He showeth them that he himself is in the covenant :
thus he said to Jacob, " I am the God of Abraham thy
father: I will be with thee, and will keep thee." Hence
the great promise of the covenant, " I will be your God,
and ye shall be my people," Zech. xiii. 9, " I will say, It is
my people ; and they shall say, The Lord is my God." God
has made over himself to you in the covenant, as your God
in Christ's right ; and as your God in a way of promise, to
be believed and relied on through Christ ; as your God in a
way of grace, and not in a way of merit or in a way of works.
Beware then that you reject not the counsel of God against
your own souls.
Christ is seen to be in the covenant, as the Mediator of
the covenant ; as the Testator of the covenant ; as the con
tracting party upon man's side in the covenant ; as having
fulfilled the condition of the covenant in his everlasting
righteousness ; as having purchased all the blessings of the
164 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
covenant; and as dispensing all the grace of the covenant
to needy destitute sinners of Adam's house.
The Holy Spirit of promise is seen to be in the covenant,
as your Teacher, Comforter, and Sanctifier ; and you are to
believe in the Holy Ghost, and trust him to quicken you
under your deadness, and to enlighten you under your
darkness ; and you are to depend upon him, to manifest
the glory of Christ to your souls, and to bring the words
of Christ to your remembrance, John xiv. 26. and xvi. 14.
The blessing is in the covenant, Gal. iii. 13, 14, " That
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles,
through Jesus Christ." The blessing of a free-gifted righ
teousness is in the covenant ; the everlasting righteousness
of Messiah the Prince, which reigneth to eternal life,
through Jesus Christ our Lord : the blessing of the pardon
and remission of sins is in the covenant ; together with the
blessing of fellowship with God in his ordinances here, and
the immediate enjoyment of him in heaven hereafter.
In short, the presence of God to be with you, is in the
covenant : thus he said to Jacob, " I will be with thee, and
will keep thee." His presence to be with you, in pros
perity and adversity, in life and at death ; to be with you,
to comfort you in all your tribulations ; to support you
under all your burdens ; to direct you in all your straits ;
to guide you with his counsel while here, and at death to
receive you to glory. The Lord's keeping and safe preser
vation is in the covenant, to keep you from sin, from Sa
tan's devices and temptations ; to preserve your souls, in
your going out and coming in, Psal. cxxi ; to deliver you
from every evil work ; and to preserve you to his heavenly
kingdom.
The faithfulness, power, and mercy of God are all in the
covenant, to secure the accomplishment of all he hath pro
mised, Gen. xxviii. 15, " I will not leave thee till I have
done that which I have spoken to thee of." Heaven, and
the kingdom that cannot be moved, is in the covenant of
promise. Canaan was a type of heaven ; and God said to
Jacob, " The land on which thou liest will I give thee."
SERMOX II. 165
Death, the passage to heaven, is in the covenant ; " For all
things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or
the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things
to come ; all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is
God's," 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23.
We proceed to apply the doctrine in a use of Examina
tion and of Exhortation.
EXAMINATION.
1. They who have seen God as in Christ, and to whom
JEHOVAH hath revealed his holy covenant of promise, are
such as, through Christ, have " believed in God, who raised
him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that our faith
and hope might be in God," 1 Pet. i. 21. They trust to
the promise, and wait for the accomplishment of the pro
mise, through many contrary-like appearances and trials
of their faith, because they judge him faithful who hath
promised ; and they plead the promise even in their dark
hours, with the eagerness of faith, Psal. cxix. 49, " Re
member the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast
caused me to hope."
2. They who have seen God as he is in Christ, have
avouched him for their God, Psal. xvi. 7, " 0 my soul,
thou hast said to the Lord, thou art my Lord." They have
joined themselves to the Lord, to love the name of the
Lord, and to serve him. They have taken hold of God's
covenant of promise ; and as they account it a faithful
saying, so they judge it worthy of all acceptation, " That
Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom they
are chief."
3. They cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart. Hav
ing seen him who is invisible, seen the glory of the invisi
ble God in the person of Christ, they " choose rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season," Heb. xi. 25.
166 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
EXHORTATION.
We conclude this discourse, exhorting you to believe,
and be persuaded of the promise of God, Heb. xi. 13,
" These all died in faith, not having received the promises '
in the accomplishment of them, but having seen them afar
off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth." Believe the promise, as spoken to you, and trust to
it, as a ground of faith to your souls ; for it is a covenant of
promise ; and the promise is published to you, that it may be
credited, believed, and trusted to by you. The great promise
of the covenant is, " I will be your God, and ye shall be my
people :" and this promise is given to you ; for " there are
given unto us exceeding great and precious promises." It
is given to be received by your faith and your trust in the
mercy, love, grace, and faithfulness of God, brought near
unto you, as the ground of your assured confidence. No
thing is more free than a promise ; and the freeness of the
covenant is a great encouragement to you to believe and
trust in him who has given it. It is a covenant of grace,
which was made for the unworthy and ill-deserving, and
none else ; and therefore, though unworthy, thou art war
ranted to trust to God's covenant of promise.
( 167)
SERMON III.
GEN. xxviii. 20, 21. — " And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will
be with me, and keep me, then shall the Lord be my God." Jer.
iii. 4, 19. " Wilt thou not, from this time, cry unto me, My Father,
thou art the Guide of my youth? And 1 said, Thou shalt call me, My
Father, and shalt not turn away from me."
IN these words we may notice, 1. What was Jacob's exer
cise in the days of his youth : he vowed a vow at Bethel,
saying, " If God will be with me," or, as it may be read,
seeing Jehovah will be with me, seeing he has promised to
be with me, and has revealed his covenant of promise unto
me, has made over himself to me in the covenant as my
God ; therefore this same JEHOVAH " shall be my God." I
trust to him, as a promising God, that he will be my God,
through Christ Jesus ; I depend on him as my God, and
devote myself to his service, worship, and obedience :
" Then the Lord shall be my God." This exercise of Jacob,
in the days of his youth, is recorded, as a pattern worthy
of your imitation, who are the rising generation.
2. In the other place of Scripture, Jer. iii. 4, we have
God's own warrant to take hold of his covenant of promise
in the days of our youth : " Wilt thou not, from this
time, cry unto me, My Father, thou art the Guide of my
youth?"
3. Here, then, we have an encouraging promise of
grace, to enable us to put in our claim to this wonderful
relation, in which God is pleased to stand to us in the new
covenant : " And I said, thou shalt call me, My Father,
and shalt not turn away from me."
168 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
From these words, we may deduce the following doc
trinal observation.
" That as the time of youth is an especial season of tak
ing hold of God's covenant of promise ; so we ought to
depend upon God's promised grace, to enable us to come
personally into the bond of the covenant."
In discoursing on this doctrine, we shall endeavour, by
divine assistance,
I. To show, that as God, in the covenant, stands in the
relation of our God ; so we ought, in the application of
faith, to say, " The Lord shall be my God."
II. To speak a little of the import of these words, " Wilt
thou not, from this time, cry unto me, My Father, thou art
the Guide of my youth ] "
III. To offer a few remarks concerning the encouraging
promise of grace, to enable us to put in our claim to God,
as standing in the relation of a Father in Christ Jesus
unto us, who are fatherless, destitute sinners of Adam's
house.
IV. To apply the doctrine in a few inferences.
I. We proceed to the first thing proposed, namely, To
show, that as God in the covenant stands to us in the re
lation of our God, so we ought, by the application of faith,
to say, " The Lord shall be my God." And this head shall
be considered in a few observations.
1. We may observe, that man, by the breach of the first
covenant, forfeited all right and claim to Jehovah, as his
God : but Christ, as the second Adam, in virtue of his ful
filling the condition of the covenant of grace, by his ever
lasting righteousness, acquired a new claim and title to
this relation ; hence it is said of him, as the new-covenant
Head, Psal. Ixxxix. 26, " He shall cry unto me, Thou art
my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation." Sin
had made this world, which was like Eden, the garden of
the Lord, to become like the valley of the son of Hinnom,
a place of crying and howling ; and it had been eternally
so, if the Son of God had not appeared on our behalf, and
become the contracting party on man's side in the cove-
SERMON m. 1G9
nant of grace : but behold, in this howling wilderness, a
cry is heard from the new-covenant Head, as a public per
son, in the name of all his followers, " Thou art my God,
the Rock of my salvation." Hence his words to the dis
ciples, " I ascend to my Father, and your Father, and to
my God, and your God."
2. We may observe, that the great and leading blessing
of the new covenant, is the promise of a saving relation
to God, as our God in Christ Jesus, Jer. xxxi. 33, " But
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel, after these days, saith the Lord, 1 will be their
God, and they shall be my people." I will be their God ;
this is the soul's blessedness : an interest in God, as our
God, is the summary of all happiness ; it is heaven itself,
and the very heart and first glory of heaven, Rev. xxi. 7.
The Author of this relation is God himself; " I will be
their God, and they shall be my people." They shall be
an accepted people, through Christ, the new covenant
Head, accepted through his righteousness ; and they shall
be my people, a holy and sanctified people, through the
Spirit and grace of Christ, the Head of the redeemed from
among men. The Author of this relation is God himself ;
" I will be their God, and they shall be my people. I will
be," speaks grace, and " they shall be," imports the same.
And it being God who says, " I will be, and they shall be "
this makes it infallibly sure, and lays the most solid founda
tion for faith and hope. The ground of this grant of
grace, and the title to claim it, is God's covenant : " But
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel, I will be their God." The right shall be conveyed
to them in the way of a covenant, the covenant made with
Christ the second Adam, and representative of his seed, a
covenant that stands fast in his suretyship and satisfaction ;
or upon the account of his doing and dying, " I will be
their God:" upon the account of what Christ has done,
which is the greatest of doings, the most noble and glorious
that possibly can be done ; I will do this ; I will do all I
can do, all that a God can do for them, " I will be their
170 CHRIST'S CALL TO TUB YOUNG.
God." Man could do nothing for himself; but " when we
were without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly." When man could do nothing, then God did do
great things, the greatest things, things that angels and
men shall eternally wonder at ; for he made over himself
to man in the way of his covenant, that stands fast with
Christ : " This is the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel, I will be their God, and they shall be my
people."
3. We observe that your privilege is great, in this, that
God is your God through Christ Jesus, Deut. xxxiii. 29,
26, 27, "Happy art thou, 0 Israel, 0 people saved by
the Lord : for there is none like the God of Jeshurun, who
rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency
on the sky ; the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath
are the everlasting arms." You are happy, for God is
your God ; God the Father, is your Father to love you ;
God the Son, is your Redeemer to save you from your
sins ; God the Holy Ghost is your Teacher, your Comforter,
and Sanctifier. All God's perfections and attributes are
yours; his mercy is yours, to pardon you; his wisdom
is yours, to direct you; his power is yours, to protect
you ; his omniscience is yours, to watch over you ; his holi
ness is yours, to sanctify you ; his goodness is yours, to
bestow all good things upon you; his omnipresence is
yours, to attend you, and solace you in all places and con
ditions. In short, his eternity is the date of your happi
ness ; his faithfulness is your security, insuring the accom
plishment of all he has promised ; his justice is yours, to
punish your enemies ; and his all-sufficiency is yours, to
make you completely happy. His perfections, as made
over to you in Christ, are a suitable antidote to all the
evils which sin has brought upon you ; his wisdom cures
your ignorance, his grace your guilt, and his power your
weakness ; his mercy is a remedy for your misery, his
faithfulness for your inconstancy, his holiness for your im
purity, and his fulness supplieth all your wants.
Yes, seeing that God is your God, all his promises are
SERMON III. 171
yours, all his gifts and graces are yours, and all his crea
tures are yours ; his creatures on earth are yours to sus
tain you ; his angels are yours, to guard you and encamp
about you; this world is your sojourning place, and his
heavens are your country and inheritance.
It follows from all this that he will be your God, not for
days, months, or years, but every day, in every place, and
in every condition ; for he said, " I will never leave thee,
nor forsake thee." He will be your God in all the troubles
you meet with, and will support you ; he will be your God
at death, Psal. xlviii. 4 ; and when all earthly comforts fail
you, he will not fail you. He will be your God after you
are dead, Matt. xxii. 31, 32. That which was spoken to
Moses at the bush, was spoken for you as well as for him,
" I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the
living : " for the dead in Christ do live unto him, and with
him ; and therefore their bodies, which are rotting in the
grave, shall rise again; for he is the God of the whole
man, and the body is a part of the man. He will be your
God for ever in heaven, for of them who are there it is
said, " God himself shall be with them, and be their God."
Happy art thou then, 0 Israel, who — like unto thee ? a
people saved by the Lord !
4. We observe, that you are not only warranted in a way
of faith, to apply this great promise of the covenant to your
selves, but grace is promised to enable each of you, in a way
of believing, to say, " The Lord is my God." Thus Jacob,
in the exercise of faith, says in the text, " The Lord shall
be my God : " and this language of faith has been the dia
lect of the church in all ages, Psal. xci. 2, " I will say of
the Lord, He is my Refuge ; niy God, and in him I will
trust." The Lord saith in the promise, " I will be thy
God;" and faith, in applying the promise, saith, "The
Lord shall be my God : I will say of the Lord, he is my
God." I will say in a way of believing, what God has said
in a way of promise ; for the promise is given to be trusted
to, to be credited, to be believed. Every one that reads
172 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE roujra.
the promise, is warranted to believe it with application ;
for the promise is spoken to you by God, as much as it
was spoken to Judah, Jer. xxxi. 33, " I will be their God,
and they shall be my people." The Lord saith, " I will be
thy God," for Christ's sake ; and do you therefore say, with
assured confidence, "The Lord shall be my God," for
Christ's sake. The grace of the Holy Spirit is promised to
you, to enable you to say it, Zech. xiii. 9, " I will say, It is
my people ; and they shall say, The Lord is my God." I
will say, " It is my people," through Jesus Christ, and his
righteousness and satisfaction ; and they shall say, " The
Lord is my God," through Jesus Christ, and his right
eousness and satisfaction. God cannot be the God of a
sinner, such as you are, otherwise than through Christ ;
and he will be the God of every sinner that puts in his
claim to him through Christ, and in his right. Are you
pleased with the great grant and promise of the covenant,
" God for your God 1 " have your eyes been opened, to see
Christ in the glory of his person ? and has your heart been
made to acquiesce in the tenor of the covenant, the hold
ing of grace, and through the righteousness of Jesus?
Then you have said it, "The Lord is my God;" and you
may know, for your comfort, " That this God is your God
for ever and ever, and will be your Guide even unto
death."
God giveth himself to you, in the promise, for your God.
Christ is a Prophet, to reveal God to you ; he is a Priest,
to bring you to God ; and he is a King, to keep you with
God : therefore trust to him, and depend upon him, as the
Mediator betwixt God and you. Just now God is willing
to be your God ; this is the season of mercy, to obtain God
for your God : and I can tell you, as certainly as God is in
heaven, that if you do not take him for your God, you
shall repent it to all eternity.
But can you not say, that, in some measure, this is your
exercise, through grace, to make choice of God for your
God, Psal. xvi. 2, and to give yourselves to the Lord, i
Cor. viii. 4 ? Are you not in so far pleased with the con-
SERMON III. 173
trivance of salvation, because it is so much calculated for
debasing self, and exalting free grace ?
God giveth himself to you through Christ ; and seeing
this to be the case, it is your great business, in the
strength of grace, to accept of him in Christ for your chief
end, to aim at his glory in all you do, 1 Cor. x. 31 ; to ac
cept of him as your chief happiness, the rest of your souls,
and the delight of your hearts, Psal. cxvi. 7 ; to take his
will and law for your rule, and to accept of him in Christ,
for your portion for ever, Lam. iii. 24. Surely it is your
part to devote yourselves to him, and to present yourselves
in soul and body a living sacrifice, acceptable through
Christ, the gospel-altar, Is. Ivi. 7. You are to live to him
who died for you, and rose again ; you are to obey what
he commands, in his strength ; you are to be ruled by his
laws ; you are to be disposed of by his providence : you
are to give all you have to him ; your soul, with all its
faculties and powers ; your body, with all its members ;
your understanding, to know him ; your will, to choose
him ; your heart, to love him ; your eyes, to read his word,
and behold his works; and your lips, to pray to him, to
bless him and to praise him. For you are not your own,
but bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your
bodies and spirits, which are God's. Account not your
life dear to you, if he call you to witness for him, even to
resisting unto blood; but let it be your concern in all
things to live to his glory, for you are " a chosen genera
tion, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people,
that you might show forth the praises of him who hath
called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."
II. We proceed to speak a little of what is imported in
these words of the text, " Wilt thou not, from this time, cry
unto me, My Father, thou art the Guide of my youth I "
And,
1. These words do import, that a call and invitation is
directed from God, to you who are the rising generation,
to take hold of his covenant of promise : and thus saitii
the Lord to you, and to every one of you in particular,
174 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
" Wilt thou not, from this time, cry unto me, My Father ? "
This is a message to you from God ; and the word of ex
hortation speaketh unto you as unto children.
2. They import, that every one of you in particular must
personally take hold of the covenant. The faith of your
parents will not save you, nor give you an interest in the
covenant, unless you yourself believe on the Son of God.
" Wilt thou not," in particular, and by name and sur
name, " cry unto me, My Father ? "
3. They import, that God publisheth an indemnity and
an act of grace, and is willing to pass by all your former
refusals of Christ, whether you are young or old : " Wilt
thou not, from this time, cry unto me, My Father 1 " What
ever you have done in former times, behold now, even yet,
is the accepted time, the day of salvation ! " To day, if
you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the
provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness."
4. They import, that it is most acceptable to God, that
you, in particular, take hold of his covenant, and call him
Father in Christ's right, in Christ's name, and by the
assistance of the Spirit of Christ. You may speak it, yea,
cry it to God himself; and it will be melody sounding
sweetly in the court of heaven, and before a throne of
grace : " Wilt thou not, from this time, cry unto me, My
Father?"
5. They import, that the Lord himself answereth all
your objections against calling him your Father. There
can be no reason against it, but your own unbelief; " Wilt
thou not, from this time, cry unto me, My Father 1 " Your
father Adam, the head of the first covenant, died, and left
you and all his other children fatherless; but the Lord
speaketh an encouraging word to you in the new covenant ;
a call is directed to you who are fatherless, from him in
whom the fatherless do find mercy ; " Wilt thou not, from
this time, cry unto me, My Father ? " Here he declares,
that he is willing to stand in the relation of a Father in
Christ unto you, and directs you to claim him by this ten
der appellation : and though you should object, that your
SEEMON III. 175
trespasses are grown up unto the heavens, and your sins
are more than the hairs of your head ; yet he saith, as in
the context, " Though thou hast played the harlot with
many lovers, yet return unto me, saith the Lord. Wilt
thou not, from this time, cry unto me, My Father 1 "
6. They import, that the grounds of faith laid down in
the word, are stable and solid ; so that the chief of sinners,
who hear this everlasting gospel, may venture their souls'
salvation upon them, with assured confidence. They may
not only say it, and whisper it with a soft voice, but they
may cry it with a full breath, in the hearing of angels and
men, to the glory of God in their salvation, " Thou art my
Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation. Wilt thou
not, from this time, cry unto me, My Father?" Faith,
when planted in the soul, and drawn forth into exercise,
with a sight of its object, is exerted with the greatest
freedom, and with the complacency of the whole soul ; for,
according to the strength of faith, the cry is raised, and
doth ring and echo through the whole man, " Thou art my
God, the Rock of my salvation." It belongs to faith, where
it is, not only to realize its object, but to believe with a
particular application to the man himself; so that my
Father is its native cry.
7. They import, that youth doth need a guide. " Thou
art the Guide of my youth." Young men need a guide
to teach them how to cleanse their way, Psal. cxix. 9,
" By what means shall a young man cleanse his way 1 By
taking heed thereto, according to thy word." The way of
your heart is a polluted way ; and you would acknowledge
it to be such, if you knew the plague of your own heart,
1 Kings viii. 38. Had you a spiritual and humbling dis
covery of the atheism, self-conceit, self -righteousness,
enmity, earthly-mindedness, vanity and blasphemy, with
which your hearts are defiled ; and did you see that your
hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked ; you would be persuaded that you infinitely need
that God, by his word and Spirit, would come and cleanse
them. You need to have the way of your worship cleansed.
176 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
to be guided of God, to worship him in spirit and in truth ;
and to have the way of your walk and conversation cleansed,
that your corruptions may be mortified, that you may be
kept from youthful lusts which war against the soul ; and
that you may have your " conversation in heaven, from
whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned
like unto his glorious body." Youth is exposed to many
temptations, especially in this sinful and corrupt day
wherein we live ; and you need to have God for the Guide
of your youth, that you be not led into temptation, but
delivered from all evil. And though you be young, yet
your dying-day may be at the door, and a journey just be
fore you, through the dark mountains, through the dark
valley and shadow of death. You therefore greatly need
to have this God for your God for ever and ever, and to be
your Guide even unto death ; that he may bring you to
that land, where the inhabitant shall not say I am sick,
and the people thereof are forgiven their iniquity.
8. They import, that you may have God for the Guide
of your youth, and may lay claim to him in that relation ;
" Wilt thou not" claim him in this character? Nothing
doth dishonour him more, nothing doth offend him more,
than that you do not in particular, and for yourselves, put
in your claim upon him as your Father, and the Guide of
your youth. Can you have a better father than God ? or
can you have a better guide than a father ] Your heavenly
Father has infinite wisdom, he is a God of infinite power,
his love to you is an infinite love ; and can you be in safer
keeping than just in his hand ?
Young man, it is the voice of God to thee, " Trust in
the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own
understanding ; in all thy ways acknowledge him, and ne
will direct thy paths." The Psalmist said it, and do you,
through grace, say it likewise, " 0 God, thou art my trust
from my youth," Psal. Ixxi. 4, 5.
Depend on God in Christ, for teaching, Psal. Ixxi. 17,
" I have been taught by thee from my youth, and hitherto
SERMON III. 177
I have declared thy works." 0 how refreshing and in
structing are the lessons he has taught his people in their
youth ! By one such lesson you will know more of God,
than by hearing and reading all the days of your life : to
hear and to read are means of his institution, but they
are ineffectual without the teaching of his Spirit. By
his teaching, you will be enabled to see, and seeing to
declare his wonders ; his wonders in the works of na
ture, in the works of creation and providence ; the won
ders of his grace, and of his love ; the wonders of his
mercy and goodness to your souls : " Come, hear, all ye
that fear God, and I will tell you what he hath done for
my soul."
His teaching will be effectual to bring you to Christ,
and to preserve you in Christ ; for every one that hath
heard, and learned of the Father, cometh to the Son : and
it will fit you for bearing his yoke in your youth, his yoke
of obedience, and his yoke of suffering, as he sees meet to
call you to it. " It is good for a man that he bear the
yoke in his youth."
III. We now proceed to offer a few remarks concerning the
encouraging promise of grace, to enable you to put in your
claim to God, as standing in the relation of a Father in
Christ unto you.
1. We remark, that adoption, or the privilege of son-
ship, is one of the blessings of the new covenant. In the
first covenant, Adam was the son of God by creation ; but
in the new covenant, we become the sons of God by re
generation, by adoption, and by faith in Christ Jesus. The
eternal Son of God is become the Son of man, by his in
carnation; and through him, as the new-covenant Head,
the Head of the redeemed from among men, we have com
munion with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
as our God and Father, in his title and right. And may
we not, in a transport of holy wonder, cry out with the
apostle, 1 John iii. 1, " Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God ! " The Spirit of adoption, crying, " Abba
4 M
178 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
Father," is one of the blessings of this covenant of promise.
And it is an article of this new-covenant, that the prodigal
son shall see and be convinced of his lost estate in the first
covenant ; that his first father Adam died, and left his
children fatherless ; that we all sinned and died in him, as
a public person, and are therefore, considered in ourselves,
both destitute and without hope in the world, Psal. xlv.
10, "Hearken, 0 daughter, and incline thine ear; forget
thine own people, and thy father's house." Thy father's
house, the first Adam's family, is a broken house ; there is
neither food nor clothing in it, nor any sanctuary in it, to
protect perishing sinful souls from the vindictive wrath of
God : but in Christ's Father's house there are many man
sions, and a table is covered in it, to satiate every weary
soul, and to replenish every sorrowful soul.
2. We remark, that there is an almighty efficacy in the
grace of God, conveyed to the souls of men, through the
promise of the new covenant ; " Thou shalt call me, My
Father." Though God reveals himself as a Father in
Christ, yet not one soul would ever have cried to him,
had he not pledged his faithfulness for it in the promise ;
" Thou shalt call me, My Father." I, who am JEHOVAH,
have said it ; and what I have said, shall be accomplished :
I said it, who said, " Let there be light, and there was
light," when nothing but darkness covered the face of the
deep : I have said it, and therefore the unbelief and enmity
of thy heart, and all the snares of the world, and tempta
tions of Satan combined against thy soul, shall not be able
to gainsay it : I have said it in a way of promise, and
therefore thou shalt say it in a way of faith and believing.
Thou shalt say it with the greatest freedom of choice and
election, with the truest kind of liberty, and with a jubilee
of delight running through thy whole soul.
3. We may remark, that it is only by the Spirit of the
Son, and in the right of the Son of God, the first-born from
among many brethren, that we can say unto God, " Thou
art my Father, thou art the Guide of my youth," Gal. iv. fi.
4. We remark, that it is for the glory of God that we
SEilMON III. 179
eaJ-1 him, " My Father," in Christ's name, and in his right
and title. God did never put any thing in a promise, but
it was for his own honour and glory; and he has promised
it, thou shalt call me, " My Father." But perhaps some
may say, Is this promise directed to me ? and is it for the
glory of God, that I in particular call him, " My Father?"
Yes, it is. The promise is absolute, without any condition
or limitation ; it is directed to all who hear this everlast
ing gospel, and therefore it is directed to you, as well
as to others. You have a Bible put into your hands,
wherein this word of grace is recorded, and this is a full
warrant to you to believe it, and apply it to yourselves.
It is a word of grace directed to lost sinners, to those that
are fatherless ; and you cannot deny that you are one of
that sort and kind. It is then the will of God that you
call him, " My Father," in the name of Christ ; for it is
his will, that his promise be believed, and trusted unto.
Nothing will please him so well as that you say to him, " My
Father," in Christ Jesus ; and that you flee into the em
braces of his love, through the Son of his love, Matt. iii.
17, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."
God is well-pleased with Christ, and with all those that
are in Christ ; and those who are in Christ are well-pleased
with Christ, and they are well- pleased with God, as he is
in Christ : for God, as he is in Christ, is a reconciled God,
and a merciful Father, forgiving iniquity, transgression,
and sin ; and he " rests in his love."
5. We remark, that we may depend upon the pro
mise of God for grace, to enable us to say to him, " My
Father." The promise looketh to you that cannot use
these words. Thou shalt be enabled to use them. This is
determined on ; and he is saying to you, it is not from any
good disposition in you, but from grace and love in me ; it
is not from any power in you, but from my faithfulness in
the promise, and from my almighty power to accomplish it,
that thou shalt be brought to say, " My Father." Heaven
itself, as it were, is wrapt up in this promise, " Thou shalt
say, My Father;" that is, thou shalt know me to be JEHOVAH,
180 CHKIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
to be thy God in Christ ; thou shalt know my name as it is
in Christ, know my mercy, my love, and grace ; thou shalt
choose me for thy God and portion ; thou shalt trust in
me for grace and glory, for the upper and nether springs of
heavenly consolation. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God,
honour and serve me with reverence and godly fear, as thy
" Father;" thou shalt be circumcised to love me with all
thine heart ; thou shalt be enabled to depend upon me for
every thing thou dost need, from the shoe's latchet to the
great salvation ; and thou shalt come to me daily with all
thy wants and complaints, as a child to his father, able
and ready to help him; for, "thou shalt call me, My
Father, and shalt not depart from me." Yea, thou shalt
live and die about my hand : and, waiting thus on the
Lord, " thou shalt renew thy strength, and mount up with
wings as eagles : thou shalt walk, and not weary, and thou
shalt run, and not faint."
IV. We now proceed to make some application of this
doctrine, and that in a use of Examination and Exhor
tation.
EXAMINATION.
1. Those who have taken hold of God's covenant of pro
mise, have seen themselves to be in a sinful and miserable
state, by the breach of the first covenant. You have seen
that the variance betwixt God and you is very great, and
that the quarrel is running very high: you have been
made to approve of, and rely upon God's method of salva
tion; accounting it a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ came into the world to save sin
ners, of whom you are chief. You have renounced all
other confidences, and you depend upon the mediation of
the Lord Jesus, in all your approaches to God ; you have
a daily correspondence with him, as appearing in the pre
sence of God for us, coming to him with all your wants to
be supplied, with all your plagues to be healed, and with
all your sins to be pardoned.
SERMON III. 181
2. They have a deliberate complacency in the covenant
of promise. As we show ourselves the children of the first
Adam, by our natural bent to the covenant of works ; so
the believing soul has a liking and relish of the new cove
nant proposed in the gospel, and saith of it, " It is all my
salvation, and all my desire," 2 Sam. xxiii. 5.
3. How do you like the way of holding in this covenant,
a holding of grace, and holding upon what Christ has
done 1 Doth the grant and disposition of the new cove
nant please you well, so that you delight to hold all in the
Redeemer's right, and to cry through him, " Thou art my
Father, the Rock of my salvation 1 " How stand you
affected to the new-covenant Head ? Do you glory in him
only? Is. xlv. last. And do you rejoice in Christ Jesus,
having no confidence in the flesh 1 Phil. iii. 3. Do your
hearts sometimes burn with love to an unseen Saviour ?
And is he to you the " Plant of renown, the Pearl of great
price, and more excellent than all the mountains of prey 1 "
Do you look upon yourselves as bankrupt creatures ? and
are you well-pleased that he has all your stock in his
hand, or that in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge 1 " They shall hang upon him all the glory
of his Father's house, and all the vessels of greater and
smaller quantity." The great end and design of the new
covenant, which is to glorify God, to honour Christ, and
to abase self, is relished with complacency by all the
spiritual seed of Abraham ; they see grace in it, mercy in
it, wisdom and love in it, and heaven dawning in it. There
is nothing in this covenant they would have out of it, and
there is nothing out of it they would have in it ; they re
joice in it, " as well ordered in all things and sure."
4. The righteousness of Christ will be the only ground
of your confidence, Phil. iii. 7, 8 ; you will desire to be
found in him, having that righteousness which is by the
faith of Christ ; and this you will rejoice and glory in, that
his name is " The Lord our righteousness." The eternal
Son of God, in the covenant, consented to become man,
and to be the federal Head and Representative of an elect
182 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUXG.
world, Is. xlii. 1. Psal. Ixxxix. 19. The breach between
God and man was greater than to be done away by one
travelling between parties at variance, to reconcile them
with bare words. There could be no covenant of peace
betwixt God and sinners, without reparation of damages
done to the honour of God through sin, and without hon
ouring the law by an exact obedience ; and the Son of God
said, "Lo! I come," Psal. xl. 7; I put myself in their
room and law-place, as the second Adam, to do both these,
in the obedience of my life, and in the sufferings of my
death. And let us here adore the condescension of the
Son of God in becoming man, a man of sorrows, and ac
quainted with grief? He who is " over all, God blessed
for ever," condescended to be brought into the rank and
order of creatures, Rom. ix. 5. He condescended to take
unto him an inferior nature, the nature of man, and not
the nature of the angels, Heb. ii. 16. He assumed the
human nature after it was blasted by sin, and withered
with the curse ; for he took on him " the likeness of sinful
flesh," Rom. viii. 3 ; so that, though he was not a sinner,
yet he looked like one. By this assumption, his Deity was
vailed, and his glory eclipsed, Phil. ii. 6, 7 ; for he humbled
himself, and made himself of no reputation, that he might
glorify God upon the earth, and that in his righteousness
we might be exalted.
Thus did the eternal Son of God condescend to be the
Representative of an elect world, to transact in their
name, Is. xlii. 1. Psal. Ixxxix. 19. 1 Cor. xv. 47. The
holy One of God represented wretched sinners ; the Be
loved of the Father represented the sinful company.
Hence the righteousness of Christ is not imputed to his
people in its effects only, (which is no proper imputation
at all,) so as their faith, repentance, and sincere obedience,
are therefore accepted, as their evangelical righteousness,
on which they are justified ; but Christ's righteousness is
imputed to them in itself, even as Adam's sin was imputed
to his posterity ; for Christ obeyed and suffered as a public
person, in the room and law-stead of his people ; even as
SERMON III. 183
Adam sinned as a public person, and his posterity sinned
in him, and fell with him, Rom. v. 12, 19. and viii. 3 ; so
that the covenant of grace is absolute, and not conditional
to us ; for, it being made with Christ as Representative,
the condition of it was laid upon him, and fulfilled by him,
in his everlasting righteousness.
EXHORTATION.
We now proceed to a use of Exhortation ; and would
solemnly exhort you, whether young or old, in the name
of the eternal God, and in the name of his Son Christ
Jesus our Lord, that you, and every one of you who shall
read these lines, do personally, and for yourselves, embrace
and take hold of God's covenant of promise. Take hold of
it as left to you : for there is a promise left you of enter
ing into God's rest ; and beware lest you come short of it,
Heb. iv. 1. It is given to you and to your children, to be
believed and trusted to, and applied by you, Acts ii. 39,
40; and this will be your condemnation, if you reject the
counsel of God against your own souls.
When the soul gets a saving discovery of God, as he is
in Christ, it is not one blessing that attends it, but a mul
titude of blessings, even all the sure mercies of David.
" Acquaint thyself now with God, and be at peace with
him, and thereby good shall come unto thee." You can
not know God until you see him in Christ ; since he is
in Christ, you may now, without delay, acquaint yourself
with him : and if once you are acquainted with God, and
know him as he is in Christ, you cannot but be at peace
with him ; for there you will see him as he is, " reconciling
the world unto himself." You will see him to be love,
1 John iv. 10 ; seeing him to be love, you will love him,
who first loved you ; and, loving him, you will be at peace
with him, who is " the God of peace, who brought again
from the dead the Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the
sheep, by the blood of the everlasting covenant." The
very first sight you see of God, as he is in Christ, will draw
184 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
your heart unto him with cords of love ; and that day will
be the day-spring from on high to your soul ; the day of your
espousals unto Christ, and of your conversion unto God.
This will be the day of God's working in your heart the
work of faith with power, and of his betrothing you unto
himself for ever, in faithfulness, and in righteousness, in
loving-kindness, and in tender mercies.
If the question be moved, What is it to take hold of the
covenant of promise? We answer, That the way to take
hold of the covenant, or the way to enter personally into
the covenant of grace, is to give yourselves up to Christ
the new-covenant Head by faith. This is the way, and
may a day of the Mediator's power accompany any small
endeavours that are made, to speak of the mystery of
faith, in the believing application of the promise of God's
covenant ! It will be matter of the most mournful lamen
tation, if the ark of the covenant be opened unto you in
the gospel, and not one shelterless soul of Adam's family
flee into it for refuge.
It is only under the influence of the Holy Spirit that
you can personally come into the covenant, Is. xliv. 5. and
xlv. 24 ; and you come personally into it, by the following
steps : 1. Through the grace of the Divine Spirit, you are
convinced of sin, or made to see and believe that you are
lost, ruined, and undone in Adam, by his breaking the
first covenant, as a federal head and a public person, Rom.
v. 12, 19. 1 Cor. xv. 22. 2. That by nature you are wholly
corrupted, averse to good, and prone to evil, Gen. vi. 5.
3. That you are under the curse of the broken law, and
bound over to the avenging wrath of God, Gal. iii. 10.
4. That you are utterly unable to help yourselves out of
this gulf of sin and misery into which you are plunged,
Ezek. xvi. 4, 5, 6. 5. You are made to believe, that there
is a covenant of grace, for the relief of lost sinners, estab
lished between God essentially considered, and the Lord
Jesus, as the Head of the redeemed from among men ; or,
between the Father, as representing the Deity, and his
eternal Son, as the second Adam, wherein the Lord Jesus
SERMON III. 185
undertook to fulfil all righteousness as a public person,
and the Father contracted to bestow all blessings upon
that account ; and that this covenant of grace is a free
and an absolute covenant, and not conditional as to you ;
for, the covenant being made with Christ as Representa
tive, the conditions of the covenant were laid upon him,
and fulfilled by him, in and by his holy birth, his righteous
life, and satisfactory death, Psal. Ixxxix. throughout. 6.
You are made to believe, that the covenant of grace, ful
filled in the condition of it by Christ its Head, and cer
tainly to be fulfilled in its promise, is, in Christ crucified,
really offered to you in particular in the gospel ; and that
you are called to the fellowship of it in him : for, " To you
is the word of this salvation sent ; " and, " The promise is
to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call," Acts ii. 39.
and xiii. 26. 7. You are made to believe on the name of
Christ crucified, offered and exhibited to you in particular,
as the Lord our righteousness, as the great High Priest of
our profession, who was ordained for men, who made re
conciliation for the sins of the people, and who is now to
men the end of the law for righteousness. " To him give
all the prophets witness, that through his name, whoso
ever believeth in his name, shall receive the remission of
sins." 8. You are made so to believe in him as to devote
yourselves unto him, and worship him, as the King of Zion,
and Governor among the nations. Hearken unto him as
your Prophet ; and, in his strength, resign yourselves in
soul and body, and all you have, unto him, to be taught
by his word and Spirit, ruled by his laws, and disposed of
by his providence ; to be his disciples, his servants, his
followers, Is. xliv. 4, 5 ; renouncing, through his grace, all
other lords and lovers, Hos. xiv. 4, 5, 8 ; and relying on
him, to be rescued from sin and Satan, from the present
evil world, from death, hell, and the grave. You may trust
in him, as King in Zion for sanctification ; for he is a
heart-conquering and a sin-subduing Lord : " He will sub
due our iniquities, and will cast all our sins into the depths
186 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
of the sea," Mic. vii. 19. 9. Through Christ, believe in
God, as your God and Father, in his title and right ; and
depend upon the Holy Ghost, as your Sanctifier, Comforter,
Teacher, and Remembrancer, 1 Cor. vi. 19. John xiv. 26.
and xv. 26, 27.
" To day if you will hear his voice, harden not your
hearts." The word of exhortation speaketh unto you as
unto children ; " My son, give me thy heart." Let no one
think that he is shut out. " The sons of the stranger, that
join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the
name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keep-
eth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my
covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer : their burnt-
offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine
altar ; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for
all people," Is. Ivi. 6, 7.
(1.) Consider, that it has been the practice of all the
saints, in all ages, to come personally into the bond of the
covenant. Thomas saith, " Thou art my Lord, and my
God;" and the church doth put in her claim to the cove
nant-relation, " The Lord is my portion, saith my soul ;
therefore will I hope in him," Lam. iii. 24. See also Psal.
xvi. 2. and Ixxiii. 25, 27. (2.) Consider it is a business no
other person can do for you ; if, by grace, you do not person
ally come into the bond of the covenant for yourselves, you
cannot come at all. The parent cannot come for the child,
nor the husband for the wife, Jer, ix. 25. Matt. viii. 11,
12. Amos ix. 7. (3.) The call to come into the bond of the
covenant is personal, directed to every man who hears the
gospel ; " Unto you I call, 0 men," Prov. viii. 4 ; and the
answer of faith to the call must therefore be personal ;
" When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart said, Thy
face, Lord, will I seek. Surely shall one say, in the Lord
have I righteousness and strength," Psal. xxvii. 8. Is. xlv.
23. and xliv. 4. (4.) Consider, this is the season of coming
personally into the bond of the covenant ; it is the season
of youth with some of you, and " it is good to bear Christ's
SERMON III. 187
yoke in your youth." The Lord appeared to Solomon, at
Gibeon, in his youth ; and Obadiah feared the Lord from
his youth. It is the voice of the Son of God to you, " I
love them that love me, and those that seek me early, shall
find me," Prov. viii. 17. It is a time of backsliding and
defection with us all ; for we have forsaken the Lord God
of our fathers ; and therefore it is a season wherein we
ought to say, " I will go and return to my first husband ;
for then was it better with me than now : " and it is en
couraging for us to think that the Lord, the God of Israel,
hateth putting away. It is withal a time of threatened
judgments, and therefore a proper season for taking hold
of God's covenant; for when the decree bringeth forth,
and the day of the Lord's controversy approacheth, there
will be no safety but in the ark of the covenant.
As for directions, I shall only say, 1. That you are to
take hold of the covenant of promise, in an humble and
confident dependence upon the grace and strength of our
Lord Jesus Christ, without whom you can do nothing ;
depending upon a promising God, and upon the Holy Spirit
of promise, Is. xliv. 5. and xlv. 24. Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26.
John xv. 4, 5. and i. 16. 2. You are to take hold of it
cordially ; " For with the heart man believeth unto righte
ousness ; " and Psal. xvi. 2. the Psalmist saith, " 0 my
soul, thou hast said unto JEHOVAH, Thou art my Lord."
3. You are to take hold of the covenant with judgment
and solid consideration, and not by a mere flash of affec
tion, Hos. ii. 19, "I will betroth thee unto me in judg
ment." 4. You are to take hold of the covenant speedily,
and without delay ; for the Master is come, and calleth
for you ; and blessed are you who are called to the mar
riage-supper of the Lamb. It is the voice of God to you
this very day ; " I will say, It is my people ; and they shall
say, The Lord is my God," Zech. xiii. 9. Though you find
not that enlargement which you would wish to attain unto ;
yet, if your doubting and averseness be your burden, as
they are your sin, do you essay and endeavour to say it in
the strength of grace, though it should be with stammer-
188 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
ing lips, " The Lord is my God." This was Jacob's lan
guage at Bethel, in the day of his youth, and in the day of
his distress, when he fled from the face of Esau his brother,
" The Lord shall be my God."
I shall conclude with recommending it to you, to meditate
frequently upon the love of Christ, and upon the decease
which he accomplished at Jerusalem.
1. Meditate frequently upon the love of Christ as be
trothing love. God, in the new covenant, has revealed
himself as a betrothing God. The Son of God has betrothed
and married our nature to himself in a personal union, and
we may therefore, with confidence, venture upon his grace
and good-will toward men. The Lord Jesus Christ has
promised to betroth sinners of Adam's house to himself
in a way of free and sovereign grace, Hos. ii. 19, 20, " I
will betroth thee unto me for ever ; yea, I will betroth thee
unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-
kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto
me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord." The
great God in our nature Christ has taken his betrothing
love, and wrapped it up in a covenant of promise ; and in
dorsed the promise to sinners, that the sinful sons of men
may trust it, and that all may feel they have a warrant to
claim it for salvation.
The persons betrothed are sinners of Adam's house ; the
glorious infinite person betrothing, is the great God our
Saviour : and it is a most blessed union which is thus
formed betwixt sinners and a Saviour ; betwixt dead sin
ners, and him who is the resurrection and the life ; betwixt
blind benighted souls, and him who is the light of the
world; betwixt diseased, polluted sinners, and him who
loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood ;
betwixt guilty sinners, and him who is JEHOVAH our
righteousness, in whom God is to be found, reconciling the
world unto himself, not imputing unto men their tres
passes. Hearken therefore, and consider it, ye children of
men ; forget your father's house, the house of the first
Adam ; and forego all hold of the first covenant, (for that
SERMON III. 189
covenant being broken, the whole family is undone and
ruined,) and be espoused to the Lord Jesus, the Head of
the redeemed from among men ; " So shall the King greatly
desire your beauty," Psal. xlv. 10.
Consider the attractions of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
is fairer than the sons of men ; he is altogether lovely,
Psal. xlv. 1. Song v. 10, 16 ; his riches are unsearchable
riches of grace and of glory, Eph. iii. 8. Consider his dying
love, that he was slain, that he might redeem you to God
by his blood, that he might redeem you from this present
evil world, and redeem you from all iniquity, Rev. v. 9. Gal.
i. 3, 4. Tit. ii. 14. He is the Judge of the quick and the
dead, the Prince of the kings of the earth, the first-begot
ten of the dead, who took upon him your dying clay that
he might give you a glorious immortality ; for when Christ,
who is your life, shall appear, ye shall also appear with
him in glory.
2. Meditate frequently upon the glorious decease which
Christ accomplished at Jerusalem, Luke ix. 30, 31, " And
behold there talked with him two men, which were Moses
and Elias, who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease
which he should accomplish at Jerusalem."
It is necessary, in your meditating upon such a theme,
that you be under the influence of the Spirit of glory.
Moses and Elias appeared in glory, and talked of his de
cease ; they had a noon-tide of the light of glory, of the
Spirit of glory, upon them : and unless a twilight-glimpse
of that glory beam into your hearts, you will neither think
nor talk to purpose of a subject so stupendous. It is a
subject so sublime as to be spoken of for ever by saints
and angels. There will be use of speech in heaven ; there
will be a voice of tongues about the throne ; and their talk
will be of the decease which Christ accomplished at Jeru
salem.
His decease was his death, his exit or departure. The
departure of Israel out of Egypt to Canaan, is called their
Exit or Exodw, the same word which is used here : and
his decease was like their departure, accompanied by a
100 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
bloody attack upon him by all the hosts of hell. He went
through a Red-sea of suffering, and of vindictive wrath,
making peace by the blood of his cross. His decease was
the subject of discourse upon mount Tabor ; a subject that
was most delightful to our Lord himself, and most refresh
ing to Moses and Elias : though they had come down
from the place of heaven, yet their bliss, their beatitude
was not impaired; for they had the presence of Christ;
and, appearing in glory, they talked of his decease, which
was at once the great theme of the inhabitants of the
upper house, and the fountain and spring of all their feli
city. The highest style of language in heaven, is devoted
to the decease our Lord accomplished at Jerusalem. We
have no nice elaborate discourse that Moses and Elias
made upon the mount : no ; it was, in a few words, massy,
lofty, and sublime, " The decease he should accomplish at
Jerusalem ! " It was the burden of the song of the re
deemed; they brought this highest note down with them
to the earth : for when angels and saints about the throne
have enlarged their thoughts and contemplations, and
bended their faculties to the uttermost, and soared as high
as their heads can carry them, they are just obliged to
issue their song where they began : " 0 how great, in-
eifable, and divine, is that mystery of godliness, God mani
fested in the flesh, accomplishing his decease at Jeru
salem ! " The glory of heaven just centres in the death he
accomplished at Jerusalem : we do not hear a word about
Moses and Elias, when they appeared in glory upon mount
Tabor, except that they talked of the " decease which was
accomplished at Jerusalem ! "
You are to meditate upon the glory of the person of
Christ, who accomplished his decease at Jerusalem. He
is Lord of all, the Lord of glory : " If the princes of this
world had known it, they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory." He is the Prince of the kings of the earth,
the Prince of life ; " But ye killed the Prince of life, whom
God hath raised from the dead," Acts iii. 15. He is the
King of glory, " the God of glory, who appeared to Abraham
SERMON III. 191
when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran."
He is JEHOVAH, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of
Jacob, who spake to Moses, Exod. iii. from the burning-
bush at Horeb. He is, " Wonderful, Counsellor, the
mighty God, the everlasting Father," Is. ix. 6 ; and yet
his name is called JESUS, because " he saveth his people
from their sins."
You are to mediate upon the grounds and reasons of the
decease which he accomplished at Jerusalem. It was for
the glory of God in man's salvation, John xvii. 3, 4. It
was for the glory of the holiness, majesty, and justice of
God ; of the grace, mercy, and love of God : it was to
" finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to bring
in an everlasting righteousness, and to make reconciliation
for iniquity ; " that, in this way, God might be glorified in
man's salvation.
You are to meditate upon the nature and quality of the
decease which Christ accomplished at Jerusalem. He ac
complished it in a public capacity; he took our nature
into an intimate and personal union with himself, 1 Tim.
iii. 16. John i. 14 ; he substituted himself in our room and
law-place ; and so he suffered " bearing our sins in his own
body on the tree, giving his life a ransom for many." This
decease was early promised, Gen. iii. 15 ; it was testified
of by all the prophets, it was expected and looked for by
all the Old- Testament saints ; it was seen by them afar off.
In his decease he did bear our griefs, our sins, our shame,
and our sorrows. It was an ignominious and a cursed
death, and yet a triumphant and a victorious death ; for
he " spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of
them openly on the cross, triumphing over them in it."
In addition to all this, it was a necessary death ; " Ought
not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into
his glory 1 " Yet more, it was an acceptable, a savoury
death ; " Walk in love, as Christ also loved us, and hath
given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for
a sweet-smelling savour," Eph. v. 2.
You are to meditate upon the pleasant fruits and effects
192 CHRIST'S CALL TO THE YOUNG.
of the decease which Christ accomplished at Jerusalem.
He has reconciled us to God by his death, and we have
boldness to enter into the holiest of all by the blood of
Jesus. The Lamb slain has opened the seven seals; he
has opened the gates of paradise, the fountain of life, and
the treasures of grace ; he has opened up and revealed the
counsels and purposes of God's love that were hid in a
mystery ; and he has opened the understandings of men,
to see the wonders of his grace, mercy and love, in the
covenant of promise. To do all this he was worthy, for he
was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood ; he
hath glorified God upon the earth, and finished the work
he gave him to do ; " he said, It is finished, and bowed his
head, and gave up the ghost." It was the purpose of the
wisdom and love of God, to gather his greatest revenue of
glory from the salvation of sinners of Adam's family, that
deserved to be in hell ; and what a wonderful theme
of meditation is it, that the cross and death of Jesus
Christ, should be the great mean of the glory of God in
man's salvation ! The most wonderful sight in heaven is,
" The Lamb in the midst of the throne, as if he had been
slain ; " and the greatest homage and worship God ever
received, was in Golgotha, when Christ, though a Son,
humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even the
death of the cross !
Yet again, you are to meditate upon that holy joy, that
willingness and cheerfulness, with which he accomplished
his decease at Jerusalem. This was the subject with which
he entertained Moses and Elias in mount Tabor. He re
joiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and his delights
were with the sons of men. He said, " Lo, I come, a body
hast thou prepared me;" that is, a human nature, to
obey in, to suffer, and to die in, for the remission of the
sins of many. He spake of his decease all along ; he
preached it to Nicodemus, John iii. 14 ; he went to Jeru
salem, with holy resolution, at the last passover ; " he went
all the way journeying to Jerusalem;" he was the first in
the company ; he went to his decease, as to a triumph, ac-
SERMON III. 193
companied by the hosannas of the multitude : he longed
for the last passover ; " with desire have I desired to eat
this passover with you, before I suffer : " and he longed
for his bloody baptism ; " I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished ! "
He went singing to his work of suffering ; " he did sing
an hymn, and went out to the mount of Olives." But
what shall we say 1 for time would fail, and eternity itself
will be too short, to speak of his glory, and of the wonders
of his dying love, who accomplished his decease at Jeru
salem. " Lo, these are parts of his ways ; and how small
a part of him is known or heard ?" What can we think ?
or, what can we say 1 but that our thoughts are swallowed
up, and that expression doth fail us, while we contemplate
the infinite evil of sin, the inexorable justice of God, and
his infinite holiness, as all seen so clearly in him, who was
crucified on Calvary. Let us for ever adore the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge : hoping through grace,
to spend eternity, in beholding the Lamb, " in the midst of
the throne." There may we all be found at last, wonder
ing and praising with Moses and Elias, the prophets and
apostles, and martyrs of Jesus, and talking with them " of
the decease he accomplished at Jerusalem ! So shall we
be ever with the Lord."
MEMORIALS
REV. JAMES FISHER,
JUNISTER OF THE ASSOCIATE CONGREGATION IN GLASGOW, PROFESSOR OF DIV1MTT
TO THE ASSOCIATE (BURGHER) SYNOD, AND ONE OF THE FOUR LEADERS Of
THE SECESSION FROM THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH OF SCOTLAND,
IN A NARRATIVE OF HIS LIFE
BY JOHN BROWN, D.D.,
SENIOR MINISTER OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION, BROUGHTOX-
PLACE, EDINBURGH, AND PROFESSOR OF EXEGETICAL THEOLOGY TO
THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ;
AND A SELECTION FROM HIS WRITINGS.
" In writing of lives all big words are to be left to those who dress up legend*,
and make lives rather than write them : the things themselves must praise the
person, otherwise all the good words that the writer bestows on him will only
show his own great kindness to his memory, but will not persuade others: on
the contrary, it will incline them to suspect his partiality, and make them look,
on him as an author rather than a writer." — BUUNET.
PREFACE.
THE following Memoir is the first attempt to give a detailed
account of the life and character of Mr. Fisher; and, made at
the distance of three quarters of a century from his death, it is
necessarily meagre and in many respects imperfect. The writer
cannot accuse himself of want of interest in his work, or of
diligence in endeavouring to procure materials for executing it;
and he gratefully acknowledges the readiness with which his in
quiries have heen met in every quarter in which they have been
made. The defects of the narrative must be traced either to
scantiness of information, which in the circumstances is no way
wonderful, or to unskilfulness in making use of it — of which
none can be more sensible than the compiler himself. The
courteous reader, while he must regret the former, will, it is
hoped, forgive the latter.
Dr. Fraser's most judicious and interesting biographical
works in reference to the Erskine Brothers, and Dr. MacKer-
row's elaborate and most trustworthy History of the Secession
have been habitually consulted during the composition of the
sketch, and the great advantage derived from them is gratefully
acknowledged. In almost every case, however, the original
documents which were before them have been anew examined.
The compiler finds himself under peculiar obligations to his
old and esteemed fellow-student and friend, the REV. WILLIAM
FRASER of Alloa, for not only laying open to him the whole of
his venerated brother's MS. collections in reference to Mr. Fisher,
but at the expense of much labour furnishing transcripts of
many valuable documents from these short-hand collections.
His best thanks also are due to the Very Rev. Principal Lee of
the University of Edinburgh, — the Rev. Dr. Reid, Professor
of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Glasgow, the
Rev. Dr. Buist, Professor of Theology in the University of St.
Andrews, — the Rev. Dr. Young of Perth, — the Rev. Dr.
M'Kelvie of Balgedie, — the Rev. Dr. Auld, Ayr, — the Rev. Mr.'
Touch, Kinnoul, — the Rev. Mr. Nelson, Auchtergaven, — the
Rev. Mr. Henderson, Kinclaven, — the Rev Mr. Young of Kin-
claven,— the Rev. John Kidd, St. Andrews,— the Rev. James
Knox, Ayr,— and the Rev. William Bayne, Auchtergaven. The
Rev. George Jeffrey gave him the necessary information from
IV PREFACE.
the Minutes of the Associate Preshytery of Glasgow ; David
Anderson, Esq., submitted to his inspection the Minutes of the
Session of the Associate Congregation, Glasgow, from its con
stitution in 1 740 till Mr. Fisher's death in 1775 ; and his esteemed
relatives, Mr. Fisher's descendants, readily placed at his disposal
such documents as were in their possession.
It was at one time the writer's wish that a whole volume of
this series should be occupied by Mr. Fisher's life and writings :
but though abundance of materials, probably fit enough for pub
lication, lies in Mr. Fisher's short-hand MS., there would be
considerable difficulty in deciphering these; and the only MSS.
in long-hand, fit for the press, — two action sermons on Kev. xix.
9. and Psal. Ixxx. 17. and a Synod sermon on Isaiah xxi. 11,
12. — would, along with his published sermons, have made a dis
proportion ably thin volume. It has been resolved therefore to
confine Mr. Fisher's writings to the sermons published under his
own superintendence, and to connect his life and writings with
those of his fellow-labourer Mr. Moncrieff.
There is a peculiar propriety in such a connection. Mon
crieff' and Fisher were early friends and zealous co-operators
in a common cause — the cause of truth and freedom. They
indeed differed, and "the contention was so sharp that they
parted asunder one from the other." They have long ago been
reconciled and reunited. The suspicion has often been thrown
out, even in print,* though without any evidence for the revolting
statement, that "THE BREACH" was in some good measure to be
traced to private pique between these two good men. If it was
so, there was "grievous fault" somewhere; but that would but
afford an additional reason, why they, who side by side in heaven,
have for near a century been singing together "the new song"
in which there are no discords, should in this little book go down
to posterity side by side, teaching Christian truth in their writ
ings and Christian holiness by their example. " Nunc in sinu
Veritatis, sese complectuntur, ubi nulloe lites, nulla dissensio, sed
sola regnat eternum charitas."
J. B.
BUSBY, May 2oth, 1849.
* Struthers' History of Scotland since the Union, vol. ii., p. 552.
TO TUB
SURVIVING GRANDCHILDREN
OP
THE REV. JAMES FISHER:
MRS. JANE CRUM, THORNLIEBANK,
HUMPHRY EWING MACLAE, ESQUIRE OF CATHKIN,
MRS. MARGARET BUCHAN, BRAESIDE, WEST CANADA,
JAMES EWING, ESQUIRE OF STRATHLEVEN,
MRS. ELIZABETH HYDE, DUNOON,
AND RALPH WARDLAW, D.D., SS. T.P., GLASGOW ;
AND TO HIS OTHER DESCENDANTS,
THESE MEMORIALS ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED
BY THEIR KINSMAN,
THE COMPILER.
1 CHUOX. xxviii. 9; PSAI^JI ciii. 17, 18.
( vii )
CONTENTS.
Page
NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF THE REV.
JAMES FISHER.
CHAPTER I.
1697—1722.
Parentage — The Rev. Thomas Fisher — Minister of Barr— Auch-
tergaven— Rhynd— His Death— His Family— Birth of his son
James — Education — License, 9
CHAPTER II.
1722—1740.
Call to Glenisla — Ordination at Kinclaven — Questions for Elders
—Marriage— Mrs. Fisher— Public spirit— Representation to the
Assembly 1732— Rejected— Ebenezer Erskine's Sermon at Kin
claven— and Perth— Mr. Fisher's Protest and Complaint against
the Decision of the Synod of Perth and Stirling, Oct. 1732
—His appearance at the Assembly, 1733 — Suspended by the
Commission, August 1733 — Separated from his Charge by
the Commission, Nov. 1733 — Chosen Clerk of the Associate
Presbytery at its constitution, Dec. 6, 1733 — Remarkable
Act of Assembly, 1734— Reponed by the Synod of Perth and
Stirling, July 1734— Formal Accession of the Session of Kin
claven to the Associate Presbytery— Communions at Kinclaven
— Libelled by the Commission, Nov. 1738 — Deposed bv the
Assembly, 1740, 15
CHAPTER III.
1740—1747.
Ejected from the Church and Manse of Kinclaven, 1741— Call to
Glasgow—Admission to Glasgow— Introductory Sermon— Con
troversy with the Rev. Mr. James Robe respecting the " Kilsyth
and Cambuslang work" — Publications on that subject — Charac
ter of them— Rebellion in 1745— Thanksgiving Sermon, 1746—
Burgess' Oath Controversy— The Breach, 1747, . . 37
viii CONTENTS.
Page
CHAPTER IV.
1747—1775.
Mr. Fisher visits Ireland— Is requested by the Synod to prepare
for Theological Tuition — Synod Sermon, Isa. xxi. 11, 12—
Publications on the Burgess' Oath Controversy— Character of
them — Explication of the Westminster Shorter Catechism-
Appointment to the Professorship, 1749— Mode of Conducting
the Divinity Hall— Resignation of the Professorship— Obtains a
Colleague in the Ministry— Death of Mrs. Fisher— Death of Mr.
Fisher— Character— Family— Writings— Conclusion, . . 5/
APPENDIX.
No. I. Marrow Doctrines,
No. II. Brief Notes respecting Mrs. Fisher, . . . . 86
No III. Mr. Fisher's Register of the Divinity Hall, 17oO— 1763,
with Notes,
No. IV. Letters of Mr. Fisher, chiefly to Relatives, .
SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
SERMON I.
THE INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH.
PROV. xxiii. 23.—" Buy the truth, and sell it not,"
SERMON II.
THE MATTER OF GOSPEL-PREACHING — CHRIST JESUS
THE LORD.
2 COR. iv. 5.— "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus
the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake," . 185
SERMON III.
CHRIST THE SOLE AND WONDERFUL DOER IN THE WORK
OF MAN'S REDEMPTION.
JUDGES xiii. 19.— "The angel did wondrously, and Manoah and
his wife looked on," . . • • ' • •
SERMON IV.
THE DOORS OF THE HEART SUMMONED TO OPEN TO
THE KING OF GLORY.
PSAL. xxiv. 7.—" Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates ; and be ye lift
up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come ^
MEMORIALS
REV. JAMES FISHER
I
Jiarratifce of ins Hife.
CHAPTER I.
1697—1722.
Parentage — The Rev. Thomas Fisher — Minister of Barr — Auehtergaven
— Rhynd — His death — His family — Birth of his son James — Education
— License.
JAMES FISHER, the youngest of the four " Associate
Brethren " who were honoured to be the leaders in
that Secession from the Established Church of Scot
land, which has already, directly and indirectly, pro
duced effects so important and beneficial, and the in
fluence of which is likely to reach to distant countries
and coming generations, was the son of the Kev. Tho
mas Fisher and Mrs. Susanna Menzies his spouse.
Mr. THOMAS FISHER was minister successively of
Barr, an extensive moorland parish in the south of
Ayrshire bordering on Galloway, and of Auehtergaven,
and Ehynd, in the county of Perth. We have not the
means of ascertaining the parentage of Mr. Thomas
Fisher, nor even the district of Scotland of which he
was a native. He probably was the first minister of
Barr after the revolution settlement, arid not an Ayr
shire man by birth. In April 1692 the parish of Barr
applied to the Presbytery of Ayr, requesting that they
would be pleased " to desire Mr. Thomas Fisher Ex-
10 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
pectant," then a married man, for his marriage took
place Nov. 16th, 1691, " who in providence was within
the bounds, to come and preach to them." The Pres
bytery "having seen his testimonials, complied with
their request — and desired Mr. F. to preach to them
as oft as he could, betwixt and the next meeting of
Presbytery, and then to preach before themselves."
The result was, that the parishioners of Barr, in May
1692, signified to the Presbytery that they had a sub
scribed call ready to give Mr. F.; and though he dis
covered an unwillingness to accept of it, the Pres
bytery prescribed him trials for ordination. With
difficulty, Mr. F.'s objections to settle at Barr were got
the better of, and his ordination took place on the 9th
of May, 1693, Mr. Matthew Baird presiding and preach
ing on 2 Cor. v. 20. He appears to have experienced
difficulties of various kinds here; and at last, on the
7th Jan., 1697, he "gave in a supplication to the
Presbytery desiring an act of transportability* from
the parish of Barr, by reason he finds himself prejudiced
in health from the air of that place, so that he is not
able to exercise his ministerial work, which is uneasy
to his mind." The Presbytery, after due examination,
and conference both with the minister and people, and
having got the statement of physicians " to show how
much they judge that the air where he liveth is hurt
ful to him," on the 4th March, agreed, nem. con., to
grant his supplication, f A call was given him by the
parish of Auchtergaven in April 1698, and commis
sioners appointed by the Presbytery of Perth to " agent
his transportation with the Presbytery of Ayr." In
this they of course found no difficulty, and on April
26th, 1698, he was admitted by the Presbytery of
Perth to the charge of the parish of Auchtergaven.
* Vide Pardovan, book i. tit. iii.
f Minutes of the Presbytery of Avr.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 1 1
In some points of view the change must have been
an agreeable one, — from a bleak and thinly inhabited
region to the fertile and populous and romantic banks
of the Tay, — and probably too from a very limited to
a somewhat more competent income. But it seems to
have had its drawbacks. In Barr Mr. Fisher, what
ever difficulties he had to contend with, had to minister
to a people deeply interested in, and firmly attached
to, the doctrines and polity of the Presbyterian church,
for which many of their fathers had laid down their
lives, and not a few of themselves had been personal
sufferers. * In removing to Auchtergaven, he went to
a region where the body of the great landholders were
Jacobites in their politics and Prelatists in their re
ligion, and where the principles of the Covenant had
never taken such extensive and deep root as in the
south-west of the island.
The result of this state of things appeared in Mr.
Fisher being constrained, in the course of little more
than a year, to bring his " Grievances" under the con
sideration of the Presbytery. To his statement of
grievances the Parishioners gave answers, — but on
being called to give rejoinders to his replies, they
" compeared not — neither sent any excuse." The Pres
bytery were about, according to the practice of the
time, to " grant Mr. Fisher an act of transportability,"
but finding that a call had come forth for him from the
parish of Rhynd, they agreed to translate him. His
admission took place on the 6th of October, 1699,
under very favourable auspices; "the brethren of said
paroch and elders thereof present, in token of their
hearty concurrence and consent to the action, took
their minister by the hand."t In this delightful little
* In the list of proclaimed fugitives, 1684, in Wodrow, there
are ten persons from the parish of Barr.
t Minutes of the Presbytery of Perth.
12 NARRATIVE OF TliE LIFE OF
parish on tlie banks of the Tay and the Earn, in the
immediate neighbourhood of "the Fair City," Mr.
Fisher laboured for more than twenty years. In the
Minutes of the Presbytery of Perth of date 26th April,
1721, there is this entry: "The reverend and worthy
Mr. Thomas Fisher, minister of the gospel at Rhind,
died upon the 24th day of March last."*
Mr. Fisher had a family of eleven children, seven
sons and four daughters. Six of these died in infancy.
Two daughters reached maturity, a third dying in
early youth. The only one of his sons who survived
him was the subject of this narrative. Another son,
whose name was Samuel, died in the same year with
his father at the early age of 17.
JAMES, who was the third child of his parents, was
born at Barr on the 23d January, 1697, and was under
three years of age when his father settled at Rhynd.
From the immediate vicinity of Perth, it is all but cer
tain that he received the elements of his classical edu
cation — a more thorough one than could have been
obtained at many of the parish schools at that period —
at the grammar school of that city. That was not the
only advantage which he derived from his local posi
tion. From the town of Perth being immediately
adjoining, much intercourse was likely to take place
between the families of the ministers, men of kin
dred sentiments ; and it is probable that he there first
met with Ebenezer Erskine, with whom in after life he
was to become so closely connected by a variety of
bands. His vicinity to Abernethy too, likely led to
an early intimacy with the young laird of Culfargie,
who was nearly of his own age, and had devoted him
self to the service of God in the gospel of his Son, and
* There was an attempt made, which all but succeeded, to
obtain as his successor Mr. Wilson of Perth, who was about this
time and afterwards made very unhappy by the waywardness of
a colleague.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 13
with whom he was to be so closely associated in the
most important events of his future life.
His literary and philosophical education seems to
have been very complete. He commenced his curricu
lum in Glasgow in the Session 1712-13, under the
care of Professor Alexander Dunlop, a distinguished
Greek scholar, and author of the Greek Grammar long
taught in the Scottish Universities; and finished it in
St. Andrews in the Session 1715-16. He entered the
Divinity Hall in the University of Edinburgh, then
superintended by Mr. William Hamilton, in November
1716, and continued under his care for six Sessions.*
Among his fellow-students of the same year is to be
found the name of Edmund Calarny, the son of the
"• honest chronicler" of nonconformist learning, worth,
and suffering.
On the death of his father in 1721, his mother
removed with her family, consisting then of her
son JAMES and three daughters, from the manse of
Khynd to Balcanquhal in the parish of Arngask, a
mansion-house belonging to the Balcanquhals of that
ilk, who rented it to Mrs. Fisher. The Marrow Con
troversy at this time was agitating the church. Mr.
Fisher had been led to adopt the views of the defend
ers of what were called the Marrow doctrines,t and
instead of attending the ministry of the incumbent of
Arngask, who was hostile to these views, observed
ordinances at Portmoak, the distinguished minister of
which was one of their most enlightened and fear
less champions. The acquaintance which he pro
bably had previously with Mr. Erskine then became
more intimate. He was a frequent visitor at the
manse, and the foundation was thus laid of an attach
ment, which, as we shall by and by see, led to the
* MS. note-book of Professor Hamilton, in the hands of the
Rev. Principal Lee.
t Vide Appendix, No. I.
1-i NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE, &C.
formation of a close relationship with the minister's
family. *
At a meeting of the Presbytery of Perth, 7th March,
1 722, it was " represented that Mr. James Fisher, son
to the late Rev. Mr. Thomas Fisher, has attended the
profession this six years bygone; and having had a
savoury account of him, from many of the brethren
that knew him, it was agreed that he be wrote to in
Edinburgh, to wait on the Presbytery this day 20 days
that they may commune with him anent entering on
trials." On the 29th of March, "the brethren com
muned with him, and were very well satisfied," and
steps were taken to make the ordinary report to the
Synod. On the llth April, "a testificate from the
Rev. William Hamilton, Professor of Divinity, Edin
burgh, in Mr. Fisher's favour, was produced and sus
tained," and his trials for license were entered on. On
the 21st of October, 1722, he was licensed to preach
the gospel, and immediately employed for some time in
supplying pulpits within the bounds of the Presbytery, f
* Information furnished by Dr. M'Kelvie.
t Minutes of the Presbytery of Perth.
(15)
CHAPTER II.
17-22—1740.
Call to Glenisla — Ordination at Kinclaven — Questions for Elders — Mar-
jntation to the Assemblv
Synod of Perth and Stirling, Oct. 1732 — His appearance at the As
sembly, 1733 — Suspended by the Commission, Aug. 1733 — Separated
from his charge by the Commission, Nov. 1733 — Chosen Clerk of the
Associate Presbytery at its constitution, Dec. 6, 1733 — Remarkable
act of Assembly, 1734 — Reponed by the Synod of Perth and Stir
ling, July 1734- — Formal accession of the Session of Kinclaven to
the Associate Presbytery — Communions at Kinclaven — Libelled by
the Commission, Nov. 1738 — Deposed by the Assembly, 1740.
THE term of Mr. Fisher's probationership was not of
long duration. He appears speedily to have acquired
the reputation of a useful and acceptable preacher, — a
reputation which, being solidly founded, lasted for life.
His first call was to the parish of Glenisla, in Forfar-
shire, and he had delivered part of his trials for ordi
nation there, when an unanimous call from the vacant
parish of Kinclaven, where the right of planting the
parish had fallen out of the Patron's into the Presby
tery's hand, was brought out for him. The Presbytery
of Dunkeld having received a communication from the
Presbytery of Meigle, giving a very favourable account
of Mr. Fisher's conduct when in their bounds, certifying
that both his license and testimonials had been pro
duced before them, and farther that the parts of trials
delivered before them had been approved, sustained the
call from Kinclaven to Mr. Fisher, concurred with it,
sustained the pieces of trial delivered before the Pres-
4 o
16 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
bytery of Meigle, and appointed the other trials required
by the laws of the church. — These trials were delivered
by him on the 7th of December, 1725 — a lecture on Ps.
cxxi. and a popular sermon on Ps. cxxi. 2. He sustained
his thesis " de deitate Filii," explained the 19th Psalm
in Hebrew, read the Greek Testament "ad aperturam
libri," answered his catechetics and chronological ques
tions on the last half of the 10th century, and was
approved. The call of the parish was put into his
hand, and the Presbytery agreed " tanquam jure devo-
luto" to give him their " call" to supply the legal place
of the presentation; and arrangements were made for
the ordination.
His ordination at Kinclaven, accordingly, took place
on the 23d of December, 1725. The Kev. Mr. Bowis
presided, and preached from 2 Tim. iv. 5. " But watch
thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an
Evangelist, give full proof of thy ministry." " The
questions appointed by acts of Assembly were proposed
to him in face of the congregation, and he having an
swered them, and declared his willingness to take
charge of that congregation, and they having declared
their willingness to have him to be their minister, by
lifting up their hands as well as by their call formerly
given, he was, by solemn prayer and imposition of the
hands of the Presbytery, ordained, and the Moderator
and brethren gave him the right hand of fellowship."*
We have been thus minute, to show that Mr. Fisher, like
the rest of the Associate Brethren, had from the beginning
been a consistent advocate for the rights of the Christian
people, and came into court with clean hands. It has
been said that the words of the text of his ordination
sermon seem to have been " in his heart, bound for a sign
on his hand, and as frontlets between his eyes." He
commenced his ministry on the following Lord's day by
* Minutes of the Presbytery of Dunkeld.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 17
preaching from Eom. xv. 30 — 32. " Now I beseech you,
brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the
love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in
your prayers to God for me; that I may be delivered
from them that do not believe, — that my service may
be accepted of the saints, — that I may come to you
with joy by the will of God, and may by you be re
freshed." — He appears to have entered on his work
with a determination to "make full proof of his
ministry," and he did so. After a lapse of more than
a hundred and twenty years, the patriarchs of the dis
trict bear testimony that their fathers were accustomed
to tell them how well prepared Mr. Fisher was always
for the pulpit, and how faithful in his private visitations.*
* Like the other Fathers of the Secession, Mr. Fisher seems
to have been through life very attentive to his pulpit prepara
tions. No press of public business appears to have been allowed
to interfere with that. His beautifully written note books prove
this. Things cannot long continue in a healthy state in a reli
gious body where preparation for the pulpit is made a secondary
object. — "Ministers are not set apart to their office to trifle away
six days of the week, and then to go to the pulpit with whatever
comes uppermost. Such extemporary performances, though for
a little they may please some, seldom do credit to God's ordi
nances, or produce any lasting effects on the hearers."* It was
the practice at the Presbyterial examinations to require the
minister to produce his note book, to show that he preached
catechetical doctrine, and was regular and careful in preparation
for the pulpit. A revival of the practice, gone into desuetude,
might perhaps be useful in some quarters. Mr. Fisher seems
to have been fond of apothegms and pointed sayings. A num
ber of these, according to a practice not uncommon among the
ministers of that time, are found on the inside of the boards of
his note books. We give a specimen or two.
Si sapiens fore vis, sex serva quae tibi mando:
Quid loqueris, ad quern, de quo, cur, quoniodo, quando.
Si tua pertingat, penetretque, Precatio coelum,
Corde sit ex puro, sit brevis atquc frequens.
Quisquis amat, dictis, absentium rodere faraam
lianc inensain vetitam uoverit esse sibi.
* Dr. John Erskine.
18 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
It is a proof of the just judgment he had formed
of the vital importance of a godly active eldership to
the well-being of a Christian church, and of the inter
est he took in the progress of true religion among
his people, that not many months after his ordination
he laid the following questions before the Session to be
proposed to its members individually at regular periods.
" 1 . Do you worship God in your families, morning
and evening? 2. Do you visit the sick in your quar
ters and pray with them? 3. Do you take notice of
the families in your quarter if they maintain and keep
up the worship of God 1 4. Is there any scandal in
your quarter? 5. Do you exhort parents to put their
children to school? 6. Do you exhort and admonish
persons in private before you delate them before the
session, according to Christ's command and direction ?
7. Do you instruct your children and families in the
knowledge of the principles of religion? 8. Do you
notice such persons and families as are in worldly
straits? 9. Are you faithful in admitting arid debar
ring, when the roll of the congregation is read before
the Session?"*
Mr. Fisher's diligent ministrations were so accep
table that not long after his ordination the church was
found incapable of accommodating the congregation.
To meet this exigency a gallery was erected. On its
completion, " the Session taking into consideration that
the loft in the church was now finished, resolved to let
it out for the use of the poor of this parish, and that
the yearly rent which each person shall pay shall be
two shillings and sixpence Scots," i. e.9 twopence half
penny in our money, t
In the year 1727 an event occurred which, to a very
great degree, gave colour to Mr. Fisher's future life,
and was, under God, the source of much of his useful-
* Session records of the parish of Kinclaven. f Ibid.
THE KEY. JAMES FISHER. 19
ness and happiness. We refer to his union in marriage
with Miss Jean Erskine, eldest daughter of the Rev.
Ebenezer Erskine, then of Portmoak, afterwards of
Stirling. This event took place at Portmoak on the
4th July, that year. The marriage ceremony was per
formed by the Rev. Ralph Erskine, the bride being his
favourite niece, and the bridegroom a very highly
esteemed young friend and brother. Miss Erskine
proved indeed " a help meet" for her husband, and in
receiving her " he obtained favour of the Lord." Her
piety, cheerfulness, prudence, and good temper made
her quite a pattern minister's wife. She relieved him
of, what he was ill fitted to bear, the burden of secular
affairs, and " his heart safely trusted in her." — It is
delightful to see the sacred fire of conjugal affection
burning brightly after the lapse of nearly half a cen
tury of no ordinary trial, and diffusing so sweet a
radiance over the evening of life. — But Mrs. Fisher's
character deserves more attention than can be given it
here without interfering with the course of the narra
tive, and shall form the subject of a brief notice in the
Appendix. *
While occupying the most of his time in the dis
charge of his ministerial duties, Mr. Fisher early proved
that he was possessed of that true public spirit which
cannot allow a man to rest when he sees the great in
terests of his country and of the church of Christ in
danger. He was one of the men who " cared not only
for his own things" but for "the things of Christ,"
" the things of others." He had witnessed with deep
regret and inward indignation equally the invasions of
the civil power, after the Union, on the ecclesiastical
liberties of Scotland, arid the tame submission of the
ecclesiastical courts and the great body of the clergv
to these usurpations; and he had observed with, if
* Vide Appendix, No. II.
20 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
possible, deeper sorrow, the indications of a growing
carelessness in the church courts about purity of doctrine,
and a growing disposition to tamper with and disregard
the most sacred rights of the members of the church —
the Christian people as they were then termed. So
early as the year 1731, while yet a very young minis
ter, we find him meeting with the Kev. William Wil
son of Perth, George Gillespie of Strathmiglo, Robert
Laing of Newburgh, Laurence M'Intosh of Errol, and
Alexander Moncrieff of Abernethy, to consider what
measures it might be advisable and right to adopt in
reference to that crisis of ecclesiastical affairs, which,
to all who could discern the signs of the times, was seen
to be rapidly approaching.*
The result of this meeting was the drawing up a
representation to be presented to the next General As
sembly, May 1732, to which, besides their own signa
tures, they obtained those of 36 ministers of the highest
standing in the church, and 3 ruling elders, f
* Fraser.
t These names are worthy of all honour. Geo. Gillespie, Strath
miglo; Geo. Freer, Lethendie; John Gibb, Cleish; James Ker,
Dun; Peter Drummond, Crieff; John Currie, Kinglassie; Robert
Laing, Newburgh ; Robert Gray, Brechin ; Geo. Meek, Redgorton ;
Lau. M'Intosh, Errol ; Will. Wilson, Perth ; James Fisher, Kin-
claven; John Gow, Cargill; Thomas Nairn, Abbotshall; John
Row, Navar and Lethnot; Alex. Moncrieff, Abernethy; Thos.
Mair, Orwell; Robert Coventrie, Kilspindie; John M'Claren,
Edinburgh; John Bonar, Torphichen; Ralph Erskine, Dunferm-
line ; John Wardlaw, there; James Farquhar, Nigg: Ebenezer
Erskine, Stirling; John Forbes, Deer; Gabriel Wilson, Maxton;
William Henderson, Dalgety; Thomas Thomson, Auchter-
muchty; Alex. Hamilton, Stirling; Charles Moor, there (father
of Dr. "John Moore and grandfather of Sir John Moore) ; William
Hally, Muthil; David Stevenson, Glendovan; John Johnston,
Brechin; James Goodsir, Monikie; Andrew Elliot, Auchtertoul;
James Thomson, Burntisland; James Noble, Eckford; Geo.
Mair, Newdeer; John Cranston, Ancrum; James Innes, Mer-
ton; Henry Davidson, Galashiels; Walter Hart, Bunkill — Mi
nisters. Alex. Swinton of Strathore, Thomas Trotter, William
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 21
In clear, dignified, unimpassioned language, this
representation, complains " of encroachments by the
British legislature on the legal rights of the church,
acknowledged and secured by the Articles of Union
between the two kingdoms, and of the want of due
resistance to these encroachments by the General As
sembly; of the tolerance or inadequate censure of false
doctrine; of the interfering with the undeniable right
of Christian congregations to have the free choice of
their own pastors, and the disregard of that call and
consent which are necessary to found the pastoral rela
tion; of the refusal to record reasons of dissent against
the determinations of church judicatories; of the un
constitutional usurpations of the Commission of Assem
bly; and of the neglect of proper measures to check
innovations in the method and strain of preaching,
very offensive to many of God's people."
This representation, with a corresponding petition,
was given in to the clerk of the Assembly, and read in
the Committee of Bills; but though couched in the
most unobjectionable terms, it was by them refused to
be transmitted to the Assembly. Against this decision,
the petitioners protested, and complained to the Assem
bly, who contemptuously refused even to hear their
complaint. Nothing was left to these good men, but
to give in a solemn protestation against this most un
constitutional and tyrannical procedure. This protest
deserves to be recorded here. " We, the undersub-
scribing ministers of this church, finding, to our great
grief, that our humble and dutiful representation anent
grievances, offered to this General Assembly, is not
received, or allowed hearing therein, though craved
with all earnestness, and in the due and orderly way,
find ourselves obliged, much against our inclination,
Walker — Elders. — Humble Representation and Petition anent
Grievances of some Ministers and Elders, p. 14, 15. 4 to, Edin.
1732.
22 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
and with all due deference to this venerable Assembly,
humbly to protest, in our own name and in the name
of all concurring in the said representation or adhering,
against the said deed, and for the preservation of the
just rights belonging to us as men, Christians, and
office-bearers of this church (by the light of nature,
word of God, constitutions of this church, claims of
right, laws of the land, and manifold approven prece
dents since the Reformation to this day), to have repre
sentations and petitions anent grievances, which are or
may be offered by ourselves or others to the General
Assembly, or other judicatories of this church received,
openly read and taken into serious consideration by the
said courts for redress; and that the church's continu
ing still under the grievances specified in our representa
tion, and others of like nature, shall be no wise charge
able on us: And we humbly crave that this may be
recorded in the Assembly's register, and extracts allowed
to us for exoneration."* At the same time the As
sembly treated with equal contempt a representation of
a similar kind subscribed by upwards of 1,700 persons
not ministers or elders drawn up without any previous
concert with the ministers.
The months that followed the meeting of that Assem
bly were with Mr. Fisher and those who thought and
felt along with him, a season of deep and painful deli
beration. His venerated friend and father, Ebenezer
Erskine, who had been Moderator of the Synod of
Perth and Stirling at their last meeting, had made up
his mind, when called in the ordinary course to preach
at its approaching meeting in October, at all hazards,
* This protest was signed by 14 of the petitioners who had
been appointed to act in the name of the rest. Dr. M'Kerrow
states that the names of all the Fathers of the Secession were
attached to this protest. In the copy penes me, Mr. Fisher's name
does not appear, probably from his not having been at the
Assembly.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 23
to lift up his voice, in defence of the injured and in
sulted rights of his Master and brethren. He came to
Kinclaven in the end of the week previously to the
meeting of the Synod, and preached there on Sabbath
the 8th of October, 1732. Tradition says, and there
is obvious probability in the report, that the sermon
delivered to the parishioners of Kinclaven was that
which was delivered before the Synod on the Tues
day following, on Psal. cxviii. 22, — and adds, that the
impression made by that sermon on the people contri
buted much to their abandoning the communion of the
ruling party in the Establishment, almost as one man,
in the course of a short period.* It is interesting to
reflect on the probable course of conversation between
the father and son-in-law, as they travelled together
that Monday along the Tay, from Kinclaven to Perth.
They no doubt felt their spirits stirred in them, and
their hearts must have been agitated by painful antici
pations; but they clearly apprehended their duty, and
they were determined to perform it. They but indis
tinctly saw the probable consequences of the step re
solved on to themselves as individuals, and could have
no idea of the high results which, in reference to the
religion of their native land, hung on their being
faithful to their convictions of duty. But here, as in
many another step in their eventful journey, " they
went forth not knowing whither they went," but well
knowing who led them, and firmly trusting HIM.
When the honest but measured utterance of disap
probation of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny contained
in Mr. Erskine's Synod sermon had awakened the indig
nation of their abettors, and become the subject of judi
cial investigation, undeterred by a false delicacy which
might have shrunk from a course which was sure to
be, as in fact it was, ascribed to family attachment
* Communicated by the Rev. David Young, Kinclaven.
24 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
rather than to regard to truth and justice, Mr. Fisher
took a decided part in defence of his venerable relative.
Though prevented from his near relationship to the
accused, from giving his vote in the question, as to
whether Mr. Erskine's expressions were censurable, and
consequently incapacitated from dissenting, as Messrs.
Wilson and Moncrieff did, from the Synod's sentence
finding them censurable, he availed himself of his con
stitutional privilege of protesting and complaining to
the General Assembly.
At the meeting of the Assembly in May 1733, Mr.
Fisher appeared, but was not permitted to be heard in
support of his protest. The committee of bills refused
to transmit his reasons of protest, most presumptuously
pronouncing that he had " engyred" himself into the
process not for the vindication of the truth, but on ac
count of his connexion with the delinquent, for the
purpose of endeavouring to screen him from deserved
punishment.
The Assembly approved of the sentence of the Synod
of Perth and Stirling, and appointed Mr. Erskine to be
rebuked and admonished at the bar. On the sentence
of the Assembly being implemented, Mr. Erskine offered
a solemn protestation, to which Mr. Fisher, along with
Messrs. Wilson and Moncrieff, presented a written de
claration of adherence. That protestation the Assem
bly refused to read, and it was thrown on the table
among other papers. Had it been allowed to lie there,
it is not improbable that the Secession would not have
taken place when it did. It was, however, casually
taken up and read by Mr. James Nasmith, minister of
Dalrneny, " a fiery man," as Mr. Gib calls him, " in the
corrupt measures of that time;" and, as his conduct in
this instance proved him, a man more forward than
wise. He had no sooner read it than he forced it on
the attention of the Assembly as an insult which a
regard to their own honour and authority could not
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 25
allow to be overlooked. The reading of the paper and
its appendages produced the highest indignation through
out the Assembly. Mr. Erskine and his friends were
closely dealt with, to induce them to withdraw their
papers: and on their steadily refusing, the Assembly
appointed them to appear before the Commission at
their meeting in Edinburgh in August, and then and
there to withdraw their papers and express their sor
row for having presented them: and in case that they
did not comply with this requisition, the Commission
was empowered to suspend them from the exercise of
their ministry; and, should their sentence be disre
garded, to proceed to higher censure at their meeting
in November.
At the meeting of the Commission in August, Mr.
Fisher with his associates firmly kept his ground. On
being called to the bar and asked if he was not sorry
for his conduct in adhering to the protestation given in
by the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine to the last General As
sembly, he calmly and resolutely answered in these well
considered words, which have been preserved in the
Minutes of the Commission: "Although I sincerely
declare that I do not design, by the protestation given
in against the decision of the last Assembly, to impugn
the power and authority of the General Assembly to
censure any of the ministers and members of this church
upon just and relevant grounds, or the exercise of that
power and authority according to the word of God and
the known principles of this church; yet I am not sen
sible of any just ground of offence I have given by my
conduct before the last Assembly, and therefore cannot
declare my sorrow for it, nor retract the said protesta
tion ; but find it my duty to adhere thereunto, and to
the papers given in this day under form of instru
ment."
With his " brethren and companions in tribulation,
and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ," Mr.
26 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
Fisher was, in consequence of this refusal to retract his
protestation, suspended from the exercise of his min
istry. On the suspension being intimated to him,
he, with his brethren, gave in a solemn protestation,
and under this protest they continued the discharge of
their ministerial functions. We find them meeting to
gether at Kinclaven on Sept. 19th, along with Mr.
Ralph Erskine and Mr. John Gow of Cargill, who ap
pears to have been an intimate friend of Mr. Fisher
having baptized some of his children, and " spending the
day in praying and seeking counsel of the Lord as to
what they were next to do." Part of next day was also
occupied in prayer and conference, and " the brethren
came to find that in their circumstances, it was fit they
should think, in case of their deposition next commis-
mission, to be ready before it to constitute themselves
into a Presbytery, and declare themselves not of the
communion of the Church, with certain reserves."*
At the meeting of the Commission in November
much displeasure was expressed at the disregard of the
sentence of suspension, and by the casting vote of the
Moderator, the Rev. Mr. Gowdie, it was resolved to
proceed to a higher censure; though not without a dis
sent being entered by seven members of the Commission,
among whom we find the singularly pious Mr. Alexan
der Wardrobe, first minister of Whitburn, the Lord
Grange and Colonel Erskine, the grandfather of the
venerable Dr. John Erskine of fragrant memory. The
relation between Mr. Fisher and his brethren and their
congregations was thus declared to be dissolved, and
they were pronounced no longer ministers of the
Church of Scotland. On this sentence being inti
mated to them, they in a written paper which, after
reading, they left in the hands of the Clerk of the
Assembly, declared their adherence to their former
* Eraser's Life and Diary of Kalph Erskine, pp. 203, 204.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 27
protestations; — their determination to persevere in
performing their ministerial duties to their congrega
tions, with whom they held that their connexion con
tinued unbroken; — their sense of injustice in being cast
out of communion with the Established Church of Scot
land, to the doctrine, discipline, and government of
which they clung fast, — cast out on account of their
constitutional efforts to defend these; — their readiness
to hold communion with all who consistently adhered
to these; — and their SECESSION from the prevailing-
party in that Church, on the ground of a course of
defection, and especially of their suppression of minis
terial freedom and faithfulness, and infliction of censures
on ministers for witnessing against their backslidings.
The lion-hearted Gabriel Wilson of Maxton protested
against the sentence, and declared " that as he should
find opportunity he would hold communion with his
dear brethren, as if no such sentence had been passed
against them." To this protest Ealph Erskine, Thomas
Mair, John Maclaren, Edinburgh, John Currie, James
Wardlaw, and Thomas Nairn, adhered.
Mr. Fisher and his brethren left the Assembly as
the apostles did the Sanhedrim, " rejoicing that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name ;"
and they retired to their respective homes, with the
understanding that they must soon meet to consult as
to what course they ought to adopt in their unprece
dented circumstances, but without any fixed arrange
ment as to time and place. It was finally arranged
that the meeting should take place at Gairney Bridge,
in the neighbourhood of Kinross, on the 5th day of
December. They accordingly met there, and after the
greater part of two days had been spent in solemn
prayer and serious deliberation by the Four Brethren,
who were cheered by the presence of two men of kin
dred spirit, who ere long cast in their lot with them —
the Rev. Ralph Erskine of Dunfermline arid Thomas
28 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
Mair of Orwell — they saw their way clear to their
forming themselves into a Presbytery, under the de
signation of THE ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY, "that they
might be capable of performing all the functions of
government to the congregations under their care; —
that they might have a clear claim to the promise of
the Master's presence, ' where two or three are met in
his name;' that their union with each other might be
consolidated; that they might afford a rallying point
to the true but timid friends of ecclesiastical purity
and freedom; and that they might be able more effec
tually to resist ecclesiastical tyranny, and relieve those
who were its victims." " There was," says Ralph
Erskine, " I thought, much of the Lord with them,
and I found my heart frequently warmed and drawn
out in prayer with them."* Mr. Fisher was chosen
Clerk of the new judicatory, for which his distinct and
beautiful handwriting and accurate habits peculiarly
fitted him, and he continued for a number of years to
discharge this office, which, from the number of appli
cations that soon poured in on the Presbytery, (riot
fewer than seventy being mado in 1737-8,) was found
to be no sinecure. The first important deed of the
Associate Presbytery was the preparation and publica
tion of " A Testimony for the Doctrine, Government,
and Discipline of the Church of Scotland;" — a calm,
well-reasoned statement of the grounds on which they
had acted, and were determined to continue to act.
This was the work of Mr. Wilson assisted by Mr.
Fisher, t
There was a considerable party in the Church, who,
though not prepared fully to justify, and still less to
* Eraser's Life and Diary of Ralph Erskine, p. 207.
t MS. note by Mr. Gib. Indeed Mr. Fisher seems to have
had a hand in almost all the public papers. Mr. Gib particu
larly mentions the introduction to the declinature as written by
him.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 29
imitate, the conduct of the Four Brethren, yet deeply
regretted the arbitrary proceedings of the late As
semblies and Commissions, and had become seriously
alarmed with regard to their probable consequences.
Great and successful exertions were made by this party
to secure members of their way of thinking for the
Assembly in 1734; and the ruling faction beginning
to see that they had by their violent measures created
dangers which they did not know well how to meet,
seem to have allowed their opponents to have a good
deal of their own will in the elections. The conse
quence was one of the most extraordinary acts ever
emitted by an ecclesiastical body. " The General As
sembly," without application from any quarter, — "with
out farther inquiry into the occasions or steps of pro
ceeding of Messrs. Ebenezer Erskine, William Wilson,
Alexander Moncrieff, and James Fisher, who had sepa
rated from this Church and the judicatories thereof,
or of the several judicatories under whose consideration
their case had been, empowered the Synod of Perth
and Stirling to take the case of these Four Brethren
under their consideration, with full power to proceed
and do therein as they shall find most justifiable and
expedient for restoring the peace, and preserving the
authority of this Church, and restoring them to their
respective charges, without pronouncing any judgment
favourable or unfavourable, on the former proceedings
of the church judicatories in their cause."
The Synod of Perth and Stirling showed no back
wardness in attempting to undo what had been the
unlooked-for result of their intemperate rashness. At
their meeting in July they followed up this remarkable
empowerment, by, at one sweep, removing, without appli
cation from any of the Four Brethren, and without any
condition express or implied, the sentences pronounced
by the Commission in 1733, against them, restoring
them to ministerial communion and reponing them in
30 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
their charges. They even went so far as to elect Mr.
Ebenezer Erskine to be their Moderator, and appointed
a deputation to wait on him to request him to occupy
the chair.
As the Associate Brethren were not to be terrified,
so they were not to be seduced from what they saw to
be the path of duty. They showed themselves equally
superior to flattery as to fear. Had they been vain
men, never perhaps had there been such an opportunity
of having vanity gratified.* But they were men of
" another spirit," and were determined to " follow the
Lord fully." They took the proposal into serious con
sideration; but after thoughtful and prayerful delibera
tion, they saw that no explicit condemnation of what
they held to be tyranny and injustice had been given,
no pledge to retrace the steps of defection, and to pro
ceed in a course of remonstrance with the civil power
on its encroachments, and of internal reformation; and
that therefore it was clearly their duty to continue for
the present in that state of judicial separation from the
ruling party of the Church into which they had been
so wonderfully conducted ; and they assigned reasons
for the course they had resolved on, not more remark
able for the soundness of their substance than for the
calmness of their manner. Subsequent events soon
made it plain to them and all considerate observers
that they had judged rightly .f
* This is admirably put by Dr. Harper in the following most
graphical sentence :—" A weak man might have been excused
if, in Mr. Erskine's circumstances, he had imagined himself
vaulting into the saddle while the Synod held the stirrup, and
with studied civilities attended him as he rode over rescinded
acts, and recanted charges to the Hall of the Assembly, amid
the abashed looks of humbled dignitaries, and the shoutings ot
a triumphant people."— Memoir of Ebenezer Erskine, p. 65.
f Even Sir Henry Moncrieff (in his Appendix to his Life ot
Dr. Erskine, pp. 448, 449, 452) admits, that if the Seceders had
given way, and returned to the Church on this occasion, they
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 31
The parishioners of Kinclaven adhered almost with
out exception to their discarded minister. Instead of
abandoning his ministrations they clung closer to him
than ever. They had had " full proof of his ministry
and manner of life," and were persuaded that he and
his honoured associates had been " cast out by their
brethren," for their fidelity to the honour of their Mas
ter and to the privileges of his people; and that they
were called on to bear testimony against the error and
tyranny which was permitted to prevail in the Estab
lished Church. It was not till August 1735, that the
Associate Presbytery proceeded to exercise judicial
functions, so careful were they " to do nothing rashly ;"
and Kinclaven and Abernethy seem to have had the
honour of being the first two congregations that, through
their sessions, formally acceded to the Presbytery.
The deed of accession, on the part of Kinclaven, well
deserves a place here. *" Kinclaven Manse, October
25th, 1736, — Which day and place the session met,
and after prayer by the minister, were present, &c., &c.,
<fec. The session taking into consideration the present
lamentable state of the Established Church of Scotland ;
that the General Assemblies thereof have restrained
ministerial faithfulness in preaching and the liberty of
protesting against their decisions, however unlawful,
and have ejected four ministers from their communion
for refusing to give up with these valuable rights of
the office-bearers of Zion's King: that gross errors and
blasphemies have been vented by some members of the
Church, and yet no way duly censured or testified
against, when the cause of truth came before the su-
would have been disappointed. The prevailing party were not
overpowered; they were merely allowing their opponents to
do what they themselves could not do with a good grace, but
with a resolution to hold the reins as tight as ever.
* This interesting document has been already printed in Dr.
M'Kerrow's History, p. 173, 2d edition.
32 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
preme judicatories, whereby that cause is left bleeding
in our streets ; that as the heritage of God, for several
years past, has been oppressed by intrusions into the
ministry, the same continue still to be countenanced;
arid likewise considering that the Established Church
have refused to make a faithful acknowledgment, to
the glory of God, of our own iniquities, and the iniqui
ties of our fathers; and the session having heard read
'the causes of God's wrath against this church and
land,' both in former and present times, drawn up by
the ministers associated together for the exercise of
government and discipline in a presbyterial capacity,
it was moved what should be the duty of this session
in the present juncture; whereupon one was desired
to pray, and after prayer and long reasoning upon the
said motion, the question was put: 'Take up the tes
timony contained in the above-mentioned causes of the
Lord's wrath, and accede to the Presbytery of the
ministers associated for the exercise of church govern
ment and discipline, or not?' It carried unanimously,
4 Take up the testimony, contained in the above men
tioned causes of the Lord's wrath, in all the branches
of it; and they did, and hereby do, accede to the Pres
bytery of the ministers associated for the exercise of
government and discipline; and upon a leet being made,
Thomas Watson was chosen to attend the meetings of
Presbytery for the ensuing half year."
It may be right to state here, though the fact, like
so many others in this Memoir, have no exclusive refer
ence to Mr. Fisher's personal history, that in the close
of the year 1736, an able and most elaborate apologe-
tical narrative or historical defence of the course taken
by the Seceders, was published by the Associate Pres
bytery, under the title of " An act, declaration, and
testimony, for the doctrine, worship, discipline, and
government of the Church of Scotland." This docu
ment is commonly known by the name of The Second
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 33
— or the Judicial Testimony. This, like the first Tes
timony, was, in a great degree, the joint work of
Messrs. Wilson and Fisher.*
In the course of this year we find that Mr. Fisher, with
the Erskine brothers and Messrs. Moncrieff and Mair,
assisted Mr. Bonar of Torphichen in administering
the communion, and that, along with Mr. Wilson, he
visited by request the west of Scotland, where a con
siderable interest had been excited by the events con
nected with the Secession. By their ministrations and
conversations a very favourable impression was made
in many quarters, and the foundation of a number
of congregations laid; among the rest that of the
large society in the city of Glasgow, of which Mr.
Fisher was ere long to become the minister.
Mr. Fisher's audience at Kinclaven, so far from
being diminished by what had taken place, was con
siderably increased. Many from the parishes of Little
Dunkeld, Redgorton, Monedie, Caputh, Lethendy,
Cluny, and Cargill, approving of the ground taken by
the Associate Brethren, placed themselves under his
ministry. On occasion of the administration of the
Lord's supper, great crowds of devout worshippers, not
only from the neighbourhood, but from the west of
Scotland, and even from Ireland, collected at Kincla
ven. Hospitably as the people were disposed to enter
tain the host of strangers which poured in on them on
such occasions, they were unable to accommodate them
all in their houses, or even in their barns. Some of
them were accustomed to spend the night in the parish
church, and others encamped in a neighbouring wood
called the Hill of Kinclaven. Tradition tells of Mr.
Ralph Erskine, when on one occasion assisting his
esteemed relative at the administration of the Lord's
supper, having gone early into the wood on the morn-
* MS. note of Mr. Gib.
34 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
ing of the Communion Sabbath, and on his return
saying to his brethren in the manse, " We are likely to
have a good day I think, for the birds are singing very
sweetly in the wood," referring to the sounds of prayer
and praise which he had heard from all quarters.*
The following notices from that good man's diary re
specting Kinclaven communions are interesting: "/Sab
bath, July 2d, 1738. I heard Mr. Fisher, in his action
sermon on that word ' It is finished.' His proofs that
the work was finished and inferences therefrom were
refreshing to me." " Satur day , July 28th, 1739. This
evening I had a public exercise before the Sacrament
at Kinclaven, and preached on Gal. ii. 20. On Sab
bath I communicated at a table served by my brother,
and was quickened there by hearing that Christ was
alive, and that all the words on which he has caused
us to hope are more on his heart than ours. This was
a mean of quickening, and when I went alone, my
heart was poured out, by the outpouring of the Spirit
of Christ. I was strengthened in preaching at the
text upon the love of Christ being a giving love, and
strengthened in serving seven tables, especially the two
last except one; at which two, the communicants and
hearers seemed to be greatly moved, for there was some
remarkable breathing." " Monday, July 30. — This
morning being obliged, I studied and preached; though
unprepared I was helped in studying and preaching. —
I preached from a heart, as it were, full of Christ and
of desire to win souls to him. The Lord was with me
in the closet, and with me in the tent. . . . , I
preached before my brother Ebenezer, and many went
away with the conviction that God was in the place." t
In the autumn of this year we find Mr. Fisher ac
companying Ralph Erskine in visiting Dryburgh,
* MacKerrow, p. 833. 2d ed.
f Eraser's life and diary of the Kev. Kalph Erskine, p. 259, 260.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 35
Ebenezer's birth-place, and Shielfield, the possession of
their ancestors — Stichell and Sir Robert Pringle, the
only titled adherent the Secession could boast of — •
Maxton and its worthy minister Gabriel Wilson, and
taking a part in the ordination at Gateschaw of Mr.
Hunter, the eloquent first licentiate of the Associate
Presbytery. *
In August 1738, Mr. Fisher and Mr. Ralph Erskine
went to the south-west of Scotland, to preach among
Mr. Hepburn's people — the Cameronians, as they were
commonly called. Six or seven ministers heard them,
with whom they conversed afterwards, and " Mr.
Fisher," says Ralph Erskine in his diary, " sustained
a debate with them to great advantage." f
The General Assembly in 1738 perceiving that there
was no prospect of the return of the Seceders to the
church, except on the ground of a much more thorough
change in administration than they probably thought
either practicable or advisable, — and hoping perhaps to
deter persons from joining their fellowship, had proceed
ed towards what, however consistent with ecclesiastical
law and usage, must be considered as a most wanton
desecration of a high censure, which ought never to be
pronounced but on men clearly proved guilty of dan
gerous error or plain immorality. The Commission
which met in November, acting under their orders, put
a libel into the hand of Mr. Fisher and the other mem
bers of the Associate Presbytery. As a body they
drew up a solemn declinature of the authority of the
Assembly, which their Moderator read before the As
sembly at its meeting in 1739. Instead of proceeding,
as might have been expected, to the highest ecclesias
tical clerical censure — the Assembly, for reasons not
difficult to divine, deferred it for a twelvemonth, and
* Fraser's life and diary of the Rev. Ralph Erskiue, p. 261, 26°
t Ibid. p. 275, 276.
36 NAREATIVE OF THE LIFE, &C.
then, as no symptoms of penitence or returning alle
giance manifested themselves on the part of the Seced
ing Ministers, at their meeting, 1740, they formally
deposed from the office of the ministry — men who, for
integrity, piety, and unspotted reputation had no supe
riors in the land, and who, as to ministerial qualifica
tion, stood on a level with the most respectable of their
brethren. This ecclesiastical thunderbolt was hurled
against the four brethren and the four associates who
had united themselves with them since their formation
of themselves into a Presbytery.* It was truly a
" telum imbelle." It came too late. It did not reach
its mark. It proved the importance of the Secession,
but did nothing to stay its course.
* The Rev. Messrs. Ralph Erskine of Dunfermline, Thomas
Mair of Orwell, Thomas Nairn of Abbotshall, and James
Thomson of Burntisland.
(37)
CHAPTER III.
1740—1747.
Ejected from the Church and Manse of Kinclaven, 1741 — Call to
Glasgow — Admission to Glasgow — Introductory Sermon — Con
troversy with the Rev. Mr. James Robe respecting the " Kilsyth and
Cambuslang work " — Publications on that subject — Character of
them— Rebellion in 1745— Thanksgiving Sermon, 1746 — Burgess
Oath Controversy — The Breach, 1747.
WHEN the minister appointed to intimate the sentence
of the Assembly came to Kinclaven, he found, on
his arrival on the Lord's day morning, the church
already crowded, and the pulpit filled by its usual
occupant, and was obliged to perform the work as
signed him, at the west end of the church, in the pre
sence of two witnesses, specially summoned, to afford
valid evidence of the appointment of the Assembly
having been carried into execution.
Mr. Fisher's Presbytery seem, upon the whole, to
have acted with much kindly forbearance towards him.
On receiving the letter from the Commission of August
1733, recommending them to supply the pulpit of their
suspended brother, they " found that it would not be
for edification to supply that charge presently" — though
Mr. Adam Ferguson of Killin, father of the celebrated
Professor of the same name, for a reason which soon
became apparent, protested against this finding. They
appointed a committee to deal with Mr. Fisher, and it
was not till the 4th of December that they appointed
Mr. Man to repair to Kinclaven and intimate the Com
mission's sentence — and though Mr. Man reported at
next meeting that he had fulfilled the appointment, they
still at successive meetings delayed appointing supplies.
33 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
On the 18th June, 1734, a presentation to the vacant
kirk and parish made its appearance, addressed to
Mr. Adam Ferguson, but the Presbytery delayed the
whole affair till they were forbidden to proceed by the
Synod, which, in accordance with the appointment of
the Assembly, had removed the suspension. Even
after the deposition by the Assembly, while the Pres
bytery appointed their officer to deliver a copy of the
Assembly's Act to the Session Clerk, to be communicat
ed to the elders, they still delayed sending supply. At
last, when the heritors petitioned the Presbytery, on the
14th of October, to appoint Mr. James Bishop to preach
at Kinclaven, the Presbytery, but not till their next
meeting, complied with the request. On going there,
however, he could find no access. Mr. Bishop received
a presentation from the heritors on the 7th April, 1741,
and legal measures were ere long adopted to find him
entrance into the church and manse.*
Mr. Fisher continued to reside in the manse, and to
preach in the church of Kinclaven, till August 13th,
1741, when three officers of the law intimated a decree
of execution formally passed, and gave Mr. Fisher a
charge thereupon to remove from kirk and manse
within forty-eight hours, under pain of forcible ejection
and other penalties. His last sermon, on Sabbath Aug.
9th, was from Rom. vii. 24, 25. On the 15th day of
that month, the same officers having been refused the
keys of the church, went in by the windows, put a
new lock on one of the doors, and iron plates over the
key holes. Thus deprived of the use of the church,
Mr. Fisher preached in a tent at Kinclaven braeside
during the short period he continued in that part of
the country.f Towards the end of this year Mr.
Fisher had an addition of twin children to his family,
* Minutes of the Presbytery of Dunkeld.
t Information contained in a note in one of Mr. Fisher's
note books.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 30
which we notice chiefly that we may chronicle here his
tribute to the memory of a dear " brother and compa
nion in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ," as
recorded in his Family Register. " Our two children,
Margaret and James, were born in Perth, Saturday,
Oct. 31st, 1741, about three in the morning. They
were baptized next day, being Sabbath November 1st,
by Mr. William Wilson, minister at Perth, which was
the last piece of public ministerial work performed by
that eminent servant of Jesus Christ. He died Nov.
14th, 1741."*
Among the societies of Christians in various quar
ters of the country, who applied to the Associate
Presbytery to be placed in church order, and, by being
taken under their care, to be secured of the enjoyment
of ecclesiastical freedom, the dispensation of a pure gos
pel, and the exercise of a wholesome discipline, none, with
the exception perhaps of that in the metropolis, could
compare for importance with the association in the,
even then, wealthy and populous city of Glasgow. Its
site afforded an excellent central point from which to
operate on the west of Scotland, and its members were
considerably numerous, and many of them distinguished
for worldly as well as Christian respectability. This
society, when formed into a congregation, soon fixed
their eyes on Mr. Fisher, as from his comparative
youth, as well as from his pulpit talents and remark
able amenity of manners, peculiarly fitted to fill a
sphere which was likely to become of much impor
tance; and took constitutional measures to have their
wishes gratified. In the summer of 1740, Mr. Ebene-
zer Erskine presided in a moderation of a call in the
congregation of Glasgow, and Mr. Fisher was unani
mously elected. Seventeen voted for Mr. Ralph Erskine,
but all these subscribed the call.f
* MS. in possession of Mrs. Crum, Thornliebank.
f Minutes of Associate Session of Glasgow.
40 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
Translations were not in good odour with the better
part of the Scotch clergy and people in the beginning
of the eighteenth century, and considerable difficulties
were to be got over with the Presbytery, as well as
with Mr. Fisher and the people of Kinclaven. The
call was presented to the Presbytery at Abernethy on
the 17th June, and the conduct of the moderator ap
proved of, but the question of sustaining the call was
deferred till a meeting at Stirling in October. " After
much reasoning" the call was sustained, the reasons of
transportation sent to the " parish of Kinclaven," and
parties summoned to attend for their interest. A
conviction was lodged in Mr. Fisher's mind, that in
the whole circumstances of the case he had the call
of his Master to go to Glasgow. His affectionate
people were not only willing but desirous to retain
him, and employed every means in their power to
secure their object. Some of his brethren were de
cidedly for his continuance, and it was not till July
22d, 1741, that the Presbytery agreed to his transla
tion — a decision that occasioned deep and lasting regret
to his attached people.
For three years alter Mr. Fisher left Kinclaven the
bereaved congregation worshipped God either in barns
or in the woods under the canopy of heaven. At last
they obtained the lease of the ground on which their
present church and manse stand, and it is said the
congregation of Glasgow gave them a donation of
twenty pounds, to assist them in the erection of these
buildings.
It is a striking fact, that after the lapse of nearly
110 years since Mr. Fisher left them, the great body
of the people in the neighbourhood still belong to the
religious denomination of which he was one of the
founders. The recollections of the district, as to the
first Seceding minister, are highly favourable. They
speak of his private amiableness and public usefulness,
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 41
of his fervent love of truth and freedom, of his con
scientious diligence in professional duties, of his being
the welcome guest of the great, and the kind friend of
the poor. His fine personal appearance is still talked
of, and Mr. Wilson's remark about him is proverbial
that "he had the face of an eagle."*
It is one of the most painful trials in human life,
when a Christian minister, happy and useful in the
midst of a flock who have chosen him, and whom he
has chosen in the morning of his days when the affections
are warm, is called to leave them for an obviously
wider sphere of professional usefulness. It is well
that such trials are comparatively of rare occurrence.
The pastoral tie is a very sacred one — and on both
sides it is best, when it is formed, that the feeling
should be, that it is likely to last for life. Things are
in a deplorable state in a religious body, when transla
tion, and even repeated translation, is the rule, not the
rare exception. At the same time there are cases where
there can be no reasonable doubt that removal is the
path of duty, — however repugnant it may be to feeling;
and he who, in these cases, makes the sacrifice from a
regard to his Master and his cause, however the prin
ciples on which he acts may be misunderstood by those
whom he dearly loves though he feels compelled to leave
them, and however painful may be the effects of such
misunderstandings, may rejoice that there is One who
knows the whole matter, and that it is to Him he has to
give his account. He will not misconstrue his object nor
undervalue his sacrifice. Mr. Fisher's case was a very
clear one — yet he did not escape unkind remark from
those of whom better things might have been expected.
Mr. Fisher's induction to the charge of the congre
gation in Glasgow, afterwards known as the Congre
gation of Shuttle-street, and more lately of Greyfriars
* Information communicated by Mr. Young of Kinclaven.
42 NARRATIVE OX THE LIFE OF
— a congregation second to none — I believe I might
have safely said " facile princeps" among the congrega
tions of the Secession for liberal support to Christian
Institutions, took place on October 8th, 1741, in the
open air, at Crossbill, in the neighbourhood of Glas
gow, about a mile to the south in the parish of Cath-
cart, where they had been accustomed to worship,
and continued to do so till their church was built. On
that occasion the Rev. James Mair of West Linton, at
whose ordination Mr. Fisher had preached the year
preceding, commenced the services by a sermon on 1
Thess. v. 25. The Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, who pre
sided, preached the admission sermon from Psal. cii.
17. and addressed the minister and congregation, and
the Rev. Ralph Erskine closed the solemn work by a
sermon on Acts vii. 34.* which is to be found among
his published works.
Mr. Fisher commenced his ministry in Glasgow by
preaching on the Sabbath immediately succeeding his
induction from 2 Cor. ii. 16. and 2 Cor. iii. 5. "Who
is sufficient for these things?" — " Our sufficiency is of
God." We have before us pretty full notes of this
sermon, taken by Mr. Henry Erskine, son of Ralph
Erskine, afterwards minister of Falkirk, then a student
of divinity. It appears to have been a plain, solid,
useful, appropriate, discourse. We give the conclud
ing paragraph: "1. Is it so that ministers are utterly
insufficient of themselves, and that their sufficiency is
of God? Then ministers of all men in the world have
reason to be the most humble. Why should a man be
proud of that which he has received? Indeed if any
minister or Christian be proud, it is an evidence that
*• he knows nothing at all as he ought to know it.' 2.
People should beware of overvaluing the instruments, —
putting their ministers in Christ's room. ' Who is
* Minutes of the Associate Presbytery.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 43
Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers/ or servants,
' by whom ye believed?' Overvaluing instruments pro
vokes the Lord to withdraw his countenance, to blast
their labours, to give ' a miscarrying womb and dry
breasts.' 3. See the duty of people with respect to
their minister. They should pray for him that he may
be furnished out of the all- sufficiency of God. Read
Rom. xv. 30 — 32; Eph. vi. 18, 19. 4. Ministers ought
to be trading much with God, in prayer and medita
tion, believing the promises and searching the Scrip
tures. Oh how dry, how melancholy, how wearisome
a work it is when ministers have no recourse to God,
but take all their help from men and the works of men !
o. Be persuaded that there is enough for us all in our
God, — enough for ministers and enough for people.
This fountain is still overflowing; the waters of the
sanctuary are still as deep as ever. The river proceed
ing out of the throne of God is a river that may be
swimmed in still. Be verily persuaded that all the
fulness of God is for you. Believe that all the fulness
which is in Christ as Mediator is offered to you. ' Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth.'
The table spread for you in this gospel is furnished
with nothing less than the all-sufficiency of God, and
therefore fall on, honour God by believing that ' Christ
is of God made to you wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption,' — that he is your Sa
viour as God gives him unto you in his word. And
if you were minting at this, you might the more expect
your minister to be furnished with the words of grace
suitable for 'nourishing you up to everlasting life/ "*
For more than a year Mr. Fisher preached and ad
ministered ordinances in the open air, either at Crosshill
or in a yard off the Rotenrow, the property of which
the congregation had acquired, but which they after-
* MS. collections of the late Dr. Fraser.
44 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
wards disposed of on procuring the more advantageous
site in Shuttle-street, on which they erected a large
and commodious place of worship. The foundation of
this structure was laid March 1742, and, though not
finished, it was opened for worship on the first Sabbath
of November that year.
The solid, instructive character of Mr. Fisher's pulpit
instructions, clothed as they were in familiar perspicu
ous language, and delivered in a lively and dignified
yet simple and natural manner, combined with his
diligent and affectionate private ministrations, soon
brought around him a very large congregation, which
continued, with one exception to be noticed in the
course of the narrative, unbroken for more than thirty
years. The size of the congregation may be judged of
from the fact, that at the administration of the Lord's
Supper there were usually 17 or 18 table services, and
that, though Mr. Fisher was brief in his public ser
vices,* and not very tolerant of those who were other
wise, the communion service, which commenced at 9
or 10 in the morning, did not close sometimes till be
tween 9 and 10 in the evening, f
* Mr. James Erskine notices that on one occasion at Falkirk
he preached only a quartet* of an hour, and the ordinary length
of his discourses does not seem to have exceeded 40 minutes or
three-quarters of an hour. The first Seceders were generally,
if not universally, short preachers: so was Mr. Boston.
t The congregation embraced not only the city of Glasgow
and parishes of Barony and Gorbals, but the parishes of Old
Monkland, Calder, Kirkintilloch, Rutherglen, Camhuslang, Car-
munnock, Cathcart, and Eastwood. Mearns, in which parish
the Seceders seem to have been numerous and influential, very
soon became the seat of a separate congregation. — The follow
ing abstract of the services at a Shuttle-street communion, tran
scribed from one of Mr. Fisher's note-books, is not without its
interest. "Fast-day, Thursday June 18, 1761. Forenoon, Mr.
Archd. Hall, Psal. Ixviii. 18 ; Mr. Belfrage, Rom. viii. 1. After
noon, Mr. Thomson from Ireland, Deut. xxxii. 6. Friday night,
Mr. Hall, Hos. xiv. 4. Saturday — Within, Mr. Belfrage, Gal.
T. 17; Mr. Smith, Song i. 4. Without, Mr. Thomson, Deut.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 45
In the first year of his ministry in Glasgow, com
menced under very favourable omens, Mr. Fisher's at
tention was unhappily distracted in, if not from, his
pastoral duties, by the very remarkable movements of
a religious nature which occurred at Cambuslang, Kil-
syth, and some other places, under the occasional minis
trations of that simple-minded, warm-hearted, devoted
servant of Christ, the Rev. George Whitefield, then on
a visit to Scotland. At first sight it may seem strange
that Mr. Fisher and the other seceding ministers should
take so active, and especially so hostile, a part, in re
ference to those measures with which, it may be thought,
they had very little to do. But whatever judgment
we may form of the wisdom or propriety of their in
terference, it is not at all difficult to account for its
occurrence. It was not wanton fondness for strife that
led the Seceders into the fray.
The violent external commotions, amounting in many
cases to strong convulsions, which accompanied pro
fessed conviction of sin, and sense of forgiveness, among
Mr. Whitefield's hearers, so different from the calm
though deep religious feeling that shrinks from all ex
pression except to its immediate Object, and avoids
everything that can attract attention, which had long
constituted the leading feature of Scottish spiritual ex
perience; and the supposed encouragement given to men
to seek within themselves, in their own imaginary ideas
and excited feelings, that ground of hope and that rule
of duty which the Scriptures lead a man to seek entirely
xxxii. 6 ; Mr. M'Cara, Lara. i. 16. Evening exercise, Mr. Cook,
Psal. cxxx. 5. Sabbath, at the tent, Mr. Thomson, Mr. Smith.
Mr. Hall, Mr. Horn, Mr. M'Cara, Mr. Belfrage, Mr. Cock, Mr.
Hall, Mr. Thomson. There were 18 tables. The service began
at half-past 9, A.M., and ended half-past 9, P.M. Monday — •
Within, Mr. M'Cara, 2 Sam. vii. 19; Mr. Horn, 2 Cor. vii.'lG.
Without, Mr. Hall, Mr. Cock." On another occasion, 1756,
when there were 17 tables, it is stated that there were 1,286 com
municants.
46 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
without himself, in the work of Christ and the charac
ter and will of God, were fitted to excite suspicions in
minds, which, though habitually and powerfully influ
enced by divine truth, were but little disposed either to
mysticism or to enthusiasm;* and these suspicions had
certainly been strengthened by the invidious light, in
which those revivals of religion or outpourings of the
Holy Ghost were represented, by some very worthy
but in this respect not very wise persons, as evident
tokens of God's displeasure at the Seceders for aban
doning a church, in connection with which he was
performing such miracles of saving mercy, t
* That Mr. Fisher and his friends were really persuaded that
there was much delusion among the Cambuslang and Kilsyth con
verts cannot be doubted — and that they had evidence that there
was some delusion among them can as little be doubted ; and
though we must regret deeply their one-sided view of the whole
matter, and their rash all but entire condemnation of what by
its fruits proved that there was much in it from heaven as well
as something from men, yet we believe the honest object of their
contendings is that expressed in the words of Ralph Erskine :
" May this generation be preserved from an imaginary faith, re
ligion, and conversion, which will neither unite them to the true
Christ, nor bring them to the true heaven, nor keep them out of
the true hell; and from the truth as it is in men's fancy and
imagination instead of 'the truth as it is in Jesus,' and in his
blessed word, ' the only rule to direct us how we may glorify
and enjoy God ! ' " That is a good wish for all men in all time.
It assuredly is not unseasonable in our own times.
t "The cry is raised, 'God is now remarkably owning the
ministers of the Established Church, notwithstanding all the
evils complained of: He is crowning their ministrations with
remarkable success : Nations are born in one day by their means:
There is no such countenance given to the Assemblies of the
Seceders : and therefore, the People ought to disown them, whom
God is disowning: God is now testifying that there was no
ground for seceding from the Established Church, when he is
holding fellowship with her in such a visible and open manner.' "
— Fisher's Revieio of Robe's Preface, p. 47. It was shrewdly an
swered by George Findlay, a plain Kilsyth Seceder, to these
statements — " Although I were persuaded, from the word of God,
that it is the saving work of the Spirit of the Lord, I would not
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 47
Among these the Kev. Mr. James Robe of Kilsyth
held a foremost place. In " a preface to a narrative of
the extraordinary work at Kilsyth and its neighbour
hood, and in an address to the Brethren of the Asso
ciate Presbytery anent their act for a public fast," this
good man had made statements which, to say the least,
seemed to require to be noticed by the Seceders, and
which Mr. Fisher, with his warm temper and public
spirit, was not likely to think it right to allow to pass
without animadversion. He accordingly published in
1742, ;' A Review of Mr. Robe's Preface and Address,"
which, though in no degree discreditable to the acute-
ness of his mind, the orthodoxy of his principles, or the
integrity of his character, does manifestly show how
very imperfect and one-sided a view he had taken of
the whole subject, and is far from having for its lead
ing feature " the meekness of wisdom."*
see my warrant in the word to bury a Testimony for truth, and
return to the Establishment." — Ibid., p. 61. Mr. Bisset complains
of " some ministers and elders, because of the extremes of the
Seceders, having given up with all their former contendings, and
invited, employed, and caressed a subverter of our govern
ment as it would seem, for this end — to break the Seceders."
— Bissefs Letter to a Gentleman in Edinburgh, pp. 4, 5. Edin.,
* The following is a favourable specimen of Mr. Fisher's po
lemic style. Mr. M'Culloch had said that he believed that
there were "Five hundred savingly brought home to God, not
including counterfeits and those who had nothing but a dread
of hell." On this statement Mr. Fisher remarks, " The reason
why a sober [minded] man will scarce venture to attest ' the
real conversion' of multitudes, is obvious. There are many
hypocrites in the visible church, by whom all the outward evi
dences of grace may be so exactly counterfeited, that the most
quicksighted Christian may mistake a hypocrite for a true be
liever: for though believers may attain to an assurance of their
own particular interest in Christ, yet all the evidence we have
of the conversion of another being merely external, we may for
the above reason be liable to manifold mistakes; yet the inter
nal distinguishing evidences are so plainly laid down in the
word, that none examining themselves thereby under the influ-
48 NAREATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
We can look back on these scenes with minds un
disturbed by prejudice and passion, and see in them
a remarkable display of the sovereignty and power
of divine grace rendering the clear impressive state
ment of elementary gospel truth effectual to the con
version of many sinners of very various descriptions,
who showed the true character of the change produced
by a long course of consistent Christian conduct; while
we equally clearly perceive, that there were aceom-
ence of the Spirit of truth, but will come to discern the real and
wide difference between hypocrisy and saving grace. There is
no doubt but all the true lovers of Jesus would earnestly wish
that there were many thousands savingly converted, for every
one that is here alleged; but people are never in a more dan
gerous condition than when they persuade themselves and are
strongly persuaded by others, that they are converted, if in the
meanwhile they are ' in the gall of bitterness ' still : Yea, though
in the judgment of charity we thought them in a converted state,
yet the safest way would be to put them upon examining them
selves ' whether they be in the faith.' Besides, I find the minis
ters of Christ who have been honoured of the Lord to be most
instrumental in convincing and converting work have been most
denied as to their own instrumentality, that he who builds the
Temple of the Lord may bear all the glory. The Apostle Peter
was most successful of any we read of at one time, Acts ii. 21.
But does he send letters to all the countries around, to acquaint
them that such a day he had been instrumental in converting
three thousand? The Lord was pleased to send down a plenti
ful rain of divine influences during the time of Mr. Livingstoun's
sermon at the Kirk of Shotts, but doth he proclaim it through all
the world that so many hundreds were converted at that time
by his means ? Nay, he draws a modest vail over it in the his
tory of his life." — Fisher's Review of Robe's Preface, pp. 7, 8. It
is however deplorable to find a man like Mr. Fisher sanction
ing Mr. Bisset's (of Aberdeen) intemperate railing, — calling Mr.
Whitefield — a man of truly apostolic character — "a strolling
impostor and cheat." Tradition tells that this was at least one
point in which Mrs. Fisher did not harmonize in opinion and
feeling with him whom she loved to call lord. Mr. Fisher him
self was accustomed to say, that had he been aware of the dis
tinguished worth of Jonathan Edwards, he would have treated
him in his " Review " with much greater respect. — Eraser's
Diary of Ralph Erskine.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 49
paniments of this manifestation, which owed their origin
to human weakness and depravity, if not to a darker
spiritual influence. But when was there ever a re
ligious movement, though giving upon the whole satis
factory evidence of a divine origin, unattended by such
drawbacks? When did the great Sower of truth, the
Son of Man, disperse his good seed, where the enemy
did not accompany or speedily follow him with his
tares ?
I am certainly not disposed to become Mr. Fisher's
advocate on this occasion ; but it is difficult for us, in
circumstances so different, to make the due allowance
for the disturbing influences to which the minds of both
parties were exposed. The violence of the opposition,
raised to, what was on the part of Mr. Fisher, the ex
pression of conscientious however mistaken opinion,
may be estimated in some measure by the following
note, which I transcribe from the original MS., using a
little freedom with the orthography. The Latin gram
mar is left untouched. — "Glasgow, 23d , 1743,
— Sir, — If you had spoken of Mr. Whitefield last Sun
day, you would have been pulled out of the tent; and
if for the future you mention Whitefield or Cambus-
lang, both your house and tent shall be burnt; and
Sunday first if you speak one word against him, you
shall be pulled out of the tent. So take care what you
do. W. D. ' Memento meo dicto/ Rev. Mr. Fisher."
It is to be hoped that Christians generally have now
learned more sufferance of diversity of individual opinion
and action on such subjects, and have come to the con
clusion that when we see men casting out devils, though
not quite in the way which we think best fitted to ac
complish the purpose, the fact that we cannot conscien
tiously take a part with them by no means infers the
obligation, of our forbidding or endeavouring to pre
vent them from attempting to do what we hold to be
a very desirable thing in what they think, though we
50 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
do not, the most desirable way. There are devils
enough for us all to cast out, and it is a pity to waste
the time that should be devoted to casting them out,
to debates about the comparative minutise of our dif
ferent ways of employing the divinely appointed means,
the preaching of the truth, for effecting the exorcism
which we all so much long for.
In the autumn of 174-2, the Associate Presbytery
gave forth their " act concerning the doctrine of grace,"
the joint production of Messrs. Ebenezer Erskine and
Moncrieff, containing a clear exhibition and an able
defence of all that is most characteristic in " the gospel
of the grace of God." And no one of the brethren could
more cordially concur in this much needed testimony
in behalf of the sovereign grace of God as the sole
source of man's salvation, — the work of Christ the sole
meritorious ground of this salvation, — and the free offer,
without exception, to mankind of this salvation, in all
its freeness and fulness, than Mr. Fisher. In every
one of his published sermons these doctrines are most
prominently brought forward, and to exhibit and de
fend them is the great object of that explication of the
Shorter Catechism to the composition of which he after
wards devoted so much time and attention.
In the close of the year 1743, Mr. Fisher took part
with his brethren of the Presbytery, on the 28th day
of December, at Stirling, when, with uplifted hands, they
renewed the National Covenant of Scotland, and the
Solemn League and Covenant of the three kingdoms,
in a manner agreeable to their present circumstances.
In doing so, they only acted out the principles which
in common with the great body of the pious members
of the Church of Scotland they held: and though we
more than doubt the propriety of the step they took,
and the truth of some of the principles on which it was
based, and see in much that followed a practical de
monstration of the hazard of involving matters of hu-
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 51
man history, and questions as to the propriety or im
propriety of the conduct of individuals or bodies of
men, in matters of Christian profession and worship,
we cannot but cordially honour their conscientious con
sistency.
On March 13, 1744, Mr. Fisher presided at the
ordination of Mr. Henry Erskine, eldest son of Mr.
Ralph Erskine, to the charge of the Associate congre
gation of Falkirk. The text of the ordination sermon
was 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2.
In the year 1745, when an insane and wicked at
tempt was made to subvert the civil and religious
liberties of this country, by the restoration of the
Stuart dynasty to a throne most justly forfeited by the
perfidious violation of all its most important duties on
the part of its last occupants, Mr. Fisher in common
with all his Associate brethren, took an active part in
upholding the standard of liberty and law as raised in
defence of the Brunswick family. Following in the
steps of his venerable father-iri-law, Ebenezer Erskine,
he exerted his influence over his numerous congrega
tion to fill the ranks of those two battalions, of six
hundred men each, raised by the city of Glasgow, and
placed under the command of the Earl of Home; and
it is said that when they marched to Falkirk, where
through the mismanagement of the rash and shame
lessly profane and profligate Hawley* so many of them
* That those epithets, strong as they are, are not misapplied,
will appear from the following anecdote, which, though not so
far as we know recorded, we have reason to think substantially
authentic. The Rev. Mr. Bisset of Aberdeen, a man holding
the views of the Seceders, and whose people after his death
joined the Secession, had publicly rebuked General Hawley for
profane language at an entertainment given to the Duke of Cum
berland and his officers as they went North. The reproof was
resented, and the General said to the Commander-in-chief that
" he would smoke the parson yet." On the return of the army
from Culloden the Duke and his officers were again entertained
52 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
met with death or capture, Mr. Fisher went to that
town to encourage them to " play the men" in the
cause of their country.
In the autumn of 1746, we find Mr. Fisher along
with his congregation engaged in solemn thanksgiving,
by appointment of Synod, for deliverance from the
rebels. The sermon of that day, in pretty full notes
by Mr. James Erskine, son of Ralph Erskine, after
wards one of the ministers of Stirling, and son-in-law
to Mr. Fisher, lies now before me. The text of the
whole day's services was Phil. iii. 3. " We rejoice in
Christ Jesus." It is a judicious, affectionate gospel
sermon, with singularly little reference to its occasion,
or to public affairs generally. In this respect it re
sembles Richard Baxter's Thanksgiving sermon for the
Restoration. They both " show the higher joys which
must animate joys for national deliverances, or they
will be but dead corrupted things." We give the con
cluding paragraph : " Oh beware of resting on the re
ceipt of temporal mercies. Many may have an abun
dance of temporal mercies, for a season, without a
blessing. Beware of thinking, because God has been
pleased to bring about deliverance for us, at this day
and time, so as we now enjoy liberty, that this is an
evidence that the Lord is pleased. No. The Lord's
anger may be standing, for you will find that mercies
have been bestowed on those, against whom the Lord's
anger was kindled because of the abuse of mercies. How
many mercies did Israel get in the wilderness, and yet
by the magistrates of Aberdeen. Mr. Bisset was of course pre
sent. Hawley, after dinner, proposed an indecent toast. Mr.
Bisset's glass" stood untouched. " Don't you drink the toast,
Sir?" said the General. "No, Sir," replied Mr. Bisset, "I do
not drink the toast." " Pray then, Sir, what do you do with it?"
"Do with it! — I do with it as General Hawley did with the
Highlanders atFalkirk— I turn my back on it." "The laugh was
against the General, and the Commander-in-chief said aloud to
him, " Smoke the parson now, Hawley !"
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 53
the Lord was so angry that he ' sware in his wrath
that they should not enter into his rest?' Beware of
thinking because God has quelled the rebellion, he is
well pleased with us. No. Remember that if you do
not turn to the Lord's hand, that has been smiting you,
and seek his face, ' his anger is not turned away : his
hand is stretched out still.' If you are not thankful
for mercies, and do not evince your thankfulness, by
turning to him, with all your heart, the Lord may
come in his own time, and avenge his quarrel against
such a perfidious nation. We own indeed that it is
your duty to be thankful for temporal mercies ; but what
we say is, that you must not rest on them, but ' rejoice
in Christ.' Now, in order to your rejoicing in him,
we would exhort you to take hold of him as he is held
out in the word as the Author of your salvation. Take
hold of him as your ' righteousness and strength.' It
is in the way of thus taking hold of him as offered in
the word that you will come to rejoice in him as your
ALL IN ALL; and when you are brought to 'rejoice in
Christ Jesus,' then all the temporal mercies you meet
with will be sanctified to you, you will have them with
God's blessing upon them, and in the receipt of them,
you will be made to ' go from strength to strength, till
you appear before God in Zion.' "
The cause of the Secession continued to make steady
progress. In 1745 the number of congregations was
so increased that the division of the Associate Pres
bytery into three separate Presbyteries and the con
stitution of a Synod became advisable. Unhappily,
at the very first meeting of that Synod was intro
duced an apple of discord in the question, " Whether
an oath required of burgesses in some of the boroughs
in Scotland, embracing a religious clause, declaring
the jurant's 'profession and allowance within his heart
of the true religion as presently professed within this
realm, and authorized by the laws thereof,' could be
54 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
taken in consistency with their testimony as Se-
ceders ?"
Mr. Fisher took a very decided part with those
who held that the Oath was, to say the least of it, a
safe one for Seceders, as, in their apprehension, it
merely homologated the profession contained in their
testimony to " the true religion,'' as contained in the
standard books of the Church of Scotland, which true
religion was, without question as a matter of fact, " pro
fessed within the realm of Scotland, and authorized by
its laws," without signifying an approbation of every
thing in reference to the manner in which legal sanction
had, at the Kevolution, or at other times, been given to
the true religion, and still less of the existing form of the
actual profession of that religion in the conduct of the
church courts, from which they had found it necessary
to secede. Mr. Fisher's own words are — " Every body
knows that I look upon the Burgess Oath as lawful,
though I am not for imposing my opinion in this mat
ter on any as a term of communion with them."*
This was plainly a sentiment which a man might
hold with a good conscience: and equally plain is it,
that equally conscientious men might, and did, hold
that the oath implied a declaration of approbation
of the whole manner in which "the true religion"
was settled at and since the Revolution, and of the
particular laws by which that settlement was guaran
teed," in which case, certainly, no enlightened Seceder
could take it with a safe conscience, nor indeed with
out directly contradicting some important points in his
testimony. It seems strange to us that neither party
had the slightest objection to the oath on the ground
on which, now, it would be so generally condemned, —
the suspending civil privilege on religious profession.
It is not for us to give a decision in this question.
* Mr. Fisher's letter, p. 30.
THE HEY. JAMES FISHER. 55
The existence of such oaths is a striking manifesta
tion of the mischievous influence which the connexion
between church and state diffuses in all directions,
identifying it with the system which requires its mark
to be impressed on the forehead, or on the hand, to
secure peaceable intercourse in the secular affairs of
life; and while we should rejoice that this particular
stumbling-block has been removed out of the way,
that this cause of strife and obstacle to union no longer
exists,* we should earnestly pray and strenuously la
bour that the master evil, of which this was one of the
most diminutive indications, may soon be destroyed by
the force of truth, so as to put an end to wider, fiercer
contentions, and prepare the way for much more ex
tended and influential union.
It is matter of history that " the contention was so
sharp" between the equally honest parties who held
the above opinions " that they departed asunder one
from the other," after having, like Paul and Barnabas,
for a number of years, with united hands arid hearts,
prosecuted the work of their common Master with His
obvious benediction, and " with one heart and mouth
glorified God even the Father;" and though, like
these good men, they did come, ere long, to speak
* It would be improper to pass unnoticed the fact that a
grandson of Mr. Fisher, JAMES EWING, Esq., of Strathleven,
then occupying a high municipal situation in his native city, by
his exertions in the Town Council of Glasgow, and in the Con
vention of the Scottish boroughs, was honoured to be princi
pally influential in obtaining the suppression of the religious
clause in the burgess oaths in which it had a place, and thus
removing an important obstacle in the way of the comfortable
accomplishment of the union between the two great branches
of the Secession, a union happily followed up by a more exten
sive one — that of the Relief and United Secession churches in
the United Presbyterian church. We rejoice to think the tide
of Christian sentiment and feeling flows stronger than ever
towards a much more extensive union still. Soon may the
prayer John xvii. 20 — 23 be completely answered!
56 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE, &C.
kindly and respectfully of each other, like them too
they ceased to " labour together in the work of God,"
till they joined in his service where they never will be
disunited, "before the throne of God," and "in the
presence of the Lamb." This deplorable event took
place on April 9th, 1747, and led to the division of the
Synod, so lately formed, into two bodies, equally claim
ing its name and rights.*
* " It becomes us to adore the sovereignty of God, and to
confess his righteousness in permitting a spirit of contention and
division to enter so early, and to prevail so far in the Associate
Synod, and to bewail the evils which that spirit produced. It
diminished the legitimate influence of their excellent profes
sion, ministrations "and character; diverted the attention of their
people from the more important concerns of religion, and exhi
bited an unholy example to the world. If such consequences
proved less injurious to the interests of religion than might have
been apprehended, or to a certain extent were counteracted by the
operation of causes of an opposite nature ; or have been balanced,
in a considerable degree, by beneficial results, somewhat remote,
which could not have been anticipated, we ascribe the glory to
God, who, in his infinite wisdom, brings good out of evil, and
overrules, for useful purposes, the infirmities and mismanage
ments of his servants." These are the "weighty words" of a
wise and good man, DR. STARK, in the historical part of the
Testimony of the United Secession Church, and embody the
thoughts and feelings with which United Presbyterians should
always regard this, not one of the brightest, yet certainly one of
the most instructive, pages of their history.
(57)
CHAPTER IV.
1747—1775.
Mr. Fisher visits Ireland— Is requested by the Synod to prepare for
Theological tuition— Synod Sermon, Isa. xxi. 11, 12— Publications on
the Burgess' Oath Controversy— Character of them— Explication of
the Westminster Shorter Catechism—Appointment to the Professor
ship, 1749— Mode of conducting the Divinity Hall— Resignation of the
Professorship— Obtains a Colleague in the Ministry— Death of Mrs.
Fisher— Death of Mr. Fisher— Character— Family— Writings— Con
clusion.
IMMEDIATELY after the breach, Mr. Fisher went to
Ireland for a short time, probably for the purpose of
giving, what he and his party reckoned, a just account
of the late transactions, so deeply involving the inte
rests of the Associate body, that the churches in that
country might be enabled to judge of the course
which they ought to follow. From a letter addressed
to a minister in Ireland, dated Glasgow, Jan. 18th,
1748, it would appear that when in that country he
had had communication with some ministers of the
General Synod of Ulster, who were dissatisfied with
the defections of that body, and had counselled them to
adopt a course similar to that which the Seceders had
followed in reference to the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland. A course less decided seems to
have been determined on, which did not at all meet
Mr. Fisher's approbation, and in this letter he vindi
cates himself from some misrepresentations. The letter,
equally creditable to Mr. Fisher's good sense, liberality,
arid thorough integrity, will be found in the Appendix.*
* Vide Appendix, No. IV. 3.
58 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
At the first meeting of the Synod to which Mr.
Fisher belonged, (ordinarily termed the Burgher Synod,)
which took place at Stirling in June 1747, he was
chosen Moderator. Another and still more distinct
proof of the high estimation in which he was held by
his brethren, was given him on that occasion. In the
room of Mr. Moncrieff, who had seen it his duty to
take a prominent part in the controversy against the
religious clause in the Burgess oath, and at the division
went with the brethren who held his views, it was re
commended to Mr. Fisher, whose qualifications as a
scholar and divine were well known, to prepare him
self for the work of theological tuition, while in the
meantime the students were committed to the care of
Mr. Ebenezer Erskine.
The Associate brethren had very soon seen the im
portance of taking measures for training up qualified
young men to become candidates for the ministry. So
early as 1746, Mr. Wilson had been appointed Professor
of Divinity, and on his death Mr. Moncrieff had been
chosen to fill the Theological chair. For some time,
from a fear, not without grounds, of the hazardous
sentiments taught in some of the Scottish universities
on moral subjects, they seem to have attempted to
obtain for their students the means of instruction in
Logic and Ethics, in Mental and Moral Philosophy, as
well as in Theology. Mr. David Wilson, afterwards
minister of the congregation in Bow-lane, London, (now
assembling in Oxendon chapel, Richard Baxter's,) the
laborious opponent of Sandeman, — Mr. John Mason,
afterwards Dr. Mason of New York, one of the found
ers of the Associate Reformed Church, and the father
of the distinguished Dr. John Mason of the same city,
— Mr. Alexander Pirie, afterwards a Congregational
minister at Newburgh, author of one of the best de
fences of infant baptism, arid of many other works
more ingenious than judicious, — and Mr. John Heugh,
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 59
afterwards minister of Stirling, and father of the late
lamented Dr. Heugh, — were successively teachers of
Philosophy at Abernethy. The Seceders, however,
ultimately abandoned this project, and in this they
appear to have acted wisely, as it does not seem desir
able that a church should undertake more than the
theological training of her candidates for the ministry,
requiring them to bring to the Theological Seminary as
thorough a literary and philosophical education as the
universities of the country can afford, and furnishing
them, there, with the means of counteracting any evil
influences which that previous course of studies may
have brought to bear on them.
There is an obvious propriety in every church having
the entire control of the theological education of its
ministry. It cannot neglect this, nor intrust it to the
hands of strangers, without a grievous dereliction of
duty, as well as a shameful display of folly. But it is
very desirable, on many accounts, that the general educa
tion of a country should be national, not sectarian, and
that all the youth, to whatever religious denomination
they may belong, should receive their elementary, and
literary, and scientific education at the same seminaries.
To secure this, however, these seminaries must them
selves cease to be, what to a considerable extent they
now are, even in this country, sectarian in their con
stitution and administration.
At the opening of the meeting of the Synod at
Dunfermline in Sept. 1747, Mr. Fisher, as ex-mode
rator, delivered an ingenious, appropriate, and impres
sive sermon on Isa. xxi. 11, 12. " Watchman, what of
the night? Watchman, what of the night? The
watchman said, The morning cometh as well as the
night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye; return, come."
As this sermon has never been published, and places in
a favourable point of view both Mr. Fisher's good sense
and good temper, we think it right to give a brief
60 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
abstract of it. The preacher turns the attention of his
audience, First, to the character of a minister as a
watchman, — Secondly, to the question put to the
watchman, — and Thirdly, to the watchman's answer.
He shows, that the figurative representation of a
minister as a watchman, intimates that he occupies an
office of trust, — that there is danger from the enemy,
— that the power of discernment is necessary in the
minister, — that it is also requisite that he be awake
and attentive, — that it is his duty to look to the safety
of the whole at whatever hazard to himself, — and
finally, that he is bound to answer proper questions
that may be put to him. The question, repeated,
" What of the night?" implies that there is a present
night of calamity, — that there are several questions
that may be stated by exercised persons respecting
this night, — and that there is more than ordinary con
cern on the spirit concerning the resolution of the ques
tion. As symptoms of the night, he notices, the ab
sence of the sun in the withdrawment of God's favour,
— and wandering, as in the night, in delusion and
error. As to questions which may be asked, he
mentions the following: What is the cause of the
night? What are the dangers of the night? What
is the language of the night? What are the songs
of the night? What is the duty of the night? What
is the time of night? What is the guard of the
night? What are the judgments of the night? The
doubling of the question intimates perplexity and
doubtfulness, — surprise and deep interest. As to the
answer, it is remarked, that after the darkest night of
calamity, a morning of deliverance will ensue; that
the more suddenly a night of spiritual calamity comes
on, it is a sign the morning will break the sooner; that
the darker the night has been, the more bright is likely
to be the morning; that there is some proportion be
tween the weeping in the night and the joy in the
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 61
morning; that the season of the church's, or of indi
vidual believer's, comfort, at any one time, in this
world, is but of short continuance; that however plea-
eantly any morning of deliverance may shine, we may
lay our account that a night of tribulation is approach
ing, and, in one word, that God's work of providence,
with regard to his church in general, and with regard
to believers in particular, is a chequered work, a suc
cession of mornings and nights.
The concluding remarks are very good, and, consi
dering the excited state of men's minds, fully as tem
perate as might have been expected. " Are ministers
watchmen? Then let us who are ministers be diligent
in our office, let us ' take heed to ourselves and to the
flocks over which the Holy Ghost hath made us over
seers: for we watch for their souls as those who must
give account.' As we are watchmen, our work is
laborious; but HE 'sends none a warfare on their
own charges.' Therefore, in the confidence of his
assured presence — ' Lo I am with you always to the
end of the world,' — let us be ' instant in season and out
of season,' 2 Tim. iv. 2. As we are watchmen, we
are exposed to storms, bitter storms of calumny and
reproach; but 'let us endure hardship like good
soldiers of Jesus Christ;' let us follow the example of
the glorious head, who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again. And finally, 'Let our moderation be
known unto all men. The Lord is at hand?'"
Mr. Fisher published his views on the controversy
which had divided the Associate body in " A Review
of a pamphlet entitled a Serious Enquiry into the
Burgess Oaths of Edinburgh, Perth, and Glasgow,
wherein the most material arguments against the Bur
gess Oath are impartially weighed and examined,"
1748; and in "A Letter to the Burgesses and others
of his Congregation who had withdrawn from his Minis
try, because he cannot condemn the Burgess Oath, as
62 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
a ground of separation and excommunication, nor even
admit the sinfulness thereof to be a term of Ministe
rial or Christian Communion. 1749." Of these tracts
it is enough to say, what, according to the aspect in
which it is viewed, may be considered either as a com
pliment or a censure, that as compositions, and mani
festations of temper, they are among the least objec
tionable of the numerous pamphlets of which that
unhappy controversy was so prolific. The whole con
troversy affords an affecting illustration of the judi
cious remark with which Mr. Fisher commences his
" Eeview." " Division among Christians, even such as
profess the same way, seldom fails to breed alienation
of affection among them, which frequently breaks forth
in judging, reproaching, and reviling one another,
whereby the success of the gospel is exceedingly mar
red, the ends of a testimony for the declarative glory
of God, in a great measure frustrated, and the interest
of the kingdom of darkness mightily promoted, it being
the sport of hell to see the Church, militant against
herself, and the enemy becoming triumphant."
There is something touching in the following expos
tulation with some of the hearers who had deserted
him. " As I am to give an account of the ministry
which I have received of the Lord, so you are to ac
count for despising and rejecting the same. Let us
therefore reason the matter together calmly and in the
spirit of meekness. I ask you then, What error in
doctrine can you charge me with? What immorality
in practice? What principle or opinion have I es
poused, which is in any way contrary to the word of
God, or our received standards? Since you cannot justly
charge me with any of all these, I ask you seriously,
How can you answer to God for dissolving the rela
tion betwixt you and me, which was solemnly consti
tuted by free and mutual consent, in the presence of
God, angels, arid men, at Crossbill, near Glasgow,
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 63
October 8th, 1741? Tell me, brethren, what was the
reason why you deserted my ministry, without first
speaking to myself anent such a momentous step?
You know very well that there was not one of you,
that ever came to me, to receive light or to be inform
ed, before you had determined to withdraw, or had
actually withdrawn, from my ministry. Do not ima
gine that I am courting you to be my hearers to make
a gain of you. The Lord hath hitherto helped me to
act such a part, that I am above that calumny."*
It is instructive and humbling to remark the striking
difference between the character, literary and moral, of
the publications called forth by the controversy be
tween the original Seceders and the Established Church,
and of those produced by this unhappy strife among
themselves. We can scarcely believe them to be the work
of the same minds — the offspring of the same hearts.
The feeling produced by reading the first is esteem,
often rising to admiration, — that produced by reading
the second is deep regret, not unmixed with astonish
ment and shame. It is not to be forgotten, however,
that it was this controversy that so fixed the minds of
the Seceders on the connexion between church and
state, as to lead them to see, to some extent, the evils
that were connected with it, whether necessarily or
accidentally, — and kept the subject before their minds,
till, in the course of a century, the overwhelming ma
jority of them have been led to embrace the doctrine,
not merely of the entire distinctness of the church
and state, but of the impossibility of the two forms of
human society being allied or united without deep injury
to both. A pure, active church will make the work of
a civil government very easy, and a just civil govern
ment will afford facilities for the church serving its own
purposes; but to gain these ends, the two societies must
* Letter from Mr. Fisher, pp. 4—6.
4 R
64 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
be entirely distinct, even though they should be com
posed of the same individuals.
It is delightful to find that amid the turbulence of
controversy, the important purposes of the solid edi
fication of the churches committed to their care were by
no means neglected by the Associate ministers in their
svnodical capacity. At the very first meeting of the
Associate (Burgher) Synod, Mr. Fisher, along with
Messrs. Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, was appointed to
carry forward a wise and important plan, which had
been under the consideration of the Associate body in
its undivided state, — the preparation and publication
of an Exposition of that very remarkable composition,
the Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism, — a
work which probably contains, within the shortest
compass, the fullest and the clearest exposition of
Christian doctrine and law, that is to be found in any
language. It was intended that the materials for this
" magnum opus" should be furnished by the various
Presbyteries. The chief labour, however, in collecting
as well as arranging materials, fell on the honoured
Erskine Brothers, and their relative, Mr. Fisher.
At the next meeting of Synod, Mr. Ebenezer Erskine
reported that he had proceeded in preparing an expo
sition, as far as the 25th Question, 4 On the priesthood
of Christ;' but stated, at the same time, that the weight
of pastoral engagements, and his increasing infirmities,
would put it out of his power to prosecute the work.
The Synod requested him to complete his illustration
of "the offices of our Lord;" and the remaining part
of the Catechism was apportioned into three divisions,
for the illustration of one of which each of the Pres
byteries of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dunfermline was
appointed to furnish materials. It does not appear
that much was ever done by them in this; nor if there
had, is there any reason to think that the value of the
work ultimately produced, would have been increased.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 65
The first part, including Quest, i. to Quest, xxxviii.,
after receiving the sanction of the Synod, was pub
lished at Glasgow in a handsome octavo volume, from
the press of Urie, celebrated for its beauty and accu
racy, in the year 1753. It is preceded by a Preface, to
which are attached the initials E. E., J. F., Ebenezer
Erskine, James Fisher. In this preface it is stated,
that " the materials of the following Catechism, espe
cially of what was designed for the second part, are
[had been] collected by several ministers; and it was
[had been] recommended to three of their number to
revise what should be done by so many hands, that
there might be uniformity of style and method, and
that repetitions might be prevented as much as possi
ble. It has pleased the Lord to take home to himself
one of the three,* who assisted in composing and re
vising of this first part; but ' though he be dead he yet
speaketh,' and will be spoken of, for his excellent works
which have already or may hereafter see the light, by
all who shall have any relish or taste for sound doctrine
and experimental godliness. Whatever loss the second
part of the Catechism may sustain by the removal of
such an able and skilful hand, the other two make not
the least doubt, but that the Lord would [will] carry on
this work, with as great or greater advantage, though
they were [should be] laid in the grave likewise."
The second part of the Catechism appeared in a
similar handsome volume, from the same press in 1760.
In the preface, dated May 12, 1760, and subscribed by
Mr. Fisher, it is remarked — " Both these eminent
lights, the Rev. Messrs. Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine,
who assisted in composing and revising the first part
of this Catechism, are [were] some years ago removed
to the upper sanctuary, by death; the first soon after,t
* Mr. Ralph Erskine, who died Nov. 9, 1752.
t Mr. Ebenezer Erskine died June 2d, 1754.
G6 NAEEATIYE OF THE LIFE OF
and the second a little before the publishing of it; so
that the charge of the second part was [has been], by
a renewed recommendation of my brethren, laid upon
me. They indeed promised to afford me materials,
which some of them did, and I made all the use of
them I could, as I did also of the amendments and
enlargements proposed by others; but as this perform
ance, such as it is, was never judicially read and ap
proved by any of our judicatories, (though several of
my brethren had opportunities to peruse the most part
of it, before the whole was cast off,) so any imperfec
tions and weaknesses, that may be found therein, are
not to be imputed to the body of ministers, with whom
I am, in providence, connected, but to myself only.
As to mistakes in divinity, I dare not say there are
none, but I may be confident to affirm there were none
designed."* It was afterwards repeatedly carefully re
vised by him, and the edition which may be considered
as that to which he put the finishing touch was pub
lished at Edinburgh by Gray and Alston in 1772.
This work at once took a high place, and ever since
has been reckoned among the first, if not the first, of the
Explications of the Shorter Catechism, — a book, the
diminutive size and distinguished worth of which were
strikingly expressed in the title by which it was long
known in Scotland — " The Baw-bee Bible." It is
justly remarked by Dr. Mackerrow that " the Associate
Synod, in originating such a work, rendered essential
service not only to their own church, but to the reli
gious world," and he does not bestow upon it exagge-
* The precise part which the two Erskines had in the prepa
ration of this elaborate work, is thus stated by Dr. Fraser—
"The writer happens to possess the original materials for the
Catechism prepared in shorthand characters by both brothers.
Those written by Ebenezer extend from the viii. to the xxviii.
question ; those by Ralph, from the Ixxvi. to the xcv." — Life,
and Diary of Ebenezer Erskine, p. 494, note.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. G7
rated praise when he adds, " I know not if there be,
in the English language, a more useful publication,
for conveying to the minds both of young and old,
clear and Scriptural views of the whole system of re
vealed truth." The work sometimes goes under the
name of the Synod's Catechism, and sometimes under
that of Fisher's Catechism. It was long generally
used by the ministers of at least one of the divi
sions of the Secession, as a manual for guiding their
congregational catechetical exercises, and also exten
sively employed by the members of that body for
domestic instruction. It has undergone many im
pressions in this country, in Ireland, and in Ame
rica, and is still a book in request. We trust that
the beautiful edition soon to be put forth as a part of
this series of publications, will greatly extend its cir
culation, and increase its salutary influence throughout
the United Presbyterian Church. It has been highly
valued in other religious bodies. We have understood
that it was a favourite with the late Dr. Colquhoun
and Robert Haldane, Esq.
In giving these details in reference to this standard
work, we have in some measure infringed on the strict
chronological order of the memoir, but it was thought
best to present at once whatever information could°bo
furnished, respecting what forms the most permanent
foundation of Mr. Fisher's reputation and usefulness
as a theological writer. We return to the thread of
our narrative.
After having occupied the Theological chair for two
years, Mr. Ebenezer Erskine found it necessary to re
tire in consequence of increasing infirmities; and on
the 7th of September, 1749, Mr. Fisher received from
his brethren in Synod the highest mark of the esti
mation in which his talents, acquirements, and char
acter were held by them which they could bestow, by
being unanimously appointed successor to the vener-
68 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OP
able Father of the Secession body. For fifteen years
Mr. Fisher occupied that most responsible situation,
with great credit to himself and advantage to the
religious denomination to which he belonged. We
have no means of giving a particular account of the
manner in which he conducted the Divinity Hall.
He seems to have read lectures on the great heads of
theological study, and to have prescribed and criti
cised the course of exercises which with very little
variation has been accustomed to be, and we believe
still are, performed by students in the various theologi
cal seminaries, connected with the different bodies of
Presbyterians in Scotland. The annual session lasted
for two months, and took place in the earlier part of
the year, — varying from February to April. We have
been fortunate enough to obtain Mr. Fisher's catalogue
of his students, with the list of their exercises and the
time when they were delivered, to which, with a few
notes on the more remarkable names occurring in the
catalogue, we have given a place in the Appendix.*
It appears that about the time of his grand climac
teric Mr. Fisher had, as is so common, been visited by
an apparent breaking up of the constitution, but after
a considerable period of infirm health, he was again re
stored to such a measure of strength as enabled him to
discharge for a number of years the duties of his two
fold office, t
* Vide Appendix, No. III.
t "God hath in his holy and kind providence visited you,
dear Sir, with signal trials; but has there not been a double
mercy attending every single cross? Your kind and merciful
Father first gave, before he took away, and so his goodness pre
vented his rod: and I trust your soiil knoweth right well, that
your afflictions, personal and relative, now work for you a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory in another world,
and a great improvement of faith, love, and patience, those pre
cious fruits of the Spirit, while you are at present in the body.
Our happiness consists in believing, obeying, and submitting to
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 69
In May 17G4, Mr. Fisher resigned the Professorship
and was succeeded by the Reverend John Swanston of
Kinross, who, during the short period of the three
years which he occupied the chair, so discharged its
duties as to secure the entire approbation of his breth
ren and the warm affection of his pupils, and to draw
forth deep regret at his being " cut off in the midst of
his years."* In the course of a few years (in July
17GG) Mr. Fisher, though relieved from the labours of
the Theological class, found the performance of the mul
tifarious and onerous duties of one of the largest con
gregations in the denomination in a way satisfactory
to himselft a task too severe for his advancing years
and decaying energies, and intimated to the Session
his conviction of the desirableness, that now that he
was in his 70th year he should have a colleague to
assist him. Arrangements were made by the congre
gation and Presbytery for gaining this object, and after
some disappointment and delay by unsuccessful calls
the will of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in all
things."— Letter from Rev. Archd. Hall to the Rev. Mr. Fisher.
Christian Monitor, vol. v. p. 88.
* An octavo volume of elaborate and judicious Sermons, edited
by Mr. Smith of Dunferrnline, is the memorial of Mr. Swanston
as a Minister and Professor. He was the father of Mr. Andrew
Swanston, who, from conscientious conviction, left the church of
his fathers, joining in succession the Independents and the Bap
tists. His two posthumous volumes of "Lectures and Sermons" are
characterized by excellencies of no common kind. His Theological
tutor, Mr. Brown of Haddington. with whom he was a favourite
as he was with all who knew him, on hearing of his death, said
to a friend, "Well, Andrew has got a church now which will
please him." The Rev. Dr. Peddie, whose talents for exposition
were so admirable, used to say that "it was Andrew Swanston
who first gave him an idea of what an exposition should be."
Dr. Lawson of Selkirk, who was his most intimate friend, once
said. "I do not believe there ever was so amiable a human being
as Andrew Swanston, except Jonathan the son of Saul."
t The number of communicants in April 1769 was 1,200. —
Min. Sess. Shuttle-street Congregation.
t 0 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
to Mr. Clunie of Dundee and Mr. Fletcher of Bridge-
of-Teith, these, much to Mr. Fisher's satisfaction, led
to the ordination of Mr. George Henderson, a young
man of excellent talents, amiable dispositions, and po
lished manners, on August 22d, 1771.
Some time before this (in 1768) his daughter Mar
garet had been married to Mr. Walter Evving, after
wards better known as Walter Ewing Maclae of Cath-
kin; and the domestic comfort of the venerable pair
in the manse was greatly increased by Mr. and Mrs.
Ewing taking up their abode with them. The satis
faction of having got his congregation agreeably settled
with a young minister who showed him the most duti
ful and affectionate respect, and was quite disposed to
" serve with him as a son in the gospel of Christ," was
sadly overcast by the sudden removal of his excellent
and valued wife, who had now been the companion of
his joys and griefs for more than forty-four years. On
Saturday, 30th of November, 1771, Mrs. Fisher, after
taking dinner in her ordinary health with the family,
was seized with cramp in the stomach, and died early
in the morning of the succeeding day — the day of the
Lord, Dec. 1st. It is easy to conceive, it is impossible
to describe, the effect which this event must have had
on the mind and heart of a man of such tender and
ardent affections. But he had the faith and the hope
of the gospel to cast himself on; and lie knew, the sepa
ration was to be short and the reunion eternal. What
ever the kindness of relatives could do to alleviate his
sorrows he abundantly received; for, a singularly affec
tionate man himself, he had the great happiness of
being connected in the closest bonds with persons of
similar temperament and character. Mr. Henderson
was all that a kind colleague could be, and, though
his youngest daughter, Anne, who was very fond of,
and very dear to, her aged father, was, in 1773, re
moved from him by her marriage to Mr. William
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 71
Wardlaw, then of Dalkeith, Mr. and Mrs. Ewing, both
from their unfeigned piety and great amiableness of
character, were well fitted to " rock the cradle of de -
dining age," —
" With lenient art extend a father's breath,
Make languor smile and smooth the bed of death,
Explore the thought, explain the asking eye,
And keep awhile one parent from the sky."*
Nor were their dutiful cares unrewarded. Mr. Fisher
seems to have in a good degree recovered his spirits
and activity, and to have enjoyed a green old age. So
late as December 1774, we find the Rev. Mr. Smith of
Dunfermline, in writing to Mr. Ewing, using the fol
lowing terms: " My heart rejoices to hear of the sur
prising stoutness of the honest old man our father. But
I hope God is not to put him off with length of days,
but that he is looking out for some better portion." f
The days, however, were now near at hand when
the last of " the Four Brethren" must "go the way of
all the earth," and rejoin his associates. From any
information we can glean, his death was the effect
rather of the gradual decay of nature, than of any
distinctly marked disease. We have no information
of his last hours, and we regret a loss which cannot
now be supplied. We should have liked to have seen
him go down into " the river over which there is no
bridge" like the other brethren, " strong in faith giv
ing glory to God." We should have liked to have had
some "last words" from a man of so firm a mind, so warm
a heart. But as John Newton used to say, " You need
* Pope.
t "Our father preached last Sabbath, and I believe there
were not many in the meeting who did not hear him. I have
not known him better these several years, though his legs tail
him greatly and daily grow weaker."— Letter from Mr. Ewing to
Mr. Wardlaw, "30th June, 1774.
72 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
not tell me how the man died; tell me how he lived,
and I can tell you how he died." Such a life as we
have so imperfectly sketched could scarcely have any
end but one — "PEACE." On the 28th of September,
1775, in the 78th year of his age, and in the 50th year
of his ministry, full of years and of honours, JAMES
FISHER, the youngest and the last surviving of the
Four Associates, who so nobly went to their Master
" without the camp bearing his reproach," and whom
he enabled to make so consistent, steady, and successful
a stand for Christian truth and liberty, was gathered to
his fathers.*
" He came to the grave in a full age, like as a shock
of corn cometh in in his season." His death excited
general regret, not only in his own congregation and
throughout the religious body in the formation and
management of which he had taken so active a part, and
of which, since Ebeuezer Erskine's death, he had been
looked up to as the Father, but throughout the city of
which he had been so long one of the most honoured
citizens and ministers. An aged man of more than
fourscore years was but yesterday telling of the testi
mony given of respect to his memory by a general
cessation of business throughout the city during his
funeral, and of the crowds that followed his honoured
remains to their resting-place, in the New North bury-
ing-ground, where he was laid by the side of his faith
ful spouse, the first occupant of that now populous
city of the dead.
From Mr. Fisher not having kept a diary, or from
its being lost, it is to be regretted that we have not the
* "My dear Brother, — Your favour I received with the afflict
ing news of our worthy and dear father's death. He was amiable
in his life and amiable in his death. 'Dear in God's sight is
the death of his saints.' His memory is dear to many." — Ex
tract of a letter from Mr. John Gray to Mr. Waller Ewing. Edin.,
Sept. 29th, 1775.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER- 73
same means of becoming acquainted with his inner life
as we have with that of his associates. But no care
ful observer of the leading facts of his history can have
any doubts as to the leading features of his character.
Clearness was the characteristic quality of his under
standing, strict integrity of his conscience, and warm
affection of his heart. From unvarying tradition, as
well as from written memorials, Mr. Fisher appears to
have been, in no common degree, in all the relations of
life, estimable, amiable, and accomplished; a good scho
lar, a well-bred man,* a sincere and devout Christian,
a well-read and accurate divine, an instructive impres
sive preacher, a diligent and affectionate pastor, an able
and successful Theological tutor, a public-spirited citi
zen, a steady and warm-hearted friend; in the general
intercourse of society remarkable for the amenity of his
manners, a great favourite of the young, and in the
bosom of his family an object of the most endeared
affection of all its members, f A few letters are in
serted in the Appendix which will place some of these
traits in a more striking light than any description
could. His temper was warm, but under the control
of a sound judgment and Christian principle. It is a
characteristic trait given by Ralph Erskine in his Diary :
" Mr. Fisher had a communing in my room with my
colleague Mr. Wardlaw," (who was greatly dissatisfied
at the brethren leaving the Church,) " and put him to
silence, yet in a very calm way of reasoning." $
He was distinguished for " opening his hand wide"
to the poor and needy. His income was never large,
* Tradition has preserved the following anecdote. On some
one complaining to a minister that Mr. Fisher had treated him
in an ungentlemanly manner, he replied, "Don't repeat that,
Sir, for your own sake; nobody will believe you; Mr. Fisher
cannot do an ungentlemanly thing."
t Appendix, No. IV.
J Eraser.
74 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
his stipend amounting only to £100, and no salary be
ing attached to the Professor's chair; and he had a
numerous family; — yet he was liberal to the poor.
Tradition tells of its being necessary on the part of his
excellent wife to take care that there should not be
too much in his pockets when he went out on his visits
of mercy, as he was sure to return with them empty.
Of his personal appearance and habits comparatively
little information, in an authentic form, has outlived
the three-fourths of a century which have passed over
his grave. He was somewhat under the middle size,
well proportioned, — with a lively, affectionate, cheer
ful countenance, like David, "ruddy, and withal comely
to look on," — easy and alert in all his movements,
— neat in his dress, and orderly and punctual in all
his affairs. He was an early riser, and an earlier
riser in winter than in summer. He was seldom in
bed after four during the winter months, and had his
fire prepared over night to be ready to light in the
morning — an office he always performed for himself.
His study, in which he spent much of his time, looked
into his little garden which was immediately behind
and a little to the south of the present Greyfriars'
Church, and beyond that, on a range of fields and
orchards unbroken by buildings, the beautiful prospect
terminating in the then verdant heights now covered
with palaces. That he was a diligent student, and
very conscientious in his preparations for the pulpit, is
evident from the shorthand MSS. which he has left
behind him. His published sermons seem just a fair
specimen of his ordinary preaching. He had a turn
for the management of business, and took a leading
part in the proceedings of church courts; and while a
very decided friend to the rights and liberties of the
Christian people, was a zealous upholder of the canon
which requires all things in the church to be done
" decently and in order."
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 75
He appears to have lived on agreeable terras with
the pious ministers of the Establishment, at least in
his later years. We have seen a note to him from the
venerable Dr. Gillies, the friend and biographer of
Whitefield, couched in terms not only of respect but
of cordial brotherly kindness. It is dated 13th Dec.,
1771, long after the heats of the Cambuslang contro
versy had cooled.
His venerable coadjutor in the labours by which the
foundations of his denomination were laid, Mr. WILSON,
when playfully comparing his three fellow-workmen
and himself with the component parts of the strange
" living creature" spoken of by the prophet Ezekiel,
likened Mr. Fisher to the eagle, alluding probably to
his clear glancing eye and graceful bearing, as well as
to the perspicacity of his discernment and the force of
his character. " Our brother Mr. Erskine," he said,
" has the face of a man; our friend Mr. Moncrieff has
the face of a lion; our neighbour Mr. Fisher has the
face of an eagle: and as for myself, I think you will
all allow that I may claim to be the ox, for the labo
rious part of the business falls to my share."*
Mr. ANDREW SWANSTON, after hearing him when far
advanced in life, remarked, that " As to sentiment,
composition, and delivery, he had not heard a supe
rior preacher." The late venerable ALEXANDER SHANKS
of Jedburgh, who has been said to have been formed on
the model of the prophets Elijah and Isaiah, used to
speak warmly of his high qualifications, and especially
of the combined accuracy and fluency with which he
expressed himself, not only from the pulpit and chair
and in the church court, but on ordinary occasions.
The following hearty testimony of one of his stu
dents, more than thirty years after he was laid in his
grave, is equally honourable to both parties : " The
* Fender's Life of Wilson, p. 357.
76 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
Rev. James Fisher was in learning a scholar indeed;
he had the politeness of a gentleman and the gravitv
and conduct of a divine. His discourses were full of
sound divinity, delivered in nervous short sentences.
He would not weaken his ideas by expanding them,
or give you over and over again the same sentiment in
other words in the same discourse. He could be con
cise without obscurity. His discourses might with
great propriety have been printed as he preached them.
They were equally remote from pedantic bombast on
the one hand, and grovelling chitchat on the other.
He lived respected, and died in a good old age lamented.
Taking him all in all when shall I see his equal?"*
Mr. Fisher had fifteen children, most of whom, how
ever, died in early childhood. How affecting is it to
hear the good old man of threescore years and ten say
ing, " Of fifteen children we have now remaining only
four! It is however the Lord's doing, and therefore it
becomes us, like Aaron, to hold our peace, or with the
Psalmist, to put our hands on our mouths and be
silent !"
Of two sons who reached manhood, Ebenezer died in
the prime of life in a mercantile situation in 1767, at
New Bern, North Carolina; and Ralph, an accom
plished and amiable man, who had been successful in
business, died at Belfast on his way home from Jamaica,
in 1792.
The daughters of the family who came of age in
herited their parents' virtues. Jean married her rela
tive, the Rev. James Erskine of Stirling — a most pro
mising young minister — in 1754, whom, after a brief
season of happy union, she lost in 1761 only to find
again after a still briefer season of sorrowful separa-
* Eogers' Speech before the Associate Synod of Ireland, at
Cookstown, July 8th, 1808, pp. 30, £1. The author of this
Speech was the first Professor of Divinity to the Associate
Burgher Synod of Ireland.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 77
tiori, by following him to the grave and to heaven, in
1762.*
Alison was the first wife of the Eev. Robert Camp
bell of Stirling, one of the greatest pulpit orators ever
produced by the Secession, and the object of most cor
dial affection to Mr. Fisher and his family; — but she
died soon after her marriage.
Mary was united to Mr. John Gray, printer in
Edinburgh — a man of much Christian worth; but died
soon after the birth of her only child, Erskine, who
became the wife of the Rev. Ebenezer Brown of Inver-
keithing.f
* Mr. Erskine's note on the death of his son James, Mr.
Fisher's namesake, in his domestic register, is affecting: "Yes
terday, betwixt twelve and one, P.M., being Saturday, Nov. 15,
1760,' my dear dear sweet child Jamie was cut off by the small
pox. It' he had lived till the 1st of March he would have been
three years of age. My heart and affection were much glued to
this child. There could not he a more pleasant one. The Lord
has dried up this sweet stream. Oh that he may now lead my
dear wife and me up to himself the inexhaustible fountain! Oh
for right views of God in Christ! Alas, 1 have not yet won to
part with Jamie in my heart and affection." — Fraser.
t A short time before her decease she requested that her in
fant daughter, who had been sent to the country to be nursed,
should be brought to her. On the arrival of the child, she sat
up upon the bed, and having received the infant on her arms
from the hands of her husband, she as it were presented her as
an offering to God, and with solemn devotion and cordial affec
tion pronounced on her the Old Testament benediction, "The
Lord bless thee and keep thee: the Lord make his face to shine
on thee: the Lord lift up his countenance on thee and give thee
peace." The offering, as after events proved, was an acceptable
one, and the blessing so solemnly invoked was richly communi
cated. In this way Mrs. Gray parted with her infant babe.
She saw her no more. Soon after she died at the early age of
twenty-four, leaving behind her " a good report through faith."
" She died in faith," expressing her firm confidence in those
" exceeding great and precious promises," — "being persuaded ot
them and embracing them," — " J am the Lord tliy God ;" " When
thou passest through the waters I will be with thee; and through
the rivers they shall not overflow thee." — Christian Monitor, vol.
78 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
Margaret was the accompli shed and excellent wife of
Walter Ewing Maclae, Esq. of Cathkin, — around whose
hospitable board " the excellent ones of the earth" of
all denominations, the Balfours and Lawsons, and Greigs
and Peddies, and Dicks and Fullers, and M'Leans and
E wings, gone to the general assembly of the first-born,
with a few who still linger behind, were privileged to
congregate.
Anne, the youngest of the family, was the second
wife of William Wardlaw, Esq., of Glasgow, and the
mother of one of the most accomplished theologians,
elegant and impressive preachers, enlightened and active
philanthropists, and variedly and extensively useful
writers of our times, the Rev. Ralph Wardlaw.
The following is a complete list, so far as our in
formation goes, of Mr. Fisher's publications.
1. The Inestimable Value of Divine Truth, considered in a
Sermon from Prov. xxiii. 23. "Buy the truth and sell it not."
Preached at Finwick, March 3d, 1738. 12mo., pp. 56. Edin.
1739.
2. Christ Jesus the Lord, considered as the inexhaustible
Matter of Gospel Preaching, in a Sermon at the Ordination of
the Rev. James Mair to be Minister of the Associate Congre
gation at Linton, Tweedale, May 29th, 1746. 12mo., pp. 40.
Edin. 1741.
3. A Review of the Preface to a Narrative of the Extraordi
nary Work at Kilsyth and other Congregations in the Neigh
bourhood, written by the Eev. Mr. James Robe, Minister of
Kilsyth; wherein the nature of that extraordinary work, and
iii., for 1822, pp. 241, 242. — The letters in the Appendix, in re
ference to Mrs. Gray's last illness, exhibit one of the most beau
tiful pictures of Christian parental solicitude we have ever con
templated, and illustrate the exquisite propriety and beauty of
the Psalmist's comparison, "As a father pitieth his children."
The little motherless girl soon to lose her father too, so often
referred to in these letters, became, under the fostering care of
her two excellent aunts, Mrs. Ewing and Wardlaw, a most ac
complished and amiable Christian woman. A memorial of
her worth is to be found in the Christian Monitor as above re
ferred to.
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 79
the principles of the promoters of it, are discovered from the
said Preface and other papers lately published ; and likewise the
Address to the Brethren of the Associate Presbytery anent their
late Act for a Public Fast, is considered. 1 2mo., pp. 68. Glas
gow, 1742.
4. A Review of a Pamphlet entitled 'A Serious Enquiry
into the Burgess Oaths of Edinburgh, Perth, and Glasgow;'
wherein the most material arguments against the Burgess Oath
are impartially weighed and examined. 12mo., pp. 120. Glas
gow, 1747.
5. A Letter from Mr. Fisher to the Burgesses and others of
his Congregation, who have withdrawn from his Ministry, be
cause he cannot Condemn the Burgess Oath as a ground of
Separation and Excommunication; nor even admit the sinful-
ness thereof to be a term of Ministerial and Christian Commu
nion. 12mo., pp. 32. Glasgow, 1749.
6. A Vindication of Mr. Fisher's Private Missive, published
with an answer thereunto, by Mr. How; wherein the errors of
Mr. How's Discourse on Prayer are plainly detected, together
with an answer to his defence of Clandestine Marriages and
Private Baptisms. 8vo., pp. 24. Glasgow, 1751.
7. The Character of a Faithful Minister of Christ, being a
Sermon preached immediately after the ordination of Mr. James
Erskine as one of the Associate Ministers of the Gospel at
Stirling, Jan. 22, 1752. 12mo., pp. 18. Edin., 1752.
8. The Assembly's Shorter Catechism, explained by way of
Question and Answer ; wherein it is essayed to bring forth the
truths of God contained in that excellent composure, more fully
than has been attempted in any one of the explicatory Cate
chisms hitherto published ; and, at the same time, as compen
diously as the subject would allow; in two parts. I. Of what
man is to believe concerning God. II. Of the duty which God
requires of man. By some Ministers of the Gospel. Part I.
8vo., pp. 304. Glasgow, 1753.
9. Christ the Sole and Wonderful Doer in the Work of Man's
Redemption; an action Sermon preached immediately before
dispensing the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in the Associate
Congregation, Glasgow, June 23d, 1745: to which is subjoined
The Doors of the Heart summoned to open to the King of
Glory; an action Sermon preached Aug. 30, 1755. 12mo., pp.
36 and 32. Glasgow, 1755.
10. The Assembly's Shorter Catechism explained by way of
Question and Answer. Part II. 8vo., pp. 366. Glasgow, 1760.
Mr. Fisher also wrote a Preface to " Sermons and
Discourses upon the most important and interesting
80 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
subjects, by tlie late Kev. Mr. Ebenezer Erskine," in
four volumes, 8vo. Eclin., 17G1; and a Preface giving
a short account of the author to " The Sermons and
other Practical Works of the late Kev. Mr. Ralph
Erskine," in two vols., folio. Glasgow, 1764: and
also a short recommendatory Preface to " Two Cate
chisms mutually connected, by John Brown, minister
of the gospel at Haddington." Edin., 1764.
It may be fairly doubted whether any of the found
ers of the Church of the Secession has exerted a more
extended and abiding influence over that community,
than the subject of the preceding memoir. His Sermons,
though probably freer of faults than the numerous and
powerful discourses of his honoured relatives, the Erskine
brothers, were by no means, either in their matter or
manner, so impressive when delivered, and the few of
them which have been published have produced no such
effect as these have done; and as the Apologist and De
fender of the Secession, though he stood next to, yet he
stood far behind Wilson, who was the sole author of the
admirable " Defence," and the principal workman in
fashioning both the Testimonies. But from the pecu
liarities of his character, and from the position, both
local and official, which he occupied, his influence was
probably equal to that of any of them. The congre
gation which he collected, and to which he gave a
character, has, not only under the care of a Henderson,
a Pirie, a Dick, and a King, been a powerful agency
for good in many ways, but has been the parent, imme
diately or remotely, of probably not less than thirty
congregations, some of them scarcely less numerous
and influential than itself. His filling the Divinity
chair during fourteen years, put the moulding of the
ministry of one branch of the Secession, in a great
measure, into his hands, at a most important period of
its history, as in the other branch of the Secession a
similar plastic influence was exerted by Mr. Moncrieff;
THE REV. JAMES FISHER. 81
arid we trace the results of his example and instructions
in the ministerial character and labours of a M'Ewen,
and a Brown, and a Patison, and a Kidston, and a
Coventry, and a Dick, and a Belfrage, and an Arnot,
and a Moir, and a Hall, and a Shanks, and a Campbell,
and a Johnstone, and a Henderson, all men of superior
talent, and within their various spheres, of powerful
and most beneficial influence, — "men," as the son of
Sirach says, " honourable in their generations." It is,
however, probably chiefly through the medium of " The
Westminster Shorter Catechism Explained" that Mr.
Fisher has decidedly contributed to fix the character of
the theology of the church to which he belonged, — a
character which, in its substance, it is to be hoped that
church will long retain, uniting, as it does, in so high a
degree, the assertion of the sovereignty of God and the
responsibility of man, laying a deep foundation for the
unhampered preaching of a complete gospel, — the clear
exhibition of a full and a free salvation for the guil
tiest of the guilty, and the vilest of the vile, of the
race of man, — and proclaiming, at the same time,
the high claims and unrelaxing obligations of that law
of God, which is holy, just, and good, and exceeding
broad.
The name of FISHER lives but in his works and in
the grateful remembrance of the church, — his only
surviving son having died unmarried; but he has a
numerous and honoured posterity who, it is to be
hoped, will feel and discharge the obligations, as they
enjoy the advantages, and sustain the responsibilities, of
such an ancestry. There is an exceeding great and pre
cious promise made to the descendants of distinguished
servants of God, if they walk in their steps, and " know
the God of their fathers, and serve him with a perfect
hand and a willing mind;" but there is a threatening
of corresponding weight denounced on them, if they
follow an opposite course, — " if they seek Him, he will
82 NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE, &C.
l>e found of them; if they forsake Him, he will cast
them off for ever."
' All flesh is grass, and all the loveliness thereof as
the flower of the grass; the grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth, but the word of the Lord en-
dureth for ever." " As for man," the best, the greatest,
the most amiable, the most useful of men, "As for
man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field so
he flourisheth; for the wind passeth over it and it is
gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to ever
lasting upon those that fear him, and his righteousness
to children's children, to such as keep his covenant,
and to those that remember his commandments to do
them."
" Remember them that have had the rule over you,
who have spoken to you the word of God: whose
faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
JESUS CHRIST is THE SAME YESTERDAY, TO-DAY, AND FOR
EVER."
(83)
APPENDIX.
No. I.
MARROW DOCTRINES.
THE so-called "Marrow doctrines," reduced to their ele
ments, seem to be these: — * That the gospel is a revelation
of the grace of God to man the sinner : That it exhibits, in
a divine testimony, the truth respecting Jesus Christ, the divine,
divinely appointed, all - accomplished Saviour, and the com
plete salvation he has procured for, and is ready to bestow on,
sinners of mankind: That it is the immediate duty of every
sinner to whom the gospel comes, to believe this testimony:
That in the belief of this testimony he cordially embraces this
Saviour as his own Saviour, and enjoys the blessings of this sal
vation as his own : That the finished work of Christ is the sole
ground of the sinner's hope of pardon and salvation, and that
the truth respecting that finished work, contained in exceeding
great and precious promises, cannot be believed without, in the
measure in which it is believed, giving peace to the conscience,
confidence towards God, and the hope of eternal life: That this
faith of the gospel is productive of holiness as well as of hope,
and that there is no true holiness, no acceptable obedience any
more than solid hope, and genuine comfort, but what springs
from the gospel believed.'
These doctrines are equally removed from Neonomianism and
Antinomianism, from legalism and licentiousness. I am no ad
vocate for what is peculiar in " the Marrow divines' " mode of
stating these truths. I think they may all be fully, clearly
stated, without a word about the " deed of gift and grant ;""
" God being the covenant God, Christ being the Saviour, of the
unbelieving sinner" "in the offer;" "the direct and the reflex
act of faith ;" " the assurance of faith " and " the assurance of
sense," as indicative of two kinds of, or two sorts of evidence
for, the assured hope of personal salvation; — "appropriation
being of the essence of faith," &c. Much important truth is
84 APPENDIX.
couched under these terms; but it may be doubted how far
they are fitted clearly to unfold it. I object on higher grounds
than those of mere taste to much of the phraseology of " Thd
Marrow of Modern Divinity," though what is most offensive in
it is borrowed from the Reformers, especially from Luther. I
could not express anything like an entire satisfaction with the
view that work gives of the rationale of the divine economy of
salvation, nor with its ti'ipartite division of the law of works,
the law of faith, and the law of Christ.
But I not only hold that the principles above stated are the
essential elements of a pure and a full gospel, — that the Marrow-
men did good service to the cause of truth and holiness, — and
that a clear exhibition of those principles is the most valuable
characteristic of what may be termed Secession theology, — but
that such books as "The Marrow of Modern Divinity," and
" Marshall's Gospel Mystery of Sanctification," while unduly ar
tificial in their form, exhibit the great principles stated above,
in a way well fitted to stir the mind of the reflecting student,
and if they but throw him back on the Bible, to which they
are constantly making their appeal, are likely, in a higher de
gree than many works of higher pretensions, to lead into those
comprehensive, consistent views of the plan of salvation as em
bracing the conjoint attainment of an entire change of state and
thorough transformation of character, by the same means, both
procuring and instrumental, and of the gospel as when believed
being equally the ministration of righteousness and the Spirit, of
justification and hope, and of sanctification and comfort, which
are of so much importance both to the right regulation of indivi
dual Christian inward exercise, and to the clear and satisfactory
exhibition of " the truth as it is Jesus," in all its fulness and
self-consistency, to others.
Those who wish to understand the whole subject would do
well to read The Marrow of Modern Divinity, with Boston's
Notes, Boston's Memoirs, Brown's Gospel Truth, M'Crie's Ac
count of the Controversy respecting the Marrow of Modern
Divinity — Christian Instructor, vol. xxx., p. G93, &c., M'Ker-
row's History of the Secession, Eraser's Lives of the Erskines,
Thomson's Historical Sketch, Dr. Harper's Life of Ebenezer
Erskine. He who carefully examines the subject will not think
Mr. Fisher has exaggerated the importance of this controversy
when, in his biographical preface to Ralph Erskine's works, he
pronounces it "the most useful and beneficial to this church of
any other that has been broached since the beginning of this
century." — Vol. i. p. xi.
BRIEF NOTES RESPECTING MRS. FISHER. 85
No. II.
BRIEF NOTES RESPECTING MRS. FISHER.
Mrs. FISHER was the eldest daughter of Mr. EbenezerErskine
and Mrs. Alison Turpie, and was born about the year 1706.
There are two or three rather interesting notices of her in her
venerable father's diary. In August 1714, she. a girl of eight
years of age, when on a visit at Kirkcaldy, was seized with
fever. Her father, but lately himself recovered from fever,
thus records his feelings : " I got word yesterday that my
daughter Jean is lying in a fever in Kirkcaldy. The Lord
be gracious when I desire to give her to the Lord, and, ac
cording to his command, to bring her to him who, I hope, is
my God, and who will also, according to his promise, be the
God of my seed. Christ's condescension towards the noble
man of Capernaum, who entreated him on behalf of his child
that was dying, furnished me with an argument on behalf of
my little daughter. He has a regard to the poor as well as the
rich and noble; and therefore I may go to him for my child
as well as this man did, for he is as "willing and ready to help
now as he was then. This gave me encouragement to pray
that the Lord Jesus would heal her soul; that he would lay his
hand on her and bless her; that he would break in upon her
heart and sanctify this affliction ; that if it were his will he would
spare her; and that if she died he would take her to himself.
Blessed be his name, who allows me to plead on her behalf, and
helps in some measure to believe that he will hear." The affec
tionate parent's prayers were graciously heard, and in a few
weeks she was able to return to Portmoak. On Sept. 22, when
she was returning with her parents from Kirkcaldy, as she rode
near them before a servant on a small pony, the pony stum
bled and fell, on the road between Kirkness and Portmoak, " so
that both the lad and the child tumbled over the ears of the
beast," and yet neither of them received the least hurt. " I
ascribe this," says the pious and affectionate father, "to my
great, glorious, and good God, who gives his angels charge over
me and mine, to keep us in all our ways. On coming home I
set up my Ebenezer."
After the death of his wife, in 1720, when Jean was a girl of
14, we find Mr. E. thus touchingly speaking both of mother and
daughter: "Most sweet and comfortable were her advices to
her dear children, particularly to Jeanie, who waited well and
dutifully on her during her long trouble and distress, which binds
my heart exceedingly to that child, especially because her mother
8G APPENDIX.
had a strong affection for her." — Eraser's Life and Diary of tie
Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, pp. 280, 281, 156. 157, 290.
Jeanie seems to have been a general favourite. She was the
ohject of peculiar affection on the part of her kind-hearted uncle
Ralph. The following letter was written some time before her
marriage : —
" Dwifermline, 3d Nov., 1726.
" ENDEARED NIECE,
" This comes to let you know that I am very desirous
to understand your welfare, and know how your affairs are going,
or what length that important business is come which was the
subject of our communing here, and of my last line to you, and
wherein I am still of the same sentiments which I then expressed.
Hoping that your falling in with the call of Providence therein
in a cordial manner, may be a yielding to the will of the Lord
manifested in his providence and suitable to his word, and that
it may tend to his glory and your comfort and advantage every
way, which, if my heart deceives me not, I incline earnestly to
desire of the Lord in your behalf. . . . Wishing also, that you
may be under a gracious divine conduct, ordering your lot in
this world most advantageously, and making way for your happy
state in the other world, I rest . . ."
Her uncle gave still farther proof of his interest in her by
officiating at the marriage, and by the following excellent letter
sent to his niece some time afterwards: —
" Portmoak, 4th January, 1728.
" MY DEAR NIECE JEANIE,
"I am sorry we have so seldom any communication
with you now that you are situated in your married lot at
a little farther distance from us than formerly. Though at
the same time, notwithstanding that I hear seldom from you,
1 am satisfied to think that in Providence you are privileged
with good company, and in comfortable circumstances outwardly,
in many respects even your external prosperity being what I
would ardently wish and desire, so far as is consistent with God's
glory and your good; for an absolute exemption from all crosses
and 'trials in this world could not be contributive to either of
these ends, according to the ordinary stated method of Heaven,
especially towards the children of grace, and consequently is
not to be wished for. And therefore, though the Lord hath
mercifully provided and ordered matters, (I hope,) very commo-
diously for you in a suitableness to your station, and blessed you
with a kind husband, as well as a gospel minister, in one and
the same person, a competent living, a convenient dwelling-
BRIEF NOTES RESPECTING MRS. FISHER. 87
place, and many comfortable accommodations, which ought to
excite gratitude and thankfulness; yet, as I hope you will never
look upon any outward temporal enjoyments as your best and
chief treasure, nor consequently give them the room which glo
rious Christ alone should have, so I shall wish you may be helped
of grace to such a joyful and yet spiritual regular use of all out
ward mercies and comforts as may be consistent with a readiness
to be divorced from them, whenever the Lord shall show that
the time he gave them in loan to you is expired ; — for when Pro
vidence says in effect of any worldly comforts we may enjoy, as
was said of the ass and her colt, Matt. xxi. 2, 3. ' The Lord
hath need of them,' then he expects that straightway we will
send them. While they are tied, and he sees them needful for
us, we are allowed thankfully and comfortably to use them ; but
when he seeks them to be loosed, and sees them needful for the
ends of his glory and our good to be surrendered to him, then
we ought, with humble submission and contentment, to part with
them at his call. I desire to hope that the divine blessing upon
the good example and excellent education that you was privi
leged with in your father's family all along, to which J charitably
presume that saving and effectual divine teaching and instruc
tion have been mercifully superadded, will make that deport
ment which I have hinted at to be natural, easy, and pleasant
to you, or at least excite you to such an endeavour after it as
will be agreeable to those that are about you, and adorning to
the Christian profession and gospel character, to which the moi'e
conformed you are, the more will you show yourself a kind and
loving wife to your husband, a wise arid virtuous housewife to
your family, and a pattern of discretion and civility to all your
neighbours, as well as a serious seeker of, and a faithful servant
to, the Lord your God, not only as he is your father's God, and
your mother's God, which you have ground to say, but especially
as he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glo
rious object of our faith and love. If any good advices are de-
ducible from what is above said, I hope my former familiarity
with you as a friend and relative shall not make my present
liberty and freedom with you as a Christian adviser the less ac
ceptable, but rather the more, since the former hath given me
the better opportunity for the latter. But, as I do not in the
least suspect your kindly accepting of the freedom I use this
way, even though there were no such inducement thereto, so it
will be always desirable and refreshful unto me to hear and
understand that, under the influence of heavenly instruction and
conduct, you are helped to outdo the advice of your best friends
upon earth. I shall also be glad to hear that you enjoy the
fruits of God's common providence with his special blessing,
which alone maketh truly rich, and addeth no sorrow in the
88
APPENDIX.
issue. After what I have here seriously delivered, I shall allow
the enclosed diversion from my daughter. My wife gives her
kind service to you and Mr. Fisher. I am,
Your very affectionate Uncle,
And humble Servant,
RALPH ERSKINE."
Our readers will not he displeased to have an opportunity of
perusing the " enclosed diversion," which certainly shows that
the first Seceders Avere not the morose generation they are often
supposed to have been.
" A letter written by Margaret Erskine,* daughter to the late Rev.
Ralph Erskine of Dunfermline, to her cousin, Mrs. Fisher of
Kinclaven.
" DEAR COUSIN, this may let you know
That I am well and wish you so.
Glad should I be, could I hear tell
By word or writ, that you are well:
For now you're gone so far away,
A-fishing up the river Tay,
I know not if it be the Highlands.
Or north among the Pearl Islands;
Be where it will, by land or sea,
You're in a manner dead to me.
For many long months in the year
No single word from you I hear,
By common post, nor common chance,
No more than if you were in France.
Nay. we have here, who dwell at Forth,
So little converse with the North,
Perhaps it would not be in vain
For me to wish you were in Spain,
That I might hear when climates alter,
As oft from you as from Gibraltar.
But now, when we're so far asunder,
I think it needs be no great wonder,
Though I in writing at this time,
Would fain cheer up myself with rhyme;
While grieved to think*! am bereft "
Of you, dear Coz, e'er since you left
The good old loch and water Leven,
For these wild moors about Kinclaven.
I also thought some merry chat
When you're in such a place as that,
* Afterwards wife of Mr. John Newlands, Merchant, Glasgow.
BRIEF NOTES RESPECTING MRS. FISHER. 89
To speak of it without aspersion.
Would meet your need of some diversion.
Pray, do not think that I am rude,
I would not be misunderstood ;
I speak in case of your dejection,
And don't intend to cast reflection ;
The thing at present in my view,
Is to divert myself and you ;
To which I am the more inclined,
While thinking you are now confined
Unto a spot that wants the vogue
Of old Dunfermline or Portmoak.
If herein I mistake, I beg
Excuse your little cousin Meg.
And I'll take care, the next I send you,
If I hear tell that this offend you.
I do not think your soil is such
That I need pity you too much,
For as I hear by common clatter
You want for neither wood nor water;
You have, they sav, a goodly manse,
And that upon a pleasant stance;
You have a river at your hand,
A FISHER also at command;
You want not peats, as I am told,
To warm your feet in winter cold.
Only I hear you're scarce of coals,
And burn your peats among your soles.
Well, since you would needs be a wife,
So far without the bounds of Fife,
And trace the Fisher's hook when harling
Your feet so far from warm Dunfermliue,
Tis well bestowed upon you now,
That you want coals and chimneys too,
And burn your toes with Norland commons,
Because you left the lofty Lomonds.
But yet I hear you are riot scant
Of other things that here we want.
Although you have not gentle lairds.
Nor good stone-dyke about your yards,
Nor deep coal pits, nor good" stone quarries,
Nor other Southland necessaries;
Yet you have many things, I hear,
Instead of our South country gear;
Instead of stone dykes, you have fail;
Instead of coffee, you have kail ;
90 APPENDIX.
Instead of spring-wells, yon have floods;
Instead of orchards, you have woods;
Instead of pastry, you have plants;
Instead of music, Highland rants ;
Instead of pinners, you have plaids ;
Instead of coaches, you have sleds ;
Instead of gentles, you have jockeys;
Instead of ladies, you have luckies ;
Instead of meadows, you have moors;
Instead of chimneys, you have floors ;
Instead of houses, you have huts ;
Instead of apples, you have nuts;
Which brings your promise to my mind,
And makes me think you are not kind ;
You said, (but now I find you're slack,)
That you would send me nuts to crack ;
Mind then, or else I'll say in anger,
That out of sight and out of languor
'Twas your neglect, for which I'm sorry,
Made this digression to my story.
But to return, — without more fash
I'll tell you what they farther clash ;
I am informed by country chat,
Instead of this thing, you have that;
Old ruined walls instead of castles ;
And huts instead of Dinnibirsels,*
Brown heather cowes instead of clavers ;
And bonnets blue instead of beavers;
Well toasted snuff instead of musk;
Plain dress instead of gentle busk ;
In many things you thus excel
The people in the South that dwell.
The busk among your country lasses,
By far our gaudy garb surpasses.
Perhaps in practice I may err,
Yet in my judgment I prefer
Your goo*d blue laces, hoods and loops,
To filthy flaring girds and hoops.
But over and above all this,
You have rare things that here we miss.
Your water doth atibrd you pearls
Such as are worn by Dukes and Earls;
And having store of pearl-fish,
You do not want the richest dish.
* Donnabirstle— the seat of the Earl of Moray in Fifeshire.
BRIEF NOTES RESPECTING MRS. FISHER. 91
Yet without jesting, to be grave,
You want for nothing that you have.
But while I mention all the rest,
I had almost forgot the best ;
For you have also something else
That's rarer yet, as rumour tells
Hard by your kirks your woods have bells,
To conjure fairies down like spells;
For if I trust what people say,
The Pope of Rome did once a- day
Such bells with holy water sprinkle,
To banish bogles with a tinkle ;
As good as beads and Ave-Maries,
To fright and drive away the fairies.
I hear the bell by you possess'd
Was consecrated with the rest.
You therefore, having such a thing,
What have you more ado but ring,
Then off scours every hurtful elf,
That you may safe enjoy yourself.
Dear Cousin, it may well content you,
If all the word be true I've sent you.
But lest my lines your patience weary,
Which hope to find or make you cheery,
I send my love to Mr. FISHER,
And rest your hearty welfare wisher,
MARGARET ERSKINE.
Mrs. Fisher appears to have been a woman of superior mind,
affectionate heart, and pleasing manners, — distinguished for her
prudence and activity, and every way fitted to be a help-meet
for her husband as a Christian minister. Like her husband
she seems to have been formed for society, and evidence yet
exists of the familiar terms on which, when at Kinclaven, she
associated with the first families in the neighbourhood.
Mrs. Fisher had the melancholy satisfaction of watching the
last hours of her venerable father. " During the night," says
Dr. Fraser, " on which he finished his earthly career, Mrs. Fisher
having come from Glasgow to visit her dying father, was sitting
in the apartment where he lay and engaged in reading: awaken
ing from a slumber he said, ' What book is that, my dear, that
you are reading?' 'It is your sermon, father,' she replied, 'on
that text, 1 am the Lord thy God.' ' O woman,' said he then,
' that is the best sermon ever I preached.' The discourse had
proved very refreshing to himself as well as to many of his hear
ers. A few minutes after that expression had fallen from his
92
APPENDIX.
lips, he requested his daughter to bring the table and candle near
his bed; and having shut his eyes, laid his hand under his cheek,
he quietly breathed out his soul into the hands of the Lord his
God, who had redeemed him."
The following letters exhibit her character in a very amiable
light:—
TO MRS. SCOTT, GATESCHAW.
" VERY DEAR SISTER,
" This day I received yours. Your niece, Mrs. Erskine,*
is in all appearance dying of what is called a galloping con
sumption. She is much in the same way her husband was. It
is but five weeks since we thought her in any danger, although
she has been very much sunk in spirit since Mr. Erskine's death.
She has had two doctors waiting upon her all along; but now I
iind they have no hopes of her recovery, so that in all appear
ance the next accounts you will have will be her death, for she
is now very low. We have need of your sympathy. The Lord
sees meet to break us with breach upon breach ; but who can
quarrel him for doing what he will with his own? Oh to have
that 'perfect love that casteth out fear,' and putteth a good
construction upon all his dealings towards us, and to say, ' Al
though he slay us, yet we will trust in him.' But, alas! faith,
love, hope, and patience, are all weak; so that I cannot say to
this or the other mountain, 'Be ye removed.' It would be verv
comfortable to all of us to see you in this place, for I am not
now able to come to see you. Our son Ralph is doing very
well in the merchant way. * We had a letter from Eben about
ten days ago. He is very well. Mr. Fisher and the rest of the
family are well. Also our grandchild Ralph; so that we have
reason to sing of mercy even in judgment. I am in haste, with
compliments to Mr. Scot and my nephews.
Your very affectionate Sister,
JEAN ERSKINE.
" Glasgow, April the SQth, 1762."
TO MRS. GRAY, NEAR THE FOOT OF FOSTER'S WYND,
EDINBURGH.
" Glasgoio, 21st Nov., 1764.
" MY VERY DEAR MARY,
" It is comfortable to your Papa and me to hear that
you now have your health better. I entreat you to take care of
* Mrs. Fisher's eldest daughter.
BRIEF NOTES RESPECTING MRS. FISHER. 93
yourself now, and do nothing that may cause you to lose it
again. Health is very precious, and we would give a great deal
sometimes for it when we cannot obtain it. Mr. Campbell will
acquaint you that Mr. Pagan died Friday last, and was buried
yesterday, to the great grief' of that family. He was an honest-
hearted fine youth. Lady William-wood died Sabbath last, and
is interred this day. She wanted several months of David Pa
gan's age. To be sure, the language of these dispensations of
Providence is, 'Be ye also ready.' Oh! Mary, this is a vain
world; much of the vanity of it have I seen; I have met with
disappointments from every quarter where I wanted to turn iny
eyes for rest. They have, indeed, proved an Egyptian reed that
has pierced me when leaning on them. I would, therefore, now
fain be at saying, ' Return to thy rest, 0 my soul,' even to God as
in Christ, as thy only portion. And what a mercy is it, that
there is room in his covenant, even for backsliding children, and
for those that have played the harlot with many lovers !
" My kind love to Mr. Gray and Peggie, iu which we all join.
My dear Mary,
Your affectionate Mamma,
JEAN ERSKINE."
TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, 12th March, 1765.
" MY VERY DEAR MARY,
"I received yours, and rejoice to hear you are still
continuing better. My dear Ralph is now gone, and after all
that passed, it is now a great trial to me, as I scarcely expect
ever to see him again, and what adds to our grief, we have not
had a scrape of a pen from Eben for nigh these two years, so
that, after all my toil and labour, I am now bereaved of my two
j-:ons. But I have reason to be dumb with silence, saying, ' It
is my own iniquities that correct me,' and not to complain too
much, so long as your Papa is spared with us. But I know not
what farther trials and bitter ingredients may yet be in my lot.
The swimming in your Papa's head returned to him last Satur
day; he is in bed with it when I am writing you, but I would
fain hope it will not continue.
"We all join in our endeared love to you, Mr. Gray, and
Peggie.
My dear,
Your very affectionate Mamma,
JEAN ERSKINE."
94 APPENDIX.
TO THE SAME.
" MY DEAR DEAR MARY,
"I am glad to hear you are no worse than when I
came from Edinburgh. I had a very sore heart to part with
you; but I thought circumstances both in your family and my
own did not answer for my staying longer, especially as I thought
you somewhat better ; but if I could divide my body as well as
iny affections, there would still be a part of me with you: — but
it is our mercy that the Lord is a God far off as well as at hand.
May a gracious God be your support in the furnace of affliction,
and bring you out of it in due time ! I have sent a bit of cloth
for a frock to dear Erskine.
" Farewell, my dear Mary. Lord grant good accounts of your
recovery. My kind love to you, Mr. Gray, and Miss Beugo,
to whom all of us stand greatly indebted.
My dear,
Your very affectionate sympathizing Mamma,
JEAN ERSKINE.
Glasgow, Sept. 13th, 17G6."
TO MRS. SCOTT, GATESHAW.
" MY DEAR SISTER,
" I intended to have wrote you before this time, but I
have such a feebleness both of body and mind that every thing
is a burden to me. I received yours when at Stirling the 25th
of last month, that very day my dear Alie* was interred. She
died on the 22d . The death of my dear child cannot but
open my wound afresh in a very sensible manner, f I think my
name is like to be Marah. I came out to the world with a large
family, and I am afraid I shall return empty even before I go
to the grave. But what a mercy has it been to us who are the
parents, that although we survive the most of our children, we
have had great comfort in them both in life and at death. I
see you have heard what happened to our grandchild. J Poor
man! he was a great trial to his grandfather and me: but no
body knows what sovereign grace may have done even in his
last'moments. For all the children we have lost, I never saw Mr.
* Her daughter, Mrs. Campbell
t Referring to the death of her daughter, Mrs. Erskine.
t He was lost at sea. This was Mr. James Erskine's only surviving son.—
Fraser's Life of Ralph Erskine, p. 527.
BRIEF NOTES RESPECTING MRS. FISHER. 95
Fisher in the manner, as on receiving the news of Ralph's death ;
— he burst out into tears, which was very affecting. Oh to hear
the language of these many rods, and that the Lord would show
me why he contendeth with me; for I cannot win yet to "re
joice in tribulation ! " May God himself bring me to that frame
of mind! Mr. Fisher is turned very frail. Last year, for some
months about this time, he was so bad with a violent cough and
defluxion that no life was expected. He has been somewhat
better this season, but still he has a bad cough. The Lord is
pleased still to keep the rod over our head. Peggie is very hap
pily married to a sober well-disposed young man in this place.
His name is Walter Ewing. This is somewhat comfortable to
us who are the parents, now in old age, amidst so many afflict
ing providences. Dear Sister, it seems you think I have little
of the Christian that would cherish anger at any person, espe
cially at a sister, for such a long time. I was indeed somewhat
fretted at your last letter to me, but I thought that answering
in the same way was but widening the difference, therefore I
forbore. I have got some other things to mind than petty quar
rels. We are so many years nearer the eternal world, therefore
"let us walk in love" towards one another, as an evidence that
we are beloved of God. Farewell, my dear Sister. Make my
own and Mr. Fisher's compliments to Mr. Scott and your two
sons.
I am, my dear Sister,
Your affectionate and afflicted Sister,
JEAN ERSKINE.
" Glasgow, February 9«7i, (apparently,') 1770."
Mrs. Fisher died December 1st, 1771.
On the taking down the Parish Church of Kinclaven, in order
to its being rebuilt, in the summer of 1848, a somewhat remark
able discovery was made. The stair to the pulpit consisted of
a flight of stone steps. On removing the uppermost of these
steps, there was found engraved on its under-side, the following
singular inscription :—
MR. JAMES FISHER,
MINISTER AT KINCLAVEN,
1740.
BY HIS SPOUSE, JEAN ERSKINE. *
" THE DEAD IN CHRIST SHALL RISE FIRST."
Information furnished by Rev. Mr. Young of Kinclaven.
T
96
APPENDIX.
It is difficult to say what induced Mrs. Fisher to place so singu
lar a monument in such a situation. It probably refers to,
what she must have considered as, ' the ecclesiastical putting to
death' of her husband as a witness for Christ— his deposition by
the General Assembly, — and expresses her faith that such a
death would be followed by an early resurrection. It is a curi
ous coincidence, that after being concealed for more than a
hundred years, this memorial of Mrs. Fisher's affection for her
husband, and faith in his Master, should come to light just
when an attempt to do tardy justice to Mr. Fisher's memory was
about to be made in this Memoir, and his literary remains about
to undergo a resurrection.
No. III.
MR. FISHER'S REGISTER OF THE DIVINITY HALL,
1750—1763,
WITH NOTES.
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED TO THE STUDENTS, FEBRUARY 1750.
James Robertson,
David Forrest,*
James Erskine,f
Time of Deliver,
Exeg. An Redemptio Secundum Impe-
trationem ejusdem sit Latitudinis cum
Applicatione?
Horn. 1 Cor. i. 30. " Who of God is
made unto us sanctification."
Exeg. An Alicui nisi Deo et Conscientiae
Rationem Opinionum Nostrarum circa
Religionem, reddere teneamur, dum-
modo quiet6 in Civili Societate nosmet
gesserimus?
Horn. Isa. xxxiii. 6. " And wisdom and
knowledge shall be the stability of thy
times,"
Exeg. An Sacrificia Lumini Naturali
Originem suam debeant? . . .
Horn. Mark ix. 24. "Lord, I believe;
help thou mine unbelief," ....
Lecture on Isa. 12th chap., ....
March 1.
March 8.
March
March 15.
March 8.
March 1.
(Thursd.
\Aprill9.
* Afterwards minister at Inverkeithing. He was a violent opponent of Mr.
Campbell's settlement at Stirling, and left the denomination before his death.
An account of his life was published.
t Son of the Rev. Ralph Erskine, afterwards colleague to lus uncle Ebenezer
in Stirling, and son-in-law to Mr. Fisher.— Ft* Fraser's Life and Diary of
Ralph Erskine, pp. 524— 5'27.
MR. FISHER'S REGISTER OF THE DIVINITY HALL. 97
John Brown,*
Daniel Cock, f
WiffiamM'Ewen.f
John Thomson, §
John Patison, ||
Time of Delivery.
An istiusmodi Adminicula data
Exeg.
skit Ethnicis, qua? ex se ad aliquem
Gradum Notitias salutaris ducant,
quamvis Verbo Scripto destituantur ?
Horn. Gen. iii. 22. " And the Lord God
said, Behold the man is become like
one of us, to know good and evil," .
Exeg. An Theologia Naturalis et Super-
naturalis, Gradu tantummodo, aut
etiam Specie, differant? ....
Horn. John xv. 3. "Now are ye clean
through the word which I have spoken
unto you,"
Ex. Num Doctrinse Trinitatis et Deitatis
Christi sint Veritates Fundamentals?
Horn. Jer. xvii. 12. "A glorious high
throne from the beginning is the place
of our sanctuary,"
Exeg. An Jus Dominii divini in Creaturas
rationales fundetur in Creatione ? .
Horn. Matt. iii. 8. " Bring forth there
fore fruits meet for repentance,"
Exeg. An Intentio promovendi aliorum
Ftelicitatem, sit Tessera Actionis Mo-
raliter bonse?
Horn. Rev. xix. 13. " His name is called
The Word of God,"
March 17.
March 22.
March 10.
March 29.
March 15.
March 29.
March 22.
March 31.
March 24.
March 31.
* Afterwards minister of Haddington, and successor to Mr. Swanston as
Professor of Divinity, author of the Self- Interpreting Bible, the Dictionary of
the Bible, and many other works. It is intended that a new edition of his
Select Remains, which have been very popular and long out of print, shall form
a part of this series of publications. Mr. Brown commenced his theological
studies under the superintendence of Ebenezer Erskine.
t Afterwards minister of Crawfordsdyke, Greenock, and Synod Clerk. He
went to America.
J Afterwards minister of Dundee — a man of fine genius and elegant taste.
He died young. His Sermon "On the Matter and End of Gospel Preaching,"
at the ordination of Mr. Dick, the father of the late Dr. Dick of Aberdeen, which
passed through several editions, is a first-rate discourse : and his work on the
Types, and his Essays, though posthumous, have great merit. Mr. M'Ewan
was also one of Ebenezer Erskine's students. The venerable Dr. Erskine speaks
of Mr. M'Ewen in the following terms : " Hervcy of the Church of England,
and M'Ewen of the Secession, are agreeable writers; but to attempt their man
ner is dangerous, without an uncommonly lively imagination, solid judgment,
and correct taste. Luxuriances of style, generally overlooked in original geni
uses, appear ridiculous in their servile imitators." — Discourses, vol. i. p. 58.
§ He settled for some time in Ireland, and then returning to Scotland was
for some time minister of Kirkintilloch. In consequence of losing his voice he
retired from the ministry, but took an active part against the Synod in the Old
Light controversy in 1797-8, &c.
II First Burgher minister in Edinburgh — a man highly esteemed among his
brethren. The author of an able historical defence of the Secession in a pre
face to the first edition of M'Ewen's Essays, addressed to JohnEaii of Glasgow
the Right Honourable Lord Commissioner.
98
James Wylie,*
John Brakenridge,
APPENDIX.
Time of Delivery.
Exeg. An ex Vocatione Discipulorum
rudium et illiteratorum, Sequatur tales
hodle ad Prasdicationem Evangelii ad-
mittendos?
Horn. Hosea vii. 8. " Ephraim is a cake
not turned,"
DISPUTATIONES MENSE MARTIO, AN. 1750.
RESPONDENTES.
Jacob. Robertson,
David Forrest,
Jacobus Erskine,
Daniel Cock,
Gul. M'Ewen,
OPPONENTES.
f Daniel Cock, Gulielmus M'Ewen,
| Joannes Thomson, Joannes Patison,
[David Forrest, Gulielmus M'Ewen,
I Jacobus Robertson, Jacobus Erskine,
Joannes Brown, } Jacobus W>'lie' Joannes Thomson>
Joann. Thomson, (David Forrest, Joannes Patison,
Joannes Patison, (Jacobus Robertson, Jacobus Erskine, j"
Jacobus Wylie, . Daniel Cock, Gulielmus M'Ewen.
Martii 3tio.
Martii lOmo.
Martii 17mo.
Martii 24to.
DISPUTATIONES, ANNO 1751.
KESPONDENTES. OPPONENTES. Tempus Dispui.
Gulielmus Gib, . David Forrest, Jacobus Wylie, . . Martii 8vo.
Joann. Anderson, . Gulielmus M'Ewen, Robertus Leny, . Martii 9no.
Guliel. Kidston,f . Gulielmus Gib, Joannes Anderson, . Martii 15to.
Robertus Leny, . Gulielmus Kidston, Gulielmus Knox, . Martii 16to.
Gulielmus Knox, . Joannes Thomson, Gul. M'Ewen, . Martii 22do.
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED TO THE STUDENTS, 1751.
John Thomson,
John Patison,
Timt
Exercise and addition on 1 John v. 6. )
" This is he that came by water and >
blood, even Jesus Christ," &c. . .)
Lecture on Isa. Ixiii. from the beginning
to the 6th verse
of Delivery.
Febv. 26.
March 5.
Feby. 15.
Feby. 15.
Feby. 19.
March 5.
Exercise and addition on 1 John v. 7."|
" For there are three that bear re- /-
Lecture on Rom. v. from the 17th verse
to the close of the chapter, . . .
* Afterwards minister of Scone. He was understood to be a good Hebrew
scholar.
t Afterwards minister of Stow, Tweedale— a man of a strong mind, and an
able, diligent, faithful minister. He stood high in the esteem of Mr. Brown of
Haddington and Dr. Lawson of Selkirk. He was the father of the venerable
William Kidston, D. D., Glasgow, now the Father of the United Presbyterian
Church.
MR. FISHER'S REGISTER OF THE DIVINITY HALL. 99
William M'Ewen,
William Gib,
John Anderson,
William Knox,
David Forrest,
James Wylie,
William Kidston,
Robert Leny,
Exercise and addition on 1 John
" And there are three that bear wit- V
ness in earth," )
Lecture on Phil. ii. from the 6th to the
12th verse,
Exeg. An Fides sit Conditio Foederis
Gratis?
Popular Sermon on Isa. xlix. 3. " Thou
art my servant, 0 Israel, in whom I
will be glorified,"
Exeg. An praeter Scientiam Naturalem
et liberam detur in Deo Scientia quae-
dam Media?
Homily on 1 John v. 12. " He that hath
the Son hath life,"
Exeg. An Dens sit omniprsesens Secun-
dum Essentiam?
Exercise and addition on 1 John v. 10.
" He that believeth on the Son of
God hath the witness in himself: He
that believeth not God huth made
him," &c.
Lecture on Col. iii. 1, 2, 3 and 4 verses.
Exercise and addition on I John v. 14.
" And this is the confidence that we
have in him, that if we ask any thing
according to his will he heareth us."
Lecture on Titus ii. 11,12, 13 and 14 verses.
Exeg. An Justitia Vindicatrix sit Deo
N aturalis ?
Exeg. An Summum Bonum alicubi, nisi
in ipso Deo reconciliato, positum sit ?
Time of Delivery.
. 8.)
Feby.
Feby.
Feby.
March 8.
March 29.
March 8.
March 29.
March 22.
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED TO THE STUDENTS,
TO BE DELIVERED FEBRUARY 1752.
John Patison,
William Gib,
John Anderson,
Pop. Serm. John iii. 34. " For God giveth
not the Spirit by measure unto him,"
Exer. and add. John xv. 9. " As the Fa
ther hath loved me so have I loved you ;
continue ye in my love," ....
Lect. John xvi. 12, 13, 14, 15. " I have
yet many things to say unto you," &c.
Exer. and add. John xvi. 7. " Neverthe
less I tell you the truth, it is expedient
for you that I go away," &c. . . .
Lect. Acts iii. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. "Repent
ye, therefore, and be converted, that
your sins," &c.,
Feby. 21.
March 3.
Feby. 18.
Feby. 18.
Feby. 27.
100
Wm. Knox, IreL,
William Kidston,
Robert Leny,
Geo. Coventry,*
Jno.M'Alaw,Irel,
David Smith,!
Wm. Ronaldson,
APPENDIX.
Time of Delivery.
Horn. Mat. v. 20. " For I say unto you,
that except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter
into the kingdom of heaven," . . Feby. 7.
Exer. and add. 2 Pet. i. 19. " We have
also a more sure word of prophecy,
whereunto ye do well that ye take
heed,"&c., Feby. 27.
Horn. 1 Cor. iii. 17. " If any man defile
the temple of God, him shall God de
stroy; for the temple of God is holy,"
&c., . . Feby. 14.
Lect. 2 Cor. vi. 8, last clause, 9, 10. "As
deceivers, and yet true; as unknown,"
&c, ...:.. Feby. 21.
Horn. Mat. ix. 12. "When Jesus heard
that, he said unto them, they that be
whole," &c., Feby. 21.
Lect. Mat. vi. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. " After
this manner, therefore, pray ye: Our
Father," &c., . . ....... • • . Marcn 6-
Exeg. An jus Regiminis civilis, in Populi
Majorum Electione, aut Successione
hereditaria, positum sit? .... Feby. 7.
Horn. Acts xvi. 31. "Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," March
Exeg. An Voluntas primi Adami ante
Lapsum, ad Malum seque ac Bonum
libera fuerit ?
Horn. Luke xiii. 5. " Except ye repent,
ye shall all likewise perish," . . ._
Exeg. An Anima Humana sit immateri
al?
Horn. Rom. v. 1. "Being justified by-
faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ," ....
Feby. 14.
March 6.
March 3.
March 9.
DISPUTATIONES ANNO 1752.
Thesis Ima. Jus Regiminis Civilis in Populi Majorum Elec
tione positum est. — Geo. Coventry, Respondens; Robertus
Leny et Joannes M'Alaw, Opponentes,
Thesis 2da. Voluntas primi Adami ante Lapsum ad Bonum
tantummodo libera fuit, quamvis fallibilis erat Adamus.
Febr. 14.
* Afterwards minister of Stichell,— a man of singular amiableness. Notices
of him are to be found in Dr. Hay and Belfrage's Memoirs of Dr. Waugh. He
was the father of the late Dr. Coventry, Professor of Agriculture in the Univer
sity of Edinburgh, and one of his daughters was the wife of the late Dr. Dick
of Grevfriars' Church, Glasgow.
t Afterwards minister at St. Andrews, and then went to Nova Scotia.
MR. FISHER'S REGISTER OF THE DIVINITY HALL. 101
—Joannes M'Alaw, Respondent
Coventry, Opponentes
Time of Delivery.
Gul. Knox et Georgius
Febr. 18.
VJUVdlULJj VjJpUJ.iCJ.iLt/u? .•• .....
Thesis 3tia. Anima humana est immaterialis. — David Smith,
Respondens; Joannes Pati son et Gul. Kidston, Opponentes,
Thesis 4ta. Philautia, seu Amor sui ipsius non est Princi-
pium Obedientise Moralis. — Respondens, Joannes Patison ;
Gul. Gib et David Smith, Opponentes,
Thesis 5ta. Nulla dantur Decreta Conditionata. — Gul. Gib,
Respondens; Joannes Patison et Joannes Anderson, Op
ponentes,
Thesis 6ta. Prsedestinatio, a Conditione aliqua in Homine,
ante Dei Decretum prgevisa, est absolute independens. —
Respondens, Gul. Knox; Gul. Ronaldson, Opponens, .
Martii 3.
Febr. 27.
Martii 6.
Martii 9.
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED TO THE STUDENTS,
AND DELIVERED ANNO 1753.
John Anderson,
William Knox,
William Kidston,
Robert Leny,
Geo. Coventry,
John M'Cala,
Wm. Ronaldson,
David Smith,
Lecture on Mat. v. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 verses,
Exercise and addition on Rom. vi. 5, .
Lecture Isa. Iv. 1, 2, 3, 4, ....
Pop. Sermon Isa. xlv. 22, ....
Lecture on Luke ii. 8 — 15, ....
Exercise and addition on Mark ix. 24,
Exegesis. AnPoense infernales sint eternse?
Exercise and addition on 1 Pet. v. 6, .
Lecture on Mat. v. 7 — 11, ....
Exercise and addition on 2 Pet. i. 21, .
Lecture on Psal. ex. 1, 2, 3, 4, . . .
Exercise and addition on James i. 6, .
Exegesis. An Jesus Christus, Filius Dei
appellatur, Secundum Naturam, aut
Secundum Officium ejus Mediatorium?
Lecture on Mat. xiii. 37 — 43, . . .
Exercise and addition on James iv. 8,
Exegesis. An Scripture Sacras vere sint
divinse et divinitus inspiratas ? . .
Homily on Mat. vi. 21,
Feby. 19.
March 1.
Feby. 5.
March 5.
March 12.
March 1.
Feby. 23.
March 6.
Jany. 25.
Feby. 5.
Jan. 19.
Feby. 23.
March 9.
Feby. 26.
Jan. 25.
Jan. 19.
Feby. 23.
DISPUTATIONES ANNO 1753.
Thesis 1. Scripturae Sacrse vere sunt divinae et divinitus in-
spiratae. — Dav. Smith, Respondens; Joan. M'Cala et
Rob. Leny, Opponentes, Jan. 25.
Thesis 2. Poenas Infernales sunt eternae. — Rob. Leny, Re
spondens; Gul. Ronaldson, Opponens, Febr. 23.
Thesis 3. Jesus Christus est Deus necessario existens et in
dependens. — Gul. Knox, Respondens ; Gul. Kidston et
Joan. Patison, Opponentes, Febr. 26.
Thesis 4. Jesus Christus, Filius Dei appellatur, Secundum
Naturam, non Secundum Officium ejus Mediatorium. —
Gul. Ronaldson, Respondens; Joan. Anderson, Opponens, March 9.
102 APPENDIX.
Time, of Delivery.
Thesis 5. Gratia physice praedeterminans, ad veram Conver-
sionem requiritur. — Joa. M'Ala, Respondens; Gul. Knox
et Dav. Smith, Opponentes,
Thesis 6. Justitia Christ! Mediatoria e4 sola Foederis Gratia)
Conditio. — Gul. Kidston, Respondens ; Rob. Leny, Op-
ponens,
Thesis 7. Adamus primus, in ipsa Creatione, Justitia Origi-
nah' ornatus fuit. — Rob. Leny, Respondens ; Joan. M'Cala,
Opponens,
Thesis 8. Anima Humana non est ex Traduce. — David
Smith, Respondens; Gul. Kidston, Opponens, . . .
Thesis 9. Nulla datur Distinctio inter Episcopum et Presby-
terum Sermone et Doctrina laborantem. — David Smith,
Respondens; Gul. Knox, Opponens,
Thesis 10. Primum Adami Peccatum, omnibus ejus Posteris,
naturaliter ab ipso oriundis, justissime imputatur. — Gul.
Ronaldson, Respondens; Joan. Anderson, Opponens, .
Febr. 26
March
March 9.
March 5.
March 6.
March 8.
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED TO THE STUDENTS,
AND DELIVERED ANNO 1754.
John Anderson,
William Kidston,
Wm. Ronaldson,
Geo. Coventiy,
David Smith,
John Beveridge,*
William Amot, f
Pop. Sermon on John xvii. 17. "Sanctify
them through thy truth ; thy word is
truth,"
Pop. Sermon on Psal. Ixxii. 17, first
clause, " His name shall endure for
ever,"
Pop. Sermon on Psal. Ixxxix. 28, last
clause, " My covenant shall stand fast
with him,"
Pop. Sermon on Rom. iv. 20. " He stag
gered not at the promise of God through
unbelief," &c.,
Exercise and add. on 1 Tim. iv. 10. "Who
is the Saviour of all men, specially of
those that believe,"
Exegesis. An Mors et Satisfactio Christi,
ex Dei consilio, et Christi Voluntate,
omnium et singulorum Loco, facta sit :
An vero Electorum tantum ? . .
Homily on 1 John v. 20. " This is the
true God, and eternal life," . . .
Exegesis. An Existentia Dei sit natu
raliter, et per se Nota?
Febr. 23.
Mar. 13.
Mar. 25.
Mar. 5.
Mar. 11.
Febr. 23.
Mar. 18.
Mar. 5.
* Afterwards minister at Falkirk. The father of the Rev. Henry Belfrage,
D.D., who was his colleague and successor. A most judicious divine and ex
cellent man. The name is spelled Belfrage, in a subsequent page, which was
the orthography adopted by the family.
t Afterwards* minister at Kcnnoway. Author of an elaborate volume of
Sermons, entitled " The Harmony of the Law and the Gospel"
MR. FISHERS REGISTER OF THE DIVINITY HALL. 103
Time of Delivery.
Horn. 2 Tim. iii. 16, first clause, " All
William Archer,
scripture is given by inspiration of
God,"
Exeg. An Revelatio necessaria sit ad
Salutem?
Exeg. An circa futura contingentia et
libera, Deo competat Praescientia con-
jecturalis tantum?
March 18.
Mar. 11.
DISPUTATIONES ANNO 1754.
Time of Delivery.
Thesis Ima. Mors et Satisfactio Christi, ex Dei Consilio et
Christi Voluntate, non omnium et singulorum Loco, facta
est, sed Electorum tantum. — Joan. Beveridge, Respondens;
Gul. Coventry et Dav. Smith, Opponentes, ....
Thesis 2da. Existentia Dei est Naturaliter et per se Nota.
— Gul. Arnot, Resp. ; Joan. Beveridge, Opponens, . .
Thesis 3tia. Revelatio necessaria est ad Salutem. — Gul.
Archer, Resp. ; Gul. Arnot, Opponens,
Thesis 4ta. Quicquid factu et creditu necessarium est, per-
fecte, et (quantum sufficit ad Salutem) perspicue, in Sacris
Scrip, continetur.— Joan. Anderson, Resp. ; Gul. Kidston,
Opponens,
Thesis 5ta. Tres sunt in Divina Essentia Persona?, Pater,
Films, et Spiritus Sanctus, Proprietatibus incommunica-
bilibus inter se distinctse. — Gul. Kidston, Resp. ; Joan.
Anderson, Opponens,
Thesis 6ta. Objectum Praedestinationis sunt omnes Homines,
quatenus in Adamo creati et lapsi, atque sic Morte eterna
digni. — Geo. Coventry, Resp.; Dav. Smith, Opponens,
Thesis 7ma. Mundus non est eternus, sed conditus fait in
Principio Mosaico. — Dav. Smith, Resp.; Geo. Coventry,
Opponens,
Thesis 8va. Imago Dei ad quam Homo ab Initio conditus
fuit, non in solo Dominio consistebat, sed justitia Originalis
fuit potior et praecipua ejus Pars. — Joan. Beveridge, Resp. ;
Gul. Arnot, Opponens,
Thesis 9na. Si Adamus primus in Integritate originali per-
mansisset, nunquam moriturus fuisset. — Gul. Kidston,
Resp. ; Gul. Archer, Opponens,
Thesis lOma. Omne Peccatum est per se et Natura sua Mor-
tale, nullum vero veniale. — Gul. Ronaldson, Resp. ; Joan.
Beveridge, Opponens,
Thesis lima. Agnoscendum est in Homine, praeter Actuales
Transgressiones, Peccatum quod a Theologis dicitur Origi-
nale. — Gul. Arnot, Resp. ; Gul. Ronaldson, Opponens,
Thesis 12ma. Peccatum potest esse Poena Peccati.
Feb. 23.
Mar. 5.
Mar. 11.
Mar.
Mar. 15.
Mar. 8,
Mar. 12.
Mar. 19.
Mar. 21.
Mar. 25.
Mar. 22.
104
APPENDIX.
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED TO THE STUDENTS,
AND DELIVERED ANNO 1755.
William Kidston,
David Smith,
John Beveridge,
William Arnot,
William Archer,
James Mitchel,
Exeg.
Time of Delivery
An Foedus Sinaiticum sit Foe-
dus operum aut Gratise ? ....
Pop. Serm. Hebr. xii. 29. " For our God
is a consuming fire,"
Lecture, Mat. xxii. 34 — 41.
Pop. Serm. Phil. iii. 12. " But I follow
after, if that I may apprehend," &c.,
Exeg. An Polygamia et Concubinatus
Patriarcharum Vitio caruerit? . .
Exer. and add. 1 Tim. ii. 6. " Who gave
himself a ransom for all, to he," &c.,
Exeg. An Lex Dei Naturalis, ut Deca-
logo exprimitur, et Scripturis exponi-
tur, sit immutabilis et eterna?
Exer. and add. 2 Pet. ii. 1.
Exeg. An bona opera praacedant aut
sequantur justification ?
Horn. Kev. i. 7.
Exeg. An quih'bet in sua Religione ser-
vari possit?
Horn. Kev. xxii. 14.
March 11.
March 12.
March 11.
DISPUTATIONES, ANNO 1755.
Prceter Theses Exegetkas, superioribus Qucestionibus comprehensas,
sequentes Disputationi subjiciebantur.
Thesis Ima. Dominium temporale non fundatur in Gratia.
— Gul. Kidston, Defendens; Dav. Smith, Opponens.
Thesis 2 da. Omne Peccatum est sua Natura mortiferum. —
Dav. Smith, Defendens; Gul. Kidston, Opponens.
Thesis 3tia. Remissa Culpa, remittitur Poena. — Joan. Bev
eridge, Defendens; Gul. Archer, Opponens.
Thesis 4ta. Christi Victima sola fuit expiatoria. — Gul. Archer,
Defendens; Joan. Beveridge, Opponens.
Thesis 5ta. Pronitas ad Malum non fluit ex Principiis Naturae
integrae. — Gul. Arnot, Defendens ; Jac. Mitchel, Opponens.
Thesis 6ta. Ignorantia non excusat Peccatum. — Jac.
Mitchel, Defendens; Gul. Arnot, Opponens.
MR. FISHER'S REGISTER OF THE DIVINITY HALL. 105
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED TO THE STUDENTS, AND
DELIVERED MARCH AND APRIL, 1756.
David Smith
John Beveridge,
William Arnot,
William Archer,*
James Mitchel,
John Bennet,
Archd. HaU,f
Andrew Moir, J
Tin
Lect. on Luke ix. 28, 29, 30, 31, . .
Pop. Sermon on Luke ix. 31. " Who ap
peared in glory, and spake," &c.,
Lect. on Luke ix. 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36,
Pop. Sermon on Luke ix. 35, . . .
Lect. on Psal. xxiii,
e of Delivery
March 25.
March 30.
March 24.
March 29.
March 18.
March 30.
March 18.
March 29.
April 8.
April 21.
April 8.
April 21.
Exer. and add. on 1 Pet. iii. 18, . .
Exer. and add. on 2 Pet. ii. 5, , . .
Lect. on Psal. xliii.,
Exeg. An Deum credere unum essentia,
tnnum Personis, Polytheismum, vel
Contradictionem implicet ? . . .
Horn, on Rom. i. 20,
Exeg. An Religiones Hysteria debeant
exigi ad Lumen Rationis nostrse cor-
ruptas, et ex illo suspend!? . . .
Horn. (Excused from it.)
Pop. Sermon on Rom. vii. 9. "I was
alive without the law," &c., . . .
DISPUTATIONES ANNO 1757.
Time of Delivery.
Thesis Ima. Robertus Nicol, Defendens; Alexander Shanks,
Opponens. — Mundus non est vel potuit esse ab aeterno,
Thesis 2da. Virtutis et Vitii Discrimen non ex Sensu
Morali sed ex jure naturali petendum est. — Jacobus Oli-
phant, Respondens; Alexr. Dick et Gul. Arnot, Oppo-
nentes,
Thesis 3tia. Mendacium non est sub ullo Prastextu licitum.
Robertus Campbel, Respondens; Jac. Mitchel et Joan.
Belfrage, Opponentes,
Thesis 4ta. Omnis Notitia ex Sensibus non hauritur. — Joan.
Craig, Respondens; Jac. Bennet et Rob. Mcol, Opponentes,
Martii 25.
Martii 28.
Martii 28.
April 7.
* Died May 11, 1756.
t Afterwards minister first at Torphichen, and then at Wells Street, Oxford
Road, London. A man before his age, distinguished for piety, and judicious
ness. He was perhaps the first among the Burghers, who apprehended dis
tinctly the true relation of Church and State. His writings are numerous and
valuable; especially his " Gospel Worship," " Church Fellowship," "Humble
Attempt," — a Defence of Presbytery, and his posthumous Treatise on Faith.
J Afterwards minister of Selkirk. One of the most popular preachers of his
time. He published a number of sermons, all of them highly creditable to him
as a scholar, a divine, and an orator. Father-in-law to Dr. Lawson, his suc
cessor.
106
APPENDIX.
Time of Delivery.
1 hesis 5ta, Hysteria Fidei ita sunt supra Rationem, ut tamen
non sunt contra illam. — Robertus Harper, Responderis;
Joan. Bennet et Tho. Litster, Opponentes, .... April 21.
Thesis 6ta. Nulla absurda Moses narrat, vel indigna Fide. —
Alexr. Shanks, Respondens; Joan. Johnston et Joan.
Low, Opponentes, April 4.
Thesis 7ma. Resurrectio Mortuorum et possibilis est, et
futura. — Joan Johnston, Respondens ; Arch. Hall et
Robertus Harper, Opponentes, April 4.
Thesis 8va. Applicatio Redemptions adasquatur ejus Im-
petratione, ut nee latior sit, nee angustior. — Alexr. Dick,
Respondens; Joan. Belfrage et Dav. Erskine, Opponentes,
Thesis 9na. Animae non transeunt de Corpore in Corpus;
sed unicuique Homini sua Anima est peculiaris. — Joan.
Low, Respondens; Jac. Oliphant et Rob. Campbel, Op
ponentes, April 21
Thesis lOma. Deum esse Spiritum incorporeum, et Scrip-
tura et Ratio luculenter docet. — Jac. Bennet, Respon-
^ dens ; Joan. Craig et Tho. Litster, Opponentes, . . . April 19.
Thesis lima. Dantur Tartara et Poenae infernales, in quibus
irapii sunt aeternum cruciandi. — Tho. Litster, Respon
dens; Gul. Arnot et Joan. Bennet, Opponentes, . . . April 19.
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED TO THE STUDENTS, ANNO 1757.
Alexr. Dick,*
Dav. Smith,
James Mitchel,
John Belfrage,
William Arnot,
John Bennet,
Archd. Hall,
Pop. Serm. James i. 17. "Every good
gift and every perfect gift is from
above, and cometh down from the
Father of lights, with whom there is
no variableness, neither shadow of
turning,"
Pop. Serm. Acts xix. 5,
Pop. Serm. Rom. iii. 27. " Where is
boasting then ?"
Pop. Serm. Mark i. 15. " Repent ye,
and believe the gospel," ....
Pop. Serm. Luke xi. 21, 22, ...
Exer. and add. Heb. x. 38. "Now the
just shall live by faith; but if any
man draw back," &c.,
Horn. Psal. xiv. 1. " The fool hath said
in his heart. There is no God," . .
Exer. and add. James i. 22. " But be
ye doers of the word, and not hearers
only, deceiving your ownselves,"
Time of Delivery.
April 8.
April 22.
March 21.
March 16.
March 25.
April 18.
March 16.
March 29.
* Afterwards minister of Aberdeen. The father of the Rev. John Dick, D.D.
A man of excellent talents and primitive worth.
MB. FISHER'S REGISTER OF THE DIVINITY HALL. 107
James Oliphant,*
Robert Campbel, f
John Craig, Irel.
Robt. Harper, Irel.
Robert Nicol, J
Alexr. Shanks, §
John Johnstoun, ||
Time of Delivery
Exeg. An turpis et honesti, Virtutis et
Yitii Discrimen, ex Sensu Morali, seu
mero Hominum arbitrio; an vero ex
Jure Natural!, omnium conscientiis in-
sculpto, petendum sit? .... March 28.
Horn. Psal. cxlvii. 5. " Of great power," April 11.
Exeg. An Mendacium, sub ullo Pra>
textu, licitum sit? March 28.
Horn. Psal. cxlvii. 5, third clause, " His
understanding is infinite," . . . April 11.
Exeg. An omnis Notitia ex sensibus
hauriatur? April 7.
Horn. Gen. ii. 7. "And the Lord God
formed man out of the dust of the
ground," April 1.
Exeg. An Hysteria Fidei, ita sint supra
Rationem, ut tamen non sint contra
illam? April 21.
Horn. Heb. xi. 6, second clause, " He
that cometh unto God must believe that
he is," April 7.
Exeg. An Mundus sit, vel potuerit esse
ab seterno? March 25.
Horn. Psal. xc. 2, March 21.
Exeg. An ulla absurda Moses narret,
vel indigna Fide? April 4.
Horn. John v. 39, first clause, " Search
the scriptures," March 29.
Exeg. An Resurrectio Mortuorum sit
possibilis et futura? April 4.
Horn. 1 Cor. xv. 33. " Be not deceived,
evil communications corrupt good
manners,"
April 1.
* Afterwards minister of the Established Church, Dumbarton. Author of
" Catechisms" which were considerably popular in their day. It is said Mr.
Fisher gave the profits of two Action Sermons, which he published in 1755, to
assist in Mr. Oliphant's education.
t Afterwards minister of Stirling. Perhaps the most accomplished orator,
ever produced in the Secession. Mr. Fisher's son-in-law. Author of two ex
cellent Sermons. A notice of him is to be found in the Memoir of his son-in-
law, John Smart, D.D., his colleague and successor, by his grandson, John
Smart, D.D.. Leith — prefixed to a volume of posthumous Sermons.
J Afterwards minister of Kelso.
§ Afterwards minister of Jedburgh, — distinguished for personal piety and
masculine eloquence. He published two volumes of Sermons in his lifetime,
one in 12mo. and another in 8vo. He also published a number of occasional
tracts. Two of them, connected with the political disturbances at the com
mencement of the French Revolution, awakened a good deal of interest. A
posthumous volume of Sermons, with a short Memoir, was published by his
amiable colleague and successor, the Rev. Peter Young. He declined a pen
sion when offered by Government, and recommended the minister of the parish
to the notice of the Crown.
|| Afterwards minister of Ecclefechan, then called the Congregation of An-
uandale. A most venerable, judicious, useful minister.
108 APPENDIX.
Time of Delivery.
John Low,* Exeg. An Animse transeant de Corpore
in Corpus ; an vero unicuique Hornini
sua Anima sit peculiaris? . . . April 21.
Horn. Actsxvii. 28, first clause, "For in
him we live, move, and have our being," April 8.
James Bennet, Exeg. An Deum esse Spiritum incorpo-
reum, et Scriptura, et Ratio luculenter
doceat? April 19-
Thos. Litster,f Exeg. An dentur Tartara et Poenje in-
fernales, in quibus impii sint aeternum
cruciandi? April 19.
Dav. Erskine, J Pop. Serm. Eph. v. 7. " Be not ye
therefore partakers with them," . April 18.
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED TO THE STUDENTS, ANNO 1758.
Arch. Hall,
James Oliphant,
Robert Campbel,
Alexr. Shanks,
John Johnston,
Robert Nicol,
Lect. Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26, 27.
will I sprinkle clean water upon you,"
&c.,
Pop. Sermon 1 John iii. 2. " Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it
doth not yet appear," &c., . . .
Exer. and add. 2 Pet. iii. 7. " But the
heavens and the earth which are now,
by the same word are kept," &c., .
Exer. and add. 2 Pet. iii. 8. " But, be
loved, be not ignorant of this one thing,
that one day is with the Lord," &c.,
Exer. and add. 2 Pet. iii. 10. " But the
day of the Lord will come as a thief
in the night," &c.,
Exer. and add. 2 Pet. iii. 11. " Seeing
then that all these things shall be dis
solved, what manner," &c., . . .
Exer. and add. 2 Pet. iii. 9. " The Lord
is not slack concerning his promise,
(as some men count slackness,) but,"
Time of Delivery.
Then
Feby. 21.
Feby. 25.
March
March 3.
Feby. 21.
March 8.
March 8.
* Afterwards minister of Biggar — a popular preacher and diligent minister.
t Afterwards minister of Dundee — successor of Mr. M'Ewen. He died young.
The Rev. Mr. Shirra of Kirkcaldy gives an account of his last days in his
" Deathbed Dialogue."
J Son of Ebenezer Erskine. He was a young man of most promising abili
ties, and had distinguished himself at the University. But owing either to
over-application to the study of abstract science, or to the agitations produced
in a very sensitive mind by " the Cambuslang work," his nervous system was
permanently injured, and he was obliged to abandon his design to devote him
self to the ministry. He edited a posthumous volume of liis father's sermons.
MB. FISHER'S REGISTER OF THE DIVINITY HALL. 109
John Low,
Tho. Litster,
Rich. Rammadge,
James Fletcher,*
Peter Watson,
John Chalmers,
John Bety,
Time of Delivery.
Exer. and add. 2 Pet. iii. 12. "Looking
for, and hasting unto the coming of
the day of God," &c.,
Horn. 1 John iii. 4. " Whosoever com-
mitteth sin transgresseth also the law,
for sin is a transgression," &c., . .
Exeg. An sola Honestas Moralis sufficiat
ad Salutem?
Horn. 1 John iii. 5. " And ye know that
he was manifested to take away our
sins, and in him," &c., ....
Exeg. An Summum Bonum in Animi
Dotibus, Mundanis Deliciis, an vero
aliunde quaerendum sit? . . . .
Horn. 1 John iii. 8. " For this purpose
the Son of God was manifested," &c.,
Exeg. An Voluntas Dei sit prima Jus-
titia3 Regula? (Did not deliver it.)
Horn. 1 John iii. 23. " And this is his
commandment, that we should believe
on the name of his Son," &c., . .
Exeg. An Jesus Nazarenus, quern Ju-
dsei per Pilatum crucifixerunt, sit verus
illeMessias?
Horn. 1 John iii. 8, first clause, " He
that committeth sin is of the devil,
for the devil sinneth from the begin
ning." (Did not deliver it.)
Exeg. An Miracula quas patravit Moses,
non magica, sed vere divina fuerint?
(Did not deliver it.)
Horn. 1 John iii. 8, second clause, u For
this purpose the Son of God was mani
fested, that he might destroy," &c.,
March 25.
March 23.
March 18.
Feby.
March 18.
March 25.
April
March 25.
March 31.
DISPUTATIONES ANNO 1758.
Time of Delivery.
Thesis Ima. Ad Thesin, Richardi Rammadge; Joan. Chal
mers, Opponens, Mar. 18.
Thesis 2da. Ad Thesin, Joannis Chalmers; Rich. Ram
madge, Opponens,
Thesis 3tia. Ad Thesin, Jacobi Fletcher; Petrus Watson,
Opponens,
Thesis 4ta. Ad Thesin, Petri Watson; Jac. Fletcher, Op
ponens. (Non disputarunt.)
Mar. 25.
Mar. 18.
* Afterwards minister at Copshawholm, Liddesdale, Roxburghshire; a man
of singularly primitive manners. He imbibed Dr. Ridgley's views respecting
the Sonship of Christ, and spent the evening of his days in private life.
110
APPENDIX.
lime of Delivery.
Thesis 5ta. Prasdestinatio est absoluta, vel plane indepen-
dens a Conditione aliqua, ante Dei Decretum pracvisa. —
Arch. Hall, Respondens; Jac. Oliphant, Opponens, . Mar. 22.
Thesis 6ta. Prasdestinatio est immutabilis, ita ut Electi
nulli deficere, nee Reprobi ulli servari queant. — Jacobus
Oliphant, Respondens; Arch. Hall, Opponens, . . . Mar. 22.
Thesis 7ma. Singuli Homines ad suum Firiem particulariter
prasdestinantur. — Rob. Campbel, Resp.; Alexr. Shanks,
Opponens, ... Mar. 24.
Thesis 8va. Aliqui tantum, non omnes sunt electi. —
Alexr. Shanks, Resp. ; Rob. Campbel, Opponens, . . Mar. 24.
Thesis 9na. Fideles, de sua Electione ad Gloriam, infallibili-
ter in hac Vita certiorari possunt. — Joan. Johnston,
Respondens; Rob. Nicol, Opponens, Mar. 24.
Tliesis lOma. Ethnici, Divina Revelatione destituti, Salvari
nequeunt. — Rob. Nicol, Resp. ; Joan. Johnston, Opponens, Mar. 24.
Thesis lima. Potentia creandi nulli Creaturas communica-
bilis est. — Joan. Low, Respondens; Tho. Litster, Oppo
nens. (Non d sputarunt.)
Thesis 12ma. Mundus in Principio Mosaico creatus fuit. —
Tho. Litster, Respondens; Joan. Low, Opponens. (Non
disputarunt.)
Thesis 13tia. Astrologia judiciaria, ex Usu Luminarium,
extrui nequit. — Joan. Bety, Respondens; Joan. Carlisle,
Opponens. (Non disputarunt.)
Thesis 14ta. Omnia, sine ulla Exceptione, Divinae Providen-
tiae subsunt. — Joan. Carlisle, Respondens; Joan. Bety,
Opponens. (Non disputarunt.)
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED TO THE STUDENTS,
AND DELIVERED ANNO 1759.
James Oliphant,
Robert Campbel,
John Johnston,
John Low,
Tho. Litster,
Alexr. Shanks,
Time of Delivery.
In a family at Campbeltoun this year.
Lecture on John i. 29—34, .... March 16.
Pop. Sermon on John i. 34. " I saw and
bare record that this is the Son of
God." (Did not deliver it.)
Lecture on Heb. xi. 7. to 10, . . . March 17.
Pop. Serm. Heb. xi. 10. "He looked
for a city that hath foundations," &c.,
Lecture on Heb. xi. 1 — 6, .... March 16.
Pop. Serm. on Heb. xi., first clause of
ver. 6. u But without faith it is im
possible to please God," .... March 31.
Exer. and addition on 2 Pet. iii. 14.
" Wherefore, beloved, seeing ye look
for such things," &c., April 3.
Lecture on Phitem. 1 — 22, .... March 8.
Pop. Serm. Rorn. i. 17, March 12.
MR. FISHER'S REGISTER OF THE DIVINITY HALL. Ill
Robert Nicol,
Peter Watson,
James Fletcher,
Thos. Edmund,
Sarn. Kinloch,*
John Craig, Irel.
Lecture on Prov. viii. 13 — 19.
Pop. Serm. 1 Pet. ii. 24, . . . .
Exer. and addition on 2 Pet. iii. 17, .
Last year's Exegesis. An Voluntas Dei
sit prima Justitia? Regula? . . .
Exer. and addition on 2 Pet. iii. 18, .
Exeg. An Mpralitas Actionum fundetur
in Sympathia, aut in Benevolentia Uni
versal!?
Horn, on Rom. ii. 14,
Exeg. An Ethnici, Divina Revelatione
destituti, Salvari queant ?
Pop. Serm. Rom. viii. 4, ....
Exer. and addition on 2 Pet. iii. 13, .
Time of Delivery.
March 8.
March 12.
April 3.
March 21.
March 21.
March 19.
March 17.
March 31.
March 19.
DISPUTATIONES ANNO 1759.
Ad Thesin, Thomas Edmund; Sam. Kinloch et Petrus Wat
son, Opponentes, March 19.
Ad Thesin, Petri Watson ; Jacobus Fletcher, Opponens, . March 22.
Ad Thesin, Samuelis Kinloch; Alexr. Shanks, Opponens.
(Non disputarunt.)
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED TO THE STUDENTS,
AND DELIVERED ANNO 1760.
James Oliphant,
Time of Delivery.
Lecture on Mat. xxv. 1—6, . . . March 10.
Pop. Serm. on Mat. xxv. 6. " And at
midnight there was a ciy made, Be
Robert Campbel,
hold the bridegroom," &c., . . .
Last year, Pop. Senn. on John i. 34.
March 12.
John Low,
Lecture on Isa. 12th chap., ....
March 11.
Pop. Serm. on Isa. xii. 3. "Therefore
Thos. Litster,
with joy shall ye draw water," &c.,
Lecture on Mat. xxv. 7, 8, 9, 10, . .
March 20.
March 27.
James Fletcher,
Pop. Serm. on Matt. xxv. 10, last clause,
Lecture on Mat. xxv. 31, 32, 33, 34, .
Pop. Serm. on Mat. xxv. 34, ...
April 3.
April 26.
April 1.
* Afterwards went to America;— returned to this country and was lone-
minister of Paisley. His portly form and fondness for systematic divinitv oh
tained for him among his associates the appellation Doctor. On its beinsr asked
at an acquaintance how he had got his title, it was replied, "By universal con
sent— wliich is as good as the consent of a university."
112
Tho. Edmund,
John Beaty, Irel.
Joseph Ker, Irel.
Jas. M'Alaw, Irel.
John Bennet,
APPENDIX.
Exer. and addition on 2 Pet. iii. 14,
Time of Delivery.
March 11.
Exeg. An Miracula quse patravit Moses,
non magica, sed vere divina fuerint?
Exer. and addition on Rev. i. 18. " I am
he that liveth and was dead, and be
hold I am alive," &c.,
Exeg. An Theologia Naturalis sufficiens
sit ad Salutem?
Horn, on John iv. 24. " God is a Spirit,"
Exeg. An Ratio Humana sit principium
et fundamentum Theologite r . .
Horn, on John iv. 24, second clause,
" And they that worship," &c., . .
Lecture on Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24, 25, 26,
Pop. Serm. on 1 John iii. 1, ...
March 10.
March 26.
March 19.
April 4.
March 19.
April
April
2.
DISPUTATIONES.
Ad Thesin, Joannis Beaty ; Thos. Edmund, Opponens,
Ad Thesin, JosephiKer; Jacobus M'Alaw, Opponens. (Non
disputarunt.
Ad Thesin, Jacobi M'Alaw; Joannes Beaty, Opponens.
(Non disputarunt.)
Time of Deliver}/.
March 20.
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED AND DELIVERED, ANNO 1761.
Robert Campbel,
Thos. Edmund,
James Fletcher,
Joseph Ker,
James Moir,*
Tim
Pop. Serm. on John i. 29. " Behold the
Lamb of God, that taketh away," &c.
Lecture on Dan. ix. 20 — 25, . . .
Pop. Serm. on Dan. ix. 24. " And bring
in everlasting righteousness," . .
Pop. Serm. on Heb. v. 9. " And being
made perfect, he became the author,"
&c
z of Delivery.
April 3.
March 23.
March 23.
March 27.
March 27.
March 23.
March 6.
April 3.
Lecture on Psal. xxiii.,
Pop. Serm. on Psal. xxiii. 5, first clause,
" Thou preparest a table for me," &c.,
Exeg. An Ethnici, Divina Revelatione
destituti, Salvari queant? . . .
Horn. Gen. i. 1. " In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth,"
* Afterwards minister, first at Cumbernauld and then at Tarbolton. Author
of a number of publications on the controversy excited by Dr. M'GilTs Practical
Essay on the Death of Christ, distinguished for their ability.
MR. FISHER'S REGISTER OF THE DIVINITY HALL. 113
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED IN FEBRUARY, 1762.
Thos. Edmund,
Jas. M'Alaw, Irel
James Moir,
•John Marshal, *
Sam. Kennedy,
Ireland,
Jas. Waugh, from
Jedburgh, f
Geo. Wilson,
William Hall,
Time of Delivery.
Did not come
At Monyqueel in Arran. __
Zthis year, because his time with
5 family ends with May; and if h<
came over in the months of February,
March, and April, he would have thai
time to make up in Summer.
Exercise and addition on Jude ver. 21.
" Keep yourselves in the love of God,"
Lecture on John iii. 16, 17. " God so
loved the world," &c.,
Exer. and addition on Jude ver. 24, 25.
" Now unto him that is able to keep
you from falling," &c., ....
Exeg. Andetur Theologia Naturalis ?
Horn. John iii. 3. "Jesus answered and
said, Except a man be born again,"
&c.,
Exegesis. An Dei Existentia sit Natu-
raiiter et per se Nota?
Horn. John i. 1, last clause, u And the
Word was God,"
Exegesis. An Ethnici, Divina Revela-
tione destituti, Salvari queant? . .
Horn. Acts viii. 37, last clause, " I be
lieve that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God,"
Exegesis._ An quilibet in sua Religioiie
Servari possit ?
Horn. Luke xix. 13. "Occupy till' I
come,"
ixegesis. An Scripturas Same vere sint
Divinae, et Divinitus inspirataj?
Horn. John vi. 48. " I am the bread of
life,"
March 10.
March 31.
Feby. 24.
March 9.
March 25.
Feby. 24.
March 10.
March 9.
March 25.
March 15.
April 2.
March 15.
April 5.
DISPUTATIONES ANNO 1762.
Ad Thesin, Joannis Marshal; Jacobus Moir, Opponens, .
Ad Thesin, Samuelis Kennedy ; Joannes Marshal, Opponens,
Ad Thesin, Jacobi Waugh; Samuel Kennedy, Opponens, .
Ad Thesin, Georgii Wilson ; Jacobus Waugh, Opponens,
* Afterwards minister of Alnwick— a most saintly man
t Afterwards minister of Sundcrland, Durham.
J Afterwards minister of Bathgate. He died young
Time of Delivery.
March 9.
March 9.
Eod. Die.
Martii 13.
114
APPENDIX.
Ad Thesin, Gulielmi Hall; Georgius Wilson, Opponens,
Poense infernales sunt seternae.— Jacobus Moir, Defendens;
Jacobus M'Alaw, Opponens, . . . • • .• • • •
Mundus non est eternus, sed in pnncipio Mosaico conditus
fuit. — Jacobus M'Alaw, Defendens; Gulielmus Hall,
Opponens,
Time, of Delivery.
Martii IB.
Eod. Die.
Eod. Die.
March 22c7, 1762.— Five weeks after I was begun to teach came up
Mr John Bennet, detained (as he said) by his aunt's indisposition
from coming up sooner. And Mr. George Thomson, Precentor to
Mr. Thomas Mair, who had been three years attending Mr. Alex
ander Moncrief as one of his Students, before the Antiburgher
party proceeded against Mr. Thomas Mair; but ever since their
sentence of deposition against Mr. Mair, the said Mr. Thomson had
left them and cleaved to Mr. Thomas Mair's ministry, and teaches
a school at Milnathort. This Mr. Thomson was recommended to
me by Mr. Swanston. I prescribed to them the following Dis
courses : —
John Bennet,
George Thomson,-
Time of Delivery.
His Lecture on Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24, 25,
26, prescribed in the year 1758, and
not yet delivered. He delivered it this
year,
Pop. Sermon on Ezek. xxxvi. 27, first
clause, " I will put my Spirit within
you,
April
April 2.
DISCOURSES PRESCRIBED TO THE STUDENTS, AND
TO BE DELIVERED ANNO 1763.
James Moir,
James Waugh,
John Marshal,
Geo. Wilson,
Time of Delivery.
Lecture on Psal. ex.
Pop. Serm. on Psal. ex. 4. " The Lord
hath sworn and will not repent, Thou,"
&c.
Exer. and addition on Jude ver. 1.
" Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ,
and brother of James," &c.
Exer. and addition on Jude ver. 3.
"Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you," &c.
Exer. and addition on Jude ver. 4.
" For there are certain men crept in
unawares," &c.
* Afterwards minister of Kilmany or Rathillet. He embraced Mn Thomas
Mair's views as to the atonement, left the denomination, joined the Old Light-,
and published some Sermons and Tracts oil prophetical and other topics.
MR. FISHER'S REGISTER OF THE DIVINITY HALL. 115
Time of Delivery.
William Hall, Exer. and addition on Jude ver. 5.
" I will therefore put you in remem
brance though you once," &c.
John Riddoch, * Exegesis. An Dei Existentia ex Solo
Lumine Natural! cognosci possit?
Horn. Heh. xiii. 8. "Jesus Christ, the
same to-day, yesterday, and for ever."
Thomas Dickson, Exegesis. An Ratio Hominis Contro-
Ireland, versiarum iudex sit?
Horn. John i. 1, last clause, " And the
Word was God."
John Rogers, Irel.f Exegesis. An Revelatio necessaria sit
ad Salutem?
Horn. Heb. xi. 6. " But without faith it
is impossible to please him."
Jos. Little, Irel. Exegesis. An Anima Humana sit im-
materialis?
John Henderson, J Exegisis. An Hysteria Fidei, ita sint
supra Rationem, ut tamen non sint
contra illam?
Horn. 1 Tim. iii. 16, second clause,
" God was manifest in flesh."
Thomas Watters,§ Exegesis. An Jesus Nazarenus, quern
Judge!, per Pilatum crucifixerunt, sit
verus ille et promissus Messias?
Horn, on John iii. 27. " Jesus answered
and said, a man can receive nothing,"
&c.
Geo. Thomson, Lecture on Heb. x. 19 — 23. " Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter
into the holiest," &c.
March 2.
DISPUTATIONES.
Ad Thesin, Joannis Riddoch; Thomas Dickson, Opponens.
Ad Thesin, Thomse Dickson ; Joannes Riddoch, Opponens.
Ad Thesin, Joannis Rogers ; Josephus Little, Opponens.
Ad Thesin, Josephi Little ; Joannes Rogers, Opponens.
Ad Thesin, Joannis Henderson ; Thomas Watters, Opponens.
Ad Thesin, Thomas Watters; Joannes Henderson, Opponens.
* Afterwards minister at Coklstream.
t Afterwards Professor of Divinity to the Associate Burgher Synod of Ire-
J Afterwards minister at Dunbar. A most venerable and amiable man.
Author of three excellent Discourses " on the Legal Temper."
§ Afterwards minister of Alloa,
ff-ir The most of the names to which no note is appended are those of Irish
students, who returned and settled in their native country.
116
APPENDIX.
January llth, 1764. — As the Irish Students, who came over here,
had not access to attend their own Presbytery in Ireland ; accord
ing to recommendation of last Synod, in case I was not to teach,
as I am not resolved to do this year, I prescribed to them the fol
lowing Discourses. To —
Samuel Kennedy,
John Rogers,
Joseph Little,
Exercise and addition on Jude ver. 20.
Lecture on Rev. i. verses 4, 5, and 6.
Exercise and addition on Jude ver. 21.
Exercise and addition on Jude ver. 17.
No. IV.
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER, CHIEFLY TO RELATIVES.
The following letters, written at intervals during the space of
nearly half-a-century, with one exception relate entirely to do
mestic events, and some of them singly may be thought but of
trivial importance and little interest. They have been inserted
as affording the most authentic and effectual means of delineat
ing some of the most characteristic and pleasing features of the
distinguished subject of the preceding narrative; and as fitted
not merely to remove somewhat extensively prevalent mistakes
as to the sourly ascetic character of the first Seceders, but to
correct the wider and more important error, that that zeal for
religious truth, and strictness in religious duty by which they
were characterized, are seldom connected with the gentler charf-
ties of nature, or do not well comport with the courtesies of
polished society.
No. 1. TO MISTRESS JEAN ERSKINE* (Afterwards Mrs. Fisher).
" MY DEAREST,
" I have made you so many and so ingenuous assurances
of my most sincere affection and love to you, that it is almost
impossible for me to do it now in stronger terms, especially when
I have not the least suspicion that you think me a dissembler in
this matter. The flattering and deceiving part of mankind de
light in flourishing speeches, embellished with all the art of
rhetoric; but where love is sincere, it is not words that are so
much to be noticed as the way and manner of expressing the
* Unmarried ladies in Scotland seem at this time to have been uniformly
addressed Mistress. In England Miss was coming into use.
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER.
affection ; and it is always observable, that where love is strong
est, there is the greatest difficulty of expressing it in words, be
cause in that case it is almost impossible to find language to
express the inward fondness of the mind. Thus I am sure it is
with myself. I am conscious that my love to you is most sin
cere, and disinterested. I am conscious likewise that it is as
great as one creature can have to another, and yet I still find it
upon the increasing hand, and I cannot find words to express to
you the strength of my affection. And were I sure that I pos
sess the same room in your affections that you do in mine, I
would think myself among the happiest men in the world as to
earthly comfort. But what encourages me in the meantime is,
that I would fain natter myself with the thought that you have
no aversion to me, and that by this time you esteem me at least
above other men. But, my dearest, although I dare not ven
ture to say further, yet this is not all that I would have even in
the meantime ; for whether I shall have the satisfaction to know
it beforehand or not, yet it would be no doubt my desire above
all earthly things that your affection to me were as great as
mine is to you. I had certainly satisfied my fondness in seeing
you at Dunfermline had not your peremptory, and I had almost
said cruel, command discharged me from doing so. Had I
thought that it was only from a principle of modesty that you
laid me under this restraint, I had ventured upon disobedience ;
but I took you to be so peremptory, that rather than disoblige
you I must deny myself the satisfaction of seeing you till you
come to Portmoak, where I hope you will allow me an agreeable
interview. I need not, my dearest, tell you what I am sure you
doubt not, that when I wish spiritual and temporal happiness to
myself, I wish it to you, and that all purchased blessings may
be" conferred upon you in the same degree as I would desire for
myself.
Yours in the strictest bonds of affection and love while
JAMES FISHER.
"Aug. 25, 1726."
No. 2. TO THE REV, RALPH ERSKTNE, DUNFERMLINE
?, 24* March, 1743.
" KEY. AND VERT DEAR UNCLE,
" It pleased the Lord that my wife was safely delivered
of a son upon the 12th inst. So soon as he was born I named
him "Ralph, and intimated that name when I presented him for
baptism. My wife is now tolerably well recovered, which is
matter of thankfulness to the Lord, and the child is very well,
113 APPENDIX.
at the nursing about half-a-mile from the town. Your brother
came here on Tuesday the loth, preached and baptized the child
on the Thursday thereafter, which is our ordinary week-day
sermon. He preached likewise on the Sabbath after, and is to
preach this day and Sabbath next, if the Lord will. . . . My
child that came lately to the world, though outwardly beautiful
and healthy, yet bears the image of the first Adam; but the
same grace that has defaced that image in the name-father is
sufficient for the name-son; there is still so much to the fore,
nothing yet diminished."
No. 3. EXTRACT OF A LETTER TO THE REV. MR. KING, DROMORE,
DATED GLASGOW, 18xH JAN., 1748.
" MR. A and you made me believe that you Avere to lay
a representation of grievances before the General Synod, and
among other things it was to be craved that a warning should
be emitted against Mr. Taylor's book," [Dr. John Taylor of Nor
wich on Original Sin,] " and that notice should be taken of those
ministers who subscribed for the same, or at least of those who
cannot but be reputed to have propagated such an erroneous
book as Mr. H J , who subscribed for 32 copies. If
redress in these matters were refused, you were to make a stand
for truth. I wrote a long letter to Mr. A to be communi
cated to you, wherein I moved that you might draw up a faith
ful representation of grievances, — such as that several sitting
members of Synod have not subscribed the Confession of Faith,
— that there are many gross errors presently abounding, such as
the denying the imputation of Adam's first sin to his posterity,
the original corruption and depravation of our nature, the im
putation of Christ's righteousness, &c., — that Tayloi*'s book
against original sin. sapping the foundation of the whole doc
trine of Christianity, is propagated in this kingdom, and that
some members of Synod have encouraged the reprinting and
propagating of the same; and craving that the Synod would
condemn the above errors, and assert the opposite truths, and
emit a warning against Taylor's book, and censure such as
have propagated the same: and likewise craving, that, in or
der to the preservation of the purity of doctrine contained in
the Westminster Confession of Faith, the formula of subscrib
ing the same be amended, and that therein it be expressly
declared that I do not subscribe the said Confession merely
as a bond of peace, but as the confession of my faith — or
any other words to the above purpose answering the end of
preventing a mock subscription of the Confession : and if this
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER. 119
representation and petition was either refused or delayed, I ad
vised that you should have a protestation in readiness, wherein,
after an ad'herenee to the above representation, you should de
clare your secession from the said General Synod as no lawful
or rightly constituted court of Christ, in regard that they refuse
to assert the truths of Christ, and preserve and maintain the
purity of doctrine in opposition to the errors raging at this day;
and that it shall be lawful and warrantable for you to constitute
yourselves into a Presbytery, without any subordination to the
same Synod, in order to prosecute the ends of testimony for the
purity of the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government main
tained in the Church of Scotland, and solemnly engaged to by
the three kingdoms. . . . Instead, however, of falling in with
what I advised, which at that time I hoped you would have
done, you have huddled all up in what you call 'A Serious
Warning from the General Synod of Ulster,' which is indeed a
strange piece, and deserves to be exposed as a grave-stone upon
truth. It is not so much as supposed [in it] that there is an
erroneous member in your whole Synod. The painful task of
libelling is put upon the people, although you cannot but know
how that will issue. The keenest edge of your warning is
against the Seceders, at whom you seem to be more offended by
far than with those of the New Light way ; with whom you seem
plainly to have put it up by adopting the principle, 'That our
sincere obedience to the moral law qualifies us for communion
with God here, and eternal life hereafter.' I appeal to yourself
if this is not the same upon the matter with what Mr. Colville
asserts in that scandalous sermon — I can call it no better — which
he preached on occasion of the death of Mr. Niven, p. 21. The
above assertion overturns the doctrine of original sin, the satis
faction of Christ and his imputed righteousness, which you men
tion in your Warning. In my view, nothing can qualify for com
munion with God here and eternal life hereafter but vital union
with the Lord Jesus by faith; and it is plain from Scripture,
and from our Confession, that that obedience which is not of
faith can never be acceptable to God, and consequently can
never qualify for communion with him here nor eternal life
hereafter, Heb. xi. 6; Conf. vi. 2, 3, 7. Though I had not,
therefore, freedom when I was in Ireland to preach in your
congregation, nor in Mr. H 's, because I then thought in
genuously that you were coming forward to give a testimony for
truth at the ensuing Synod, yet now that I see that you have
upon the matter consented that all testimony for the truth be
buried, and that you are most keenly enraged against those
who desire to display a banner for the truth, were I in Ireland
again I would have all freedom to preach in your congregations,
if the people invited me. I am sorry that I have this to say,
120 APPENDIX.
that those whom I looked upon to be the defenders of truth have
been the betrayers of it. Dear Sir, your Serious Warning is
but a mere sham and blind, and, I believe, will impose on but
few of the intelligent. I could earnestly wish that you and Mr.
A would yet bethink yourselves, and heartily espouse the
Lord's cause, for the vindication and defence of buried truth,
which I am sure you can never do in conjunction with the
General Synod, as matters are presently constituted. I offer
my kind service to Mr. A and his family, where I was so
kindly entertained.
I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 4. TO MRS ALISON SCOTT AT GATESHALL.
" Glasgow, 21st Sept., 1756.
" DEAR SISTER,
" About two or three weeks ago, a letter came to hand
from Mr. Smith of Jedburgh, with the melancholy news of your
son Eben's death. I missed the opportunity of the carriers once
and again, by being out of town, which is the reason of not writing
you sooner. Your sister and I were very sensibly affected with
this sharp and afflicting dispensation of adorable Providence to
wards you, which tended to revive in our memories trials of the
like nature we have often met with, particularly Jessy's death,
who was come a considerable length, as your dear child also
was. And thus we endeavoured to place ourselves in your cir
cumstances, and to sympathize with you, as we could, as having
had frequent experience of the loss of such engaging and endear
ing comforts. It gives me great pleasure to find by Mr. Smith's
line, that the Lord has been pleased remarkably to support you
under such a trying dispensation, and that divine cordials have
not been quite withheld. You know very well that he gives in
finitely more than he takes away from us. "I will be thy God"
is infinitely more than all created comforts in one. While him
self is to the fore, we cannot be said to be destitute or stript of
our all. If you are helped to a kindly submission to God's will
of Providence in this matter, and to justify him therein, as hav
ing a sovereign and absolute disposure of you and yours, it may
be a token for good that the Lord will preserve your only sur
viving child unto you, and likewise give you the comfort o*f both
in one. Although your trial be smart, it might still be smarter.
There is mercy mixed with the rod that you have some earthly
comforts still behind, and his mercies ought to be noted as well
as his judgments. " Whoso is wise, and will observe these
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER. 121
things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the
Lord." I earnestly wish the Lord may comfort you against
grief on every side. The more you think upon the great and
precious promises, and what is contained in them, and the less
you pore and reflect upon your departed child, the more will be
your inward peace and composure.
" My wife and I and daughters here have our kind respects
to you and Mr. Scott. . . Let us hear from you with the car
riers from Jedburgh, and you shall not be long in getting a
return. I am,
Dear Sister,
Your very affectionate and sympathizing Brother and Servant,
JAS. FISHEB."
No. 5. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, April 14, 1758.
" DEAR SISTER,
" It is so long since I heard from you that I am per
suaded I wrote you last, and though at present I think so, yet I
have not scrupled to write you again. Your sister and I long
much to hear of your and your family's welfare. I was much
indisposed this last season with a swimming in my head; but
the Lord was pleased to order it in his adorable providence, that
though the trouble seized so violently on most of the week-days
that I was obliged to go to bed, yet I was never laid aside from
preaching by it on the Sabbaths save one afternoon. And now
the Lord has been pleased to remove it quite from me for a month
bygone, which hath not been the case near these two years past.
I desire to bless the Lord that I have never felt any'bad effect
of the sentences passed by our brethren upon us : and I have
often heard our dear friends your father, uncle, and cousin
Henry Erskine, who I hope are now in glory, say the same.
" My wife and I and our daughters all of us join in our kindly
respects to Mr. Scott, to you, to William, and our sister Mary
Erskine, who we hear is with you. I am,
My dear Sister,
Your very affectionate Brother and Servant,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 6. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, Sept. 22, 1762.
" MY DEAR SISTER,
"Yours of the 21st of the last to my wife was
very acceptable. She wrote you by the carrier immediately
122 APPENDIX.
after the death of our dear daughter Mrs. Erskine, and we were
sorry afterwards to find that the letter miscarried, and never
came to your hand. There is no sympathy like that which
flows from experience. You now know the heart of a parent in
the loss of one hopeful child— we of several ; and therefore ought
the more readily to bear one another's burdens. But not only
our children, but other valuable and useful friends are now re
moved from us. Your father, your uncle, and his three sons,
all ministers, are gone off the stage of time never to appear on
it any more, and I will not readily be long behind them; for
though I be in tolerable health just now, yet by the course of
nature I cannot be far from my latter end, being entered on the
sixty-fifth year of my age since February last.
" Your niece, Alie, whom we thought once in a bad way, is
now quite recovered. She was much the better of being some
time with Mrs. Henderson at Airthry.*
" All this family have their endeared love to you, and to Mr.
Scott. I am glad to hear that your son William at Dalkeith is
well spoke of by every body, and that Eben is a thriving child.
I hope the Lord will add to their numbers.
Dear Sister,
Your very affectionate Brother,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 7. TO MISS MARY ERSKINE.
" Glasgow, Nov. 10, 1762.
" DEAR MALLY,
" Yesterday I received a letter from Mr. Shirra, with
the enclosed to you, which is sent you unopened; none here
would be so ungenerous as to open a letter of that kind: how
ever he acquaints your mamma and me, that therein he makes
a proposal of marriage unto you, and earnestly wants our con
currence. Both of us are well pleased with the proposal, if it is
agreeable to your mind, and think it every way more feasible
than the last motion that was lately made and rejected; so that
you have the concurrence of your parents in giving a modest
reception to this proposal, in case you see him before we see
you. Meanwhile we will lay no constraint upon you to do any
thing in the momentous step of marriage. All your sisters, and
your brothers likewise, concur in the motion. You may com
municate this to your aunt, and see what she thinks of it. She
will readily write us her mind; but it needs not be talked of to
* The salubrious nature of the springs there seems to have been known so
early as 1762.
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER. 123
any but amongst ourselves. All of us here have our kind re
spects to your aunt and our love to you. I am,
My dear Mally,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 8. TO MISS ALISON FISHER AND TO MRS. GRAY.*
" Glasgow, Aug. 15th, 1763.
" MY DEAR ALIE,
"Your mamma and I have been pretty lonelisome this
summer, — none of our daughters with us but Peggie. — If you
incline to stay two or three weeks longer, and to return by Stir
ling, your mamma and I will not be against anything that will
tend to recreate you and confirm your health ; though we are
longing to see you. With our endeared love to you all three,
I am,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
TO MRS. GRAY.
" MY DEAR MALLY,
"Both your parents wish you and your husband all
the comfort and happiness of a married lot. We hope you are
married in the Lord, and in that case " A little that a righteous
man," or woman, "hath is better than the riches of many wicked."
It is the blessing of the Lord only that maketh rich. — Study to
be obliging to your husband, as I am persuaded he is to you.
You are married for life, and the more constant and equal your
mutual love and affection to each other is, the more happy will
you be in one another's society. Your mamma and I have our
kindest love to Mr. Gray and you. I am,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
TO BOTH MY DAUGHTERS.
I TRUST you do not neglect to fear the Lord, by praying to
him in secret at least morning and evening every day. I have
endeavoured to devote you to the Lord, and yourselves have
* Mary Fisher had been lately married to Mr. John Gray, Printer, Edin
burgh ; and her sister, Alison, was on a visit to her.
124 APPENDIX.
engaged once and again to be his at his table. Study, there
fore, to have a conversation becoming the gospel in all wisdom
and prudence : —and the God of all grace be with you both."
No. 9. TO MR. JOHN GRAY.
" Glasgow, Dec. 26, 1764.
" VERY DEAR SON,
"It gave us all here very great concern when we heard
by yours of Mary's illness. — I hope the Lord will give his bless
ing to the means using for her recovery. Tell Peggie that I
did not at all take ill what she wrote. Her mamma and I were
much diverted with the smartness of her reflections, only we
think that the proposal from such a deserving young man might
at least require some consideration. — I am very glad you are
throng in business, and that Mr. Brown's small Catechism sells
well. None of them are yet come to this place, though very
much wanted. The swelling of my feet is abating, and I hope
to be quite well in a few days. I preached the half of the day
last Sabbath, and hope to preach the whole Sabbath next. By
my confinement to the house for two weeks past, I have come
better speed on the Catechism. I am just now on the question
" What is effectual calling? " I am,
Your affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 10. TO MRS. GRAY.
" Glasgow, Jan. 10, 1766.
" MY VERY DEAR MALLY,
"Your mamma-would gladly come to see you, but she
was so sick in the chaise the last time she came from Stirling
that she says that she doubts if ever she will venture abroad
again. She tells me she wrote you about taking care of your
self; — an advice which I second and back with all the warmth
and earnestness that can warm the heart of a parent. Do not
give entertainment to slavish fears. I trust that the same divine
hand that has carried multitudes through will preserve you also,
and compass you about with songs of deliverance. I shall desire
not to forget you in secret. What our Lord said to Jairus I say
to you, " Be not afraid, only believe." Entrust yourself into his
kindly hand, and there will be no fear of you. Your mamma
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER. 125
and sisters join me in our endeared love to Mr. Gray and you
I am,
My dear Child,
Your most atFectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER.
"P.S.— Tell my dear Son, Mr. Gray, that I have sent the
two manuscripts of Mr. Brown's with Mr. Mowbray, according
to his desire."
No. 11. TO MR JOHN GRAY, PRINTER, IN JACKSON'S
CLOSE, EDINBURGH.
(Without date, but must have been towards the end of May 1766. )
" MY VERY DEAR SON,
" It was very comfortable news to us all. and what we
much longed to hear by yours of the 26th, that Mary was safely
delivered of a daughter, and that she was in a hopeful wav
having got good rest, and being refreshed therewith. My wife
and I desire to join you in thankfulness to the Lord, for his
sparing and recovering mercy on this occasion. We ouo-ht not
to forget his benefits; and, whoever is so wise as to observe the
conduct of his Providence, especially as it is subservient to the
promise, even they shall see the love and kindness of the
Lord.
"I see by yours that the child's name is Erskine, which is no
doubt agreeable to us here who are the grand-parents We
were somewhat diverted with your description of the child •—
that she is a fine lively child, of such growth that the midwife
said she might have made her appearance a month sooner and
that she is very engaging. By ourselves, we easily saw how
much she had already attracted your affections. But we should
always remember that these (like all other time's-things) are
very uncertain pleasures. We have our endeared love to one
and all of you, and Mr. Campbell. Tell him that I expect from
him a particular account how you all are, and how Mary con
tmues to recover; if there is no remnant of trouble hanging
about Ahe and likewise concerning the affairs of the Assembly,
of which 1 have as yet got no distinct account. I am,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
126 APPENDIX.
No. 12. TO MRS. GRAY.
" Glasgow, June 17, 1766.
" MY DEAR MALLY,
" As your mamma and I had you much on our minds
before your delivery, (and I hope at a "throne of grace,) so we
have essayed to be thankful to God since your delivery, that
your recovery has been so comfortable and without any back-
setts that we heard of, and that our dear young grandchild
Erskina is in such a thriving way. These mercies are matters
of much thankfulness to the Lord. And the more thankful we
are, the more humble we will be, considering that we are less
than the least of his favours. — We hear you have the nurse in
the house, which, though it may perhaps be somewhat more
expensive, yet it will be by far a greater pleasure to have the
dear child continually under your own eye. I have written to
Alie about her coming home. Your mother and I join in our
endeared love to you and Mr. Gray, whom we expect to see
next week. I am,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 13. TO MR. JOHN GRAY.
" Glasgow, July 28, 1766.
" MY VERY DEAR SON,
" Nothing could give greater pleasure to my wife, two
daughters, and me, than the agreeable accounts by yours of
Thursday evening last of our dear Mary's being considerably
better. *We are glad that little dear Erskine is so happily pro-
vide(l§'_I hope you and we will concur in ascribing the glory of
your spouse's begun recovery to the Lord, and wait on him for
the perfecting of it. Let us hear by to-morrow's evening post
how matters continue with her. The post hour is now come.
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 14. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, July 31, 1766.
" MY VERY DEAR SON,
" In consistency with a desire at submission to adorable
Providence so far as we can attain it, we cannot help being con
cerned and uneasy about the long continuance of dear Mary's
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER. 127
feverish ailment. What gives us encouragement is the favour
able opinion of her physicians, (if it be candid,) and the good
hopes you entertain of her recovery. It gives us great pleasure
to hear that Miss Babby Beugo waits on our daughter, she being
such a sagacious girl. When Mary is somewhat better I will
write her. Our endeared love to you all. I am,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 15. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, August 6, 1766.
" MY VERT DEAR SON,
"I desire to join with you in blessing the Lord for the
favourable turn he has mercifully pleased to give unto dear
Mary's ailment; — that the fever is mostly gone, and that she
had some better rest on the night of Monday last than she has
had since the trouble seized her. And our getting no letters
this day I take as a token for good that her recovery is continu
ing. I hope we shall all of us be enabled to ascribe the glory
of this and all our other mercies to the glorious Author of them.
— Although we flatter ourselves in the meantime about Mary's
recovery, we will be glad to be confirmed in a particular ac
count of it by course of post. Our endeared love to you both.
I am,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 16. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, Sept. 3, 1766.
" VERY DEAR SON,
" Acquaint my wife that, by the mercy of God, all of
us here are in good health, and are glad to hear by yours
yesterday that she is so likewise, which tended to compose my
mind, which was formerly doubtful about that material circum
stance.
" Our receiving no accounts by this day's post was interpreted
by all that knew it, that dear Mary was rather in a more favour
able way than on Monday evening. I doubt not that her phy
sicians do all in their power for her relief; but, in the use of
lawful means, there must be a looking above them to the great
and sovereign Physician, who has the power of life and death
in his hand. She is in the Lord's hand, and none knows but
he may yet bring her back from the gates of death, and spare
4 X
128 APPENDIX.
her for a comfort to us all. It gives me great pleasure to find
her so agreeably exercised about her soul's state; and yet even
that makes me more averse to quit grips.
" You may be sure I would strongly incline to see her, but it
is not possible for me to come and return in three or four days,
as I behoved to do, or let my people be vacant on a Sabbath,
which would not be for edification, as they have been in that
situation once and again this season already. It gives me much
satisfaction that my dear wife is with her, who can be of more
use to her every way than ten of me could be. Sure I am that
my sympathy at the throne of grace, such as it is, is not awant-
ing.
" I conclude with my endeared love to you all. I am anxious
lest my dear wife, out of love to our daughter, put herself to too
much fatigue. I am,
Very dear and afflicted Son,
Your very much affected and sympathizing Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 17. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgoio, 20th Sept., 1760.
" MY VERT DEAR SON,
" To my great surprise my wife arrived here this even
ing, betwixt 7 and 8, in good health, but much fatigued. I am
glad of the accounts she gives of dear Mary, that, though she
be still in great distress, there is, at least, a probability of her
recovery, that she has some appetite, and her pulse regular,
though quick. She is in the Lord's hands. I trust her soul is
bound up in the bundle of life with the living Head, and that
he will spare her to glorify him a while yet upon earth.
"It being Saturday night, and my studies on hand, I have
not time to insist. Only, by the first return of post, send us
word how our dear daughter is. She is much upon our heart.
Our endeared love to you and her, and Miss Babby Beugo, who
takes such a tender care of her. I am,
My dear Son,
Your very affectionate and sympathizing Father,
JAMES FISHER.
" P. S. — I was so confused with one thing or other when writ
ing the above, that I forgot to mention my dear Annie ; but she
is seldom out of mind for all that. All of us here are in health.
"We are all of us anxious to know if any favourable symptom
continue, and how far Mary's pulse is below 130, which'was the
last number you mentioned."
LETTERS OF MR. FISUER. 129
No. 18. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, Sept. 26, 1766
" MY VERY DEAR SON,
" Yours of the 24th I received in course. I am glad to
find thereby that upon the whole dear Mary is no worse than
when her mamma left her: that abstracting from her folly of
sitting up too long and fatiguing herself by walking too much
in the little room, whereby it seems she has not been quite so
well since, symptoms seem to continue as formerly. I hope
her pulse by this time is come below 120. Do not forget to in
form me in your next of this and of other circumstances that
may have occurred either upon the favourable or disagreeable
side, because I desire to regulate myself at a throne of grace
according to your information about her. My wife is not quite
so well as she was before;* but I hope the effects of her fatigue,
and the anxiety she was in about her tedious journey, will soon
wear off. She bids you tell your spouse, that though the situa
tion both of your family and ours required her return, and that
though absent as to bodily presence, yet a large portion of her
heart remained with her dear daughter in distress, whom she
cannot relieve, till the Lord himself condescend to do it in his
own time.
My dear Son,
Your very affectionate and sympathizing Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 19. MR. JOHN GRAY TO THE REV. JAMES FISHER.
" Edinburgh, Oct. 3, 1766.
" REV. AND VERY DEAR FATHER,
" The doctors have, I am afraid, but little hopes of her
[Mrs. Gray's] recovery. As she does not seem to be mending
she cannot but be weaker. However it is wonderful to see her
in the way she is, considering the severity of her trouble and
the length thereof. She has need of patience, poor woman.
The Lord has laid a heavy rod on her. But we hope she will
not be left comfortless under it. She was inquiring when the
Synod is ; she expects to see you then. Two or three times she
has been talking of it. She said you would come to see her as
much as the Synod. Erskine is thriving very well. Our en
deared love to Mrs. Fisher and you and all the family. I am,
Rev. and dear Father,
Your afflicted Son,
JOHN GRAY."
* Vide Letter 17.
130 APPENDIX.
No. 20. TO MR. JOHN GRAY.
" Glasgow, Oct. 6, 1766.
" MY VERY DEAR SON,
" The hopes I had conceived of the probability of my
dear daughter's recovery made me lay aside all thoughts of com
ing to the ensuing Synod: travelling in any shape not being so
agreeable to me now as it was some years ago. But upon the
receipt of your last, wherein you tell me that two or three times
she had been talking of her expecting to see me at the Synod,
and particularly that she said that I would come to see her as
much as to attend the Synod, you may now acquaint her that
her mother, who was very loth to leave her, is fond I should
come in, (since it is her desire,) and that I should stay about
eight days with her if we are both spared. And you may assure
her, that if it were not to wait on her for a little time under
such long continued distress, the Synod would not see me at
this time. I resolve, if the Lord will, to set off in one of our
Glasgow flys on the morning of Tuesday the 14th, because, after
preaching all day on Sabbath, I would be unfit for taking jour
ney on Monday morning. Meanwhile let us hear this week how
she is. Our endeared love to you all. I am,
My dear Son,
Your very affectionate and sympathizing Father,
JAMES FISHER."
, No. 21. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, Oct. 24, 1766.
" MY VERY DEAR SON,
" I was yesterday in the Fly all day alone, and, except
ing a little jolting to my body, I had otherwise as pleasant a
passage as ever I had in' my lifetime for as much time. I ar
rived at five o'clock in perfect health, and am noway fatigued
this day. I found all this family well, and gave them as true
and candid an account of dear Mary as I could. Let me know
if Mr. Moubray has heightened the vents, and how she continues
to be, if Dr. Rutherford has called, or any material circumstance
about her. Tell her I will write her next week. She will not
readily doubt our sympathy. Our sincere love to you, Miss
Babby, and Annie.* I am,
Your very affectionate and sympathizing I ather,
JAMES FISHER."
* Miss Ann Fisher, who was waiting on her sister.
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER. 131
No. 22. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, Nov. 18, 1766.
" MY VERT DEAR SON,
" Since the last accounts you give of my dear daughter,
I have given up all hopes of life in this world, though I make
no doubt of her title to eternal life in the world to come, secured
in virtue of her union with Christ, and the imputation of his
righteousness. In regard no letters came this day, (your last
being on the night of Saturday the 15th,) my wife and I were
fond to conclude that possibly there might be a change to the
better ; but she having taken so many turns, we are afraid of
worse accounts. We are deeply concerned for her, and tenderly
sympathize with her, and were both of us this day regretting
that by reason of the distance, and other circumstances, we can
not be with her in the time of her extremity ; but we desire to
devolve her on his hand who is the everlasting Father and un
changeable Friend, and who only can be a suitable help to her
in time of her need. Into his hands we desire to commit her
both soul and body, trusting that they are both his own. and
shall appear among His in the day he makes up his jewels.
My wife and I are uneasy about the breaking of the skin. It
will certainly be very painful and distracting to a dying person.
I could wish you to desire Dr. Macfarlane or Mr. Adie to ask
at Dr. Black, who is now Professor of Chymistry in your Col
lege, the name of the powder and ointment which he prescribed
for Mr. David Pagan. All of us sympathize with you, and have
you all fondly in remembrance. I am,
Your very affectionate and sympathizing Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 23. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, Nov. 22, 1766, near to Three in the morning.
" MY VERY DEAR SON,
" The bearer came about two o'clock this morning with
the afflicting account of dear Mary's death yesterday morning.
It is absolutely impossible, in a rational way, that I can come
in to her burial on Monday, after the fatigue of the Sabbath,
having none to preach for me. And though it were delayed till
Tuesday morning it would be the same thing as to the journey
on Monday: besides, I am to preach at Mr. Campbell's ordina*-
tion at Stirling next week, and to go off in a chaise for that
132 APPENDIX.
place on Tuesday morning. Not being able to sit up long for
fear of incapacitating me for my studies through the day, I shall
write you in the beginning of the week at more length. I think
the burial should be on Monday at any hour that is customary
in the place. May the Lord himself comfort you and us against
grief on every side ! I am,
My dear Son,
Your very affectionate and afflicted Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 24. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, Nov. 24, 1766.
" MY VERY DEAR SON,
" I doubt not but you are fully satisfied that my not
coming to Edinburgh this day to attend my dear daughter's
funeral flowed entirely from my inability at this period of life
to set off so early on a journey of such a distance after the
fatigue of preaching all day yesterday, though I had not had
Mr. Campbell's ordination to attend this week at Stirling on
Thursday, where I am appointed to conclude the work of the
day.
" You have lost a well-disposed and affectionate wife, and her
parents a fond and dutiful child. Under such a trying dispen
sation to you and us, the discoveries she gave of an interest in
the Lord Jesus, and acquaintance with the vitals of religion,
may afford no small comfort both to you and us. The tender
care you have had of her, and the expense you have been at in
the use of all lawful means for preserving her life, will preserve
the same regard in this family towards you as if she were to the
fore. And no doubt but the remembrance of her will enhance
both your affection and ours to dear little Erskine, the only re
mains of her she has left behind. Oh, what a pleasure is it
that our Lord Jesus liveth for evermore, and is the same to-day,
yesterday, and for ever — his righteousness and fulness invariably
the same ! It is but a short while till each of us go home our
selves. I doubt not but in heaven the redeemed will know one
another. The disciples knowing Moses and Elias on the Mount
is some foundation for it. Let us mutually sympathize with
one another at a throne of grace, which is the best sympathy.
" There is a chaise come this evening from Stirling to take
Mr. Campbell and me there to-morrow, because the Presbytery
meets upon the Wednesday before the ordination. I design to
return on Tuesday next week. Meantime you may write my
wife by the return of the post how you, Annie, and Miss Beugo
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER. 133
are, after this melancholy event, and how dear Erskine is thriv
ing. Poor child ! she will never know, but by dull report, that
ever she had a mamma, who was so excessively fond of her.
We have our endeared love to you all. I am,
My dear Son,
Your much afflicted and affected Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 25. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, Dec. 8, 1766.
" MY VERT DEAR SON,
" I stayed in Stirling with Mr. Campbell the Sabbath
after his ordination and preached in the afternoon. He came
off with me for Glasgow on Tuesday last week, and preached to
a very throng auditory upon Thursday the 4th current, the day
appointed by our Synod for a Thanksgiving, and returned to
Stirling next day. We are all in perfect health at present. It
will no doubt be a melancholy time with you. And indeed a
moderate vent to natural affection, upon the loss of the nearest
friend a man can have on earth, is not only warrantable but
laudable; providing always there be a due submission to the
sovereign will of adorable Providence. One thing may give
some comfort to you and to us, and that is, that I hope we have
no ground to sorrow as those who have no hope. The Lord
hath been pleased to take from us a valuable temporal blessing ;
but to balance this, there are two things he will never take
away. First, his love — for wherever he pitches it, he will rest
in it; and then his special gifts of grace, particularly the un
speakable gift of his Son Christ Jesus, and all the spiritual
blessings that go along with him. All these are absolutely
irrevocable. Since then there is infinitely more to the fore than
what is taken away, let us encourage ourselves in the Lord, who
has said, ' I am thy God,' — the word that was so sweet to our
now deceased Friend.
" Dear Son, you may be assured that the same regard and
affection in this family will be maintained towards you as when
your dear spouse was alive. The care and concern you exer
cised about the dead will not be easily forgotten by the living.
If your business were not throng at present, we think it might
contribute to your health, after the late event of providence, to
take a ride to this place for a few days. Meantime let us hear
from you in course how you all are. Send word how dear little
Erskine is. All of us join in our endeared love to every one of
you. I am, My dear Son,
Your very affectionate and sympathizing Father,
JAMES FISHER."
134 APPENDIX.
No. 26. TO MISS ANNIE FISHER, EDINBURGH.
" Glasgow, Dec. 16, 1766.
" MY DEAR ANNIE,
" Your sister's death, to which you were a witness, is a
loud call to prepare for the same event, by flying in to the Lord
Jesus, as the only hope set before you. Consider, my dear
child, that God has in the promise made a gift of him to you in
particular, as well as to others who hear the gospel, and nothing
will be a suitable preparation for death but a receiving him by
faith, or an appropriating him to yourself as the Lord your
righteousness. You have as good a title to him as any of
Adam's family ever had
" No doubt we would be fond enough to have you home, but
our sympathy with Mr. Gray is such, that, if you keep your
health, we are satisfied you stay with him for some time, espe
cially as, it seems, Miss Babby Beugo is gone. We were sorry
to hear you had got a little of a cold ; we hope it will wear off;
only be sure to take special care of yourself, by not going out in
surly, tempestuous weather, without necessity, in the winter
season.
" I hope and am persuaded, my dear Annie, that you don't
omit prayers to God morning and evening, and reading a part
of the Scriptures, which contain the very food of your soul.
And, on the Sabbath evenings, read the Explication of the As
sembly's Catechism. The last edition of it is published by
Messrs. Gray & Alston. It is far preferable to the former edi
tions, and, after you have read it carefully, by examining your
self upon the Index, you will know if you understand the most
material questions.
"Your mamma, Alie, Peggy, and I, and all of us, join in our
endeared love to you and your disconsolate Brother-in-law, Mr.
Gray, of whom we suppose that you take as good care as possible.
I am,
My dear Annie,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 27. TO MR. JOHN GRAY.
" Glasgow, 5th Feb., 1767.
" VERY DEAR SON,
" I desire to bless the Lord that my recovery continues.
The pain of my ankles and feet, which was very smarting when
you was here, is quite gone, only the swelling and feebleness
LETTEKS OF MR. FISHER. 135
remain, which I hope will be removed in the Lord's time if he
has farther service for me. Alie went out yesterday in a chaise
with me about three miles from the town, at the doctor's direc
tions, for abating the swelling, and we returned without lighting.
I think this day I am rather the better of it. Tell my dear
Annie that she needs be in no uneasiness about me, for I hope
in an ordinary way I will soon be as well as ever I was. I am,
My very dear Son,
Your most affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER.
" P. S. — Please offer my dutiful respects to Mr. Patison and
his family."
No. 28. TO MISS ANN FISHER.
" Glasgow, 19th Feb., 1767, Seven o'clock at Night.
" MY VERY DEAR ANNIE,
" Just now I received from Mr. Lang your brother Mr.
Gray's letter, wherein I find you are very anxious about me:
but I assure you, you have no reason ; for I am recovering more
and more strength every day. I know not if I will have time
to answer all the questions my son-in-law puts to me, the post-
hour being at eight. Only you may believe that I sleep well,
have a good appetite, can walk through the whole house up and
down stairs, and all without a staff — and sometimes walk round
my kirk. The swelling is a great deal less. I have this day
thrown off the flannels and put on my stockings. The pain is
quite gone two weeks ago. In a word, I am very well in my
health, and resolve to wait on our Presbytery, which meets next
Aveek. So that I hope this account will fully satisfy you. We
are glad to hear that dear Erskine has got two more teeth, and
that some others are coming forwards, and that Mr. Gray has
got a house in the Lawnmercat, well-aired and lighted, to the
South. The hour is now come, at least is near. Our endeared
love to you and Mr. Gray. I am,
My dear Annie,
Your very affectionate loving Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 29. TO MR. JOHN GRAY.
" Glasgow, 5th March, 1767.
" MY VERY DEAR SON,
" I continue still in the mending way. My limbs are
not yet come to the small measure of strength and agility they
136 APPENDIX.
had before I fell bad; but by the Lord's sparing goodness they
are advancing gradually towards it. My people thought that
my preaching for some time yet to come would mar the com
pleting of my recovery, and therefore they addressed the Pres
bytery, who cheerfully granted me supply till their next meet
ing, which is on the 7th of April, against which time I would
fain hope the Lord will enable me to the discharge of my min
isterial office among my people, at least now and then. By
yours to Peggie, received yesterday, we were somewhat alarmed
about dear little Erskine. As we are very anxious about the
dear babe, be sure as soon as possible to send us word how she
is. My wife, Alie, and Peggie join me in our best wishes to
you and Annie and dear Erskine, of whom we will be very im
patient to hear. I am,
My dear Son,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 30. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, 8th April, 1767.
" MY VERY DEAR SON,
" I preached that week-day you heard of, and was no
worse for it. I dare not but acknowledge the Lord's goodness
that I am daily recovering more strength, though by slow de
grees. Mr. Donaldson's death was a vast loss not to this family
only, but to the whole congregation, for he was a most useful
man. I am,
Your very loving and affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 31. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, 13th Oct., 1767.
" MY VERY DEAR SON,
" It is now about two weeks since we heard from you.
We are anxious to know (Annie in particular) if you are in a
confirmed state of health, and if your bodily ailments are quite
removed. As to our soul maladies, you know whom to apply
to for a cure of them; and, oh! what matter of thankfulness
that he is a Physician always at hand, and heals infallibly and
at the same time. freely! We want to know if dear Erskine
continues in entire health. That dear infant has too much
room in my heart. May the Lord preserve her to glorify him
cu the earth. . . Our winter Sacrament here is to be, if the
LETTERS OP MR. FISHER. 137
Lord will, upon the second Sabbath of November ensuing. If
yours is not on the same day, we would be glad to see you on
that occasion.
" Having the opportunity of Mr. Crombie, I have enclosed a
letter from Ealph, which I received about eight or ten days ago.
. . Mr. Campbell came on Wednesday, and went away with
Peggie after he had preached on Thursday. . . ."
No. 3iJ. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, 15th Dec., 1767.
" MY VERT DEAR SON,
" With a grieved heart, I acquaint you of the death of
my eldest son, Ebenezer, at New-Bern, in the province of North
Carolina, about the middle of August last. Of fifteen children
we have now remaining but four. It is, however, the Lord's
doing, and therefore it becomes us, like Aaron, to hold our
peace, or, with the Psalmist, to put our hands on our mouths,
and be silent. It was only yesterday I received the above
melancholy news from a gentleman in Maryland, in whose em
ploy my son died. This, added to the many sore hearts of an
other kind which my wife and I have had, cannot but be a great
affliction to us in our old age. . . Meantime, to balance the
above dark providences, I have got very comfortable accounts
by a merchant of this place arrived last week from Kingston in
Jamaica, that Kalph is both well and doing extremely well, and
is much beloved in the place. Thus the Lord mixes mercy
with judgment in his dispensations, and gives us occasion to
sing of both. We all cordially join in our endeared love to you
and dear little Erskine, and will be glad to know at your con-
veniency how you both are. I am,
Dear Son,
Your very aifectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 33. TO THE SAME.
" Glasgow, 13th March, 1768.
" VERY DEAR SON,
"I have wrote to Peggie to come home to Glasgow
upon the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday after your
Sacrament. You will see the reasons at large in her letter.
Annie's indisposition and Mrs. Fisher's tenderness are the sum
of them; which I hope you will sustain as relevant. I am in
formed your people have chosen several elders, but that neither
138 APPENDIX.
Mr. Alexander Moubray nor you are among the number, and
that your partner, Mr. Alston, declines accepting. I think he is
wrong in so doing. He knows not what services he might do to
the Lord Jesus, in that office, more ways than one, — not only
in visiting the sick, but when chosen to represent the Session in
the judicatories. I am at present in tolerable health, but I find
the infirmities of age daily increasing on me, which are certainly
a loud call to prepare for death, or rather to be instant at a
throne of grace, that the Lord himself, whose work it is, would
make me meet for the eternal, uninterrupted enjoyment of him
self. I think there is nothing NOW I so much desire. I am
glad to find that Mr. Patison is so well recovered. He has no
less than three ministers from this Presbytery at his Sacrament,
viz. Messrs. Belfrage, Moir, and Campbell. I wish earnestly
that the Lord himself may be remarkably present, both with
ministers and people. We rejoice to hear that dear little Erskine
is such a thriving child. May the Lord form her early for him
self, that she may be honoured to glorify him on earth as well
as eternally above. We all join in our endeared love to you.
I am,
My dear Son,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 34. TO MRS. CAMPBELL.
" Glasgow, May 27, 1768.
" MY VERT DEAR ALIE,
" We are extremely glad to hear that you are in such
a healthy state. Be not afraid of what is before your hand ; for
a gracious and promising God has said, ' Call upon me in the
day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
Fear not, for I am with thee ; be not dismayed, for I am thy
God : I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee ; yea, I will
uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.'
"Your mamma and Annie join me in our most tender regard
to you,
My dear Alie,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 35. TO MISS ANNIE FISHER, AT THE REV. MR. CAMPBELL'S,
STIRLING.
" MY DEAR ANNIE,
" Your mamma, knowing your anxiety about your
parents, was much vexed I did not write you last week ; but my
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER. 139
mind being so much taken up about my studies for the Sabbath,
it was involuntarily omitted: however, I have the pleasure of
acquainting you now, that both of us, by the Lord's goodness,
are very well considering the growing infirmities of our advanced
years. — I preached yesterday forenoon and afternoon, and can
not say I was much fatigued, only your mamma would have me
go to bed an hour sooner than ordinary, and I was very well
refreshed when I rose this morning.
" My dear child, as you have the opportunity of the Sacra
ment of the Lord's Supper next Lord's day, let not the want of
present sensible comfort, or of such a lively frame as you would
desire to be in, — I say, let not your apprehension of the want of
these, or such a measure of them as you would wish, be any
impediment in the way of obeying the express command of our
blessed Lord, ' Do this in remembrance of me.' The words of
our Lord to Martha, John xi. 40, come presently into my mind,
' Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe thou should-
est see the glory of God?' O seek to be content to be an eter
nal recipient or receiver out of the inexhaustible fulness that is
in Christ. Be much in secret prayer, meditation, and self-
searching, and ' the God of all grace be with you.'
" Your mother and I join in our most endeared love to you
and your Brother-in-law. I am,
My dear Annie,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER.
" Glasgow, Monday, llth June, 1770."
No. 36. TO MR. JOHN GRAY.
" Glasgow, 1st Oct., 1771.
" MY VERT DEAR SON,
" The question you proposed to me in your last for
correction is in Part II., p. 223, Quest. 13. From the judicious
hint you gave, I think the whole will run smoother, and be
more plain in the following manner: —
" Quest. 13. What may we learn from the necessity of Christ's
blessing, and of the Spirit's working, in order to the efficacy of
the Sacraments?
" Ans. It teacheth us, that our whole dependence for the
blessing — whether upon ourselves when we partake of the Sacra
ment of the Supper, or upon our children when we are sponsors
for them in baptism — should be only on Christ alone, and the
saving influences and operations of his Spirit to accompany his
own institutions ; and therefore, our partaking of these solemn
140
APPENDIX.
ordinances, dispensed by some ministers to the slighting of them
as dispensed by others equally sound and faithful, though per
haps, in our esteem, somewhat inferior in outward gifts, says,
upon the matter, that the efficacy of the Sacraments depends
somehow upon the administrator, and not upon the blessing of
Christ alone, quite contrary to mind of the Spirit of God, 1 Cor.
iii. 7. ' So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he
that watereth : but God that giveth the increase.'
" We were glad to hear you got both safely home on the
evening of the day you left us. With our joint best wishes to
you both, I am,
My dear Son,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
No. 37. TO MISS ANN FISHER.
" Glasgow, Satv/rday, 1st August, 1772.
" MY VERT DEAR
" Knowing your affectionate anxiety about your papa
and the rest of the family when absent from them, I thought it
my duty to write you a few lines by the Monday's runner from
this place to Edinburgh, which will reach you on Tuesday morn
ing, (for I have no freedom to send a letter to the post-office on
Sabbath night,) to confirm your sister's account of our continued
welfare. Being to preach to-morrow, I have no time to insist ;
only I hope to hear that you have attended the solemnity at Dal-
keith, and joined there according to your resolution before you
left this place. You have been much upon my heart every day
since I saw you. I can freely say, I never forget you in my
prayers ; particularly that the ordinances you designed to attend
might be like full breasts to your soul from whence you might
drink in the sincere milk of the word freely and plentifully. I
told Mr. Campbell when here, that if Mr. Gray would come
along with you to Stirling on his way to Glasgow, you would
gladly wait on him and his spouse. My compliments to Miss
Pagan, the Miss Huttons, particularly Miss Sibby, my acquaint
ance, &c. I will firmly expect you home on Thursday or Friday
next week at the farthest. The Lord be with you. I am,
My very dear Child,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER."
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER. 141
No. 38. TO MRS. WARDLAW, DALKEITH.
" MY VERY DEAR ANNIE,
"I acknowledge the receipt of your kind letter, about
ten or twelve days after your arrival at Dalkeith, and at the same
time must confess I have been far too tardy in giving a return.
But I hope that my loving and affectionate daughter will not
impute this to the smallest abatement of my former regard and
esteem for her ; but (which is the truth of the matter) to one of
the common infirmities of old age, namely, that it cannot with
pleasure move out of its ordinary circle, or deviate from the
course to which it has for some time been habituated. If my
fond daughter does not sustain the above as a relevant apology,
then I shall endeavour to make amends for the future by writing
as frequently as circumstances will allow. To this I look upon
myself as the more strictly bound, when I reflect upon the ten
der and solicitous care you took of me, night and day, from the
death of your valuable mother to the day of your happy mar
riage with such an agreeable husband ; concerning whom it
gives me great pleasure to observe, that you remark the kind
ness of Providence in giving you one just to your mind; and I
believe I may venture to say for him that he thinks he has got
a wife of the same stamp, just to his mind likewise. If these
are the steady sentiments of both, you are a happy pair indeed ;
and I trust that this kind of happiness I speak of, namely mutual
love and esteem, shall continue while the present relation be
tween you shall subsist. But O remember that death will dis
solve it, as it does all earthly relations whatsoever; and there
fore we should each of us ardently desire above all things to be
united to our glorious Redeemer, by having his finished right
eousness imputed to us for our justification, and his Spirit of
holiness implanted in us for our sanctification, and then nothing
shall ever separate us from his love. — I suppose you have heard
of Jenny Donaldson's death. She was buried last Friday after
noon. She was a very kind and sympathizing girl. I went to
the house in a chair, but could not "accompany the funeral. Mr.
Richardson was yesterday ordained at Crawfordsdyke. Mr.
Henderson began, Mr. Giltillan preached the ordination sermon,
and Mr. Thomson concluded. Their house at Carsedyke not
having galleries did not near contain the people ; therefore, possi
bly by Mr. Buchanan's means, they obtained the privilege of the
Kirk in Greenock, where the ordination was performed. All of
142 APPENDIX.
us here join in our best wishes and cordial regard to each in
your family and all their connections. I am,
My very dear Annie,
Your very affectionate and loving Father,
JAMES FISHER.
" Glasgow, llth March, 1773.
"Your letter to me had no date, which was not of a piece
with your usual exactness."
No. 39. TO MR. AND MRS. WARDLAW, DALKEITH.
" MY VERT DEAR SON AND DAUGHTER,
" Would my Annie be at the pains to acquire my short
hand, whereof I have furnished her with a complete index, the
correspondence betwixt us would be vastly more frequent than
it is like to be, at least on my part— there being nothing more
irksome to me, at this period of life, than to be obliged to write
my sentiments in long-hand, after I have been for the most part
of my lifetime accustomed to the short. — Ever since the com
mencement of my present connection with Dalkeith, I have con
sidered the situation of my dear Annie as every way most com
fortable. Besides a competency of the good things of this life,
a most fond and affectionate husband, a most careful and indus
trious aunt, a most loving and obliging sister, and a diligent and
active brother, all under the same roof, and cordially conspiring
for promoting the interest and good of the whole, are circum
stances wherein the temporal happiness of any family cannot
but in a great measure consist: and if to this is added a parti
cipation of the special and saving blessings contained in the pro
mises of the new covenant, I know nothing more can be desired
either with reference to this life or that which is to come. — My
dear children, you are privileged with a pure gospel ministry.
Your worthy pastor does not shun to declare unto you the whole
counsel of God, according to the measure of the gift of Christ
conferred on him ; therefore I pray you receive his message as
coming from the Master himself, as our Lord said concerning
his disciples, Matt. x. 40. ' He that receiveth you receiveth me ;'
do all in your power to strengthen his hands and encourage his
heart in the Lord's work amongst you; and know, for your en
couragement, that every office of kindness you thus do unto
him, our Lord Jesus will one day reward as done to himself.
You have his own word for it, Matt. xxv. 40. ' Verily I say unto
you, Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it to me.' — I know that my dear son-
in-law has already been very useful in the Associate Congregation
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER. 143
of Dalkeith as to the management of their secular affairs ; but I
would fondly wish before I die to see him still more serviceable,
both to them and to the church of Christ, by moving in a more
extensive sphere thaii ever hitherto he has done ; — I mean, by
his not obstinately refusing to accept the office of the Eldership
when called thereunto. If the Lord has been pleased to bestow
upon him any measure of gifts and parts, whether natural or
acquired, (however small they may be in his own estimation.) I
would earnestly entreat that he don't venture to keep them laid
up in a napkin, but lay them out for his Master's use as Provi
dence may give him an opportunity. — With very best wishes for
every one in the family and all their connections, I am,
My dear Son and Daughter,
Your fond affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER.
" Glasgow, Sept. 2, 1773.
" Remember me kindly to Mr. Hutton, his spouse, and daugh
ters."
No. 40. TO MRS. WARDLAW.
" Mr VERY DEAR ANNIE,
" Next unto the comfortable emanations of the divine
love to my own soul, there is nothing in this life can give me
more sensible pleasure than to hear of your and your dear hus
band's welfare ; that both of you enjoy such a continued measure
of bodily health, as I also trust your souls are in a prosperous
way: for however valuable temporal mercies are in themselves,
spiritual ones are infinitely more so. We are but cumberers of
the ground, an insupportable burden to the earth that bears us,
if we are not living a life of faith on the Son of God, and re
ceiving out of his fulness and grace for grace. I suppose mv
ingenuity and candour will not be suspected when I say that,
from the bottom of my heart, I sincerely wish all manner of
happiness, both spiritual and temporal, to the whole of your
family, and all the relatives and connections of it; though no
doubt the ties of nature and blood cannot miss to warm my
affections to my very dear Annie, and to the fruit of her womb,
in a very peculiar manner, not so much because he bears my
name as because he is her son. But I hope he shall not long
continue to be your only son. I trust that both sisters and.
brothers shall be added to him, all of whom the Lord shall form
for himself, to show forth his praise for a while here, and eter
nally hereafter. This is my ardent request in your behalf, that
you may be the joyful mother of many children; and though
the Lord should take some of them from you in infancy or non-
144 APPENDIX.
age, or even in the prime of life, as was the case in each of these
respects with your mother and me ; yet what a comfort is it to
think of being the instruments of bringing one or more of the
Redeemer's children into the world, and nursing them up for
him ? I make no doubt but it will be a part of the happiness of
the redeemed in heaven to see their near friends and relatives
possessed for ever of the same inconceivable glory with them
selves. — With our most endeared love to one and all of you,
as if particularly named, I am,
My dear Annie,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER.
" Glasgow, 20th May, 1774."
No. 41. TO MR. WILLIAM WARDLAW, MERCHANT IN DALKEITH.
" MY VERT DEAR SON,
" I am sorry to acquaint you that all my four grand
children are at present bad of the chincough — a distemper just
now raging among the young ones in this place. Our doctors
in this city are unanimously of opinion that a change of the air
is a very sovereign remedy against that violent ailment.
"It has happened in providence that old Mrs. Ewing, the
grandmother, out of her excessive care about her grandchild,
Humphry, (the same name with her deceased husband,) had taken
a country-house, for the summer season, upon Clyde side, about
a measured mile and a half below this town. After proper
remedies were administered to Jeanie and Peggie, (the first who
took it,) we sent them down with a maid to their grandmother,
of whose anxious care about them, both by night and day, we
were quite well assured. In about the space of two weeks the
trouble abated on these two ; but then it began with great vio
lence upon my dear little Annie, who was at home on her
mother's breast. The trouble increasing, your sister, Ewing,
took her along with her to the grandmother's, who thinks her
self happy to have them all about her. Wattie sleeps always
here, for he puts off and on my clothes very punctually, and
makes a short start in the evening of every day to see how his
wife and children do. Mary Erskine takes care of the house
and sleeps in the tent-bed beside me. It is a singular mercy,
that, though our children are in distress, there is no dangerous
symptom as yet appearing. The post-hour approaches. I must
break off by commending you all to God, and to the word of
his grace. I am,
My very dear Son,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER.
" Glasgow, June 10, 1774."
LETTERS OF MR. FISHER. 1 45
No. 42. TO MR. AND MRS. WARDLAW.
" MY VERY DEAR SON AND DAUGHTER,
" No sooner than this very day before noon, we re
ceived both your melancholy letters at one and the same time.
The first, addressed to Mr. Ewing, acquainting us that you had
sent dear little Jamie with his maid to a careful hand in the
country within a little space of your town, — that his father,
mother, and Aunt Wardlaw saw him there on the Tuesday —
which I suppose was the 28th of the last — in pretty good health
and spirits; but taking a sudden feverish turn on the Wednesday
the 29th, you took him home again, and in your letter directed
to me, received at the same time as the above, you write that
the fever increased intermixed with frequent and severe nervous
tits of the convulsive kind, which soon reduced his delicate and
beautiful body to the dust of death, about half-an-hour past two
in the afternoon of Saturday. I never had the pleasure of see
ing this dear infant in this life; but I hope to see him, and to
know him too, at the resurrection of the just, when the whole
ransomed multitude which no man can number shall surround
the throne of the Lamb, to each of whom, young and old, he
will say, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you before the foundation of the world.' . . My
very dear Annie, I know you have very strong natural affec
tions, and they cannot but be very sensibly touched on this
mournful event. But remember that you have a very fond and
affectionate husband, who errs in his love to you, still to the
fore, and another son upon your breasts. If therefore you
would have these preserved to you, — if you would not impair the
health and comfort of your dear husband, and endanger the
health of your surviving child, — if you would avoid these evils,
which I know you deprecate, — moderate, I pray you, again I
say, moderate your excessive grief, and submit to the sovereign
will of adorable Providence, who does all things well. I trust
God will abundantly bless you both, and more than make up
the present loss by redoubled manifestations of himself to your
souls, as your own God and everlasting inheritance. Only be
ware of repining at what he has done. Has not the Potter
power over the clay? — All of us join in our sympathy and best
wishes towards one and all of your family. And I can freely
say that, such as they are, you are not forgotten in our daily
prayers. I am,
My very dear Son and Daughter,
Your very affectionate Father,
JAMES FISHER.
" Glasgow, Monday, April 3, 1775."
ADDENDA.
THE following extracts from " the Register of the Kirk-Ses
sion of Kinclaven," will not be without their interest to some
readers : —
" Att the Kirk of Kinclaven, Dec. 23d, 1725. The which day
Mr. James Fisher was ordained minister of this parish of Kin
claven ; and the Revd. Mr. Robert Bowis, minister of the gospel
att Rattray, presided in that action, who preached upon the
fi[f]th verse of the fourth chapter of the Second Epistle to
Timothy." — " Collected two pounds Scots, £02 : 00 : 00."
" Kinclaven Kirk, 26th [Dec.], 1725. Sermon here this day,
being the first Sabbath after our minister's ordination amongst
us, who preached on Romans v. chap. 30 and 32 verses. — Col
lected for the poor eleven pence, £00 : 1 1 : 00."
" Kinclaven Kirk, Jan. 17, 1726. Collected for the poor five
pence. — This day the minister intimated his design of beginning
a course of visitation of families."
"Kirktown of Kinclaven, July 24th, 1726.—"* Unto
all this the Session agreed except William Kea, who for this
reason plainly told the Session he would never henceforth sitt
with them, and thereupon withdrew in a very indecent manner."
— " Given a student recommended by our Synod twelve pence,
£00:12:00."
" Kinclaven, June 12th, 1727. Sermon this day by Mr. Dow,
a probationer. The minister having gone to Kinco" (Kincock)
this day in ye time of lecture by Mr. Dow, to see how the Sab
bath was observed in that place, and finding severals upon the
town loan in companies, and reporting it to the Session, the
Session judge yt it will be sufficient at ye time for ye minister to
admonish them privately, over and above as he spoke to them
this day ; but finding — , one of the elders, upon the town
loan discoursing with another man; the Session are of opinion
that his carriage, being an elder, may harden others in that sin,
resolve to take up that affair to consideration the first time he is
present."
The Rev. James Innes of Merton, whose name is appended to
" the Representation and Petition to the General Assembly
1732," was father of the Rev. James Innes the patriarchal min
ister of Gifford, and grandfather of my esteemed and beloved
friend, William Innes, D.D., who " hath good report of all men,
and of the truth itself." Psal. cii. 28.
* The preceding part of the Minute refers to the agreement as to the gallery,
the erection of which was made necessary by Mr. Fisher's popularity, that the
sittings in it should be let at the yearly rent of 2s. 6d, Scots (2£d. sterling).
MEMORIALS
REV. JAMES FISHER
from fits ££trittugg.
SERMON I.*
THE INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH.
PROV. xxiii. 23. — " Buy the truth, and sell it not."
THIS book of Proverbs contains a vast variety of short and
comprehensive precepts, of which this in our text is one,
" Buy the truth, and sell it not." In which words you
have, (1.) A notable bargain, and that is "truth." (2.)
The purchase of this bargain enjoined, " Buy the truth."
(3.) The persons who are called to make this purchase,
implied; and they are certainly all those who are privi
leged with a revelation of God's mind and will in this
everlasting gospel. (4.) The high value we are to put
upon the bargain when bought, in these words, " Sell it
not ;" by no means quit with it again. As truth can never
be bought at too dear a rate, so it can never be sold at the
true value. God himself is the great and sole proprietor
of this rich treasure ; it is of him we are commanded to
buy it, and to put such an high value upon the purchase,
as to refuse the greatest price that can be offered for the
disposure of it. According to this view of the words, I
deduce from them the following
* Preached on a day of solemn fasting appointed by the Associate
Presbytery, at Finwick, March 23, 1738.
148 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WHITINGS.
DOCTRINE, — ' That it is the duty of all the hearers of
this gospel to purchase the truth at any rate, and by no
means, or for no price whatsoever, to part with it.' Prov.
viii. 11." Wisdom is better than rubies ; and all the things
that may be desired are not to be compared to it." Chap,
iv. 7. " Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wis
dom : and with all thy getting get understanding."
In speaking upon this subject, I shall essay (as the Lord
shall give countenance) to observe the following order.
Inquire, (1.) What we are to understand by " the truth ;"
(2.) What it is to "buy" the truth; (3.) Who they are
that " sell " the truth ; and then, Deduce some inferences
for application of the doctrine.
I. I am to inquire what we are to understand by " the
truth." Truth is sometimes in Scripture put for Christ
himself; and sometimes for the whole revelation of his
will, whether with respect to the doctrine, worship, dis
cipline or government of his house : in both which respects
we are to buy the truth, and not to sell it.
1st. I say, Truth is put for the Lord Christ himself,
John xiv. 6. " I am the truth." Here it may be inquired,
In what respect Christ is called the truth 1 I answer, He
is the truth of all the types and shadows under the Old
Testament, John i. 17. "The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." They all pointed
at him, and received their full accomplishment in him,
who is the end of the law for righteousness. He is the
truth of all the Scripture-prophecies concerning the Mes
siah ; for they were all literally fulfilled in him, Acts x. 43.
" To him gave all the prophets witness." He is the truth
of all the promises; for he is the sum and substance of
them, and they are all in him " yea and amen." He is
the truth of all the names that are given him in Scripture.
He is called JESUS, and accordingly has saved an innu
merable company from their sins, Rev. vii. 9. He is called
CHRIST, the Messiah, or the Anointed ; for the " Spirit is
not given by measure unto him," John iii. 34. He is
called IMMANUEL, " God with us," Mat. i. 23; for he is not
SER. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 149
only God on our side, Psal. xlvi. 7, but also, as the founda
tion thereof, he is God in our nature, John i. 14. " The
Word was made flesh." He is called the WONDERFUL, Isa.
ix. 6; for he is the wonder of angels and men. He is
called the COUNSELLOR, and accordingly there are " hid in
him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." He is
called the MIGHTY GOD, and accordingly many are the
mighty works that he has done : he has " travelled in the
greatness of his strength, mighty to save." The legions of
the prince of darkness have been vanquished by his vic
torious arm ; the unbelief, enmity, and other spiritual
wickednesses that are in the heart, have been made to
give way, upon his entrance into the soul in the day of
his power : he has ransomed from the power of the grave,
and has made death a plain passage for the redeemed from
among men to " go up to Zion, with songs of everlasting
joy upon their heads." Again, he is called the EVERLAST
ING FATHER ; for many children has he begotten, nourished
up, and brought into glory, Heb. ii. 13. " Behold I and the
children which God hath given me." He is called the
PRINCE OF PEACE ; and accordingly he has " made peace
by the blood of his cross," Col. i. 20. And, to add no more
upon this head, he is called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS,
Jer. xxiii. 6 ; and accordingly he has " brought in an ever
lasting righteousness," in virtue whereof we are " made
the righteousness of God in him." So that Christ is the
truth of all the names that are given him in Scripture.
But, moreover, he is the great recipient of all divine truth,
as Mediator, in order to his being the great means of con
veying of it to the children of men, John i. 18. " No man
hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."
The words of mercy and salvation had never sounded in
the ears of lost sinners, had not God spoken them to us
through the channel of the blood of Immanuel ; for it is
in this way that " God hath spoken to us by his Son,"
Heb. i. 2. Finally, Christ is the truth, in regard he " bears
witness to the truth ;" John xviii. 37. " To this end was I
150 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I
should bear witness unto the truth." And there are these
three great truths, among others, that he bears witness
unto : (1.) That all mankind have sinned and come short
of the glory of God ; and that they were utterly incapable
to help and relieve themselves. This he has witnessed, by
coining in our nature to " seek and to save that which was
lost." (2.) That the justice of God is satisfied, and an
honourable passage for mercy unto sinners opened in the
channel of his blood. To this he has witnessed by his re
surrection from the dead, and sitting down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high. (3.) That as he is the gift
of God to sinners of all sorts, so " him that cometh unto
him he will in nowise cast out." This he witnesseth daily
in the dispensation of tlie gospel. These are a few reasons
why Christ is called THE TRUTH; and indeed he is the
great truth, which we are called to " buy," as we shall
afterwards essay to make appear.
2<%, By " the truth," we are to understand the whole
of the revelation of God's mind and will, contained in the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament ; so the word
"truth" is frequently taken: 2 Cor. xiii. 8. "We can do
nothing against the truth, but for the truth ;" Gal. v. 7,
" Who did hinder you, that you should not obey the truth ?"
Titus i. 1. " And the acknowledging of the truth which is
after godliness." And we find the Scriptures frequently
called " the word of truth :" 2 Tim. ii. 15. " Study to show
thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth ;" James
i. 18. " Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth."
So that the truth which we are to buy, and not to sell, is
the whole of that truth revealed in the Holy Scriptures,
which we are to believe concerning God, and which relates
to the duties that God requires of man; which may be
comprised under the four general heads following.
1st, The truth concerning doctrine : or, all those truths
relating to the nature, perfections, and works of God, —
the creation of man in a state of innocency, — his fall into
SER. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 151
a state of sin and misery, — the way and manner of his
recovery and redemption through Jesus Christ, Immanuel,
God with us, — and his endless happiness or misery in the
life to come : Or all those truths concerning the breach
of the covenant of works by the first Adam, as a federal
head, — the fulfilment of it by Christ the second Adam, as
the representative of his elect seed, both as to the precept
and penalty of it ; in consequence whereof grace and glory,
and every good thing, is offered to mankind lost, in the
way of a covenant of grace, — which covenant is full, well-
ordered in all things and sure, and, with respect unto us,
absolutely free. In a word, all those truths concerning
the contrivance, purchase, application, and consummation
of the work of redemption, to the glory of God and the
salvation of the sinner; — a summary account of which
truths, agreeable to the Holy Scriptures, you have in our
excellent Confession of Faith, and Catechisms, Larger and
Shorter, which we earnestly recommend unto your serious
and deliberate perusal, that so you may be "perfectly
joined together in the same mind, and in the same judg
ment," 1 Cor. i. 10.
Now, since I have mentioned our Confession of Faith, I
cannot but take this opportunity of warning you against
those who set themselves in opposition to all Confessions,
whether more openly or more slyly. Some, out of a pre
tended regard to the Holy Scriptures, reject all public
standards, as if they were exalted to equal authority with
the Scriptures themselves ; others pour contempt upon
them, because they are designed to support supernatural
truth, in opposition to the various shapes in which error
and heresy has appeared in the world. But the plain rea
son of all this outcry against Confessions is just this, that
Free-thinkers of all sorts cannot endure to have their wild
and extravagant notions circumscribed, and hemmed in,
by the pure doctrines of the word, brought together and
compared in a methodical chain of divine truth, which is
the very nature and design of Confessions. The Scriptures
are unquestionably the only perfect rule of faith and man-
152 SELECTIONS FROM MS. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
ners, containing not only a plain revelation of all those
truths necessary to be believed and practised in order to
salvation, but also a clear refutation of all the errors that
ever have been or shall be broached in the world ; but then
these are so scattered through the volume of this holy
book, that the collecting and digesting of them, under
proper heads, is necessary for the edifying of the church of
Christ and convincing gainsayers ; and therefore Confes
sions, which are nothing else but a collection of divine
truths, by comparing of one scripture with another, can
not but be the eye-sore of men of corrupt minds, who
cannot endure to " come to the light" of God's word, " lest
their deeds " and principles " should be made manifest."
2c$y, There is the truth concerning the worship of God,
— that a God in Christ is the only object of a sinner's wor
ship, Matt. iv. 10. " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve." That he is to be wor
shipped, in the use of those ordinances which he has pre
scribed in his word, as the only means of worship, — such
as prayer, Phil. iv. 6; reading and searching the Scrip
tures, John v. 39 ; preaching and hearing of the word,
Rom. x. 14, 15, 17; singing of psalms, Eph. v. 18, 19;
administering and receiving the sacraments, Matt, xxviii.
19 ; 1 Cor. xi. 23 — 27 ; fasting, Luke v. 35 ; spiritual con
ference and discourse, Mai. iii. 16 ; meditation, Psal. Ixxvii.
12 ; vowing and paying to the Lord, Psal. Ixxvi. 11. Lastly,
That the true worship of God, under the gospel, doth not
consist in outward rites and ceremonies, but is spiritual,
not only as to the matter but also as to the manner of it,
flowing from grace in the heart, or an inward reverential
esteem of, and trust in, that God whom we worship, John
iv. 23, 24, and consequently, that the bringing in of the
inventions of men into the worship of God, will be ac
counted by him will-worship and superstition, Matt. xv. 9.
" In vain they do worship me, teaching the command
ments of men."
3<%, There is the truth concerning the government and
discipline of the house of Christ, a short account whereof,
SEE. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 153
from the Holy Scriptures, we shall lay before you ; it hav
ing been that branch of truth which the Church of Scot
land, ever since her reformation from popery, has mostly
suffered for.
I do not pretend to advance anything new upon this
subject, but only, in this reeling and shaking time, to
endeavour the confirmation of your faith in these Scrip
ture-truths concerning the government and discipline of
the house of Christ, which have been largely handled by
others before me ; and this I shall essay in the following
chain of propositions, without enlarging much upon
them.
(1.) The Lord Jesus Christ, as Mediator, has all author
ity and power in heaven and in earth, for the government
of his church, committed unto him from God the Father.
Psal. ii. 6. says Jehovah, " Yet have I set my King upon
my holy hill of Zion ;" John iii. 35. " The Father loveth
the Son, and hath given all things into his hand ;" " He
hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be
head over all things to the church," Eph. i. 22. And, in
consequence of this eternal grant and donation of the
mediatory kingdom from the Father, Christ the faithful
witness testifies of himself, Matt, xxviii. 18. " All power in
heaven and in earth is given unto me." So that the Lord
Christ, as Mediator, is the only first receptacle of all power
from the Father : John v. 22. " The Father— hath com
mitted all judgment unto the Son ;" and, consequently, he
is the sole root and fountain of all ecclesiastical power and
authority to his church : John xx. 21, 23. "As my Father
hath sent me, even so send I you ;" "Whose soever sins ye
remit, they are remitted ; and whose soever sins ye retain,
they are retained."
(2.) The Lord Jesus Christ, in virtue of the supreme
power with which he is invested as the alone Head of the
church, has committed the government of his church unto
church-officers of his own institution, as the immediate
receptacle of that ministerial power and authority by
which he would have his church governed in this world.
154 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER,'s WRITINGS.
This proposition contains in it the following particular
truths.
That the Lord Christ has instituted and appointed officers
in his church, for the edification of his spiritual kingdom,
1 Cor. xii. 28. compared with Eph. iv. 11.
These officers were either extraordinary, whose office
was to cease with themselves; or ordinary, standing and
perpetual.
The extraordinary officers were apostles, prophets, and
evangelists, Eph. iv. 11. And that their office expired
with themselves, is evident from the extraordinary quali
fications with which they were endowed, which, in the
nature of the thing, could not be transmitted by them to
others ; such as, immediate mission, universal commission,
infallible inspiration, power of working miracles, and the like.
The ordinary standing officers appointed by the Lord
Christ in the church, unto the end of the world, are pas
tors or teachers, Eph. iv. 11 ; ruling elders, 1 Tim. v. 17 ;
and deacons, Acts vi. 3, 5. 6. The divine institution of
these officers might be easily evinced from the texts just
now mentioned, and several other texts of Scripture. Rom.
xii. 6, 7, 8 ; 1 Cor. xii. 28. Hence it follows,
That the office of a diocesan bishop, or any superiority
in office whatsoever above a pastor or teaching presbyter,
is contrary to the word of God, Matt. xx. 25 — 29. " Jesus
— said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise
dominion over them, and they that are great exercise
authority upon them ; but it shall not be so among you.
But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your
minister ; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him
be your servant ; even as the Son of man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister :" 1 Pet. v. 3. " Neither
as being lords over God's heritage."
The preaching of the word and the administration of the
sacraments is peculiar to the office of the pastor, Matt.
xxviii. 19, 20; Rom. x. 15. And this branch of the minis
terial office every minister may exercise by himself, wher
ever he has a lawful call. But,
SER. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 155
The power of governing the church, is derived from the
Lord Jesus to the officers of his house (ministers and rul
ing elders) met in his name, as the only receptacle thereof
under him : 2 Cor. x. 8. says the Apostle, " Though I should
boast somewhat more of our authority which the Lord hath
given us, for edification, and not for destruction, I should
not be ashamed." Here you may see that the Apostle
asserts an authority given unto him and other church-
officers from the Lord, which he calls " our authority given
unto us" including himself with other church-guides, which
are plainly distinguished from the body of the church, whose
edification was to be consulted in the exercise of that au
thority, and not their destruction ; for, says he, " our autho
rity is given for edification, and not for your destruction."
Besides, the "keys of the kingdom of heaven," or the
exercise of ecclesiastical power, was given by our Lord to
the apostles and their successors in ordinary office to the
end of the world, Matt. xvi. 19. " I give unto thee the
keys of the kingdom of heaven." What is here mentioned
as given unto Peter, is also given to the rest of the apos
tles, Matt, xviii. 18. " Whatsoever you shall bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven." Opening and shutting are the
proper acts of keys ; and as the keys are the ordinances
which Christ has instituted to be dispensed in the church,
namely, the preaching of the word, and the administration
of seals and censures ; so, by the right use of these keys,
the gates of the church here, and of heaven hereafter, are
opened or shut to believers or unbelievers. And as the
Lord has committed the exercise of these keys to church-
officers only, (as is plain from the above texts,) it follows
that church-officers are the only receptacle of ecclesiastical
power under him.
From what I have said, concerning church-officers being
the only receptacle of church-power from the glorious
Head, two consequences unavoidably follow :
The first is, That the Lord Jesus has not committed
any spiritual power, formally ecclesiastical, or any exercise
thereof for the government of the church, to the civil
156 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
magistrate, heathen or Christian, as the receptacle thereof
by virtue of his magisterial office ; and therefore, however
desirable the countenance of the civil magistrate may be,
or his presence in the judicatories of a constitute church,
yet it is evident from the word, that neither the presence
of the supreme magistrate, or any commissioned by him,
is essentially necessary to the validity of ecclesiastical
decisions and determinations, which depends allenarly
upon their being past in the name of Christ, agreeably to
his laws published in his word, and declarative thereof,
Matt, xxviii. 20 ; 1 Cor. v. 4.
Further, since the sole power of inflicting ecclesiastical
censures is lodged in the office-bearers of the church by
the glorious Head, it plainly follows that it is incompe
tent to the civil magistrate, and quite beyond the limits
of his office, either to execute the censures of the church
or to prescribe any rule how it should be done ; and there
fore we cannot but regret it, as a sinful and unwarrantable
invasion upon the headship and sovereignty of Christ, that
the civil powers, in the late Act of Parliament, have taken
upon them, by their own authority allenarly, to declare
such ministers incapable of sitting and voting in ecclesi
astical judicatories, who should not read the said Act,
according to the manner therein prescribed. And like
wise, since a great many of the ministry have so sinfully
complied with, and some way or other yielded obedience
to, the authority of that Act, (as a crowning step of de
fection,) we would be unfaithful to our trust if we did not
signify unto you that they ought to be testified against,
as having recognised the civil magistrate for their head,
and quit their holding of the Son of God, our Immanuel,
on whose shoulders the government of the church is laid.
The other consequence is, that as the civil magistrate is
not the first subject of spiritual power, so neither is this
spiritual power, for the government of the church, dele
gated by the glorious Head to the multitude of believers,
or the community of the faithful. They are nowhere in
Scripture called church-rulers ; and therefore they cannot
SER. I.— INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 157
be the first subject of church-government : upon the con
trary, they are called the flock, and church-officers the
overseers set over them by the Holy Ghost, Acts xx. 28.
Yea, the community of the faithful are so far from being
the subject of church-government themselves, that they
are expressly charged by the word of God to know, hon
our, obey, and submit to other governors set over them,
and distinct from themselves, 1 Thess. v. 12. " We beseech
you, brethren, to know them which labour among you,
and are over you in the Lord;" 1 Tim. v. 17. "Let the
elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour,
especially they that labour in the word and doctrine ;"
Heb. xiii. 17. "Obey them that have the rule over you,
and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls."
So that it is church-officers only, and neither the civil
magistrate, nor the community of the faithful, that are
the first subject or receptacle of church-government from
the Lord Jesus Christ.
(3.) The key of discipline, or the power and authority
derived from the Lord Jesus for the government of his
church, is to be exercised, at his appointment, by church-
officers, two or more met together in his name, in a judi-
cative capacity, Matt, xviii. 20. " Where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them."
The judicatories appointed by the Lord Christ, under
the New Testament, are parochial sessions, presbyteries,
and synods provincial or national.
The divine right of these judicatories, in general, may
be evinced from Matt, xviii. 15 — 21 ; where our Lord
makes a gradation, from the lowest number of church-
officers warranted to assemble in his name, to the most
numerous synod or council. Whence it is plain, that
though one single person cannot, yet two or three, or any
larger number of officers, may assemble for acts of govern
ment and discipline that may tend for the interest of that
spiritual society whereof they are members. It follows
also, that as two or three in one congregation may meet
158 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
together, so the officers of several congregations may as
semble in a presbytery, for the interest of that larger body ;
and they have Christ's warrant in the above text, and the
promise of his presence in so doing. Besides, there is in
the word a pattern of presbyterial government over divers
single congregations ; as may be seen from the account we
have in the New Testament of the churches of Jerusalem,
Antioch, Ephesus, and Corinth ; in every one of which
large cities there were more congregations of Christians
than one, having their own proper officers, and all under
the government of one presbytery, for a rule to the church
in after-ages ; as has been cleared from Scripture, by many
eminent hands, particularly the famous Assembly of Divines
at Westminster, in their answers to the objections of some
Independent brethren against some of the propositions
concerning church-government agreed upon by that As
sembly, and approven by this church, as a part of the in
tended uniformity sworn to in the Solemn League and
Covenant.
Moreover, since the edification of the whole visible
church is the great end of church-government, the more
generally and extensively Christ's ordinance of government
is managed, the more complete provision is made for the
edification of the whole body of Christ : and therefore the
Lord Jesus, upon whose shoulders the government is laid,
has left unto his officers a warrant to meet in a synodical
or national assembly, in the pattern of that synodical meet
ing at Jerusalem, recorded Acts chap, xv., where you will
see it evident that the constituent members of that synod,
together with the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, were
delegates from other churches, particularly the church of
Antioch, from which Paul and Barnabas, and certain others
with them, were sent, by the public authority of that
church, Acts xv. 2. And granting that commissioners from
the churches of Syria and Cilicia were not at Jerusalem,
(which yet I am apt to think they were, from the indorse
ment of the decree to them as well as Antioch, ver. 23 ;)
yet, if but two presbyterial churches are warranted by
SEE. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 159
apostolical example to join in one synod, then by the same
warrant the representatives of as many more presbyteries
may assemble in one sy nodical meeting as are necessary
for determining matters of a common concern to them
all.
Further, that the members of this synod were only
church-officers, will appear from this one consideration —
that the question in debate in the church of Antioch was
referred only to the decision of apostles and elders, Acts xv.
2, who were unquestionably church-officers : so it was the
apostles and elders only that " came together for to con
sider of this matter," ver. 6. And whereas brethren are
mentioned with the apostles and elders, ver. 23 ; yet
these brethren cannot be the community of the faithful, in
regard they could never be judges in this question, to
whom it was not referred ; for the question was referred to
church-officers only, as I have already said : and therefore
these brethren must be delegates or commissioners from
the several churches, who were concerned to have the
errors suppressed which were broached among them at
that time, concerning the necessity of circumcision and the
observance of the law of Moses in order to salvation.
I shall only add upon this head, that the decree passed
by this synod was formally binding upon the churches of
Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia ; as is plain from the tenor of
the decree itself, Acts xv. 28. " It seemed good to the Holy
Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than
these necessary things." Whence it follows that the pres-
byterial churches of Antioch, kSyria, and Cilicia were sub
ordinate to the synod at Jerusalem ; and, consequently,
here is a pattern of the subordination of judicatories. Thus
I have endeavoured to evince the divine right of the judi
catories of the house of Christ. And, for your further
confirmation in what I have here only very briefly hinted,
I refer you to the Propositions concerning Church-govern
ment which you have bound along with your Confession
of Faith, which I entreat you may read and consider, that
you may be guarded, in this shaking time, against the
4 z
160 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER S WRITINGS.
danger of Prelacy upon the one hand, and of Independency
upon the other. But then,
(4.) The power and authority of ecclesiastical judica-
tories is not an absolute and magisterial, but only a
stewardly and ministerial power, expressly limited to the
observation of those things which the Lord Christ has
commanded in his word, Matt, xxviii. 20. " Teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."
Hence it follows, that when any ecclesiastical judicatory
enacts any statute which is contrary to the word, or passes
any decision which is not founded thereupon, that such
statutes and decisions ought to be reputed by all the sub
jects of Zion's King as null and void in themselves, as
wanting the stamp of his authority who is Zion's statute-
maker ; according to the marginal reading, Isa. xxxiii. 22.
Lastly, As the great end of church-government, next to
the glory of God, is the edification of the church ; so, when
the discipline of the church is not faithfully and impar
tially exercised, but on the contrary the erroneous toler
ated, intruders countenanced, and such as have in their
practice given up with the headship and sovereignty of
Christ, excused and vindicated ; I say, when the discipline
of the church is not exercised upon such offenders, (as is
the case at present,) it is a just provocation to the Lord
to leave the church. Thus we find the Lord passing a
very severe censure upon the churches of Pergamos and
Thyatira, Rev. ii., for having the scandalous and erroneous
among them ; and their neglecting to purge them out, was
no doubt one of the reasons why the Lord has removed his
candlestick from among them to this day. These are a
few of the Scripture -truths concerning the government
and discipline of the house of Christ.
kthly, There is the truth concerning Christian practice,
which includes the following particulars among a great
many others: (1.) The inviolable obligation of the holy
and righteous law of God, upon the regenerate as well as
the unregenerate ; but, in order to the yielding acceptable
obedience to the law of God, it is absolutely necessary that
SEE. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 161
there be a vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ, John
xv. 4, 5. Hence it follows that Gospel obedience ought to
flow from a principle of faith, connecting the precept with
the promise, " I will cause you to walk in my statutes,
and to keep my judgments and do them." And from a
principle of love to God, " If ye love me, keep my com
mandments." (2.) That the law of God, or the revelation
of his will, is the only standard by which our actions are
to be tried, Isa. viii. 20. Hence it follows that the good
ness of our actions is not to be judged by our extensive
benevolence upon the one hand, nor by any selfish con
sideration upon the other. (3.) That our main purpose or
ultimate end, in all our actions, ought not to be the ad
vancement of our own self-interest, but the glorifying of
God, or the manifesting of his glory : Bom. xiv. 7. " None
of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself;"
1 Pet. ii. 9. " Ye are a chosen generation that ye should
show forth the praises of him who hath, called you ."
(4.) That the glorious excellencies and perfections of the
divine nature are the main ground of our love and obe
dience, and not chiefly his benefits ; as is plain from the
first commandment, " Thou shalt have no other gods before
me." Hence it follows, that it is not our delighting in
any virtuous or religious action that is the chief reason
and motive thereof; but because God, the great Lawgiver,
enjoins it, as tending to the manifestation of his own glo
rious excellencies and perfections. These are a few truths
concerning Christian practice ; and it is matter of regret
that the supreme judicatory of this church have testified
so little zeal for these precious truths, which so nearly
concern the very life of sanctification, when they have as-
soilzied the impugner of them without the least censure.
Thus I have endeavoured to give you some view of the
"truth" which we are to "buy," and not to "sell." I
proceed now to the
II. Head of the method, and that was, To inquire what
it is to "buy" the truth, or, what is imported in the buy
ing of it.
162 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
1. To "buy" the truth, is to have some knowledge and
understanding of the truth. Men do not use to purchase
that which they know nothing about, — some knowledge of
a bargain is always necessary to the purchase of it : so
here, " to buy the truth" supposes some knowledge of it,
— that unto you it has been given in some measure " to
know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven ;" that the
Spirit has been taking the things of Christ and showing
them unto you. In a word, that as you have been search
ing the Scriptures which testify of .Christ, so he has been
expounding to you from all the Scriptures "the things
concerning himself ;" Psal. cxix. 104. " Through thy pre
cepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false
way." Ignorance of the truth is the great reason why so
few are in quest of it at this day ; " Man knoweth not the
price thereof," Job xxviii. 13.
2. To "buy the truth" imports an high value and es
teem for the truth. Men do not purchase that which they
undervalue and despise ; some value for, and esteem of, a
bargain is always supposed in the purchase of it: so to
" buy the truth" imports a value for the truth, Psal. cxix.
72. " The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands
of silver and gold." 0 what an high value doth a believ
ing soul put upon the truth ! such an high value, as to
make no account of all things in a world in comparison of
it, Phil. iii. 8. " Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but
loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
iny Lord." Well, sirs, try by this if you are purchasers of
the truth — what value are you putting upon Christ, who
is " the truth ?" Can you say as it is Psal. Ixxvi. 4. " Thou
art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of
prey?" What value do you put upon the borne-down
truths of Christ at this day ? Can you say that the price
of truth rises with you the more it is undervalued by a
wicked world ? Thus it was with the Psalmist, Psal. cxix.
126 — 128. " They make void thy law. Therefore I love
thy commandments above gold : therefore I esteem thy
precepts concerning all things to be right." The mean-
SER. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OP TRUTH. 163
ing is, the more contempt the wicked put upon truth,
the higher value he had for it : the wicked were endea
vouring to make the "law concerning all things to be
void;" therefore, for this very reason, he esteemed the
" law concerning all things to be right." For it must cer
tainly be the truth which meets with opposition from the
world.
3. To "buy the truth" is to appropriate the truth, or
to make use of it as our own. Property necessarily follows
upon a purchase : so here, to buy the truth is to have pro
priety in the truth ; and so it is the same thing with be
lieving the truth, for it is of the nature of faith to appro
priate its own object, John vi. 4. " He that believeth hath
everlasting life." Therefore we find that " being of the
truth," or belonging to the truth, is inseparably joined
with believing, or hearing of Christ's voice, John xviii. 37.
" Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." 0
sirs, how wonderful is it that such a valuable thing as
truth should be the property of sinners ! Christ himself,
and consequently all the good things contained in the pro
mise of a God that cannot lie, is that truth which is the pro
perty of every one that believeth, 1 Cor. iii. at the close,
" All things are yours, and ye are Christ's." Try by this
if you have made a purchase of the truth — Are you mak
ing use of Christ as your own, for " wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption 1 " for so is he made over of
God, unto you, in the Gospel, 1 Cor. i. 30. Do you know
what it is to claim a right unto all the good things con
tained in the promise and word of truth, upon the right
that Christ has to them, and as being "joint-heirs with
Christ," who is the " heir of all things ?"
4. To "buy the truth'* imports a meditating or thinking
much upon the truth. Men's thoughts commonly run
upon their bargain or purchase that they have made : now,
as there is not another bargain so valuable as divine truth,
so nothing ought to engross our thoughts so much as it,
Psal. cxix. 97. " 0 how love I thy law ! it is my meditation
all the day." Sirs, if you have made a purchase of the
164 SELECTIONS FROM MB. FISHER S WRITINGS.
truth, your meditation upon it will afford many sweet
thoughts unto you : Psal. civ. 34. in metre—
" Of him my meditation shall
Sweet thoughts to me afford."
You will have sweet thoughts of God, when you think
upon the glorious excellencies and perfections of his nature,
as they are all eminently displayed, and harmoniously agree
in the person of Christ, anent the salvation of the sinner.
Particularly, you will have sweet thoughts of the love and
mercy of God, when you think upon the costly channel of
blood in which it runs unto you; you will have sweet
thoughts of the justice of God, when you think upon the
complete satisfaction that it has got by the obedience and
sufferings of the Son of God in your room ; sweet thoughts
of the truth and veracity of God, when you think upon
the execution of the threatening on the person of the
Surety. Again, you will have sweet thoughts of Christ,
when you think upon his person, offices, relations to us,
and the appearances he has made on our behalf; when you
think upon what he has done, is doing, and will do ; how
that he became man, and a man of sorrows ; that he hath
magnified the law, and brought in an everlasting righteous
ness ; that he hath spoiled principalities and powers, con
firmed the New Testament by his death, and ever liveth
to see all the blessings or legacies thereof conferred upon
the heirs of glory. So that, if you have made a purchase
of the truth, your thoughts will run much upon that valu
able bargain.
5. To " buy the truth" imports a rejoicing in the truth.
Men use to rejoice in a good bargain, and to boast of it :
so here, to "buy the truth" imports a rejoicing and a glory
ing in it, Psal. cxix. 111. " Thy testimonies have I taken as
an heritage for ever ; for they are the rejoicing of my
heart." Sirs, if you have bought the truth, you will re
joice in the word of truth as your charter for eternal life ;
you will rejoice in the truth of a promising God, as your
security for the accomplishment of the promise. What-
SER. I. INESTIMABLE VALUE OP TRUTH. 165
ever ground of sorrowing you may find within yourselves,
or abroad in the world, yet you will find ground of re
joicing in Christ Jesus, as the all of your life, strength,
righteousness, and salvation. And, if you are rejoicing
and glorying only in his holy name, you will rejoice also
" if you are partakers of his sufferings, that, when his
glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceed
ing joy," 1 Pet. iv. 13.
6. To "buy the truth" imports a maintaining of and
contending for it. M«n are very diligent and careful in
maintaining and defending their properties : so here, to
"buy the truth" imports a contending for the truth,
Jude ver. 3. "Contend earnestly for the faith once de
livered unto the saints."
This earnest contending includes in it the following par
ticulars :
First, A weighty and important cause for which we are
to contend, even the whole of that " faith once delivered
to the saints," or the word of truth which is to be believed
to salvation. And, that this word of truth is worth the con
tending for will appear, if you consider that the Author of
it is the " faithful and true witness," Rev. iii. 14 ; the in
struments, or penmen of it, infallibly guided by the Holy
Ghost, 2 Pet. i. 21. " The holy men of God spoke as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost ;" the matter of it is ever
lasting truth, which shall stand firm when heaven and
earth shall pass away ; the form of it is in conformity to
God himself— the power, purity, and truth of the word, is
in conformity to the power, holiness, and faithfulness of
God himself; the price of it is the blood of Christ ; the
benefits that redound to us by it are all those blessings we
have forfeited by sin, and are now purchased and regained
by the glorious Surety. So that it is a weighty cause we
are to contend for.
Again, contending for the truth supposes that there are
numerous and powerful adversaries to contend with, even
all the swarms of soul-ruining seducers, animated and set
on work by the god of this world ; for " we wrestle not
166 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
with flesh and blood" only, "but with" flesh and blood
assisted by " principalities and powers, and the rulers of
the darkness of this world," Eph. vi. 12. And these erro
neous seducers cannot want cunning, to colour over their
damnable heresies with smooth words and doubtful expres
sions, when they have the old serpent for their teacher ;
nor can they want malice, diligence, and activity, when
they are instigated and driven on by the destroyer, who
goes about seeking whom he may devour.
Further, this contending, in the purchasers of truth,
supposes that they have strength whereby to resist these
powerful adversaries. But now, their strength is not in
themselves, but in their glorious Head, who, in virtue of
their union with him, gives them continual supplies of
grace for resisting temptations, and going through the
difficulties and dangers that may be in their way, while
among the lions' dens and mountains of the leopards ; and,
in a word, for enabling them to "do all things through
Christ strengthening them," Phil. iv. 13.
Moreover, they that have bought the truth ought, in
their contending for it, to put forth this borrowed strength
against the enemy, in their several spheres and stations
wherein they are placed in the world. Magistrates, by
restraining heretics and seducers, as Hezekiah and Josiah
did ; ministers, by preaching the word of truth, by sound
doctrine convincing gainsayers, and censuring the scan
dalous and erroneous, Titus i. 9, 11 ; Christians, of what
ever station, by praying for the success of the word of
truth, "that it may have free course and be glorified,"
2 Thess. iii. 1 ; and by confessing the truth, and suffering
for it when called thereto.
The way and manner in which the purchasers of the
truth ought to essay to put forth their borrowed strength
in contending for the faith is, (1.) Resolutely and coura
geously, with purpose of heart cleaving to the Lord, Acts
xi. 23. (2.) Unanimously, " with one consent, and with
one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel,"
Phil. i. 27. (3.) Impartially and universally, for every
SEB. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 167
truth, and against every error. (4.) Constantly and stead
fastly, holding " fast the profession of our faith without
wavering," Heb. x. 23. (5.) Humbly and meekly, under
a sense of our own inability to contend, and guarding
against our own spirits, eyeing singly the glory of God,
and depending upon his grace to be made sufficient for us,
and his strength to be made perfect in our weakness. So
much for the second thing proposed, What it is to " buy "
the truth. I proceed now to the
III. Head of the method ; and that was, To inquire who
they are that " sell" the truth.
You may take their character in the following particu
lars ; and, wherein it is applicable to any, may the Spirit
of the Lord fasten saving conviction upon the soul.
1. They "sell" the truth who are "destitute of the
truth," as the expression is 1 Tim. vi. 6. Such as are void
of spiritual understanding, and never had their hearts
moulded and fashioned according to the truth ; whatever
natural or acquired parts they may have, yet they never
had the saving and solid knowledge of the truth ; and
therefore they cannot but part with it at a very cheap
rate. Such are all those who have " not received the love
of the truth, that they might be saved," 2 Thess. ii. 10.
Though they be the hearers of the word, yet they are not
the doers of it; and therefore, when tribulation attends
the profession of the truth, " by and by they are offended."
2. They "sell" the truth who turn from the truth.
The Apostle (to Titus, chap. i. 14.) discharges to " give
heed to the commandments of men who turn from the
truth." There are many who appear on the side of truth
when there is no hazard in professing of it, who yet change
sides when truth is universally run down. And, sirs, you
will always observe that they who turn from the truth
which they once professed, are the most bloody adversaries
that ever truth or the defenders of it had. The bishops
and their underlings, in the late persecuting times, at least
for some years after the Restoration, what were they but
apostate and perjured Presbyterians? and you all know
168 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHEfi's WRITINGS.
with what rage and cruelty they defiled the whole land
with the blood of the Lord's witnesses, from which it is
not yet purged. And there are many living amongst us
at this day, who made some zealous appearances a few
years ago, both in the pulpit and judicatories, for the
covenanted principles of this church, against the current
of defection at that time, who now discover a great deal of
more warmth against those who are witnessing for the
same cause which they themselves once seemed to espouse,
and are turning the edge of their resentment with more
keenness against them, than they who never made such a
profession.
3. Erroneous persons "sell" the truth with a witness.
There are many, of whom it may be said at this day as it
was of Hymeneus and Philetus, 2 Tim. ii. 18., that "con
cerning the truth they have erred." The flood of error
never swelled to such an height, in any period of this
church since her reformation from Popery, as at this day ;
and never was there so little zeal shown for truth, when
lying bleeding everywhere in our streets ; the sad and dis
mal effects whereof are to be seen in every corner of the
land : — many calling in question the great truths of God,
and rejecting all the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, be
cause they are not adapted, as they imagine, to their
rational taste ; many disputing themselves and others out
of the truth ; others mocking at truth and the professors
of it ; and the most part quite unconcerned to have the
truth conveyed and brought home with power upon their
own souls.
4. They "sell" the truth who resist the truth,— like
those mentioned 2 Tim. iii. 8. Truth has an evidencing
light going along with it, yet many repel the evidence.
Although their consciences be convinced with silencing
arguments on the side of truth, yet such is their enmity
and prejudice at the truth that they give a deaf ear to all
that is said in defence of it, or endeavour to shift the force
of argument by mere evasion. Yea, some are so blindly
wedded to a side, or give such implicit faith to their lead-
SER. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OP TKTJTH. 169
ers, that, though a Testimony be published for truth and
against a current of defection, a sight of the title-page
thereof sufficeth them. And I am apt to believe, that the
open appearances of many against the truth of Reforma
tion-principles at this day, is just in opposition to a few
ministers and professors through the land, whom the Lord,
in his adorable providence, has raised up to witness for
the truth, and against the defections both of former and
present times. But let not this surprise you, as if it were
some strange thing ; for you will always find that witness-
bearing for the truth is " tormenting to them that dwell
upon the earth," Rev. xi. 10. If there had been always a
compliance with the world, there could never have been any
persecution from it ; for the " world will love its own :" —
but the ground of all opposition and hatred from the
world, is a non-compliance with, and testifying against,
the principles, practices, and customs of it. Hence says
our Lord of himself, in opposition to the time-servers of
his day, John vii. 7. " The world cannot hate you, but me
it hateth, because I testify of it that the works thereof
are evil."
5. They "sell" the truth who part with it for worldly
gain ; like Demas, of whom the Apostle says, 2 Tim. iv.
10. " He hath forsaken me, having loved this present
world." There are many who will comply with the times
rather than disoblige their superiors, or risk their worldly
advantages ; and how lamentable is it, that herein they
should have the example of so many of the present minis
try, who, by their late sinful compliance, have so shame
fully sold the truth concerning the Headship of Christ,
(which he witnessed for before Pontius Pilate,) for their
worldly incomes! It is an heavy word which our Lord
has concerning such, Matt. x. 37. " He that loveth father
or mother, son or daughter," that is, the most valuable
thing in a present world, " more than me, is not worthy of
me." But, sirs, if there are any of you made willing by
grace to lay down your worldly all at Christ's feet, in de
fence of his truth, there is an encouraging word to you,
170 SELECTIONS FROM MR. PISHEfi's WRITINGS.
Matt. xix. 29. " Every one who has forsaken houses, or
brethren, or sister, or father, or mother, or wife, or chil
dren, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive an hun
dred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life."
6. As they " sell" the truth who part with it for worldly
gain, so they " sell" the truth who make a profession of
embracing it for worldly advantage, like those who fol
lowed Christ for the loaves. It has been observed by
severals, that, at the Reformation from Popery, there were
many zealous against the abbacies more out of love to
their lands than hatred to their idolatry. But they who
do not embrace the truth merely for itself, and because of
its conformity to a God of truth, will easily part with it
when the profits and preferments of the world are not
upon its side.
7. They " sell " the truth who endeavour to conceal and
smother the truth ; like those who " deal deceitfully with
the word," as it is in the marginal reading, 2 Cor. ii. 17.
Now, they conceal the truth who cover former and present
sins, and refuse to acknowledge them to the glory of God ;
as is the practice of ministers and judicatories at this day.
They conceal the truth who do not give faithful warning
of the hazard that truth may be in from the enemies and
opposers of it. They conceal the truth who do all they
can to keep the people in ignorance about the evils of the
time ; like treacherous watchmen, who see the enemy ap
proaching, yet allow the city of God to be surprised with
out once giving notice of it. Again, they conceal the truth
who palliate their own sinful practices by a partial acknow
ledgment of some part of truth ; like many of late, who in
words professed they owned the headship of Christ over
his church, and yet in their practice renounced the same.
But, sirs, they who are really upon truth's side, " have re
nounced these hidden things of dishonesty, and are not
walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God de
ceitfully, but, by manifestation of the truth, commending
themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God,"
2 Cor. iv. 2.
SER, I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 171
8. They "sell" the truth who distinguish away the
truth. There are two distinctions which I would have
you to be aware of; — there are some who distinguish be
tween greater and smaller truths. I will not say that
every truth is of equal importance to salvation ; but sure
I am that there is not a truth of God within the whole
Bible that is of such small consequence to a believer, but
that he would rather choose to give up with his life than
part with it. Again, some distinguish between contro
verted and uncontroverted truths ; alleging that we ought
not to be tenacious about those things that have been
controverted among learned men. But, were we to cast
off all controverted truth, we should reject the whole
Bible ; for I know not that truth in it but has been con
troverted by some of the learned. And, if you would have
it, the great reason why many use these distinctions, is
just that they may throw the doctrine concerning the
house of Christ among those lesser and controverted truths
about which men may safely differ. But it has been ob
served, that they who have been easy about matters of
government have been as indifferent about matters of doc
trine when they have come into their cast ; as is evident
from the little zeal that has been shown for the great
truths of God that have been controverted in our own day.
Hence it follows,
9. They "sell" the truth who are not valiant for the
truth ; like those mentioned Jer. ix. 3. of whom it is said,
that " they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth."
There are many who are mere cowards in the cause of
truth at this day : the enemy is bold and forward in op
posing and bearing down the truth, and they shamefully
and pitifully give it up without the least stroke of sword.
The most part of those who were once thought well-affected
to the cause of truth are now standing by as neutral and
unconcerned spectators of the desolations of our Zion, or
at least sighing and going backward. Where is there a
standing testimony for truth among all the present judi-
catories at this day ? Yea, there are standing sentences
172 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
and decisions against a plain and faithful testimony, whe
ther doctrinal or judicial.
This partiality in the judicatories, in turning the edge
of their sentences against those who are essaying to wit
ness for the truth, and, upon the other hand, their omit
ting and refusing to give any suitable testimony them
selves, even when opportunities were put in their hands
for being valiant for the truth, has produced two fatal
consequences which will not be so easily remedied.
First, This neutrality in the judicatories, about the
truth both of the doctrine and government of the house of
Christ, has given latitude to that uncontrolled freedom
which is used with the great mysteries of godliness, by a
numerous set of preachers in this church, by whose ser
mons one would scarce know that they are Christians ; for
you will seldom or never hear from them one word about
the original corruption and depravation of man's nature,
by his fall in the first Adam, — of his incapacity to recover
himself, — nor of the necessity of a vital union with Christ,
as the foundation of our j ustification and of all acceptable
obedience : — these, and the like doctrines, so necessary to
the salvation of sinners, are quite dropped by many of
them ; whereby they that hear them are left to " perish
for lack of knowledge."
Another bad consequence that has followed upon the
sinful neglect of a timeous testifying for the truth ; and
that is, that Deism, or a disregard to the Holy Scriptures,
is now almost become universal, whether it be from a
principle of malice, or from mere ignorance, or a fond de
sire to imitate one another. But so it is, that there are
few of those who imagine themselves to be raised above
the ordinary rank of men but who use intolerable freedom
with the Holy Scriptures,— some by denying them in bulk,
others by wresting them to their own destruction, and
others by passing profane jests upon them ; whereby they
verify what the Apostle Peter says, second Epistle iii. 3.
that " there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking
after their own lusts." Yea, to such an height of impiety
SER. I. INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 173
are we arrived at this day, that few or none are reckoned
men of sense but such as can with freedom expose religion
and the professors of it, however void they be of true and
solid learning. I shall only say of them as the Apostle
Jude has it, " They speak evil of the things which they
know not." These are some of the sad consequences of
omitting to be valiant for the truth ; but let us all con
sider, that " whosoever shall be ashamed of Christ, and of
his words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him
also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in
the glory of his Father with the holy angels," Mark viii. 38.
I shall now essay to make improvement of what has
been said in the following Inferences.
Inference 1. Are all commanded to "buy" the truth?
then it follows that all are by nature destitute and void of
it ; a man needs not buy what is his own already, or what
he has a right to by birth. Our buying of any thing says
plainly that we have no previous property in it. We have
lost and forfeited our possession of the truth in the first
Adam, who " changed the truth of God into a lie," and left
all his posterity to " inherit folly." All we have now by
inheritance, or can call our own, is wretchedness, misery,
poverty, blindness, and nakedness, Rev. iii. 17; and, till
we are convinced of this, it is impossible that we can have
the least thought of "buying" the blessings which are
suitable to us in these deplorable circumstances, though
they be presented to us in this everlasting gospel.
Inf. 2. Are all commanded to " buy" the truth ] then it
follows that truth is now exposed to sale, and that all have
free access to make the purchase. And herein shines the
infinite love of God to mankind sinners, although we have
justly forfeited all good, and deserve to have been miser
able for ever, as well as the angels that fell, yet he hath
" so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son" to
purchase and regain, with vast advantage, what we had
irrecoverably lost in the first Adam. And the Son of God
having actually made the purchase at the price of his
blood, and in consequence thereof having full power and
174 SELECTIONS FROM MB. FISHEfi's WRITINGS.
authority to dispense and give out all purchased good
among the children of men, hence doth he issue forth the
proclamation to sinners of all sorts, to come and " buy of
him gold tried in the fire that they may be rich, white
raiment that they may be clothed, and eye-salve that they
may see," Rev. iii. 18. Only you would notice, that, when
we are called to come and buy these inestimable blessings
at the hands of this great Proprietor, we have not any
thing like an equivalent price to offer, as in the case of
contracts among men, where there is a just proportion
between the price and the purchase ; and therefore they
are offered freely, and we invited to buy " without money
and without price ;" Isa. Iv. 1. " Ho, every one that thirst-
eth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ;
come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk with
out money and without price."
Inf. 3. Are we commanded at any rate to make a pur
chase of the truth ? then it follows that it must be of in
estimable value. Christ himself, and all the blessings of
his purchase, grace and glory, and every good thing, is
that truth which we are commanded to " buy ;" and con
sequently the price of it is above "rubies, and all the"
worldly " things that can be desired are not to be com
pared to it," Prov. viii. 11. Yea, it is of such a value that
our very life depends upon the purchase of it, Prov. iv. 13.
" Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go ; keep her,
for she is thy life." If you lose what is contained in the
word of truth, you lose infinitely more than your life is
worth ; for, " what will it profit a man, though he gain
the whole world, if he lose his own soul 1 " If you get pos
session of this valuable treasure, it will bear your charges
through all the hardships and difficulties of a present
world ; it will keep you alive and support you in the very
jaws of death, and last with you through eternity. If you
lose it, you are dead while you live ; and, though you had
the whole world in possession, you enjoy nothing but
vanity, an empty shadow, while you have no interest in
this " inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and
SER. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OP TRUTH. 175
which fadeth not away." Besides, the word of truth is of
such value, that there is no travelling heavenwards with
out it. It is that pillar of fire which is necessary to guide
us through the dark night of a present world into the land
of everlasting light and life. We have within us hearts
that are "deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked," — without us, innumerable snares and dangers ;
we have missed our way to eternal life in the first Adam,
and, though we be in the high road to eternal ruin, yet
such is our pride and ignorance that we cannot be per
suaded of it ; and therefore, if the word of truth is not a
" lamp to our feet and a light to our path," we can never
arrive at the rest that remains for the people of God.
Inf. 4. Is it the duty of all, at the command of God, to
"buy" the truth, and for no price to part with it 1 then
see the folly of the world, in putting such a low rate upon
this inestimable treasure ; like those who were invited to
the marriage of the King's son, yet " made light of it, and
went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his mer
chandise," Matt. xxii. 5. — preferring the things of a pre
sent world to the greatest offer that could possibly be
made to them. There are some that put such a low value
upon the truth, and are so far from buying it themselves,
that they do what they can to hinder others from making
the purchase ; like those of whom our Lord speaks, Luke
xi. 52. " Ye have taken away the key of knowledge ; ye
entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in
ye hindered." They could not endure to see multitudes
following Christ, and they used all methods to prevent it,
although the poor people were starved then (as they are
in many places amongst us at this day) with the dry and
insipid doctrines of these times ; and therefore no wonder
that they travelled abroad, to buy food to their souls, when
there was nothing but mere famine at home. There are
others who undervalue truth to such a degree that they will
not so much as frequent the market-place where it is to be
sold — I mean, the ordinances of the gospel ; the least out
ward inconvenience will keep them from attendance. But,
4 2A
176 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
did they know the worth of what they are despising,
they would dig for it as for hid treasures, and reckon
nothing too dear for the necessary food of their perishing
souls.
Inf. 5. Are we commanded to " buy " the truth 1 then
the question is, Have you, upon the warrant and command
of God, made a purchase of the truth ? and are you so well
satisfied with the bargain that you are resolved, through
grace, never to part with it again? Now, in order to
assist you in this inquiry, we shall put the following ques
tions to your consciences, which we require you to con
sider, and to try yourselves by, as in the sight of God to
whom we must make an account. Have you felt the power
of the truth upon your own hearts, subduing sin in you,
and making you loathe and abhor yourselves upon the ac
count of it, as offensive to God, and framing your hearts
and lives into a conformity to the image of God, and
sweetly constraining you to all the duties of new obe
dience 1 Do you consult with the word of truth in all the
pinching straits and difficulties that occur to you while in
this valley of tears ? When the world, or your own carnal
reason, suggest this or the other danger attending the
practice of duty, whether do you listen to their motions,
or are you determined by the word as your only counsellor,
with the psalmist, Psal. cxix. 24. " Thy testimonies are my
delight and my counsellors ? " Have you been convinced
that the word of truth is of such absolute necessity to you
that there is no living without it 1 Psal. xxvii. 13. " I had
fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the
Lord in the land of the living ;" Psal. cxix. 92. " Unless
thy law had been my delight, I should then have perished
in my affliction." Although the times wherein we live be
among the dear years of truth, when they that will buy it
and keep it must be at greater expense than ordinary ;
yet, are you convinced that it must be had cost what it
will 1 Are you satisfied that your credit and reputation sink
in the defence of truth, — that you be reviled and reproached
for Christ's name's sake, — that everything that is valuable
SER. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 177
to you in the world be at the Lord's sovereign disposure, —
and that you would rather part with your worldly all than
with one hoof of divine truth? Are you walking in the
truth? Second Epistle of John ver. 4. "I rejoiced greatly
that I found thy children walking in truth." Are you
walking in the light of truth, essaying to perform every
duty, from such principles, in such a manner, with such a
frame of heart, and aiming at such an end, as is required
in the word of truth? Are you subject to the power and
authority of the truth, content to be servants unto it, and
to be wholly ruled and guided by it ? Any of you that are
engaged in the cause of truth, I ask you, upon what grounds
and from what motives have you done it ? Was it because
you saw evidently a stamp of divine authority upon the
truth, and felt the inward operation of the Spirit, bearing
witness by and with the word in your hearts, and there
fore could not endure to see the truth trampled upon as
mire in the streets without appearing as witnesses for it ?
Have you engaged in the cause of truth out of love to the
person of Christ, who is " the truth ? " and is this love to
Christ the spring of all your appearances for him ? Lastly,
Are you abounding in the knowledge of the truth ? If you
are possessed of the truth, your desires will be more and
more enlarged towards it, — you will never think that you
have enough of it, — you will " follow on to know the Lord,"
llos. vi. 3. Every new discovery of his glory will make
you cry more ardently, with Moses, for a fresh discovery
of it, " I beseech thee show me thy glory ;" and at the
same time you will be sensible of your own ignorance, and
ready to say with Agur, Prov. xxx. 2. " Surely I am more
brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of
a man." And in the same glass that you see the glory of
the Lord will you see your own vileness, Isa. vi. 5. Now,
by putting these or the like questions to your own con
sciences, you may come to know whether you have bought
the truth or not.
The last use that I shall make of the doctrine shall be
of Exhortation, in two branches, answerable to the words
178 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
of the text. (1.) Buy the truth. (2.) Beware of selling
it, or parting with it again.
1st Branch of the Exhortation, answerable to the com
mand of God, is, " Buy the truth." Sirs, this everlasting
gospel is like a market, where all the necessaries and orna
ments of life are exposed to sale ; Christ, and all the bless
ings of his purchase, are set before you in the word, that
you may buy them, and make use of them as your own.
Only, for your better understanding of this, you must
know that "buying" here is " believing." Faith is vari
ously expressed in Scripture, according to the several views
in which Christ the object of it is presented, and brought
near, in the word of grace. When Christ is held out as a
person of matchless comeliness and beauty, and as having
that comeliness in him for the adorning of us who have
" lien among the pots ;" then faith is a " looking" to him,
Isa. xlv. 22. " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth." When Christ is exhibited as the " unspeak
able gift" of God to mankind lost, then faith is a " receiv
ing" of him, John i. 12. "As many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God." And
here, when Christ is presented as the " best bargain " for
poor, miserable, wretched, blind, and naked creatures, faith
is a "buying" of him; — only you must conceive of this
buying in a suitableness to the bargain. The bargain is
inestimable, infinitely above all value ; and therefore this
buying, on our part, must exclude all price ; and so it
agrees with the nature of faith, which is a taking and re
ceiving grace. So then, the meaning of the exhortation,
" Buy the truth," amounts just to this — ' Since the best
bargain that ever was is oifered and presented unto you
for nought, take it, and make use of it as your own, giving
credit to all the testimony of God concerning it, without
wavering or doubting.'
Now, to engage you to this, consider that God has made
a free and gratuitous donation of his eternal Son, and all
salvation with him, in the dispensation of the gospel, and
requires sinners of all sorts to accept of the offer, without
SEB. I. INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 179
doubting either of his ability or willingness to bestow all
the good contained in the promise. This is clear from
Rom. viii. 32. " He that spared not his own Son, but de
livered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things ? " Where you see the person that
makes the grant is JEHOVAH, who was justly offended by
our sin, but now well-pleased for Christ's righteousness'
sake. The grant itself is Christ and all things with him.
The persons to whom the grant is made, are sinners of all
sorts to whom the gospel comes. It is not unto men as
they are elect, but unto men as such, that is, unto men as
they are sinners, Prov. viii. 4. " Unto you, 0 men, I call,
and my voice is unto the sons of men." 0 then, be per
suaded to take home this valuable treasure in the arms of
your faith ; — it will be life to the dead, light to the blind,
liberty to the captive, bread to the hungry, righteousness
to the guilty, strength to the weak, and all things to the
empty sinner. Sirs, you are just now in the market-place,
and there is here all imaginable variety of the most useful
and costly wares, all of them absolutely necessary for you ;
and we can assure you, in the name of the God of truth,
that you are heartily welcome to them all : " The Spirit
saith, Come ; and the Bride saith, Come ; and whosoever
will, let him come, and buy wine and milk without money
and without price." Oh, sirs, will you go empty away, when
the fulness of the Godhead is set before you ? The pro
mise is endorsed to you, and therefore you have a right to
intermeddle with all the good that is contained in it ; Oh,
then, " be not faithless, but believing." The market-day
will draw to a close ere it be long ; it may be the last hour
of it with many of us who have hitherto been standing in
the market-place idle. You have now no time to lose, —
shortly may those things be hid from your eyes, — and we
have no warrant to allow you one moment to deliberate
upon this matter. Here is the command of God to every
one of you in particular, " Buy the truth ;" therefore, in
stantly give obedience at your highest peril, especially
when there is no room for deliberation in this case. Should
180 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHEIl's WKITIN3S.
a starving man deliberate if he will take meat when it is
set before him? Should a prisoner deliberate if he will
go out of the prison-house when the doors are opened for
him 1 Oh, then, without further delay, " buy the truth ;"
reach forth the hand of faith and take it, and the bargain
is made. Our Lord Christ is not standing upon terms
with you, he knows you have nothing ; and therefore he is
just now offering himself to you, and all that he is, and
has, for nought, in this market of free grace. The way to
be possessed of the rich commodities that are in it, is just
to take them all, and then you have them. Let not the
pride of your hearts deprive you of that which will make
you up through eternity. Let not unbelief fill you with
jealousies, as if these valuable goods were not ordained for
such guilty creatures as you ; for we can assure you from
the word, that Christ "came to seek and to save" only
" that which is lost ; he came not to call the righteous but
sinners unto repentance." Who is it that needs life but
the dead 1 who need a righteousness but the guilty ? who
need eye-sight but the blind ? and who stands in need of
an indemnity but the condemned criminal? Therefore,
since Christ is a Saviour ordained for men in these miser
able circumstances, 0 come to him as you are, and " buy"
of him, or, which is the same thing, "take" from him
" wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption ;"
for there is enough in him to satisfy the need of every
thing that liveth. And, if you are thus determined to be
lieve on the Son of God, you will see such a beauty and
excellency in him, and in the whole of the truth concern
ing him, that you will account all things but loss in com
parison of him, and the least point of divine truth worth
a thousand worlds. And this leads me to the
2d Branch of the Exhortation, namely, that you beware
of " selling" the truth, or parting with it.
This is a day wherein the truths of God go at a very low-
rate ; many, who once professed to be Christ's disciples,
are going back and walking no more with him. The cares
of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the loving the
SER. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OP TRUTH. 181
praise of men more than the praise of God, together with
the outward dangers and disadvantages that attend a strict
profession of the truth, are among the sad and dismal
causes why so many part with it in this sinning and try
ing time. But we would have you all to consider, that,
however low the price of truth may be at this day, yet
there is a time coming when the worth of it shall be fully
known. What would the greatest enemies and contemners
of truth give to be possessed of that which they now so much
despise, in the day " when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels, in naming fire, to
take vengeance on them that knew not God, and obeyed
not the gospel 1 " What will this world and all the plea
sures of it avail, when " the heavens shall pass away with
a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall
be burnt up 1 " The beauty and glory of truth shall then
shine forth in perfection ; and they who have bought it at
the highest rate will then find, to their sweet experience,
that they are the greatest gainers. 0 then, beware of
parting with such a valuable treasure. And, in order to
guard you against it, I shall lay before you the following
DIRECTIONS. — 1. Endeavour to get the knowledge of
" the truth as it is in Jesus." And, for this end, be much
employed in searching the Scriptures, and examining what
you read or hear with that unerring standard, as the Be-
reans did. Look to the great " Apostle and high-priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus," that he may teach you to
profit ; for he has " compassion on the ignorant, and on
them that are out of the way," and is commissioned of the
Father " to open the eyes of the blind," and is fully quali
fied for this work, for all " the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge are hid in him." Essay to fasten upon the pro
mise of God for the saving knowledge of the truth, Jer.
xxxi. 34. " They shall all know me, from the least of them
to the greatest of them."
2. Seek to be established in the truth, and particularly
in the "present truth," as the expression is 2 Pet. i. 12;
182 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
that is, in the truths that are presently opposed and con
troverted ; and you have the more need to seek to be estab
lished in the truth, in regard of the cunning and subtilty
of seducers, who " with feigned words make merchandise
of souls," 2 Pet. ii. 3; or as it is Rom. xvi. 18. "By good
words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple,"
— that is, such as mean well but want wisdom to discern
the cunning of those who mean ill, and therefore are easily
imposed upon by the " fair speeches of those who lie in
wait to deceive." Now, in order to your being established
in the present truth, see that you be well grounded in the
principles which you profess, that you may not be beguiled
as unstable souls, or be at the mercy of every wind of doc
trine. Again, it will be very establishing in the truth to
get a view of it as having a stamp of divine authority upon
it, — to see it with a "Thus saith the Lord" upon the front
of it. Further, endeavour to keep your eye upon him who
is "the truth." You will deviate and turn aside that
moment you lose sight of him; therefore be much in
prayer, seeking to be stablished, strengthened, and settled
by the Lord himself. Lastly, Rest not till you feel the
efficacy of every truth you profess upon your own hearts.
3. See that you maintain a steadfast profession of the
truth, Heb. x. 23. " Hold fast the profession of your faith
without wavering." This is a wavering and shaking time
wherein we live, and they who once begin to stagger are
at the next door to apostasy. But to engage you to make
a steadfast profession of your faith, consider that truth is
that great trust which God has committed unto us, with a
strict and solemn charge to keep it against all that would
undermine or oppose it ; for which reason it is called the
" faith once delivered unto the saints." Since, therefore,
this is such a valuable trust which is committed unto us,
we ought to be faithful to our trust, in maintaining a
steadfast profession of the truth in this reeling time. And
in order to this, " receive the love of the truth." Love to
the truth will make you bear witness to it at all hazards,
though it should be at the expense of your name, reputa-
SER. I. — INESTIMABLE VALUE OF TRUTH. 183
tion, worldly interest, or even of your life itself. Labour
also to get your hearts inflamed with love to God himself,
who is the God of truth. David's love to Jonathan made
him inquire for some of his race, to whom he might show
kindness for Jonathan's sake ; so love to God will make
the soul inquisitive to know what is near and dear to God,
that, by showing kindness to it, he may express his love
to him : and nothing is dearer to him than his truth, for
it is one of the greatest mercies that can be bestowed upon
a people, Psal. cxlvii. 19, 20. " He showeth his word unto
Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel ; he hath
not dealt so with any nation." And dreadful are the pun
ishments he inflicts upon the enemies of his truth, even all
the plagues that are written in the word of truth, Rev.
xxii. 18.
I shall conclude with a few properties of the truth, which
may be considered as motives to engage you to a steadfast
profession it. (1.) Truth is "pure," Psal. xix. 7; — not
only pure in itself, but also maketh the soul pure and holy
that embraceth it. (2.) Truth is a sure and lasting pos
session; it "endureth for ever," Psal. xix. 7: — it has a
firm bottom, able to bear your weight. Sirs, cleave to the
truth, and it will abide with you, and go with you to pri
son, banishment, yea, to death itself, and bear your charges
wherever you go upon its errand. (3.) Truth is " free,"
John viii. 32. " You shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free." When once Christ and the soul are
brought together by the word of truth, then the day of
your redemption is come, a deliverance from your spiritual
bondage is accomplished. (4.) Truth is "victorious," —
the counsel of the Lord shall stand. The age of truth runs
parallel with God's eternity, — it shall live to see their heads
laid in the dust who were so busy in seeking to bury it, — yea,
it shall reign in peace with the sufferers for it, when the
unrelenting oppressors thereof shall gnash their teeth with
never-ending pain for their opposition unto it. Witnesses
for truth may sometimes be few, but there shall always be
some ; and therefore, though persecutors may sometimes
184 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
be permitted to get the present set of witnesses off the
stage, yet instantly will others start up in their room,
whom they did not think of before ; for " his name shall
endure for ever," and consequently there shall be a " seed
to serve him," who will make his " name to be remembered
in all generations."
SERMON II.*
THE MATTER OF GOSPEL PREACHING-
CHRIST JESUS THE LORD.
2 COR. iv. 5. — " For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the LorJ,
and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake."
IN this epistle the Apostle vindicates himself from the
calumnies and aspersions of the false teachers of those
times, not only in asserting the validity of his mission to
the holy ministry, which some of them seemed to question,
but also in affirming that he discharged his pastoral office
from a sincere regard to the real edification of lost sinners,
and not from any selfish view or carnal bias whatever, as
you may see in the words of our reading : " For we preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord," <fcc.
In which words you may notice, 1st, The duty of gospel
ministers,— it is to " preach" (" We preach"). The word
signifies, to proclaim or publish a thing with a loud and
audible voice, that all may hear, — in allusion to criers or
heralds who publish the edicts of magistrates. Ministers
indeed are, by their office, criers or "heralds, not to proclaim
the edicts and commands of earthly princes, but to " lift
up their voice like a trumpet," in declaring "the whole
counsel of God." 2<%. You have the subject, or the mat
ter of gospel-preaching, expressed negatively, — it is " not
ourselves, but" it is, or ought to be, "Christ Jesus the
Lord." Under these names, here given to the glorious
Redeemer, is comprehended the whole matter of gospel-
* Preached at the ordination of the Rev. James Man- at West Liuton,
May 29, 1740.
186 SELECTIONS FROM ME. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
preaching. Christ signifies " Anointed," and under this
name are included all the doctrines relating to his eternal
designation and appointment to the office of Mediator, and
the unmeasurable communication of the Spirit to him, for
the discharge of his mediatory offices. Jesus signifies a
" Saviour," and under this name are contained all the doc
trines relating to his wonderful incarnation, his exemplary
life, and meritorious death ; or all the truths that are com
prehended under the impetration or purchase of our re
demption, the honour of all the divine attributes manifested
thereby, together with the circumstances of the persons
whom he came to save. Again, the same glorious person
is to be preached as he is " the Lord," — which takes in all
the doctrines pertaining to his exaltation, his supreme
headship over his church, and the powerful application of
the redemption purchased by him; so that if we knew
what it were to preach " Christ Jesus the Lord," we would
find that under these three comprehensive words are con
tained all the truths that we are commanded in Scripture
to believe concerning God, and all the duties which God
requires of man. Sdly. You have the laborious office of
the ministry described, in these words, " Ourselves your
servants for Jesus' sake." Ministers are " servants," which
imports faithfulness and diligent labour, — they are employed
in serving sinners of Adam's family ; says the Apostle here,
we are " your servants," — to serve you with all the bless
ings of the new covenant, to spend and be spent in your
service. The names in Scripture given to ministers, such
as pastors, stewards, watchmen, labourers, all import a
service, excluding anything like domination, or " lording
it over God's heritage," — but including humility, industry,
fidelity, love, and helpfulness. Christ only hath domina
tion and pre-eminence, all his office-bearers are but ser
vants or ministers ; like the priests and Levites, they are
to "serve the Lord and his people" Israel, 2 Chron. xxxv. 3.
But then, they are servants for "Jesus' sake," — which
imports the great love that Christ has to lost sinners, and
that this love is shed abroad in the hearts of his faithful
SEE. II. — THE MATTER OP GOSPEL-PREACHING. 187
servants, who, upon that account, beseech sinners, in
" Christ's stead, to be reconciled unto God."
Having thus explained the words, I shall essay, as the
Lord shall assist, to discourse upon them suitably to the
occasion of our meeting, in the following order. I shall
speak, 1st. Of the Matter of gospel-preaching, as it is here
expressed in our text, both negatively and positively. 2dly.
Of the Manner in which Christ Jesus the Lord is to be
preached. 3dly. Of the Office of Gospel-ministers, as they
are servants, first of Christ, and then of sinners, for Jesus'
sake. And then, Deduce some Inferences for the Applica
tion.
I. I am to essay to offer some thoughts upon the Matter
of gospel-preaching, as it is here expressed in our text,
both negatively and positively ; — it is not to be " ourselves,"
but "Christ Jesus the Lord." And upon this Head I shall,
First, Speak of what is not to be the matter of our
preaching, — " We are not to preach ourselves"
Self is the great rival that the Lord Jesus has in the
hearts of the children of men ; it not only prefers sinful
pleasures, and the lawful comforts of life, unto him, but
wants to share with him in our most solemn duties and
religious exercises. There is no need for crying up this
idol of self, and exalting it above the authority of God in
his word, as is done at this day ; for I make no doubt to
affirm, that self-love is the leading principle of action to
all men in a natural state. It was self-love that made
Pharaoh oppress Israel, lest they should become too many
and strong for him ; — it was self-interest that made Jero
boam set up the calves at Dan and Bethel, lest unity of
worship should reduce the ten tribes to the house of David
again ; — it was nothing but self-love that made Demetrius
and the craftsmen cry up Diana, and cry down the gospel
of Christ, Acts xix. 24, 27 : — so that self is the chief end
of every natural man; therefore, that which constitutes
the difference between a natural and a renewed man is
this — self is the end of the one, Christ is the end of the
other. The natural man studies nothing more than to
188 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISIIER's WRITINGS.
gratify his self-love, — that is, love to himself is that which
moves him on to all the actions of life, whether natural or
moral ; his happiness is only in himself, and therefore he
must live to himself, and can have no higher end than to
gratify self one way or other. But the desire of the new
creature is to be denied to self, to be denied to sinful self
absolutely, without any reserve or exception ; to have the
ocean of corruption, and all the streams that flow from it,
quite dried up in the soul, crying with the Apostle, Rom.
vii. 24. " Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death ? " The believer desires also to be denied to natural
self conditionally, or upon supposition of a call in adorable
Providence ; that is, he desires, through grace, to part
with outward ease, reputation, houses, lands, wife, chil
dren, yea, life itself, or whatever is dear to him in this
world, when it stands in opposition to, or in competition
with, the glory of the Redeemer and the interest of his
kingdom. Thus" the Apostle Paul, Acts xxi. 13. "I am
ready, not to be bound only, but to die" at Jerusalem ufor
the name of the Lord Jesus." And then, as to religious
self, the believer desires to be denied to all his duties and
graces, in point of righteousness or justification before
God, and to rely upon the righteousness of the Lord Christ
alone, as the sole ground of his pardon and acceptance in
the sight of God. In a word, as the believer's happiness
lies without himself, so he desires to aim at the glory of
God and of the Redeemer as his greatest and chief end ;
agreeable to this is the exhortation of the Apostle, 1 Cor.
x. 31. " Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever
ye do, do all to the glory of God ;" and, in order to this,
we find that it was one great end of the death of Christ to
take sinners off from self, — to rest only on a God in Christ
as the all of their happiness and salvation, 2 Cor. v. 15.
" He died for all, that they which live should not hence
forth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for
them and rose again." As Adam's sin hath set up self in
opposition to the authority of God, so the death of Christ
hath put down self, and advanced God in the soul to his
SER. II. THE MATTER OF GOSPEL-PREACHING. 189
right of being our chief end. Since, then, self is such a
beloved idol that men naturally want to exalt it above all
that is called God, to the ruin of their own souls, we ought
all of us carefully to beware of it, especially we that are
ministers, in delivering God's message to lost sinners, anent
their eternal salvation. The Apostle here disclaims it in
his own practice — " We preach not ourselves," says he ;
and so ought every minister of the gospel, through grace,
to endeavour to guard against self in the discharge of his
pastoral office.
In speaking therefore to what the Apostle here disclaims,
as the matter of his preaching, when he says, " We preach
not ourselves," it will be native to inquire, When ministers
may be said to preach themselves ?
1. When they run unsent, and obtrude themselves upon
the Lord's heritage, not only without their consent, but
when they are actually testifying and reclaiming against
it ; and in this case, when people are willing to call a gos
pel-minister to feed their souls, they who intrude upon
them can be said to act from no better principle than self-
interest ; the fleece, and not the flock, must certainly be
in their eye; and therefore they practically declare that
their preaching is not for the edification of souls, but only
a mean in law to obtain a livelihood ; — of all such the Lord
says, Jer. xxiii. 21, 32. " I have not sent these prophets,
yet they ran ; I have not spoken unto them, yet they pro
phesied : therefore they shall not profit this people at all."
But then, although intruders, who previous to, or without
regard to any call, accept of a presentation to a benefice,
do openly proclaim to the whole world that they make a
trade of preaching only for a livelihood ; yet it is possible
that others, who have a fair enough outward call to the
ministry, may have gain also chiefly in their view, there
fore they will be looked upon, in the sight of God, to
" preach themselves," (whatever their call or character, in
the sight of the world, may otherwise be,) who preach for
filthy lucre's sake, or for their own private interest, like
the scribes and Pharisees, who, " for a pretence, made long
190 SELECTIONS FROM ME. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
prayers, that they might devour widows' houses," making
gain of an outward show of godliness. Of all such it may
be said, as of the priests and prophets of Jerusalem, Micah
iii. 11. "The priests thereof teach for hire, the prophets
thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the
Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us 1 No evil shall
come upon us." Now, as one self-seeker had very nigh
brought ruin upon the whole camp of Israel; so, when
there are a multitude of self-seekers in a church, you may
see what desolation they bring upon it, ver. 12. " Therefore
shall Zion, for your sake, be plowed as a field, and Jerusa
lem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as
the high places of the forest."
2. Ministers " preach themselves," when they study the
applause of the people more than their souls' edification;
such are all those, who, either in composing or delivering
their sermons, have no higher aim than how to please
their audience, so as to get a name to themselves that they
preach well. This was far from the practice of the apos
tles of our Lord, recorded in Scripture for the imitation of
their successors in ordinary office, 1 Thess. ii. 4. " But as
we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel,
even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God which
trieth our hearts."
3. They preach "themselves" who vent the "deceits of
their own heart," as the expression is Jer. xxiii. 26 ; that
is, who industriously endeavour to deceive people into a
liking of, and compliance with, the inventions of their own
heart, however inconsistent with the pure word of God ;
whereby the hearts of the righteous are made sad, and the
hands of the wicked strengthened. Such are all those who
support absolute Church authority, by vindicating from
the pulpit or otherwise the several Acts and Decisions
which have been of late years passed by the present judi-
catories, like the statutes of Omri, — so manifestly in oppo
sition to the laws and commandments of Zion's King, pub
lished in his word. Such are those also who defend the
ceremonies of human invention introduced into the wor-
SEE. II. — THE MATTER OF GOSPEL-PREACHING. 191
ship of God ; and those likewise who cry up union with a
church as an essential branch of the Christian character,
although they cannot pretend to enforce that union from
the Scripture marks of the church of the living God, par
ticularly that it is " the pillar and ground of truth," 1 Tim.
iii. 15. Of all such it may be said, " In vain do you wor
ship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
Under this head may be included, as preaching " them
selves," or the " deceits of their own heart," who, in their
sermons, inveigh severely against the injuries they look
upon as done to themselves, but can pass with little or no
notice the public injuries done to the cause and interest
of Christ. Such are all those who reflect upon the people
for leaving their ministry, (notwithstanding of the just
grounds they may have for so doing.) as one of the great
est grievances of the times, — although it is plain that
withdrawing is the only open testimony that the people
can give against backsliders who refuse to be reclaimed ;
and you will observe that there are many of them, at this
day, of the same spirit with Pashur the false prophet, who
smote Jeremiah, and " put him in the stocks," chap. xx. 2.
because he declared the whole counsel of God, and could
not fall in with, but testified against, the measures of the
false prophets of those times.
4. They preach "themselves" who study fine language
and oratory in their sermons more than substantial matter,
— whose chief concern is about the propriety of the style,
without being solicitous whether they are understood by
the bulk of their hearers or not, providing only they please
a few whom they look upon to be men of taste ; and it is
to be lamented, that, for ordinary, in such sermons, the
peculiar doctrines of Christianity, upon which the faith of
poor sinners is terminated only for salvation, are industri
ously kept out. This is preaching with the " enticing
words of man's wisdom," quite contrary to the practice of
the apostles of our Lord, set down for the imitation of all
gospel-ministers, who did not " speak the wisdom of this
world, nor of the princes of this world that come to nought ;
4 2s
192 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER* S WRITINGS.
but the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wis
dom which God ordained before the world unto our glory,"
1 Cor. ii. 6, 7.
5. Ministers preach " themselves" when they handle the
word of God deceitfully, and give an uncertain sound, —
when they do not give faithful warning against the sins,
and for the duties of the times ; but study to please men
with flattering words, and make their sermons tools for
advancing their own political ends, either in pleasing the
people or the leading party, as it makes most for their
worldly interest.
In a word, they "preach themselves" who, either in
studying or delivering their sermons, have not the glory
of God and the salvation of sinners at heart, — and who do
not endeavour in a way of looking to the Lord, and, as in
his sight, to search out that matter from the Holy Scrip
tures, which they judge will be most suitable for the con
version of sinners, and the edification of saints. Thus I
have showed, in some particulars, what is not to be the
matter of our preaching ; we are not to preach ourselves in
any of the above or like instances.
I proceed now to speak of the positive matter of gospel-
preaching, — what it is that we are to preach, or what ought
to be the sum and substance of all our sermons ; the text
says, it is " Christ Jesus the Lord." This is a comprehen
sive subject indeed, — a subject that will furnish abundance
of matter for all our sermons while the world stands, and
for all the praises of the redeemed company from among
men through the ages of eternity. It is therefore but a
very few hints that we can give of this inexhaustible mat
ter of gospel-preaching, " Christ Jesus the Lord."
In general, "Christ Jesus the Lord" is the sum and
substance of the whole Bible, John v. 39. " Search the
Scriptures," says he, u for they are they which testify of
me." He is the object of our faith and the foundation of
all Christian practice ; by him do we believe in God, and
without him we can do nothing. So that, to preach " Christ
Jesus the Lord," is to preach him as the sum of all the
SEE. II. — THE MATTER OF GOSPEL-PREACHING. 193
promises, the fulfilment of all the types, and the accom
plishment of all the prophecies in the Bible concerning the
Messiah. It is to make him the matter and substance of
our preaching. " I determined," says the Apostle, " not
to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him
crucified," 1 Cor. ii. 2. All the materials of gospel-preach
ing have a manifest relation to Christ. Are we to preach
the duties of religion, or the doctrines relating to Christian
practice ? then we ought, at the same time, to show that
all the duties which God requires of man are to be done in
the strength of Christ — " I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me," Phil. iv. 13. We should teach
that it is the love of Christ shed abroad in our hearts that
constraineth us unto all acceptable obedience — " He that
hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that
loveth me," John xiv. 21. When the duties of religion are
enforced and urged, it ought to be done in a connection
with the promise. There cannot be a more forcible motive
to obedience than to know and believe that a gracious
God has required nothing of us in point of duty but what
he has promised furniture and strength for the perform
ance ; or, in other words, that the same duties required of
us in one place of the Bible, are to be found promised as
blessings in another, for it is " God that worketh in us
both to will and to do ;" hence he says, " I will cause
you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judg
ments and do them," Ezek. xxxvi. 27. Are we to preach
the mysteries of the gospel 1 then we cannot do this but
with a relation to Christ, for all the mysteries to be believed
have Christ wrapped up in them — " These things are writ
ten, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God," John xx. 31. The peculiar doctrines of the gos
pel, or the doctrines which are purely supernatural, and
distinguish the gospel from the law of nature, cannot be
preached but with a respect unto Christ, as is evident from
the comprehensive summary of them recorded 1 Tim. iii.
16. " Without controversy, great is the mystery of godli
ness : God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,
194 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in
the world, received up into glory." Are we to preach the
promises of the gospel 1 then we ought, at the same time,
to show that all of them have their foundation and stability
in Christ ; " for all the promises of God in him are Yea,
and in him Amen," 2 Cor. i. 20. Are we to publish the
threatenings of the law, or " the wrath of God, which is
revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and unright
eousness of men?" then we ought, at the same time, to
lead sinners to Christ, who is the only sanctuary and refuge
from sin and wrath ; so that all the doctrines of faith are
to be preached with a relation to Christ. Again, are we
to encourage sinners to frequent a throne of grace, and to
tell them what they are to seek from a gracious God, who
" giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not ? " then
we are, at the same time, to assure them, that whatever
promised blessing they shall ask in Christ's name, it shall
be given unto them, John xvi. 23. " Whatsoever you shall
ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." Are we
to preach the nature, ends, and uses of the sacraments of
the New Testament 1 then we cannot do this without show
ing that Baptism and the Lord's Supper are instituted
memorials of him who was sacrificed for us. So that, " to
preach Christ" is to make him the argument, matter, or
subject of our preaching ; or to declare the whole counsel
of God, concerning the salvation of lost sinners, through
Jesus Christ our Lord. But, more particularly,
We are to preach, that there was love in the heart of
God from eternity, towards a company of Adam's family,
when he foresaw, that, with the rest of mankind, they
would plunge themselves into a state of sin and misery,
and that they would be irrecoverably lost, for anything
they could do for their own relief, Jer. xxxi. 3. " I have
loved thee with an everlasting love ;" 1 John iv. 10.
" Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved
us."
That this amazing love, which is essential to God, might
be vented to mankind-sinners, in a consistency with the
SER. II. — THE MATTER OF GOSPEL-PREACHINO. 195
honour of the other glorious attributes of the divine na
ture, the Lord Christ, the second person of the adorable
Trinity, God every way equal with the Father and Holy
Ghost, engaged from eternity to be Mediator, to assume
our nature into personal union with himself, to obey the
law and suffer in our room, and to do and be everything
that was necessary for bringing " many sons and daughters
unto glory," Psal. xl. 7. " Then said I, Lo, I come."
We are to preach, that, in consequence of this transac
tion, no sooner had man sinned than presently the eternal
purpose and scheme of salvation was discovered and re
vealed, in the promise of the seed of the woman to bruise
the head of the serpent, Gen. iii. 15. The mercy and love
which was eternally in the bosom of God, did flow out in
a plenteous stream, upon miserable Adam and his pos
terity, in the first promise ; for, while Justice is pronounc
ing an irreversible sentence of damnation upon the fallen
angels, Mercy breaks immediately forth in the promise of
an incarnate Deity for the redemption of fallen man, and
that before one word of threatening was denounced against
him, — as is evident from Gen. iii. ; that so the sinner might
not be discouraged from closing with the promises in a
way of believing, whatever otherwise was the demerit of
sin, upon the breach of the first covenant.
Again, to " preach Christ" is to declare the spring and
origin of our sin and misery, — which is the fall of our first
parents from that state of happiness and glory in which
they were created, — whereby all mankind "have sinned
and come short of the glory of God," in regard the cove
nant of works was made with and broken by the first
Adam, as the federal head and representative of all his
posterity, Rom, v. 12. " As by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned."
Further, we are to teach from the word, that God has
not left all mankind to perish in a state of sin and misery,
into which they voluntarily plunged themselves, but, out
of his mere good pleasure, has chosen some to everlasting
198 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER S WRITINGS.
life, whom he brings into a state of salvation by a covenant
of grace. We are to show that this covenant was made
with Christ, as the second Adam, and in him with all the
elect as his seed : Psal. Ixxxix. 3. " I have made a covenant
with my chosen." That all the good things necessary to
eternal life, or necessary to the being of a believer, are
freely and absolutely promised ; such as the new heart,
pardon of sin, perseverance, and the like : — " A new heart
will I give unto you ; I will forgive their iniquities ; I will
cause them to walk in my statutes; and" — which compre
hends all—" I will be their God, they shall be my people."
And consequently we are to show that faith, which is the
gift of God, is only the instrumental means of receiving
and appropriating Christ and the benefits of his purchase,
but is no part of our justifying righteousness. It is only
the hand that receives that righteousness whereby we are
justified, — even the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus,
which is graciously imputed to us, and received by faith
alone, as our Catechism expresses it according to the
Scripture. So that we are to show that the help of per
ishing sinners is laid on Christ, as the only ordinance of
God for their salvation; for "there is no other name under
heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved,"
Acts iv. 12; and that the Old as well as New Testament
saints were saved by faith in his blood.
Again, to " preach Christ Jesus the Lord," is to set him
forth as " God" made "manifest in the flesh ;" that he ac
tually assumed our nature into personal union with him
self, in virtue whereof the human nature subsists in the
second person of the Trinity, without the least composition
or confusion, both natures making but one person, in re
gard the human nature never had any personal subsistence
of its own, but, from the first moment of its miraculous
formation by the Holy Ghost, it subsisted in union with
the second person of the Godhead ; and therefore, though
each nature retain its own essential properties, yet what
ever Christ did and suffered, or continueth to do as Medi
ator, is not to be considered as the act of this or that
SEE. II. — THE MATTER OP GOSPEL-PREACHING. 197
nature only, but as the act and work of the whole person
of him who is both God and man; or, which is the same
thing, whatever he doth, as prophet, priest, and king of
his church, he performs it on account of the union of both
natures in him as Mediator.
Moreover, we are to preach that the Lord Jesus assumed
the human nature into personal union with the divine,
that he might be capable of performing the whole office of
a Mediator between God and man. That since God gra
ciously purposed to show mercy to mankind-sinners, a com
plete satisfaction in our nature and in our room, was abso
lutely necessary for the vindication of the truth and vera
city of God, interposed in the threatening of the law, and
for the satisfaction of vindictive justice, which is essential
to God, who is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can
not but punish sin wherever he finds it, either in the per
son of the sinner or in the cautioner ; and, consequently,
though the law was relaxed as to the person suffering, in
asmuch as God graciously accepted of a surety, yet neither
the law nor justice of God could dispense with the penalty
which was denounced against the transgressor, and there
fore Christ suffered the same thing that was threatened to
transgressors. It was not something else, which God ac
cepted in lieu of the penalty of the law, that Christ suf
fered, but the very penalty itself that was threatened
therein, — as appears from the translation of punishment
from the sinner to the surety, so often spoken of in Scrip
ture. Rom. viii. 3. " God condemned sin in the flesh," that
is, in the human nature of Christ as assumed into the
divine ; and ver. 32. " He spared not his own Son, but de
livered him up for us all." 2 Cor. v. 21. " He hath made
him to be sin for us ;" that is, our sins were imputed to
him, on account of which he was made an offering or a
sacrifice ; so that the whole punishment contained in the
curse or sanction of the law was undergone by Christ, who
was " made a curse for us." And if it is said that Christ
did not undergo eternal death, which is contained in the
threatening, it must be remembered that it is not essential
198 SELECTIONS FKOM ME. FISIIEK,'S WRITINGS.
to the punishment of the law that it be eternal, — the eter
nity of punishment arises only from the infirmity of the
creature, who is not able at once to bear the whole punish
ment of sin ; but Christ, who is God-Man, was able to bear
the whole load of divine wrath at once, and therefore the
extremity of the sufferings of such a glorious person was
in full compensation of that eternal death which we should
have undergone. I have insisted the more largely on this
head, because of the damnable error vented by many in
our day, as well as by the Socinians of old, namely, that
Christ is only an exemplary Saviour, and that his main
errand into the world was only to give us an example of
holiness and virtue, as they call it ; whereas there is no
thing more plainly revealed in Scripture, than that the
Lord Jesus was made accountable and liable to justice for
the iniquities of an elect world, as if they had been his
own ; that, in their room or stead, he actually obeyed the
law which they brake in Adam, and suffered the whole
punishment which was due to their transgression.
We " preach Christ Jesus the Lord" when we show, for
the comfort of Adam's family, that " he has finished the
work which his Father gave him to do :" John xix. 30.
" He said, It is finished :" — and that his obedience unto
the death, because of the dignity of his person, being of
infinite value, must be a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour
unto God, and fully satisfactory to offended justice, as is
evident from his resurrection from the dead, his sitting
down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, the down-
pouring of his Spirit, and the efficacy of his word on the
hearers of the gospel.
Again, to " preach Christ," is to declare that, in conse
quence of his finishing the great work of redemption, he is
" now made manifest, and, according to the commandment
of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the
obedience of faith," Rom. xvi. 26. So that there is nothing
now, either in law or justice, to hinder the greatest sinner
from receiving the " unspeakable gift" of God ; yea, on the
contrary, all that hear this gospel are called, commanded,
SEB. II. — THE MATTER OF GOSPEL-PREACHING. 199
and beseeched to be reconciled unto God. "This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased ; hear ye him :"
" Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth :"
"The Spirit saith, Come." But, at the same time, we
must show that the heart must be powerfully opened to
receive Christ as he is offered in the gospel : John vi. 44.
"No man can come unto me, except the Father, which
hath sent me, draw him." We should tell sinners that
they must be God's " workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works," — convinced of sin, righteousness, and
judgment, by the Spirit, "who taketh of the things of
Christ and showeth them unto us;" and that, when he
comes into the heart, he brings all grace along with him,
and carries on the work of sanctitication there, till at
death there be not left in the soul any spot or wrinkle, or
any such thing.
To " preach Christ Jesus the Lord," is to set him forth
in all his offices unto which he is anointed and consecrated
from eternity. That he is the great Prophet or " Teacher
come from God," — an " Interpreter, one among a thou
sand," who has the tongue of the learned, and speaketh as
never man spake. That he is the " high priest of our pro
fession," who has offered up that wonderful and acceptable
sacrifice of " himself," whereby we have remission of sin,
access to the presence of God, and all the blessings of the
new covenant ; and in virtue whereof it is that he maketh
continual intercession for us. That he is invested with
the office of a King, both for subduing, ruling, and defend
ing his own people, and also for restraining and conquer
ing all his and their enemies : Rev. xix. 16. " He hath on
his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF
KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." He is given to be Head over
all things to his church, to whom he is the only King,
Judge, and Lawgiver ; and therefore, when Christ is preached
as a King, his headship and sovereignty in and over his
church, as his free and independent kingdom, ought to be
plainly asserted, in opposition to all the invasions that
have been or are made upon it by civil or ecclesiastical
200 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
powers. The government of his house ought to be vindi
cated, and ministers should not give an uncertain sound,
but teli people, that, according to the Scriptures, the gov
ernment of the church, in a due subordination of judica-
tories, such as kirk-sessions, presbyteries, and synods pro
vincial and national, consisting of officers duly called to
their office, is the only government in the New Testament
whereby the Lord Christ would have his church governed
to the end of the world.
Again, to "preach Christ" is to proclaim all the rela
tions wherein he stands to mankind-sinners ; that he is a
suitable Saviour, — who saves not only from the curse of
the law, from the tyranny of Satan, and from wrath, but
also from sin as the greatest of all evils ; his name is Jesus,
" for he shall save his people from their sins." We are to
preach him as a most sympathizing, familiar, and constant
friend, — as a skilful and successful physician, — as an affec
tionate and everlasting husband, "I will betrothe thee
unto me for ever," — and as a wise, powerful, and unerring
guide, who leadeth his people in the way wherein they
should go.
Further, to "preach Christ" is to set him forth in all
the appearances that he has made on our behalf; — in his
wonderful birth, his exemplary life, his meritorious death,
his triumphant resurrection and ascension, and his awful
and majestic appearance at the last day ; — for " every eye
shall see him, when he cometh in flaming fire against his
enemies, but to be glorified in his saints, and admired in
all them that believe," 2 Thess. i. 8, 10.
In a word, to "preach Christ Jesus the Lord," is to
preach him as " made of God unto us wisdom, righteous
ness, sanctification, and redemption." To preach him as
our all, — the all of our life, righteousness, and strength, —
the all of our furniture for work or warfare, — the all of
our stock: — for "the Father loveth the Son, and hath
given all things into his hands ;" " In him dwelleth all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily," and we are " complete in
him."
SER, II. THE MATTER OP GOSPEL-PREACHING. 201
I may add, that to " preach Christ " is to " testify " against
all the errors, tenets, or opinions that are vented against
the doctrine, worship, discipline and government instituted
by him in his word ; and to this we are bound under a
very awful certification : Luke ix. 26. " Whosoever shall
be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son
of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory,
and in his Father's, and of the holy angels." Thus I have
hinted at some few things only that are contained in this
inexhaustible matter of gospel-preaching, " Christ Jesus
the Lord." I proceed to the
II. Head of the Method, which was to speak of the
Manner in which Christ Jesus the Lord, or the doctrines
relating to faith and practice, are to be preached.
1. We are to "preach Christ" plainly, so as to be under
stood by our hearers, though they should be unlearned and
of weak capacities. We ought not, when dealing with
sinners in Christ's stead, to use the " enticing words of
men's wisdom," or make an ostentation of wit and human
eloquence, which may gratify the ears of some, and be
quite unintelligible to others ; but we should essay to
preach Christ "in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power," 1 Cor. ii. 4 ; that is, we are to demonstrate, from
the word, man's lost state by nature, the way of his re
covery and redemption by Jesus Christ, and the indis
putable right and title that he has to the whole of this sal
vation, brought near in the promise to mankind-sinners as
such ; — and this kind of demonstration will be powerful,
through God, to persuade sinners to embrace Christ, as he
is offered in the gospel. It is not by rational arguments,
but by a "manifestation of the truth," as it lies in the
word of God, that we will " commend ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God," 2 Cor. iv. 2. It is
by a plain gospel-sermon that the secrets of men's hearts
are made manifest, and that they are so convinced as to
acknowledge that God is in such a preaching of a truth,
1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25.
2. We should "preach Christ Jesus the Lord" with spi-
202 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
ritual wisdom, — seasonably distributing milk to babes, and
stronger meat to those who are of a more advanced age,
or who are privileged with a larger measure of grace.
Herein lies the wisdom of the steward of God's household,
when he gives them their portion of meat in due season,
applying the Scriptures to the various circumstances of
the hearers.
3. We are to "preach Christ" faithfully, not "daubing
with untempered mortar," nor dissembling or corrupting
the word of truth, but delivering the whole counsel of God,
and speaking his words, whether men will hear or forbear,
Ezek. ii. 7.
4. With spiritual authority, — as "ambassadors for Christ,"
delivering his message in his name, charging sinners to
believe in Jesus, to turn from sin to God, and to hearken
to his voice, as they are to be answerable to him who will
call for an account of every word that they hear.
5. We are to " preach Christ" with the spirit of meekness,
as being taught of him who is " meek and lowly in heart ;"
considering, in the first place, our own insufficiency for
these things, and the need that we have to take ourselves
the same instructions that we give from the word unto
others, and this will engage us to be " gentle among our
flock, even as a nurse cherisheth her children," 1 Thess.
ii. 7 ; " For the servant of the Lord must not strive, but
be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness
instructing those that oppose themselves," 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25.
6. We are to "preach Christ" boldly and courageously, —
declaring unto the house of Israel their transgression, and
to the house of Jacob their sin, not fearing the counte
nances of any, whether great or small, lest we be con
founded before them: Jer. i. 17. "Thou therefore speak
unto them all that I command thee : be not dismayed at
their faces, lest I confound thee," (or, as it is upon the
margin, "break to pieces,") "before them." Yet this
boldness should be without bitterness and indiscretion,
that, when we show our zeal against men's sins, we may,
at the same time, manifest our love to their persons, so as
SER. II. — THE MATTER OP GOSPEL-PREACHING. 203
that their consciences may be convinced, that it is from
an ardent desire of salvation to their souls that we testify
freely against their sins.
Lastly, We should preach by our lives as well as by our
doctrine ; and thus show, by our holy and circumspect
walk and conversation, that we speak because we believe.
Ministers, who build up in their own practice any piece of
wickedness which, by their doctrine, they would seem to
destroy, make themselves notorious transgressors, Gal. ii.
18; and thereby give a strong handle to the enemies of
the Lord to blaspheme.
III. Head of the Method was to speak of the office of
gospel-ministers as they are " servants," first of Christ, and
then of sinners for Jesus' sake.
1. Gospel-ministers are " servants of Christ," and it is
certainly their greatest honour to be employed as " ambas
sadors of the Prince of the kings of the earth/' Ministers
derive their power and commission to exercise their office
from the Lord Jesus, who is Lord and Master of the whole
church, hence called "ministers of Christ;" 1 Cor. iv. 1.
" Let a man so account of us as ministers of Christ, and
stewards of the mysteries of God." Now, as " no man
taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of
God;" so it is every minister's duty to be some way clear
anent his call to that sacred office, and by what means he
was engaged to be a servant of Christ in that station.
The mediate or ordinary call to the ministry is twofold,
inward and outward.
The inward call consists in a concurrence of those things
that may tend to encourage and give clearness to a man
to embrace the outward call when it shall offer in provi
dence ; namely, an evidence of fit qualifications for such a
weighty work, such as experimental godliness, soundness
of doctrine, and aptness to teach. But now you must ob
serve, that it is not the mere having of these gifts that
will be sufficient to clear a man's call to himself, but the
trial of them notified to him by those to whom the trial
of gifts is committed by the Lord Jesus, and an orderly
204 SELECTIONS FKOM MK. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
authoritative mission following thereupon : hence you will
find the exercise of the gift, and the laying on of the hands
of the presbytery joined together, 1 Tim. iv. 14. So that
a man's own thoughts of himself are not the rule by which
he is to judge of his fitness or unfitness for the work of
the ministry, but the judgment of the presbytery, to whom
the trial of gifts is committed by the Lord Jesus. Again,
to the inward call there concurs a singleness of aim. It
may be very clearing to a man to undertake this office, if
he has the testimony of his conscience that it is the glory
of God, the edification of souls, and the gathering of them
to Christ, that he has in his eye, — especially if there goes
along with this an inward impulse, or motion of the Spirit
of God upon the heart, swaying and inclining the person
to undertake the office of the ministry, if the Lord, in his
providence, shall open a door. Only, to prevent mistakes
on this head, the persons I am speaking of ought carefully
to examine, whether this impulse, which sways them to
the office of the ministry beyond any other business of life,
flow from the Spirit of the Lord or their own spirits. To
know this, if the impulse is spiritual, or flows from the
Spirit of the Lord, it will have these three necessary pro
perties, — it will be sanctifying, regular, and qualifying. I
say, if it is a spiritual impulse, it will be sanctifying and
humbling, attended with an inward desire of further con
formity to God in holiness, both in heart and life, and low,
abasing thoughts of ourselves, as no way "sufficient for
these things." Again, it will be a regular impulse, inclin
ing a person to enter into the office of the ministry, only
according to the rules laid down in the word, and not to
run unsent. And, lastly, if this impulse is from the Spirit
of the Lord, it will be a fitting and a qualifying impulse,
determining to the use of the means which lead to such
an end, such as reading, studying, praying, and the like ;
for the Spirit never divides the means from the end : hence,
when Paul exhorts Timothy to fulfil his ministry, he ex
horts him, at the same time, to give himself to reading.
The outward call consists in the election or choice of the
SEE. II. THE MATTER OF GOSPEL-PREACHING. 205
people, the trial of a man's qualifications by the presbytery,
their approbation of them, and authoritative mission, by
fasting, prayer, and imposition of hands; and where all
these concur, (especially if the person has the inward call
as above described,) it is the call of God ; — as is clear from
the instance of the elders of Ephesus, who had no other
call, and yet are owned to be set over the flock by the
Holy Ghost, Acts xx. 28. But then,
2. As ministers are " servants of Christ," so they are the
servants of Adam's family for Jesus' sake, in being " in
stant in season and out of season," beseeching and obtest
ing them in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God. And
that ministers may serve their Master faithfully, in serving
the necessities of the souls of sinners, we ought to conform
and apply our doctrine to the various cases of our hearers,
so as to awaken the secure, strengthen the weak, comfort
those that mourn, and convince gainsayers. Again, in
serving of sinners for Jesus' sake, we should " prepare the
way of the Lord," by removing all stumbling-blocks out of
the way, or rather, by declaring, from the word, that they
are already removed, — the law is magnified, justice is satis
fied, God is reconciled, "all things are ready, therefore
come to the marriage." This is the great service in which
we ought to be employed about poor sinners, and every
faithful minister will rejoice when the bridegroom has ob
tained the heart and hand of the bride. I proceed now,
from what has been said, to deduce the following
Inferences — 1. Hence see the necessity of preaching the
gospel ; says the Apostle here, " We preach Christ Jesus
the Lord," and elsewhere, " Wo is unto me if I preach not
the gospel." It is necessary, by the express command of
the Lord Jesus, the alone King and lawgiver in his church,
Matt, xxviii. 18, 19. " All power is given unto me, in hea
ven and in earth ; go ye, therefore, and teach all nations."
And, in order to the perpetual discharge of this duty, the
Lord Christ not only " gave apostles, prophets, and evan
gelists," as extraordinary and temporary officers, whose
office was to expire with themselves, but he also " gave
206 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
pastors," or teachers, to be standing officers in his church
unto the end of the world, " for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the
body of Christ," Eph. iv. 11, 12. And for the faithful dis
charge of this trust, as well as for the succession of a gos
pel-ministry, there is a special order given to commit this
service unto "faithful men, who shall be able to teach
others also," 2 Tim. ii. 2. Again, the preaching of the
gospel is necessary, as an instituted means for the con
version and salvation of sinners ; for " where there is no
vision the people perish." Although the preaching of the
gospel has not an intrinsic virtue in itself to effectuate
the salvation of sinners, — " for many are called, but few
are chosen," — yet, by the appointment of God, it is con
stituted the great means of our reconciliation and salva
tion — hence called " the word of this salvation ;" and, by
the power of God going along with it, it is " mighty to the
pulling down of strongholds, turning from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan to God." But then it
must be remembered, that it is the preaching of the gospel
by those who are orderly invested with an ecclesiastical
office that is the ordinary instituted means for the conver
sion of sinners or the edification of saints ; for, although
private Christians may sometimes, in providence, be in
strumental in the conversion or edification of their fellow-
creatures, — as in the instance of the Samaritans, who be
lieved on Christ " for the saying of the woman, which
testified he told me all that ever I did," John iv. 39 ; yet
the ordinary means appointed of God, for gathering sinners
to Christ, is the preaching of the word by those who are
clothed with the pastoral office. The reason is, because
" faith cometh by hearing. But how shall they hear with
out a preacher ? and how shall they preach except they be
sent ?" Rom. x. 14, 15 ; — that is, unless they have an autho
ritative mission, whereby the ministry is conferred, and men
authorized, as ambassadors of Christ, to preach the word
of reconciliation. Hence it follows,
2. That, in the church assembled, or in the meeting of
SER. II. — THE MATTER OP GOSPEL-PREACHING. 207
the Lord's people for public worship, none may warrant-
ably preach the word of God, in the name of Christ, but
such as have a divine calling unto that work. For, though
it is the duty of Christians to exhort and comfort one an
other in a private capacity, for their mutual edification ;
yet none can with authority preach the word but such as
have the ordinary calling to the office of the ministry, — as
is plain from many places of Scripture, particularly Heb.
v. 4. " No man taketh this honour to himself, but he that
is called of God;" and the forecited Rom. x. 15. "How
shall they preach except they be sent?" Besides, there
are peculiar duties required of ministers which are not re
quired of other Christians, whatever gifts of the Spirit they
may be endowed with, such as "feeding and taking the over
sight of the flock, as they that must give account of souls,"
Acts xx. 28 ; Heb. xiii. 17 ; — as ambassadors for Christ, they
are to "pray sinners, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled unto
God," 2 Cor. v. 20 ; as faithful and wise stewards, whom the
Lord hath made rulers over his household, they are to " give
them their portion of meat in due season," Luke xii. 42.
Therefore, you are to be aware of the dangerous opinion
of the sectarians and enthusiasts, who affirm that private
Christians, endowed with gifts, may preach in the name of
Christ although they bear no church-office.
3. Although ministers are the church's " servants for
Jesus' sake," yet they do not derive their ecclesiastical
power from the people, or from the community of the faith
ful ; nor are they servants and deputies, who govern the
house of God by an authority derived from the multitude,
as the first and immediate subject of ecclesiastical power.
It is true, ministers are called the church's servants in our
text ; but then, it is not because they derive their power
from the people, — for in that case they would be the ser
vants of men and not of God, — but because they are to
exercise their office as servants of Christ, for the good
and benefit of his church. There is nothing indeed more
plain in Scripture than that the power of choosing pastors
and other officers to a particular church belongs to all the
4 2 C
208 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
members of it, Acts i. 23 ; vi. 5 ; xiv. 23. But then, by
this election (which is no act of jurisdiction) church-mem
bers do not confer the power of the keys on the pastors or
other officers chosen, but only nominate or design him or
them on whom the power of that office is to be conferred
by ecclesiastical ordination, — as is clear from Acts vi. 6 ;
where you will find, that, after the whole multitude had
chosen such and such persons, they set them before the
apostles, who "laid their hands on them," or ordained
them to their office by prayer ; and herein the apostles
acted, not according to their extraordinary character, for,
in that case, there would have been no need to desire the
people to look out for fit persons from among themselves,
— the apostles could have done it by infallible inspiration,
had they acted as apostles ; but it is plain that they acted
as ordinary ministers of Christ in the whole of this matter.
It follows then, that as all church-officers are instituted by
the Lord Jesus, so the power belonging to them is imme
diately derived from him; but the way and manner of
being installed into, or put in possession of any office of
the church, particularly the office of the ministry, or the
ordinary way of deriving the power and authority belong
ing to the ministerial office from the Lord Jesus, is by the
authoritative mission, or ordination of the presbytery, unto
which the election or choice of the people is previously
necessary. The disjoining of these two, namely, the autho
ritative mission and the choice of the people, which the
Spirit of God has so strictly united in Scripture, is at the
bottom of the dangerous mistake, which those of the In
dependent way run into upon the one hand, — namely, in
placing the whole of the ecclesiastical vocation in the peo
ple without the presbytery, — and those in the Established
church, on the other hand, who place the whole of the
ecclesiastical vocation in the judicatories of the church
without the people.
4. Is Christ Jesus the Lord the great subject of gospel-
preaching ? then let us, who are ministers, " determine not
to know any thing" among our hearers " save Jesus Christ
SEE. II. — THE MATTER OP GOSPEL-PREACHING. 209
and him crucified," 1 Cor. ii. 2. Let us endeavour, as
stewards of the mysteries of God, to open the door of the
house of mercy as wide as to let in the greatest sinner, to
whom we shall have access to preach these glad tidings ;
let us endeavour to lead them to Christ, as the only refuge
to shelter them from sin and wrath, — as the only physician
who can heal them of all their diseases, — and as the only
magazine and storehouse from whence they are to be sup
plied with grace, and glory, and every good thing. Let us
endeavour to point out Christ unto sinners, as made of
God unto them " wisdom " to instruct and teach them,
"righteousness" to justify them, " sanctification " to renew
and cleanse them, and " redemption" to save them; — in a
word, as the inexhaustible fountain of all grace here, and
eternal glory hereafter. Let us essay to preach " Christ
Jesus the Lord" both in our sermons and in our ministe
rial and Christian walk. Let us beware of preaching " our
selves," and setting up our own reason in the room of
divine revelation, and of preaching out of a vain ostenta
tion of our own parts and abilities, whether natural or
acquired, and of studying to please men ; but let a tender
concern for the glory of God and the salvation of immortal
souls, animate us in the whole of our ministerial work.
Let us, out of love to Christ himself, put an high value
upon the souls of sinners, and spare no pains in preaching,
catechising, visiting, and conversing with them for their
instruction and edification. Let us remember that awful
charge which is given us, " before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his ap
pearing," — namely, that we " preach the word ; be instant
in season and out of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all long-suffering and doctrine," 2 Tim. iv. 1, 2 ; " and in
so doing, we shall both save ourselves and them that hear
us." Let us be "valiant for the truth" in this day of
darkness and treading down in our valley of vision, — the
more that the wicked are endeavouring to " make void "
the laws and ordinances of Christ. Let us love them the
more, and contend the more earnestly for them, as " good
210 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHERS WRITHES.
soldiers of Christ." Let us set our faces like a flint against
the current of defection and apostasy of our day, and let
us not be afraid of all that men can do, for " the truth
shall make us free." Let us then go on in our preaching
and witnessing work in the strength of the Lord, leaning
upon his faithfulness in that promise, " My presence shall
go with you, and I will give you rest."
Lastly, Are ministers to "preach Christ Jesus the Lord ?"
then it is the indispensable duty of the hearers to believe
in him, and receive him as he is offered in the gospel. We
have been essaying to tell you what it is to "preach Christ,"
and to lay before you some of those precious truths that
are contained and wrapped up under that glorious and
unfathomable name, " Christ Jesus the Lord ;" and now
we are come to require your cordial assent unto the gos
pel-report concerning Christ, as the only ordinance of God
for your salvation, — there remains " no other sacrifice for
sin," " neither is there salvation in any other." Jehovah,
a gracious God, who gives being unto his words of promise,
is just now making a grant of his Son unto every one of
you in this company, as the all of our salvation, saying,
" This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased ; hear
ye him." Sirs, will you refuse the matchless and " unspeak
able gift " of God ? " God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten Son." Will you stand it out against the
command of God, binding upon every one of you here pre
sent 1 " This is his commandment, that we should believe
on the name of his Son Jesus Christ," 1 John iv. 23. Will
ye " reject the counsel of God against yourselves f ' will you
"wrong your own souls" so far? 0 sirs, think you no
thing of it, that God condescends to be "your God?" that
the Lord Jesus Christ, Immanuel, makes over himself, his
person, offices, and all the fruits of his mediation to be
yours ] that he condescends to be your Husband, to be-
trothe you to himself for ever,— your Shepherd to feed you,
your Leader and Commander to guide and protect you,
and your Saviour to redeem you both by price and power.
Thus saith the Lord Jesus unto every one of you, " Look
SEE. II. — THE MATTER OP GOSPEL-PREACHING. 211
unto me, and be ye saved." Behold, we set him before
you, and beseech you, in his stead, that ye be reconciled
unto God : — " The Spirit and the Bride say, Come ; and
whosoever will, let him take the waters of life freely ;"
*snd, " if you will not do so, behold you have sinned against
the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out." Your
sm, in neglecting this " great salvation," will find you out
in the day when " every eye shall see him, and they also
which pierced him, and shall wail because of him."
I conclude with a word to you who are the members of
this Associate Congregation of Lintoun. Sirs, you have
called a minister in a witnessing way, as a company of
Seceders from the present judicatories, because of their
manifest apostasy from the covenanted reformation of this
church ; and we are now going about the solemn work of
ordaining a minister among you by prayer and imposition
of hands, as a presbytery constituted in the name of the
Lord Jesus, and associated together for the exercise of the
government and discipline of his house, according to his
word, and the Reformation-principles of this church founded
thereon, in opposition to the strong current of defection
and backsliding from the same at this day, and for the
help and relief of the Lord's oppressed heritage through the
land. As we are, on this day of fasting and humiliation, in
the name of the Lord Jesus, to ordain him to dispense the
bread of life amongst you, as a minister of Jesus Christ,
whom you have unanimously chosen and called, so see that
ye "receive with meekness the ingrafted word, which is
able to save your souls," James i. 21, Receive the gospel
from the mouth of your minister, as if God were speaking
to you by him, for he is an ambassador to you in Christ's
stead; therefore, with reverence and godly fear, entertain
the message which he brings you in his Master's name.
Pray much for your minister, if you would desire his labours
to be successful among you, Rom. xv. 30. Pray that he
may be abundantly furnished for his work, from him who
has " received gifts for men." Pray that the word, which
he delivers unto you, may come " in the demonstration of
212 SELECTIONS FROM ME. FISHER S WRITINGS.
the Spirit and of power," and that he may be directed to
speak a word in season to your particular cases. Beware
of listening to the reproaches of a wicked world, who will
endeavour, though most groundlessly, to calumniate and
defame your minister, for no other reason, at the bottom,
whatever way they may colour it, but because he is espous
ing and defending the borne-down interest of Christ at
this day. Thus you know they treated the Lord's messen
gers and witnesses of old, " Report, say they, and we will
report ;" therefore, see that you highly esteem your minis
ter, and " love him for his work's sake," 1 Thess. v. 13.
Submit to the discipline which shall be exercised, accord
ing to the word of Grod, by him, in conjunction with the
elders of this congregation ; Heb. xiii. 17. "Obey them that
have the rule over you, and submit yourselves." And as
your minister is to communicate to you in spirituals, so I
make no doubt but you see it to be your duty to communi
cate to him in temporals ; Gal. vi. 6. " Let him that is taught
in the word communicate to him that teacheth in all good
things ;" for " so hath the Lord ordained, that they who
preach the gospel should live of the gospel," 1 Cor. ix. 14.
And since your great design in calling your minister, and
ours in ordaining him, is, that he may "preach Christ
Jesus the Lord," so see that ye account the Lord Jesus
Christ worthy of all acceptation ; and, in so doing, when
your minister comes to give an account of his stewardship,
he will be able to do it " with joy, and not with grief."
Finally, Since you are a witnessing congregation, as I
said, therefore see that you be rooted and grounded in the
faith, and " established in the present truth," — that you
" be not carried about with every wind of doctrine, and
the cunning artifices of them who lie in wait to deceive."
Sirs, this is a day wherein many, like Ephraim, are "faintly
turning back ;" and if you, or any of you, should fall away,
or turn cold and indilFerent about the cause of Christ,
which you are now espousing, after such a solemn profes
sion which you are this day making before many witnesses,
what handle will you give to the enemy to blaspheme?
SER. II. THE MATTER OP GOSPEL-PREACHING. 213
and what unspeakable wrong will you bring upon your
own souls ? — for, " if any man draw back," saith the Lord,
" my soul shall have no pleasure in him." Oh, then, seek
to be found in the clifts of the Rock of ages, interested in
Christ by a vital union with him, and then there shall be
no fear of you, though the floods of tribulation should lift
up their voice and make a mighty noise ; — he that " sits
upon the floods" will "strengthen, stablish, and settle
you;" — "the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall feed you, and lead you unto living fountains of waters,
and God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes."
SERMON III*
CHRIST THE SOLE AND WONDERFUL DOER IN THE
WORK OF MAN'S REDEMPTION.
JUDGES xiii. 19. — "The angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his
wife looked on."
THESE words give a compendious account of the wonderful
transaction of our redemption, together with our privilege
and duty thereanent : " The angel did wondrously ; and
Manoah and his wife looked on." The Angel did all, —
and all that he did was wondrously done ; Manoah and his
wife were only spectators, — they looked on, and beheld
him doing the whole of the work. In the words you may
notice,
1. The great DOER : he is named in the text by way of
supplement, " The angel." Who this angel was may be
gathered from the word JEHOVAH, immediately before, in
the same verse : " Manoah took a kid, with a meat-offer
ing, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD ;" and the
words of our text, which follow, may be read, " And HE,"
viz. the LORD or JEHOVAH, "did wondrously;" — intimating
that the doer here is the living and true God. And like
wise, who this angel was may be gathered from the verse
immediately preceding the text : " The angel of the Lord
said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, see
ing it is secret?" or "wonderful?" as on the margin.
Whereby it evidently appears that the angel, who did won
drously, is the same angel whose name is "the Wonderful,"
Isa. ix. 6. " Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given :
* An Action Sermon, preached at Glasgow, June 23, 1745.
SER. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 215
— his name shall be called Wonderful." So that the angel
here is certainly the Lord Jesus Christ, who is frequently,
in the scriptures of the Old Testament, called by this name.
Gen. xlviii. 16. says Jacob there to Joseph, concerning his
sons, " The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless
the lads." The Angel who is the redeemer from all evil,
can be no other but Christ himself, — whose name is Jesus,
" because he saves his people from their sins," which are
the greatest of all evils. You may see also Exod. xxiii. 20 ;
says the Lord there to Moses, " Behold, I send an Angel
before thee ; — beware of him, and obey his voice, — for my
name is in him :" which can be understood of no other but
Christ, in whom the name of God is essentially, and in
whom it is most eminently displayed. Again, he is called
" the angel of the Lord," Psal. xxxiv. 7. " The angel of the
Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and de-
livereth them :" and the angel, or " messenger of the cove
nant," Mai. iii. 1. That by " the angel of the Lord," in
this chapter, we are to understand Christ, will appear, if
you consider the angel's command to Manoah, ver. 16. " If
thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou must offer it unto the
Lord ;" — thereby giving Manoah to understand that the
angel who spake to him was truly and properly God : and
accordingly you see, in obedience to this command, Ma
noah offers his burnt-offering unto the LORD, or JEHOVAH,
in the verse where our text is. And after what was done
so wondrously, ver. 20. it is said that Manoah knew that
the Angel of the Lord was indeed the living and true God ;
as may be gathered by comparing ver. 21. " Then Manoah
knew that he was an ANGEL of the Lord," with ver. 22.
" And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, be
cause we have seen GOD." Now, the reason why Christ is
called the Angel of the Lord is, because, that though he be
the Father's equal, yet, as Mediator, he condescended will
ingly to be his Father's messenger, to be sent on the great
errand of glorifying God, in the salvation of an innumer
able company of mankind lost.
2. In the words you have the manner of his doing — he
216 SELECTIONS FROM ME. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
" did wondrously ;" or, as the words are rendered by some,
" He wrought wondrously in his doing." What he did is
matter of everlasting wonder. You have an account of
this wonderful work done by the Angel of the covenant in
the verse following the text : " For it came to pass, when
the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, that the
angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar." For
understanding hereof, you would know that the sacrifice
that was offered, on this occasion, was a " burnt-oifering,"
ver. 16. " If thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou must
offer it unto the Lord." This was one of the chief kind of
offerings instituted among the Jews ; for, when this sort
of offering is mentioned, it is always said to be a " sweet
savour unto the Lord," Lev. i. 17. and many other places.
The beasts thus offered were to be slain, cut to pieces, and
wholly burnt upon the altar, — intimating, that though we
deserved to be consumed by the wrath of God, yet Christ,
as our Surety, was, "through the eternal Spirit, to offer
himself without spot to God;" and, in the meritorious
sacrifice of himself, to make atonement for sin, and endure
the whole of that wrath which would utterly have con
sumed us. Again, the fire that was preserved on the altar,
both in the tabernacle and temple, whereby the burnt-
offering was consumed, came " first from heaven," — inti
mating, that it was the love of God that was the spring of
our redemption ; for, " It pleased the Lord to bruise him ;"
" God spared not his own Son." And it is more than pro
bable, that the fire which consumed this burnt-offering,
which Manoah offered, was kindled by the Angel of the
Lord himself, even as he miraculously caused fire to rise
up out of the rock before; whereof you read, chap. vi. 21.
" The angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that
was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened
cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and con
sumed" them : — intimating, that it was out of his own free
love that he undertook this great work of our redemption ;
for, " his delights were with the sons of men." And, lastly,
it is observed, in the verse following the text, whereupon
SER. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 217
we are now speaking, that "the angel ascended in the
flame of the altar :" — denoting the success of his expiatory
sacrifice ; "when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." The
flame of the altar consumed the sacrifice that was upon it,
and yet his ascending in that flame plainly signified the
merit of his oblation, — that it was a sacrifice of a sweet-
smelling savour unto God; for he suffered these things,
and then entered into his glory.
3. In the words you have the part that Manoah and his
wife acted with respect unto this wonderful work, — it is
said only, "that they looked on-" "The angel did won-
drously, and Manoah and his wife looked on." The Angel
did all in this wondrous work, — he was the only doer ; —
Manoah and his wife had no share in point of doing, they
only looked on and saw him do all himself. But though
Manoah and his wife only "looked on," yet they were not
mere idle spectators ; for they were filled with wonder and
reverence at this great sight, the true " bush burning and
not consumed ;" ver. 20. " Manoah and his wife looked on
it, and fell on their faces to the ground." And though
there was some mixture of unbelief in Manoah, arising
from a common opinion which then prevailed, that they
should die because they ha4 seen God, ver. 22; yet his
faith was strengthened by his wife's telling him that the
wondrous doing of the Angel, which they had been wit
nesses to, was no evidence at all of a killing but of a saving
God ; ver. 23. " His wife said unto him, If the Lord were
pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-
offering and a meat-offering at our hands ; neither would
he have showed us all these things :" — namely, all those
things that are imported in the Angel's doing wondrously ;
which certainly must imply faith, on their part, in the pro
mised Messiah, thus exhibiting himself.
From the words thus explained, in connection with the
context, I deduce the following doctrine : —
DOCTRINE — ' That as the Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel
of the covenant, is the wonderful and only doer in the
2] 8 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
great work of our redemption ; so it is the privilege and
duty of mankind sinners to look on. " The angel did won
drously ; and Manoah and his wife looked on." '
In speaking upon this subject, I shall essay, through
divine assistance,
I. To show that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only doer
in the great work of our redemption.
II. Inquire in what respects he did " wondrously."
III. Speak of the privilege and duty of " looking on,"
and beholding the Angel of the Lord doing wondrously.
IV. Deduce some Inferences for the improvement.
I. I am to show — " That the Lord Jesus Christ is the
only doer in the great work of our redemption." This will
appear,
1. From the particular choice that the Father hath
made of him, as the only fit person for this great under
taking ; Psal. Ixxxix. 19, 20. " I have laid help upon one
that is mighty ; I have exalted one chosen out of the peo
ple. I have found David my servant; with my holy oil
have I anointed him." Isa. xlii. 1. " Behold my servant,
whom I uphold ; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth."
2. The solemn attestation from heaven, that is given
once and again unto his commission, to this great work, is
a proof that he is the only doer therein, 2 Pet. i. 1 7. " He
received from God the Father honour and glory, when there
came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ;" " For him
hath God the Father sealed," John vi. 27.
3. His own testimony, who is the faithful Witness, is a
sufficient evidence thereof; Isa. Ixiii. 5. " I looked, and
there was none to help ; and I wondered that there was
none to uphold : therefore mine own arm brought salva
tion unto me."
4. That he is the only doer in the great work of re
demption, may appear from the circumstances of sinners
of mankind, whom he had to redeem. They are described
to be in such circumstances, as to be out of all capacity to
do anything for themselves. They are said to be "without
SEE. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 219
strength," Rom. v. 6 ; to be as helpless as a child new-borri,
Ezek. xvi. 6; yea, to be actually "dead," both in a spiritual
and legal sense, Eph. ii. 5. " You hath he quickened, who
were dead in trespasses and sins."
5. That Christ is the only doer in this great work, will
appear from the tenor of the covenant of grace, which was
made with him ; wherein he, as the Head and Surety, was
bound to pay the whole debt, owing by an elect world, in
virtue of a broken covenant of works ; for, " The Lord laid
on him the iniquities of us all." Accordingly he says him
self, Matt. iii. 15. " It becometh us to fulfil all righteous
ness." This he had engaged unto in the bond of service
which he gave unto his Father, and which was cheerfully
accepted of by him, Isa. xlix. 3. " Thou art my servant, 0
Israel, in whom I will be glorified." Agreeably to which,
he says, Psal. xl. 6. " Mine ears hast thou bored." Thus
you see that Christ is the only doer in the great work of
our redemption.
II. The second Head of the Method was to " Inquire in
what respects the Angel of the Lord did wondrously in
this great work."
1. He "did wondrously" — in engaging, from eternity, to
answer all demands of law and justice in our room and
stead. When the plan of this work, in all that he had to
do and suffer, was laid before him, he cheerfully undertook
it ; then said he, " Lo, I come." Whereupon the love of
God, which gave rise to the whole, is expressed in terms
of the greatest delight and complacency, Jer. xxx. 21.
" Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me ?
saith the Lord."
2. He "did wondrously" — in appointing, as Head of the
Church, that there should be a typical representation of
his substitution many ages before he was actually sacrificed
for us. Being the Head of the Old as well as the New
Testament church, he appointed in the Old Testament dis
pensation that beasts should be slain in sacrifice, as a
standing pledge of his taking away sin, " in the fulness of
time," by the sacrifice of himself ; and upon account of the
220 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
early institution of sacrifices, as typical of his meritorious
oblation, it is that he is said to be " the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world," Rev. xiii. 8.
3. " The Angel of the Lord did wondrously" — in the as
sumption of our nature. God, in the person of the Son,
assumed the human nature into union with himself; or,
which is the same thing, the Son of God, being from eter
nity a Divine person, the same self-existent and indepen
dent God with the Father and the Holy Ghost, did, "in the
fulness of time," actually assume the human nature — a
true body and a reasonable soul — into union with his own
divine person, without permitting it to exist one moment
by itself. This assumption of our nature into his own
divine person, was the peculiar act of the Son personally
considered, Heb. ii. 14, 16. " Forasmuch as the children are
partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same. — For verily he took not on him the nature
of angels ; but he took on him the seed of Abraham." And
hereupon the union of the two natures, of God and man,
is fixed in his glorious person, unalterably, for ever, Matt,
i. 23. He who was conceived and born of a virgin, is
" Immanuel, God with us ;" " God made manifest in the
flesh :" — which could be no other way than by the union
of the two natures in the same person ; and yet this union
is such a one, that each nature retains its own essential
properties without the least composition or confusion.
The divine nature, in the person of the Son, is omniscient,
omnipotent, omnipresent, and possessed of all divine per
fections ; and continues to be so unchangeably for ever.
The human nature, in the same person, was born, yielded
obedience, died, and rose again ; yet it is the same person
that acts all these things : — and therefore it follows, that
whatever Christ did, or continues to do as Mediator, is to
be considered as the act or work of the person of him who
is God-man. Herein indeed it is that the " Angel of the
Lord did wondrously," even in assuming our nature to his
own divine person. This is the foundation upon which
the whole plan of our redemption is executed, and is the
SER. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 221
greatest wonder in heaven and earth, and the highest de
monstration of infinite love; — that He, who "humbles
himself to behold things in heaven," should condescend
not only to behold things in this lower world, but to be
born in it, — and not only to be born, but to become a
" man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," — to be " de
spised and rejected of men," — yea, to become a " curse,
that he might redeem us from the curse of the law." May
we not, then, join with the Apostle in saying, " Without
controversy great is the mystery of godliness ? " And that
"the Angel of the Lord did wondrously" in this matter,
will further appear, if you consider that the human nature,
as it stands in his glorious person, is the channel in which
the " fulness of the Godhead" is conveyed and communi
cated unto us ; " for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily ;" that " out of his fulness all we might
receive, and grace for grace."
4. " The Angel of the Lord did wondrously " — in his obe
dience to the law, which was violated and broken by all his
spiritual seed, in the first Adam, their head and represen
tative in the covenant of works : — according to the tenor
of which covenant all things in the law were to be obeyed,
and that with the highest degree of perfection, and this
perfect obedience to be continued unto the end. In this
respect " the Angel of the Lord did wondrously ;" for, hav
ing assumed a holy human nature into his divine person,
as you were hearing, he, as second Adam, and representa
tive of all his spiritual seed, did yield obedience to the law
in all points, and that in the highest degree of perfection,
to the very end of the race that was set before him : — for,
he " became obedient unto the death," yea, " he magnified
the law, and made it honourable" by his obedience, — and
thus he recovered a title to eternal life, upon the footing
of perfect obedience, performed by himself as a public per
son, for all his spiritual seed, who had " sinned and come
short of the glory of God."
5. He "did wondrously" in his sacrifice, — for he offered
" himself," Tit. ii. 14. " He gave himself for us.1' The
222 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
whole human nature, soul and body, was the sacrifice, —
the altar that sanctified the offering, and bore it up under
its sufferings, was his own divine nature, Heb. ix. 14.
" Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself without
spot unto God." This oblation, or offering, was the act of
the whole person, — as the divine nature bore up the human
in its sufferings, and offered it, so this offering was the
voluntary acting of all the faculties of his rational soul.
0 herein " did the Angel of the Lord most wondrously."
Although the matter of the sacrifice was the human nature,
yet the Priest who offered it was the person of Him who
is God-man, — and this was that which gave dignity and
efficacy to this wonderful oblation. He "did so won
drously" that he fully satisfied the highest demands of
justice, Eph. v. 2. " He hath given himself for us, an offer
ing and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savour."
6. He "did wondrously" — in the way and manner of
his finishing the purchase of our redemption ; for he did
it in the way of " bowing his head and giving up the ghost."
And this he did most cheerfully : " The cup," says he,
" which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it 1
1 have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I
straitened till it be accomplished ! " — He did it most faith
fully : he left no part of the work undone, — for before he
gave the finishing stroke in his death it is said, that he
knew " that all things were accomplished," John xix. 28.
— He did it most submissively, — in obedience to the com
mandment which he received of his Father, John x. 18 ;
for " he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his
mouth."
7. "The Angel of the Lord did wondrously" — in his
making an " end of sin," Dan. ix. 24. The human nature,
as it stands in every individual of Adam's family, had sin
charged upon it, and was defiled and deformed thereby, —
and the whole race would have gone on in sinning, and
bearing implacable enmity against God for ever, as well as
the angels that fell are now doing :— but the Angel of the
SER. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 223
Lord hath done wondrously, in putting an end to sinning,
in the human nature, as assumed by himself to his own
divine person ; whereby he not only presented the human
nature unto God " without sin, holy, harmless, and unde-
filed," but therein likewise made atonement for our sins :
— and by virtue of this assumption of an holy human
nature, and his atoning sacrifice therein, it is that an in
fallible security is given that there shall be an eternal
period put to sinning, in every one of his spiritual seed,
so soon as they enter the threshold of glory at death ; for
then " the former things shall pass away," — he will then
" present" all his members " to himself, a glorious church,
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but" per
fectly " holy, and without blemish," Eph. v. 27.
8. He " did wondrously " — in the conquest he obtained
over all our spiritual enemies. He took the field alone, —
he set his face " like a flint," saying, " Who is mine adver
sary ? Let him come near unto me." And accordingly, as
" the day of vengeance was in his heart," so " he trode all
his adversaries in his anger, and trampled them in his
fury;" and, like briars and thorns, they were consumed
before him. He " foiled kings of great armies," and did it
in a way that was never heard tell of before — even by his
" death," Col. ii. 15. " Having spoiled principalities and
powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it," i. e., in his " cross ;" or, in " himself," as in the
margin. He hath wrested the keys of hell and of death
out of Satan's hand, and made a public show of them in
his own, as an evident token of his complete victory, say
ing, " I have the keys of hell and of death," Rev. i. 18.
9. He "did wondrously" — in his resurrection; for he
rose again by his "own power," John ii. 19. " Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up ;" meaning
' the temple of his body," ver. 21. which he himself would
raise up within that time. Never any rose, or shall rise,
by their own power but himself; and his doing so is ad
duced as an argument that he is truly and properly God,
Rom. i. 4. " Declared to be the Son of God with power, —
4 2D
224 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
by the resurrection from the dead." He did wondrously
also in his resurrection, inasmuch as he rose discharged of
all the debt of an elect world ; for, " he was delivered for
our offences, and was raised again for our justification,"
Rom. iv. 25.
10. "The Arigel of the Lord did wondrously" — in his
ascension ; for he ascended " in the flame of the altar."
This is the particular instance mentioned in the context,
wherein the Angel did wondrously, as appears by compar
ing the text with the words immediately following : " The
angel did wondrously; — For it came to pass, when the
flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the
angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar." His
ascending in the "flame" presupposed all the other won
drous acts which we have named in the preceding Heads ;
— such as, his engagement from eternity, and his actual
incarnation and satisfaction in the " fulness of time :" — so
that this deed of the Angel, in ascending in the " flame of
the altar," was designed to give a compendious view, suit
able to that dispensation, of the whole work of redemption,
which was in due time to be accomplished in and by the
person of the Messiah. More particularly, as the " sacri
fice" on the altar was typical of the death of Christ, so his
"ascending in the flame of the altar" typified the merit
and success of his death. For the "flame" of the altar
was designed to represent the wrath of God, which might
justly have consumed all the children of men, as the burrit-
offerings were upon the altar; but his ascending in the
flame of the altar plainly signified, that the wrath of God,
which was to kindle upon him as the Surety, should Le
endured wholly by him, — and, in consequence thereof, he
should ascend as the Forerunner for us within the vail, to
carry in the merit and efficacy of his blood within the
upper sanctuary, and thus to prepare a place for us.
To what has been said, I shall only add, very briefly,
that as the Angel of the Lord hath done wondrously in
the purchase, so he doth wondrously in the application of
redemption, by his word and Spirit. He raises the dead
SEE. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 225
into newness of life, — he calls the things that are not as
though they were, — he gives eye-sight to them that are
born blind, — he looses the bands of prisoners, — pulls down
the strongholds that are in the heart, — brings those that
are afar off near, — he cancels the hand-writing that was
against us, and contrary to us, — and makes those that have
lien among the pots to become beautiful by his comeliness
put upon them. — He doth wondrously, in maintaining his
own work of grace in the soul, in the midst of all the cor
ruption that is there, till he " bring forth judgment unto
victory." — He doth wondrously in his intercession ; for it
is his appearing, upon the merit of his sacrifice, in the pre
sence of God for us, Heb. ix. 24. It is just "his will" that
he himself, and all blessing, be ours, John xvii. 24. " Father,
I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me
where I am ; that they may behold my glory, which thou
hast given me." — The Angel of the Lord doth wondrously,
in gathering and preserving a church to himself upon
earth. He gathers his church by means contemptible in
the eye of the world ; for, by " the foolishness of preaching
he saves them that believe." A word spoken with power
will make the stoutest heart to yield, when all the flatteries
and threatenings of the world cannot accomplish such an
end. As he gathers, so he preserves his church most won
drously ; for, though they are but a " little flock," a " small
remnant," — yea, though they are, moreover, as the " lily
among the thorns," and as " sheep in the midst of wolves,"
— yet he restrains and bridles the fury of the adversary,
so as the gates of hell cannot prevail either by power or
policy ; for a seed has, and " shall do service to him. His
name shall endure for ever." — And, to add no more upon
this Head, he will do wondrously when he " comes at the
last day, in the clouds of heaven, with power and great
glory ;" for then he will raise the dead, — sist them . before
his judgment- seat, — make an eternal separation betwixt
the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the tares, — he will
sentence the wicked into everlasting fire, — and carry the
whole innumerable company of the redeemed from among
226 SELECTIONS FROM ME. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
men with him into heaven, and present them unto his
Father, saying, "Behold I, and the children whom thou
hast given me." And then he himself, who hath done so
wondrously, will continue to be the object of their eternal
praise and wonder, saying, " with a loud voice," as it is
Rev. v. 12. " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour,
and glory, and blessing." — I now proceed to the
III. Head in the Method, which was to — " Speak of the
privilege and duty of 'looking on,' or 'beholding' the
Angel of the Lord doing wondrously." Upon this point, I
shall briefly inquire,
First, What is imported in the privilege of " looking on."
Secondly, What is the nature of this " on-looking," as it
is a duty.
First, What is imported in the privilege of " looking on."
1. It imports, that mankind sinners have a near concern
in all that was done so wondrously by the Angel of the
Lord ; all that he did and suffered, in the executing of all
his mediatorial offices, as Prophet, Priest, and King, was
for us. His very errand into the world was " to seek and
save that which was lost." All the gifts he hath received
are for us, — for he hath " received gifts for men." All that
ever he did so wondrously, as Mediator, he did it in a pub
lic character, as representing his spiritual seed among men.
Thus, he assumed a holy human nature as the Head, and
therefore all the members are, in law-reckoning, born holy
in him, — he became obedient unto death, as their Head,
and therefore all their debt is paid in him, — he rose as
their Head, and therefore they are all discharged in him, —
for he was "raised again for our justification;" — he hath
ascended as their Head, and therefore they are set down
in heavenly places in him. Sirs, you have such a near
concern in all that the Angel of the Lord hath done so
wondrously, that he directs his call unto you only, sinners
of mankind, exclusive of the angels that fell, Prov. viii. 4.
" Unto you, 0 men, I call ; and my voice is unto the sons
of men."
SER. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 227
2. Though you have such a near concern, as hath been
j ust now said, yet your privilege of looking on and behold
ing the Angel of the Lord doing wondrously, imports that
you are utterly unable and incapable to have any share in
this great work yourselves, either in point of doing or
suffering. You want the principle of perfect obedience, a
soul perfectly holy ; and, therefore, " who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean ? " Since your nature is corrupted
your obedience cannot be perfect, either as to parts or de
grees ; and therefore no obedience at all, in law-reckoning.
And as for suffering for sin, it must either be infinite in
value or endless in duration; — there can be no infinite
worth in the sufferings of finite creatures ; — and if their
sufferings are endless in duration, they must be miserable
for ever. So that your being privileged to " look on, and
behold the Angel of the Lord doing wondrously," says, that
you can have no share in that great work yourselves ;
" none of us can redeem our brother, or give unto God a
ransom for him." Hence it follows,
3. That the privilege of " looking on " imports, that the
whole work was entered upon and finished by the Angel of
the Lord himself. He is the only doer, as you were hear
ing on the first Head, and he hath completely finished
what he undertook to do, as is clear by his own testimony,
John xvii. 4. " I have glorified thee on the earth : I have
finished the work which thou gavest me to do."
4. The privilege of "looking on" imports, that all that
the Angel of the Lord undertook to do, and hath done so
wondrously, for the redemption of mankind sinners, is " re
vealed" and " manifested" to us in the word of the gospel.
" Looking on" supposes an object present : — what was in
the text present unto the senses of Manoah and his wife,
is to us more firmly and solidly present in the word of
faith ; for the word of prophecy, or the faithful word of a
God that cannot lie, is more sure and steadfast than any
sensible representation whatsoever, 2 Pet. i. 18, 19. " This
voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were
with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure
228 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER^ WRITINGS.
word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take
heed." — So much for the privilege of "looking on." I
shall,
Secondly, Inquire what is the nature of this "on-looking,"
as it is a duty. The nature of faith is frequently expressed
in Scripture under the notion of " looking" or "beholding,"
Isa. xlv. 22. " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends
of the earth;" chap. Ixv. 1. " I said, Behold me, behold me,
unto a nation that was not called by my name." Now,
the metaphor of "looking on" or "beholding" is very fit
to express the nature of faith, on a twofold account ; both
because it includes a receiving of the object, and likewise
a firm persuasion about it.
1. "Looking on" necessarily includes a receiving of the
object. The eye of the body does nothing else with respect
unto the objects that are presented unto it but receive
them; and therefore "looking on" is very fit to express
the nature of faith, which is a receiving of what is pre
sented, or brought near in the word of promise, John i. 12,
" As many as received him, to them gave he power," or
privilege, " to become the sons of God." The receiving
nature of faith plainly says that we have nothing of our
own, and at the same time that the whole unsearchable
riches of Christ are brought to our hand ; and therefore,
as faith receives all, it cannot but ascribe all the glory to
the Giver, and the freedom of his grace, Rom. iv. 16. " It
'is of faith, that it might be by grace."
2. "Looking on" includes in it a firm persuasion about
the object we behold. When we are looking upon a person
doing or suffering, we are firmly persuaded of what we see ;
so " looking on," or " beholding the Angel of the Lord do
ing wondrously," — as all that he hath done concerns us, and
is revealed unto us, — must include a firm persuasion cor
responding to that revelation. Now, what is here pre
sented unto the eye of faith, in the word, is, that " the
Angel of the Lord hath done all" that you were hearing
above, and infinitely more than can be told, — and that he
hath done all these things " for you," — and therefore him-
SER. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOEK, ETC. £29
self, his righteousness, and salvation is yours, in the grant
and offer thereof; and consequently "looking on," or "be
lieving," in this case, must be a persuasion that it is so,
upon the ground of God's faithfulness and veracity, speak
ing in his own word : — the ground of the persuasion of faith
being infinitely more firm and solid than the ground of
any persuasion we can have arising from our senses, be
cause it is the infallible testimony of a God that cannot
lie, whose word is as unchangeable as his being. There
fore, when it is revealed to us that " God so loved the
world, as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life," — the language of faith, corresponding hereunto, must
be, as in Acts xv. 11. "We believe that, through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved." Hence it
easily follows that this persuasion of faith must take in
the particular application and use-making of its object,
for all the intents and purposes for which he is exhibited
unto us, — for " wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption."
IV. I proceed now to deduce some Inferences for the
Application.
1. Hence see what is become of the covenant of works,
which was broken by the first Adam, and all his posterity
in him, — it is fulfilled by the Angel of the Lord, the second
Adam, in what he hath done so wondrously ; and the fulfil
ment thereof by him, both as to the precept and penalty,
was the very condition of the covenant of grace, that was
made with him as the head of his spiritual seed. No work
nor deed of ours, no not faith itself, can be the entitling
condition of the covenant of grace. Our right and title
to eternal life can be founded on nothing else but Christ's
fulfilling all righteousness for us ; for he was " made sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the right-
ousness of God in him."
2. Is the Angel of the Lord the only doer in the great
work of our redemption 1 then hence see that all you, who
are convinced of your utter inability to do for yourselves,
230 SELECTIONS FROM MB. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
have the best ground to lippen to him for relief, out of
the several straits and difficulties wherewith you may at
present be distressed. Why, the Angel of the Lord did
wondrously in the purchase of your redemption, and he
continues to do so likewise in the application thereof.
Whatever, then, be your present exercise or trial, rely
upon him as the only doer for you, and you shall have an
outgate. — Are you oppressed with a body of sin and death,
and with such a sense of heart-wandering, hardness, and
deadness that you know not what to do, and are afraid to
venture unto the Lord's table in such a dismal case ? Well,
depend upon the Angel of the Lord, as the only doer for you,
upon the ground of his own word, wherein he hath said,
" Sin shall not have dominion over you." He hath made
an end of sin that sin might be finished in you at last.
Look to him for quickening and reviving, because he hath
said, " I am come that you might have life, and have it
more abundantly." Look to him for heart-melting, and
heart-loathing on the account of your sins, upon the ground
of that word, Ezek. xxxvi. 31. "Then shall ye remember
your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good,
and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your
iniquities, and for your abominations."
Again, are you convinced of the necessity of faith, with
out which you cannot "look on and behold the Angel doing
wondrously 1 " and are you complaining of your blindness,
and acknowledging your utter impotency to open your
own eyes ? Well, here is the only doer for you, who hath
it in his commission to " open the eyes of the blind."
Trust to him, as the " author and finisher of faith," upon
the ground of this word, Zech. xii. 10. " They shall look
upon me whom they have pierced."
Further, is fellowship and communion with him, in his
own ordinances, the " one thing" you desire and seek after
on this great day of the feast 1 and yet, in the meantime,
are ye complaining, as it is Job xxiii. 8, 9. " I go forward,
but he is not there ; and backward, but I cannot perceive
him : on the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot
SER. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 231
behold him : he hideth himself on the right hand, that I
cannot see him?" Well, in this case, the only doer for
you is giving you this kindly challenge, which you have
Isa. xl. 27, 28. " Why sayest thou, 0 Jacob, and speakest,
0 Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment
is passed over from my God ? Hast thou not known, hast
thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the
Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is
weary?" Therefore, 0 trust that he will come according
to his promise, Exod. xx. 24. " In all places where I record
my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee."
— " For a small moment have I forsaken thee ; but with
great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid
my face from thee for a moment ; but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy
Redeemer," Isa. liv. 7, 8.
Are you complaining of woful backslidings and decays,
and afraid to come to the Lord's table lest he have no
pleasure in you on these accounts ? Well, there is ground
of hope in that word, Jer. iii. 22. " I will heal your back
slidings." — " Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers ;
yet return again to me, saith the Lord," ver. 1.
Upon the whole : — since the Angel of the Lord does all,
put all your work in his hand, — your hearing, your pray
ing, your praising, your communicating, and the whole of
your warfare, — put all in his hand that he may do it for
you ; for " it is God which worketh in you, both to will
and to do of his good pleasure." He is here present this
day demanding employment from every one of you, to do
all for you, and that freely, " without money and without
price ;" saying, as it is Luke xviii. 41. " What wilt thou
that I shall do unto thee 1 " Therefore, come to him with
all your sins, that they may be pardoned, because he hath
paid the ransom, — with all your wants, that they may be
supplied, because " it hath pleased the Father that in him
should all fulness dwell," — with all your petitions, that
they may be answered, because he hath said, John xiv. 14.
"Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, I will do it."
232 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER^S WRITINGS.
Come to him with all your doubts, that they may be solved,
because he hath the " tongue of the learned," and can
speak a " word in season to the weary." Come to him for
all you need ; for " the Father loveth the Son, and hath
given all things into his hand :" and he is " ascended far
above all heavens, that he might fill all things."
3. Hence see the ground of a sinner's justification before
God. Surely it is not " by works of righteousness which
we have done," — for " ah1 our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags," — but upon what the Angel hath done so wondrousiy,
both in respect of his perfect obedience to the law, and
also in respect of his enduring the wrath due to our sin.
This his meritorious doing arid dying, or his perfect and
satisfactory obedience unto death, being imputed to us, is
the sole ground of our justification before God. It is not
any grace wrought in us, nor anything done by us, no not
the act of believing itself, or any act of obedience whatso
ever, that is imputed to us for righteousness ; it is only
what the Angel of the Lord did so wondrousiy, in doing
and dying in our room, that is imputed to us for the whole
of our righteousness in the sight of God: " Being justified
freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in
Jesus Christ," Rom. iii. 24. We are all by nature in a
state of guilt and condemnation ; but, in the " day of
power," being united to him who hath done wondrousiy,
his whole righteousness becomes ours for our justification
before God, — his suffering being the ground of our pardon,
and his obedience the ground of our being accepted as
righteous in his sight. 0 be persuaded to submit unto
this righteousness, which is wrought out by the Angel of
the Lord, in the holy human nature which he assumed to
his own divine person ! This is the only righteousness
that hath worth in it to counterbalance all accusations
from law or justice. It is the only righteousness that hath
been infinitely pleasing and acceptable to God ; for " the
Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake," Isa. xlii.
21. — the only righteousness that is everlasting, being a
robe that will never wax old, and never wear out, through
SER. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 233
eternity, — and it is the only righteousness in which we
may enter the lists with death, and stand in the presence
of God accepted for ever ; for we are " accepted in the
Beloved," Eph. i. 6.
4. Hence see the reason why believers are not under the
law, as a covenant, to be either justified or condemned
thereby ; — the reason is, the Angel of the Lord hath done
wondrously, in magnifying the law in their room. Hence
it is said of believers, Rom. vi. 14. that they "are not under
the law." They are not under the precept of the law as a
covenant, requiring perfect obedience as a condition of life ;
because, in this respect, Christ, as a new-covenant Head,
hath given obedience thereunto in their stead, and thereby
fulfilled the condition they were bound to in the first
Adam, Rom. v. 19. " As by one man's disobedience many
were made sinners ; so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous." They are not under the threaten
ing of the law as a covenant, binding over to death on
account of transgression, because Christ, as their Head,
hath paid the whole penalty ; for he hath " redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us :" and
therefore there can be " no condemnation to them that are
in Christ Jesus." So that the believer is " dead to the
law," in respect of justification, that he might " live unto
God," in respect of sanctification. Here is good news, the
law is fulfilled by Christ as a covenant, that it might be
put into our hands as a rule of duty ; and whatever is re
quired of us by the law in point of duty, there is strength
and furniture secured in the promise for the performance
thereof, Ezek. xxxvi. 27. " I will cause you to walk in my
statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them."
You are not now required to do in order to live, — which
was the tenor of the first covenant ; but life is promised,
as the principle and foundation of all acceptable doing, Isa.
xxxviii. 19. " The living, the living, he shall praise thee."
5. Hence see the necessity of the satisfaction of Christ,
to answer all demands of law and justice. Since the Angel
of the Lord hath done so wondrously, there behoved to be
234 SELECTIONS FROM MK. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
a necessity for his so doing. There was indeed no neces
sity lying upon God to save fallen men more than the
fallen angels ; but since, out of his own free love and good
pleasure, he purposed the salvation of an innumerable com
pany of mankind lost, it was necessary that this should be
done, in a consistency with the honour of all his attributes
and perfections, because his own glory is his highest end
in all that he doth. In order, therefore, that mercy might
have an honourable egress among sinners of mankind, it
was necessary that, since the threatening of the law was
founded in the very nature of God, his truth and veracity
therein should be preserved, — that his unspotted holiness
should be vindicated, — and that his impartial justice should
be satisfied in its highest demands. All this is obvious, if
you consider that these perfections are essential to the
nature of God, and therefore their honour and glory can
not be dispensed with, — for God " cannot deny himself."
Now, this being the case, the Angel of the Lord, according
to his undertaking and engagement from eternity, hath
done wondrously, in making " mercy and truth to meet
together, righteousness and peace to kiss each other," in
himself, as God-man, fulfilling all righteousness in our room,
to the eternal glory of all the perfections of God, which
would otherwise have stood as so many insuperable moun
tains in the way of the sinner's salvation. Accordingly,
you find that this necessity of a satisfaction, in order to
the venting of mercy in a consistency with the honour of
justice, is what our Lord himself asserts, Luke xxiv. 26.
" Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to
enter into his glory ? "
6. Hence see that there is no natural or necessary con
nexion between our best moral doings and the favour of
God ; — this would be a disparagement to what the Angel
hath done so wondrously. He is the only doer in the great
work of our salvation ; the connexion is stated betwixt his
doing in our room, and obtaining eternal redemption for
us. The promise of life is made unto the perfect obedience
of the Surety ; and whenever this obedience is imputed to
SER. III. — CUBIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 235
us, our title to eternal life is thereby secured; for "the
gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord,"
Rom. vi. 23.
7. Hence see that there is no access for a sinner into
the presence of God but through a Mediator. Had not
the Angel done wondrously, in opening a " new and living
way" into the presence of God for us, by his obedience
unto death, the justice and holiness of God, like the cheru
bim with a flaming sword, would otherwise have made
the way to pardon and life inaccessible. There is not the
least encouragement for a guilty sinner to come into the
presence of an absolute God, Isa. xxxiii. 14. " The sinners
in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypo
crites : who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire ?
who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"
And, therefore, to represent the Object of worship merely
as a Creator and Preserver, without any relation to Christ,
cannot but have a tendency to worm out the exercise of
prayer, and to be an effectual bar in the way of all trust
and confidence in God, which is grounded wholly on the
revelation of his grace and good- will through Christ, as the
only way of access unto him, John xiv. 6. " Jesus saith, —
I am the way, and the truth, and the life : no man cometh
unto the Father but by me." So that it is the revelation
of redemption through the blood of Christ, even the for
giveness of sins according to the riches of God's grace, that
is the strongest motive and encouragement for a guilty
sinner to come into the presence of an offended God, Psal.
cxxx. 4. " There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest
be feared."
8. Hence see that none of mankind were capable to rea
son out to themselves the knowledge of the way of salva
tion, which is necessary to their eternal happiness. If this
could be done, there had been no occasion for a revelation
of what the Angel of the Lord did so wondrously. For
the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, such as, that " God
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of
angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
236 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
world, received up into glory;" or, that the Son of God
should be incarnate, make satisfaction for sin, and be ex
hibited unto a lost world for salvation, are truths of such
a transcendent nature that the mind of man could never
have had the remotest conception of them if they had not
been revealed : — and now that they are brought to light
by the gospel, there can be no salvation without the know
ledge of them ; for " there is no other name under heaven,
given among men, whereby we must be saved," but that
of Jesus, — nor is there another way of " putting away sin
but by the sacrifice of himself," Heb. ix. 26. Hence it
follows that the doctrine of the salvation of heathens,
while destitute of divine revelation, must be the very foun
dation of Deism ; for it amounts to nothing less than this,
that mankind may be saved by the light of nature, without
any supernatural revelation, — quite contrary to Scripture,
which asserts, in plainest terms, that " where there is no
vision the people perish," Prov. xxix. 18 ; and contrary to
the doctrine of our Confession, which affirms, that " al
though the light of nature, and the works of creation and
providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and
power of God, as to leave men inexcusable ; yet they are
not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his
will, which is necessary unto salvation." And the scrip
tures adduced to prove this, are — 1 Cor. i. 21. " For after
that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to
save them that believe :" 1 Cor. ii. 13. " Which things also
we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth ; comparing spiritual
things with spiritual :" Ver. 14. " But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : for they are
foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned."
9. Hence see the nature of faith, — it is a firm persuasion,
founded upon a divine testimony, that the Angel of the
Lor£ hath done all in the great work of redemption ; that
he hath
SER. III. — CHRIST THS SOLE DOER, ETC. 237
do ;" and that he is " of God made unto us wisdom, right
eousness, sanctification, and redemption;" and therefore
that it must be a receiving, and resting upon him alone
for salvation, as he is thus offered unto us in the gospel.
10. Hence see the true spring of gospel holiness, — it
flows from a "looking on" and "beholding" the Angel
of the Lord doing wondrously. Faith's discovery of him,
as doing and suffering all, cannot but beget in us self-
loathing and abhorrence on account of sin as laid on him,
Zech. xii. 10. " They shall look upon him whom they have
pierced, and they shall rnourn for him :" and likewise a
desire of conformity to the law, as a rule, because he hath
fulfilled it as a covenant ; for " we all, with open face, be
holding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed
into the same image." Thus it is by faith our hearts are
purified, Acts xv. 9 ; and this is so necessary, that " with
out holiness no man shall see the Lord," Heb. xii. 14.
11. Is Christ the wonderful and only doer in the great
work of redemption ? and is it the privilege and duty of
mankind-sinners to "look on?" then this doctrine may
afford matter for several questions, which may be proposed
by way of trial, whereby we may form some judgment of
our spiritual state and condition ; and it is as necessary to
inquire into the circumstances of our souls after, as before,
a communion.
(1.) Are you convinced that you have violated the law
of God in the first Adam, and that you have justly incurred
the wrath of God, which is denounced upon the breach of
the first covenant ? Do you believe that you were repre
sented in Adam when God made the covenant with him,
and in consequence of this federal representation, that his
first sin is justly imputed unto you for your condemnation,
and therefore that you not only want original righteous
ness, but that your natures are wholly corrupted 1 With
out some uptaking of this deplorable state wherein you
are by nature, it is impossible you can see the least need
of the Angel's doing wondrously, in condescending to be
the Head of the new covenant, to fulfil the condition there-
238 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISIIEU's ^YRI TINGS.
of in point of doing and suffering, that this his perfect
righteousness might be imputed to you for your justifica
tion and title to eternal life. No sooner are you made to
see the wonders of redeeming love, in the substitution of
Christ in your room, as the Head of the new creation, than
presently you are convinced of your miserable condition,
in standing related to the first Adam, — and that God is
righteous in imputing Adam's first sin unto you, — and that
he would also be righteous, though the threatening of the
law were put in execution against you, saying, as it is
Dan. ix. 7. " 0 Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee,
but unto us confusion of faces."
(2.) Have you got a discovery of the nature of sin, what
it really is 1 If you are " looking on," and beholding the
Angel doing wondrously, you have certainly got some dis
covery of the evil nature or malignity of sin — " For you
know that he was manifested to take away our sins," 1 John
iii. 5 ; and ver. 8. " For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."
Therefore, if you are looking upon the Angel doing won
drously, you see that sin is that abominable thing which
God hates, because it is the very opposite of his holy nature,
and a transgression of his holy law. You see that it is so
exceeding sinful that the whole flood of infinite wrath
must be poured in upon the Son of God, as bearing it for
us, before a free pardon and indemnity can be issued forth,
in a consistency with the honour of justice; for "the Lord
God merciful and gracious," in " forgiving iniquity, trans
gression, and sin," will do it in such a way as "by no means
to clear the guilty," without a full satisfaction to offended
justice, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. Again, in looking upon the
Angel of the Lord doing wondrously in being a propitiation
for sin, you have got a discovery of the evil of it, as it is
a practical blaspheming of all the divine attributes and
excellencies ; — that it is a calling in question the truth
and veracity of God, who " cannot lie," — an undervaluing
his manifold wisdom, — a slighting of his unspeakable good
ness and infinite love,— a contempt of his impartial justice,
SER. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 239
— and a despising of his just authority and almighty power.
You have seen that sin is " wholly evil," — that there is
not the least good in it, — and therefore that any outward
trouble ought to be the object of our choice rather than
the least sin.
(3.) Have you been brought to see your own vileness
and deformity by reason of sin? If you are looking on
the Angel doing wondrously in taking away your sins, this
will be the effect of it, that you will loathe and abhor your
selves in dust and ashes on account thereof, Job xlii. 5, 6.
" Now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and
repent in dust and ashes." Have you seen yourselves to
be wholly an unclean thing ? — that from the head to the
foot there is no soundness in you 1 — that there is nothing
but darkness in your understanding, enmity and rebellion
in your wills, disorder and carnality in your affections?
And did you ever know what it is to get a discovery of this
your vileness and deformity, not only in the glass of the
law, but in the glass of the glory of Christ, manifesting
himself to you in the word of the gospel 1
(4.) Are you looking upon the Angel of the Lord doing
wondrously ? then you are persuaded that you can do no
thing for your own recovery out of that deplorable state
wherein you are plunged by your sin and apostasy from
God, — that you cannot answer the least demand of the
law with respect to that obedience which it requires, — and
though you could, yet that you cannot make atonement
for what is past, nor give unto God a sufficient ransom.
In looking on the Angel of the Lord "travelling in the
greatness of his strength, mighty to save," you see your
own utter weakness and inability to attempt any repara
tion to God's law which you have violated, or to stand
before his offended justice ; and therefore will be well
pleased that the Lord hath laid your help " upon one that
is mighty," — that his hand hath been on the " man of his
right hand," whom he hath made strong for himself.
(5.) What is your exercise about the legal bias of your
hearts ? If you are looking upon the Angel of the Lord
* 2 E
240 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER S WRITINGS.
doing wondrously, then this legal bias will be matter of
your deepest concern. You that are believers cannot but
be sensible of a strong inclination in your treacherous arid
legal hearts to rest upon your duties, your graces, your
frames, or attainments, as some ground of your acceptance
before God ; but it will be matter of mourning unto you
that you should seek to rob him of any part of the whole
glory, or that anything in you should claim the least share
of it, — and therefore the language of your souls will be,
" Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory."
— " Let him that builds the temple of the Lord bear all
the glory."
(6.) What estimate do you put upon your own do
ings ? If you are looking upon the Angel doing won
drously, you will think nothing of all that ever you did or
can do, — though you have perhaps got some enlargement,
at a time, in praying, praising, hearing, or communicating,
yet you have sometimes found it to be as the " morning
cloud, and the early dew," which soon goeth away. You
have found such a deal of unbelief, formality, and hypocrisy
cleaving to your best duties, that you have been made to
conclude you have nothing of your own whereof you can
boast, — that you have no good but what you have received,
— and therefore that, at best, you are but " unprofitable
servants."
(7.) What discoveries have been made to you by your
looking upon the Angel doing wondrously ? Have you
seen the infinite moral distance betwixt God and you re
moved by his assuming your nature, and thereby a com
munication established betwixt heaven and earth, in that
"new and living way which he hath consecrated for us
through the vail of his flesh 1 " Have you seen your own
sin and guilt in his meritorious oblation, that the "just
suffered for the unjust ?" Have you seen an " everlasting
righteousness" wrought out for you in his obedience unto
death? Have you got a view of the full and complete
discharge of all your sins in his resurrection from the
dead ? Have you got a faith's sight of a place prepared
SEB. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 241
for you by his ascension, since he hath said, " I go to pre
pare a place for you ; and if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also?" If you are looking
upon the Angel doing wondrously, you are discerning a
matchless glory in his person, — an unfathomable breadth,
length, and depth in his love, — and an infinite worth in
all that he hath done, as " Immanuel. God with us."
(8.) What is the principle and end of all that you do? If
you are looking upon the Angel doing wondrously, the
principle of all your actions will be faith in him and love
to him. You will have faith in him, depending on his
strength for assistance, and on his righteousness for ac
ceptance in all that you do ; and you will have love to
him, which will make his service sweet and pleasant unto
you, 1 John v. 3. " This is the love of God, that we keep
his commandments : and his commandments are not griev
ous." His glory will be the great end you have in view :
— you will be ready to say, Let him increase though I
should decrease, — let him have in all things the pre-emi
nence, — let him be honoured, though I should be ever so
much debased and despised. In a word, you will study to
perform every duty, because he is thereby glorified ; and
to hate every sin, because he is thereby dishonoured.
(9.) How are you exercised when anything intervenes
betwixt you and the Angel that has done wondrously?
Surely, if you are " looking on," he will be so amiable and
lovely in your eyes, that everything that keeps him out of
your sight will be most troublesome unto you: — though
you are sensible of being easily diverted to other objects,
yet the desire of your souls will be, that you may be in
case to say with the Psalmist, " My heart is fixed, 0 God,
my heart is fixed ; I will sing and give praise." And you
will long for the time when the day will break and the
shadows flee away.
12. Hath Christ, the Angel of the covenant, done won
drously ? and is it your privilege to " look on ? " then let
us all be exhorted to turn aside and see this great sight.
242 SELECTIONS FROM ME. FISHEtt's WRITINGS.
As Moses said concerning the "bush burning and not con
sumed," Exod. iii. 3 ; so let every one of us say, " I will
now turn aside, and see this great sight," namely, the
Angel doing wondrously. This is the greatest sight ever
the world saw or heard of, — the wonder of angels and men,
— the wonder of time and eternity, — that the eternal God,
in our nature, should ascend in the flame of the sacrifice
of himself; or that his death, in our room, should lay the
foundation of his glorious and triumphant ascension as
the Head of the whole mystical body. Well, then, what is
here said of Manoah and his wife that they really did, we
exhort you to do, and that is, to "look on" in a way of
believing.
And to encourage you to fall in with the exhortation,
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ calls you to
look upon his only begotten Son, as the Angel that hath
done wondrously in your behalf, Isa. xlii. 1. " Behold my
servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul
delighteth."
Christ invites you to look on himself, in a way of believ
ing, as the only doer in the great work of your redemption,
Isa. Ixv. 1. " I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation
that was not called by my name."
He is lifted up on the pole of the everlasting gospel, for
this very end, that you may look on him as the performer
of all things for you ; for, " As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted
up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal life," John iii. 14, 15. Although your
right of access to salvation be founded allenarly in the free
gift and grant thereof unto you in the word, yet your
being actually interested therein, and possessed thereof,
must be in a way of " looking on," or believing : " Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth," Isa.
xlv. 22.
Consider the present necessity of " looking on," or be
lieving. It is now, — in a present life, or before death, that
Christ is to be believed on, — or never : " For there is no
SER. III. — CHRIST THE SOLE DOER, ETC. 243
work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave,
whither thou goest." " Behold, now is the accepted time ;
behold, now is the day of salvation." At death the state
is fixed irreversibly, — and none knows how soon God may
send that inexorable messenger to sist them before his
awful tribunal; therefore, "To-day if you will hear his
voice, harden not your hearts." The call to believe, or
" look on," is to a present duty, — there is the utmost dan
ger in delaying a matter of such importance, whereupon
the happiness of your souls depends through eternity. 0
therefore, " Incline your ear ; hear, and your soul shall
live."
Christ, the Angel that did wondrously, is brought near
to you in the word, — you are welcome to " look on," and
appropriate all that you see to yourselves : " For the pro
mise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." It
is unto you, as you are sinners, that " the word of this sal
vation is sent ;" and " This is the command of God, that
you believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ." And
remember that there is no "escaping, if you neglect so
great salvation."
Consider how earnest and importunate Christ is with
you, that you " look on him," in a way of believing, to the
saving of your souls. He sends forth his ambassadors to
beseech you, in his stead, that you be reconciled to God.
He complains of your aversion to him, John v. 40. " Ye
will not come to me, that ye might have life." And he
laments your refusal, Luke xix. 42. " If thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong
unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes."
Lastly, Consider that others have " looked on," and have
found the benefit thereof to their comfortable experience,
Psal. xxxiv. 5. " They looked to him and were lightened,
and their faces were not ashamed." And as we exhort
you to the present exercise of " looking on," or believing,
so likewise to the constant and habitual exercise thereof
for the future, during your abode in the house of your pil-
244 SELECTIONS FROM ME. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
grimage. Study to " live by faith of the Son of God ;" for
it is promised, " The just shall live by faith." This is one
of the " good and perfect gifts which are from above, and
come down from the Father of lights, with whom is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning." Faith is one of
those gifts which are conferred without repentance ; for
he who is the author being also the finisher of faith, there
can be no cause for his withdrawing of it which would not
as well have hindered him from bestowing it at first ; nor
can there happen any after-unworthiness, in those whom
he hath once privileged with this grace, which he did not
foresee when he first wrought it in their souls.
In order to your living by faith on the Son of God, con
sider that all the offices he executes, as Mediator, are purely
relative, bearing a relation to us, — he had never been
clothed with any of them had it not been on our account.
The offices of Christ are not like the attributes of God, —
the attributes of God are absolutely essential to the divine
nature, — God would have been infinite, eternal, unchange
able, <fec., although no creature had ever existed ; but Christ
could not have been Prophet, Priest, and King, if there
had not been sinners of mankind with relation to whom
these offices were to be executed ; so that they all bear a
relation to us, in the miserable circumstances wherein sin
hath plunged us, — and if you get a well-grounded persua
sion that Christ your " passover is sacrificed " for you as a
Priest, it will be the more easy to believe that he will en
lighten you as a Prophet, and sanctify you as a King.
To conclude, — we would exhort you to evidence that it
is your habitual exercise to be "looking on" the Angel
doing wondrously, by your looking down with contempt
on time-things, when laid in the balance with those that
are eternal, — by being diligent in the practice of com
manded duty, — by aspiring after nearer conformity to God
in holiness, — and longing for the full enjoyment of him in
heaven. And thus you will imitate the practice of Manoah
and his wife, of whom it is said in our text, that when
" the angel did wondrously, Manoah and his wife looked on."
SERMON IV.*
THE DOORS OF THE HEART SUMMONED TO OPEN TO
THE KING OF GLORY.
PSAL. xxiv. 7. — " Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates ; and be ye ( lift up, ye
everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in."
IT is evident, from the title, that David was the penman
of the Spirit of God in this psalm ; — and it is generally
thought that it was composed upon the occasion of his
bringing up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom
unto the tabernacle which he had pitched for it in mount
Zion, 2 Sam. vi. 17; which, by the prophet Nathan, he
understood would be the place where Solomon's temple
should afterwards be built. Therefore, not doubting but
that this glorious work would be finished in due time, and
that the ark of God would be brought to its place therein,
he, beforehand, poetically addresses the gates and doors of
the temple, and gives them a solemn charge to give patent
access to this glorious symbol of the divine presence, and
eminent type of Christ, the Saviour and Surety of lost sin
ners of mankind : " Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates," &c.
In these words you may notice,
1. The object addressed, — it is literally the "gates" and
" doors " of the temple, which David, by faith and the
spirit of prophecy, beheld as already built ; but typically
and spiritually it is the gates and doors of the heart, — the
temple typifying not only the human nature of Christ, but
likewise his church. Hence the members of the church
visible are called "the temple of God," 1 Cor. iii. 16. "Know
* An Action Sermon, preached at Glasgow, August 31, 1755.
246 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHEK's WRITINGS.
ye not that ye are the temple of God 1 " And the
doors of this temple are fitly called "everlasting," — be
cause the soul of man, being of an immortal nature, the
faculties thereof, which are its doors, cannot but be ever
lasting.
2. You have the address itself, or the solemn charge he
gives to these gates and doors, — and that is, " to be lifted
up :" " Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates :" — let your tops or
lintels be raised up on high, that the entrance may be the
more spacious and magnificent. Or, perhaps the lifting
up of the heads or tops of the gates may be spoken in
allusion to the iron-grates that are hung over the entry of
fortified places, and let down for debarring all access ; and
so may denote the strong bars wherewith the heart of man
is naturally fortified against Christ, and the way of salvation
through him:— let all these be knocked off and give way.
And whereas the summons is doubled, — "Lift up your
heads, 0 ye gates ;" and " be ye lifted up, ye everlasting
doors," — it signifies both the importance of the duty and
the peremptoriness of the charge. So that the amount of
the solemn call seems to be this : ' Let the doors of every
sinner's heart, to whom these presents shall come, be wide
opened by believing ; and every bar and obstacle be there
by presently made to give place, that so there may be a
patent entrance for all the good that is wrapped up in the
promise.'
3. You have the ground and reason of this repeated
charge, or the motive enforcing such a solemn call, — it is
the promise that " the King of glory shall come in." This
King of glory is no other than Christ, who is called the
" Lord of glory," 1 Cor. ii. 8 ; where it is said, that " if the
princes of this world had known him, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory."
Upon the words thus opened, I found the following
doctrine, namely, —
DOCTRINE, — ' That as there is a solemn charge given to
sinners of mankind, in the dispensation of the gospel, to
open or lift up the doors of their hearts to Christ, the King
SER. IV. — THE DOORS OF THE HEART, ETC. 247
of glory, in a way of believing ; so it is secured, by pro
mise, that he shall come in.'
The Method I propose to follow, through divine assist
ance, shall be, to speak —
I. Of the solemn charge here given to sinners of man
kind, to " lift up" or " open" the everlasting doors of their
hearts.
II. Of the " King of glory," in whose favours access to
the heart is demanded.
III. Of the promise of his in-coming to the hearts of
sinners. And,
IV. To apply the subject.
I. I return to the first of these, — namely, to speak of
the solemn charge here given unto sinners of mankind to
"lift up" or "open" the "everlasting doors" of their
hearts. Upon this head I shall essay,
First, To show that the heart of man is by nature
strongly fortified against Christ's entry into it.
Secondly, Inquire what are these "doors" of the heart,
which are summoned to open unto him.
Thirdly, What is meant by the " lifting up " or " open
ing" of these doors ; and how they open.
First, We are to show, that the heart of man is by na
ture strongly fortified against Christ's entry into it. This
is implied in the solemn charge here given, " Lift up your
heads, 0 ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting
doors :" — which plainly says that they are naturally shut,
and strongly bolted against the entry of the Son of God
into them. I shall name a few of these bolts or bars
wherewith the heart is naturally fortified against Christ.
1. There is the bar of ignorance; for, till " the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus,
shine in our hearts," they will remain shut upon him, — it
being " the entrance only of his word that giveth light."
But so soon as he is taken up in the light of his own word,
presently the heart will open unto him in a way of believ
ing ; Psal. ix. 10. " They that know thy name will put their
trust in thee."
248 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
2. The heart of the sinner is fortified against Christ by
unbelief ; which is a rejecting the record and testimony of
God concerning his eternal Son, — a treading him under
foot, and reckoning the blood of the covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified, an unholy thing. Therefore, since there
is salvation in no other, nor any " other name under hea
ven, given among men, whereby we must be saved," it is
impossible he can have any entrance, till we account it " a
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners," of whom each
of us have reason to reckon ourselves the " chief."
3. Legality is another strong bar upon the heart; for,
while we go about to establish our own righteousness, we
will never submit ourselves unto the righteousness of God ;
while we remain wedded to the law, as a covenant, we will
never consent to be married to another, even to him who
is raised again from the dead.
4. The heart of the sinner is naturally bolted against
Christ with self-sufficiency; saying, with Laodicea, " I am
rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing."
And, indeed, while this is the case, we will never go
a-begging at Wisdom's door, or open to him whom the
Father hath loved, and " given all things into his hand,"
that out of his fulness we might receive, " and grace for
grace."
5. Spiritual lethargy, or security, is another bar upon the
heart; for, while the sinner is fast asleep, under all the
alarms of word and providence, he cannot arise and open
to Christ, — neither will he be awakened till the Spirit of
God set home the law, in its spirituality and extent, upon
the conscience ; for, " by the law is the knowledge of sin."
6. Hopeless despair shuts the heart effectually against
Christ ; for, when once a person apprehends that his sins
are so many, and so heinously aggravated, that there is no
mercy or forgiveness for him, he is ready to give loose
reins to corruption, and to say upon the matter, " There
is no hope ; I have loved strangers, and after them I will
go." In which case, the longer the person, li ves, his heart
SER. IV. — THE DOORS OF THE HEART, ETC. 249
will still be the more hardened, unless a day of power
brings about a saving change.
7. Presumptuous confidence bolts the heart against Christ ;
for, while a person mistakes his convictions, the qualms of
his conscience, or the transient motions that may be, at a
time, upon his affections, for real grace, he will certainly
take ease and shelter to himself under these lying refuges
till the hail sweep them away ; and then he will see that
a "deceived heart hath turned them aside." Thus you
see that the heart of man is by nature strongly fortified
against Christ's entry into it. I go on to
The second particular upon this general Head, which was
to inquire, What are those " doors " which are summoned
to open to Christ Jesus the Lord. For understanding this,
you would know that there is here an allusion to the entry
of great houses ; as access to a great house is by outer and
inner gates, so there are outer and inner doors of the heart
by which it is accessible. The outer doors of the heart,
while the soul is united to the body, are the ear and the
eye.
1. There is the outer door of the bodily ear; which is an
organ framed for hearing the words of Christ, and the
summons given, in his name, by his sent servants, to open
the everlasting doors of the heart unto him, Isa. Iv. 3.
" Incline your ear, come unto me ; hear, and your souls
shall live." The ear is such an useful door to the heart
that faith is said to come by hearing, Rom. x. 17. " Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
2. The other outer door of the heart is the eye of the
body ; which is calculated for reading the Scriptures, which
testify so amply of Christ. Hence are they pronounced
blessed who read the word so as to feed on it by faith,
Rev. i. 3 " Blessed is he that readetht and they that hear
the words of this prophecy, and keep the sayings which
are written therein." So that the outer doors of the heart
are the ear and the eye, — the one is summoned to listen,
and the other to read and search the record of God con
cerning Christ.
250 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
But, then, as the heart hath those outer doors which we
have mentioned, it has inner ones also which are sum
moned to " lift up" or "open" to the Son of God. These
inner doors are the faculties of the soul, which are princi
pally two, the understanding and the will. When these
are lifted up, all the other powers of the soul fly open at
once.
1. There is the inner door of the understanding, which
is the leading faculty of the soul. This is naturally such
a dungeon of darkness, that it cannot receive the things of
the Spirit of God till the vail and covering that is upon it
be rent by the power of efficacious grace ; for, " the god of
this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is
the image of God, should shine into them." But so soon
as the "day-spring" from on high visits the sinner, or
the "Sun of righteousness" arises upon him, then the
" shadows fly away," and " an understanding is given to
know him who is the true God and eternal life," 1 John
v. 20.
2. There is the inner door of the will, — which, ever since
the fall, is bolted with opposition unto, and enmity against,
the will of God ; for " the carnal mind is enmity against
God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be." Hence we find God's main complaint against
sinners lodged at the door of their will, Matt, xxiii. 37.
" 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings, and ye would not!" John v. 40. " Ye will
not come unto me, that ye might have life." Howbeit, in
a day of divine power, this iron-gate is made to give way,
Psalm ex. 3. " Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power." And thus, when these two inner doors of the
heart, the understanding and the will, are opened and
lifted up, the one by enlightening, the other by renewing
grace, all the other powers of the soul open of course. The
affections, following the enlightened mind and renewed
will, centre on him who is " altogether lovely." The con-
SER. IV. — THE BOOKS OF THE HEART, ETC. 251
science finds fault with and challenges every thing that is
offensive in his sight. And the memory loves to retain
him and his truths as the subject-matter of habitual medi
tation. Thus you see what are the " doors " of the heart
which are summoned to open to Christ.
The third particular, on this Head, was to inquire what
is meant by the " lifting up" or " opening" of these doors,
and how they open. To the
1st. What is meant by the " lifting up " or " opening "
these doors?— I answer, that the charge here given unto
the gates to "lift up" their heads, and to the everlasting
doors to "be lifted up," is just the very same with the
command to " believe." It is a solemn charge laid upon
sinners of mankind to believe on the Son of God, as the
only way to the Father. As there can be no patent entry
to a house but by open doors, so there can be no other way
of giving reception to Christ but by believing on him ; —
hence "receiving" and "believing" are all one in Scripture,
John i. 12. " As many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name." Christ comes to every man and woman's
door only in the word of divine revelation, and conse
quently there can be no other way of receiving him but
by believing that word as the record of God ; for, as unbe
lief is a shutting him out of the heart, so faith is an opening
thereof to take him in. And as nothing glorifies God so
much as believing, therefore God claims it as his own pecu
liar work, John vi. 29. " This is the work of God, that ye
believe on him whom he hath sent." On the same account
is faith called " precious," 2 Pet. i. 1 ; because it unites
with precious Christ, and ties the marriage-knot which
shall never be loosed. So it is the peculiar excellency of
the grace of faith, to open the doors of the heart to receive
in Christ Jesus the Lord. But then,
Idly. How do these doors open in believing 1
1. In believing, a beam of divine, supernatural light,
from the word, shines in upon the understanding, and
thereby this door presently opens to take in the knowledge
252 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
of Christ, and of God in him, and of the whole of divine
revelation. For, it is when the " eyes of the understanding
are enlightened" that we "know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his
power to us-ward who believe," Eph. i. 18, 19. This saving
illumination of the mind is the first work in the new crea
tion, even as the making of light was the first particular
work in the old : — hence the "new man" is said to be
" renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created
him," Col. iii. 10.
2. In believing, the Spirit having moulded the will, in
conformity to the will of God, it hereby opens to give a
cordial reception to Christ, as presented to the understand
ing in the light of the word. The same Spirit, who power
fully sways the understanding to assent to the record of
God as true, as powerfully inclines the will, at the same
time, to embrace it as good. The light of the gospel, dis
covering Christ in the glory of his person, offices, and
mediation, is darted in upon the understanding ; and the
same light is, by a secret working of the Spirit, reflected
upon the will, whereby it is sweetly influenced to open to
him as altogether lovely.
3. In believing, the affections get such a spiritual set,
that they may be justly said to open to Christ when they
can terminate nowhere solidly and permanently but on
himself, and God in him, as the object of our highest love,
desire, and esteem ; so as to be in case to say with the
Psalmist, " Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there
is none upon earth that I desire besides thee." Or with
the church, Isa. xxvi. 8. " The desire of our soul is to thy
name, and to the remembrance of thee." Sirs, if the door
of your understanding hath been opened to know Christ,
and the door of your will to embrace him, your affections
cannot miss to be enamoured and captivated with him ;
for spiritual light in the understanding will be always ac
companied with some spiritual warmth upon the affections,
Luke xxiv. 32. " Did not our hearts burn within us, while
SER IV. THE DOORS OF THE HEART, ETC. 253
he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us
the scriptures ? "
4. In believing, the conscience being purged from dead
works by the blood of Christ, may be said to open to him
when it can have no quiet or peace without some know
ledge of a present interest in his love, as it was with the
Spouse ; she was restless till he returned with the wonted
evidences of his kindness, Song iii. at the beginning.
5. In believing, the memory being made a receptacle of
gospel truth, 1 Cor. xv. 2. may be said to open to Christ,
when it is ready, not only to take in and lay up fresh store
from the word, but likewise to bring forth and utter abun
dantly what it remembers of his great goodness, according
to the promise, Psal. cxlv. 7. " They shall abundantly utter
the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy
righteousness." — Thus you see what is meant by " lifting
up" the doors of the heart, and how they open to Christ in
believing. And so much for the first thing, namely, the
solemn charge here given to "open" or "lift up" the ever
lasting doors of the heart. I now proceed to the
II. General Head of the Method, which was to speak of
the " King of glory," in whose favour access to the heart
is demanded. Upon this head, I shall,
First, Offer a few meditations concerning this glorious
King.
Secondly, Inquire why called the King of glory.
First, A few propositions concerning this glorious
King.
1. Our Lord Jesus is the alone King and Head of his
church, by his Father's ordination and appointment, from
eternity. The supreme rule which he exerciseth over all
the creatures as God, is natural and essential to him, as
being one in essence with the Father and Holy Ghost ; but
the sovereign power and authority, which he exerciseth in
and over his church as Mediator, is "given" unto him as
a reward of his purchase, Matt, xxviii. 18. " All power is
given unto me," says he, " in heaven and in earth." Hence
are so many royal titles assigned unto him ; such as " Prince
254 SELECTIONS FROM ME. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
of peace," " Captain of salvation," " Lord of glory," and
" King of kings."
2. The assumption of the human nature was necessary
to the execution of his office as a King ; for he could not
have mounted the throne as a King, if he had not first
offered up himself, in the human nature, as a Priest, Luke
xxiv. 26. " Ought not Christ to suffer these things, and to
enter into his glory ? " — hence called " a Priest upon his
throne," Zech. vi. 13 ; — intimating that the cross was the
way to the crown.
3. Although he exercised his kingly power, as Mediator,
ever after the first promise, yet the solemnity of his in
stalment and investiture in the kingdom was not till his
ascension to the right hand of the Majesty on high, where
by he was made both Lord and Christ ; " for to this end
Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be
Lord both of the dead and living," Rom. xiv. 9,
4. His kingdom is quite of another nature, and alto
gether distinct, from the kingdoms of this world, — for it is
a spiritual kingdom : — " My kingdom," says he to Pilate,
"is not of this world." Everything in his kingdom is
spiritual and heavenly, — the manner of the administration
thereof, is not by secular arms and outward force, but by
spiritual weapons only : " The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God." His laws are spiri
tual, reaching the inward as well as the outward man.
And the blessings which he distributes are chiefly of a
spiritual nature, — such as, the pardon of sin, fellowship
and communion with God, grace here, and glory hereafter.
5. He is a King of most singular and unparalleled quali
fications : — for, (1.) He is a King of immeasurable wisdom
and knowledge, the treasures of both being hid in him,
Col. ii. 3. (2.) He is a King of irresistible power ; for, as
" all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth," so the
armies of both are at his command. (3.) He is a King of
unspotted holiness, being " the Holy One of Israel in the
midst of us." (4.) He is a King of unsearchable riches
and unbounded liberality ; for; as " riches and honour are
SEE. IV. — THE DOORS OF THE HEART, ETC. 255
with him," so he invites every one to whom he sends gos
pel-light to come and share of his fulness : Isa. Iv. 1. " Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he
that hath no money : come ye, buy, and eat ; yea, come,
buy wine and milk without money, and without price."
(5.) He is a King of untainted veracity, — for he is truth
itself, — and all " the promises are in him Yea and Amen."
(6.) He is an eternal and immortal King. He was dead,
indeed ; but because by his death he finished the purchase
of our salvation, therefore " Behold he is alive for ever
more," to see to the begun possession of it here, and the
full fruition of it hereafter.
The second branch of this general Head was to inquire,
Why he is called the " King of glory 1 " The expression
hath a peculiar singularity in it ; for, though kings, in
some sense, may be said to be glorious, yet no other but
Christ himself was ever styled " the King of glory." He
is so called,
1. Because there is in the human nature, now exalted,
a bright manifestation of the glory of his divine person.
The union between the two natures was the same, in a
state of humiliation, that it is now in a state of exaltation ;
but the glory of the divine nature, which was veiled for a
while by the sinless infirmities and voluntary abasement
to which he submitted before his resurrection, did appear
again in all its former splendour, by the glorification of the
human nature, in its ascension to the right hand of the
throne of God, — which is the meaning of Christ's words to
his Father, John xvii. 5. " Glorify thou me with thine own
self with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was."
2. He is called " the King of glory," because the glory,
in which he was installed at his ascension, is unspeakably
great. For, as the human nature, in virtue of its union
with the Son of God, was capable of being filled with the
Spirit above all measure ; so, for the same reason, it is
capable of a glory inconceivably great, — as seems plainly
to be imported in the expression, Phil. ii. 9. " God also
4 2r
256 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
hath highly exalted him." The original word is, " super-
exalted" him; that is, exalted hiin above all the concep
tion of angels or men.
3. He is called " the King of glory," because he is the
receptacle and storehouse of all glory ; " For the Father
loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand."
This will be acknowledged by all the inhabitants of the
upper sanctuary for ever and ever: Rev. v. 12. "Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and
blessing."
4. He is called " the King of glory," because he is the
dispenser of all that glory which shall ever be let out
among the saints through eternity ; for he received gifts,
not for himself, but "for men," that he might bestow
them variously at his pleasure among sinners of mankind.
Accordingly, as he will give grace here, so he will give
glory hereafter, that on him may " hang all the glory of
his Father's house, from the vessels of cups even to all the
vessels of flagons."
5. " He is called " the King of glory," because there is
a refulgency or brightness of glory always shining out from
him. As the sun in the firmament diffuses and spreads
abroad its light freely, liberally, and continually ; so there
is a bountiful and perpetual emanation of glory from the
Sun of righteousness, and that both in this life and in that
which is to come. In this life, his glory shines mediately,
through the glass of the word, 2 Cor. iii. 18. " We all, with
open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord."
And in the life to come, his glory shines immediately on
all the ransomed company, which is the very soul of their
glory for ever : — hence says he, John xvii. 22. " The glory
which thou gavest me I have given them ; that they may
be one, even as we are one."
6. He is called " the King of glory," because of the
badges of glory and sovereignty that are ascribed unto
him. He hath a throne of glory on which he sits, Matt,
xxv. 31. " When the Son of man shall come, and all his
SEB. IV. — THE DOORS OF THE HEART, ETC. 257
holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of
his glory." He has a sceptre of glory which he sways, and
this is no other than the glorious gospel, called the " rod
of his strength," Psal. ex. 2. He has a glorious retinue ;
for " thousand thousands minister unto him, and ten thou
sand times ten thousand stand before him." He has a
glorious robe, hence said to be " glorious in his apparel,"
Isa. Ixiii. 1. And he has a glorious tribute and revenue
paid in to him ; for in him " shall all the seed of Israel be
justified, and shall glory." — Thus I have hinted, very im
perfectly, at a few things only on this inexhaustible sub
ject, concerning " the King of glory," in whose favours
access to the heart is demanded. I now proceed to the
III. Thing in the Method, — namely, The promise of his
in-coming to the hearts of sinners — " The King of glory
shall come in" Upon this Head I shall briefly essay these
two things : —
First, Inquire into the import of the promise, " The
King of glory shall come in."
Secondly, Mention a few of the great things he brings
alongst with him when he comes.
First, What is imported in this promise, " The King of
glory shall come in?"
1. It imports, that this glorious person has himself re
moved all legal bars and impediments that were in the
way of his access unto the soul. Sin made an infinite
moral distance betwixt God and us, and blocked up all
communication with heaven ; but this he removed by his
obedience unto the death in our room, — whereby all the
demands that law and justice had against us were fully
answered, and nothing could any more be laid "to the
charge of God's elect."
2. " The King of glory shall come in," — it imports, that,
next to the union of the two natures in the person of the
Son, there cannot be a greater wonder than that God in
our nature should take up his lodging in such hearts as
ours, — considering that he is "the blessed and only Po
tentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords," and we
258 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER^S WRITINGS.
"wretched, miserable, blind, and naked" sinners. To see
an earthly prince come and dwell with a beggar, would be
nothing at all in comparison of a God of unspotted holiness
dwelling with guilty and polluted souls. Surely we may
wonder that such a glorious person should ever condescend
to come under such pitiful and contemptible roofs as ours
are : each of us may well say with the centurion, Matt,
viii. 8. " Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come
under my roof."
3. It imports, that he is waiting and knocking at every
man and woman's door, just ready to enter upon the open
ing ; Rev. iii. 20. " Behold, I stand at the door and knock :
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come
in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." 0 !
how near is he to us, when he is in the word of faith which
we preach, and which you are just now hearing!
4. It imports the certainty of the thing — " Lift up your
heads, 0 ye gates, and the King of glory shall come in :"-
there is no perad venture about it, he will surely "come in"
to the soul that opens to him in a way of believing ; John
xi. 40. " Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe,
thou shouldest see the glory of God ] " For, though there
be no necessary connexion betwixt duties as performed by
us, and any saving benefit or blessing whatsoever ; yet, in
the order of the covenant, there is such a connexion
among the blessings themselves that one comes along with
another ; as here, Christ's in-coming to the soul is secured,
by promise, to accompany believing : " Be ye lift up, ye
everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in."
5. It imports, that in opening the heart to Christ by
believing, there commences the closest union between him
and the soul, so as that they presently coalesce into one
body, whereof he is the Head, and they the members that
are nourished by it. And as they coalesce in one body,
so likewise into one spirit ; for the same spirit that rests
on the Head animates every one of the members: "He
that is joined to the Lord is one spirit."
6. It imports, that, as a fruit of this union, there is an
SEB. IV. THE DOORS OF THE HEART, ETC. 259
interest and propriety in his person, and all that he hath.
An interest in his person, so as to have ground to say,
" My beloved is mine, and I am his ;" and an interest in all
that he hath, — an interest in his righteousness, his fulness,
and the whole of his salvation.
7. It implies the delight and satisfaction that Christ
will have in the soul that opens unto him. As his delights
were, from eternity, with the sons of men, so when he
comes into any of their souls in time, he says to them, as
it is Song vii. 6. " How fair and how pleasant art thou, 0
love, for delights ! " For we read, that " the Lord taketh
pleasure in his people," Psal. cxlix. 4.
8. " The King of glory shall come in," — it implies that
his abode shall be continual. He will not come in as a
" stranger or way-faring man to tarry only for a night ;"
but he will come in as a constant residenter, saying of the
soul as he does of Zion, Psal. cxxxii. 14. " This is my rest
for ever : here will I dwell ; for I have desired it."
The second particular, upon this general Head, was to
mention a few of the great things he brings along with him
when he comes. And indeed they are so great that their
greatness is unutterable. For,
1. He brings God along with him ; and it cannot be
otherwise, seeing " God is in Christ." " He that hath seen
me," says Christ, " hath seen my Father also." This mu
tual in-being of the Father, and the Son, and the believer
in each other, will remain an impenetrable mystery till the
last day declare it ; John xiv. 20. " At that day ye shall
know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in
you."
2. He brings the Spirit along with him, to receive of his
and " show it unto you." He brings the Spirit to " abide
with you for ever ;" to " bring all things to your remem
brance," and to " guide you into all truth."
3. He brings all the glorious perfections of God along
with him, to be employed in and about the soul that opens
to him in a way of believing. The infinity of God, to be
the inexhaustible fund of our supply, — his eternity, to se-
260 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
cure the perpetuity of our inheritance, — his unchangeable-
ness, to ascertain our perseverance notwithstanding of our
daily failings and infirmities, — his wisdom, to give us coun
sel, — his power, to defend us, — his holiness, to conform us
to himself, — his justice, to acquit us, — his goodness, to
withhold nothing that is for our profit, — and his truth,
to " do as he hath said."
4. He brings all the promises of the covenant along with
him, and all the blessings that are contained in them. He
brings " gold tried in the fire," to enrich the poor, — "white
raiment," for clothing the naked, — and "eye-salve," for
enlightening the eyes of the blind. He brings life to
quicken the dead, liberty to the captive, and an ample
indemnity to the guilty sinner of all his transgressions, be
what they will. He brings strength to the weak, healing
to the diseased, and comfort to the mourner in Zion. In
a word, he brings "all things" along with him ; hence says
the apostle, 1 Cor. iii. 22. " All things are yours, and ye are
Christ's." — So much for the doctrinal part. I now pro
ceed to make some
APPLICATION of what hath been said. And the First Use
shall be of Information, in two Inferences.
1. Hence see the excellency of the grace of faith. Other
graces do virtuously, but faith excels them all ; for it lifts
up and throws open the doors of the heart to Christ, — it
unites with him, takes hold of his righteousness for pardon
and acceptance, and continually brings an empty hand to
receive out of his fulness. It is by faith we have peace
with God, — it purifies the heart, and sometimes "joy
unspeakable" is the fruit of it; hence says the Apostle
Peter, " Believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable." Faith
glories and triumphs only in Christ, — it sucks honey out
of every flower of the promise, and ventures boldly through
all dangers and difficulties in the strength that is in Christ
Jesus. In a word, it is the very thing that most glorifies
God, and is most pleasing unto him; for, "without faith it
is impossible to please God," Heb. xi. 6.
2. Hence, on the other hand, see the malignant and soul-
SEE,. IV. — THE DOORS OP THE HEART, ETC. 261
ruining nature of unbelief: for, as faith opens the door of
the heart unto Christ, unbelief shuts and keeps them fast
against him. It is the great mean whereby Satan keeps
possession of the soul ; for, it puts no value on the precious
promises, it despises the threatenings, and gives a flat re
fusal to the command of God to believe on the name of his
Son Jesus Christ. 0 then, " take heed, lest there be in
any of you an evil heart of unbelief," — rejecting " the coun
sel of God against yourselves," " neglecting so great salva
tion," and consequently bringing upon yourselves " swift
destruction."
The Second Use shall be of Examination. This is a
Communion-Sabbath with us in this congregation; and
the express command of God is, " Let a man examine him
self, and so let him eat of this bread, and drink of this
cup." And as it is the duty of communicants, so likewise
of all others who hear the gospel, to " examine themselves
whether they be in the faith." Well, then, try whether,
in a way of believing, your hearts have ever been opened
unto " the King of glory ;" or, whether he hath actually
come in to them.
1. If your hearts have been opened to him by believing,
then, upon his very first entry, his rivals have been dis
banded, and you have been made to say, with Ephraim,
" What have I to do any more with idols ? " You desire
henceforth to give no more peaceable possession to sin as
formerly, but constantly endeavour to resist it, and to
wage a perpetual war with it ; and when you see you can
not get rid of it, you will groan under the remains thereof,
saying, with Paul, " Who shall deliver me from the body
of this death ?"
2. If your hearts have been opened to Christ, you have
been made to fall a-wondering at the matchless glory and
excellency of his person, — that none less than the " great
God is your Saviour," — that He, who " thought it no rob
bery to be equal with God," should take upon him " the
form of a servant, and become obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross," in your stead. When you see the two
262 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
natures of God and man met together in a personal union,
you will be ready to say, with amazement, " What hath
God wrought ! " " Without controversy, great is the mys
tery of godliness."
3. If " the King of glory " hath come in to your hearts,
the glory of his person has so darkened all created excel
lency, that you account it "less than nothing and vanity"
when compared with him, — even as the stars quite dis
appear when the sun arises in the firmament. If he hath
come in, he will be absolutely matchless and incomparable
in your eye ; so that you will be saying as it is Psal. Ixxiv.
6. "Thou art more glorious and excellent than all the
mountains of prey."
4. If "the King of glory" hath come in, you have expe
rienced somewhat of heart-melting grief and sorrow, aris
ing from a discovery of the evil of sin, in what he suffered
on account of it in your room and stead ; Zech. xii. 10.
" They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and
they shall mourn for him." When you get a view of God
as pacified towards you, for all that you have done, you
will be so " confounded as never to open your mouth any
more, because of your shame," Ezek. xvi. 63.
5. If your hearts have been opened to "the King of
glory," in a way of believing, your affections of love, desire,
and esteem, will be strongly moving out towards him ; or,
at least, you will know sometimes what it is to be " sick
of love ;" that is, to have a soul-sickness, because you can
not get him loved according to his worth.
6. If the everlasting doors of your hearts have been
opened to " the King of glory," then you will desire far
ther acquaintance and intimacy with him, nearer confor
mity and likeness unto him, and more and more liberal
communications from him, in whom " dwelleth all the ful
ness of the Godhead bodily." It will be your desire to
speak to his praise, to run his errands, and to " cause his
name to be remembered in all generations."
The Third Use shall be of Exhortation. And our exhor
tation to all and every one of you, without exception, is, in
SEB. IV. THE DOOBS OF THE HEABT, ETC. 263
the words of our text, " Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates ;
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors :" — let the faculties
of your souls, which are the doors of your hearts, fly pre
sently open, in a way of believing, to receive in " the King
of glory," who is just now ready, in the dispensation of
the word, to come in to each of your hearts. 0 be per
suaded to let him in to the innermost recesses or retire
ments of your souls ! We call you in his name, and beseech
you in his stead, that ye keep not shut doors upon him, on
such a day as this, when he is come, both in the word and
sacrament, demanding access in the most kindly manner,
and by the most endearing compellations, saying, " Open
to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled ; for my
head is filled with the dew, and my locks with the drops
of the night."
Now, because the Lord Jesus draws with the " cords of
a man," or deals with men and women as rational agents,
I shall present you with some Scripture arguments, or
motives, to engage you to lift up the everlasting doors of
your hearts unto " the King of glory," that he may come
in. Only, while we are essaying to persuade you from the
word, look up to himself, that he may " put in his hand by
the hole of the door," and make your bowels move for him,
— that he would make his own way, — and, by the display
of his glory and majesty, in the word, ride in prosperously
into your souls. Well, then, — •
1. Consider what you and I are; and what sort of a
habitation our hearts have been, into which " the King of
glory" hath either corne, or into which he is just now
offering to enter. Why, we are naturally " a generation of
vipers, rebellious children," loathsome creatures, separated
from God by reason of the leprosy of sin ; — we are under
the curse, and " twice dead," — dead in sin, and dead in
law. As for our hearts, they have been an habitation of
darkness, an habitation of lusts, and an "habitation of
devils, the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every
unclean and hateful bird," — as it is said of spiritual Baby
lon, Rev. xviii. 2. 0 then, be filled with wonder and
264 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
amazement that ever such a glorious person should come,
in the word of his grace, and say to such desperately
wicked hearts as ours are — "Lift up your heads, 0 ye
gates ; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors."
2. Consider what a wonderful revolution he will make
when he comes in. He will pull down " strongholds ; cast
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth it
self against the knowledge of God; and bring into cap
tivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." He will
bind " the strong man," and overcome him, and take from
him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divide his
spoils. In a word, he will make " old things to pass away,
and all things to become new."
3. To engage you to open your hearts to him, consider
what he hath promised to be unto you when he comes in.
He hath promised that he " will be a Father to you," and
that " you shall be his sons and daughters," 2 Cor. iii. 18.
He hath promised that he will be a " husband," who will
betrothe you to himself for ever, Hos. ii. 19. He hath
promised that, as a Prophet, he will make you know the
" mysteries of the kingdom ;" as a Priest, he will offer up
your prayers and praises with acceptance, Isa. Ivi. 7. " Their
burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on
mine altar ;" and as a King, will protect you in all your
liberties and privileges. He hath promised, that he will
be a counsellor to advise you in all your straits, and a
guide to lead you in the way you know not.
4. Consider how sib he is unto you who is bidding you
lift up and open the everlasting doors of your hearts
unto him. He is your near kinsman ; " bone of your bone,
and flesh of your flesh ;" for, because " the children were
partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same." And he hath acted a kinsman's part
to the full, — he hath avenged your quarrel on Satan, who
ruined you, — and hath redeemed the forfeited inheritance,
and is now demanding you in marriage, saying, " Thy Maker
is thy husband." Should not this engage you to open unto
him?
8ER. IV. — THE DOORS OF THE HEART, ETC. 265
5. Consider what an expensive journey he hath made,
in order to win to the doors of your hearts to demand
entrance into them. He hath travelled not only through
poverty and reproach, but through unspeakable sorrows
and griefs, — he hath travelled not only through the armies
of hell, and the territories of death and the grave, but
through desertion and tentation, — through the deep seas
of soul-trouble and anguish, and through the impassable
mountains of fiery avenging wrath, — yet, after all, to keep
the door shut upon him, 0 how wicked and ungrateful is
it ! Could you find in your hearts to give the back of the
door to any of your friends or acquaintances, who would
come to visit you through much difficulty and danger?
Yet, how infinitely worse is it to refuse access unto him,
who " was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised
for our iniquities ;" and who " was made sin for us, though
he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him ! "
6. 0 be persuaded to lift up the doors of your hearts, in
a way of believing, for "the King of glory" is fond to
come in ; yea, he is so fond to come in to your hearts, ill
as they are, that he stands, he knocks, he cries at your
doors. He is grieved when your hearts are hardened
against him, and most glad when they open unto him ; for,
the day of his entrance, being the " day of his espousals,"
is therefore " the day of the gladness of his heart," Song
iii. 11.
7. Consider the dangerous consequences of keeping the
doors of your hearts shut upon him by unbelief. He will
be provoked to depart from you, and then woe will be unto
you in that case ; for all manner of spiritual plagues will
waste and consume you, — a plague of blindness, that you
shall not see what belongs to your peace, — a plague of
hardness, whereby neither word nor rod shall have any
good effect upon you, — a plague of barrenness, whereby no
fruit will be found on you from henceforth, — and a plague
of security, whereby you shall slumber and sleep on, till in
hell you lift up your eyes.
266 SELECTIONS FROM ME. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
8. Consider, that if you continue to keep the doors of
your hearts shut upon the " the King of glory," by your
unbelief, then Satan will continue to reign and rule over
you as his slaves and vassals, — and sad will be the servi
tude and drudgery he will set you to: he will set you
a-feeding of your own swinish lusts, — your drunkenness per
haps, or your uncleanness, your pride, your covetousness,
and the like : he will set you in a fool's paradise, where he
will make you dream that you are eating and drinking,
and stand in need of nothing ; but, behold ! when you
awaken, you will find, to your sad experience, when it is
past remedy, that your soul is empty. Meanwhile, he will
take care to make your bands strong ; and, in these very
bands, he will make you dance to his spring, till at length
your mirth and jollity end in " weeping, and wailing, and
gnashing of teeth." 0 that you were wise, and considered
these things in time !
9. Open the doors of your hearts by believing, and then
the moment that your souls shall leave your bodies at
death, they shall " immediately pass into the palace of the
King of glory," where they shall abide in the greatest hap
piness and glory, till they be united to their respective
glorified bodies at the last day ; and then, soul and body,
shall be for ever with the Lord, unweariedly employed in
songs of everlasting joy, and sorrow and sighing shall fly
away ; for God himself " shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes."
But, my dear friends, why need I insist on arguments
with you, to persuade you to believe, or to open your hearts
to Christ ? The call and exhortation in our text bears its
own motive and argument along with it : " Lift up your
heads, 0 ye gates ; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of glory shall come in." This is enough,
" The King of glory shall come in." This, I say, ought to
have influence with you all to open in a way of believing,
that " the King of glory shall come in." He " shall come
in" to beautify you with his salvation, — to justify you by
his righteousness, — to sanctify you by the inhabitation of
SER. IV. — THE DOORS OF THE HEART, ETC. 267
his Spirit, — to be your God for ever and ever, and your
" guide even unto death," when you shall be beyond all
hazard and danger, the former things having then for ever
passed away. 0 then, for the Lord's sake, and your own
soul's sake, hearken to the call of God in the text, — " Lift
up your heads, 0 ye gates ; and be ye lift up, ye everlast
ing doors, and the King of glory shall come in:" — then
you who are communicants shall have a comfortable com
munion, and you who are spectators shall have reason to
say, with Jacob, " Surely God was in this place, and I
knew it not."
DISCOURSE ON THE EVESING OF THE SAME DAT,
AFTER THE TABLES.
IN prosecuting the Application of the subject I was upon in the morning
a little further, I shall only, at this time, offer a few Observations on the
Manner in which "the King of glory" demands access to the hearts of
sinners of mankind; and then remove a few Objections against opening
unto him in a way of believing. With reference to the Manner in which
" the King of glory" demands access into the hearts of sinners, I may
observe,
1. That when he comes to the door of any man or woman's heart in
the word, it is " without observation " to any other than the particular
person with whom he is dealing at the time. Every one here present,
who is awake, and whose mind is not wandering upon other objects, has
access to hear the external sound of the gospel equally ; but none knows
what the Spirit of God is doing with his word but the individual person
with whom he is at work, either in a way of conviction, illumination,
consolation, or the like special influence.
2. I may observe, as was formerly hinted, that the Lord Jesus doubles
or repeats his demand for access into the hearts of poor sinners, as you
see the words of the text expressly bear — " Lift up your heads, 0 ye
gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors." He stands at the door
and knocks, as waiting to be gracious, and loath to take a denial ; — and
surely the oftener the call is repeated, the more inexcusable will we be
if we refuse to hearken ; for, it will be more tolerable for those who never
heard the gospel, than for us who " neglect so great salvation."
3. Christ doth not demand access into the heart of every sinner after
the same manner, — so that his way with one cannot be the measure of
268 SELECTIONS FROM MR. FISHER'S WRITINGS.
his dealing with another. He makes his demand for entrance into the
hearts of some in a milder, and into the hearts of others in a more
awful and terrible manner ; as you may see in his different way with the
jailer and with Lydia. The " terrors of the Lord " were let loose upon the
jailer, displaying the nature and desert of sin in such a clear and formi
dable light, that the poor man was presently brought to his wit's end,
and knew not what to do: "He sprang in, and came trembling, and fell
down before Paul and Silas,— and said, Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?" Acts xvi. 29, 30. Whereas, upon the other hand, the heart of
Lydia was opened in a much softer and milder way. It would seem she
had not those previous legal convictions, at least in such a degree, as the
jailer had; for it is said, ver. 14. of the same chapter, that, in hearing
of the word, " the Lord opened her heart, that she attended unto the
things that were spoken of Paul."
4. It may be noticed on this head, that none can possibly be in a more
desperate condition, in this life, that when the Son of God ceases to demand
entrance into their hearts any more ; for, in this case, their ruin is in
evitable, — in regard they are judicially given up to their hearts' lusts, as
Israel was, Psal. Ixxxi. 11, 12. " My people would not hearken to my
voice ; and Israel would have none of me. So I gave them up to their
hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels." Or — which is the
same thing — they are left entirely to themselves, which was the case
with Ephraim, Hos. iv. 17. " Ephraim is joined to idols : let him alone."
For, when he calls and we refuse, and when he stretches out his hands
and no man regardeth, it is no wonder that he also "laugh at our
calamity, and mock when our fear cometh."
But now, because it is our duty, who are ministers, to " prepare the
way of the people, to cast up the highway, and gather out the stones,"
I shall therefore endeavour to remove some Objections, which unbelief
may be ready to make against opening the door of the heart unto Christ,
when he is demanding access, saying, " Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates;
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors."
1. Then, some may be ready to say, 'My conscience testifies I am
such a guilty sinner, and that my guilt hath such peculiar aggravations
attending it, that I cannot think that ever the King of glory will look
near the like of me.'
I answer, — Our Lord Jesus never yet refused to come in to a sinner,
merely on account of the greatness of his sin ; nay, on the contrary, he
invites and calls the guiltiest and greatest of sinners to open unto him,
saying, " Come now, let us reason together, though your sins be as scar
let, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool." What were Manasseh, Mary Magdalen, Paul,
and others, but the greatest of shiners? Yet they obtained mercy, that
they might be a pattern to all after-sinners, not to despair of mercy on
account of the greatness of their sin. Yea, you should be so far from
this, that you should make the greatness of your sin an argument and
motive for your opening to Chnst, by whose righteousness only it can
be taken away; saying, with David, Psal. xxv. 11. " For thy name's
sake, 0 Lord, pardon mine iniquity ; for it is great."
2. If another object, ' I am no way prepared for the reception of such
a glorious person ; I have no good quality in me fit for entertaining him,
and therefore he cannot be calling such as I am, to open the door of my
SER. IT. — THE DOORS OP THE HEART, ETC. 269
heart to him, till I have other dispositions and qualifications than I have
at present.'
Answer. This looks like the language of a proud legalist,— who
imagines he can prepare himself for the reception of "the King of glory,"
as easily as he can prepare for the entertainment of a person of distinc
tion among men. But, sirs, there is a vast odds. We may make some
preparation for the entertainment of a fellow-creature,— we may cleanse
our houses, and have things in tolerable order, — but we can make no
preparation at all for foe first reception of " the King of glory" into our
hearts. The more we study to sweep ourselves clean before his first in
coming, we will leave the more nastiness behind. The only way is, just
to let him in to our hearts as they are, that he may fit them to be a
habitation for himself; for it is he that must sanctify and cleanse us,—
it is he that must give us repentance and remission of sins ; and, in a
word, it is he who must work all our works in us.
3. If any of you say, ' I have experienced nothing of a law-work, and
therefore I cannot think he is calling me at present to open to him, till
the law once become my schoolmaster to lead me to Christ.'
Answer. So soon as you open to Christ by believing, the law obtains
its end, — the righteousness thereof is fulfilled in you,— and therefore do
not make the want of a law- work a bar in the way of your opening unto
him; but let the absolute need you stand in of him determine you to
give him entrance. For, remember, while you keep shut doors upon
" the King of glory," you are living in disobedience to the first and great
commandment of the law, which is to " love the Lord our God with all
our heart, and with all our soul;" and this you can never do without
believing, which is the root and spring of true love.
4. Says another, ' I have refused access to Christ so often, that I am
afraid he will never come in to me now.'
Answer. Though you have refused times without number, yet he still
waits to be gracious; for says he, " I have spread out my hands all the
day long to a rebellious people." He is as ready to come in now as
ever; otherwise he would not make the call now sound in your ears,
" Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates," &c. ; for, " though you have played
the harlot with many lovers, yet return again to me, saith the Lord."
5. Says another, ' I am quite dead, like the dry bones scattered about
the grave's mouth, and therefore he cannot be calling on me to open to
him.'
Answer. He commands us to prophesy unto the dry hones, and to
tell them, " Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will cause breath to enter
into you, and ye shall live;" " Therefore awake, thou that sleepest, and
arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light;" '' For the hour
cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God; and they that hear shall live."
6. Some perhaps may be saying, ' I am harassed with such dreadful
and uncommon temptations, that I fear "the King of glory" is so far
from seeking access to my heart, that I am quite given up to the power
of the enemy.'
Answer. It is not those, who are given up to the enemy's power,
whom he most harasses with his temptations; for when "the strong
man armed keeps the house, the goods are at peace." However, the
only way to get rid of your temptations, how horrid soever they may be,
270 SELECTIONS PROM MR. FISHER'g WRITINGS.
is to open to "the King of glory" by believing. It is he only who can
I' succour them that are tempted;" for, "having himself been tempted
in all. points like as we are, though without sin, he cannot but be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities ; and therefore will either keep us from
being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted."
Be not afraid, then, only beheve, and " the God of peace will bruise Satan
under your feet shortly."
0, sirs ! whatever be your difficulties or objections against opening to
Christ, in a way of believing, yet he is making none at all against his
own incoming into your hearts. Though you be sinners, he declares he
" came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Though
you be graceless, yet is he "full of grace and truth." Have you made
him 'I serve with your sins, and wearied him with your iniquities?" yet
even in that case, he says, " I, even I, am he that blotteth out your
transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember your sin."
Have you gone on frowardly in the way of your own heart? 'yet he is
saving of you, as he did of Israel in the like case, " I have seen his ways,
and will heal him." Have you been making lies your refuge, and under
falsehood hiding yourselves? even in this case he declares, that he is the
"foundation laid in Zion for you ; and that the refuge of lies shall be swept
away." Have you " gone after your lovers, and forgotten me, saith the
Lord?" he answers himself, "Therefore, behold I will allure her, and
bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her."
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