Whose lamp is the meridian sun,
And all the stars of heaven.
“Whose roof is the cerulean sky;
Whose floor the earth so fair;
Whose walls are vast immensity:
All nature worships there.”
Before the close of that service more than one was constrained to say, “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In 1859, she wrote in reference to evangelistic efforts: “There were eight thousand tracts given away at the feeing-market yesterday.” In the summer of 1860, many thousands assembled in the castle park, at the invitation of the Duchess, to listen to the silver trumpet of the gospel sounding the year of jubilee. Similar gatherings were held during the three following years. On some of these occasions it was computed that seven thousand persons were present; on others, ten thousand. The Lord’s people were refreshed, and many careless ones were awakened. In 1863, the Duchess writes: “I cannot but wonder to see the meetings increasing in numbers and interest every year; not as a rendezvous for a pleasant day in the country, but really very solemn meetings, where the presence of the Lord is felt and the power of His Spirit manifested.” Clergymen of a certain school may sneer at lay evangelists; she could not join them in their sneers. It may be that these men are not always prudent—that their zeal sometimes outruns their discretion. Well, what then? Would we have the sentinel to walk with measured military step, who is on his way to trample out the lighted match which has been set to a train of gunpowder? If not human lives, are human souls to be sacrificed to the martinetism of the excessively prudent? If we are to contend against a thing merely because of its abuse, then all preaching must come to an end, clerical as well as lay.
GOOD WORKS.
A firm believer in the doctrine of a free salvation through the mercy of God and the merits of Christ the Duchess of Gordon ever echoed the exhortation of the apostle, “Be careful to maintain good works.” So far from holding good works cheap, she believed that by them God was glorified, and by them on the great day she would be judged. “The tree is known by its fruit.” “Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.” At Gordon Castle a room was fitted up as a little chapel for morning and family prayers, and where, aided by the tones of an organ, the Sabbath evenings might be rendered profitable to the visitors. She had always some benevolent scheme on hand, but was frequently hampered as to the means. When anxious to build a chapel and infant school, she took a gold vase worth £1200 to London in the hope of getting it sold. But as she had difficulty in finding a purchaser, she writes, “The Duchess of Beaufort, hearing of my vase, thought of her diamond ear-rings, which she got me to dispose of for a chapel in Wales, and her diamonds made me think of my jewels; and as the Duke has always been most anxious for the chapel, he agreed with me that stones were much prettier in a chapel wall than round one’s neck; and so he allowed me to sell £600 worth, or rather, what brought that, for they cost more than double.” The Sabbath was pre-eminently honoured. No departures or arrivals took place on that day. To those who think that the gratuitous and instant forgiveness of the gospel must be fatal to future obedience, it might be sufficient to remark, that the noblest patterns of piety, and the most finished specimens of personal worth, are those who counted their own excellence the merest dross, and yet felt assured that for another’s sake they were precious in God’s sight. But the gospel itself assures us that the faith which receives the Saviour is the first step of new obedience—that it is only when God’s righteousness is accepted, that morality begins.
CHARACTER OF THE DUCHESS OF GORDON.