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BALMER, REV. ROBERT,
D.D.—This profound theologian and valued ornament of the Secession church,
was born at Ormiston Mains, in the parish of Eckford, Roxburghshire, on
the 22d of November, 1787. His father, who was a land-steward, was a man
in comfortable though not affluent circumstances, and Robert’s earliest
education—besides the ordinary advantages which the peasantry of Scotland
possessed—enjoyed the inestimable benefit of a careful religious
superintendence, both of his parents being distinguished for piety and
intelligence. The result of such training was quickly conspicuous in the
boy, who, as soon as he could read, was an earnest and constant reader of
the Bible, while his questions and remarks showed that he studied its
meaning beyond most persons of his age. His thirst for general knowledge
was also evinced by a practice sometimes manifested by promising
intellectual boyhood—this was the arresting of every stray-leaf that fell
in his way, and making himself master of its contents, instead of throwing
it carelessly to the winds. On the death of his father, Robert, who,
although only ten years old, was the eldest of the family on the evening
of the day of the funeral, quietly placed the books for family worship
before his widowed mother, as he had wont to do before his departed parent
when he was alive. She burst into tears at this touching remembrance of
her bereavement, but was comforted by the considerate boy, who reminded
her that God, who had taken away his father, would still be a Father to
them, and would hear them—"and, mother," he added, "we must not go to bed
to-night without worshipping him." Consolation so administered could not
be otherwise than effectual: the psalm was sung, the chapter read, and the
prayer offered up by the sorrowing widow in the midst of her orphans; and
the practice was continued daily for years, until Robert was old enough to
assume his proper place as his father’s representative.
The studious temperament of
Robert Balmer, which was manifested at an early period, appears to have
been not a little influenced by his delicate health, that not only
prevented him from joining in the more active sports of his young
compeers, but promoted that thoughtfulness and sensibility by which sickly
boyhood is frequently characterized. The same circumstance also pointed
out to him his proper vocation; and he said, on discovering his inability
even for the light work of the garden, "Mother, if I do not gain my bread
by my head, I’ll never do it with my hands." As to which of the learned
professions he should select, the choice may be said to have been already
made in consequence of his domestic training: he would be a minister of
the gospel, and that, too, in the Secession Church to which his parents
belonged. He proceeded to the study of Latin, first at the parish school
of Morebattle, and afterwards that of Kelso, at the latter of which
seminaries he formed a close acquaintanceship with his schoolfellow,
Thomas Pringle, afterwards known as the author of "African Sketches,"
which was continued till death. In 1802 Mr. Balmer entered the University
of Edinburgh, and, after passing through the usual course of classical,
ethical, and scientific study, was enrolled as a student in theology in
connection with the Associate Synod. Even already he had established for
himself such a respectable intellectual reputation, that his young
brethren in preparation for the ministry received him with more than
ordinary welcome. As Dr. Lawson, the Theological Professor of the
Associate Synod, lectured only for two months of each year, at the end of
summer and commencement of autumn, Mr. Balmer, in common with several of
his fellow students, attended the regular course of theology during the
winters at the university of Edinburgh. They thus themselves of the
two-fold means of improvement which they possessed, without any compromise
of their principles being exacted in return; and the fruits of this were
manifest in after life, not only by the highly-superior attainments of
many of the Secession ministry, but the liberal spirit and kindly feeling
which they learned to cherish toward their brethren of the Established
Church, and the affectionate intercourse that often continued between them
to the end. This, however, alarmed some of the elder and more rigid
brethren of the Synod: they thought that this liberality savoured of
lukewarmness, and would in time prove a grievous snare; and, under the
impression an overture was introduced into the Synod, for the prevention
of all such erratic courses in future. The students of Selkirk, who
studied under Dr. Lawson took the alarm at this threatened
restriction, and the petition and remonstrance presented by them in
vindication was drawn up by Mr. Balmer. Although some indignation was
expressed at the students for the liberty they had thus taken in
addressing the supreme court of their church, the petition was received by
the Synod, and the obnoxious overture dismissed. One of the senior and
leading members observed on this occasion, that he would be sorry to see
any measure adopted which would tend to drive from their body the man who
could write such a paper.
After having finished the
four years’ course of divinity prescribed by the Presbyterian Churches of
Scotland, it was expected that Mr. Balmer should apply for license as a
preacher. This was the more necessary in the communion to which he
belonged, as the number of its licentiates scarcely equalled that of the
vacant congregations. But, to the surprise of his friends, he held back
for two years, although his delay was attributed to unworthy motives.
Already one of the most promising students of the connection, it was
thought that he demurred from mere pride of intellect, and was unwilling
to identify himself with a cause which as yet had produced so few men of
high mark: others, who were aware that he had already been advised to pass
over to the Established Church, and share in its honours and emoluments,
imagined that he had taken the advice to heart, and only waited the fit
season for such a step. But these surmises were as unkind as they were
untrue. His ambition went no higher than to be the humble, useful minister
of some country Burgher congregation, while his humility confirmed him in
the belief that he would have for his brethren men of still higher
attainments than his own. His delay entirely originated in scruples of
conscience. He had thought anxiously and profoundly upon the subject, and
could not wholly admit the formula which he would be required to subscribe
as a licentiate. "On the question," he afterwards said, "demanding an
assent to the Confession and Catechisms, I stated, that to me these
documents appeared so extensive and multifarious as to be disproportioned
to the narrow limits of the human mind; that I at least had not studied
every expression in them so carefully as to be prepared to assent to it
with the solemnity of an oath; that I approved of them, however, in so far
as I had studied them; and that the Presbytery might ascertain, by strict
examination, the amount of my attainments, and treat me accordingly—which
of course they did." His scruples were respected, his explanations in
assenting to the formula admitted, and on the 4th of August, 1812, he was
licensed as a preacher of the gospel by the Associate Presbytery of
Edinburgh.
On commencing the great
work to which all his studies had been hitherto directed, and all his life
was to be henceforth devoted, Mr. Balmer began under rather inauspicious
circumstances. All are aware how essential certain external advantages are
in the formation of an acceptable and popular preacher, and how completely
a Dissenting preacher depends upon this popularity for his call to the
ministry, and the successful discharge of his duties. But in the graces of
person and manner Mr. Balmer was decidedly wanting. His eyes, from their
weakness, had an unpleasant cast, and his figure was ungainly; his voice
was monotonous; and his gestures were, to say the least, inelegant. For a
person in his position to surmount such obstacles argued a mind of no
ordinary power. And he did surmount them. Such was the depth and
originality of thought, the power of language, and heart-moving unction
which his sermons possessed, that his growing acceptability bade fair in a
short time to convert these defects into positive excellencies in the eyes
of his captivated auditories. In a few months he received calls from not
less than four congregations, so that he would have been in a strait to
choose, had not the laws of his church provided for such doubtful
emergencies. Amid such competition, the choice devolved upon the Synod,
modified, however, by the personal wishes of the preacher thus called; and
on Balmer expressing a preference for the congregation at Berwick, he was
ordained its minister on the 23d of March, 1814.
The life of a Secession
minister in a third-rate town affords few points for a limited memoir.
They are also of such a regular monotonous character, that the history of
a single month is a sufficient specimen of whole years so occupied. And
yet, while thus employed, Mr. Balmer was neither a dull nor inefficient
workman. He threw the whole of his large intellect and warm heart into his
sacred duties; and while he secured the love of his congregation, his
reputation was silently growing and going onward, until, without seeking
it, he found himself a man of high mark and influence in that important
segment of the church universal to which he belonged. And all the while he
was continuing to improve his faculties, and extend his intellectual
resources, for his was not a mind to rest satisfied with past
acquirements, however sufficient they might be for the present demand.
Events also occurred, or were searched out and found sufficient to keep up
that wholesome stir of mind without which the best of duties are apt to
become a monotonous task. Among these was the exercise of his pen in a
review of the work of "Hall of Leicester on Terms of Communion,’ which was
inserted in two numbers of the Christian Repository of 1817. He was also
on several occasions a visitor to London, whither he was called on
clerical duty; and in these southward journeys he enjoyed much "colloquy
sublime" with Robert Hall, of whom his reminiscences are among the most
interesting that have appeared of that great pulpit orator and theological
metaphysician. He also took a keen interest in the union of the two
parties of the Secession Church, known by the names of Burghers and
anti-Burghers, which took place in 1820. This was an event that was dear
to his heart, for not only was he a lover of Christian concord, and the
enemy of all infinitesimal distinctions that keep brethren asunder, but he
had been born in that union; for although his father and mother had
belonged to the different parties, they had always lived and acted as
those who are completely at one. In 1826 he married Miss Jane Scott,
daughter of Mr. Alexander Scott of Aberdeen, and sister of John Scott, the
well-known author of "Visits to Paris." In the year following he was
involved—as what minister in Scotland was not more or less involved-—in
what is still vividly remembered under the name of the "Apocrypha
Controversy." Mr. Balmer endeavoured on this occasion to reconcile the
contending parties, and was requited by the suspicions of the one, and the
active hostility of the other, for his pains. Such was the fate of not a
few at this time who endeavoured to perform the part of peacemakers. They
are "blessed" indeed—but not of men, and must look elsewhere than to the
earth for their reward. After the Apocryphical, the Voluntary controversy
predominated, in which the Secession, utterly renouncing the Establishment
principle, which it had hitherto recognized in theory, became thoroughly
and completely a Dissent, by proclaiming the inexpediency and unlawfulness
of civil establishments of religion, and contending for a separation
between Church and State. On this occasion, Mr. Balmer took the part that
might have been expected from his character and situation. He was allied
in friendship with many ministers of the Established Church; and, in
common with many of his brethren, he was conscious of the fickleness of
popular rule. All this was well so long as the question was left to every
man’s conscience. But when it swelled into a public controversy, and when
every person was obliged to take a side, and be either the friend or the
enemy of Voluntaryism, Mr. Balmer acted as every Secession minister did,
who still meant to abide at his post, instead of passing over to the
opposite church. He thought that the voluntary system although an evil,
was the least evil of the two, and therefore he became its apologist and
advocate.
On the death of Dr. Dick of
Glasgow, who for thirteen years had been professor of theology in the
Associate, and afterwards of the United Associate Synod, it was resolved
to establish three divinity professorships, instead of one. On this
occasion Mr. Balmer’s high talents were recognized, by his appointment in
1834, first to the chair of pastoral theology, and afterwards to that of
systematic theology. Although Glasgow was the sphere of his professorship,
his duties called him away from Berwick only two months in the year. The
duties of such a brief session, however, were scarcely less than those of
a six months’ course in our well-endowed universities. The following is an
account of them given by one of his pupils:—"It is not, I presume,
necessary to say more of the nature of his course than that it consisted
of five parts—one preliminary, on the Christian evidences; one
supplementary, on Christian morals; the other three consisting
respectively of—topics in Revelation preparatory to the scheme of
redemption; of the work of the Redeemer; and of the blessings of
redemption. Those subjects were gone over in a series of lectures,
extending over the last three years of the students’ course. Each session
occupied eight weeks, and the number of weekly lectures, each of an hour’s
length, was five, so that the total number delivered in a full course was,
after every abatement for interruption and irregularity, somewhere below
one hundred and twenty. Another hour daily was somewhat irregularly
divided between examinations, or rather oral lectures, and hearing of the
discourses of between forty and fifty students, in the third and fifth
years of their progress, to which was sometimes added an occasional
voluntary essay." Of the manner in which these duties were discharged, the
same pupil affectionately adds:—"Who can ever forget the hours spent in
hearing these prelections, or the singularly impressive manner of him by
whom they were delivered? The simplicity of the recluse student, exalted
into the heavenliness of mature saintship—the dignified composure, mixed
with kindly interest—the look of unworldly purity and abstract
intelligence, that more than redeemed the peculiar and unpromising
features—the venerable hoary head, that no one could refuse to rise up and
honour—all strongly fixed the eye; and then came the full stream of a
never-to-be-forgotten voice, monotonous only in simple and unimportant
sentences, but varied in striking cadence through all the members of an
exquisitely balanced period, and now kindling into animation and emphasis
in the glow of argument, now sinking into thrilling solemnity and
tenderness with the falls of devout emotion; while all the while no play
of look, or fervour of tone, or strange sympathetic gesture, could disturb
your idea of the reigning self-possession and lofty moral dignity of the
speaker. Never had lecturer a more attentive audience. The eagerness of
note taking alone broke the general silence."
When these important
labours were finished, Mr. Balmer returned at the end of each session to
Berwick, not for the purpose of rest, however, but to resume his clerical
duties with double vigour. In this way his life went on from year to
year—silent indeed, and overlooked by the world in general; but who can
trace or fully estimate the effects of such a life upon the generations to
come? He who in such fashion rears up teachers of religion may live and
die unnoticed, but never unfelt: his deeds will travel onward, from
generation to generation, even when his name has utterly passed away; he
will still live and instruct, in his pupils, and the disciples of his
pupils, though his dust may long ago have mouldered in the winds. In 1840
Mr. Balmer received from the university of St. Andrews the degree of
Doctor in Divinity, which was spontaneously conferred upon him by the
Senatus, without influence or solicitation. During the latter years of his
life, a controversy was agitated in the United Secession, upon the extent
of the atonement, which threatened at one time to rend that church
asunder, and which even yet has not been terminated. In such a case, it
could not be otherwise than that Dr. Balmer, however unwillingly, should
express his sentiments upon the question at issue. This he did, but with
such gentleness and moderation, as to soften the keenness of debate, and
increase the general esteem in which he was held by all parties. After
this his season arrived in which every theological doubt and difficulty
ends in unswerving and eternal certainty. A short but severe illness, the
result of mental anxiety acting upon a feeble frame—the first and last
attack of serious pain and sickness he had ever felt—ended his life on the
1st of July, 1844. This event, however anticipated from his years and
growing infirmities, not only threw his whole congregation into the
deepest sorrow, each individual feeling himself bereaved of an honoured
and affectionate father, but struck with a sudden thrill the extensive
Associate Secession church through its whole range in Scotland and
England. Even the funeral of Dr. Balmer was significant of his catholic
liberality and high talents—of one who had lived in Christian peace and
love with all, and won the admiration and esteem of all; for in the town
business was suspended, the inhabitants assembled as if some prince of the
land was to be honoured and bewailed in his death, and the coffin was
followed to the grave by the ministers of every denomination, both of the
English and Scottish Establishment and Dissent, who dwelt in the town and
country. A monumental obelisk was soon after erected over the grave by his
affectionate congregation. Two volumes of his writings have also been
published since his death, the one consisting of Pulpit Discourses, and
the other of Academical Lectures, in which the high estimate taken of his
talents by the church to which he belonged is fully justified. |
