THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 From the library of 
 
 Rev, William Murphy 
 Presented in 1924 
 
 B 
 
 B9673b 
 
T • N E LSON • & • SONS • LONDON <&- EDINBURGH. 
 
THE 
 
 PASTOR OF KILSYTH; 
 
 OR,, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF THE REV. W. H. BURNS D.D. 
 
 BY THE REV. ISLAY BURNS, 
 
 ST. Peter's free church, Dundee. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 T NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW; 
 
 EDINBURGH ; AND NEW YOKK. 
 MDCCCLX. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 My aim in the following pages, besides tlie immediate 
 purpose of rearing a modest, but meet memorial of 
 one whose eminent worth and usefulness had made 
 his name to an unusual extent known and fragrant 
 
 throughout the land, has been chiefly threefold: 
 
 First, I have endeavoured to sketch, at least, in a 
 few distinct and truthful lines, the image of the life 
 and the ways of a class of men of whom our subject 
 was a singularly winning and characteristic specimen, 
 — that of the humble, unobtrusive, loving, cheerfully 
 serious, and quietly conscientious country clergyman, 
 something between George Herbert's "Parson" and 
 Richard Baxter's " Pastor," to whom, albeit unknown, 
 perhaps even by name, beyond the limits of their 
 own immediate sphere, the Church and the country 
 alike owe so much, as the unseen feeders of their 
 deepest springs of life and health. 
 
 Secondly, I have sought to preserve the fast-fading 
 lineaments of an age, and of a race of worthies, of 
 which the Pastor of Kilsyth had become the almost 
 
 596835 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 sole surviving representative, and of whose memories 
 his rich store of personal reminiscence made him as 
 it were the custodier and depositary. The work 
 thus partakes somewhat of the historical as well as 
 of the biographical character, — aiming not so much 
 to fix the attention of its readers on one single 
 portrait, as to lead them along the shady gallery in 
 which may be seen, at least in faint outUne, the 
 visages of many other faithful witnesses of a dark 
 day, — most of whom, though burning and shining 
 lights in their time, have received no other memorial 
 on earth. 
 
 Finally, I have been specially anxious to give 
 reply, brief, but I trust distinct and sufficient, to 
 inquiries now so often made concerning the validity 
 and the permanence of a remarkable work of grace, 
 on which, after the lapse of twenty years, the events 
 of the present hour are casting the light of a fresh 
 interest and importance. 
 
 The materials I have employed, besides my own 
 personal recollections and those of other friends, have 
 been certain copious memoranda of the events and 
 the men of his time, written at the suggestion of 
 clerical friends by my father himself, some years 
 before his death, together with a brief record of 
 daily occurrences begun in 1808, and continued to 
 the close of his life. 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 The few " Remains at the close have been 
 selected from amid the vast accumulated stores of 
 sixty years, simply with a view to their illustrative 
 bearing on the incidents of the preceding narrative, 
 with the exception only of the last, which is given 
 as a good specimen of the author's usual style of 
 preaching. 
 
 The Vignette will be recognised by many who 
 visited Kilsyth during the solemn scenes of 1839, 
 as taken from the rising ground to the south of the 
 manse, now slightly altered, which was then his 
 home, and which formed the centre of the most 
 interesting and important events in his life. 
 
 I. B. 
 
 Dundee, April SO, 1860. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Clap. Page 
 
 1. Birth and Childhood, ... ... ... ... ... 9 
 
 II. Boyhood and College Life, ... ... ... ... 25 
 
 III. Early Pastoral Life^ ... ... ... ... ... r>3 
 
 IV. The New Century and the New Age: a Retrospective Glance at the Times, 81 
 V. Parochial Work, ... ... ... ... ... ... 91 
 
 VI. Home Life, ... ... ... ... .. ... lU 
 
 VII. Longings for Revival, ... ... ... ... 121 
 
 Vm. Longings Fulfilled, ... ... ... ... ... 137 
 
 IX. Fruits and Results, ... ... ... ... ... 169 
 
 X. Disruption Times and Closing Scenes, ... ... ... 179 
 
 XL The Last Enemy, ... ... ... * ... ... ... 193 
 
 XIL Rest, ... ... ... ... ... 207 
 
 Illustrative Remains— 
 
 Lecture on the Mode of Conducting a Revival — Errors and Evils to be 
 
 avoided ... ... ... ... ... ... 221 
 
 {One of a course on tJie suhject of Revival, delivered in Glaagoiv hij 
 various ministers of tlie Church of Scotland in 1839.) 
 
 Sermon I., ... ... ... ... ... ... 253 
 
 Sermon IL, ... ... ... ... ... ... 263 
 
 Sermon IIL, ... ... ... ... ... ... 272 
 
 Sermon IV., ... ... ... ... ... ... 285 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 (1779-1791.) 
 
 " From a child thou hast knoM H the holy scriptures, which are al>le to make thee 
 wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."— 2 Tim. iii. 15. 
 
I. 
 
 Strong and reasonable as is the desire to know all 
 the circumstances connected with the birth and 
 early years of those whose life has been in any way 
 memorable or specially interesting to us, it is but 
 seldom that tha^t desire can be fully gratified. The 
 early years in the life of a man, like the early ages 
 in the life of a nation, are for the most part buried 
 in obscurity. Like the sources of mighty rivers, 
 the first springs of human existence and of human 
 history lie far up among the everlasting hills, and 
 are shrouded in mist and cloud. The period of 
 childhood and early youth is long passed, before it 
 can be known that there is to be anything in the 
 character and career of the individual in question 
 deserving to be singled out from the herd as the 
 object of special commemoration ; and by that time 
 the materials for a full biography of early years no 
 longer exist. The only person that now survives 
 qualified in any degree to supply the blank is 
 probably the subject of inquiry himself ; and then, 
 
12 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 wliile truly noble natures are perhaps the least disposed 
 to furnish such details in regard to themselves, the 
 faint and shadowy memories of childish days would 
 scarcely enable them to do so if they would. The 
 most remarkable records of wise and holy childhood 
 are doubtless those which embalm the memory of 
 those fair flowers which have been transplanted in 
 their very first blossom from earth to heaven, and 
 whose early removal has led to the quick gathering 
 together and treasuring up of precious fragments 
 that had otherwise been for ever lost. Of those 
 who remain to riper years there are probably many 
 whose childish words and ways were equally worthy 
 of remembrance, were there the same motive for 
 recording them ; but the man survives to supersede 
 the child, and those early ripple marks of life are 
 effaced and swept away by the stronger tides of 
 after years. So, that best of all books of holiest 
 wisdom and truth (second only to the Eternal Word 
 itself) — the face and the heart of a child — is consigned 
 ever to fading parchments, and must be read in ever 
 fresh editions in each successive generation, even in 
 that particular " little one,'' whom the great Teacher 
 for the time being places in the midst of us. It is re- 
 markable that in the greatest of all biographies the 
 first three decades of life are almost an entire blank. 
 The holy child of Nazareth grew up to manhood in 
 a mysterious secrecy and silence, unbroken save by a 
 single incident, that of his visit to the temple in his 
 
WISE AND HOLY CHILDHOOD. 13 
 
 twelfth year, — ''that solitary floweret gathered from 
 the enclosed garden of the thirty years/' Even in 
 such a case as that of Samuel, where the interest of 
 the biography so largely turns upon the incidents 
 of birth and early years, we scarcely know much 
 more. That he was the child of many prayers, of 
 early dedication to God, of godly and careful up- 
 bringing, — this much we know, — but little more, 
 until the time when the final decisive call of God 
 summoned him from the quiet precincts of the 
 sanctuarj^, where his young life had been silently 
 unfolding into the arena and stern struggle of public 
 action. The subject of the present brief memorial 
 is no exception to this rule. There is no trace in 
 any family records or reminiscences of anything 
 remarkable and specially memorable in his child- 
 hood and early youth. All we certainly know 
 is, that he, like Samuel, was the child of godly 
 and honourable parentage, and like him, planted 
 by a parent's hand in the house of God, and watered, 
 there is reason to believe from the first not in vain, 
 by a parent's prayers. His father, Mr John Burns, 
 oflScer of the customs at Borrowstownness, and latterly 
 factor for the Duke of Hamilton on the Kinneal estate, 
 was a fine specimen of that sober, solid, fervent, and 
 truly patriarchal piety, of which the Scottish nation 
 and Scottish Church are happily so rich, and which 
 constitute the true glory and strength of our land. 
 He was blessed, by his first and only wife, Grizzel 
 
14 THE PASTOE OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Ferrier/ a true helpmeet, with twelve children, of 
 whom ten, eight sons and two daughters,^ lived to 
 occupy positions of respectability and usefulness in 
 the world. He was borne to the grave at the 
 ripe age of eighty-six, by his eight sons, of whom 
 no fewer than seven belonged to the learned pro- 
 fessions, three as lawyers, and four parochial 
 ministers of the Church of Scotland. Of this 
 goodly group the subject of this sketch was the 
 fifth, and was born on the 1 5th of February 1779. 
 In the genial atmosphere of that godly home, there 
 is reason to believe that the germs of saving grace 
 were early sown in his heart, and gradually ripened 
 into a gentle and loving piety, which grew with his 
 growth, and strengthened with his strength. Be- 
 sides the parental influence, another gracious element 
 was early infused into the family life, in the example 
 and spirit of his oldest brother, the Rev. James 
 Burns, late minister of Brechin, who. may be truly 
 said, like the Baptist, to have been sanctified by the 
 Spirit from his mother s womb, and consecrated by 
 the first and strongest bias of his heart to the service 
 of God. As if destined from the first to minister 
 before the Lord in the priest's ofiice, he was a 
 preacher even from a child, and that apparently not 
 altogether from mere childish imitation, but out of a 
 
 1 Daughter of John Ferrier, Esq., writer, Linlithgow, and Gi izzel, daughter and 
 heiress of Sir Walter Hamilton, Bart, of Westport, Linlithgowshire. 
 
 2 Mrs. David Guthrie, sen., Brechin, £ind Mrs. Professor Briggs, St. Andrews, both 
 still alive. 
 
EAELIEST MEMORIES. 15 
 
 real love for God's house and service. To gratify as 
 well as foster this early choice, the highest and the 
 holiest in tlie eyes of a godly Scottish parent of his 
 class and age, his kind father was at the expense of 
 erecting a domestic pulpit, from which his young 
 Levite might exercise his gifts in a friendly congre- 
 gation of servants and neighbours, and which, after 
 serving the uses of its first occupant, descended in 
 succession to other members of the family who were' 
 in turn smitten with the ambition to follow his 
 steps. It may be mentioned as an interesting 
 circumstance, that the youngest of the family, and 
 the last who studied for the holy ministry, the Rev, 
 George Burns, D.D., of Corstorphine, was himself 
 baptized from the same pulpit by the then venerable 
 minister of the parish, who conducted divine service 
 in it on the occasion. This venerable heirloom 
 became ultimately the property of the subject of this 
 sketch, who preserved it for many years at the manse 
 of Kilsyth as a sacred relic of former days, to be 
 called into active service again, as we shall hereafter 
 see, for yet higher work, and amid more earnest and 
 stirring scenes. 
 
 My father s earliest memories connected at all with 
 religious matters date from his ninth year. (ariBO 
 1788), and have reference to a solemn day of public 
 thanksgiving for the blessings of the ''glorious revo- 
 lution,'' accomplished a hundred years before. He 
 remembered distinctly having been present in the 
 
16 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 church of Borrowstownness on that occasion; and the 
 faces and forms of the ministers who officiated, 
 together with the texts from which they preached, 
 remained imprinted on his mind till his dying day. 
 Another thing, too, he noted, and ever afterwards 
 retained as his one reminiscence of the subject-matter 
 of the sermons, — that the names of Charles I., 
 Charles II., and James II., again and again recurred 
 in the discourses of both preachers in emphatic and 
 by no means complimentary terms. Such are the 
 little shreds and patches of early reminiscence which, 
 like specks of snow in the crevices of the hills, cling 
 to the memory in all their vivid freshness from 
 infancy to age, and which all the heat and glare of 
 life's toilsome summer can never melt away. The 
 kind of reminiscences which thus earliest, and 
 with the greatest tenacity attach themselves to the 
 youthful mind, were an interesting and not un- 
 profitable subject of inquiry ; and perhaps it is not 
 the least argument in favour of such solemn com- 
 memorations of great national events as that above 
 referred to, that however slight the impression they 
 may often make on the adult mind, they do certainly, 
 in a very peculiar manner, arrest the attention of 
 the young, and prompt the eager inquiry, What 
 mean ye by this service 
 
 From the date of this incident the subject of 
 this sketch began to take a more definite interest 
 in the services of the sanctuary, and to carry 
 
PREACHING SEVENTY YEAHS AGO. 17 
 
 away his recollections, less or more, of texts 
 and sermons. The following notes in regard to 
 the style of preaching practised in those days, taken 
 from his memoranda, may be read with interest, as 
 affording a glimpse into the interior of Scottish 
 Church life seventy years ago: — ''In those days,'' he 
 writes, it was not unusual to preach from the same 
 text for successive weeks and months — a whole 
 system of doctrine and of practice being opened up 
 and reiterated from Sabbath to Sabbath. For ex- 
 ample, the text being 'Repent, and believe the gospel,' 
 several sermons were occupied in telling what the 
 gospel was— its doctrines and its duties ; then on 
 ' believe,' — the evidences of the gospel, its truth and 
 certainty; and next repentance was treated of, and its 
 connection with faith, all under the same text.'' One 
 does not wonder that under a system like this, " the 
 giving out of a new text was quite an era ; every 
 eye and ear were stretched out and fixed ; every Bible 
 ready to be opened, as if it had been a ' latter will/ 
 The new text comes, it is Jude 20, 21, ' Building up 
 yourselves on your most holy faith,' &c. ; again the 
 truth to be believed was treated of, the nature of 
 faith in connection with these truths, its holy cha- 
 racter and influence, with the practical lessons thence 
 resulting, &c. &;c., in a long series of discourses 
 stretching on from week to week. On this plan, no 
 doubt, much sound doctrine was brought out, and 
 the hearers, if not too impatient, got very good 
 
 B 
 
38 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 matter on which to meditate, but certainly the mode 
 was not attractive, and superinduced tedium, while it 
 did not do justice to the fulness and variety of the 
 divine Word. Let it be observed, however, that the 
 expositions of Jarge portions of the Bible, by way of 
 lecture, formed always the first part of the forenoon's 
 worship, although the reading of a whole chapter 
 was not at that time practised in any of the Presby- 
 terian Churches as a regular part of the service. A 
 younger minister, however, who at this time acted as 
 assistant to the aged minister of the parish, introduced 
 among us the new and certainly better method of giv- 
 ing a new text at least every second Sabbath. He 
 went upon the maxim, ' bonus textuarius est honu's 
 theologus/ and, accordingly, the first quarter or more 
 of the hour or of the hour and a half consisted of 
 parallel texts made to bear on the illustration of the 
 passage in hand, after which he lightened, and even 
 thundered. I have heard that this copious divine, 
 on his removal to a church in England, found that it 
 behoved him to abbreviate much to suit the English 
 taste. The first half hour at least he had to cut 
 off", and became, in respect of length, an ordinary 
 preacher.'^ 
 
 I learn, from the recollections of a younger 
 brother of the family, that the system thus described 
 was still in full force during the first quarter of the 
 present century in the same church of Borrowstown- 
 ness. Preaching from the text, " Behold, I stand at 
 
RUNNING TEXTS AND LONG EECAPITULATIONS. 19 
 
 the door and knock/' the then minister of the parish, 
 the Kev. Dr. Rennie, discussed, seriatim, from Sabbath 
 to Sabbath, in separate discourses, the " bars " of the 
 door at which he knocked ; then in a fresh series the 
 "instruments by which he knocked,'" and then, finally, 
 the " uses and corollaries derivable from the whole 
 disquisition. In this way, and with the lengthened 
 recapitulation by which each successive discourse was 
 introduced, often so protracted as to render a very 
 small portion of new matter needful, it will not be 
 surprising that, as happened in the present instance, 
 the Sabbaths of a whole quarter of the year were 
 often consumed in the discussion of one single 
 theme ! 
 
 I am not quite sure if this singular style of pulpit 
 instruction, so exhaustive, or rather exhausting, in 
 more senses than one, be even yet in all quarters 
 wholly and finally extinct. At least it was not so in 
 my early school-boy days. I remember well that in a 
 certain school, when on Monday mornings the master 
 used to ask from his pupils the text of the sermon 
 they had heard the day before, the children attending 
 one of the churches of the place, came week after week 
 with the unchanging, and, certainly, in one view, most 
 comprehensive text, " The disciples were called Chris- 
 tians first at Antioch." Under this head, the con- 
 gregation were doubtless favoured with a complete 
 and systematic treatise on Christianity, its evidences 
 and history, its doctrines and duties, its profession 
 
20 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH, 
 
 and discipleship, its responsibilities, claims, hopes, 
 and fears, everything, in short, which could in any- 
 way be included under the general idea of being 
 Christians, or being called Christians, whether in 
 Antioch or elsewhere. The custom is one, certainly, 
 which posterity has very wisely let die ; yet, perhaps, 
 there is a danger lest, in the livelier and more de- 
 sultory homiletics of modern times, we should err on 
 the other side, and too much neglect that systematic 
 and detailed instruction in Christian truth and duty 
 at which our fathers aimed, and which, however 
 imperfect in the mode of its conveyance, yet by its 
 substance so largely contributed to form the solid 
 and robust religion of former days. By all means 
 let there be the new text each Sabbath-day, and a 
 new vein of sacred truth opened up by the close, 
 searching, and faithful exegesis of it, but, at the same 
 time, let the order of subjects be so arranged that 
 the whole circle at least of necessary truth shall be 
 traversed within a certain, and not too extended 
 time. After all, as old Tiff says (by the way one of 
 the best professors of pastoral theology I know), 
 the great end of all preaching is to show to poor 
 strayed and bewildered souls, " the way to Ca- 
 naan.''-^ 
 
 After all, however, we much fear that the peculiarly 
 
 1 See an exquisite passac:e to this purpose in Mrs. Stowe*s "Dred," a book which, 
 even had it been more faulty than It is, the character and sayings of old Tiff alone 
 might have rendered immoital. 
 
THE DARK NIGHT. 
 
 21 
 
 prosaic style of preaching now described was at the 
 time l^eferred to not so much the result of any re- 
 markable, zeal for the inculcation of saving truth, as 
 of the flat, spiritless, and mediocre character of the 
 age. It was a sad time for the Church, at once 
 intellectually, morally, and spiritually. The long and 
 dreary night of the eighteenth century, though now 
 drawing near its close, still maintained its reign, and 
 even seemed to deepen in black darkness and death- 
 like chillness, as it approached the dawn. It was 
 only a year or two after this that the cause of 
 Christian missions was ignominiously spurned from 
 the table of the General Assembly, indicating, per- 
 haps, the veiy lowest point in the thermometer of 
 Christian faith and life within the pale of the Church 
 of Scotland since the Reformation. Over vast tracts 
 of the country, a cold, semi-sceptical moderatism held 
 undisturbed sway, while the evangelism which here 
 and there nominally maintained its ground was 
 seldom of that strong, fervent, and high-toned type 
 with which happily we are now so familiar. Error 
 spoke aloud with clear and unfaltering tongue on the 
 high places of the land, while truth, scorned and 
 down-trodden, uttered its voice with stammering and 
 muffled accents, and offered but a feeble resistance 
 to the strong, triumphant tide of latitudinarian in- 
 difference that was rolling on. There was a good 
 deal of nominal orthodoxy — fully more, perhaps, 
 than a few years afterwards — but little holy unction. 
 
22 THE PASTOK OF KILSYTH. 
 
 fervour, power. There were, however, even then 
 noble exceptions amongst the ministry of those 
 days, some of whom the subject of this sketch 
 had heard and remembered, and whose names 
 he often mentioned with honour. There was, for 
 instance, the truly learned and holy John Gillies, of 
 the College Church, Glasgow, who, entering on his 
 charge in 1742, fresh from the revival scenes at 
 Cambuslang, continued for six and forty years a 
 singularly fragrant and fruitful ministry, and was 
 now, full of years and of usefulness, bidding farewell 
 to the Church below; and there was the ardent, 
 single-hearted Kobert Balfour, minister for forty 
 years of the Outer High Church, Glasgow, " with 
 his rich flow of hortatory eloquence and scriptural 
 illustration, hampered, indeed, and restrained some- 
 times in the presence of a learned and fastidious 
 auditory, but in his own congregation, or in other 
 places, where he was at home, pouring out his 
 whole heart, and flowing on through two or even 
 three continuous discourses most seraphically ; and 
 then there was the good and devout Archibald 
 Bonar of Cramond, the worthy sire of a worthy 
 race of fervent evangelists and doctors, who, though 
 long trammelled by his MS. preparations, to an ex- 
 tent which, in after life, he regretted, possessed, as Dr. 
 George Hill once remarked to the subject of this 
 memoir, the most remarkable popular gift in preach- 
 ing of any man he had ever known,'' and who, by 
 
LIGHTS SHINING IN A DARK PLACE. 23 
 
 his very psalms and prayers, apart from the sermon, 
 created quite a sensation in congregations used only 
 to the dull, uninspired orthodoxy of those days: 
 then there was the strong, bluff, hearty, iron-fisted 
 Bryce Johnston of Holywell — well known in the 
 ecclesiastical arena as the formidable and uncom- 
 promising foe of moderatism, at once keen in wit and 
 strong in sense, now convulsing the Assembly by his 
 inimitable picture of Balaam's ass in the character of 
 the pompous and stately Dr. Carlyle,-^ now brandish- 
 ing in his brawny hand a ponderous tome in the face 
 of his adversaries, while he demolished their sophis- 
 tries, till Dr. Hill cried out, "Take care, doctor; you'll 
 strike our heads," — but known still better in private 
 life, and in his own immediate sphere, as a devoted 
 Christian, and faithful, and fervent preacher of the 
 
 1 See Hugh Miller's graphic picture of the man and the scene in " The Two 
 Parties, &c." " He (Dr. Carlyle, who for reasons well known, got the soubriquet 
 of Jupiter Tonans) had been all his life long a keen supporter of Toryism. In his 
 exertions to support the policy of Pitt and Dundas, he had, to employ the language 
 of one of his brethren, who spoke for both the doctor and himself, 'risked even the 
 friendship of his flock, and his own usefulness as a pastor among them.' He had 
 taken a deep interest in the bill proposed in 1793 for the augmentation of ministers' 
 stipends; it had been set aside, to his signal mortification, by his friends the Tories; 
 and the reverend doctor, in the ensuing Assembly, proved unable to conceal his 
 disappointment and chagrin. He went the length even of charging the ministry, in 
 a style fully more lachrymose than pathetic, with ' ingratitude to their best friends;' 
 and the complaint was ludicrously paraphrased in reply, by the singularly able and 
 accomplished Dr. Bryce Johnstone, in the words of Balaam's ass, 'Am I not thine 
 ass, on which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine until this day ? ' Dr. Johnstone 
 followed up the allusion in a vein of the happiest ridicule, amid the irrepressible 
 laughter of the house. The liint was caught by the eccentric Kay, and in his 
 caricature, Faithful Service Rewarded^ the reader may see a neatly-etched head of 
 Jupiter Tonans, attached to a long-bodied, crocodile-looking jack-ass, bestridden by 
 the late Lord Melville."— T'/ie Two Parties, dx., pp. 24, 25. 
 
24 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 trtith ; and finally, there was the warm-hearted and 
 courageous James Barn of Forgan, sometimes called, 
 from his powerful and melting voice, and the use he 
 made of it, The Bell of Fife," a kind of Whitfield 
 in his way, both in the system he followed, and in a 
 kind of natural eloquence cast very much in the 
 same mould. These, and such as these, including 
 the goodly band of able and faithful men, to be 
 hereafter mentioned, who then worthily represented 
 the evangelical party in the pulpits of the metropolis, 
 together with the Calders and the Frazers of the far 
 north, were burning and shining lights in their day, 
 all the more that they were so few and far between. 
 Doubtless the very presence of such men within the 
 bosom of the National Ghurch served to preserve many 
 a faithful soul within her pale, who had else sought 
 spiritual food elsewhere, and kept alive, even in the 
 darkest times, the persuasion that a blessing was yet 
 in her, and would burst forth into life on another 
 day. The lamp, though dim and flickering, still 
 burned in the sanctuary, nor had the shekinah yet 
 departed from the Holy Place. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 a791-1799.) 
 
 "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless 
 •me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that 
 thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him 
 that which he requested."—! Chron. iv. 10. 
 
II. 
 
 The preliminary training of the primary and of the 
 grammar school was in those days quickly sped. 
 Where all that was required previously to entering 
 the university was reading, writing, arithmetic, and 
 a small smattering of Latin, the brief curriculum was 
 speedily run, and the schoolboy was drafted away to 
 the college almost before he had entered on his teens. 
 Thus our halls of learning became what unfortunately 
 they still continue too much to be, rather academies 
 of boys than of men. Accordingly, we find the 
 subject of our sketch as early as the year 1791, and 
 when only in his thirteenth year, already passed 
 from school life, and enrolled as a full-fledged under- 
 graduate of the University of Edinburgh, under no 
 less distinguished a teacher than Dr. Andrew Dalziel, 
 and alongside of such notable compeers as John 
 Campbell (now Lord Chancellor), and Henry 
 Brougham. He passed his under-graduate course 
 with commendable diligence and success, and 
 entered the Divinity Hall in the winter of 1795, 
 
28 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Here lie pursued his sacred studies under the then 
 Professors of Systematic Theology and Church His- 
 tory, Drs. Andrew Hunter and Thomas Hardie, in 
 the former of Avhom he enjoyed the benefit of an 
 edifying example and sound doctrinal instruction; in 
 the other, the stimulus and healthful tonic of a keen, 
 original, and richly suggestive mind. Of both these 
 teachers he ever afterwards spoke with grateful re- 
 spect, — but with peculiar affection and sympathy of 
 the former, as not only the man of study but the man 
 of God. But there were influences and scenes out- 
 side the hall, to which he recurred in after years 
 with still livelier satisfaction, and which contributed 
 in a much higher degree to form the character of the 
 future pastor and watcher for souls. The holy fire 
 was kindled, not by the lessons of the schools, but 
 • by a live coal from the altar of God. Amid the hal- 
 lowing and soul-quickening atmosphere of Sabbaths 
 spent in Lady Glenorchy's or Lady Testers Church; 
 the one under the ministry of the lively and fervent 
 Thomas Jones, the other of the saintly and tenderly 
 plaintive David Black — the M^Cheyne of those days 
 — or in kindly personal colloquy in the study or 
 at the breakfast table of such benignant fathers in 
 the faith as Walter Buchanan and Thomas Randal 
 Davidson, the smoking flax in his young heart, as 
 in many others besides, was fanned into a flame of 
 holy decision and courage which burned on through 
 life. The two last mentioned worthies he especially 
 
students' friends— DU. WALTER BUCHANAN. 29 
 
 commemorates as pre-emiiuently the students' friends. 
 Not only did they notice and encourage pious or 
 hopeful youths when directly thrown in their way, 
 but positively laid themselves out for this kind of 
 work, seeking out those young recruits of the sacred 
 army "very diligently/' gently rallying them around 
 them, and both by loving counsel and substantial aid 
 cheering them on to the holy coniflict before them. 
 How much good of the most precious kind was thus 
 by them wrought unseen, — to how many a young 
 soldier of Christ who in after days warred a good 
 warfare, they spoke at the critical moment the w^ord 
 in season, the day alone will declare. Of these the 
 subject of this memoir was one; and it is not more 
 to perpetuate the remembrance of a type of character 
 which has always been too rare among our city 
 clergy, than to fulfil a long standing debt of gratitude, 
 that we present the following brief touches of affec- 
 tionate remembrance which I find recorded in his 
 papers after the lapse of more than sixty years. 
 They make no pretensions to the character of 
 finished biographical sketches; but even a few 
 random footprints of the noble and true-hearted of 
 former days are too precious to be permitted to pass 
 away. 
 
 Of Dr. Buchanan he thus writes: — I really write 
 this 'con amore;' as of all the kind friends of young 
 men prosecuting their clerical studies, he and his 
 truly excellent lady were beyond doubt the most 
 
30 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 uniform and unwearied. The Doctor was a native 
 of Glasgow, where lie has still most respectable rela- 
 tions, was ordained first as minister of Stirling, and 
 translated in the year 1 789 to the Canongate Church 
 in Edinburgh, where he laboured for nearly half a 
 century. His well-known hospitable dwelling was in 
 Eeid's Court, Canongate, the centre house as you enter 
 the court, a rather humble looking dwelling as times 
 go now, but then, with its garden behind, convenient 
 and respectable. An aunt of my own, a clergyman's 
 widow, for some years occupied the corner house to the 
 left of the court, which may have led to an earlier intro- 
 duction to the worthy Doctor than might otherwise 
 have been. Yet I am not quite sure of this, inas- 
 much as he and his worthy lady made it their object 
 to find out students to whom they might be of use 
 in every sense of the word. So it was ; Dr. and 
 Mrs. Buchanan were succourers of many, and of 
 myself also. Dr. Buchanan's manner was engaging, 
 and made raw and modest youths at their ease in 
 his company. They were also introduced from the 
 study into the parlour for breakfast or tea, and were 
 encouraged to speak of their friends, and companions, 
 and studies. They were presented, too, with books 
 of more or less value, but all of course combining 
 the utile with the dulce. It is amazing how much 
 good may be done in this way, and at no great 
 expense. Inquiry was made where the young men 
 attended public worship, and of the sermons which 
 
' DR. WALTER BUCHANAN. 31 
 
 they heard. By the way, observing that a brother 
 of mine (afterwards minister of Brechin), was in the 
 way of going out to sermons on the Sabbath even- 
 ings, he cautioned him, recommending in preference 
 the recollection of, and meditating on what he had 
 heard, and the trying to do some good in the famity 
 in which he boarded. His kindness was more to be. 
 noted by us, inasmuch as we were not his hearers, 
 although his church was near us, the greater popu- 
 larity of Dr. Jones, whom we chiefly heard, not at 
 all cooling his regard to us. Contemporaries who 
 shared in his fatherly attention, were, inter alios, 
 Henrj^ Grey,^ Andrew Thomson,^ Jam^ Brewster,^ 
 Robert Lundie,^ George Cupples,^ followed afterwards 
 by a long catalogue, of whom ' many remain unto 
 this present, and some have fallen asleep.' 
 
 " Dr. Buchanan, having private means of his own, 
 and, moreover, having a taste for what we may 
 denominate a kind of evangelical alliance, long before 
 the era of that happy association, was much in the 
 way of making excursions to England, and forming 
 acquaintance wdth the Simeons, the Venns, and the 
 Rowland Hills of former days. He had more of the 
 English address and- mode of utterance, without, 
 however, the least affectation, than most of the 
 fathers and brethren of that time. He was tried, 
 for the most part, with colleagues of a different 
 
 1 Of St. Mary's, Edinburgh. Of St. George's, Edinburgh. 
 
 3 Afterwards of Craig, Forfarshire. * Of Kelso. ^ Of Stirling. 
 
32 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 spirit from his own, except in a few later years of 
 his life, when the late well-remembered Dr. Alex- 
 ander Stewart, first of Moulin and Dingwall, was 
 admitted to the first charge, who, however, was soon 
 removed by death (anno 1821). Dr. Buchanan him- 
 self died in 1833, being then in the forty-fourth year 
 of his ministry there. Mrs. Buchanan survived him 
 for several years, to old age, and died full of faith 
 and good works, combining, in as high a degree as I 
 have ever known, the qualities of the lady and the 
 Christian, and leaving a blank in Edinburgh society 
 not easily to be supplied. The annals of St. Luke's 
 Church may be referred to as one, and the latest scene 
 of that 'elect lady s' evangelistic gifts of zeal and love."" 
 
 Our companion sketch is that of one of a harder, 
 robtister make, but withal of as kind and true a 
 heart. He had a rough rind, but the kernel that lay 
 beneath was sweet and sound. Whatever brilliant 
 and more striking gifts God may bestow on his 
 Church, the world can ill at any time spare the 
 goodly succession of such strong, erect, serious, clear- 
 minded, and warm-hearted men of God as Dr. Thomas 
 Eandal Davidson : — 
 
 "He was son to the somewhat eccentric, but able 
 and venerated Mx. Kandal of Stirling, of whose 
 more than magisterial command over the populace 
 of that ancient burgh, and of the awe and dread 
 w^hich surrounded him on Sabbaths and week days, 
 we have often heard. 
 
DR. THOMAS RANDAL DAVIDSON. 33 
 
 "He took, as is well known, the name of Davidson 
 as heir to his Uncle by the mother's side. When 
 one wished him joy on his succession, he said, ' Wish 
 me more grace, man.' A young relative of my own 
 said, when he heard of Mr. Randall's succession to 
 such a fortune, 'he'll preach nae mair.' Little, 
 poor fellow, did he know of the man, and less of the 
 power of the gospel, and its victory over the world. 
 
 " He was ordained minister of Inchture, near Dun- 
 dee, and next admitted to the charge of Outer High 
 Church, Glasgow, and, finally, one of the ministers 
 of the Tolbooth Church, Edinburgh. When I, as a 
 student of philosophy, was first introduced to him in 
 the year 1793, he was the Rev. Thomas Randal, 
 and lived in a house on the south-west side of St. 
 James' Square. He, too, like Dr. Buchanan, was 
 distinguished for his friendly and fatherly care over 
 young men preparing for the ministry. He was not 
 so engaging in his manner as Dr. Buchanan, but not 
 less practical in his attention to their real interests. 
 Among the first questions he put to me was — ' If I 
 had read any biographies of good men ? ' to which 
 I answered, that I had read the life of Matthew 
 Henry. He said, ' Philip s is better. Any other ?' 
 I said, ' I have read Leechman's Life ' (Professor of 
 Divinity at Glasgow). This did not please him. 
 He said, ' Who put that into your hands ? ' This 
 waa rather a back set to me, and I replied rather 
 
 abashed, * I should like to get a reading of Philip 
 c 
 
34 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Henry's life/ He said, 'There is Fraser of Brae's 
 Life.' He then cautioned me against reading or 
 buying books, e. g., at auctions, without being ascer- 
 tained of their real value. In 1796-7, being then a 
 student of theology, he asked me if I was a member 
 of any prayer-meetings, or of a theological society. 
 I no doubt would tell him that I was a member of 
 a prayer-meeting in the house of the widowed mother 
 of George Wright, my fellow student (afterwards the 
 worthy Dr. G. Wright of Stirling) ; where I met 
 with John Campbell, well known years afterwards 
 as the African traveller to Latakoo, and the zealous 
 promoter of every good and holy work. As to the 
 other question, I told him (the Doctor) that I was a 
 member of the Old Theological Society, which met 
 on Saturday evenings in the Divinity Hall. He 
 was surprised, and said I should rather have joined 
 the ' Philo-Theological Society," which had the cha- 
 racter of being composed of the more pious students ; 
 but when I asked him if he would advise me to 
 leave the old and join the other, he said, 'By no 
 means ; that would look cowardly. You must just 
 do the best you can to bring them to better views, 
 and defend the truth.' He recommended to have 
 an interleaved Bible, and to note down critical and 
 useful remarks, from reading or hearing, and coun- 
 selled the practice of diligent and select serious 
 reading, the improvement of time, early rising, &c. 
 "Certain itis,as my friend Dr. Guthrie has remarked 
 
DR. DAVIDSON AND DR. BLAIR. 35 
 
 somewhere, that the worthy doctor did help some of 
 the more rustic students to a "guinea's worth'" of the 
 training of a respectable teacher of graceful motion, 
 — a Mr. Gibb, if I mistake not, a member of the 
 Kev. Dr. Hall's Church, Kose Street, to teach the 
 lads," as he expressed it, "to enter a room properly." 
 This inter alia shows that the doctor was a practical 
 man, and that he was observant of the minuter as 
 well as of the graver and weightier matters. 
 
 "He insisted much on the importance of the manner 
 of delivery in the pulpit. He said to myself that he 
 thought he could trust the matter, but was jealous 
 about the manner; which he insisted was not studied 
 as it ought, by some of the preachers otherwise good 
 and sound. As to gifts of books to poor students he 
 was very liberal. On the subject of the reading of 
 sermons in the pulpit, he said, "Beware of even using 
 notes, for I,'" said he, " began with a note the breadth 
 of my hand, and now I cover almost the whole two 
 pages of the Bible.'' I had at first a kind of terror 
 of Mr. Kandal, but at length came to like him 
 much; and, with many ministers living, and not a 
 few gone to a better world, owe a tribute to his 
 memory. 
 
 "What a life of activity and usefulness was his! In 
 a conversation I had with him, early in my own 
 ministry, he mentioned his having met with 
 Dr. Blair in the course of a Saturday's musing on 
 Salisbury Crags, when going over mentally, and 
 
S6 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Bometimes orally, his subject for the morrow,— who, 
 in a friendly way, asked * how it was that he, who had 
 been a minister for some years previously to his com- 
 ing to Edinburgh, was making such exertions in the 
 way of preparation for the pulpit, having only one 
 sermon a week to revise and deliver? — as to visiting, 
 catechising, fee, such labours were not to be expected 
 in the city, or even the visiting of the sick, which 
 was left to elders and pious laymen/ ' That was his 
 view of the matter,' said Dr. Davidson, ' and yet he 
 was one of the best of them (the moderate clergy). I 
 told him I could not take that view of the subject 
 and that I considered that more of labour than ever 
 was required to fulfil the duties now incumbent.' 
 How many volumes might be filled up with the 
 notanda of families regularly visited ; of poor sick, 
 sought out, comforted, and soothed ; and of friendless 
 youths instructed by books and by advice, as well as 
 helped by seasonable pecuniary aid! When no longer 
 able to mount the stairs in the houses, for instance, 
 facing the passengers over the Mound from the New 
 Town, ascending to ten or twelve tiers or flats, he 
 employed and paid a probationer as his deputy to 
 visit the indwellers in ordinary, as well as the sick 
 and the dying. The following anecdote belongs to 
 the period just before age unfitted him for this 
 labour : — Three, perhaps four, young men, engaged 
 in business, friends of mine, instead of taking lodg- 
 ings, bethought themselves of renting a flat in the 
 
PAROCHIAL VISITATION. 37 
 
 midway up the * land of houses' referred to, and 
 constituted, with an elderly servant, quite an unique 
 kind of family. To the wonder and profit of the 
 young men, who should make his appearance among 
 them one day, but the worthy Dr. Davidson, giving 
 them a pastoral visit in the course of his parochial 
 rounds, observing at the same time that this was a 
 novelty in his experience, a species of domestic 
 society which interested him, and giving them pas- 
 toral counsels which I know were most thankfully 
 received. The annals of eternity will show how 
 much that devoted minister did in his days, in ways 
 thus quiet and unobtrusive, in the cause of his blessed 
 Master, and for the good of souls. 
 
 ''Dr. Davidson^ as to his bodily form, was of ordinary 
 height, and rather slender make. As already hinted, 
 he was an early riser, and very temperate in all 
 things. He died in 1827, being in the 81st year of 
 his age, and the 57th of his ministry, and forming, 
 singularly enough, one of five amongst the clergy of 
 Edinburgh about that time who had completed the 
 fiftieth year of their ministry.'^ 
 
 Truly, few ever better earned the crown of those 
 who, by "patient continuance in well-doing,'' and in 
 the great Master's sight alone, "seek for glory, honour, 
 and immortality." 
 
 Amongst the other ministers, besides his special 
 favourite Dr. Jones, — whose uncommon liveliness, as 
 the little man rocked to and fro in the pulpit, into 
 
38 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 which he popped in from behind, and bounded along 
 in his own fresh, buoyant, and fervent strain, at once 
 attracted him, — our young student commemorates, 
 with special zest, a Sabbath spent in Old Greyfriars' 
 Church, under the massive, vigorous, and gravely 
 serious John Erskine. Curiously enough, he sat in 
 old Walter Scott's pew, and could thus verify, from 
 the very point of view from which it was taken, the 
 celebrated novelist's vivid photograph. The ^' black 
 wig without a grain of powder," " the narrow chest 
 and stooping posture,'' " the hands, which, placed like 
 props on either side of the pulpit, seemed necessary 
 rather to support the person than to assist the gesti- 
 culation," "the tumbled band," and ''the gesture which 
 seemed rather spasmodic than voluntary," — all this, 
 together with the strong masculine sense, and wise, 
 weighty, pregnant words of the venerable preacher, 
 vividly impressed him, and was recognised and wel- 
 comed in after years on the canvas of the great 
 painter, as the familiar features of a friend. More 
 fortunate, however, than Colonel Mannering, he was 
 successful in getting a hearing also of his more cele- 
 brated colleague, Principal Robertson, and was much 
 prepossessed by the calm and pleasant manner in 
 which he pronounced those stately periods, with the 
 rhythm of which we are all familiar. " He wrote 
 his sermon on one side of the paper, in separate 
 leaves, pushing gently the page he had read to the 
 left side of the pulpit Bible. His text was taken 
 
DR. ERSKINE AND DR. ROBERTSON. 39 
 
 from Ps. xxii, 23, * Glorify him, all ye seed of 
 Isra^L^ I remember two things besides his neat 
 mode of reading, namely, that he recommended the 
 Shorter Catechism, which makes glorifying God and 
 enjoying him for ever the chief end of man ; and 
 remarked that the Heathen Greeks and Romans 
 seem to have had a kind of shadowy idea of the 
 connection between the two, when they represented 
 t the entrance to the temple of honour as through 
 that of virtue." By the way, I find express con- 
 firmation in these memoranda of that characteristic 
 anecdote in which tradition has embodied, and as 
 it were enshrined, the distinctive character and 
 spirit of these two distinguished men. "The Rev, 
 Principal so he relates the story, "one fore- 
 noon had advanced the position, that 'so great 
 is the beauty of virtue, that if pei-fect virtue should 
 appear in a human form, all would fall down and 
 worship her and the sounder colleague in the 
 afternoon said, in allusion to this, * That perfect 
 virtue did appear once, and only once in a human 
 form, — and was crucified 
 
 One other vivid reminiscence of Erskine he re- 
 tained through life, — the celebrated " Rax me the 
 Bible" scene, in the Assembly 1796, at which he 
 was present, and which may be placed beside Knox's 
 sermon at St. Andrews, or Andrew Melville's inter- 
 view with James, among the great historical pictures 
 of the Church of Scotland. 
 
40 THE PASTOH OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Our readers will remember the worthy Dr. David- 
 son's misgivings on the subject of our young friend's 
 connection with the ^'Old Theological/' From the 
 sequel it appears, that his suspicions on that score 
 were not wholly groundless. Its atmosphere was 
 evidently charged strongly with opposite electric 
 elements, which frequently came into loud, if not 
 deadly, collision. The discussions, often on vital 
 questions of the faith, were animated, vehement, 
 protracted : — 
 
 Among the members of the Old Theological 
 Society of that day (1796-7), the most notable was 
 the famous John Leyden. He came like a wild 
 goat from the Lammermuir Hills, — his speech and 
 action the most original and eccentric, without, how- 
 ever, the least affectation of singularity, of which he 
 was wholly unconscious. Lord Cockburn, who was 
 a co-member with him in another more scientific 
 society, along with Henry Brougham, Horner, &c., 
 has given a true and graphic description of him in 
 those days. He and Logan (of Chirnside afterwards) 
 always took the heterodox side in our debates. The 
 worthy Donald M'Donald, Dr. A. Hunter s servant, 
 or doorkeeper of the Divinity Hall, a zealous High- 
 lander, seemingly one of ' the men,' overhearing us 
 from behind the door when Leyden and Logan put 
 forth their heretical spoutings, gave sometimes a sig- 
 nificant knock (once I recollect he said he would fire 
 a pistol among us), and by his plaudit and encour- 
 
THE OLD THEOLOGICAL AND JOHN LEYDEN. 41 
 
 agement, cheered on those who spoke in defence of 
 the truth. Leyden was very amiable in his native 
 simplicity and originality, and became much more 
 correct in his views of divine truth in after days. 
 His futiu-e course and poetical effusions are well known, 
 and his early death in India, in the very opening scene 
 of his bright and useful career, is most affecting." 
 
 It is indeed a pregnant proof of the still dominant 
 and triumphant position of the latitudinarian and 
 Laodicean spirit of the age of Kobertson, that if .<5on- 
 tinued to draw to itself so large a proportion of the 
 very flower and promise of the rising race. It was 
 stiU the strong and gaining cause, and like every 
 other strong and gaining cause, rallied around it the 
 whole crowd of the weak and the wavering; while 
 the intellectual and literary lustre which a few cele- 
 brated names had thrown around it, imparted to it 
 a peculiar fascination for the young and the aspir- 
 ing. It thus numbered in its ranks the great body 
 of the brighter and more genial spirits of the time, 
 as weU as many others who were neither bright nor 
 genial, but had a keen ambition, at least, to be 
 esteemed such. It was, in fact, the religion of the 
 court party, of the literary coteries, and of fashion- 
 able society. It was the religion of Principal Robert- 
 son, of Lord Melville, and of all the world, save only a 
 few pious women, and old-fashioned, however worthy, 
 and well-meaning ministers of whom fame knew no- 
 thing. It was, in short, the strong and central 
 
42 
 
 THE PASTOR OP KILSYTH. 
 
 stream of the world, and even of the religious world ; 
 and therefore, by the simple force of its current, 
 drew to itself and carried along with it all the straws. 
 It is not surprising that the great majority of young 
 and unformed hearts, however originally well dis- 
 posed, gave way beneath this influence. Nothing, 
 indeed, could stand before it but the most serious 
 views and the deepest convictions of the truth. To 
 resist was to pass at once beneath the shadow of the 
 cross ; was to go forth to Christ without the camp 
 bearing his reproach. Well did the subject of this 
 memoir remember long afterward the keen ordeal of 
 scorn*' which the modest profession of evangelical 
 sentiments cost him in some of the new town circles 
 where he visited, and how even the mere fact of at- 
 tending " such places*' as Lady Glenorchy's or the 
 Tolbooth Church provoked the wondering and con- 
 temptuous smile. In academic circles the prevailing 
 tendency took a more theoretic direction. What in 
 general society was Laodicean indifference and un- 
 godliness, was here heterodoxy. A certain freedom 
 and laxity of faith was the fashionable mode. The 
 profession of a strict orthodoxy was deemed the mark 
 of a mean and narrow spirit, a certain boldness of 
 heterodox speculation and free thinking, the proof of 
 a large and enlightened mind. So easy a road to 
 intellectual eminence was sure to be weU trodden. 
 It is always easier to mount a badge than to fight a 
 battle, to join a set than achieve for oneself anything 
 
THE AGE OF ROBERTSON. 43 
 
 good or great in any field of tliouglit or action. So, 
 wliile a few strong spirits were boldly broaching and 
 defending error, the feeble crowd aped it. A good 
 story illustrative of this my father used often to tell 
 as having come under his own knowledge. A young 
 country minister, of large vanity and small mind, 
 eager to tread this ready road to fame, was in the 
 habit of dropping hints among his friends that his 
 orthodoxy on certain deep speculative points was not 
 altogether to be trusted, and dabbled a good deal in 
 the buying, or, at least, looking at books which he 
 never read. In this way he came under the notice 
 of a shrewd Edinburgh bookseller, whose shop he fre- 
 quented during the Assembly sittings, and who seems 
 at once to have taken his measure. He invited him 
 to take tea at his house, giving him to understand 
 that he would find there a literary reunion suited to 
 his taste and his studies. On going there he was at 
 once introduced to a grave and reverend senior whom 
 he had never before seen, but whom he at once con- 
 cluded to be one of the chief lights of the theological 
 world. Accordingly, he fastened himself to this man 
 for the evening, and was soon embarked on the wide 
 sea of theological discussion and speculation. He 
 modestly hinted his heretical doubts and misgivings, 
 and was gratified beyond measure by the kindly in- 
 terest with which his companion mourned his youth- 
 ful aberrations, and hoped that he might yet live 
 to embrace other and sounder views. After an 
 
44 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 evening spent much to his own satisfaction, he rose 
 to leave, and in quitting the room, asked his host in 
 a whisper, " Who is that reverend gentleman with 
 whom I have been speaking most of the evening ?" 
 " Oh, do you not know who that is ? It is the head 
 beadle of the Tolbooth Church ^ 
 
 Yet strongly as the tide of evil was still running, 
 it was rapidly approaching its highest point, and was 
 soon to commence its ebb. The very height to which 
 the course of defection had now come, as in the sad 
 Assembly of 1796, tended to startle the public mind 
 and originate a reaction. The heart of the religious 
 common people, as well as of the humbler middle classes, 
 was still sound, and rallied strongly round those faith- 
 ful men who, in the darkest times, upheld the standard 
 of the truth. While the Robertsons and Blairs were 
 the idols of literary coteries and polite circles, the 
 real leaders of the people, and the exponents of the 
 deepest religious consciousness of the time, were men 
 of another mould. Hence it is that we find the 
 evangelical party even then much more largely re- 
 presented in the metropolitan pulpit, than the pre- 
 vailing bias of men in power would have led us to 
 expect. They were, in fact, the only men the people 
 would hear, — the only men in whom they had any 
 confidence whatever, — and in this whim, as a mere 
 matter of governmental policy, they must be gratified. 
 Thus we find contemporaneously at Edinburgh the 
 following goodly band : — John Erskine, Sir H. Mon- 
 
EDINBUEGH PULPIT IN 1790-1800. 45 
 
 creiff, Wm. Paul, D. Dickson, sen., Walter Buchanan, 
 Andrew Hunter, T. R. Davidson, Thomas Jones, and 
 David Black ^ — all men of sterling worth and piety, 
 all of respectable, some of distinguished, powers. 
 There was not, indeed, among them any one man of 
 commanding eloquence or fame, no thrilling voice 
 like that of Guthrie or Chalmers, on whom crowds of 
 all ages and classes hung enchained. They were of 
 a class fitted rather for defensive, than for powerfully 
 aggressive action, forming a strong and solid breast- 
 work against the further progress of defection, rather 
 than a gallant charging column to meet and turn the 
 tide of war. Yet, such as they were, and for the 
 special sphere and task assigned to them, they quitted 
 themselves like men, and did their work bravely and 
 well. If they did not kindle a flame they nourished 
 and cherished the smoking flax. If they did not 
 storm the citadel of the enemy, they at least held 
 their ground before it till stronger re-inforcements 
 arrived. They sowed the seeds of the future harvest. 
 They prepared the way for that great revival, which 
 about the year 1810 or 1812, set decisively in, and 
 which thenceforward, under such leaders as Andrew 
 Thomson, Henry Grey, and Robert Gordon, steadily 
 advanced to victory. 
 
 So much for the state of matters within the 
 
 1 I find the name of Dr. John Campbell of the Tolbooth Church also mentioned 
 in the memoranda before me, with great respect and regard, as one of the ablest 
 divines and best men of that time; but he did not come to Edinburgh until 1806. 
 
46 
 
 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Established Church. Outside its pale, we begin at 
 this time to descry still clearer fore-tokenings of the 
 coming better age. While the regular lines, as we 
 have seen, maintain a cautious, defensive position, a 
 gallant company of irregulars are mustering apart 
 and preparing for bold and resolute aggressive action. 
 Greville Ewing,-^ John Campbell, Robert and James 
 Haldane, with other congenial spirits, are already in 
 the field, as the pioneers and forerunners of that 
 great company of preachers to the poor and the 
 neglected who have since followed in their footsteps. 
 The distribution of tracts, the founding of Sabbath 
 schools, and the familiar and fervent preaching of 
 the gospel in neglected villages, were their earliest 
 enterprises, and owe to them, in Scotland at least, 
 their first origination and impulse. The following 
 brief but graphic notices from the memoranda before 
 me will be read with interest, as one hails the first 
 breath and earliest fiowers of spring : — " In the year 
 1797 Mr. Greville Ewing and his dear friend Mr. 
 Gairie of Perth (the worthy man whose presentation 
 to the first charge of Brechin was set aside by the 
 General Assembly, as not having studied regularly 
 in any of the divinity halls of Scotland), a very holy 
 man and useful preacher, set out on an itinerary 
 
 1 Originally of the Established Church, but seceded about this time, disheartened 
 probably by the dominant spirit of error and indifference within the national pale, 
 others of less sanguine and impatient temperament, while equally mourning over 
 the existipg state of things, remained calmly at their post, and waited for better 
 days. 
 
EARLY FLOWERS. 47 
 
 tour for preaching and giving tracts. I learned from 
 himself the following little anecdote. They had 
 hired a gig and set out from Edinburgh on a fine 
 summer morning having a large store of religious 
 tracts to give away or scatter on the road during 
 their progress. They came to Livingstone to break- 
 fast. When standing on the landing step of the 
 inn, Mr. Gairie looking about saw a venerable, hoary- 
 headed man making way to them from the other 
 side of the square, who said to them, ^ Good-morrow, 
 gentlemen ; from Edinburgh, I presume ? ' ' Yes, 
 sir.' 'Any news? we usually expect news from 
 travellers from Edinburgh.' ' Oh,' said Mr. Gairie, 
 ' old friend, here is the best news we have got,' — - 
 taking out a tract, ' Good News of the Way of Salva- 
 tion,' written,! think, by Simeon of Cambridge, — 'will 
 you take one V The old gentleman was, no doubt, 
 taken by surprise — for the admirable essaying to do 
 good in this way was just commenced — thanked Mr. 
 Gairie, and went away with it. Mr. Ewing then 
 asked his friend, ' Do you know to whom you have 
 given the tract?' 'No, how could I know him? 
 I never was here in my life before. Do you know 
 him?' 'Yes, it is no other than the old minister 
 of the parish.' His name was Wishart, one of the 
 Wisharts of Kinneal old church, afterwards joined 
 to Bo'ness. He was long a recluse, having gone 
 through many domestic afflictions, and was by this 
 time left alone. He used to say he was like a violin 
 
48 THE PASTOU OF KILSYTH. 
 
 with all its strings broken. May we not hope the 
 'Good News' enlivened him in his solitude and in 
 his declining days. He died in 1801. 
 
 *'By the way, the same year, 1797, or the fol- 
 lowing, Messrs. James Haldane and John Aikman 
 were itinerating and sowing the precious seed in the 
 same way in Galloway. The following incident, 
 which deeply impressed me at the time, I well re- 
 member. The gentleman in whose house I was 
 residing as tutor came in one day from his ride, and 
 told with great surprise that ' as he and pony left a 
 watering trough, on the way, two gentlemen came 
 up and succeeded him, when one of then handed 
 him this.' It was the same tract, the ' Good News." 
 'This,' said the major, 4s one of the strangest things 
 I ever met with ! ' What blessings have followed 
 the giving of such tracts the great day alone will 
 declare fully." 
 
 The following anecdote of the late Legh Eichmond 
 belongs, of course, to a somewhat later year, but 
 naturally connects itself with the above, as an in- 
 teresting fragment of the early annals of tract distri- 
 bution. I do not know if it has ever before appeared 
 in print; if not, it well deserves recording as alike 
 characteristic and instructive. It may be relied on 
 as authentic. On one occasion, as he with the other 
 passengers in the public conveyance were ascending 
 the well-known Moncrieff Hill near Perth, and left 
 the coach to lighten the horses, and enjoy the mag- 
 
CASTING BREAD ON THE W^^TERS. 49 
 
 nificent prospect, he began to give a tract to any 
 wayfarer he might meet. One of his fellow-travellers 
 smiled when he saw one of the tracts given treated 
 contemptuously by the receiver, torn in two, and 
 thrown down on the road. ' See how your tract has 
 been used,' said he ; ' there is one, at least, quite lost.' 
 ' I am not so sure of that,' said Mr. Richmond ; ' at 
 any rate, the husbandman sows not the less that some 
 of the seed may be trodden down.' When they 
 turned round at the top of the hill to take another 
 look at the prospect before mounting the coach, they 
 saw distinctly the fate of the little tract. A puff of 
 wind had carried it over a hedge into a hay-field, 
 where a number of haymakers were seen seated and 
 listening to the said tract which one of their number 
 had found. He was observed carefully joining 
 together the two parts which had been torn asunder, 
 but were held together by a thread ! The devil had 
 done his work imperfectly ; for instead of tearing 
 the tract to tatters, his agent had left it still avail- 
 able for use, a little pains sufficing to make it 
 legible. Thus the poor man who had torn the tract 
 in two was the means of its being read by a whole band 
 of haymakers, instead of by a single individual. Thus, 
 no doubt, moralized the excellent Legh Richmond.'' 
 
 " In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening 
 withhold not thy hand ; for thou knowest not which 
 shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether both 
 shall be alike good." 
 
 D 
 
50 TgE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 It was indeed in a special sense in the morning 
 that these brave hearts went forth bearing precious 
 seed, — "very early in the morning, while it was 
 yet dark/' But the day-spring is near at hand ; 
 and those early risers are but the precursors of 
 a great company who shall soon be awake and 
 astir, and pressing with eager feet to the harvest 
 field. 
 
 But returning to Edinburgh, and to the times and 
 scenes between the years 1791 and 1799, it was 
 amid influences such as we have described that our 
 young student passed through his academic course, 
 and gradually ripened from boyhood into manhood. 
 He stood the ordeal well. Though of a calm and 
 considerate, rather than determined temperament, 
 yet he ever gravitated towards the right men and 
 the right cause, and as by a gracious instinct assimi- 
 lated whatever was good and true in the influences 
 and associations round him. That he must have had 
 his struggles more or less keen and protracted we 
 cannot doubt, as indeed the allusion above to the 
 " ordeal of scorn" sufiiciently shows ; but it is pro- 
 bable that that struggle was in his case less terrible 
 and agonizing than in that of many others. At least 
 in after life his religious course was a singularly 
 calm and tranquil one, — rather a steady advance in 
 good aiid resistance of evil, than a series of hard 
 combats and death-struggles. As a student, too, he 
 was, as ever afterwards, rather diligently and calmly 
 
LICENCE. 
 
 51 
 
 conscientious, than in the highest degree strenuous — 
 seldom doing his best, but always doing well. His 
 bow was of good material and excellent make, but 
 not often tightly strung, or drawn to its utmost 
 stretch. 
 
 His theological course, — including a session at St. 
 Andrew's under the distinguished Dr. George Hill, 
 and another irregular one, in the course of which he 
 spent some pleasant months at York, and formed an 
 acquaintance with the excellent Mr. Richardson and 
 the Church of England worship, — terminated in the 
 spring of 1799, and he was licensed as a preacher 
 of the gospel, by the Presbytery of Stranraer, a few 
 weeks thereafter. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 (1800-1821.) 
 
 *Tis now become a liistory little known, 
 
 Tliat once we called the pastoral-house our own." 
 
 COWFEB. 
 
III. 
 
 In the bosom of a romantic dell, lying midway 
 between the brisk seaport of Montrose and the fine 
 old cathedral town of Brechin, in a narrow grassy 
 plot left open between its two branching arms, stands, 
 or rather stood, sixty years ago, the old church of 
 Dun, with its little group of rustic mounds scattered 
 at random around. On one side on a gentle rising 
 ground on the further margin of the ravine is the 
 manse, with its pleasant garden and glebe ; on the 
 other, reached by a high rustic bridge across the 
 other and deeper water-course, the grey mansion- 
 house, with its broad lawn and the grand old trees, 
 and the bowling-green, where, tradition tells, the 
 good Superintendent^ and the stern John Knox used 
 to disport themselves in hours of lightsome leisure 
 three hundred years ago. It is the same church in 
 which these worthies preached of old, and still contains 
 a fine oak pulpit which tradition — though, I fear, mis- 
 
 ^ John Erskine, Laird of Dun, and Superintendent of Angus under tlie early 
 arrangements of the Reformed Church of Scotland. 
 
56 THE PASTOE OF KILSYTH. 
 
 takenly — connects with the same period. An intense 
 stillness fills the place, increased rather by the inces- 
 sant chorus of the rooks high over head, and the 
 faint rush of the stream. It was in this gentle nook 
 that the subject of these lines began his pastoral life 
 on the 4th day of December 1800, with a parochial 
 circle of some three miles diameter, and a population 
 of 700 souls. The circumstances which led to this 
 eligible settlement are curious. Early in 1799 it 
 was rumoured in the neighbourhood that the old 
 Laird of Dun, the then John Erskine, and the last 
 of the name, was desirous to obtain a permanent 
 assistant and successor for the aged incumbent of the 
 parish, then laid aside from duty. My father's elder 
 brother had been shortly before ordained one of the 
 ministers of Brechin, and nothing was more natural 
 than to think of the neighbouring parish as a suit- 
 able and desirable opening for his younger brother, 
 then on the eve of taking licence. The question was, 
 how to approach and obtain interest with the laird, 
 in whose gift the living was? On consulting a 
 friend, who knew Mr. Erskine's character and pecu- 
 liarities well, " Just address him,'" said he, " direct, 
 and wite the very best letter you can ; for the laird 
 cannot write a letter himself,^ and has, for that very 
 reason, an extraordinary respect for any one who 
 can.'' The advice was followed. Mr. Burns exerted 
 
 1 It may be as well to say, in justice to the worthy laird, that this statement must 
 not be taken quite literally. 
 
PATRONAGE IN 1800. 57 
 
 all his epistolary talents in one grand effort, and 
 dispatched his missive with the feeling, and, I do 
 believe, with the simple faith also, of one who cast 
 his bread upon the waters. It was found, but not 
 after many days ; for, at early dawn next morning, 
 the clatter of hoofs was heard in the old Bishop's 
 close, and presently the laird appeared at the manse 
 door, demandii^g an interview with the minister. 
 " You have sent me an excellent letter, Mr. Burns, — a 
 most excellent letter ; and you had better just send 
 down the young man, and give us a trial of him, 
 making no promises in the meantime.'' The young 
 man did come, and discharged for the next twelve 
 months all the duties of the parish open to him, to 
 the satisfaction alike of the minister, the patron, 
 and the congregation. Meantime nothing had trans- 
 pired as to the succession ; and matters remained in 
 statu quo till an incident occurred which at once de- 
 cided the course of events. In the course of the year, 
 there occurred one of those solemn days of public fast 
 or thanksgiving in connection with the war which 
 were then of such frequent appointment, and there 
 was service, of course, in the parish church. The 
 laird happened to have some friends from a distance 
 with him, by whose opinion he set some store ; and 
 he said to the party at breakfast, " We'll go over, 
 and hear what this young man has to say on the 
 war, and see what kind o' politics he has." It so 
 happened that the young minister, somewhat over- 
 
58 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 tasked by this additional call on his resources, was 
 thinking far less of politics and the war than the 
 immediate urgencies of preparation. In his extremity, 
 an old homily, delivered in the Divinity Hall, on the 
 special providence of God, met his eye, and at once 
 struck him as a suitable basis of profitable and season- 
 able instruction. He added a couple of sentences of 
 befitting allusion to the circumstance^of the day, and 
 proceeded with it to the pulpit. The laird and his 
 guests were delighted, not by the politics, but by the 
 want of them ; and concluded that the preacher was 
 a discreet and modest, as well as a zealous youth. 
 " Ye gave us a most excellent preaching to-day, Mr. 
 Burns,'' said he, as he shook hands at the church 
 door. From that moment his resolution was taken. 
 Next day he mounted his horse, and called at the 
 door of every cottage and farm-house in the parish 
 to collect the general mind (one of the most attrac- 
 tive specimens, by the way, of lay -patronage we have 
 ever heard of), and finding all fair and favourable, 
 issued the presentation accordingly. An incident, how- 
 ever, curiously prophetic occurred on the day of mo- 
 deration. When the call was produced to be signed 
 by the people, the laird, of a somewhat slow and inap- 
 prehensive nature, deeming that all was done when 
 the sign-manual of presentation had passed his hand, 
 started, and said impatiently, "What is this now? 
 Have I tiot signed the presentation ? Surely nothing 
 more is necessary!" He was with difiiculty made 
 
THE COUNTRY PASTOE. 69 
 
 to understand that "a paper called a call" was a 
 necessary part of the decent forms of procedure in all 
 such cases, and, with a faint murmur of protest, 
 waived his objections accordingly. It was in these 
 days a necessary form, but, in truth, little more. It 
 was the organic remains of an extinct principle ; or 
 rather, as the future proved, the dry root of a great 
 national right, yet again to spring up and grow. 
 How little did they dream in those days that those 
 two documents then lying side by side on the table — 
 the potent presentation on the one side, and the little 
 insignificant scroll, with its dozen rustic names, on 
 the other — were the representatives of two great 
 principles which the intenser earnestness of another 
 generation was destined to warm into life, and 
 which, by their collision, should rend the whole fabric 
 of the Scottish Church asunder, and give birth to the 
 greatest religious revolution of modern times. 
 
 The simple annals of a country pastor's daily life 
 are uniform and uneventful, and afford little scope 
 for the biographer's pencil. Interesting and precious 
 as any work done on earth in Heaven's eyes, it is 
 the obscurest possible in the world's regard. Angels 
 look down upon it ; busy, eager, bustling men heed 
 it not. A calm routine of lowly, though sacred duties, 
 a constant unvaried ministry of love, it flows on in 
 a still and quiet stream, arresting no attention by its 
 noise, and known alone to the lowly homes it visits 
 on its way, and the flowers and the fields it waters. 
 
60 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 The young pastor of Dun was no exception to this. 
 He preached the word; dispensed the sacred supper; 
 warned the careless; comforted the sorrowing; baptized 
 little children; blessed the union of young and loving 
 hearts; visited the sick, the dying; buried the dead; 
 pressed the hand, and whispered words of peace into 
 the ear of mourners ; carried to the poor widow and 
 friendless orphan the charity of the Church and his 
 own; slipt in softly into some happy home and gently 
 broke the sad news of the sudden disaster far away; 
 lifted up the fallen one from the ground, and pointed 
 to Him who receiveth the publicans and the sinners, 
 — these things and such as these, he did in that little 
 home-walk for twenty successive years day by day; 
 but that was all. There is much here for the records 
 of the sky, but nothing, or next to nothing, for the 
 noisy annals of time. Such as the work was, how- 
 ever, he did it, as all who knew him witnessed, 
 faithfully and well, with a calm, serious, conscientious, 
 cheerful, loving diligence that was the fruit of faith 
 and prayer ; always at his work, and always happy 
 in it, and desiring nothing better or higher on earth. 
 He was happy in his neighbours. On the one side 
 at Craig, at the distance of five miles, was settled, 
 a year or two after himself, one of the dearest and 
 most faithful friends of his life — the gentle, genial, 
 and truly learned and godly James Brewster, brother 
 of the more celebrated Sir David, — with whom, both 
 in the ordinary interchanges of ministerial and social 
 
JAMES BREWSTER AND JAMES FOOTE. 
 
 61 
 
 intercourse, and in random meetings in the library of 
 Montrose, he spent many happy hours which re- 
 mained green spots in the memory to the last."^ On 
 the other, separated from him only by a narrow, 
 moorish, border-land, was Logiepert, the home and 
 pastoral sphere of James Foote, afterwards translated 
 to the East Church of Aberdeen ; a young minister 
 then of great promise, and eminent acceptance, dis- 
 tinguished already by all those qualities of sterling 
 worth, excellent gifts, and genuine warmth of heart, 
 which won for him through life the respect and the 
 love of all who knew him. To two other valued 
 
 1 The history of his appointment to the parish of Craig is so curious, that I am 
 tempted to transcribe the account of it from the memorials before me:—" The way 
 in which it was brought about is a good story and true. The late Mrs. Ross, of Rossie, 
 a lady of remarkable powers of mind, and attractive qualities of manner and mien, 
 had erected at her own expense the handsome new church. She was aware of a 
 serious barrier in the way of the settlement of the desired young man, but laid a 
 plan for the accomplishment of the object. Having invited the then Lord Melville 
 to Rossie Castle, she took his lordship to see the beautiful church, which his lordship 
 of course highly commended. Mrs. Ross desired his lordship to ascend the pulpit to 
 get a complete view. She then shut the door upon him, and presented her earnest 
 petition to him, that as he admired the church, and at the same time allowed that a 
 minister to occupy worthily and acceptably the pulpit was of prime importance (t© 
 which, of course, he assented), he would use his influence to procure from the college 
 of St. Andrews, of which his lordship was Rector, a presentation in favour of Mr- 
 Brewster. His lordship, in as smooth and courtly terms as possible, assured the lady, 
 that were it practicable he would be most happy to comply with her request, but 
 that the thing was absolutely impossible; that the professors had each in turn the 
 appointment to the vacant livings in their gift, and that to any application from him- 
 self or any other person they would prove inexorable. But the lady was not thus to 
 be put by. She kept his lordship a prisoner in the pulpit until he gave her his hand 
 that he would do everything possible to gratify her wishes. He procured the gift of 
 two patronages to the college in lieu of this one, and so my friend was ordained in 
 due time." How long and faithfully he laboured in the field to which he was in so 
 singular a manner introduced, the writer goes on to record with the fond ardour of 
 a friend. For one brief extract we must find room, from its interesting bearing on 
 the events of the present hour : " His addresses to the people of Ferryden (a fialiing 
 
62 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 friends of those early days, living at a greater dis- 
 tance, but frequent visitants at Dun, he used often to 
 recur in after years — William Hamilton of St. 
 Andrews Chapel, Dundee, afterwards of Strathblane;-^ 
 and Walter Tait, then of Tealing, and subsequently 
 of Trinity College Church, Edinburgh. Both were 
 frequent and ever welcome assistants at communion 
 seasons ; and by their fervent spirit and earnest 
 words, far above the average tone even of the evan- 
 gelicals of that day, created quite a sensation in the 
 little rustic flock. The image of Mr. Hamilton's 
 tall, impressive form, pacing up and down the manse 
 parlour, and declaiming aloud the Olney Hymns, 
 which were then first finding their way into Scot- 
 
 village which his worthy predecessor, Dr. Paton, told me had resisted all the 
 attempts at reformation by himself and predecessor), by tracts, and preaching among 
 them, were attended with a special blessing. This case affords one of the finest 
 illustrations of what Dr. Chalmers called the ' aggressive method,' and of the power- 
 ful persuasive influence of domiciliary visits— in short, through getting among them. 
 Vain were all the efforts to induce these fishermen to leave their village, and to 
 come up from their own Ferryden to the beautiful parish church, at only a mile's 
 distance. The fishers are a peculiar set of people. A visit from the minister at 
 distant intervals seemed like a kind of apparition, and to betoken some sudden 
 change among them; but when my friend set up a chapel in the midst of them, and 
 came down in the evenings, they were greatly pleased— perhaps we should say flat- 
 tered—and then it was that something was gained. ... It is worthy of notice that it 
 is in this village of Ferryden, at one time so very unpromising o> portion of the parish of 
 Craig, that the Free Church (with which Dr. Brewster cast in his lot) has the firmest hold 
 —a rich reward for all the labour he had bestowed on its moral and spiritual culture.'* 
 It may now be added, as a still more interesting circumstance, that this same spot 
 should have been one of the first and most highly favoured scenes of the reviving 
 showers that are now refreshing the land. Doubtless the prayers of that man of God 
 are being even now answered, and the precious seed springing up which had been 
 sown by his hand long years ago. " Cast thy bread upon the waters, and thou shalt 
 find it after many days." 
 
 1 William Hamilton, D.D., father of Dr. James Hamilton, of the National Scotch 
 Church, Kegent Square, London. 
 
MAKRIAGE AND HOME. 63 
 
 land, was long a cherished tradition in our family. 
 Mr. Tait was then, and for many years after, one of 
 the most devoted and extensively blessed ministers 
 of that neighbourhood ; both watering his own ap- 
 pointed vineyard well, and by his earnest voice 
 attracting crowds of thirsty souls from all the parishes 
 round. He made large reprisals on those brethren 
 to whom his assistance was given — not only exacting 
 the full regular payment at the stated times, but 
 laying hold of them in behalf of his people whenever 
 a happy chance threw them in his way. Scarcely 
 had a weary brother, halting by the way, got warm 
 by the fireside, when the bell was heard swinging 
 on the church belfry hard by. " What is that, Mr. 
 Tait ? surely it is not the bell ringing for church 
 already V " Oh, I suppose it is ; the people, you 
 know, will be expecting a word." 
 
 These, then, with his precious brother at Brechin, 
 were the chief dramatis peTSona3 of a life-scene in 
 which there was-as much pure and unalloyed happi- 
 ness, and as little of bitter sorrow, as is often allotted 
 to man on earth. But another circumstance soon 
 transpired which was more to him and to the future 
 course of his life than all merely external environ- 
 ments. On the first day of the sixth year of his 
 ministry, his home was brightened, and his Hfe en- 
 riched by his union with one^ who was in every sense 
 
 1 Elizabeth Chalmers, daughter of James Chalmers, Esq., proprietor of the Aber- 
 deen Journal^ Aberdeen. 
 
64 
 
 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 "a help meet for him of whom delicacy forbids 
 us to say more, and truth less, than that she was 
 henceforth, for fifty-four unbroken years, his joy and 
 strength, and that she "did good to him and not evil 
 all the days of their united life. Of a quick, buoyant, 
 nimble frame, alike of body and mind, she was the 
 direct counterpart of his staid and unimpulsive 
 temperament ; so that the one seemed expressly made 
 to supply the lack of the other, and their loving 
 companionship seemed the very alliance of motion 
 and of rest, of calm peace and lightsome gladness. 
 Their first common sorrow was the death in infancy 
 of their first-born son, whom they buried after a 
 lingering and painful illness on the 3d August 1808, 
 — an event of which I find the faint foot-print in the 
 following entry : Our dear child closed his eyes in 
 peace on the 3 1 st day of July, being Lord's day, in 
 the afternoon while I was in church. My text that 
 day was in Eccles. vii. 4, ^ It is better to go to the 
 house of mourning,' &c. My wife more composed 
 than I could have expected. We trust that on this 
 day our beloved son, and our first-born, entered into 
 that rest which remaineth for the people of God ; into 
 that kingdom which is composed of little ones. We 
 entertain the cheering hope that, through the merit 
 of the blessed Redeemer, and according to the tenor 
 of the covenant of grace, our child, whom we devoted 
 to God in Christ, has obtained salvation, and now is 
 added to the blessed company of the redeemed, sing- 
 
FIRST SORROW. 65 
 
 ing the new song. He is moving in a higher sphere 
 than he could have occupied on earth, and is receiv- 
 ing a much better education than we could have 
 procured for him. He has made an early escape 
 from the storms and tempests, the sins and temptations 
 and sorrows of this mortal state. It is well with 
 the child. Oh, may it be well with us ! — may this 
 trial (which we must long feel, many little circum- 
 .stances recalling the remembrance of past joys) 
 be made to work for good ! The same afflictions 
 are literally accomplished in my brethren, each of 
 my married brothers having lost a son ; two of them, 
 James and Walter, an only son and a first-born. The 
 mortal remains of our beloved John were laid in the 
 dust on the afternoon of Wednesday the 3d of August 
 1808 — immediately behind the pulpit, and above the 
 remains of my aged predecessor, the Rev. James 
 Lauder, who on the 14th of April 1802 had been 
 laid in the grave, supposed to have arrived at the 
 venerable age of 95. Thus the two extremes met — 
 the early bud and the shock of corn fully ripe. Thus 
 we have got " a possession of a burying-place ; our 
 first-born has taken possession of it in our names. Oh, 
 may we be prepared to follow ! may our lives hence- 
 forth be more useful, more spiritual ! (Thus wrote 
 the celebrated Dr. Doddridge in his sermon on the 
 death of an amiable child aged about five, and thus 
 I would also write.) On the Sabbath following 
 I preached on Heb. xiii. 8, ' Jerus Christ the same 
 
66 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 yesterday, to-day, and for ever;' contrasting the 
 iinchangeableness of the Redeemer with the fleeting 
 nature of all earthly things. Omnia mutantur, 
 nos et mutamur in illis ; but Jesus Christ semper 
 idem, in secula seculorum — 
 
 ♦ I am the first, and I the last, 
 
 Through endless years the same ; 
 I AM is my memorial still, 
 And my eternal name.' 
 
 Here is firm footing, this is the solid rock, on which 
 we would build, which resists all the beating of the 
 winds and waves of time and change.'^ 
 
 This, however, was the only break for twenty 
 years thereafter in that happy home. It was neces- 
 sary, doubtless, in his case, as in that of others, to 
 impart to the soul that deeper and tenderer tone 
 which the untouched heart never knows. With this 
 single interruption, the course of his life, domestic 
 and pastoral, flowed on tranquilly ; the quiet routine 
 of daily work being broken and diversified only by 
 such incidents as are familiar to every Scottish clergy- 
 man's experience. A ride to the neighbouring mar- 
 ket town, and friendly chat with a brother minister 
 in reading-room or public library ; the stated resort to 
 Presbytery or Provincial Synod; an occasional jour- 
 ney to a distant communion; a missionary meeting 
 at Montrose; a missionary sermon at Dundee; the 
 annual or biennial pilgrimage to the General As- 
 sembly, in days when the man sent was generally 
 the man that would go, taking a line of friendly 
 
EDDIES FROM THE GEEAT WORLD. 67 
 
 manses on the way — Tealing, Dairsie, Markinch ; a 
 rare windfall from the great world in the shape of a 
 travelling missionary/ or literary explorer,^ pitching 
 with him for the night; and last, but not least of all, 
 the arrival of the monthly magazine weeks after the 
 time, with all the keen speculation as to the author- 
 ship of articles and letters, and the deciphering of 
 initial marks and hieroglyphic signs ; — such were 
 the occasional events of wider interest which in those 
 quiet days, far more than now, added zest to home 
 duties and home joys, and, like gentle eddies from the 
 great sea, freshened the peaceful creeks and bays of life. 
 
 A few jottings, culled almost at random, from a 
 brief journal begun soon after his ordination, will 
 give a more distinct idea of the daily ongoings of 
 that quiet, but busy and useful life, we have endea- 
 voured to sketch. Amid closet duties, studious hours, 
 parish work, home joys and cares, readings in Eras- 
 mus, Burnet, Cotton Mather, and J ohn Newton, with 
 
 1 He records with special zest a visit of this kind by John Campbell, the African 
 traveller, with another congenial friend. 
 
 2 The elder M'Crie was in this way once his welcome guest, while engaged in 
 collecting materials for the Life of Knox. The circumstances were somewhat 
 curious. My father, at the doctor's request, had made application to Mr. Ersldne 
 for permission to explore the papers in the repositories of the Dun family, bearing 
 on the Refomation period. The laird consulted his provincial man of business, who 
 gave this worldly-wise advice : " Let no man in among your papers, Mr. Erskine, 
 least of all the parsons. You can't tell what discoveries they may make about the 
 estate or the teinds of the parish. But there's that box containing the papers of the 
 
 estate (a property recently come into the family), let them take their will 
 
 of them." So it was settled, and Dr. M'Crie only spent a pleasant leisure day at the 
 manse, looking across wistfully now and then to the mansion-house with its papers, 
 as a hungry dog eyes an invitinf; bone beyond the reach of his chain. 
 
68 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 the Christian Instructor"^ and the Edinburgh Review, 
 the days and weeks, even in that retired nook of the 
 world, flowed swiftly on : — 
 
 ''Sept. ] 5, 1808. — Visited Margaret Burley, a poor 
 old woman in the Muir, whom I have frequently 
 seen. She is nearly blind ; a great aggravation of 
 her other trials — widowhood, poverty, &c. Spoke 
 to her of the importance of having the mind illumi- 
 nated, the heavenly eye-salve, &c. ; seemed attentive ; 
 prayed, &c. This day read for the first time Dr. 
 Seattle's beautiful poem, the Minstrel, — a high enter- 
 tainment ; many just observations on life, beautiful 
 moral painting, lively and striking description of 
 nature, &c. Read portion of Erasmus' Enchiridion ; 
 Treatise on Spiritual Armour ; many good thoughts, 
 but rather fanciful and allegorical. In the evening 
 reading aloud, &c. 
 
 Sept. 16. — Rose at six. Read three beautiful 
 hymns of Cowper's, Ps. Ixxvi., Col. ii. ; joined in 
 
 prayer with E . In good health and spirits. Read 
 
 part of Deut. xiv. in Hebrew ; family prayer ; break- 
 fast ; worked in garden ; read portion of Greek Testa- 
 ment ; Erasmus ; wrote notes on Deut. xiv. as a 
 preparation for Sabbath work. Much reason to be 
 satisfied with this plan of reading a chapter and 
 making a few remarks on it, which does not super- 
 sede the ordinary lecture or exposition. In the 
 
 1 Of this excellent periodical, as well as of its predecessor, The Religious Moni- 
 tor, he was a regular reader, as well as a frequent contributor to their pages. 
 
JOTTINGS OF DAILY LIFE. 69 
 
 afternoon I began, a few weeks ago, to read through 
 the Psalms, and to comment on them briefly, besides 
 the sermon. The advantage is, having more of th(> 
 sacred oracles brought into view, which are the grand 
 sources of divine knowledge and spiritual improve- 
 ment. There is a deplorable ignorance of the Scrip- 
 tures prevalent among us. I hope also, in this way, 
 by the divine blessing, to set forth the beauties of 
 the Scriptures, that they may be more diligently 
 studied by my people at home ; and to show how 
 achnirably fitted they are to convey instruction in 
 all the various circumstances of life and of society. 
 At Brechin, Forfar, and other places, this ancient 
 and useful practice has been of late revived, and 'tis 
 devoutly to be wished it were universal. With 
 this part of my Sunday labours I have always reason 
 to be satisfied ; for what can be surer ground than 
 the foundation of the apostles and prophets '? 
 
 " Dined half-past three. I purchased this day Ma- 
 ther's Essays to do Good, revised by Burder ; a golden 
 little treatise, which I read some time ago with great 
 pleasure, mixed with shame and regret that I had 
 done so little ^ood, which might have been at least 
 attempted. Resolved, through divine strength, to 
 review it carefully, to keep it by me, and follow, as 
 far as practicable, the means of doing good which it 
 prescribes, — the noblest of all studies certainly ! 
 
 " In afternoon read aloud a chapter of Mrs. Rowe*s 
 Devout Exercises, Fuller s History of the Church in 
 
70 
 
 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Britain, — a curious and entertaining work. Read 
 chapter about abbeys founding, &c. 
 
 ''Sept 17, 1808. Saturday. — Rose a little be- 
 fore six, after a good night's rest. Thoughts wander- 
 ing while dressing ; — too usual with me. Read two 
 Olney Hymns, and part of Ps. Ixxviii., with Col. iii. 
 and iv. Prayer. Ah, how cold and listless ! Would 
 that I could say with the psalmist, 'My heart is 
 fixed, my heart is fixed.' Delightful morning, though 
 heavy dews. This day important as preparatory for 
 the solemn work of to-morrow. May my thoughts 
 be well regulated, my affections devout, memory 
 retentive. This day should preach to myself, that 
 to-morrow I may be prepared to preach to others. 
 This kind of preaching most difficult, but most im- 
 portant to the success of the other, &c. 
 
 " Sejpt 1 8. Sabbath. — Rose a little after six. Read 
 and expounded Deut. xiv. with some pleasure ; 
 preached from Luke xxiv. 34, * The Lord is risen 
 indeed." Showed the doctrines and duties which 
 follow from the resurrection of Christ ; — his divinity 
 proved ; truth of the doctrine, and proved efficacy of 
 the atonement ; enemies conquered ; resurrection of 
 his people ; heavenly-mindedness ; right improve- 
 ment of the Sabbath, the day on which he rose ; 
 preparation for his second coming. Afternoon and 
 evening at Brechin (my brother preaching here) from 
 Phil. i. 21, 'To me to live is Christ." Some plea- 
 sure in the work, especially in the evening ; large 
 
JOTTINGS OF DAILY LIFE. 71 
 
 audience ; subject very important ; showed the nature 
 of spiritual life ; the author and object of it ; Christ 
 at once the object and the spring of all Christian 
 activity and enjoyment. Inferences : 1. Who are 
 Christians? 2. Excellency of Christianity. 3. True use 
 and improvement of life, &c. Rode home, and got 
 safely to my resting-place by eight, finding all well.'* 
 " Evening comes on. Eheu fugaces ! Ah, how 
 quick the lapse of time ! Day after day steals on. 
 Lord, teach me to number my days, that I may apply 
 my heart to wisdom. The sun setting beautifully, 
 yef how soon the glory fades away ! Time now for 
 meditation.'' 
 
 " Saw Miss A . ; in a poor state of health, but 
 
 in a very comfortable state of mind. Pleasant — but 
 ah, how rare ! — to see the soul prospering while the 
 body is weak and languishing, — cheered and enlivened 
 by the precious promises, and joyful in hope of glory. 
 Prayed with her, and with more pleasure and com- 
 fort than usual. Visiting sick is a most useful, and, 
 in some instances, most agreeable part of duty. There * 
 much is to be learned. Newton, in his admirable 
 letters, compares the utility of this exercise to a 
 minister, to the infirmary and hospital to the surgeon.'* 
 
 " Newspapers. Rather more unfavourable ac- 
 counts from Portugal than we expected. Our vic- 
 tory there turns out to be next thing to a defeat. 
 Where these things shall end who can say? The 
 Lord reigneth. As Portugal and Spain have so much 
 
72 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 blood on their heads — Inquisition, and ravages in the 
 New World — there is reason to fear about them ; but, 
 at the same time, who can wish success to their 
 rapacious and unjust foes ? Who can but pity the 
 poor, oppressed, and plundered inhabitants ? What 
 groimd of thankfulness that we enjoy our privileges 
 undiminished ! Read Fordyce on Art of Preaching ; 
 very sensible and spirited: Fuller on Suppressing of 
 Abbeys. Wrote to Mr. Brewster on birth of his third 
 son. Must study more methodically, and visit more 
 among the people. This day rather irregularly spent 
 as to study. Notes for sermon. Read some admir- 
 able things in Essays to do Good." .... 
 
 " Saw a poor diseased boy in Common Muir ; 
 exhorted and prayed ; seemed peaceable and sub- 
 missive. An affecting sight, to see the decrepitude 
 of age in a youthful form, and death making advances 
 in so humbling and ghastly a shape ! Poor boy ! 
 may the Physician of great value heal the disease of 
 thy soul, and then, no matter what comes of the frail 
 and corruptible tabernacle. The sooner you get quit 
 of it the more pleasant. What a glorious change 
 must take place at the resurrection on such a vile 
 and decrepit earthly body ! He had been reading 
 a sermon of R. Erskine s on the resurrection, 
 * All that are in their graves,' &c. Company at 
 dinner ; pretty agreeable ; and if not so much useful 
 conversation as might be wished, yet not offensive, or 
 impure, or censorious. This is so far good. Mr. 
 
JOTTINGS OF DAILY LIFE. 73 
 
 and Mrs. P . stayed all night. Some useful and 
 
 entertaining cracks. Oh! to be more edifying to 
 one another when we meet ! Much need to pray, 
 ' Lord, guide our conversation aright ! ' 
 
 " Eead paper, and part of sermon on ' Whom have 
 I in heaven but thee?" May this be my choice and 
 portion ! Oh, to have the affections regulated ! 
 How wandering the thoughts, and cold the desires ! 
 Lord, increase my faith ! warm my cold heart ! turn 
 away mine eyes from beholding vanity ! 
 
 "My wife employed in making clothes for the 
 poor out of small pieces of cloth, &c. Much comfort 
 in contributing to their warmth. * It is more 
 blessed to give," &a Did we only see how poor 
 people are situated, it would stir up to do something, 
 to study plans for their relief. To do good let us 
 not forget ; nay, let us seek occasion. Much to be 
 regretted that doing good is not more reduced to a 
 system, so as to be always in view. Lord, prepare 
 me for thy work and service to-morrow, that I may 
 not be dry and unedifying to others, and dull and 
 comfortless in my own soul ! 
 
 " Read Olney Hymns, chapters, and Hebrew. 
 Newspaper. Prepared a subscription paper for poor 
 woman. Called at House of Dun, with a view of 
 
 getting something: not. at home. Saw A 
 
 T about getting poor woman, M B — — , 
 
 provided in a small house. Called for A N , 
 
 old woman, Muir, and conversed a little with her. 
 
74 THE PASTOK OF KILSYTH. 
 
 A. T in Muir. Found him a little better; 
 
 conversed with him in the field. Found he had liked 
 Walker's Sermons which I had lent him. Hope 
 they may be useful/' .... 
 
 Kead Hebrew ; Doddridge's Letters ; composed 
 part of sermon on 2 Cor. viii. 9, * Ye know the 
 grace/ &c. ;— a noble subject ! Oh, to speak as 
 one that knows the grace here mentioned, that others 
 may be affected with it ! May we obtain such views 
 of the glory and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 as may warm our affections and increase our love to 
 the Redeemer and to one another. . . . Conversed 
 with several people with a view to communion. 
 .Most of them want expression and clearness, which 
 I'm afraid is owing to a defect in the affections. Too 
 much outward in their views of religion ; little 
 heart work. "Where all are so much alike, it is not 
 easy to except any particular individual. Spoke to 
 them for the most part individually, and endeavoured 
 to be faithful ; but it is amazing how coolly most of 
 them receive these advices.'' .... 
 
 " SawE C at Mill; confined upwards of 
 
 a year to bed ; views still, I fear, but dark ; seems 
 to have no doubts of her salvation, or the least fear of 
 death ; but, alas ! in too many we .find this, without 
 any apparent fitness or clear evidence of interest in 
 the Saviour. I have often spoken very plainly to 
 her, but I fear no radical change. Oh, for grace to 
 be faithful ! Eead Cecil's Life of Newton, — very good ; 
 
JOTTINGS OF DAILY LIFE. 75 
 
 Doddridge s Letters ; Burnet's History of his own 
 Times, &c/' 
 
 " Read Edinburgh Review on Clarkson on the 
 Abolition of Slave Trade ; — highly interesting. Mr. 
 Clarkson deserves to have his name in the list of 
 those great and good men who have laboured with 
 indefatigable perseverance in the grand cause of 
 humanity and religion, fcc." 
 
 " Examined families at T ; four exhortations 
 
 with prayer ; not much satisfaction ; sadly ignorant 
 and insensible. Knowledge seems as low there as 
 in any part of the parish. Being far from church, 
 less known ; much discouragement in the work, but 
 nil desperandumy — must labour and pray more. 
 Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity !''.... 
 
 " Read Edinburgh Review — article on Ireland ; 
 very instructive. Population of Ireland five millions 
 and upwards ; wonderful increase for the last forty 
 years, — owing chiefly to living on potatoes, early 
 marriages, &c. Prospect of affairs in Ireland very 
 alarming. Their emancipation strenuously recom- 
 mended in Edinburgh Review, as the only likely 
 means of attaching them to us, and preventing them 
 from becoming a province of France. Subject worthy 
 of attention. To remove their ignorance and super- 
 stition desirable. Present system of keeping down 
 by military will not do always. Certainly our most 
 vulnerable point." 
 
 " Some pleasant moments of meditation and prayer 
 
76 
 
 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 with E . Twilight the time allotted. Solemnizes 
 
 the mind, and prepares for serious work.'' 
 
 " Preached on the words of Peter, ' To whom shall 
 we go?' Have given up the use of notes in the 
 pulpit ; and though not perhaps so accurate, yet, 
 upon the whole, more comfortable. Get more good 
 from my sermons to my own mind ; when trusting to 
 notes, apt to pass away ; mind not imbued with it ; 
 impression not so savoury or permanent. Upon the 
 whole, I resolve to continue for some time without 
 notes, though the memory often proves treacherous ; 
 hope it may improve ; and when the mind is more 
 stored and engaged with religious truths, will flow 
 more easily. Oh, to be more spiritually minded, and 
 to speak more from the heart, from experience, and 
 with affection ! A meeting (with the young) at 
 three, for reading the Scriptures, examination, &c.; 
 a useful work. Pleasant thoughts in the evening, and 
 
 conversation with E . The Sabbath evening a 
 
 delightful season when we are alone. Expounded 
 in the family Ps. Ixxi., and spoke to the servants. 
 Examined the girl about the sermon ; warned against 
 sleeping and inattention. Stormy night. Poor 
 sailors afar off on the sea ! '' 
 
 " Comfortable day, and I hope useful. Evening 
 spent in meditation, conversing, &c. Explained Ps. 
 Ixii., and spoke to servants. Oh, may I love this 
 blessed day, the best of all the seven ! '' 
 
 " Dined at Mr. M 's ; present, my brother and 
 
JOTTINGS OF DAILY LIFE. 77 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. E ; some useful discourse, though 
 
 might have been better. Too much about absent 
 brethren ; a fault among clergy." 
 
 " Eead part of Gerard's Scripture Criticism. May- 
 be useful, though only out- works. A critical skill 
 very desirable ; but to imbibe the true spirit and 
 influence of the truth, how much more to be "sought ! 
 This writer seems to have no notion of any spiritual 
 illumination, or higher teaching than man can give 
 or acquire. But let my prayer be, ' Open thou mine 
 eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy 
 law.' He recommends candour, &;c., but no word of 
 prayer or divine teaching. This, with some learned 
 men, is accounted rank enthusiasm. May I expe- 
 rience much of that enthusiasm, and receive that 
 knowledge of sacred truth which critics often want, 
 — which John Newton seemed to have in no small 
 degree, — the art of turning everything to spiritual 
 nourishment and practice ; a knowledge which puri- 
 fies and warms the heart, and transforms into the 
 divine likeness.'' 
 
 " Letter of Newton, after worship and prayer ; 
 subject, his visits to the sick, which he compares to 
 the surgeon visiting the hospital : some very striking 
 cases of the power of divine grace and divine teaching. 
 Ah, how few such instances do we meet with ! yet 
 all with us profess to have hope at the last, and 
 talk with great coolness about death and being with 
 Christ. I never met with one afraid to die, though 
 
78 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 I have met not a few who, to all appearances, had 
 reason/' 
 
 Saw E C at M . Seems to have 
 
 no fears of dying ; yet I can scarcely discern marks 
 of Christianity sufficiently clear and strong to warrant 
 this. A cool acknowledgment of being a sinner like 
 others, and a general trust in the merits of a Saviour, 
 are all I can find. No lively faith, warm love, or gen- 
 uine humility of heart. Prayed. Very difficult case 
 to manage. Have spoken to her plainly my doubts 
 about her ; she has none. Oh, that she may be kept 
 from self-deceit! Much wisdom, zeal, and courage 
 needed in visiting the sick. Alas ! how deficient 
 am I in all these ! Lord, increase my faith ! inflame 
 my cold heart ! Enable me rightly to divide the 
 word of truth, and to use great plainness of speech !" 
 
 ''Pleasant, at the close of a day, to think of any 
 good done, or at least attempted;^ but as to the 
 manner of doing, and the degree, what cause of 
 humiliation !".... 
 
 And so, from day to day, amid loving thoughts, 
 and kind deeds, and cheerful industry, and continual 
 aspirations and strivings upward and onward, the 
 quiet current of -those happy, peaceful years slid away. 
 
 As to ministerial success in the highest sense, I 
 find few decisive traces belonging to this period. 
 The tone of religious life in the parish and the coun- 
 
 * This idea, or rather this conviction and impulse of the heart, may be said to have 
 been the key-note of his life from first to last. 
 
MINISTERIAL SUCCESS. 79 
 
 try round was not high. They were a decent, regular, 
 church-going people — commendably observant of all 
 the outward and routine duties of religious profes- 
 sion, but in few cases searching deeper or rising 
 higher. There were few that ''called upon God; that 
 stirred up themselves to take hold of him.'' Family 
 worship was rare, the decided profession of personal 
 godliness rarer. As a general rule> and with very 
 few exceptions, open ungodliness reigned in the hall, 
 dead indifference in the cottage, and languor and 
 listlessness in the church. Still there were blessed 
 exceptions. Here smd there, even then, there were 
 consistent and shining disciples ; here and there souls 
 truly seeking God, and following hard after him. 
 There were those among the crowd that were eagerly 
 intent to touch the hem of Christ s garment, — 
 hungry hearts that could not be content with husks, 
 but must have the living bread. Such was one, for 
 instance, who thus once gently chid her pastor when 
 he had been dwelling, as she thought, too much on 
 more general themes : " 0 dear sir, what aileth thee 
 at the glorious surety righteousness of Christ To 
 such hearts the pastor s words of deepest instruction 
 and holiest wisdom came not in vain. Such were 
 his joy and his encouragement then, even as they 
 are now his crown in the presence of his Lord. It 
 was at an after time, however, and in another field, 
 that he was to reap a great harvest, such as now he 
 had not learned to conceive of even in his dreams. 
 
80 
 
 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 That whole history has drifted back into the far 
 past. In visiting those early and well -remembered 
 scenes a year or two before his death, he describes 
 himself as one walking up and down in a land of the 
 dead. A short time ago I too found my way to that 
 quiet and solitary churchyard. The old church, 
 superseded by a modern structure at some distance, 
 had been turned into a tomb, but all around remained 
 unchanged as in other days. But the congregation 
 of the old pastor was beneath my feet. A solitary 
 loiterer was standing near, who, to my inquiry, re- 
 plied " that he remembered the name of a Mr. Burns ; 
 that one of that name, he believed, had once been 
 minister there/' Such is the scanty record on earth 
 of so many years of faithful service, of so many 
 prayers and unwearied ministrations of love ! 
 
 But the young pastor was meanwhile gathering 
 strength and experience for a wider and worthier 
 sphere of service ; and that sphere was in due time 
 opened to him, by his appointment to the large and 
 populous parish of Kilsyth, to which he was admitted 
 on the 19th of April 1821. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 (1800-1821.) 
 
 A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE AT THE TIMES. 
 
 *' Ev'n now we hear with inward strife, 
 A motion toiling in the gloom — 
 The Spirit of the years to come, 
 Yearning to mix himself with life." 
 
 Teknyson. 
 
 F 
 
IV. 
 
 The world and the church had both advanced a long 
 stride on their way, while those twenty tranquil years 
 of pastoral life at Dun were running their course. 
 They began, indeed, at a deeply interesting and event- 
 ful epoch. It was not only the commencement of a 
 new century, but the opening of a new era — one of 
 those critical moments in the moral history of the 
 world in which all old things seem to be passing 
 away, and all things to become new, and which, as 
 by a deep and broad line of separation, cut off the 
 future from the past. A new spirit seemed to breathe 
 over the face of European society, and to quicken all 
 the pulses alike of intellectual, moral, political, and 
 religious life. Startled by the sudden shock of great 
 events, and at the same time, doubtless, stirred in- 
 wardly by influences of a deeper and more mysterious 
 kind, the nations awoke from the slumber of genera- 
 tions, and men everywhere began, as from a dream, 
 to rub their eyes and look around them. The frivo- 
 lous shallowness, the death-like torpor of the last age, 
 
84 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 was passing away, and giving place, among men of 
 every rank and class, to a more serious tone of thought 
 and feeling, in regard to all matters of vital concern- 
 ment ; which, as time wore on, sank deeper and deeper 
 into the heart of society, and gradually infused into 
 the whole framework of the world that element of 
 moral reality and earnestness which constitutes the 
 grand distinction between the nineteenth century and 
 the eighteenth. It was, in fact, the expiring of one 
 age and the birth of another — like that mysterious 
 change which takes place in each diurnal round, 
 during that solemn interval between the night and 
 the morning which all watchers in sick-chambers 
 know so well. " Everybody," says a singularly strik- 
 ing and suggestive writer, everybody at least who 
 has watched by a sick-bed, knows that days have their 
 appointed times, and die as well as men. There is 
 one awful minute in the twenty-four hours, when the 
 day palpably expires ; and then there is a reach of 
 utter vacancy, of coldness and darkness ; and then a 
 new day is born, and earth, re-assured, throbs again. 
 This is not a fancy ; or if so, is it from fancy that so 
 many people die in this awful hour (' between the 
 night and the morning,' nurses call it) ; or that sick 
 men grow paler, fainter, more insensible ? I think not. 
 To appearance they are plainly washed down by the 
 ebbing night, and plainly stranded so near the verge 
 of death that its waters wash over them. Now, in 
 live minutes the sick man is floated off and is gone ; 
 
DEATH AND BIETH OF DAYS AND AGES. 85 
 
 or the new day comes, snatches him to its bosom, 
 brings him back to us, and we know that he will live. 
 
 Ah ! blessed Morning, I am not nngrateful. 
 
 That long-legged daughter of mine, aged eight years 
 at present, did you not bring her back to me in your 
 mysterious way? At half-past two we said ' Gone," 
 and began to howl. Three minutes afterwards, a 
 breath swept over her limbs ; five minutes afterwards, 
 there was a blush like a reflected light upon her face ; 
 seven minutes, and whose eyes but hers should open, 
 bright and pure as two blue stars ! We had studied 
 those stars, and read at a glance that our little one 
 had again entered the House of Life. 
 
 "Our baby's dying and her new birth are an exact 
 type of the death and birth of the day. One de- 
 scription serves for both. As she sank away, fainting 
 and cold, so night expires. This takes place at 
 various times, according to the season, but generally 
 about two o'clock in the morning in these latitudes. 
 If you happen to be watching or working within 
 doors, you may note the time, by a coldness and 
 shuddering in your limbs, and by the sudden waning 
 of the fire, in spite of your best efforts to keep it 
 bright and cheerful. Then a wind — generally not a 
 very gentle one — sweeps through the streets — once. 
 It does not return, but hurries straight on, leaving 
 all calm behind it. That is the breath that passed 
 over the child. Now a blush suffuses the east, 
 and then open the violet eyes of the day, bright 
 
86 
 
 THE PASTOE OF KILSYTH. 
 
 and pure, as if there were no death in the world, 
 nor sin/' ^ 
 
 If there be aught fanciful in the idea conveyed 
 in these exquisite lines — or rather in some of the 
 circumstantial details in which it is embodied — as re- 
 gards the death and the birth of natural days, it holds 
 true, unquestionably, in regard to the death and the 
 birth of those epochs and ages which are the true 
 days of the world. There are moments when the 
 whole frame of things in the sphere of man's higher 
 life seems " decaying and waxing old, and ready to 
 vanish away;"' and then again it awakens and starts 
 forward with a bound to a new stage of its destined 
 race. In the present case, the critical moment, " the 
 one awful minute" of pause and transition between 
 death and life, lay probably somewhere between the 
 ninetieth and the last year of the century — nearer, 
 perhaps, to the former than the latter. At the be- 
 ginning of that decade the night was at its very depth 
 of chillness and utter gloom; before it closed, the 
 morning breath had swept over the world. During 
 the same interval, too, there passed away most of those 
 faithful witnesses who, during the latter half of the 
 century, had maintained the standard of the truth in 
 evil days; as if washed down by the refluent tide 
 of the expiring age to which they belonged, and in 
 which their generation-work was done. John 
 
 1 From a remarkable paper in the Second Number of tlie Cornhill Magazine, 
 entitled, "An Essay without end." 
 
THE DAY-BREAK. 87 
 
 Wesley died in 1791 ; Bishop Horne, in 1792; John 
 Berridge,in 1793; William Komaine,in] 795 ; Henry 
 Venn, in 1797; William Cowper, in 1800; — as if 
 entering one by one on their rest either at early dawn 
 or break of day. John Newton lingers a little while 
 behind, as a connecting link between the old genera- 
 tion and the new ; but in seven years more he, too, 
 is summoned home.^ Meanwhile another band of 
 like brave spirits have been coming forward in their 
 place, to fight the same battle, amid more stirring 
 scenes and in a wider and more conspicuous sphere. 
 The tide quickly turns. Evangelism, hitherto an ob- 
 scure and scouted sect, skulking in by-ways and in 
 corners, and confined almost exclusively to the lower 
 floors of social life, climbs upwards ,and vindicates for 
 itself a place in the highest circles and most influ- 
 ential spheres in the land. It had found for itself at 
 least one powerful voice to plead its cause in the 
 British Parliament ; and at one of the great Univer- 
 sities its standard had been planted, amid general 
 contempt and opposition, indeed, but manfully and 
 decisively, by one who for full fifty years held it 
 aloft before the elite of the British youth. By the 
 opening of the century the morning had fairly 
 dawned. In the State, Wilberforce is in the very 
 zenith of his influence and his fame. In the Church, 
 Charles Simeon has fought fairly through his first 
 
 » Died 1807. 
 
88 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 struggles at Cambridge, and has nobly maintained 
 his ground. Scorned, calumniated, persecuted, shrunk 
 from, as a man proscribed and infected, he still holds 
 steadfastly on his way, in the face alike of frowning 
 dignitaries, riotous gownsmen, and hostile parish- 
 ioners. Master of one pulpit close to the gates of 
 the University, he is fast advancing on the tide of 
 a rising public sentiment to his rightful place in the 
 great St. Mary's itself Gradually, timid disciples 
 come forth from their halls and colleges to range 
 themselves on the side of the truth, and the aisles of 
 Trinity Church fast fill with gownsmen. At the same 
 time, and in the same place, another powerful voice — 
 the most eloquent in England — was pleading the 
 cause of evangelical truth and true liberty in those 
 magnificent orations which, in their kind, remain 
 unrivalled in the British pulpit to this day.-^ Mean- 
 while, in an humbler sphere, the brave Rowland Hill 
 pursues rejoicinglj^- his evangelistic work in Surrey 
 Chapel ; and the Haldanes, with their " good news," 
 traverse the length and breadth of Scotland; while far 
 away in the distant East, William Carey and Claudius 
 Buchanan, the leaders of a noble band, are alreadj^ in 
 the thick of battle on the high places of the heathen 
 field. In 1797, the Practical View of Christianity 
 was published. In 1799 the Church Missionary 
 Society was founded. Other kindred institutions 
 
 ^ Robert Hall was at this time in the very zenith of his career at Cambridge, a few- 
 years before the first sad eclipse of his noble genius. 
 
THE DAY-BREAK. 
 
 89 
 
 had either preceded it by a few years, or speedily 
 followed.-^ As time drew on, the morning grew and 
 grew. In 1805 Henry Martyn sailed for India. 
 In 1806 the Slave Trade Abolition Bill was passed. 
 In 1811 the tongue of Thomas Chalmers was first 
 unloosed to preach the truth. In 1817, the As- 
 tronomical Discourses were published, and ran 
 a race of popular favour and rapid circulation 
 with the Tales of my Landlord. Meanwhile, the 
 friends of evangelical religion multiply everywhere; 
 faithful ministers increase ; books of serious piety, 
 with or without the charm of genius, are published, 
 and eagerly bought up and circulated ; Legh Eich- 
 mond'stracts,Bickersteth's treatises, the Olney Hymns, 
 and Foster's Essays, have each their mission and their 
 work, and travel hither and thither in thousands 
 over the land ; the tone of religious and moral 
 feeling throughout society at large sensibly rises, and 
 evert hing seems to presage the speedy advent of a 
 
 1 The following are the statistics 
 
 Methodist Missionary Society, instituted , 1786. 
 
 Baptist „ „ 1792. 
 
 London „ „ 1795. 
 
 Scottish „ „ 1796. 
 
 Church „ „ 1799, 
 
 General Assembly of Church of Scotland's Committee on 
 
 Foreign Missions 1825. 
 
 Previous to this period the only society for missionary objects in this country was 
 "The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," instituted 1701, 
 In connection with the Church of England, and which still exists, dividing with tho 
 Church Missionary Society the support of tho friends of missions within the Episcopal 
 pale. 
 
90 
 
 THE PASTOE OF KILSYTH. 
 
 day of spiritual life and refreshing, such as had not 
 been seen for two hundred years. 
 
 Those cheering signs and tokens for good, the 
 pastor of Dun had eagerly watched from his quiet rural 
 retreat; and it was with the exhilarating and hope- 
 ful feelings they inspired that he now came forth to 
 enter on the second and more eventful half of his 
 ministerial career. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 (1821-1830.) 
 
 •* RememberinfT without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and 
 patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father."— 
 1 Thess. i. 3. 
 
V. 
 
 Twelve miles to the eastward of Glasgow, in the 
 bosom of the long and fertile valley or strath which 
 forms the line of the Forth and Clyde Canal, on a 
 gentle rising ground at the foot of the Campsie Hills, 
 which here soften down from rugged summits into 
 an undulating line of quiet, green heights, stands the 
 village of Kilsyth, with its busy mixed population of 
 handloom weavers, colliers, and shopkeepers. The 
 neat church and tower crowning the steepest accli- 
 vity of the hill looks out upon the strath to the west, 
 and may be descried over its long level expanse as 
 a white landmark for many a mile. The manse, with 
 its sheltering thicket of planes and beeches, occupies 
 another similar elevation at a quarter of a mile to 
 the south, and commands an extensive and beautiful 
 prospect, not only of the village and the hills, but 
 down the long strath, level as the sea, to the far west. 
 Even the blue summit of Goatfell, at the distance of 
 sixty miles, can be seen from the parlour window in 
 a clear day. The population of the parish wa^ then 
 
94 
 
 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 4260, of whom 2900 were in the town, and the rest 
 landward. Such was the field of labour on which 
 the subject of our sketch now entered, and which, as 
 he looked out from his study window on the valley 
 and the village, lay perpetually before his ej'-es, and 
 as it were at his feet. The transition from the quiet 
 rural scene he had just left was a great one. It was 
 altogether a busier, noisier, livelier scene, in which he 
 now found himself Social life was at once more 
 intense, more diversified, and more complicated. There 
 was a greater stir of mind, greater variety of interests 
 and excitements, greater impetus and force of exist- 
 ence every way, — intellectual, moral, social. The 
 chatting groups in the market-place and the street 
 corners, — the merry song often sustained in full 
 chorus, blending with the sound of the shuttle in the 
 long loom-shops, — the keen party politics, and the 
 strong and even bitter denominational sympathies, — 
 the eager and sometimes little-ceremonious canvassing 
 of ministers and sermons, — the collisions and mutual 
 jealousies between class and class, together with other 
 manifestations of a more formidable and startling 
 kind, peculiarly incident to the condition of large 
 congregated masses, indicated a more active fermen- 
 tation and vital play of all the elements of social life, 
 and called from the new pastor a more strenuous 
 bracing of himself, as for a new and more arduous 
 task. In a religious point of view, the prospect, as 
 it at first struck him, was at once discouraging and 
 
A WEST-COUNTRY WEAVING VILLAGE. 95 
 
 hopeful There was at once more evil and more 
 good in his new parish than in his former sphere. 
 The powers alike of light and darkness were more 
 awake, and the consequent collision and struggle 
 keener. There was less negative respectability, but 
 more of the positive fruits of grace. There was less 
 profession, or rather, we might say, conformity to 
 religious customs and observances, but more life. In 
 the one case, the whole population were church-goers, 
 while scarcely any were more; in the latter, a com- 
 paratively small proportion attended church, but 
 among these a goodly number of decided and shining 
 disciples, who were indeed lights of the world, 
 and the salt of the earth. Instead, in short, of a 
 uniform colour of decent mediocrity, the scene which 
 now presented itself to him was that of a bright 
 centre of living piety, surrounded by a dark 
 shadow of open ungodliness and sin, stretching out 
 on every side. The work before him was thus an 
 arduous one ; but in confronting it he found himself 
 surrounded by a class of coadjutors such as before 
 he had scarcely known — of ripe, experienced, intel- 
 ligent, and prayerfully earnest Christians, who were 
 ready to stand by his side, to cheer him on, and 
 bear a helping hand in every good and holy work. 
 
 Still the tone of moral life in the place generally 
 V7as very low. Intemperance was fearfully prevalent. 
 Interwoven with all the immemorial customs and 
 familiar incidents of daily life, it had grown into 
 
96 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 a kind of institution — an integral element in the 
 existing social system. All ranks and classes were 
 more or less infected by it.-^ Lairds, farmers, traders, 
 weavers, colliers, artisans, were alike the patrons and 
 too often, alas ! the victims, of the tavern, which 
 stared you face to face in every street and at every 
 turn. On New Year days and fair days there was a 
 regular carnival of wild excess, when a certain mea- 
 sure of indulgence, even on the part of those ordi- 
 narily decent and well-disposed, was reckoned rather 
 a matter of course than as involving any stigma of 
 reproach. All bargains and payments were settled 
 over a " friendly glass'' in the public-house; even 
 the session-clerk met all applicants for proclamation 
 and registration there, and became at last himself a 
 victim of the insidious snare. At funerals, a strange 
 ceremonial of blended prayers and potations was 
 enacted — one round or "service" of the intoxicating 
 cup following another in solemn and imposing silence, 
 with long and eloquent prayers interposed between, as 
 if in the performance of some sacred libation for the 
 dead. In this state of things it may well be conceived 
 that the general tone of feeling and of public sentiment 
 on the whole subject became sadly lowered. The 
 minds of men were blunted by familiarity with the evil, 
 and ceased to regard it with that abhorrence and 
 
 1 To this there were of course many exceptions, conspicuous among whom was 
 the chief heritor of the parish, Sir Archibald Edmonstone, of Buntreath, Bart., the 
 faithful friend of the subject of this memoir from first to last, and, with his excellent 
 lady, his powerful support in every plan and work of usefulness. 
 
DRINKING AND DRINKING CUSTOMS. 97 
 
 shame which it deserved. It was singled out from 
 other vices as a kind of venial sin — ^a soft weak- 
 ness rather than a crime. Even the truly religious 
 and well-disposed were not always sufficiently watch- 
 ful against the danger, and large indulgence was 
 extended even to some flaming professors, who prayed 
 eloquently at funerals one day, and gave way to guilty 
 excess the next. It will not be wondered at that 
 this state of matters deeply impressed the mind of 
 the new pastor, and gave a tone and direction to his 
 views on the subject of intemperance which continued 
 through life. He felt himself in front of a gigantic 
 evil, against which it behoved him to summon all 
 his strength, and, throwing away the scabbard, to 
 fight manfully to the last. 
 
 Another characteristic feature of Kilsyth religious 
 life very early and painfully struck him. This was 
 the irregularity of attendance at public worship, 
 which existed to a degree he had never before seen, 
 and which thus seemed to him a peculiar habit of the 
 place. It was not only that the number attending 
 church was small in proportion to the population, but 
 that the attendance of many of those who did come 
 was fitful and uncertain. Those who were present 
 in their places one Sabbath would absent themselves 
 the next, without any cause or conceivable motive 
 whatever. If the church was full for two Sabbaths 
 in succession, it was more likely than otherwise to be 
 visibly thinned on the third, however bright the sky 
 
 G 
 
98 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 and genial the season. On remarking this one day 
 soon after his induction, to the factor for the chief 
 heritor of the parish, "Oh said he, " that has always 
 been the way here. The Apostle Paul himself could 
 not bring the people of Kilsyth out in a full meeting 
 three Sabbaths running.'' The proximate origin of 
 this irregular habit, as given by the minister himself, 
 as the result of a good deal of inquiry, is curious and 
 instructive : — 
 
 The parish church here had been long in bad 
 repair, — a mean building at the best, and quite 
 inadequate to the accommodation of the portion of 
 the population, still a majority of the whole, who 
 professedly adhered to the Established Church. At 
 communion seasons, and through the summer months, 
 worship had been conducted frequently in the open 
 air. The consequence was, that the attendance 
 had been irregular, and ' the pernicious habit of 
 frequently absenting themselves from public wor- 
 ship fostered. Even after the long-deferred erection 
 of a new church was set about, large allowance was 
 made for the non-church-going habits, which had 
 been much encouraged by the want of accommoda- 
 tion. The plan originally fixed upon had been cur- 
 tailed, under the mistaken idea that the new church 
 would always exhibit the pleasing spectacle of a well 
 assembled congregation, — far more agreeable, certainly, 
 than a vacuum. But the evil of irregular attendance, 
 and tbe apology for it, were thus encouraged. . . . The 
 
TENT PREACHING AND CHUUCH ATTENDANCE. 99 
 
 great evil of vacant Sabbaths had also greatly tended 
 in the same direction. During the ministry of Mr. 
 Telfer, and, to a certain extent, during Dr. E-ennie's, 
 in the summer season there had frequently been no 
 public worship in the parish church at all, the min- 
 ister having been engaged at some neighbouring 
 communion. The tent preaching, which was then 
 universal in the west of Scotland, had given rise to 
 this, and had made this particular evil unavoidable. 
 No doubt, such seasons were blessed to many; but 
 evil preponderated. Only a small part of the congre- 
 gation could be supposed to travel a distance of five, 
 six, or seven miles, to such gatherings. A large 
 number were thus deprived of the benefits of public 
 worship. The habit of irregular attendance was fos- 
 tered. Those who had attended at these preachings 
 were apt to satisfy themselves that they had laid 
 in spiritual food for some weeks to come, and, with- 
 out any cause, frequently remained at home. The cure 
 of such an abuse as this, by the giving up of the 
 tent, and by the regular provision of the ministrations 
 of the sanctuary, along with the more frequent dis- 
 pensation of the Lord's Supper, was unquestionably 
 a great improvement. No doubt, some of the Lord's 
 people, who got spiritual food at such solemn meet- 
 ings, sighed after them ; but it had been very gene- 
 rally agreed for some time that the change referred 
 to had been very beneficial." 
 
 With such prospects, then, partly auspicious and 
 
100 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 partly adverse, Mr. Burns set himself to the working 
 out of the problem before him with that quiet con- 
 scientiousness and calm steadfastness of purpose 
 which, rather than any impetuous energy, distin- 
 guished him. As regarded himself, he was in the 
 most favourable circumstances for girding himself for 
 the great work of his life. He was in the very 
 prime of life and the full maturity of his powers. 
 Having persevered, too, during his twenty years' 
 ministry in a retired rural parish, in the most regular 
 and careful preparation of matter for the pulpit,^ 
 he was in possession of accumulated stores, which 
 enabled him now, without at all trenching on the 
 full efficiency of his public appearances, to devote a 
 comparatively large portion both of time and strength 
 to the private duties of the pastoral care. To this 
 work he from the first devoted himself with a perse- 
 vering assiduity, which continued unabated to the 
 last. Beginning his ministry with a general visitation 
 
 1 Tliis good habit was certainly confirmed, though not originated, by an incident 
 which happened soon after his settlement at Dun. On one occasion he had as usual 
 prepared a careful sermon for the approaching Sabbath; but the day, when it came, 
 proving so stormy as to promise only the skeleton of a congregation, he determined 
 to reserve his elaborate discourse for another occasion, and in its stead to read a 
 chapter, and make such free and familiar comments as he might be enabled at the 
 time. He did so, and had advanced a certain way in the services, when, raising 
 his head accidentally from the Bible, whom should he see straight before his face in 
 the front galler}', but the distinguished Dugald Stewart, under whom he had studied 
 some years before, and who, being on a visit in the neighbourhood, had made an 
 effort to come and hear his old pupil! He proceeded, of course, with his exposition, 
 as best he could, striving, doubtless, to realize the presence of a still greater Auditor, 
 and thus overcome the fear of man, which bringeth a snare; but still, as he used 
 ofteii to say, he resolved from that time "na'er to preach a rainy dcty sermon again,'' 
 
PLANS OF USEFULNESS. 101 
 
 and careful inspection of every family in the parish, 
 he continued the same course year by year so long 
 as strength remained to him, passing by only those 
 whose strict connection with some other communion 
 would have rendered such attentions invidious. Thus 
 it might be truly said, that by the space of more 
 than thirty continuous years, he ceased not to warn, 
 to counsel, and instruct that people, keeping back 
 nothing that was profitable, but " showing and teach- 
 ing them the things of the kingdom of God, publicly 
 and from house to house.'' It was not by any grand 
 coup de maiUj or by a series of fitful, brilliant charges, 
 that he expected to produce great results; but by a 
 patient course of holy duty, continued on in faith 
 and prayer from year to year. Thus his influence 
 was rather felt than seen, — recognised in its slowly 
 ripening results, rather than in the conspicuousness of 
 the means. As time drew on, his plans and operations 
 widened and multiplied. Adult classes for males 
 and females were formed, — the Sabbath schools were 
 organized, visited, watched over, — prayer-meetings, 
 one or two of which had continued on, like the 
 smouldering embers of a great fire, since the revival 
 days of 1742, were fostered and multiplied, — a 
 savings' bank was instituted, — a temperance society, 
 headed by the minister and the parochial teacher, 
 speedily followed, — a philosophical union, with its ap- 
 propriate machinery of experiments and lectures, was 
 originated. In all these schemes and undertakings the 
 
102 
 
 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 minister was either tlie prime mover or a zealous and 
 efficient coadjutor, ever ready to bear a hand in any 
 scheme which had for its object the physical, moral, 
 or spiritual amelioration of the people, for whose good 
 he was thinking and planning day by day. 
 
 Thus faithfully and unweariedly did he watch for 
 souls as one that must give an account, instant in 
 season and out of season, — becoming all things to all 
 men, if by any means he might save some. 
 
 These efforts were not in vain. From a very 
 early period in his ministry there were commencing 
 tokens of that divine blessing on his work which 
 towards its close became more and more conspicuous. 
 Gradually though slowly the tone of moral and reli- 
 gious life in the congregation sensibly rose. Prevail- 
 ing vices were abated. Reinforcements of intelligent 
 and devoted members, the fruit chiefly of his Bible 
 classes, were added to the eldership and the flock. 
 The means of grace were more regularly and 
 devoutly frequented. The spirit of prayer, and of 
 wistful, expectant longing for better days, increased. 
 Thus the tide, which had been at the lowest ebb, 
 began sensibly to rise, and, creeping silently up the 
 shore, prepared the way for the great flood he was 
 ere long to see. 
 
 He was settled in Kilsyth, as we have said, in 
 1821. In the year immediately following took 
 place an event which, though very trivial in itself, 
 for the moment filled all Scotland with delirious 
 
THE king's visit—walk WITH DR. CHALMERS. 103 
 
 excitement, — the visit of George IV. to his northern 
 capital. As in duty bound, the pastor of Kilsyth 
 repaired to Edinburgh to pay his homage to royalty. 
 How he felt and demeaned himself under this sudden 
 blaze of majesty we do not know ; but the following 
 itinerary notes of his homeward route will be read 
 with interest, as affording some fresh touches of the 
 every-day life of one immeasurably greater and more 
 kingly than George IV : — 
 
 " Upon the Saturday (the last during his majesty's 
 holding court among us), many ministers returned to 
 their various places of labour to perform their duties. 
 Among these were Dr. Chalmers, myself, and others, 
 amidst a great crowd, waiting to be carried on board 
 the steamer to Grangemouth. I met with the doctor 
 and a Glasgow gentleman, Mr. R 0 , wait- 
 ing their turn to be transferred to the already loaded 
 vessel. In short, we tired of waiting, and agreed to 
 make a walking expedition of it — to go to Bo'ness by 
 the way of the beautiful grounds of Dalmeny Park 
 and of Hopetoun. The doctor had made provision 
 for his church in the event of unexpected detention, 
 and I had to preach at Polmont by exchange with 
 my excellent friend Dr. Patrick Macfarlane, then 
 minister there. The doctor had long promised to 
 visit the manse of Bo'ness, Mrs. Eennie having been 
 one of a family of his congregation, and much 
 
 esteemed by the doctor ; and Mr. 0 , her brother, 
 
 who was of our corps, encouraged the plan, it being 
 
104 THE PASTOE OF KILSYTH. 
 
 his purpose to visit his sister at that time. The 
 doctor and his friend set off, leaving me to follow so 
 soon as my baggage could be disposed of. I did so 
 with all convenient speed ; but when I arrived at 
 the eastern gate of Dalmeny Park, the keeper, in 
 answer to my question if two gentlemen had passed 
 there, told me that there were, but that his orders 
 being not to admit any without some introduction, 
 they had gone by the turnpike. He said that if I 
 was known to any of the officials about the place, he 
 would admit me : and I having mentioned the name 
 of the factor in the city, who was my near relative, 
 the gate was immediately thrown open. But what 
 now of the doctor and his companion? At the 
 Ha'as Inn at Queensferry I found them waiting. 
 After being refreshed, I became cicerone in conduct- 
 ing them to the charming grounds of Hopetoun 
 House, where royalty had lately breakfasted. By 
 the way, speaking of Hopetoun House, I must give 
 an anecdote of that nobleman and hero — the then 
 Lord Hopetoun. His lordship was most exemplary 
 in his devout attendance at church, both parts of the 
 day. Having a shrewd suspicion one day that the 
 domestics had the purpose of absenting themselves 
 from public worship in the afternoon, he asked the 
 butler why the servants were not preparing to move, 
 when he told his lordship, that owing to some 
 showers, and still drops falling, they were unwilling 
 to wet their feet, or injure their clothes — in fact, 
 
LORD HOPETOUN AND HIS DOMESTICS. 105 
 
 were purposing to stay at home. Whereupon his 
 lordship ordered out a commodious and ample con- 
 veyance for their transmission half a mile or less; 
 and after learning from the butler that they were all 
 seated and properly defended, his lordship took his 
 large staff in his hand, and drove them all before 
 him to church ; after which they never afterwards 
 thought of staying from the house of God on 
 account of a shower or two. This brave and much- 
 respected nobleman, having gone to the Continent 
 shortly after the royal visit, was called away by 
 a very sudden illness, far from his lovely domain ! 
 Eeturning, however, to our journey : The doctor 
 was in a delightful mood; the day was fine (August 
 month) ; the views to the north of the Frith en- 
 chanting. The large limestone rock on Lord Elgin's 
 grounds, with the broad and gay streamer on the flag- 
 staff crowning the elevation, was much admired, with 
 a kind of chivalrous glow. Seated now and then, he 
 looked round, expressing the delight which the scene 
 and the occasion excited ; for although in college 
 days he was a good deal of the ardent Whig, and 
 poured forth impassioned and eloquently-thrilling de- 
 scriptions of the horrors of war, he was now, for a 
 time at least, more of the Cava^lier than the Eound- 
 head. On this subject we had some friendly argu- 
 mentation. One time, on turning round and again 
 expressing admiration of the flag on the lime rock, he 
 said, ' What would a London Cockney say of this 
 
106 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 view? Well, it is after all a "neat concern."' 
 Occasionally sauntering behind, he would pull a duo- 
 decimo volume out of his pocket, and read a page of 
 one of Owen's treatises, as food for the mind and 
 heart, and then again join in conversation, both 
 edifying and exhilarating. We then proceeded in 
 our pedestrian course along the shore by Blackness, 
 and had various talk of former scenes, while he, with 
 his staff in hand, made good progress, saying that we 
 had yet all the strength and buoyancy of our boyish 
 days (I was now a year or two beyond forty — he 
 
 about the same) The shades of evening were 
 
 now upon us, as we entered Grange Pans — a pande- 
 monian-looking place, difficult to penetrate even in 
 daytime, but now doubly Cimmerian. We overtook 
 a young sailor with very white trousers (the white 
 trousers, in fact, served as a kind of torch to show us 
 the way through the smoke of the salt pans), with 
 
 whom Dr. Chalmers held converse Next day 
 
 Dr. Chalmers preached in Bo'ness church in the after- 
 noon — his subject Kom. v. 1 0, * If when ye were 
 enemies ye were reconciled/ &c. — on the a fortiori 
 argument. This was quite an unexpected treat to 
 the inhabitants of that small seaport. It reminded 
 him of his beloved Anstruther, when he walked to 
 the harbour and surveyed the opposite coast, Culross 
 Abbey, and the adjacency/' 
 
 It formed no small part of the charm of his new 
 sphere of labour that it brought him to the neigh- 
 
THOMAS CHALMERS, BEFORE AND NOW. 107 
 
 bourhood of one whom he had known and admired 
 in other days, while yet a great gulf separated them, 
 and whose bright and burning course, after divine 
 grace had touched his soul, he watched with peculiar 
 interest and joy. The first time he heard this great 
 man preach, after the great change had passed upon 
 him — it was a public sermon at Glasgow for the sons 
 of the clergy — he used often to speak of as an occa- 
 sion never to be forgotten. The very tones of his 
 voice as he read the opening psalm, — 
 
 " Such pity as a father hath 
 Unto his children dear," 
 
 irresistibly touched him, and dwelt in tender cadence 
 in his memory throughout all after years. He 
 thought of the time when, as a student of divinity at 
 St. Andrews, that same man had scouted the evan- 
 gelical system as an obsolete tradition, and humour- 
 ously advised my father to go out to Anstruther and 
 see his parents, the only persons he knew who be- 
 lieved in such things, — and of another occasion still 
 more vividly imprinted on the memory, when at an 
 ordination in the Presbytery of Brechin he stood be- 
 side his old college friend, and, at the solemn mo- 
 ment of imposition, was in the act of thrusting out 
 his riding- whip instead of his hand, whispering, " I 
 suppose this will do equally well," when his more 
 reverent companion held him back.^ Such was 
 
 1 This actually occured at the ordination of an old college comrade, which he 
 attended as a friend. My father used often to recur with a kind of reverential 
 
108 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Thomas Chalmers then and now — ^before and after 
 that great moment in his history, from which and 
 ever afterwards all old things were passed away, and 
 all things were become new. 
 
 His connection with Glasgow, and with those 
 eminent and faithful men who, from that time on- 
 wards, mustered stronger and stronger there, was the 
 more precious to him, as at that period there were 
 few of the country clergy round to whom he could 
 look for congenial intercourse and profitable mini- 
 sterial interchange. There is one only of our near 
 neighbours of those days whose character and whole 
 personality I vividly remember as deeply impressive. 
 That was the venerable John Dempster, minister of 
 Denny — a man alike in moral bearing and bodily 
 stature stately and king-like, and whom all who were 
 present at the convocation of 1842 must remember 
 as perhaps the most striking figure in that assembly. 
 Well do I remember, and even now see his lofty form 
 as he came over the hill behind the manse on his tall 
 chestnut horse, on which he sat erect and strong, 
 like a knight-errant of former days. He was in the 
 truest sense a man of God — an eloquent and even 
 commanding preacher, too, when in his best vein, 
 though rather fitful and unequal. His grand pre- 
 sence in the pulpit, and full majestic voice, was to 
 us youngsters singularly impressive, and I hear to 
 
 interest to the circumstance, as affording a vivid glimpse of the rude block out of 
 which divine grace moulded so noble a form of Christian excellence and heroism. 
 
GREAT DAYS. 109 
 
 this hour the intonations of his voice repeating those 
 words as his text on a communion Saturday, " Unto 
 you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteous- 
 ness arise with healing under his wings. 
 
 But the great days at Kilsyth were undoubtedly 
 those in which the sombre monotony of our rural 
 preaching was disturbed by the louder and more 
 stirring notes of the city pulpit. Dr. Patrick 
 M'Farlane,^ with his clear, pellucid flow of calm, 
 chastened eloquence ; Dr. Thomas Brown,^ rolling 
 along through prayer and sermon in a continuous 
 stream of incandescent earnestness ; and Dr. Robert 
 Burns,"* the very embodiment itself of buoyant, bound- 
 ing, triumphant energy, were our especial favourites, 
 whose coming was ever esteemed an era — as a kind 
 of avatar of the divine power and presence. That 
 the visits of such men, and of others^ of like spirit, 
 
 ^ Besides Mr. Dempster, his most frequent assistants among his near neighbours 
 were tlie Revs. Adam Foreman, of Kirkintilloch, a very worthy man of the old school, 
 and John Watson, of Cumbernauld. At Campsie, there was, at the time of his 
 settlement at Kilsyth, the too famous Mr. Lapslie, succeeded, howerer, afterwards 
 by incumbents of a much higher cast. At Larbert, at a distance from Kilsyth of about 
 eleven miles, was settled in 1826 Mr. John Bonar (now of the Free Church Colonial 
 Committee), who soon came to be regarded as the very model of an able and faithful 
 parish minister, and a very great accession to the cause of vital religion in that 
 neighbourhood. Then, some years afterwards, came the bright and burning, but, 
 alas! too brief ministry of the gifted and devoted John Brown Paterson, at Falkirk. 
 Such, among the neighbouring clergy, were his chief associates and friends. 
 
 2 Of the West Church, Greenock. 
 
 3 Of St. John's, Glasgow. 
 
 * Of St. George's, Paisley, now of Toronto. 
 
 * E. gr.. Dr. John Smyth, of St. George's, Glasgow ; Dr. John Forbes, of the Outer 
 High; Dr. Henderson, of St. Enoch's, Glasgow, afterwards of the West Church, 
 Greenock; and his old and cherished friend, and once more his near neighbour, 
 Dr. Hamilton, of Strathblane. 
 
110 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 whom my father ever gathered round him, were 
 greatly blessed in preparing the way for better days, 
 I have not the smallest doubt. Herein, doubtless, 
 as in so many another instance, " was that saying 
 true, One soweth and another reapeth ; one man 
 laboureth, and another entereth into his labours.'' 
 
 There is a pensive pleasure in thus recalling the 
 visages and the voices of those who in long past days 
 have spoken to us the word of life. I feel no deli- 
 cacy in dwelling on what I know belongs not to us 
 or to Kilsyth alone, but to all the world. Who is 
 there among my readers who cannot set himself 
 down in some quiet nook in some old church, and 
 listen again and again to words which, spoken long 
 ago to the outward ear, shall echo on in the heart for 
 ever? 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 a821-1830.) 
 
 Oh, how sweet that word ! What beautiful and tender associations cluster thick 
 around it ! Compared with it, house, mansion, palace, are cold and heartless terms* 
 But home ! that word quickens the pulse, warms the heart, and stirs the soul to its 
 depths, makes age feel young again, rouses apathy into energy, sustains tlie sailor 
 on his midnight watch, inspires the soldier with courage on the field of battle, and 
 imparts patient endurance to the worn-out sons of toil! The thought of it has 
 proved a seven-fold shield to virtue ; the very name of It has been a spell to call 
 back the wanderer from the paths of vice; and far away where myrtles bloom and 
 palm-trees wave, and the ocean sleeps upon coral strands, to the exile's fond fancy 
 it clothes the naked rock, or stormy shore, or barren moor, or wild highland moun- 
 tain, with charms he weeps to think of, and longs once more to see! "— Gutiirik. 
 
YI. 
 
 In the midst of parochial and wider cares, the even 
 current of the pastor's domestic life, at Kilsyth as at 
 Dun, flowed tranquilly on. The stage had changed 
 and the plot had somewhat thickened, but the drama 
 and the actors were still the same. They had now 
 six children besides the little one they had left 
 quietly sleeping in that distant grave-yard— three 
 sons and three daughters, of whom the eldest was 
 now in his thirteenth year, and the youngest in her 
 third. That, I imagine, must have been one of the 
 happiest homes then on the earth. I daresay most 
 children that have been nursed beneath the wings of 
 parental love and prayer feel so, particularly, I think, 
 those who have been reared in the country. There, 
 where every house stands alone and apart from all 
 others, with its own particular environment of wood 
 and field and tree, which belongs to it, and to none 
 other, the idea of home acquires a distinctness, a 
 blessed isolation from all commoner and less sacred 
 things which elsewhere it cannot have. Its whole 
 
 H 
 
114 THE PASTOK OF KILSYTH. 
 
 surrounding circumstances, too, are more vivid, and 
 crowd the young mind with those pictured images 
 and scenes which in after years give charm and 
 pathos to memory. The long, straight city streets, 
 the sharp corners, and mathematical curves, make 
 scarcely better pictures in the heart than on the 
 canvas ; while a single tree, or bush, or mossy stone, 
 will live within the soul and before the mind's eye 
 for ever. For this reason I have always thought 
 those have suffered a great loss who have grown up 
 from infancy to manhood in a city wilderness — 
 something like the defect of a sense, or the want of 
 an essential part of the complete education of the 
 heart. The chambers of the memory in after 
 life may indeed be airy and well-furnished, but 
 certainly without pictures, or at least with very 
 poor ones. The brook across which we leaped 
 in childish days; the gnarled tree up which we 
 clomb; the bright fields where we rollicked with 
 the reapers or the hay-makers ; the breezy wood in 
 which we sported the live-long day amid the birds 
 and the flowers ; the bosky, winding dell which we 
 explored with a kind of mysterious wonder reach 
 after reach, till the trees became thin and scraggy, 
 and we came out at last upon the still, upland heath 
 or sheep-walk ; the joyous days among the nuts or 
 the brambles, or more joyous still, among the great 
 snow-wreaths, when we could walk aloft over walls 
 and hedges, and our house was blocked up from all 
 
THE HUSBAND AND FATHER. 115 
 
 the world, and the whole troop, exempt from school, 
 turned out with spade and shovel to cut for our- 
 selves a way; the misty loch, with its shifting crowds 
 of curlers and skaters ; the quiet walk to the house 
 of God, with the grave-stones and the still groupes 
 around the door ; — what man or woman reared in 
 a country home does not know these things, and 
 carry them evermore in the mind and heart as a 
 kind of framing in of the dearest and holiest centre 
 of his young life. In our case there was all this in 
 fullest measure. A more distant expedition, too, 
 now and then added incident and excitement to a 
 scene which had otherwise been too still and un- 
 varied. A fishing-party across the moorlands to 
 Carron Water; a pic-nic in Campsie Glen; a journey 
 en famille to Strathbla^ne manse, the holiest and 
 most blessed Christian home I ever knew ; a glimpse 
 of the great city, with its endless streets and forests 
 of tall stalks towering up among the smoke ; an 
 excursion, one at a time, with father and mother to 
 Paisley, or Borrowstownness, or Brechin, or Aberdeen, 
 or St. Andrews; — these were the great events that 
 vivified and diversified the even tenor of our ordi- 
 nary domestic history. After all, however, it is the 
 parent that makes the home ; and surely in this 
 respect ours was favoured beyond the lot of most. It 
 was not that my father meddled much actively with 
 the management of domestic affairs. His govern- 
 ment was rather calm and strong than bustling and 
 
116 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 energetic. There was little direct systematic educa- 
 tion. He was a regulating and steadying power, 
 rather than a busy executive. He was, in short, 
 felt rather as a presence than as an agency, — 
 the element in which we lived, the atmosphere 
 which we breathed day by day ; something, in short, 
 that was, as it were, pre-supposed, and in its silent 
 influence entered into everything that was thought, 
 felt, planned, enjoyed, or suffered within our little 
 world. We were not often and much with him 
 — not so much, I think, as would as a general 
 thing be desirable. His calm and unimpulsive 
 temperament here, as elsewhere, fitted him to 
 act rather by continuous influence than by dis- 
 tinct and specific efforts. A casual rencounter in 
 the garden-walk, or in the harvest-field ; a fore- 
 noon drive to some neighbouring manse, or country- 
 house ; half an hour s private reading with his 
 boys in the study before breakfast ; above all, the 
 Sabbath evening hour of catechising and prayer ; these, 
 with now and then the reading aloud in the fire-side 
 circle of some interesting and popular volume— a task 
 in which he greatly delighted and really excelled — 
 were the chief occasions of direct intercourse between 
 the father and the child. Sometimes, too, along the 
 garden-walk at even-tide, or through a partition 
 wall at midnight, the ejaculated words of secret 
 meditation and prayer would reach our ears and 
 hearts like the sounding of the high priest's bells 
 
THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE. 117 
 
 within the vail.^ The more active management of 
 the household and of the home education was safe 
 in the hands of his more nimble and lively partner, 
 who seemed made, if any one ever was, to make 
 home and home duties happy. Herself the very 
 soul of springy activity and elastic cheerfulness, she 
 kept all around her alive and stirring ; while by the 
 infection of her own blithesome and courageous 
 spirit, labour became light and duty pleasant. 
 Never was she so much at home as when some 
 sudden emergency in the house or in the fields sum- 
 moned all hands to work, or when, in one of those 
 occasional inundations of friendly kith and kin to 
 which our large connection and central position^ ex- 
 posed us, the manse became too narrow for its 
 inmates, and double-bedded rooms and extemporized 
 shake-downs became the order of the day. Was 
 
 1 Such ejaculatory "breathings of the quiet but fervent heart were peculiarly con- 
 genial to his calm and un impulsive temperament, and became, as life advanced, more 
 and more characteristic of him. Once, among the noisy crowd straggling around 
 the door of the General Assembly, which had been suddenly shut for prayers, a 
 deep voice was heard pronouncing the words, "The door was shut." It fell with a 
 strange, solemn thrill on the ears of one who afterwards discovered that the speaker 
 was the venerable pastor of Kilsyth. 
 
 2 To the south of the manse, and within the bounds of the glebe, there is a gentle 
 rising-ground, commanding from its summit an extensive prospect of the valley and 
 of the line of the Forth and Clyde Canal, both to the east and west, and called by 
 us, from this circumstance, " the Prospect." To this watch-tower we used to repair 
 when visitors were expected, to catch the first gleam of the white passenger-boat as 
 it turned a corner, or wormed its way through the over-shadowing trees in the far 
 distance. But it would sometimes happen that, scarcely had the boat from the east 
 deposited its freight, when that from the other quarter arrived with an unexpected 
 contribution from the west, putting the resources and energy of the home office to 
 the utmost possible strain without, however, producing a ministerial crisis, or any 
 serious embaiTassment which we youngsters could see. 
 
118 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 there now and then, amid this universal quickness 
 and alacrity, a slight tinge of sharpness in chiding 
 the dreamy loiterer and the handless slut ? Perhaps 
 so ; yet we children scarcely saw it, to whom she ever 
 spoke in the true mother's tones of gentleness and 
 love. From her lips and at her knee we learned our 
 earliest lessons of truth, and in- her voice and face 
 first traced, as in a clear mirror, the lineaments of 
 that gentle and loving godliness which hath the 
 promise of the life that now is and of that which is 
 to come. Yes, there she is, living, life-like, just as 
 we saw her thirty years ago sitting by the cradle 
 side, rocking and singing her little one to rest; or 
 in her own arm-chair, by the winter fire-side, with 
 her happy group around her ; or flitting and glimps- 
 ing like a thing of motion and light through the 
 little household world that seemed to move in har- 
 mony to the tune of her light, quick step ; or, as 
 we saw her once on a sad and woeful time, pacing 
 up and down with weary yet unwearying step 
 during the long day and the long night with her 
 dying darling in her arms,-^ — that poor, drooping 
 one that would go to no arms but hers, — and then 
 watching on to the last of those fearful breathings 
 that shook the very couch, and sounded through every 
 
 1 This was our great domestic sorrow at Kilsyth — the death by croup of our 
 youngest brother Jolm, at the age of three years, on the 10th of May 1829. With 
 his bright, rosy face and clustering golden locks, he was the idol of the family, as 
 well as his mother's darling, when that fell disease, in those days baffling aU 
 medical skill, struck him down. 
 
mother's love. 119 
 
 chamber in the dwelling ; or when, on some dark 
 and stormy night, she tripped with light footsteps 
 to onr bedside when we were ill and fluttered with 
 nameless terrors, and by her very look and voice 
 chased all those fears away ; or when we knelt at 
 her feet and whispered our evening prayer ; or sur- 
 prised her in her closet, and found her on her knees ; 
 or on bright Sabbath days, when we all flocked around 
 her to the house of God, and clustered about her in 
 the family pew, — am I wrong in thus writing of one 
 who still lingers with us, and who is besides wholly 
 unknown, even by name, to the outside world to 
 whose indulgence we commit these lines ? Yet it 
 seems scarce possible to do full justice to the home 
 life of the subject of our memoir, without saying this 
 much of her who constituted to him so large a part 
 of home, and of everything sacred and blessed asso- 
 ciated with the name. At least I shall be pardoned, 
 perhaps thanked, by many who remember with 
 tears that they too had just such a mother, and how 
 worthy of everlasting remembrance is that name 
 that is recorded alone on the family Bible and on 
 the, church-yard stone. It is all over now, — that 
 once happy home, with all its sacred endearments 
 and joys, a thing of the past, existing only in memory 
 and in dreams. Yet there is a solemn instruction 
 as well as a pensive sweetness in reverting to it; and 
 may none of those now so far scattered ever forget 
 that they bear the responsibility as well as enjoy the 
 
120 J THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 blessing of having been reared in such a home, and 
 followed thronghout life's treacherous ways by such 
 prayers ! 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 (1830-1838.) 
 
 "Awake, 0 north wind-, and conje, thou south; blow upon my ga^'den, that the 
 spices thereof may flow out. — Cant. iv. 16. 
 
VII. 
 
 The subject of the revival of religion, as the great 
 want of the times, had been brought under Mr. 
 Burns's attention at a very early period, by the 
 notices in Dr. Gillies s ''Historical Collections'' of the 
 remarkable scenes at Kilsyth and Cambuslang in 
 1742-3, as well as by the brief but emphatic vindi- 
 cation of that work in Sir Henry Moncreiff s Life of 
 Erskine. He had been brought even into immediate 
 personal contact with a similar work of the Spirit in 
 his own day, by some brief but cherished intercourse, 
 in the year 1803, with the late lamented Dr. Stewart, 
 of Moulin, and by a visit some years afterwards to 
 the scene of his singularly successful ministry. Of that 
 intercourse and that visit I am tempted to transcribe 
 the following slight memoranda, as exhibiting one of 
 the links in the chain of events to which we devote 
 this chapter : — 
 
 " When a student at college I was familiar with 
 the appearance of Dr. Alexander Stewart. About 
 the period of his memorable letters to the pious Mr. 
 
124 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 David Black, of Lady Tester's, giving an account of 
 liis remarkable conversion, and of the revival in his 
 parish, I saw him frequently in Lady Glenorchy's 
 Chapel in the elders' seat (but not in the pulpit), 
 where his sweet and placid, but serious countenance 
 struck me much, and led to inquiry in regard to his 
 history, which is so well known, and which is among 
 the events which had a salutary effect on the state 
 of religion in the Church. 
 
 " The Eev. C. Simeon s visit, along with the com- 
 panion of his tour, James Haldane, was chiefly in- 
 strumental, by the divine blessing, in bringing about 
 the wonderful and blessed change in his views and 
 character, and which was followed with a marked and 
 beneficial influence in that district — the scene of his 
 then ministrations. In the notice of these memor- 
 able visits to Moulin, the biographer of Mr. Haldane.^ 
 has omitted to notice the excellent sister of Mr. 
 Stewart, who was at that period his companion and 
 housekeeper, through whom, I have understood, Mr. 
 Simeon and Mr. Haldane were introduced to the 
 manse of Moulin, and who had no small share in the 
 interesting movement and meetings which followed. 
 She was a person of superior intelligence, and was 
 eminently helpful in the work. She was afterwards 
 highly useful in a similar capacity in the manse of 
 Cromarty, — combining the character of Martha and 
 of Mary in managing the domestic concerns of that 
 singularly interesting and original thinking man, 
 
CONNECTING LINKS. 125 
 
 whose early removal from this world still causes 
 many a heart to thrill with affecting emotions.^ 
 
 " With Dr. Stewart my acquaintanceship began in 
 1803, when he made a call upon my late brother 
 of Brechin, to whom he kindly introduced himself, 
 aware of the deep interest such men as he would 
 take in the Moulin awakening. On a second visit 
 he preached a forenoon in the church of Brechin, 
 on the hosannahs of the multitude at our Lord's 
 ascent to Jerusalem, with palm branches, &c. His 
 manner was calm, and style of composition and of 
 delivery tasteful and tender, not impetuous, or, in the 
 ordinary sense, very striking or popular. His con- 
 versation in private was particularly savoury, of a 
 chastened character, reminding one of the expression 
 of the Psalmist (Ps. cxxxi.), ' My soul is even as a 
 weaned child.' 
 
 "In the year 1811, the year of a great comet, I 
 had a soUtary ride through Strathardle, Blair, Ken- 
 more, &c. Having preached in the chapel of Persie 
 (on the borders of two or three parishes), on the 
 Monday I pursued my way on horseback by Kirk- 
 michael in the above-named strath, on the way to 
 
 1 Kev. Alexander Stewart, son of the above-named Dr. Stewart, of whom see a 
 deeply interesting notice in Hugh Miller's "Schools and Schoolmasters," chap. 
 jLviii. : " I found on my return to Cromarty a new face in the pulpit. It was that of 
 a remarkable man,— one of at once the most original thinkers and profound theolo- 
 gians I ever knew; tliough he has, alas! left as little mark of his exquisite talent 
 behind him. as those sweet singers of former ages, the memory of whose enchanting 
 notes has died, save as a doubtful echo, with the generation that heard them." — 
 ?. 391. 
 
126 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Blair-Athol. 1 spent a night in Moulin. Several 
 of the good people there, who had been quickened 
 under Dr. Stewart's ministry, and who had come the 
 whole way the day previous to the chapel in which 
 I had officiated, waited on me at the inn, requesting 
 an evening meeting for worship, and hearing the 
 word. To avoid giving offence to the minister (now 
 Dr. Duff, of Kenmore), whom I knew only by name, 
 I did not formally call the people to a sermon, but 
 to family worship in the largest room in the inn, 
 when I expounded the word to a crowded meeting. 
 I had a conversation with two very interesting men 
 who had been elders in Mr. Stewart's time, and 
 among the subjects of the gracious work there. 
 They told me that they had paid a visit to their 
 beloved spiritual father and former pastor, travelling 
 the whole way on foot to Dingwall ; and had a 
 refreshing, though somewhat pensive meeting with 
 one whose removal from among them they and so 
 many deplored. One of these good men rose next 
 morning and accompanied me on horseback for 
 eight or ten miles by the beautiful seat of Fas- 
 cally, parting with me where the Moulin road 
 joins the road from Dunk eld to Blair. I have 
 seldom, if ever, met with a man of his station so 
 interesting ; his piety so humble and yet transparent, 
 so full of love to the Saviour and to his cause. 
 After much delightful Christian conversation, we 
 parted, never to meet again in this world, but anti- 
 
PLOUGHING AND SOWING IN HOPE. 127 
 
 cipating a blessed meeting in heaven, which is far 
 better. I found unquestionable evidence, in my short 
 visit to Moulin, of the reality of the far-famed revival 
 in that district. I never met with Dr. Stewart after 
 his removal to Dingwall." 
 
 And so the pastor went on his way, doubtless 
 musing many things of the past and the future, 
 and inwardly breathing such aspirations as that of 
 the spouse — " Awake, 0 north wind ; and come, 
 thou south." 
 
 With such views and preparations of heart, it is 
 not surprising that, on finding himself, in the provi- 
 dence of God, placed in the midst of one of the chief 
 scenes of the former times of refreshing, the subject 
 of revival became henceforth a ruling idea of his life. 
 His public instructions, as well as private conver- 
 sation at visitations and elsewhere, abounded with 
 allusions to those happy days of the past, the remem- 
 brance of which had not yet wholly expired amongst 
 the people, and with expressions of ardent longing 
 for their return ; and to this point might the whole 
 course of his ministry be said more or less to turn. 
 In 1822, the second year of his ministry, we find 
 him, along with another congenial spirit, the humble 
 and godly Dr. George Wright of Stirling, bending 
 over the old records of the kirk-session bearing on 
 the dates 1742-49, and with solemn interest de- 
 cyphering the dim and fading lines that referred to 
 the incidents of the work as then in progress. 
 
128 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Towards the close of the same year (Dec. 1822), on 
 two successive Sabbaths, he preached directly and 
 fully on the subject, taking for his text those 
 singularly appropriate and impressive words in Micah 
 vii. 1 — " Woe is me ! for I am as when they have 
 gathered the summer-fruits, as the grape-gleanings 
 of the vintage : there is no cluster to eat ; my soul 
 desired the first ripe fruit" — bringing the whole case 
 of past attainment and subsequent declension before 
 the congregation, and calling upon them again to 
 arise and seek the Lord. In 1880, in consequence 
 of some unusual outbreaks of sin in connection with 
 drunken brawls, a parochial day of fasting and prayer, 
 in the view of prevailing sins and backslidings, was 
 appointed by the kirk-session, and observed with 
 marked seriousness and solemnity. In 1832 the 
 near approach of the cholera, which fell heavily on 
 the neighbouring village of Kirkintilloch, but never 
 actually entered Kilsyth, while sounding its own 
 terrible peal, at the same time summoned the pastor 
 to lift up his voice in another earnest call to repent- 
 ance and newness of life. In 1836 he read an 
 elaborate essay before the clerical society in Glasgow, 
 with the twofold object of calling more extensive 
 attention to the subject, and of drawing forth the 
 suggestions of the brethren in regard to some signs 
 of awakening life that were even then appearing in his 
 own parish. Such are soipe of the chief epochs in a 
 course of action, and of holy longing, which, however, 
 
THE FIRST DROPS. 129 
 
 was incessant. The results of a more general kind 
 in the improving tone of moral and religious life we 
 have already noticed. By-and-by, tokens of a more 
 specific character, distinctly foreshadowing a coming 
 day of blessing, began to manifest themselves. There 
 was a marked increase of seriousness and devout 
 earnestness in public worship. The prayer-meetings 
 were more and more thronged with v/restling sup- 
 plicants and anxious seekers. One or two sermons 
 at communion times, marked by a peculiar unction 
 and power, had fallen with visibly solemnizing effect 
 on the congregation, and stirred in secret many 
 hearts.-^ Latterly, several remarkable conversions 
 attested the still living power of the truth, and tended 
 alike to startle the careless, and to animate and 
 quicken the people of God. 
 
 One instance may be mentioned in particular as 
 attended by circumstances peculiarly interesting and 
 instructive. The head of a large family, in middle life, 
 who had been marked hitherto rather by a mere heart- 
 less indifference than by any open acts of impiety or 
 wickedness, had been repeatedly expostulated with 
 by the minister for irregular attendance at the house 
 of God. Pleading the usual excuse of want of clothes, 
 he had been now twice furnished with a full suit of 
 decent attire; but after one or two Sabbaths' attend- 
 
 One in particular, by the Rev. A. N. Somerville, of Anderston, on the evening 
 ot a communion Sabbath, on the words, '* Behold, I stand at the door and knock," 
 Mill be vividly remembered by many. 
 I 
 
130 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 ance he had again dropped out of sight, and the clothcKS 
 mysteriously disappeared. The pastor's pleadings 
 were renewed, and fresh promises of amendment 
 made, provided the needful help was again vouch- 
 safed. The matter was fully weighed and considered 
 in the domestic council, and the result was, to make 
 yet another trial before giving up the case as hope- 
 less. The trial was made ; the poor man was in his 
 place with his family the next Sabbath ; and, in that 
 very first service, before the first prayer had closed, 
 an arrow of divine conviction had pierced his soul, 
 which the hand of the great Healer alone could 
 extract. After a brief, but agonizing season of spiri- 
 tual distress, he entered into perfect peace, and went 
 on his way rejoicing. From that day he was a new 
 man. His bright, beaming countenance, never to be 
 missed at the hour of prayer from its place, became 
 henceforth one of the chief ornaments of the sanc- 
 tuary, while he was ever prominent among those 
 who, in more secret assemblies, spoke often one to 
 another, and wrestled, and waited for better days. 
 
 Thus already was the fallow ground turned up, and 
 the soil prepared for the great seed-sowing and rich 
 harvest that was near at hand. The fire was already 
 kindled, and needed only a strong blast of the mighty 
 rushing wind to rouse it into a flame. It was when 
 matters were in this state, and when animated by 
 those holy hopes and longings which these tokens of 
 approaching blessing inspired, that the watchful 
 
CHURCH- YAED SCENE. 131 
 
 pastor caught and improved an occasion which seemed 
 to him eminently calculated to give an impulse to 
 the good work. It was the anniversary of the death 
 of the Eev. James Robe, who had been so eminently 
 blessed in the revival scenes of the former century, 
 and whose name still remained embalmed among the 
 most sacred memories of the parish. He bethought 
 himself of standing on the grave of that man of God, 
 who, though dead, was yet speaking, and preaching 
 on the words which had been inscribed by Robe him- 
 self in Hebrew letters over the dust of his deceased 
 wife, Thy dead men shall live, together with my 
 dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that 
 dwell in dust : for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, 
 and the earth shall cast out the dead" (Isa. xxvi. 19). 
 The occasion was a remarkably impressive and affect- 
 ing one. It was a lovely, quiet Sabbath afternoon in 
 August, and the romantic beauty of the spot, occupy- 
 ing the brow of the hill on which the manse stands, 
 and commanding a full view of the valley, the village, 
 and the surrounding hills, communicated a kind of 
 picturesque solemnity to the scene. There, standing 
 over the dust of his revered predecessor in the ministry, 
 and surrounded by the children of that favoured 
 flock to which he had ministered, and who now slept 
 around him beneath their feet, he spoke in such 
 earnest and weighty words as these : — ^ 
 
 1 The extracts following are from tlie beginning and the close of the sermon, 
 which will be found entire among the Kcmains in the second part of this volume. 
 
13S THE PASTOK OF KILSYTH. 
 
 "You were previously aware, my friends, from 
 what text I intended to address you this evening : — 
 the words which have now been read in your hearing. 
 They are insiiribed in Hebrew characters upon the 
 tombstone covering the mortal remains of the Eev. J. 
 Robe, whose ministerial zeal and eminent success in 
 the conversion of so many souls, especially in the 
 years 1742 and 1743, has erected for him a 
 monument more lasting by far than any reared by 
 human hands, and formed of the most costly or 
 durable materials. Eighty and four years have 
 run their course since his mortal remains were laid 
 in the dust close to the spot on which I now stand. 
 Some of the usual emblems of mortality, and of 
 the swift and imperceptible flight of time, are rudely 
 sculptured on the stone : — the ship before the wind, 
 — the quickly moving shuttle, — the hour glass of 
 dry sand, — an opening grave, — and a trumpet sound- 
 ing. But the words of our text, carved on the open 
 volume, — the Bible, — express more plainly than any 
 emblem or hieroglyphic the triumphant hope of the 
 blessed, who have ' died in the Lord.' The letters 
 on the tombstone are in a language to most of you 
 altogether unknown, and they are already almost 
 obliterated by the waste of time and of the ele- 
 ments of more than a hundred summers and 
 winters.^ But blessed be God, this text and the 
 
 ^ Mrs. Robe died in 1735, over whose dust this stone had been hiid. 
 
CHURCH- YARD SCENE. 
 
 133 
 
 others referred to in explanation of the emblems are 
 plainly legible in the blessed book which each of 
 you possesses. What cause have we, my dear friends, 
 to bless God that it is so, — that we need not spend 
 our time in labouring to decypher characters becom- 
 ing every year more obscure, and that the grand 
 and blessed doctrine of salvation is not sealed up 
 from you in a tongue known only to the learned, 
 but made known in your native language — 'Life 
 and immortality brought to light by the gospel/ 
 Job in early times — even as early as the times of 
 Abraham — expressed his belief in the doctrine of the 
 text, and wished his words to be written in a book, 
 yea, to be graven on the rock, and, lo ! it is fulfilled. 
 They are in the faithful record, and more clearly and 
 more fully known than if they had been literally com- 
 mitted to the memorial of the solid rock, the most 
 impervious to the waste of time. Hear the pro- 
 fession of his faith and hope of a resurrection to 
 life : — * I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that 
 though after my skin worms destroy this body : yet 
 in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for 
 myself, and not another, although my reins be con- 
 sumed within me.' .... 
 
 My dear friends, the scene around us, and the 
 occasion of our assembly this evening, are truly inte- 
 resting and instructive. We are surrounded on all sides 
 by the dust of friends and forefathers ; where many 
 of you worshipped in former times, and where often. 
 
134 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 often within walls^ of whicli no fragment now remains, 
 the memorials of your Redeemer s death were set forth, 
 many a precious sermon delivered, and many a prayer 
 poured out, and many a precious song of Zion sung. 
 'Our fathers! where are they?' The graves, and 
 monumental stones, and inscriptions remind us that 
 the people are grass, and that ministers are but 
 earthen vessels. We surround the grave of one who 
 was eminent in his day for zeal and success in the 
 work of the Lord. He laboured in the vineyard for 
 the long space of forty-one years, having been 
 ordained in 1713, and departed this life in 1754. 
 The narrative, well known amongst you, tells of the 
 great things done in the latter years of his ministry, 
 when many gave the best evidence of having been 
 born again through the word then preached ; and of 
 vast assemblings along the adjoining stream, hearing 
 with earnest hearts the words of life ; and of the 
 additional recurring sacramental seasons caused by 
 the intense desire to enjoy such refreshing meetings. 
 His memory is savoury. His sermons and * Narra- 
 tive," and the holy character he maintained to the 
 end, render his memory peculiarly precious. Two 
 other ministers have subsequently laboured here, and 
 have closed their ministry also. Their doctrine was 
 the same as Mr. Robe's, although no such remarkable 
 
 I Eeferring to the former church of Kilsyth, built in 1649, taken down in 1816, — 
 the new church being built in the village, and the romantic church-yard thus left as 
 a solitary place of graves. 
 
CHUECH-YARD SCENE. 135 
 
 success attended their ministrations. And neither 
 have we any new doctrine to publish, but have been 
 humbly, and, we trust, sincerely preaching to you 
 ^ Christ Jesus, and him crucified.' Oh, will you not 
 believe the gospel? — will you not embrace the faithful 
 saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ 
 Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the 
 chief? Dearly beloved friends, the day is at hand 
 when the hour-glass of time shall be emptied of its 
 last grain, — when the trumpet shall sound, and the 
 dead shall be raised, — when the bodies in this church- 
 yard, now reduced to corruption and dust, shall 
 awake, and all arise, either to glory and honour, or 
 to shame and everlasting contempt. Oh, that the 
 account we shall have to render may be with joy, 
 and not with grief, for that would indeed be unpro- 
 fitable for you ! Blessed Jesus, the resurrection and 
 the life, — who quickenest whom thou wilt, — by thy 
 word and Spirit quicken us, and we will run after 
 thee. Thou who calledst Lazarus to come forth, and 
 immediately the dead arose, call the dead souls here 
 to awake, — to arise a living army to praise thee ; 
 and oh, ere thou callest to judgment, — before the 
 last trumpet sound, and the great white throne only 
 be visible, and the Judge be seated on it, — while yet 
 upon the throne of mercy, let poor, wretched, blind, 
 and naked, fall down in humble, earnest petitioning 
 for mercy and grace ! Awake ! O arm of the Lord, 
 as in former times, as in days of old, 'Turn us. 
 
136 THE PASTOE OF KILSYTH. 
 
 O Lord our God, and cause thy countenance to shine, 
 and so we shall be saved ! ' Dearly beloved friends, 
 when we part, after being in company together, 
 whether in the market-place or in the house of. God, 
 we cannot be sure of ever all meeting again ; but in 
 the place of graves we shall meet, it may not be 
 within this church-yard, but most certainly where all 
 is equality — master and servant, great and small, 
 parent and child, pastor and flock. Yet, there will 
 be a separation. Ah, serious thought ! there will be 
 two congregations of the departed, who shall be on 
 the right and on the left of the great Judge of all. 
 Either, * Depart, ye cursed' or, ' Gome, ye blessed of 
 my Father,' will be addressed to each one of this 
 assembly ! Oh, to be numbered with the saints in 
 glory everlasting, — to find mercy of the Lord in 
 that day 
 
 Many afterwards spoke of this season as one by 
 them never to be forgotten ; and, but for the strong 
 restraint with which the feelings of the hour were 
 repressed, it has been thought that the outward 
 manifestations of awakened life which arrested all 
 eyes in the summer following might have dated from 
 this day. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 (1839.) 
 
 '* And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that tlie heaven was black with cloads and 
 wind, and there was a great rain."— 1 Kings xviii. 45, 
 
VIIL 
 
 The following extract from a letter written by George 
 Moody, Esq.,^ writer, Paisley, son -in-law of Mr. Burns, 
 to a sister in Edinburgh, will give a distinct idea of 
 the state of matters in the pa-rish towards the close 
 of the year 1838. The writer, while a man of 
 superior intelligence and information, was one of the 
 most thorough and simple-hearted followers of Christ 
 I ever knew, and was at this time pre-eminently 
 one of those who "waited for the consolation of 
 Israel/' He was in the habit of residing during a 
 part of the summer with his family at Croy Cottage, 
 in the immediate neighbourhood of Kilsyth parish, 
 and had thus the fullest opportunity of estimating 
 the state of feeling, and of religious life there. The 
 date is 5 th September 1838: — 
 
 " There has been, and still is, a very pleasing work 
 going on at Kilsyth, but you have been misinformed 
 as to the extent of it. The accounts you have heard 
 
 Brother of the Rev. A. Moody Stuart of St. Luke's, Edinburgh. 
 
140 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 are altogether extravagant and exaggerated. But 
 blessed be God there have been a few very marked 
 and decided cases, — instances in which the hearts 
 of careless, and even profligate and apparently 
 abandoned sinners, have been subdued under the 
 power of the truth, and to all appearance savingly 
 enlightened and changed. The latest case is that of 
 a man pretty well advanced in life, and the father 
 of a grown-up family, a hearer in the parish church. 
 He had been at one time very careless, and a 
 drunkard, but within these few years became, along 
 with many others, the subject of an outward change 
 and reformation, — giving up his habit of dissipa- 
 tion, and becoming regular in his attendance at 
 church, but at the same time giving no evidence of 
 a regenerated heart. This state of things continued, 
 — the man never dreaming that any further reforma- 
 tion was needed, — until a short time ago, when, wit- 
 nessing the ordination of some elders in the church, 
 one of whom was a great deal younger than himself, 
 the thought struck him that there must be something 
 far wrong with himself, when a person so much his 
 inferior in point of years was considered fit to bear 
 rule in the church, and he himself was conscious that 
 he was not qualified for such an office. From that 
 day he became unhappy, and his uneasiness became 
 at last almost insupportable. He went to one of 
 the numerous prayer-meetings in the village, and in 
 the reading out and singing of the psalm his agony 
 
THE LITTLE CLOUD. 141 
 
 became so great that he shrieked aloud under the 
 stingings of his wounded conscience. The little com- 
 pany joined in fervent prayer on his behalf; and 
 their prayers were answered. The Spirit of grace 
 spoke peace to his troubled soul, and he was enabled, 
 feebly, indeed, but apparently in faith, to look to the 
 Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the 
 world. From that day his comfort and joy increased, 
 and he has been exhibiting all the fruits of an humble 
 and renewed soul. Mr. and Mrs. Burns, from the 
 conversations they have had with him, are both much 
 satisfied of the reality of the work of grace in his 
 heart. There are a good many instances equally, or 
 nearly as remarkable, throughout the village ; and 
 there is, besides, a pretty general concern about 
 spiritual things, increased attendance at prayer-meet- 
 ings, at preachings, &c. In all this we have much 
 cause of gratitude, and let us pray that the good 
 work may go on and prosper, and be extended 
 through the whole land." 
 
 Before these hopes and longings were fully realized, 
 the gentle and loving heart that breathed them was 
 still in death. Mr. Moody fell asleep in Jesus, after a 
 very rapid decline, on the 11th July 1839, and was 
 buried in the church -yard of the High Church, Paisley, 
 of which he was a respected office-bearer, on Thursday 
 the ] 8th July. His removal was not unconnected, at 
 least as one of the lesser links in the divine chain of 
 events, with the scenes which immediately thereafter 
 
142 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 followed. The day of the funeral was that also of 
 our parochial fast, preparatory to the dispensation of 
 the Lord's Supper, and my father, with the male mem- 
 bers of the family then within reach, had of course to 
 leave behind the solemn services of home, to take part 
 in a work still more solemn. The circumstance was 
 unusual, and communicated a deeper feeling of sacred- 
 ness and awe to the errand which had thus sum- 
 moned us away. Beside the grave there stood one 
 whom God had been already preparing in ^ secret for 
 a great work, and who required only a final touch of 
 the Master's hand to make him a polished shaft in his 
 quiver.-^ The lowering down to the dust of one so dear 
 to him, and the final closing of tlie earth over his head, 
 till the restitution of all things, seemed to impart that 
 touch, and he returned to the communion scenes at 
 Kilsyth, in which he was to take part, with impres- 
 sions and views of eternal things which communicated 
 a peculiar earnestness and power to his words. My 
 brother had been labouring for a short time in Dundee, 
 in the congregation of the late lamented Mr.M'Cheyne, 
 during his absence in the Holy Land, and had been 
 doubtless much stirred and quickened in his own 
 soul by his connection with a field which had been 
 so richly watered and blessed. He brought with 
 him, doubtless, from Dundee that hidden fire which 
 at Paisley was roused into a flame. He preached 
 
 1 The Rev. William C. Burns, M.A., now missioncary in China. 
 
THE SOUND OF RAIN. 143 
 
 first on the Saturday, in the district church of Banton, 
 with such remarkable unction and power, that his 
 uncle. Dr. Robert Burns, who was present, insisted 
 that he should take his place in the parish church at 
 the evening service of the morrow. This he did, 
 after much persuasion, and seeking of divine light, 
 discoursing to a deeply rivetted and solemnized 
 audience on Matt. xi. 28, — "Come unto me," &c. 
 From this moment he became manifestly the chief 
 instrument in that deep movement and stirring of 
 many hearts which had now fairly begun, — bravely 
 leading the assault, for which his honoured parent 
 had prepared the way by the patient siege of many 
 years. The sequel of the history will be best told 
 in the grave and simple words of the pastor himself, 
 in a report which he gave in to the Presbytery of 
 the bounds at the time, and which was, by their 
 appointment, printed and widely circulated. 
 
 After briefly narrating some of the circumstances 
 above adverted to, indicative of an approaching time 
 of blessing, he proceeds as follows : — 
 
 " Still, after all these and other symptoms of good, 
 it was not till Tuesday, the 23d July, that a decided 
 and unquestionable religious revival took place. 
 We may well say of the amazing scene we have 
 witnessed, 'When the Lord turned our captivity 
 we were as men that dreamed.' We have, as it 
 were, been awakened from a dream of a hundred 
 years ! 
 
144 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH; 
 
 "The communion had been, as usual, upon the 
 third Sabbath, and 21st day. Intimation had been 
 made upon the Saturday, that the minister would 
 wish to converse with such persons as were under 
 religious concern, inasmuch as two or three had pre- 
 viously called upon that errand. The effect was 
 that several other individuals did come to converse. 
 The Monday evening was the half-yearly general 
 meeting of our Missionary Society, when a sermon 
 was delivered by Dr. Burns of Paisley — text, Isa. 
 lii. 1 : ' Awake,' &c. It was intimated that Mr. 
 William C. Burns, who had preached several times 
 with much power during the solemnity, would 
 address the people of Kilsyth next day, if the 
 weather proved favourable, in the open air ; the 
 object being to get those to hear the word who 
 could not be brought out in the ordinary way. It 
 was known, too, that he was very shortly to leave 
 this place for Dundee, and probably soon to engage 
 in missionary labours in a distant land. The day 
 was cloudy and rainy. The crowd, however, in the 
 Market Place was great ; and on being invited to 
 repair to the church, it was soon crowded to an over- 
 flow — the stairs, passages, and porches being filled 
 with a large assemblage of all descriptions of persons, 
 in their ordinary clothes. The prayer was solemn 
 and affecting; the chapter read without any comment 
 waS Acts ii. The sermon proceeded from Ps. ex. 
 3, ' Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy 
 
THE MIGHTY RUSHING WIND. 145 
 
 power/ Throughout the whole sermon there was 
 more than usual seriousness and tenderness pervading 
 the hearers ; but it was towards the close, when 
 depicting the remarkable scene at Kirk of Shotts, on 
 the Monday after the communion there, 1630, when, 
 under the preaching of Mr. John Livingstone, a 
 native of Kilsyth, five hundred were converted, that 
 the emotions of the audience became too strong to 
 be suppressed. The eyes of most of the audience 
 were in tears ; and those who could observe the 
 countenances of the hearers expected, half an hour 
 before, the scene which followed. After reciting Mr. 
 Livingstone's text, Ezek. xxxvi., ' A new heart will 
 1 give,' &c., and when pressing upon his hearers the 
 all-important concern of salvation, while, with very 
 uncommon pathos and tenderness, he pressed im- 
 mediate acceptance of Christ, each for himself — when 
 referring to the affecting and awful state in which 
 he dreaded the thought of leaving so many of them 
 whom he now saw probably for the last time — when, 
 again and again, as he saw his words telling on the 
 audience, beseeching sinners, old and young, to em- 
 brace Christ and be saved — when he was at the 
 height of his appeal, with the words, ' No cross, no 
 crown/ — then it was that the emotions of the 
 audience were most overpoweringly expressed. A 
 scene which scarcely can be described took place. I 
 
 1 See notes of tliis sermon from the preacher's manuscript, in the Appendix. 
 K 
 
146 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH 
 
 have no doubt, from the effects which have followed, 
 and from the very numerous references to this day's 
 service as the immediate cause of their remarkable 
 change of heart and life, that the convincing and 
 converting influence of the Holy Spirit was at that 
 time most unusually and remarkably conveyed. For 
 a time the preacher s voice was quite inaudible ; a 
 psalm was sung tremulously by the precentor, and 
 by a portion of the audience, most of whom were 
 in tears.- I was called by one of the elders to 
 come to a woman who was praying in deep dis- 
 tress ; several individuals were removed to the 
 session-house, and a prayer-meeting was immedi- 
 ately commenced. Dr. Burns of Paisley spoke to 
 the people in church, in the way of caution and of 
 direction, that the genuine, deep, inward working 
 of the Spirit might go on, not encouraging animal 
 excitement. 
 
 " The church was dismissed, after I had intimated 
 that we were ready to converse with all who were 
 distressed and anxious, and that there would be a 
 meeting again in the evening for worship at six 
 o'clock. We then adjourned to the vestry and 
 session-house, which were completely filled with the 
 spiritually afflicted, and a considerable time was 
 occupied with them. Several of the distressed were 
 relieved before we parted. These were persons be- 
 lieved to be Christians, but who were not before 
 this rejoicing in hope. Others continued for days 
 
TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1839. 147 
 
 in great anxiety, and came again and again ; but 
 are now, generally speaking, in a peaceful and hope- 
 ful state, and have been conversing with a view to 
 admission to the Lord's table. 
 
 " In the evening the church was again crowded 
 to excess. Mr. Lyon, of Banton,^ lectured on the 
 parable of the prodigal son ; and Mr. William C. 
 Burns preached from Matt, xviii. 3, * Except ye be 
 converted," &c. The impression was deepened ; but 
 there was no great excitement, the aim of the 
 preacher being to forward a genuine work of the 
 Spirit. A great many came to the manse to speak 
 about their souls. Evening meetings in the church 
 were continued without intermission, and even in 
 the mornings occasionally. Our hands were full, 
 but the work was precious, and often delightful. 
 Our elders and praying men were, and still are, very 
 useful in aiding us. He who was honoured as the 
 chief instrument of the awakening was earnestly 
 sought out, and our part in it became comparatively 
 small till the work had made progress. 
 
 " On Thursday, the 25th, the day proving favour- 
 able, the meeting was called in the Market Square, 
 where an immense crowd assembled at half-past six. 
 From the top of a stair Mr. W. C. Burns addressed 
 upwards of three thousand from Ps. Ixxi. 16, ' I will 
 go in the strength of the Lord God." The emotions 
 
 ^ Now of Droughty Fevry. 
 
148 THE PASTOU OF KILSYTH. 
 
 of the audience were powerful, but for the most part 
 silent, though now and then there might be the 
 utterance of feeling, and, in countenances beyond 
 numbering, expressions of earnest and serious concern. 
 Six young girls, from fourteen to sixteen years, two 
 of them orphans, came next day bathed in tears, and 
 seeking Christ. The scene was deeply affecting. 
 This day (26th) many conversations were held by 
 Mr. W. C. Burns in the session-house ; by myself 
 and my other son (on trial for licence) in the manse. 
 Upon Sabbath^ the 28th, the church was crowded, 
 and. with the unusual appearance of not a few 
 females without bonnets^ and m^en and children in 
 week-day and working dresses. I preached from 
 Heb, iv. 16. In the afternoon we m.et at three, in 
 the church-yard, where there assembled not fewer 
 than four thousand. The sermon by Mr. W. C. 
 Burns was solid and impressive, from Rom. viii. 1. 
 He finished about five o'clock ; but after the blessing 
 was pronounced, about a third part either remained 
 or soon returned, of various ages, but especially 
 young ; which led to various questionings at first, and 
 then remarks, and appeals frequently repeated; which 
 led to great meltings of heart in many, and in a few 
 cases to considerable agitation ; so much so, that my 
 son and I continued to address the hearers in various 
 ways, and to sing and pray over and over again, the 
 people still unwilling to depart. Four of our pious 
 men, two of whom were elders, were called to pray 
 
" WATCHING DAILY AT MY GATES." 149 
 
 at intervals ; which they did in a most appropriate 
 and affecting manner. Even at half-past eight it 
 was with difficulty we got to a close, proposing to 
 have a meeting next morning at seven in the church. 
 A great many still pressed around as we left the 
 church-yard for the manse, and several remained till 
 eleven or twelve o'clock. Next morning I went to 
 the church at seven, after calling on an aged woman 
 on the way, whose cries of distress arrested me. 
 Even at that early hour there were from two to 
 three hundred met in solemn silence, joining with 
 me in prayer and praise, and listening to a short 
 exposition of Song ii. 10-14. Through the whole 
 day conversations were held in the manse, and in 
 the vestry and session-house. In the evening the 
 bell rang at half-past six. The church being before 
 that filled, and as great a number pressing forward, 
 it was found necessary to adjourn to the Market 
 Square. Mr. Somerville, of Anders ton, addressed a 
 very large assembly of most attentive hearers, from 
 John xvi. 14. At the close I was called to see 
 three or four very affecting cases of mental distress, 
 and there was still a desire to get more of the word 
 and prayer. There was an adjournment to the 
 church, where at first, as I understand (for I was 
 engaged as above stated), there was considerable 
 excitement, but which subsided into solemn and deep 
 emotion, while Mr. W. C. Burns and Mr. Somerville 
 addressed the people, and joined in prayer and praise. 
 
150 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Next day at eleven A.M. Mr. Somerville again ad- 
 dressed a full congregation in the chnrcli. 
 
 " Ever since the date to which I have brought 
 this imperfect narrative, with the exception of one 
 evening, we have had meetings every evening for 
 prayer, for the most part along with preaching of 
 the word. On the evening referred to (the 6 th 
 August) there was held a meeting in the Relief 
 Church, which was crowded by various classes, the 
 work expressly approved of by the ministers present, 
 — Mr. W. Anderson of Glasgow, and Mr. Banks of 
 Paisley. From the first the people of the Relief 
 congregation seemed interested in the work equally 
 with our own people, and there appears to this day 
 to be much of the spirit of love diffused among us. 
 The state of society is completely changed. Politics 
 are quite over with us. Religion is the only topic 
 of interest. They who passed each other before, 
 are now seen shaking hands, and conversing about 
 the all-engrossing subject. The influence is so 
 generally diffused, that a stranger going at hazard 
 into any house would find himself in the midst 
 of it. 
 
 The awakening in the newly-erected parish of 
 Banton has of late become most intensely interesting. 
 At a prayer-meeting in the school there, the whole 
 present, above one hundred men and women, not a 
 few of them hardened miners and colliers, were 
 melted. Every night since this day week there 
 
PKOGRESS. 
 
 151 
 
 have been meetings in the church of Banton, and 
 many earnest inquirers. The missionary, Mr. Lyon, 
 whose labours have been for upwards of a year 
 gi'eatly blessed, has been aided, as I have been, by 
 many excellent friends in the ministry, and the work 
 goes on there in a manner fully as surprising as here. 
 I am under obligations to my brethren for their 
 ready and efficient services. I may just mention 
 Mr. Duncan of Glasgow,^ Mr. Macnaughtan of Pais- 
 ley, Mr. Moody Stuart of Edinburgh, Mr. McDonald 
 of Urquhart, Mr. Somerville of Anderston, and Mr. 
 J amieson Willis, as having been longest with us, and 
 given valuable assistance ; with Mr. Salmon, our 
 former teacher. 
 
 "We are tried by the intrusion among us of 
 teachers who are likely to sow divisions, — some of 
 them, no doubt, much safer in doctrine than others. 
 Strangers also who come among us, from good 
 motives, are in danger of injuring our converts by 
 over-kindness, and bringing them too much into 
 notice. Enemies are waiting for occasion of triumph ; 
 and professors of religion, of a cold description, are 
 doubting and waiting a long time ere they trust that 
 any good is doing. Meantime the work proceeds 
 •most certainly; and from day to day there are 
 additions to the ' Church of such as shall be saved.' 
 The sermons preached are none of them eccentric or 
 
 * Now Professor of Oriental languages in the New College, Edinburgli. 
 
152 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 imaginative, but sound and scriptural ; and there is 
 not, as formerly, a tendency to compare the merits 
 of preachers, but a hearing in earnest, and for life 
 and death. 
 
 The waiting on of young and older people at the 
 close of each meeting, and the anxious asking of so 
 many 'what to do' — the lively singing of the praises 
 of God which every visitor remarks — the complete 
 desuetude of swearing and foolish talking in our 
 streets — the order and solemnity at all hours pervad- 
 ing — the song of praise and prayer almost in every 
 house — the cessation of the tumults of the people — 
 the consignment to the flames of volumes of in- 
 fidelity and impurity-^ — the coming together for 
 divine worship and heavenly teaching of such a mul- 
 titude of our population day after day — the large 
 catalogue of new intending communicants giving in 
 their names, and conversing in the most interesting 
 manner on the most important subjects — not a few 
 of the old, careless sinners, and other frozen for- 
 malists, awakened, and made alive to God — the con- 
 version of several poor colliers, who have come to me, 
 and given the most satisfactory account of their 
 change of mind and heart, are truly wonderful proofs 
 of a most surprising and delightful revival. 
 
 The case of D S , collier, may be men- 
 tioned as interesting. He had for some timie been 
 
 1 " w S , in presence of an elder and several witnesses, with his own hand 
 
 took down some books of this description, and put them in the fire." 
 
AFFECTING CASE. 153 
 
 thoughtful, and had given up entirely taking any- 
 intoxicating liquor, and might be characterized as 
 one of the more hopeful description. Since the pre- 
 sent awakening, he was deeply convinced of his sin 
 and misery, and for a month was deeply exercised, 
 and spending much time in secret prayer and read- 
 ing the Scriptures. On the evening of the 21st 
 August, he had a meeting with several of his pray- 
 ing companions, and spent the night in prayer, praise, 
 and converse. He appears to have obtained peace 
 during that night, and came home to his house in a 
 very happy state of mind. After taking two hours' 
 rest, he worshipped with his family, and proceeded to 
 his work. Being the foreman, it was his lot to descend 
 first into the pit, which he did with unusual alacrity 
 and with prayer. On reaching the bottom, the air in- 
 stantly exploded, and in a moment he was ushered into 
 eternity ! How soothing and cheering the thought that 
 he has escaped the everlasting burnings, and has passed 
 literally through the fire to the regions of glory ! 
 
 " But the bounds of this communication will not 
 permit of enlargement. The work I consider as on- 
 going and increasing. The limits of Satan's domains 
 here are diminishing daily. The accounts not a few 
 give of their conversion is, that they could not think 
 of being left a prey when others were making their 
 escape. There is thus a provision made for the in- 
 crease of the kingdom of Christ by a kind of laudable 
 jealousy— a pressing in ere the door be shut. 
 
154 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 " I have been engaged, and still continue to be 
 engaged, in conversing with new communicants ; and 
 never before now have I had such pleasant work in 
 listening to, and marking down, the accounts which 
 the youngest to the oldest give of the state of their 
 minds. While some, who seem to be savingly im- 
 pressed, have given a somewhat figurative account of 
 their feelings, yet, in by far the greater number of 
 instances, they give most scriptural and intelligible 
 accounts of their convictions, and of the grounds on 
 which they rest their peace. Their experiences are 
 evidently so various, as not to be in any degree 
 copies of each other. Yet they all end in building 
 upon the sure foundation, Christ in the promise, and 
 Christ formed in them. The question naturally 
 occurs, and has been put, ' Is there anything peculiar 
 in the subjects and mode of address of the sermons 
 which have been so remarkably successful ? ' I 
 answer, that upon a groundwork of solid, clear, and 
 simply-expressed views of divine truth, there was a 
 great measure of affectionate, earnest pleading, a rich 
 exhibition of the fulness and freeness of the gospel, 
 eminently calculated to convey to the hearers the 
 conviction and feeling of the sincerity of the preacher, 
 and of the rich grace of the Lord Jesus. It has also 
 been a matter of general remark, that there is an 
 unction and deep solemnity in the prayers of the 
 preacher who has been honoured to begin this work; 
 and which, perhaps, even more than the sermons, 
 
SPECIAL COMMUNION. 155 
 
 have made way to the heart. We have had much 
 precious truth presented to us by my much beloved 
 brethren ; to whom it must be gratifying to be assured, 
 that, in conversations with my people, there have been 
 references, I may say, to each of their discourses, as 
 having been profitable as well as acceptable; and 
 having been so well supported by their co-opera- 
 tion, and the Presbyterial notice taken of the subject, 
 we cherish the pleasing hope that, under the special 
 and continuing blessing of the great Head of the 
 Church, this will prove not only a genuine, but an 
 extensive and a permanent revival — the only means 
 of arresting our downward course, and effecting that 
 blessed consummation which the diffusion of merely 
 intellectual knowledge will never accomplish. 
 ♦ * * * 
 
 " About three weeks after this remarkable work 
 commenced, it was considered most desirable and 
 obligatory to have another communion season. 
 The Session met for special prayer for direction as 
 to the matter, and afterward as to the time most 
 suitable. 
 
 " The number of new communicants amounts to 
 nearly ninety-nine. A few who spoke on the subject 
 seem to have had scruples, and did not come forward. 
 With the exception of a very few, the account given 
 of their views and spiritual condition has been very 
 pleasing and satisfying. They vary in regard to age 
 from twelve to three score and ten ; a good many 
 
156 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 are from fifteen to eighteen years of age. The work 
 of examining has been of a different character from 
 that of former years, wherein ' we have seen evil! ^ 
 No doubt the systematic knowledge of not a few of 
 them is deficient, and much pains must be taken by 
 themselves and by us in this matter. I have urged 
 on the young converts especially a very careful study 
 of the Shorter Catechism, and the earnest, close, and 
 prayerful study of the Scriptures. We solicit the 
 prayers of Christian friends and ministers, that we 
 may have the great joy of seeing our children 
 ' walking in the truth,' and ' established vjith grace' 
 
 " The number of communicants would doubtless 
 have been greater had we deferred the communion for 
 a few weeks, as the Banton revival is not so far ad- 
 vanced as to have furnished a large addition. 
 
 " A great concourse of people, including not a few 
 genuine friends of the Lord Jesus, assembled to our 
 communion. It is thought that not fewer than from 
 twelve to fifteen thousand were in and about the 
 town of Kilsyth upon the Lord's day; at the tent 
 the number is estimated at about ten or twelve thou- 
 sand. The day was uncommonly favourable ; and, 
 indeed, during the whole interesting season external 
 circumstances were most propitious ; and having been 
 made the matter of special prayer, the answer should 
 be marked and remembered. 
 
 See some touching entries on this subject in Journal quoted above, chap. iii. 
 
SPECIAL COMMUNION. 157 
 
 " On the Fast-day (Thursday) public worship began 
 at the usual hour, the minister commencing with praise 
 and prayer, and reading Psalms cxxvi. and cxxx. 
 The Eev. C. J. Brown of Edinburgh preached from 
 Kom. vii. 9, ' I was alive without the law once,' &c. 
 The Kev. Dr. Malan of Geneva preached in the after- 
 noon from John xiv. 27, 'Peace I leave with you,' &c. 
 Mr. Macnaughtan of Paisley preached in the evening, 
 from Isa. xhi. 3, ' A bruised reed shall he not break,' 
 &c. He preached also at Banton, and Mr. Cunning- 
 ham of Edinburgh-^ from the words in Rom. v. 8, ^God 
 commendeth his love toward us.' Friday evening 
 the Rev. Mr. Middleton of Strathmiglo preached from 
 Jer. viii. 22, 'Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no 
 physician there ? ' Saturday, Mr. W. C. Burns 
 preached in the tent to a large assembly from Rom. 
 X. 4, ' Christ is the end of the law,' &c. In the 
 evening Mr. Somerville of Anderston preached to a 
 crowded audience from John xvi., on the work of the 
 Spirit. This was a remarkable night of prayer, 
 secret and social ; probably there was not an hour 
 or watch of the night altogether silent. The beds 
 were not much occupied; many, like the Psalmist, 
 prevented the dawning of the morning. The morn- 
 ing bell rung at nine o'clock, and worship began at 
 fully twenty minutes to ten, both in church and at 
 the tent. The action sermon was from John vi. 35, 
 
 Now Principal Cunningham, of New College, Edinburgh. 
 
158 THE PASTOE OF KILSYTH. 
 
 * I am the bread of life/ &c. Mr. Brown of Edin- 
 burgh fenced the tables. Mr. Rose of Glasgow 
 preached in the tent and fenced the tables. 
 
 " The first table, as usual, contained about one hun- 
 dred ; but to prevent confusion and undue protraction 
 of the services, arising from so unusual a number of 
 communicants, the second was composed of those 
 already seated in the body of the church ; after this 
 the third was composed of those in the usual bounds, 
 with a few seats additional; and the remainder were 
 served in the usual tables : so that the great accession 
 was not felt as any obstruction to order or comfort. 
 The ministers were at full liberty to address the com- 
 municants without the constant urgency of studied 
 brevity. There were eight services, as follows: — 
 The minister, first ; Mr. Martin of Bathgate, second ; 
 Mr. Dempster of Denny, third ; Mr. Brown, fourth ; 
 Mr. Somerville, fifth; Mr. Eose, sixth; Mr. Duncan, 
 Kirkintilloch, seventh; and Dr. Dewar, eighth. 
 
 ''Mr. Eose preached in the evening from Isa. 
 xlii. 3. All over by nine, without interval. In the 
 tent, after Mr. Eose, Mr. W. C. Burns, Mr. Middle- 
 ton, Mr. Somerville, and Dr. Dewar preached. Mr. 
 W. C. Burns preached again, by moonlight, to a great 
 assembly, from ' The mountains may depart,^ &c. 
 All was most orderly and decorous, and in many cases 
 there were symptoms of deep emotion. We have 
 heard of several well-authenticated cases of persons 
 who came with levity of mind and went away deeply 
 
A LONG HARVEST DAY. 159 
 
 impressed ; and of one or two who could not get 
 away, but remained over Monday. Besides the vast 
 crowd at the tent, Messrs. Martin, Dempster, Brown, 
 and Harper (of Bannockburn) severally addressed 
 a group of people near the church, waiting for entrance 
 to the tables.-^ After public service, a great number 
 of the godty strangers, and of our young members, 
 and of persons concerned about salvation, remained. 
 The younger ministers present continued in exhorta- 
 tion, prayer, and psalms successively, for a consider- 
 able time, in a most solemn, affectionate manner, feel- 
 ing unusual enlargement in their own spirits, with 
 much of the felt gracious presence of God. 
 
 " On Monday, at a quarter past eleven, probably 
 from two to three thousand assembled around the 
 tent.^ Dr. Dewar preached from John xvi. 8, ' He 
 (the Spirit of truth) will convince the world of sin," 
 &c. Mr. W. C. Burns preached from Ezek. xxxvi. 
 23-26, 'A new heart will I give you,' &c. The 
 hour of five struck ere all was over, and very few 
 
 1 "The communion proceeded in the ordinary way in the Relief Church, with tlie 
 assistance of Mr. Frew from St. Ninian's." 
 
 2 " Many ministers were present that day. Besides those already mentioned we 
 noticed Mr. Laurie of Gargunnock ; Mr. Leitch, Stirling; Mr. Hetherington of Tor- 
 phichen; Mr. Cochran, Cumbernauld; Mr. J. Willis; Mr. Bonar, and Mr. Morison of 
 Larbert; and Mr. Jaffray, Paisley. Mr. Lee of Campsie was present upon Saturday; 
 and on the Sabbath, Mr. Forman of Kirkintilloch and Mr. Cochran. Many excellent 
 elders also were present assisting us, as Mr. R. Brown, Fairlie ; Dr. Russell, Edin- 
 burgh ; Mr. R. Moody ; Mr. H. Knox ; Mr. John Robertson ; Mr. Hay Burns ; Mr. 
 Penney, Glasgow; Mr. Simpson, Port-Glasgow; Mr. M'Donald, Cochno; Bailie 
 Shaw, Rutherglen; Bailie M'Kenzie, Inverness; Captain Hay, Fairlie; Mr. 
 M'Allester, Paisley; Captain Haldane; and Allan Buchanan, Glasgow." 
 
160 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 withdrew previously. The sensation was deep and 
 solemn. In the evening Mr. Brown preached in the 
 church, from 'What do ye more than others?' 
 Similar exercises were engaged in also on the Mon- 
 day night as on Sabbath night ; which the ungodly 
 jeer at, the formal wonder at and censure, and which 
 many good Christians would at first pronounce rather 
 carrying it too far. But the fact is, that this is a 
 spring-tide, a very uncommon season, in which a rigid 
 adherence to the rules of ordinary times must not be 
 applied. We have been drawing up a large draught, 
 and the nets cannot be kept and laid by so orderly 
 and silently as usual. 
 
 *'This precious season of communion is now over 
 and gone, but the remembrance is sweet. Having 
 been preceded, accompanied, and followed by a very 
 unusual copiousness of prayer, the showers in answer 
 have been very copious and refreshing. We are 
 daily hearing of good done to strangers, who came 
 Zaccheus-like to see what it was, who have been 
 pierced in heart and have gone away new men. Our 
 own people of Christian spirit have been greatly 
 enlivened and strengthened, and some very hopeful 
 cases of apparently real beginnings of new life have 
 been brought to our knowledge. I feel grateful to 
 the God of grace and God of order in the churches, 
 that there has been such a concurrence of what is 
 true, venerable^ pure, just, lovely, and of good report, 
 and that little indeed has escaped from any of us 
 
RESULTS. 161 
 
 which can justly cause regret. We are anxious (we 
 trust we have a good conscience) that nothing should 
 be done against, but everything for the truth, that 
 God in all things may be glorified through Jesus 
 Christ. The solemn appearance of the communion 
 tables, and the dehghtful manner in which they were 
 exhorted — the presence of not a few unusually young 
 disciples at the tables — the seriousness of aspect in 
 all, and the softening and melting look of others, 
 made upon every rightty disposed witness a very 
 delightful impression. May the Lord give abundant 
 increase. 
 
 " For ninety years, doubtless, there has not been in 
 this parish such a season of prayer and holy com- 
 munings and conferences — nor at any period such a 
 number of precious sermons delivered. The spiritual 
 awakenings and the genuine conversions at this time 
 are not few, and it is hoped will come forth to 
 victory ; but the annals of eternity only will divulge 
 the whole! The enemy , the devil, has been also 
 among us, and is doubtless busy now — more so than 
 at the time of this dispensation. We are not 
 ignorant of his devices. 
 
 "Yet, upon the whole, there is much cause indeed to 
 give God the glory for what he has wrought. That 
 he hath been the chief worker is most undoubted ; 
 for ' the Son of God was manifested to destroy the 
 works of the devil,' and his works have been much 
 damaged and brought down among us. The public- 
 
 L 
 
162 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 houses, the coalpits,^ the harvest reaping fields, the 
 weaving loom-steads, the recesses of our glens, and 
 the sequestered haughs around, all may be called to 
 witness, that there is a mighty change in this place 
 for the better. 
 
 " The wicked scoJff — nay, some we hear around us, 
 or passing by, have brought upon themselves the 
 great guilt of speaking evil of this work. We pray 
 for them. ' They know not what they doT Some 
 decent professors and moral people are opposed to 
 this whole work, and say, ' If it continue it may do 
 good ; ' but they do nothing to make it continue, and 
 others throw cold water upon it. It is strange, that 
 when sermons seem to make no impression, these 
 persons should feel no anxiety about the permanency 
 of the good expected ; but when there is really 
 appearance of good impressions, their doubt should 
 be expressed about the duration of the good promised. 
 ShaU we be satisfied that we preach, and are heard, 
 and no one showing any concern, but just sitting, 
 and, it may be, sleeping out the hours, and returning 
 home as they came? Surely, surely, even a degree, 
 yea, a great deal of enthusiasm, is better than death- 
 like insensibility. 
 
 " Such godly fear has come upon the people, that 
 
 1 "A coal master here bears witness, that the colliers, who were formerly drank 
 ten days in the month, are now sober, and that instead of swearing, they ha\ e 
 prayer-meetings below ground, and are orderly. And why should colliers not be 
 numbered among saints, and bo kings and priests to God ? Pious colliers and 
 minors, wliat a treasure I " 
 
LESSONS. 1G3 
 
 scarcely a single instance of intoxication, or any 
 approach to it, has been observed in the whole mul- 
 titude assembled, whereas formerly the prevalence of 
 this and the quarrels it engendered, brought dishonour 
 on tent-preaching, and in fact extinguished it. 
 
 " Special instances of good done are naturally called 
 for. Many memorable cases can be produced. Selec- 
 tion is difficult. A woman from Airdrie was ob- 
 served by a few around her to be much impressed 
 while Mr. W. C. Burns preached. She at length left 
 the field and retired for prayer. After a little she 
 was followed by some praying people, who conversed 
 with her. She seems to have undergone a complete 
 change, and went away in a composed frame. A 
 young gentleman from Glasgow, with whom I and 
 Mr. Brown conversed, who had come with some in- 
 definite notion of good or of being pleased, went 
 home a new man in Christ Jesus. 
 
 " I add a very few words in the way of inference. 
 
 " Isty Prayer united, as well as secret, for the be- 
 stowal of the Spirit's influence, is most important, 
 and will sooner or later be heard. 
 
 " 2d, Extra means should be used to bring those 
 without the pale of any church to hear the gospel. 
 The preaching of the former summer in the church- 
 yard once and again, and the late frequent addresses 
 in the market and field, have most certainly brought 
 the word near to many who might have remained to 
 their dying day without hearing it. Assuredly these 
 
164 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 means must be used, otherwise our newly provided 
 churches will remain unoccupied, and in a great 
 degree useless. 
 
 "8c?, There is a close connection betwixt missionary 
 work and revivals. Our newly organized missionary 
 society, in January this year, has been marked by 
 several people as an era. No Church can be in a 
 lively state when nothing is done for the heathen. 
 
 " 4<tk, The social nature of man is an important 
 element in his constitution, and exerts a powerful 
 influence on the state of the Church and of the world. 
 There are those who view the weavers' shops as ob- 
 jects of unmingled aversion, as hotbeds of anarchy; 
 but when a good influence is made to bear upon the 
 minds of the operatives, the facilities for good are 
 proportional to those for evil — the reviving interest 
 spreads much quicker than in a rural district. Let 
 every minister of the gospel, and every Christian 
 patriot keep this steadily in view^ and ply the work- 
 shops with every good and generous influence. 
 Never let us cease, in good times and bad, to essay 
 to do good, in the morning sowing seed, and in the 
 evening withholding not our hand ; thus are we to 
 sow beside all waters. God give the increase ! 
 
 The movement thus begun quickly spread during 
 the months that followed to other places at a greater 
 or a less distance from the sphere of its first mani- 
 festation. At Dundee, at Perth, at Aberdeen, in the 
 glens and straths of Aberfeldy and Blair- Athol, and 
 
SPREAD OF THE MOVEMENT. 165 
 
 far away in the Highlands of Eoss-shire, the scenes 
 of Kilsyth were, with slightly varying circumstances, 
 renewed, and many souls were quickened from the 
 dead, and many more baptized with new life and 
 power from on high. In other places where no such 
 remarkable outward manifestations occurred, the 
 breathings of the same Spirit were in gentler and 
 more silent, but not less real influence experienced. 
 Many a pastoral vineyard in which faith and prayer 
 had toiled for years in vain, were during those 
 blessed months bathed in soft, refreshing dew. In- 
 dividual souls, too, who from far distances and from 
 many different parishes, had found their way to 
 some of the great centres of the work, especially at 
 communion times, carried with them on their return 
 to their respective homes the sacred .impressions 
 they had received ; while many ministers who had 
 either taken part in the services, or were present 
 as worshippers and witnesses, returned to their own 
 flocks to preach the old words of life with new 
 unction and power. Thus from the bosom of those 
 great fires which the divine Spirit had kindled here 
 and there over the land, were thousands of burning 
 sparks cast forth on every side around, and many a 
 live coal earned away to kindle other fires elsewhere.-^ 
 
 1 Of this wider' influence, the following extract from a letter addressed to the 
 author by a devoted, and eminenlly judicious minister in the neighbourhood of 
 Glasgow (Mr. Munro of Rutherglen). may serve as an illustration. Testimonies of 
 the same kind might be multiplied indefinitely : — 
 
 "I regret to say -my recollection of the influence of the wonderful work of God at 
 
166 THE PASTOK OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Even the mere rumour and spreading fame of those 
 stately marchings of the King of Zion were not 
 without its important influence on the Church at 
 large. The minds of men were powerfully drawn to 
 the subject of the Spirit's work, and familiarized, at 
 least, with the idea of far greater things to be done 
 by His presence and power than had been known or 
 dreamt of in their day. The whole tone of feeling 
 and conviction throughout the Christian community 
 in regard to such matters was heightened, and hopes 
 and longings kindled in thousands of hearts for a 
 glorious coming development of the kingdom of God, 
 which are now at last finding their fulfilment. 
 Certain it is, that from the hour that these remark- 
 
 Kilsyth in '39 begins to grow dusky. I know, however, that a very considerable 
 number of my people visited the place, where the * Lord appeared so signally in his 
 glory building up Zion, —and some of these repeatedly, as I had the blessed privi- 
 lege of doing myself. Moreover, I distinctly remember that a very unusual solem- 
 nity and spiritual concern manifested themselves, and for a period of many weeks, 
 more or less generally over my congregation, in connection with personal visits 
 made to Kilsyth, and the loud-voiced rehearsal of the Lord's glorious doings there. 
 Further, and finally, I have good reason to believe that several individuals were at 
 Kilsyth translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God, — of whom 
 one is now in glory, one in America, and one still with me— reduced, alas I by 
 epilepsy to the borders of idocy,— a deeply interesting case, for the worthy creature 
 has long and deservedly borne the soubriquet of the Poor Man's Minister; and a greater 
 number, I am persuaded, were most sensibly quickened and revived, of whom one 
 is with the Lord. He was a native of Kilsyth, but had long been settled here as a 
 physician. I think he must have seen three score years and ten, when he visited 
 his birthplace, and returned rejoicing in God as he certainly had never done before, 
 and that joy remained until, as I believe, it became full in the land of uprightness. 
 
 Another of those last specified is a most exemplary elder of Free St. -'s, where 
 
 he has been severely tried by remarkable worldly prosperity. He was in '39 a poor, 
 infirm young man, and now lie is both able and willing of his substance, as well as 
 otherwise, to help the Lord against the mighty. And there is an eminently godly 
 man of frail health, but burning zeal in the cause of Christ." 
 
CONNECTION WITH PRESENT SCENES. 167 
 
 able scenes at Kilsyth and Dundee became generally- 
 known tbrougbout the land, the idea of revival as 
 the great necessity of the Church and of the age, — 
 till then but a dim tradition of bygone days, — took 
 strong possession of the minds of Christian men, 
 and has never since lost its hold. From that hour 
 it ceased to seem to them a thing incredible that 
 God should raise the dead ; nor have there ever 
 since been wanting among them select souls who 
 have watched and waited before the tomb of a dead 
 Church and of a dead world, in the sure and certain 
 hope of a mighty shaking and a glorious resurrection 
 ere long. 
 
 Thus, even in the order of cause and effect, the 
 events of 1839 and those of the present hour are 
 not unconnected. The earlier season of blessing 
 was not only the precursor, but in a sense also the 
 preparation for, and the pioneer of, the other. The 
 one stirred up the hopes and awoke the suppliant 
 longings which the other is fulfilling. Who can tell, 
 for instance, to what an extent the vast circulation 
 of such books as the Memoir and Remains of the 
 saintly M'Cheyne, with its brief but stirring notices 
 of the revival scenes amid which he lived and moved, 
 may have, through the divine blessing, contributed 
 both to prepare the soil and scatter wide the seed 
 for the great harvest we now behold? In itself, 
 however, the former movement was comparatively 
 local and partial. It was confined, at least in its 
 
168 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 marked and conspicuous manifestations, to a few 
 favoured spots, and followed chiefly in the track of 
 a few peculiarly gifted and powerfully awakening 
 evangelists. It was but a passing, though precious 
 vernal shower, in prelude and earnest of those more 
 plenteous rains and floods upon the dry ground that 
 were ere long to come. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 0839-1859.) 
 
 " Tlie kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered 
 of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and gathered the 
 good into vessels, hut cast the bad away." — Matt. xiii. 47, 48. 
 
IX. 
 
 More than twenty years have now elapsed since 
 those solemn scenes, which have been described, 
 transpired. There has thus been ample time for 
 fully testing the reality and the permanency of the 
 work then accomplished. What has been the result 
 of that trial? What stamp has Time, the judge of 
 final appeal in all such questions, set upon a move- 
 ment then so generally welcomed and hailed by the 
 godly, but so variously judged by the outer world ? 
 The question is one which, in any case relevant and 
 interesting, has acquired a largely enhanced import- 
 ance from the events of recent years. When scenes 
 like those at Kilsyth are renewed on so many fields 
 and over so wide an extent of the Christian Church, 
 when a long, broad wave of spiritual influence and 
 impression, compared with which the movement of 
 1839 was but a partial and local swell of the tide, 
 seems rolling round the world, it becomes a matter of 
 the utmost urgency to determine what was, in point of 
 fact, the full and final issue of the former w^ork — the 
 result of the problem as it now stands, as matter of 
 
172 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 history worked out and complete? To this question 
 I have heard many answers — some of them suffi- 
 ciently decisive and sweeping, by those living far from 
 the spot, and enjoying but scanty means for forming a 
 calm and deliberate judgment. Some one living near 
 the place and occasionally ^dsiting it, has, with little 
 or no inquiry, passed a disparaging judgment; and 
 others, at a greater distance, have repeated and pro- 
 claimed it as if a final settlement of the whole ques- 
 tion. The whole thing," it is said, " has passed 
 away.'' " Like a baseless vision it has vanished, 
 leaving not a rack behind.'' A mere fit of passing 
 excitement, resulting in a re-action of deeper careless- 
 ness than ever." I know the place very well, and 
 have visited it often, and can testify that it is, as it 
 always was, one of the most wicked and unruly 
 towns of the west country." To these allegation?^ 
 which I regret to find have become pretty extensively 
 disseminated over the country, a few sentences may 
 be offered by way of reply. I may state at the out- 
 set, that the above most certainly was not the im- 
 pression of the subject of this memoir, than whom 
 surely none were better entitled and qualified to pro- 
 nounce an authoritative judgment. Having lived 
 and moved in the very midst of the work from first 
 to last, and watched its course and results most 
 narrowly day by day for nearly twenty years, had it 
 indeed proved the entire failure which some have 
 represented, and evaporated in mere smoke, he must 
 
THE TEST OF TIME. 173 
 
 have known it, and mourned therein the wreck of all 
 his most ardent hopes and prayers. It was not so. 
 The fact is, that he lived and died in the full and 
 unclouded conviction that the movement of 1889, or 
 rather, the movement which reached its crisis and 
 culminating point in 1839, was a genuine and most 
 blessed work of the Spirit of God, and had been 
 proved so, not more by its first promise and blossom, 
 than by its after and enduring results. To have 
 given forth this testimony at large in a permanent 
 form to the world, was to the last one of the most 
 cherished desires of his life ; and for this purpose he 
 had made extensive, though unfortunately incomplete, 
 preparations some years before his death. That 
 desire can never now be realized ; but I feel that I 
 am only reporting his dying testimony, and executing 
 as far as is now possible his last legacy to the Church, 
 by thus expressing in brief what in the copious 
 memoranda and corroborative documents before me 
 lies recorded at length. That amid so many hundred 
 souls that were at first touched with divine impres- 
 sions, many went back and walked no more with 
 Christ ; that some enlisted apparently under the 
 banner of the cross, and yet gave back in the day of 
 battle ; that tares sprang up among the wheat ; that 
 the crowded and laden net gathered of every kind, 
 both bad and good, is of course true, and, however 
 sad, is surely not strange ; but it is equally true that 
 many then awakened to newness of life, or baptized 
 
 \ 
 
174 THE PASTOE OF KILSYTH. 
 
 afresh with the Spirit of grace, have continued stead- 
 fast in their holy profession, and have either already 
 finished their course with joy, or remain to adorn the 
 doctrine of God their Saviour in the world. The 
 fire that was then, as we believe, brought down from 
 above, still burns on the altar of many hearts, and 
 will, we doubt not, burn on to the end. 
 
 That Kilsyth still is — now as before — a very 
 wicked place, or, at least, in this respect very like 
 other villages of the same size and character, is, I 
 daresay, quite true. When was it that Christianity 
 or the Christian Church ever by its influence per- 
 manently pervaded, and regenerated, and transformed 
 the world? It is not in the world, but in the people 
 whom it gathers out of the world that its vivifying 
 and new-creating power is fully seen. It is now as 
 it has ever been, when the True Light has shone in 
 a fresh epiphany on the world. " He was in the 
 world, but the world knew him not ; he came 
 unto his own, and his own received him not ; but as 
 many as received him, to them he gave power to 
 become the sons of God, even to them that believe 
 on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the 
 will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.'' 
 That there have been in that parish many happy souls 
 thus spirit-born, and who have manifested this their 
 lieavenly birth by shining, like their Master, as 
 lights in the darkness, is simply matter of fixct, and 
 surely more than this was not to be expected. 
 
THE TEST OF TIME. 175 
 
 The time, no doubt, is coming when not only shall 
 the Church be revived and enlarged, but the world 
 renewed, — when the handful of leaven shall not only 
 ferment and work its way within, but pervade the 
 whole lump — -but not now. I suppose the visible 
 effects produced by Christianity in the days of its 
 first triumphs on the general tone of society in the 
 great centres of its influence was not great. We 
 have no reason to believe that in such communities 
 as Ephesus, and Corinth, and Kome, the whole face 
 of things palpable to an observer's eye was ^jpanged, 
 — that those cities of the world were visibty trans- 
 formed into cities of God. I suspect an intelligent 
 and shrewd observer might have passed through 
 Corinth, and even lived in it for weeks, during the 
 very time of St. Paul's ministry there, and yet never 
 have seen, or heard, or suspected that anything ex- 
 traordinary had taken place, or was going on there. 
 He would find the streets, doubtless, as gay as 
 ever, — society in all its relations as foully corrupt, — 
 the tone of public sentiment and feeling as frivo- 
 lous and godless. I wonder if some twenty years 
 after St. Paul's coming there, " to Corinthiize '' had 
 ceased to be the expressive title for the life of those 
 who to the fullest measure fulfilled the desires of the 
 flesh and of the mind? There is at least no trace of 
 any such transformation in any records of that time 
 that have come down to us. On the contrary, the 
 whole Roman world, and the entire frame of society 
 
176 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 then existing, went on, as all history testifies, cor- 
 rupting, and inwardly rotting more and more, until 
 in the end it was, not regenerated and renewed, but 
 swept away and buried out of sight. The Church 
 was not so much the restorer of the old society as 
 itself a new and nobler society rising out of the 
 ruins of the old, — the ark that rose aloft above the 
 universal wreck, and bore in its bosom the germs of 
 another and better order of things. That besides 
 this, and even at the time, it exercised, by its very 
 presence, a certain salutary influence on the relations 
 of socml life beyond the circle of its own immediate 
 pale, we need not doubt ; but that influence at the 
 best was slight and partial, and was of no avail 
 whatever to arrest the tide of general corruption and 
 licentiousness which had long before set in, and was 
 now rushing on to its highest flood. And such, 
 more or less, is its history in every nation and every 
 community to which it comes. It is the salt of the 
 earth, conserving and purifying so far, but only so 
 far, as its influence spreads, — the light of the world, 
 shining in, but not necessarily dissipating, the dark- 
 ness. In the instance now in question, indeed, it 
 might have seemed at the time to a sanguine 
 observer as if it were to be more. At the flrst out- 
 break of holy impression, it seemed as if the influence 
 were universal. The hearts of thousands were sim- 
 ultaneously stirred with spiritual concern, and a 
 solemn awe and fear pervaded the community. 
 
THE REFLUENT TIDE. 177 
 
 There were inquirers, more or less anxious, in evpry 
 street,- — almost, as it seemed, in every second house. 
 Iniquity, as ashamed, hid its face ; sinners in Zion 
 became afraid, and the one thing needful became on 
 all hands the one absorbing subject of thought and 
 converse. Loom-shops were turned into places of 
 prayer, and factories into preaching stations. The 
 church was thronged night after night for months 
 together with eager and earnest worslnppers, while 
 prayer-meetings, like water runnels swollen by winter 
 rains, teemed and overflowed on every side. ^This, of 
 course, did not last. Surface impressions died away ; • 
 convictions that had not issued in conversion were 
 quickly quenched; the sudden panic passed; and scared 
 but untouched hearts began to recover their self-posses- 
 sion, and breathe freely again. The host of the enemy 
 had been for the moment utterly broken and scattered, 
 as if in total rout ; but by-and-by they began to rally 
 and close their lines anew. The great blaze of holy 
 fire that had all at once burst forth, died gradually 
 down, and only those coals that had been thoroughly 
 ignited continued to burn on. But these did burn on; 
 many of them, as I have already said, until this hour.^ 
 
 * These remarks, made in the first instance in regard to Kilsyth, apply equally 
 to the other scenes of the revival movement referred to at the close of the last 
 chapter. Thus I learn from the Rev. John Milne of St. Leonard's, Perth, ^vith whose 
 congregation the awakening in that city was chiefly connected, that not only did a 
 very large proportion of the original subjects of the revival continue steadfast, and 
 hold on in the ever-briglitening path of the just, but that new cases of decided con- 
 version appeared from time to time for years afterwards, the first germs of which 
 were distinctly traceable to the awakening shock of these solemn days. 
 
178 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Other circumstances, too, contribute, in course of 
 time, to efface the more patent traces of such a 
 movement as this. The composition of the com- 
 munity itself is perpetually changing. The death or 
 removal to other places of old residenters, and the 
 influx of strangers, — whether gradually, or, as it 
 happened in the case of Kilsyth, in a sudden inun- 
 dation,^ — soon imparts an entirely new complexion 
 to society, so that, though it is still the same place, 
 it is no longer the same people. The old race passes 
 away, a^nd a new generation, bred under other influ- 
 ences, and blended with other elements, rises up in 
 their place. Thus the congregation and village 
 community of to-day is at best the descendant only, 
 rather than the continuation and actual representative 
 of the revived Church and parish of twenty years ago. 
 A solitary door here and there in each street, a solitary 
 name here and there in the communion roll, represent 
 all that now remain of that old people on whom two- 
 thirds of a generation have already done their work, 
 and which is now mainly a harvest reaped down and 
 gathered in. Yet even still enough remains on the 
 spot to convince the devout and candid inquirer that 
 it is indeed a field which the Lord hath blessed, — that 
 the work there done by his right hand was indeed 
 honourable and glorious, and well worthy of being 
 sought out by all those that have pleasure therein. 
 
 1 Consisting of a large colony of navvies in connection with the Edinburgh und 
 Glasgow Railway works. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 a843-1859.) 
 
 §mxni^txm ^im^s nn)j €lamnQ Sams. 
 
 •* If any man will come after me, let him deny, himself, and take up his cross, and 
 follow me." — Matt. xvi. 24. 
 
X. 
 
 The times of refreshing we have just described were 
 speedily followed by times of trial. The baptism of 
 grace was the preparation for a baptism of tempta- 
 tion and of suffering. Thus, within three years of 
 the period of which we have been speaking, we find 
 the venerable subject of these lines appending his 
 name, with the other fathers of the Church, to the 
 invitation which called together the Convocation of 
 1842; and in the year following he sat as a member 
 in the memorable Disruption Assembly, and formed 
 one of the hoary band which gave a kind of pictur- 
 esque dignity and pathos to the solemn procession 
 from St. Andrew's Church to Canonmills. Thus he 
 had by his life, as it were, bridged over the great 
 gulf between the zero Assembly of 1796, and the 
 culminating Assembly of 1843, — witnessing the one 
 as a student and spectator, and taking part in the 
 great work of the other as an honoured confessor 
 and martyr. His views on the great questions then 
 at stake were moderate, but decided, — strong, but 
 
182 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH, 
 
 not extreme. While with many others of his 
 revered fathers and brethren he would have been 
 prepared cheerfully to acquiesce in the veto, or the 
 Duke of Argyle's bill as a practical settlement of the 
 non-intrusion question for many j^ears to come, on 
 the vital issue of the Church's spiritual independence 
 and her sole responsibility in matters sacred to her 
 divine Head and King, he was resolute and immov- 
 able. So when the moment of trial came, his 
 decision was instant and unhesitating. Without a 
 murmur he laid his earthly all at the feet of that 
 Master whose cause, as he believed, demanded the 
 sacrifice, and signed the irrevocable deed of renuncia- 
 tion with firm and unshaking hand. 
 
 But it was not without a struggle that he could 
 tear himself away from those altars at which he had 
 ministered for more than forty years, and turn his 
 back for ever on the sanctuary he had loved so well, 
 and with which all the holiest joys and sorrows of 
 his life had been bound up. Trying scenes were yet 
 before him ere the formal deed of the hand could 
 become a realized and consummated fact in the life. 
 He must not only lay his sacrifice on the altar, but 
 with his own hand he must slay it, and offer it up 
 before the Lord. After all, it was not at Canonmills, 
 amid that enthusiastic and applauding assembly, but 
 at the closed manse door and the church-yard stile, 
 that the true sacrifice of faith and patience was 
 made, — there that those brave hearts that had for- 
 
" LEAVING THE MANSE A TOUCHING INCIDENT. 183 
 
 saken all for Christ received their sharpest and 
 deepest wound. How many a parochial and do- 
 mestic tragedy of deepest pathos was, during those 
 few succeeding days, enacted far away among the 
 valleys and hills, that will never iSnd a record on 
 earth, but which, if recorded, would form a history 
 more thrilling far than that even of solemn convoca- 
 tions and enthusiastic assemblies, ''the day" alone 
 will declare. It was the disruption only of the 
 ecclesiastical constitution that took place at Edin- 
 burgh ; the disruption of the Church, — of the real, 
 living body, member from member, nerve from 
 nerve, — the rending asunder of the living heart- 
 strings took place elsewhere. The following simple 
 incidents may be taken as a specimen of the kind of 
 scenes which make up the annals of that unwritten 
 history. During my father's absence at Edinburgh, 
 the removal of the family from the manse to another 
 and humbler dwelling in the village had been already 
 accomplished ; but having left town rather sooner 
 than was expected, he returned home in ignorance 
 of the fact. Landing in the dusk of evening by the 
 canal boat, the instinct of old habit carried him to 
 the door of the now deserted mansion. He knocked 
 once — twice — thrice, waking the hollow echoes 
 louder and louder. At last the close-barred shutters, 
 and the silent and deserted look of the place flashed 
 upon his mind the real state of the case, and he 
 awoke up as from a dream. Turning away, his eye 
 
184 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 caught the dim forms of two men standing at a little 
 distance in intent, and apparently interested observa- 
 tion. They were two of his attached parishioners, 
 who, seeing him turn in this way, and comprehending 
 at once the whole state of the case, had followed 
 their pastor's steps, and had stood watching the 
 scene with deep emotion. They grasped his hand in 
 fervent sympathy and congratulation. Thus he 
 turned his back for ever on the endeared home of so 
 many happy j^ears. The Sabbath following he held 
 the service in the church-yard. There was no wor- 
 ship in the parish church, so that his old congrega- 
 tion still assembled round him undivided. He 
 addressed them on the solemn and appropriate 
 words, ^^The time is come that judgment must begin 
 at the house of God ; and if it first begin at us, 
 what shall the end be of them that obey not the 
 gospel of God?'^ The Sabbath following was looked 
 forward to with still deeper anxiety. It had been 
 rumoured during the week that the parish church 
 would on that day be re-opened, without fail, for 
 divine service, and the disruption of the congregation 
 accordingly was inevitable. My father spoke little 
 about this, but evidently thought and felt much. It 
 had been arranged that moi-ning service should be 
 held at an early hour in the Relief Church, the use 
 of which had been kindly offered by the minister 
 and congregation, and that thereafter another meet- 
 ing should be held, should the weather prove favour- 
 
THE SHARPNESS OF THE CEOSS. 185 
 
 able, in the open air at the usual hour of worship. 
 The first service was over, and the minister had 
 gone with some members of his family to the house 
 of a respected elder close by, to perform a baptism. 
 While the solemn rite was proceeding, the well- 
 known tones of the parish church bell were heard 
 tolling for divine service. The quick eye of one 
 who had been his companion for well nigh forty 
 years was instinctively turned to the pastor's face, 
 and marked it first suddenly flush, then turn deadly 
 pale. The service went on and closed ; nothing was 
 said of what was still on the mind and heart of all ; 
 and the minister, taking hold of the venerable elder's 
 arm, and leaning on it heavily, proceeded in silence 
 to the place of meeting. A great concourse was 
 gathered on a beautiful grassy slope close beneath 
 the parish church, and bounded on its lower verge 
 by a little pebbly stream. The rumoured service in 
 the church had proved a false alarm, and the few 
 that had assembled there, after waiting a short time, 
 slowly dispersed, or dropped in one by one into the 
 larger assemblj^ below. So his old parish flock met 
 yet again around him unbroken. There was a pause 
 of death-li e silence as the congregation, now 
 assembled and seated, waited the arrival of their 
 aged pastor, for whom, in this the hour of his sorest 
 trial, many hearts were lifted up in prayer. He 
 appeared at last from a neighbouring cottage, pre- 
 ceded by the Bible and Psalm-book, advancing witli 
 
186 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 his grey, uncovered head to the place prepared for 
 him. The people, as I have often heard since, scarce 
 venturing to look up, were rather conscious of his 
 presence than actually cognizant of it, and a deep, 
 suppressed groan passed like a chill shudder through 
 the assembly. Many said afterwards that they 
 could not dare to look up to his face till the opening 
 psalm and first prayer were over. But his own soul, 
 after the first struggle, was buoyant and strong, and 
 he preached with more than usual unction and com- 
 fort on those grand words, Thanks be unto God, 
 who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, making 
 manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every 
 place. The morning had been at first cloudy and 
 uncertain, but as the day advanced the sun shone 
 out in glory, and the evening closed in beauty and 
 in peace. It was a cheering omen for the future. 
 Sabbath after Sabbath, for months together, did that 
 congregation, and hundreds of others over the length 
 and breadth of Scotland, in quiet valleys, on bleak 
 hill sides, and on naked shores, meet for worship 
 under the open canopy of heaven ; and it has been 
 often remarked, that during all that time there was 
 scarcely one rainy, or even showery Sabbath. Thus 
 did their gracious Lord, whom they owned and 
 worshipped as Head over all things for his Church, 
 order even those lesser things for their good, " staying 
 his rough wind in the day of his east wind.'' By- 
 and-by things settled down into their ordinary 
 
CALM AFTER THE STOEM. 187 
 
 course. The exalted excitement of tliat great epoch 
 gave place to the more flat and calm routine of 
 common life. A new church and manse, reared by 
 the hands of a willing people, rose up in the room 
 of those he had left behind, and his old flock, but 
 little thinned by the fiery ordeal they had passed 
 through, rallied strongly round him. Pastoral work 
 was resumed, old plans of usefulness renewed with 
 the freshness of feeling and the new impulse which 
 change of circumstance inspired. At home, in the 
 bosom of his flock, and in the work he loved, he 
 cast sometimes a pensive, but never a lingering 
 look to the goodly heritage he had left behind. 
 The step he had taken, with all its sharpness of 
 suffering and sorrow, he had taken deliberately, and 
 without the shadow of a doubt as to the path of 
 duty, and he never regretted it. His last manse, he 
 used often to say cheerfully, was, after all, thanks to 
 the generous toils of his friend Dr. Guthrie, the best 
 and most commodious he had ever tenanted. The 
 most bitter drop in the cup, doubtless, must have 
 been the sight day by day of his own successor in 
 that office and station which he had never thought 
 to quit but with life ; but soon that, too, became 
 familiar to him, and imparted only to his spirit a 
 touch of chastened sadness, in which there was not 
 the least tinge of bitterness. The chief change per- 
 ceptible in the daily course of his thoughts and 
 feelings was, that they were more congregational and 
 
188 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 less parochial. In former days he had identified 
 himself almost with the very soil of his allotted 
 vineyard, and every hill and dale within its measured 
 bounds had been dear to him. V/ell do I remember, 
 often when on our homeward route from some 
 distant expedition, we crossed the narrow brook 
 that formed the boundary line of our own parish, 
 how his spirits would rise, and he would remark 
 with a blithe smile again and again, what a "bonny" 
 parish it was ; nor would he ever on such occasions 
 admit its inferiority to any scenes of beauty we had 
 seen in our way. Now it was not so much the parish, 
 as the flock in which he garnered up his heart. Years 
 flowed on. The infirmities of age were stealing upon 
 him, but seemed for long to touch him very gently. 
 His eye remained undimmed, and natural strength 
 unabated, while he gradually passed from green to ripe 
 old age, and the reverend father became the hoary 
 patriarch of the parish and the country side. Even 
 when the heavier hand of time visibly impaired his 
 physical powers, his heart was still young, and his mind 
 clear as ever. The old habits of reading and study 
 were pursued sedulously, and he had a fresh eye and 
 heart for all that was going on in the Church and in 
 the world around him. So he held on his way, 
 growing stronger and younger, as it seemed, in spirit, 
 as his bodily life gently ebbed away, pursuing, as 
 ever, his quiet, accustomed round of pastoral diligence 
 and activity, and still in his old ejaculatory way of 
 
CARDIPHONIA. 189 
 
 musing soliloquy, singing like a happy husbandman 
 at his work, and casting the frequent upward glance 
 to i3m great Master : — " Shine forth from between 
 the cnerubims." 0 send out thy light and thy 
 truth/' Walked on Sir A. Edmonstone's new 
 private road musing on subjects of discourse. Heard 
 a bell ring at the quarry. Thought with myself, 
 what does this mean ? It is a signal to drop work, 
 being Saturday. One of the workmen said to me, 
 You had better move, as there is to be an explosion 
 of gunpowder. I was not tardy in making away. 
 Thus a warning may be disregarded through igno- 
 rance and want of thought. I might have under- 
 stood the signal, but did not, — was dreaming and 
 loitering, but a friendly voice roused me. How 
 many, alas ! thus linger and delay, though danger is 
 near, and though often loudly warned ! Education 
 begins not with the alphabet. It begins with a 
 mother's look and a father's nod of approbation, 
 or sigh of reproof, — with a sister's gentle pressure 
 of the hand, or a brother's noble act of kindness. 
 We have it in the flowers, and in the green-daisied 
 meadows; the birds' nests admired, but not touched; 
 in pleasant walks, in kindly salutations, in acts of 
 benevolence, in deeds of virtue, in the source of all 
 good, in God himself." Eead ' Olney Hymns,' — 
 sweet preparation for praj^er" (Eph. vi, 1 0). Before 
 rising, gave glory to God ; much cause. I will sing. 
 We will sing of mercy and of judgment. Unto thee. 
 
190 
 
 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 O Lord, will we sing. O come unto us ! " Day- 
 very stormy, as the night was. Read at worship 
 65th Psalm, and 50th. Offer unto God ^-"^g- 
 giving. Resumed study ; prayed for preachers and 
 all preparing for to-morrow. O for preparation ! to 
 get the word digested in my own mind and heart, and 
 then may it flow out for the benefit of all, and pro- 
 duce golden fruit!" "Visited Robert Burns' daugh- 
 ter, Mary. I fear a dying child — very promising. 
 The mother much afflicted. Walked a little on the 
 green and burnside — all hoary (1st Jan. 1850). A 
 
 funeral from B came up. How soon we have 
 
 mementoes ! Ere this jubilee year be over how many 
 will be below the green sod ! My induction having 
 been at the close of the year, 4th of December 1800, 
 eleven months yet to run ere the fiftieth year. How 
 solemn the thought of nearing that which is so 
 rarely reached!'' Such are the fragments of musing 
 thought and heavenward breathing which I find 
 scattered over every page of his brief daily memo- 
 randa of this period, and which were ever and anon, 
 too, dropping from his lips in solitary reverie, as a 
 kind of accompaniment to the more active business 
 of his life, like the hum of the busy bee, or the 
 " quiet tune'' with which the lowly brook murmurs 
 on its way. On the 4th of December 1850, he com- 
 pleted the fiftieth year of his ministry. A public 
 meeting was proposed to him by his people in cele- 
 bration of the event, but he declined an ovation, in 
 
EVENTIDE. 191 
 
 which he feared much fulsome and vain-glorious 
 flattery would mingle, preferring a private and unob- 
 trusive presentation, amid Christian converse and 
 prayer, of a handsome testimonial of affectionate 
 respect, which his people had prepared for him. He 
 was now in his last decade of life. He was baptizing 
 day by day the children of those who had been them- 
 selves baptized by his hand in the commencing days of 
 his ministry. The representative and almost the sole 
 survivor of one generation, he was gently welcoming 
 another to the place and the work they had left 
 behind. Soon he too will be going home. A few 
 years more, during which his well-known form was 
 still seen in pastoral round, or amid the homes of 
 the sick and dying, and his sun went down with the 
 calm brightness of the man whose path is as the 
 shining light, shining more and more unto the per- 
 fect day. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 (April mi May, 1859.) 
 
 fast €ntm^. 
 
 *' Sun of ray soul ! thou Saviour dear, 
 It is not night if thou be near ; 
 Oh ! may no eartliborn cloud arise 
 To hide thee from thy servant's eyes. 
 Abide with me from morn till eve, 
 For without thee I cannot live : 
 Abide with me when night is nigh, 
 For without thee I dare not die." 
 
 Christian Year. 
 
XI. 
 
 Though for several years his strength had been 
 perceptibly declining, and a colleague and succes- 
 sor^ had been associated with him in the pastoral 
 charge of his flock, it was not till about a year 
 before his last illness that any decided signs of 
 approaching dissolution appeared. During a visit to 
 his children at Cupar-Angus and Dundee, in April 
 1858, the central organ of nourishment refused to 
 do its office, and the effect was soon seen in his sadly 
 altered face and form, on which the signatures of 
 death seemed already written. Reaching home, how- 
 ever, he rallied wonderfully, and enjoyed during the 
 winter months that followed a considerable measure 
 of his wonted health and spirits. But in spring the 
 old symptoms returned with increased severity, and 
 with every token of a fatal issue. Still he did not 
 himself at first look upon this as his last illness. 
 His breathing was so free, his pulse so regular and 
 
 The liev. Robc^'t Black, now sole pastor of the congregation. 
 
196 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 full, every organ and member so sound and unim- 
 paired, save only the one failing function whose ail- 
 ments we are accustomed to regard as amongst the 
 lesser maladies of life, that he could scarcely realize 
 that the whole mechanism was going to dissolution 
 and decay. At last, however, the real state of the 
 case was made known to him. He received the 
 tidings with surprise, but with cheerful welcome, 
 and from that moment calmly prepared for his end. 
 The following particulars of the closing scene are 
 from notes made at the time by my valued brother- 
 in-law, the Rev. Thomas Bain of Cupar-Angus, who 
 was with the beloved sufferer almost uninterruptedly 
 to the last, and by his unwearied ministrations both 
 to the soul and the body, was indeed more to him 
 than a son: — 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Burns ended his life of abundant 
 labours and eminent usefulness at the Free Manse of 
 Kilsyth, on the morning of Sabbath, the 8th day of 
 May 1859, at ten minutes before five o'clock. A 
 few recollections of his last interesting and instruc- 
 tive sayings are here recorded by one who enjoyed 
 the great privilege of ministering to his temporal 
 comfort during the few closing days of his life. 
 
 " The weakness which at last laid low his massive 
 and once robust and active frame, commenced about 
 ten weeks before his death; this weakness gradually 
 increased till he was able to sit up, only for a few 
 hours at a time. The last day of his public service 
 
LAST SERMON. 197 
 
 on earth was Sabbath, 27th March, when he preached 
 from the text, 'A faithful man who can find?" He 
 was scarcely able to ascend the pulpit; but as there 
 was no supply forthcoming for that day, by a very 
 great effort he engaged in his loved employment, and 
 was wonderfully strengthened during the first part 
 of the service, but found after praise and prayer 
 that he was unable to finish the discourse. Maay 
 of the people felt or feared it was his last appearance 
 in that pulpit, where, till the advanced age of eighty, 
 which he reached two months before, he had continued 
 to break the bread of life amongst his people, most 
 of whom he had baptized and admitted to the com- 
 munion of the Church, and many of whom, there is 
 reason to believe, he had been the honoured instru- 
 ment of guiding to the Saviour. On leaving the 
 church many of the congregation were observed 
 deeply affected by this consideration. After that 
 Sabbath he was confined chiefly to the house, and 
 in a great measure to his bed. 
 
 "The testimony borne by him, during his last 
 illness, to the faithfulness of his covenant God, and 
 the power of his all-efficacious grace was in full 
 accordance with a long life of usefulness in his 
 master s service. He was, we believe, the father of 
 the Free Church of Scotland, having reached the 
 very advanced period of fifty-nine years of active 
 service as an ordained minister of Christ, and enjoy- 
 ing such vigour and health during all that period, 
 
198 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 that, as he remarked to several friends, he had only 
 been prevented on two Sabbaths by ill health from 
 preaching the gospel of the grace of God, and scarcely 
 ever complaining even of a headache till within the 
 last two or three hours of his life. Some of his 
 remarks on his death-bed were deeply affecting, and 
 the scene was one never to be forgotten by those who 
 witnessed it. Praise and prayer had for many years 
 been the exercises in which he found the chief delight, 
 and his love for singing the praises of his heavenly 
 Father was very remarkably manifested during his 
 last illness ; his favourite hymns were frequently read 
 to him and sung at his own request, such as — 
 
 " ' Begone unbelief,' ... ... Newton, 
 
 ' When troubles assail,' . . . Newton. 
 
 " ' When languor and disease,' . . . Toplady. 
 
 " ' There is a land of pure delight,' Watts. 
 
 " ' O tell me no more,' ... ... Gambold. 
 
 " ' I lay my sins on Jesus,' . . . Bonar, 
 
 ' Children of the heavenly King,' Gennick 
 
 " This last was sung at his own express desire an 
 hour before his death. 
 
 ''Dr. Kainy, from Glasgow, came to see him on 
 Thursday, 5th May, by which time his strength had 
 been very greatly reduced ; Dr. Burns was not aware 
 that Dr. Kainy had been requested to visit him, 
 and on his entering his sick room, he raised himself, 
 and with great energy said, ' How kind, my beloved 
 
THE DARK VALLEY. 199 
 
 friend, to come and see me ; how wonderful that all 
 friends are so kind to me, a poor unworthy creature, 
 when many of the Lord's dear children, and the Lord 
 himself, had few to show them kindness!' 
 
 " His constitution was so good, and his lungs so 
 sound, that he did not fully realize till a few days 
 before his death that his end was drawing nigh. ' If 
 I only could get something to restore the tone of my 
 stomach,' he one day said, ' I think I might still wear 
 through this attack,' having had a similar one about 
 the same season last year. 'Ah no, father,' said his 
 daughter, 'this is the battle with the last enemy.' *Do 
 you think so ? ' said he, calmly and even cheerfully. 
 'Oh yes,' it was replied. 'And does the doctor think 
 so?' 'Oh yes, he does.' ' I am very glad of it,' said 
 he; and after that he scarce had one other thought 
 about life. He had a desire to remain for the sake 
 of his poor flock, who lay very near his heart ; but 
 he had a stronger desire still to depart and to be with 
 Christ, which was far better. After he had fully 
 realized that his end was approaching, his meekness, 
 and humility, and longing to be with Christ were 
 very beautifully displayed in harmony together. His 
 frequent exclamation was, ' Let me away! Lord, 
 take me home!' During severe sickness, which was 
 one of the most distressing aspects of his illness, 
 he was heard prajdng, ' Father, didst thou not pro- 
 mise to deliver ? I have sought three things ; one 
 of them I have got. Oh, give now the victory over 
 
200 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 the last enemy!' And, on another occasion, when 
 suffering very great distress from the same cause, 
 his ejaculations were, ' Lord, thou canst not refuse 
 me,' and after a pause, ' for His sake/ The singing of 
 his favourite psalms and hymns always* soothed him, 
 even when he was in the greatest suffering; and when 
 it was thought he was realizing little of the world 
 without, even till within one hour of his end, he was 
 often heard joining with his low bass voice in the last 
 line or words of the verse, and always adding in a 
 loud, clear voice, 'Amen^ Amen.' 
 
 " When means were tried to alleviate his suffering, 
 and he was revived from the deathlike sickness which 
 often oppressed him, his exclamation again and 
 again was, ' I cannot come back ; I am going, I am 
 going; I am willing, I am willing; Lord, come, come, 
 come/ 
 
 " Having rallied from one of his very severe attacks 
 of sickness, he was unusually cheerful, taking hold of 
 the hand of one of his sons, another son and a son- 
 in-law standing by, he said, * How kind you all are ! 
 how wonderftiUy the Lord orders all things! I used,' 
 added he, 'to boast of my age, thinking, when I was 
 fourscore, I am quite well ; the Lord is now teaching 
 me the truth of his word, — labour and sorrow' 
 When refreshed with water during sickness, his 
 constant word was, ' Blessed water, streams from 
 Lebanon/ 
 
 " After singing, at his own request, ' The hour of 
 
" NOT IN MINE INNOCENCE I TRUST.'* 201 
 
 my departure's come/ he said, 'Now no more — leave 
 me — let me go — don't touch me/ 
 
 " This verse he often desired to be repeated to him, 
 and was observed listening with deep interest and 
 feeling to the following verse, ' Not in mine innocence 
 I trust;' though innocence, as far as it could be found 
 in fallen man, was one of the peculiar features of his 
 character. 
 
 " During the slight wandering of his mind, which 
 till very near the close had been very acute, his 
 expressions were still in the same strain, — 
 
 " ' Is there no way of fainting away? Oh, let me 
 faint and get home; Lord Jesus receive me to thy- 
 self; there is room enough for me ;' and then throw- 
 ing off the clothes with his arms extended, he cried 
 with a loud voice, ' Open to me the gates of righte- 
 ousness !' — his attitude and expression of countenance 
 reminding us of David's words, ' Oh, that I had 
 wings like a dove, that I might fly away and be at 
 rest.' 
 
 " When some of the family, who resided at a dis- 
 tance, were trying to comfort him with those words 
 of consolation with which he had often comforted 
 others, he said, * We have been too little together, we 
 have had too little fellowship ; but there will be un- 
 interrupted fellowship above. Oh, for more of the 
 Spirit! Blessed Spirit! enrich, enrich.' He never 
 once expressed a doubt or fear about his acceptance, 
 but was longing to get home. He at times, how- 
 
202 
 
 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 ever, mourned over his coldness, 'Blessed Jesus,' 
 said he, 'how have I offended thee! Why is my 
 heart so cold?' 
 
 "The last hours of his life were employed in 
 ejaculatory prayer, and dwelling on the promises of 
 the word of life. Late on Saturday evening we 
 asked him what psalm he would like us to sing. 
 After a moment's consideration he said, ' Sixteenth, 
 two last verses, " Tho^^ju wilt not leave my soul in 
 hell — Thou wilt me show the path of life,' ' and after 
 singing them he mentioned the fortieth. We then 
 prayed beside his bed, and his loud and hearty 
 ' Amen ' closed the prayer. After a pause he said, 
 * Keturn unto thy rest, 0 my soul, for the Lord hath 
 dealt bountifully with thee,' — ' close with that ' he 
 said. We wondered if he knew it was Saturday 
 night ; he evidently was aware of it, for after sing- 
 ing that, he supposed the Sabbath had come, though 
 it was a few hours before twelve o'clock, and said, 
 ' Now let all be assembled to be addressed,' and 
 when no service was begun, he said, ' Will ye no do 
 it, the work of eight days is too much for me/ He 
 was a good deal excited after this, but his language 
 was that of triumph and peace. ' / die in peace — 
 I am willing — into thine hand I commit my spirit ; 
 thou hast redeemed me, Q Lord God of truth. I 
 desire to depart ' — to be with Christ, it was added ; 
 'Yes — and I will see his face, and I will behold 
 his glory — glory — glory — glory I Come, come away 
 
" all's well." 
 
 203 
 
 — I hear his voice — let me go. Thanks, thanks be 
 to God who giveth iis the victory — thanks to God 
 for his unspeakable gift. We will conclude/ he 
 said, still imagining it was the Sabbath service ; ' in 
 dwellings of the righteous is heard the melody of 
 joy and health/ 
 
 " Sabbath morning at length was reached, that day 
 he loved so well "We had a strong impression the 
 day of his entering on his rest above would be the 
 blessed Sabbath of rest below. A hard conflict with 
 the king of terrors was gone through during the 
 early hours of Sabbath morning, during which he 
 was heard praying, ' Didst thou not promise to give 
 thy beloved sleep ? Lord, give thy beloved sleep / and 
 then taking up the language of triumph again, he 
 said, 'My Beloved is mine, and I am his — that's long 
 ago.' One of his last expressions was, 'Into thine 
 hands I commend my spirit,' adding with peculiar 
 emphasis, ' for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of 
 truth,' and then quietly and gently he said, 'All's well.'" 
 
 It was at this time, about three quarters of an 
 hour before his death, that he asked us to join him 
 in singing the hymn : — 
 
 " Children of the heavenly King, 
 As ye journey sweetly sing ; 
 Sing your Sariour's worthy praise, 
 Glorious in his works and ways. 
 
 Ye are travelling home to God, 
 In the way the fathers trod; 
 They are happy now— and ye 
 Soon their happiness shall see. 
 
204 
 
 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Shout, ye ransomed flock, and blest, 
 Ye on Jesus' throne shall rest; 
 There your seat is now prepared, 
 There your kingdom and reward. 
 
 Fear not, brethren, joyful stand 
 On the borders of your land ; 
 • Jesus Christ, God's only son. 
 Bids you undismayed go on. 
 
 Lord, obediently we'll go, 
 Gladly leaving all below ; 
 Only thou our leader be, 
 And we still will follow thee." 
 
 As we sung these words in full chorus, though 
 with faltering voice, he listened earnestly, and 
 audibly joined in the last line of several of the 
 verses. That was his swan's song. 
 
 His last message to his family standing around 
 was, ' Children,' repeating the word frequently, and 
 with difficulty getting the remainder of the verse 
 out, but dwelling earnestly on it, ' Children of the 
 light, and not of the darkness — ^walk as children of 
 the light — children of the light — children of the light.' 
 
 " After this life gradually ebbed away — tlie 
 breathing getting weaker and weaker, till he fell 
 asleep in Jesus, and lay with a calm placidity of 
 expression, which told that all anxiety, and care, and 
 suffering were over, and that the ransomed spirit 
 had been caught up to join the songs of Zion above. 
 
 " * Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, 
 from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, they rest 
 from their labours, and their works do follow them.' 
 
 " The record of the works which shall follow 
 
THE GREAT SILENCE. 205 
 
 our beloved father, the great day of accounts will 
 declare." 
 
 The grey dawn of the Sabbath morning was 
 stealing gently in when the great silence of the 
 death-moment fell upon us. The world without 
 was just awaking, and the birds sang cheerily among 
 the branches, just as they had done, at the birth of 
 each succeeding day, for six thousand years, and as 
 they will do, amid all the vicissitudes of death and 
 change, until the end of all. And so the world 
 goes on ! 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " But go thou thy way till the end he: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot 
 at the end of the days."— Dan. xii. 13. 
 
XII. 
 
 That, of course, was a silent Sabbath, both in the 
 manse and in the sanctuary, save only that the con- 
 gregation that had assembled in ignorance of the 
 event, joined together in solemn thanksgiving and 
 prayer before they parted. 
 
 The four succeeding days were days of rest, 
 marked only by the frequent visits of attached 
 parishioners, who came to look once more on the 
 l)recious dust, on which was stamped the calm 
 majesty of death, together, too, with an almost 
 youthful freshness, that carried us back to other 
 years. Among these silent visitants, not the least 
 deeply moved were the members of his Bible class, 
 who had dwelt under his shadow to the last, and 
 with that reverential fondness so beautiful in youth 
 toward age, gathered up and cherished each gracious 
 word of rich mellow wisdom that dropped from his 
 lips. 
 
 On the Friday following (the 1 3th May), after an 
 
 impressive service in the church, conducted by Drs. 
 o 
 
210 THE PASTOE OF KILSYTH. 
 
 Henderson and Forbes of Glasgow, he was carried 
 by devout men to his burial, amid a great concourse 
 of concerned spectators, and followed by a numerous 
 company of mourners, composed chiefly of relatives, 
 parishioners, and the clergy of the district round. 
 
 He was laid to rest in the very spot where, to an 
 assemblage not dissimilar, he had preached the glad 
 tidings of the resurrection and the life twenty years 
 before. 
 
 The funeral sermon was preached on the suc- 
 ceeding Sabbath, in a most appropriate and im- 
 pressive manner, by the Rev. Dr. Smyth of Glasgow, 
 one of his oldest and most valued friends, from the 
 words, " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, 
 and for ever followed in the afternoon and evening 
 by the Rev. Charles Stewart of Fort- William, son-in- 
 law of the deceased, and the Rev. Alex. N. Somerville 
 of Glasgow. Never was there a truer word spoken 
 than that with which the last named preacher closed 
 his affecting tribute to the departed, when calling 
 upon his people ''to take hold of the unstained mantle 
 which their Elijah had thrown back from his ascend- 
 ing chariot,'' he appealed to them whether it were not 
 a solemn thing to have had ''such a minister of Christ 
 going in and out among them day by day for nearly 
 forty years, and yet not one of them had one word 
 to say against him of reproach or of blame." 
 
 The following beautiful and touching tribute, 
 
FUNERAL SERMON. 211 
 
 kindly furnished by Dr. Smyth, from the conclusion 
 of his sermon, I am tempted here to insert : — 
 
 " In ' calling to remembrance,' brethren, ' the 
 former days,' you cannot fail, as a congregation, to 
 cherish the most profound and affectionate reverence 
 of the memory of your departed pastor. During a 
 ministry extended considerably beyond the ordinary 
 allotments of Providence, nearly forty years of which 
 he laboured among you with all good fidelity in 
 every department of pastoral duty, how weighty are 
 the responsibilities under which you are placed for 
 his invaluable services ! Of those services it is 
 hardly possible to form an exaggerated estimate. 
 With talents of a decidedly superior order, literary 
 and theological acquirements alike accurate and 
 varied, depth and tenderness of spirit in addressing 
 all classes of hearers, and pre-eminently distinguished 
 by the Spirit of grace and of supplication — our 
 beloved and lamented father was truly a master in 
 Israel. ' In season and out of season,' when he had 
 long passed the ordinary term of ministerial service, 
 that aged disciple was ever found on the watch- 
 towers of Zion. ' Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, 
 and to-day, and for ever,' was the sum and substance 
 of his preaching. He loved to dwell on the glory of 
 his person, the perfection of his righteousness, the 
 merit of his atoning sacrifice, and the prevalence of 
 his intercession. ' His speech and his preaching was 
 not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in 
 
212 THE PASTOE OF KILSYTH. 
 
 demonstration of the Spirit and of power/ Most 
 faithfully, earnestly, and affectionately did he ex- 
 pound the doctrines, enforce the precepts, announce 
 the terrors, and press home ' the exceeding great and 
 precious promises ' of the word of life. He shunned 
 not to declare imto you all the counsel of God. ' As 
 a scribe, instructed unto the kingdom of heaven,^ 
 your late revered pastor 'brought forth out of his 
 treasure things new and old,' adapted alike to the 
 conversion of the ungodly, and to the edification 
 and comfort of the children of God. His theology 
 was that of the good olden school of our Scottish 
 forefathers, the Erskines, Fishers, and Bostons, of 
 the last century, those men, ' mighty in the Scrip- 
 tures,' whose names are identified with all that is 
 sound in doctrine, and powerful in appeals to the 
 conscience and the heart. His trumpet never gave 
 an uncertain sound, but sent forth its voice ' not in 
 words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the 
 Holy Ghost teacheth.' To how many in this con- 
 gregation and neighbourhood, and in other places 
 which occasionally enjoyed his ministrations, he was 
 * the savour of life unto life,' He only knows unto 
 whom all things are naked and opened. * The day 
 will declare it.' Those seasons of spiritual revival 
 with which this parish was signally blessed bore 
 testimony to the seal which his divine Master was 
 pleased to affix to his servant's fidelity; and may 
 we not humbly hope that his removal hence may be 
 
FUNERAL SERMON. 213 
 
 still to some even as life from the dead ? It is not 
 of tlie public services only of your late honoured 
 pastor that it is our privilege this day to speak. 
 Following the footsteps of the apostle of the Gentiles, 
 whose spirit he had largely imbibed, ' he taught you 
 publicly, and from house to house/ — * warning every 
 man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that he 
 might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.' 
 And were not those pastoral labours, whether in the 
 family or among the lambs of the flock (for the 
 young were very dear to his heart), or at the beds 
 of the sick and the dying, or in the chambers of 
 bereavement, and loneliness, and grief — all con- 
 ducted in the spirit of Him who was meek and lowly 
 in heart — who did not break the bruised reed nor 
 quench the smoking flax — who spake * a word in 
 season ' to satiate every weary, and to revive every 
 sorrowful soul ? Need I dwell on the bright example 
 of Christian wisdom, consistency, and devotedness 
 which shone forth in his daily life and conversation? 
 * Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily, and 
 justly, and unblameably he behaved himself among 
 you that believe. As ye know how he exhorted, and 
 comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father 
 doth his children, that ye would walk worthy of 
 God who hath called you unto his kingdom and 
 glory/ .... We must not, dear friends, forget on 
 the present occasion our departed father's leal-hearted 
 devotedness to the Church of the Scottish Eeforma- 
 
214 
 
 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 tion — the Church of Knox, and Melville, and Hen- 
 derson, and a noble band of men like-minded with 
 them. The saerijfices which he so promptly and 
 cheerfully made in vindication of the Scriptural 
 rights and privileges of both pastors and people 
 evince the value which he attached to the exclusive 
 supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ, as * Lord over 
 his own house;' 'the only Lord of the conscience* 
 as well as of the Church and the nations. With 
 inflexible decision, tempered and adorned with * the 
 meekness of wisdom,' did your beloved pastor uphold 
 the purity of doctrine, discipline, and worship, whilst 
 he cast in his lot with the Church of the Disruption, 
 the Free Hereditary Protesting Church of Scotland. 
 Its distinctive principles he held inviolably sacred ; 
 its enterprises of Christian philanthropy within our 
 own borders and in the missionary field, whether 
 among the ' dispersed of Israel ' or * far hence among 
 the Gentiles,' occupied many of his thoughts, and 
 called forth his prayerful and zealous co-operation. 
 As a member of our ecclesiastical courts, we were 
 often highly benefitted by his wisdom, and always 
 gladdened and refreshed by his generous sympathy. 
 We venerated whilst we loved him as a spiritual 
 father, the father of our Presbytery, and latterly the 
 father of our Church. Whilst the Church of which 
 he was nearly sixty years a devoted minister was 
 specially endeared to him, intertwined with his 
 warmest affections and ' manner of life from his 
 
FUNEEAL SERMON. 215 
 
 youth/ the Church in which surviving brothers and 
 sons are still faithfully serving the Lord Christ — he 
 rejoiced to hold cordial and confiding fellowship with 
 the true Israel of God in all other sections of the 
 Christian brotherhood. He was, in an emphatic 
 sense, ' a lover of good men,' and delighted to ' keep 
 the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ^ with 
 all the disciples of the Lord Jesus — his Lord and 
 theirs. We do not claim for the honoured dead 
 exemption from those imperfections which are inci- 
 dent to all the saints of God so long as they are 
 not completely delivered from ^ the body of this 
 death.' No man acknowledged more humbly and 
 habitually that * he had not already attained, neither 
 was already perfect,' but no man 'pressed' more 
 earnestly ' towards the mark for the prize of the 
 high calling of God in Christ Jesus." In simplicity 
 and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by 
 the grace of God, he had his conversation in the 
 world. Having served his own generation by the 
 will of God, he fell on sleep, and was laid unto his 
 fathers. ' Mark the perfect man, and behold the 
 upright, for the end of that man is peace.' * Precious 
 in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.^ 
 * Here is the patience of the saints ; here are they 
 that keep the commandments of God and the faith 
 of Jesus.' * And I heard a voice from heaven, saying 
 unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in 
 the Lord from henceforth, yea, saith the Spirit, that 
 
216 THE PASTOR OF KILSYTH. 
 
 they may rest from their labours, and their works 
 do follow them.* 
 
 And so there passed away that calm, benignant 
 spirit, around whom for some years past a kind of 
 sacred halo had been gathering, as the venerable 
 and almost the only surviving link between the 
 present and the long past. He was, too, a peculiarly 
 attractive representative of a type of the Christian, 
 pastorate which is, I suspect, rapidly becoming 
 obsolete, — that of the quiet, steady, ongoing, con- 
 scientiously diligent and calmly earnest country 
 minister, at once the father, the counsellor, and the 
 friend of every man, woman, and child within his 
 parochial bounds, — which is now giving place to the 
 more impetuous and stirring, though in some respects 
 also, perhaps, more one-sided energy of modern times. 
 With the departure of the form may some portion, at 
 least, of the old spirit still remain with us ! If 
 something of the listless languor of that old time has 
 departed from us, may we not also have lost some- 
 thing of its repose. If in these times we have more 
 holy activity, have we not also less of godly quiet- 
 ness, — if more haste, less momentum and less 
 breadth ? At least, it is worth considering whether 
 that patient continuance in well-doing at all times, 
 and in the worst times, for which our fathers were 
 
CHAEACTER. 217 
 
 distinguished, might not be well combined with the 
 more sanguine and aggressive zeal, in which many 
 of us have got before them. Nor were the personal 
 traits of our departed father less admirable, or worthy 
 of reverential remembrance and imitation. At once 
 a Nathanael and a John, he moved in an atmosphere 
 of guileless sincerity and loving graciousness; though, 
 at the same time, like the son of Zebedee, there was 
 not wanting in him a latent element of sterner kind, 
 which would now and then flash out, and turn the 
 Barnabas into the Boanerges. If it was emphatically 
 true of him that he was " a lover of good men,'' it was 
 equally true that " he could not bear them that are 
 evil;'' nor were there many of his time more faithful 
 in rebuking sin, or quick to mark by the clouded brow 
 and pained, troubled look, the presence of aught that 
 was unseemly or dishonouring to his Master. Yet 
 even his anger was in great measure but another 
 expression of love, being the indignant protest of the 
 loving and generous heart against that which was 
 unloving and "unlovely."^ Often, too, the genial 
 heartiness of the way would greatly mollify the 
 sharpness of the things when he had occasion severely 
 to chide. " 0 man ! he would say to the habitual 
 dallier with strong drink whom he met casually by 
 the way, " I would rather any day meet a cow on 
 the road, with its honest face and sweet milky 
 
 1 A word often on his lips, as expressing that which was the only thing he might 
 be said to hate. 
 
218 THE PASTOU OP KILSYTH. 
 
 breath, than the like of you.'^ The slight element 
 of humour formed a kind of condiment to the bitter 
 morsel, and made it go more sweetly down. But his 
 habitual element was that of kind thoughts, kind 
 words, and kind deeds. " There lies one,'' said a 
 familiar friend of many years, while looking on the 
 calm countenance and speaking lips from which the 
 informing spirit had just fled, — "there lies one who 
 never uttered a harsh word, or wanted a kind word 
 to speak to high or low, rich or poor, among his 
 people during all these long years.'' Something of 
 this, no doubt, was due to a happy natural tempera- 
 ment, but much more to the chastening and hallow- 
 ing grace of that Lord on whose bosom he leant, and 
 beneath whose shadow he sat day by day. Thus in 
 all respects following the steps of the "disciple of 
 love," like him, also, he endured long, — lingering 
 behind when brethren and companions of former days 
 were, almost without exception, gone, — and falling 
 asleep at length amid the veneration and love of a 
 new generation and a new world. 
 
 In stature he was rather above the middle height, 
 his figure stout and even portly, his countenance 
 grave yet cheerful, and alike in youth and in age, 
 "comely and well-favoured," while his gait, slow, 
 measured, steady, whether in leisure walk or 
 parochial round, seemed the very symbol and living 
 embodiment of the quiet but steadfast tenor of his 
 life. 
 
FAREWELL ! 219 
 
 Farewell, then, thou gentle and gracious friend of 
 bygone days ! May thy mantle fall and thy spirit 
 rest in double measure on those that remain behind ! 
 " But go thou thy way until the end be ; for thou 
 shalt rest, and stand in thy lot in the end of the 
 days." 
 
ILLUSTRATTYE REMAmS. 
 
 MODE OF CONDUCTING A REVIVAL.— ERRORS 
 AND EVILS TO BE AVOIDED. 
 
 "Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things: holdfast 
 that which is good."— 1 Thess. v. 17. 
 
 The branch of tlie great subject of the revival of religion 
 allotted to me, is " The Mode of Conducting a Revival, so as 
 to improve such a visitation of grace, with the description of 
 the Errors and Evils to be guarded against." I feel my in- 
 adequacy to illustrate such a subject, and have endeavoured 
 to approach to it in the spirit of humility, self-abasement, and 
 prayer. There has, however, a previous question been moved, 
 which may require, first of all, to be disposed of, namely, — 
 "Is it right and lawful even to suggest or hint at such a 
 thing as conducting a religious revival % Is it not presump- 
 tuous % Is it not incongruous to speak of conducting a work 
 which belongs exclusively to God, and in which the divine 
 sovereignty is pecuUarly prominent This has been in 
 some degree already set on its true basis in discourses which 
 have preceded in the course, particularly in that which illus- 
 trated the work of the Holy Spirit in the revival of rehgion, 
 the sovereignty of God as connected with it, with the means 
 of promoting the same glorious work. 
 
 I would now proceed more particularly to observe, in 
 reference to the objection, that the figures which are employed 
 by the great Teacher himself on the subject of which we are 
 to treat, seem to furnish us with the proper answer to the 
 question, and to the objections which have been started : 
 " The wind bloweth where it listeth, thou hearest the sound, 
 but canst not tell whence it cometh, or wliither it goeth : so 
 
222 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 is every one that is born of the Spirit." Nevertheless human 
 sagacity, industry, and activity, are much exercised and ap- 
 plied in making use of the winds in various branches of 
 human enterprise, both on the land and on the water. And, 
 although we cannot command the shower or the genial vege- 
 tative heat, the husbandman and the gardener know well 
 how, with skill and activity, to prepare the soil and to cast 
 in the seed : " This also, saith the prophet, ^ cometh from 
 the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent 
 in working." The electrical fluid also has been, by later 
 efforts of skill and ingenuity, directed in its course, so as to 
 be conducted harmlessly along ; and certain diseases to which 
 the human frame is liable have been, by a well-known process 
 of medical skill and experiment, either greatly modified or 
 prevented, and all without any presumptuous attempt at in- 
 terfering with the great all-wise Disposer, — the Lord of 
 nature, — whose will gives law to the universe. 
 
 A revival of religion is an unusually successful dispensation 
 of religious ordinances, the effect of a copious effusion of the 
 influences of divine grace ; but in other respects it comes 
 under the same rules with the more ordinary dispensation, 
 where the effects of the word of grace are less obvious and 
 prominent. In both it is obvious that human agency is em- 
 ployed, and wisdom, and zeal, and activity are not less called 
 for in the one than in the other, or rather a greater degree of 
 prudence, of wise consultation, and of untiring watchfulness 
 and activity, are to be called forth in the period of an 
 awakening than in ordinary times. " In all our ways we are 
 to acknowledge God, that he may direct our steps." The 
 rules I have selected as the text are certainly pecuharly ap- 
 pHcable in an awakened state of the Church : "Quench not 
 the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things : 
 hold fast that which is good," <fec. Let us proceed, therefore, 
 by the divine help and blessing, — humbly and earnestly im- 
 plored, — first, to make some remarks upon the best mode of 
 conducting and continuing a revival. 
 
 The first remark I would venture to make is, that "holi- 
 
 i Isaiah xxviii. 29. 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A REVIVAL. 
 
 223 
 
 ness to the Lord " should be inscribed upon all and every- 
 one engaged in such a work. The Lord is in his holy temple, 
 therefore should we keep silence before him. All who bear 
 the vessels of the sanctuary should be holy. This, no doubt, 
 is true at all times ; but it holds still more pre-eminently and 
 strikingly where the goings of the King of Zion are seen, with 
 more than usual majesty and power, in his temple. " His 
 arrows fly thick to pierce the hearts of the King's enemies, 
 and the people fall under him." His word is " as a fire and 
 a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces." When all is 
 thus, as it were, solemnizing — the 'presence of Deity peculiarly 
 felt— the great work of the ever-blessed Trinity going on with 
 unusual manifestation ; when all heaven and hell, as well as 
 earth, are, so to speak, in active and powerful movement; 
 when the trumpet of the gospel waxes louder and louder ; 
 when even Zion Mount seems all on flame ; and when an 
 unusual influence attends the dispensation of the word, seal- 
 ing it upon the souls both of sinners and of saints ; — then 
 the presence and the operations of the holders of office in the 
 Church, who are characterized by anything but spirituality of 
 mind, seems peculiarly incongruous.^ 
 
 When religion is in a low state, it is seldom that the office 
 of Eldership is at all filled up, even as to numbers, in any 
 kind of proportion to the extent or population of parishes or 
 congregations. There is, for the most part, a melancholy 
 skeleton of what may have been at one time a well-condi- 
 tioned, and fully organized, lively body of minister and of 
 elders and deacons, in those parishes where religion has been 
 in a declining state. But, even on the supposition that the 
 framework has continued after the animating spirit of religion 
 has departed, the dead branches must be replaced with those 
 which have life from the true Vine, — the mouldering stones 
 changed into living ones, ere the Church as a building, the 
 temple of the Lord, can be restored to order or beauty. 
 But perhaps in most cases where a " revival" takes place, 
 one of the first movements is among office-hearers of the 
 Church ; and an improved state of that important depart- 
 
 1 Deuteronomy xxiii. 9. 
 
224 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 ment of Zion precedes any very decided or general improve- 
 ment; in which case, these are "the Lord's remembrancers," 
 ready to take their places on the watchtowers ; and, making 
 their rounds, " serving the Lord instantly day and night 
 and, having grace and wisdom given to them according to 
 their exigencies, they are in some degree prepared for the 
 pleasant though difficult work to which they have been called. 
 He "with whom is the residue of the Spirit" giveth more 
 grace to the humble ; and it shall be given, in the hour and 
 season of need, how to speak, and to act, in answer to prayer, 
 — secret and united. 
 
 Tills leads to another remark, that prayer , unceasing and 
 earnest^ is that wherein the great strength of a revival of re- 
 ligion lieth. This it is which draweth down the pure, life- 
 giving, animating influence which sets all hearts in motion, 
 which kindles every sacrifice, which consecrates every tongue, 
 and makes every li^use a Bethel, every heart an altar and a 
 sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour, and each body and soul 
 a living temple, consecrated to the presence and residence of 
 the ever-blessed Trinity. Then every address to the Lord is 
 the offering of the heart perfumed with the incense of the 
 Redeemer's merits ; every act of worship is an immediate, 
 felt, realized entry into the holiest of all, — a beholding of the 
 glory of God, and of Jesus Christ at his right hand, — a 
 blessed communion "with the Father and with his Son 
 Jesus Christ," — "a pouring out of the heart before the 
 Lord." There is a nearness to God felt and enjoyed, and a 
 persuasion that " we have the petitions that we have desired 
 of him." I know not anything by which the services of 
 prayer and of preaching, which have been most evidently 
 blessed for conversion and for edification, have been more 
 peculiarly characterized and pre-eminently distinguished, than 
 by this prayerful^ earnest pleading with the Lord, that he 
 may not leave to barrenness and coldness in the speaker, or 
 to listlessness and unconcern in the hearers. It is not 
 strength of arguing, or eloquence, in the ordinary sense of 
 these expressions, which the Lord has owned and succeeded, 
 but holy unction on the spirit, — humble, fervent wrestling, 
 that the word may not return void, and that none may go 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A REVIVAL. 
 
 225 
 
 a\vay unimpressed ; and this in secret, and hefore and after 
 the addresses from the pulpit or prayer meeting. With regard 
 to the social meetings for prayer, to which not a few have 
 referred as the scene and the means of their first serious im- 
 pressions, or w^here they found peace, the question has been 
 put, How are they conducted, and what is their peculiarity, 
 to which such more than usual success may be, under the 
 blessing of God, attributed % The answer is in sum this : 
 That they have not been so much for increase of knowledge 
 and of experience in the Christian life, as for promoting Hvely 
 personal religion, and to bring those to the point who have 
 been, it* may be, going about it and about it, without ever de- 
 claring "on the Lord's side." Fellowship meetings, properly 
 so called, of Christian friends, for growth in grace and deeper 
 insight into divine things, useful as they are, yet are not 
 those which have among us been referred to ; but those into 
 which mere inquirers have been admitted, yea, which they 
 have been solicited to attend. Some we know disapprove of 
 this kind of prayer meetings as of a nature too open, and as 
 wanting in correct views of Christian character, in allowing 
 those to be present among the people of God who have not 
 made any serious profession, and who may go away and bring 
 discredit on the good cause. But perhaps this solution may 
 be allowed, that prayer meetings of the nature now described, 
 and fellowship meetings, are each in their place scriptural 
 and useful ; and, perhaps, that which might not be expedient 
 in one grade of society may suit another. We have in our view 
 chiefly those in the humbler walks of life, who are much more 
 in the way of famihar and unceremonious converse with each 
 other, and much less shackled by forms than those in a more 
 elevated station. The meetings referred to are not so much 
 for mutual religious fellowship, and the comparing of passages 
 of Scripture or of experience, as for immediate addresses in 
 prayer and praise, interspersed with a few verses of Scrip- 
 ture, comments and controversy excluded. Certain it is, that 
 among us not a few young parents particularly have been 
 thus much benefited ; and either at such meetings, or as an 
 effect of the reading and hearing of the gospel, and reflection 
 and communings to which these meetings have given rise, 
 p 
 
226 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 not a few have been brought to the knowledge and experience 
 of the truth. 
 
 The weekly public prayer meetings too, which have been 
 conducted for several years, and to which some resorted who 
 were not in the habit of church-going, have been blessed for 
 conversion and for edification ; to which we add, the meet- 
 ings for missionary purposes, which have been found very 
 enlivening, — so that, while " watering others, we are ourselves 
 watered." No church or parish can be in a sound, wholesome, 
 or flourishing state spiritually, where there is no special 
 attention and prayer called forth in regard to the spiritual 
 condition of the heathen and the Jew. Indeed, the very use 
 of the prayer our Lord hath taught his disciples, condemns 
 those who pay no respect to the spiritual wants and miseries 
 of the Jewish or of the Gentile nations, and renders their use 
 of such a prayer at any time a mere inanimate form. Too 
 many parishes, we fear, are still in this sad and dead condi- 
 tion. 
 
 More closely still to the important point on hand, the 
 concert of united, and continued, and persevering prayer for 
 the abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit, requires to be 
 earnestly pressed and embraced. It has been remarked, as 
 an important and encouraging fact in the history of the re- 
 vivals with which we are best acquainted, that the moving 
 spring of them all has been "prayer^ — believing ^ earnest, united; 
 by a smaller number, it may have been by only a very few at 
 first, but, immediately preceding the remarkable awakenings, 
 by a greater number of Christians brought together, as on 
 sacramental occasions. Witness the wonderful day at the 
 Kirk of Shotts in 1630, preceded by a night and a morning 
 of incessant praying among ministers, and by the people who 
 had been engaged in holy communion at the table of the 
 Lord, and who were unwilling to depart without a blessing. 
 Now, "the Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot save, 
 neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear." When we come 
 down to more recent awakenings in our Church, — to that of 
 Moulin, 1800; Skye, 1814; Arran, 1813; Lewis, 1834; 
 and in Kilsyth at this present time ; — it is true in each case 
 that " the Lord hearkened and heard those who feared his 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A REVIA^AL. 
 
 227 
 
 name," and who were " speaking often one to another " of 
 the things of salvation, and who were, with united believing 
 supplications, addressing the throne of grace, and were look- 
 ing up and expecting an answer. 
 
 Going to Scripture history, and reterring as far back as to 
 the days of Enos, when " men began to call upon the name of 
 Jehovah," ^ and coming down to the day of Pentecost, when 
 the apostles in an " upper room continued all with one accord 
 in prayer and supplication, waiting for the promise of the 
 Spirit," we find the same important place given to prayer ; 
 and, doubtless, the histoiy of the true Church of the living 
 God, in every age and in every place of the world, would be 
 found to present a beautiful uniformity and unity in this re- 
 spect, so that it is verified in the Church— the body of Christ 
 collectively viewed, as well as in each individual member — 
 that " whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be 
 saved. 
 
 I conclude this part of the subject, by earnestly pressing 
 upon my fathers and brethren in the ministry, the duty and 
 the privilege of having a weekly prayer meeting, wherever 
 circumstances will allow of it, on some evening of the week, 
 over which the minister should preside. The attendance, as 
 it was formerly with us, for some time may be small and 
 somewhat discouraging ; but good is always doing more or less^ 
 and there may come a time when such a meeting will form a 
 ralljdng-point to the inquirers after salvation, and a means of 
 great comfort and edification to the people of God. Such 
 weekly meeting was commenced in the year of the cholera, 
 1832, with us, as it had been in many places. It was 
 often thinly attended, ^ but never given up. Not a few 
 have obtained saving impressions when they dropped 
 in to these meetings, where a familiar, short exposition 
 of a Psalm was given with prayer and praise, and once 
 in four weeks religious intelligence. It has been found by 
 some to be to them the " house of God and the gate of 
 heaven." Besides there were weekly meetings held in two 
 rural districts, one of wliich has been recently formed into a 
 
 1 Genesis iv. 2G. 
 
 2 Ramans x. 12. 
 
 » riiat is, after that period. 
 
228 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 parisli, distinct so far as religious ordinances are concerned, 
 which were found very conducive to spiritual good. In this 
 latter case a failure was predicted, and seemed at one time 
 nearly verified^ but it was never given over to extinction; and 
 now the work of the Lord has revived in that district, where, 
 a few years ago, rudeness, ungodliness, and intemperance pre- 
 vailed. We have just to reverse this description. Old things 
 are in a great measure done away, and the Banton district of 
 miners flourishes not merely by its minerals, but by prayer 
 and the preaching of the word. A tap-room has been 
 changed into a meeting-place for prayer, in which not a few 
 assemble for holy converse and united prayer and praise, where 
 lately there was only the sound of revelry and of wrangling ! 
 If it be asked wherein the great strength lies, the answer is, 
 in prayer — without which the Church would be, like Samson 
 without his hair, weak and like others. 
 
 Again, to carry forward and extend a revival while all 
 the ordinary means of grace must be regularly and zealously 
 maintained, there must be an instancy also out of season. 
 Some have unreasonably objected to the using of any means 
 beyond the usual Sabbath-day ministrations and the orderly 
 round of visitation, as endangering due respect to the insti- 
 tuted regularly recurring means of grace ; and such persons 
 are so wedded to form, and so punctilious as to hours and 
 seasons of public meetings, that the inroads made upon time 
 and privacy of study by anything like an awakening of num- 
 bers to a sense of their spiritual danger, would be an an- 
 noyance to them. Now, my friends, while every studious 
 and prayerful means should be used to conduct the preach- 
 ing of the word, the devotional exercises in public, and the 
 pastoral visitations, in the most pointed, lively, Scriptural, and 
 edifying manner, giving to these the full force of all the 
 preacher's head and heart, and best manner of address — 
 there must be beyond these, and in addition to all the ordi- 
 nary means, a patient and instant waiting upon cases of the 
 convinced and anxious — that they may be instructed and 
 edified ; and even although the regular hours of closing should 
 have arrived, the urgency of trembling and awakened in- 
 quirers may, yea, must in a season so unusual and an occa- 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A REVIVAL. 
 
 229 
 
 sion SO pressing, overrule all tlie customary, and at ordinary 
 times, salutary restrictions as to times and seasons. I know 
 this is "witli some a very difficult point, and, no doubt, it is 
 easy to summon up reasons against all deviations from rule 
 as to time and place for religious exercises. But the answer 
 here is just this, that the whole work we are now treating 
 of is of an unusual kind, and therefore must not be subjected 
 rigidly to ordinaiy rules; here wisdom and zeal must be 
 eminently conjoined with much and earnest waiting upon 
 God for direction. The sunshine, while it lasts, should be 
 fervidly improved, as it is by the farmer; the springtide 
 must be waited on, and all hands must be at work — the sails 
 spread, the prosperous gale with the favourable current not 
 neglected, although the sun may have set, and although no 
 moon nor stars should appear. The PhiJippian jailor was 
 converted at midnight, and St. Paul once at least, when 
 about to depart on the morrow, continued his speech until 
 the same hour of midnight. So, my friends and brethren, 
 even at iincanonical hours we must be willing that men be 
 converted. 
 
 So it was with Mr. Robe in 1742, for "considering in his 
 own mind what had been done at Cambuslang, and hearing 
 the criticisms of the world on the week-day services — the 
 many hours spent in church, (fee, Mr. Eobe, while he prayed 
 for a time of refreshing from the Lord on his own people at 
 Kilsyth, made various secret resolutions as to how he would 
 arrange matters so as to avoid censure, should his prayers be 
 answered. But when the time came, the exigence of the 
 ' souls crying out, ^ What shall we do '\ ' overset all his precon- 
 ceived plans ; for when the good man had closed his ser- 
 vices, and saw many of his people sit gazing upon him as if 
 they were still hungering for more, he was constrained to 
 begin anew, and then called in elders, and next ministers 
 from the adjacency to assist, and also to mark the doings of 
 the Lord," kc} 
 
 Such seasons will soon, we fear too soon, pass by, leaving 
 many after all in their dead sleep. The faithful, and rousing, 
 
 1 History of Revivals, &c., p. 260. 
 
230 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 and pointed preaching of the word, with appeals, it may be, 
 after the usual addresses have been finished, without any ap- 
 parent impression, may in some cases be called for, and have 
 been actually attended with marked success, though here it 
 is granted that there is room for the question, " Why resort 
 to such methods, instead of leaving the message, solemnly 
 and affectionately delivered and followed with fervent effec- 
 tual prayer, to the impression which may be expected to have 
 been made % In the method followed by our Lord and by 
 the apostles, there seems to be warrant for both of these 
 plans of addressing sinners. We find them in many in- 
 stances declaring the truth boldly and affectionately, and 
 this done, leaving it to operate by the divine Spirit's influ- 
 ence, just like the husbandman sowing the seed after pre- 
 vious preparation, and after a time looking for the increase. 
 At other times we find them following up the more public 
 and general addresses with special reasonings and conversa- 
 tions, so as " by all means to save some," even "j)ulling 
 them out of the fire."^ 
 
 One means which seems to have been often blessed to con- 
 version, is that of individual address by one man, or from one 
 friend to another ; as Andrew telling Peter, " I have found 
 the Messias" — "Come and see." In the season of a revival 
 this comes to be a very common case; the subject of salva- 
 tion is so much the matter of interest and reasoning among 
 friends and neighbours, that one member of a family speaks 
 to another, and one workman speaks to his fellow, and one 
 student in a class to another on the same bench, and one oc- 
 cupier of a seat in a church to the individual near him, in. 
 reference to the all-important subject. Thus it is that the 
 reserve which is ordinarily observed on the subject of salva- 
 tion is broken through, and there results a free and interest- 
 ing interchange of thought, of mind, and of heart. Hence 
 also arises very naturally an increasing number of meetings 
 for prayer and Christian fellowship ; and these again become 
 so many rallying-points, or places of resort, to those who are 
 asking the great question, " What they shall do to be saved." 
 
 1 Acts xxviii. 23, 30 31. 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A REVIVAL. 
 
 231 
 
 There is here, however, some evil to be apprehended when 
 the anxious are led to go to the first person they meet with, 
 however imperfectly qualified to give them advice. Surely 
 it is to be regretted that it so frequently happens, that the 
 sermon or the address which has made a serious impression 
 is not immediately followed up by an earnest and humble 
 application for advice to the teacher, whose words have been 
 so far effectual; or, if that cannot be attained from any 
 cause, why not to the godly parent, or elder, or stated pastor, 
 or experienced Christian friend, instead of consulting only 
 or chiefly with the most forward and self-confident, as is often 
 the case ; by which mistake many have been bewildered or 
 led away to some new sect, and been turned aside to vain 
 jangling 1 And here I would observe, that it should be well 
 known and understood beyond all doubt, that consultation 
 on soul-concerns is expected, and at all times welcomed and 
 courted by the pastor watching for souls. This, alas ! it 
 must be acknowledged has been too seldom the state of 
 things betwixt the minister and his flock; and thus many 
 precious opportunities of doing good have been neglected, and 
 many precious souls, there is reason to fear, have been lost. 
 
 Again, while prayer, as we have seen, is the spirit of 
 a revival of religion, the substance of a revival, — the pillar 
 and ground of all is the sound, zealous, pointed preaching of 
 Christ, — the compliance with the command, " Go, stand, and 
 speak unto the people all the words of this life." Some, it 
 may be, have attempted to obtain or to promote a revival, — 
 by speaking much about revivals, by describing them, or by 
 defending them. All this may be so far well, and the recital 
 at such meetings of well-authenticated cases of awakening 
 and of conversion, may be very animating — yea, may be a 
 means of conversions; but to rest in these, — to flatter our- 
 selves that good has been done merely because a few meet- 
 ings of this kind have been thronged by attentive hearers, 
 will not do. The people must be plied from day to day with 
 plain, faithful. Scriptural preaching to them, and not merely 
 before them. The conviction must more and more be 
 wrought on the minds of the hearers, that the preacher is in 
 earnest, that he means and feels what he says ; that, in the 
 
232 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 words of E. Baxter, he " never expects to meet any one of them 
 in heaven unless they he truly converted^ I have read of one 
 preacher that he was successful in two things very difficult to 
 attain,— the one is making the hearers to feel that he was in 
 earnest in wishing their conversion; the other, that God was 
 in earnest in calling them, and willing to save them. Of 
 another I have heard, that lately he preached about revivals^ 
 but now he proclaims the doctrine of salvation more than 
 before in a way calculated by the blessing of God really to 
 produce a revival. It is the word of the living God, delivered 
 in a Hving manner, which proves quickening and powerful ! 
 And here I would beg leave, with great humility, just to 
 suggest the inquiry, whether the preaching of our day, 
 generally speaking, has been altogether of the description for 
 plainness, for godly sincerity, and home-dealing, which comes 
 to men's business and bosoms; and, whether it would not 
 appear, at the close of too many sermons, almost incongruous 
 to expect that there may have been made such an impression 
 as to lead any of the audience to stay behind, waiting and 
 seeking further counsel And further, may not the question 
 be salutary, Are not some pulpit addresses, though unexcep- 
 tionable as to doctrine, yet too much of an abstract descrip- 
 tion, and in the style of what is brought before an audience 
 as hearers and judges, instead of being addressed to them as 
 matters of personal and most pressing concern ; and is not 
 the sound too general and uncertain to leave a decided and 
 deep impression ] It is amazing, and it is lamentable, how 
 many able and doctrinally sound discourses are delivered 
 from Sabbath to Sabbath in the pulpits of our lands, of the 
 practical, converting efficiency of which there are so few pal- 
 pable fruits and evidences. Is there not too often a substi- 
 tution of the intellect for the heart 1 — of human reasoning, 
 for the demonstration of the Spirit % Is there not a defect 
 of prayer^ and a practical forgetting of the often-repeated 
 text, " Not by mighty nor poiver, but by my Spirit, saith the 
 Lord of hosts 1 " Do we not expect too little^ and that because 
 we pray too little^ and too coldly ? Certain it is, that there is 
 a defect, — a great defect somewhere, and we have probably 
 touched upon some of the points in question, which may be 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A EEVIVAL. 233 
 
 useful in suggesting tlie remedy and tlie means of promoting 
 a more awakened feeling and frame in speaking and hearing 
 God's word. Of certain preachers who were peculiarly suc- 
 cessful, it is said " their sermons are not distinguished by 
 what is called talent; few of them exhibit marks of power- 
 ful genius : they are plain, energetic, and manly. No attempt 
 at oratorical display; no poetical description; no meta- 
 physical dissertation; no learned criticism; but simple^ 
 practical truth forcibly presented, illustrated, and applied." 
 May the number of such preachers be increased a hundred- 
 fold in all the Churches ; may the Lord pour out his Spirit 
 more copiously on preachers and hearers ; then there will be 
 a speaking as of dying men to dying men, feeling themselves 
 so; and of living men to living men, — of heart to heart ! 
 
 Another very valuable means of carrying forward the work 
 of revival is pastoral visitation. Waiving all general remarks 
 on the unquestionable importance of this department of 
 ministerial duty, I would remark, that besides that these 
 visits are from various causes generally few and far between, 
 there is another imperfection too commonly attendant upon 
 the mode in which they are conducted, and that is, too little 
 holy earnestness and closeness and familiarity of the proper 
 kind, similar to that of the inquiries of a beloved friend or 
 family physician. There is apt to be too much ceremony, 
 and too distant and too general and vague application, to be 
 a likely means of leaving a permanent impression. Now, a 
 season of revival affords manifest openings and facilities for 
 closer and more home address. The awakening of so many 
 to concern about salvation, and the beneficial change upon 
 the life and conversation of neighbours and relatives, natu- 
 rally give rise to a more free, and at the same time a pecu- 
 liarly solemn mode of address. Such scenes bring into 
 nearer contact with the condition of souls, and place us 
 together as it were on the borders of eternity and the judg- 
 ment-seat of Christ. We come at once to deal with our 
 people, — young and old, — about matters of near and ever- 
 lasting moment. Instead of a few remarks on relative duties, 
 and it may be, hearing a few questions from the youthful 
 members of the family, with a prayer — there will be (not 
 
234 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 forced in, but naturally introduced), serious conversation with 
 each member as to how it now fares with them, and how 
 their souls are ] The idea I wish to convey is thus well 
 expressed, in describing family visitation as practised by 
 Presbyterian Churches transatlantic : " Visiting a family for 
 the express purpose of religious inquiry, in order to ascertain 
 the religious state of the heads of the family, and of every 
 member; the amount of their Bible knowledge, and the 
 manner in which they perform their acknowledged duties ; 
 and especially to ascertain whether they are really seeking 
 God. The visit is purely pastoral ; and as it is by no means 
 considered requisite for the physician to travel all round the 
 circle of general topics before he can venture to allude to the 
 purposes of his visit, so neither is this deenaed necessary for 
 the minister; he feels at liberty at once to enter upon 
 inquiries relating to the soul. These inquiries are often put 
 in the plainest and most pointed form to the individual, and 
 no evasion permitted. If the question be put, ^ Are you 
 living in the habit of prayer 1 ' and the answer be evasive, it 
 would be immediately followed by the plain question, ' Did 
 you pray this morning ? had you communion with God % * 
 and followed by perhaps nothing more than an affectionate 
 pressure of the hand, and a fatherly caution to beware of 
 going back. Worldly conversation, perplexing inquiries, 
 doctrinal disputes, find no place; the only subject is the 
 application of the great doctrine of salvation to the con- 
 sciences of the hearers, according to their capacities and 
 attainments." Now, no doubt, wisdom is profitable to direct 
 here, how far such close questioning may in some cases be 
 practicable, or for edification; but certainly, holy zeal and 
 affection may do very much to make that a very interesting 
 work which is either too much neglected, or too formally and 
 coldly performed, and make it a promising means of carrying 
 forward a revival. A season like the present surely should be 
 seized, for getting into more close dealing with the hearts 
 and consciences of our people; and, in the majority of cases, 
 having to deal with the poor and unlearned, access will be 
 found more easily, and acceptably, and usefully than might at 
 first be apprehended. Connected with this also, the cate- 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A REVIVAL. 
 
 235 
 
 chetical and conversational manner of visiting families, in 
 order to impart solid views of divine truth, and to establish 
 the weak and lately awakened, is most requisite and desirable, 
 seeing that it is through the influence of family religion that 
 a revival of religion is likely to pervade and to be handed 
 down in its blessed influence to succeeding times.^ (See the 
 Directory for Visitation of Families, in our Confession of 
 Faith.) 
 
 This brings me to speak of Bihle classes for religious in- 
 struction conducted by ministers, and by pious and intelli- 
 gent Christians under their superintendence. These have 
 been greatly honoured of God as supplemental to the blessed 
 and scrip turally-approved example of " commanding children 
 and household to keep the way of the Lord, and to do judg- 
 ment and justice." There is warrant also for the Sabbath 
 classes, for we read of one teaching his brother, saying, Know 
 the Lord ; and Cain's answer is recorded, not for approval, 
 but as a beacon, " Am I my brother's keeper 1 " The answer 
 is, "Yes, you ought to care for a brother; and especially for 
 such as cannot, or will not care for themselves." True, every 
 family should be a Sabbath school, and a prayer meeting 
 — yea, a Church ; but in order to bring about such a glorious 
 result, every Scriptural means must be used, and such schools 
 of the prophets as -jvell-conducted Sabbath classes should be 
 
 1 The following remarks appear to me very valuable: "From long observation 
 of facts I have been particularly impressed with the importance of early instruction. 
 I feel more strongly attached to the good old way, trodden by the venerable fathers 
 of the Reformation in Scotland, and Holland, and England, and afterwards by our 
 pilgrim fathers, who brought the light of 'immortality and light' to our western 
 wilderness. With them the instruction of youth in the elementary doctrines of 
 religion, by catechising and pastoral visitation, -was an important part of ministerial 
 labour. The revered Flavel, in 1688, addressing the Puritans, remarks thus: 
 ' Pmdence will direct us to lay a good foundation among our people by catechising 
 and instructing them in the principles of Christianity, without which we labour in 
 vain. Unless we have a knowing people, we are unlikely to have a gracious people. 
 All our excellent sermons shall be dashed upon the rock of their ignorance. What 
 age of the world has produced more lively and steadfast professors than the first 
 ages? and tVienthis duty (of catechising) most eminently flourished in the Church. 
 Clemens, Optatus, Austin, Ambrose, Basil, were catechists.' This hath therefore 
 been a constant practice in the Church; and in the first ages they had a particular 
 person set apart to this office." —See Appendix to Sprague's Lectures (CoUins's 
 Kdition), Letter X., by Dr. Proudfoot, — a most valuable letter, where all are 
 ejtccJlent. 
 
236 
 
 tLLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 earnestly encouraged. On these fhe blessing of God lias 
 abundantly rested. Frequently has it been observed that, in 
 revivals the Bible classes and Sunday schools have been 
 deeply alFected; they have felt the first influence of God's 
 grace, and the great work has sometimes commenced with 
 them. Before leaving this head, I would just observe, that 
 from the local "plan of Sabbath schooling, by drawing as it 
 were a circle round a station, and collecting the neglected 
 children enclosed, much good has resulted. Three years ago, 
 by tlms " assaying to do good^^ a large call for Bibles resulted, 
 and other blessed effects connected with the present revival 
 — such as increase of prayer meetings, a desire for good 
 reading, attendance on ordinances, saving benefit to not a 
 few of youthful age. 
 
 Another means of carrying forward revivals is the 
 appointment of days of fasting- and of thanksgiving. I am 
 persuaded that we are guilty of criminal neglect in this 
 respect, in not being more observant of the spiritual and 
 moral signs, as well as the occurring events which call for 
 such appointments. The following, referring to the early 
 history of our American Presbyterian brethren, seems to be 
 well worthy of notice. Hutchison, in his history of Massa- 
 chusetts, says, " The fathers laid aside the fasts and feasts of 
 the Church of England, and appointed, as occasion required, 
 days of fasting and prayer, to implore the divine blessing 
 upon their affairs. This practice has been continued down 
 to the present time (1829). If the savages threatened to 
 exterminate their settlement, the fathers appointed a fast ; 
 if religion languished, they held a solemn fast. At different 
 periods this practice has been observed ever since among 
 •the Churches ; and very frequently have great blessings been 
 granted, after days of supplication, accompanied by solemn 
 fasts. So of days of thanksgiving.'' Upon this subject I 
 would very humbly suggest that congregational or parochial 
 fasts and thanksgivings^ occasioned by some more than usual 
 breaking forth of evil on the one hand, or of good on the 
 other, seem highly beneficial. The experiment was made in 
 the parish of Kilsyth, in the year 1830, on account of appall- 
 ing moral depravity prevailing. The appointment was much 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A REVIVAL. 
 
 237 
 
 honoured of God and respected by man, though at first 
 opposed by some. The reasons for it were set forth in a 
 memorial by the session, and read for two Sabbaths pre- 
 viously. It was followed by a blessing. All the Command- 
 ents were gone over, in a portion of the sermon as well as in 
 prayer^ and special, very special, notice of the hreax:hes that 
 had been most promnient. That day is still remembered by 
 many, and referred to with interest. The first day of this year 
 (1840) ivas a thanksgiving day and a prayer day, A similar 
 appointment was very lately made by one of the brethren in 
 Edinburgh, owing to the inadvertent admission of some un- 
 worthy communicants, the observance of which had a very 
 solemnizing effect, and, I believe, has not been without its 
 visible good fruits. This is a course which ought to be 
 more frequently resorted to. Before an ordination, for 
 example, how suitable to have a day, or a part of it, spent 
 in fasting and prayer. In the first platform of Presbytery 
 after the Eeformation, as described in the Geneva Confession, 
 this is to be found. ^ 
 
 But these observations, though referring to points of great 
 importance, under the head of means of carrying forward 
 revivals, may be perhaps judged too general, and more 
 specialty may be demanded. These specialties, however, 
 may more properly be dealt with under the second head. 
 
 II. Errors to he guarded against in the matter of revivals. 
 
 Errors and mistakes indeed are incident to everything to 
 which man puts his hand. In the case of ordinary duties, 
 the danger is formality. In services and duties more unusual, 
 as in the case of the work of revival, the errors to which 
 ministers and office-bearers are exposed are of a different 
 character ; either, on the one hand, in being too easily 
 satisfied with cases, in healing too slightly, and being too 
 ready to give comfort ; or, on the other, in putting stumbling- 
 
 1 *'The ministers and elders, at such times as there wanteth a minister, assemble 
 the whole congregation," &c. "At the which time the minister exhorteth them 
 to humble themselves to God by fasting and prayer (Acts xiii. 14, &c.), that both 
 their election may be agreeable to his will, and also profitable to the Church." — 
 " Geneva Confession," received and approved by the Church of Scotland, 1560, John 
 Knox being minister. 
 
238 
 
 ILLUSTEATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 blocks in the way, and denying the application of the balm 
 of consolation where it ought to be administered. Certain it 
 is, on the one side, that awakening, conviction, weeping and 
 trembling, are not conversion, though often the commence- 
 ment of a saving change ; therefore there should be a sifting 
 process as a preliminary to comforting. On the other hand, 
 it is the divine will and command that each one to whom 
 the gospel offer is made should immediately believe, and so 
 have life, without being kept for weeks, or even days, in 
 despair; and, therefore, we are 'sure that there is no Scrip- 
 ture warrant for keeping anxious inquirers a certain length of 
 time in legal bondage and labouring in the fire ere the free 
 offer of salvation is made to them. Again, there is an error 
 into which those not acquainted with the work are very apt to 
 fall, and that is, w^hen there appears to be any melting and 
 evident commotion among the hearers, straightway to get 
 alarmed, and to msh to have all the subjects of such distress 
 instantly removed ; and again, to become impatient of deten- 
 tion — to wish, in short, to shut all up decently, it may be 
 with a few words of prayer and advice, and so to conclude. 
 There is a great and manifest danger of thus quashing and 
 deadening convictions both in the distressed and in attendant 
 friends and observers. In relation to the question, what is 
 duty when — as is sometimes, though not always the case in 
 such awakenings — there are sobbings or outcries of the 
 spiritually- wounded, I will here recite some of Mr. Robe's 
 observations on this subject, with this remark that, when we 
 were tried exactly in a similar way recently, in the church- 
 yard scene which I have elsewhere described, we followed the 
 same plan as Mr. Eobe had been led to pursue, without any 
 special reference at the time to his mode and the reasons he 
 assigned. Similarity of cases led to a similar treatment. 
 Mr. Eobe had been previously anxious on this subject, and 
 had made resolves that so soon as any fell under remarkable 
 distress, they should be carried out of the congregation into 
 a separate place ; he also prayed that, if it were the holy 
 will of God, he would bring them to a sight of their sin and 
 danger without those bodily distresses, which were so un- 
 pleasant to behold, so distressing to the people themselves, 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A REVIVAL. 
 
 239 
 
 and offensive to several. " The Lord in a little time dis- 
 covered to me my error and imprudence in this I 
 
 observed that some were awakened while they had the dis- 
 tressed in their sight, and heard exhortations given in the 
 place where they were convened. From this I was per- 
 suaded that the example of others under spiritual terrors and 
 distress was one of the means the Lord was pleased to bless. 
 .... I am now of opinion, after all I have seen and ex- 
 perienced relative to this work, that it is best to leave the 
 distressed to their liberty, and in the congregation, if they 
 incline, until it be dismissed. No means that Providence 
 puts into our hands is to be omitted that hath a tendency to 
 awaken secure sinners." 
 
 In these sentiments I entirely accord with my venerated 
 predecessor. In reference to one of the remarkable days of 
 the present revival already noticed, I may just farther remark 
 that I felt a tendency to the error Mr. Eobe says he fell into 
 at the first — namely, to take away the distressed by them- 
 selves, which would have left many equally anxious unad- 
 dressed, and might have arrested the progress of the work, 
 and prevented much of the good which we know resulted 
 from continued appeals ; for we know that the Lord works 
 by the use of means, and that sympathy with and reasonings 
 from the case of the distressed are among the means which he 
 is pleased to employ. The few sentences following are from 
 the remarkably judicious letter on this subject addressed to 
 Mr. Robe, and introduced into liis narrative : " If the King 
 of glory descends in his majesty among you, and strikes 
 secure sinners with the terrors of his wrath, whereby they 
 are made, from a felt sense of their perishing condition, to 
 cry out, * What must I do to be saved % ' why must these 
 trophies of his victory be removed out of the assembly % This 
 cry is what was common in the apostles' time, and no doubt 
 will be so again, and much more abundant as the glory of 
 the latter day approaches." And again — " Christ will plead 
 his own cause, and wisdom is justified of her children." 
 How true also is that which follows, of which I have often 
 thought since the beginning of this work : "'There is no end, 
 and there can be no good fruit of seeking to obviate the 
 
240 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 objections of an ungodly world, and the company of carnal, 
 worldly professors. Their cavils will be innumerable," &c. 
 In reality one of the greatest errors to be dreaded, and 
 watched, and prayed against, is that of excessive caution 
 under the guise of prudence, in anxiety to avoid giving 
 offence to worldly people, who can never l3e reconciled by all 
 you can do, to anything in the shape of a revival of religion. 
 We never should attempt to make it palatable to those who 
 cannot suffer anything like vital religion in any form. No 
 doubt the good moral effects resulting the men of the world 
 may be competent in some degree to appreciate, and it is 
 good to have these to appeal to in answering objections; but 
 in the conducting of the revival itself, there must be no 
 respect to what worldly friends may say, or even to the 
 opinion of cold-hearted professors, who are too easily satisfied 
 to let things go on as they are, rather than take much 
 trouble or run any risk of being excepted at by the friends 
 of what has been called rational religion. Needless offence 
 is not to be given, nor are we to be regardless of the censure 
 of observers further than a sense of duty and the command, 
 " Be not conformed to the world," demand ; but we appre- 
 hend, after all, that the error of excessive caution is much 
 more common among us ^ than the opposite of too much zeal, 
 v/hile, most certainly, all things should be " done decently and 
 in order." This is a general salutary rule, for God is the God 
 of order in all the Churches. Nevertheless the Lord worketh 
 variously, and sometimes as it were cometh out of his place, 
 making bare his arm, and there is a flying tliick of his 
 
 1 I have said, '■'■among us" for it appears from various passages in the valuable 
 appendix to Sprague's Lectures, that in America there are lamentable excesses and 
 follies connected with the subject of revivals. I quote the following sentences from 
 an able and judicious letter of Dr. Griffin, as a warning against all that would justly 
 prejudice the cause: " Let the attention of the world be aroused by every hallowed 
 means; let the imagination and passions be wrought upon as far as the most sweet, 
 and solemn, and awful truths of God can move them ; let every knee be pressed to 
 the earth in prayer, and every authorized tongue be strained with entreaties to 
 dying men ; let the whole operation be as impressive, as irresistible, as love, and 
 truth, and eloquence can make it. But oh, for the honour of Christ and his Spirit, 
 and in pity to the cultivated millions of our race, let revivals be ccmducted with order 
 and taste (and, we add, with Scriptural simplicity and unction), and shun eveiy- 
 thing by which our brethren may be offended or made to fall I " 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A REVIVAL. 
 
 241 
 
 arrows, piercing many hearts, and breaking of rocks with a 
 kind of loud explosion. Sometimes, again, it may be truly 
 said that there " cometh the sound of earthquake, and of 
 strong wind ; " and yet the Lord is not in these, " but in the 
 still, small voice," calling to solemn reflection and deep mus- 
 ing. In all meetings of God's people, let us ever remember 
 that we stand in awe : " The Lord is in his holy temple, let 
 all keep silence before him." 
 
 Another evil to be guarded against in a season of revival 
 is, the intrusion of controversy and of novel doctrines; not new, 
 it may be, in actual existence, but as relates to the place and 
 the people where the awakening may be in progress. " Be- 
 ware," says the judicious Halyburton, " beware of vain 
 speculations and curiosities in religion." These tend sadly 
 to blight the springing of the ear of grace, if, indeed, they 
 do not not choke it even in the blade. This applies to 
 societies and classes as well as to individuals. In Glenlyon 
 the introduction of the controversy about infant baptism 
 proved most injurious to the revival wliich had begun, and 
 which, previously to this unhappy controversy, was advanc- 
 ing so auspiciously. The enemy got advantage, and instead 
 of the all-important questions, " What shall I do to be 
 saved ^ " and " How are we to grow in grace " the torch was 
 thrown in, and the community set in a flame about the mode 
 and the subjects of baptism. The former of these — the 
 question about dipping and immersion, is usually introduced 
 in the first place (though assuredly of minor importance), 
 which, when practically illustrated by the actual immersion 
 of a few, gives to the careless, to scoff'ers, and to formalists, 
 just what they wish, in order to involve the whole matter 
 of religious revival in ridicule, and to turn men's minds away 
 entirely from the real controversy which is carrying on 
 against the stupidity, worldliness, and irreligion of an un- 
 toward generation, and for the destruction of " all the works 
 of the devil." The attempt has been repeatedly made in 
 Kilsyth by certain of the American Baptists, who, by the way, 
 are very unsound in their creed in essential points : while 
 the particular Baptists have not been amenable to the cen- 
 sure of bringing forward their peculiar views, but, as far as 
 
242 
 
 ILLUSTEATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 known to us, liave rejoiced in the work of grace, and wished 
 Tis success. We have much reason to be thankful that the 
 class I have referred to above have been hitherto defeated 
 entirely, and that their attempts to distract prayer meetings 
 by introducing their favourite subjects have been most 
 strenuously and harmoniously resisted. The attempts of the 
 Koman Catholics, and of Socinians, and the teachers of 
 universal pardon, have been equally unsuccessful. I am 
 happy to say that our people cannot endure unsound doctrine ; 
 and when they hear the word as they have heard it from a 
 great number of ministers from various places of the Church, 
 they have shown the opposite of a captious spirit, and have, 
 we know, been much deUghted and edified with the unifor- 
 mity of Scriptural doctrine, with which they have been so 
 highly favoured. " The sheep of Christ hear his voice, and a 
 stranger will they not follow." Yet we are justly jealous of 
 such strangers making entry, and of " grievous wolves not 
 sparing the flock." 
 
 When I speak of the danger of controversy to the on-going 
 of a revival, I wish not to be misunderstood, as if the true 
 faith in its whole extent were not to be uniformly maintained, 
 and as if a genuine revival were not in fact just a powerful 
 and successful combat with error in doctrine and in practice. 
 Instead of hanging out a flag of truce to the Arminians, for 
 example, the great truths which are so fully set forth in th& 
 epistle to the Romans have been illustrated and expounded, 
 as an antidote to their errors during two years past. It was 
 not then by avoiding controverted subjects, and simply 
 dwelling on truths common to professing Christians, as some 
 would recommend, but by " not shunning to declare the 
 whole counsel of God ; " by dwelling on every doctrine of 
 the Bible, whether controverted or not, or however repulsive 
 to the carnal mind, and by bringing all to the test of Scripture, 
 that the work was promoted. What, in fact, has a Christian to 
 do but to carry on a constant, unremitting warfare with 
 error, both doctrinal and practical — a casting out and killing 
 bad seed, and sowing and watering the good 1 
 
 I cannot refrain here from just hinting, in relation to a 
 very stirring subject at present, that nothing could be con- 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A EEVIVAL. 
 
 243 
 
 ceived more tlircatening to tlie ongoing of sucli a blessed 
 work as that we are privileged to witness, than would be the 
 INTRUSION of a minister in opposition to the seriously felt 
 and solemnly expressed convictions of the people that they 
 could not be spiritually edified by his ministrations. If the 
 calling for the serious, prayerful consideration of this subject 
 at the present crisis of our Church, should be viewed by any 
 one as an infringement of the rule I have been illustrating, — 
 namely, the evil influence of controversy, I would only say in 
 addition to what I have just advanced, that in our apprehen- 
 sion, we might as well at once abandon the Church of our 
 fathers, dear as it is to us, in which, in 1742 and in 1839, 
 such glorious things have been done for us, whereof we are 
 glad, as continue in stupid inactivity, when the enemies of 
 her true interests would deal with her as the Philistines 
 with Samson, when, his strength having departed, they pro- 
 ceeded to put out his eyes, and make him grind in the prison- 
 house, the sport of his enemies. Surely we should be already 
 blind and enchained, did we not arise as one man to use all 
 diligence that our views and wishes on this subject may not 
 be mistaken. Surely our thus praying unceasingly for the 
 . prosperity of our Sion, and our holding fast that which is 
 good, and our not despising prophesying^ as those do who put 
 nothing to the account of interesting, and unctuous, and 
 sound preaching of the word (which are very essential ele- 
 ments of acceptable ministrations), but who think anything 
 wliich is not absolutely heathenish and heretical good enough 
 for our people, — our taking a strong view of the present 
 position of our Church, as calling for all our earnestness of 
 prayer and exertion, cannot be amenable to the cliarge of 
 " quenching the Spirit," whose office it is to testify of Jesus 
 Christ, as the Church's Head and great Shepherd. In this 
 great cause it is good to be zealous, and we use weapons, not 
 carnal^ " but mighty through God to the pulling down of 
 strongholds." 
 
 Further, to promote, consolidate, and perpetiiate a revival, 
 let us be on our guard against superficial and ill-cemented 
 systems of religious doctrine and practice. In a period of 
 awakening, the feelings are excited, the conscience roused ; 
 
244 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS, 
 
 exercises of prayer and praise much engaged in ; psalmody is 
 unusually lively ; the hymn-hooh is by some converts speci- 
 ally exercised; but the Catechism and the Confession of 
 Faith, and even the Sacred Scriptures themselves, are in 
 danger of being in a measure neglected. In a sound revival, 
 certainly the word of the living God, the grand means of 
 regeneration, and of progressive holiness, must be prized 
 above all other books ; and so we are happy to find it gene- 
 rally among us : yet some of the awakened have been, it is 
 frankly acknowledged, but very imperfectly grounded in the 
 principles "of the faith delivered to the saints." Some of 
 them never had the form of sound words at all ; by others all 
 had been forgotten in the days of their ungodliness. If, 
 therefore, pains be not taken to communicate solid. Scriptural 
 views, and to indoctrinate both the head and the heart, there 
 may be anticipated a plentiful crop of very green weak stalks, 
 which may never ripen at all, or which will produce at best 
 only a very small quantity of good grain. There is much 
 need therefore to be at all due pains, both in preacliing pub- 
 licly, and in teaching privately from house to house, to 
 explain clearly and fully, and, at the same time, affectionately 
 and attrcuctively^ the doctrines and the duties of Christi- 
 anity, and the close connection betwixt them; so that the 
 word of Christ may dwell in the converts richly^ and that 
 they may learn to do all, in word and in deed, in the name of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ; giving thanks through him; and 
 teaching and admonishing themselves and others; "building 
 up in their most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 
 keeping themselves in the love of God, and looking for the 
 mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." There 
 must be much watchfulness, lest when men sleep the enemy 
 sow tares, which will grow up much more readily and luxu- 
 riantly where there is a lack of good seed sown. 
 
 Another error I would point at is, the yielding to the 
 opposing influence, and the failing of ardour to push the 
 advantage gained, and being in a manner satisfied that enough 
 has been gained, or at least as much as can be expected ; the 
 conviction that we need not look for the continuance beyond 
 a certain limited period of such a lively state of religion in a 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A REVIVAL. 
 
 245 
 
 parish or congregation; in short, a taking it almost as a 
 matter of course, that after a revival there shall be a decline, 
 Tliis, indeed, is what the enemies of such a work are always 
 setting forth, as an objection to any work of this kind, that 
 any benefit which might seem to be gained by the awakened 
 energies and feelings of Christians in such a season, is more 
 than counterbalanced by a consequent depression, or even an 
 outbreaking of opposite passions and feelings. Now, there 
 is certainly no necessity iov such an unhappy result ; no reason 
 why the increase of the power of religious truth over the 
 mind, and conscience, and hearts of men should be attended 
 with so deplorable a result as that which has been alleged. 
 On the contrary, as is true of evil, that a "little leaven 
 leaveneth the whole lump," so also is it true of good. True 
 rehgion is both of a diffusive and of a perpetuating quality. 
 Genuine piety is not like the seeds which are called annuals ; 
 it is rather of the perennial kind. Still, the objection of the 
 enemies of revivals, that they are apt to prove like the morn- 
 ing cloud and early dew, may, and ought to be improved 
 upon, as showing us what we should guard against, and that 
 with much concern, with continued care and diligent use of 
 the means, especially with earnest prayer. Let not diligence 
 be relaxed, nor prayer cease, nor concert for united interces- 
 sion and pleading be broken or intermitted. Mr. Eobe 
 laments this in 1749, and says, "Had the concert been 
 renewed which had begun about 1744, who can tell but that 
 the revival would have been much more extensive and con- 
 tinuous ? The means already pointed out may, by the divine 
 blessing, secure this most desirable result. But among the 
 errors to be watched and guarded against, this of losing heart, 
 and lowering or stinting our expectation, or shortening our 
 aim, is to be particularly noted ; and in opposition to this 
 error, as the Apostle Paul exhorts,^ " Let us labour," — the 
 word signifies let us be ambitious^ — " that whether present 
 or absent, we may be accepted of him." Let us not only 
 "hold fast that which we have, that no man take our crown," 
 but seek with intense holy ardour of sacred ambition, that 
 
 * 2 Corinthians v. 9. 
 
246 
 
 TLLUSTEATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 the temple of the Lord may be carried on, and raised still to 
 a more elevated and commanding height, pointing to the 
 skies. Let not the builders slacken their exertions ; let not 
 the watchers go to slumber. Let the Lord's remembrancers 
 not keep silence, but " give him no rest till he establish and 
 make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." 
 
 I will advert to another error, which we may be in danger 
 of falling into in a season of revival ; or rather, an error on 
 the right and left, — namely, the error on the one hand of a 
 reluctance to go to any extent beyond the regular dispensa- 
 tion of religious ordinances ; and the opposite error of making 
 more of the extraordinary, to the disparagement of the 
 regular and weekly dispensation of word and sacrament. The 
 preaching of the word not only out of the usual seasons, but 
 also out of the usual "place^ some people have such an aver- 
 sion to, that the very fact of sermons delivered to crowds in a 
 market-place, or church-yard, and the congregating such 
 numbers of people at the communion, are regarded by them 
 with suspicion, if not positively condemned; but the facts 
 are unquestionable, that by this going out as it were to the 
 highways and hedges, many poor wanderers have been brought 
 in; and the influence of the truth much more extensively 
 diffused than could have been othervv^ise; the seed of the 
 word has in this way been carried far beyond the boundaries 
 of a small district, and not a few added to the Church of such 
 as shall be saved. The dispensation of the supper in the 
 unusual circumstances of a parish where there is a revival, 
 seems to possess the advantage, besides its direct end in the 
 edification and comfort of newly-converted disciples, of caus- 
 ing the word of the gospel to come to the ears and hearts of 
 many who might not otherwise ever know the jo3rful sound, 
 and of quickening the affections and graces of God's people. 
 The assembling, too, in the house of God much more fre- 
 quently than in ordinary times, while the desire for hearing 
 continues, and sowing in large measure the good seed, assur- 
 edly is the part of wisdom, and accordant with the maxim 
 and practice of the wise preacher, who "still taught the people 
 knowledge ; " and the rule, " In the morning sow thy seed, 
 and in the evening withhold not^ for thou knowest not which 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A REVIVAL. 
 
 247 
 
 shall prosper — this or that^ or whether both shall not be 
 alike good." Beware, then, of the error of withholding 
 abundance of good seed, and of neglecting to afford opportu- 
 nities of hearing the word ; for if you do, the enemy will be 
 at work, and sow a plentiful crop of w^eeds, which will grow 
 up luxuriantly. To prevent chaff, and worse, even bad seed 
 getting in, fill up the vessel and then the ground with abun- 
 dance of good seed — even sound and healthful doctrine. 
 
 On the other hand, it would be an error still worse than 
 the former, were we to give any Idnd of prominence to the 
 extraordinary, above the ordinary and regularly recurring 
 means of grace, to prefer the prayer meeting to the church, or 
 to give any countenance to the idea, that there is some unac- 
 countable virtue or charm in an out-of-door sermon, or in the 
 congregating of multitudes, which in vain may be looked for 
 within a church or in the ordinary Sabbath-day worship. 
 Our Lord assures us, that "wherever two or three are 
 gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of 
 my people. Lo ! I am with you always,''^ 
 
 I have remarked an evil which did incidentally and in part 
 result from ministers about forty years ago so often leaving 
 their own churches vacant, that they might assist at com- 
 munions, the consequence of which was that too many of the 
 people relaxed their attendance on the weekly returning Sab- 
 baths, feeling no reluctance, nor thinking it any breach of the 
 Fourth Commandment, to remain in their houses every now 
 and then, as the appearance of a shower of rain, or of snow, 
 or even as indolence suggested. Now, it is worthy of consi- 
 deration, that the frequently repeated meetings for worship 
 during a period of revival, unless there be much pains and 
 prayer directed to meet and obviate tliis evil, may lead or 
 rather be perverted to this very hurtful end, namely, a sin- 
 ful neglect of gathering the manna fresh every day and every 
 Sabbath. There is certainly this evil to be anxiously guarded 
 against, a depending on new excitements, instead of hearing 
 what " the Spirit is daily saying to the Churches." The re- 
 gular exercises of worship and ordinary means of grace may 
 be compared to the regular channels and conduits through 
 which the waters are conveyed, which keep them from over- 
 
248 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 spreading and demolishing the surface exposed to them ; and 
 these being kept always open and in repair, the unusually 
 copious descending of vapour in the abundant showers, or 
 even the flood, has conductors prepared, and in a state of 
 readiness to receive it. In fine, the great and summing evil, 
 if we may so express it, is just the " quenching the Spirit." 
 We know what quenches flame, to which there is an allusiou 
 in the text. It may be quenched by being overlaid ; so is 
 the Spirit by the cares of the world, by cold speculation. 
 Fire is quenched by neglect^ by being left unstirred ; so is the 
 Spirit by not stirring up the gift ; or by withholding material ; 
 so, in a spiritual sense, by not supplying the fuel of medita- 
 tation and reading the word and prayer; or by want of air, 
 or by foul air ; for flame goes out in an exhausted receiver, 
 and is extinguished by pouring impure air upon it, or water, 
 or any other element adverse to it ; so is the Spirit quenched 
 by the exclusion of the holy atmosphere of heavenly desire, 
 and by unsavoury temper and conversation, or by conformity 
 to the world and secularity of spirit, especially in ministers 
 and elders. The livid flame of envy and malice, too, eats out 
 the holy fire of divine love ; and, as the separation of the em- 
 bers, and scattering and dividing the material which feeds the 
 flame, soon cause the fire to go out ; so the divisions among 
 brethren quench the Spirit, and arrest the progress of revival. 
 Here I would further suggest, in concluding this head, 
 that there is need of much grace to establish and keep the 
 heart, for Satan is always busy, and when shut out at one 
 avenue he will try another. When he cannot get us inveigled 
 in the snares which have been detected and broken, he will 
 try to get us to worship some other idol, and to make even 
 duties a snare ; he will come even into prayer meetings when 
 other meetings are abandoned ; and he will try to pervert 
 these by spiritual pride — by speculation — by setting some 
 of the members, whose natural temper may have that ten- 
 dency to vie with others which shall pray most fluently ; and 
 may be tempting us to speak of the number of our prayer 
 meetings, as if these were the certain and almost the only 
 evidences required of real godliness and of growth in grace. 
 Thus we fear the Spirit of God has often been grieved away ; 
 
MODE OF CONDUCTING A EEVIVAL. 249 
 
 and even prayer meetings may have become the germs of 
 division instead of godly edifying. We cannot be too much 
 on our guard in these respects, for grace is a plant of a 
 tender kind, and so is a revival of a tender and delicate na- 
 ture. Let none of these social prayer meetings be a substi- 
 tute for the domestic altar, or the secret worship of the 
 closet. Let us " keep the heart with all diligence, for out of 
 it are the issues of life." Let there be a Church in every 
 house — and let every heart be an altar. Thus, instead of 
 quenching the Spirit, we must earnestly invite his stay ; we 
 must hate and renounce those sins which cause this " holy 
 dove to mourn, and which would drive him from our breast." 
 In our own spirits — in our families — in our Church — there 
 must no wicked thing be endured. Strict discipline among 
 our reputed converts, and in our members generally, must be 
 exercised ; a fast day may very soon be required, and we 
 humbled because of the sins which we fear may be com- 
 mitted in the management of this matter, which will be pe- 
 culiarly aggravated after what has been seen^ and tasted, and 
 professed. Here we may truly apply our Lord's words on a 
 certain occasion, in answer to the question of a disciple, 
 " Why could not we cast him out % " — " this kind goeth not 
 out but by prayer and fasting."^ It is not by mere " bust- 
 ling activity," nor by wisely-laid and strenuously prosecuted 
 schemes of either Church reform or enlargement ; it is not by 
 good planning, nor good writing and reasoning, nor by large 
 donations, nor by earnestness of zeal — no, not by all these 
 combined that the blessing is to be secured. All these are 
 good and needful, but they require to be all consecrated by 
 prayer — drawing down the unction of the Holy Ghost. 
 While, therefore, we plan, and labour, and plant, let us also 
 water ; for " God, the hearer of prayer, giveth the increase;" 
 "as for God, his work is perfect;" with him is the residue of 
 the Spirit. He promises to send, not only the soft dew unta 
 Israel, but " water upon the thirsty, and floods upon the dry 
 ground." 
 
 I have thus attempted the part assigned to me in this 
 
 1 Matthew xvii. 21. 
 
250 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 course on the interesting work of revival, treating of tlie 
 " mode of conducting it, and pointing out errors to be avoided.'.' 
 I fear that what R. Baxter remarks will be but too applicable 
 here, that upon everything that " man touches, he leaves the 
 marks of his fingers." Yet the Lord, whose work every genuine 
 revival is, can^ and will, notwithstanding, maintain and carry 
 forward his cause, as again his voice is distinctly heard in 
 his Church, crying, " Prepare ye the way of the Lord ; make 
 straight a high way ; let every valley be exalted, and every 
 mountain levelled ; and the crooked and rough places made 
 plain, that Jehovah alone may be exalted." Verily, " revival" 
 has come most seasonably. No time, it is true, is unseason- 
 able; but in many points the present is a very perilous and 
 momentous crisis ; and nothing, we are persuaded, could save 
 us but a powerful awakening from the deadly slumbers of 
 spiritual insensibility, and the pervading influence of genuine 
 godliness. There is only one way to regenerate society — the 
 same by which the individual is regenerated ; namely, by the 
 word of truth, which liveth and abideth for ever." The first 
 teachers of Christianity had no devices, but those of plain 
 truth and strong faith, and humble boldness, and fervent 
 love ; and the giving themselves to prayer and the preaching 
 of the word. Let it be said of us, as of them, " We believe, 
 and therefore speak ; we feel, and therefore persuade ; we de- 
 sire to do nothing against, but /or, the truth, that God in all 
 things may be glorified, through Jesus Christ ; to whom be 
 gloiy now and for ever ! " 
 
SERMON 1. 
 
 PREACHED IX THE CHURCH-YARD^ OF KILSYTH, AUGUST 12, 1838. 
 
 Tliy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and 
 sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth 
 shall cast out tlie dead." — Isa. xxvi. 19. 
 
 You were previously aware, my friends, from what text we 
 intended to address you this evening — the words which I have 
 now read in your hearing. They were inscribed in Hebrew 
 characters on the tombstone of his wife by the Rev. J. Robe.^ 
 Near that stone he himself rests, and his ministerial zeal and 
 eminent success, specially during the years 1742-1743, in the 
 conversion of souls, have erected for him a monument more 
 
 1 It was at these church-yard services that the old domestic pulpit mentioned in 
 Chapter I. was finally called into requisition. It, however, at last gave way under 
 the severe strain of the impassioned preaching of those stirring days. 
 
 3 The fact that the words of the text were engraved by Mr. Robe on the tomb- 
 stone of his wife in Hebrew characters is suggestive. It reminds us that he and 
 otliers of his time, who were instrumental in the revival of God's work, were not 
 mere religious enthusiasts (as the world would call them), that they were men of 
 erudition as well as ministers of Christ. It is well known that the famous Thomas 
 Boston of Ettrick was profoundly versed in the Hebrew language; and it may be 
 mentioned that the pious and learned Dr. Gillies of Glasgow persevered in the 
 study and published a manual of the language. Dr. Maculloch of Cambuslang also 
 attained to some proficiency in the same department of scholarship. And such 
 reminiscences naturally recall the honoured names of James and Andrew Melville, 
 and the appearance of the latter with his Hebrew Bible in his girdle before King 
 James. " There were giants in those days." In later and darker times— the times of 
 dead moderatism— the study of the language declined, and anything like an accurate 
 knowledge of it was not to be found ; indeed, it came to be a common proverb among 
 students, *' Hebrew roots in a barren soil." The students were generally satisfied 
 with such a knowledge of Latin and Greek, and perhaps of one of the modern lan- 
 guages, as was sufiflcient to gain for them admittance into a family ; anything beyond 
 this they did not think of seeking to acquire. In these later years we are glad to 
 notice that interest in the oldest of the sacred languages has revived, and that an 
 eminent degree of proficiency in it is by no means uncommon, and we trust that 
 while God's "work and power appear" again as in the days of old, there will 
 continue to be a learned as well as a holy and earnest ministry. — Note by Author^ 
 added ApriliSdd. — As to Hebrew studies, see his own practice, Chapter III. of this 
 Memoir. 
 
252 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 lasting than any reared by human hands, and formed of the 
 most- costly and durable material. Eighty-four years have 
 run on since his mortal remains were laid in the dust close to 
 the spot on which I now stand. The usual emblems of 
 mortality and of the swift and imperceptible lapse of time 
 are rudely sculptured on the stone— the ship before the wind, 
 the hour-glass, the quickly moving shuttle, together with 
 symbols of the mortal, putting on immortality, and of the 
 trumpet summoning to judgment. 
 
 But the words of the text inscribed on the open volume 
 express more plainly than any emblem or hieroglj^hic the 
 triumphant hope of the blessed who die in the Lord. The 
 letters are there in a language to most of us here unknown, 
 and they have been almost obliterated by the wasting of the 
 elements ; but, blessed be God, they are here quite legible^ as 
 you can all read them in the Bibles in your hands, in your 
 own tongue. Y/'hat cause have we for gratitude, my dear 
 friends, that it is so ; that we have not to decipher the cha- 
 racters before us ; that the grand and blessed doctrine is not 
 sealed up in a language known only to the learned, or written 
 in characters which time and the elements can obliterate, but 
 conveyed to us in language familiar, and which cannot be 
 misunderstood, "life and immortality being brought to light 
 by the gospel." Job, in ancient days (even as early as 
 the days of Abraham) expressed his behef in the doctrine 
 of the text. He wished his words to be written in a book, 
 to be engraven upon the rock, and lo ! it is fulfilled ; they are 
 in the faithful record, and more clearly and fully known than 
 if they had been literally committed to the memorial of solid 
 rock, even the most impervious to the waste of time. Hear 
 the profession of his faith and of his hope in a resurrection 
 to life : " I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that though 
 after my skin worms destroy this Body, yet in my flesh 
 shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and not 
 another; though my reins be consumed within me" (Job 
 xix. 25-27). 
 
 As it is intended to set up a monument in memory of the 
 good and eminently honoured minister to whom we have 
 already referred, whose name is so closely associated with the 
 
SERMON FIRST. 
 
 253 
 
 interesting revival of religion in 1742, and as we wish now 
 to improve the occasion, we have chosen the text which he 
 inscribed on the tombstone of his first wife as the subject of 
 this discourse. May the Lord vouchsafe his presence, favour, 
 and special blessing ! 
 
 Let us endeavour, then, to improve the subject and occasion 
 by explaining, in the first place, the text and context; by 
 presenting, secondly, some views of the cliief doctrine which 
 is set forth in it, and for which it has been selected as appro- 
 priate ; and by noticing, thirdly, some of the instructions we 
 are to derive from it. 
 
 I. In reference to the text and context, I would observe 
 that as in the thirty -seventh chapter of Ezekiel^ where the 
 resurrection of the dry bones in the valley of vision is 
 described, the primary reference is to the restoration of 
 Israel — to their recovery "as life from the dead," an event yet 
 future, but certain, and probably now near its accomplish- 
 ment. Many have been the alternate depressions and eleva- 
 tions of God's people, but we are assured that they shall yet 
 be exalted. " In that day will I make J erusalem a burden- 
 some stone for all people : all that burden themselves with it 
 shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be 
 gathered together against it." The "other lords" who had 
 had dominion over God's people are represented as " dead, 
 they shall not live, they are deceased, they shall not rise, 
 their memory shall perish." Contrasted with this degradation 
 and punishment to which the enemies of the people of God 
 were doomed is the blessed promise of the text : " Thy dead 
 shall live." Those that seemed to be dead, who had received 
 sentence of death in themselves, who were cast out as if 
 naturally dead — they shall appear again in the native vigour 
 of life. The Spirit of life shall come from God, shall enter 
 the slain, and shall raise up the dry bones as a mighty army 
 of living men. However low they may be brought, they 
 shall arise — even Jerusalem, though now lying as a dead body 
 or carcase to which the eagles are gathered together. And, 
 therefore, let the poor and scattered remains of God's ancient 
 people now dwelling in the dust awake and sing, for they 
 shall yet see Jerusalem in the glory of its former life. The 
 
254 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 dews descend upon the herbs which have been parched all 
 day by the sun's heat ; they refresh them, and cause them 
 to bring forth and bud so shall the dew of God's favour 
 descend upon his people, causing them again to live and 
 flourish. " The earth shall cast out the dead." The earth 
 contributes to the revival of the plants which seemed to lie 
 dead in it, — it casts them forth. And in like manner, not 
 merely the dew of heaven, but the fatness of earth also will 
 not be awanting in doing its part when the Church with 
 its interests is restored. 
 
 But there is, it may be, an allusion also to that which is 
 closely connected with the restoration of God's ancient people ; 
 along with their revival the fulness of the Gentiles shall come 
 in, and the promise of the text will be remarkably fulfilled 
 when Antichrist shall be overthrown — when Babylon shall 
 have fallen to rise no more — when Jew and Gentile, the 
 whole family of mankind, shall be united in one glorious 
 Church ! 
 
 But, further, the text most unquestionably has reference 
 to the final resurrection, and in particular to the resurrection 
 of the saints. To this we now turn. 
 
 II. The doctrine set forth in the text. We do not say that 
 this was what the prophet had directly in view, or what the 
 Spirit of God designed in this passage particularly to set 
 forth. The primary application of the passage we have 
 already shown. But the employment of the resurrection of 
 the body to illustrate the revival and triumphant progress of 
 Christ's Church and people, is a proof that the doctrine of the 
 resurrection was well established from the beginning, and 
 fully understood as part of the creed of God's ancient people. 
 Such illustration could not have been employed, had not the 
 doctrine of the resurrection been known and accredited. In 
 the creed of Abel, of Noah, of Job, of Abraham, of Moses, of 
 David, of Isaiah, of all the prophets, as well as in the creed 
 of the apostles, evangelists, and martyrs, the article of the 
 resurrection had a place. The Jewish doctors, indeed, com- 
 paring the text with the sixteenth verse of the chapter, infer 
 that only the Jews, only Abraham's posterity, shall rise ; but 
 our Lord tells us that " all that are in their graves shall hear 
 
SERMON FIRST. 
 
 255 
 
 the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth ; they that 
 have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they that 
 have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.'' 
 
 Brethren, this doctrine of the resurrection and of the 
 judgment is no new doctrine. Enoch, the seventh from 
 Adam, prophesied of it : " Behold, the Lord cometh with ten 
 thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all." Job 
 declared his belief and his hope in words which we have 
 already quoted. Moses heard it proclaimed at the burning 
 bush when God revealed himself as the God of Abraham, of 
 Isaac, and of Jacob, — the God " not of the dead, but of the 
 living." It appeared that the relation in which God stood to 
 his people was a connection not dissolved by death. David 
 thus expressed his faith and hope : " Thou wilt not leave my 
 soul in the grave ; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One 
 to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life : in 
 thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are 
 pleasures for evermore." And again, " As for me I will 
 behold thy face in righteousness : I shall be satisfied, when I 
 awake with thy likeness." 
 
 Daniel prophesied thus : " Many of them that sleep in tlie 
 dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and 
 some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be 
 wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they 
 that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and 
 ever" (Dan. xii. 2, 3). 
 
 Our Lord brought "life and immortality to light," that 
 is, he brought them into a light more dear and full. He 
 brought the resurrection prominently forward, he illustrated 
 and enforced it by parables, by promises and tlireatenings, by 
 reference to former revelations, and by his own rising from the 
 dead. The apostles taught the same doctrine, and proclaimed 
 as a ground of undoubting confidence, that Christ had risen. 
 He had risen and become "the first fruits of them that slept." 
 We have reason to be cheered by the blessed hope of the 
 gospel, " looking for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ : who 
 shall change the body of our humiliation, that it may be 
 fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working 
 whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." 
 
256 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 There were, indeed, those in the apostles' days who denied 
 the doctrine, " who said that the resurrection was past already, 
 and overthrew the faith of some." But those who were 
 baptized and took their places in the Church, filling up the 
 ranks instead of those who had fallen asleep, would not have 
 known what to turn to for comfort and support had they 
 been deprived of their hope of glory. "If in this life only 
 they had had hope, they would have been of all men most 
 miserable." They had good hope through grace, and were 
 sustained by it ; the blessed prospect of Christ's glorious 
 appearing filled them with peace and joy. 
 
 The answer Christ gave to those who so ignorantly and 
 unbelievingly questioned him regarding the future state, was : 
 " Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." 
 They erred concerning his promise to raise the dead, and his 
 power to accomplish it ; but their error was one rather of the 
 heart than of the head — it was that of the Epicureans of 
 old, who said, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die;" 
 it was simply a preference of a portion here to a portion in 
 eternity. See that ye adhere to the ancient faith delivered 
 to the saints, " Why should it be thought a thing incredible 
 that God should raise the dead 1 " The heathen, indeed, did not 
 know the doctrine; the philosophers rejected it as impossible, 
 or as contrary to their favourite idea that matter was the 
 origin of evil, and that the only way to perfection was by 
 getting free of matter. But the Bible tells us that our first 
 parents were at first innocent both in body and soul; it 
 reveals to us the second Adam who in the body was 
 holy, harmless, and undefiled; and it declares that Christ's 
 people, becoming members of his body, are sanctified in soul, 
 body, and spirit, and will in their whole nature be glorified 
 in due time. Further, the argument from reason — har- 
 monizing well with the argument from Scripture — is very 
 convincing, that, as the body is the instrument of the soul in 
 good and in evil, and as man has two natures — material and 
 spiritual — in one person, he will be rewarded or punished in both. 
 When God is worshipped, it is not only with our understand- 
 
 AUuding to 1 Cor. xv. 29, 80, explained by some in this way.— Ei>. 
 
SEEMON FIRST. 
 
 257 
 
 ings and hearts, it is also -with our bodies — the outstretched 
 hands, the uplifted eye, the bended knee, it is with our whole 
 man, it is with our bodies and our spirits, which are God's. 
 And so, on the other hand, God is dishonoured both wdth the 
 proud mind and rebellious heart, and with the lying tongue, the 
 lips profane, the hands unclean, the evil eye, the body defiled. 
 We thus see a foimdation laid for the doctrine of the resur- 
 rection, and of the judgment to come, in the fact that body 
 and soul are both concerned and employed in the service, or 
 on the contrary, in the warfare with liim. It is in the Bible, 
 however, especially in the New Testament, that the doctrine 
 is established. The Messiah here speaks : " Thy dead men 
 shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise." 
 These words seem to express the relationship betwixt Christ 
 and his mystical body. Christ is the head, his people are 
 the members of his body. The singular and plural, it is 
 remarked by critics, are here united; the whole Church is 
 considered as one body, and yet termed many : " they shall 
 arise." The dew here mentioned, and compared to "the 
 dew, of herbs," is the dew of the Saviour's power and grace 
 producing a rich herbage, and promising an abundant harvest. 
 " Thy people," it is said (Ps. ex. 3.) " shall be willing in the 
 day of thy power. From the womb of the morning thou 
 hast the dew of thy youth." The believer, with the apostle 
 Paul, seeks more and more to know " the power of Christ's 
 resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, and to be 
 made conformable to his death;" " to know Christ, and to be 
 found in him." 
 
 Such is a view of the doctrine set forth in the text, and 
 now, in the third place, we are to consider — 
 
 III. Some of the instructions to be derived from this 
 subject. 
 
 1st. As addressed to a Church in depression it is a com- 
 forting text. As the dew gets to the roots of the herbs, and 
 causes them to spring up in freshness and beauty, so shall 
 the influence of divine grace cause the plants and trees in 
 the vineyard of the Lord to revive and flourish. To the 
 sufferers in the cause of truth and for righteousness' sake, 
 the text speaks a cheering word ; it is equivalent to such 
 
 E 
 
258 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 New Testament declarations as these — "Blessed are they 
 which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the 
 kingdom of heaven " — " If we suffer, we shall also reign with 
 him " — " Ye which have followed me in the regeneration, 
 when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye 
 also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes 
 of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or 
 brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, 
 or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, 
 and shall inherit everlasting life." 
 
 2d. With reference to the resurrection from the dead, the 
 text speaks comfort to those who are in Christy for it says : 
 " Ye shall rise and reign with your living head." It says to 
 those now labouring and suffering in the body, " The time is 
 at hand when ye shall obtain glorious deliverance ; the grave 
 wiU be only a bed of sweet repose, whence ye shall rise on 
 the resurrection morn glorious and immortal." It seems in 
 bold apostrophe to address the saints whose bodies are asleep 
 beneath the sod : " Awake, and sing, ye that dwell in dust," 
 for your period of deliverance draws nigh. 
 
 3d. It cannot but be evident how unspeakably important 
 it is to be united to Christ. If you are united to Christ you 
 will be partakers of the blessed resurrection of the just, 
 through your life-giving Head. " When he who is your life 
 shall appear, 0 believers, ye also shall appear with him in 
 glory ! " But, ah ! if you are yet in Adam, the first and old 
 covenant-head, what shall we say to you or o/you] Ofyovi 
 we must just say, " If they believe not in Christ, they shall 
 die in their sins ! " And yet to you we say, " Awake thou 
 that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give 
 thee light." Sleep not on till death overtake you, as it has 
 overtaken many — many in this place who gave no evidence 
 of anything except that they were " in the flesh," who never 
 so much as sought to please God, but followed after vanities 
 and became vain ! 0 dear friends ! it is most affecting to 
 think of the many who die without hope, at least without 
 any good, well-grounded hope ; concerning whom it may be 
 said that heaven was not their aim ! We have heard of 
 persons getting fortunes which they never looked for ; but 
 
SERMON FIRST. 
 
 259 
 
 remember that the rule in regard to the heavenly inheritance 
 is " Strive 1" " Strive to enter in at the strait gate." " The 
 kingdom of heaven sulfereth violence." " Oh, strive ye to 
 enter in." Labour to enter into the heavenly Canaan, lest 
 any of you fall after the example of ancient Israel. Beware, 
 lest there be in you the evil heart of unbelief departing from 
 the living God. " Exhort one another daily while it is called 
 to-day, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching." 
 
 My dear friends, the occasion of our meeting and the scene 
 around us are indeed interesting and instructive. We are 
 surrounded with the dust of forefathers and friends, we stand 
 where many of you worshipped in former times, where often 
 the memorials of our Eedeemer were set forth, many a sermon 
 preached, many^a prayer uttered, many a song of Zion sung. 
 " Our fathers, where are they and the prophets, do they live 
 for ever ? " Ah, no ! These graves and monumental stones 
 remind us that the people are but grass ; that ministers are 
 but earthen vessels. 
 
 The monumental stone on which our text is engraved was 
 erected by one who in his day was distinguished in the work 
 of the Lord by diligence, zeal, and success. He was ordained 
 in 1713 ; it was not, however, till 1742 that his labours were, 
 attended with such remarkable success. The " Narrative " 
 tells of the great things done at that period, of the many born 
 again under his ministrations, of the crowds which assembled 
 and heard with earnest heart the word of life, and of the re- 
 curring communions occasioned by the intense desire to 
 enjoy such refreshing seasons. The sermons and Narrative of 
 Mr. Robe, together with the holy character he bore, render his 
 memory peculiarly precious. For eighty-four years this good 
 man has rested from his labours. Two other ministers hav3 
 since laboured here and finished their ministry among you. 
 Their testimony was the same, their doctrine the same, and 
 we have no new doctrine to proclaim; we have still no- 
 thing to publish but Jesus Christ and him crucified. Oh, 
 will you not embrace the faithful saying ? Will you not be- 
 lieve the gospel ? Dearly beloved friends, the time is at hand 
 when that trumpet shall sound, when that sand-glass of time 
 shall be emptied of its last grain, when these graves shall be 
 
260 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE EEMAINS. 
 
 opened and tlie dead raised, the bodies which sleep around us 
 in this church-yard awaking to life, and coming forth to shame 
 or honour — to woe or bliss. Oh, that the account we render 
 when we stand before the throne may be one of joy! 
 
 ■Blessed Jesus, the resurrection and the life, thou who 
 quickenest whom thou wilt by thy word and Spirit, quicken 
 us ! Draw us, and we will run after thee. Thy word to 
 Lazarus was, " Come forth ! and he that was dead obeyed 
 thy summons; wilt thou call the dead souls here to life — wilt 
 thou cause them to arise and stand up a living army to thy 
 praise '? Oh, ere thou callest to judgment — ere thou callest 
 by the trumpet-blast to the great white throne, bring poor, 
 wretched, blind, naked sinners to fall down in humble, ear- 
 nest prayer before thy throne of grace ! " Awake, O arm of 
 the Lord," as in the days of old ! " Turn us, O Lord our 
 God, and cause thy countenance to shine, and so we shall be 
 saved ! " 
 
 Dearly beloved friends, when we part in a church or in a 
 market we cannot be sure of meeting there again ; but in the 
 place of graves it is most certain we shall all meet. Yet there 
 is a separation, — ah, serious thought ! Two congregations of 
 the departed — right and left. " Depart, ye cursed," or 
 " Come, ye blessed," will announce and fix our eternal state. 
 Oh, to be numbered with the .saints in glorv everlasting — to 
 find mercy of the Lord in that day ! 
 
 1 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 PREACHED IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF KILSYTH, ON TUESDAY, 
 23D JULY 1839, BY REV. WILLIAM C. BURNS.^ 
 
 *'Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power."— Ps. ex. 3. 
 
 The will, my friends, is the ruling faculty in tlie soul of man, 
 and a man's character is very much determined by the pre- 
 vailing bent of this power within him. It is the office, you 
 know, of the memory to recollect what is past ; it is the office 
 of the fancy to plan and devise what is new ; it is the office 
 of the understanding to deliberate, of the conscience to pro- 
 nounce the law of right and WTong, of the desires and affec- 
 tions to draw and impel, and above all these, the will sits, as 
 it were, supreme, pronouncing the final decision, and thus de- 
 termining what is to be done. If you get a man's will, you 
 have him on your side, and may reckon on his support; 
 whereas, though you may convince his understanding and de- 
 light his fancy, and move his affections, yet if his will re- 
 mains opposed to you, he takes part against you. And thus, 
 my friends, the state of the will is always made a matter of 
 the first importance in inquiring into the position in which 
 the soul of a man stands with regard to God. It is the 
 crowning part of man's depravity that his will is opposed to 
 the will of God; that he does that which God forbids, and 
 leaves undone that which God commands. Jehovah says, 
 " Thou shalt;" man impiously answers in his practice, if not 
 in words, " I will not." Jehovah says, " Thou shalt not ; " man 
 again rephes, " I will," thus seeking to be independent of 
 Jehovah — to be as God, giving law to himself, and following 
 his own will, instead of receiving the holy law of his Creator 
 
 ^ See Chapter VIII. These notes only exhibit the substance of a discourse which 
 was greatly expanded and lightened up in the delivery. They may, however, serve 
 to illustrate the kind of instruction, so far as tlie substance is concerned, on whicl] 
 the revival movement of that day might be said lo rest. 
 
262 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 and making it the guide of all his resolutions. This is the 
 state of the fallen soul by nature ; and therefore, my friends, 
 when God brings back in his infinite love the souls of his 
 elect people to his service, he makes them willing. He has 
 exalted, as you find from this Psalm, the Lord Jesus as medi- 
 ator to the right hand of universal power ; and while he pro- 
 mises to Messiah that his enemies shall be made his foot- 
 stool, he promises that those elect ones whom the Father 
 gave him to redeem, and whom he purchased to himself with 
 his own blood, shall be willing, inasmuch as when the will is 
 once renewed and brought into the service of Jesus, the way 
 is prepared for every other faculty being restored to holiness, 
 and every thought being brought into captivity to the obedi- 
 ence of Christ. 
 
 In this promise two things, you perceive, require explana- 
 tion: I. The nature of this willingness which Jehovah pro- 
 mises Christ's people shall have ; and, II. The nature of that 
 day of Jesus' power in which this is to be accomplished. In 
 endeavouring to explain the former of these topics, I remark — 
 
 1st. Christ's people are willing to be saved by his imputed 
 righteousness. This willingness appears to unconverted 
 sinners as though it were not difficult to be attained; and 
 many who are entirely unrenewed have the confidence that 
 they possess it. They know that they are sinners, and being 
 afraid, especially in times of distress and in the near "prospect 
 of death, of the wrath of a holy God, they most gladly cling 
 to anything which afibrds them the prospect of safety, and 
 thus, out of a mere desire for deliverance from hell, they would 
 be very glad that the righteousness of Christ were accounted 
 theirs, and that they should thus obtain forgiveness. This is 
 in substance the kind of willingness for Christ's righteousness 
 that ungodly sinners possess, and not as if it were a saving 
 appropriation of Jesus. But, my friends, though the faith of 
 most persons who profess to follow Christ is little better than 
 this universal desire for deliverance from pain produces, this 
 is far different, indeed, from that willingness for Christ's im- 
 puted righteousness which his true people have. For ob- 
 serve, among other things, that in the willingness of the un- 
 converted soul for Christ's righteousness there is no true and 
 
SERMON SECOND. 
 
 263 
 
 Immbling conviction of personal unrighteousness. The sinner 
 may see that God will accept nothing that he has done, and 
 that he will charge him with the omission of thousands of 
 duties, but then he does not feel nor acknowledge from the 
 heart the propriety of God's doing so ; he does not humbly 
 pass sentence against himself according to the judgment of 
 God, but proudly thinks, at least in his own breast, that there 
 is no such heinousness in his sin as that it would be unwor- 
 thy of God and a stain upon his holiness if he should be par- 
 doned. And then again, though he may desire the benefit of 
 Jesus' obedience, he has no true esteem for that obedience it- 
 self, he sees no glory in it, nor any such sufficiency in it that 
 at the command of God he will venture his soul's eternity 
 upon it and it alone ; and so you always find that though 
 such sinners profess that Christ is all their hope, they are un- 
 willing to be convinced of their being great and flagrant 
 sinners, and plainly discover that their chief trust is founded, 
 not upon what Christ has done, but upon what they are them- 
 selves. On the contrary, when there is a true willingness to 
 be saved by the imputed righteousness of Christ, the soul is 
 truly convinced of sin, and feels assured that it cannot be 
 saved by any efforts of its own, and that it were glorifying to 
 God's holiness and justice to cast it for ever from his sight 
 into the place of punishment ; and then again, the soul, while 
 it sees itself all vile, has obtained some discoveries of the 
 glorious perfection of the work of Jesus, its superlative excel- 
 lence in the sight of God, and rejoices in the thought of being 
 allowed to rest on this for salvation, not only because it is 
 sufficient to procure its deliverance from wrath, but because it 
 also gloriously satisfies the demands of God's justice, and vin- 
 dicates the honour of his holiness. But — 
 
 2d. Christ's people are willing to be brought into subjection 
 to his kingly power. This is a still more clear and decisive 
 mark of a true convert than the one which we have just been 
 noticing. Those who desire Christ's righteousness merely 
 from carnal motives, without any liumbHng knowledge of 
 themselves, or any just esteem for its excellence, will always 
 be found to shun the yoke of Christ. The end of their re- 
 ligion is peace; and if peace could be got without true con- 
 
264 
 
 TLLUSTRATIYE REMAINS. 
 
 version to the love of God, they would never seek after an 
 attainment which is much too holy for their taste. In every 
 heart, however, which Christ makes willing, there is a supreme 
 desire to be brought under dominion to Christ's love, a holy 
 hatred of all sin, and a real longing that Christ would come 
 and set free the heart from every lust, and passion, and idol 
 which oppose the law of God, and dispute the supreme place 
 with him in its affections. It is true, as all real converts 
 know, and as the Lord has so fully taught us by St. Paul, 
 that the power of sin in the soul, though broken, is not de- 
 stroyed, that the flesh warreth against the Spirit, and that not 
 unfrequently the will, which is but partly renewed, seems to 
 consent to sin. But even in such cases the man sins with a 
 divided will ; there is a secret wrestling against that desire 
 which is for the time superior, and after a time the holy, spiri- 
 tual will shows its supremacy, and the soul is humbled in 
 deeper self-loathing and contrition in proportion to the degree 
 in which it has backslidden from God. The soul of the true 
 believer, though it is not free from sin, would be free entirely 
 and for ever if a resolution of the will could give sin its death- 
 blow. However, it is not so. Though the will be renewed, 
 sin still dwells in the members. The believer would do good, 
 and yet evil is present with him ; he delights in the law of 
 God after the inward man, and being unwillingly detained in 
 bondage, he cries out with the apostle, " O wretched man that 
 I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death 1 " and 
 willingly adds, rejoicing in Christ's kingly power to deliver 
 him from sin, " I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord." 
 But— 
 
 3d. Christ's true people are willing to bear the cross in 
 following him. It is one of the marks, you know, which 
 Christ gives of the stony-ground hearers, that in times of 
 persecution they fall away; but it is not so with Christ's 
 true people. In giving themselves up to him they make no 
 reserve, and are well satisfied to have him instead of all else 
 that the world counts dear, and even at the expense of life 
 itself. This last great sacrifice we are not at present called 
 to make, but there are many others that still remain for God's 
 people to try the reality of their attachment to Jesus, and 
 
SEEMON SECOND. 
 
 265 
 
 the value which they set upon him. They are often called to 
 confess his name before his enemies, and those who are his 
 professed, but false-hearted friends; and many other trials they 
 must endure, especially in the first days of their new life, 
 when old companions observe the change of their character, 
 and try every art, by means of smiles and frowns, and bribes 
 and reproaches, to draw them back into their former ways ; 
 but in all such cases the true convert is willing to bear the 
 cross. He finds it hard and painful, but easy in comparison 
 to parting with Jesus. He naturally fears and shrinks from 
 suffering, but by grace he still more fears and shrinks from 
 sin, and if there is no alternative but either to deny his 
 master or die for his name, he is enabled to be faithful still, 
 yea, to rejoice that he is counted worthy to suffer shame for 
 his holy and blessed name. We proceed now, however, in 
 the second place, to remark regarding the day of Jesus' power 
 here spoken of — 
 
 1st. This day is the time of his exaltation to the mediato- 
 rial throne. It is on this throne, you perceive, that in this 
 Psalm he is spoken of as sitting as a priest and as a king ; it is 
 on this throne, at the right hand of the Majesty on high, that 
 he wields the sceptre of universal dominion, and that he 
 rules in the midst of his enemies on earth ; and it is from this 
 that he sends forth that power which makes his people willing 
 to obey him. Jesus, you know, exercised his kingly power 
 even before he came in the flesh and offered up that sacrifice 
 on account of which the Father exalted him, and thus the 
 saints under the Old Testament were brought in subjection 
 to his law. But it is most properly after Christ ascended up 
 on high that he received all power in heaven and on earth, 
 and therefore the latter days, or the times which reach from 
 his ascension to his second coming, are more properly called 
 the day of his power, and it is in these, accordingly, that the 
 great multitude of his redeemed are gathered under his 
 sceptre. In these times, my friends, blessed be God, we are 
 privileged to live, and are therefore called to look for the 
 fulfilment of the glorious promises that relate to it and to it 
 alone. But, — 
 
 2d. It is the day of Christ's power when the gospel is 
 
266 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 fully and freely preached. The gospel of Christ is called 
 the 'power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ; 
 to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. And it receives this 
 grand appellation because it reveals Christ crucified, who, 
 though he be to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks 
 foolishness, is yet to them that beUeve, both Jews and Greeks, 
 Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. And thus 
 you see, my friends, that whenever the Lord intends to grant 
 a day of his saving power to sinners, he raises up and sends 
 forth ministers who determine with St. Paul to know nothing 
 save Jesus Christ and him crucified. When God is frowning 
 upon a people he does not always remove the public ordi- 
 nances from among them, but withdrawing the teaching of 
 his Spirit from those who come forward to preach his word, 
 the pulpits become filled with men who know little or nothing 
 of the power of God in their own hearts, and thus, though 
 the preacher may study with diligence, and discuss with all 
 the power of argument and learning and eloquence, that 
 preaching of the cross, which is to them that perish foolish- 
 ness, is wanting, the glories of Jesus' person and of Jesus' work, 
 with all the rest of his unsearchable riches, are forgotten, or 
 but slightly and seldom touched; and thus, though the 
 minister may preach and the people hear from day to day, 
 the power of God is awanting, and souls perish unconvinced 
 and unconverted. When, however, the Lord in his mercy 
 returns to a nation or a city to gather out of them a people 
 for his name, he raises up ambassadors who know from per- 
 sonal experience the evil and the guilt of sin, and have been 
 led by the Spirit to rejoice in Jesus as all their salvation and 
 as all their desire, the chiefest among ten thousand, and 
 altogether lovely. And then, my friends, the matchless 
 glories of Emmanuel are displayed, his preciousness is opened 
 up, his love to sinners, and his willingness to receive with the 
 open arms of his infinite love all that feel their ruined condi- 
 tion and are anxious for deUverance, are proclaimed and magni- 
 fied ; and thus a day of grace from on high is introduced, 
 sinners are awakened, and are drawn to receive the Lord 
 Jesus, being made " willing in the day of his power." But, — 
 3d. This leads me to notice, in the last place, that the day 
 
SERMON SECOND. 
 
 267 
 
 of Christ's power is the time of the outpouring of his Spirit. 
 The doctrine of Christ crucified is called the power of God, 
 because it is the instrument which God employs in pulling 
 down the strongholds of sin and Satan. But yet, my friends, 
 this doctrine is, after all, but an instrument which cannot be 
 effectual unless when it is wielded by the almighty Spirit of 
 God, by whose divine agency it is alone that sinners are loosed 
 from the bondage of Satan, and brought into the glorious liberty 
 of God's children. Often is this great truth demonstrated 
 in the experience of every Christian, and especially of every 
 Christian minister. The truth of the gospel is often preached 
 with clearness, fulness, earnestness, and affection, sinners are 
 taught their ruined and perishing condition under the broken 
 covenant of works, and Christ is freely held out to them and 
 urgently pressed upon them, and yet they remain despisers 
 and rejecters of the Lord from heaven, and the minister of 
 Christ is often found in sadness to exclaim. Who hath believed 
 our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been re- 
 vealed ] The people hear, and are perhaps attentive, and 
 begin to reform m^ny of those sinful practices in which they 
 formerly indulgecl^lbut yet their hearts remain unconvinced of 
 sin, and unenlightened in the glorious knowledge of Christ, 
 and unconverted to God, there is still little seeking of Christ 
 in secret prayer, little alarm experienced on account of sin, and 
 few serious efforts to receive the Lord Jesus, as he is freely 
 offered. But oh, how changed is the scene when the Spirit 
 is outpoured ! Then the hearts of God's people become full 
 to overflowing with love to Jesus, and are drawn forth in 
 vehement desires, after his glorious appearing, to build up 
 Zion. They are much in secret, and much in united prayer, 
 and are cheered by the gladdening hope that the Lord is soon 
 to listen to the groaning of the prisoner, and save those that 
 are appointed unto death. The ministers of God, also, are in 
 general particularly enlivened and refreshed in their own 
 souls. In private they are deeply humbled in soul before the 
 Lord, and have an uncommon measure of the Spirit of suppli- 
 cation for sinners given them, with ardent love to Christ, 
 melting compassion for perishing souls, and vehement desires 
 for their salvation; and then, when they come to preach 
 
268 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 Jesus, tliey are evidently anointed with the Holy Gliost and 
 with power, they speak with holy unction, earnestness, and 
 affection, and sometimes hardly know how to leave off be- 
 seeching sinners to be reconciled to God. And then observe 
 the frame of the hearers at such a time. Formerly no 
 terror could awaken them from their sleep of death, they still 
 said. Peace and safety, though sudden destruction was coming 
 upon them; but now a few words are enough to pierce their 
 inmost heart, and make them cry out often aloud and against 
 their will. Men and brethren, what shall we do 1 Formerly 
 Jesus was held forth and was despised, but now every word 
 that tells of his love is precious, his name is as ointment 
 poured forth, and sinners are filled with an agony of desire 
 for a saving union unto him. Men, and women, and children, 
 retire from the house of God, not to profane the evening of 
 God's day in idle talk or idle strolling. They have much 
 business to do with God. Their doors are shut, their Bibles 
 are in their hands, or they are crying to God upon their 
 knees as they are conversing with the godly, and obtaining 
 the benefit of their counsel to guide them on the way to 
 J esus. These, my friends, are, you know, some of the marks 
 of a day of the power of Jesus. When the Spirit is poured 
 out from on high, and sinners' hearts are moved, the iron 
 sinews of their necks are relaxed, and their brows of brass are 
 crowned with shame ; they flock to take shelter under his 
 wings, like doves to their windows; they rejoice in his love 
 as men that divide the spoil. Satan is discomfited, his 
 captives are set free, and God is glorified. Such times of re- 
 freshing as these have been often experienced, and are destined 
 to be still more gloriously displayed in coming times. Pente- 
 cost — Reformation — in Scotland, England, Ireland, particu- 
 larly in Scotland — Shotts — Ayr — Irvine — Cambuslang — 
 Kilsjrth — Moulin — Glenlyon — Arran, and Skye. 
 
 HEADS OP APPLICATION. 
 
 1. We have cause to lament — few willing — little appearance 
 of a day of power — but cause also for joy and thankfulness 
 — we live under the Pentecost times, we have had the gospel 
 
SERMON SECOND. 
 
 269 
 
 fully preached — and tlie Spirit has been sending you a few- 
 drops to excite a desire for more of his power. 
 
 2. Sinners! will not ye come to Jesus'? — accept of his 
 righteousness — submit to his blessed power — why not? — 
 — what have you worth comparing with his love ? <kc. — come, 
 come, come ! 
 
 3. Christians ! are you desiring a day of power? — some of 
 yoxi stand in God's way — ye do not want a day of power — 
 it would make you live more liolily — expose you to more 
 reproach, &c. — oh, shame ! shame ! — sinners perishing — 
 Jesus despised, and yet you do not want a day of power. 
 Pray, pray, pray — secretly, unitedly, fervently, with faith 
 and importunity — " The Lord's hand is not shortened that," 
 &c. — examples of the power of prayer — Shotts, Cambuslang, 
 Kilsyth — time short — soon prayers at an end — removed 
 from the footstool — power will come — but not by us — we 
 shall be ashamed to meet our Lord ! to look sinners in the 
 face at judgment ! &c. 
 
 Conclusion extempore, — 2w Oew, tw TraTpl koll viw koll aytw 
 TTvevfiaTL, *0 /xoi/(3 6<ae rj Sofa €ts rovs ^aima^, ^K^juqv, 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 " A faithful man who can find?" — Prov. xx. 6.* 
 
 Who is it that asks this question ? Is it some disappointed, 
 querulous recluse, who has taken a disgust at all his kind, 
 who thus gives utterance to his uncharitable opinion of 
 Ids fellow-creatures '? No ! It is the language of Solomon, 
 the wise and the wealthy son and successor of David in the 
 throne and kingdom of Israel and Judah. The question, 
 brethren, is still applicable, and the character here sought 
 for still rare. The conclusion come to by the same king 
 in his Ecclesiastes, is, " Lo, this only have I found, that God 
 made man upright, but they have sought out many inven- 
 tions." 
 
 The first part of the verse says, that to proclaim one's own 
 goodness, kindness, and beneficence is common. Vanity and 
 ostentation are very prevailing sins and foibles of human 
 nature, but real goodness — fulfilling and going beyond pro- 
 mises — is very rare. "A faithful man who can find?" And 
 yet, such an one ought not to be rare, but of everyday occur- 
 rence. Were men, were Christian men what they should be, 
 and profess to be, the faithful would be found without any 
 search ; we should meet them at every corner. The unfaith- 
 ful should be the rare exception to the rule. Yet we fear it 
 is not so. The Nathanaels, the Israelites indeed, the chil- 
 dren of Abraham in whom is no guile, are precious jewels, 
 and rare as they are precious. 
 
 We are about addressing a call and invitation to the saints 
 and faithful in Christ Jesus, to come to the feast clothed with 
 the wedding garment, and you are charged, and we also, to 
 search out the old leaven, and so to keep this feast with the 
 
 1 The Author's last Sermon, see Chapter XI. 
 
SERMON THIRD. 
 
 271. 
 
 unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Let us give earnest 
 lieed to this subject. We propose to speak — 1st, of some of 
 those things which pertain to faithfulness, and wherein the 
 want of it appears ; 2d, to inquire into the reasons why 
 true faithfulness is confessedly so rare; and 3d, to point 
 out the practical uses of the whole. May the Lord teach us 
 the things which differ, and make us sincere and without 
 offence until the day of Christ. 
 
 I. In explaining faithfulness formerly, from Eev. xi. 10, 
 we remarked its near relationship to faith. The word, in- 
 deed, properly means full of faith. It is a comprehensive 
 character, implying both the principles and the practice, the 
 root and the fruit. Thus, Abraham justified by faith, is 
 called faitliful Abraham ; so that when we seek for a faithful 
 man, we are just looking out for a genuine, thorough-going 
 believer, not a mere talker or speculative professor of reli- 
 gion. But, more particularly, we observe — 1st, That the 
 faithful are found in earnest about first table duties. They 
 know the Lord, acknowledge him as Jehovah, the true God, 
 and as their God, and worship and glorify him accordingly. 
 Whereas, the unfaithful give not that glory to God which is 
 due, but they give that worship and glory to other objects, 
 or, it may be, in theory and words they acknowledge God, 
 but with their hearts they deny him. Where, then, are the 
 faithful who do give unfeignedly to the Lord the glory due, 
 who reverence his great name, who beHeve his testimony, 
 and hearken to his voice, who honour the Son of his love, 
 whom he commands all to serve and to obey even as they 
 honour the Father. Where are those who at once bend to 
 the authority of God's law as supreme, and to his revealed 
 will as always an end of all controversy 1 Where are those 
 who, calling J esus, Lord, do in every case what he says with- 
 out reserve, and without holding any conference with flesh 
 and blood 1 Where are the Christians in mind, in heart, in 
 hands, in feet, in every act, as well as in tongue — Christians 
 in practice as well as in profession, in deed as in truth, in a 
 foul day as well as in a fair day, in evil report as in good, in 
 the world as well as in the Church, in the closet and on the 
 house top, at home and abroad, at the watering-place as weU 
 
272 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 as among friends at home, the same where known as not 
 known 1 I have heard of a man of some station, speaking 
 lightly or even mincing an oath to suit his company, who 
 among friends maintained all due decorum. Others have 
 appeared saints in public who are tyrants at home, or very 
 negligent guardians of those of their own family. 
 
 Alas ! where is the consistency here ? where is the faith- 
 fulness here ? Is not tliis to deny the faith, and to be worse 
 than an infidel 1 For faithfulness, let us look to Saul of 
 Tarsus, really converted, who trembling and astonished says, 
 " Lord, what wilt thou have me to doV — and this not merely 
 under the strong impulse of first impressions, but whose after 
 course was a constant living, not to himself, but to Him who 
 died for him, and rose again ; and to those true converts 
 who " were turned from their idols to serve the living God, and 
 wait for his Son from heaven, even Jesus, who delivers from 
 the wrath to come." 
 
 2dly, The faithful are knoivn hy second table duties also. 
 Their faith in God is shown by maintaining good works, 
 which are profitable to men. Faithfulness, indeed, is gene- 
 rally understood as expressed and evidenced by the due per- 
 formance of relative duties, as of justice, of truthfulness, of 
 mercy, of doing to others as we could wish to be done to us. 
 Both to the bodies and souls of men we ow^e services of vari- 
 ous kinds, which put fidelity to the test, especially those 
 which have respect to the souls of others. But where shall 
 we find a faithful man watching over and warning even the 
 nearest relative, as a child, or a sister, a brother, or parent, or 
 friend] How common to speak censoriously of faults, in- 
 stead of faithful reproof tenderly and seasonably administered ! 
 And when self comes in the way, how apt are we to be warped 
 and turned aside from the plain road of duty, either in a 
 smaller or greater degree. If parents were faithful, how 
 could it be that there should arise so many careless, ungodly 
 children, how so many Sabbath-breakers, so many swearers, 
 so many wasteful, idle smokers, so many drunkards, so many 
 foolish and vain talkers, among our youth 1 How could 
 these things be were there faithful dealing and good example 
 shown to them at home, according to solemn promise made 
 
SERMON THIRD. 
 
 273 
 
 at baptism*? How is it that so many who have taken up 
 house have no altar for God, no sound of prayer or praise 
 in the dwelling, morning or evening, Sabbath or Saturday, 
 but just because they have never seen it in their father's 
 house, having not had an Abraham or Jacob for their father, 
 but rather a profane Esau and some daughter of Heth for their 
 parents'? And how is it that carelessness and want of trust- 
 worthiness is so much complained of in servants, but just for 
 want of faithful dealing and good example by the head of the 
 house ] Oh, how much the reverse of Abraham's character is 
 to be found, of whom Jehovah thus testifies, " I know him 
 that he will command his children and household, and they 
 shall keep the way of the Lord ! " Servants take very much 
 the cut, as we say, of their master and mistress, so that you 
 may almost know the character of the house for piety and 
 hospitahty, or the want of these, by the conduct and man- 
 ners of the inmates and domestics of the family. No doubt 
 there are many exceptions both ways. There have been 
 saints in Nero's household, and there have been also wicked 
 and slothful servants even in the family of the man after 
 God's own heart. But generally it is otherwise, for like 
 draws to .like ; and there can be no fellowship between light 
 and darkness, between righteousness and unrighteousness. 
 Thus Jacob (Gen xxxv.) makes a clean sweep of idols from 
 his house, and sets up an altar for God, who had visited him 
 in the day of his distress. The wonder is that so good a man 
 was so dilatory in making this reform. And further, how is 
 it that among children of the family foolish talking, and 
 even lying, and something beyond yea and nay^ even oaths, 
 or half oaths, are carried down even so long as the race lasts ? 
 Is it not the unfaithful rearing and training, or rather the 
 want of training, and of serious and affectionate dealing, which 
 fosters, instead of counteracting, the native corruption of the 
 heart of the young, and which keeps always in force the nu- 
 merous moral evils wliich afflict society. But in seeking for 
 a faithful man we trace his course in the world. We go to 
 the house of business, to the shop or market. We examine 
 the articles furnished, and the terms on which they are 
 disposed of — whether they are composed of the ingredients 
 s 
 
274 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 •wliicli they purport to contain, and what the amount of pro- 
 fit charged upon them to the consumer ; and we may find that 
 though there may be no false balances, and no poisonous 
 mixture employed, there is extortion in the charge, a Jewish 
 interest exacted. In short, the customs connected with many 
 branches of trade make it difficult to find a truly faithful 
 man among them. One may not be able to cast a stone at 
 another, and yet the whole fraternity may be found wanting 
 in the balances of justice and of the sanctuary. At a fair or 
 market it becomes a question of difficulty. A faithful man 
 who can find ? The faithful truth- teller has been described 
 as a simpleton — and why 1 Because he has a regard to con- 
 science and the golden rule. But too many act like him (a 
 courtier) who said that he could not afford to keep a con- 
 science, in other words, preferring gain to faithfulness. 
 
 But 3dly, When we come to self, surely/ we shall find the 
 faithful. However unujst to the claims of the Supreme, or 
 to fellow-creatures, though God be denied or neighbours 
 over-reached, men will not neglect themselves. Nay, is it 
 not just from selfishness that the claims of others are so 
 flagrantly set aside] My dear friends, although it be most 
 true that no man hateth his own flesh, and that selfishness 
 is strongly rooted in us, yet, nevertheless, it is too true that 
 even here we have been often notoriously in fault, unfaithful 
 even to ourselves. What can be more true than that most 
 men cruelly neglect their own souls, and prove cruel, and un- 
 just, and unmerciful to themselves. Even the body is often 
 injured, its health impaired, and its beauty deformed by the 
 abominations of excess in meats and drinks, especially the 
 latter, through sinful customs learned from parents or elder 
 brothers, or companions vieing with each other who shall 
 most swiftly and successfully deform the human countenance 
 and frame so wonderfully made. And then as to the soul, the 
 nobler part of our frame, originally fashioned after the divine 
 image ! Ah, how shamefully and sinfully is this immortal 
 part neglected ! How disproportionate is the care and anxiety 
 for the world's wealth compared with that for the heavenly 
 inheritance. Alas ! the greater number seem to mind every- 
 thing rather than the interests of their never-dying souls! 
 
SERMON THIRD. 
 
 275 
 
 All, how few are faithful and true to themselves in examin- 
 ing their state, in making sure of their safety, and in watch- 
 ing against sin, and in securing their eternal salvation! 
 How unwilling to be put on their guard ! How unw^elcome a 
 faithful friend or reprover ; so that while you would thank 
 the man who kindly told you when going out of the road, or 
 warned you from a bad bargain, you would probably be indig- 
 nant at the real friend who would arise and w^arn you for 
 your soul's good, who would come between you and the pre- 
 cipice of eternal ruin, who would bring you out of the broad, 
 and lead you into the narrow way ! Surely, few are faithful 
 to themselves. Surely, many hate their own souls and love 
 death. How few, like David, in Ps. cxix. 26, or like Jonathan 
 Edwards, in the words of his diary, " resolve to lay open all 
 their ways of thought and of acts ; also, their sins, sorrows, 
 and circumstances every day, and in all respects to declare 
 their ways to the Lord himself ingenuously and honestly." 
 Alas ! instead of this, how do w^e deceive ourselves, hiding our 
 sins like Adam, concealing them even from our own con- 
 sciences, or suppressing the rising up of the truth before our 
 minds ! In minute and little things how unfaithful ! — and yet 
 it is the " little foxes which spoil the vines," and " he that 
 is unfaithful in the least, will be unfaithful in that which is 
 much." And again, " Whosoever shall break one of the 
 least of these commandments, and teach men so, shall be 
 the least in the kingdom of heaven ; but whosoever shall do 
 and teach the same, shall be greatest in the kingdom of 
 heaven." And again, "Except your righteousness exceed 
 and excel that of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no 
 case enter into the kingdom of heaven." In the affair of 
 worldly interests, it is a kind of axiom that if we take care of 
 the little the large will take care of itself. This applies here. 
 " Buy the truth and sell it not," in any part of it. The very 
 snuffers and tongs of the altar must be of pure gold, and holi- 
 ness must be written upon every vessel, greater or smaller. 
 So much for the lesser matters of the law. But, alas! 
 brethren, is there not in the great concerns of the soul and 
 of religion a sadly prevailing defect of lively, and just, and 
 solid apprehension and appreciation 
 
276 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 In one word, let us look through the commandments one 
 by one, — the ten, and the sum of them, — and, examming 
 ourselves by that pure standard of truth and duty, which is 
 the will of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us say 
 how it stands with us in this matter '? Oh, how many of us 
 thus weighed in the balance must be found wanting ! " A 
 faithful man who shall find 1 " 
 
 II. Some of the causes why there are not more faithful, — 
 why still the complaint of few such. 1st. Just because the 
 complaint of the prophet is still applicable : " Who hath 
 believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord 
 revealed." Who has faith, and the precious faith of God's 
 elect] or anything beyond speculation, or mere assent, or 
 general profession 1 The truth has never been valued and 
 bought,— it is easily parted with, or partially relinquished, or 
 parcelled out. All men have not faith. There can 'be no 
 faithfulness without faith as its principle, its root, and its 
 moving spring ; and if faith be either wanting altogether, or 
 weak, so also will it be as to faithfulness, which will be either 
 totally or in part lacking in truth and sincerity. 2dly. Be- 
 cause many are unconverted. This is, indeed, just saying 
 the same nearly, in another form. Every one who beUeveth 
 is born of God ; and " to as many as receive Christ, to them 
 he gives power to become the sons of God, even to them that 
 believe in his name, who are born, not of blood, nor of the 
 will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." The true 
 origin of evil with the many unsteady walkers and unfaithful 
 stewards in the Lord's vineyard is, that they have never been 
 truly in Christ, new creatures ; but the old man is still alive, 
 the corrupt nature unsubdued, and the enmity not slain ; 
 the seed is sown on the rock, and soon withers, and dis- 
 appoints the husbandman's hope ; the tree is not of a good 
 kind, and so the fruit is not good. Be renewed in the spirit 
 of your mind, and then faithfulness will be the result. Make 
 the tree good, and the fruit will be also good. 3dly. Vanity 
 and self-confident vaunting produces unfaithfulness and in- 
 stability. The first part of the verse says, " Every man," that 
 is, every natural man, " will proclaim his own goodness ;" and 
 then follow the words of the text as a contrast. There is 
 
SERMON THIRD. 
 
 277 
 
 much, meaning in this collocation of the words, intimating 
 that the two things are closely connected, namely, vain 
 boasting and unfaithfulness. There is a close connection in 
 more than one way. This vain and vaunting spirit shows a 
 want of the grace of God, a want of the true faith of the new 
 heart ; and then, besides, to gratify this vain-glory, what will 
 a person not do, however inconsistent with the claims of God 
 or of our neighbour ] What the man needs is the humble 
 and contrite heart, — in fact, he needs conversion. 4thly. 
 The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. You 
 cannot serve two masters. It is impossible that you can be 
 faithful to your great Lord, and Master, and Friend, to whom 
 you owe unfeigned homage, and to whom faithfulness implies 
 so much, if you at the same time are trying to serve mam- 
 mon, or any other idol. Christ's authority as supreme must 
 be acknowledged and acted out, if you would be found 
 faithful. But is it not too often the case, and with too 
 many, that men's opinions are too much regarded, while the 
 mind of Christ is not sought nor regarded, whereas his will 
 should be our law, and end of all controversy ; and so it vnll 
 be and must be viewed by all the faitliful. Again, 5thly, 
 Selfishness in one form or other is a great cause of being un- 
 faithful to God, and also to our neighbour, — a great cause of 
 supplanting, or abridging, or setting aside occasionally the 
 claims both of the first and the second table of the law. 
 Love of ease, of reputation, or of worldly interest, or fear of 
 suffering the loss of any of those things, weighs too much 
 with many, causing them to sacrifice duty and conscience to 
 avoid the dreaded evil to their name or means, and to secure 
 some supposed present good, which oversets the balance and 
 causes the golden rule to be infringed. Witness Balaam, a 
 sublime, inspired prophet and eloquent orator, describing in 
 glowing terms the honour and blessedness of God's service, 
 yet, through love of the wages of unrighteousness, proving 
 himself utterly destitute of grace, and while obeying the 
 letter, subverting the spirit of God's laws, and ensnaring 
 others into sin by his example. The desire to stand well in 
 the world's esteem, and to escape the reproach of the cross, 
 has, alas ! led many in former times, and in our own day, to 
 
278 
 
 ILLUSTEATIVE EEMAINS. 
 
 fail in the season of trial, and to show themselves unfaithful. 
 6thly. Another cause is evil example. One time-server, and 
 one slothful and worldly-minded professor of religion, infects 
 another. This is a lamentation. " Many," says the apostle 
 (Phil. iii. 1 8), " walk, of whom I have told you, and now even 
 weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ." 
 Observe they are many ; one, and another, and another join 
 company, and like draws to like. And, " because iniquity 
 abounds, the love of many waxeth cold." Many are offended 
 and walk no more with Christ — Will ye also go away Ic 
 Yes, says the time-serving professor, I must go away ; I 
 cannot afford to keep a conscience so strictly and so con- 
 stantly ; I vfill not lay claim to a higher or firmer adherence 
 to principle than such and such respectable characters, who 
 have not relinquished their comfortable things, as some have 
 done, at what they call the stern demand of duty. But, 
 dearly beloved, be your reply to those who would thus 
 seduce you from the straight road of integrity, and would 
 have you give them countenance, — " Lord, to whom can we 
 go 1 thou alone hast the words of eternal life, for whom we 
 have suffered the loss of some things, and do count them as 
 only dust under our feet in comparison of the knowledge of 
 Christ Jesus, that we may win him and be found in him. 
 ' Who shall separate us from the love of Christ '? ' " Lastly, 
 the keeping judgment and eternity at a distance is a great 
 cause of unfaitlifulness. The day of reckoning is really near, 
 but such is the influence of present things, and so obscurely 
 seen as in the distance the final day of doom, that too many, 
 Felix-like, say, when they have been somewhat impressed, 
 " Go thy way for this time," &c. ; and with the epicurean, 
 " To-morrow shall be as to-day." These, no doubt, are 
 scarcely in point, if we view our subject strictly as referring 
 to such as make a credible religious profession, but who are 
 found wanting. Yet, in fact, it is just the same principle 
 that is involved in both cases. It is truly wonderful, and it 
 is melancholy to think, how slight and how small is the in- 
 fluence, even upon many professing Christians who say — as 
 all do virtually, and some in the very daily language of their 
 Church : We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge^^ 
 
SEEMON THIRD. 
 
 279 
 
 — liow slight, I say, tlie impression of the vast eternity so near 
 and certain, and of the great white throne of judgment, and of 
 Him that sits upon it ! Yet we must all appear before the 
 judgment-seat of Christ ; all ! all ! not one wanting, not 
 one absent on that day ! It is not left to option ; we must 
 appear. And the subject of examination on that day will 
 just turn upon this of faithfulness. So we read in Matt. 
 XXV., the sentence will be either — "Well done, good and 
 faithful servant," or, " Depart from me, I know you not." 
 Either, " Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will 
 make thee ruler over many things, enter into the joy of thy 
 Lord ; " or, " Wicked and slothful servant, who knewest thy 
 Lord's will and didst it not, take thy part with hypocrites 
 and unbelievers." And again, it is written in the gospjel, — 
 yea, they are the very w^ords of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 liimself, — and they are very solemn, and fitted to make a 
 deep impression upon each of as : "Whoso shall deny me be- 
 fore men, him will I deny before my Father who is in heaven." 
 
 III. But this brings us at once to the conclusion of the 
 whole subject. Having described unfaithfulness and the 
 causes of its prevalence, let me shut up the discourse with a 
 very few reflections. And, 1st, The subject presents ground 
 for lamentation, that there are so few faithful, even among those 
 who are Christ's professing people. Where might we expect 
 to find the faithful, if not here 1 — yet it is said by our Lord, 
 " When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith in the 
 earth " How affecting to think of the state of the faithless, 
 of their danger of losing their own souls, and of their ruining 
 the souls of others, and of perpetuating and handing down 
 the evil to posterity, instead of the fathers to the children 
 declaring God's truth, — and what reason have we to fqar 
 God's judgments on the Church and on the land ! The in- 
 crease of corruption arising from unfaithfulness must sooner 
 or later bring on judgments. " And I sought for a man 
 among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in 
 the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it ; 
 but I found none. Therefore have I poured out my indig- 
 nation upon them ; I have consumed them with the fire of 
 my wrath : their own way have I recompensed upon their 
 
280 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 heads, saith the Lord God" (Ezek. xxii. 30, 31). How 
 lamentable that even among leaders, who should be an 
 example, there are so few faithful ; and how is it to be 
 lamented further, that party spirit and mean jealousies should 
 divide those whose professed principles and general objects 
 are the same, and should lead some actually to make 
 common cause with the enemies of spiritual religion. What 
 an unseemly condition ! How unlike faithful men and fol- 
 lowers of the Lamb ! 2d. Be thankful that, though there be 
 few, yet there are some faithful witnesses — a precious rem- 
 nant, faithful among many faithless, — some standing up for 
 good principles, — raising up, as from the dead, the truths 
 which were in danger of being buried ; bringing back, as it 
 were, the spirit of the martyrs of former days, and giving 
 Him all the glory. Let us, I say, bless God for these things, 
 and yet further pray, " Arise, 0 Lord, and plead thine own 
 cause." 3d. Let the faithful be encouraged, and learn their 
 duty to continue faithful, and not to be shaken in mind nor 
 troubled, though their number be few, for the foundation of 
 God standeth sure. Truth loses not its value, yea, it rather 
 rises in value and brightness when many oppose it. " Men 
 make void thy law," says the Psalmist ; what then 1 He 
 only loves it the more. " Therefore I love thy command- 
 ments above gold, yea, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem 
 all thy precepts concerning all things to be right ; and I 
 hate every false way" (Ps. cxix. 127, 128). The fewer the 
 faithful, the greater the honour of being one of them ; a few 
 even in Sardis (Kev. iii. 4). 4th. Consider further, the manifold 
 and inspiring motives to faithfulness. Consider who He is 
 you are required to be faithful to, — even the glorious Jehovah, 
 Lord of all. Consider the precious nature of the truths and 
 laws with regard to which faithfulness is to be exercised. 
 Consider your infinite obligations to Him who loved you, 
 and, having redeemed you with his blood, called you to be 
 hh witnesses and his soldiers on earth. Consider the 
 example of our Lord and Saviour himself, together with the 
 great cloud of witnesses, the faithful of former days, who 
 have finished their course with joy, and follow their bright 
 example. Consider the miiny privileges you enjoy, the satis- 
 
SERMON TRIED. 
 
 281 
 
 faction of mind in being found faithful, and in the path of 
 duty, the promises of God to faithfulness, and the provisions 
 of the covenant to ensure your faithfulness. Consider, 
 finally, the glorious prospects held out to you, the nearness 
 of the period of deliverance from the evil reproach and suffer- 
 ing which may be incurred by faithfulness, and the bright 
 crown of glory in prospect for those who stand faithful to 
 the end. Consider these things, and thus arm and fortify 
 your souls for whatever true faithfulness to your Lord may 
 either impose or entail. Oh, even though you should have 
 tribulation ten days, or even ten years, what matters it if all 
 is well at last 1 " Be thou faitliful unto death, and I will 
 give thee the crown of life." 5th. See also at once a motive 
 and an encouragement for prayer ; the motive : " Help, Lord ; 
 for the godly man ceaseth ; for the faithful fail from among 
 the children of men" (Ps. xii. 1) ; the encouragement : With 
 Him is the residue of the Spirit : He can raise up children to 
 Abraham even of the stones, or of serpents, or from lions. 
 Witness Saul of Tarsus. Pray unitedly (Mai. iii. 16) for 
 the fulfilment of the promise, " Race unto race shall praise 
 thy works, and show thy mighty deeds." 
 
 Let the faithful ones be very humble, because you are so 
 easily shaken, and because you are only in a measure faitliful. 
 Even in His people there is much dross and much leaven to 
 be purged out. Pray, ^' Lord, enter not into judgment with 
 thy servant." Even Abraham failed in that very grace in 
 which he excelled. None are completely perfect except the 
 Lord J esus Christ. Look to him as the author and finisher 
 of your faith. Be jealous over yourselves. Be on your guard 
 against evil. Remember Peter. Remember Lot's wife. 
 Often present the prayer, "Increase our faith." " Follow not 
 at any time the multitude to do evil," but, " seeing we also 
 are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let 
 us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily 
 beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set 
 before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our 
 faith ; who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the 
 cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand 
 of the throne of God" (Heb. xii. 1, 2). 
 
282 
 
 ILLUSTEATIVE KEMAINS. 
 
 Pray for much of the Spirit's blessed influence, that you 
 may be strengthened with all might in the inner man to all 
 patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. And now, "unto 
 Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present 
 you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding 
 joy, — to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, 
 dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 ** Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay In Zion for a foundation a stone, 
 a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall 
 not make haste." — (Isa. xxviii. 16; read this text with 1 Pet. 11. 6.) 
 
 Men and Beethiien, — The important prospects before us are 
 such, that it is high time to look about for some sure founda- 
 tion upon which to build our happiness. The fabric to be 
 erected must endure long, for our souls will last for ever ; and 
 their eagerness for happiness will continue vehement for ever. 
 The fabric must rise high, for our capacities perpetually ex- 
 pand ; and a low happiness will not be equal to them. The 
 fabric must be strong, proof against all the storms that will 
 rise upon us, and upon this guilty world. Losses, bereave- 
 ments, sicknesses, and a thousand other calamities, may yet 
 try us. Evils are now breaking in, like a flood, and we, and 
 our earthly all, are in danger of being overwhelmed. Death 
 will certainly attack us ; and that must be a strong building 
 indeed which the King of Terrors will not be able to demolish. 
 Now, now is the time for you to provide. And where will 
 you look 1 Whither will you turn ? This earth and all its 
 pleasures will prove but a quicksand in that day. Your 
 friends and relations can then afford you no support. If they 
 can but find refuge for themselves, that will be all. There- 
 fore, bethink yourselves once more, where you shall find a 
 rock on which you may build a happiness that will stand in 
 that day. 
 
 Let me dwell a little upon the properties of the foundation 
 laid in Zion. 
 
 1. It is a stone — a stone firm and durable. Everything 
 else is sliding sand. Wealth will prove a shadow, pleasure a 
 dream, our own righteousness a spider's web. If on these 
 we rely, disappointment and shame must be inevitable. No 
 
284 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE IlEMAINS. 
 
 thing but Clirist, nothing but Christ, can stably support our 
 spiritual interests, and realize our expectations of happiness. 
 And blessed be God ! He is sufficient for this purpose. Is 
 " a stone " firm and solid '? so is Jesus Christ. His power is 
 almighty, able to support the meanest of his people that 
 build their hopes on him, and render them proof against all 
 the attacks of earth and hell. His righteousness is infinitely 
 perfect, equal to the highest demands of the divine law, and 
 therefore a firm immovable ground of trust. We may safely 
 venture the weight of our eternal all upon this rock. It wiU 
 stand for ever without giving way under the heaviest pressure, 
 without being broken by the most violent shock. Let thou- 
 sands and millions build upon this foundation, and they shall 
 never be moved. Is " a stone " durable and lasting 1 so is 
 " Jesus Christ — the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." 
 His righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, his strength 
 an everlasting strength. He liveth for ever to make inter- 
 cession for his people, and therefore he is able to save to the 
 uttermost all that come unto God by him. The rocks may 
 decay; the firm foundations, and majestic buildings of an- 
 tiquity, are now lying in ruinous heaps. But here is a foun- 
 dation for immortal souls — immortal as themselves ; a foun- 
 dation that now stands as firm under Abel, Noah, and 
 Abraham, as the first moment they ventured their souls upon 
 it ; a foundation that will remain the same to all eternity. 
 Therefore it deserves the next character given it, namely : — 
 
 2. A tried stone. — Jesus Christ has been tried in the 
 capacity of a Saviour, by thousands upon thousands of 
 wretched, ruined creatures, who have always found him 
 perfectly able, and as perfectly willing to expiate the most, 
 enormous guilt, to deliver from the most inveterate corruption. 
 Thousands and millions have built their hopes upon this 
 stone, and it has never failed so much as one of them. 
 Manasseh and Saul, that had been bloody persecutors ; the 
 woman that was a sinner, the penitent malefactor on the 
 cross — and many Jerusalem sinners who cried out, " Crucify 
 him ! crucify him ! " and thousands more who were sinners of 
 the most atrocious character — idolatrous, and lascivious, and 
 covetous, have ventured upon this rock with all their load of 
 
SERMON FOURTH. 
 
 285 
 
 sin, and have found it able to sustain tliem. This stone is 
 the foundation of that living temple — the Church, which has 
 been now building for nearly six thousand years. All the 
 saints from Adam to the present day, both those on earth 
 and those in heaven, are living stones built upon this founda- 
 tion stone ; it supports the weight of all. And this trial may 
 encourage all others to build upon it, for it is sufficient to 
 bear them all. 
 
 3. This is a 2:>recious stone, more precious than rubies, the 
 pearl of great price. Precious with regard to the Divine 
 dignity of liis person, and the unequalled excellencies of his 
 mediatorial offices. In these, and in all respects, fairer than 
 the children of men — chiefest among ten thousand — and, to 
 the awakened sinner or enlightened believer, altogether lovely ! 
 How precious are his atoning blood and meritorious righteous- 
 ness to the guilty, self-condemned soul 1 How precious that 
 eternal salvation which he imparts : and how precious the 
 price he paid for it, " no corruptible things as silver and gold, 
 but his own precious blood." In short, he is altogether 
 precious. 
 
 4. This stone is a sure foundation, such as no pressure 
 can shake — equal, more than equal to every weight, even to 
 sin, which is the heaviest load in the world; the Hock of Ages 
 such as never has failed, and never will fail those humble 
 penitents who cast their burden upon the Lord the Redeemer 
 —who roll all their guilt, and fix their whole hopes upon this 
 immovable basis. The foundation is sure. " Behold ! " says 
 the Lord God, "behold, / lay in Zion for a foundation, a 
 stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, A sure founda- 
 tion." 
 
 5. This is a corner-stone. It not only sustains, but it also 
 unites the building. " He is ' our peace,' who hath made 
 both one ; in whom all the building fitly framed together, 
 groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord ; in whom ye 
 (Gentiles) also are builded together for an habitation of God 
 through the Spirit" (Eph. ii. 14). Materials for this temple 
 are dug out of all the barren quarries of corrupt nature, are 
 collected from thrones and cottages, from bond and free, from 
 Jews and Gentiles, from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, 
 
286 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 and united in tliis corner-stone — all harmoniously compacted 
 into one regular magnificent temple, where the God of heaven 
 delights to dwell. 
 
 Jesus Christ may also be called a corner-stone, to signify 
 his peculiar importance in this spiritual building. Hence ha 
 is repeatedly called the chief corner-stone, and the head of 
 the corner (Matt. vii. 10; Luke xx. 17; Ps. cxviii. 22, &c. 
 &c.) We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and 
 prophets, but Jesus Christ himself is the chief corner-stone. 
 It is he that holds up and connects all. Apostles and pro- 
 phets, and all depend upon him, and derive all from him. 
 But for him they would have no existence, no commission — 
 their righteousness, their strength, are nothing without him. 
 On him all their doctrines hang, in him they all terminate, 
 and from him they all derive their efficacy. Take away this 
 corner-stone, and instantly the saints in heaven fall from their 
 thrones, and the saints on earth, that are gradually rising in 
 heaven, sink for ever. Take away this corner-stone, and this 
 glorious living temple, that has been building for so many 
 ages, breaks to pieces, and covers heaven and earth with its 
 ruins. But this cannot be. The foundation of God standeth 
 sure. The chief corner-stone of the Church can never be 
 moved out of its place. 
 
 6. Let us further observe, that this stone is a foundation. 
 " Other foundation," says an apostle, " can no man lay than 
 that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." He must be at the 
 foundation of all, or the building cannot stand. To join our 
 own righteousness with his, in our justification, is to form a 
 junction of solid stone with wood, hay, and stubble. To 
 make our own merit the gi'ound of our claim to his righteous- 
 ness ; to hope that God will save us, for Christ's sake, because 
 we are so good as to deserve some favour for our own sakes — 
 this is to lay a foundation of stone upon a quicksand. The 
 stone would stand if put in the proper place, that is, at the 
 bottom of all, but not when thus reversed and placed above 
 the quicksand. This is the refuge of lies; the delusive 
 hiding-place, which multitudes are building at all their lives, 
 with a great deal of pains ; and, alas ! when they tliink they 
 have provided for themselves a strong everlasting mansion, 
 
.SERMON FOURTH. 
 
 287 
 
 suddenly they feel themselves swept away by the overwhelm- 
 ing torrent of Divine indignation. 
 
 Here, then, let us pause, and turn our attention to a ques- 
 tion which, we trust, you have been anticipating, — " Am I a 
 living stone built upon this foundation ? Are you not 
 anxious to make this discovery now^, while you have time ] if 
 you have made a mistake, to correct it by pulling down the 
 old building, and beginning a new one on the right founda- 
 tion 1 Have you no anxiety about this ? 0 dear brethren ! 
 can you really continue thus careless about eternal things'? 
 Ah 1 then, a dreadful hurricane of Divine wrath is gathering, 
 which will burst upon you and sweep you away, unless you 
 shall be founded upon the Rock of Ages. Tliink of the 
 words of the prophet, " Behold I lay in Zion for a founda- 
 tion, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure 
 foundation, he that beUeveth shall not make haste" (Isa. 
 xxviii. 16, 17). Then it follows — "Judgment also will I lay 
 to the line, and righteousness to the plummet ; and the hail 
 shaU sweep away the refuge of Hes, and the waters shall over- 
 flow the hiding-place." Think of the terrible consequences 
 if you betake yourselves to some " refuge of lies 1 " 
 
 Would you then wish to know whether you are built upon 
 this sure foundation 1 If so, I shall willingly assist you to 
 make the trial. 
 
 1. Have you ever seen the utter insufficiency of* every 
 other foundation, so as that you feel yourself shut up to the 
 faith of the Lord Jesus as your righteousness '? 
 
 2. Have you perceived and felt Christ to be precious to 
 you, so that your building on Christ has been an act at once 
 of necessity and of free choice 1 
 
 3. Where is your habitual dependence ? Is it upon Jesus 
 Christ alone, or is it upon Him and something else 1 
 
 4. Is the life you live a life of faith on the Son of God ] 
 " To whom coming, as to a living stone, you are built up a 
 spiritual house, an holy priesthood, growing up unto an holy 
 temple in the Lord." 
 
 But if not founded on Christ, you shall, you must, un- 
 avoidably perish. Build your hopes ever so high, the fabric 
 wiU fall and bury you in its ruins. Nay, this only founda- 
 
288 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE REMAINS. 
 
 tion will be the occasion of your more aggravated guilt, and 
 more dreadful destruction. " Unto you, therefore, which be- 
 lieve, he is precious, but unto them which are disobedient, 
 the same is the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, 
 and a rock of offence." And shall not all these alarming 
 considerations have weight with you, to persuade you to make 
 him your only foundation ] 
 
 " Behold ! I lay in Zion," (fee. It is the Lord himself who 
 speaks. Behold ! it is my own work ; understand, and be- 
 lieve, and rejoice. Ye poor sinking souls, hehold ! with 
 wonder and gratitude. Say not, " I must sink for ever under 
 my load of guilt," but turn to Jesus with sinking Peter, and 
 cry, " Lord, save me ! " and he will bear you up. 
 
 Behold ! ye joyful believers, who stand firm like Mount 
 Zion. Here is the Rock that supports you. Thankfully 
 acknowledge it, and point it out to others as the only ground 
 of hope for perishing souls. 
 
 Behold ! ye self-righteous Pharisees, the only rock on which 
 it will be safe even for you to build, after all you have done. 
 Your proud, self-confident virtue, your boasted morality, is 
 but a loose tottering foundation. 
 
 " Behold ! ye despisers, and wonder, and perish." To you 
 this only foundation is like to prove a stone of stumbling and 
 a rock of offence. 
 
 Behold ! ye glorious angels — behold the firm foundation 
 Divine love has laid for the salvation of guilty worms. It is 
 as firm as that on which you stand. We have one note ad- 
 ditional to yours, for the Lamb was slain for us ! " The 
 stone rejected of the builders is the head of the corner. This 
 is the doing of the Lord, and it is wondrous in our eyes." 
 " O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy 
 endureth for ever."