rt *
 
 ATO TUCKS or 
 
 
 // /. IMVOTJ v . \>v i v/> ,vt>\'i'.v/:\r r<> MVMIO I:\KK 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 
 WILLIAM OLIPHANT & C.
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 GEOKGE LAWSON, D.D., 
 
 SELKIRK, 
 PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY TO THE ASSOCIATE SYNOD. 
 
 WITH 
 
 GLIMPSES OF SCOTTISH CHARACTER FROM 1720 TO 1820. 
 
 REV, JOHN MACFARLANE, LL.D. 
 
 EDINBURGH : WILLIAM OLIPHANT AND CO. 
 
 LONDON : HAMILTON AND CO. 
 
 MDCCCLXII. 

 
 .HTrURAT A*D OIBB. PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
 
 TO 
 
 THE REV. PROFESSOR HARPER, D,D,, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE SURVIVING MINISTERS 
 
 OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 WHO STUDIED THEOLOGY AT THE SELKIRK HALL, 
 
 IS INSCRIBED 
 THIS HUMBLE MEMORIAL 
 
 OF 
 
 THEIR GREATLY BELOVED 
 AND JUSTLY VENERATED TUTOR. 
 
 2066053
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 ' EDINBURGH, llth May, 1848. 
 ' To the Rev. GEORGE LAWSON. 
 
 ' REV. AND DEAR SIR, It has long been a subject of deep 
 regret to us, in common, we believe, with many others, that 
 the Church and the world, after the lapse of so many years, 
 are yet unfurnished with anything like an adequate memorial 
 of the very remarkable endowments and attainments, as a 
 scholar, a Christian, a minister, and a theological tutor, of 
 your late venerated father ; and we fear that the period is 
 not distant when the supply of the deficiency will become 
 utterly impracticable. We are persuaded that such a work 
 would meet with a most welcome reception, and are so 
 impressed with the conviction that it would permanently 
 conduce to the promotion of the highest interests not only of 
 our own denomination, but of the Church of Christ in general, 
 that we would feel as if guilty of neglect of duty, did we not 
 employ the means in our power for gaining an object so 
 desirable. We naturally look to you as, in many points of 
 view, the person best qualified for executing such a work, 
 and trust that we shall not look in vain. Should, however, 
 there appear to you insurmountable obstacles in the way 
 of your undertaking it, it is our unanimous opinion that 
 measures should be adopted for prevailing on your neighbour 
 and friend, the Rev. Dr Henderson, of Galashiels, who was 
 so intimately acquainted with your father, and whose powers 
 of biographical writing have been so satisfactorily proved, to
 
 8 PREFACE. 
 
 engage in this labour of love. We are, Key. and dear Sir, 
 yours most truly, 
 
 ' WILLIAM KIDSTON, D.D. DAVID INGLIS. 
 
 JOHN JAMIESON, D.D. DAVID STEWART. 
 
 JOHN BROWN, D.D. JOHN CLAPPERTON. 
 
 ARCHIBALD BAIRD, D.D. JAMES ELLES. 
 
 JAMES HARPER, D.D. WILLIAM LEE. 
 
 WILLIAM PRINGLE, D.D. DAVID M. INGLIS. 
 
 JOHN NEWLANDS, D.D. ANDREW SCOTT. 
 
 WILLIAM JOHNSTONE, D.D. JAMES ANDERSON. 
 
 DAVID SMITH, D.D. ANDREW ELLIOTT.' 
 
 To this joint application, Mr Lawson, after considerable 
 hesitation, yielded. He commenced to write his honoured 
 father's memoir, but had only proceeded in it a few pages, 
 when he was called suddenly to his own account. Other 
 attempts were made to prevail upon Dr John Brown or Dr 
 Henderson to undertake the duty, but without success All 
 hope of a memoir of the great and good Professor was then 
 abandoned. 
 
 The history of the present effort is very simple. I was 
 walking one morning on the Well Road at Moffat, in the 
 autumn of 1859, with the Rev. Alexander Lowrie, of East 
 Calder, and the Rev. John Lawson, of Selkirk (the Profes- 
 sor's grandson and successor). The subject of the memoir 
 was broached, and, on Mr Lawson's promising to furnish 
 the family documents and other papers, I consented, perhaps 
 rashly, to undertake it. Since that time, the preparation of 
 the present volume has been, during leisure hours, my careful 
 and somewhat laborious work. I soon found out that I had 
 undertaken a Herculean task, and, oftener than once, aban- 
 doned it as impracticable. The suitable materials were scanty, 
 and had to be dug out of chaos and confusion. Dt Lawson 
 kept no diary, so that the simple story of his life has been 
 woven out of current traditions, and such letters as have
 
 PREFACE. 9 
 
 been recovered and with difficulty deciphered. From snch 
 materials, not easily collated, unconnected and loose, though 
 in themselves precious, the compilation has grown into a 
 considerable biography. Forty years ago, with living and 
 lustrous memories crowding about the mind, the work might 
 have been done with comparative ease. As it is, and with 
 every wish to make the best use of the materials at my dis- 
 posal, the reader will find in it huge chasms and wide gulfs 
 that could not be bridged over. He may expect to look 
 upon the detached and fractured columns of some great reli- 
 gious Parthenon, partly embedded beneath the sands of time, 
 partly carried off by the spirits of the just men who were its 
 high priests, and partly excavated only now by a somewhat 
 trembling and feeble hand. The book, in short, is a kind of 
 resurrectionist. It not only bids Lawson ' come forth,' but 
 other graves are opened at that call : he could not be un- 
 swathed and re-exhibited alone; his friends and associates 
 also arise to share with him in this tardy tribute to the 
 memory of departed excellence. When the reader has read 
 but a small way into this book, he will be satisfied that no 
 other arrangement could have been more agreeable to the 
 generous mind of Lawson himself. He was a man that 
 refused flattery, and, as for praise, he neither coveted nor 
 courted it. If, however, just praise was abroad at any rate, 
 he was the very man to decline it, unless enjoyed with those 
 whom he believed to be at least equally worthy of it with 
 himself. In this way I have been enabled to do slender 
 justice to some of the early worthies of the Secession Church, 
 whose names we would not willingly let die. My chief con- 
 cern, however, has been about Lawson, in the manipulation of 
 whose memorials I have felt as if I were digging up the bones 
 of some great mammoth, which must be interlaced with 
 sinews and ligaments, clothed with flesh, animated with life, 
 and moulded into characteristic likeness simply by the vitality 
 of truth being made to breathe throughout the whole. While
 
 10 PREFACE. 
 
 making the freest and fullest use of authorities, I have not 
 blemished the letterpress with many references or explana- 
 tory notes. I have much pleasure, however, in recording my 
 obligations to those students of Dr Lawsou and other friends 
 who have communicated much valuable information espe- 
 cially to the Revs. Dr M'Kerrow, Bridge of Teith ; Dr Simp- 
 son, Sanquhar; Dr Pringle, Auchterarder ; Dr M'Kelvie, 
 Balgedie ; John Johnstone, late of Glasgow ; John Lawson, 
 Selkirk ; D. M. Inglis, Stockbridge ; Thomas Adam, late of 
 Peebles ; Alexander Lovvrie, East Calder; Peter Carruthers, 
 Longtown ; W. M. Taylor, Liverpool ; John Haddiu, 
 Rothesay; and the late George Sandy, Gorebridge. 
 
 If any shall be disappointed with this work, let them be 
 consoled with the hope, that some more discriminating and 
 judicious limner may now be provoked to attempt, and 
 enabled to achieve a better. Meanwhile, I feel thankful that 
 this labour of love has been attempted by me. To have 
 done even a moiety of justice to ' George Lawson ' is worth 
 having lived for. 
 
 Appearing, as this memoir does, so soon after the auto- 
 biographies of Drs Sommerville and Carlyle, though contem- 
 plated and begun before it was known that such MSS. were 
 in existence, this Secession fragment presents a striking con- 
 trast. These autobiographies form one of the best indirect 
 justifications of the Secession of 1734. And this imperfect 
 memorial of the Secession worthies of these times, may help 
 us to perceive the more clearly our obligations to the Head 
 of the Church, for calling into being and service, at that 
 period, a band of men, and a system of means, which have 
 preserved evangelical religion in our laud. 
 
 My apology for the occasional use of the ' ego ' is, that I 
 found it the easiest and most natural way of communicating 
 certain pieces of information. 
 
 PARK GBOVE, GLASGOW, November 1861.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE, . . 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT, ... 48 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS, . . 92 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS, . . 143 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS, . 205 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE I1AI.L AM) ITS MEMORIES, . . 270
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS, . . .311 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES, . . .353 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS, . . . 397 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED, . . 443 
 
 APPENDIX, . . . .481
 
 THE LIFE OF DE LAWSON, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 
 
 FORTY-TWO YEARS have well nigh gone since GEORGE LAWSON 
 died. There has been, during that long interval, a general 
 craving for some proper record of his remarkable life ; but 
 no one has come forth to undertake it. ' There is no remem- 
 brance,' saith the Preacher, ' of the wise more than of the 
 fool ;' and of the wicked man it is said, ' His light shall be put 
 out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.' Such, however, 
 has not been the fate of his memory whose holy story is to be 
 written upon these pages. He was not a fool in any sense, 
 and no man ever lived who prayed more earnestly concerning 
 the wicked, ' My soul, come not thou into their secret : unto 
 their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united.' The ' spark 
 of his fire ' still shines. He lives in the admiring remembrances 
 of multitudes. It is still true in his case, that ' the memory 
 of the just is blessed ; ' and true this shall ever be, even though 
 this effort to embalm that memory should fail. Thirsting for 
 immortality, a heathen poet says, 'I shall not all die :' neither 
 can the ' all ' of a good man's life be eclipsed, though the dim 
 and flickering light of tradition be its solitary lamp. In the 
 case of George Lawson, ' tradition ' is nearly the total of what 
 avails us for illustrating his character. His contemporaries 
 are dead, very few of his students remain, and the number of 
 those who keep the sacred reminiscences is daily diminished.
 
 14 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Every just consideration, therefore, points to the present as 
 ' the accepted time ' for ' rendering honour to whom honour 
 is due/ As some entranced limner seizes the setting of the 
 golden sun to sketch the landscape, at that moment lighted 
 up with rays still beautiful and glowing, though fast fading 
 away as filial reverence employs the artist to portray the 
 parental face, while expressions that enshrine the past still 
 play and sparkle amid the wrinkles of age, or as the Nestor 
 of some old philosophy encircles it with the last halo of en- 
 thusiasm ere yet new theories are called to occupy the upper- 
 most seats, so would I avail myself of the ' traditions and 
 commandments ' that remain, to possess the Church with the 
 simple, but touching and instructive narrative of the life of the 
 Sage of Ettrick. That story I for the most part write as I 
 have read it out of the friendships and recollections of de- 
 ceased and surviving admirers. Dr Lawson was dead before 
 I could be interested in such matters. I may have seen him, 
 and sat on his knees, when he was wont to visit at my grand- 
 father's or father's house, but I have no recollection of it, so 
 that I cannot even say, ' Virgilium tantum vidi.' Yet I have 
 lived so much among those circles where he was most in- 
 timately known, that I sometimes feel as if I had seen and 
 known him too. Certainly none of his personal friends can 
 exceed my admiration of a character, the salient points of 
 which have been before my mind since I could think. Photo- 
 graphs taken from the living person are expected to be 
 accurate, while copies from them, though slightly indistinct, 
 may still be discernible likenesses. To the latter class this 
 sketch of life and character properly belongs. It is but a 
 copy, and even that not from the original. It reflects only 
 the tinted but truthful impressions of undying memories. 
 
 GEORGE LAWSON was born on the 13th March 1749. His 
 birthplace was Boghouse, a small farm about two miles 
 from the village of West Linton, Peeblesshire. As its name
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 15 
 
 imports, the surrounding scenery is neither beautiful nor 
 sublime. You will find there neither towering rocks, nor 
 waving forests, nor flowery meads, nor fairy dells no, not 
 even a heather-hill, the country all about is just a ' bog.' 
 Pollok conceived and elaborated his immortal poem amid 
 scenes equally bleak and uninspiring ; the ' divine dreamer ' 
 wrote his allegory in the cell of a prison ; and Milton dictated 
 ' Paradise Lost ' with sightless eye-balls. There need be no 
 wonderment, then, that George Lawson should grow up and 
 imbibe the spirit of future genius and greatness amid the 
 Boeotian regions of such a clime. Talent and worthiness 
 seem to be much more independent of external nature than 
 even poetic or abstruse temperaments. Superior minds are 
 always ascending from discouraging, if not repressive circum- 
 stances, while the luxurious and the lovely in society, in 
 nature, or in art, rarely either foster or form the inceptive 
 promises into sterling and striking characters. Be this as it 
 may, Lawson's mind was originally more susceptible of im- 
 pressions from the discipline of a Christian up-bringing, than 
 from the adjuncts of scenery, or the provocations of proximate 
 genius. He came up from the peasant tribe, the quarter 
 from which the most of our Scotch churches derive their best 
 preachers and writers. Some have traced what they are 
 pleased to call the sternness of Presbyterian polity to the 
 bleak and rugged surface of our land, the one being to some 
 extent the creature, aud bearing the complexion of the other. 
 It is not so. Our religious views and church peculiarities are 
 mainly produced from the national habit of appealing to the 
 Word of God as our sole authority for everything appertaining 
 to faith and practice, and have no more to do with physical 
 aspects and conditions than the rise and progress of Chris- 
 tianity had to do with the mountains and deserts of Palestine. 
 We are indebted for such specimens of Christian excellence 
 as Lawson's life exhibits, to that conscientious and enlightened 
 appreciation of God's Word for which ' the common people'
 
 16 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 and middling classes in Scotland have been for centuries 
 remarkable. The same thing is noticeable among the like 
 classes in England from this have sprung and prospered the 
 churches of Nonconformity. Dissenters on both sides of the 
 Tweed have, in consequence, found for themselves religious 
 instruction in a way and manner best suited to their social 
 position. Wealth and rank incline towards State-churchism, 
 and seem to prefer that, in the matter of religion, others shall 
 both think and pay for them. Apart from more sacred con- 
 siderations, the mere political aspects of this question are 
 worthy of the statesman's notice. Dissent evangelical and 
 patriotic has ' per se' done the State good service. It has 
 provided for the masses the sound religious education which 
 underlies true loyalty. Nonconformity and patriotism have 
 oftener than once in the history of our country been con- 
 vertible terms. There was much both of truth and point in 
 the reply which George III. once gave to one of the gardeners 
 at Kew. The man was a Scotchman, and a member of Dr 
 Waugh's church, Wells Street, London. The King asked 
 him whether he attended church, and where. The gardener, 
 in his reply, mentioned that Dr Waugh was in the habit of 
 praying for his Majesty every Sabbath in the public services 
 of religion. 'Indeed!' said the monarch, 'then he must 
 surely be sincere, as I do not pay him for it.' 
 
 Charles Lawson'and Margaret Noble, the parents of George 
 Lawson, had neither rank nor riches, and ran no danger of 
 incurring the satire of the lines 
 
 ' They who on noble ancestors enlarge 
 Produce their debt instead of their discharge.' 
 
 They were placed in that happy medium which is considered 
 most favourable to comfort and respectability. Charles, 
 whose ancestors had resided in the parish of Traquair, in the 
 eastern part of Tweeddale, tenanted the small farm at Bog- 
 house, and afterwards removed to another of moderate extent,
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 17 
 
 called ' Hallmyre.' These farms adjoin each other, and both 
 lie in the parish of Newlands. He carried on at the same 
 time the trade of a carpenter, which was not unusual in those 
 days, when neither the mode of farming nor the general size 
 of farms required the constant attention of the tenant. He 
 was particularly noted for his ' early rising,' being generally 
 found at work by one o'clock in the morning. This implied 
 another habit retiring to rest at an early hour. Such, 
 however, was the almost universal custom of that district, 
 and, indeed, of almost all the rural parts of Scotland ; and 
 he was not in that respect peculiar. It was the unusual hour 
 of commencing his daily employment that distinguished him 
 among his neighbours. He was known sometimes to begin 
 and complete the making of a plough ere the sun rose ; but it 
 must be recollected that the Scotch plough then was a very 
 different implement from the improved one of our day : if not 
 more simple in its construction, it was of coarse make and 
 finish, and consequently could be much more expeditiously 
 got ready for use. 
 
 Along with his wife, who was in several respects a remark- 
 able woman, and of decided piety, Charles saw it to be his duty 
 to connect himself with the Secession Church at West Linton, 
 a small village lying at the foot of the Pentland Hills on the 
 banks of the Lyne, which is a tributary of the Tweed. The 
 congregation which had been formed there by the Associate 
 Presbytery of Edinburgh assembled for some time among the 
 mountains and glens of Baddinsgill, not far from the famous 
 rock of Harbourseraig, where the Covenanters had hewn out 
 a pulpit, from which, in the days of persecution, they had 
 often preached the Gospel. Amidst these scenes, where our 
 fathers had sought refuge from the violence and bloodthirsti- 
 ness of their persecutors, the inhabitants of West Linton and 
 the surrounding country who were attached to evangelical 
 truth, upheld divine ordinances, in defiance of insult and oppres- 
 sion. At the first they were favoured with occasional visits 
 
 B
 
 18 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 from the fathers and founders of the Secession Church. The 
 famous Ralph Erskine, of Dunfermline, frequently preached 
 to them. They were regularly formed into a congregation 
 in 1737, five years after the Secession commenced; and in 1740 
 their first minister, the Rev. James Mair, was ordained. Soon 
 after this their numbers were greatly increased, and out of 
 no less than twenty-three of the adjacent parishes. They 
 were a people distinguished for theological knowledge and 
 pious zeal. With what has been called ' systematic divinity ' 
 they were familiar. They read and digested the works of 
 Owen, Manton, Baxter, and Boston, the intellectual giants of 
 a former age. and hence became so knowing and expert as to 
 be called ' living bodies of divinity.' They had the habit of 
 meeting at each others' houses on appointed evenings for the 
 purpose of religious discussions, along with devotional exer- 
 cises, when in support of their views, they quoted adroitly 
 from their favourite authors. Such meetings were sometimes 
 insensibly prolonged till the dawn of day. These, too, were 
 the days in which they travelled great distances to be present 
 at the dispensation of the Lord's Supper. On one occasion 
 thirty-two members of the Linton church went all the way to 
 Dunfermline to enjoy that ordinance. The savoury recol- 
 lections of his ministrations to them in their early history as 
 a church, would no doubt prove a strong attraction to the 
 place where Ralph Erskine dispensed with such unction the 
 word of life. 
 
 As Dr Lawson was brought up under the ministry of Mr 
 Mair, and was considerably influenced in future life by his 
 early teaching and example, it may be proper here to intro- 
 duce a few notices concerning him. By all accounts he was 
 a man of undoubted and ardent piety, which stimulated a 
 sound judgment to work well in the cause of his Divine 
 Master. He was a strict, though not what is called a ' hyper' 
 Calvinist. He organized and consolidated an excellent con- 
 gregation, and after thirty-four years of a faithful and efficient
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 19 
 
 ministry he ' fell asleep in Jesus.' ' He was frequently em- 
 ployed in private and public catechising. Every visit to Mr 
 Mair, by any of his people, especially if young, was improved 
 by him as an opportunity of questioning them on some reli- 
 gious topic. If they waited upon him to apply for member- 
 ship, or baptism to their children, or even to request him to 
 perform the marriage ceremony, they were subjected to a strict 
 and lengthened theological examination. When he examined 
 in districts of the congregation distant from the place of wor- 
 ship, his ministry was attended by his people in the district. 
 The examination generally lasted the whole day. There was 
 a forenoon examination, then an interval, and then an after- 
 noon one. When he met with instances of ignorance, as he 
 was a man of hot temper, his reproofs were often expressed 
 not in very measured terms. He was accustomed to tell 
 them that, if they did not increase in knowledge, he would 
 send them back to the "Auld Kirk" (the Church of Scotland). 
 Yet his reproofs, though often severe, were submitted to by 
 his people, so firmly did they believe that he had their spiritual 
 good at heart.' 1 Though Mr Mair seems to have been in all 
 respects a 'quadratus homo,' a sterling character, the infirmity 
 of a ' hot temper ' cleaved to him. He was not always care- 
 ful either to curb or stifle it. Dr Lawson, when a student, 
 was often exposed to its ebullitions, which may account for 
 the happy manner in which through life he imposed restraints 
 upon his own. To generate disgust in their minds against 
 drunkenness, the Spartans used to exhibit their slaves under 
 its brutifying influence. Many an excellent virtue has been 
 trained under similar influences. The calm and well-regulated 
 temper of Lawson may have been studied under the unhappy 
 hastiness of Mair. It is told that on one occasion, when the 
 student was delivering a trial discourse before the Presbytery, 
 his minister suddenly exclaimed, ' Be sententious ; come to 
 the point, man ! ' Mr Lawson was struck dumb and sat 
 1 Address by Rev. Wm. Fleming, of West Calder.
 
 20 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 down, as he could not then venture to abridge what he had 
 carefully composed. He was desired, however, by the Pres- 
 bytery to proceed, while Mr Pattisou, of Edinburgh, remarked 
 that ' they would be very happy to hear such another dis- 
 course from Mr Mair himself.' At another time, Mr Lawson 
 had delivered what is called ' a critical discourse,' upon which 
 Mr Mair animadverted with undue severity, especially upon 
 the plan or method which had been adopted. In his defence, 
 a member of Presbytery observed, that such was the very 
 plan recommended by the Professor, Mr Brown, of Had- 
 dington. ' Do not tell me that,' replied Mr Mair ; ' that is 
 not the Gospel way of it. Mr Brown had no college lair ; 
 and as for George Lawson, he just wants to be singular that 
 he may get himself a name.' Mr Mair had a man-servant, 
 and they had frequent bickerings. At last the man resolved 
 to quit Mr Mair's service, and told him so. ' Hout, man,' 
 said the minister, 'what's making you think of that ? ' ' 'Deed, 
 sir,' was the reply, ' to tell you the even down truth, your 
 temper is so bad that I cannot bear it any longer.' ' Fie, man,' 
 rejoined Mr Mair, ' I am sure you ken that it is nae sooner on 
 than it's off again.' ' Weel a wat,' replied the servant, 'that's 
 true ; but then the evil is, that it's nae sooner off than it's on 
 again.' But the most affecting instance of this unhappy 
 temperament ends so touchingly, and so much to his credit, 
 as to justify our giving it a place. The Rev. William Kidston, 
 of Stow, had come to Linton to assist Mr Mair at the dis- 
 pensation of the Supper, and was most cordially welcomed. 
 He had not been long in the house when some unseemly ex- 
 plosion on Mr Mair's part took place ; and this was succeeded 
 by similar outbursts, so sudden, sharp, and causeless, as 
 greatly to surprise the Stow minister. Mr Kidston, indeed, 
 determined to leave the house and return home next morning. 
 He retired to his apartment for the night. He was awakened 
 by hearing a low, solemn, continued voice, as if from one in 
 prayer. He listened. Houses were not then so compactly
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 21 
 
 built as now, and good men were probably more given to pray 
 audibly. The voice was Mr Mair's. He was confessing 
 and bitterly lamenting before God his sins, and particularly 
 those of the preceding evening. He especially lamented the 
 stumblingblock he must have cast in the way of his young 
 brother ; besought God that he might not mar his brother's 
 edification and comfort ; and that he himself might have 
 grace to be more on his guard while the stranger was with 
 him, and at all times. Though a man of great firmness, and 
 not much given to the melting mood, Mr Kidston was so over- 
 come as to lay aside all thoughts of leaving Linton. He 
 remained and assisted with comfort. The late Dr Kidston, in 
 telling this incident, repeated his father's words when advert- 
 ing to it : ' The good man was dissolved into tears. I too 
 shed tears when I thought of the deep contrition which had 
 been so speedily discovered ; for, if I had been in such a 
 passion, it would have been a day before I could have prayed 
 as he did. His outbreak and his prayer made me like him all 
 the better.' 
 
 There was what is usually called ' a character ' in this 
 worthy man's congregation, who not unfreqnently tried a 
 temper so very irritable. His name was Walter Jackson. He 
 was a 'Sir Oracle' of his kind ; and to his opinions, especially 
 of the ministers' sermons, the people looked with considerable 
 interest. He was, however, as such characters generally are, 
 an unjustly severe critic, his taste being rather to find fault 
 than to commend. He manifested his mind of the preacher 
 by his attitudes in the pew. When pleased, which was seldom, 
 he sat erect and looked the preacher in the face ; when dis- 
 satisfied, he gradually turned round till his back was towards 
 the pulpit. The late Dr Husband, of Dunfermline, was a 
 popular preacher. His fame had reached West Lintou ; the 
 people were on the tiptoe of expectation ; and when he did 
 come and preach, they were all delighted ; but they ' held 
 their peace ' till Walter's judgment was known. He listened
 
 22 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 attentively for a while, but, to the surprise of the congregation, 
 he gradually turned his back upon him. The Doctor himself 
 noticed it, and afterwards facetiously remarked, that the 
 man's behaviour told that in his estimation 'the preaching 
 was no great thing, and that, after all, there was in it a great 
 deal more whistling than rod-land.' The prayers of even 
 godly men at that time were very long and heavy, compre- 
 hending sometimes a system of divinity. Jackson was no- 
 torious for length. He was attending a funeral at Hallmyre. 
 The company had assembled in the barn to get some refresh- 
 ment, and, having partaken, he was asked to return thanks. 
 He commenced in right good earnest with the fall of Adam, 
 and was going down from one great Bible doctrine to another, 
 till patience was exhausted. Significant looks passed among 
 the mourners ; one by one they deserted the barn, and the 
 funeral procession started for Newlands churchyard. When 
 Walter came to a close, and opened his eyes, he found him- 
 self alone, and on inquiry discovered that the procession was 
 fully a mile on its way. His conceited soul was chafed. 
 
 By means of a small patrimony, as well as by industrious 
 and frugal habits, Charles Lawson brought up in comfort a 
 family of six sons and two daughters. He enjoyed a high 
 reputation for intelligence, prudence, piety, and activity, and 
 was chosen and ordained to the office of the ruling eldership 
 an office which he held with unimpeached character till his 
 death. Two of his sons studied for the ministry, George, 
 the eldest, and John, the second of the family. The latter, 
 however, was thrown into delicate health by a fever, and re- 
 linquished his studies. He seems to have been a young man 
 of piety and promise, and was often remembered by his elder 
 brother with sincere regret. There is but one relic of this 
 interesting lad, which some will feel to be alike curious and 
 suggestive as an illustration of manners in those days. We 
 refer to an extract from a letter of his to his brother George. 
 Its date, and the circumstances to which it refers, are some
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 23 
 
 years posterior to Lawson's settlement in Selkirk, but this 
 seems the proper place for inserting it : 
 
 ' HALLMYKE, March 28, 1774. 
 
 ' DEAR BROTHER, I am in no better a state of health than 
 when you left this place, notwithstanding of having applied 
 to Mr Reid, of Peebles. Some of the rest of our folks are 
 but in an indifferent state of health at this time also ; but 
 we must be submissive to God's will of providence concern- 
 ing us. 
 
 ' I went on Wednesday to the auction of Mr Mair's library ; 
 and after a sermon by Mr Brown, he and John Mossman 
 cried by turns. I bought for you Hopkins' works at seven 
 shillings, and Boston's three volumes on the Catechism at 
 nine and sixpence. 1 The books, for the most part, sold above 
 value. Mr John Scott bought Manton's works at one 
 pound ; but then they wanted the half of the second volume, 
 and some of the volumes were hi a bad order. I bought a 
 folio copy of Jenkin on Jude, not very good in case, at five 
 and sixpence. From your loving brother, 
 
 ' JOHN LAWSON. 
 
 P.S. Mr Scott bought also Poole's Synopsis, about one 
 guinea.' 
 
 In this letter we have a curious picture. It must have 
 been customary then, or there, to precede an auction of 
 books, especially of a minister's books, by a sermon. The 
 minister present must also have taken a share in | crying,' or 
 managing the sale. The Mr Brown that on this occasion 
 ' cried ' with John Mossman, is very likely to have been the 
 celebrated Professor in Haddington. 
 
 George Lawson, the subject of this memoir, seems from 
 his childhood to have manifested not a few of those peculi- 
 arities for which in after life he became remarkable. He 
 1 These books are still in Dr Lawson's library at Selkirk.
 
 24 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 was somewhat infirm in bodily constitution, and was there- 
 fore an object of unusual parental care. Disappointed in 
 their wishes with regard to John, they were the more 
 anxious (as many Scotch parents in similar circumstances 
 have been, are now, and, it is hoped, will long continue to be) 
 to have at least one of their sons a minister of the New 
 Testament. At an early period of life, George had been 
 seized with small-pox of a very malignant character. In his 
 case it was expected to be fatal. Having dedicated him to 
 God in baptism, Charles Lawson and his wife were now pre- 
 pared to surrender him in death. All hope of recovery for 
 a time had gone, and the bitterness of realizing a first 
 bereavement was well nigh over, when it pleased God to 
 answer their prayers and restore their son, as if from the 
 dead. "We see now for what reason this mercy was granted 
 not for their joy alone, but for the glory of God and the 
 edification of the Church. The disease, however, left upon 
 him obvious marks of its severity, together with a weakness 
 in his eyes from which he never fully recovered, and which 
 frequently rendered it difficult and painful, in some instances 
 impossible, for him either to read or to write. In other re- 
 spects he acquired, and long retained, a comfortable measure 
 of health. The affliction, however, in his eyes was a con- 
 tinual remembrancer to him of what God in his childhood had 
 wrought for him. It was, moreover, a kind of ' thorn in the 
 flesh ' left, ' lest he should be exalted above measure through 
 the abundance of the revelations ;' and often disposed him 
 to moralize on the subject, both for his own and the good of 
 others. Many years after, he wrote a most interesting letter 
 upon the subject to a friend similarly afflicted. This most 
 apostolic document was printed after his death in the deno- 
 minational Magazine. 
 
 The discrimination of Charles Lawson, and the partiality 
 of his wife, were not slow to accord to their son the pre- 
 ference which his precocity claimed. It was quite apparent
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 25 
 
 that the boy was, according to the parlance of these days, 
 ' out of the ordinary.' His thirst for knowledge was intense ; 
 his capacity for receiving it was great ; his diligence and ap- 
 plication were unremitting. At the same time, he evinced 
 a total indifference, or rather an utter aversion, to any me- 
 chanical employment or trade. If he could not have his 
 books, he at once manifested disaffection. He indicated 
 little or no aptitude for occupations generally assigned to 
 boys residing on a farm, of which the following is a some- 
 what amusing instance. He had been sent on one occasion 
 by his father to Goldie's Mill, about a mile from Hallmyre, 
 with a sack of grain, to be ground into meal for the family, 
 as was then customary. The sack was laid upon a horse, 
 which George was instructed to lead by a halter. He pro- 
 ceeded along the road, never doubting that the animal was 
 following him, but all the while poring over the pages of a 
 book, or pursuing some train of thought. The horse, how- 
 ever, had contrived to free himself from the halter, and George 
 arrived at the mill without either horse or sack, to the aston- 
 ishment of the worthy miller, who predicted that much good 
 could never come of a youth so thoughtless alike of man and 
 beast. The horse was found quietly grazing by the wayside, 
 not far from his father's house. 
 
 On another occasion he was sent to fasten a cow with 
 what was called a ' tether,' in a field of grass. There was 
 an unfenced field of growing corn quite adjacent, and George 
 was ordered so to ' tether ' the cow as to keep it clear of the 
 corn. According to the old proverb, ' one can only go the 
 length of his tether.' It did not occur to him, however, that 
 the animal could ' complete the circle.' He thrust down the 
 tether-stick into the pasture ground, but on the very edge 
 of the corn-field. The cow preferred the more substantial 
 article ; and while the herd was devouring his book, she 
 devoured the grain. 
 
 These little incidents are given simply as early specimens
 
 26 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 of that absence of mind about worldly matters, of which he 
 never could entirely divest himself. It may be proper here 
 to notice, that some alleged specimens of a similar or of a 
 more glaring kind have been greatly exaggerated in the 
 report, while others are entirely false. It was quite clear, 
 however, that his nature was alike indisposed and incapaci- 
 tated for minute attention to merely secular matters ; and 
 his parents had the good sense to consult this peculiarity, 
 and afford him all proper opportunity for gratifying his thirst 
 after knowledge. Previous to their deciding the weighty 
 matter of his future in life, Charles Lawson and his wife con- 
 sidered it respectful to their minister to take him into their 
 counsels, and be guided by his superior wisdom. They, 
 accordingly, one day got their son put in order, and took 
 him with them to the manse. Mr Mair listened with ap- 
 parent interest to their views and proposals as to their getting 
 a tutor for him, and thereafter sending him to college. 
 George himself, somewhat abashed in such a presence, had 
 edged himself into the window recess, and, whether from 
 absence of mind or affected indifference, occupied himself by 
 writing with his finger upon one of the panes of glass. He 
 was, however, suddenly called to his senses by hearing Mr 
 Mair, in a rather angry tone, thus address his father : ' I tell 
 thee, man, he has no mother-wit. If a man want lair, he may 
 get that ; and if he want riches, he may get them ; and even 
 if he want grace, he may get it ; but if a man want common 
 sense, I tell thee, man, he will never get that.' It is just to 
 Mr Mair to add, that it was not long after this before he 
 discerned the precocity and attainments of young Lawson, 
 and took great pleasure in leading and pressing him forward 
 in his education. Such encouragement was needed during 
 his whole curriculum ; for, though of pregnant genius, dili- 
 gent application, and rare advancement in literary, philoso- 
 phical, and theological studies, he alone seemed unaware of 
 it all, and would have held back in his course but for the
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 27 
 
 stimuli employed upon him by others. Nothing was lacking 
 either on the part of his parents. They educated him ac- 
 cording to their circumstances ; and his progress was alike 
 easy and rapid. 
 
 The late Rev. John Johnstone, of Ecclefechan, was for a 
 time classical tutor to George Lawson ; and fortunate, indeed, 
 for the future scholar was it that such a teacher was then at 
 West Linton. Mr Johnstone laid the foundations in young 
 Lawson's mind of that mass of learning which has made him 
 a wonder to many. He was a student of theology under 
 Professor Brown, of Haddington, and occupied his time dur- 
 ing the recess by teaching. He was an excellent scholar, 
 and in every respect well qualified to elevate the classical 
 tastes of his pupil, and to give them a direction towards those 
 sacred offices upon which, in after life, they were to be em- 
 ployed. It is due to the memory of this most excellent man, 
 that we embalm it thus in the biography of his distinguished 
 pupil. Dr Lawson invariably spoke of him in terms of almost 
 enthusiastic veneratiou ; and not unfrequently, in his lectures 
 at the Selkirk Hall, was this early teacher referred to as one 
 of the most accomplished of men, and one of the best speci- 
 mens of a Christian minister. The late Dr Beattie, of Glas- 
 gow, who was a native of Ecclefechan, and brought up under 
 Mr Johnstone's ministry, often spoke of him in similar 
 terms ; and to some it may be perhaps more interesting to 
 be told, that one of the most remarkable writers of the day, 
 Thomas Carlyle, was also born and brought up in early life 
 under the ministry of the Secession minister of Ecclefechan. 
 It is not the least creditable specimen of Mr Carlyle's good 
 sense and good feeling, that he still remembers the guide and 
 instructor of his youth. We have heard that he has oftener 
 than once declared, ' I have seen many capped and equipped 
 bishops, and other episcopal dignitaries ; but I have never 
 seen one who more beautifully combined in himself the Chris- 
 tian and the Christian gentleman than did Mr Johnstone.'
 
 28 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 This is gratifying testimony. It prompts the prayer, that 
 ere life's fitful fever is past, the memories of that Gospel which 
 he heard from his honoured Scotch pastor may return with 
 mighty and merciful effect upon a mind, sometimes erring, 
 but ever, we fondly hope, steadily going onward and upward 
 to its God and Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Mr 
 Johnstone was for fifty-two years the minister of Ecclefechan 
 Secession Church, and died in 1812, eighty-two years of age. 
 ' Endowed with strong natural talents (says the epitaph on 
 his monument), which were cultivated by a liberal education, 
 and sanctified by divine influence, he was as a scholar respect- 
 able, as a theologian learned, and as a minister able, faithful, 
 and laborious. His unaffected piety, unspotted morals, 
 habitual cheerfulness, and dignified manners awed the vicious, 
 edified the saints, and excited a sentiment of universal esteem 
 and veneration. Having, through the course of a long 
 ministry, fully declared the whole counsel of God, and strik- 
 ingly exemplified its holy and elevating influence on his temper 
 and conduct, he closed a life of useful labour by a death full 
 of comfort and hope.' It remains to be told, that when Mr 
 Johnstone completed his theological term, he left to undergo 
 trials for license, and consequently did not resume his voca- 
 tion at West Linton. Thus preceptor and pupil were parted ; 
 and with mutual regret. It is said that the whole family of 
 Lawsons were afflicted, and that young George especially 
 wept for days thereafter. Many years afterwards, and when 
 his pupil had been elevated to the Chair of Divinity, the 
 Ecclefechan minister sent his son to the Selkirk Hall. 1 When 
 the youth presented the usual certificate from his father as 
 moderator of the session, Dr Lawson shook him kindly by 
 the hand, saying, ' There is a woe, -my young man, pro- 
 nounced against your father.' The son looked somewhat 
 
 1 Afterwards the Eev. John Johnstone, first of St Andrews, and 
 latterly of Glasgow, the only surviving son and the inheritor of many 
 of the gifts and graces of his father.
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 29 
 
 surprised ; bat the Professor put all right by adding, ' All 
 men speak well of him.' 
 
 The time came when the boy-stndent at Hallmyre must 
 quit, for the first time, the parental roof. He was now ready 
 for college, and was matriculated at fifteen years of age as 
 an alumnus of the University of Edinburgh. The University 
 at that period was under the principalship of the celebrated 
 historian, Dr Robertson. During the preliminary sessions, 
 he attended Professors George Stewart for Humanity, Hunter 
 for Greek, Stevenson for Logic, Mathew Stewart for Mathe- 
 matics, Ferguson for Moral Philosophy, Russell for Natural 
 Philosophy, and James Robertson, the author of the ' Clavis,' 
 for Hebrew. He made good use of his opportunities, being 
 a diligent and successful, if not a distinguished student. He 
 returned to his humble home in Peeblesshire during each 
 recess, employing his time in diligent preparation for the 
 following session. Life in Edinburgh was to him nothing 
 more than a continuation of his intellectual labours and re- 
 searches in the retirement of the farm-house. He mingled 
 very little with society, and indulged in none of the amuse- 
 ments or frolics which have sometimes made student-life in 
 the city a sad caricature, if not sometimes a disastrous 
 tragedy. The grace of God, that had been given to him in 
 childhood, encompassed him as a shield, and carried him com- 
 paratively innocent through an ordeal equally trying to genius 
 and piety. It is sad to think of the number of hopeful youths, 
 especially of such as come from the holier shelters of rural 
 life into the city, who regularly fall victims to the seductions 
 which meet them on every side. On the shores of the aca- 
 demic curriculum may be seen the blanched bones of many 
 young and promising hopes, which, under happier stars, might 
 have been beautifully developed into every variety of useful 
 and Christian life. When we think of the exceeding simpli- 
 city and unsuspecting nature of Lawson, we marvel that he 
 rode out that first voyage of worldly experience so skilfully
 
 30 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 and so unharmed. No doubt he owed much of his safety to 
 the holy training and example of his patriarchal home, but 
 above all to the influence of godly principles, and the suf- 
 ficiency of godly grace. 
 
 From his studious and retiring habits, George made but 
 few acquaintances and still fewer friendships at college ; but 
 such as he did form were of a choice description. Some of 
 these are too famous to be overlooked in this sketch of his 
 life, and others of them must occupy such a prominent place in 
 it as to warrant our assignment to them of special notices. We 
 refer, among others, to Michael Bruce, William Dryburgh, 
 John Logan, George Henderson, David Greig, and Andrew 
 Swanston. 
 
 MICHAEL BRUCE has been long and favourably known as 
 the poet of Lochleven, and the author of a few of the most 
 beautiful lyrics in our language, especially the ' Ode to 
 Spring,' and the ' Hymn to the Cuckoo.' ' I have often ' 
 (writes one of Dr Lawson's daughters) ' heard my father refer 
 to Bruce. Indeed, his early days and youthful associates 
 were subjects in which he took great delight. He cherished 
 the memory of Bruce with the deepest veneration and ardent 
 affection, on account of his fervent piety, amiable disposition, 
 and true genius.' He was born at Kinnesswood, a small 
 village in the parish of Portmoak, of which the celebrated 
 Ebenezer Erskine was minister previous to his translation to 
 Stirling. For Michael's as well as for Ebenezer's sake, many 
 visit this village and its churchyard, which are situated on the 
 north-east banks of Lochleven amid the sunny slopes of the 
 Lomond Hills. The thatched cottage in which the poet was 
 bom still remains. His parents were very poor, and had to 
 hire out their children to herd cattle on the Lomond Hills. 
 For six successive summers was the young poet thus employed. 
 On these hills, however, he did more than feed the flocks of 
 others : he fed his own ardent mind with the ideas of sub-
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 31 
 
 limity and beauty which the grandeur of the surrounding 
 scenery called forth, even thus early he looked round on 
 nature and on life with the eye which nature bestows only on 
 a poet. Dr Mackelvie, his accomplished biographer, says 
 that ' his poem on " Lochleven " is wholly made up of these 
 reminiscences, and ought to be regarded by the reader as the 
 impressions of the shepherd-boy clothed in the language of 
 the student and of the scholar.' By the use of such means as 
 he could command, he studied hard, and actually qualified 
 himself for entering the college at an unusually early period 
 of life. At this juncture his father received intimation that 
 he had fallen heir to a small legacy of 200 merks Scots. 1 It 
 was at once determined to send Bruce to Edinburgh, where, 
 by dint of saving and borrowing, his father was enabled to 
 keep him till he finished the required sessions. The following 
 extract from one of his letters proves that he was often in 
 most straitened circumstances : ' I daily meet with proofs 
 that money is a necessary evil. When in an auction, I often 
 say to myself, How happy should I be if I had money to 
 purchase such a book ! How well should my library be fur- 
 nished, " nisi obstat res angusta domi ! " 
 
 " My lot forbids, nor circumscribes alone 
 My growing virtues, but my crimes confine." 
 
 Whether any virtues would have accompanied me in a more 
 elevated station is uncertain ; but that a number of vices, of 
 which my sphere is incapable, would have been its attend- 
 ants, is unquestionable.' Having left college, Bruce became 
 a teacher at Gairney Bridge, near Kinross, the place where 
 the four ministers that seceded from the Church of Scotland 
 in 1732 met and formed themselves into the first Associate 
 Presbytery. To assist his finances, he here determined' to 
 publish a volume of his poems, but declining health prevented 
 him. His friend Lawson had heard of his purpose, and thus 
 alludes to it in a letter which he wrote to him from Boghouse 
 
 1 About L.ll, 2s. 2fd.
 
 32 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 in February 1766 : ' Pray inform me when Mr Swanston 
 proposes to begin his coarse of lectures, and whether you 
 design to attend them. I would have been glad to have 
 seen your criticism on Moir's pamphlet, or some of your new 
 compositions, unless so large that they cannot be conveyed.' Having 
 attended one session at the Divinity Hall in Kinross, Bruce 
 removed to another school, fifteen miles to the west of that 
 town. The place was called Forrest Mill. There was 
 nothing here attractive in the scenes of nature. He conse- 
 quently fell back upon his memories of Lochleven, and com- 
 posed the poem of that name, which is so much admired by 
 the lovers of a poet's holiest and sweetest musings. By this 
 time consumption had begun its ravages in his frail body, 
 which compelled him to return home. The hope of recovery 
 soon died within him, as is but too mournfully indicated iu 
 these lines from his matchless lyric, the ' Ode to Spring .- ' 
 
 ' Now Spring returns, but not to me returns 
 
 The vernal joy my better years have known ; 
 Dim in my breast life's dying taper burns, 
 And all the joys of life with health are flown. 
 
 ' Starting and shivering in the inconstant wind, 
 
 Meagre and pale, the ghost of what I was ; 
 Beneath some blasted tree I lie reclined, 
 
 And count the silent moments as they pass 
 
 ' The winged moments, whose unstaying speed 
 
 No art can stop, or in their course arrest ; 
 Whose flight shall shortly count me with the dead, 
 And lay me down in peace with those that rest.' 
 
 About this time he received a visit from his friend Lawson. 
 He was in bed, ' his countenance pale as death, while his eyes 
 shone like lamps in a sepulchre.' The interview was short 
 but deeply affecting, as their souls had been knit to one 
 another in love. 
 
 ' I am happy to see you so cheerful,' said Lawson.
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 33 
 
 ' Why should not a man be cheerful on the verge of 
 heaven?' said the dying poet. 
 
 ' But,' said Lawson, ' you look so emaciated, I ain afraid 
 you cannot last long.' 
 
 ' You remind me,' was the reply, 'of the story of the sailor 
 whose ship was wrecked, and who, when told that the vessel 
 was sinking, replied, " Let it sink, it is not mine." I say with 
 the sailor, Let my body fall, it is not mine.' 
 
 Very soon after this he died, in the twenty-first year of his 
 age. His Bible was found upon his pillow, marked down at 
 Jeremiah xxii. 10, ' Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan 
 him ; ' and on the blank leaf this verse was written, 
 
 ' Tis very vain for me to boast 
 How small a price my Bible cost : 
 The Day of Judgment will make clear 
 'Twas very cheap, or very dear.' 
 
 An edition of his poems was soon afterwards published, but 
 justice was never done to this truly amiable youth till his life 
 was written and his fine poetic genius was described by Dr 
 Mackelvie of Balgedie. The above notices are taken from that 
 touching and elegant work, wherein also will be found a most 
 successful and masterly defence of Bruce against the pilferiugs 
 of Logan. 1 
 
 Of WILLIAM DRTBURGH Dr Mackelv^e has thus beautifully 
 written : 'Like Bruce, he was a youth of extraordinary piety, 
 and, alas ! like him also, a youth of consumptive habit. Both 
 of them had a presentiment that they were to drop into a pre- 
 mature grave ; and the probable brevity of their mortal ex- 
 istence, and their delightful hopes of a glorious immortality, 
 were the frequent subjects of their conversation and corre- 
 spondence. As pilgrims, soon to make their exit from this 
 
 1 See Lochleven and other Poems, by Michael Bruce ; with a Life of 
 the Author from original sources, by the Rev. Wm. Mackelvie, D.D. 
 1837. 
 
 C
 
 34 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 world, and as heirs together of the grace of life, they were 
 drawn towards each other by sympathies and regards such as 
 none but .pious minds can feel. Their presentiment was con- 
 firmed by the events : Dryburgh died in his eighteenth year, 
 and Bruce followed him to the grave in less than a year after. 
 How keenly our poet felt the death of his friend, is evinced 
 by a letter which he addressed to Pearson upon receiving 
 the intelligence of the event. ' I have not many friends,' says 
 he, ' but I love them well. Death has been among the few I 
 have ; poor Dryburgh ! but he is happy. I expected to have 
 been his companion through life, and that we should have 
 stepped into the grave together ; but Heaven has seen meet to 
 dispose of him otherwise. What think you of this world? 
 I think it very little worth. You and I have not a great 
 deal to make us fond of it ; and yet, I would not exchange 
 my condition with any unfeeling fool in the universe, if I were 
 to have his dull hard heart into the bargain. Farewell, my 
 rival in immortal hope ! my companion, I trust, for eternity ! 
 Though far distant, I take thee to my heart ; souls suffer no 
 separation from the obstruction of matter or distance of place. 
 Oceans may roll between us, and ch'mates interpose in vain 
 the whole material creation is no bar to the winged mind. 
 Farewell ! through boundless ages fare thee well. Mayest 
 thou shine when the sun is darkened! Mayest thou live in 
 triumph when time expires. It is at least possible we may 
 meet no more in this foreign land, this gloomy apartment 
 in the universe of God ; but there is a better world, in which 
 we may meet to part no more. Adieu.' 
 
 JOHN LOGAN was only for a short period the associate of 
 Lawson and his friends during their studies in Edinburgh. 
 Having become tutor in Sir John Sinclair's family by the 
 recommendation of Dr Blair, the Professor of Rhetoric in the 
 University, he manifested symptoms of backsliding, and in the 
 end joined the Established Church. He became the minister
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 35 
 
 of the second charge of South Leith, which, after twelve years, 
 he resigned, retired to London, and died in 1 788. In a letter 
 from one of the Selkirk family to Dr Mackelvie it is said, 
 ' Logan was one of my father's companions at college ; but, 
 so far from encouraging an intimacy with him, he rather kept 
 aloof from him. Though a man of true genius, his fellow - 
 students did not look upon him as an exemplary or religious 
 character.' For a time, it seems he had exercised an undue 
 influence over Bruce and Lawson, when intimate intercourse 
 was broken up by a simple circumstance. Logan had induced 
 them to accompany him iu a walk into the country on a 
 Sabbath afternoon, and, to amuse himself, commenced to 
 throw stones at the walls or trees which skirted the highway. 
 They remonstrated in vain. After this they seldom met. 
 When the elder Bruce decided to publish his son's poems, he 
 went to Leith and entrusted the precious manuscripts with 
 Logan, who undertook to edit the volume. Dr Mackelvie has 
 proved that several poems, afterwards published by Logan 
 as his own, were Bruce's ; and especially some of the most 
 beautiful of the paraphrases of Scripture which are sung in 
 public worship by the Scottish churches, and which Logan 
 had submitted to the General Assembly as his own com- 
 position. 1 
 
 \ 
 GEORGE HENDERSON was the son of the proprietor of Tnrf- 
 
 hills (an estate near Kinross). He and Lawson were fellow- 
 students all through their classical and theological career. 
 Their friendship was ardent and uninterrupted. Soon after 
 his license, Mr Henderson was called and ordained to be the 
 assistant and successor of the Rev. Mr Fisher, of Glasgow, 
 one of ' the four' seceding fathers, and whose Catechism has 
 preserved his name and memory in all the gates of the Church. 
 This promising young minister, like the other companions of 
 Lawson, was soon and suddenly cut off iu the midst of his 
 1 Paraphrases 8th llth, and 18th.
 
 36 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 usefulness. He preached in his usual health on Sabbath, and 
 died on the Thursday following, in the thirty-sixth year of 
 his age and fourteenth of his ministry. It is to him that 
 Bruce alludes in these lines : 
 
 ' Nor shall the muse forget thy friendly heart, 
 
 Laelius ! partner of my youthful hours. 
 . How often, rising from the bed of peace, 
 
 We would walk forth to meet the summer morn, 
 
 Inhaling health and harmony of mind ; 
 
 Philosophers and friends ; while science beamed 
 
 With ray divine, as lovely on our minds 
 
 As yonder orient sun, whose welcome light 
 
 Kevealed the vernal landscape to the view. 
 
 Yet, oft unbending from more serious thought, 
 
 Much of the looser follies of mankind, 
 
 Humorous and gay, we'd talk, and much would laugh ; 
 
 While ever and anon, their foibles vain 
 
 Imagination offered to our view.' 
 
 Of DAVID GREIG and ANDREW SWANSTON, the two best 
 beloved of young Lawson's early companions, we shall have 
 to speak frequently, and at some length, in future pages. 
 We therefore pass on in our narrative with this single remark, 
 that these college friendships were never forgotten by him ; 
 their memories and influences remained upon him through life ; 
 and with one of them especially David Greig he maintained 
 for more than fifty years the closest and most endearing fel- 
 lowship. Our youthful companionships bulk largely in our 
 education. They are indeed elements for good or evil in the 
 formative period, and have in many instances decided both 
 the moral and mental future of the man. They may not be 
 ' wiser than all our teachers,' but they often speak with more 
 authority. It is said that sometimes the boy is father to the 
 man the companions of the boy very often are they make 
 him. So true is this, that in many cases you may forecast 
 the horologue of a youth from the associates whom he prefers. 
 In their manifestation of character you see the bias of his
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 
 
 own ; while in the influences they exert upon him you see 
 what for him are to be the powers of the world about to be 
 entered. As we proceed with the life of George Lawson, it 
 will become apparent that in Bruce, Henderson, Swanston, 
 and Greig, he found congenial spirits they were alike in 
 literary and religious tastes. With no pretension to poetic 
 genius, Lawson had a soul that lifted itself up to the sublime 
 and beautiful, whether in the regions of thought or of nature. 
 He could not have written the ' Hymn to the Cuckoo,' or the 
 ' Ode to Spring,' but he had a most sympathetic appreciation 
 of their poetic excellence ; and that love of retirement, when 
 the beauties of nature lead the soul to nature's God, was as 
 strong an ingredient in him as in the gifted bard of Lochleveu. 
 In his attachment to Greig especially, we shall perceive Law- 
 son's harmony with the deep and holy musings of a grave 
 theologian, and the blissful outgoings of as warm a heart as 
 ever beat in man. From his earliest days Greig was serious 
 in his religious studies, and in earnest applied himself to be- 
 come a ' workman that needeth not to be ashamed.' Hence 
 sprung up between them a love a friendship like that of 
 Jonathan to David ; and hence also their joint separation from 
 Logan when they discovered his levity, if not his irreligion. 
 
 The time had now come when Lawson must bid adieu to 
 college life, and enter upon the more solid and still more im- 
 portant study of theology. Having fulfilled his sessions at 
 Edinburgh, he was examined by his Presbytery, found quali- 
 fied, and certificated to the Divinity Hall in the autumn of 
 1766. 
 
 The Hall at that period was under the Professorship of 
 the Rev. John Swanston, of Kinross. Mr Fisher, his prede- 
 cessor in the Chair, had about two years before that resigned 
 his office, after having presided over the seminary for fifteen 
 years. The choice of Mr Swauston by the Synod is proof of 
 the high estimate in which his classical and theological attain- 
 ments were held. The text-book of his class was the Medulla
 
 38 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 of Mark, and his lectures embraced the entire subjects of 
 orthodox divinity. He was much loved and respected by his 
 students, and was almost idolized by his congregation. 
 ' Mr Swanston,' said one of them, ' is almost like a god 
 amongst us.' Scarcely, however, had he got his prelections 
 on theology into something like method and order, when he 
 was suddenly cut down by the stroke of death. He had 
 gone to assist at the dispensation of the Lord's Supper in 
 Perth, where he was seized by violent and rapid inflamma- 
 tion, and died before he could be removed to his own house. 
 Death, however, did not take him by surprise. He had not 
 a Saviour to seek in that last and awful hour ; from his 
 earliest days he had ' found Him, of whom Moses in the law 
 and the prophets did write.' Just before he expired he said, 
 ' I believe that, through the grace of our Lord Jesus, I shall 
 be saved. I shall not die, but live in the highest sense, and 
 hope to declare the works of the Lord eternally.' His latest 
 words were, ' I would not now return to life for ten thousand 
 worlds ; for, though my heart and my flesh fail me, God is 
 the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.' He fell 
 asleep in Jesus in the forty-sixth year of his age, the nine- 
 teenth of his ministry, and the third year of his professor- 
 ship. A worthy witness thus testifies concerning him : ' He 
 was possessed of singular natural parts ; being furnished 
 with a quick discernment, great strength of memory and 
 judgment, and with rich invention. Such was his modesty, 
 that on every occasion he rather concealed than showed his 
 abilities, unless when necessarily engaged in the defence of 
 truth.' The only work he has left is a posthumous volume 
 of sermons, edited by the Rev. John Smith, of Dunfermline. 
 These sermons are of high merit ; too multifarious, perhaps, 
 in their divisions, as most of the sermons of that day were, but 
 abounding in savoury and massive truths, and with not a few 
 specimens of fanciful and ingenious illustration. 
 
 When George Lawson entered the Hall at Kinross, this
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 39 
 
 excellent man was in the third and last year of his professor- 
 ship. Still, though he only enjoyed that one session of his 
 first theological tutor, he carried the remembrance of it to 
 liis grave. It was under Swanston that he received his first 
 impulses to the study of the deep things of God ; and it 
 was at Kinross that he confirmed some of those valuable 
 friendships which, we doubt not, have survived death. In 
 many ways his residence on the banks of Lochleven was 
 propitious to him. The scenery formed a fine contrast to 
 that of Boghouse ; and the associations of the locality with 
 the misfortunes of Queen Mary on the one hand, and the rise 
 and progress of the Church he loved on the other, were re- 
 freshing and suggestive to a mind now beginning to think 
 and decide for itself on all important subjects, secular and 
 sacred. Amid the ruins 
 
 ' Of Lochleven Castle, famous once, 
 The abode of heroes of the Bruce's line,' 
 
 he could meditate on the crimes and sorrows of queens and 
 potentates, and turn them, as he did, to good account in the 
 future lessons of the Christian ministry ; while his visits to 
 the neighbouring hamlet of Gairney Bridge would strengthen 
 his attachments to the noble cause which was there accom- 
 plished and consecrated by the sacrifices, the prayers, the 
 judgment, and the faith of our fathers. But, in addition, he 
 was privileged to enjoy at Kinross the society of his most 
 cherished companions. On the same bench sat Lawson, 
 Bruce, Henderson, Andrew Swanstou (son of the Professor), 
 and David Greig. Together they read, studied, prayed, 
 hoped, believed. Lawson was kindly received into the hos- 
 pitable mansion of Lethangie, where he remained during the 
 session. David Greig was the son of its excellent proprietor, 
 and had invited his friend to abide there when he should come 
 to the Hall. This tended greatly to the increase of their 
 mutual love and confidence. The domain of Lethangie lies 
 about a mile to the north of Kinross, upon the banks of
 
 40 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Lochleven, so that the students were frequently entertained 
 within its pious walls. The worthy ' laird ' himself might 
 not be able to supply their ardent and lively minds with 
 much of the intellectual or scientific, but they found him 
 adept enough at 'the most excellent knowledge' of Jesus 
 Christ ; while his admirable son and young Lawson carried 
 the vintage of their learning into the 'feasts of reason.' 
 Besides, the paternal residence of George Henderson was not 
 much farther from Kinross than Lethangie, and to it also 
 they were often and most heartily welcomed. Turfhills, the 
 name of Mr Henderson's estate, lies about a mile to the east 
 of the town. During his attendance at the Hall, Michael 
 Bruce was invited to reside there ; so that in either mansion 
 George Lawson had a choice friend and highly respectable 
 acquaintances, intercourse with whom, during the session, 
 greatly contributed to his comfort and improvement. With 
 Greig in Lethangy, Andrew Swanston in the Manse, and 
 Bruce and 'Lelius' in Turfhills, the carpenter's son was 
 truly happy. Short-lived, however, were these, as are all 
 mundane joys. The sessions of the Hall, then as now, ex- 
 tended through the months of August and September. The 
 Professor took farewell of the students as usual, and all 
 departed in the fond hope that they should meet again on 
 the shores of that beautiful lake, whose melancholy waves 
 ohant a dirge over Scotland's most beautiful Queen. Ere a 
 few months had passed, their honoured teacher was dead ; 
 and a new appointment to the Chair carried the Hall into 
 another quarter of the country. Bruce himself died only a 
 few weeks after Mr Swanston. After this, however, Lawson 
 and Greig often exchanged visits, which made Lethangie and 
 Boghouse in after years hallowed spots in the recollections of 
 both. We have not been able to discover any relics of their 
 correspondence during their student-life ; but it is said that, 
 along with Swanston and George Henderson, a very intimate 
 and cordial intercourse was maintained
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 41 
 
 The Rev. John Brown, of Haddington, was chosen by the 
 Syuod to succeed Mr Swanstou in the chair of Theology. It 
 is not easy to write or speak of this remarkable man in 
 anything like measured terms. He was a marvel in the 
 Church of Christ. Born in a lowly condition of life, he 
 reached the highest posts of honour that can be held in 
 this world a minister of the Cross, and a president in the 
 schools of the prophets. Without the ordinary advantages 
 of a sound classical and philosophical education, he became 
 a most learned divine and an extensive author. Few names 
 are better known, or more profoundly venerated, than that of 
 the author of the ' Self-Interpreting Bible.' His early thirst 
 for knowledge could never be satiated. Dr M'Kerrow tells 
 us that he ' took delight in committing to memory the cate- 
 chisms of Vincent, Flavel, and the Westminster Assembly. 
 He acquired, by dint of study, a knowledge of the Latin, 
 Greek, and Hebrew languages ; and in process of time, such 
 was his literary attainments, that he could read and translate 
 the French, Italian, Dutch, German, also the Arabic, Persic, 
 Syriac, and Ethiopic. The facility with which he acquired 
 the knowledge of languages gave occasion to some to say, that 
 he had Satan for his instructor.' Before Michael Bruce 
 was born, he had kept a school at Gairney Bridge. At that 
 time he went down every Sabbath to hear Ralph Erskine at 
 Dunfermline. ' I can never forget,' he said, ' those days when 
 I travelled over the hills of Cleish to hear that great man of 
 God, whose sermons, I thought, were brought home by the 
 Spirit of God to my heart. At these times I thought I met 
 with the God of Israel, and saw Him face to face.' He was 
 ordained in Haddington in 1750. He became Professor of 
 Divinity in 1767, and died in 1787. His last words were 
 ' MY CHRIST.' As the theological views of Dr Lawson were 
 very much formed upon those of Professor Brown, and as the 
 Selkirk system was modelled upon that prosecuted at Had- 
 dington, the following graphic account of the latter, by the
 
 42 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 late venerable Dr Peddie, of Edinburgh, will be read with 
 interest : 
 
 ' At the distance of sixty years, it cannot be supposed that 
 my recollections can be very minute, or, perhaps, very ac- 
 curate. I do recollect that, in ordinary days, we had just 
 one meeting but of considerable length from ten in the 
 forenoon, to twelve, or, perhaps, even one o'clock. The 
 meeting was begun and ended with prayer, a service which 
 was conducted by the Professor, and the students in the order 
 of the roll. It was occupied in an examination on a section 
 or part of a section of the system, which had been composed 
 by the Professor himself, and manuscript copies of which were 
 in the hands of the students, till, to avoid the inconvenience 
 of several students having only one copy for their joint use. it 
 was printed. The text of the system was supported by a 
 profusion of texts of Scripture, which the students had to 
 quote memoriter as nearly as possible in the precise words. 
 
 ' Mr Brown never delivered, during the five years that I 
 attended the Hall, even one lecture on any head of Divinity. 
 Anything that can be called lectures was occasional, and 
 consisted of readings from his own manuscripts, of parts of a 
 large History of the Church of Scotland, of the Secession, 
 etc., and of some dissertations on the subject of toleration, 
 together with papers on pastoral duty, etc., many of which 
 have since been printed. 
 
 ' Our ordinary meeting was in the forenoon of every day ; 
 but we had a second meeting often to hear discourses by 
 students, at which the students were called on, in order as 
 they sat, to offer remarks on the discourse, its language, its 
 method and particular expressions, which commonly occupied 
 more time than the discourse that was criticised, and in 
 which the great body of the students took a part. The 
 Professor protected the preacher against unjust or unduly 
 severe censures, and the exercise was found, on experience, 
 to be profitable to the class.
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 43 
 
 ' Every student had more work to perform than now. A 
 first year's student had only one discourse a homily of 
 perhaps nearly half an hour's length, the text of which was 
 given him the first day of his appearance, and which he had 
 to compose and deliver within five or six weeks. The second 
 year student had to deliver a lecture on a portion of Scrip- 
 ture, and an exercise and additions from a verse in the Old 
 Testament. An exegesis was assigned ; but if it could not 
 be got ready, there was permission to defer it to a subsequent 
 year. The third, fourth, and fifth years' students had as- 
 signed to them each three discourses ; a lecture on a passage 
 of scripture ; a confessional lecture on one entire chapter of 
 the Confession of Faith, which the student was expected not 
 to commit to memory, but to read it from his notes ; and a 
 popular sermon, which was delivered before as many of the 
 people as chose to attend at an afternoon meeting. 
 
 ' Meetings were held on the afternoons for hearing sermons, 
 a meeting of the students by themselves for disputation, and 
 on the Saturdays for prayer. 
 
 ' We all loved and revered the teacher. He showed every 
 day the deep interest he took in our welfare. His addresses 
 to us, which were frequent, and especially his farewell ad- 
 dresses at the close of the session, were very impressive, 
 solemnized the giddiest minds among us, and frequently 
 brought the tears from our eyes.' 
 
 We have no particulars of importance to give concerning 
 the progress of our student while fulfilling his sessions at 
 Haddiugton. He was distinguished, however, for great sim- 
 plicity of manners, indefatigable application, and almost 
 premature wisdom. He was much honoured by the Professor, 
 who admitted him to great confidence and intimacy, and 
 sometimes hinted that he should be kept in view as his suc- 
 cessor in the chair. On one occasion, indeed, when Mr Brown 
 had left the class-room for a few minutes, Lawson, rather 
 unlike himself, mounted the Professor's chair, and com-
 
 44 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 menced, in a jocular style, to address the students. On 
 returning, Mr Brown listened for a moment at the door, till 
 the voice ceased ; and, on taking the chair again, he very good- 
 naturedly remarked, ' I perceive I have already got a succes- 
 sor.' The only other incident we have heard of, illustrates 
 an excellence in his character to which fuller allusion must be 
 afterwards made. On returning one session to Haddington, 
 Lawson found that his Hebrew Bible was too large to be 
 put into his travelling-trunk. He resolved to leave it behind 
 him, and did so. Several large passages of the Hebrew 
 Scriptures had been prescribed for that session, and the day 
 came when Lawson was called upon to read them. He stood 
 up, and commenced the lesson ; the Professor noticed that he 
 had not a Bible in his hand, and asked the explanation. / I 
 could not conveniently bring my Hebrew Bible,' he replied, 
 ' but I do not require one, I have committed to memory, 
 and can repeat it all.' Upon the principle that ' pulchrum 
 est laudari a laudato,' we may here quote a saying of Mr 
 Brown, which proves the high esteem in which he held not 
 only George Lawson, but other three of his fellow-students, 
 to be often referred to in these pages : ' I do not know 
 whether I have been of much service in my generation, but I 
 am happy that I have been the means of bringing up four 
 such young men for the ministry, as Andrew Swanston, 
 George Lawson, David Greig, and James Peddie.' The 
 Professor's estimate of his student was proved in another 
 way. Observing his uncommon attainments, he assigned him 
 peculiar exercises to deliver, of one of which it is honourable 
 to both parties to state, that he requested a copy, and 
 engrossed it in the system of divinity which he then read to 
 his students, and afterwards published to the world. 1 
 
 By all his fellow-students he was beloved and admired, 
 and won amongst them friendships which were the sweeteners 
 of his life. At Haddington he became acquainted with one 
 1 Dr Adam Thomson.
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 45 
 
 student, of whom we shall have not a little to say in the 
 course of this memoir: his name was Husband, between whom 
 and Lawson there grew up an intimacy, equalling, if it did 
 not exceed, that which existed between the*latter and Greig. 
 Dr Husband, of Dunfermline, and Dr Lawson, of Selkirk, 
 were for nearly fifty years associated together in all the inti- 
 macies of private, and in much of the action of public life. 
 ' They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their 
 deaths they were not divided.' They died within three 
 months of each other, in 1820. 
 
 During the recesses both of the College and of the Divinity 
 Hall, George Lawson continued to dwell in the humble farm- 
 house of his father. He never could apply himself to any 
 kind of handiwork. He was born to be a student to be a 
 minister to work with the brain, the hardest, as it is the 
 highest, of all human employment. ' The manifest and strong 
 tendency,' says one of his friends, ' of his mind, at a very 
 early period of life, was to book learning and religion. In 
 other concerns he was habitually absent in these always at 
 home. It was difficult, and almost impossible, td fix his atten- 
 tion to any ordinary engagement or pursuit ; but from reading, 
 study, and the practice of Christian duties, no consideration 
 could withhold his attention. For the petty details of busi- 
 ness and amusements he displayed little capacity, and less 
 relish. In those more noble pursuits, however, towards 
 which his mind was ever so powerfully carried, things which 
 rose far above the level of common minds were with him 
 matters of easy attainment. Here his attention was ever 
 spontaneous and close; his powers of external perception 
 awake and active; his mind able to sit in clear and dis- 
 criminating judgment upon its own thoughts and operations ; 
 his memory at once scientific, and quick, and retentive ; his 
 habits of abstraction easy and correct ; and the association of 
 his ideas appropriate, prompt, and natural. In most people, 
 some one power or operation of the mind habitually and
 
 46 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 greatly predominates ; but in the mind of this distinguished 
 person, there appeared, from first to last, an harmonious and 
 singular balance of the various mental powers and opera- 
 tions.' l In consequence of this constitutional bias towards a 
 life of reflection, Lawson was not employed during the vaca- 
 tions, as many of his companions were. Honourably to sup- 
 port themselves, they engaged in public or in private teaching. 
 But he had not only no liking for such employments, he 
 rather disliked them ; herein bearing a resemblance to the 
 now famous moderate of Inveresk, to whom the office of 
 ' tutor was an object of abhorrence,' not, however, precisely 
 for the same reasons. Jupiter Carlyle thought that most 
 tutors contracted 'a certain obsequiousness or bassesse,' to 
 which he could not expose himself. He afterwards corrected 
 this opinion as to many of them with whom he got acquainted ; 
 but, unfortunately, he fell into this very ditch himself, when, 
 in after life, he practised that self-same bassesse in the ecclesi- 
 astical flunkeyism of the moderates of those days. George 
 Lawson had no such aversion to the position, only he pre- 
 ferred to. remain and prosecute study at home. On two 
 occasions only he made the attempt. He became for one 
 winter tutor in the family of Walter Simpson, Esq., of 
 Dalwich, who was grandfather to one of Dr Lawson's own 
 most eminent students; 2 and for a much shorter period he 
 was tutor to the family of Mr Kennedy, of Romanno. Here, 
 though otherwise very happy with the Kennedys, he could 
 not be constrained to remain longer than one week. He was 
 offered, but refused all remuneration. Miss Kennedy, how- 
 ever, prevailed on him to accept of a present of Leighton's 
 expository works, in three volumes, which are still to be found 
 in his library at Selkirk. Had it been in his case as much 
 a matter of necessity as it was in that of many of his con- 
 temporaries, he would, no doubt, have set himself manfully 
 
 1 The Christian Repository, April 1820, p. 194. 
 * Eev. Dr Simpson, of Sanquhar.
 
 THE YOUTH AND HIS PROMISE. 47 
 
 to overcome his dislike of teaching. He had sufficient inde- 
 pendence of mind, as well as powers of application for that. 
 But his father's circumstances were easy, and the student was 
 welcome to all the indulgence he required. Though not in 
 this line, he did in other ways indicate his appreciation of the 
 parental kindness. During harvest he would often betake 
 himself to the fields, and assist the reapers on the farm, 
 returning to his studies with fresh zeal and application ; 
 and, when at length his father died, George refused to take 
 any share of the family patrimony, which was considerable. 
 
 Having now completed his term of study at the Hall, he 
 entered upon trials for licence before the Edinburgh Presby- 
 tery. He passed all these trials to the high satisfaction of 
 the Presbytery ; and, with an unusual reputation for learning 
 and wisdom, he obtained his license to preach the glorious 
 Gospel, when little more than twenty years of age.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PASTOR AN1} HIS CIRCUIT. 
 
 THE Presbytery's license to preach the glorious Gospel of our 
 Lord and Saviour is quite a crisis in the young student's life. 
 Tip to this period he has been ' under tutors and governors' 
 he has been in ' perils oft ' his mind and his will have 
 been held in by the bridles of academic and ecclesiastical 
 authority, very much to the chafing of the inward ' Hotspur,' 
 but more to the advantage of the ' hidden part,' wherein he 
 has been ' made to know wisdom.' Now, however, he is as 
 'Naphtali, a hind let loose ;' and having got, he is free to 
 give, ' goodly words ' to all that have ' ears to hear what the 
 Spirit saith unto the churches.' It is a delicious sensation, 
 when one, in these circumstances, leaves the bar of that court 
 before which he has so often feared and trembled, and bounds 
 forth into the free and bracing air of an accomplished inde- 
 pendence. Limits and restraints there may yet be, but the 
 ordeal is passed examinations are wound up ; and the grand 
 commission is his, to ' go into all the world, and preach the 
 Gospel to every creature.' All past sacrifices, and struggles, 
 and studies, have now obtained their reward ; and, for a 
 time, it seems as if, this one grand object gained, very little 
 more remains either to be desired or done. It is interesting 
 to think of Lawson as he left the Presbytery House in Edin- 
 burgh on the day of his licence. We think we see his tall, 
 spare figure rounding the corner of old Bristo Church, and 
 walking pensively, and, we doubt not, prayerfully, to his 
 lodgings, or, it may be, towards the road to West Linton. It
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 49 
 
 is not likely that, in these days, there was any public convey- 
 ance to that humble village. He had often walked on that 
 road in going to 'and coming from college ; and, if he did so 
 on this occasion, it is not difficult to imagine what must have 
 been his prevailing thoughts. From his early piety, we may 
 be sure that he would feel that weight of responsibility which 
 increased upon bis consciousness to the end of his life. He 
 had just closed one eventful period of his pilgrimage. Its 
 memories would gather around him like the shadows of a 
 serene evening, deepening and darkening into the fancies of an 
 untried future. The almost voluptuous sense of emancipation 
 from scholastic and clerical discipline would probably, for 
 the moment, be lost under the solemn realization of his new 
 position and its imperative demands. He would think, and 
 none could think more meekly, of his unworthiness to serve 
 God as a minister of the New Testament. He would, perhaps, 
 play the coward for a time, as many good men have done at 
 such gates of entrance into the battle-ground of faith and 
 service, saying, 'Who is sufficient for these things ?' The 
 slopes of the beautiful Pentland Hills, if they could, might 
 testify to the agony of his prayers that night, as he wended his 
 way along their base to the home of his boyhood. In after 
 years, to this ' Nathanael' this ' Israelite indeed' the Master 
 might whisper, ' When thou wast under the shadows of these 
 hills, I saw thee.' 
 
 And what a welcome home the young probationer would 
 get ! He had all along been an object of holy interest to his 
 parents. For him old Charles Lawson had risen early and 
 toiled hard in the workshop ; for him Margaret Noble had 
 economized in barn and dairy ; for him the younger branches 
 of the family had cheerfully denied themselves, all under the 
 blessed hope, that they should live to see and hear him in a 
 pulpit. That hope was about to be realized. There was, of 
 course, great joy that night at the farmer's ingle ; and fervent 
 prayers at family worship would crown the sacredness of that
 
 50 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 memorable day. That worship over, the evening meal con- 
 sumed, what else could be the burden of their talk but the 
 coming Sabbath, and his first appearance in the pulpit of 
 good Mr Mair? Expectation was high, for the lad was 
 believed to be both learned and pious. Nor did he disap- 
 point hopes. The Sabbath dawned. It was evident that 
 something unusual was on the tapis that day in this quiet 
 hamlet. There was a stir about the place quite uncommon. 
 A small group here and there were conversing near to the 
 meeting-house, and kindly wishes were expressed that the 
 ' young lad ' would acquit himself creditably. And -he did 
 so. He walked up to the pulpit with becoming gravity of 
 manner a gravity which kept itself on and in his manner to 
 the close of his ministry. After the preliminary devotional 
 exercises were over, he gave out his first text (which cannot 
 now be ascertained), and, without stop or stutter, delivered a 
 long and interesting discourse, to the satisfaction of Mr Mair, 
 the laudable gratification of his kinsmen, and the benefit of all 
 concerned. It is esteemed a success in our churches in 
 Scotland, if the trial of a first sermon be got through without 
 what is called ' sticking' the discourse. This means, that the 
 discourse has been committed to and delivered from memory 
 not only without the use (in the pulpit) of any notes what- 
 ever, but also without any pause, or break-down, or resort to 
 the manuscript of the preacher. Lawson's first sermon had 
 this merit at least, if merit it may be esteemed in a man 
 whose powers of memory were almost supernatural, and who 
 for fifty years continued to deliver memoriter hundreds of 
 sermons and lectures of the highest order of intellectual and 
 evangelical power. 
 
 But the probationer's life must now be commenced. He 
 must leave his father's house and itinerate among the 'vacan- 
 cies,' as it is customary to designate those churches whose 
 pulpits have been deprived by death or translation of their 
 ministers. The old farmer had just one thing more to do for
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 51 
 
 his son. At that time there were no railways, no steamboats, 
 and even very few stage-coaches in Scotland. Probationers 
 of the Chnrch had, therefore, to make their journeys on foot, 
 or provide themselves with ponies. They had, in addition, to 
 get what were called ' saddlebags,' or flexible portmanteaus, 
 which contained the books, the parchments, and the body- 
 clothes, and were thrown across the back of the animal behind 
 the rider. Fond fathers, who wished to encourage their sons 
 to study for the ministry, used to say (and the compiler had 
 it said to himself), ' If you be diligent and well-behaved, I 
 will carry you on till I put you on the saddlebags,' meaning 
 that the necessary means for maintenance and education 
 would be supplied up to the period of licence. This, the last 
 equipment of all, was provided for George Lawson ; and 
 having ' put him on the saddlebags,' the tie that had till now 
 linked him to the old man's bounty was broken for ever. He 
 left the homestead where all his earthly wants had been 
 hitherto provided for, and set out into life to receive and 
 fulfill the appointments of Providence. 
 
 He did not turn out what is called a popular preacher. 
 As his character and tastes were developed, it soon became 
 apparent that he had proposed to himself a higher object 
 than mere popularity. He aimed at becoming acceptable 
 through usefulness. He therefore studied profoundly, in 
 order to preach simply. His general deportment was then 
 what it ever was : distant alike from mere sanctimony 
 and levity, he was devout, happy, exemplary. His youthful 
 appearance, his tall figure (he was about six feet in height), 
 and his winning artlessness, deepened the impression made by 
 the respectability of his public discourses. It was even then 
 anticipated that he would prove himself to be an extra- 
 ordinary and distinguished minister of Christ ; and such, 
 indeed, he became, though to a degree even beyond the 
 fondest hopes of his admirers. 
 
 The pay or stipend of the probationer in those days was
 
 52 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 only half a guinea for a Sabbath-day's work. Provision and 
 lodging, however, were found both for man and beast. The 
 ' beast,' on the arrival of the preacher at any town or hamlet, 
 was sent off to the stables of some farmer a member of the 
 vacant church, and who was but too proud to show kind- 
 ness to the preacher's ' friend,' while the ' man' was received 
 into the house of some other member who might be willing, 
 sometimes for love and sometimes for money, to grant the 
 required accommodation. It was understood then that the 
 right of the preacher to this arrangement extended from 
 Friday to Friday. Some really interesting and characteristic 
 anecdotes are told all over the Secession Church, illustra- 
 tive of this somewhat patriarchal state of things. The 
 celebrated Rowland Hill was, when on a visit to Scotland, 
 similarly entertained. On that occasion he happened to be 
 ' put up' in the most homely manner in a habitation near to 
 Haddington. He was travelling, of course, on horseback. 
 At family worship in the evening, Mr Hill prayed fervently 
 for the good folks of the house, and then for his ' dear steed? 
 Surprise was expressed afterwards that he should pray for a 
 beast ; but Mr Hill satisfied them that he was right in doing 
 so, as he was entirely dependent upon the animal for getting 
 through his Master's work from county to county, and from 
 town to town. The only incident in this direction in the 
 ' preacher-life' of Lawson that has survived, refers in a 
 simple way to his scholarly turn of mind. He had been 
 lodging, in his peregrinations, with a worthy elder, whom he 
 sometimes rather mystified with his learned criticisms on 
 Scripture, as they conversed on the deep things of God. One 
 night they were reading together the ninth Psalm, which is 
 addressed 'to the chief musician upon Muth-labben.' On 
 reading this, Mr Lawson remarked, ' This word " Muth-labben" 
 is a word which nobody can make anything of ; it is not 
 understood.' The elder replied, interrupting the reading of 
 the Word, ' You are but a young man yet, Mr Lawson, and
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 53 
 
 though you do not understand that word, older and deeper 
 scholars than you are maybe able.' The preacher did not 
 answer, but finished the reading of the psalm. In after years, 
 when the fame of the Selkirk divine was far and wide, that 
 same elder was heard testifying that ' he came to find that 
 George Lawson, even in youth, knew a vast deal more than 
 many older scholars and divines.' This method of lodging 
 the probationers of the Church was of mutual benefit to them 
 and to the people. It made the members of congregations 
 personally acquainted with the ministers of religion, and 
 consequently greatly strengthened their attachment to the 
 cause of the Secession, which was not so independent then as 
 it is now. We are disposed to trace to this arrangement not 
 a little of that sacred regard for the office of the Christian 
 pastorate, for which the Scotch people are remarkable above 
 all others. They have always discerned Divine authority in 
 the institution; and for that reason have uniformly paid 
 appropriate respect to the ' earthen vessels ' in whom the 
 Gospel treasure has been placed, not that the glory might be 
 theirs, but that God should be glorified in them. The 
 modern facilities in travelling have many advantages, but it is 
 doubtful if the speed of transit has, in this respect, at all 
 benefited the Church. There is a danger of letting go the 
 hold we have ever had of the affections of the people, by the 
 temptation to hasten away from one place to another ; and 
 thus may be stifled, just as it begins to breathe, that 
 partiality for the men which often grows on from them to be 
 intertwisted with the system they represent. 
 
 Mr Lawson's acceptability as a preacher was speedily 
 proved. He was, in course, appointed to supply the pulpit 
 of the Secession Church at Selkirk, which had been recently 
 rendered vacant by the death of its first minister,' Mr Moir. 
 In due time he was unanimously called to be Mr Moir's suc- 
 cessor. The usual steps, however, towards his ordination, 
 were not immediately taken. His predilections lay elsewhere.
 
 54 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 He had recently preached as a candidate to the congregation 
 of Orwell, or Milnathort, in Kinross-shire, and it was resolved 
 to give him the call. This resolution, however, was not 
 carried into effect. It was understood that the opinion of the 
 Professor at Haddington had been taken upon it, and that he 
 dissuaded the people from going further in the matter. It 
 seems Mr Brown had an aversion to any of his students being 
 called to more than one vacancy, which accounts for the 
 arrestment made upon the Orwell movement. To Mr Lawson, 
 this, on many accounts, was a sore disappointment. To the 
 locality of Orwell he was much attached. It lies near to 
 Kinross and Lochleven. He could see the grave of Michael 
 Bruce from its heights. He could walk in a forenoon to the 
 kind patrons of his first Hall days, and live over again in the 
 mansions of Turfhills and Lethangie the fellowships of his 
 dearest earthly friends. Above all, his ' fidus achates,' David 
 Greig, had been, or was about to be, called to Lochgelly, in 
 the immediate neighbourhood. No arrangement could have 
 been more gratifying to him, than to have been located where 
 their friendship could be enjoyed in uninterrupted fulness and 
 freeness. But to the dispensations of Providence he did then, 
 as he did ever, meekly bow the head. He was consequently 
 ordained pastor of the Selkirk Church in 1771. The follow- 
 ing extract, from the minutes of the Edinburgh Presbytery, 
 will show that the procedure in this ordination was in danger, 
 from the very laudable firmness of the court upon the subject 
 of a just and liberal support to the minister: 
 
 HAUGHHEAD, NEAR PENNICUICK, 1 6th May 1 805. 
 ' MY DEAR Sra, After some little search in the records of 
 Presbytery, I have found the minute of which you desired me 
 to send you a copy the tenor whereof follows : " Edin- 
 burgh, March 19, 1771. The Presbytery met, etc. Mr 
 George Lawson having delivered the rest of his trials assigned 
 him, and answered extempore questions in Divinity, the Pres-
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 55 
 
 bytery approve of the same as parts of trials for ordination,. 
 Moreover, having conversed with the commissioners from the 
 congregation of Selkirk, and finding them not duly authorized 
 by their constituents to satisfy the Presbytery with respect to 
 their reasonable demands upon that congregation, of paying 
 up to the children of their deceased minister fifteen pounds 
 sterling more than is done, which makes one half-year's stipend 
 after his death, and of settling seventy pounds sterling per 
 annum upon Mr George Lawson, whom they have now called 
 to be their pastor, the Presbytery are dissatisfied with the 
 commissioners' want of due power on this head; yet, being 
 unwilling to delay the settlement of Mr Lawson, they hereby 
 declare that the payment of the demand for the orphans of 
 their late pastor is just and reasonable, and that they are de- 
 termined to insist upon it. They further declare that, accord- 
 ing to the expense of living in the country, seventy pounds is 
 no more than barely sufficient to make their minister live 
 comfortable, and that the Presbytery will claim said provision 
 whenever they understand the congregation is deficient, unless 
 it be found they are incapable to afford it; and having ten- 
 dered the call to Mr Lawson, and he having taken it and re- 
 turned it to the moderator in the usual manner, they agreed 
 that his ordination be expeded on Wednesday, the 17th 
 April next ensuing," etc. Extracted from the records this 
 16th May 1805, by 
 
 ' PAT. COMRIE, Presbytery Clerk. 
 1 To the Rev. Geo. Lawson.' 
 
 Of the interesting services of Mr Lawson's ordination there 
 are but scanty reports. The Rev. William Kidston, of Stow, 
 presided on the occasion. He had himself been called to the 
 same church previous to his settlement at Stow. He had sub- 
 sequently ordained Mr Andrew Moir, now he ordains Mr Law- 
 son, and thirty-five years subsequently he was appointed by 
 the Presbytery to perform the same service when the late Mr
 
 56 THE LIFE OF DE LAWSON. 
 
 Lawson of Kilmarnock was translated to his venerable father's 
 pulpit. Declining health, however, prevented his fulfilment of 
 this duty. He was a strong-minded and judicious expounder 
 of God's Word, a profound theologian, and an eminently de- 
 vout man. In after years it fell to Dr Lawson to preach his 
 funeral sermon at Stow. One anecdote remains of Mr Kid- 
 ston's ministry at Stow, which is worthy of record here. It 
 has been told of several others, but I have heard the late Dr 
 Kidston tell that it had its origin in the following incident: 
 Mr Kidston had gone to a country farm-house to preach and 
 baptize the farmer's son. The service, as was then customary, 
 took place in the large barn or threshing-floor, which was 
 usually filled with the neighbours and friends, who received 
 their invitation from the pulpit on the previous Sabbath, the 
 misdemeanour of private baptism being thus avoided. When 
 the services were concluded, the minister and a few more in- 
 timate friends remained to dinner with the family. When the 
 time came for drinking to the health and happiness of the 
 child, Mr Kidston gave the following toast : ' Here's wishing 
 the health and long life of the wean, and may he be a better 
 man than his father.' All heartily joined in the same, except 
 the farmer himself, whose countenance fell, and whose tongue 
 became dumb during the remainder of the afternoon. Mr 
 Kidston mounted his pony to depart. The farmer stood be- 
 side him. ' Good night,' said the minister. ' It's no good 
 night yet, sir,' replied the farmer, who took hold of the bridle 
 and led the pony forward. When they had cleared the 
 homestead, and were a little on the way, Mr Kidston asked 
 the farmer the meaning of his conduct, and whether anything 
 had been done to offend him. After a little pause, the farmer 
 said, ' I want to know, sir, whether .you have heard anything 
 ill of me.' ' No, John,' replied Mr Kidston, * I have not. Is 
 there any ill I should have heard ?' ' I know of none, sir,' 
 said John; ' and yet at the baptism to-day you affronted me 
 before all my family and friends, by wishing my wean to be a
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 57 
 
 better man than his father.' ' Oh,' said the minister quickly, 
 ' is that all ?' ' Yes,' quoth the farmer, ' that is all, and it is 
 bad enough.' ' I am ashamed of you, John,' said Mr Kid- 
 ston ; ' are you such a fool as not to wish every child you 
 have to be better than yourself?' ' Oh,' said the farmer, as 
 the light broke in upon him, ' is that all ?' ' Yes,' replied the 
 minister, ' that's all.' ' Good night then,' said John ; and they 
 parted. 
 
 When Mr Lawson was ordained, the Secession Church in 
 Scotland was nearly forty years old, and had already risen to 
 be an influence for good and an authority for Gospel in the 
 land. It had descended from heaven, not as the thunder- 
 cloud, in heavy sweeping streams, pours forth its rain, but 
 softly and sweetly, as the breath of the Lord moves over the 
 people, or 'as the dew of heaven, the dew that descended 
 upon the mountains of Zion.' The sacrifices, the prayers, 
 and the glorious preachings of the Erskines, Wilson, Fisher, 
 and Moncrieff, were now bringing forth good fruit. The people 
 began to know the Gospel sound; and, though not moved by 
 any ecclesiastical management, they gradually, under the in- 
 fluence of principle, joined these martyr-witnesses for God 
 and truth, for liberty and purity, until there was scarcely a 
 corner of the country to which they were not welcomed. By 
 this time, however, the split had taken place which ranged 
 those good and worthy testifiers under separate banners, 
 yclept the one 'Burghers,' the other 'Anti-Burghers' pretty 
 names, forsooth, wherewith, as Christ's disciples, they bur- 
 lesqued each other. With the Burghers, Charles Lawson and 
 his family had cast in their lot. Consequently their son, 
 when he became a minister, joined their ranks ; and he con- 
 tinued to be a ' Burgher' through life, that is, attached to 
 those peculiar views of toleration in religion which have since 
 become universal in the united body. He was no bigot, but 
 he held his opinions on such subjects very conscientiously; 
 and while he was ever ready to give a reason for the faith
 
 58 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 that was in him, he at no time manifested any personal dislike 
 to those from whom he differed, or clung so doggedly to party 
 as to overlook at any time the ' major bonum ecclesise.' As 
 the circumstances which gave rise to the Secession in Selkirk 
 throw some light upon the ecclesiastical character of these 
 times, it may be proper briefly to notice them. 
 
 In the year 1739, the Duke of Buccleuch, as patron of the 
 church of Bowden, presented a Mr Hume to the vacant 
 charge. Only four of the parishioners could be prevailed 
 upon to sign the call. The Presbytery, in consequence, ruled 
 that it should not be sustained. A process of litigation was 
 then instituted before the Church courts. The result was in 
 favour of the settlement, but only by a majority of one. The 
 reluctant Presbytery was compelled to proceed with the ordi- 
 nation. In this, as in many similar cases, the triumph of 
 might over right tended to the spread of the young Secession 
 Church. The good people of Bowden could not be convinced 
 that the dragoons from Edinburgh, who assisted at Mr 
 Hume's settlement, were scriptural authorities in such a 
 matter, left the Established Church, and joined the Associate 
 Synod. A place of worship was erected at Midholm. Mr 
 Matthew was called, and in due time was ordained. After 
 this came dissensions and controversy, that split the Secession 
 into the two parties already noticed, according to the views 
 held on the paltry subject of a burgess oath. Such of 
 the members of Midholm congregation as adhered to the 
 Burgher Synod removed the seat of their church to Sel- 
 kirk, and, after some disappointments, succeeded in obtaining 
 Mr Andrew Moir for their minister. This first minister of 
 the Selkirk congregation appears to have been no ordinary 
 man. Dr M'Kerrow describes him as ' a man of a high order 
 of talent,' and of a 'superior style of preaching.' Great 
 prosperity to the congregation followed upon his ordination. 
 ' Few ministers ever attained to a higher degree of popularity 
 than he did. When he assisted at sacramental occasions in
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 59 
 
 the neighbourhood, the people flocked to the tent, and listened 
 to him with admiration. Even infidels and scoffers at re- 
 ligion were struck with the style of his preaching and the 
 manner of his address, and were sometimes heard to say, 
 " Come and let us go to the tent and hear Moir, for he speaks 
 his nonsense in a graceful way." ' 1 He had a very dignified 
 and commanding appearance; and to him that text has been 
 applied, 'A choice young man and goodly; there was not 
 among the children of Israel a goodlier young man than he.' 
 He lived in stormy times, but was equal to their demands. 
 Though brilliant, however, his ministry was brief. He died, 
 at the age of thirty-nine, in 1770, and in the twelfth year of his 
 ministry. His memory is still savoury on the banks of the 
 Ettrick, as at once the founder and father of what is now the 
 United Presbyterian Church in Selkirk. There are traditionary 
 remembrances of this able and sainted young man's pastorate 
 which justify this. An old hearer of his, when asked if he re- 
 membered him, said to the present pastor a grandson of Dr 
 Lawson's ' 'Deed, sir, I mind Mr Moir weel ; he was a burn- 
 ing and a shining light. I can honestly assure you he was 
 far more popular than a' you Lawsons.' His dying scene 
 must have been deeply impressive. Only a few hours before 
 his death, he called for a pen, and wrote these simple but sweet 
 lines, more full of God's redemptive truth than of genius or 
 poetry : 
 
 ' For me God's Prophet came from heaven, 
 
 To assure me that a Son was given ! 
 
 For me God's Priest was crucified, 
 
 For me He bled, for me He died ! 
 
 For me God's King hung on the tree, 
 
 And bare the curse was due to me ! 
 
 For me God's only child was born, 
 
 For me He wore the crown of thorn ! 
 
 ' What is His name ? My guilty soul, 
 His name is truly " Wonderful !" 
 
 1 DrM'Kerrow.
 
 60 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 But is this child of royal blood ? 
 
 Yes ! because He is " The Mighty Lord." 
 
 Shall, then, His honours ever cease ? 
 
 No ; for His name's The Prince of Peace. 
 
 And what is this great Prince to thee ? 
 
 My Lord ! my God ! Eternally.' 
 And thus he passed away. 
 
 The newly-ordained pastor commenced his ministry on the 
 Sabbath following the ordination. He preached from these 
 words in the 26th Psalm: 'Lord, I have loved the habita- 
 tion of Thy house, and the place where Thine honour dwell- 
 eth.' The text was eminently descriptive of his own feelings, 
 as evinced by his life and practice. A more devout, regular, 
 and humble attender on Divine ordinances never lived. He 
 was not only most punctual and constant in the discharge of 
 his official duties, but embraced every opportunity of attend- 
 ing the ministrations of others. That the preacher was ac- 
 counted weak and unacceptable, or that he was reputed a 
 man of taleiit and eloquence, seemed to make no difference to 
 him. It was the ordinances of God that he loved ; and he 
 repeatedly affirmed, 'I do not recollect of ever hearing a 
 sermon from which I might not have derived benefit, if it 
 were not my own fault : it is a gross mistake to consider 
 mere preaching or instruction to be the great or sole object 
 of public worship.' His sermon on this occasion made a 
 powerfui impression not only on his own people, but on the 
 whole locality. He was considered to be not so oratorical as 
 Mr Moir, but more profound and learned. From this day 
 he took his position, and occupied it for nearly fifty years, ful- 
 filling in his ministry all the promises of his early days. To 
 the old couple at home, this was a day to be held in holy 
 memory. They had now got their hearts' dearest wish they 
 had a son in the ministry. Charles Lawson lived to see that 
 son peerless among his peers. He died in 1786. Had he 
 lived one year more, he would have seen him occupy the 
 highest position to which the Church could elevate him. As
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 61 
 
 it was, for fully fifteen years did he enjoy the paternal feast 
 of participating in the ministry at Selkirk. Hallmyre was a 
 long way off, about thirty-five miles ; but he did not grudge 
 the distance, especially at sacramental times, for the sake of 
 sitting at the feet of an instructor in righteousness, for whom 
 he had laboured, and sacrificed, and prayed. His death wag 
 jm affliction to that son ; but he ' sorrowed not, even as others 
 who have no hope.' 
 
 Immediately after ordination, Mr Lawson set himself 
 seriously to the discharge of the duties of his sacred office. 
 His predecessor left him a congregation accustomed to ' the 
 finest of the wheat;' and it was no easy undertaking to 
 satisfy the spiritual appetite his fervent and eloquent preach- 
 ing had created. The people, however, soon discovered that 
 they had found a ' master in Israel ;' and that if he had not 
 the splendid rhetoric of Mr Moir, he was before him in what 
 have been termed ' the profundities of theology.' From the 
 very outset of his ministry, his remarkable attainments were 
 evident ; and these, coupled with his fascinating simplicity 
 and truthfulness, soon captivated all hearts. 
 
 Mr Lawson had been only a few weeks settled in Selkirk 
 when he received the following characteristic epistle from his 
 friend, David Greig, the commencement of a correspondence 
 which continued very intimate for nearly half a century, 
 and was only interrupted by death. Toward the whole of the 
 Lethangie family, with whom many pleasant days in early 
 youth were passed, George Lawson cherished the warmest 
 friendship, and it was amply returned and repaid : 
 
 ' LETHANGIE, July 9, 1771. 
 
 ' DEAR GEORDIE, I take this opportunity of informing 
 you, that your very obliging letter came to my hand on 
 Saturday last, when at LochgeUie. I am glad to find that 
 you still continue to preserve a cheerful temper and a friendly 
 disposition. Your long delay in writing me had almost
 
 62 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 tempted me to think that the air of Selkirk had made a con- 
 siderable alteration on your constitution ; and the duties of 
 your station, with the circle of your new acquaintances, had 
 banished from your mind the remembrance of your old com- 
 panions. I now begin to change my sentiments about you, 
 and think that you are George Lawson still, though Rev. be 
 of late added to your name. I don't mean to insinuate that 
 the above delay had in the least weakened my affection or 
 lessened my esteem for you ; but you know that, when usual 
 testimonies of friendship are denied, we are naturally led to 
 inquire into the reasons of it, and to suspect that the silence 
 of our friend is owing to some fault in our own conduct. I 
 hope you was not offended because I did not comply with 
 your request at the Synod, to go along with you to Selkirk. 
 I expect I shall soon make a sufficient amend for that fault, 
 by staying with you longer than I could well have done at 
 that time. Mr Henderson is frequently in the country, and 
 has for these eight days bygone been somewhat indisposed, 
 which has rendered him incapable of fulfilling his appoint- 
 ments to the Presbytery. He is much sunk in his spirits, 
 and continues averse to a compliance with the Synod's de- 
 termination. None of his trials are yet delivered ; and 
 whether he will yield to the injunctions of his superiors is 
 perhaps a little uncertain. You ought to write him upon 
 that matter ; and I doubt not but that your advice may have 
 some influence upon him. His call to Glasgow seems to be 
 clear; and though difficulties occur to him, they certainly 
 ought not to make him desert his duty. Whether Mr 
 Porteous will come to Orwal is likewise doubtful. His trials 
 are all over, and his edict is served ; but the time of his ordi- 
 nation is not determined. His opposers are as violent as 
 ever; and their minds are so soured with prejudice, that 
 there is little ground to expect that they will ever be brought 
 to a submission. Even the callers are much disheartened in 
 their design, through the strength of the opposition. How
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 63 
 
 .matters will turn out, I know not ; but one thing I am certain 
 of, that religion has suffered much in this place by these con- 
 tentious. You may reckon yourself happy that you are 
 settled in a congregation where such a plague does not pre- 
 vail. You have bnt little reason to think that the Gospel 
 is attended with success, where the professors of it are 
 alienated from one another in affection, and each one strives 
 to disconcert the design of his neighbour. Nor are differences 
 even confined to the people, if that were the case, we would 
 reckon ourselves in some measure happy ; but the misery 
 of it is, that ministers are split in affection, and divided in 
 their judgments. It is hardly thought that Mr Smith and 
 Mr Forrest will ever be brought to an agreement : the latter 
 seems to set himself in opposition to all terms of reconcilia- 
 tion, and is supposed to have his head towards another party. 
 These things grieve the spirits of the serious, and make our 
 sacramental occasions wear a very gloomy appearance. This 
 account of things will damp your spirits, but may serve also 
 to render your situation more agreeable, which is happily 
 
 free of such disturbances. My discourses for Had n go 
 
 on but slowly, and I despair of getting them finished to any 
 purpose. I know you smile at this, who are able to make so 
 many in one week. But a little too fast, Geordie. Do you 
 remember what Mr Richardson once said to Mr Brown, when 
 intimating his difficulties about some of his discourses ? The 
 Professor said to Will, that he thought he could soon make 
 a discourse upon such a text ; to which Rich n humor- 
 ously replied, " I think, if I were Mr B n, I would soon 
 
 make one too." The application is obvious. The longer I 
 continue to study divinity, the greater difficulties do I find in 
 treating the truths of the Gospel in a manner that becomes 
 their dignity, that can be interesting to others, or that can 
 even satisfy myself. Perhaps, if their genuine power was 
 personally felt upon the heart, some of these would be re- 
 moved. ' DAVU> GREU..'
 
 64 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Before proceeding further with this narrative, it may 
 interest the reader to take a quiet walk to the remarkable 
 localities within Mr Lawson's pastoral circuit. 
 
 Selkirk, and a radius of country about eight miles in extent, 
 now became, and during his life continued to be, the sphere 
 of Mr Lawson's interesting pastorate. Here this great and 
 good man lived, and studied, and suffered, and laboured for 
 Jesus Christ, and for the souls of men. Though at the first 
 his choice would have been Orwell, he very soon discovered 
 that his ' lines had fallen in pleasant places,' and was not 
 only reconciled to, but enraptured with, the place of his 
 habitation. Had he been somewhat of a cosmopolitan, like 
 Dr Kitto, we might have enjoyed many opportunities of 
 sketching the scenery, and describing the manners and the 
 people of foreign lands ; but in his life there are no incidents 
 of travel, no hairbreadth escapes, no curiosities either of art 
 or science, no exciting correspondence, no illustrious associ- 
 ates, nothing whatever of that racy and diversified material, the 
 story of which imparts so much piquancy and gusto to other 
 biographies. It seems to be all the more on that account 
 our duty briefly to sketch the environs of Selkirk, with which 
 his honoured name is still, and must long continue to be 
 associated ; and, also, to notice at least a few of the persons 
 and events that have given notoriety to the neighbourhood. 
 The scenery of his life-long visitation and enjoyment is the 
 most beautiful and picturesque in Scotland ; and he had a 
 soul that could appreciate and improve upon it. It was, in 
 its own place, a sort of library to him, a library whose 
 books he studied, and whose lessons oft withdrew him from 
 the abstractions of sacred thought, to the perception and 
 praise of the Deity, present with and ever presiding over His 
 own wonderful works. The Ettrick, the Yarrow, the Gala, 
 and the Tweed all classic streams were, through life, 
 tributaries to his meditations and his devotions. On their 
 romantic banks he ' walked with God,' and received impres-
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 65 
 
 sions and abode under influences, which did as much to form 
 his character and employ his mind, as the Rhine, the Po, the 
 Jordan, and the Ganges have ever done for those who, in 
 foreign travel, seek to escape the curse of ennui, or satisfy 
 the cravings after novelties. Indeed, that circle of natural 
 loveliness within which he passed a lifetime, was to him a temple 
 wherein he ofttimes communed with his God, braced up his 
 soul for God's work, and offered unto Him his sublimest 
 devotions. It was, moreover, the holy place of his dearest 
 friendships. In harmony with his were the tastes of the men 
 of God who came about him men who could first of all 
 intensify their souls on the service of the sanctuary, and there- 
 after with him give life and freedom to our social zests when 
 rambling and musing amid nature's choicest scenes. 
 
 ' They found tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
 Sermons in stones, and good in everything.' 
 
 A volume, indeed, might be written on the subject of these 
 friendships. Partial allusion has been made to some of them 
 already. Justice requires that, in another chapter, they 
 receive more particular notice. If a man is known by his 
 friendships, the character of Lawson cannot be faithfully 
 sketched apart from his. Had some of the men who trod 
 life's path with him lived now, the Church would not will- 
 ingly have allowed their memories to fade away as they are 
 doing. 
 
 It is not easy, even at this distance of time, to dissociate 
 Selkirk and Lawson. This small county town has a fame 
 of its kind, but its chance of being interesting to futurity 
 may depend less upon its ' Souters ' than upon its ' Lawson.' 
 Centuries ago, the whole of that country side was one vast 
 forest. There was then no skriveallty, and no town folks, 
 and but few county people. There was but one building in 
 that part of the forest it was a ' Kirk,' or chapel. Hence 
 the name ' Selkirk,' or, as it is in the Celtic, 4 Scheleckgrech,' 
 
 E
 
 66 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 corrupted ' Selcraig.' Selkirk means, ' the Kirk of the Wood, 
 or Forest.' This one word expresses the situation of the 
 place itself, and the state of the surrounding country. It is 
 probable, indeed, according to Sir John Sinclair, that all 
 the neighbouring districts were once an extensive forest. It 
 is certain that the banks of the rivers, by which the country 
 is so happily intersected, were once adorned with wood. It 
 was arnid these sylvan scenes that those plaintive airs were 
 produced, the pastoral simplicity of which are the pride of 
 Scotsmen and the admiration of strangers. That vast forest 
 home is now gone, 
 
 ' The scenes are desert now and bare 
 Where flourished once a forest fair, 
 Up pathless Ettrick and on Yarrow, 
 Where erst the outlaw drew his arrow.' SCOTT. 
 
 It was in this neighbourhood that the famous battle of 
 Flodden was fought ; and the calamities that then befell 
 Selkirk gave birth to that exquisite lyric, ' The Flowers of the 
 Forest.' The town itself has no special claim to be noticed. 
 It is built on a rising piece of ground, at the base of which 
 the river Ettrick flows. The scenery, however, for miles both 
 up and down that romantic stream, is worthy of its reputa- 
 tion. As you cross the bridge at the west end, you first of 
 all pass near to the place where the Yarrow and the Ettrick 
 meet ; and keeping to the right hand, you are at once upon 
 the fair and wide domain of Philiphaugh. When musing here, 
 the patriotic and religious zeal of Lawson oft drew long and 
 large breaths of more intense love ' pro aris et focis.' On 
 one of these fields was fought, and won by the Covenanters, a 
 famous battle which undid the effects of former Royal victories, 
 and put Montrose and his dragoons to a shameful flight. 
 The field of battle is now included within the pleasure-grounds 
 of William Murray, Esq. of Philiphaugh, who has piously 
 erected a memorial cairn close upon the spot where the heroes
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 67 
 
 of General Leslie put the Royalists to flight, and bearing the 
 following inscription : 
 
 TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF THE COVENANTERS 
 
 WHO FOUGHT AND FELL ON THE FIELD 
 
 OF 
 
 PHILIPHAUGH, 
 
 AND WON THE BATTLE HERE, 
 A.D. SEP. 13, 1645. 
 
 Leaving the grounds of Philiphaugh by the west gate, you 
 soon come to a small farm-steading called Foulshiels, on the 
 right hand side of the road. And here we must pause for a 
 little, for here Lawson was often to be seen in company with 
 a young man whose fame has become world-wide Mungo 
 Park, the African traveller. The family at Foulshiels were, 
 from its origin, members of the Burgher Church of Selkirk, 
 and their son Mungo continued, up to his second journey 
 to Africa, to belong to it. He was from boyhood a great 
 favourite with his minister, for he was the second child bap- 
 tized by him ; and as he grew up, and gave indications of 
 that marvellous spirit of enterprise by which he afterwards 
 became so much distinguished, Mr Lawson's interest in him 
 was greatly increased. It is known that he formed a high 
 estimate of the young man. He assisted and encouraged 
 him in his studies, and, above all, took the deepest interest in 
 his travels. Park often called on Dr Lawson, on his return 
 from Africa ; and they held long conversations not only on the 
 adventures of the traveller, but on the manners, customs, and 
 religious rites of the sable Ethiopians, especially on the 
 probabilities of their speedily ' stretching forth their hands 
 unto God.' Dr Lawson was a great smoker so was Park ; 
 ;uid the cigars which the young traveller brought home with 
 him for the minister were rapidly consumed in the library at 
 Selkirk, or upon the banks of the Ettrick, or by the farmer's
 
 68 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 ingle at Foulshiels, as the stirring stories of African adventure 
 were told and heard. We can easily conceive the spell 
 wherewith the listeners would be bound, when, beneath that 
 humble roof- tree, he first recited and hummed that plaintive 
 air of the African negro's lament for the poor white man : 
 
 ' The winds roared, and the rains fell, 
 The poor white man, faint and weary, 
 Came and sat under our tree : 
 He has no mother to bring him milk, 
 No wife to grind his corn. 
 Let us pity the white man, 
 Who has no mother to buy him milk, 
 No wife to grind his corn.' 
 
 It is somewhat interesting, that recently a monument to Park 
 has been erected in the principal street of Selkirk, almost op- 
 posite the door of the minister's manse. When, from his long 
 silence after his last return to Africa, it began to be whispered 
 that Mungo must have fallen a victim to adventure in travel, 
 and when the family abandoned all hope of ever hearing from or 
 seeing him again, they were much comforted by the sympathy 
 of their worthy pastor, who kept up their spirits by his wise 
 and Christian consolations so long as any hope existed of a 
 return, and who helped them to ' kiss the rod ' when every 
 hope was abandoned. The profound and extensive sympathy 
 of the country in the success of the traveller's explorations, 
 and in his personal safety, tended, no doubt, to strengthen 
 their hearts, while the universal regret expressed for his 
 untimely and mysterious death shed a kind of pleasant halo 
 around his and their name ; but the ' garments of praise ' 
 which the kind and compassionate Lawson substituted for 
 their 'spirit of heaviness,' and the ' oil of joy ? which he 
 poured out for their ' mourning,' assisted their resignation to 
 the will of God. Many were their conjectures, for a time, 
 of Mungo's safe return some day ; and on each visit to Foul- 
 shiels the subject was again and again discussed, till the
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 69 
 
 hearts of all became sick with deferred hope, and the days of 
 mourning for the dead began, but were not here ended. His 
 love for Park, and the encouragement he gave him in the 
 prosecution of his researches, together with the sorrow he 
 felt for his fate, forms quite a beautiful and touching episode 
 in the life of the subject of this memoir. 
 
 You have not walked a mile from the native place of Park 
 when you are confronted on the left with the ruins of Newark 
 Castle, with which the readers of 'The Lay of the Last 
 Minstrel' are familiar. It stands somewhat elevated on the 
 banks of the rapid Yarrow, and is thus alluded to by Scott: 
 ' The way was long, the wind was cold, 
 The minstrel was infirm and old; 
 His withered cheek and tresses gray 
 t Seemed to have known a better day. 
 
 He passed where Newark's stately tower 
 Looks out from Yarrow's birchen bower; 
 The minstrel gazed with wistful eye 
 No humbler resting place was nigh.' 
 
 But passing rapidly along, and leaving behind us the ducal 
 residence and domain of Bowhill, 1 Oakwood Tower, the sup- 
 posed residence of the famous wizard Michael Scott, Thirle- 
 stane Castle, and many other scenes of border chivalry and 
 beauty, w come to the one spot of that picturesque country 
 side to which Lawson, a kindred spirit, often resorted, and 
 where his favourite exercise of meditation was affectingly en- 
 gaged in, the kirk of Ettrick, where the celebrated Thomas 
 Boston so long held forth the word of life ; and its kirk-yard, 
 where his mortal remains rest awaiting the resurrection of the 
 just. He needs not that tasteful monument to keep him in 
 our memories. He will live there so long as the ' Fourfold 
 State' and the ' Crook in the Lot' are read ; and read these 
 matchless books shall be, while the English language lasts, aud 
 while the grace of God is continued with men. In the pre- 
 1 A palace of the Duke of Buccleuch.
 
 70 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 sent day another interesting spot here engages the attention of 
 tourists, the cottage near the kirk, where Hogg, the Ettrick 
 Shepherd, was born. Bat Lawson took his friends to visit and 
 pray over Boston's grave. Boston was a divine according to 
 Lawson's own heart, and, in common with all sound Calvinists, 
 he revered highly the memory of a man whose writings had 
 done so much for the preservation and diffusion of sound 
 doctrine all over the country. It is believed that at one time 
 a copy of his ' Fourfold State' was to be found in almost 
 every cottage in Scotland. He died just as the Secession 
 Church was about to be born ; and no doubt is entertained 
 but that he would have come out with the 'four fathers' had 
 he lived, and joined issue with them in that blissful event. 
 His name, at any rate, is now inseparably linked with perhaps 
 the most marked man of the generation that followed him, 
 The two names of Boston and Lawson sounded long and loud 
 in the ears, at least of the people of Ettrick Forest and Sel- 
 kirkshire at large. No two men, perhaps, in the same dis- 
 trict, have ever been so successful in their Master's work. The 
 effects of Boston's ministry had by no means decayed when 
 Lawson appeared on the field, and set the same Gospel trum- 
 pet to his mouth, and made it give out the same certain 
 sound, and with the same decided emphasis. Many a true 
 Christian was reared in the Forest, and in the lower parts of 
 the county, by these distinguished men of God ; and ' a seed' 
 still exists in these parts, and probably shall exist to the 
 latest generation. Let the dilettante, the ' minions of luxury,' 
 turn away, disaffected, from such rambles and scenes and 
 associations as these. The genuine lovers of the patriarchal, 
 the simple, and the sincere in godliness, will account them more 
 suggestive of the sublime and beautiful in God's eternal truth, 
 than all the pompous rituals, solemn architecture, and sunny 
 skies of other and distant climes. 
 
 But Dr Lawson has scarcely less interesting associations 
 with the localities and objects that lie to the east of Selkirk.
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 71 
 
 from the confluence of the Ettrick with the Tweed, to Ab- 
 botsford and Melrose. f Old Mortality' did not hinder him 
 from accompanying his friends to the temple of the Wizard, 
 which stands upon a beautifully wooded sloping bank, washed 
 by ' Tweed's silvery streams.' And here both he and they 
 could well expatiate on this world's vain show. Though liv- 
 ing so near to each other, and mutually acquainted with, and 
 admirers of each other's peculiar gifts and graces, Sir Walter 
 Scott and Dr Lawson seldom met. This is to be regretted. 
 Had Scott known more of Lawson, his congenial love of 
 ancient scholarship and ready appreciation of idiosyncrasies 
 in character, would have drawn him frequently into the 
 society of so much wisdom and learning, conjoined with so 
 much naturalness and bonhommie. Lawson had a most just 
 appreciation of the genius of Scott in all its relations to the 
 fine arts, and especially in its bearings upon the morals of the 
 age ; and he would not have hesitated, had they been brought 
 into fellowship, to have given the novelist and the poet the 
 benefit at once of his love and his rod. 
 
 To the Eildon Hills, however (the Tremontium of the 
 Romans), and to the grand old abbey at their base, would the 
 Ettrick pastor more enthusiastically conduct his friends and 
 brethren, where they would refresh themselves after study and 
 work amid the beautiful environs of Selkirk. He himself was 
 particularly fond of visiting Melrose Abbey. It was not be- 
 cause his patriotism was rekindled beside the urn where the 
 heart of King Robert Bruce is supposed to lie, nor because 
 of the tombs and crypts where so many of the old Scotch 
 nobles have been buried, nor because of the numerous speci- 
 mens of Gothic art which seem as if 
 
 ' Some fairy's hand 
 
 Twixt poplars straight the osier wand 
 In many a freakish knot had twined ; 
 Then formed a spell, when the work was done, 
 And changed the willow wreaths to stone.'
 
 72 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 It was from his curious and admiring interest in this remnant 
 of ancient magnificence and beauty, as an incentive to devout 
 thought. He told Dr Belfrage, that, ' while tracing the various 
 parts of its exquisite workmanship, he would contrast what he 
 saw with Ezekiel's temple, so minutely described in the last 
 part of his prophecy, and made the one aid his conceptions of 
 the other.' Thus, while the antiquary marks in it only its 
 memorials of the olden time, its roofs sculptured with sacred 
 history, the remarkable events of which it has been the scene, 
 and the interesting pilgrims that have resorted to it, and while 
 the poet has brought before the fancy its priests in their vest- 
 ments, its choir resounding with grave sweet melody, warriors 
 consecrating their swords at its shrine, nobles uttering their 
 vows at its altars, the dead interred with sacred pomp within 
 its precincts, the moon gleaming on its arches and its pillars, 
 and the rushing of the waters by its side, when ' the deep 
 uttered its voice and lifted up its hands on high,' to Dr Law- 
 son it suggested contemplations more solemn and important, 
 and pointed them to that fabric which shall endure for ever, 
 which is built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets, 
 and of which Jesus Christ Himself is the chief corner-stone. 
 
 In these days Dryburgh Abbey contained not the ashes of 
 the mighty enchanter Sir Walter was still casting his spells 
 from Abbotsford over Europe. But there were other reasons 
 sufficiently powerful to interest Dr Lawson in the venerable 
 pile, and attract him to its richly wooded environs. He could 
 follow the beautiful Leader in its meanderings, gaze upon the 
 ruins of the Rhymer's Tower, enter the Abbey itself, and look 
 upon the high altar beneath which the last of the Abbots was 
 buried. A more peculiar gratification, however, was his, to 
 go up to the tomb where the Erskihes lay, or out towards 
 the Mansion House of Dryburgh, where Ebenezer and Ralph 
 Erskine were brought up. It was a solace to his mind, amid 
 much that memorialized the dark and disastrous ages of the 
 Church, to adore the wisdom and prudence of her only Head,
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 73 
 
 in baptizing these fathers of the Scottish Secession with the 
 Spirit, that stirred up the solitary monk to 'contend earnestly 
 for the faith once delivered to the saints.' 
 
 Having taken possession of the manse, the young minister 
 was expected forthwith to bring home to it one who should 
 share with him in its joys and sorrows. Several years, however, 
 passed away, and he seemed to be as far from the purpose of 
 matrimony as ever. The fact is, the man was wedded in 
 heart and soul to his ministry and his books ; and it was con- 
 jectured that, unless he was prompted in the matter by some 
 kind friend, he might remain a Benedict all his days. Whether 
 it be duty or not for ministers to marry immediately after 
 ordination, may be questioned. In general, they are at such 
 an early period, without experience and without money. 
 Faithfulness seems to demand that, first of all, they should 
 get themselves fairly and firmly seated in their office, ac- 
 cumulate wisdom and books, and be to some extent aware 
 ' quod valiant humeri.' Their stipends (unless in cities now) 
 are but scanty, and were still more so in Lawson's days. Yet 
 it must ever abide a mysterious problem how, on such limited 
 means, they manage to preserve such a respectable social 
 position. The barrel of meal and the cruise of oil in the 
 manse, are seldom if ever exhausted. The pastor in Selkirk 
 had but a moderate income, and he considered it to be his 
 duty to have his house comfortably furnished, and his library 
 well stocked with books, ere he contracted engagements that 
 should, by increasing his expenditure, uncomfortably limit his 
 freedom. At length, however, that most interesting event, 
 the minister's marriage, became the subject of gossip. It is 
 said that he was urged to the step by some considerate friend, 
 who proffered also his advice a's to the quarter where success 
 was probable. It is likely that on this simple circumstance 
 arose the story that is still current, of his session having taken 
 up the matter and undertaken to carry it through. It is said 
 that a deputation of their number waited upon their good and
 
 74 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 simple minister, and, having broached it to him, offered their 
 friendly help. Mr Lawson seemed in no ways to be taken by 
 surprise, and asked them if they could tell him where he was 
 likely to find a good wife. They at once mentioned a par- 
 ticular family, where were several daughters, any one of whom 
 might suit. Acting on this, Mr Lawson (so goes the story) 
 called ere long at the house where these fair ones resided. 
 He inquired first for the oldest, to whom he stated his wishes, 
 but was unsuccessful ; he then proposed to the second, who 
 also refused him ; and finally he sent for and agreed with the 
 third, who soon became Mrs Lawson. We have every reason 
 to believe that this is entirely mythical. When Dr Kidston 
 told him that these and such like stories were current, he 
 replied, 'I know I was, and am still, very stupid about many 
 worldly things, but I am certainly not such a fool as these 
 things, if true, would prove me to be.' It has been rather posi- 
 tively asserted, that he did forget his marriage-day. To be 
 out of the way, it is told, when a bridegroom, he paid a visit to 
 his friend Mr Greig, of Lochgelly, not intending to return till 
 he should bring his bride with him. The marriage had been 
 fixed to take place at Peebles on a Tuesday forenoon. On that 
 same forenoon, while engaged in interesting conversation, he 
 suddenly exclaimed, 'Mr Greig, is not this my marriage-day?' 
 Thereupon he got all things ready, arid set off for Peebles, 
 which he reached in the evening. The affronted fair one 
 would not receive him, and he had to go back to Selkirk minus 
 a 'better half.' If this story be true, he does not stand alone 
 as a culpable absentee on the marriage-day. The Rev. Sir 
 Harry Moncreiff told Lord Cockburn, that after he had mar- 
 ried a late Lord Meadowbank, his Lordship mysteriously 
 disappeared on the same evening, and, when searched for, was 
 found busily engaged in the composition of a metaphysical 
 essay ' on pains and penalties.' 
 
 When Mr Lawson did marry, he found a wife among his 
 own people. She was the daughter of Mr Rogers, a most
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 75 
 
 respectable citizen and banker in Selkirk ; a young lady of 
 personal accomplishments, of unfeigned piety, and of most 
 amiable disposition and manners. Their union promised to be 
 the blessedness of their earthly pilgrimage. All uncertainties 
 and anxieties on the matter being now completely laid aside, 
 Mr Lawson went again in heart and soul to his much-loved 
 work; and, for a time, 'table-talk' about the manse and the 
 young wife was at an end. But, alas ! it was only for a short 
 time. In less than a year from their marriage, Mrs Lawson 
 died died unexpectedly, and childless. The young widower 
 had a feeling heart, and this death-stroke for a time almost 
 prostrated him. On coming out of the partial stupor into 
 which it cast him, he calmly said to the friend beside him, 'I 
 am soothed by the belief that my dear deceased wife is now 
 far happier with her divine and everlasting Husband, than 
 she ever could have been with me.' 
 
 This was the first session of Lawson at the college of 
 affliction. He had passed through other preparatory ordeals, 
 he had studied and he had prayed, but his Master would 
 now have him tried in the furnace. To Luther's ' Meditatio ' 
 and ' Precatio,' was added the third and last, and perhaps 
 best preparation of all, God's ' Tentatio.' In the life of Dr 
 Adam Clarke it is beautifully stated, that ' it is requisite that 
 he who is to be a judge of so many cases of conscience should 
 clearly understand them. But is this possible, unless he have 
 passed through those states and circumstances in which these 
 cases are founded? I trow not. He who has not been 
 deeply exercised in the furnace of affliction and trial, is never 
 likely to be a workman that " needeth not to be ashamed, 
 rightly dividing the word of truth." How can a man inex- 
 perienced in spiritual trials build up the Church of Christ ? ' 
 The wisdom and sympathies indispensable to an efficient pas- 
 torate were never acquired in books or seminaries of learning. 
 Hence it is observable that young ministers are frequently 
 made to feel the truth of their Master's promise, 'In the
 
 76 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 world ye shall have tribulation.' In after years, many a 
 good and holy man has had to bless God for the yoke he had 
 to bear in his youth for the spiritual alembic in which the 
 straying and strong passions of that period are finely filtered. 
 Learning and philosophy are, in their own places, highly 
 valuable ; but when called upon to discharge the more private, 
 delicate, and difficult duties of a Christian minister, they are 
 useless. ' It became Him, for whom are all things, and by 
 whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to 
 make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.'' 
 Sad and pensive, then, was the solitary of the manse from the 
 day that he laid his young bride in an early 'grave ; but the 
 people in the sanctuary were made to drink the new wine of 
 his crushed heart. There was not such a thorough and 
 awful change in his habits of thought and social manners, as 
 took place in Dr Brown's case, when the ' desire of his eyes ' 
 was removed by a stroke. There was a wondering child at 
 hand to hear and to record the shriek of nature which rose in 
 the Biggar manse, when the lovely and the beloved sufferer on 
 that sofa bade them all in this world farewell. There was 
 none such here. But, from what is known of the man, it is 
 sure that the silent cry of distress mounted to the ear of the 
 Lord God of Sabaoth, as her spirit left him alone. As we 
 shall see in the sequel, however, this was but the beginning 
 of his troubles. Other billows were rolling towards him. To 
 them ;tfl he meekly bowed the head, and, loud though the 
 storm was, men ever heard him say in its midst, ' Thy will be 
 done.' 
 
 Having fulfilled the years of mourning for his first love, he 
 was married again. The object of his second choice was a 
 daughter of the Rev. Mr Moir, his immediate predecessor, 
 who is said to have inherited many of her father's amiable 
 and attractive accomplishments and virtues. She, too, had 
 been married, and at an early age, to the Rev. Mr Dickson, of 
 Berwick, a young minister who is reported to have possessed
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 77 
 
 very commanding eloquence, and to have been distinguished 
 by fervent piety and excellent dispositions. He was permitted 
 to describe a very brief course. His light was just dawning 
 upon the churches when God removed him to shine in the 
 temple not made with hands. His young and afflicted widow 
 went to reside in Edinburgh, and became a member of Bristo 
 Street Church, over which the late Rev. Dr Peddie had 
 been recently ordained. Sometime in 1783 they were married 
 by Dr Peddie. Prepared by severe affliction to enter upon 
 the duties of life with moderate expectations, and with holy 
 purposes to become helps meet for one another, they lived 
 together, from this time, in great conjugal happiness, till it 
 pleased God again to turn the joys of his handmaid into the 
 sorrows of widowhood. The fruit of this union was a family 
 of three sons and five daughters, the early and interesting 
 deaths of some of whom shall furnish no small portion of the 
 shady side of this memoir. Leaving the domestic history for 
 the present, we continue the narrative of his ministry. 
 
 Dr Lawson went very seldom abroad. His happiness lay 
 in and around Selkirk. His excursions were not usually 
 extended beyond the neighbouring parishes, and these only 
 when called upon to assist his brethren at the dispensation of 
 the Lord's Supper. Indeed, it formed one of the highest 
 social enjoyments of his life, to meet with his clerical friends 
 upon such occasions. During his long and somewhat retired 
 life, these meetings made up the all of what may be called 
 his ' foreign affairs.' Travelling, in his day, was expensive 
 and inconvenient : hence, compared with their frequency of 
 intercourse now, Christian brethren very seldom met. The 
 mutual assistance they rendered each other at the dispensation 
 of the Lord's Supper, was therefore hailed as affording them 
 also precious opportunities of devout and friendly fellowship. 
 Besides, at that time, even this rich Christian and social treat 
 was but seldom enjoyed. In some parts of the country, for 
 a time after our fathers seceded from the Established Church,
 
 78 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 the Lord's Supper was dispensed only once a year. By and 
 by it came to be dispensed twice, and it is only a modern 
 improvement to have it four times a year. These sacramental 
 occasions were, consequently, anticipated and prepared for, 
 weeks, nay, months before they took place ; and happy and 
 holy meetings they were to all concerned, people and pastors. 
 As the mode of conducting such solemnities which then 
 obtained, has almost entirely gone out, I shall endeavour to 
 give an account of one of them, so that our memories of the 
 past may include scenes of hallowed interest to our fathers. 
 
 Let us describe, for example, a summer sacrament in the 
 Burgher Church of Duufermline, such as Dr Lawson often took 
 part in, and which was fading away when I first began to ob- 
 serve with some little intelligence. The month of June was 
 chosen, as promising the most propitious weather. The neigh- 
 bouring ministers of the Secession were all engaged to come 
 and perform their several parts, and the one distinguished 
 stranger, from Edinburgh, Glasgow, or elsewhere, was also 
 secured. The services of the grand occasion commenced on 
 the Thursday preceding, which was observed as a day of 
 humiliation and prayer the ' Past-day,' as it was called. The 
 minister of the congregation usually conducted the devotional 
 services, making confessions and supplications on behalf of 
 their people ; and two of the brethren in the neighbourhood 
 preached, the one in the forenoon, and the other in the after- 
 noon. All worldly business was suspended during the day, 
 and the evening was devoted to self-examination and reading 
 and prayer. On the Friday evening there was another diet 
 of public worship, presided over by one of the ministers, who 
 was to remain and work over the occasion. By Saturday 
 morning, ' the tent,' as it was called, had been erected at the 
 north end of the large park immediately behind the church. 
 This ' tent' was a huge and awkward-looking moveable pul- 
 pit, from which sermons were preached to the thousands who 
 assembled frota a radius of ten or twelve miles all round,
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 79 
 
 and who could not be accommodated in the church. Its use 
 on the Saturdays and Mondays was given up latterly; but, for 
 many years, the crowds that came so early as Saturday and 
 waited over Monday, made it a necessity. On the afteruoou 
 of Saturday two sermons were preached in the church by 
 two of the assistants, and the ' tent preaching' went on simul- 
 taneously. Then came the Sabbath! the sacrament Sabbath! 
 the June sacrament Sabbath! And, if the day turned out, 
 as then it almost always did, propitious as to weather, it 
 proved indeed to be a ' high clay.' Early in the morning, 
 from all the congregations in the neighbourhood, groups of 
 families were seen quietly and happily finding their way into 
 the town, and finally taking up their position for the day on 
 the green where the tent was erected. At that time it was 
 customary to have no public religious services in any of the 
 sister churches whose ministers were to be assisting in Dun- 
 fermline. This was owing partly to the habits of the people 
 in attending there during the communion, and partly to the 
 difficulty of finding pulpit supply. Preachers, or probationers, 
 as they were called, were 'few and far between.' These 
 ' tribes of the Lord ' came from Stirling, Alloa, and Kincar- 
 dine on the west from Kirkcaldy, Crossgates, and Lochgelly 
 on the east from Kinross, and even Perth, on the north 
 and from Inverkeithing, Qucensferry, and Limekilns on the 
 south. Their ministers preceded, or sometimes accompanied 
 them. Besides the two stated ministers, Dr Husband and 
 Mr Macfarlane, there were almost invariably the ministers of 
 Inverkeithing, Limekilns, Crossgates, Lochgelly, Kirkcaldy, 
 Kinross, and Kincardine, together with one distinguished 
 stranger from a distance. Among my latest and somewhat 
 misty reminiscences in connection with an occasion of this kind, 
 are the following : The late Dr Hay, of Kinross, preached 
 on the Fast-day, and he most ably discoursed on the sublime 
 scenes of the transfiguration. The late Dr Beattie, of Glas- 
 gow, preached on the Friday evening from these words, ' Why
 
 80 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 stand ye here all the day idle?' and a most powerful sermon 
 it was felt to be given out with all the unction and fervour 
 of that pulpit oratory which kept one of the largest congre- 
 gations in Glasgow hanging upon his lips, to the end of a 
 long and most faithful pastorate. He was then the minister 
 of the Burgher Church at Kincardine, and deemed it one of 
 the high honours of his life that he was permitted in his youth 
 to take, however humble a part in ' the work' with such men, 
 and at such seasons. On the Saturday, the first sermon was 
 preached by the late Mr Haddin of Limekilns, who discoursed 
 from the words, ' Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?' His 
 meek, Nathanael-like appearance, greatly aided to give em- 
 phasis to the rich and savoury evangel which he then poured 
 forth. He was followed by Mr Brown, of Inverkeithing, whose 
 subject has escaped my memory. But who that knew or ever 
 heard that prince of Gospel preachers, can doubt of its appro- 
 priateness and Gospel majesty. Dr Husband and Mr Mac- 
 farlane, the collegiate pastors of Queen Anne Street Church, 
 took the presidency in these communions by turns. On the 
 occasion referred to, my father presided, and, consequently, 
 took the lead in the services of the day. That large and 
 spacious church was crowded. There could not be less than 
 two thousand there, consisting almost entirely of the regular 
 congregation. His text I have also forgotten; but the 'action 
 sermon,' as it was termed, was an eloquent and most cordially 
 delivered message of Divine love, listened to breathlessly, and 
 many wept. He had a fine stately appearance, and a noble 
 voice, the very whispers of which could be distinctly heard in 
 every corner of the building The present day by no means 
 monopolizes pulpit oratory and fervour. After the action 
 sermon was preached, came tho service called 'fencing the 
 tables ' (devotional services, of course, alternated with all the 
 addresses). This was usually done by the presiding mini- 
 ster. It consisted, long ago, in a description of the charac- 
 ters who were not worthy to sit down at the Lord's table;
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 81 
 
 and then, in the second place, of those who were worthy. 
 The history of this unseasonable interruption is simply this. 
 At the origin of the Secession, multitudes left the Established 
 Church who could not obtain the necessary certificate of 
 church membership ; and the resort of the conscientious seced- 
 ing pastors, on sacramental occasions, was to this prac- 
 tice. They made their solemn appeals to the consciences of 
 the people, and left the responsibility with them. By and 
 by, as matters were brought into order, tokens of admission 
 to the ordinances were given only to those who, on examina- 
 tion, were found to be ' worthy.' The ' fencing service,' how- 
 ever, was still kept up. It did good, and, if rightly timed, 
 such as on the afternoon of the Sabbath previous to the 
 sacrament, must do good ; but the seasonableness of it now, 
 immediately before the ordinance, and after the communicants 
 have taken their seats, may be questioned. It is doubtful if 
 these 'debarrances' (another name for this peculiar service) ever 
 kept away one who had determined to communicate ; and we 
 have heard of some really devout people, whose comfort at 
 the table was greatly disturbed by it. It greatly depended, 
 indeed, on the manner in which it was gone about. For the 
 most part, as far as the very original mode of its performance 
 goes, we have reason to conclude that it was often useless, 
 itself sometimes neutralizing itself. An anecdote of these 
 times will explain this remark. An old man, who had just 
 been listening to one of these ' debarrances,' was asked what 
 he thought of it. He replied, ' I can make nothing of it at 
 all ; that man (the minister) first shooed (drove) us a' out of 
 the tables, and then he just shooed us a' in again.' The zeal 
 of our worthy fathers sometimes carried them the length of 
 ' debarring ' from the Lord's table, not only such men and 
 women as were ungodly and profligate, but also the devil 
 himself, and the Pope. Let us not, however, undervalue 
 their conscientious, and, to a great extent, indispensable efforts 
 at that time, to throw a fence around the Lord's table, and
 
 82 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 thus to preserve purity of communion. We believe they did 
 their best, and from the best of motives; and to a large extent 
 they did good. 
 
 Immediately after the tables were thus fenced, the minister 
 left the pulpit, and took his place in a small desk in front of 
 the precentor, and with the ' tables ' before him. The ' table- 
 seats' were large square pews, stretching from the pulpit right 
 up to the back-wall of the church. At the sacraments, the 
 partitions were taken out, so as to constitute one long pew. 
 There was one such pew to the right, and one to the left of 
 the minister ; and a broad passage, running up between them, 
 allowed the elders to lift the tokens and superintend the circu- 
 lation of the symbolic elements. After the usual preliminary 
 services of reading the scriptural warrant, prayer, and a short 
 address, the elements were given by the pastor to the indi- 
 viduals sitting at the ends of the tables nearest to the pulpit. 
 So soon as this table was served, another short parting ad- 
 dress was given, and then two verses of a psalm were sung. 
 During the singing of these, the communicants retired from 
 the table by the doors at the farther end, and others, coming 
 in by side passages to the right and left of the pulpit, took 
 their places ; and when the table was again filled, the same 
 procedure was gone about. Dr Husband now took the chair, 
 and conducted the services of the second table, with all that 
 dignity and solemnity of manner for which he was remark- 
 able. After him came in succession the assistant ministers, 
 who addressed the communicants, and dispensed the bread 
 and wine as long as it was necessary. On such' occasions 
 there were sometimes no less than ten or twelve table- 
 services ; and fully a hundred members sat down each time. 
 In this method there was much to complain of. There was 
 noise and confusion, and a good deal of uncomfortable pressure 
 in going into and retiring from the table of the Lord. But 
 there was much to command respect, and even to produce 
 solemnity. There was, especially, something very impressive
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 83 
 
 ing of the psalms by the retiring and incoming 
 
 ?. They generally kept to one psalm the 22d 
 
 version and sung two verses at the filling up 
 
 fore the ' table-address ' was given. If they 
 
 'm before all the members had communi- 
 
 7 as selected. The tune invariably sung, 
 
 to the end of the table-services, was 
 
 \ the minor key, and by many godly 
 
 ed with communion work. When all 
 
 In concluding the Catai v father again ascended the pulpit, 
 
 say a word or two in relatid the ' evening directions,' a series 
 
 that there are no such profit^ ho had been at the table > as to 
 
 _ 'ing them in the world. Then 
 public are led to believe. I a . 
 
 f the day s work, the evening 
 know nothing of the pecuniary y my grandfather, Dr Husband, 
 
 factitious articles, but believe it pi was (the last we remember 
 to those who would trade in 1 )' 'Therefore, we ought to 
 
 . ... .the things which we have 
 
 respectable Chemists are directly n , , 
 
 ild let them slip.' By this 
 and remunerating prices the besl , clock> The serviceg hftd 
 
 chemicals ; and those who choose ca one minister after another 
 them, without running miles out of tl^ not find admission into 
 
 at a cheap shop, or subjecting themsei ion - But ' tOWards even ' 
 
 s homeward, speaking to 
 Charges of others, who are necessarily , ometimeg kneeling down 
 
 who so basely parade before the pu'others sought their way 
 Companies as the only places where gei was always understood 
 obtained, or the preparations of the Ph : acrament-the evening 
 
 were not disappointed : 
 properly made. , 
 
 never forget the beauty 
 
 of tut eals, and the swelling 
 
 eloquence 01 srael. I think I have 
 
 never heard its e([u rce expect again to be 
 
 similarly affected. All . ut nine or ten o'clock, 
 
 the work having gone on \vr^_coHiia moment's interruption
 
 82 THE LIFE OF DR 
 
 thus to preserve purity of comnr ^ T 19 
 
 their best, and from the best of kD ' ,ent 
 
 they did good. 
 
 Immediately after the tab^ , attention to the ter 
 
 left the pulpit, and took hi '/to perfornvthe_func^ of 
 
 the precentor, and with thr *ly ^pgS^of keeping e- 
 
 seats' were large square p'" it 
 
 up to the back- wall of t\. the skin, the P^J^ e 
 
 partitions were taken Ol ^*^f^i OT : brisk 
 There was one such * 
 
 the minister ; and a brflifc tepid & aw cont inued 
 a,lowed the e.ders to S5gsSS 
 
 lation of the symboli / skin. & c - ^ ene g. t the person 
 
 services of reading t^5L 
 
 address, the elemer^^^nt, andasitsob^ecus^o 
 
 viduals Sitting at tland the gsW JJ ca useexhau6- 
 So sooa as this ^l^^*"^ 
 dress was given, a ovet those orgwj em pi yed to 
 During the singin ,, &c. When a ba j. ahten v.eit, 
 
 the table by the ^fSf&SA * ' " 
 
 in by side passag 9 . a time in and 
 
 their places; 
 
 procedure was 
 
 and conducted 
 
 dignity and 
 
 able. After hin 
 
 who addressed 
 
 and wine as 
 
 there were som feels faint. theKitrr -ive table- 
 
 services ; and ful, t ^ e liver, torpor chi eft ^ ate ;<uown each time. 
 In this method til is very o ^ 8 ^' at er "th-^aiii of. There was 
 noise and confusioi^ to each g^^x)f uncomfortable pressure 
 in going into and r.his e jf f~y*ne table of the Lord. But 
 there was much to* ^jjplFrespect, and even to produce 
 solemnity. There w^^specially, something very impressive
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 83 
 
 in the singing of the psalms by the retiring and incoming 
 communicants. They generally kept to one psalm the 22d 
 of the Scotch version and sung two verses at the filling up 
 of each table, before the ' table-address ' was given. If they 
 finished that psalm before all the members had communi- 
 cated, the 103d was selected. The tune invariably sung, 
 from the beginning to the end of the table-services, was 
 ' Coleshill,' a tuue on the minor key, and by many godly 
 Seceders almost identified with communion work. When all 
 was over at the table, my father again ascended the pulpit, 
 and gave what were called the ' evening directions,' a series 
 of exhortations to those who had been at the table, as to 
 the duties and trials awaiting them in the world. Then 
 came the grand wind-up of the day's work, the evening 
 sermon. This was preached by my grandfather, Dr Husband, 
 the senior pastor. His text was (the last we remember 
 having heard him preach from), ' Therefore, we ought to 
 give the more earnest heed to the things which we have 
 heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.' By this 
 time it might be seven or eight o'clock. The services had 
 been going on all day at the tent ; one minister after another 
 publishing to the people who could not find admission into 
 the church, the glad tidings of salvation. But, towards even- 
 ing, many of them turned their faces homeward, speaking to 
 one another of redeeming love, and sometimes kneeling down 
 together in prayer by the wayside ; others sought their way 
 into the church again, to hear what was always understood 
 to be one of the high things of the sacrament the evening 
 sermon. And on this evening they were not disappointed : 
 for (albeit too young to judge) I will never forget the beauty 
 of the style, the pathos of the appeals, and the swelling 
 eloquence of that grand singer in Israel. I think I have 
 never heard its equal since, and scarce expect again to be 
 similarly affected. All was over about nine or ten o'clock, 
 the work having gone on without a moment's interruption
 
 84 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 from ten o'clock in the forenoon. Considering the number of 
 table-services, this was not an unseemly time for dismissal. 
 Great indiscretion, however, sometimes showed itself at other 
 country sacraments in these parts, in the matter of lengthy 
 work. A well-known and truthful story is told of Mr Kyle, 
 erewhile the Burgher minister of Kinross before Dr Hay. 
 He contrived, at one time, to lengthen out the services of his 
 summer sacrament, so as that the ' evening sermon' was not 
 begun till past twelve o'clock. Dr Husband was to be the 
 preacher, and he mounted the pulpit in no pleased mood, as 
 he was rather finically set against such impropriety. His 
 text was, 'Let not your good be evil spoken of;' and he 
 commenced and closed in this laconic manner : ' Brethren, 
 the best practical use I can make of my text is simply to 
 repeat the particulars on which, had time permitted, I would 
 have preached.' He, then, in half a minute, went over his 
 ' heads ;' and, having pronounced the blessing, dismissed the 
 congregation, greatly to the chagrin of Mr Kyle, honest man, 
 who had been gloating over the idea of the sun's being risen 
 on Lochleven before the work could be concluded. It is 
 said he never forgave Dr Husband for this. 
 
 Whatever occasion Burns might have had for the profane 
 caricature of his ' Holy Fair' (the nickname he gives to an 
 Ayrshire summer sacrament), he would have found no justi- 
 fication for it in this Fifeshire solemnity. As far as I can 
 remember, and from all I ever heard, matters were conducted 
 especially where it was feared unseemly things might occur 
 in the tent-green with great propriety. There might be the 
 ordinary carelessness in hearing, and perhaps a mistake might 
 take place in the sober conduct of a few ; but, on the whole, 
 the demeanour of these multitudes of worshippers was most 
 becoming. Many of them, at the tent, kept their position 
 from morn to night, having engaged in all the devotions, and 
 heard every sermon that was preached, till the intimation was 
 given that the ' evening sermon' was about to begin in the
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 85 
 
 church. No police were required to keep order. I recollect 
 simply of the salutary awe under which the youngsters, who 
 were rather restless and migratory, were kept by the tent- 
 green keepers, who had staffs in their hands, and quietly 
 pursued any who were misbehaving. These men used to 
 touch gently with their staffs any whom the heat of the day 
 or prolonged attention had rendered drowsy, or, more sharply 
 such of us as might be disturbing the people. They got 
 the name of the ' nappies' from this use of their staffs, and 
 were indeed ' a terror to evil doers.' There no doubt were 
 sometimes unseemly interruptions to the solemnity of these 
 services. It was impossible to prevent improper characters 
 from mingling with the crowds, and their ejection was fre- 
 quently necessary. This gave rise to many stories which 
 were told to bring ridicule upon the Seceders. Some, how- 
 ever, are authentic, and are certainly exceedingly graphic. 
 There was one person rather conspicuous at tent preachings 
 in the south country in these times, named ' Jamie Scott,' 
 whose zeal was more potent than his judgment. It happened 
 on one occasion that the preacher was much disturbed by the 
 sudden appearance of some pigs on the hill-side where the 
 tent was erected ; the shepherds' dogs beheld them, and com- 
 menced to bark, and to show symptoms of giving chase. The 
 preacher asked if some one would try and get the pigs re- 
 moved. Jamie Scott sprang to his feet, and securing his 
 staff, exclaimed, ' I will go, sir, against these animals. They 
 were forbidden under the law, and the deil was in them under 
 the Gospel ; but, by the grace of God, I will scatter them 
 abroad.' And with that he set off and effected the clearance. 
 The service then proceeded. At another time Jamie had 
 thought it proper to strike a man whose conduct at the tent 
 was displeasing to him ; but the man was disposed to give 
 battle, and, securing a pitchfork which was at hand, he pur- 
 sued Jamie out of the tent-ground, who fled in terror. As the 
 avenger neared him, Jamie became alarmed, and, drawing out
 
 86 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 from his bosom a long tin pen-case, common then, he turned 
 quickly round, and presented it, exclaiming, ' The sword of 
 the Lord and of Gideon ! the sword of the Lord and of 
 Gideon!' His pursuer, imagining that it was a pistol, and 
 thrown off his guard by the solemnity of the cry, turned upon 
 his heels and fled. Such things, however, were very rare. 
 
 The sacrament Sabbath evening in the manse, after family 
 worship was over, and the ' ccena' had been eaten, was de- 
 voted to conversation upon the precious privileges of the day, 
 and, above all, to the high sounding praises of the 'Lamb' 
 that had been slain. Monday dawned. The tent-green was 
 again resorted to, and one or two sermons were preached. 
 In the church the two senior assistants presided. At this 
 time, and, generally speaking, for many years, these were Mr 
 Greig, of Lochgelly, and Mr Brown, of Inverkeithing. The 
 text of the latter I have forgotten, but Mr Greig's I vividly 
 recollect. His text was, ' For through Him we both have 
 access by one Spirit unto the Father,' from which he delivered 
 one of his usual most profound and solemn discourses, over- 
 flowing with divinity, and marking out with the hand of a 
 master the way of the soul to God. 
 
 The distinguished strangers that joined this band of holy 
 men in these days, and upon these occasions, were generally 
 Drs Hall and Peddie, and Mr Lothian, of Edinburgh ; Dr 
 Dick, of Glasgow ; Dr Belfrage, of Falkirk ; Dr Smart, of 
 Stirling ; and Dr Lawson, of Selkirk ; and a grand set of 
 godly men they were : their savour is not yet passed away ; 
 nor, within the Church that owned them, can their superiors 
 even yet be found. 
 
 They all dined together on the Monday afternoon, and 
 luxuriated for an hour or two in the pure relaxations of 
 Christian sociality. The time was spent as became men who 
 had been so occupied for days past. Not a word was spoken 
 but what was seasoned with salt, and not the shade of any 
 excess ever brooded over their saintly festivities. And when
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 87 
 
 at length the hour of parting came, they all sung an hymn, 
 and, having knelt in prayer together, each man went unto his 
 own home. 
 
 Such are somewhat faint recollections of a Secession summer 
 sacrament. Changes have taken place since in our mode 
 of observing the Supper which are decided improvements. 
 Nevertheless, we should come short of gratitude, if we did 
 not cherish with some degree of admiring appreciation the 
 almost patriarchal simplicity of the times we have looked back 
 upon, and the really apostolic authority wherewith our fathers 
 impressed the solemnities of our faith. 
 
 Such like at Selkirk, and in his own country-side, were the 
 communion seasons over which Dr Lawson's spirit rejoiced. 
 And these rejoicings were almost wholly confined to his own 
 and adjacent counties. He sometimes assisted at Glasgow, 
 Edinburgh, Dunfermline, and Lochgelly, but not often. Full 
 of rich memories, however, of the sage of Ettrick, are Stow, 
 Peebles, Galashiels, Lauder, Newtown, Kelso, Jedburgh, 
 Dunse, Stitchel, Coldstream, etc. The pleasing and almost 
 solemn associations of his name and holy wisdom, with their 
 best and happiest ideas of sacramental work, have not yet 
 ceased to retain him in their reverence and love. 
 
 Dr Lawson was once, but once only, in the great metropolis. 
 London is now, by reason of the railway, almost at our door. 
 A visit to it is, therefore, not much thought of. Everybody 
 goes up, and hence the charm and importance of a visit have 
 fled. It was far different in the days of Lawson. To go to 
 London was an occasion for the whole neighbourhood to talk 
 about ; it was an event, if not an era in one's life. Our fathers 
 had to make their wills ere they left home, and took farewell 
 as if their return was very problematical ; and when they did 
 go, they did not return in such a hurry as we do. The cost of 
 travelling made it proper that the cause for travelling should 
 be unusually important. We read of some ministers, in the 
 days we refer to, going up purely on personal grounds, to see
 
 88 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 the world, and enjoy its pleasures ; to make the acquaintance 
 of statesmen, or players, or opera-dancers ; and then, having 
 discussed so many political or church questions, together with 
 so many bottles of claret, they returned, not to bless, but to 
 chill, their households and their churches. It was not so with 
 Dr Lawson upon the only occasion on which he went up to the 
 metropolis. He was sent up by the Synod to supply the pulpit 
 of Wells Street, during the illness of the Rev. Archibald Hall, 
 its first minister. This was only a few years after his ordina- 
 tion. We have no record of his previous preparations, nor 
 even of his sayings and doings in that great city. He con- 
 fined himself very much to his duties to the congregation, 
 and was frequently with the truly excellent man whose pulpit 
 he supplied. Mr Hall died, while Dr Lawson was in London, 
 upon the .6th May 1778. He was a man of decided talent; 
 and though the period of his ministry in London was com- 
 paratively short, he speedily commanded for himself a high 
 place among the brethren in the metropolis. He was the 
 author of several excellent works, but is best known for his 
 ' Gospel Worship.' He died in the forty-second year of his 
 age, but seemed ripe for glory. When dying, he said, ' I see 
 no other warrant, nor indeed any need of another warrant, 
 to believe my salvation by grace, to expect victory over 
 death, and to appropriate eternal life, besides the free and 
 faithful exhibition which God makes to me as a sinner, of 
 Jesus Christ, and all things with Him. that the view of 
 things which stand clear to my understanding, may be the 
 daily ministration of the Spirit, and of all His saving and 
 precious fruits to my soul ! In the view of these truths, I 
 hope to say, Farewell time and all its vanities, welcome eter- 
 nity and all its realities ! The springs of life are wasting, 
 though under many merciful circumstances, which render the 
 decay comparatively very easy to nature. I have long be- 
 lieved the truth of the union between Christ and His people. 
 I saw it was manifestly a Scripture doctrine ; I believed it to
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 89 
 
 be a very important one ; but I think one consolation from 
 it opens, of late, on my mind with a kind of evidence and 
 satisfaction which I never before perceived. By this union, 
 Christ's righteousness is my righteousness, His death my 
 death, His life my life, His glory my glory ! Here I often 
 solace myself. In this medium, death and the grave are 
 divested of all their gloom ; judgment appears to be a joyful 
 solemnity ; eternity a delightful, boundless object of expecta- 
 tion and desire. If ye love Me, ye would not weep, but 
 rejoice, because I say, I go to My Father.' 
 
 No information remains as to Dr Lawson's visit to the 
 capital. It would have been peculiarly gratifying to have 
 heard his remarks on men and manners there. His obser- 
 vation must have been keenly exercised, and his pious philan- 
 thropy greatly stimulated, as he walked through those endless 
 and crowded streets, and gazed for months on its palaces, and 
 princes, and people; on its churches, institutions, and courts ; 
 on its riches and its poverty ; on its virtues and its vices. Of 
 this one thing, however, we may be assured ; he was not guilty 
 of that contemptible flunkeyism which dances attendance on 
 the great, which seeks importance by sinking its manhood. 
 He had no business either with Prime Ministers or Scotch 
 Peers. He neither patronized the drama nor the opera ; and 
 had he written the memoirs of his own life, he could not have 
 recorded, as a neighbour of his did, that ' the theatre was the 
 richest source of my amusement in London.' l But one inci- 
 dent survives of his six months' residence in London. He 
 had been invited to dinner with a family, where he was to 
 meet Dr Hunter, at that time a minister in high popularity. 
 From the simplicity of his appearance and manners, Dr 
 Hunter thought him a fit subject for his wit, and treated him 
 rather with rude freedom. Dr Lawson felt his indignation 
 kindled, and thought not only of repelling his insolence, but 
 of exposing him to shame on account of the spirit he had 
 1 Dr Somerville, p. 157.
 
 90 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 manifested, and the claims he had advanced. But this reflec- 
 tion, he said, made him let him alone ' London is the scene 
 of his duties, what I say may injure his usefulness. His 
 reflections can do me no harm. It will be far better for me 
 to gain a victory over myself than over him.' He received, 
 some time after his return, a long letter from the Rev. John 
 Newton, from which it appears that he had made the acquaint- 
 ance of that justly esteemed minister of the Lord Jesus. 
 It would have greatly enriched this memoir if Dr Lawson's 
 letters to him had survived. The admirable and character- 
 istic epistle from the author of ' Cardephonia' amply repays 
 perusal. The principles and objects of the Evangelical 
 Alliance are anticipated in every line. 
 
 The following is the only letter of Dr Lawson's we have 
 found, in which the London visit is referred to : 
 
 ' SELKIRK, June 31, 1801. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, I need not say that your last favour, 
 as usual, afforded me much pleasure. I quite agree with 
 what you say of the distance of time between your first and 
 second visit to London. How many of our friends have been 
 removed from our eyes in the space of twenty-three years ! 
 How soon will an equal space of time glide away ! Who 
 will be found living hi the world at the end of it ? Why are 
 men so infatuated as not to live in a constant readiness for 
 that day which will remove them for ever from all earthly 
 connections ? Often have I thought of some of our dear 
 London friends, whom we must see no more till our eyes are 
 closed in death. London would now be a dreary place for 
 me, till I had spent some weeks in it ; but I have good cause 
 to believe that those whom I most loved are now angels in 
 heaven. When twenty-three years more have passed, it is 
 probable that you and I will be with them. Some of our sur- 
 vivors will talk of us with regret, but we will think of them 
 with compassion. I hope you will remind my remaining
 
 THE PASTOR AND HIS CIRCUIT. 91 
 
 friends of my name, and of my regard for them. Messrs 
 Hastie, Auld, Tassie, Mrs Scott, Mr and Mrs Wilkie, are now 
 almost my only remaining friends in London. It would afford 
 me great pleasure to spend, were it possible, a few weeks with 
 you and our clerical brethren, and my other remaining Lon- 
 don friends. May the influences of the Holy Spirit be richly 
 dispensed to them all, and to the beloved friend to whom I 
 now write ! Yours most sincerely, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.'
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 
 
 VARIOUS anecdotes connected with Dr Lawson's ministry at 
 Selkirk have been abroad ever since he left the world. Many 
 of these are highly characteristic, alike of pastor and people. 
 They, no doubt, refer to different periods of his life ; but it 
 is perhaps the best plan to introduce them at this stage of the 
 memoir. Every care has been taken to reject the spurious, 
 and to insert only such as are considered authentic by his 
 friends. We shall reserve such as are illustrative of his pro- 
 fessorial peculiarities till we come to narrate the ' Hall' life 
 at Selkirk. It may be simply premised, that none of these 
 anecdotes, discovered to be genuine, compromises, in the 
 slightest degree, the character which he bore through life 
 for great propriety of demeanour. He greatly succeeded in 
 never allowing ' his good to be evil spoken of.' There were 
 certainly modes of expression, at that period generally re- 
 ceived as both courteous and sensible, to which modern fas- 
 tidiousness might except ; but the reader will find very few 
 even of these in what follows. They are all very like the 
 man, and serve more than any elaborate description to bring 
 out his simplicity of character, his amazing knowledge of 
 Scripture, and manly sagacity. ' Anecdotes, it has been said, 
 if true and alive, are always valuable ; the man in the con- 
 crete, the totus quis, comes out in them.' 1 
 
 Dr Lawson's call to Selkirk had been unanimous. There 
 was only one individual opposed to it, who took every oppor- 
 1 Dr John Brown's letter to Dr Cairns.
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 93 
 
 tutiity to annoy the young minister. On one occasion, when 
 on a diet of pastoral visitation, he came to this person's house, 
 and being desirous of conciliating him, he entered into con- 
 versation with him in a very frank and friendly style. His 
 mildness, however, had no mollifying effect: this person 
 watched every opportunity to contradict and find fault with 
 him. At length captiousness had the effrontery to assert 
 that the young minister had actually told a lie since entering 
 the house, when he meekly said 
 
 ' I am not aware of having committed so grave a mis- 
 demeanour as that with which you charge me.' 
 
 ' Yes,' rejoined the man, ' you have ; for, when I asked you 
 to stay and take tea with us, you replied that you would not, 
 and yet you have done both: is not this something like 
 telling a lie ? ' 
 
 ' You must have read the story,' answered Mr Lawson, ' of 
 the angels in Sodom, who, when Lot pressed them to enter 
 his house and lodge with him during the night, refused, and 
 said, "Nay; but we will abide in the street all night;" and, 
 instead of doing so, when Lot pressed them much, " they 
 turned in unto him, and entered into his house : and he made 
 them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did 
 eat." Now, do you suppose that these angels told a lie? No, 
 they only changed their mind; and so I too have just changed 
 my mind, and have remained to partake of your fare.' 
 
 This proved a silencer to the individual, who had, in his 
 conceit, opined that he had caught the good man in a snare. 
 The youthful Samson showed that the withes wherewith he 
 was bound were as tow when it toucheth the fire. 
 
 It was seldom, if ever, that any one got the better of Dr 
 Lawson in free and easy conversation. A worthy farmer 
 once rather posed him, upon the occasion of one of these 
 visits. He had been asking the farmer why his sen was not 
 present, 
 
 ' He is out shooting the crows,' was the reply.
 
 94 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 ' And why does he shoot the crows?' he asked. 
 
 * Because they destroy the grain,' said the farmer. 
 
 ' The crows have as good a right to the grain as you,' 
 rejoined Dr Lawson. 
 
 ' Ay, sir,' replied the farmer, ' but they do not pay any 
 rent.' 
 
 He had a strong aversion to everything like self-confidence 
 or presumption. As he had none himself, he could not well 
 endure it in others. He was once at a funeral in an old 
 deserted churchyard, near Selkirk. He here encountered a 
 person who pretended to be a preacher, in his way, and 
 seemed to himself a man of no small consequence. He began 
 to declaim among the people in the burying-ground, and 
 made sundry rather dogmatical assertions ; among others, he 
 declared that he took everything stated in the Bible in an 
 exactly literal sense, and in no other. Dr Lawson, who was 
 within hearing, stepped forward, and simply said, ' It is 
 written in the book of Revelation, that " a great red dragon 
 appeared in heaven, and his tail drew the third part of the 
 stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth." Now, 
 sir, do ye take that as it stands ? ' The oracle became dumb. 
 
 He was generally very careful to notice, and, in his pulpit 
 instructions, to improve, any providences that were impressing 
 his own or the public mind. During a season of prevailing 
 sickness among the young of the congregation, he intimated 
 one Sabbath, that a prayer-meeting would be held in the 
 course of the week, for the purpose of supplicating the Divine 
 mercy. When * he arrived at the church on the night 
 appointed, he found, instead of the thin attendance of the 
 ordinary meetings, that a large audience had assembled. 
 Accordingly, without any premeditation, he entered the pulpit, 
 and preached a long and suitable discourse from 2 Kings iv. 
 19, ' And he (the child) said unto his father, My head, my 
 head ! And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.' 
 From these words he not only improved the visitation, but
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 95 
 
 showed how parental solicitude should be directed towards 
 the physical as well as the spiritual welfare of the young and 
 afflicted. 
 
 He was once riding down to Newtown, to preach on the 
 Monday after the communion. He was met by some people, 
 who told him that, on the previous day, one of the beams that 
 supported the gallery had given way, and that, though none 
 were killed, some were seriously injured. On entering the 
 pulpit, he read out as his text, ' And David was displeased 
 because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah.' At 
 another time, a wall had fallen near to his own church, and 
 several persons were much hurt. His text on the following 
 Sabbath was 1 Kings xx. 30, ' But the rest fled to Aphek, 
 into the city ; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven 
 thousand of the men that were left.' 
 
 He told his students, in one of his lectures on Providence, 
 the following anecdote respecting himself. He was travelling, 
 one stormy day, between Traquair and Selkirk, over Minch- 
 muir, a bleak and solitary mountain, from the summit of 
 which there is a spacious view. He was on horseback, and 
 was ambling along the edge of a steep descent that led into 
 a lonely glen, taking sweet delectation in musing on the 
 scenery around, when a strong puff of wind suddenly up- 
 lifted his hat and wig, and twirled them down the declivity 
 far beyond his reach. He stood, exposed to the blast, and 
 knew not what to do. He could not leave the horse alone 
 to pursue the fugitive articles, and it might have cost him his 
 life to have gone over the hill with his head unprotected. 
 Providence, however, had help at hand. A shepherd lad, 
 who was crossing the heights in quest of his flock, came up 
 at the critical moment, at once descended the defile, and 
 recovered both hat and wig. ' I regarded this,' he said, ' as 
 a striking interposition of Divine Providence on my behalf, 
 and I think it worthy of record.' 
 
 An earthquake was felt in many parts of Europe hi 1801.
 
 96 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 He thus alludes to it in a letter to Dr Husband : ' I con- 
 gratulate you that you are still in the land of the living. 
 I have the more reason to be thankful, on this account, to the 
 God of our lives, as your continuance in this world is neces- 
 sary to the comfort of my own life. The shock of the earth- 
 quake was moderate, and of short continuance ; but it was 
 owing to God's mercy that it was less dreadful than those 
 which have been felt at Lisbon or Jamaica. God grant that 
 sinners may be awakened to repentance ! Will a man dare to 
 spend his evenings in gambling or drinking, in chambering and 
 wantonness ? Will he have security given him that he shall 
 not be awakened from the sleep of the night by the tremen- 
 dous voice of God, when He ariseth to shake terribly the 
 earth?' 
 
 Dr Lawson was quite remarkable for the happy use and 
 application of passages of Scripture. He was very ready to 
 do so, but never in such a way as to indicate the slightest 
 irreverence for the Holy Word. The following are authenti- 
 cated instances. Very soon after he commenced his ministry 
 in Selkirk, he was told by one of his hearers, of rather a con- 
 sequential turn of mind, that the people were very well pleased 
 with his sermons, but by no means with his texts. 
 
 ' I should not have wondered,' he replied, ' if they had 
 found fault with my discourses; but why should they find 
 fault with the Word of God?' 
 
 ' I do not know,' said the petulant individual, ' but that's 
 what they say, and I aye like to speak a' my mind.' 
 
 ' Do you know,' inquired Dr Lawson, ' what Solomon says 
 of such as you ?' 
 
 ' No,' replied the man. ' And what does Solomon say?' 
 
 ' He says,' rejoined the doctor, ' " A fool uttereth all his 
 mind, but a wise man keepeth it in till after." ' 
 
 Dr Lawson was never annoyed again by this individual. 
 
 On the formation of a church at Galashiels, he chose that 
 uncommon, but most appropriate text, Ezek. xxxii. 22,
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 97 
 
 * Asshur is there, and all her company.' And when opening 
 the new church at Lauder, he preached from these words in 
 Hosea viii. 14, ' Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and build- 
 eth temples.' From these words he discoursed on the evil 
 and danger of mere formal or ceremonial worship. At an- 
 other time, he was on his way to preach at Hawick, and was 
 suddenly overtaken by a violent tempest of wind and rain. 
 He was obliged to take refuge in a cottage by the wayside, 
 near Ashkirk. When the storm ceased, he held on his jour- 
 ney. The incident suggested a train of thought which led 
 him to preach from that beautiful text, ' A man shall be as an 
 hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.' 
 Not very long after the late Dr Thomson of Coldstream had 
 been ordained, he received a visit from the Selkirk Professor 
 when on his way to some communion. It happened to be on 
 a Saturday, when young ministers especially dislike to be in- 
 truded upon. Dr Lawson apologized for having so long de- 
 layed this piece of courtesy, and for choosing a Saturday to 
 do it. Young Thomson assured him he was only too proud 
 of a visit from such a man. 
 
 ' I remember,' said Dr Lawson, ' the following story : 
 One friend called upon another, as I am now doing on you, 
 and in similar circumstances. He said to his young brother, 
 " I may say to you what Paul said to the Thessalonians, 
 ' We would have come unto you once and again, but Satan 
 hindered us.' " " He may have hindered you before," was the 
 reply, " but he has sent you to-day." ' I trust, Mr Thomson, 
 that is not your view of my visit.' 
 
 He was once assisting the Rev. Mr Pirie, of Glasgow. On 
 the Monday thereafter, he was sitting, along with Mr Pirie 
 and some others of the brethren, in the vestry. It was not 
 yet time to commence what used to be called ' the last diet ;' 
 and the worthy men, at least some of them, were indulging 
 themselves with the pipe. The room was soon nebulous, and 
 one of the party, in allusion to his well-known power to choose
 
 98 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 and pick from appropriate texts on sudden emergencies, re- 
 marked that it would be difficult for him to choose such a 
 text as would be suitable to the smoky state of the vestry. 
 He made no reply ; but in a few minutes ascended the pulpit, 
 and gave out for his text these words, from Psalm cxix. 83, 
 ' For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not 
 forget Thy statutes;' from which, as usual, he preached a 
 clear, logical, and impressive sermon. 
 
 On another occasion he was at the Dunfermline sacrament, 
 and was the guest of his friend Dr Husband. While at 
 breakfast, in the manse, on the Monday following, the news 
 were suddenly brought in of one of Lord Nelson's victories. 
 Regret was expressed that the news had not reached them on 
 the previous day, when they might have been improved to the 
 multitudes that attended from all parts of the surrounding 
 country. Nothing more was said. Dr Lawson was one of the 
 two brethren that had to preach that forenoon. His brethren 
 and the people were astonished when he gave out for his text 
 a passage that referred to the goodness of God in His deal- 
 ings with nations, and from which he delivered an admirable 
 discourse on the special obligations of Great Britain, in her 
 past history, to the God of salvation. 
 
 When Napoleon's cruel wars were causing men to turn 
 pale, he chose one day, for his text, the words, ' I will make 
 thee My battle-axe,' and preached a most assuring sermon 
 from them. He introduced the subject thus : ' Many a man 
 never rises above the condition of a ploughman, who has 
 military talents equal to Napoleon Bonaparte ; but, in the 
 providence of God, he has never been called to exercise them. 
 If He required them, He would call them out, and they 
 would fight valiantly. Napoleon has, in the providence of 
 God, done wonderful exploits ; and how are we to account 
 for it ? Simply by looking at these words, " I will make thee 
 My battle-axe." ' 
 
 On a certain sacramental occasion he ascended the pulpit
 
 THE MINISTER AKD HIS WAYS 99 
 
 to preach what was called the ' evening sermon.' The mini- 
 ster, however, who preceded him, forgetting that Dr Lawson 
 was to follow, pronounced the blessing, and sat down, under 
 the impression that all was over, and that the congregation 
 would retire. The Professor at once arose and commenced 
 thus : ' My friends, you will no doubt think it strange that 
 the apostolic benediction has been pronounced before the close 
 of the services ; but in the 16th chapter of the Epistle to the 
 Romans, and 20th verse, you will find that Paul pronounces 
 the blessing, and, after adding some important truths, he 
 pronounces it a second time, verse 24th.' He was engaged, 
 on another communion occasion, to give what are called ' the 
 evening directions' after the Lord's supper. But the time 
 was up ; and, as he disliked protracted work in the sanc- 
 tuary, he simply said, ' I do not mean to give you any direc- 
 tions of my own, but " for brass I will bring gold, and for 
 iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones 
 iron." ' He then read the third chapter of the Epistle to the 
 Colossians, and concluded the diet. 
 
 Late one Saturday evening, the London mail, in passing 
 through Selkirk, told the sad tidings that Mr Percival, the 
 Prime Minister, had been assassinated in the lobby of the 
 House of Commons. On the following day he preached from 
 Job xxxiv. 20, ' In a moment shall they die, and the people 
 shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away; and the mighty 
 shall be taken away without hand.' A good judge, 1 who 
 heard this sermon preached, informed the compiler that it was 
 a 'most finished discourse.' Dr Lawson had a marvellous 
 power of seeing quickly through a subject, and readily threw 
 it into shape in consequence of his severely logical mind. The 
 news of Napoleon's banishment to St Helena reached him 
 when on a visit to Annan. He preached, next day, from a 
 tent to two thousand people, taking for his text Jeremiah 
 1. 23, ' The hammer of the whole earth is cut asunder and 
 1 Rev. Dr Pringle, of Auchterarder.
 
 100 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 broken.' A deep impression was left on the minds of the 
 vast audience. Having lectured through the whole Bible, 
 he, one afternoon, resumed his laborious undertaking, from 
 these words, ' Ye see how large a letter I have written unto 
 you with mine own hands.' 
 
 Dr Lawson, indeed, was through life distinguished for his 
 readiness to speak or preach on any subject. He mentioned 
 to a friend, that, on one occasion, he gave out that his text 
 would be found in a certain chapter and in a certain verse. 
 On turning to the passage he found that he had made a 
 mistake, and that it was not the test from which he had in- 
 tended to preach. 'Then what did you do?' inquired his 
 friend. ' Why,' he replied, ' what could I do but just preach 
 from the text I had given out?' And he did so, no one but 
 himself being aware of his surprise. 
 
 He went, upon one occasion, to assist at the Kelso sacra- 
 ment. On arriving, he found that Mr Hall had convened a 
 greater number of brethren than he considered necessary for 
 the work. He had not been able to supply his own pulpit 
 for the Sabbath ; and it was impressed upon him, that, in the 
 circumstances, he ought not to remain over the Sabbath. 
 Accordingly, he got up early on the Sabbath morning, and 
 announced his purpose to start home for Selkirk. ' You 
 know, brethren,' he said, ' I never like to encourage idleness. 
 In consequence of my being here, my people must be without 
 sermon to-day ; and there are plenty of hands here to do all 
 the work required in Kelso. I shall, therefore, take my staff, 
 and walk leisurely away, warning by the road as many of my 
 people as I can conveniently reach.' He did so, and by the 
 time he got to Selkirk, a goodly number had been brought 
 together, to whom, with great power, he ministered the usual 
 diets of public worship. 
 
 He went, on one occasion, to Stitchel to meet Dr Waugh, 
 who had come down from London to pass a few weeks amid 
 the beautiful and healthy scenery of his native country. By
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 101 
 
 this time young Waugh had been long enough in the south to 
 have his manners so far conformed to London fashions. As 
 Dr Lawson and he were walking op the public street, they 
 met the minister of Stitchel and his young wife. Dr Lawson, 
 in his plain way, kindly shook them by the hand ; but his 
 London brother at once resorted to the primitive mode of 
 courtesy, and kissed the lady. On observing which, Dr Law- 
 son smiled, and said, ' Oh, Mr Waugh, Mr Waugh, you re- 
 mind me of the scribes of old, of whom it is written, that they 
 loved salutations in the market-places.' In the laugh which 
 this drew forth, the blushing lady recovered her self-possession. 
 Dr Waugh has almost immortalized the summer sacraments 
 at Stitchel, especially the tent-gatherings, upon these occa- 
 sions, on ' Stitchell Brae.' ' that I could again sit among 
 them,' he exclaimed, ' and hear good old Mr Coventry give us 
 as much sound divinity in one sermon, as is now found in ten 
 volumes ! It was a scene on which God's eye might love to 
 look. Such sermons ! and such prayers ! none such to be 
 heard now-a-days. What are your cathedrals, and your 
 choirs, and your organs ? God laid the foundations of our 
 temple on the pillars of the earth. Our floor was nature's 
 verdant carpet ; our canopy was the vaulted sky, the heaven 
 in which the Creator dwells. In the distance, the Cheviot 
 Hills ; around us, nature in all her luxuriant loveliness. 
 There, fields ripening into harvest ; here, lowing herds in all 
 the fulness of supply for man. On the banks of that little 
 rivulet at our feet, lambs, the emblem of innocence, sporting 
 in the shade, and offering to Heaven the only acknowledg- 
 ment they could, in the expression of their happiness and joy. 
 The birds around warbling praises to Him who daily provides 
 for all their wants ; the flowers and green fields offering their 
 perfume ; and, lovelier still, and infinitely dearer to Him, 
 multitudes of redeemed souls and hearts, perfumed by faith, 
 singing His praises in " grave sweet melody," perhaps in the 
 tune of " Martyrs." Martyrs, so sung on Stitchel Brae,
 
 102 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 might almost arrest an angel on an errand of mercy, and 
 would afford him more pleasure than all the chanting, and all 
 the music, and all the organs in all the cathedrals of Europe.' 
 It so happened that Dr Lawson was present at the last 
 summer communion in which the 'tent' was used on this now 
 famous Brae; and he preached the last sermon that was 
 delivered from it, on a beautiful evening in July 1810. As 
 they talked over the supper-table that night, he mentioned 
 that it was just forty years since, for the first time, he attended 
 a Stitchel sacrament ; and then gave some account of ' the 
 work ' on that occasion. ' How can that be ? ' some one 
 asked. You were not then a minister.' ' No,' he replied, ' I 
 was but a student ; but I remember all about it.' He was 
 asked to allude to this circumstance in his sermon on the fol- 
 lowing forenoon. ' I have done as outre things before,' was 
 his answer, and the subject dropped. On the Monday he 
 gave out his text from John xxi. IS, 19, 'Verily, verily, I 
 say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, 
 and walkedst whither thou wouldest : but when thou shalt be 
 old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird 
 thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake 
 He, signifying by what death he should glorify God.' Having 
 read these verses, he thus prefaced his sermon : ' Brethren, 
 the first time I attended a communion in Stitchel was this 
 time forty years. Your late venerable pastor, Mr Coventry, 
 then discoursed from these words in John ii. 11, 'This 
 beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and mani- 
 fested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him.' 
 He, on that occasion, chose a subject connected with Christ's 
 first miracle ; and I, on this occasion, select one connected with 
 His last. Few of you now present were, at that time, hearers 
 of the Gospel ; and forty years hence, all, or most of us, shall 
 be either in heaven or in hell. that we were wise ! that we 
 understood this! that we would consider our latter end!' 
 He then preached a most interesting sermon, which was
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 103 
 
 listened to with solemn and profound attention. On inquiring 
 afterwards, it was ascertained that only one of his audience, 
 an elder of Mr Hall's, of Kelso, had been present on the 
 occasion referred to. 
 
 The stories about his absence of mind are numerous, and 
 some of them are true. ' Nullum magnum ingenium sine mix- 
 tura dimeutiae,' does not in any sense apply to this peculiarity 
 in his habits ; for though he was, in a sense, a man of genius, 
 there was such an air of judgment about it, as to throw mere 
 eccentricities into the shade. It has been shrewdly surmised, 
 that he is the original of the ' Rev. Josiah Cargill,' whom 
 Sir Walter Scott so inimitably depicts in the novel of ' St 
 Ronan's Well ;' and, certainly, the resemblance, in some im- 
 portant points, is very striking. Sir Walter, indeed, could 
 scarce miss having the Selkirk scholar in his eye. He was a 
 near neighbour ; and, though not upon terms of intimacy, they 
 were well known to each other. Sir Walter had a most pro- 
 found respect for Dr Lawson's learning, and especially for the 
 extent and accuracy of his historical knowledge. He is said 
 to have consulted him sometimes on historical facts and dates. 
 In submitting a few illustrations of his ' obliviousness,' or 
 eccentricity of manner, it is proper to guard the reader 
 against the idea that Dr Lawson ever fell into such negli- 
 gences in society ; it was only when he was alone, or prosecut- 
 ing some weighty subject that lay upon his mind when in the 
 repose of study. It must also be remembered that freedoms 
 were allowed in his time, which at present are unknown. 
 Great changes have come over the manners of quiet social life 
 since his days, which in some respects may not be considered 
 to be improvements. In general, he had a correct taste, an 
 innate sense of propriety, and spoke and acted accordingly. 
 
 His son, the late Rev. A. Lawson, used to tell that his 
 father's mind ' was often so intensely occupied with im- 
 portant and profound study, that he did sometimes greatly 
 forget himself, so as not only to cause the gentle smile, but
 
 104 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 the hearty laugh ;' and he gave the following instance. One 
 very rainy day, as his father was trudging along a road, a 
 friend, whose door he was passing, saw the plight in which he 
 was, and shoved an umbrella into his hand. As he went 
 along, the rain still falling, a person met him who noticed 
 that the umbrella was buttoned up in his great-coat. Think- 
 ing that the umbrella had given way, he said, ' Doctor, I am 
 sorry that your umbrella has not served you in this heavy 
 rain.' ' 0,' replied he, ' I have a good umbrella, but I have 
 concealed it here lest it get wetted by the shower.' 
 
 One day, when he had finished his lecture in the Hall, and 
 when leaving the room, instead of taking with him, as usual, 
 his Hebrew Bible, he deliberately lifted one of the student's 
 hats, and walked off with it. On discovering his mistake, he 
 returned, and, laying the hat on the table, simply said, ' I 
 think I have taken away one of your hats instead of my Bible.' 
 None of the students had courage to inform him, at the time, 
 of his mistake. His reverend appearance, and their high 
 respect for him, prevented either speech or laughter. 
 
 He did not hesitate when, in the act of preaching, anything 
 of importance occurred to his mind, to pause, make the inti- 
 mation, and then proceed. Once, when he had finished his 
 first particular, he announced his second, thus : ' I remark, in 
 the second place, that' Here he paused, and added, 'I 
 intend a diet of pastoral visitation, on Tuesday next, among 
 the families residing,' etc., etc. ; and then, quite composedly, 
 proceeded with his subject. 
 
 There was a particular peg in the lobby of his house, on 
 which he hung his hat. By some mistake, one of the young 
 ladies' bonnets had got upon this peg ; and in passing out, the 
 worthy man took it down, and would have walked with it 
 deliberately up the street, had not some one informed him of 
 the mistake. 
 
 The vent of the kitchen chimney was once on fire : the ser- 
 vant-girl took alarm, ran to the library, and, suddenly open-
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 105 
 
 ing the door, shrieked to the Doctor, ' Sir, the house is on 
 fire!' 'Go and tell your mistress,' he said; 'you know I 
 have no charge of household matters,' and so continued his 
 reading. 
 
 One of his sons, who afterwards became a highly esteemed 
 Christian minister, was a very tricky boy, perhaps mischievous 
 in his tricks. Near the manse lived an old henwife, of 
 crabbed temper, and rather ungodly in her mode of living. 
 She and the boy had quarrelled ; and the result was, that he 
 took a quiet opportunity to kill one of her hens. She went 
 immediately to Dr Lawson, and charged his son with the 
 deed. She was believed, and as it was not denied, punish- 
 ment was inflicted. He was ordered to abide in the house, 
 and, to make the sentence more severe, his father took him 
 into the study, and commanded him to sit there with him. 
 The son was restless, and frequently eyed the door. At last, 
 he saw his father drowned in thought, and quietly slipped 
 out. He went directly to the henwife's, and killed another 
 hen, returning immediately, and taking his place in the library, 
 his father having never missed him. The henwife speedily 
 made her appearance, and charged the slaughter again upon 
 him. Dr Lawson, however, waxed angry, declared her to 
 be a false accuser, as the boy had been closeted with him all 
 the time, adding, ' Besides, this convinces me that you had 
 just as little ground for your first accusation ; I therefore 
 acquit him of both, and he may go out now.' The woman 
 went off in high dudgeon, and the prisoner in high glee. 
 
 "When he went to assist at the Dunfermline communion, he 
 always called upon the Rev. Mr Carruthers, of South Queens- 
 ferry, and either passed a night with him, or waited till such 
 time as he could obtain a passage across to Fife. 
 
 Mr Carruthers was one of the excellent of the earth, and 
 cherished the highest regard for his visitor, who reciprocated 
 the friendship. At one time, the weather became so tempestu- 
 ous that the boatmen refused to cross. Dr Lawson was ex-
 
 106 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 pected to preach in Dunfermline in the evening, and was some- 
 what disconcerted. Mr Carruthers and he went down to the 
 pier once and again, and tried to persuade them to attempt the 
 passage. But they would not. Dr Lawson asked them when 
 they thought the wind might fall, and they replied that three 
 or four hours might elapse. He walked aside a few yards, 
 evidently vexed ; but returned, saying, ' I insist on your try- 
 ing to ferry me across. Dr Husband will be very anxious, 
 and I will be most obliged.' ' No,' said the skipper em- 
 phatically, ' it is impossible. In such a storm the boat is 
 sure to be lost.' He again stepped aside by himself, and 
 appeared to be in deep thought, when he was seen taking 
 out his purse, with which in his hand he returned to the 
 man, saying quite sincerely, ' Did you say the boat might 
 be lost ?' ' Yes,' replied the boatman. ' Well, then,' said 
 Dr Lawson, fingering the money in the purse, ' how much 
 would the boat cost?' overlooking, in his absence, the cer- 
 tainty of his own and the sailor's loss. 
 
 Mrs Lawson and he were once returning from a sacrament 
 in the country. As was the custom then, they rode upon the 
 same horse she on a pad behind him. At her request he 
 made a detour, that she might call on a friend. Having 
 slipped off the horse, Mrs Lawson went and made her call, 
 he promising to wait upon her return. She was not long 
 gone, when the horse quietly walked away, and soon reached 
 Selkirk. ' Here,' called the Doctor to the servant, ' come and 
 help your mistress off.' The servant looked surprised, and 
 told him that Mrs Lawson was not upon the horse. He 
 immediately rode back and took up his wife, who was making 
 the best of her way homewards. 
 
 He made some awkward mistakes .sometimes when out in 
 the country upon diets of pastoral visitation. He rode off, 
 one forenoon, to visit at Whitmore Hall. In about an hour 
 afterwards he was seen riding up the street to his manse, 
 utterly unconscious that the animal had turned round and
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 107 
 
 brought him back to Selkirk, without accomplishing his in- 
 tended visitation. 
 
 He was journeying on foot once to assist at the communion in 
 Liddesdale. He went off the road, and got bewildered among 
 the hills. Meeting a herd-boy, he asked him the way to New- 
 castlctown ; the herd kindly walked with him a mile or two, 
 and having set him right, returned. This was early in the 
 morning. When the herd was at dinner in the kitchen, a tap 
 was heard at the door. ' Come in,' said the boy. ' Can you tell 
 me the road to Newcastletown, and I will be obliged to you, 
 for I doubt I have wandered?' inquired a stranger. The boy 
 looked up, and saw that it was Dr Lawson. ' Sir,' said he, 
 ' I think ye're baith daft and donnered. I pat you on that 
 road this morning already, and what brings you back this way 
 again f The doctor recognised his guide, and simply said, 
 ' I daresay T am donnered enough ; but I have reason to thank 
 God that I have lost none of my senses yet.' The herd there- 
 after arose, and kindly reconducted him to the right path. 
 
 There was great alarm one night in the manse at Selkirk. 
 The Professor had gone away in the morning to a country 
 visitation, and was not expected back till the afternoon. 
 Afternoon came, but not the doctor. At length a servant 
 lad from a neighbouring farm called, and said he had come to 
 take back the horse with which the minister had been accom- 
 modated by his master that afternoon. He was told that'Dr 
 Lawson had not returned. Different parties were now sent 
 out to search for him, and darkness was fast setting in. After 
 a considerable time, he returned, under the guidance of a 
 man who had found him in the midst of a corn-field, sitting 
 upon the horse, which, while he was meditating, was busy 
 ruminating the corn on which it fed. 
 
 Tliis good man, with all his gravity both of mind and 
 manner, was by no means insensible to the ludicrous, and 
 could take as hearty a laugh as others, when there was a time 
 and an occasion for it. One day he surprised Mrs Lawson
 
 108 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 by bursting into an immoderate fit of laughter as he entered 
 the manse. On being questioned as to the cause of it, he 
 said, ' As I was coming down the street, I saw Jock Cuthers 
 getting a special drubbing from the hands of his wife.' Mrs 
 Lawson remarked that she did not see in that any great 
 cause for laughter, but the contrary. ' Ay,' replied the Doc- 
 tor, ' it may be so ; but the thing that makes me laugh so is, 
 not that Jock got licked, but that he was so silly as to allow 
 her. He should be master in his own house.' 
 
 Many of Dr Lawson's wise sayings have become proverbial 
 in the country-side where he so long lived. Some of them are 
 worthy of being recorded. It is told that he often threw out 
 remarks in his sermons, evidently unconscious of their being 
 out of the ordinary, and then passed on as if he had uttered 
 the simplest commonplace. 'I remember an instance of this,' 
 said an old man, one of his hearers. '.He was lecturing in 
 the fifth chapter of First Timothy, and after expounding the 
 23d verse, he said, "Paul did not always work miracles, 
 otherwise he would not have ordered Timothy to drink wine, 
 nor have left Trophimus at Mileturn sick." ' Alluding to 
 animated preaching, he said, ' He who, as a preacher, is ani- 
 mated from beginning to end of his discourse, is not animated 
 at all.' The late Dr Balmer often, with delight beaming in 
 his countenance, expatiated on the feats of his tutor's memory 
 and scholarship. He used to tell that some of Dr Lawsou's 
 greatest sayings were never printed, even when the sermons 
 themselves, in which they occurred, were published. He in- 
 stanced his ' Sermons to the Aged,' some of which he had 
 heard, but which, in their printed form, did not contain many 
 of the most sagacious reflections that escaped him in their 
 delivery from the pulpit. ' You will not find this one,' said 
 Dr Balmer; ' and I heard it and others of a like kind: " An 
 old man should know that he is old, and should be willing 
 that others should know it too." ' 
 
 Dr Thomson, of Penrith, was asked by him what he
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 109 
 
 considered to be the best preparation for good preaching on 
 Sabbath. Dr Thomson suggested the ordinary preliminaries 
 of study and prayer, when Dr Lawson added, ' One of the best 
 preparations for preaching well is a sound sleep.' At another 
 time, in answering affirmatively the question, whether he (Dr 
 T.) had slept well, he rejoined, 'The man who sleeps well 
 must either have a very good conscience or a very stupid one.' 
 
 Dr Kidston, of Glasgow, was from a boy a great favourite 
 with him, and was privileged with his friendship till death. 
 Had I foreknown that the honour of writing this memoir 
 should have fallen to me, I would have carefully taken down 
 from his lips by far the most authentic, characteristic, and 
 copious anecdotes and proverbial sayings of this excellent 
 man. The most and best of these, however, are now buried 
 with him, and cannot be revived. Dr Kidston had rather a 
 taste for curious inquiries both in metaphysics and theology. 
 In the long course of his sixty years' ministry these accumu- 
 lated, and it was his wont, when with congenial friends, to 
 present the knotty points to them, and obtain their views. 
 Dr Lawson was too adroit at cutting such Gordian knots to 
 be allowed to pass, and many a subtle question did he solve 
 for his inquisitive friend. On one occasion he submitted the 
 following query to the Professor : 
 
 ' The great commandment is, that we are to love our 
 neighbour as ourselves. Now, Doctor, does this mean that 
 we are really to love all our fellow-creatures as fondly as we 
 do ourselves?' 
 
 ' That cannot be,' replied Dr Lawson, ' the import of our 
 Lord's words ; for then a man would have to love the wives 
 of other men as dearly as his own wife.' 
 
 This reply is certainly subtle, discovering a comprehensive 
 and acute mind, a mind that can perceive, at a glance, 
 recondite and refined analogies ; that can marry thoughts to 
 one another which were before apart. 
 
 When Dr Lawson travelled to London, he had in the coach
 
 110 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 with him two men, who evidently suspected that they had got 
 a minister and a simpleton with them. They acted accord- 
 ingly ; but he seemed not to heed it. At last one of them 
 put to him rather abruptly the startling question, ' How is 
 it, sir, that a man such as I take you to be, can refuse to 
 believe that Socrates and Plato, Epictetus and Seneca, and 
 other such wise and virtuous men among the heathen, have a 
 place among the blessed in heaven ? ' 
 
 ' God,' replied the wise and good man, ' has told us in His 
 Word, that " where no provision is, the people perish," and 
 that " there is no other name given under heaven among men 
 whereby they must be saved, but the name of Jesus ; " but 
 whether it pleased Him in any other way to make known this 
 name to such celebrated heathens as those you have mentioned, 
 I do not find that He has anywhere expressly informed me. 
 I feel that I ought not to attempt " to be wise above what is 
 written," and that it is not for me to " limit the Holy One of 
 Israel." If it please God, in His mercy, and through faith in 
 His Son, to take you and me to heaven, and that we shall 
 find there Socrates and Plato, I am sure we will be glad 
 indeed to meet them ; but if we shall not find them in heaven, 
 I am also sure that the Judge of all the earth will be able to 
 assign a good reason for their absence, and that none in 
 heaven will be either able or willing to dispute either the jus- 
 tice or the wisdom of His sovereign arrangements.' 
 
 During this conversation Dr Lawson had clasped his hands 
 together, and had continued to twirl the one thumb round 
 the other. Piqued at the ' clencher' he had received to his 
 question, his fellow-traveller asked him, ' Pray, sir, do you 
 always do that ? ' imitating, at the same time, the Doctor's 
 motion with his thumbs. 'No,' was. the philosophic reply, 
 ' I sometimes do this,' and he twirled his thumbs in the re- 
 verse way. The two wiseacres thought it best to let him 
 alone, and so they had quietness during the remainder of the 
 journey.
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. Ill 
 
 Travelling at another time with a young friend, the latter 
 said to him, ' I do not think you would need to fear much 
 though your thoughts were laid open.' ' I could not bear,' 
 he replied, ' that the course of my thoughts, even for one 
 hour, should be exposed.' 
 
 Talking one day of the circumstances of one's birth, he said, 
 ' It is a matter over which we have no control ; but it is 
 certainly a matter of great thankfulness that we were not 
 born the sons of princes or of dukes, but in humble life. In 
 this condition there are fewer obstacles in the way of becom- 
 ing truly religious. In high life there is much that is arti- 
 ficial, and so much devotedness to the things of time, and so 
 much pleasure-seeking, that the difficulty in the way of be- 
 coming truly godly is vastly increased.' 
 
 No feature in Dr Lawson's character was more conspicuous 
 or beautiful than his love of truth. That love was supreme 
 from his very boyhood. He was once charged with having 
 written and published falsehood. He was astonished. He 
 seemed almost confused, and scarce could realize it. At 
 length, with the greatest simplicity and sincerity, he said, ' I 
 am indeed chargeable, in other respects, with many and great 
 sins against God ; but, from the earliest of my recollections, 
 I am unable to remember any one instance in which I have 
 asserted as true what I knew or believed to be false.' On 
 one occasion he was invited by Lord and Lady Traquair to 
 dinner. The family of Traquair is a Roman Catholic one, 
 and surprise may be felt that such a man as Dr Lawson 
 should have been thus countenanced. By this time his fame 
 was widely spread over all that district as one of the wisest 
 and most learned of men, and the curiosity of that noble house 
 was excited about him. He went, and on his return Mrs 
 Lawson made special inquiries about the whole matter, 
 especially respecting the kind of entertainment, and how the 
 man of such primitive manners conducted himself at the table 
 of a noble lord. Among the viands of the repast was a
 
 112 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 savoury dish of mushrooms, of which the venerable guest was 
 asked to partake. He did so, but he merely tasted them. 
 
 'How do you relish my mushrooms?' inquired Lady 
 Traquair. 
 
 4 1 do not like them at all, my Lady,' was his reply. 
 
 * How could you so speak of her Ladyship's mushrooms ?' 
 asked Mrs Lawson, when he was narrating the scene ; ' it 
 was not good breeding.' 
 
 ' It may be so,' he said, ' but I could not tell a lie, what- 
 ever came of the mushrooms.' 
 
 Dr Simpson thus writes to the compiler : ' Many a time 
 have we heard the story of Lady Traquair's mushrooms, and 
 it was always told as illustrative of his unswerving truthful- 
 ness. How many, in such a predicament, through an assumed 
 politeness and dread of giving offence, would have asserted 
 the very contrary ! But he never allowed an untruth, in any 
 circumstances, to pollute his lips. Neither, indeed, would he 
 suffer any profanity to pollute his ears without bearing testi- 
 mony against it. This was finely illustrated on many occa- 
 sions. The following instances are authentic ': - He was dining 
 one day at a friend's house. A gentleman of the party was 
 frequently employing, in his conversation, the words, ' The 
 devil take me.' Dr Lawson at length arose, and ordered his 
 horse. The host was surprised, and insisted upon his remain- 
 ing, as dinner had scarcely begun. But nothing could prevail 
 on him to do so ; and when pressed to give a reason for his 
 abrupt departure, he replied, ' That gentleman there (pointing 
 to him) has been praying pretty often this afternoon, that the 
 devil would take him ; and as I have no wish to be present 
 at the scene, I beg to be allowed to depart.' On another 
 occasion, he had come into Edinburgh to have a consultation 
 with the late Dr Gregory upon the state of his health. He 
 was introduced by one of his own clerical friends, who was 
 on terms of intimacy with this eminent physician. In the 
 course of the visit Dr Gregory frequently used the name of
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 113 
 
 God. Dr Lawson, on leaving, said to him, ' Sir, it is written, 
 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, 
 for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name 
 in vain.' The Doctor instantly turned round to their mutual 
 
 friend, and said curtly, ' Dr , you did not tell me that 
 
 Mr Lawson was a clergyman.' 
 
 His usual medical adviser (at one time) had contracted this 
 sinful and vulgar habit of profane swearing ; and, though in 
 general careful to set a seal upon his lips in the minister's 
 presence, he sometimes forgot himself. The Doctor had sent 
 for him on one occasion to consult upon the state of his 
 health, and gave a pretty minute account of his ailments. 
 
 Off his guard, the physician rather angrily said, ' D it, 
 
 sir, you are the slave of a vile habit, and you will not soon 
 recover unless you at once give it up.' 
 
 ' And what is the vile habit you refer to ? ' simply inquired 
 the patient. 
 
 'It is your practice of smoking the use of tobacco is 
 injuring your constitution.' 
 
 ' Well, if that be the case,' said Dr Lawson, ' I can abandon 
 the pipe ; but will you permit me to give you a hint too, as 
 to a vile habit of your own ; and which, were you to give it 
 up, would be a great benefit to yourself, and a comfort to 
 your friends?' 
 
 What is that?' inquired the M.D. 
 
 ' I refer to your habit of profane swearing,' replied the 
 divine. 
 
 ' True,' said Dr , ' but that is not an expensive habit, 
 
 like yours.' 
 
 'Ah, sir!' rejoined Lawson, 'I warn you that you will 
 discover it to be a very expensive habit indeed, when the 
 account is handed to you.' 
 
 His preaching was often tender, and pathetic, at other 
 times conscience-striking, leaving, like the eloquence of 
 Pericles, a sting in the minds and memories of his hearers. 
 
 H
 
 114 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 His exercitations on the decalogue were particularly pungent. 
 It is said that, when he came to the eighth commandment, he 
 insisted strongly on restitution. Next morning, a family, from 
 whose house a pair of shoes had been stolen some years 
 before, found the price of them lying upon the sole of the 
 window, placed there by the unknown offender. The bow had 
 been drawn at a venture, but God gave to it the right direction. 
 
 In a very simple, and apparently easy way, as has been 
 already illustrated, Dr Lawson could be cuttingly severe. 
 To a minister of rather a light mind, bordering on impudence, 
 if it did not embrace it, he once said 
 
 ' Sir, your predecessor was a grave, good, godly man.' 
 
 ' You do not mean,' replied the other, ' to insinuate that I 
 am not.' 
 
 ' I only say, emphatically' was the reply, ' that your prede- 
 cessor was an eminently godly man.' The reply operated as 
 a ' sharp two-edged sword.' 
 
 The late Rev. Mr Smart, of Paisley, with some others of 
 his quondam fellow -students, being on a summer excursion, 
 called en passant on their old Professor. After some desultory 
 conversation they happened to take up the subject of ' the 
 influence of terror.'' In illustration, Mr Smart narrated that 
 a man once attempted to rob an eagle's nest on the face of a 
 tremendous precipice, being let down by means of a rope. 
 While engaged with the eaglets, down with fearful swoop 
 came upon him one of the old couple. He had carried a 
 sword with him, and he instantly struck at it. In doing so, 
 he accidentally cut the rope by which he was suspended, all 
 except one ply. Upon this, he shouted in terror to his com- 
 panions aloft, and implored them to be cautious in hoisting 
 him up. He was got up in safety ; 'but,' added Mr Smart, 
 ' such had been the influence of fear in his mind, upon per- 
 ceiving his most hazardous condition, that his hair, which 
 was jet black when he was let down, was found to be white 
 as snow when he was pulled up.'
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 115 
 
 ' Ay, ay,' said Dr Lawson, wishing to check the marvel- 
 lous, ' I recollect to have heard of a man whose wig had 
 turned grey from a fright he got.' 
 
 He once somehow got benighted when travelling from 
 Selkirk to assist his friend Mr Kidston, of Stow. On passing 
 a farm-house, he inquired the road to Stow. The farmer's 
 wife did not know him, but asked him to come in and rest a 
 while. He did so, when she told him that he was off the 
 direct road, and that it would be better for him to wait over 
 the night, and proceed in the morning. He consented. 
 Supper, in the shape of good oat- meal porridge, was pre- 
 sented, of which he slightly partook. When done, he noticed 
 the wife giving a sort of inquiring nod to her husband, to 
 which he returned another sufficiently intelligible to his 
 spouse. The ' big ha' Bible ' was then laid upon the table, 
 and family worship was performed, the worthy woman pre- 
 siding in the service, and also offering up the prayer. 1 The 
 minister left next morning, and arrived at Stow in peace and 
 safety. The farmer and his wife were members of the Stow 
 congregation, and great was their surprise when they saw 
 their guest of the former evening entering the pulpit. The 
 wife waited upon him at the dismissal, and apologized for 
 presenting him with ' porridge ' for his supper ; adding that, 
 if she had but known who he was, something better might 
 have been forthcoming. 'Never mind, my good woman.' 
 replied Mr Lawson, ' I was much obliged to you for your 
 hospitality ; but you must allow me to say that I liked your 
 prayer a great deal better than your porridge.' 
 
 1 Dr Waugh, of London, used to tell that 'when his father happened 
 to be from home, the family devotions were conducted by his mother, 
 as at that time indeed was the practice generally observed by reli- 
 gious mistresses of families' (vide 'Memoir of Dr Waugh,' p. 14). 
 In some instances, however, it seems the mistresses led the devotions 
 even when the master was present. There were not only giants in 
 those days, but wives worthy of them.
 
 11(5 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 He was once present at the ordination t)f a minister some- 
 where in Fifeshire. During the solemn service a violent 
 thunderstorm broke upon the place, and cast a gloom over 
 the minds of the people, especially of those who had not been 
 favourable to the settlement. He heard some superstitious 
 remarks upon the subject, and put an end to them by saying, 
 ' You will observe that the Prince of the power of the air has 
 done his utmost, and yet the ordination has gone on, and no 
 evil of any kind has been done.' On his return, he had to 
 cross the Frith of Forth, but waited in a certain brother's 
 house till a threatening storm had passed over. It was sus- 
 pected by him that this brother was not given to hospitality. 
 Every now and then he would rise and look out at the window, 
 saying, as he resumed his seat, ' Be not uneasy, Doctor, it 
 will break up yet, and you will get across by and by ;' to 
 which he replied, 'Do not fear, sir, for if I cannot get across 
 I will not stay with you.' 
 
 When the French prisoners were at Selkirk, they got up 
 for their amusement an amateur theatre, and enacted French 
 plays. Knowing that he was quite familiar with the lan- 
 guage, they sent him a request, as a compliment, to attend 
 the performance. He asked, ' Is it customary in France for 
 ministers to go to the theatre ?' ' There are some who 
 do, and some who do not,' was the reply. ' Well,' said he, 
 ' it is the same in this country, and I am one of those who 
 do not.' 
 
 The late excellent Mr Elles, of Saltcoats, when on his 
 marriage tour, called and spent an afternoon, along with his 
 bride, at the Professor's. The hours wore away, Mr and Mrs 
 Elles being loth to leave. The good man insisted on them 
 remaining over the night. But they could not, having pro- 
 mised to go to Stitchel, where Mrs Elles' father (the Rev. Mr 
 M'Lay) was minister ' We will have good moon-light all 
 the way,' said Mr Elles, on parting with him. ; Yes,' re- 
 plied the Doctor, ' and I hope we are all going to that city
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 117 
 
 " which hath no need of the sun, neither of the moou, to shine 
 in it ; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is 
 the light thereof." ' 
 
 When delivering his lectures and sermons, he was some- 
 times so deeply impressed as to be unable to proceed. This 
 was affectingly the case one day, when he was delivering his 
 exposition on Joseph's discovery of himself to his brethren. 
 He wept, and the congregation wept. ' I think,' he said, 
 ' we will all better take a rest for a time.' He then sat down 
 till composure returned, when he resumed. 
 
 These and many other characteristic sayings and doings of 
 Dr Lawson have been long afloat in the circle of his friends 
 and admirers. They are here recorded, as well to satisfy a 
 general expectation, as to illustrate pleasing features in his 
 character. Jeremy Taylor has been called ' the Shakespeare 
 of the Church.' We may pronounce Lawson to have been 
 her ' Solomon.' We conclude the chapter by a mere reference 
 to the kindliness of his heart and manners towards the com- 
 munity among whom he resided. He inquired not whether 
 they were Seceders or Churchmen, rich or poor, blind or 
 lame. If he could do a good turn to any one, he did it. 
 Passing by others of a more showy description, we may 
 simply advert to his passionate sympathies for the poor in 
 their diseases and destitution ; and when he could not by his 
 own efforts assist them, he was ever ready to interest others 
 in their behalf. 
 
 He wrote the following letter to Dr Caverhill, a distin- 
 guished physician : 
 
 ' DEAR DOCTOR, The bearer of this is the wife of one of 
 my elders. She is very much troubled with a scorbutic dis- 
 order, as is also her daughter. They are poor, and cannot 
 pay the medical fee. Will you be so good as give them your 
 best advice, and place it to the account of the Friend of man 
 and Saviour of the world ?'
 
 118 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 We, subjoin also, two extracts, as illustrations, from letters 
 which he wrote to Dr Kidston : 
 
 'SELKIRK, Nov. 22, 1800. 
 
 ' DEAR WILLIAM, I am sorry to put you to the expense 
 of a postage, even from Edinburgh, on a subject in which you 
 have so little interest, as that of which I am going to speak. 
 An old man, called John Welsh, who keeps the toll near 
 Sunderland, a very respectable member of my congrega- 
 tion has a son lying sick at a place called Partick, near 
 Glasgow, where he has been since Whitsunday. He has a 
 wife and six children, and his father's bowels of compassion 
 are greatly moved for him, though he can afford him little 
 relief. He begged me to write to you concerning him, 
 although he did not know whether Partick was in your 
 bounds or not. I told him that I would write to you to 
 speak to the brother in whose bounds he was, that he might 
 take the care of him that is usual in such cases. I made 
 this promise to soothe the good man's grief, although I am 
 persuaded his neighbours would not suffer him to starve. 
 The young man has been a hearer, but not a communicant, 
 with us, and I cannot attest his character. I believe I 
 have not seen him for more than twenty years. I hope 
 you will take the first opportunity of mentioning the man's 
 situation to the brother in whose bounds Partick is, if it 
 is not in your own. I could not refuse to the good man's 
 grief the promise that I now perform ; and you know a 
 promise made, however inconsiderable in value, must be per- 
 formed. 
 
 ' Your father, at the time of the communion, was well, and 
 as well qualified as ever for his work. You have probably 
 heard that Mr Bell, of Wooler, is taken from us. He has, I 
 believe, left few equals and no superiors amongst us, in those 
 qualities that commend esteem or engage love. I am per- 
 suaded that he is now with Christ.'
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 119 
 
 * This will be delivered into your hands by William Emond, 
 a young man who has the misfortune of being blind, but is 
 respectable from his behaviour. He has been long a com- 
 municant with us, and leaves us with a fair, and, I believe, a 
 well-deserved character. I was once highly pleased in visit- 
 ing his mother's family, in hearing her say that he had been 
 a father to it and to her in her widowed condition. He is 
 now disabled by a new affliction from providing for his mother 
 and himself, and goes to Glasgow in the hope of purchas- 
 ing, at an easy rate, a hand organ, by means of which he 
 expects to be able to supply her necessities as well as he 
 formerly did by the fiddle. I know not whether you can be 
 of any use to him by advice on this subject ; but if you can, 
 I know you will be happy to serve a man at once deserving 
 and unfortunate. My best wishes to Mrs Kidston, and for 
 your young family. I hope she has learned to bear affliction, 
 to profit by it, and to be thankful that our afflictions are 
 mingled with so many mercies.' 
 
 Dr Lawson was often doing such beautiful things as these, 
 and these are the things that make manifest where a noble 
 heart is beating. His meek but kind intercessions on behalf of 
 the toll keeper's son and the blind fiddler, will not detract from 
 the pathos and richness of his benevolent nature. Besides the 
 young friend to whom he wrote, he could not have found one in 
 these respects so like himself. It is not now in my power, but, 
 had it been, I could have ascertained from Dr Kidston how he 
 managed in the cases entrusted to him by his beloved tutor. 
 
 Dr Lawson's usefulness as a minister was often manifested 
 and felt in the kindly and judicious manner in which he ten- 
 dered advice when he saw it to be necessary. Perhaps, in 
 this respect, he was the most inoffensive counsellor that ever 
 ventured upon the delicate task. It is often said, that there 
 is nothing so difficult as the art of making advice agreeable. 
 He had this art ; not that he was a meddler in other folks'
 
 120 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 affairs, especially where there was strife : this he carefully 
 eschewed, and all conceited interference he studiously avoided. 
 It is said that John Wilkes, in order to keep away unpalat- 
 able advisers whom he did not like, had the words, ' audi 
 alteram partem,' inscribed above his chair ; but in Dr Law- 
 son's case this device was not necessary. His very presence 
 was enough to forbid the approach of censoriousness. His 
 own gentle method comes out beautifully in the following 
 letters. A lady of his acquaintance had married a French 
 officer who was a Roman Catholic, and to her he addressed 
 the following faithful and delicate lines : 
 
 ' I wished to call upon you before yon left Selkirk for a 
 foreign country. Indisposition was one of the causes that 
 hindered me : now, I believe, it is too late. I therefore bid 
 you farewell by a few lines. 
 
 ' You know the reason for which I was dissatisfied with 
 your marriage ; but I heartily approve of your following the 
 husband you have chosen, were he to go to the end of the 
 world. The difference of your religion from his is so far from 
 being a reason why you should not fulfil every duty as a wife, 
 that it furnishes a strong argument for endeavouring to fulfil 
 them in perfection, that you may adorn your profession. 
 
 ' Your husband, I hope, is too generous and too reasonable 
 to wish you to change your religion, unless you are convinced 
 of its being false. He would certainly rather wish you to be 
 honest in the profession of a religion which he may esteem 
 erroneous, than a hypocrite in the profession of a religion 
 which he esteems to be true. 
 
 * You will, however, meet with temptations to the change 
 of that good religion which you learned from your worthy 
 father ; but I hope you will, attend to the Bible, and pray 
 duly for the enlightening and establishing grace of the Holy 
 Spirit, that you may be kept from falling. You know the 
 sentence pronounced against all who are ashamed of Christ 
 aud of His words, and against all who love any earthly friends,
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 121 
 
 or even their own life, more than Christ (Mark viii. 38 ; Luke 
 xiv. 25-27). 
 
 ' I pray that you may always enjoy the pleasures of a 
 good conscience, that, whether present or absent, you may be 
 accepted of God, and that he may make you the delight of 
 your husband and friends while you are in the world.' 
 
 To a nephew, who had engaged in a seafaring life, he 
 wrote as follows. The whole letter discovers a great know- 
 ledge of human nature and character ; and it is employed to 
 give effect to the most wholesome admonitions. Extracts 
 only from this letter are given : 
 
 ' I hear that you have made choice of a seafaring life. I 
 hope you will find that our God is the God of the sea as well 
 as of the dry land. Those who go down to the sea, and do 
 business in the great waters, see His works and His wonders 
 in the deep, and often find reason to thank Him for signal 
 deliverances from perils of great waters. It was surprising 
 that Jonah should ever think of fleeing away in a ship from 
 the presence of the Lord ; but his eyes were soon opened, and 
 he received a chastisement which brought him down to the 
 belly of hell, and got an unexpected deliverance which made 
 him an eminent type of our great Redeemer. 
 
 ' Your life may sometimes be exposed to alarming danger ; 
 but the knowledge that this may often be the case will, 1 hope, 
 be useful to you. Boast not of to-morrow, for thou knowest 
 not what a day may bring forth. This may be said of us 
 who remain on the dry land as well as you : yet seamen are 
 still more inexcusable than other men, if they do not remem- 
 ber a lesson so loudly proclaimed by the raging waves and 
 the roaring wind ; and I do not see how they can enjoy peace 
 in their minds, unless they endeavour so to behave in the 
 course of their lives as they would have wished to have done, 
 when they see themselves carried up by one wave to the 
 clouds of heaven, and ready to be plunged into the bosom of 
 the ocean by the next.
 
 122 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 ' I hope the grace of God will preserve you from imitating 
 any of the bad examples that may be set before you by your 
 companions. It has been the unhappiness of many of them, 
 that they have not received an education fitted to preserve 
 them from yielding to the temptations to which they may be 
 exposed ; bat you have been taught the fear of the Lord, 
 and in you it will be more criminal to practise wicked deeds 
 with them that work iniquity.' 
 
 Dr Lawson had a dear friend in the late Rev. Mr Young, 
 of Kincardine. In old age his mind became clouded. He 
 resigned his charge, retired with his family to Edinburgh, 
 and soon thereafter entered into peace. When his friend at 
 Selkirk heard of the disturbed state of his mind, he sent him 
 a very tender and soothing epistle. The vigorous, the tran- 
 quil, and the gay, are apt to treat such a state of mind 
 somewhat roughly, and even to ridicule its aberrations and 
 tremors. Dr Lawson knew better, and therefore simply 
 expostulates with Mr Young in gentle terms, tries to uplift 
 his spirit by wise counsels, and then leaves him to that mercy 
 which will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smok- 
 ing flax. The extracts subjoined are good specimens of his 
 style : 
 
 ' As I have seldom had the opportunity of seeing you for 
 many years back, I take this opportunity of putting you in 
 mind that, by the long-suffering of God, I still continue in 
 the world, and may derive much benefit from your prayers. 
 I am not what I once was ; yet through God's mercy I pos- 
 sess many comforts, and that cheerfulness of spirit which 
 becomes creatures to whom He is indulgent. 
 
 ' It gives me pain to hear that a man of your good sense, 
 and one with whom the credit of religion is materially con- 
 cerned, from the good opinion entertained of you as a 
 Christian and a minister, should groan under disquieting 
 thoughts concerning your future allotment from the hand of 
 God. Do you not remember the pleasant doctrine that you
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 123 
 
 have taught from your youth up ? You surely would not 
 for the whole world have it thought that you call in question 
 the exceeding riches of the grace of God, who sent His Son 
 to die that we might live. I hope you will follow the ex- 
 ample of David, who did what he could to dispel all gloomy 
 thoughts from the mind, by turning his thoughts to the ex- 
 cellency of the mercy of God, the wonderful works which 
 He did in the days of old, and the sure word of God. Your 
 Bible is much larger than his, and brighter and sweeter is 
 the light which flows from Him who came to heal the broken- 
 hearted. 
 
 ' I would be much dejected were my thoughts always to 
 dwell on myself ; but, through the righteousness of Christ, 
 grace reigns to eternal life, and in Him it finds all that 
 justice can demand from the believing sinner. I will, therefore, 
 hope in Christ ; and, as a penitent malefactor once said, No 
 man ever perisheth with his face turned to the cross of Jesus. 
 The God of all comfort will, I hope, in due time drive away 
 every gloomy thought from your mind. For your friends' 
 sake, for your own sake, for Christ's sake, look in humble 
 hope to the Saviour ; and may you be enabled to glorify God 
 by a cheerful reliance on His rich mercy in Christ Jesus ! ' 
 
 His tender concern for the spiritual welfare of the un- 
 converted comes beautifully out in the following remonstrance 
 with a thoughtless young man, who continued to resist the 
 Gospel of the grace of God : 
 
 ' SELKIRK, July 1817. 
 
 ' SIR, I believe you will wonder, if you have looked at 
 the subscription of this letter, why I have thought of writing 
 to you, as I believe I have had no communication with you 
 save that of asking you a few questions in your childhood. 
 But you know I administered to you the ordinance of baptism 
 in your infancy ; and I hope I may be excused for putting you 
 in mind of a transaction in which you are so deeply interested.
 
 124 THE LIFE OF DK LAWSON. 
 
 Sorry am I that you have not more deeply felt the -obligations 
 laid on you by that seal of God's covenant ; but I am not 
 without hope, that the instructions of your pious father will 
 sometimes be occurring to your mind. 
 
 ' He did not neglect his engagements to train you up in 
 the service of that God and Saviour in whose name you were 
 baptized. I am persuaded that he will appear on the right 
 hand of the Judge of the world, on the day of His appear- 
 ing. And surely it must be an awful thing for you (which 
 God forbid), if he should be a witness that you were early 
 recognised as a member of the Church of Christ, and earnestly 
 exhorted to walk in His ways, and yet chose rather to con- 
 tinue to the end of life walking in those ways in which no 
 man ever yet found rest or peace. 
 
 ' For your father's sake, I greatly rejoiced to hear that 
 some further space of repentance has been allowed you. 
 
 ' I have sometimes thought, what if this favour of Provi- 
 dence should be an answer to the prayers of your father for 
 your eternal welfare : God delights in mercy. At the voice 
 of prayer, He respited for a year longer the barren fig-tree. 
 If it brought forth fruit, it was well ; but if not, it was to be 
 cut down as a cumberer of the ground. 
 
 ' I would not have troubled you or myself with this letter, 
 did I not humbly hope that God would yet have mercy upon 
 the son of my departed friend, that he perish not : there is 
 joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. 
 
 ' I believe your father is now enjoying the pleasures of an 
 angel in heaven ; and that neither the conduct nor the mis- 
 fortunes of any of his children can in the smallest degree 
 diminish his happiness. Yet I am persuaded that it will be 
 a great accession to his felicity, to be informed that Divine 
 grace has disposed you to comply with the gracious declara- 
 tions so often given to backsliders, and so sweetly enforced 
 by merciful promises : Jeremiah, third chapter throughout. 
 I hope you will not count me impertinent in giving these lines
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 125 
 
 of advice to one in your circumstances, who is the son of one 
 whom I so highly respected as your father. I will greatly 
 rejoice in the day of Christ, if I find that your afflictions and 
 dangers have been the means of bringing you back to the 
 God of your father. 
 
 ' I will not trouble you with anything more, but may just 
 mention one or two passages of Scripture, which represent to 
 you the danger of obstinacy in sin after warnings, and the 
 great encouragements which the God of grace gives yon to 
 return to Himself : Proverbs xxii. to xxiii., xxix. 1 ; Luke 
 xv. throughout ; Isaiah xl. 6, 7. 
 
 ' I suppose your father called your name Ebenezer, because 
 the Lord had blessed him. 
 
 ' He will be your helper also, after all that you have done, 
 if you hearken to His merciful call, Jonah ii. 4. I am, yours, 
 etc. * G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson, like Jacob, was ' a plain man ;' plain in his 
 appearance, in his dress, in his mode of living, and in his inner 
 and outer ways. He affected no style whatever ; he lived 
 above it, because he was really above it. If all mere finery 
 be, as it is said to be, a sign of littleness, then was he a great 
 man. What smacked of the thing called ' gentility' was to 
 him more than a stranger; it was a mystery. He turned 
 from it, under a natural repugnance to whatsoever was spe- 
 cious or untruthful. He was not, however, disdainful of those 
 who were its victims, when they chanced to fall in his way. 
 He was not haughty towards them ; he pitied them, especi- 
 ally if they were the professing people of God. But though 
 exceedingly unpretending in his habits and manners, those 
 who came into contact with him soon found that he was no 
 simpleton. In his personal appearance he was imposing 
 rather than commanding. His unfeigned meekness made the 
 latter impossible; but his venerable look, and his figure of 
 fully six feet in height, marked him out as a man who had
 
 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 something to say, and who could say it when necessary. 
 Some consider more the person that speaks than the things 
 he says, and Dr Lawson's hearers were sometimes in danger 
 of falling into this mistake. He soon rectified it, and made 
 them feel that his speech was far more weighty than his per- 
 sonal claims. He was of thin and spare habit; his com- 
 plexion was sallow; his eyes were rather small, and of greyish 
 colour, but full of meaning and kindness. In repose, his face 
 was quietly thoughtful ; but when conversing or preaching, 
 it was radiant, if not sparkling, with intelligence. His usual 
 demeanour was that of a man who was conversing with what 
 was within, rather than observant of what was without. In 
 the pulpit he was grave, solemn, earnest, and preached as 
 Apelles painted, 'for eternity.' At the dying pillow or in 
 the house of mourning, he was felt to be ' a teacher sent from 
 God.' At the fireside, when with his family or his friends, 
 he was genial in spirit and redolent of anecdote, equally far 
 from the placidities and platitudes of the mere talker, and the 
 sonorous drawling of the conceited fop. ' He never indulged,' 
 says one that knew him well, ' in what are called the plea- 
 sures of the table.' From taste, as well as from principle, he 
 was sober and abstemious almost to a fault, for he knew and 
 felt that the powers of digestion are weakened by retirement 
 and study; and that, in order to enjoy the pleasures of the 
 man, the scholar, and the Christian, the indulgence of the 
 bodily appetites must in all respects be regulated by the 
 strictest temperance. This, in his case, was the more necessary, 
 as his constitution was somewhat delicate. He was never 
 a robust man, having never fully recovered from the effects 
 of small-pox in his younger days. Early, severe, and unre- 
 mitting habits shook still more the frail tabernacle, and ren- 
 dered that abstemiousness, which, in more robust men, would 
 have been a fault, in him a real and necessary virtue. The 
 temperament of genius such as his, whatever be the cause, 
 is generally delicate. In order to its lofty inspirations and
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 127 
 
 copious overflow, it will ever be found that appetites of all 
 kinds must be kept habitually under the dutiful and happy 
 restraints of Christian sobriety and resignation. At one 
 period of his life he was threatened with the entire loss of his 
 eyesight. For a year or two he could but rarely permit 
 himself to read either the works of others, or what he himself 
 had written or published. By partially covering the page 
 with dark blotting-paper, he managed to write pretty cor- 
 rectly. The glare of the paper, however, gave him so much 
 pain, as to make it impossible for him to peruse it. In these 
 circumstances, Mrs Lawson was in the habit of slowly reading 
 over to him his discourses on the Sabbath morning, as well as 
 the chapters to be read at public worship, with the subjects 
 of lecture, the texts, the Scriptural quotations, and the 
 psalms to be sung. One such reading was quite sufficient to 
 imprint them all on his memory, so that, in the pulpit, he 
 rarely opened the Bible, repeating all the passages announced 
 memoriter. This system continued for a year, when his power 
 of vision returned as perfectly as before. 
 
 When Dr Lawson was seen by discerning and intelligent 
 men, and especially when they enjoyed his literary fellowship, 
 he was at once appreciated. 
 
 Ou one occasion he assisted the Rev. Mr Glass, of Aber- 
 deen, at a communion. Several of the Professors of the 
 University were invited to meet him. Dr Kidd, the Professor 
 of Oriental Languages, was particularly struck with his pro- 
 found and extensive learning ; but not less so with his singu- 
 larly unaffected simplicity, if not severity of manners. In a 
 letter to Mr Glass, Dr Kidd gives this most graphic account 
 of his impressions of Dr Lawson : ' I had the honour to be 
 introduced to the Rev. Professor Lawson on Wednesday 
 evening. I consider this as one of the most agreeable and 
 fortunate events in my life. After being in his company 
 about half an hour, the opinion I formed of him was, that he 
 is one of the old prophets, or most certainly another John
 
 128 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 the Baptist, sent to announce the appearance and the glory 
 of the latter days. I trust your congregation will derive 
 much comfort and advantage from his mission. When he 
 leaves this place, he should preach all the way on his return 
 home. If he had raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern 
 girdle about his loins, I am sure he is so much denied to the 
 luxuries and delicacies of modern fashion, that he would be 
 content to eat locusts and wild honey. I never regretted 
 anything more than the refusal of your invitation for Wednes- 
 day, not for the sake of anything else but his company and 
 conversation. Would to God that I were as much denied to 
 the world as he is ! I would this day prefer the station and 
 temper of George Lawson to the station and temper of 
 George Rex.' According to Dr Johnson, no one could be in 
 the company of Edmund Burke for half an hour without 
 being conscious that he was a great and an extraordinary 
 man. So thought the acute and accomplished Aberdeen 
 Orientalist of the Selkirk sage. Dr Kidd's remark as to the 
 simplicity and naturalness of his appetites, may seem to be 
 rather overstated, but it is really not so. His life certainly 
 did not consist in meat and drink. A rather amusing, but 
 quite genuine anecdote, illustrative of this, has been furnished 
 to us by. a near relative of the late Mr Greig, of Lochgelly, 
 which carries out and confirms Dr Kidd's idea. He arrived 
 one day at the Lochgelly manse quite unexpectedly. It so 
 happened that Mr and Mrs Greig were entertaining at dinner 
 a number of their friends. The dishes were numerous, and 
 the viands various and sumptuous. Mrs Greig was quite 
 delighted that the Professor had come at such a time, and, 
 though every chair was pre-engaged, room was found for 
 him. He himself, however, was somewhat disconcerted. He 
 did not refuse to enter into company ; but he rather avoided 
 what are called ' occasions.' If they did not disturb his mind, 
 they sometimes deranged his stomach. Mrs Greig was 
 specially attentive to him after all were seated at the table.
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 129 
 
 She asked him to partake of some particular dish, but he 
 declined it. She then proposed another, which was also 
 refused ; then a third, a fourth till, indeed, she had com- 
 pleted the entire circle of 'good things,' but to no effect. 
 The worthy man was disinclined to indulge himself, anxious 
 though he saw the lady to be. She was rather hurt at this 
 depreciation of her culinary art ; and her mortification was 
 erreat, as was the surprise of the assembled guests, when the 
 Professor, observing one of the waiting servants behind him, 
 simply said, ' Girl, I will be obliged to you if you will boil 
 and bring me an egg.' This was quite of a piece with his 
 remark to a friend, with whom he was conversing on the 
 variety that obtains in the external circumstances of man- 
 kind : ' If I were a king,' he said, ' I do not know that I 
 should live very much differently from what I do only, per- 
 haps, I would have a haggis oftener to dinner.' 
 
 He did not mingle much with what is called ' society.' A 
 partial deafness contributed to this. Besides, he had a great 
 dislike to mere formal visiting, reckoning it, with Cowper, 
 to be ' an insatiable devourer of time, and fit only for those 
 who, if they did not visit, would do nothing.' No wise liter- 
 ary man ever exposed his life less to a ' quotidian ague of 
 such frigid impertinences' as senseless visits. Still he liked 
 good company, when he could get and give what was good 
 for the head and heart. He was a ' discerner of spirits,' and, 
 without seeming to know it, at once took the accurate mea- 
 sure of those with whom he conversed. Often did his simple 
 look and grave appearance lead others astray, and tempted 
 them to use a liberty which was repelled in such a manner as 
 to forbid its repetition, without making enemies to himself; 
 not that he was a Rupert either in debate or in retort, but 
 that he knew how to answer a fool according to his folly. 
 He was never awkward when abroad, and, from pure natural 
 instinct, conducted himself with oqual self-possession in the 
 presence of a prince and a peasant. We may say of Law- 
 
 i
 
 130 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 son's godliness what Hume tells of Sir William Temple's 
 philosophy, ' it taught him to despise the world without 
 rendering him unfit for it.' ... To those that knew him 
 only superficially, he might seem but little acquainted with 
 men or their ways ; but those who knew him intimately, found 
 that he had studied men as well as he had studied books. In 
 order to get acquainted with the springs of human conduct, 
 it is not necessary to mingle in the giddy circles of fashion 
 and dissipation. ' As face answers to face in a glass, so does 
 the heart of every human being to the hearts of all mankind.' 
 Dr Lawson knew himself, and had, with charitable but pene- 
 trating eye, observed those among whom he had been called 
 to perform his part in the drama of human life. No one had 
 read more fully, or studied more sagaciously, the natural and 
 civil, the political and religious, the individual and social 
 history of the human race. When to all these advantages is 
 added the important consideration, that of human character 
 the sign is natural, and the interpretation instructive, we 
 cannot fail to perceive good reason for expecting in Dr Law- 
 son what was readily found, though not perhaps very gene- 
 rally understood a profound, and, as it were, intuitive dis- 
 cernment of human character in general, and of the prevailing 
 dispositions, in particular, of the individuals with whom he 
 happened at any time to be brought into contact. This 
 perhaps comparatively little understood feature in his cha- 
 racter, united with his universally known rectitude of prin- 
 ciple, Christian simplicity of intention, and almost unparalleled 
 humility and charity, b.enevolence and gentleness of disposi- 
 tion, formed the great and commanding spring by which, 
 without the formal and provoking use of stern authority, he, 
 with such little apparent effort, succeeded so well in swaying 
 all in his family, in his congregation, and among his students, 
 with practical results so honourable to himself, and so happy 
 for all concerned. This great and good man was justly 
 esteemed and loved, in a degree almost inconceivable by thos
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 131 
 
 who have not been under his care. As no one who knew 
 him ever despised his youth, so no one ever felt disposed to 
 look down on him when bending under the weight of years 
 and bodily infirmities. On the contrary, in the spirit not of 
 Spartan merely, but of Christian reverence for age, not only 
 his family and his brethren in the ministry, but also his con- 
 gregation and his theological pupils, felt, and showed that 
 they felt, as though the load under which they saw him pressed 
 had been laid on their own shoulders. 
 
 But one of the most fascinating as well as most authori- 
 tative and powerful of his ways among men, was his sweet 
 and forgiving spirit. Truly his way in this was pleasantness ; 
 here his path was peace. He seldom, if ever, gave offence 
 to others ; when he did so, he rose to an acknowledgment of 
 his regret. Nothing was so easy to his nature as to forgive, 
 and, with all his great memory, to forget too, any slight or 
 injury from others. Instances, illustrative of this feature, 
 might be given, but there is no need for it ; his whole life of 
 meekness and gentleness is the proof. He drew near to that 
 God who ' delights in mercy,' and who ' casts all our sins 
 into the depths of the sea.' Hence his shrinking from sullen, 
 brooding, vindictive men. He greatly pitied, but avoided 
 them. His- discerning spirit at once took their accurate 
 measure. He tolerated no such spirit beneath his own roof ; 
 and when it appeared in his congregation he faithfully de- 
 nounced it. He thus continually breathed in a calm and 
 happy atmosphere of love ; drew around him kindred spirits, 
 with whom, to the close of life, he practised the gentleness 
 and kindness of Christ. No man better understood that 
 chapter of his religion which puts the crown upon the head 
 of charity. Some may think that, with such a meek spirit, 
 he must have been somewhat lax in his discipline. But it 
 was not so. However disagreeable, he was faithful and con- 
 scientious in rebuking sin. At the same time, he often mani- 
 fested great tenderness of heart towards the fallen, and great
 
 132 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 prudence in the management of the ' faina clamosa.' In his 
 days it was customary to administer 'rebuke' from the 
 pulpit, just before pronouncing the blessing, the person 
 offending being at the far end of the church, confronting the 
 minister. It so happened that, on a certain Sabbath, a 
 female member was to be ' rebuked ;' but Dr Lawson forgot 
 all about it, and pronounced the blessing. One of the elders 
 hastily reminded him of the omission. He was for an instant 
 disconcerted ; but, casting a pitiful glance at the young 
 woman, and leaning over the pulpit, he simply said, ' Go and 
 sin no more,' and then left the church. On another occasion, 
 one of his people came to inform him that two of the members 
 had committed a most scandalous offence, but that he alone 
 had been witness to it. Dr Lawson was deeply grieved, and 
 asked, ' Have you told this to any one except to me ?' The 
 man replied that he had not, and that no one but himself 
 knew about it. ' Well, then,' replied the minister, ; tell it not. 
 Keep it within your own bosom. If God, in His providence, 
 means to permit a scandal to come upon His Church here, 
 let Him do so ; but neither you nor I must do so. " Tell it 
 not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon ; lest the 
 daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of 
 the uncircumcised triumph." ' 
 
 In conducting the public worship of the sanctuary, he 
 followed the usual method. In prayer he was short, scrip- 
 tural, and profoundly solemnizing. In the exposition of 
 Scripture he was textual, natural, and occasionally critical. 
 It was always evident that he knew a great deal more than 
 could be communicated, and, equally so, that he was the only 
 person unaware of the masses of wisdom and thought that fell 
 so easily from his lips. In his sermons he was methodical. 
 Though not so much given to ' subdivide' as was then the 
 custom, he invariably seized and represented the mind of God 
 in the passage, elucidated in the purest and simplest lan- 
 guage the doctrines contained in it, and enforced, in telling,
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 133 
 
 sagacious applications, its great practical lessons. He never 
 speculated; occasionally he unfolded the mysteries of the 
 Gospel, but never attempted to explain them. Few men 
 were wise so nearly up to what was written ; none ever so 
 sensitively shrinked from attempting to withdraw the curtain 
 that hid the Holy of Holies from the view. No son of Levi 
 ever prostrated himself more reverentially before the oracles 
 of Heaven. There his faith was entirely passive. He was 
 as a child in God's temple of truth, and only assumed the 
 proportions, and put forth the strength of a giant's spirit, 
 when he spake that truth as God spake it, and as God would 
 have men to believe it. ' Jesus Christ and Him crucified ' was 
 the great staple of his preaching. It comes behind the real 
 state of the matter to say that he was ' not ashamed of the 
 Gospel of Christ.' HE GLORIED IN IT; in it all from its be- 
 ginning in the ' councils of peace,' to its grand consummation 
 on the Cross of Calvary ; from its manger in Bethlehem, to 
 its mediatorial throne in heaven. His pulpit was the shrine 
 of the ' wisdom of God.' It uttered no uncertain sound on 
 any portion of the heavenly message. If it became a Sinai 
 to promulgate and enforce the law, it speedily ascended the 
 Gospel Zion to 'lift up' the Son of Man to the admiration 
 and welcome of sinners. We have seen a pulpit in Brussels 
 made of stone, upon which there is a curiously carved repre- 
 sentation of the expulsion of our first parents from Paradise 
 a significant symbol of a stony-hearted system of teach- 
 ing. On the Selkirk pulpit it would have been more appro- 
 priate to have depicted the attractions of the Cross, drawing 
 all men everywhere into Paradise regained. For this end 
 Christ died and rose again. For the same end ought all His 
 ministers to rise into the pulpit and point the soul to Him as 
 its ' resurrection and life.' This grand feature in the evan- 
 gelical teaching of Mr Lawson remained upon it through life, 
 only becoming more and more settled, and softly brilliant, as 
 he himself grew in grace, and in ' the knowledge and faith' of
 
 134 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 his Divine Master. His comportment in the pulpit was 
 suitable to the lessons which were taught there, grave and 
 impressive beyond what is common. Had Cowper known 
 him, it might have been said that he had Lawsou in his eye 
 when he wrote these exquisite lines: 
 
 ' I would express him simple, grave, sincere ; 
 In doctrine uncorrupt ; in language plain, 
 And plain in manner ; decent, solemn, chaste, 
 And natural in gesture ; much impressed 
 Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, 
 And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds 
 May feel it too ; affectionate in look, 
 And tender in address, as well becomes 
 A messenger of grace to guilty men.' 
 
 He always lectured that is, expounded Scripture in the 
 forenoons of the Sabbath. This custom* prevails among all 
 the Churches- in Scotland, which sufficiently accounts for the 
 proverbial acquaintance of the Scotch people with the Word 
 of God. It is not practised in many of the evangelical 
 Churches in England. Indeed, except of the few who 'have 
 tasted of the good word of God,' the Scotch lecture is looked 
 upon as a sort of lame apology for the required service, as a 
 put-off in lack of something more substantial. Hence it is 
 not popular. It is to be hoped that a change in this respect 
 is near, and that, when a better taste has been cultivated, and 
 a higher degree of piety has been reached, this ' searching ' of 
 the Scriptures will be regarded not only to be a duty, but a de- 
 cided and most beneficial improvement upon the system. The 
 Selkirk expositions were masterpieces of correct exegesis, 
 and were perhaps as thoroughly imbued with the spirit of 
 Scripture as any uninspired teaching could be. His minute 
 acquaintance with ' all Scripture' accounts for this. He was 
 independent of the printed text. Having read the passage to 
 be explained, he shut the Bible and proceeded in his illustra- 
 tions, from verse to verse, with perfect accuracy. Thus, how-
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 135 
 
 ever instructive the lecture itself might be, the people were in 
 no danger of applying to it the saying on the ' notes of Persius,' 
 that the ' sauce was better than the fish.' In those exposi- 
 tions he availed himself of the stores of his mind, especially to 
 illustrate and enforce such passages of Scripture as are some- 
 times considered to be too abstruse for comprehension, or too 
 barren for utility. It was his delight to bring forth the gold 
 treasured in them. 
 
 As a minister, Dr Lawson lived all his days on the most 
 friendly terms with his congregation. Of placid temper, wise 
 forbearance, and conciliatory spirit, he went out and in among 
 them, and his steps were gentle as the fall of moonlight. 
 With his elders, plain and unlettered, but God-fearing men, 
 he was not unnecessarily, but pleasantly familiar. He ruled 
 not them, but the Church along with them. Though univer- 
 sally allowed to be one of the wisest of men, he took their 
 counsel with becoming respect. On one occasion a case of 
 considerable difficulty was before the session. Dr Lawson 
 stated his views upon it carefully and at length. They were 
 just coming to a decision, when one of the elders stepped forth 
 and gave quite a different view of the case from that of the 
 moderator, who at once gave way, with the remark, ' Well, 
 I did not think of that. I feel greatly obliged to you for 
 stating your view of the matter, and I see that if we had not 
 taken that view, we should have come to a wrong conclusion,' 
 a scene and a saying which illustrate the old Spanish 
 proverb 
 
 ' El sabio muda conscjo, el necio no,' 
 
 which, being interpreted, is, ' A wise man changes his mind, a 
 fool never will.' 
 
 He was in a very special manner a ' son of consolation.' 
 His letters to the bereaved were really heavenly; and his 
 visits to the sick and dying were as cold waters to a thirsty 
 soul. Whatever the disease might be, he never shrank from 
 his duty A young minister obtained from him the following
 
 136 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 characteristic reply, in answer to a request for his advice 
 on this subject : ' I always feel it to be my duty to visit the 
 sick, though their diseases be infections. There is little 
 danger of infection in so short a visit as is proper in snch 
 cases, and precautions against danger may be used. We 
 are always safest in the path of duty, and God is a powerful 
 preserver.' His wonderful knowledge of the Bible, and his 
 readiness and tact in applying its truths and comforts, quali- 
 fied him, beyond many, for this most important department 
 of a pastor's duty. He received, during the course of his 
 ministry, many affecting proofs of his usefulness in it. On 
 their dying beds, his people made known to him how God 
 had blessed his ministry to their souls. It speaks volumes 
 for his piety and conscientiousness, that he never allowed 
 other considerations to stand in the way of these visits of 
 mercy and compassion. He was a profound thinker, and an 
 enthusiastic student ; but it was never felt by him to be any 
 sacrifice, to go forth from his study to visit the fatherless and 
 the widows in their affliction ; to cheer the broken in heart ; 
 and to point the eye of the dying sinner to the Lamb of God. 
 That early trial of his, in all probability, was God's appointed 
 mean to prevent him, in the peculiar constitution of his mental 
 habits, from neglecting one of the first duties of his office. 
 
 He was very successful upon one occasion, and in a very 
 simple manner too, in dispelling spiritual gloom from, and 
 restoring the joy of God's salvation to, one of the oppressed 
 daughters of Zion. When on a visit to Dr Husband and 
 Mr Macfarlane, of Dunfermline, he was taken by them to see 
 a venerable old lady, very highly respected by her ministers. 
 She had been dwelling for years in ' Doubting Castle :' she 
 found no sweetness in the promises ; and went about, as 
 without the sun, moaning over her hopeless condition. She 
 could not be relieved from the agonizing conviction that she 
 was, notwithstanding her Christian profession, 'in the gall 
 of bitterness, and in the bonds of iniquity.' Her spiritual
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 137 
 
 comforters had despaired of her case. Failing themselves, 
 they had taken many excellent ministers to converse and pray 
 with her ; but hitherto all in vain. When Dr Lawsou was 
 introduced to her, she unbosomed her grief to him in a long 
 and heartrending strain, concluding with the severest re- 
 proaches against herself, and an expression of her fears, that 
 as no sinner had ever been so great a one as she, so no punish- 
 ment would be like to hers. He heard her patiently up to 
 this, when he meekly and very solemnly broke silence, and 
 
 said, k Mrs P , you have very accurately described the 
 
 state of my own heart, you have described the sinfulness I 
 feel, and which, equally with you, I abhor and lament.' The 
 good old woman looked confounded. She anticipated no such 
 reply from such a saint ; and, starting from her seat, said, 
 ' What do I hear ? Is it possible, Dr Lawson, that such is 
 the state of your heart ?' Silence was maintained for some 
 minutes, the words of the Professor went down into her 
 soul ; she turned them over and over in her mind, wondering 
 how it could be that a saint, indisputably of the highest rank, 
 should classify himself with such as she ; and, at length, as 
 the clouds were clearing off, and true light began to shine, 
 she arose from her ' miry clay,' and ever afterwards, with her 
 feet upon ' the rock,' sung the new song of her redemption. 
 The captive was set free, and was never again held in such 
 bondage. It was a word in season, and the Spirit of the 
 Lord gave it all its efficacy. 
 
 To the instruction of the young he gave sincere and zealous 
 heed ; and by them he was loved almost adored, so happily 
 united in him were gravity and suavity of manner. They 
 kept silence at his counsel ; and the light of his countenance 
 they cast not down. But this will be more particularly 
 illustrated when we come to consider his qualifications as a 
 Professor of Theology. 
 
 He was a decided advocate for social prayer-meetings in 
 Christian congregations, and took much pains to have them
 
 138 THE LIFE OF DR LARSON. 
 
 established in his own. When encouraging his people to 
 attend, he would remind them of these sweet Scriptures : ' As 
 ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so doth the sweetness 
 of a man's friend by hearty counsel.' ' If any two of you 
 shall agree as to anything that ye shall ask, it shall be done 
 of My Father who is in heaven.' One proof of his practical 
 wisdom was his enjoining upon his people, in these exercises, 
 ' brevity in prayer.' He had a particular aversion to long 
 prayers, whether in God's house or in private. ' We have no 
 idea,' he used to say, ' how much the devil is served by long 
 prayers.' Of the same mind was the great and good Robert 
 Hall. He once complained of a certain individual, that he 
 had ' first of all prayed him into a devotional state of mind, 
 and then prayed him out of it.' His advice to his people was 
 much the same as he was wont to give to his students, ' never 
 to let their prayers before others exceed ten minutes in length,' 
 an advice founded on long experience, and the wisdom of 
 which is apparent. Long morning prayers in public tend to 
 quench at the very outset the true spirit of devotion, and 
 generally assume rather the form of addresses than of direct 
 supplication. Dr Lawson could never endure what he called 
 ' preaching in prayer,' and pointed to it as an error into which 
 young ministers especially were apt to fall. To avoid this 
 error, he exhorted them to cultivate the form of ' direct peti- 
 tion,' knowing that, if this were attended to, no social or 
 public prayers could be long protracted. 
 
 In these days, what were called ' diets of pastoral visita- 
 tion,' were reckoned, and we hope still are, very important 
 portions of clerical duty. Dr Lawson most conscientiously 
 attended to them. Every family in his congregation was 
 regularly visited in order. Indeed, he took great pleasure in 
 it. On those occasions he was in the habit of asking the 
 head of each family what chapter of Scripture had been last 
 read at worship. Whatever the chapter was, and without 
 asking for a Bible, he immediately proceeded to comment on it,
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 139 
 
 and apply it with singular wisdom to the circumstances of the 
 family. A meeting for examination in the Church, or other 
 convenient place, usually terminated the diet. 
 
 Dr Pringle mentions that he ' went with him one evening 
 to the church to witness one of these " examinations." After 
 the adults had been catechized, he turned to the children, his 
 questions to whom were wonderfully characterized by sim- 
 plicity and clearness, while the substance of them was the re- 
 verse of superficial. His condescending and winning manner 
 elicited ready and cheerful answers, to the delight, and some- 
 times to the surprise of the audience. On the way home Dr 
 Lawson adverted, with evident satisfaction, to these replies of 
 the children, and seemed perfectly unconscious of his own 
 aptness in the matter.' 
 
 When out upon such diets of clerical duty in the country 
 districts, it was customary in these days to have some ' enter- 
 tainment' ready for the minister, and, as a matter of course, 
 wine or whisky was included. The custom now is happily 
 denounced, and, it is to be hoped, will soon disappear. 
 Though very temperate, Dr Lawson was not an abstainer, 
 except, like many others in his day, from sugar, that he might 
 thereby testify against slavery and the slave-trade ; but one 
 of his remarks on the use of strong drink* was, ' I think every 
 minister should be able to take a little, and for this reason : 
 When I came to Selkirk, I was visiting in the country. 
 Among others, I called upon a worthy woman, who lived six 
 or seven miles out of the town. She asked me to taste a 
 little spirits, but I declined. I learned afterwards that the 
 good woman's feelings had been hurt. She had sent all the 
 way to Selkirk for some good whisky wherewith to treat her 
 minister, and was quite offended because I refused to partake. 
 Ministers, therefore, should be able to take a little, just a 
 little spirits.' 
 
 No wonder though reverence for such a man of God as this 
 rose high in the vales of Ettrick and Tweed, and that the
 
 140 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 memory of his 'walk and conversation' is still blessed among 
 the dwellers therein. This habit of pastoral visiting had 
 many advantages, especially as enabling him to become better 
 acquainted with his flock. It also attached them more and 
 more to himself and to his ministry. The congregation wor- 
 shipping at Selkirk consisted of a few of the burgh people, 
 but chiefly of the neighbouring farmers and shepherds. It 
 was a peculiarly interesting sight when they were all seated 
 011 a Sabbath in the house of God ; the more so, if in winter. 
 Most of them were wrapped up in the shepherd's plaid, and 
 at their feet were couched the shepherds' dogs. Of the latter 
 it is storied that their presence could not have been known, 
 so quietly did they behave themselves. Sometimes the music 
 drew from the more sensitive of them a low and prolonged 
 whine ; and none knew better than they did when the bene- 
 diction was to be pronounced. They at once started to their 
 feet, wagged their tails, and slowly marched out with their 
 masters. 
 
 The missionary enterprise was dear to his heart, and he 
 laboured to indoctrinate his people with their obligations to 
 Christ in respect of the extension of His kingdom. His admir- 
 able sermon before the Edinburgh Missionary Society, which 
 is afterwards to be noticed, proves what lofty and liberal 
 ideas he had upon the subject, while the liberality of his 
 people, considering their circumstances, proved that they and 
 their pastor were in harmony. 
 
 Dr Lawson, indeed, seems to have been in advance of his 
 denomination in this as in other things. At a very early 
 period he became the advocate for an addition of appropriate 
 hymns to the psalmody ; and every prudent and practicable 
 proposal to improve the circumstantials of church govern- 
 ment or devotion met with his ready support. The entire 
 character, in short, of a Christian pastor was beautifully 
 developed in his life it was 'as the shining light, which 
 shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' He was most
 
 THE MINISTER AND HIS WAYS. 141 
 
 conscientious in the discharge of all doty in public and in 
 private. The deep and solemn respect paid to him, while 
 alive, by the whole neighbourhood ; the sincere sorrow which 
 was generally felt for his loss when he fell asleep in Jesus ; 
 and the still unrelenting reverence for his memory which per- 
 vades the people of Selkirk and the county, is a certificate of 
 character which comparatively few merit, and which stamps 
 him as having been a working minister who never needed to 
 be ashamed. 
 
 He thus ' fulfilled his course ' among a people who knew 
 his worth, and among rural scenes of surpassing beauty. 
 Not many rich, and not any noble, and few, if any, that were 
 learned, enjoyed a ministry which has never been surpassed 
 for all the excellences that go to make up the Christian pas- 
 torate. He never coveted a change. He loved his people, and 
 was satisfied to spend and be spent for them, and, to a great 
 extent, they were worthy of him. His weekly congregation 
 assembled from homes on the banks of the Tweed, the 
 Ettrick, the Yarrow, and the Gala some from farm-steadings 
 in the upland vales, and others from distant cottages amid 
 the heathery hills. Maintaining frequent and friendly inter- 
 course with each member of his widely scattered flock, and 
 holding stated annual diets of visitation and examination in 
 every household, he was necessarily much in the country, and 
 was intimately acquainted with nature in all her varied moods 
 and forms. Shrouded in winter bleakness, or arrayed in 
 summer verdure, he ever gazed upon her with a poet's eye. 
 He often confessed that amid her scenery his spirit was re- 
 freshed, and braced, and soothed, and his thoughts caught up 
 to the high and holy things of God. He loved, indeed, above 
 all, 'the habitation of God's house;' but he exceedingly, also, 
 enjoyed to meditate on His work in the magnificent temple 
 which His own hands had framed and reared. The appear- 
 ance of the mist hovering over the water-courses, or slowly 
 creeping up the mountain side the thunder-cloud leaping
 
 142 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSOX. 
 
 from one hill-top to another the setting sun sinking in the 
 western horizon, and painting the heights around ' lone St 
 Mary's silent loch,' would sometimes fill him with intense 
 emotion, and even cause the tears of a pious genius to trickle 
 down his cheeks. Washington Irving attributed that genial 
 and imaginative turn of mind which imparts such pleasing 
 freshness to his works, to the influence of the beautiful in 
 nature, amid which he dwelt on the banks of the Hudson. 
 In like manner, we may believe that the sweet and placid 
 scenery amid which Dr Lawson lived and laboured contri- 
 buted not a little in fostering his winning simplicity of charac- 
 ter, and in imparting to his mind that tone of quiet strength 
 and beauty by which it was unquestionably distinguished.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FEIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 
 
 DR LA.WSON lived, as we have seen, amid scenes of surpassing 
 interest and beauty. He knew no other lands. These were 
 his ' continent,' his ' incidents of travel ;' and ah 1 his ' pencil- 
 lings by the way' were taken from among them. They were 
 all the world to him, and, by his great mind, were drawn out 
 into dimensions of sufficient magnitude for every pleasant and 
 useful purpose. He enjoyed them when alone, and oft re- 
 sorted to them for the refreshing of his spirit and the expan- 
 sion of his thoughts. And yet, amid such lovely scenes, he 
 sever was alone. He felt that 'the Father' was always 
 with him, for a devout mind like his could not study nature 
 without elevation to nature's God. At the same time, he 
 loved the society of his chosen friends, and was never happier 
 than when he accompanied them in their rambles along the 
 banks of the Yarrow, the Ettrick, and the Tweed. Though 
 a profound student, he was as profound a friend. He dearly 
 loved his book and his hour of prayer, but he also dearly 
 loved his Christian associates, and revelled in their society 
 or correspondence. Some have thought of him as an ascetic 
 almost a stoic than which nothing could be more wide of 
 the truth. Apart from his official, his friendships were his 
 most conspicuous positions. They were the illuminations of 
 his character, if not to a large extent his public life, occupying 
 and exercising his thoughts, giving the peculiar tinge to his 
 social virtues, and causing himself to be seen, and felt, and 
 known to be; they broadened and widened the sphere of his
 
 144 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 influence, and kept his light from going out under a bushel. 
 They were, moreover, his amusements. He took his mental 
 and moral relaxations out of them. There his own great 
 mind was unbent, and buoyantly sported itself with the con- 
 genial minds of the chosen few. He admired nature ; but he 
 loved and revered man Christian man especially and, above 
 all, devout man in fellowship with God. None knew better 
 than he, that 
 
 ' On earth there's nothing great but man, 
 In man there's nothing great but mind.' 
 
 When at any time his friends were met, after a few days 
 spent with him at Selkirk, their faces seemed to shine as they 
 spoke of the feast to soul and mind from which they had 
 returned. Their unanimous testimony is, that, with all his 
 learning, he was not a mere scholar or self-indulging student ; 
 certainly not ' telluris inutile pondus,' but a man in every 
 sense of the word, though rich rather than racy in conversa- 
 tion, and more inclined, upon the whole, to the receptive than 
 the communicative. In conversational powers, however, he 
 was far from being deficient. He was never at a loss to give 
 his mind, whatever might be the topic under review; and 
 though his words were felt to be weighty, no one ever con- 
 sidered them dictatorial. He never lectured in the social 
 circle. He spoke not as if he were a monopolist, but as it 
 he were privileged and expected to speak. He had a vast 
 deal more knowledge and wisdom than Coleridge, but nothing 
 can be conceived more antithetical than their modes of talk. 
 The ' Jupiter tonans ' style, large and smashing paragraphs, 
 or oracular responses, had not even their echoes in the gentle 
 but massive proverbs of Lawson. His conversation was equally 
 far from the Johnsonian style, ' IloXn<pxo< a '/3o/o det^aaar^ and 
 totally lacked that tendency to bully which weakened and 
 discoloured the otherwise grand and sagacious talk of the Bolt 
 Court philosopher. There are few now living who remember
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 145 
 
 it ; but from such as do, we have heard the highest testimony 
 to the delightful ease with which, in friendly converse, Dr 
 Lawson identified himself with the views, the prejudices, and 
 sympathies of others. Dr Brown used to say, when reverting 
 to Dr Lawson in conversation, that, when he expressed his 
 sentiments on any subject, it was just like letting go a piece 
 of his mind ; that there was nothing like labour or effort in 
 it ; that it was a dispensation, at his ease, from stores trea- 
 sured up, without the slightest hesitation as to the matter, 
 and without dubiety as to the accuracy of his statements. 
 
 Dr Lawson took a deep interest in all that was going on 
 in the neighbourhood and in the world around him. It did 
 not appear, but it was really so ; and yet he was no gossip 
 the very reverse what he liked to hear was what was gene- 
 rally interesting. Hence he relished nothing so much as a 
 free and easy chat with some of the more intelligent members 
 of his congregation, especially upon the doings and character 
 of public men. He was very cautious in expressing his 
 opinion of others, especially of ministers, and never spoke or 
 allowed others in his presence to speak evil of any one. He 
 devoted a short time every day to keep up with the current 
 literature of the press, and regularly read the newspapers. 
 Though not of Mrs Sidney Smith's mind, that ' a family could 
 not prosper without a newspaper,' he appreciated the judicious 
 use of one. The 'Star' and other political periodicals were, 
 in their place, of deep interest to him. He did not, how- 
 ever, allow the newspaper to lie in his study, and, like the 
 dog in the manger, bark and snarl at all other reading as we 
 shall see in the following chapter. Madame de Stael thinks 
 that the newspapers constitute the sole reading of three- 
 fourths of the nation. Whether her arithmetic be correct or 
 not, there can be little doubt of the too monopolizing influence 
 of such secular reading at present. The daily paper is now 
 the danger, and may be more resorted to than the daily 
 prayer by multitudes who profess the Lord Jesus. Much of
 
 146 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 the cheap literature now-a-days is all the reading that 
 thousands get. We may expect, not a race of giants, but 
 of dwarfs, to arise out of it. Dr Lawson's paper, once or 
 twice a week, told him all about this world that he cared to 
 know, and never made more solemn reading insipid to him, 
 nor his habits of reflection to be of the earth earthy. It is 
 rather interesting, however, to know, that, though much more 
 a man of the world than he was, his neighbour, Sir Walter 
 Scott, cared little, if anything, for the newspaper. Lockhart 
 tells us that Sir Walter read fewer newspapers than any 
 man he ever knew who had the habit of reading. How are 
 we to account for this strange phenomenon? Can it be, 
 after all, much as religious study is decried, that its tendency 
 is far more decidedly to interest us in the real well-being of 
 mankind, than the abstraction of a fine phrenzy, and the in- 
 dustry of a romantic genius ? We may be sure that it is so. 
 The study of God expands and warms the human heart. 
 The worship of any fine art contracts the sphere of sympathy, 
 and gives to the idolater a microscopic eye. 
 
 Among the other social and friendly qualifications of Dr 
 Lawson, was his love of music. He knew all the ordinary 
 psalm tunes, and sung them at family worship. He had no 
 sympathy with the semi-savage remark of one who, in decry- 
 ing music, declared that it not only gave him no new ideas, 
 but disturbed those which he had already acquired. Dr 
 Lawson's tastes lay nearer to the school of Luther, whose 
 testimony is, that, ' next to theology, music must have the 
 highest place and the greatest honour.' From what is told 
 of this singularly good-hearted man, we believe that, had he 
 lived till now, he would have been among the foremost to 
 assist in raising the ordinance of praise in the churches from 
 the dusty and droning estate into which it has fallen among 
 our people. It may, however, be worthy the consideration 
 of our music reformers, whether the best plan for improving 
 public music in churches, may not be to commence this refor-
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 147 
 
 mation by encouraging family worship, and having the taste 
 for sacred song cultivated, as Luther did, and many Germans 
 do, at the morning and evening services of the domestic altar. 
 It is well known that Dr Lawson was a great smoker. He 
 had been afflicted from his youth with asthma. His physician 
 prescribed the pipe. He was cured of the asthma, but con- 
 tinued the use of the weed. He had through life a rather 
 severe morning cough, and thought that this habit released 
 him of its severity. He did not seem to have any religious 
 scruples upon this point. Sugar in his tea he ceased to use, 
 to show his horror at the slave-trade; but he believed tobacco 
 to be grown and manufactured without slave labour. At 
 any risk he would have thrown away the pipe too, if he had 
 associated it with ' the accursed thing.' Some of his friends, 
 such as Dr Husband of Dunfermline, and Mr Haddin of 
 Limekilns, were as sturdy smokers as himself; and when they 
 met together and entered upon the stories of other days, their 
 heads were soon ' in nubibus,' and, though scarcely visible, 
 their hearty voices told how happy they were. Robert Hall 
 was also a great smoker. He acquired the habit at Cam- 
 bridge, in order to enjoy the society of Dr Parr. When 
 Olinthus Gregory expressed surprise that he should so indulge 
 himself, he replied, ' O, sir, I am only qualifying myself for the 
 society of a Doctor of Divinity, and this (holding up the pipe) 
 is my test of admission.' Gregory gave him to read Adam 
 Clarke's pamphlet on ' The Use and Abuse of Tobacco ; ' 
 and when Hall returned it, he said, 'I can't refute his argu- 
 ments, and I can't give up smoking.' None of Dr Lawson's 
 friends, however, claimed such a preparation in order to enjoy 
 his conversation and society. Without judging of the habit 
 in his instance, and without at all condemning in the slump the 
 practice of it by many, certainly the modern abuse of this 
 weed, by hundreds who have no excuse whatever to offer for 
 the indulgence, should be deprecated. It is lamentable to 
 notice in some, while in the prime of life, the nervous shaking
 
 148 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 of the hand, and the pale or sallow complexion of the cheek ; 
 traceable not to severe study, but to the slavish use of the 
 pipe. It were a good service, especially to students of 
 divinity, to get them persuaded to abandon it. We pronounce 
 it neither a lazy, nor a dirty, nor a demeaning habit ; but we 
 denounce it in general, as injurious to health of body, and to 
 pith, if not soundness, of mind. 
 
 It is rather singular, that, being amid so many beautiful 
 fishing streams, Dr Lawson had no love of the Waltonian art. 
 He had frequent visits from his friends on fishing excursions, 
 who dilated on the pleasures and benefits of the sport; but he 
 was not moved to try the rod. Some of his students were 
 great fishers, and were tempted by the Ettrick and the 
 Tweed, whose running streams they often visited. He did 
 not forbid them, from which we infer that he had no conscien- 
 tious scruples upon the matter. Dr John Brown had an 
 instinctive aversion to the sport, as cruel, while Dr Wardlaw, 
 on the other hand, pursued it enthusiastically. Upon this as 
 upon other uncertain points, good men must be allowed to 
 differ. It must be admitted that Dr Lawson's students, on 
 the whole, excelled in a far more honourable vocation as 
 ' fishers of men.' 
 
 But it is now time to notice a few of those friends and con- 
 temporaries between whom and Dr Lawson there existed, 
 during their respective lives, such an intimacy as not only to 
 justify but necessitate some brief allusion to them. Some 
 of them were the men of their day in the Burgher Synod, and 
 distinguished ornaments of our Church. It has often been 
 regretted that no adequate records were made of their lives, 
 and that they have been allowed almost to drop out of recol- 
 lection. If, in this biography of their illustrious friend, there 
 be but a partial resurrection of their names and virtues, it 
 may not have been written in vain. To Lawson himself it 
 would have been far more gratifying to have had their names, 
 than his own, inscribed upon the monumental tablet. By this
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 149 
 
 means, too, we shall gain a natural and graceful admission of 
 the very few letters of Lawson that have been preserved, into 
 these pages ; letters most characteristic of the man, and of 
 peculiar and intrinsic excellence. In these he will speak for 
 himself, and for others too. They will be read with high zest 
 by all who love exquisite simplicity of style, and wisdom in all 
 things as unaffected as genuine. Bishop Warburton tells us, 
 that Thurloe's large collection of letters gives us a thorough 
 insight into the genius of his times and contemporaries. If 
 we had possession of all or most of the Selkirk correspon- 
 dence, a similar compliment might have been paid to them ; 
 but it is to be deeply regretted that only a few have survived 
 the vicissitudes of the last fifty years. These few give us only 
 glimpses of the grand things which we might otherwise have 
 enjoyed. Such as they are, however, they are here given to 
 the reader ; and whosoever he be, of this he may be assured, 
 that they will amply repay perusal. Dr Lawson was not what 
 is called a letter-writer : his correspondence was by no means 
 voluminous ; but it was select and uniformly sincere, and to 
 some good purpose. Had it been with him as with some, who 
 would 'as soon open an artery as an inkbottle,' the materials 
 for illustrating his character must have been fewer in number 
 than they are. They are not substitutes for, though to a 
 great extent they supply the want of, a diary. 
 
 ANDREW SWANSTON has been already noticed as, perhaps, 
 in early life the dearest friend Dr Lawson ever h$l. The 
 attachment was mutual. Their natural dispositions seem to 
 have very nicely fitted into one another. ' Next to Jonathan.' 
 Dr Lawson said, ' I believe Andrew Swanston to be the most 
 amiable man that ever lived.' After his early death, a brief 
 but chaste sketch of his character was written by the Rev. 
 D. Greig, of Lochgelly, and prefixed to an edition of his ser- 
 mons in two volumes. An extract is here subjoined, not only 
 to memorialize him, but as one of the few remains of the 
 Lochgelly divine :
 
 150 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSOX. 
 
 ' The author of the following discourses was the eldest son 
 of the Rev. John Swanston, minister of the Associate Con- 
 gregation of Kinross, and some time Professor of Divinity 
 under the Associate Synod. After having acquired the 
 knowledge of the Latin language at the Grammar School of 
 Perth, he attended the University of Edinburgh ; and, in the 
 progress of his education, distinguished himself by a love of 
 literature and attention to his studies, and a capacity for im- 
 provement in useful knowledge. When he had finished his 
 preparatory studies, he entered on the study of theology, 
 which he prosecuted under the direction of the Rev. John 
 Brown, of Haddington, who conceived a high idea of his 
 talents and qualifications for the service of God in the Gospel 
 of His Son. Having gone through the usual course of theo- 
 logical studies, he was admitted to trial for license before the 
 Associate Presbytery of Dunfermline, and, by the discourses 
 he delivered, gave the highest hopes of his future usefulness. 
 
 ' In the course of his trials, he was led to reflect on the 
 awful importance of the ministerial office, and the indispens- 
 able necessity of personal religion to his undertaking it, either 
 with safety to himself or benefit to the Church of Christ. 
 These reflections issued in deep convictions of his own un- 
 worthiness, and awful apprehensions of Divine wrath. His 
 distress of mind was inexpressible, and threatened for some 
 time the dissolution of his frame. All thoughts of com- 
 mencing* to preach were now abandoned, and absorbed in the 
 inquiry, " What shall I do to be saved?" The terrors of the 
 Almighty distracted his soul, and drove him to the most 
 desperate conclusions. He would sometimes abstain from 
 prayer and other religious duties, from an apprehension that, 
 by engaging in them, he would only incur the guilt of pro- 
 fanity. He was afraid to look into his Bible, for he imagined 
 that there remained nothing for him but " a fearful looking 
 for of judgment and fiery indignation." Some gleams of 
 hope, however, would at times break in upon his mind, from
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 151 
 
 the consideration of the riches of Divine mercy, and the grace 
 and all-sufficiency of Christ ; but though the distress of his 
 soul became less violent, he continued for a considerable 
 time in a very disconsolate state. The Lord, however, inter- 
 posed for his relief, by giving him such a discovery of His 
 glory in the face of Jesus Christ, as dissipated his fears, and 
 filled him with joy and peace in believing. 
 
 ' This happy alteration in the state of his mind is acknow- 
 ledged by him in a letter to a friend, dated Dec. 4, 1778, of 
 which the following is an extract : 
 
 ' " MY DEAR FRIEND, You know what desperate conclu- 
 sions I was wont, on some occasions, to draw against myself, 
 and how positive I was in them; yet, through the goodness 
 of God, I have lived to see that they are groundless : and, 
 however defective my past experience or present exercises 
 may be, I am fully convinced that it is my duty to believe 
 that, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, I shall be 
 saved, even as others. I doubt not but that what I have 
 mentioned will give you real pleasure, and you will be dis- 
 posed to glorify God in me." 
 
 ' It was not long after this that he was prevailed on to 
 accept of license to preach the Gospel. The discourses now 
 offered to the public were all composed and delivered shortly 
 after he was licensed. Being under the necessity, from the 
 time of his commencing preacher, of delivering several dis- 
 courses every Lord's day, he had little leisure to attend to 
 what is called composition. Some of his discourses, not in- 
 ferior in merit to any of the rest, are known to have been the 
 production of a few hours. This being considered, the 
 accuracy of arrangement and propriety of expression, every- 
 where observable in his discourses, cannot but give a high 
 idea of his talents. 
 
 ' Mr Swanston had not been long employed as a public 
 teacher, when it was evident that he was very highly esteemed 
 by all who came within the reach of his instructions. The
 
 152 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Associate Congregation of Perth, after baring a few trials 
 of his gifts, unanimously called him to be their minister, and 
 had the near prospect of enjoying his stated ministrations. 
 
 ' The pastoral relation, however, between him and them 
 never took place, for at this time he began to doubt of the 
 Divine authority of the Presbyterial form of Church govern- 
 ment, and at length gave up all connection with the Secession. 
 Not long after he embraced the views of the Antipsedo- 
 baptists, and was admitted a member of their communion. 
 Difference of sentiment taking place between him and his 
 Antipsedobaptist brethren, occasioned his seclusion from their 
 society. He still, however, retained the characteristical views 
 of these Christians, and employed himself, as he found oppor- 
 tunity, in preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. To this 
 service he may be said to have fallen a sacrifice, for it was 
 when he was employed in it that he caught a severe cold, 
 from which he never recovered. His constitution, which was 
 always delicate, soon exhibited strong symptoms of a con- 
 sumption ; and his friends now beheld, with deep concern, his 
 dissolution fast approaching. He died at Glasgow, on the 
 15th of November 1784, in the thirty-third year of his age, 
 expressing an entire resignation to the will of his heavenly 
 Father, and a confident expectation of his future felicity. All 
 is well, all is well, were the last words which he was heard to 
 utter. 
 
 ' His character must be still fresh in the remembrance of 
 those who had the happiness of being acquainted with him ; 
 but for the sake of others, the following delineation of it may 
 not be unnecessary : 
 
 ' His understanding was uncommonly acute and pene- 
 trating, clearly apprehending divine truths in their various 
 relations and consequences. His powers of discrimination 
 were strong, by which he readily perceived what was proper 
 to be said or omitted in the illustration of his subject. His 
 luminous conceptions of divine truths enabled him to express
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 153 
 
 them in language at once perspicuous and forcible. His taste 
 was just, and capable of giving elegance to his compositions, 
 if this had been the object of his study. He was cautious in 
 admitting religious principles while he perceived not the evi- 
 dence of their truth ; but, when the evidence presented itself 
 to his mind, he was resolute in adhering to them, and ready 
 to profess them at the expense of all that was dear to him. 
 To the authority of God, speaking in the Scriptures, he paid 
 an implicit obedience ; but he would not suffer human au- 
 thority to dictate to him in matters of religion. One is your 
 Master, even Christ, was a saying which he held in profound 
 veneration. The love of Christ, in redeeming him by His 
 blood, appeared marvellous in his eyes, strongly affected his 
 heart, and obtained a commanding influence over his conduct. 
 To the honour of his Redeemer he was ready to make the 
 most expensive sacrifices. Things not seen and eternal were 
 perceived by him in a strong and impressive light, gave a 
 noble elevation to his mind, and made him look down with 
 holy indifference on the honours, and pleasures, and advan- 
 tages of the world. His manner of life declared plainly that 
 he sought another and a better country ; and few of the saints 
 have attained to that degree of heavenly-miudedness which 
 was conspicuous in his conversation. 
 
 ' In social intercourse he was distinguished by a suavity 
 of manners which was peculiarly engaging ; modest, affable, 
 polite, gentle, and amiable, he never failed to rise in the 
 esteem and affections of those with whom he conversed. His 
 great humility made him respect the sentiments of others who 
 were inferior to himself in understanding, while his happy talent 
 of seizing openings for introducing agreeable and useful hints, 
 or improving on those of others, rendered his conversation at 
 once entertaining and edifying. In rational, moral, and reli- 
 gious conversation, he greatly delighted ; and no one retired 
 from his company without feeling pleasure or reaping im- 
 provement.
 
 154 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 ' His manner as a public speaker was simple and graceful, 
 earnest and impressive, indicating the powerful hold which 
 his subject had taken of his mind, and calculated to call off 
 the attention of his hearers from himself to the all-interesting 
 truths which he was declaring. He declared the counsel of 
 God with a plainness which met the apprehensions of ordinary- 
 capacities, and, at the same time, with a dignity which com- 
 manded the respect and secured the approbation of the more 
 intelligent part of his audience. His action was easy and 
 natural, arising from the impulse of the moment, and serving 
 to express the feelings of his soul. Serious and judicious 
 Christians, after hearing him, felt a disposition to say, Thanks 
 be to God for the glorious Gospel of our salvation ; and may the 
 Lord of the harvest send forth many such labourers into his 
 harvest /' 
 
 On hearing of this accomplished youth's death, Professor 
 Brown, of Haddington, said, ' Andrew Swanston will have 
 found a church to his mind now ; ' and Lawson often referred 
 to him, saying, ' Heaven will be all the sweeter to me, that 
 Andrew Swanston is there.' It is known that the late Dr 
 Peddie, of Edinburgh, excelled in lecturing upon Scripture. 
 He himself accounted for any virtue he possessed in this way, 
 to his having often heard young Swanston in Perth, from 
 whom, he said, he derived his first conception of what a lec- 
 ture ought to be. His friend's ' divisive courses' did not in 
 the least abate the ardour of natural affection. He wrote 
 to him only two years before his death the following ad- 
 mirable letter : 
 
 ' SELKIRK, March 2, 1782. 
 
 ' DEAR ANDREW, I do not know well whither to address 
 this letter, but by what information I could get, I hope it 
 may find yon in Glasgow. You have, it seems, left our com- 
 munion ; but there are two things that give me much satis- 
 faction. One is, that I am sure you will never be alienated
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 155 
 
 from the friends of your youth. The other is a great deal 
 more comfortable, that you will be always a Christian, and 
 therefore never unhappy. 
 
 ' By what party name you are now distinguished, I do not 
 certainly know. I believe, if I did, I should have a more 
 favourable thought of it for your sake, although I am far 
 from thinking you infallible. Whatever your connections 
 are, you will find them to be men like us. In heaven only 
 you will find perfection of goodness ; and there, I hope, we 
 shall in a short time be, never to be separated, or to enter- 
 tain discordant thoughts any more. 
 
 ' I should be exceedingly glad of a visit from you ; but 
 this, though promised several years ago, I believe I cannot 
 reasonably expect. In place of it, give me the benefit of your 
 prayers, which may do me still more service. I stand in great 
 need of it. 
 
 ' I should be much obliged to you, if you would, as soon 
 as you can, write me a long letter. Fill it with what you 
 please, except telling me that you retain your friendship for 
 me ; and inform me of the health of Mr Henderson, and the 
 welfare of your friends, whom I love for your sake, and your 
 father's, and their own. You know always where I am to be 
 found, and can forgive me for any aversion to write when I 
 know not what to say. Were you to become a Roman 
 Catholic, I could not lose my friendship for you, although I 
 might be in doubt whether or not you had lost your senses. 
 May God bless you and guide you. I am, ever yours, 
 
 'GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 Many years subsequent to Andrew Swanston's death, we 
 find Dr Lawson in correspondence with Mr John Swanston, 
 of Glasgow, who inherited not a little of Andrew's amiable- 
 ness and worth. It is interesting to observe in the following 
 letters the transference of friendly regard from the one brother 
 to the other.
 
 156 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 To Mr and Mrs John Swanston. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIENDS, Having opportunity by some of my 
 own family, I could not deny myself the pleasure of letting 
 you know that I am still alive, and in as good health as I 
 can reasonably expect, and that I entertain as warm an 
 attachment to you as I felt in my younger days. My 
 daughter Nancy intends to be one of your visitors. She will 
 never forget what she owes you, and I hope will be the better, 
 through life and through eternity, for what she has heard 
 from you. 
 
 ' I often call to mind the days of youth in which I spent 
 many pleasant days with you at Kinross. These days have 
 long since fled. But it will be my own fault if the profit I 
 derived, or might have derived from them, is ever lost. 1 
 believe a turn is given to the mind by the companions of one's 
 youth, which, for the most part, has an influence on the 
 remainder of one's days. This observation, I believe, you must 
 both have often made, and that it has had a powerful influence 
 on the education you have given to our dear young friend 
 (your daughter 1 ), to whom you look for some of your chief 
 comforts in that declining period of life which is before you, 
 if God is pleased to lengthen out your lives a little longer. 
 May you long enjoy that pleasure which her life and health, 
 her temper and behaviour, give you. I am persuaded that 
 it would be bitter to her as death, to be wanting in her 
 endeavours to give you all that satisfaction which parents 
 have a right to expect from a child so tenderly and carefully 
 educated. Yet I doubt not that God Himself is your chief 
 joy. Unhappy must the happiest of those men and women 
 be, whose happiness rests upon anything so precarious as that 
 which is but a vapour, which appeareth but for a little while, 
 and then vanisheth away. ... I lately had the pleasure 
 of seeing Mr Johnston, of Ecclefechan. He is at present, 
 1 The late Mrs "William Graham, of Lancefield.
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 157 
 
 I hear, in good health for his years. I am, yours most 
 affectionately, ' GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 To John Swanston, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 ' MY PEAR FRIEND, I thank Mrs and Miss Swanston, along 
 with yourself, for their continued friendship to my daughter 
 Nancy, arid for extending it to her sister. Enmities should 
 be always shortened ; but friendships ought to be immortal. 
 Among those who know the Gospel, they will be immortal in 
 the strictest sense. 
 
 ' I was much pleased with what you said concerning the 
 days that are long since passed, never to return. Your 
 thoughts are congenial with my own. Were I to live as 
 long as the antediluvians, and retain my faculties, I would 
 not forget those companions of youth with whom I spent the 
 pleasantest hours of that pleasant season of life. And none of 
 them were dearer to me than your brother, now in a better 
 world. An eternal separation from such friends would be a 
 tremendous prospect. This, though not the chief part of the 
 punishment of the ungodly in a future world, could not be 
 compensated by the pleasures of sin in this life, although they 
 were a thousand times sweeter, and to last a thousand times 
 longer than they ever did. The remembrance of such de- 
 parted joys will bring more pleasure, even in this world, than 
 pain to our hearts, if we make that use that we ought of it, 
 by placing our affections on those things that are above, 
 where some of our best friends now are, and where He who 
 is infinitely better than all earthly friends ever is. There 
 are three of us still alive ; and if anything could make me 
 proud, it would be the thought that I had so long retained 
 Mr Greig's friendship and yours, without diminution. The 
 best title I have to it is my esteem of you both, and the 
 grateful sense I have ever felt of your unabated kindness. 
 
 ' When our friend, Miss Kitty, looks back fifty years 
 hence if kind Providence spare her so long she will recol-
 
 158 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 lect many pleasant friends that are lost for a time; but I 
 hope she will have the consolation to reflect, that she did her 
 duty to them whilst she enjoyed their society ; and to be 
 persuaded, that such as were once dearest to her heart are in 
 a place of felicity, where she hopes soon, through the grace 
 of Christ, to join them. 
 
 ' It would be superfluous in me to lengthen out this letter 
 by advices to Miss Swanston, in addition to what she has 
 received from Solomon, and from other counsellors of the 
 present time, and of the times of old. Yet there is one 
 maxim which I sometimes inculcate on young persons, that 
 I think may be useful to them always to think, and speak, 
 and act, as they will wish to have done fifty years hence, or 
 whensoever they look back in years to come ! The days of 
 old age would not be such evil days as they commonly are, 
 if men could look back with satisfaction on the years long 
 past, and never to return. . . . May you all long enjoy in 
 this world the blessings of the seed of the righteous. We 
 will seldom see one another whilst we live ; but the hope of 
 being together through endless ages, would bring down a 
 portion of the joys of heaven to the earth. I am, with sin- 
 cerest affection, yours, ' GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 GEORGE HENDERSON, of Turf hills, has been mentioned 
 in a former chapter, as another of the early and devoted 
 friends of Lawson. Their acquaintanceship dated from col- 
 lege days ; was ripened in Kinross-shire, when studying 
 under Professor Swanston, and afterwards, when at the 
 Haddington Hall. When Mr Henderson was about to be 
 ordained over Shuttle Street Congregation, Glasgow, the 
 Presbytery of Glasgow requested his Selkirk friend to preach 
 the ordination sermon, which he accordingly did. The course 
 of this friendship ran rather more smoothly than the former 
 one, but not more profoundly. Mr Henderson, however, like 
 Swanston, soon departed. His early death left a deep im-
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 159 
 
 pression on Lawson ; and, together with those of Bruce and 
 Swanston, greatly helped to deepen upon him that invariable 
 seriousness, of which, even iu his hours of ease, he could never 
 be entirely divested. Mr Henderson was highly esteemed 
 in the city of his habitation; and was gradually rising to 
 eminence and influence, both as a preacher and a citizen, 
 when ' he was not, for God took him.' He received the 
 following consolatory letter from Selkirk, when in his last 
 illness : 
 
 'SELKIRK, August 14, 1783. 
 
 ' DEAR GEORGE, I am sorry to hear that you are still in 
 a poor state of health ; but glad, at the same time, to hear 
 that you do not murmur at the hand by which you are 
 afflicted. I hope you are preserved in patience by the same 
 spirit that sustained our glorious pattern, when He was 
 offering up Himself a sacrifice for us, and leaving us an 
 example that we should follow His steps. May God still 
 teach you to number the days of your affliction, according 
 to Paul's Christian arithmetic, 2 Cor. iv. 17. 
 
 ' You have Christ, and (if we may mention them in the 
 same sentence) you have prophets and apostles, as an example 
 of patience under long- continued trials ; you have promises 
 of support to a conclusion of your trials, as soon as infinite 
 wisdom sees it proper, and of reaping in joy in due time. 
 
 ' Cleaving to the Lord in the exercise of the proper graces 
 under temptations, is one great characteristic of the followers 
 of Christ ; and what believer would not frequently endure 
 the trial, when at the end of it is a crown, not of gold and 
 pearl, but of life, even a crown which the Lord hath promised 
 and will give ? 
 
 ' It would make you very happy if you were informed that 
 any of your beloved friends had it in his power to effect your 
 recovery. But how pleasant is it to consider that a Friend, 
 unspeakably kinder, can command deliverance at His pleasure,
 
 160 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 and delays it only because it is an expression of greater 
 kindness to leave you a little longer in your present situation ! 
 ' It would be much easier for me to dwell on this subject 
 than to bear your troubles, were they laid on my shoulders. 
 But the richest consolations in the world are addressed to us 
 by One who bore sorrows unspeakably exceeding even the 
 sore afflictions of David and Job. I think a greater sorrow 
 can scarcely be felt by us, than that which the apostles 
 experienced when their Master was about to be taken from 
 them ; and the sermon spoken to them, and left on record for 
 our benefit, must be abundantly sufficient, if it is applied by 
 the Spirit, to replenish the soul with gladness and triumph, 
 whatever our outward circumstances may be. I am, etc., 
 
 ' GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 DAVID GREIG, with the exception of Andrew Swanston, 
 seems to have been the most beloved of all his early asso- 
 ciates. They had, through life, a deep mutual respect for 
 each other's talents and piety. Lethangie House was the 
 nursery of their glowing loves ; and, as we have seen, Orwell 
 rather than Selkirk would have been Lawson's choice, that he 
 might be near his friend, who became the seceding minister 
 at Lochgelly, only a few miles from Kinross. It must ever 
 be a regret that no memoir of this imposing and admirable 
 divine has been written. For fifty-one years he laboured in 
 the above retired village, and died in 1823, Lawson having 
 preceded him by only two years into eternity. -Few men 
 ever left the world, of whom so much good and so little evil 
 could be told. He was an extraordinary man. In person 
 he was unusually tall, and bulky in proportion. Dignity and 
 solemnity seemed to labour for the ascendancy in his deport- 
 ment. In the pulpit especially, he was of commanding and 
 venerable appearance ; and on all occasions there was a 
 blending, in his expression, of the meek and the majestic, the 
 serious and the affectionate. As a theologian, he had few
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 161 
 
 equals, and no superior, among his contemporaries. He had 
 a learned and capacious mind. His discourses were of a high 
 order of excellence ; and, classed beside the works of Boston 
 or the Erskines, they would not be found inferior : while, for 
 force of reasoning, they were not behind Barrow, or Tillotson, 
 or Charnock. The late learned and venerable Dr Dick, of 
 Glasgow, was a great admirer of him. While a student, and 
 when passing his vacations in Kinross-shire, at his paternal 
 uncle's, he had sat often under Mr Greig's ministry with 
 great delight, and ever reverted to it as a privilege of no 
 common kind. Dr Lawson and Mr Greig were confidential 
 and frequent correspondents. Some of the Selkirk letters to 
 Lochgelly have been preserved, and are now subjoined, with- 
 out note or comment. Left to speak for themselves, they 
 cannot fail to inform the reader, that friendship between such 
 men was a plant of heavenly birth, and, having stood the 
 shocks and storms of time, must now be in its full fruition in 
 the paradise of God. 
 
 Dr Lawson to Mr Greig. 
 
 'SELKIRK, Feby. 1811. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, Your letter, after such a long inter- 
 mission of epistolary correspondence, gave me great pleasure, 
 as it gave me a new proof that I still possess what has been 
 one of the chief pleasures of my life for almost half a century. 
 I would be very ungrateful if I did not place a full confidence 
 in your friendship ; yet I have always felt a new joy in 
 receiving new assurances of it from your own hand. But 
 the information you gave me in your last letter (but one), of 
 your son's recovery, afforded double satisfaction. I doubt 
 not that it was an answer to many prayers. May you still 
 have reason, on that, and many other accounts, to bless the 
 Lord, who hath not turned away His mercy from you, nor 
 your prayers from Him. 
 
 ' I would have been glad that you had given me some 
 
 L
 
 162 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 account of the state of your own health ; but I am happy to 
 hear that it is rather better than it was some time ago. You 
 and I have tasted very much of the goodness of the Lord in 
 the land of the living. We must not hope to escape the 
 common lot of the sons of Adam ; but we will praise the 
 Lord for what is past, and trust Him for what is to come. 
 
 * I would have been glad, too, to hear of the welfare of 
 your son Robert. I hope he will remember the God of his 
 fathers, from Quebec or Montreal, or from any foreign land 
 to which Providence may direct his steps. 
 
 'I was pleased to hear that your beloved family was 
 entertained by the small book of sermons. The further they 
 advance in life, they will find the more reason to derive their 
 chief entertainment from the Bible, and from those precious 
 doctrines which it teaches. 
 
 ' I conclude from your letter, that my friend Mrs Greig 
 enjoys her ordinary health. She has yet the prospect of 
 several years before she arrives at our present period of life. 
 But these years (if God is pleased to spare her) will appear 
 a very short time when they are past. They will, however, 
 be very pleasant in the review, if she is enabled to employ 
 them as most persons wish to have done. 
 
 ' You and I cannot often hope now to meet together ; but 
 I often look back with pleasure to days that I have spent in 
 your society ; and I would fain look forward with hope to an 
 eternity to be spent with you in a better world, where we 
 will regain the friends that we have lost. Do they not look 
 down upon us with a much livelier interest in our welfare, 
 than they had in the present world ? I remain, till death, 
 and beyond death, your cordial friend, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Mr Greig. 
 
 'SELKIRK, September 1815. 
 
 'BELOVED FRIEND, You will not need to be told that your 
 letter was very gratifying to us all. We were happy to hear
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 163 
 
 that you had suffered no material injury from your kind visit 
 to us, and that our endeavours to make you happy during 
 your continuance were not lost. We certainly would not be 
 so ungrateful as not to wish and endeavour to make the time 
 of your abode with us agreeable, and it was our happiness to 
 enjoy the society of a friend disposed to be happy. 
 
 ' We certainly cannot hope often to enjoy on earth such 
 golden days as we have often enjoyed in one another's society ; 
 but I hope always to enjoy the fruits of the friendship I had 
 the happiness in my early days to form with you. I am far 
 from being so good a man as with this and my other advan- 
 tages I might have been ; yet I trust that good impressions 
 never to be effaced have been the happy result of my cordial 
 intercourse with you, and I would fain hope that I never will 
 be separated from you for ever. I am thankful for almost a 
 half century of your friendship already enjoyed. How thank- 
 ful ought I to be for the hope (if I am not left to deceive 
 myself) of an eternity to be spent in the society of my best 
 friends, and of Him who is infinitely kinder and more amiable 
 than all earthly friends put together ! 
 
 ' When you parted from us, you* were consoled with the 
 thought of returning to your beloved family, whilst my 
 thoughts were in a great measure occupied by the employ- 
 ments of the season. 
 
 ' When some of our chief pleasures are removed or inter- 
 rupted for a long and uncertain space of time, let us be thank- 
 ful that we have so many other comforts left us, and that we 
 are not altogether incapacitated for those businesses of life in 
 which we are to be occupied till we receive our dismission. 
 
 ' It is a part of our happiness, that when we cannot converse 
 with our friends face to face, we can do it by letters. If our 
 personal visits must be discontinued, our intercourse need not 
 cease. I believe that we may often in our letters say much 
 the same thing that we have said in former letters. But these 
 old things have to me and, I hope, to you also a charm not
 
 164 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 less pleasant than that of novelty. Nor are they altogether 
 destitute even of that charm. You could not with certainty 
 tell me twenty years ago, that you was to be as cordial a 
 friend to me in my old age as in the days of my youth. I 
 am, ever yours, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawsan to Mr Greig. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, 29th April 1816. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, I am sorry that it is put out of my 
 power to see you and my other brethren at the meetings of 
 Synod. But all our earthly pleasures must suffer interruption 
 or come to an end. And when some are taken from us, let 
 us be thankful that so many are left, and that we have so 
 much better in prospect. 
 
 ' My hearing is considerably better than it once was, but I 
 am under the necessity of being very careful to guard against 
 accidents that may make it worse. I need your prayers both 
 for myself and family, as one of my dear children is at present 
 in distress, though I hope not in an alarming degree. 
 
 ' Your last visit gives me great pleasure in reflecting on it, 
 both as an expression of -your unchanging friendship, and as 
 it gave me an opportunity of seeing with mine own eyes, how 
 much better your health was than I once expected ever to 
 see it. 
 
 ' You and I have now been long spared to our families and 
 friends, and to one another. I frequently think of the period 
 of life when men, much better than myself, were carried out 
 of the world in good old age short of that which has been 
 already granted to me, and to some of the dearest companions 
 of my early days, whilst others of them are removed to that 
 world from which there is no returning, and from which it 
 would be worse than death to return. God forbid that I 
 should be for ever separated from you, and from our beloved 
 A. Swanston, and from his venerable father, and from our no 
 less respected teacher, Mr Brown. I follow them hand rassi-
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 165 
 
 bus aquis, but I trust in the same righteousness through 
 which they found acceptance before God. 
 
 ' May God bestow His richest blessings on Mrs Greig, on 
 your sons and daughters, and on all whom you love. I will 
 never forget the kind hospitality which they have so often 
 showed to the friend of their father's youth. 
 
 ' It was but a very short time of life that David enjoyed the 
 friendship of Jonathan, which afforded him more pleasure 
 than the possession of the crown. How long you and I will 
 yet have the pleasure of knowing that the other is in the land 
 of the living we cannot tell, but we have reason to bless God 
 for what is past, nor is it likely that death can now separate 
 us for many years. I am, ever yours, * G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Mr Greig. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, August 1816. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, Your letter came in good season, to 
 turn my mind to the pleasure which I have long enjoyed in 
 your cordial and steady friendship. After losing many of 
 my early friends, I cannot, without thankfulness to God, think 
 of the survivance of my dearest friend, of one at least than 
 whom none was ever dearer to my heart. 
 
 ' I call your letter a seasonable one, because I had received 
 very unpleasant letters from England, and still live under the 
 anxious apprehension of receiving more of the same kind. 
 My beloved daughter, I am informed, is now almost in a 
 hopeless state. I know that I give you pain by saying so ; 
 but I do it in the hope that your prayers will be useful to 
 her, and to us who are here. The God who commands us 
 to pray for one another never said to any of the seed of 
 Jacob, Seek ye Me in vain. 
 
 ' Dearly did I love my child, and well did she deserve my 
 love ; yet I am not without comfort. My son tells me that 
 she still retains her cheerfulness, which he has no doubt is 
 founded in part on religious considerations. It is difficult for
 
 166 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 us to know our own hearts, and more so to know the hearts 
 of others. But I humbly hope that, if it is not the will of 
 God to restore her to us, He will receive her to Himself, 
 which is far better. 
 
 'Eli had little reason to think that his sons would be 
 blessed in their death ; and yet, when it was announced to 
 him, he said, " It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him 
 good." How much more ought I to acquiesce in the will of 
 God, who has deprived me of some very pleasant children, 
 but left me no reason to judge unfavourably of that state to 
 which they went ! What undeserved mercy does our gracious 
 God mingle with too well deserved chastisement ! 
 
 ' The time will not now be long deferred till you and I 
 must enter into that world into which some of the dear 
 friends of our youth are long since gone. Although I never 
 thought myself worthy of being compared to them, yet it is 
 my humble desire and hope to be saved by that grace without 
 which they must have perished as well as I. What precious 
 consolations does our religion afford us ! It turns our dark- 
 ness into light. The face of my afflicted child was always 
 pleasant and lovely in my sight ; but, although I have little 
 hope of ever beholding her again in this world, may I not 
 humbly hope to see her with far more pleasure than ever. 
 
 ' We are happy at the thought of the pleasure you enjoyed 
 in your visit to us last harvest. You certainly did us a great 
 favour in undertaking so long a journey to spend some days 
 with us. I am happy that, by all accounts which I receive, 
 your health is still better than it was a few years ago. 
 May you be long spared to your family, and friends, and 
 people. 
 
 ' How unpleasant were Job's reflections when he thought 
 of the time when his children were yet about him. My feel- 
 ings, when I think of the children whom I have lost, or am 
 about to lose, tend much to raise my admiration of the forti- 
 tude of his soul when he lost so many on one day, and not
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 167 
 
 one was left. What reason have you to be thankful, as I ara 
 sure you are, that all your family (except one) is spared to 
 you. And I am thankful for God's goodness to you, and to 
 myself also, in sparing so many of my children to this day. 
 
 ' Those children of serious parents are cruel to their fathers 
 and mothers, as well as to their own souls, who do not behave 
 in such a manner that there will be hope in their death, if God 
 should call them out of the world. May God long preserve 
 your children, and our amiable sister, and enrich yon all with 
 his best blessings. I am, ever yours, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 The late Drs Hall and Peddie, and Mr Lothian, of 
 Edinburgh, Dr Waugh, of London, Dr Dick, of Glasgow, 
 and others of that standing, were all on very intimate and 
 friendly footing with the Professor at Selkirk. We have 
 failed, however, in our efforts to discover any correspondence 
 that passed between them. This is especially to be regretted, 
 as there is no doubt that there must have been many in- 
 teresting and important intercommunications, in Dr Peddie's 
 instance at least. He and Dr Peddie were deeply implicated 
 in what is called ' the Old Light Controversy,' and were, 
 along with Dr Husband, of Dunfermline, the leaders of the 
 debates in the Synod. Dr Peddie, however, was in the habit 
 of destroying all his letters very shortly on receipt of them. 
 It would have been an exceedingly rich contribution to this 
 memoir, if records of these debates, of the private conversa- 
 tions upon them, and of the letters that were written by the 
 parties, had been extant. As descriptions of character, 
 manifestations of courage and pith in opposing intolerance, 
 and specimens of truly Christian temper in controversy, they 
 would have been memorials of the men and the times, alike 
 racy and exemplary. 
 
 Dr JAMES HUSBAND occupies a distinguished place among 
 the friendships of Lawson. As the successor of Ralph
 
 168 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Erskirie, he could scarce fail to have been an object of interest 
 to every good seceder; but, independent of that, he had 
 talents that commanded the confidence and admiration of the 
 Church. Dr William Peddie thus refers to him in the 
 memoir of his father : ' It cannot be considered invidious to 
 name Drs Husband, of Dunfermline, and Hall, of Edinburgh, 
 both of them men of uncommon forensic ability, eloquent and 
 skilful in debate, dignified and courteous in their manners. 
 We have always understood that these eminent fathers stood 
 in the very first rank among the public men of the Associate 
 Synod.' Dr Husband's father, a respectable merchant in St 
 Andrews, originated the Secession interest in that ' neuk of 
 Fife,' and gave to his son an education to qualify him for the 
 ministry in the new denomination. Young Husband was a 
 first-class scholar, and wrangled it triumphantly both in the 
 school and college of his native town, with students who 
 afterwards rose to eminence. He was for a while classical 
 tutor in the family of the Principal of the University. His 
 pupil then, rose, in after life, to be Principal Brown of Aber- 
 deen ; and the high esteem of that distinguished man for his 
 quondam grinder was maintained through life, demonstrating 
 itself by the gift of D.D., which, at his request, the Senatus 
 Academicus conferred on him. He died in May 1821, only 
 one year and a few months after Dr Lawson. Dr Belfrage, 
 of Falkirk, preached his funeral sermon, from which the fol- 
 lowing sketches of his character are taken : 
 
 ' His intellectual faculties were of no common order. His 
 mind was acute and powerful, and enriched by regular and 
 liberal study. His discourses were always prepared with 
 care, and were marked by sublime conceptions of the Divine 
 character and administration, the elaborate defence and illus- 
 tration of the doctrines of grace, an accurate knowledge of 
 the human heart and of all the varieties of human character, 
 the fearless exposure of folly and vice, the most consolatory 
 views of the trials of the good, and by the earnest enforce-
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 169 
 
 ment of every religious and moral duty. As an expositor of 
 Scripture, he was far removed from all parade of critical skill 
 from that expansion and diffuseness in which the proper 
 design of lecturing is forgotten, and from that flimsiness 
 which leaves the passage almost untouched ; but was distin- 
 guished by a clear discernment of its true sense, the vivid 
 exhibition of its leading ideas, and by the ingenuity and the 
 suitableness of his practical reflections. His style was ear- 
 nest, perspicuous, and forcible ; and not merely in the early 
 periods of his ministry, but throughout his life, the language 
 of his discourses was characterized by elegance and accuracy. 
 His ornaments were selected with such judgment, introduced 
 with such propriety, and managed so happily, that they 
 never failed to strike or to charm. There was such a dignity 
 and grace in his manner as a public speaker, that he was 
 always listened to with profound attention. In short, there 
 was a combination of excellences in him as a preacher, which 
 are seldom found united, and which raised him to high dis- 
 tinction as a master in Israel. 
 
 ' In his intercourse with the world, there was such a 
 politeness in his manner, and such intelligence in his conver- 
 sation, that it may be truly said he never mingled in society 
 but to improve and adorn it. There was uniform respecta- 
 bility in his conduct, which could only result from the best 
 principles of action. Wherever he was seen, whether in the 
 largest meeting or in the most select party, you still beheld 
 "the man of wisdom, the man of God." He never had a 
 disguise to assume or to lay aside, but was always consistent, 
 honourable, and ingenuous. 
 
 ' In our ecclesiastical courts he was a most useful member. 
 There his manner was characterized by exemplary gravity 
 and patient attention ; and such was his clear discernment of 
 the merits of every cause, his unbiassed judgment, his zeal 
 for what he felt to be wise and just, and his happy flow of 
 powerful eloquence, that he had a great influence in directing
 
 170 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 their measures, and was generally regarded as the best of 
 their speakers. In the various improvements which have 
 been made in our Church, he had a principal share. Eager 
 as he was for these measures, he respected every upright 
 opponent, and did everything, which wisdom and patience 
 could suggest, to conciliate those who, under the influence of 
 their passions and prejudices, resisted these advances to per- 
 fection. 
 
 ' As a member of society, he was a zealous promoter of the 
 public good. Schemes for this purpose were .often suggested 
 or improved by his wisdom, recommended by his eloquence, 
 or carried into effect by his exertions. Such was his activity, 
 that he was ready for every good work, and persevered in it 
 through fatigue and opposition, which would have disgusted 
 or dispirited others. Such were his decision and promptitude, 
 that his plans were executed ere a step would have been 
 taken by the tardy and hesitating; and so wise were his 
 measures, that he always did what he wished to be done, 
 in the best manner, and at the proper season. I need not 
 add, that in these labours he was most disinterested, and that 
 his time, talents, and efforts were generally devoted to objects 
 which tended to benefit others, but which could yield no ad- 
 vantage to himself.' 
 
 Though a Seceding minister, Dr Husband stood high with 
 the heritors and proprietors of the west of Fife. This was 
 mainly owing to the wise and judicious scheme for the volun- 
 tary support of the poor, of which he was the author, and 
 which, as long as he lived, kept off a legal assessment. 
 Business connected with this scheme brought him into fre- 
 quent intercourse with the wealthy men of the parish, several 
 of whom had seceded with Ralph Erskine, and were members 
 of his church. There was an annual sermon preached in 
 Queen Anne Street Church on behalf of this scheme, and a 
 grand occasion it was. Some distinguished stranger was 
 brought to preach this sermon, and the heritors attended in
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 171 
 
 a body, to hear and to collect. The Earl of Elgin was some- 
 times present (father of the present Earl), and a friendly 
 intercourse sprung up between them, which lasted till Dr 
 Husband's death. I remember of hearing my grandfather 
 telling, that on one occasion he and my father were invited to 
 Broom Hall (the seat of the Elgin family), near Dunfermline ; 
 and as a motive to their consent, the Earl told them that the 
 celebrated Mrs Siddons was on a visit to him, and was to 
 give some readings of Shakespeare in the evening. It was a 
 great temptation ; but their religious principles, as well as 
 Christian prudence, decided them to decline. It was neces- 
 sary at that period for Christian ministers to lift up a testimony 
 against theatrical entertainments ; and though listening to the 
 simple readings of the great tragedienne may not by some be 
 considered as coming within that description of worldly 
 amusements, there was a necessity for self-denial. Every 
 pious reader of an ' autobiography ' of a Church of Scotland 
 clergyman (just published), must have been somewhat sur- 
 prised with the references made in it to this very matter. It 
 is there told that Mrs Siddons was playing in Edinburgh, 
 during the sitting of the General Assembly in 1784, and 
 that important business had to be suspended on the days she 
 acted, because ' the younger members, clergy and laity, took 
 their stations in the theatre in those days by three o'clock in 
 the afternoon.' 1 We are also told that Drs Robertson and 
 Blair, merely from deference to decorum, did not go, but that 
 they visited her in private, and regretted, after she was away, 
 that they did not go with the others and see her public per- 
 formances. The Seceding ministers, though neither fanatics 
 nor ascetics, fell upon the times in which these things were 
 becoming a scandal, and it was therefore consistent with their 
 witness-bearing character, altogether to discountenance even 
 the appearances of evil. 
 
 Dr Lawson's correspondence with his Dunfermline friend was 
 1 Autobiography of Dr Carlyle.
 
 172 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 somewhat voluminous. Out of his many letters to my grand- 
 father I select a few, simply to illustrate their mutual respect 
 and confidence. In the first, the escape alluded to was this : 
 When the present spacious church in Queen Anne Street, 
 Dunfermline, was building, and nearly completed, Dr Husband 
 had one day ascended to the topmost scaffold. Just as he 
 stepped off, the scaffolding suddenly gave way, and the 
 mason who was on it was precipitated to the ground and 
 killed : one moment later, and the minister too must have 
 ended his days. 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Husband. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, Sept. 1798. 
 
 'DEAR FRIEND, It seems you have narrowly escaped 
 seeing the realms of Proserpine, and the river Cocytus, and 
 the possessions of the blessed. I heard of it only since the 
 students came to this place, and was almost displeased with 
 you that you had not informed me of your escape, that I 
 might have rejoiced with you, and joined with you, though 
 at a distance, in praising the God of our life, who has 
 preserved you to us for some time longer ; but I believe your 
 thoughts were occupied by subjects of greater importance. 
 Your feelings for the man who was a ransom, in some sense, 
 for your life, and your devout exercises to your great Pre- 
 server, were sufficient to fill your mind. When Horace met 
 with a like escape, he vowed oblations to Bacchus (if I 
 remember right). The blind devotions of heathens are a 
 reproach to many Christians. How strange is it, that we 
 should, for one day, forget that our lives have been often 
 exposed to extreme danger by disease or accident, and that 
 God was our deliverer from so many deaths ! 
 . ' I believe that, at this time (had you fallen in the day of 
 danger), you would have been rejoicing in that event which 
 delivered you from mortality, and sin, and contention ; but 
 your friends would long have mourned the loss of one whom
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 173 
 
 they loved so much, and from whom they expected much 
 service in the cause of God. That you should abide in the 
 flesh, was more needful for us, and will be, I hope, more 
 profitable for you in the day when every man shall receive his 
 reward according to his labours. 
 
 ' What difference, through the course of this week, will 
 there be between your employment and that of our late 
 respected friend in Falkirk ! A Synod even of Westminster 
 divines is not a choir of angels ; and yet, in such a Synod as 
 our own, we have opportunities of doing service to Christ, 
 which we will not enjoy in a better world. Our happiness 
 lies in doing good to men, and in glorifying Christ. 
 
 ' I am not without apprehensions of the event of this 
 meeting of Synod. But let us leave it to God to govern the 
 world, and to Christ to govern the Church as He pleases. 
 Surely the wrath of man shall praise Him. 
 
 ' I promised last year to give a day of my supply to each 
 of the three congregations in the north, when I performed my 
 last year's mission. I suppose that those whom I entrusted 
 with the care of executing the business neglected it. I will 
 beg of you to take care that it may be executed this year. 
 You can speak of it to Mr Greig or Mr Peddie. I believe 
 it will be proper to speak of it to Mr Hill, of Kelso, who will 
 probably take the supply and perform the work. 
 
 ' You may perhaps find in Mr Peddie's hand a little 
 publication with my name. I hope you and Mrs Greig will 
 use the freedom of a friend, by taking some copies for your 
 children, to whom it may be of some little use. Mrs Fletcher 
 was the remote cause of the publication. If you could send 
 her two copies by the hand of her husband, it will save me 
 the trouble of sending them by another conveyance. Perhaps 
 Mrs Macfarlane and Mrs Brown may be willing to accept 
 copies of it. I am, ever yours, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 The two following letters were written upon the occasion
 
 174 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 of the deaths of Mrs Husband, and of their son, Captain 
 William Husband, who died when with his regiment at Ceylon. 
 The third letter is of general importance, and the fourth 
 refers to the degree of D.D. which had been conferred on his 
 Dunfermline brother. 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Husband. 
 
 1 SELKIEK, August 1, 1812. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, This evening I received your son's 
 letter, announcing the calamity which God has been pleased 
 to appoint for your trial, in the removal from this world of 
 my highly-valued friend. It is not long since I received a 
 letter, announcing the departure of my reverend friend, Mr 
 Johnston, of Ecclefechan, whose name will long be remem- 
 bered with honour. 
 
 ' I make no doubt that they have both met together in a 
 state of happiness, the consideration of which ought more 
 than to counterbalance our sorrow. We may, and ought to 
 mourn, when God afflicts us ; but we ought greatly to rejoice 
 that He has provided us so rich consolations. 
 
 ' The evangelists make no less honourable mention of the 
 good services of the pious Galilean women to Jesus, than of 
 the continuance of the apostles with Him in His temptations. 
 The mild and unassuming virtues of our late sister, and every 
 office of love performed to men under the influence of the 
 religious principle, which I am persuaded regulated her con- 
 duct, will be found recorded in God's book of remembrance, 
 as well as the official exertions of our venerable fathers now 
 with Christ. I think it must give you some pleasure to con- 
 sider, that her constant care and her many offices of love for 
 promoting your comfort, are now receiving a reward richer 
 than your gratitude and love could ever render (Eph. vi.). 
 
 ' Often have her ailments excited sorrow in your mind ; 
 and if anything in your power could have given her perfect 
 health, you would have been happy. But now, you will view
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 175 
 
 things with somewhat different eyes ; for you must be per- 
 suaded that these troubles which she suffered have contri- 
 buted to her present felicities, and that there is no comparison 
 between the pain and anxiety felt by herself, or by you and 
 her other friends on her account, and those rewards of her 
 patience which she now enjoys. All God's paths towards us 
 are mercy and truth ; and these as much others of which we 
 are most tempted to complain. 
 
 ' When you kindly proposed, two harvests ago, to make 
 me a visit, I consoled myself under the disappointment, in 
 the hope that you would still consider the promise as binding 
 to performance at a more convenient season. I still indulge 
 the hope. But I am less sanguine about the time. I know 
 that, at least, I enjoy your friendship and your prayers. 
 
 ' I thank your son for the kind manner in which he has 
 communicated to me the afflicting intelligence. I see he will 
 observe that important maxim of Solomon, " Thine own and 
 thy father's friend forsake not." The good impression, which 
 I hope will be made upon your sons abroad, as well as your 
 children at home, by the loss of their amiable mother, is one 
 of many considerations which will assist your endeavours to 
 resign yourselves to the will of your heavenly Father. 
 
 ' My wife, my daughter Nancy, who experienced, and still 
 gratefully remembers Mrs Husband's hospitality ; and the 
 other members of my family who are at home, sympathize 
 with your afflictions, and desire to be remembered by yours. 
 
 ' The Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, be 
 with you, and with your children and colleague. I am, ever 
 yours, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Husband. 
 
 SELKIRK, Sept. 1813. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, Yon will not doubt that I cordially 
 sympathized with you, when God was pleased to afflict you 
 with sorrow upon sorrow, by calling out of the world the
 
 176 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 son, nearly at the same time with the mother. You have 
 been much favoured by Divine Providence ; but you have 
 also endured heavy afflictions. No doubt, one of the designs 
 of it is, to give you an opportunity of teaching your hearers 
 by your practice, what you must have often taught them by 
 your mouth, the duty of patience in tribulation. I believe 
 few are better fitted than you are for this service to God, and 
 to your fellow-men. Yet you need grace ; and I doubt not 
 that it will be bestowed on you. 
 
 4 It gave me some pleasure, on your son's account, as well 
 as for higher reasons, that so much of a religious spirit ap- 
 peared in the Governor of Ceylon, and in many under his 
 command. I hoped that your son would be none of the last 
 to discover his love to the religion in which you had educated 
 him, by contributing his endeavours to make it known in the 
 island. 
 
 ' You once gave me a promise of seeing me again in the 
 harvest. Since you was last with me, I have looked forward 
 with some degree of hope to the completion of it. I was a 
 little disappointed that I have neither seen you nor heard 
 from you for a long time past (except by a short and hasty 
 missive). But I trust as firmly as ever to your friendship, 
 which, I believe, will be immortal in the highest sense. 
 
 ' I am sure you will not overlook the rich consolations that 
 God affords you in His providence, as well as in His word. 
 How unlike is your condition to that of Job, who often 
 thought with bitterness of spirit of the time when his children 
 were yet about him ! He had some words of God for his con- 
 solation ; and he esteemed them more than his necessary food. 
 But he had not the last discourses of our Lord to his sorrow- 
 ful disciples, nor any of our Scriptures. David did not pos- 
 sess that portion of the Scripture which furnishes us with the 
 richest cordials ; yet that portion which he had, furnished him 
 with sweet songs in the dreariest steps of his pilgrimage. I 
 am, yours affectionately, ' G. LAWSOX.'
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 177 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Husband. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, May 18, 1814. 
 
 * My DEAR FRIEND, I ought to have sent you my thanks 
 before this time for your kind and seasonable letter, which 
 was of no small use to my wife and daughters, as well as to 
 me. I have now to thank you, besides, for your kind offer, 
 without solicitation, to give us your company and assistance 
 at the dispensation of the Lord's Supper on the second Sab- 
 bath of June. We may perhaps not enjoy such a degree of 
 social pleasure at our meeting as we have sometimes felt in 
 former days. But the joys of the Lord are chiefly to be 
 desired at our religious solemnities. And if we are animated 
 by David's spirit, we will look forward to them with delight. 
 These joys comprehend the 1 sweetest social pleasures that were 
 ever tasted on earth. Ah 1 the pleasures of Paul in the fel- 
 lowship of his brethren were joys in the Lord, and I know 
 not whether any man on earth ever tasted greater pleasure in 
 converse with his friends. 
 
 Mr Leckie, I expect, will be your colleague ; and on Mon- 
 day I hope to have some of the brethren with us at dinner, 
 as we have a meeting of Presbytery on Tuesday. It will be 
 your prayer, as well as mine, that we may all enjoy fellowship 
 with Him who is by far the best, and, I hope, the most be- 
 loved of our friends. 
 
 Patriotism and philanthropy ought at present to raise our 
 spirits above our private concerns. What incalculable misery 
 is prevented, what precious blessings may be expected to the 
 nations of the world from the revolution in France, if God 
 is not provoked by the sins of ungrateful men to disappoint 
 oar fairest hopes. Do you not think that Habakkuk's pro- 
 phecies, ch. ii. 5-13, are verified in the character, behaviour, 
 and fall of Bonaparte ? May we not hope that the verifica- 
 tion of verse 14 is at least approaching ? 
 
 ' It gives me far more pleasure to have the prospect of 
 
 M
 
 178 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 seeing you here, than it would have done to have obtained 
 from the Synod what I wished. I thank God my dulness of 
 hearing does not entirely unfit me for converse with a single 
 friend, although I can take scarcely any part in mixed society. 
 Seeing the face of such a dear friend will in a good measure 
 compensate the deficiency of my hearing. 
 
 ' But let us be thankful for the many pleasures we have 
 enjoyed through our organs of sensation in times past, and 
 trust God, for the time to come, that He will grant us what 
 He sees to be good, though not everything that we wish. It 
 would ill become ministers, or any followers of Christ, to feel 
 reluctance in saying, Not my will, but Thine be done. I am, 
 ever yours, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Husband. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, I congratulate you on your associa- 
 tion with so many of your brethren in the privilege of having 
 D JD. affixed to your name. Your friends will not value you 
 the more for it, but they will be very well pleased that the Uni- 
 versity of Aberdeen has been pleased to confer it on one so 
 well deserving it. We must not be ambitious of titles ; but 
 I hope we are teachers of the way of God in truth, and that 
 our instructions are beneficial to many. 
 
 ' The title may give us pleasure on another account. The 
 time has been when the ministers and professors of universities 
 would have rather contributed their endeavours to procure 
 the gallows for ministers of a Dissenting body, than conferred 
 upon them the distinctions which they claimed for themselves 
 and their brethren. I am afraid our piety is colder than that 
 of many of our fathers ; but our humanity, I think, is more 
 abundant. 
 
 ' I have now parted with my pupils, some of whom, it is 
 probable, I will never more see in this world. But I have 
 been long habituated to separations of this kind from young 
 men to whom I had formed that attachment which it is natural
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 179 
 
 to form towards those who are in some sense our children, 
 especially to such of them as are distinguished for their ami- 
 able or respectable qualities. How pleasant would the 
 prospect of our departure from this world be, if our hope 
 were as lively as that of the first Christians was ! While we 
 continue in this world, we must be for ever separated from 
 many that were justly dear to us, and can but seldom see 
 other friends still in the same world with us. A few years 
 ago I never parted with my friends in Fife without the hope 
 of seeing them again within a few months. My hope now is 
 reduced to that of hearing from them, yet I doubt not of 
 their still retaining for me that warm regard with which they 
 honoured me from my early years. 
 
 ' There is one thing I find which cuts off from me the 
 pleasure of hearing so frequently as I once did from my best 
 friends in Fife. Your district does not now afford me almost 
 any pupils. But I hope that the ministry of the Gospel will 
 still continue among you, and in other places of our land, till 
 time shall be no more. I am, yours ever, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 The Rev. JAMES MACFARLANE was for nearly forty years 
 the colleague of Dr Husband in Dunfermline. I have often 
 heard him say, that during all that time not one jarring word 
 had ever passed between them. His having married Dr 
 Husband's daughter, no doubt contributed to this happy, 
 though rather unusual, state of things. Dr Lawson was ever 
 a welcome visitant at our house, as I have heard. For many 
 years he used to come for a few weeks to Dunfermline to see 
 his friends, but especially to enjoy the benefit of sea-bathing 
 at Limekilns, in the neighbourhood. My father and grand- 
 father took great pleasure in accompanying him, on these 
 occasions, on visits to Lochgelly, Lethangie, Inverkeithing, 
 and Limekilns, that, with the venerable men, Greig, Brown, 
 and Haddin, who laboured in the ministry there, he might
 
 180 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 hold sweet intercourse. Mr Macfarlane died in 1823, about 
 three years after Dr Lawson. The following sketch of his 
 character is valuable, as one of few relics in print of the 
 venerable David Greig, who preached the funeral sermon : 
 ' It will perhaps be expected that, on the present occasion, 
 I should give you a short sketch of the character of your 
 lately deceased minister ; and this I can do with the greater 
 pleasure, as there is scarcely anything in it but what was of 
 an amiable and commendable nature. He was endowed with 
 kind and amiable natural dispositions, which, under the influ- 
 ence of Divine grace, strongly inclined him to benevolence, 
 and to take pleasure in the happiness of his relatives, friends, 
 connections, and indeed of all with whom he had intercourse. 
 He was, as might be expected from his being so constituted, 
 a kind husband, an affectionate parent, and a steady friend. 
 His heart was formed for friendship, and few men felt this 
 amiable disposition in such a degree of warmth as he felt it, 
 or were so ready to give such proofs of a sincere and disin- 
 terested attachment. He was a warm and beneficent friend 
 of the poor, affording them his pecuniary assistance, accord- 
 ing to his power, and sometimes beyond it, and employing his 
 influence with others to minister to their necessities. He was 
 compassionately alive to the case of the afflicted, the widow, 
 and the fatherless, frequently visiting them in their distress, 
 and feelingly administering to them the instructions and con- 
 solations of religion. Probity, integrity, and uprightness, 
 were often remarked by those who had the happiness of being 
 apquainted with him, as being prominent features in his 
 character ; and it might with justice be said of him, that " he 
 was a downright honest man." His personal religion, which 
 forms the brightest jewel in every human character, was 
 conspicuous in the various relations of life, and the different 
 situations in which the providence of God had placed him. 
 His early days were distinguished by sobriety and decency of 
 conduct, by seriousness and devotedness to God and religion.
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 181 
 
 His natural talents, sanctified by Divine grace, and improved 
 by a literary education, eminently qualified him for being a 
 minister of the Gospel ; and this office he discharged in our 
 Church, and among you, for upwards of thirty-eight years, 
 with no common degree of application, fidelity, and usefulness. 
 From the time he commenced his ministry, he appeared to 
 have adopted the determination of the apostle of the Gentiles, 
 " to know nothing among his people but Jesus Christ and 
 Him crucified." The peculiar doctrines of the Gospel were 
 his delightful theme, on which he expatiated with a melting 
 eloquence and a visible pleasure, and satisfaction to himself 
 and his hearers. His statements of these doctrines were 
 luminous and interesting, calculated to convey to others the 
 strong and affecting conceptions of them which he had formed 
 in his own mind. His manner of delivering his sentiments 
 from the pulpit was reckoned by the most competent judges 
 to be among the best of his fellow-ministers, grave, dignified, 
 calculated to command attention, and to do justice to the ideas 
 which he brought forward in his discourses. If his hearers 
 were not edified, it was not because the pure and unadul- 
 terated truths of the Gospel were not brought before their 
 minds, and pressed home upon their hearts and consciences, 
 but because they had contracted a vitiated taste, and their 
 distempered souls, like the Israelites in the wilderness, loathed 
 the heavenly manna. The piety and devotional feelings of 
 your minister, which were conspicuous throughout his life, 
 shone forth at the close of it with a bright and edifying lustre, 
 like the sun when he is seen going down with a blaze of light 
 and glory. His affliction, which was often severe, was borne 
 with exemplary patience and submission to the will of God, 
 through faith in God and the hope of a blessed immortality. 
 Trusting in God as the Father of the fatherless, his mind, for 
 some weeks before his death, was disencumbered of cares 
 about the future condition in the world of a numerous young 
 family, not amply provided for, cares which, to his delicate
 
 182 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 feelings, must have otherwise been most oppressive and over- 
 whelming. In the views of the great and all-important 
 solemnities of death, judgment, and eternity, which he per- 
 ceived to be at hand, and contemplated in the full vigour of 
 his mind, he was composed and tranquil, longing to be 
 released, at the same time waiting with resignation the hour 
 of his departure. It was evident, and indeed declared by him 
 in ma^ny pleasant expressions, of which I myself and many 
 others were witnesses, that he had anchored his soul on 
 Christ and His all-perfect atonement and righteousness, that 
 one foundation laid in the Gospel for the faith and hope of 
 the guilty, and which you have so often heard recommended 
 to you in the course of his ministry. This faith and this hope, 
 which he often expressed, were accompanied with the most 
 humiliating views of his own unworthiness and sinfulness in 
 the sight of God, views which are always the concomitants 
 of the true faith of the Gospel. " Mark the perfect man, and 
 behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." ' 
 
 The following letters were written upon the occasion of 
 Mrs Macfarllne's death: 
 
 Mr Macfarlane to Dr Lawson. 
 
 DUNFERMLINE, May 16, 1816. 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR, Perhaps with no less propriety than 
 Jeremiah, I may say, " I am the man that hath seen affliction 
 by the rod of His wrath." Within these two or three days 
 I have been looking around me, and inquiring, Who are my 
 friends that are most likely to sympathize with me under my 
 present sorrows ? You presented yourself to my mind among 
 the first. You have not only a feeling heart, but you have, 
 besides, experience of the affliction which at this moment 
 wrings my soul, and almost overwhelms my poor heart. I 
 think I hear you say, To what is all this the preface ? Why, 
 my dear sir, I have to inform you that my wife, my best, my 
 dearest earthly treasure, was, in the righteous, holy, and wise
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 183 
 
 providence of God, taken away from me on Monday night, at 
 twenty minutes past ten o'clock. On the Tuesday preceding 
 she was safely delivered of a son. For two days she was, to 
 our view, doing well ; but on the Friday some dangerous 
 symptoms appeared. It was judged necessary to send an 
 express to Edinburgh for medical aid. This was obtained. 
 But all was ineffectual ; for on the Saturday she became so 
 ill, that we were all collected about her bed to witness, as 
 we feared, the awful separation between her soul and her 
 body. To the wonder, however, of all present, about seven 
 o'clock she revived considerably, and continued better all that 
 night and all Sabbath. Our hopes were not a little elated, 
 for even a small thing elated them. But on Monday morn- 
 ing a sad, sad reverse took place. From that time she gradu- 
 ally grew worse and worse, till at the time above mentioned 
 she, I trust, fell asleep in Jesus. This, my dear sir, is a sore 
 affliction for me the sorest beyond comparison that ever 
 befell me. She was to me everything that a husband could 
 wish for in a partner of life. She was so harmless, so in- 
 offensive, so modest, so prudent, and so eminently pious, you 
 would almost have suspected whether she belonged to the 
 number of Adam's fallen race. O what a treasure have I 
 lost, a treasure which, to me, was of more value than all the 
 world besides ! Surely I must be a great, a grievous sinner, 
 that required so heavy a stroke to correct me. My rebellious 
 heart is apt to rise in opposition to the Almighty. Pray for 
 me ; pray for me, that I may not be left to offend God. 
 He knows that I desire not to offend Him, and yet I am afraid 
 that. my conduct and my desires are not consistent. My mind 
 is somehow unsettled. I never felt my own weakness so much 
 in anything. Everything within and without me is dreary. 
 She has left me eight children, seven sons and one daughter, 
 one of the sons only ten days old. Oh ! poor motherless in- 
 fant. This is a situation peculiarly affecting. I should not 
 envy the heart that could not feel an interest in it. I am fully
 
 184 THE LIFE OF DB LAWSON. 
 
 persuaded you do. When, then, your heart is at any time 
 warmed in the enjoyment of fellowship with the God of sal- 
 vation, do not forget to request something for me for poor 
 bereaved, I had almost said tortured me better than this 
 world can either give or take away. 
 
 ' But I must tell you, my dear sir, that she died resting 
 her hope of salvation on the sure foundation which God hath 
 laid in Zion. She, indeed, died in triumph. In this I should 
 rejoice and, I hope, do rejoice that she hath gone to the 
 Father. But my fond heart says this might have been the 
 case though she had been spared with me a while longer. I 
 used to console myself with the idea that she should close my 
 eyes. But this is now impossible. May be her spirit may 
 be present, and witness this done by some other. what a 
 relief would it be to my mind, were the God of heaven but to 
 permit her immortal spirit to meet with me for a few moments, 
 and give me some information respecting the state of things 
 in the eternal world of which I would wish to be informed. I 
 think her spirit would not affright me; of one thing I am 
 certain, it would not injure me. no ; it would labour to 
 console me, as it had frequently done while it enlivened her 
 body, amid the little adversities that befell us when together. 
 Methinks I hear you say, What foolish raving ! Write me 
 soon, my dear sir, and tell me whether I be really raving. 
 Criticise me, but O do it not severely. My dear sir, yours, 
 with esteem and affection, ' JAMES MACFARLANE.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Mr Macfarlane. 1 
 
 'SELKIRK, May 18, 1816. 
 
 'MY DEAR FRIEND, What shall I say to ease your afflicted 
 mind? All your friends sympathize most tenderly with you. 
 The best of all friends is afflicted in your afflictions, although 
 I am afraid he is not pleased with the overflowings of your 
 
 1 This letter has already appeared in the author's work, 'The Night 
 Lamp.'
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 185 
 
 grief. You have not been able to observe so well as you 
 wish, the gracious precept enforced by the gracious doctrine 
 which you find in 1 Thess. iv. 14-18, and John xiv. 15, 16. 
 
 .'I am not surprised that you think you could support the 
 sight and converse of one so deservedly dear to you. But 
 think again. Would she not intermingle her words of ten- 
 derness with reproofs too wounding to your spirit ? Might 
 she not speak to this effect : " Why do you weep so sore for 
 an event that crowns my happiness? Have you not often 
 told me that you loved me as you love yourself? and yet 
 you cannot but know that my gain ten thousand times exceeds 
 your loss. I loved you dearly, but I loved Christ better ; 
 and do you mourn like one that can find no comfort, because 
 I am now with Him in paradise? The chief attraction of 
 my love to you was your love to my Lord. But are you not 
 now showing that you bestowed too large a portion of your 
 love upon your wife, and need to be put in mind, by Divine 
 Providence, of the necessity of guarding your heart against 
 the common evil of giving too large a proportion of your 
 affections to a creature of the dust ? I have lost my life in 
 bringing one of your children into the world. But does not 
 tne gain immensely exceed the loss? It is a great addition, 
 to my happiness in being with Christ, to have the hope that 
 the dear creatures, whom I was the means of bringing into 
 existence, are one day to be with me, to behold the beauty of 
 my Saviour and theirs. Even that stroke which separated 
 me from them will contribute to the happy event. They will 
 not bear the thought of being for ever separated from their 
 beloved mother. They will love that Saviour who so graci- 
 ously received her to be with Himself in paradise. I doubt 
 not that the event which you deplore so bitterly will bring 
 advantages to yourself far overbalancing the pain. It will 
 excite your ardour in running the race set before you. It is 
 one of the events that work together for promoting your pro- 
 gress towards that better country where I now dwell, and
 
 186 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 from which you would not be so unkind as to bring me back, 
 were it in your power." 
 
 ' There were many years between the time when Joseph 
 was lost to his father, and the time when he again set his 
 eyes on him. Yet the meeting was a good recompense for 
 his years of sorrow. How much richer will be the recom- 
 pense of your griefs, when you again meet with your beloved 
 partner, to dwell with her, not a few years, but for ever ! 
 Perhaps the distressing thought may suggest itself to you, 
 What if I should never be admitted to the pleasant land into 
 which nothing that defiles can enter. But the same grace 
 that was sufficient for our departed friends is sufficient for 
 us also. 
 
 ' You will not think that the loss of your earthly treasure 
 gives you any reason to call in question the loving-kindness 
 of our Redeemer. We have reason to think that He did not 
 preserve His own mother from the affliction of widowhood ; 
 yet she never said, " He saves others from such cruel afflic- 
 tion ; why was He so unkind to me?" 
 
 ' One of the best ways of preserving our minds from being 
 harassed by unquiet thoughts, is to employ them on useful 
 subjects. These the Scriptures will supply to you in great 
 plenty. The Christian will not perish in the day of his afflic- 
 tion ; for the law of God is his delight. I reckon it a pleasure 
 and advantage frequently to commit small portions of Scrip- 
 ture, in the original, to my memory. Blessed will we be 
 amidst all that we suffer in this world, if we can meditate day 
 and night in the law of the Lord. 
 
 ' I feel much for my dear friend, Mr Husband ; but I know 
 that he will seek his consolation from the source where it will 
 most easily be found. W T hen he compares the dealings of 
 God towards his own family with his dealings towards those 
 of some of his brethren, he may be tempted to think with 
 you, that he is the man who hath seen affliction. But it will 
 soon occur to him, that others have had as much reason to
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 187 
 
 mourn as he, and that none of us have such heavy burdens 
 to bear, of the kind, as Jacob and David. My best compli- 
 ments to him and to all your friends. May God enable them 
 to bear their share in the affliction, as Christians ought to do. 
 Those things are best for us that will be found best in another 
 world. 
 
 ' You will, probably, put your children that are reading, in 
 mind of some passages of Scripture that are likely, in present 
 circumstances, to make a happy impression upon them, as 
 Psalm xxvii. 10 ; 2 Tim. i. 5 ; Prov. iv. 3-9. I believe the 
 instructions that our departed sister gave, and would have 
 given, to her children, were such in effect as Solomon received 
 from his mother and his father. 
 
 ' May God spare them to you, and grant them all grace 
 to walk in the steps of their mother and grandmother, that 
 they may not be for ever separated from them. And may 
 you for ever enjoy those consolations which the lapse of time 
 cannot take away. I am, ever your affectionate friend, 
 
 ' GEO. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Husband. 
 
 SELKIRK, Jjjy 1816. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, I need not say how sincerely I con- 
 dole with you under the severe affliction with which God lias 
 been pleased to visit you. I doubt not but you will often, 
 through what remains of life, mourn the loss of one so justly 
 dear to you, and whose amiable virtues endear her memory 
 to all that knew her. I can the more readily sympathize 
 with you at present, as I have reason to fear that a similar 
 calamity is to be apprehended in our own family. My 
 youngest daughter is at present with her brother in England, 
 to which the physicians ordered her to be sent for the 
 recovery of her health ; but she has become so much worse, 
 that we have very little hope of seeing her again in the land 
 of the living. I know I will have the benefit of your prayers
 
 188 THE LIFE OF DE LAWSON. 
 
 on behalf of my dear child. I humbly hope that if it shall 
 please God to take her from us, He will receive her to Him- 
 self ; so that, should our earnest supplications for our beloved 
 child be denied in this world, she may receive, through infinite 
 mercy, a length of days for ever and ever in the heavenly 
 world. I can enter into your feelings at the moment of your 
 bereavement. You will probably be displeased with yourself 
 that you were not more disposed to be thankful to God for 
 giving you such a daughter, adorned with so many conciliat- 
 ing qualities. We never know the value of our blessings till 
 we lose them, or fear the loss of them. But we may learn 
 from such feelings to turn our thoughts to the blessings which 
 we still possess, and consider what we might think of them 
 also, if we were bereaved of them. If Job blessed God, who 
 had given, and who had taken away his ten children, what 
 reason have you and I to bless Him for taking away only a 
 part of what He gave, and for leaving us others to supply 
 their place ! I believe we are too ready to think, when any 
 of our children are taken from us, that we have lost those 
 who deserved to be the dearest of them ; but if they had been 
 spared, and others taken from us, the same thought might 
 have disquieted us. Our surviving children have this motive, 
 which may be improved by the remembrance of their beloved 
 sisters ; and I believe that your remaining children, as well as 
 my own, will do all in their power to alleviate our painful 
 remembrances. May God spare them to be the comfort of 
 our declining years, and prepare them for a part in that in- 
 heritance which is now possessed by such of their relations as 
 have died in the Lord ! I hope our friend, Mr Macfarlane, 
 has recovered from his depression of spirits. He is left with 
 a heavy charge, but this charge ought rather to be accounted 
 a pleasure than a burden ; so, I am sure, he will think of it, 
 and bless God that, when his dearest relation is removed 
 from him, so many very dear to him are still left, who, I hope, 
 will be long spared for a blessing and comfort to him.
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 189 
 
 4 You have, I suppose, seen Mr Brown's (of Biggar) ex- 
 cellent sermon on the death of his amiable consort. I durst 
 not now trust myself on such an occasion with such a subject ; 
 but I could venture on it at his time of life. I ^m, yours 
 sincerely, ' GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Husband to Dr Lawson. 
 
 DUNFERMLINE, August 21, 1816. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, Your last letter led me to anticipate 
 the afflicting event which I now learn by the public papers 
 has taken place. I had learnt some time before that it was 
 likely soon to take place, and desired to take a part in these 
 painful anticipations which I knew you and Mrs Lawson must 
 have felt. Indeed, I should be very hard-hearted and very 
 ungrateful if I did not feel along with you. My own heart 
 still bleeds under the painful stroke with which we have been 
 visited, and under which your excellent letters contributed 
 not a little to our support and consolation. 
 
 ' The admonitory and consoling address which you put 
 into the mouth of our dear departed friend, we read with 
 much interest, and I trust the effects have been beneficial 
 and will be lasting. May those strong consolations which 
 you administer to others be your own portion ! We have now- 
 less to bind us to earth, and stronger inducements to raise 
 our hearts and desires to heaven than before. Is it enthusiasm 
 when I feel a kind of pleasure in the idea that my beloved 
 daughter acts the part of a guardian angel, and, while she 
 beholds the face of her Father in heaven, looks down with 
 compassion on the friends she has left behind, who were so 
 dear to her, and to whom she was so deservedly dear. But 
 it is proper to derive our consolation from that sure word of 
 prophecy, which leaves us no room to doubt the sympathy of 
 our merciful High Priest, or His constant love of us in our 
 temptations. 
 
 ' There is something very affecting in the thought, that
 
 190 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 those to whom we were fondly attached are gone, and that 
 we shall no more see them in the land of the living. But, 
 though they are gone, they have not perished. There is some- 
 thing peculiarly tender in our Saviour's address when He went 
 into the house of Jairus, at that time the house of mourning, 
 " Why do ye make this ado, and weep ? The damsel is not 
 dead, but sleepeth." May not this be applied to our dear 
 departed friends ? They are not dead, they are only asleep : 
 they sleep in Jesus, and the period is not far distant when 
 they shall awake with songs of everlasting joy on their 
 heads. Blessed memory, when friends shall meet never to 
 separate, but to enjoy God and one another through endless 
 duration. 
 
 ' Mr Macfarlane enjoys pretty good health, though afflicted 
 with dulness of hearing. All the children are well. He went 
 on Monday last to Dunblane, where he is to remain a week 
 or two for the benefit of the mineral waters. Mr Gilfillan's 
 company, too, will be a cordial to his mind. I was much 
 disappointed yesterday at missing the sight of two gentlemen 
 in whom, I believe, you take an interest Dr Anderson and 
 Mr Paterson. They called when I happened to be attending 
 our Bible Society. When I came home I set out in search 
 of them, but without success. I remain, my much respected 
 friend, yours most cordially, ' JAMES HUSBAND.' 
 
 WILLIAM KIDSTON, D.D., was an especial favourite of the 
 Selkirk divine. As the son of the minister of Stow, one of 
 Dr Lawson's nearest neighbours and intimate friends, he was 
 much beloved. From boyhood he took a warm interest in 
 his studies, admitted him into his confidence, and favoured 
 him with his choicest counsels. When Mr Kidston was 
 licensed, he was the popular preacher of his year, and speedily 
 received calls to Hawick, Lanark, and Kennoway in Fife. 
 Competing calls at that time were decided by the Synod, and 
 accordingly, by its decision, he was appointed to Kennoway.
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 191 
 
 This was a disappointment, he would have preferred either 
 of the other two, but had to submit to the decision- of his 
 ecclesiastical superiors. Previous to his ordination, he re- 
 ceived another call from Glasgow, which was set aside by the 
 Synod, on the ground that the deed as to Kennoway must be 
 first carried into effect. This tended to increase his aversion 
 to Kennoway ; and, it seems, he had allowed himself to speak 
 somewhat disrespectfully of the Synod on account of its deci- 
 sions in his case, besides taking some undue liberties with the 
 Presbytery of Dunfermline in the arrangements necessary to 
 his ordination. As helping to inform us of the rather severe 
 views of our fathers in such cases, we give an extract from a 
 letter to Dr Lawson by Dr Husband, of Dunfermline. 
 
 ' 27th March 1790. You are much interested in the wel- 
 fare of Mr Kidston. I am not much acquainted with the 
 young man. I see him, however, to be a lad of parts, and 
 make no doubt, from what you say of him, that, on account 
 of his other qualifications, he is well worthy of esteem and 
 regard ; and no person whom you love can be indifferent to 
 me. I am not one of the most zealous for the interposition 
 of ecclesiastical authority in the last issue with regard to 
 recusant probationers. At the same time, I am not able to 
 approve of Mr Kidston's conduct. The congregation of 
 Kennoway is a respectable one in number, circumstances, and 
 character, and the call is unanimous. It appears to me, 
 therefore, to be his duty to embrace it. His antipathy is 
 unaccountable, except, perhaps, on the supposition of more 
 flattering prospects. His father, indeed, in a letter which I 
 received from him some time ago, insinuates that the mode of 
 conducting matters in our Presbytery (if I understand him 
 right) is with him an objection to union with us ; for he talks 
 of the opportunity of reasoning and the power of influencing 
 determinations being usurped by a few, and says, that no man 
 is obliged to enter himself a cypher to such a number. At 
 the same time, he talks of being perhaps obliged to bring out
 
 192 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 these matters more publicly. If Mr Kidston meant to influ- 
 ence me to use my endeavours for extricating his son from his 
 present circumstances, I cannot think him the very wisest poli- 
 tician, for the tendency of his language is quite in the opposite 
 direction. At the same time, I hope I am able to resist the 
 temptation he has unwittingly thrown in my way, and that I 
 shall behave in the affair of his son as if no such thing had hap- 
 pened. . . . After several Presbyteries, and many arguments, 
 Mr Kidston delivered the last part of his public trials, together 
 with his exegesis at Kincardine on the 16th inst. The Pres- 
 bytery were dealing with him to deliver his private trials, when 
 he declined, in a representation and petition, for the purpose of 
 being transmitted to the Synod, which he alleged contained 
 his reasons why he could not proceed further in the business. 
 When the paper was read, it was found to reflect in pretty 
 severe terms on the Synod, the Presbytery, and the congre- 
 gation of Kennoway. . . . After some conversation, he 
 petitioned to be allowed to withdraw it. ... His request 
 was granted, with a caution from the chair to take heed to 
 his future conduct, ^he Presbytery then proposed to take 
 the rest of his trials, when he refused to proceed further, 
 alleging as his reason, that he was determined not to submit 
 to ordination in Kennoway. Upon this the Presbytery re- 
 ferred it to the Synod, to judge of his conduct. How the 
 affair may go at the Synod I will not pretend to say ; but I 
 know that there is a considerable zeal among several of the 
 members to enforce a late determination respecting proba- 
 tioners. For my own part, I see difficulties on both sides of 
 that determination. How the matter may strike me a month 
 hence I cannot say. I have much respect for your opinion, 
 and should we happen in any instance to differ, I have no 
 doubt of our always loving as brethren and as friends. I 
 know you would cast me out of your regard if it were not 
 my motto, " Amicus Plato," etc., " sed magis arnica veritas." 
 To this letter Dr Lawson sent the following reply :
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 193 
 
 ' SELKIRK, June 1790. 
 
 ' MT DEAR FRIEND, I am sorry that I will be obliged to 
 disappoint you of the assistance you expected from me at 
 your ensuing communion, as it interferes with that of New- 
 town congregation, where I must be, either in person, or by a 
 substitute capable of doing my work. This is now the second 
 time that you and I have been disappointed in this way. But 
 we have reason to be thankful that nothing worse has hap- 
 pened between us. Our friendship is the same that it was 
 twenty-three years ago. 
 
 ' We have spent twenty-three years in the reciprocation of 
 the warmest affection. From the calculation of chances for 
 life, it does not appear probable that both of us have as much 
 time before us, as we have enjoyed the ( pleasure of knowing 
 that we were most sincerely beloved by one another. But by 
 the Scriptures we are authorized humbly to hope that we shall 
 spend a never-ceasing duration of friendship, unembittered 
 and unalloyed by distance, or by any of the accidents that in 
 this world diminish the sweetest pleasures of life. God is no 
 less gracious than wise in mingling the best of our earthly 
 enjoyments with a mixture of disagreeable ingredients. If 
 I could enjoy your company as often as I wish, I would 
 probably think less frequently than I do of another world ; 
 and yet, as things stand, my thoughts of it are but few and 
 cold. 
 
 ' I formed a plan for being in Edinburgh next week, and 
 seeing you the week after. I anticipate much pleasure in 
 seeing you. God realizes or disappoints our prospects, ac- 
 cording to His own good pleasure. I have seen Mr William 
 Kidston, whose aversion to Kennoway is not yet removed, 
 though I hope he will be obedient to the sentence of Synod, 
 if his obedience be insisted on by you and the congregation. 
 I confess that I entertain no sanguine hopes of seeing com- 
 fortable effects from that settlement, unless his own mind 
 should receive a more favourable disposition towards it. 
 
 N
 
 194 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Without mutual affection, ministers and people cannot be 
 happy. What is worse, they cannot, I think, be holy in the 
 exercise of reciprocal duties. 
 
 ' If all things be not done with charity, they are not done 
 according to the mind of Christ. 
 
 ' I should be glad to know with certainty that the people 
 of Kennoway entertain no ill-will to Mr Kidston. I have not 
 heard that they do ; but they are children of Adam, and they 
 are not fully purified from the indignant passions which pro- 
 duce coldness and aversion towards those who seem to enter- 
 tain the same dispositions on the other side. 
 
 ' You will scarcely find any man that would entertain more 
 respect and esteem for another than I would entertain for 
 you, although I did not know you to be my friend. But all 
 this esteem would be insufficient to produce in me those warm 
 sentiments of friendship for you which possess my soul, if I 
 had reason to think that you entertained an aversion to me. 
 I believe I have a greater degree of pride than most men, 
 but I am sure that other men have some share of pride ; and, 
 if they had none at all, I do not see that a sincere friendship 
 could subsist on one side only. Since I entered upon this 
 epistle, I have been favoured with a short visit from Mr 
 Kidston, junior, who designed to write you in order to apolo- 
 gize for not appearing before your Presbytery next week. 
 I told him 1 would, to save him the postage, insert his apology 
 in this letter. He finds himself under the necessity of assist- 
 ing next Lord's day at his father's, who is disappointed in 
 his hope of being served by a neighbouring brother. If it 
 had been practicable to attend you without disobliging his 
 father, by denying him that assistance which he needs, he 
 would have done it. 
 
 ' He hopes there will be a meeting of Presbytery, at your 
 communion, when, if God will, he will be present himself. I 
 know your sentiments about his affair are very different 
 from mine, and I know, too, that in almost everything else
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 195 
 
 you are a great deal wiser than I am. But I cannot help 
 thinking that, in the present business, your good sense will 
 in some future part of your life oblige you to change your 
 sentiments. 
 
 ' However our opinions may differ in regard to this or 
 anything else, nothing, I hope, will ever change our friendship 
 for one another, which is the pride and pleasure of my life. 
 Yours, etc., ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 In another letter from Dr Husband, of date 17th August 
 1790, we have the finale of this interesting matter: 'Mr 
 Kidston's ordination is appointed to take place on Wednes- 
 day first. I am not yet fully determined whether I shall 
 attend. Though I am not fully satisfied of the propriety of 
 the Synod's sentence, after such determined opposition, yet 
 with Mr Kidston's ready consent I could concur in the 
 ordination.' 
 
 Mr Kidston was, after all, ordained in Kennoway, where 
 he remained only about a year. A second call came to him 
 from Glasgow. He left the decision in the hands of the 
 Synod, and by the Synod he was translated to Glasgow, 
 where he lived and laboured with great acceptance for up- 
 wards of sixty years/ In adverting to the subject of the 
 Kennoway incumbency, he thus expresses himself in a letter 
 to a friend : ' I was averse to submitting to ordination in 
 Kennoway, and would have preferred either of the other con- 
 gregations, Hawick or Lanark, and often spoke unadvisedly 
 on this subject. During the short time of my connection 
 with Kennoway, I enjoyed much comfort; my pastoral labours 
 were kindly received, and seemed to be not unprofitable. My 
 separation from them occasioned feelings more painful, by 
 much, than I had anticipated.' The introduction of this 
 matter into these pages is justifiable, though it were for no 
 other reason than to present the contrast between Dr Kid- 
 ston's earlier and more matured convictions. The law in
 
 196 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 such cases as his is altered, and the decision in competing 
 and translating calls is now left, by the Synod, in the hands 
 of the parties themselves. It might have been expected that 
 to this alteration Dr Kidston would have been a consenting 
 judge, but it was not so ; he voted against the change, and 
 often afterwards regretted that the Synod had made it. All 
 his ministerial life, indeed, belied the promise of his outset. No 
 man ever had a more profound respect for church authorities, 
 or could pay more conscientious and honourable regard to 
 the 'laws of the house,' or the counsels and views of his 
 brethren. In this, as in other respects, he was a model 
 minister. Dr Lawson witnessed his settlement in Glasgow 
 with great satisfaction, and as long as he lived manifested 
 towards him the most affectionate regard. Not long after 
 that settlement, we find the Professor thus writing to his 
 pupil : 
 
 'SELKIRK, Sept. 1794. 
 
 ' DEAR WILLIAM, I hope you will excuse me when I tell 
 you that I wish to keep some time longer both your books in 
 my hands : M'Lauriii's, because I have neglected to read a 
 considerable part of it ; and the book on the Song, because I 
 have in great measure forgot it. 
 
 ' I am glad to hear of the acceptance of your labours in 
 Glasgow. I hope you will go on from strength to strength, 
 and that your labours will not be in vain in the Lord. I 
 trust you have often reflected on the necessity of diligence, 
 and of an humble dependence on Christ. " Labor improbus 
 omnia vincit," says Virgil ; but a writer of far higher autho- 
 rity says, " Meditate on these things ; give thyself wholly to 
 them : for in so doing thou shalt both save thyself, and those 
 that hear thee." I am, yours affectionately, 
 
 ' GEO. LAWSON.' 
 
 When Dr Kidston's health gave way, in the year 1820, he
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 197 
 
 received the following precious epistle from his sympathizing 
 friend : 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Kidston. 
 
 4 DEAR BROTHER, I am very sorry to hear that yon still 
 continue under the rod of God ; but I rejoice, at the same 
 time, to hear that, when you are disabled to preach from your 
 pulpit, you are enabled to preach submission to the will of 
 God by your patient behaviour. I doubt not that, in another 
 world, you will look back with joy on all your present suf- 
 ferings, as I hope you at present look forward with pleasure 
 to that state in which we will view many things in a very 
 different light from what we ( do at present. 
 
 ' I believe the Bible is now more pleasant to yon than in 
 former times, when you were accustomed to study it with care, 
 and expound it to your hearers. You will, at least, find such 
 pleasure as you could not formerly enjoy, iu those many 
 portions of it which were written for the consolation of the 
 afflicted. How uncomfortable would your present condition 
 be, if you had never known of the Psalms, or, at least, if you 
 had not been instructed in these abundant springs of consola- 
 tion of which the Psalms give us such affecting views ! You 
 cannot be unhappy whilst deep is calling unto deep, when 
 you are taught of God to say, " Yet the Lord will com- 
 mand His loving-kindness in the day, and in the night His 
 songs shall be with me, and my prayer to the God of my 
 life." 
 
 ' When you think of the uncertainty of the termination of 
 your trouble, you will not be able, without some anxiety, to 
 think of these little ones that you must leave behind you, if 
 your sickness should bring you to the house appointed for all 
 living. Although you have better prospects of a comfortable 
 provision for them than most of your brethren, you will 
 probably feel a deep solicitude in the case of leaving them in 
 a state of childhood, exposed to all the temptations of the
 
 198 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 world, without the advantages of a father's superintending 
 eye. But many of our troubles are superfluous, and those 
 most of all which respect futurity. We know not what shall 
 be on the morrow ; but this we know, that many who are 
 now in health will die this year, and that many who are now 
 looking out daily for the message of departure, will be pre- 
 served alive for years to come. Besides, we have a gracious 
 Father, to whom we can cheerfully commit the beloved fruit 
 of our bodies. " Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve 
 them alive." Some critics would deprive us of the comfort 
 of this pleasant text, by giving a very different, and even 
 opposite translation ; but if, by an interrogation, we should 
 turn it into a threatening, we have abundance of other texts 
 encouraging us to trust in God as the God of our seed. If 
 God publishes a threatening against the enemies of His 
 people, may not His people look for the blessing which is the 
 reverse of it ? Zaccheus, and the woman bound down with 
 a spirit of infirmity, were graciously regarded by Christ as 
 children of Abraham. I remain, yours sincerely, 
 
 ' GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson, during a great portion of his life, was sur- 
 rounded by brethren worthy of his friendship. We can do 
 little more than mention the names of a few of them. The 
 Rev. Dr Waugh, of Newtown (before he went to London); Mr 
 Coventry, of Stitchel ; Mr Kidston, of Stow ; Mr Shanks, of 
 Jedburgh ; Mr Hall, of Kelso ; Mr Henderson, of Hawick ; 
 Dr Henderson, of Galashiels ; and others, were his most 
 intimate associates and assistants, and of them all, while he 
 lived, he spake in the warmest terms. An anecdote is told of 
 one of these Mr Shanks well worthy of a place in this 
 reminiscence of these days. When disaffection to Government 
 was abroad, this most eloquent preacher stood forward to 
 teach the loyalty of the Bible ; and when the Secession was 
 attacked by its enemies, and accused of being unfriendly to
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 199 
 
 the Government of the day, he published a pamphlet, not only 
 in defence of his Church, but of that Government itself. This 
 publication was highly useful. It reached a Cabinet Minister, 
 and the result was a laudatory communication from Downing 
 Street to Jedburgh, with the offer of a pension to the author. 
 Mr Shanks' reply was brief but pithy, and deserves to be 
 preserved : ' My Lord, I am a Seceder from conviction, a 
 loyalist from preference, and a patriot from principle. I can 
 accept of no pension.' But the P.S. to this reply is the best 
 
 of it : ' My neighbour, the Rev. Mr , who is minister of 
 
 the parish of , has a large family, and a small stipend ; 
 
 and I shall feel obliged by your giving the pension to him.' 
 The favour was granted, and the family referred to enjoyed 
 the pension, at least during their father's lifetime. 
 
 Dr Lawson was particularly friendly with Mr Kidston, of 
 Stow, whose attainments in theology were admitted to be 
 high. The two were very intimate, and counselled each 
 other in emergencies. It is told, that a female member of 
 the Stow congregation made herself very officious in meddling 
 with its affairs, and especially in interfering with the minister 
 in his management of church matters. This vexation came 
 to a head at one time, and Mr Kidstou went over to Selkirk 
 to consult with Dr Lawson as to the best means of putting an 
 end to it. After hearing the whole story, Dr Lawson asked 
 the name of this Diotrephesian female. ' Her name is Maggie 
 Paton,' replied Mr Kidston. ' Very well,' said the Doctor, 
 you must just go back to Stow, and bear it as you best can ; 
 for the fact is, we have got Maggie Patons in all our congre- 
 gations.' An amusing incident took place, on one occasion, 
 between these two worthies at a meeting of Presbytery. Mr 
 Kidston complained to the Presbytery, that his brother at 
 Selkirk had received into his congregation a family that had 
 come to reside in the neighbourhood, whose dwelling-house 
 was nearer to Stow than to Selkirk ; and that this was 
 contrary not only to brotherly courtesy, but to the usages of
 
 200 THE LIFE OF DE LAWSON. 
 
 the Church. On concluding his complaint, Mr Kidston said, 
 ' I believe, notwithstanding of this, that Mr Lawson is a good 
 man.' The reply of Lawson was brief but characteristic : 
 ' Moderator, if Mr Kidston believes me to be a good man, he 
 may say anything else that pleases him.' In the early days 
 of the Secession, it was quite understood, when families 
 changed their residences, and came within certain bounds, 
 that they were to join the church nearest to their places of 
 abode. It is within the recollection of living persons, that a 
 sort of ecclesiastical cordon of this kind was drawn between 
 the Duke Street and Anderston Antiburgher churches in 
 Glasgow. Was this the originating idea of Dr Chalmers' 
 parallelogram scheme ? How completely has church extension 
 laughed out of existence such a ' locksmith ! ' When Mr 
 Kidston died, Dr Lawson was asked to preach the funeral 
 sermon. He did so from these words ' Moses, My servant, 
 is dead.' When at the funeral, he asked to see the corpse of 
 his old friend. A member of the family accompanied him to 
 the room where the coffin lay. He looked calmly, and but 
 for a moment, on the face of the dead ; then, wiping off the 
 falling tear, left the room, saying, ' Come away, James ; I 
 will see him again.' What a firm belief do not these simple 
 but sublime words indicate in the immortality of the soul, and 
 the resurrection of the body ! What a childlike anticipation 
 of that future reality, where death-divided friends are to be 
 for ever re-united! Dr Lawson transferred his love from 
 the father to the children, and, while he lived, maintained 
 the most intimate intercourse with them, one of his great 
 favourites, as we have seen, being the late Dr Kidston, of 
 Glasgow. 
 
 Dr Lawson had a very dear friend in Mr Leckie, of Peebles, 
 a man of whom it is enough, in claiming for him true excel- 
 lence, to say that he merited and enjoyed the society and affec- 
 tion of the Professor. They were near neighbours, and had 
 sweet fellowship, especially when assisting each other at sacra-
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 201 
 
 meat times. He had a long and happy ministry, and finished 
 his course only a year or two before Dr Lawson. What a 
 man of God he must have been ! He left a widow and a large 
 young family totally unprovided for, and yet, when dying, he 
 had not a care about their future welfare. ' The God,' he 
 said, ' who has fed the old crow, will never allow the yonng 
 ravens to starve.' The compiler's father died in similar 
 circumstances, and manifested like trust. Old Ebenezer 
 Brown, of Inverkeithing, was deeply solemnized one day, when 
 he came up to Dunfermline to bid him farewell, by the answer 
 he got to the question, ' Are you not very anxious about 
 these children, whom yon are leaving so destitute in this 
 world?' 'Not at all, not in the least,' replied the dying 
 saint ; ' I have given them up entirely to my God, and I 
 know that He will provide for them.' Yes, there was faith, 
 in these days, in Israel ! and a mighty faith it was that grew 
 upon, and grappled with, the promises and providences of 
 God under the roof-tree of the old Secession manse. May 
 the children walk worthy of their fathers ! 
 
 But friendship with Lawson was not sectarian. He lived 
 very pleasantly with all his neighbours, especially with those 
 of the Established Church. With Mr Campbell, the Esta- 
 blished minister of Selkirk, he lived upon very kindly terms, 
 as the following letter of that excellent individual's widow, 
 who still survives, most pleasingly illustrates. It was written 
 to her nephew, the Rev. Dr Gillan, of Glasgow (now of Inch- 
 ir.uau), himself of large and liberal soul, who, in great kind- 
 ness, sent it to the compiler on hearing that he was preparing 
 this memoir. Mrs Campbell writes : 
 
 ' I have great pleasure in tracing my remembrance of the 
 intercourse which subsisted between your beloved uncle and 
 Dr Lawsou. It was of the most friendly character, and lived 
 without interruption from 180G, when Mr Campbell was or- 
 duined minister of Selkirk, till the death of his venerable friend, 
 which took place in Ib20. They never exchanged pulpits ;
 
 202 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 but when the Established Church was undergoing a repair, 
 Dr Lawson kindly gathered together his flock an hour earlier 
 every Sabbath morning, that Mr Campbell might have the 
 same place of worship to meet in with his people in the after- 
 noon. It was at this period that Dr and Mrs Bruntou (of 
 Edinburgh) paid a visit at the manse of Selkirk, when Dr 
 Brunton preached in the meeting-house. Next day we had 
 the pleasure of calling and introducing them to the venerable 
 Professor. Mrs Brunton (authoress of the novels, " Self- 
 control," and " Discipline") was greatly amused and much 
 gratified by his playful criticisms upon her religious novels, 
 which, he said, he could not altogether approve of, however 
 beautifully they were written. Mr Campbell visited Dr 
 Lawson on his deathbed : he was immediately admitted to 
 the sick-room, and earnestly entreated to pray. I shall never 
 forget the impression made on me, when one of the family 
 told me that, shortly before her father's death, he had poured 
 out a most fervent prayer for " Mr Campbell and his youthful 
 partner." I was deeply touched, and went home and prayed 
 for myself as I had never prayed before. Thus the petitions 
 of the dying saint were being already heard. One of the 
 Misses Lawson continued to aid your uncle in feeding the 
 lambs of his flock, until her health made it necessary for her 
 to withdraw from the fatigue of a Sabbath school.' 
 
 By Dr Douglas, minister of Galashiels ; Dr Hardie, minister 
 of Ashkirk, an accomplished scholar and an amiable man ; 
 Dr Chartres, of Wilton ; and by Dr Russell, of Yarrow, he 
 was also held in high esteem and affection. They all united 
 in congratulating him when he received from Aberdeen the 
 degree of D.D. With Dr Russell, of Yarrow, especially, he 
 had both pleasant and profitable intercourse. His occasional 
 visits were welcomed as those of a kindred spirit, to whose 
 enlightened views on the great doctrines of our common sal- 
 vation he could always cordially respond. The present much 
 esteemed minister of Yarrow (son of Dr Russell) bore testi-
 
 THE FRIEND AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS. 203 
 
 mony to this at the recent celebration of the centenary of the 
 Selkirk United Presbyterian Church. In addressing the 
 grandson, who now fills the pulpit, he very beautifully said, 
 ' It is with pleasure and pride that I record the mutual feel- 
 ings of regard between my father and your grandfather, which 
 nothing ever occurred to disturb ; an intimacy the more hon- 
 ourable to both parties, that they lived in times when there 
 was not so much Christian liberality as now. Some years 
 ago I was invited to advocate, in this church, the claims of 
 a benevolent institution. The occasion was interesting, the 
 audience, as to-night, overflowing. With feelings subdued 
 and solemn I entered that pulpit, replete with hallowed asso- 
 ciations and encircled with the halo of ancestral worth. I 
 could not forget that it was the place long occupied by one 
 truly a master in Israel and mighty in the Scriptures who 
 presided so ably over a school of rising prophets, and whom 
 princes delighted to honour who was not more distinguished 
 by the additions he has made to the theological literature of 
 our land, than by a heart of warmest affections and finest 
 sensibilities.' 
 
 Dr Lawson also lived upon friendly terms with the late Rev. 
 Dr Walter Buchanan, first minister of the Canongate Church, 
 Edinburgh. They frequently visited and corresponded to- 
 gether ; and when Dr Lawson's sons, George and Andrew, 
 were students at the University, they received from Dr 
 Buchanan much kindness and attention. It was through his 
 good offices that Dr Lawson was asked to preach the sermon 
 on behalf of the Edinburgh Missionary Society, which was 
 afterwards published. 
 
 And these have all died in the faith. Dr Lawson and his 
 friends have long since met in heaven. Not one of them sur- 
 vives. The compiler had the honour and privilege of knowing 
 a few of them, and therefore can intelligently affirm, that 
 the one man around whom such kindred spirits were gathered, 
 and who could both command and unite their sympathetic
 
 204 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 admiration and love, must, beyond doubt, have been one of 
 the excellent of the earth. The peer, in his social position, 
 is not further removed from his vassal the philosopher or 
 scholar is not further apart from the ignorant clown than 
 was Lawson in every point of view, morally and intellectually, 
 greatly the superior of the common herd of men. This will 
 be more satisfactorily established as we proceed with the 
 memoir.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 
 
 GEORGE LAWSON was an accomplished scholar. This is the 
 testimony of all who had the privilege of his private friend- 
 ship, and among these may be reckoned some of the most 
 learned men of his times and our own. The late Dr Lee, 
 Principal of the University of Edinburgh, was educated by 
 him in theology, and was often heard referring to the scholar- 
 ship of his tutor as alike extensive and profound ; and it is 
 in the knowledge of many now living, that by the late Drs 
 Dick, Marshall, Balmer, and Brown, he was esteemed to be 
 the ' Christian Socrates.' These are no mean judges, and 
 their testimony is sufficient. Still, some may be disposed 
 to query this judgment, and request more specific proof. 
 Taking their ideas of scholarship from the multitude of 
 Biblical hermeneutical works, which are almost all the off- 
 spring of the present century, they dispute a claim for this 
 distinction, unless some elegant octavos be produced, spark- 
 ling on every page with Greek and Hebrew characters, and 
 gravid with quotations from German or Dutch authorities. 
 If we are to judge of Lawson's learning from his writings, we 
 will not find in them anything of this kind to support his title 
 to such honour. It ought, however, to be remembered, that, 
 in his days, this kind of revival of letters had not yet com- 
 menced. Its introduction into our theological teaching 
 is mainly owing to the classical acquirements and tastes 
 of Dr Lawson himself ; after him, of his most distinguished 
 pupil, the . late Dr John Brown ; and now far advanced
 
 206 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 towards perfection by Dr Eadie. Besides, the circulation of 
 lexicons and translations of German books bearing on the 
 sacred science of Biblical literature, had not yet taken place. 
 Apart from such evidence, we have to discover the scholarship 
 of Lawson. Nor is this in any way a difficult task : the proofs 
 abound; so much so, that 'he may run that readeth.' There 
 are some days during which the revolution of the sun in the 
 firmament is matter of faith. We have no doubt of it. 
 Though we do not see the blazing ball of fire, his light is all 
 about us. For a moment or two, now and then, some frail 
 cloud disparts, the blue ethereal is seen, and the glory of the 
 greater light in the midst of it. Of a similar kind is the evi- 
 dence that now remains of Dr Lawson's wonderful scholarship. 
 We know it from the chastened light which falls upon our 
 minds from his writings, and from the occasional blinks that 
 now and again dazzle our eyes. Had his life been written 
 in the morning tide, ere the clouds of setting memories and 
 friendships had gathered around him, we might have seen the 
 ample volume of his acquirements with undiminished eye and 
 unmistakeable proofs. Whoever has read with just discrimi- 
 nation the writings of this remarkable man, must be satisfied 
 of this. If he be not, either his own scholarship must be very 
 deficient, or his heart must be as narrow as his head. Sec- 
 tarianism must be his blinder. Not the processes by which 
 Dr Lawson arrived at his conclusions, but the conclusions 
 themselves, overflow his chapters. In conversation with 
 sympathizing friends, authorities and references, of different 
 tongues and peoples, came flowing forth like a stream. His 
 learning was known rather by his writings than in his writ- 
 ings. Had he been as aware of his singular acquirements as 
 other men, and had he thought that useful purposes might 
 have been served by the other course, he could with ease have 
 pursued it. But it must be admitted that, at least in his own 
 Church, there was no precedent for, nor even liking to, such 
 a system of preaching from the pulpit or teaching from the
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 207 
 
 desk. The demands of each age are met by appropriate sup- 
 plies ; and it is good for the cause of orthodox truth, that, in a 
 highly educated and intellectually excited age like the present, 
 men and minds have been prepared to meet its severest appeals 
 either to logic, letters, or criticism. Lawson's habits of study, 
 his books, his literary tastes, his chosen friends, and corre- 
 spondence with them, and his pastoral and professorial works, 
 may all be referred to as evidence. Before entering upon 
 these, it may not be out of place here to notice, that though 
 in this respect he was distinguished among his brethren, they 
 also were well-educated men. It is rather singular that the 
 idea of an educated ministry should ever have been considered 
 as the peculiar distinction of an Established Church. What- 
 ever ground there may be for it elsewhere, there is none 
 whatever among the Secession Churches of Scotland, and 
 there never was. In Sir Henry Wellwood Moncreiff's ' Life 
 of Dr Erskine' we have the following testimony to this truth, 
 and it is all the more valuable as coming from a reverend 
 baronet of the Kirk : 
 
 ' The candidates for orders in the Secession have, at least, 
 the means of being as well educated as the ministers of the 
 Establishment. This fact, whatever additional strength it 
 may give to the Secession, is of no small importance to the 
 country at large ; for, from the congregations of eight Seced- 
 ing ministers, deposed by the Assembly in 1740 (adding to 
 them the Presbytery of Relief, which sprung from the depo- 
 sition of a single individual many years later), there have 
 risen up at least, nearly 360 Seceding meetings, which, at a 
 moderate computation, may, in round numbers, contain a 
 fourth or fifth part of the population of Scotland. When so 
 large a proportion of the inhabitants of the kingdom is con- 
 cerned, it is at least consolatory to believe that they have 
 access to instructors who are qualified to do them justice. 
 The doctrines now delivered in the Seceding meetings are, in 
 no essential article, different from the instruction received in
 
 208 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 the Established churches. Though, by being more numerous, 
 and always well educated, the Established clergy can cer- 
 tainly produce a much greater number of considerable men, 
 it cannot be denied that, among the ministers belonging to 
 the Secession, there are individuals not inferior to the most 
 respectable ministers of the Establishment ; aud it ought to 
 be in candour admitted, that their people are, by a great 
 proportion of them, as well instructed as those who adhere 
 to the Church." 
 
 In reading this candid testimony, while one cannot fail to 
 be somewhat tickled at the venerable baronet's complacent 
 Churchmanship, we must value it as proof positive of the 
 learning of our own fathers in these days. If there was 
 reason for Sir Henry's consolatory reflections then, how 
 much more so now, when the 360 have been increased to 
 upwards of 500 United Presbyterian ministers; and when 
 to them must be added between 700 and 800 of the most 
 learned and excellent men of the Scottish Establishment, 
 under whose ' united' and 'free' pastorates three-fourths of 
 the whole population of Scotland are placed. There is 
 certainly more reason than ever to be thankful, that, though 
 differing, and even separating from one another, all the three 
 Presbyterian Churches in Scotland the United Presbyterian, 
 the Free, and the Established have continued to strengthen 
 and adorn the Christian pulpit with a fully educated ministry. 
 And well it has been for the cause of Christian truth that it 
 is so, cast as the ark of God now is upon troubled waters, 
 and tumbled and tossed about amid mists and meteors that 
 alike bewilder and bewitch the public mind. True, our 
 learning is not our refuge nor our strength God is both ; 
 nevertheless, it is matter of gratitude, that we have both 
 chart and compass on board, and pilots too, that shall 
 weather the storm when it bursts. 
 
 Candid judges will admit that, on the field of sacred letters, 
 the United Presbyterian Church has acted a part highly to
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 209 
 
 her credit. The literary galaxy of our country boasts many 
 ' burning and shining lights' that were fed and fired at her 
 altars. The names of the two Erskines, Fisher, Boston, 
 Brown, Lawson, Frazer, Belfrage, Dick, Ballantyne, Balmer, 
 Marshall, Dr John Brown, and Dr Husband, among the 
 dead, with many others among the living, whom it would be 
 invidious to mention, are enough to make a Scotchman proud 
 of the sons of her yeomen. It is just, however, to Dr Lawson 
 to state, that some of the most eminent at least of those who 
 have fulfilled their course, not only studied under him, but 
 got their literary stimuli very strongly from his scholarship 
 and tuition. In another place, we shall see the eminent of 
 other denominations paying homage to his influence. From 
 the days, indeed, of his professorship until now, the Church 
 and the Church's literature have both felt and been benefited 
 by that influence. Who can doubt it, who has been privi- 
 leged to mingle with the remaneut members of the Selkirk 
 Hall? Many 'Noctes Selkirkianae' I have enjoyed with 
 fathers and brethren who had studied under him ; and who, 
 without an exception, seemed to be in danger of worshipping 
 his very memory. If not the mantle, the spirit of Lawson 
 seems to have been poured out upon them all. The most of 
 those Ettrick men were good and true in their generation, 
 and in their office ; and will not be easily forgotten by any 
 who knew them by none who were favoured with their mini- 
 stry. Dr Frazer, of Kennoway ; Dr Stewart, of Liverpool ; 
 Dr John and Dr Henry Belfrage ; Dr Schaw, of Ayr ; Dr 
 Hay, of Kinross ; Dr Fletcher, of London ; Dr H. Thomson, 
 of Penrith ; Dr A. Thomson, of Coldstream ; Drs Kidston 
 and Beattie, of Glasgow ; Dr Marshall, of Kirkintilloch ; Dr 
 Baird, of Paisley ; Dr Nicol, of Jedburgh ; Dr Balmer, of 
 Berwick ; Dr Brown, of Edinburgh ; Dr Jameson, of Scone ; 
 Dr Newlands, of Perth ; Mr Elles, of Saltcoats ; Mr Smart, 
 of Paisley ; Mr Clapperton, of Johnstone ; Mr Ballantym-, 
 of Stonehaveu ; Mr Law, of Kirkcaldy ; Mr Angus, of 
 
 o
 
 210 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Aberdeen, with others still alive, were, or are now, among 
 the custodiers of a memory they could not let die. While, 
 then, properly alive to all the advantages now derived from 
 minds further on in time, and therefore higher up in the region 
 of clearer and defter thinking, let us warmly cherish the 
 conviction that, to the presiding genius of their Professor, 
 these men were, and are, in many respects, greatly indebted 
 for the direction, the employment, and the influence of their 
 studies. 
 
 A learned man, now-a-days, is understood to have a 
 thorough knowledge of the grammar, roots, and idioms of 
 the dead and living languages, and to be versed in the ab- 
 struse, the ethical, and the metaphysical sciences. Such a 
 savant is Lord Brougham ; but where is such another to be 
 found? Here and there we meet with one who is simply 
 classical, or simply physical, or simply philosophical in his 
 claims for learning or scholarship ; but almost nowhere do 
 you find in the same individual one who may be set down as 
 first wrangler in them all. Neither, of course, do we claim 
 any such rare excellence for Dr Lawson. All we affirm with 
 regard to his scholarship is, that, in point of quality and 
 amount, it seems to have approached nearer to the Brougham 
 type than any others of the day in which he lived. This, 
 unquestionably, is the impression left by his contemporaries, 
 when they speak or write upon the subject. As evidence 
 that this is not an exaggerated statement, the reader is re- 
 quested to consider without prejudice the following most 
 creditable testimonies : 
 
 ' His acquaintance,' says the late Dr Belfrage of Falkirk, 
 ' with the best theological works, ancient and modern, was 
 extensive and accurate. He greatly relished, and often read 
 in the original Greek, the works of Chrysostom. The writings 
 of Owen, and especially his practical works, be highly valued. 
 The sermons of Massillon and Sauriu he read with pleasure, 
 and in French. The writings of Jonathan Edwards he care-
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 211 
 
 fully studied, and Campbell on the Gospels, with other ap- 
 proved works of sacred criticism : and it was pleasing to mark 
 with what simplicity and perspicuity he could state the result 
 of their most elaborate inquiries, making passages obscure 
 and difficult intelligible to persons of ordinary capacity. He 
 devoted a portion of his time through the week to the perusal 
 of works of practical piety, such as Traill, Boston, and Brown. 
 There is a holy unction and sweetness in them, by which 
 the devout mind is charmed. It was by such reading that 
 he learned to apply with fidelity and wisdom the truths of 
 the Gospel for the advancement of piety in his own soul, 
 and to qualify himself for speaking to the hearts of others, 
 lie used to speak of prayer as the best guide in the search 
 after truth, and besought the Father of Lights to make him 
 to know wisdom in the hidden part. But he did not neglect 
 classical literature, philosophy, and history. "Plutarch's 
 Lives " was a favourite book of his, and, from the incidents 
 he details and the maxims of wisdom with which they abound, 
 he introduced into his discourses many very appropriate and 
 useful quotations, and from his lips they fell with a simplicity 
 and gravity widely different from the levity and exaggeration 
 of many such details. He was familiar with Homer and the 
 lesser Greek poets, and occasionally quoted them with great 
 readiness. The sages and the heroes of Greece and Rome he 
 valued as monitors, to teach us the diligence with which we 
 should seek for a higher wisdom and strive for a brighter 
 glory. 
 
 ' The whole range of history, ancient and modern, was quite 
 familiar to him. Works of taste and genius he delighted to 
 peruse, and by them he felt his mind relieved after severe 
 study ; but never did he devote to them aught of the time 
 which was claimed by more serious engagements, or contract 
 by them a disrelish for mental occupation of a graver cast. 
 So admirable was the intellectual discipline which he main- 
 tained, that lighter scenes and feelings were not suffered to
 
 212 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 distract his attention in serious inquiry, but were employed as 
 stimulants in wisdom's ways. 
 
 ' It was a circumstance which beautifully characterized his 
 spirit and manner as a scholar, that, amidst his own acquire- 
 ments, he maintained uniform modesty, and delighted to do 
 justice to the talents and attainments of others. No jealousy 
 or envy wrought in his breast, and so far from courting op- 
 portunities for displaying his research, his aim was mildly to 
 instruct or encourage others to be diligent. 
 
 ' As a minister of the Gospel, it was his great object to 
 make his people stand complete in all the will of God ; and 
 for this purpose he expounded the Scriptures in a manner 
 clear, lively, and attractive. He could avail himself of the 
 stores of his mind, with the greatest readiness, to illustrate 
 and enforce its various lessons ; and places of the Bible, which 
 are sometimes passed by as too abstruse for the comprehension 
 of the people, or too barren for utility, he delighted to open 
 up, and to bring forth the gold treasured in them.' 
 
 ' It is a vain thing to imagine,' writes the late Rev. Mr 
 Lothian, of Edinburgh, and one of the most judicious of Dr 
 Lawson's pupils, ' that any man, who is not qualified to lay 
 the whole compass of human learning under contribution for 
 the purpose, can be ready to communicate instruction, as this 
 great scholar was at all times, and in all departments of reli- 
 gion, natural and revealed. In geography and chronology, in 
 biography and history, in antiquities and customs, sacred and 
 profane, Dr Lawson was profoundly learned. He had studied 
 with care the philosophy of language and of natural history. 
 To physical and mathematical science he had in some degree 
 turned his attention. In metaphysical and moral science he 
 had no superior, and few equals. With the general principles 
 of law and equity, which are recognised in the civil codes and 
 in the political intercourse of all civilised nations, he was well 
 acquainted. He understood and loved the constitution of 
 his country ; in principle and practice, he ever stood aloof
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 213 
 
 from political partizans ; he " honoured all men " according 
 to their worth, " loved the whole Christian brotherhood, 
 feared God, and honoured the king, as appointed of God 
 to be a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them that do 
 well." ' 
 
 The next testimony is that of a man, above all others, 
 capable of judging on such a point, and the earliest and most 
 intimate friend of Dr Lawson the Rev. David Greig, of 
 Lochgelly. When Mr Lothian was a student, he was under 
 Mr Greig's pastoral care ; and on leaving Lochgelly for the 
 Hall, he made inquiries of his minister regarding the Pro- 
 fessor at Selkirk, of whose high character and attainments he 
 at that time knew nothing. ' You are going,' said Mr Greig, 
 ' to be taught by a man every way so learned and excellent, 
 that probably he has not, in these respects, ten equals or one 
 superior in Scotland; and what is best of all, he does not 
 himself know or suppose that such is or can be the case.' 
 
 The Rev. John Johnston had gone on a visit to the well- 
 known Adam Hope, the rector of Annan Academy. Mr 
 Hope was a capital scholar, and especially a profound mathe- 
 matician. In his estimation there were not such two men on 
 the earth as Dr Lawson and Mr Johnston of Ecclefechan, for 
 scholarship or general Christian worth. When he was waited 
 upon at this time by the son of his Ecclefechan friend, he was 
 deeply engaged in reading. He desired Mr Johnston to take 
 a seat, and excuse him for a few minutes. In a little he closed 
 the book, and, addressing his visitor, said, ' I have just been 
 reading Dr Lawson's lectures on the book of Esther ; it is a 
 wonderful production. That man, I believe, knows more of 
 Divine truth than many saints may, after they have been 
 twenty years in heaven.' 
 
 It is with much satisfaction that we quote a high authority 
 upon this point. In Dr Cairns' scholarly memoir of Dr 
 Brown, he thus generously and justly refers to Dr Lawson : 
 ' No adequate record of this remarkable person has been given
 
 214 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 to the world ; but the fragments of biographical information 
 and the traditions of his pnpils, together with his writings, 
 show him to have been a man almost unique in point of cha- 
 racter. So wonderful was his memory, that he could nearly 
 have reproduced the English Bible, on which he habitually 
 lectured to his congregation with the book shut. He had 
 also by heart large portions of the Hebrew and Greek 
 Scriptures, as well as of the classics. He had studied the 
 Fathers more as a divine of the seventeenth century than of 
 the eighteenth, and his range of information in modern di- 
 vinity and church history was equally extensive. His powers 
 of original thought, though not equal to his learning, were also 
 great. He was able to reduce the structure of dogmatic 
 theology to a form less abstruse and technical than usual, and 
 to open up a vein of moral instruction too little cultivated 
 before, and which, in his works on Esther, the Proverbs, and 
 other parts of Scripture, yields results which have not been 
 often surpassed for sagacity and deep knowledge of human 
 nature. A sanctity and purity worthy of an ancient prophet 
 were in him softened by a most amiable natural temper, and 
 relieved by a familiarity of manner, descending to negligence, 
 as well as by a large intermixture of genuine Scottish humour, 
 which at times recalled to his pupils the irony of Socrates. 
 A generous sympathy with liberty of inquiry and the cause of 
 progress in the Church as well as in the world, crowned his 
 admirable character. Few theologians of his time, attached 
 to the orthodox side, were so little fettered by the traditions 
 of churches in interpreting the Word of God.' 
 
 With regard to Dr Brown's own estimate of his great 
 tutor's learning, Dr Cairns also tells us that ' the terms in 
 which he continued to speak of Dr Lawson to the last, were 
 those of almost unbounded love and veneration. He de- 
 scribes him as a man " in whom met strong natural talent, 
 extensive and varied professional learning, originality of view, 
 soundness of mind, strict integrity, deep devotion, childlike
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 215 
 
 simplicity, unaffected humility and kindliness of heart, in rare, 
 and, so far as my observation has gone, when the degree of 
 the qualities is taken into account, in singular union." " To 
 have enjoyed," Dr Brown says, " the advantage and tuition 
 of this truly great and good man, I count one of the principal 
 blessings and honours of my life ; and I have a melancholy 
 satisfaction in thus recording the indelible impression made 
 on my mind by so much erudition and wisdom, worth and be- 
 nevolence." " The world," he loved to say, " will never know 
 all that was in that man." On the occasion of his last public 
 appearance, he reverted, with deep feeling, to the days when, 
 with the numerous band of his fellow-students, " more than 
 fifty years ago, he used to listen to, and all but worship that 
 Christian Socrates, Dr George Lawson." And he thus also 
 records his estimate of his writings : " There is a peculiar 
 charm in the writings of that sage-like apostolic man, Pro- 
 fessor Lawson ; writings in which most important, original, 
 pregnant thoughts are continually occurring amidst those 
 commonplaces of religion and morals, which must form the 
 staple of all pulpit instruction." ' 
 
 Having laid this solid foundation of pointed and erudite 
 testimony upon the subject, we feel that, in our future refer- 
 ences to Dr Lawson's scholarship and learning, we incur no 
 danger of exaggerating the truth. 
 
 A man may be known by his company or by his books. 
 Either way speaks well of Dr Lawson. His companions 
 and friends, as we have seen, were few, but choice; they 
 were the inner circle of his heart and thought. Beyond it, 
 however, there were many excellent persons who prized his 
 society. They had to seek for it, not he for them. They 
 were drawn to him, from appreciation of his qualifications for 
 imparting knowledge. If the secrets of his library could now 
 be disclosed, we might be made privy to many a curious fel- 
 lowship between him and his visitors. Here, in this library, 
 he was, not Diogenes in his tub, but Moses in his chair, or
 
 216 
 
 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Solon at his desk constantly reading, or thinking, or writing, 
 or conversing. His most familiar intercourse was with the 
 books themselves. He lived in and with them, and they lived 
 in him. Crabbe describes it all when he says, 
 
 ' Wisdom loves 
 
 This seat serene, and virtue's self approves. 
 Here come the grieved, a change of thought to find, 
 The curious here, to feed a craving mind ; 
 Here the devout their peaceful temple choose, 
 And here the poet meets his favouring muse.' 
 
 Dr Lawson's library consisted of upwards of 2000 volumes, 
 among which were the best Puritan and American divines, 
 some of the Greek fathers, such as Athanasius and Chry- 
 sostom, with a considerable number of Latin, Dutch, French, 
 and Italian works, all of which he read and quoted easily in 
 their original languages. The reader may be interested with 
 the following selection, as a mere sample of the books to be 
 found in it : 
 
 Augustine's Confessions. 
 
 Abbadie (J.), Les (Euvres de. 
 
 A Lapide (Corn.), Comment in Scripturam. 
 
 Aristotelis, Rhetorica et Poetica, 
 
 Animalium Historia. 
 
 Varia Opuscula. 
 Antonini (Marct Aurelii), Meditationes. 
 Amesii, Opera Omnia, 
 Athanasii, Opera. 
 Buxtorfii, Lexicon Hebraicum. 
 
 Chaldaicum. 
 
 Bossuet (J. B.), Discours sur 1'Histoire 
 
 Universelle. 
 Barwickii Vita. 
 Boston (T.), Tractatus Stigmologicus 
 
 Hebrseo-Biblicus. 
 Calvini, Opera. 7 vols. 
 Calmet, Dissertations sur la Bible. 
 Chrysostomi Opera. 8 vols. Folio. 
 Chappelow on Job. 2 vols. 
 Cartwrightii (Com: Succinct!.) 
 Chandler on JoeL 
 
 Du Pin's Ecclesiastical History. 7 vols 
 Diodati's Annotations. 
 
 Eusebii, Pampliili, Rufflni, Theodoriti, 
 Evagrii, Socratis, Sozomeni, et Theo- 
 dori, Histories Ecclesiasticse. Folio. 
 
 Ernesti, Opuscula Theologica. 
 
 Epicteti, Enchiridion. 
 
 Erasmi, Colloquia. 
 
 Faber's Horse Mosaics. 
 
 Franche (H. A.), Pralectiones Hermeneu- 
 ticse. 
 
 Flechier (Le Perc), Predications. 
 
 Fenelon (F. S.), CEuvres Spirituelles. 
 
 Flavel's Works. 
 
 Glassii (S.), Philologia Sacra. 
 
 Grotii (H.), Defensio Fidei Catholicaj de 
 Satisfactione Christ!. 
 
 Grammatica Syriaca 
 
 Gale's Court of the Gentiles. 
 
 Goodwia's Works. 5 vols. 
 
 Gil, on the Creed. 
 
 Hederici Lexicon. 
 
 Hemmingii, Lectiones in Psalmos. 
 
 Justin Martyr (including Athenagoras, 
 Theophilus,Tatian,and Hennias). Folio. 
 
 Langii (Jos.), Florilcgii llagni.
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 
 
 217 
 
 Lowth, de Sacra Poesi Hebrseorum. 
 
 on the Prophets. 
 Lexicon Arabico-Latinum. 
 Leusdenii (J.), Clavis Ilebraica Vet. Test. 
 
 De Dialectis Novi Testament!. 
 Muximi, Opera. 
 
 M.irrkii, Comment, in Prophetas Minores. 
 M ai it, in on .hide. 
 Kovum Testamentum Grascum (Millii, 
 
 Hcx:e, Knappii, Griesbachii, Valpy). 
 Noldii (Chr.) Concordantia Particularnm 
 
 Ilebrajo-Chaldaicarum. 
 Noncut on the Eternal Word. 
 Owen's Works. 14 rols. 
 Perronii, Vita Apostolonim. 
 Puterculi Vellcii, Historia. 
 Parti (D. D.) Opera Exegetica. 4 vols. 
 Pocock's Works. 2 vols. Folio. 
 Petter, on Mark. 
 Prideaux's Connection. 
 Picteti (B.) Theologia Christiana. 
 
 La Morale Chretienne. 
 Pemble's Works. 
 Rainold's Haggai. 
 Scapulae, Lexicon Graoco-Latinum. 
 
 Socrates, Eccles. Hist. 
 
 Sacy (S. de) Grammaire Arabe. 
 
 Sacy (S. de) La Sainte Bible. 
 
 Sarjii (F. P.) Histoire du ConcUe de Trent 
 
 Sturddi (J. F.) Comment in Ezeekielem. 
 
 Schultens (A.) Proverbia Salomonis, ccm 
 
 Comment. 
 
 Stephani (H.) Concord. Novi Testunienti. 
 Saurin (M.) Discours Historiques et Crit- 
 iques, surles Evenemens les plus memo- 
 rable an Vieux et du Nouveau Testa- 
 ment. 3 vols. folio. 
 Stork on Malachi. 
 Tromii (Abr.) Concordantia Grsecw, 
 
 Versionis LXX. 2 vols. folio. 
 Tnrretini (F.) Opera. 6 vo\s. 
 Trapp's Commentary. 
 Ursini Opera. 
 Vitringa (C.) Commentarius in Jesaiam. 
 
 Observationes Sacra. 
 Wilsii (H.) Opera. 7 vols. 
 Wolfli (J. C.) Curae Philologies et Critics 
 
 in Novum Testamentum. 5 vols. 
 WaU's Critical Notes. 
 Wemyss' Biblical Gleanings. 
 
 This library was Lawson's earthly Eden. Here he delighted 
 to read, and meditate, and pray. He knew his books inti- 
 mately, and loved them only less affectionately than his friends. 
 It has been mentioned as a remarkable fact, that many per- 
 sons who make a very respectable figure in society never in 
 their whole lives read a single book entirely through. Such 
 was not the case with our scholar. He not only used all his 
 own books, but eagerly availed himself of every opportunity 
 to borrow when he could not buy. Indeed, the wouder is, 
 that with his limited means he could collect such a library as 
 he had. Where did he get the money? And where did he 
 find the books ? They were not found for him by any ' Con- 
 gregational Minister's Library Scheme,' such as happily now 
 exists in our Church ; nor were they bequeathed to him by any 
 predecessor or friend. From his eagerness to get possession 
 of such old authors as he prized, he must have been a regular 
 visitor at those old book-stalls and auction-marts which, in
 
 218 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 his day, were much more common, especially the former, than 
 they are now in Edinburgh. We have no information upon 
 the subject, but do no violence to probability when we opine, 
 that, as the family increased upon her hands, Mrs Lawson 
 would wax more and more jealous of her husband's visits to 
 the capital, and perhaps give a gentle hint to him to be mind- 
 ful of the stipend fast failing away, with some months to pass 
 before the next instalment. The gathering of these 2000 
 volumes has a history which it would be worth the antiquary's 
 while to unravel. No doubt his practice of celibacy for a 
 few years**after his ordination enabled him to lay the founda- 
 tion ; but how the superstructure got up at all, is a mystery 
 to all who do not believe in the blessing that seemed to rest 
 upon the Selkirk pastor's basket and store. We doubt not 
 Drs Peddie and Hall, and Mr Lothian, of Edinburgh, could 
 have told quaint enough stories of their Selkirk brother's 
 bargaining at the book-stalls in Leith Walk, where once 
 stood and sold old books, men now at the very top of their 
 profession, and the greatest living patrons of education and 
 serial literature. A bargain he might sometimes get, but he 
 no doubt oft duped himself, out of love to the 'lair' and 
 desire for the book. And when he could not buy, he was 
 ever ready to borrow. He might agree with the ancient who 
 thought that he ' learned more from borrowed books than 
 from his own, because, not having the same opportunity of 
 revising them, he read them with more care.' But then, 
 oblivious as he sometimes was, he never forgot to return what 
 was lent to him. His neighbour, Sir Walter Scott, had no 
 reference to him when he once said facetiously to a friend, 
 that ' he did not know what sort of arithmeticians some of his 
 friends might be, but he was sure they were good book-keepers.'' 
 When a student, his limited means prevented him from buying 
 many books, and then, of course, he had to depend upon the 
 kindness of others. We have read somewhere that young 
 men should not be discouraged from buying books that
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 219 
 
 much may depend upon it ; that Whiston's accidental pur- 
 chase of a ' Euclid' at an auction excited him to study mathe- 
 matics. This may be true when there is both the ability and 
 the will to purchase ; but the history of many a young man's 
 education would reveal how much of literary progress has 
 depended upon reciprocity in lending and borrowing. How 
 pleasingly illustrative of all this is the following letter, 
 which we have found among his papers, from the Sheriff of 
 Selkirkshire : 
 
 ' SIR, I am happy in having it in my power to accommo- 
 date yon with a copy of Sophocles. The second volume of the 
 Biographia Britannica is also sent. 
 
 ; When I was last in Edinburgh, I bought a copy of 
 Claudian, an author I had never read. There is one passage, 
 in looking over it, which struck me as eminently beautiful. 
 I send you an old torn school copy of my father's, which you 
 may keep. The passage is marked, page 20, beginning, 
 
 ' " Saepe mihi dulcian," etc., 
 and ending, 
 
 " tolluntur in altura 
 Ut lapsa graviore ruant."' 
 
 This last sentence I have often seen quoted, and imagined it 
 was from Juvenal, who has something to the same purpose, 
 but differently expressed. PufeSat. x. ver. 104. I am, Sir, 
 your very humble servant, ' AND. PLUMMER. 
 
 ' SUNDEKLAXD HALL, 9th May 1793.' 
 
 He was not even averse to let his more favoured students 
 have the private use of some of his numerous manuscript 
 volumes. And we have reason to know that these were 
 very highly prized so much so, as by some to be copied out 
 for their own use. The late Dr Brown enjoyed at one time 
 this privilege. We find him thus expressing his obligations 
 to his tutor :
 
 220 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 ' REV. AND DEAR SIR, Along with this I return you, with 
 many thanks, two volumes of MSS. the one marked 25, and 
 containing notes on Isaiah, from chap. IV. adfinem ; and the 
 other marked XIII., containing notes on 1 and 2 Chronicles. 
 I must crave your indulgence for keeping the notes on the 
 first four and part of the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the 
 Romans, for some time longer. I have been already deeply 
 indebted to you in my editorial capacity, but wish to be not 
 a little deeper in debt to you in this way. Mr Andrew was 
 talking of something in the way of a " Comparative View of 
 the practical tendency and influence of the Calvinistic and 
 Arminian Systems," as being among your papers. If you do 
 not think of publishing them separately, I earnestly wish you 
 would honour the Repository so far as to make it the vehicle 
 of your illustrations of this most interesting subject. . . . 
 I request an interest in your prayers, in the new and some- 
 what trying circumstances in which, by the Leith call, I am 
 brought. I feel strongly indisposed to leave my present 
 situation, but would wish to discover the path of duty, and 
 when discovered, to follow it. Present my respectful good 
 wishes to Mrs Lawson and the young ladies. In them, Mrs 
 Nimmo cordially joins with me. I am, Rev. and dear Sir, 
 with much respect and affection, your deeply obliged pupil, 
 
 ' JOHN BROWN. 
 
 ' BIGGAR, 18th Augt. 1817.' 
 
 Any friend or even neighbour had access to his books and 
 his opinions. Foreigners and Papists even were not ex- 
 cluded. During the time of the war, some French officers 
 lay on parole at Melrose. Three of them were intelligent 
 and well-informed men, but strong Papists. They had heard 
 that their language was almost as familiar to Dr Lawson as 
 his native tongue ; and having obtained an interview, they 
 received from him such books as they wished and he had. 
 One afternoon he took them by surprise. They were con-
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 221 
 
 versing upon the literature of France. The doctor arose, and 
 took down from his library some old French authors, asking 
 them to read certain passages which he pointed out. To 
 their own chagrin, the officers failed on the trial. The great 
 difference in spelling and in idiom was such as fairly to 
 puzzle them, and they at once admitted it. The good man 
 then, in an easy and fluent way, entertained them by reading 
 the whole. One of these men, some time after he got better 
 acquainted with Dr Lawson, conceived the idea of converting 
 him to the Roman faith ; and they entered calmly, but 
 seriously, into controversy on the subject. As the officer was 
 bidding the Doctor a ' bon soir,' he said 
 
 ' It is my intention to pray for you to the Virgin Mary at 
 a certain hour this evening ; arid you will please take notice, 
 at that time, whether you do not feel your mind undergoing 
 a sensible change.' 
 
 ' Well, if I am awake then,' the Doctor replied, ' I will.' 
 
 Next day the Frenchman called, eager to ascertain the result. 
 
 ' Were you sensible of any change ? ' he inquired. 
 
 ' Indeed,' replied Dr Lawson, ' to tell the truth, the only 
 thing I am sensible of is, that I enjoyed a more than ordinarily 
 sound night's sleep.' 
 
 Poor monsieur was chop-fallen, and resumed the argument, 
 but to no effect. 
 
 ' You wish me,' said Dr Lawson, as they parted, ' to pray 
 to the Virgin Mary ; but this I cannot do, and for these 
 reasons : Mary is neither omnipresent nor omniscient ; I 
 cannot, therefore, be sure that she shall hear my prayers. 
 Besides, I am now an old man, and having never prayed to 
 her before, I am by no means hopeful of gaining her ear now, 
 especially when she must be much engaged in listening to her 
 tried friends in France and Spain. Though, however, I will 
 not pray to her, I will try to imitate her example whea she 
 said, " My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath 
 rejoiced in God my Saviour."'
 
 222 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 On the officer's return to Melrose, several letters passed 
 between him and the Professor, upon the subjects in dispute. 
 We insert the following as a specimen. The reader will 
 readily excuse his bad English and worse grammar. Bouard 
 might have written in French, but it was something to show 
 Dr Lawson that he had mastered so far his vernacular : 
 
 ' SIR, I am very much honoured with your kind letters. 
 If I have not answered to the first, it were for the want of being 
 able to read it ; but your last I have read, and understand it 
 pretty well. Yes, sir, I put whole my confidence in God, 
 in our Lord Jesus Christ ; and more confidence in the prayers 
 of the holy Virgin Mary, that all generations shall call blessed 
 (Luke i. 48), than in mine own. I beseech our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, that He may enlighten me more and more ; that He 
 guide me in the truth, and gives me all the grace necessary 
 for the salvation of my soul, and be one of His true disciples ; 
 but, in the same time, if I have the misfortune to depart from 
 His holy Roman Catholic Church, which is that holy Ca.tholic 
 Church mentioned in the Apostles' Creed, I beseech Him 
 that He may afflict me, in depriving me of all my members, 
 leaving me only the breast, to let me know and remember I 
 have departed from that Church ; I have sinned against the 
 Holy Ghost, and He may give me a true repentance. Dear 
 sir, you are yet mistaken on the worship of images may be 
 you take the honour we pay them for the worship that we 
 owe only to God ; that worship is expressly forbidden by 
 our Pope's catechisms and the Catholic Church, and that 
 Catholic Church teaches us that we pray the blessed Virgin 
 Mary and saints ; they pray for us to have more confidence in 
 their prayers than in our own. I beseech you to try only 
 the prayers of the blessed Virgin Mary, and you will see how 
 more valuable they will be than yours. Direct your prayers 
 to her in that manner (since you have no faith enough to 
 believe she can pray for us). " blessed Virgin Mary, pray
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS 223 
 
 for me if you are able Jo do it, that our Lord Jesus Christ 
 guide me in His true Church, and give me all the graces 
 necessary for the salvation of my soul. Lord Jesus Christ, 
 grant me my petition by the intercession of the Holy Mother, 
 if she be so much in favour with Thee ; and do forgive me 
 my ignorance." Dear sir, I beseech you do leave off of 
 speaking against the Roman Catholic Church, because, as 
 often as you speak against her, as often, you sin. You do 
 like St Paul before his conversion to our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 The late event of the downfall of the most powerful monarch 
 should open your eyes, even to all the world ; and I pray 
 God that it may, and be all for His glory. Amen. 
 
 ' Sir, I wish, with my whole heart, you and I be guided 
 by our Lord Jesus Christ, that He may abide in us for ever 
 and ever : we live in Him, and Him in us. These are the 
 sincere desires and wishes of your most humble servant, 
 
 ' AlJGT. BOUARD, 
 ' A true Roman Catholic. 
 ' MELROSE, the 22d of April 1814. 
 
 P.S. You will find at Mr J. Ronaldson, at Darnick, 
 several books of my religion, if you will read them. I advise 
 you, above all, to read without partiality, the Explanation of 
 the Apostles' Creed, and the Explanations of the Sacraments.' 
 
 The following is Dr Lawson's most masterly reply to the 
 several letters of the Papist. Its Biblical knowledge, pellucid 
 logic, and Christ-like spirit, are alike incomparable : 
 
 ' SELKIRK, June 4, 1814. 
 
 ' DEAR SIR, I received yours, and thank you for the deep 
 concern you express for my eternal welfare. God grant 
 that neither you nor I may mistake the path which leads to 
 everlasting life. How terrible will it be, if we are found to 
 have been walking in the broad way that leads to destruction, 
 whilst we thought that we were daily approaching uearer to
 
 224 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 the blessed objects of our hopes. But whilst I pray to God 
 to lead me in His paths, I cannot see it my duty to pray to 
 any of the saints departed, to enlighten my darkness. I find 
 no examples of any such prayers in any part of the Scripture, 
 from the beginning to the end of it. You have, indeed, pro- 
 duced many passages, which show that the saints on earth 
 and in heaven have a certain kind of fellowship with one 
 another. This is what no Protestant will deny. Certain it 
 is, that when we come to the heavenly Zion the Church of 
 Christ and to the Mediator of the new covenant, we come 
 also to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to the in- 
 numerable company of angels : we rejoice in their happiness 
 and glory. We know that angels are ministering spirits for 
 us. But we know also, that they neither expect, nor will re- 
 ceive, religious worship from us. If I should pray to Peter, 
 it is very probable he would know nothing of what I was 
 doing ; or, if he was near me, he would say, " Stand up, I 
 myself also am a man. I am still a man in my perfect state. 
 I am not everywhere present, or omniscient to hear, nor 
 furnished with all power m heaven and earth to answer 
 prayer." Should I pray to one of the angels, perhaps that 
 angel to whom I present my request may be, at the time 
 when I am praying to him, in France or China, or in his 
 ordinary place of abode in the highest heavens ; but if he 
 were present with me he would say, " See thou do it not, for 
 I am thy fellow-servant, and the fellow-servant of thy brethren 
 that have the testimony of Jesus." Do you not remember 
 the caution given you by the Holy Spirit ? " Beware lest any 
 man spoil you of your reward in a voluntary humility and 
 worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he 
 hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind." You 
 put me in mind of many passages of Scripture, in which the 
 Apostle Paul requests the prayers of his brethren on earth ; 
 but you produce none in which he seeks the prayers of St 
 Stephen or St James ; and yet one might have reasonably
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 225 
 
 thought that he would often have spoken of his desire of their 
 prayers, if he had wished to set us an example of soliciting 
 the prayers of departed saints. He held the place of James 
 in the college of the apostles ; and his conversion may well 
 be accounted an answer to Stephen's prayers for his mur- 
 derers before that holy man was chased from the earth. I 
 suggested to you a consideration, of which you took no 
 notice, that we can seek the prayers of saints on earth, 
 because we know how we may hold communication with 
 them ; but how can we know that the saints in heaven hear us, 
 or how can we suppose it probable that they should hear our 
 prayers from an hundred thousand places at the same time ? 
 They are perfect, but they are not present in more than one 
 place at the same time. I desire, again, your prayers by 
 this letter, if it should reach you. But when you are re- 
 moved to another place of the world, I will not sit down on 
 my knees and implore yon to pray for me. I confess there 
 is a great difference between you and the Virgin Mary ; but 
 the difference does not lie in properties, or in rights that 
 belong only to God. What I mean by this observation is, 
 that no good argument can be drawn from our desiring the 
 prayers of our earthly brethren, to our requesting the good 
 offices of those who are gone to heaven before us. I honour 
 the departed saints. I know that they would rejoice to see 
 me among them. But I would not give them the honour that 
 belongs to my Saviour. They will receive me, I hope, with 
 a kind welcome to their everlasting habitations ; yet I hope 
 to reach these habitations only through the grace of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. He is " the way, and the truth, and the 
 life :" " No man cometh to the Father but by Him." 
 
 ' Those passages of Scripture in your letter, which speak 
 of the prayers of angels, give some appearance of support to 
 your cause ; but the question is, whether the angel spoken 
 of in these passages is any one of the created angels, or that 
 Person who is called the Angel or Messenger of the Cove- 
 
 f
 
 226 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 nant (Mai. iii. 1), who certainly is none other than the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. He is the great Messenger (as the word angel 
 signifies) of the Father to men the Apostle of God by way 
 of eminence. " The Angel," says Jacob, " that redeemed me 
 from all evil, bless the lads." Now, who was the particular 
 Angel that redeemed Jacob from all evil? None other of 
 the angels were addressed by him in prayer but this one ; 
 and I think we are at no loss to know who He was. He 
 was the Angel who is spoken of in another passage quoted 
 by you (Hos. xii.). By His strength he had power with God ; 
 yea, he had power over the Angel, and prevailed. It would 
 be a strange anticlimax (to speak in the language of rheto- 
 ricians), to say, By His strength he had power with God ; yea, 
 he had power over the Angel, if this Angel had not Himself 
 been God. It would have been as absurd as if it had been 
 said of David, He had power over Goliath ; yea, he could have 
 killed that giant's babes if he had met with them, a babe is 
 not so far inferior in strength to a giant, as angels are to 
 their Maker. But the prophet himself leaves us little room to 
 doubt that this Angel was the Lord God of Hosts (ver. 5). 
 Or if this should be uncertain, the passage of history to which 
 he refers will, I think, set it beyond all controversy in the 
 mind of any impartial person. We find it in Gen. xxxii. ; and 
 we learn, both from the Angel who wrestled with Jacob, and 
 from Jacob himself, that this Angel was a Divine Person. 
 The very name which Jacob obtained at that time is a me- 
 morial of the Godhead of that Angel : " Thy name shall no 
 more be called Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou 
 power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And 
 Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (the face of God) : 
 for I have seen God face to face." 
 
 ' That the Angel who appeared to Moses at the bush was a 
 Divine Person, we are assured by Himself. He must have 
 been the Divine Messenger of the Father, or else a spirit of 
 darkness that would sacrilegiously usurp the honour to him-
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 227 
 
 self that belongs to God ; for He said to Moses, " I am the 
 God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 
 and the God of Jacob." This Angel told Moses that He was 
 come down to redeem Israel from Egypt. But it is very 
 plain that God Himself was the Redeemer of Israel from 
 Egypt ; and He often speaks of this redemption as a reason 
 why they should serve no other god in conjunction with Him. 
 " There shall be no strange god among you." Why ? "I 
 am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of 
 Egypt " (Ps. Ixxxi. 9, 10 ; Ex. xx. 2, 3). Hos. xiii. 4 : Yet 
 I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou 
 shalt know no god but Me ; for there is no saviour besides 
 Me." If the Angel that spake to Moses at the bush had been 
 a created angel, who promised to redeem the people, that 
 deliverance would have been a reason for having other objects 
 of worship, and trusting to other saviours besides the one 
 God of their fathers. But you see that it is in many pas- 
 sages of the Bible given as a convincing argument of the 
 folly and wickedness of worshipping any other god but the 
 God of their fathers. Now, the gods whom they worshipped 
 along with Him were not generally supposed to be equal 
 with Him. They were as much below Him, in the eyes of 
 idolaters, as the saints are inferior to the great God in the 
 eyes of many of your Church, although no doubt there are 
 many in your Church, and there were many too among the 
 worshippers of other gods in ancient times, who entertained 
 less unworthy notions of the great Object to whom alone all 
 religious worship is due. John prays for grace and peace to 
 the churches, " from the seven spirits before the throne, and 
 from Jesus Christ." Now, if created angels had been meant, 
 I do not think he would have placed them in his prayer 
 before Jesus Christ. Even if the Virgin Mary were to be 
 prayed to, I do not think it consistent with the reverence due 
 to her Son and Lord, to pray for blessings " from Him who 
 is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the Virgin
 
 228 THE LIFE OF DE LAWSON. 
 
 Mary, and from Jesus Christ." I believe that your Church, 
 as well as ours, think we have a good argument for the doc- 
 trine of the Holy Trinity from the institution of baptism, 
 Matt, xxviii. 19, " baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" but the ground of 
 the argument would be subverted if seven created angels are 
 meant in the first mentioned prayer. If we could suppose 
 that a writer, speaking by the Holy Ghost, could pray for 
 grace in the same sentence, first, from a Divine Person, and 
 then from some mere creatures, and then from another Divine 
 Person, why should it be thought strange if we should be 
 commanded to be baptized, first, in the name of two Divine 
 Persons, and then in the name of one of the highest creatures, 
 or whatever else the Holy Spirit may be made to signify ? 
 He is at least placed last in the list, which is no the case in 
 John's prayer. The style of the book is figurative, and the 
 number seven, denoting the rich variety of the influences 
 of the Spirit, seems to be taken from the vision recorded, 
 chap. iv. 5. The Angel spoken of, Rev. viii. 3, 4, is plainly 
 the Angel of the Covenant. It is only through His merits 
 and intercession that the prayers of the saints come up with , 
 acceptance before God (John xiv. 13, 14). 
 
 ' I take the Angel spoken of, Zech. i. 12, to be the same 
 blessed Angel ; but if he were a created angel, all that you 
 could legitimately infer from his prayer is, that angels pray 
 for us, or express their earnest desire to God for our welfare, 
 but not that we are to pray to them ; and although the pro- 
 phet, when he saw the Angel, had requested His prayers, I 
 would not have considered that circumstance as a reason for 
 praying to angels, whose presence I do not perceive by sight 
 or some other of my senses. I could present my request to 
 any creature whom I saw, if I were able to converse with him 
 without terror. But how can I present a request to a 
 creature whom I see not, and of whom I have no means of 
 knowing whether he is within hearing of me ?
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 229 
 
 ' But I have wearied you, although I have passed over many 
 considerations which I think would confirm the argument. I 
 earnestly pray God may lead you in the good old way ; that 
 He may clear your mind and mine from all mistakes in matters 
 of importance to our souls, and that He may enable you, and 
 all of us, to walk worthy of the Gospel unto all pleasing. 
 
 'God grant peace to France and Spain, and may He 
 enlighten -all the nations with His truth. I hope you will 
 not forget that it is your duty, as well as mine, first to 
 " prove all things," and then to " hold fast that which is 
 good." I am, Sir, your most sincere well-wisher and humble 
 servant, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson used to say that he fully believed these 
 foreigners to be honest and upright persons, whose profes- 
 sion, though that of a false faith, was sincere ; that they 
 wished to know the truth, but that their minds were so be- 
 clouded with prejudices, that it was no easy matter to cause 
 the light to penetrate their darkness. 
 
 The Professor's reading was of a miscellaneous character. 
 He perused, if not profane, every kind of book, from the moth- 
 eaten folio to the tiniest pamphlet, from the agonies of master 
 spirits to the sports of raw neophytes. Hence the surprise 
 he often occasioned by giving quotations from authors, of 
 whose existence, from his grave and simple exterior, it was 
 conjectured he. had never heard. At one time in the Hall he 
 gave a lecture on ' Books,' taking for his text, ' And the 
 books,' wherein he taught that all books are worthy of being 
 read that contain useful knowledge; ' not even,' he remarked,. 
 ' excepting those which treat of the art of war : it is writ- 
 ten in 2 Samuel i. 18, "Also he bade them teach the 
 children of Judah the use of the bow : behold, it is written 
 in the book of .Jasher."' In general, he was no admirer of 
 works of fiction. Certainly of the habit of novel-reading he 
 highly disapproved, and made the very evident distinction
 
 230 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 between the occasional perusal of such a work of the best 
 class, and the emasculating custom of greedily devouring 
 every tawdry romance that rises only to disappear. He had 
 wisdom enough to hail the ' Waverley Novels,' believing that 
 before them would flee away the trashy stuff by which our 
 grandmothers had been vitiated. The circumstance of Sir 
 Walter Scott being one of his nearest neighbours, no doubt 
 helped to this. It is true he had ' passed away ' ere the 
 ' Great Unknown ' had been unveiled : still, in common with 
 all men, he had his convictions that his neighbour at Abbots- 
 ford had more than something to do with these bewitching 
 tales. This just the more whetted his appetite for each 
 successive spell of the Northern Wizard. He only declined 
 to read these novels after the publication of ' Old Mortality,' 
 wherein the character and conduct of the Scottish Covenan- 
 ters are so impiously caricatured. The admirable critique of 
 the late Dr M'Crie decided him, and multitudes besides, to 
 give no further countenance to these remarkable fictions. 
 This resolution has nothing whatever to do with bigotry. 
 Dr Lawsou's heart was not less enlightened than his judg- 
 ment ; hence, though fully alive to the beauty and witchery 
 of the Waverley novels, he at once, on the call of duty, pre- 
 sented them as a burnt-offering on the altar of a piety as 
 patriotic as it was Christian. In short, from all we have 
 seen and heard of the library at Selkirk, we conclude that it 
 must have been both the abode and resort of wisdom and 
 devotion. Here he lived and loved, prayed and persevered, 
 took and gave, wept and laughed, and grew in wisdom and 
 holiness as he neared the better land. Here he had his 
 ' sanctum sanctorum,' 
 
 ' Whose chamber all was hanged about with rolls, 
 Some made in books, some in long parchment scrolls, 
 That were all moth-eaten and fall of canker holes : 
 Amidst them all he in a chair was set, 
 Tossing and turning them withouten end.'
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 231 
 
 What a pity that some Boswell did not then live to have 
 taken down from his lips the innumerable escapes of a learn- 
 ing as extensive as it was pious, and as sound in judgment as 
 it was copious of truth. The premeditated and casual utter- 
 ances of such a man, during fifty years of scholarly and godly 
 life, might have outshone the rare and meteor-like glimpses 
 which Boswell has given of the great lexicographer. Truly 
 did Dr Brown say of him, ' The world will never know all that 
 was in that man.' 
 
 Dr Lawson's love for and study of the Bible merit special 
 notice. He may have had his equals here, but it is difficult 
 to conceive of any superior to him. To understand and in- 
 wardly digest that book, was his unceasing care. He did 
 what he could, and he did it right nobly. He found that it 
 ' made him wiser than all his teachers,' and educated him for 
 heaven and eternity. The best book in his library, however, 
 was the law of God written in his own heart. Every even- 
 ing, before retiring to rest, he perused a portion of 'the 
 Word.' He might have contented himself latterly with 
 simply conning over a chapter in his memory, for it was 
 almost all there ; but he considered it his duty to show this 
 mark of respect for God's truth, and also to exemplify the 
 practice before his family. He assigned, as his reason, his 
 wish, during sleepless minutes or hours, to have a selected 
 passage at hand on which to meditate. Meditation, with 
 him, was a sine qua non, he neither could nor would do with- 
 out it ; and to his consistency and intenseness in this, may be 
 traced a large amount of that scriptural element with which 
 his conversations, discourses, and writings abound. He was 
 also, like his father, a very early riser in the morning, and he 
 strongly recommended the habit to his pupils. 'I have 
 known,' he said, ' some whose habits were not regular, and 
 yet' they enjoyed comparatively good health, and lived to a 
 good old age. On inquiry, I found that they were early risers. 
 But I never knew any to enjov either sound health or live to
 
 232 THE LIFE OF DE LAWSON. 
 
 a great age, who lay long in bed in the morning.' On getting 
 up, he retired to his study, not so much, however, as he told, 
 to read, as to meditate and pray. He often expressed him- 
 self in rather strong terms upon this subject, insisting upon 
 his friends and people and pupils devoting a much larger 
 portion of time to it than what is commonly given. During 
 these really holy matins he was understood not to be en- 
 gaged in any of his severer studies, though it sometimes 
 did happen that, after his father's example, long before the 
 break of day, he had performed some substantial piece of 
 work for the pulpit or the press, perhaps executed some 
 Gospel ploughshare wherewith to break up the 'fallow ground.' 
 It was, however, his wish that both his family and friends 
 should not give him credit for hard study at these times, as 
 he said to one to whom he was mentioning the matter, ' I do 
 not read; I meditate and pray.' That he lived in habits of 
 close fellowship with God, cannot be doubted. A man who 
 was so faithful and conscientious in all things, would not fail 
 in this one ; so holy a man must have lived near to the source 
 of all holiness and blessedness. His countenance was the in- 
 dex of the 'peace of God' that reigned within him ; its ordi- 
 nary expression told that his 'inward man' knew a great deal 
 about the intimacies as well as the intricacies of the Divine 
 mind. Christian imagination, indeed, has no finer subject to 
 work upon than these midnight studies of ' The Book' by the 
 confessors and righteous men of former and latter years. 
 History is not much burdened by telling the story of others 
 who, in the night watches, gave up their souls to reading, and 
 research, and thought. All knowledge is, in a sense, sacred, 
 and there is a degree of majestic importance about the intense 
 application of a human mind towards its acquisition ; but we 
 pass into a ' Holy of Holies' when we go into the closet and 
 watch the lamps that burn around the student of ' the deep 
 things of God.' There is a power of thought in that solitary 
 reading and study of Scripture by enwrapt and seraphic
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 233 
 
 minds, that is truly thrilling. In Lawson's case it seems to 
 mount up to the sublime. He must have had some glorious 
 spiritual illuminations as he thus passed his hours of solitary 
 devotion. We are told that when the German scholar, 
 Tischendorf, at last discovered what he had been long in 
 search of the MS. copy of the Septuagint, and also a com- 
 plete copy of the Greek New Testament, which had been hid 
 for ages in the monastery on Mount Sinai he carried them 
 off in ecstasy to his cell, alone gloated over his treasure, and 
 poured out his heart in passionate gratitude to God. He 
 could find no sleep to his eyes that night, and sat up tran- 
 scribing portions of the precious Codex. As profound, 
 though less excited, were the pourings out of Lawson's mind 
 over the Hebrew and the Greek of Scripture. Great joy 
 had the German when he unbound the cotton rag and pos- 
 sessed himself of the ' Codex Sinaiticus ;' but not more so than 
 had the Selkirk student, as from year to year he untied the 
 Scriptures from their printed page, and transcribed them on 
 his own heart and life. 
 
 To our mind, while accepting Dr Lawson's own account of 
 his early morning work, this prolonged period of what he 
 calls meditation, must have included a vast amount of what 
 was ultimately proved to be ' hard study.' 
 
 The scholarship of Dr Lawson was in nothing so manifest 
 as in his thorough acquaintance with the original languages 
 of Scripture. He could read the Old Testament in Hebrew, 
 and the New Testament in Greek, quite easily ; and, as often 
 as it was needful, quoted from them, apparently as much at 
 home as when he employed the words of the English transla- 
 tion. In the Hall, when lecturing to the students or con- 
 ducting an examination in the Hebrew and Greek versions of 
 the Bible, he sometimes appeared without any copy of either. 
 Whatever the passages to be read might be, he went on as 
 readily as if he were reading from copy. It did not seem to 
 matter much to him whether he had the book or not ; for
 
 234 THE LIFE OF DE LAWSON. 
 
 sometimes, when he had one, it was seen to be lying before 
 him upside down, and he proceeded in the same way, follow- 
 ing the verses from memory, in lieu of the printed page. So 
 prodigious, indeed, was his memory, that, after having once 
 perused a book, he was master of its contents, and in whatever 
 language that book might be written. It is said that, having 
 read the sermons of Ralph Erskine, he had them almost entirely 
 by heart. And it is well known that he had all the epistles 
 of Paul in the Greek upon his mind, could repeat them as 
 though he had been a Greek himself, and with as much fluency 
 as he did the hymns of his childhood. If the old adage be true, 
 that ' great wits have short memories,' there could be little 
 wittiness in him ; for seldom, if ever, is such a memory as he 
 had to be found among men. He had nearly the whole of 
 God's Word on his mind. The possibility of this has been 
 disputed. It is nevertheless quite true. By the mouths of 
 many competent witnessed it has been affirmed over and 
 over again. But we have happily his own word for it; 
 and, from the knowledge of the man's matchless truthfulness 
 and unaffected modesty, which by this time the reader has 
 ascertained, the testimony of his own mouth must be credited. 
 For this interesting piece of information we are indebted to 
 the Rev. Dr Simpson, of Sanquhar, who was one of his 
 students, and who is happily still alive. He writes : 
 
 ' His prodigious memory was well known ; few men were 
 so well endowed in this respect as he was. It was averred, 
 and with just reason, that he could repeat almost the entire 
 Bible from beginning to end ; and this not only in the English 
 translation, but, in a great measure, also in the Hebrew and 
 Greek. He never was at fault in giving a quotation, in my 
 hearing, in the Hall but once; it was a verse iu the first 
 chapter of the Romans, in Greek. He stopped in the middle of 
 it, and said, " Have any of you young men a Greek Testament? 
 I fear I have experienced a lapsus of memory." And no won- 
 der; for he was at this period on the extreme verge of old age.
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 235 
 
 To show, however, that the story about his being able to 
 repeat the Bible from memory is not merely a popular report, 
 I may mention the witness which the venerable Dr Kidston of 
 Glasgow (long his honoured and confidential friend) bore to 
 the fact, in my hearing, at supper one evening, when I was 
 assisting Dr Macfarlane, of Glasgow, at the dispensation of 
 the sacrament. Dr Kidston was a student at the time, and re- 
 siding in his father's house at Stow. He was anxious to know 
 if all that was said on this point was true. " Mr Lawson," 
 said he, " we have heard that you can repeat from memory 
 the entire Scriptures, and that if the Bible were lost you 
 could restore it ; is this true ? " "I pray God," was the reply, 
 "that such a calamity may never come upon the world;" and 
 then, as he oft did, shading his eyes, and passing his hand over 
 his hair, he added : " but if it did come, I think, with the ex- 
 ception of two or three chapters in the Old Testament, I might 
 restore it all. I am not sure that I could give the Proverbs 
 in their order, but I could repeat them one way or another." 
 Young Kidston then asked if he would submit to an examin- 
 ation by him. " I dare say, William, I might." The Bible 
 was then opened at random, and Mr Kidston proceeded to 
 interrogate him as to the contents of such and such chapters. 
 An analysis of the entire chapter was given first, and then he 
 repeated every verse from beginning to end. Not satisfied with 
 one trial, Mr Kidston went from place to place throughout 
 the entire Bible, and never once found Mr Lawson at fault.' 
 
 To this testimony we can add that of Dr Johnston, of 
 Limekilns, whc\ informed the compiler that he and some other 
 students were at tea in the Professor's one evening. Mrs 
 Lawson took pleasure in drawing her husband out, so as to 
 appear well before the young men ; and on this occasion she 
 asked him if it was true that he had all the Word of God 
 upon his memory. He made a similar reply to the same 
 question by Dr Kidston, admitting that he had, but specifying 
 his difficulty about the precise order of some of the Proverbs.
 
 236 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 This feat of memory, then, was no rain boast. His 
 students, and the men of that day who waited on his ministry, 
 testify that he was so perfectly familiar with the Word of 
 God, as to be regularly in the habit, both in private and public 
 life, of quoting from any part of the sacred volume with per- 
 fect accuracy, specifying also the chapter and verse to which 
 reference was made. The following are interesting illustra- 
 tions of this marvellous gift : 
 
 The late Dr Jamieson, of Scone, very soon after his ordina- 
 tion in 1791, went to Aberdeen to visit Mr Scott (father-in- 
 law to the late Dr Balmer, of Berwick). Dr Lawson was on a 
 visit there at the same time. ' I knew,' said Dr Jamieson once 
 to my father, ' that Dr Lawson had a most intimate acquain- 
 tance with the Scriptures, and a rare power of exposition. I 
 therefore availed myself of this opportunity to ask him every 
 now and then his views of difficult passages of Scripture. I 
 found him to be very obliging and communicative, and derived 
 most important knowledge from his sagacious and learned ob- 
 servations. Two things particularly struck me. In no one in- 
 stance did he ever open the Bible to look at the passage, and 
 he always reasoned from the preceding and subsequent con- 
 text in the same manner as if the Bible had been open before 
 him.' Again, one of his students had delivered a discourse 
 before him in the Divinity Hall. In the evening of the same 
 day he called upon the Professor, who, in a little, adverted 
 to the circumstance. The text from which the student 
 had preached was Psalm Ixxvii. 19, ' Thy way is in the sea, 
 and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are 
 not known.' ' You treated these words,' said the Professor, 
 'as meaning that the ways of God are mysterious.' The 
 student assented, remarking that he thought such was the 
 view generally entertained. ' I do not object,' replied Dr 
 Lawson; 'but do you not think that there is an allusion 
 there to the passing of the children of Israel through the 
 Red Sea?' The student admitted that probably there
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 237 
 
 might be, but that it had not occurred to him. ' Yes, it 
 must be so,' said the Doctor ; ' for it is immediately added, 
 " Thou leddest Thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses 
 and Aaron." ' In a valuable communication received from 
 another of Dr Lawson's distinguished students the Rev. Dr 
 Pringle, of Auchterarder the following very illustrative 
 incident is mentioned. One Sabbath evening, Dr Lawson 
 had determined to do what, as a rule, he never did preach 
 an evening sermon. He took for his text, Galatians vi. 11, 
 ' Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with 
 mine own hands.' After'some preliminary observations con- 
 cerning Paul as a bad penman, and therefore using an 
 amanuensis, he said that his object in the discourse was to 
 give an outline or syllabus of the contents of the whole 
 epistle. He then closed the Bible, and, with perfect confi- 
 dence in his memory, followed the Apostle from clause to 
 clause, in a style of exegesis alike compressed, comprehensive, 
 and lucid. Dr Pringle says, ' I never heard a more masterly, 
 and, in any respect, a nobler Biblical discourse in my life. 
 The discourse was not au hour in length, and yet it embraced 
 the entire scope of the epistle. I could not help thinking, 
 how high must be that man's estimate of the Book of books.' 
 He was conversing on another occasion with Dr Pringle, 
 and highly commending Professor Brown's system of divinity. 
 ' I advise you,' he said, ' to < read Mr Brown's tract on 
 " Sanctification," and especially to commit to memory all the 
 passages of Scripture quoted therein. I remember doing 
 this myself: it was not Mr Brown's book, but one of a 
 similar kind ; and I derived great advantage from it.' The 
 work of Mr Brown here referred to, bristles with texts. At 
 this time, too, he strongly recommended his student to com- 
 mit a Hebrew psalm occasionally to memory, and thus make 
 himself familiar with the vocabulary. 
 
 The next instance of this peculiar gift used to be told by 
 my father. Dr Lawson had been assisting in Duufermliue at
 
 238 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 the dispensation of the Lord's Supper. At the close of the 
 public services on the Monday, the brethren had met before 
 parting, to spend an hour in devotion and godly conversation. 
 My father had invited to meet Dr Lawson a most excellent 
 minister of the Established Church, with whom he and Dr 
 Husband were upon the most friendly terms viz., the late 
 Rev. Mr Thomson of Carnock, one of the successors of the 
 godly Gillespie, who founded the Relief Church, now happily 
 an integral part of the United Presbyterian Church. About 
 that time, Dr M'Culloch, of Dairsie, had just published his 
 Commentary on Isaiah. His evangelical brethren in the 
 Church were proud of the learning displayed in it, as tending 
 to the credit of their scholarship. Good Mr Thomson, but 
 too well pleased to expatiate on the merits of the book before 
 the Selkirk Professor, quoted Dr M'Culloch's exposition of a 
 certain passage of the prophet, as affording proof of the 
 talent and learning of the author. When he finished, which 
 was generally after the patience of his auditors was gone, 
 Dr Husband appealed to Dr Lawson to give an opinion. 
 With a little hesitation, the Doctor said, ' The view which 
 Mr Thomson has quoted as Dr M'Culloch's is taken from 
 Vitringa, but the original text will not bear it out.' Having 
 repeated the whole passage in the Hebrew, easily and accu- 
 rately, he entered upon a critical examination of the original 
 text, showing a complete mastery of the terms, structure, and 
 pith of the passage. Mr Thomson was surprised : the 
 brethren were delighted, and all were profited. He himself 
 was the only unmoved one in the room, regarding the whole 
 as an ordinary affair, and commanding equal admiration for 
 his humility and his erudition. 
 
 Dr Pringle tells that on one occasion Dr Lawson was in 
 Edinburgh, and called upon the late Mr Clapperton, merchant, 
 with whom he had a business account to settle. Mr Clapper- 
 ton invited him to dinner, to meet with an intelligent merchant. 
 He went, and in the course of the evening the man of letters
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 239 
 
 and the man of merchandise got into a most interesting con- 
 versation on the commercial interchanges of the nations of 
 Europe. The gentleman was not only delighted, but con- 
 founded, with the amazing accuracy and extent of the good 
 man's information. He seemed to know every place and 
 everything, and was as conversant with the subjects as if he 
 had made trade his study. The merchant afterwards con- 
 fessed that he had found Dr Lawson's observations instructive 
 beyond anything he had ever listened to. 
 
 Sir J. Pringle, of Hayning, had a profound respect for 
 him, and took great pleasure in having him over at ' the 
 House.' A number of his noble and political friends, at one 
 time, came down from London to Hayning. They were 
 curious to know if there were any such folks as were called 
 ' characters ' in the neighbourhood. Sir James at once 
 thought of the Selkirk Professor, and told them that he had 
 for a neighbour, perhaps one of the wisest and best men 
 alive. It was agreed that he should be invited to dine. He 
 came : the guests were all on the tiptoe of expectation ; but 
 were sadly chagrined when they beheld the simple and un- 
 pretending Seceding minister. Dr Lawson was not aware, 
 was never aware, that he was anything of consequence to 
 company, and for a while was treated with neglect, if not with 
 disrespect. Sir James, however, chuckled at the thought of 
 the surprise which he was sure, in the course of the evening, 
 to give them. The opportunity came : the British Constitu- 
 tion was discussed ; and by-and-bye the conversation fell into 
 the merits and demerits of the Spanish Constitution, when 
 the worthy man poured forth such a mass and variety of in- 
 formation on the whole subject of Spain and its politics, as to 
 enchain every one at the table. On parting with them, one 
 of them shook him heartily by the hand, saying, ' Sir, we 
 were only anxious to see you at first as " a character," and 
 now there is not one of us but what is ready almost to 
 worship you.'
 
 240 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 ' Good-bye,' replied the Professor, and rode home. 
 
 The late Mr Clapperton, of Johustone, once tested this 
 wonderful power of memory in another way. He had been 
 reading, with great interest, Gibbon's voluminous work on 
 the Roman Empire ; and soon after finishing it, he paid a 
 visit to his great theological tutor at Selkirk. Somewhat 
 self-important, from the feat of having read Gibbon, Mr 
 Clapperton said to himself, ' For once in my life, I am quali- 
 fied to hold a conversation with Dr Lawsou on history.' He 
 asked him whether he had read the history of the ' Decline 
 and Fall.' ' Yes,' said he, ' I have ; but it is some thirty or 
 forty years since.' This was encouraging to the young 
 pretender, who immediately told that he had only finished 
 reading the book the other day, and commenced giving Dr 
 Lawson an outline of what he remembered to be Gibbon's 
 sentiments on some particular point. He had not proceeded 
 far when the Professor thus interrupted him : ' Stop, sir, 
 that is not the view at all which Gibbon gives.' ' Is it not ? ' 
 queried Mr Clapperton, somewhat taken aback. 'No, sir, 
 it is not ; ' and he at once quoted what Gibbon did say, and 
 quoted the passage verbatim. Mr Clapperton, however, 
 determined to enjoy himself, thought of another portion ot 
 the history, and, confident that he had a most accurate recol- 
 lection of it, he continued the conversation. He had not 
 advanced very far when Dr Lawson again interrupted him : 
 ' No, no, Mr Clapperton, Gibbon gives a very different view 
 of that matter ' and then he quoted the author, as before, 
 verbatim. ' After these two failures,' as Mr Clapperton used 
 to tell, ' I looked carefully round me before I made the next 
 selections ; but they shared the same fate, and so I gave it 
 up in despair.' Mr Clapperton possibly did himself a little 
 injustice when telling this incident, as it is well known that 
 the Selkirk students were not unwilling to say something 
 rather absurd or foolish, for the purpose of drawing out the 
 wit or wisdom of their great tutor.
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 241 
 
 His wonderful knowledge of Scripture was illustrated once 
 in a way alike surprising and graphic. As the friendly light- 
 house in the ocean is guide to the bewildered mariner, so was 
 he to his surrounding brethren. He was to them alike com- 
 ment and commentator. In their Biblical difficulties, they 
 either wrote or rode up to Selkirk, and were never disap- 
 pointed. On one occasion, Mr Shanks, of Jedburgh, was much 
 perplexed with a text. He could make nothing of it ; but, 
 determined not to give way, he ordered his horse, and set off, 
 late in the evening, to Selkirk a distance of fifteen miles. 
 He arrived about one o'clock in the morning. He had to 
 knock oftener than once before he was heard. The door, at 
 length, was opened, and the servant asked who he was, and 
 what brought him at such an hour to the manse. Having 
 replied to all this, he insisted on seeing Dr Lawson. ' He is 
 in bed, and sound asleep hours ago,' said the maiden. ' It 
 matters not,' replied Mr Shanks ; ' I must see him, and you 
 will hold the reins of my horse till I come down.' He knew 
 the Doctor's bed-room ; and, having got leave to enter, all in 
 the dark, he told Dr Lawson his errand. Though somewhat 
 put about, and in a half-dreamy condition, the Professor 
 commenced an exegesis upon the text in question, quoted 
 the context, referred to the parallel passages in foregoing 
 and succeeding chapters, and cleared up the whole subject to 
 his friend's satisfaction. Mr Shanks then thanked Dr Lawson, 
 bade him good morning, quietly slipped out of the room, re- 
 mounted his horse, and rode home again to Jedburgh. In 
 the morning, about five o'clock, Dr Lawson awoke : ' My 
 dear,' he said to Mrs Lawson, ' I have had a dream, a very 
 pleasant dream, to-night. I dreamed that Mr Shanks, good 
 man, came all the way up from Jedburgh to consult me 
 about a text that troubled him.' ' It was no dream,' said 
 Mrs Lawson ; ' Mr Shanks was here, in this very room, and 
 I overheard all you and he had to say.' It was with difficulty 
 she could get him persuaded to believe that it had been so. 
 
 Q
 
 242 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 On going down stairs, he inquired at the servant if Mr 
 Shanks had come during the night, and in what room he was 
 sleeping. The servant assured him that the Jedburgh 
 minister had really been in the house, but added, ' He is not 
 in the house now, sir ; he is at Jedburgh long ere this time.' 
 
 It thus appears that, though Lawson was not what John 
 Wesley called himself, ' homo unius libri,' a man of one book, 
 he was eminently a reader and a master of the best book in the 
 world. His Bible lore was the secret of his pulpit power. 
 His classical and philosophical acquirements no doubt adorned 
 and enriched his discourses, but he never allowed them to 
 veil the heavenly light, or silence the Divine oracles. They 
 lay at his hand by tens and hundreds, and he quoted his 
 authorities as if they were open before him. Few men were 
 ever so independent of books as he. His memory was a 
 library. He seemed to retain the substance of every book he 
 had read, and in bringing forth his reasons, never seemed to 
 be exhausted. Many wondered at his facility at producing 
 sentiments and criticisms from the most recondite authors, on 
 the spur of the moment, and as if he had just come from 
 consulting them. Surely he might have appropriated what an- 
 other great man once affirmed of himself, ' I am all memory.' 
 
 And from the very beginning it was so. The conversation 
 reported between him and the ' young Kidston' at Stow, took 
 place very shortly after his ordination. From a child he had 
 known the Holy Scriptures, and when he became a man of 
 God he was 'thoroughly furnished unto all good works,' 
 especially unto the good work of a Christian bishop. He 
 could not, therefore, fail to be both useful and respected in 
 the pulpit. He was thus no 'stump orator,' but a calm, 
 earnest, and sincere ambassador from God to man. ' I well 
 remember his preaching,' writes Dr Simpson, ' and one thing 
 that struck me was the remarkable simplicity that pervaded 
 it. There was nothing which the cultivated or even the 
 fastidious mind would be inclined to repudiate, while all that
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 
 
 he said was plain even to the most uninstructed of his 
 audience. All seemed to understand him; and as he was 
 never tiresome, the people seldom became inattentive. I do 
 not forget the gentle way he once took to reprove sleepers in 
 the church ; he did not administer pointed reproof, but only 
 ceased speaking for a minute. Immediately all heads were up : 
 he would then mildly say, "Are ye not a strange people? when 
 I speak, ye sleep ; and when I cease to speak, ye are all awake.'" 
 Such a man and such a scholar as this, conld not fail to be 
 duly appreciated by the religious denomination to which he be- 
 longed, and by the friends and patrons of learning in general. 
 Accordingly, as we shall have to narrate in a following 
 chapter, he was elected to the Chair of Theology, left vacant 
 by the death of Professor Brown, of Haddington. Some 
 years after this, his more intimate friends thought of obtain- 
 ing for him academic honours. In these days, this showed 
 considerable confidence and pluck. Though educated in the 
 Scottish Universities, no title whatever, with one exception, 
 had ever been conferred upon any of the ministers of the 
 Secession. These good things were carefully preserved for 
 the sons of the Kirk. The conferring at this time of the 
 degree of D.D. upon a Burgher minister by a Scottish uni- 
 versity, deserves more than a passing notice ; its history is 
 interesting. Would that all since conferred had been as 
 honourably gotten, and as worthily used ! It was, then, after 
 he had been thirty-six years in the ministry, and nineteen 
 in the professorship, that means were set on foot to obtain 
 for him this honorary academic title. My father, one of his 
 most enthusiastic friends, originated the movement. He 
 mentioned it to other friends and admirers of the Professor, 
 and they agreed to make the application to the Senatus of 
 the University of Aberdeen. When it became somewhat 
 certain that the application would be favourably entertained, 
 it was thought proper to sound Mr Lawson himself upon the 
 matter. Consequently one of these friends paid him a visit,
 
 244 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSOX. 
 
 told him what had been done, and asked him if he would 
 accept the honour sought for him by his brethren. He was 
 astonished and pained at first, and, for once in his life, felt 
 himself puzzled and perplexed. A considerable time elapsed 
 before he could make up his mind as to what he ought to do. 
 At last he sent the following reply : ' I never aspired to literary 
 honours ; I do not feel myself to be worthy of them : but 
 since the partial esteem and love of my brethren have sought 
 this honour for me, and obtained it from the liberality of the 
 men of the North, I will accept of it with gratitude and 
 pleasure ; and from the great love I have for my brethren, 
 and the high esteem with which I regard learned men of 
 liberal spirit, I will do all in my power to be more deserving 
 of their esteem and love than I have ever been.' Immediately 
 after this he received a letter from Mr Ross, of Aberdeen, of 
 which the following is an extract : 
 
 ' On the 28th ult., the University of Marischal College 
 conferred on you the honour of Doctor in Divinity. This 
 you should have been informed of before now, but I waited 
 until Dr Brown handed me the diploma, which he did to day. 
 It shall be forwarded in a few days to Mr Peddie, who will 
 get it conveyed to you. Rev. Mr Glass, Mr and Mrs Scott 
 (parents of the author of the " Visits to Paris"), Mr R. 
 Maclaurin, and myself, desire to congratulate you on this 
 occasion. Mr Henderson, Lauder, will give you some ac- 
 count of the manner of obtaining the degree ; meantime, I 
 would beg leave to mention, that to the Rev. Dr Douglass, 
 Galashiels; Dr Hardy, Ashkirk; and Mr Robert Clark, 
 student, your friends here feel themselves much obliged for their 
 friendly assistance. On Wednesday I shall send you an Aber- 
 deen newspaper, where you will see the degree mentioned.' 
 
 In two or three days after this, he received the following 
 congratulatory letter from one who not only did not envy 
 him this academic distinction, though from his own attain- 
 ments he was himself well deserving of the like, but had, along
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 245 
 
 with his colleague, done everything in his power to help it 
 forward : 
 
 Dr Husband to Dr Lawson. 
 
 ' DUNFERMLINB, 3d Dec. 1806. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, Suffer me to congratulate you on the 
 honour that has been conferred upon you. The Marischal 
 College of Aberdeen is entitled to credit for its liberality. It 
 is the first instance, I presume, in which the honour of D.D. 
 has been conferred on a Dissenter, on the sole ground of his 
 having learning, genius, and piety. Dr Young's degree 
 stood on a different footing. It was the reward of his ser- 
 vices as a political writer, at a time when the minds of the 
 multitude were bewildered and agitated by theories which they 
 did not understand. I understand that Principal Brown, my 
 old class-fellow at school and college, was your warm friend, 
 from the first moment the proposal was made to him. 
 
 ' If any person is to be blamed for obtruding an honour 
 upon you which you did not covet, it is my colleague. Mr 
 Macfarlane was the primum mobile in the business, and has all 
 along conducted the necessary correspondence with friends in 
 Aberdeen, and others, from whom the necessary information 
 was to be obtained. Our old friend, Sandie Scot, with Mr 
 Ross, a merchant in Aberdeen, and Mr Glass, managed the 
 business with the Professors. If your friends have erred, I 
 am sure you will impute it to the high respect they have for 
 your character. The College did not proceed rashly. It 
 was after they had made the proper inquiries, and had 
 perused your publications, that they came to the resolution 
 of conferring the honour. 
 
 ' The diploma is to be sent to North Queensferry, by the 
 mail coach on Friday morning, where a person will be in 
 waiting to bring it to Dunfermline. It will be sent to Selkirk 
 by the way that you shall direct. 
 
 ' About two mouths ago, Mr and Mrs Macfarlane lost an
 
 246 THE LIFE OF DE LAWSON. 
 
 amiable child, a daughter, about three years old. They 
 deeply felt the affliction, but, I trust, have been enabled to 
 sustain it as becomes those who believe that our heavenly 
 Father takes from us our earthly comforts, that He may give 
 us better in their stead. 
 
 ' What an awful storm has burst on the Continent ! Is not 
 our own hemisphere become dark and gloomy beyond all pre- 
 cedent in our history ? Happy the man who has for his Friend, 
 Him who rides on the whirlwind, and directs the storm. 
 
 ' I beg my best compliments to Mrs Lawson, and to my 
 young brother George, when you see him. I am his debtor 
 for services rendered doubly acceptable by the ease and 
 readiness with which they were performed. I promise myself 
 the pleasure of hearing from you when convenient, and remain, 
 my dear Doctor, yours most truly, ' JAMES HUSBAND.' 
 
 The Dr Young referred to in this letter, was the Anti- 
 burgher minister at Hawick. After the breaking out of the 
 French Revolution, he published a political pamphlet, en- 
 titled, ' Essays on Government, Revolutions, etc.,' which 
 smacked strongly of Toryism. The Lord Chancellor of the 
 day pronounced it to be the best he had seen. Soon thereafter 
 he received D.D. from King's College, Aberdeen. He died in 
 1806, in the 29th year of his ministry. Besides the pamphlet 
 referred to, he was the author of ' Sermons on Various Sub- 
 jects' (3 vols.), and of 'A History of the French War' (2 vols.). 
 
 The congratulations on his D.D. would have been incom- 
 plete without one from his old tried friend at Lochgelly, and 
 here it is : 
 
 Rev. D. Greig to Dr. Lawson. 
 
 GLASGOW, 8th January 1807. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, I have been purposing for some time 
 to let you know that my friendship for you continues un- 
 abated, and that your image is often present to my mind.
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 247 
 
 No good reason can be assigned by me for being so long in 
 acknowledging your letter, containing the warm expressions 
 of your friendship for me and my family. I am at present in 
 Glasgow, where I intend to remain till next week. You are 
 often mentioned by your numerous friends here, who all 
 rejoice in the literary honour which was lately conferred upon 
 you. I hope you will believe me when I say, that none of 
 your friends enjoys more satisfaction in that mark of distinc- 
 tion than myself. May you long live to enjoy it, and render 
 your numerous friends happy by your friendship and edifying 
 talents. I dare say you were not a little surprised when you 
 first received the intelligence of the honour done you, and 
 felt no small degree of happiness on perceiving how warmly 
 your friends had interested themselves on your behalf. I 
 much wish to see you, that I may talk over the matter with 
 you, and hear from your lips the emotions which you felt on 
 the occasion ; but I must forego that satisfaction for some 
 time, as I much doubt if I shall see you before the meeting 
 of Synod. I left Mrs Greig and the family well ; and we 
 rejoiced together when we read in the newspaper that you 
 were made D.D. I lately received a letter from Robert, arid 
 find that he was well at the date of it. Several people here 
 have occasion to be in that country, and see him ; and it is a 
 great satisfaction to me and Mrs Greig to learn, that he 
 behaves himself with sobriety, and is attentive to business. 
 I need not tell you that the happiness or misery of parents in 
 this world, depends not a little on the good or ill behaviour 
 of their children. It is our comfort, that the hearts of our 
 children are in the hand of the Lord, and that His covenant 
 contains promises of grace in their behalf, which we are 
 authorized to believe and to plead. You will, perhaps, have 
 heard that a number of Ralph Wardlaw's people have turned 
 Baptists, and have left him, among whom is a daughter of 
 Mr Ewing and her husband. Ralph is about to commence 
 author, by publishing Lectures on the 4th chapter to the
 
 248 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Komans, in which he intends to establish the doctrine of 
 infant baptism. I am, dear friend, yours most kindly, 
 
 ' DAVID GREIG.' 
 
 On the receipt of Dr Husband's letter, he sent this reply : 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Husband. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, December 1806. 
 
 ' Mr DEAR FRIEND, I certainly feel a lively gratitude for 
 the kindness of Mr Macfarlane, and my other friends, who 
 have put themselves to so much trouble to procure an addi- 
 tion to my respectability in the world; and I am better 
 pleased with the success of their endeavours, than I would 
 have been, if Napoleon had thought fit to bestow upon me 
 one of those kingdoms or principalities which he has con- 
 quered, or is about to conquer. 
 
 ' How amazing is the success of that great man ! (for a 
 great man he certainly is) : what shall be the end of these 
 wonders? God only knows and that is sufficient. He 
 knows how to execute His own purposes, which are always 
 worthy of His invariable righteousness, and consistent with 
 the mercy promised to Zion. 
 
 ' Your loss of a child is an affliction common to mankind ; 
 but I hope that it is sweetened by consolations peculiar to 
 them that love God, both to yourself and to your partner in 
 sorrow. The comforting power of the Gospel is one part of 
 that evidence of its Divine original, which is understood only 
 by them that believe. 
 
 ' You will let Mr and Mrs Macfarlane know that I sin- 
 cerely sympathize with them. Their affliction might have 
 been attended with circumstances much more trying to their 
 fortitude ; but they certainly need that comfort which God 
 only can give, and which He richly communicates in His own 
 time and way to all who set a due value on those sources of 
 consolation which are opened to us in the Gospel. Blessed
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 249 
 
 be the speaker of those gracious words, " Suffer little children 
 to come unto Me, for of such is the kingdom of God." 
 
 ' May you never want the joys of friendship, to which you 
 are so well entitled, nor those richer joys which we can ex- 
 pect only from the exceeding rich mercy of our God. I am, 
 yours affectionately, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson recognised the honour done to him, by sending 
 copies of his ' Lectures on Joseph ' to the University. In 
 acknowledging these, Mr Ross writes : 
 
 ' The difficulties in the way of obtaining D.D. were by no 
 means few, or easy to be got over ; but the very friendly 
 and polite conduct of Drs Brown, Hamilton, and Professor 
 Beattie, made them more easy than they would otherwise 
 have been. The two latter gentlemen are very partial to Mr 
 Glass. I was not in the least acquainted with Dr Brown, 
 but got a friend of mine, a clergyman in the neighbourhood, 
 to speak to him. The Doctor has much of the gentleman 
 about him, and, I hope, of the Christian too. I heard 
 him on Sabbath evening preach a most admirable discourse, 
 for the Female Society, from Acts ix. 36. It was strictly 
 orthodox. 
 
 All the friends of Dr Lawson felt as if a personal compli- 
 ment had been paid to them by the degree from Aberdeen ; 
 such a thing had been hitherto deemed almost impossible. 
 To some High Tory Churchmen it was most offensive ; they 
 looked upon the University as having dishonoured itself, and 
 lowered the value of their academic distinctions. All who 
 knew Dr Lawson, however, thought differently ; and, by-and- 
 bye, when he came to be better known over the Church, the 
 verdict was almost unanimous on the side of Marischal Col- 
 lege. A proposal, in some way to recognise Principal 
 Brown's conduct in the matter, was readily taken up. The 
 general feeling in reference to the whole business of this first 
 Burgher diploma will be best understood, from the following
 
 250 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 letter, addressed by my father, at the time, to Dr Adam 
 Thomson, of Coldstream : 
 
 Rev. J. Macfarlane to Dr Thomson. 
 
 ' DUNFEBMLINE, 13th Oct. 1807. 
 
 ' DEAR SIR, Some of Dr Lawson's friends have resolved 
 to make a present of a piece of plate to Dr Brown, of Aber- 
 deen, for the very handsome part he acted in procuring the 
 diploma for our much respected Selkirk friend. Had he 
 been so disposed, he might have demanded (as fees connected 
 with the granting the D.D.) L.18 or L.20 sterling ; but he 
 generously refused it when offered. Besides, I have been 
 informed that he has suffered many gibes from the Estab- 
 lished clergy of the north, for conferring such an honour 
 upon a Dissenter. These gibes, I have been told, he has 
 uniformly repelled, by declaring that no part of his conduct 
 in life gave him more pleasure, on reflection, than his obtain- 
 ing, for the worthy object in question, the honour of D.D. 
 
 ' Now, my dear sir, I hope the plan which Dr Lawson's 
 friends have in contemplation, not to suffer such generous and 
 liberal conduct on the part of Dr Brown to go unrewarded, 
 will meet with your cordial approbation. To accomplish it, 
 we will require, it is calculated, about L.40 sterling. The only 
 difficulty in the way is just the raising of this sum. I presume 
 that you, as a zealous friend of Dr Lawsou will try to raise 
 among your acquaintances, and particularly among your co- 
 presbyters, a few pounds say L.10 or L.12. Whatever you 
 do, I hope you will do it immediately, as it is intended to settle 
 the business about the end of this year. By transmitting what 
 yon collect to Mr Peddie, Edinburgh, it will be applied to 
 the above purpose. I am happy to add, from information 
 received from some better acquainted with you than I am, 
 that you will bless me for engaging you in this business of 
 friendship and generosity. Believe me to be, dear Sir, yours, 
 with regard. ' JAMES MACFARLANE.'
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 251 
 
 From the well-known attachment of Dr Thomson to his 
 Professor, there can be no doubt of his having given his 
 cordial co-operation in this praiseworthy design to recognise 
 the services of the Aberdeen Principal. This, at all events, 
 is evident. The parties who took the active hand in it were 
 men of highly honourable minds, and proved themselves to be 
 worthy of the success which met their joint application for 
 the degree. There was evidently no jealousy felt, no mean 
 grudging of such an honour to one to whom honour was due ; 
 yea, rather, they seemed all to feel as if the honour was shared 
 in (as it really was) by themselves, and that therefore they were 
 the obligated parties. With the sum raised, two very hand- 
 some silver cups were purchased, and in due tidle presented 
 to Dr Brown. He was much gratified with this unexpected 
 mark of the gratitude of his Seceding friends ; and it produced 
 such a favourable impression, not only on himself, but on 
 many of his academical associates, as to render the repetition 
 of the same graceful conduct on his part through after years, 
 neither so difficult to him, nor so obnoxious to others. Shortly 
 after the presentation, he addressed the following letter to Dr 
 Peddie, of Edinburgh, who had taken, along with the others, 
 an active part in procuring the necessary subscriptions : 
 
 Principal Brown to Di- Peddie. 
 
 ' ABERDEEN, Feb. 10, 1809. 
 
 ' REVEREND SIR, Yours and Mr Lothian's letter, of the 
 18th of last January, and the two elegant and valuable cups 
 which accompanied it, were delivered to me by the Rev. Mr 
 Glass, of this place. 
 
 ' I beg, sir, that you and Mr Lothian will accept and con- 
 vey to the other friends of Dr Lawson, who concurred with 
 you in honouring me with this mark of your approbation, 
 ray sincere and humble thanks. I am sensibly affected by 
 this expression of the good opinion of so many respectable 
 persons, though I am conscious that my conduct, with regard
 
 252 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 to Dr Lawson's diploma, possesses not the merit which they 
 are pleased to ascribe to it. Whatever differences of opinion 
 may exist among Christians, they may all unite in that mutual 
 charity and love which delight to acknowledge, and, when 
 opportunities occur, to know and distinguish the virtues and 
 talents which they respectively possess. To cultivate such a 
 disposition is, I think, in every man's power who feels the in- 
 fluence and energy of the Gospel. 
 
 ' With lively gratitude, I accept the cups as a testimony of 
 such respectable approbation. They will serve to remind 
 me more and more of that genuine moderation and Christian 
 temper which ought to animate all who name the name of 
 Jesus in sincerity. I have the honour to be, Rev. Sir, your 
 obedient and obliged humble servant, ' W. D. BROWN.' 
 
 Some few years after this, we find Dr Lawson in literary 
 and friendly correspondence with Dr Kidd, Professor of 
 Oriental Languages in Marischal College. The letters of 
 Dr Kidd speak for themselves: 
 
 Professor Kidd to Dr Lawson. 
 'MARISCHAL COLLEGE, ABERDEEN. 28th July 1815. 
 
 ' REVEREND SIR, In return for your ' History of Joseph,' 
 accept of my essay on the glorious and ever blessed Trinity. 
 
 ' The work you may probably have heard of, though not 
 seen. Your station and profession infer that you are a com- 
 petent judge of the subject ; and as I have attempted to treat 
 it in a way different from the usual course, I think myself 
 safe in submitting to your judicious and fatherly inspection 
 the performance itself. It will give me great satisfaction to 
 receive your opinion of the work when you have perused it. 
 If favourable, you may be sure it will add to my exertions ; 
 if not, I shall gladly receive information and correction. You 
 will therefore please to express your judgment when you have 
 made up your mind. The importance of the subject demands
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 253 
 
 attention from you, and a desire to be instructed and assisted 
 from me. I count it my duty to ask information, and to 
 submit to correction. And thus submitting the work to 
 your judgment and decision, I find myself at liberty. 
 
 ' With best wishes for your person, and earnest prayers for 
 all the blessings comprehended in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, to rest for ever upon 
 yourself and family, your pupils, and your flock. I am, Rev. 
 Sir, your most humble servant, ' ,J AMKS KIDD.' 
 
 Professor Kidd to Dr Lawson. 
 
 ' ABERDEEN, 6th August 1816. 
 
 ' REVEREND SIR, Having an opportunity by the young 
 man who carried my parcel last year, I write inquiring for 
 your health, and how all things prosper with you, your family, 
 and flock. 
 
 ' I had the pleasure of seeing young Mr Lawson, your son, 
 last winter. It gives me a secret pleasure and satisfaction to 
 see such a promising instrument brought into the Church, I 
 trust, by her great King and Head. We had some conversa- 
 tion- about you and your opinion of my essay. He said, as 
 you wrote, that you had not time when it arrived to give it a 
 careful perusal. I hope, since its arrival, you have found 
 time to turn your attention to the way in which I have treated 
 the subject, and that you are free from the absurd prejudice 
 that, because we cannot in all respects comprehend the sub- 
 ject, therefore we should not venture to apply reasoning to 
 it. Nothing can be more preposterous. It might as well be 
 said that, because we cannot comprehend any one of the 
 Divine perfections, therefore we should not venture to apply 
 reasoning to it. There is not the smallest difference between 
 the two cases, only we are accustomed to the one and not to 
 the other. If we may discover the being of God by reason- 
 ing from the effect to the cause, we may, with the very same 
 propriety, discover the adorable persons in the ever blessed
 
 254 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Trinity. For, after we have found out the being of God by 
 reasoning, we have only to go one step further, and inquire, Is 
 this God, whom we have discovered by the light of nature, a 
 moral Being ? And if so, that moment my train of reasoning 
 presents itself to lead us to the adorable Trinity. I find all 
 the Independents, both in England and Scotland, against my 
 essay. And why ? Because every man of them denies the 
 eternity of our Lord's Sonship. Even Mr Wardlaw, who 
 has opposed the Sociuians so much, gives up the one half of 
 the argument by denying the eternity of our Lord's Sonship. 
 If our Lord's eternal Sonship be given up, the doctrine of the 
 Trinity can never be defended. All the Anabaptists join the 
 Independents in this. All the Welsh Episcopalians do the 
 same. And, alas! how many others. It is even doubtful 
 whether all Seceders be effectually informed upon this im- 
 portant doctrine. I send you half a dozen of copies of 
 critiques written upon my essay by Dr Gregory of Woolwich, 
 intended for insertion in the Eclectic Review, which the con- 
 ductors of that work refused to insert, because either my 
 essay or their denial of our Lord's eternal Sonship must fall. 
 There was also a review of it in the Methodist Magazine for 
 January last, and in the Church of England Magazine May 
 last, both favourable. 
 
 ' Now, reverend sir, I entreat you, for the truth's sake, 
 point out to me what you may think exceptionable, and do 
 help me to define the truth. I have no object or end but 
 this. I have incurred the expense of L.300 sterling on the 
 publication, solely for the truth's sake. Do help me. 
 
 ' Long may you live to support and help to spread the 
 truth as it is in Jesus. I am, Rev. Sir, your most obedient 
 humble servant, ' JAMES KIDD.' 
 
 The following are the books which Dr Lawson in his life- 
 time published, and which met with very general acceptation 
 even in these non-reading days :
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 255 
 
 I. Considerations of the Overture lying before the Associate Synod, 
 on the Power of the Civil Magistrate in matters of Religion. 1797. 
 
 II. A Sermon, entitled, 'The Joy of Parents in Wise Children. 
 1798. 
 
 III. Discourses on the Book of Esther, with a few Sermons appended. 
 1804. 
 
 IV. Lectures on the Book of Ruth, with a few Discourses on the 
 Sovereignty and Efficacy of Grace. 1805. 
 
 V. Lectures on the History of Joseph. 2 vols. 1 807. 
 
 VI. A Sermon, preached before the Edinburgh Missionary Society. 
 1808. 
 
 VII. Sermons on the Duty of Parents to their Children, etc. 1809. 
 
 VIII. Sermons to the Aged, etc. 1810. 
 
 About a year after his death, was published in two volumes 
 his 'Exposition of the Book of Proverbs,' 1821 ; and about 
 twelve years after that, were published his ' Discourses on the 
 History of David,' etc., 1833, to which a short memoir of his 
 life is appended by the late Dr H. Belfrage, of Falkirk. 
 
 In addition to all this, it remains to be noted that this 
 indefatigable scholar left behind him about eighty consider- 
 able volumes in manuscript. Among these are to be found 
 disquisitions on ' Justification,' ' Sanctification,' ' The Privi- 
 leges of Believers,' ' Faith,' etc., etc. ; also expositions of 
 Chronicles, the Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel, some of the minor 
 Prophets, the Gospels of Luke and John, the Epistles to the 
 Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, etc., etc. He submitted 
 the exposition of the Romans to the judgment of his friends, 
 Dr Husband and Mr Greig. In the letters of Mr Greig to 
 the Selkirk manse, there are frequent allusions to, and ex- 
 pressions of regret for the non-appearance of, the ' Roman 
 Lectures.' Some of his favourite students managed to get 
 the loan of several of these manuscripts. We have seen and 
 used his notes on the Epistle to the Ephesians, which, for 
 admirable practical and discriminating wisdom, have scarcely 
 their equals, certainly not their superiors. If these notes were 
 amplified, as Lawson could and did, and were then bound up
 
 256 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 with Dr Eadie's masterpiece on the same epistle, they would 
 constitute one of the most learned and useful of comments. 
 
 Dr Lawson's works met with a highly favourable reception 
 from the public. The scholars of other churches hailed them 
 as valuable contributions to religious literature. Only a 
 scrap or two remain of the letters of congratulation which he 
 received. When his ' Discourses to the Aged ' came out, the 
 well-known Dr Chartres, of Wilton, sent him this brief note : 
 
 Dr Chartres to Dr Lawson. 
 
 WILTON MANSE, Dec. 18, 1812. 
 
 ' DEAR SIR, I and my readers have been edified with your 
 " Sermons to the Aged," which are the more useful for their 
 being adapted to the poor, both in the style of composition 
 and in the price. I likewise print some things for the poor, 
 and send a specimen, and "Thoughts on Education," by a 
 niece of mine, on which I will be glad to have your remarks. 
 May the Divine blessing attend our endeavours to be useful, 
 and may our end be peace. Your aged brother, 
 
 ' SAMUEL CHARTRES.' 
 
 In the memoir referred to, Dr Belfrage very justly charac- 
 terizes Dr Chartres as ' a man of taste and genius, whose mind 
 was enriched by assiduous culture, whose character and 
 manners were marked by a beautiful mildness and liberality, 
 and whose life was devoted to the promoting of useful insti- 
 tutions and good habits within the sphere of his usefulness. 
 Though some of his sermons are liable to serious objections in 
 some of their statements of doctrine, they are rich in the counsels 
 of moral wisdom, and are adapted with admirable fidelity and 
 skill to the various classes and circumstances of society.' 
 
 Dr Hunter, Professor of Divinity in the University of 
 Edinburgh, heard Dr Lawson preach the missionary sermon 
 referred to, and afterwards made this most correct criticism : 
 ' Dr Lawson says great things, but he says them like a child.'
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 257 
 
 The serial literature of that day was not what it presently 
 is. It might have been in some cases more select, but neither 
 so varied nor multitudinous. As for that branch of de- 
 nominational literature, it was then much about what it is 
 now, and, we think, may ever be. Few great minds work in 
 small circles ; nay, few great thoughts, or principles, or 
 reasonings, can be got together within such narrow limits. 
 They refuse, not compression, but cellular imprisonment, 
 where, in bonds and on bread and water, they must dree out 
 their length and strength. Dr Lawson, however, was a kindly 
 contributor to the magazines of his own Church ; and his 
 articles in them are exceptions, so far as they go, to what 
 has been here advanced to the discredit of journalism. When 
 it was decided to commence the Christian Repository, Dr 
 Brown, of Biggar, its first editor, requested Dr Lawson to 
 honour its pages with an occasional contribution, to which 
 this reply was sent (the ' book ' referred to at the beginning 
 is Dr Brown's first publication, ' Strictures on Mr Yates' 
 Vindication of Unitarianism') : 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Brown. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, Oct. 1815. 
 
 ' DEAR JOHN, I remember to have heard your grand- 
 father tell an anecdote of a minister, when he came up to the 
 tent, after hearing a discourse from one of his brethren on 
 the corruption of the human heart, and who made this obser- 
 vation on it : " My brethren, it must be confessed that we are 
 very bad, but I hope not so bad as our brother would have 
 us to be." I, too, confess that I was too long in answering 
 your letter, but not quite so long, nor so inattentive to the 
 contents of it, as you thought. I had heard that you were to 
 be at Hawick communion, and hoped, if my information was 
 good, to talk with you about your intended book at greater 
 length than I could write. I think it will be of great use, 
 and can see no reason for departing from the method you 
 
 R
 
 258 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 had laid out. I did not think the objection you hinted at a 
 valid one. What I would have talked about, was some useful 
 things to which it was possible your plan might not direct 
 your attention, although they might have been introduced 
 without departing from it. But I believe, to avoid swelling 
 the work beyond your intention, you will find it necessary to 
 omit many things that must occur to yourself. I do not 
 remember any book already in existence that comes so near 
 to your plan, as some sermons of Dr Guyse, which you may 
 probably have seen, on the " Utility of Scripture." But there 
 are so many on the subject of the other book, that I should 
 think it very difficult for you to give it much of the charm of 
 novelty ; yet I confess there is more of novelty and variety in 
 Mr Belfrage's devotional pieces on the subject than I could 
 have expected. 
 
 'I am in some doubt whether the intended magazine will 
 obtain such a circulation as some of the brethren expect. 
 Similar to many respectable publications of the same kind, 
 I find, too, that there are several persons whose ardour 
 for such publications abates in them so far, that they discon- 
 tinue their demand for them. If the work, however, is begun, 
 I will certainly comply with your request, if you shall think 
 my contributions worthy of insertion. But I find it easier to 
 make a sermon with a text at the beginning of it, than a 
 short discourse fitted for a magazine. I have, however, a 
 sermon lying by me, which may perhaps furnish a paper or 
 two, and which I will send to you by your brother in Edin- 
 burgh. You will observe it is the last, and not the first, that 
 I mean for insertion. The first is a discourse on the time 
 when it was written. The second is a discourse on the use of 
 the Book of the Revelatiou to common people, who have but 
 little knowledge of the meaning of the prophecies. It will 
 not, I suppose, interfere with the more extended work that 
 you propose. If it did, I should not choose to publish, lest 
 some should pay so little regard to my seniority, as to make
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 259 
 
 unfavourable comparisons. If you make the insertion, it will 
 put you to the trouble of exchanging the introduction for 
 some few sentences preparatory to the essay. I observe that 
 the conclusion, too, has been compressed through the want of 
 room. 
 
 ' I will, D. F., at my leisure, and at the leisure of the tran- 
 scriber, prepare two or three more papers, and I suppose the 
 proper way of transmitting them will be by your brother in 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 'I am not without some apprehension that your health may 
 suffer by too close application to studies. The former book 
 must certainly have beeu the fruit of intense thought. You 
 would find it a more easy, and not an unprofitable exercise, to 
 perform a work which I remember to have once recom- 
 mended to you I mean, a second part to Easselas.' I am, 
 yours affectionately, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Among other articles of distinguished excellence, Dr 
 Lawson sent to the Repository a series on ' Predestination,' 
 in which the objections to this doctrine are repelled in a most 
 satisfactory manner, and with uncommon perspicuity for so 
 dark a subject. This was followed by another series, extend- 
 ing to six articles, on what he calls the ' Popery of Protest- 
 ants,' in which he shows how much of the superstition, false 
 doctrine, and evil spirit of the Church of Rome, are to be 
 found among those who boast of their opposition to the man 
 of sin. It must interest the reader to know that these 
 papers were the very latest productions of his pen. The two 
 first were published almost immediately before his death, and 
 the remaining four shortly after it. Nothing could be more 
 appropriate than these as his last counsels to the Church, to 
 which he had been so long an ornament and a blessing. 
 None of his contemporaries were more worthy to lift the 
 trumpet of the prophet, and exhort Protestants of all denomi- 
 nations to cast out the leaven of the errors of Popery which
 
 260 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 might be working in them. His age, learning, wisdom, 
 experience, piety, and position, gave him the right to sound 
 that trumpet as he did ; and it would be well if some one on 
 whom his mantle may now rest, were to issue equally clear 
 and certain sounds in the ears of the churches of the nine- 
 teenth century. We have already noticed Dr Brown's desire 
 to include him among his contributors. We subjoin a brief 
 note which refers to the subject : 
 
 Dr Brown to Dr Lawson. 
 
 'BlGGAR, 3lst Oct. 1815. 
 
 ' REV. AND VERT DEAR SIR, I anticipate your thanks for 
 introducing to you the benevolent Mr Joseph Lancaster, who 
 is travelling through Scotland to diffuse the knowledge of his 
 system of education. I have no doubt of your doing him 
 any good office in your power, and furnishing him with your 
 meeting-house, if he wishes it, for delivering a lecture on 
 education. I return you many thanks for your valuable 
 communication for the Repository, and look for a speedy 
 repetition of the favour. ... I have been laid aside from 
 public duty for two Sabbaths by sore throat ; but, by the 
 goodness of God, I am in a state of convalescence. . . . 
 When I write you on general subjects, I shall allow you to 
 pay the postage ; but when magazine concerns occupy the 
 epistle, the publisher requires me to pay all expenses. . . . 
 Your ever obliged pupil, ' JOHN BROWN.' 
 
 When Dr Brown published his strictures on 'Yates' 
 Vindication of Unitarianism,' he dedicated it to Dr Lawson, 
 and sent a copy of the work to him. Here is the Doctor's 
 reply : 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Brown. 
 
 SELKIRK, Sept. 2, 1815. 
 ' DEAR SIR, I hope ingratitude to man is not one of the
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 261 
 
 evils most incident to me ; and yet I am afraid I have given 
 you occasion to think that it is, by not sooner acknowledging 
 your valuable and much esteemed favour. I hoped, before 
 this time, to have an opportunity of sending you a letter (post 
 free), or of seeing your face, for I was told that you were to 
 be at Hawick communion. It was a very unexpected honour 
 that was done me by you and your friend, to set my name 
 before your book, and, I am afraid, would have been too 
 strong a temptation to pride, were it not counterbalanced by 
 too many causes I have to be humble. I find that I am 
 esteemed more than I deserve, by some whose esteem I have 
 every reason to value, and whose regard is a considerable 
 ingredient in my happiness. But I would be too blind to my 
 own defects, if I were not ashamed that I do not better merit 
 their regard. 
 
 ' I need scarcely tell you that I was well satisfied with 
 your book. I had not seen, nor do I wish to see, the book 
 which you confute. I feel myself entirely satisfied that you 
 are too wise and too honest to deal unfairly either with your 
 own enemies, or with the enemies of the truth. There is, 
 indeed, no need of dealing unfairly with any of the enemies of 
 the truth, and as little with the Anti-Trinitarians as any other. 
 I prophesy that, so long as Bibles are so commonly read 
 among us, they will not gain many proselytes in our land. 
 
 ' I think that there is no subject which you would handle 
 with more reasonable ground of hope to be useful, than the 
 one you propose. I was very well pleased with the view 
 which you gave me of your intended method. I do not 
 recollect that there was anything in it that seemed to me to 
 need correction. Some things occurred which I thought 
 highly proper to be inculcated, which did not, perhaps, neces- 
 sarily come into view, according to the analysis, but might 
 fitly find a place. It will certainly occur to you, as an obser- 
 vation fit to be illustrated at some length, that although we 
 can easily see how useful many things in the Scriptures are,
 
 262 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 yet many things may be very useful and necessary, of which 
 we cannot know the utility, and that many things might be 
 in former times, and may be in future times, much more 
 useful than at present. That must be an admirable Book, in 
 which are laid up all the treasures of wisdom, which have 
 been, or will at any time be, necessary for any of the children 
 of God. Yours affectionately, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 The sermon which Dr Brown preached before the Edin- 
 burgh Missionary Society was afterwards published. Here 
 is Dr Lawson's opinion of it : 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Brown. 
 
 1 SELKIRK, June 24, 1816. 
 
 ' DEAR SIR, I have received and read your excellent 
 sermon. I hope it has already drawn, and will yet draw, 
 money from pious hearers and readers, which will turn out to 
 the benefit of many precious souls, and to your own benefit 
 and that of the Church. It is but little that most of us can 
 give with our own hand, but to Him that soweth righteous- 
 ness shall be a sure reward. 
 
 ' I am almost ashamed to meet with such testimonies of 
 very warm attachment from you, as well as some other of my 
 former pupils. It puts me in mind of your worthy grand- 
 father, and makes me to feel how far I am his inferior in 
 those qualities which conciliate esteem. But may I not hope, 
 through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, to be saved even 
 as he? 
 
 ' Your sermon has as much originality as was proper for 
 the subject, and will be read with much pleasure by those who 
 seek gratification to their curiosity, as well as by those who 
 seek profit to their souls. I see you place the introduction 
 of the Gospel into Britain later than many others have placed 
 it. When you speak of its coming into France in the fifth 
 century, you mean that it was then received by the French.
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 263 
 
 * I am happy to find that you bear the very heavy affliction 
 laid upon yon, in the way that you exhort others to bear the 
 like affliction. You must, however, have deeply felt the differ- 
 ence between the knowledge and the practice of the duty of 
 patient submission to the will of God. Yet it is always useful 
 to retain the impression of duty, even when we find it impos- 
 sible to satisfy ourselves with the performance of it. What are 
 we, that we should set our wisdom or our will in opposition 
 to the wisdom and will of the Most High ? Are we dissem- 
 bling when we acknowledge ourselves to be but dust and 
 ashes, and obnoxious as sinners to the Divine justice ? Did 
 Christ die for us when we were enemies ; and can we think 
 that He deals hardly with us, when He carries to perfection 
 the salvation of our friends, whom He purchased with His 
 blood, though He does it by means painful to our feelings ? 
 I remain, your affectionate friend, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 The following are the titles of the articles contributed by 
 him to the Repository, in the years 1816-17-18 : ' The Book 
 of Revelation ;' ' Reflections on the Battle of Waterloo ;' 
 ' Reflections on 2 Samuel xi. ;' ' David's Sin with Bathsheba ;' 
 ' Objections against the Doctrine of Election Answered.' 
 These disquisitions exhibit precisely the same mental and 
 rhetorical features to be seen in his other works the same 
 massive thinking, acute observation, and practical, aim. 
 The article on election extends to four papers, which afford 
 a very good specimen of his style of teaching as a Professor. 
 The objections are fairly stated, and are met in a spirit 
 equally masterly and candid. To some of the objections to 
 the doctrine, this is a most satisfactory reply, and can 
 scarcely fail of convincing the waverers. His reflections on 
 the battle of Waterloo are worthy of his name. They ex- 
 hibit, in a most impressive manner, a wonderful knowledge 
 of Scripture, and a piety ardent and sincere. The whole of 
 the sacred oracles are laid under contribution, to illustrate
 
 264 THE LIFE OF DE LAWSON. 
 
 the course and the character of Napoleon. His illustrations 
 from Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, prove the Bible to be 
 a book for all ages ; and that the principles which have been 
 in operation from the beginning, operate now, and still pro- 
 duce the same effects. His exposition of David's great sin is 
 a specimen of a model lecture. The sin is exposed, the 
 sinner condemned, though kindly, the penitent judged to be 
 righteous, and the pardon presented in such a form as to in- 
 crease our hatred of the sin, and our pity for the transgressor. 
 The knowledge displayed of human nature is deep, compre- 
 hensive, and varied; the knowledge of God, impressive and 
 sublime. We lay down the article, persuaded that the Bible 
 is a holier, nobler, and more delightful book, from having 
 passed under the view of George Lawsou's wonderful mind. 
 
 The following posthumous articles from Dr Lawson's 
 manuscripts have appeared in the pages of the United Secession 
 Magazine : ' A Sermon on 1 Tim. v. 23 ;' ' Drink no Longer 
 Water,' etc. ; ' Remarks on Job xxvi. 5, 6 ;' ' Remarks on 
 Job xix. 21-27 ;' ' Extracts from his MS. Letters ;' ' Reflec- 
 tions on Sore Eyes ;' ' Letter to Mrs Plummer ;' ' Discourse 
 on Samuel xiii. 37.' To these, multitudes of other selections 
 from his MSS. might be added, in no degree inferior to any- 
 thing he himself published. 
 
 We cannot conclude this brief glance at the publications 
 of Dr Lawson more appropriately, than by quotations from 
 his most discriminating judges. Dr Belfrage thus estimates 
 them : ' With regard to the writings of Dr Lawson, it is not 
 necessary to say much, as the favourable reception they have 
 met with from the public attests how their merit has been 
 appreciated. The chief of these are lectures on the Books of 
 Esther and Ruth ; on the History of Joseph ; and on the 
 Proverbs of Solomon. No persons qualified to judge can 
 read these volumes without being struck with the ingenuity 
 and fertility of the exposition which he gives ; the deep in- 
 sight into the human heart and character they discover ;
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 265 
 
 the engaging simplicity of the style, and their practical cast. 
 There is not the least affectation of critical skill, by which 
 many far inferior to him in scholarship have sought to as- 
 tonish the vulgar ; nor does he give any countenance to the 
 practice of converting every incident into a typical exhibition 
 of evangelical truth. Dr Lawson eagerly embraces every fit 
 opportunity of adverting to the doctrines of grace, and to 
 the excellences of the Saviour ; and his acquaintance with 
 history, ancient and modern, has enabled him to enliven these 
 lectures with happy illustrations from incidents or characters. 
 His ' Sermons to the Aged ' are remarkably appropriate, and 
 written in a plain, faithful, and earnest strain.' 
 
 Of the volume of sermons, published in 1810, by Dr 
 Lawson, Mr Lothian thus writes : ' The same master-mind, 
 the same fervent affection, the same manly and natural 
 eloquence, which pervade all his former publications, are still 
 found in the precious contents of this volume. The laborious 
 polishing of ordinary thoughts this great man never at- 
 tempted. His object ever was, to bring truth and duty 
 directly and irresistibly home on the mind and heart. His 
 style is always plain, but never vulgar ; often tender, but never 
 puling ; sometimes sublime, but ever simple and perspicuous. 
 If ever the reputation of his writings shall correspond with 
 their intrinsic value, it will be high. They are well fitted 
 to instruct, not the Christian people only, but the ministers 
 of religion too. The lectures, in particular, on Joseph, 
 Esther, and Ruth, exhibit admirable specimens of the most 
 useful mode of expounding, from the pulpit, the historical 
 parts of the Holy Scriptures.' 
 
 But the most discriminating estimate of the Lawson books 
 we have read, is to be found in an able review of his ' Expo- 
 sition of the Book of Proverbs,' supposed to have been 
 written by Dr John Brown. The following extracts will be 
 read with interest : 
 
 ' We knew well the amiable and the venerable author of
 
 266 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 these volumes ; we had full opportunity to appreciate his 
 worth ; we have never seen his equal in various respects, and 
 cannot reasonably expect to see it now. 
 
 ' All that could be said by those who knew well the repu- 
 tation which, as a scholar and a man of original thinking, it 
 was in his power to acquire, could not induce him to engage 
 in any work of a learned description ; and with regard to 
 fine writing, it was as little his aim. In all the books that 
 he published, the instruction of ordinary readers was mani- 
 festly his object. 
 
 ' There was a modesty, a guileless simplicity, an abhorrence 
 of ostentation, a sincerity, an explicitness, an unbending 
 integrity, united to the utmost gentleness and forbearance, 
 which characterized all his deportment, and communicated 
 their influence to all the effusions of his pen 
 
 ' " Cui pudor, et justitite soror 
 
 Incorrupta fides, nudaque veritas, 
 Quando ullum invenient parem ?" 
 
 ' Few men have been better qualified for such a task (the 
 exposition of the Proverbs). He had a remarkable talent for 
 generalizing moral instruction it was, indeed, one of his 
 great peculiarities as a teacher. He could take a maxim or 
 precept of a general nature, and show its bearing on par- 
 ticular circumstances, notwithstanding the specialties which 
 might seem to take them out of the rule. On the other 
 hand, he could catch the principle implied in a particular 
 precept, or direction, or reproof, and give it a general appli- 
 cation, with the greatest facility. The simplest statement of 
 fact, too, furnished him some practical lesson. It was this 
 talent especially which gave him his acknowledged pre-emi 
 nence as an expounder of Scripture. This is displayed in 
 every page of his lectures on the Books of Esther and Ruth ; 
 and it has rendered subjects apparently barren, full of in- 
 struction. With him every subject became instructive. It 
 was, perhaps, on those that seemed the driest, that he ap-
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 207 
 
 peared, in comparison of other men, to the greatest advantage : 
 " before him there might seem to be a desolate wilderness ; 
 behind him it was as the garden of the Lord." 
 
 ' We have noticed Dr Lawson's unwillingness to nndertake 
 any work of a learned or critical description. This proceeded, 
 without doubt, from that diffidence which persons of the 
 highest talents frequently feel ; yet it is not possible that he 
 could be ignorant altogether of his great superiority to many 
 who have made a considerable figure in the literary world. 
 Such, however, was either the low opinion which he had of him- 
 self, or the high one which he formed of the requisites necessary 
 to such a work, that the fact is as we have stated it ; and the 
 same cause seems to have operated in what he did write. He 
 very seldom makes a critical remark ; and when he does, it is 
 in the fewest possible words : he throws it out and passes on 
 as if he were afraid of being observed. Akin to this was his 
 great reluctance to offer amendments on our authorized 
 translation. He was not insensible that in many places it is 
 susceptible of great improvement ; but, besides his dislike to 
 the practice of retailing scraps of criticism from the pulpit, 
 he was extremely averse to anything which might shake the 
 confidence of mere English readers in our excellent version, 
 and consequently mar their edification. In expounding the 
 Book of Proverbs, many opportunities might be found to 
 offer remarks on the translation ; yet he has made very few 
 he has seldom said the translation is wrong. In one or two 
 instances he has mentioned a different reading. As an illus- 
 tration, we may take his whole comment on the 10th verse of 
 chapter x. He also directly corrects the translation of the 
 24th verse of chapter xix.; but it is in a foot-note, where he 
 says, " The word bosom ought to have been dish" This short 
 criticism is very characteristic of the author. 
 
 ' Dr Lawson often brings a very happy illustration from 
 an historical incident or classical allusion. Nothing, however, 
 seems more remote from his intention, than to display his
 
 268 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 reading or bis scholarship. Nothing is done for effect, not 
 one useless word is employed, and no reference is ever made 
 to the source whence the incident is derived ; so that very 
 few readers can have any idea of the classical learning which 
 furnished such allusions. For example : " Plato wrote on the 
 door of his academy, ' Let no man unskilled in geometry come 
 hither;' Solomon writes the very reverse on the door of his 
 school, 'Let the simple man who is easily deceived come 
 hither, and he shall learn that subtilty which is necessary to 
 preserve him from the snare of the destroyer.' " 
 
 ' The only other peculiarity in Dr Lawson's manner of 
 writing which we shall now notice, is the extreme beauty of 
 his illustrations. This appears in all his writings, but it is 
 remarkably apparent in these volumes ; his style is almost as 
 brief and sententious as that of the Proverbs which he ex- 
 pounds. No better proof of this need be given, than that the 
 whole Book of Proverbs, embracing such an immense extent 
 and variety of matter, is explained in two duodecimo volumes, 
 containing 940 pages; yet we will venture to affirm that 
 nothing is left unexplained. Not one preacher in fifty (a 
 thousand?) could have given as intelligible an exposition in 
 three times the space. . . . There are authors who amplify 
 so much, and keep the same idea so long in sight, that one 
 may dose over a page occasionally, and lose nothing. But 
 that will not do here : the mind must be always awake, and 
 always in full activity. Not one word is employed by the 
 author more than is barely sufficient to make his meaning 
 understood. He presents the idea almost naked, never with 
 the smallest portion of useless drapery, and leaves it to others 
 to adorn it at their leisure.' 
 
 To the above critique on Dr Lawson's ' Exposition of the 
 Proverbs,' it may be proper to add, that tributes, of another 
 kind, to the excellence of his works have not been wanting. 
 Without mentioning the name, we may call attention to the 
 fact, that a living and distinguished American commentator
 
 THE SCHOLAR AND HIS BOOKS. 269 
 
 has, in his exposition of the Book of Genesis, made a most 
 unwarrantable use of Dr Lawson's ' Lectures on Joseph.' 
 From the 37th chapter to the end of Genesis, a large por- 
 tion is plagiarized from the Scotch expositor we should 
 say, to the extent of two-thirds of the whole. The parts 
 extracted are given word for word, with no other change 
 than what was necessary to connect the sentences displaced 
 from their original connection. Dr Lawson's lectures are 
 published in two volumes, and matter to the extent of one of 
 these has been thus appropriated. The American work, 
 wanting the Scotch additions, would be the play of ' Hamlet ' 
 with the character of Hamlet left out. This plagiarism 
 becomes the more wicked from the fact, that while about 120 
 authorities are named in the preface, to whom the author has 
 been but partially indebted, the work by Lawson is never 
 alluded to. The pilfering, indeed, is on too large a scale to 
 run the risk of any such allusion. A more flagrant act of 
 the kind cannot well be found in the range of theological 
 literature. This author himself, perhaps, furnishes a parallel, 
 and that in this same exposition. His barefaced and unac- 
 knowledged extracts from Andrew Fuller on Genesis, are 
 nearly equal to those from Lawson. Fuller's name, however, 
 is mentioned among the 120 authorities named in the preface. 
 The temptation must have been powerful that could prevail 
 on such a scholar to perpetrate such a wrong : the property 
 stolen must have been considered exceedingly valuable, to 
 warrant such a risk. 
 
 But there has been a similar robbery committed lately by 
 one of our best English divines, in a recent publication on the 
 Book of Proverbs. Page upon page is taken from Lawson, 
 with only the most meagre and paltry acknowledgment. Like 
 the theft-acquired children of the gypsies, the passages may 
 be transmogrified,, but their true parentage is very easily 
 discovered.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 
 
 In our approach to the Divinity Hall at Selkirk, we pass 
 along somewhat holier ground than any we have hitherto 
 occupied. Interesting as may be the other passages in this 
 memoir, they scarcely satisfy the expectations, or realize in 
 full the ideas generally entertained of a Professor whose very 
 name, through his admiring students, has become amongst us 
 an ' household word,' and whose reputation for learning and 
 wisdom is still dearly preserved as a precious and holy 
 legacy from the past. The stories and associations of that 
 Hall have never been written, except in their grateful and 
 savoury colloquies. Their eloquent memories were so many 
 distinct histories of their tutor, and of his intercourse with 
 them. At first, these were, and for many years continued to 
 be, scattered broadcast over Scotland. Wherever a Selkirk 
 student was settled, there was to be found a living monument 
 of Lawson ; and every one within sight or hearing became 
 forthwith well acquainted, if not enraptured, with the grand 
 old sage on the Ettrick. These Selkirk students are fast 
 dying away, and the surviving few are more and more careful 
 to preserve the trust devolved upon them. The present me- 
 moir may be regarded as an effort, only not too late, to 
 gather up the precious relics before they have been irre- 
 coverably drawn and lost over the rapids of time. Selkirk, 
 indeed, and the banks of Yarrow and Ettrick, have become 
 to us classic spots, as much so as are the Isis and the Cam to 
 Anglican scholars. ' Selkirk (as one of them writes to the
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 271 
 
 compiler) was eminently adapted for study and sacred lore, 
 removed alike from the levity and luxury of a capital, and 
 from the noise and bustle of a commercial city. The town is 
 dear to the hearts and memories of Burgher students. The 
 first and the last glimpse of its spire, while yet seen from 
 afar, have successively awakened emotions of joy and sorrow. 
 There many of them lived their happiest days ; nor is there 
 one of them into whose soul the very name of Selkirk does 
 not convey peculiar feelings, the remembrance of joys once, 
 nay, often present, but now gone for ever.' * It was a treat 
 of no ordinary kind to listen to Dr Lawson's students when 
 they sharpened up each other's wits on their Hall life, a sub- 
 ject which never failed to come up when they met together 
 on sacramental or Synodical occasions. Listening to the 
 charming recollections of such men on such a theme, was our 
 frequent privilege ; and hence that peculiar feeling, which we 
 scarce wish dispelled,' that we also had been of their number, 
 and had seen and known Lawson. If there be in the present 
 portrait aught of life and expression, to this it must be 
 ascribed. To the uninitiated it might sometimes appear as 
 if ' Selkirk men ' made too much of their favourite topic ; but 
 no one, in any degree aware of the worth and winning quali- 
 ties of their venerable Professor, will accuse them of exagge- 
 ration. Every excellence that he had as a Christian minister 
 and friend, circled around and enriched his prelections from 
 the chair of theology. Such a combination could not fail to 
 captivate young and generous hearts, and sufficiently accounts 
 for their admiration and love. In depicting Hall-life under 
 his professorship, we feel as if he himself were multiplied an 
 hundred-fold, and that in every one of his students we had 
 before us a reproduction of himself that from him, as a sort 
 of negative photograph, were taken so many pleasing counter- 
 parts. In promenading any of the great Continental galleries 
 at the Louvre, for instance, or Dresden, or Munich, or Berlin 
 1 Rev. James M'Whirter
 
 272 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 you see, or think you see, many beautiful ' duplicates,' or, at 
 all events, you are gratified with the identities of style in the 
 performances of different artists. In like manner, we have 
 been interested to detect, in the tastes and styles of our 
 ministers who studied at Selkirk, such traits, and features, 
 and manners as were deeply and unmistakeably Lawsonian. 
 The very tones of his voice, and gestures and attitudes, have 
 been retained, though, like the shades, they be now hastening 
 away into that land of forgetfulness, the tombs of the pro- 
 phets. The great moral influences, however, of this Christian 
 Solomon still retain their hold of many, and will yet flow 
 softly downwards when all of us have fallen on sleep. Mere 
 touches made by a glowing wonderment pass away, while the 
 die which stamps upon the soul a right holy image, remains 
 to renew and make its impressions everlasting. Hero- 
 worshippers are flitting apparitions,^ the followers of the 
 righteous are as angels, ever ministering to the heirs of salva- 
 tion. 
 
 The Rev. John Brown, of Haddington, died in the summer 
 of 1787. He had occupied the chair of Divinity in connec- 
 tion with the Burgher Synod, ever since the death of Pro- 
 fessor Swauston in 1767. For twenty years our Church had 
 been watered, enriched, and blessed with the prayers and 
 labours of this most remarkable man. The piety, learning, 
 and soundness in the faith, for which the Haddington students 
 were justly esteemed, greatly contributed to the influence and 
 usefulness of the young Secession. We are their debtors to 
 this day. A giant himself, Brown gave birth to giants. In 
 recording his death, Dr M'Kerrow thus chastely testifies con- 
 cerning him : ' The character which he left behind him for 
 piety, diligence, and theological knowledge, and fidelity in 
 his Master's service, was highly honourable. The literary 
 advantages which he enjoyed in early life were scanty, but 
 there have been few individuals who, with such limited means 
 of improvement, have risen to higher eminence in the Church,
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 273 
 
 both as a theologian and an author. The fame which he has 
 acquired by his useful practical writings, and especially by 
 his self-interpreting Bible, has been most extensive, and bids 
 fair to be lasting. He is an encouraging example of what 
 may be effected by dint of industry and perseverance in the 
 acquisition of knowledge. The Synod, on receiving intelli- 
 gence of his death, paid a just tribute to his memory by 
 making honourable mention of him in their record as a person 
 ' whose eminent piety, fervent zeal, extensive charity, and 
 unwearied diligence in promoting the interests of religion, 
 will be long remembered by this court, especially by those 
 members of it who had the happiness of studying Divinity 
 under his inspection.' They also agreed to insert in their 
 minutes the following postscript, which was appended to a 
 letter written by Mr Brown a short while before his death, 
 and which was addressed to the members of Synod : ' As 
 many of you have been my students, and most of you my 
 younger in years, permit me to beseech you ah 1 to do all in 
 your power to transmit Christ's truths as faithfully and dili- 
 gently to posterity as possible. His truths and cause shall 
 shine on earth, and especially in heaven, for ever, be they now 
 as low as they will in Britain.' 
 
 We have seen that Professor Brown had a sort of pre- 
 sentiment that young Lawson would be his successor in the 
 Theological Chair ; and he was right. As the life of Brown 
 drew to a close, the eyes of the Church were already fixed 
 upon the scholar and divine at Selkirk, who was at once 
 chosen at the very first meeting of Synod thereafter ; and, as 
 Dr M'Kerrow remarks, ' never did a Professor better justify, 
 by his future conduct, the choice that was made.' Though 
 this election was unanimous and very cordial, there was then, 
 as there shall ever be on such occasions, a little diversity of 
 opinion, especially among some of the brethren in the west of 
 Scotland, who, from distance, had not had the same oppor- 
 tunities of judging of his fitness which the brethren in the east
 
 274 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 and south had enjoyed. The Presbytery of Glasgow was 
 understood to be more favourably disposed to the election 
 either of Mr Belfrage, of Falkirk, or Mr Gilfillan, of 
 Dunblane, both men of profound theological lore, and well 
 qualified to become teachers of the future ministers of the 
 Church. It so happened that this Presbytery was appointed 
 to supply Professor Lawson's pulpit for the first three 
 Sabbaths after commencing his new duties, and a probationer 
 of rather unpopular parts was sent, at their instance, to 
 Selkirk. After the first Sabbath, the congregation were 
 rather displeased with the supply, and some of them ventured 
 to complain to Dr Lawsou. To pacify them, he took part 
 in the services of the following Sabbath. When alluding 
 to this in after life to Dr Kidstou, he said, ' I thought it 
 better to prevent complaining than to give occasion for 
 complaint ; but I did not approve of those who murmured, 
 
 for although Mr R is not a first-rate preacher, I never 
 
 heard him preach a sermon and I have heard him frequently 
 but he told me more of my duty than I had practised all 
 my life ; and whatever reason I might have to complain of 
 myself, I had no reason to complain of him.' In writing to 
 a friend upon this matter, Dr Kidston, in the best spirit, says, 
 ' I may state that the choice of the Synod as to Mr Brown's 
 successor, was really a compliment to my discerning. Before 
 there was any appearance of another Professor being needed, 
 I had, on several occasions, mentioned Mr Lawson as the 
 probable choice of the Synod ; and so little was he known to 
 one, who afterwards proved quite of my mind, that he kindly 
 requested me not to state my opinion on this subject, as it 
 would bring my own understanding into suspicion. When 
 Mr Lawson was chosen, I did enjoy a kind of triumph, of 
 which my friend, by-and-bye, was a partaker.' It is due to 
 Dr Lawson to state, that he himself was quite taken by 
 surprise. He not only had no idea that such an honour was 
 intended for him, but he was much disconcerted. When the
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 275 
 
 election was reported to him, and often afterwards, he 
 expressed his regret that the choice of the Synod had noi 
 fallen upon his early and ever esteemed tutor, Mr Johnstone, 
 of Ecclefechan. ' The Synod,' he remarked, ' has done wrong 
 in not appointing Mr Johnstone to the theological professor- 
 ship.' 
 
 In writing to compliment his early friend on the high 
 honour which had been conferred upon him, Mr Greig, of 
 Lochgelly, thus remarks : ' I can honestly assure you, that 
 I reckon it one of the great pleasures of my life, that I have 
 been favoured with your friendship, and that you are still 
 pleased to rank me among your friends. Would to God I 
 had more of His image,- and were more worthy of your 
 acquaintance ! The moments I have spent in your company 
 I still reflect upon with satisfaction, and think them among 
 the best employed of my life. If I have not profited by your 
 company, I am conscious it hath been mine own fault. The 
 death of Mr Brown is certainly a very great loss to the 
 Church. I never knew a man who seemed to have the 
 interests of religion so much at heart, or whose zeal and 
 industry to propagate them was more primitive and apos- 
 tolic. But it was not meet that he should always live here, 
 but depart, and enjoy the reward of his labours. He hath 
 left a savour of religion behind him, and I doubt not that 
 the fruits of his labours will continue in the Church till the 
 end of time. The trust now devolved upon you will naturally 
 lead you to reflect on many things in his conduct as worthy 
 of your imitation in the discharge of it. Nor ought you to 
 be discouraged, in performing that service to Christ and His 
 Church, by reflecting on your inferior endowments. The 
 Head of the Church hath received gifts to answer every 
 exigence of His members ; and may the Spirit of the Lord 
 God rest upon you, as the spirit of wisdom and understand- 
 ing, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, 
 and of the fear of the Lord !'
 
 276 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Immediately after the appointment of Mr Lawson to the 
 Ghair, a discussion arose in the Synod as to the propriety of 
 having a salaried Professor, without a pastoral charge, and 
 to be located in Edinburgh. The scheme, however, found 
 but little favour, and was at once abandoned as, in the then 
 circumstances of the Church, impracticable. After the first 
 year, during which he lectured gratis, the Synod allowed the 
 Professor L.30 per annum, to defray expenses connected 
 with the duties of the Chair. Some years afterwards, on the 
 motion of Dr Husband, this moderate stipend was increased 
 to L.50, and there it stuck. In the last year of his professor- 
 ship, the Synod made him a present of L.100. The idea of 
 salaried Professors, without pastorates, is now afloat, and not a 
 little can be advanced in its favour. That the present system 
 has wrought well must be admitted. How otherwise can we 
 account, not only for the high state of efficiency for which the 
 Christian ministry among us is conspicuous, but for the great 
 literary attainments of the men who have filled, and who now 
 fill, our Theological Chairs ? Neither are second in any sense 
 to -any ministry, or to any professoriate in the kingdom. 
 While this is true, it may, notwithstanding, be a question 
 whether or not the time has come when a change might be 
 made to the advantage of all interests. If a Professor can 
 devote the whole of his time to his own improvement, and to 
 the training of his students, we may infer that the Church 
 cannot fail to be a fortunate beneficiary by the change. The 
 marvel is, that, with heavy pastoral charges, our Professors 
 have been able to discharge their duties so very creditably. 
 But is it fair and just to these brethren, to the students and 
 to the Church at large, that such exactions should be made 
 of them? We trow not. In this, age, sacred learning has 
 been set on the race-course along with everything else that 
 relates to education, science, and philosophy ; and our Church 
 is sure to be left behind, if she be not so lightly equipped, in 
 this respect, as to run with the fleetest. She is especially
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 277 
 
 called upon to lay aside every weight from the shoulders of 
 her scholars and guides, and to give them all facilities to keep 
 up with, if not to outran, her competitors. We cannot see 
 how this is much longer to be managed under the present 
 system. Now and then a Christian Hercules, like our Pro- 
 fessor of Biblical Literature, may arise, and perform, with 
 equal fidelity, the duties of the pulpit and the chair ; but to 
 take this for granted is presumptuous and unsafe: and to 
 draw even upon such an one for the full ' tale of brick,' is 
 questionable policy, if it be not a cruel oppression. No man, 
 however athletic in body, or accomplished and ardent in 
 scholarship, can long maintain himself in full vigour, who 
 attempts, and succeeds in his attempts, to uphold a masterly 
 discharge of the pastoral as well as the professorial duties. 
 He may go on for a time ; but he may break down at mid- 
 day, a victim to short-sighted penuriousness, and an 
 irretrievable loss to the Christian commonwealth. We trust 
 the time is at hand when a change, in this respect, shall be 
 made in our theological institutions. If the Church's treasury 
 cannot afford salaried professorships, she can, by-and-bye, 
 reduce their number, so as to admit of the reform that is 
 desirable. But is there anything to hinder the employment 
 of our present staff upon such conditions ? Not only is the 
 United Presbyterian Church becoming more and more 
 wealthy, but, what is far better, the tide of Christian liber- 
 ality is on rapid flow within her see ; and it is neither perilous 
 nor presumptuous to predict that the day is at hand when, 
 for her own sake, above all, for the sake of her Divine Lord, 
 she will devise and execute more liberal things for the 
 maintenance and progress of sacred learning among her 
 pastors and teachers. 
 
 The translation of the Divinity Hall to Selkirk was, as to 
 locality, no very great change. Like Haddington, the town 
 of Selkirk was small, and the neighbourhood somewhat pas- 
 toral and agricultural. There was neither the dust and din
 
 278 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 of commerce, nor the excitements and temptations of the city, 
 to divert from or disturb in study. In both, the students 
 enjoyed the benefits of literary quietude and rural healthiness ; 
 while, from the absence of those attractions peculiar to the 
 city, they were thrown more frequently upon each other's 
 society, and thus laid the foundations of personal friendships 
 which lasted while they lived. Our Church owes not a little 
 of her happiness and influence to this binding together of her 
 pastors. By this union in such close and endearing ties, the 
 churches under their care have become partakers of kindred 
 love, and live together as one in the Association. And who 
 can tell how much of our ecclesiastical prosperity may be 
 traced to pastoral unity ? If the removal of the Hall to the 
 city from the country were to prove an injury to the culti- 
 vation of love and friendship among the students, we should 
 plead for the founding of a theological college far out of the 
 reach of ' palaces and towers ; ' for, after all, it is not learn- 
 ing alone, however mighty and extensive it may become in a 
 Church, that commands the blessing out of Zion. God Him- 
 self rules over His creatures by His love, rather than by 
 His wisdom and His power ; and, if we were put to it, as to 
 whether we should have our pastors baptized with the spirit 
 of love or crammed with the elements of learning, we should 
 not hesitate to decide. Still, as the ' canny ' Scotchman said, 
 when King James offered him the choice of the vacant Bishop- 
 rics of Bath and Wells, ' baith is best : ' ' ambo ' is here not 
 only good Latin, but the best policy. 
 
 The new Professor entered upon his duties with a profound 
 sense of responsibility from his acceptance of office. Descend- 
 ing to him laden with venerable associations, he felt it to be 
 something like presumption to become the successor of such 
 men as Ebenezer Erskine, Fisher, Swanston, and Brown. And 
 there was no affectation in his demurring for a time to yield 
 his consent ; for, all through life, his rare and peculiar qualifi- 
 cations for the offices he held in the Church, were seen and
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 279 
 
 admitted by every one except by himself. Seldom does it 
 occur that talents like his are accompanied with such meek- 
 ness and self-oblivion, constituting a mental as well as moral 
 charm, which made him a power and an authority in every 
 circle. Once, however, in office, he set his face like a flint to 
 its duties, and never flagged in their discharge for the long 
 period of thirty-three years. Before proceeding to the review 
 of his professorial labours, it may be proper at once to state 
 that these were never allowed to interfere with his faithful- 
 ness as a pastor. His congregation knew no difference in 
 this respect, except that during the sessions of the Hall the 
 pulpit was supplied by the Synod's deputies. To this arrange- 
 ment there could not be any wise objection. The congrega- 
 tion, indeed, highly appreciated the honour which had been 
 put upon themselves by the elevation of their revered minister 
 to such a high and honourable office. And while no man, 
 however eloquent, who officiated during the Hall for Dr 
 Lawson in the pulpit, was regarded by them as either his 
 equal or superior, they were both pleased and edified by the 
 variety of ministerial gifts and graces to which they were every 
 autumn so considerately treated. The Hall work at Selkirk 
 has been thus described by Mr Lothian : 
 
 ' The plan of Dr Lawson's theological course was simple 
 and judicious. The students were required by the Associate 
 Synod, after a liberal course of literary and philosophical 
 studies at the University, to attend the theological instruc- 
 tions of their Professor for five sessions, and, besides, to give 
 in discourses every year to the Presbyteries in whose bounds 
 they resided. It was the wish of Dr Lawson that every student 
 should have an opportunity of hearing his whole course of 
 lectures on theoretical and practical Divinity. For this pur- 
 pose, though each session continued only nine weeks, he 
 regularly went over his full course on the system in five 
 sessions. Were these lectures on theology to be given to 
 the public, it is presumed it would be at once perceived aud
 
 280 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 acknowledged that they are in a very high degree scriptural, 
 and evangelical, and profound, and luminous, and instructive, 
 and practical. The students were regularly examined on the 
 subject of the lectures which they had heard, a practice 
 admirably calculated to secure their attention, and to pro- 
 mote their improvement. 
 
 ' The Doctor was accustomed, also, every session, to make 
 his pupils read with him, and critically analyse, a part of the 
 Holy Scriptures in the original Hebrew and Greek. Per- 
 tinent questions were proposed by him on such occasions, 
 leading at once to the formation of the sound critic, and the 
 edifying practical expositor of the Divine Word. The con- 
 tinued study of the original languages of the Holy Scriptures, 
 and of their criticism, and of the practical use of the sacred 
 volume, were thus strongly recommended. A laudable ambi- 
 tion to excel in these important exercises was excited and 
 kept alive, and in many cases led to very laudable results. 
 
 ' During the course of his first session of attendance, every 
 student was required to prepare and deliver a homily on a 
 subject assigned him by the Professor ; and to prepare gene- 
 rally two, and sometimes three discourses, each of the other 
 four sessions. All the subjects were assigned by the Pro- 
 fessor at the close of one session, on which discourses were 
 required to be ready for being delivered the session following. 
 Of these discourses some were lectures, others sermons, some 
 critical, and others practical, and one or more of them popu- 
 lar, to be delivered not only before the Professor and the 
 students, but before all the people who chose to attend. 
 
 ' Before delivering his own remarks on these discourses, the 
 Professor gave every student who chose, an opportunity of 
 offering his criticisms on what he had. heard. Veneration for 
 the enlightened and liberal tutor was found sufficient, in 
 almost every instance, to prevent hasty and uncandid 
 remarks. 
 
 ' Few availed themselves prematurely of the privilege ; but
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 281 
 
 almost all were zealous in preparing themselves for doing it 
 wisely. It was generally by those who had attended three 
 or four sessions that observations on the discourses were 
 raade. Always kept under proper regulation by the superin- 
 tendence of the Professor, this exercise became a source of 
 much improvement among the young men. 
 
 ' No time or pains, which might promise to be useful, were 
 spared by the venerable guide of their studies. On Mondays, 
 Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, he convened his pupils 
 twice a-day, and once on Wednesdays and Saturdays ; so 
 that his ordinary sederunts with them every week were ten, 
 or ninety in the course of each session. For the most part, 
 these sederunts were long ; not a scanty hour, but whatever 
 portion of time was requisite for the important object in 
 view, was cheerfully bestowed. On those days on which the 
 Professor met only in the forenoon with his students, they 
 either met in the afternoon by themselves, to deliver, hear, 
 and criticise essays on important subjects, for their mutual 
 improvement ; or, in the evening, along with all the Christian 
 people who chose to attend. These public meetings were 
 held six times in each session : at every such meeting, three 
 of the students, in rotation, or by appointment, gave ont, 
 each, a psalm or hymn, and prayed ; and two others delivered 
 short prepared and practical discourses, or addresses. Often 
 the whole, and always a part, of the exercises at these 
 meetings, was connected with the great and most interesting 
 subject of evangelizing the world, by the dissemination of the 
 Divine Word among all nations, in their vernacular languages, 
 and by the labours of Christian missionaries. As long as his 
 bodily strength enabled him, the Professor attended these 
 meetings, to render them as useful as possible by his presence. 
 He always spoke last himself on these occasions, and con- 
 cluded with prayer. These meetings were well attended, 
 and highly useful, it is believed, both to the students and 
 people. They tended to cherish devotion and a missionary
 
 282 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 spirit in all, and to form the young men for addressing a 
 public audience with ease and readiness. 
 
 ' Every meeting of the Hall was begun and closed with 
 prayer. With great fervour of devotion, the Professor 
 himself opened the first, and closed the last sederunt of each 
 week ; and the students, by rotation, opened and closed the 
 other meetings with prayer. 
 
 ' From this short account, it appears that the meetings, 
 ordinary and extraordinary, of the Professor with his students 
 each session, were 96. The average time devoted to each 
 meeting was probably more, but certainly not less, than an 
 hour and a half, or 144 hours each of the five sessions of 
 attendance. This, it will be observed, is considerably more 
 than the average time devoted to the public instruction of 
 their pupils, by the Theological Professors in the different 
 Universities. If we take the average of their sessions at 24 
 weeks, and their weekly meetings at five, each of an hour's 
 length, the time employed by them in public instruction 
 each session, will be 120 hours. This, it is known, is more 
 time than is reallj so employed ; and yet it comes con- 
 siderably short of the time devoted by Dr Lawson to the 
 instruction of his pupils, in his session of only nine weeks' 
 continuance. If the session was short, it had the advan- 
 tage of being wholly devoted to theological studies. The 
 bell never, as at the Universities, broke off any important 
 business unfinished. The students were never called off as 
 tutors, or in any other character, to attend elsewhere to other 
 business, and forget the sacred investigations in which they 
 had been engaged. Teaching schools, or acting as tutors 
 to young gentlemen, is the common necessary, and in many 
 respects highly useful employment, for the greatest part of 
 the year, of the great majority of theological students, both 
 in the Established Church and among Dissenters. This 
 makes it a matter of great importance, and almost of in- 
 dispensable necessity, that the sessions of the Divinity Hall,
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 283 
 
 in such a body as ours, be short ; and that they be held during 
 the harvest vacation of schools and other seminaries of 
 learning. 
 
 ' Such is a general outline of Dr Lawson's mode of con- 
 ducting the studies of the young men put under his care. 
 There were occasional variations, according to times and 
 circumstances, and to serve important purposes. To this 
 plan, however, so comprehensive, so judiciously adapted to 
 circumstances, and so well calculated, through the Divine 
 blessing, to form his pupils for being able, pious, and useful 
 ministers of Christ, Dr Lawson adhered, in its substance, for 
 the thirty-three years of his professorship. In pursuing it, 
 the whole circle of human learning was ever at his command. 
 The powers of original arid transcendent genius were ever 
 manifest. The most profound discussion became always 
 simple and plain under his management.' 
 
 Special notice is taken, in the above excerpt, of Dr Lawson's 
 critical studies, with his students, of the original languages of 
 Scripture. We have already seen his profound acquaintance 
 with these languages, and his habits of perusing the works of 
 the early Christian fathers. As an additional proof that the 
 traditions of his pupils on this subject are not exaggerated, it 
 may be here mentioned that, when on one occasion he was 
 lecturing on the Trinity, he wound up his, review of the 
 Scripture passages in favour of the doctrine by this state- 
 ment : ' Yon will observe, gentlemen, that I have not quoted 
 the famous passage in the First Epistle of John, " For there 
 are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, 
 and the Holy Ghost : and these three are one." My reason 
 is this: I doubt whether this was in the original epistle. 
 I have read through the works of Athanasius, in the original 
 Greek, and I do not find that he quotes it. Now, I think 
 that, had it been in the copy of the Scriptures current in his 
 time, he would have mentioned it The Trinity is the great 
 doctrine discussed in his writings, wherein he strenuously
 
 284 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 maintains the orthodox view, in opposition to the Arian. He 
 is the great champion of Trinitarianism among the fathers ; 
 and a text so decided and forcible he would not have 
 omitted.' In a letter, written in old age, to Dr Brown, he 
 says : ' When I was young, I remember to have been well 
 pleased with a discourse of Athanasius on the Psalms. The 
 book is not now in my possession. He makes the difference 
 between the Psalms and other books of Scripture, like the 
 difference between telling one how a thing is to be done, and 
 doing it before his eyes that he may do it after him.' We 
 have thus his own testimony as to his familiarity with the 
 writings of the Greek fathers, all the more weighty that it 
 came out incidentally in the course of a discussion before his 
 class. He was one of those scholars whose custom it was to 
 go up to first sources for their knowledge. His was no 
 second-hand erudition. He read the classics themselves, not 
 translations ; he knew authors by their books, not from 
 quotations ; his calm, inquiring mind was braced up for inves- 
 tigation on the mountain-tops of truth, or was refreshed by 
 bathing in some of her deep, deep wells. But I count myself 
 happy to have obtained from Dr Simpson the following 
 beautiful and graphic view of his venerable tutor, which is, 
 in fact, the counterpart of all the impressions received and 
 cherished by the Selkirk students, and may therefore super- 
 sede any attempt otherwise to depict or commend him : 
 
 ' I do not know if ever there was a man in this world whom 
 I esteemed so much as Dr Lawson. We were accustomed to 
 compare him to the patriarch Abraham, on account of his 
 amazing simplicity of character and devotedness to God. 
 The first time I ever saw him was upon a sacramental occa- 
 sion, on Tweed Green, at Peebles. He had come to assist 
 the saintly Mr Leckie, of whom we may justly say that he 
 had few compeers in his day for genuine Christian worth. 
 In Mr Leckie's time the summer sacraments were deemed 
 great solemnities. Vast crowds foregathered around the
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 285 
 
 tent, which was pitched on the velvet green by the side of the 
 silvery Tweed, to hear the "glad tidings of great joy." 
 While the holy and symbolic work was going on within the 
 church, this tent was supplied by relays of ministers, who 
 took their turn in preaching. I well remember, when a 
 boy, of being present on one of these occasions, and sitting 
 among the humming crowd on a bright summer Sabbath, 
 before the services had commenced, and gazing on the 
 glorious sky that over-canopied the basin in which stands 
 the sweet little town of Peebles, and surveying the bright- 
 edged clouds that floated along the tops of the grand old 
 hills that stood as guardians around the congregated flock 
 that had met, like the worthies of old in the lovely moor- 
 lands, to worship God, and listen to the message of His 
 grace. Speedily our musings were interrupted by a some- 
 what sprightly and good-looking young man, who entered the 
 tent and commenced the services. After the usual devotions, 
 he read out as his text, " I will give him the morning star." 
 This was John Brown, then of Biggar ! When he concluded, 
 he left the tent, and in a few minutes, while the vast multi- 
 tude were singing, he was succeeded by a man of uncom- 
 monly venerable aspect. His text was, " I am that I am," 
 words which he pronounced with great solemnity, and then 
 proceeded to their illustration. I listened as he advanced 
 into his subject, but with very little understanding of what 
 he said. I thought at the tune that this was a well-meaning 
 man, but somewhat poor at the preaching. So much for my 
 judgment and good sense in so thinking of the great and 
 good Dr.Lawson, of Selkirk, for it was he who addressed the 
 multitude ; and my little line not being sufficient to fathom his 
 depth, I sagely concluded as aforesaid. Little did I imagine 
 that this same preacher was, in a few years thereafter, to be- 
 come my teacher in divinity, and to be, hi my estimation, a 
 man who had not his equal in all the earth. 
 
 ' I also well remember the first time I was introduced to
 
 286 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON 
 
 him. It was when I went to attend his lectures at Selkirk. 
 I was prepared to see a man of a remarkably imposing aspect, 
 and I was not disappointed. I felt so overawed in his pre- 
 sence that I could scarcely speak, and thought I was in the 
 company of one who was almost more than human ; but very 
 soon his kindly manner and conversation removed everything 
 like embarrassment. 
 
 ' It was as students of theology that we had principally to 
 do with him as pupils in the school of so distinguished a 
 master, and a master to whom our hearts clung with an in- 
 conceivable attachment, and to whom we looked up with un- 
 faltering confidence. His prelections in the Hall were of the 
 most instructive kind, showing great depth and penetration, 
 and thorough acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, and with 
 the entire system of theology. He was a master in the school 
 of Calvin, whose dogmas on certain points some were inclined 
 to think he carried too far ; but, however this might be, his 
 lectures afforded the richest illustrations of Divine truth that 
 perhaps ever issued from a professorial chair. It would be 
 saying too much, positively to affirm that his students derived 
 eminent advantage from his discussions on recondite theologi- 
 cal topics; any defect here, if defect there was, was owing to 
 the pupils themselves, not to him. If a degree of careless- 
 ness and drowsiness was occasionally apparent in the lecture- 
 room, that might be attributed to the narrow space into which 
 the students were crowded, generally a room in his own 
 house, when he was unable to meet his class in the church. 
 
 ' In his examination of the students, his powers of exposi- 
 tion became strikingly apparent. He knew the entire range 
 of Biblical criticism, and could furnish, from the stores of his 
 vast memory, the various views and opinions of divines, both 
 of our own and of other countries, ancient and modern alike. 
 One thing which greatly endeared him to us was the gentle 
 yet faithful way in which he dealt with our discourses. He 
 carefully avoided everything which might wound a young
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 287 
 
 man's feelings, his object being to encourage, not to dis- 
 hearten. Harshness was alien to his nature; and while some 
 critics are disposed to show their superiority or their acumen 
 in always finding fault, and in saying severe things; as 
 opportunities offered, he was ever ready to point out the 
 excellences, and, if possible, to make them counterbalance 
 the defects. 
 
 ' It was the custom in Dr Lawson's time to invite the 
 students in turn to give their remarks on discourses delivered 
 in the Hall ; and those who had more face than others, or who 
 thought themselves competent, generally availed themselves 
 of the opportunity, and some of them were even thankful for 
 it. The custom, however, was bad, as many a modest lad 
 found to his cost, and is now wisely discontinued. On these 
 occasions, however, our venerable tutor uniformly discouraged 
 anything like severity or injustice of remark. The following 
 is a specimen : A student, now a minister of distinction in 
 our Church, had delivered a very excellent discourse, which 
 was listened to with great attention, and which was favour- 
 ably received by the critics in general ; but a youth of some 
 pretensions, when his name was called, sprang to his feet, and 
 commenced his remarks by saying, " This, sir, is a good dis- 
 course, but it unfortunately happens that the division of the 
 text is exactly coincident with, and precisely the same as, 
 that given in a printed sermon by a celebrated preacher of 
 the present day" Here the good Doctor interrupted him 
 
 by smartly saying, " Yes, Mr , but if that celebrated 
 
 preacher went right in his division, was it therefore necessary 
 that our friend here should go wrong in his?" This was a 
 dead-shot, and the critic slunk back to his seat. No ungene- 
 rous insinuations could be permitted. 
 
 ' Another student, when delivering his discourse, had used 
 the phrase, " voluntary will," which, in the criticisms of a 
 fellow-student, was pronounced a redundancy. Dr Lawson 
 immediately replied, " I like very well to hear you correct
 
 288 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 inappropriate human phraseology, but I do not like you to 
 meddle with the words of God ; and these words are His, as 
 you will find in Leviticus i. 3, where it is written, ' He shall 
 offer it of His own voluntary will.' Nor is this a superfluity 
 put in by the translators, for the words in the Hebrew run 
 thus" He ended by quoting the original, and pointing 
 out the precise meaning of the words in question. 
 
 ' He encouraged us to come to him with all our difficulties. 
 Professor Proudfoot (now of Canada) was once very much 
 perplexed with some knotty point. He applied to the Pro- 
 fessor, who solved it at once in a few sentences, and iu the 
 easiest manner. He seemed to have his mind fully made up 
 on every abstruse point, so that he was at no loss to give a 
 solution which at least satisfied himself. Withal, he never 
 seemed to be aware that he was doing anything out of the 
 common. 
 
 ' We are not exactly aware of the extent of his scholarship 
 as it respects the modern Continental languages ; but it is 
 obvious that, owing to the power of his memory, the acqui- 
 sition of tongues must have been a very easy matter to him. 
 In proof of this, he was, one day in the Hall, reading a long 
 extract from a French author, in confirmation of some points 
 in his lecture ; and he read with so much fluency, that we 
 never suspected it was anything else than an English trans- 
 lation he was using ; but as he retired from the class-room, 
 and left the book on the table, we found that it was the 
 French edition, and that he had given an easy and distinct 
 translation from his eye running along the pages. 
 
 ' He was accustomed, when lecturing, first of all to find out 
 the passages he was quoting from Scripture ; and having read 
 the first verse, he shut the book, and continued to repeat verse 
 after verse from memory. One day he intimated his intention 
 to give the exegesis of a very long chapter. Out of blameable 
 curiosity, one of the students determined to test his accuracy, 
 and kept his Bible open, watching him narrowly as he quoted
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 289 
 
 the verses sei-iattm. The exegesis commenced ; as usual, after 
 the first verse was read, the Bible was shut, and without a 
 single error the entire chapter was explained. This student 
 took tea with the Doctor on the Wednesday evening there- 
 after, and told him what he had done. He was not offended, 
 but remarked, with his usual modesty, " Yes, the light on the 
 white paper is now too sore upon my eyes, and I feel relieved 
 by shutting the book." 
 
 ' He was much troubled with dulness of hearing. He had 
 sometimes to use an instrument while listening to the dis- 
 courses. This infirmity occasionally led to some amusing 
 mistakes, especially when a section of students was placed on 
 the examination form. He was one day examining critically 
 on the verses of a Hebrew Psalm, and asked, " What is the 
 antecedent to Asher here?" The ready response was given 
 by one of the students, " The devil, sir." " Yes," he replied, 
 " the poor and afflicted man whom the Lord loveth." He 
 had taken for granted that the answer was correctly given. 
 
 ' We do not remember of ever having seen anything like a 
 shade of serious displeasure resting on his benignant coun- 
 tenance, except once. A student had been gently reproved 
 by him for having taken advantage of his position a little 
 behind the Professor's chair. He read, instead of delivering 
 from memory, part of his discourse. This was contrary to 
 the rules of the Hall. He was therefore admonished to pro- 
 ceed without glancing at his manuscript. As he was going 
 on, however, the Doctor, who probably suspected something, 
 suddenly pushed back his chair till he came fully in view of 
 the lad, whom he detected at his notes again. He considered 
 this as an act of dishonesty, as an insult alike to himself and 
 the class ; and the castigation, which was fully merited, was 
 in proportion severe. Mr Lothian has stated, in his brief but 
 truthful sketch, that " his singular learning and holy zeal, his 
 groat diligence and ever manifest benevolence, produced and 
 maintained among the great body of his pupils, filial and
 
 290 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 habitual reverence and love. To shun what they knew would 
 be offensive, and to do what they believed would be agreeable 
 to him, was, of course, their study and their happiness. If 
 an unfortunate individual, through ignorance and levity, de- 
 livered at any time what seemed erroneous in matter or 
 unedifying in style or manner, or, if in anything his personal 
 conduct was unbecoming or improper, the Professor's neces- 
 sary though reluctant reproof was sure to be administered. 
 Where an imperious sense of duty required severity, even he 
 could be as severe as just, and benevolent, and wise. It may 
 not be improper to allude here to an instance : One of the 
 students, a youth of acknowledged talents, but at that time 
 deficient in gravity of deportment, gave way to open levity at 
 one of the public meetings with the people. At the close of 
 next meeting with the students, the Professor said, evidently 
 with much feeling, " I am much grieved that one of my stu- 
 dents gave way lately, not only among his fellow-students, 
 but in the midst of the Christian people, to levity of conduct 
 altogether unbecoming a Christian on any occasion, and still 
 more unbecoming a candidate for the holy ministry in a reli- 
 gious meeting of the Christian people. Let that individual, 
 whom I will not now name, be careful to break off this ini- 
 quity by repentance, and let others take warning." The 
 young man repeated the offence, and on noticing this Dr 
 Lawson said, with great emotion, " It pains me to the heart, 
 to be now obliged to say, that if such conduct be continued, 
 it will be manifest that this unhappy youth neither fears God 
 nor regards man." This individual, whatever might be the 
 inducement, soon after left the body. But it is pleasing to 
 add, that he is now a respectable minister in the Established 
 Church, and that the error of his unguarded youth, so sharply 
 reproved by his faithful tutor, has been long ago completely 
 renounced. It is proper, however, to state, that this person 
 did afterwards actually apologize to the Professor ; at all 
 events, he came for the purpose of doing so. Dr Lawson
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 291 
 
 having been informed that the levity manifested was occa- 
 sioned by a circumstance which in so far made it excusable, 
 stopped him as he began the apology, expressed the con- 
 iidence which he had as to his demeanour in future, and con- 
 versed with him on other subjects in the most friendly manner. 
 The only other instance of this class that may be noticed, was 
 his mild but pungent reproof to two students who were 
 whispering to each other during his lecture: "If your con- 
 versation is considered by you as more important than what 
 f am stating, and yon cannot defer it, you may proceed ; but 
 if not, you will wait till I am done." 
 
 4 Dr Lawson was informed of certain innovations in con- 
 ventional speech which were then beginning to be introduced. 
 One afternoon, while lecturing, he observed that his class had 
 become rather restless and inattentive. Thinking that he had 
 exceeded in length, he lifted his eyes from his manuscript and 
 asked the hour. A student who sat near him replied, " A 
 quarter from four, sir." " What does he say ?" queried the 
 Professor again. " A quarter from four, sir." " Ay," was his 
 rejoinder, " but whether does that mean a quarter before four 
 or a quarter after it ; if it is from four, on which side is it?" 
 
 ' He was entertaining a party of students one evening, in 
 his hospitable mansion; and, among other sage and memorable 
 observations, we remember the following : " We sometimes 
 get credit for what we do not deserve. I was once at 
 Peebles, assisting my excellent friend, Mr Leckie, at a sum- 
 mer communion ; and just as I entered the tent to preach to 
 the people spread out before me on the pleasant green, by 
 the side of Tweed, a somewhat violent thunderstorm burst 
 over the locality. I had come to Peebles with a particular 
 discourse on God's thundering in the heavens, and quite 
 intended to deliver it in the tent. The thunderstorm and the 
 text seemed a wonderful coincidence; and the people con- 
 cluded that I had actually chosen the one to suit the other, 
 and had studied the sermon while the congregation were
 
 292 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 singing the psalm ; but little did they know that I had the 
 whole cut and dry before I left Selkirk. Hence, we some- 
 times get credit for what we do not deserve ; and, on the 
 other hand, we are sometimes blamed when we are innocent." 
 ' He was very kind in allowing the students the free use of 
 his own valuable library. The Hall library was by no means 
 extensive, though it contained a fair collection of good books ; 
 and this boon to the students was greatly prized and taken 
 advantage of, especially as the Professor's stock included a 
 number of rare and valuable works. The edification of his 
 pupils was his great aim, and he grudged no sacrifice to 
 promote it. Never was a father happier in the midst of his 
 family than he was in the midst of his students. He seemed 
 to experience a purely patriarchal delight when he convened 
 them around him on the floor of the Hall. It was observed 
 by his family, that when the session of the Hall drew near, 
 he manifested a more than ordinary cheerfulness, and that he 
 displayed a corresponding depression when the session closed. 
 He was dearly loved by his pupils, and he loved them equally 
 dearly. His hilarity usually appeared to the best advantage 
 when he gathered a batch of them around him in his parlour 
 to tea. His object was then to excite a spirit of cheerfulness 
 and mirth in the little company, and to beget their confidence 
 by his frank and courteous manner. Nor was he behind in 
 retailing anecdotes calculated to stimulate a hearty laugh 
 among the youths about his fireside. He used to say to us, 
 that "cheerfulness tended greatly to longevity;" adding 
 " When I was a youth, I was much given to laughter. There 
 were even some parts of the Bible that I could not read 
 without laughing, such as that passage in the Prophet, which 
 speaks of the ladies' ' crisping pins and nose jewels ;' and also 
 that of the prophets of Baal, where Elijah says, ' Cry aloud, 
 for he is a god : either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he 
 is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be 
 awaked.""
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 293 
 
 To this interesting sketch of Dr Simpson's may be added 
 the congenial testimony of the late Dr Henry Belfrage, one 
 of Dr Lawson's most distinguished students : 
 
 ' His manner was marked by mild solemnity, and his 
 prayers and counsels by the unction of a heart full of the 
 Holy Ghost. His demeanour to the students exhibited the 
 happy medium betwixt the indulgence which youth is so apt 
 to abuse, and the reserve it feels so galling. In him there 
 was nothing of that inquisitorial jealousy which has led some 
 to pry into every indiscretion ; or of that sluggishness which 
 never follows the young beyond the precincts of the seminary. 
 He approved himself at once as their guardian and their 
 father. He invited them to his house on suitable occasions, 
 made them welcome to such books in his library as they 
 wished to consult. When any of them required his counsel, it 
 was given in a manner the most friendly ; and when any of 
 them were sick, he watched over them with the solicitude of 
 a parent. When we think of the many young meu who 
 have been trained by him, and who are labouring in various 
 places in Britain, in Ireland, and in America, we feel it im- 
 possible to estimate the results of his instructions, admonitions, 
 and prayers. 
 
 ' As a proof of his great prudence, it may be mentioned 
 that on one occasion a present was sent to the Hall library 
 of some books, among which were six copies of Paine's 
 " Rights of Man." This was done at a period when the 
 nation was agitated by political speculation, and such a gift 
 to such a seminary was fitted to poison the ardent minds of 
 youth. When he heard of this, he stated to the students 
 that he could not permit such books to have a place in their 
 library, or to be circulated amongst them. Though attached 
 to liberal principles, lie was unwilling that they should engage 
 as disputants or partizans in the political contests of the day. 
 It was in meekness, truth, and righteousness that he wished 
 them to go forth as does the Captain of Salvation. The
 
 294 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 selection of books by the students, for the library, was sub- 
 mitted to him for his approval ; and his opinion was given so 
 wisely and mildly, that, when unfavourable to any book, it was 
 never resisted. As a proof of his amiable modesty, it may 
 be mentioned, that, when any ministers venerable for age 
 and wisdom visited the Hall, he urged them, ere they left, to 
 give some counsels to his pupils ; and I have seen this done 
 at his entreaty with much judgment, delicacy, and kindness. 
 
 ' The substance of his opinions (as a Professor of Divinity) 
 will be found in the Christian Repository for March and April 
 1821, under the title of "Faults into which ministers may 
 fall as to the matter and the manner of their preaching." 
 Though he discharged his duties in this character to the high 
 satisfaction of the generality of his brethren, there were some 
 who, irritated at the part he had taken in the controversy 
 respecting toleration, wrote him a letter, in which it was 
 insinuated that he did not attend with the necessary strictness 
 to the religious principles of his students. He sent no reply 
 to it ; but in conversing with a friend afterwards, he said, " I 
 feel peculiarly hurt at seeing appended to it the name of one 
 who should have known me better. His simplicity has been 
 imposed upon by specious pretences. Another letter of that 
 kind will make me resign my office." 
 
 ' He often urged on his students to treasure the Word of 
 God in their memories ; and it deserves to be mentioned, that 
 while himself a student he had committed to memory so 
 accurately the numerous texts of 'Scripture at the close of the 
 various paragraphs of Mr Brown's " System of Divinity," that 
 this excellent man used to say, that he never found a student 
 like Lawson, who could repeat them so exactly, and that he 
 never run him out but once. 
 
 ' The following are some of his counsels to the students : 
 " Pay respect and deference to old ministers. Attached as 
 I am to Presbyterian parity, yet such modesty and deference 
 are amiable in youth, and to them age has a claim." " A
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 295 
 
 good voice will go far with some to gain popularity ; but rest 
 assured it will take something else to maintain it." " When 
 young men can bear to be mimicked, mimicry may be useful 
 to correct improprieties. I once heard an imitation of my 
 own manner ; and had I been earlier aware of its defects, I 
 might have been able to correct them." 
 
 ' He felt a very deep interest in the settlement, the lot, and 
 the labours of his students when they were ordained to the 
 ministry. As an instance of this, it may be mentioned that, 
 one morning, when about to partake of some refreshment 
 with a friend, he requested him to ask a blessing, and to 
 supplicate, while thus engaged, God's blessing on the ordi- 
 nation of one of his students, which was to take place that 
 day. " I have endeavoured," he added, " to remember it 
 before the Lord in private ; and if my prayers are granted, 
 God will bless him and make him a blessing." 
 
 ' To his students, when fixed in scenes of pastoral duty, he 
 was always ready to give his best advice ; and their appli- 
 cations for his counsel were received with pleasure, and 
 answered promptly and kindly. To those of them who did 
 not obtain any tixed charge he was anxious to do justice ; 
 and, when opportunity was afforded, to excite them to labour 
 to show themselves approved of God, and to maintain that 
 meekness of wisdom, that patience of hope, those kindly feel- 
 ings to their more successful brethren, and that diligence in 
 study and in doing good, so difficult to be kept alive amidst 
 the bitterness of disappointment and strong temptations to 
 envy.' 
 
 The following Hall reminiscences have been gleaned from 
 surviving students, and are submitted in the hope of still more 
 deeply interesting the reader : 
 
 He opened his lecture one day in the Hall with the follow- 
 ing beautiful and impressive sentences : 
 
 ' Agesilaus, being asked what those things were in which 
 children ought to be educated, answered, " Those things
 
 296 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 which they ought to practise when they are men." The wise 
 maxim was well observed in Sparta. The Lacedemonian 
 lawgiver intended to make his countrymen a nation of 
 soldiers; and by the institutions of Sparta, no day was 
 suffered to pass in which the rising hopes of the country 
 were not taught some lesson, or employed in some exercise, 
 that might fit them to excel in arms. 
 
 ' The Apostle Paul calls upon Christians to consider what 
 the racers of the Olympic games did, and what they restrained 
 themselves from doing and enjoying, that they might obtain 
 a corruptible crown. Shall Christians, then, think it a hard 
 matter, in the prospect of an incorruptible crown, to show 
 forth all diligence in duty, and to abstain from every forbid- 
 den gratification, when the racers of Greece would submit to 
 so many privations, and endure so many toils for a crown of 
 laurels which was so soon to fade away ? 
 
 ' Students of divinity are not only Christians, and expec- 
 tants of an immortal crown, but they hope, through the 
 Divine mercy, to be the happy instruments of turning some 
 of their fellow-men to righteousness, that they may shine for 
 ever as the brightness of the firmament. With what un- 
 wearied diligence, then, should they use all the proper means 
 for obtaining that wisdom and knowledge which will not only 
 lead to their own unspeakable benefit, but fit them for 
 furthering the best present interests, and the eternal salva- 
 tion of they know not how many of their fellow-men. 
 
 ' The Spirit of God is the author of every qualification 
 necessary for the ministers of the Gospel. He bestowed 
 extraordinary gifts upon the first preachers of the Divine 
 doctrines ; and the world was amazed at the powers conferred 
 on men who had spent the former parts of their lives in con- 
 stant labours for their subsistence. The present state of the 
 Church does not render such gifts necessary. But it ought 
 not to be forgotten that the gifts of knowledge, wisdom, and 
 whatever else is necessary " to make the man of God perfect,
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 297 
 
 thoroughly furnished for every good work," must come from 
 the Divine Spirit. These gifts, however, are to be expected 
 or improved in the use of means. None of us are born with 
 utterance or knowledge. The measure of intellectual ability 
 bestowed on different men is very different, but none are 
 beyond the need of improvement ; and none ought to expect 
 such inspirations of knowledge as were afforded to the holy 
 men of ancient times. For the very reason that God is the 
 Father of Lights, and the bestower of every good and per- 
 fect gift, we ought to be diligent in using the means by which 
 He is wont to confer the blessing. " If thou search for 
 wisdom as silver and hid treasures, then shalt thou under- 
 stand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God." 
 
 ' These talents are not the only or the chief requisites in a 
 faithful minister of the Gospel ; and it would be exceedingly 
 sinful in the rulers of the Church to admit persons to the 
 ministry who do not in their conduct exhibit good evidence 
 of their piety : and it would be very sinful in candidates to 
 assume the form of godliness without the power of it. Piety 
 is likewise necessary to give ministers a reasonable prospect of 
 success in the work of the Lord, and to fit them for teaching 
 their hearers by example. It is therefore of high importance 
 for students of divinity, in theirs* place, that they should be 
 true Christians, and walk as becometh Christians; secondly, 
 that they should store up in their minds that knowledge 
 which they are, if God will, one day to communicate to 
 others ; and thirdly, that they should endeavour to acquire a 
 talent for communicating that knowledge to other men. I 
 will give you a few advices on each of these heads.' 
 
 He once paused in his lecture in the Hall, and said, ' I wish 
 to propose to you a riddle, and it is this : There is a natural 
 production which is neither animal, vegetable, nor mineral. 
 It has neither length, breadth, nor thickness, and yet is often 
 found to be from two to six feet long. It is frequently 
 alluded to in the Old Testament, and strongly recommended
 
 298 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 in the New. Can any of you tell me what that is?' The 
 students were taken by surprise, as such an apostrophe was 
 by no means common with the Professor. Having waited for 
 a few moments, and no answer being forthcoming, he turned 
 round to one of his elders, who had come to hear that day's 
 lecture, and asked him if he could tell. ' Yes,' replied the 
 worthy man, though taken a little aback, ' I think it is 
 "LovE."' The Doctor was gratified, and the students were 
 somewhat abashed. 
 
 The late Rev. Patrick Comrie, of Pennicuick, was, at the 
 Hall, and indeed through life, prone to attic witticisms, 
 which were sometimes transmigrated into rather keen satire. 
 One of the students had delivered a somewhat inflated 
 discourse, in which the following piece of bombast was 
 uttered : ' Sin has broken the back of angels, and cracked 
 the globe to its centre.' The Professor, as usual, before 
 giving his own criticism, asked the students for their remarks. 
 There was, however, no response to the appeal. Dr Lawson 
 had brought that forenoon one of his brethren to the Hall, 
 who was very anxious to hear Mr Comrie's now rather 
 notorious criticisms. Wishing to gratify his reverend visitor, 
 the Professor repeated his request ; but still all were silent. 
 At length he turned to Mr Comrie, and requested him to 
 give his mind. He declined at first ; but, on being again 
 solicited, he rose in his seat, and simply said, ' Well, sir, I 
 have only to notice one eloquent passage in this discourse. 
 It seemed like a quotation. I know not where he got it ; but 
 my remark on that passage is, that it is the first time I ever 
 heard that angels were broken-backed, and that I shudder to 
 contemplate the " crack " of this globe. If that be true, it is 
 high time we were looking out for another planet.' ' Oh, Mr 
 Comrie, Mr Comrie ! ' was all the reply of the not displeased 
 Professor. 
 
 When his son George went to be inducted into the church 
 at Bolton, he gave him a letter to the Rev. George Sandy
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 299 
 
 (then of Leeds, now of Gorebridge), who was to take a chief 
 part in the interesting service. Mr Sandy had been ordained 
 in Leeds only a few months before. The following extract 
 from that letter bespeaks the interest of the Professor hi his 
 quondam pupil : ' Having an opportunity by my son, I 
 hereby express my great satisfaction with your settlement in 
 a place where you will have much opportunity of doing much 
 good to precious souls. You were dilatory in entering on 
 the public service of Christ ; but I hope you now find Him a 
 good Master. Doubtless you will meet with discourage- 
 ments ; but I suppose you have heard of the saying of the 
 famous Bernard Gilpin, that " he would not go to a place 
 where the devil would not oppose him." I do not at present 
 subjoin any counsels to you respecting the manner in which 
 you should discharge your duty. If you want information 
 on this subject, let the Apostle Paul be your counsellor. 
 What he wrote to Timothy and to Titus, he has written to 
 us.' 
 
 The Professor relished a joke. Dr Dick used to tell, that 
 he entered his library one morning, and found him with a 
 broken pipe in his hand. ' It is a common remark,' he said, 
 smiling, ' that calamities seldom come single ; and I have had 
 a proof of that this morning. Some time ago I broke a pipe, 
 and now, you see, I have broken another.' 
 
 In his lectures in the Hall, he illustrated the relative duties 
 chiefly from the Book of Proverbs ; and, referring to the 22d 
 verse of the 18th chapter ' Whoso findeth a wife, findeth a 
 good thing ' he observed, ' Surely Solomon here means a 
 fjood wife, for many a man takes a viper into his bosom.' 
 
 One of the students happened to mention, in conversation 
 with the Professor, that he had been present in a Roman 
 Catholic chapel, when the priest, among other things, ob- 
 served, ' Protestants blame us for worshipping angels ; but 
 John prays (Rev. i. 4, 5) for grace and peace to the seven 
 churches of Asia, from the seven spirits or angels which are
 
 300 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 before the throne, even before he prays for them from Jesus 
 Christ Himself;' when Dr Lawson replied, 'I should con- 
 sider that a very good reason for believing that created spirits 
 cannot be meant in that text.' 
 
 One day, when it was the late Dr John Brown's turn to 
 pray in the Hall, he had used the words ' that through 
 death He might destroy him that had the power of death, 
 that is, the devil.' As they were walking home, Dr Lawson 
 reproved him, saying, ' John, my man, you need not have 
 said, " that is, the devil." You might have been sure God 
 knew whom you meant.' 
 
 The Doctor was peculiarly attentive to his students in 
 affliction. One of them Mr Moodie, from Greenock, a very 
 amiable and excellent youth was attacked with what turned 
 out a fatal disease. Dr Lawson wrote him a letter, which 
 he prized above gold. He kept it constantly beside him, 
 and died with it under his pillow. Another student of great 
 promise Mr Marr, brother of the late Mr Marr, of Lothian 
 Road Church, Edinburgh was present one evening at a tea- 
 party, in the house of the late Dr Anderson, where he was 
 suddenly seized, and lost the power of the lower extremities. 
 He left Selkirk the following day, and Dr Lawson provided 
 him with a letter of introduction to the late eminent Dr 
 Gregory, of Edinburgh University. It was soon decided to 
 be an incurable case, when he received from his tutor a letter 
 of Christian sympathy, which was a source of great comfort 
 to him on his death-bed. 
 
 The Professor was extremely susceptible of cold. On 
 calling for him, he was usually found sitting near to the fire, 
 with a book in his hand, and a pipe in his mouth. ( Will 
 you join me in a smoke f was his usual salutation. As the 
 weather was rather cold during some of the sessions of the 
 Hall, he was obliged to meet the students, not in the church 
 as usual, but in an upper room in the manse. The room was 
 not large enough ; and some of the students had to sit in the
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 301 
 
 lobby, where they could hear, though they did not see him. 
 Some of them occasionally found their way into his library, 
 which was adjacent, where they took a peep into the books. 
 At one time there happened to be a book-stall in Selkirk, 
 and one of the students discovered a few of Dr Lawson's 
 books his name being crazed from them. It turned out 
 that they had been pilfered by one of the students, of the 
 name of Sutherland. He was confronted with the Professor, 
 who, after the theft was proven, proposed that the young 
 man should pray for repentance and pardon. ' Pray your- 
 self,' said the thief; and, accordingly, the Doctor offered up 
 an earnest and affectionate prayer for him. The student was 
 allowed to go free. He left Selkirk, and has never been 
 heard of since. 
 
 The subject of one of the students' discussions happened 
 to be Heb. xi. 31. In speaking of the faith of Rahab, he 
 stated, that whatever might be the fate of the heathen, 
 wherever Divine revelation was enjoyed, faith was indispens- 
 able to salvation. Upon this, the Professor remarked, that 
 the student might have expressed himself more strongly as 
 to the hopeless state of the heathen ; and added, ' But it is 
 an awful subject ; and, perhaps, the young man did right in 
 leaving the point undetermined.' 
 
 He, one day, entered the Hall with Paine's ' Rights of 
 Man' in his hand, and said, ' Here is a book which belongs 
 to the Students' Library. I took it out when it was pro- 
 hibited by Government ; but I think it may now be restored, 
 without any offence being taken.' 
 
 He usually prayed in the standing posture, and always 
 briefly. He stood, covered with his plaid, always worn ; and, 
 with a hand in each vest pocket, solemnly poured out his soul 
 before God. 
 
 In his lectures, he often quoted merely the chapter and the 
 verse, without repeating the words. ' I do not quote the 
 words,' he would say, ' trusting that you remember them.'
 
 302 THE LIFE OF DK LAWSON. 
 
 It happened that, in a few instances, students left his 
 tuition, and connected themselves with other religious parties. 
 In none of these cases, however, did he discover any irritation, 
 or the slightest solicitude either about the good report or the 
 bad report which they carried away. His wish was, that the 
 Lord might lead them in His truth, and teach them. The 
 counsel he suggested from it to others was, ' Prove all things ; 
 hold fast that which is good:' and the influence which he 
 wished it to have upon himself and others, was alluded to in 
 the words of the Apostle Paul, 'Nevertheless, whereto we 
 have already attained, let us walk by the same rule ; let us 
 mind the same thing.' 
 
 In Selkirk, there was an excellent lady of the name of 
 Mrs Johnstone the students used to call her ' Mother John- 
 stone.' She sent one day for Mr Adam (late of Peebles), 
 and said, ' Mr Adam, I am to have at tea to-night, the Doctor 
 and Mrs Lawson, arid Mr Greig of Lochgelly, and young 
 Alexander Waugh ; will you come too ?' He replied, ' With 
 the greatest pleasure, though unworthy of such an honour.' 
 He went ; and a more instructive and interesting evening he 
 never spent. At one period the conversation turned upon 
 this question : ' Have soldiers a right to judge of the ex- 
 pediency of a war ? ' The Doctor and Mr Greig were pitted 
 against each other in the debate both venerable for age, 
 eminent in piety, skilled in Bible truth, in Divine and human 
 literature, and versant with men and manners. In their 
 arguments they both manifested great pleasantry, and issued 
 fine morsels of rare wit. Both of them seemed to wax young 
 again, and were actually suiting the action to the word. 
 Mr Waugh (son of Dr Waugh, and afterwards of Mile End 
 Chapel, London) sat in silent but interested amazement ; 
 while the two old ladies, Mrs Lawson and Mother John- 
 stone, occasionally put in a word, to try, if possible, to ter- 
 minate the dispute. It was evident that, had their vote 
 been taken, they would have sided with the Professor. In
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 303 
 
 winding up, he said, 'I think decidedly, that soldiers may 
 inform themselves as to the object of any war in which they 
 engage. There are, however, so many diplomatic circum- 
 stances involved in wars, as to unfit them for arriving at a 
 proper decision ; they are, therefore, bound to act upon the 
 belief that, for king and country, their superiors are right.' 
 To which Mr Greig replied : ' In that case, soldiers are mere 
 machines, and cannot be held as in any sense or degree 
 responsible.' During the little debate, the Doctor's eye 
 sparkled, and on his aged face sat a kind of heroic smile. 
 Mr Greig, too, seemed greatly pleased, and even willing to be 
 on the losing side. Perhaps, in the humility of his heart for 
 he was a most worthy man he wished, for the sake of the 
 young men who were present, that the Professor should 
 stand highest in their estimation. 
 
 Every session Mr Adam went up to the Hall he called on 
 the Professor, who, on one occasion, thus addressed him : 
 ' Come away, Mr Adam, yours is an ancient name, and re- 
 minds me of a story about an Englishman and an old Scotch 
 minister. The minister was a plain, blunt man, and saw that 
 the other was not particularly well informed on religious sub- 
 jects : " Can you tell me," said he, " who was the first man ?" 
 " Really," replied the Englishman," " I cannot, but will be 
 obliged to you if you will inform me." " It was Adam" said 
 the minister ; and asked if he could tell the name of the 
 first woman. " Certainly," was the reply, " it would be Mrs 
 Adam." ' This shows that the Doctor, with all his gravity 
 and deep thinking, could be jocose, and, on befitting occa- 
 sions, quite familiar with his students. 
 
 ' Perhaps Dr Lawsou's mind did occasionally, and unknown 
 to himself, go off at a tangent, though he was not the absent 
 man lie is sometimes represented to have been. Having given 
 several successive lectures on " Pride" he called upon so many 
 of the students to take their places on a specified seat for 
 examination. I do not remember what suggested it to me,
 
 304 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 but, by way of experiment to see what he would do or say, it 
 occurred to me to advert to one aspect of the subject to 
 which he had made no reference. When it came to Mr 
 Adam's turn, the question he put was, " Can you, Mr Adam, 
 give me any other aspect of pride ? " " Yes, sir," replied he, 
 " the Papal hierarchy." He awoke, as it were, out of a 
 dream, acquiesced emphatically in the reply, to the amaze- 
 ment, if not amusement of the class, and went on in a more 
 than usually animated manner to illustrate the topic. 
 
 ' During one session of the Hall, the students had held a 
 special meeting for the purpose of considering how they might 
 best improve the solemn event of any of their number dying 
 during the recess. A resolution was agreed to, that the 
 student best acquainted with the deceased brother should be 
 appointed to improve the event by some memorial. Before 
 going into the measure, however, it was thought to be right 
 to consult the Professor. A deputation for this purpose 
 waited upon him, consisting of the late Rev. John M'Gil- 
 christ, of Edinburgh ; the late Rev. Dr Brown, of Greenock ; 
 and the Rev. T. Adam, of Peebles. When the object of 
 their call had been stated, the Professor said 
 
 ' " I am just afraid that one student, in drawing up a me- 
 moir of a deceased fellow-student, will be apt to exceed in 
 eulogistic references." 
 
 ' " But, Doctor," interposed Mrs Lawson, who was present, 
 " you know that all the students have good characters." 
 
 ' " Ay," said he, " they all fetch up very good testimonials 
 with them." 
 
 ' This proved an extinguisher to the whole affair. 
 
 ' On a certain Sabbath, while the Hall was sitting, a very 
 eccentric preacher, though a good man, occupied the Doctor's 
 pulpit. The oddities of the minister were too much for some 
 of the students, who gave way to laughter. On the day 
 following he called upon Dr Lawson, complained of such con- 
 duct in young candidates for the ministry, and hoped he
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 305 
 
 would administer a sharp reproof from the chair. Bat no. 
 The worthy man, with a peculiar smile, replied, "I am sure 
 that, if the students laughed, they had something to laugh at." 
 There had been some rather ludicrous stammering and repe- 
 tition of a Scripture passage, so that the Doctor felt some 
 sympathy for his pupils.' 
 
 The Professor, it is well known, was not over particular 
 about his dress. His common attire was a blue coat, cordu- 
 roy knee-breeches, and black stockings, with a checked plaid 
 thrown round his shoulders in cold weather. Sir Walter 
 Scott's ' Cargill ' is also represented as careless in the cloth- 
 ing of the outer man ; but though indifferent to the neatness, 
 he was not so to the ' cleanliness ' of his person and raiment. 
 This holds true of Dr Lawson. His inadvertence, however, 
 in this respect, was sometimes rather teazing to his friends, 
 lie came into Edinburgh to attend the Synod, upon one occa- 
 sion, and was met on the street by Dr Husband. The latter, 
 being particular as to dress, was vexed to see his friend 
 wearing a ' shocking bad hat,' and used the liberty to call 
 the Professor's attention to it. Dr Husband exercised well- 
 known influence over Dr Lawson, who at all times paid great 
 respect to his opinions and judgment. ' What is wrong with 
 the hat ? ' asked Dr Lawson. Dr Husband told him that 
 it was old and shabby, and unlike him, and discoursed briefly 
 upon the Christian duty of men in his station setting an 
 example of external decency in such things. The affair 
 ended by the two going at once into a hat shop, when the 
 old gave way to a new chapeau. 
 
 He wore a yellow wig. When ' powdering ' the wig be- 
 came fashionable, Mrs Lawson thought that his should be 
 conformed, and, without telling him of it for he never would 
 have given his consent she did powder it one Sabbath morn- 
 ing before he left for the pulpit. He put it on without 
 noticing the improvement. The day was very warm, and in 
 the midst of his sermon he was dist urbed by the perspiration 
 
 u
 
 306 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 drops on his face, rendered more than usually disagreeable 
 by their mixture with the powder. After several applications 
 of his handkerchief to his brow, nose, and eyes, he at length 
 took off the wig, and seeing it all over with what he thought 
 was dust, he deliberately knocked it on the sides of the pulpit, 
 and shook out the powder thereof ; and having again put it 
 on, resumed his discourse. 
 
 He appeared in the Hall one day with his wig somewhat 
 touzy and to the side. A student whispered to his neighbour, 
 ' See, his wig is no redd the day.' The Doctor heard, but 
 took no notice of it at the time. But when it came to the 
 turn of this student to deliver a discourse, he was welcomed 
 to the pulpit with these words from the Professor, ' Come 
 
 away, Mr , and we'll now see wha's wig is best redd the 
 
 day.' The student was taken by surprise, but proceeded, and 
 got the approbation of his placid tutor. He could be severe 
 when it was necessary, but in general he was exceedingly 
 tolerant. 
 
 He was in the habit of reading Hebrew every Friday 
 with the students. On one Friday he found the Hah 1 almost 
 deserted ; and on inquiry, he was told that nearly all the 
 students had set off for a walk up the Ettrick. He made 
 no reply, but simply caused the roll to be called, and then 
 went home. Next Friday there was not a student absent 
 who could be present. Such was the effect of his quiet 
 mode of rebuking them. His gentleness became his authority. 
 If he could, he always did account favourably for any mistake 
 in a student's performance. Tender to their infirmities, he 
 sought to advance, never to repel and reject them. Thus, 
 when upon a visit to Edinburgh, he heard that the Presbytery 
 was sitting. On discharging his own business, he went to 
 the Presbytery House. He found that one of his students 
 was there, and on trials for license. This student was not a 
 bright light, and, in addition, had some natural defect which 
 Dr Peddie thought might interfere with his usefulness. He
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 307 
 
 was just concluding when the Professor entered and took his 
 seat. ' I have just one remark more,' he said, ' and shall 
 then give way to Dr Lawson, whose opinion, we know, is 
 worth having : everything that was offered to God, under 
 the law, was to be without spot and without blemish.' 
 ' What Dr Peddie has said,' replied the Professor, ' is quite 
 true, that everything offered unto God, under the law, was to 
 be without spot and without blemish ; but he ought to have 
 gone further, and added, that there has been a change of the 
 law and also of the priesthood.' 
 
 ' It is amazing,' writes one of his students, ' with what 
 reverential interest those who studied under him look back 
 upon that period of their existence. I was preaching the 
 other Sabbath in Perth. Dr Newlands heard of it, and sent 
 for me. He was dying. The note was written by his wife, 
 and signed by himself, but evidently in a very tremulous 
 hand. When I called, he was too weak to be able to rise, 
 and suffering great pain ; yet even in these circumstances all 
 his conversation was about the great and good Dr Lawsen. 
 " Do you remember," he asked, " what he said to me when 
 you and I absented ourselves from the Hall without leave for 
 two days, during which I got myself hurt by a fall at New- 
 town ?" Of course I did. " Ay," he added. " when I went to 
 apologize, the good man said to me, 'If you had not got 
 yourself hurt, perhaps I might have expressed myself other- 
 wise, but I think you have got punishment enough.' Every 
 morning after that, he calmly, and without assigning a reason 
 for it, ' called the roll,' while you and I deeply felt what that 
 reason was. A look from that man was enough at any time 
 to arrest frivolity." ' 
 
 This beautiful and ardent love wherewith all his students 
 loved him, is one of the most interesting features in his pro- 
 fcssorial life. How is it to be accounted for? It is seldom 
 that we find such greatness encompassed and adorned with 
 such feminine tenderness. The secret lay in the transparent
 
 308 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 unselfishness of all he said or did. He was so wrapped up in 
 his subject, or in his work, as to be evidently self-oblivious. 
 He lost sight of self entirely, and became absorbed in the 
 excellence of his theme, and in a passionate desire to make it 
 effective. 
 
 Dr Simpson has noticed a very remarkable trait in his 
 tutor's character his unconsciousness of his own superiority. 
 While all around him wondered at the fertility of his mind 
 and the profundity of his wisdom, he not only seemed to be, 
 but was really, not only quite innocent of any vain estimate 
 of his powers, but of any idea that he was different from 
 other folks. At first view this is almost incredible. A man 
 so accomplished, we are wont to assume, could not fail to be 
 conscious of his acquirements, though not conceited of them. 
 It appears, however, that he was an exception. So, at all 
 events, all who knew him intimately testify. And, after all, 
 it is to be accounted for. He got his learning without effort. 
 He was master of his position by natural and easy ascents. 
 Hence he looked upon his possessions with no self-complacent 
 eye. The overweening estimate some have of their own 
 talents or successes, arises, in a great measure, from the hard 
 labour and formidable difficulties they have had to encounter 
 on the road. On reaching at length the summit, they are to 
 be excused if they survey their elevation with pride. But 
 George Lawson seemed to go up, or down, and over the 
 ground, as with seven-leagued boots : his capacious memory 
 and his sagacious judgment kept his mind always high, so 
 that his steps were from the top of one alp to another, with- 
 out the fatigue and waste of rugged ascents and descents. 
 He never felt that he had accomplished a feat, whatever might 
 be the impression his feats did produce upon others. His 
 own thinking was all about the subject itself, while their 
 thinking was intensified upon the speaker. 
 
 In the memoir of Dr Brown there is a reference to an event 
 in his Hall life, exceedingly creditable both to himself and the
 
 THE HALL AND ITS MEMORIES. 309 
 
 Professor. The student had just delivered a discourse from 
 these words, ' This is life eternal, that they might know Thee 
 the only true God.' A passion for literature was then 
 displaying itself, and young Brown had come so far under 
 its influence as to admit more of the metaphysical than the 
 evangelical into his sermon, than at that time, at least, was 
 considered consistent with faithfulness. After several of 
 the students had animadverted somewhat bitterly upon it, 
 the Rev. Mr Greig, of Lochgelly, who was on a visit to 
 the Professor, took the preacher very severely to task, and 
 pronounced a decided verdict against his performance. Dr 
 Lawson said very little, but in general coincided with Mr 
 Greig's criticism. He sent, however, on the evening of the 
 same day, for his young pupil, amiably desirous to soothe his 
 feelings under the circumstances. 'Come away, John,' he 
 said, as the lad entered the library, ' and tell me how you feel 
 after this forenoon's work. I hope you are not offended with 
 Mr Greig ; you know what a good and wise man he is.' ' I 
 have such a regard for Mr Greig,' said John, ' that I believe 
 I have deserved all I got.' ' Yes,' rejoined Dr Lawson, ' I 
 fear you have ; and if I had gone into criticism I might have 
 been even more severe than he was ; but, John, we have both 
 good reason to look well to our work, for if you come short 
 in anything, every one will say, how much better you would 
 have turned out had you studied under your grandfather.' 
 The student avowed that his faults could never be ascribed 
 to his teacher ; and having promised to be more careful in 
 future, the affair ended. 1 The friendship and confidence of 
 his Professor, Dr Brown afterwards largely shared in. He 
 was delighted, and even elevated, with the growing and rising 
 worth of this honoured grandson of the Haddington divine. 
 And very markedly so, when, on the death of Mrs Brown, such 
 a mellowed and holy change came over his entire life, personal, 
 pastoral, and literary. He often spoke of it, and never without 
 1 Vide Dr Cairns' Life, pp. 46, 47.
 
 310 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 expressing his confidence that in future years this ' corn of 
 wheat ' should bring forth rich and abundant fruit. A very 
 good anecdote, in its way, is told in his memoir. ' He was 
 once called to preach at Selkirk during the sitting of the 
 Hall, some six or seven years after his settlement in Biggar. 
 The assembled students expected, from his text " I could 
 wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, 
 my kinsmen according to the flesh" that he would enter 
 deeply into the conflicting views taken of the difficult passage, 
 and elaborately decide between them. He surprised and 
 perhaps disappointed his audience, by a rapid statement of 
 his results, and a lengthened practical improvement of the 
 subject. He gained, however, from Dr Lawson the pithy 
 encomium, " Mr John, you have, I am glad to see, a way of 
 getting at the kernel, without breaking your teeth upon the 
 shell." '
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 
 
 THE Selkirk students are remarkable for being all of one and 
 the same mind about their Professor. Whatever else they 
 might dispute about, and whatever others might think, Dr 
 Lawson, in their estimation, had no superior, not even an equal. 
 With every allowance for partiality, few seem to call their 
 judgment in question. The best proof that they were quite 
 sincere in all this, is to be seen in the affectionate earnestness 
 with which they have drunk into his spirit and tried to follow in 
 his footsteps. Many interesting and graphic accounts of his 
 life and learning have they given us ; but, after all, they admit 
 that it is impossible to do anything like justice to the theme. 
 ' His appearance was peculiarly striking,' one of them writes, 1 
 ' you might imagine yourself in company with one of the 
 ancient sages or patriarchs, his dress so plain, without being 
 in the least vulgar ; his voice so hollow, yet positively melo- 
 dious ; his language scholarly ; his sentiments full of grace, 
 wisdom, and truth. He seemed to intermeddle with all know- 
 ledge, assisted by a memory proverbially great, and an intellect 
 at once prompt, clear, and accurate. Withal, he was the hum- 
 blest of men.' Such is the strain in which his pupils write 
 or speak of him. We are about to show that persons in other 
 and higher stations were similarly impressed ; and that the 
 man who secured the love of the lowly, could also command 
 the respect of the highest in the land. It had pleased the 
 Almighty Disposer of events to disappoint the nation's hopes 
 1 The Uev. James M'Whirter.
 
 312 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 in the death of the Princess Charlotte and her infant. To 
 alleviate, if not to banish, the sorrows of the royal widower, 
 Prince Leopold had been recommended to travel. He came 
 to Scotland, and visited Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford. It 
 was upon this occasion that the celebrated interview took 
 place between the Prince (now the King of Belgium) and the 
 Sage of Ettrick. This is emphatically a Hall story, and 
 must be told. 
 
 When it was rumoured that the Prince was likely to pass 
 through Selkirk, the excitement was great, and great were 
 the preparations for giving to him a right royal reception. 
 The magistrates and the neighbouring gentry resolved to go 
 forth and present to him an address of condolence. The 
 Divinity Hall was in session at the time, and an invitation 
 was sent to the Professor and his students to join the pro- 
 cession. The invitation came upon the Doctor somewhat 
 unexpectedly, so that it was with some difficulty that he got 
 himself appropriately rigged out. He afterwards confessed, 
 that if he had got longer warning he might have been better 
 attired. To confront royalty was to him an absolutely new 
 and unthought of casualty. The day came, and the proces- 
 sion moved past the Prince, with Dr Lawson and his students 
 in the midst. The Prince noticed them, and said to Sir 
 Walter Scott, ' What long black line of young men is that ? 
 have they put on mourning in compliment to my loss ? ' Sir 
 Walter informed him who they were, and called his especial 
 attention to the tall, thin, and now stooping figure of the 
 Professor at their head, telling him how great, and good, and 
 learned a man he was. The Prince, on entering the Council 
 Chambers, requested that Dr Lawson should be presented to 
 him. Nothing disconcerted, the venerable Professor walked 
 up to the Prince, who, after the ceremony of introduction was 
 over, expressed his gratification at seeing him ; whereupon 
 the Doctor, in the simplest but most affecting manner, offered 
 his condolence, and concluded with the following graceful
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 313 
 
 compliment, a compliment of which it has been well said, 
 that, ' compared with the idle and fulsome flatteries so com- 
 mon in the presence of the great, it is most dignified and 
 becoming, indicating not the spirit or the policy of the syco- 
 phant, but the holy kindness and the due respect of a man of 
 God:' 
 
 ' I am happy to have had an interview with your Royal 
 Highness, not only on your own account and your connection 
 with the Princess Charlotte, but especially because of your 
 alliance with the Electoral House of Saxony, and your 
 descent from ancestors who made so many invaluable sacrifices 
 in defence and propagation of the Protestant faith. To them, 
 Luther, in the hour of his need, was much beholden for pro- 
 tection and assistance.' The Prince was greatly pleased, and, 
 turning round to Sir Walter, said, ' Since I came to Scotland 
 I have received many compliments on account of the Princess, 
 but this is the first I have received on my own account and 
 that of my ancestors.' 
 
 Writing afterwards to a friend, who had expressed a wish 
 to hear his own account of what transpired during this inter- 
 view, Dr Lawson says : 
 
 ' I entertain a high respect for Prince Leopold, as the 
 descendant of princes to whom the Protestant part of the 
 world is so much indebted. He appears to possess a degree 
 of condescension and affability not very common in his high 
 rank. Besides what you read in the papers, he asked me 
 my age ; and when I told him what it was, he complimented 
 me on the health which I seemed to enjoy. Part of my 
 answer was, that one may enjoy as much comfort in old age 
 as in youth, if he is a fearer of God. But my dulness of 
 hearing unfitted me for much conversation with him. We 
 esteemed ourselves honoured when we were admitted to the 
 converse of earthly princes, who are creatures of the dust like 
 ourselves. Why have we not a profounder sense of our 
 obligations to the everlasting God, who allows us to come to
 
 314 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Him, even to His mercy-seat ? O that we could approach 
 to Him, at all times, with the reverence and the confidence 
 which are due to His greatness and His mercy ! ' 
 
 But the entire of this interesting incident is so simply and 
 truthfully told in the following letter from an eye-witness of 
 the whole scene, that we give way to it, differing though it 
 does slightly from the version which we have received as 
 authentic : 
 
 ' SELKIRK, 25th Sept. 1819. 
 
 ' DEAR SIR, .... Prince Leopold arrived here 
 yesterday, on his way home, and was escorted into the town 
 by the Magistrates, the Town Council, students, and trades. 
 The students had previously been invited by the Magistrates 
 to grace the procession, and they did so in a very excellent 
 manner indeed. The company met his Highness at the 
 Bridge ; and the populace, with the Prince's permission, 
 loosed the horses from the carriage, and drew him into the 
 town. We walked in the following order : First, the town 
 officers, in livery, with band of music. Next, the tradesmen 
 of the town, all ranged under their respective banners, 
 among which was the famous standard won by the Sutors of 
 Selkirk, at the battle of Flodden Field, in 1513, which par- 
 ticularly took the Prince's attention. After the tradesmen 
 marched the students, two and two. according to their order 
 on the roll. Last of all came the Magistrates, with the 
 Merchant Company and Council. His Highness was accom- 
 panied by Sir R. Gardner, and was followed by Walter Scott, 
 Esq., the poet, and Sheriff of the county. The procession 
 formed a sort of circle in the market-place, and the Prince, 
 as he passed round, bowed respectfully to each. After being 
 publicly presented with the freedom of the burgh, at the 
 cross, and with the usual forms, he was conducted to the 
 Council Chambers, amid the cheers and acclamations of the 
 multitude.
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 315 
 
 ' But, what is best of all, our revered Professor had come 
 oat, and had mingled with the crowd, to get a quiet look of 
 the Prince. This being intimated to one of the Magistrates, 
 he was instantly sent for ; and, after a little treating, he was 
 introduced to his Royal Highness. After mutual salutations, 
 the Prince asked him how old he was. The Doctor replied, 
 " I am more than threescore years and ten;" whereupon the 
 Prince said, that " he looked rather fresh for his age." The 
 Doctor said, that " he enjoyed tolerably good health, but was 
 weighed down under infirmities." The Prince then asked if 
 " he was the head of the Church in this part of the country." 
 Doctor Lawson replied, " I am the minister of the Associate 
 Burgher Congregation in this town, and I am also a Professor 
 in a theological seminary." It was then remarked by some 
 one, that the young gentlemen, with whose appearance the 
 Prince had expressed himself so highly pleased, were the 
 Doctor's pupils ; and then Mr Scott gave him some hints as 
 to the character, etc., of their tutor. 
 
 ' The Prince then immediately addressed the Doctor thus : 
 " Such a man as you need not be afraid of the infirmities of 
 age, nor of any earthly calamity. God is your friend and 
 protector." To which our venerable Professor thus replied : 
 " Please your Royal Highness, I have long had a wish to see 
 you, on your own account, and still more so on account of 
 your illustrious ancestors, Frederic and John, who so warmly 
 defended the Reformation, and suffered so much in protecting 
 Luther. On this account, I have a greater regard for your 
 family than for any other of the Princes of Germany." To 
 which the Prince rejoined : " Reverend Doctor, I sincerely 
 thank you for the high compliment you have just now paid 
 me. Such a compliment I have never received before. I am 
 proud to think it is a just one. My ancestors were all 
 zealous Protestants, and I can assure you, so am I, Doctor." 
 
 ' They then shook hands most cordially, and seemed equally 
 well pleased with the interview ; upon which Walter Scott
 
 316 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 said to one of the company near him, " You see Dr Lawson 
 has done better than us all, and got beyond us all in favour." 
 The Prince then set off on his journey. A very handsome 
 letter was afterwards sent by the Magistrates to the Hall, 
 expressing their high appreciation and sincere thanks to us 
 for the manner in which we had conducted ourselves ; and 
 then a deputation was sent from us to wait upon the Magis- 
 trates to express to them our sense of gratitude, and to confer 
 with them on the propriety of inserting in the public prints 
 an account of the procession, and of Dr Lawson's interview 
 with the Prince. The members of this deputation from the 
 Hall were all presented with the freedom of the royal burgh, 
 and received burgess tickets in the usual forms. The Magis- 
 trates did this iu order to express the high regard which they 
 entertained for our Professor and the theological seminary 
 over which he presides.' 
 
 Some time after Dr Lawson died, a copy of the funeral ser- 
 mon was sent to the King of the Belgians, which his Majesty 
 acknowledged in the most kindly terms, and affixed to his 
 letter the seal-royal of the kingdom. This interesting docu- 
 ment cannot now be found. In the good providence of God, 
 this King still lives, the uncle of our own sovereign. He is 
 placed on the throne of a Roman Catholic country, and his 
 Protestantism has been subjected to a severe trial. There is 
 every reason to believe, however, that he has continued true 
 to the prestige of his ancestry. In the M'hole of his most 
 interesting interview with Professor Lawson, there is a dash 
 of the patriarchal, reminding us of a similar scene in that 
 ancient sacred drama, where, within the palace of the 
 Pharaohs, the aged Jacob tells his age. to the monarch; only 
 in this, the modern one, we have royalty to us more interest- 
 ingly represented, and patriarchy not less devout, but more 
 radiant with the light of the cross and the wisdom of the 
 learned.
 
 THE PROFESSOR AKD HIS STUDENTS. 317 
 
 It was seldom that the sober routine of the Hall was dis- 
 turbed by such incidents as the foregoing. As a general 
 rule, the Professor was allowed to go through the sessions 
 with his students, without any other excitement than what 
 was occasioned by the visits now and then of his minis- 
 terial friends. It was otherwise, however, in the session of 
 1801. The well-known Dr Mason, of New York, arrived 
 at Selkirk, and obtained the Professor's permission to ad- 
 dress the students, and otherwise use his influence to pre- 
 vail upon them to emigrate to North America. The late 
 Dr Thomson, of Coldstream, gives an account of this visit, 
 in a letter which he wrote immediately after the session 
 to his brother, the Rev. Peter Thomson, of Whitby. An 
 extract will be read with interest, not only from its re- 
 ferences to Dr Mason's visit, but as revealing somewhat of 
 the Hall-life at Selkirk : ' Towards the end of the session (he 
 writes), a Mr Mason came to Selkirk, with a view to engage 
 some of the students to go as preachers to America. He 
 himself is minister of the Associate Congregation of New 
 York. He preached once at Selkirk ; and even in a single 
 discourse, discovered such fervency of zeal, such soundness 
 of understnnding, and such eloquence of language, as are 
 seldom united in any preacher. No less than about sixteen 
 congregations, he informed us, were ready for ministers all 
 of them superior to the generality in this country. Even in 
 a temporal point of view, if such a view is to be taken into 
 consideration, they are far preferable. Mr Mason's stipend 
 and he wants an assistant is said to be L.400. He was 
 exceedingly solicitous to engage some of the students to 
 accompany him, or at least to follow him over the Atlantic. 
 He wrote a very pressing letter to the Professor, which was 
 read to us the last time he was in the Hall ; but he thought 
 it prudent to withdraw during the reading of it. He pre- 
 viously, however, after paying some compliments to the 
 Professor and the students, observed, that he was much
 
 318 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 mistaken if he should find none among us who would comply 
 with his invitation ; and, continued he, " if I get none, I can 
 only say, that it will leave a pang in my bosom that will thrill 
 every nerve in my frame, and vibrate to the very heart of the 
 churches I represent." He leaves this country soon, accom- 
 panied by Mr James Paterson, the only one, it seems, upon 
 whom he could prevail. The Synod, it is expected, will, at 
 their next meeting, do something in this business. None are 
 wanted, but such as have attended four sessions at the Hall. 
 I spoke of going both to Mr Mason and the Professor. I, 
 however, mentioned an objection which, I am afraid, is an 
 insurmountable one, the circumstance of my being lame, and 
 therefore unfit for the necessary fatigue. Mr Mason thought 
 this of no great moment ; and the Professor, having told me 
 that " he did not know me to be lame," observed that I had 
 time enough to think about it. It has since been said, and 
 was even told in the Presbytery, that Mr Mason wanted me 
 for his helper. This I believe to be a vague report. It owes 
 its rise, I suppose, to the following circumstance, which had 
 been mentioned by some of the students. The critics had 
 been so much impressed by a sense of Mr Mason's superior 
 genius, that they seemed resolved to be mute during his stay. 
 The first who delivered in his hearing, were Messrs Wilson 
 and Paterson. Previous to the criticisms on them, two 
 private discourses were delivered ; but neither " the honour 
 of the Hall" (a phrase then in the mouth of every one) nor 
 the Professor's anxiety could extort any remark. After a 
 few observations, therefore, from himself, the private dis- 
 courses were dismissed, and Messrs Wilson's and Paterson's 
 taken into consideration. Again, we were all called upon, 
 and again we all refused to rise. Some of the students then 
 called out to me ; and the Professor repeated his request that 
 I should make a few observations. The superior abilities of 
 the two preachers, the excellence of their discourses, the 
 small number and trifling nature of my remarks, and the pre-
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 319 
 
 sence of Mr Mason, determined me, when I went into the Hall, 
 to sit stiU. I was now, however, under a sort of necessity to 
 say what I could, not so much for the value of my remarks 
 themselves, as from the manner in which they were extorted. 
 At once by the students and the Professor, and from other 
 little accidents, which it is needless to mention, I had gained 
 a little credit, it is likely, in the eyes of the American ; and 
 I have some chance of his patronage, if I should at any future 
 period think of going near his residence.' 
 
 Dr Mason's letter to the Professor was afterwards laid 
 before the committee of Synod, who had been appointed to 
 meet and ' converse with him, and transact with him as they 
 shall see cause.' The following was their finding : ' The com- 
 mittee, after deliberating upon the subject, were unanimously 
 of opinion, that the object is of such magnitude for the 
 interests of the Gospel, that they ought to co-operate with 
 Mr Mason by all the means in their power. They agreed, 
 therefore, to order this minute of their proceedings to be 
 printed, and to send copies of it to every Presbytery ; 2dly, 
 to every minister of the Synod ; 3dly, to every probationer ; 
 and, 4thly, to all the students of divinity of the third, fourth, 
 and fifth year's standing : at the same time recommending 
 it to them to take the subject into their serious considera- 
 tion ; and requesting such of them as, after deliberation, may 
 be inclined to obey the call of Providence, by going to preach 
 the Gospel in the United States of North America, under the 
 inspection of the Associate Reformed Synod, to correspond 
 on the subject, either with the president or clerk of the com- 
 mittee.' This minute was signed by ' James Hall, preses ; 
 and James Peddie, clerk.' Though, in after years, not a few 
 of the ministers and probationers of the Secession Churches 
 in Scotland emigrated to the States of America, and to 
 Canada, and to Nova Scotia, the present appeal was not 
 very successful. The late Dr Hay, at one time, contemplated 
 a favourable response to Mr MasonV ;'pp"ul; but the call to
 
 320 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Kinross determined him to abide at home. It is pleasing to 
 reflect, that since, hundreds of Scotchmen have crossed the 
 Atlantic, and are now to be found, in all parts of America, 
 foremost among the Christian teachers of that vast and 
 interesting continent. 
 
 Dr Lawson had the honour of being theological tutor to 
 some of the most distinguished scholars and divines of the last 
 half century. Not to mention any of the living, we may 
 refer to a few of his deceased students, between whom and 
 himself there existed an attachment and esteem alike honour- 
 able to both parties. The Selkirk ministers are fast passing 
 away, and soon not one of them shall remain. It will be 
 long, however, before the memories of some of them fade 
 from amongst us. Notice has been already taken of Dr 
 Kidston and Dr Brown. In his correspondence with the 
 former, there were the most evident marks of unusual friend- 
 ship. Never could a Professor be more genuinely loved than 
 he was by his Glasgow pupil. His name was often upon Dr 
 Kidston's lips, and many were the beautiful and characteris- 
 tic anecdotes which, especially in his old age, he delighted to 
 rehearse regarding him. Their intercourse, however, seemed 
 to have been chiefly that of a father with a son. As a son 
 Dr Kidston ever looked up to him, eagerly sought after and 
 acted upon his counsels, and ever regarded his name and 
 memory with singular reverence. To have denied him the 
 satisfaction, we may say the luxury, of thinking and con- 
 versing about Dr Lawson, would have been to deprive him 
 of one of his greatest earthly enjoyments. On the other 
 hand, Dr Brown's intercourse with the Professor was con- 
 siderably marked by those traits which distinguish the corre- 
 spondence of scholars or enthusiasts in letters and philosophy. 
 Their epistolary fellowship was confined to the latter years 
 of Dr Lawson, and was not so ample as it must have been 
 had they been longer spared together. As it is, it is much 
 to be regretted that stray letters only remain. A few of
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 321 
 
 these have been already given, and to them we add the 
 following, in the first of which the Edinburgh divine (then at 
 Biggar) reveals to the sou the reverence he had for the 
 father ; in the second, the father announces a daughter's 
 death ; and in the third we have Dr Brown's sympathy with 
 the father in that bereavement : 
 
 Dr Brown to Mr Lawson, Junr. 
 
 'BiGGAB, 21st Sept. 1812. 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR, Along with this you will receive your 
 brother's copy of Mr Paterson's sonnets, which I have but 
 too long kept from him. The true cause of the delay was 
 my disinclination to a task he had assigned me, that of add- 
 ing to the beautiful verses of my friend a few of my own 
 rhymes. It seemed to me something like the Asiatic cruelty 
 of binding a dead carcass to a living body. It was his will, 
 however, and I believe my promise; so at last it is done. 
 When you write Mr George, offer him my best regards, along 
 with those of Mrs Brown, and our united wishes for every 
 blessing to Mrs Lawson and her young family. Remember 
 me most kindly and respectfully to my venerated preceptor, 
 your father, to your mother, and all the family. Accept, my 
 dear sir, of my best wishes for yourself. May a Divine 
 blessing rest on your studies, and may you, in due time, 
 equal and even excel your brother, and even your father, as 
 an able, useful, honourable minister. I am, my dear Sir, 
 yours truly, ' JOHN BROWN.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Brown. 
 
 SELKIRK, 13th August 1816. 
 
 * DEAR SIR, I thank you for your sermon, which seems 
 to have been sent by Providence to prepare us for a very 
 painful dispensation which God has seen needful to inflict 
 upon us the loss of a daughter very dear to us. In her 
 natural disposition she very much resembles what I have
 
 322 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 heard of your beloved consort, and I make no doubt that she 
 resembled her too in qualities of more importance. But she 
 had not time and calls of Providence to give the same abun- 
 dant proofs of the grace given to her. None, however, who 
 had much knowledge of her, are disposed to be uneasy in 
 their thoughts of the period put to her space of preparation. 
 
 ' Your loss is very great, and I am happy that you have 
 been able to bear it in a manner so much becoming a Chris- 
 tian and a minister of Christ, and to make so good use of it 
 for the advantage of others. I am persuaded that, in the day 
 when the mystery of Providence with respect to you is 
 finished, your loss will be found to have been far more than 
 compensated to yourself, beside the pleasure which it will 
 give you to find the happy influence it has directly or indi- 
 rectly had upon those who will be to you a joy and crown. 
 
 ' Nor am I without hope that both I and my family, and 
 many others, will derive considerable advantage from the 
 event, which I cannot but deplore at present. If I am not 
 flattered by some of my friends, the departure of my beloved 
 daughter from this world is very deeply felt by all who knew 
 her. Her memory is blessed, and the remembrance of her 
 virtues will not be useless. 
 
 ' There is joy in grief. The stroke that has bereaved me 
 of a large portion of my earthly treasure, has, I hope, con- 
 summated the felicity of my beloved child. 
 
 ' It was a wonderful instance of fortitude and patient sub- 
 mission to the will of God in David, that he recovered the 
 tranquillity of his soul, and could write new songs of praise 
 to God, after the loss of Amnon and Absalom. You and I 
 have reason to bless God that we have so much reason to 
 look back with pleasure on the lives of those whose deaths 
 we deplore. I thank God that 1 once had those children 
 who are now gone before me to a place from whence they 
 will not return. I rejoice in the happiness enjoyed by such 
 of them as lived long enough to use their reasoning faculty.
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 323 
 
 It gives me pleasure to think of the virtues which they 
 discovered, and the pleasure they wished to give, and not 
 without success, to their parents, and to others around them. 
 They were innocent and happy when they were with me ; and 
 now, I trust, they are far happier than ever, and that if I am 
 not a cast-away (which God forbid), after teaching them the 
 way of life, I have yet boundless stores of happiness reserved 
 for me in their society. 
 
 ' I have reason to think, from your letter and sermon, that 
 my feelings are not unlike your own. May the Lord spare 
 to us those relations that are left, and dispose them always 
 so to behave as to leave no ground for dismal apprehensions 
 concerning them, if they should be taken from us ; and may 
 He preserve us from any omission or commission which may 
 give us just pain when we are bereaved of them whom we 
 love. I believe that self-reflection for omissions in such cases 
 are very difficultly prevented, and sometimes they may be 
 very troublesome when there is not much ground for them. 
 I think I have observed, as one great instance of Divine good- 
 ness, that Providence has frequently by other means supplied 
 our lack of service, when we have not done every-thing that 
 we might have done for those to whom we can now perform 
 no more offices of kindness. Yours sincerely, 'G. LA.WSON.' 
 
 Dr Brown to Dr Lawson. 
 
 'BiGGAR, 19<A August 1816. 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR, Your highly valued letter, containing 
 the mournful intelligence of your daughter's departure into 
 the world of spirits, reached me this afternoon. It found me 
 not altogether unprepared for the tidings it brought, as I 
 had learned from my brother, Dr Nimmo, who had seen Miss 
 Jean on her way to Liverpool, that there was but little prob- 
 ability of her recovery. I would be guilty of a violation of the 
 law both of justice and of love of no ordinary magnitude, did 
 I not cordially sympathize with you in this affliction. I have
 
 324 THE LIFE OF DE LAWSON. 
 
 no doubt that He who has imposed the heavy load will enable 
 you cheerfully to bear it ; and will, by a process to us very 
 imperfectly known in the present state, render this apparent 
 evil abundantly productive of real permanent good. To 
 be in any measure His instrument in suggesting to your mind 
 tranquillizing or consoling thoughts, is an honour to which 
 I dare scarcely aspire ; but should He who often employs very 
 feeble means to gain His ends, bless anything I have written 
 for this purpose, I shall, I hope, be sincerely grateful. I owe 
 you much ; and it would be a gratifying thought, that I had 
 been of some use to one who has been of so much use to me. 
 ' The young man who delivers this note is a Mr William 
 Johnstone, a brother of Mr Ebenezer Johnstone. He is a 
 member of my congregation, and is a good scholar, and, I 
 hope, truly pious. He has been examined by our Presbytery, 
 and recommended by them to your care. As Mr Harper 
 has not forwarded him a certificate of his recommendation, I 
 thought it necessary to state this fact. Probably the certifi- 
 cate will be sent up by some of the other students from our 
 Presbytery. It may also be proper to notice that the Pres- 
 bytery assigned to him Matthew i. 21 as a subject for a 
 homily. I hope to have the satisfaction of seeing you in the 
 course of little more than a fortnight. Mrs Nimmo, who is 
 an unspeakable advantage and comfort to me, unites with 
 me in every kind wish for you, Mrs Lawson, and the family. 
 By the mercy of a good Providence, my dear infants are well. 
 I need not, I believe, solicit for them and myself an interest 
 in your prayers. I am, Rev. and dear Sir, with much esteem 
 and affection, your deeply obliged pupil, ' JOHN BROWN.' 
 
 This sympathy was reciprocated ^ for when the manse at 
 Biggar was suddenly bereft of its light and ornament, in the 
 death of Mrs Brown, the old man at Selkirk was afflicted in 
 his pupil's affliction, and poured out as sweet ' oil of joy ' as 
 ever soothed a heavy spirit.
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 325 
 
 Dr Brown to Dr Lawson. 
 
 ' Mr DEAR SIR, It is probable that, ere this time, public 
 rumour will have informed you of the severe affliction which 
 an all-wise Providence has thought fit to lay on me, in the 
 loss of my highly valuable and highly valued wife. I write 
 you not to solicit your sympathy and prayers, for I am per- 
 suaded myself these would be yielded without solicitation, but 
 to request you to drop me a few lines at your leisure, which 
 by the blessing of God may be useful in supporting and com- 
 forting my bereaved mother-in-law and myself. I earnestly 
 wish not to complain, for I know I have no ground of com- 
 plaint. I would fain be thankful, for I have unnumbered, 
 innumerable causes of gratitude. The cup I have had to 
 drink is a very bitter one, but infinite wisdom, and, I trust, also 
 infinite kindness, mingled the ingredients. There has been a 
 large infusion of mercy, and I hope the medicine will prove 
 efficacious. I have great cause to be grateful that I ever had 
 such a wife ; and though she is no more mine as she once was, 
 I have not lost my interest in her. She is gone, I trust, to her 
 first and better Husband. In faith, humility, and patience, 
 may I be enabled to follow her. 
 
 ' I some time ago requested my friend, Mr D. Brown, to 
 forward you a copy of my discourse. I am deeply indebted 
 to you for your steady support of the Repository. I look 
 forward with very agreeable feelings to an interview of a 
 good few days with you ; but I must not be sanguine we 
 know not what a day may bring forth. With kind compli- 
 ments to Mrs Lawson and the rest of your family, I am, 
 yours very truly, ' JOHN BROWN.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Brown. 
 
 SELKIRK, 5th June 1815. 
 
 ' DEAR FRIEND, I have been so long in returning you my 
 thanks for the late valuable present you sent me, that it
 
 326 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 would now be very unseasonable to say more of it, as I know 
 your thoughts are almost engrossed by other subjects. I 
 know by my own experience in a like situation, how difficult 
 it must be for you to recover that composure of mind which 
 is necessary to the performance of your various duties, as 
 well as to the prevention of those miseries which result from 
 unbridled grief. 
 
 ' " Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus tarn cari capitis ? " 
 
 ' This was perhaps a saying fitter for a heathen than for a 
 Christian, unless the words be understood with much restric- 
 tion. Horace knew not what was become of his departed 
 friends. But, I suppose, you have little doubt that our 
 departed friend is now with Christ, and that she is ten 
 thousand times happier than she would ever be with you. 
 Did you love her as well as you loved yourself, you will not 
 then give scope to over much sorrow that she has attained 
 the happiness of an angel, at the expense of your own chief 
 earthly comfort. 
 
 ' I believe you have sometimes thought of your venerable 
 grandfather, and of many other departed friends, with 
 mingled sentiments of pleasure and pain. Whilst you 
 mourned that your eyes of flesh would no more behold 
 them, you rejoiced that you had such satisfying ground to 
 believe that they were happy beyond your conception ; and 
 now adored that boundless grace through which you humbly 
 hoped that you would one day be admitted to them in their 
 felicity. You will now find it more difficult than ever to 
 correct the exorbitancies of passion by the consolatory 
 thoughts which the Gospel suggests. You mourn more 
 bitterly than when you wept for your mother. Yet it will 
 be a relief to your mind, to consider that the very things 
 which aggravate your sorrow are causes likewise of joy and 
 thankfulness. You mourn the loss of a companion whom 
 you had so much occasion to love with the warmest affection ; 
 but you have so much the more reason to think that she was
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 327 
 
 prepared for a better world. It was not her beauty, but her 
 piety, that chiefly drew your regard. You gave thanks to 
 God that you had so strong reasons to love her, not only 
 in the flesh, bat in the Lord ; and still you do not retract 
 your thanksgiving for the grace bestowed on her, although 
 at the remembrance of it your soul is poured out within you. 
 
 ' The sweetness of her temper was another cause of your 
 warm attachment. But the remembrance of this may like- 
 wise soothe your grief. It recommended her good example, 
 and makes the remembrance of her at once pleasant and 
 mournful to all her friends. 
 
 ' It is a favourable providence to you, that her mother is 
 still left alive. I condole with her, as well as with you; but let 
 her remember what other mothers have suffered ; what even 
 the mother of our Lord suffered ; and what causes of joy she 
 has beyond many others who have suffered as she has done. 
 
 ' My wife and daughters cordially sympathize with you. 
 But the compassions of the Father of mercies, and of the 
 High Priest of our profession, will suggest thoughts incom- 
 parably more consoling than the attentions of your best 
 friends on earth. God grant that you and I may, by Divine 
 mercy, be admitted at our latter end into that blessed society, 
 into which I am persuaded His abundant grace has already 
 admitted some of our dearest friends. They were sinners 
 like us, and were called to trust in that Saviour who loved 
 them, and washed them from their sins in His own blood. I 
 am, yours affectionately. 
 
 ' I had read of the melancholy occurrence in the papers this 
 morning, and resolved immediately to write to you by the 
 first post. Your letter came when I was about to wrap up 
 for the post. 
 
 ' We have all our share of griefs assigned to us. I request 
 your prayers for a young member of my family a pleasant 
 child, who has been several weeks in a weakly condition,
 
 328 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 although we are not without good hopes of her recovery. I 
 hope for your prayers on her behalf and mine. 
 
 ' We need our. corrections. The time is coming (or rather 
 now is, if we know our heart), when we will see that we 
 needed very powerful but painful means to keep alive the 
 impression that God alone must be our portion. What are 
 the brittle cisterns to the fountain of living waters ! 
 
 ' GK LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Brown to Dr Lawson. 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR, Many thanks to you for your kind sym- 
 pathy, and friendly expression of it. It was " a word in 
 season to those who were weary." A realizing persuasion 
 of the truths to which you turn our attention, would make 
 all afflictions comparatively easy. I hope a good Providence 
 is restoring your daughter to health, and that it will appear 
 in due time that it has been good for hef to have borne the 
 yoke in her youth. I request your acceptance of the dis- 
 course which accompanies this, as a sincere expression of my 
 affectionate respect for you " Parvum munus quidem sed 
 magnum testatur amicus." I am, my dear Sir, yours very 
 truly, ' JOHN BROWN. 
 
 'BiGGAK, June 14, 1816.' 
 
 Dr Brown took a very zealous part in the effort to obtain 
 a memoir of Dr Lawson. It is now greatly to be regretted 
 that he himself could not be prevailed upon to write it. Had 
 he yielded to the solicitations of his brethren, the world 
 would, in all probability, have been put in possession of that 
 proof of Dr Lawson's extensive learning and high religious 
 worth, which can now be only dimly reflected in the fugitive 
 memorials gathered up into this volume. Dr Lawson did not 
 live to witness the rise of this distinguished pupil to the chief 
 seats of learning and piety; but there is reason to believe 
 that the shadows of the coming divine, and of his useful
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 329 
 
 life were cast before the mind's eye of the discerning Pro- 
 fessor. 
 
 The Rev. JOHN BALLANTINE, of Stonehaven, in Kincardine- 
 shire, is second to none of the Selkirk students, living or 
 dead. He is justly revered as the philosopher of our Church. 
 His tastes lay in metaphysics, and he handled them as a 
 master. On the lone shores of the German Ocean his calm 
 and thoughtful life passed quietly away, but not until he had 
 published those works which do not suffer by comparison 
 with the best of the Scotch school of philosophy. His 
 ' Examination of the Human Mind ' is clearly entitled to this 
 distinction, and will transmit his name to posterity so long 
 as scholarly accomplishments and the science of reasoning are 
 maintained upon the high places of enlightened eras. His 
 much esteemed Professor had gone to heaven before this pre- 
 eminence was reached, but not before Dr Lawson had marked 
 in the student the promise of its coming. Mr Ballantine had 
 for his nearest neighbour a man of kindred sympathies, and 
 with whom for many years he held intercourse alike friendly 
 and intellectual the late Rev. Henry Angus, of Aberdeen, 
 who was in many respects one of the most marked men that 
 emanated from Selkirk Hall. In their mutual reverence for 
 their great tutor, they were never without a theme. Many a 
 time was the stalwart and handsome figure of the Aberdeen 
 minister seen upon the road of fifteen miles, that leads by 
 that cold and rocky shore to Stonehaven ; visits which were 
 joyously repaid by the thinker and speculator there, who found, 
 besides, in the classic halls of the colleges of Aberdeen, not a 
 little to stimulate his congenial soul. The mind of Henry 
 Angus was cast in a mould just less nervous than it was 
 profound and self-reliant. Circumstances only were wanting 
 to bring him out as an original thinker and a most eloquent 
 preacher. He had the two things which were never 
 found apart in a truly great and generous nature head
 
 330 THE LIFE OF DR LARSON. 
 
 and heart. His reverence for his Professor was almost a 
 passion. 
 
 DR MARSHALL, of Kirkintilloch, was one of the most widely 
 known of the Selkirk men of ' power.' His Professor stood 
 very high, indeed, in his estimation, and, in some respects, 
 few had drunk deeper into the spirit of Lawson. He was an 
 ardent student, and preserved his literary tastes to the end of 
 his long and useful life. As a scholar, he had no superior ; 
 and as a controversialist, no equal in our Church. His works 
 upon civil establishments of religion are masterpieces, and 
 have dealt a blow at Erastianism, under which it staggers 
 at this moment. It is now generally admitted on all hands, 
 that he was the Father of what is called ' The Voluntary 
 Church Controversy.' That doctrinal misunderstanding of 
 his with his friends Drs Brown and Balmer was a sad affair, 
 and would have ended perhaps more satisfactorily had there 
 been less of temper and more of charity in it. It is much to 
 be regretted that he felt it to be his duty to disconnect him- 
 self from his brethren ; but though he left them here, he has 
 rejoined them in heaven. His manly, consistent, and success- 
 ful efforts to preserve religious liberty, and to hold within 
 proper bounds an enlightened movement to emancipate evan- 
 gelical truth from dogmatic fetters, entitle him to the admira- 
 tion and gratitude of all the generous and the just. It was 
 a sufficient tribute to the learning and wisdom of Marshall, 
 that, when Dr Lawson died, he was proposed in the Synod 
 by Dr Dick to fill the vacant chair. 
 
 DR BALMER, of Berwick, was another of toe Selkirk stu- 
 dents who achieved greatness. Like his friend, Dr Brown, 
 he looked upon their venerable tutor as ' a prince in Israel ;' 
 and, like all the rest of the Selkirk men, his mind, when in the 
 repose of social and friendly fellowship, discovered its Law- 
 souian prejudices and attachments. It is well known that
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 331 
 
 the conscientious and honourable mind of Dr Balmer was 
 troubled, at the period of his license, upon some points in 
 the Church's Formula. This reached the ears of the Pro- 
 fessor, and drew from him the following judicious and loving 
 letter : 
 
 Dr Lawson to Mr Balmer. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, December 1809. 
 
 ' DEAR SIR, I am sorry to hear that you are still averse to 
 enter on trials, especially as the inference drawn by some from 
 your conduct is, that you propose to leave us altogether, and 
 to seek license to preach amongst another body of men. I 
 certainly will not pretend a right to dictate to any young 
 man's conscience. If I thought you were persuaded that it 
 is your duty to associate yourself with any other body of 
 Christians, my only advice to you would be, " Prove all things, 
 and hold fast that which is good." If there is any hesitation 
 in your mind on the subject, I think you might probably 
 receive satisfaction by reading, if you have not already read 
 and considered, Mr Wilson's " Defence of the Reformation 
 Principles of the Church of Scotland," which I could send to 
 you from the library, if you wish for it. A copy of the book, 
 in addition to a former copy, was given by Mr Paterson, and 
 I think it well deserves the study of young men. I deferred 
 going to the study of divinity for one session, that I might 
 compare it with books written on the other side. I am sure, 
 at least, you will endeavour to act upon principle, and that 
 you will not alter your religious profession from motives 
 extraneous to religion. We are not Christians if our fear 
 towards God is regulated by anything else but the authority 
 of Christ. It has been alleged that you entertain a low 
 opinion of some of our ministers, or of those that may one 
 day become ministers in our body. I admit that some 
 amongst us are not above, if not below, mediocrity ; but I 
 am persuaded that you will not judge of the merits of a par-
 
 332 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 ticular mode of religious profession by the talents of every 
 minister who holds it. You will not even think that their 
 respectability and usefulness are to be measured by their 
 talents. There are some, perhaps, amongst us of the lower 
 order of talent, who are, on the whole, more worthy of esteem, 
 and more useful ministers to their people, than others whose 
 intellectual accomplishments are much superior. We have 
 much need of preachers, and I should be glad to have you 
 in the number, if your conscience make no objections. If 
 it does, I will be the last man to urge you to enter upon 
 trials. I hope you have the call of God ; and the more 
 self-denial you exercise in His service, you will find the more 
 comfort in it. Yours affectionately, ' GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 To this kind and judicious epistle the student sent the 
 following reply : 
 
 Mr Balmer to Dr Lawson. 
 
 ' EDINBURGH, \Qth January 1810. 
 
 ' REV. SIR, The multiplicity of my avocations prevented 
 me from acknowledging, last week, the reception of your very 
 kind epistle. I must begin this letter by thanking you for 
 the interest which you take in my future conduct, for the 
 useful advices with which you have favoured me, and for the 
 favourable opinion which you are pleased to express respect- 
 ing my character. 
 
 ' There is no person whose good opinion I would be more 
 anxious to possess than your own ; and, therefore, I regret 
 exceedingly that I cannot at this time see it my duty to 
 comply with your wishes by entering on trials for license. 
 Were you acquainted, however, with the motives by which I 
 am actuated, I feel convinced that you yourself would not 
 disapprove of my conduct. To give a full or explicit state- 
 ment of these motives would, in a letter of this kind, be alto- 
 gether impracticable. I shall content myself with saying in
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 333 
 
 general, that my repugnance to ente; on trials originates 
 chiefly in conscientious scruples respecting the Formula. In 
 the religious creed of the Burghers, there is not perhaps a 
 single article which I positively disbelieve. There are several, 
 however, of which I am sceptical, because I am unacquainted 
 with the evidence on which they rest. There are also many 
 expressions of which I decidedly disapprove ; and, finally, 
 there are many doctrines and dogmas in it, which I think ought 
 never to have been introduced into a system of religious belief. 
 
 ' Such, sir, are the circumstances in which I am placed ; and 
 in such circumstances I humbly hope that my resolution of 
 not being licensed at this time will not meet with your dis- 
 approbation. If the step I now take should appear to you 
 blameable or imprudent, I am sure, at least, that it has not 
 been the result of inconsideration. From the very commence- 
 ment of my theological studies, the idea of becoming a 
 preacher has always appeared to me a frightful one, and the 
 further I advanced the more frightful it became. Of late I 
 have thought frequently and seriously on the subject, and the 
 more I reflect on it the more I am convinced of the propriety 
 of the determination which I have adopted. 
 
 ' With regard to the reports which have been circulated 
 respecting my leaving the Burghers, I hope you will be satis- 
 fied when I declare to you sincerely and explicitly, that at 
 present I entertain no fixed design of apostatizing to the 
 Estabh'shed Church. I am uncertain whether I may ever 
 become a preacher ; but I hope that I shall never relinquish 
 the religious connection in which I have been educated, unless 
 I should afterwards embrace opinions which incapacitate me 
 for becoming one of its members. I am, Rev. Sir, yours 
 sincerely, ' R. BALMEK.' 
 
 ' P.S. I have not studied very carefully Wilson's " De- 
 fence," and would like to re-peruse it, if it could be con- 
 veniently sent. Direct to me at Mrs Macdonald's, Mr
 
 334 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Peddie's Entry, or to the care of Mr Peddie, Bristo Street. 
 The book sent with this I beg you will accept as a small 
 token of gratitude and affection.' 
 
 DR HENDERSON, of Galashiels, yielded to none of his com- 
 peers in an enthusiastic appreciation of their tutor ; he was 
 second to none of them in fine natural talents, purified and 
 strengthened by a piety and humility of character strikingly 
 resembling that of Dr Lawson. He was his nearest neigh- 
 bour, and enjoyed good opportunities of knowing his worth. 
 One of the last public meetings which he attended was the 
 celebration of the centenary of Dr Lawson's church at Selkirk. 
 On that evening, as if led to seize the last opportunity of 
 paying to him a tribute of respect, he, with great solemnity 
 of manner, testified to the wonderful accomplishments of his 
 beloved friend. ' I studied,' he said, ' under Dr Lawson at 
 the Theological Hall here ; and for ten years after I was 
 ordained at Galashiels, I had him as my nearest neighbour, 
 and ever found him ready to afford me wise counsel. If ever 
 there was a man to be venerated and loved, that man was 
 Dr Lawson. To his profound learning he added one of the 
 warmest of hearts. He had a way of making known to his 
 students what Dr Dick calls " the profundities of theology," 
 so as to convince the judgment and impress the memory. As 
 a preacher, there was nothing rhetorical in his manner there 
 was nothing flowery in his style, but his sermons were full of 
 strong sound sense; and sometimes he presented the most 
 important truths in such a plain form, and in such few and 
 simple observations, that many wondered how the same 
 thoughts had not occurred to themselves.' Dr Henderson 
 took part in encouraging the compiler to undertake this 
 memoir. It was, indeed, the subject of his last conversation 
 upon earth. The esteemed grandson and present successor 
 of Dr Lawson in Selkirk, had just left him after obtaining his 
 promise to afford the compiler all the aid in his power, when
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 335 
 
 he retired to rest, and almost immediately returned to heaven. 
 The Rev. Dr Nicol, of Jedburgh, who would have been 
 equally ready to contribute his reminiscences, and whose con- 
 tributions would have been very valuable, died unexpectedly 
 about the same time. In Dr Henderson's admirable memoir 
 of Dr Balmer, there is a simple but touching reference to the 
 Hall at Selkirk : ' They who have attended the Hall at 
 Selkirk, generally, we believe, look back on the time spent 
 there as among the happiest of their days. Think of a 
 number of young men, released from the irksome labours of 
 teaching, coming together in a small country town, where 
 they were necessarily thrown on each other's society during 
 the six or eight weeks of the session. They had to listen to 
 the prelections of a man who possessed, above most others, 
 the faculty of making plain the deep things of revealed truth ; 
 and who was not the less venerated and loved by his pupils, 
 for the unaffected simplicity, and even occasional negligence 
 in manner, which were associated in him with profound learn- 
 ing, warm affections, and fervent piety. They had their own 
 societies for various objects connected with their studies, the 
 management of the library, and several others ; and in these 
 sometimes the warm debate would arise, yet leaving no gall 
 behind ; and their walks together through some of the most 
 beautiful pastoral scenery on the banks of the Ettrick, the 
 Yarrow, and the Tweed, during which, amid graver discus- 
 sions, the jest and the repartee would be at times playfully 
 breaking forth, the humorous story be told, or even the sports 
 of boyhood be for the moment resumed. It may be there 
 was more of social enjoyment than of severe study, but it was 
 a time of mutual excitement : stores were treasured up for 
 future digestion ; the faculties which would have rusted in 
 solitude were brightened up in the friendly collision of mind 
 with mind ; and intimacies were formed which ripened into 
 friendships that blessed after years.' 
 
 It is only justice to the memory of this able aud most
 
 336 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 estimable man, to append to this mere reference the very 
 discriminating and beautiful account of him which Dr John 
 Brown (junior) gives in this letter to Dr Cairns : 
 
 ' He was, in the true sense, what Chalmers used to call a 
 man of wecht. His mind acted by its sheer absolute power ; 
 it seldom made an effort ; it was the hydraulic pressure, 
 harmless, manageable, but irresistible, not the perilous 
 compression of steam. Therefore it was that he was un- 
 troubled and calm, though rich ; clear, though deep ; though 
 gentle, never dull ; "strong, without rage; without o'erflowing, 
 fall." . . . We question if as many carefully thought and 
 worded, and rapidly, and by no means laboriously written 
 sermons, were composed anywhere else in Britain during 
 his fifty years : every Sabbath, two new ones ; the composi- 
 tion faultless, such as Cicero or Addisoii would have made 
 them had they been United Presbyterian ministers, only there 
 was always in them more soul than body, more of the spirit 
 than of the letter. . . . The original power and size of 
 Dr Henderson's mind, his roominess for all thoughts, and his 
 still reserve, his lenitude, made, as we have said, his expres- 
 sions clear and quiet, to a degree that a coarse and careless 
 man, spoiled by the violence and noise of other pulpit men, 
 might think insipid. But let him go over the words slowly, 
 and he would not say this again ; and let him see and hear 
 the solemnizing, commanding power of that large, square, 
 leonine countenance the broad, massive frame, as of a com- 
 pressed Hercules and the living, pure, melodious voice, 
 powerful, but not by reason of loudness, dropping out from 
 his compressed lips the words of truth, and he would not 
 say this again. . . . The thoughts of such men, so rare, 
 so apt to be unvisited and unvalued, often bring into my 
 mind a spring of pure water I once saw near the top of 
 Cairngorm, always the same, cool in summer, keeping 
 its few plants alive and happy with its warm breath in 
 winter, floods and droughts never making its pulse change ;
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 337 
 
 and all this because it came from the interior heights, and 
 was distilled by nature's own cunning, and had taken its 
 time was, indeed, a well of living water. And with Dr 
 Henderson this of the mountain holds curiously: he was 
 retired, but not concealed ; and he was of the primary 
 formation he had no organic remains of other men in him. 
 He liked and fed on all manner of literature ; knew poetry 
 well : but it was all outside of him ; his thoughts were 
 essentially his own. ... He was peculiarly a preacher 
 for preachers, as Spenser is a poet for peets. They felt he 
 was a master.' 
 
 Dr THOMSON, of Coldstream, was also, in every sense of 
 the word, a Lawsonian. His self-denying labours in the 
 cause of a free and a cheap Bible are never to be forgotten. 
 He lived under a most unusually solemn impression of the 
 awfulness and the value of God's Word ; and to a similar trait 
 in Dr Lawson's character, may be traced that passion for 
 the emancipation and circulation of the Scriptures under 
 which the Coldstream philanthropist lived, sacrificed, and 
 died. 'Dr Thomson (to quote from an interesting sketch 
 which has just been given of him) was nearly the sole survivor 
 of 'a veteran band that had stood forward conspicuously and 
 together in all those movements for the spread of the Gospel, 
 and in all those contendings for civil and religious liberty, 
 which have distinguished the last two generations. That 
 band numbered such men as Drs Peddie, Balmer, Heugh, 
 Young, Wardlaw, Stark (of Dennyloanhead), Henderson, 
 and John Brown ; and beside and abreast of these heroes, Dr 
 Thomson had ever laboured and fought : for though he had 
 a rural and obscure station compared with that which the 
 most of them had been destined to occupy, yet his super- 
 abundant vigilance, promptitude, and zeal overcame all dis- 
 advantages, and enabled him to emerge from his Border 
 watch-tower, and, fully accoutred, make his appearance upon 
 
 T
 
 338 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 the scene of action, quite as early as any of his brethren. 
 Distant from the centres of agitation and the sources of 
 impulse, he was yet among the first to reach the battle-field, 
 and occupy either the vantage ground or the posts of 
 danger. His faculties and energies for the discussion of 
 public questions completely escaped the rust which is 
 generally believed to come upon them in a country pastorate. 
 In the very heart of rural stagnation, his life was an unrest- 
 ing wave ; and, unaffected by the inertia all around, he kept 
 himself in perpetual motion. . . . The Divinity Hall in the 
 Secession Church had only one Professor the Rev. Dr 
 Lawson ; and he monopolized such an amount of confidence, 
 affection, admiration, and reverence, as might have been 
 divided among a largely equipped college or faculty, though 
 he was the most modest of men. Adam Thomson loved, 
 honoured, and all but worshipped this most accomplished, 
 fascinating, yet utterly unsophisticated teacher, whom his 
 pupils, in naming " the Christian Socrates," think they praise 
 but faintly. The small town where the class met Selkirk, 
 with its beautiful pastoral vicinity conspired, with the Pro- 
 fessor, to give to Hall life a tender romance, which was after- 
 wards, throughout manhood and old age, fondly cherished, 
 and never permitted to pass away from the associations.' l 
 This small niche is justly assigned to the man who wrested 
 the Bible from the jaw of monopoly, who was the author of 
 several valuable works, who was thought worthy to preach 
 the funeral sermon of Dr Lawson, and whose sermon, when 
 published, was honoured with a highly favourable review 
 from the pen of the well-known Dr David Welsh, Professor 
 of Church History in the Edinburgh University. 
 
 Dr FLETCHER, of London, on several accounts, merits 
 notice as one of Dr Lawson's students. No man could more 
 highly esteem the Professor than he did, and very few of the 
 1 United Presbyterian Magazine for April 1861.
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 339 
 
 Selkirk men have obtained such celebrity. He was the most 
 popular preacher of his day, and obtained several calls to 
 churches then vacant. His fame as the ' prince of preachers ' 
 to children is world-wide; and the sale of above 60,000 
 copies of his ' Family Devotions ' proves his acceptability 
 as an author. He died the pastor of the most spacious 
 chapel in the city of London, having sustained his wonderful 
 popularity to the end of a long and useful life. The com- 
 piler has heard him dwell with unusual complacency on his 
 intercourse in early life with Dr Lawson and his friends ; nor 
 did he shy the subject, though it might, at a time, tell 
 rather against himself. He was wont to repeat the Pro- 
 fessor's rather severe criticisms upon his Hall performances ; 
 and we have frequently laughed with him over a story he 
 used to tell in connection with his call to be colleague and 
 successor to Mr Kidston of Stow. At that time, ' Alexander 
 Fletcher ' was in everybody's mouth, as the most eloquent 
 of all the young men then on probation in the Burgher 
 Church. He was what is called 'ragingly popular' about 
 Stow ; and peradventure, unknown to himself, the good old 
 pastor there might be somewhat jealous of him. At all 
 events, on a certain day previous to the ' call,' the young 
 man had preached to the delight and even wonderment of a 
 great gathering of people. On coming into the manse there- 
 after, Mr Kidston thanked him for his discourse, and then 
 added, with great suavity, ' Well, Sandie, I must admit 
 you're very sound ; but 0, man, you're no deep.' It was at 
 this time, too, that a member of the Stow congregation 
 met Dr Lawson, and was loud in the praises of Mr Fletcher 
 as their expected junior pastor, finishing up an extravagant 
 eulogium with these words, ' And to tell the truth, Doctor, 
 such a preacher is Alexander Fletcher, that I may say we 
 never heard the Gospel before.' ' You must not say that,' 
 replied Dr Lawson, ' you have had the Gospel preached to 
 you in all its richness during all Mr Kidstou's ministry ; but
 
 340 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 you may say, if you like, that you have never heard the 
 Gospel so preached.' In telling the critique of Mr Kidston 
 on his own preaching, Dr Fletcher used to remark that his 
 experience warranted him in saying that ' deep preaching 
 was just another name for dark preaching.' For the first two 
 years of his ministry, Dr Fletcher was the colleague of his 
 father, in Bridge of Teith, Perthshire. The good old man, it 
 seems, was rather jealous of his son's great popularity par- 
 ticularly of the swelling encomiums that were often passed in 
 his hearing, on the excellence of his son's discourses. Temper, 
 too, was not sweetened by the crowds that assembled when 
 it was the son that was to preach, the old man having 
 generally no more than the ordinary audience. Young 
 Alexander came to feel this state of his father's mind to be 
 rather painful, and the following happy expedient to cure it 
 was resorted to. He asked the loan of one of his father's 
 manuscript sermons, and, having committed it to memory, 
 he delivered it on the following Sabbath with more than his 
 usual fervour. The people, on retiring, were louder than 
 ever in praise of the juvenile orator ; and one worthy re- 
 marked, ' The old man never preached a sermon in his life 
 equal to that.' On entering the manse, Alexander found his 
 father alone, and having adverted to the matter, asked him, 
 ' Father, is that satisfactory?' ' ay,' said he, 'quite satis- 
 factory.' ' Yes,' rejoined the sou, ' and you see, after all, how 
 little worth the popular prejudices are.' The old man was 
 completely cured of all jealousy in future. 
 
 Several of the Selkirk students became famous as good 
 scholars and successful pastors : few, if any of them, turned 
 out either wits or poets. In the hard and methodical work 
 of an earnest pastorate, the odds- are against success in 
 the fine arts. To a conscientious minister of the Gospel, the 
 finest of all arts must ever be the art of preaching well ; the 
 sublimest of all poetry must ever be the song of redeeming 
 love ; and the most attic of all wit must ever be the wisdom
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 341 
 
 of winning souls. Tried by such standards, the students of 
 Dr Lawson deservedly occupy a. high place among their 
 compeers. We have heard of only one of them who made 
 pretensions to genuine witticisms the late Rev. Walter 
 Dunlop, of Dumfries, of whom many really good anecdotes 
 are alive to this day. He was a man of solid rather than of 
 bright talents, of ' pawky ' rather than of simple mindedness, 
 but still with a considerable dash of genuine humour in his 
 temperament, and occasionally giving vent to a bit of sly wit 
 which smacked of the satirical. 
 
 THE REV. JAMES LAW, of Kirkcaldy, was, perhaps, in 
 respect of wit and satire, the most marked man among the 
 Selkirk students. In piety and talent he was not inferior 
 to any of them. He was ordained as colleague to the far- 
 famed Mr Shirra, on whose eccentricities he delighted to 
 expatiate. Of remarkable kindliness of disposition, he was at 
 the same time an acute and dexterous dialectician. When 
 interested in an argument, or once fairly set in motion upon its 
 merits, his resources as to logic, and sometimes as to sophisms, 
 were absolutely inexhaustible. We never saw him floored, 
 and we have often seen him fighting duels with the best of 
 polemics. Above all, his temper was under self-control to an 
 extent that has not often been equalled ; it seldom yielded to 
 provocation, continuing as calm and gentle in the thick of the 
 fray, as when he coolly wiped the edge of the weapon where- 
 with the first thrust was taken. His powers of debate, con- 
 sequently, were first-rate. When he employed them in the 
 pulpit, his sermons rose to greatness alike in thought and 
 eloquence ; and, had he qualified himself for parliamentary 
 life, he would have adorned even the floor of St Stephens. 
 To other qualities he added that of sterling uprightness of 
 character and genuine friendliness of heart. It is singular 
 that, with his peculiar proneness to argument upon almost 
 every subject, he never made one of his friends his enemy.
 
 342 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 He lived to a good old age, having witnessed the celebration 
 of his jubilee, and then fell asleep in the arms of ' the Lord his 
 Shepherd.' 
 An anecdote, illustrative of true humour, is told of one of 
 
 the Selkirk men, and may here be set down. Mr 
 
 was a well-known wag, though an excellent man and diligent 
 pastor. There was a sort of infidel and scoffing character in 
 the town where he lived, commonly called 'Jock Hammon.' 
 
 Jock had a nickname for Mr , which, though profane, 
 
 had reference to the 'well-known evangelical character of his 
 ministry. ' There's " the grace o' God" ' he would say, as he 
 saw the good man passing by, and he usually talked of him 
 
 under that designation. It so happened that Mr 
 
 had on one occasion consented to take the chair at some 
 public meeting. The hour of meeting was past, the place 
 of meeting was filled, but no Mr appeared. Symp- 
 toms of impatience were manifested, when a voice was heard 
 from one corner of the hall, ' My friends, there will be " no 
 grace o' God " here the nicht.' Just at this moment the door 
 
 opened, and Mr appeared, casting, as he entered, a 
 
 rather knowing look upon ' Jock Hammon ' as he ejaculated 
 
 these words. On taking the chair, Mr apologized 
 
 for his being so late. 'I had,' he said, 'to go into the 
 
 country to preside in the examination of Mr 's school, 
 
 and really the young folks conducted themselves so well that 
 I could scarce get away from them. If you please, I will just 
 give you a specimen of the examination. I called up an 
 intelligent-looking girl, and asked her if she had ever heard 
 of any one who had erected a gallows for another, and who 
 had been hanged on it himself. " Yes," replied the girl, " it 
 was Haman." With that, up started another little girl, and 
 she said, " Eh, minister, that's no true ! Harnmon's no hanged 
 yet ; for I saw him at the public-house door this forenoon, 
 and he was swearing like a trooper " ' (upon this there was 
 considerable tittering among the audience, and eyes were
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 343 
 
 directed to the corner where Jock was sitting). ' You are 
 
 both quite right, my little dears,' said Mr , with a 
 
 sort of ' glaikit ' look towards the first girl : ' Your Human 
 was really hanged, as he deserved to be ; and (turning towards 
 the other) your Hammon, my Iambic, is no hanged yet, by 
 " the grace o' God." ' The effect of this upon the hearers 
 was electric, and, amid roars of laughter, Jock rushed out of 
 the meeting, and, for a time at least, he ceased to make the 
 Secession minister the object of his scurrilous jokes. 
 
 But we must complete these souvenirs with brief references 
 to one or two of the most distinguished Selkirk men, who, 
 though they left the Secession for other denominations, never 
 ceased to cherish for their Professor equal love and respect. 
 
 RALPH WARDLAW, D.D., the accomplished scholar, divine, 
 and philosopher, though he saw it to be his duty to join 
 the Independent body, left a good part of his warm heart 
 where his wise head got its clear and massive theology 
 in the old mother church. Often in private, and on many 
 public occasions too, we have heard him refer, with grateful 
 emotion, to the happy and precious days he had spent in the 
 Secession Hall, and to the eminent attainment and graces 
 of his only theological tutor. It was with some degree of 
 pardonable pride that he boasted of 'the Secession blood 
 in his veins.' He was a lineal and near descendant from 
 Ebenezer Erskine. Born and brought up within the pale 
 of the Secession, of which his great ancestor was the 
 founder, he never ceased to hold her, her ministers, and her 
 people, in the fondest esteem ; and carried his veneration for 
 his Professor to the grave. When he published his cele- 
 brated work on the Socinian controversy, he sent the book 
 to Dr Lawson, with the following note : 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR, In the signature of this note you will 
 recognise the name of an old pupil, who, although led by
 
 344 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 convictions of duty to leave the religious connection to which 
 he once belonged, still retains an un diminished attachment to 
 his former friends ; and to no one of them more sincerely and 
 fervently, than to the beloved and respected tutor under 
 whom he spent so happily his allotted time as a student 
 time to which, in looking back, he feels only one regret, that 
 the valuable opportunities of instruction which it afforded 
 were not better improved. 
 
 ' I hope, my dear sir, that the volume which accompanies 
 this, and of which I beg your acceptance, as a small token of 
 affectionate remembrance, will not be found utterly unworthy 
 of your approbation. When you have looked through it, it 
 will give me very great pleasure to be favoured with your free 
 remarks on any points in which you may think it faulty. 
 
 ' The subject is one or rather, I should say, the subjects 
 arc (for, although inseparably connected, they are various) of 
 immense importance ; and the preface will sufficiently explain 
 to yon the circumstances which led to the publication. 
 
 ' I have to request, also, that you will place the other copy 
 in the Students' Library. 
 
 ' Wishing you every personal, domestic, and official bless- 
 ing, in which good wishes Mrs Wardlaw, although absent, 
 I know would very sincerely join, I am ever, my dear Sir, 
 yours very sincerely, ' RALPH WARDLAW. 
 
 ' GLASGOW, June 7, 1814.' 
 
 JOHN LEE, D.D., the late venerable Principal of the 
 University of Edinburgh, was a native of Stow, and was 
 brought up in the Secession Church, under Mr Kidston. 
 Before joining the Church of Scotland, he, like Dr Wardlaw, 
 had completed his education within the pale of the Secession. 
 His appreciation of Dr Lawson was alike just and grateful. 
 He resembled, in many things, his theological Professor. 
 In personal appearance there was a general likeness ; but 
 this was more remarkable in their singular powers of exposi-
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 345 
 
 tion, in their ardent pursuit of sacred learning, and their 
 general scholarly habits and attainments. Though ho rose 
 to the highest places in his Church, and became an authority, 
 both in the Assembly and in the Senatus Academicus, upon 
 all Church and College matters, he seemed to take a pride 
 in referring to his Secession origin, and especially to his 
 Selkirk training. -The reader will peruse with satisfaction 
 the following most interesting letter of Principal Lee to the 
 compiler, acknowledging the receipt of the sermons that had 
 been preached on the occasion of the death of Dr Kidston. 
 It is inserted here, under the impression that Dr Lee, had he 
 lived, would have been gratified by his finding a place in 
 these reminiscences of men and matters, in which he ever felt 
 both a pleasing and a pious interest : 
 
 To tfte Rev. Dr John Macfarlane. 
 
 ' COLLEGE, EDINBURGH, 6tA Dec. 1852. 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR, If it had not been at the very end of last 
 week that I was favoured with a copy of your sermon, and 
 Mr Ker's, on a late sad and solemn event, I would have 
 taken occasion, by return of post, to acknowledge what I 
 feel to be a most gratifying mark of genuine good will. 
 Not knowing their address, I use the freedom to ask you to 
 communicate to the surviving family of my late friend, the 
 assurance of my heartfelt sympathy on the loss of a parent 
 so worthy of their reverence and love. To you also, and 
 Mr Ker, I beg to express my obligation for the Christian 
 feeling and just discernment with which the character of the 
 late Dr Kidston has been portrayed. I must confess that 
 my perusal of the "Discourses" has hitherto been hurried 
 and interrupted, in consequence of pressing engagements at 
 a period of infirm and precarious health. If it were not very 
 painful to me at present to use a pen, I would be tempted 
 to indulge for a while in recalling some of my reminiscences 
 of Dr Kidston, of whom, though he appears to have been
 
 346 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 born not quite twelve years before me, my oldest recollection 
 is that of hearing him preach, and being impressed with the 
 conviction that preaching was a much prettier and more 
 pleasing thing than I had ever thought it before. The 
 Rev. William Kidston, senior, was a very sound divine, and 
 both fervent and faithful in declaring the counsel of God. 
 Both my grandfather and father were members of his session, 
 and from the years of infancy I had accompanied my parents 
 to church ; but it is no derogation from the excellences of 
 the father to say, that the accents of the son fell more softly 
 on my ear ; and he appeared to me to find out more accept- 
 able words. I remember fragments of sentences in discourses 
 which must have been delivered when I was not twelve years 
 old. I remember several of his texts, some of them a little 
 later, perhaps, than 1792 ; but I think about the earliest 
 which struck me was 2 Cor. ix. 15. Several of the others 
 related to the history of the sufferings of the Redeemer. All 
 the occasions on which I heard him were at the time of the 
 communion. I remember two discourses on 1 Chron. xii. 
 32, preached, I believe, at the interval of twelve months. I 
 cannot be sure that I ever heard him but once after I was 
 seventeen years old; for, after I went to College in 1794, 
 when I had completed my fourteenth year, I was very seldom 
 in that part of the country, except for a short time in the 
 summer months, till the autumn of 1797 ; after which, I may 
 say, I was never more than a few days occasionally there. I 
 have a most lively remembrance of his elegant appearance 
 and his graceful manner, as well as what I considered as an 
 easy classical style, which was recommended by fluent, rapid, 
 and animated utterance. His figure was slender and exceed- 
 ingly neat ; and there was a simple hecomingness in his dress, 
 totally devoid of any appearance of affectation. At the time 
 of my original recollection of him, ministers and preachers 
 almost universally wore hair-powder. I think he never did ; 
 but his hair, for a few years, was long and flowing, longer, I
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 347 
 
 think, than we see it in the most youthful pictures of Milton, 
 but producing the same impression on the whole. Now and 
 then he admitted into a sermon a single line, or perhaps two 
 lines, from Milton or from Addison. I remember, in his 
 table addresses, hearing oftener than once this line intro- 
 duced (from the Messiah), " And Heaven's eternal day be 
 thine." But I never suspected him of anything like studied 
 parade, or an elaborate display of artificial oratory. There 
 was a winning gentleness in his aspect and intonations, which 
 harmonized well with the scriptural purity of the sentiments 
 which flowed from his tongue ; and though I certainly thought 
 him a choice model, I do not suppose that his manner was 
 formed upon any other. Now, perhaps, I should be ashamed 
 of troubling you with reciting a few particulars, which are, 
 on the whole, so trivial, as being not more than impressions 
 formed in the period of childhood ; but, as they have clung 
 tenaciously to my memory, my heart refuses to let them go. I 
 am not sure that I ever had the pleasure of exchanging words 
 with him till the summer of 1801, at which time I received 
 the degree of M.D. in this University ; but I am pretty sure 
 that I never enjoyed the gratification of hearing him preach 
 subsequently to that period, which I now greatly regret. I 
 have felt very sensibly the cordiality and kindness with which 
 he has, from time to time, looked in upon me when he was 
 occasionally in this city ; and it has only been in consequence 
 of my almost unceasing professional labours, that I have been 
 prevented from cultivating the friendship of one whom I 
 valued and respected so highly. 
 
 J pray that all who were dear to him may inherit, in rich 
 abundance, the blessings which are multiplied to the genera- 
 tion of the upright. I am, Rev. and dear Sir, yours very 
 faithfully, JOHN LEE.' 
 
 To these notices of Dr Lawson's more distinguished pupils 
 may be added a passing reference to another whose name is
 
 348 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 yet fragrant in the memories of not a few, though he never 
 received a call to any church ; and yet he reached a 
 position in public estimation which some better known men 
 might have envied. Mr David Mudie studied at Selkirk. He 
 was licensed by the Presbytery of Dunfermline, and for the 
 long period of more than half a century he served the Church 
 as a probationer ; nowhere popular, but everywhere highly 
 esteemed and beloved. He was a good scholar, composed 
 tasteful and evangelical discourses, and continued to the end 
 of his course his habits of study and careful preparation, 
 despite of the disadvantages inseparable from a peripatetic 
 life. He was of singularly sweet and meek temperament, 
 though withal conscious of self-respect and of qualifications 
 which, had it been the will of God, might have made him a 
 most useful pastor. During all the fifty years of his public 
 life he was a strict abstainer from intoxicating drinks ; he 
 never in one instance fell into any indecorum or impropriety 
 of any kind, and in every situation maintained unbroken the 
 manner of a gentleman, and unsullied the character of a 
 Christian preacher and of a devout man. He was behind 
 none of the Selkirk men in his appreciation and admiration 
 of the Professor, and, though in general not talkative, he 
 became eloquent when the conversation turned upon the Hall 
 and its memories. He died in a good old age, and his name 
 will ever be associated with the only probationary life in the 
 history of our Church that witnessed its jubilee. 
 
 On various occasions Dr Lawson received expressions of 
 the love and respect of his pupils, which still remain as memo- 
 rials of the worth of their Professor, and of their own sound 
 appreciation of the benefits they derived from his teaching. 
 The striking painting by Pairmanj which now adorns the 
 Hall of the United Presbyterian Church in Edinburgh, and 
 from which the portrait in this volume is taken, was pre- 
 sented to him by them. They consulted him in the matter. 
 He quietly took the pipe, in which he was indulging at the
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 349 
 
 time, from his month, and said, ' I am certainly very much 
 obliged to the young gentlemen who wish to put this honour 
 upon me ; but I doubt it will be in accordance with the 
 opinion of the good woman, whose husband, while reading at 
 family worship the tenth chapter of Nehemiah, and when the 
 evening was getting somewhat dark, proposed that a candle 
 should be lighted ; " Na, na," said she, " I think the cost 
 would o'er-gang the profit." ' His natural dislike of ostenta- 
 tion made the consent to ' sit,' and the ' sittings ' themselves, 
 disagreeable ; but he generally overcame any difficulties to 
 gratify others, especially those he esteemed. The portrait is 
 understood to be a fair likeness. The Rev. Mr Jack, of 
 Duribar, had the honour of originating this mark of respect 
 to the Professor. At another time, his students presented 
 him with a massive silver claret jug, bearing the following 
 inscription : 
 
 ' TO THE REV. PROFESSOR LAWSON, D.D., 
 
 FROM THE STUDENTS UNDER HIS INSPECTION, 
 
 IN THE YEAR 1800.' 
 
 Dr Thomson gives the following simple but pleasing 
 account of this presentation, in the letter to his brother from 
 which we have already quoted : 
 
 ' I had heard that the Professor was labouring under a 
 severe cold, and was sorry, on my arrival, to find that there 
 was too good a foundation for the report. He was often 
 obliged to leave off speaking for some time by the violence 
 of an oppressive cough. It is with the most painful sensations, 
 I must add, that this affliction still continues, and that his 
 best and most intelligent friends dread the consequences. Let 
 us hope and pray that, if it be the will of our Father in 
 heaven, their fears may be removed by his complete recovery. 
 
 ' The silver cup, which, in the preceding session, we had 
 ordered to be prepared for him, we agreed to present so soon 
 as a competent number of students had come up. It was
 
 350 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 received in a manner which astonished some, and pleased all. . 
 That he might not be taken at any disadvantage, Mr Campbell 
 and Mr Robson were desired to tell him what we intended to 
 do at the afternoon meeting of the Hall. After the lecture, 
 our president, Mr Blackadder, rose and told the Professor 
 that he was appointed, in name of the students, to deliver to 
 him the cup which he held in his hand, as a testimony of their 
 esteem and affection. The venerable man blushed, and 
 returned thanks in a few modest and appropriate sentences. 
 As nearly as I could recollect them (for I wrote them down 
 immediately after our dismission), they were as follows : " I 
 am certainly much obliged to the students of last year for the 
 trouble and expense to which they have put themselves. I 
 have always met with more respect from the students than I 
 thought I deserved ; but I was glad of it on their own 
 account, and for the credit of the body to which we belong. 
 The greatest honour, however, that the students can confer 
 upon me, is to behave themselves suitably to their character 
 as students of divinity with us, as they have hitherto done, in 
 most instances at least. I accept of the present, and with all 
 gratitude, though it is more than I could have expected." 
 The number of students was smaller than it had been for 
 many years : it did not exceed two or three and thirty. On 
 this account, and as the Professor could not endure the cold 
 in the meeting-house (the chapel), we met, except when 
 discourses were to be delivered, in one of his own largest 
 upper rooms. This afforded another opportunity to our 
 teacher to show how much he was gratified by our present : 
 for, one day after the lecture, he ordered the cup to be set 
 on the table, and along with it, two bottles of wine, and some 
 sugar. He then told us that, as we had done him the honour 
 of presenting him with a silver cup, he thought he could not 
 do less than give us all a glass of wine ; or, if we preferred 
 it, we might have it with water and sugar, out of the cup. 
 The latter way was preferred by all of us. Having, in the
 
 THE PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS. 351 
 
 course of the conversation, again expressed his gratitude, he 
 said, " I hope you will not be offended if, at any future 
 period, I shall find it necessary to prevent any similar expres- 
 sions of kindness, for (with a smile upon his face) it was a 
 saying in my young days, that divinity was free all the world 
 over, and I, for one, should not like to be paid for it.'" 
 
 It may be thought that the gift, in this case, was somewhat 
 incongruous. But, in these days, such a household article 
 was regarded in the light of an ornament ; and, though Dr 
 Lawson was all his days a most abstemious man, he did not 
 the less esteem the motives of his pupils. The jug itself was 
 innocent of wine from the day referred to. 
 
 The ardent love that subsisted between the Doctor and his 
 class was especially and often affectingly manifested at the 
 close of the sessions. His partings with them were very tender 
 and affecting. He seldom gave what was called a regular 
 'valedictory.' He generally delivered only, a few practical 
 counsels ; and when they had sung an hymn, they went forth 
 their several ways into the world, and into the churches. It 
 is told that, on one of these occasions, he apologized for the 
 want of an adequate ' valedictory,' but hoped the students 
 would be satisfied with a few passages out of his venerable 
 predecessor's addresses. He took up the book, and began to 
 read. So affecting, however, were the ideas, that he could 
 not proceed. The tears flowed down his cheeks. The 
 students caught the infection, and the Hall, for the nonce, 
 became a Bochim. Professor Brown, of Haddington, was 
 quite a master in this class of exhortations, and his students 
 never lost the solemn impressions which they produced. The 
 best specimen of his style, in this respect, is the one given in 
 the Memoir of Dr Waugh (pp. 49, 50, 51), which was drawn 
 up, and forwarded to the compilers of that delightful 
 biography, by the late much esteemed Rev. David Carruthers, 
 of South Queensferry. 
 
 At another time, he gave out to be sung the 1 02d Psalm
 
 352 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 (Scotch version), from the 13th verse. He had read the long 
 metre version ; but before the singing began, he said, ' The 
 meaning of the passage is not contained there ; let us, there- 
 fore, use the other version.' At this service, also, he was 
 wont to thank the students for their kind and respectful 
 manner towards himself. ' I know well,' he once remarked, 
 ' that in doing so you have only done your duty, in conse- 
 quence of the position I occupy ; nevertheless, I feel I owe 
 you gratitude. This morning I was reading the history of 
 the prophet Samuel, and of the manner in which he was 
 treated in old age, and I could not help thinking how very 
 differently I was treated, and how far more unworthy I am 
 of it.' At these partings many of the students were in tears, 
 as they bade 'farewell' to the venerable sage, and as he 
 blessed them in his turn. Three of the students had gone to 
 his house to bid him adieu ; and as he shook them by the 
 hand, he said, ' You do not return to your place as Joshua 
 sent away the children of Reuben and the children of Gad 
 with much riches of silver and gold ; but I hope you go 
 away with your minds stored with Divine truth, and your 
 hearts with holy affections a treasure far better.' Then, 
 turning to one of the three who was in delicate health, he 
 added, with a faltering voice, ' You are not so well in body 
 as your friends would wish you ; but you are in the hands of 
 a good God, who knows what is to be the issue of our afflic- 
 tions, and the best issue. Farewell!' He had no melan- 
 choly in his constitution, but he was very sensitive to the 
 impressions which are made by the action either of friendly 
 or religious sentiments. For instance, as he himself invariably 
 opened the Hall on Monday, and closed it on Saturday, with 
 prayer, the students noticed that, in the Saturday prayer, the 
 hallowed influence of the approaching Sabbath was already 
 strong upon him ; while in the Monday one, it was evident that 
 his mind was, as it were, coming out of some peculiarly holy 
 frame, and preparing itself for only less sacred employment.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 
 
 Dn LAWSON had occupied the chair of Divinity for nearly ten 
 years, and was pursuing his pastoral and literary labours 
 with much comfort and success, when he was called upon, for 
 the first and only time in his life, to enter the arena of con- 
 troversy. We have no intention to narrate the details of the 
 matter ; but the influential position which he occupied in it, 
 justifies a sketch of the ' Old Light Controversy,' as it has 
 been called, a controversy which universally agitated the 
 Church, and for a time threatened very serious injury, both 
 from the alienation and separation of brethren. Greatly 
 owing, however, to the wisdom and moderation of such 
 leaders as Dr Lawson, the tumult gradually subsided, and 
 the dreaded evils were averted. So soon as the fiery spirits 
 had withdrawn from her pale, the Secession returned to her 
 rest, and to more than her former prosperity. For once, and 
 only once in his life, did the peaceful student on the Ettrick 
 act as the Nestor of his party. 
 
 The matter involved in this controversy was the vexed 
 question of the power of the civil magistrate in religion, to- 
 gether with the obligation of the National Covenant and the 
 Solemn League and Covenant. The standards of the Church 
 were then what they are now, the Westminster Confession of 
 Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, wherein, with- 
 out doubt, are taught that the magistrate has ecclesiastical 
 power in the Church ; that he can call and dismiss her 
 assemblies ; that he can enforce her laws and ordinances, and 
 
 z
 
 354 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 inflict pains and penalties upon the refractory and non-con- 
 forming. Preachers, when licensed, and ministers, when 
 ordained, were required to declare their belief in such doc- 
 trines, and to teach them according to the best of their ability. 
 This declaration was given in answer to a series of questions 
 called ' The Formula;' which questions were proposed twice 
 over to all candidates for the holy ministry at the time of 
 license, and again at their ordination. At the period of the 
 Secession, and for many years after it, these standards were 
 subscribed without any demurring, just as in the Established 
 Church of Scotland; but about the year 1795, and indeed 
 for several years preceding, not a few enlightened and con- 
 scientious men, having examined the matter seriously and 
 prayerfully, did not hesitate to make known their reluctance 
 to yield unqualified subscription to this formula. In some 
 instances, probationers before taking license, and ministers 
 before ordination, positively declined to do so, unless they 
 had liberty to object to those clauses that taught, or were 
 supposed to teach, compulsory and intolerant principles in 
 religion. In every instance in which this liberty was claimed, 
 it was ceded; and in all parts of the country the Presbyteries 
 were, upon these terms, licensing and ordaining to the work 
 of the ministry the young men whose consciences in this 
 matter were thus relieved. 
 
 The feeling in favour of toleration, or rather against com- 
 pulsion iu matters of faith, soon spread abroad over the 
 Church, and at length found its way into the deliberations of 
 the Supreme Court. At the meeting of the Associate Synod 
 held at Edinburgh in May 1795, a petition was laid upon the 
 table, praying for such a change in the standards as would 
 correspond with the views now so generally entertained. 
 The petitioner was the Eev. John Frazer, of Auchtermuchty. 
 A series of very keen discussions in this and following Synods 
 was the result. By one party the change petitioned for was 
 insisted upon as wise, righteous, and indispensable; by the
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 355 
 
 other party all or any change was strenuously resisted. The 
 former obtained the ' nom de guerre ' of the ' New Light,' 
 and were by far the most numerous and influential men in the 
 Church. The latter were designated the ' Old Light,' and 
 were the firm and fierce defenders of things as they were ; 
 the old leaven, in short, that still worketh in all the opposi- 
 tion to progress and toleration alike in State and Church. 
 ' The wisdom of our ancestors ' was inscribed on their ban- 
 ners. After nearly a four years' war, it was moved and 
 carried in the Synod of 1799, that there should be prefixed to 
 the Formula a declaration disowning all compulsory measures 
 in religion ; and, while acknowledging the obligation of the 
 Covenants, giving every one the fullest liberty to put his own 
 construction upon the nature of such obligation. This 
 declaration was prefixed to the Formula, and received the 
 title of the Preamble, thus qualifying all the questions that 
 followed, and determining their import. A small minority of 
 ministers and elders contented themselves with entering upon 
 the minutes a simple dissent from this resolution ; but im- 
 mediately thereafter, they withdrew entirely from their 
 brethren and formed themselves into a separate body, ycleped 
 ' The Original Associate Synod,' alias ' The Old Light 
 Burgbers.' 
 
 Now, the part taken by the Professor in this controversy 
 was from the first decided. Convinced that the disallowance 
 of the magistrate's power, and the obligation of the Cove- 
 nants, was demanded alike by Scripture and reason, he 
 calmly but manfully entered the arena of debate, and did not 
 retire from it till he had, if not confounded, at least dis- 
 persed the opposition. Upon the subject under dispute, his 
 clear and penetrating judgment never hesitated ; and what he 
 conscientiously believed he boldly avowed. Indeed, he was 
 far ahead of many of the brethren with whom he acted, and 
 advocated a more thorough and complete change. The 
 Formula then was the somewhat modified or provisional
 
 356 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 measure which passed; for there were in the Synod three 
 parties : the obstructives, who were opposed to any change ; 
 the middle-men, who were friendly to the measure of compro- 
 mise which was ultimately adopted ; and the advanced section, 
 who were for such an entire and unmistakeable change, as to 
 preclude the necessity for all future discussion and legisla- 
 tion upon the disputed points. To this third party Dr 
 Lawson belonged, and he was joined in a dissent from the 
 deed by seventeen ministers, whose names deserve to be held, 
 and are held, in much esteem among us Dr Hall, Dr Peddie, 
 Dr Dick, Dr Jack, Dr Kidston, Dr Schaw, Mr Leckie, Mr 
 Russell, Mr Haddin, Mr Dewar, Mr R. Hall, Mr Leitch, 
 Mr Gilchrist, Mr Dick, Mr Cameron, Mr Yule, and Mr 
 Lata the enlightened and far-seeing pioneers of that rising 
 and growing cause of our time, the spirituality and indepen- 
 dence of the Church of Christ. It cannot fail to draw to 
 itself the solemn attention of the Churches' leaders in these 
 times, that the very principle which was the subject of con- 
 troversy at that period within the pale of the Church, has 
 now been transferred from the arena of simple and abstract 
 debate, to fight its way militantly in the courts of Caesar 
 himself not dialectically between party and party in the 
 Church judicatories, but practically in the outworks of secu- 
 lar contention Auchterarder and Cardross being the Redan 
 and Malakoff of the deeply interesting contest. Of the result 
 there can be no doubt. It is simply a question of time. A 
 few years hence the high and mighty position taken by Dr 
 Lawson and his friends, will be maintained by all the friends 
 of Him whose kingdom is not of this world. It may be 
 claimed as one of the finest compliments to the United Pres- 
 byterian Church, that she has seldom lacked men to fore- 
 warn and prepare the world for the adoption of such mea- 
 sures as have greatly helped to bring glory to God in the 
 highest, peace on earth, and good will to men. 
 
 In the course of this controversy on the magistrate's power
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 357 
 
 in the Church, the Professor published a pamphlet, in which 
 he strongly advocates the views of toleration and progress. 
 His little work was entitled, ' Considerations on the Overture 
 lying before the Associate Synod, respecting some alterations 
 in the FORMULA concerning the power of the Civil Magistrate 
 in matters of Religion ; and the Obligation of our Covenants, 
 National and Solemn League, on Posterity.' In eighty-three 
 large duodecimo pages, closely printed, he discusses the 
 whole question in dispute, with a dignity and confidence only 
 equalled by its metaphysical and logical power. It is, in- 
 deed, a masterly production, and entitles him to be classed 
 among the princes of theological polemics. There is not a 
 cloud upon the view he takes from first to last ; and, now 
 that the din and dust of the contention have departed, we 
 can conceive of nothing so imposing as the position he occu- 
 pied throughout. He occupies it still, and posterity will ever 
 be ready, with new laurel wreaths, to adorn this ' in memoria.' 
 While tenaciously grasping indestructible principles, it teaches 
 forbearance in all minor and non-essential matters. A style 
 slightly colloquial, but without enfeebling familiarity, a rich 
 vein of common sense levelling the abstruse to the humblest 
 mind, a felicity and purity of illustration which profits even 
 mor, 1 than it pleases, and a beauteous spirit of charity bap- 
 tizing every sentence, and breathing in every sentiment, give 
 a character to the whole scarcely less unique than elevated 
 and imperial. Compulsion and intolerance, defeated and dis- 
 crowned, are made to hide their diminished heads, while 
 ancestral bonds are seen to denude themselves of superannua- 
 tion. His motto, from Yitringa, strikes the key-note to the 
 whole, and deserves as much as ever to be studied in our 
 day : 
 
 ' Majoribus nostris earn debemus revereutiam, ut quae tra- 
 dita ab ipsis posteritate sint, ante non rejeciantnr, quam dil- 
 ligenter et accurate expensa sint. Quo tamen officio si quis 
 probe defunctus ex certissimis uihil-oiniuus argumentis calligat
 
 358 THE LIFE OF DK LAWSON. 
 
 eos errasse, turn existimamus, villissimi ac ignobilis animi esse, 
 vel in iisdem cum ipsis pertinacitur perseverare, vel eos quavis 
 modo velle palliare.' 
 
 Dr Lawson was well aware that his pamphlet would greatly 
 irritate his opponents, and perhaps lead to schism in the 
 body; but he acted under the direction of an enlightened 
 conscience, and in obedience to principles which he held to be 
 more important than ecclesiastical unity. He had perceived 
 and acted upon Whately's proposition, before the Archbishop 
 was out of the nursery, viz., that ' to give up everything that 
 is worth contending about, in order to prevent hurtful con- 
 tentions, is, for the sake of extirpating noxious weeds, to 
 condemn the field to perpetual sterility.' 
 
 Dr William Peddie, in the memoir of his father, speaks of 
 this ' brochure ' as a work which exhibits ' perhaps more fully 
 than any of the author's other writings, that depth and 
 simplicity of thought, and that apostolic meekness of wisdom, 
 for which the venerable Professor was so highly esteemed.' 
 Dr Adam Thomson says, ' His first publication, if it did not 
 give a new impulse to the public mind, contributed, at any 
 rate, in no small degree to encourage that liberal turn of 
 thinking now so common among the members of that ecclesi- 
 astical court of which he was long so distinguished an 
 ornament.' Dr Brown pronounces these 'Considerations' to be 
 ' a monument of his godly sincerity and meekness of wisdom ; 
 a valuable document as to one of the most important crises 
 in the ecclesiastical history of this country.' He adds, ' The 
 flood of malignant calumny and scurrility which was poured 
 on Dr Lawson at this time would be incredible, did not literas 
 seriptae manent.' Dr Balmer was often heard to speak loudly 
 in its praise, as ' an eminently powerful and useful publication, 
 transcending perhaps all he ever wrote.' Dr M'Kerrow, in 
 his lucid history of the whole affair, states, ' If he had lived 
 during the reign of Charles II., of heresy-suppressing memory, 
 a pamphlet containing such sentiments on the power of the
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 359 
 
 magistrate would have been burned by the hands of the 
 common hangman ; and the author, in all probability, for his 
 temerity in publishing it. would have been gibbeted at the 
 Grassmarket.' Dr Cairns says, ' It pleads the cause of 
 mutual forbearance on the points at issue, which still form the 
 grounds of division among Scottish Presbyterians, with a 
 power of argument and a sweetness of charity that almost en- 
 title it to rank beside Robert Hall's " Terms of Communion." ' 
 This pamphlet had especially a most salutary and soothing 
 effect in Stirlingshire and the adjacent counties, where some 
 of the bitterest ' Old Light ' men lived. Among the congre- 
 gations in these shires the controversy raged keenly, and some 
 of them were torn asunder in the most alarming manner. 
 Men, women, and children rushed into the fray, and threatened 
 an extensive secession. Dr Lawson, however, now not only 
 cast oil upon the waters, but turned the tide completely in 
 favour of toleration. Extracts from the ' Considerations/ 
 racy and pithy, might have been given, but space forbids. 
 The work remains among our archives, to be brought forward 
 as power in reserve for the coming struggle. In the mean- 
 time, let it be labelled as the only stone from the brook which 
 was ever slung by Dr Lawson, and which slew the Goliath of 
 the day. 
 
 While this controversy lasted, pamphlets appeared on 
 both sides, lustily advocating the different views. Among 
 the earliest and most telling of these, was the Synod sermon 
 of Dr Dick. He was then at Slateford, and only of a few 
 years' standing in the ministry. The report of the committee 
 appointed to consider Mr Frazer's overture was laid upon 
 the table of the Synod which met in September 1795, and of 
 which Synod Dr Dick was moderator. At the following 
 meeting, in April 1796, he preached the sermon referred to, 
 from the text, ' Hold fast the form of sound words,' and after- 
 wards published it. He therein discusses the subject of 
 Confessions of Faith, proves them to be necessary, and ex-
 
 360 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 plains the duty of Christians with respect to them. He 
 strongly urges forbearance in the matters then agitating the 
 Church ; and, in an appendix, he states that if 'forbearance ' 
 cannot be exercised on these, there could be no field for its 
 exercise but one so contracted as to make the exercise of it 
 comparatively useless. This sermon produced great com- 
 motion among the advocates for things as they were. They 
 were much irritated that one so young should presume to 
 demand such forbearance, and particularly that this should 
 have the weight and authority of the moderator of the Synod. 
 But before a man of judgment and prudence could take this 
 course, he must have been sure of the sympathy and appro- 
 bation of his brethren ; and Dr Dick was not mistaken. No 
 doubt his views were attacked in bitter and unchristian 
 replies : they were made the subject of complaint to the 
 Synod itself; and when the Old Light party withdrew, it was 
 formally stated by them that Dr Dick's sermon was one of 
 their reasons for taking the step. 
 
 In connection with this fight of pamphlets, must be men- 
 tioned one by Dr Porteous, minister of the Established 
 Church in Glasgow, and entitled, ' The New Light examined, 
 or observations on the proceedings of the Associate Synod 
 against their own Standards.' In this contemptible piece of 
 slander the Synod was held up to scorn, and even charged 
 with heresy and sedition ; but this, like every other calumny, 
 soon met its Nemesis. Dr Peddie, of Edinburgh, at once 
 stood forth to chastise this accuser of the brethren ; and 
 right heartily and justly did he lay the rod on the fool's 
 back. His famous satire for such the reply may be called 
 and there is nothing in Juvenal himself that excels it was 
 entitled, ' A Defence of the Associate Synod against the 
 charge of Sedition, addressed to Win. Porteous, D.D. This 
 reply contains a formal refutation of the charge of political 
 disaffection. It assumes the charge to be unworthy of serious 
 notice, and proceeds most successfully to demolish the argu-
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 361 
 
 meats by which it is supported ; these being proved to be a 
 series of mistakes, falsehoods, conceits, and conjectures. 
 Burning, shrivelling, annihilating sarcasm was heaped upon 
 and buried this little bottle-imp, which, with its clerical con- 
 juror, was never in this strife seen or heard of again. Con- 
 cerning this reply of Dr Peddie, it was testified that it was 
 much admired at the time for its delicate yet keen satire, 
 and the clearness, strength, and elegance of its reasoning. 
 The late distinguished Dugald Stewart recommended it to 
 his students as one of the most masterly pieces of classical 
 sarcasm in our language ; and Dr M'Kerrow most truth- 
 fully says, that, ' for dignified reproof, for caustic severity, 
 for pointed and lucid statement, and for a thorough exposure 
 of blundering and sophistical reasoning, it stands almost 
 unrivalled in the annals of controversial warfare. The casti- 
 gatioa was administered by the hand of a master, and must 
 have been felt by the subject of it as dreadfully severe : but 
 it was not more severe than merited.' ' It can scarcely be 
 conceived,' says a venerable father in the Synod, ' what an 
 effect it produced in the discomfiture of our enemies and in 
 raising the spirit of our friends. It was boxed, with the other 
 papers, in the process which arose out of the Old Light 
 separation, and was frequently referred to by the lawyers in 
 their pleadings, 'as well as by the judges. As for the poor 
 man who had provoked such punishment, he immediately 
 sunk into contempt under a weight of ridicule and scorn, and 
 was forgotten and neglected.' 
 
 Dr Alexander, referring to it in his ' Life of Dr Wardlaw,' 
 says, ' It drove him (Dr Porteous), with the scorched and 
 blasted laurels of his shortlived popularity, into an obscurity 
 from which he was wise* enough never again to venture forth.' 
 Dr Wardlaw, too, at that time a student at Selkirk, wrote the 
 satirical poem, ' Porteousiana,' which, though never printed, 
 had a large circulation among his friends. There is much 
 keen and pure satire in it, and it lets out not a little of that
 
 362 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 high-souled love of liberty for which, in after years, the author 
 became so distinguished. Having entered on his theme, he 
 says, 
 
 ' Athough the Rev. Mr Peddie 
 
 Has answered you so well already, 
 And given you such a hearty scrub, 
 I can't refrain a passing rub.' 
 
 Having assumed that the favourite ' demon of Porteous was 
 ' Malice,' he says, 
 
 ' The two their heads together laid, 
 And schemed their cursed plot ; 
 The demon Malice dictated, , 
 
 And Dr Porteous wrote.' 
 
 Thus, at a time when principles we hold to be dearer than 
 life were trembling in the balance, there were found to defend 
 them men not wanting in any requisite to a fearless and 
 irresistible contest for the truth. We may have good hope 
 for the future, when these principles shall be again, and likely 
 for the last time, put upon their trial. Lawson, Dick, and 
 Peddie shall have their successors in the field. On not a few 
 have their mantles fallen. But, even though a pseudo policy 
 were for a season to confine the champions within the citadel 
 of compromise, and were to dispose them to the use of ex- 
 pedient shibboleths, there is ample material reserved in these 
 old stores, from out of which intolerance has already been met 
 and mastered. In these times, when so many old writings 
 are again printed and introduced to the public, a reprint of 
 the three treatises at which we have been looking would be 
 better than a mere speculation in trade. It might serve to 
 brighten up the public mind on by far the most important 
 question of the day. 
 
 The course of controversy, like other courses, runs not 
 always smooth. Hence, Dr Lawson and his coadjutors soon 
 met the reward of unflinching faithfulness : they became the
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 363 
 
 best abused men in their Synod ; and no means was left un- 
 tried by the leaders of the ' Old Light,' to heap accusation 
 and reproach upon them. What between the ' EFFECTUAL 
 REMEDIES,' prescribed by Mr Taylor, of Levenside, after- 
 wards of Perth, and the ' SMOOTH STONES FROM THE BROOK,' 
 slung by Mr Willis, of Greeuock, afterwards of Stirling, the 
 three heroes of the ' New Light ' were sadly set upon. . The 
 Professor, from his official position, and the strength of it, drew 
 upon himself the essence of intolerant wrath. His pamphlet 
 received a similar honour to that given to Dr Dick's, and was 
 made the subject of formal testimony-bearing on the part of 
 the separating brethren. His orthodoxy, his loyalty, and his 
 fitness for his office, were all vehemently and almost savagely 
 assailed. And what was it that extorted such bitterness 
 from his opponents ? What was the heresy ? Where was 
 the treason ? Simply m this, that he had maintained and 
 defended the following thesis, and the paragraph is worthy to 
 be written in letters of gold : ' It was never the sentiment 
 of men approved in Christ, that any religious doctrine should 
 be an article of communion among Christians. It was not 
 the sentiment of Polycarp, or of Irenseus his friend, or of 
 Luther or Calvin, the great reformers of the Church. It was 
 not the sentiment of the great men of God who flourished in 
 Scotland in her best times. It was not the sentiment of our 
 fathers in the Secession. To those, if there be any, who will 
 hold no Christian or ministerial communion but with men of 
 the same judgment on every point with themselves, we may 
 say as Constantine did to a Novatian Bishop at the Council 
 of Nice, " Make a ladder, and climb up to heaven by your- 
 selves.'" 1 He met, however, all attacks with dignified silence, 
 leaving his own and his brethren's publications to do their 
 work quietly and efficiently ; and they did it. The Church 
 was pot rent in pieces, after all : only a few fiery and factious 
 spirits were ejected, and the Secession rested. 
 
 1 Considerations, etc., p. 9. Second Edition.
 
 364 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 The Professor was urged to reply to his opponents, whom 
 Dr Wardlaw, in his satire, represents as 
 
 ' Poor senseless fillies, 
 
 From Lawson gone to Willie Willis ; ' 
 
 but he refused to do so. He knew the true philosophy of 
 mere party spirit, and kept silence, believing, with the liberal 
 Prelate of Dublin, that ' many a one is so far gone in party 
 as to be proof-proof, and cares no more for facts than the 
 leviathan does for spears.' Nothing could provoke him to 
 render railing for railing. ' I have more than once heard,' 
 he writes to one of his friends. ' that things are said in my 
 name very remote from the truth ; but I paid no regard to 
 them, because I was persuaded they would make no impres- 
 sion, or very shortlived, on any person whose good opinion I 
 wished to cultivate. I had read a story when I was a boy, 
 in an old author, called Valerius Maximus, which I have 
 never forgot, and which I consider as a rule for my conduct. 
 Plato, hearing that one of his friends had aspersed his cha- 
 racter, replied, " I will endeavour to live so as that nobody will 
 believe him." There is no part of my character about which 
 I am less solicitous than my reputation for integrity. I am 
 pretty certain, from my own consciousness, joined with the 
 testimony of my father concerning my years of childhood, 
 that, since I could use my tongue, I have never polluted it 
 with a wilful lie.' His reply to Mr Walker, of Mauchline, who 
 had been one of his students, is very characteristic : ' All we,' 
 said Mr Walker, ' who have studied at Selkirk, are deter- 
 mined to abide by you, and defend you as best we can.' 
 ' Well, then,' replied the Professor, ' the best defence you can 
 make is to preach well.' It was the truth, and not himself, 
 that he cared for. Knowing his firm purpose not to reply 
 to the scurrilous personal abuse to which he was for a time 
 subjected, his brethren, at a meeting of Synod, were rather 
 taken by surprise, when, in alluding to a certain pamphlet, he 
 said, ' I mean to answer it.' ' What, Doctor ! ' one said, ' will
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 365 
 
 you reply to a production so false, and so full of spite?' 
 ' Yes, I shall,' said he ; ' I preached a sermon last Sabbath on 
 lying, and I intend to publish it.' When the controversy 
 was at its height, he went to assist at the communion in 
 Glasgow. He was to officiate on the Friday evening ; and 
 the weather being very tempestuous, the audience was small. 
 A friend came into the vestry after the service, who was 
 afraid lest Dr Lawson should attribute the smallness of the 
 audience to an indication of displeasure in the public, and 
 assured him it was entirely owing to the weather. The good 
 man, first of all, repeated a stanza in Latin, in which there 
 was a double allusion to the storm and to the prejudice, and 
 then added, ' It is but a little cloud, and will soon blow past.' 
 < Why,' it was asked again, ' do you not repel these foul and 
 slanderous attacks ? ' ' Why,' said he, quoting the language of 
 the heathen philosopher, ' why should I kick an ass because 
 an ass has kicked me ? ' When it was hinted that the epithet 
 he had used might be appropriated by his most virulent 
 assailant, he said, ' I will be sorry indeed if he do so ; and if 
 he should think that I applied it to him, I shall never use 
 the language again.' 
 
 The following documents, worthy of preservation, will be 
 read with interest, as manifesting the precious sympathy of 
 his brethren with him under the calumnious treatment to 
 which he had been exposed for his noble stand in defence of 
 religious toleration : 
 
 ' DUNBLANE, March 28, 1799. 
 
 ' VKRY DEAR SIR, Being assembled at Dunblane on a 
 friendly visit, it has occurred to us to write you a few lines, 
 and to assure you of what you will readily believe, our 
 high esteem and warm regard. You have been dear to us 
 all ever since we had the pleasure of your acquaintance ; 
 but our esteem and affection have been increased of late 
 by the appearances which you have been called to make
 
 366 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 in the defence of truth, in which ability, candour, and meek- 
 ness are so conspicuous. Our indignant feelings, we acknow- 
 ledge, are roused by the uncandid and malignant abuse with 
 which you are loaded in certain infamous publications. But 
 you know that s you are reproached for the name of Christ, 
 and you cannot be unhappy. The great Head Himself feels 
 the persecution you suffer. May He grant repentance to 
 the acknowledgment of the truth, to those men who are its 
 authors. 
 
 ' Our best wishes, dear sir, always attend you. May your 
 labours in the cause of Christ and mankind be marked with 
 signal triumph over the opposing legions of hell and earth ! 
 You have the approbation of those whom you love and esteem ; 
 you have an approving mind ; and we have no doubt of your 
 being supported by the well-grounded hope of the approba- 
 tion of Him to whose service and honour you have devoted 
 your life and talents. 
 
 ' Accept, dear Sir, this spontaneous expression of esteem 
 and regard from your very affectionate friends and brethren, 
 ' MICHAEL GILFILLAN, Dunblane. 
 
 DAVID GREIG, Lochgelly. 
 
 JAMES HUSBAND, Duufermline. 
 
 WILLIAM HADDIN, Limekilns. 
 
 JAMES MACFARLANE, Duufermline. 
 
 JOHN SMART, Stirling. 
 
 HENRY BELFRAGE, Falkirk. 
 
 JAMES HAY, Kinross.' 
 
 ' P.S. We have not yet had the pleasure of seeing Mr 
 Fletcher, but are just setting out to visit him.' 
 
 ' Rosebank, by Stirling, March 28, 1799. MY DEAR BROTHER, 
 Bodily indisposition precluded me from the pleasure of 
 accompanying my brethren in their friendly excursion this 
 day to Dunblane, but I now most cordially concur with them
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 367 
 
 in the above ; and am, with real regard and esteem, most 
 affectionately yours, ' ROB. CAMPBELL, Jr.' 
 
 ' AUCHTERMOCHTY, 1 1 th June 1799. 
 
 ' REV. DEAR SIR, We have observed with grief the 
 reproach which of late you have suffered on account of your 
 principles and conduct. We consider you as suffering for 
 righteousness' sake, in which you are conformed to some of 
 the most excellent characters. When we reflect upon the 
 place which you hold in our esteem and affection, and the 
 station you occupy in the Church of God, we think it our 
 duty to express our high approbation of your opinions and 
 conduct, the sorrow which we feel on account of the un- 
 warrantable manner in which you have been attacked, and 
 our earnest desire that you may have comfort from God, and 
 be long preserved for a blessing to your family and to the 
 Church. ' JEDH. AIRMAN, Perth. 
 
 DAVID HEPBURN, Newburgh. 
 
 JOHN JAMIESON, Scone. 
 
 JAMES DICK.. 
 
 JOHN RAE. 
 
 GEORGE WIGTON. 
 
 JOHN STEWART, Liverpool.' 
 The Rev. George Lawson, Selkirk. 
 
 The conduct of his students at this time is also worthy of 
 notice. Disgusted as well as offended with the attacks made 
 upon their Professor, they unanimously sent up to the Synod 
 a most interesting and valuable representation, a represen- 
 tation full of promise to the future interests of the Church, 
 and a promise which was most honourably fulfilled in after 
 years, when these students, as ministers of the Gospel, were 
 called upon to act out the principles of religious liberty in 
 their own vocation, and to defend them when exposed to 
 misrepresentation or to peril.
 
 368 THE LIFE OF DB LAWSON. 
 
 Fortunately for the interest of this memoir, a few of Dr 
 Lawson's letters have been found, written about the time of 
 these discussions and dissensions to his friend Dr Kidston, of 
 Glasgow. They have been reserved till now, as, from the 
 slight sketch of matters here given, the allusions in them will 
 be the easier understood. With these are intermingled a few 
 others from Dr Husband, with whom, upon the subject of the 
 ' overture,' the Professor was in frequent correspondence. 
 Dr Husband, indeed, all through the controversy, was the 
 most eloquent and powerful pleader at the bar of the Synod 
 in favour of the principles of religious toleration. He did not, 
 however, advocate the extreme views of the more ' advanced 
 men,' but stuck to the resolution that was ultimately carried. 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Kidston. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, April 1, 1796. 
 
 ' DEAR WILLIAM, I received yours this week, but have 
 been little at home since I received it till this day. That part 
 of it which relates to the frequent dispensation of the Lord's 
 Supper I will pass over till I see you, with my thanks for the 
 book you sent me. 
 
 ' I should certainly have shown all due respect to the de- 
 sire of the Presbytery respecting Mr Currie's examination, 
 but I have reason to believe that he is not at present in this 
 country. A few weeks ago I was in his father's house, which 
 is six miles from Selkirk ; and he told me that he was then 
 residing either at Lanark, or perhaps, rather, at Glasgow. 
 He is a weaver (of what kind I have forgot). Mr M'Millan, 
 merchant, or Walter Gowanloek, from our place, will be able, 
 I suppose, to direct you where to find him. I know that he 
 bore testimony in a civil court to the guilt of the woman in 
 question ; but I am not sure .whether I could have prevailed 
 on his father to have permitted him to do it again, before us, 
 at this distance of time, without seeing his former deposition. 
 I am sorry for Mr Wyllie's affliction. He was a young
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 369 
 
 roan for whom I entertained, and still entertain, a high esteem. 
 I hope he will not be left to revolt from the doctrine of the 
 Gospel. God preserve us from mistaking our path in these 
 days of clouds and thick darkness. 
 
 ' I am sorry to hear of the contentions we are likely to 
 have at the next meeting of Synod. I wish our zealous 
 brethren would maturely consider the consequences of their 
 opposition to the overture, if it should be attended with suc- 
 cess. I think it would be easy to prove that none ought to 
 oppose it, who are not well convinced from -the Word of God 
 that their brethren of opposite sentiments deserve not only to 
 be deposed and excommunicated, but even hanged. It is 
 clear that, according to the national covenant, every man is 
 to be esteemed a rebel against the king who does not profess 
 his satisfaction with the doctrine of our old Confession of 
 Faith ; and this Confession, more clearly than the "West- 
 minster one, asserts the compulsory power of the magistrate 
 in matters of religion. 
 
 ' I am writing my thoughts on the overture ; and I believe 
 some brother better qualified than I might do service to our 
 body by a publication on the subject. But it would be 
 " periculosae plenum opus aleae." I am, yours affectionately, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Kidston. 
 
 'SELKIRK, March 1797. 
 
 ' DEAR WILLIAM, I am glad to hear that your opinion 
 coincides with mine about Mr Willis. I was this week at 
 Kelso, in company with Messrs Hall, Greig, Elder, and 
 Young. We were all vexed at hearing, by a letter from the 
 north, that the Presbytery designed to libel Mr Willis, and 
 agreed in opinion, that it would probably serve his views if 
 he were forcibly driven out from us. They all desired me 
 to let you know their sentiments. 
 
 ' After all, I know not what consequences might attend a 
 
 2 A
 
 370 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 meeting between Mr Willis and me in the west. Perhaps 
 altercations might take place that might lay me under the 
 necessity of libelling him. For this and other reasons, I 
 would gladly be excused from coming to you at this time ; 
 and I promise, if you can provide an assistant at present, that 
 I will be ready afterwards to assist you, if the Lord will. 
 
 ' I wish, if possible, to have every reproach cast upon me 
 to die a natural death. The famous Dr Boerhaave was of the 
 same mind. He never troubled himself to confute calumnies : 
 for, he said, they are sparks which, if you blow them up, will 
 kindle into a flame ; if you let them alone, they will expire. 
 
 ' I should be glad to see you at Glasgow some time in the 
 course of the year. But whether I see you or not, I will 
 always rejoice to hear of your welfare, and happiness, and 
 success in the work of the Lord. I am happy to hear that 
 the two brethren, of whom you spoke, take no part with 
 Mr Willis. It was what I expected from their good sense. 
 It seems strange, that a performance designed to maintain 
 Presbyterian principles should be such a flagrant violation of 
 them ; and that a man so exceedingly zealous for the covenants 
 of our fathers, should be so little conscientious in observing 
 his own personal engagements as to libel me before the world, 
 without using the constitutional means for so long a space to 
 bring me to repentance, or to procure my expulsion from the 
 body, when he alleges that I ought to be excommunicated. 
 
 ' I know not yet what effect his performance may have in 
 this place, where I have just now heard of its making its 
 appearance ; but I know that my name and my usefulness are 
 in the hand of a gracious God. I am, yours affectionately, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Husband to Dr Lawson. 
 
 ' PERTH, August 3, 1796. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, Your very agreeable favour was put 
 into my hand, during the first psalm before the sermon, on
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 371 
 
 the third Sabbath of July. I was obliged to put it instantly 
 into my pocket, and to turn away my attention from one of 
 my best earthly friends, to Him who endured such contradic- 
 tion of sinners against Himself. I took the first oppor- 
 tunity of perusing it. The very sensible pleasure it gave 
 me had a mixture of regret, occasioned by the absence 
 of the writer, with whom, on that occasion, we used to en- 
 joy so sweet counsel. I did not fail to mention you to all 
 the friends who were present, who felt in the same manner 
 as myself. Our assistants were, Messrs Thine, Waters, 
 Greig, Baird, and H. Belfrage. Mr Wardlaw, too, with his 
 son, added to our agreeable society. And all of them joined 
 in expressing sincere wishes for your welfare, as well as regret 
 for your absence. If the Lord spare and prosper us till next 
 year, I hope Mr Lawson will do me a greater favour than 
 write me a letter in the month of July. 
 
 ' I have heard nothing since I was at the sacrament at 
 Edinburgh, about the manuscript relating to the overture. 
 I understood that Mr Peddie was to get it prepared for the 
 press. By the partial perusal which I gave it, I should think 
 it exceedingly fitted to answer the end intended. Something, 
 I am convinced, ought to be done for enlightening the public 
 mind. Some of our brethren on the opposite side are, I 
 understand, as violent in their public declamations as they 
 were in the year 1747. What may be the result I do 
 not know. One thing is certain, that no dread of conse- 
 quences should make us dishonest men. And though to 
 forbear one another in love should be scouted ever so 
 violently, it is a part of the testimony of Jesus, which, I 
 hope, will never be abandoned. My own opinions on the 
 subject are the productions of so commonplace a genius, 
 that I cannot see them to be worthy of the public eye. 
 Something, however, must be done, and I have sometimes 
 thought of enlightening at least our own congregation on 
 the subject ; but I hope to have something better than any-
 
 372 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 thing of my own to put into their hands. Mr Dick's sermon 
 is excellent in its way ; but we need something that will 
 enter more particularly into the subject ; and I am persuaded 
 what you have written is fitted to have much weight with 
 the public mind. Yours, most cordially, 
 
 ' JAMES HUSBAND.' 
 
 Dr Husband to Dr Lawson, 
 
 1 DUNFERMLINE, 13^ March 1797. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, .... The part of the pamphlet 
 which I did not see in manuscript, pleases me as much as that 
 which I saw ; and I make no doubt but something further 
 from your pen will be of use. I can see no objection against 
 your executing your purpose. The people need enlightening 
 very much. Mr Peddie writes me, that you are making 
 converts on their side of the water. With us you are, at 
 least, confirming people in their attachment to truth and 
 moderation ; and I make no doubt but you will be the means 
 of preventing many who have not yet pledged themselves 
 from pursuing violent measures. Some of our people have 
 gone so far, that I question if the reasoning of an angel 
 would bring them round. Yet, even of our violent people, 
 some have become more calm ; and I have even reason to 
 think that there are some conversions. 
 
 ' We have met with a good deal of trouble. A paper of a 
 very mischievous nature was a good while in circulation 
 before I knew of it. The subscribers condemned Mr 
 Macfarlane and me as having renounced our ordination vows, 
 because we do not mention the Covenants at baptism, and 
 pledged themselves to abide by a minority in the Synod, 
 should the majority go against their views. I was obliged 
 to address the people on the subject, which, I believe, has had 
 a good effect. The papers are no more heard of. Some 
 have withdrawn their names, others confess they were wrong, 
 though a number, I believe, are still obstinate. The zeal of a
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 373 
 
 number of people respectable for character and good sense is 
 raised ; and one very comfortable circumstance in our situation 
 is, that I believe a great number of our session are in our own 
 way. In short, the matter, though bad, perhaps does not look 
 so ill as it once did ; and I am not without my hopes that a 
 great majority of our congregation will go the right way. 
 
 ' I am not without my apprehension that the overture, in 
 its present form, either will not pass, or if it do, that it will 
 produce an extensive breach. Though, to me, still the best 
 measure hitherto proposed, it is, of all others, to many the 
 most obnoxious. Multitudes are pledged against it, and 
 multitudes do not understand it. The spirit of it ought, I 
 think, never to be departed from ; but a number of its friends 
 are of opinion that something may be obtained under a 
 different and lees obnoxious form. There are liberal prin- 
 ciples in our testimony which it is proposed to bring forward, 
 and set the Formula in the light of them. A meeting is pro- 
 posed to take place at Queensferry, with a view to digest the 
 measure. A number, I am told, are to attend. I am not 
 yet invited, but I expect an invitation. that you were 
 there. Write me if you could think of coming. 
 
 ' I am much honoured by your expressions of regard. 
 Amidst my afflictions it is a consolation that I have friends 
 who are inferior to none in every kind of worth. But may 1 
 look higher than the best of earthly consolations, and be 
 enabled to pursue the path of duty through good report and 
 bad report. 
 
 ' I hope to see your supplement in a short time. I am, 
 my dear friend, yours always, ' JAMES HUSBAND.' 
 
 Dr Husband to Dr Lawson. 
 
 ' DCKFERMLINE, January 2, 1799. 
 
 ' Mr DEAR FRIEND, I have often of late reproached my- 
 self with ingratitude in not replying to your kind letter, in 
 which you take such friendly notice of my providential escape
 
 374 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 when in imminent danger. To the God of my life I desire to 
 ascribe the praise, and am sensible that I ought to feel the 
 obligation to devote my life wholly to His service. 
 
 ' I paid all the attention in my power to the particulars 
 mentioned in your letter. Copies of your sermon I presented 
 in your name to the friends you mention. I also mentioned 
 to Messrs Greig, Peddie, and R. Hall your grant of supply 
 to the congregations in the north, which I hope has been 
 attended to. 
 
 ' Your sermon I read with pleasure and unqualified appro- 
 bation. How did it surprise me to see it attacked with such 
 asperity as heterodox and Arminian ; but on second thoughts 
 it did not appear so surprising that it should be treated in 
 such a manner by persons whose principles seem to be those 
 of Fatalism. I understand you have written a reply, which I 
 hope to see in the next number of the Magazine. 
 
 ' There is a good deal of asperity in the criticism. But it 
 is mildness, and gentleness, and fair representation when 
 compared with " A Smooth Stone from the Brook." I dare 
 not give myself scope in writing as I feel, at the thoughts of 
 such low and unmannerly abuse. How unworthy of one 
 under the name of a Christian minister ! Such despicable 
 Billingsgate should, I think, defeat its own end. That cause 
 is much to be suspected that needs to be defended by such 
 weapons. Do you think it worthy of reply ? I am sure you 
 are incapable of answering it in its own style, and mere abuse 
 cannot be reasoned with. 
 
 ' There is just now before me a story of Melancthon : per- 
 haps you have met with it ; but lest you should not, I shall 
 transcribe it, because it seems to be important. That great 
 and amiable man being the subject- of much virulent abuse 
 for his part in the Reformation, was strongly urged to publish 
 a vindication of his conduct. " I will answer you," said he, 
 " as my little daughter did me. She had one day been sent 
 on an errand, and stayed much longer than she ought to
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 375 
 
 have doue. I met her on the street, and said to her, ' Now, 
 child, what will you say to your mother when she chides you 
 for staying so long ? ' 'I will say nothing,' replied the poor 
 child." 
 
 ' The above story I have extracted from " Dr Aitken's 
 Letters to his Son," in which there is an admirable one on 
 reply in controversy. I shall transcribe two or three 
 sentences. " A writer publishes his sentiments on a contro- 
 verted point in politics or theology, and supports them by 
 the best arguments in his power. A hot-headed champion 
 rises on the opposite side, who in print styles his notions 
 impious or seditious, his arguments trivial and absurd, in- 
 sults his person, vilifies his sense and learnjmg, and im- 
 putes to him the worst motives. What matter is there hi all 
 this for an answer? The writer does not mean to disavow 
 his opinions because an opponent thinks ill of them. His 
 arguments are not refuted by the abuse of one who, perhaps, 
 from incapacity or ignorance, is utterly unable to comprehend 
 them." 
 
 ' I hope you do not think me intrusive with my opinion. I 
 do not mean to say that nothing more should be published 
 on the subject in dispute. Perhaps your essay on " After 
 Vows making Enquiry " would now be seasonable. You left 
 it with me, but I certainly gave it to Mr Greig, to whom I 
 shall mention it the first time I see him. I must have another 
 reading of it. 
 
 ' You are meeting with the same treatment as almost every 
 man has met with who had the honesty and courage to attack 
 prejudice and bigotry. But you have powerful support. 
 You have the approbation of those whose approbation you 
 covet, of your own mind, and, above all, of Him to whom 
 you have devoted your talents and your life, and you know 
 that your labour will not be in vain in the Lord. 
 
 ' Farewell. My dear Sir, yours most cordially. 
 
 ' JAMES HUSBAND.
 
 376 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Kidston. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, May 1799. 
 
 ' DEAR WILLIAM, Yesterday I received your letter, and 
 am duly sensible of the regard you express for me when you 
 so earnestly desire my assistance at your communion. But 
 I hope, upon consideration, you will agree with me that it 
 would not be expedient for me to appear in Glasgow, where 
 such endeavours are used to destroy my usefulness. Let the 
 noise that has been raised sink into silence, and then, if the 
 Lord will, I shall make another journey to you with pleasure. 
 I certainly would think my journey well bestowed for your 
 sake, as well as for your father's, since it would give yon 
 pleasure. 
 
 ' I have no intention at present to libel my neighbour, who 
 has used such freedoms with my character. I know and am 
 persuaded that the Lord will send from heaven and deliver 
 me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. 
 
 4 1 suspect that Mr Willis has an intention of leaving us, 
 and that it would gratify him to be libelled. He surely can- 
 not intend to live in communion with me, and several others 
 of the brethren, without seeing a change in our conduct, 
 which he cannot expect. If he keeps communion with us 
 without a very great change either in himself or in us, his 
 practice must most evidently give the lie to his writings. 
 
 ' When I saw his first number, I considered with myself, 
 that Mr Willis had one design and the devil another, and 
 that God had a design different from both. Let us endea- 
 vour, if possible, to disappoint the devil, and to endure 
 chastisement and trial from God as becometh Christians. 
 
 ' I do not think it difficult to bear reproach as a stoic, but 
 to bear it as becometh saints, we need the grace of the Spirit 
 of love and prayer. How can we find in our hearts to pray 
 for pardon, if we do not forgive ? 
 
 ' David and Paul are excellent teachers of charity towards
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 377 
 
 those that wrong us, and why should we not at least endea- 
 vour, through Divine mercy, to exercise charity to our 
 enemies ? Let them curse when the Lord hath bidden them. 
 It may be the Lord will requite us good for their cursing. 
 
 ' It will oblige me much if you will give a good advice or 
 admonition to Sandy, as he may happen to need it, or to ask 
 him what he has been learning from the Bible or other books. 
 
 ' I am sorry for the distress of your brother. It is to be 
 hoped that it will do him good in his latter end. We need 
 all the troubles that we endure, and they will all of them be 
 useful to us through prayer, and through the supply of the 
 Spirit of Jesus Christ. 
 
 ' I would have been glad to hear what impression the 
 pamphlets are making in your neighbourhood, and whether 
 any of the brethren are likely to take part with Mr "Willis. 
 Mr Anderson will be in Glasgow within two weeks. By him 
 I hope to hear from you. May God restore your brother's 
 health, and may He grant peace to His Church. I am, yours, 
 with cordial affection, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 ' I will be glad to hear that the zeal of my quondam pupils 
 for my reputation has not transported them beyond the 
 bounds of moderation. I should be glad, likewise, to hear 
 how our young students in Glasgow proceed with their 
 studies. Mr Brown was not in good health when he left us. 
 You will be able to inform me if he is quite recovered. I 
 don't know if you have been informed concerning the health 
 of Mr Beatton, a friend of Mr Shaw. My sincere wishes for 
 the health and prosperity of my Glasgow friends will not be 
 doubted. 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Kidston. 
 
 'SELKIRK, August 1799. 
 
 * DEAR WILLIAM, Your father is now well, as far as I 
 am informed.
 
 378 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 ' I wrote a letter to you two weeks ago, but missed the 
 opportunity of sending it. I should have been glad to see 
 iny book on the Proverbs, because it contains all that I re- 
 member to have said to the students about politics. 
 
 ' If you have it by you, and would turn to the chapter about 
 Kings, you might be able to tell your friends what these 
 seditious principles are which I have taken pains to inculcate. 
 If it could be safely sent, I should be glad to see it. 
 
 'I have no present intention of answering Mr Taylor's 
 book ; but I have begun to write some observations on the 
 charges which he lays against me. If I can find leisure to 
 finish them, I propose to have them in Edinburgh next week 
 to meet emergencies. 
 
 ' I shall be happy to resign my post when the good of the 
 Church may be promoted by it. At present I think it more 
 advisable to hold it, if the Synod permits me, and to bear the 
 odium that seems to attend it till it can be transferred to 
 another in a state less liable to that incumbrance. But I will 
 not vote for Mr Taylor as my successor till he renounces 
 his opinion of the servility that ought to be annexed to it. 
 
 ' I have not time at present to trouble you with a long 
 letter. God grant peace to His Church, and wisdom to our 
 Supreme Court. I am, yours affectionately, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Husband to Dr Lawson. 
 
 1 DUNFERMLINE, August 22, 1799. 
 
 ' Mr DEAR FRIEND, You will receive this by Mr Smith, 
 a well-behaved modest young man, and I believe exercised to 
 godliness. 
 
 ' I am happy to be informed by Mr Greig that you intend 
 being at the Synod. Your presence may be necessary on 
 various accounts. United counsel is necessary at the crisis. 
 It may be necessary for the Synod, and you in particular, 
 explicitly to contradict some insidious charges brought by
 
 <>MIC AND ifTS-A 
 
 THE POLEMIC AND STS-ASSOCIATES. 379 
 
 Taylor in his pamphlet, particularly as to a charge of in- 
 troducing innovations without end, than which there cannot 
 be a more barefaced calumny. The men are left totally to 
 disregard truth, and decency, and candour in their publica- 
 tions. I trust the Synod will firmly maintain its ground, and 
 repel .the calumnies with a becoming indignation. There 
 seems to be but one mind among the friends of forbearance to 
 let the preamble stand untouched at this meeting of Synod. 
 
 ' An approving mind, the approbation of those whom you 
 esteem, and, above all, the approbation of the great Lord 
 Himself, are your support under unrighteous abuse. My 
 dear Sir, yours, etc., ' JAMES HUSBAND.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Kidston. 
 
 'SELKIRK, Sept. 1799. 
 
 ' DEAR WILLIAM, I congratulate you on the restoration 
 of your father's health. I hope you will yet have the plea- 
 sure for many years of a father on earth. But we must 
 derive our chief pleasures from our heavenly Father. There 
 is none, even on earth, to be desired besides Him. 
 
 ' It is not my design to write answers to any of the books 
 
 that have been written against me. Mr T is perhaps 
 
 worthy of a little more respect than some others of them. 
 But I find it almost impossible to give him credit for his own 
 belief of some of the things that he writes. I have it at pre- 
 sent in contemplation to publish a few sermons, that those 
 who wish to know may have an opportunity of knowing what 
 my sentiments are about the Old Testament, and about some 
 other points of religion. I wish I had beside me the written 
 sermon that I saw at Glasgow. Perhaps it might make its 
 appearance with some others. 
 
 ' It will be my prayer that God may give you peace at the 
 meeting of Synod, and preserve you all from intemperate heat 
 and language. My absence may, I think, prevent the saying 
 of some things that ought not to be said. I should be glad
 
 380 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 to hear from Edinburgh how Mrs Scott, at Aberdeen, now is. 
 Perhaps Mr Mather may be in this country without deputa- 
 tion. Speak to him, and to Mr Elder, or engage him to 
 preach at Stow. I am, yours affectionately, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 The allusions in the following letter of the late Bailie 
 Wardlaw, of Glasgow (father of Dr Ralph Wardlaw), to the 
 unhinging spirit of these times, justify its insertion here, 
 independent of its interesting references to one of Dr Lawson's 
 most eminent students : 
 
 Bailie Wardlaw to Dr Lawson. 
 
 GLASGOW, Dec. 18, 1799. 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR, When I look back to the date of your 
 late letter, I am almost ashamed now to acknowledge receipt 
 of it. The truth is, I thought, by visiting you at the Synod, 
 to have saved myself the labour, and you the expense, of a 
 letter. In this, however, I was disappointed ; for you were 
 not where I certainly thought you ought to have been, to 
 strengthen the hands of your brethren in their conflict with 
 bigotry and folly. The explosion has now taken place, and 
 seems to produce, at least in some places, more serious effects 
 than were apprehended, though I hope it is not so with respect 
 to yourself, of which I shall be glad to hear at your leisure, 
 as well as of the health of your family, since the time of your 
 late heavy affliction, in which we most tenderly sympathize 
 with you. I hope you have now, by the blessing of God, 
 attained in some degree that calm and pleasing serenity of 
 mind, which the Gospel alone can produce, and of which no 
 event of life ought ever to deprive us.. I well know, however, 
 that this, to a fond afflicted parent, is a very hard lesson. 
 May God " work in you and in me, to will and to do, and 
 also to bear, all His good pleasure !" 
 
 ' In allusion to the present state of matters in our society,
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 381 
 
 you are pleased to express a friendly concern respecting the 
 state of my own mind, and the views and intentions of my 
 son Ralph. With regard to him, you will, I trust, agree 
 with me in allowing him full and entire liberty to judge and 
 act for himself. I know in general that he is somewhat at 
 a stand, and seems disposed to weigh things maturely before 
 he forms any final attachment. Arid this, I think, is just as 
 it ought to be. His situation is materially different from 
 yours and mine, especially in one importantrpflpect, wherein 
 I am indeed neither on a level with jflirt^elf nor with him, 
 occupying as I do only the station of a private Christian. 
 To us who have been long in connection with a religious 
 society, it may appear our duty to bear with many things 
 which it may be equally the duty of a new interest to endea- 
 vour to avoid. 
 
 ' The footing yon stand on with respect to the Formula, 
 is, in my opinion, far from being a cleanly one ; and it ap- 
 pears to me that a minister, who would wish to follow the 
 convictions of his own mind, will now find himself more em- 
 barrassed than ever, because the malcontents, however un- 
 reasonable, see a wide door opened to receive them by the 
 Old Associate Presbytery. The more frequent dispensation 
 of the Lord's Supper is now, therefore, obviously at a greater 
 distance than ever, as well as the introduction of evangelical 
 New Testament hymns into our public psalmody, two 
 things, so necessary and desirable in the eye of reason and 
 Scripture, that it is no wonder if any thinking liberal-minded 
 Christian should hesitate to join a society where these, with 
 other objects of reformation, must apparently be for ever 
 relinquished. From these few hints, my dear sir, you may 
 partly discern the present state of my own mind ; and that of 
 my sou Ralph's, I have reason to believe, is not much 
 different. 
 
 ' What may be his final determination it is impossible for 
 me at present to say. But I think, from his natural calmness
 
 382 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 of temper, as well as other considerations, it is not likely he 
 will take any sudden or decisive step. Friends here are all 
 well, and join in best wishes to you and your family. I am, 
 your affectionate friend and humble servant, 
 
 4 WM. WAKDLAW.' 
 
 Only once, during the ' Old Light Controversy,' did he 
 experience some annoyance in his session. His views upon 
 the magistrate's power circa sacra, as expressed in his pam- 
 phlet, brought upon him the vilest abuse. It might have been 
 expected, that, under such scurrilous attacks, he would have 
 been secure of the sympathy of his session and people ; and, 
 for the most part, they were with him. A few, however, were 
 against him, especially in his views of the obligations of the 
 national covenants on posterity. Some members of his session, 
 in particular, were rather bitterly opposed to him. They 
 drew up a ' representation and petition,' to the effect that the 
 Synod should sanction no change whatever in any of the 
 questions of the Formula. This paper was laid upon the 
 session's table, and read. The moderator then, calmly but 
 firmly, told them that if they carried the matter to the Pres- 
 bytery for transmission to the Synod, he would at once demit 
 his charge and emigrate to America. This ended the matter 
 at once. He afterwards told Mr Sandy, of Gorebridge (who 
 had this story from the Professor himself), that the non-trans- 
 mission of said paper displeased some of the private members 
 of the church ; and that one of them, after the Synod had 
 decided the whole case, came to him, and, in rather high 
 temper, found fault with him for the part he had acted in the 
 controversy ; he even went the length of indorsing one of the 
 slanders of the Old Light men, that Dr Lawson denied the 
 authority of the Old Testament. ' I told him,' added the 
 Doctor, ' that I did not deny the authority of any part of the 
 Old Testament, and referred, as a proof, to the circumstance 
 that I was at that very time lecturing upon a portion of it ;
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 383 
 
 and, moreover, that if I had beeu ordained minister of the 
 congregation on Old Testament principles, as he understood 
 them, I should possess a right to come down upon him and the 
 other members for the tenth of all their possessions.' Where- 
 upon the vexatious intruder took his leave. 
 
 He was never what is called ' a church-court man.' The 
 meetings of his Presbytery he regularly attended, and there 
 his counsels were much appreciated. It was very seldom, 
 however, that he made his appearance at the Synod. He 
 urged his deafness and somewhat sensitive bodily constitution 
 as his apology. At the same time, he maintained his interest 
 in everything that affected the interest of the Redeemer's 
 Church. The only instance, of a minor kind, of his taking 
 part in Synodical business, was when his son George, then 
 minister at Galashiels, received two calls the one from 
 Dumfries, and the other from Bolton in Lancashire. At that 
 time all such calls were referred to, and decided by, the 
 Synod. He was averse to his son's translation, and became 
 the advocate of the Galashiels congregation. As the Hall 
 was in session when the matter came up for judgment, he sent 
 a letter and representation to the moderator, in which he 
 powerfully pled the cause of the Galashiels people. The 
 Synod, however, decided that his son be removed to Bolton. 
 
 With these exceptions, the calm tenor of Dr Lawson's 
 pastoral and literary life was seldom, if ever, broken in upon 
 by the strivings of the potsherds of the earth. Not that he 
 was an uninterested spectator of what was transpiring in the 
 world, but that he had no mind to mix himself up with the 
 politics of the day, still less with the minor polemics of the 
 neighbourhood. On one occasion, however, he did become 
 the subject of a vile calumny, that drew from him the follow- 
 ing letter to Mrs Plummer, the lady of the Sheriff of the 
 county a letter worthy of the Christian and the patriot. 
 His son, the Rev. George Lawson, has given an account of 
 the affair, from which we learn, that the gentleman with
 
 384 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 whom the conversation (alluded to in the letter) took place, 
 afterwards became one of his father's highest admirers and 
 warmest friends ; and that till his own death, at a recent 
 period, he showed the greatest respect and friendship for all 
 the Lawson family : also, that when his brother Andrew 
 died, he said that he was the best man he had ever known, 
 except his father. The same person told Mr George, that 
 he considered Dr Lawson's decease as partaking more of a 
 translation than of death. The allusion to Lord Howe's 
 victory (June 1, 1794) shows the time to which this letter 
 refers for the letter itself has no date. Mr Lawson informs 
 us that he is not aware that his father ever re-wrote a letter 
 or a discourse ; but that his handwriting was so peculiar, 
 that when he addressed persons not familiar with it, some 
 member of the family often transcribed the letter in a more 
 legible hand. Thus, some of the originals are still preserved. 
 Mr Lawson says, ' Mrs Plummer's message to my father was, 
 I believe, a friendly hint, that he would need to be very cautious 
 in his conversation on political topics, lest he should bring 
 himself into trouble. It was founded on some report which 
 had been made to the Sheriff, concerning the conversation 
 referred to. Mr Plummer was the immediate predecessor of 
 Sir Walter Scott in the Shrievalty of Selkirkshire.' The 
 allusion, towards the close of the letter, to his 'truthfulness' is 
 remarkable, not only for its own sake, but as illustrative of a 
 very decided feature in his character intense sensitiveness 
 upon the subject of his personal integrity. He could at any 
 time bear accusations against his opinions or his convictions, 
 and care not to reply a word ; but even an insinuation against 
 his principles or character as a Christian man, he could not 
 away with : he met such with instant and emphatic self-defence. 
 
 Dr Lawson to Mrs Plummer. 
 
 ' MADAM, I am sorry to hear that a gentleman, with 
 whom I travelled a mile or two a few weeks ago, told you
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 385 
 
 some things concerning my conversation with him that had 
 a tendency to lessen me in your opinion. I am persuaded I 
 said nothing to him that would have displeased you, if you 
 had been present with us. If I differed from your sentiments, 
 I believe you would have thought the differences such as 
 every man will cheerfully bear in another, whom he does not 
 wish to treat as a slave. And if I did wrong in speaking 
 things disagreeable to my companion, he ought to have the 
 blame, as he used means to fish out my opinions on subjects 
 on which I was not disposed to discourse. I told him, I 
 think, more than once, that I had for some time resolved to 
 abstain as much as possible from speaking on political subjects. 
 ' I believe I yet retain in my memory the greatest part of 
 the ideas interchanged in that conversation. It would be 
 tedious to you, as well as to myself, to give you a full account 
 of it. But, if I mistake not, that which passed concerning 
 the Reformers in Selkirk, was most likely to give him 
 umbrage. He told me that some of them had changed their 
 sentiments, and gave me the proof of it, that on the King's 
 birth-day they had declared they wished to use no other 
 method but that of petitioning to obtain a reform in the 
 representation. You will not be surprised that I was nettled 
 with this observation, when I had the fullest assurance which 
 one man can have of another's mind, that such of them as I 
 am acquainted with never dreamed of any other means of 
 obtaining their wishes. I answered him to this purpose, and 
 told him at the same time that I favoured their views, and 
 that my ideas were not changed in the least degree, although 
 I thought meetings for that purpose would at this time be 
 very unseasonable. Something was said of the French which 
 I disapproved ; and I believe yourself would have done so. 
 I certainly have no temptation or wish to be their advocate ; 
 but I believe they are not worse than the devil, arid yet the 
 prince of angels durst not bring a railing accusation against 
 him. 
 
 2 B
 
 386 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 ' The arms lately found about Edinburgh and other places 
 were another subject of conversation ; and I was urged to 
 give my opinion about that affair, although I believe little 
 was then known about it. All that I could say was, that if 
 they were made for the purpose then spoken of, the persons 
 deserved to be hanged. I could not give an unqualified 
 opinion on a subject concerning which I had very little 
 information, and part of that little information almost in- 
 credible. 
 
 ' I myself had introduced the subject of Lord Herries' 
 engagement, that ! might be informed by my companion 
 whether any news had come to Selkirk concerning the event 
 of it. I was on my way from Kelso, where it was only 
 known that the fleets had come to an action. At Jedburgh, 
 on my return, I had only heard that only one or two ships on 
 each side were engaged. 
 
 ' But I beg pardon for this tedious recital, and omit other 
 things that passed. I am fnlly persuaded that you will not 
 easily believe me to be so very wicked and weak, as wilfully 
 and knowingly to contradict in private companies what I say 
 in public before many hundreds of people. A man who was 
 to say and unsay the same things in private companies, must 
 in a few months make himself very contemptible ; but a 
 minister who contradicts in private company what he said 
 in the public assembly, must make himself despicable and 
 detestable in six weeks. What is said in public sermons or 
 prayers, is in effect said in every company where the speaker 
 will ordinarily be. His words, if they were not heard, were 
 probably heard of by all his companions ; and they are under- 
 stood to have been spoken in the name of the Most High 
 God, or to have been addressed to Him in these solemn 
 services where the minister was engaged. He who can have 
 the audacity to approach the throne of God, and pray for 
 the king and the peace of the country, while he endeavours 
 at other times to disturb the government, will be considered
 
 THE* POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 387 
 
 by the most ignorant person in the company as a man in 
 whom there is no faith, and of whom no hold can be taken 
 but by binding or hanging him. 
 
 ' I am obliged to your candour for suggesting to me the 
 propriety of addressing you in my own vindication ; and I have 
 never hitherto put myself to any trouble to undeceive those 
 who have been tempted to question my behaviour, although 
 I have more than once heard of things said in my name that 
 were very remote from truth ; but I paid no regard to them, 
 because I was persuaded that they would make no impression, 
 or a very shortlived one, upon any person whose good 
 opinion I wished to cultivate. I had read a story, when I was 
 a boy, in an old author, called Valerius Maximus, which I 
 have never forgot, and which I considered a rule for my 
 conduct. Plato, hearing that one of his friends aspersed his 
 character, replied, " I will endeavour to live so as that 
 nobody shall believe him." 
 
 ' There is no part of my character about which I am less 
 solicitous than my reputation for integrity. I am pretty 
 certain, from my own consciousness, joined with the testi- 
 mony of my father concerning my childhood, that since I 
 could use my tongue I have never polluted it with a wilful 
 lie. 
 
 ' I know Mr Plummer will not allow me to be stabbed in 
 the dark ; and I trust in God, who preserveth the faithful, 
 and plenteously rewardeth the proud doers. I believe that 
 He will suffer no evil to befall me, without turning it to my 
 advantage. Your humble servant, ' GEORGE LAWSON. 
 
 ' P.S. I was at no loss to know the conversation alluded 
 to in your message.' 
 
 It was some time in 1803 that England was almost driven 
 from her propriety by the terror of an invasion from France. 
 The first Napoleon, whom Dr Lawson was wont to call ' the
 
 388 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 present ruler of France,' had just raised an immense army, 
 which he boastingly ycleped ' the army of England.' He 
 encamped his hosts at Boulogne, and a large ' flotilla ' was 
 prepared to carry them over the Channel to 'perfidious 
 Albion's ' rock -bound shores. Dr Lawson was too ardent a 
 lover of his country to be unobservant of such signs of the 
 times. He noticed them at this period in his pulpit services. 
 He preached a sermon to the point from Daniel xi. 32, ' The 
 people that do know their God shall be strong, and do 
 exploits,' in which he cheered the hearts of the people, and 
 propounded the highest style of patriotism. This sermon 
 was afterwards published, under the title of ' The Influence 
 of Religion on Military Courage.' The Hall was in session 
 at the time, and the students caught fire from the old man's 
 eloquence, and met to consider what steps they should take 
 to prove that, though seceders from an Established Church, 
 they were ready to fight for their king and country. They 
 were the more set upon this, that disaffection to govern- 
 ment was known to be prevalent in certain districts, that 
 Dissenters were regarded by some alarmists as disloyal, and 
 even suspected of sympathy with Buonaparte. Dr Lawson 
 and his students, therefore, now stood up as the friends of 
 loyalty, order, and peace. The volunteer movement was then, 
 as it is now, in great vogue, and nothing would satisfy the 
 students but to join in it : not content with the ' pulpit 
 drum-ecclesiastic,' they must add the carnal weapons where- 
 with to smite the carnal foe. Accordingly, at their first 
 meeting, it was unanimously and enthusiastically resolved that 
 they should acquaint Lord Napier, the Lord-Lieutenant of 
 Selkirkshire, with their wishes. At a subsequent meeting, 
 an address to his Lordship was read and approved of, in 
 which address they petitioned him to ' send them arms, and 
 a drill-sergeant' to teach them the military art, so that they 
 might be prepared to join the different volunteer corps that 
 had been formed in the places to which, on their leaving the
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 389 
 
 Hall, they should return. Previous, however, to their posting 
 their address, they thought it becoming to lay it and the 
 proposal connected with it before the Professor. He ap- 
 proved of the step, but thought it unlikely that Lord Napier 
 would comply with their request. In due time the reply of 
 his Lordship came, in which he thanked them for their 
 loyalty ; for the present declined their proffer of help, and 
 stated that he had no arms at his disposal. He, at the same 
 time, wrote the following letter to Dr Lawson : 
 
 ' WILTON LODGE, \7th August 1803. 
 
 ' REV. SIR, At a meeting of the Lieutenancy at Selkirk, 
 yesterday, a report was made to me of the very loyal and 
 zealous exhortation and advice which you had delivered to 
 your congregation on the present very momentous situation 
 of public affairs. As his Majesty's Lieutenant of the county, 
 I feel it to be my duty to return you my best thanks for this 
 well-timed exertion, and to assure you that the Lieutenancy 
 were unanimous in expressing the high sense they entertained 
 of the propriety of your conduct. 
 
 ' In a separate cover I enclose to you two copies of a 
 printed paper, one of which I should wish to have affixed on 
 the door of your meeting-house, and would request you to 
 communicate the contents of it to your hearers, either by 
 reading the other from your pulpit, or by making it known 
 in such a way as may be agreeable to you. I have the 
 honour to be, Rev. Sir, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 4 NAPIER.' 
 
 To this letter the Professor sent the following reply : 
 
 ' MY LORD, I was highly flattered by the letter with 
 which your Lordship honoured me, expressing the Lieuten- 
 ancy's approbation of my poor endeavours to serve my king 
 and country. I will certainly endeavour to spread the ad-
 
 390 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 dress which you was pleased to commit to me. I can assure 
 your Lordship, that whatever distinctions may be found 
 among either denominations of Seceders, they will all be 
 found loyal subjects. Drunkards may have their reasons for 
 calling themselves Christians, and profane swearers for rank- 
 ing themselves with gentlemen, but no man who does not wish 
 to be a faithful subject can have any temptation to associate 
 himself with either of the societies of Seceders. It is well 
 known, that, upon any discovery of his principles, he would be 
 turned out of either of them with disgrace. I am far from 
 saying that they will be found more loyal than other subjects. 
 Every honest man in the island will contribute his support to 
 the government that protects him. I pray God that the 
 nobility and gentry may be as unanimous in support of our 
 holy religion, as I am persuaded ministers of every deno- 
 mination will be in the support of the State. I should then 
 entertain little fears of any invader, in the assurance that 
 God Himself would be our salvation in the time of trouble. 
 I am my Lord, your Lordship's and Gentlemen of the Lien- 
 tenancy's humble servant, ' GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 From the rise of the Secession Church, pitiful efforts have 
 been made every now and then to identify her cause with 
 disloyalty ; but these have ever issued in the disgrace of the 
 calumniators. Nothing could have so surely disproved the 
 slander as the life of such a man as Dr Lawson. A purer 
 patriot never lived ; and he was the type of his Church. The 
 Rev. John Johnstone tells a beautiful story of his own and 
 his father's friend, illustrative of this. He had gone one 
 session to the Hall a week or two before it commenced, and 
 it happened to be the sacramental season in Selkirk. In 
 these days two sermons were preached on the Monday after 
 a communion. Before dismissing the congregation at the 
 conclusion of this service, the venerable man, leaning on his 
 staff, arose from his seat and ascended the pulpit, and gave
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 391 
 
 a very judicious and manly address to those in the audience 
 who had enlisted as volunteers, when the country was panic- 
 stricken by the expected invasion of Napoleon I. An un- 
 tisual number of these patriots belonged to his congregation, 
 and were present to hear this address. Before concluding, 
 he raised his bending figure, and, firmly grasping his staff, he 
 said, ' I am not able, friends, to go out and fight with you, 
 but I will pray for you if you are called upon to engage the 
 enemies of our country.' 
 
 About this time, to indicate their high esteem for him as 
 an enlightened patriot as well as a most estimable citizen and 
 Christian minister, the magistrates of Selkirk presented him 
 with the freedom of the burgh. He was much gratified 
 with the ' burgess ticket,' chiefly because it indicated very 
 emphatically that the calumnies that had been cast on him 
 out of the controversy on the ' burgess oath,' had in no way 
 injured him with his fellow-citizens. 
 
 The only other comparatively trifling controversies (if they 
 may be so called) in which we find him engaged, had refer- 
 ence, the one to a proposed addition to the psalmody, of 
 which he was an advocate, and the other to a difference with 
 the editor of the Quarterly Magazine. His sermon on ' the 
 joy of parents in wise children ' had been represented in that 
 periodical as teaching undisguised Arminianism, by ascribing 
 an undue influence to parental culture in particular, and to 
 the means of salvation in general. His reply was very able, 
 and expressed in the clearest manner the misconceptions of 
 his opponent, and the gracious character of the connection 
 which God has established betwixt the means and the end. 
 The controversy was soon terminated. It had been prompted 
 by the spirit of sectarian jealousy and censoriousness, or by 
 the hope of adding to the celebrity and circulation of the 
 magazine. 
 
 The only manuscript, in the spirit of a political tractate, 
 which Dr Lawson left behind him, consists simply of a few
 
 392 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 cautions bearing on the conduct of certain political partizans 
 who flourished in the stormy days of Muir and Palmer. They 
 are valuable, as showing the calm and scriptural view which 
 he took of the rights of the people, the duties of citizenship, 
 and the nature of true Christian patriotism. The following 
 extract will be read with much interest : 
 
 ' That patriotism is a virtue powerfully recommended in 
 Scripture, cannot be doubted. It was gloriously exemplified 
 in the character of many of the holy men of God who lived 
 in ancient times : Esther xiv. 3 ; Nehemiah, Ezra, David 
 (Psalm cxxii.), Jeremiah (Lamentations). It is prescribed, 
 Psalm vi. It is highly praised, Eccles. ix. 15, 16. If 
 patriotism be a virtue, it must be regulated by Scripture ; for 
 the Bible is a complete rule of virtuous and holy practice, by 
 which we are fully furnished for every good work. 
 
 ' We may rest assured that the Scripture contains proper 
 rules for the direction of our sentiments and' practice in the 
 present divided state of the nation, and that if we are at any 
 loss to know the mind of God concerning our duty to our 
 country, the fault must be in our own ignorance and inatten- 
 tion, particularly to our own interests and connections, or to 
 the neglect of prayer. David was often placed in very per- 
 plexing circumstances. His Bible was a great deal less than 
 ours, and yet he always found sufficient direction in it con- 
 cerning that conduct which it was his duty and interest to 
 maintain (Psalm cxix. 24). If he found himself at a loss to 
 understand the prescription of Scripture in any particular 
 case, he applied himself to God by humble and earnest prayer 
 for direction in the way of truth. God heard his prayer, and 
 He will hear the prayers of all who acknowledge Him in all 
 their ways (Psalm xxv. 4, 5, 8, 9, 13; Prov. iii. 6, vi.). 
 
 ' It is our chief end to glorify God. This end ought to be 
 kept in view on every occasion. We ought to eat and drink, 
 and do everything, to the glory of God. Thus shall we be 
 raised far above those mean and selfish dispositions which
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 393 
 
 split nations into parties, and kindle the flames of dissension 
 and war. 
 
 ' Piety is the basis of patriotism, and of every virtue. We 
 are to glorify God by doing as little evil and as much good 
 as possible in the world ; by acting agreeably to the rules of 
 His holy Word, whether they further our private interests or 
 not ; by sacrificing every selfish consideration to the interests 
 of our nation and of the Church of Christ ; by walking in 
 love ; by living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present 
 evil world ; by setting God's judgments before us, and endea- 
 vouring to perform those duties which they prescribe, with- 
 out regarding what the consequences may be to ourselves. 
 
 ' I shall endeavour to apply a few of the plain and unques- 
 tionable rules of the Bible to the present questions that 
 agitate the minds of the people of this kingdom. 
 
 ' RULE 1. We ought to cultivate friendship with our 
 neighbours who differ from us in political 
 views. 
 
 ' How good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to 
 dwell together in unity ! It is like precious ointment on the 
 head that went down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard ; 
 that went down to the skirt of his garment. 
 
 ' We are all brethren, and ought to love as brethren, and 
 to bear with one another's infirmities. Our brethren may err 
 when they differ from us. But we also may err. Do we 
 presume to claim infallibility ? Are riot those most ready to 
 be mistaken who place the greatest confidence in their own 
 judgment, and are most forward to despise or censure those 
 who cannot see with their own eyes? 
 
 ' True, you may say, I do not expect that every man will 
 agree with me in all the sentiments I adopt. But some 
 things appear to me so abundantly evident, that I cannot but 
 wonder how any considerate man should be of a different' 
 mind ; and I cannot help thinking that the men who profess 
 a different opinion are uncandid and disingenuous. Self-
 
 394 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 interest is probably warping their judgment, or, what is still 
 worse, their weak principles of conduct dispose them to pro- 
 fess opinions opposite to their own judgment. 
 
 ' But who gave you a right to judge your neighbours ? or 
 what title have you to assume the province of the great 
 Judge who searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins of the 
 children of men ? Consider the effect that different educa- 
 tions, and different turns of mind, and different sets of 
 acquaintance, and different capacities and degrees of atten- 
 tion, and better or worse means of information, have in diver- 
 sifying men's judgment on the same subject. Beware lest 
 you forfeit the reputation for candour which you deny to 
 others. 
 
 ' The town-clerk of a certain city in England, reproach- 
 ing with insincerity a godly minister, arraigned before the 
 court of justice, the good man answered, "How do you 
 know that I do not speak as I think ? Are you the searcher 
 of hearts, or are you only the town-clerk ?" 
 
 ' Perhaps you are an enemy to all those meetings which 
 have assembled to deliberate on an application to Parliament 
 for a redress of public grievances. Enjoy your own opinion. 
 Act in pursuance with it. But violate not the charity you 
 owe to your neighbours who differ from you. Accuse them 
 not of seditious principles without proof. You cannot deny 
 that it is the right of subjects to present petitions to any 
 branch of our Legislature, and that petitions for a reform of 
 Parliament have actually been presented without incurring 
 any censure. Why, then, should you charge men with one of 
 the worst of crimes for doing what they have an unquestion- 
 able right to do ? 
 
 ' Or, perhaps, you are a friend to the reform of Parlia- 
 ment, and charge those men with slavish principles, unworthy 
 of a Briton, who refuse to join with you. What right have 
 you to do this ? Perhaps these men are actuated by princi- 
 ples as pure and honourable as your own. You love peace,
 
 THE POLEMIC AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 395 
 
 and they are lovers of liberty. You blame those men who 
 say that you are enemies to peace. And do not you deserve 
 blame when you reproach your neighbours as enemies to 
 liberty ? The difference between you is, that they dare not 
 risk the peace of the country for the enlargement of its 
 liberty ; and you imagine that our peace cannot be secured 
 without a greater degree of liberty than the country at pre- 
 sent enjoys. You would not wish any man to arraign your 
 views; but remember that your neighbours have the same 
 right with yourselves to a candid construction of their views, 
 and that charity thinketh no evil. It beareth all things, be- 
 lieveth all things, hopeth all things. Others are bound to 
 practise this charity towards you. Are you not equally 
 bound to practise this charity towards them ? Was the law 
 of love made only to protect you from suspicions, calumnies, 
 and outrages ? Was it not likewise made to regulate your 
 heart and conduct? Was it not designed to furnish the 
 same protection to other men as to yourselves ? If, without 
 sufficient evidence, you charge your neighbour either with 
 sedition or with mean and interested principles of conduct, 
 are you not chargeable with rashness, presumption, and even 
 with falsehood? Go and learn to repeat the 120th Psalm. 
 Tremble at these words, "What shall be given thee? or what 
 shall be done unto thee, false tongue? Burning coals of 
 juniper ; sharp arrows of the mighty." Humble thyself, 
 repent, and learn to practise that charity without which no 
 man shall be permitted to enter the regions of love. 
 
 ' RULE 2. We must be subject to the higher powers ; for 
 
 there is no power but of God, and the powers 
 
 that be are ordained of Him. 
 
 (Illustrations over two pages and a-half.) 
 ' RULE 3. We ought to maintain all civil privileges to the 
 
 utmost of our power.' 
 
 (Illustrations more than three pages.) 
 'RuLE 4. We ought not to be forward in signing tests of
 
 396 THE LIFE OF DE LAWSON. 
 
 loyalty, especially when the laws of the land 
 do not require it.' 
 
 (Illustrations four pages and a half.) 
 ' RULE 5. We ought to concur in every regular and 
 seasonable attempt to improve the advantages, 
 and to obtain redress of the grievances of our 
 country.' 
 
 (This is the chief point dwelt upon, the arguments and 
 illustrations extending over eighteen pages.)
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 
 
 FEW sages shine at the fireside. In the home-circle they are 
 not exactly at home. In the museum, or library, or lecture- 
 room, they ' sparkle and exhale,' but are dim with the mist 
 of thoughts, when withdrawn from the shocks of the outer 
 world, or rendered silent amid nnprovoking tameness. It was 
 otherwise with Dr Lawson. He was himself the popular man 
 in his own manse. Beloved and venerated as a father, he was 
 not less esteemed as a companion and friend. However prone 
 to profound study, it seemed to have been very easy for him 
 at once to pass into the freedoms of social enjoyment, and to 
 make his children especially the happy partakers of his play- 
 ful and flexible temperament. The fulness and variety of 
 his information partly account for this. He was never at a 
 loss for an illustration or an anecdote : hence, the young hung 
 upon his lips, as he taught them to know wisdom, and, from 
 almost every field, gathered for them the leaves of the tree of 
 knowledge, the fruits of the sunny climes and the polar snows. 
 He was never repulsive. He was uniformly attractive. The 
 door of his study was never bolted. Entrance was easy, and 
 references to his will and judgment were pleasantly received 
 and considered. His family were as much at home with the 
 'lion in his den,' as when they surrounded with him the 
 parlour table, and wondered whether the Sowings from beneath 
 that yellow wig would ever cease. The fascination was un- 
 diminished by frequency or familiarity of intercourse. On 
 each return, their fond and famous father could delight them
 
 398 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 with rarer aud better new things than ever Athenian listened 
 to. Home was made, in this way, the most attractive spot 
 on earth to them, and to their father they believed there 
 could be no rival. The profound respect which they felt, arid 
 the holy love they cherished for him, are thus explained. In 
 reading some of the letters addressed to him by his sons, we 
 are struck with the unaffected reverence that mingles with 
 filial affection, and imparts an air to their intercourse alike 
 courteous and amiable. They seem almost to bow before him 
 as the patriarch of virtue, and of praise the ' chief musician ; ' 
 and these sons were themselves men of learning aud vigour, 
 none of them prone to hero-worship, though great enough to 
 pay tribute to whom tribute is due. He never hid himself at 
 home ; but, though uncurtained, his privacy was never dese- 
 crated by vulgar stare, or annoyed by impertinent intrusions. 
 They respected him when, over his folios, he sought for wis- 
 dom, or transferred his thoughts to the sermon-book. They 
 knew when to use him for their own progress or idlesse, and 
 when, also, to leave him alone ; so much so, indeed, that he 
 was sometimes in the habit of studying beside the children, 
 who would vie with each other who should be first to bring 
 to him from the library any book he wished for. Throughout 
 the whole of this great man's way of life, simplicity attends 
 him, and always with her corresponding gifts of success and 
 esteem. Certain familiarities may, but such dignified simpli- 
 cities as his never, breed contempt. The beautiful language 
 employed to describe a similar feature in the character of Dr 
 Dick may be here quoted, as strikingly true of Dr Lawson : 
 ' There was a simplicity in his manner of thinking, on all 
 subjects, that was very apparent to every one. There was a 
 simplicity and an innocence in his manners in private, of which 
 a stranger, or one who had been seldom in his company, 
 could form no proper conception, but which appeared all 
 the more captivating and delightful the longer and more 
 intimately he was known. His pleasures were all simple
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 399 
 
 pleasures. They were such as an unsophisticated mind, that 
 loved truth and nature, could relish, and were often drawn 
 from sources which many might think trivial or inadequate to 
 produce these effects : a fine sunset, a lovely landscape, or 
 even a beautiful flower, were to him objects of interest. His 
 love for the works of nature was most remarkable ; it was 
 such as we only expect in the young and ardent poet : nor 
 was he ever more elevated and pleased than when he had it 
 
 in his power to gratify this propensity at leisure 
 
 Simple beauty in sentiment and expression was the quality he 
 seemed most highly to relish in literary productions, a taste 
 which originated in the same mental structure, and which was 
 shown in the character of his own writings, as well as in his 
 opinions of books, and in the pleasure he took in the great 
 models of classic antiquity.' J 
 
 To his household, Dr Lawson was both an authority and 
 a pattern. He ' commanded ' all under his roof. But it was 
 the law of love, not of terror, that he administered. Such 
 men as he was, are more in danger of ruling than of reigning 
 over their families ; and it is rare to find them what are 
 called ' family men.' He never pled his literary tastes or 
 official duties as an excuse for neglecting them. He really 
 felt it to be his main concern to see to their useful and moral 
 education, and never consented to any proxy in discharging 
 it. He superintended their lessons, and marked their progress. 
 He studied to encourage them in diligence, by promising to 
 read aloud to them at night from some interesting book, 
 which he often did, accompanying the reading with such 
 instructing remarks as were suggested by the subject. In 
 this way he read through the whole of Shakespeare to his 
 family, taking care to leave out objectionable passages. He 
 took a peculiar delight in this, and sometimes kept at it so 
 long, and repeated it so often, that his physician recommended 
 its discontinuance. He, however, persevered. The ' Iliad ' 
 1 Dr William Peddie's Memoir of Dr Dick.
 
 400 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 was a great favourite with him, as also ' Anacreon.' He had 
 committed large portions of them to memory in the original 
 Greek ; and he used to make the children stare as he 
 repeated these, on the winter nights, for their amusement. 
 When the reading had become irksome, he laid the book 
 down, and encouraged conversation on its topics. He had 
 the most of the speaking, however, to himself ; and, being of a 
 most communicative turn, oft the wonder grew where he had 
 got and how he could remember it all. A certain learned 
 lady boasted that she could ' discourse on all things, from 
 predestination down to sewing silk.' She had her counter- 
 part in Dr Lawson. His powers of conversation, also, as 
 has been noticed, seem to have been great, and peculiarly 
 rich. John Foster, it is said, could not work a conversation. 
 He seemed to be thinking aloud when he talked. Dr Law- 
 son, however, had a knack at this species of fireside litera- 
 ture, and it was the right or happy kind of knack. A mere 
 haranguer, or talker, has been likened to a ' walking pillory, 
 which crucifies more ears than a dozen standing ones, whose 
 tongue is always in motion, though very seldom to the pur- 
 pose ; like a barber's scissors, which are kept snipping as 
 well when they do not cut as when they do.' 1 But it was 
 not so with this most delightful and amusing, as well as 
 instructive companion. His conversation was colloquy, in 
 the best sense of the word, not lecturing or discussing, and 
 invariably drew out the jocose or the grave from those with 
 whom it was carried on; never compelling silence by its 
 dogmatism, nor inducing to it by its too fascinating or 
 engrossing influence. The fertility of his mind, the cheerful- 
 ness of his temper, and his social tastes, gave such quickening 
 and impulse to his prodigious memory, as to make these 
 evenings in the manse for ever to be remembered by all who 
 had the happiness to be present. 
 
 He was a strict disciplinarian, but seldom had to 'quarrel' 
 1 Butler.
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 401 
 
 his children. This proves that the ' rod ' was seen and 
 feared ; also, that they had respect unto it. The surviving 
 members can only remember one instance when it had to be 
 administered ; and that was in the case of his well-known son 
 and successor, George, who had absented himself, one night, 
 from family worship, a breach of family order which he 
 could not, and never did, tolerate. There were two things 
 which he made emphatically imperative within his house : 
 that the truth should be always spoken, and all affectation 
 avoided. The love of truth, as we have seen, was an imperial 
 power in himself : 
 
 ' He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, 
 Or Jove for his power to thunder.' 
 
 The scene between him and the Lady Traquair was ever 
 turning up substantially throughout his life ; and, to the end 
 of it, he could repeat his sublime confession to the Sheriffs 
 wife, that. ' ever since he could use his tongue, he had never 
 polluted it with a wilful lie.' The airs of impudence, too, he 
 looked upon as the ' credentials of impotence,' and denounced 
 all affectation as ' the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty 
 to appear rich.' The flippant were put to silence, and the 
 presumptuous could not stand in his presence. He regarded, 
 indeed, all sorts of finery as signs of littleness, and, perhaps, 
 allowed this to influence him more than it ought. His own style 
 of dressing was certainly not foppish. Had he been a little 
 more attentive to his wardrobe, he would not have been so 
 much put about as he was, when Sir Walter Scott requested 
 him to appear before Leopold. Meek and lowly, like his 
 Master, he inculcated humility on all that were around him. 
 He had faith in the maxim, that every man has just so much 
 vanity as he lacks understanding ; and, accordingly, he cul- 
 tivated modesty in everything, in his own case, to such an 
 extent, as to be really the only individual who did not know 
 his own greatness. He would have been quite ready, at any 
 time, and in perfect sincerity, to have endorsed, in reference 
 
 2 c
 
 402 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 to his own excellences, the reply of Sir Matthew Hale to 
 Cromwell, who, because the judge would not pack a jury, 
 declared to him that he ' was not fit to be a judge.' ' It is 
 very true,' said Hale, and disconcerted the Lord Protector. 
 
 He likewise taught his family to be charitable and kind, 
 and exemplified both before their eyes. His stipend was 
 never large, but every time he got it a portion was laid aside 
 for the poor, especially for the widows of ministers. When 
 the family increased, and when provisions waxed dearer, Mrs 
 Lawson would sometimes remind him that we are commanded 
 to provide for our own first. ' Yes, yes,' he would reply, ' it 
 is all true ; but I must lay so much aside for others, that a 
 blessing may come upon what remains.' He experienced it 
 to be ' more blessed to give than to receive.' 
 
 He was very conscientious, indeed, in the discharge of all 
 family duties. Family worship has been referred to. His 
 well-known regularity in this respect had its own influence 
 on the good people of Selkirk. The late Dr Beattie, of 
 Glasgow, when warming upon the subject of the Hall life, 
 used to tell, with characteristic satisfaction, that he and 
 other students often walked up and down the principal street 
 of the town, listening to the evening hymn rising from almost 
 every dwelling. Such was the case then in most parts of 
 Scotland ; but alas, ' tempora mutantur et nos mutarum in illis.' 
 Since then, evil days have, in this respect, come upon us, and 
 the morning and the evening sacrifice have been transferred 
 from the altar of the household to the shrine of mammon : 
 hence it is that godliness is displaced by gold, and the true 
 glory of a people is obscured by its glittering sheen. 
 
 Frugality in the domestic economy was indeed a necessity 
 in the manse ; but it was a virtue also. Whatever his circum- 
 stances, Dr Lawson would have lived abstemiously. He 
 abhorred gluttony, wine-bibbing, and every species of extrava- 
 gance in dress, or furniture, or general habits. He studied 
 simplicity here as elsewhere, having the additional motive of
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 403 
 
 setting a fair example to his children as well as to his people. 
 He never forgot that he was a minister of the Son of man, 
 who had not where to lay His head ; and that his family, as 
 well as his flock, studied him out of the pulpit to know what 
 he meant when in it. In all these matters he allowed himself 
 to be very much under the influence of a sense which he 
 greatly admired and cultivated common sense. He and Jay, 
 of Bath, were in this like-minded. Jay once exclaimed, ' 
 when will the grace of God enthrone common sense in the 
 minds of religious professors?' He was, however, quite a 
 social man for all that, and liked a little good company 
 greatly, partaking moderately with them of such of the good 
 things of this life as came in his way. It is true he had not 
 the temptations of Carlyle (the grand demigod of Sir Walter 
 Scott), whose 'warm suppers and excellent claret' are so 
 racily recorded in his autobiography ; neither could he have 
 been a match for Dr Magnum Bonum (Dr Webster), 'the 
 five-bottle man.' Carlyle tells us that, in his days, ' a love of 
 claret, to any degree, was not reckoned a sin.' It might be so 
 among the jolly fellows with whom he companied ; but this 
 was regarded by Dr Lawson and his friends as a crying 
 iniquity, and had something to do in making them still more 
 decided Seceders. It is happy for the Church of Christ that 
 such a state of things has almost passed away, and that the 
 men of the world have no longer the example of the clergy to 
 palliate excess of any kind. At the same time, even that 
 clever, but woefully misled writer, Buckle, might have lived 
 long enough in this manse before discovering a particle of 
 that ' sour and fanatical spirit ' which he affirms to pervade 
 Scotland ; and Dr Lawson and his family were, in this respect, 
 but types of the yeomanry and peasantry of the land. It 
 were a pity if the most religious country in the world were 
 the most ascetical and unsocial. But it is quite the reverse. 
 Dr Thomson ha? well said of Dr Lawson (in his funeral ser- 
 mon) : ' If any should infer that his mind was at all darkened
 
 404 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 with the gloom of melancholy, or that his seriousness and 
 sincerity towards God led to anything like peevishness or 
 moroseness towards men, their conclusion would be the very 
 reverse of the truth. In him, on the contrary, piety assumed 
 the most amiable and inviting aspect. Serious, yet cheerful, 
 he enlivened every company where he was. However others 
 might be ready to be overawed at the greatness of his mind 
 and the fervour of his piety, yet the childlike simplicity of his 
 manners, the frankness and sometimes the facetiousness of his 
 conversation, together with the perpetual smile which, when 
 with his friends, dwelt on his countenance, contributed to 
 make him a fascinating companion, and caused him fully to 
 exemplify in his practice a principle firmly established in his 
 mind that personal piety and social pleasantness, as they are 
 quite compatible, should be always united.' 
 
 The Sabbath evenings, as passed in the household of Law- 
 son, would have been a subject for ' Wilkie ' or ' Hogarth.' 
 Having discharged the public duties of the sacred day, and 
 after the frugal evening meal was over, Dr Lawson sat down 
 amid this affectionate and admiring circle, and, Luther-like, 
 drew them into devotion. He had held family worship with 
 them already at morn and afternoon. It was his custom to 
 perform this delightful duty three times on the Sabbath. 
 The third time, however, was somewhat prolonged and 
 diversified. In addition to the usual services, he read aloud 
 out of some good book, catechized on the sermons, and, being 
 very fond of music, sung hymns. As the children clustered 
 around him, he repeated to them, in the most winning and 
 familiar manner, the stories of Joseph, and Samuel, and 
 David, and Jonah; sometimes, diverging from Scripture, he 
 would entertain them with passages from the ' Pilgrim's 
 Progress,' and their appropriate explanations. But he was 
 especially partial to the more sublime and practical portions 
 of the Bible, and would for a long time keep the children 
 hanging upon his lips, through the spirit and pathos with
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 405 
 
 which he recited the songs of Moses, Deborah, and Barak. 
 His examinations were for the most part drawn from Fisher's 
 Catechism ; and such was the estimate formed of the great 
 utility of this department of his Sabbath evening employment, 
 that some of the neighbours solicited and obtained leave to 
 come into the manse while the examinations were going on. 
 The Sabbath day of course, but the Sabbath evening too, he 
 thus counted ' a delight, the holy of the Lord and honour- 
 able.' He used to say, 'I would like to see the Jewish 
 custom universal, of beginning the duties peculiar to the 
 Sabbath at six o'clock on the Saturday evening ;' and in his 
 own house he devoted that evening to books or conversation 
 of a serious cast. John Angell James seems to have been 
 similarly impressed : ' The Lord's day he kept with the 
 greatest strictness ; and he seemed to consider Saturday even- 
 ing, if not as a part of it, yet as not to be spent otherwise 
 than as a preparation for it. He was displeased at merri- 
 ment on that evening, and he never made even a religious en- 
 joyment for it, but spent it in private devotion.' 1 ' So diffe- 
 rent was his (Lawson's) conduct,' says Dr Belfrage, ' from the 
 common practice of indulging longer in sleep on the Sabbath 
 morning than on others, that he rose earlier, and made his 
 family do so. His domestic instructions and prayers were 
 never hurried over, but discharged as a duty felt to be pleas- 
 ing as well as solemn. Of Fisher's Catechism he had a high 
 opinion, made his young people read portions of it again and 
 again with great care, and meditate on them : he then 
 examined them as to their conceptions of its meaning, and the 
 impressions it should produce. There was an element in his 
 family instruction which showed his admirable skill, and 
 rendered it most delightful to the young. With his questions 
 and counsels he mingled appropriate anecdotes, exhibiting the 
 pleasures of religion, God's care of His saints, the beauty of 
 early piety, the happiness of the family whose God is the 
 1 T. S. James, Esq. See ' James' Life/ p. 581.
 
 406 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Lord, how the fear of God operates as a preservation from 
 siu, what God has done in honour of His own day, and what 
 consolation and hopes the promises of the Gospel have yielded 
 in sickness and death.' 
 
 Happy, however, and may we not add, holy, as this family 
 was in the world, they had tribulation : of the many afflic- 
 tions of the righteous, they had their share. Reflecting on a 
 character like Dr Lawson's, we are tempted to wonder what 
 could be the reasons why God ' contended with him.' In 
 judging here, however, we must not forget, that for great 
 public, as well as for personal and family purposes, God 
 sends the griefs of life to His servants. They are specially 
 qualified for their delicate and difficult duties, by being taken 
 through the ordeal of suffering. Sir James Stephen puts 
 this affectionately, when referring to the death of that accom- 
 plished scholar, Alfred Vaughan. In writing to the bereaved 
 father, he says that : ' so frequent disappointment, by a 
 premature death, of such hopes as these, which seems to 
 be a kind of habit in the providential government of the 
 world, is, doubtless, prompted by reasons as just and pro- 
 found as to us they are obscure. It remains for us alt 
 to adore them in silent acquiescence. For those to whom 
 these serious dispensations bring some of the keenest of 
 human sorrows, is reserved a far more arduous duty the 
 duty of meek resignation, which, I think, is imposed more 
 often on the ministers of the Gospel than on other men, that 
 they may learn by their own bitter experience a lesson which 
 it so often falls to their lot to teach.' 1 
 
 The family of Dr Lawson consisted of three sons and five 
 daughters, of whom, still resident in their father's house at 
 Selkirk, two daughters only survive.. Two of the daughters 
 and one of the sons predeceased him. The first death among 
 the ' lambs of his flock ' was that of Charlotte, a child, for 
 whom he had evidently cherished unusual love. From the 
 1 Letter to Dr Vaughan. See Memoir, p. 113.
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 407 
 
 ' Reflections ' on her illness and death, which followed, it is 
 evident that she had been a most amiable child. One that 
 knew the family well, and who had frequent opportunities of 
 witnessing their domestic life, thus speaks of them at this 
 period : 
 
 ' A considerable time before Charlotte Lawson was seized 
 with her fatal illness, I called on the Doctor. When ushered 
 into the parlour, I was alike surprised and pleased to find the 
 venerable man having Charlotte on his knee, and singing an 
 ode with a firm and distinct voice : and it was difficult to 
 say which was most delighted, the smiling child or the joyous 
 father. During her illness I frequently called to inquire for 
 her, and sometimes saw him. His face was the very picture 
 of deep and anxious solicitude, mingled with resignation. 
 Several of his people who called, he earnestly asked to pray 
 for the child. Those who knew her intimately, as well as 
 those of the family constantly beside her, he particularly re- 
 quested to put the question to her, " Do you love Jesus ? " 
 And had she only been able to say, " Yes" we cannot well 
 conceive what thrilling delight it would have given to his 
 anxious and pious heart. He tells us (in his " Reflections ") 
 that it did give him great delight, when told by her elder 
 sister, that, during the night, Charlotte had simply named 
 the name of Jesus. She tried to obtain more words from 
 her, but did not succeed." 
 
 When this lovely child died, the bereaved father thus wrote 
 to Dr Husband : 
 
 V 
 
 'SELKIRK, July 15, 1799. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, I indulged for some time past the 
 pleasing hope of giving and receiving pleasure by visiting you 
 in Fife. Gladly would I do so now by letter, since I have 
 been debarred from your presence by the providence of God. 
 I will make you sorry by what I have to say ; but the sorrows 
 of friendship are not without their mixture of pleasure.
 
 408 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 ' I went to Peebles two weeks before Lochgelly communion, 
 with a design not to return, although I left my favourite 
 child not quite well. I had the doctor's advice, who was of 
 opinion that I needed not give myself any uneasy apprehen- 
 sion. I found myself, however, not quite satisfied to be so 
 long absent, and returned. I found my daughter so much 
 worse, that I scarcely ever found it possible to exchange 
 words with her ; nor could I ever, from the time when I began 
 to apprehend danger, exchange a single sentence with her 
 about her salvation. You will easily judge of my deep dis- 
 tress when I saw her in that state for ten days. The doctors 
 all the time pronounced it unlikely, and for a great part of it, 
 almost impossible, that she could recover. 
 
 ' Charlotte was a great favourite with us all ; her under- 
 standing and memory were beyond her years ; she showed 
 a great degree of anxiety for religious knowledge, and I had 
 every reason to believe that there was some good thing in her 
 heart towards the Lord God of Israel. I had no apprehen- 
 sions that she was so near her latter end, so that in her last 
 sickness I might have no opportunities of speaking to her. 
 I had never put such questions to her as might have given me 
 the satisfaction of judging how far the good things I observed 
 and knew to be in her, might be ascribed to her natural dis- 
 position ; though her love to her Bible, and to hymn-books, 
 and to many other pious books suitable for children, gave me 
 great reason to hope that she possessed the distinguishing 
 qualities of a child of God, as far as could be reasonably 
 expected from one of her tender years. When I found that 
 she was dying, and could never be sure that she could hear 
 or understand anything I said, I had my only refuge in the 
 Hearer of prayer. I reflected bitterly on myself that I had 
 not done more for her soul ; and what could I now do for my 
 poor Charlotte ? Yet I was persuaded that God would still 
 do for her what might be wanting to prepare her for a better 
 state of being. Many were the petitions that I offered up,
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 409 
 
 and many were the passages of Scripture from which I 
 endeavoured to extract comfort. It gave me much relief to 
 consider that Jesus, in the days of His flesh, never refused to 
 comply with the solicitations of parents on behalf of their 
 distressed children. I endeavoured to comfort myself with 
 the persuasion that He would hear my prayers on behalf of 
 my dear Charlotte, when I begged for her a share in that 
 eternal life which He came to purchase for the lost. 
 
 ' I think I have good reason to judge well of her. I am 
 sure I could not have prayed more earnestly for my own 
 salvation than I did for hers. I now wish to indulge the 
 pleasing thought that she is with Christ, and that, if she 
 bestows a thought on me, she pities the condition to which 
 she must know I have been reduced by losing her. 
 
 ' I find that general consolation is very insufficient for 
 relieving the mind under many particular circumstances of 
 distress : consolations, for instance, under the loss of relations, 
 do not at all apply to my present state of mind. I can lose 
 my relations with the fortitude that becomes a man and a 
 Christian ; but our loss is nothing : the question is, What has 
 become of the dead themselves f 
 
 ' I would, indeed, rather have lost anything I possess or 
 hope to possess, friends excepted, than my Charlotte ; and 
 yet, from the beginning of her distress to this moment, the 
 mere loss of her has appeared to me lighter than nothing : 
 because her eternal happiness was in question, and that she 
 should be cut off for ever from the means of grace and oppor- 
 tunities for spiritual improvement, was the subject of my 
 grief. Your very affectionate friend, 
 
 * GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 On the Sabbath after Charlotte's funeral he preached from 
 the text, ' I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.' 
 A friend who heard him says : ' It was a truly eloquent, 
 deeply affecting, and impressive sermon. Some may smile at
 
 410 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 the epithet eloquent, as applied to any sermon preached by 
 Dr Lawson ; but those who do so must seldom, if ever, have 
 heard him preach ; for, so far as I am capable of judging, I 
 have heard more eloquence in several of his sermons than I 
 ever did in any one sermon of any other person. This was the 
 case in the funeral sermon, and still more so in one that he 
 preached some time after on these words, " For whosoever 
 shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved." At 
 this distance of time I distinctly remember some of the 
 admirably touching things he said. He very frequently shed 
 tears ; but when he attempted to repeat these words, " They 
 the blessings shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the 
 crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren," 
 his utterance completely failed him for a while, and tears 
 flowed in abundance. His crowded audience was deeply 
 affected.' 
 
 He received at this time the following letter of consolation 
 from his friend Mr Greig : 
 
 Rev. David Greig to Dr Lawson. 
 
 ' LOCHGELLY, 22c? August 1799. 
 
 * MY DEAR FRIEND, I sincerely condole with you and Mrs 
 Lawson on the death of your amiable young daughter. I 
 find that this event has been very distressing to you ; but I 
 hope the Lord has blessed it to you and your family, and 
 enabled you to acquiesce in His holy, wise, and kind disposal. 
 From what you say concerning your departed Charlotte, I 
 think you have all the grounds you could reasonably expect 
 to think that she has entered into the joy of her Lord, and 
 that your grief may well give place to joy and thankfulness. 
 Be grateful to the Giver of every good and perfect gift, that 
 He gave you so lovely a child, and that she gave you so many 
 comfortable evidences that she loved her Creator and Re- 
 deemer. I know that the anxieties of parents, who know the 
 importance of religion and eternity, are ready to make them
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 411 
 
 wish for evidences of the religion of their children more direct 
 and decisive than any can reasonably expect. This, perhaps, 
 in many cases, is their infirmity, and furnishes Satan an handle 
 by which he agitates and disquiets their minds. I hope you 
 will endeavour to guard against indulging unreasonable wishes 
 and groundless suspicions. Sure I am, that were you called to 
 give religious counsel to parents under the loss of such a child 
 as God hath taken from you and Mrs Lawson, you would 
 see reason to bid them be of good cheer, for their daughter 
 was far happier now than ever she was under their charge. 
 And why should you not admit the consolation which you 
 would administer to others ? It was the infirmity of Rachel, 
 that she refused to be comforted. I hope you are enjoying 
 the consolations which the Scriptures furnish for the afflicted, 
 and that God by His dispensations is qualifying you for still 
 greater usefulness in His Church. You hint that, in the 
 time of your affliction, you had committed some thoughts to 
 writing which you would perhaps communicate to me. I am 
 desirous of perusing them, and if you could send them to me 
 at the time when the Synod meets, I shall be happy. Per- 
 haps you may see it your duty to attend the Synod. It will 
 give pleasure to all your friends to see you on that occasion, 
 and to none more than me. I am, yours in affection, 
 
 ' DAVID GREIG.' 
 
 It was while suffering underneath this severe rod of his 
 heavenly Father that he composed the only piece in the shape 
 of a diary he ever wrote. This precious production was 
 found among his papers many years after his death, and was 
 published as a tractate, under the title of ' Reflections on the 
 Illness and Death of a Beloved Daughter.' Dr Brown pro- 
 nounced this work to be a ' precious gem, the most touching 
 .picture of sanctified natural affection he had ever seen ;' and 
 indulged the hope, if they should be published, of ' seeing the 
 name of Lawson enrolled along with Howe, and Grosvenor,
 
 412 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 and Cecil, and Watt, and Boston, among those who comfort 
 the mourners.' 
 
 The tears shed for Charlotte were just wiped away when 
 death again entered the fold. On this occasion the stroke 
 fell upon John, the twin-brother of Andrew (afterwards of 
 Ecclefechan). He was a youth of bright promise, had passed 
 through the university curriculum with much credit, and was 
 prosecuting his studies in divinity, with a view to the holy 
 ministry, when it pleased God to call him up. His father 
 was specially attached to him, and would cheerfully have kept 
 him at home till his education was finished, but for John's 
 own wish to be engaged as a tutor. He had gone to Penrith 
 to assist Dr Henry Thomson in the academy over which he 
 then presided. The following extracts from the only two 
 letters from his parents that survive will show their feelings 
 towards him : 
 
 ' SELKIRK, January 4, 1813. 
 
 ' DEAR JOHN, All of us, whom you left here, are in good 
 health. We hope that you also are enjoying that blessing, 
 and that you feel the obligations you are under to the God 
 of our lives for bringing us all safe to the beginning of a 
 new year. Whether it is to be the last year of our life we 
 know not ; but we know, if we are Christians indeed, that the 
 last will be the best of our years : an hour in heaven is better 
 than a thousand years twice told on earth. The death of your 
 friend and fellow-student, Mr Waugh, 1 will, I hope, remind 
 you of the importance of learning what you learn in religion 
 for yourself in the first place. We hope that you still enjoy life 
 with that relish, without which we cannot be duly thankful to 
 Him who holds our souls in life, and that you are endeavour- 
 ing every day to sow that seed which will spring up in joy to 
 you during all future years. We all join in affectionate 
 wishes for your happiness both in this world and the next. 
 
 1 Minister of Miles Lane, now Albion Chapel, London.
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 413 
 
 May God ever bless you with His best blessing. Your affec- 
 tionate father, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 4 SELKIRK, May 24, 1813. 
 
 ' MY DEAR JOHN, Your last arrived in due time, and gave 
 us all a great deal of satisfaction, particularly as it announced 
 your escape from the militia. I think the policy was good. 
 It was, however, a favourable providence that you were not 
 called upon at all. When I spoke of a place near home, I 
 only meant to express my hope that such a thing might 
 occur, for, in fact, I know of no such thing. . . . I am 
 sorry to hear that your picture is so ill executed. Pray, 
 could the limner not retouch it with advantage ? I hope to 
 have the pleasure of seeing it beside Andrew's by-and-bye. 
 I had a letter from him the other day. He is well, but has 
 no particular news. The newspapers mention, lately, the 
 death of Mr Lawrence Glass, minister of Aberdeen. He was 
 a pupil of your father's, fifteen or sixteen years ago. What 
 great reason for thankfulness have we, that God has spared 
 us all so long, and in some measure of comfortable circum- 
 stances ! May we be enabled to live to His praise, who hath 
 done so great things for us ! I observe, dear John, that your 
 confinement is really more than can be agreeable. I hope, 
 when Dr Thomson talks to you on that subject, that you will 
 give him the reason, truly and fully, why you cannot stay 
 with him. Surely he cannot take it amiss, when your health 
 is hurt by confinement. Indeed, I always wished you to 
 inform him of that before this time. I ever am, my dear 
 John, your loving mother, ' MARGARET LAWSON.' 
 
 Though very happy and very useful in Penrith, the insidi- 
 ous disease which a mother's eye had discerned, made such 
 progress as to necessitate his return to Selkirk, just about 
 the time of the meeting of the Hall. He, however, was not 
 able to perform his duties as a theological student at this
 
 414 THE LIFE OF DB LAWSON. 
 
 session. As autumn leaves were falling, he drooped in 
 strength ; and in the last week of December 1813, he fell 
 asleep in Jesus. His death, though looked for, came some- 
 what suddenly. He was so well on the night before his 
 death, as to be able to raise the tune at domestic worship. 
 At an early hour on the following morning, the family were 
 called up to witness his last struggle, and to hear his last 
 testimony to the preciousness of Jesus, and the hopes of the 
 Gospel. In this conclusion of life, peace and joy character- 
 ized the believing of the youthful sufferer. It was customary 
 at that time, to send for the undertaker, at whatever hour of 
 the day or night death took place, who brought along with 
 him what was called the ' dead-board,' upon which the corpse 
 was stretched out. The sou of the worthy man who per- 
 formed this duty at this time, has informed the compiler, that 
 when his father arrived at the manse, he found the family in 
 great distress, weeping and lamenting over the dead, Dr 
 Lawson sitting in the midst of them, calm, but overwhelmed. 
 After a short space, he arose and said, ' Oh, Mrs Lawson, will 
 you consider what you are about ? Remember who has done 
 this. Be composed ; be resigned ; and rise, and accompany 
 me down stairs, that we may all join in worshipping our God.' 
 And so they all went down with him to the parlour. He 
 then read out for praise, these solemn verses of the 29th 
 Paraphrase : 
 
 1 Amidst the mighty, where is He 
 
 Who saith, and it is done ? 
 Each varying scene of changeful life 
 Is from the Lord alone. 
 
 ' Why should a living man. complain 
 
 Beneath the chast'ning rod ? 
 
 Our sins afflict us ; and the cross 
 
 Must bring us back to God.' 
 
 Before he raised the tune, he paused for a moment, looking
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 415 
 
 round upon the weeping circle, and then, with faltering 
 accents, said, ' We have lost our singer this morning ; but I 
 know that he has begun a song which shall never end,' and 
 then proceeded with the worship : completing a scene as holy 
 and sublime as can well be imagined. It was also customary 
 at that period, and in that quarter, when the day of funeral 
 came, for the chief mourners to come out and stand at the 
 door, in front of the house, to receive the company as they 
 assembled. Dr Lawson, however, was not there ; and, as 
 the hour was past, the undertaker (one of his elders) entered 
 the manse to inquire the reason. No one could inform him. 
 Upon which, he opened the door of the library, and found the 
 afflicted father on his knees in prayer. 
 
 A few days after this, a letter came to ' John,' from one of 
 his pupils at Penrith son of Herbert Buchanan, Esq. of 
 Arden making anxious inquiries as to his health. The 
 letter was opened and read by the father, who wrote an 
 answer to it, as if from John himself in heaven, ' an answer 
 which breathes not the language of terror and despair, like 
 the spirit that assumed the figure, the voice, and the mouth 
 of the departed prophet, but that of holy love and hope, like 
 the words of Moses and Elias, when they appeared in glory 
 on the Mount, and spake of the decease which Jesus should 
 accomplish at Jerusalem:' 1 
 
 ' DEAR SIR, Your hope that I am in a better state of 
 health than formerly, is now more than realized. God has, 
 in His infinite mercy, been pleased to receive me into those 
 happy abodes where there is no more sorrow, nor death, nor 
 sin. I now hear and see things which it is impossible to 
 utter; and would not give one hour of the felicity which I 
 now enjoy, for a lifetime, or for a thousand years, of the 
 greatest felicity which I enjoyed on earth. 
 
 ' I still love you and the other friends whom I left on earth, 
 1 Dr II. Beltrage.
 
 416 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 but my affection for them is very different from what it was : 
 I value them not for the love which they bear to me, or the 
 amiable qualities which are most generally esteemed by men, 
 unless they love my Lord and Saviour, through whose blood 
 I have found admission to heaven. The happiness that I 
 wish for you, is not advancement in the world, or a rich 
 enjoyment of its pleasures ; but the light of God's counte- 
 nance, the grace of His Spirit, and a share, when a few years 
 have passed, of those things which eye has not seen nor ear 
 heard, and which it has not entered into the heart of man to 
 conceive. 
 
 ' It is not permitted to us who dwell on high to appear to 
 our former friends, and to inform them of our present feel- 
 ings ; and, ardently as I desire to have you a participant of 
 my felicity, I do not wish to approach you in a visible form, 
 to tell you of the riches of the glory of that inheritance which 
 I possess. Abraham tells me, that the writings of the pro- 
 phets and apostles are better fitted to awaken sinners to 
 a sense of everlasting things, and to excite good men to 
 holiness, than apparitions and admonitions of their departed 
 friends would be ; and what he says is felt to be true by all 
 of us. I do not now read the Bible. I thank God I often 
 read it from beginning to end, when it was necessary for me 
 to learn from it the knowledge of my beloved Saviour ; and 
 yet, if I could now feel uneasiness, I would regret that I 
 made it so little the subject of my meditation. You would 
 be glad to know whether, though unseen, I may not be often 
 present with you, rejoicing in your prosperity, and still more 
 in every good work performed by you, in every expression of 
 love to my God, and care for the welfare of your own soul. 
 But I am permitted to tell you no more on this subject than 
 God has thought meet to tell you in His Word, that there is 
 joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth ; that angels are 
 present in Christian assemblies, observing with pleasure or 
 indignation the good or bad behaviour of the worshippers ;
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 417 
 
 and that we welcome with great joy our friends from earth, 
 when they are received into our everlasting habitations. 
 
 ' Farewell, my dear friend, farewell, but not for ever. 
 What are all the days you have before you on earth, but a 
 moment ! I hope that the grace which hath brought me so 
 early in my existence to heaven, will bring you all to the 
 same happy place, after sparing you some time longer in the 
 lower world to serve your generation, by His will, and to do 
 more than I had an opportunity to do, for exciting your neigh- 
 bour to choose the path of life. Much good may be done by 
 the attractive example, by the prayers, and (at proper times) 
 by the religious converse of Christians engaged in this world. 
 
 ' Farewell again, till we meet never to be separated. I am, 
 your friend, more sincerely than ever, ' JOHN LAWSON.' 
 
 The feelings of Dr Lawson at this time will best appear in 
 the following exquisitely beautiful letters, addressed to friends : 
 
 Dr Lawson to Herbert Buchanan, Esq. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, Jan. 2, 1814. 
 
 ' SIR, This comes from the afflicted father of John Law- 
 son, .to announce to you his departure from this valley of tears 
 on Wednesday, last week, at four o'clock in the morning. 
 Having found some letters from you among his papers, in 
 which you express a warm regard for him, gratitude induced 
 me to make this communication to you, which will give yon 
 pain for the present, but I hope may do you good in the 
 latter end. I think I have reason to believe that he has left 
 our society for that of holy angels. I bless God for the 
 good hope I have of one day rejoining him in happier cir- 
 cumstances than ever ; yet I confess I have sometimes felt 
 some degree of regret that he has not been longer spared in 
 this world, to do something in the exercise of that profession 
 which he had in view for the direction of his fellow-men into 
 the way of salvation ; but to solace my sorrow, it occurs to 
 
 2 D
 
 418 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSOK 
 
 me, that, for aught I know, his example or his conversation 
 may have already contributed in some degree to that end. 
 And that the remembrance of his early death may not be 
 without its happy effect upon those who honoured him with 
 their friendship, and who cherish his memory, it occurs to 
 me that those who loved him will entertain the favourable 
 opinion that he is now in heaven, and that they will wish to 
 be again partakers of his society. Thus they may have a 
 new excitement to consider, and to walk in the good way, 
 by which they may at last have the happiness of again enjoy- 
 ing that society which was in former times a part of their 
 happiness. This is a consideration which is not without its 
 effect on myself. I have lost several dear friends, with whom 
 I parted in the hope of dwelling with them for ever ; I would 
 shudder at the thought of being, by the sentence of our 
 great Judge, for ever excluded from their fellowship, and of 
 becoming the object of their contempt. 
 
 ' I learn from Scripture that there is joy in heaven over 
 sinners that repent, and also, though in a less degree, over 
 righteous persons that need no change in their course of life. 
 That joy, I am persuaded, has place among departed Chris- 
 tians as well as among angels; and if my sentiments on 
 this subject are right, we see how we may give pleasure to 
 our departed friends. My dear son delighted to give plea- 
 sure, and was grateful to all who endeavoured to give him 
 pleasure when he was upon earth ; and I doubt not that it 
 will be an augmentation to his pleasure in the eternal world, 
 to know that any of those whom he loved on earth are fol- 
 lowing him in the path which he trode to that world where 
 he now is. He has left all his relations in grief, but I hope 
 their grief will have happy effects upon them ; and when his 
 life has not been so useful as we could have wished it, it will 
 add to his happiness if his death be useful, especially to those 
 whom he loved on earth. 
 
 'I conclude with sincere thanks for the friendship you
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 419 
 
 appear to have entertained for him, and remain, your humble 
 servant, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Husband. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, 30th December 1813. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, What is the reason that I have been so 
 long of hearing from you, except in short letters of business ? 
 I hope you have not blotted me out of the list of your friends. 
 It would be too much for me to meet with such a calamity 
 at this time. I have lost, on Wednesday morning, one of my 
 dearest and most affectionate, and I hope I may say one of 
 my best friends, in a son, whom God was pleased to take (I 
 humbly hope) to Himself. Never did a son love his father or 
 his mother with a warmer affection. Never did mother or father 
 love a son more warmly since the first period of Christianity. 
 
 ' The last time I wrote to you was, I think, on the occasion 
 of a similar calamity. It is probable that I then would not 
 enter very deeply into your feelings, although I had in former 
 times met with similar afflictions. I wish I may not at pre- 
 sent renew your sorrows by entering too deeply into them. 
 
 ' My heart is sore pained within me in my solitary musings. 
 Were I now to become rich, the acquisition would scarcely 
 give me pleasure, because my beloved John is to inherit no 
 part of my substance. When I amuse myself with writing 
 discourses, it will often occur to me that John is to have no 
 part of them when I leave the world. He took great plea- 
 sure, from his early years, in hearing or in making plans of 
 sermons ; and within these few days he spent a few minutes 
 of each day in writing a portion of a sermon from a text 
 which I had prescribed him. 
 
 ' His ruling disposition seemed to be, to please and to be 
 pleased. I know not that he was ever angry with any person, 
 or that any person was ever angry with him. And I had 
 good reason to think that he was a real fearer of God, who 
 made use of what he learned in religion for his own benefit.
 
 420 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 ' Perhaps I have used too strong language in speaking of 
 my affliction. My heart is pained sore within me at the recol- 
 lections concerning him that frequently present themselves to 
 my mind ; yet I hope I am not altogether unthankful for much 
 mercy in his last sickness and his death. I little doubt of his 
 readiness for his departure. His sufferings were so moderate 
 till the last day of his life, or his patience so well disguised 
 them, we could not be persuaded to resign some hope of his 
 recovery. If he had lived much longer, we have reason to 
 believe that his pains from want of breath would have been 
 so extreme as to rend our hearts. But he died suddenly, 
 after six months' sickness. On the morning of last Wednesday 
 he was suddenly torn from us, and, I humbly hope, conveyed 
 by angels into the bosom of his Saviour. 
 
 ' My beloved John is torn from me during the few years 
 that remain for me on earth, but the separation between him 
 and me will not be nearly so long, as if he had been appointed 
 to live as long as I have already done in this valley of tears. 
 I trust ere long to see him again with joy, and yet I wish and 
 I ought to say, Whom have I in heaven but Thee ? 
 
 ' You and I ought both to bless God that we have yet 
 several children alive, who love us as affectionately, and whose 
 departure from us we would have as bitterly regretted, as 
 those of them whom we have lost. 
 
 ' It will be still happier if we can indulge the hope (and I 
 am much disposed to do it), that the remaining part of our 
 families will at the great day have a joyful meeting with those 
 who have gone before them. What precious consolations 
 are in Christ and His Gospel ! It gives us the hope of eternal 
 life to ourselves, and teaches us how to direct the path of our 
 children towards the better country, where there are no painful 
 separations. 
 
 ' You will not forget to communicate to your family and 
 your colleague my earnest wishes that they may all be found 
 walking in the way of peace. Then will you have much
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 421 
 
 pleasure in their life, and their death (if they should die in 
 youth) will not be without pleasure to counterbalance its 
 sorrows to surviving friends. 
 
 ' Remember me to Alexander. I believe I cannot at this 
 time write to Mr Greig. I believe that you and he were 
 praying for me if you heard of the distress of my family, and 
 I still need your prayers. 
 
 ' May the God of hope fill us and all our friends and 
 brethren with peace and joy in believing. I am, your well- 
 wisher, ' GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 To this letter Dr Husband sent the following very touch- 
 ing response : 
 
 Dr Husband to Dr Lawson. 
 
 1 DUNFEKMLINE, June 3, 1814. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, I am most deservedly, and yet affec- 
 tionately, reproved for not replying to your sympathizing 
 letters which I received during my afflictions. I reckon it an 
 evidence of unabated and warm friendship, that you regard 
 me as one to whom you can pour out your sorrows with the 
 assurance of sympathy. From the first moment that you did 
 me the honour to rank me among your friends, I have fondly 
 cherished the idea, and do still cherish it, as one of my great- 
 est earthly blessings. How pleasing to think that friendships 
 formed on earth shall not be finally dissolved by the separat- 
 ing stroke of death, but be renewed with unspeakable ad- 
 vantage in a happier and better world ! I wonder that it 
 should ever have been a question whether friends will know 
 one another in the heavenly state. The supposition that they 
 will not, is contrary to the scriptural representations of 
 heaven, which hold it out as a state of happy society. It is 
 contrary to the constitution of human nature, as framed by 
 the wisdom of God, a constitution which makes us cleave 
 to others, and renders intercourse with them a spring of some
 
 422 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 of our highest pleasures. It is not piety, but ignorance, to 
 say that the blessed God will so occupy the minds of those 
 who dwell in His presence, that they will have neither leisure 
 nor inclination to attend to any other object, for they will 
 enjoy God in all, and all in God. 
 
 ' I have perused your letter again and again, and I cannot 
 peruse it without mingling my tears with those of the afflicted 
 parents who have suffered so great a bereavement. But you 
 have not lost your dear son. He is only gone a little before, 
 to wait and hail your arrival on the shores of bliss. His 
 character was, indeed, most engaging. I know it not merely 
 by the testimony of a fond afflicted father ; I know it by the 
 testimony of those who may be supposed to have looked on 
 him with a less partial eye. 
 
 ' To say that I sympathize with you, would be to tell you 
 nothing but what you firmly believe. But I cannot say I 
 pity you. You are greatly afflicted, but you are not miser- 
 able. You believe that your son is inconceivably happier 
 than he would have been with you and his affectionate 
 mother ; and you have the well-grounded hope of seeing him 
 ere it be long, and of uniting with him in tracing the several 
 steps of wisdom and goodness by which you were led to the 
 blessed region which you are to inhabit. 
 
 ' Your dear John now knows unspeakably more of his 
 Bible than he could have reached on earth by the most dili- 
 gent study, with all the assistance his father could have given 
 him, or than ever the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Him- 
 self is pleased to impart while we dwell in this world of error 
 and mistakes. Happy state ! when that which is perfect is 
 come, and that which is in part is done away. 
 
 ' I find my heart refreshed while it is melted by your letter. 
 It is so much the language of genuine grief, and at the same 
 time of true consolation, that, while it teaches me here to 
 mourn, it directs me where to find consolation. I am, yours 
 sincerely, ' JAMES HUSBAND.'
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 423 
 
 Dr Lawson to Rev. A. Lothian. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, 1st January 1814. 
 
 ( MY DEAR SIR, I write this to inform you of an event 
 which I know will give you much regret. It is the death of 
 my beloved son John, to whom, as to his brother, you paid 
 so much attention when he resided in Edinburgh. I take a 
 kind of melancholy pleasure in expressing my gratitude to 
 those who favoured him with their regard. Yet I find them 
 so numerous when I think of them, that I cannot find terms 
 of acknowledgment for them all. He had partly from nature, 
 and I hope also in part from grace, a facility in making 
 friends who will now sympathize with us in our sorrow. I 
 believe he never made any enemies, nor do I know that he 
 ever met with unkindness. 
 
 ' His death makes a large diminution to the earthly happi- 
 ness of us all. We cannot but mourn for the loss of one 
 whom we loved so dearly, and who so well deserved our love. 
 This last observation I would not so readily make to you, if I 
 were not persuaded, from your knowledge of him, that you 
 will not place it to the account of a father's partiality. I am 
 sure, from continued experience, that a great part of his 
 happiness lay in giving pleasure to his parents, to his brothers 
 and sisters, to our friends and his, and to all who had any 
 connection with him. 
 
 ' I believe we have reason to ascribe it to partial fondness 
 in David, that he never said to Adonijah, " Why hast thou 
 done so ? " But Adonijah was born to be a prince, and ex- 
 posed to those dangerous temptations which attend high 
 stations in life. My dear son was born in a humble and 
 safer station. And I do not feel regret, but pleasure, in the 
 recollection that I never, so far as I remember, found fault 
 with him. On the contrary, I sometimes told him that I had 
 been always well pleased with his behaviour. 
 
 ' I do not know that he was ever called to the great duty
 
 424 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 of Christian forgiveness; but no doubt, if his life had not 
 been short, he must have been exposed in some degree to the 
 injuries that try the meekness of the Christian. His days 
 have been very few in this world, but I trust that " God has 
 given him length of days for ever and ever." 
 
 ' We all mourn deeply for the want of him ; but we are all 
 persuaded that we have great reason to rejoice and be thank- 
 ful for the ground we have to think that he is incomparably 
 happier than we can hope to be, till we are with him. Our 
 grief will, I hope, have its influence in preparing us for that 
 felicity. All of us should shudder at the thought of being 
 for ever separated from him. This, indeed, is a consideration 
 that ought to have infinitely less influence upon our minds 
 than the desire of being with Christ ; yet I think it may be 
 allowed a place in our thoughts. The holy writers do not 
 always use the most powerful arguments in recommending 
 holiness, and the weaker may sometimes be of great use when 
 the stronger are not felt as they ought to be.' 
 
 In little more than three years after this, Dr Lawson drank 
 of another cup filled with a similar sorrow. His youngest 
 daughter, Jane, who had just grown into lovely womanhood, 
 exhibited symptoms of that fatal disease which had laid her 
 brother in an early grave. One of her brothers (George) 
 had recently been settled in Bolton, and it was resolved to 
 send her south, that, under his kind roof and with change of 
 air, she might derive bodily recruiting. On her way thither, 
 she had gone round by Edinburgh and Glasgow, accom- 
 panied by one of her sisters. They carried the following 
 letter to his ancient friend, Mr Swanston : 
 
 Dr Lawson to John Swanston, Esq. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, June 1816. 
 
 ' DEAR FRIEND, I rejoice your anxiety on your daugh- 
 ter's account terminated in the joy of an addition to your
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 425 
 
 family ; and yet this joy must, of course, introduce new soli- 
 citudes. 
 
 ' Such is the nature of earthly comforts. But it is well 
 ordered that we should not find our rest in sublunary things. 
 And when our hope is in the Lord, we can with safety 
 commit to Him everything that is dear to our hearts on earth. 
 His blessing is promised to the houses as well as to the 
 persons of them that trust in Him. 
 
 4 1 believe this will come to you by the hands of two of 
 my daughters, one of whom has been strongly urged by her 
 physician to make a voyage to her brother in Lancashire. I 
 have been very anxious for her for some time past, although 
 she does not appear to be worse than she was some time 
 ago. I should be glad you could have Dr Nimmo's opinion, 
 whether the voyage is likely to be useful to her. It would 
 be a great diminution of what remains of my earthly comfort 
 if she could not recover. She has been always a very dear 
 child, and deservedly so. But what shall I say ? Much 
 better men than I have often been bereaved of their beloved 
 children, and had no reason to complain of Him, who took 
 only what He had given. I think I have reason to hope 
 that God will either recover my beloved daughter to me, or 
 take her to Himself. 
 
 ' Although you have not wept for the death of children, I 
 believe your feelings have not been less acute for several very 
 amiable friends, than those of parents who lamented over 
 their sons or their daughters. But it is much more com- 
 fortable to weep for the loss of amiable friends than for the 
 bad life of friends of an opposite description. Whilst we 
 mourn for our own loss, we rejoice in the happiness of those 
 who are taken out of a world of vanities and sorrows, to the 
 regions into which sin or sorrow never enters. 
 
 ' Nothing can fully satisfy our minds when we think of our 
 long lost friends, but the hope of rejoining them. We are 
 not worthy to be admitted into their society. But they,
 
 426 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 once, like us, lamented their own unworthiiiess ; and they 
 washed their robes, and made them white in that fountain of 
 blood which stands open to us also. 
 
 ' I doubt not that I shall have Mrs Swanston's prayers 
 along with yours, for mercy to my poor distressed child. 
 May you and she be ever preserved from the pangs of 
 bereavement of children. But what do I say? We must 
 be parted one way or other from our dearest friends in a not 
 very distant period. I sympathize with Dr Nimmo in his 
 late bereavement. His feelings must be painful, although he 
 is not the chief mourner. But I am well informed that his 
 amiable sister had hope in her death. I am, yours ever, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 The sisters, by easy stages, arrived in safety at Bolton, and 
 received the following reply to their ' arrival letter ' from 
 their anxious parent : 
 
 Dr Lawson to his Daughter Jane. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, June 29, 1816. 
 
 ' MY DEAR JEANIE, We received Nancy's letter last 
 night. The doctor was present, and he thought it a favour- 
 able symptom that you did not appear to be worse, after so 
 many removals from place to place. We will wait with 
 anxiety for a letter from Bolton. God grant that it may 
 bring us good accounts of your state of health. Many of 
 your friends inquire for you. I love them the better for it. 
 I do not think that you will be put to great trouble by the 
 hard duty of forgiving your enemies : you have many warm 
 friends ; but I have not yet heard of any of your enemies. 
 We are all much indebted to your sister for her care of you. 
 She could not perform to us more acceptable service. The 
 natural kindness of brothers and sisters is well-pleasing to 
 the God of love ; and the acts of kindness which are attended 
 with some trouble and inconvenience to ourselves, are the
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 427 
 
 best proofs of the sincerity of that affection from which they 
 proceed. You are, I hope, well established in the belief, that 
 as high as the heavens are above the earth, the compassion 
 of your heavenly Father exceeds the tender affection of your 
 earthly parents ; yet a question will arise in your mind, Why 
 does not God send His word and heal you ? My father on 
 earth would give everything he had for the recovery of my 
 health ; but God needs only speak the word, and His hand- 
 maid will be whole : yet His hand is stretched out still to 
 afflict me. You will of yourself be able to silence such whis- 
 perings in your bosom : you never did anything displeasing 
 to me, but everything the reverse ; you were always happy in 
 my presence, and disposed to render me happy ; but we have 
 all sinned a thousand and a thousand times against the Holy 
 One of Israel, who looks upon all sin with abhorrence. No 
 wonder that He often makes us feel the effects of His dis- 
 pleasure. If His mercy were not as much above the com- 
 passion of an earthly father as the heavens are above the 
 earth, the condition of all of us would be most dreadful ; but 
 you will likewise consider, that God's wisdom is equal to His 
 mercy : He knows infinitely better than we what is good for 
 us. What we would rejoice to see is your face, as usual, 
 clothed in pleasant smiles ; but God knows the heart, and 
 His pleasure lies in that holiness which has its chief place in 
 the inner man. For this reason He sends and continues 
 trouble, that you may be a partaker of His holiness. His 
 eye glances through all the days of your life, and of eternity ; 
 and He considers that best for you which will be found best 
 at the distance of many years of life, or of ages in a better 
 world. I persuade myself that you have gained more in that 
 which is the true beauty of a Christian, than you have lost 
 in looks, which will be still pleasant to us after all the change 
 which sickness has made upon you ; but our hope is, in a 
 few weeks to see your countenance renovated with health, 
 whilst the happy effects of your affliction continue unim-
 
 428 THE LIFE OF DK LAWSON. 
 
 paired. We are much indebted to the friends whom you have 
 seen, for their kindness to your sister and yourself. 
 
 ' You are going to friends who will not be less kind ; and 
 never did they perform a service more grateful to us, than 
 their attention to you in your present state. 
 
 ' I always loved you dearly, but now much more than ever. 
 I am pleased with the placidity with which you bear your 
 distress. May God give you to bear with all patience what 
 He is pleased to lay upon you ; and to be thankful for every 
 symptom of begun recovery, if He accomplish our humble 
 hopes of your deliverance. Remember the Lord, and what 
 He suffered for our salvation. Have we any reason to com- 
 plain of our sickness, when Jesus Himself, the Lord of glory, 
 was pleased to bear our sicknesses, and carry our sorrows, 
 that by His stripes we might be healed ? 
 
 ' Your mother and sister remember you with warm affec- 
 tion : they would think it one happy symptom if you could 
 write a few lines to us with your own hand, which we sin- 
 cerely trust may soon be the case. God grant that a favour- 
 able answer may be vouchsafed to our earnest supplications 
 for your speedy restoration to health ; and, above all, that 
 He may at least bestow upon us in a better world length of 
 days, for ever and ever. Your affectionate father, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 The hopes entertained from this change were doomed to 
 disappointment. ' My heart is grieved,' he writes to his son, 
 ' because you have not been able to give a more favourable 
 account of my beloved daughter's health ; but I have better 
 reason, if possible, than Eli to say, " It is the Lord, let Him 
 do what seemeth Him good." In the. threatened destruction 
 of his two wicked sons, he trembled at the thought of their 
 awful condition under the wrath of God. I have reason to 
 hope that our dear Jane is suffering under the hand of a 
 gracious Father, to make her a partaker of His holiness, and
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 429 
 
 to prepare her for eternal happiness. It must give you great 
 pain to witness the sufferings of a sister so justly dear to yon ; 
 but it will give you pleasure, many days hence, to remember 
 that you had the opportunity, and did not suffer it to pass 
 unimproved, of consoling her mind, and suggesting useful 
 directions to her. May God bless all your endeavours to 
 tranquillize her, and to prepare her for the event.' 
 
 At length this amiable young woman died at Bolton, in her 
 brother's house. But we must allow paternal grief to tell its 
 own story : 
 
 Dr Laivson to Rev. A. Lothian. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, 10th August 1816. 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR, I have not yet sent you my thanks for 
 the kind attention which you paid to my beloved daughter 
 Jeanie, when she passed through Edinburgh. Your fears for 
 her were too well grounded : it pleased God to remove her 
 out of this world on Wednesday last. She has carried away 
 a very large portion of my earthly felicity ; but I hope my 
 loss is not to be compared with her gain. This is the opinion 
 of my son likewise, who says, in his letters to me, that he 
 entertains no doubt of her sleeping in Jesus. I will say to 
 you. what I would not say to others promiscuously, that she 
 was lovely and pleasant in her life. Her pains seem never to 
 have been extreme. No murmur ever passed from her lips, 
 and she gave no expression of dissatisfaction, either with her 
 distress of body or her distance from home. 
 
 ' I have sometimes been afraid of intruding into the things 
 which I have not seen, by forming a judgment of my departed 
 children or friends ; but a well-known text satisfies my judg- 
 ment, that there is no irreverence to God in taking the com- 
 fort of strong persuasion, that our departed friends are happy, 
 when their lives have given us all the grounds for it that can 
 ordinarily be expected. We are commanded not to mourn 
 for those who are fallen asleep in Jesus, like those who have
 
 430 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 no hope. We cannot improve this consolatory direction with- 
 out the persuasion that our friends are sleeping in Jesus, and 
 shall rise with Him. 
 
 ' God has chastised me sore, by removing from my eyes 
 several children that were very dear to my heart. But it 
 would be impious and ungrateful to murmur or to call in 
 question the goodness of Him who spared not His own Son, 
 but delivered Him up for our salvation. Job blessed God 
 when He made desolate all his company. Have not you and 
 I reason to bless Him, who spares so many children to us, 
 and so many other rich comforts ? 
 
 ' I am afraid I have given too large a proportion of my 
 heart to my dear children. May God determine our hearts 
 to love Himself above our dearest earthly comforts. 
 
 ' I will be obliged to you to take the trouble of notifying 
 her decease in the public news. I give you, on the top of the 
 following page, the words in which I think it will be proper 
 to announce it. I wish the intelligence to reach Fife as soon 
 as convenient, because I have some friends there who would 
 be praying for her recovery that they may turn their sup- 
 plications for my family into a new form. 
 
 ' My wife, and all of my family who are present, desire me 
 to present their affectionate compliments to Mrs Lothian and 
 your family, along with yourself. We need your prayers. 
 I remain, yours affectionately, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Husband. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, 3lst August 1816. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, I received your welcome letter by 
 Mr Murray. We have many alleviations of our grief; and 
 the sympathy of friends, and especially of such friends as you, 
 is far from being the least of them. We must mourn whilst 
 we are in this world for our own calamities, and those of our 
 friends. It is wisely ordained that we should be under the 
 necessity of feeling what we are so unwilling to believe, that
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 43 1 
 
 our happiness is not to be expected from the most delightful 
 enjoyments of this world. What Would all the kingdoms and 
 glory of this world avail me ? They could not restore those 
 pleasant children whom I have lost (not, I hope, for ever). 
 The possession of them, I believe, would bring me more 
 sorrow than joy, because those whom I loved so dearly can- 
 not enjoy them with me. 
 
 ' It gave me pleasure that, when you have so just cause to 
 mourn bitterly, you mourn after a godly sort, and are enabled 
 to comfort others with the comforts wherewith yourself also 
 are comforted of God. What would have become of you or 
 me if our mourning had been like David's for two of his sons ? 
 Would we not have been crushed under the dreadful weight ? 
 Blessed be God that we mourn not like them that have no 
 hope. There is hope of our children in their latter end, that 
 they shall be brought again from the land of the enemy. The 
 last enemy is already conquered. Our dear deceased children 
 have (we humbly hope) obtained the victory over him through 
 the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony. 
 
 ' The Lord will swallow up death in victory, and will wipe 
 away tears from all faces, tears already wiped away from 
 tlie faces of those for whom we mourn ; and if we look for 
 the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, we 
 believe that they shall be wiped from our faces also. 
 
 ' It is now more than forty years since I enjoyed the rich 
 pleasures of your friendship. Within less than the half of 
 that time, it is probable we shall be in a world where things 
 will be viewed in a different light from what they now are. 
 May we not, then, be praising God for His goodness in chas- 
 tising us by the loss of our pleasant children, that we might 
 be partakers of His holiness ? Whilst I live, if I should live 
 as many years as I have already lived, I will remember those 
 lovely children whom God gave me and took from me. But 
 my remembrance will not be unmingled with pleasure. 
 
 ' My poor Jeanie had a happy life, for she was always
 
 432 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 cheerful, and always wished to make others happy. Her last 
 illness was not, in appearance, extremely painful. As far 
 as I have been informed, she was never heard to complain. 
 She now sleeps in the dust, at a great distance from me, but 
 not, I hope, from her Redeemer. She sleeps in Jesus, and 
 God will bring her with Him. 
 
 ' I told Dr Anderson how very sorry you were at not seeing 
 him. He was much delighted with Mr Macfarlane's company 
 in some place where he saw him. I am, ever affectionately 
 yours, ' GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 No pious mind can rise from the perusal of these almost 
 apostolic letters, without being convinced that the author 
 held close communion with ' the Father, and the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost.' We hear in them all one and the same voice 
 of meek resignation and heavenly hope. He was wont to tell 
 his people that they should strive to rejoice in their tribula- 
 tions, and finished the admonition once with these beautiful 
 words : ' The blackbird sings sweetly with the thorn at her 
 breast, and so should God's children when passing through 
 their trials.' 
 
 In the lives and conversations of his two surviving sons, Dr 
 Lawson had increasing delight during the remaining days of 
 his life. The eldest, GEORGE, became one of the most popu- 
 lar preachers in our Church. He was first of all ordained in 
 Galashiels, 4th November 1806; then he removed to Bolton; 
 from that he was translated to Kilmarnock ; and finally, after 
 the deaths of his father and brother Andrew (who succeeded 
 his father in Selkirk), he too became one of his father's suc- 
 cessors, and died 15th December 1850. In writing to him 
 at Kilmarnock, Dr Lawson says, ' Our chief pleasure as 
 ministers should be in doing good, and in the conscientious 
 use of the means of doing good. It can give little pleasure 
 to any man of consideration to be valued more than he 
 deserves ; and it need not give us great pain to be despised,
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 433 
 
 or to incur the displeasure of men, if we are conscious of 
 endeavouring to perform the duties we owe to them. I have 
 no hope of ever seeing you or your brother at Kilmarnock. 
 I have had my time in which I was happy to visit distant 
 friends, but everything in this world has its end. Let your 
 brethren know that I am glad to hear of their prosperity, 
 and of their endeavours to perform faithful service to Christ 
 and to their people. I am sorry that I have not been able 
 to do more than I have done to prepare them for usefulness : 
 but to supply my defects I hope they will be daily learners 
 at the school of Paul, or rather of Christ, and that they will 
 treasure up in their minds the epistles to Timothy and Titus, 
 which are epistles from Christ to all ministers who are called 
 to labour in His service.' 
 
 Dr Nicol, of Jedburgh, preached the funeral sermon of a 
 worthy father's worthy son, from which we make but one 
 extract : ' Mr Lawson was indebted in an eminent degree, for 
 the rich furnishing of his mind and the early formation of his 
 character for the work of the ministry, to the example and 
 training of his father, Professor Lawson, a man singularly en- 
 dowed by nature with a large and apprehensive mind, and by 
 a careful education, added to a large measure of the grace of 
 God, with all that variety of learning and Christian experience 
 which rendered him such an accomplished teacher of Christi- 
 anity whether in this pulpit or among his people, in the chair 
 of theology or in the bosom of his family. Our departed friend 
 was in the habit of acknowledging his obligations to the care- 
 ful training of this learned and godly man ; and in all the 
 varied scenes of his ministry, down to the very close of it, his 
 wonderful maturity as a minister of the Gospel gave evidence, 
 that whilst it was the grace of God that had enlightened 
 his mind and accomplished him for the work of the Gospel, 
 he had profited very early and very much by the singular 
 advantage of his parentage : his mind, naturally rich and 
 strong, having been disciplined judiciously under paternal 
 
 2 E
 
 434 THE LIFE OF BR LAWSON. 
 
 care, so as to store his memory, at a very early period of life, 
 with the word of truth, and a vast variety of useful know- 
 ledge subordinate to it ; form him into the habit of a quick 
 and sound judgment on all subjects ; and teach him to conse- 
 crate and employ his faculties under a lively sense of responsi- 
 bility to God.' 
 
 ANDREW LAWSON, the twin-brother of Charlotte, was his 
 father's immediate successor in Selkirk. On the death of Dr 
 Lawson, the church gave the call, in the first instance, once 
 and again to George, the elder of the two ; but he firmly 
 declined. On one or other of them, however, the people's 
 hearts were set ; and Andrew was, after a second call, pre- 
 vailed upon to leave his charge at Ecclefechan and become 
 their pastor. The death of Charlotte, his closest and dearest 
 companion in childhood, had made a deep impression on his 
 mind. He determined to study for the ministry, and, along 
 with his younger brother John, with that view he attended 
 the University of Edinburgh, and afterwards joined the Hall 
 under his father's presidency. It was during their third 
 session at the latter that John died. At that time Dr Law- 
 son said, ' I am very sorry for Andrew, more so indeed than 
 for any of the rest of the family ; for this is the second time 
 he has been deprived of his companion : first Charlotte, and 
 then John, having been withdrawn from him.' He was 
 much loved in and around Selkirk, for his own and for his 
 father's sake. He was ordained at Ecclefechan, 2d October 
 1816; inducted to Selkirk, 1st June 1824; and died there 
 on the 28th October 1836, in the twenty-first year of his 
 ministry and forty-fifth year of his age. After his death, his 
 brother George consented to leave Kilmarnock for Selkirk. 
 ' His character,' says one who knew him well, ' was not showy 
 and artificial, but solid and sincere. When George Whitfielcl 
 was asked respecting the character of a certain person, he 
 replied, " I can't tell, I never lived with him." This test may 
 be applied with advantage to the deceased. Intimacy and
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 435 
 
 esteem grow together. It was in the domestic circle that 
 the amiableness of his heart appeared. In the bosom of his 
 family, and amid the endearments of home, he spent many of 
 his sweetest and happiest hours. There he was blessed with 
 all that affection could desire, and enjoyed the soft and tender 
 pleasures which flow from the purest friendship. . . . His 
 mental faculties were well balanced. This gave harmony to his 
 mind and consistency to his conduct. As there was no one 
 power more prominent than another, there was no eccentricity 
 about him. His perception was clear, his judgment sound, 
 his memory capacious and retentive, and his imagination 
 lively, though neither bold nor discursive. Accuracy and 
 neatness were things in which he delighted. . . . He had a 
 taste for the curious and rare, whether in nature, science, or 
 literature. For the witty and the humorous he had a keen 
 relish, and occasionally .showed that he had no mean power 
 for them himself. His acquaintance with general literature 
 was considerable, and his knowledge of the learned languages, 
 especially of Latin and Hebrew, was minute. ... It is not too 
 much to say, that he enjoyed to a large extent the esteem and 
 confidence of his fellow-citizens, and descended to the grave 
 amid the noonday splendour of an untarnished reputation. A 
 gentleman advanced in life, and of extensive acquaintance 
 with society, said on the day of his funeral, " He was the most 
 perfect character I ever knew, except his father. He did 
 more good, perhaps, with less ill, than any other man of my 
 acquaintance." ' 
 
 It may interest the reader to be told that the present 
 occupant of the pulpit at Selkirk is a son of this most excel- 
 lent man, in every respect worthy to represent his uncle, 
 his father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather, 
 who went before him in the Christian pastorate of that 
 church. 
 
 The only relic of Dr Lawson's correspondence with this 
 son is subjoined:
 
 436 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 Dr Lawson to his Son Andrew. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, July 1814. 
 
 ' Mr DEAR A., We received your letter, and were glad 
 to find that you had reached Stirling in safety, where nothing 
 will be wanting on the part of our friends to make your 
 visit agreeable. We are now, in a great measure, debarred 
 by age and infirmities from enjoying such pleasures as we 
 once did ; but we enjoy them a second time, when our chil- 
 dren taste the pleasures that belong to their time of life, 
 without forgetting that the pleasures of a good conscience 
 are a necessary ingredient in all the pleasures of life. 
 
 ' You are now in a pleasant district of the country, and in 
 a district which calls up many recollections interesting to 
 every native of Scotland. I hope you will not leave Stirling- 
 shire, without looking with attention at the place where 
 Wallace and Bruce fought hard battles for the freedom of 
 their country, where the rebellion of 1715 was quelled, and 
 where many other transactions which will never be forgotten 
 by them who have read the history of their country, took place. 
 The Grahams, Wallace, Bruce, Argyle, and all the heroes of 
 the days of old, are gone to the land of forgetfulness ; but their 
 exploits will ever be remembered. Yet they will themselves 
 remember with pleasure only their works which were wrought 
 in God; and although we do not expect that any of our 
 works will be remembered long after we leave this world, by 
 our fellow-men, yet every work of faith and labour of love 
 will be remembered for ever by God. At the great day, the 
 little charities, the kind services to persons in distress, the 
 prayers, the edifying speeches of many poor women, un- 
 known beyond their own parishes, will make a greater figure 
 than all the exploits of Alexander, or even of the heroes 
 who were the ornament and defence of their country, unless 
 their glories were sanctified by a sincere regard to God, and 
 to our Saviour Jesus Christ.
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 437 
 
 ' My hearing is a little improved, so I hope I shall still be 
 able to continue ray charge of the students ; but I will wait 
 patiently to see what God will do for me ; and should it be 
 His will that I should resign tftat charge, I will be thankful 
 that I have been so long entrusted with the care of them. 
 Yours affectionately, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Thus nurtured in the ordeal of affliction, Dr Lawson was 
 a comforter of others indeed, a son of consolation : 
 ' Haud ignarus mali, miseris succurere disco.' 
 
 We have already given specimens of his sympathy with 
 his fellow-sufferers, and now wind up this chapter with a 
 few more, in every way worthy of his fame, and well suited 
 to heal the broken in heart : 
 
 Dr Lawson to a Mother on the Death of her Son. 
 
 1 SELKIRK, Sept. 1812. 
 
 ' MADAM, Although I have not the pleasure of your 
 acquaintance, I take this opportunity of expressing my 
 sympathy with you and your afflicted partner, for the loss of 
 your amiable son, whose talents and piety promised (if his 
 life had been spared) much comfort to you, and much advan- 
 tage to the Church. I am glad to hear he was blessed, on 
 his death-bed, with the cheering hope of being with Christ. 
 I am persuaded that his hope was well grounded. You must 
 be of the same opinion ; and, therefore, I hope that your joy 
 and peace will exceed your grief. You will, while you live, 
 mourn the loss of such a son ; but you will bless God 
 you had such a son to lose. Would you not rather be the 
 mother of the deceased youth, than of most surviving children ? 
 How many fathers and mothers would be glad that their 
 children were such as yours, although they were to lose them 
 next day ! I remember it is related of Elliot, the American 
 Apostle, that he had some sons in youth, whom he wished to 
 educate for the ministry ; but he cheerfully acquiesced in the
 
 438 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 will of God. He designed them, he said, for the service of 
 Christ in His Church on earth ; but, as it was His will they 
 should serve Him in a better world, he was not so unreason- 
 able as to make any objections. Time, I hope, has softened 
 your sorrows, and it is right it should ; yet no length of time 
 will make you to forget one who was so deservedly dear to 
 you. But, as I suppose you are advanced in years, the time 
 of your separation will probably be shorter than it would 
 have been, had your son lived as long as parents wish their 
 children to live. Every day is bringing you nearer to the 
 state, and, I hope, to the world in which he is ; and, doubtless, 
 one of God's designs in removing him before you, is to excite 
 your diligence in looking for, and hastening to, that world 
 where Christ is, and to render the time of your departure 
 more welcome than it might otherwise have been. " Blessed 
 is the man whom God chasteneth, and teacheth him out of 
 His law." Your son is no more in this world. Your Lord 
 is not now in this world. Yourself and husband will not be 
 long in it. May you be blessed with the living hope of dwell- 
 ing for ever in that delightful region, where He who deserves 
 our love infinitely more than our best friends, lives and reigns. 
 It is pleasant to think you are the parent of one who is now 
 equal to the angels, but far pleasanter to think of being for 
 ever with Christ, where he is to behold His glory. I am, 
 yours, etc., ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Mrs Fair, on the Death of her Husband. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, May 1814. 
 
 ' DEAR MADAM, Allow me to express my sincere sympathy 
 with you for the heavy stroke which has deprived you of 
 your beloved partner ; but I hope that you will be taught of 
 God to bear it as becomes a Christian who hopes soon to be 
 rejoined to their beloved friends, never again to be separated 
 from them, and, what is still better, never to be separated 
 from Him whom they love better than their dearest friends.
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 439 
 
 Perhaps you would have considered yourselves happy had 
 you been assured that you were both to live happily to- 
 gether more than double the time that was promised to 
 Hezekiah by the prophet. He had reason to believe that he 
 was not to survive the fifty-fourth year of his age, and that 
 he was to leave his family in a state indescribable for a king 
 no less eminent for patriotism than piety ; yet he was very 
 thankful that he had so many days allowed him. Have not 
 you and I no less reason to be thankful that we have lived a 
 greater number of days, and that some of our best friends 
 have been spared to us for so long a portion of our time, and 
 that we have lived to see our children arrive at a period of 
 life in which we can form a comfortable estimate of their 
 character and probable prospects concerning their future be- 
 haviour, and their condition in another world. Consider the 
 good as well as the evil that you have received from God, 
 and the good which a gracious Providence brings out of the 
 bitterest evil allotted us on earth. 
 
 ' You have probably heard that we too have lost a much 
 loved member of our family ; but we did not consider him 
 altogether lost to us, because we hoped that he was more 
 alive to God than ever. 
 
 ' I have taken the liberty to send you a small book, of which I 
 beg your acceptance. If you look into it, it may possibly call 
 up to your remembrance some of those passages of Scripture 
 which were written aforetime for our consolation, that we, 
 through patience and comfort of the Scripture, might have hope. 
 
 ' With sincere sympathy and kind remembrance for your- 
 self and family, I ever am, yours affectionately, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Mr Grierson, on the Death of his Wife. 
 
 'SELKIRK, Sept. 1, 1815. 
 
 ' DEAR FRIEND, I am sorry that I was not in a state of 
 health to attend the funeral of our aunt, but I know that
 
 440 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 you would have many sympathizing friends and neighbours 
 on the mournful occasion. You must, no doubt, mourn ; but 
 I hope you will not forget the many reasons you have 
 patiently to submit to the will of God, and eveu to be thank- 
 ful. We ought not to forget the blessings we have enjoyed, 
 and still enjoy, when we are deprived even of those whom we 
 most valued. How few have lived so long as you have done 
 with the wife of your youth! If you had been as great a 
 favourite of Heaven as Abraham, you could not have obtained 
 a greater favour concerning the life of your wife than that 
 she should die in a good old age. She could not have hoped 
 to enjoy much pleasure in life, had it been prolonged for 
 many years to come. She came to the grave like a shock of 
 corn in its season, and it is to be hoped that she is now in a 
 state of bliss infinitely better than a thousand years of the 
 richest enjoyment which this world can afford. We were 
 happy to hear that she had of late recovered, to a consider- 
 able degree, her health ; but nothing in this world is certain, 
 and it is well ordered that it is so : the Providence as well 
 as the Word of God calls loudly to us to be always ready for 
 our departure. It is a great comfort for you to be beside 
 your daughter and her family. I doubt not that the young 
 members of it have been taught to remember the first com- 
 mandment with promise, and that you will find much satis- 
 faction in their dutiful attentions. Young persons can do 
 nothing better for themselves, nothing which they will in an 
 after period of life recollect with more pleasure, than their 
 dutiful offices to parents, whether in the first or second degree, 
 which have rendered their declining years comfortable. But 
 I believe you will enjoy your chief comfort in Him who was 
 dead and is alive for evermore. Our remaining days cannot 
 be long in this world; but our hope is in Him who hath 
 said, Because I lire, you shall live also. All the family unite 
 in kind regards and sympathy to you, and your daughter and 
 family. Your sincere friend, ' G. LAWSON.'
 
 THE FATHER AND HIS AFFLICTIONS. 441 
 
 Dr Lawson to Mrs Fairbairn, 
 
 ' February 3, 1818. 
 
 ' DEAR MADAM, I ought to make an apology for not sooner 
 returning an answer to the letter in which you express so 
 much kindness to my family, and so much depression of mind 
 on account of the affliction with which you have been visited ; 
 but what could I say on this subject that you have not 
 already learned from the Bible ? I doubt not that you have 
 often thoughts of the precious instructions contained in it, 
 and of the good examples of patience under affliction which 
 it sets before us. Our loss is, that we are so unable or in- 
 disposed to apply to ourselves the important truths which we 
 cannot but admire. We praise Job for his patience under 
 the awful stroke which deprived him at once of his whole 
 family, and a succeeding stroke which filled his body with 
 ulcers, and tormented him with all the pain which the devil 
 could inflict without killing him outright ; but our own spirits 
 
 fail under the afflictions which are common to men. We can 
 
 
 
 give good counsel to others from the Bible ; but when we are 
 called to follow our own advice to others, the great difference 
 between knowledge and practice soon appears. 
 
 ' We, too, have been visited by the hand of God since you 
 left the country. We have lost three dear children. Yet 
 wherefore should those complain who are punished less than 
 their iniquities deserve? We shall go to them, but they shall 
 not return to us. We are too forgetful of our latter end, 
 and we would have been still more so if all our children had 
 been spared to us. Why should we wish to live always in a 
 world which separates us from some of them whom we dearly 
 love ? Above all, why should we fear the thought of leav- 
 ing this world, and being with Him whom, if we are Chris- 
 tians, our souls love above all on earth or in heaven? We 
 all feel that the consolations of the Bible have too little effect 
 upon us ; and how often do we think of the most important
 
 442 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 truths without feeling their power or tasting their sweetness ? 
 But the Spirit of God is pronounced to be our Comforter by 
 the Scriptures. May that Divine Spirit fill you with all joy 
 and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through 
 the power of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 ' Those things are certainly best for us that wih 1 appear best 
 an hundred years hence. I hope you are further advanced in 
 preparation for a better world than you would have' been if 
 your worthy husband and children had been still around you. 
 You have been sore afflicted ; but what son or daughter is 
 there whom our heavenly Father chasteneth not ? He does 
 it for our profit. Let it be our earnest desire that we may 
 not be for ever separated from those whom we had reason to 
 love so tenderly while they were with us in this world. 
 Yours most sincerely, ' G. LAWSON.'
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 
 
 THE days of the years of Dr Lawson's pilgrimage must now 
 be summed up. He has entered what has been called ' the 
 grasshopper's country.' Ere long it shall be recorded of him, 
 as it is of another patriarch, ' And when Jacob had made an 
 end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the 
 bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his 
 people.' The infirmities of old age crept upon him very 
 gradually, and so as never seriously to interfere with the dis- 
 charge of his duties, either pastoral or professorial. He 
 became exceedingly sensitive to cold ; had to be carried in 
 a sedan-chair to church ; and wore, not a gown, but a 
 warm Scotch plaid, in the pulpit. For the same reason, the 
 meetings of the Hall were no longer held in the church, but 
 in his own dwelling-house. There was no one apartment 
 in it that could accommodate the students. He so far 
 remedied this, by throwing down a partition, and making 
 two rooms into one. Even this, however, did not meet the 
 necessity ; and the students that could not get admission 
 sat on the landing outside, or upon the steps of the stair that 
 led up to the Hall-room. They did not see, but they heard 
 the Professor. Such was their reverence for him, that, upon 
 the whole, neither trifling, nor any degree of uproariousness, 
 disgraced this ' outer court.' To his views and feelings 
 under the pressure of years, he thus affectingly alludes, in a 
 letter to a friend : 
 
 ' I certainly am become very feeble ; but I have reason
 
 444 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 to thank God that I am free from sickness, and mostly 
 from pain. I could walk but a small part of the way to 
 the meeting-house without extreme fatigue (he was now 
 regularly carried to church on Sabbath), and yet I can 
 preach for a decent length of time without much fatigue ; 
 and, I believe, I am as well heard as in my younger days. 
 I am now past my seventieth year, and I cannot expect 
 to recover the strength which I once had; but I am in 
 the hand of a good God, who has preserved me hitherto, and 
 sometimes delivered me from very alarming sicknesses. I 
 complain not that I share in the common lot of the old ; but I 
 bless God that I live, when so many of my acquaintances are 
 gone down to the grave, that I still enjoy many comforts, 
 and that I can still perform the chiefest part of my ministerial 
 work. I might have been happier in heaven than on earth ; 
 but, alas ! I need all the time that has been given me to pre- 
 pare to meet God in another world. May He grant that I 
 may not, after all, be found unprepared when the day comes, 
 on which I shall go whence I shall not return. It gives me 
 pleasure to hear that the brethren in your neighbourhood 
 interest themselves deeply in my welfare. I hope, if they 
 live to old age, they will meet with that respect from their 
 juniors which they pay now to their senior brethren. 
 
 ' We must look forward to changes in this world ; but we 
 have reason to be thankful not only for our present circum- 
 stances, but likewise for our ignorance of what is before us. 
 I know that I must die, and that soon ; but I by no means 
 wish to know when I am to be called out of the world, or 
 what I may be called to suffer before I leave it. My desire 
 is to be found ready to go when called by Him, to whose 
 sovereign pleasure it belongs to order everything that con- 
 cerns us. I often wonder that men should think so much on 
 a world in which they are to dwell but for a moment, and so 
 little upon that world in which they are to dwell for ever and 
 ever. On this moment depends eternity.'
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 445 
 
 If there were few incidents iu his days of action and use- 
 fulness, these became fewer, now that he could not even pay 
 his accustomed visits to his. brethren and neighbours. His 
 pen, however, availed him to the last. When they could not 
 visit him as in the days of old, they corresponded with him, 
 and he with them. In some of these letters, the richness 
 and beauty of matured saintship come softly and sweetly out. 
 We still hear in them the wisdom of the Christian sage ; but 
 there are added the accents and hues of a rapidly approach- 
 ing perfection. We select the following, which are the last 
 letters he ever wrote to his trusty old friends, Mr David 
 Greig, of Lochgelly; Dr Husband, of Dunfermline ; and 
 Robert Greig, Esq., of Lethangie. 
 
 Dr Lawson to Rev. D. Greig. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, 17 th April 1817. 
 
 ' MY BELOVED FRIEND, You had good reason to confide 
 in my tender sympathy with your distress. You know my 
 warm friendship for you ; and you remember what sympathy 
 I experienced from you in painful distresses, like that which 
 you now feel. But you know that you have infinitely better 
 reason to trust the compassion of Him who was in all points 
 tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Jesus seems not 
 to have exerted His power to save Himself from the loss of 
 His supposed father, who loved Him more dearly than any 
 real father ever loved his first-born or his only son. He 
 took part in all our griefs, that we might find ample consola- 
 tion under our sorrows in thinking of Him. In that He 
 Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able also to 
 succour them that are tempted. 
 
 ' I would have known almost without your information, that 
 you and our dear sister felt a peculiar attachment to William. 
 Your sensibilities were powerfully awakened by his infirmities ; 
 and your compassion added strength to your parental love. 
 Now, 'your thoughts will be powerfully drawn back to former
 
 446 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 scenes ; and his innocency and piety must warm your hearts. 
 Yet if any other of your dear children had been called out of 
 the world, remembrance would have been very busy concern- 
 ing them also, and might have almost persuaded you that 
 you had loved them beyond all your other children. 
 
 ' Often have I thought, with tender regret, of the innocency, 
 of the amiable manners, of the filial affection of those of my 
 children who were taken from me after their character was 
 developed. But I think with pleasure on any evidences which 
 they appeared to give of their piety. I have said, and I am 
 persuaded you will agree with me in it, that I should wish, if 
 such calamities were again to befall me, that it might please 
 God to take those away who were best fitted to leave the 
 world. The pain of separation to us is a thing that scarcely 
 deserves a thought, compared with the eternal importance of 
 the event to themselves. 
 
 ' The days are drawing on that you and I must ourselves 
 leave the world ; and, in the view of your latter end, the 
 departure of your son before you may save you much anxiety. 
 Your other children will stand in much less need of a 
 parent's care. 
 
 ' I was this day visiting an amiable woman, the wife of one 
 of my elders, who was much afflicted at the fear of losing her, 
 for which he has, I am afraid, too good reason. He told me 
 that he found the loss of children very heavy, but the loss of 
 his beloved wife would be far more difficult to be borne. 
 God is still preserving you, and may He long preserve you, 
 to one another. Your present affliction may be the more 
 severely felt, that it is the first of the kind ; but you will 
 surely consider what reason you have to be thankful that you 
 are only beginning to feel such a bitter calamity. 
 
 ' I have heard of William's piety from others besides you ; 
 and I hope his departure from the world will have a good 
 effect on all who remain of the family. Whilst they rejoice 
 in the thought that he is in a state of happiness, they will not
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 447 
 
 be able to bear the thought of an eternal separation from him 
 whom they loved so dearly, and whose loss to them will be 
 felt with so much pain. 
 
 ' I should be glad to hear oftener from you, although no 
 incidents of a painful kind should occur to be communicated. 
 Letters are but an insufficient substitute for visits ; yet letters 
 from you have always given me great pleasure (unless the 
 pleasure were counteracted by disagreeable information, which 
 it has seldom been). It is now half a century since our warm 
 and uninterrupted friendship commenced. Fain would I 
 indulge the delightful hope, that, in far less space of time, our 
 friendship will be incomparably more fervent and pure than 
 ever. 
 
 ' I wish I had as little reason to stand in fear of myself as 
 for you. I am, ever yours, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Rev. D. Greig. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, 7th May 1818 
 
 ' MY DEAR AND ANCIENT FRIEND, I believe you will more 
 easily forgive me than I can excuse myself, for not answering 
 sooner your affectionate letter. 
 
 ' One of my chief pleasures must now be to hear from you, 
 as I have now no hope of ever seeing yon again at Lochgelly, 
 and I can seldom, if ever, expect to see you again at Selkirk. 
 
 ' I have, however, many things to console me, and to be a 
 subject of thanksgiving. You are still, as I am informed, 
 enjoying a better state of health than I once thought you 
 would ever enjoy. The remembrance of past days in your 
 society calls up many pleasant thoughts. I am still able to 
 enjoy the pleasure of books, and have much satisfaction in 
 my own family. But time would fail me to mention all the 
 favours which both you and I have received, and still receive, 
 from the gracious providence of God ; and, if I am what I 
 profess to be, my intercourse of friendship with you, and with 
 some others whom I love, is yet in its beginning. Much do
 
 448 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 I wish that you may be yet spared some years on earth, to 
 your family and friends ; but the years assigned to us in this 
 world must give place to eternal ages. How delightful it is 
 to think of being rejoined to those beloved friends who were 
 once separated from us on earth ! But unspeakably more 
 delightful must it be, to the lovers of Christ, to think of being 
 for ever present with Him, who loved them, and gave Himself 
 for them, and is gone to prepare a place for them in His 
 Father's house. 
 
 ' I do not recollect whether you have heard from me since 
 I lost a dearly beloved member of my family, my youngest 
 daughter. It was the loss of one of the richest of my earthly 
 comforts. But I had good reason to think that our loss was 
 great gain to herself. She had been pleasant to us in her 
 life, and she still affords us pleasant recollections and pleasant 
 hopes. 
 
 ' Yon, too, will be thankful that you have reason for such 
 pleasant thoughts concerning the second child of whom you 
 have been bereaved. God grant that you may always have 
 a rich source of comfort in your surviving children. A very 
 large proportion of our earthly comfort depends upon our 
 children. I believe, if young persons knew and considered 
 how much of the happiness of their parents is involved in 
 their conduct, it would be a powerful stimulus, at least, to 
 decency of manners. 
 
 ' I am confident that my kind friend and sister still remem- 
 bers me with the partiality of a friend, both to herself and to 
 her husband. She must be happy and thankful that a hus- 
 band so well and so justly beloved has been so long spared to 
 her, and that her health of body is not worse than it is. 
 
 ' Cheering are the prospects that our religion gives us. 
 Blessed be God, that, when fears take possession of our souls, 
 we are authorized still to trust in Him who is abundant in 
 goodness and truth to sinners. Often have I thought with 
 pleasure on the publican's prayer, and its happy success.
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 449 
 
 ' All my friends share with me in my warm attachment to 
 the friend of my youth, and in my cordial desires for grace 
 and peace to every member of his family. Forget not to 
 communicate to your brother of Lethangie, and to his com- 
 panion in life, my warm wishe? for their welfare, and that of 
 their family. Never can I forget the place where I spent so 
 many of the happiest hours of my youth. I should like, also, 
 to be remembered to my old friend of Turf hills, and to your 
 brother Mr Robert. I ever am, most affectionately yours, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 ' SELKIEK, 26ZA July 1819. 
 
 ' MY DEAR FRIEND, I need not tell you how much I re- 
 joice to hear of your deliverance from your late distress. 
 You have now, I hope, found pleasure more than sufficient 
 to compensate all the pain you felt iu the day of distress. 
 Health is now more than doubly pleasant when it is restored 
 to us after sickness. 
 
 ' Although I have lost many of my early friends, I cannot 
 be too thankful that some not less dear than those which I 
 have lost are still spared to me. Some of them have been 
 taken from me that I may not be too fond of the present life, 
 but others are left that I may not become weary of the world. 
 
 ' What space of life is left to you or me, or to any of our 
 friends, we cannot say. I often think of the time as not now 
 far distant, when I shall be taken from my friends, or they 
 from me. When that time comes, we will have reason to be 
 thankful that we have been spared to ourselves and to one 
 another so long. And if we look for the mercy of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ unto eternal life, it will fill us with joy that we 
 are for ever to be rejoined with those whom we most dearly 
 loved, and whom we had most reason to love. 
 
 ' I would have been angry with your colleague for not 
 answering my letter sooner, were it not for a maxim which I 
 
 a F
 
 450 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 wish to observe, not to be displeased with anything done, or 
 omitted to be done, by those whom I esteem, till I know the 
 reasons of their conduct. 
 
 4 If I were such as I have been in former days, you would 
 long since have seen me ; yet I am very thankful that I am 
 such as I am. I do not feel my friendly affections diminished, 
 and I would gladly hope that the time is now approaching 
 when they will be more fervent, and give me more happiness 
 than they ever could give me in this world. 
 
 ' I would gladly follow the example of our friend Mr 
 Gilfillan, who professed that he did not feel the days of old 
 age less pleasant than the days of youth. 
 
 ' I believe it is only the humble hope of a life everlasting 
 beyond the grave that can make such language the language 
 of truth. But are we not called to look for the mercy of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life ? I am far from being 
 such as many of my friends have been, but I have the same 
 sure grounds of faith laid down for me in the Word of God, 
 and the authority of God requires me to believe on the name 
 of His Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 ' One of my chief remaining comforts is, that I can still 
 read and write. I will be very happy to hear from you as 
 soon as you find it consistent with your state of body and 
 mind to favour me with intelligence concerning an object so 
 interesting to me as your health and happiness. I am, ever 
 yours, < G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Husband. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, September 1819. 
 
 ' DEAR FRIEND, I rejoice greatly hi your deliverance, 
 although I am informed that you. still think it advisable to 
 return to the mineral waters which you found so salutary. A 
 partial restoration of health I have found exceedingly delight- 
 ful after sickness. And the God who hath delivered and 
 doth deliver, will, I trust, yet deliver you. What reason
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 451 
 
 have we to love the Lord our God for the many deliverances 
 granted to us or to those who were dear to us as ourselves 
 He that is our God is the God of salvation. 
 
 ' You have met, however, with a heavy trial in the death 
 of your grandchild. But we who live so long, and have been 
 blessed with families and friends, need not be surprised that we 
 meet with such afflictions. If God has spared us to old age, 
 we have lived longer than the greater part of our race has 
 done for these many thousand years past. Let us be thank- 
 ful that some, that many, of our friends are left when others 
 are taken from us. 
 
 ' The day is coming when we must be taken away from 
 our families and friends. In reading the lives of men who 
 are now gone from the world, we find that many more of 
 them have died before than after seventy years. I do not 
 recollect that any of the sovereigns of England, before George 
 II., lived so long, except Elizabeth. None of the kings of 
 David's family, after himself, attained that age. Through 
 the long-suffering of God I have now gone beyond that 
 period. God grant me and you length of days for ever and 
 ever in a better world. 
 
 4 It would be ungrateful to our great Benefactor to indulge 
 gloomy reflections 011 the pleasures that are past never to 
 return. Ought we not to think with delight and thankfulness 
 on the comforts with which many of our former days were 
 sweetened ? And ought not Christians to rejoice in hope of 
 better days than they ever could enjoy on earth ? I know 
 that you are still my cordial friend, and doubt not that you 
 often remember me in your prayers. 
 
 4 You doubtless rejoice with me that our beloved friend Mr 
 Greig has enjoyed such a degree of health for a considerable 
 time past. Yet the time cannot be far distant when one or 
 other of us must be lost to the survivors for the little time 
 that will be left to them. But the interval will not be long. 
 Although our departed friends will not return to us, we shall
 
 452 THE LIFE OF DB LAWSON. 
 
 soon go to them if we are members of the same body. All 
 that concerns us is in the hands of Him who knows far better 
 than we do what is good and what is not good for us. I am, 
 ever yours and Mrs Husband's sincere friend, 
 
 ' G. LAAVSON.' 
 
 Dr Laivson to Robert Greig, Esq., of Lethangie. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, Wth April 1819. 
 
 ' DEAR SIR, The cordial friendship with which I was in 
 some days of life favoured by the family of Lethangie, has 
 always disposed me to take a warm interest in its prosperity. 
 It was in your house that, more than half a century ago, I 
 formed that warm friendship with Mr David Greig, which 
 has been one of the chief pleasures of my life. You will not 
 therefore wonder that I heard with grief of the departure 
 from this world of your elder brother, although he had lived 
 longer than most other men live in this world. However 
 long the death of those whom we love and esteem is deferred, 
 it must be deeply felt when the separating stroke takes place. 
 His widow must deeply feel the loss of the beloved half of 
 herself; his children must feel the loss of an affectionate 
 father. His brothers and sisters must all be afflicted with 
 the stroke that has removed from their eyes the elder branch 
 of their father's family. I thought you was likely to feel the 
 deepest depression of spirits, after having lived with him in 
 the same house between seventy and eighty years. I think 
 few in the kingdom have lived so long in the same house 
 with a brother; and I suppose your manner of being together 
 was such as not to diminish, but always to increase, your 
 mutual affection, and so to render the pain of separation more 
 severe. 
 
 ' But I hope your sorrows and the sorrows of your friends 
 on this occasion will be regulated by reason and religion, and 
 that it will not be unattended with that consolation which 
 our religion is so well calculated to inspire. Your brother, I
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 453 
 
 trust, was one of that happy number of which it is said, ' that 
 they shall never die, in that thougu they were dead yet shall 
 they live.' The separating stroke, too, will be useful to your- 
 self; it will contribute much to detach your affection from 
 those objects to which they too eagerly cleave, and to in- 
 vigorate your preparation for that world into which you and 
 I must soon go. The last letter which Dr Park's friends (the 
 traveller) in this country received from him gave them an 
 account of the death of a pious brother, Mr Anderson. And 
 I never forget one of the observations made in it, which I 
 believe has been since that time verified. He said that he 
 hoped the death of his friend, and his dying behaviour, would 
 be a happy means of preparing him for his own death when 
 that event should come. Whilst you feel the stroke of the 
 rod of God, I hope you will be thankful that you so long 
 enjoyed the pleasure of his society, and that so many pleasant 
 friends are left to you. 
 
 ' You and I have now lost a great part of the friends of 
 our youth. I think none of my old acquaintance of your 
 neighbourhood are now left, except Mr Henderson, of Turf- 
 hills. I am not sure whether Mr Stedman (the weaver in 
 Kinross) is still alive. How dreadful would it be for me to be 
 for ever separated from such friends as Andrew Swanston or 
 George Henderson ; but it would be infinitely more dreadful 
 to be for ever separated from Jesus Christ. We will thank 
 God hereafter for many things that are now very unpleasant 
 to us. You will, I hope, see one day reason to bless God for 
 all the privations which you have suffered. Those things are 
 certainly best for us that do most good to our souls ; and 
 Solomon tells us that by the sadness of the countenance the 
 heart is made better. 
 
 ' When we look forward to the day of our own death, we 
 sometimes feel anxious fears, lest we should be finally rejected 
 by our Judge. Alas, how many bad things are to be found 
 with us, which would strike us with horror, if we had not
 
 454 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 such clear discoveries of infinite mercy with God ! You and 
 I may find it difficult to know whether our hearts are right 
 in the sight of God. But one thing we know (and oh how 
 delightful is the knowledge of it !), that there is forgiveness 
 with God, and that Jesus Christ has said, " Him that cometh 
 unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." To whom, blessed 
 Jesus, shall we come, but unto Thee? Behold, we come unto 
 Thee, for Thou art able and willing to save to the uttermost. 
 Lord, we believe ; help our unbelief. I have not the pleasure 
 of being much acquainted with your sister-in-law, or with the 
 young family ; but they will noc be displeased to hear from 
 you that I heartily sympathize with them. I hope the young 
 persons will endeavour to walk in the path that will lead to 
 a happy reunion with those friends whom they had most 
 reason to love. May grace and peace be with you, and with 
 all your friends, living and dying. I am, your sincere friend, 
 
 ' GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 The rumour now went all over the country that the vener- 
 able Lawson, of Selkirk, was dying. All that personally 
 knew him were made sad by it. They felt that one of their 
 nearest and dearest of earthly friends was passing away. The 
 Church at large anticipated the days of her mourning for one 
 of her 'princes and great men.' His own sons were most 
 deeply touched, as we read in what follows from his son 
 George 
 
 Rev. George Lawson to Dr Lawson. 
 
 1 KILMARNOCK, April 30, 1819. 
 
 ' DEAR FATHER, Although I have nothing of any moment 
 to communicate, yet I write at this time in consequence of 
 having heard that of late your health has not been so vigor- 
 ous as before. You will not wonder that, hearing this report 
 from different quarters, I should feel much surprised that I 
 had heard nothing of it from Selkirk. This circumstance
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 455 
 
 even led me to think that the report was totally unfounded, 
 till on hearing, a few days ago, from Andrew, I learned that 
 he had been to see you ; and though he found you better than 
 report had represented, yet you were more infirm than usual. 
 This led me the more to wonder that I had not heard directly 
 from you on the subject. I should think it is not necessary 
 to say that, in such a case, I must naturally feel great anxiety 
 to know how the truth really stands. 
 
 ' May 5th. I have been, in some measure, informed by 
 some brethren who heard of your state at the Synod, and am 
 unspeakably gratified to learn that you are considerably 
 better ; and I am sure that this intelligence is gratifying not 
 to me alone, but to all^who feel an interest in the prosperity 
 of religion, and more especially to the body with which you 
 are peculiarly connected. I see, by looking over the list in 
 the almanack, that, so far as I can judge, more than a 
 hundred of the ministers have been under your immediate 
 tutorage as Professor. 
 
 ' I was a good deal interested in meeting, the other day, a 
 man who lives in this neighbourhood, who heard you, at 
 Burnshields, before you were ordained. He says that he 
 heard you both preach and examine ; and that, in those days, 
 you were so bashful, that, in examining, you commonly kept 
 your face covered with your hand. 
 
 ' Some of Mr Jeffray's note-books have fallen into my 
 possession. In one of them are some letters, apparently 
 transcribed on account of the point and naivete and laconic 
 brevity which is in the expression. One of them is from 
 Hume, the historian, to a Professor, requesting a ticket to his 
 class for a student who was too poor to pay for it. Another 
 is from you to Dr Caverhill, requesting medical advice for 
 the wife of one of your elders. I mention this, though you 
 may perhaps think it insignificant, merely because I was both 
 amused, as you may perhaps be, and gratified to find yon thus 
 distinguished and associated in any way with Hume. I have
 
 456 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 lent the book, or I would transcribe them. That of Hume 
 
 is to this effect : " is a Christian, and, like his Master, has 
 
 little to recommend him but his poverty. If you can help 
 him on his road to heaven, by giving him a ticket for your 
 class, you will oblige, etc." Yours is something to this effect : 
 After telling who the person is, you request his advice, and 
 desire him to place it to the account of the Friend of man 
 and the Saviour of sinners. But there was something more 
 of it which added to the zest. 
 
 ' I understand that I am appointed to supply for you on 
 the last Sabbath in August, and the first in September : so 
 that I hope to see you before a very long period elapse ; and 
 I trust to find you in as good health as can be expected. 
 Your most affectionate son, ' GEORGE LATVSON.' 
 
 The following letters to his son Andrew wind up his 
 correspondence with that most amiable and excellent man : 
 
 ' SELKIEK, 1819. 
 
 ' DEAR ANDREW, Your late narrow escape from your 
 perilous situation, I hope, will never be forgotten by you. 
 Life will be a blessing indeed to you, if you are duly careful 
 to employ every day in work which may give you pleasure, 
 on reflection, during your future years. Never will you have 
 learned too much of the Book of God. All who have the 
 work of the ministry in view, ought, in particular, to be well 
 acquainted with the two Epistles to Timothy, and that to 
 Titus. It is a great privilege to have the opportunity of 
 preaching the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. May you 
 be long enabled to perform that most honourable and impor- 
 tant work, in a manner fitted to edify your hearers, and with 
 profit to your own soul. May God still preserve your life ; 
 and may He richly furnish you for any service to which He 
 may call you. But if we hope for such grace from God, we 
 must use the means which He has appointed. We know
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 457 
 
 how Timothy was so richly furnished for the work of an 
 evangelist. If God spares us for years to come, we ought 
 to adore His long-suffering, and to make such an improve- 
 ment of His providential dispensations, as will afford us 
 comfort when the time of our departure from this world of 
 sin and suffering draweth near. Wishing you every blessing, 
 spiritual and temporal, I ever am, your affectionate father, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 ' SELKIRK, April 1819. 
 
 ' DEAR ANDREW, Your wish that I should write some 
 memoir of the days of my youth comes too late ; it is bat a 
 very indistinct account that I could now give of my younger 
 years. But should you be favoured with a life as long as 
 mine, it may be useful to you to have, many years hence, 
 some memorials of what is now passing in your mind, or 
 family, or congregation. Should my youthful exercises of 
 mind be recorded, they would bear no comparison with those 
 of some of our fathers ; but I would fain hope that through 
 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ I shall be saved even as 
 they. My health continues much as you saw it. I have 
 great reason to be thankful for two things : that I am little 
 troubled with pain, and that I find little difficulty in perform- 
 ing the public work of the sanctuary. I have warnings in 
 my body that I am approaching my long home, but I desire 
 to look for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal 
 life. If my hopes do not deceive me, I will again see your 
 amiable predecessor, and be joined with many beloved friends, 
 from whom it would be terrible to be for ever separated ; but 
 to be with Christ is far better. . . . Your affectionate 
 father, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 ' SELKIRK, August 1819. 
 
 ' PEAR ANDREW, I am very glad to see one of your 
 friends in this place, and to hear that you still give satis-
 
 458 THE LIFE OF DB LAWSON. 
 
 faction to your hearers. May God render you more and more 
 acceptable, and, what is of far more importance, useful to 
 your hearers. I find that you do not grudge the labour of 
 preaching when opportunity offers. Why should we ? How 
 thankful ought we to be for opportunities to do good to the 
 souls of men, especially when we can do it without incon- 
 venience or danger to ourselves, to which our fathers were 
 often exposed, and to which missionaries in many parts of 
 the world are still exposed. I have read a few of the last 
 published volumes of Chalmers' Sermons with much satis- 
 faction. He observes, among other things, that there is a 
 very great difference between the approbation of sermons and 
 receiving benefit from them, and that earnest prayer is no 
 less necessary for the Divine blessing upon our labours, than 
 the exertion of our powers of body and mind in performing 
 them. This, indeed, we might learn from Paul ; but how often 
 do we overlook in practice what ought to dwell always in 
 our mind ! Your affectionate father ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 SELKIRK, Dec. 14, 1819. 
 
 ' DEAR ANDREW, I was much pleased with the sentiments 
 you express in your last letter, as to the success of your 
 ministry. This is a matter of far greater importance, in the 
 eye of every faithful minister, than the esteem in which his 
 pulpit labours are held by his hearers. 
 
 ' You will probably have heard, before this reach you, of 
 the sudden departure from this world of my good friend Mr 
 Elder, who has been thirty-eight years my neighbour. His 
 death was quite unexpected ; but, by his sudden removal, he 
 was probably preserved from much pain, and from much 
 anxiety about the cares that might have occupied his mind 
 in the prospect of death. No man has left fewer enemies, and 
 few have left a greater number of mourners. He was deserv- 
 edly much beloved by his congregation. 
 
 * We must look forward to changes in this world ; but we
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 459 
 
 have reason to be thankful, not only for our present circum- 
 stances, but likewise for our ignorance of futurity. I know 
 that I must die, and I know that, at my time of life, I cannot 
 reasonably expect such continuance of health as I usually 
 enjoyed at your age ; but I by no means wish to know when 
 I am to be called out of the world, or what I may be called 
 on to suffer before I leave it. My desire is, that I may be 
 found ready to go when I am called by Him to whose sove- 
 reign pleasure it belongs to order everything that concerns 
 me. May the Lord be ever with you. Your affectionate 
 father, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 Old age has been sometimes represented as selfish and un- 
 sympathizing. It was not so in the case of Dr Lawson. His 
 heart was as fresh with the dews of friendship at the close as 
 at the beginning of his career, and overflowed with generous 
 sentiment to the last. A very pleasing savour comes from 
 the following expressions of his regard for the comfort of the 
 friends whom he tries to strengthen and counsel : 
 
 Dr Lawson to an Old Friend who had lost his Wife and Seven 
 Children. 
 
 ' DEAR SIR, Though you be surprised, I flatter myself 
 you will not be displeased to hear from an old friend, 
 especially when I state that my single design in addressing 
 you is to endeavour to impart that consolation of which, 
 from your numerous and heavy trials, you can scarcely fail 
 to be greatly in need. 
 
 ' What a chequered scene is the life of man ! How calm 
 and serene may the morning be, and yet by mid-day how 
 many dark clouds may obscure the sky, what boisterous 
 storms may rage ! Alas, how painfully have you felt this 
 verified in your history ! Tis but yesterday since, together, 
 we, free from corroding care, plied our pleasing vocation at 
 P , and at evening, set free, rambled by the light of the
 
 460 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 moon amid the neighbouring hills, in an interchange of senti- 
 ments the recollection of which still recalls to my mind many 
 delightful associations ; and since that time you have entered 
 into the connubial relation, and have seen your children 
 springing up like olive plants around your table ; and now 
 again you have been deprived of all, have buried in their 
 graves many of your most ardent affections and sanguine 
 hopes, and been left to pursue your journey alone. 
 
 ' These, my dear sir, are heavy trials indeed, and I do 
 sincerely feel for you the deepest sympathy. I acknowledge, 
 however, that my sympathy or that of any mere creature, can 
 do but little for you ; but I may be allowed to remind you of 
 the efficiency of His sympathy who breaks not the bruised 
 reed nor quenches the smoking flax, who wept at the grave 
 of His friend Lazarus, and who, though exalted to heaven, 
 still wears our nature, and feels acutely every pang that rends 
 the heart of any of His people. He is a merciful as well as a 
 faithful high priest, and it is this attribute especially that 
 renders Him so suitable to His people's necessities while they 
 dwell in this land of sorrow. 
 
 ' Your case is very hard, yet it might have been worse. 
 Job lost all his children, and that when grown to maturity, 
 by a violent death : his wife was spared to him only to make 
 his trial heavier, his body was smitten with a painful and 
 loathsome disease, and he was deprived of all his possessions ; 
 yet such was the influence of Divine grace upon his soul, that 
 he could say from the heart, " The Lord gave, and the Lord 
 hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." That 
 grace is as free to you as it was to him. Use then, I entreat 
 you, the means of obtaining it by humble and fervent prayer. 
 " Ask, and ye shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find." God can 
 make up in various ways for such bereavements. He did so 
 to Job, and He is able to do so to you. Only believe, and 
 you will see the salvation of the Lord. 
 
 ' How comfortable to reflect that our pious friends de-
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 461 
 
 parted, are not lost! Their souls are happy, and their 
 bodies, though reduced for a season to their primeval element, 
 shall live anew. If we are followers of them, in so far as they 
 were of Christ, we shall meet them in a more felicitous state 
 of being, where the impossibility of separation shall form an 
 important element of enjoyment. . . . Farewell, from 
 
 ' GEORGE LAWSON.' 
 
 Dr Lawson to a Student. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, Aug. 1818. 
 
 ' DEAR SIR, I was sorry to hear that you had determined 
 to change your views as to the study of divinity, although I 
 could not but respect the motives by which you were under- 
 stood to be actuated. There is, indeed, an awful responsi- 
 bility attached to the ministerial office ; yet I am disposed 
 to suspect that your sense of this responsibility has suggested 
 measures for your adoption, which you will not see good 
 reason, in the future part of your life, to approve. What 
 would have been the result, if no man of a tender conscience 
 could have taken upon him an office of such responsibility ? 
 Would not truth have fallen in our streets, and in every part 
 of the earth ? Would not the dispensations of the ordinances 
 of Christ have been left to those who studied more to please 
 man than God ? 
 
 ' You thought yourself unqualified to undertake the mini- 
 sterial office, because you could not trust to your ability, or 
 to your inflexible integrity, for performing the duties of it in 
 a right manner ; and surely you had no great reason to trust 
 either to your talents or your resolutions. But ought you not 
 to have trusted in Christ for grace to perform duties to which 
 you seemed evidently called by Divine Providence. Every 
 faithful minister is strong, not in himself, but in the grace 
 which is in Christ Jesus, through whom we may be enabled 
 to perform with acceptance the most difficult duties. Without 
 it, we are unable to perform aright those we account the most
 
 462 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 simple. I know not what line of life you have in view ; but 
 certainly, whatever it is, you will have duties to perform and 
 temptations to avoid. That you may perform the one and be 
 preserved from the other, you must depend on the grace that 
 is in Christ Jesus ; but is not this grace as sufficient for 
 ministers of the Gospel as for men of any other profession ? 
 
 ' Do you not trust to Christ for salvation to your soul ? 
 But have we not the same ground for committing the salva- 
 tion of our souls into His hand, that we have for trusting in 
 His strength for enabling us acceptably to perform the duties 
 of any situation in which He is pleased to place us? "We 
 are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves," 
 says the Apostle ; and yet the same believer says, " I can do all 
 things through Christ which strengthened me." I hope you 
 will give due weight to the use that some may make of your 
 relinquishing that profession to which Providence has directed 
 your studies. They will allege that serious impressions of 
 religion tend to disqualify men for experiencing that comfort 
 which is enjoyed by others, and to unfit them for the perform- 
 ance of other duties which they ought to fulfil. Some may 
 even think that doubts about the principles of our holy faith 
 have obtained entrance into your mind. We cannot, indeed, 
 prevent men frqm entertaining groundless suspicions, nor 
 ought we to sin against the light of our own conscience, to 
 prevent sin in others ; yet we ought to avoid everything that 
 may be a stumbling-block to the weak, or that may give 
 occasion of offence to them that seek it. We cannot enter- 
 tain too humble thoughts of ourselves, but we must not place 
 humility of mind in a disbelief of the precious promises which 
 God hath given us to prepare us for undertaking any service 
 which He requires. I hope, before you finally relinquish your 
 present employment, you will seek counsel from Him who has 
 promised to direct the steps of them who acknowledge Him 
 in all their ways. I am, your sincere friend, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.'
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 463 
 
 Dr Lawson fo Mrs Vogan. 
 
 ' SELKIRK, April 29, 1818. 
 
 ' DEAR FRIEND, I cannot now, as in former days, have 
 the pleasure of seeing yon aud ray friend Mr V. in- your own 
 house ; so I must with the pen express my sympathy with you 
 for the loss of a well-beloved sister whom God has been 
 pleased to remove from our eyes, that she may enjoy, I hope, 
 a felicity unspeakably transcending all that she could ever 
 have enjoyed in that society which this world affords. I never 
 saw friends more deeply penetrated with concern and grief 
 than her relations. I most sincerely sympathize with them, 
 and especially with her husband, whose future days will be 
 clouded with the remembrance of past pleasures, never to 
 return. Your sister possessed in a great degree, amongst 
 other virtues, the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. She 
 well deserved, and she completely gained, the affection of all 
 who had the pleasure of knowing her. I had reason to 
 believe, from conversations with her, that her troubles and 
 deliverances were blessed to her ; and that the God of mercy 
 was preparing her, by previous dispensations of providence, 
 for that import act change which was awaiting her. 
 
 ' We have lost many pleasant friends within a short period. 
 You are aware that we have lately lost a very pleasant mem- 
 ber of our own family. Our friends will, when a few more 
 days or years are past, lose us. How dreadful would it be 
 for us to be for ever separated from those we had most reason 
 to love on earth ! But the grace which abounded in them, 
 will, I hope, preserve us from an eternal separation. God 
 grant that you may enjoy the comforts of religion through 
 life, and at your latter end. I am, ever your sincere friend, 
 
 ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 There is something exceedingly affecting in seeing old and 
 tried Christian friends, who had together struggled up the
 
 464 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 ' Hill Difficulty,' taking such solemn farewells of each other 
 as is done in the following communication from one of his 
 most attached friends and devoted admirers Mr Macfarlane, 
 of Dunfermline. They stand for a moment on the summit of 
 ' Nebo,' and disappear : 
 
 Rev. James Macfarlane to Dr Lawson. 
 
 ' DUNFERMLINE, nth July 1819. 
 
 4 DEAR SIR, I am extremely sorry that your very friendly 
 epistle should have been so long unanswered. The reason is 
 this. Colleague and I, some days before your letter reached 
 Dunfermliue, had gone to Pitcaithley Wells, from which we 
 did not return till last night. Owing to the inconsideration 
 of friends at home, your letter was not forwarded to me. 
 This I beg you will sustain as an apology for my apparent 
 neglect. Colleague is greatly better for drinking of the water 
 of Pitcaithley. I entertain sanguine hopes that he will soon 
 be quite well. Perhaps you have heard of medicinal wells at 
 Dunblane. After a few days' rest we propose going there to 
 drink of them for a week or two. By that time we hope that, 
 by the blessing of Him who saith, " I am the Lord that 
 healeth thee," we shall return to our habitations in peace and 
 health. 
 
 Yes, Doctor, our dear friends are dropping away one after 
 another, and our time must come must soon come. In 
 reflecting on this, I sometimes chide myself for feeling uneasy 
 at the thought of going the way I shall never return, especially 
 when I consider that, though I am to part with friends whom 
 I highly value and tenderly love, yet I shall go to meet with 
 them whom I more highly valued and more tenderly loved. 
 But I am bewildered when I begin to reflect how departed 
 spirits associate with each other, and eommunicate their feel- 
 ings and sentiments. Were you now by my side, you would 
 probably check me by saying, " What thou knowest not now, 
 thou shalt know hereafter." But I am forgetting that this
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 465 
 
 is Saturday, and that I have to prepare both for a part of 
 the public services of to-morrow at home, and for doing duty 
 at Limekilns, where the sacrament of our Lord's Supper is 
 dispensed. Colleague is to preach a short sermon to our own 
 people on the afternoon of to-morrow, which he has not done 
 for four Sabbaths. I had almost forgotten your kind in- 
 quiries after my own situation. In the month of April I had 
 a small shock, somewhat like that which has carried off Mr 
 Duncauson, and it is not improbable that another and severer 
 shock awaits me. At present, however, I am very well, only 
 occasionally troubled with a dizziness in my head. Both 
 colleague and I were a good deal moved by your simple but 
 pathetic remark, " I cannot now come over to visit you, but I 
 will never forget you." And shall we behold our friend no 
 more in this world ? O to be fitted for that glorious world, 
 where all who die in the Lord shall meet to part no more for 
 ever ! Colleague most cordially unites with me in the kindest 
 regards to you, Mrs Lawson, and family. Excuse haste, and 
 believe me, dear Doctor, ever yours, 
 
 ' JAMES MACFARLANE.' 
 
 A few months only before his death, there was an arrival 
 at Selkirk which threw the inmates of the manse into unusual 
 excitement. This was no less a personage than his ancient 
 friend Dr Waugh, who was now on his last tour to Scotland, 
 on the business, so dear to his large heart, of the London Mis- 
 sionary Society. The two old men embraced each other, 
 heart to heart. They had seen each other only once or twice 
 since the days when, on ' Stitchel Brae,' they had met and 
 worshipped. The present was forgotten, and the future also 
 for a time gave place to the memories of that never to be 
 forgotten period. They talked of communion Sabbaths, 
 especially at Stitchel, and the fires from the old altars there 
 seemed again to be kindled before them. Of their pious 
 intimacy there we have heard. An eye and ear witness has 
 
 2 G
 
 466 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 told the compiler, that she remembers still of Lawson of Sel- 
 kirk, Waugh of London, Elder of Newtown, and Young of 
 Jedburgh, having at one time assisted her husband at Stitchel ; 
 and that, when other strangers had left, Mr Lawson and Mr 
 Waugh remained over the Monday evening. Of that even- 
 ing's conversation between the two, Mr M'Lae used to say, 
 that listening to them enabled him in some measure to realize 
 what would be the happiness of heaven. The subsequent 
 intercourse of these two friends was, of necessity, abridged 
 by Mr Waugh's translation to London. He had been or- 
 dained at Newtown only a few years after Dr Lawson's 
 settlement in Selkirk ; and though his ministry there scarcely 
 reached two years, its savour went over all that country side, 
 so that his first and only sacrament there was attended by 
 a great multitude of the surrounding congregations. After 
 listening to the address which he gave upon that occasion at 
 the Lord's table, Mr Coventry, who was assisting him, ex- 
 claimed, ' what lofty expressions ! what exalted views of 
 the perfections of the Almighty ! what a bright star this 
 young man promises to be !' 
 
 In writing to Mrs Waugh, Dr Waugh briefly refers to this 
 his last interview with his old friend : ' I found Dr Lawson 
 and family in good health, except for his deafness and partial 
 imbecility in his limbs, which furnishes an opportunity to his 
 good people of providing a sedan-chair for him, to carry him, 
 as the deacons of Ephesus carried the aged Apostle John, to 
 the pulpit every Sabbath. His folk gave me a good collec- 
 tion L.21 besides a guinea which a friend of Alexander's 
 Mr Pringle, of Whytbank sent over to me.' 
 
 In the union of the two great branches of the Secession 
 Church Dr Lawson took a profound interest. Along with 
 his friend Dr Husband, he helped it on by all the means in 
 his power, partaking in no degree of the shyness or fears of 
 several of the brethren on both sides. It is truly refreshing 
 to find such Catholicity of spirit among these early magnates
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 467 
 
 of our Church. In reference to the union, we find Dr Hus- 
 band, in a letter to Dr Lawson, thus expressing himself: 
 ' We are to have business of a very important nature before 
 us at next meeting of Synod. The idea of union and co- 
 operation among the friends of truth is very pleasant, and 
 ought, if possible, to be carried into practice. But whether 
 the terms of union between us and our Antiburgher brethren 
 can be such as will answer the purposes of edification, remains 
 yet to be seen. We had a very agreeable meeting at the 
 committee. The brethren on the other side, almost all of 
 whom were perfect strangers to me, appeared in a very 
 respectable light, both in regard to talent and Christian 
 temper.' Dr Lawson was asked by the late Dr Beattie what 
 were his sentiments upon this contemplated union. The 
 Professor expressed his high approbation of it, and added, 
 somewhat facetiously, ' Perhaps, however, it might be proper 
 to ask some satisfaction from the Antiburghers for having 
 excommunicated us Burghers.' Much as he longed to wit- 
 ness its consummation, this pleasure was denied him. He 
 had gone over to the general assembly of the church of the 
 first-born eight months previously. Had he lived till Sep- 
 tember 1820 he would have graced it with his venerable 
 presence, and blessed it with his prayers. His interest indeed, 
 and his zeal in all the great public religious questions of the 
 day, never flagged. There was life in the old man for them 
 all to the last. In his views and feelings upon the missionary 
 enterprise, he was ahead of his times. To the London 
 Society, of which Dr Waugh was one of the founders, he 
 gave his heart, his hand, and his purse. It must have been 
 no ordinary influence in that direction, exerted by him upon 
 a purely pastoral congregation, that secured them a collec- 
 tion of twenty guineas for missions. Many churches even 
 now do not so liberally. But it was so with him, all through 
 life, that his discernment and zeal secured a fair measure of 
 support for every good and holy object. The man was so
 
 468 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 thoroughly uiiselfish, and so full of faith, that he was up to 
 the mark in all points of duty before many of his contempo- 
 raries were moved. God be thanked, the Church has many 
 such men now ; but their number with us might have been 
 fewer, had not Lawson and his associates previously ploughed 
 up the fallow ground. It is well known that many, if not all, 
 who studied under him, were the ready and generous sup- 
 porters of the missionary revival. And though their own 
 piety led them into this path, the memory of the Selkirk 
 divine held up their feet so that they did not slide. That 
 Dr Lawson thought thus, and would have acted thus, decided 
 the waverer. When the amiable Horner died, his friend, 
 Sydney Smith, said, ' It will be useful for us, in the great 
 occasions of life, to reflect how Homer would act and think 
 in them.' And so it ought to be with all who name the name 
 of Christ our great pattern, as well as our sole propitiation. 
 We should consider, in our varied conditions of life, how He 
 would act, and go and do likewise, earnestly desiring that the 
 same mind that was in Him may be in us. 
 
 Only a very few weeks before his death he received an un- 
 expected mark of esteem from a well-known member of 
 Parliament, who had long known and appreciated his great 
 worth. The M.P. wished to distribute some charities in 
 and about Selkirk, and in looking round for an almoner he 
 fixed upon Dr Lawson. After politely apologizing for taking 
 such a liberty, he says, in the letter embodying the request, 
 ' I own that I am emboldened to do so from the known and 
 admired excellence of your heart, from the tried philanthropy 
 of your character, and the honourable age of a life passed 
 in the exercise of every virtue. These sentiments I only 
 entertain in common with every one who knows you, either 
 personally or by report, and by none are they more truly 
 estimated than by myself.' The good old man cheerfully 
 consented to act as requested, and this was among the very 
 last of his ' good works ' ere he retired to die.
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 469 
 
 Before he laid down that pen that busy and useful pen 
 for the last time, he wrote the following letter to Dr Thomson, 
 of Coldstream. It is chiefly interesting, as being the last of 
 Dr Lawson's. In a few days thereafter he was in heaven. 
 
 Dr Lawson to Dr Thomson. 
 
 'SELKIRK, Jan. 20, 1820. 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR, Finding a convenient opportunity, I im- 
 prove it to express my sympathy with you in the loss of your 
 worthy father. I know the sensibility of your heart, but I 
 likewise know that you will endeavour to regulate all your 
 affections with a view to eternity, on which perpetually we 
 ought to govern our minds in such a manner as that our 
 happiness will not depend on any earthly object. Although 
 you are yet in middle life, you have lost many relations or 
 friends, in whose society much of your present happiness was 
 placed. You will probably lose more of them, if you live 
 many years longer ; but you will bless God that He has left 
 you other friends in whose society you take pleasure, and 
 that you have not in reality lost those who are removed out 
 of your sight. We have reason to believe that the inhabitants 
 of heaven are not left in ignorance of what is done on earth ; 
 if they take pleasure in the repentance of the ungodly, they 
 must rejoice likewise in the holy conversation of the friends 
 whom they left on earth. 
 
 ' I have sometimes thought of the horrors that must seize 
 the soul of Judas Iscariot, when he thought of his fellow- 
 apostles still with their Master. And it is a powerful motive 
 with me to be vigilant, that I may not be a castaway, that 
 many whom I dearly loved are now with Christ. How 
 awful would it be to be eternally separated from them ! They 
 have been removed from me to a better world, for which they 
 were far better prepared than I hitherto am ; yet I hope that, 
 through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, I shall be saved 
 even as they. If we are Christians, we are come to the
 
 470 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 spirits of just men made perfect. We are still members of 
 the same body, though in different worlds, and the time of 
 their separation from us is but a little moment compared 
 with the duration of those ages in which we shall again 
 enjoy their society. May God spare your family, and give 
 you always much pleasure in every member of it here and 
 in a better world. Yours affectionately, ' G. LAWSON.' 
 
 On the 29th of January 1820, the great bell of St Paul's, 
 London, was tolled. It was the death-knell of George HI. 
 It was also the warning given to the Selkirk divine to go to 
 his last work in his much-loved library. He determined to 
 improve the decease of the sovereign, and prepared a dis- 
 course upon the subject from Psalm Ixxxii. 6, 7, 'I have 
 said, ye are gods ; and all of you are children of the Most 
 High : but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the 
 princes.' On Sabbath, the 6th of February, he was carried 
 in his chair for the last time to the house of God, and closed 
 his long public career by delivering this sermon in honour of 
 one of the best of kings. The people were greatly affected 
 by his appearance, the change in his voice, and the ominous 
 nature of the subject. They foreboded the truth that this 
 should be his last sermon from that pulpit. They were 
 specially impressed with his concluding appeals, which were 
 made to the praise and glory of ' the King immortal, in- 
 visible, and eternal,' and to the duty of all to love, believe 
 in, and obey Jesus the King of saints. Having finished this 
 service, which was rendered in great weakness of body, he 
 was carried home, and that pulpit knew him no more for ever. 
 
 Of this his last sermon, Dr Belfrage says : ' It was not 
 a fulsome panegyric on departed greatness, but a solemn 
 admonition to the living. While eloquence, not content with 
 decking the throne, garnishes the sepulchre, piety feels itself 
 impelled by the death of kings, to give effect to those lessons 
 on the vanity of man, which are too often forgotten amidst
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 471 
 
 the pomp of the world. Dr Lawson (on this occasion) read 
 out a portion of the 90th Psalm, to be sung by the congrega- 
 tion, and piously applied it to himself. He felt that he 
 had arrived at the limits of life, and that his strength was 
 sinking to the dust ; but in him it was seen that, for an old 
 age of piety and wisdom, religion has provided her sweet 
 consolations and her reviving hope, like nature reserving its 
 mildest lustre and its softest calm for the setting sun.' In a 
 few days after this effort, he fell asleep like one of the princes of 
 Israel. And this was the manner of the good man's death : 
 
 He had, a short while before, received a visit from his 
 beloved son George. Hearing that symptoms of an unmis- 
 takeable character had appeared, he had hastened from 
 Kilmarnock to obtain his father's blessing, and, in all likeli- 
 hood, to close his eyes at death. He was, however, under 
 the necessity of returning to the west, while the old man was 
 yet moving about. Under the impression that their parting 
 was to be final, the dying father took his son to the well- 
 known room where they oft had studied and prayed. They 
 knelt down together, and he offered up supplications for his 
 son. When they arose, he suddenly charged him, in the name 
 of his God and Redeemer, to be a faithful minister of the 
 New Testament. He then gave him his blessing, and they 
 parted to meet no more on earth. 
 
 His sufferings now became severe. He could not rest in 
 bed, and had to assume the sitting posture, both by night 
 and day. But he never waxed impatient. He was full of 
 faith, and much in prayer. There was no cloud upon his 
 view of the future. ' For my part,' he declared, ' I am firmly 
 persuaded, that all my hope must rest upon the richness and 
 sovereignty of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. I am per- 
 suaded that millions already in hell were far less criminal, 
 when they left the world, than I have been. I am sensible 
 that I can never make myself a fitter subject of mercy than I 
 am at this moment ; and that, therefore, I must follow to the
 
 472 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 pit those miserable wretches that are groaning under the 
 wrath of God, unless I am plucked as a brand out of the 
 burning. A doctrine so necessary to my hope and peace, as 
 the sovereignty of Divine mercy, I hope never to renounce.' 
 He firmly believed, that so soon as he died he should be with 
 Christ. At one time a member of the family repeated to him 
 the sublime words of the apostle, ' I am persuaded, that 
 neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
 powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, 
 nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate 
 us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' 
 He replied that he highly appreciated such an assurance, and 
 the blessed hope with which he was cleaving to the Lord. 
 ' I have not had a doubt of my security for twenty years,' 
 said one to Robert Hall, whose reply was characteristic, 
 ' Then you will give me leave to doubt for you.' During life 
 Dr Lawson was careful never to express himself so confidently 
 as to his safety ; but on his death-bed he did not hesitate to 
 do so, and no witness of that solemn scene would ever have 
 thought of 'doubting for him.' The manner, however, in 
 which he expressed it evinced the holy modesty of his spirit ; 
 and it was evident, from what followed, that he wished that his 
 Lord's translating hand should find him kneeling at the foot- 
 stool of His mercy. ' It is, indeed,' he said with emphasis, ' my 
 full persuasion and sweet hope, that I shall never be separated 
 from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord.' 
 
 His last night and day were almost sleepless. He sat upon 
 his chair, waiting on the summons, but not wearying for it. 
 The short prayers he put up from time to time were some of 
 them audible, and others not. They referred to the present 
 and everlasting well-being of his family, his congregation, his 
 pupils, and his brethren, and to the filling of the whole earth, 
 in due time, with the glory of the Redeemer. 
 
 On the afternoon of Monday, the 21st of February, to- 
 wards sun-setting, groups of people were seen surrounding
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 473 
 
 the door of the manse. It was known in the town that Dr 
 Lawson was near his end. Not a sound was heard, unless 
 it were a whisper from one to another concerning the godli- 
 ness of the dying pastor, and the loss which his death should 
 be to the Church. Every now and then the door slowly 
 opened, and the ' bulletin ' was given. At last the town clock 
 struck the hour of ten, when a subdued lamentation was 
 heard coming from the room where the old man was gaining 
 the victory, or rather where he had gained it ; for the door 
 opened again : ' He is gone,' was the message, and that crowd 
 took it silently away with them, each one to his own home, 
 sorrowing, like the elders of Ephesus, that he should see his 
 face no more. The work within the house had been very 
 calm and very solemn. His family stood around the chair 
 where the dying Christian sat. Some of his most dearly 
 loved elders were also in this room, and two of his brethren 
 from a distance came to comfort him. Yery little was said 
 on either side. He had not strength to converse, and they 
 were too sad and too full of holy awe to profane the silence. 
 They looked upon him with tearful eye, for he had been in- 
 deed as an angel of God to them in the wilderness. Blessing 
 a gentleman at his side who had been very kind to him, he 
 said, ' I can only thank you ; but God, I trust, will abun- 
 dantly reward you.' 
 
 His son Andrew had arrived from Ecclefechan. Among 
 other things, he said to his father, ' Dearest father, what is 
 the ground of your hope and comfort in this trying hour?' 
 
 ' All my hope,' he replied, ' and all my comfort, spring out 
 of the mercy of God, as manifested in the mediation of Jesus 
 Christ. Here are my only stay, and strength, and consolation.' 
 
 Some allusion was made to the useful life he had led, when 
 he replied, ' No, no. Had I been such a man as Mr Brown 
 of Haddington, or Mr Johnston of Ecclefechan, I would have 
 done far more good. I have done little, very little.' 
 
 About ten o'clock he raised his eyes and looked around.
 
 474 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 He then seemed to put forth the last remains of his strength, 
 and called his family, one after the other, to come near to 
 him. They did so. He took each of them by the hand, 
 blessed them severally, and bade them farewell in the most 
 simple, devout, and affecting manner. After this, he lifted 
 up both his hands, and, casting a look upon the company 
 assembled to see him die, he said, with a tremulous voice, 
 ' The Lord my God bless you all.' 
 
 Mrs Lawson then asked Mr Young (Jedburgh) to offer 
 prayer that his departure might be in peace. This was done. 
 ' Lord,' they prayed, ' let an abundant entrance be now ad- 
 ministered to Thy servant into the everlasting kingdom of his 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' 
 
 ' LORD ! TAKE ME TO PARADISE,' added the dying saint ; 
 and as the sublime petition dropped from his lips, his soul 
 was with Jesus. The simplicity of a lifetime was embodied 
 and embalmed in the last words he uttered. 
 
 It is worthy of notice, that, in the ordinary course of reading 
 that morning at family worship, the chapter happened to be the 
 34th of Deuteronomy, where is narrated the death of Moses on 
 Mount Pisgah, with his death and burial in the land of Moab. 
 And the last hymn, also in the ordinary course, which he sung 
 with the family, was the 31st Paraphrase, beginning 
 
 ' Soon shall this earthly frame, dissolved, 
 In death and ruins lie ; 
 But better mansions wait the just, 
 Prepared above the sky. 
 An house eternal, built by God, 
 Shall lodge the holy mind ; 
 When once those prison walls have fallen, 
 By which 'tis now confined.' 
 
 The funeral took place on the Friday after his death ; and 
 on the following Sabbath, as has been already noticed, his 
 funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr Thomson, of 
 Coldstream, from these words, ' And devout men carried
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 475 
 
 Stephen to bis burial, and made great lamentation over him.' 
 The character of Dr Lawson, given at the close of the discourse 
 (which was afterwards published), is alike forcible and truth- 
 ful, solemn and eloquent. We quote the last paragraph : 
 
 ' It was a fact that " devout men carried him to his burial, 
 and made great lamentation over him." I have never wit- 
 nessed a funeral at which sorrow appeared more visibly de- 
 picted on every countenance. But the grief for his loss was 
 not confined to his immediate neighbours and others who 
 were present at the interment. His death will be long and 
 deeply lamented by all to whom he was known.' 
 
 As a sweet voice from the past, a voice which one might 
 think could only issue from the grave, we give a letter of 
 sympathy from the old widow of Mr Kidston, of Stow, to the 
 widow of Dr Lawson. The former had gone to Peebles to 
 end hec days in peace ; and the latter, in fourteen months 
 after this, died in the Lord. We have no reason to be 
 ashamed of these matrons of the early Secession ; they were 
 worthy of our fathers. 
 
 ' PEEBLES, March 30, 1820. 
 
 ' MY DEAR MRS LAWSON, Though somewhat late in 
 telling you the fellow-feeling that I have with you, it is not 
 because I have not felt the loss you have sustained. The 
 death of your dear husband brought many and keen recollec- 
 tions with it. Mine and yourn were very intimate in their 
 lives ; and I entertain the sure hope that they are together 
 in that place, and in the presence of that loved Master whom 
 they both loved so much and faithfully served in the Gospel. 
 However much we may feel their loss, they are both infinitely 
 happier than when here. Intimate and agreeable as was the 
 union between them, yet, from union to Christ, He had a pre- 
 ferable claim to them. He died for them ; they served Him ; 
 and He has called them to their reward. Ought we to 
 grudge them to Him, or what they enjoy to them? And us
 
 476 THE LIFE OF DK LAWSON. 
 
 they will not return to us, let it be your concern aiid mine to 
 be followers of them who through faith and patience are now 
 inheritors of the promises. May His blessing be upon you 
 and your family, who hath revealed Himself as " the Father 
 of the fatherless, and a Husband to the widow." I am, with 
 sisterly sympathy and affection, yours, 
 
 ' JANET KIDSTON.' 
 
 Appropriately following this grave epistle, is the inscrip- 
 tion prepared by her son, Dr Kidston, for the monument 
 which was subsequently erected over the grave of the deceased 
 in the churchyard of Selkirk : 
 
 of t&e 
 REVEREND GEORGE LAWSON, D.D., 
 
 MINISTER OF THE ASSOCIATE CONGREGATION IN SELKIRK, 
 
 AND 
 PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY UNDER THE ASSOCIATE SYNOD. 
 
 HE WAS BORN 13lH MARCH 1749 ; ORDAINED 17TH APRIL 1771 ; 
 
 APPOINTED PROFESSOR 2D MAT 1787 ; AND DIED 20TH FEBRUARY 1820, 
 
 IN THE 71ST YEAR OF HIS AGE AND 49TH OF HIS MINISTRY. 
 
 THIS VENERABLE MAN, WAS EMINENTLY DISTINGUISHED 
 
 BY GREAT NATURAL TALENTS, IMPROVED BY CONSTANT AND LABORIOUS STCDT ; 
 BY A MINUTE AND EXTENSIVE ACQUAINTANCE WITH SACRED THEOLOGY ; 
 
 BY SIMPLICITY OF MANNERS AND SINGULAR MODESTY; 
 AND, ABOVE ALL, BY FERVENT AND UNAFFECTED PIETY. 
 
 HIS GREAT ATTAINMENTS AS A SCHOLAR, 
 
 AND HIS FIDELITY AS A MINISTER AND A THEOLOGICAL TUTOR, 
 RENDERED HIS LIFE A VALUABLE BLESSING, 
 
 AND HIS DEATH A SEVERE LOSS, 
 TO SOCIETY AND THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 'THE MEMORY OF THE JUST IS BLESSED.' 
 
 A MEMORIAL OF THE AFFECTION AND ESTEEM OP 
 HIS CONGREGATION AND OTHER FRIENDS.
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 477 
 
 At the meeting of Synod, in April, the following tribute to 
 his memory was unanimously entered upon the minutes : 
 
 ' In recording the decease of the Rev. Dr Lawson, the 
 Synod find themselves called on to express, in their minutes, 
 the peculiar and important obligations which they and the 
 people of their charge are under to the Head of the Church, 
 for the prolonged and valuable services performed by this 
 worthy and venerable member of their body, as their Profes- 
 sor of Divinity ; to whom, under God, most of the ministers 
 of this Synod are much indebted for their knowledge of the . 
 Gospel of the blessed God, and their qualification for preach- 
 ing it to their fellow-men ; and the impression of whose 
 amiable and venerable character, for piety, for the knowledge 
 of the Word of God, for sacred literature, and for every 
 excellence which can adorn the man, the Christian, and the 
 Professor of Divinity, they wish ever to retain and to cherish, 
 as an excitement to the faithful discharge of the duties of 
 their office.' 
 
 It is but due to the memory of Mr Greig, of Lochgelly, to 
 state, that the drawing out of the foregoing resolution was 
 committed by the Synod to him, as one of Dr Lawson's most 
 attached friends. Within three years from this time, Greig, 
 and Husband, and Macfarlane, were gathered also to their 
 people, these all dying in the faith. Mr Greig's last words 
 remind us of the Professor's. With a voice faltering in death, 
 he said, ' I will soon be in heaven,' and he was there. We 
 cannot wind up these memoirs more appropriately than with 
 the precious letter which this man of God addressed to the 
 widow at Selkirk, when he heard of the death of her husband, 
 and of his own dearest earthly friend : 
 
 ' LOCHGELLY, 2d March 1820. 
 
 ' MY DEAR MADAM, It was with the deepest concern I 
 received the melancholy intelligence of the death of my dear 
 and worthy friend. I sincerely sympathize with you and
 
 478 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 your family under this severe bereavement. The loss you 
 have sustained must be felt by you to be great and irrepar- 
 able, except by Him who is the all and in all of our happiness, 
 and who hath said, He will be a father to the fatherless, and a 
 husband to the widow. Your separation from one with whom 
 you enjoyed the sweetest fellowship that can flow from a human 
 being, cannot fail to cast a shade of sadness over the remain- 
 der of your days, which can only be removed by your reunion 
 with him in a better world. If the sympathy of the many 
 friends of your dear husband can soothe your griefs, and 
 mingle sweetness with your cup of sorrow, this I am sure you 
 enjoy in the present feelings of many a sorrowful heart ; for 
 I know of no person that was more tenderly loved than he 
 with whom it was your honour and happiness to be so nearly 
 connected, or that better deserved to be esteemed and beloved. 
 I need not speak of his excellences to you, who so well knew 
 them, and so long enjoyed the advantages of them. It is 
 with the utmost sincerity I can say, that, after more than 
 fifty years of the most intimate acquaintance with him, I have 
 not known a more excellent person in the course of my life. 
 He was, indeed, a fountain of wisdom and delight to all who 
 had intercourse with him. He was the oldest and the most 
 intimate friend of my life ; and, by his removal, this world 
 hath become a much more solitary abode to me. Many 
 happy days have I enjoyed in his company, and I never retired 
 from his society without deriving pleasure and advantage. 
 From the accounts which I had, a few weeks ago, from one 
 from your place, I was flattering myself that, though he was 
 labouring under infirmities, Providence would continue him a 
 while longer in the church below, where he was so usefully 
 employed. But we are ill able to judge what is fit and neces- 
 sary in the plans of the wise and righteous Disposer of all 
 things ; and to His will it becometh us to bow down in holy 
 submission. If his many friends had had their wish, he had 
 lived many years longer to prolong their happiness. But let
 
 THE OLD DISCIPLE AND HIS DEATH-BED. 479 
 
 us rejoice that he has entered into the joy of his God. If 
 we loved him, why should we not rejoice that he hath gone 
 to the Father. He served his God and Redeemer long and 
 faithfully ; he now rests from his labours, and his works shall 
 follow him. The much good seed which was sown by him 
 has taken root in the hearts of many, and I doubt not but it 
 will be bringing forth fruit unto God in this and the succes- 
 sive generations of mankind, till time shall be no more. By 
 his death God has been cutting asunder some of our tender- 
 est ties to this world, and furnishing us with a new motive to 
 set our affections on things above. The friend whom we 
 loved is there, and by his presence has increased the joy of 
 his Lord, and of all its holy inhabitants. We have greater 
 reason than ever to be affectionately mindful of heaven, where 
 so many that were dear to us are collected, and, as it were, 
 looking down upon us and calling us to run with patience the 
 race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher 
 of our faith. Living by faith on the Son of God, and cleaving 
 to Ilim under the trials and afflictions of the present life, it 
 is riot long when we too will join the society of our pious 
 departed relatives and friends, and enjoy unmiugled pleasures 
 with them, without interruption and without end. Though 
 God hath given you cause of grief in taking from you your 
 dear and invaluable companion, yet lie hath left you worthy 
 and amiable sons and daughters, to minister to your comfort, 
 and who, I doubt not, will tread with you in the steps of 
 their most excellent and affectionate father. I hope both 
 you and they will be helped neither to despise the chastening 
 of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked by Him. He 
 who hath afflicted you is God, all-sufficient, and hath given 
 you His promise, that, when you pass through the waters, 
 He will be with you. In the faith of His promise, cast your- 
 self and your family into His arms, trusting He will perfect 
 what concerns you, and that He will make the present afflict- 
 ing dispensation work for your good. If you find yourself at
 
 480 THE LIFE OF DR LAWSON. 
 
 a loss to see how this can be, remember His saying, that what 
 you know not now you shall know hereafter. I am, dear 
 Madam, yours very affectionately, ' DAVID GREIG.' 
 
 I have thus attempted to write the history of a life of 
 a pre-eminently simple and quiet life, a life that arose, 
 culminated and set, before the pressure and progress of this 
 febrile era had made literary and pastoral otium an im- 
 possibility. Lawsou was the Enoch of his generation, the 
 Solomon of his tribe, and the beloved disciple of his Church. 
 He walked with God : there was peace in his day, and he 
 taught Christians to love one another. No trumpets are 
 heard, no tournaments are held, and, with perhaps one ex- 
 ception, no fiery spirits are combated in hjs history. All is 
 tranquil, as early morn in spring when the seed is sowing 
 hopeful, as fruitful fields when the summer's sun and breeze 
 whiten them for the sickle ; and all is golden and gladdening, 
 as an harvest-home when reapers' songs chaunt the ingather- 
 ing. Such-h'ke was his pilgrimage. And, as memory oft 
 fixes her full eye on the beauties and blessings that enriched 
 and bespangled the past, to quicken gratitude and excite 
 emulation, so is this monument reared, and left, with all its 
 defects, to remind our Church how much she is indebted, 
 for her present position and influence, to the wisdom, piety, 
 and zeal of such a man as George Lawson, a man who has 
 had no superior in any church, for extent, variety, and depth 
 of learning, for wonderful sagacity, and, withal, for such a 
 majesty of simplicity, such a fascination of meekness, and 
 such a power of godliness as entitle him to be held in ever- 
 lasting remembrance.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE following is a list of ministers who studied at Selkirk, 
 and still survive. We are indebted for it to the Rev. 
 Dr Mackelvie, whose statistical labours have for years been 
 onerous and praiseworthy ; and it is to be hoped that he 
 will soon benefit the Church by their publication. Since the 
 list was obtained, five of the names must be erased, viz., Dr 
 Fletcher, of London ; Dr Thomson, of Penrith ; Dr Thomson, 
 of Coldstream ; Dr Newlands, of Perth ; and Mr Sandy, of 
 Gorebridge. 
 
 The Rev. H. THOMSON, D.D., Penrith. 
 The Rev. A. THOMSON, D.D., Coldstream. 
 The Rev. A. FLETCHER, D.D., London. 
 The Rev. WILLIAM BROWN, M.D., Edinburgh 
 The Rev. JOHN JOHNSTON, Glasgow. 
 The Rev. GEORGE SANDY, Gorebridge. 
 The Rev. JOHN LAW, Innerleithen. 
 The Rev. JOHN M'KERROW, D.D., Bridge of Teith. 
 The Rev. JOHN STRUTHERS, Hamilton. 
 The Rev. GEORGE BROWN, LL.D., Liverpool. 
 The Rev. A. SCOTT, Carnbusnethan. 
 The Rev. JAMES SOMMERVILLE, Airth. 
 The Rev. JOHN JAMIESON, Douglas. 
 The Rev. WALTER HUME, Yetholm. 
 The Rev. WILLIAM PRINGLE, D.D., Auchterarder. 
 The Rev. A. JACK, Dunbar. 
 The Rev. JAMES HARPER, D.D., Leith. 
 The Rev. EBENEZER JOHNSTON, Plean. 
 The Rev. DAVID M. INGLIS, Stockbridge. 
 
 2 H
 
 482 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Rev. JAMES PTJLLAR, Glenluce. 
 
 The Rev. A. NICOL, Dubbieside. 
 
 The Rev. GEORGE REID, Westray. 
 
 The Rev. ROBERT SIMPSON, D.D., Sanquhar. 
 
 The Rev. JAMES WILKIE, Twickenham. 
 
 The Rev. JAMES WOOD, Kirkcudbright. 
 
 The Rev. THOMAS ADAM, Kirriemuir. 
 
 The Rev. THOMAS CAIE, Glasgow. 
 
 The Rev. WILLIAM JOHNSTONE, D.D., Limekilns. 
 
 The Rev. D. SMELLIE, Stranraer. 
 
 The Rev. H. CRICHTON, D.D., Liverpool. 
 
 The Rev. JAMES HARDIE, Kinghorn. 
 
 The Rev. GEORGE KENNEDY, Kilconquhar. 
 
 The Rev. JOHN NEWLANDS, D.D., Perth. 
 
 The Rev. WILLIAM PULLAR, Glenluce. 
 
 The Rev. D. SMITH, D.D., Biggar. 
 
 The Rev. JOHN SHOOLBREAD, Lochwinnoch. 
 
 The Rev. JOHN JACK, Kingsbridge. 
 
 The Rev. JOHN THOM, Anstruther. 
 
 The Rev. GEORGE CHAPMAN, Great Salkeld. 
 
 The Rev. JAMES LILT, Montrose. 
 
 The Rev. ALEXANDER LOWRIE, East Calder. 
 
 The Rev. JOHN SMART, D.D., Leith. 
 
 The Rev. JOHN TAYLOR, M.D. 
 
 The Rev. JAMES M'WHIRTER, Greenwich. 
 
 Out of 390 students who entered the Hall during Dr 
 Lawson's Professorship, these thirty-nine remain. In a few 
 years all shall have ' gone over to the majority, and be joined 
 to the famous nations of the dead.' ' Help, Lord, for the godly 
 man ceaseth ; for the faithful fail from among the children of 
 men.' 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 MURRAY AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
 
 WORKS 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. JOHN M^CFARLANE, LL.D. 
 
 i. 
 
 Price 3s. 6d. Third Edition, 
 
 THE MOUNTAINS OP THE BIBLE : 
 
 THEIR SCENES AND THEIR LESSONS. 
 
 ' It is no mean praise to certify that Dr Macfarlane has produced the best 
 series of discourses on the subject which as yet has been published the 
 production alike of an accomplished and devout mind.' Eclectic Review. 
 
 II. 
 Price 2s. 6d. Third Thousand, 
 
 WHY WEEPEST THOU ? 
 
 A MANUAL FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. 
 
 1 This is a delightful volume yes, delightful, though its theme be 
 sorrow. It is more than worthy of the author of " The Night Lamp." ' 
 George Giljillan. 
 
 ' It is told with the touching tenderness, the beauty, and artistic skill, for 
 which the author is distinguished.' Dr Kitto. 
 
 III. 
 Price 5s. Seventh Thousand, 
 
 THE NIGHT LAMP: 
 
 A NARRATIVE OF THE MEANS BY WHICH SPIRITUAL DARKNESS WAS 
 DISPELLED FROM THE DEATH-BED OF AGNES MAXWELL MACFARLANE. 
 
 ' It will ever remain green and fragrant, while the world lasts, and while 
 youthful piety continues to be an object to the Church of God.' Evangelical 
 Magazine. 
 
 ' We do not wonder at its popularity. It is a story of thrilling interest 
 Journal of Sacred Literature. 
 
 IV. 
 Price 5s. Third Thousand, 
 
 THE HIDING PLACE ; 
 
 OR, THE SINNER FOUND IN CHRIST. 
 
 ' Dr Macfarlane's work reminds us greatly of the works of Flavel and of 
 Baxter ; and well will it be for the Church of Christ when such efforts are 
 duly appreciated, and such works extensively read.' Eclectic Review. 
 
 V. 
 
 THE LIFE AND COREESPONDENCE OF HENRY 
 BELFRAGE, D.D. 
 
 (CONJOINTLY WITH KEV. DR iTKERROW.) 
 ' A work highly honourable to Dr Belfrag<\ creditable to the compiler^ 
 and profitable to the Church.' United Secession Magazine.
 
 WORKS BY REV. JOHN MACFARLANE, LL.D. 
 
 VI. 
 
 12mo. Price 2s. 6<1. Pp. 264. 
 
 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN CAMPBELL. 
 
 ' Mr Campbell deserves to be held in grateful remembrance by the 
 Church.' D. Dewar, D.D., LL.D., Principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen. 
 VII. 
 
 AN AGED CHRISTIAN: 
 
 A SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF THE REV. DR KIDSTON. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE DEVELOPED : 
 
 A SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF THE REV. DR BAIRD. 
 
 IX. 
 
 GOOD WILL TO ISRAEL: 
 
 A SERMON, 
 PREACHED BEFORE THE GLASGOW SOCIETY ON BEHALF OF THE JEWS. 
 
 X. 
 
 THE MARTYRS OF OUR MANSE: 
 
 A SKETCH. 
 
 XI. 
 
 APOSTOLIC PREACHING: 
 
 A SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED ON THE OCCASION OF THE REV. DR BEATTIE'S JUBILEE. 
 
 XII. 
 
 THE POWER OF CHRIST, AND THE POWER OF 
 PREACHING: 
 
 A SERMON, 
 PREACHED AT THE OPENING OF THE U.P. CHURCH, BRISTOL. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 ALTAR-GOLD: 
 
 A SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 
 
 ' Few discourses are superior to this for point, profundity, force, and 
 pathos.' British Banner. 
 
 ' The working out of the idea in this most noble sermon has never been 
 surpassed.' Christian Witness. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 ALTAR -LIGHT: 
 
 THE FUNERAL SERMON OF THE LATE ALEX. FLETCHER, D.D. 
 
 ' We are thankful to say that we heard this masterly discourse delivered. 
 The clear, solemn thinking, the imposing imagery, the venerable appear- 
 ance, the full, rich voice, all gave immense effect to this admirable 
 discourse.' The Eomilist. 
 
 ' Dr Macfarlane has employed the purest English in the embodiment of 
 remarkable thoughts.' The Bulletin. 
 
 ' It surpasses all his previous publications in force and vigour of style, 
 originality of thought, and aptness of illustration.' Stirling Observer.
 
 W. OLIPHANT AND CO.'S LIST 
 
 OK 
 
 WORKS PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION, 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 
 BY THE LATE JOHN BROWN, D.D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OF EXEGETICAL THEOLOGY TO THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN 
 CHURCH. 
 
 Iii Two handsome 8vo Volumes. 
 
 \ In the press. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE HISTORY OP JOSHUA. 
 
 BY THE REV. THORNLEY SMITH, 
 
 Author of ' The History of Joseph,' ' The History of Moses arid his 
 Times,' etc., etc. 
 
 WITH BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 [7n tlit press. 
 
 III. 
 
 NOTES ON THE GOSPEL BY MATTHEW : 
 
 WITH A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 
 
 BY MELANCTHON W. JACOBUS, 
 
 I'ROFESSOR IN THE WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, ALLEGHANV. 
 
 FOR THE USE OF SABBATH-SCHOOL TEACHERS 
 AND FAMILIES. 
 
 THE SANCTUARY AT HOME : 
 
 A BOOK OF SABBATH SERVICES FOR HOME USE. 
 
 BY THE RE 7. R. DICK DUNCAN, EDINBURGH. 
 
 This volume is intended to be used by persons who are prevented attend- 
 ing public worship on the Lord's day, from sickness or other reasons ; also 
 for Soldiers, Sailors, Travellers, Colonists, and others, who may not have 
 the public means of grace within reach. 
 
 | In tie preti.
 
 OLIPHANT AND CO.'S WORKS PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION. 
 
 v. 
 
 OUTLINES OP RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 
 
 FOR THE USE OF SENIOR CLASSES. 
 BY THE REV. ROBERT BROWN, MARKINCH. 
 
 In neat 18mo, price 6d. 
 
 The distinctive features of this text-book are, the simplicity of its plan 
 and the prominence its gives to the views generally held by Dissenters on 
 church government, the mode of supporting ordinances, and other ecclesi- 
 astical questions. 
 
 [Ready. 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE EXILED FAMILY AND THEIR RESTORER: 
 
 AN ALLEGORY FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 
 
 BY J. E. J., 
 
 Author of 'The Pearl of Angrogna,' etc., etc. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY DALZIEL BROTHERS. 
 Beautifully bound in Cloth and Gold. 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE ORPHANS OP GLENULVA: 
 A STORY OF SCOTTISH LIFE. 
 
 By the Author of ' The Pious Brothers,' ' The Everlasting 
 Kingdom,' etc., etc. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE WAYS OP THE LINE: 
 
 A MONOGRAPH ON EXCAVATORS. 
 Being Notes of Three Years' Intercourse with Eailway Labourers. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 ' The book is far too life-like not to be true.' Scotsman. 
 
 [/ the press.
 
 WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM OLIPHANT AND CO. 
 
 The History of Moses : Viewed in connection with Egyptian 
 
 Antiquities, and the Customs of the Times in which he lived. By the 
 Bcv. THOKNLEY SMITH. Beautifully illustrated, crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. 
 ' A very remarkable publication by a very able man.' Christian Witness. 
 ' Presents the results of careful and extensive reading in a pleasant and 
 interesting form.' Evangelical Witness. 
 
 ' Forms an admirable companion to the Pentateuch.' Literary Churchman. 
 ' A thoroughly good book on a most interesting topic.' BoUon Chronicle. 
 
 In foolscap 8vo, 4s. 6d. 
 
 The Pilgrim Psalms : A Practical Exposition of the Songs of 
 Degrees, Psalms cxx. cxxxiv. By Professor M'MICHAEL, D.D., Dun- 
 fermline. 
 
 ' The fruits of profound research and various reading are everywhere 
 apparent, but they are never pedantically obtruded. The volume cannot 
 be read without edification and profit in many ways.' Baptist Magazine. 
 
 ' Its soul is the sacred Scriptures. It is a fountain of genuine consola- 
 tion, a cordial for drooping spirits. 1 Christian Witness. 
 
 In post 8vo, price 6s. 
 Belfrage's Sacramental Addresses. One Hundred Addresses 
 
 and Meditations suitable to the Administration of the Lord's Supper. 
 By the late HENRY BELFKAGE, D.D., Falkirk. Sixth Edition, complete 
 in One Volume. 
 
 'A more devout and edifying publication we are unable to name.' 
 Christian Witness. 
 
 ' Admirably adapted to direct and animate the thoughts before partaking 
 of the Saviour's death.' Baptist Magazine. 
 
 ' The richness, and unction, and deep piety which pervade them are such, 
 we will venture to say, as will seldom be found in other religious works of 
 an exhortative character.' Commonwealth. 
 
 In Crown 8vo, price Gs. 
 Old Truths and Modern Speculations. By the late James 
 
 K'MiKKTSox, D.D., Glasgow. Second Edition. 
 
 ' At once a masterly exponent of truth, and an admirable exposure of 
 error.' Christina 1 1 'it ness. 
 
 ' We cordially hail this new and tasteful edition of Dr Koberteon's 
 scholarly and valuable work.' Scottish Review. 
 
 The Scripture Testimony to the Messiah. An Inquiry Into 
 
 the Doctrine taught in the Scriptures concerning the Person of Christ. 
 By JOHN I'YI: SMITH, D.D., F.R.S. With a Biographical and Critical 
 Sketch of the Author, by JOHN EADIE, D.D., LL.D. Fifth Edition. 
 
 In two vols. 8vo, '21s. 
 
 Four Discourses on the Sacrifice and Priesthood of Jesus 
 
 Christ, and the Atonement and I\Vcleiii|ition thence accruing. By the 
 same Author. Fourth Edition. Fcap. 8vo, 5s. 
 
 Prayers for the Use of Families. By Charles Watson, D.D. 
 
 Fourteenth Ivlition. K\tni f<M[.. x V n. :i>. t;,l.
 
 WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY OLIPHANT AND CO. 
 
 Cheap Edition, price 2s. 6d. 
 Life of John Kitto, D.D. By John Eadie, D.D., LL.D. With 
 
 Illustrations. 
 
 ' Dr Eadie has done for Kitto what Southey did for Nelson. He has 
 given us a book over which, in the curious incidents and noble struggles it 
 records, age and childhood alike may hang in wonder, and gather a higher 
 lesson than is suggested even by the renowned career of the hero of Tra- 
 falgar.' News of the Churches. 
 
 New Edition, in demy 12mo, price 6s. 6d. 
 The Life of Hugh Hough, D.D. By his Son-in-Law, Hamilton 
 
 M. MAcGiLL, Home Secretary to the United Presbyterian Church. 
 
 ' A work full of interest to all Christians ; to ministers, perhaps the most 
 truly valuable biographical volume that has been published since Orton's 
 " Life of Doddridge." ' Late Rev John Brown, D.D. 
 
 Second Edition, in neat 18mo, price Is. 
 
 The Diamond Wreath ; or, The Price of a Soul. A Tale 
 
 founded on Facts. With Frontispiece. 
 
 ' Its effects on the minds of young persons can hardly fail to be bene- 
 ficial.' Record. 
 
 ' A tale of thrilling interest. The whole narrative is well conceived, and 
 the interest of the reader admirably sustained throughout.' Fife Herald. 
 
 New Edition, on larger paper, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Pollok's Tales of the Covenanters. In neat cloth, bevelled 
 
 boards. With Illustrations. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo, price 3s. 6d. 
 Memoir of Mary Lundie Duncan ; being Recollections of a 
 
 Daughter. By her MOTHER. Seventh Edition. Frontispiece. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo, price 2s. 6d. 
 Harry Llnton ; or, The Under Current of Life : A Tale for 
 
 Eich and Poor. 
 
 ' A well told, touching, truthful tale a very healthy, admirable little 
 book.' Nonconformist. 
 
 ' A well conceived narrative, pervaded by a vein of excellent sentiment.' 
 Christian Witness. 
 
 ' Contains several passages of more than ordinary beauty.' Morning 
 Herald. 
 
 In fcap. 8vo, price 2s. 
 The Gospel Narrative ; or, The Life of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 
 as given by the Four Evangelists ; divided into Sections in the order of 
 
 time, and arranged in one combined and continuous history. By JAMKS 
 
 PEDDIE, Esq. 
 
 ' Equal to any popular harmony with which we are acquainted.' Chris- 
 tian Treasury. 
 
 Memoir of the Rev. Henry Duncan, D.D., of Ruthwell, Founder 
 
 of Savings' Banks, Author of ' The Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons,' 
 
 etc. By his Son, the Eev. GEORGE J. C. DUNCAN. With fine Portrait 
 
 and Vignette, fcap. 8vo, price 4s. 6d. 
 
 ' Seldom have we perused a more interesting, instructive, and delightful 
 biography.' Free Church Magazine. 
 
 ' Again and again have we been reminded, in this memoir, of the intelli- 
 gent, ingenious, and actively benevolent Oberlin.' Scotsman. 
 
 ' An admirable record of a most useful life.' English Presbyterian Record.