IT was on the last Lord’s Day in May 1869 that God spoke to me in a barn at Bemersyde. The preacher had for his text John 15:16: “Henceforth I call you not servants: for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”
Neither the text nor the sermon touched me, but at the close Mr. S―, who was the speaker, asked his hearers, “Do you all pray? If not now the time will come when you will pray to the rocks and the mountains to fall on you to hide you from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for we read in Revelation 6. ‘And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
These words woke me up to my danger, and I was led to flee from the wrath to come; to fly to Jesus and find in Him a hiding place. As it is written in Isaiah 32, “A man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place; and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” I learned the glorious truth then, that “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:5, 65For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2:5‑6)). I could take up the words of Psalms 32:7,7Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. (Psalm 32:7) “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.”
Before I fled for refuge to the Saviour, I had many a struggle. I thought there was no mercy for me; my sins rose up like a great mountain before me; and I wept and prayed but told no one how miserable I was, though it was manifest that there was a change in my life. “Repentance unto life” had been granted me by God (Acts 11:1818When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. (Acts 11:18)), but I had not yet heard the words that save the soul from sin’s consequences death, and judgment. I was asked at times what was wrong, but gave no answer; only I thought if the inquirer knew my mind he would be melancholy too. But it was “godly sorrow that worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of” (2 Cor. 7:1010For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. (2 Corinthians 7:10)).
Through that summer I could not endure company; I always inclined to be alone with God. I came next to see that it was the blood of Christ that settled all for God and for me: “Having made peace through the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:2020And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:20)). It was from a dead Christ the blood flowed, after He had said, “It is finished” (John 19:3030When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30)). He had done all the work, and left nothing for me to do, for “it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.”
I then understood the words: “Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood... Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.... Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.... Much more then, being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Rom. 3:24, 25, 4:25, 5:1-9). “Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)).
This is what I found in Christ for myself―justification, salvation, and reconciliation. It was a new beginning, like God’s people in Egypt (Ex. 12), when the blood was shed and sprinkled on the lintel and two side-posts, with the bunch of hyssop, for God’s eye, and He said, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” They sprinkled the blood of the lamb, and the word of God to them was― “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” In no other way can a soul begin with God but by the blood of Jesus― “the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” It is the way in which all who are brought to God and bound for glory begin now. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Peter 1:18, 19, 2018Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, (1 Peter 1:18‑20)).
When the younger son, of Luke 15, came to the father, what a welcome he got! Covered with kisses, the best robe, the ring, and the shoes put on him, and the fatted calf killed, “they began to be merry.” He was very lonely in the far country when he began to be in want, and no man gave unto him―but in the father’s house there was music and dancing; there was the best of company and all happy. It is a new beginning that never, never ends.
It is forty years now since I came to myself, and came to know God as my Father revealed by His Son Jesus Christ, for “neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him” (Matt. 11:2727All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)). Before that time I could not settle to read any good book; I had no relish for good, but all the summer of 1869 I delighted in every good book that I came across. Before that I could not bear to read a tract. It was a dry thing for me to read the Bible up till that time.
Ever after that I delighted myself in the Scriptures (Psa. 1:22But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. (Psalm 1:2)). I searched them daily, and carried my Bible with me to my work, and prayed continually, finding great pleasure in so doing.
The Lord’s Day was a precious day to me; I rose earlier on the first day of the week and spent my time in reading the Scriptures, and in prayer, and praise. I could not bear worldly company, I kept out of the way of such going to the meeting: the preaching of the Word of God by His servants I greatly enjoyed; I thought it was all for me. It was not to see and be seen, as it had hitherto been, that I went, but to worship God and hear more of Jesus my Saviour and Lord.
I never stayed at home for a friend corning to visit on the Lord’s Day, from the time I was converted. It is a very common custom to visit and spend the Lord’s Day among friends now, more so than it was forty years ago. It is a very unprofitable way for a believer to spend the Lord’s Day, putting earthly things and natural relations before the Lord. “Will a man rob God?” (Mal. 3:88Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. (Malachi 3:8)). There is much robbery in this way.
At first I was weak and slow to show or say much, but I got strength and began to make known what great things Jesus had done for me. I wrote to a brother who was from home; he got converted too. I began to teach the children and show I was on the Lord’s side, at home in my mother’s house.
After that I began to have cottage meetings in all the places round about where I lived. Every town and village and farm place I preached at, round St Boswells, Melrose, Kelso, and Duns. I went to the hiring markets and fairs and preached Christ, for I found that the gospel was for every creature― “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15, 1615And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:15‑16)).
Through the grace of God our Father and the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ I have been kept these forty years. “Faint yet pursuing.” It is mercy from first to last. “Rich mercy and great love” from God took me up and keeps me up.
The man in Luke 10 who had fallen among the thieves frond that his neighbor was the one who had compassion on him, and showed mercy, and did everything for him; and put him in the inn where he was cared for till that neighbor came again; and that neighbor is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. “Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” We begin with mercy, the mercy-seat is where God meets the guilty sinner and speaks peace to him. “Mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” This was in Jesus and His blood (Rom 3.) Now we have Him as our great High Priest, and we can conk to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace for timely help (Heb. 10). It is the Word of God and the priesthood of Jesus the Son of God that keeps us on the road. And when glory is reached it will all be on the ground of mercy and not merit. Not what I am or what I have done; but what Jesus is and what He has done will be the only rock to rest on for eternity.
“O Lord! how des Thy mercy throw
Its guardian shadow o’er us,
Preserving while we’re here below,
Safe to the rest before us.”
R. W.