WELSH,
D.D., REV. DAVID.—This distinguished scholar and divine, whom a great
national event made the mark of general attention, notwithstanding his
recluse studious habits and unobtrusive disposition, was born at Braefoot,
in the parish of Moffat, Dumfriesshire, on the 11th of December, 1793. His
father, a substantial farmer and small landholder, had a family of twelve
children, of whom David was the youngest. Being at an early period intended
for the ministry, David, after receiving the earlier part of his education
at the parish school of Moffat, went to Edinburgh, where he attended the
high school for a year, and afterwards became a student at the university.
Here his progress, though considerable, was silent and retired, so that at
first he was little noticed among his ardent competitors in Latin and Greek;
it was not words, but thoughts that chiefly captivated his attention, and
therefore it was not until he had entered the classes of logic and
philosophy that he began to attract the notice of his class-fellows. In the
latter he was so fortunate as to have for his teacher Dr. Thomas Brown, the
most acute and eloquent of metaphysicians of whom he became not only the
pupil, but the friend, and finally the affectionate biographer. The ardent
attachment of the young student to such a preceptor, the enthusiasm with
which he received his instructions, and docility with which he placed
himself under the guidance of such a mind, not only already evinced the
intellectual bent of David Welsh, but predicted his future eminence, and
this more especially, as he had already only entered his fifteenth year.
On joining the divinity hall,
which he did in 1811, he brought to the study of theology all the reading
and research of his former years; and although in substantial acquirements
he was already considerably in advance of most young students of his early
standing, they were accompanied with a shrinking bashfulness, that prevented
his superiority from being generally recognized. It would be well for
towardly young students in general, and especially those of our divinity
halls, if they were equally sheltered from that injudicious admiration by
which improvement is so often stopped short, and an overweening vanity
implanted in its stead. At this period it was of more than usual importance
that divinity students should study the great questions of church polity, in
reference to their connection between the civil and ecclesiastical powers;
for upon them, in their future character as ministers, that uncompromising
conflict was to depend which was finally to end in the Disruption. But David
Welsh had already embraced that party in the church to which he adhered
through life, and those principles for which he was to sacrifice one of the
highest standings in our Scottish universities. He was the descendant of a
church-honoured line of Tweedsmuir sheep-farmers, who had suffered in the
days of the Covenant for their adherence to the spiritual independence of
the kirk against the domination of Erastianism and the Stuarts, and these
principles had descended to him not only with a sacred, but hereditary
claim. While Welsh was, therefore, a Whig in politics, he was decidedly
evangelical in his religious sentiments, and thoroughly at one with the
party in the church, still indeed a small and struggling minority, by whom
they were represented. After having studied theology during the prescribed
period of four years, he was licensed as a preacher, by the presbytery of
Lochmaben, in May, 1816. As he was still young, having only reached his
twenty-second year, he was in no haste to enter upon the important duties of
the ministry; instead of this he resumed the work of self-improvement, and
continued to add to his store of knowledge as well as experience of the
world. It was only thus that he could effectually prepare himself, not only
for the duties of a country minister, but the important charges which he was
afterwards to occupy. Among these studies the exact sciences held a
conspicuous place—geometry, algebra, and natural philosophy. Nor among these
should the study of phrenology be forgot, to which he had become a convert
through the arguments of its talented apostle, Mr. Combe. There was
something in this fresh and tempting science so congenial to his own
favourite study of the human mind—and it was so felicitous, as he judged, in
its plan of decomposing so complex a thing as a human character into its
simple primitive elements—that he soon became one of the most distinguished
as well as enthusiastic students of phrenology, while his name, after he was
noted as a learned, philosophical, and orthodox country minister, was a
tower of strength to the science, under the charges of infidelity and
materialism that were brought against it. These charges, indeed, became at
last too serious to be disregarded, and Mr. Welsh, in after life, became a
less zealous and open advocate of the cause. Still, however, he was not to
be shaken from his belief in phrenology, in consequence of the injudicious
uses that had been made of it, and, therefore, to the end, he continued a
firm believer at least in its general principles and application. These he
used in his processes of self-examination, and, doubtless, derived much
benefit from the practice. Not content with feeling himself weak or sinful
in the gross, and condemning himself in wholesale terms, he tasked himself
sternly in particulars, and for this purpose, took himself to pieces, and
examined bit by bit the origin of the offence or deficiency. Conscience
presented to him his own likeness mapped all over like a phrenological cast;
and thus, while recording in his private journal whatever was amiss, each
fault is specified not by its general name, but by its number. It would be
well if phrenologists in general would turn the science to such a good
account.
After having been nearly five
years a licentiate, Mr. Welsh was ordained minister of the parish of
Crossmichael, on the 22d of March, 1821. His presentation was highly
honourable to the patron as well as himself; for while the latter was a
Whig, the former was a Tory, and at this time political feeling was near its
height; so that the young minister owed his promotion to that superiority of
character which he had already acquired, and which the patron showed himself
well fitted to appreciate. On entering upon the duties of a country
minister, Mr. Welsh had two weighty obstacles to encounter, which would have
marred the popularity of most persons thus circumstanced. The first
arose from the state of his health, which was always delicate; so that the
task of public speaking, so easy to the robust, was with him a work of
labour, and often of pain. The other originated in the studious reflective
habits he had already found so congenial to his nature, and which could ill
brook the daily and hourly demands of common-place parochial
business. But the physical obstacles and intellectual predilections were
equally sacrificed upon that altar of duty at which he now ministered, and
he soon became a most popular and useful preacher, as well as a laborious
painstaking minister. On this head, his character is best attested by two of
his distinguished co-presbyters, who were at one in their esteem of Mr.
Welsh to the close of his life, although the Disruption, that afterwards
ensued, rent them asunder in opinions of more vital importance. "I need not
tell you," thus writes one of them to his biographer, "that Sir Alexander
(Gordon of Greenlaw, the patron, who had presented Mr. Welsh,
notwithstanding his political principles) had soon cause to rejoice that he
had been guided by the wisdom that is profitable to direct, to do so. Dr.
Welsh realized, in every respect, his most sanguine expectations, and was
soon admitted by all parties to be the most superior, and efficient, and
popular minister that was ever settled in that district of Scotland. I
visited him more than once in the manse of Crossmichael; preached to his
congregation, and mingled a good deal with his people; and never did I see a
minister more beloved, or reigning more absolutely in the affections of his
people." "From the time that he came to Galloway," the other thus writes of
him, "I had the privilege of close intimacy and uninterrupted friendship
with him; and certainly I could fill pages in commendation of his
talents—his acuteness of intellect—his grasp of mind—his unwearied zeal in
the discharge of his professional duties—the strong hold he had of the
affections of his own people—the admiration that his pulpit ministrations
met with wherever he appeared in public—the esteem in which he was held by
his brethren—and the universal respect that attached to him from the
community at large. . . .Notwithstanding all the innate modesty of our
excellent friend, it was not possible that, in the most retired retreat, the
great vigour of his mind, and the worth of his character as a Christian man
and a Christian pastor, could long be hid or confined within the precincts
of his immediate locality. It might be predicted of him, from the time of
his appearance in public life—perhaps in his earliest days—that he was
destined to hold a high place among his professional brethren; and that
circumstances would, in the providence of God, occur to bring him into
public notice."
Such was his course in the
parish of Crossmichael, and such the effect of his labours. Independently,
too, of his ministerial duties, in which he was so zealous and successful,
Mr. Welsh still continued to be a diligent student, and one of his first, as
well as the most distinguished of his literary labours, was his "Life of Dr.
Thomas Brown," professor of moral philosophy in the university of Edinburgh,
who had been the guide of his early studies, and friend of his more advanced
years. This congenial task he undertook not only from grateful affection,
but in consequence of the urgent request of Dr. Brown’s friends, who thought
that the office could not be intrusted to better hands. It is enough to
state respecting the merits of this biographical work, that it was worthy of
the man whom it commemorated, as well as a profound and luminous exposition
of the ethical and metaphysical principles which he had so eloquently taught
as a professor; "and in holding converse," it may be added, in the words of
a competent critic—"in holding converse through his memoir with the
biographer himself, as well as with its interesting subject, one cannot
avoid being infected with a portion of the same earnest and beautiful
enthusiasm, which animates so evidently alike the silent inquiries of the
master, and kindles the admiration of his accomplished disciple." While
engaged in writing this work, the author also resolved, when it was
finished, to produce a treatise on Logic, a design, however, which was never
executed. In the meantime, his studies were continued, not only among his
old, but among new fields of research; and in the latter was political
economy, one of the most important, but withal most difficult, of modern
sciences. The subject of education, also, as a science, engaged at this time
his close attention, from the accident of the well-known Dr. Bell having
become one of his neighbours and acquaintances; and in consequence of these
inquiries, Mr. Welsh was enabled to turn his knowledge to an excellent
practical account in the superintendence of schools, when his sphere of
operation was transferred from a small secluded parish to the educational
wants of a crowded city.
And that period of
transference was not long delayed. It was soon evident, from the superior
talents of the minister of Crossmichael, from his love of mental
improvement, and from the earnestness with which he prosecuted the work of
intellectual acquirement, in a situation where so many minds relapse into
mere literary ease and recreation, that he was fitted for a still more
important situation than that which he now occupied. Accordingly, a vacancy
having occurred in the church of St. David’s, Glasgow, Mr. Welsh, whose
reputation was already known, was invited by the town council of Glasgow to
occupy the charge. He accepted the offer, and was inducted toward the close
of 1827. In this new field he found full scope for his talents, and was
quickly distinguished, not only as an eloquent and useful preacher, but a
most effective promoter of the interests of education, now become of
paramount importance in such an over-crowded manufacturing city. Here also
he found that cheering and strengthening intercourse of mind with kindred
mind, which forms only an occasional episode in a country manse. He likewise
married Miss Hamilton, sister of the Lord Provost, and to all appearance had
reached that comfortable termination in which the rest of his days were to
be spent in peace. But his health, which had been always delicate, and the
weakness of his chest, made the task of preaching to large audiences, and
the week-day duties of his office, so laborious and oppressive, that in a
few years he would have sunk under them. Happily, however, his labours were
not thus prematurely to terminate; and the offer of the chair of church
history, in the university of Edinburgh, which he received from government
in 1831, came to his relief. This was the boundary to which unconsciously
all his past studies had been tending, while the weakly state of his
constitution only hastened the crisis. It was more in accordance with his
feeling of duty to accept such a charge, for which he had strength enough,
than to break down in an office which was growing too much for him. And,
even setting this aside, he felt that the great work of training up an
efficient ministry was of still higher importance than the ministerial
office itself. These inducements were obvious not only to himself, but to
his attached congregation; and they freely acquiesced in the parting,
although with much sorrow and regret. He therefore left Glasgow, in
November, 1831, for his new sphere of action, and received the degree of
doctor in divinity from the university, at his departure.
The office into which Dr.
Welsh was now inducted, had hitherto, in Scotland, for more than a century,
been one of the least distinguished of all our university professorships.
This was by no means owing either to the inferior importance of church
history as a subject of study, or to any innate dryness and want of interest
that belongs to it; on the contrary, we know that it embraces subjects of
the highest import, and exhibits the development of the human mind in its
strongest and most intense aspects—and is consequently of a more stirring
and interesting character in itself, than either the rise and fall of
empires, or the record of triumphs and defeats. But Scotland had been so
exclusively occupied with her Solemn League and Covenant, that she had found
little time to attend to the history of other churches; and even when better
days succeeded, those classical and antiquarian studies upon which
ecclesiastical history so much depends, had fallen so miserably into
abeyance, that the evil seemed to have become incurable. What, indeed, could
a student make of the history of the church for at least twelve centuries,
when his "small Latin and less Greek" could scarcely suffice to make out the
name of a bygone heresy, or decipher the text in the original upon which the
controversy was founded? In this state, any one or anything had sufficed as
a stop-gap, to fill the vacuum of such a professorship--and it had been
filled accordingly. But now a new order of things had succeeded. A more
ardent literary spirit had commenced among our students, a wider field of
inquiry had been opened, and they could no longer submit to doze over a
course of lectures as dark as the dark ages, among which they lingered for
months, or listen to a teacher who, perhaps, knew less about the matter than
themselves. It will be seen, therefore, that nothing could have been more
opportune than the appointment of Dr. Welsh. His clear and vigorous mind,
his varied acquirements and extensive reading, had not only furnished him
with the requisite stores of knowledge, but given him the power of selecting
what was fittest from the mass, arranging it in the most effective form, and
expressing it in that perspicuous attractive style which insured attention
and stimulated inquiry. And besides all this aptitude, he was so profoundly
impressed with the importance of his charge, that he resolved to give
himself wholly to its duties; and with this view, he abstained from every
engagement, either of literature or public business, that might in any way
have allured him from his work. The devout conscientious spirit, too, in
which all this was undertaken and carried on, will be manifest from the
following memorandum found among his papers. After mentioning what he
regarded as shortcomings in the duties of his professorship, and confessing
them penitently before the Lord, he adds: "In His strength I now bind
myself, during the present session,—
"1. To set apart one hour
every Saturday for prayer for my students, and for considering my
failures and deficiencies in the past week, with corresponding resolutions
of amendment in the succeeding week.
"2. To make it a distinct
object daily, praying for assistance to supply the deficiencies and
correct the errors mentioned in the preceding page.
"3. To make a study, as
opportunity presents, of the passages in Scripture that relate to my duties
as a teacher, and to the duties of the young.
"4. To add to my resolutions
from time to time, as new light shines.
"5. To read the above at
least once a-week—strictly examining myself how far my conduct corresponds,
and praying that God may search and try me.
"In looking at a student,
ask, how can I do him good, or have I ever done him good?"
In this spirit Dr. Welsh
entered upon his duties; and perhaps it would be needless to add how
distinguished he soon became as a professor of church history. In his hands,
a course of teaching hitherto so uninteresting and unprofitable, seemed to
start into new life. At the close of each session he sat regularly in the
General Assembly, as member for the presbytery of Lochcarron, but without
taking an active part in its proceedings, as, from his delicate health,
nervous temperament, and constitutional diffidence, he was neither a bold
combatant in debate, nor a ready extemporaneous speaker. In the latter
capacity, indeed, he jocularly compared himself to a narrow-necked bottle,
from which the liquid is hurriedly discharged in jerks and gurgles. In the
third session of his professorship (1834) he published a volume of "Sermons
on Practical Subjects," which he had preached during his ministry in
Crossmiohael and Glasgow; and although they were intended merely for private
circulation among the two congregations, they at once went beyond these
narrow bounds, and obtained a wide popularity. During the spring and summer
of the same year he also went abroad, accompanied by his wife and two
children, and resided at Bonn and Heidelberg, besides visiting other places
in Germany. This trip, however, instead of being a mere pleasure tour, was
undertaken by Dr. Welsh for the purpose of perfecting himself in German, in
reference to the advancement of his studies in theology and church history;
and to acquaint himself, by personal examination, with the educational
system of Prussia, with a view to the introduction of its improvements into
that of Scotland. Having now, by frequent re-writing and improvement,
brought his course of college lectures to some conformity with his own rigid
standard, and having become familiarized with the duties of his chair, Dr.
Welsh at length ventured to take a larger share in the general business of
the church than he had hitherto attempted. Accordingly, in 1838, he accepted
the office of vice-convener of the Colonial Committee, and in 1841, that of
convener. This situation, when conscientiously filled, involved an amount of
study about the spiritual wants of our colonies, of extensive
correspondence, and delicate influential management, as had hitherto daunted
the boldest, and made them pause perhaps too often; but in the case of Dr.
Welsh, these difficult duties were entered and discharged with the same
unflinching zeal which he had so successfully brought to his professorship.
He also took a very active and influential share in an important controversy
of the day, regarding the monopoly in printing the Bible, which had so long
prevailed in Scotland, but was now felt to be an intolerable religious
grievance; and on the monopoly being abrogated, and a board of control and
revision established for the new editions of the Scriptures, Dr. Welsh was
ultimately appointed by government to be secretary of the board. How he
occupied this most trying and responsible charge is thus stated by his
talented and distinguished biographer: "His fitness was acknowledged by all,
and his performance even exceeded the expectations of the country. In the
main matter of securing accuracy in the impressions of the Scriptures,
complete success may truly be said to have been achieved, and chiefly
through his care and knowledge; while the conciliatory manner in which the
control exercised by the board was carried into effect, through him, guarded
against all cause of discontent on the part of the trade, and soon did away
with those jealousies which a little indiscretion might have called into
such activity as to have greatly marred the usefulness of the measure. He
brought the whole machinery into smooth and efficient working order, and
handed it over to his successor in a state that required little more than
the ordinary care of seeing that nothing should interfere with the system as
he had arranged it."
During this interval, an
under-current had been going on in the life of Dr. Welsh, that was soon to
assume the entire predominance. We allude to those great church questions
that had been agitated from year to year, and were now to end in the
DISRUPTION. Upon these questions he had meditated deeply and
conscientiously, and at every step had gone along with the evangelical party
in the Church of Scotland, and at last had arrived with them at the
conclusion, that further concession to the state was impossible; that all
state advantages must be foregone by the church, in behalf of those
principles that were part and parcel of her very existence. Such was the
decision to which the controversy had come in 1842; and upon that memorable
year, the decision was to be announced, and the church committed on the
issue. At such a solemn period of assize, the high estimation in which Dr.
Welsh was held was fully shown by his election to the office of moderator of
the General Assembly; and this office, now so fraught with difficulty and
deep responsibility, he undertook with fear and trembling. The faithfulness
and ability with which he discharged it, is matter of history. Many
important measures were passed at the sittings of this Assembly; but the
most important of all was the "claim, declaration, and protest," in which
the spiritual rights of the church were announced, the assumptions of the
civil courts abjured, and the resolution of foregoing all the benefits of an
Establishment distinctly declared, unless these rights were recognized, and
the encroachments of the civil courts terminated.
Another year rolled on, and
the General Assembly again met; but it could only meet for the final
departure of such as still adhered to the protest of the former year—for the
State had determined not to yield. All things were therefore in readiness
for the meditated disruption, and nothing remained but to seize the proper
moment to announce it. This was the trying duty of Dr. Welsh, as moderator
of the former Assembly; and to be performed while he was labouring under the
depression of that wasting disease which at no distant period brought him to
the grave. But calmly and with an unaltered step he went through the
preliminary duties of that great movement; and on Wednesday, the day
previous to the opening of the Assembly, he signed the protest of his
brethren, and afterwards dined, according to established rule, with the
commissioner, to whom he announced the purposes of the morrow. On Thursday,
he preached before the commissioner and a crowded auditory upon the text,
"Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind;" and after this solemn
note of preparation, he repaired with the brilliant cortege and throng of
divines to St. Andrew’s Church, and opened the Assembly with prayer. This
duty ended, the promised moment had come. While all were hushed with painful
expectation, the pale sickness-worn face of Dr. Welsh was for the last time
turned to the commissioner’s throne, and in a voice that was soft and slow,
but firm and articulate, he thus announced the final purpose of his
brethren: "According to the usual form of procedure, this is the time for
making up the roll; but, in consequence of certain proceedings affecting our
rights and privileges--proceedings which have been sanctioned by her
Majesty’s government, and by the legislature of the country; and more
especially, in respect that there has been an infringement on the liberties
of our constitution, so that we could not now constitute this court without
a violation of the terms of the union between church and state in this land,
as now authoritatively declared, I must protest against our proceeding
further. The reasons that have led me to this conclusion, are fully set
forth in the document which I hold in my hand, and which, with permission of
the house, I shall now proceed to read." He then read the protest; and after
bowing to the throne, he left the chair of office, and proceeded to the
door, followed by Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Gordon, and the fathers of this
momentous secession. Thus the departure commenced; a long array succeeded;
and the procession slowly wound its way to Tanfield, where a large hall had
been hastily fitted up in expectation of the emergency; and there, a new
General Assembly was constituted, by the new—or shall we say—by the
old and long-forgotten, but now regenerated Church of Scotland.
Amidst the many sacrifices
that were made on this occasion by the ministers of the newly constituted
Free Church of Scotland—sacrifices which even their enemies will acknowledge
were neither few nor trivial—those of Dr. Welsh were of no ordinary
importance. In attaining to the professorship of church history in the
university of Edinburgh, he had reached an office all but the highest to
which a Scottish ecclesiastic could aspire. It was besides so admirably
suited to all his past acquirements, and now matured intellectual habits,
that perhaps no other could have been found over the whole range of Scotland
so completely adapted to his likings. And yet, this he knew from the
beginning that he must forego, as soon as he abandoned the state patronage
of the Establishment. In addition to his chair, he held the office of
Secretary to the Board for the publication of the Bible, an office that
yielded him a revenue of £500 per annum; but this comfortable independence,
so rare among the scanty endowments of our national church, must also be
sacrificed as well as his professorship. Both offices were quickly reclaimed
by the state, as he had anticipated from the beginning. All this would have
been enough, and even more than enough, for a bold and brave man in the full
strength of manhood, and still eager for enterprise: but in the case of Dr.
Welsh the fire of life was well nigh exhausted; a mortal disease was
silently and slowly, but securely drying up the fountain-head of his
existence; and he had arrived at that state in which every effort is
weariness and pain, while tranquillity is prized as the greatest of
blessings. And yet he abandoned all, and braced himself anew for fresh
action, so that the rest of his brief life was full of exertion and bustle.
The chief department that fell to his share was that of Education in
connection with the Free Church; and his valuable services in the erection
of schools and the establishment of a college, will continue of themselves
to endear his memory to the scholars of future generations. Of this new
college, which commenced its labours immediately after the Disruption, for
the training of an efficient ministry, Dr. Welsh was professor in
ecclesiastical history, while Dr. Chalmers held the office of principal. Dr.
Welsh also became editor of the "North British Review," and by his able
management contributed to raise that periodical to the high literary
standing which it quickly obtained. In 1844 he also published his "Elements
of Church History" in one volume, which was intended to be the first of a
series extending to six or seven volumes, that should carry down the history
of the church to the close of the sixteenth century. But his labours had
already approached their close; and his inability to continue his college
prelections at the close of the year, was the last of many warnings which he
had lately received that his departure was at hand, and might probably be in
a single moment. The disease under which he laboured was one of those
complaints of the heart, now so prevalent, but still so little understood,
that often make sickness so painful and death so sudden. And thus it was
with Dr. Welsh. He had retired to Camis Eskin, on the banks of the Clyde,
but without finding relief, and on the 24th of April, 1845, his troubles
were closed. A passage of Scripture had been read to him, which he turned
into a fervent prayer, and as soon as it was ended he stretched out his
arms, and instantly expired.
Such was the departure of one
of whom it was stated by Lord Advocate Rutherford, in his place in
Parliament, shortly after the event, that "within the last fortnight, a
gentleman had been carried to his grave, who had commanded more private
affection and more public regard than, perhaps, any other man who had
recently expired—a gentleman who had taken a high and prominent position in
the great movement that had separated the Church of Scotland—a gentleman
firm and determined in his line of action, but at the same time, of all the
men concerned in that movement, the most moderate in counsel, and the most
temperate in language—a man who had never uttered a word or done a deed
intended to give offence." |