I have now said enough about the formation of the Church at Carluke and the time which I spent at Braidwood to give some idea of that portion of my life. We left Braidwood and came to Crofthead district about the year 1868. I did not altogether cut my conection with the Church at Carluke. I had been in it from the time it was formed, and they thought that they would still be the better of my help. So I allowed my membership to remain there, and I went there every second Lord's Day. That meant a nine-miles walk each way. The half of it was through moorland, with only a footpath, and in the winter time, at certain places, it was a very rough footpath. I did this for some years, and I think the weather only prevented me once. My wife moved her membership to Crofthead Church, and, as a rule, I went there every second Sunday.

We lived at a moorland mining village a mile from Crofthead. The mines I was connected with were there. I commenced a Bible Class there for young folks, and a number of boys and girls in their teens came to it. I feel inclined to describe that class. I have conducted a good many like it since, and still count it one of the best forms for ordinary young people. We fixed upon a New Testament book, and went right through it. If the chapter was short we took it all, if long we divided it. I did not ask them to commit the lesson to memory, but I asked the next thing to it. I asked them to make themselves so familiar with it that they might answer any plain question put upon any verse in the lesson. I always committed the lesson to memory, and it was a useful exercise for me to frame a question or questions upon every verse without looking at my book. They, on the other hand, had to answer the questions with closed books. Any words that I thought they might not know the meaning of I asked them to explain. But I never asked for the meaning of a word from any particular person, as I knew that they had not all got dictionaries. I then gave a running explanation of the lesson; and, last of all, I tried to encourage them to ask me about anything concerning the lesson which they wished to know. Some young folks have thanked me for classes like these. But apart from the young folks, these classes have been a great blessing to myself.

When I am dealing with Bible Classes I had better say something about one I took part in at that same place, but some time afterwards. A Presbyterian and one of the "Brethren" came to the place and made themselves useful by arranging cottage meetings and getting sometimes one and sometimes another to address them. They sometimes got me to address their meetings. These two men let me know that they wished to start a Bible Class. They wished to go through the Acts of the Apostles, and they asked if I would help them? I said that I would be pleased to do so. The Bible class was commenced. After we had got some distance into the second chapter, trouble arose. At verse 38, where Peter commands the anxious, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," our friend who belonged to the "Brethren" was inclined to tell us what he thought, but we quietly held him to what was said.

The "Brethren" generally try to get clear of this passage by saying that it was only for the Jews. But the next verse says, "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." It is impossible to confine that passage to the Jews. If you say that the promise in verse 38 is the gift of the Holy Spirit, that depends upon you repenting and being baptized. If you say that it is the remission of sins that is the promise, that also depends upon you repenting and being baptized. Any promise there is in the passage depends upon you obeying these two commands. And the promise upon these conditions is to all that God calls, and therefore not confined to the Jews. The "Brethren" preach salvation by faith alone. If it be by faith alone, repentance has nothing to do with it. But this verse commands all whom God calls to repent. And repentance is commanded before the promise of remission.

This is by no means the only passage in which repentance in order to pardon is commanded on these broad lines. In Luke 24:47 we are informed, "That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name, among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." This shows that the repentance in connection with remission of sins which began at Jerusalem had to be extended to all nations. And if repentance and remission of sins have to be preached in all nations, then salvation by faith alone cannot be true in any nation. Salvation by faith is a Bible doctrine; salvation by faith alone is not.

Whatever repentance is for in Acts 2:38, baptism is for the same thing, for they are joined together for the same object.

In the Bible Class we put these facts before our friend who was connected with the "Brethren". He could not get away from the facts, nor could be harmonize them with what he believed.

There was a meeting of the "Brethren" in Crofthead then but it has been out of existence for many years. And when our friend realized the difficulty he was in, in the Bible Class, he naturally went to the leading man in connection with the Brethren for help. That leading man thought that the best plan would be for him to come over and discuss the subject with me in the presence of the Bible Class. He sent me word to that effect and I raised no objections. I had spoken to the man a few times before, and I could not help but wonder what kind of a discussion it would be. John Mathieson was one of the Brethren, out and out. His education was below the average, so that in him some of their errors became a bit glaring. The debate took place. It was in some respects a ridiculous thing. He often used words in a sense which they never had. I suggested that he might look in the dictionary and satisfy himself that some words had not the meaning which he was applying to them. But he expressed his contempt for dictionaries and all human learning. The debate was to be confined to the Bible Class, but two men expressed a wish to be present and were permitted. When Mr. Mathieson was seriously talking about the Jews and the Gentiles and the other nations, one of these men smiled, and they were not allowed to come in any more. It was the flesh making light of the things of the Spirit, and that could not be tolerated. Passages which I was sure were against him he would quote to prove his case. He paid no attention to what I said. It was his duty to find out what the Spirit wished him to say next. All that could be done was to keep your case clearly before the Bible Class and let him ramble. If he said anything that looked like having a bearing on the subject I took notice of that and let the rest go. Though he paid no attention to me, I think he saw that he had not carried the class with him. So he asked for another night. We had ten-minute speeches, but he said that he wished to have half an hour to begin with the next night. He explained that he wished to have the half hour in order to state his proposition; he had never got his proposition properly stated. Mr. Mathieson had no idea what the word proposition meant. We gave him the half-hour, but there was no attempt in that half-hour's rambling to clearly state a proposition. I took ten minutes as against his half-hour, it was enough for my purpose. He was still not satisfied that night that he had convinced the Bible Class, so he asked for another night, but this time he asked for three-quarters of an hour to state his proposition, he had not yet got his proposition properly stated. So we met again. We gave him the three-quarters of an hour to begin with, and we took ten minutes. Mr. Mathieson was ill for two weeks after that, and some people blamed me for it. The Bible Class went on as before. But he who was meeting with the "Brethren" at that time was with us before we got through the Book of Acts. He is still in our fellowship.

John Mathieson's education was below that of many of the "Brethren," but most of them run less or more on his lines. They may not give absurd meanings to as many common words as he did: they may not express their contempt for dictionaries, or talk about the Jews and the Gentiles and the other nations, or gravely talk about discussing a proposition that would take three-quarters of an hour to state - claiming that the Holy Spirit was guiding them to all this nonsense. But though they do not begin at the point that Mr. Mathieson did, they all come to a point where they claim the direct guiding of the Holy Spirit, and beyond that point they act as he acted and treat one pretty much as he treated me. They all, to some extent, claim to be directly guided by the Holy Spirit; it is a question of degree, not of kind. They all agree that the Holy Spirit presides at their meetings for worship. That being so, every man who takes part in those meetings claims to be directly guided by the Holy Spirit for the time being; and few if any of them would admit that these are the only times at which they are so guided. In so far as they believe that they are guided by the Holy Spirit, they must believe that they are beyond the possibility of mistake, for the Holy Spirit makes no mistakes. If the Holy Spirit guides them, that is all he did to the Apostles. At these times they must consider themselves equal to the Apostles, so far as speaking the truth is concerned, and they sometimes say so. Mr. Mathieson's claims were high, but they were not above that.

Their elders profess to be appointed by the Holy Spirit. This again is a claim to have a message direct from heaven. Mr. Mathieson just made the same claim. Their evangelists too, profess to be appointed by the Holy Spirit, and very largely claim to have the Holy Spirit's guidance as to where they go and what they say. Mr. Mathieson did not go beyond that.

All these claims cannot be true. We have often two and sometimes three or more meetings of Brethren in the same town that will have no fellowship with each other. Who can believe that the Holy Spirit presides over two or three contradictory meetings in the same town? This is just as bad as Mr. Mathieson's contradictory nonsense. We have no wish to doubt the men's honesty, but that there is error is past all doubt. Nor can it be doubted that it is error of a kind that naturally leads men to be puffed up. Where men mistake their own emotions and reflections for operations of the Holy Spirit, each man will be sure of his own; and to whatever extent his neighbour differs from him, he will be compelled to that extent to doubt his neighbour. The workings of our minds are like our faces, there is a general sameness, but each one has got its particular differences. And if each man puts down his own emotions and reflections as the standard, he is bound to some extent to doubt every other man. This is the tendency with the "Brethren," and it is just because that they are not all strong-willed that there are not even more divisions among them than have taken place. I had conversation with one some time ago who had got to the logical terminus in that direction. He informed me that he used to meet with the "Brethren," but he found that they were all less or more guided by the flesh instead of the Spirit, so he moved out from them all. That same man had discovered that the Apostles had made some mistakes in their teaching. He was at that time standing alone, waiting and praying for further Divine instructions. Why a great many more of them have not got the same length as this man, it is hard to say.

Real inspiration as possessed by the Apostles and Prophets could and did exist in company with the deepest humility and a charity which made them show kindness wherever it was possible, and always kept them from underestimating or misrepresenting any one. The unreal or fancied inspiration of the "Brethren" can exist in company with the spirit of the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not like other men. It does not seem to be any trouble to some of them to sanctimoniously under-rate and misrepresent others, and believe that the Holy Spirit is helping them to do it. But for its actual existence you could hardly believe such a delusion possible.

But I must get on with my story. I have said that we shifted to Crofthead in the year 1868. Though I did not then move my membership from Carluke, I was in close touch with the Church at Crofthead and enjoyed the fellowship of its members. I sometimes visited other churches in the neighbourhood, and had thus the pleasure of extending my acquaintance with our brethren in the district.

After 1872, Law demanded that underground managers must have a certificate. So some time after that I had to pass an examination in order to retain my situation. Taking my certificate did not put me to a great deal of trouble. It was for the most part a brushing-up of subjects which I had looked into before.