NEXT to the election of a minister nothing stirred the parish of
Thomgreen like an election of elders, and it may be truthfully said that
the people were far more concerned about the men whom they appointed to
this sacred office than about the man whom they sent to represent them
in Parliament. The people had also a keen sense of the kind of man who
was fit to be an elder, and there was many a farmer whom they would
have cheerfully elected to any board, and in whose hands they would have
trusted any amount of money, but whom they would never have dreamt of
making an elder. Persons who were by no means careful about their own
life, and one would not have supposed had any great concern about the
character of the officers of the Christian Church, had yet a fixed idea,
and a very sound one, about the qualifications for an elder; and if
one of themselves had been proposed would have regarded the idea as
an insult, not to them but to the Church. “Me an elder,” he would have
said; “for ony sake be quiet; there maun be nae jokin' on sich subjects.
When you and me are made elders the kirk had better be closed.” For
the word elder was synonymous in Thorngreen, and, indeed, in every
right-thinking parish, not only with morality and integrity, but with
gravity and spirituality.
No parish could expect to have many men who filled the conditions, and
Thorngreen had a standing grievance that one man who was evidently an
elder by arrangement of providence would not accept the office. Andrew
Harris, of Rochally, as he was commonly called, after the name of his
farm, was of ancient Thorngreen blood, since his forbears had worked
land in the parish for many generations, and he himself had succeeded
his father, who was also an elder for thirty years. There was no sounder
farmer than Rochally, and what he had done by draining, limeing, and
skilful seeding was known unto all men; no straighter man in a bargain,
for the character of a young horse from Rochally was better than a
written document; no friendlier man in the kirkyard on a Sunday or at
Muirtown markets, and no more regular and attentive hearer in kirk.
Beyond all that, the parish knew, although it never said such things,
that Rochally was a religious man, who not only had worship in his
house, with his men servants and his women servants present, but also
worshipped God in all Christian living from year to year. He was also a
man of substance, and if that could be got with other things, the parish
preferred it in an elder, and he gave liberally to the Free Kirk, of
which, indeed, he was the mainstay. If he was not married, and was never
likely now to marry, it could not be helped, but there was nothing else
wanting to make him the perfect model of an elder.
As regularly as there was a meeting for the election of elders, which
happened about every five years, the name of Mr. Andrew Harris, farmer
of Rochally, was proposed and seconded, and about to be placed on the
nomination form, when Rochally himself rose, and quietly but very firmly
requested that his name be dropped, “for reasons which are sufficient
to my own conscience.” And although three ministers in succession, and a
generation of elders, had pleaded privately with Rochally, and had used
every kind of argument, they could not move him from his position. His
nomination was felt on each occasion to be a debt due to his character
and to the spiritual judgment of the congregation; but the people had
long ago despaired of his consent. Had they consulted his wishes they
would never have mentioned his name; but, at any rate, he made a point
of attending, and at once withdrawing. They were obstinate, and he was
obstinate, and the event had become a custom at the election of elders
in the Free Kirk.
No one could even guess why Rochally refused office, and every one in
the Free Kirk was a little sore that the best and most respected member
on their roll should sit in his back seat Sunday after Sunday, and
attend every week meeting, and give the largest subscriptions, and also
gamer the utmost respect from without, and yet not be an elder. It was
also felt that if his name could only be printed on the nomination paper
and placed before the people, and the people unanimously elected him,
as they would do, then it would be hard for him to refuse, and if he did
refuse he would have to do what he had not done yet--give his reasons.
If they could only hold the meeting without his being present, or if,
by any innocent ruse, he could be kept from the meeting, then half the
battle would be won; and that is how it came to pass that the minister
and elders of Thomgreen Free Kirk stole a march upon Rochally. They had
been thinking for some time of adding to the eldership, for Essendy, the
father of the Session, had “won awa'” at eighty-seven, and Wester Mains
could only sit on sunny days in the garden; and while they were turning
the matter over in their minds--for nothing was done hurriedly in
Thomgreen--it spread abroad that Rochally was going away for the
unprecedented period of four weeks, partly to visit a sister's son who
had risen to high position in England, and partly to try some baths for
the mild rheumatism which was his only illness. It seemed a providential
arrangement, and one which they must use wisely, and if anything could
have been read on the severe countenances of Thomgreen, Rochally might
have guessed that some conspiracy was afoot when he bade his brethren
good-bye after Kirk one Sabbath.
As soon as it was known that he had fairly departed, and as it was
perfectly certain there could be no communication with him from his
home except a weekly report of the briefest and most prosaic kind by the
foreman, the Session (that is, the Court of Elders) was called together,
and on two successive Sundays the people were summoned to a meeting for
the nomination of elders. It was held on the Monday following the second
Sunday, and was attended by almost the whole congregation. Six names
were proposed for three vacancies, but, of course, the climax of the
proceedings was the nomination of Mr. Andrew Harris, farmer at Rochally,
and the insertion of his name on the paper of nomination. The nomination
papers were given out on the following Sunday, and on the fourth and
last Sunday of Rochally's absence were returned into the hands of the
Session. Before he came home the Session had met, and as every single
communicant, without exception, had voted for Mr. Andrew Harris, farmer
at Rochally, the Session declared him elected, and when he sat in his
pew on the following Sunday he heard the edict for the ordination of
three elders on that day fortnight, and the first name was his own.
It was creditable to the good manners of the people that though they
held their breath at the critical moment, none of them looked even
sideways to the pew where Rochally sat alone; but the minister's eye
fell on him from the pulpit, and as he noticed Rochally start and flush,
and grow pale, while a look of pain came over his face, the minister
became anxious, and began to regret their well-intentioned plot.
And when, according to the custom of the kirk, he announced that the
aforesaid persons would be ordained this day fortnight, unless “some
valid objection to their life and doctrine be stated to the Kirk Session
at a meeting to be held for that purpose before the service on Wednesday
evening,” and when, even at that distance, he could see Rochally's hand
tighten upon the door of his pew and his head fall forward upon his
breast for an instant, as if he were in pain, he almost wished that they
had not meddled with the secret affairs of a man's life. The minister
was not surprised when Rochally did not call at the manse on Monday or
Tuesday to say that he could not accept the election, although that was
within his power, and he was not surprised, although much grieved, when
he saw Rochally standing in the shadow of the trees not far from the
vestry where the Kirk Session met. Although he had not the faintest idea
of the reason, he was now afraid of what was going to happen, and the
elders, as they came in one by one, having passed Rochally, who stood
apart among the trees, and gave no sign of recognition, were uneasy,
and had a sense of calamity. They knew nothing either, and were not able
even to imagine anything; but they also, having seen Rochally and caught
a faint glimpse of his face, would fain have burned the nomination
papers, and cancelled the whole election.
The court was opened with prayer, in which the minister was very earnest
that they should be all guided by the Spirit of God and know His will.
And then the minutes were read, wherein the names of those elected were
mentioned, after which the minister declared the time had arrived for
receiving objections to the life and doctrine of the aforesaid persons,
and the beadle, being summoned from the dark kirk where he had been
sitting, was commanded to do his duty. Thereupon, having opened the
outer door of the vestry, as being a public place, he looked into the
darkness, and called upon any persons who could make valid objection
to the life or doctrine of Andrew Harris, farmer at Rochally, that he
should not be ordained an elder, to come forward and declare the same.
Many a time had the beadle made this challenge, and never before had it
been answered, but now, out from the darkness, came Rochally himself,
and entered the vestry. For a moment he was dazzled by the light of the
lamp, though it was never very bright, and as he stood before the
Session he passed his hand over his face. Then he stepped forward to the
table, and, leaning heavily on it with one hand, Rochally unveiled his
secret.
“Moderator and Elders of the Kirk, I stand here in answer to your
commandment, and in obedience to my own conscience, to give you strong
reasons why Andrew Harris should never be ordained an elder in Christ's
Kirk, and why he is not worthy even to take the sacrament.
“I ken well that my brethren have often wondered why I wouldna allow
my name to be mentioned for the eldership, and I have often feared that
they judged me as one who despised the call of the kirk, and wouldna put
his hand to the plough. If they did so, they were wrang, for God knows
how I have honoured and loved the Church, and He knows how glad and
proud a man I would have been to carry the vessels of the Lord. But I
dauma, I dauma.
“It micht have been better if I had told the reason years ago, and saved
mysel' and the brethren much trouble; but it is hard for the Scots heart
to open itsel', and a man is jealous of his secret.' Maybe I sinned in
not confessing to the kirk in this place as I did elsewhere, and as I
confessed to my God. Gin it be so, I have suffered, and now the Lord's
hand is heavy upon me.
“Lang years ago,” and the strong man trembled, but no elder so much as
lifted his eyes, “I lived for a year, although none here will mind of
it, in another parish, where my father had a farm, and there, when I was
a young man, though no one here knows of it, being careless in my walk
and conversation, and resisting the Grace of God, I fell, and sinned
against the law of Moses and of Christ.
“What the sin was it matters not now; but it was a great sin, such as
nothing but the blude o' Christ can cleanse away, and the guilt of it
was heavy upon my soul. God was merciful unto me, and His Spirit
moved me to that repentance which needeth not to be repented of.
Sic reparation as I could make I made, and them that were injured I
satisfied; but I have never been satisfied. They're all dead now that
had to do with it, long before they died they had forgotten it; but I
have never forgotten it, and the long years have never wiped it from my
memory.
“There's ae man I envy every day, and mair the nicht than ever; no the
man who is rich and powerful, na, na, it is the man whose life is clean
and white fra his boyhood until this hour, who can turn over the pages
and let every man look on. One chapter o' my life I read alone every
day, and it canna be blotted out from before my eyes. Their hands maun
be dean which bear the vessels of the Lord, and my hands arena clean;
wherefore I take objection, being a true witness against the life of
Andrew Harris, and declare he is not fit to be an elder of the kirk.”
While Rochally was still standing, the minister knelt down, and the
elders with him; but Rochally stood, and the minister began to pray.
First of all, he confessed the sins of their youth and of later years
till every man's soul lay bare before his own eyes and the eyes of God,
then he carried them all, their lives and their sins, unto the Cross of
Calvary, and magnified before God the sacrifice for sin and the dying
love of the Saviour, and then he lifted up their souls in supplication
unto God upon His Throne, and besought the Judge of all, for Christ's
sake, to cast their transgressions behind His back and into the depths
of the sea; and, finally, he besought God to grant unto them all the
assurance of His mercy and the peace which passeth all understanding to
possess their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. But he made no mention
of Rochally or Rochally's sin, so that one would have supposed it was
the minister and the elders, and not Andrew Harris, who were at the Bar.
When they rose from their knees more than one elder was weeping, and
every man's face was white and serious, and still Rochally stood as if
he desired to go, but was not able till the minister gave the decision
of the court. The Spirit of the Holy Ministry, which is the most awful
office upon earth, and the most solemn, descended in special measure
upon the minister, a man still young and inexperienced, but who was now
coming out from the holy place of the Most High.
“Andrew Harris, I ask you, in the name of the Kirk whom the Lord loved
and washed from her sins in His own blood, lovest thou the Lord Jesus
Christ?” Then the minister and the elders faded from before Rochally's
eyes, and the faithful, honest man who had sinned so long ago, and wept
so bitterly, stood face to face with the Master.
“Lord,” said he, for the first time lifting up his head, “Thou knowest
all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.”
It was after midnight when the minister wrote out the minute of that
meeting, and it states that an objection was taken to the life of Andrew
Harris; but the Session ruled that it was not relevant, in which ruling
the objector acquiesced, and the Session therefore appointed that Andrew
Harris, farmer at Rochally, be ordained on the day appointed to the
office of elder in the Free Kirk of Thomgreen.