Because it is in fire that gold glows the brightest and most purely, and God, in his infinite wisdom, graced the Scottish covenanters with some of the hottest fires that Church history has ever seen. It is when the fire is stoked seven times hotter than ever that one like unto the Son of God has been known to appear with his beloved people in their midst (Dan. 3:19,24-25). Immanuel has promised to be with us in the valley of the shadow of death, and it is there, in the midst of enemies, that He prepares a table for us and causes our cup to run over (Ps. 23:4-5). As Samuel Rutherford said, it is in the bottom cellar of affliction in God’s House where God keeps his choicest wine. Come, taste and drink these old, fragrant wines at no cost (Isa. 55:1-2):
The covenanters were first and foremost ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor. 5:20) calling, in Christ’s name, dying sinners to eternal life in the Savior. To see Christ and his grace freely opened up to poor, penny-less sinners, see ‘Gospel Presentations are the Strongest Invitations’ and ‘The Best Wares at the Lowest Rates’ in James Durham’s The Unsearchable Riches of Christ Buy pp. 43-79 & 136-160 (excerpts). Hear Christ’s voice in the young, bright burning star of the Scottish Church, Hugh Binning, in his sermon on Mt. 11:28, ‘Come unto Me…’ Buy Durham said of this one who died at 26 years, ‘There is no speaking after Mr. Binning.’
Andrew Gray, another ‘spark from heaven’, preached on Christ calling out to strangers, ‘Behold Me, Behold Me!’ Buy from Isa. 65:1. In two sermons on Heb. 2:3, Gray holds out The Great Salvation Offered and Tendered First by Christ Himself. It is God that speaks to us in Prov. 23:26, ‘My son, give Me thine heart.’ Gray opens this text up in his communion sermon, ‘The Duty of Giving the Heart to Christ’ in Loving Christ and Fleeing Temptation Buy pp. 597-613. Durham said of the young Gray, ‘he could make men’s hair stand on end.’ Gray died in his 23rd year.
After the Great Ejection of 1662, when Christ was kicked out of the churches in Scotland, 400 of the most godly ministers went with Him outside the camp. It is there to the fields we must go to find Him (Song 6:1-2). Gabriel Semple powerfully exhorts us in the fugitive worship meetings to ‘Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.’ (Isa. 55:6) PoD For proof that the Gospel promise is true, that no tribulation, peril or any power on this earth can separate us from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:35-39), go with James Fraser of Brea into the dungeons of the Bass Rock and Blackness Castle, and there you will find him Trusting God and Hungering and Thirsting and Spiritually Feasting upon Christ.
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