Part 6 (1/2)

Davidson, but they are both of them very beautiful. The one was his life: the other was his death. Ian Maclaren tells us that the old doctor had spent practically all his days as minister at Drumtochty. He was the father of all the folk in the glen. He was consulted about everything.

Three generations of young people had, in turn, confided to his sympathetic ear the story of their loves and hopes and fears; rich and poor had alike found in him a guide in the day of perplexity and a comforter in the hour of sorrow. And now it is Christmas Day--the doctor's last Christmas--and a Sunday. The doctor had preached as usual in the kirk; had trudged through the snow to greet with seasonable wishes and gifts one or two people who might be feeling lonely or desolate; and now, the day's work done, was entertaining Drumsheugh at the manse. All at once, he began to speak of his ministry, lamenting that he had not done better for his people, and declaring that, if he were spared, he intended to preach more frequently about the Lord Jesus Christ.

'You and I, Drumsheugh, will have to go a long journey soon, and give an account of our lives in Drumtochty. Perhaps we have done our best as men can, and I think we have tried; but there are many things we might have done otherwise, and some we ought not to have done at all. It seems to me now, the less we say in that day of the past, the better. We shall wish for mercy rather than justice, and'--here the doctor looked earnestly over his gla.s.ses at his elder--'we would be none the worse, Drumsheugh, of a Friend to say a good word for us both in the Great Court!'

'A've thocht that masel'--it was an agony for Drumsheugh to speak--'a've thocht that masel mair than aince. Weelum MacLure was ettlin' aifter the same thing the nicht he slippit awa, and gin ony man cud hae stude on his ain feet yonder, it was Weelum.'

It was the doctor's last conversation. When his old servant entered the room next morning, he found his master sitting silent and cold in his chair.

'We need a Friend in the Great Court!' said the doctor.

'A've thocht that masel!' replied Drumsheugh.

'Weelum MacLure was ettlin' after the same thing the nicht he slippit awa!'

'_For there is one G.o.d, and one Mediator between G.o.d and men, the Man Christ Jesus._'

II

My Bible contains two stories--one near its beginning and one near its end--which to-day I must lay side by side. The _first_ is the story of a man who feels that he is suffering more than his share of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. He thinks of G.o.d as very high and very holy; too wise to err and too good to be unkind; yet he cannot shake from his mind the conviction that G.o.d has misunderstood him. And, in his agony, he cries out for one who can arbitrate between his tortured soul and the G.o.d who seems to be so angry with him. Oh, for one a little less divine than G.o.d, yet a little less human than himself, who could act as an adjudicator, an umpire, a mediator between them! But neither the heavens above nor the earth beneath can produce one capable of ending the painful controversy. 'There is no daysman who can come between us and lay his hand upon us both!'

_A G.o.d!_

_But no Mediator!_

That is the _first_ story.

The _second_ story, the story from the end of the Bible, is the story of an old minister whose life-work is finished. He writes, in a reminiscent vein, to a young minister who is just beginning; and earnestly refers to his own ordination. 'Whereunto,' he asks, 'was I ordained a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity?' What is his message? He answers his own question. It is this. '_For there is one G.o.d, and one Mediator between G.o.d and men, the Man Christ Jesus._'

_A G.o.d!_

_And a Mediator!_

_Job_ needed a Friend in the Great Court; but, alas, he could not find one!

_Paul_ tells Timothy that he was ordained for no other purpose than to point men to Him who alone can intercede.

III

'_One G.o.d--but no Mediator!_' cries Job.

'_One G.o.d--and one Mediator!_' exclaims Paul.

In one respect these two thinkers, standing with a long, long file of centuries between them, are in perfect agreement. They both feel that if there is a G.o.d--and only one--no man living can afford to drift into alienation from Him. If there is _no_ G.o.d, I can live as I list and do as I please; I am answerable to n.o.body. If there are _many G.o.ds_, I can offend one or two of them without involving myself in uttermost disaster and despair. But if there is _one_ G.o.d, and only one, everything depends upon my relations.h.i.+p with Him. And if I am already estranged from Him, and if there be no Mediator by whose good offices a reconciliation may be effected, then am I of all men most miserable.

'_One G.o.d--but no Mediator!_' cried Job in despair.

_'One G.o.d--and one Mediator!_' exclaims Paul, in delight.

IV