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 ^^ PRINCETON, N. J. % 
 
 Library of Dr. A. A. Hod^e. Presented. 
 
 BX 9225 .M3 M2 1842 
 M'Crie, Thomas, 1797-1875. 
 The life of Thomas M'Crie, 
 D.D. 
 
PuHished by W S. Young . PhiUdelphia^ 
 1842 
 
LIFE 
 
 OP 
 
 THOMAS M'CRIE, D. D., 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 LIFE OF JOHN KNOX," "LIFE OF MELVILLE," 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 BY HIS SON, 
 
 THE RE¥. THOMAS M'CRIE. 
 
 WILLIAM S. YOUNG, 173 RACE STREET, 
 1842. 
 
Wm. S. Younq, Printer. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Author of these Memoirs feels that 
 he owes some apology to the Public for the 
 size to which this Volume has extended, as 
 well as for his delay in bringing it out. His 
 original intention was to have prefixed a brief 
 notice of the principal events in his father's 
 life to the volume of his Sermons M^hich he 
 edited in 1836. From this he was dissuaded 
 at the time by many of his friends, who stre- 
 nuously advised him to devote more time to 
 the task, representing to him the impropriety 
 of publishing a hurried and superficial sketch, 
 which could only gratify an ephemeral curi- 
 osity, without doing justice to the character 
 and life of his highly valued parent. The 
 materials necessary for such a task were evi- 
 dently such as none but a near relative could 
 gain access to, or be properly qualified to deal 
 with. Once embarked in the undertaking, 
 the Author found these materials daily accu- 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 mulating on his hands; and the consequence 
 is, that it has expanded as he advanced, till 
 it has reached a size far beyond what was an- 
 ticipated by himself, even after the printing 
 had commenced. Meanwhile, various avo- 
 cations, which it is needless to enumerate, 
 but from which he could not well escape, 
 have occupied, or broken his time to such 
 a degree, that he has not had many more 
 months to devote to the present task, than 
 the number of years that have elapsed since 
 he undertook it; and even yet, he is aware 
 that he requires the indulgence of his readers 
 for having preferred to gratify the wishes of 
 the public, though at the risk of disappoint- 
 ing their expectations, rather than to attempt, 
 by a farther postponement of the publication, 
 to render it better deserving of their favour. 
 The Author has not felt, and hopes he has 
 not shown himself, insensible to the delicacy 
 of his undertaking, — a consideration which 
 nothing but a conviction of duty could have 
 enabled him to overcome. He is quite aware 
 of the disadvantages under which he labours, 
 on the score of near relationship; but he 
 trusts that he has not brought himself, to any 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 material extent, under the suspicion of undue 
 partiality; and he has endeavoured, as far as 
 possible, to escape this charge, by the plan 
 which he has adopted, of allowing the subject 
 of his Memoirs to speak, in a great measure, 
 for himself, or of finding others to speak for 
 him. — "Personal knowledge," says Southey, 
 in his Life of Cowper, "is, indeed, the 
 greatest of all advantages for such an under- 
 taking, notwithstanding the degree of re- 
 straint which must generally be regarded as 
 one of its conditions. But when his letters 
 are accessible, the writer may in great part 
 be made his own biographer, — more fully, 
 and perhaps more faithfully, than if he had 
 composed his own memoirs, even with the 
 most sincere intentions. For in letters, feel- 
 ings, and views, and motives are related as 
 they existed at the time; whereas, in retro- 
 spect, much must of necessity be overlooked, 
 and much be lost." 
 
 Dr. M'Crie never kept a private Diary. 
 The letters addressed to himself, many of 
 them from the first literary characters of the 
 age, accumulated to such an inconvenient ex- 
 cess, that, with few exceptions in favour of 
 
Vi PREFACE. 
 
 private friends, they were all, at certain in- 
 tervals, committed to the flames. To his 
 own letters, therefore, the biographer had 
 chiefly to look for his materials; and these, it 
 is believed, will be considered the most inte- 
 resting parts of the Memoir. 
 
 In tracing the public life of Dr. M'Crie, 
 his memorialist has been obliged to tread oc- 
 casionally over very delicate and debatable 
 ground; and he can truly say, that he has 
 endeavoured, to the utmost of his power, to 
 avoid hurting the feelings of any, or mingling 
 the acrimony of party-spirit with his accounts 
 of the controversies, more recent or more 
 remote, in which his father was involved. 
 With regard to the most painful of these — 
 the breach of 1806 — it was not the Author's 
 original purpose to have enlarged near so 
 much as he has done; but late attempts to re- 
 vive misrepresentations which he conceived 
 had been completely set at rest, left him no 
 other alternative than either to suffer these to 
 pass as acknowledged truths, or to give a plain 
 unvarnished statement of the facts as they 
 occurred. The mantle of delicacy and for- 
 bearance, with which he was at first disposed 
 
PREFACE, Ml 
 
 to cover the scenes of that period, having 
 been torn away by other hands, the disclo- 
 sures now made are no more than what were 
 absolutely necessary for the ends of justice, 
 whether as regards the subject of these Me- 
 moirs, or the transactions in which he took 
 a part. 
 
 The Author is painfully conscious how 
 little justice he has done to the important 
 topics and events connected with the life of 
 his father; but into many of these he has 
 purposely abstained from entering; having 
 all along written under the impression that 
 he was merely preparing what the early 
 French writers call ^^ Memoir es pour servir a 
 Vhistoire,''^ or furnishing his contribution for 
 the guidance of the future historian of the 
 Church, in treating of the period embraced 
 by the Life, — a period to which we of the 
 present age live too close, perhaps, to form 
 either a full or an unbiassed judgment. 
 
 The Author has now only to return his 
 thanks to those of his own, and his father's 
 friends, who have so kindly aided and en- 
 riched his work, by furnishing him with his 
 father's letters; and to express his hope, that 
 
Vm PREFACE. 
 
 this humble attempt to complete the picture 
 which Dr. M'Crie's writings afford of his 
 mind and character, may, at least, not be re- 
 garded as detracting from the high fame 
 which these writings have acquired for him, 
 in the world of literature and of religion. 
 
 Edinbcrgh, Jipril 21, 1840. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER FIRST. 
 1772-1796. 
 
 Birth and Parentage of Dr. M'Crie — Religious Training — 
 Early Employment in Teaching — Anecdote of his Mother — 
 His Academical Studies — Mr. Gray's Recollections of Him 
 — He Teaches a School in Brechin — His Early Habits and 
 Amusements — Religious Character — General Character in 
 Youth — Political Sentiments — He Completes his Course 
 at College — His License and Settlement in Edinburgh^ 
 Popular Election, . . . Page 13 
 
 CHAPTER SECOND. 
 179G-1804. 
 
 His Marriage — Mission to Orkney — Private Diligence — Pri- 
 vate Character at this Period — Disinterested Conduct — 
 His First Publication — Strictness of Principle — Pamphlets 
 on Faith — Character of the Original Secession — Overture 
 of a New Testimony — Attempts at Concealing the Change 
 — The Protesting Brethren — Professor Bruce — Messrs. 
 Aitken, Whytock, Chalmers, and Hogg — The Act of 1796 
 — Dr. M'Crie's Early Sentiments on the Question of the 
 Magistrate's Power — Progress of his Sentiments — Synod 
 Sermon — Petition to the General Synod, 1800 — Letter to 
 Mr. Bruce — Mr. Bruce's Reply — Dr. M'Crie's Course of 
 Study on the Question — Opening of his Views — Summary 
 View of the Controversy — His Feelings on entering into 
 Controversy, .... Page 33 
 
X COKTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER THIRD. 
 
 1804-1811. 
 
 Progress of Matters in the General Synod — Royal Fasts — 
 Conditions Imposed on the Protesters — Their Perplexities 
 — Final Protestation of the Four Brethren — State of Dr. 
 M'Crie's Congregation — He is Cited to the Bar of Synod 
 — The Protesters Constitute a Presbytery — Dr. M'Crie's 
 Deposition — First Sabbath after Deposition — Address to 
 his People — Reflections — His Foresight of Future Strug- 
 gles — Litigation — Publication of " the Statement " — De- 
 position of Mr. Aitken — And of Messrs. Bruce and Chal- 
 mers — Publications by the Protesters — The Constitutional 
 Presbytery — The Christian Magazine — American Revivals 
 — Life of Henderson — Literary Projects — The Catholic 
 Bill — His 111 Health — Domestic Bereavement, Page 88 
 
 CHAPTER FOURTH. 
 
 1811-1813. 
 
 Publication of the Life of Knox — Inducements to the Un- 
 dertaking — Method of Composition — Criticisms on the 
 Life — The Edinburgh Review — The Quarterly Review — 
 The British Critic — Importance of the Subject — Urgent 
 Need for the Work — Robertson's History of Scotland — 
 Cook's History of the Reformation — Character of the Life 
 of Knox — Main Design of the Author — Effects of the 
 Work — Editions and Translations of the Life of Knox — 
 Academical Degree, . . . Page 144 
 
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 
 
 1813-1821. 
 
 Dr. M'Crie's Share in Religious Societies — Gaelic School 
 Society — Christianizatiou of India — Death of Professor 
 Bruce — Persecution of the Protestants in France — Dr. An- 
 drew Thomson — Correspondence with Dr. Thomson — Re- 
 view of Tales of My Landlord — Sir George Mackenzie's 
 History— Funeral of Princess Charlotte — Life of Andrew 
 Melville — Reviews of Life of Melville — Independence of 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 the Church— Union of Seceders, 1820— Dr. M'Crie's Cor- 
 respondence on this Union — His Solicitude for Union — 
 Discourses on Unity of the Church — Forebodings — Death 
 of Mrs. M'Crie, . . . Page 174 
 
 CHAPTER SIXTH. 
 
 1821-1829- 
 
 His Visit to Holland — Anecdote — His Interest in the Cause 
 of the Greeks — His Character as a Preacher — Biblical 
 Criticism — Correspondence with Sir George Sinclair — Sy- 
 nod of Original Seceders — Memoirs of Veitch and Brysson 
 — History of the Reformation in Italy — History of the Re- 
 formation in Spain — Catholic Emancipation, Page 237 
 
 CHAPTER SEVENTH. 
 1829-1835. 
 Private Correspondence — Death of Dr. Thomson — The Mar- 
 row Controversy — The Voluntary Controversy — Education 
 in Ireland — Church Patronage — Examination before Com- 
 mittee of House of Commons — Churchmen and Volun- 
 taries — The Veto Act — Correspondence with J. C. Col- 
 quhoun, Esq., on Patronage and Independence of the Church 
 — Commencement of Life of Calvin — Correspondence with 
 the Rev. William Tweedie — Death of Brethren — The As- 
 sembly's Fast — Reasons of a Fast — His Last Days — His 
 Death— Reflections— Mr. John M'Crie— Life of Calvin, 
 
 Page 276 
 
 CHAPTER EIGHTH. 
 
 Private Character of Dr. M'Crie — Anecdotes — Private Sen- 
 timents — Conclusion, . . . Page 347 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. L His Petition to the General Synod in 1800, Page 371 
 
 II. Address delivered to his Congregation, — June 
 
 1806, 374 
 
 III. Character of Dr. Charles Stuart, of Dunearn, 382 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 IV. Speech at Public Meeting in behalf of the 
 
 Greeks, — August, 7, 1822, Page 385 
 
 V. Speech at the Scottish Ladies' Society for 
 Promoting Education in Greece, — delivered 
 
 April 9, 1825, .... 391 
 
 VI. Petition against the Roman Catholic Claims, 395 
 
 VII. Character of the late Dr. Thomson, 398 
 
 VIII. Speech at the Meeting on Education in Ireland, 402 
 
 IX. Speech at the Meeting of the Anti-Patronage 
 Society,— January 30, 1833, . . 408 
 
 X. Speech at the Meeting of the Anti-Patronage 
 
 Society, — January 1834, 415 
 
 XI. List of Dr. M'Crie's Writings, . . 421 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS SETTLEMENT IN EDINBURGH. 
 
 1772-1796. 
 
 Dr. M'Crie was born at Dunse, the county town of 
 Berwickshire, in November 1772.* He was the 
 eldest of a large family, consisting of four sons and 
 three daughters, of whom only one of the daughters 
 now survives. His father, Thomas M'Crie, was a 
 manufacturer and merchant in Dunse, and, by his 
 industry, acquired a small property in the neighbour- 
 hood of Coldingham; but spent his latter da)^s in his 
 native town, where he died, March 6th, 1823, in the 
 seventy-eighth year of his age. He was a strictly re- 
 ligious man, noted for his shrewd intelligence and a 
 species of caustic humour, and much respected by all 
 who knew him. 
 
 His mother, Mary Hood, was the daughter of Mr. 
 John Hood, a respectable farmer in the vicinity of 
 Dunse, and allied to different families of that name 
 who still follow the same occupation in Berwickshire 
 and East Lothian. She was a woman of a superior 
 mind, of exemplary piety, and the most amiable dis- 
 
 * His birth-day cannot be ascertained with certainty. He him- 
 self paid no regard to it. The parish register records the date 
 of his baptism, " 22d November, 1772." The index to the regis- 
 ter places it under 1774, and this error has found its way into the 
 New Statistical Account of Scotland. Those who are fond of 
 topographical associations, may be reminded that Dunse was the 
 birth-place of two men of note in their respective periods, though 
 on very different accounts, — Duns Scotus, the famed scholastic 
 doctor of the 14th century; and Thomas Boston, author of "The 
 Fourfold State,"' — whom Dr. M'Crie reckoned the most useful 
 writer that Scotland ever produced. 
 
14 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 positions. From his father he appears to have in- 
 lierited a vigorous constitution and a masculine 
 understanding; from his mother, the ahnost feminine 
 sensibility of his nature. The mutual attacliment 
 between this truly excellent mother and her first- 
 born, was of no ordinary kind. He has been fre- 
 quently heard to trace to her example, her instruc- 
 tions, and her prayers, his first serious impressions of 
 religion; and to relate, with much feeling, how deeply 
 he was affected by what he heard at a female prayer- 
 meeting, to which her kind hand conducted him when 
 he was a mere child.* Nor did he fail, on his part, 
 in his duty to this afiectionate parent; he would 
 spend the time allotted by other boys of his age to 
 play, in watching the sick bed of his mother, who 
 was long in delicate health, and even aiding her in 
 thejsperformance of domestic duties. To use the 
 expression of an old servant of the family, who is still 
 alive, "he was aye manly in his carriage," — as an 
 instance of which, she recollects of his being em- 
 ployed, in the absence of his father, to conduct the 
 family worship, and catechise the servants, when he 
 could be little more than ten years of age. 
 
 Dr. M'Crie's parents being connected with that 
 branch of the Secession usually termed Antiburghers, 
 he was brought up under the ministry of the Rev. 
 Mr. Why te, at a period when the primitive strictness 
 of that communion was retained in a measure which 
 is now almost unknown. t In these circumstances, 
 he received that thoroughly religious education, of 
 the importance of which he was ever afterwards so 
 strenuous an advocate, and of the success of which 
 he was himself a striking example. His own incli- 
 
 * One of her servants remembers well the advice she received 
 from her "quiet and pleasant mistress:" " Begin the day vi'ith 
 God; and take a little time to yourself, before beginning my 
 work." 
 
 t He used to mention, with a smile, the first two questions ge- 
 nerally put to children in his younger days : " Which is the best 
 book in the world? " " The Bible." " Which is the next best?" 
 " The Confession of Faith." 
 
RELIGIOUS TRAINING. 15 
 
 nation, coinciding with the ardent wishes of his 
 mother, led him, at a very early period, to choose the 
 profession of the sacred ministry, and to direct his 
 studies toward that ohject. He was tau^^jht the ele- 
 ments of classical education by Mr. Crookshanks, 
 parish schoolmaster of Dunse. At this time, his avi- 
 dity in the pursuit of learning attracted the notice of 
 all around him. Sedate and studious in his habits, 
 he would often retire to the fields, and there, not 
 only forsaking his companions, but forfeiting his ordi- 
 nary meals,he would spend the live-long day in poring 
 over his books. With sucli application, his progress, 
 it may well be supposed, was rapid, and advanced 
 beyond what is common in one of his years; and he 
 thus acquired in his youth that classical taste which 
 is rarely the attainment of those who commence their 
 studies at a later period of life. 
 
 Another circumstance which had a powerful influ- 
 ence in confirming and enlarging his early acquisi- 
 tions, may be here noticed. His father discouraged 
 the prosecution of his studies, declaring, from a feel- 
 ing not very common among Scottish parents, in 
 much more limited circumstances, that he "would not 
 make a gentleman of one of his sons, at the expense 
 of the rest;" and it was only through the kind inter- 
 ference of his maternal grandfather, and other rela- 
 tions, that he was allowed to proceed in his literary 
 career. Thus encouraged, however, he threw him- 
 self on his own resources; and with a manliness and 
 resolution little to be expected at his time of life, 
 he earned for himself the ways and means by which, 
 with the occasional help of his friends, who dis- 
 covered the promising abilities of the future histo- 
 rian, he was enabled to meet the expenses of his edu- 
 cation. Before he was fifteen years of age, he taught 
 successively two country schools in the neighbour- 
 hood of Dunse. In 17SS he acted for a short time 
 as usher in the parish school of Kelso, and shortly 
 afterwards served in the same capacity in East Lin- 
 ton. While employed in these situations, every one 
 was struck with the extremely youthful appearance of 
 
16 LIFE OF DR. M'CIUE. 
 
 "the dominie," who was, in fact, little older than the 
 boys whom he taught, and with whom he would join 
 in their out-door amusements; though, during school 
 hours, he maintained over them the most perfect 
 control. It might be mentioned here, perhaps, 
 that, with all his fondness for study, he delighted 
 and excelled in rural sports, could lend a hand in the 
 lighter labours of the farm, and was famed for his 
 feats in horsemanship; thus giving proof of that acti- 
 vity and boldness, for the display of which he after- 
 wards found a very different field. 
 
 The following incident, which marked the com- 
 mencement of Dr. M'Crie's academical course, pre- 
 sents an appropriate close to that precious maternal 
 tuition of which we have already spoken. On his first 
 setting out to attend the University of Edinburgh, his 
 mother accompanied him part of the way, and before 
 taking leave of him, led him into a field near the road, 
 on Coldingham Moor, and kneeling down with him 
 behind a rock, affectionately and solemnly devoted 
 him to the service, and commended him to the fatherly 
 care, of his covenant God. The Christian reader alone 
 can appreciate this affecting scene: — it was not Amil- 
 car swearing Hannibal to perpetual war against the 
 Romans; it was Hannah, the pious mother of Samuel, 
 "lending her son to the Lord." In the following 
 year, he was deprived of this invaluable parent, and 
 the tidings of her death having reached him in Edin- 
 burgh, before he had received any information of her 
 last illness, the event proved one of the most poignant 
 afflictions of his life. He seldom, even long after- 
 wards, spoke of her without the tear of filial afiec- 
 tion; and down to the termination of his own course, 
 his very dreams indicated the hold which her memory 
 retained on every grateful feeling of his heart. 
 
 When sixteen years of age, he became a student 
 in the University of Edinburgh, in December 1788, 
 — a year marked in the annals of the Secession by 
 the death of the Rev. Adam Gib, the John Knox 
 of his da}' in that denomination, both as a popular 
 powerful preacher, and a bold unflinching champion 
 
HIS ACADEMICAL STUDIES. 17 
 
 of the principles of the Reformation. During this 
 session, and the two immediately succeeding, he 
 attended, in their usual order, the Latin, Gr^ek, 
 Hebrew, Mathematics, Logic, and Moral Philosophy- 
 classes. The names of Hill, Dalzell, Play fair, and 
 Finlayson, he honoured with modest respect; but, 
 like all his contemporaries, he was fascinated with 
 the beau ideal oi 3iC3Ldem[c3i\ eloquence which adorned 
 the Moral Chair in the person of Dugald Stewart. 
 Long after he had sat under his admired teacher, he 
 would describe with rapture his early emotions, while 
 looking on the handsomely erect and elastic figure 
 of the professor, in every attitude a model for the 
 statuary, listening to expositions, whether of facts or 
 principles, always clear as the transparent stream, 
 and charmed by the tones of a voice which modulated 
 into spoken music every expression of intelligence 
 and feeling. An esteemed friend of his happening 
 to say to him some years ago, "1 have been hearing 
 Dr. Brown lecture with all the eloquence of Dugald 
 Stewart." "No, Sir," he exclaimed, with an air of 
 almost Johnsonian decision, "you have not, and no 
 man ever will." 
 
 It seems but justice to acknowledge that Dr. M'Crie 
 was more indebted to the eloquent Professor of 
 Moral Philosophy, than to any other of his college 
 teachers. The scholar, indeed, found reason to dis- 
 sent from several of the doctrines of his master, in 
 their bearing on theology; but he could appre- 
 ciate the value of that philosopher's anti-skeptical 
 common-sense strain of philosophy, and sympathized 
 with the glowing ardour in behalf of civil liberty, 
 which gave power and pathos to some of his most 
 eloquent lectures. The high polish of manner and 
 diction which distinguish the works of an author 
 whom Englishmen have characterized as the best 
 English writer in Scotland, and the finest philoso- 
 phical writer in Britain, he eitiier sought not to 
 attain or enjoyed not the means of acquiring; but 
 some of the best lessons of this accomplished scholar 
 2* 
 
18 LIFE OF DR. M'CPaE. 
 
 he appears both to have studied and to have mas- 
 tered. From huB he learned the habit of accurate 
 unwearied research, the happy art of perspicuous 
 statement, and the invakiable secret of pointing all 
 his statements into conclusions of practical utility. 
 
 Dr. M'Crie never sought to excel in mathematical 
 pursuits. In his Life of Dr. Robertson, Mr. Stewart 
 remarks, that the taste of the Principal, even in his 
 early years, disposed him more to moral and political 
 speculation, than to the study of the abstract sciences. 
 And the reader of our author's works, and those 
 of Dr. Robertson, can hardly fail to observe, that 
 scarcely ever do either of them borrow expressions or 
 illustrations from subjects of abstract investigation, 
 or physical and mechanical philosophy. Languages, 
 moral and political science, history, philology, elo- 
 quence, and in some degree poetry, were Dr. M'Crie's 
 favourite studies in the days of his studentship, Ta- 
 citus, Livy, and Cicero, were his most carefully 
 conned classics; and an advice of Mr. Stewart to 
 his students, to keep some Latin author as a vade- 
 mecum, he appears to have followed to the close 
 of his life. It may be mentioned, that the books 
 which furnished the general reading of students at 
 the period of his attendance at the University, and 
 which have exerted no small influence on Scottish 
 literature generally, were the Histories of Hume, 
 Robertson, Watson, and Ferguson; the philosophical 
 works of Locke, Smith, and Reid; Blair's Lectures, 
 and Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric, and Kame's 
 Elements of Criticism. 
 
 Here, however, where my information must neces- 
 sarily have been obtained at second-hand, I consider 
 myself fortunate in having prevailed on the Rev. 
 James Gray of Brechin, one of my father's earliest 
 and most intimate friends, to furnish me with the 
 following recollections of this portion of his history, 
 which cannot fail to be interesting to my readers. 
 The high admiration which Mr. Gray entertains for 
 the memorv of his friend, must be held to excuse him 
 
MR. gray's recollections. 19 
 
 for the weight Avhich he attaches to details, too 
 minute, perhaps, to be appreciated by many of my 
 readers, to whom they do not come associated with 
 the charm which early recollections bear in the eyes 
 of those who have descended into the vale of life. 
 
 "Never having been in any class at the same time 
 with your father, it is not in my power to state, from 
 observation, to what degree his College exhibitions 
 gave promise of his future eminence. I have heard 
 that he was a great favourite with the highly respect- 
 able and pains-taking Greek Professor, and doubt not 
 that he shared in all his meeds of commendation, 
 from bene and bene dixisti, up to optime and optinie 
 quidem dicis. Of other more substantial and durable 
 tokens of distinction, there were then hardly any in 
 the University of Edinburgh. In the literary and 
 philosophical classes, there was no display of prizes 
 to tempt the young competitor to the comparative 
 trial of talent and diligence; and there is some rea- 
 son to question, whether any temptation would have 
 lured our student to the contest. Pecuniary reward 
 he always rated very low; and though surely ambi- 
 tious, and that in no slight degree, of personal excel- 
 lence, he avoided, wherever it was in his power, the 
 display of superiority at the cost of mortification to a 
 rival. Be the worth what it may of the Roman let- 
 ters, which a diploma of the Senatus Academicus 
 authorizes its bachelors and masters to superadd to 
 name and surname, in Edinburgh the appendages 
 were seldom sought. The degree which young men 
 bestow on one another, in the summary and expres- 
 sive epithet 'clever,' was speedily conferred on your 
 father; and had First Wrangler been an Edinburgh 
 distinction, and to be earned by a display of acute- 
 ness and power in a dispute, all his fellows in the 
 debating society would have awarded the honour to 
 him. I can never forget the first sight I obtained of 
 him. It happened to be on a Saturday afternoon, 
 and at a meeting of students in the session-house 
 belonging to Mr. Gib's congregation. His attire was 
 
20 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 homely, his air modest and unpretending, and bis 
 manner of speaking full of life and energy. Alto- 
 gether, the profile was an exact miniature of the 
 ■figure which was seen in Merchants' Hall more than 
 thirty years after; and the youthful reasonings and 
 replies, gave pledge of almost all the force, and more 
 than the fluency, which marked the pleadings of the 
 later period in behalf of the oppressed. 
 
 "The close of his third session introduces your 
 father under a different character. Liidimagister in 
 schola triviali was tlie low taunt by which Salmasius 
 attempted to diminish the author of Defensio Popiili 
 Jlnglicani and of Paradise Lost. Dr. M'Crie deemed 
 it no degradation to any man to be a teacher of 
 babes; and, as you know, very feelingly refers to the 
 record which represents Buchanan, in his estimate the 
 most original of all Scottish writers, employing some 
 of the latest hours of his life in instructing his young 
 attendant in letters and syllables. In May 1791, our 
 student commenced, teacher of a school connected, 
 with the congregation of my father, the Rev. John 
 Oray, Antiburgher minister in Brechin. In this 
 situation he continued three years, devoting to the 
 humble vocation the whole year, with the exception 
 of the harvest months, which were occupied by his 
 attendance on the Divinity Hall. 
 
 "The school was opened with three very young 
 scholars, but soon became numerous and respectable. 
 It has subsisted now nearly its half century, and has 
 afforded to thousands the means of common educa- 
 tion at a very cheap rate. The founder always took 
 a lively interest in its prosperity ; and in the last visit 
 he paid to it, which was within a few weeks of his 
 death, seemed to look with parental fondness on the 
 flourishing appearance of the institution. 
 
 "In his own exercise of the lowly calling, he 
 showed a fine example of high principle, stooping to 
 the lowest duties of an allotted station witli conscien- 
 tious punctuality and contentment. Always true to 
 the opinion, which he ever held, of the necessity and 
 
TEACHES A SCHOOL IN BRECHIN. 21 
 
 advantage of combining religion and education, he 
 mingled, with all the school exercises, the reading of 
 the Scriptures, and the teaching of the Shorter Cate- 
 chism, as well as some of its sound summaries. In 
 the government of his little community, the restraints 
 of authority, and the indulgences of a kind demean- 
 our, were happily blended, and procured for the 
 teacher the respect and love of all the scholars. The 
 very young looked reveringly up to him as a perfect 
 pattern, and the more advanced honoured him with 
 a judicious esteem, which the survivors still continue 
 to cherish in all their remembrances of him. One of 
 the most respected of them, James Speid, Esquire, 
 banker in Brechin, and lately Provost, has kindly 
 furnished the following recollections of his precep- 
 tor: — 
 
 "'I regret that my reminiscences of the Doctor 
 are so scanty. I was a pupil of his when he taught 
 a private school in Brechin, in 1792-3. I have a 
 perfect recollection of his person at that time, which 
 was handsome; his stature above the ordinary height 
 — his countenance mild and prepossessing — a fine set 
 of teeth — and a peculiar mark on his right eye-brow, 
 which was nearly half white, and the other brown.* 
 He then kept a school in a large room in Meal Mar- 
 ket Wynd, now called Swan Street, and metand dis- 
 missed his scholars, morning and evening, with prayer, 
 in a very solemn manner. He had much of the art 
 of keeping order without punishing, and often relaxed 
 into playful cheerfulness with his scholars. I re- 
 member accompanying him, on a Saturday afternoon, 
 to visit my worthy uncle, about five miles from 
 Brechin, and he seemed to enjoy the little trip ex- 
 ceedingly, particularly the ruins of Melgund Castle, 
 one of the retreats of Cardinal Beatoun. I then slept 
 
 * The mark here referred to, which struck strangers so forcibly, 
 was occasioned, in his own opinion, by lightning. His attention 
 was first drawn to it by the boys in tiie school-room, who tittered 
 on observing what they supposed to be a stray patch of hair- 
 powder ; and one of them, on being called up, requested him to 
 wipe his oye-brow. 
 
22 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 with him, and had occasion to observe the spirit of 
 devotion that imbued his mind, — far surpassing any 
 idea I had previously formed of a great and good 
 man.' 
 
 "The time wliicli the schoohnaster gave up to the 
 instruction of others was not lost with respect to his 
 own improvement. He was not, indeed, the plod- 
 ding book-worm, and his acquaintances did not mark 
 him out as ever likely to become the man of intense 
 application and indefatigable research. Some of his 
 surviving scholars, however, have recorded the obser- 
 vation, that in the school, while every call of pro- 
 fessional duty was immediately answered, all the spare 
 moments were given to his own reading and studies. 
 There is reason, too, for believing that with the quiet, 
 unostentatious energy which was a part of his charac- 
 ter, he made more use of the midnight lamp than 
 many of his friends suspected. This is certain, that, 
 whether prepared by day or by night, his own tasks 
 were always ready when called for. 
 
 "The progi'ess of his mind during this period of 
 his life is to be measured, more by the growth of his 
 powers, than by the accessions which were made to 
 his stock of systematic information. Nor is it at all 
 improbable, that, under his active duties and frequent 
 opportunities of relaxation, his mental faculties, re- 
 leased from the restraints of swaddling bands, ac- 
 quired a degree of elasticity and vigour which they 
 might not have attained under more retiring habits, 
 and closer engagements of continuous study. He 
 could be busy or idle, with all his might, and possessed 
 "the rare power of doing much, when he appeared to 
 be doing nothing." He studied man in the living 
 delineations which an intercourse with different 
 grades of society presented; and from the instances 
 in which he had occasion to observe both talent and 
 worth in the lower orders, was taught to cherish 
 sympathy with them, as well as a generous affection 
 for his kind, and a high disdain of that servile flattery 
 which is so commonly offered to rank and riches. It 
 
EARLY HABITS AND AMUSEMENTS. 23 
 
 has been said, that Dean Swift was indebted for no 
 small portion of thai powerful writing, which made 
 its way so efiectively to the breasts of his country- 
 men, to his familiar acquaintance with Irish life and 
 manners; and that, in order to attain it, his custom in 
 his journeys was, to prefer the inferior lodging- 
 houses, in which he might have an opportunity of 
 observing genuine samples of the native character. 
 To have seen your father in the midst of a reading 
 club, collected in a back shop, to hear the news and 
 comments of the London Courier, no man would 
 have suspected that he was then making any acqui- 
 sitions which were to qualify him to write the Life 
 of John Knox; and least of all, did he himself ima- 
 gine it. In such scenes, however, and in the fellow- 
 ship of some in the humbler ranks, who retained a 
 portion of the spirit of the olden times, the author 
 who knew how to turn every opportunity to its 
 proper use, acquired his graphic, compressed, busi- 
 ness style of writing; discovered both the lights and 
 shadows of Scottish character; was taught to form a 
 just estimate of the spirit and transactions of the 
 Reformation, and was prepared to furnish that repre- 
 sentation of them which was so much calculated to 
 interest and inform the Scotsmen of his day. 
 
 " It is a well-known fact, that some of our greatest 
 men have been passionately devoted, both to seden- 
 tary games, and to the sports of the field. A power- 
 ful mind applies its decisive energy even to its 
 amusements, and finds in them a training subservi- 
 ent to the accomplishment of useful undertakings. 
 The game of draughts was a favourite diversion with 
 our schoolmaster; even in this it was his ambition to 
 excel, and his unrivalled skill he attained by that 
 determined perseverance which procured for him 
 more valuable acquisitions. It was in one of his 
 latest visits to Brechin that he disclosed, in his own 
 jocular manner, the following portion of his history. 
 He had discovered an old man, a flax-dresser, who 
 was rather eminent as a draughts-player, and to his 
 
24 LIFE OP DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 shop he repaired duly every lawful evening, quite 
 contented to lose his halfpenny stake. In process of 
 time he learned to beat his instructor, and then the 
 old man, to secure his winnings, would play no more.* 
 There was another opportunity of healthful amuse- 
 ment, of which your lather was very eager to avail 
 liimself in its season. In the winter Saturday after- 
 noons he was to be seen in the midst of the Curlers' 
 Club, watching the turns of the game, as if they had 
 involved the fate of empires, and scanning the pur- 
 poses and movements of the master players, with 
 that attention and sagacity which qualify a man to 
 judge of the plans of statesmen, and the exploits of 
 warriors. 
 
 "The means of ascertaining the very date and 
 measure of his early reHgious impressions would 
 appear to be wanting. The Doctor himself always 
 manifested an instinctive aversion to any thing like 
 display on that subject; and it seems probable that, 
 to use a common expression in its common interpre- 
 tation, he imbibed with his mother's milk the know- 
 ledge and love of religious principle; and that, in a 
 manner insensible to himself, they grew with his 
 growth, and were strengthened with his strength. 
 The sure evidence and substantial effect of genuine 
 piety were exhibited in his consistent exemplary de- 
 portment. He was a pattern of punctual attendance 
 on public worship, and yielded a cheerful compliance 
 with all the rules of fellowship in the religious society 
 to which he belonged. The prayer-meeting he rcgu- 
 
 * Many years after this, my father would be interrupted in his 
 studies by persons who came from a distance, attracted l)y hearing 
 of his skill in this game, and anxious, after beating all their neigh- 
 bours, to have a iriendly contest with him, which uniformly is- 
 sued in their defeat. I may add, that though he had an indiffe- 
 I'ent ear for music, he qualified hiinst^lf, by a similar course of 
 perseverance, for conducting the musical part of domestic wor- 
 ship. The late Dr. Andrew Thomson, who was inclined to phre- 
 nology, having discovered on liis head the organ of music large- 
 ly developed, my father enjoyed a hearty laugh at his friend 
 and the science, by informing him how much labour it had cost 
 an old weaver to beat into his licad the familiar tune of St. 
 Paul's. 
 
RELIGIOUS CHARACTER, 25 
 
 larly frequented, and he was always ready to acknow- 
 ledge that he had reaped much profit from the com- 
 pany and converse of unlettered Christians. A hal- 
 lowing reverence and love for the whole Sabbath 
 distinguished and adorned all his conduct with re- 
 spect to it, and it is scarcely credible to what ser- 
 vices of lowly condescension he would submit to 
 save dishonour to the sacred day, willing even to do 
 the duty of a menial, that the time which God had 
 blessed and sanctified might be reserved entire for 
 his worship and service. 
 
 "Two events of no small importance in the life 
 of the subject of your work, took place during the 
 first year of his residence in Brechin. One was, his 
 joining in the bond for the renewing of the National 
 Covenant of Scotland, and the Solemn League and 
 Covenant of the three nations. This solemn and 
 comprehensive service was performed in the congre- 
 gation of which he was a member, in the month of 
 August 1791. The part he took in it he never re- 
 pented, but always regarded as a mean which had its 
 own eflfect in attaching him to the great and good 
 cause, which it was the aim and the honour of his 
 life to defend and advance. 
 
 "The other event to which I alluded was, our 
 teacher's commencing his Theological studies, and 
 being admitted a member of the Divinity Hall at 
 Whitburn, in September 1791. The class was at 
 that time under the superintendence of the Rev. 
 Archibald Bruce, who was Professor of Theology in 
 the General Synod, from 1786 to 1806, the year 
 of the separation. The progress of your memoir 
 will doubtless present Mr. Bruce in many interesting 
 lights. At the period when your father obtained the 
 eventful introduction to his tuition and acquaintance, 
 every student felt that no instructor was ever more 
 respected and loved than was the learned, able, ve- 
 nerable, and delicately modest recluse of Whitburn; 
 and of all his students, no one more justly appre- 
 ciated his worth, than did the young man who was 
 
26 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 yet unapprized of the peculiar place he was to occupy 
 in his friendship, and of the communion of sufi'ering, 
 in which he was at no very distant day to be asso- 
 ciated with him. 
 
 "In May, 1794, our student bade farewell to 
 Brechin, and to the schoolmaster's occupation. The 
 haffiin boyish air which he brought with him in 1791 
 had given place to the vigorous, comely port of man- 
 hood. His mind showed the full-drawn traits of 
 power and vivacity; his manners were courteous and 
 kind, and the generosity of his conduct was almost 
 culpable in his forgetfulness and indifference with 
 respect to his own interest. In circumstances which 
 afforded no adequate remuneration to his exertions, 
 he was ever to be seen cheerful and buoyant, as are 
 the tenants of the air, who sing among the branches. 
 His innocent playfulness, with conscious rectitude and 
 good will, threw by the cautious reserve which perpe- 
 tually fears misconstruction. " The clever School- 
 master" was the appellation by which he was known 
 all over the town; and some fathers in the ministry, 
 and those who yielded to none in admiration of tlie 
 subsequent productions of his pen, were in the habit 
 of speaking of him under the Scottish abbreviation 
 of the Christian name, which was in due time to be 
 honoured with the doctoral prefix. At this stage of 
 his life no man expected him to write the lives of 
 Knox and Melville, but his acquaintances had already 
 set him down as capable of doing some of their 
 deeds. There are two anecdotes, — the one of Knox, 
 and the other of Melville, — which I take leave to 
 insert from the well-known works, because, had he 
 been placed in the circumstances to which they refer, 
 they would, I verily believe, have been a portion of 
 the' history of the subject of your biography. '^ One 
 fme day a painted image of the Virgin was brought 
 into one of the galleys, and a Scots prisoner was 
 desired to give it the kiss of adoration. He refused,, 
 saying, that such idols were accursed, and he would 
 not touch it. "But you shall," replied one of the. 
 
CHARACTER IN HIS YOUTH. 27 
 
 officers, roughly thrusting it in his face, and placing 
 it between his hands. Upon this lie took hold of the 
 image, and watching his opportunity, threw it into 
 the river, saying, Let our Lady save herself: she is 
 lychle enoughe, let her learne to swyme."* The other 
 anecdote narrates the manner in which Melville 
 procured admission, in a time of civil war, into the 
 city of Orleans. To the question, "Whence are 
 you?" Melville replied, "from Scotland." "0!you 
 Scots are all Hugonots." "Hugonots ! what's that? 
 we do not know such people in Scotland." "You have 
 no mass," said the soldier, " Vous vous n' avez pas la 
 Messe." "No mess, man," replied Melville, merrily, 
 " our children in Scotland go to mess every day." 
 "Bon compagnon allez vous,'- said the soIdier,smiling, 
 and beckoning him to proceed. f Let your readers 
 suppose that the historian becomes the hero in these 
 anecdotes, and they will have a more exact idea of 
 your father's character than any description which it 
 is in my power to give. In so far as they show traits 
 of waggery and wit, courage, prudence, and presence 
 of mind, we may write under the picture, Thomas 
 M'Crie, aged 21." 
 
 To these recollections, which must bring the subject 
 of our memoirs as he appeared in early life, much 
 more vividly before the eye than any general sketch 
 which might be drawn from them, I have little to add. 
 From all I can learn of him at this period of his life, 
 it appears that while his good taste and studious 
 tendencies preserved him from all extravagance or 
 frivolity, he was full of youthful vivacity, a ready 
 wit, a prompt arguer, foremost in exercises of skill or 
 peril, affable, polite, playful, delighting in innocent re- 
 laxation, and quite ready for adventure, competition, 
 or amusement, when a sense of duty, or considerations 
 of propriety interposed no bar in the way of his natu- 
 ral inclinations. The opinions entertained by so 
 young a man upon, questions of importance, would 
 
 * Life of Knox, vol. i., pp. G8, 69. 
 t Life of Melville, vol. i., p. 55. 
 
28 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 be hardly worthy of record, were it not for the light 
 which they throw on the constitutional turn of his 
 mind. In polemical discussions with his fellow-stu- 
 dents, he is said to have generally pleaded on what 
 would be called the liberal side of the question. If a 
 few more years' reflection induced him to modify his 
 views and correct his judgment on certain points, the 
 change certainly did not arise from any predilection 
 for antiquated opinions, or any want of natural dispo- 
 sition to swim with the current of the day. Like 
 other sanguine and ingenuous spirits, he took a warm 
 interest in the political movements of the French; 
 and, though not a republican, hailed the commence- 
 ment of the Revolution as auspicious to the general 
 cause of civil and religious liberty. In one of the 
 earliest specimens of his correspondence, written in 
 1793, and addressed to one of his uncles, a farmer 
 in Berwickshire, who was a stanch supporter of 
 the Tory government then in power, I find him ral- 
 lying the shrewd old yeoman on the horror he had 
 expressed to him at being reckoned a Jacobin, and 
 palliating where he could not excuse the early ex- 
 cesses of the French Revolution. " But why," says 
 he, " have the faults of the French been lashed with 
 so severe a hand? Under the form of government of 
 that country thousands have been crushed under the 
 iron rod of despotism, without drawing a tear from the 
 rest of Europe. Is it because they profess peaceful 
 and fraternal principles? I answer, that the cruelties 
 of the Inquisition, the persecutions, and massacres 
 for the sake of religion, were incomparably more 
 fierce than any exercised by the French; yet they 
 were never represented in such hideous colours. 
 And is cruelty more tolerable, or more excusable, 
 when exercised by those who profess the religion of 
 the meek and lowly Jesus, than when exercised by 
 those who profess to be the friends of liberty? For 
 my part, I have always been averse to join in calum- 
 niating a great nation, or in condemning a whole 
 people, struggling under such difficulties, for a few 
 
POLITICAL SENTIMENTS. 29 
 
 excesses. A candid observer will find many pallia- 
 tions for these, and while he is grieved at partial evils, 
 he will wonder that greater have not happened. He 
 will consider that when the passions of men are 
 raised to such a pitch as is necessary for effecting a 
 revolution from despotism to liberty, they must natu- 
 rally vibrate to the opposite extreme, and that some 
 time is required before they can be poised so as to 
 settle upon the medium. Add to this, that their minds 
 are naturally soured by the remembrance of injuries 
 which they received from their former masters. In 
 this particular, tyranny carries along with it its own 
 punishment; for in proportion to the ignorance in 
 which a people are kept under despotism, will their 
 fury and licentiousness be when they are freed from 
 the yoke, and they will retort that barbarity upon the 
 heads of their tyrants, which they formerly suffered 
 from their hands." In this extract from a letter 
 written, as he hints, merely to divert himself at the 
 expense of his uncle's aristocratic partialities, those 
 who are familiar with the literary works of the 
 writer, will probably descry the spirit which was 
 to vindicate the better-principled reformers of hts 
 own country, in such indignant remonstrances as the 
 following: "What!- do we celebrate with public 
 rejoicings victories over the enemies of our country 
 in the gaining of which thousands of our fellow- 
 creatures have been sacrificed? And shall solemn 
 masses and sad dirges, accompanied with direful 
 execrations, be everlastingl}' sung for the mangled 
 members of statues, torn pictures, and ruined 
 towers?"* 
 
 In prosecuting our biography, we have now to 
 mention that, on leaving Brechin, he resided 
 during the summer of 1794 in the family of his ma- 
 ternal uncle, IVIr. William Hood of Woodhall, near 
 Dunbar; and in the following winter he attended 
 the University and finished the curriculum appointed 
 
 * Life of Knox, vol. i., p. 27G. 
 3* 
 
30 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 for students of theology by attending the Natural 
 Philosophy class. It was not uncommon at that 
 time, though far from being a good arrangement, for 
 Secession students to defer this last step in their 
 philosophical course till near the close of their at- 
 tendance at the divinity hall. In his case this last 
 year at college was improved to the best advantage, 
 and every acquisition suitable to the vocation which 
 he contemplated was diligently sought. He disdained 
 not the aid of an elocution class, and the popularity 
 which attended his early exhibitions in the pulpit 
 may perhaps be ascribed in som.e degree to the les- 
 sons which he received in the "artful art." A more 
 substantial qualification for the work of the minis- 
 try, he continued to cultivate in the homely fellow- 
 ship of the prayer-meeting. Already the weight of 
 his character began to be felt; within the circum- 
 scribed sphere in which alone he was yet known, ex- 
 pectations of his future eminence were formed, and 
 earnests were not wanting of the high respect with 
 which he was one day to be honoured. 
 
 On the 9th September 1795, he was licensed to 
 be a preacher of the Gospel by the Associate Pres- 
 bytery of Kelso. On this occasion he took a step 
 which he soon afterwards saw reason to regret. The 
 period of his license having occurred, while certain 
 changes were in contemplation by the Synod affect- 
 ing the profession of the body, he considered himself 
 warranted to object against taking the formula with- 
 out some qualification. Before the usual questions, 
 therefore, were proposed to him, he asked and ob- 
 tained the following marking, in the minutes of the 
 Presbytery: — " That by his answers to these ques- 
 tions he is not to be understood as giving any judg- 
 ment upon the question respecting the power of the 
 civil magistrate in religious matters, in so far as the 
 same is in dependence before the General Associate 
 Synod,"* With respect to this qualified assent, — a 
 point which has been often misrepresented, and which 
 
 " Minutes of the Associate Presbytery of Kelso, Sept. Dili. 17'J5. 
 
SETTLEMENT IN EDINBURGH. 31 
 
 is even yet ill understood by many, — it is only neces- 
 sary to say at present, that we shall have an occasion 
 to recur to it in another portion of our memoir, when 
 a connected view of the case will be given, and the 
 facts which bear upon it will be fairly and fully 
 brought out. 
 
 The character and public appearances of the young 
 preacher attracted immediate notice, and in little 
 more than a month after his license, a unanimous call 
 invited him to become a minister of the second Asso- 
 ciate congregation assembling in Potterrow, Edin- 
 burgh.* A trivial occurrence which took place at this 
 time, deserves to be recorded as an instance of that 
 delicacy of feeling by which, he was always distin- 
 guished. Another respectable congregation had re- 
 solved to give him a call, and one of its members took 
 an opportunity of communicating to him their pur- 
 pose; but, assured that for them there was no pros- 
 pect of success, he at once told them so, and thus 
 prevented a competition before the Synod. Though 
 not dead to the feelings of ambition, he scorned to 
 purchase the triumph of a little additional eclat, at 
 the expense of a cruel disappointment to a people 
 who were prepared to honour him with the highest 
 token of their attachment and esteem. I may per- 
 haps be chargeable with making a useless and too 
 liberal disclosure of his private sentiments, when I 
 record a confession which he made to an intimate 
 friend, that, long before there was any prospect of 
 such an event, he had a strong presentiment that he 
 would be settled- as a minister in Edinburgh, 
 
 In addition to what was formerly stated, we have 
 
 * This congregation was formed by a division of that of Mr. Gib, 
 and the circumstances wliich led to their disjunction are alluded 
 to by Dr. M'Crie, in his Evidence on Patronage 1834: — "1 was 
 once in connexion with a larger Synod, consisting of from a hun- 
 dred to a hundred and fifty congregations, and I know of only 
 one instance in which, in consequence of their being thwarted 
 in repeated applications for a minister settled in another place, a 
 part of a congregation applied for and obtained a disjunction, by 
 which they were erected into a separate congregation in the same 
 religious communion, and I ultimately became their pastor." 
 
32 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 now to ad(], that he refused to submit to ordination 
 unless the reservation with which he took his vows 
 should be declared as publicly as the vows them- 
 selves. It was no uncommon thing to grant a mark- 
 ing in the minutes of Presbyteries, but the public 
 expression of reserve was new, and the Presbytery of 
 Edinburgh not conceiving; themselves authorized to 
 introduce the practice, referred the matter to the 
 Synod which met in May 1796. Another preacher 
 being in the same circumstances, and preferring the 
 same request, both ordinations were delayed in ex- 
 pectation of the deliverance which was craved from 
 the Supreme Court. The Synod not only granted 
 what was sought in the particular cases, but passed 
 a general declaration, which shall be given in its 
 place when the subject is resumed, in order to ex- 
 plain the part, first and last, which Dr. M'Crie took 
 in the affair. 
 
 On the 26th of May 1796, he was set apart to 
 the office of the holy ministry in the congregation of 
 Potterrow. The Rev. Robert Chalmers, Hadding- 
 ton, with whom he was afterwards to be intimately 
 associated in labours and in suffering, preached and 
 presided on that occasion.* And on the following 
 Sabbath, the young minister began his public labours 
 by preaching from 2 Cor. vi. 1: "We then, as work- 
 ers together with him, beseech you also that ye re- 
 ceive not the grace of God in vain." 
 
 The settlement of the subject of these memoirs in 
 the conspicuous station which he occupied through 
 life, was, it is now manifest, subservient to important 
 purposes. In this arrangement, tlie hand of a high 
 overruling Providence is doubtless to be chiefly ac- 
 knowledged; at the same time, the working of the 
 practice of popular choice in the determining the par- 
 ticular scene of a minister's stated duty, is not to 
 
 * Tlie Discourse delivered on this occasion, with the ordination 
 Addresses, appeared in a rare and Iii<rhly prized volume of Ser- 
 mons published by Mr. Chalmers in 1798. The text is I Tim. iii. 1 : 
 " If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work." 
 
POPULAR ELECTION. bH 
 
 be overlooked. It was the free unfettered right of 
 election which provided for the congregation a pastor 
 at once adapted to themselves, and fitted to do the 
 work and meet the trials of his particular station, and 
 which set him down in the midst of advantages and 
 opportunities which were so largely improved for the 
 good of the church universal. Humanly speaking, 
 the world and the cliurch are indebted, for all that 
 Dr. M'Crie has accomplished as an ecclesiastical his- 
 torian, to the much-decried principle of popular elec- 
 tion. But for his settlement in Edinburgh, his vo- 
 lumes, in all likelihood, had never existed. Nor is 
 there any reason to fear that, were this Scriptural 
 principle adopted in the establishment, as its original 
 constitution demands, it would prove less effectual in 
 securing for eminent posts the services of qualified 
 men, than the opposite system which, indeed, has 
 only succeeded in this object in so far as patrons have 
 been compelled by circumstances to accommodate it 
 to the spontaneous and united voice of the Christian 
 people. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 PROM HIS SETTLEMENT IN EDINBURGH TO THE COM- 
 MENCEMENT OP niS CONTROVERSY WITH THE SY- 
 NOD. 1796—1804. 
 
 Shortly after his settlement in Edinburgh, Dr. 
 IVI'Crie was united in marriage with Janet, daughter 
 of Mr. William Dickson, a respectable farmer in the 
 parish of Swinton. This union, which was the result 
 of a long and ardent attachment, contributed greatly 
 to his domestic liappiness. Mrs. M'Crie was a person 
 of singular sweetness of disposition, beloved by all 
 who knew her, and she discliarsred the duties of a 
 
34 LIPK OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 wife and mother with the most exemplary prudence, 
 affection and faithfulness. 
 
 The events of Dr. M'Crie's life as a minister of the 
 Gospel at this period would not have been liere re- 
 corded, were it not from a conviction that, in con- 
 nexion with the place which he was destined to fill 
 as a public man, they are neither unimportant nor 
 uninteresting. While they justified the expectation 
 which his friends who knew him in early life were 
 led to form, they present to us the earnests of what 
 he was afterwards to accomplish, and illustrate the 
 manner in which he was trained for his work. 
 
 His pulpit exercises at this period were always 
 able, prepared with conscientious care, and, in the 
 early part of his ministry, delivered in a style not 
 only animated but oratorial; and this, aided by a 
 somewhat fashionable air and attire, conveyed, at first 
 sight, to some of his more aged brethren, rather an 
 unfavourable impression of his character, which soon 
 however wore off on longer acquaintance. There 
 may have been also some ground for the remark, 
 that his discourses, though masterly expositions of 
 somp of the leading doctrines of Christianity, were 
 too abstract and intellectual for ordinary hearers. A 
 distant mission in which he was employed, had a con- 
 siderable influence in changing his views and tastes 
 on the subject of preaching. In August 179S, he 
 was sent, with his friend Mr. James Gray, to the 
 Orkney Islands, where he presided at the ordination 
 of Mr. William Broadfoot at Kirkwall. These 
 islands, owing to various causes, had been left deplo- 
 rably destitute of religious instruction, few of the in- 
 habitants being able to read, and the great mass living 
 in ignorance of the doctrines of salvation. A revi- 
 val, however, originating in a prayer-meeting held by 
 a few individuals in a remote corner of one of the 
 islands, had led to an application for supply of ser- 
 mon from the General Associate Synod. At the 
 period of Dr. M'Crie's visit, the excitement was very 
 strong, being exhibited in the arrested attention 
 
MISSION TO ORKNEY. 35 
 
 and visible impression produced in the crowds which 
 assembled, Sabbath-day and week-day, to hear the 
 Gospel, and in the eagerness with which they sought 
 the instructions and counsels of the ministers in 
 private.^- 
 
 On the ardent mind of Dr. M'Crie, the scenes 
 Tvhich he had witnessed in Orkney left a very strong 
 impression; and on his return in September, he de- 
 livered a discourse to his own flock, on "the return 
 of the seventy," in which he gave ihem an account 
 of the mission, and contrasted the eagerness with 
 which the Gospel was listened to, and the striking- 
 effects which it produced, in these long-neglected 
 islands, with the apathy and carelessness too often 
 manifested towards it in more favoured parts of the 
 land. " In the country from which I have lately 
 come," he said, " thank God, it is otherwise. There, 
 you will see persons hearing as those who have souls 
 which must be saved or lost. There, you may see 
 the most lively concern depicted on every face, and 
 hear the important question put from one to another, 
 " What must I do to be saved?" Here, it is a miracle 
 to see one in tears when hearing the Gospel, and if 
 at any time we witness the solitary instance, we are 
 tempted to think the person weak or hypocritical. 
 There, it is no uncommon thing to see hundreds in 
 tears, not from the relation of a pathetic story, nor 
 by an address to the passions, but by the simple de- 
 claration of a few plain facts respecting sin and sal- 
 vation. Here, it is with difficulty that we can fix 
 your attention on the sublimest truths during a short 
 discourse; we must contrive to amuse you with some 
 striking form of address, we must keep you awake 
 
 * The permanent effects of the Secession Mission to Orkney, in 
 the numerous congregations which iiave sprung up, and in its 
 collateral influence on the Established ministers, all candid per- 
 sons, acquainted with the facts, must acknowledge to have been 
 beneficial. In respect of enjoying the Gospel and its privileges, 
 and compared to what they were at the close of tlie last century, 
 the eight-and-twcnty islands may be said to have been evaji- 
 gelized. 
 
36 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE, 
 
 by mingling amusement with instruction. There, m 
 order to be heard with the most eager attention, one 
 has only to open his mouth and speak of Christ; 
 and after he is done, they will follow him to his house, 
 and beseech him to tell them more about Christ. 
 Here, it is only certain preachers that can be patiently 
 heard; there, so far as we know, there has not been 
 one from whom they have not received the word 
 gladly, nor one sermon preached which has not 
 brought tears from the eyes of some." The impres- 
 sion left on the preacher's own mind produced a 
 change on his sermons which many of his hearers 
 did not fail to remark. And such, I am assured, 
 was his growing acceptability that, before his name 
 was known as an historian, he was every where 
 received as one of the most respectable preachers 
 of his day. 
 
 Into the more private duties of the ministry, 
 he carried that spirit of faithfulness and diligence, 
 which might be presumed, from the unction with 
 which he has recorded the feelings and reflections of 
 the Scottish Reformer on this subject. In a letter 
 to a brother, dated 22d March 1803, accompanying 
 a copy of Baxter's Reformed Pastor, he writes, 
 '•' You do not say whether it is the abridgment or 
 the original copy you wish. The abridgment is in- 
 deed purged of much matter which is deemed extra- 
 neous, and wrought up to a finer style. But for my 
 own part, (and I think I may answer for yours also,) 
 I prefer the original with all its digressions and al- 
 lusions to then recent facts, and the natural rough- 
 spun eloquence of the author, to all the modish dress 
 which an abridger can give it. The whole book is 
 written with great fervour and piety, and there are 
 some places where you are carried along with an 
 irresistible torrent. It had an effect upon me, when 
 I read it some time ago, somewhat similar to what 
 you say the reading of Doddridge's Life had upon 
 you. I began to inquire what additional labours I 
 was called to use. The consequence lias been a little 
 
PRIVATE DILIGENCE. 37 
 
 more attention and diligence in ordinary labours, 
 rather than the attempting of any thing new. But 
 how soon are we apt to become weary, and how prone 
 to invent or admit excuses! Baxter satisfactorily 
 answers the objections made in his day to diligence 
 in the duties of the ministerial office. But there is 
 one which I may call the Seceding objection: "We 
 do all these things already. We catechise our con- 
 gregation, and we perform a course of family vi- 
 sitation every year. What lack ice?'' Will yoti 
 be so good as suggest some few thoughts upon this 
 objection?" 
 
 At this period, indeed, his time seems to have been 
 divided between the labours of the desk, and the 
 duties of his pastoral charge. Not that he was, by 
 any means, a recluse; on the contrary, none perhaps 
 more fairly practised the maxim of the old Roman, 
 Duke est desipere in loco. He had no mental hobby, 
 no amateur engagements which either engrossed his 
 mind or dissipated his attention. His relaxations 
 were such as produced an alterative effect on his 
 spirits, and gave him back to his serious employments 
 with renovated vigour. — But I again avail myself of 
 the recollections of the friend of his youth, to whose 
 contributions I have been already indebted. 
 
 " The native frankness and kindness of his temper 
 gave a constant charm to his conversation, which can 
 never be forgotten by those who had the pleasure of 
 enjoying it. Could we present the traits of this 
 temper as portrayed in the substantial acts of doing 
 good, and sympalhizing witli his friends in their joys 
 and their sorrows, we should show the secret of that 
 attachment which all liis acquaintance bore to him. 
 The politeness wliich j)referred others to himself, the 
 readiness with which he gave his counsel and co-ope- 
 ration, and the liberal liospitality of his fire-side, ac- 
 quired for him that popularity which expresses the 
 homage of the heart. At the time of the Synod, 
 others made up their dinner ])arties from a desire to 
 flatter tnlents, to honour a friend, to acknowledge a 
 4 
 
38 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 good deed, or to form a train for accomplishing some 
 particular purpose. Dr. M'Crie seemed to wait, un- 
 ostentatiously, to show his kindness to the persons 
 whom others overlooked." 
 
 Disinterestedness was, without doubt, from first to 
 last, a prominent feature in the subject of our me- 
 moirs, and entered more deeply into the formation of 
 his high public spirit, than a mercenary mind would 
 be willing to admit. In the early years of his minis- 
 try, he gave a rare example of that peculiar delicacy 
 of feeling which he never failed to show in all mat- 
 ters of personal interest and emolument; nor is it 
 unworthy of being recorded, as a precedent deserving 
 of attention from those who sometimes forget, that 
 the willingness of a poor but attached congregation 
 to make sacrifices for the sake of their minister, 
 affords no rule for his expectations or demands. 
 His congregation had rapidly increased, but being 
 composed chiefly of the humbler classes of society, 
 his income had not been raised to a sum adequate to 
 support his station in a large city, and meet the wants 
 of an increasing family. In 1798, when the price of 
 provisions was uncommonly high, his people proposed 
 to make some addition to his stipend. The report of 
 this coming to his ears, he addressed to them the fol- 
 lowing characteristic letter: — 
 
 "To the Elders and other Members of the Associate 
 Congregation, Potterrow. 
 
 "Dear Brethren, — As I understand you are to 
 have before you a proposal for augmenting my sti- 
 pend, I have thought it proper to write you a few 
 lines on the subject. 
 
 "The allowance which you promised me when I 
 first came among you as your minister, and which has 
 been always punctually paid, though not so liberal as 
 what may be given to others of the same station in 
 this place, has hitherto been sufficient. From any 
 general knowledge I have of the state of your funds, it 
 
DISINTERESTED CONDUCT. 39 
 
 is as much as you can be supposed to give, especially 
 considering tlic burdens under which you labour, 
 't'he expense of living has indeed been increasing for 
 some time past, but the. incomes of trades-people 
 have not increased in proportion; and as the most 
 of you are of that description, I don't consider myself 
 entitled to make any increasing demand upon you. 
 
 My desire is, therefore, that you delay making 
 any additional allowance for me at this time. I am 
 persuaded that, when Providence places it in your 
 power, you will not be backward to make my circum- 
 stances easy; and having this confidence, I have 
 more satisfaction than any sum you can add could 
 give me. I would wish to rejoice in my stipend as 
 one of the fruits of my preaching among you, but the 
 consideration of this being a burden to you would 
 deprive me of thisjoy,and even hurt me in the exercise 
 of my ministry. Go on, my brethren, in your regu- 
 lar attendance on the ordinances of Christ; abound 
 yet more and more in the fruits of righteousness; let 
 me have joy in beholding your good order and the 
 steadfastness of your faith in Christ; — and every other 
 thing shall, in due time, be added to me. 
 
 " I have only to add, that I send this letter, not 
 from a circumstance of delicacy, but from a sense of 
 duty, and that, as I am necessarily absent from home 
 at the time of your meeting, you will at least delay 
 this matter till another opportunity. In doing so, 
 you will oblige your affectionate pastor, 
 
 " Tho. M'Crie." 
 
 It may be easily imagined that this letter, which 
 was gratefully inserted in the minute-book of the 
 congregation, did not render them less anxious to 
 exert themselves for the comfort of their pastor. In 
 1800, a year of great scarcity, he formally proposed 
 to give up a portion of his promised stipend; an offer 
 which we need not say, was not accepted. It is but 
 justice to add, that the disinterested minister found, 
 to the end of his life, a generous congregation; and 
 
iO LIFE OP DU M'CRIE. 
 
 that, though not without his difficulties, of which, for 
 the sake of the cause in which he was embarked, he 
 never once complained, he was all along creditably 
 and honourably provided for. 
 
 Fi'om the first year of his settlement in Edinburgh, 
 his mind was constantly engaged on subjects of gene- 
 ral interest and public importance, and it became 
 apparent that his lucubrations would sooner or later 
 be imbodied in some work of permanent utility. His 
 first acknowledged publication was a Sermon, whicla 
 he was anxious to have forgotten, and it is with a 
 visiting of reluctance that we do any thing to save it 
 from the oblivion to which he would have devoted it. 
 It is entitled, "The Duty of Christian Societies 
 towards each other, in relation to the measures for pro- 
 pagating the Gospel, which at present engage the atten- 
 tion of the religious world, a Sermon preached in the 
 meeting-house, Potterrow, on occasion of a collection 
 for promoting a mission to Kentucky, 1797."* The 
 
 *The text is Luke ix.,49, 50. " And John answered and said, 
 Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we for- 
 bade him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said 
 unto him, Forbid him not, for he that ia not against us is for us." 
 On comparing the Sermon with the manuscript of his lecture on 
 the same subject, delivered in January 1833, 1 have observed the 
 following differences in his interpretation of the words. In the 
 Sermon, he supposes that the person who was found casting out 
 devils was a disciple of John the Baptist — that the twelve apos- 
 tles and seventy disciples formed a church from which it appears 
 " there were conscientious dissenters," — that " the cause of God 
 was managed by other parties, yea, even by a single straggling 
 individual, and that this individual received no discouragement 
 from Christ." In the Lecture, he pronounces these positions un- 
 tenable, and maintains tliat the person referred to was a disciple, 
 notof John, but of Jesus, though he "followed not" with the apos- 
 tles — that " what misleads us in this interpretation is, that we 
 are accustomed to use the phrase a. follower of Clirist as synony- 
 mous with a believer in (Jhrist, whereas in ihe gospels it is more 
 frequently used for pcrso7ial attendance on Jesus ; and that many 
 who believed on Christ, were not required to follow him in the 
 manner referred to by John, by leaving their homes and occupa- 
 tions." He adds, "to one of these, at least, he had secretly im- 
 parted a miraculous power, without either requiring or wishing 
 him to become one of his constant attendants; on the contrary, 
 it was his will that this individual should act apart, and that his 
 separate testimony sliould confirm the collective testimony of 
 the apostles." 
 
FIRST PUBtlCATION. 41 
 
 preface informs us that " a request from the congre- 
 gation to which the following Sermon was preached, 
 produced the author's first idea of offering to the 
 public a composition intended solely for the occasion 
 mentioned in the title-page." It would be difficult 
 for the ordinary reader to discover in the discourse 
 any thing of which the author had reason to feel 
 ashamed; it is well written, and contains some strong 
 passages in condemnation of the loose views which 
 prevailed at the time on lay-preaching and church- 
 communion. The object, indeed, of the Sermon, 
 is fully as much to guard against the extreme 
 of latitudinarian pliability of principle, as the other 
 extreme of " a narrow-minded intolerant zeal." But 
 it was not long before the author became satisfied 
 that he had not only misapprehended his text, but 
 in the ardour of youthful zeal had ventured on state- 
 ments liable to dangerous construction, and lending 
 some countenance to that very latitudinarianism 
 which he meant to avoid. So seriously was this im- 
 pressed on his mind, so tenderly did he feel on every 
 thing affecting the honour of truth, that he could not 
 rest till he had made a public retractation of the sen- 
 timents to which we have referred, in a sermon which 
 he preached at the opening of the Synod in 1801. He 
 never afterwards relished any allusion to this pro- 
 duction. Not many years ago, a copy of it, designed 
 for a gentleman who wished to possess it as Dr. 
 M'Crie's first publication, having fallen into his own 
 hands, he actually destroyed it, and could never be 
 brought to give any other account of its fate than 
 what might be gathered from the peculiar smile with 
 which he met any inquiry on the subject. This first 
 and in his eye unfortunate appearance before the 
 public taught him a lesson, which he steadily prac- 
 tised through life, and strongly inculcated on all would- 
 be authors, never to publish a discourse simply "at 
 the request of the congregation." Having been soli- 
 cited in 1803, by another congregation to publish a 
 Sermon which he had preached to them, he thus 
 4* 
 
42 LIFE OF DR. M^CIUE, 
 
 writes to the minister who had conveyed the request: 
 — " Since my miscarriage as to the printed sermon, 
 any desire which I might have felt to appear in pub- 
 lic, has been suppressed, and I cannot say I am dis- 
 posed to revive it. That the sermon referred to gave 
 you and the good people under your charge any mea- 
 sure of satisfaction, affords me more real gratification 
 than ever I derived from any praise bestowed upon 
 the former, which, considering the quarter it came 
 from, was the first thing that excited the suspicion 
 in my mind which led to my own great dissatisfaction 
 with it. Besides what you mention, I am aware that 
 the opinion which is formed of a spoken discourse 
 depends much upon the feelings both of speaker and 
 hearers at the time, feelings which cannot be easily 
 communicated to the public, nor called up by them- 
 selves at a future period. Be so good as excuse me 
 to the people in the manner you think best."* 
 
 We should not have dwelt so long upon this ser- 
 mon, were it not to correct a misapprehension partly 
 founded upon it, that his sentiments in early life, on 
 the points to which it referred, ditfered considerably 
 from those which he afterwards adopted. Even 
 granting that he did not perceive so clearly, at that 
 period, the danger of loose views as to ecclesiastical 
 fellowship, the mistake of having lent any counte- 
 nance to these was so speedily discovered, and so 
 publicly disclaimed, that it cannot reasonably or 
 honourably be quoted to his prejudice. But, in fact, 
 there is evidence to show that, even before the publi- 
 cation of the sermon, his views on the subject of 
 strict profession and pure fellowship, leaned in an 
 opposite direction, and were exactly such as might 
 have been expected from one who was through life 
 
 * It is curious to observe the same caution operating on his mind 
 in 1829, when he thus writes to one of liis brethren, on being so- 
 licited by the Synod to publish his Sermon preached before them : 
 "It has always been impressed upon my mind that an audience, 
 whether learned or otherwise, are not generally the best judges 
 !is to the propriety of publishing to the world a discourse delivered 
 before them." 
 
STRICTNESS OF PRINCIPLE. 43 
 
 the enlightened and consistent advocate of reforma- 
 tion principles. Before the first sacrament of his 
 ministry, when he had to reckon the number of his 
 accessions by scores, the sentiment which he is dis- 
 tinctly remembered to have uttered was, "In com- 
 parison of having the truth, I will not think of the 
 numbers who may aid me in maintaining it." His 
 first paper in "The Christian Magazine," which 
 appeared in the first number of that periodical, 
 February 1797, and which may be considered his 
 first published piece, had for its subject the value of 
 principle. It is "On the Importance of right Prin- 
 ciples in Religion, and the Danger of those which are 
 false." The following extract will show its purport. 
 " Truth, eternal truth, is the firm and immovable 
 basis of the Church. She is built upon that system 
 of doctrine which is laid down in the Scriptures of 
 the Old and New Testaments, upon the foundation 
 of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself 
 being the chief corner-stone. Upon this rock the 
 Church is founded; and hell and earth, though their 
 united efibrts have, since her erection, been di- 
 rected against her, have not been able to detach a 
 single stone from her superstructure. Of late the 
 method of attack seems to have been materially 
 changed. Despairing of success from open assault, 
 the enemies of Christianity have endeavoured to 
 undermine it, by recommending an indifierence to 
 all truth. This doctrine has been eagerly embraced, 
 and warmly recommended. Religion is represented 
 as a matter of feeling, and morality as an instinctive 
 and natural principle. The friends of revealed truth 
 are ridiculed as sticklers for opinion, and as persons 
 who, overlooking the substance, contend about the 
 form. Many now ask, with Pilate, ironically. What 
 is truth? and wait not for a reply, reckoning it a 
 mere illusion, a phantom, which is here, there, and 
 no where. "If a man," say they, "have a sound 
 heart and a good practice, it matters not of what 
 creed he be." On this fashionable modern opinion, 
 
44 LIFE or DR. m'crie. 
 
 (for it too is an opinion,) I beg leave to supjgest tho 
 following observations." Tbc substance of these 
 observations is, "that the opinion of those who plead 
 for indifference about truth and religious principles, 
 is founded upon a mistaken view of the nature and 
 duty of man, of the importance and influence of these 
 upon the heart and life, and especially upon igno- 
 rance and misapprehension of the doctrines of reve- 
 lation, and their connexion with the interests of 
 morality and mankind." 
 
 In the same periodical, for November and Decem- 
 ber 1798, there are two " Letters on Bigotry," writ- 
 ten by him, and signed Pidegon, breathing the same 
 spirit. In these articles, while he condemns bigotry 
 justly so called, his main design is to point out the 
 abuse which has been made of the term when applied 
 to those vvho zealously contend for the truth, and act 
 on tlie principle of strict communion. Bigotry he 
 defines to be blind zeal;" a bigot is one who is 
 " irrationally zealous." "But is all zeal for divine 
 truth blind or irrational? Is it not o;ood to be 
 zealously affected always in a good thing?" The 
 advocates of lax communion make much use of the 
 distinction between what they call essentials and 
 circumslantinls. "This hackneyed distinction," says 
 he, "under the semblance of liberality of sentiment, 
 hath done more injury among serious Christians than 
 any one I am acquainted with. It proceeds from, 
 and it tends greatly to increase, a selfish spirit in the 
 matters of God. What is its true import? It is 
 simply this: "You must be careful to believe, and 
 zealously adhere to as much of divine truth as is 
 necessary to secure heaven for yourselves; but as 
 to other things, it is of little moment whether you 
 believe them or not." But is not the glory of God 
 our highest end? Are we not bound to seek our 
 own happiness in subserviency to this?" 
 
 At a period very near the time of the publication 
 of the sermon, he published, in concert with his 
 friend, Mr. Whytock of Dalkeith, a first and second 
 
PAMPHLETS ON FAITH. 45 
 
 " Dialogue between John, a Baptist, and Ebenezer, 
 a Seceder." . The subject was Faith, and the pam- 
 phlets were designed to obviate what he conceived to 
 be some mistaken statements on the point, made in 
 a work of Mr. John M'Lean, Baptist minister in 
 Edinburgh. They display no small portion of that 
 versatility of talent which could adapt itself to the 
 difficult style of dialogue, and gave promise of what 
 he might have accomplished as a writer on pole- 
 mical theology. 
 
 But the event of his life which more than any other 
 gave a direction to all his literary labours, was the 
 public controversy in the religious body with which 
 he was first associated in profession. In many of its 
 accompaniments, it was in a high degree painful; at 
 the same time, both from the influence which it 
 communicated to his own mind, and the public ap- 
 pearances which it called him to make, is to be re- 
 garded as the turning dispensation of his lot. 
 
 This portion of his history renders it necessary to 
 enter a little into the general subject, a necessity 
 which we the less regret when we consider the inte- 
 resting and extensive bearings of the leading question 
 which it involves. At the time, indeed, when Dr. 
 M'Crie and his brethren had to fight their battle, the 
 majority of Seceders soothed their minds with the 
 persuasion that the matter was of small importance; 
 and with hardly a single exception, the members of 
 the Established Church looked on with indifierent 
 security. Recent events, however, have undeceived 
 both; on every hand now, the duty of the State with 
 respect to religion, is become the engrossing and 
 reigning question of the day; and it will be found 
 that, without direct reference to the subordinate ques- 
 tion of pecuniary support, the grand principle of the 
 Reformation on this subject, in its higher and more 
 comprehensive aspect, formed the sum and substance 
 of all the contend ings in which Dr. M'Crie and those 
 with whom he acted, were at this period involved. 
 
 In entering on these details, the writer can 
 
46 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 truly declare, that it gives him no pleasure to rake 
 up the ashes of this unhappy controversy. The 
 leading facts only will be given, and these with as 
 much brevity as is compatible with the honour of 
 truth, and the elucidation of the line of conduct pur- 
 sued by the subject of these memoirs. 
 
 The Secession from the Church of Scotland, which 
 took place in 1733, differed from almost every other 
 instance of ecclesiastical separation on record. In- 
 stead of proceeding, as these have generally done, 
 from dissatisfaction with the doctrine, worship, or 
 constitution of the Established Church, the cause of 
 the Secession was precisely the reverse. The first 
 Seceders were so heartily attached to the standards 
 and constitutional principles of the mother-church, 
 that they left her communion expressly on the ground 
 that she had, in their judgment, deserted them. It 
 would prevent much confusion of ideas on this point, 
 to distinguish between the occasion and the object of 
 the Secession — two things which, in fact, differed 
 very considerably. The immediate occasion of the 
 separation was doubtless the tyranny and mal-admi- 
 nistration of a prevailing party in the judicatories of 
 the Church, who sheltered erroneous teachers from 
 censure, — enforced, with unnecessary rigour, the ob- 
 noxious law of patronage, by intruding presentees on 
 reclaiming congregations, — and restrained the due 
 exercise of ministerial liberty in testifying against 
 these abuses in the pulpit. Four ministers, who took 
 an active part in protesting against these abuses, were 
 censured and loosed from their charges by the Com- 
 mission; and finding themselves thus thrust out from 
 the Church, they formally declared Secession from 
 the prevailing party in her judicatories. But neither 
 the pressure of patronage, nor the toleration of erro- 
 neous doctrine, nor the restraint of ministerial free- 
 dom, of which they complained, as injurious both to 
 truth and to godliness, would have induced the Se- 
 ceders to take this step, had not the judicatories of 
 the Establishment been regarded by them as "carry- 
 
THE OniGINAL SECESSION. 47 
 
 ing on a course of defection from our reformed and 
 covenanted jarinciples," — against which they had, for 
 a series of years, been testifying within the pale of 
 the EstabHshment.* This they plainly declared, from 
 the very first, to be the ground on wliich they "stated 
 their secession." So that, while the occasion of their 
 being driven into the position of Seceders, was the 
 conduct of the judicatories on the points already re- 
 ferred to, the real object of the Secession, as a formed 
 and separate profession, was to assert and defend the 
 principles of the Reformation. The original Seceders 
 identified themselves with the Church of Scotland, 
 as she existed in her purer days, particularly during 
 the period of the Second Reformation, between 1638 
 and 1650. On this era, distinguished as that of the So- 
 lemn League and Covenant, they took up their ground 
 and planted the banner of their testimony. They 
 not only espoused the principles of the Covenanters 
 during that period, and of the great body of them 
 during the bloody persecution which followed, but 
 vvere themselves Covenanters, being the only religious 
 body in the country who renewed the National Cove- 
 nants, in a bond suited to their circumstances, and 
 thus practically recognised their obligation as national 
 deeds on posterity. In short, "they appeared as a 
 part of the Church of Scotland, adhering to her re- 
 formed constitution, testifying against the injuries 
 which it had received, seeking the redress of these, 
 and pleading for the revival of a reformation attained 
 according to the Word of God in a former period, 
 approved by every authority in the land, and ratified 
 by solemn vows to the Most High."f 
 
 * " It is plain," says Mr. Wilson in his Defence of the Secession, 
 " that it was hot violent intrusions, it was not the act 1732, nei- 
 ther was it any other particular step of defection, considered ab- 
 stractly and by themselves, upon which tlie yecession was stated ^ 
 but a complex course of defection, both in doctrine, government, 
 and discipline, carried on with a high hand by the present judi- 
 catories of this Cliurch, justifying themselves in their procedure, 
 and refusing to be reclaimed.'' — P. 40. 
 
 i Appendix to Sermons on Unity, by Dr. M'Crie. Edinburgh, 
 Blackwood, 1821. 
 
48 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 From this account it will be seen that the charac- 
 teristic feature of the profession made by Seceders, — 
 that, indeed, which distinguished it from the pro- 
 fession of the Relief, and similar bodies, sepa- 
 rating from the mother-church — was its nationality. 
 To say that they were friendly to the principle of 
 national religion, is to say nothing; this was in fact 
 the discriminating principle of their association. 
 The whole scheme of reformation for which they 
 contended, was, in its form, national. The moment 
 this principle was abandoned, the main design of the 
 Secession, as an ecclesiastical movement, was lost 
 sight of; when the opposite principle was embraced, 
 that design was reversed. 
 
 In 1747, the Secession was unhappily divided, by 
 a controversy about burgess oaths, into two parties, 
 generally known by the name of Burgher and Anti- 
 burgher; both parties, however, still professing to 
 adhere to the Judicial Act and Testimony. But, 
 about the close of the last century, symptoms began 
 to appear on both sides, of a disposition to qualify 
 their adherence to the standards of the Church of 
 Scotland on the points of the magistrate's power 
 circa sacra, and national covenanting. In the Anti- 
 burgher Synod, to which Dr. M'Crie belonged, a 
 variety of circumstances combined to produce this 
 change. The estrangement from the Church of their 
 fathers, naturally engendered, in too many cases, by 
 long-continued separation, was followed by alienation 
 from the principles of her constitution. A laudable 
 attachment to the invaluable doctrines which involve 
 the spirituality of the Cliurch, and the supremacy of 
 the Church's only Head and Lord, wrought in some 
 minds unfounded jealousies with respect to the law- 
 ful exercise of civil authority in its own proper 
 sphere. Nor can it be denied, that the events and 
 opinions which accompanied the political agitations 
 of the close of the last century, and the beginning of 
 the present, had their own effect on the minds of 
 Seceders. It became quite a common occurrence to 
 
OVERTURE OF NEW TESTIMONr. 49 
 
 modify an assent to the Formula by a vague excep- 
 tion, which, by its very vagueness, neutralized the 
 whole profession in its bearings on the question of 
 civil establishments. The consequence was, that, on 
 this subject, the Antiburghers were prepared for a 
 change; some were consciously and avowedly alien- 
 ated from the received principles of the body; while 
 the greater part, though rather disposed to adhere to 
 their profession, did not consider the points in dis- 
 pute of sufficient importance to warrant them in 
 resisting the introduction of some general neutral- 
 izing expedient, especially as this appeared to be no 
 more than what was accorded in every instance when 
 individuals requested it. 
 
 This state of the profession on the subject of the 
 magistrate's power, could not fail to be felt as irk- 
 some, and various measures were proposed for redress. 
 It was an overture for extending the Testimony, that 
 drew on the issue in which thesubjectof our memoirs 
 was interested. This portion of the history of the 
 Antiburgher branch of the Secession, will be found 
 to record a warning to all churches, to guard against 
 meddling rashly with their public formularies. Little 
 did the movers of this proposal foresee its conse- 
 fjuences, either as affecting the public cause, or their 
 own personal history. It was in the house of one 
 who found himself afterwards in the heart of the 
 conflict, that the design was talked over a short time 
 before its accomplishment; and all the four brethren, 
 who subsequently formed the opposition, appeared 
 to hail its completion, till its progress revealed its 
 real character and effects. 
 
 The proposal came before the Synod as an over- 
 ture from the Presbytery of Forfar. Its professed 
 and defined object was an enlargement of the Testi- 
 mony, so as to bring it dovvn to present times, and 
 apply it to events wjiich had occurred since its enact- 
 ment in 1736. In this form the prayer of the over- 
 ture was granted, and a Committee appointed to 
 prepare a draught of the additions which it might be 
 
 5 
 
50 LIFE OF DU M'Cr.lE. 
 
 proper to make. The Committee had scarcely com- 
 menced their operations, when they resolved to 
 exceed their powers, and, instead of preparing an 
 appendix to the Testimony, to compose a new work, 
 which was designated " The Narrative and Testi- 
 mony." At an extraordinary meeting of Synod in 
 1793, the draught as prepared hy the Committee 
 was produced, and not onl}'^ was indemnity granted 
 for going beyond their commission, but the fruit of 
 their joint labours, in the form of an overture, was 
 highly applauded, and met with a reception, which, 
 as might have been foreseen, ensured its eventual 
 adoption. 
 
 The precise character of this document it is hardly 
 necessary to investigate, its authority being now as 
 little acknowledged by those who so keenly sup- 
 ported and at every hazard enacted it, as by those 
 who found themselves from the beginning compelled 
 to reject it. The changes which it introduced were 
 numerous, but all connected with the leading point 
 of civil management respecting religion. As yet the 
 lawfulness of establishments was not directly denied; 
 indeed, a protecting note was inserted, as a sort of 
 caveat against pledgino; themselves that they were 
 absolutely unlawful . Even this, however, amounted 
 to the withdrawment of every former declaration, 
 expressed or implied, in their favour; and the New 
 'J"'estimony was the obliteration of every previous 
 appearance made by Seceders in behalf of any civil 
 arrangements which had for their object the security 
 ur promotion of religion. So much did this spirit 
 pervade the formulary, that it not only dii'ected the 
 statement of principle, but moulded and modified the 
 narrative of facts, which accompanied it. The obli- 
 gation of the Covenants, so far as they were national 
 and civil in their object, was not only unacknow- 
 ledged, but by necessary consequence denied and 
 impugned. With all this there was mixed up much 
 that was sound and incontrovertible truth, and much 
 that, however incompatible with other parts of the. 
 
THE NEW TESTIMONY. 51 
 
 deed, could be conveniently quoted to silence, if not 
 to satisfy, a simple-minded objector. In short, the 
 dilemma of renouncing received principles, and at 
 the same time saving the appearance and repelling 
 the imputation of doing so, — doing the deed, and yet 
 denying it, — produced of necessity a medley of incon- 
 sistencies which, but for the serious importance of 
 the case, would have been amusing, and to a Pascal 
 would have afforded rich materials for a new series 
 of Provincial Letters. 
 
 It is now placed beyond all reasonable disputing, 
 that the New Testimony adopted by the General 
 Synod in 1S04, differed tolo calo from the original 
 Testimony, in every point peculiar to the profession 
 of Seceders. The difference did not lie in a few 
 unessential points, but in the very spirit and specific 
 nature and design of the two documents. The Se- 
 cession Testimony was neither more nor less than 
 an appearance in behalf of the principles of the 
 Church of Scotland, as exhibited in the Westminster 
 standards, and of the whole work of reformation, 
 civil as well as ecclesiastical, with an adherence to 
 the solemn obligations by which the Church and 
 State, in their respective spheres, are bound to main- 
 tain them. This character is emblazoned on its front 
 — it is verified by all its contents — and the time will 
 soon come, when it shall hardly be credited that an 
 opposite sentiment was ever entertained. The origi- 
 nal deed was entitled, " Act, declaration, and testi- 
 mony for the doctrine, worship, discipline and 
 government of the Church of Scotland; agreeably to 
 the Word of God, the Confession of Faith, the 
 National Covenant of Scotland, and the Solemn 
 I^eague and Covenant of the three nations; and 
 against several steps of defection from the same both 
 in former and present times." One needs only to 
 re ;d this title to discover, that it was not a declara- 
 tion of adherence to certain truths shnphj on the 
 general ground of their being agreeable to Scripture; 
 but a testimony for the profession of the Church of 
 
o'4 LIFE OF I>R. M'CRIE. 
 
 Scotland, and the nalionnl reformation. A large 
 portion of the Old Testimony, therefore, was occupied 
 by an explicit acknowledgment of the civil as well as 
 ecclesiastical steps affecting the progress of the Re- 
 formation, and the national bonds by which it was 
 ratified. In the Nevv Testimony, again, under the 
 pretext of "resting the whole of their ecclesiastical 
 constitution on the testimony of God in his Word, 
 the primary affinity of the Secession to the Church 
 of Scotland is wholly evaded; and the standards of 
 that Church, formerly testified for, are only recog- 
 nised, like any other book, so far as they agree with 
 the standards erected by the General Synod. On 
 the duty of magistrates to support and promote true 
 religion, so distinctly approved in the original Testi- 
 mony, the Synod maintained that " the power com- 
 petent to worldly kingdoms is wholly temporal, 
 respecting only the secular interests of society,'.' — that 
 the magistrate could only promote religion "in his 
 private character," and " by his own advice and 
 example." And with regard to all that our ancestors 
 did in securing the reformation of civil enactments, 
 they declare, "we do not vindicate their imbod)'ing 
 the matter of their religious profession with the laws 
 of the country, and giving it the formal sanction of 
 civil authority." Tliese principles might, or they 
 might not, "rest on the testimony of God in his 
 word ;" but to deny that their adoption by the Synod 
 inferred a radical change in " their ecclesiastical con- 
 stitution," and to cover their retreat from the ancient 
 ground, by talking lightly of the standards which 
 they forsook, and loudly of the Scriptures to whicli 
 they professed adherence, — would be an attempt to 
 disguise the truth of history, which must inevitably, 
 in the end, recoil upon the heads of those who ven- 
 ture on it, and rouse the contempt, if not the indig- 
 nation, of all honourable minds. 
 
 It may be supposed that, in the early stage of this 
 controversy, many excellent men who favoured the 
 contemplated innovations were actuated solely by 
 
ATTEMPTS AT CONCEALING THE CHANGE. 53 
 
 dread of every thing which savoured of persecution 
 for conscience' sake; and there is reason to think 
 that very few, if an}^, in the Synod, were aware of 
 the practical results to which their principles would 
 lead.* The worst feature in the whole case, and 
 which few will now venture to palliate, was the 
 attempt put forth from the beginning, anri studiously 
 kept up to the end, to persuade the people connected 
 with the Secession that no change was made on their 
 profession by the new deeds — that they were still 
 contending for all the principles maintained by the 
 first Seceders! It is possible, that during the heat 
 of the contest, many may have flattered themselves 
 that the views which they had espoused as indivi- 
 duals, had always been those entertained by their 
 fathers. But the consequence of this policy was, 
 that the great body of the people, many of whom 
 were still friendly to the original principles of the 
 Secession as stated in their Testimony, were kept in 
 total ignorance of the change, while many more who 
 would have been startled at the idea of moving oflf 
 "the good old way in which their fathers walked," 
 yielded a quiet acquiescence, when assured by those 
 whom they were accustomed to revere, that the Sy- 
 nod had done no more than vindicated themselves 
 from the imputation of holding persecuting princi- 
 ples. Recent events have placed the true character 
 of this change beyond all question; and the great 
 body of modern Seceders, moving, as might be ex- 
 pected, from one step of defection to another, are 
 now ready to avow, and glory in the avowal, that in 
 following out the principles then adopted to their le- 
 
 *' It is worth observing, that in an account of the General 
 Associate Synod, written in 18U9, three years after Dr. M'Crieiiad 
 left them, and transmitted by one of their own number, (tlie late 
 Dr. Jamieson, I believe,) to Mr. Adams for insertion in his work 
 then published, it is said, " Tiiere is no reason to believe, that, if 
 the corruptions complained of, in the Church of Scotland, were 
 removed, the mere legal establislimcnt would be viewed, by any 
 of the memhers of Synod, as a sufficient bar to re-union." — Adams' 
 Religious World Displayed, vol. iii., p. 211. 
 5- 
 
S4 LIFE OF DR. m'CRIE. 
 
 g,itimate consequences, they have landed in Volun- 
 taryism, and now find themselves directly at anti- 
 podes with the sentiments of the fathers of the Se- 
 cession, and with that Testimony which continued to 
 the close of the last century to be the recognised and 
 unqualified term of communion in the body.* 
 
 'rhere were several ministers who either scrupled 
 to approve, or positively condemned the changes to 
 which we have alluded; but the number who openly 
 appeared against them, and never acquiesced in them, 
 was very small. It would not become a Seceder, 
 who delights in tracing, back the history of his so- 
 ciety to " the first four brethren," to think the less 
 of the cause wliich they espoused on account of the 
 paucity of their numbers. When we rehearse their 
 iiames, the Rev. Archibald Bruce, Minister and Pro- 
 fessor of Divinity at Whitburn; Rev. James Aitken, 
 Kirriemuir; Rev. George Whytock, Dalkeith; Rev. 
 Robert Chalmers, Haddington; Rev. James Hogg, 
 
 * Since writing the above, a "History of the Secession, by the 
 Rev. John M'Kerrow, Bridore-of-Teith," has appeared, in which 
 the author attempts to vindicate the General Synod from the 
 charge to which we have referred, by maintaining that tiie sen- 
 timents of Seceders on the points in dispute liad undergone a 
 change from a very early period in the history of the community. 
 It will not be expected that I should enter into an examination 
 of that work, or point out all the erroneous statements of facts, 
 with which, in my opinion, it abounds. It is no doubt very easy 
 to adduce passages from the writings of individuals, and docu- 
 ments, which appear, especially when taken apart from their con- 
 nexion, to favour the new doctrines afterwards imbodied in the 
 profession of tjie society. But it would be paying a poor com- 
 pliment to the understanding of any man to suppose that he can 
 perceive no material difference between the ancient formularies 
 of the Secession, and those adopted by the General Synod is 
 1B04. I can easily understand how, with the seatiments which 
 this author entertains, he should affect to speak slightingly of 
 the contendings of Dr. M'Crie and his brethren in opposing 
 the innovations, though even this seems strange, considering 
 the acknowledged importance of the principles involved; but I 
 confess, I was totally unprepared to meet with a repetition of the 
 denial, so confidently put forth at the time, that any change was 
 made on the public profession of Seceders by the adoption of the 
 Narrative and Testimony. Without saying a word more, I think 
 that 1 may now fairly leave the question to be decided by the 
 public. 
 
PROFESSOR BRUCE, 55 
 
 Kelso; and Rev. Thomas M'Crie, Edinburgh; — we 
 exhibit a rare combination of diversified talent and 
 excellence; and without claiming any decision of the 
 controversy apart from its merits, we venture to 
 affirm, what few candid men acquainted with them 
 will deny, that the roll of the Synod did not contain 
 the names of six ministers more competent, in point 
 of information, judgment, and every other qualifica- 
 tion, to examine and decide the question at issue. 
 
 Mr. Bruce was the man who, more than any other, 
 not excepting the subject of our memoir, originated 
 and directed the struggle which was now made for 
 the cause of the Reformation; and it is an undoubt- 
 ed fact, that on the matter in dispute, and on every 
 collateral question, he had read and studied more 
 than all the other members of Synod. This learned 
 and venerable divine may be said to have been the 
 first to perceive the dangerous tendency of the 
 changes contemplated; and from the commence- 
 ment, he stood forth, though for some time alone, to 
 oppose them. For no man on earth did Dr. M'Crie 
 entertain a more profound veneration, to no man's 
 opinion did he pay a greater respect; and whether 
 we consider the influence which Professor Bruce had 
 in directing his studies, and forming his sentiments, 
 or the close intimacy which subsisted between them 
 to the last, it seems but an act of justice due to the 
 memory of that excellent, and in some respects ex- 
 traordinary person, to introduce a brief notice of him 
 in these memoirs. 
 
 Archibald Bruce was born at Broomhill, near the 
 village of Denny, Stirlingshire, in the year 1746, of 
 respectable parents, whose circumstances enabled 
 them to give him a liberal education. His classical 
 and philosophical studies were commenced at a pri- 
 vate academy, and finished at the University of Glas- 
 gow; after which he attended the theological lec- 
 tures of the Rev. William MoncriefT of Alloa. To 
 a steadiness of character which he evinced from his 
 youth, Mr. Bruce added an inquisitive disposition 
 
56 LIFE OF DR. M'^CRI^. 
 
 which would not allow him to take his religious 
 principles upon trust. At this period of his life, he 
 began to entertain serious scruples on some points of 
 the profession of Seceders, in which he had been 
 brought up, and entered into a correspondence with 
 Mr. Gillespie, the well-known founder of the Relief 
 Association, from whom he received very flattering 
 encouragement. On more mature deliberation, how- 
 ever, these scruples vanished, and in August 1768, 
 he was ordained in the Associate congregation at 
 Whitburn. In this sequestered situation, Mr. Bruce 
 continued till his death in 1816, quietly discharging 
 the duties of the pastoral office and prosecuting his 
 literary labours. On the death of Mr. Moncrieff in 
 1786, Mr. Bruce was, much against his own inclina- 
 tion, appointed his successor in the divinity chair, 
 by the General Associate Synod; and after the di- 
 vision in that body in 1806, he continued afterwards 
 to teach the theological class, under the inspection of 
 the Constitutional Presbytery. 
 
 The following character of the Professor, which 
 was drawn up by Dr. M'Crie to accompany the an- 
 nouncement of his death in the newspapers, will 
 show the high place which he occupied in the esteem 
 of his friend and pupil : — " Professor Bruce possessed 
 natural talents of a superior order, which he had cul- 
 tivated with unwearied industry. To an imagination 
 which was lively and fertile, he united the most 
 sound and correct judgment. His reading, which 
 was various and extensive, was conducted with such 
 method, and so digested, that he could at any time 
 command the use of it; and during a life devoted to 
 study, he had amassed a stock of knowledge, on all 
 the brandies of learning connected with his profes- 
 sion, extremely rare. In his religious principles he 
 was decidedly attached to the standards and consti- 
 tution of the Church of Scotland, as settled in her 
 reforming periods. His attachment to these, and to 
 the principles of civil and religious liberty, insepara- 
 ble from them, was evinced by the part he took in 
 
PROFESSOR BRUCE. 57 
 
 various questions which engaged the public attention, 
 although his aversion to every thing which had the 
 appearance of ostentation induced him frequently to 
 withhold his name from his publications. He was 
 more qualified for writing than public speaking; but 
 though his utterance was slow, and he had no claim 
 to the attractions of delivery, yet his discourses from 
 the pulpit always commanded the attention of the 
 judicious and serious, by the profound views and 
 striking illustrations of Divine truth which they 
 contained, and by the vein of solid piety which ran 
 through them. His piety, his erudition, his uncommon 
 modesty and gentlemanly manners, gained him the 
 esteem of all his acquaintance; and these qualities 
 added to the warm interest which he took in their 
 literary and spiritual improvement, made him revered 
 and beloved by his students."* 
 
 In 1780, Mr. Bruce published his "Free Thoughts 
 on the Toleration of Popery," a most elaborate per- 
 formance, which has furnished, in the variety of its 
 information, a rich store of materials to subsequent 
 writers on that question. An imperfect list of his 
 other works, which are almost too numerous to men- 
 tion, is subjoined in a note.f Of the general charac- 
 ter of these works, it may suffice to say, that they 
 
 * Obituary of the Scots Magazine. April 181 G. 
 
 t Besides the " Free Thoughts," Mr. Bruce published an excel- 
 lent Sermon entitled " True Patriotism.'' — " The British Jubilee." 
 — " Dissertation on the Supremacy of the Civil Powers in matters 
 of religion." — "The Life of Alexander Morus," with a transla- 
 tion of his Sermons. — "Review of the proceedings of the Gene- 
 ral Associate Synod." — " Reflections on the Freedom of Writing, 
 and the danger of suppressing it by penal laws." — Memoirs of 
 the Public Life of Mr. James Hogg of Carnock." — " Occasional 
 Lectures delivered in the Tlieological Academy at Whitburn." — 
 " Strictures on the Mode of Swearing by kissing the Gospels." — 
 " View of the Remarkable Providences of the Time." — "Brief 
 Statement of the Principles of Seceders respecting Civil Go- 
 vernment." — Various Evangelical and Practical Discourses." — 
 " Christianization of India." — " Poems," &c., &c. It may be 
 mentioned as a curious illustration of the zeal with which Mr. 
 Bruce prosecuted his literary labours, that he brought a printer 
 to Whitburn, and employed him exclusively, for many years, in 
 printing his own publications. 
 
58 LIFE OP DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 are all distinguished for profound and accurate think- 
 ing, and as the fruits of a richly cultivated mind, are 
 invaluable to the theological student; though, partly 
 from the nature of some of the subjects, and partly 
 from the copiousness, amounting sometimes to pro- 
 lixity, of the illustrations, they have not attained the 
 popularity which they deserve. As a polemical 
 writer, none has succeeded better in drawing the line 
 of distinction between liberty and licentiousness, or 
 balanced with a nicer hand tlie rights of God and 
 man. A genuine Whig of the old school, yet with 
 nothing of the virulence or vulgarity of the demo- 
 crat, he was a thorough hater of all despotism and 
 intolerance, civil or religious. He was a bold assertor 
 of the right of private judgment and the liberty of 
 the press, at a time when both were so much abused 
 as to expose the writer who advocated them to no 
 small hazard. At the very time when he was en- 
 gaged in the controversy with the General Synod, in 
 defence of the lawful exercise of civil authority in 
 regard to the externals of religion, he published his 
 " Dissertation on the Supremacy of the Civil Powers 
 in matters of religion,'" the object of which is to con- 
 demn that supremacy, and vindicate the independ- 
 ence and spirituality of the Church. And strange as 
 it may appear to modern politicians, it was by the 
 very fervour of his zeal for civil and religious liber- 
 ty, that he was led to take such a decided part in 
 opposition to the Roman Catholic claims — claims, 
 which have since then been advocated and conceded 
 on the very ground upon which the friends of free- 
 dom and reform in those days, with more foresight, 
 resisted them. 
 
 In his personal appearance, Mr. Bruce was remark- 
 ably dignified and venerable. With a spare erect 
 figure of the middle size, and a noble cast of coun- 
 tenance, resembling the Roman, dressed with scru- 
 pulous neatness, and wearing the full-bottomed wig, 
 long cane and large shoe-buckles of the olden time, 
 he presented to the last the polite bearing of the 
 
MESSRS. AITKEN AND WHYTOCK. 59 
 
 gentleman with the sedateness of the scholar and the 
 minister. And yet, with all his graveness of aspect 
 and demeanour, he had an uncommon fund of wit, 
 which he could indulge in playful humour or poig- 
 nant satire, and which rendered his company pecu- 
 liarly engaging. 
 
 I may conclude this sketch with the following en- 
 comium pronounced by Dr. M'Crie in an address to 
 the students after the Professor's death : — "For so- 
 lidity and perspicacity of judgment, joined to a live- 
 ly imagination, — for profound acquaintance with the 
 system of theology, and with all the branches of 
 knowledge which are subsidiary to it, and which are 
 ornamental as well as useful to the Christian divine, — 
 for the power of patient investigation, of carefully 
 discriminating between truth and error, and of guard- 
 ing against extremes on the right hand as well as the 
 left, — and for the talent of recommending truth to 
 the youthful mind by a rich and flowing style,— rnot 
 to mention the qualities by which his private charac- 
 ter was adorned, — Mr. Bruce has been equalled by 
 few, if any, of those who have occupied the chair of 
 divinity, either in late or in former times." 
 
 Next to Mr. Bruce in point of age, and almost as 
 prominent a character in this little band, stood Mr. 
 James Aitken. He was born at Forgandenny, in the 
 neighbourhood of Perth, on the 4th of January 1757. 
 With a strikingly portly aspect and commanding 
 voice, Mr, Aitken possessed mental qualifications 
 which rendered him one of the most edifying and 
 popular preachers of his own or any other denomi- 
 nation. A clear-headed, conscientious and courageous 
 Presbyterian of the old school, he was distinguished 
 for his knowledge of Reformation principles, and for 
 his adherence to them in profession and administra- 
 tion. His favourite study was history, and he was 
 intimately acquainted with the topics involved in 
 the present controversy. He was one of the com- 
 miltee which framed the draught of the new Tes- 
 timony, and manifested that he had no prejudice 
 
60 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 against the measure, could it have been accomplished 
 in any tolerable form.* 
 
 Mr. George Whytock was noted for his cool judg- 
 ment and power of discrimination. "Though capa- 
 ble of examining a subject with philosophical accu- 
 racy, there was no appearance of abstraction or re- 
 finement of ideas in his discourses from the pulpit, 
 but throughout a plainness and simplicity, level to a 
 common capacity. His prudence, sagacity and cool 
 dispassionate temper, qualified him for being emi- 
 nently useful as a member of ecclesiastical judicato- 
 ries. "f Nor ought it to be omitted here, that Mr. 
 Whytock was proverbially a man of peace, and pos- 
 sessed no common talents for composing differences, 
 both private and public. Such was the confidence 
 placed by his brethren on this part of his character, 
 that some have hazarded the conjecture, that had he 
 been spared a little longer, he would have prevented 
 the breach. The ti'ain, we fear, was too deeply laid 
 for any to have prevented the explosion; but he was 
 called to his rest before his brethren took their final 
 step. Mr. Whytock is the author of an able work 
 on Presbytery, and he no doubt discovered the rela- 
 tion of the whole Presbyterian cause to the question 
 on which the Synod was divided. 
 
 Mr. Robert Chalmers was perhaps one of the best 
 specimens of the old Seceder minister whom our 
 times have been privileged to witness. The charac- 
 teristic of his mind was plain common sense. There 
 
 * A volume of Mr. Aitken's Sermons, with a Memoir of tiio 
 author, was late!}' published by his son, the Rev. John Aitken, 
 Aberdeen. — Edin., Whyte & Co. 1836. 
 
 t These traits are taken from a brief notice of Mr. Whytock's 
 death, inserted by Dr. M'Crie in the Christian Magazine, for 
 December lb05. Tlie testimony borne at tiie close of this notice 
 to Mr. Whytock's sincere attachment and steady adherence to 
 the Reformation Principles of the Church of Scotland, and " his 
 appearance in behalf of these principles, in the way of opposing 
 certain changes lately made in the public profession of the body 
 he was connected with," drew forth an angry reply in a succeed- 
 ing number from the eccentric Mr. Robertson of Kilmarnock, 
 wiiich was answered by Mr. Bruce. — Cliristian Magazine, vol, 
 X., p. 7G. 
 
MESSRS. CHALMERS AND HOGG. 61 
 
 was a simplicity and directness about him, which 
 while they enabled him clearly to comprehend every 
 point which he investigated, qualified him for placing 
 it before others, disencumbered of the fallacies thrown 
 around it by men of more ingenious and adventu- 
 rous, but less lucid and unsophisticated understand- 
 ings. Steady to the principles of the Reformation, 
 his chief delight lay in "preaching the unsearchable 
 riches of Christ." As a preacher, Mr. Chalmers 
 was, in his day, without a rival. " Simple, grave, 
 sincere," the clearness of his mind shone through 
 the terse phraseology of his discourses, which were 
 marked by a singular degree of evangelical unction, 
 and delivered in a homely but captivating style, re- 
 taining to the last all the raciness of the old Scottish 
 dialect, without its vulgarity. In private life, his 
 unaffected piety, patriarchal plainness, and genuine 
 kindness of heart, endeared him to old and young. 
 Besides the volume of Sermons, formerly mentioned, 
 Mr. Chalmers is the author of a tract on Missionary 
 Societies, published in 17f)8, in which the anomalous 
 constitution and ill-digested operations of some of 
 these associations are ably pointed out; and in 1807, 
 he published an Address to his congregation on the 
 points in dispute with the Synod, which is distin- 
 guished by all the perspicacity, naivete and vigour 
 of his character.* 
 
 Mr. James Hogg was a classical scholar, an accu- 
 rate divine, and a man of determined resolution. 
 Pious, humble and inoffensive in his walk, he was 
 beloved by all around him. And it does not, in our 
 estimation, weaken his testimony to the truth, that 
 in the warmth of his spirit and honest zeal for civil 
 liberty, he at one time appeared to cherish different 
 views on the subject of controversy from those which 
 more deliberate examination induced him to adopt. 
 
 * Mr. Chalmers was the last survivor of the small company of 
 worthies whose names are here recorded. He died, full of j'ears 
 and Christian honours, on the '29th of December 1837, in the 82d 
 year of his age and the 58th of his ministry. 
 
 (> 
 
62 LIFE OF DR, M'CRIE. 
 
 It is interesting to find that every member of this 
 little band was marked by his attachment to the cause 
 of genuine liberty; still more so, to find that they 
 were " men of God," each of them distinguished for 
 genuine piety. 
 
 It would be affectation were we to pretend to doubt 
 that Dr. M'Crie was competent to investigate the 
 question; but leaving this to be settled by others, it 
 is the province of his biographer to record the history 
 of his mind in the study of the general subject, and 
 of his conduct as directed by his convictions; a his- 
 tory, which will afford one of the best illustrations 
 of his character, and present a model of diligence, in- 
 tegrity and disinterestedness, well worthy to be fol- 
 lowed in the investigation and management of any 
 public cause. 
 
 The reader is here requested to recur to the trans- 
 actions to which we alluded in the account of his 
 license and ordination. It will be recollected that 
 at license he obtained a marking in the minutes of 
 Presbytery, to the effect that he was not to be under- 
 stood, by his answers to the questions in the formula, 
 as giving any judgment upon the question relating 
 to the magistrate's power, then in dependence be- 
 fore the Synod; and that before his ordination, the 
 Synod passed an Act in May 1796, bearing on this 
 point. In this Act, " The Synod declare, that as 
 the Confession of Faith was at first received by the 
 Church of Scotland with some exception as to the 
 power of the civil magistrate relative to spiritual 
 matters, so the Synod, for the satisfaction of all who 
 desire to know their mind on this subject, extend that 
 exception to every tiling in that Confession which, 
 taken by itself, seems to allow the punishment of 
 good and peaceable subjects on account of their reli- 
 gious opinions and observances; that they approve 
 of no other way of bringing men into the Church, or 
 retaining them in it, than such as are spiritual, and 
 were used by the apostles and other ministers of the 
 Word in the first ages of the Christian Church; per- 
 
THE ACT OF 1796. 63 
 
 suasion, not force; the power of the Gospel, not the 
 sword of the civil magistrate." 
 
 The principles here laid down, viewed abstraclly, 
 Dr. JM'Crie never disputed at any period of his life. 
 To persecution for conscience' sake, in its every form, 
 he was uniformly and decidedly opposed; and had 
 this Act implied noticing more than an explanation 
 of the sense in which the Synod understood the lan- 
 guage of the Confession of Faith, no objection could 
 have been reasonably found with it. That it was meant 
 to look as if it implied no more, is pretty clear from 
 tbe preamble, by which it is somewhat artfully intro- 
 duced, relating to the "exception"made by theChurch 
 of Scotland, which was in fact merely a declaration 
 intended to guard against the assumption of an Eras- 
 tian power on the part of the State, a point in which 
 the language of the Confession was not considered 
 sufficiently explicit. But the Act of the Synod was 
 certainly an implied condemnation of the Confession, 
 as teaching principles of intolerance, and neutralized 
 the former profession of Seceders in favour of the civil 
 part of the Reformation. Indeed, as interpreted by 
 those who enacted it, this Act decided the whole ques- 
 tion as to the magistrate's power, and proved the fore- 
 runner of changes on the profession of the Synod, 
 which, from the vagueness of the terms employed, 
 might have been intended, though they could hardly 
 have been anticipated. 
 
 A misrepresentation of the state of Dr. M'Crie's 
 mind at this period, has been very generally circu- 
 lated. It has been said that he was originally a de- 
 cided convert to the new principles, and prepared to 
 maintain all their consequences. The fact is, that as 
 soon as he began to discover their consequences, he 
 began to question the principles. When he gave a 
 qualified assent to the formula at license and ordina- 
 tion, his own judgment on the questions at issue, was 
 quite undecided. As he stated to a friend who con- 
 versed with him on the matter, it was not on "new 
 light grounds, or, at least, not from any settled opi- 
 
64 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 nion on the subject," that he sought this privilege; 
 " but because he was aware that the new opinions had 
 of late become general in the body, and he thought it 
 wrong that they should continue to tie down young 
 men at ordination to principles which they themselves 
 no longer held," His request was avowedly made on 
 the ground, that the question respecting the power of 
 the magistrate in religious matters was " in depend- 
 ance before the General Associate Synocl;"and the fol- 
 lowing extract from a letter written so early as 1798, 
 without any view of making out a case for himself, 
 will show that even then he considered the question 
 as sub judice, and even entertained hopes that the 
 discussion would issue in a judgment favourable to 
 the union between Church and State: "The Synod 
 upon the whole was thinly attended this Session. 
 The principal thing which they did was revising the 
 draught of an acknowledgment of sins, &c., and or- 
 dering it to be printed. There was also a good deal 
 of conversation about the old topic, and I think it was 
 more favourable than before to the prospect of unity 
 of sentiment. I think there has a suspicion risen in 
 the minds of some that they had too hastily embraced 
 a favourite and interesting new opinion, and that per- 
 haps, after all, there is, in the nature of things, a 
 foundation for a union between Church and State. 
 Perhaps, however, I am too sanguine."* 
 
 1 have searched in vain through his correspondence 
 and manuscripts for any traces of decidedly new light 
 sentiment, — somewhat, I confess, to my disappoint- 
 ment, as otherwise the argument from a complete 
 revolution in his views, wrought by time and con- 
 viction, might, in my opinion, have come with still 
 better effect. It is undeniable, however, that his 
 leanings were originally in favour of the new doc- 
 trines, and that the result of all his previous reading 
 and reflection, which was tantamount to that of most 
 young men at his age, went to confirm these early pre- 
 
 * To the Rev. James Gray, 1st November, 1798. 
 
EARLY SENTIMENTS ON THE QUESTION. 65 
 
 possessions. And granting that he had been much 
 more decided on the modern side, such a state of 
 mind was surely not without its advantages. We 
 need not recite the names of Saul of Tarsus, Luther, 
 Knox, and Henderson, to recall to the reader's mind 
 a long list of the most useful men that ever lived, 
 who, in similar circumstances, have found the errone- 
 ous convictions of early life overruled for establishing 
 their own minds in the truth, and qualifying them 
 for more effectively maintaining the cause which 
 they were left for a time to misapprehend. 
 
 It is amusing, and not a little instructive to be 
 able to trace, iisqve ab oro,the formation of his opinions 
 on this important question, and to discover in these 
 elements the outline of the more digested argument 
 which is exhibited in his public defence of the Re- 
 formed principle on the subject. Almost immediate- 
 ly after the passing of the Act 1796, and before the 
 close of the year in which he was ordained, he began 
 to question the position, that civil administration 
 ought to have no respect, and to show no particular 
 favour, to revealed truth and divine institutions, — 
 for this was, as it still is, the sum of the whole con- 
 test. There is reason to think that what startled 
 him, and set him to a more careful investigation of 
 the question, was a discovery of the sweeping ef- 
 fect which the tenet of excluding all civil manage- 
 ment about religion would produce, in condemning 
 the principles and transactions of the Reformation, 
 and the peculiar profession of Seceders in reference 
 to them. The abstract arguments which, to a great 
 extent, decided his opinion, we know were such 
 as the following: — The subjection and duty of na- 
 tions, as such, to the Supreme Being; the modified 
 analogy between the Old and New Testaments; 
 the necessary exclusion by the opposite doctrine 
 of all interference of civil authority for the pro- 
 tection of the Sabbath; the paramount claims of di- 
 vine truth, once revealed, to the support of men, in 
 all their different capacities; and the necessity of 
 6" 
 
66 LIFE OF DR. M'CKIE. 
 
 a combination of church and state, in their respec- 
 tive spheres, in promoting the common object of 
 religion, for the well-being of both, and the fulfil- 
 ment of the most glorious predictions of Scripture. 
 
 A course of deliberate study not only confirmed his 
 judgment on the general question, but set its import- 
 ance in a light which deeply affected him. It was 
 the remark of his afl'ectionate partner in life, who 
 felt in all that agitated him like his other self, that 
 a meeting of Synod visibly injured his health, and 
 this was his own experience more than he chose to 
 express. He watched with deep anxiety the progress 
 and turns of the discussion in the Synod, at one time 
 glad to indulge the hope that a breach might be pre- 
 vented and the profession preserved, and at another 
 deterred from joining those who openly protested 
 against the new deeds, not so much from the dread 
 of the imputation of inconsistency, which he knew 
 awaited him, as from the diffidence inspired by a 
 remorseful sense of his past conduct. The process 
 by which he reached his full and final convictions 
 was, as we shall see, extremely slow and gradual. 
 His was one of those minds vvliich require time to 
 strike their roots, develope their strength, and attain 
 maturity. The first step of this process was a con- 
 viction that the Act 1796 was, in the contemplated 
 application of its principles, erroneous, and in its 
 consequences, if followed out in the spirit of those 
 who introduced it, dangerous to the profession of the 
 body. This was accompanied with the painful reflec- 
 tion that the scruples which he had expressed in 
 common with others, had been the occasion of this 
 very Act being passed, and that he had acted rashly, 
 and without due consideration of the momentous 
 truths and serious difficulties connected with the 
 question. But awkward and mortifying as he felt 
 his position to be, the same love of integrity which, 
 under other views and feelings, had induced him to 
 court a straight-forward publicity, determined him to 
 be equally open and explicit now; and he stood for- 
 
PROGRESS OF HIS SENTIMENTS. 67 
 
 ward modestl)'- yet firmly to retract what he had done, 
 and so far as lay in his power to obviate its effects 
 upon others. 
 
 The first decided appearance which he made against 
 the new deeds, was in his Synod Sermon (having 
 been Moderator at the previous meeting) in April 
 1800. This discourse is not to be found among his 
 manuscripts; but the text was Psalm li. IS, — "Do 
 good in thy good pleasure unto Zion;" and in the 
 course of his sermon he took an opportunity not only 
 of retracting the sentiments which he had expressed 
 in his printed discourse,* but of declaring his regret 
 at having been in any degree accessory to the pass- 
 ing of the Act 1796. This was followed up by his 
 presenting to this meeting of Synod a Representa- 
 tion and Petition, craving " that the Synod would 
 review this their act," (which had been extended in 
 the previous year so as to include the Catechisms 
 and other public papers,) " examine the passages in 
 the Confession, &c., which are supposed to be objec- 
 tionable, and give such a determination as shall tend 
 most to the maintenance of truth and the preserva- 
 tion of the unity of the body." The principal reasons 
 on which this is craved are, "that the act condemns 
 the Confessionof Faith without inquiry — and that it is 
 understood to involve the new principle proposed in 
 the Overture of the Testimony — a principle which 
 would go a great way to condemn the manner in which 
 the Reformation was carried on, and would lead us to 
 follow a divisive course from the reformed and cove- 
 nanted Church of Scotland." The petitioner thus 
 alludes to the peculiar position in which he stood: — 
 " The subscriber of this petition was one of those who 
 entertained scruples upon this head, which were re- 
 ferred to the Synod by the Presbytery of Edinburgh ; 
 and the above mentioned act so far satisfied his mind 
 that he had freedom to take the formula as altered. 
 Since that time, however, he has had opportunity of 
 considering the act more deliberately, of comparing 
 
 "See before, p. 41. 
 
68 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 it with the Confession of Faith, and of weighing more 
 carefully the influence which the change introduced 
 is calculated to have upon the whole of our prin- 
 ciples: the consequence has been, that he has seen 
 occasion to alter the sentiments which he formerly 
 entertained respecting it, and to repent the steps 
 which he took. Some may think that in considera- 
 tion of the scruples formerly entertained by the sub- 
 scriber of this, and the occasion given by him to the 
 change introduced, he ought to have remained silent. 
 In this manner he himself has hitherto thought and 
 acted, and willingly would he still have continued to 
 do so, could he have reconciled such conduct with 
 conscience and duty. This, however, he can no longer 
 do, especially as the act referred to is closely con- 
 nected with deeds which the Synod have since passed, 
 and may yet pass. If he has been instrumental, even 
 in an indirect way, in bringing about a change which 
 he looks upon as prejudicial to the interests of the reli- 
 gious body with whom he is connected, and the cause 
 of truth among them, it is his duty to endeavour as far 
 as in his power to repair the injury. Besides he was 
 previously, and still is, under solemn obligations,* 
 which it is his duty to perform, and from which no act 
 of his own or others can release him. He hopes there- 
 fore that his reverend fathers and brethren will 
 candidly interpret his conduct, and patiently listen 
 to his difliculties."-|- 
 
 " It is known to the Synod," he said, in presenting 
 this petition," that I was one of those who refused to 
 signily an unlimited approbation of this part of the 
 Confession of Faith, and that the act of which I now 
 complain was passed expressly to give relief to me 
 and others labouring under similar difficulties, and 
 shortly after this I was ordained upon assenting to 
 the formula as limited by that act. It is against this 
 act that I novv complain, after a period of only four 
 years. I shall not attempt to excuse my conduct in 
 
 * He refers particularly to jiis vows as a Covenanter, 
 i This petition is given at full length in the Appendi.x. 
 
PROGRESS OF HIS SENTIMENTS. 69 
 
 this matter. I acknowledge, I confess, I am sorry 
 for my rashness in it. Ever since I was convinced of 
 it, I have made no scruple about expressing my regret, 
 for being instrumental in unhinging the principles of 
 a religious body, or in hastening on a change. It 
 has given me great distress that 1 have been acces- 
 sory in leading others to imbibe principles, which I 
 now look upon as prejudicial to the interests of reli- 
 gion, and inconsistent with those of the Secession, — 
 accessory, I mean, by my conduct above alluded to; 
 for I have never had freedom to preach against what 
 had been the opinions always before entertained by 
 the body I was connected with, and what I evidently 
 saw ran through the whole of our peculiar Testimony. 
 It would have been easy for me to have made opposi- 
 tion to the new principle in some other shape, as it 
 is involved in the act for a new acknowledgment of 
 sins, or more fully in the large overture now lying 
 before the Synod; but this appeared to me cowardly 
 and disingenuous, whereas the fair way was to go to 
 the root of the complaint, although this might touch 
 my own sore, and expose me to the charge of fickle- 
 ness and inconsistency. And until I had acknow- 
 ledged my mistake, I had no freedom to take any 
 decided step in opposing what the Synod might do 
 in following up the new principle. I am sensible, 
 however, that it becomes me to be modest and cau- 
 tious in the steps which 1 take; and if ever I appear 
 to depart from this line of conduct, (as no doubt I 
 may,) I think I will tiiank any brother to put me in 
 mind of my former rashness. I wish to take no lead 
 in the business; I would wish to be silent. It pains 
 me exceedingly to be obliged to appear at this time 
 and in this manner. But, according to my present 
 views, I am exonerating my conscience, and perform- 
 ing an important duty to the body at large; and this 
 I think, after the most mature deliberation I have 
 been capable of, and viewing the question in both 
 lights, and with all its consequences."* 
 
 * See Appendix. 
 
70 LIFE OF DU. M^CRIE. 
 
 Thus associated in his opposition to the new deeds 
 with his venerable teacher, JNIr. Bruce, and other 
 brethren, who had protested against them, he was led 
 into a confidential correspondence with them, from 
 which a better idea may be formed, if not of the state 
 of the controversy, at least of the spirit in which it 
 was managed by them, than from any thing they 
 offered to the public. The two following letters not 
 only exhibit much authentic information on the ge- 
 neral subject, but set in an attractive light the work- 
 ings of two ingenuous spirits, and furnish a summary 
 answer to the unjust and ungenerous construction 
 too frequently put on the motives and conduct of 
 men who find themselves necessitated to oppose some 
 ])opular scheme of the day. The strictly confiden- 
 tial nature of the correspondence might, under other 
 circumstances, have forbidden its publication; but I 
 have been induced, from a desire to do full justice 
 to my subject, to insert both letters entire. The first 
 is from Dr. M'Crie to his friend and counsellor, Pro- 
 fessor Bruce. 
 
 "Edinburgh, I4th July, 1800. 
 "Reverend dear Father, — I have been unwill- 
 ing to break in upon your retirement, and to trouble 
 you with a subject which I know you are backward 
 to correspond about, but can no longer resist my de- 
 sire to consult you. You are partly acquainted with 
 the state of my mind concerning the differences that 
 unhappily subsist in the Synod, though I was able but 
 ver}'^ imperfectly to give you an account of it last 
 time I was at Whitburn. The concern I must feel in 
 reflecting on the step I took at last meeting of Synod, 
 compared with my former conduct, is heightened • 
 by my situation, having no brother to whom I can 
 freely and with satisfaction impart my fears, my anx- 
 ieties and my difficulties. Alas! I fondly flattered 
 myself it would be otherwise — that there were many 
 like-minded, that would encourage, go along with, 
 or before me. My disappointment has been propor- 
 tionally great. How diflicult to preserve a due mean 
 
LETTER TO MR. BRUCE. 71 
 
 amidst tlie changes and disappointments of life ! Sem- 
 per in contraria vehimur. We are either buoyed up 
 with too big hopes, or swallowed up with overmuch 
 sorrow. 
 
 "My distress respecting the matter of our differ- 
 ences and the state of religion among us, is in some 
 respects peculiar, inasmuch as I must look on mj^self 
 as instrumental in contributing, in a considerable 
 degree, to produce or at least to hasten them on. 
 This I cannot drive out of my mind by all the excuses 
 which are ready enough to present themselves. It 
 not only gives me uneasiness when I take a retro- 
 spect of my conduct, but it is a source of great dis- 
 covu'agement, when I look forward. There is a feeling 
 of more than awkwardness — a sense of inconsistency 
 and sliame — of which I cannot divest myself in ap- 
 pearing publicly in opposition to a measure which I 
 so lately did materially solicit and indirectly procure. 
 My conduct in this respect will operate, I am afraid, 
 as a powerful prejudice to man}-. Besides, and what 
 should chiefly aOect me, have I not reason to fear 
 that, on account of my former miscarriage, the Lord 
 may frown on my present attempts, and thus the 
 good cause be hurt by my interference? I am con- 
 vinced there is something wrong in these fears, be- 
 cause they discourage me from proceeding in the path 
 of duty, but I cannot so fix upon the deceit as to get 
 rid of it. But do you not think that my former con- 
 duct, together with my youth, inexperience, and the 
 extreme difficulty of the question, render it proper 
 that I should not take any thing like a lead in the 
 business? Dear Sir, I have used the freedom to ob- 
 trude upon you this account of my feelings, encou- 
 i-aged to it by similarit}' of sentiments, (so far as I 
 understand it,) upon the subject that has occasioned 
 these, and by your speaking freely to me last time we 
 had an opportunity. I trust you will take it in good 
 jjart, and give me your sympathy and advice. 
 
 " I have been lending my attention, so fiir as other 
 avocations would permit, to the subject of the ma- 
 
72 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE, 
 
 gi strata's power circa sacra. The more I think and 
 read upon it, I am the more convinced of the difficulty 
 of settling in many cases the just limits of magistra- 
 tical and ministerial power, and am astonished at my 
 ignorance in formerly pronouncing upon the question 
 with so much decision and indifference. At the same 
 time, I am more convinced of the general principles 
 which for awhile I was brought to doubt, but to the 
 belief of which I have been made to return — of their 
 importance to the civil and religious interests of man- 
 kind, and their close connexion with the cause of the 
 Reformation and the Secession Testimony. Besides 
 what 1 have met with in systems, the treatise ex pro- 
 fesso on the head which 1 have read with the greatest 
 satisfaction is Apollonii Jus Majeslatis circa sacra. It 
 has been a means of preserving me from some Eras- 
 tian rocks upon which I would have been in danger 
 of driving in seeking to escape the Sectarian shore. 
 In the " Declaration and Defence of the Associate 
 Presbytery's principles," &c., 1 think the proper busi- 
 ness of the magistrate, with the limits of his autho- 
 rity, are more clearly stated than they were formerly 
 by any reformed church: tliough certain expressions 
 in that paper (human wisdom cannot prevent such 
 mistakes and misconstructions) have been so con- 
 sidered as to be eversive of all the magistrate's power 
 circa sacra. And certain parts of your writings have 
 pointed out to me satisfactorily the proper ground 
 upon which religious matters become objects of 
 magistratical power, and materially helped me to un- 
 derstand how this power may be exercised upon them 
 without leading to persecution or infringing the rights 
 and encroaching on the business of the church. 
 
 "My chief objections to tlie act of Synod 1796 
 are its vague and undetermined language, which 
 either implies or opens a door for the introduction ad 
 libitum of all the Sectarian principles, and the con- 
 demnation of the Confession of Faith without a fair 
 trial, and the specification of the clauses and expres- 
 sions condemned. One thing, however, which is 
 
LETTER TO MR. BRUCE. 7o 
 
 mentioned in the petition given in to the Synod, I 
 hesitate about, I mean the propriety of instituting an 
 examination into the passages of" the Confession. I 
 am clear this ought to be done before a condemna- 
 tion; but as to the propriety of this investigation 
 with a view to Synodical judgment, I much doubt, 
 (even granting there had been a rational prospect of 
 unanimity,) considering the difficulty of the subject, 
 and of obtaining a just acquaintance with the senti- 
 ments intended to be conveyed by the expressions 
 which the compilers used at such a distance of time. 
 Would it not be better to give a declaration of our 
 sentiments, showing what is the doctrine we hold, 
 and that we do not entertain principles leading to 
 persecution, &c.? Was not this the method pur- 
 sued by the Associate Presbytery in their "Act 
 anent the Doctrine of Grace?" At any rate, before 
 the Synod come to an examination of the Confession, 
 I would much wish some conversation with 3'ou about 
 the litigated passages. That which is contained in 
 the 20th chapter has been much complained of. I 
 acknowledge I think it wants that distinctness which 
 is to be desired. But while some particulars there 
 mentioned confessedly come under the power of the 
 civil magistrate; while this power may regulate and 
 restrain practices connected with, and which indirectly 
 affect other particulars; while it is not necessary to 
 conclude that all the particulars mentioned come 
 under civil cognizance, at least upon the same ground 
 and in the same point of view; in fine, while it is not 
 the scope of that section to state the different and 
 respective objects of ecclesiastical and civil jurisdic- 
 tion, this being stated in other places of the Con- 
 fession; — I apprehend the passage may be understood 
 in a sound sense. Equal injustice is, I think, done 
 to the 23d chapter, when it is urged that "the pre- 
 serving of unity and peace in the Church, keeping 
 the truth of God pure and entire," &c., are there 
 stated as direct and immediate objects of the magis- 
 trate's power, in opposition to what is laid down in 
 7 
 
74 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 the beginning of the section and other parts of the 
 Confession. 
 
 "But my paper reminds me that I have taken up 
 too much of your time. I must again apologize for 
 my freedom. It would be a particular favour if you 
 would write me your advice, particularly how I ought 
 to conduct the petition. If this is disagreeable to 
 you, and you would ratlier communicate your senti- 
 ments viva voce) be so good as drop me a line, and I 
 shall endeavour to see you any time that is most con- 
 venient to you. 
 
 "Though I have been already too tedious, I can- 
 not conclude without mentioning how kind I took it 
 that you so freely signitied your dissatisfaction with 
 my printed sermon. I am more and more convinced 
 of the bad tendency of some things in it, especially 
 in the present times, and of the mistaken view of the 
 passage of history upon which it is founded, which 
 did not strike me till you mentioned it, though I had 
 for a considerable time suspected some of the infer- 
 ences drawn from it. I would willingly do any thing 
 v/hich I thought necessary to counteract it. 
 
 " Wishing you comfortable support under all your 
 trials, and divine direction in what you may be led 
 to, in the present state of the church, I am, Rev. 
 dear Father, yours with respect and atfection, 
 
 "Tho. M'Crie-'* 
 
 We now subjoin Mr. Bruce's reply. 
 
 « To the Rev. Mr. Tho. M'Crie. 
 
 " Rev. dear Brother, — It is some time since I 
 received your agreeable letter, and I have hitherto 
 unaccountably postponed the answer, though every 
 day intending it. Ever since I had the unexpected 
 hint of the late bias of your sentiments upon some 
 subjects of litigation in the present time, you have 
 been frequently in my thoughts. While in one view 
 I rejoiced at the event, I could not but feel for yon on 
 account of the perplexities and uneasy consequences 
 to which it would necessarily expose you. The«e 
 
MR. bruce's reply. 75 
 
 I have felt in circumstances somewhat similar, in too 
 sensible a manner to think lightly of them. Nothing 
 of all that you have described as passing through 
 your mind, or that has occurred hitherto in thisafiair, 
 needs to appear in the least surprising: for all that, 
 and perhaps much more than that, you should have 
 been prepared, while resolving to hold every portion 
 of known truth as valuable, and to account sincerity 
 in a religious profession a virtue. Some who might 
 perhaps be ready to applaud this when pleaded as a 
 reason for assenting to the received principles of a 
 church, may think very differently of it when urged 
 against submission to undefined and unlimited inno- 
 vations. I give you full credit for sincerity, accord- 
 ing to your views of the subject, in the part you have 
 acted in this affair, first and last ; though in the former 
 instance, I could not but be grieved to see it com- 
 bined with what I thought a certain degree of rashness 
 and inconsideration, in a matter of such magnitude and 
 difficulty, which maturer reflection and progressive 
 knowledge have at length discovered to yourself. 
 Such errors youthful minds are liable to: in the first 
 ebullitions of an ardent genius, or the earlier efforts 
 of mental courage, yet untried and unchecked, they 
 are ready to attempt and think themselves equal to 
 every thing. And it is good that a wise Providence 
 provides us betimes with a check and antidote which 
 none, by a little experience and intercourse with 
 mankind, will be lontj; in meetins: with. 
 
 " Shall I apply here some of the words uttered by 
 Evander over his son Pallas?— 
 
 Pallas ! thou hast failed thy plighted word, 
 To fight with caution, and not tempt the sword, 
 
 1 warned thee, but in vain ; for well I knew 
 What perils youthful ardour would pursue ; 
 That boiling blood would carry thee too far, 
 Young as thou wert to dangers, raw to war. 
 O curs'd essay of arms ! disastrous doom! 
 Prelude of bloody field and fights to come.* 
 
 * Dryden's Virgil, ^n. xi. 153. On the margin of these lines 
 in the original letter, I find the following note in my father's 
 
76 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 " Your late appearance in Synod affords a striking 
 proof of ingenuity, [ingenuousness,] and wliile it must 
 give satisfaction to a number who consider it in every 
 view as needful and seasonable, it cannot justly be 
 censured by any friend to candour and honesty, as 
 either incompetent or dishonourable. It has never 
 been mentioned to the discredit of Father Augustine 
 that he saw it needful, ere he died, to write a book 
 of Retractations. "Yea, what is every year of a wise 
 man's life," to use the expression of Mr. Pope in 
 one of his letters, " but a censure or critique on the 
 past?" This, indeed, bears hard on our pride, and 
 clips the budding wings of our beloved fame; — but 
 so much the better for us: that may be the most 
 needful and beneficial thing that can befall us. In 
 such cases we are chiefly to consider what is due to 
 the cause of truth, and to our own minds: and being 
 satisfied as to this, all other things, such as the con- 
 sequences that may follow, or the sentiments that 
 others may form of our conduct, must be held of 
 inferior moment. You have perhaps read Scott's 
 "Force of truth;" if you have not, it may at this 
 time deserve a perusal. 
 
 " I once felt something of the struggle you now 
 undergo; like that of one who has adventurously 
 pushed out into the middle of a stream, but instead 
 of reaching the other side, finds himself constrained 
 to return: though this was happily over with me 
 before I had come forward into public life. Having 
 made exceptions to some parts of our principles, and 
 made some advances, though cautiously, towards a 
 laxer and more fashionable system, never till the 
 time when I was about to discard them, did they 
 appear in such a convincing and satisfactory light. 
 After entering into a course of correspondence with 
 a leader of a certain modern party, and submitting 
 
 handwriting: " Psalm cxli. 5, T. M'C." The words referred to 
 are, " Let the rigliteous smite me; it shall be a kindness : and let 
 him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break 
 my head," 
 
MR. bruce's reply. 77 
 
 for a time the direction of my studies to their advice, 
 and in the juncture when 1 received a letter inti- 
 mating their design of taking steps towards h'cense, 
 I found myself obliged to return no other answer, 
 whatever constructions might be put upon it, than a 
 frank recantation: a step that, in reflection from that 
 (lay to this, never gave me an anxious thought, but 
 much the reverse. This was one of the critical in- 
 cidents of my life, as to which I have reason ever 
 gratefully to acknowledge the care and goodness of 
 Him who is the leader of the blind. I doubt not 
 hut in aiming singly at following and honouring the 
 Lord, you will see cause, in the event, to make a 
 similar acknowledgment. And in vain will the 
 same snare be spread in the sight of any bird that is 
 hardly escaped from it. 
 
 "There is scarce any thing more needful for per- 
 sons setting out in public life, and in their progress 
 through it, than to form a moderate estimate of their 
 own abilities, whatever they may be, as well as of 
 the impression and influence they may have upon 
 others, who are not alwaj's so ready to yield even to 
 truth and reason, as we may suppose. We may 
 think we have the irresistible evidence of these on 
 our side, and we may conclude that they will instant- 
 ly see and act as we do, at the first proposal ; while 
 neither the mass of the people, nor the learned, who 
 have several views and prejudices, will see any thing 
 or be disposed to acknowledge any thing of all this: 
 and it will ever be found easier for an individual 
 or a body to deviate from the straight path, than to 
 prevail on themselves or to prevail on others to 
 return to it. When you seem surprised and disap- 
 pointed that so few should appear to support your 
 late motion, you here again betray some degree of 
 inexperience and want of acquaintance with the 
 human heart. 
 
 "In any attempts to carry into efieet necessary 
 measures, particularly in the business of the Church 
 Courts, as, on the other hand, none should affect 
 
78 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 inter pares to take the lead, yet neither are any, on 
 the other, to decline discharging the duty belonging 
 to their place in a body, merely because others may 
 decline going before them or even taking any share 
 with them. It is for our own conduct alone we are 
 responsible, not for that of others. Besides the com- 
 mon right or obligation of members to insist upon a 
 motion or petition, there may be something in this 
 case peculiarly incumbent on you. But as for that 
 part of your petition that requires a review of the 
 doctrines of the Confession and a judgment upon 
 ihem, though, if it was necessary at all, it ought 
 doubtless to have preceded the sentence already pro- 
 nounced upon them, I cannot see, nor did I ever see, 
 any desirable end to be gained by such discussions: 
 and from the desultory conversations, and the vague 
 ineffective disputes that have for a long time occu- 
 pied the Synod, I am more and more convinced that 
 it could answer no good purpose to bring these or 
 any general principles into present discussion: espe- 
 cially as this cause is already prejudged, or lies suh 
 judice in another shape. A mere declaratory act, 
 without either a direct or implied condemnation, [of 
 the Confession,] was all that was at first proposed, 
 and all that was needful. 
 
 "In conclusion of my reasons of protest against 
 this act as extended, I crave that the act be not only 
 repealed, but that the overture that gave rise to it be 
 dismissed. When your paper was read, I could not 
 but be struck with the similarity of reasoning, and 
 even a coincidence almost in language in some parts 
 of it, with what I had used in some of these reasons, 
 though without any direct communication: this I 
 consider as a proof of the evidence of truth when 
 fleliberately and impartially viewed. It is not impos- 
 sible but others, through time, may fall into the same 
 train of reading and thinking; but I am afraid the 
 mischief will be done before we have the satisfaction 
 to see this. At present, for all our boasted illumi- 
 nation, I think, upon the whole, that we in this age 
 
MR. bruce's replv. 79 
 
 are inferior to the preceding in a clear and extensive 
 knowledge of the subject. 
 
 "Apollonius is an author who has been much 
 esteemed by Presbyterians: — I have seen him often 
 quoted, though I never could meet with him, Voe- 
 tius, too, in his Ecclesiastical Polity, has entered 
 closely into the argument, and deserves to be read. 
 
 "In your comment on the disputed paragraphs, I 
 do not perceive any thing objectionable: but to enter 
 on any particular vindication of them would exceed 
 the limits of a letter. An interview with you, in 
 which we might have talked over the subject, would 
 have been very agreeable to me, but I was averse to 
 desire you to take the trouble of a journey solely on 
 that account. I have been more at home this sum- 
 mer than formerly, partly through the resolution I 
 thought myself shut up to take, for which I doubt not 
 I shall be generally blamed: but this is the critical 
 era in which a new system and constitution is to be 
 established and practically submitted to, or else deci- 
 sively negatived. We forbear this season to dispense 
 the communion, as the most peaceable and least of- 
 fensive course in reference to neighbours in present 
 circumstances. 
 
 "One observation T was going to make, in refer- 
 ence to chapter 20th of the Confession, that is gene- 
 rally ov^erlooked in the declarations against it: — That 
 it is not the holding or publishing such opinions or 
 maintaining such practices as are there described 
 simply in themselves considered, that renders persons 
 obnoxious either to ecclesiastical or civil process, but 
 such as are accompanied with public offence and pre- 
 judice to the respective societies; or in other words, 
 such as are attended with contempt or resistance of 
 any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of that 
 power; for the persons chargeable with these are 
 the subject of the whole paragraph, as appears from 
 the connexion. 
 
 "I was able to speak but very indistinctly upon 
 the particulars in the printed sermon, not having 
 
EO LIFE OF DR. M'cniE. 
 
 looked over the jottings from the time 1 had taken 
 them. But the manner in which you again speak on 
 this, and the spirit you have discovered in reference 
 to it, not only removes the particular offence as to 
 me, but cannot fail to raise you more in my esteem. 
 Whether any thing farther may be proper for the 
 sake of others, and in order to wrest a weapon out 
 of the hand of latitudinarians, which had been un- 
 warily conceded to them, or what that might be, 
 shall be left at present to your own consideration; I 
 will not say a word of it on paper. — Wishing you 
 divine conduct and support, 1 am. Rev. and dear 
 brother, yours affectionately, 
 
 "Arch. Bruce." 
 
 On these letters I need scarcely offer any com- 
 ment. The conscientiousness, the brotherly candour, 
 the humility, which they breathe, must commend 
 them to all who attach any importance to a faith- 
 ful profession of religion. To some, the feelings 
 of self-reproach with which Dr. M'Crie reflected on 
 the share he had in procuring the Act 1796, may 
 seem to be strained beyond the real magnitude of 
 the offence; but after perusing this correspondence, 
 few can fail to admire the moral heroism required to 
 sacrifice at the shrine of conscience, the suggestions 
 of natural pride and early prejudice, a sacrifice which, 
 in this instance, being the result of mature and anx- 
 ious inquiry, exhibits a striking illustration of "the 
 force of truth." 
 
 "J am still," he writes, in August 1800, to another 
 
 correspondent, ^'directly or indirectly inquiring into 
 
 the old subject; endeavouring to find out 'the good 
 
 old path ' from which 1 foolishly wandered, and for 
 
 this purpose searching after books which I h.ad 
 
 thrown away: — 
 
 Insanientis duni sapientiiB 
 
 Consultus erro, nunc retiorsum 
 
 Vela dare, atque iterare cursus 
 
 Cogor relictos."* 
 
 " Hor. Carm. lib. i, ode 34- 
 
COURSE OP STUDY ON THE QUESTION. SI 
 
 The course of reading to which he now devoted 
 himself, embraced the polemical writings of the most 
 famous divines who flourished during the 15th and 
 16th centuries. From these giants in theology, who 
 have anticipated all the arguments and objections 
 of modern times, he received much of his informa- 
 tion on the doctrine regarding the duty of the civil 
 magistrate.* Nor did he fail to investigate what 
 may be termed the philosophy of the question, com- 
 prising the principles of Scriptural interpretation and 
 the analogies between natural and revealed religion, 
 a knowledge of which is essential to a right under- 
 standing of the controversy. On tliis subject he 
 always acknowledged himself peculiarly indebted to 
 Bishop Butler's "Analogy between Natural and 
 Revealed Religion," Alluding, many years after- 
 wards, in one of his lectures, to the advantages of 
 applying the principle of analogy to the interpretation 
 of the Old Testament, he paid the following com- 
 pliment to that celebrated treatise: — "It was from 
 this book, (nothing the worse of being written by a 
 bishop,) that I learned this principle of interpretation, 
 and have been confirmed in many truths of which it 
 does not speak a word, and which probably never 
 entered the mind of the author. It is by it that I 
 
 * Dr. M'Crie's library was stored with the writings of the Dutch 
 and German divines of the 17th century, the only writers who 
 can be said to have treated the question of the magistrate's 
 power in regard to religion in a scientific manner. His principal 
 lavourite was Voet'ms, who, in his elaborate treatises on Ecclesias- 
 tical Polity, has almost exhausted the subject. Bernard de Moor 
 was another author to whom he owned himself much indebted. 
 The work of ^IpoHonius, to which he refers, was intended chiefly 
 to answer a book written by Professor Vcdelivs of Frankfort, en- 
 titled De Episcopatu Cotistantini Magni, which favoured the 
 Erastian heresy, and maintained the untenable doctrine of the 
 magistrate's power in matters of religion. Apollonius commends 
 the Scots for having struck the golden mean in this delicate ques- 
 tion, wit!) more success than tiie German, Swiss, or English di- 
 vines. The other theological and critical writers wiiich Dr. 
 M'Crie consulted on this question were such as Rivet, Vilringa, 
 Gerhard, Walleus, Turretine, &.c. The Erastianism of Warbur- 
 ton, and the utilitarianism of Paley, kept them, of course, out of 
 his list of authorities. 
 
82 LIFE OF DPw M'CRIE, 
 
 have learned to expound the historical books of the 
 Old Testament with some degree of profit, without 
 having recourse to type, allegory or accommodation. 
 It was by it that I was prevented from becoming an 
 Independent, a Baptist, or an enemy to religious 
 establishments; and by it I learned that I could be 
 friendly to such establishments, and to the Protestant 
 constitution of my country, though I never partook 
 of their worldly emoluments — a fact which appears a 
 mystery and a miracle to some wise heads and would- 
 be statesmen." 
 
 It may be more interesting to the general reader 
 to learn that the controversy on which he now entered, 
 was the means of drawing his attention to the study 
 of ecclesiastical history, and particularly that of his 
 own country. It appears from various notebooks, 
 that he had beg-un in 1802 to collect facts connected 
 with the history of the Church of Scotland from the 
 Reformation, and to arrange them in chronological 
 order. The extent of reading shown in these notes 
 and references, indicate that he had for some time 
 previous been engaged in the study of general his- 
 tory. To this study he brought a mind unfettered 
 by prejudice ; for it was some time before he attained 
 those decided views on the question of the magis- 
 trate's power which he ever after held through life. 
 
 The following extracts from his correspondence at 
 this period may serve to show the gradual manner in 
 which his opinions were matured and enlarged on this 
 question: — '-^ April 1801. — You seem to think that 
 I imagine I have got satisfaction as to the question 
 of the magistrate's power. Any thing 1 have said 
 as to this must be understood of general principles. 
 I am far from being free from difficulties, nor do I 
 think the subject free from them. Your remark 
 concerning the Jewish kings is certainly just. Every 
 part of worship almost was typical under the Old 
 Testament ; was there therefore no real worship 
 offered up to God at that time, no real external as 
 well as internal worship? But the difficulty is to 
 
OPEXING OF HIS VIEWS. S3 
 
 ascertain how far their example is a pattern to Chris- 
 tian kings, and how far it was peculiar to them. 
 There certainly was an exercise of their office which 
 was peculiar; but tiie Overture makes it all peculiar. 
 You have read what the London Ministers upon 
 Presbyterian government say respecting the magis- 
 trate's power. Gillespie, in his Aaroix's Rod, has 
 some excellent things upon it. The Answers to 
 Nairn defend the magistrate's power upon natural 
 not revealed principles ; but natural principles are 
 exemplified, illustrated and enforced in Scripture. 
 The moral law is founded on natural principles; but 
 who refuses to appeal to the more perfect edition of 
 it in the Scriptures? Ey maintaining this ground, we 
 can answer the objection drawn from the silence of 
 the New Testament upon the subject, and avail our- 
 selves of the examples in the Old; at the same time 
 that we do not plead for imitation in things which 
 depended upon positive prescription, or were pecu- 
 liar to that dispensation. And it can be proved 
 that Presbyterians of the 17th century stated it 
 upon the same grounds, although some of the first 
 reformers seem to have thought the example of the 
 Jewish kings in all respects imitable by Christian 
 kings. The Erastian controversy did great good."* 
 In March 1804, he speaks more decidedly: — "It 
 is easy for persons to catch hold of abstract and dis- 
 jointed expressions and propositions, and to give 
 them a sense which will be contradictory. A Soci- 
 nian will insist that there is a contradiction between 
 tlie fourth and fifth questions in our Shorter Cate- 
 chism. It is now commonly alleged, that there is 
 an inconsistency between the declaration in the Con- 
 fession of Faith, that 'God alone is Lord of the con- 
 science,' and what follows as to the claim of liberty 
 of conscience to exeem persons from the lawful juris- 
 diction of courts civil and ecclesiastical; yet it is 
 no difficult matter to show the agreement of these. 
 — I do not see why we should be excluded from all 
 
 • To Rev. James Aitken, 8tli April, ISOl. 
 
84 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 reasoning from the example of the Jewish kings as 
 to religion any more than as to mere politics. In 
 both these there were peculiarities, for which allow- 
 ance must be made. We have also approved actings 
 of heathen magistrates respecting the true religion, 
 which shows that this exercise of civil power is 
 founded on natural principles: only, in applying these, 
 respect is to be had to the form in which religion 
 appeared at that time, and to the circumstances in 
 which the enactments took place. 
 
 "If the exercise of the magistrate's office must be 
 defended by natural principles, then ^i<re Aere^y can- 
 not be an act of State delinquency, so as to expose a 
 man to punishment, or to the loss of natural rights. 
 ]iy pure hei'esy I mean opinions opposite to the doc- 
 trines of revelation which have not connected with 
 them any thing prejudicial to the public good; but 
 there may be many opinions for which persons set up 
 the plea of conscience which are yet contrary to the 
 light of nature, and which either lead unto or are 
 associated with what is hurtful to civil society, or to 
 a particular lawful and well-regulated constitution. 
 These may be restrained according to the degree of 
 the danger. As to other erroneous opinions, they may 
 be opposed by those 'powerful discouragements' 
 which do not infringe upon natural rights. But one 
 cannot discuss such points in the bounds of a letter, 
 nor do I pretend to be qualified for it." 
 
 We have already spoken of the overture for a New 
 Testimony, which proved the occasion of the contro- 
 versy in which Dr. M'Crie became involved with his 
 brethren. In opposing this overture, he and his 
 associates for some years contented themselves with 
 protesting, separately at first, and afterwards con- 
 jointly, against the proposed changes, at the different 
 stages through which it passed. That the reader 
 may obtain, at one glance, a view of the doctrines 
 which were opposed b}^ these ministers, I shall pre- 
 sent them in the language of one of their papers, from 
 which it will be seen, that I hey were materially the 
 points at issue in the present Voluntary controversy. 
 
SUJIMARY VIEW OF THE CONTROVEKSY. 85 
 
 "It appears now too evident, not only from the 
 known sentiments and private writings of some mem- 
 bers, but from ihe late public deeds and votes of the 
 Synod, that they have adopted a different scheme, 
 and have given countenance to what have been usually 
 accounted Anabaptistical, Sectarian or Independent 
 tenets on these heads, which had been formerly re- 
 nounced and solemnly abjured by them; and that 
 they have in so far befriended the principles and 
 designs of some modern infidels and politicians, which 
 tend to make a total separation of civil government 
 and religion, as if the interests of the latter in no 
 shape pertained to the former, farther than to grant 
 and secure equal liberty and privileges to all religious 
 S3'stems; that hereby they have unduly restricted the 
 exercise and interfered with the rights of civil so- 
 vernment, have represented all active countenance 
 and support to any particular religion, or any sanc- 
 tion to church-deeds by human laws, as an Erastian 
 encroachment, a confounding of the temporal and 
 spiritual jurisdiction, and as necessarily involving 
 persecution for conscience' sake; while the rights of 
 consciencehave been so explained as to favouranarchy 
 and licentiousness in ail matters pertaining to reli- 
 gion, in defiance of all restraint by human authority 
 of any kind. The question is now no longer, under 
 what limitations, or in what manner may magistrates 
 exercise their power circa sacra? but, whether there 
 be any power of this kind competent to them ? — The 
 autiiority itself, in whatever degree, or however ap- 
 plied, is at last by the Synod declared to he a nonen- 
 tity. In consequence, a national religion, national 
 covenants, and national churches, in the usual and 
 proper acceptation of the words, are exploded as an 
 absurdity: all tests which tend to make religious 
 distinctions, or which may be used as qualifications 
 for offices of power and trust, supreme or subordinate, 
 are virtually condemned; and all constitutions and 
 laws that imply the exercise of such a power, in every 
 Protestant and Christian nation, ought wholly to be 
 S 
 
86 LIFE OF BR. M^CRIE. 
 
 abolished. The precepts, examples, predictions and 
 promises in the Old Testament Scriptures, which 
 have hitherto been adduced as Avarrants for such 
 things, are held to be inapplicable, and in this view 
 inconsistent with the nature of the New Testament 
 dispensation; by which, countenance has been given 
 to the error which represents the Church of God 
 under the Old Testament to have been essentially 
 different from that under the New," &c.* 
 
 Thus involved in controversy with brethren whom 
 he respected, and with many of whom he had lived 
 on terms of friendship, the subject of our memoir 
 perceived, with the deepest grief, the prospect of 
 agreement with them becoming darker at every step. 
 All the motives of peace, (and none felt them more 
 strongly than he,) all his personal and relative inte- 
 rests urged him to go with the tide, and it is not easy 
 to conceive the distress he had to suffer in following 
 an opposite course. So far as he saw proper to make 
 it known, it could not be better described than in the 
 language which he employs in the following extracts 
 from his correspondence: — 
 
 *■'■ t.iugust 8,1800. — Things look very gloomy 
 among us, both as a church and a nation. My mind 
 turns aside from contemplating the prospect, and stops 
 short in tracing consequences. There seems much 
 need for the exercise of faith in a text from which 
 you once preached to us, 'At evening time it shall 
 be light.' — May we be directed to the path of duty by 
 Him who brings the blind by a ivny they know noi.'"f 
 
 ^'■Jljiril 8, 1801.— 1 certainly agree with you in 
 the propriety of brethren who have seen it their duty 
 to oppose certain present innovations in our princi- 
 ples studying to understand one another's views in 
 order to their acting with harmony. At the same 
 time I cannot help thinking that the mode which 
 
 * Substance of the paper given in by the protesting ministers 
 to the general Associate Synod, May ISOti, appended to Dr. 
 M'Crie's Statement of the DifFerencCj &c., p. 225. 
 
 \ To the Bev. James Aitkcn. 
 
FEELINGS ON ENTERING INTO CONTROVERSY. 87 
 
 has been hitherto pursued, has been attended with 
 good consequences. While the question has remained 
 sub Judice, and we have acted, in common with 
 other members, in giving our opinions, there has been 
 no appearance of party, consequent!}' no occasion 
 given for imputing contendings to partly prejudice. 
 On the other hand, is there no evidence of the Divine 
 hand in leading those who have contended singl)'-, and 
 in bringing forward others, in a more or less expected 
 manner, as the affair has approached to a decision? 
 And may we not look to the same quarter for har- 
 mony and concert when the crisis shall render a 
 united effort necessary ? I have been endeavouring 
 to discover some period of the Church similar to that 
 in which our lot is cast, that an example for imita- 
 tion might be drawn from it, but cannot say that any 
 altogether similar can be fixed upon. Perhaps the 
 period of the Public Resolutions approaches nearest 
 to it. But the Leader of the blind can bring by 
 paths that have not been trode, although doubtless 
 it is our duty to 'go out by the footsteps of the flock,' 
 as far as we can trace them following our common 
 Shepherd."* 
 
 ^^March 9, 1804. — I would have written you 
 sooner, but what with labours in the congregation, 
 and with the Magazine, which easily fatigue my infirm 
 body, and waste my animal spirits, and what with 
 anxiety and distress of mind, I have either had no 
 leisure, or have not had fortitude to occupy it. — You 
 know how ready selfishness is to creep in, and will 
 not therefore be surprised to hear me say that some- 
 times I think my situation worse than that of other 
 brethren. I need to be taught the lesson of the 
 apostle, 'There hath no temptation taken you but 
 such as is common to men.' — In all these thino;s I 
 can see Providence contending against me for various 
 unadvised and sinful parts of my conduct. But the 
 Lord is holy, and has wise ends to serve in all these 
 things. I have been endeavouring to preach for 
 * To the same. 
 
SS LIFE OF DU. M'CKIE. 
 
 some time on Isaiah viii. 17, — 'I will wait upon the 
 Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, 
 and I will look for him.' What a heavy thing it is 
 to enter lightly and without deliberation upon the 
 work of the ministry! What would 1 give to have 
 some of my years blotted out — but how vain! for 
 nothing but experience will correct some persons. 
 What a relief would it be, provided conscience would 
 permit, to retire to solitude, instead of entering into 
 the storm of contention and strife!"* 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF HIS CONTROVERSY 
 WITH THE SYNOD TO THE PUBLICATION OF THE 
 LIFE OF KNOX. 
 
 1804 — 1811. 
 
 We have now seen the subject of our memoirs in- 
 volved in a contest with his brethren on points which, 
 though not immediately affecting the vital truths of 
 Christianity, have been too well proved of late years 
 to be essentially connected with the peace and the 
 interests of society, both civil and ecclesiastical. 
 Following the course which we have proposed, of 
 permitting him whose life we are recording, to act, 
 as far as possible, the part of his own biographei', we 
 now lay before our readers a [ew extracts from his 
 correspondence with Mr. Bruce, which may give them 
 some idea of the manner in which matters were 
 managed in the General Synod, previous to the in- 
 troduction of the New Testimony. The other points 
 incidentally noticed, may, it is hoped, be found not 
 uninteresting. 
 
 "March 5, 1801. — I do not know if I mentioned 
 to you, that the paper of authorities which I read to 
 
 * To the same. 
 
REFORMERS — " PETIT-ANDREWS." 89 
 
 you, was begun with some view of laying it in some 
 way before the Synod. This was suggested to me by 
 the manner in which the twelve brethren proceeded 
 respecting the act of the General Assembly, con- 
 demning some parts of the Marrow. I. thought that 
 this might be a means of making some members of 
 the Synod more cautious in proceeding to ratify the 
 condemnation of the Confession of Faith. But when 
 I began to consider how limited my reading had been 
 on that subject, I was convinced I could not do jus- 
 tice to the cause, and had not a call to proceed in 
 that way, at least by myself; and I resolved to ask 
 your advice, whether any thing of a similar kind was 
 incumbent on the friends of the Reformation, or 
 whether they should decline any thing of the kind 
 until the accusations against the compilers of the 
 Confession and our reformers be substantiated by 
 proofs. 
 
 "I would much wish that you would proceed, 
 according as health and leisure will permit, with the 
 works you mentioned, and have long designed." 
 (He refers to a selection from the works of the 
 reformers.) "They would certainly be a great acqui- 
 sition to the reformed cause, and ' The Library ' is 
 becoming daily more necessary from the neglect with 
 which the reformed writers are treated. If I could 
 encourage you by any assistance in this, my leisure 
 time and my labour shall not be wanting. By your 
 direction I might take a great part of the drudgery 
 off your hands in abridging some works, where care 
 and constancy might in some measure make up for 
 the want of other qualifications. I might procure 
 Zuinglius' works. I have some of the writings of 
 another Swiss divine, Aretius, and could get all of 
 them. You speak of confining yourself to the writers 
 in the reformed churches. Would it not be proper 
 to include Luther and Melancthon, who had such an 
 eminent share in the Reformation? 
 
 "1 send you, according to promise, Haldane's Ad- 
 dress, with an Anabaptist pamphlet on a part of the 
 8* 
 
90 LIFE OF DE. IM'Cr.IE. 
 
 same subject. The political opinions defended in 
 them are gaining ground here among those that pre- 
 tend to religion, and have a wonderful influence in 
 prejudicing them against the Scotch Reformation." 
 
 '•'■ Fehrxiary 9, 1802. — You will receive with this 
 a proof of the manuscript last sent. I was much 
 gratified by the discipline you administered to that 
 anecdote-monger, Pelit-Jindrews* I used the free- 
 dom of adding one to the number of opprobrious 
 epithets you had selected, although the number was 
 sufficiently great before. When yours came to hand, 
 I had just finished the reading of him, not without 
 indignation, and w.ould as soon read the adventures 
 of Joseph Andrews as be condemned to go through 
 the same drudgery a second time. There is some- 
 thing in the modern study of the fine arts, belles 
 lettres, and mere antiquities, that gives the mind a 
 littleness which totally unfits it for being suitably 
 affected with things truly great in characters eminent 
 for love of religion, liberty and true learning. To 
 demolish a Gothic arch, break a pane of painted glass, 
 or deface a picture, are with them acts of ferocious 
 sacrilege not to be atoned for, the perpetrators of 
 which must be ipso facto excommunicated from, all 
 civil society, and reckoned henceforth among savages; 
 while to preserve these magnificent trifles, for which 
 they entertain a veneration little less idolatrous than 
 their Popish or Pagan predecessors, they would con- 
 sign whole nations and generations to — ignorance and 
 perdition. Excuse the rhapsody, and pass with a smile 
 this ebullition of my new-caught enthusiasm. I have 
 sent you a pnper containing remarks on the 23d 
 chapter (of the Confession:) also, the Reasons of 
 Dissent formerly read before the Synod." 
 
 "May 1,1802, — On Thursday the Synod heard 
 papers of Remonstrance from Messrs. Whytock and 
 
 * This refers to the Continuation of Henry's History by An- 
 drews, a violent calumniator of the Scottish reformers, and whose 
 tirades and libels were severely rebuked by Mr. Bruce in his 
 Historico-Politico Dissertation, p. 94-96. 
 
PROGRESS OF JMATTERS IN SYNOD. 91 
 
 Chalmers, and also Reasons of Protest, with answers 
 to them by the committee, who had been at consi- 
 derable pains. The answers were drawn up with 
 great speciousness and severity, and being read to a 
 partial audience, were warmly received. They did 
 not deny the more general idea of vows, &c., but 
 asserted that the Synod had not to do with it; they 
 denied that charges were brought against our Cove- 
 nants in the New Testimony — maintained that the 
 Synod had not dropped nor meant to drop a testi- 
 mony for attainments, ami for this referred to the 
 Acknowledgment of Sins, insisting that the Protest- 
 ers had been premature, &c. In my opinion there 
 was much sophistry and evasion in them, but calcu- 
 lated to impose upon people. After all, however, 
 the Synod agreed only in this, that the Reasons of 
 Protest were sufficiently ansvvered by them, but that 
 they were not to be understood as approving of every 
 'mode of expression,' which, in the modern language 
 of the Synod, means every senth7ient.'' 
 
 '^ May 13, 1802. — I wrote you before what the 
 S)'nod had done as to the New Testimon3^ They 
 have resolved to employ almost the whole of their 
 meeting in August about the Narrative and Intro- 
 duction. I begin to believe now that they will intro- 
 duce a testimony for the attainments of the Church of 
 Scotland, &c., however inconsistent this be with what 
 they have enacted. The leading men from the west, 
 and the Doctor from the south, have adopted the idea, 
 and others who expressed themselves decidedly 
 against it v/ill fall in for peace' sake and the necessity 
 of the times. At the same time, it will be so limited, 
 that the friends to the former testimony will be unable 
 to accede to it. 1 see more and more the justice of a 
 remark of yours, that the corrections that we got 
 inserted do little real good to the cause. The only 
 use I see that they make of papers given in, is to 
 make the changes less gross and apparent, while they 
 still maintain their main ground. Yet I cannot see 
 but it is our duty to use means of this kind." 
 
02 LIFE OP DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 "September 4, 1802. — I have scarcely been able to 
 be present at any of the sederunts of Synod, although 
 I regret it the less as I cannot see that I could have 
 reaped much benefit or done any good. The Synod 
 have spent all this week upon the latter part of the 
 narrative — to what purpose they themselves cannot 
 say, nor have they ever determined. It is too evident 
 they know not what they do, nor whether they are 
 leading themselves or the people. The Western 
 Committee, (now a little come to themselves,) instead 
 of bringing up answers to the remaining papers 
 against the enactments of the New Testimony, as their 
 friends expected, have materially confessed that the 
 act needs reconsideration and revisal. They have 
 brought in an overture containing about seven or eight 
 propositions respecting covenanting and the connex- 
 ion between religious and civil matters, which they 
 propose to be introduced as a preamble and an integral 
 part of the Testimony as well as the Introduction. 
 Along with many things exceptionable, they contain 
 a declaration in favour of defensive war for religion 
 and liberty, and of the magistrate's restraining pro- 
 fane swearing, blasphemy, &c. It was merely read, 
 and I suppose will be taken into consideration next 
 week. This, though unexpected, and though it 
 shows that these brethren have become more sen- 
 sible of the difficulties with which they are sur- 
 rounded, is still a very dark dispensation. There is 
 danger of its dividing or being a stumbling-block to 
 those who have been opposing the New Testimony, 
 and it may tend greatly to mislead the body of pro- 
 fessors. We have much need to look for Divine di- 
 rection, and to take heed to our steps, lest the lame 
 be turned out of the way. May the cloud which is 
 dark on one side be for a light on the other to all the 
 fearers of the Lord. Requesting your prayers, and 
 wishing you Divine countenance in your important 
 labours, I am, dear father, yours ever, 
 
 "Tho. M'Crie." 
 
 The fear expressed in the concluding part of this 
 
PROGRESS OF MATTERS IN SYNOD. Vo 
 
 letter was far from being unfounded. The "new- 
 light principle," that seed which involved a radical 
 departure from the profession formerly espoused by 
 Seceders, on the question of the connexion between 
 church and state, and which admitted of being ex- 
 panded into the great tree of Voluntaryism, was, as 
 we have seen, already planted in the profession of the 
 General Synod. But these disavowals of its practi- 
 cal consequences, however inconsistent they were 
 with that principle, served the purpose of hoodwink- 
 ing a great, number of the common people, who are 
 rarely qualified to judge of an abstract principle, and 
 of satisfying some good men, who were glad of an 
 apology for compliance with the change which had 
 been effected; while, at the same time, they furnished 
 a handle against the protesters, which some were not 
 slow to improve, by representing them as a set of 
 impracticable zealots, who were standing out for 
 theoretical trifles, and were charging the Synod with 
 being actuated by motives, and aiming at objects, 
 which ihey solemnly disclaimed. 
 
 Though well aware of the construction which 
 would be put on their conduct, the protesters, avail- 
 ing themselves of every legal formality, continued to 
 remonstrate against the introduction of the new terms 
 of communion at every step. In September 1803, 
 Messrs. Whytock, Aitken and M'Crie, tendered a 
 formal protestation, which was afterwards adhered to 
 by Messrs Bruce, Chalmers and Hogg, in which they 
 say, " Though by no means averse to an adapting of 
 our Testimony to the present times, and though ap- 
 proving of many things in these acts (of the Synod) 
 suitable to this end, we find ourselves under the ne- 
 cessity of protesting against them — as containing, in 
 our view, several things injurious to the reformation 
 cause, as being a material departure from the original 
 state of the Secession Testimony, and as altering the 
 terms of our communion. We also hereby declare 
 and protest, that in our continuing in communion 
 with this Synod we are to be viewed as holding by 
 
94 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 the Act, Declaration and Testimony, with the other 
 parts of our profession and terms of communion as 
 stated by the Associate Presbytery, and that our con- 
 curring in admitting persons to our communion, shall 
 be, as formerly, in the way of receiving their adhe- 
 rence to the foresaid Testimony. Finally, we protest 
 for liberty to exoner ourselves in all ways competent 
 with respect to these acts and deeds now protested 
 against, and particularly to remonstrate to this Synod 
 at their next meeting." 
 
 " Februanj 22, 1804. — Our brethren in the other 
 congregation have resolved to break ofi' the com- 
 munion which we had together by the alternate dis- 
 pensation of the Lord's Supper in the two congrega- 
 tions. They have also resolved in their session to 
 have the sacrament four times a year, twice without 
 fast-days. After their silent acquiescence in the 
 observance of the royal fast,* I expected nothing 
 from them. A little prudent management will re- 
 concile Seceders now-a-days almost to any novelty. 
 I have always endeavoured to think and speak ten- 
 derly of the conduct of those individuals in the other 
 congregation who have declined to hold communion 
 with us, as I was not without suspicion that they had 
 cause of offence in a number of things. But when I 
 consider how they have acted with respect to other 
 matters of present litigation, I cannot help thinking 
 that their conduct is too like that of straining at a 
 gnat and swallowing a camel. However, the above 
 
 * "I hear that the day of the king's fast will be chosen by num- 
 bers of our congregations as a fast-day, either in place of the day 
 appointed by the Synod, or before the sacrament, which many 
 have fixed for that time. Our Session have agreed not to observe 
 thatdayr (To Mr. Bruce, 13th October, 1803.) Mr. M'Crie's ob- 
 jections to the observance of royal fasts were founded on the im- 
 plied assumption of an Erastian power by the State to interfere 
 in matters "purely spiritual, and which belonged to the Church. 
 The new light party, with all their horror at any connexion be- 
 tween Church and state, were not, it appears, so scrupulous in 
 this matter. — James Sharpe, we know, who turned traitor and 
 persecutor, swallowed the tender, acknowledging the authority 
 of Cromwell; James Guthrie, who suffered for his faithfulness, 
 refused it. 
 
 i 
 
CONDITIONS IMPOSED ON THE PROTESTERS. 95 
 
 disagreeable incident as to the two congregations 
 gives me little concern, except in as far as it is 
 connected with matters of greater magnitude, the 
 general state of religion in the body." 
 
 Matters were now fast hastening to a crisis. In 
 May 1S04, the Synod at length enacted their Narra- 
 tive and Testimony into a term of communion. By 
 dint of ringing the changes on "persecution for con- 
 science' sake," and at the same time disavowing all 
 intention of relinquishing the ancient profession of 
 Seceders, the great majority of the people were pre- 
 pared for the change. Liberty was the idol of the day; 
 and though there were not a few, both among the 
 ministers and the people, who scrupled to fall down 
 and worship it, yet these, feeble and irresolute in 
 their opposition, were carried aJong, pushed aside, or 
 trampled on, by the crowd which dragged along its 
 triumphal car.* The protesters alone stood firm, 
 
 * The following is a specimen of the well-disposed but faint- 
 hearted opposition to which reference is made. It is an extract 
 from a letter to Mr. M'Crie from the Rev. Mr. Barlas, dated 
 Crieff, 3d December, 1804. "R. D. B , — I was favoured with 
 ■yours of the 2nd of October, and am greatly obliged to you for 
 being at so much pains to give me information concerning the 
 views and proceedings of the remonstrating brethren. J^or some 
 time I have been anxious to know iiow far the other brethren 
 who object to the New Testimony and Narrative and I. are agreed 
 in our sentiments about them, and it gives me much satisfaction 
 to see by the remonstrance that our sentiments are nearly the 
 same. There are several things in it objected to, which did not 
 strike me when reading the Testimony and Narrative, such as 
 covenanting being restricted to those who bear the character of 
 Church members, and no certain sound being given concerning 
 establishments of religion; but now upon considering the rea- 
 soning in tlie remonstrance on these points, it appears to me, 
 that according to what the Synod have asserted, it is inconsisent 
 for them any longer to acknowledge either the National Cove- 
 nant, or the Solemn League and Covenant, and that they must 
 he vietved as disapproving of all religious cslnblishments, the best 
 OS well as the loorst. In other things remonstrated against, I ob- 
 serve that though the brethren argue in another and more con- 
 vincing manner than I was capable of, our views are the same. I 
 am very much troubled about the intended ratification of the 
 Testimony at next Synod by the new form of covenanting, but 
 am at a loss to say if any step should be taken to disapprove of 
 it. My increasing frailty and incapacity for acting, which in all 
 
96 LIFE OF DR. M'CniE. 
 
 renewing their protest against the principle which 
 remained unrelinquished, although "some of the 
 most glaring and exceptional)le passages were ex- 
 punged or altered." The Synod, anxious, periiaps, 
 to prevent a rupture which they had now rendered 
 inevitable, granted them liberty to retain their pecu- 
 liar views, and receive into their communion such as 
 "might better understand and approve of the former 
 statement of their principles;" but this favour was 
 vouchsafed only on the conditions, that they should 
 be bound to admit all who declared their preference 
 for the New Testimony — that they " should not, 
 either from the pulpit or the press, impugn or oppose 
 our principles as stated by the Synod," — and that 
 they "should conduct themselves, as they had done 
 hitherto, in attending Church Courts, and assisting 
 their brethren on sacramental occasions." With such 
 conditions, as may be readily conceived, the protes- 
 ters could not comply. The liberty of admitting 
 members on the old principles was fairl}^ neutralized 
 by the necessity of admitting others on the principles 
 which they condemned; and to submit to be tied up 
 from testifying," either from the pulpit or the press," 
 in favour of the profession which they had become 
 bound to support at their ordination, was a course 
 which neither conscience nor consistency could per- 
 mit them to adopt. The toleration proposed was 
 absurd in principle, and would have been found im- 
 practicable in administration. Had the dissentients 
 yielded to sucii a measure, they would have consented 
 to the wilhdrawment of all judicial authority from 
 the principles which had been called in question, and 
 bartered the very existence of the original profession 
 for a mean and uncertain prolongation of their own 
 existence in a mongrel fellowship. The events which 
 the course of time has since evolved, leave no room 
 to question, that in adopting a different line, they 
 
 probnbility will soon lay me aside from public work, make mo 
 I'requently think that what is competent to me is, to adhere firmly 
 to my former principles, and be only a silent observer." 
 
PERPLEXITIES. 97 
 
 consulted the honour of truth and followed the road 
 of duty. When we consider the undue restraints 
 which these conditions imposed on their ministerial 
 liberty, it is diflficult to see wherein " the lenity and 
 forbearance of the Synod towards the protesting 
 brethren," which has been so highly praised, mani- 
 fested itself; unless we are to rank under these virtues, 
 the fact of the Synod having permitted them hitherto 
 to exercise, without censure, their constitutional privi- 
 lege of protesting and remonstrating in the Church 
 Courts, which had now become as superfluous as it 
 had been unavailing. With the last condition, re- 
 quiring their attendance on Church Courts and assist- 
 ing their brethren at communions, the Synod had 
 now rendered compliance equally impracticable. The 
 protesters could do neither, without compromising 
 the principles for which they had all along contended, 
 and countenancing the enforcement of the acts against 
 which they had protested. 
 
 Tiie perplexities into which Mr. M'Crie and his 
 brethren were thrown by these enactments, were 
 manifold. They were greatly at a loss how to act 
 with regard to their congregations. The people, in 
 general, were totally unconscious of the change which 
 had been effected on the Constitution of the Synod, 
 or of the grounds on which it had been opposed. 
 Nothing had as yet been published by the protesters 
 on the subject; anfl with a feeling of delicacy, rarely 
 exemplified, they had never introduced the litigated 
 points into the pulpit. "As to pulpit declarations," 
 says Mr. M'Crie, writing to Mr. Aitken, 9th March 
 1S04, "I know of none that the brethren here (the 
 professor excepted) have given. I have never ex 
 professo introduced the subject. Few of the people 
 about this place have any apprehension that things 
 are wrong. I am sorry to see brethren, for many of 
 whom I entertain a high respect, acting a part which 
 1 cannot but look upon as deceitful and inconsistent." 
 " The more I think of the state of matters," he writes 
 to Mr. Bruce, 12th June 1805, "1 am the more fully 
 9 
 
98 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 convinced that it is high time to give a public state- 
 ment of the grounds of our opposition. If it be 
 delayed much longer, it will come too late. The 
 people will be gained over unto or fixed in the new 
 sentiments, and some of those who have appeared 
 against them will fall off. I believe that the great 
 thing that the leaders in Synod now want is a respite 
 to enable them fully to establish the new system. 
 Mr. TurnbuU (of Glasgow) wishes to know the judg- 
 ment of brethren as to his publication, I should like 
 much to see it; only could have wished that the brief 
 statement of which you spoke had preceded it. You 
 know Mr. T.'s peculiar mode of writing, which I am 
 afraid would not be very intelligible in many things, 
 nor palatable to many at present." 
 
 Another source of distress was the prospect of 
 breaking up that kindly fellowship which had sub- 
 sisted between him and his brethren in the ministry. 
 It was long before he could prevail on himself to re- 
 sign the pleasures of an intercourse which his con- 
 science would no longer permit him to enjoy. He 
 writes in March 1806, "As to our conduct in respect 
 to communion here for some time back, I am not 
 disposed altogether to vindicate it. I feel I am not 
 in a right state, and am often uneasy, I mean in point 
 of conscience; for in another point of view, as to 
 alienation between brethren and me, this has not 
 obtained to a very great degree." His trials in this 
 . respect were considerably aggravated by the death of 
 his friend Mr. Whytock, who was suddenly "taken 
 away from the evil to come," by a stroke of apoplexy 
 on the 24th of October 1S05. "This providence," 
 he writes, " has been very afflicting to me, from the 
 intercourse I had with him, and the impression which 
 his friendly offices and counsels had made upon me. 
 But "What shall I say? He himself hath done it." 
 The Lord seems to be trying us by dark dispensa- 
 tions. He is diminishing our number (we thought it 
 sufficiently small) to make us look to Himself, and 
 cleave more closely to one another. that this were 
 the effect !" 
 
FINAL PROTESTATION OF THE FOUR BRETHREN. 99 
 
 This state of matters could not last long. " It is 
 certainly of great consequence," he says, April 9, 
 1806, "that our minds be made Uj3 as to the step to 
 be taken at the next meeting of Synod, which now 
 approaches. The crisis seems to be come. We are 
 certainly called upon decidedly to reject the new 
 ■terms of communion, and to take up ground which 
 will give us liberty to make such appearances in be- 
 half of our principles, as the exigency may demand. 
 Much depends upon our being directed to the proper 
 step: never more need for looking to the Wonderful 
 Counsellor." Accordingly, at the meeting of Synod 
 in May 1806,«the protesters, now reduced to four, 
 viz. Messrs. Bruce, Aitken, Hogg and M'Crie, took a 
 more decided step, and jointly presented a paper, in 
 which they say, "That finding no longer access to 
 continue judicial contendings with the Synod, nor 
 any hopes left of their being allowed to retain their 
 former profession entire, or of enjoying ministerial 
 freedom in co-operation wiih the General Synod and 
 inferior judicatories, as now constituted, according 
 to the terms enacted and tlie restrictions attempted 
 to be imposed on protesting ministers last year, they 
 are constrained (though without any prospect of be- 
 ing able to maintain a successful opposition, in the 
 present state of things, to the torrent that is carrying 
 along the large body of Seceders throughout the land) 
 once more to declare and protest, in their own name, 
 and in tlie name of all who may still be disposed to 
 adhere to their former profession and engagements, 
 that they shall hold themselves free from any obliga- 
 tion to comply with these innovating acts; that they 
 shall account every attempt by the Synod, or any in 
 subjection to it, to compel them to conformity to the 
 new system and constitution to be unwarrantable; 
 that, in the present state of exclusion into which they 
 have been driven by the prevailing party in Synod, 
 (which they wish may be but temporary and short,) 
 they shall be at liberty to maintain their former tes- 
 timony and communion as formerly stated, with 
 
100 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 ministers and people, as Providence may give them 
 opportunity; and that in endeavouring to do this, 
 they must consider themselves as possessing a full 
 right to the exercise of ministerial or judicative 
 powers, according as they may have a call, or may 
 think it conducive to the ends of edification to use 
 that right, and that notwithstanding of any censure 
 or sentence the Synod may see meet to pass to the 
 contrary, on account of the part they have been 
 obliged to act in this cause."* 
 
 This paper, which was received by the Synod 
 without any objections, placed the protesters in very 
 peculiar circumstances. Their relaticfn to the Synod, 
 as constituted on the new deeds, was virtually dis- 
 solved; they considered themselves "secluded from 
 all communion" with it, and consequently declined 
 its jurisdiction, so long as it was thus constituted. 
 Anxious to try every method to prevent a breach, 
 they were still ready to yield all due subordination 
 to the supreme court, according to their ordination 
 vows. But considering that the Synod had left them 
 standing on the original constitution of the Society, 
 had adopted an entirely new system of principles, 
 contrary to these vows, and, by engaging in the 
 work of covenanting on the ground of these princi- 
 ples, had renounced their former profession with 
 all the solemnity of an oath, the protesting brethren 
 regarded themselves as no longer under the authority 
 of the General Synod as thus constituted, and viewed 
 themselves at liberty to act as if no such body ex- 
 isted. 
 
 The subsequent steps taken by the protesters will 
 appear from the following correspondence: — 
 
 Mr. M'Crie to Mr. Bruce. 
 
 "June 18, 1806. — The immediate purpose of my 
 
 writing you is to give you an account of matters in 
 
 the congregation which appear to be coming to a 
 
 crisis, and ask your advice. On a Sabbath afternoon, 
 
 * Paper in Statement of the Difference, &c., p. ^23— 228. 
 
STATE OF HIS CONGKEGATION. 101 
 
 about three weeks ago, I reckoned it necessary to 
 give a public declaration respecting the grounds of 
 our opposition to the late measures of the Synod, 
 chiefly in the way of stating a few facts as to the 
 difference between the former and present profes- 
 sion.* At a meeting of Session after that, a very great 
 desire was testified that the Session should declare 
 their adherence to the Synod and to the New Testi- 
 mony. The motion was delayed only with the view 
 of being revived at next meeting, and there is no 
 doubt of its carrying, as the most of the members of 
 Session are determinedly of the Synod's sentiments. 
 They have also been complaining that a meeting of 
 the congregation has not been called, with the view 
 of their declaring themselves. I have had no free- 
 dom to use any private means for counteracting these 
 measures, nor to encourage any counter-petitions, 
 although a goodly number of the congregation are 
 attached to the original principles. The only thing 
 I wish is, to know how I shall act when matters are 
 come to a crisis. Will you be so good as to advise 
 me on the following points? 
 
 "In what manner shall I conduct myself in the 
 Session when they come to vote their adherence to 
 the Synod and the New Testimony? I am satisfied 
 that I cannot continue to hold session with them 
 after such a declaration, adopting fully the new prin- 
 ciples, after all I have been doing against them, and 
 after 1 have been obliged to leave the S^^od on ac- 
 count of their determined adherence to them. The 
 only thing I am at a loss about is, how I should act 
 before they put the vote. — Again, in what manner 
 should I act if the majority of the congregation, at 
 a congregational meeting which will soon be held, 
 siiould declare that they adhere to the Synod, accoi'd- 
 ing to the late statement of their principles ? Can 
 I continue to dispense ordinances to them, or will it 
 be incumbent on me to withdraw together with any 
 
 * See Appendix, 
 
 9* 
 
102 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 that may be disposed to adhere to the cause of Christ, 
 agreeably to our protestation? Would there be any 
 propriety in my attending the congregational meet- 
 ing, or letting them know, previously to such a vote, 
 what I will reckon incumbent upon me? 
 
 "I am much obliged to you for your kind sympathy 
 on this occasion. Through your prayers, with those 
 of other brethren, and the supply of the Spirit of 
 Christ, I trust I shall be upheld, and made in some 
 measure faithful in the present contest. The break- 
 ing of the congregation was long a matter of bitter 
 concern to me; but I have endeavoured to cast it 
 wholly upon the Lord. Though ' my bowels are often 
 troubled within me,' and my spirits dejected, I can yet 
 say, 'Perplexed, but not in despair; cast down, but 
 not destroyed.' ' There hath no temptation taken 
 you but such as is common to man: but God is faith- 
 ful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that 
 ye are able; but will with the temptation also make 
 a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it.'" 
 
 In reply Mr. Bruce says, " it is with concern that 
 I sit down to write an answer in the painful circum- 
 stances of the case, though they are such as might 
 have been expected, sooner or later, as times go. My 
 concern is excited more on account of the blinded 
 people, than on your account; for I hope that you 
 will find that there is a degree of heart-felt peace, not 
 to be shaken by such events, in singly cleaving to the 
 Lord, anck^suffering for righteousness' sake. No 
 doubt the mought of breaking the harmony of a con- 
 gregation, otherwise united, and wearing so very pro- 
 mising an appearance, must have caused you great 
 uneasiness; but those things which are unavoidable 
 in the prosecution of the course of duty, we must be 
 ready to bear with resignation. How to act in such 
 a new and trying situation, requires greater grace and 
 wisdom than any of us possess, and better counsel 
 than any on earth can give. But may not this be one 
 of those cases, in which you may expect, in some 
 measure, a verification of the promise our Lord made 
 
HE IS CITED BY THE SYNOD. 103 
 
 to his disciples, 'It shall be given you in that hour 
 what ye shall speak.' I humbly think that there is 
 no reason for attempting to prevent either session or 
 congregation from declaring liiemselves, in the most 
 formal manner, on the public crisis that has arisen." 
 He then proceeds to advise him on the most proper 
 method of ascertaining the sentiments of the people. 
 To the Rev. Arch. Bruce,— Jwwe 27, 1806. 
 " R. D. F., — I received your favour yesterday, and 
 am much obliged to j^ou for the full directions which 
 it contains. I have to inform you that the Presbytery 
 of Edinburgh met on Tuesday last, and agreed that 
 you and I should be cited to attend their next meet- 
 ing on the 22d of July. I have not yet received the 
 citation, but hear that it proceeds on two grounds, — 
 our not attending meetings of Presbytery, although 
 in good health, and our having made declarations to 
 our people in opposition to the principles exhibited 
 by the ^nod, and tending to produce schism in the 
 body. I scarcely thought they would have been so 
 fast, but suppose that their object is to get the affair 
 fully before the Synod at Glasgow in August, by re- 
 ferring the cause, and summoning us to attend. I am 
 pleased that they are taking these steps, as it shows 
 what we may expect, and will sooner and most easily 
 disentangle us from the various embarrassments. 1 
 will expect that )'ou will write me, after receiving 
 the citation, in what general terms an answer should 
 be returned to it. Perhaps, as the Presbytery have 
 taken up the business, our elders may not judge it 
 necessary to prosecute it so fast as they proposed — 
 not that I was averse, for my own part, to the early 
 decision of the matter. I do not doubt that there 
 will be still a competent number to support the 
 standard in Edinburgh. As to the possession of the 
 [meeting] house, I am not in the least anxious to 
 retain it. I have even thought that perhaps Provi- 
 dence intended the dissolution of the congregational 
 state, and our removal from the house, to set aside 
 the stumblins: which it has occasioned to some friends 
 
104 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 of the cause not connected with the congregation. 
 But I would wisli to leave this entirely to another's 
 management. Whatever may happen, I am fully 
 satisfied of the propriety and necessity of the appear- 
 ance we are making, and particularly of the step 
 taken at last meeting [of Synod.] But I must have 
 done, assuring you that I am, very dear father, ever 
 yours,,. Tho. M'Crie." 
 
 To Mr. Aitken he writes: 
 
 '^July 10, 1806. — The Professor and I have each 
 received a citation in form to attend the Presbytery. 
 I mean not to compear, as 1 cannot in consistency 
 with the step lately taken, but intend to return some 
 answer by letter. I suppose the design of this 
 measure is to get us regularly cited to the August 
 Synod." 
 
 "When it is determined to sacrifice the victim," 
 says the old proverb, "it is not difficult |p find a 
 stick in the forest to despatch it with." And when 
 a church is bent on introducing a change into its 
 profession, it will go hard if they do not find some- 
 thing in the conduct of the protesting minority which 
 shall afford a plausible pretext for condemning them, 
 and resting their condemnation, not on the cause in 
 dispute, but on some informalities or disorderly tactics 
 in their mode of prosecuting it. This was remark- 
 ably exemplified in the present case. The real point 
 in dispute was unquestionably the New Testimony, 
 which the protesting brethren had declared to be, in 
 their judgment and conscience, inconsistent with 
 Scripture, with the original principles of the Refor- 
 mation and Secession, and with their own ordination 
 vows. These protests and representations had been 
 tabled for many years before the Synod, without in- 
 curring any censure; but no sooner do the protesters 
 begin to act upon them, and to explain to their peo- 
 ple the ground on which they stood, than they are 
 charged with following schismatical and divisive 
 courses. The prevailing party in the Synod first 
 
THE PROTESTERS CONSTITUTE A PRESBYTERY. 105 
 
 expel them from their communion, by imposing a 
 new set of terms to which they could not conscien- 
 tiously submit; and then, summoning them to their 
 bar, they proceed against them as contumacious of- 
 fenders. The truth is, the protesters had been 
 placed, by the enactment of the new deeds, in such 
 circumstances, that it was impossible for them to 
 act a conscientious part, without exposing them- 
 selves to what amounted, in the eyes of the Synod, 
 to the charge of schism; and they were soon driven, 
 by the necessity of following out their protest, to 
 adopt steps which furnished a pretext for passing 
 against them the highest censures which can be in- 
 flicted on ministers of the Gospel. 
 
 On the 2Sth August 1806, while the General Synod 
 was sitting in Glasgow, Messrs. Bruce, Aitken, Hogg, 
 and M'Crie, " being in Providence convened together 
 at Whitburn," on a sacramental occasion, and taking 
 into serious consideration the circumstances in which 
 they were placed, after some time spent in solemn 
 prayer for divine direction, constituted themselves 
 into a Presbytery. Before they met on this occasion, 
 none of them had contemplated such a step. I find Mr. 
 Aitken recommending a meeting after the first Sab- 
 bath of September, which he thinks "would answer 
 better, as they would know by that time what the 
 Synod had done, and could take what steps would be 
 necessary."* But on consulting together, they saw 
 no good reason for delay. The expediency of such 
 a step at the time chosen for it, may, perhaps, be 
 doubted even by those who consider that they were 
 perfectly entitled, in point of principle, to adopt it. 
 And there can be no doubt that the circumstance of 
 their having constituted themselves into a separate 
 court, while the Synod was sitting, hastened the ec- 
 clesiastical censures which were passed against them, 
 and furnished a plausible plea in the legal proceedings 
 
 * " Tlie truth is, not one of the constituent members knew in 
 the morning when he arose, whether such an event was to take 
 place that day, or at that time, but the probability seemed rather 
 to be on the other side." — Bruce's Revicto of the Proceedings of 
 Synod, p. 72. 
 
lOG LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 which ensued. These consequences, however, the 
 protesters were determined, should not prevent them 
 from discharging their duty. Despairing of any 
 prospect of return on the part of the Synod to their 
 original ground, regretting the time which they had 
 already lost in fruitless negotiations with the courts, 
 and persuaded that the season had come for making 
 a public appearance in behalf of the principles of the 
 Secession; they embraced the opportunity of having 
 met together, which, owing to their distance from 
 each other, they seldom enjoyed, to avail themselves 
 of the right, which they had formally claimed, of as- 
 sociating together in a judicial capacity. 
 
 In their Deed of Constitution, they declare, that 
 " finding themselves virtually secluded from minis- 
 terial and Christian communion, while they could 
 not, with a good conscience, and consistently with 
 the vows which they were presently under, comply 
 Avith the new terms, nor concur with their brethren 
 in carrying them into execution, or in administrations 
 wherein an approbation of them is necessarily im- 
 plied; and at the same time, having protested in 
 their own name, and in the name of all who should 
 adhere to them, that, in this state of seclusion and 
 separation to which they were reluctantly driven, it 
 should be warrantable for them to maintain com- 
 munion with such ministers and people as might 
 still be disposed to adhere to their former profession, 
 on the terms settled in the Associate Body from the 
 beginning; and that they sliould have a right, as 
 they might have a call to exercise all the parts of 
 their ministerial office, individually, or in a judicative 
 capacity, in support of their common profession, 
 without any regard to these innovating acts; and 
 that they should not be responsible to the Synod, 
 or inferior judicatories, as presently constituted and 
 acting according to these deeds, but would hold any 
 censures as null and void that might be pronounced 
 against them by these judicatories, for their conduct 
 in this matter; while acting according to Presby- 
 
THE SYNOD TAKES THE ALARM. 107 
 
 terian principles and their ordination vows, &c., it 
 was unanimously agreed and resolved, That as lliey 
 had a right, and appeared to have a call, they should 
 presently proceed to constitute.'''* The Preshy tery, thus 
 constituted, afterwards assumed the name of the 
 Constitutional Associate Presbytery. 
 
 Meanwhile the Synod, unconscious of what was 
 passing at Whitburn, had, on the 28th of August, 
 the very day on which the Presbytery was consti- 
 tuted, deposed Mr. Aitken, on the alleged ground of 
 his having followed a "disorderly and schismatical 
 course," Mr. Aitken had rendered himself particu- 
 larly obnoxious to the leading members of Synod, 
 by having taken a more active part than the rest of 
 his brethren in opposing the new measures, and his 
 crime was considered as aggravated by his receiving 
 into communion persons belonging to other con- 
 gregations, upon the old terms, which he conceived 
 he was warranted to do by the protest so often al- 
 luded to. The cases of Messrs. Bruce and M'Crie 
 were then taken up, and it was at first agreed that 
 they should be deferred until next meeting of Sy- 
 nod. But an incident occurred which speedily al- 
 tered this determination. 
 
 Though the protesters had publicly disclaimed 
 connexion with the Synod as it was now constituted, 
 and consequently held all the censures it might pass 
 on them null and void, yet, aware of the use which 
 might be made of the fact of their having consti- 
 tuted at Whitburn, and unwilling to afford their op- 
 ponents farther ground for disturbing the peace of 
 their congregations, and proceeding to those extre- 
 mities to which they appeared already too much in- 
 
 * The Deed by which the Protesting ministers constituted 
 themselves into a presbytery, with the Reasons," is append- 
 ed to the Statement. At a subsequent meeting, in November 
 180(), " they think it not improper to join tlie term Constitutional 
 with that of Associate; as this also may serve to express their 
 adherence to the true Constitution of the Reformed Church of 
 Scotland, as stated in her Standards and Reformation Acts, and 
 to the original Constitution of the Associate Presbytery aud 
 Synod.' 
 
108 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 clined, they did not consider it prudent to make 
 a public announcement of their meeting, till they 
 could publish the reasons which had led them to 
 adopt that step. But as they did not affect any se- 
 crecy in the transaction, one of them informed a 
 friend, in passing through Edinburgh, of what had 
 been done ; and by this means, the intelligence 
 reached Glasgow while the Synod was still sitting. 
 Orders were immediately transmitted to ascertain the 
 fact, and on Sabbath following, Mr. M'Crie, in reply 
 to a question put by some of his elders, frankly in- 
 formed them of the truth.* 
 
 Upon this a deputation of them was immediately 
 despatched to Glasgow with the alarming intelli- 
 gence. On obtaining this piece of information, the 
 Synod, filled with indignation at what they regard- 
 ed as an overt act of rebellion, instantly resumed the 
 case of Mr. M'Crie, and on the faith of this vague 
 representation, without the formalities of a legal 
 process, on Tuesday the 2d of September, they passed 
 on him the sentence of deposition and excommu- 
 nication. t 
 
 *" As a minister" (says Mr. Bruce) "is not subjected to the 
 judgment of a Session, in the execution of his ministerial office, 
 their expiscating inquiries, with an evident design to criminate, 
 miglit justly have been evaded, or repelled as premature and 
 impertinent: but the candour of their minister, and the conscious 
 sense of duty in the transaction referred to, which neither he 
 nor any of his brethren surely ever meant to keep a secret, or 
 were ashamed to declare, when they had a proper call to do so, 
 kept him from using his privilege in all its extent. It is in a high 
 degree ridiculous to suppose that any possessed of common sense 
 would ever proceed to constitute a Presbytery with a view to 
 keep it secret. Though they did not reckon it proper to promul- 
 gate the fact, till the minute, with reasons, was drawn out, yet 
 they mentioned it to any to whom they had occasion to speak on 
 the general subject, and it is false that they ever laid the slightest, 
 injunction, or insinuated the slightest advice, to keep it secret." 
 — Bruce's Review, p. 70-7^. 
 
 t " With respect to Mr. M'Crie, without more ado now found 
 guilty, to use the emphatic language of the letter-writer," (an 
 anonymous writer in the Christian Magazine, who had given 
 a very garbled account of the affair,) ^'forbearance could no 
 longer be tolerated," blven a Synodical vote of delay, or of longer 
 forbearance, now became intolerable, and must be brushed away 
 
HIS DEPOSITION. 109 
 
 The following is the tenor of the sentence, being 
 the same in substance as that pronounced on the 
 rest: — " Glasgow, September 2, 1806. — The General 
 Associate Synod read a paper from the second con- 
 gregation of Edinburgh, bearing that Mr. M'Crie, 
 minister of that congregation, acknowledged to his 
 Session, that he and his protesting brethren had 
 formed themselves into a Presb37tery, distinct and 
 separate from the Synod. Which said fact being 
 attested by tlie subscription of several elders, after 
 mature deliberation, and considering what is con- 
 tained in the minutes of this Synod in the case of 
 Mr. M'Crie on the 29th ult.,and the Synod also find- 
 ing by his acknowledgment before his Session, as is 
 attested b}^ six of the members of it, that he and his 
 protesting brethren had formed themselves into a 
 Presbytery distinct and separate from the Synod: It 
 was moved that the Synod either Depose or Suspend 
 him. The vote was therefore stated, Depose or Sus- 
 pend. The roll being called, and votes marked, it 
 carried Depose. Therefore, the Synod did, and here- 
 by do, in the name and by the authority of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, the alone King and Head of his Church, 
 Depose the said Thomas M'Crie from the office of 
 the holy ministry, prohibiting him from all and any 
 exercise of said ministry henceforth in the Church. 
 And in the same name, and by the same authority, 
 they did, and hereby do, suspend him from all com- 
 munion with the Church in sealing ordinances, aye 
 and until he shall give satisfying evidences of his re- 
 pentance." 
 
 The surprise and confusion into which Mr. M'Crie's 
 
 as a cobweb. Censure — censure, is now the order of the day, 
 since the tocsin of Edinburgli lias sounded tiie alarm. And that 
 the Synod might not bo troubled with tedious formalities, citation 
 of parties, precognitions, examination of witnesses, proofs of re- 
 levancy ; or be detained for months or years peihaps, by creepintr 
 through the different stages, they make short work of it, and, all 
 at once, within a k\\ hours, leap to tlie highest degree of cen- 
 sure that can be inflicted on a minister as such." — Bruce's R&- 
 vicw, p. (i9. 
 10 
 
110 LIFE OP DU. M'CRIE. 
 
 congregation was thrown on hearing of this sen- 
 tence, may be easily conceived. As soon as the news 
 reached town, numbers of them, without any pre- 
 vious concert, hastened to the house of their minis- 
 ter, to ascertain the truth, and express their sympa- 
 thy with him under the trying circumstances. They 
 found him composed and resigned. "I certainly 
 looked for being suspended," said he, pacing through 
 the room, which was now nearly filled, — " 1 hardly 
 expected they would have proceeded this length. 
 Bul,^' he added, with the emphatic solemnity which 
 marked his manner when much affected, " what am 
 I, that I should be counted worthy to suffer shame 
 for His name!" 
 
 When the ties that bind a conscientious people 
 together are snapt asunder, the revulsion is generally- 
 violent in proportion to the strictness with which 
 they had been united. Mr. M'Crie's congregaiion 
 being nearly equally divided, the first object of con- 
 test was the possession of the meeting-house. An 
 attempt was made by the party opposed to the mi- 
 nister, on the week preceding his deposition, to obtain 
 possession of tlie keys, which, however, on applica- 
 tion being made to the Sheriff, were restored. On 
 the following week, tiiis party refused to submit to 
 the decision of the Sheriff, and procured a suspension 
 from the Lord Ordinary. Mr. M'Crie's friends, 
 however, having made a representation of their case, 
 his Lordship (Woodhouselee) granted on Friday an 
 Interlocutor, ordering that Mr. M-Crie, on the ground 
 of his deposition by the Synod, should preacli only 
 in the forenoon, and the other party's minister in the 
 afternoon, till the question as to the property should 
 be decided.* This arrangement accordingly took 
 
 * " This temporary arrangement,' says Mr. M'Crie, "was 
 produced by a sliameful bill of suspension, which was given in 
 on Friday, without our lawyer having a previous opportunity of 
 seeing it. Tliis stated that I had for some time past shown a 
 tendency to follow sciiismatical practices ; that though the Sy- 
 nod had enjoined me a year ago to refrain from them, and not 
 disturb the peace of the Church by my doctrine, I iiad persevered 
 
HIS DEPOSITIQN. Ill 
 
 effect, and on the afternoon of the Sabbath following 
 (Sept. 7th) the sentence of Mr. M'Crie's deposition 
 was intimated from his own pulpit, by Mr. Hay 
 of Alyth, the minister appointed by the Synod for 
 that service. 
 
 The following extracts may give some idea of 
 the state of Mr. M'Crie's feelings during this trying 
 period. 
 
 "August 30, 1806, [Saturday.] — During the great- 
 er part of this forenoon, I was troubled with anx- 
 iety, lest the Synod should not issue the business: it 
 was only an hour before Mr. T. came that I had re- 
 conciled my mind to what mighl be the event."* 
 '^ Jlugusl 31. — It is said that "the priests in the 
 temple profaned the Sabbath and were blameless." 
 Will not this be an excuse for me writing you on 
 Sabbath evening? 1 am anxious you should know 
 the state of matters which have assumed an aspect 
 which perhaps you did not expect." After speaking 
 of the steps already mentioned, he adds, "But the 
 Lord can overrule all. I do not repent the step 1 
 took at Whitburn. To have continued till next Sy- 
 nod in the situation in which we were, was imprac- 
 ticable. This has been the most trying day I have 
 had. It was eleven o'clock last night before 1 heard 
 of what the Sheriff had done." j- To Professor Bruce 
 he writes, Wednesday, f^epl. 3. — "Our friends still 
 think they may have the majority. I am happy that 
 a competent number appear to support the stand in 
 this place." — " Thursday, September 4. — To-day 1 
 have to inform you, that on Tuesday evening I 
 was deposed by the Synod, upon the report of the 
 
 and drawn aside a number of the congregation to my schisma 
 tical doctrines, had constituted, &c., on account of which I hac 
 
 isma- 
 id 
 been deposed by my lawful superiors unto whom I had promised 
 subjection, (a copy of the sentence of deposition was forwarded 
 by the Synod Clerlt, and given in to the civil court two days 
 before I got my extract;) and as I had evinced a disposition to 
 continue to preach, they prayed that his Lordship would find 
 that 1 was no longer their lawful pastor, and interdict nie from 
 preaching in the house, or disturbing Mr. Hay, or any other mi- 
 nister the Synod might send." — To Professor Bruce, Sept. 8, IbOG. 
 
 * To Mr. Aitken. t To Mr. Thomas Grieve. 
 
112 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 elders that I had acknowledged our having consti- 
 tuted into presb3tery. 1 need not say I require your 
 sympathy and prayers." 
 
 "It seems," says Mr. Bruce in reply, "a ruling 
 party in the Synod are resolved to go tlirough with 
 this business; and the Lord is permitting them for 
 his own holy ends. He is righteous in all he sends 
 or may send on us, though men be unjust. You and 
 our brother (Mr. Aitken) have had the honour con- 
 ferred on you of being foremost in enduring suffer- 
 ing in this manner for Christ's testimony in Scot- 
 land in the present contest. Others, if they live a 
 little longer, will soon be joined with you in this; 
 which we have reason to take joyfully. We have 
 often spoken of the afflictions that come for the 
 Gospel, and even may have been, especially of late, 
 looking forward to something of this kind as await- 
 ing us; and we need not think it strange, nor shrink 
 from them, when they come. The loud report of 
 their violence, like an alarm gun, is needful to 
 awaken the people from their state of torpor, and 
 even that will hardly convince them that there is 
 any danger at hand." 
 
 Mr. M'Crie to Professor Bruce. 
 
 Edinburgh, Sth Sept. 180G. 
 "Rev. and dear Father, — I received your ex- 
 pected and welcome letter, on Saturday evening, 
 which greatly refreshed me. Before its arrival the 
 Lord Ordinary (Lord Woodhouselee) had passed an 
 Interlocutor, making a temporary arrangement as to 
 the meeting-house, until the right of property should 
 be determined. His decision was that I should have 
 the house in the forenoon, and the other party might 
 introduce their minister in the afternoon. Mr. Goold, 
 the Cameronian minister, called on Thursday and 
 told me that the managers of their house, having 
 heard that I was to be excluded from my own pulpit, 
 had unanimously agreed that I should be welcome 
 to theirs on Sabbath first, as they were to be vacant. 
 
FIRST SABBATH AFTER r>EPOSITION. 113 
 
 I accordingly accepted it, and preached there in the 
 afternoon and evening. In the forenoon I lectured 
 on Psalm xliv. 17-21;* in the afternoon preached on 
 Isaiah liv. 10;t and in the evening on Acts xxviii. 
 20. 1 We were well attended all the day; in the 
 forenoon a great number of strangers were collected 
 by the report of the uncommon business. I have 
 reason of thankfulness that I was carried through. 
 In the morning when I went into the pulpit, I could 
 not help my nerves and feelings being affected, but 
 I suppose it was scarcely visible; it soon went off, 
 and throughout the day 1 enjoyed great composure. 
 During tlie afternoon, I could not help noticing, on 
 reflection, that the thought of what was going on in 
 our usual place of worship, did not once intrude on 
 my mind, whatever impression I had of the general 
 situation in which I was placed. — The affection and 
 sympathy of my people who have remained steady, 
 has been very tender; and 1 have the satisfaction 
 of reflecting tliat they have all voluntarily come for- 
 ward, without any private solicitations of mine, and 
 good reason to think, as to the great body of them, 
 that they act from knowledge and attachment to the 
 cause, and not from mere attachment to me. This 
 is a mums ahencus§ against the false and illiberal 
 charges brought against me of intriguing and draw- 
 ing away the people in public and private, which, I 
 understand, the Synod admitted into their minutes, 
 
 ** " All this is come on us ; yet have we not forgotten thee, 
 neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not 
 turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy waj' ; 
 though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and 
 covered us with the shadow of death. If we have forgotten the 
 name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god, 
 shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the 
 heart." 
 
 t " For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed ; 
 but my kindness shall not depart from Ihee, neither shall the 
 covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath 
 mercy on thee," 
 
 t " For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain." 
 
 § " A brasen wall." — Jer. xv. 20. 
 
 10* 
 
114 LIFE OP DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 under the name of reasons of dissent against the deed 
 of the first week; which the accusers did not ven- 
 ture to bring forth before the vote; and which con- 
 stituted no part of the public charge or evidence." 
 
 Before dismissing the congregation on the fore- 
 noon of this memorable Sabbath, Mr. M'Crie consi- 
 dered it necessary to enter a formal protest against 
 the sentence which had passed against him, that 
 their withdrawing to another place of worship, in 
 compliance with the decision of the civil court, 
 might not be construed into "an approbation of, or 
 acquiescence in, the work that was to go on." The 
 following extracts from the address he delivered 
 on this occasion may be interesting, as showing the 
 grounds on which he refused submission to the Sy- 
 nodical censure. 
 
 "Brethren, it is necessary before dismissing you, 
 to say a few things relative to tlie peculiar circum- 
 stances in which we are at present placed. You 
 may have heard by report that the General Synod 
 have last week passed a sentence by which they 
 pretend to depose me from the office of the ministry, 
 and to dissolve the connexion between me and this 
 congregation. The determinations of church courts, 
 although they are to be submitted to when agreeable 
 to the Word, are only to be received so far as they 
 speak according to the divine law and testimony. 
 Their power is for edification, not destruction. They 
 can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. 
 They may command and straitly threaten not to 
 speak at all in the name of Jesus: but whether it is 
 right in the sight of God to hearken unto them more 
 than unto God, judge ye. 
 
 "I consider this sentence as having been passed 
 upon me for the appearances which I have made in 
 behalf of tlie covenanted principles of the Church 
 of Scotland, and the original Secession Testimony, of 
 which I professed an unlimited approbation at my 
 ordination, when I was bound to contend against all 
 the errors which were opposite to it. Had the cen- 
 
ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 115 
 
 sure been inflicted upon me on personal grounds, on 
 account of immoral conduct, or preaching doctrines 
 opposite to tiie common profession, I would have 
 seen it my duty to acquiesce, even although 1 had 
 been convinced that injustice was done me. But 
 there is a wide difference between a personal and a 
 public cause: and it is allowed on all hands that this 
 is a cause entirely public. The duty that 1 owe to 
 truth, to solemn engagements, to the Church of God, 
 and that part of it with which I am more particularly 
 concerned, demand that I should declare that I hold 
 this sentence as not only rash and harsh, but as un- 
 constitutional, unjust, and totally invalid. 
 
 "So far as the sentence respects me, the instances 
 of precipitancy and harshness affect me little. 1 
 thank God 1 have been enabled to bear them with- 
 out irritation, and can forgive those who from igno- 
 rance or prejudice have been active in it, and would 
 request you, my friends, to do the same. But I 
 cannot but be affected with it in another point of 
 view, as it relates to the public cause of religion and 
 reformation in this land. That the Synod should 
 not only have been left to depart from some impor- 
 tant parts of the Reformation Testimony, but to 
 direct the heaviest censures against those who are 
 endeavouring, amidst great discouragements, to main- 
 tain it, is truly affecting. 
 
 "I do, therefore, now solemnly protest that my 
 office, and the right to exercise it, remains unaffected 
 by this sentence of pretended deposition passed by 
 the Synod; that the relation between me and this 
 congregation remains inviolate and unbroken, as I 
 have not acted contrary unto, but am endeavouring 
 to maintain the principles of, that Testimony accord- 
 ing to which all administrations have uniformly pro- 
 ceeded in this congregation from the beginning; 
 and that those who shall take upon them to exercise 
 those ministrations in this place, which rightfully 
 belong to me, are chargeable with intruding into 
 my charge." 
 
116 LIFE OF DU. M'CIUE. 
 
 We shall only add another extract on this dis- 
 ngreeable subject. Writing to his fellow-sufferer in 
 tiie cause, Mr. Aitken, Sept. 17, 1806, he observes, 
 " This sentence inflicted on you soon fell upon me 
 also, and I desire to rejoice with you in it, as well 
 as in any trials to which we may be subjected in 
 consequence of it. " The spoiling of our goods," we 
 and the people adhering to us should be prepared 
 for, as far as " those that have cast out our names 
 as evil " have it in their power. The pretended 
 deposition, though precipitate and harsh, I was not 
 unprepared for; it gave no pain to my conscience, 
 and little or none to my feelings. I have reason 
 to feel more for them than myself. I can see the 
 hand of Providence in ridding me from a number of 
 disagreeable circumstances to which I would have 
 been subjected, had they either referred the matter 
 to the presbytery, or rested at first hand in suspen- 
 sion. — Mrs. M'Crie has stood this trial better than 
 I expected." 
 
 Any lengthened comments of mine upon these 
 proceedings would be superfluous. Indeed, had I 
 followed the line of conduct pursued by the subject 
 of these memoirs, 1 would have suppressed even the 
 details already given; for after tliis period, neitlier 
 in public nor in private, in his pulpit discourses or 
 published writings, did he ever make the slightest 
 allusion to the treatment he had received from the 
 Synod, either in the way of complaint, or by taking 
 advantage of it against them. But as the facts re- 
 quired to be stated, the paramount claims of histo- 
 rical truth seem to demand that they should be stated 
 fully. And now that " time's effacing fingers " have 
 obliterated every vestige of the personal animosity 
 excited by the conflict — now that the grave has 
 closed over all the sufferers and most of the actors 
 in the scenes we have been describing, no motives 
 of delicacy can any longer interfere lo prevent their 
 disclosure. 
 
 On the conduct of the Synod, it is not an in- 
 
REFLECTIONS ON HIS DEPOSITION. 117 
 
 Veiling task to make any reflections. Many of its 
 members, it is hojDed, lived to be ashamed ot" having 
 dealt so harshly witli men wjiose only crime, when 
 their case is viewed apart from all its technicalities, 
 was their steadfast adherence to the original princi- 
 ples of the Synod and their own ordination vows. 
 It would be invidious to charge the Synoii with per- 
 sonal hostility to the members of the Constitutional 
 Presbytery. But when we consider that these wen 
 were occupying the very ground. which the Synod 
 had once occupied and had now deserted — that the 
 character and constitution of that body had been 
 really changed — and that there was a moral necessity 
 urging the protesters to the stand they made, while 
 no honourable evasion was left them; — it is impossi- 
 ble not to regard the censures that were passed on 
 them as in the highest degree harsh and unjust, or to 
 vindicatethose who urged tiiein with so much violence 
 and precipitation from the charge of being influenced, 
 in no small measure, by passion and party feeling. 
 The nullity of sentences pronounced on sucii grounds, 
 in the case of the protesters, it would be idle to de- 
 monstrate. Nothing, indeed, now seems niore extra- 
 ordinary, than that it should ever have appeared in 
 the light of " doing God service," to depose from the 
 sacred ministry, and expel from the communion of 
 the church, these faithful servants of Jesus Christ, 
 whose only crime was, that they could not, in obe- 
 dience and conformity to the Synod, abandon the 
 profession to which they had sworn adherence, and 
 violate the solemn vows they had taken at ordina- 
 tion. 
 
 There is one feature in the case which must have 
 struck every candid reader, namely, the purely disin- 
 terested and conscientious ciiaracter of the appear- 
 ance made by Dr. M'Crie and his friends at this 
 time for the cause of the Reformation. It must 
 have been apparent to all who have examined, how- 
 ever slightly, the controversy as managed by them, 
 that it involved the grand principles upon which 
 
lis LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 National Establishments of religion have been de- 
 fended by their more enlightened advofates in the 
 present day. And yet, at the time of which we 
 speak, neither of the great parties whom this ques- 
 tion has now brought into such violent collision, 
 were aware of the tendency or importance of the 
 controversy. The ministers of the National Church, 
 not feeling themselves directly implicated in the dis- 
 pute, seem to have totally disregarded it, as a mere 
 party question of no real moment. The public at 
 large, to whom it had not yet been submitted as a 
 practical question took no interest in the subject. 
 Even the lawyers, and judges of the land, at that 
 time sufficiently alive to every thing like political 
 innovation, when the matter was brought before 
 them and subjected to their deliberate review, failed 
 to perceive the native consequences of the principles 
 adopted by the Synod. Press, pulpit and platform 
 were silent; and the battle of the Establishment 
 was fought by a few Seceding ministers, who never 
 expected to share in its emoluments, and who, as the 
 only earthly recompense of their fidelity, saw them- 
 selves deposed and excommunicated by their breth- 
 ren, deserted by many of their people, branded as schis- 
 matics, and ultimately thrust out, under the sanction 
 of law, from the churches in which they had officiated. 
 Though the question of Civil Establishments was 
 not then agitated as a practical one, yet, as the prin- 
 ciple was decidedly involved, so Dr. M'Crie clearly 
 foresaw, even at this early period, that it would issue 
 in the manner it has done. "The principles for which 
 we have been called to contend," he said in an ad- 
 dress to his flock shortly before his deposition, "may 
 appear to many disputable or trivial matters. They 
 do not appear so to us: we view them as involving 
 the glory of God, the honour of Him whom his 
 Father has placed on his holy hill, the advancement 
 of his public interest on earth, and the welfare of 
 nations. Wc look upon religion as the common con- 
 cern of all mankind, and that it is the duty of persons 
 
FORESIGHT OF FUTUJIE STRUGGLES. 119 
 
 to promote and advance it in every station which 
 they occupy. We consider that it is eminently the 
 duty of those who are invested with civil authority 
 to exercise a care about religion, and to make laws 
 for countenancing its institution. We are persuaded 
 that if the principles now adopted by Seceders had 
 ()eeri acted upon in former times in this country, the 
 Reformation could never have taken place; and thai 
 Satan, after having found his former scheme of perse- 
 cuting religion can no longer succeed, is now endeavour- 
 ing to persuade men, that civil government and rulers have 
 nothing to do with religion and the kingdom of Christ.^' 
 In the same Address, he speaks with equal confi- 
 dence of the revival, in some future day, of the prin- 
 ciples for which he contended, and utters an almost 
 prophetic anticipation of the struggle in which the 
 Church of Scotland is now engaged: — "Is it any 
 wonder that there should be Seceders who cannot 
 submit to receive such doctrine? The time will come, 
 when it will be a matter of astonishment that so few 
 have appeared in such a cause, and that those who 
 have appeared should be borne down, opposed and 
 spoken against. And low as the credit of the prin- 
 ciples for which we contend is now sunk in the body, 
 and few as are now disposed to appear for them, 1 
 entertain not the smallest doubt but that their credit 
 will yet be revived, not only in the Secession, but in 
 a more general way. When the time to favour Zion 
 is come, what have been esteemed her small and de- 
 spised things, will appear great things, and the stones 
 which her sons will gather out of her rubbish will 
 appear precious stones." * 
 
 His private sentiments were not less decided. 
 Nothing could be farther from the truth, than the 
 charge of his having privately attempted to gain over 
 others to his opinions. On the contrary, it is well 
 known that he carried his reserve on this point so far 
 as to give serious offence to many who applied for 
 his advice, by sending them away with a dry athiio- 
 
 * Delivered in June 1S06. See Appendix. 
 
120 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 nition to examine the subject for themselves. This 
 was invariably his practice through life, in those 
 cases where he perceived that the application pro- 
 ceeded rather from culpable inattention to tlie means 
 of information uhich lay open to all, than from real 
 inability to form a judgment on the question. But 
 when in the company of those whose views coincided 
 with his own, he was more frank in expressing his 
 mind. On one occasion about this time, it is remem- 
 bered by a friend that he enlarged on the probable 
 results of the new-light principles, as they were then 
 termed, and declared his conviction that tliey would 
 soon shake the whole country, and subvert all its 
 religious institutions. " Sir," said one of the com- 
 pany, " we will surely never live to see that day." 
 "I don't know that," he replied; "I feel persuaded 
 that you will see the fruits of these principles in a 
 quarter of a century." 
 
 In consequence of the attempt made to deprive 
 him of his meeting-house, Mr. M'Crie was now in- 
 volved in all the toil and trouble of a prolonged liti- 
 gation before the civil courts; and as the question 
 involved the points of controversy with the Synod, 
 which it was no easy task to get the gentlemen of 
 the long robe to comprehend,* he found himself 
 under the necessity of composing the greater part 
 of the Jaw papers himself. It is needless to enter 
 into the history of this process, which, as usual, be- 
 came more and more involved the longer it continued 
 in court. The Synod party claimed the property on 
 the ground that it was erected for a congregation in 
 connexion with the General Associate Synod; they 
 pleaded that Mr. M'Crie being, in consequence of 
 his deposition for schismatical practices, no longer a 
 
 * " I recollect (tiiough the story is now twenty years old) in a 
 process before a Civil Court for my former place of worship, 
 (which was lost,) when 1 was attempting to beat into the head 
 of counsel the true state of the question which had been before 
 the Ecclesiastical Courts, ' What! ' lie exclaimed, ' how can you 
 be a friend to Establishments, when yon are not a member ot'an 
 Established Church ! "—Dr. M'Crie to Dr. Watson, Feb. G, h-i3-2. 
 
LITIGATION. 121 
 
 minister of that body, neither he nor liis adherents 
 had any right to retain possession of the house; and 
 they prayed the civil court to sanction the sentence 
 of the Synod, The conduct of Mr. M'Crie in object- 
 ing to the formula, is, of course, eagerly laid hold of 
 to prejudice his cause, by representing him as "most 
 unreasonably complaining upon tiie Synod for doing 
 that which he declared it was necessary to do, before 
 he could conscientiously submit to ordination." And 
 the constitution of the separate Presbytery at Whit- 
 burn (the apparent informality of which it was much 
 easier for their Lordships to understand, than to 
 judge of the validity of the spiritual grounds on which 
 it was vindicated) was considered as sufficient to 
 decide the whole case.* Mr. M'Crie's party, on 
 the other hand, contended that the disposal of the 
 property, according to the original deeds, was in- 
 trusted not to the Synod, but to the seat-holders, of 
 whom they claimed a majority; that the body call- 
 ing themselves the General Associate Synod was a 
 new and different society from that with which Mr. 
 M'Crie was originally connected, settled upon a new 
 and different constitution, and that to this society, so 
 constituted, he never promised nor owed any subjec- 
 tion ; that the Synod had abandoned the principles 
 to which he had become bound at his ordination; 
 that not being a corporate body, or recognised in 
 law, the civil court could not recognise or legally 
 give their sanction to its sentences; and that the o|)- 
 posite opinion would involve the extraordinary con- 
 sequence that the substantial right, or, at least, the 
 disposal of the property of the meeting-houses in 
 their communion, would remain with the ecclesias- 
 tical courts, though acquired at the sole expense of 
 the congregation.^ 
 
 * Petition of John M'Intyre, &c., Nov. 11, 1806. Information 
 for John M'Intyre and otliers against George Caw and others, 
 May 12, 1807. Answers for John M-Intyre and others, Feb. 5, 
 1807. 
 
 t The Petition of the Rev. Thomas M'Crie, &c., unto the llight 
 II 
 
123 LIFE OF DU. M'CHI£. 
 
 The cause was protracted in the Court of Session 
 till March 1809, when, by a majority of their Lord- 
 ships, it was decided againsl Mr. M'Crie, and was 
 carried by appeal to the House of Lords. Ultimately, 
 however, the parties came to an agreement, accord- 
 ing to which, Mr. M'Crie's people, on receiving a 
 sum of money from the opposite party, gave up their 
 rights to the litigated property. Subsequently, in 
 1810, they assembled in an obscure chapel at the foot 
 of Carrubber's Close, till May 2d, 1813, when they 
 entered a new place of worship which they had 
 erected in West Richmond Street, and in which Dr. 
 M'Crie continued to officiate to the close of his life. 
 
 While engaged in these litigations, he undertook, 
 at the request of his brethren, to publish a paper 
 explanatory of the principles involved in the con- 
 troversy which had occasioned the breach; and the 
 work appeared in April 1807, under the title of 
 " Statement of the Difference between the Profes- 
 sion of the Reformed Church of Scotland, as adopted 
 by Seceders, and the Profession contained in the 
 New Testimony and other Acts lately adopted by the 
 General Associate Synod, particularly on the power 
 of Civil magistrates respecting Religion, National 
 Reformation, National Churches, and National Cove- 
 nants." The " Statement" was at first intended to 
 be the joint production of the Constitutional Presby- 
 tery; Mr. M'Crie's brethren, however, placed so much 
 confidence in him, that they left it to himself; and 
 with the exception of the chapter on Liberty of Con- 
 science, in which he had the aid of the "jottings" of 
 Mr. Bruce, and which labours under an obscurity 
 arising from an attempt to compress a complex ques- 
 tion into too small space, it was entirely his own com- 
 position. " After casting about," he says to one of 
 them, "I was induced at last to put my name into the 
 title, lest they should say nobody was responsible. All 
 
 Honourable the Lords of Council and Ses.sion, 18th Nov. ISOG. 
 Infornialioii tor Uic Rev. Tliomas M'Crie and others, against John 
 M'lntyre and others, May 12, 1807. 
 
"THE STATE:\rENT." 123 
 
 that we can do, is to give such a statement as may 
 serve to furnish information of the state of matters 
 to those who wish to receive it. The exposure of the 
 sophistications and misrepresentations of the other 
 side, must he left to a separate and subsequent work." 
 The strain of the pamphlet is, therefore, calm and 
 argumentative; and, with slight exceptions, it is as 
 applicable to the present state of matters, as it was to 
 those at the time when it was published. The early 
 history of this volume furnishes a striking instance 
 of the truth, that excitement in the public mind is 
 necessary to ensure a perusal for any production, how- 
 ever ably written. It fell almost dead from the 
 press; but under the agitation of the Voluntary ques- 
 tion, it came into such request, that a ransom was 
 offered for a single copy, till a new edition could be 
 procured, containing that part which referred to the 
 connexion between church and state; and it now 
 remains, not only a satisfactory exposition of the 
 cause of the Constitutional Presbytery, but a full 
 and Scriptural defence of the great principle of the 
 duty of nations, as intimately affecting all their 
 interests, civil and religious. 
 
 The controversy, as managed by the Constitutional 
 Presbytery, and in the <' Statement " by Dr. M'Crie, 
 differed in several important points from the mode in 
 which the modern Voluntary question, to which it 
 bore a great resemblance in some of its leading fea- 
 tures, has been generally conducted. The question 
 of endowment — which is now considered the most 
 essential part of the whole, so much so that some 
 have gone so far as to maintain that, were it want- 
 ing, the controversy would be at an end — this truly 
 paltry and secularizing element entered almost as 
 little into the dispute at the time of whirh we write, 
 as it did into the motives of the disputants. If in- 
 troduced at all, it was regarded merely in the liglit 
 of a corollary from the grand principle in debate, 
 namely, the power and duty of the civil magistrate, 
 as such, in reference to religion. This principle de- 
 
l24 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIt:. 
 
 rived its main interest, in the eyes of the protesters^ 
 from its bearings on the history of the Reformation 
 from Popery and Prelacy in Britain; and it went to 
 decide questions infinitely more important than any 
 connected with pecuniary arrangements, such as, — - 
 How far were our ancestors right in legalizing the 
 profession of the true religion? — in passing laws in 
 its favour? — in protecting the Sabbath, and repress- 
 ing gross violations of the first table of the law? 
 Are they to be justified or condemned for having 
 combined civil and religious matters in those solemn 
 covenants by which the Reformation, at both its 
 periods, was confirmed ? — and how far, consequently, 
 has the nation, as well as the church, become bound 
 by these engagements? In short, ought religion to 
 be recognised in the education of youth, in the ad- 
 ministration of oaths, and in admission to places of 
 power and trust in the country? Again, while they 
 declared themselves in favour of civil establishments 
 of religion, the Constitutional Presbytery were care- 
 ful to guard against being supposed to approve of the 
 existing establishments, which they considered as, in 
 various respects, faulty and defective; disapproving, 
 in particular, of the Revolution-settlement of the 
 Church of Scotland, as having been effected in the 
 way of overlooking all the attainments of the Second 
 Reformation. Their declaration of adherence, there- 
 fore, to the constitution of the church of Scotland, 
 was always coupled with the explanation, "as stated 
 in her standards and acts of reformation." But the 
 most important point of difference between the con- 
 tendings of these brethren, and those of the modern 
 advocates of establishments, is to be found in the im- 
 portance which they attached to the Covenants, as 
 national deeds, binding upon posterity. Little as this 
 point may be now understood, and much as it may be 
 questioned, it goes deeper into the argument for estab- 
 lishments than many are aware of The first shape in 
 which voluntaryism reared its head, was in that of an 
 attempt to spiritualize these deeds, and under the plea 
 
DEPOSITION OF MR. AITKEN. 125 
 
 of simplifying the profession of Sececlers, to separate 
 tliem from the civil transactions with which they 
 were connected. And to say no more at present, 
 I venture to affirm, that no argument can be held 
 valid against the national oblisation of our Covenants, 
 which will not strike, with equally fatal effect, against 
 national religion. 
 
 Painful as it is to dwell upon the history of the 
 censures which were inflicted on the other protesting 
 ministers, it would be unpardonable to avoid noticing 
 what befell these worthy men, with whom, during a 
 large portion of his life, Dr. M'Crie was so intimately 
 associated in fortune and affection. If the protesters 
 were irregular in managing their cause with the 
 Synod, that body seemed resolved to outstrip them 
 in the irregularity of their proceedings against them. 
 Instances of this it would be too tedious to mention. 
 The most remarkable feature in the whole history is, 
 the readiness with which, on every occasion, they 
 availed themselves of the aid of the secular arm, to 
 (■nforce the judgments of the Ecclesiastical Courts. 
 With all their professed horror of confounding things 
 sacred and civil — with all their theoretical jealousy 
 of admitting the use of force, in any form, where re- 
 ligion was concerned, they showed no reluctance 
 to appeal to carnal weapons, when the object was to 
 banish from their pulpits, meeting-houses and manses, 
 those ministers whom they had deposed — and de- 
 posed, be it remembered, substantially because they 
 could not swallow a Testimony which denied to the 
 magistrate any concern whatever with the church or 
 with religion. The expulsion of the deposed minis- 
 ters was sought from the civil power expressly on tiie 
 ground of the ecclesiastical censure;* interdicts sheriff- 
 
 * " With these views, a bill of suspension and interdict was 
 presented in name of Archibald Glen, James Pillans, Thomas 
 TuinbuU, and others, members of the said congregation, or con- 
 nected therewith, wherein the suspenders, /oM?«r/t?i^ ou the sen- 
 tence uf deposition, obtained against Mr. M'Crie in the Synod, 
 and without condescending even to take any notice of the un- 
 doubted civil right whicli the informants, as trustees, and as re- 
 11^ 
 
\26 LIFE OP DR. M'CRIEv 
 
 tjfficers, legal prosecutions, and even military (orce^ 
 were called into action, to carry into effect the sen™ 
 tences pronounced by these foes to the magistrate's 
 power circa sacra; and those who had denied to king 
 and parliament the right of judging, for the state, 
 between true and false religion, now committed to 
 sheriffs and Lords Ordinary the delicate task of de- 
 ciding, for the church, whether the Narrative and 
 Testimony was a material departure from the princi- 
 ples of the Secession, and how far the change in the 
 constitution of the General Associate Synod affect- 
 ed the validity of the censures pronounced by them. 
 Lords and lawyers, accustomed only to sharpen their 
 wits on the dry pandects and practicks of the bar, 
 were unexpectedly called upon to pass sentence on 
 
 ^rpsenting' a majority of the congregation, have to the exclusive' 
 jjossessioh and disposal of the meeting-house, prayed the Lord 
 Ordinary "for an interdict, prohibiting and discharging the said 
 Thomas JVl'Crie from preaching in the meeting-house of said con- 
 gregation, and also proliibiting and discharging him, and all others, 
 from troubUhg or liiolesting the said James Hay, or any other 
 minister whom the Associate Syrtod, or the Presbytery to which 
 lour congregation behmgs, may at any ftiture time appoint to 
 preach in said church.'' — {InJ'ormutiunfor the Kev. Thomas M' Crie, 
 &c.,May ]'i, IH07,) 
 
 The opposite party, a'ware of this objection, assert, that "they 
 found upon the sentence of deposition against iVIr. M'Crie, not 
 as a sentence of an3' court to wiiich your Lordships can as such 
 •give effect, but nierely as a piede of evidence to show that Mrw 
 M'Crie no longer belongs to the Associate Synod." — (Petition 
 vfJoltn M'Iniyre, &c., Nov. 1 1 , 180r>.) Had this been ail, there 
 was no occasion for producing such "a piece of evidence,'' as 
 Mr. M'Crie Vvas quite ready to iiclinowledge the fact. But it is 
 too plain, that they meant it to militate against liis civil rights, 
 by holding him up to the court na a schismatick, a point which 
 teould only be ascertained by examining into the grounds of the 
 feentertce. Accordingly, they labour to show, in support of that 
 sentence, that Ml-. M-Orie had changed his principles, while the 
 Associate J^ynod had kept steady to theirs. " Tiie Suspenders 
 are ti'uly callino- on your Lordships to exercise a power over the 
 vonscienccs of the petitioners, in as much as they would have 
 .you put in execution a sentence of the Synod, which has no other 
 foundation, than that Mr. M'Crie, without doing violence to his 
 (own mirld and religious principles, could not bring himself to ac- 
 (quicsce in those new doctrines, which a majority of the Synod 
 ^lave lately adopted and declared.'' — (Petition of the Rev. Thomas 
 M-Vi-ir:, Nov. Id, IBOU.) 
 
SCENE AT MR. AITKEN's DEPOSITION. 127 
 
 points which involved a proper understanding of 
 "Gib's Display," and "Nairn's Reasons of Dissent." 
 In some instances, these applications led to scenes 
 not very creditable to the cause of religion. At 
 Kirriemuir, where the popularity of Mr. Aitken had 
 attracted great crowds from the surrounding country, 
 to witness the ceremony of his deposition, the Synod 
 party having failed to obtain possession of the keys 
 of the meeting-house, and apprehending a riot, made 
 application to the commander of the volunteers, to 
 draw out his troop for their protection. This was 
 refused, and on the appointed sabbath, (22d Septem- 
 ber 1806,) Mr. Aitken, to prevent an unseemly colli- 
 sion, retired, with an immense multitude, to a tent in 
 an adjoining field. The scene which ensued is thus 
 described by himself in a manuscript account in my 
 possessions "The great body of the people imme- 
 diately followed him. In his way to the tent, he met 
 ■the Synod's minister, accompanied by the procurator 
 and five or six sheriff-officers, with a crowd of chil- 
 dren at their heels. Upon their arrival at the meet- 
 ing-house, various methods, it is said, were suggested 
 for getting access. A blacksmith, noted in the place, 
 and, it is supposed, the only person who could have 
 heen prevailed upon to undertake such a business, 
 was employed to pick the lock. In this he either 
 was unsuccessful, or pretended to be so, for the pur- 
 pose of affording some more entertainment to the 
 attending mob. Some proposed scaling the upper 
 windows by means of a ladder. An attempt was 
 made to get in at a lower window, and a pane of 
 glass was broken for that purpose. These methods 
 proving ineffectual, the blacksmith went to the other 
 end of the town for his forehammer, by repeated 
 strokes of which on the door, it Was at last laid open. 
 This scene, you may believe, occupied no short time, 
 during all which the minister was a spectator, if not, 
 •as some report, a principal director of the measures. 
 You will naturally ask how many members of the 
 ^coni^regation were there who had emhraced the 
 
128 LIFE OP DR. M^CniE. 
 
 Synod's new principles, in whose name and for whose 
 sake all this violence and profanation of the Lord's 
 day took place? Only twenty-four or twenty-jive per- 
 sons, men and women included. No more belonging 
 to the congregation entered the meeting-house that 
 day. Such was the number of persons, who, having 
 first relinquished their former religious profession 
 and solemn vows, did with the countenance, and un- 
 der the influence and direction of the Synod, sacrile- 
 giously and violently take possession, on the Lord's 
 day, of the meeting-house of a congregation conti- 
 nuing to adhere to every part of the common profes- 
 sion for which that house was erected, and give their 
 countenance to a daring profanation of the name, or- 
 dinances, and day of the Lord, by the reading of a 
 sentence of deposition and excommunication against 
 their minister, passed solely on the ground of his ad- 
 hering to his ordination vows, and acting in corre- 
 spondence to them. ' Father, forgive them, for they 
 know not what they have done.' " 
 
 Mr. Bruce's turn came next. "I learn," writes 
 Mr. M'Crie to him, September 23, 1806, "that the 
 summons of the Synod was served upon you last 
 week with all the formalities borrowed from an esta- 
 blished church.* Spiritual, wholly spiritual as the 
 church is said to be, it seems that it is requisite that 
 a tip-staff or messenger-at-arms should trudge all 
 the way from Edinburgh to Whitburn, and from his 
 
 * The Seceders were not accustomed formerly to employ such 
 formalities, considering them unsuitable to their circumstances, 
 I suppose, as their community was not recognised in law. The 
 Antiburghers, when they deposed their brethren the Burghers, 
 did not seek to dispossess them of their meeting-houses. I am dis- 
 posed to trace many of these ridiculous attempts at legal doings, 
 to their having taken into their counsel some gentlemen of the 
 law, who led their simple clients much deeper into the mysteries 
 of the profession, than they would ever have thought of, had they 
 been left to themselves. In perusing the minutes of the Potterrow 
 congregation, kept by the new-light party about this time, it is 
 amusing to observe the change which " comes over the spirit of 
 their dream," and the tenour of their documents, when " James 
 Rae, writer in Edinburgh, was appointed by the meeting to act 
 as assistant clerk to Thomas Turnbull,the Congregational clerk." 
 
Deposition of m'rs. :6ruce and chalmers. 129 
 
 allowance of five shillings should hire two weavers 
 from their looms to go along with him; and in the 
 morning, before you have time to escape, execute 
 upon you, in all due form, the legal citation! Were 
 these, among the spiritual means which the Apostles 
 used for retaining men in the church, or casting them 
 out of it ? Mr. Hogg would write you the manner in 
 which his was served, less ceremoniously, but more 
 unfeelingly. If they have it in their power, you will 
 both of you have another summons served upon you, 
 by a different messenger, interdicting you from your 
 pulpits, kirks, and manses. In my case, the latter 
 preceded the former a day, nor did he think it neces- 
 sary to use the same formality of witnesses." The 
 Presbytery of Edinburgh, to whom the Professor's 
 case was remitted, had considerable difficulty in 
 managing it. The sagacious old gentleman would 
 not consent to criminate himself by admitting, what 
 he considered it their business to prove, that he was 
 a member of the obnoxious meeting of Presbytery at 
 Wiiitburn; and not a single witness could be got to 
 depone to the fact, his congregation having unani- 
 mously adhered to their pastor. They were obliged, 
 accordingly, to proceed on more general grounds, and, 
 on the 7th of October 1S06, he was deposed for this 
 among other reasons common to him with the rest, 
 that " he does not deny that he is a member of a Pres- 
 bytery lately erected, separate from, and in opposi- 
 tion to the Synod; but only says that such a Presby- 
 tery has not been publicly announced, and the Pres- 
 bytery must therefore consider this fact as admitted 
 by him." This sentence was never publicly intimated, 
 the minister on whom the task was devolved having, 
 partly from aversion to the execution of it, and partly, 
 it is said, from bodily fear, never approached the 
 scene of action.* 
 
 * This minister was the Rev. Mr. Oliver of Craigmaillen, near 
 Linlithgow, one of those eccentric characters, once common in 
 the Secession, though now fast disappearing under the levelling 
 jnfluence of modern refinement, of whom many anecdotes were 
 
130 LIFE or DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 Mr. Chalmers was deposed on the 2Sth July 1S07. 
 The minister employed to intimate this sentence 
 proved more courageous than the last; for he not 
 only preached, but published the sermon delivered 
 on the sad occasion, under the title of " Consolation 
 to the Church."* Mr. Hogg being on his death-bed, 
 his case was delayed, from the likelihood, as some 
 of them expressed it, that " the liord would soon 
 remove him out of the way" — an expectation which 
 was speedily realized. 
 
 Notwithstanding these severe measures, the pro- 
 testing ministers were enabled, through grace, " in 
 patience to possess their souls." The most trying 
 part of their lot was to bear the misconstructions 
 which were put on their conduct, and the misrepre- 
 sentations which were made of tiieir principles. They 
 were held forth, from the pulpit and the press, as a 
 set of prejudiced and narrow-minded men, who had 
 adopted views hitherto unknown in the Secession, 
 which they could neither explain nor defend, who 
 were breaking the peace of the church for mere 
 crotchets, and whose principles, so far as they were 
 intelligible, would lead to persecution. 
 
 Most of the members of the Constitutional Pres- 
 bytery published Addresses to their congregations, 
 explaining the grounds of their separation from the 
 General Synod, and vindicating their conduct from 
 
 told by their cotemporaries. On the occasion above referred to, 
 lie started from his seat in the Presbytery, exclaiming, " Me preach 
 the professor's pulpit vacant, Moderator I Tliey would stane mc 
 like a dog." 
 
 *" Consolation to the Church,'' by Robert Culbertson, Mi- 
 nister of the Gospel, Leith. " Mr. Culbertson's candle of consola- 
 tion must not be put out, nor placed under a bushel or a bed, 
 after having twinkled for an hour or two at Haddington, but set 
 up more conspicuously and permanently, by means of a shilling 
 pamphlet, that it may shed its benign radiance on all the new- 
 light mourners of the land. Sermons preached on occasions of 
 ordaining persons to the oflice of tbe holy ministry have often 
 been published, but it is one among the many new things of the 
 present time to publish discourses at the intimation of a sentence 
 prohibiting one from speaking any more in the name of Jesus." — 
 Mr. Chalmers' Address, p. 77. 
 
PUBLICATIONS OF THE PROTESTERS. 131 
 
 the aspersions to which it had subjected them. Those 
 who desire full information of the processes against 
 the protesters, may be referred to Mr. Bruce's Re- 
 view of the Proceedings of the General Associate 
 Synod." They may be surprised to find a volume of 
 421 pages entirely occupied with proofs of "the irre- 
 gularity, injustice and nullity of the censures inflicted" 
 on the protesting brethren, and "remarks upon the 
 misrepresentations, falsehoods and aspersions " pro- 
 pagated against them. These disclosures, however 
 necessary at the time, are of little farther use now 
 than to show how far party spirit will blind the judg- 
 ment and bias the decisions of Church Courts, com- 
 posed of men whose piety and good sense in private 
 life are unquestionable. " I have perused the Re- 
 view," says Dr. M'Crie to its author in ISOS, "with 
 much gratification. With the view of procuring a 
 candid perusal from some of our late connexions, I 
 could not help wishing that some of the minute de- 
 tails had been abridged, and that some severe expres- 
 sions had been softened." Mr. Turnbull of Glasgow, 
 a learned Hebrew scholar and teacher, and a man of 
 a peculiar vein of humour, published a sarcastic pam- 
 phlet on the subject, entitled, "Old light better than 
 pretended New," with the motto, "No man having 
 drunk old wine straightway desireth new; for he saith, 
 The old is better." The subject of our memoir, speak- 
 ing of this piece, says, "A great outcry will be made 
 about the severity of it: but the saltness of the salt is 
 connected with its savour. The peculiar manner of 
 the author throws an obscurity over the argument in 
 some places, which will hinder a great number from 
 perceiving its meaning and force. But it contains a 
 number of important facts and invincible reasonings." 
 Mr. Chalmers, who joined the Presbytery in 1S07, 
 in his address to his congregation, formerly noticed, 
 discusses the question at considerable length. Mr. 
 Hogg's briefer address is distinguished for its affec- 
 tionate simplicity and closeness of appeal.* 
 
 * The following may be given as a specimen of this excellent 
 man's Address, which, having been written very shortly before 
 
132 LIFE OP DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 The subsequent History of the Constitutional 
 Presbytery presents little that can be interesting to 
 the public. Having declared to the world the ground 
 on which they stood, they showed no ambition to 
 increase their numbers, or to gain popularity. Con- 
 tented with steadfastly maintaining, in their humble 
 spheres, and with the few who adhered to them from 
 principle, the cause which was dear to their hearts, 
 they supplied with preaching those congregations 
 who petitioned to be received into their communion 
 on the old terms of fellowship; but they required 
 
 his death, may be viewed as his " dying testimony:" — " You are 
 apt, brethren, to be prejudiced against civil establishments, be- 
 cause you often see civil authority on the side of a false, not on 
 that of the true, religion. Even when the substance of an establish- 
 ment is good, and the authorized standards of a church unexcep- 
 tionable, yet you see the end of the establishment defeated. — You 
 see the legal provision made for the support of a ministry ad- 
 hering to the authorized standards, and bound to regulate their 
 conduct by them, devoured by a ministry denying and destroying 
 what they engaged to maintain and support. You see, in a word , 
 a scriptural creed and an anti-scriptural ministry. This is a se- 
 rious evil, and much to be lamented. But still it is an abuse of 
 what is good in itself; and from the abuse made of any thing, no 
 argument should be drawn against it. What the Persian kings 
 did, in giving money out of their treasures for the building of the 
 temple, and beasts, wheat and oil out of their stores for the ser- 
 vice of God, — would not have ceased to be good, though those 
 to whom they were given had not employed them for the purposes 
 for wliich they were intended. Because you see no establishment 
 of what you can fully approve, does it therefore follow, that no 
 such establishment has ever been or can be made ? — Suppose for 
 a moment, brethren, that the whole of the covenanted Reforma- 
 tion is again revived and restored ; that the present corruptions 
 of the Church of Scotland are removed ; that she and her ministers 
 are as pure as her standards require them to be; that in this way 
 the causes of separation from the National (Jhurch are no more; 
 that the whole Secession body, and others who have withdrawn 
 from the National Church on account of her corruptions, do in- 
 stantly return to her bosom ; that our unhappy divisions are at 
 an end, peace and harmony restored ; that, agreeable to the inten- 
 tion of the Westminster Standards and our Covenants, the Lord 
 becomes one and his name one in these three nations ; and even 
 in other kingdoms embracing the same religion with us ; would 
 not this be a happy and glorious event ? Who would not rejoice 
 to see it? Beware then, brethren, of adopting opinions which 
 would render it impossible, or hinder you from profiting by it, 
 should it take place. Yet this you would do, should you renouace 
 your former profession, and adopt the New Testimony." 
 
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRESBYTERY. 133 
 
 from all who joined them an explicit pledge of their 
 adherence to the principles of the Secession; nor did 
 they, under the pretence of liberality, seek to en- 
 large their society, by opening a door for the admis- 
 sion of any malcontents who might be dissatisfied, 
 on personal grounds, with other communions. Their 
 object was not to raise a party, but to maintain a 
 cause. Acting on such principles, their numbers, it 
 may be easily supposed, were never considerable; 
 at the same time, it would be unfair to measure by 
 the members who acceded to them, the amount of 
 adherence to their principles then existing in the 
 country. Many, it is believed, remained connected 
 with the Synod, from attaciiment to their ministers, 
 who yet retained their liking to the good old cause; 
 and had the Constitutional Pi'es!)ytery met the de- 
 mand for sermon by a more regular and more popu- 
 lar supply than they were enabled to afford, they 
 would no doubt have made a much more respectable 
 figure in the eye of the world. But the relics of a 
 purer age of Seceders soon died out; and their de-- 
 scendants, uninstructed in the principles of their fa- 
 thers, now form that mass of dissent which threat- 
 ens the existence of the Establishment. The Con- 
 stitutional Presbytery, "perfectly joined together in 
 the sanie mind and in the same judgment," conti- 
 nued, for twenty-one years, to enjoy in each other's 
 fellowship, a peace and feHcity to which they had 
 long been stranger's; till, in 1827, they were harmo- 
 niously blended with another body of Protesters 
 from the same Synod, under the common name of 
 Original Seceders. 
 
 In the midst of " the storm of contention and 
 strife," which we have now described, Mr. M'Crie 
 did not remit his literary occupations. About the be- 
 ginning of the year 1803, lie had undertaken to assist 
 his friend, Mr. Whytock, in conducting the Christian 
 Magazine, a monthly jierlJodical, the first scries of 
 which commenced in 179^^, and was continued till 
 1 ^ 
 
134 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 the end of 1806. This series of the magazine is dis- 
 tinguished for the solidity of its matter and sound- 
 ness of its views; and, with little pretension to lite- 
 rary merit, it contains a valuable collection of papers 
 on doctrinal and practical subjects, well adapted to 
 popular edification. To this miscellany our author 
 contributed a variety of articles under different sig- 
 natures — that of Fhilistor (lover of history) being 
 usually affixed to his papers on historical subjects. 
 The Christian Magazine, though conducted on the 
 strictest principles of Calvinism, was preserved, dur- 
 ing the progress of the first series, perfectly free from 
 all sectarian or party bias — it was supported by both 
 sections of the Secession — and (0 how unlike our 
 modern periodicals!) all politics, ecclesiastical as 
 well as secular, were carefully excluded. This did not 
 arise, on the part of our author at least, from indif- 
 ference to the subject of church government, the 
 general principles of which were frequently illus- 
 trated in their practical application. " We have new 
 rivals starting every month," he writes to the Profes- 
 sor, after urging him to contribute to the magazine 
 vvhich had newly come under his management, 
 March, 1S03. '^Did you see the advertisement of 
 the Scots Presbyterian JNIagazine, to be conducted 
 under the direclion of ministers of the Established 
 Church? They profess themselves believers in the 
 standards of the Church of Scotland, and they will 
 be ready to defend the venerable fabric which their 
 fathers reared at so much expense, and in defence of 
 which they suffered and bled, against the rude attacks 
 of assailants. Yet they will leave 'the bigot to 
 waste his zeal upon forms of church government — 
 as for them they look upon these as but anise, mint 
 and cummin!' " 
 
 The first number of the Magazine for 1803, in- 
 volved our editor in a very delicate question. An 
 extraordinary commotion had appeared the preceding 
 year in America, particularly among the Presbyte- 
 rians of the General Assembly, resembling those re- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN .^lAGAZINE. 135 
 
 vivals which have since hecomc so familiar in that 
 country. At one sacrament in Kentucky, it was sup- 
 posed, not less than a thousand persons fell prostrate 
 to the ground, among whom were many infidels. 
 One account informs us, that " immediately before 
 they become totally powerless, they are seized with 
 a general tremor, and sometimes, though not often, 
 they utter one or two piercing shrieks in the moment 
 of falling. Persons in this situation are affected in 
 difiercnt degrees; sometimes, when unable to stand 
 or sit, they have the use of their hands, and can con- 
 verse with perfect composure. In other cases, they 
 are unable to speak, and they draw a difficult breath, 
 about one in a minute: in some instances their ex- 
 tremities become cold, and pulsation, breathing, and 
 all the signs of life, forsake them for nearly an hour. 
 Numbers of thoughtless sinners have fallen as sud- 
 denly as if struck witb lightning, and sometimes at 
 the very moment when they were uttering blasphe- 
 mies against the work." By some this was repre- 
 sented as the effect of the pouring out of the Spirit, 
 and extolled as a remarkable revival of religion; by 
 others, it was viewed as the work of the devil. Se- 
 ceders, it must be allowed, have always been jealous 
 of such demonstrations; the genius of their system, 
 whatever may be its faults, has never been propitious, 
 nor its followers very prone, to enthusiastic extremes. 
 "I have to rem.ark," says one of their ministers, 
 writing a description of the scenes in America, " that 
 nothing of that kind has taken place among ovr people.^'' 
 Some remarks were appended to these accounts in 
 the Magazine, representing the extravagance and 
 disorder of the scenes described, as " apt to lead 
 people into a dangerous delusion about the state of 
 their souls," and accounting for the impressions and 
 agitations, in a great measure, " by considering the 
 power of contagion, and the influence of example."* 
 
 * The violence with which some of the Secession ministers in- 
 veighed against the work at Can.buslang, has been frequently, 
 and, in some degree, justly condemned. It cannot be denied, 
 
136 LIFE OF BR. M-CRIE. 
 
 <•' If I had drawn up these remarkr.,"' says jMr. M'Crif , 
 in answer to a fViend who liad liinted liis dissatisfac- 
 tion with them, "I might not have expressed the 
 matter so strongly, or might perhaps have introduced 
 an additional caution. But after all, as drawn, I 
 cannot say that 1 disapprove of any part of them, 
 though if you had pointed out any particular which 
 displeased you, I might have altered my opinion. 
 But I rather suppose it is a certain something per- 
 vading the whole, which you think should not have 
 been there. Wiiatever good has been done, (and it is 
 not denied that good has been done,) whatever devils 
 have been cast out, that was done, not by the devil, 
 but by God. But it was the work in general, 
 especially the uncommon form which it assumed, 
 which was the point in question. Was it from hea- 
 ven or not? Was it the Spirit of God, or was it 
 another spirit, that caused those strange and awful 
 bodily and mental convulsions? It will not, I ima- 
 gine, be satisfactory, merely to allow irregularities, 
 and then denominate it a good work — a revival of 
 religion. If the editors, therefore, were to give any 
 " certain sound " for the direction of their readers, I 
 do not see what other opinion they could have given. 
 Delicacy and reverence, it is true, are requisite, as to 
 every thing that may aficct the work of the Spirit in 
 the point you mention; but is there not equal neces- 
 
 that, in tlieir seal for Ihe lionour of injured tnitli.tliey may have 
 deserved tlie reproof which a better man than Eldad or Medad 
 received, for finding fault with them, " Enviest thou for my 
 sake ?" I have been informed, on good authority, tliat Mr. Adant 
 Gib, to whose influence probably may be ascribed the tartness 
 which appears in any public documents on this point, regretted, 
 before liis deatli, that he had written so keenly concerning that 
 work in his pamphlet against Whitefield. It is but fair to add, 
 that the Seceders lamented the extravagancies which appeared 
 on that occasion, chiefly as calculated to throw discredit on the 
 real work of the Spirit in llie reviving of religion, for which 
 none prayed more devoutly than tliey; and that tiiey dreaded, 
 not without reason, that it might liave the effect of reconciling 
 good men in that Church to abuses radically pernicious, and to 
 the continuance of an ecclesiastical policy, manifestly incom- 
 patible with a general or permanent revival of pietj' in tlic land. 
 
A^IERICAN REVIVALS. 137 
 
 sity of attention on another quarter — T mean as to 
 the imputing of a work to Him that is inconsistent 
 with his nature or manner of operation, or suffering 
 such an imputation? In one respect, there is a more 
 urgent call to declare against this at present, than 
 there was in the days of our fathers as to the business 
 at Cambuslang. Infidels are greatly multiplied, and 
 are ready to make a dexterous handle of this against 
 all revealed religion and all seriousness. Besides, 
 the remarks do very sparingly attribute a share of 
 this work to the devil, and 1 thought were rather 
 open to the objection of ascribing too much to natu- 
 ral causes and animal mechanism. I shall only add 
 farther, that the late venerable Dr. Erskine, who in 
 this cause was omni exceptione major, perused the 
 remarks among the last things he read, and signified 
 his acquiescence in them." 
 
 In the following list of his historical contributions 
 to the Christian Magazine, the reader will easily dis- 
 cover the germs of some of our author's subsequent 
 works. In September 1802, appears a translation of 
 Principal Smeton's " Account of the concluding jiart 
 of the Life and the Death of that illustrious man, 
 John Knox, the most faithful Restorer of the Church 
 of Scotland;"— in July 1S03, a "Memoir of Mr. 
 John Murray," minister of Leith and Dunfermline, 
 in the beginning of the 17th century; — in Novem- 
 ber 1803, " A Sketch of the Progress of the Refor- 
 mation in Spain, with an account of the Spanisli 
 Protestant Martyrs;" which is followed, in January 
 
 1804, with " The Suppression of the Reformation in 
 Spain;" — in October, November, and December, 
 
 1805, " The Life of Dr. Andrew Rivet," a French 
 Protestant Divine; — in January 1S06, " The Life of 
 Patrick Hamilton, the Proto-Martyr of the Reforma- 
 tion in Scotland; — in February 1806, "The Life of 
 Francis Lambert of Avignon;" — and in five num- 
 bers, from June to October of the same year, " The 
 liife of Alexander Henderson." 
 
 The most important of these communications is 
 12' 
 
138 ■ LIFE OP DR. Mk'RIEi 
 
 the Life of Henderson, which, though the last on the 
 list, and never made tlie subject of a separate work, 
 very early engaged his attention, and was in fact his 
 first essay in biography. TJie following references 
 to it occur in his correspondence with Mr. Bruce; 
 March 14, 1803. — "For some time past I have had 
 my eye towards a sketch of the life of Mr. Alexander 
 Henderson. But reverence for the greatness of his 
 character, and a conviction of inability to do justice 
 to it, have kept me from doing any thing except 
 marking down a few references to authorities and 
 facts." Jane, 1.—" I have not yet been able to send 
 you the memoirs of Mr. Henderson. 1 have got him 
 as yet no farther than Dunst-lnw^ my native hill. I 
 procured from a library here Rovv's History of the 
 Kirk of Scotland, to search for information as to the 
 early period of his ministry. But I met with otiier 
 things there which attracted my attention, and kejDt 
 me extracting now and then for some weeks, and my 
 original purpose has been allowed to sleep." JS^von- 
 ber 16. — "I trouble you with another packet. You 
 must not exclaim as Pope did, for it is neither ''a 
 virgin tragedy " nor an '"orphan nuise" which solicits 
 your revisal, correction and jiatronage, but a rude 
 " tale of other times," which you may tliink it worth 
 while to read, but which will be condemned as dry 
 ^nd puritanical (if not treasonable) b_y the public." 
 JJccember 7. — " As to the separate publication^ (pub- 
 lishing it in a separate volume,) 1 cannot say. The 
 taste of the times is very opposite to^ny thing of the 
 kind, and I ought not to think that any feeble effort 
 of mine can work a change. However, as you have 
 suggested this, I shall use the freedom of mentioning 
 to you a floating idea whicii has sometimes passed 
 through my mind, without ever assuming the for- 
 mality of a resolution or design, namely, a selection 
 of Lives of Scottish Reformers in some such order as 
 to embrace the most important periods of the history 
 ■of the Church of Scotland; in which a number o^f 
 'facts which are reckoned too minute aixl trivial fo<f' 
 
LrTERAnr projects. 139 
 
 general history might be brought to bear upon and 
 occasionally illustrate it. The order, for instance, 
 might be, (I write merely from the recollection of 
 the moment,) Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, 
 John Knox, John Craig, Andrew Melville, Patrick 
 Simpson, Robert Bruce, &c. This I mention merely 
 vvith a view of having your opinion. As I never 
 formed the purpose, so, if undertaken, it would only 
 be executed gradually and at leisure. I have made 
 no preparations, except marking down an incidental 
 fact or authority .as they occurred in course of com- 
 mon reading. You will not give your approbation to 
 the thought, unless after being, upon reflection, satis- 
 fied with it; for your judgment will have weight in 
 turning my mind to the subject, and may involve 
 youi'self in trouble such as you have already expe- 
 rienced." 
 
 In reply to this suggestion INIr. Bruce says, with 
 ■characteristic caution, {December 27, 1803,) "I have 
 •not yet duly pondered the admonition, that ' of 
 making (and of reading) many books there is no end.' 
 Often have I been wearying the flesh alternately in 
 both, and am not yet thoroughly delivered from the 
 ''sore evil.' I am not, therefore, the fittest hand to 
 advise others. The compilations you hint at have a 
 fiiir prospect of usefulness, and one can hardly be 
 engaged in such a design without reaping benefit to 
 himself sufllcient to repay his labour; you have also 
 a favourable opportunity above many from your situ- 
 ation for carrying on such researches. I would wish 
 ■them success; but knowing how many literary pro- 
 .jects have floated in my mind or engaged ni}' studies 
 'for a time, that must prove aboi'tive, and for fear you 
 ■should impose too heavy a task on yourself, I dare 
 tiot be too urgent." This seems to have damped our 
 •Ruthor's project; for in February lSO-1, he replies, 
 '** What 1 mentioned to you in regard to a series of 
 •biographical sketches was but a floating idea. Upon 
 ■•second thoughts the difliculties of it appeared so 
 .^reat as to suppress any hope of carrying it into exe- 
 
140 LIFE OF DR. :\i'cr.iE. 
 
 cution. All that I can propose to do is to jot down 
 any thing that may occur in the course of reading, i 
 liave even laid aside the sketch which I had finished." 
 In point of fact, the memoir of Henderson did 
 not appear till two years afterwards; and I am dis- 
 posed to think it would not have been published even 
 then, had not an absolute dearth of materials for the 
 Magazine, a calamity too well known to editors of 
 such periodicals, compelled him to draw very largely 
 on his own resources. It has often been lamented 
 that he did not devote himself, in a separate and 
 enlarged work, to the life and times of Alexander 
 Henderson. This he certainly, at one time, contem- 
 plated ; but before he reached that period in his his- 
 torical career, his bodily strength was too much 
 exhausted to admit of his bestowing that degree of 
 labour and research which, in his view, the history of 
 Henderson's life demanded. To supply, as far as 
 possible, what must still be considered a desideratum, 
 it is proposed to republish, in the volume of his 
 Miscellaneous Works, the series of papers as they 
 appeared in the Christian Magazine, flaking allow- 
 ances for the circumstances under which it was com- 
 posed and published, this sketch, viewed as a first 
 effort, will not, it is hoped, be considered unworthy 
 of the author of Knox, and may serve at least as a 
 record of his sentiments on that interesting portion 
 of our ecclesiastical history. 
 
 The death of Mr. Whytock left him sole editor of 
 this Miscellany, during the year 1806 ; and owing to 
 the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed 
 with his brethren, many of whom ceased their con- 
 tributions, the task of superintendence became ns 
 delicate as it was laborious. He was glad, at the 
 close of the year, to escape from the thankless employ- 
 ment, which had occupied too much of his time, and 
 wiiich he took care never to resume at any future 
 period. 
 
 F'rom the manuscripts which he has left, it appears 
 that he was the author of a small pamplilet in 1807, 
 
LETTER ON THE CATHOLIC BILL. 141 
 
 entitled, "Letters on the late Catholic Bill, and the 
 Discussions to which it has given rise: Addressed 
 to British Protestants, and chiefly Presbyterians in 
 Scotland. By a Scots Presbyterian." The bill here 
 referred to was that introduced by Lord Howick, 
 (afterwards Earl Grey,) the real object of which was 
 to admit Roman Catholics to places of command in 
 the army and navy, and had excited keen discussions 
 throughout the empire. In these our author felt a 
 deep interest. The result of his inquiries into the 
 civil and religious history of his country, was a set- 
 tled conviction of the lawfulness and necessity of 
 those barriers which our ancestors had raised to 
 oppose the aggressive and domineering spirit of Po- 
 pery. With our ablest legislators at the time, he 
 saw in the measure then proposed, the commence- 
 ment of a series of concessions which would ulti- 
 mately sweep these barriers away, when " Parliament 
 would have that extorted from its weakness which its 
 wisdom would be desirous to withhold.*' The fol- 
 lowing extract from the pamphlet, may serve as a 
 specimen to identify the author, and as a record of 
 his early sentiments on this point, which he pre- 
 served to the end of his life. 
 
 " Whatever skeptical politicians and indifferentists 
 may think, religion and civil i)olity are intimately 
 connected, nor will any wise legislator be indifferent 
 about the concerns of the former. Religion lies at 
 the foundation of good government, and is its firmest 
 support. The most enlightened nations, in ancient 
 or modern times, have made it a primary object of 
 legislation, and its public support and maintenance 
 among them have been secured by fundamental laws. 
 Li Britain, the legal maintenance of the Protestant 
 religion, with security to its professors against the 
 tyranny and perfidy of Roman Catholics, has, from 
 the era of the Reformation, been a principal object 
 of policy. The laws enacted for this purpose have 
 been viewed as an important part of our constitution, 
 and as connected with the preservation of our lil)erties, 
 
142 LIFE OF DR. isr'cniE. 
 
 civil and religious. As it is the official duty of le- 
 gislators to guard the religious rights and privileges 
 of the nation, so it becomes the people to exercise a 
 higher degree of zeal and vigilance respecting these. 
 If ever the time shall come in which both shall resign 
 themselves to indifference about them, the ruin of 
 Britain will not be far distant. Nor are there want- 
 ing symptoms of this spirit at the present period, 
 when the sense of religion upon the minds of all 
 classes of men is so weak; and when so many seem 
 to regard all religions as equal, and represent it as a 
 matter of no moment, at least in a political view, of 
 what religion a man may be, or whether he has any 
 religion at all." 
 
 To this we may add his opinion of the Whig 
 Ministry, by whom the bill was proposed: — "Against 
 the late ministers I had no prejudice, nor have I any 
 desire to harass them, after they have retired, or been 
 driven from office. The character of their adminis- 
 tration must not be risked upon the Catholic bill, but 
 upon other and less questionable measures; particu- 
 larly on their exertions for abolishing, what has long 
 been Britain's disgrace, the infamous African slave- 
 traffic, for which they have already obtained the 
 approbation of the wisest and best part of the na- 
 tion, and may look for the applause of posterity. 
 Of their talents for the station which they occupied 
 I have been accustomed to entertain a high estima- 
 tion, and of their public spirit and regard to national 
 liberties I am still disposed to indulge, upon the 
 whole, a favourable opinion. But this cannot pre- 
 vent me from expressing my disapprobation of their 
 late bill, and of its principles in the extent to which 
 they have applied them; and as this judgment has 
 been formed independently of the influence of all 
 parties and factions, political or ecclesiastical, I must 
 be allowed to express it with the freedom of a Bri- 
 tish Protestant and Scottish Presbyterian." It had 
 been the intention of the author to prosecute the sub- 
 ject in a series of letters, the different topics of which 
 
ILL HEALTH. 143 
 
 he announces; but whether from finding that the pub- 
 lic interest in the question had abated in consequence 
 of the bill being thrown out, or from despairing of 
 any thing being done to arrest the current of popular 
 opinion in favour of the measure, only one letter ap- 
 peared, and, so far as I know, he never owned nor 
 alluded to the pamphlet. 
 
 At this time his health, which had never been ro- 
 bust, began to be seriously affected by the labour, anx- 
 iety and confinement to which he was subjected. He 
 complains (Dec. 17, ISO?) that, owing to his nume- 
 rous avocations, he had "for somx time back, been 
 neglecting his own congregation and Sabbath-prepa- 
 ration, as well as bodily health and necessary exer- 
 cise." "I cannot say I have any formed complaint, 
 and yet I am not well. I can crawl about, and would 
 do well enough if people would let me alone; but I 
 cannot bear to converse.'" After mentioning the re- 
 covery of a much esteemed friend from a dangerous 
 illness, he adds, " ' Death's thousand doors stand open ;' 
 but the once dead and now living Redeemer holds 
 the keys of hell and of death, and not one of his peo- 
 ple shall go but at the best time, nor pass by the 
 wrong way. Is there not much implied in that ex- 
 pression, 'PRECIOUS in the sight of the Lord is the 
 death of his saints?'" 
 
 ^^ January 18, 1808. — Mr. Hogg, on the day before 
 his death, declared to three of his congregation who 
 had called on him, his great satisfaction with what 
 he had done as to the public cause, and his full per- 
 suasion of its being the cause of God. He afterwards 
 desired his wife to bring hini a Bible, — said he was 
 unable to read, but, holding it in his hand, expressed 
 how much satisfaction he had had in it, and that 
 though he had studied it all his days, he had never 
 felt it so precious as now; adding to his wife, ' Read 
 that book often, and make the children read it.'"* 
 
 He was soon called on to test the strength of these 
 
 * To the Rev. James Aitken. 
 
144 LIFE OP DR M^CKIE. 
 
 consolations by a severe domestic bereavement, in 
 tlie death of his son James, an amiable child, who 
 had become doubly endeared to his parents by the 
 sweet resignation with which he endured a lingering 
 illness, and who died, Nov. 9, 180.9, in the eighth 
 year of his age. " My poor Jamie," he writes on the 
 25th of October previous, " is very weakly. I have 
 very little prospect of his recovery. God speaks 
 " once, yea twice " unto us; yet how dull are we and 
 slow to hear and receive instruction. How I shall be 
 able to sustain the trial which I sometimes endeavour 
 to look at, 1 know not. The prospect is dark. The 
 Lord can give light. I need your sympathy and 
 prayers. When the child died, he was enabled to 
 bear the stroke with apparent fortitude, but what his 
 feelings may have been I have it not in my power 
 to tell; for on such occasions he concealed even 
 from his own family the deep and still current of 
 his emotions, and wept, if he did weep, " in secret 
 places." 
 
 His leisure was now entirely devoted to historical 
 studies; and nothing remarkable occurs in his history 
 during the intervening years, till the publication of 
 the Life of John Knox. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PUBLICATION OF THE LIFE OF KNOX. 
 1811—1813. 
 
 The publication of the Life of John Knox formed 
 an important era in the history of its author, and on 
 various accounts deserves particular notice in a Life 
 of Dr. M'Crie, whose name has becomeassociated with 
 that of the reformer. The circumstances relating to 
 the history of the work, its particular character and 
 the i^anner of its execution, the additions which it 
 has made to the literature and ecclesiastical history of 
 
INDUCEMENTS TO THE UNDERTAKING. 145 
 
 the country, its connexion with public interests, and 
 the eflfects which it has already produced, as well as 
 those which it may hereafter produce on society, 
 would furnish large matter for observation. Instead, 
 however, of dwelling on topics which properly come 
 within the range of the reviewer, we shall endeavour 
 to confine our remarks to such points in the history 
 and character of the work, as belong more strictly ta 
 the biography of the author. 
 
 To those who are curious to know the circum- 
 stances which first led the author to devote himself 
 to historical researches, it may not be uninteresting 
 to mention that he himself used to trace his inquiries 
 to a very simple incident In the course of family 
 visitation, at a very early period of his ministry, he 
 found himself puzzled to answer a question in our 
 National Church history, proposed to him by an old 
 woman belonging to his flock. Ashamed of his igno- 
 rance, he went home resolved on a course of reading 
 which should render him better prepared to meet 
 similar queries in time to come. From that day, his 
 mind became more and more engrossed in his favour- 
 ite pursuits. In ISOO, in reply to a friend, who asked 
 what he could do for him in London, " Send me," 
 he writes, " any tiling respecting the history of the 
 British Churches." From his note-books, it appears 
 that he had minutely studied the history of Christi- 
 anity in Scotland from its earliest dawn, in the 
 writings of our most ancient chroniclers. And we 
 have already seen, from the fruits of his investigations 
 in the Christian Magazine, that the history of the 
 Reformation claimed a very large share of his atten- 
 tion before the year 1S06. Mr. Bruce had no small 
 influence in determining him to biography, as the 
 best mode of eliciting and recommending the history 
 of that period. 
 
 In the preface to the first edition of Knox, the 
 
 author briefly adverts to the motives which engaged 
 
 him in the undertaking. "Though many able 
 
 writers have employed their talents in tracing the 
 
 13 
 
146. LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 causes and consequences of the Reformation, and 
 though the leading facts respecting its progress in 
 Scotland have been repeatedly stated, it occurred to 
 me that the subject was by no means exhausted. I 
 was confirmed in this opinion by a more minute ex- 
 amination of the ecclesiastical history of this country, 
 which I began, for my own satisfaction, several years 
 ago. While I was pleased at finding that there ex- 
 isted such ample materials for illustrating the his- 
 tory of the Scottish Reformation, 1 could not but 
 regret that no one had undertaken to digest and ex- 
 hibit the information on this subject, which lay hid 
 in manuscripts, and in books which are now little 
 known or consulted. Not presuming, however, that 
 I had the ability or the leisure requisite for executing 
 a task of such difficulty and extent, I formed the 
 design of drawing up memorials of our national Re- 
 former, in which his personal history might be com- 
 bined with illustrations of the progress of that great 
 undertaking, in the advancement of which he acted 
 so conspicuous a part." 
 
 There can be no doubt that the controversy re- 
 lating to the religious profession which he had 
 espoused, had no small influence in guiding and de- 
 termining his mind to the investigations which issued 
 in the production of this work. To a friend who 
 once questioned him on the subject, he did not scruple 
 to avow, that had it not been for "new-light," he 
 would probably never have thought of writing the 
 Life of Knox. He soon discovered that the new 
 principles went to condemn the whole plan of refor- 
 mation pursued by our ancestors; and it was "for his 
 own satisfaction," on this important point, that he was 
 led to prosecute his inquiries into the history of the 
 Scottish Church. It may be remarked, at the same 
 time, that whatever influence this controversy may 
 have had in directing his studies, he has never availed 
 himself of the numerous opportunities which his narra- 
 tive afforded him of adverting to the party contentions 
 in which he had been so lately involved, or of resent- 
 
INDUCEMENTS TO THE UNDERTAKING. 147 
 
 ing, even by an incidental expression, the personal 
 treatment which he had received. 
 
 At what precise time lie "formed the design of 
 drawing up memorials of our National Reformer," 
 I am unable to say, and probably he himself could 
 not have given a particular account of the circum- 
 stances which first suggested the idea. Though his 
 materials had been long accumulating, it does not 
 appear from his correspondence that he had com- 
 menced the work of composition, till after the publi- 
 cation of the Statement in 1807. He informs us in 
 the preface, that he was "encouraged to prosecute his 
 design, in consequence of his possessing a manuscript 
 volume of Knox's Letters, which throw considerable 
 light upon his character and history." This valuable 
 collection, which he procured from Mr. Maurice Ogle 
 of Glasgow, did not come into his possession till after 
 the period now mentioned. 
 
 But though thus invited into the field of historic 
 inquiry, he soon found it to possess charms, inde- 
 pendent of the satisfaction which it imparted to his 
 mind on the question referred to. The course of his 
 investigations brought before his view the Church of 
 Scotland, "looking forth, as in the morning of her 
 day, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as 
 an army with banners;"* and the impression pro- 
 duced was ineffaceable. The sad changes which time 
 and defection had wrought in her modern representa- 
 tive, and which had made others turn from her in 
 despair, or seek her subversion, only served to en- 
 hance in his mind the admiration which her primitive 
 purity and worth had awakened; and what attracted 
 him to the task of writing the life of the Reformer 
 was, not merely a desire to vindicate his memory 
 from the reproach under which it had so long lain, 
 or a taste for describing what is interesting in inci- 
 dent and character, but a profound conviction of the 
 divine truth of the principles which Knox had 
 espoused, and of the importance of the work in which 
 
 * Dr. M'Crie's Sermons, p. 34G. 
 
148 LIFE OP DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 he performed so conspicuous a part. " I had read," 
 he said, not many years ago, " 1 had read the deeds 
 of her reformers and confessors, at first, with mere 
 youthful curiosity. It was not until I had satisfied 
 myself that the system of doctrine and discipline they 
 introduced was not more consonant to the oracles of 
 truth than it was conducive to the best interests, 
 temporal and spiritual, of the nation, that I minutely 
 studied their history. Then, I confess, the fire began 
 to burn, and 1 could not forbear to impart to others 
 what I myself had felt. If my writings have com- 
 mended themselves in any degree to any person, it 
 is not owing to any talents or labour of mine bestowed 
 on them, but solely to the feeling I have now ex- 
 pressed — a feeling of admiration, not for the men, 
 .(for they are deceased, and have given in their ac- 
 counts,) but for the grace and gifts with which God 
 endowed them, and the fabric which they were 
 honoured to rear."* 
 
 Among the causes which gave birth to this work, 
 and contributed to its success, we cannot overlook 
 the peculiar cast of the author's mind, and the con- 
 geniality of his sentiments with those of the Scottish 
 Reformers. With a keen eye for the discernment 
 of human character, he certainly possessed that turn 
 for description, which, in the historian, as in the 
 painter, must be considered a natural gift, indicating 
 the presence of what Johnson calls "a large general 
 power, wholly determined to some particular direc- 
 tion." As a Seceder, he was pledged to the approval 
 of the principles on which the Reformation was 
 founded; and in his private judgment, matured by 
 years and close investigation, he coincided, in every 
 material point, with the opinions of its founders. 
 While the great doctrines of the Cross occupied as 
 high a place in his esteem as they did in the standards 
 of the reformed churches, he was a decided friend to 
 the ecclesiastical polity of the Scottish Church, and 
 
 * From a Speech delivered at a meeting of the Anti-patronage . 
 Society, December 2, 1833. 
 
METHOD OF COMPOSITION. 149 
 
 the plans pursued by her rulers both in the first and 
 second periods of her reformation. In his political 
 as well as his polemical views, he was like-minded 
 with the subject of his biography; and even in the 
 general tone of his character, there was some striking 
 points of harmony between him, and the upright dis- 
 interested and intrepid champion of the Reformation. 
 In short, it is certain that in studying the history of 
 the Reformers, "he sj^mpathized with them in their 
 sufferings, their anxieties, their struggles, and their 
 triumphs."* It is easy to see that, with such qualifi- 
 cations, he was prepared to execute his task con amore; 
 that with him it was truly a work and labour of love; 
 and that all the powers of the artist must have been 
 summoned to do justice to a subject, which had already 
 won the affections of the man. 
 
 This may be the proper place for noticing his 
 method of composition, which was in some respects 
 peculiar. After a course of reading, during which he 
 collected his materials, arranged in the form of notes, 
 and references on the various topics to be intro- 
 duced, his practice was to commence at once the 
 work of composition, as if preparing for the press. 
 He seldom wrote out any sketch or rude draft of his 
 subject. Having discovered the mine, he sunk his 
 shaft, and explored the veins of historical information 
 as he went along; so that the plan of the intended 
 book was gradually worked out, after having gone over 
 the ground and made himself completely master of 
 the subject. It is obvious that what he gained by 
 such a method in point of precision, he must have 
 lost in facility and despatch. In truth, he composed 
 slowly, and frequently complained of being " ham- 
 pered" in finding expressions to please himself, and 
 in disposing of his materials. Most of his manuscript 
 was re-composed more than once, before committing 
 it to the press, and exhibited in its innumerable 
 eniendations, a curious specimen of the miilta dies el 
 
 * Presbyterian Review for March 183G, p. 4. 
 13* 
 
150 LIFE OP DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 mttlla litura of the poet. The last copy was too often 
 written after going to press. " I have every word of 
 it to write," he says of one of his works, "as it goes 
 to the printer, and the greater part of what has been 
 .printed has been newly composed. This is a very 
 preposterous course; but I have got a vicious habit, 
 that I can do nothing until 1 am pushed, and accord- 
 ingly it is not done till the last moment. Video 
 meliora," &c. The "pushing" to which he here re- 
 fers, was perhaps necessary in some measure to aid 
 in the production of his thoughts, which instead of 
 flowing easily from his mind, seem to have been 
 obtained, like some essential oils, by a species of 
 mental compression. This mode of composition, too, 
 may have had its own use, in concentrating his mind, 
 and obliging him, instead of groping after materials 
 to fill up a projected scheme, to grapple with his 
 facts, one by one, as he approached them.* "You 
 speak," he says to one of his correspondents in April 
 1810, "of going to press, and getting through it, as 
 if you had found it an easy thing, or, shall 1 say, as 
 one that never tried it. So far from being well 
 through, I have not yet looked it in the face — have 
 been employed all winter in collecting materials, and 
 now and then filling up a blank. I am not a bit 
 nearer the end than wiien you saw me. I would 
 never make my bread by making books, as some 
 have done." On October 15th of the same year, he 
 writes, "I have not yet gone to press with Knox. 
 A fact or two, near the beginning of the Life, which 
 I wish to ascertain, keeps me back." On the 30th 
 November ISll, he sends his correspondent a copy 
 of the work, with these remarks: "The booksellers 
 say that the edition will sell. I am sorry that the 
 price fixed on it is so high, as to put it out of the 
 
 *" Mallet, I believe, never wrote a single line of his projected 
 Life of the Duke uf Marlborough. He groped for materials; and 
 thought of it till he had exhausted his mind. Thus its&aielimes 
 happens that men entangle themselves in their own schemes." — 
 JoJiiison, in BoswcU's Life, vol. iii., p. 3G8. 
 
PUBLICATION OF THE LIFE OF KNOX. 151 
 
 power of a large class of readers to purchase it, 
 ■especially as they are the persons who may be sup- 
 posed to have the greatest relish for the main sub- 
 ject. But owing to the size of the book, and the 
 additional expense incurred by alterations which 1 
 often found it necessary to make upon the proof- 
 sheets, it could not, I believe, be afforded cheaper. 
 Even though it should all sell, the half of the profits 
 (which was allotted to me) will not exceed three- 
 pence per copy."''^ 
 
 Tiie first edition of the Life was published in one 
 volume octavo, November 181 l.f John Knox pre- 
 sented his antique and ungracious visage before the 
 public for some time, without attracting general atten- 
 tion. The author himself, as may appear from the 
 extract given above, was far from anticipatingthe fame 
 which it soon acquired; and was left to guess its fate 
 from the familiar criticisms of his friends, in which 
 praise and censure were blended according to the 
 peculiar views and temperc of the writers. To these 
 I find him humorously alluding, Feb. 1812, in answer 
 to the charge brought by some zealous old Presby- 
 terian, of having made too many concessions tomodern 
 liberality: — "1 was much obliged to you for sending 
 the extract from your friend's letter respecting thtj 
 Life of Knox. Flattery is dangerous: pure unmin- 
 gled praise cloys tiie appetite, and needs not only to 
 be repeated, but increased; and indiscriminate appro- 
 bation is suspicious. The vanity of authors, how- 
 ever, will extract praise even out of the censures 
 passed on them, and will congratulate themselves 
 with the fond idea that they are right, when per- 
 sons, on opposite sides, are pronouncing them 
 wrong. When your letter came to hand, 1 had 
 
 * To the Rev. James Aitkcn. 
 
 t " This day is published by John Ogle and William Black- 
 wood, handsomely printed in one large volume octavo, price 
 ]-2s. boards, The Life of John Knox: (containing Illustrations of 
 the History of the Reformation in Scotland, &,c.) By Thomas 
 M'Crie, Minister of the Gospel, Edinbureh." — Evening CouranU 
 :Nov. 18, Idll. 
 
152 LIFE OF DR. M'CUIE. 
 
 received a critique (from a thorough-paced new-light 
 writer) in the Scripture Mdgaziyie,^ in which I was 
 accused of betraying ignorance of the spirit of the 
 Gospel, proceeding upon Old Testament ideas, and 
 vindicating reformation by carnal weapons. After 
 reading your correspondent's animadversions, you 
 need not doubt that I soothed myself with the old 
 adase. In medio tutissimus ibisy Testimonials to 
 the value of the Life soon poured in upon him from 
 various quarters, some of them from the first literary 
 characters of the time; among the rest he was highly 
 gratified by receiving a flattering commendation of 
 the work from his old favourite professor, Mr. Dugald 
 Stewart, who frequently paid him a visit, when he 
 came to town. But none of these testimonials af- 
 forded him more sincere satisfaction than that which 
 he received from his revered friend, Mr. Bruce. 
 "You need not doubt," he writes to him, December 
 11, 1811, "that your approbation of Knox's Life 
 is gratifying to me. Although I know that you love 
 not flattery, I cannot expect the same approbation 
 will come from other quarters. If I have been able 
 to do any justice to the Scottish Reformation and 
 Reformers, it may, in a very great degree, be ascribed 
 to your example and influence; as you first directed 
 
 " This periodical was conducted on the principles of the Bap- 
 tists. It is curious to observe how the pietism of this respecta- 
 ble class of people had led them round, by a very different route 
 indeed, to the tenets of high-cliurch toryism. The British Critic 
 himself", in his zeal for the divine right of kings, could not be 
 more explicit in charging the reformers with the crime of re- 
 bellion, than these Baptists were, in their zeal for their favourite 
 principle; which seemed to be, that Christianity does not war- 
 rant its followers to seek its promotion by contending for their 
 civil liberties, because this contest necessarily requires the use 
 of carnal weapons. They say that, " In his letter to the nobility, 
 Knox in fact urges them to rebellion. An apostle would have 
 exhorted the believers in Scotland, to honour the king wliiJe 
 they feared God.'' In pleading the cause of the ruined nifi- 
 nasteries, they outstrip even the antiquaries. '■ However br- 
 neficial the consequences may have been to tliis country, we 
 consider his preaching in the Catliedrals, and piocuring the 
 demolition of the jjopish ediiiccs, as rclidliou against the gu- 
 vcrnmcnt!" 
 
CRITICISMS ON THE LIFE OP KNOX, 153 
 
 my attention to the subject, and from your conversa- 
 tion and writings I received many of tlie hints of 
 which I have availed myself. — 1 perceive a number 
 of Latinisms and Scotticisms, and even grammatical 
 blunders, which had escaped me. But provided any 
 due measure of justice is done to the principles of 
 the work by the literary censors, I shall endeavour 
 to bear patiently their castigations of the style." 
 
 What first brought the Life of Knox into notice, 
 and paved the way for its popularity, was the flatter- 
 ing criticism of the work in the Edinburgh Review 
 for July 1813. In this able article, which was well 
 understood to come from the pen of the ingenious and 
 talented Editor, the merits and general principles of 
 the work were fully discussed and highly applauded, 
 and the author's vindication of Knox was pronounced 
 decidedly successful, The first impression generally 
 produced on the readers of the Life was a feeling of 
 surprise, occasioned by the entirely new light in 
 which the subject had been represented, and con- 
 siderably enhanced by the previous obscurity of the 
 author: a feeling to which the reviewer, after advert- 
 ing to the previous notions entertained of the Refor- 
 mer, gives expression in the following paragraph, 
 which may be quoted as containing his general 
 opinion of the work: — "How unfair, and how mar- 
 vellously incorrect these representations are, may be 
 Jearned from the perusal of the work before us; — a 
 work which has afforded us more amusement and 
 more instruction, than any thing we ever read upon 
 the subject; and which, independent of its theological 
 merits, we do not hesitate to pronounce by far the 
 best piece of history which has appeared since the 
 commencement of our critical career. It is extremely 
 accurate, learned and concise, and at the same time 
 full of spirit and animation; — exhibiting, as it appears 
 to us, a rare union of the patient research and sober 
 judgment which characterize the more laborious 
 class of historians, with the boldness of thinking and 
 force of imagination which is sometimes substituted 
 
154 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 in their place. It affords us very great pleasure to 
 bear this public testimony to the merits of a writer 
 who has been hitherto unknown, we believe, to the 
 literary world either of this or the neighbouring 
 country; — of whom, or of whose existence, though 
 residing in the same city with ourselves, it was never 
 our fortune to have heard till his volume was put 
 into our hands; and who, in his first emergence from 
 the humble obscurity in which he has pursued the 
 studies and performed the duties of his profession, 
 has presented the world with a work, which may put 
 so many of his contemporaries to the blush, for the 
 big promises they have broken, and the vast oppor- 
 tunities they have neglected." 
 
 The Life of Knox was no doubt indebted, in some 
 degree, for the high favour which it met with in the 
 eyes of the Edinburgh Review, to its literary merits 
 and to the tone of its political sentiments. It is but 
 justice, however, to add, that the religious opinions of 
 the Reformer are, in this article, treated with respect, 
 that full credit is allowed to the Reformation for its 
 happy influence on the state of education, and that 
 among other merits of the work, due weight is at- 
 tached to "the illustration which it affords of the 
 close connexion between the principles of religion 
 and of civil liberty." Catching the national enthusi- 
 asm of the author, the sharp-sighted critic declares 
 his conviction "that there is a natural affinity be- 
 tween genuine Presbyterianism and genuine Whig- 
 gism," and "that it is owing in a great measure to 
 the influence of this counteracting cause that we 
 have been saved (if we are saved) from the degrada- 
 tion of the lowest servility." The only deduction, 
 indeed, from the language of commendation, is made 
 when he comes to speak of the style of the author, 
 who, he says, "has given us rather too much of our 
 national phraseology. The book, to say the truth, is 
 full of Scotticisms, and frequently deficient in verbal 
 elegance and purity." And he concludes by advising 
 the author, "when he writes again — as we earnestly 
 
THE EDINBURGH AND QUARTERLY REVIEW. 155 
 
 hope he will be induced to do — to submit his manu- 
 script to the revision of some slender clerk from the 
 south, who may rectify his verbal errors, without 
 premiming to meddle with his matter." 
 
 This review was followed, in July 1813, by another, 
 almost equally complimentary, from the Quarterly 
 Reviewers. "Dr. M'Crie," say they, "is really a 
 great biographer, such as it has not been the lot of 
 Knox's equals, or even his superiors, always to at- 
 tain; for, however ably the characters of Luther and 
 Calvin have been treated in the general histories of 
 their times, where has either of them found a bio- 
 grapher like the present?" "Compact and vigor- 
 ous, often coarse, but never affected, without tumour 
 and without verbosity, we can scarcely forbear to 
 wonder by what effort of taste or discrimination the 
 style of Dr. M'Crie has been preserved so nearly 
 unpolluted by the disgusting and circumlocutory 
 nonsense of his contemporaries. Here is no puling 
 about the 'interesting sufferer,' 'the patient saint,' 
 'the angelic preacher.' Knox is plain Knox, in 
 acting and in suffering always a hero, and his story 
 is told as a hero would wish that it should be told, 
 with simplicity, precision and force." The Edin- 
 burgh Reviewer complained that the book was "full 
 of Scotticisms;" "For which," say those of the 
 Quarterly, "vve like it the better. They are the 
 eTti,x<^p(,ov t(, of a work so thoroughly national. For 
 why should a Scotsman, who is ashamed of nothing 
 else belonging to his country, be ashamed of its dia- 
 lect? It is to English what the Doric was to pure 
 Greek, adorned with many rustic graces which have 
 long been felt and acknowledged in the poetry of that 
 country. Why then should it not be tolerated in 
 history, especially since experience has shown that 
 no efforts of their best writers have been able wholly 
 to avoid it." 
 
 The conductors of the Quarterly could not be ex- 
 pected to sympathize in ecclesiastical sentiment, 
 either with the stern reforming presbyter of the 
 
156 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 north, or with his biographer. To both they awarded 
 a tribute of praise equally ample and discriminating; 
 but while full credit was given to the author for can- 
 dour and research, in the statement of facts, ffley 
 severely condemned the principles on which he vin- 
 dicated some of the most questionable actions of the 
 Reformers, and took an opportunity of testifying to- 
 wards the Presbyterians of a later period, "Hender- 
 son, Gillespie, and their brethren of the covenant," 
 those feelings of contempt which they had been in- 
 duced to forego, or to qualify, in regard to Knox and 
 his contemporaries. These animadversions do not 
 appear to have much affected our author. "Knox," 
 he says to his former correspondent, "has now passed 
 through the ordeal of the London Quarterly Review, 
 the antipode of the Edinburgh. He is treated with 
 wonderful lenity and favour. A strong attack, how- 
 ever, is made on the principles advanced respecting 
 the assassination of Cardinal lieatoun. When you 
 write to Mr. M., you may tell him that lawyers differ 
 as well as doctors. He thinks that I breathe a dif- 
 ferent spirit from that of Knox; the Quarterly gen- 
 tlemen, on the contrary, say that if I had 'been 
 alive in the 16th century, there would not have been 
 so much heard of Willock or Rowe, as of M'Crie, as 
 a coadjutor to Knox' — and that 'he would have given 
 his vote as cheerfully as his hero to bring the adul- 
 teress and murderess to the block/ or words to that 
 purpose.* Is not that great praise?" 
 
 His friend, Dr. Andrew Thomson, however, was not 
 
 * " But of the literal subversion of many noble buildings, 
 which, perhaps unavoidably, took place in the course of this 
 great revolution, Dr.. M'Crie permits himself to speak with a 
 savage and sarcastic triuraph, which evinces how zealous and 
 practical a helper he would himself have proved in the work of 
 destruction, had he been born in the IGth century. Less, we 
 are persuaded, would then have been heard of Rowe or Willock, 
 as auxiliaries of Knox, than of M'Crie." — " Like Knox himself^ 
 he has neither a tear nor a sigh for Mary, and we doubt not that 
 like him he would have voted to bring the royal adulteress and 
 murderer, for such they both esteem iSr, to the block," — Quar- 
 Whj Review, vol. ix., p. 421, 427. 
 
THE BRITISH CRITIC. 157 
 
 willing to allow the English critics to escape so easily. 
 Not contented with having inserted a long and highly 
 commendatory review of the Life of Knox in the 
 Christian Instructor, he published two elaborate 
 papers in the same periodical, in reply to the stric- 
 tures of the Quarterly Reviewers. Many of my 
 readers will recollect how heartily he improved the 
 advantage which the English critics, in tlicir igno- 
 rance of Scotland and its history, had afforded him, 
 and with what nerve he repelled their attack on the 
 Presbyterians. There is reason to think, that for 
 many of the facts which he adduces in these pungent 
 articles, he was indebted to the author of Knox; but 
 if we may thus account for the number and weight 
 of the thongs with which the scourge was armed, 
 it is equally impossible to mistake the peculiar tact 
 and vigour of the hand by which it was wielded. 
 
 Among the other periodicals of the day in which 
 Knox was reviewed more or less favourably, I might 
 mention the British Critic, the Scottish Review, and 
 the Christian Observer. The British Critic for Oc- 
 tober, November and December 1S13, forms, I be- 
 lieve, the solitary exception to the uniform courtesy 
 and respect with which the author was treated by the 
 literary journals. His work having fallen into the 
 hands of some devoted admirer of the divine right of 
 Episcopacy, he was accused by the Reviewer, in no 
 equivocal terms, of having garbled his facts, those 
 especially which relate to the substantial harmony 
 between the early Reformers in England and the 
 Scottish and other Reformed Churches, on ecclesias- 
 tical polity. All that Dr. M'Crie had done to eluci- 
 date the history of the period could not atone, at this 
 critic's tribunal, for the crime of having proved, to 
 the satisfaction of all reasonable men, that the super- 
 intendents were not bishops; and having ventured 
 to question the doctrine, that the want of Episcopal 
 ordination necessarily invalidates and nullifies the 
 orders of all the Reformed Churches, except the 
 English! These characteristics, together with the 
 11 
 
15S UFE OF DR. St'CKiLV 
 
 tone of asperity in which the articles were written, 
 differing so widely from the liberal and courteous 
 spirit of the Quarterly Review, and so unwarranted 
 by any ostensible cause of provocation, — the extreme 
 views held by the writer on the point of apostolical 
 succession, which had then few supporters of any 
 name in England, — and, above all, the character of 
 the authorities quoted against the author of the Life, 
 and the dogged reliance placed upon them, to the 
 exclusion of all others by whom they have been 
 repeatedly disproved, — were considered, at the time, 
 amply sufficient indications that the review came 
 from the pen of a Scottish Episcopalian. 
 
 The established reputation which the Life of Knox 
 has acquired in the literary and religious world, might 
 serve as an apology for not entering farther here into 
 the merits of the work; but there are certain points 
 which, as reflecting light on the character and senti- 
 ments of the author, seem to come, almost neces- 
 sarily, within the province of his biographer. In- 
 deed, the character of the author is the key to the 
 real character of the work; and, owing to ignorance 
 of this, or want of sympathy with him in the high 
 objects which he proposed to himself in the under- 
 taking, there is some reason to believe, that, with all 
 the fame which the Life of Knox has acquired, its 
 peculiar merits are not, even yet, distinctly and dis- 
 criminatively appreciated by many of its admirers. 
 
 On the importance of the subject of the work — the 
 Reformation from Popery — to which the Life of 
 Knox is so clearly made subservient, and which was 
 unquestionably the prevailing object of regard in the 
 author's own mind, it is needless to enlarge. Let it 
 suffice to say, that this grand religious revolution must 
 be estimated, not merely by the numerous abuses 
 which it removed from the Church, but chiefly by 
 its relation to the primitive institute of Scriptural 
 Christianity, — the liiblc, which it restored to the 
 Church for entire possession and free circulation, and 
 reinstated in its sovereignty, to regulate the faith and 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 159 
 
 the practice of men; that the wonders which it 
 wrought in the days of its power were accomplished 
 mainly by the preaching and application of the di- 
 vine oracles; and that to the revival of the pure doc- 
 trines of the Gospel, we must trace the overthrow of 
 that system of complicated iniquity, by which the}'- 
 had been so long rendered nugatory for the good of 
 mankind. By its conformity to that lofty standard, 
 must its appropriate excellence be measured, and by 
 its bearings on the higher interests of man, as formed 
 for immortality, must its importance be estimated and 
 felt. The subject of the Reformation thus assumes 
 a magnitude far beyond the annals of art or science, 
 or the ordinary transactions of society, civil or mili- 
 tary; and its history, though worthy of occupying 
 all the talents of the scholar and the politician, must, 
 in order to be known as it ought, be studied from 
 higher motives than the gratification of an antiqua- 
 rian or literary curiosity. 
 
 Those only who have paid attention to the state 
 of ecclesiastical history at the time when the Life 
 of Knox appeared, can duly appreciate the season- 
 ableness of such a work. Since that period, so vast 
 is the accession that has been made to our historical 
 knowledge, so much has been written on the Refor- 
 mation, so familiar have we become with its facts, 
 which have been made even to minister to our enter- 
 tainment in works of fiction, that few in the present 
 generation can conceive how much we needed, at 
 that time, a suitable, adequate and friendly exhibition 
 of the days of John Knox. The authentic records 
 of the period, hid in manuscripts, or detailed in the 
 antiquated and ungainly style of a past age, had be- 
 come utterly unavailable for the purposes of general 
 instruction and excitement. In the country at large, 
 an infidel spirit was abroad, at open variance with the 
 principles of the Reformation. Literature and liberty 
 had, for the first time in Scotland, joined hands with 
 irreligion and profaneness. Tlie religious public, 
 strangers to the trials of their fathers, had become 
 
IGO LIFE OF DR. :\I"CRIE. 
 
 estranged from their history, and, as the usual conse- 
 quence, not only unthankful for what they had done, 
 but vain of their own fancied superiority. A work 
 was wanted, in which the ancient cause, with the an- 
 cient spirit of the Reformation, might come recom- 
 mended by the advantages of modern taste and re- 
 finement. And nothing promised more effectually 
 to restore the fading energies of the Presbyterian 
 Church, than to carry her back, once more, to the 
 bracing air and the heart-stirring scenery of her in- 
 fant years. 
 
 In calculating the amount of service performed to 
 the public by the Life of Knox, it seems requisite to 
 advert to the character of the popular history of the 
 period, — the whole current of which may be said to 
 j";5Ve been either decidedly hostile or coldly indiffe- 
 rent i9 the cause of vital religion and reformation. 
 The memory of the reformers, though still venerated 
 by the few, who, adhering to their principles, had 
 studied their history in the humble pages of such as 
 Wodrow, Howie, Crookshank, and Stevenson, still 
 Uy under a load of reproach, which, with the bulk of 
 the reading public, had long passed for the language 
 of soberness and truth.* Popish writers had propa- 
 gated every prejudice and falsehood against them, 
 and distorted and vilified every thing connected with 
 a revolution, which interest, ignorance, and super.'^ti- 
 i'lon taught them to abhor. Recent events in the 
 British kingdoms had alienated the minds of our 
 courtly divines from the true principles of the Re- 
 formation, and rendered them too Tvilling to join in 
 
 * "The prevailing opinion about Jolm Knox," says one who 
 was well qualified to jvidge of the matter, " has come to be, that 
 he was a fierce and gloomy bigot, equally a foe to polite learning 
 and innocent enjoyment; and that, not satisfied with exposing 
 the abuses of tlie Romish superstition, he laboured to substitute 
 for the rational religion and regulated worship of enlightened 
 men, the ardent and unrectified spirit of vulgar enthusiasm, 
 daslied with dreams of spiritual and political independence, and 
 !ill the impracticabilities of the earthly kingdom of the saints."' — 
 Edinburgh Review. Jnhj 1812, 
 
Robertson's history of Scotland. 161 
 
 the outcry against our Reformers. The skeptical 
 pen of Hume, at that time the idol of historic taste, 
 and who was always glad of an opportunity to aim 
 a blow at genuine religion, in whatever form it ap- 
 peared, had but too well fulfilled the pledge which 
 he gave in a letter to Principal Robertson: "Tell 
 Goodall, that if he can but give up Queen Mary, I 
 hope to satisfy him in every thing else, and he will 
 have the pleasure of seeing John Knox and the Re^ 
 formers made very ridiculous."* 
 
 It would be uncandid and unjust to place the ele- 
 gant histories of Robertson on a level, in point of 
 moral feeling, with that of Hume. But, making 
 every allowance for the professedly secular character 
 of his works, it must be admitted that, when he does 
 touch on the subject, there is no indication of a desire 
 to do full justice 1o the character of the Reformation. 
 In his History of Scotland, which Dr. M'Crie used 
 to say was "the most beautiful piece of history he 
 ever read," there are many fine and finely expressed 
 sentiments in honourof learning, liberty and religion; 
 but the feelings of his readers will tell them, that in 
 so far as they have been guided by the historian, he 
 has been more successful in exciting a sentimental 
 sympathy for his unfortunate and guilty heroine, than 
 in kindling a zeal for the Reformation, or any thing 
 like admiration for the devoted men by whom it was 
 accomplished. His eloquent biographer has suggests 
 ed the following apology for the failings into which 
 he has been betrayed by making Mary the heroine of 
 his story: — " A cold and phlegmatic historian, who 
 surve3'S human affairs like the inhabitant of a difier- 
 ent planet, if his narrative should sometimes languish 
 for want of interest, will at least avoid those prepos- 
 sessions into which the writer must occasional!}' be 
 betrayed, who, mingling with a sympathetic ardour 
 among the illustrious personages whose story he con- 
 templates, is liable, while he kindles with their emo- 
 
 * Stewart's Life of Robertson, p. 37- 
 14* 
 
162 LIFE OV DR. M^CHIE. 
 
 tions, to be infected with the contagion of their pre- 
 judices and passions." Granted: but there were two 
 classes of " illustrious personages " among whom the 
 Principal was led by his story to mingle; and it must 
 be left with the reader to judge, how far the "preju- 
 dices and passions" inspired by contemplating the 
 feminine accomplishments of the Queen of Scots, 
 deserve to be classed with those which might have 
 sprung from sympathy with the manly worth and 
 high-toned principle of the Scottish Reformers. 
 "The History of Scotland," says our author, "has 
 done more to prepossess the public mind in favour of 
 that princess, than all the defences of her most zeal- 
 ous and ingenious advocates, and consequently to 
 excite prejudif^e against her opponents, who, on the 
 supposition of her guilt, acted a most meritorious 
 part, and are entitled, in other respects, to the grati- 
 tude and veneration of posterity."* 
 
 If this exquisitely pleasing historian yielded too 
 far, in portraying the character of Mary, to the ami- 
 able feelings of the man, there can be as little doubt 
 that his habits and ecclesiastical leanings (not to 
 speak of his religious views, or to decide whether 
 he valued religion itself at its true worth) tempted 
 him to regard the struggles for religious freedom at 
 the Reformation, in the cold light of the coldest 
 church policy. It is seldom that he suggests an ad- 
 vice for the advancement of reforming measures; but 
 a favourite speculation with him seems to have been 
 the problem, how the whole Reformation might 
 have been prevented, or overthrown.! With the 
 religious sentiments of the Reformers, he is careful 
 
 * Life of Knox, vol. ii., p. 24S — 9. 
 
 I There is a passage in his History^ of Charles V. in which he 
 reveals the secret, which neither Charles nor his counsellors, la_y 
 or clerical, could discover, and which, according to the sage 
 historian, would have extinguished the Reformation abroad. 
 Suggestions in the same strain are to be met with in the liistory 
 of Scotland. " Perhaps by gentle treatment, and artful policy, 
 the proo-ress of the Reformation might have been checked,' &c. — 
 Vol. i.,"b. 2. 
 
cook's history or the reformation. 163 
 
 on all occasions not to identify himself. He repre- 
 sents them as contending "for what they esteemed the 
 cause of God and of their country," or against " what 
 they denounced as idolatry," — speaking, on all points 
 of faith, really "like the inhabitant of a different 
 planet." In accounting for the Reformation, he 
 dwells excluslvel}' on the political motives of the ac- 
 tors, expressly to " show how naturally these prompt- 
 ed them to act with so much ardour," and to avoid 
 assigning any higher reasons for the "eagerness and 
 zeal with which our ancestors embraced and propa- 
 gated the Protestant doctrines," which, he says, 
 would represent the Reformation "as the effect of 
 some wild and enthusiastic frenzy in the human 
 mind."* In short, he finds so many natural causes 
 working to produce the effect, that, though a Provi- 
 dence is verbally acknowledged, the admission is 
 felt to be almost superfluous. Instead of tracing the 
 connexion between the great efficient and the subor- 
 dinate agency, so as to make it manifest that while 
 men and things were at work, God was working out, 
 by means of them, his sovereign will, and guiding, 
 though unseen, the springs of human action, — he puts 
 down Providence in a niche by itself, contented, as 
 it w*ere, with having paid his respects to the image 
 at the door, and thereby exhausted his duty and saved 
 his orthodoxy. So that by the time the historian 
 has conducted his company a few steps through the 
 aisles and galleries of his edifice, they feel them- 
 selves as much in a region from whence all influence 
 superior to that which meets the senses is excluded, 
 as if their guide had been Gibbon or Hume, instead 
 of a Scottish divine, and a professed Calvinist. 
 
 By one of those remarkable coincidences which 
 frequently -happen in the history of literature, the 
 same year witnessed the publication of the Life of 
 Knox, and of Dr. Cook's History of the Reformation 
 in Scotland, the latter having the precedence by a 
 
 * History of Scotland, vol. i., b. 2. 
 
164 LIFE OP DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 few weeks. To this work Dr. M'Crie thus referred, 
 in his Preface to the first edition of Knox: — " When 
 the printing of the following Life was finished, and I 
 was employed in correcting the Notes at the end, a 
 History of the Reformalion in Scotland, by Dr. Cook 
 of Laui'encekirk, was published. After what I have 
 already said, I need scarcely add, that the appear- 
 ance of such a work gave me great satisfaction. The 
 author is a friend to civil and religious liberty; he 
 has done justice to the character of the Reformers, 
 and evinced much industry in examining the autho- 
 rities from which he has taken his materials. Had 
 he had more full access to the sources of informa- 
 tion, he would no doubt have done greater justice to 
 the subject, and rendered his work still more worthy 
 of public favour; but I trust that it will be useful in 
 correcting mistakes and prejudices which are ex- 
 tremely common, and in exciting attention to a 
 branch of our national history which has been long 
 neglected. Where our subject coincides, I have in 
 general observed an agreement in the narrative, and 
 sometimes in the reflections: in several instances, 
 however, we differ in the judgment which we have 
 expressed about them, and in the delineation of cha- 
 racter. The judicious reader will decide on which 
 side the truth lies, by comparing the reasons which 
 we have advanced, and the authorities to which we 
 have appealed." 
 
 Full time has now been given to the public to 
 decide on the point submitted to their judgment at 
 the close of this candid estimate of a rival work, and 
 it would savour of affectation were we to pretend to 
 question on which side the verdict has been given. 
 AVithout, however, pronouncing on their respective 
 merits, which, of course, will be estimated according 
 to the views entertained of their grand subject, the 
 interests of truth demand a fair disclosure of the 
 principal points referred to, which form the cha- 
 racteristic features of distinction between the two 
 works. In the pages of Dr. Cook we discover the 
 
cook's history op the reformation. 1G5 
 
 same neutrality of feeling, and looseness of senti- 
 ment, with respect to many important branches of the 
 Reformation, which we have already noticed as cha- 
 racterizing those of Dr. Robertson. In Dr. Cook, 
 however, there is an unsteadiness of judgment, not 
 discernible in the learned Principal. Single passages 
 we read with satisfaction, but their influence is weak- 
 ened by others which are found in juxtaposition to 
 them. He is perpetually diluting his statements 
 with qualifications which unsettle the verdict he had 
 previously pronounced, and destroy the impression 
 he had well nigh produced. The prevailing topic is 
 the subjection of the Church to the State, and in 
 almost every question between the two, his voice is 
 in favour of the latter. There is hardly any one 
 point that good men have suffered or struggled for, 
 which appears to him of sufficient importance to jus- 
 tify a struggle or a suffering on account of it. In 
 several instances (we might specify his depreciating 
 strictures on Regent Murray) he not only advances 
 positions which contradict all credible history, but 
 by a kind of self-cross-questioning destroys his own 
 testimony. So frequently and provokingly indeed 
 does he interpose his caveats and innuendoes, that we 
 are almost tempted to impute to him the intention 
 of neutralizing all the effect of the good words which 
 he has bestowed on the Reform.ers and the Reforma- 
 tion. In the omnipotent influence he ascribes to se- 
 condary causes — in his reliccnce on the peculiar doc- 
 trinal sentiments of the Reformers, which were cer- 
 tainly the mainsprings of their ardour in acting and 
 fortitude in suffering, but which he alleges, referred 
 to '•' dark and disputable sulDJects " — in his professed 
 latitude of opinion in regard to church polity, though 
 obvious leaning of inclination towards Episcopacy — 
 in his faltering tone as soon as he comes to apply 
 the principles which he lays down on civil and re- 
 ligious liberty — as if "scared at the sound himself 
 had made"-— and in his frequent use of the timorous 
 and temporizing argument of dangerous consequen- 
 
166 LIFE OF Dn. M^CRIE. 
 
 ces; — there is ample evidence, that whatever may 
 have been Dr. Cook's own opinion of the work or 
 of the men described in his history, his was certain!}^ 
 not the exhibition of them, calculated to leave on 
 the mind the most favourable impressions of either, 
 or destined to rekindle the spirit by which they puri- 
 fied the Church and saved the country. 
 
 In hazarding these remarks, I am not conscious of 
 being guided by any other motive than a desire to 
 show, that, on the assum.ption that the Reformation 
 and its heroes deserved to be treated in another spirit, 
 and presented in another light than they were in the 
 pages of the writers now referred to, such a work as 
 the Life of Knox was loudly and imperatively called 
 for. It is not my intention to enter into an analysis 
 of its contents. To specify the pieces of collateral 
 information which the author has collected, and the 
 various controverted points of history which have 
 been settled or illustrated in the course of the narra- 
 tive, would be to step beyond the province of the bio- 
 grapher. I may be permitted, however, to refer to a 
 characteristic feature of the work — which it necessa- 
 rily assumed in the hands of the author — its apolo- 
 getical character. The success, indeed, with which 
 "Knox and his Reformation " have been vindicated, 
 has been generally reckoned his highest praise. One 
 of its reviewers has remarked, that had it "contained 
 nothing more than an expansion of the notes, with 
 the passages in the text to which these notes refer, in 
 regard to the real character of "The Good Regent," so 
 unjustly yet so uniformly aspersed, even by the most 
 accurate and distinguished historians, we should have 
 pronounced it to be a work di»;num cedro Unendum."* 
 In the execution of this part of his task, the author has 
 frequent recourse to what Dr. Thomson called " the 
 retort courteous," seldom permitting his opponents 
 to escape without |)roving them guilty of faults much 
 graver than those of which they accused the Reform- 
 
 * Christian Instructor, vol. iv., p. 138. 
 
CHARACTER OF THE LIFE OF KNOX. 167 
 
 ers; and it is here that he betrays that power of 
 sarcasm which gave such serious offence to some of 
 his critics. But while it must be admitted that the 
 provocation was great, it will be found that the se- 
 verest of his strictures proceeded more from genuine 
 indignation at the offence, than from a desire to re- 
 taliate on the offender; and that the object of them 
 was chiefly to unveil the unworthy spirit which ani- 
 mated, as it still continues to animate, the more cla- 
 morous and prejudiced assailants of our Presbyterian 
 ancestors.* I may be permitted to add, that the man- 
 ner in which the author has accomplished his task 
 is sufficient to show, what is now beginning to be 
 more generally acknowledged, that the warmest en- 
 thusiasm in the cause of divine truth, "and sympathy 
 with the noble and upright spirits who contended for 
 it, are not incompatible with the utmost candour in 
 delineating their character and recording their his- 
 tory; and that historical impartiality is a very different 
 thing from that Pyrrhonism and Stoical indifference, 
 with which it was too long confounded, but which 
 really disqualifies the historian for doing any proper 
 justice to his subject. 
 
 Whatever may be thought of the tone and spirit 
 of the historian, there can be but one opinion as to 
 the accuracy and fidelity of the narrative. On this 
 there is the less reason to enlarge, as the author has 
 enabled every reader to judge for himself, his work 
 exhibiting, to use the phraseology of Johnson, "such 
 a stability of dates, such a certainty of facts, such a 
 punctuality of citation." With all his contempt 
 for mere literary antiquaries, few of that class, it is 
 believed, were ever more patient and curious in re- 
 
 * Among the most striking examples of the use made of this 
 legitimate weapon of literary warfare, we might refer to his re- 
 marks on the assassination of Cardinal Beatoun, (vol. i., note M, 
 5th, ed.;) his vindication of Knox from the charge of treason, 
 (ib. p. 153, note W.;) his apology for the violence of " The First 
 Blast against the monstrous Regiment of Women." (ih. p. 22i\.;) 
 his remarks on the demolition of the monasteries, ib. p. 27-1.,) 
 and on Knox's dissimulation, (ib. p. 292.) 
 
168 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 search, or more resolute against taking things at se- 
 cond hand. It would not become me to inquire how 
 far the plodding perseverance usually attributed to 
 the lower creation in the world of literature, was 
 found united in him with the descriptive powers of 
 the historian, and the generalized wisdom of the 
 philosopher. But if one may venture on describing 
 his manner in a i'ew words, it might be said, that he 
 explains events, not so much by philosophizing on 
 their probable causes, as by a careful induction of 
 facts; and that he produces his effect, less by the em- 
 bellishments of description than by the grouping of 
 his figures, and by such a graphic delineation of cha- 
 racter, that in whatever light the picture is viewed, 
 it catches the eye, and conveys the impression of 
 reality.* 
 
 But vs'hatever may be the rank due to the Life of 
 Knox as an historical composition, it is as a religious 
 work, and as a history of the Reformation, that it 
 will continue to hold its highest place in the estima- 
 tion of all the enlightened friends of religion. The 
 felicity of the selection of John Knox as the subject 
 of a popular biography has been frequently noticed, 
 and the narrative doubtless derives many charms 
 
 * While he was composing the Life of Knox, a friend found 
 him seated, as usual, with a huge mass of books and manu- 
 scripts before him. " 1 positively shudder to look at them," he 
 said to the gentleman, who was expressing his astonishment at 
 their number. Ample evidence of the use which he had made 
 of this formidable heap of authorities is discernible in the notes 
 and references with which the volumes abound, and which he 
 himself considered as, in some respects, the most valuable por- 
 tion of the work. A fond admirer of the Life, who has been at 
 the pains of counting them, makes out IGl authorities, more or 
 less quoted. A better idea of their value may be formed, when 
 it is known that there is no attempt to swell the number, by 
 stringing a long list of names to authenticate facts which were 
 never disputed. He has been heard to mention, that, having 
 forgotten where he had met witli the fact mentioned (vol. i , p. 
 15) respecting Gawin Douglas, of his storming the cathedral of 
 Dunkeld, it cost him a six weeks' search before he discovered his 
 authority. As the reward of his labour, he was enabled to add 
 to the note, in the second edition, " Life of Gawin Douglas, pre- 
 fixed to his translation of the -Encid; Ruddiman's Edition," 
 
CHARACTER OF THE LIFE OP KNOX. 169 
 
 from the incidents of his personal history; but it 
 requires little penetration to discover, that the de- 
 scription of the Reformer, though he is the main figure 
 in the piece, was not the main design of the painter; 
 and that Knox is made subservient in the pages of 
 his biographer, as he was during life in the hands of 
 Providence, to the illustration and defence of the 
 cause, of which he was the chief pillar and the cen- 
 tral spirit. The evangelical character of the work is 
 very apparent. In these pages, religion appears, as 
 it really was at the time of the Reformation, the ab- 
 sorbing interest, the pervading principle, without the 
 aid of which that wonderful revolution would never 
 have been effected, but would assuredly, in every 
 struggle which it encountered, have been defeated. 
 The God-fearing character of the principal actors in 
 the scene, as portrayed by the author, contributes, 
 more powerful!}^, perhaps, than any thing else, to the 
 influence of the whole work; and the events which he 
 describes, are hallowed by being traced, in their com- 
 mencement, progress and success, to the overruling 
 and directing hand of Providence. But the aims of 
 the author were still inore specific. To record the 
 deliverance of the Ciiurch from Popish thraldom, and 
 the settlement of relio:ion on the basis of a large and 
 liberal but faithful profession, — to revive respect for 
 the solemn federal transactions by which it was con- 
 firmed, — to assert the independence of the Church, 
 in the way of showing how this may be maintained 
 compatibly with a civil establishment, which shall 
 recognise her profession, and support l:ier institutions, 
 without demanding in return the sacrifice of a single 
 spiritual right belonging to her as a Ciuirch of Christ, 
 — and to rouse the Church of Scotland, in particular, 
 to return to her " first love," and to purify her con- 
 stitution and administration from every abuse incon- 
 sistent with her efficiency as a Christian establish- 
 ment; — these were the great ends wliich Dr. M'Crie 
 had in view in writing the Life of Knox. And if 
 any reader has risen from its perusal, with no other 
 15 
 
170 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 impressions than those of admiration for the powers 
 of the author, and general respect for the piety and 
 zeal of the Reformers, — if he has laid down the two 
 volumes, without being convinced that the work 
 which they illustrate was, in spite of all the failings 
 of the instruments employed in it, the work of God, 
 and fully justified in the great means by which it was 
 carried on and ratified, by reason and Scripture, — I 
 liesit.ate not to affirm, that, so far as such a reader is 
 concerned, the main design of the author, for which 
 all his time and labour were expended, has com- 
 pletely failed. 
 
 The following expression of his own feelings on 
 this important point, occurs in a letter to one of his 
 brethren, June 30th, 1818: "I believe that many are 
 of the same opinion with you, and think that I am 
 wholly occupied in writing for the press, and that, 
 influenced by the approbation which my former work 
 obtained, I am labouring continually in preparing 
 another which may have equal success. There are 
 parts of my conduct, I confess, which afford occasion 
 for such apprehensions. But, believe me, it is quite 
 otherwise. For whole years 1 have not done as 
 much as I could have done in the same number of 
 months, I may say weeks, if I had entered heartily 
 into the work. For the last half year I have scarcely 
 looked at the Life of Melville. The truth is, I am 
 sick of the public — I am disgusted at it — I loathe 
 the manner in which it breathes cold and hot on the 
 same subject — and I would not, could not live in its 
 atmosphere. It is long since I perceived that the 
 favour which it testified for Knox was superficial, 
 hollow, and treacherous. How, indeed, could such 
 an age really or sincerely venerate his character, and 
 sympathize with his principles or his feelings, which 
 are at such variance with all its own? And what 
 signify professions which are daily contradicted by 
 practice? — But I will not dwell on this theme. You 
 will easily see the state of my mind." 
 
 It was no doubt under the influence of such feel- 
 ings that he manifested less interest, than he might 
 
EFFECTS OF THE WORK. 171 
 
 otherwise have done, in the public demonstrations of 
 admiration for the memory of Knox which his labours 
 had so great a share in eliciting.* But it is hardly 
 necessary to add, that he lived to see reason for quali- 
 fying, to a considerable extent, the gloomy estimate 
 which he appears to have formed, at the time, of the 
 impression made by his work on the public mind. It 
 Avas no small triumph to achieve for the cause of 
 truth, that the name of John Knox, formerly so 
 odious, soon became nearly as popular as it was in 
 the lifetime of the Reformer; and that the painter, 
 the sculptor, and the poet should have vied to im- 
 body the description of the biographer, and com- 
 memorate the deeds of his hero.t It required some 
 time before the wholesome influences of such a work 
 could find their Vv'ay into such a system of society, but 
 the change which it has already produced on public 
 
 • Feelings of delicacy may have mingled with other motives 
 in preventing him from countenancing the splendid ceremonies 
 which attended the laying of the foundation of Knox's monu- 
 ment in Glasgow, in lb25. 
 
 t By none have the merits of the Life of Knox been more 
 liighly appreciated than by the Presbyterians of Ireland. In il- 
 lustration of the above, I may quote the following testimony from 
 one of tiieir papers, which appeared after a visit which Dr. 
 MCrie paid to Ireland in 182G. " This distinguished writer sailed 
 from Belfast for Scotland yesterday. In the present literary age, 
 when one can scarcely turn tlie corner of a street without run- 
 ning himself against an autiior, men who have actually done 
 great things are still few in number. One of these benefactors 
 of mankind is Dr. M'Crie. The publication of his first great 
 work, " The Life of John Knox,'' forms an important era in the 
 progress of historical science. It is so well known, that any re- 
 marks on it would be useless, but we may be permitted to advert 
 to the effects which it has produced.'' Having adverted to some 
 of these, the writer adds, " But a greater proof of his merit was 
 the complete revolution in public opinion which was produced 
 by the work. All the English periodicals, except one or two 
 ■which were governed by the demon of party, were filled with re- 
 cantations of tiie error which had prevailed in that part of the 
 empire concerning the character of the deliverer of Scotland; 
 and his own country, which had so long been misled by her own 
 recreant sons concerning the character and achievements of 
 Knox, hastened to do him justice. Monuments were erected, 
 and clubs were instituted to his memory, and his name was en- 
 rolled in the list of her patriots with those of Bruce and Wal- 
 lace.'' — Belfast A'ews Letter. 
 
172 LIFE or DR. m'crie. 
 
 sentiment, though not all that he could have wished, 
 is certainly much greater than he ever anticipated. 
 On the Church of Scotland, its effects may he visihly 
 traced in her increased and increasing respect for the 
 principles as well as the persons of her early Refor- 
 mers, and the anxiety evinced for the removal of cor- 
 ruptions which time and a long course of bad regimen 
 has superinduced on her natively good constitution, 
 and the real extent and deformity of which, though 
 often pointed out to her, in the form of testimony, by 
 her faithful friends, she was slow to acknowledge, 
 till presented with this lively portrait of what she 
 was in the days of her prime. It is not for us to 
 prognosticate what may be the remoter consequences 
 of this w'ork, aided by the other productions of the 
 author; he himself did not look for anj' prevailing 
 change of opinion in the country, unless in connexion 
 with some change in providence, which should attract 
 general attention to the subject, and remove deeply- 
 rooted prejudices. But should the present move- 
 ments of society, and the current of reh"gious feeling 
 now setting so strongly in, issue in the return of the 
 national Church to all the purity and more than the 
 efficienc}'' of her earlier days, few publications, it is 
 believed, will be found to have contributed more 
 largely to bring about such a happy consummation 
 than the Life of Knox. 
 
 The second edition appeared in March 1813, in 
 two volumes, with many alterations and additions. 
 Indeed, the improvements made on the style,in which 
 he showed his readiness to avail himself of the candid 
 suggestions of the critics, and enlarged accounts given 
 of public transactions, the expansion of the reflec- 
 tions, together with the additional authorities ad- 
 duced, in this edition, render it, in point of value, as 
 it was in point of labour, almost a new work. The 
 Life of Knox has now reached the sixth edition. It 
 has been translated into the French, Dutch and Ger- 
 man languages. The Dutch translation, which was 
 executed by Cramer von Baumgarten, was printed at 
 
EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS OF KNOX, 173 
 
 Groningen, in 1S17, in two volumes octavo. The 
 German version, which is rather an abridgment or 
 largely extended extract from the work, by the cele- 
 brated Plank of Gottingcn, was published the same 
 year in one volume duodecimo; and in this cheap form 
 it has circulated very widely in Germany among the 
 common people. 
 
 In February 1813, before the publication of the 
 second edition, Mr. M'Crie received the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity from theUniversity of Edinburgh, 
 a circumstance the more remarkable, as that body has 
 been considered scrupulous in bestowing academical 
 honours, and as this was the first instance in which 
 they had ever conferred such a degree on any dis- 
 senting minister in Scotland. The following com- 
 munication will show the interest which Mr. Black- 
 wood took in procuring him this mark of distinction, 
 and discovers that a proposal had been made to pro- 
 cure for him the same honour from the University of 
 St. Andrews. 
 
 To the Rev. Dr. Lee, St. Andrews. 
 
 "My dear Sir, — Your truly liberal and most flat- 
 tering offer for my worthy friend Mr. M'Crie, I never 
 can forget, and must consider as a fresh mark of your 
 regard to myself, as I feel so deeply interested in 
 whatever concerns the fame or character of the 
 Author of the Life of Knox. Some time ago, I had 
 a good deal of conversation with some of my friends 
 in the University here on the subject, in consequence 
 of which Dr. Baird, Dr. Ritchie, and several otjjer of 
 the Professors were applied to, and professed the 
 utmost readiness about bringing forward or support- 
 ing a proposal to confer a degree on one who they 
 all thought had so well deserved it. This being the 
 state of the case, you will see that as my friends here 
 have been stirred in the business already, it would 
 not be using them well to accept of your offer, which 
 I consider as so extremely handsome that it gives 
 me great pain it cannot be accepted of at present. 
 15* 
 
174 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 Mr. M'Crle has not the smallest suspicion that such 
 an affair is in agitation. He is so very modest a 
 man, that 1 know he would have rather been for 
 declining such an honour, if I had consulted him pre- 
 viously about it. I intend to pay the whole of the 
 fees out of my own pocket, without letting him know 
 any thing about it. — I am, my dear Sir, yonr sincere 
 friend, " W. Blackwood." 
 
 Edinburgh, 23d Dec. 1S12. 
 
 The degree was readily obtained, but the difficulty 
 lay in inducing him to accept of it. He regarded it, 
 I believe, as somewhat inconsistent with Presbyterian 
 parity, and so averse was he to the appropriation of 
 the title, that it required all the art and perseverance 
 of his spirited publisher to get the honorary initials 
 inserted after his name in the second edition of 
 Knox. In course of time he became more reconciled 
 to the customary form of address; but to the last he 
 strenuously refused to allow himself to be designated 
 Doctor in the proceedings of the Church Courts. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FROM THE PUBLICATION OF THE LIFE OF KNOX TO 
 
 THAT OF THE LIFE OP MELVILLE. 
 
 1813—1821. 
 
 We now approach a period in the history of Dr. 
 M-Crie when he began to emerge from the compara- 
 tive obscurity in which he had spent his earlier days. 
 Strictly domestic in his habits, he was never fond, at 
 any time of his life, of appearing much in public, or 
 mingling with the world; and the publicity which his 
 name acquired from the Life of Knox, produced no 
 visible change in his disposition. At the time of 
 which we now write, he was decidedly more recluse 
 In his habits than he was in the latter years of his life. 
 
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 175 
 
 He confined himself closely to his room, prosecuting 
 his literary labours, when not engaged in pastoral 
 duties, throughout the day, and too often throughout 
 the night, to a late hour of the following morning. 
 These intense studies, aided no doubt by the public 
 trials through which he had passed, had superinduced 
 a degree of thoughtfulness and gravity on his charac- 
 ter, which, though it never extinguished his native 
 cheerfulness and urbanity, may have sometimes as- 
 sumed the appearance of reserve, if not of sternness, 
 inspiring some with a species of awe in his presence. 
 This, however, arose, not from a constitutional pre- 
 dominance of melancholy over happier feelings, but 
 from temporary circumstances, which had the power 
 to stir up, occasionally, the deep fountain of his sen- 
 sibilities, and the saddening effects of which had 
 totally disappeared, long before any of his later ac- 
 quaintance came to know him. 
 
 His aversion to all public exhibitions went far to 
 prevent him from taking a prominent part in the 
 religious associations, which sprung up in such abun- 
 dance during the early part of the present centur3^ 
 In some of them, such as missionary societies, he felt 
 liimself precluded from taking any share, in conse- 
 quence of the mixed and anomalous character of their 
 constitution. While he approved of their general 
 object, and sympathized in the zeal manifested for the 
 advancement of the kingdom of Christ, he considered 
 himself shut up, by his peculiar profession, from co- 
 operating, in proceedings which he viewed as the 
 proper business of the Church, with a variety of other 
 denominations, against whom he was testifying, and 
 with whom he could not associate in other acts of 
 ecclesiastical administration. His views on the gene- 
 ral question of duty are thus expressed to one of his 
 correspondents: — "In stating this topic, you seem 
 fully aware of those considerations, which are suffi- 
 cient for satisfying the judgment and directing the 
 conscience, though they may often leave the feelings 
 in a state of pain. Unless we adopt the maxim, 
 
176 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 'Let us do evil that good may come,' we must cir- 
 cumscribe our exertions in attempting to do good, 
 and decline to join with some who are thus employed, 
 and of whose actions and motives we willingly be- 
 lieve the best. The ways of Providence are wonder- 
 ful. Have you not been struck with what 1 may call 
 the division of labour among the instruments employed 
 in the accomplishment of the great work which God 
 is carrying on in the moral and religious world? He 
 has permitted, and he has purposes to serve by all 
 the disorders, divisions, &c., in the Church; and he 
 has work — and good work — to perform in societies 
 and connexions to which neither you nor I could 
 conscientiously and dutifully accede. We ought to 
 adore him in this, and not to suffer our minds to be 
 either stumbled or grieved at his procedure. He 
 marks out the sphere of our activity in doing his re- 
 vealed will, and enlarges or narrows our opportunities 
 of doing good as it pleases him. J\Iy sphere has been 
 as much contracted as yours is ever like to be; and 
 yet I have always found that my opportunities have 
 been greater than my improvement of them. And 
 when one door is shut. He can open another. But 
 although he should shut the door altogether, and we 
 should be precluded from every opportunity of being 
 publicly useful consistently with a good conscience, 
 would it not be our duty to acquiesce — to be 'dumb 
 with silence and refrain our mouth even from good?' 
 May there not be a silent testimony which is as glo- 
 rifying to God, in certain circumstances, and as edi- 
 fying to men, as the loudest voice and the most active 
 exertions? 'He, being dead, yet speaketh."' 
 
 With regard to the subject of missions, his views 
 tended to the conclusion that the Church, in her ju- 
 dicial capacity, is the true Missionary Society; that 
 to her alone belongs the duty of examining the quali- 
 Jications of the Gospel missionaries, appointing them 
 Iheir respective spheres, sending them forth on their 
 .mission, and superintending their personal and minis- 
 terial conduct; and that every other plan of operation, 
 
GAELIC SCHOOL SOCIETY. 177 
 
 differing from this, was in so far an encroachment on 
 the proper business of the courts of Christ's house, 
 tending to perpetuate divisions, and carrying in the 
 very principle of their association, the seeds of their 
 own dissolution. 
 
 Butthough thus withheld from actively co-operating 
 with some of the more popular religious enterprises 
 of the day, he took a lively interest in those of them 
 which involved no compromise of his peculiar prin- 
 ciples. Among these, we may notice particularly 
 the Gaelic School Society, of which he was one of 
 the founders. The following extract from a Minute 
 of the Directors of that Society, agreed to shortly 
 after his decease, will show the high esteem in which 
 his services were held: — "As one of those who first 
 entertained and gave body to the idea of an association 
 for communicating the Word of God and religious 
 instruction to the Highlanders in their native tongue, 
 Dr. M'Crie lived to see the wisdom and utility of the 
 plan proved by experience; and whilst he was one of 
 the original founders of the institution, he continued 
 to the close of his life one of its liberal supporters, 
 and where occasion required the employment of his 
 eminent talents and persuasive eloquence, one of its 
 most effective advocates. Frequently, during the 
 period of nearly twenty-five years, he served as one 
 of its directors, and uniformly, by the wisdom of his 
 counsel, the urbanity and cheerfulness of his disposi- 
 tion, his close attention to its business, and his up- 
 right and unbending principle, contributed eminently 
 to the harmony and efficiency of the committee and 
 the great interests of the Society; whilst his enlight- 
 ened and energetic co-operation in every Christian 
 and patriotic object which he deemed it his duty or 
 could find time to patronise, will long be remembered 
 by his associates in Edinburgh." 
 
 Were any other proof necessary to show how far 
 he was from being actuated by a spirit of sectarian 
 jealousy, in standing aloof from some religious socie- 
 ties, I might refer to the high eulogium which he 
 
17S LIFE OP DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 pronounced on the character of Dr. Charles Stuart of 
 Dunearn, — a gentleman with whom he co-operated in 
 the formation of the Gaelic School Society, and with 
 whom, though the doctor was a very zealous Baptist, 
 he continued to live on terms of the kindest Christian 
 intercourse.* " Of his character," said Dr. M'Crie, 
 at the first meeting of that Society after his death, 
 January 29, 1827, "I shall say nothing but what has 
 fallen within my own observation. Owing to dis- 
 parity of years, and other circumstances which need 
 not be mentioned here, I did not enjoy his friendship 
 in the strictest sense of that word; hut I had the 
 honour and happiness of an intimate acquaintance 
 with him during a considerable number of years, and 
 flatter myself that I had some share of his confi- 
 dence. 1 have spent many pleasant, and, 1 hope, not 
 altogether useless hours in his company; and I am 
 sure my memory does not deceive me when I say, 
 that I do not recollect of a single unkind or unplea- 
 sant feeling being excited during the period of our 
 intercourse, though we have walked occasionally over 
 debatable ground, and differed on points which neither 
 of us regarded as trivial and unimportant. For per- 
 mit me to say, Sir, that it is no test of forbearance 
 for persons to agree in differing about sentiments 
 which both, or even one of them holds as of little or 
 no moment, which he can quit with as much ease as 
 he leaves furnished lodgings, or change as one changes 
 his dress, to go to a masquerade or a funeral. In Dr. 
 Stuart I always found the honourable feelings of the 
 gentleman, the refined and liberal thinking of the 
 scholar, and the unaffected and humble piety of the 
 Christian." f 
 
 In March 1813, he was invited to attend a public 
 
 * Dr. Stuart used to be a very regular hearer of Dr. M'Crie's 
 lectures; and, as regularly, if a child was to be baptized, he took 
 up his hat at the close of the lecture, and walked out of the 
 church 
 
 t Sixteenth Annual Report of the Society for the Support of 
 Gaelic Schools, January 29, 1827, p. 33. For the speech from 
 which the above is taken, see Appendix. 
 
CHRISTIANIZING OF INDIA. 179 
 
 meeting, at whicli the Lord Provost presided, and 
 which was called hy an advertisement signed by 
 ministers of all denominations, to deliberate on the 
 steps proper to be taken in the event of the renewal 
 of the East India Company's Charter, so far as this 
 concerned the promotion of Christianity in that coun- 
 try. The chief object of the meeting was to petition 
 Parliament "to provide for the introduction of niinis- 
 ters and teachers of the different persuasions of Pro- 
 testant Dissenters into that vast continent, for the 
 purpose of instructing the natives in the doctrines of 
 Christianity,"* without being subjected to those ob- 
 structions which had formerly been thrown in their 
 way; in other words, that the law of toleration in 
 this country should be extended to our foreign do- 
 minions, so as to allow dissenters from the Church 
 of England liberty of worship. After consulting his 
 friend Mr. Bruce, who was then engaged in preparing 
 a pamphlet on the East India question, he resolved 
 to attend; and in the following extract he gives a 
 minute and humorous account of his first appearance 
 at a public meeting: — 
 
 "On Monday last I attended a meeting where I 
 \\ as not altogether a silent spectator — the meeting of 
 the inhabitants about the Christianizing of India, of 
 which you will have seen an account. The dcsio^na- 
 tions of those who called it will give you some idea 
 of its complexion — Episcopalians, Presbyterians, es- 
 tablished and dissenting, Burghers and Antiburghers, 
 Relief and Baptists. I refused to join in calling a 
 meeting of such a description, and had once resolved 
 not to go near it, as I knew that no specific or satis- 
 factory measure could be expected from such a com- 
 bination. However, on second thoughts, I prevailed 
 on myself to go, having exoneration alone in the eye 
 of my expectation. The resolutions and the petition 
 were just what I expected, and met with unanimous 
 consent and approbation. Before they were formally 
 agreed to, I craved liberty to state briefly my reasons 
 * Caledonian Mercury, April 1,1813. 
 
180 LIFE OF DR. m'CRIE. 
 
 for not being able to concur in them. As soon as I 
 stood and said My Lord! (the first time the words 
 
 were ever uttered by me) stretched himself 
 
 six inches, rubbed his spectacles, and ■ 
 
 literally came forward four seats in order to hear me 
 the better, expecting that I would black myself for 
 ever by a philippic against toleration; but he had for- 
 got that I was now a Doctor as well as he, that I 
 
 n't' 
 
 could feel the pulse of m}^ patient, and mix up my 
 dose with a little art as well as he could do. In 
 short, 1 waved the question of toleration. (Observe 
 if your father's face is getting long while you read 
 this to him.)* 
 
 "Seriously, however, I told the meeting that I 
 could not concur In any such vague and loose mea- 
 sure, — one which I was sure the government would 
 not grant, and could not grant even with safety to 
 the state, in such a country as India; that if the means 
 of religious instruction were to be communicated to 
 British subjects resident in that country, and to the 
 natives, some regular plan ought to be adopted, and 
 the matter not left to individual and detached exer- 
 tions, if any permanent or extensive effects were 
 expected; that government was about to make some 
 provision of this kind, and a clause was to be intro- 
 duced into the new bill which amounted to an exclu- 
 sive establishment of the Episcopal Church there; 
 that the Presbyterian Church of Scotland was equally 
 entitled to a share of legal countenance and support in 
 that part of the empire; that the people of this country 
 were called to declare their sentiments on this head, 
 and that if petitions went from Scotland (now when 
 the outlines of the bill were known) claiming merely 
 liberty to Protestants of all descriptions to send out 
 teachers, it must imply an acquiescence in the exclu- 
 sive establishment of the Episcopal Church in India. 
 At the same time, I signified, that I did not make 
 
 * He was accustomed to banter Mr. Aitken of Kirriemuir on 
 entertaining wliat he considered rather rigid notions on the ques 
 tion of toleration. 
 
CHRISTIANIZING OF INDIA. 181 
 
 any proposition on this head, as I was sensible, from 
 the complexion of the meeting, and the view with 
 which they had been called together, that they could 
 not be expected to adopt it; but I hoped that the 
 ministers and people of the Establishment, and dis- 
 senting bodies who adhered to the standards of tbe 
 Church of Scotland, would not be inattentive to the 
 subject, in which they were all interested, and would 
 not allow the opportunity of declaring their senti- 
 ments to slip. — 1 have learnt since, that several per- 
 sons present are now sensible that the business was 
 too hastily conducted, and that, had they not consi- 
 dered themselves as pledged by previous agreement, 
 (Sic, they would have followed a different plan of 
 procedure. But 1 have no expectation that, after 
 what has taken place, any farther attempt will be 
 made. We are fallen into a strange and awful 
 state."* 
 
 This appeal, however, was not it seems, wholly 
 without effect. I am informed that Sir Henry Mon- 
 crieff, after hearing it, declared that "he would not 
 lay his head on his pillow," till he had done some- 
 thing in the business. Mr. Horner, probably on his 
 representation, introduced the subject into Parlia- 
 ment, and by an arrangement with the East India 
 Company, provision was made for the Presbyterian 
 worship in Calcutta. Miserably defective as that es- 
 tablishment was, it has proved of late, under happier 
 auspices, the nucleus of exertions, whifh promise to 
 be extensively beneficial to that wide and long-neg- 
 lected portion of our dominions. 
 
 The success which attended the Life of Knox en- 
 couraged the author to proceed with the history of 
 the Reformation in the manner which he had pro- 
 posed to himself; and he turned his attention to the 
 Life of Andrew Melville. Though this work did 
 not appear till 1819, it was begun shortly after the 
 publication of Knox, and considerable progress had 
 been made in it so early as 1S14; the intervening 
 
 * To Rev: John Aitkcn, .\bcrdccn, March 31, 16] 3. 
 IG 
 
182 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 period being occupied in those minute researches, the 
 labour of which can be but slightly estimated from 
 tlie space in the work occupied by its results. In 
 April 1815, he paid a visit to St. Andrews, in the 
 University of which Melville was Principal, where 
 he met with t!ie utmost attention, particularly from 
 Dr. Lee, the Professor of Church History, to whose 
 aid he was greatly indebted in discovering materials 
 for his future work. 
 
 In the early part of the following year, he had to 
 lament the loss of his valuable and venerable friend, 
 Professor Bruce, who died ISlh February 1816. How 
 acutely he felt this bereavement, we may judge from 
 the following correspondence: — 
 
 ^^ February 19, 1816. — 1 have to communicate 
 to you the afflicting intelligence that our father, 
 Mr. Bruce, died suddenly yesterday evening. He 
 preached yesterday, although he appeared unwell, and 
 by five o'clock he was in eternity. As far as re- 
 garded him, there is much mercy to be seen in the 
 manner of his removal. His friends often contem- 
 plated with uneasiness the prospect of his being over- 
 taken with infirmity and sickness, while he had no 
 relation to pay him the necessary attention in such 
 circumstances. And he himself was not without 
 anxiety upon this head. But all these fears have been 
 removed, and he has been taken avva}?^ without pain, 
 without sickness, without confinement to bed for a 
 single day, without any interruption of his ministerial 
 work — after he had finished his labours, and when he 
 was standing faithfully at his post. 'The things, 
 concerning him have an end,' (the text he preached 
 from on the preparation of our last sacrament.) He 
 has joined the higher branch of 'the family in heaven 
 and earth,' (his text on the thanksgiving day.) And 
 is now ' without fault before the throne,' (the text of 
 his last printed sermon.) Fain would I dwell on this 
 bright side of the dispensation, to divert my mind 
 from turning to the dark side, to which I have not 
 yet had courage to give a single look. The Lord 
 
PERSECUTION OP FRENCH PROTESTANTS. 183 
 
 liveth — his hand is not shortened, and he doth all 
 things well." * 
 
 Again he writes: — "Feb. 24. — I cannot describe 
 to you the situation in which 1 am. My heart felt 
 for some time as a stone, and even yet when I am re- 
 covered somewhat from the shock, there remaineth 
 no strength in me. The early reverence which I 
 felt for liim as a teacher, mellowed by the familiarity 
 and intimacy to which I have since been admitted with 
 him, the interest which he condescended to take in my 
 affairs, and which he allowed me to take in his, the 
 pleasure which I felt and the benefit which I derived 
 from his conversation and his correspondence, have 
 all contributed to make the stroke in some respects 
 more heavy to me than perhaps it is to any of his 
 brethren, and gave him a place in my affections of 
 which I was not fully aware, until I was told that I 
 could no longer call him by the name of friend or 
 father. But how selfish am I to intrude and dwell 
 upon my poor interest and personal feelings, when 
 the church and world have suffered so great* a loss! 
 My heart breaks when I think of the poor little flock 
 of students, from whose head the Lord hath taken 
 away their master. May the merciful Shepherd turn 
 his hand upon these little ones!" 
 
 About this time the persecution of the Protes- 
 tants in the south of France, which followed soon 
 after the restoration of the Bourbon family to the 
 throne, furnished a new topic of public interest to 
 the subject of our memoirs. -j- Having ascertained 
 
 * To Rev. James Aitken, Feb. 19, 1816. 
 
 t It has been the fate of the Protestants of France, at every 
 stage of their unhappy history, to be persecuted for their religion 
 under the pretext of political disaffection to tiie e.xisting Govern- 
 ment. Never was the charge more unfounded than when brought 
 against the Protestants of Nismes in 1815. In fact tlie majoiity 
 of the Protestants beingengaged in commerce and manulactures, 
 the fall of Napoleon was to them the dawn of prosperity; and in 
 celebrating the restoration of the Bourbons, their loyalty was 
 manifested in the most unequivocal manner. But it was deter- 
 mined that this should not preserve them from the doom of here- 
 tics. It was openly declared, by persons of rank, that " the 
 
184 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 the facts, all his zeal for civil and religious liberty, 
 his jealousy of Popery, and sympathy with the op- 
 pressed were roused in behalf of the descendants of 
 the once famous Reformed Church of France, with 
 the history of whose early struggles and the shame- 
 ful pretexts under which they were persecuted, he 
 was intimately acquainted. " We have had another 
 glorious war," he writes in January 1816, "and 
 have again triumphed over Bonaparte. And this is 
 enough to us, although we should be overwhelmed 
 with debt, and though Popery and arbitrary power 
 should be re-established over a great part of the con- 
 tinent. Tiiis is unquestionably the result: what the 
 intention of individual rulers or of whole courts 
 were, is a matter of no great importance. Those 
 who choose to rejoice in this result, and in the mea- 
 sures which naturally led to it, may rejoice: I do not. 
 Timeo, et semper timebam Boiirbonios. I am no alarm- 
 ist, but 1 cannot help regarding the late atrocities at 
 Nismes, &c., as a less disguised discovery of the spirit 
 of that' party in France which has now obtained the 
 ascendency, and which, if not secretly encouraged by 
 the government, must at least have the greatest influ- 
 ence on their measures.*' 
 
 But in such a cause he could not rest satisfied with 
 a private expression of his feelings, " At a nume- 
 rous and respectable meeting*' of the inhabitants, 
 held on the 25th of January in Merchants' Hall, 
 with Sir Hr. Moncrieffin the chair, he seconded, in a 
 speech of considerable length, a set of spirited resolu- 
 
 country would never be quiet witliout a second St. Bartholo- 
 mew ;" and the peaceable Protestants in the department of the 
 Gard, were assailed, and cruelly massacred by a Romish populace, 
 under the guidance of a set of demons, rivalling in brutality those 
 of the Revolution, amidst the cries of Vive la Croix! Dowmoith 
 the Protestants ! All this was justified, both in France and in 
 Britain, under the pretext of political reaction. The harrowing 
 details of these cruelties, which were unblushinffly denied or 
 misrepresented at the time, have since been amply confirmed. — 
 See History of the Huguenots, by W. S. Browning, p. 27G, new 
 edition, 1840. 
 
PERSECUTION OP FRENCH PROTESTANTS. 185 
 
 tlons which were moved hy the Rev. Andrew Thom- 
 son, pledging the meeting to interest themselves in be- 
 half of the sutFering French Protestants. Hisaddress, 
 though marked by what he himself afterwards de- 
 scribed as " the flurry which a first appearance causes 
 on nerves not very firmly strung," produced a power- 
 ful impression. * Having, some time after, preached a 
 sermon in behalf of the sufl'erers, the sympathy of the 
 public was shown by a collection of fifty pounds. 
 And in a "Review of Pamplilets and Documents on 
 the Persecution of the Protestants of France," which 
 appeared in the Christian Instructor for February 
 and April 1816, he vindicated them from the asper- 
 sions of the newspaper press, and of the Christian Ob- 
 server, which, strangely enough, attempted to palliate 
 the atrocities of their enemies. In this Review, 
 accompanied with some illustrations, the following 
 sentiment occurs, whicli from the weight evidently 
 attached to it by the author, may be here reprinted: 
 '•'It is a truth that ought not to be concealed, and 
 which has not yet been sufficiently acknowledged, 
 — a truth which, on account of the important admo- 
 nitions which it conveys to tbe present and succeed- 
 ing generations, deserves not merely to be recorded 
 
 * The following note from Dr. Stuart which was rescued from 
 the flames by Dr. M-Crie, witii the reinarlc, that it was the last he 
 received from that worthy man, may be here inserted; — "My 
 dear Sir, I regret very much that want of presence of mind and 
 of recollection, prevented me from mentioning some things yes- 
 terday, and in particular the conviction 1 received, of the suffer- 
 ings of these poor people in jVismes, &cc., being occasioned by 
 their being Protestants. This conviction was entirely the effect 
 of what Sir H. M. (Henry Moncrieff) justly called your 'lumi- 
 nous and impressive address.' I do not think you will do justice 
 to the cause if you do not put the substance in writing and give 
 it to the newspapers. 1 am very sorry, at the same time, that 
 want of courage prevented me from maintaining more explicitly 
 and steadily that immediate subscriptions are requisite proofs ot 
 our sincerity. I have as little reason for parting with money as 
 most, but I think all we say of sympathy without it, is i-ox ct 
 preterea, &c. .'is Christians and Frotcstants is the preamble. I 
 judged I should have been scouted to have said I do not approve 
 of this. Why exclude ' Unbelievers and Catholics,' if they chose 
 to join in our resolutions. Ever yours, C. Stuart." 
 
186 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 with pen and ink, but to be graven with a pen of 
 iron and the point of a diamond, on a monument 
 more durable than brass, — that the wretched and 
 wicked policy pursued with respect to the Protes- 
 tants from the days of Louis XIV. was one of the prin- 
 cipal causes of the Revolution in France, and espe- 
 cially of the horrid excesses and impieties with 
 which it was attended."* 
 
 The publication of the Life of Knox had now con- 
 siderably extended the circle of Dr. M'Crie's acquaint- 
 ance, and among the first it introduced him to that 
 of the late Dr. Andrew Thomson, with whom he 
 formed a friendship which continued unbroken till the 
 death of that celebrated and much lamented indivi- 
 dual. About the time at which we have arrived, Dr. 
 Thomson had little more than commenced that brief 
 but brilliant career, in the course of which he vvas 
 mainly instrumental, by the force of his talents, 
 eloquence, and decision of character, in reintroducing 
 into the Church of Scotland, the reign of evangeli- 
 cal preaching, and of sound ecclesiastical principle, 
 which have ever since been gradually gaining the 
 ascendency in her pulpits and councils. The adhe- 
 rents of error, and the advocates of infidelity, found 
 themselves, to their annoyance and astonishment, 
 exposed to a discharge of merciless ridicule and high 
 disdain, as well as resistless argument; the world, in 
 short, was met on its own ground, and worsted with 
 its own weapons; and, as usually happens in such cases, 
 
 * Christian Instrucl.or, vol. xii., p. 133. — Mr. Alison does not 
 mention this among his " remote causes of the Revolution." His 
 opinion is, that " France was not enslaved because she remained 
 Catholic; l)ut she remained Catholic because she was enslaved." 
 {Hist, of the French Revolution, vol. i., p. 57 .j But was it not by 
 Catholicism that she was enslaved? And can we suppose that 
 despotism would have flourished so long, or terminated its reign 
 in such a direful explosion, had Popish policy and tyranny not 
 succeeded in banishing the best subjects of France, and " blasting 
 the shoots of religious freedom ?" Both members of Mr. Alison's 
 antithesis tell the truth. France was enslaved because she 
 remained Catholic; and she remained Catholic because she was 
 enslaved. 
 
DR. ANDREW THOMSON'. 187 
 
 the world got angry, and pathetically complained of 
 the "bad spirit" with which it had been treated. 
 Never, however, was the charge less merited. Dr. 
 Thomson was one of those persons whose real cha- 
 racter, when known in private life, is found to be pre- 
 cisely the reverse of the picture, which the ima- 
 gination had formed of it from public appearances 
 — who are either greatly beloved or deeply hated — 
 and who receive from posterity the justice denied 
 them by their contemporaries. "Bold as a lion," yet 
 possessing all the generosity ascribed to that noble ani- 
 mal — matchless and unsparing as a public disputant, 
 yet without the least drop of bigotry or bitterness 
 — open-hearted as the day — and in his private cha- 
 racter frank, bland and engaging in manners, and full 
 of the milk of human kindness. Dr. Thomson was as 
 much the idol of his friends, as he was the object 
 of terror and dislike to his opponents. When to this 
 we add his fearless independence of mind, his devoted 
 attachment to the standards of the Church, and his 
 honest zeal for her reformation, we need not wonder 
 that between such a man and the author of the Life of 
 Knox, there should have arisen an intercourse of the 
 most cordial and confidential kind, notwithstanding 
 the personal and professional ditferences which dis- 
 tinguished them. Dr. Thomson's visits were short 
 but frequent, and in the hilarity and fascinating hu- 
 mour of his conversation, our author found an agree- 
 able relaxation from his severer studies; the hearty 
 laugh, proceeding from "the study," was the well- 
 known indication to the whole household, that he was 
 closeted with Dr. Andrew Thomson. "It was in 
 June 1813," says Dr. Robert Burns in a letter to the 
 present writer, "that 1 was first introduced to Dr. 
 M'Crie by the late Dr. Thomson. We spent a most 
 agreeable afternoon. I had been ordained about two 
 years before — was quite raw — and not very conversant 
 with the history of our Church. Nor do I think 
 that at that date Mr. Thomson's information as to 
 those matters was very extensive. Well do I re- 
 
iSS LIFE OF DR. M'CKIE. 
 
 collect of his putting to your father the question, 
 'Can you tell me any thing ahout Robert Rollock?' 
 Your father was at home on the subject, and told us 
 a good deal about the Principal and his newly erected 
 college; and many subjects of such a kind afforded 
 materials for pleasing and instructive conversation. 
 Next morning we breakfasted with him at his house, 
 and the chief topic of converse was, a review of the 
 Life of Knox in the Quarterly that had just appeared, 
 and not a little amusement did it afford us. It was 
 about this time that he began to write those able 
 articles in the Instructor which shed such a lustre on 
 that periodical." 
 
 The epistolary correspondence between Dr. Thom- 
 son and our author, from their proximity to each 
 other, consisted of little more than notes, character- 
 ized by that strain of familiar repartee in which they 
 were accustomed to unbend themselves in private 
 intercourse. The following may serve as a specimen. 
 
 To the ^ev. Acdrevv Tiiomson.— Orf. 30, 1813. 
 '^Dear Sir, — Sagacious as you are, and lively as 
 your imagination is, I am sure you will not be able 
 to divine the reason .of my intruding on your pro- 
 found studies this evening. — 'What! more last words 
 of John Knox? or more last groans of Cardinal Bea- 
 toun? Is it No Popery? or is it blood to eat?' — 
 Guess again. I was waited upon this forenoon by 
 two gen-tlemen, strangers to me. Did you ever en- 
 tertain any suspicion that what you had said in your 
 last review, respecting the East India Chaplains, was 
 actionable?— ^y^\^&i\ a new prosecution?' — Guess 
 again. You know Mr. Waugh. Did you ever hear 
 any word of a new magazine.^-an anti-Christian In- 
 structor? — ^'What! have you been applied to, to be- 
 come editor?' — Why «ot? I hope you will have no 
 objection. — By this time, you will think you are at 
 no loss to divine my drift, although you may be of 
 opinion that I might have chosen a more seasonable 
 tigie for communicating such intelligence. I must 
 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. THOMSON. ISO 
 
 tell you, however, that you are as far from the truth 
 as ever. But I shall now state my object, provided 
 you will believe that I am as serious in what follows, 
 as I have been foolishly jocular in what I have already 
 written. 
 
 "I am exceedingly anxious that you should turn 
 your attention to the Reformed Church in France, 
 with the view of writing its history from the intro- 
 duction of the Reformation into that kingdom down, 
 at least, to the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 
 It is a noble and most animating subject. My ima- 
 gination has often warmed at the contemplation of 
 it; but it always cooled again vvhen I considered its 
 difficulty, on the one hand, and on the other hand 
 that it had been already executed by Laval. But I 
 have been lately looking into his work, which I read 
 long ago, and I find that while it contains a large 
 collection of facts, its defects in point of execution 
 are far greater than I imagined. It is written in the 
 poorest, most frigid and confused manner imaginable; 
 so that nobody will read it but one who can be satis- 
 fied with bare facts. We have nothing worth read- 
 ing even relating to the civil history of that interest- 
 ing period, until you come to the history of l^ouis 
 Xiy. You will meet witli some of the finest, and 
 some of the worst of characters. There is ample 
 scope for politico-ecclesiastical disquisition. I need 
 not remind you of the near resemblance between 
 the Reformed Church of France and our own. The 
 diligence and zeal of the French refugees have col- 
 lected the most ample materials, and the only thing 
 that is wanting is a hand to digest them. Quick, 
 with whom you are acquainted, has given a journal 
 of their Synods; but neither he nor Laval are read. 
 Aymons, whose work has never been translated, has 
 many things omitted by Quick. In short, 1 am con- 
 vinced that it is a grand task, tliat you would not 
 find it impracticable, and that you would execute it 
 con amove. I need not add, that any books which I 
 have on the subject will be at your service. — I must 
 
190 LIFE OF DU jM'CKIE. 
 
 have an early conversation with you on this point; 
 but the pi'ojeci struck me so forcibly this afternoon, 
 that I could not keep it in my breast even till Mon- 
 day. — I remain yours, Tho. M'Crie. 
 
 "P. iS'.— By another hand. [His left hand.] 
 "Doctor M'Crie is a cunning Fox. Beware of 
 him. He is afraid that you are beginning to acquire 
 a taste for Scots History. And lest you tpke it out 
 of his hands, would divert your attention to a foreign 
 subject." 
 
 How different (and yet equally characteristic) is 
 the strain of the next communication! 
 
 To the Rev. Andrew Thomson. — Saturday Evening. 
 
 "So your daughter has at last escaped from the 
 sorrows and sins of this life, and has left you behind 
 to witness and to endure them. Is not this the true 
 light in which you should view her departure? and 
 ought not tliis consideration, if it does not abate our 
 grief, to give it another direction than what it natu- 
 rally takes?— What a beautiful passage is that in the 
 Lamentations, beginning, 'It is good for a man to 
 bear the yoke in his youth!' You have seen the 
 trutli of it in your daughter, and I trust you feel, and 
 will feel it in your own experience, resulting from 
 this and from former tribulations. I lectured the 
 passage lately, but did not reach its spirit, and I 
 would like to discourse on it again. 
 
 "1 have no doubt that both you and Mrs, Thomson 
 will remember the exhortation that speaketh to you 
 as to children, ,and remember it as the word of God 
 and not of man. All have need of affliction. Do 
 not ministers need it in a special manner? And are 
 there not certain periods of their life, or certain situa- 
 tions in which they are placed, that eminently re- 
 quire it, and in which they may discern the wisdom 
 and love and faithfulness of Him who sends it — 
 their Heavenly Father and Divine Master? If I 
 have reason to be thankful for any thing, it is for 
 
CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTOR. 191 
 
 seasonable chastisements — how I have improved them 
 is a different question. Good were the words of the 
 prophet, 'Tliou, Lord, knowest me: thou liast seen 
 me, and tried mine heart toward thee.' (Jer. xii. 
 3.) If tiiere were no other thing to reconcile us to 
 afflictions, tiiis should be enough, that they are neces- 
 sary to fit us for the better and the fuller discharge 
 of our duty to our people, according to the apostle's 
 declaration, 'Whether we be afflicted, it is for your 
 consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the 
 enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.' 
 I am, Dear Sir, yours very truly, 
 
 "Tno. M'Crie." 
 
 Very soon after his introduction to Dr. Thomson, 
 he began to contribute occasionally, though by no 
 means regularly, to the pages of the Christian In- 
 structor. His first article in this miscellany seems to 
 have been a Review, in July 1812, of "Mihie on 
 Presbytery and Episcopacy;" wherein he brings his 
 historical knowledge to bear rather hard upon the 
 Episcopal "Minister of St. Andrew's Chapel, Banff." 
 In August 1813, he again takes the field against 
 Episcopacy, in a Review of Simeon's "Discourses on 
 the Excellency of the Liturgy." And it appears he 
 was the "Friend," who, in April 1815, wrote some 
 severe strictures on the Review of "Mant'sBampton 
 Lectures," which appeared in some preceding num- 
 bers of the Instructor. These were answered in a 
 following number by the reviewer, Dr. Burns of 
 Paisley, who, in communicating this fact to the 
 writer, adds, with the amiable frankness of his cha- 
 racter, "This was the only time when I had the 
 temerity to break a lance with the author of the Life 
 of Knox. I believe your father was in the right. I 
 have learned moi'c of the Manis than I then knew." 
 The following letter refers to a "Review of the 
 Christian Observer on the Standards of the Church 
 of Scotland," in the same periodical for June 181G 
 from the pen of the Rev. Dr. Somcrville of Drumel- 
 
192 LIFE OP DR. JM'CRIE. 
 
 zier — in which tlie creed and discipline of the Scot- 
 tish Church are vindicated, in a very superior style, 
 from the charge of having fostered skepticism in 
 Scotland, in consequence of their being "too syste- 
 matic, too exclusive, severe and dogmatical." The 
 letter is evidently written in the first fervour of ad- 
 miration, excited by the healthy spirit of genuine 
 liberality and Presbyterianism, breathing in this as in 
 all the productions of that excellent divine. 
 
 To the Rev. Andrew Thomson.— Jm/«/ 28, 1816. 
 
 "My dear Sir, — Beasti vie! The first part of the 
 Critique on the Observer I read with pleasure, but 
 the second part has delighted me beyond expression. 
 I am ashamed of having put my hand to it by pre- 
 tending to help it, and by crudely suggesting addi- 
 tions which are brought forward in better manner 
 and fitter place. But you know the old proverb, 
 'Fools and children should never see half-done work.' 
 The only excuse I have is, that you led me into 
 the snare. Tell Somerville, that though he is no 
 Doctor (and I hope never will be one, except in 
 the pages of the Observer,) he has more knowledge of 
 
 divinity than any doctor I know, our friend 
 
 not excepted, — and that you know is saying a great 
 deal. Tell him, that if all the General Assembly 
 were like-minded with him, I would willingly become 
 their door-keeper; and that if I could be assured that 
 there were fifty as true stanch thorough out-and-in 
 Calvinists and Presbyterians in the Jiuld Kirk, as I 
 think him to be, I would not be much afraid to enter 
 its walls to-morrow, convinced that we would soon 
 be able to rout the whole phalanx of the mode- 
 rates and religious mongrels. Ay, and we should not 
 be long in having a Solemn League and Covenant, and 
 we would enter England at the head of 20,000 good, 
 hearty, invincible (not soldiers armed with guns and 
 swords, like General Leslie's, but) Christian Instruc- 
 tors, and we would easily put to flight the whole 
 host of Christian Observers^ Britisii Critics, and 
 
REVIEW OF TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 193 
 
 Antl-Jacobin Reviewers, Tell him — but if you tell 
 him any more, not knowing me so well as you do, 
 and judging of me from my characteristic soberness, 
 he will think that I have become cracked, — an evil, 
 which as I do not happen to be one of the theological 
 
 geniuses of the age, like or , I expect to 
 
 escape. In all this I assure you that 1 only express 
 what I feel, and you may judge from this of the cause 
 which has lifted my feelings so much above their 
 sober level. 
 
 "I have not seen you since Dr. Chalmers' Assem- 
 bly oration. I was dazzled and delighted with it, but 
 not so much charmed as with the paper you have sent 
 me to-night. — Yours ever, Tho. M'Crie." 
 
 The next pnrt of this correspondence is interesting, 
 from the allusions made to the Review of the Tales 
 of my Landlord, a task which, it appears. Dr. M'Crie 
 undertook at the solicitation of his friend. Dr. Thom- 
 son. 
 
 To the Rev. Dr. M'Crie.— £>£C. 4, 1816. 
 
 "My dear Sir, — I hope you are not forgetting 
 your promise to review Jedidiah Cleishbotham. My 
 opinion now is, that the author is the author of Guy 
 Mannering, and that he is Walter Scott. I will tell 
 you the ground of my opinion when we meet. Black- 
 wood is not close enough for us cunning dogs. At 
 the same time, don't let your zeal for the Cove- 
 nanters, and your eagerness to be revenged on their 
 vile calumniators, make you neglect the Bishop 
 and Archdeacon of Calcutta.* They must have 
 a niche in our January number. And pray do them 
 justice. 
 
 " The Christian Observer is come. There is a 
 paper in it signed "A Scotchwoman," — in which the 
 good lady attributes her conversion to the English 
 
 * Dr. Thomson here refers to Bishop JNTiddleton's Charge, and 
 Archdeacon I,oring's Sermon on Coiitirniation^ both of which 
 were reviewed in the Instructor, August ltil7j — the latter by Dc. 
 M'Crie. 
 
 17 
 
194 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 Liturgy in England, calls our form of worship dull 
 and uninteresting, and at the same time complains 
 that in this country the Episcopalians are very un- 
 sound and very unedifying. The paper appears to 
 me to be got up for the occasion. As this is a sort 
 of unfair indirect way of carrying on the war, I have 
 a great mind to write a conversion or two for the 
 Instructor; and give all the credit to our own stand- 
 ards. Why should not an Englishwoman be con- 
 verted by a Scotch Presbyterian — even by a man 
 clothed in " bottomless breeks?" By the way. Dr. 
 
 agrees with us in thinking that Walter has not 
 
 done justice to the Covenanters, But don't quote 
 his authority in your review. I am, my dear sir, 
 yours most sincerely, Andrew Thomson." 
 
 To the Rev. Andrew Thomson.— Z)cc. 11, 1816. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — You are prodigiously moderate 
 in your expectations when you look for two reviews 
 from me in one month. You imagine, 1 suppose, 
 that my brain is as large and as fertile as your own, 
 a mistake which you might have avoided williout the 
 assistance of Dr. Spurzheim. Of the Indian Arch- 
 dean and his Presbyterian rival 1 have not thought, 
 since the day after that on which you sent me their 
 productions. I feel no inclination, nay, I actually feel 
 a strong disinclination and repugnance to take up 
 the subject, and could do it no justice at present, far 
 less, what you expect, great justice. After a slice of 
 the fattest and nicest bit of the flesh of Cleishbotham, 
 Claverhouse, Dalziel and other savage wild animals, 
 I have, I confess, a greater longing to be at them, 
 and could instantly fall on without waiting for your 
 formal concurrence and directions. But the vexa- 
 tious circumstance is, that they are live stock and must 
 be killed before they are eaten, and this will be tough, 
 not to say dangerous work. Figure apart, are you 
 really in earnest about reviewing Tales of my Land- 
 lord? Is there not an awkwardness in your en- 
 gaging in such a work? Do you mean it to be execu- 
 
REVIEW OF TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 195 
 
 ted in a serious strain, or in^ merry mood, or in a 
 manner made up of both. (It is always understood 
 tliat you and your underling are capable of both.) 
 How will the Black Dwarf look in the Christian In- 
 structor? or do you mean to make a scape-goat of 
 him, in the way of sending him off with a single 
 stroke or two? Can you tell me any thing about 
 The Scotsman? — Yours, Tho. M'Crie." 
 
 To the Rev. Dr. M'Crie.— 5, Young Street, Dec. 11, 1816. 
 
 "My dear Sir, — To answer all your questions 
 particularly I shall not attempt: but it may perhaps 
 satisfy you if I say once for all — review the Tales 
 and take 3'our own mode of doing it. Begin imme- 
 diately and go on with all the rapidity of one who 
 has the pen of a ready writer. Spare not the vile 
 Tory of an author. Praise his Scotch, which is ex- 
 ceeding good, but reprobate his principles with all 
 your might. At the same time I cannot well let 
 you off anent the Bishop and Archdeacon of Calcut- 
 ta. The January number must contain our Indian 
 Recreations, and you will not grudge a forenoon's 
 skelping of the Eastern dignitaries. But however 
 that may be, go on with Cleishbotham. 1 long to 
 see the Covenanters rescued from his paws. 1 shall 
 send you your Scots Worthies. I have not the 
 Cloud (of Witnesses,) but I dare say Blackwood has 
 by this time got back his copy from the author of 
 the Tales, and I shall desire him to transmit it to 
 you without delay. You may do with the Black 
 Dwarf what you have a mind. He is an ugly, nasty, 
 hatefu' body. I know nothing about the Scotsman, 
 and every body to whom I speak seems to be as ig- 
 norant as myself. I should certainly like to see an 
 able, consistent, well-principled Whig paper in Edin- 
 burgh. But alas! this is not the soil for such good 
 plants. — 1 am, my dear sir, yours most sincerely, 
 
 "Andrew Thomson." 
 
 The first part of the Review of the Tales appeared 
 
196 LIFE OF DR. INI^CRIE. 
 
 in the Christian Instructor for January 1S17 and it 
 was continued in the two succeeding numbers for 
 February and March. The author, in spite of all his 
 precautions, was speedily identified by the public. 
 The review (which, by the way, was written while 
 he was suffering under severe ilhiess) afforded him 
 an opportunity of vindicating the characters of our 
 persecuted ancestors from the slanderous misrepre- 
 sentations of high church and Jacobitical writers.* 
 And seldom has any production of the kind created 
 such a sensation. Many who had read the Tale of 
 Old Mortality, merely as an amusing piece of fiction, 
 were led to regard it in the more serious light of a 
 libel, professing to be founded on historical truth, but 
 in reality exhibiting a ridiculous caricature of the 
 pious and patriotic Covenanters. So important were 
 the charges substantiated against the novel, so unfa- 
 vourable the impression produced against it, that the 
 author of the Tales found it necessar)' to vindicate 
 himself in a review of his own production which ap- 
 peared in the Quarterly Review for April 1817. 
 That this reviewal, so far at least as his own vindica- 
 tion was concerned, was the production of Sir Wal- 
 ter Scott, has been acknowledged by his biographer, 
 "The late excellent biographer of John Knox, Dr. 
 Thomas M'Crie, had," says Mr. Lockhart, " con- 
 sidered the representation of the Covenanters in the 
 story of Old Mortality as so unfair as to demand at 
 his hands a very serious rebuke. The doctor forth- 
 with published in a magazine called the Edinburgh 
 Christian Instructor, a set of papers, in which the 
 historical foundations of that tale were attacked with 
 indignant warmth; and though Scott, when he first 
 heard of these invectives, expressed his resolution 
 never even to read tliem, he found the impression 
 
 *"The truth is, that we would not have deemed the Tales 
 worthy of the notice which we have bestowed on them, had we 
 not been convinced that the ordinary sources of public information 
 are deeply polluted." — Rcvicio of Talcs, Christian Instructor^ vol. 
 xiv., p. 17G. 
 
REVIEW OF TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 197 
 
 they were producing so strong that he soon changed 
 his purpose, and finally devoted a very large part of 
 his article for the Quarterly Review to an elaborate 
 defence of his own picture of the Covenanters."* 
 
 The substance of Sir Walter's defence may be seen 
 from the following correspondence, given by his 
 biographer: — "What my kind correspondent had 
 anticipated on account of Jed idiah's effusions has ac- 
 tually taken place; and the author of a very good life 
 of Knox has, I understand, made a most energetic 
 attack, upon the score that the old Covenanters are 
 not treated with decorum. I have not read it, and 
 certainly never shall. I really think there is nothing 
 in the book, that is not very fair and legitimate 
 subject of raillery; and I own I have my suspicions 
 of that very susceptible devotion which so readily 
 takes offence: such men should not read books of 
 amusement; but do they suppose, because they are 
 virtuous, and choose to be thought outrageously so, 
 " there shall be no cakes and ale?" — "Ay, by our 
 lady, and ginger shall be hot in the mouth too."f As 
 for the consequences to the author, they can only 
 affect his fortune or his temper — the former, such as 
 it is, has been long fixed beyond shot of these sort of 
 fowlers; and for my temper, I considered always that 
 by subjecting myself to the irritability which much 
 greater authors have felt on occasions of literary dis- 
 pute, I should be laying in a plentiful stock of un- 
 happiness for the rest of my life. I therefore make 
 it a rule never to read the attacks made upon me."j; 
 This, however, would not do; Sir Walter found, 
 
 * Lockhart's Life of Sir W. Scott, vol. iv., p. 34. 
 
 t This dramatic witticism is repeated in the Review, and seems 
 to liave been as great a favourite with Sir Walter, as it was with 
 Lord Byron, who has prefixed it as a motto to one of his worst 
 pieces. We do not know if Scott would have considered it a 
 proof of " outrageous virtue " to condemn the impurities of" Don 
 Juan;" but he was quite mistaiien if he supposed that his anta- 
 gonist could not relish innocent mirth , either in common converse 
 or in the pages of fiction. 
 
 ? Lockhart's Life, vol. iv., pp. 44, 45. 
 17* 
 
198 LIFE OP DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 when he read the review, that his reviewer aimed at 
 higher objects then either "his fortune or his tem- 
 per;" and it required all his ingenuity to parry what 
 Mr. Lockhart is pleased to call "invectives," but 
 what a great part of the public felt to be a mild and 
 dignified, though indignant exposure of the historical 
 blunders and misrepresentations of the novelist. Of 
 the defence set up in the Quarterly, it may suffice to 
 observe, that it consists for the most part of excerpts 
 referring to the most questionable sayings and doings 
 of the Covenanters, very easy to adduce, but totally 
 insufficient to rebut the grand charge brought against 
 the author of the Tales — that of having studiously 
 concealed the excellencies of these worthy men, under 
 fictitious characters which have nothing to redeem 
 them from abhorrence or contempt, while he as care- 
 fully disguises the crimes and cruelties of their 
 persecutors, the most atrocious of whom he holds 
 up to the admiration of his readers. The disclo- 
 sure which has been lately made of the private 
 sentiments of Sir Walter Scott, in the Life to 
 which we have referred, renders it quite super- 
 fluous now to show how far his early and deeply 
 rooted prejudices against the Presbyterians must 
 have assisted in giving shape and colouring to his 
 picture of them. The author who could, in his con- 
 fidential moments, and in the coolness of epistolary 
 writing, betray such a melancholy state of feeling 
 as to express his admiration of the " noble savage" 
 Claverhouse, and talk of" the beastly Covenanters,"* 
 
 * " As for my good friend Dundee, I cannot admit his culpa- 
 bility in the extent you allege; and it is scandalous of the Sun- 
 day bard to join in your condemnation, "and yet come of a 
 noble Graeme!'' I admit he was a la at soil peu savage, but he was 
 a nobl€ savage; and the beastly Covenanters against whom he 
 acted, hardly had any claim to be called men, unless what was 
 founded on their walking upon their hind feet. You can hardly 
 conceive the perfidy, cruelt}^ an<J stupidity of these people, ac- 
 cording to the accounts they have themselves preserved. But I 
 had many cavalier prejudices instilled into me, as my ancestor 
 was a Killiecraiikie man.'' — Scott to Southey, 15th December 
 1«07. Life of Sir W. Scott, vol. iL , p. 134. 
 
REVIEW OP TALES OF MY LANDLORD. 199 
 
 was not likely to do either of them great justice in a 
 work of fiction. It has been said, bat on no good 
 ground, that Sir Walter Scott complained of having 
 been personally ill treated by Dr. M'Crie in his re- 
 view of the Tales. Nothing of this kind appears in 
 his private correspondence; nor can we see any foun- 
 dation for it in the review. If the complaint referred 
 to those passages in which Scott is evidently pointed 
 at as the author of the Tales, the answer is ready, 
 that nothing is charged against him but what is found- 
 ed on his avowed writings, and that the veil of con- 
 cealment which he then wore, if it was too thin to 
 defraud him of the honour universally paid to him as 
 " the Great Unknown," could not be expected to 
 skreen him from the voice of censure. The reviewer 
 himself used to mention, to the credit of Sir Waiter, 
 that he met him after " the attack " with as much 
 frankness and cordiality as before. On the otlier 
 hand, there is as little ground for the insinuation 
 thrown out by the anonymous writer referred to in 
 a former page, that Dr. M'Crie felt as if he had been 
 personally aggrieved by Sir Walter's attacks on the 
 Covenanters; though he certainly felt indignant at 
 the injustice done to their memory.* 
 
 Southey was not the only one of Scott's friends who was star- 
 tled by his extravagant notions regarding Claverhouse and the 
 Covenanters. In these, he seems to have shot ahead of all his 
 correspondents, Toryish as they were. If his sentiments meet 
 with more extensive sympathy now, it is because his works have 
 created a taste which did not formerly exist — or, if it did, was 
 only to be found among the "Jacobite relics" of the nortli of 
 Scotland, to whom the ancient feelings of hostility to the Cove- 
 nant descended with all the pertinacity of a Highland feud. 
 
 * " I may just mention," says this writer, " that he (Dr. M'Crie) 
 could never forget the attack made by Sir Walter Scott, in some 
 of his novels, on his friends the Covenanters. This he seemed 
 to feel almost as acutely as if it had been a personal insult, and 
 no wonder, for he had identified himself completely with all their 
 '■sayings and doings." Hence he never would adsnit that Scott 
 was one of our great novelists, and I remember him maintaining 
 stoutly one day at dinner, (after, I may remark, he had given us 
 a grace quite in the style of a Covenanter,^ that Fielding was 
 far superior to him. Nothing we could retort could shake him 
 in this opinion, and he continued maintaining his point with 
 
200 LIFE or DR. m'crie. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable, that while thus en- 
 gaged in vindicating the memory of the persecuted 
 Covenanters, our author discovered and rescued from 
 destruction a work written by one of the most eminent 
 of their persecutors — a manuscript history by Sir 
 George Mackenzie. About May 1817, a large mass of 
 papers was brouglit to the shop of a grocer in Edin- 
 burgh, and purchased by him for the humblest pur- 
 poses of his trade. From these his curiosity induced 
 him to select a manuscript volume, which appeared 
 to him to be something of an historical nature, and 
 by an equal piece of good fortune he communicated 
 the volume to Dr. M'Crie, who soon discovered that 
 it was tlie composition of Sir George, and that in 
 truth it must be a portion of that history of his own 
 times which had been so long a desideratum in Scot- 
 tish literature. Of this the intrinsic evidence was 
 obvious and complete; and the manuscript, though 
 written by one of the ordinary transcribers of that 
 age, was decisively identified by numerous corrections 
 and additions in the well-known hand of Sir George 
 Mackenzie himself. A short notice of the discovery 
 of the manuscript, and a feiv interesting specimens of 
 its contents, were communicated by our author at the 
 time to the editor of one of the literary journals,* to 
 whom he says: — "I literally found the manuscript 
 which I mean to describe to you, 
 
 most determined firmness. Indeed, it might be said that Sir 
 Walter and he were prejudiced on opposite sides of the question, 
 the former on the side of Episcopacy, and the latter on the part 
 of Presbytery. Scott was powerful only in ridicule when he at- 
 tacked the Covenanters; and perhaps the loeakest things ever 
 written by M'Crie, were his critical effusions (published in 
 this Magazine) on the Tales of my Landlord." {Christian In- 
 structor for October 1835, p. G73.) Few good Presbyterians will 
 agree in the censure here pronounced on the review in the In- 
 structor. As to the preference Dr. M'Crie is said to have expressed 
 for Fielding over Scott, I do not believe he would ever have 
 seriously contested the point; or if he did, it was only as to the 
 quality of the wit displayed by the two novelists. He held, I am 
 aware, that Scott " had a turn for humour which indulged itself 
 in the ridiculous, because it could not rise to delicate or dig- 
 nified wit." 
 
 * Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. iii., June 1817. 
 
SIR GEORGE MACKENZIE'S HISTORY. 201 
 
 ■in vico vendentem thus et adores; 
 
 and unfortunately it had suffered to a considerable 
 extent before I rescued it from the hands of the mer- 
 chant, who had purchased it as waste paper. It is a 
 quarto volume, bound in vellum, and written in a 
 fair hand about the beginning of the ISth century. 
 Nearly 300 pages of it remain. I cannot say that 
 this manuscript contains much information which 
 can properly be called new. It does however state 
 facts which I have not found elsewhere; and it cer- 
 tainly throws light upon the transactions which it 
 relates. A history of that period by a person of such 
 intelligence and opportunities of information as Sir 
 George Mackenzie, must deserve to be preserved and 
 consulted." The original volume he transferred into 
 the hands of Thomas Thomson, Esq., under whose 
 superintendence it was printed in 1S21. "It must be 
 regretted," says that learned antiquary, in his pre- 
 face to the work, "that the other literary pursuits 
 in which Dr. M'Crie has been so usefully engaged, 
 should have prevented him from undertaking the 
 publication of the manuscript he had so fortunately 
 rescued from destruction, and which his minute and 
 accurate knowledge of the histor})- of the period to 
 which it relates would have enabled him so fully to 
 illustrate." 
 
 Shortly after this, our author was rather unplea- 
 santly brought before the public, by an anonymous 
 writer, who took offence at his supposed connexion 
 with Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.* The Oc- 
 tober number of this periodical contained a very ex- 
 ceptionable Jeua;-c?'espn7, under the well-known desig- 
 nation of the "Chaldee manuscript," in which most of 
 the literary characters of Edinburgh were introduced 
 
 * This supposition may have arisen from the circumstance of 
 the September number having contained a paper of his, being an 
 " Account of a manuscript of Bishop Lesley's History of Scot- 
 land, in the possession of the Earl of Levcn and Melville." This 
 paper was sent while the Magazine was under the conduct of 
 ilia amiable and lamented friend, Mr. Thomas Pringle. 
 
202 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 in an enigmatical style bearing too close a resem- 
 blance to the phraseology of Scripture. Among the 
 rest, Dr. M'Crie figured, as a supporter of the maga- 
 zine, in the character of a gritfin.* Indignant at 
 what appeared so unseemly a conjunction, some indi- 
 vidual under the name of Calvinus, published "Two 
 Letters to the Rev. Dr. Thomas M'Crie and the Rev. 
 Mr. Andrew Thomson, on the Parody of Scripture, 
 lately published in Blackwood's Edinburgh Maga- 
 zine," in which he warmly remonstrates with both of 
 these gentlemen on the inconsistency of their having 
 any thing to do with such a ])eriodical or with its 
 publisher. This was followed by "Another Letter," 
 and soon after b}?^ "Two more Letters" to the same 
 persons, in which they are severely lectured on the 
 silence with which they had treated these remon- 
 strances. But indeed they do not seem to have con- 
 sidered themselves called on to answer the summons 
 of an anonymous writer, who, by publishing his letters, 
 showed that his principal object was gained by the 
 opportunity which they afforded him of expressing 
 his sentiments regarding the obnoxious periodical. 
 The only allusion to the subject which I can find in 
 Dr. M'Crie's correspondence, is the following in a 
 hasty note to Dr. Thomson: — "Well: and how do 
 you relish the letter of your good friend and great 
 admirer Calvinus? Glad you have got off so scratch- 
 free? Gratified with his equivocal and conditional 
 praise, and determined to merit and secure it by never 
 entering again the virgin-door of Blackwood, and by 
 immediately withdrawing from him your Discourses, 
 and your Instructor, as well as your Essay on Educa- 
 tion, with all the embryo and de fitturo productions of 
 your brain? Pleased with the statement that you 
 maintain the inexpediency of foolish talking and jest- 
 
 *■ " And the Griffin came with a roll of the names of those 
 whose blood had been shed, between his teeth; and I saw him 
 standing over the body of one tiiat had been buried long in the 
 grave, defending it from all men; and behold, there were none 
 which durst come near him." 
 
DEATH or THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 203 
 
 ing? And absolutely delighted at being assured that 
 'religion, like a well-made coat, sits so easy upon 
 you?' — O/nnino.^' 
 
 A more serious affair engaged his attention before 
 this year had closed. Many will remember the deep 
 sensation produced on the public mind by the death 
 of the Princess Charlotte. Calculating on this, the 
 Court papers announced that on the day of the fune- 
 ral, Wednesday, November 19, 1817, the churches 
 through the whole country were to be opened for 
 the performance of divine service; and the magis- 
 trates of Edinburgh, with the concurrence of some of 
 the clergy, issued a proclamation to this effect on the 
 preceding Monday. With very few exceptions, this 
 order was obeyed by all the Established and Dissent- 
 ing Churches in the city. St. George's, however, was 
 shut, Dr. Thomson having positively refused to per- 
 form divine service on the funeral day. A keen 
 discussion ensued, in the course of whicli Dr. Thom- 
 son's character was very roughly handled, and his 
 motives grossly misrepresented. "Paragraphs ap- 
 peared in the newspapers denouncing the 'outrage' 
 which had been committed, and loudly demanding 
 satisfaction. Public vengeance was invoked on the 
 head of the offending individual, as if Heaven had 
 pointed him out as the victim to appease the indig- 
 nation which had gone forth against the land." After 
 several pamphlets had appeared on both sides, our 
 author came forward in defence of his friend, in a 
 piece entitled "Free Thoughts on the late religious 
 celebration of the funeral of her Royal Highness, the 
 Princess Charlotte of Wales; and on the discussion 
 to which it has given rise in Edinburgh. By Scoto 
 Britannus." In this publication, he embraces the 
 opportunity of showing that the burial-service of the 
 Church of England, — of which the Edinburgh so- 
 lemnity is described as having been "a clumsy imita- 
 tion," — was repugnant both to the letter and spirit 
 of our ecclesiastical constitution. He reprobates the 
 
204 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 manner in which it had been got up, and the attempt 
 made to prescribe to the Scottish Church in matters 
 of divine worship; and points out the danger of 
 adopting, even partially, such Episcopalian usages, 
 which, introduced irregularly and during a period of 
 public excitement, might become a precedent for 
 justifying farther innovations. These reasonings 
 were considered so conclusive in vindication of Dr. 
 Thomson, that the voice of censure was hushed, and 
 nothing more was heard on the subject. 
 
 I must not avoid mentioning, that in addition to 
 his other labours, during the years 1817 and 1818, he 
 consented, though with great reluctance, to perform 
 the duties of theological professor to the small body 
 with which he was connected. He would, on no ac- 
 count, however, agree to continue longer in that office, 
 and could not be prevailed on to resume its labours 
 till 1834, when he agreed to assist the late Professor 
 Paxton. In conducting the studies of the theological 
 class, he devoted himself chiefly to examination, — a 
 method of tuition from which the students found the 
 highest benefit. His theological lectures were very 
 few, and chiefly related to biblical criticism. 
 
 In November 1819, appeared the Life of Andrew 
 Melville, which, says the author, in the preface, "may 
 be viewed as a continuation of the account of eccle- 
 siastical transactions in Scotland, which I some years 
 ago laid before the public in the Life of John Knox." 
 And to this I may add the closing sentence of the 
 work: — "I conclude with a single remark, contain- 
 ing the chief reason which induced me to undertake 
 this work, and to devote so much time and labour to 
 its execution. If the love of pure religion, rational 
 liberty, and polite letters, forms the basis of national 
 virtue and happiness, I know no individual, after her 
 Reformer, from whom Scotland has received greater 
 benefits, and to whom she owes a deeper debt of 
 gratitude and respect, than Andrew Melville." In 
 this high estimate of Melville's character and worth, 
 few perhaps besides Presbyterians can be expected. 
 
THE LIFE OF MELVILLE. 205 
 
 fully to coincide.* In fact, by selecting such a sub- 
 ject, he forfeited the sympathy of a very numerous 
 class of readers who were delighted with his former 
 w^ork; and had he followed out his original plan of a 
 descending series of biographies, such is still the state 
 of parties among us that, in proportion as he de- 
 scended the scale of history, I have no doubt the 
 number of his admirers would have gradually lessened 
 and dropt off, till, in all probability, there would have 
 remained as few to congratulate him on his final effort, 
 as there were to encourage him in his first attempt. 
 
 Andrew Melville was the champion of Presbytery; 
 and a considerable part of tbe work is devoted, as 
 might be expected in such hands, to the defence and 
 elucidation of the principles of Presbyterians. To 
 the subject of church government. Dr. M'Crie, as he 
 himself once said, "had turned his attention during 
 the greater part of his life." His reading on the sub- 
 ject was very extensive, and the result of his re- 
 searches was a full persuasion of the divine right, 
 or Scriptural appointment of that form of policy 
 which has been generally adopted by the Churches 
 of the Reformation. Sensible of the difficulties of 
 the subject, he avoided all dogmatizing, and spoke of 
 it with extreme caution. So delicate indeed were 
 his feelings in this matter, that instead of directly ex- 
 pressing his own sentiments respecting Episcopacy, 
 he has preferred allowing Melville to speak for him, 
 by giving the substance of his speech before the As- 
 
 * "The inferior clergy," says a late writer, " usurped tlie au- 
 thority wliich was inconsistent witli the proper object of their 
 bishops, and even dared to depose bishops, and to censure the 
 Episcopal office, under the influence of <7, misguided man, named 
 Me/i-illc." — {Palmers Treatise on the Church of Christ, vol. i., p. 
 574 ) " It is chiefly for this salutary exertion of his influence (ob- 
 serves Dr. Irving) that the memory of " a misguided man, named 
 Melville," continues to be venerated by a large proportion of his 
 countrymen, who regard the abolition of prelacy as the second 
 great reformation of the national church. The lucubrations of 
 tiie Oxford apostolicals have no tendency to recommend diocesan 
 Episcopacy, under any form or modiflcation, to any Tresbyterian 
 of common sense.'' — Lives of Scottish If'ritcrs, vol. i., p. Iti4. 
 IS 
 
206 LIFK OF DR. M'CKIE. 
 
 sembly 1575. "'He was satisfied,' he said, 'that pre- 
 lacy had no foundation in the Scriptures, and that, 
 viewed as a human expedient, its tendency was ex- 
 tremely doubtful, if not necessarily hurtful to the 
 interests of religion. The words bishop and presby- 
 ter are interchangeably used in the jNew Testament, 
 and the most popular arguments for the divine origin 
 of Episcopacy are founded on ignorance of the original 
 language of Scripture. It was the opinion of Jerom 
 and other Christian fiithers, that all ministers of the 
 Gospel were at first equal; and that the superiority 
 of bishops originated in custom, and not in divine ap- 
 pointment. A certain degree of pre-eminence was 
 at an early period, given to one of the college of Pres- 
 byters over the rest, with the view or under the 
 pretext of preserving unity; but this device had of- 
 tener bred dissension, while it fostered a spirit of 
 ambition and avarice among the clergy. From ec- 
 clesiastical history it is evident, that, for a considerable 
 time after this change took place, bishops were paro- 
 chial and not diocesan. The same principles which 
 justify, and the same measures which led to the ex- 
 tension of the bishop's power over all the pastors of 
 a diocess, will justify and lead to the establishment 
 of an archbishop, metropolitan, or patriarch over a 
 province or kingdom, and of a universal bishop, or 
 pope, over the whole Christian world. He had wit- 
 nessed the good effects of Presbj-terian parity at Ge- 
 neva and in France. The maintenanceof thehierarchy 
 in England, he could not but consider as one cause of 
 the rarity of preaching, the poverty of the lower or- 
 ders of the clerg)'^, pluralities, want of discipline, and 
 other abuses which had produced dissensions and 
 heart-burnings in that flourishing kingdom. And 
 he was convinced that the best and only effectual way 
 of redressing the grievances which at present afflicted 
 the Church of Scotland, and of preventing their 
 return, was to strike at the root of the evil, by abolish- 
 ing prelacy, and restoring that parity of rank and au- 
 
THE LIFE OF MELVILLE. 207 
 
 thority which existed at the beginning among all the 
 pastors of the Church.' "* 
 
 I have quoted this paragraph at length, because it 
 contains, within small compass, not only the heads of 
 the argument against Episcopacy (in which presbyte- 
 rians are joined by all other parties) but the biogra- 
 pher's own judgment on this much litigated question. 
 As to the dogma of "the uninterrupted succession of 
 the hierarchy," he could never speak of it without a 
 smilejf regarding it as one of those "childish things" 
 which are put away by the wisest, and only indulged 
 in by the weakest advocates of the system. If, in- 
 deed, he felt any difficulties connected with the sub- 
 ject of church government, they referred to the pro- 
 per adjustment of the authority of the rulers of the 
 Church and the due liberty of the Christian people — 
 a point in the determination of which, as we shall see, 
 he considered that much delicacy and caution were 
 required. 
 
 The liife of Melville is so strictly biographical, that 
 it may be likened to a gallery of portraits, varying 
 in size according to the importance assigned to the 
 characters introduced. Of the elder Melville, we have 
 a full-length figure, presented in all the attitudes of 
 his hardy and high-principled patriotism. In portray- 
 ing these, the biographer is evidently at home — whe- 
 ther we see the energetic Reformer, unclasping the 
 Hebrew Bible which was suspended at his girdle, and 
 throwing it on the council table, with a challenge 
 to his judges to show that he had exceeded his in- 
 structions — or the dauntless Principal, barring the 
 door on Mr. John Caldcleugh, who had threatened 
 him with personal violence, and exclaiming, "Ho! is 
 this you that will hough men!" — or the bold patriot, 
 advancing to the table, in answer to Arran's chal- 
 lenge, "Who dare subscribe these treasonable ar- 
 ticles?" with "We dare!" — or the stern Presby- 
 terian, taking King James by the sleeve and calling 
 
 ** Life of Melville, vol. i., p. 3, (2d Ed.) 
 \ Ibid. vol. i., p. 104. Note S. 
 
208 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 him "God's silly vassal," and shaking the "Romish 
 rags" of Archbishop Bancroft.* Of James Melville 
 we are presented with a half-length portrait, the soft- 
 ness and simplicity of his features contrasting very 
 strikingly with the more strongly marked but not 
 less amiable character of the uncle. While of the 
 subordinate personages in the history, we have a set 
 of miniatures, among which that of the "English So- 
 lomon" must be allowed to be a striking likeness, 
 now that the contemptible character of James is be- 
 ginning to be better understood. 
 
 We are aware that some serious readers have been 
 disappointed on finding that the piety of Melville 
 does not occupy more space, and have felt tliat if this 
 part of his character had got more prominence, the 
 book would have been more useful. We are not 
 quite sure how far this feeling is correct. To other 
 ininds, equally devout, such an objection would not 
 occur. Piety manifests itself in a variety of ways: 
 in Melville we see a man entirely devoted to the de- 
 fence and advancement of true religion, as well as to 
 the diffusion of learning and liberty over his country; 
 and in these undoubted results of piety of hearl, vve 
 see religion expressing itself in as powerful and salu- 
 tary forms as if, without such evidence, we liad learnt 
 his character from the language of a devout diary. 
 "As to the tendency of the work to convey instruc- 
 tion," says one of its reviewers, " we have no hesita- 
 tion in saying, that if the time should ever come when 
 the great mass of Christian teachers should arrive at 
 that power of religious principle, that zeal and energy 
 and unwearied activity in the best of causes, and any 
 approach to that learning which Melville possessed, 
 we should see a new era in the Churcb of Christ, and 
 a brighter one than has ever been witnessed in this 
 country. "t 
 
 The Life of Melville, as was to be expected, has 
 
 * Life of Melville, vol. i., 181, 169, 183, 391; vol. ii., p. 159. 
 (2d Ed.) 
 
 t Ctiristian Repository for December 1820, p. 757. 
 
REVIEWS OF THE LIFE OF MELVILLE. 209 
 
 not proved such a general favourite with the public 
 as that of Knox; — we miss the stirring incidents, the 
 alto relievo figures that strike and charm in the latter 
 work; many of its details can only interest the man 
 of learning; and above all, the struggles in which 
 Melville was involved are apt to be regarded as less 
 noble, because less vital, than those of the first Re- 
 former. The character of Knox is elevated by the 
 scenes in which he moved — that of Melville is sus- 
 tained solel}^ by its own merits; and our admiration 
 of the hero is lessened by the meanness of his oppo- 
 nents. Had James been a greater prince, Melville 
 might have appeared a greater man. The author 
 liimself had no high hopes of its popularity. "I have 
 no expectation," he says to one of his friends shortly 
 after its publication, " but that the tone which is taken 
 in speaking of Presbytery, &c., will give very general 
 and great offence in the present moderate and luke- 
 warm age, and the mixture of literary with church 
 history will not be to the taste of those who would 
 be disposed in other respects to be pleased." And 
 yet I have reason to think that, in his own judgment, 
 lie silently preferred the Life of Melville to that of 
 Knox. In the character of Melville he found that 
 union of literature and religion, the importance of 
 which, to render the one safe and the other suc- 
 cessful, was a favourite topic with him; and the dis- 
 solution of which, or what he called "the seculariza- 
 tion of literature," he always regarded as one of the 
 most ominous symptoms of our times.* Besides the 
 work had cost him immense labour — he used to say 
 "a hundred times more labour than Knox, though 
 what had taken him days and nights to discover, 
 would not be apparent to the reader;"f and the field 
 
 * Sermons by Dr. M'Crie, p. 333. 
 
 t To the truth of this, the present writer, having been employed 
 n.s a subordinate caterer for materials in drawing up the history 
 of Melville, can add his humble testimony. Every source vvhicli 
 promised to throw light on the subject was explored — not a fact 
 or name was introduced without tracing it through every avenue 
 of information; in short, no toil nor expense was spared to 
 , IS* 
 
210 LIFE OF DR. ai'CRIE, 
 
 being In a great measure new and untrodden, the result 
 of his painful researches, when imbodied in a regular 
 form, might appear endowed with attractions some- 
 what similar to those which endear to the poet the 
 creations of his own fancy. 
 
 The Life of Melville was not noticed in either of 
 the great rival Reviews — the Edinburgh or the Quar- 
 terly. The reason, which was currently reported at 
 the time to have been assigned for this omission by 
 the accomplished editor of the Edinburgh Review, 
 was that it would require some years' reading to quali- 
 fy himself for reviewing such a work. In various 
 other periodicals, however, religious and literary, the 
 work was reviewed, more or less favourably accord- 
 ing to the political or ecclesiastical leanings of the 
 conductors. From the high-church Episcopalians of 
 the British Critic, the memory of Andrew Melville 
 could expect little better treatment than he received 
 in person from the Barlows and Bancrofts of the 17th 
 century. No attempt is made to controvert the his- 
 torical statements in the Life, but it is asserted that 
 they rest chiefly on the partial authority of James 
 Melville's diary, which not being then published, 
 " may, of course," observes this candid critic, "be 
 garbled and misquoted." The insinuation was su- 
 perfluous, for he declares his conviction that, after all 
 that the author has done to recommend his hero, "no 
 one, who thought ill of ' Mr. Andrew ' before, will 
 think better of him now." In practical illustration 
 of this remark, the British Critic proceeds, in the 
 coolest manner, to repeat the slanders against Mel- 
 ville which his biographer had shown to be totally 
 without foundation. Nor does the biographer him- 
 self escape without his due share of vituperation. 
 "In his own way," says the reviewer, ''Dr. M'Crie 
 
 authenticate the minutest statements. He may be said to have 
 literally complied with the poet's advice, by taking nine years to 
 complete the work; and some idea may be formed of his assiduity 
 in its execution, when I mention, what he has been heard to 
 declare, that, while thus employed, he had not had a newspaper 
 i-a his hand for twelve months. 
 
THE BRITISH CRITIC. 211 
 
 is another Old Mortality.* With pen and ink, in- 
 stead of chisel and mallet, he continues to repair the 
 sepulchres of the prophets, whom his fathers slew; 
 and in a mood nearly as gloomy and morose as that 
 in which the ancient rustic traced the decayed let- 
 ters on the moss-grown slab, does this sedulous author 
 revive all the fairer recollections connected with the 
 history of the bold rebellious fanatics who figured most 
 prominently in the early days of the Scottish Refor- 
 mation." " The author appears throughout as a bit- 
 ter and determined partisan." He is a writer "who 
 revives in his work all the bigotry of the most igno- 
 rant times, and who labours to represent in his own 
 person the full amount of that enmity and fanatical 
 moroseness towards Episcopal government, which 
 could only be excused in a puritanical leader of the 
 16th century." <' He personates in his style, the 
 exact manner and gait of the fiery zealots whom he 
 so vehemently admires; and admires, be it observed, 
 not merely for their virtues, but for the most offen- 
 sive parts of their character. The consequence of 
 this is, that an almost dramatic effect is often given 
 1o that part of his subject in which the malignity, 
 coarseness, fanaticism, and insolence of the covenant- 
 ing faction, are brought upon the stage; and were our 
 author equally able to enter into the character of their 
 opponents, he would be better qualified to write the 
 history of the age which he has selected, than almost 
 any writer we are acquainted with. But we are sorry to 
 say, that Dr. M'Crie's sympathy is about as narrow as 
 his bigotry; and he seems as little able to conceive what 
 beauty is to be found in any merely gentlemanly feel- 
 
 * Tiie fancy as well as the judgment of reviewers is very 
 much under the guidance of their prejudices. Another periodical 
 finds in our author a resemblance to no less a personage than 
 Wellington ! " There is a heroism as high in its objects, as daring' 
 in its enterprise, and assuredly less mischievous in its aberrations, 
 in thus fearlessly facing, in combating and conquering whole 
 ranks of huge and formidable tomes, as in fighting among the 
 I'yrennees, or at Waterloo, with whole regiments of French 
 rascals. Among laborious authors, Dr. M'Crie is a Wellington!" 
 — Christian Kepositorij, Dec. 1820, p. 75G. 
 
210 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 ing or human acquirement, as wc are to conceive 
 wherein the merit of rebellion and sacrilege consists. 
 In conclusion, we have onl}^ to regret, that Dr. M'Crie 
 did not live two hundred years ago; he would then, 
 perhaps, have afforded the same sort of materials for 
 the historian as he must now be contented merely to 
 feast upon in imagination."* 
 
 I have quoted at greater length from this attack 
 than it deserves, from its being a curiosity in its 
 way; for it is the only instance, so far as I know, 
 during the whole course of his literary career, in 
 which Dr. M'Crie's personal character was openly 
 assailed. f Some readers may feel at a loss to ac- 
 
 * The British Critic for February 1820. 
 
 t We mustexccptanother attack, still more disingenuous, made 
 in the same periodical, after the publication of the Review of the 
 Tales of my Landlord, and to which Dr. Thomson penned tlie 
 following indignant reply in the Instructor: — " Of the Critic's 
 personality and unfairness to Dr. M'Crie, the following may be 
 given as a melancholy proof: ' We have a latent suspicion of 
 the cause of the Doctor's enmity against the British Critic; he 
 owes us a grudge for our review of his Life of John Knox. The 
 story has reached London, that he suppressed some part of the 
 ■evidence in the City Records of Edinburgh, submitted to his 
 inspection, by which the moral character of Knox is affected. 
 The man is certainly able; but he as certainly wants temper,' 
 ■&C., &,c. As to the review of the Life of Knox, we believe," says 
 Dr. Thomson, " the author never expected any thing from the 
 British Critic but ignorant assertion and contemptible abuse; and 
 surely he has not been disappointed. ' The story that has reached 
 London ' is quite worthy of the pen tliat has attempted to give it 
 circulation, or rather, we are inclined to suspect, that has actually 
 invented it for the occasion. But without copying his Billings- 
 gate phraseology, we must be allowed to say that it is not con- 
 sistent with the possession of common honesty to bring forward 
 such a groundless and wicked report, (if it reallj^je a report,) in 
 order to discredit Dr. M'Crie as an historian. It is very much 
 like the way in which Claverhouse would have settled the con- 
 , troversy. Any sort of evidence, or no evidence at all, will do to 
 -condemn a Scottish Presbyterian. The Critic allows him ability; 
 but how ungracious is the manner of this act of condescension 
 on the part of his high mightiness! * The man is certainly able.' 
 The old story, we suppose, has been dwelling on the Critic's 
 jnind. Charles IL, that wise and immaculate head of the Epis- 
 copalian Church, was of opinion that Presbyterianism is not a 
 religion for a gentleman. Indeed, it is not a religion for such 
 gentlemen as cither Charles H. or the British Critic. But can- 
 not the criti-c l>c consistent with himself even for one minute? 
 
PERIODICAL CRITICISMS ON MELVILLE. 213 
 
 count for this torrent of invective, the rude violence 
 of wiiich appears as Httle justified by the work under 
 review, as it is at variance with that liberality and 
 " gentlemanly feeling" of which the Critic would 
 claim a more than ordinary share to himself and his 
 ])arty. Few can have perused the Life of Melville 
 Avithout being struck with the temperate tone in 
 which the author asserts the principles of Presbyte- 
 rianism — principles to which every son of the Scot- 
 tish Church stands solemnly pledged. It is rather 
 too much to expect that a Presb3'terian should enter- 
 tain that respect for the Episcopal order, which con- 
 stitutes the very line of distinction between the two 
 rival forms of policy. But if Dr. M'Crie expresses 
 himself strongly against Episcopacy, it is only when 
 it puts forth claims which would go to unchurch 
 every other denomination of Christians. If he vin- 
 dicates resistance to regal power, it is only in those 
 cases where submission would have been servility, 
 and where the monarch, by stepping beyond the limits 
 of his office as fixed by law, forfeited the respect 
 which was due to his official character. And if, in 
 defending the freedoms used by Melville and his as- 
 sociates, he speaks more energetically than suits the 
 taste of our modern admirers of despotism, it was 
 from no sympathy with the asperity of temper they 
 occasionally displayed, which he does not commend, 
 but from indignation at the spirit evinced by their 
 revilers, who, making no allowance for the provoca- 
 tions they received, would involve, under the same 
 sweeping censure, the rudeness of Lhe men, and the 
 patriotism by which the}^ were animated. We are 
 
 Weak intellects are seldom consistent, and so it fares with him. 
 Of this ' man,' who is certainly able, he says in another place, 
 ' We take our leave of the Christian Instructor, (that is, Dr. 
 M'Crie,) with much less respect,' (just as if any body cared for 
 his respect!) ' for his temper than for his talents; not much indeed 
 for either;' and then, in the next sentence, he recurs to liis 
 former sentiments, and adds, ' The Life of Knox displays ability 
 and research.' This talker about talent and temper does not 
 seem to know his own mind." — Christian Instructor, July 1817, 
 p. 49. 
 
214 LIFE or DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 left to conclude, therefore, that this bilious eflTusion 
 of the Brilish Critic owed its origin to a distressing 
 consciousness, that in the Life of Melville the au- 
 thor had successfully dissipated that mass of slan- 
 derous misrepresentation, by the aid of which alone 
 the abettors of Scottish prelacy have been enabled 
 to throw a veil over the intrinsic littleness of its 
 character, the glaring atrocities of its career in our 
 land. 
 
 The Edinburgh Literary Magazine for February 
 1820, in a lengthy review of Melville, attempts a 
 middle course. " Willing to wound, and yet afraid 
 to strike," the reviewer keeps up a running fire of 
 admissions and retractions — "buts" and "yets," and 
 " neverthelesses " and " notwithstandings " — till it 
 is hard to say what he is aiming at, "We detest 
 despotism — but the right of resistance is still worse," 
 " It is very far from being our intention to combat 
 the Presbyterian constitution, — though we feel some 
 regret at the harshness with which the biographer 
 speaks of Episcopacy." "Melville was a man of 
 great ability, but," &!.c. "All this is very true, and 
 yet,^' &c. "This is all very well, but we must add," 
 &c. In short, the editorial We is so candid and 
 impartial, that he will not positively allege that 
 
 "Black is so black, nor white so very white." 
 
 A more decided and favourable tone was assumed 
 by the Edinburgh Monthly Review for the same 
 month. Without entering into the controversy be- 
 tween Presbytery and Prelacy," we cannot refrain," 
 they say, " from expressing our wonder at the exer- 
 tions of the author, and our gratitude for the fund 
 of instruction and entertainment which he has afford- 
 ed us." "It is impossible not to regret that so fine 
 a mind as that of Melville should have been fretted 
 and distracted by ecclesiastical disputes and civil 
 dissensions." "The freedom and fidelity with which 
 he reproved vice, exposed him to the resentment of 
 several leading individuals, who would have pre- 
 
INDEPENDENCE OF THE CHURCH. 215 
 
 ferred a clergyman of the meanest endowments and 
 most indolent nature to a conscientious and zealous 
 teacher, who thought it his duty not only to instruct 
 and exhort, hut to rebuke with all authority." " In 
 short, we know few works deserving of higher ap- 
 plause than the Life of Andrew Melville." 
 
 With equal favour the, work was reviewed in the 
 Edinburgh Magazine, — the Eclectic Review, Dec. 1 82 1 , 
 — the Investi gator, 3i London periodical, — Blackwood's 
 .Magazine, Sept. 1S2 1, (with some qualifications,) — 
 in four numbers of the Christian Repository, 1S20, — 
 and in two of the Christian Inslnlctor, 1S24. The 
 opinions of the critics were divided on the question, 
 whether the Life of Knox or that of Melville was 
 the more interesting. By many of them, the prefe- 
 rence was given to Melville. The author was al- 
 lowed on all hands to have supported the high name 
 which he had acquired as the historian of Knox; 
 and the two memoirs were flatteringly styled by 
 some, " The Iliad and Odyssey of the Scottish 
 Church."* 
 
 It is remarkable that while all these periodicals 
 applaud the Life of Melville as a literary work, and 
 some of them, particularly the last mentioned, coin- 
 cide with the general sentiments of the author, none 
 of them have chanced, or chosen, to express a decided 
 opinion in favour of the bold appearances made by 
 Melville and his friends for the independence of 
 the Church, in regard to ministerial liberty, and the 
 right which they claimed to have their doctrine, when 
 ciiarged with treason, tried, m the first instance, not 
 before the civil but ecclesiastical tribunals — a point 
 to which the author appears, from the pains he has 
 taken to defend it, to have attached no ordinary de- 
 gree of importance. Even the conductors of the 
 Christian Repository, a Secession publication, while 
 they censure our Reformers for accepting a civil es- 
 tablishment, or '^ mounting the beast," as they term 
 
 * Christian InsirucLor, vol. xxiii., [>. 773. 
 
216 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 it, and thereby forfeiting their independence, at the 
 same time condemn Melville for having adopted the 
 principle to which we refer, and administer a rebuke 
 to his biographer for having " improperly and unsuc- 
 cessfully, although very ingeniously attempted to 
 vindicate it." Must we conclude then that ministers 
 of every denomination, from those of the British 
 Critic to those represented by the Repository, agree 
 in holding that the civil magistrate is the primary and 
 proper judge of their preaching, whenever it m.ay 
 happen to be thought treasonable; and that, in no 
 case, even in a Christian country, where the Church 
 is legally recognised as possessing a separate juris- 
 diction, may she claim the right of being the first to 
 examine into charges affecting the conduct of her 
 functionaries in the execution of their ministry? Are 
 no gi'eater immunities due to those who occupy the 
 sacred office of" ambassadors for Christ," who speak 
 in Heaven's name, and are bound, under the most 
 solemn responsibilities, to declare the whole counsel 
 of God — than to the demagogue who panders to the 
 lowest passions of a mob assembled round the hust- 
 ings? " Is not this to chain them up like the 
 animal employed to keep sentry wlien the family are 
 asleep, which alarms passengers by its noise, licks 
 the hand that feeds it, and is let loose at its master's 
 pleasure? Who would undertake such a degrading 
 office, but hirelings, parasites, or dastardly, grovelling, 
 and slavish souls ?'^* Whatever may be thought of 
 the principle asserted, there can be but one opinion 
 as to the zeal for civil and religious liberty which 
 dictated its defence; and we may safely leave that 
 defence to take its place among other illustrations, 
 afforded us in the present times, of the instructive 
 fact, that those who are the most enlightened defend- 
 ers of civil establishments of religion, are also the 
 most zealous assertors of the true indcjiendence of 
 
 *Life of Melville, vol. i., p. 212. Tliese two sentences were 
 added in the second edition, and, of course, after perusing tiie 
 criticisms referred to. 
 
INDEPENDENCE OF THE CHURCH. 217 
 
 the Churcli; while those who cry most loudly for a 
 total separation between Church and State, would, 
 in such a case, deliver up the Church to lie, like a 
 criminal in manacles, crouching and crawling at the 
 feet of the civil power. 
 
 The objections of Dr. Irving deserve a little farther 
 attention. " I am not disposed," he sa3's, " to think 
 with Dr. M'Crie, that Melville urged a good and 
 solid plea when he averred that, in the first instance, 
 he was only amenable to the jurisdiction of the ec- 
 clesiastical court. He was charged with having ut- 
 tered seditious and treasonable words in the pulpit, 
 and for such conduct he was certainly liable to eccle- 
 siastical censure; but was the civil judij:atory to sus- 
 pend its right of investigating so grave a charge as 
 this, and to pause till the ecclesiastical judicatory had 
 duly deliberated whether any, and what censure, was 
 to be pronounced? Sins, however glaring, if the law 
 does not rank them among crimes, may safely be 
 left to the discipline of the Church; but if the 
 ecclesiastical tribunal had been found competent to 
 interpose in cases of sedition and treason, what 
 should have prevented it from interposing in cases 
 of robbery and murder? It does not, therefore, ap- 
 pear to have been unreasonable and unjust in Dr. 
 Robertson to identify the plea advanced by Melville, 
 with the claim which the Popish clergy made to ex- 
 emption from the civil jurisdiction."* In reply to 
 this I would briefly say, that the wliole spii-it of the 
 plea was different from that of the Romish clergy, 
 its intention being not to withdraw the persons of the 
 ministers from the jurisdiction of law, but to protect 
 religious exercises from the coercion of despotism; 
 that the reason why the church claimed a right of 
 previous interposition in cases of sedition and trea- 
 son was, that such crimes have too often been identi- 
 fied with the faitliful preaching of the Gospel; and 
 that it does not follow from such a claim, that the 
 
 "Lives of Scotiiiih Wi-iter:-, vol. i., p. I'JQ. 
 19 
 
218 LIFE OP DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 church had a right to interpose in the case of other 
 crimes which have no supposable connexion with the 
 proper exercise of the ministerial office.* 
 
 The second edition of the Life of Melville was 
 published December 29, 1823. The author informs 
 us in the preface, that in preparino; this edition he 
 had " corrected such inaccuracies in the language and 
 in the statement of facts as occurred to him. But 
 the chief alteration which has been made is on the 
 arrangement. The accounts of the state of litera- 
 ture in Scotland, which were formerly interspersed 
 through the work, are now collected and placed in 
 two chapters at the close, with the exception of those 
 facts which could not well be separated from the 
 narrative of Melville's studies and academical em- 
 ployments. This, it is hoped," he adds, " will be 
 found an improvement, by enabling the reader to 
 peruse the Life without interruption." Great pains 
 indeed had been taken in the preparation of this edi- 
 tion j the work may be said to have been re-written, 
 so extensive are the alterations, and (with some ex- 
 ceptions) the improvements made on the style and 
 arrangement; but it does not appear that the author 
 found reason to retract any statement of importance, 
 or to qualify any of his opinions. Upon the style 
 of the Life of Melville, it would not become rne to 
 pass a judgment; but 1 may be permitted to insert 
 here the opinion of one who will be allowed to have 
 been an excellent judge on this point, — the late ce- 
 lebrated Robert Mall of Bristol — which has been 
 kindly communicated lo me by one who heard him 
 express it. " Mr. Hall thought very highly of the 
 two great works, the Lives of Knox and Melville, on 
 which the fame of Dr. M'Crie chiefly rests. Speak- 
 ing of other historians, he gave it as his opinion, 
 
 * Let the reader consult Life of Melville, vol. i., p. 20G — 216, 
 2d ed.; p. 2'J5 — 304, 1st ed., where Dr. Robertson's charge will 
 be found answered. Some judicious observations on this point 
 occur in an article on Dr. Irving's Lives of Scottish Writers, in 
 the Presbyterian Review, April 1839, p. 707. 
 
THE UNION OF SECEDERS, 1820. 219 
 
 that Hume, in his writings generally, but especially 
 in his History of England, had carried English style 
 to the highest pitch of perfection. Of Robertson he 
 thought less. " Indeed," he said, "I prefer M'Crie 
 to Robertson; there is more vigour in it, and it is 
 more the style of a man of genius."' 
 
 The year 1820 furnished him with a new topic of 
 interest in the union which was then ejBfected between 
 the two larger bodies of Burgliers and Antiburghers, 
 under the name of the United Associate Synod. 
 The distance to which a body of Christians may 
 have silently shifted from their original ground, 
 during a long series of years, is never rendered so 
 perceptible as when they are induced to remodel the 
 terms of their ecclesiastical fellowsliip; as the de- 
 fects of an old building only become apparent when 
 an attempt is made to enlarge or alter its structure. 
 The result of the application of this test to the two 
 large sections of the Secession in 1820, was the dis- 
 covery, then made more palpable than ever, that sen- 
 timents had been gradually leavening them both, 
 which placed them in direct opposition to the re- 
 formed and covenanted Church of Scotland. In the 
 basis of union adopted by the united body, the sub- 
 ordinate standards of that Church were no longer 
 recognised, as they had been by the first Seceders, 
 as parts of "the covenanted uniformity;" the Confes- 
 sion of Faith and Catechisms were received under 
 limitations, which attached to them, in vague terms, 
 the stigma of teaching intolerance and persecution; 
 a general declaration, informing the world that they 
 were Presbyterians, was substituted in place of the 
 Directory for Public Worship and the Form of Pres- 
 byterial Church Government, which were discarded; 
 the decided assertion of the binding obligation of 
 our solemn covenants on posterity, so long distinctive 
 of Seceders, was exchanged for a compliment to "our 
 reforming ancestors," and the ambiguous acknow- 
 ledgment "that we are under high obligations to main- 
 tain and prosecute the work of reformation begun, 
 
220 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 and to a great extent carried on by them;" and as 
 tlie cementing principle of the union, the doctrine of 
 "forbearance" was laid down in such a way as to 
 admit of almost indefinite extension to every point 
 on which the uniting parties might be supposed or 
 expected to disagree.* 
 
 Against a union formed on such principles, a con- 
 siderable number of ministers, connected with the 
 Antiburgher Synod, protested; and the Protesters, 
 as they were called, constituted themselves into a 
 Synod. This excellent body of men, who were fol- 
 lowed by many in their congregations, and in whose 
 number were included the late Professor Paxton, au- 
 thor of the well-known "Illustrations of Scripture;" 
 Dr. Stevenson of Ayr, author of standard treatises 
 on the Atonement, and on the Offices of Christ; Mr. 
 James Gray and other excellent ministers, soon dis- 
 covered that, in the constitution of the United Synod, 
 there was, besides other defections, an entire break- 
 ing up of all the distinguishing features of the Se- 
 cession; and that, instead of aiming at the reforma- 
 tion of, or contemplating reunion with, the national 
 church, principles were adopted which would neces- 
 sarily lead to the proclamation of interminable war 
 with all establishments. j" Sentiments so similar to 
 
 * Basis of Union, agreed upon by the Associate and General 
 Associate Synods, April 28, 1820. j1 Ket/ necessary for under- 
 standino- the Basis of Union of the United Secession Church. 
 Edinburgh, 1821. 
 
 t " We especially regret," says one of the Protesters, "that 
 the article contains nothing satisfying with respect to the original 
 object and inspiring design of the Secession, the reformation of 
 the Established Church. The first Seceders, for a considerable 
 period, retained the cheering hope of an honourable return to 
 their mother's house. The expectation infused a truly liberal 
 spirit into their administration, and imparted a character of 
 genuine good-will, even to their pleadings and contendings. 
 Tliey abetted no divisive scheme, in opposition to the true 
 interests of the Church, and proved tliemselves the steady, con- 
 sistent friends of Scriptural unity and peace. At an early stage 
 of their procedure, we find the four brethren at the bar of the 
 Assembl}'-, with proposals of accommodation in their hands. 'If,' 
 say tliey, ' the aljove things were done, we might have the pros- 
 
THE PROTESTERS. 221 
 
 those for which Dr. M'Crie and his brethren had 
 contended at a former stage of their appearance, 
 could not fail to produce a mutual understanding be- 
 tween them and the Protesters; and this led to a 
 correspondence, which soon issued in a happy and 
 harmonious union. 
 
 Though extremely averse to controversy, and 
 scrupulous, even to shyness, in intermeddling with 
 questions which did not immediately lie in his wa}', 
 the ominous conjunction of 1820 proved too deep- 
 ly interesting to our author to admit of his remain- 
 ing a silent spectator. He willingly entered into a 
 correspondence with his former brethren the Pro- 
 testers; and the following extracts will illustrate 
 the sentiments he had formed on the points in dis- 
 pute: — 
 
 It is unnecessary for me to expose the plea that 
 " in the Union Church nothing is given up, and in it 
 every vow may be performed." That this is a false 
 and deceitful " watch-word," (whatever may be the 
 views of some who use it,) may be discovered by a 
 simple comparison of the Union basis and formula 
 with the formula and vow once in authority among 
 us. — " What has been given up ?" it is asked. Every 
 thing that has been in dispute between the two so- 
 cieties for seventy years. The unlawfulness of swear- 
 ing oaths which are contradictory, and of tolerating 
 practices which are acknowledged to be sinful — the 
 seasonableness of covenanting — the defects of the 
 Revolution settlement, &c. Besides these,other things 
 
 pect of a pleasant and desirable unity and harmony witii our 
 i)rethrcn.' And down to the year 1747, if any man wished to 
 know on what terms Seceders were wilHng to return to the 
 Established Churcii, he had only to consult their public papers. 
 Aow, we are left without any tiling precise, except a vindication 
 of the commencement and continuance of Secession. It miglit 
 seem harsli to say that we espouse a foreign interest, and pro- 
 claim interminable war. But surely our kindred with our mother 
 Church is not acknowledored as of old, and nothing in the Basis 
 pledges the consent of Seceders with respect to the original and 
 most desirable object of their asssociation." — Basis calmly Con- 
 sidered, by the Rev, James Gray, p. 14. 
 
 19* 
 
222 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 which formed no object of dispute, but were recog- 
 nised by both sides — such as tlie perpetual obliga- 
 tion of our covenants — have been given up: not to 
 mention what is taken for granted and recognised, 
 yea what may be considered the corner-stone of the 
 basis, the propriety of laying aside and dropping all 
 things in which the parties differ, or making them 
 points of judicial forbearance, which may be extended 
 and acted upon with indefinite latitude, and which 
 falls in so completely with the loose notions which at 
 present pervade the religious world, and are the very 
 snai'e by which Seceders are in danger of being 
 caught, and of being stripped of every thing charac- 
 teristic either of their spirit or of their profession. 
 
 "'But you may retain in the Union all your prin- 
 ciples on these subjects as before.' It is not my 
 principles that are in question, but the principles or 
 ratlier the profession of //te body; and in this respect 
 every thing is given up. If the question were merely 
 about my principles, I would enjoy them at more 
 complete freedom, out of societj', and by stand- 
 ing as an isolated and independent individual. A 
 faithful performance of such vows as were made in 
 ihe Secession, would be fatal to the peace of a society 
 founded on the latitudinarian principles, — it would 
 soon become intolerable by their law of toleration; 
 and experience would show, that the language which 
 they hold is akin to that which has been derided in 
 the abettors of persecution, when they say, We 
 trouble none for his conscience or principles, pro- 
 vided he keeps them to himself, and does not disturb 
 others with them." 
 
 " Your three friends called on me after the Synod. 
 I had a long conversation with them, in the course of 
 which they ultroneousl}^ expressed it as their common 
 desire that they should join with the members of our 
 Presbytery in making a stand for the Reformation 
 interest, and urged me, with no little importunity, to 
 publish something wiiich might confirm their state- 
 nicnts, and by throwing light on the original object 
 
CORRESPONDENCE ON THE UNION OF 1S20. 223 
 
 of the Secession, might pave the way for the real 
 friends of it uniting. On their pledging their word 
 that they were at a point, and did not mean to tam- 
 per farther with the popular Union, I gave them 
 something like a promise; and in prosecution of it, I 
 had hegun to draw up something in tlie form of an 
 appendix to a sermon on the healing of divisions in 
 the Church, 13ut the proposal you mention, would 
 in itself prevent me from doing any thing of the kind. 
 If they are desirous of hanging on till next meeting 
 of the Union Synod, and then making a proposition 
 to it, no seer is required to predict that they will go 
 the same way as your brethren on 5'our right and 
 left hand. Slrange infatuation! After having dis- 
 covered tlje snare by which they are in danger of 
 being caught — after escaping from it with difficulty — 
 after seeing their fellows fall into it one after ano- 
 ther — to hover around it, to draw again towards it, 
 to fly about the hand of the fowler and tempt him to 
 spread his net in a more captivating way ! Ephraim, 
 ' silly dove ' as he was, justified his wisdom more than 
 such persons. My dear Sir, it requires all the faith I 
 can muster, propped by all my recollections of what 
 has formerly occurred, to prevent me from hastily 
 saying, ^ All men are liars.' Blessed be God, who 
 brought about a glorious deliverance in our land, 
 when there were men (of his own providing, no doubt, 
 but still men) of another spirit; for verily if the 
 men of this generation had then been alive, we had 
 been sitting in Antichristian darkness, or writhing 
 under the lash of prelatical taskmasters! I have told 
 you all my heart." 
 
 The same correspondent having put some hypothe- 
 tical questions for the satisfaction of his own mind, 
 drew forth the following reply : — "Oct. 19, 1820. — 
 There is one sentence in your letter which I do not 
 well understand. After expressing an approbation 
 of what I have published on the subject of the public 
 interests of religion, higher than I expected or am 
 entitled to, you add, ' yet I fear we difler consider- 
 
224 LIFi: OP DR. M'CUIE. 
 
 ably in our estimate of the worth of latitudinarian 
 religion, and the motives of its patrons, whether they 
 are called Scceders or not.' If you are more chari- 
 table than I am in judging of motives, 1 desire to re- 
 joice in your attainments, and hope to learn from 
 you. All I can say is, that I believe there are many 
 who profess strict principles from very unworthy mo- 
 tives, and many who profess lax principles from the 
 best of motives. Nor am I conscious to myself of a 
 prevailing disposition to erect myself into a judge of 
 any man's motives, or summarily to pronounce on 
 those of a whole class or part3\ If by ' latitudinarian 
 religion ' you mean the religious dispositions or the 
 piety of latitudinarians, I can only repeat the same 
 answer — its wortii is just like the worth of religion 
 in any other class of men, according to its reality and 
 degree. But if you mean the system of latitudinari- 
 anism, then I must say decidedly that I reckon it 
 worse than icorthless — abjured by Seceders — utterly 
 irreconcilable with their principles — destructive of 
 any thing like a testimony or contendings for truth 
 and reformation — and, if pursued all the length to 
 which its principles lead, eversive of all religion, or 
 of any distinction between that which is true and 
 that which is false. I look upon it as the great 
 plague of the church in the present day, and what to 
 all appearance will become, more than it has yet been, 
 the temptation by which we are to be tried. But it 
 is impossible that this can be your meaning." 
 
 " I need not insist," he says in another letter, 
 April 11, 1S21, "on the important circumstance of 
 the views of the majority in the Synod being sup- 
 ported by the prevailing tone of public sentiment, 
 and the undeniable fact that sentiments far more 
 liberal and remote from former principles, are enter- 
 tained by most at least on the Burgher side of the 
 Union — and that there is every reason to look for a 
 gradual development of these, instead of a return to 
 the original ground. I see therefore no prospect of 
 any efficient stand being made for the public cause 
 
COUUE.SPONDENCE ON THE UNION OF 1S20. 225 
 
 unless by a firm and compact, though perhaps small, 
 body of those who are cordially attached to that cause 
 being collected and combined. To this all the real 
 friends of the covenanted cause should bend their 
 endeavours. If this is not done, all seems to be over 
 in our day. When all is examined, it will be found 
 that the question simply comes to this — Latiludina- 
 rianism, as hitherto condemned by Seceders, or the 
 Covenanted Reformation, as hitherto avouched by 
 them — whether is the former or the latter of God?" 
 "November 6, 1820. — I need not suggest to your 
 mind the practical improvement to be itiade of these 
 distressing and stumbling occurrences. that we may 
 be kept from taking offence, as well as giving offence, 
 and that we had undeistanding to see that all the 
 ways of the Lord are right, and to walk in them ! 
 Are we not taught, with a strong hand, to cease from 
 man, and not to trust in princes — the princes of God's 
 people? Amidst all the instability and tergiversa- 
 tion of men and ministers, the hand of God should 
 not be overlooked. It is He that has righteously 
 , divided us in Jacob and scattered us in Israel. When 
 *Manasseh is against Ephraim, and Ephraim ngainst 
 Manasseh, and they together against Judah,' it is an 
 evidence that his anger is not turned away. Often 
 have we confessed, and professed to mourn over the 
 sin and apostacy of the land ; but, alas! we have not 
 been affected with our own sins, and the fuel we 
 have ministered to the provocation. 'When ye 
 fasted in the fifth and seventh month, even these 
 seventy years,'' (mark the period,'*) < did ye at all fast 
 unto me, even unto me?' During a period of long 
 peace and rest, the Secession body, like other socie- 
 ties, had settled on her lees, and had begun to say, in 
 practical denial of her solemn profession, 'the Lord 
 will not do good, neither will he do evil.' That we 
 
 * The reference liere seems to be to the year 1750, when the 
 breacli between tlie Burghers and Antiburgliers was consununated 
 by the latter having pronounced on tlie former the sentence of" 
 excommunication. From that time to 1820, when lie was 
 writing, the period was exactly seventy years. 
 
228 LIFE OF Dn. m'crie. 
 
 may be defecated, it is necessary that we should be 
 emptied from vessel to vessel. 
 
 "All Christians, and ministers especially, ought to 
 lay their account with conflicts in which their hard- 
 ness as good soldiers of Christ shall be put to the 
 trial. I recollect an anecdote told of himself by 
 our late venerable Professor, Mr. Bruce. After Mr. 
 Walker of Denny-Loanhead had admitted him to 
 communion, he said to him in his homely way, 'Bill}', 
 you have done a thing to-day that may cost you going 
 to the scaffold yet.' We have not been called to re- 
 sist unto blood as some of our fathers were in the 
 same cause, but our vow binds us as far as this. I 
 hear Mr. is saying, as an excuse for his con- 
 duct, that he is wearied of contentions. But we 
 must not be weary of any part of well-doing, which 
 * contending earnestly for the faith' is; nor must we 
 think of laying aside our armour here. It would 
 be well if the present broils made us long for the 
 union and peace of heaven, as David did to escape 
 from Mesech." * 
 
 No man could be more really solicitous for union 
 among Christian brethren, or could do more in his 
 sphere for accomplishing it than Dr. M'Crie. During 
 the course of negotiations for a union between the 
 Synod of Original Burghers and the Constitutional 
 Presbytery, which commenced at a very early period, 
 and were renewed in 1820, — he showed his zeal in 
 this good work to such a degree, as to excite suspi- 
 cions in some of his brethren that he was willing to 
 sacrifice for peace the interests of truth. His opinion, 
 however, exactly coincided with that so well ex- 
 pressed l)y Robert Hall: "Peace should be anxiously 
 sought, but always in suboi'dination to purity; antl 
 therefore every attempt to reconcile the differences 
 among Christians which involves the sacrifice of 
 truth, or the deliberate deviation from the revealed 
 
 *To the Rev. James Gray. 
 
HIS SOLICITUDE FOK UXIOX. 237 
 
 will of Christ, is spurious in ils origin and dangerous 
 in its tendency."* 
 
 "1 augur little good," he writes, in 1820, to the 
 Rev. Mr. Taylor of Perth, then Professor of Divinity 
 in the Synod of Original Burghers, "from the move- 
 ments to a union hetween the two large bodies of 
 Seceders. If the union take place (and there is rea- 
 son to think that it will,) it must be on latitudinarian 
 principles. I may be mistaken (and I shall be happy 
 to be found in an error) but I cannot help fearing 
 that with all the professions of liberality, and freedom 
 from prejudice and party spirit, niade by the present 
 age, there is a great want of that spirit which leads to 
 a desirable and holy union, of that love to truth, that 
 candour, that openness to conviction, and desire of 
 information, that inclination to sacrifice every thing hut 
 truth and conscience to the promoting of the public 
 
 *The sentiment which we have quoted above, is remarkably 
 inconsistent with the views on free communion, which Mr. Hall 
 is well known to have entertained and acted upon. But the 
 ibllowing extract will show how he undertook to reconcile his 
 theory and his practice. " Suffice it to remark," he says, " that 
 our dissent from the Establishment is founded on the necessity 
 of departing from a communion, to which certain corruptions, in 
 our apprehension, inseparably adhere; while we welcome the 
 l)ious part of that community to that celebration of the Eucharist 
 which we deem unexceptionable. We recede from their com- 
 munion from necessity; but we feel no scruple in admitting them 
 to ours.'" — {Hall's Works, vol. ii., p. 435, comp. p. Jl.) It is 
 obvious, that were all Christians in other denominations to act 
 upon the same principle, and employ the same language, (which 
 they must be clearly entitled to do, on the supposition that they 
 are as conscientious as Mr. Hall,) there could be no such thing 
 as free communion. Mr. Hall would not compromise his prin- 
 ciples by joining in communion with a church to which certain 
 corruptions, in his apprehension, inseparably adhered; neither 
 would Dr. M'Crie compromise his principles by joining in com- 
 munion with Mr. Hall. The only difference was, that Mr. Hall 
 opened his door for the free admission of all, who thought more 
 lightly of their peculiarities than he did of his; and on the force 
 of this one-handed charity, (which was no doubt a very con- 
 venient mode for augmenting a communion roll,) he was gene- 
 rally accounted a most liberal person; and, as I ara informed, 
 expressed great surprise on reading the Sermons on Unity, " that 
 a man of Dr. M'Crie's high talents and theological attainments 
 should hold the illiberal views advocated in that publication 1" 
 
228 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 cause of" God, whlcli will appear when the Lord heals 
 the breaches of Zion, and makes her watchmen to 
 'see eye to eye.' At the same time, I readily allow 
 that the measures presently in agitation, are a call to 
 all the real friends of the Reformation cause, to try 
 if it is practicable to have any subsisting difTerences 
 among them removed or amicably arranged. No 
 man can be more convinced of this than I am. The 
 tide of public opinion has set in so strong against that 
 cause, that it will likely require their united strength 
 to resist it. If they remain much longer distinct and 
 separate, they will in all probability decrease and 
 dwindle away; or (which is more probable and more 
 to be dreaded) the cause will die away among thern. 
 No vigorous exertions will be made for preserving or 
 defending it, — no exertions proportionable to the 
 opposition that it will have to encounter; and our 
 members will gradually cool in their attachment to 
 it, and become impregnated with the spirit and senti- 
 ments that have spread all around them." 
 
 His "Two Discourses on the Unity of the Church, 
 her divisions, and their removal," were published 
 early in 1821. The text is Ezekiel xxxvii. 19: "They 
 shall be one in mine hand;" and the chief object is 
 to point out the fallacious and unscriptural character 
 of modern plans of union; particularly that adopted 
 by the United Secession. 
 
 "Among these methods of uniting the friends of 
 religion," says the author, "I know none more im- 
 posing, nor from which greater danger is to be appre- 
 hended in the present time, than that which proceeds 
 on the scheme of j)rinciples usually styled latitudi- 
 narian. It has obtained this name because it proclaims 
 an undue latitude in matters of religion, which per- 
 sons may take to themselves or give to others. Its 
 abettors make light of the differences which subsist 
 among religious parties, and propose to unite them 
 on the principles on which they are agreed, in the 
 way of burying the rest in silence, or stipulating 
 mutual forbearance with respect to every thing about 
 
DISCOURSES ON UNITY, 1821. 229 
 
 which they may differ in opinion or in practice."* 
 Of this spurious charity, there was a vast quantity 
 afloat in the earlier part of the present century; of 
 late, however, its hoUowness and insufficiency have 
 been made manifest, and God has written folly upon 
 it, by permitting those who were its most zealous 
 advocates to divide the Church upon a question, on 
 which it must be allowed good men may differ, and 
 the introduction of which has more thoroughly alien- 
 ated Christians from one another, and scattered the 
 firebrands of discord with more reckless profusion, 
 than any previous controversy — the question, namely, 
 as to the best mode of paying the ministers of the 
 Gospel. Still the Discourses are valuable as a record 
 of the author's views on the nature of the Christian 
 CImrch, and the means which are likely to prove 
 most effectual in removing her divisions. The Ap- 
 pendix to these Discourses consists of " A Short View 
 of the plan of Religious Reformation and Union adopt- 
 ed originally by the Secession," — a somewhat un- 
 alluring title to a treatise which will be found to 
 contain, in a very condensed form, the leading argu- 
 ments in behalf of establishments — a defence of the 
 Reformation, and of the Confession of Faith from the 
 charge of teaching persecuting principles — the nature 
 and obligation of our national Covenants — and the 
 application of the whole to the constitution of the 
 United Secession Church. This volume was not ex- 
 actly fitted for the end which his friends, who urged 
 him to the task, contemplated, namely, to give a 
 popular view of the original principles of the Seces- 
 sion. It is too profound — enters too closely into 
 questions which presuppose some knowledge of past 
 controversies — deals with scruples wlikh lie too far 
 below the surface — to gain the attention of ordinary 
 readers. But on these very accounts, which rendered 
 it less effective at the time, it may prove more valu- 
 able as a book af reference to those who are anxious 
 
 * Discouises on the Unity of the Church, p. 89. 
 20 
 
230 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 to study the subject, should it so happen, (as seems, 
 from the direction of present movements, a not un- 
 likely event,) that the great cause of the Covenanted 
 Reformation, now disowned by the great body of 
 Seceders, shall be resumed and reasserted by the 
 Church of Scotland. 
 
 He had no sooner published his work than he be^an 
 to fear that he had incurred the charge of presumption. 
 "Before engaging in the late small publication," he 
 writes to one of his fathers in the ministry, Feb. 19, 
 1821, "1 was not insensible to the delicacy of the 
 task, nor can I well tell how the repugnance felt to 
 the undertaking was o^'ercome. When the work was 
 comg; on, I had no time for reflection on conse- 
 quences. But no sooner was it published than I be- 
 gan to accuse myself of rashness and presumption, in 
 attempting such a work without the consent and ad- 
 vice of my brethren, and in a manner taking it out 
 of their hands. To this succeeded what was as tor- 
 menting, a full conviction that I had wronged and 
 injured the cause. Your letter, however, and the 
 trust I repose in your honesty and candour, have 
 served to remove my gloomy apprehensions, and I 
 begin now to think that I have done some justice and 
 no essential (at least) injury to the cause which I 
 wished to serve." 
 
 Then came another source of alarm — that of being 
 involved in controversy. " The Two Discourses," 
 he says to another friend, "I do not expect to be 
 popular. The literate would never think of looking 
 at them — the good folk of the auld kirk would throw 
 them away in disgust, and others, whom I need not 
 name, with indignation. There is a rumour that they 
 are to be answered. 1 hope the Lord will preserve 
 me from controversy. I have a great abhorrence of 
 it; and rather than be subjected to a reply and duply, 
 I would be willing that the Sheriff should confine me 
 for three months in the county jail, for writing against 
 the constitution in church and state." The work, 
 however, was never answered; and, so far as I know, 
 
MH. Thomson's sermons. 231 
 
 it was not noticed in any of the periodicals, except 
 the Scotlish Episcopal Review for June 1821, and the 
 Bntish Critic for November of the same year. In 
 these Reviews, the Discourses are treated with won- 
 derful favour; the reviewers found, of course, the di- 
 vine right of Presbytery taken for granted; and the 
 Brilish Critic, availing himself of ibis, applies the 
 general principles laid down to Episcopacy, quotes 
 from the volume with approbation, and concludes by 
 earnestly, if not seriously, recommending it to the 
 perusal of all the members and clergy of the English 
 Church! 
 
 The following letter, written to his friend. Dr. 
 Andrew Thomson, on the publication of his "Ser- 
 mons on Infidelity," will show the opinion which he 
 entertained of *that excellent work: — 
 
 "Gray Street, February 1, 1821. 
 
 "My dear Sir, — Many thanks for your bunchy 
 little volume. Blackwood would perhaps mention 
 to you the idea which its shape first suggested to my 
 imagination when he drew it from his desk. I have 
 just finished it, and you may guess from my having 
 accomplished the task so soon, that 1 felt some inte- 
 rest in the progress. Indeed I have done nothing 
 else (works of necessity and mercy always excepted) 
 since it came into my hands. Whatever other vices 
 may cleave to our intercourse, I do not think it has 
 been stained with much flattery. You will therefore 
 believe me, without protestations, when I say that I 
 have been highly gratified in the perusal of the Ser- 
 mons, and am sanguine in my hoi)es as to the good 
 which they will be the means of doing. The practi- 
 cal view which is taken of tlie subject throughout 
 discriminates them from any work of the same kind 
 with which I am acquainted. The topics selected 
 for discussion are all important, they are brought 
 forward in the best and most distinct order, and 
 illustrated, in my opinion, with equal force of reason- 
 ing and felicity of expression. Every where the 
 
232 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 impress of your mind appears, but it is sofleneil, vvitli- 
 out any impairing of energy or effect. Tliere is 
 enough of argument, and yet less of tiie air of argu- 
 mentation which you are accustomed to throw over 
 your discussions. To speak in the hmguage of re- 
 viewers — 'Where every thing is good, it is difficult 
 to make a selection,' — but I was best pleased with the 
 fourth, eighth, and ninth sermons. B}' this I do not 
 mean that they are either the ablest, or that they will 
 be the most useful. Every one has his favourites. 
 
 "Considering the approbation with which I under- 
 stand the sermons were delivered from the pulpit, 
 and which you will still be hearing, it might have 
 been more proper for me, (if it were no more than 
 for the sake of seasoning,) to have trj^d to act the 
 part of a critic in the ordinary sense of the word. A 
 few things occurred in the course of reading, which 
 would have been mentioned if you had been present. 
 Perhaps on a second perusal they may be yet forth- 
 coming, if you have any desire to learn what they 
 are. From what I have said you may gather that 
 they are of minor consideration. — Ever yours, 
 
 Tho. M'Crie." 
 
 His private opinions at this period, regarding the 
 state of matters, both in the Establishment and in the 
 Secession, appear to have been very gloomy. To one 
 of his old friends he thus writes: — "March 8th, 1821. 
 I have for a long time been inclined to your opinion, 
 that the tendency of the dispensations of Providence 
 was to 'the dissolution of all old establishments.' 
 Yet I have sometimes felt checked by reflecting that 
 Dr. Owen, a hundred and fifty years ago, considered 
 this event as approaching when he published his 
 sermons on <the shaking of the heavens and the earth.' 
 Providence is not the rule of our duty; and it is well 
 that this is the case. For how small a way do we 
 see into the mystery of its multiform and complicated 
 arrangements, and how often do we find ourselves 
 mistaken in our conjectures, and even in our most 
 
FOREBODINGS. 233 
 
 sober and deliberate conclusions respecting its tenden- 
 cies and the ends whicli it is pursuing! 'How long 
 shall it be to the end of these wonders? Go thy way, 
 Daniel,' &c. 'What is that to thee? follow thou me.' 
 J3ut if all existing establishments are about to fall, the 
 call to us is, I think, the louder, to 'hold fast our profes- 
 sion,' and 'look to the things which we have wrought.' 
 If such an event shall take place, the concussion will 
 not be slight, nor its effects trifling; — much that is 
 good will be overthrown and laid in ruins, along with 
 much that is evil, — great discoveries will be made, 
 and things which we looked not for, and would not 
 believe when they were formerly told us, will be dis- 
 closed. If sound and solid principles are not pre- 
 served, how shall the new building be reared, and of 
 what kind shall it be? I consider it as a sad token 
 for evil, that the Associate body, who once held forth 
 these, should have relinquished them, at the very 
 time when they had the loudest call to retain and ex- 
 liibit them; and that by their dereliction they have 
 done what cannot fail to shake and unsettle more and 
 more the mind of the generation. Those who have 
 attended to the rapid strides which Seceders have 
 made within these few years, and observed with what 
 ease they have thrown ofi' what appeared to be deeply 
 rooted in their minds and mingled with all their 
 associations, may be at no loss to form some idea of 
 the accelerated j^Togress which they will now make, 
 when released from all former ties, and connected 
 with associates who have long been actuated by a 
 different spirit, and guided by different maxims; — 
 and may also form some idea, though it is likely a 
 very defective one, of the change of sentiment and 
 renunciation of principle which will soon become 
 apparent in the religious world at large. — But I cease 
 to plague you with my forebodings, nor shall I so 
 much as attempt to abate the hopes which you have 
 formed from the exertions to do good in the present 
 day — and which are, I believe, more sanguine than I 
 can cherish." 
 
 20* 
 
234 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 In the midst of these melancholy reflections on the 
 state of public religion, he was visited by a severe 
 domestic calamity in the loss of his wife, who died 
 June 1, 1821. Always of a delicate constitution, 
 her nervous system became at last quite debilitated, 
 and for six years she was confined to her room, and 
 latterly almost to bed. She displayed throughout 
 this linsering affliction the strength of her religious 
 principles, and proved that the grace of God alone is 
 able to support and soothe the soul; nor did her na- 
 tural shrewdness of mind, and playfulness of temper, 
 forsake her; during the whole of her distress, every 
 thing connected widi household duties was directed 
 by herself with punctuality and managed with eco- 
 nomy. It was during this season of trial that tlie 
 amiable traits of her husband's character were most 
 strikingly developed. Many, I am aware, will blame 
 me for not dwelling at greater length on this part of 
 his character, which struck with admiration all who 
 had an opportunity of witnessing it. The gentleness, 
 the tenderness, the affectionate assiduity, which never 
 relaxed, and with which he would sutler no other en- 
 gagements to interfere, while he watched over the 
 fragile being who clung to him for support — may be 
 remembered, but cannot be described. The intense 
 anxiety with which he marked the progress of her 
 disorder appears in the whole of his correspondence; 
 and as it approached its fatal tei-mination, he endea- 
 vours, vainly, to summon resolution to meet the issue. 
 "My family distress has been great," he says. May 
 9, 1821, "and it was with difficulty I could bear up 
 during the sacramental work. Mrs. M'Crie is now, 
 however, somewhat relieved and recruited. Bolh 
 you and I, though on different grounds, have need to 
 obey the voice, Sursum corda!* We may at least 
 lift up our eyes, and He who made both can cause the 
 eye to affect the heart, and draw it after it." But 
 after the sad event, there remains not the slightest 
 
 * " Lift up your hearts." 
 
FAMILY BEREAVEMENTS. 235 
 
 notice or memorandum, under his own hand, from 
 which we can discover the state of his feelings. The 
 wound went deep, but it bled inwardly. His dejec- 
 tion was but too visible; but with the natural reserve 
 which made him conceal from his friends and family 
 those private sorrows which touched him most 
 keenly, there was evidently mingled that devout 
 acquiescence in the will of God which breathes in the 
 words he chose for his text after his bereavement: — 
 "I was dumb, and opened not my mouth; because 
 Thou didst it." 
 
 The want of any private record of his feelings 
 under these trying circumstances, might be supplied, 
 in some degree, from his correspondence with those 
 who had met with similar trials. The following 
 letter of condolence, written a few years after this, 
 to an aged friend labouring under the combined cala- 
 mities of blindness and bereavement, discovers the 
 source from whence he himself drew consolation; and 
 it is valuable, though it were only to show how ten- 
 derly he could enter into the feelings, and express 
 himself in language suited to the capacity, of the 
 most simple-minded Christian. 
 
 ''Dear Sir, — 1 sympathized with you deeply on 
 hearing of the loss of your valuable partner, and 
 would haVe written you at the time, but thought it 
 better to delay for awhile. I know from exjjerience, 
 that a person in your circumstances does not always 
 need comfort most at the time when the trial is fresh. 
 He is sometimes so stunned with the severity, or so 
 surprised with the suddenness or strangeness of it, 
 that he does not feel himself fit for listening to what 
 may be said to him. At such a time, too, there are 
 ordinarily a great number of persons prepared to con- 
 dole with him, and to suggest topics of consolation. 
 But though the sharpest trial is at the moment of be- 
 reavement, this is not always the heaviest. After 
 we get time to recover ourselves and to reflect, our 
 loss is felt to be greater than ever, and we find that 
 we have more need of comfort than we had at the 
 
236 LIFE OF DU M'cruE. 
 
 beginning. You may perhaps feel something of this 
 kind. To lose so afiectionate, sensible and godly a 
 companion as you were favoured with, and after living 
 so long together, is certainly no ordinary trial. And 
 you may perhaps reflect that, in your circumstances, 
 it has peculiar aggravations. But I doubt not that 
 you will also call to mind, that there are other cir- 
 cumstances that strongly plead for resignation and 
 praise. Is it not great matter of thanksgiving that 
 she was lent to you so long? If you were happy, 
 and so long happy, in the enjoyment of her company, 
 should you not reflect on this with joy, instead of 
 turning it (as our minds are too apt to do) into matter 
 of bitter regret? You are not left alone and without 
 earthly friends, whom you love and by whom you 
 are beloved. And though none of them can fill the 
 place of her who is gone, may you not turn this to 
 your advantage, by rising in your affections heaven- 
 ward, becoming more dead to the world, and con- 
 fiding more unreservedly in Him who hath said, 'I 
 will never leave thee nor forsake thee?' It ought to 
 give us joy (and it would do it were we not so selfish 
 even in our love) that those whom we loved best are 
 now better than they ever were with us, or could 
 have been if they had remained heie — that they are 
 free from pain and sorrow, and anxiety and sin- — that 
 they are just where they wished to be in their best 
 moments, and find it to be a far more blessed place 
 than their hearts had ever conceived it to be. The 
 best improvement we can make of their death is to 
 quicken our hearts to a cheerful and diligent prepara- 
 tion for following them. They have only gone a 
 little — a very little before us. Dear Sir, I have no 
 doubt you are comforting yourself and family with 
 these things. But, after all, our feelings will oftcfn 
 get the better of our faith. I know that when I come 
 
 to , I shall find a great blank. What then 
 
 must you feel? But God 'filleth all in all.' I am. 
 Dear Sir, yours affectionately, 
 
 "Tho. M'Crie." 
 
VISIT TO HOLLAND, 237 
 
 While yet smarting under his loss, he engaged in 
 drawing up a review of Orme's Life of Owen, which 
 appeared in the Christian Instructor for July, August, 
 and Septemher 1821. Part of the materials for this 
 valual)le and important article was furnished by Dr. 
 Brown of Langton, but the greater portion of it was 
 written by our author, the impress of whose style and 
 manner can hardly be mistaken; "and, indeed, says 
 Dr. Brown, in communicating this fact to the present 
 writer, "I consider his portion of it as the most 
 valuable historical vindication of Presbyterians from 
 the misrepresentations of Independents that is any 
 where to be met with." 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FROM THE PUBLICATION OF THE LIFE OF MELVILLE, 
 TO THE PUBLICATION OF HIS LAST HISTORI- 
 CAL WORK, THE HISTORY OF THE 
 REFORMATION IN SPAIN. 
 1821—1829. 
 
 Soon after the severe bereavement recorded in the 
 close of the foregoing chapter. Dr. M'Crie's health 
 began to be seriously affected by his intense studies. 
 He complained of shiverings, accompanied with gene- 
 ral debility and spitting of blood. In addition to his 
 other ailments, his eyesight suffered so considerably 
 from constant application to old faded manuscripts, 
 that total blindness was at one time apprehended, and 
 he was obliged to employ an amanuensis. It is not 
 surprising that these circumstances should have pro- 
 duced a depression of spirits unfitting him for active 
 exertion. "I am not naturally melancholy or en- 
 thusiastic," he confesses to a friend in January 1822, 
 "but I have been inclined for some time to think that 
 
23S LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 my public usefulness (if I have been in any good de- 
 gree useful) is nearly ovei\ 1 am not weary of life, 
 but I confess I see daily less and less reason to be 
 greatly attached to it. Perhaps if its termination 
 presented itself as nearer, I might discover a different 
 feeling." Still, however, he could sympathize with 
 those placed in happier circumstances; for,in the same 
 letter, congratulating his friend on some favourable 
 change in his lot, he says, "I need not tell you, my 
 dear Sir, that when our God does much, he expects 
 much; and that ingratitude was the great sin, and 
 prolific source of sin in his ancient people — in David 
 himself, in Solomon, and in Hezekiah. They re- 
 membered not what great things he had done for 
 them, and rendered not unto him according to his 
 benefits. Sanctified afflictions are the greatest of 
 mercies, unsanctified deliverances the greatest of 
 curses to an individual or a people." 
 
 In these circumstances he was prevailed upon to 
 take a short tour to the Continent. "I sail this 
 evening for London," he writes May 28, 1S22. 
 "Cannot say 1 have a great heart for the jaunt, which 
 I take more in compliance with the urgency of others, 
 than from my own opinion of its propriety." He 
 sailed for Holland, landed at Rotterdam, visited the 
 Hague, Leyden, Haerlem, Amsterdam and Utrecht, 
 and returned home, after an absence of scarcely two 
 months, much pleased with his journey, and "greatly 
 benefited and recruited in his health." During his 
 stay in Holland he preached only once, in the Scotch 
 church at Rotterdam. Even this flying visit, how- 
 ever, he made subservient to his historical researches. 
 "When on the Continent," says one who met him 
 there, "he was so pressed for time, and so anxious to 
 get back to his pastoral duties in Eldinburgh, that the 
 necessity he was under of copying extracts (though 
 in this he was aided by a friend) deprived him to a 
 great degree of his night's rest, and could not but 
 prove extremely injurious to his health."* When 
 
 * Christian Instructor, October 1835, p. 672. 
 
VISIT TO HOLLAND. 239 
 
 in Amsterdam, he had the good fortune to meet with 
 several rare Italian works in the library of the vene- 
 rable M. Chevalier, one of the pastors of the French 
 church, " whose uncommon politeness," he says in 
 his Preface to the Reformation in Italy, "I have to 
 acknowledge, in not only allowing me the freest use 
 of his books, but also in transmitting to me a number 
 of extracts which I had not time to make during my 
 short stay in that city." 
 
 He was particularly fond of travelling, and it is 
 much to be regretted that he did not consider him- 
 self at liberty to indulge himself so often as his friends 
 and his congregation would have wished, in this spe- 
 cies of healthy relaxation. On such occasions he 
 enjoyed a great flow of spirits, and proved the most 
 entertaining of companions. "Dr. M'Crie," says the 
 writer formerly quoted, " though a stickler for the 
 Solemn League and Covenant, was in conversation 
 perfectly free from bigotry. He could expatiate on 
 all subjects with the liveliest freedom, and there was 
 an exquisite humour in many of his remarks that was 
 finely piquant and highly amusing. We travelled 
 together for a short time on the continent, and I do 
 not rememl)er the time when 1 was more entertained 
 or laughed so heartily. One day when examining a 
 Protestant cathedral, which he seemed to admire 
 much, I recalled to his remembrance what he had 
 said in his Life of Knox about 'crows and crow- 
 nests;' he looked surprised at the seeming censure 
 implied in the remark, and assured me he did not 
 wish to be understood as expressing his own senti- 
 ments on that occasion,* and that he had no objection 
 
 * This is so inconsistent with what we know of Dr. M'Crie, that 
 the writer must be supposed, eitlicr to hnve misunderstood what 
 he said in conversation, or to have erroneously supposed that the 
 sentiments expressed in tlie Life of Knox are not quite recon- 
 cilable with those which he reports in the following part of the 
 sentence. Dr. M-Cric tells us that "Cathedral and parochial 
 churches, and, in several places, the chapels attached to monas- 
 teries were appropriated tf) the Protestant worship." But in re- 
 gard to monasteries , or " those buildings which had served for the 
 maintenance of the ancient superstition,'' he allows that " there 
 
240 LIFE or DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 to these magnificent structures when not perverted 
 to the purposes of superstition." 
 
 On his return home through England, he paid a 
 visit to Cambridge, and spent some time in examin- 
 ing the library. At Leicester, he made a point of 
 seeing the celebrated Robert Hall, for whose genius 
 and writings, notwithstanding the wide difference of 
 opinion between them on various points of church 
 order, he entertained the highest admiration. The 
 two authors had a cordial meeting, and spent the 
 evening together in animated conversation, during 
 which they discussed the merits of some of the popu- 
 lar writers and preachers of the day, — Mr. Hall, as 
 usual, traversing the room all the while and smoking 
 with great energy. Dr. M'Crie, in relating the in- 
 terview, used to describe the astonished look of the 
 Baptist minister when he gravely requested permis- 
 sion to "hold communion with him," and the alacrity 
 with which, on discovering the joke, he rang for 
 another pipe.t 
 
 In his occasional excursions into the country, he 
 frequently found himself, much to his amusement, 
 made the topic of conversation by strangers to his 
 personal appearance — which, by the way, seldom 
 realized the idea which people had previously formed 
 of the author of the Life of Knox. The following 
 anecdote is so characteristic, that I make no apology 
 for introducing it. " My first meeting with Dr. 
 M'Crie," says my informant,:]: "was somewhat singu- 
 lar. It was in a steam-boat on the Clyde in 1823, if I 
 mistake not. A reverend-looking gentleman asked 
 me some questions respecting places on the banks of 
 
 is more wisdom than many seem to perceive in tlje maxim which 
 Knox is said to have inculcated, ' that the best way to keep the 
 rooks ironi returning, was to pull down their nests.' " — Life of 
 Knox, vol. i., pp. 725, 6. 
 
 i Dr. M'Crie was long a slave to the habit of smoking, but 
 being persuaded that it was injuring his health, he, about tlii» 
 time, renounced it at once and lor ever. 
 
 i Mr. William Muir, schoolmaster of Dysart (_now presentee to 
 Temple, Presbytery of Dalkeith.) 
 
ANECDOTE. 241 
 
 the river, which my familiarity with the scene enabled 
 me to answer. As we conversed,! summoned courage, 
 or something worse, to ask him if he was a clergyman? 
 — he replied that he was. I^ike a true Scotchman 
 I pushed my inquiry, remarking that he would be 
 from England? The stranger, with a laugh, answered, 
 * Ah no; not so far south as that — I come from Edin- 
 burgh.' 'From Edinburgh?' I eagerly said. 'Do 
 3'ou know, then, what Dr. M'Crie is doing? We have 
 had no work from him for some time; is he not going 
 to write the life of Alexander Henderson?' 'I do 
 not think,' said he, ' that the Doctor is engaged in 
 any particular work at present.' I then spoke of the 
 Doctor's works, and his ability to execute a task 
 of that kind, in a strain which I will not now re- 
 peat. I observed a slight flush come on the gentle- 
 man's face as I spoke; but were I to state the thought 
 that this gave rise to in my mind, it would be a strong 
 proof how distant were my suspicions from the idea 
 that 1 was conversing with the person of whom I was 
 speaking. He interrupted me with the question, 
 'Have )-ou ever seen Dr. M'Crie?' Often have I 
 wished that I had answered this question with more 
 caution; I might have enjoyed, at an earlier period, 
 something of his acquaintance. I replied that I had 
 several yeai's ago heard him preach, and that I thought 
 as much of him as a preacher as an historian. The 
 stranger here abruptly left me: — the historian could 
 hear his works praised, — the minister could not. 
 Though introduced to him some years after this, I 
 would not have recognised my fellow-passenger, had 
 not the Rev. Dr. Black, to whom I owed the honour 
 of my introduction, told me that Dr. M'Crie said to 
 him, that he thought he had once met with me in a 
 steam-boat on the Clyde." 
 
 In 1822, Dr. M'Crie appeared before the public in 
 another cause, which presented his character in a 
 light for which few were prejjared, — we refer to the 
 successful struggles of modern Greece in asserting 
 her long-lost independence. Noble as was the spec- 
 21 
 
242 LIFE OF DU. M'CRIE. 
 
 tacle of a whole nation, once so famous for its litera- 
 ture, laws and civilization, rousing itself from the le- 
 thargy of ages, and by the strength of its own unaided 
 arm releasing itself from the yoke of a barbarous des- 
 potism, it vvas long before the public mind could be 
 brought to feel an interest in the cause of the modern 
 Greeks. Exaggeration and slander had been busily 
 at work on their character, representing them as a 
 mean, perfidious and degraded race of men, unfit for 
 and unworthy of the blessings of freedom. At length 
 the sympathy which their patriotism had failed to 
 awaken, was excited by the report of their sufferings. 
 A public meeting was called and held in Merchants' 
 Hall, August 7, 1822, to promote a subscription for 
 the miserable natives of the Island of Scio. At this 
 meeting Dr. M'Crie took the lead by proposing a 
 series of resolutions in a speech, the impression of 
 which is still remembered by those who heard it, 
 and the publication of which in the newspapers ex- 
 cited a lively interest in the cause throughout the 
 country.* 
 
 This, as he informed his audience, was only the 
 third time, during a residence of twenty-six years, 
 that he had addressed a public meeting; and the rare- 
 ness with which he obtruded himself on public notice 
 no doubt contributed to the effect of his appearance 
 on this occasion. It is not difficult to account for the 
 interest which he took in the cause of the patriotic 
 Greeks. Classic associations might have had their 
 share in it, but the general apathy shown in the Greek 
 
 *Tlie speech will be found in the Appendix. " A meeting, — 
 and a most respectable meeting, has at length been held, to pro- 
 mote a subscription for the relief of the persecuted, enslaved, and 
 miserable Greeks of the Island of Scio; and tardy as we have been 
 in Edinburgh, we have yet the merit of being the first who have 
 moved in such a good cause. The historian of our own Scottish 
 struggles for religious and civil liberty was of all others the person 
 who could most ajipropriately take the lead on such an occasion; 
 and through him, and with him, our fellow-citizens have removed 
 from themselves tiie reproach of an apathy, almost as unaccount- 
 able as it is unparalleled, to the higher interests of the human 
 race." — Scotsman, Aug. 10, \ii22. 
 
THE GREEK CAUSE. 243 
 
 cause by the literati of the age, and which met with 
 his severe reprehension, proves how little affinity 
 mere scholarship has witli the generous impulses of 
 patriotism and philanthropy. Along with this there 
 was combined, in his case, ardent zeal for the cause 
 of true religion, the success of which he always as- 
 sociated with the triumph of liberty and the progress 
 of education; and this, it appears, led him to antici- 
 pate much more from those great national movements 
 by which a whole people are shaken from their slum- 
 bers, and roused to inquire for themselves, provided 
 these are met in a suitable manner by a sympathizing 
 movement on the part of Christian and Protestant 
 States, than from isolated exotic missionary opera- 
 tions, which must necessarily be confined within a 
 limited sphere, and which, according to the most flat- 
 tering calculations of their supporters, will require 
 whole ages to accomplish their object.* After all, the 
 mere fact that the Greeks were struggling to get free 
 from the degrading thraldom of a despotic and barba- 
 rous government, was sufficient to enlist all his sym- 
 pathies on their side; for in his mind there burned, 
 not merely the love of liberty, which is natural and 
 common enough among men, but an intense and con- 
 scientious abhorrenceof oppression, which would have 
 made him shrink from enacting the baseness of the 
 tyrant, with even a greater degree of sensitiveness, 
 than from enduring the degradation of the slave. In 
 
 * The reader who may wish farther satisfaction with regard 
 to our author's sentiments on this point, may consult his Review 
 of " Sismondi's Considerations on Geneva," in the Christian 
 Instructor, in whicli he touches, though we regret rather gene- 
 rally, on "the relations whicli bind Protestant States to one 
 another." In this review, which was written in 1813, speaking 
 of "the Protestant interest," in opposition to the Popish, and 
 after declaring his belief that they " will yet separate and display 
 themselves, as soon as tilings return to their ordinary course;" 
 he says, " Without pretending to any superior sagacity, or ex- 
 posing ourselves to the charge of indulging in political prophecy, 
 we may add that events may take place, at no distant period, by 
 which tile principle which we have endeavoured to establish, 
 will be set in a practical, and, consequently, in a more clear and 
 convincing light." 
 
244 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 illustration of this part of his character, I may here 
 introduce a fragment found among his manuscripts:* 
 — "Who would be a slave! is the exclamation of those 
 who are themselves free, and sometimes of those 
 who, provided they enjoy freedom themselves, care 
 not though the whole world were in bondage. But 
 there is a sentiment still more noble than that. Who 
 would be a slave-dealer, a patron, an advocate for 
 slavery! To be a slave has been the hard, but not 
 dishonourable lot of many a good man and noble spirit. 
 But to be a tyrant — that is disgrace! To trample on 
 the rights of his fellow creature — to treat him, whe- 
 ther it be with cruelty or kindness, as a dog — to hold 
 him in chains, when he has perpetrated or threatens 
 no violence — to carry him with a rope about his 
 neck, not to the scaffold, but to the market — to sell 
 him whom God made after his own image, and whom 
 Christ redeemed not with corruptible things as silver 
 and gold, and by the act of transference, to tear him 
 from his own bowels — that is disgraceful. I protest 
 before you that I would a thousand times rather have 
 my brow branded with the name of Slave, than have 
 written on the palm of my hand, or the sole of my 
 foot, the initial letter of the word — Tyrant." 
 
 With a zeal which redounded highly to their credit, 
 the ladies of Edinburgh took an active interest in this 
 cause, directing their exertions, most appropriately, to 
 the education of the long-neglected females of Greece, 
 
 To this scheme our author gave his warmest sup- 
 port; he preached in its behalf, conducted the corre- 
 spondence, and at a meeting called with the vievv of 
 forming a "Scottish Ladies' Society for promoting 
 education in Greece," April 9, 1825, he again ap- 
 peared to plead the cause of the Greeks. The sub- 
 stance of his address on this occasion will be found 
 in the Appendix; and I am happy to escape the ne- 
 
 * This fragment, I believe, is part of a speech which he had 
 prepared for an anti-slavery meeting in October 1830, but which 
 he was prevented from delivering by an unexpected turn given 
 to the proceedings by his friend Dr. Thomson. 
 
THE GREEK CAUSE. 245 
 
 cessity of adding; any comment of my own, by tran- 
 scribing the following account of it, which, though 
 evidently drawn by a partial pen, is, I have reason 
 to believe, substantially correct: " Some eight or ten 
 years ago, when Sir James Macintosh happened to 
 be in Edinburgh, a number of philanthropic ladies 
 in that city endeavoured very successfully, we believe, 
 to get up a public meeting, for the purpose of esta- 
 blishing a society to promote female education in 
 Greece. Of course, the claims of Greece, and the 
 object of the society, behooved to be advocated from 
 the platform. Sir James Macintosh, if we recollect 
 right, had agreed to take the chair; and in canvass- 
 ing for speakers on the occasion, Dr. M'Crie was 
 applied to among others by the ladies of the com- 
 mittee. 'Doctor,' said our fair and excellent infor- 
 mant, ^ we are anticipating great things at our ap- 
 proaching meeting. We have endeavoured to select 
 our speakers as judiciously as possible for the sake 
 of the cause. For all we require in the way of ar- 
 gument we depend upon you: and for the classical 
 recollections of Greece, and the appeals of eloquence, 
 we look with confidence to Sir James.' The Doctor 
 appeared embarrassed at the inadvertent and unin- 
 tentional way in which the lady had put him into 
 contrast with the overrated senator; but, though she 
 thought he seemed a little piqued,* he acceded to 
 the ladies' request, civilly bowed to them, and they 
 retired. By-and-by came the appointed meeting, 
 when, to the astonishment and delight of every au- 
 ditor, an address was delivered by Dr. M-Crie, which, 
 while admirably adapted to promote the popu- 
 larity of the cause, seemed almost to be intended, 
 with an innocent vindictiveness, to rebuke the pre- 
 
 * " He seemed a little piqued." The lad}', I am disposed to 
 think, misinterpreted the expression of his feehngs on this 
 occasion, as much as she had miscalculated his powers. The 
 embarrassment which she remarked no doubt arose from the 
 same cause that makes a man of delicacy and acutencss feci the 
 blunders which he hears, somewhat as if he had made them 
 himself. 
 
 31* 
 
246 LIFE OF DR. m'CRIE. 
 
 concerted anticipations of the ladies as to the peculiar 
 forte of its several supporters. Distinguished through- 
 out by the most thorough acquaintance with the poli- 
 tics, philosophy, mythology and poetry of ancient 
 Greece, it commingled with the happiest allusions to 
 these, so fervid a contrast of her ancient glory with 
 her modern degradation, that, new and foreign as such 
 topics were thought to be to the habits of the good 
 Doctor, he reminded many of his hearers of the finest 
 speeches of Burke. The deductions of reason, the 
 eloquence of passion, and the yearnings of the Chris- 
 tian, shone equally conspicuous. A more splendid 
 out-pouring has seldom been listened to."* 
 
 A somewhat different misconception of the Doctor's 
 character, and of the nature of his interest in this 
 cause, led to a more ludicrous application for his 
 assistance; for, some time afterward, he was one 
 morning, much to our amusement, astounded by 
 receiving a letter from some of the friends of the 
 Greeks in Germany, earnestly requesting him to 
 forward them, for the good of the cause, a supply of 
 Congreve rockets! 
 
 From 1823 to 1826, Dr. M'Crie's health continued 
 in such a precarious and unsatisfactory state, that he 
 was obliged to suspend, almost entirely, his literary 
 labours. In August 1824, I find him complaining, 
 "My time is chiefly passed between fits of perspira- 
 tion, and cold or rather half-cold shiverings. The 
 work of the Sabbath is oppressive, and I don't think 
 I can stand public duty long. I am unable, too, 
 to prepare for it. My friends are urging me to de- 
 sist for some weeks, and try the efl'ects of relaxa- 
 tion. But how can I obtain this? I am sometimes 
 tempted to wish that I might fall down altogether, 
 that I might obtain 7'est — if that were to happen, 'tis 
 likely my wishes would be reversed." The wise and 
 merciful purposes of God in afflicting his children, 
 generally so mysterious, may be often seen developed 
 
 * The Thistle, or Anglo-Caledonian Journal, No. U., Feb. 1S3C. 
 London, 
 
HIS CHARACTER AS A PREACHER. 247 
 
 with singular clearness in the case of those personal 
 trials which befall the public servants of Christ. It 
 was enninently so with our author. His bodily infir- 
 mities, depressing as they were, taken in connexion 
 with his domestic bereavement, to which was added 
 the death of his father in March 1823, which made 
 a deep impression on his mind, were, there is reason 
 to think, the means of turning his attention more 
 exclusively to the proper duties of his profession, and 
 imparting to his Sabbath discourses a deeper unction 
 of that rich and varied experience, which formed 
 their chief attraction. As a lecturer, or expounder 
 of the sacred writings, he had always been admired 
 by the judicious; hut while engaged in the compo- 
 sition of his larger works, his mind and time were 
 too much engrossed by historical researches to admit 
 of his devoting them so closely as he desired to 
 pulpit composition. In consequence of this, he had 
 acquired a somewhat monotonous habit of delivery, 
 which did not set off what he had prepared to the 
 best advantage. And yet, by the native force of his 
 mind, he ultimately rose so far above these disadvan- 
 tages, as to enjoy a considerable share of popularity. 
 "Dr. M'Crie's style of preaching," says a critic of 
 1818, "is like none of the present day, and yet it is 
 captivating: it excites no high emotion, and yet it is 
 enticing; it is pervaded with none of that boisterous 
 ejaculation now so common, and yet it is calculated to 
 improve. It is set off with no outward graces of ap- 
 pearance, and no varied power of external eloquence, 
 and yet his scriptural discourses are admirable. It 
 is the matter which is brought forth, not the manner 
 in which it is uttered, which in this instance calls 
 attention — it is for the information which is received, 
 not the fancy entranced, that his church is now filled. 
 Dr. M'Crie's delivery is slow, uninviting, monotonous, 
 never roused to what is called eloquence, even when 
 the preacher himself is warmed witli the subject he 
 discusses. But to make amends for this, his intellect 
 is strong, his reasonings solid, his advices are from 
 
248 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 the heart, and his book of reference is the Scrip- 
 tures."* 
 
 The following comes from a more graphic pen, and 
 though somewhat overdrawn, must be allowed to pre- 
 sent a more vivid picture of his appearance in the 
 pulpit about this period. "I went to hear Dr. M'Crie 
 preach, and was not disappointed in the expectations 
 I had formed from a perusal of his book. He is a 
 tall slender man, with a pale face, full of shrewdness, 
 and a pair of black piercing eyes — a shade of deep se- 
 cluded melancholy passing ever and anon across their 
 surface, and dimming their brilliancy. His voice, too, 
 has a wild but very impressive shrilliness in it at times. 
 He prays and preaches very much in the usual style 
 of the Presbyterian divines — but about all he says 
 there is a certain unction of sincere, old-fashioned, 
 haughty Puritanism, peculiar, so far as I have seen, 
 to himself, and by no means displeasing in the histo- 
 rian of Knox. He speaks, too, with an air of autho- 
 rity, which his high talents render excusable, nay, 
 proper — but which few could venture upon with 
 equal success."! 
 
 The next sketch, drawn by a highly respected cleri- 
 cal friend,! in a private communication, and without 
 any view to its being made public, exhibits Dr. M'Crie, 
 as he appeared in the pulpit, at a much later period 
 of his life. "When well prepared, and on a conge- 
 nial theme, he rose to very great eloquence, as any 
 one may conceive who looks into the volume of his 
 discourses which was published under your eye some 
 years ago. His manner at first was somewhat con- 
 strained — the effect probably of native diffidence, 
 heightened by an habitual reference to a high standard 
 of excellence. As he proceeded, this in a great mea- 
 sure wore off; and in certain passages where he was 
 deeply moved himself, he had the complete mastery 
 
 * The Pulpit Eloquence of Edinburgh, in the Portfolio, a 
 weekly paper on Criticism and Manners. Edin. 1818. 
 
 t Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk, vol. iii., p. 102. Edin. 1819. 
 t Dr. Charles Watson, late minister of Burntisland. 
 
HIS CHARACTER AS A PREACHER. 249 
 
 of his audience. A certain tone of simplicity, con- 
 trasting strongly witii the sagacity and depth of his 
 reflections, gave a delightful charm to his eloquence, 
 relieving its nobler and more imposing features, and 
 imparting to the wisdom that accompanied it, much 
 of the eflect of unexpectedness and novelty. A 
 stranger might for a time have mistaken him in the 
 pulpit for one of those simple good men, whose worth 
 forms their chief qualification for usefulness. Little 
 by little, however, the stream of thought widened 
 and flowed with an accelerated current, and flashes 
 of fancy and eddies of feeling might be seen on its 
 surface, enough to disturb the first impression, — till 
 it was entirely lost in admiration at some affecting 
 stroke of pathos, or some bold burst of expostulation 
 or entreaty, after the highest models of a school whose 
 date is to be sought a century or two back, but which 
 is too true to nature ever to wax obsolete or lose its 
 charm." 
 
 These extracts refer exclusively to his manner as 
 a preacher; there is another point of view, in which 
 he might have been described, infinitely more impor- 
 tant, and involving what he himself regarded as the 
 highest praise of a Christian pastor — his success in 
 the winning of souls, and in promoting the spiritual 
 peace and profit of his hearers, on which I would 
 more willingly dilate. In the general strain of his 
 preaching, I would say that he addressed himself 
 more directly to the edification and comfort of the 
 Iieliever, than to the conversion of the unbeliever, — 
 dwelling more on the allurements of the love of God, 
 than on the terrors of his law. But his art seemed 
 to lie in reaching conviction to the sinner, while ap- 
 parently engaged in ministering consolation to the 
 child of God. Without looking the skeptic in the 
 face, or professing to reason with him, he spoke to 
 the humble and simple Christian in such a man- 
 ner as to convey the severest of all rebukes to the 
 man of opposite character. Preaching, as he did, 
 from the promptings of his own heart-experience, as 
 
250 LIFE OF DR. MCRIE. 
 
 well as from his general knowledge of human nature, 
 his discourses found a response in the breasts of many 
 of his hearers, and frequently produced that searching 
 and startling efi'ect which, to the awakened mind, 
 conveys the idea that the preacher is acquainted with 
 the whole history of the person's exercise, and has 
 purposely adapted the message of the day to his par- 
 ticular case. Many, there is reason to believe, were 
 brought under serious impressions, led to the Saviour, 
 and "guided into the way of peace," by waiting on his 
 ministry; these results being obtained, in most cases, 
 not by any single discourse, but by the general strain 
 of his preaching, particularly by the free unfettered 
 exhibition of the grace of God in the Gospel, con- 
 trasted with the vileness and ingratitude of the sin- 
 ner. Testimonials to the truth of this might easily 
 have been obtained in abundance. The following 
 spontaneous effusion of gratitude may stand in place 
 of a thousand; for it expresses, I am persuaded, the 
 sentiments and feelings of all who enjoyed his minis- 
 try:— 
 
 "I can say, with gratitude, that I received much 
 spiritual benefit from his clear elucidation of the 
 Scriptures. And though I had, for many years pre- 
 vious to sitting under his ministry, been awakened 
 to anxiety about the safety of my soul, and to the 
 knowledge of the way of Salvation; it was through his 
 instrumentality that I obtained peace in believing. 
 His preaching was indeed the searching of the heart 
 by the word of God, and a clear setting forth of 
 Christ as the only way of salvation, the only rock on 
 which a sinner can build, the only hope of a lost and 
 ruined soul. And, in saying this, I do not express 
 merely my own experienceof his public teaching, but 
 that also of many of my friends and acquaintances 
 who were in the habit of hearing him frequently, and 
 who resorted to his church for no other motive than 
 to have their souls fed and nourished by the word of 
 life. I felt his preaching well calculated to drive 
 from every strong-hold of sin, and I do think, I can say 
 
THE CHARACTER OF HIS PREACHING. 251 
 
 that under him, the j)Ower of sin was weakened in my 
 soul, and a stronger desire after divine things en- 
 kindled. I felt bound to him, not only by his use- 
 fulness in public, but by his faithful admonitions in 
 private. There also he carried the spirit of a heaven- 
 ly guide, and what he saw to be wrong was pointed 
 out with affectionate faithfulness. The good of souls 
 was his aim in public and in private. Many a time, 
 when under severe affliction, did my weary soul find 
 the word of peace from his lips, and the heavy load of 
 sin removed by his leading me to the cross of Christ." 
 The peculiar temperament of a preacher may be 
 ascertained, with considerable accuracy, from those 
 Scripture characters on whom he chiefly delights to 
 dwell, and to whose sentiments he is disposed to re- 
 cur, for authority or illustration, with the most mani- 
 fest partiality. There can be no doubt that Dr. 
 M'Crie's favourite characters (if I may be allowed 
 the expression) were Jeremiah among the prophets, 
 and Paul among the apostles. In the earlier part of 
 his ministry, he lectured through the Prophecies and 
 the Lamentations of Jeremiah; and all who were in 
 the habit of hearing him, and are familiar with his 
 writings, must have observed the frequency of his 
 allusions to the language, and the general similarity 
 of his tone of sentiment to that of "the weeping 
 prophet." We discover the same plaintive melan- 
 choly pervading his reflections on the signs of the 
 times, — the same severe, and at times sarcastic, in- 
 dignation at human treachery and worthlessness, — 
 the same deferential submission to the righteous 
 awards of an avenging Providence. He was partial, 
 indeed, to the study of the Old Testament as a 
 whole; he wrote much in illustration of its text, and 
 in vindication of its authority as a standing rule of 
 Christian conduct; his library was stored with com- 
 mentators on it; and he lectured through the greater 
 part of its books. His lectures on its historical por- 
 tions — the books of Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther 
 and Daniel — which were begun in 1825 — excited gene- 
 
253 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 ral attention, and attracted numbers, of all denomina- 
 tions, to his church. In illustrating these sacred 
 records, his talent for historical description shone 
 conspicuous; and many remember with delight his 
 lively pictures, his bursts of genuine passion, and 
 his striking lessons of practical wisdom, while he 
 traced, with a kindred spirit, the history of the 
 sublime heroism of Elijah, the patriotism of Nehe- 
 miah, or the piety of Daniel.* 
 
 I may here mention another stud}', intimately con- 
 nected with his province as an expositor, in which 
 he took great delight, and in which, had his time 
 permitted, he bid fair to have excelled — Biblical Cri- 
 ticism. Familiarly acquainted with the most learned 
 philological and critical writers, both at home and 
 abroad, he had devoted himself to the practical de- 
 partment of the study to such an extent, that it was 
 hardly possible to start a real difficulty in the inter- 
 pretation of Scripture for which he was not prepared; 
 and, at one time, he had prosecuted his researches 
 into hermeneutics, or the science of interpretation, 
 so far as to contemplate a work on the subject. 
 Speaking of Ernesti to one of his correspondents, he 
 says, — "Although not a work which I could recom- 
 mend in all its parts, especially in the notes added 
 by Amnion, it is one of those books which I like to 
 have beside me for occasional consultation. Besides, 
 if I fail in persuading you, or any other able person, 
 to undertake the task, I am not altogether without 
 thoughts of attempting something myself towards an 
 English work of a similar description, which I still 
 
 * I have given the public a specimen of these lectures, in those 
 upon the book of Esther. The manuscripts of his other lectures 
 are left, I am sorry to say, in a state too imj)erfect for publication 
 — at least in the form of a regular series on any book, or even 
 extended portion of history. To publish them as they stand, 
 would neither do justice to his memory, nor give satisfaction to 
 the reader, who would want some of the richest thoughts which 
 gave them animation in the delivery, but which were left to be 
 clothed in language premeditated in the closet or suggested in 
 the pulpit. The same remark applies to his Lectures on the 
 Gospel by Luke. All his other lectures have been destroyed. 
 
BIBLICAL CRITICISM. 253 
 
 think a grand desideratum. This, however, I mean 
 to do gradually. I may afterwards prevail on some 
 individual to take my materials off m3'^ hand and to 
 finish the design. This notification may perhaps 
 alarm you (1 am sure it ovglit to alarm you) for the 
 credit of this important branch of biblical criticism. 
 Only think, 1 beseech you, what must be the conse- 
 quences, if one whose thoughts have been so long 
 occupied with inquiriesso very different, whose time 
 is broken by so many engagements and interruptions, 
 and who has only touched the extensive task primulis 
 labelluUs, — if he shall take it up in despair, and dis- 
 grace at once himself and the subject! In spite, 
 however, of all the sage laws of quid valeant Jiumeri, 
 &c., 1 am afraid that he will do it, unless you inter- 
 pose." He accordingly commenced a translation of 
 Ernesti, to which, I suppose, he had intended to add 
 notes; but he never found time to digest his thoughts 
 into the form of a work. In 1S14, he exerted him- 
 self to form a society composed of ministers of vari- 
 ous denominations, for mutual improvement in this 
 department of theological learning; and for procuring 
 rare and costly works on the subject. A library was 
 established, which still exists, though, I am sorry to 
 add, in a very neglected and languishing condition. 
 Its fate illustrates the situation of town ministers in 
 regard to study. Dr. M'Crie, to whom the charge 
 of the library was for some time committed, used to 
 observe, that after the public movements in mission- 
 ary and other associations of a similar kind were in- 
 troduced, scarcely a book was called for b}- a minister, 
 their time being occupied and their attention engaged 
 by other matters. The study, however, soon became 
 a favourite one with himself; and had he adhered to 
 it, there is reason to think that his powers of re- 
 search and application, with his sagacity and discern- 
 ment, would have conducted him to no inconsiderable 
 eminence and usefulness as a sacred critic. A liberal 
 offer was made to him by the Edinburgh ministers to 
 give a series of lectures on biblical criticism and sub- 
 
254 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 jects connected with it. Emolument, however, had 
 never any power of temptation with him, and his mind 
 cUmg to the line of study and authorship with which 
 he had set out. The society soon fell otJ", hut not be- 
 fore our author had read to them several essays (the 
 only ones, we believe, that were ever produced before 
 them,) of which the surviving members still speak in 
 high terms. The topics of these essays were — " The 
 Necessity and Advantages of Biblical Interpretation," 
 — " The Types of Scripture," — and " The Revival of 
 Oriental Literature.'^ In 1835, he threw the sub- 
 .stance of the first of these essays into the form of an 
 article on Biblical Interpretation in the March number 
 of the Presbyterian Review. These Essays, together 
 with an important, though unfinished, paper on the 
 Validity of Old Testament Instruction, and other 
 fugitive pieces of criticism, may be afterwards pub- 
 lished. 
 
 The following; communication from Sir George 
 Sinclair, on the subject of union with the Established 
 Church (which recent events have rendered an in- 
 teresting topic,) formed the commencement of a cor- 
 respondence and friendship with that amiable and 
 truly excellent person, highly gratifying to both par- 
 ties, and which continued till our author's death. 
 
 " To the Rev. Dr. M'Crie. 
 
 " Thuuso Castle, March 10, 1824. 
 " Reverend Sir. — You may perhaps deem it ex- 
 traordinary that a stranger should use the freedom to 
 address 3^ou. But your character, talents and useful- 
 ness, are known and admired by many who do not 
 . enjoy the advantage of your personal acquaintance, — 
 and your triumphant vindication of our great national 
 Reformer's character, will endear your name to suc- 
 ceeding generations of your countrymen, as well as 
 to those of the present day. Having imbibed from 
 my father (the author of the Statistical Account of 
 Scotland) a sincere and cordial attachment to our 
 national church, I have often contemplated with deep. 
 
UNION WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT. 255 
 
 regret the lamentable schisms by which her peace and 
 unity have been rent; and it is a subject to me of 
 surprise, as well as of sorrow, that no endeavours 
 have (as far as I know) been lately made, to heal the 
 breaches in our Zion, and cause us to be ' of one 
 accord, and of one mind.' I cannot but think, that 
 the present would be a favourable moment for trying 
 the experiment. So many years have now elapsed, 
 since the original separation of the Secession from 
 the Established Church, and so many of the contro- 
 verted points have, in some degree been, or might 
 now more easily be, set at rest, and the pure doc- 
 trines of the Gospel are so much more generally 
 preached than when the unfortunate division took 
 place, that a door seems now to be opened for the 
 auspicious restoration of harmony and peace. Now, 
 my dear Sir, (you will pardon the familiarity of the 
 phrase) — it appears to me, that you, who are a ' burn- 
 ing and shining light' in the Presbyterian commu- 
 nion, might very beneficially use your influence, and 
 lend your aid, for effecting this important purpose. 
 As some difficulty would probably arise in endea- 
 vouring to determine from what quarter the first 
 overture should proceed, I would humbly and difii- 
 dently suggest, that meetings should be held, or a 
 correspondence take place, for considering this sub- 
 ject, between yourself, assisted by one of your breth- 
 ren, with the same number of ministers of the Estab- 
 lished Church, and also of the other denominations 
 into which the Secession has, perhaps unnecessarily 
 as well as unfortunately, been subdivided. Should 
 the unauthorized ' labour of love' undertaken by such 
 a committee, lead to no favourable result, the public 
 attention need never be called to its details, or even 
 to its existence. But if such a basis could, through 
 the blessing of God, and the direction of his Spirit, 
 be devised, as might lead to all parties being spiri- 
 tually of one Iieart and of one soul, and none saying 
 that aught of the things which he possessed was his 
 own, ' but they had all things common ' — one faiih, 
 
256 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 and one baptism, one creed and one discipline — the 
 whole proceedings might be laid before the different 
 Synods and General Assemblies, for their modifica- 
 tion and approval. In this case, the Secession places 
 of worship, wherever tbey now exist, might become 
 connected with the Established Church. We should 
 then see labourers in the Lord's vineyard, who now 
 view each other with jealousy and estrangement, co- 
 operating with heart and hand in winning souls to 
 Christ. 
 
 " Alas! is it not painful to reflect that many who 
 ' love the Lord Jesus in sincerity ' feel no kindly fel- 
 lowship and love towards each other — that not a few 
 would rather debar themselves for months, or even 
 years, from the privilege of public worship, than hear 
 the Gospel preached in simplicity and faithfulness by 
 a minister of a different denomination from their own 
 — although I believe that a stranger might for twelve 
 succeeding Sabbaths, hear yourself every morning, 
 Dr. A. Thomson every afternoon, and Mr. Paxton at 
 night, without being able to discover any difference 
 in your doctrine or form of worship. If the labours 
 of such a committee as 1 have ventured to recom- 
 mend, were to commence by the adoption of a pre- 
 liminary synopsis of the principles on which all are 
 agreed, I would fain hope that the points of difference 
 which are of far inferior moment and magnitude 
 miglit, by a Christian spirit of forbearance and charity, 
 be adjusted. 
 
 " 1 need not, I am persuaded, offer any apology for 
 addressing you on this subject. I have, and indeed 
 can have but one motive, which, I trust,- will plead 
 my excuse, if my suggestion be ill-timed or ill-ad- 
 vised. I remain, with much esteem, and every good 
 wish, Reverend Sir, your faithful humble servant, 
 
 "George: Sinclair." 
 
 " To George Sinclair, Esquire of Ulbster. 
 
 " Edinburgh, May 19, 1824. 
 " Dear Sir, — Your letter of the 10th March 
 
UNION WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT. 257 
 
 reached me only a few days ago. I thank you heartily 
 for the free manner in which you have imparted your 
 views and feelings on a subject which evidently inte- 
 rests you deeply, and the intrinsic importance of which 
 you cannot easily overrate. No one can be more 
 sensibl}' aflected than I am at the lamentable schisms 
 by which the Christian body is rent, and the nume- 
 rous parties into which the friends of evangelical truth 
 and Presb3'terian discipline are divided. Though we 
 might differ in opinion as to the causes of the evil, 
 yet I fully sympathize with you in deploring its ex- 
 istence. I deplore it as productive of effects hurtful 
 to the temper of individuals, hardening to the minds 
 of the enemies of religion, and tending in many ways 
 to prevent or to paralyze efforts in behalf of the 
 common cause of Christianity. Nor does my mind 
 find proper relief in the consideration by which 
 many console themselves — that the several parties 
 both check and stimulate one another, that the spirit 
 of asperity which formerly prevailed has abated and 
 worn down, and that Christians of all denominations 
 now co-operate in associations (such as the Bible 
 Society) for promoting general purposes connected 
 with Christianity. I do not expect that " things will 
 go well" in our land, or that there will be a general 
 revival of religion, or even reformation of manners, 
 and it is my apprehension, that, notwithstanding any 
 present favourable symptoms, and all exertions made 
 by separate churches and voluntary societies, irreli- 
 gion and infidelity and crime will continue to advance 
 among us, — until an effective and uncrippled co-ope- 
 ration be established among the genuine friends of 
 religion in the way of their becoming, like the pri- 
 mitive Christians, one body and one soul, and until 
 there be, to use your expression, "one faith, one bap- 
 tism, one creed and one discipline." After express- 
 ing such views, you may think yourself entitled to 
 expect that I should be ready to accede to your re- 
 quest; and certainly I would be self-condemned, or 
 at least inconsistent with myself, if I refused to lend 
 22* 
 
258 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 my aid to farther any scheme of a scriptural and 
 practicahle kind, for uniting Presbyterians in Scot- 
 land. That I am strongly attached to the Church of 
 Scotland, I believe I need scarcely assure you; and 
 I might add that circumstances have occurred to me 
 in adorable Providence, which have long ago relieved 
 and emancipated my mind from any bigoted attach- 
 ment to any party which I might once have felt, 
 though 1 by no means lay claim to exemption from 
 the influence of prejudice in favour of the opinions 
 which I have formed. I stand in no connexion 
 which hinders me from joining in any union which 
 has for its object and tendency the maintenance of 
 the genuine principles of the Church of Scotland: 
 nor do I think that all who join in such a union 
 should be perfectly agreed on all points, and that they 
 need not forbear with one another in certain things 
 which they cannot view in the same light. Notwith- 
 standing this, I am obliged to add, that I have not 
 been able to discover any plan, by which, in the pre- 
 sent state of things and of men's minds, the union 
 of the Established Church of Scotland and Scceders 
 could be effected on sound principles, or attempted 
 with the least reasonable probability of success. As 
 to the quarter from which the proposals should first 
 come — that is a point of no difficulty with me. If 
 other things were clear, the person or party which 
 should make the first advances would, in my opinion, 
 secure the post of honour instead of incurring dis- 
 grace. Nor does it strike me that there would be 
 required any "synopsis of principles," while the 
 Confession of Faith and other Standards of the Church 
 of Scotland remain. The great desideratum is not a 
 declared or authorized system of principles, but a 
 real and practical adherence to it, and an administra- 
 tion which would promise to secure this. 
 
 " What you state, by way of supposition, with re- 
 spect to those preachers mentioned in your letter, 
 may be perfectly true. But, my dear Sir, permit 
 me to say that my friend Dr. A. Thomson is in ec- 
 
UNION WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT. 259 
 
 clesiastical connexion and fellowship with hrethren 
 who preach very different doctrine from what he 
 preaches; and there it is that the difficulty pinches. 
 I rejoice that, of late, the numher of evangelical and 
 pious ministers in the Church of Scotland has in- 
 creased, though I am not prepared to say that " the 
 pure doctrines of the Gospel are more gcnerall}'" 
 preached than when the unfortunate division took 
 place;" but I suppose it will be admitted that those 
 who are understood not to preach the Gospel with 
 the greatest purit}^, have uniformly or at least gene- 
 rally the sway in the Church Courts; and I need not 
 state to you that it is the general impression, both 
 within and without the Church, that it is now an al- 
 most hopeless task to procure the conviction in the 
 General Assembly of a minister who may be charge- 
 able with error in doctrine, or various pieces of im- 
 morality in practice. You know, too, that the ques- 
 tion of Patronage is intimately connected with the 
 origin and grounds of the Secession. It is true, I be- 
 lieve, as stated by your venerable father, in a pam- 
 phlet which he has done me the honour to send me, 
 that no party in the Church is disposed to revive a 
 controversy which seems to have been set at rest in 
 her. But I know of no alteration which has taken 
 place in the sentiments of Seceders on that head; and 
 I apprehend that the better part of them in numbers, 
 or at least in seriousness, would not, even though the 
 freedom of election was granted to their own congre- 
 gations, enter into fellowship with a Church whose 
 judicatories would force presentees upon reluctant 
 and reclaiming congregations. 
 
 " I beg you to excuse the prolixity of this letter: 
 but I deemed it more respectful as well as honest to 
 state to you my sentiments, rather than politely to 
 evade your request. — I am, my dear Sir, with much 
 respect and esteem, your faithful humble servant, 
 
 *'Tho. M'Crie," 
 
 Such were the views which he entertained, at this 
 
2G0 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 period, on the question of union with the Established 
 Church. The rapid improvement which has since 
 taken place in that Church, has removed, to a great 
 extent, the grounds of objection stated in the above 
 letter; but, as we shall afterwards see, there were 
 other difficulties in the way of this desirable union, 
 rendering the prospect still more unlikely in his eyes, 
 which he did not consider it necessary to explain to 
 his interesting correspondent.* 
 
 In 1S27, as was formerly stated, he had the satisfac- 
 tion of reuniting with those of his former brethren 
 who, dissatisfied with the union of the Burgher and 
 Anliburgher Synods in 1820, had formed themselves 
 into a separate Synod, generally known by the name 
 of Protesters. Seldom has any union been so happily 
 effected, without any compromise of principle on 
 either side. The two parties, who found themselves 
 
 *At a meeting of the Anti-Patronage Society, January 30, 
 1833, at which Sir George Sinclair presided, Dr. M-Crie, referring 
 to the Cijairman, observed, "I am forcibly reminded by the 
 transactions of this day, of that which commenced our acquaint- 
 ance, and when I mention it, you will not think that I am enter- 
 taining you with private history, or forgetting the business for 
 whicji you are met. It was a letter which he addressed to me 
 several years ago, and in which, after adverting to the marked 
 improvement of the National Church in point of evangelical doc- 
 trine, and to the harmony of views which existed between myself 
 and another person for whom our love has since, by the sovereign 
 disposal of Heaven, been converted into a holy and solemn regret 
 (Dr. Thomson,) he proposed the serious question, — Can nothing 
 be done to bring into closer connexion the friends of religion in 
 the Establishment and in the Secession? I answered the letter 
 respectfully, and I trust, without any of the ieaven of sour secta- 
 rian iealousy, but with the characteristic caution of a Scotsman, 
 taking due care not to pledge myself deeply; and, among other 
 things, mentioning, that, in my opinion, no improvements which 
 had taken place and no arrangements which might be made, 
 would heal the breach, so long as that yoke which neither we 
 nor our fathers were able to bear, remained on the neck of the 
 Christian people of Scotland. Little did I then think that 1 
 should this day be standing on these boards, and moving thanks 
 to my honourable friend for the manly, decided, and truly 
 Christian part, wliicii he has acted on this important and soon- 
 to-be absorbing question. His reply, bearing with the cold, if 
 not repulsive air of my answer, led to an acquaintance whicji I, 
 at Jeast, have no ground to regret." 
 
SYNOD OF ORIGINAL SECEDERS. 261 
 
 contending materially for the same grand truths — 
 those of the Covenanted Reformation — soon came to 
 a mutual understanding, and agreed on certain articles 
 in which the points on vvliich they had heen supposed 
 to differ, instead of being dropped or evaded, were 
 broadly and distinctly stated, in such a way as to 
 remove all past and prevent all future misunderstand- 
 ings. A new Testimony, or declaration of public , 
 principles, imbodying these articles, was then drawn 
 up, on the ground of which the Constitutional Pres- 
 bytery and the Associate Synod of Protesters, cor- 
 dially and unanimously merged into one society, on 
 the 18th of May 1827, under the name of the Asso- 
 ciate Synod of Original Seceders — a designation 
 intended to denote that they stood precisely on the 
 same ground with that occupied by the first Seceders 
 from the Church of Scotland. To Dr. M'Crie, his 
 brethren award the honour (we do not say of having 
 accomplished this union, for others are equally en- 
 titled to that, but) of having conducted it to such a 
 happy issue, and settled it on such a satisfactory basis. 
 The historical part of the Testimony was entirely the 
 production of his pen; and when we consider not 
 only the minute acquaintance wilh the history of 
 ecclesiastical transactions necessary to such a task, 
 but the extreme delicacy required to pass judgment 
 on the various differences which have unhappily 
 arisen among Presbyterians, this work may well be 
 regarded as one of his most important undertakings, 
 even by those who may not be prepared to subscribe 
 to it as an ecclesiastical document. His whole 
 management in this affair is entitled to the highest 
 praise. Deeply convinced that no union can be 
 either pleasant or profitable, or conducive to the 
 interests of truth, which is founded on a compromise 
 of public principle, he was careful to avoid all ambi- 
 guous expressions, and all attempts at smothering the 
 truth, or smoothing over error; and yet in mat- 
 ters on which the Word of God had pronounced no 
 judgment, or which might be considered of personal 
 
262 ' LIFE OF DR, M'CRIE. 
 
 or party concern, no one was more ready to yield to 
 his brethren. On this principle he steadily refused 
 to exact or to receive from his former associates any 
 acknowledgment of the illegality or severity of the 
 sentences passed by the General Synod against him- 
 self and his brethren of the Constitutional Presby- 
 tery. The honour of the truth was all that he cared 
 to vindicate: his own he left in the hands of his 
 Divine Master. 
 
 About the same time he began to devote himself 
 more than ever to the task of pulpit preparation. 
 He transcribed several sermons, chiefly on some of 
 the leading characters of Scripture, with the view of 
 forming a volume for the press. Other avocations, 
 and his own extreme diffidence in his talent for this 
 species of composition, prevented him from carrying 
 this design into execution: the sermons whicli he 
 transcribed were published, however, in a posthumous 
 volume, in 1836; and I have no reason to repent 
 having offered them to the public. His health and 
 spirits gradually improved: and his domestic happi- 
 ness was enhanced by a second marriage, having 
 united himself, in the end of 1S27, with Mary, fourth 
 daughter of his venerable friend and fellow-labourer, 
 the Rev, Robert Chalmers of Haddington. 
 
 To return to his historical labours, — in May 1825 
 we find him ed;ting the " Memoirs of Mr. William 
 Veitchand George Brysson, written by themselves," 
 from manuscripts which had been put into his hands 
 with a view to publication. To these narratives he 
 prefixed brief biographical notices, and appended 
 illustrative notes. '• Some," he observes in the pre- 
 face, '' may be of opinion that unnecessary pains have 
 been taken in the editing of this work; but having 
 undertaken the publication of these memorials, and 
 considering them to be valuable, I reckoned it in- 
 cumbent on me to do them as much justice as pos- 
 sible. With a little more labour, a connected history 
 of the period might have been produced, but 1 am 
 persuaded that no account which I could draw up 
 
HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN ITALY. 263 
 
 would present so graphic a picture of the men and 
 measures of that time, as is exhibited in the follow- 
 ing historical pieces. The reader has an opportunity 
 of listening to persons who describe scenes which 
 they witnessed and in which they bore a part more 
 or less distinguished. Agreeing in their religious 
 and political sentiments, they were placed in very 
 different situations: one of them being an ecclesias- 
 tic, another a military man, a third a private gentle- 
 man, and a fourth a farmer and a merchant at differ- 
 ent periods of his life." " Brysson's Memoir is by far 
 the best written of the whole; and indeed, it appears 
 to me to be a master-piece of the kind for unaffected 
 simplicity and the natural picturesque in historical 
 description." 
 
 After all, however, one cannot help regretting that 
 the labour expended on the editing of these obscure 
 memoirs had not been devoted to " a connected his- 
 tory of the period." They are interesting, certainly, 
 as affording us some insight into the private history 
 of the period ; but one is vexed to see such sketches 
 framed and ornamented at an expense of time and 
 toil which might have served to produce an original 
 painting, embracing the whole field, and concen- 
 trating itsmost importantfeaturesin a connected piece. 
 The reader is disappointed, too, on finding so few of 
 the editor's own sentiments even in the brief Notices 
 which are prefixed to the narratives, and which chiefly 
 consist of facts relating; to the individuals. Amona: 
 the rare exceptions to this rule, are the following 
 reflections, which occur in his Notices of .Tames Urc, 
 in reference to the extreme opinions of Hamilton 
 and his part}^, a main cause of the lamentable failure 
 at Both well Bridge: and which, as being the only 
 record of his sentiments on an interesting question, 
 may be here transcribed: — " Another remark is sug- 
 gested by the facts here referred to. If ministers of 
 the Gospel would preserve their usefulness and respec- 
 tability, they must guard their independence on the 
 side of the people as well as of civil rulers. Pro- 
 
264 LIFE OF DK. M'CKIE. 
 
 vitled they become " the servants of men," it matters 
 not much whether their masters wear a crown or a 
 bonnet; and if, instead of going before the people to 
 point out to them the path of duty, and checking 
 them when they are ready to run into extremes, they 
 wait to receive directions from them, and suffer 
 themselves to be borne along by the popular stream, 
 the consequences cannot fail to be fatal to both. 
 Firm and tenacious of his purpose, the servant of 
 the Lord, while gentle to all, ought to hold on the 
 even tenour of his way, unmoved equally by the 
 frown of the tyrant, the cry of the multitude, and dic- 
 tates of forward individuals, good and well-meaning 
 men it may be, but who " cannot see afar off," and 
 just need the more to be led that they think them- 
 selves capable of being leaders. An opposite con- 
 duct on tlie part of two or three ministers tended to 
 foster those extravagant opinions and practices adopt- 
 ed by some Presbyterians at this period, which dis- 
 credited the cause for which they appeared, and 
 which their best friends, though they may excuse, 
 will not be able to defend, and should not seek to 
 vindicate,"* 
 
 " Perhaps," he says to one of his friends, in Feb- 
 ruary 1S26, "you may wish to know what I am doing 
 in my study? Idling. One word expresses the whole, 
 providing your inquiry relates, as the ordinary in- 
 quiries do, to literary labours. For some years I have 
 confined my studies almost entirely to preparations 
 for the pulpit, and it was my desire — my earnest de- 
 sire to continue to do so, even more exclusively and 
 entirely than I have lately done. This, however, 
 1 find to be impracticable, and therefore I must, 
 though with inexpressible reluctance, alter my course. 
 Excuse me from saj'ing more at present." He 
 alludes here to his proposed work on the " History 
 of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation 
 in Italy," which appeared in May 1827. "A con- 
 
 * Memoirs of V'eitch, &c., pp. 453, '154. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN ITALY. 265 
 
 siderable number of years has elapsed," he says in the 
 Preface, " since I was convinced that the reformed 
 opinions had spread to a much <i;reater extent in Italy 
 than is commonly supposed. This conviction I took 
 an opportunit}' of makino; public, and, at the same 
 iime expressed a wish that some person who had 
 leisure would pursue the inquiry, and fill up what 
 1 considered as a blank in the Histor}^ of the Refor- 
 mation.* Hearing of none who was willing to accept 
 the invitation, I lately resolved to arrange the mate- 
 rials relating to the subject which had occurred to 
 me in the course of my reading, with tlie addition of 
 such facts as could be discovered by a more careful 
 search into the most probable sources of informa- 
 tion." 
 
 The chief defect of this work as a composition, is 
 its presenting to us its numerous notices of distin- 
 guished characters, as it were, by piecemeal. "We 
 meet," says one of its reviewers, " with the disjecla 
 membra heroxim; which we are obliged to combine 
 into a whole, as well as we can, by the help of an 
 imperfect index. It is easy to see how the author 
 has fallen into this mismanagement, which divides, 
 and thus weakens the impression of his sketches. 
 Where a character lives and figures throughout the 
 greater part of a history, it is natural and proper that 
 
 * " I had once intended drawing np an account of tlie Refor- 
 mation in Italy,' but laid aside the design owing to other engage- 
 ments, and not being able to procure all the information I could 
 have wished; and it will give me great pleasure if these hints 
 (which he has given in tiie note) shall excite some person to 
 undertake the task, who has more leisure, and better access to 
 materials." — (Life of Knox, vol. ii., p. 309, note, 2d edition.) To 
 this design I find Mr. Bruce referring so far back as April 1814, 
 with a hope that it "would not be finally laid aside.'" " It is 
 matter of gratitude to God," says a late writer, " that the eminent 
 biographer of Knox was spared, not only to write the Life of 
 Melville, and other works connected with the Reformation of his 
 native land, but also to revert to what he here tells us he had 
 laid aside, and to confer on the universal Church such a valuable 
 boon as that conveyed by his two most original and delightful 
 works, the History of the Reformation, not in Italy only, but also 
 iu Spaim" — {Christian lastruclor^ March lii'6.8, p. 100.) 
 
266 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE, 
 
 he should thus come gradually before the reader, ac- 
 cording to the regular succession of events; but where 
 a number of persons are to be presented, of whom no 
 one takes a leading part, and the accounts of whom 
 amount, after all, only to detached notices, we con- 
 ceive that another method is to be adopted; and that 
 the author's judgment and address should be shown 
 in selecting the proper places at which to introduce 
 the substance of the entire information which he has 
 to offer concerning them, respectively, in their rise, 
 their period of service, and their close."* These re- 
 marks appear to be equally judicious and applicable 
 to the present work; and of this none could be more 
 sensible than the author himself. " Its unpromising 
 character," he observes in one of his letters, " and its 
 unconnected, anecdotical form, after all the labour 
 I could bestow upon it, I was aware of, but felt a 
 strong desire after all to do some justice to the sub- 
 ject. Perhaps my zeal is to be accounted for by the 
 maxim of the Roman satirist. Quod tu solas nihil est, 
 nisi te scire alter sciaff — or something like that." It 
 is certainly more " easy to see how the author has 
 fallen into this mismanagement," than it would be to 
 attempt an improvement in a work of such peculiar 
 difficulty;:}: but we cannot help regretting that the 
 notices of such characters. as Curio, Carnesecchi, Pa- 
 ]eario,Ochino,and01ympiaMorata, had notbeen given 
 as connected episodes. Even as they stand, they form 
 the main attractions of the work: they have been fre- 
 quently quoted; and such was the interest excited in 
 particular by the account of the pious, learned, and 
 
 * Christian Observer, August 1827. 
 
 t " It is nothing for you to know any thing, unless another 
 know that you know it." 
 
 I The difficulties of the work may be estimated, when it is con- 
 sidered that the author had to trace the introduction, progress 
 and suppression of the reformed opinions into no less than 
 twenty-five different Italian States, which he has done in so 
 many distinct, and, in fifteen cases, particular accounts of each; 
 and that there was no single hero of sufficient importance to 
 give unity, no combined national movements to give cohesion to 
 the story. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN ITALY. 267 
 
 amiable Olympia, in the congenial breast of a modern 
 authoress, that she was induced to inquire more nar- 
 rowly into her history, which led to a correspondence 
 with our author, and issued in the publication of an 
 interesting biography of the Italian heroine.* 
 
 "The volume," says the reviewer already quoted, 
 "is highl}'^ literary. In some parts religion will be 
 thought, perhaps, to be rather overlaid, and in a mea- 
 sure hidden, by literature; while the author has some- 
 times rather excited longings than satisfied them, by 
 adverting to devout passages, ' to which he knows 
 nothing superior,' and letters full of pious 'unction,' 
 of which he has allowed us but scantily to taste with 
 him. His is one of the few volumes which might 
 have been advantageously extended, by additions from 
 such sources. Dr. M'Crie's reflections are not frequent 
 or copious, but they are just and weighty, and proceed 
 upon the soundest principles." Our author, however, 
 always disliked the practice of spiritualizing histori- 
 cal events; and if we may judge from the failure of 
 late attempts of this nature, he was right: a history, it 
 seems, must be just a history, and a sermon just a ser- 
 mon; the combination of the two, like that of religion 
 in a novel, is sure to spoil both. Dr. M'Crie's par- 
 tiality to the subject of this history induced him to 
 bestow great pains on the second edition, which ap- 
 peared in June 1833, with considerable enlargements. 
 
 The " Reformation in Italy" has excited conside- 
 rable interest on the continent. It has been trans- 
 lated into French, German and Dutch. f It was proba- 
 
 *"01ympia Morata, her Times, Life, and Writings, by the 
 aullior of ' Selwyn,' ' Mornings with Mamma,' ' Probation,' ' Tales 
 of the Moors,' &c. The author of these pages knows not how 
 the discovery may have affected others, more learned, more 
 callous, or more philosophical tlian herself; but it was with a 
 sense of strange and spirit-stirring emotion, that she first gathered, 
 from the valuable work of her countrymen, Dr. M-Crie, how 
 bright, though brief a ray, the beacon light of the blessed Refor- 
 mation, once shed over now, alas! universally benighted Italy," 
 Olympia Morata, p. ]. 
 
 1 The French translation was published anonymously, at Paris, 
 in 1831 . It is well e.Tfecuted. The author of the Dutch transr 
 
26S LIFE OF DR. M'craE. 
 
 bly owing to these versions, and the fear of its being 
 translated into Italian, that the court of Rome lately 
 did this work the honour of inserting it in the Index 
 Expurgatorius. It could hardly be expected that so 
 faithful a tale of "Protestant tears and Popish tri- 
 umphs," would escape the lynx-eyed inquisitors of 
 Rome; the wonder is, that, with such proofs of the 
 unaltered spirit of that religion, as displayed at head- 
 quarters, any should allow themselves to be duped 
 with the fair professions of liberality, made by its 
 emissaries who are prosecuting the war, on other tac- 
 tics, in the enemy's country. 
 
 ''Italy" was succeeded, in October 1829, by a 
 similar work on "The Progress and Suppression of 
 the Reformation in Spain, in the Sixteenth Century." 
 "The following work," he says in the Preface, "is a 
 sequel to that which I lately published on the Refor- 
 mation in Italy, and completes what I intended as a 
 contribution to that memorable revolution in the 
 sixteenth century, which, in a greater or less degree, 
 affected all the nations of Europe. More than twenty 
 years have elapsed since I inserted, in a periodical 
 work, a short account of the introduction of the re- 
 formed opinions into Spain, and the means employed 
 to extirpate them. The scanty materials from which 
 that sketch was formed have gradually increased in 
 the course of subsequent reading and research." 
 
 The periodical here referred to was the Christian 
 Magazine, and the account was comprised in the 
 two sketches already referred to, (p. 150,) the first of 
 
 lation is the Rev. William Nicholae Muntintj, one of the ministers 
 of Leyden, who has also translated Dr. M'Crie's " History of the 
 Reformation in Spain,'' and added several valuable notes to his 
 version of both works. I may add, on the authority of my friend 
 Dr, Steven, (late of the Scots Church, Rotterdam,^ that Mr. 
 Munting has done his part most satisfactorily, and that the public 
 liave already so far encouraged the undertaliing by the purchase 
 of a considerable impression. Of Itti/y, there have been two 
 editions in Dutch. In a catalogue of new German publications, 
 dateiJ 183G, is a German translation of Dr. M'Crie's " History of 
 tiie Reformation in Spain," with notes and a preface by Messrs. 
 Flif Dinger and Bauer, published at Stuttgardt. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN SPAIN. 269 
 
 which appeared in November 1803, twenty-six years 
 before tlie publication of his present work on the Re- 
 formation in Spain. It is remarkable that the Refor- 
 mation in Spain should have been the first subject on 
 which he employed his historical pen, and which in- 
 duced him to prosecute such researches, and that it 
 should have been the last historical work which he 
 gave to the public. 
 
 The Reformation produced so little impression on 
 Spain — its early promise was so speedily crushed by 
 the iron gripe of the inquisition — the interval was so 
 brief between the partial opening in the cloud that 
 had enveloped that country for centuries, and its 
 closing again in darkness and blood — that less general 
 interest has been excited by the history of its progress 
 and suppression, than might have been expected from 
 the novelty of the subject, and the thrilling though 
 painful character of its details. It is probable that 
 the real interest and importance of this history will 
 not be developed or felt, till time has brought about 
 changes in the political and ecclesiastical state of that 
 ill-fated country which will open its eyes to the bene- 
 fits of the Reformation. This the author himself 
 seems to anticipate in his closing reflections. "We 
 are not to conclude that the Spanish martyrs threw 
 away their lives and spilt their blood in vain. They 
 offered to God a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour. 
 Their blood is precious in his sight; he has avenged 
 it, and may yet more signally avenge it. They left 
 their testimony for truth in a country where it had 
 been eminently opposed and outraged. That testi- 
 mony has not altogether perished. Who knows what 
 efiects the record of what they dared and suflfei'ed 
 may yet, through the divine blessing, produce upon 
 that unhappy nation, which counted them as the filth 
 and offscouring of all things, but was not worthy of 
 them ?"* 
 
 The following reflections appended by Dr. M'Crie 
 
 * History of tije Reformation in Spain, p. 340, 
 23* 
 
270 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 to this history, had struck him at the commencement 
 of his historical career, in 1803, and their soundness, 
 it appears, was confirmed hy all his subsequent in- 
 vestigations. The importance which he attached to 
 them, as well as the prevalence of the opposite sen- 
 timent, seems to justify their insertion in these me- 
 moirs. 
 
 "The fate of the Reformation in Spain, as well as 
 Italy, teaches us not to form hasty and rash conclu- 
 sions respecting a course of proceedings on which 
 Providence, for inscrutable reasons, may sometimes 
 be pleased to frown. The common maxim that 'the 
 blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,' was 
 remarkably verified in the primitive ages of Christi- 
 anity; but we must distinguish what is effected by the 
 special interposition and extraordinary blessing of 
 Heaven, from what will happen according to the ordi- 
 nary course of events. In the nature of things, it can- 
 not but operate as a great, and with multitudes as an 
 insuperable obstacle to the reception of the truth, 
 that, in follovving the dictates of their conscience, 
 they must expose themselves to every species of 
 worldly evil; and persecution may be carried to such 
 a pitch as will, without a miracle, crush the best of 
 causes; for though it cannot eradicate the truth from 
 the minds of those by whom it has been cordially 
 embraced, it may cut off all the ordinary means of 
 communication by which it is propagated. Accord- 
 ingly, history shows that true religion has been not 
 only excluded, but banished, for ages, from extensive 
 regions of the globe, by oppressive laws and a tyran- 
 nical administration."* 
 
 * Reformation in Spain, p. 343. In a note, he refutes the well- 
 known sentiment of Andrew Fuller, which has often been echoed 
 of late — " that when Christians have resorted to the sword in 
 order to resist persecution for the Gospel's sake, they have -perished 
 by it, that is, they have been overcome by their enemies, and 
 exterminated; whereas in cases where their only weapons have 
 been the blood of the Lamb and the Word of their testimony, 
 loving not tlieir lives to the death, they have overcome," IJoIJi 
 parts of this assertion, tlio author shows, are contradicted by 
 
THE REFORMATION IN SPAIN. 271 
 
 It has often been regretted that, instead of prosecu- 
 ting these remote and foreign researches, Dr. M'Crie 
 did not bring down, to a later period, the history of 
 the Reformation in his native country. At one time, 
 as we have ah'eady seen, he contemplated this; but 
 several reasons conspired to prevent him from finish- 
 ing the design. The extraordinary efforts wiiich the 
 Lives of Knox and Melville had cost him, shattered 
 his strength and exhausted his spirits, to such a de- 
 gree as to deter him from prosecuting an undertaking 
 which, in his eye, threatened to be no less laborious. 
 He was incapable of treating any subject superficially; 
 and the very extent of his acquaintance with the im- 
 mense mass of conflicting materials with which he 
 would have to deal, in treating the history of the 
 Second Reformation, made him shrink with the more 
 repugnance from the prospect of encountering it. In 
 the cases of Italy and Spain, the difficulties, though 
 far from trifling, were more easily surmounted. He 
 had collected a multitude of facts, and he took plea- 
 sure in arranging them into a narrative. Besides, to 
 tell the truth, though he would never allow himself 
 to be an antiquary, in the ordinary sense of that term, 
 — a class indeed for whom he expressed no small 
 contempt, — yet he was fond of that species of literary 
 adventure, which delights in investigating the un- 
 known regions of the world of history, exploring 
 sources of information to which few have access, and 
 from thence collecting materials which might serve 
 to illustrate long-neglected worth, or to vindicate 
 much-injured innocence.* This, doubtless, had its 
 
 history. " Tlie truth is, that the Albigenses, &c., who resisted, 
 were not exterminated; while the Italian and Spanish Protestants, 
 who did not resist, met with that fate." 
 
 * " I liave launched out into a sea," he writes to a friend, " by 
 trying to explore the terra incognita of the early history of the 
 Spanish Church. I think I have made some discoveries, that is, 
 I flatter myself in this. If you say, Who will care for them.' my 
 answer must be in the sublime of Medea, Egomet." "Like you," 
 writes Mr. Bruce to him in 1814, " I feel a strong propensity to 
 hunt after something new, or to gratify the mind by a rapid 
 change of my ideas in reading, rather than to settle long to com- 
 position on a particular subject." 
 
272 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 share in attracting him to Italy and Spain. And it 
 may be here mentioned, as a proof of his determina' 
 tion to overcome the difficulties of the task, that in 
 order to consult his authorities in the original lan- 
 guages, he made himself master, at a late period of 
 his life, of the Italian and the Spanish. In the for- 
 mer language, he made considerable proficiency: the 
 German he had acquired at an earlier period. 
 
 While tlius engaged in tracing the blood-stained 
 annals of Protestantism in foreign lands, and ex- 
 posing the essentially cruel and intolerant character of 
 Popery, we may easily conceive with what feelings of 
 grief and alarm he witnessed the progress of the Bill 
 introduced by Government in 1S29, for admitting 
 Roman Catholics into places of power and trust. On 
 this momentous question, as we have seen, his senti- 
 ments were most decided. None could be more op- 
 posed than he, both on principle and from feeling, to 
 persecution for conscience' sake. Of this he gave a 
 sufficient proof by taking an active interest in peti- 
 tioning for the abolition of the Test and Corporation 
 Acts, in the preceding year. Though well aware that 
 the abolition of these acts would lead to "Catholic 
 Emancipation," a measure which he dreaded and de- 
 precated as one of the most ruinous projects of mo- 
 dern legislation, yet such was his conscientiousness, 
 such his persuasion of the iniquity of these Acts, that 
 he pleaded for their removal with as much zeal as the 
 keenest partisan in the cause of emancipation could 
 desire. His objection to them was not merely that 
 they involved a gross profanation of sacred things, by 
 prostituting the memorials of the Redeemer's death 
 to obtain secular advantages; but that they made a 
 difference in religion, strictly so called, a ground of 
 exclusion from civil privileges. It was on very dif- 
 ferent principles that he opposed the admission of 
 Papists to places of power and trust. He "felt not 
 the slightest wish to deprive Roman Catholics of the 
 full liberty, which they ah-cady enjoyed, of practising 
 the rites of their worship, and conducting their pri- 
 
CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 273 
 
 vate affaii's, without molestation or disturbance;" but 
 he was "decidedly of opinion tliat the genius and 
 complex system of Popery and the dominant and 
 encroaching spirit of the Church of Rome, not only 
 are contrary to the word of God, and fraught with 
 superstition and idolatry, but are such, in themselves, 
 and in the unequivocal manifestations which have 
 been so often given of their tendencies, as to render 
 it unsafe to intrust the adherents of that superstition 
 with poHtical power in this country; and, in particu- 
 lar, that their divided allegiance — their subjection to 
 a foreign dominion, which has arrogated, exercised, 
 and never renounced a universal authority, affecting, 
 indirectly, at least, the temporal and civil interests of 
 men — their implicit devotion to a Church claiming 
 infallibility and exclusive salvation — and the notori- 
 ous subserviency which they are under to their spiri- 
 tual guides, utterly incapacitate them for giving 
 those securities which are requisite to a participation 
 of Legislative and Executive power in a Protestant 
 countr}', and under a Government like that of Bri- 
 tain."* In short, he could not regard in the light of 
 persecution for conscience' sake, the policy of with- 
 holding cW\\ power from a class of men who, under 
 the name of religion, had uniformly employed that 
 power for the suppression or overthrow of civil and 
 religious freedom. 
 
 But it was not on political grounds merely that 
 he opposed these concessions to Roman Catholics. 
 He considered Britain as pledged, by solemn cove- 
 nants to God, for the extirpation of Popery, as a 
 system of idolatry and wickedness; and the proposal 
 to admit the sworn adherents of Rome within the 
 ramparts of the British constitution, he could regard 
 in no other light than as a violation of that solemn 
 compact, exposing us to the judgments of Heaven 
 threatened against those nations which should "give 
 their power and strength unto the beast." He de- 
 
 * Petition to the house of Commons against the Roman Catho- 
 lic Claims, drawn up by Dr. M'Crie. See Appendix. 
 
274 LIFE OF DR. M^CUIE. 
 
 nounced it as "throwing away the privileges which 
 we possessed not as principals but as trustees, not as 
 proprietors but usufructuaries." And it was his firm 
 persuasion, founded on the language of Scripture pro- 
 phecy, and confirmed by all his knowledge of the past 
 history of Popery, as well as by his observation of 
 public opinion and passing events, that the Church of 
 Rome would yet gain a temporary ascendency in 
 Great Britain, which would issue in a fearful struggle 
 previous to her final overthrow. With such solemn 
 views of the question, we need not be surprised to 
 learn that he frequently took an opportunity of ad- 
 verting to it from the pulpit. This was amply af- 
 forded him at the time by the Book of Ezra on which 
 he was in the course of lecturing. "Convinced from 
 the first," he said on one of these occasions, "that 
 the Ministry of the day will succeed in carrying their 
 object, that their resolution is taken to prosecute their 
 plans, whatever opposition may be made by the coun- 
 try, and that it seems to be the intention of Provi- 
 dence to permit it, from the union of parties hitherto 
 so uniformly opposed, and the lying spirit which has 
 entered into our prophets — my sole object in referring 
 to the measure as I have done, is personal exonera- 
 tion. We have been told from a high quarter, to 
 avoid such subjects, 'unless we wish to rekindle the 
 flames of Smithfield, now long forgotten. Long 
 forgotten! where forgotten? In heaven? No, In 
 Britain? God forbid. They may be forgotten at 
 St. Stephen's or Westminster Abbey, but they are 
 not forgotten in Britain. And, if ever such a day 
 arrives, the hours of Britain's prosperity have been 
 numbered."* On no subject, indeed, were his feel- 
 
 * " The late Dr. M'Crie, especially, stood out as a beacon to his 
 own degenerate age, of which his sagacious and far-sighted ken 
 enabled him to take the lead. A few of his contemporaries, 
 indeed, of the same mental calibre with himself, as the late 
 Robert Hall, had prophetic gliin])ses of the approaching struggle 
 between the re-assertors of the faith of Rome, and the descend- 
 ants of the Reformation. But on Dr. M'Crie, as on a true north- 
 ern seer, the vision of the future seenaed to burst, with all the 
 
CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 275 
 
 ings more apt to be excited. He was deeply grieved 
 by what lie considered the grand defection of the 
 Whig party, with whose politics he generally agreed, 
 but who on this question had so completely aban- 
 doned the Whiggism of the old school, and joined 
 issue with their opponents, the Tories, who, in for- 
 mer times at least, were favourable to concessions to 
 Roman Catholics.* This was the only point of pub- 
 lic principle on which he differed, and had almost quar- 
 relled, with his friend Dr. Thomson; and many were 
 the conferences which they held on it. That great 
 and good man was, like many others, impressed with 
 the idea that Catholicism had undergone important 
 modifications, and misled by the delusive expectation 
 of healing the dissensions of the country, and trium- 
 phing over the errors of Popery, by conceding to 
 Paptists admissibilit}' to places of civil power; — a 
 measure which far from realizing these sanguine prog- 
 nostics, has been made only a stepping-stone to far- 
 ther demands — has given increased currency to a 
 superstition, too well adapted to human nature, by 
 removing the stigma which our ancestors had wisely 
 appended to it by placing it under the ban of law — 
 and has engrafted on the British constitution, what 
 was formerly confined to the Protestant and Popish 
 creeds, a principle of perpetual disunion. 
 
 Little prospect as he entertained of success in any 
 opposition to this fatal measure, he considered it his 
 duty to use every lawful means to prevent it; and 
 accordingly he joined in a requisition to the Lord 
 Provost of Edinburgh, signed by forty-six respect- 
 inspirations of literary courage, which laughed to scorn the 
 deiision of the puling and degenerate advocates of modern 
 liberalism." — London Watchman, Nov. 1835. 
 
 * The Whigs of Scotland were always, till of late years, the 
 foremost in opposing concessions to Popery. The Moderate party 
 in the Churcli of Scotland, under the management of Principal 
 Robertson, took the opposite side; and his biographer, Mr. 
 Stewart, is at great pains to vindicate him for the part which he 
 took in this question, a part so obnoxious at that time to the 
 people of Scotland, that his life had almost fallen a sacrifice to 
 the popular fury. 
 
^16 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 able gentlemen, to call a public meeting of those who 
 were of opinion "that no farther political power 
 should be granted to the Roman Catholics of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, nor admission into either House 
 of Parliament," for the purpose of petitioning the 
 Legislature on the subject. His Lordship, however, 
 having previously consulted with the Solicitor-Gene- 
 ral, was induced, in deference to his opinion, to de- 
 cline calling such a meeting; and the requisitionists, 
 unwilling to raise any undue excitement, did not 
 press the matter any farther. The Pro-Catholic party, 
 however, without deeming it necessary to ask the 
 sanction of the Provost, or even to apprize him of 
 their design, called a meeting to petition in favour 
 of "Emancipation;" and this meeting, which proved 
 somewhat tumultuous, was held on the 14th March 
 1829.* Thus the inhabitants of Edinburgh who 
 were opposed to this measure were deprived of the 
 opportunity enjoyed by their opponents, of publicly 
 expressing their sentiments; but a petition against 
 the claims, which was drawn up by Dr. M'Crie, and 
 signed by 13,150 names, was presented to the House 
 of Commons. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FROM THE PUBLICATION OP THE REFORMATION IN 
 SPAIN, TO HIS DEATH. 
 
 1829—1835. 
 
 Fko3I the publication of "Spain" in 1S29, to the 
 close of 1831, there was a pause in our author''s lite- 
 
 *The requisition for this meeting was signed by the Solicitor- 
 General (John Hope, Esq.,) who found himself under the 
 necessity of vindicating his conduct in a long lettei' which he 
 sent to the newspapers, and which I cannot say that I fully 
 understand; but the facts were as stated in the text. The cor- 
 respondence appeared in a periodical called " The ScotlLsli 
 rrotestaat," Nos. v. and viii. 
 
UNION. 277 
 
 rary labours, broken only by a critical article on Sir 
 James Turner's Memoirs in the Edinburgh Review 
 for April 1830.* We may embrace this opportunity 
 of introducing a few extracts from his correspond- 
 ence, containing reflections on passing events, or 
 illustrative of his sentiments on various topics of in- 
 terest. His mind, though naturally cheerful and 
 serene, was liable to be overcast by shades of sombre 
 reflection, which the sunshine of prosperity only 
 brought out into darker and more definite outline. 
 Congratulating a friend, who had built himself a cot- 
 tage, on his entrance into his new abode, in the end 
 of 1829, he says: — "Our fathers, where are they? 
 This we say of them now, and our children in a little 
 time will breathe the same regret for us, accom- 
 panied with a sigh, which, being interpreted, says, 
 'We shall in a little be where they are!' O earth, 
 earth, earth! thou art the true proprietor and lord 
 paramount of all that is here below. Thou givest 
 forth nothing but what thou receivest again, and 
 thou receivest thine own with usury. Grass, herbs, 
 trees, plants, houses, metals base and precious, and 
 man himself, who hath rifled thee of all these, and 
 who tears thy bosom, and digs into thy bowels, and 
 measuring thy length and thy breadth proudly walks 
 over thee, as if he were more than dust, — all shall 
 return to thee, and find a grave in the womb from 
 which they sprang !" 
 
 "I can never," he writes at the same time, "en- 
 tertain sanguine hopes of those who break off their 
 religious connexions on account of personal dissatis- 
 factions. 1 am told that Providence sometimes over- 
 rules these for opening the eyes of men to the truth 
 — and that is true, but he overrules all the workings 
 of Satan. I am to have an interview with a Baptist 
 to-morrow, who has been hearing me regularly for 
 
 * In this article, which may be published among his miscella- 
 neous pieces, he enters, at some length, into the history of the 
 period occupied by Turner's Memoirs, and canvasses the degree 
 of reliance due to the testimony of that unprincipled goldado. 
 
 21 
 
278 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 several months. Is it not a difficult thing to strike 
 the medium between a spirit of proselytizing, and a 
 readiness to instruct — I should have said, a zealous 
 desire to recover the erring, and to win them to the 
 way of truth? One evil of our present divisions on a 
 well-constituted mind is, 1 should think, their ten- 
 dency to check and cool the last mentioned feeling. 
 But I must not enter on divisions. That would lead 
 to elegiac strains, which are unfit for the close of a 
 letter." 
 
 In 1830, negotiations for union between the body 
 with which Dr. INl'Crie was connected and the Asso- 
 ciate Synod of Original Burghers, were resumed and 
 continued for some time, though, unhappily, without 
 success. His correspondence with his brethren about 
 this time is much occupied with earnest pleadings in 
 behalf of this union, and schemes for accomplishing 
 it, which can only be useful now as demonstrating 
 his truly catholic spirit, and intense anxiety to heal 
 the divisions of the Church. As he approached the 
 termination of his course, this amiable spirit became 
 more and more conspicuous; and, though still as 
 jealous as ever of sacrificing truth to peace, it is very 
 apparent that he became more sensible to the injurious 
 effects of division, and the duty and necessity of union 
 among Presbyterians, especially such as were friendly 
 to the cause of the Reformation. "I do not see," he 
 writes ISth May 1S30, "how our melancholy divi- 
 sions can ever be healed, or even peace be long pre- 
 served in any body, unless the principle of allowing 
 for private opinion be acted upon. If all the truths 
 or principles of religion involved in a controversy 
 are asserted, and if the offensive practice [the swear- 
 ing of Burgess oaths] is put down, and legal security 
 provided against its revival, I really must think that 
 a scriptural ground for union is laid, so far as that 
 controversy is concerned. I would be afraid to in- 
 sist for more, or to prevent the direct influence of 
 Bible forbearance on such a state of things. In this 
 manner I think the dissension as to the Public Rcso- 
 
DEATH OF DR. THOMSON. 279 
 
 lutions ought to have been settled before the Restora- 
 tion; and our fathers were not, or rather the cause 
 they maintained was not, in greater danger from per- 
 secution than we and the cause we maintain are in 
 from the torrent of liberalism and an Anti-Reforma- 
 tion spirit. Will our divisions have a less hurtful 
 effect than theirs had? Better sink than throw away 
 the truth; but if we think we have the truth, and that 
 it is in danger of sinking with us, this should be a 
 strong inducement to us to use all lawful means for 
 self-preservation." 
 
 The lamented death of Dr. Thomson, on the 9th 
 February 1831, inflicted a severe shock on the feel- 
 ings of the subject of our memoir. The alarming 
 suddenness of the stroke — their long, and, except on 
 one point, most harmonious co-operation in public 
 life — the frequent contests in which they had fought 
 side by side — and above all, the irreparable loss which 
 the cause of truth sustained in the removal of such 
 an able and dauntless champion, cut down in the mid 
 career of his usefulness, and at a time when his talents 
 were never more required — all contributed to enhance 
 the grief which he felt for him as a private friend. 
 On the Sabbath immediately succeeding his decease, 
 he gave vent to his feelings in an impassioned pero- 
 ration to his sermon, of which the following is the 
 substance: — "Brethren, pray for us; and let your 
 first and last petition be hwnilily. Once, yea twice, 
 has a voice cried to the ministers of this city, and 
 again, since we last met, it hath cried with the sound 
 of a trumpet, 'All flesh is grass, and all the goodli- 
 ness thereof is as the flower of the field !' The dis- 
 pensation to which I refer has produced a deep sen- 
 sation : that it may be permanent and salutary! 
 The time has not come at which ceremony permits 
 the dead to be spoken of in public. But I hasten to 
 say the little which I have to say, especially as it is 
 not in the way of eulogy. Others will praise him: 
 as for me — 1 can only deplore him! And my de- 
 ploration shall not turn on the splendid talents with 
 
280 LIFE OF DR. M'CKIE, 
 
 which his Master adorned him — the vigour of his 
 understanding — the grasp of his intellect, or the un- 
 rivalled force of his masculine eloquence — but on his 
 honest, firm, unflinching, fearless independence of 
 mind — a quality eminently required in the present 
 time, in which I may say he was single among his 
 fellows, and which claimed for him respect, as well 
 as forbearance, even when it betrayed its possessor 
 into excess." 
 
 Dr. M'Crie, as one of the most intimate friends of 
 the deceased, was requested to draw up a sketch of 
 Dr. Thomson's character for the newspapers; and 
 this, though it has been often printed, shall be given 
 in the Appendix, as a tribute to the memory of one 
 whom he so highly respected and admired. There 
 is one fact in Dr. Thomson's history, brought out in 
 this notice, which cannot be too frequently repeated: 
 — "The fact is, though hitherto known to few, and 
 the time is now come for revealing it, that some of 
 those effusions which were most objectionable, and 
 exposed him to the greatest obloquy, were neither 
 composed by Dr. Thomson, nor seen by him until 
 they were published to the world; and that, in one 
 instance, which has been the cause of the most un- 
 sparing abuse, he paid the expenses of a prosecution, 
 and submitted to make a public apology, for an offence 
 of which he was innocent as the child unborn, rather 
 than give up the name of the friend who was morally 
 responsible for the deed, — an example of generous 
 self-devotion which has few parallels." 
 
 It was shortlv after this time that he drew up those 
 papers on the "Marrow Controversy," as it has been 
 called, which appeared in the Christian Instructor. 
 To this subject his attention had been invited by his 
 truly excellent friend Dr. Charles Watson, then mi- 
 nister of Burntisland, by whom the task of editing 
 the Instructor w^as undertaken for a short time after 
 Dr. Thomson's death. It ma}' be remarked that this 
 controversy derived its name from a book entitled 
 the "Marrow of Modern Divinity," which was little 
 
THE MARROW CONTROVERSY, 281 
 
 more than a compilation of extracts chiefly from Pro- 
 testant writers of the IGth and 17th centuries on the 
 question of jusfification, and tlie distinction between 
 the Law and the Gospel, j^rosecufed in the form of 
 dialogue. This book, originally composed by an 
 Englishman, named Edward Fislier, was republished 
 in 171S by Mr. Hogg, minister of Carnock, at the 
 earnest recommendation of Mr. Boston, who had dis- 
 covered its excellence, and who afterwards added a 
 number of ample notes in explanation and defence of 
 its doctrines. It may be easily supposed, that a trea- 
 tise which required such a commentary was not free 
 from unguarded expressions; but the consideration 
 that some of the strongest of these expressions were 
 borrowed from the writings of our most eminent re- 
 formers, and that the latter part of the treatise was 
 expressly levelled against the antinomian extreme, 
 ought to have protected it from the fate which it ex- 
 perienced. The broad terms in which the author 
 asserted the entire freedom of the believer from the 
 law as a covenant of works, alarmed the jealousy of 
 the moderate party in the Church; and in 1720, the 
 Assembly passed an act condemning the "Marrow," 
 strictly discharging all the ministers of the Church 
 from saying any thing in its favour, by printing, 
 writing, or preaching, and enjoining them to warn 
 their people against reading it. This Act was la- 
 mented at the time, by many of the most estimable 
 ministers of the Church, not so much on account of 
 the book in question, as of the precious truths of the 
 Gospel which were involved in the controversy, 
 and on which the Assembly had affixed the odious 
 stigma of Antinomianism. There can be no doubt 
 that the disaffection manifested at this period to the 
 doctrines of grace, as taught at the Reformation, pre- 
 pared the way for the long reign of that frigid Semi- 
 Arminianism which prevailed during the succeeding 
 portion of the last century. The Seceders keenly 
 took up the cause of the "Marrow," and have always 
 identilicd its distinguishing principles with the pure 
 24* 
 
282 LIFE OP DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 preaching of the Gospel, And there is reason to 
 hope, that as the Church of Scotland becomes more 
 impregnated with sound evangelical doctrine, the 
 prejudices once entertained against these principles 
 will gradually give way. 
 
 Such was the character of the controversy to which 
 Dr. M'Crie now turned his attention; and with his 
 wonted zeal, somewhat abated by increasing infirmi- 
 ties, he began a course of reading with the view of 
 exploring the question to its foundation. He was 
 quite sensible of his propensity to push his inquiries 
 into the minute ramifications of a subject which in- 
 terested him, too far perhaps for popular effect, or 
 farther at least tlian was required for practical pur- 
 poses; and such perhaps has been the case with the 
 papers to which we now refer. It was his intention 
 to have written a complete history of the various 
 opinions on the points involved in this controversy, 
 in Scotland, England and America. This design he 
 carried only partially into execution; but he has left 
 in manuscript a continuation of the papers in the 
 Instructor, giving an account of the controversy as 
 managed in England.* It is to be regretted that he 
 did not live to condense the valuable information 
 which these papers contain, and apply the principles 
 which they advocate to the various forms which the 
 controversy has assumed in modern times. Being a 
 stanch advocate of the "Marrow," and deeply con- 
 vinced that the truths set forth in that publication, 
 how much soever they may have suffered in the es- 
 timation of some, from the somewhat paradoxical 
 ^manner in which they are expressed, lie at the foun- 
 dation of sound views, and a correct experience of 
 (the Gospel system, he was not more offended at the 
 perversion and abuse of these truths, exhibited in the 
 speculations of the Rowites, than he was hurt at the 
 manner in which the crudities of that system, justly 
 
 * These papers, with the continuation, will be published with 
 ills Miscellaneous pieces. 
 
THE MARROW CONTROVERSY. 283 
 
 condemned by the General Assembly, had been by 
 many confoundedwith the doctrhiesof the "Marrovv" 
 divines. Such, however, was his aversion to mingle 
 in modern contests, and such the delicacy he felt from 
 the position in which he stood to the Church of Scot- 
 land, that he shrunk from the task. "So far as I can 
 judge at present," he says Dec. 20, 1831, "I would 
 not be disposed to involve myself with the various 
 mushroom systems, or rather no-systems, which .have 
 sprung up so plentifully in our times — I should not 
 €ven wish to dip into Row ism. I am too partial to 
 the diving-bell, and therefore need to circumscribe 
 the sphere of my inquiries, which I find easier than 
 restraining my curiosity." On the point of delicacy, 
 he was so fastidious as to take every precaution to 
 conceal his authorship of the papers in the Instructor, 
 and he felt rather annoyed on its being accidentally 
 discovered. 
 
 In reply to Dr. Watson, who expressed a wish that 
 he could be prevailed on to consider what he had 
 written as but the beginning of a more extended view 
 of ecclesiastical affairs in Scotland during the ISlh 
 century, he writes, "The field you point out is in 
 many respects very inviting, but in others it presents 
 to my mind what is very repulsive, both in regard 
 to the Established Church and to the Secession. The 
 difficulty of the task would be sufficient to deter me; 
 but over and above this, I would not be reckoned, 
 nor would I judge myself, duly qualified on the head 
 of impartiality, though I had little or nothing to do 
 in the affairs which marked the closing section of the 
 ISth century. We perhaps live still too near to that 
 age, pregnant with important events, for any of us to 
 view its transactions with a thoroughly unbiassed eye. 
 It would, however, be of great use to the future his- 
 torian to indicate and mark the sources of information, 
 to collect scattered materials, and preserve valuable 
 documents which are in danger of daily perishing or 
 being irrecoverably lost. A valued friend and guide 
 
284 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 of my youth,^ five-and-twenty years ago, drew up 
 the plan of a society having this for its object. There 
 was at that time too little taste for the subject to make 
 the proposal acceptable, and I doubt there is not 
 great encouragement for now reviving it, notwith- 
 standing the formidable phalanx of devoted friends to 
 the profession of Church History which has arrayed 
 itself within these few weeks." 
 
 Again writing to the same valued correspondent, 
 January 9, 1832, he says, "I approve of your idea 
 as to a preliminary chapter, giving an historical sketch 
 of the doctrine of grace from the time of the Refor- 
 mation, and shall attempt something of that kind, if 
 I go on with the work as proposed. But the task is 
 not without its difficulties. It is very satisfying to 
 find you so far coinciding with any views I have 
 formed of the decline (during the last century,) both 
 in England and in Scotland, from the doctrine of the 
 Reformers, and the general causes which led to it. 
 I have more than once regretted that the state of your 
 health is such as to preclude me from having that oral 
 communication with you which I should have been 
 disposed to improve by talking over certain views 
 that have occurred to my mind; for I deem it a great 
 advantage to be able to submit my thoughts to one 
 on whose judgment I can place confidence, but whose 
 habits of thinking have been, by education and inter- 
 course, formed in a manner somewhat different from 
 my own. It serves both to correct and to confirm. 
 The subject is delicate, and 1 have reached that period 
 of life at which (if a person is not reckless or ver}'- 
 conceited) caution is apt to degenerate into painful 
 diffidence and irresolution. 
 
 "It appears to me that the great difference between 
 the ancient Anti-Pelagians and the Reformers, lies in 
 this — that, while both arc advocates for grace, the 
 former considered it chiefly in relation to the change 
 which it effects on the heart, the latter in relation to 
 
 * Professor Brjice, 
 
THE MARROW CONTROVERSY. 285 
 
 the change which it produces on the state, as divines 
 express it, of the sinner. In the writings of Augus- 
 tine, for example, the great champion of grace among 
 the fathers, I have found little about iveQ justification; 
 in the writings of Luther again, this is the grand 
 point — ''Jlrliculus slanlis ac cadentis ecdesicc." This 
 I look upon as the glory of the Reformation — the 
 great advancement in evangelical light beyond what 
 had been attained by the witnesses of the truth in the 
 Pelagian or in the Antichristian ages. Do not you 
 think there is a similar difference between the doc- 
 trine of the Jansenists and of the Reformers? At 
 least, in the works of Pascal, Arnauld and Nicole,! 
 find the grace of God preventing and producing the 
 first good desire, volition and thought in the heart of 
 man; but very little, and nothing very decisive, as 
 to the grace of God in freely justifying the sinner on 
 the sole ground of the atonement and surety-righte- 
 ousness of Christ. 
 
 "I have thought I perceived a change in the tone 
 and phraseology of the reformed divines early in the 
 17th century. Whether it arose from a feeling of 
 difiiculty in defending the strong expressions of the 
 first Reformers against the subtle arguments of Bel- 
 larmine and other acute champions of Rome, or 
 whether it may be traced to the working of the spirit 
 which produced Arminianism, I cannot positively 
 determine. But I am chiefly anxious to obtain satis- 
 faction as to tlie influence which the Arminian con- 
 troversy exerted on the strain of Calvinistic writing. 
 It has been said, by an authority on which I am far 
 from implicitly relying [Sandeman,] that after that 
 period, 'in place of free justification by God's grace 
 through the redemption that is in Christ's blood, 
 much insisted on by the Reformers — they (the Cal- 
 vinistic divines and preachers) now began to insist 
 much more in their sermons on free electing grace, 
 but especially on the efficacious power of that grace 
 in the conversion of the elect, calling them efiec- 
 tually, regenerating, &.c. — The effect of this strain of 
 
286 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 doctrine upon them that hearkened to them was their 
 seeking peace with God and rest to their consciences 
 by what they might feel in themselves, and the exer- 
 cise of their souls in compliance with the call to faith 
 and repentance.' It is added that ' Gomarus,' the 
 first opponent of Arminius, was an exception to this 
 remark, and 'was chiefly concerned about the ground 
 of acceptance witb God.' Now, though I am not 
 prepared to acquiesce in the justice of this charge as 
 laid, yet I am inclined to think that an engrossing at- 
 tention to the points controverted by Van Harmin 
 and his followers was produced (as is ordinarily the 
 case in all controversies;) and that preachers and prac- 
 tical writers became more shy than formerly in using 
 the universal terms employed in Scripture, in pro- 
 posing the Gospel remedy, and that they were more 
 hampered (to use an expressive Scots word) than was 
 necessary, either from the word of God, or their own 
 declared principles concerning particular redemption, 
 in proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation to sinners, 
 and in calling on them to believe in the Saviour. 
 Here it is that I am disposed to think the advantage 
 of the Marrow doctrine lies — while it holds forth a 
 complete salvation (which can be done only on the 
 principle of particular redemption,) it presents a re- 
 vealed ground — call it an offer, a promise, or a deed 
 of gift or grant (the phrase is immaterial) from God, 
 warranting sinners as such, irrespective of any decree, 
 or any qualifications connected with the decree, 
 to believe in, receive and rest upon Christ for all 
 they need for their recovery and happiness, including 
 deliverance from sin and all its consequences. An 
 offer, provided it is perfectly free, entitles the person 
 to whom it is made, to enter presently on the enjoy- 
 ment of the thing offered, and yet does not bind 
 the oflferer, provided his kindness is rejected, or 
 even neglected. Is not a promise to be considered 
 in the same light, provided it is absolutely free on 
 the part of the promiser, and those to whom it 
 is made have no previous claim upon him? The 
 
THE MARROW CONTROVERSY. 287 
 
 promise, however unconditional, if not accepted, does 
 not lay the promisor under ohligation to perform, and 
 yet the accepter has the fullest security for the thing 
 promised, and may draw upon the deed or writing. 
 So say civilians; and I am disposed to think that 
 they proceed upon a moral ground. — But I am losing 
 the thread of history, and getting Into argument. 
 
 "The scheme of the New Methodists, as they were 
 called in France, who about the middle of the 17th 
 century attempted a species of conciliation between 
 Calvinists and Arminians on the heads of election and 
 the extent of the death of Christ, added to the em- 
 barrassment which was still more increased by the 
 Antinomianism of the Cromwellian period, to which 
 you justly refer as producing a partial revulsion from 
 evangelical doctrine. This, as well as a passion for 
 accommodating differences, led the excellent Baxter 
 astray. His influence was great on the English Pres- 
 byterians, The republication of Dr. Crisp's works 
 frightened many of the independents at the time of 
 the Revolution. The Dissenters could not fail being 
 affected by the Arminianism of the English Church; 
 and even those of them who disliked it, were afraid 
 of bringing odium on their cause by countenancing 
 any thing which might give the ruling clergy an oc- 
 casion of accusing them of Antinomianism. There 
 is no writer of whom I am fonder than Henry; but it 
 is impossible not to perceive that Baxterian or Neo- 
 nomian sentiments or expressions frequently occur in 
 his admirable Commentary. I never look into his 
 continuators. 
 
 '•Thus, my dear Sir, I have given you, without in- 
 tending it when I began,anoutlineof what you wished 
 by way of Preliminary." 
 
 I am tempted to give anotlier extract or two froni 
 this valuable correspondence, in illustration of Dr. 
 M'Crie's views of an important subject — the free 
 offer of the Gospel; and the more so, that, though 
 they were "mere hints thrown out raptim," as he 
 says, they will supply, in some measure, the argu- 
 
288 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 mentatlve part of the treatise which he did not live 
 to complete. 
 
 March 15. — "Your remarks on the extracts from 
 Mr. Gib were very gratifying. He was acute, but 
 was sometimes like a man who cuts his own finger by 
 the too fine edge which he has given to his instrument. 
 I never could receive, nor indeed well apprehend, his 
 doctrine about the two interests, both of them objects 
 of faith, as taught in the passages extracted,* and in 
 a recommendatory preface which he wrote to an edi- 
 tion of Dr. Owen on Redemption: nor can I reconcile 
 it with JMarroio doctrine, of which he was a warm 
 friend, but according to which the believer regards 
 Christ as his, not in possession, but in the free offer 
 of tbe Gospel." 
 
 April 12. — " I am inclined to think that we are 
 apt to be deceived by the ambiguity of the word 'in- 
 terest as used in reference to tlie Gospel salvation, and 
 perhaps the same remark applies to the word right. 
 If any benefit is offered to a person, whether the offer 
 be free or conditional, and in whatever manner the 
 person may feel disposed towards it, he has an itilerest 
 in the matter. It concerns or interests him. This is 
 not exactly what we mean when we speak of the 
 common interest of Gospel hearers; we mean a right 
 of claim (to use the old phrase) to make the benefit 
 our own, by appropriating it in the case of a free 
 gift, or by performing the condition, if it was offered 
 on terms. But besides this, we apply the word in- 
 terest to the actual possession or enjoyment of the 
 benefit; and in this sense the phrase, an interest in 
 Christ, or in salvation, has been generally used by 
 divines. Whether this be correct language or not, I 
 shall not say, but humbly think that it has had a ten- 
 dency to perplex, or at least introduce a confusion of 
 ideas into the subject. Is the Gospel gift or grant 
 free, or is it conditional? If the latter, then we 
 come into possession of the thing gifted or granted 
 
 * Gib's Display, vol. ii., p. 1G9 — 174. 
 
THE MAUnoW CONTROVERSY. 2S9 
 
 on the performance of the condition, whatever that 
 may be; and a consciousness of that performance is 
 necessary to any assurtmce of our obtaining the be- 
 nefit, or having a chiim to it. If the former, then 
 we come into possession by appropriating it, or by a 
 believing reception of it as ours by the free gift of 
 the donor. And in this case there is an assurance of 
 the benefit, just as the beggar in taking the alms 
 offered him is assured they are his (not because they 
 are possessed,) and that he shall have all the benefit 
 of them; and just as the person who presents a pro- 
 missory-note, granted by a good hand, is persuaded 
 or assured that he shall obtain a sum specified in it; 
 only, in the case under our consideration, the taking 
 or the presenting, and the persuasion or assurance, 
 are not two things, but identical; this being the pe- 
 culiarity of the Gospel, that faith (not any other act, 
 mental or corporeal) is the instituted means of put- 
 ting the sinner legally (so to speak) in possession of 
 the good exhibited and conveyed by the testimony, 
 — God sustaining it in this way according to his plan 
 of mercy, and gracious declarations. " He that be- 
 lieveth shall be saved." "To him that worketh not, 
 but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his 
 faith is counted for righteousness.'^ " According to 
 thy faith, so be it unto thee," &c. 
 
 " In the Gospel, there are not only general pro- 
 positions or declarations, ascertaining the perfection 
 of Christ's work, — that he died for sins, procured 
 their remission, and did all that was necessary to sa- 
 tisfy divine justice and to render it a righteous 
 thing for God to receive the rebel back to his favour; 
 but tills is so revealed as to aflbrd the amplest ground 
 and warrant to all to take the benefit of it. This 
 constitutes the message glad tidings. " Unto you is 
 born a Saviour — To you is the word of this salva- 
 tion sent — Through this man is preached unto you 
 the forgiveness of sins." That which gives to the 
 doctrine concerning Christ, his ability, the perfection 
 of his atonement, &c, this bearing and application— 
 35 
 
2D0 LIFE OP DR. M'cniE. 
 
 call it offer, grant, or promise — makes it gospel to 
 me. It may be expressed, as it often is, explicitly 
 in Scripture, but it is implied even in the most ge- 
 neral enunciation of its doctrines; and it is under- 
 stood and taken for granted even by those who 
 think they confine themselves to the general truth, 
 provided they derive any relief or benefit from it; 
 just as the inhabitants of a district, ready to perish 
 of famine, would be relieved by hearing that a king's 
 ship had arrived in a neighbouring port laden with 
 corn — the proclamation, by royal authority, of the 
 fact, would give them joy, though unaccompanied at 
 first by any particular notification, and they would 
 supply the words, "Come — buy and eat, yea, with- 
 out money and without price." They would supply 
 such words, not by their wishes merely, but by com- 
 paring their condition with the chai'acter of the prince 
 as ascertained by the fact combined with the procla- 
 mation. Still, however, the explicit statements of 
 the warrant would be of the greatest importance, and 
 in this respect God "has not left himself without 
 witness." 
 
 " ' But what signifies an offer or grant that con- 
 veys nothing?" It signifies a great deal to him that 
 is convinced he has nothing — it is all to him who is 
 ready to receive. — " But how can 1 believe that to be 
 mine, which is not mine, and may never be mine?" 
 If a friend were to tell down a sum of money for 
 you on the table, or authorize you to draw upon him 
 for it, or inform you that he had set aside for you a 
 certain property, could you not believe it was yours? 
 Yet you may never enjoy it; you may disbelieve 
 him, you may spurn, despise, or neglect his gift, and 
 he may appropriate it to himself, or bestow it on an.- 
 other. — " But if God, as you say, has given his Son, 
 and eternal life in him, to the hearers of the Gospel, 
 by a free and unconditional grant, how can he be 
 true and faithful if any of them come short of il?" 
 Reflect on the case of yourself and friend above sup- 
 posed, and give the answer. A man is not bound to 
 
THE MARnOW CONTROVERSY. 291 
 
 pay his debts, creditore noienle et repngnante, much 
 less is he bound to make his gifts available on a cor- 
 responding supposition. You do not expect to re- 
 ceive money for a bill which you hold unless you 
 write your name on the back. Shall our unbelief 
 mar the faithfulness of a good and promising God? 
 I might have referred to the doctrine laid down in 
 the Roman Digests, as conjmented on by civilians, 
 as to the difference between pactum and pollicitalio, 
 which are described thus, Paclum est duorum consensus 
 atque convenlio: polUcilatio vero, offer entis solius promis' 
 sum. The amount of the doctrine is, a simple pro- 
 mise is not binding unless accepted. 
 
 "Forgive me, my dear Sir, for running on in this 
 strain, and writing as if I were dictating, or laying 
 down self-evident axioms. Mind I am contending 
 with or ralher seeking to escape from my meagrim,* 
 and you will not wonder that I treat my subject 
 in a similar way. — What dry stuff would our letters 
 be to our keen-set politicians, who are at present 
 gaping for news about the Reform Bill! Marrow 
 of Modern Divinity! A dry bill of fare indeed! 
 — Yet much depends on the fate of this all-engross- 
 ing Bill." 
 
 From these extracts it will be seen how much his 
 mind was occupied with this subject; and it is inte- 
 resting to observe, that as he approached the termi- 
 nation of his life and literary career, his studies were 
 directed to topics more immediately relating to " the 
 common salvation." "I have been revising," he says 
 to another correspondent, in January 1832, " my 
 doctrinal reading (rather historico-polemical reading,) 
 and taking a few notes; but I am now frightened at 
 the shadow of what I used once to take a pleasure 
 in tossing up and down. I have carved out too large 
 work for my leisure and strength. Besides, I have 
 lost any turn or taste I ever had for polemics, and 
 would much ralher become a conciliator, and, like 
 
 * He had at this time a severe attack of something like tic 
 dotoureux. 
 
292 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE, 
 
 Witsius, write an Irenkum. However, I have at least, 
 by what 1 have done, got a treat in the writings of 
 Hervey. Have you read his letters, or his three ser- 
 mons entitled, "The Time of Danger, the Means of 
 Safety?" The former exhibit a most charming com- 
 bination of love of learning, and deep evangelical 
 piety; and the latter, especially the two first, are 
 the best sermons I have read." 
 
 But with all this growing aversion to polemical 
 and party strifes, he could not avoid taking some 
 interest in the important public questions which now 
 began to agitate the religious world. In the Volun- 
 tary controversy, which may be said to have com- 
 menced with the year 1S32, he never took any ac- 
 tive or prominent part. On the grand principles in- 
 volved in this question, so far as these related to the 
 duty of nations and their rulers to recognise, coun- 
 tenance and support the true religion, he entertained 
 to the last the opinions for which he had contended 
 and suffered in early life, in defence of which he 
 had written, and to the assertion of which he was 
 pledged by his public profession. To have lived to 
 see the importance of these principles recognised by 
 such a large portion of the community — the faithful 
 appearance which he and his brethren had made for 
 them, at a time when they were considered as con- 
 tending for trifles, at length publicly appreciated 
 and applauded — and his " Statement" of the old con- 
 troversy, which had lain for so many years in ob- 
 scurity, eagerly sought after, republished, and quoted 
 on all occasions as one of the most able defences of 
 the principle of Establishments — must have yielded 
 him no small gratification. At the same time, the 
 purely fiscal and political aspect which the contro- 
 versy assumed — the bitterness and personal animosity 
 with which it was conducted — and, above all, the 
 position which he held as a Seceder, conscientiously 
 opposed to the existing establishments on the ground 
 of corruptions adhering to their constitution as well 
 as administration, — induced him to keep aloof from 
 
THE VOLUNTARY CONTROVERSY, 293 
 
 the debate. The sentiments which he held, both on 
 the Voluntary question, and that of return to the 
 communion of the Established Church, are expressed 
 in an address by the Synod of original Seceders, en- 
 tilled, " Vindication of the Principles of the Church 
 of Scotland, in relation to questions presently agi- 
 tated," published in 1S34, which passed through his 
 hands before it was submitted to the Synod or the 
 public. As we have already remarked, Dr. M'Crie's 
 sentiments on this question went much deeper than 
 merely approving of a civil establishment of religion, 
 in the ordinary sense of that expression. The grand 
 principle for wliich he contended was, that it is the 
 right and duty (two things which he viewed as iden- 
 tical) of a nation in its collective capacity ,jis well as 
 of a man in his individual capacity, to decide on the 
 true religion, and having decided, to recognise and 
 countenance the profession of it. He was persuaded 
 that the Voluntary principle was not only untenable, 
 but was incapable of defence, except on grounds in- 
 consistent with a belief in divine revelation, and in- 
 directly but infallibly leading to infidelity. The civil 
 ratification of a peculiar form of religion, he looked 
 upon merely as a corollary from the principle we 
 have stated; and as to the endowment of the church, 
 this he regarded merely as a subsidiary arrangement, 
 highly desirable where it could be obtained, but the 
 expediency of which, in all circumstances of a church 
 or state, he was not disposed to maintain. 
 
 This was not a mere theory, or abstract principle, 
 with Dr. M'Crie, In a letter to a brother, who was 
 anxious to vindicate the Reformation cause, without 
 committing himself on the subject of establishments, 
 he says, " I can only say that I am fully satisfied, not 
 only of the lawfulness of establishments in the ab-' 
 slracl, but also of that which was adopted by our re- 
 forming ancestors. I consider it as entering essen- 
 tially into the Reformation for which Seceders have 
 always contended, and I am persuaded that any de- 
 fence of it which excludes this, must not only be dc- 
 25* 
 
294 LIFE OF DR. m'cRIE. 
 
 fective, but must be inconclusive and unsatisfactory 
 to all intelligent persons of whatever sentiments. 
 I despair of seeing any satisfactory defence of the 
 permanent obligation of our Covenants that does not 
 proceed on this principle." He condemned , the 
 abuses which clung to our establishments, not the 
 principle of an establishment; and in condemning 
 ihese abuses, he could point to a definite model, 
 which once existed in great splendour. He could not, 
 however, wholly approve even of the constitution of 
 the present establishment. The following extract 
 from the document we have mentioned, may explain 
 the position in which he stood in regard to it: — 
 " Our objections to the established Church of Scot- 
 land are not confined to her administration: we can- 
 not unreservedly approve of her constitution as it 
 was established at the Revolution. Though our fa- 
 thers were in communion with that Church, yet they, 
 together with many faithful men who died before 
 the Secession, and some who continued in the Esta- 
 blishment after that event, were all along dissatisfied 
 with several things in the settlement of religion at 
 the Revolution, and in the ratification of it at the 
 union between Scotland and England. The first Se- 
 ceders, in their Judicial Testimony and Declaration 
 of Principles, specified several important points with 
 respect to which that settlement involved a sinful 
 departure from a previous settlement of religion in 
 Scotland (that, namely, between 1G38 and 1650,) 
 which they distinctly held forth as exhibiting the 
 model, in jioint of Scriptural purity and order, of 
 that reformed constitution to which they sought by 
 their contendings to bring back the church of their 
 native land. This Synod occupy the same ground 
 with the first Seceders. They are aware that the 
 Established Church of Scotland has it not in her pow- 
 er to correct all the evils of the Revolution settle- 
 ment which they feel themselves bound to point out; 
 but they cannot warrantably quit their position of se- 
 cession, until the Established Church show a dispo^ 
 
THE VOLUNTARY CONTROVERSY. 295 
 
 sition to return to that reformed constitution, by- 
 using means to correct what is inconsistent with it, 
 so far as is competent to her, in the use of those 
 powers which belong to her as an ecclesiastical and 
 independent society under Christ her Head, and by 
 due application to the State for having those laws 
 rescinded or altered which afi'ect her purity and 
 abridge her freedom. It will be found, on a careful 
 and candid examination, that a great part of the 
 evils, in point of administration, which are charge- 
 able on the Church of Scotland, may be traced direct- 
 ly or indirectly, to the defects and errors cleaving to 
 her establishment at the revolution; and as it is her 
 duty, so it will be her safety seriously to consider 
 these, and, following the direction of Scripture and 
 the example of our reforming ancestors, to confess 
 them before God and seek their removal."* 
 
 Entertaining such sentiments, and considering the 
 growing prejudice against establishments, on the one 
 hand, and the little prospect oC the removal of their 
 abuses, on the other, be was disposed to be very 
 apprehensive of tbei'r fate, and to despair of their 
 being defended with success, — an anticipation which, 
 though considerably relieved from its gloom by sub- 
 sequent events, was never wholly removed from his 
 mind. In this mood he seems to have been, wdien 
 he says, Oct. 3, 1832, "Much as I disapprove of the 
 present movement on the part of the Dissenters, )'et 
 I am afraid that the Scotch, as well as the sister, 
 establishment must come down, before things can go 
 right." Yet, shortly after, I find him rallying his 
 correspondent in a livelier strain: — "Is it yet time 
 for me to commence a canvass for John Knox's 
 church ? I have heard that Adam Gib, to a consi- 
 deral)ly late period of his life, expressed the hope 
 
 * Vindication of the Principles of the Cliurch of Scotland, 
 &.C., p. 19. The defects referred to were chiefly the want of a 
 formal recognition of the obligation of our National Covenants, 
 of the Divine right of Presbytery, and of the Independence of 
 the Church. 
 
296 LIFE OF DR. M'CUIE. 
 
 that he would preach in St, Giles's. You know 
 the practical inference. Yet we do injury to more 
 than our own happiness by dealing harshly with 
 kind hope, repressing her ardour, and chiding her 
 i'or those lamb-like friskings in which she indulges 
 to please us." 
 
 In April 1832, he appeared in a public meeting 
 called for the purpose of petitioning Parliament 
 against the Government plan of education for Ire- 
 land. * Though on this occasion deserted and opposed 
 
 * This meeting was advertised to take place on Thursday, May 
 10, and the attendance of those persons only was requested " who 
 consider that the plan of Education for Ireland is objectionable, 
 as having a tendency to withdraw the Bible practically from the 
 instruction to be afforded under the sanction of that plan." After 
 the meeting hud convened, however, it was found, that the Dean 
 of Guild refused the use of the church to either of the parties in 
 the question. This was intimated by the chairman, who an- 
 nounced that the meeting would be adjourned to the succeedinjr 
 day; and he took the opportunity of adverting to certain marks 
 of disapprobation or derision which were uttered by some who 
 had come to disturb the meeting. After this intimation had been 
 made, " Dr. MCrie," says the newspapers of the day, " evidently 
 labouring under a considerable degree of excitement, stepped 
 forward, and said he would only add a single word. 'Those 
 gentlemen would recollect that they had to do with men, — and 
 witli men who were not accustomed to be brow heat. If they 
 were not then permitted to be heard, they would bow ilielr heads, 
 and wait till they had an opportunity. A meeting would be held 
 to-morrow; it would be an open meeting, as open as it was pos- 
 sible to be in any house in this extended and unwalled city. 
 They had no design to conceal any resolution they had to pro- 
 pose; every gentleman and mechanic, down to the lowest grade, 
 might enter and hear, if he conducted himself as a man. Ho 
 (Pr. M'Crie) held a public meeting every Lord's day, and there 
 was not an individual prevented from entering within the walls 
 or" the house. It was true there was what was called a plate at 
 the door, but any person might pass it with his hands in his 
 pockets — ay, though his pockets were sealed; — all that was re- 
 quired of him was to sit quiet, and he might go and give as his 
 opinions to the organs of the press what he thought fit, however 
 opposed tiiese might be to the secret .sentinients of his own breast. 
 He tiiouglit it unnecessary to say more; he had sucli confidence 
 in the good sense of his fellow-citizens, that he did not believe 
 they would meet with any indecent interruption.' " The Doctor's 
 "excitement" on tins occasion, arose no doubt from finding 
 himself in a minority, as he afterwards e.xpressed it, and opposed 
 by that very class of persons whom he could not regard in any 
 other light than as deserters from the ranks of co;)stitutionaJ 
 
IRISH EDUCATION. 297 
 
 by many of those with whose political views he gene- 
 rally coincided, he warmly supported the petition, 
 on the high ground of Christian principle, and the 
 real interests of education. Here also, as in the case 
 of the Roman Catholic claims, his leading principle 
 came to his aid, — that " Society is a corporate body, 
 and has rights and duties of the same kind as those 
 of the individual." Granting this, his line of argu- 
 ment was clear. Extracts from the Bible for the 
 purpose of affording a cheap book for schools might 
 pass; but when the extracts were made avowedly 
 with the view to conciliate the prejudices of a class 
 of persons who deny the right of the laity to the use 
 of the whole Bible, the measure assumed quite ano- 
 ther complexion. An important principle was con- 
 ceded, so important as to involve the very foundation 
 of Protestantism. And were this view of the ques- 
 tion fairly taken, we do not see that, among true 
 Protestants, there could be two opinions entertained 
 regarding it. 
 
 The following note refers to the same question: — 
 
 " Salisbury Place, May 24, 1832. 
 My dear Sir,— Engagements have prevented me 
 from replying to your kind letter, and they must go 
 far to plead my apology for not complying with the 
 request it conveyed. 1 do not use complimentary 
 language, when I say that there is no man whose 
 advice I would more readily listen to on that point 
 than yours, honouring as I do the zeal and prompti- 
 tude with which j'ou have come forward in support 
 of the cause of tlie Reform.ation on more than one 
 trying occasion. I shall not say that I will do no- 
 thing; biit at any rate I should like to see the speech 
 of tlie Chairman at the antagonist meeting, which is 
 
 Whiggism; as much as from indignation at the unbecoming 
 interruption of some of them, who had ])laced themselves con- 
 spicuously before him, as if to outface the gentlemen on the 
 platform, or enjoy their temporary disappointment. A full re- 
 port of his speech, delivered next day, will be found iu the 
 Appendix. 
 
298 LIFE OF DU. M'CRIE. 
 
 promised, and also what the General Assembly will 
 do. I understand the Assembly are to have the ques- 
 tion before them on Friday, and trust they will be 
 faithful and firm, as well as moderate and wise, in 
 their decision. The question, " Who are, or who 
 shall be, the ministry?" important as it may be, is in- 
 ferior to the question, " What shall henceforth be the 
 religion of this country? and shall our children serve 
 Christ or Antichrist?" But the very terms of this 
 question involve treason against the goddess of the 
 present generation — Charity, which all are now sum- 
 moned to fall down and worship. It has been my 
 opinion, fixedly, for some time, that any administra-- 
 tion to be formed at present. Whig or Tory, would 
 sacrifice religion on the shrine of political expedi* 
 ency; and " my people," provided their temporary 
 and worldly views were gratified, would "love to 
 have it so." This is my political creed. — Yours 
 very truly, *' Tijo, M'Crie. 
 
 "To George Ross, Esq., Woodburn." 
 
 On the same principle, though guided by other 
 and still holier considerations, he took an active part 
 in supporting the Society for promoting the due ob- 
 servance of the Lord's day, at a meeting of which, 
 held in December 1832, he spoke at some length, 
 dwelling on the advantages, moral and social, as well 
 as religious, which would result from protecting that 
 blessed da}'^ from profanation, and securing to the 
 labouring classes in particular, the free enjoyment of 
 its sacred rest. 
 
 His mind was now strongly drawn to another sub- 
 ject of very great public interest, the question of 
 Church Patronage, In the beginning of 1833, he 
 attended a meeting of the Anti-Patronage Society, 
 at which his friend Sir George Sinclair presided, and 
 delivered a speech in which he warmly advocated the 
 abolition of patronage, as the only means of saving 
 the Establishment and promoting its efficienc}''. " It 
 becomes," said he, "the duty and interest of jjn Es- 
 
CHURCH PATRONAGE. 299 
 
 tablished Church to present as extensive a surface of 
 attraction as possible, and carefully to remove every 
 thing that contributes to lessen its influence. A few 
 individuals who are attached to its radical principles, 
 and who cherish the hope that the abuses which 
 drove them from its communion will be reformed, 
 may continue for a considerable time to move in the 
 circle which they at first described, and to stand in 
 the same relation to her in which they placed them- 
 selves at the separation. But the principles of human 
 nature and experience warrant the conclusion, that 
 by far the greater part will gradually recede, until 
 they reacii the point of direct opposition. It is just 
 a hundred years since a secession from the Esta- 
 blished Church of Scotland took place, caused by the 
 enforcement of the law of patronage. The first 
 Seceders were friendly, not only to the standards of 
 the Church of Scotland, but to her establishment by 
 law. This they avowed to the world, and they con- 
 firmed it in the most solemn manner, for they were 
 honest and sincere in the avowal. They continued 
 for a considerable time to adhere to these principles; 
 but at last they wearied of holding them, and now 
 the leading persons among them have entered into a 
 league (I cannot call it a solemn league) with Inde- 
 pendents and other sects, in an open and avowed 
 attempt to overthrow all Ecclesiastical Establish- 
 ments. Far am I from justifying them in this step; 
 but neither can I apply the flattering unction, and 
 say that all the fault is with the one party, and that 
 the other is guiltless. The proportion of blame I 
 do not meddle with ; that must be left to a higher 
 and impartial hand. Verbum sat sapientibus. '1 speak 
 to wise men; judge ye what I say.'" — " Sir," he 
 concluded, " if you succeed in your object, you will 
 do me much harm — you will thin, much thin my 
 congregation. For I must say, (and the attention 
 with which you have listened to me demands the 
 frank avowal,) that though patronage were abolished 
 to-morrow, 1 could not forthwith enter into the Es- 
 
300 LIFE OF DK. M'CKIE. 
 
 tablishment. But I am not so blind, or so ignorant 
 of the dispositions of the people, as to suppose that 
 they would act in that manner. Your cause will 
 soon come into honour; the restoration of long-lost 
 rights will convert popular apathy into popular fa- 
 vour; and in their enthusiasm the people will forget 
 that there are such things as erroneous teachers and 
 neglect of discipline. Do 1 therefore dread your 
 success, or stand aloof from you on the ground men- 
 tioned? Assuredly not. The truth is, that I think 
 I may be of more service to you by declining to be 
 in your council. 1 have only to say, therefore, Go on 
 and prosper; though your beginnings have been but 
 small, may your latter end greatly increase! You 
 have my best wishes and prayers." 
 
 In the month of May of the same year, he pub- 
 lished an anonymous pamphlet, entitled, " What 
 ought the General Assembly to do at the Present 
 Crisis?" This may be said to have been his last 
 publication. The object of this tract was to impress 
 on the members of the Assembly for that year, before 
 whom the question was to be brought in the forin of 
 overtures from various presbyteries and synods of the 
 Church, the importance and necessity of taking a 
 decisive step in the matter, instead of resting in any 
 half measure, which would neither satisfy the country, 
 nor save the Establishment. The question in the title 
 was thus briefly and emphatically answered, "With- 
 out DELAY, PETITION THE LEGISLATURE FOR THE 
 
 ABOLITION OF PATRONAGE." His reasons for con- 
 cealing his name were, I have reason to think, partly 
 his extreme delicacy in appearing to take any share in 
 a controversy which more immediately concerned the 
 Established Church; and partly that he might deliver 
 his sentiments freely without appearing to dictate. 
 For this purpose, the present writer being required to 
 come under a promise of secrecy, was cooped up, 
 with instructions, not to transcribe, but to transmo- 
 grify the manuscript by turning it into his own style, — 
 a task which he found so difficult, and executed with 
 
CHURCH I'ATKONAGE. 301 
 
 SO little good-will, that he was not surprised to find 
 tliat this, like the author's similar attempts at con- 
 cealment, proved ineffectual, and that the paternity 
 of the piece was soon discovered beyond the need of 
 farther mystification. The pamphlet contains his 
 matured thoughts on the subject which had long oc- 
 cupied his attention, and on which his reading was 
 very extensive. The arguments from Scripture and 
 history are not overlooked; but though on these 
 ])oints his own mind was fully made up, he considered 
 it necessary, for the sake of others, to dwell at greater 
 length on the argument from expediency. According- 
 ly, he begins with exposing the erroneous notions 
 which prevail " about what constitutes a crisis in the 
 affairs of an individual or society." " The man of 
 business never thinks that his affairs have come to a 
 crisis till he has paid his last shilling, or till he is so 
 dunned by his creditors that he can no longer evade 
 their demands, and is forced to declare himself bank- 
 rapt. Rulers never dream of a crisis in a nation's af- 
 fairs, so long as the wheels of government, how much 
 soever injured and embarrassed, can be kept in motion, 
 and they go on protecting abuses and disregarding 
 complaints, till matters have arrived at such a state, 
 that no alternative is left between provoking open re- 
 sistance, and granting all that an impatient people, 
 galled by suffering and delay, are pleased to demand. 
 This is- to confoujid the crisis and the catastrophe; 
 or, at least, to bring them as near to each other as 
 the flash of the lightning and the crash of the thun- 
 der." — " There is a time when the requests of a com- 
 munity may be granted with safety, with honour, and 
 with advantage, but beyond which the boon is re- 
 ceived wilh cold indifference, and improved as an 
 argument for increasing demands. Here is the crisis 
 in a nation's affairs, and it is the part of true wisdom 
 to discern it." Such a crisis he considered that time 
 to be in ecclesiastical affairs; and he takes occasion 
 to argue the absurdity of continuing the antiquated 
 yoke of patronage, in connexion with the recently 
 26 
 
303 LIFE OF DR. M^CKIE. 
 
 acquired political franchise. " A nation labouring 
 uiider political and ecclesiastical bondage has been 
 fiUy compared to ' an ass crouching down between 
 two burdens.' But a nation released from politi- 
 cal, and retained under ecclesiastical thraldom, would 
 exhibit the ridiculous figure of an ass with one of 
 his panniers cut off, while the other dangled at his 
 side, causing the patient animal to stagger at every 
 pace, and threatening ever and anon to land him in 
 the ditch." 
 
 In tlie beginning of the following year, he was 
 summoned, with several others, to give his evidence 
 before a Committee of the House of Commons on 
 (yjjurch Patronage. " I am very unfond of the 
 errand," he says, March 17, 1834. " 1 do not see any 
 good to be expected from the Committee, consti- 
 tuted as it is, and in the present state of the minds 
 cither of the Legislators or of those for vvhom it is 
 proposed they should legislate. And I do not con- 
 sider myself a proper person to give evidence on 
 the subject, — on more than one ground which will 
 readily occur to you. Accordingly, I have endea- 
 voured to get myself excused, but unsuccessfully as 
 yet, and suppose 1 shall be forced to go, unless a 
 doctor's certificate save me. — One of the topics, it 
 seems, on which I am expected to give evidence, is 
 the working of Patronage. Now, waiving the inde- 
 licacy of my speaking of its present effects, or even 
 of those within my time of recollection, I really do 
 not know what I could say on that subject. Like 
 many others, within, I suppose, as well as without the 
 Establishment, I looked upon Patronage as an iron 
 saddle which had grown into the Church's back, and 
 from which there was no hope of her being relieved; 
 and, as neither I nor my immediate connexions felt it, 
 I did not trouble myself with inquiries or observations 
 about its operation. — I have no doubt, the evidence 
 before the Committee will be unfavourable to popu- 
 lar election. If Patronage were abolished, what do 
 you think the best substitute? and if the right were 
 
CHURCH PATRONAGE. 303 
 
 given to the congregation, what checks would you 
 propose, to prevent canvassing, precipitation, &c.?" 
 "It delights me," he writes to Dr. Watson, March 
 29, " to find your ideas coincide so exactly with my 
 own, especiall)'^ on a subject about which such various 
 sentiments prevail even among good and well-in- 
 tentioned men. This confirms and comforts mc un- 
 der the grievous and grieving consideration, that 
 at a time when deliverance from the yoke of pa- 
 tronage was, for the first time since its imposition, 
 an object of reasonable and confident hope, that 
 hope should be dashed by division and distraction of 
 views among those who have the interests of vital re- 
 ligion at heart. This may be viewed as the natural 
 effect of the long-continued yoke of politico-ecclesi- 
 astical tyranny, which breaks the spirit, narrows the 
 intellect, and inures to a base servitude; but I can- 
 not help looking upon it in a still more serious light, 
 as a judicial infatuation, and an evidence that Pro- 
 vidence, for our sins, intends to defeat the sanguine 
 hopes which we were cherishing of better times. 
 The schemes of some wise men in our day resemble 
 very much the plans of those in the days of Ezekiel, 
 who 'daubed the wall with untempered mortar.' 
 Can the blessing of God be expected on any measure 
 which retains, and is calculated to perpetuate, that 
 which has been the source of so much wo to the 
 Church of Scotland, and caused the ruin of so many 
 precious souls? To expect that the power of that 
 party which has so long lorded it over the Church 
 will be broken, or that their opponents will ever re- 
 cover a proper tone, or commanding influence, unless 
 that which raised the former and sunk the latter is 
 destroyed and removed out of the way, is visionary, 
 and as absurd as it would be to expect fcomponere 
 parva magnisj that a sinner could be rescued from the 
 bondage of corruption while he lies under the sentence 
 of the law. ' The strength of sin is the law/ may be 
 safely applied to both. But I shall get as warm a^ 
 
30 I LIFE OF PR. M'CRIE. 
 
 you, if I go on." — " Supposing patronage abolished, 
 what would you think of the vacant congregation 
 being obliged (by ecclesiastical law) to name a com- 
 mittee of their number to look out for proper per- 
 sons, preachers, &c., to be heard, through the presby- 
 tery, to consist of the elders and a certain number 
 chosen by the congregation? Would this prevent 
 over-haste? Or would it be a species of patronage 
 and a nucleus for canvassing?" 
 
 Having reached London in the end of April 1S34, 
 Dr. M'Crie underwent an examination before the 
 Committee on Church Patronage, on the 2d of May, 
 when, says he, " I had a sederunt of nearly four 
 hours." He met with little or no interruption, and 
 was treated by all the members of committee " with 
 great politeness and courtesy." The only part of hi.s 
 evidence which was demurred to, was an extract from 
 a letter of Wodrow's, in 1717, respecting the political 
 character then imparted to the proceedings of the 
 General Assembly. "I said I hoped to be allowed 
 to read it as my own sentiments, and after a short 
 delay was permitted to proceed. It was a considerably 
 long, stiff, stinging diatribe, written in a style superior 
 to Wodrow's ordinary, and under the impulse of the 
 maxim, fncit indignatio versus. I looked on it as one 
 of the most important pieces of my evidence, and 
 having got that testimony safely lodged, I laid aside 
 all fear."* On the 7th of May he was again called 
 in and examined. " Have no doubt," he says, " the 
 committee are heartily tired. They bore my rude 
 plainness with wonderful forbearance." " The com- 
 mittee requested me to examine a copy of the Book 
 of the Universal Kirk, which was surreptitiously ob- 
 tained by the Episcopal clergy, and is still forcibly 
 
 * To Dr. Watson, 3d May 1834. The extract referred to is 
 that ending with the striking words, " Restricting of patrons, if 
 the people be forefaulted of their just right, or obliging them to 
 take the consent of Presbyteries before they present a minister 
 already fi.xed to a congregation, jcill but line the yoke, and make 
 it sit closer to our necks, and perpetuate it upon us and posterity.'' 
 
THE VETO ACT. 305 
 
 detained in Sion College. With great difficulty it 
 was produced by the London clergy.* I dine to-day 
 
 with the Bishop of . How shall I ' My Lord' 
 
 him?" 
 
 After his return in May 1834, he writes, "The 
 result of the Assembly's proceedings did not surprise 
 me any more than that of the committee's. The 
 patronage vote, however, did disappoint me, as I was 
 led to believe that a greater minority would appear. 
 However, all is under wise management. " Should 
 it be according to thy mind?" " He is wise"' — our 
 wisdom, at the best, is folly, and we see one another's 
 freaks and faults, and laugh or fume at them, while 
 One above sees ours, and bears with them. You may 
 have heard that I gave offence on the Sabbath before 
 the close of the Assembly; yet I thought I was mo- 
 derate. The text was TJaniel xii. 8: "0 my Lord, 
 what shall be the end of these things?'" 
 
 The reference here is to the sermon in the printed 
 volume, entitled, " The Aspect of the Times," in 
 which he speaks, with such decided disapprobation, 
 of the Veto Act. " I say it is more than suspicious, 
 that the alleged boon should be presented by the 
 hands of those who have summarily and haughtily 
 thrown out the petitions of the Cliristian people 
 against patronage. They say, they have muzzled the 
 monster: it is a mistake; they have only muffled 
 him, and they have muzzled the people." During 
 tlie sitting of the General Assend)ly, many of the 
 ministers resorted to his church; and tliis was not 
 the only occasion, when they found him, as he ex- 
 pressed it, "more plain than pleasant." On such 
 occasions, the freedom with which he condemned the 
 policy of the Kirk, when it happened to displease 
 him, would sometimes give offence — though only to 
 
 * Tills valuable document, which the Governors of Sion College 
 would never give up to the Church of Scotland to which it pro- 
 perly belonged, alleging they were bound by the deed of gift (of 
 the thief) from parting with the custody of it, was destroyed in 
 the late fire which consumed the Parliament House, 
 26* 
 
30G LIFK OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 those who were unacquainted with his character, or 
 unable to enter into the conscientious motives and 
 principles by which he was actuated. It was cer- 
 tainly from no censorious bigotry of spirit — from 
 no " sour leaven of sectarian jealousy," that he em- 
 ployed such strong language; it arose from his in- 
 stinctive dislike of all carnal and temporizing policy, 
 and from the very intensity of liis concern for the 
 National Church, wound up to excitement by antici- 
 pating the consequences which might result from a 
 single false step at such a critical period of her his- 
 tory. The fact is, that he said far more severe things 
 against the Church than ever he said against the Vo- 
 luntaries; on the same principle, that a father will 
 speak more sharply at times to his own children, 
 whom he loves, than to a stranger, whom he would 
 not willingly admit into his family. 
 
 Nothing was more apt to incense him, than any 
 mode of arguing in behalf of establishments which 
 reflected on the Secession, by insinuating that Se- 
 ceders could not consistently plead for them, while 
 they remained in a state of separation from the Es- 
 tablished Church. He was equally displeased with 
 some injudicious advocates for endowments, who 
 boasted of them as if they were essential to secure 
 ministerial independence. In the course of lec- 
 turing through the Gospel by Luke, when he came 
 to these words, " When I sent you without purse, or 
 scrip, or shoes, lacked ye any thing? and they said, 
 Notliing;"he took occasion to rebuke those who 
 taunted iheir unendowed brethren with their depen- 
 dence on the people, " even though they may have 
 been provoked by persons who have extravagant- 
 ly lauded the principle of voluntary contribution." 
 "There can be no doubt," he said, "that the apostles 
 of Jesus Christ were supported in this way; and our 
 friends of the Establishment should be less apt to 
 taunt those who arc thus maintained, lest they them- 
 selves should also (ay, and that sooner, perhaps, than 
 they are aware.) be reduced to the same necessity." 
 
 
THE VETO ACT. , 307 
 
 He held, of course, what no enlightened defender of 
 Establishments has denied, that voluntary contribu- 
 tion was the primitive mode of supporting the mi- 
 nistry, and, therefore, a Scriptural, though by no 
 means the only Scriptural mode; for in perfect con- 
 sistency with this, he maintained that it was the duty 
 of Christian nations to make a permanent provision 
 for the support of the ordinances of religion. Some 
 persons, however, incapable of perceiving the impor- 
 tant difference involved in this use of the definite and 
 indefinite article, and taking advantage of the strong 
 terms in which he would sometimes speak of the 
 probable fate of our existing Establishments, were 
 fain to quote his authority as favouring the cause of 
 Voluntaryism. On one occasion only he considered 
 it necessary to contradict a report of this nature, 
 which had been carried, I believe, to Newcastle; and 
 in a letter which was inserted in some of the news- 
 papers of the day, he declared that whatever might 
 be his fears regarding Establishments, he was certain 
 of one thing — that if the Dissenters should succeed 
 in overturning them, they would only share in the 
 triumph with infidels, papists and all sorts of irre- 
 ligious persons. 
 
 It would be highly unbecoming in me to decide 
 how far his views regarding the position and pros- 
 pects of the Church of Scotland might have been 
 modified had he lived to witness her present strug- 
 gles. But there are some points on which we can 
 be at no loss to ascertain his sentiments. That he 
 would have cordially approved of the efforts which 
 she is now making to assert her independence, against 
 the encroachments of the civil courts, cannot for a 
 moment be questioned, by any who reflect on the 
 decided tone in which he has vindicated her former 
 contcndings for the same object, in the days of Mel- 
 ville, when the Church stood upon much more deli- 
 cate ground, and before she could plead the sanction 
 of those constitutional laws by which she was pro- 
 tected in her contest with royal authority in the time 
 
308 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 of Henderson. The independence of the Church 
 having since then been repeatedly secured by the 
 statute law of the land, he considered it her legal 
 right, as it was her bounden duty, to assert her pri- 
 vileges as a Church of Christ, and condemned the 
 conduct of former Assemblies for having practically 
 relinquished them.* But patronage he held to be 
 "glaringly inconsistent with the Presbyterian consti- 
 tution, and with that independence of all foreign juris- 
 diction, or extrinsic control to which it lays claim ;"f 
 a sentiment whicli, beyond all reasonable doubt, was, 
 till within these few years, entertained and pro- 
 fessed by the Church of Scotland in every period of 
 her history. He agreed with the compilers of the 
 Second Book of Discipline, that " the liberty of elec- 
 tion of persons called to the ecclesiastical function, 
 cannot stand with patronages and presentations to 
 benefices;" and held, with the General Assembly of 
 1712, that the Act of Queen Anne restoring patron- 
 ages was " contrary to our Church constitution so- 
 lemnly ratified by the Acts of Parliament of both king- 
 doms." Convinced therefore that the law of patron- 
 age, whenever the patrons chose to prosecute their 
 claims, could easily be so interpreted or so enforced 
 as to nullify the Church's independence, though this 
 also was secured by law, he despaired of the success 
 of any measure which proposed to reconcile the two 
 conflicting principles, or render them compatible in 
 their operation, and augured no good from the at- 
 tempt which was made to effect this object by the 
 Veto Act of 1834. In other words, he was thorough- 
 ly persuaded that no expedient which the Church 
 could devise, or the State could sanction, short of 
 the abolition of patronage, would secure the Church 
 in the undisturbed enjoyment of her independence. 
 Besides objecting to the Veto on the ground of its 
 merely yielding a right of rejection, instead of a 
 right of election, to the Christian people, and of its 
 
 * Testimony of Original Seceders, p. 38. t Ibid. p. 42. 
 
THE VETO ACT. 309 
 
 being "a half-measure, lying open to objections on 
 both hands, and which could not be supposed to give 
 any thing like general satisfaction," he entertained 
 serious doubts of its legality, and frequently declared 
 his firm conviction that it would lead to collision, 
 contention, and litigation. " It is an indirect way," 
 he said before the Committee on Church Patronage, 
 " of crippling the power and abridging the rights of 
 patrons, which though followed for some time after 
 the Act of Queen Anne, was ultimately abandoned. 
 It appears to me more than questionable whether the 
 restriction it imposes be legal, and whether patrons 
 may not resist its exercise. A qualified minister was 
 a thing recognised by the canon law, and a condition 
 from the time that the right of presentation was con- 
 ferred; but no such element as the consent of the 
 people, whether avowed or tacit, was then known; it 
 was revived indeed by the Reformed Church, but she 
 could never prevail on the State to recognise it: and 
 one principal reason why the government would not 
 ratify the Second Book of Discipline was, because the 
 Assembly would not agree to insert after the con- 
 sent of the congregation," the words, "if the people 
 have a lawful cause against his life and doctrine." 
 At the least, the motion is an attempt to apply ab- 
 stract Presbytery (to use a phrase in a former ques- 
 tion) in order to neutralize concrete patronage. It is 
 not, in my opinion, to the honour of the legislature, 
 that the lavvs of the country should be thus indirectly 
 set aside, instead of their being regularly rescinded 
 by the proper authority." 
 
 This judgment has been since confirmed by the 
 decision of the highest legal authorities in the realm; 
 and it is vain now to dispute it. The reader may 
 be struck with the similarity of the opinion here ex- 
 pressed to that of the late opponents of the Veto. 
 This did not escape himself: "Dr. Cook and I," he 
 writes to one of his family, "travelled together in 
 a coach lately; and we both cordially agreed in con- 
 demning the Veto. Extremes meet." They met, 
 
310 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 indeed, in their judgment on that particular mea- 
 sure, but in the path which they look to reach it, and 
 in the reasons which they had for opposing it, they 
 were still at extremes. Nor can we suppose that 
 Dr. M'Crie's judgment in this case, was formed 
 in the spirit of those who accuse the Church of re- 
 bellion, because she has not, in her ecclesiastical ca^ 
 pacity, surrendered into the hands of the civil courts 
 her spiritual independence. He condemned the 
 Veto, principally because he was persuaded that it 
 tended, if it was not designed, to perpetuate the reign 
 of patronage — more especially because it amounted 
 to a virtual recognition by the Church of that per- 
 nicious system, which she had always declared to be 
 a usurpation and a yoke — and because it proceeded 
 on what he viewed as a delusion, namely, that though 
 patronage continued to be the law of the land, the 
 Church had it in her own power, so to modify the 
 grievance as to render it comparatively hannless. 
 Regarding lay-patronage, as in its very nature incom- 
 patible with the spiritual independence of the Church, 
 he could not agree with the supporters of the Veto, 
 that the Church of Scotland had objected simply to 
 an absolute or unrestricted patronage; for, at the very 
 time when she was carrying into effect those practical 
 restrictions which she put upon the rights of patrons, 
 she was earnestly petitioning for the abolition of the 
 law itself In this point of view, he considered that 
 all practical modifications of the law, attempted by 
 the Church, might be found illegal, that is, incom- 
 patible with the rights of patrons; just as he would 
 have viewed the rights of patrons, had they been 
 prosecuted to such an extent as they now are, to be 
 incompatible with the rights of the Church. But 
 then, in her former days, the Church had plainly 
 told the Government that she held the law of patron- 
 age to be a direct infringement of her constitution, 
 as established at the Revolution, and solemnly con- 
 firmed at the Union; that she did not, and could not, 
 as a Church, recognise the rights of patrons, as they 
 
AI50L1TI0N OF PATIIONAGE. 311 
 
 were at direct variance with her constitution; and 
 that, thei'efore, if the State was still willing to support 
 the constitution of the Church, it must be on the 
 distinct understanding, that she could not sacrifice 
 her spiritual rights as invaded by that law. At her 
 own peril, the Church continued to settle ministers 
 on the suit and calling of congregations, as if patron- 
 age did not exist; but knowing that, so long as that 
 law stood, her liberties would be constantly endan- 
 gered, under an adverise administration, by patrons 
 being empowered to drag her before courts of law 
 for acting according to her constitution, — she pe- 
 titioned that the law might be "regularly rescinded 
 by the proper authority." 
 
 The following letters, however, will explain his 
 views on the deeply interesting questions of Pa- 
 tronage and the Independence of the Church, much 
 more satisfactorily than an}^ detached passages which 
 might be quoted from his writings. It is only neces- 
 sary to premise, that they were addressed to Mr. 
 Colquhoun, member of Parliament, in answer to ques- 
 tions put to him by that gentleman, with the view of 
 obtaining information on the subject of patronage 
 previous to its being submitted to the notice of Par- 
 liament. 
 
 "To J. C, Colquhoun, Esq. 
 
 '• Edinburgh, Feb. 18, 1833. 
 " Dear Sir, — You will tliink I am laying claim to 
 a share of the prophetic spirit ascribed to John 
 Kno.v, when I say, that I had answered your let- 
 ter twenty-four hours before its arrival. Mr. 
 
 had transmitted to me the queries j'ou addressed to 
 him, and I gave him a few jottings by way of an- 
 swer, the substance or material points of which he 
 may have by this time communicated to you. But 
 as your letter to me starts some new difficulties on 
 the subject, I write you what occurs to me, at the 
 hazard of partial repetitions. It will at least show 
 that I am not unwilling, at your request, to convey 
 an_y information in ni}^ power. 
 
312 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 " In the first place, it is of importance to distin- 
 guish between the law of the land, and the princi- 
 ples (I may say the law) of the Church of Scotland, 
 respecting patronage. As to the former, you are 
 quite correct in your statement, that patronage has 
 existed since the Reformation, always excepting, 
 however, the periods between 1649 and 1660, and 
 between 1690 and 1712. On the other hand, I think 
 it equally clear and incontestable, that patronage was 
 contrary to the avowed principles of the Church of 
 Scotland, from the commencement of her reformed 
 existence, that she has pronounced it a grievance and 
 an abuse, submitted to its exercise from pure neces- 
 sity, and down to 17S4 petitioned for its total aboli- 
 tion. The First Book of Discipline, in the compila- 
 tion of which Knox had a chief hand, and which was 
 ratified by the General Assembly, expressly declares, 
 in opposition to •' the election of ministers in this 
 cursed papistrie," that it appertainetli to the people, 
 and to every several congregation, to elect their mi- 
 nister." That the practice of that period correspond- 
 ed with the principle, appears from the form of elec- 
 tion of superintendents, ministers, and elders, im- 
 bodied by Knox, in his History of the Reformation. 
 The Second Book of Discipline, composed with the 
 help of Melville, and ratified by several General As- 
 semblies of the Church, denounces patronage as of 
 Popish origin, and inconsistent with the order of 
 election therein prescribed, and mentions the aboli- 
 tion of it as one of the special heads of reformation 
 craved by the Church. When at any time the Pres- 
 byterian Church signified her practical acquiescence 
 in the rights of patrons, it was always with some 
 such salvo as this, " until they can be got removed 
 according to law." For the reasons of this acquies- 
 cence (not approval,) particularly at the settlement 
 of Presbytery in 1592, together with the methods 
 taken by the church courts to neutralize its tendency, 
 permit me to refer you to the Ivife of Melville, vol. 
 i., p. 330, and note EE. of the 2d edition; where you 
 
ABOLITION OF PATRONAGE. 313 
 
 will find a number of facts and documents, bearing 
 on the subject, collected. Whenever the civil pow- 
 ers were favourable to the Presbyterian Church 
 (which cannot properly be said to have been the case 
 during the reigns of James VI. or Charles I.,) she 
 was relieved from the grievance. The preamble to 
 the Act of Parliament 1649, abolishing patronage, 
 confirms all that I have said as to the principles of 
 the Church of Scotland, and contains a summary of 
 the reasons which justify a similar statute in our 
 day. That statute is, of course, among the rescinded 
 acts; but the Acts of the General Assembly of the 
 same year, thanking the Parliament for the abolition, 
 and settling the mode of electing ministers, main- 
 tain their ecclesiastical authority to this day. Pa- 
 tronage, as you know, was again abolished at the 
 Revolution, and reimposed in 1712. So unpopular 
 was this last law, that during a number of years 
 scarcely a patron presented, and no presentee accept- 
 ed, so that the Presbyterians thought they had com- 
 pletely disarmed the noxious statute, when they 
 obtained in 1719, an Act of Parliament declaring that 
 a presentation was of no effect unless it was accepted. 
 In this they were grievously mistaken; for presen- 
 tees soon conquered their shyness, applied for, and 
 accepted presentations, and the church courts came 
 gradually to sustain them, in spite of the greatest op- 
 position on the part of the people, though they still 
 continued to profess their wish for the abolition of 
 patronage, and petition the Government for it — until 
 1784 (1 think,) when the General Assembly agreed 
 to drop the instruction to that effect annually given to 
 their Commission. I hope I have said enough to show 
 you, at least, that in seeking the abrogation of the pa- 
 tronage law, we introduce no novelty into the Church, 
 but proceed on an old principle, and crave a reform 
 of an abuse, and restoration of a privilege granted 
 at the Revolution, secured by the Union, and taken 
 away in violation of its stipulations, express and 
 solemn. May it not with justice be expected that a 
 27 
 
314 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 Whig ministry and Parliament should restore what 
 a Tory ministry and Parliament took away? Sir 
 H. Moncrieffj in an appendix to the Life of Dr. 
 Erskine, has said that both parties in the Church 
 were now agreed not to agitate the patronage ques- 
 tion; but in coming to that opinion and expressing 
 it, I am strongly inclined to think that he, and those 
 who agreed with him (for he did not speak the 
 language of all his friends) were influenced by the 
 overwhelming majorities who opposed them in the 
 General Assembly, together with the determination 
 of the Government not to repeal the patronage law; 
 and I am not prepared to believe that he would 
 have held the same opinion now, when such a great 
 change has taken place in the political state and fran- 
 chise of the country. 
 
 " In the second place,! know that some good men 
 in the Church are partial to the plan you suggest of 
 giving the initiation to the patron, with a veto upon 
 it to the people; but I confess it does not recom- 
 mend itself to my mind. Not to insist on objections 
 to patronage in general, as incompatible with the 
 liberties of a Christian church, and with the genius 
 of Presbytery in particular, I would beg leave to 
 suggest that there is something in the idea of nomi- 
 nation by an individual which is repulsive to a bod}-, 
 and tends to rouse resistance. So long as patrons 
 are known to possess by law the right to present, to- 
 gether with the power of providing that their pre- 
 sentees are inducted, if they satisfy the Presbytery 
 as to their general qualifications, the deference which 
 any particular patron may be pleased to pay to the 
 opinions of the congregation is regarded as a boon, 
 and received accordingly. But let the new plan be 
 adopted, and let the people know that they have a 
 right in every instance to thwart the patron, the 
 feeling will be quite difftrent; looking on his initi- 
 ation as a restriction of their liberty, and an obtru- 
 sion of his judgment as superior to theirs, they will 
 resolve on nullifying it, and asserting their own 
 
ABOLITION OF PATRO^'AGE. 315 
 
 rights. How woukl such a plan work? Must there 
 be a second nomination, a third, &c., by the patron, 
 in case of opposition? and nuist the congregation 
 be kept in the mean time vacant ? I am aware of the 
 influence which power, exerted with moderation and 
 wisdom, has upon the popular mind, in reconciling 
 it even to arbitrary prerogative; and had this been 
 practised by patrons, or by freeholders and town- 
 councils, the cry for liberty, ecclesiastical or political, 
 would have been feeble, and the people generally sa- 
 tisfied. But 1 am disposed to hold it as a principle 
 in legislation, and in the management of societies, 
 civil or religious, that it is impolitic and unwise to 
 keep up the mere name and show of exclusive privi- 
 lege or pre-eminence when it is intended virtually to 
 yield it up, and when circumstances are such as that 
 de facto it must be powerless. The continuance of 
 any restriction which is unnecessary, only raises jea- 
 lousy and irritation. The influence of a pious and 
 judicious heritor will always be great: his right of 
 nomination would be comparatively nugatory, while 
 its tendency would be to defeat the moral influence 
 of his character and rank. At least, such is my 
 opinion. 
 
 "Thirdly, as to the principle on which the abro- 
 gation of patronage, and the restoration of the rights 
 of the Christian people should be pleaded, I am 
 quite aware of the objections to occupying the Scrip- 
 ture ground in Parliament; but there is one point 
 which may be urged any where, and cannot fail to 
 have its weight, namely, that all candid writers, 
 Episcopalian and Presbyterian, Popish and Protes- 
 tant, allow, that bishops and other ministers were 
 chosen by the Church at large, including the Chris- 
 tian people, not only at tlie beginning of Christianity, 
 but for several ages after the church was established 
 by law. This supersedes the necessity of entering 
 on the Scripture argument. But the proper line of 
 parliamentary argument, I should humbly think, is 
 ihat which embraces the avowed principles and claims 
 
316 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 of the Church of Scotland, as laid down in her pub- 
 lic acts and proceedings, together with the hurtful 
 effects of patronage. 
 
 "In fine, the expediency and utility, if not neces- 
 sity, of the abolition may be urged by various con- 
 siderations — the divisions it has caused in the Church 
 — numerous parishes groaning or wasting under an 
 unevangelical, heartless, inefficient ministry, — for 
 that town churches are no proper test by which to 
 judge of the state of those in the country I need not 
 tell you; — ever since the present ministry came into 
 power, the Crown Patronage has (1 am sorry to say) 
 been arbitrarily exercised, and in one parish by far 
 the greater part of the population would have by 
 this time dissented, had they been able to erect a 
 chapel; the sincere friends of religion are aroused 
 from the torpor into which the despair of reform 
 had long sunk them, and the cry for the removal of 
 the obnoxious law will spread; the extension of the 
 political franchise has contributed to this, and wise 
 men will judge how incongruous it would be (espe- 
 cially in Scotland, where the people have always 
 shown a superior zeal for religious rights) for men 
 to be free in the State and enslaved in the Church, 
 and what a deleterious influence this anomaly would 
 have on the interest and credit of religion; — the 
 greater part of dissenters are now leagued in an at- 
 tempt to overthrow all Church Establishments, and 
 so long as things remain as they are, or a thorough 
 reform in providing ministers is not adopted, the 
 number of such enemies will daily increase. I think 
 it of less consequence to know what effect the pro- 
 posed measure vvould have in inducing Dissenters 
 to re-enter the Church. The extent of this none can 
 pretend to say; it would be gradual, and all its in- 
 fluence would be in that direction. If the modifica- 
 tion plan is adopted, I would say, it will induce none 
 to enter, though undoubtedly, so far as it goes, it will 
 be an internal benefit to the Church. Patronage has 
 caused other abuses, which, considering their dura- 
 
INDEPENDENCE OP THE CIIUKCH. 317 
 
 Uon, could not be removed in a day. Conscientious 
 and reflecting persons would take this into account, 
 and make large allowances for a church striving; to 
 reform herself; but they would wish to see good 
 evidence that the work was begun, and that there 
 was a single aim and desire to prosecute it, before 
 they would feel at liberty to break up their pre- 
 sent connexions, or to enter into a church where 
 they might find their consciences pinched and dis- 
 tressed, and perhaps their sphere of usefulness con- 
 tracted. 
 
 "Thus have I given you a frank statement of my 
 views on the topic you suggested. Excuse the free- 
 dom with which I have stated them, and believe me, 
 Dear Sir, yours very faithfull}', 
 
 "Tho. M'CniE." 
 
 " To J. C. Colquhoun, Esq. 
 
 "Edinburgh, Feh. 11, 1834. 
 " My dear Sir, — I agree that the question stated 
 in )^ours of the Gth inst. is by no means a speculative, 
 but a practical one. So far as I understand Presby- 
 terian principles, the direction and arrangement of 
 all matters relating to th.e government, as well as to 
 the doctrine and worship of the Church, belongs pro- 
 perly to the ecclesiastical courts, — not only the ad- 
 ministration of the government, but also the declara- 
 tion and settlement of the government itself. And 
 the admission of ministers, with what relates to it, I 
 look upon as one of the most important branches of 
 ecclesiastical polity. What would the Parliament 
 have thought if the General Assembly had claimed 
 the right of deciding and determining who should be 
 electors of the members of the House of Commons, 
 and what their qualifications should be? The essen- 
 tial distinction between Church and State — ecclesias- 
 tical and civil government, and the independence of 
 each within its own province, are integral principles 
 of the Presbyterian constitution, when maintained in 
 its purity; they form the hinge of the controversy 
 27* 
 
318 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 between Presbyterians and Erastians (as they are 
 called,) and a broad line of distinction between the 
 Scotch and English Church, in aii}^ of the shapes 
 which the latter has ever assumed since the Refor- 
 mation; and are diametrically opposed to the "alli- 
 ance" of Bishop Warburton, one of the leading 
 features of which is, that the Church yields up her 
 independence for the sake of the secular advantages 
 which she acquires by entering into connexion with 
 the State. For these principles the Church of Scot- 
 land contended earnestly in her best times, and not 
 a few of her sons suffered imprisonment, exile, and 
 death. In fact, they were the main subject of her 
 contest against the encroachments of the house of 
 Stuart; and there have not been wanting encroach- 
 ments of a similar kind since the Revolution, though 
 not accompanied with the same violence and tyranny. 
 Every thing, therefore, that wears the appearance of 
 this is highly suspicious, and ought to be scrutinized 
 and watched with the greatest jealousy. On this ac- 
 count 1 was glad to see the proceedings of the Glasgow 
 Presbytery controverted in the Scottish Guardian. 
 
 " What the State may do in extraordinary circum- 
 stances, as when a regular Church does not exist, or 
 when it has fallen into a disorganized state, I will 
 not determine; but when there is a constituted 
 Church, and that, loo, established, there cannot be 
 the same reason for the State taking into its hands a 
 matter that is properly ecclesiastical. It is a maxim 
 on this subject with the most approved Presbyterian 
 writers (See Gillespie's ' Aaron's Rod Blossoming' 
 rr— a quaint title, but an admirable book,) that the 
 magistrate's power circa sacra is not privative but 
 .cumulative. The Confession of Faith 1560, was 
 drawn up, not by the Parliament, but by the minis- 
 ters, the virtual representatives of the Church; and 
 the circumstances of the time excuse the want of a 
 formal assembly, or ecclesiastical judicatory. It was 
 indeed read, and deliberately considered in Parlia- 
 ffiept, before it was ratified. This was highly proper, 
 
INDEPENDENCE OF THE CHURCH. 319 
 
 for Parliament is as independent within its province 
 as any ecclesiastical court can be within its province, 
 and is not bound to ratify or give its sanction to any 
 formula or document merely because it has been 
 drawn up and approved by an ecclesiastical assembly. 
 This also is the Presbyterian principle, as opposed to 
 the Popish tenet, that civil authorities are bound 
 implicitly to ratify and execute the decisions of the 
 Church. 
 
 " I do not think that the Second Book of Discipline 
 lays down any doctrine different from what I have 
 advanced. The words you quote are qualified and 
 explained by what follows in the same and in the 
 following paragraph. They do not state that the 
 magistrate is to make laws settling the policy of the 
 Church (that belongs to the governors of the Church, 
 according to the principles laid down in the preceding 
 chapter,) but to make ' laws and constitutions for 
 the advancement of the Kirk and policie thereof,' 
 which supposes that both are in existence indepen- 
 dently of his laws, though they may be advanced by 
 them. If the Parliament were to abolish all the 
 laws in favour of patronage, leaving it to the General 
 Assembly to settle the mode of election and admis- 
 sion according to the principles of the Church, and 
 declaring that all who were thus admitted should 
 become ipso facto entitled to the stipends, &c., this 
 would be a law ' agreeably to the word of God for 
 the advancement of the Kirk and policie thereof.' 
 
 " I cannot absolutely vindicate all that was done by 
 the Parliament 1690, but their circumstances were 
 very different from ours. The Church was in a state 
 of disorganization: no General Assembly had met 
 since the Revolution, nor could well meet in the 
 confused state of things, until called together by that 
 Parliament. Its acts establishing Presbj'tery and 
 abolishing Patronage, were, in the general view of 
 them, agreeable to what had been formerly demanded 
 by the Presbyterian Church, though some of the best 
 friends of tliat church were then and afterwards dis- 
 
330 LIFE or DH. m'crie. 
 
 satisfied with some things connected with both these 
 acts. The Westminster Confession, ratified at the 
 Revolution, liad been formally received and approved 
 by the General Assembly before the Restoration; 
 and as Patronage had been always regarded as a 
 grievance, its abolition, though accompanied with 
 restrictions, was iiailed as a boon; but the Parlia- 
 ment of 1690 would have done well to have imitated 
 its predecessor of 1649; and had they done so, it is 
 my opinion that even the Tory Ministry of Queen 
 Anne would not have ventured on the step of re- 
 storing patronages. Half measures are always hazard- 
 ous. But why should we be bound up to what was 
 done by Parliament in 1690, any more than what was 
 done in 171 1 — 12 ? Have we just emerged from the 
 vortex of a Revolution? Do our circumstances bear 
 any resemblance to those of Scotland, when the 
 Government had to contend with a powerful party, 
 then in arms for the purpose of restoring the exiled 
 fiimily, and at the same time violently and invete- 
 rately opposed to Presbytery, — considerations which 
 had great weight in inducing wise men to bear with 
 any partial encroachments made on the rights of the 
 Church, and the niggardly or jealous manner in which 
 libert}'^ was dealt out to the Christian people? Did 
 Lord Grey and his colleagues, in forming the late 
 Reform Bill, take the Revolution Parliaments as 
 their model in granting political privileges and suf- 
 frages? And should we scruple to put this question 
 to them? Or should we suffer ourselves to be 
 chained down, as by enchantment, to what was done 
 in 1690? 
 
 " You will see that I by no means approve of the 
 petition of the Glasgow Presbytery. Not to speak 
 at present of the place it gives to heritors, I think 
 it affords a dangerous precedent for the State inter- 
 fering with what properly belongs to the Church. 
 It affords also a handle to those within the Church, 
 who are enemies to popular rights to say, that those 
 who seek the removal of patronage, are exposing the 
 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. TWEEDIE. 321 
 
 whole ecclesiastical constitution to hazard by putting 
 it into the hands of Parliament to interfere with its 
 internal arrangements. If the Presbytery of Glas- 
 gow had imbodied their propositions in the form of 
 an overture to the General Assembly, to be sent by 
 it as a petition to Parliament, the evil I have alluded 
 to would have been avoided. But no Presbytery 
 can be considered as expressing the sentiments or 
 judgment of the Church of Scotland, 
 
 " Pd rather that patronage remain as it is, than 
 sanction a principle alien and adverse to the Presby- 
 terian polity; rather submit to a yoke imposed by 
 the State, and forged in a barbarous age, with all the 
 appendages of its rough manufacture, than willingly 
 bend the neck and pray for a new one, though less 
 galling and oppressive. When I say this, I beg you 
 to recollect, that 1 express myself as a friend to the 
 principles of Presbytery; for, as an individual, I 
 would not petition Parliament to refer the matter to 
 the General Assembly, having no confidence in it as 
 presently constituted, and believing as I do, that the 
 Legislature, provided they were to agree to repeal 
 the patronage law, might be expected to be more fa- 
 vourable to the rights of the people, than the Assem- 
 bly will be. Such is the consequence of the long 
 continuance of an arbitrary law, and of the complete 
 independence of the clergy upon the people, — the 
 only check to which they can be legitimately subject 
 according to the Presbyterian system. 
 
 " I have thus, at your request, given you my views 
 on this question, and flatter myself that you will 
 clearly comprehend my meaning. — I remain, &c., 
 
 Tho. M'Crie."* 
 
 * " Edinburgh, 6th March 1834. 
 "My Dear Sir, — Since my last to you, I have thought that 1 
 perhaps expressed myself in too unqualified a manner as to the 
 Parliament's supposed invasion on the Church's province. No 
 objection could be made justly, if our Parliament should, for 
 example, enact, like the Parliament 1049, 'Notwithstanding 
 thereof (any presentation) to proceed to the planting of the Kirk 
 upon the suit and calling, or with the consent, of the congregation, 
 
322 LIFE OF DR. M^C'RIE. 
 
 We now approach what may be considered the 
 last days of our author; for, though still able to dis- 
 charge his usual ministerial duties, it was with a con- 
 scious failing of strength and sinking of spirits which 
 betokened too surel}' to himself, that his days of use- 
 fulness were fast hastening to a close. It may sur- 
 prise some to learn that it was not till this late period 
 of his life that he seriously commenced the task of 
 writing the Life of Calvin. He had, indeed, collected 
 materials for this purpose several years before; but 
 he would frequently observe, that it was impossible 
 for him to finish it to his own satisfaction without 
 personally consulting the ancient records of Geneva; 
 and the obstacles which stood in the way of this, 
 arising chiefly from his ministerial avocations, which 
 he would on no account sacrifice to his literary pro- 
 jects, rendered it, in his opinion, impracticable. About 
 the year 1831, a proposal was made by some of his 
 literary friends, to send a qualified person to Geneva 
 for this purpose, without putting him to any expense; 
 but this he resolutely declined; and his materials 
 might have lain untouched, had he not been induced, 
 and almost impelled to the task of arranging them, 
 by a circumstance which he could not help regarding 
 as a providential call to exertion. To this he alludes 
 in the following extract: — "December 4, 1832, — I 
 
 on whom none is to be obtruded against their will; and it is de- 
 cerned, statute and ordained, that whosoever hereafter shall, 
 upon tlie suit and calling of the congregation, after due exami- 
 nation of their literature and conversation, be admitted by the 
 Presbytery into the exercise and function of the ministry in any 
 parish within this kingdom, that the said person or persons, 
 without a presentation, by virtue of their admission, hath suffi- 
 cient right and title to possess the manse and glebe, and the 
 whole rents, &c. And because it is needful that the just and 
 proper interest of congregations and Presbyteries in providing of 
 Kirks with ministers be clearly determined by tlie General 
 Assembly, and what is to be accounted the congregation — it is 
 seriously recommended to the next General Assembly clearly to 
 determine the same,' " &,c. 
 
 " Something like this would avoid all Erastianism, and at the 
 same time would show the vigilance of Parliament over the rights 
 of the Christian people. But enough of this at present. — I am, 
 &c., Tho. MCniE." 
 
COMMENCEMEKT OF THE LIFE OF CALVIN. 323 
 
 begin to feel, perhaps too late, the justness of the 
 wise man's saying, 'Much study is a weariness to 
 the flesh.' Yet I feel a lingering fondness after the 
 subject which I had commenced, and a species of 
 aversion to leave it unfinished.* Shall I yield to 
 this, or listen to the voice of reason, speaking to my 
 infirmities? I have one son now in Geneva, whither 
 he went about two months ago, with the charge of 
 two pupils, and where he purposes to remain with 
 them at least during the winter. ' Well, what of 
 that?' I meant to say, that while one of my sons, 
 who was ready for taking license as a preacher, has 
 for the present retired from that employment, his 
 brother, who had been pursuing his studies for the 
 bar, has exchanged them for theology. ' Yes, but 
 have you no literary leanings to the quondam Pro- 
 testant Athens and its Solon?' After what I have 
 said, I would be a fool if I had ; and yet who can 
 answer for all the foolish thoughts which pass through 
 his mind ? Ten years ago, the advantages which now 
 present themselves would have set my imagination 
 agog, and made my pen like that of a swift writer. 
 But ten years, at my time of life, make a great 
 change, and impress a lesson of sobriety on the vain- 
 est mind. I will not conceal from you (for I am 
 sure you will not make an improper use of the con- 
 fidence) that I have directed certain inquiries to be 
 made as to remaining documents; and after this, you 
 will believe me when I add that I liave formed no 
 ulterior project, and that my endeavour is to suppress 
 unavailing regrets, and to check desires which would 
 tempt me to an undertaking beyond my strength."! 
 His son John, to whom this extract refers, was not 
 one of those who could rest satisfied with fulfilling 
 the letter of such a commission; with all the enthu- 
 siasm of youth, he entered into its spirit, and prose- 
 cuted his researches with such assiduity and success, 
 that in a short time he had transmitted to his father 
 
 * He refers to the papers on the Marrow Controversy, 
 t To the Rev. Dr. Watson. 
 
324 LIFE OF DR. m'CRIE. 
 
 large masses of extracts from manuscripts and rare 
 works, containing much original and interesting infor- 
 mation regarding Calvin. The effect of this on our 
 author is thus described by him: — "November 21, 
 1833, — I have begun to do something connected with 
 the Life of Calvin. John has been so laborious in his 
 researches, and sent me home so many materials, that 
 I found myself shut up to make an attempt, if it 
 were for no other reason than to show that I was not 
 altogether insensible to his exertions. I shall endea- 
 vour, at least, if I am spared in health, to put in 
 order the materials that have been laid to my hand. 
 Delay is sometimes productive of good, but oftener 
 has evil effects. I can do nothing without continu- 
 ous study, and I am not capable of sustaining it now 
 without sensible injury. I have a competitor, too, 
 a M. Henri of Berlin, who only waits transcripts 
 from Geneva to put to press a Life of Calvin in two 
 volumes." — "December 13, 1833, — I have got a 
 second Jasciciilus h'om Geneva, which reaches to Cal- 
 vin's death. John's diligence and ardour of research 
 have put my indolence to the blush, and from sheer 
 shame, I have written out in form a first chapter, 
 bringing down the narrative to the close of his aca- 
 demical studies. But what is that?" 
 
 About this time he discovered that he had a compe- 
 titor nearer home, unconsciously employed in the 
 same work, the Rev. William K. Tweedie (then of 
 London, now of Aberdeen,) who from pure venera- 
 tion for the character and admiration of the writings 
 of the Genevan Reformer, had collected materials for 
 illustrating his life, which a residence on the continent 
 had enabled him to enrich with a variety of interesting 
 facts. No sooner had Dr. M'Crie ascertained this fact, 
 than, with the disinterested promptitude which hema- 
 nifested on all such occasions, he first apprized the un- 
 known author of his being engaged in a similar work, 
 and on learning who he was, and how far he had 
 proceeded, he urged him to persevere, and offered 
 to transfer to him the whole of his materials. Mr. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. TWEEDIE. 325 
 
 Tweed ic, however, no sooner heard that Dr. M'Crie 
 was engaged in preparing a Life of Calvin, than in 
 a spirit hardly less admirable, he not only at once 
 abandoned the idea of prosecuting his work, but 
 cheerfully transmitted his manuscripts to our author, 
 who was anxious to see them, accompanied with a 
 request to make any use of them he might think pro- 
 per. This friendly contest issued in Dr. M'Crie con- 
 senting to proceed with his work; as will appear from 
 the following correspondence. 
 
 October 23, 1833, Mr. Tweedie writes, " 1 ought 
 to begin apologizing for the liberty I take in address- 
 ing you; but having introduced myself to you as 
 
 the 'young clerical friend' of whom Mrs. S of 
 
 spoke to you in connexion with a Life of 
 
 Calvin, )'ou will understand, and I doubt not, pardon, 
 the cause of this intrusion. I had a letter yesterday 
 from that lady, in which she imparts confidentially 
 to me what you had allowed her to do to the friend 
 of whom she spoke, your purpose of adding a Life of 
 Calvin to the other Biographies which you have al- 
 ready given us. As I have been for many years a 
 devoted admirer of that wonderful man, and had 
 turned my attention so early as the year 1830 to the 
 meagreness of all the accounts which have hitherto 
 been published of him, the idea could not but occur 
 of supplying the deficiency. I hoped that John Scott 
 of Hull would have furnished us with something 
 worthy of Calvin, and was not a little mortified tliat 
 Scott's work, ' Calvin and the Swiss Reformers,' 
 lately published, was but a meagre translation of 
 Beza's original life of his friend, eked out with a few 
 anecdotes from Sennebier — whose life, in passing, 
 appears to me the best we have." 
 
 After referring to the researches which he had 
 made, he adds, " The period has now come, however, 
 for which I have long waited, and I cannot well ex- 
 press to you the satisfaction which I felt on learning 
 yesterday, that you contemplated the work. My 
 endeavours were directed to it, only because I thought 
 28 
 
32G LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 it an ignoble thing for one so conspicuous as Calvin 
 was for all that is great in our ruined nature, and 
 much of what is transcendent in our renetoed nature, 
 should remain buried as he is to thousands under 
 the jeer of sciolists, and the very contemptible malice 
 of certain degenerate men. I sincerely trust that 
 by the extracts which your son furnishes from the 
 Library of Geneva, — where Calvin's opinions, I re- 
 gret to say, are now confined nearly to his own vo- 
 lumes and manuscripts, — will put it in your power 
 to restore Calvin and Knox to each other's society 
 once more, and place the '^ j)ar nobile fratr'nm^ as 
 high in the esteem of all good men, as they formerly 
 were in each other's. — I beg again to say, that fi-om 
 yesterday I waive all purpose of giving my gleanings 
 to the public, rejoicing, as I most heartily do, to give 
 place to one who has already in himself experienced, 
 and given so many thousands the power of experi- 
 encing along with him, the pleasure of which Va- 
 lerius Maximus speaks when he says, Exultat ani- 
 mus maximorum vii^arum rnemoriam percurrens.^' 
 
 " To the Rev. William IC. Tweedie, London. 
 
 " Edinburgh, October 28, 1832. 
 "Rev. dear Sir, — I cannot allow my first leisure 
 day to pass without answering your obliging letter. 
 You needed not either to begin or conclude by apo- 
 logizing, as you could not have done me a more ac- 
 ceptable favour than by writing me on such a subject. 
 The sentiments you express respecting Calvin would 
 liave been a sufficient introduction — I will not use 
 the word apology — at any time or in any circum- 
 stances. I could not but be struck with the singular 
 coincidence in the feelings which have led us to make 
 choice of the same subject. For many years I had 
 been in the habit of marking references to any thing 
 of moment relating to Calvin which occurred in the 
 course of my reading, but without the least serious 
 idea of writing his liie. So far from it, when any 
 of my friends suggested the work, I either laughed 
 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. TWEEDIE. 327 
 
 at the proposal or rejected it. But the thouglit 
 haunted mc, that it was disgraceful that nothing 
 should be done to rescue from obloquy the character 
 of a man to whom the Reformed Church, and indeed 
 the Ciiurch of Christ at large, owed so much; and 
 (will you believe it?) the appearance of Scott's liife, 
 which you characterize so justly, was the very thing 
 which fixed my determination, so far as it is yet 
 fixed. 
 
 " But [ proceed too fast, and must recur to what 1 
 intended to have begun by stating. 1 do not know 
 
 in what terms Mrs. S may have written you, 
 
 nor do I even recollect exactly how I expressed 
 myself to her, but I know what my feelings were. 
 Learning from that lady that a friend of hers had 
 made large collections for a Life of Calvin, and 
 supposing that he was far advanced in the work, 
 I thought it but fair to give her liberty to inform 
 him, that I was labouring behind him in the same 
 field, that he might avail himself of the advantage he 
 had by prior occupation and more advanced progress. 
 This I would have done to any fellovv-labourer of 
 whom I heard any thing favourable. Of course I did 
 not know whether you were Presbyterian, Episcopa- 
 lian, or Independent — though my impression rather 
 was that you belonged to the Church of England. 
 Your yielding the ground to me, how flattering so- 
 ever it may be, was what 1 neither wished nor ex- 
 pected; and one object of my writing at present is to 
 urge you to reconsider the grounds of your resolution. 
 Permit me to say, that it is neither doing justice to 
 yourself nor to the undertaking, to decide in one day 
 on the disposal of what has cost the labour of years. 
 The only advantage I can have over you is having 
 meditated a little longer on the character of Calvin, 
 and perhaps having had my attention a little more 
 turned to the times in which he lived. But to coun- 
 terbalance this you have on your side youth, enthu- 
 siasm, an elegant pen, materials wiiich you have 
 gathered in the course of travelling, and what is not 
 
32S LIFE OP DR. M^CniE, 
 
 of small importance in authorship as in other things 
 — a first love. These considerations (not to mention 
 the risk, at my time of life, of my failure in the at- 
 tempt) should, I think, induce you to alter — allow me 
 to call it — the hasty abandonment of your design. If 
 you agree to do so, you may depend on any assist- 
 ance 1 can afford you; nor do I suppose I would find 
 any great difficulty in getting myself released from 
 any indirect obligations I have brought myself under, 
 in which case I shall most readily transfer to you the 
 whole of my materials. 
 
 "If you should continue in your resolution, I will 
 avail myself with pleasure of your kind offer of assist- 
 ance, which cannot fail to be of the most essential 
 service to me. But in this case I am afraid you may 
 be assailed with a personal visit, for I scarcely think 
 that 1 would be satisfied with such communications 
 as can be made by letter. In the mean time, I shall 
 frankly acquaint you with the guides with which I 
 am provided." 
 
 JVovember 15, 1833. — "I have not succeeded wilh 
 you in my attempt to persuade, and not having Farel's 
 thunder, I shall not presume to terrify you into the 
 task; only you must allow me to say that you failed 
 in 5'our parallel; for Calvin, you must remember, was 
 then the young man. You are, however, very kind 
 in offering your assistance, and I beg you not to say 
 or think that this is a small matter. All my corre- 
 spondence with you now must proceed on the con- 
 trary supposition." 
 
 December 19, 1833. — "I have read your disquisi- 
 tion on Servetus carefully, and mean to read it again 
 more carefully. I take it for granted you have no 
 objection to its lying beside me. I have no doubt 
 that, according to the laws in force at Geneva, as 
 well as elsewhere, the punishment of Servetus, on 
 his being found guilty, was a matter of course; nor 
 do I think it can be proved that Calvin did any thing 
 in that affair but what he was bound to do, agreeably 
 to those laws, and his own views of Scripture and , 
 
CORRESPONDEKCE WITH MR. TWEEDIE. 329 
 
 criminal jurisprudence. My objections are to the 
 law itself, which authorizes the capital punishment 
 of heretics, and that not merely because it may be 
 extended to all heresy, or what the judges might 
 pronounce heresy, and consequently to the reformed 
 opinions in the Roman Catholic countries, but also be- 
 cause 1 cannot think that heresy, as such, is a crime 
 in the eye of the State. Had the law been against 
 blasphemy, or heresy assuming that form, much might 
 be said in favour of punishing those who rail at or 
 revile the Being whom the State adored, and certainly 
 Servetus was chargeable with this high offence. It 
 is in this light that Calvin and Beza view his conduct 
 in their tracts, but then their arguments often go far- 
 ther, and would authorize punishment even to the 
 death against simple heresy. Spanheim, Turretin, 
 &c., always consider it as blasphemy when they speak 
 of the death of Servetus, and vindicate or apologize 
 for the sentence against him. Considering the nature 
 of the heretic's conduct, the odium wliich Geneva 
 had contracted as a receptacle of heretics, and the 
 outcry which had been made against Calvin as an 
 anti-trinitarian, I would have justified the Council of 
 Geneva for punishing Servetus, or detaining him in 
 prison. But besides the horror that I feel at blood 
 or fire in any thing immediately connected with reli- 
 gion, I am afraid of any principle which leads either 
 to persecution or to a confounding of the objects of 
 civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. You know I am 
 a strenuous opponent of the plan of divorcing religion 
 from civil government; 1 view the former, taken in 
 a large or rather a general sense, as the basis of the 
 latter, and its firmest support. At the same time, I 
 have long held it as a principle, that it is only when 
 religious opinions or their avowal directly injure the 
 proper interests of the State (and not formally as dis- 
 honouring to God,) that they become the objects of 
 civil restraint or criminal punishment; and that the 
 laws of the State ought to be so regulated as not to 
 make the simple declaration or defence of opinions, 
 2S* 
 
330 LIFE OF PR, M^CRIE. 
 
 in matters of faith, punishable. This being the case, 
 you will see I am not prepared to go your length in 
 the vindication of Calvin, at least if I have inter- 
 preted right what you have said. At the same time, 
 your reflections will be of great use to me, and on re- 
 considering them I may perceive more force in them 
 than struck me at first reading. Any thing farther 
 from you on that delicate subject will be most accept- 
 able. I would not fear the misconstructions of the 
 world, nor the outcry of persecution from the mouths 
 of latitudinarians, could I perceive firm ground to 
 stand upon. The argument from expediency may be 
 wielded both ways." 
 
 JMarch 25,1835. — "In what a singular condition 
 are both Church and State at present! If you and 
 I had it in our power, and were at liberty, to retire 
 and to spend two years in some sequestered island, 
 in writing a joint Life of Calvin, could we conjecture 
 by all our mutual cogitations, during our hours of re- 
 laxation, in the interval, what would be the actual 
 situation in which we would find our native country 
 on our return at the end of that period .'' The changes 
 which take place so unexpectedly should teach us to 
 look beyond men, and beyond the measures which 
 they contemplate (I include churchmen and states- 
 men,) to the hand and counsel of Him who has the 
 hearts of all in his hand, who uses them for the accom- 
 plishment of some of his minor purposes in the mean 
 time; but whose designs are as far above theirs as the 
 heavens are above the earth, and who will not want 
 instruments for the accomplishment of them, when- 
 ever the time, tlie set time, has come. But I am be- 
 ginning to preach to you — it is, however, Calvinislic 
 doctrine." — I am, m)^ dear Sir, ever yours, very faith- 
 fully, " Tho. M'Crie." 
 
 The letters which passed between Dr. M'Crie and 
 his son on the Continent, are valuable as documents, 
 but being chiefly occupied either with private mat- 
 ters, or with hints and suggestions regarding the in- 
 
DEATH OP BRETIIREX. 331 
 
 qulries in which he was engaged, they arc not fitted 
 for insertion here. He was still receiving fresh sup- 
 plies of materials from Geneva; but, he observes, July 
 1834, "I have neither time nor leisure to avail my- 
 self of them; and instead of rejoicing, as I used to do, 
 at the sight of such treasures, 1 ratlier fed inclined to 
 weep. Yet if I can make nothing of them, some 
 other may." It is truly affecting, indeed, in perusing 
 the correspondence between the father and the son 
 (now that they are both silent in the grave !) to observe 
 how the fading energies of the one struggled to keep 
 pace with, and to reward, the youthful zeal and affec- 
 tionate toils of the other. But what with his increasing 
 infirmities, and the perpetual interruptions which he 
 was meeting with, from visiters, correspondence, 
 public meetings, applications for assistance in literary 
 undertakings or on sacramental occasions, with his 
 ordinary ministerial duties, to which were now added 
 the labours of the Divinity Hall,* his time was so 
 completely broken up and consumed, that, as we shall 
 afterward see, he was able to proceed only a little 
 farther with the Life of Calvin, when he was called 
 away from all his labours. 
 
 His mind, which now began to cherish the impres- 
 sion of being soon removed from this world, was re- 
 peatedly recalled to the exercise becoming such a 
 prospect, by the successive deaths of several of his 
 brethren in the ministry. I find him thus referring, 
 in November 1833, to the death of Mr. M'Derment 
 of Auchinleck: " what a loss have we sustained in 
 the death of our dear brother M'Derment! Old as 1 
 am, I cannot help yet weeping at the thought. There 
 was so much of the milk of human kindness about 
 him, so much gentleness, so much piety, so much 
 anxiety to do good, so much zeal for the good cause! 
 
 * In 1833, he agreed to assist the late Professor Paxton in con- 
 ducting the studies of the theological class. Though he delivered 
 no regular course of lectures, but confined himself chiefly to 
 examination and biblical criticism, the preparations required for 
 such a task necessarily occupied much of his time. 
 
332 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 He had his faults, no doubt (though I know them not,) 
 like all on earth born of woman, and born again of 
 tlie Spirit; but take him all in all, we shall not soon 
 see liis like again. Let us remember the end of his 
 conversation." Next year brought him tidings of 
 the departure of his venerable friend Mr. Aitken of 
 Kirriemuir, who died on the 24th of Sept. 1834, in 
 the 78th year of his age, and 56th of his ministry. 
 Writing to his son, Sept. 30, he says: " Though the 
 tidings it conveyed could not be said to be unexpected, 
 your letter produced a feeling which partook of sur- 
 prise. The accounts I had heard flattered the hope, 
 that a vigorous constitution, aided by medical skill 
 and domestic attention, would resist, for some time 
 longer, the advance of disease. But He vvho knows 
 our frame, both of body and mind, and in whose hands 
 our lives are, has ordered it otherwise, and we should 
 believe it was wisely and kindly ordered. 'It is done.' 
 A long, laborious, and useful life is finished. He has 
 rested from his labours, — escaped from bodily pain 
 and mental anxiety— from a body of death, an evil 
 world, and an evil time. Some of us must soon fol- 
 low, and those of us who may survive for any long 
 time, know not the trials, private and public, which 
 await us, and from the sight and enduring of which 
 he has been taken away in mercy and in wisdom. 
 The grace, however, which sustained and carried him 
 through in tlie midst of his duties and temptations, 
 is sufficient for us. Let us follow his faith, and the 
 other graces which he was helped to display, both in 
 life and death. He has been spared to his family 
 and the church longer than many — longer than, from 
 repeated warnings, we had reason to expect. Let our 
 selfish feelings yield to gratitude." Still he continued 
 to take a warm concern in public matters. Like a leal- 
 hearted Seceder of the old school, he was deeply inte- 
 rested in the fortunes of the Church of Scotland, and 
 sincerely rejoiced in any symptoms which he ob- 
 served in the character of her clergy, or her adminis- 
 tration, of a disposition to return to the good old way 
 
THE assembly's FAST. 333 
 
 of their fatliers. His prospects, liowever, on this 
 point, were now and then shaded with that " pale cast 
 of thought" which characterized his views of public 
 affairs in general, and were apt to give place to me- 
 lancholy forebodings, as soon as any tokens of an 
 opposite tendency came under his notice. " What 
 fools our church folks are," he says, January 21, 1S35, 
 "to identify their cause with Toryism at the present 
 day, to alienate the Whigs, and to oblige them to 
 league with Radicals, to give them an excuse for de- 
 serting the defence of the Church, whenever they 
 shall find it safe or politically wise to do so! Don't 
 you think that our times bear a great resemblance to 
 those of 1640 in England, with this difference (great 
 indeed,) that tliere is not the same religious spirit in 
 Parliament and in the public which existed at that 
 period? How a collision between the aristocrae:}'' 
 and the commons (not to speak of the monarchy) is 
 to be avoided, I do not see. The public mind is 
 much more extensively enlightened as to politics than 
 it was in 1793, and it has got a power — a lever which 
 it did not then possess." March 5, 1835. — I have 
 no doubt, I have a great portion of the incredulity of 
 my namesake, and would wish to say, with respect 
 to public prospects, 'Lord, I believe; help thou mine 
 unbelief" 
 
 Nothing gave him more pleasure than to hear 
 that the General Assembly in May 1835, had ap- 
 pointed a day of public fasting — an assertion of the 
 intrinsic power of tiie Church, which he did not an- 
 ticipate,* and which, reminding him of her better 
 days, appeared a token for good. Writing tohisdaugh- 
 ter, July 17, 1835, he says, " It will not be in my 
 power to see you next week, as it is probable my ses- 
 sion will agree to keep our Synod Fast on Thursday 
 
 * On the Sabbath after Die appointment of the fast, not being 
 aware of it, he said, in the course of his sermon, " Will tliey 
 venture to appoint a fast on their own authority?" and he was 
 no less astonished than delighted to learn from Dr. Burns, at the 
 conclusion of the service, that what he evidently did not expect 
 had actually been done the day before. 
 
334 LIFE OF DR. M^CKIE. 
 
 first, — the day of the Assembly's fast. You know, 
 I never had any public worship on a King's fast, but 
 when the church courts of the Establishment, or of 
 any denomination of Christians, set apart a day for 
 humiliation, we have no objection to avail ourselves 
 of the day; and at present, we rather see reason for 
 approving of the Assembly's conduct, in so far as 
 they have resumed tlie exercise of their own eccle- 
 siastical powers, which they had so long yielded up 
 to the State, in such appointments. I am aware the 
 Voluntaries think the fast is appointed to pray ihem 
 down. If this be the case, they have no reason to fear 
 their prayers or their fasting; but I trust that many 
 ministers of the Establishment have higher and bet- 
 ter motives, though no doubt there will be much for- 
 mality — as, alas! there is among ourselves. It is 
 supposed, the Dissenters generally will keep their 
 shops open, and their churches shut. They did not 
 use to do that on days oi royal appointment.''* 
 
 In the "Reasons of a Fast," which were drawn out 
 by him, and published 18th Jul^'^ 1835, a very short 
 time before his decease (indeed, it was the last pub- 
 lished production of his pen,) we meet with the fol- 
 lowing remarks, which have struck many as peculiarly 
 applicable to the present state of the Church of Scot- 
 land: — "Though we may overlook our national guilt, 
 which has long been accumulating, yet God does not 
 forget it; and it has been his usual way to inflict his 
 judgments upon a people favoured with divine reve- 
 lation, — not at the time when they are in a slate of groxo- 
 ing defection and deep insensibility, hut after they have 
 been brought, by means of the Word or some awakening 
 providence, to a sense of their danger, and have disco- 
 vered symptoms of a disposition to return lo the path of 
 duty ; as it is at such seasons that they are most likely to 
 recognise His hand in the judgments inflicted. It was 
 not in the days of Ahaz, but in the days of godly He- 
 zekiah, that the captivity of the Jews was threatened; 
 
 * Sec before, p. 09. 
 
"reasons of a fast." 335 
 
 nor was It at the close of the reign of Manasseh, when 
 defection from the cause of God seemed to have come 
 to its height, but at the close of the reign of Josiah, 
 when there had been a remarkable revival, that the 
 Lord proceeded to plead his controversy with his 
 people by executing that threatening. Hence that 
 striking declaration which closes the narrative of the 
 several steps of reformation under Josiah's reign: 'Not- 
 withstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness 
 of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled 
 against Judah, because of all the provocations that 
 Manasseh had provoked him withal. And the Lord 
 said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I 
 have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Je- 
 rusalem which I have chosen, and the hou^e of which 
 I said. My name shall be there.' Let none entertain 
 the presumptuous hope that we will escape national 
 judgments, because, from tliis country, by means of 
 missionary exertions, the Gospel has been carried to 
 distant nations, where the name of Jesus was not for- 
 merly known; so long as our national sins have not 
 been confessed and mourned over before the Lord, 
 and so long as the great body of the nation are going 
 on in a course of backsliding. It was at the time 
 when the law went forth from Zion, and the word of 
 the Lord from Jerusalem to the Gentile nations by the 
 instrumentality of the apostles, that God proceeded to 
 bring upon the Jewish church and nation, 'all the 
 righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of 
 righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Ba- 
 rachias, whom they slew between the temple and the 
 altar.'"* 
 
 There can be no doubt, however, that long before 
 this time his heart had been greatly alienated from 
 the world, and tired of the troubled scenes of its po- 
 litics, civil and ecclesiastical. His health, though in 
 his latter years apparently robust, from his having lost 
 the spare and wasted look which distinguished him 
 during the greater part of his life, was bj^ no means 
 
 * Reasons of a Fast, appointed by the Associate Synod of 
 Original Seccders,. P. 4. ia35. 
 
336 LIFE or DR. m'crie. 
 
 sound, having sustained several severe shocks from 
 various disorders, particularly tic doloureux, and ery- 
 sipelas, accompanied by sometliing resembling gout; 
 and in the beginning of 1835, his constitution gave 
 evident symptoms of breaking up. He himself be- 
 came quite sensible of this. In May he thus refers 
 to these warnings of dissolution : " I was confined 
 for three weeks, chiefly to bed; and though my com- 
 plaints are in a good degree removed, strength has 
 not returned; I can walk no distance, and half an 
 hour's speaking exhausts me. I suppose 1 must look 
 on it as indicating the climacteric of my life; at any 
 rate as warning me that I cannot look for the health 
 I have enjoyed."* From certain symptoms which 
 lie experienced, he was led to express an apprehen- 
 sion (similar to that of his friend Dr. Andrew Thom- 
 son) that he " would die soon and suddenly." He fre- 
 quently complained that he "had too much to do;" 
 a feeling which no doubt arose partly from a failing 
 of his former strength, but, in no small degree, from 
 the accumulated labours by which it was overtasked. 
 Demands, without number and without mercy, were 
 made on him for counsel and assistance; and so long 
 as he had a moment to spare, though at the expense 
 of health and strength, he could not, in the benignity 
 of heart, refuse an application. " I have submitted," 
 he says,! " not brought myself under a task which 
 occupies me the whole week; and the nature of which 
 1 am ashamed to tell you, though important in itself. 
 Tliere are some people born to be beasts of burden, 
 just as there are beasts made to be taken and de- 
 stroyed." 
 
 Having recruited a littleduring the summerof 1835, 
 he undertook several excursions — not for relaxation, 
 butto assist in the laboriousduties of a Scottish commu- 
 nion, in different congregations, both in the north and 
 the west country. He felt particularly anxious to visit 
 the bereaved flock of his lamented brother, Mr, Smith 
 
 * To the Rev. James Gray, 
 t To Dr. Watson. 
 
HIS LAST DAYS. 337 
 
 of Kilwinning, and administered to them the conso- 
 lations which his own people were so soon to require. 
 It was uniformly remarked, both by ministers and 
 people, that on these occasions his ministrations and 
 private converse were distinguished by a heavenly 
 unction exceeding that of his usual manner, and in- 
 dicating his near approach to "the joy of his Lord," 
 The subjects, as well as the manner of his discourses, 
 could not have been more appropriate, though he had 
 known assuredly that " those among whom he had 
 gone preaching the kingdom of God, should see his 
 face no more." The greater part of the week imme- 
 diately preceding his death, he spent, at a considera- 
 ble distance from home, in the society of his only 
 daughter, to whom he was bound by no ordinary 
 attachment, and the state of whose health at the time 
 was so very precarious, that on parting with her, she 
 took her farewell of him, never expecting to see him 
 again. Her fears were too well realized — though in 
 a manner very different from that which she antici- 
 pated. 
 
 It may not be considered out of place here to men- 
 tion, that as he approached the closing scene of his 
 pilgrimage, his thoughts seem to have reverted, with 
 singular force, to his earlier days. A short time be- 
 fore his departure, .^e repeated to an intimate friend 
 a dream, which, on his awakening from it (or rather 
 in the midst of it, for it appeared to strike him be- 
 tween sleeping and waking,) left a deep impression 
 on his mind. He dreamed that his mother had ap- 
 peared to him, wearing the same aspect, though deadly 
 pale, as when he last parted with her on Coldingham 
 Moor,* and beckoning on him to follow her, which he 
 promised to do! No man could be less superstitious, 
 or disposed to treat such fancies with less regard; but 
 this morning vision coincided too well with the train 
 of his waking apprehensions, to be soon shaken off; 
 and it proves, if nothing else, his undying affection 
 
 * See before, p. 16, 
 29 
 
338 LIF£ OF DK. M^CKIE. 
 
 for that pious parent, with whom his first religious 
 impressions were associated, and to whose spirit his 
 own was on the eve of a blessed reunion. 
 
 On Thursday the 23d of July (the day appointed 
 by the General Assembly) he kept a fast in his own 
 congregation, taking for his text Jeremiah 1. 5 : 
 "They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces 
 thitherward, saying. Come, and let us join ourselves 
 to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be 
 forgotten." It was observed by his people, that he 
 never preached in better spirits, or with more solemn 
 effect. On the Sabbath following, he officiated twice 
 in his ovvn pulpit, with his usual animation, lecturing 
 in the forenoon on John xxi. 15 — 18, and preaching 
 in the afternoon on these striking words, Matthew 
 iii. 12: "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will 
 thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into 
 the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with un- 
 quenchable fire." It was observed that, at the close 
 of the service, contrary to his usual practice, he seated 
 himself at the door of the vestry, and watched the 
 people while they were retiring, till they had all gone 
 out. On Monday, he was much in his usual health, 
 and entertained a small party of friends at dinner in 
 his wonted spirits. The evening of this day he 
 spent in writing to his son Johnij who was then on 
 his way to Vienna, giving him, in his own homely 
 way, all the news, public and domestic, which he 
 thought might interest him; and hinting, though in 
 the mildest terms, and without indicating any appre- 
 hension of the near approach of death, his fears that 
 he might not be spared to finish the Life of Calvin.* 
 
 * In this letter, the latter part of which is dated August 3, he 
 sajs, " 1 regret to tel! you, that I liave been able to do nothing 
 to Calvin since I wrote. 1 cannot accomplisli my preparations 
 for the pulpit within less time than Friday and Saturday, having 
 abandoned ca:<crti/iorc effusions for a number of years. In addition 
 to this and my other avocations, I had an illness in tlie spring, 
 which confined me for a considerable time. I am told it is con- 
 nected with the climacteric of life, and consider it as admonish- 
 ing me that 1 cannot now bear the study and confinement to 
 which I was accustomed. At present I feel recruited, and if 
 
HIS DEATH. 339 
 
 This letter he did not Hve to complete. On Tuesday, 
 the 4th of August, after having returned home from 
 visiting some of his people, he was seized in the 
 afternoon with a sudden and severe attack of pain in 
 the bowels. Medical advice having been procured, 
 he obtained some relief; and to the anxious inquiries 
 of his friends, he said he was better, and had no fears 
 of any immediate danger. Shortly afterwards, he 
 fell into a slumber, which soon assumed a very alarm- 
 ing character. He had gradually and insensibly sunk 
 into a stupor, out of which it was found impossible 
 to awaken him. Dr. Abercromby, on being sent for, 
 pronounced his recovery hopeless. The disease had 
 all the symptoms of apoplexy; and during the whole 
 of the trying night which followed, he neither spoke, 
 nor gave signs of being sensible of Vv4iat was addressed 
 to him. In this state he continued till next day, 
 Wednesday the 5th of August 1835, when, about 
 half-past twelve at noon, surrounded by his friends 
 and many of his beloved flock, who had collected 
 to witness his last moments, without a groan or a 
 struggle, his spirit entered into rest. At his death, 
 he was in the sixty-third year of his age, and the 
 fortieth of his ministry. 
 
 It would be impossible to describe the feel- 
 ings of grief and astonishment which pervaded all 
 classes on hearing of the fatal event. So wholly 
 unexpected was the intelligence — so confidently had 
 the public counted on the continuance, for many 
 years to come, of a life from which they still antici- 
 pated much, that, when first announced to them, few 
 could believe in the reality of his death. Judging 
 from the numerous expressions of regret and con- 
 spared, will resume the work after harvest; and endeavour to 
 prosecute it with application, moderated according to my strength. 
 When at any time 1 am prevented or disabled from proceeding, 
 I am hurt by the thought of the great labour you have taken in 
 amassing the materials. This is wrong, as it was done for the 
 best, and Providence can so direct as that they shall be turned 
 to a good account, though I should be unfit for the task. I am 
 also relieved by the reflection, that the fatigue you have had 
 will be beneficial to your own mind." 
 
340 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 dolence, public and private, wliich followed on the 
 announcement, there are few instances in which the 
 sorrows of a bereaved family have met with a wider 
 or deeper response in the community at large.* 
 
 The funeral having been fixed for the 12th of 
 August, a general desire was expressed by persons 
 of all denominations to join in testifying their respect 
 for the memory of the departed. The Commission 
 of the General Assembly, whicii met on that day, on 
 the motion of Dr. Cooli, appointed a deputation of 
 their number, consisting of tiie Moderator, (Dr. Wil- 
 liam Thomson,) the clerk, and other members, to 
 accompany the funeral. The preachers and students 
 belonging to the respective Halls of the Establish- 
 ment and the United Secession, requested leave to 
 attend in a body. It was thus found necessary to 
 make arrangements for a public funeral; and the 
 mournful procession, amounting, it was said, to 
 nearly 1500 persons, including the magistrates of 
 the city and clergymen of all persuasions, accom- 
 panied his remains to the Greyfriars' church-yard. A 
 monument, erected by his sorrowing flock, with an 
 inscription expressive of their sense of the loss they 
 had sustained, marks his final resting-place. 
 
 Several public bodies passed resolutions express- 
 ing their high sense of Dr. M'Crie's merits as a 
 literary and public character, and their regrets at 
 his removal. Among these, I cannot help specify- 
 ing, with grateful feelings, the testimonial of the 
 Synod of Ulster, — evincing, as it does, a warm ad- 
 miration for the principles, as well as the talents, of 
 our author, which augurs well for the future pros- 
 pects of that now happily regenerated and dail}'- 
 rising portion of the Presbyterian Church. It is 
 due to Lord Melbourne's government to state, that, 
 through the representations of numerous admirers of 
 
 * Dr. M'Crie left the following children (by the first marriage) 
 namely, — the writer of these Memoirs, who is the eldest; William, 
 merchant in Edinburgh; Jessie, married to Archibald Mciklc, 
 Esq., Flemington; John (who died in October ]8;^7;) and George, 
 who is now settled as minister in Cloin, Abcrdecnsljire. 
 
HIS DEATH. 341 
 
 Dr. M'Crie's public character and services, among 
 whom were the Lord Advocate, Lord Minto, and 
 Sir George Sinclair, a handsome annuity was assigned 
 to his widow. 
 
 The death of Dr. M'Crie being so sudden, so unex- 
 pected by himself, and so unheralded by any of those 
 immediately premonitory symptoms which some- 
 times enable the Christian to collect his energies, and 
 place himself in the attitude best fitted for the re- 
 ception of the last enemy, we cannot furnish our 
 readers with any record of death-bed exercise, simi- 
 lar to those which have so often and so profitably 
 concluded such memoirs as the present. The dis- 
 appointment of the pious reader may find some relief 
 in the consideration, which brought comfort to his 
 friends, that death did not meet him unprepared, and 
 that, as he himself said of his friend Mr. Bruce, the 
 manner of whose departure so much resembled his 
 own, "he was taken away without pain, without 
 sickness, without confinement, without any interrup- 
 tion of his ministerial work — after he had finished his 
 labours, and when he was standing faithfully at his 
 post." He might not have said of himself, though 
 others may say it iovh'im,"^ se satis vixisse,vei ad vi- 
 ta??!, vel ad gloriani?'' The whole tenor of his deport- 
 ment and conversation, for some time before his death, 
 was such as to strike all who closely observed it, that 
 he was fast ripening for the world of light and love. 
 "The remembrance of your father," says one who 
 had frequent opportunities of the most familiar inter- 
 course with him during his last days, "his fortitude, 
 his meekness of wisdom, the holy serenity and beau- 
 tiful consistency of his character — the warm interest 
 he took in every worthy object that called it forth in 
 this world, while yet he seemed with regard to his 
 home in heaven like a man who had his ticket taken 
 out for a journey, though he had not yet taken his 
 seat, and was employing the interval in doing all he 
 had left undone, with as little time as possible, and 
 yet studiously well, as what was done for the last 
 29* 
 
342 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 time; — all these traits often recur with a most cheer- 
 ing, and sometimes, 1 would hope, with a sanctifying 
 influence on my mind." 
 
 Those familiar with the writings of Dr. M'Crie 
 will here perhaps be reminded of the reflections 
 which he makes on the absence of all information 
 regarding the last hours of Andrew Melville, and 
 may consider them applicable to his own case: — • 
 "It is natural for us to desire minute information re- 
 specting the decease of any individual in whose life 
 we have taken a deep interest; and we cannot help 
 feeling disappointed, when we are barely told that 'he 
 died.' But laudable as this curiosity may be, and 
 gratifying and useful as it often is to look upon the 
 spiritual portraiture of good men at the hour of their 
 dissolution, we ought not to forget that there is a still 
 more decisive and unequivocal test of character. It 
 was by the faith which he evinced during his life, that 
 the first martyr 'obtained witness that he was right- 
 eous; and by it he, being dead, yet speaketh.' We 
 have no reason to regret being left without any au^ 
 thentic record of the manner in which the apostles 
 finished their course, when we ' have fully known 
 their doctrine, manner of life, purpose, long-suffering, 
 charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions.'"* 
 
 The interest which the public has shown with 
 regard to the manuscripts of Dr. M'Crie, and espe- 
 cially his unfinished Life of Calvin, demands a parti- 
 cular account of the state in which they have been 
 left. Few of these manuscripts, I regret to say, are 
 in such a state of preparation as would render it 
 proper to publish tliem. The manuscript of Calvin's 
 Life extends no farther than the commencement of 
 a fourth chapter. Of the three chapters which have 
 been fairly written out, and which may be considered 
 fit for the press, the first contains an account of the 
 early life of the Reformer, bringing it down to the 
 close of his academical career. The second com- 
 * Life of Melville, vol. ii., p. 460. 
 
MANUSCRIPT OF CALVIN's LIFE. 343 
 
 mences with a somewhat detailed history of the in- 
 troduction of the Reformation into France, and the 
 sufferings of its early martyrs; and resuming the 
 biography of Calvin at 1533, when he embraced the 
 reformed opinions, prosecutes it to 1535, giving an 
 account of the Preface to his "Institution of the 
 Christian Religion," but "reserving to a future stage 
 a more particular account of the work." The third 
 chapter is wholly occupied with a minute account of 
 the city of Geneva, "its external relations and inter- 
 nal government, and the leading facts connected with 
 the introduction of the Reformation into the city and 
 its territories." The fourth chapter recommences the 
 Life of Calvin at the period when he took up his 
 residence in Geneva, but contains only two or three 
 pages which are occupied with an account of the Ana- 
 baptists. The whole manuscript extends to no more 
 than 105 quarto pages. 
 
 The regret which must be felt at hearing of the 
 imperfect state in which this manuscript has been 
 left, must be increased when we add, that there is 
 no rude sketch from which we might have gathered 
 some idea of the manner in which he would have 
 treated the remaining portion of the Life. His 
 plan of composition, as we have already remarked, 
 was to work up his matter into shape as he went 
 along. Materials, however, there are, in consider- 
 able abundance, chiefly collected by the son to whose 
 labours we have already referred. And it was the 
 fond hope of the family, as indeed it had been of his 
 father, that he might be able, at some future period, 
 to complete the Vv'ork to the advancement of which 
 he had so largely contributed. This hope was con- 
 siderably abated by the discovery of the imperfect 
 state in which the manuscripts had been left; and 
 since then it has pleased an all-wise Providence to 
 extinguish it, by removing from this earthly sphere 
 the person on whom it rested. His connexion with 
 this much desired work, may justify a passing notice 
 of him in the present Memoir. 
 
344 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 John was the fourth son of Dr. M'Crie, and was 
 born May 19, 1808. From his earliest years he was 
 remarkable for sedateness and gentleness of manners, 
 thoughtfulness of mind, and prudence of behaviour. 
 He passed through the ordinary course of education, 
 literary and philosophical, in the High School and 
 University of Edinburgh, distinguishing himself par- 
 ticularly in the classical department, and gaining the 
 high approbation of his teachers. Though always 
 serious in his deportment and attentive to his reli- 
 gious duties, it was not till the year 1829 that he 
 acknowledged himself to have experienced a decided 
 change of heart, and the avowal was made to his 
 father in terms which left no doubt of the genuine 
 character of his experience. He was then employed 
 as tutor in the excellent family of James Ferguson, 
 Esq., of Kinmundy. John had devoted himself to 
 the holy ministry, and completed the usual course of 
 study preparatory to receiving license; but having 
 been requested to accompany two young gentlemen 
 on a tour to the Continent, he embraced the oppor- 
 tunity of gratifying his ardent thirst for knowledge 
 and turn for observation, and, as we have seen, set 
 out on his travels in the end of 1832. On leaving 
 Geneva, which they made their head-quarters for 
 some time, he and his youthful companions travelled 
 through France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy, 
 visiting all the most celebrated cities, and interesting 
 localities in these countries. His letfers written to 
 his friends during these excursions, abound with 
 remarks on the scenery, the manners of the people, 
 and incidents of travel, which display no ordinary 
 powers of description. At Vienna, where he had 
 just arrived in great spirits after a pleasant excursion, 
 and in the open cafe, among a crowd of strangers, who 
 were chatting in careless glee around him, he read 
 the letter which conveyed the stunning intelligence 
 of his father's death. This blow, which stript home 
 of its main attraction, and deprived him of the reward 
 he had fondly anticipated for all his labours, detcr^- 
 
MR. JOHN M'CRIE. 345 
 
 mined him to remain some time longer on the Conti- 
 nent. During his residence there, he had formed an 
 acquaintance with a variety of h'terary characters, 
 clergymen and professors in the universities, with 
 whom, from his familiar acquaintance with the French 
 and German languages, he was able to converse with 
 facilit}', and to whose kindness, his engaging man- 
 ners, his piety, and his good sense were powerful re- 
 commendations. But with all his admiration for the 
 character of the Germans, and the scholarship of their 
 divines, he was quite alive to the mischief of German 
 neology; his sound religious principles resisted the 
 poison of Continental infidelity; while his heart was 
 fairly won by the warmth, the simplicity, and the 
 liberality of Continental piety. In the summer of 
 1S36, the Directors of the Normal Seminary of Glas- 
 gow having, unsolicited on his part, offered him the 
 situation of Rector in that institution, he accepted of 
 the charge; and after paying a short visit to his 
 friends, he returned to the Continent for the purpose 
 of examining its schools, and procuring information 
 on the various modes of infant and juvenile tuition. 
 His whole attention was now bent on the subject of 
 education; and after visiting the most famous institu- 
 tions abroad, particularly those of Prussia, and pro- 
 curing a great mass of information, he returned in the 
 autumn, and commenced his labours in Glasgow, 
 Entering with enthusiasm into his profession — anx- 
 ious to do his best to advance the interests of an in- 
 stitution which had lately commenced its operations, 
 and demanded all his time, — he literally gave himself 
 no rest. Besides superintending the infant and 
 juvenile schools, and directing the exercises of those 
 who came to study the method of tuition, he deli- 
 vered several public lectures on Education, the labour 
 bestowed upon which was no less conspicuous than 
 the ingenuity of their matter and the beauty of their 
 style. These exertions proved too severe for his na- 
 turally delicate constitution; and in August 1837, he 
 was attacked with typhus fever, and fell a victim to its 
 
346 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 effects, on the 4th of October following, in the 29th 
 year of his age. 
 
 Mild, affable, and polite in his manners; affec- 
 tionate and obliging in his disposition; playful and 
 humorous, and yet bearing about him an air of gravity 
 and authority, and which gave him an influence, even 
 in early life, over his more volatile companions; sa- 
 gacious in discerning character; with an acute judg- 
 ment and a lively imagination, — the leading features 
 of his mind, as well as those of his countenance, ex- 
 hibited a very close resemblance to those of his fa- 
 ther. In drawing this sketch of a departed brother, 
 I am not conscious of having, in the fondness of affec- 
 tion, overstepped the cool unbiassed judgment of a 
 stranger. In truth, none could meet without ad- 
 miring him, or know without loving him. His pupils 
 looked up to him with mingled affection and respect. 
 And his friends will, I fear, consider this tribute to 
 his memory as a very inadequate compensation for the 
 omission hitherto of all public notice of one who pro- 
 mised so well, and whose early death they have so 
 deeply deplored. 
 
 The expectation of seeing the Life of Calvin com- 
 pleted, having been thus twice disappointed by the 
 hand of death, the present writer must confess that 
 he is still at a loss, whether to satisfy the curiosity 
 of the public by printing his father's manuscript in 
 the fragmentary shape in which it has been left by 
 him, or to comply with the advice of his friends, who 
 urge him to undertake the completion of the work. 
 Anxious as he is to escape, honourably, from a task 
 for which he feels himself so incompetent, he is 
 willing to be regulated, in a great measure, by the 
 decision of the public, who have now, after knowing 
 the exact state in which the manuscript has been left, 
 an opportunity of judging how far it would be proper 
 to publish it as it stands. 
 
CFIAPTER VIII. 
 
 HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 
 
 It may now be expected that this memoir should 
 close with a summary estimate of the character of its 
 subject. From this part of his task the author is 
 anxious to escape, and would fain shelter himself, at 
 the termination of his undertaking, under the plea of 
 that nearness of relationship which ought, perhaps, 
 to have deterred him from ever commencing it. He 
 has failed, indeed, in the great object he proposed to 
 himself, if he has not already presented the picture 
 in such lights as may enable every reader to form an 
 adequate conception of the leading features of the 
 original. At the same time, there are certain do- 
 mestic traits and miscellaneous illustrations of cha- 
 racter, which could not be omitted without leaving 
 the portrait unfinished; and to a brief delineation of 
 which, as they could not well be introduced into the 
 narrative of his life, Ihis chapter may be devoted. 
 
 Every one who knew Dr. M'Crie must have been 
 struck with the singular combination, in his charac- 
 ter, of qualities seldom found so largely and harmo- 
 niously blended in the same individual. In his na- 
 tural disposition, there was a deep-toned energy, and 
 what, in the best sense, may be styled passion, united 
 with a remarkable degree of self-control; — great 
 caution with great courage — great deliberation with 
 great decision — great indulgence and benevolence 
 with great sternness and severity. Intense feeling 
 was, no doubt, one of the standard features of his 
 mind, combined with a temper constitutionally warm 
 and even irritable; but so completely had this been 
 triumphed over, and so firmly was it kept in check, 
 
348 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 that to many who knew him superficially, the pre- 
 dominating trait may have appeared to be caution. 
 He often spoke in high terms of the power which a 
 man might gain over himself, in ruling his own spirit; 
 and in this, I believe, he spoke from personal expe- 
 rience; for there can be little doubt that the trials 
 and mortifications which he met witl) in early life, 
 had been conscientiously improved by him for check- 
 ing the exuberance of youthful zeal, and the excesses 
 of natural temperament. Some qualities he possessed, 
 which alone, or with other accompaniments, might 
 have been shades to his character, but which, as they 
 were found in him, rather gave effect to the light of 
 the picture. A companion of his at college used to re- 
 mark of him, that "M'Crie had too much pride to be 
 vain." If he had any thing which could be called 
 pride, it was of that sort which holds in high disdain 
 every thing approaching to meanness, and it was 
 tempered with such a lowly abasing estimate of him- 
 self, and such a condescending goodness towards 
 others, as hardly to merit the odious appellation. 
 "Faults he surely had," says one who spoke from 
 early and intimate acquaintance: "We have known 
 him long, and cannot say we ever discovered them, 
 except in, or connected with, the excess of virtues, 
 excessive disinterestedness — a faulty unselfishness — 
 an inverted observation of himself and others — turn- 
 ing the diminishing glass on himself and the magni- 
 fying on others. He could feel keenly, but it was 
 for the distresses of others; or if he was touched on 
 his own account, it was in scorn of some imputed 
 meanness, or implied waijt of confidence; if the 
 warmth of indignant expression ever escaped from 
 him, it was in defence of an injured friend, or of the 
 insulted dignity of truth." It may be added, that if 
 his own high-mindedness sometimes rated individuals 
 or classes of men too low, he was oftener generous, 
 and ever ready to seize on the first favourable symp- 
 tom which could warrant him to alter his opinion. 
 In one of his letters, he says of himself, "When 
 
HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 349 
 
 required to speak or to write, I never in my life could 
 speak or write well; and when I use strong language, 
 it is either from the impulse of the moment, or under 
 the impression of real or conceived opposition and 
 resistance to what I say." 
 
 While on this part of his character, I cannot avoid 
 observing, that as he approaclied the close of his 
 career, the kindness and gentleness of his heart pre- 
 dominated so far over the other qualities by which 
 they had been formerly modified, as to cast them 
 almost completely into the shade. The severer fea- 
 tures of his character became gradually softened; 
 until there remained the nearly unmingled aspect of 
 brotherly charity, mildness, forbearance and tender- 
 ness, proclaiming his growing mectness for the better 
 world. 
 
 Among the lesser traits by which he was distin- 
 guished in private life, he displayed no small degree 
 of what has been termed moral courage. Had deli- 
 cacy permitted, instances might have been mentioned, 
 in which he manifested a contempt of danger, where 
 persons of much stronger nerves have shrunk, and 
 exposed his life to hazard, with a resolution which, 
 in other circumstances, might have gained him the 
 distinction of the hero. In connexion with this, 
 was his remarkable fortitude in the endurance of 
 pain, to which, in many of its shapes, he was fre- 
 quently a martj-r. As a curious instance of this, I 
 may mention, that having hurt one of his feet with a 
 tight hoof, the surgeon recommended a small blister 
 to be applied to the wounded part; he, however, ex- 
 tended the blister nearly over the whole foot, so as 
 to subject himself to extreme agony; and on being 
 asked why he had done so, he replied, that he had 
 supposed it would be more effectual, — and as for the 
 pain, he had felt curious to know hoiv much he could 
 bear. 
 
 Two other features of his private character, which 
 may be said to have established him in the respect 
 and affection which his other qualities inspired, were 
 '30 
 
350 LIFE OP DU. M'CRIE. 
 
 his singular prudence and unaffected modesty. By 
 the first of these qualifications, he was enabled, with- 
 out the aid of craft or circumvention, and without 
 sacrifice of principle, to steer his way, both in public 
 and private life, and through the most trying circum- 
 stances, with a blamelessness seldom exemplified, and 
 which, we trulj^ believe, has not left him, if indeed 
 he ever found, a single enemy upon earth. His mo- 
 desty was no less conspicuous. In truth, he seemed 
 to be as much concerned to escape from human ap- 
 plause, as other men are to gain it. In his efforts to 
 do so, however, there was no semblance of affectation ; 
 it was his native temper, for which he himself took 
 no credit, and to avoid the praise of which he would 
 even sometimes do violence to his own feelings; ex- 
 emplifying the beautiful picture which Leighton has 
 drawn of humility: " He would not care to do some 
 things on purpose that might seem arrogant, to carry 
 humility unseen, that doth so naturally delight in 
 covering all graces, and is sorry that it cannot do so 
 without being seen itself" Nothing, indeed, struck 
 a stranger more, on his first introduction to Dr. 
 M'Crie, than the simplicity of his character — the 
 total absence of all pretence — a quality which made 
 the poorest member of his flock feel as much at ease 
 in his society, as he made himself in that of the 
 greatest of his visiters. 
 
 Of the higher elements which entered into the 
 composition of his character, I must confess, though 
 at the risk of exposing myself to the charge of ex- 
 travagant and unbecoming eulogy, that I cannot re- 
 fer the reader to a more faithful and striking exhibi- 
 tion, than that which he himself has given in the first 
 two of his published Sermons, which describe the 
 character of Paul. Into this elaborate, and, I ven- 
 ture to say, masterly picture of the large-minded and 
 loving-hearted apostle of the Gentiles, he may be 
 said, to use a common expression in a somewhat un- 
 usual sense, to have "thrown his whole soul:" — for, 
 in tracino; the leadin": features of that character, his 
 
Ills PRIVATE CHARACTER. 351 
 
 hand, guided by internal sympathy, has unconscious- 
 ly, no doubt, and unintentionally, but most truly, 
 drawn his own likeness. And when I mention " the 
 discriminating features in the character of Paul," as 
 drawn by the preacher, 1 have no doubt that many 
 will at once recognise the similitude. Pie describes 
 him as "distinguished for humility" — and for "dis- 
 interestedness;" — as "a man of an elevated and en- 
 larged soul;" — as "eminent for intrepidity and inde- 
 pendence " — "his courage being characterized by 
 prudence," and "his independence not that of selfish- 
 ness, pride, or affectation;" — "his heart was tender, 
 and his affections warm;" — and "his ardent zeal for 
 religion was tempered with the greatest moderation." 
 Many of the reflections in these two discourses were 
 the fruit of a varied and extensive course of reading 
 on the subject of "True Greatness;" a fragment of 
 a proposed essay on which, left among his manu- 
 scripts, is still more characteristic of the writer. 
 
 Without entering farther into general description, 
 I shall merely add, that the genuine uprightness, and 
 conscientious disinterestedness of his mind, which 
 were abundantly proved by his public life, distin- 
 guished all his private transactions. Few men, per- 
 haps, who have occupied so prominent a place in the 
 public eye, have enjoyed, in the estimation of the 
 world, and even of the enemies of religion, a more 
 unsullied or unsuspected character. For the follow- 
 ing anecdote I am indebted to Sir George Sinclair. 
 This gentleman, while attending the classes of the 
 University, happened to get into conversation with a 
 medical student, a man of learning and talents, but 
 thoroughly skeptical in his religious opinions. The 
 infidel stoutly maintained that no clergyman, pos- 
 sessed of any mental powers or liberal acquirements, 
 really believed in the truth of what he preached. Sir 
 George mentioned several clergymen to whom, in his 
 opinion, such a suspicion could never be attached. 
 
 *'Can you suppose," he asked, "that Dr. is not 
 
 a sincere believer in the tenets which he preaches?" 
 
352 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 "Oh, he is a man of the world; he cannot believe 
 
 them." «What say you to Dr. ?" "He is 
 
 too much of a scientific man to be a believer," said 
 the other, with a look of disdain. "Well then," said 
 Sir George, "Can you say that Dr. M'Crie does not 
 believe in the truths which he delivers?" The coun- 
 tenance of the skeptic fell, and after a pause he replied, 
 "You have the advantage of me now; I must grant 
 you that Dr. M'Crie would not preach such doctrines, 
 if he did not believe them." 
 
 He carried the same spirit of superiority to all sel- 
 fish and mercenary motives into his literary engage- 
 ments. On this ground he refused many an applica- 
 tion made to him by booksellers, who were anxious 
 to employ his pen: nothing was more sure to defeat 
 their object, than to commence their solicitations by 
 an offer of money. On one occasion, in particular, Mr. 
 Constable, who was eager to engage him in writing 
 some short and popular lives of the Reformers for his 
 Miscellany, waited upon him, and enlarging his offer 
 to a thousand guineas for three volumes of no great 
 size, he said, "I am going to Abbotsford to-morrow, 
 and wish to have it to say to Sir Walter Scott that you 
 have consented." "Mr. Constable," was the reply, 
 " I should be sorry if you had it to say to Sir Walter, 
 that a descendant of tlie old Covenanters could be 
 bribed by money to do a thing he was not inclined to 
 do." And so tliey parted. 
 
 He was a professed hater of all literary jobs, in 
 which light he regarded the greater part of those 
 popular abridgments now so common. To abridg- 
 ments, indeed, in all their shapes, and particularly 
 those of an historical kind, he had an invincible re- 
 pugnance, regarding them, it would seem, with Bacon, 
 as "the corrupters and moths of history;"* and 
 
 * " Epitomes of history are the corrupters and moths, that have 
 fretted and corroded many sound and excellent bodies of history, 
 and reduced them to base and unprofitable dregs; whence all 
 men of sound judoruient declare, the use of them ought to bo 
 banished.'' — Bacon's Works, vol. i. p. 51. 
 
HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 353 
 
 there was no subject on which he was more in danger 
 of losing his temper. "You desire me," he writes 
 to one of his correspondents, '•' to advise you as to the 
 plan of an article for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, to 
 be entitled Ecclesiastical History. I would just as 
 soon sit down and write the Lord's Prayer, or the 
 Ten Commandments, or the Creed, wilhin the cir- 
 cumference of a half-crown, or a shilling, or a six- 
 pence — as write such an article within any bounds 
 which an Encyclopedist would allot for it. The 
 thing may be done, but cui bono? And why should 
 precious time be wasted on it? The fact is, I am a de- 
 clared enemy to Encyclopedias, and I cannot endure 
 that any person should write for them, who possesses 
 talents above those of a common copyist or abridger. 
 They are popular with the present age (just as tracts, 
 magazines, and reviews are,) because they give the 
 superficial reader a smattering of every thing, with- 
 out making him thoroughly acquainted with any 
 thing. If a person should give himself the trouble 
 of reading and thinking on any subject, should com- 
 press his materials into one-twentieth of the bounds 
 which they filled, and should finish an original article, 
 he will be mortified on seeing it environed with arti- 
 cles that have been clumsily abridged,or coolly copied 
 from the most common authorities. Or if he be at 
 the pains to turn up a collateral article, he will be 
 grieved at finding the principles which he had esta- 
 blished, and the facts which he had authenticated, 
 contradicted by some loose and careless writer, who 
 was only anxious to eke out his paper to entitle him 
 to the £ — per sheet. In short, I look upon them, 
 as projected and engaged in by the greater part, in 
 the light of money-jobs; and from such quarters 1 do 
 not expect that either science or religion will be pro- 
 moted. I would have learned men to labour in that 
 field to which their genius and taste inclined them, 
 free from bondage and unnatural restraint — to bring 
 tlieir productions to the public market — and, if they 
 should fail, let them heroically starve and die on the 
 30* 
 
354 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 bed of literary glory — a garret. I have lectured our 
 friend [Dr.] Thomson on this head, until, good- 
 natured as you know he is, he has been inwardly 
 angry." 
 
 <' Were I called upon," says Dr. Watson, in a letter 
 to the author, "to give a stranger an idea of your 
 father, I should certainly think my likeness defective 
 in an essential point, if I did not dwell upon the 
 masculine strength of his character — the determi- 
 nation with which he adhered to his impressions of 
 truth and convictions of duty — the sternness with 
 which he could reprobate lax opinions or vicious 
 practices — the serious air which bespoke hini occu- 
 pied with important thoughts and solemn prospects. 
 But I should as certainly think my portrait a failure, 
 or make it so, if 1 did not dwell to the full as much 
 upon the mildness, benevolence, benignity, that 
 marked his ordinary demeanour — his unpretending 
 courtesy to strangers — his readiness to oblige, even 
 when by doing so he exposed himself to trouble, loss 
 of time, and what to some is still more costly, the 
 communication of important materials — the result of 
 laborious inquiries, and bearing upon objects con- 
 nected with his own literary undertakings. Then 
 his warm affectionate manner to his friends — his 
 entire openness and dismissal of every thing like re- 
 serve, the instant that intercourse ripened into friend- 
 jship — the easy unsuspicious confidence of his conver- 
 sation with his intimates — the play of fancy — the 
 lively humour — the wit of his fire-side talk — none of 
 these should be forgotten." 
 
 The following communication from another friend,* 
 who had frequent and familiar intercourse with him 
 during the last years of his life, may aftbrd the reader 
 a peep into the study, and illustrate the general view 
 which has been given of his private character: — 
 
 ^ David D. Scott, Esq. This accomplished gentleman, now 
 in England, was the author of a much admired notice of Dr. 
 M'Crie, which appeared in the Edinburgh Courant, the day after 
 iiis death. 
 
HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 355 
 
 "There were features in your father's character 
 wliich all could conceive, and most to a certain de- 
 gree appreciate. Such was his simplicity, a quality 
 that increases the difficulty of recalling his words, 
 for he had not a particle of that affectation of being 
 an original and powerful talker, which in Samuel 
 Johnson led Cowper to pronounce him to be a cox- 
 comb, and of which Robert Hall had apparently no 
 small measure, derived perhaps from his respect for 
 Johnson. Never was there a less flashy person than 
 Dr. M'Crie — one who sought less to make a display 
 by pointed expressions — paradoxical assertions — or 
 antithetical prettinesses. And yet great native dig- 
 nity of thought, and a well-cultivated taste kept him 
 from marring the simplicity of his conversation by 
 any thing slovenly or vulgar. His conscientiousness 
 — his uprightness — the straightforward and resolute 
 morality he displayed on all occasions— his loathing 
 for duplicity of every kind and degree — his kindness 
 to all, and the delicacy of his attentions to the 
 poorest and the most despised — all these character- 
 istics must surely have fixed themselves in the minds 
 of the various members of his flock. But in other 
 respects few could appreciate your father's character 
 as it deserved. People who consume their days in 
 trifling occupations, and who think nothing of spend- 
 ing whole hours in meaningless gossip, — nay, persons 
 far more greedy of a due employment of time, but 
 of less reach of mind and depth of character, never 
 can appreciate aright the disinterested patience with 
 which he would hear out a long story from some 
 prosy person, or walk far to see some poor body — or 
 even, as I have known him do, go six miles out of 
 town that he might communicate by word of mouth 
 and with the greatest delicacy, some painful news to 
 a servant maid, while every moment lost to him from 
 his historical studies, foreign correspondence, and 
 other matters to him intensely interesting, was dearly 
 •lost, and while in fact he was wearing out his pre- 
 
356 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 cious life by stealing from sleep the time that he was 
 to substitute for what was thus liberally given away, 
 by his rare union of Christian principle and con- 
 scientious kindness, 
 
 <'I need not say how often the suspense of the 
 judgment, in weighing evidence, becomes habitual, 
 and degenerates into skepticism and indifference. It 
 appears to me, that towards the close of life particu- 
 larly, your father had arrived at a very happy state 
 of mind in this respect. True, he greatly offended 
 some whom he thought at the time over timid in 
 their views and practice. But on the whole he was 
 a patient judge, both of opinions and of men ; and 
 yet I need not remind you how far this fairness 
 was removed from indifference and skepticism. No 
 virtues associated with what was false — no vices 
 blended with what was good or true in men or in 
 institutions, ever blurred to his mind the essential 
 difference between truth and error, — virtue and vice. 
 His faith must have been of the firmest kind. How 
 many in the circumstances which ended in his depo- 
 sition, would have been soured for life, and even have 
 left the ministry altogether rather than be thrown 
 into the dilemma of associating at the expense of his 
 conscience, with men who were either deceivers or 
 dupes, or of being isolated in the midst of society as 
 he chose to be, — shunned even by all the evangelical 
 ministers of Edinburgh, as a narrow-minded and ob- 
 stinate bigot — a man who could bring his wife and 
 family to poverty and contempt rather than abate 
 one jot of his antiquated and metaphysical scruples. 
 What a firm trust in the God of truth, and love of 
 truth itself, must he have had, when the sneers of his 
 brethren in the Cliurch were re-echoed by the wits of 
 the bar, and the judges on the bencli, — the one seeing 
 the same question, and its importance, involved in 
 what appeared mere metaphysical subtleties, which 
 the other viewed as a great practical principle which 
 was in all time to affect the destinies of the British 
 
HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 357 
 
 empire, — and what a singular rebuke those sneers 
 have received from the greatest and most practical 
 statesmen of the age! 
 
 '•I was much struck with the mild judgment he 
 would pass on men who differed from him, provided 
 there was nothing double in their dealings, for dupli- 
 city seemed to stir his bile beyond measure. Never 
 shall I forget the placid look with which he said one 
 morning, 'Well, there's a man dead who took the 
 trouble of coming eighty miles to depose me from 
 the ministry, I am sure I have had no resentment 
 towards him. No doubt he did what he considered 
 it his duty to do. Yet it was hard with a wife and 
 family to be thrown upon the world!' He then en- 
 tered on a most affecting account of his difficulties 
 on that occasion. And '3'et,' said he, 'after I had 
 published the Life of Knox, Dugald Stewart did not 
 think it beneath him to come up the long stair I 
 lived at the head of, and to pay me a visit.'* But I 
 
 * The following anecdote rests on pretty good authority, and 
 the latter part being certainly true, I am disposed to believe there 
 must have been some foundation for the first, though some of the 
 circumstances are not correctly stated: — " When the life of John 
 Knox was first published, as nothing was expected, a priori, from 
 the work of a seceding clergyman, its great merit was not per- 
 ceived for some time, especially by the literati. The way in 
 which it first fell under the notice of the author's illustrious con- 
 temporary. Professor Dugald Stewart, was very remarkable. 
 The professor, one Sunday, being confined at home with illness, 
 and all the family at church, except his man-servant, he had 
 occasion to ring his bell, to call up this faithful old attendant. 
 To his surprise, John did not make his appearance. Again he 
 rung the bell; but still without effect. After ringing a third time, 
 he thought it necessary to step down stairs, to see what could 
 possibly be the occasion of John's apparent negligence. On 
 opening the door of the old man's apartment, he found him 
 sitting at a little table, his eyes bent attentively upon a book, 
 and his whole soul apparently engrossed by what he was read- 
 ing. It was only on being siiaken by the shoulder that he rose 
 from the trance of rapture in which he had been held by the 
 book. Mr. Stewart was, of course, much surprised at the sudden 
 turn which John's mind seemed to have taken in favour of 
 literature; and he had the curiosity to ask what book it was which 
 had captivated him so wonderfully. ' Why, sir,' said John, ' it's 
 a book that my minister has written, and really its a grand ane.' 
 The professor said he would take it up with him to his room, and 
 
358 LIFE OF Dn. m'crie. 
 
 feel myself quite unable (o go over these conversa- 
 tions. He seemed to recall such past incidents in his 
 life, partly in acknowledgment of the goodness of 
 Providence in carrying him through difficulties — 
 partly to cheer me under disappointment and trial. 
 
 "In regard to public questions, 1 need hardly say, 
 that during the period of my intercourse with your 
 father, he seemed quite disconcerted at the confusion 
 of opinions among parties bearing old names to which 
 they had gradually ceased to have any proper claim. 
 He venerated the name of Whig, because of its 
 associations, and no less disliked that of Tory. And 
 yet he too plainly saw that the one had acquired a 
 new character with which he could have no sympathy 
 in many points ; and that the other was borne by 
 not a few representatives of families who were for- 
 merly known as Whigs, with far less deviation from 
 their ancestral Whig principles — in some cases, with 
 no appreciable difference of that kind at all. In 
 this confusion, however, of names and opinions, your 
 father's own course was not to be influenced by any 
 party motives; and to him alone, more perhaps than 
 to any other ten men in Scotland, we owe the forma- 
 tion of the party, now, I believe, called generally 
 Church Whigs, whose distinct existence is of the 
 most vital consequence to the continuation of our 
 most valuable national traditions. 
 
 "In church affairs he was jealous, I thought to a 
 fault, of ministers as a body. This feeling he was at 
 no pains to conceal. The interest taken in the church 
 courts by elders, seemed to gratify him, and great 
 
 try what he could make of it. He accordingly did so, and being 
 once commenced, he found it fairly impossible to withdraw him- 
 self till he had completed the perusal of its whole contents. He 
 next day waited upon Dr. M'Crie, to express the admiration he 
 entertained for his performance; which he did in the highest 
 possible terms. The author bowed to Mr. Stewart's praises with 
 the modesty of real genius, and replied by a compliment as 
 exquisite as it was brief, — ' Pulchrum est laudari a laudato,' — It 
 is delightful to be praised by one who has himself gained the 
 praise of mankind.'' 
 
HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 359 
 
 was his delight on learning that the practice of having 
 family worship was reviving in the houses of so many 
 of our country gentlemen. He had no dislike of a 
 landed aristocracy, and considered even some of the 
 amusements of that class, to which others might object, 
 as not unbecoming, — in particular, hunting. 
 
 "He deplored a decay of that high conscientious 
 feeling, which, he said, distinguished the divinity 
 students of the Secession when he first joined them. 
 No one dared at that time to allude, but in the most 
 distant way, to the relative temporal advantages of 
 different places where they might look to be settled. 
 Such considerations, it was thought, were of too base 
 a kind to endure being mentioned. But in a few 
 years, said he, great was the change, and probationers 
 might be heard balancing the pecuniary advantages 
 of different calls with the utmost callousness. 
 
 "I trust some pains have been taken to preserve 
 your father's speeches, or parts of them. His cha- 
 racter of the late Dr. Charles Stuart, deserves pre- 
 servation as a piece of portrait-painting by the hand 
 of a master. As an orator, your father held, in my 
 opinion, a very high place. Whenever an effort was 
 required, he was great. Witness his speech at the 
 meeting in behalf of Greece, and his speech on Irish 
 Education delivered in the Assembly Rooms, The 
 time for preparation must have been short, but his 
 whole soul was thrown into it. I had a curious proof 
 of this, once that I called on the day preceding the 
 deliverance of one of his public speeches. Not being 
 aware of his being engaged in preparation for this, I 
 expected to be received as usual, with his familiar 
 welcome, and a request perhaps to make him a pen 
 — an art in which his manuscripts will show that he 
 was himself a sorry proficient. To my no small sur- 
 prise, he gave me the stare of a man who had never 
 seen me in his life before. He was pacing the small 
 dimensions of his study with an air at once of ab- 
 straction and excitement, and stopped, point blank, 
 as I entered, but only to give me this strange recep- 
 
360 LIFE OF DR. M^CRIE. 
 
 tlon. Soon, however, he came forth, to my great 
 regret, from 'the dome of thought — tlie palace of the 
 soul ' in which he had been preparing his speech, and 
 gave me his usual hearty welcome — explaining what 
 had occupied him. He took the interruption with 
 perfect good humour; but, indeed, I suppose his good 
 nature made liini accustomed to such annoyances. 
 To say that his eloquence was elaborate, 1 apprehend, 
 is not in the least diminisiiing its merits. From ample 
 stores he selected what was ever best, down to a minute 
 precision of phraseology. And yet this studious atten- 
 tion to all the parts of his addresses was far from 
 inconsistent with a hardihood at times that one would 
 have expected rather from one of the Irish school. 
 What more bold than the apostrophe in which, in 
 the Irish Education speech, he contrasted public 
 opinion with truth. 'Public opinion — 'tis like the 
 conceited coxcomb of the barn-yard, which struts 
 along, and unfolds its tail, and looks as if it drew all 
 the stars of heaven after it. But truth is like hea- 
 ven's own bird, cleaving with noiseless wing its native 
 element, gazing with unwincing eye on the solar ray, 
 and regardless alike of the admiration of the specta- 
 tors, and of the hiss and cackle of the inferior fowls 
 that hail his departure!' 1 sat among the benches 
 below with the well-known Mr. George Howe of 
 Boston, N. E., by my side. I had taken him to the 
 meeting, thinking he might be interested, but he 
 was surprised and astonished — surprised to find so 
 many ladies interested in a public question, which he 
 said would never have brought them to any such 
 meeting in the United States — and astonished at 
 your father's eloquence." 
 
 To these memoranda, penned in all the warmth of 
 the youthful admiration in which the writer held the 
 subject of them, it would be easy to add others of a 
 similar description. It might have been mentioned, 
 that in literature, Dr. M'Crie was a great admirer of 
 the Latin tongue. He gloried in the beauty of Cal- 
 vin's Latinity; and in his latter days, entered, with 
 
HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 3G1 
 
 all the zest of a student of fifteen, into a competition 
 with a young friend, in writing a translation of Cal- 
 vin's celebrated inscription of his Institutes to Francis 
 the First — his opponent having engaged to render it 
 into old Saxon English, and he himself into his own 
 style, from which, by the way, that excess of latinity 
 in phraseology and rythm complained of in his earlier 
 works, had by this time gradually worked itself off.* 
 A favourite book of frequent perusal with him was 
 Justinian's Institutes — a mere nothing in point of 
 bulk to the Opera Omnia of Cicero, which Calvin is 
 said to have read through every year, — but remark- 
 ably illustrative of his mental habits — perpetually 
 reasoning from, testing every thing by, and returning 
 upon, first principles. 
 
 Though no poet himself, and never known to have 
 written a verse, he had a great taste for poetry; and 
 had read much more of it than may be supposed. It 
 might surprise some to learn how intimate he was 
 with some of the early French dramatists; whose 
 works, however, he seems to have consulted chiefly 
 for the sake of the sentiment, when in search of illus- 
 
 * The reader, curious in such matters, may observe a marked 
 resemblance between the style of Dr. M'Crie, in his early writings 
 particularly, and that of his much admired professor, Mr. Bruce. 
 He had a style of his own, doubtless; but he was by no means 
 tenacious in adhering to his phraseology. 1 recollect of Dr. 
 Thomson meeting him on the street, after the publication of the 
 Life of Melville, and after praising the work, saying, in his 
 peculiar way, "But, man, you have spoiled one of your finest 
 sentences by an odd-looking word which I never saw in my life 
 before." " What is that.''" "Death-stillness,"' said his friend. 
 '• What would you have said .''" " O, ' death-like stillness,' or 
 some other thing — but deulh-stillncss!" " 1 prefer my own after 
 all,'' said my father to me, after parting with the Doctor; but in 
 the second edition it is altered to death-Like (vol. i. p. 345.) in 
 its original form the passage ran thus: " He is perfectly aware, 
 that where all things are subjected to the arbitrary will of an 
 individual, dissension and dissent are alike precluded. But he 
 knov;s also that this is the harmony and peace which is to be 
 found in the prison and the grave; and he would prefer the dis- 
 union and even uproar by which a deliberative assembly is some- 
 times shaken, to the appalling tranquillity and death-stillness 
 which reign in the courts of despotism." — (Vol. ii., p. 20, Isted.) 
 
 31 
 
382 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIK. 
 
 trallons for some favourite moral composition. He 
 admired the genius of Byron — regarding him as 
 decidedly the most original of our modern bards; 
 but lamenting the immorality of his writings, which 
 he dreaded even more than their undisguised infi- 
 delity. 
 
 It would occupy too much time to state his views 
 of popular theological writers. His taste appears to 
 have altered considerably towards the close of his 
 life. Binning he admired beyond measure — placing 
 him above even Howe and Baxter, in regard to the 
 clearness of his views of the Gospel and the richness 
 and beauty of his thoughts. Howe he thought too 
 discursive and vague a writer to be safe for young 
 minds. Of Owen's style he began to think less, 
 though he still valued him as a theologian, Leighton 
 and Flavel were especial favourites, and he would 
 balance their merits thus: — "Leighton I can recom- 
 mend to readers of every class — the most literate and 
 refined, and the most illiterate; but Flavel I can better 
 recommend to the very simple — he is so homely." 
 Charnock, Bates, and Owen, he would denominate 
 '•the Princes of the Puritans." Bishops Hall and 
 Hopkins stood high in his esteem, particularly the 
 latter, whom he would earnestly recommend to stu- 
 dents of divinity. We have already seen the high 
 estimation in which he held the writings of Henry 
 and Baxter. I never heard him recommend those 
 of Jonathan Edwards. Practical works of the sim- 
 plest order, such as Boston's Fourfold State, Matthew 
 Henry's Life of his father, Ebenezer Erskine's Ser- 
 mons, &c., he would warmly recommend his clerical 
 friends to conjoin with systematic reading. The Ser- 
 mons of Robert Hall he admired for their eloquence 
 and ingenuity; those of Mr. Bradley of Clapham for 
 their elegant simplicity. 
 
 He strongljf inculcated on all his young friends, 
 diligent and conscientious preparation for the pulpit. 
 '• Fix on 3^our subject early in the week," he would 
 say, "and ruminate on it: let it sleep in your mind. 
 
HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 363 
 
 and though, at first, few ideas may present themselves, 
 it will gradually swell upon you." "If you borrow 
 any thoughts from others," he would add, "take care, 
 hefore giving them to the public as your own, to make 
 them pass through your own mill." He had no pa- 
 tience with those who, under the pretext or fancy of 
 possessing genius, contemned the ordinary aids of 
 study and eschewed all mental labour. Indeed, he 
 was inclined to advocate Buffon's theory, that genius 
 is only a superior power of mental application; — 
 always supposing, of course, the existence of some 
 substratum of intellect; forsome one having expressed 
 his wonder, how a weak brother, who was very in- 
 dustrious in his preparations, could bring forth so 
 little fruit, he replied, in the words which he has ap- 
 plied to James VI., " A thin soil, sir." 
 
 In church courts, the modesty and prudence of his 
 character were very remarkably displayed. He uni- 
 formly declined taking a leading part in the discus- 
 sions; in every point not involving public principle, 
 he yielded to his brethren; and it was with great 
 difficulty he could be prevailed upon to deliver his 
 judgment in cases of importance, where they all looked 
 up to him for advice. 
 
 In the discharge of his pastoral duties, he was re- 
 gular and conscientious, to a degree which, consider- 
 ing the multiplicity of his other avocations, is truly 
 astonishing. Endeared to every member of his flock, 
 from the least to the greatest, by the patience, the 
 kindliness, and the condescension, with which he 
 watched over them, and entered into all that con- 
 cerned them (instances of which are embalmed in 
 the recollection of many yet alive,) it is difficult to 
 say whether he was more beloved by them in his 
 private, or admired by them in his public character. 
 Actuated by obvious love to the service of his Divine 
 Master, he might have truly said in the beautiful 
 lines of Doddridge, 
 
 <•' Hast thou a lamb, in all thy flock, 
 1 would disdain to feed? 
 
364 LIFE OF DR. ivr'CRIE. 
 
 Hast thou a foe, before whose face 
 J fear thy cause to plead?" 
 
 In the domestic circle, the beauty of his character 
 appeared in a light, if possible, still more engaging. 
 I shall not trust myself to speak of the manner in 
 which he discharged every relative duty — of the in- 
 dulgence, tempered rather than restrained by pru- 
 dence, — the melting, and almost motherly, tenderness 
 with which he acted the part of a father. And need 
 I say that his domestic virtues were hallowed and 
 commended, by a life of consistent and unblotted 
 piety? His religion, like himself, was simple, unos- 
 tentatious, unobtrusive. He seldom introduced de- 
 votional topics into general conversation; but while 
 he sometimes regretted his diffidence in this respect, 
 he was ever ready to administer his counsel to the 
 heedless, or to mingle, upon fitting occasions, in con- 
 fidential converse on divine things. In the pervading 
 spirit of his remarks on professing Christians, there 
 was a striking exhibition of the grace of charity — 
 that touchstone of religious sincerity — especially in 
 one of its loveliest features, — " Charity believeth all 
 things, hopeth all things." While careful not to ex- 
 press himself with bold assurance as to the blessed- 
 ness of departed friends, he was still more cautious in 
 uttering his doubts and fears about any. He seemed 
 to feel here as if treading on forbidden ground, and 
 shrunk from drawing aside the mysterious veil, which 
 God, in sovereign wisdom, has interposed betwixt us 
 and eternity. He delighted in cherishing the grace 
 of Hope; and it was singular to observe the ingenuity 
 with which, in the exercise of this amiable principle, 
 he succeeded in chasing the gloom of grief and de- 
 spondency from the breasts of others. 
 
 I feel anxious, however, to bring these Memoirs 
 to a close, and shall do so by laying before my read- 
 ers an extract from a letter written, after receiving 
 the intelligence of his father's death, by that son, 
 whose own untimely removal has been already re- 
 corded. The estimate of his father's character which 
 
HIS PRIVATE CHARACTEK. 365 
 
 it contains, may be better received than any that I 
 could give, — as coming from one who has since been 
 laid in the same tomb with him over whom he poured 
 forth this tribute of filial grief and admiration. 
 
 '« Vienna, 9lh September 1835. 
 
 "My dearest Brothers, — I used to think and 
 speak of my two fathers, the one in heaven, and the 
 other on earth. Thomas's letter has informed me that 
 both are now in heaven. This event, so unexpected 
 by me, happened, it appears, on this wise: The great 
 God loved my father very dearly — even as He had 
 loved my mother also — and it seemed to Him that he 
 had laboured and toiled enough on earth, and that it 
 was high time he should retire to rest; so He called 
 unto him that he should come up to heaven and live 
 for ever in His presence and labour no more. And 
 when my father heard the voice, he knew it and 
 was content. So rising up quickly, he visited the 
 churches in his religious connexion — preaching to 
 them the kingdom of God, and exhorting them to 
 continue steadfast in the faith. Then he went and 
 abode one whole week with my sister, who had been 
 sick, speaking to her of the decease he was about to 
 accomplish, and strengthening her for what might 
 come to pass. After this, he returned home and 
 preached yet again to the lambs whom Jesus had 
 told him to feed. And all things being now ready, 
 he sat down and began to write unto 7ne, that he 
 might give me a bond from his hand, that as he 
 loved me when I was with him, so he loved me 
 unto the end. But God knew that the soul of this 
 holy man was grieved beyond measure when he 
 said, Farewell; ere therefore he had yet finished 
 writing, or had taken leave of those around him, 
 God caused a deep sleep to overshadow him, and 
 when the sleep had cleared away, behold ! he was 
 not, for God had taken him. 
 
 "Now there is nothing painful, my dear brothers, 
 in the contemplation of this gentle death; and yet 
 31* 
 
366 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 the sad tidings fell upon me heavily — more heavily 
 than you could have expected. William's kind ex- 
 pedient for lessening the stroke, hy causing it to de- 
 scend gradually, was frustrated by the lateness of my 
 arrival at Vienna: both letters came to hand at the 
 same time — at a moment, too, when my spirits were 
 more than usually buoyant. Fresh from a month's 
 pleasant wandering through Tyrol — after two days' 
 delightful dropping down the Danube in merry com- 
 pany — dressed as I was in my white travelling clothes, 
 I hastened to the Post-Othce through the gay streets 
 of the gayest of cities. For a fortnight past my 
 thoughts had spent some hours every day at Newing- 
 ton, and hardly a night had gone by without bring- 
 ing my father's image to my dreams. I began to 
 think 1 had found the secret of living at home in a 
 foreign land. From the bottom of my heart I 
 thanked the man who handed me two letters from 
 dear Scotland, and hied me to the nearest coffee-room 
 to feast my eyes, as I fondly imagined, with the glad 
 tidings from those I loved, I hastily glanced over 
 the first page of what my father had written. I 
 could perceive that Jessie had been ill and was reco- 
 vering; but the paleness of the ink and the bad light 
 rendering the perusal difficult, I turned with impa- 
 tience to Thomas' more legible writing. Suddenly 
 a dim sense of some great calamity swam before my 
 dazzled siglit; I was eager to know the worst, but it 
 was some time ere my staggering sight could disco- 
 ver what I had really lost. And when the cruel 
 truth flashed on me — what would I then have given 
 for solitude — for deliverance from those merry sounds 
 and cheerful faces that seemed to mock my affliction, 
 while they forbade its utterance! 
 
 "Oh! my father, my father! is it then true that 
 our parting at Newington was so very serious? that 
 the last pressure against thy manly breast, and thy 
 warm lip, was never to be repeated on this side the 
 grave? Are all the hopes — the inexpressible, long- 
 aursed hopes — of again seeing thee, and talking with 
 
HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 367 
 
 thee, and making thee happy, are they all nothing, 
 nothing now? Thou hast shown unto me the strength 
 of a father's affection, why not wait till I had shown 
 thee the extent of a son's gratitude? Why hast 
 thou taken thy departure now, when our hearts had 
 begun to lean against each other, and our pursuits 
 had become one and the same. JVoio, when I had 
 found the means of yet winning more of thy love, 
 and fixing more exclusively thy regards? I had things 
 to show thee altogether new, with which I meant to 
 surprise thee, in order to enjoy the rich banquet of 
 thy brightening eye. And the time was hard by 
 when I should have sat by thy side, and let thee see 
 how much I knew, and felt proud of thy praise — and 
 oh! my father! I would have made all so easy unto 
 thee, that even in the late sunset of thy days, thou 
 couklst have wrought on and found no fatigue. But 
 thy Master findeth that thou hast laboured enough, 
 the heat of summer is past — the reaping is ended — 
 now is the resting-time with its songs. Far up 
 among the regions of the blest sparkles the intelli- 
 gence of thy speaking eye, freed from the dimness of 
 mortality, and powerful after the deepness of thy 
 latter sleep; calmly radiates the light from thy placid 
 countenance, while loud above the other chorists are 
 heard at intervals the tones of thy happy voice, 
 mellower now than formerly, when it loved to lead 
 our morning and evening psalm. And all near thee 
 on that hallowed spot stands one other saintly being, 
 in fair radiance, meek and mild, humble but very 
 holy, who has already learned all the songs of heaven, 
 and can sing them sweetly, near whom thou delight- 
 est to linger, as in the presence of one once much 
 loved and much loving. 
 
 "Bear with me, my dear brothers, while I briefl}'- 
 sketch what, at this moment, is present to m.y mind, 
 of our dear departed parent. This portrait is not 
 difficult to draw, for simplicity constituted at once 
 the beauty and the strength of his character. Stern, 
 uncompromising principle — a rare acuteness and per- 
 
368 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 spicacity of intellect — and a patient aptitude to la- 
 bour, these are the three qualities from which sprang 
 the uniform uprightness of his public life, the wisdom 
 and moral elevation of his pulpit discourses, the pro- 
 found research, and accurate discrimination of his 
 historical works. Those who had an opportunity of 
 observing him more closely, could likewise discover 
 in him a capacity for distant calculation, and a facili- 
 ty in unravelling the intricacies of a complicated case, 
 which would have led him to eminence on the arena of 
 political debate, or judicial investigation, but which 
 were rarely brought into play during the quiet flow 
 of his clerical career. His religious views received 
 a colouring from his acquaintance with the ecclesias- 
 tical history of his country. Having discerned in 
 the original constitution and discipline of the Kirk 
 of Scotland — such as she is depicted in her ancient 
 annals, and regulated by her own statute-books — the 
 nearest approach to apostolic simplicity and purity, 
 as well as the most successful attempt to secure the 
 advantages of a national religious establishment, with- 
 out sacrificing the inherent independence of the 
 Church — he stood forth a worthy representative of 
 the Scottish Covenanters, impressed with an exalted 
 idea of the religious attainments of his forefathers, 
 and earnestly contending for a return to their prin- 
 ciples and institutions. With the view of recalling 
 his native land to this ancient state of things, he at- 
 tached himself, in his youth, to a small undistin- 
 guished body of Dissenters, who had the same ob- 
 ject with himself at heart, and continued till death 
 one of its unpretending but zealous members — un- 
 dazzled by the rising celebrity of his name, unmoved 
 by the defection of friends to a more popular cause, 
 and unallured by the many avenues to worldly ho- 
 nour and emolument which were opened up to him. 
 The greater part of his literary labours must be 
 viewed in connexion with the main object of his 
 life. As an historian, he ranks among those who 
 have devoted their strength and time to the elucida- 
 
HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 369 
 
 tion of such periods of the past as had hitherto been 
 unexplored. His subjects, therefore, are perfectly 
 new, and tend to fill up important blanks in ecclesi- 
 astical history, which, but for his indefatigable indus- 
 try, might long have remained unsupplied. To him 
 the Church of Scotland is indebted for portraits of 
 two of her most interesting men, and for a sketch of 
 the most eventful period that has chequered her ex- 
 istence. His histories of the Reformation in Italy 
 and Spain furnish the only knowledge which the En- 
 glish public possess of the rise and progress of Pro- 
 testantism in those countries. Simple and moderate 
 in their style, his writings command attention by the 
 originality and importance of the matter the}' con- 
 tain — by their nice appreciation of character and 
 events — and by the high tone of religious and moral 
 feeling that pervades them. Most of them hav© 
 been translated into the languasjesof France and Ger- 
 many, wnere his merits as an ecclesiastical historian 
 have long been appreciated. His sermons were in 
 general the affectionate and homely addicsses of a 
 revered pastor to his loving flock; occasionally they 
 assumed a loftier character, and vied, in unction and 
 pathos, with the best effusions of the old divines. 
 In leclur'tng on an extended portion of Scripture, he 
 rose far above most of his contemporary fellow-la- 
 bourers; for his powers of historical representation 
 were brought into action, and he was able, with won- 
 derful wisdom and sagacity, with matured experi- 
 ence and an extended knowledge of human nature, 
 to make the incidents of sacred history bear on the 
 every-day events of the Christian's life. It was sel- 
 dom that he could be prevailed on to take part in 
 the public meetings of his fellow-citizens; but cir- 
 cumstances did now and then occur, powerful enough 
 to draw him from his solitude. Then it was that his 
 resources, rising with the greatness of the occasion, 
 brought to light powers of mind and depth of feeling 
 nearly allied to tlie highest eloquence. In the bosom 
 of his congregation, he was cherished with that re- 
 
370 LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE. 
 
 verential love and fond gratitude which was the con- 
 sequence and the reward of the paternal solicitude 
 that watched over their spiritual progress, and of the 
 firm gentleness that led them and fed them in this 
 wilderness below. The open guilelessness of his 
 manner, and the total absence of selfishness in all his 
 actions, produced a mutual confidence and harmony, 
 that flowed on without interruption during the whole 
 long period of his ministrations. The first part of 
 his public life was divided between his clerical duties 
 and the intense study of the closet. In after years 
 he abated the severity of the latter, and began to 
 taste more freely the sweets of domestic endearment 
 and social intercourse. It was in the hours of relaxa- 
 tion from labour that his friends discerned in him an 
 afiability and playful condescension, so uncommonly 
 lively and winning, that the present afflictive stroke, 
 in removing him from their circle, has laid their 
 wounded hearts open to a thousand touching recol- 
 lections which must dart upon them occasionally in 
 after life. The native simplicity of his mind lent an 
 ease and self-possession to his exterior which enabled 
 him to move in the society of the great and polished 
 without embarrassment — to mingle with the poor 
 and uneducated, as if he had never known any thing 
 higher or more refined. His delicacy in asking fa- 
 vours for himself or his family amounted to disease. 
 He was one of the few popular authors of the day, 
 who refused to enrich themselves by lending their 
 names and their pens to the profitable speculations 
 of scheming bookmakers. The equality of his dis- 
 position was great: praise did not seem to elate him, 
 nor blame greatly to depress him. He was not sub- 
 ject to the weakness of anger. I have seen him hurt, 
 grieved — never angry. He was never known to have 
 hated; and therefore, though he had detractors, he 
 died without having had an enemy." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 PETITION TO THE GENERAL SYNOD,— April 1800. 
 
 [Page G8.] 
 
 Unto the Reverend Moderator and Remanent Members of the 
 General Associate Synod, to meet at Edinburgh, 22d April 
 IbOO, the Representation and Petition of the Subscriber; 
 
 Humhly showeth, — That it is with extreme reluctance he comes 
 forward to trouble the Synod at this time. He is very sensible 
 of the difficulties which the Synod labour under, and the multi- 
 plicity of affairs which may engage their attention, and he would 
 be very far from wishing to do any thing that might embarrass 
 their proceedings, or involve them in greater confusion. It is 
 after deliberate consideration, and under a conviction that the 
 step he now takes is of importance, that he ventures to represent 
 to the court certain things respecting the present state of the 
 Testimony maintained by them, which are grieving to him. 
 
 In May 1790, the Synod passed an Act respecting the doctrine 
 of the Confession of Faith, chap, xxiii., sect. 3, and chnp. xx., 
 sect. 4, and altered the Formula in agreeableness to this Act, to 
 obviate the scruples which young men at license, preachers, and 
 elders at ordination, and private persons at their accession and 
 baptism of their children, have offered to the courts. Tlie sub- 
 scriber of this petition was one of those who entertained scruples 
 upon this head, which were referred to the Synod by the Presby- 
 tery of Edinburgh, and the above mentioned Act so far satisfied 
 his mind that he had freedom to take the formula as altered. 
 Since that time, however, he has had opportunity of considering 
 the Act more deliberately, of comparing it with the Confession of 
 Faith, and of weighing more carefully the influence which the 
 change introduced is calculated to have upon the whole of our 
 principles: the consequence has been, that he has seen occasion 
 to alter his sentiments which he formerly entertained respecting 
 it, and to repent of the steps which he took. 
 
 Some may think, that in consideration of this scruple formerly 
 entertained by the subscriber, and the occasion given by him to 
 the change in the deed, he ought to have remained silent. In 
 this manner he himself has hitherto thought and acted, and 
 
372 APPENDIX. 
 
 willingly would he still have continued to do so, could he have 
 reconciled such conduct with conscience and duty. This, how- 
 ever, he can no longer do, especially as the Act referred to is 
 closely connected with deeds which the Synod have since passed, 
 and may yet pass. If he has been instrumental, even in an indi- 
 lect way, in bringing about a change which he looks upon as 
 prejudicial to the interests of the religious body with whom he is 
 connected, and the cause of truth among them, it is his duty to 
 endeavour, as far as in his power, to repair the injury. Besides, 
 he was previously, and still is, under solemn obligations which 
 it is his duty to perform, and from which no act of his own, or 
 others, can release him. He hopes, therefore, that his Reverend 
 Fathers and Brethren will candidly interpret his conduct, and 
 patiently listen to his difficulties. 
 
 By any opposition he may make to this Act, he would not be 
 understood as standing in the way of a declaration against re- 
 ligious persecution. Our fathers in the Secession have done this 
 long ago; and he thinks that the Synod had a call to explain 
 themselves upon this head, considering the misrepresentation of 
 their principles which had become so general. But tiiis rendered 
 it the more necessary, that what they said upon this subject should 
 be cautious, and that they should give no countenance to those 
 bold calumnies which had been thrown out, but never proved, 
 against our principles. 
 
 The following are the reasons on account of which the sub- 
 Ecriber thinks the Act objectionable : — • 
 
 1. The Confession of Faith is condemned by it without any 
 inquiry into the clauses objected against being instituted, and 
 even without condescending upon these clauses. Great delibe- 
 ration is necessary in rejecting or altering any part of principles 
 received, and it should never be taken for granted that they are 
 wrong. But this Act seems to have proceeded too much upon an 
 opinion generally entertained among the members of Synod, but 
 judicially taken for granted, while the clauses were not produced, 
 examined and reasoned upon. Such procedure miglit have been 
 unobjectionable, had the Act been wholly explanatory, and in- 
 tended to remove false charges or misconstructions, or to explain 
 what our former principles really were; but it is evident that the 
 Act is partly condemnatory. In this case the subscriber is 
 humbly of opinion, that no prejudice, however general, against 
 the foresaid doctrine; no new opinion, however gradually intro- 
 duced, or widely spread; no scruple entertained or expressed, 
 either by ministers or people, were sufficient to warrant such a 
 condemnation; thougii it might have been highly proper to take 
 these into consideration, to have compared them with the Con- 
 fession of Faith, and both with the Scriptures, and to have de- 
 termined accordingly. 
 
 2. Although the Act professes in the preamble, that the Synod 
 cannot at present enter on a particular consideration of the over- 
 ture respecting the power of the civil magistrate in matters of 
 religion, and this gives reason to expect that no decision was 
 given on the subject in controversy, yet it does materially decide 
 upon it; at least it is so understood and explained by many; and 
 thus, without due examination, introduces the now principle pro- 
 
PETITION TO THE SYxNOD IN 1800. 373 
 
 posed in the overture of a Testimony which is lying before the 
 iSynod. The meaning which many put upon the act is, that the 
 allowing of any power to the magistrate about religious matters 
 is an " investing of civil rulers with a lordship over the con- 
 sciences, of men, and inconsistent with the spirituality, freedom 
 and independence of the kingdom of Christ." If this be its mean- 
 ing, then the Synod have suddenly adopted a principle never 
 betbre received in any Protestant Church, nor by the Church in 
 any age so far as the subscriber has hitherto seen, and which in 
 his opinion would go a great way to condemn the manner in 
 which the Reformation was carried on in most countries, and 
 particularly in our own, and which would lead us to follow a 
 divisive course from the Reformed and Covenanted Church of 
 Scotland. 
 
 At any rate, the general and indeterminate declarations of the 
 Act are very liable to be misconstrued, and therefore stand in 
 need of a review. 
 
 3. The manner in which the Confession of Faith itself, and the 
 declaration and defence of the Associate Presbytery's principles 
 respecting the present civil government, are brought in opposi- 
 tion to the doctrine objected unto, seems calculated to render the 
 Act more obscure, and to injure these parts of our principles. 
 The Confession is introduced, declaring that " God alone is Lord 
 of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and 
 commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to his 
 Word, or beside it, in matters of faith or worship; so that to be- 
 lieve such doctrine or obey such commandments, out of con- 
 science, is to betray true liberty of conscience, and reason also." 
 These words contain a most certain and important truth, but the 
 subscriber cannot perceive their applicableness to the subject of 
 the Act. They are directed against the opinion of the Papists 
 and others, who maintained that implicit obedience was due to 
 the decisions of rulers ecclesiastical and civil. This is evident 
 from these words in the same sentence, which are explanatory of 
 the scope of the section, but which are left out in the Act, — 
 " And the requiring of an implicit faith and an ahsolute and blind 
 obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience." The quotation, in 
 the disjoined state in which it appears, and in the sense in which 
 it seems to be taken in the Act, bears equally against ecclesiasti- 
 cal as civil rulers, and it would make the power of the one, as 
 well as that of the other, a lordship over the conscience. But 
 the Confession of Faith, after having declared as above in favour 
 of "true liberty of conscience" in opposition to an absolute and 
 blind obedience," adds a little after in the same chapter, — '■ And 
 because the powers which God hath ordained and the liberty 
 which Christ hath purchased, are not intended by God to destroy, 
 but mutually to uphold and preserve one another, they who upon 
 pretence of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or 
 tlie lawful exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, re- 
 sist the ordinance of God. The question, then, comes to this. 
 Has the Confession assigned an unlawful power or the unlawful 
 exercise of it to the magistrate, in opposition to its preceding 
 declaration respecting liberty of conscience? and in what instance 
 has it done so? 
 32 
 
374 APPENDIX. 
 
 As to the passage quoted from the Declaration and Defence, 
 &c., at first view it may seem favourable to the opinion, that the 
 magistrate has no power about religious matters ; but when we 
 consider that this interpretation is in di-reet opposition to the ex- 
 press declaration of the compilers of that ptJiper, who in the verj' 
 same paragraph assert that " there is nothing especially allotted 
 and allowed unto- magistrates by the Word of God and the Con- 
 fessions of the Reformed Churches," this must show us that they 
 never meant to convey such a sentiment; and upon a' more par- 
 ticular examination it will be found that they do not contain this 
 doctrine. 
 
 4. The Act was intended to be temporary, according to the in- 
 timation in the preamble, and therefore ought not to be continued 
 as a standing rule. It has not been found sufficient for removing 
 scruples, for in September 1791), the exception to the Confession 
 was extended to "every thing in the Catechisms, or any of our 
 public papers which, when taken by itself, seems to contain the 
 doctrine objected against." In the mean time, members of Synod 
 having their consciences aggrieved by the change in our public 
 profession, are prevented from co-operating with their brethren 
 in many important parts of public work, and thus a schism is 
 made in the body. 
 
 On these and other accounts the subscriber humbly craves that 
 the Synod would review this their Act, examine the passages in 
 the Confession, (Sec, which are supposed to be objectionable, and 
 give such a determination as shall tend most to the maintenance 
 of truth, and the preservation of the unity of the body. — And that 
 the presence of the Head of the Church may direct the Synod in 
 this and all other matters, is the earnest prayer of 
 
 Tiio. M'CniE. 
 
 [Owing to the unexpected size to which the volume has ex- 
 tended, it is not considered necessary to insert the Speech men- 
 tioned at p G9; especially as, besides what is given in the text, 
 it contains little more than what is to be found in the above 
 Petition.] 
 
 No. II. 
 
 ADDRESS DELIVERED TO THE CONGREGATION,— 
 
 June 1806. 
 
 [Page 119.] 
 
 It is a proverbial saying, that it is a disgrace to a teacher vvhen 
 his own doctrine reproves him; and all those who are employed 
 in teaching others, should be careful tliat their conduct be in 
 some due measure consistent with what they inculcate upon their 
 Jiearers; as without this they cannot expect that it will produce 
 good effects upon their minds. Upon the same grounds it is the 
 duty of such persons to give necessary explications as to any part 
 of their conduct which, through ignorance and misapprehension, 
 may have excited prejudices against them, and to wipe off mis- 
 
ADDRESS TO THE CONGREGATION — ISOG. 375 
 
 representations which are injurious to their character, and may 
 lend to mar the usefulness of their ministry. For such a step 
 there are the best warrants in the word of God. 
 
 You will not therefore think it strange that I request your can- 
 did attention for a htlle, while 1 ex))lain to you some parts of my 
 conduct with reference to the proceedings of the General Synod, 
 which have excited a considerable anxiety and been blamed by 
 many. I doubt not that some have expected something of this 
 kind at an earlier period, but although I was not insensible that 
 very gross mistakes were entertained respecting my conduct in 
 tljat affair, and that I was viewed by many as fostering division 
 and exciting disturbance, yet 1 was averse to introduce the sub- 
 ject, and endeavoured to console myself with the testimony of 
 my own conscience, and with the reflection, that persons more 
 faithful than I could pretend to be had met with treatment of a 
 similar kind. The time is, however, now come when silence 
 would be sinful, and can no longer be kept. I do not mean, 
 however, at present to enter upon a vindication of my principles 
 upon the subjects of dispute, but shall only give you a statement 
 of them, and of the reasons which have induced me, or rather 
 impelled me, to take the steps I have taken. In doing this, I 
 shall endeavour to speak with all due respect of the Synod, but 
 at the same time with a freedom which becomes one who is con- 
 scious of having acted sincerely, and of the justice of the cause 
 which he has espoused, which he cannot allow to depend upon 
 any man, or number of men, however good or wise. 
 
 The first thing requisite in any controversy, is to know the 
 matter in dispute. It is no uncommon thing for persons, upon 
 hearing that a person has taken any particular step, immediately 
 to pass judgment upon it, without waiting to hear the grounds and 
 reasons upon which he proceeded ; nothing, however, can be more 
 unreasonable and unjust. Even a measure which, on a general 
 view, appears to be harsh and strong, may, on a due consideration 
 of the grounds, turn out to be not only justifiable, but laudable 
 and necessary. 
 
 In our contcndings with the Synod, I and the brethren with 
 whom I have acted, have had it for our great and only object to 
 maintain the principles received and hitherto avouched by the 
 body. It has not been an opposition to mere modes of expres- 
 sion, it has not been an opposition to a new statement of the 
 original principles, or an accommodation thereof to the presept 
 situation of the Church, — a work which we would be disposed to 
 co-operate in as heartily as any; but we have opposed because w& 
 judge that, in the new exhibition of the profession of the Synod, 
 there is a material departure from the former ground, which was 
 settled agreeably to Scripture, and that doctrines are introduced 
 or built upon, which are inconsistent with the Word of God and 
 our former principles. If it cannot be shown that there is a real 
 and palpable inconsistency between the old and new testimony 
 and profession of Seceders in some important points, I, for one, 
 will drop the controversy, and grant tliat the opposition I have 
 made has been unreasonal)le and sinful. 
 
 The only method of determining this is by appealing to facts-, 
 and without indulging in general declamation and strong asser^ 
 
376 APPENDIX. 
 
 tions which may confound and mislead, but cannot convince a 
 mind that seriously wishes satisfaction, I shall proceed to men- 
 tion a few things that are necessary to a proper understanding of 
 this affair. There is one thing that is necessary to be carried 
 along in the whole of this question; it is, that the Secession Tes- 
 timony was not only a testimony in behalf of the truths of God's 
 Word, but of the reformation attained in this land, or, in other 
 words, a testimony for the great work of God in bringing about 
 a public reformation of religion in this kingdom. JNow, when 
 we speak of such a reformation, we not only mean a certain set 
 of principles respecting religion and church order, as they may 
 be laid down in certain standard books, but we must include also 
 certain actings of a body of people in the way of removing evils 
 and corruptions, and introducing what is lawful, good and scrip- 
 tural, in tlieir room. Accordingly in the original Testimony, 
 witness is borne expressly to various laudable acts in promoting 
 and advancing religion, all of which were considered, not merely 
 as actings of men, but as the work of God, and as constituting 
 the reformation attained — or the Covenanted Reformation. 
 
 In the testimony originally borne to this work of God, there 
 were two leading heads under which the particulars were ar- 
 ranged. The first of these was the actings of the Church and its 
 judicatories in promoting the Reformation of religion; the second 
 was the actings of the nation, with its political rulers. The re- 
 formation of religion is there considered as a great national con- 
 cern and duty, in the advancement of which both the civil and 
 ecclesiastical rulers, each in their own sphere, together with the 
 body of the people, were properly and laudably employed. Se- 
 ceders did formerly bear witness, not only in behalf of the laws 
 and actings of the ecclesiastical judicatories, but also in behalf of 
 the actings of the civil powers on the same side, and of the laws 
 which they made ratifying and establishing the true Protestant 
 and Presbyterian religion. For example, they bear record, as 
 one of the first instances of the " great work" which the hand of 
 the " Lord" did "effectuate," that " the first Confession of Faith 
 was ratified and approven by the Parliament" (Display i., 55;) 
 not only that the " Book of Discipline was approven by the Gene- 
 ral Assembl}', but that all the pieces of the Reformation then at- 
 tained unto, were ratified and approven by the Parliament 1592." 
 (P. 56.) As to the second Reformation, the original Testimony 
 bears witness, that " During this period, the estates of the nation 
 (or the Parliament) also gave their helping hand to the work of 
 reformation, not only by the legal establishment given unto it in 
 1640, but also by approving the Solemn League, and by manj' 
 luudable Acts passed anno 1649;" and after enumerating several 
 of these, it adds, "The above particulars are some instances 
 of the power and goodness of the Most High God, which this 
 Presbytery judge it their duty to record and bear witness unto." 
 (Pp. 61 , 62.) A still more express testimony is borne unto these 
 proceedings in the Declaration of the Associate Presbytery's 
 principles respecting civil government, or Answers to Nairne. 
 They there divide the Covenanted Reformation into two parts, 
 which they call the "civil reformation" and the " ecclesiastical 
 reformation." (Display i., 278.) The former comprehends, not 
 
ADDRESS TO THE CONGREGATION 1806. 377 
 
 only the valuable liberties of the nation, but also the legal secu- 
 rities and ratifications given to the profession of the true religion. 
 They particularly bear witness to the settlement of the deed of 
 civil constitution upon a reformed footing in tlie years 15S)2 and 
 1649. They declare that the professed defence and maintenance 
 of the true religion, &c., was secured by the fundamental con- 
 stitution of the civil governments in our reforming periods>which 
 deed, &c., is morally unalterable, &c. (P. 274 ) In short, it is 
 beyond a doubt, that in all the original papers in the Secession, 
 where the covenanted reformation is spoken of and testified for, 
 the civil settlement and laws in its favour, as well as the eccle- 
 siastical, are included and approved; and when departures from 
 it are condemned, the proceedings and laws of the State, as well 
 as of the Church, are condemned. 
 
 Let us inquire now how tlie matter stands in the profession 
 which the Synod have now adopted. A principle is introduced 
 and avowed which excludes a nation and its civil rukrs from in- 
 terfering with religion. The New Testimony expressly asserts 
 that the power competent to worldly kingdoms is to be viewed as 
 "respecting only the secular interests of society'' (New Testi- 
 mony, p. 193.) the secular interests of society only, in distinction 
 from their religious interests. It is easy to see that this principle 
 not only tends to exclude nations and their rulers from all iuter- 
 ference with religion, from employing their power for prowoting 
 a religious reformation and advancing the kingdom of Christ, but 
 also virtually condemns what the rulers of this land did in former 
 times of reformation, which the original Testimony did bear 
 witness to as a work of God. Accordingly, this reformation is 
 viewed all along through the new papers as a mere ecclesiastical 
 reformation; and the laws made by a reforming Parliament, &c., 
 in as far as they recognised, ratified, and established the reformed 
 religion, are either omitted, glossed over or explained away. In 
 the account of the First Reformation, the abolition of the laws in 
 favour of Popery is mentioned, but a total and designed silence 
 is observed respecting all the laws made in favour of the Protes- 
 tant Confession and Discipline, by which the nation, in its most 
 public capacity, stated itself on the side of Christ's cause, and 
 even the famous deed of civil constitution, settled on a reformed 
 footing in 1592, is buried and forgotten. The same thing is ob- 
 servable in the account of the Second Reformation. On one 
 occasion it is said that the king "gave his consent to such acts 
 as were thought necessary, for securing the civil and religious 
 rigiits of the nation;" without saying whether tiiis were right or 
 wrong. But all the other laws of the reforming Parliaments 
 during that period, which were specified and approved in the 
 former papers of the Secession, and even the settlement of the 
 civil constitution in 1649, which has formerly been considered as 
 the crowning part of Scotland's Reformation and liberties, is 
 passed over without mention or testimony. Even that wicked 
 act of the Scottish Parliament after the Restoration of Charles 
 II., by which all the laws establishing and ratifying the Presby- 
 terian religion and covenants were rescinded, is passed over in 
 its proper place in the acknowledgment of sins, and when it is 
 mentioned, is condemned with a reserve; nor was this done ijiad- 
 
 32* 
 
378 APrENDix. 
 
 vertently, for if the Presbyterian religion ought not to have been 
 established by law, it is not easy to condemn a Parliament for 
 rescinding that Establishment. 
 
 Tije question was once put, " The baptism of John — was it from 
 heaven, or of men?" I ask, The conduct of this nation and its 
 rulers, in recognising, setting forward, and establishing by laws 
 the Protestant and Presbyterian religion — was it from heaven, or 
 of men? Was it a work of God, or a mere human invention? 
 This question cannot be evaded by any Seceder. We have seen 
 that the original Testimony expressly recognised it as a great 
 work of God, to be thankfully remembered and recorded ; and it 
 is matter of lamentation, that Seceders should now be unable or 
 afraid to answer the question. But the work of the Lord is 
 honourable, and shall be remembered. 
 
 Another point which has been in controversy, is the national 
 obligation of the religious covenants entered into in this land. 
 The doctrine of the new Testimony is, that " religious covenant- 
 ing is entirely an ecclesiastical duty" (p. 1(52 ;) that persons enter 
 into it " as members of the Church, and not as members of the 
 State;" that " those invested with civil power have no other con- 
 cern with it than as Church members" (pp. 152, 162;) and ac- 
 cordingly it restricts the obligation of the covenants of this land 
 to persons of all ranks only in their spiritual character, and as 
 Church members. But it cannot admit of a doubt, that the Na- 
 tional and Solemn League and Covenant were national oaths, in 
 the most proper sense of the word ; that they were intended as 
 such by those who framed them, and that they were entered into 
 in this view by the three kingdoms ; the civil rulers entering into 
 them, enacting them, and setting them forward in their public 
 capacity, as well as the ecclesiastical. And the uniform opinion 
 of Presb^'terians, from the time that they were taken, has been, 
 that they are binding in a. national as well as an ecclesiastical point 
 of view. I shall only produce the testimony of one respectable 
 writer (Principal Forrester :j "The binding force (says he) of 
 these engagements appears in the subjects they affect, as, first, 
 Our Church in her Representatives, and in their most public 
 capacity, the General Assemblies in both nations; second, The 
 State Representatives and Parliaments. Thus, all assurances are 
 given that either civil or ecclesiastical laws can afford; and the 
 public faith of Church and State is plighted with inviolable ties; 
 so that they must stand while we liave a Church or State in 
 Scotland ; both as men and as Christians, as members of the 
 Church and State, under either a religious or civil consideration, 
 we stand hereby inviolably engaged; and not only Representa- 
 tives; but also the Incorporation (or body) of Church and State, 
 are under the same." On this broad ground have Presbyterians 
 stated the obligation of the Covenants of this land. And why 
 should they not? Why should we seek to narrow their obliga- 
 tion ? Ave we afraid that these lands should be too closely bound 
 to the Lord? If religious covenanting be a moral duty, if oaths 
 and vows are founded in the light of nature as well as in the 
 Word of God, why should not men be capable of entering into 
 them, and of being bound by them in every character in which 
 they are placed under the moral government of God, as men and 
 
ADDRESS TO THE CONGREGATION 1S06. 379 
 
 as Christians, as members of the Church and of the State, when- 
 ever there is a call to enter into such covenants as have a respect 
 to all these characters, as was the case in the covenants of our 
 ancestors, which Seceders have witnessed for and formally re- 
 newed ? In the former testimony witness was expressly borne 
 to the national obligation of these Covenants. In speaking of 
 the National Covenant, it says, " By this solemn oath and cove- 
 nant this kingdom made a wa<;ona/ surrender of themselves unto 
 the Lord." (Display, 5G.) It declares that the Solemn League 
 and Covenant was entered into, and binding upon the three 
 kingdoms — that both of them are binding upon the church and 
 lands, and the church and nations ; the deed of civil constitution 
 is said to have been settled in consequence of the most solemn 
 covenant engagements, and the rescinding of the law in favour 
 of the true religion is testified against as an act of national per- 
 jury. Yet by the new Testimony all are bound to declare, that 
 religious covenanting is entirely an ecclesiastical duty, and bind- 
 ing only on the Church and her members as such ; and that 
 " those invested with civil power have no other concern with it 
 but as Church members." Is it any wonder that there should 
 be Seceders who cannot submit to receive such doctrine? The 
 time will come, when it will be matter of astonishment that so 
 few have appeared in such a cause, and that those who have ap- 
 peared should be borne down, opposed, and spoken against. It 
 is not a matter of small moment to restrict the obligation of 
 solemn oaths, the breach of which is chargeable upon a land, or 
 to explain away any part of that obhgation. The quarrel of 
 God's covenant is not yet thoroughly pleaded by him against these 
 guilty and apostatizing lands, and all that have any due sense of 
 the inviolable obligation of them, should tremble at touching or 
 enervating them in the smallest point. 
 
 From this brief account I think it evidently appears, that there 
 is a real and material diiference between the old and new Testi- 
 mony — a difl^erence not only in form and words, but in principle ; 
 and particularly, that what was formerly expressly testified for 
 as a work of God, is no longer considered as such, but dropt and 
 buried, if not directly contradicted. That the Synod should have 
 seen reason for altering or dropping some of the principles for- 
 merly adopted by them, is not so great a matter of astonishment. 
 But that persons should be found, who have read and understood 
 the two Testimonies, and who shall persevere in asserting that 
 there is no difference in principle between the two— that the 
 Synod have not dropt or departed from any part of their former 
 Testimony, is truly astonishing. It would have been more con- 
 sistent and candid to have avowed the alteration, to have pleaded 
 that the former doctrine was untenable, and to give in reasons 
 for the new. But the assertions of men upon this point, how- 
 ever often and strongly repeated, cannot produce conviclion upon 
 any mind that seriously seeks for truth. Every man must ex- 
 amine for himself, and as he shall answer to God. And, brethren, 
 I do not wish you to receive the statement that 1 have now given 
 upon my testimony. No man will regard much the temporary 
 impression that is made upon the mind of an audience by a par- 
 ticular discourse. If they do not examine for themselves, the 
 
380 APPENDIX. 
 
 impression will be erased by the very next discourse they hear 
 on the other side. Hence so many Seceders are at present like 
 " children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.' But if 
 persons once examine for themselves, they will obtain a know- 
 ledge of facts and fi.xed principles, which will enable them to 
 detect the fallacy of vague declamation, and to distinguish be- 
 tween solid reasoning, and those good words and smooth speeches 
 which impose upon the simple. You will find all that I have 
 stated in the first volume of Mr. Gib's Display, which you can 
 compare with the new Testimony of Synod. 
 
 In what I have said at present, I have confined myself almost 
 entirely to the difference between the former profession of the 
 Secession and that which is now made by the Synod, without 
 entering into a vindication of the principles which are now op- 
 posed. I shall not, however, shun to do this, as 1 may have an 
 opportunity in providence; for I am persuaded, that as they are 
 founded on the Word of God and right reason, so the more a 
 person examines the Scriptures without prejudice and prepos- 
 session, the more ready will ho be to adopt them; and low as 
 their credit is now sunk in the body, and few as are now disposed 
 to appear for them, I entertain not the smallest doubt but that 
 their credit will yet be revived not only in the Secession, but in 
 a more general way. When the time to favour Zion is come, 
 what have been esteemed her small and despised things will ap- 
 pear great things, and the stones which her sons shall gather out 
 of her rubbish will appear precious stones. 
 
 " But why did you not state these things to the Synod .' They 
 can never understand what you wish. If you would only tell 
 them what you wish they would grant it." I confess such things 
 are said, but all that is said is not true. What have we been 
 doing for these six or eight years back ? What has been the pur- 
 port of all the papers that we have given in to the Synod.' We 
 have told them that the proposition in the new Testimony, which 
 confines the power of magistrates to secular interests only, and 
 which excludes religion from their care, appears to us unscrip- 
 tural and dangerous : they have defended it. We have told them 
 that another proposition, that religious covenanting is entirely an 
 ecclesiastical duty, appears to us inconsistent with Scripture, with 
 the covenants of our ancestors, and the former Testimony: they 
 have defended this also, and refused to expunge it. We have 
 pointed out the defect in the new Testimony, in not witnessing, 
 as formerly, for the civil reformation and settlement of religion; 
 this they have declined to insert. What, then, can it serve to 
 say that we will not tell them what we want, except to hold us 
 out ta odium as unreasonable men, who know not what they want, 
 or who will not declare it. 
 
 " But you have not stated what your principles are respecting 
 the power of the civil magistrate in religion. How far would 
 you allow him to go ?''' Where was the need for our stating how 
 far he should extend his power, when the Synod have denied that 
 he has any power at all about this matter.' Besides, we never 
 saw any reason to trouble the Synod with difficult questions as 
 to how far the magistrate might go in all circumstances. All that 
 we wished was to maintain the Testimony which had been for- 
 
ADDRESS TO THE CONGREGATION — 1806. 381 
 
 merly exhibited in behalf of the civil reformation and settlements 
 of religion in former periods vvhicli was fixed in consequence of 
 solemn covenants which are still binding upon the land. So that 
 all reports of our troubling the Synod with new opinions or dis- 
 puted sentiments upon the subject are misrepresentations, flowing, 
 1 charitably hope, from ignorance, but for which we have not 
 given the slightest grounds. 
 
 " But do you think that such a body as the Synod have really 
 dissented from their former principles, and adopted principles 
 that are unscriptural ?" Certainly ; if I did not think so I would 
 be self-condemned for opposing their deeds as 1 have done. 1 
 might ask in turn, Is any Synod infallible ? May not any council 
 or Synod since the apostles' days err ? Has no such thing hap- 
 pened before ? But when a people come to attach their faith so 
 far to any body of men as to think it incredible that they should 
 go viTong, or to hold up this as a sufficient answer to all evidence 
 of the fact which is set before them, that people are under delu- 
 sion, and there is no saying where they may be led. 
 
 " But, at any rate, the measures you have taken are high ; and 
 although the Synod have gone wrong in some things, yet this 
 cannot warrant you to make a breach in the body." I readily 
 grant that there is a difference between the cause which we are 
 maintaining, and the particular measures which we may have 
 taken in its maintenance; and that many may approve of the 
 former who may blame the latter. And while I have claimed a 
 liberty to act for myself in this matter as light and conscience 
 directed, I have not required that others should approve of this. 
 At the same time, upon the most cool reflection, I see no reason 
 to condemn myself for what I was led to do ; and what is more, 
 I am persuaded that impartial persons who attend to the circum- 
 stances in which we are placed, and to the views which we in 
 conscience entertain, cannot condemn it. There is a vpide dif- 
 ference between partial acts of Church government and discipline 
 which may be grieving to a person, and acts which are intended 
 for and converted into public terms of communion for the whole 
 body. Acts of the former kind may be borne with, they are 
 seldom acted upon; but tliose of the latter kind are the common 
 bond of fellowship, and all are understood as either approving of 
 or acquiescing in them. Hear the words of the introduction: 
 " No person can be admitted to communion vi'ho does not express 
 his approbation of all the doctrines in the Testimony itself;" and 
 again, in the chapter on communion, it is stated, " those who 
 oppose such truths cannot be consistently received into her com- 
 munion." Now, it is known that such are our views of the mat- 
 ter, that we consider ourselves as under an obligation to oppose 
 several things in that Testimony, so that we are virtually and 
 even by the letter of these deeds excluded from communion. It 
 is true that in a note prefixed they have said that " the Synod 
 will exercise all due tenderness,'' &.c. But we cannot consent 
 to hold, by the tenure of indulgence, principles which we are 
 convinced are founded upon the Word of God, which have been 
 owned by all the Protestant Churches, which had an important 
 place in the original Secession Testimony, and the credit of 
 
382 APPENDIX. 
 
 which all Seceder3,and particularly ministers, are solemnly bound 
 to maintain. 
 
 Tiie principles for which we have been called to contend, may 
 appear to many disputable or trivial matters. They do not ap- 
 pear so to us. We view them as involving the glory of God, 
 the honour of liim whom his Father hatli placed on his holy hill, 
 the advancement of his public interest on earth, and the welfare 
 of nations. We look upon religion as the common concern of 
 all manliind, and that it is tlie duty of persons to promote and 
 advance it in every station which tliey occupy. We consider 
 that it is eminently the duty of those who are invested with civil 
 authority to exercise a care about religion, and to make laws for 
 countenancing its institutions. We are persuaded that if the 
 principles now adopted by Seceders had been acted upon in for- 
 mer times in this country, the Reformation could never have 
 taken place; and that Satan, after having found that his former 
 scheme of persecuting religion can no longer succeed, is now 
 endeavouring to persuade men that civil government and rulers 
 have nothing to do with religion and the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 No. III. 
 CHARACTER OF DR. CHARLES STUART, OF DUNEARN. 
 
 [The substance of a speech delivered by Dr. M'Crie, at the An- 
 nual Meeting of the Society for the Support of Gaelic Schools, 
 held within the Assembly Rooms, George Street, on Monday, 
 29th January 1827.] 
 
 [Page 173.] 
 
 Wii-i. you, Sir, and this Assembly allow me, at this late hour, 
 to detain them a very little, while I advert to the decease, since 
 our last Annual Meeting, of an individual who held a distin- 
 guished office in this Society, to whom the objects of its benevo- 
 lence are indebted in no common degree, and who may justly be 
 called the parent of the Institution — Dr. Charles Stuart ! It is 
 well known to many, that the first idea of a distinct society for 
 promoting the education of our countrymen in the Highlands 
 and Islands, originated with Dr. Stuart; and that having imparted 
 it, at an occasional interview, to a reverend gentleman — (also 
 removed by death since we last met) — Dr. Hall, whose warmth 
 of heart prompted him to encourage every benevolent scheme, 
 steps were immediately taken for forming the Gaelic School 
 Society, which, though rather unpopular at the commencement 
 of its operations, has now united all suffrages in its favour, and 
 been the means of doing extensive good. I know that there is a 
 Providence which excites and presides over all human devices 
 for good, and I trust that all who hear me are disposed to ascribe 
 the origin and success of this Institution to a higher than " man 
 that dicth;" but theie is a subordinate attention and respect due 
 
CHARACTER OF DR. CHARLES STUART. 383 
 
 to those whom the Father of Lights is pleased to make instru- 
 mental in any of his beneficent designs; nor can it be wrong to 
 honour those whom he hath honoured. The delicate task (for 
 it is always delicate to touch the memory of tlie dead) of intro- 
 ducing here the name of the Society's departed friend, has, I 
 suppose, been intrusted to me, because I was one of the first to 
 whom he communicated the outlines of his plan, and who were 
 induced by him to take part in its formation, — a circumstance, I 
 must confess, not much to my credit; for after seeing the Society 
 formed, I soon relapsed into my usual habits of retirement, and 
 desisted from attendance on its committees, excusing myself 
 with the reflection, that the management of its affairs was in the 
 hands of better and abler Directors. Not so the individual who 
 had been most active in founding the Society; he persevered in 
 watching over its interests as long as his bodily health admitted 
 of his attending; and continued to the last to take the Uveliest 
 interest in its prosperity. 
 
 Sir, it is a painful, but not an unprofitable exercise, to reflect 
 at intervals on the individuals with whom we have been con- 
 nected in the different circles of society to which we belong. 
 And when we recall their names and their images, and look 
 around us to find them, where — ah! where are they.' Gone! 
 Some of them, indeed, our seniors, who might be expected in 
 the course of nature to go before us; but many of them our 
 coevals, and not a few of them our juniors, who had outstripped 
 us in the career of usefulness, as well as in the race of time. 
 But whether they were younger or older, active or remiss, they 
 are gone, and we are surrounded by others, who, if we remain so 
 long as to suffer them to become acquainted with us, will soon find 
 us a-missing also. It is in one point of view an humbling con- 
 sideration to man, that he can produce works that will endure 
 longer tlian himself; like the artist who constructs and sets in 
 motion a machine which, with a little periodical winding up will 
 perform its diurnal and monthly cycles, and continue to keep 
 pace with time, after the maker's pulse has ceased to beat, and 
 his frame fallen into disrepair and dissolution. The child, with 
 his feeble finger, inserts in his father's garden a scion, and waters 
 it with his little cruse; it grows to be a great tree; when he has 
 fallen into decay, it has only attained its maturity, and will sur- 
 vive liis children's children. Thus it is with the pigmy creators 
 of this world. They die before the workmanship of their own 
 hands, — before their works of wood, and clay, and rags, as well 
 as of iron, and brass, and gold. The houses which we build are 
 our sepulchral monuments; the trees which we plant, the yews 
 which shall wave and weep over our graves. Are all the works 
 of man, then, vanity, on which nothing is to be read but the 
 lesson reiterated by tlie stones of a church-yard.' No; he may 
 be instrumental in producing what bears witness to his higher 
 destiny — deeds of mercy and piety, in which lie is a " worker 
 together with God," and by which, " though dead, he yet speak- 
 eth," and labours after he has entered into his rest. 
 
 AH the exertions of man may be said to be directed to two 
 objects: to provide a remedy for his weakness, and an antidote 
 against his mortality. For accomplisiiing both those ends, Soci- 
 
3S4 APPENDIX. 
 
 ety is the grand invention, if invention it may be called, which 
 nature itself teaches. It forms not only a combination of powers, 
 but a combination of lives. Vis unita forlior is not truer than 
 Vis vnita diiiturnior. This is true eminently of that Society 
 whose organization is from heaven, over whose preservation a 
 special Providence watches, and aoainst which the gates of hell 
 shall never prevail; but it is true, in a lower sense, of voluntary 
 societies for benevolent and religious purposes, which, so long 
 as they do not erratically cross her orbit, may be viewed as 
 satellites of this superior planet. Society dies not, though the 
 members which compose it die daily. It is the true life-insurance, 
 — the genuine PhcBuix, possessing the power of reproduction, — 
 a web which the wisdom of God, in nature and revelation, has 
 taught men to weave round the beam of time, as some airy insects 
 are said to weave theirs round the sunbeams. It is constantly 
 losing and gaining, casting off and collecting, wasting and re- 
 pairing, dying and reviving. In its progress, individuals are 
 dropping off unperceived, without, in ordinary cases, affecting 
 its operations, or requiring its motions to be for a moment sus- 
 pended. But there are persons, at intervals, whose fall will be 
 felt; and, though it do not cause a shock, will create a pause; 
 and justify, if it do not call for, the stopping of the machinery 
 for a very little, if it were but to look in and see that all is right, 
 and to note the event for ovir own admonition. But I wander 
 from the purpose. 
 
 Sir, I feel personally gratified in having to move that the death 
 of Dr. Stuart shall be entered on the records of this Society. Of 
 his character I shall say nothing, but what has fallen within my 
 own observation. Owing to disparity of years, and other cir- 
 cumstances which need not to be mentioned here, I did not enjoy 
 his friendship in the strictest sense of that word ; but I had the 
 honour and happiness of an intimate acquaintance with him 
 during a considerable number of years, and flatter myself that I 
 had some share of his confidence. I have spent many pleasant, 
 and, I hope, not altogether useless hours in his company; and I 
 am sure my memory does not deceive me when I say. that 1 do 
 not recollect of a single unkind or unpleasant feeling being ex- 
 cited, during the period of our intercourse, tbougli we have 
 walked occasionally over debatable ground, and differed on points 
 which neither of us regarded as trivial or unimportant. For, 
 permit me to say. Sir, that it is no test of forbearance for persons 
 to agree in diflering about sentiments, which both or even one 
 of them holds as of little or no moment, which he can quit with 
 as much ease as he leaves furnished lodgings, and change as he 
 would his dress, to go to a masquerade or a funeral. In Dr. 
 Stuart, I always found the honourable feelings of the gentleman, 
 the refined and liberal thinking of the scholar, and the unaffected 
 and humble piety of the Christian. I would say more, but I am 
 checked by the recollection, that the individual of whom I speak 
 was a declared enemy to panegyric. I have heard him re- 
 peatedly mention it as a blot on meetings of this kind, that the 
 speakers and the audience appeared to come together " to receive 
 honour one of another." I liave signified my acquiescence in the 
 justness of his remark ; and were I even to seem to indulge in the 
 
SPEECH AT GREEK MEETING — 1822. 385 
 
 practice, I would feel conscious of a breach of confidence, and 
 of really injuring while I professed to honour his memory. I beg 
 leave, therefore, to move, — 
 
 " That the Members present do unanimously express their high 
 respect for the memory and character of their late worthy Vice- 
 President, Dr. Charles Stuart, of Dunearn." 
 
 No. IV. 
 
 SPEECH AT A PUBLIC MEETING IN BEHALF OF 
 
 THE GREEKS,— August 7, 1822.* 
 
 (Page 242 ) 
 
 Permit me, Sir, before proceeding to the business which has 
 convened us, to say a very few words by way of apology for 
 myself for coming forward to address the meeting. When I state 
 that, during the twenty-six years that I have resided in this city, 
 the present is only the third time that I have ventured to address 
 an assembly of tlie inlmbitants called for any public purpose, 1 
 scarcely think that I run any great risk of being accused of a 
 fondness for thrusting myself forward on such occasions. On the 
 contrary. lam quite aware tliat my conduct has rather subjected 
 me to the imputation of indiiference or hostility to those benevo- 
 lent undertakings and beneficent institutions which all good men 
 approve of and desire to promote to the utmost of their ability. 
 As I am giving a reason for my present conduct, not making an 
 apology for my past, I shall merely say that, studious in my 
 habits, and engaged in literary pursuits wliicli I thought not 
 altogether unprofitable, and which often could not be interrupted 
 without being thrown back and disordered, I lislt that I was not 
 neglecting my duty, so long as I had the best grounds for be- 
 lieving that such benevolent measures were in no danger of 
 failing for want of support, and that there were always at 
 hand a sufficient number of individuals more (jualified than I 
 was for the task, ready to patronise them, and to take an active 
 part in their defence and management. I reserved myself, there- 
 fore, for such cases in which, besides the importance and urgency 
 of the object, there were certain circumstances arising out of the 
 cause, or temporarily connected with its discussion, which might 
 operate in deterring persons of benevolent minds from stepping 
 forward to advocate it. And whenever such cases have occurred, 
 and there was reason to fear that they would fail or be endangered 
 for want of support, I have considered it as my imperious duty, 
 if not to volunteer my services, at least to acquiesce in tlie re- 
 quests of those who thought that my exertions could be in any 
 degree useful. — Though the largeness and respectability of this 
 meeting show that my fears have happily been exaggerated, yet 
 
 * Taken from the report in the Scotsvian, August 10, 1822, compared with 
 the Mr=. notes of the sp»ech in my possession. — Editor. 
 
 33 
 
386 APPENDIX, 
 
 you will excuse me when I say, that I look on the present cause 
 as one of this description; and that, impelled principally by this 
 consideration,! have offered myself as a weak but willing advocate 
 of that people, the tale of whose wrongs and sufferings has ex- 
 cited your sympathy and brought you together. 
 
 The diffidence which my inexperience nmst produce, and the 
 embarrassment inseparable from it, are, I confess, considerably 
 abated when I reflect on the greatness of the cause, and the call 
 1 have to appear in its behalf Indeed I would condemn — I 
 would be ashamed of myself — if, on such an occasion, after the 
 flurry which a first appearance causes on nerves not very firmly 
 strung,! should suffer bashfulness, or selfish sensibility, or timid 
 apprehensions of my own incapacity, to discompose my mind, 
 and prevent me from exerting any powers which ! possess, how- 
 ever feeble, in the discliarge of the task which is imposed on me. 
 But in truth. Sir, the task which I have to perform is. not a dif- 
 ficult one. What am I expected to do? !s it to excite your 
 compassion and sympathy towards the suffering Greeks? Am 
 I required to harrow up your feelings by reciting the heavy cata- 
 logue of Turkish barbarities — of whole districts laid waste and 
 depopulated — the male inhabitants consigned to a cruel death, 
 and the women and children torn away by ruffians? This has 
 been already done — this sympathy has been already produced by 
 the appalling and heart-rending facts which have come to j-our 
 knowledge; and I am sure that all that can be wanted is, that 
 the people of Edinburgh should be made acquainted with the most 
 effectual way of conveying that relief which they are satisfied is 
 required, and which it would gratify tlieir best ieelings to bestow. 
 !s it expected that ! should create an interest in your minds, by 
 exciting those recollections, which are connected with the name 
 of the people who are claiming our sympathy? !t would be an 
 insult to your understandings and hearts to suppose for a moment 
 that this does not already exist; for what man that has a spark of 
 patriotism in his breast, or that has any taste for liberal knowledge, 
 does not feel himself concerned in every tiling connected with the 
 name and the fates of Greece? Although it should be supposed 
 that through some strange fatality — some unaccountable concur- 
 rence of circumstances, this feeling had been blunted and become 
 torpid, yet it would not require any vast powers, any preternatu- 
 ral charm to awaken it. Nothing more would be necessary for 
 me, even in this case, than to lay before you my own feelings, 
 and to point out to you the causes which first awakened and still 
 keep them alive. 
 
 Sir, ! was early initiated into the language of Greece, and 
 taught to relish the beauties of its classical writers, and to admire 
 the sublimities of sentiment which abound in their writings. 
 Though maturer age, and the principles which I had also early 
 •derived from those Scriptures, which in my esteem are 
 
 " Above all Greek — above all KoiDan fame," 
 
 though these have corrected my first impressions, yet they have 
 not weakened their general force ; and ! am not ashamed to sny, 
 that tlie pronouncing of the name of Greece still occasions in me 
 
SPEECH AT GREEK MEETING — 1822. 387 
 
 a mixed emotion of veneration and delight; for it brings to my 
 recollection the sayings and tiie exploits of )ier heroes, her sages, 
 her freemen and patriots, by whom her name has been conse- 
 crated in history, and the splendour of whose genius and achieve- 
 ments has survived a bleak and barren waste of fourteen centuries. 
 — You will not suspect me of egotism. I do not suppose that the 
 feelings I have attempted to express are peculiar to myself, or 
 thai I feel them more strongly than others: I mean to speak the 
 I'eelings of every genuine scholar. I have transferred, by a figure, 
 what I have spoken from you to myself, lest there should be a 
 single individual who has crept into this room, as if it were an 
 unlawful conventicle, and who wishes to lay upon the altar of 
 charity the gift which conscience or compassion extorts from him, 
 while he is ashamed of the name or lineage of that noble people 
 whom he is honoured in relieving. 
 
 It is not necessary for me. Sir, in addressing you at this time, 
 to dilate on the obligations under which modern literature lies to 
 that of Greece, or to show how much of that knowledge, taste 
 and refinement of which we boast has arisen from the perusal of 
 her classics, whose writings have so long been the property of 
 the nations of the west. I am under no necessity — I mean no 
 temptation — in order to accomplish my present object, to under- 
 rate the discoveries and improvements of modern times; but I can 
 trace them all to the revival of literature in the fifteenth century, 
 which opened to Europe the intellectual riches of Greece. Nay, 
 more: for this revival we are mainly indebted to tlie agency and 
 activity of the Greeks themselves — J mean the modern Greeks, 
 whose character has been so lightly spoken of, but without whose 
 aid their manuscripts would have been left to rot in monasteries, 
 oremploj'ed in kindling the fires of an aM^o-(/a-/e. I cannot refrain 
 here from saying, though it is a digression from the subject, that 
 1 have always i'eh hijrt at the sneers of the elegant, though not 
 always impartial, historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman 
 Empire, when speaking of the modern Greeks; and the too evi- 
 dent pleasure with which he selects every fact and circumstance 
 calculated to degrade their character at the time when they were 
 subjugated by the Turks, even thouuh he professes to do this by 
 way of contrasting them with their ancestors. Through the 
 mediun) of history, by which we are enabled to take a retrospec- 
 tive view through the long vi.sta of many centuries, the light of 
 literature and science which has since jicrvaded all Europe, is to 
 be seen dawning feebly on the remote mountains of Calabria, and 
 can be distinctly traced to Greece. It was then, in the early 
 part of the fourteenth century, that the prince of modern lyric 
 poets first met with a Greek monk, named Barlaam, who initi- 
 ated him into the principles of his native language, at that time 
 utterly unknown in Western Europe, it was in the same place 
 that the contemporary and friend of Petrarch, the enlightened 
 and witty Bocaccio, acquired a more perfect knowledge of the 
 same language, and was furnished with the first translation of the 
 poems of Homer, by a pupil of Barlaam, whose name has at 
 present escaped me. They came for the purpose of supplicating 
 tlie Western powers to resist the Turkish forces. They were 
 unsuccessful in their •ip|)lication.s,but their missiun was produc- 
 
388 APPENDIX. 
 
 tive of lasting benefit to the nations which they visited, and 
 deserves to be held by their inhabitants in perpetual remembrance. 
 Previous to that time, Western Europe was involved in thick 
 darkness. Dante had indeed arisen; but his mighty genius 
 blazed and burned within its own Inferno, and produced no other 
 effect among his countrymen than that of making the darkness 
 visible. From the time of Petrarch, the clouds continued to 
 dissipate, and this effect was increased by means of successive 
 exiles from Greece, who visited the courts of Italy, France, Ger- 
 many, and Britain, creating, wherever they went, a thirst for 
 their beautiful language; until at last, all the stores of Grecian 
 literature, which escaped the barbarous hands of the Turks, were 
 transferred to Italy, and from thence diffused througii the neigh- 
 bouring countries. It is to the Greeks that we are indebted for 
 the principal remains of ancient literature, which, during the 
 Gothic ages, had been locked up in Constantinople and other 
 places in the East. The taking of Constantinople, and conse- 
 quent dispersion of the Greek literati who had been sheltered 
 there, have placed these treasures on the common table of Eu- 
 rope ; thus we have become possessed of the sacred original of 
 the Old Testament, — the venerable translation of it into the 
 Greek language, — the original of the New Testament, — and the 
 writings of the Christian Fathers, along with all the classic stores 
 of Greece. When these were introduced into Western Europe, 
 I think I hear the angel of Providence thus addressing the in- 
 liabitants: — "These will enable you to set up a barrier against 
 the tumultuous, and till now irresistible tide of barbarian irrup- 
 tions which have overwhelmed you ; they will aid you in effect- 
 ing your emancipation from the shackles of despotism which 
 entwined themselves around both mind and body; and by these 
 sacred pledges, whenever a happier star shall rise on Greece, 
 sympathize with her, and exert yourself for her relief!" 
 
 I cannot here avoid expressing surprise and regret at the apathy 
 which scholars and literati have displayed on this subject. — The 
 mere scholar and literatus, indeed, often becomes the cautious 
 and prudent politician. It would be easy to show that such per- 
 sons have done comparatively little for the good of mankind, or 
 for the direct advancement of any public cause which happened 
 to be at stake in the day in which they lived. The spirit of 
 literature and science is too weak and cold, in itself, to excite 
 those who are actuated by it to any great, hazardous, or magnani- 
 mous deeds. Provided they are permitted peaceably to walk in 
 their academic groves, tolerated in the free indulgence of their 
 speculations and unrestrained in the expression of their discove- 
 ries, they are contented to allow human affairs to go on in their 
 usual course, and to tolerate, in their turn, the grossest abuses. 
 The spirit by which they are influenced more easily forms an 
 alliance with this world, and there are many instances of their 
 pursuing its profits, honours, and even pleasures, with as much 
 greediness as those who never addicted themselves to the search 
 of wisdom. 
 
 I do not mean to cast a summary and indiscriminate censure 
 on all who have not attended this meeting. The best friends to 
 a cause often entertain different opinions as to the most efficacious 
 
SPEECH AT GREEK MEETING — 1S22. 389 
 
 means of promoting it. What I lament is the general indiffer- 
 ence that has been testified on the subject, and the almost total 
 silence of those whose opinions would have the greatest influence 
 on the public mind. There was a time wiien Grecian literature 
 was confined to a very small but trusty band, who were richly 
 imbued with the spirit of Christian philanthropy — who did not 
 sink the character of the man and the citizen in that of the 
 scholar, but, who, having caught tiie enlightened, enlarged, and 
 patriotic spirit which breathed in the writings with whicji they 
 were conversant, and grafted it on the purer principles of Christi- 
 anity, devoted themselves to the good of mankind, and were 
 always ready to lift their voice, and even their arm should it be 
 necessary, in the cause of humanity and of civil and religious 
 liberty. These have passed away, and have given place to 
 another race, whom I sliall not characterize. There is, however, 
 one encouragement left, and that not a small one. The treasures 
 which Grecian literature contain are no longer the exclusive 
 property of a particular caste; they have, by means of transla- 
 tions, been laid open to the world at large. Tije works of the 
 celebrated bard (Homer,) whose residence has immortalized that 
 island, whicii has lately been the theatre of Turkish licentious- 
 ness, together with the writings of the most illustrious of his 
 countrymen, have long been in the possession of the British pub- 
 lic, who admire their genius and imbibe their spirit. I will not 
 be suspected of wishing to disparage the knowledge of the origi- 
 nal language of these writers, or of denying its advantages for 
 the perception of many of the nicer beauties of style and com- 
 position ; but neither will I conceal that, in a good translation, 
 the English reader possesses all in these writings that is grand 
 in point of conception, and elevating in point of sentiment. All 
 classes, in this respect, stand now upon something like a footing 
 of equality. Though scholars and literati may stand aloof, yet 
 others will come forward and till up their places ; and if they 
 should attempt to excuse their conduct by exclaiming, " Odi 
 profanum rulgus et arceo.'^ I would only reply to the proud excuse 
 in another Latin sentence, " Surgunt indocli ct rapiunt ccclum." 
 A gentleman who has travelled through Greece, and is well ac- 
 quainted with the manners of its inhabitants, will, I understand, 
 address the meeting, and refute, to your satisfaction, the calum- 
 nies that have been circulated against tiie present race of Greeks. 
 It has been said tliat they are degenerated, and certain acts of 
 retaliation, which they are said to have committed on the Turks, 
 has been referred to in proof of the assertion; but to show that, 
 under the first impulses of indignation, it was possible for the 
 bravest and the best to commit very unwarrantable acts, I would 
 first advert to the treatment which the two heralds of Darius 
 received from the Athenians and Lacedemonians, when they 
 demanded earth and water from them as a mark of submission to 
 their master. They flung one into a well and the other into a 
 pit, and, with the vivacity peculiar to the Greeks, told them to 
 take thence as much earth and water as they pleased ! Yet this 
 unjustifiable infraction of the laws of nations took place at a time 
 when a Miltiades, aThemlstocles, and he who had obtained from 
 his countrymen the name of the Just, presided over the affairs 
 33* 
 
390 APPENDIX. 
 
 of Athens; it was committed by the men who achieved the me- 
 morable victories at Marathon and Salamis; and it was followed 
 by the deed of that firm and fearless band, who, after raising their 
 native Lacedemon to the highest pinnacle of her glory, saved the 
 liberties of all Greece, by blocking up with their dead bodies the 
 Straits of Thermopylce. 
 
 Those who embark in this cause may lay their account with 
 misconstructions of their motives. This is unavoidable from the 
 nature of the cause, and from the present state of public opinions 
 and parties. From what has taken place on former occasions, it is 
 not improbable that our activity will be imputed to political mo- 
 tives, and a restless or factious desire to patronise and encourage 
 those who resist constituted authorities. There are general poli- 
 tics and party politics. General politics I understand to com- 
 prehend the good of mankind, and to form a brancii of morality 
 which grows out of religion. This is no question of party politics, 
 nor do I propose that this meeting should take it up at all in a 
 political light. I do not wish to conceal — I would do violence to 
 the strongest feelings of my heart, if I did conceal — that I sym- 
 pathize deeply in the struggle which tlie Greeks are now making 
 to throw off the yoke of Ottoman despotism, and to regain tlieir 
 long-lost liberty and independence as a distinct people. Were 
 that hero, to whom I have already alluded, — were Aristides now 
 to rise fromtlie grave, I could imagine him addressing the modern 
 Greeks, — " O fallen ! greatly fallen from the glorious character 
 of your ancestors ; but yet your attempt to throw off the yoke of 
 ruthless despotism, redeems you in some measure from your de- 
 gradation ; and, if you are overcome, I would rather live in chains 
 with you, than live free with the nations who look on your efforts 
 with coldblooded unconcern." — It is my fervent wish, and devout 
 prayer, that He who has revealed himself by the merciful name 
 of the Friend of the oppressed, may look down from the height 
 of his sanctuary in heaven, break the power of the oppressor, and 
 set them free who are appointed to slavery and death. This, I 
 am persuaded, would not only contribute to the temporal and 
 spiritual prosperity of that people, but prove a blessing to Europe, 
 and eventually to the millions who would yield an implicit sub- 
 jection to the successors of Mahomet. But this is my individual 
 aspiration, to which no other person present is pledged. We 
 have not met to petition the Parliament, or his Majesty's Go- 
 vernment, to interfere and decide this dreadful contest; though, 
 if it had been thought advisable to address the king, during his 
 presence in our city, respectfully imploring him to charge his 
 representative at Constantinople, to protest against that barbarous 
 conduct of the Turks, which had so lacerated the feelings of other 
 nations — if such an address had been agreed upon, 1 should have 
 Been no harm in that ; and I tliink none of those distinguished 
 persons by whom his Majesty will be surrounded when he arrives, 
 would venture to step between the Throne and the People, to 
 intercept such an avowal of tlieir wishes, or to counteract its 
 constitutional influence. — But it is not proposed to make any 
 declaration in favour of the rational claims of the Greeks, or to 
 assist them in their warlike efforts: all that is proposed is, to dis- 
 charge a duty of charity to the necessitous, to perform a work of 
 mercv fo tlio wretched. 
 
SPEECH AT GREEK MEETING — 1825. 391 
 
 No. V. 
 
 SPEECH AT THE SCOTTISH LADIES' SOCIETY FOR 
 
 PROMOTING EDUCATION IN GREECE. 
 , Delivered April 9, 1825. 
 
 [Page 244.] 
 
 In rising to address you at this time, I feel myself rather deli- 
 cately placed, as I may be considered as taking the part which 
 should have fallen this day to a gentleman of distinguished talents, 
 with whose commanding eloquence you expected to have been 
 delighted, and whose unavoidable absence I join with you in 
 deeply regretting. It is, however, no small satisfaction to my 
 mind, that by coming forward under these circumstances, I have 
 an opportunity of giving a stronger pledge of good- will to the cause 
 than I had anticipated. Happily, ladies and gentlemen, the task 
 which has devolved on me is not in reality a difficult one. It is 
 only necessary to name the object of this meeting, in order to 
 secure a favourable, and even partial hearing. There is in the 
 very name of Greece a charm which is felt by those who cannot 
 explain tlie cause of their emotions; and this feeling has been 
 greatly increased by the intensely interesting attitude which that 
 country has lately assumed, and the dauntless resolution with 
 which she maintains the struggle to vindicate her national inde- 
 pendence, and regain her long-lost liberties. A diiFerence of 
 sentiment has obtained, even in Britain, respecting the attempts 
 which have been made by other nations of late years, to throw 
 off the yoke of slavery; but the Greeks have united the suffrages 
 of all in their favour. Persons of all parties, of all sects, and of 
 all modes of thinking, have joined in exclaiming with one voice, 
 <' Let Greece be free — let her be numbered again among the na- 
 tions, and renew her former race of renown." — The object of this 
 meeting, and the means by which it is proposed to carry it into 
 execution, have been so luminously stated by the gentleman 
 who so ably fills the chair, that I reckon it unnecessary to add a 
 single word upon that part of the subject. The idea of this in- 
 stitution reflects the purest honour on the individuals with whom 
 it originated, and adds, in my humble opinion, greatly to the 
 character of our city for public spirit and enlightened philan- 
 thropy. Edinburgh, which used to be contented with the name 
 of the Gude Toicn, has of late years been saluted with the flat- 
 tering title of the Mudtm Jltliens. Without stopping to inquire 
 if there has been a general acquiescence in the imposing of this 
 title, or if it is likely that our city shall be known to posterity by 
 it, 1 hope, Sir, that you will agree with me when I say, that she 
 never presented a fairer and more attractive claim to this appel- 
 lation tiian she does this day, when her daughters are assembled 
 in such numbers to express their sympathy witli tiie Greek na- 
 tion, to pour the only salutary balm into the still bleeding wounds 
 of that long oppressed people, and to help them to the means by 
 
392 APPENDIX. 
 
 which they may gradually attain their former distinction in 
 knowledge and refinement, and even surpass, in point of extent 
 at least, any thing which Greece had reached when her illumi- 
 nation was at its meridian : for, Sir, however great my admiration 
 of the august institutions and never-dying, though at present 
 faded glories of that country, I must be allowed to say, that an-= 
 cient Athens herself never presented a spectacle of the same 
 interesting kind as this assembly, in whicli the flower of the 
 female population of a great city is collected, in order that the 
 expressed fragrance of its benevolent feeling may be wafted to a 
 distant land; and all this done without sacrificing the smallest 
 particle of that modesty and reserve which is characteristic of 
 the sex. It is well known that the female character was de- 
 pressed among all the nations of antiquity, the free as well as the 
 enslaved, the civilized as well as the barbarous. In this respect, 
 the freest of them was but half free, and the most civilized but 
 half civilized. If you ask the cause of this, I reply — the exclu- 
 sion of the better half from the means of acquiring knowledge. 
 If you ask, again, what was the reason of this, I have to answer 
 — the ignorance among heathen nations, and the oblivion, during 
 the dark ages among Christian nations, of that original law of 
 nature, republished by the author of Christianity — that God made 
 the sexes one in the participation of his image, the first feature 
 of which consists in knov/ledge. To assist in remedyino- this 
 defect, is one main object of the proposed society. You must 
 have observed, Sir, that when first announced, it was described 
 as a society for educating females in Greece. On its being rep- 
 resented, however, tliat tliis restriction would cramp the opera- 
 tions of the Society, and narrow the sphere of its usefulness, the 
 ladies who have taken an active part in calling this meeting, with 
 a deference to advice, which is honourable to tliem, Jiave agreed 
 to include persons of both sexes among the objects of their be- 
 nevolent scheme. At the same time they have not abandoned, 
 and I do not wish that they should abandon, the idea of applyintr 
 their resources chiefly to the instructing of females, so far as this 
 may be found practical. I cannot help repealing what was said 
 by one of them to myself, when urging the objection I had heard 
 stated against the original limitation: "We are afraid lest, ac- 
 cording to the maxims prevalent in that part of the world, all our 
 funds be appropriated to the education of males, and our sex be 
 passed over and left in that state of exclusion from knowledo-eto 
 which they have so long been doomed." Sir, I applaud the 
 feeling which dictated this saying, and fondly do I hope and 
 trust that, when the intelligence of the formation of this Society 
 reaches Greece, it will awaken in the breasts of the females 
 there, a desire to participate in that blessing which has exalted 
 their sex here, and enabled them to conceive a plan of such en- 
 Jightened generosity : and, nioreover, that it will induce the men 
 of Greece to lay aside their narrow and exclusive notions, and 
 invite their partners and sisters to come and drink along with 
 them at the common vvell-head of knowledge and of life. The 
 most praiseworthy institutions, and the best concerted schemes, 
 are obnoxious to censure, from those who may be inclined to 
 start objections. One of these is, I suppose, coached under a 
 
SPEECH AT GREEK MEETING 1825, 393 
 
 question proposed in reference to the formation of the Society : — 
 '• What know the ladies about Greek? ' So then it seenis that 
 no person must be permitted to sympathize witli a Greek, or to 
 })ay the tribute of a tear to the sufferings of a Greek, or to stretch 
 out a hand to relieve a Greek, unless he can give an affirmative 
 answer to this question — " Canst thou speak Greek ?" Ah ! un- 
 fortunate Greece ! wretched indeed is thy condition, if thy only 
 hope of relief depended upon those who can best speak thy lan- 
 guage ! Who are they ? In the first rank are thy cruel and bar- 
 barous task-masters, the Turks, who, after having stripped thee 
 of thy property, and subjected thee to the discipline of the basti- 
 nado, can salute thee in thy own native accents with the appel- 
 lation of" Christian dug! " Next are thy good neighbours, and 
 worthy defenders of thy faith, the Russians, who, after repeatedly 
 instigating thy sons to take arms for the recovery of their liber- 
 ties, have as often disowned all knowledge of the attempt, and 
 denounced it as damnable rebellion. And lastly, and to bring up 
 the rear, are the literati of — Britain shall I say? who, although 
 their fame is but the shadow of tliy name, have not (with a very 
 few exceptions) been known to liave one sympathetic and kin- 
 dred throb in thy cause, during the critical struggle in which 
 thou hast been engaged ! — Sir, it is one thing to be a Greek in 
 the letter, and another thing to be a Greek in the spirit. — And as 
 there are males who are instructed in the letter, and in all the ele- 
 ments of ancient Greek literature, who are nevertheless strangers 
 to the true spirit which it breathes, so there may be females who 
 are animated by the spirit, although they are incapable of reading 
 its admired writings in the original, and may not know a single 
 character of its alphabet. Let me. Sir, impart a secret to the la- 
 dies presents However enthusiastically we men, who take to 
 ourselves the name of karned,m<iy speak of the ravishment which 
 we receive from reading the original languages, and though we 
 may sometimes condescend to give you some idea of this, by re- 
 peating the very sounds of that deep-mouthed thunder which 
 anciently fulmined over Greece, yet the sober truth is. Ladies, 
 that by far the greater part of us never understand the Iliad and 
 the Odyssey better, nor relish their beauties more, than when we 
 liear them read by you from the pages of Pope or of Cowper. I 
 do not wish to disparage (and I do not think 1 shall be suspected 
 of disparaging) the study of the classics: it is useful for man}' 
 purposes, besides thatof unlocking the treasures of ancient know- 
 ledge. In particular, I rejoice to think that more attention has 
 of late been paid to the Greek language in Scotland; but I would 
 not purchase the reputation of being the first scholar in Europe, 
 at the expense of fostering the false idea, that those who are ig- 
 norant of that language, are thereby necessarily excluded from 
 perceiving and feeling the beauties of its writers, whether in 
 prose or in poetry. But the objects which you propose by your 
 Society are " impracticable and romantic." That any person 
 who listened to the statement from tlie Chair will pronounce 
 them impracticable, I can scarcely believe. With respect to the 
 charge of their being romantic, the Greeks are a romantic people, 
 and the struggle which they have lately maintained is more than 
 romantic. Why, Sir, wc live in an age of romances. We have 
 
394 APPENDIX. 
 
 often heard of the romantic situation of our city; and if it should 
 have inspired our ladies with romantic ideas, the gentlemen who 
 have talked so much on this topic may surely excuse them. Wt> 
 have got our streets and halls illuminated with romantic (or what 
 would some time ago have been termed necromantic) lamps. We 
 are wafted over the waters in romantic boats williout either sail 
 or oars; and we have the prospect of being conveyed over land 
 in romantic carriages, without either driver or drawer. — But, 
 seriously, can any person urge this objection, who knows what 
 is doing, and has been done, in the cause of education ^ There 
 are schools planned by British benevolence, and supported by 
 British funds, which are at present established in the most dis- 
 tant and inhospitable parts of the globe — in the islands of the 
 South Sea, in Australia, in Hindostan, on the glaciers of Iceland, 
 on the ridges of the Caucasus, and in the wilds of Caffraria — "in 
 the lions' dens, and on the mountains of leopards !" And after 
 this, shall it be scouted as a visionary and romantic undertaking, 
 to establish similar institutions in the fair and inviting bosom of 
 the Archipelago, which is comparatively at our door? Before I 
 sit down, will the meeting permit me to say a single word on the 
 present aspect of the general cause of Greece? (^^pplause.) I 
 regard the Society, which we are met to form, as a scion sprung 
 from the interest which the public has taken in that cause, and 
 which is now to be grafted on the native stock of British female 
 benevolence. That interest is no burst of transient enthusiasm. 
 — It is deeply seated in the public mind. It is to this feeling, 
 more than to the balancing of political interests, or to the jealousy 
 with which nations may view the attempts of a rival already 
 become too powerful, that I trust for the averting of the danger 
 (dreaded by per.sons more politically wise than I pfetend to be) 
 to the nascent liberties of Modern Greece, from tiie ambitious 
 projects of a certain northern Power. True it is. Sir, that that 
 Power dismembered the ancient kingdom of Poland, and, retain- 
 ing the body to itself, threw the mangled limbs to the Prussian 
 eagle and the Austrian vulture. It delivered Norway into the 
 hands of a republican renegade, and more lately it stood grinning 
 delight over the murdered liberties of Naples and of Spain. These 
 things it did, and the friends of freedom were silent. But let it 
 venture to plant its foul paw on the sacred breast of Greece, and 
 Liberty, who watches over that country for which she has now 
 suffered the pangs of travail a second time, will utter a shriek 
 more piercing than that which she gave when Kosciusko fell, 
 which, reverberated from the breasts of every free man, and of 
 every free woman, will astound the monster's ear, and drive him 
 appalled into his native fens. — Despair not of the cause of Greece. 
 Despondency as to the issue of the present struggle would para- 
 lyze every e.xertion for promoting her internal improvement. To 
 what purpose, it would be said, establish schools which must be 
 Bwept away on the successful return of the barbarous invader, or 
 which would be an object of deadly jealousy to a despotical 
 usurper, whose dread of knowledge is in proportion to his hatred 
 of liberty .' But I have no fear on this head. I would not have 
 any friend of this sacred cause to cherish the least doubt on that 
 subject, or to talk of it in a doubtful strain. Let our language 
 
PETITION AGAINST ROMAN CATHOLIC CLAIMS. 395 
 
 be, "Greece must he free !" And, Sir, she is free. — The contest 
 isalready decided — the battle is o'er — the confused noise of the 
 ■warrior is hushed — the daughters of Greece are gone forth to 
 wash the blood-stained garments of their sons and brothers in the 
 vale of Tempe and at the springs of Helicon. And they will 
 welcome their sisters of Britain, who come to testify their sym- 
 pathy with them, and to assist them in repairing the old wastes 
 — the desolation of many generations. 
 
 No. VI. 
 
 PETITION AGAINST THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CLAIMS. 
 
 [Page 273.] 
 
 To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled, the hum- 
 ble Petition of the undersigned Inhabitants of Edinburgh; 
 
 Showeth, — That your Petitioners have recently seen, with 
 surprise and deep concern, that a Bill is to be brought into Par- 
 liament, by his Majesty's Ministers, to repeal the Laws by which 
 Roman Catholics are excluded from the Legislature, and from 
 places of power in the E.xecutive Government of these Realms. 
 
 That though the claims of tiie Roman Catholics have, for a, 
 considerable time past, been repeatedly brought forward, and 
 made the subject of discussion in Parliament, your Petitioners, 
 relying on the wise and enlightened resistance which has all 
 along been made to them in both Houses, have hitherto remained 
 silent; but now, when measures, having it for their object to 
 concede these claims, are about to be proposed by persons who 
 were, till lately, among their most strenuous opponents, and when 
 there is reason to apprehend that they are to receive the united 
 support of his Majesty's Ministers, your Petitioners feel them- 
 selves imperiously called upon to express their sentiments, lest 
 their silence should be construed into acquiescence in a project 
 replete with danger to the best interests of the country, civil and 
 religious — to its Protestant institutions, and tiie Constitutional 
 principles of its Monarchy. 
 
 That your Petitioners are warmly attached to freedom of con- 
 science, and have no desire to monopolize it. They feel not the 
 sligiitest wish to deprive Roman Catholics of the full libertj' which 
 they already enjoy of practising the rites of their worship, and 
 conducting their private affairs, without molestation or disturb- 
 ance ; but while these are the opinions and feelings of your 
 Petitioners, they are at the same time decidedly of opinion, that 
 the genius and complex system of Popery, and the dominant and 
 encroaching spirit of the Church of Rome, not only are contrary 
 to the Word of God, and fraught with superstition and idolatry, 
 but are such, in themselves, and in the unequivocal manifesta- 
 tions which have been so often given of tiicir tendencicsj as to 
 
396 APPENDIX. 
 
 render it unsafe to intrust the adherents of that superstition with 
 political power in this country; and, in particular, that their di- 
 vided allegiance — their subjection to a foreign dominion, which 
 has arrogated, exercised, and never renounced a universal au- 
 thority, affecting, indirectly at least, the temporal and civil inte- 
 rests of men — their implicit devotion to a Ciiurch claiming infal- 
 libility and exclusive salvation — and the notorious subserviency 
 which they are under to their spiritual guides, utterly incapacitate 
 them for giving those securities which are requisite to a partici- 
 pation of Legislative and Executive power in a Protestant coun- 
 try, and under a Government like that of Britain. 
 
 That your Petitioners beg, humbly but earnestly, to remind 
 your Honourable House of the sacrifices which it cost this 
 country, before her Protestant Constitution could be established 
 on a sure basis — of the struggles which their ancestors had to 
 maintain against the pretensions and attempts, open and con- 
 cealed, of tlie votaries of the church of Rome — and of the neces- 
 sity under which they found themselves, of excluding Roman 
 Catholics, first from the Houses of Parliament, and afterwards 
 from the Throne. 
 
 That your Petitioners regard the proposed measure as incon- 
 sistent with the principles of the Revolution, in virtue of which 
 the family of Brunswick was called to the Throne, and with the 
 relations and corresponding engagements established between 
 Sovereign and Subjects at that period; and your Petitioners are 
 convinced that the contemplated change tends to the subversion 
 of that settlement, inasmuch as tlie principles assumed, and the 
 reasons urged, in vindication of the proposed repeal of the laws 
 excluding Roman Catholics from Parliament, may be advanced 
 and urged with equal or greater force in behalf of a measure for 
 repealing the laws which prevent their succession to the Crown 
 — and inasmuch as it Vv^ill affect a most important alteration on 
 the state of the Monarchy, and place the reigning Sovereign in 
 a situation at once painful and perilous, by admitting to the other 
 two branches of the Legislature, and to the Cabinet, persons 
 whose principles are hostile to that Religion which he is bound 
 to profess, and dangerous to those Establishments which he has 
 sworn to support. 
 
 That your Petitioners cannot help being of opinion, that the 
 honour, as well as the permanent peace of the country, has been 
 compromised by the announcement of the proposed measure, on 
 tlie part of his Majesty's Ministers, at a time when a Roman 
 Catholic Association had placed itself in an attitude of intimi- 
 dation — a blot which we are afraid has not been wiped off by the 
 passing of a law for putting down that Association, after it had 
 dissolved itself, under the idea that it had achieved the object of 
 its formation. 
 
 That while your Petitioners are not indifferent to the agitation 
 into which Ireland has lately been thrown, and the difficulties 
 which the Government may experience in devising an effectual 
 method of allaying the ferment, they must, at the same time, be 
 of opinion, that both the danger and the difficulties have been 
 exaggerated, and that, so far as they do exist, they exhibit, in a 
 palpable manner, the evils to be dreaded from the measure in 
 
PETITION AGAINST ROMAN CATHOLIC CLAIMS, 397 
 
 contemplation; but at all events, your Petitioners cannot admit 
 that considerations of expediency, and motives addressed to their 
 fears, or even their love of peace, should outweigh or balance the 
 sacred, indispensable, and paramount demands of public duty and 
 permanent interests — of the duty which the Legislature owes to 
 the People and to their own oaths, and the duty which the People 
 owe to their God, to their earthly Sovereign, and to their posterity, 
 whose temporal and eternal welfare are involved in preserving 
 inviolate those securities which, by the kindness of Providence, 
 they possess for professing a pure religion, and transmitting it, 
 along with the blessings of a free Constitution, to posterity; and 
 if any of the inhabitants of Ireland, shall be so infatuated, and so 
 forgetful of the benefits they enjoy under a mild and tolerant 
 Constitution, or if they shall suffer themselves to be so far misled, 
 ns to break out into acts of insubordination and rebellion, your 
 Petitioners are confident that there is sufficient principle and 
 courage in the nation to support the Government in repressing 
 disorder and preserving tranquillity. 
 
 That your Petitioners farther rest their prayer on the solemn 
 compact entered into and ratified by the Treaty of Union between 
 Scotland and England, then independent kingdoms; and, as 
 Scotsmen, they protest against the proposed repeal, as involving 
 an infraction of the Act of the Scottish Parliament, regulating 
 the Election of Peers and Commoners, which was declared by 
 one of the Articles of Union, to be " as valid as if it were a part 
 of, and engrossed in, the Treaty;" and also the Act of tiie same 
 Parliament, for securing the Protestant Religion as then professed 
 in Scotland, — which Act, with the establishment therein con- 
 tained, was solemnly guarantied to be " observed in all time 
 coming, as a fundamental and essential condition of the said 
 Treaty of Union, without any alteration thereof, or derogation 
 thereto, in any sort, for ever." Your Petitioners are most 
 anxious to call the attention of Parliament to the terms of this 
 Act, because, if it can ever enter into the contemplation of the 
 Legislature to abrogate or annul, in any of its heads or clauses, a 
 Statute which the Parliaments, both of England and of Scotland, 
 declared to be unalterable, your Petitioners cannot conceive how 
 the Nation can repose confidence in any securities which Acts 
 of Parliament can provide for the permanence of the Protestant 
 Constitution. The Act now referred to " doth establish and 
 confirm the said true Protestant Religion, and the Worship, 
 Discipline, and Government of this Church, to continue v/ithout 
 any alteration to the people of this land, in all succeeding gene- 
 rations, in prosecution of the Declaration of the Estates of this 
 Kingdom, containing the Claim of Right." The same "Act for 
 securing the Protestant Religion" provides, that all successors 
 to the throne of Great Britain, shall, in all time coming, " Swear 
 and subscribe, that they shall inviolably maintain and preserve 
 the foresaid settlement of the true Protestant Religion, as above 
 established by the laws of this Kingdom, in prosecution of the 
 Claim of Right; and your Petitioners entreat your Honourable 
 House to remember, that the first Article in the Declaration or 
 ('laim of Right, thus repeatedly recognised and rc-enfbrced in the 
 Treaty of Union, as well as in the oath of cverv sovereign of 
 34 
 
398 APPENDIX. 
 
 Britain, at his or her accession to the throne, is expressed in these 
 words; — " That, by the Law of this Kingdom, no Papist can be 
 King or Queen of this Realm, nor bear any office whatsoever 
 therein." 
 
 Your Petitioners, therefore, earnestly entreat your Honourable 
 House not to consent to any measure which has for its object 
 to admit Roman Catholics to Seats in Parliament, or to any 
 offices beyond those which they at present hold; and your 
 Petitioners shall ever pray, &c. 
 
 No. VIL 
 CHARACTER OF THE LATE DR. THOMSON. 
 
 DuniNG the excitement caused by the sudden death of a public 
 man, cut down in the prime of life, and in the middle of a career 
 of extensive usefulness, it is easy to pronounce a panegyric, but 
 difficult to delineate a character which shall be free from the 
 exaggeration of existing feeling, and recommend itself to the 
 unbiassed judgment of cool reflection. Rarely has such a deep 
 sensation been produced as by the recent removal of Dr. Thom- 
 son; but in a few instances, we are persuaded, has there been 
 less reason, on the ground of temporary excitation, for making 
 abatements from the regret and lamentation so loudly and un- 
 equivocally expressed. He was so well known, bis character 
 and talents were so strongly marked, and so much of that de- 
 scription which all classes of men can appreciate, that the circum- 
 stances of his death did not create the interest, but only gave 
 expression to that which already existed in the public mind. 
 
 Those who saw Dr. Thomson once, knew him; intimacy gave 
 them a deeper insight into his character, but furnished no grounds 
 for altering the opinion wliich they had at first been led to form. 
 Simplicity, which is an essential element in all minds of superior 
 mould, marked his appearance, his reasoning, his eloquence, and 
 his whole conduct. All that he said or did was direct, straight- 
 forward, and unaffected; there was no labonring for effect, no 
 paltering in a double sense. His talents were such as would 
 have raised liim to eminence in any profession or public walk of 
 life wiiicli he might have chosen — a vigorous understanding, an 
 active and ardent mind, with powers of close and persevering 
 application He made himself master, in a short time, of any 
 subject to which lie found it necessary to direct his attention — 
 had ail his knowledge at the most perfect command — expressed 
 himself with the utmost perspicuity, ease, and energy — and, 
 when roused by tlie greatness of his subject, or by the nature of 
 the opposition which he encountered, his bold and masterly 
 eloquence produced an effect, especially in a popular assembly, 
 far beyond that which depends on the sallies of imagination, or 
 the dazzling brilliancy of fancy-work. Nor was he less dis- 
 tinguished for his moral qualities, among which shone conspicu- 
 ously an honest, firm, unflinching, fearless independence of 
 mind, whicli prompted him uniforndy to adopt ancl pursue that 
 
CHARACTER OP DR. ANDREW THOMSON. 399 
 
 course which his conscience told Iiim was right, indift'erent to 
 personal consequences, and regardless of the frowns and threats 
 of the powerful. 
 
 Besides the instructions of his worthy father, it was Dr. 
 Thomson's felicity to enjoy the intimate friendship of the vene- 
 rable Sir Henry MoncreifF, who early discovered his rising talents, 
 and freely imparted to him the stores of his own vigorous and 
 matured mind, and of an experience which he had acquired 
 during the long period in which he was at the head of one of the 
 parties in the National Church. Though Dr. Thomson was 
 known as a popular and able preacher from the time he first 
 entered on the ministry, the powers of his mind were not fully 
 called forth and developed until his appointment to St. George's. 
 He entered to that charge with a deep sense of the importance 
 of the station, as one of the largest and genteelest parishes of the 
 metropolis, and not without the knowledge that there was, in 
 the minds of a part of those among whom he was called to 
 labour, a prepossession against the peculiar doctrines which had 
 always held a prominent place in his public ministrations. But 
 he had not long occupied that pulpit, when, in spite of the delicate 
 situation in which he was placed by more than one public event, 
 which forced him to give a practical testimony in favour of the 
 purity of the Presbyterian worship and the independence of the 
 Church of Scotland, displeasing to many in high places, he dis- 
 appointed those who had foreboded his ill success, and verified 
 the expectations of such of his friends as had the greatest confi- 
 dence in his talents. By the ability and eloquence of his dis- 
 courses, by the assiduity and prudence of his more private 
 ministrations, and by the affectionate solicitude which he evinced 
 for the spiritual interests of those committed to his care, he not 
 only dissipated every unfavourable impression, but seated him- 
 self so firmly in the hearts of his people, that, long before his 
 lamented death, no clergyman in this city, established or dis- 
 senting, was more cordially revered and beloved by his congre- 
 gation. Nothing endeared him to them so much and so de- 
 servedly as the attention he paid to the young and the sick; and 
 of the happy art which he possessed of communicating instruction 
 to the former, and administering advice and consolation to the 
 latter, there are many pleasing, and, it is to be hoped, lasting 
 memorials. 
 
 Dr. Thomson was decidedly evangelical in his doctrinal senti- 
 ments, which he did not disguise or hold back in his public dis- 
 courses; but he was a practical preacher, and instead of indulging 
 in abstruse speculations or philosophical disquisitions, made it 
 his grand aim to impress the truths of the Gospel on the hearts 
 of his hearers. Attached to the Church of Scotland from prin- 
 ciple, not from convenience or accident, he made no pretensions 
 to that indiscriminating and spurious liberty which puts all 
 forms of ecclesiastical polity and communion on a level; but in 
 his sentiments and feelings he was liberal in the truest sense of 
 that word — could distinguish between a spirit of sectarianism and 
 conscientious secession — never assumed the airs of a Churchman 
 in his intercourse with Dissenters — co-operated with them in 
 every good work,-ind cherished a respect for all faithful ministers, 
 
400 APPENDIX, 
 
 which was founded not only on the principles of toleration and 
 good-will, but on the conviction that their labours were useful 
 in supplying the lack of service on the part of his own Church, 
 and in counteracting those abuses in her administration, which 
 he never scrupled, on any proper occasion, to confess and deplore. 
 
 It is well known that Dr. Thomson belonged to that party in 
 the Church of Scotland which has defended the rights of the 
 people in opposition to the rigorous enforcement of the law of 
 patronage; and in advocating this cause in the Church Courts, 
 he has for many years displayed his unrivalled talents as a 
 public speaker, sustained by an intrepidity which was unawed 
 by power, and a fortitude which was proof against overwhelming 
 majorities. Of late years he has devoted a great portion of his 
 labours to the defence of the pure circulation of the Scriptures, 
 and to the emancipation of the degraded negroes in the West 
 Indies; and in both causes he has displayed his characteristic 
 ability, zeal for truth, and uncompromising and indignant repro- 
 bation of every species of dishonesty, injustice, and oppression. 
 His exertions in behalf of the doctrines and standards of the 
 Church, against some recent heresies and delusions, afford an 
 additional proof, not only of his unwearied zeal in behalf of that 
 sacred cause to which he devoted all his energies, but of his 
 readiness, at all times, to " contend earnestly for the faith which 
 was once delivered to the saints." 
 
 Great as Dr. Thomson's popularity was (and few men in hia 
 sphere of life ever rose so high in popular favour,) he did not 
 incur the wo denounced against those " of whom all men speak 
 well." He had his detractors and enemies, who wailed for his 
 halting, and were prepared to magnify and blazon his faults. Of 
 him it may be said, as of another Christian patriot, no man ever 
 loved or hated him moderately. This was the inevitable con- 
 sequence of his great talents, and the rough contests in vrhich 
 he was involved. His generous spirit raised him above envy 
 and every jealous feeling, but it made him less tolerant of those 
 who displayed these mean vices. When convinced of the just- 
 ness of a cause, and satisfied of its magnitude, he threw his 
 whole soul into it, summoned all his powers to its defence, and 
 assailed its adversaries, not only with strong arguments, but 
 with sharp, pointed, and sometimes poignant sarcasm; but unless 
 he perceived insincerity or perverseness, his own feelings were 
 too acute and just to permit him gratuitously to wound those of 
 others. That his zeal was always reined by prudence — that his 
 ardour of mind never hurried him to precipitate conclusions, or 
 led him to magnify the subject in debate — that his mind was 
 never warped by party feeling — and that he never indulged the 
 love of victory, or sought to humble a teazing or pragmatic 
 enemy — are positions which his true friends will not maintain. 
 But his ablest opponents will admit, that in all the great questions 
 in which he distinguished himself, he acted conscientiously — 
 that he was an open, manly, and honourable adversary — and 
 that, though he was sometimes unseasonably vehement, he was 
 never disingenuous. Dr. Thomson was constitutionally a re- 
 former; he felt a strong sympathy with those great men who, in 
 a former age, won renown, by assailing the hydra of error, and 
 
CIlAnACTER OF DR. ANDREW THOMSON. 401 
 
 cf civil and religious tyranny; and his character partook of theirs, 
 In particular, he bore no inconsiderable resemblance to Luther, 
 both in excellencies and defects; his leonine nobleness and 
 potency, his masculine eloquence, his facetiousness and plea- 
 santry, the fondness which he showed for the fascinating charms 
 of music, and the irritability and vehemence which he occasion- 
 ally displayed, to which some will add, the necessity which this 
 imposed on him to make retractations, which, while they threw 
 a partial shade over his fame, taught his admirers the needful 
 lesson, that he was a man subject to like passions and infirmities 
 with others. But the fact is, though hitherto known to few, and 
 the time is now come for revealing it, that some of those effusions 
 which were most objectionable, and exposed him to the greatest 
 obloquy, were neither composed by Dr. Thomson, nor seen by 
 him until they were published to the world; and that in one 
 instance, which has been the cause of the most unsparing abuse, 
 he paid the expenses of a prosecution, and submitted to make a 
 public apology, for an offence of which he was innocent as the 
 child unborn, rather than give up the name of the friend who 
 was morally responsible for the deed, — an example of generous 
 self-devotion vphich has few parallels. 
 
 To his other talents, Dr. Thomson added a singular capacity 
 for business, which not only qualified him for taking an active 
 part in Church Courts, but rendered him highly useful to those 
 public charities of which the clergy of Edinburgh are officially 
 managers, and to the different voluntary societies with which he 
 was connected. This caused unceasing demands on his time 
 and exertions, which, joined to his other labours, were sufficient 
 to wear out the most robust constitution; and he at last sunk 
 under their weight. 
 
 In private life. Dr. Thomson was every thing that is amiable 
 and engaging. He was mild, and gentle, and cheerful — deeply 
 tender and acutely sensitive in his strongest affections — most 
 faithful and true in hia attachment of friendship — kind-hearted 
 and indulgent to all with whom he had intercourse. His firmness 
 to principle, when he thought principle involved, whatsoever of 
 the appearance of severity it may have presented to those who 
 saw him only as a public character, had no taint of harshness in 
 his private life; and, unbending as he certainly was in principle, 
 he never failed to receive with kindness what v/as addressed to 
 iiis reason in the spirit of friendship. It may, indeed, be said 
 with truth, that great as were his public merits, and deplorable 
 the public loss in his death, to those who had the happiness to 
 live with him in habits of intimacy, the deepest and the bitterest 
 feeling still is, the separation from a man who possessed so many 
 of the finest and most amiable sensibilities of the human heart. 
 In him the lion and the lamb may be said to have met together. 
 But it was around his own family hearth, and in the circle of 
 his intimate acquaintances, that Dr. Thomson was delightful. 
 It was equally natural in him to play with a child, and to enter 
 the lists with a practised polemic. He could be gay without 
 levity, and grav« without morosencss. His frank and bland man- 
 ners, the equable flow of his cheerfulness and good humour, and 
 the information which he possessed .on almost every subject, 
 
 34*^ 
 
402 APPENDIX. 
 
 made his company to be courted by persons of all classes. He 
 could mix with men of the world without comprornising his 
 principles, or lowering his character as a minister of the Gospel; 
 and his presence was enough to repress any thing which had the 
 semblance of irreligion. 
 
 The loss of sucli a man, and at such a time, is incalculable. 
 His example and spirit had a wholesome and refreshing, an ex- 
 hilarating and elevating, influence on the society in which he 
 moved; and even the agitation which he produced, when he was 
 in his stormy moods, was salutary, like the hurricane (his own 
 favourite image, and the last which he employed in public,) 
 purifying the moral atmosphere, and freeing it from the selfish- 
 ness, and duplicity, and time-serving, with which it was over- 
 charged. 
 
 Dr. Thomson was born in June 1778, and was ordained in the 
 year 1802. He has left a widow and seven children, five of whom 
 are daughters. 
 
 No. VIII. 
 
 SPEECH AT THE MEETING ON EDUCATION IN 
 IRELAND,— May 11, 1832. 
 
 Friends and Fellow-Citizens, — I have to move a series of 
 Resolutions, on which a Petition, afterwards to be read to you, 
 is founded; and, before I say any thing farther, I wish to put you 
 in possession of these Kesolutions, by now reading them. (Here 
 the Rev. gentleman read the Resolutions, and then proceeded.) 
 After the spirit-stirring address whicli you have heard from our 
 chairman,* it would be improper in me to begin by protesting 
 my unwillingness to come forward on the present occasion. My 
 protestation is different. I feel myself just in the situation that 
 I ought to occupy. I feel tliat I breathe a congenial atmosphere 
 — am surrounded by persons of whose company, I trust, I shall 
 never be ashamed — and am to attempt the performance of a duty 
 which, how arduous soever, is in unison with my convictions 
 and my feelings. I am not moved at the unpopularity of the 
 measure I advocate. The truth is, that I have been accustomed 
 all my life to be in a minority, or to belong to the opposition. 
 Ciiurchmen have looked askance upon me, because 1 was not a 
 member of tlie Establisimient, and dissenters have frowned on 
 me because I was friendly to the Civil Establishment of religion. 
 In political sentiment I have always been a Whig; and you all 
 know that they were long in a minority, — a small, a discouraged, 
 and discountenanced, almost a despairing minority. At their 
 lowest ebb, I was with them; not that I ever interfered with their 
 party politics, fori never attended a political meeting in my life, 
 but my sentiments were known to have been formed in that 
 school. The Whigs have now grown into strength, and been 
 
 * George Ross, Esq. 
 
SPEECH ON IRISH EDUCATION. 403 
 
 raised to power, and still I am in the minority. I cannot say as 
 the poet did of himself, — 
 
 " Papist, or Protestant, or belli between, 
 Like good Erasmus in an lionest mean; 
 In moderation placing ail my glory. 
 While Tories call me Wliig, and Wliigs a Tory." 
 
 Nor, on the other hand, can I charge myself with an over-fond- 
 ness for singularity; but whether it is that my old friends have 
 deserted me, or that I, in growing old, have lagged behind them, 
 the fact is that I am still in the opposition. 1 merely allude to 
 the fact as accounting for my comparative indifference to the 
 unpopularity of our proceedings, and to the pompous array of 
 names so ostentatiously displayed against us. Truth, my 
 friends, does not depend on numbers. So long as she is sur- 
 rounded by two or three, her banner shall be upheld and unfurled. 
 Her votes are not numbered, but weighed. Her voice is seldom 
 heard in the crowd, or amid the shouts of applause, raised by lip- 
 staff prompters, and caught and re-echoed by the believing mul- 
 titude, within or without hearing. Truth is not like the aristo- 
 cratic coxcomb of the barn-yard, rearing her gaudy crest, spread- 
 ing her gorgeous wings, and displaying her thousand moons 
 with her satellites, as if she could, by her tail, draw after her 
 a third part of the stars; but, like heaven's bird, she makes her 
 noiseless way through her native element, to bathe her eyes in 
 the solar beam, heedless alike of the gaze she attracts, and of the 
 hissing and cackling of those who, far below, hail her departure. 
 We live in times that try men's souls. The question now is, 
 Principle or expediency? — the pleasing of God or the pleasing of 
 men? and the demands of the latter are no less high and un- 
 bounded than those of the former. Their cry is, every thing or 
 nothing. It matters not that you go with us 999 paces, provided 
 you take not the 1000th. It is true you have supported us in 
 all our measures; but if you dissent from us in this one, we will 
 hold you as our declared foe, put you under our ban, and, throw- 
 ing over you the wolf's skin, will hunt you down as an ultra- 
 Tory, a placeman, a pensioner, a bigot, and in. one word, a hy- 
 pocrite. These are generally ruses de guerre, but they are bad 
 as well as poor policy, because they are soon discovered, and 
 because they kindle the indignation of men of honest and inde- 
 pendent minds, who have an instinctive and irrepressible abhor- 
 rence of every thing that wears the semblance of intolerance, 
 especially when it proceeds from the party to which they are 
 otherwise attached. For my own part, had it not been for the 
 manifestation of a spirit of this kind, I should not have been now 
 addressing you. Having heard of the proposal to call this 
 meeting, I made it my business to inquire into its objects, and 
 was satisfied that the gentlemen with whom it originated were 
 single-hearted in their aim, and had nothing else in view than 
 what they professed. This I endeavoured to impress on the 
 minds of such of their opponents as I had the opportunity of 
 conversing with, but with little success. No sooner was the 
 intention of meeting announced, than a cry was raised, the Tories 
 are up, the bigots are moving, they are creeping out of their 
 holes, they are going to meet in public; they will turn out the 
 
404 APPENDIX, 
 
 ministry, and take out of the hands of the Peers the work of 
 strangling the Reform Bill. fAfler adverting to the attempts 
 which had been made to discredit the present meeting, and thi; 
 proposals made for interrupting it, the Rev. Doctor continued.) 
 Those who are opposed to us in opinion have called a meeting 
 of their own, and they have as good a right to meet and express 
 their sentiments as we have, but, I beg to add, no better. What 
 was the reason for all these threats.' Will you believe it, — we 
 had called our meeting a public meeting. The fabulist tells us 
 that a mountain laboured, and out came a ridiculous mouse; but 
 then it was a public mouse, — it was no hole and corner mouse. 
 If it had been so, the gentlemen would have stood aloof and 
 laughed at it; and their friends of the press would have furnished 
 their readers with a lithographed caricature of the poor animal 
 gorged and distended by feeding on pensions and reversionary 
 places. But it was a public mouse; and, therefore, it behooved to 
 be hunted down; and lor this purpose we must have a tournament 
 and a tilting in an amphitheatre, where would be assembled a 
 galaxy of all the rank and talent in our modern Athens, to which 
 all the aspirants for honour, not excluding the literary knight- 
 errant of the west, and the millenarian Dissenter as his second, 
 might be invited. With due deference to the gentlemen of the 
 long robe, who may have been consulted upon the legal import 
 of a "public meeting," 1 beg leave to state, that the people of 
 this free country have the liberty to meet for any lawful specific 
 purpose; and, (that notiiing may be done in secret,) though they 
 throw open tiieir doors, that gives others no right to intrude and 
 interrupt the business of those met in a house, the use of which 
 they have purchased with their money, or obtained as a favour. 
 It may be thought that 1 have dwelt too long on this point; but 
 it never can be a trivial matter to resist encroachments upon the 
 right of expressing public opinion, especially when made by a 
 popular party in power. I have another reason for dwelling on 
 this topic so particularly. The charge which 1 have been re- 
 pelling has been introduced into the requisition for the meeting 
 to be held on Monday, in favour of the Ministerial plan. It is 
 there said that we '^ intend to convey to the legislature a fictitious 
 expression of public opinion in Edinburgh." In the Jirst place, 
 How did they come to know our intentions.'' Secondly, As to 
 the legislature, it can only reach them as the petition of the 
 individuals whose names are subscribed. And as to people of 
 this city, are we not charged in the same advertisement with 
 inviting those only who are friendly to a specific purpose? We 
 all feel deeply interested in the fate of Ireland, not so much on 
 the ground on which popular declaimers wax so eloquent, — that 
 many of her sons filled the ranks of our army, and were led on 
 to victory and death by the great Wellington, — but because they 
 are our fellow-countrymen and fellovv-subjects. Between their 
 own clergy and the government they have been grievously ill 
 used and kept in ignorance. We should do every thing in our 
 power to extricate them from the situation in whicii they are, 
 though it were to the plucking out of a right eye. We should 
 do all for them tliat charity demands, all that a regard for the 
 sacred interests of truth permits. There are souje things we 
 
CHARACTER OP DR. ANDREW THOMSON. 405 
 
 cannot do for them. (^After adverting to what had been done 
 for promoting instruction in Ireland by different Societies, the 
 Rev. Dr. said":) The Kildare Place Society 1 had always heard 
 praised, until of late, that it has been carrying on a low huckster 
 trade in printino- books. Such an assertion might pass on the 
 hustings of the western metropolis ; it will not do in the modern 
 Athens. It will not be repeated on Monday. My friend Professor 
 Pillans will bear testimony to the excellence of the Kildare books. 
 (Here the Doctor read an extract from a work of the Professor's.) 
 1 give his Majesty's Ministers every credit for their desire to pro- 
 mote education in Ireland; and while I blame their plan, I must 
 state that the objectionable part of it did not originate with them, 
 but was virtually entailed on them by their predecessors in office. 
 My great objection to it is, tiiat it proceeds upon, and recognises 
 the Popish principle, that the Bible is an unsafe book, and not to 
 be trusted in the hands of the laity, young or old; and, accord- 
 ingly, a book of selections from it, containing such passages as 
 may be read without danger, is to be substituted in its room as a 
 school-book. In an advertisement of another meeting on this 
 important subject, it is said " One of the school-books declared to 
 be indispensable, is a selection from the Holy Scriptures, com- 
 prising such passages as are best adapted for the comprehension 
 of children." Strange that such an assertion should have been 
 hazarded after the candid, open, and manly statement of the 
 Secretary for Ireland ! After adverting to the rule of the Kildare 
 Place Society, requiring the reading the Holy Scriptures without 
 note or comment, Mr. Stanly goes on to say, " But it seems to 
 have been overlooked, that the principles of the Koman Catholic 
 Church (to which in any system intended for general diffusion 
 throughout Ireland, the bulk of the pupils must necessarily be- 
 long) were totally at variance with this principle, and that the 
 indiscriminate reading of the Holy Scriptures without note or 
 comment, by children, must be peculiarly obnoxious to a Church 
 which denies even to adults the right of unaided private interpre- 
 tation of the sacred volume, with respect to articles of religious 
 belief." To correct this vital defect, as Mr. Stanly calls it, was 
 the object of the new model, and of the book of selections in 
 particular. The right — the absolute, the indefeasible, the un- 
 alienable, the divine right — of all to read the Holy Scriptures, is 
 the grand principle of the Reformation; it stands at tJie head of 
 that protest which was solemnly taken in the sixteenth century, 
 which has been subscribed by all reformers, and to which the 
 Government of this country long ago affixed its Great Seal. It 
 is not to be trifled with. In comparison with it, all the other 
 points of contention between us and the Church of Rome are 
 secondary and subordinate; if the foundations be undermined or 
 unsettled, the whole superstructure of our faith falls to the ground. 
 What must be the character of these selections, we are left at no 
 loss to determine from the declared ground on which tiicy are 
 formed. They must exclude articles of religious belief And 
 what, I pray, is the Bible without articles of religious belief.? It 
 is no Bible. I do not object to selections from the Scripture when 
 made with proper views, and on a sound principle. But I say 
 that selections made by a Board of the description stated in the 
 
406 APPENDIX. 
 
 letter of the Honourable Secretary for Ireland, and upon the prin- 
 ciple of its constitution, must give an unfaithful representation, 
 and convey a false idea <if the design, and scope, and essential 
 character of the Word of the living God. Tliink of the effect 
 this must produce on the Roman Catholic priests — on the Roman 
 Catholic youtli — on the mind of the Protestant youth trained up 
 under the proposed system. Think how it will check the desire 
 so strongly expressed by many Roman Catholic parents, in spite of 
 their priests, to have instruction in school.s where the Bible is read ; 
 and the thousands of children now or lately employed in reading 
 it in the Kildare schools, and in many others, will, must, be with- 
 drawn from them, and sent to schools where it is removed from 
 the public table; and these schools established by Government, 
 and supported cliiefly by money drawn from Protestant purses. 
 I certainly can have no suspicion that His Majesty's Government 
 has any intention of depriving the people of this country of the 
 liberty of using the Scriptures ; but I must say, Obsta principiis. 
 Think of those master-spirits who, in an age of superstition, and 
 themselves but lately released from its fascinating and soul-sub- 
 duing spell, forced the temple of darkness, brought forth the 
 casket in which the sacred volume was incarcerated, and amidst 
 the execrations of interested priests, fearlessly opened it, while 
 the multitude retired and stood aghast, as if Pandora's Box was 
 to be opened a second time. And shall we do any thing which 
 has the appearance of laying under restraint Heaven's best gift, 
 which our fathers emancipated, or restampjng on it that badge of 
 slavery — the very vestige of which they were so careful to re- 
 move.'' (After answering some objections to Bible-reading in 
 schools, the Doctor proceeded.) It has been said that the reve- 
 rence for the Bible in Scotland has not been produced by its use 
 in the schools, but acquired under the parental roof; but I ask, in 
 reply. What planted that reverence under the parental roof.'' and 
 by what means has the sacred fire been kept alive and spread ? 
 It has been said that the Bible is desecrated by being used as a 
 school-book. So said the priests in the sixteenth century — that 
 it was desecrated by coming into the hands of the vulgar. 
 This is a desecration which the Bible glories in, — for out of the 
 mouths of babes and sucklings has its Author's praise been per- 
 fected, and to them have its truths been revealed, while they 
 were hid from the wise and prudent. I recur to the grand ob- 
 jection which 1 feel to the proposed plan of Government — that 
 it proceeds upon, and recognises as its basis, the Popish principle, 
 that the Bible is an unsafe book, and ought not to be put into 
 the hands either of youth or adults, unless they have a priest at 
 their elbow, to prevent them irom being led into dangerous error 
 by its ambiguity, or, in other words, to constitute him lord of 
 their faith. To recognise this principle, or to give place to it even 
 for an hour, is to renounce Protestantism; it is to yield up the 
 liberty of the human mind; it is to plant the principle of slavery 
 in tlie youthful breast; and any illumination that may be im- 
 parted by such a system of education would only serve to make 
 the pupil a fitter tool for enslaving the minds of others. It is 
 false, though a common opinion, that mere learning emancipates 
 the mind, Were Pascal and fenelgn illiterate men? Govern- 
 
SPEECH ON IRISH EDUCATIOX. 407 
 
 nient should not have listened to the proposal of the Roman 
 Catholic clergy. They should have told them — We are willing' 
 to do every thing to prevent the youth, belonging to your com- 
 munion, from having any religious exercises imposed on thejn, 
 which are repugnant to the sentiments of their natural guardians; 
 and we shall take care that they shall not, on this ground, be 
 excluded from the full benefit of secular instruction; but as rulers 
 of a Protestant country, as the friends of mental liberty, and as 
 living in the nineteenth century, we cannot consent to withdraw 
 the Scriptures from the National schools; and we could not hold 
 up our faces before our country in defence of such a plan. You 
 lie already under sufficient odium as enemies to free inquiry; 
 we beseech you, as you regard your own credit, and that of your 
 church, to say no more on that head. But why need we wonder 
 that his Majesty's ministers were misled in an unguarded and 
 inauspicious hour, when their friends, after having leisure for 
 reflection, should not only defend the principle, but hold it forth 
 as the quintessence of wisdom and liberality ? Hear what is said 
 of it in the advertisement of the meeting of our fellow-citizen for 
 Monday, — " A plan of education, pregnant with the greatest good 
 to Ireland, closely approximating to the practice of Scotland, 
 honourable to our patriotic ministry, and deeply founded on the 
 ])rinciple of liberty of conscience — the glory of Protestants." Save 
 nie from my friends, and I will defend myself from mine enemies *. 
 " Liberty of conscience !" Sacred name ! How often hast thou 
 been profaned ! Thou hast been paltered with, bandied about, 
 and tossed from one hand to another, until thou hast become any 
 thing or nothing — liberty of no-conscience or no liberty of con- 
 science! " Glory of Protestants !" to yield up the integrity of 
 the Word of God, and to join with Papists in framing an Index 
 Expurgatorius ! Is not this very like " glorying in our shame .'" 
 O my country, my country ! land of my fathers, whose soil, 
 mixed, with the ashes, and moistened witii the blood of martyrs, 
 has reared institutions, which, like trees of righteousness, have 
 siiielded thy naked mountains from their own northern blasts, 
 and produced all around an intellectual and a moral culture and 
 fertility, in comparison of which, the fields of Greece and of 
 Italy, in their highest and most boasted state of improvement, 
 were a waste and howling wilderness, — shall I be ashamed of 
 thee.' No! But of thy degenerate and ungrateful sons, I am 
 asliamed ! 
 
 [From the Report of the Speech in the Edinburgh Mvertiser. May 
 15, 1832.] 
 
40S APPENDIX. 
 
 No. IX. 
 
 SPEECH AT THE MEETING OF THE ANTI-PATKONAGE 
 SOCIETY,— January 30, 1833. 
 
 [Page 345.] 
 
 Sir, — I have come here as a volunteer, though not as a mem- 
 ber of tlie Voluntary Church Association — and I cannot introduce 
 myself better than seconding the motion which has just been 
 made. With your leave, therefore, I shall address myself to the 
 assembly. My friends — for on this occasion you will permit me 
 to waive the more courteous phrase of Ladies and Gentlemen — 
 I would with pleasure have moved thanks to your honourable 
 Chairman at any meeting which he should attend, from the per- 
 sonal regard I feel for him, and the esteem in which 1 hold his 
 public character and principles. But I am forcibly reminded by 
 the transactions of this day, of that which commenced our ac- 
 quaintance ; and when I mention it, you will not think that I am 
 entertaining you with private history, or forgetting the business 
 for which you are met. It was a letter which he addressed to 
 me several years ago, and in which, after adverting to the marked 
 improvement of the National Church in point of evangelical 
 doctrine, and to the harmony of views which existed between 
 myself and another person for whom our love has since, by 
 the sovereign disposal of Heaven, been converted into a holy 
 and solemn regret (Dr. Thomson,) he proposed the serious ques- 
 tion. Can nothing be done to bring into closer connexion the 
 friends of religion in the Establishment and in the Secession ? I 
 answered the letter respectfully, and I trust, without any of the 
 sour leaven of sectarian jealousy, but with the characteristic 
 caution of a Scotsman, — taking due care not to pledge myself 
 deeply, and, among other things, mentioning, that, in my opinion, 
 no improvements which had taken place, and no arrangements 
 which might be made, would heal the breach, so long as that 
 yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear, re- 
 mained on the neck of the Christian people of Scotland. Little 
 did I then think that I should this day be standing on these 
 boards, and moving thanks to my honourable friend for the 
 manly, decided, and truly Christian part which he has acted on 
 this important and soon-to-be absorbing question. His reply, 
 bearino- with the cold, if not repulsive air of my answer, led to 
 an acquaintance which I, at least, have no ground to regret. 
 There is no reason to*fear that I shall offend your chairman by 
 indulo"ing in panegyric, for there is one of his Christian virtues 
 which protects all tiie rest from any rude exposure — his Christian 
 modesty. I shall only therefore express my conviction, that, if 
 the Established Church of Scotland has, in these trying times, 
 one stanch friend, and one who is willing to make sacrifices for 
 her preservation and welfare, it is our honourable friend in the 
 chair. I am sorry that we are deprived of the presence of 
 
SPEECH ON CHUKCH PATRONAGE. 409 
 
 another honourable member elect of the Legislature, who was 
 expected to attend, and who has already evinced his devotion to 
 the cause which you are now met to promote. Had he been 
 present, I would have saluted tliem as -jjar noliilc fratrum, and, 
 with your concurrence, would have respectfully encouraged 
 them to go forward, arm in arm, under that panoply of heavenly 
 proof which is sufficient to cover them both, and all who may 
 join them, in fighting the good fight, and quitting themselves as 
 men for their people and iheir God. 
 
 And now. my friends, I have done what I proposed in rising. 
 Shall I proceed, or stop short.'' Shall I advert to the merits of 
 the question which has brought you together, or shall 1 sit down? 
 I was not a member of the Church Patronage Society, and I am 
 not yet a member of that which you this day instituted out of it. 
 Whether I shall formally join it or not, is a matter of very small 
 importance. But if I do nut, it will be owing merely to pruden- 
 tial reasons, arising from my not being a member of the Estab- 
 lishment; certainly not at all from any doubt that I entertain of 
 its lawfulness, or expediency, or urgency, or of the vast and 
 every-day increasing importance of the measure which it pro- 
 poses to effect. My decided opinion is, that a lay patron is as fo- 
 reign to the Church of Christ, as a lord bishop is — that he has as 
 little necessary connexion with an Established Church as a lord 
 bishop has ; and that the day is at hand when the idea of an Es- 
 tablished Church depending on the patronage of any lord or land- 
 ed proprietor whatever, will be scouted, and looked upon as 
 equally antiquated and obsolete, as the once favourite court max- 
 im, " So bishop, no King." My decided opinion is, and has long 
 been, that lay patronage is a usurpation upon the liberties of the 
 Church (the freest kingdom and commonwealth on earth) — that 
 it is a relic of feudal times — that, so far as it has a show of foun- 
 dation, it rests on the illegible shred of a vitiated contract, by 
 which priests bartered away the rights of the people to serve 
 their own secular purposes, — that, in the language of our Second 
 Book of Discipline, "the names of patronages and benefices, to- 
 gether with the effect thereof, have flowed from the Pope and 
 corruption of the canon law only,'' — that it is a badge of slave- 
 ry, — that it degrades tlie people into serfs, so far as regards ec- 
 clesiastical privileges, and mocks them with the name instead of 
 the reality of a call, — that it unduly restrains Church Courts in 
 the exercise of one of their most important duties — the fixing of 
 the relation between a pastor and his congregation, — that it is 
 calculated at once to mar the usefulness of a Christian ministry, 
 and the edification of a Christian people, — and that a right 
 which is openly put to sale, which may be bought by a sum of 
 money, and in consequence of which, any infidel, or rake, or 
 fool, has it in his power to force a pastor for life upon a reluc- 
 tant and reclaiming people, is a disgrace to a free country, a 
 foul blot on the character of Presbytery, and a public scandal 
 to religion. 
 
 What is a patron.' According to the ancient law of the Ro- 
 man Republic, a patron was one who defended his clients from 
 oppression, and pleaded their cause when accused. Do our lay 
 patrons discharge any part of this duty? Do they ever look near 
 35 
 
410 ArrJEisDix. 
 
 their clients, except to present llieir own man, and see that lie, 
 and no other, be inducted? It' a mob attack the parish church, 
 is the patron called in to quell it? If a refractory heritor, per- 
 haps himself, refuse to pay his quota of stipend, is he prosecuted 
 in the patron's name? If the incumbent neglect his duty, does 
 the patron interfere to see that his clients are not defrauded? or, 
 if they institute a process against their minister for error, or im- 
 morality, or non-residence, will tlie ])atron plead their cause be- 
 fore the proper court? Is there any tiling he does which others 
 do not, except depriving them of their Christian riglits? Among 
 the Romans, the clients chose their own patron; among us, the 
 patron chooses for his clients. The tiulli is, that in the middle 
 ages, when persons were continually exposed to hostile incur- 
 sions from their neighbours — when ruthless barons and their bar- 
 barous followers had no regard to things sacred, but pillaged and 
 burned down churches and chapels — when laws were unsettled, 
 and the litigant parties appeared before a court of justice with 
 their swords in their liands, and backed by tiieir armed letnin- 
 ers, — chuiches stood in need of patrons, to defend them from 
 oppression, and plead theircause. All persons and all properties 
 had then their patrons; every village, every burgh, every corpo- 
 ration, every craft, up to that ol'King Crispin, liad its patron, or 
 rather patrons, and patronesses, corporeal and ghostly, in heaven, 
 and on earth. But has not the necessity for all these things long 
 ago ceased? Have not the things themselves been swept away in 
 the course of the improvements which have been silently intro- 
 duced by time, or by the laws which the Legislature has seen it 
 proper to enact? Church patronage alone maintains its ground, 
 as if to remind us that we were once barbarians and slaves; and 
 that we may have remains, animal and organic, as well as fossil, 
 of a former world, lay patrons must be seen floating on the tide 
 which has swept away almost all abuses, sicut ranee in gurg'Ue 
 vasto. If any ask, what can be the cause of this prodigy.'' I can 
 only answer at present summarily. Indifference to religion; and 
 if any one were to ask me for a palpable proof of the pernicious 
 influence which patronage has exerted on the popular mind, I 
 would appeal to the long endurance of it, and to the apathy 
 which the people have shown about their best, their dearest, their 
 most sacred rights, even at a time when they were struggling 
 for rights of another kind, which, though higiily valuable, are 
 still inferior to those. 
 
 I know that there are some good men, for whom I have a great 
 respect, who think that tiie evils of Church patronage may be 
 modified, and that the attention of those who are friends to the 
 Churcii should be directed to such amendments as would allevi- 
 ate the grievances arising irom intrusions, and jvrovide for po- 
 pular settlements, instead of seeking the repeal ot' existing laws. 
 Some of them trust for ti:is improvement to tlie restoration of 
 calls to their due place, while others ground their confidence in 
 a gradual amelioration in the views of patrons. To both these 
 plans, I would say, in general, that they come too late, and that, 
 whatever good they might have done Ibrmerly, there is no like- 
 lihood, from the present state of feeling, that they will be either 
 acceptable or elFective. As to the first, I would say, that it would 
 
SPEECH ON CHURCH PATRONAGE. 411 
 
 lead to endless collision between the callers and the patrons, the 
 last of whom would generally prevail, because they would have 
 it in their power to keep the parish vacant for an indefinite pe- 
 riod, or else to force their presentee upon it; unless the call of 
 the people were to be mnde the final act of choice, in which case 
 patronage would be virtuall^^j or rather ipso facto, abrogated. 
 With respect to the latter mode, good men need to be reminded 
 of the ancient maxim, " not many wise men after the flesh, not 
 many mighty, not many noble are called " — or, as some critics 
 would render the words, '• have been callers.'' Conversions are 
 not everyday occurrences, and hitherto they have been rare 
 aincmg the rich and great. But granting that these millenial 
 days had dawned, I ask, where is the Christian man, who, merely 
 because the right of presentation had descended to him by inhe- 
 ritance, along vvitli his lands, or because he had purchased the 
 right to it with his money, would take it upon him to exercise 
 the high responsibility of choosing one who was to watch for the 
 souls of thousands of immortal beings? To consult with the pa- 
 rishioners, unless he intended to give them the right of election, 
 or in other words, to yield up his right of presentation, would 
 soon be found a dangerous and impolitic measure. But, perhaps, 
 he would call in other counsellors; and what more natural than 
 that he should regulate himself by the advice of the most able 
 and influential ministers of the Church .' That these Reverend 
 Gentlemen are capable of estimating the talents of candidates 
 better than either patrons or parishioners, I am not disposed to 
 question, though there is room to doubt if they would be the best 
 fitted for judging of the ministerial qualifications suited to a peo- 
 ple of whose capacities they can have little knowledge, and with 
 whose feelings they may have less sympathy. Besides, they 
 might themselves have to sit in judgment, if not in prima in- 
 stantia, yet in the court of last resort, on that very cause in which 
 they had taken already an active part; and how could impartial- 
 ity be e.vpected from them .' In fact, this specific for abating the 
 evils of patronage would turn into a new species of the same 
 genus, it is merely a converting of lay into clerical patronage. 
 Irresponsible power has always been prolific of mischief, and not 
 less so when lodged in the hands of churchmen than of others, 
 especially if exercised in a secret way. The power of planting 
 the churches would, in this way, fall into the hands of a few 
 clergymen, say in Edinburgh and Glasgow, who would vote by 
 a species of ballot, or send their lettres de caclict to the Home 
 Secretary's office, or to that of the agent of some non-resident 
 patron. [Supposing that this practice should exert no deleterious 
 influence on the minds of these individuals, and that it were not 
 inconsistent with Presbyterian parity, would it not produce jea- 
 lousies in the minds of their bretliren, and in the end lead to 
 heart-burnings, both on the part of probationers and parishioners.' 
 But tlie grand objection to the whole of this scheme is, that 
 it is founded on a disregard of the rights of the Christian people, 
 and deprives them of the exercise of their due privileges. 1 am 
 jealous of all modifications of the evil— of all attempts to gild or 
 sweeten tlie pill. Disguise it as you will, still Patronage is a 
 bitter draught; tiicusands have felt it to be so; and though it 
 
412 APPENDIX. 
 
 may be sweetened to the taste of the moutli, it will prove, like the 
 prophetic roll, bitter in the belly. If the Church of Scotland is 
 doomed still to be oppressed, let it be by a tyrant without a vizor. 
 I would say, in the words of a Presbyterian patriot, in the days 
 of our learned monarch, when an attempt was made to introduce 
 Episcopacy under the cover of giving the Church a representation 
 in Parliament, " Busk, busk, busk him as bonnily as ye can, and 
 fetch him in as fairly as ye will, we see him weel eneugh, we 
 see the horns of his mitre." 1 ask, is not the Church of Christ 
 a free society? Is not every congregation an integral part of tliat 
 Church? And has not every free society a right to ciioose its 
 own office-bearers? 
 
 Permit me to make a single remark on a position which has 
 been advanced, bearing a relation to this subject. (The Rev. 
 Dr. was understood to refer to Dr. Chalmers.) It has been said 
 that the beau ideal of a provision for a nation's instruction in 
 religion, is an Ecclesiastical Establishment, with a body of Dis- 
 senters. Now, if by this is meant merely an establishment 
 which allows a liberty to persons to dissent from it, without their 
 incurring thereby any civil pain or political disability,! cordially 
 accede to it. But there is an abuse to which the statement is 
 liable, by those who are averse to all change or improvement. 
 When any complaint is made of an)^ grievance which is felt, or 
 any proposal of an amendment, it is met by not a few with the 
 reply, " You have your remedy, you can dissent; no hardship is 
 imposed upon }'ou. Now, such an answer is good, neither in a 
 religious nor in a political point of view, — not in a religious view, 
 for every Christi^an has a right, by the laws of Christ, to the com- 
 munion of the Church, and no set of rulers is allowed to exclude 
 at its pleasure, but is bound to take into consideration, and to 
 redress all reasonable complaints, and to remove every thing 
 that is really a bar to a more extensive scriptural fellowship, — 
 not in a political view, for the establishment is erected for the 
 benefit of the nation at large, and intended to be a national 
 blessing. It is a hardship to be obliged to dissent. Dissent may 
 increase to such a degree as to become burdensome to the nation; 
 and if the Established Church shall lend herself to this, by re- 
 fusing to correct abuses, or neglecting to make such changes as 
 are consistent with her constitution, and which, instead of 
 Vk'eakening, will strengthen her constitution, she is not only 
 morally responsible for the consequences, but may depend upon 
 being, in process of time, made fatally responsible, by incurring 
 a deprivation of her peculiar privileges. 
 
 The proposition on which 1 am remarking seems to proceed on 
 the analogous principle of an opposition in Parliament, or a 
 rivalry in commercial speculation, and views Dissenters merely 
 as a spur to the Established Clergy, by stimulating them to 
 greater vigilance and diligence. But it does not sufficiently 
 attend to the hostile feelings engendered by the Establishment 
 being the favoured party, and enjoying, though not a monopoly, 
 yet a protecting and encouraging bounty. Were Dissenterism 
 to revolve round the Establishment like a satellite, or keep 
 always at a respectful but moderate distance, all would go on 
 well, according to this theory of the heavenly bodies. But if, 
 
SPEECH ON CHURCH PATKONAGE. 413 
 
 instead of this, it fly off to a greater distance in space, its influ- 
 ence is lost, and llic presiding or parent planet will reel and loso 
 its equilibrium. Agreeabiy to the law of projectiles, a body put 
 in motion hns a continual tendency to recede from the centre, 
 unless in so far as it is counteracted by the power of attraction. 
 On leaving, or being ejected from the Establishment, a body of 
 Christians moves in the line of a centrifiicral force; and, if not 
 restrained and held back by the centripetal, must every hour 
 remove to a greater distance from it. Hence, it becomes the 
 duty and the interest of an Kstablished Church to present as 
 extensive a surface of attraction as possible, and carefully to 
 remove every thing that contributes to lessen its influence. A 
 few individuals who are attached to its radical principles, and 
 who cherish the hope that the abuses which drove them from its 
 communion will be reformed, may continue for a considerable 
 time to move in the circle which they at first described, and to 
 stand in the same relation to her in which they placed themselves 
 at the separation. But the principles of human nature and ex- 
 perience warrant the conclusion, that by far the greater part will 
 gradually recede, until they reach the point of direct opposition. 
 A striking illustration of this remark is at hand. It is just a 
 hundred years since a Secession from the Established Church of 
 Scotland took place, caused by the enforcement of the law of 
 Patronage. The first Seceders were friendly, not only to the 
 standards of the Church of Scotland, but to her Establishment 
 by law. This they ayowed to the world, and they confirmed it in 
 the most solemn manner, for they were honest and sincere in the 
 avowal. They continued for a considerable time to adhere to 
 these principles; but at last they wearied of holding them, and 
 now the leading persons among them have entered into a league 
 (I cannot call it a Solemn League) with Independents and other 
 sects, in an open and avowed attempt to overthrow all Ecclesiasti- 
 cal Establishments. Far am 1 from justifying them in this step ; 
 but neither can I apply the flattering unction, and say, that all 
 the fault is with the one part}', and that the other is guiltless. 
 The proportions of blame, I do not meddle with ; that must be 
 left to a higlier and impartial hand. " Vcrbum sat sapiciitibus." 
 I speak to wise men ; judge ye what I say. 
 
 The coMr.=e, Sir, wliich you have adopted this day is the true 
 one, in resolving to strike at the root of the evil, and to petition 
 the Legislature for the total abolition of Patronage. It is called 
 for by the nature of the grievance, and the character of the 
 times, which at once urge the necessity of tlie measure, and 
 hold forth a reasonable prospect of success. When I came here 
 to-day, I was prepared to see a small assembly, smaller than that 
 which I now address ; but when I reflect upon the importance of 
 the object, and all t!ie concurring circumstances which conspire 
 to give it interest, I cannot refrain from expressing my astonish- 
 ment and grief, that so few have appeared in its support. 1 am 
 told, that the nature and specific object of your meeting have not 
 been siilTiciently made known to tlie public. This may he the 
 case; but still they would have been discovered either in the 
 body, or at the foot of even a long advertisement, had there not 
 « .35* 
 
414 APPENDIX. 
 
 been a culpable apathy to the cause. It was said of old, in a 
 critical period of Israel's history, " Out of Machir came down 
 governors, and out of Zabulon they Ihat handle the pen of the 
 writer." But where are our governors.' Where are our learned 
 scribes and eloquent orators ? Where are our political icform- 
 ers? And where, O! where, are our popular clergy.' Have our 
 Whigs forgotten whence they derived their name.'' or do they 
 need to be told that Patronage was reimposed upon the Church 
 of Scotland by a Tory Ministry, with the view of preparing the 
 way for the restoration of political despotism .'' Have our popu- 
 lar clergy forgotten what gave them their popularity .'' or has the 
 fear of change so perplexed their minds, as to make them fall 
 into the arms of moderation, and to subscribe the creed, " What- 
 ever is, is right.'''' It was the more necessary that they should 
 have come forward, as they know that Dissenters do not now 
 take that interest in the subject which they once manifested, and 
 that so many of them now wish Patronage to hang as a millstone 
 about the neck of the Establishment. But 1 am not discouraged 
 as to your prospects. I feel no shame at the smallness of your 
 numbers. Those who have prepared for this meeting, have 
 shown their discretion in selecting the place ; but for my part I 
 could have wislied that we had met in the larger room, and that 
 the empty benches, and thinly-planted platform, should have been 
 recorded by the person sitting before me, and proclaimed in all 
 the newspapers, to make your friends, both political and reli- 
 gious, ashamed of their slackness, and to provoke them to jea- 
 lousy. Your Chairman has been pleased, in his kindness to me, 
 to express a hope of seeing me one day in a certain situation: but 
 I can assure you that I feel more honoured, in addressing this 
 select meeting, than 1 should feel, were 1 introduced into the 
 General Assembly, and placed in the seat before his Majesty's 
 Commissioner. 
 
 These being my sentiments and feelings, you may perhaps 
 ask me, " Why do you not formally adjoin yourself to the So- 
 ciety?" I might answer, I am already a member of an Anti-Pa- 
 tronage Society; I have been six-and-thirty years an office-bear- 
 er of an Anti-Patronage Society, which has subsisted now for a 
 long century. This, in the opinion of some, may detract from 
 the value of the approbation I have given to your association; 
 but 1 tliink I can give a convincing proof to the contrary. Sir., 
 if you succeed in your object, you will do me much harm — you 
 will thin, much thin, my congregation. For I must say (and the 
 attention with which you have listened to me, demands the frank 
 avowal,) that though Patronage were abolished to-morrow, I 
 could not forthwith enter into tlie Establishment. But I am not 
 so blind, or so ignorant of the dispositions of the people, as to 
 suppose they would act in that manner. Your cause will soon 
 come into honour; the restoration of long-lost rights will convert 
 popular apatliy into popular favour ; and in their enthusiasm the 
 people vifill forget tliat there are such things as erroneous teach- 
 ers and neglect of discipline. Do 1 therefore dread your success, 
 or stand aloof from you on the ground mentioned ? Assuredly 
 no. The truth is, that 1 think I can be of more service to you, 
 by declining to be in your council. I have only to say, therefor/?^ 
 
SPEECH ON CHURCH PATRONAOE, 415 
 
 Go on and prosper; though your beginnings have been but small, 
 may your latter end greatly increase! You have my best wishes 
 and prayers. 
 
 [Extracted from the Anti- Patronage Reporter.'] 
 
 No. X. 
 SPEECH AT THE MEETING OF THE ANTI-PATRON- 
 AGE SOCIETY, January 1834. 
 [From a Newspaper Report."] 
 
 Dr. M'Crie rose, and was received with great applause. He 
 said he had stated at the last meeting of the Society, that he 
 came as a volunteer, not as a voluntary; now he had to say, he 
 came neither as a voluntary nor as a volunteer. His reluctance 
 was not owing to any scruple of conscience, as if he stood on 
 dangerous ground, or as if his appearance there contradicted his 
 professed principles; for he knew that they would allow him to 
 give such explanations as would guard it from the misconstruc- 
 tions of ignorance or prejudice. His reluctance was a matter of 
 feeling. He felt he must condemn those Seceders, who, instead 
 of preserving the attitude and holding fast the principles of their 
 fathers, have ciianged with the times, and instead of seeking the 
 reformation, aim at the destruction of the Establishment. He 
 felt he must condemn the Establishment also, as liable to the 
 same charge to which the Voluntary Seceders have exposed them- 
 selves, by retracting the testimony which it had long and loudly 
 borne against the grievance of Patronage. He had also to dissent 
 from a statement put forth in a late circular of the Society, that 
 Patronage was the one ground on which the enemies of the Es- 
 tablishment can assail it. He was persuaded there were other 
 grounds both as to doctrine and discipline. The sword of disci- 
 pline had been drawn against those who had carried the doctrine 
 of grace to an extreme, but those who had publicly contradicted 
 that doctrine had been permitted to escape. He would not enter 
 on the general question of Patronage. It was a disgrace to the 
 country that it should be a question in the nineteenth century. 
 The great topic now was popular rights, and the dread of these 
 had thrown many good persons into a panic, including even many 
 of the popular ministers, to the infinite delight of their opponents. 
 Only in this way could he account for the manner in which one 
 of tlie most distinguished persons in our country and church had 
 spoken on the subject. Optimism was the very term that had 
 been used to discredit his own proposed improvements; but never 
 since the word was invented, was it more improperly applied 
 than to a proposal which might be treated as common-place, 
 ibut which it were ludicrous to represent as Utopian, — a proposal 
 which, familiar in the annals of the Church, was revived as 
 often as there was the least prospect of having a Parliament and 
 an Assembly that should sympathize with the feelings of the 
 country. On the one hand, he saw a Whig Ministry, which. 
 
416 APPENPIX, 
 
 after effecting an important cliange on the political constitution 
 of the country, by extending the elective franchise, and dimi- 
 nishing the civil patronage of the Crown, refuse to undo the fet- 
 ters of the Church, or to relinquish any portion of its patronage 
 in ecclesiastical matters. Refer the matter, they say, to the Ge- 
 neral Assembly. When the Reform Bill was before Parliament, 
 what would have been thought had it been said, " Oh, let us wait 
 till the county gentlemen have held their meetings; they know 
 all about the matter; leave it to them to originate the plan." Oi, 
 when the Burgh Reform Bill was before the House, " Wait for 
 the meeting of the Convention of Burghs!" On the other hand, 
 we have the ministers of a Church which has long protested 
 against the imposition of Patronage by the State, not only re- 
 fusing to petition for its abolition, hut actually trembling lest Par- 
 liament should grant the boon without being asked, and eman- 
 cipate them atrainst their will. It was easy to account for the 
 conduct of the Ministry. Having relinquished much civil patron- 
 age, they find the Church useful to them as it stands — see its lead- 
 ers not unwiilingto remain their clients — and know that from the 
 popular engrossment with political feelings and our religious di- 
 visions, there is little danger of their being overwhelmed with pe- 
 titions. But how was it that all was lost on the minds of those 
 who love the Church, and to vi'hom her interests were dear.' 
 Why did it not shame them out of their unreasonable fears? 
 They were at>aid of agitation among the people. The agitation 
 was all in their own breasts, or rather their disturbed fancies. 
 Hence things were now confounded which were once acknow- 
 ledged to be totally distinct. Patronage was now talked of as 
 an essential part of our ecclesiastical constitution — not as a tower 
 of observation erected by the enemy to overawe and annoy the 
 garrison, but a bulwark of the citadel — not an antiquated and 
 unsightly appendage to the building, but the ape.x of the struc- 
 ture. We must conceive, it seems, the Church of Scotland as a 
 stately edifice, rising in spiral ambition until its head would be 
 lost in the clouds, were it not for the figure of a patron planted 
 in giddy eminence on its tip. Just as if the Board of Improve- 
 ments (whose assessments, he confessed, he grudged more than 
 the payment of minister's stipend) should, in noble contempt of 
 the optimism of form, order to be placed on the top of St. Andrew's 
 Church a gaunt figure of the thirteenth century, clad in mail, to 
 look down upon the King. Lord Melville, and Mr. Pitt, and to 
 compesce the turbulence of anti-patronage agitators. But the 
 people ! the ppople ! if we expel the patrons, the people will rush 
 in like air into a vacuum, and raise such a storm, tempest, hur- 
 ricane, as will root up and scatter ever)' thing precious ,nnd vene- 
 rable in our Church. Good friends I said the Reverend Doctor, 
 he not so much alarmed — the period of ecclesiastical ao-itation is 
 past — the popular mind has changed — ^^the current has turned 
 from religion to politics — and although you should join the Anti- 
 Patronage Society, you could not bring it back to its old channel. 
 Instead of rushing in, the people have been rushingout from voti. 
 You have told them that it is a delusion to think that the Chris- 
 tian people have an inherent right to choose their own minister, 
 but to pacify them, you have added, that every man has the right 
 
SPEECH ON CHURCH PATRONAGE. 417 
 
 of choosing what minister he shall hear — and they have learned 
 the lesson. The time may come when you will need all the as- 
 sistance the people can give — when you will be fain to stimulate, 
 instead of stifling their voice, and to ask their suffrages, instead 
 of telling them that they are incapable of any thing but dumb 
 and dogged resistance without the assignment of a reason. "I 
 should rejoice in the breeze, but 1 dread the hurricane !" Very 
 good for a landsman, who, projecting a pleasure sail in his trim 
 and gilded barge to the Bass, ox to the Isle of May, goes out in 
 the morning with his telescope, and shakes his head on descrying 
 a haze on the ocean ; but not for the pilot who shall weather the 
 storm. If you dread the hurricane, you will never enjoy the 
 breeze, but may moor your frail bark under the shelter of some 
 black and barren headland, or be contented timidly to creep along 
 the shore, as before the invention of the compass, and while naval 
 architecture was yet rude ; and even tliere, when the storm rises, 
 you may be stranded on the shore, or dashed upon the rocks; 
 while the skilful mariner, trusting, under Providence, to the 
 strength of liis repaired bark, and the skill of his tried and hardy 
 company, has launched boldly into the open sea, and, midst the 
 howling of the tempest, and the cracking of the cordage, rides 
 safely on the ridge of tlie mountain-wave. The Chuich of Scot- 
 land is essentially the people's church. It is not a royal church 
 nor a Parliamentary church. It is not the church of the euistoc- 
 racy, nor of the patrons, nor of the clergy. If it had not been 
 for the people, the Church would never have survived her per- 
 secutions; after the last standard-bearer had fallen, the banner 
 of Presbytery was kept waving in the mountains of Scotland by 
 the people, when there was not a minister who dared to dispense 
 among them her ordinances. Wlien it ceases to be the Church 
 of the people, it ceases to be the Church of Scotland — its estab- 
 lishment is undermined. [This point the Reverend Doctor illus- 
 trated by reference to the words of the Act 1G90.] Tliere was 
 no need for alarm at the expression, the People's church. The 
 people of Scotland know that, to preserve their liberty, it is ne- 
 cessary that the}' submit to authority — that authority which they 
 recognise as scriptural. I will not. Sir, (continued he,) enter 
 here in tlie Scripture argument for tiie right of the people; but 
 permit me to say, that I am not a little surprised at the attempts 
 which have been made of late, and by orthodox ministers too, to 
 evade the force of that argument. If such a mode of reasoning 
 as they have adopted should be followed out, farewell to tlie first- 
 day Sabbath, to infant baptism, and to Presbytery. One reverend 
 gentleman tells us, that perhaps the apostles alone nominated the 
 two candidates (it is the first time I ever heard of candidates) for 
 the apostleship; or that, perhaps, there were no more than two 
 qualified to fill the olRce of Judas. Jf, Sir, the old probabilities 
 of the schoolmen are in this manner to be introduced, why not 
 say, perhaps the two candidates nominated themselves, or per- 
 haps Peter alone nominated them, as the prime patron, as well 
 as prime bishop, and that the plural number is used after the 
 manner of kings and popes.' When the same reverend author 
 says that the five hundred brethren would have been convened, 
 if it had been intended to furnish a pattern to the Church, in fu- 
 
418 APPENDIX. 
 
 tiire times, of popular election, I would just remind him of tlie 
 Synod of Jerusalem, and tlie seven Independents in the West- 
 minster Assembly. Let any person look into Calvin on the 
 Acts, in reference to tJie election of Matthias and the deacons, 
 and he will perceive the vast difference between a subtle contro- 
 versialist and a sound commentator, if popular election was not 
 practised in apostolic times, I challenge any person to show me, 
 on the principles of human nature, or probability, if you will, 
 how it could have been in practice, as ecclesiastical history de- 
 clares it to have been, in the third and fourth centuries; when, 
 during the interval, the distance between the people and the 
 clergy, and the power of the latter over the former, were in a 
 state of progressive increase. With respect to our Books of 
 Discipline, great misconceptions exist among those who should 
 have known better. We are told that the First Book of Disci- 
 pline was never ratified by Parliament, just as if the Second 
 Book had ever received that ratification. A reverend gentleman 
 (Dr. Cook) is represented, in his reported speech in the late As- 
 sembly, to have said, that it '-never obtained the sanction of the 
 Church," and " that, in what icspects the choice of ministers, it 
 had not been carried into effect." The opposite of these state- 
 ments is matter of undoubted history. Repeatedly it is men- 
 tioned, in Acts of Assembly, as an ecclesiastical standard, and its 
 regulations as to the election of ministers ordered to be observed. 
 No person who is duly acquainted with the state of matters at 
 that period, and with the nature of the contest between the Court 
 and the Church as to ecclesiastical livings, will allege that the 
 communication from the General Assembly to Queen Mary, in 
 1505, is inconsistent with tliis statement, or that it proves that 
 the ministers of the Church had altered either their sentiments 
 or their practice from the time that the Book of Discipline had 
 been adopted. The Queen either kept the benefices in her own 
 hand, or she bestowed them on unworthy and unqualified per- 
 sons, in the way of bargaining with them for the greater part of 
 the stipend. The Assembly knew, and nobody doubts, that as 
 long as the law stood, those who were admitted as ministers 
 could not obtain a legal right to the benefice without a presenta- 
 tion from the Crown, or some other laic patron. What the 
 Assembly needed and sought to obtain was, the power of admis- 
 eion ; but was it obliged, in a letter to the Queen, to state all the 
 rules which it had snnctioned and published respecting the mode 
 of admission.' The letter states, that it behooved the person 
 presented to be tried by learned men, such as "'the superinten- 
 dents appointed thereto." And were not the superintendents 
 appointed according to the Bonk of Discipline.' did it not regu- 
 late their proceedings in this vejy matter.' was not the giving of 
 the nomination to the congregation one of these regulations.' 
 And had not the Assembly ordained, under the highest censures, 
 "according to the fourth head of the Book of Discipline, that all 
 persons serving in the ministry, who had not entered into their 
 charges, according to the order appointed in the said Book, be 
 inhibited;' and, in particular, "if they have not been presented 
 by the pef)i)le, or a part thereof, to the superintendent.''' Those 
 who would infer from the letter to the Queen, that tlie superin- 
 
SPEECH ON CIIUKCir PATIIONAGE. 419 
 
 tendents could proceed to admission in the way of passing by the 
 choice of llie congregation, may, upon the same principle, infisr 
 from it, that these superintendents had the sole power of trial 
 and examination; which every person slenderly acquainted with 
 our church history knows they did not possess. 
 
 Another mistake generally prevalent is, that the First Book of 
 Discipline was set aside by the Second. Had those who have 
 avowed this opinion taken the trouble of previously looking into 
 Calderwood. they would have been led into a train of inquiry 
 which would have saliafied them, upon strong-cr evidence than 
 liis judgment, that they had taken up an erroneous notion. In 
 many Acts of Assembly, after the reception of the Second Book, 
 they would have found the First referred to, and acknowledged 
 as an existing authority; and when I say that it is an authorized 
 book to this day, I appeal, in proof of my assertion, to the Acts 
 of Assembly approving of the Westminster Directory, and Form 
 of Presbyterial Church Government. Tlie Second Book was not 
 intended to supersede or exauclorate its predecessor, but to ex- 
 plain more fully some points more generally stated in the other, 
 and to introduce permanent regulations in place of certain others 
 which are confessedly intended to be temporary. If it could be 
 Khown that the first of these docunients contradicted the second, 
 or that the latter laid down rules different from the former, as to 
 the election of ministers, I would readily allow that tiie last de- 
 claration must be viewed as e.vpressing the mind of the enacting 
 authority. But I have yet to learn where there is any such con- 
 tradiction or contrariety. The First Book is much more explicit 
 on this head than the Second; and it is contrary to all the prin- 
 ciples of sound legal interpretation, to set aside specific enact- 
 ments in a law, under the idea that a general clause, briefly 
 expressed, of another law contains doctrines inconsistent with 
 them. Much of the confusion in which this point has been in- 
 volved of late, might have been prevented by attending to the 
 simple fact, that a threefold division of" ordinary vocation " was 
 adopted by the compilers of the First Book, while the compilers 
 of the Second adopted a twofold partition I humbly think, that 
 the "election and examination" of the first document are in- 
 cluded under the '• election " of the second. We are told, that 
 " the judgment of the Eldership " is put before the " consent of 
 the congregation ;" 1 answer, that the judgment of the Eldership 
 (that is, the Presbytery) precedes, accompanies, and follows the 
 choice of ihe people. The Eldership judges in the way ol'licensing 
 probationers; it judges, by limiting the choice of the people to 
 its licentiates; it judges, by sending those to preach to the peo- 
 ple; it judges, by sending one or more of its own number to 
 moderate in a call; it judges of the regularity and validity of the 
 call ; and it judges again of the minister-elect, by subjecting him 
 a second lime to trials. No wonder that in a general statement, 
 the " consent of the congregation " is mentioned last, tliough its 
 proper place, in a tuller statement, would have been in the middle. 
 B\it it is expressly declared to be an essential part of the " elec- 
 tion," and it will not do, by a hypercritical exposition of the 
 word consent, to reduce their choice to mere silence or inert ac- 
 quiescence. \Vhat would a British House of Conmions say, if 
 
420 APPENDIX. 
 
 the Attorney-General, or some other legal functionary, were to 
 stand up and tell them that all power resided in the king, and 
 that all which belonged to them was quietly to acquiesce in his 
 judgment, and in proof of this to read to them the words, ' Be it 
 enacted by the King's Majesty, with the consent,' &c., which 
 are found in every Act of Parliament ? I have not the least hesi- 
 tation in expressing my conviction, that tl>e plan laid down in 
 the First Book of Discipline, was that which was generally fol- 
 lowed in the settlement of ministers down to the period of the 
 obtrusion of Episcopacy by James VI. after he went to England. 
 Your time will not permit to give proofs ; 1 shall mention only 
 one.- On the appointment of a second minister to Haddington, 
 the Presbytery claimed the right of nomination, but Mr. James 
 Garmichael produced the Act of Assembly 1562, which gave the 
 nomination to the congregation, upon which the Presbytery 
 withdrew its claim. 
 
 The Reverend Doctor concluded with apologizing for the length 
 into which he had gone, and the freedom he had used, especially 
 considering the position he occupied in relation to the Church to 
 which the Society belonged. His only apology was his deep- 
 rooted attachment to the Church of Scotland, by which he meant 
 neither the Establishment nor that branch of the Secession with 
 wJiich he himself was connected ; but the Church of Scotland in 
 her reformed constitution, as delineated in her standards, and 
 exemplified in the administration of a former age, with such ac- 
 commodations, accordant with the Scriptures, as the altered state 
 of the times may require. To the Church of Scotland, in this 
 sense, he felt an attachment which was filial and devoted. He 
 had been nursed in that feeling — it had grown with his growth 
 and had strengthened with his strength, and the years which 
 had passed over his head had not yet been able to abate it. He 
 had read the deeds of her reformers and confessors at first with 
 mere youthful curiosity. It had not been until he had satisfied 
 himself that the system of doctrine and discipline they had in- 
 troduced, was not more consonant to the oracles of truth than it 
 was conducive to the best interests, temporal and spiritual, of the 
 nation, that he had minutely studied their history. Then, he 
 confessed, the fire began to burn, and he could not forbear to 
 impart to others what he himself had felt. If his writings had 
 commended themselves, in any degree, to any person, it was not 
 owincr to any talents or labour of his bestowed upon them, but 
 solely to the feeling he had now expressed — a feeling of admira- 
 tion, not for the men, for they are deceased and had given in 
 their accounts, but for the grace and the gifts with which God 
 had endowed them, and the fabric which they were honoured to 
 rear. Viewing the Church of Scotland in her true principles, he 
 felt himself bound to promote her interests in every way accord- 
 ing to his power, and desired to say — "If I forget thee, let my 
 right hand forget her cunning ; if 1 do not remember thee, let my 
 tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." 
 
LIST OF DR. M^CRIE's WRITINGS. 421 
 
 No. XI. 
 
 LIST OF DR. M'CRIE'S WRITINGS REFERRED TO IN 
 THE LIFE. 
 
 The Duty of Christian Societies towards each other, &c. A 
 Sermon. Guthrie, Ogle and Constable. Pp. 40. (See Life, 
 p. 40.) 
 
 Statement of the Difference, &c. Ogle and Aikman, 1807. Pp. 
 2.34. (Life, p. 1:32 ) 
 
 Articles in the Christian Magazine, Life of Alexander Henderson, 
 &c. (Life, p. 137.) 
 
 Letters on the Catholic Bill, Letter First. Ogle and Aikman, 
 1807. Pp. 2.5. (Life, p. 141.) 
 
 The Life of John Knox. 1st Edition, one vol. 8vo. Ogle and 
 Blackwood, 1812. Pp. 582. 2d Edition, two vols. Svo. Wil- 
 liam Blackwood, 1813 Cth Edition, one vol. 8vo. Blackwood, 
 1839. Pp.539. (Life, p. 144. j 
 
 Articles in Christian Instructor. (Life, Pp. 185, 191, 196, 213, 
 265, 280.) 
 
 Review of Tales of My Landlord, or Vindication of the Cove- 
 nanters, 1817. (Life, p. 213.) 
 
 Free Thoughts on the Late Religious Celebration of the Funeral 
 of the Princess Charlotte. Macredie, Skelly, and Co. 1817. 
 Pp. 78. (Life, p. 203.) 
 
 Life of Andrew Melville. 2 vols. 8vo. Blackwood. 1st Edi- 
 tion, 1819. 2d Edition, 1824. Pp.480, 550. (Life, p. 204.) 
 
 Two Discourses on the Unity of the Church, with Appendix. 
 Blackwood, 1821. Pp. 174. (Life, p. 228.) 
 
 Memoirs of Veitch and Brysson, &c. With Biographical 
 Sketches and Notes. Blackwood, 1825. Pp. 540. (Life, p 
 262.) 
 
 History of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in 
 Italy. Blackwood. 1st Edition, 1827. 2d Edition, 1833. Pp. 
 496. (Life, p. 264.) 
 
 History of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in 
 Spain. Blackwood, 1829. Pp.424. (Life, p. 268.) 
 
 Article in Edinburgh Review. — Turner's Memoirs. (Life, p. 
 277.) 
 
 What ought the General Assembly to do at the Present Crisis .'' 
 Blackwood, 1833. Pp. 58. (Life, p. 300.) 
 
 Article in Presbyterian Review. — Biblical Interpretation. (Life, 
 p. 254.) 
 
 Sermons. (Posthumous volume.) Blackwood, 1836. Pp. 393. 
 (Life, p. 262.) 
 
 Lectures on the Book of Esther. (Posthumous.) Blackwood, 
 1838. Pp. 304. (Life, p. 252.) 
 
 36 
 
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 Jerram and Wall on Baptism, l8mo. 
 
 Johnson's Life, by Bosvvell, 2 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Jones's (Rev. Wm.) Church History, 6 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Jones on the Trinity, 12mo. 
 
 Josephus's Writings, 8vo. 
 
 Key to the Shorter Catechism, 18mo. 
 
 Knapp's Female Biography, 12mo. 
 
 Kruinmacher's Martyr Lamb, 12mo. 
 
 Krummacher's Cornelius the Centurion, 12mo. 
 
 Krummacher's Jacob and Solomon, 12nio. 
 
 Larrey on Wounds, 8vo. 
 
 Lectures on Scripture Facts and Prophecies, by Collyer, 8vo. 
 
 Letters of Wilberforce, 2 vols. 12mo. 
 
 Life of Dr. Thomas M'Crie, by his son, 1 vol. 12ino. 
 
 Life of Washington, by Marshall, 3 vols. 
 
 Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life, 12mo. and 24mo. 
 
 Lives of Kno.x and Melville, by Dr. Thomas M'Crie, 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
 Lowth on Isaiah, 8vo. 
 
 Luther's Commentary on Galatians, 8vo. 
 
 Mackenzie's 5000 Receipts, Bvo. 
 
 Macknight's Translations of the Epistles, with Greek, &c.,l vol. 
 8vo. 
 
 Macknight on the Epistles, 8vo. 
 
 Magee on the Atonement and Sacrifice, 2 vols. Bvo. 
 
 Mahoney's Six years in the Monasteries of Italy, &c., 12mo. 
 
 Marmion, by Sir. W. Scott, 18mo. 
 
 Marshall's Life of Washington, 12mo, and 8vo. 
 
 Mason on Self-Knowledge, 18mo. 
 
 Maternal Solicitude, l2mo. 
 
 Mather on the Scripture Types, 12mo. 
 
 Matthews on the Divine Purpose, ]8mo. 
 
 M'Crie on the Book of Esther, 18mo. 
 
 M'Crie's (Thomas, D.D.,) Lives of Knox and Melville, in one 
 volume. Quarto. 
 
 M'Laurin's Essays and Sermons, 12mo. 
 
 M'Ewen on the Types, ]Smo. 
 
 M'Gavin's Protestant, 2 vols, 8vo. 
 
 Miller on Clerical Manners and Habits, 18mo. 
 
 Miller's Letters to Presbyterians, ]2mo. 
 
 Miller on Ruling Elders, 12mo. 
 
 Miller's (Rev. J. P.) Sketches and Sermons, 8vo. 
 
 Milner's Church History, 2 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Milton's Poetical Works, 2 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Milton's Paradise Lost, 18mo. 
 
 Milton's Gray, Bcattie, and Collins's Poems, 8vo. 
 
 Moore's Life of Byron, 2 vols. Bvo. 
 
 Mosheim's Church History, 2 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Mrs. Hawke's Life and Correspondence, 12mo. 
 
 Newton's (Rev. John) Whole Works, Bvo. 
 
 Owen's (Dr. John) Works, now first collected and edited through- 
 out by the Rev. Thomas Russell, M. A., with Life by Orme, 
 complete Indexes, fine portrait, &.C., 21 vols. 8vo. 
 
CATALOGUE. V 
 
 Owen on tlie Hebrews, new edition, 4 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Owen on the Hebrews, abridged by Williams, 4 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Owen on the Person and Glory of Christ, 6vo. 
 
 Our Protestant Forefathers, Icimo. 
 
 Paley's Natural Theology, 12mo. 
 
 Parents' Assistant, ISnio. 
 
 Paris' Pharmacologia, 8vo. 
 
 Pascal's Provincial Letters. 12ino. 
 
 Pike's Religion and Eternal Life, 18mo. 
 
 Pike's Persuasives to Piety, 18mo. 
 
 Pilgrim's Progress, various editions. 
 
 PoUok's Course of Time, 32mo. 
 
 Polymicrian Testaments. 
 
 Polymicrian Greek Testament, morocco, 32mo. 
 
 Polymicrian Lexicon, do, 32mo. 
 
 Polymicrian Concordance, do. 3"2mo. 
 
 Preacher, (The) Sermons by eminent British Divines, 8 vols. Svo. 
 
 Prideaux's Connexions, 2 vols.8vo. 
 
 Quakerism not Christianity, 8vo. 
 
 Ramsay's Missionary Journal, 12mo. 
 
 Reference Bible. 
 
 Religious Ceremonies, Svo. 
 
 Remains of the Pie v. Charles WolfFe, 12mo. 
 
 Richerand's Physiology, Svo. 
 
 Roberts' Embassy to China, Svo. 
 
 Robinson's Scripture Characters, Svo. 
 
 Robinson's Calmet's Bible Dictionary, Svo. 
 
 Rollin's Ancient History. 
 
 Romaine on Faith, 12mo. 
 
 Romaine's (Rev. W.) Works, Svo. 
 
 Russell's Modern Europe, 3 vols. Svo. 
 
 Rutherford's Letters, Svo. 
 
 Rutherforth's Listitutes, Svo. 
 
 Scenes from Real Life, ISmo. 
 
 Schleusner's Lexicon to the Old Testament, 3 vols. Svo. 
 
 Scott's Force of Truth, ISmo. 
 
 Scott's Reply to Tomline, 2 vols. Svo. 
 
 Scott's Reference Bible, Svo, 
 
 Scougal's Select Works, l8mo. 
 
 Searle's Horse Solitarire, Svo. 
 
 Seixas's Hebrew Grammar, Svo. 
 
 Simpson's Plea for Relio-ion, Svo. 
 
 Sinclair's Scotland and the Scotch, 12mo. 
 
 Sinclair's Shetland and the Shetlanders, 12mo. 
 
 Sinclair's Hill and Valley, 12mo. 
 
 Six Years in the Monasteries of Italy. ]2mo. 
 
 Skeletons of nearly 400 Sermons, or The Preacher, 2 vols. Svo. 
 
 Smith's (Adam) Wealth of Nations, new edition, 2 vols. ]8mo. 
 
 Sorrowing, Yet Rejoicing, ISmo. 
 
 Spiritual Honey from Natural Hives, 12mo. 
 
 Steed man's Wanderings and Adventures in the Interior of 
 
 Southern Africa, 2 vols. 8vo. 
 Stevenson on the Offices of Christ, 12mo. 
 Stevens' Travels. 
 Stuart's Commentary on Hebrews, Svo. 
 
VI CATALOGUE. 
 
 Stuart's Commentary on Romans, 8vo. 
 
 Stuart's Course of Hebrew Study, 8vo. 
 
 Stuart's Hebrew Chrestomathy, 8vo. 
 
 Stuart's Hebrew Grammar, 8vo. 
 
 Sturm's Reflections on the Works of God, Svo. 
 
 Symington on the Atonement, ]2mo. 
 
 Symington on the Dominion of Christ, 12mo. 
 
 Synod of Dort, 12mo. 
 
 Tales of a Grandfather, 8 vols. ISmo. 
 
 Taylor's Holy Living and Dying, 12mo. 
 
 Taylor's Fanaticism, 12mo. 
 
 The Canon of Scripture, by Dr. Alexander, 12mo. 
 
 The Communicant's Catechism, 18mo. 
 
 The Freeness of Grace, 18mo. 
 
 The Test of Truth, by M. J. Graham, ISmo. 
 
 Theron and Aspasio, by the Rev. J. Hervey, 2 vols. 24mo. 
 
 Todd's Index Rerum, 4to. 
 
 Tucker on Predestination, 1 vol. 18mo. 
 
 Vanderhooght's Hebrew Bible, with points, Svo. 
 
 Venn's Complete Duty of Man, 8vo. 
 
 Vincent on Judgment, 12mo. 
 
 Walker's English Dictionary, new edition, Svo. 
 
 Wanastrocht's French Grammar, 12mo. 
 
 Wardlaw's Christian Ethics, 8vo. 
 
 Watson's Body of Divinity, Svo. 
 
 West on the Resurrection, ISmo. 
 
 Westminster Confession of Faith, 12mo. 
 
 Whewell's Astronomy, 12mo. 
 
 Wilberforce's Practical View, 12mo. 
 
 Willison's Communicant's Catechism, ISmo. 
 
 Willison's Catechism, 12mo. 
 
 Winslow on the Atonement, ISmo. 
 
 Winslow on the Holy Spirit, ISmo. 
 
 Witsius's Economy of the Covenants, 2 vols. Svo. 
 
 Women of England, by Mrs. Ellis, 12mo. 
 
 Wood on Native Depravity, Svo. 
 
 Young Woman's Guide, ISmo. 
 
 Young Man's Library, 6 vols. 18mo. 
 
 RELIGIOUS BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Life of Henry Mart3'n. 12mo. Life of Philip Henry, Svo. — ^— 
 
 Life of Rev. Dr. Nesbit, 12mo. Life of H. Sinclair, l8mo. 
 
 Life of Matthew Henry, 12mo. Life of Alleine, 12mo. 
 
 Life of Wilberforce, 2 vols. Life of Isabella Camp- 
 bell, 12mo. Life of Mary J. Graham, 12mo. Life of 
 
 Charles Wolffe, ]2mo. Life of Pliny Fisk, 12mo. Life 
 
 of Frederick Reynolds, 2 vo!s.8vo. Life of Thomas Eddy, 
 
 Bvo. Life of Calvin, by Beza, 12mo. Life of the Rev. 
 
 John H. Rice, 12mo. Life of the Rev. George Burder, 
 
 12mo. Life of the Rev. A. Fuller, 12mo. Life of Haly- 
 
 burton, 12mo. l^ife of Col. Gardiner, ]2mo. Life of 
 
 Mrs. Hawkes,12mo. Life of Cranmer, ISmo. Burder's 
 
 Memoirs of Pious Women, Svo. Hunter's Sacred Bio- 
 graphy, Svo. Life of Gouverneur Morris, 3 vols. Svo. 
 
 Life of Dr. Franklin, 2 vols. ISmo. Plutarch's Lives, Svo. 
 
THE BETTER COVENANT PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 By the Rev. Francis Goode. l2mo. Price 75 cents. Per 
 
 dozen, $8 00. 
 
 The Better Covenant. — This vi'ork of the Rev- Francis 
 Goode, has recently been published in this city. The best cha- 
 racteristic of the work probably is, its faithful development of 
 Scriptural truth, in language entirely appropriate to the impor- 
 tance of the subject, while it is so clear and satisfactory as to be 
 easily understood by the plainest reader. Its character in other 
 respects is well and justly expressed in the letter of Bishop 
 M'llvaine contained in the prelace. — Episcopal Recorder, (Phil.) 
 
 The Better Covenant. — We ha.ve read this work, of which 
 we had not previously heard, with great and unmingled pleasure. 
 It has reminded us of Jewel, Hopkins, Leighton, &c. of the 
 church of which he is a member, in generations gone by, as well 
 as Owen, Flavel, &c. among the non-conformists, as it unfolded 
 the choicest of matter, of sound evangelical doctrine moulded in 
 the happiest form of experience, and practice.' The author is at 
 present lecturer at Clapham, known to many as the residence of 
 Wilberforce, Thornton. and others greatly distinguished by piety 
 and philanthropy, and was formerly lecturer in the mission church 
 in Calcutta. Bishop M'llvaine, in a recommendatory letter thus 
 speaks of it: "As a book of divinity; divinity as it should be, 
 not cold, and abstract and dead, freezing the affections while it 
 exercises the intellect, but retaining the living beauty, and heart- 
 affecting interest of the revelation it proceeds from — divinity 
 adapted to the intellectual wants of the closest students of divine 
 truth, which provides the simplest, and sweetest nourishment for 
 the spiritual necessities of the humblest Christian; — As a book 
 of piactical piety, especially in regard to the display it gives of 
 the nothingness of the sinner out of Christ, and the completeness 
 of the believer in (jhrist, and its tendency to promote a spirit of 
 active, cheerful obedience, by all those motives of thankfulness, 
 love, peace, and joyful hope, which belong to the adoption of 
 sons — I know of no book of the present age more valuable. 
 Students of divinity will find it a bonk to be studied. Readers 
 of devotional writings will find it full of divine knowledge, of 
 experimental truth, and of excitements to prayer, and praise." 
 With this strong recommendation of Bishop M'llvaine, we feel 
 ourselves willing to accord. — K. Y. Christian Intelligencer. 
 
 The Better Covenant PRACTrcALLY Considered. — The 
 above is the title of a work which has recently been published 
 in this city. The author is the Rev. Francis Goode, of the Church 
 of England, an accomplished scholar, and most devout and godly 
 man. Many excellent treatises upon practical and experimental 
 religion have been issued from the press within the last few 
 years, but none that we have seen is at all to be compared with 
 this. Indeed, we think it decidedly the best book of the kind 
 we have ever read. We know of none in which the glory and 
 excellency of Christ's salvation is so clearly, fully and delight- 
 fully presented to the mind. Throughout, Christ crucified is all 
 in all to the sinner's soul. Accordingly, as it richly deserves, it 
 
is spoken of in the highest terms of commendation, by both clergy 
 and Jaity. Some of the former, believing that they could not in 
 any other way more efiectually preach the Gospel in all its free- 
 ness and richness, have even recommended it from the pulpit to 
 their congregations. 
 
 We would wish to see his book in every family in the land. 
 VVe are deeply persuaded that no Christian could rise from its 
 perusal without more enlarged and affecting views of what his 
 •Saviour had done for him, without more humility, penitence and 
 gratitude to God, and without a more fixed determination, in di- 
 vine aid, to follow on to know the ijord and to be filled with all 
 the fulness of God. — Episcopal Recorder. 
 
 Goode's Better Covenant. — We have had but little time to 
 examine this book ; but have seen enough of it to desire the op- 
 portunity of giving it an attentive perusal. It is undoubtedly a 
 good book, written by one who gives strong evidence of his own 
 personal interest in the better Covenant tlian the covenant of 
 Works. He is much of an old-fashioned divine for one of modern 
 times, who makes Christ all in all in the sinner's salvation. The 
 present edition of Goode, contains a preface and table of contents, 
 by the Rev. Herman Hooker. — Phiiadelpliian. 
 
 Goode's Better Covenant. — This volume is made up of Lec- 
 tures by the Rev. Francis Goode, a clergyman of the Church of 
 England, on portions of the 8th chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, and portions of his Epistle to the Philippians. The 
 introduction by Mr. Hooker, contains a letter of Bishop M-Ilvaine, 
 in which he expresses great satisfaction in view of the republi- 
 cation of the work in this country, and classes the author witli 
 the Bickersteths, Noels, Melvilles and Wilsons of the Church of 
 England. We have not had opportunity to read the book in 
 course, but have formed a high estimate of its intellectual and 
 evangelical excellence from the parts which have fallen under 
 our notice. — Christian Witness. 
 
 We have read this book with great pleasure. The author is a 
 clergyman of the Church of England. It is replete with practi- 
 cal thought and instruction on some of the most important doc- 
 trines of Christianity. It is a work which it gives us pleasure 
 to recommend to readers in every church, and of every class. 
 The author appears to have learned from the Bible the same 
 great truths of Christianity which strongly mark the writings of 
 John Calvin, Leigjiton and Owen. Bisliop M'llvaine sa^'s, " I 
 am truly rejoiced, that the theological literature of this country 
 is to be enriched with the addition of so excellent a work." — So. 
 Religious Ttlegruph. 
 
 Tliis volume cannot be read by the pious without sensible profit. 
 It breathes the very spirit of ardent piety, and directs continually 
 to Christ, as the only source of slrengtli and growth in grace. 
 The kind of faith here inculcated, is not a cold rational assent to 
 general propositions, but a cordial, living principle of action, the 
 exercise of which is commonly accompanied with a sweet per- 
 suasion of pardon and acceptance. Nothing animates and en- 
 courages the pious soul in its spiritual pilgrimage so much, as the 
 smiles of the great Captain of Salvation. — Bib. Rep. friaccton.