"On the spot where they landed they built a church, taking for their
plan the church at Petrae, and in it they reverently deposited the
martyr's bones and called the church and place St. Andrews.
"Dense woods surrounded them, infested with boars and wolves. The
barbarians extended to them a hearty welcome. Regulus, afterwards
known in Scottish history as St. Raol, told them of St. Andrew and of
his faith in the incarnate God who had come to seek and to save the
lost. They listened and believed, and Hangus, the King, with all his
subjects shook off Druidical superstition and became Christian, and
from St. Andrews streamed through the dark places of the land the
true light of the world--the Gospel of Christ as St. Andrew had
learned it from the Master himself.
"That, sir," he said, addressing the Chief, "is the reason why we
have named the new kirk St. Andrews."
"Interesting--most interesting," said the Laird, who had moved back
from the table and sat clasping his right knee with his hands. "The
learned son of Auld Scotia has answered the first part of the Chief's
question, and we shall look to the rector to explain why the
Episcopalians seem to enjoy a monopoly of the name of 'Christ church'
in designating their places of worship."
For a moment the cultured young Englishman looked bewildered and
confused, for the question had come to him suddenly and unexpectedly.
Closing his eyes he repeated the question slowly and thoughtfully,
"Why do churchmen like to confer upon their places of worship the
name of Christ?"
"There passes before my mind the vision of a world," he said, still
keeping his eyes closed, "which came from the hands of the Creator in
a state of perfection and loveliness--a world of spotless purity, a
world where all was peace and love, and joy and satisfaction--a
heaven of bliss and of ecstasy. A dark shadow crept over it--the
shadow of sin--which was soon followed by the darker and more awful
shadow of death. Its women were subjected to a life of suffering and
sorrow, a life of bondage and tyranny; its men to a life of slavery.
The whole creation began to groan and travail in pain. Life was not
worth living nor death worth dying, until a Light from heaven shone
through the darkness, dispelling the gloom, bringing salvation to
sorrowing, sin-burdened souls and hope of complete redemption, when
the body shall be raised incorruptible, when the briars and thorns
shall disappear, and even the animals shall be emancipated from the
bondage and cruelty of man.
"It was the Christ who turned darkness into light. It was the Christ
who brought life out of death. It was the Christ who lifted woman
from the depths of degradation and placed her in a realm of love and
hope. It was the Christ who gave the weary toiler rest.
"Have we not cause to bless God for 'His inestimable love in the
redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ?'
"That is Presbyterianism," said Mrs. MacKay.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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