George Macdonald tells us how, when the Marquis of Lossie was dying, he
sent post-haste for Mr. Graham, the devout schoolmaster. Mr. Graham knew
his man and went cautiously to work.
'Are you satisfied with yourself my lord?'
'No, by God!'
'You would like to be better?'
'Yes; but how is a poor devil to get out of this infernal scrape?'
'Keep the commandments!'
'That's it, of course; but there's no time!'
'If there were but time to draw another breath, there would be time to
begin!'
'How am I to begin? Which am I to begin with?'
'There is one commandment which includes all the rest!'
'Which is that?'
'_Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!_'
What did the schoolmaster mean? He meant that the _Person_ must precede
the _Precepts_, as the _Precepts_ must precede the _Prohibitions_; he
was insisting on the divine order; that was all. And I feel confident
that _that_ was the burden of that powerful sermon that Ebenezer Erskine
preached to his people at Portmoak in 1718. His last illness, as I have
said, continued for twelve months. It was in its earlier stages that the
old elder asked his question and received his minister's testimony
concerning the text. A year later Mr. Erskine referred to the words
again. On the morning of the first of June, he awoke from a brief sleep,
and, seeing his daughter, Mrs. Fisher, sitting reading by his bedside,
he asked her the name of the book.
'I am reading one of your own sermons, father!'
'Which one?'
'The one on "_I am the Lord thy God!_"'
'Ah, lass,' he exclaimed, his face lighting up, as a wave of sacred
memories swept over him, 'that is the best sermon ever I preached!'
A few minutes later he closed his eyes, slipped his hand under his
cheek, composed himself on his pillow, and ceased to breathe. The noble
spirit of Ebenezer Erskine was with God.
Ebenezer Erskine reminds me of his great predecessor, Samuel Rutherford.
When Rutherford was staying for a while at the house of James Guthrie,
the maid was surprised at hearing a voice in his room. She had supposed
he was alone. Moved by curiosity, she crept to his door. She then
discovered that Rutherford was in prayer. He walked up and down the
room, exclaiming, '_O Lord, make me to believe in Thee!_' Then, after a
pause, he moved to and fro again, crying, '_O Lord, make me to love
Thee!_' And, after a second rest, he rose again, praying, '_O Lord, make
me to keep all Thy commandments!_' Rutherford, like Erskine a generation
later, had grasped the spiritual significance of the divine order.
'_Make me to believe in Thee!_'--the commandment that, as the
schoolmaster told the Marquis, includes all the commandments!
'_Make me to love Thee!_'--for love, as Jesus told the rich young ruler,
is the fulfilment of the whole law.
'_Make me to obey all Thy commandments!_'
The man who learns the Ten Commandments at the school of Samuel
Rutherford or at the school of Ebenezer Erskine will see a shining path
that runs from Mount Sinai right up to the Cross and on through the
gates of pearl into the City of God.