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Hitherto we have looked only at the more
prominent features of Dr Guthrie's public career. There were many movements
and occurrences, however, of minor import and significance, to which he lent
a helping hand. Indeed, without travelling out of the record, we might go
much further, and say that there were no movements of a charitable, moral,
social, or religious kind with which he has not been more or less
prominently identified. At a meeting held in the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh,
on the 20th Dec., 1838, for the purpose of commemorating the restoration of
civil and religious liberty, and of Presbyterian Church Government, as
secured by the celebrated General Assembly at Glasgow in 1638, he made a
speech, in which the following passage occurs:—"I remember when Mr Dunlop
and Mr Cunningham brought out, from the dust and rubbish of forty years, the
anti-patronage banner, and unfurled and shook it in the face of the
Assembly, thirty-three good men and true were all who mustered round it, and
I had the honour to be one of the number. The next time it was displayed
there were forty-two of us, and they called us in scorn the 42d Highlanders.
I remember being at Arbroath, calling on the people to send up petitions
against patronage, and I told them that, although they called us the 42d
Highlanders last year, we would be the 92d this year, and I was nearly a
correct prophet." It was this same small despised nucleus of forty-two who
brought about the Disruption, and established the Free Church.
The national commemoration of the tricentenary
of the Reformation from Popery in Scotland, was held in Edinburgh, in
August, 1860. The proceedings lasted for four whole days, and were of a most
interesting character. These consisted of devotional exercises, the reading
of papers on Reformation subjects, and the exhibition of a collection of
memorials of the Reformation. The opening sermon was preached on Tuesday,
the 14th August, by Dr Guthrie, and has been properly described as one of
his most thrilling and magnificent efforts. It produced such a profound
impression, that, regardless of the sacred character of the service and
occasion, the audience at its close gave expression to their admiration and
approval in a burst of cheering.
From the first, he took a warm interest in the
question of Union among the Churches, and to the last, he ably and earnestly
pleaded for its consummation. We give a few of his manly and truly Christian
utterances:—
If I cannot consent to give a silent vote on
this great and momentous occasion. When I say that I intend to vote for Dr
Buchanan's motion, I have said nothing that has taken the House by surprise
at any rate. I have made no progress any more than my friend Dr Gibson. I am
in the very position to-day that I stood in, in the year 1843, when I made
my first speech as a Free Church minister in our General Assembly. Whether I
have logic or not, I have a good pair of eyes, and I saw a long way a-head
of me, which was more than Dr Gibson, with all his logic, did. I see a long
way ahead of me this happy day; and I expressed the very sentiments in the
Free Church General Assembly of 1843, that I stand up now to express. I
find, in turning to the Witness of that period, that I said, 'I am for union
in the meantime, in the way of co operation. I would propose to Dr Brown,'
(speaking of home mission work), 'you take that portion of the work, and to
Dr Alexander, you take that, and I will take this; let us devote ourselves
to this labour, and go forth to the heathen lanes of Edinburgh just as we go
forth to the heathen lands of Africa.' 'But, sir,' I added, 'We cannot stop
there,' And in reference to the very chapter which Sir Henry Moncreiff read
here this day, I went on to say, 'I defy any man to stop there, who has at
heart what our clerk read this evening, that touching and affecting prayer
of Jesus for His disciples! What is first and foremost in that prayer? What
is mentioned, once, twice, thrice, four, and five times? What is repeated
over and over again, in that prayer of our Redeemer?—-'That they may be all
one, as I and my Father are. one. And I never will rest content, I will
never cease to pray and work, till that end is achieved, and, as I do so, I
will bury in oblivion the memory of former controversies.' Yes, sir; 'oh
that the day were come,' (and it is not far distant now); 'oh that the day
were come, that I might meet with my brethren,' (and I see some of them
before me in this House), 'over the grave of all former controversies, that
we might shake hands, and join hearts, and be one in Christ Jesus; one
regiment bearing the same colours, and going forth like an army mighty for
battle, against one common and tremendous foe.'
"There are still some crotchety spirits among
us. I don't doubt there are some among the Dissenters, too, who still keep
their wounds rankling that they received in the Voluntary controversy. For
my part, my wounds have been healed for many a day; and I wish to remind
those who have got their old sores about them, that if they are not yet
healed, it is a proof they have got a bad constitution. So I say, both to
the Free Church and the Dissenters, that if they have not yet got their
wounds healed, they will need to look after their constitution. There is
something wrong about the heart.
"No matter what the subject is, there are some
men who can't unite or co-operate unless you drive them into a corner, and
bring them to what they call a logical conclusion. I'll tell you what, and
you know it as well as I do, that on all points we will never be agreed till
we are in a better church than any here below. Is that a reason why we
should not act together, because there may be differences of opinion among
us? Just think of the roses on a bush kicking up a row because they are not
all painted alike. Just think of the planets resolving that they won't go
round the sun because they have not the same weight, or the same orbit. When
is this going to end! It would destroy all nature. And if people refuse to
act together for God's glory and for a good cause, for the reason that in
all points they do not think alike, it will not be so much the dividing of
the church into sections, as it will be the dividing of the blessed robe of
Christ into separate threads; we would all be reduced to the condition of an
excellent and learned man in Edinburgh, who would agree in worship with
nobody but his own housekeeper, and who, when she died, was left to worship
along in the world. Now, if asked what I am going to do with men who won't
agree with us, I just say that I will try to remove their difficulties; I
will get up the steam of love, of zeal, and of charitable affection, till I
get a pressure of fifty pounds to every square inch on my brother, and he
goes over the difficulty like a railway train."
Of every question he took a broad, catholic, and
large-hearted view; and this was especially characteristic of his dealings
with other religious denominations. Unity, concord, and reciprocity were the
aim of his efforts; and freedom in matters of conscience and ecclesiastical
polity—more especially the freedom of a congregation to elect its own
minister —was the height of his great argument. No more fitting example of
his toleration could be quoted than the following extract from his
examination before the Committee, appointed to consider the subject of
refusing sites to the Free Church, to which reference has already been made.
"Committeeman—' I ask you what is your opinion on that point—your claiming
sites for the Free Church upon the great and general principles of
toleration! Are you of opinion that that toleration ought to exist, and to
extend, if pushed to its legitimate consequences, to granting sites to Roman
Catholics!' Dr Guthrie—'I would grant a site to a Mahometan—to any man who
worshipped God according to his conscience.' Committee-man—'Jew or Mahometan?' Dr
Guthrie—'Yes.'Committee-man—'Or idolater?' Dr Guthrie—'Yes; I have no right
to stand between man and his God, whatever that God may be.'"
He had a longing for millennial peace, and did
what he could to hasten its accomplishment by maintaining reciprocity with
other denominations. He preached in many churches and chapels that had
little in common with the Free Church; and he was ever ready to accommodate
himself to the peculiar idiosyncrasies and customs of the sect, with which
he was for the time being identified. It is related of him that, being
invited to preach one evening in a chapel in Edinburgh, and not aware, of
the dislike of the congregation to badges of priesthood, he despatched his
beadle with a bag containing his gown and bands to await him in the vestry.
While assuming these insignia of office, one of the deacons caught sight of
him, and, if not horrified, at least, felt the "old man" rising within him.
He speedily communicated the fact to his brother deacon, and the two, with
edifying zeal, hastened to the scene of action. After telegraphing to each
other for a little, one of them took speech in hand—
"Ahem! Mr Guthrie, we're no unco fond o' seein'
thae things in the poopil—we're no used to the gown—we wad like better to
see you without it."
"Very well, gentlemen ; it's all the same. Hae,
Jamie, put that in the bag."
"Ahem! and the bands?"
"Oh! ye like me better wanting them too, do ye?'
The deacons nodded.
"Here then, Jamie, put them beside the gown."
The night had been very wet, and Mr Guthrie had
walked through the rain. He proceeded to put on a pair of dry shoes which
Jamie handed him. Looking at them for a minute with a droll expression on
his countenance' he held them up to the Nonconformists, adding,—
"Maybe, gentlemen, ye wad like me better wantin'
these, too?'
The abashed and rebuked elders looked foolishly
at each other for a moment, muttered something about the "plate no bein'
attended to," and made off to watch its contents.
We can only mention, in the briefest possible
manner, Dr Guthrie's labours for the suppression of the social evil—the
compassion with which he looked upon fallen women, and the strong, kindly
hand that he was ever ready to extend for their rescue and reclamation. Nor
can we forget that such movements as that of early closing, and the better
payment of the toiling, wage-earning classes, had his hearty sympathy and
co-operation. He encouraged, also, the efforts made by working men and women
to improve their circumstances, and was especially given to enjoin habits of
thrift and economy. Strikes and all violent efforts at social amelioration,
he deprecated as "productive of enormous evils." although, admitting "that
the working man may hare justice on his side, in refusing to work for low
wages and demanding higher." He valued the Volunteer movement "because it is
not, nor can it be, one of offence or aggression, but is, and must be, one
of defence alone;" and he held that every man who had health and strength
ought to be a volunteer. He took a warm interest in the regular army, and
pleaded that our soldiers should be provided more regularly and
astoniatically with the means of grace; and he contrasted our army in this
respect with the army in the days of Cromwell, when religious parents sent
their sons to be soldiers that they might receive a religious training.
Another point on which he felt strongly and spoke effectively was the
practice of celibacy in the army, and the recent legislation to which it has
led. Certain Acts, much discussed at present, had no more uncompromising
enemy than Dr Guthrie. We quote a few of his utterances on some of these
subjects:—
"What right has Government to collect a thousand
men together and give them no minister of religion? If Government, in the
matter of Established Churches, thought it right that a thousand people in a
parish should have a minister, what right have they to collect a thousand
men together, bound and prepared to die for their country's defence, and
leave them without a minister? I know no men who have more need; and it is
both a cruel and an anti-Christian system, to deprive these men of the
regular provision of the means of grace. In the days of Marlborough, every
regiment had its chaplain, who marched and campaigned with the soldiers, and
even went to the field of battle with them. In Marlborough's time, the
soldiers never battled with the enemy but they rose from their knees to do
it; and the regular practice was for the men to join in prayer before they
joined in fight; and many of the officers went to the Lord's table and
communicated, believing it might be for the last time; and, with all honour
to the British army, we have never had better soldiers than in the days of
Marlborough. In the days of Cromwell, Christian parents did what no
Christian parents in our day would do. They sent their sons into the army,
that they might get a religious upbringing. Yes, they sent their sons to be
privates in the army, that they might be brought up in the strictest,
godliest system. And what was the result? It was then that Cromwell's men,
from the very power which they felt and exercised, got the name of
Ironsides, and they never went into battle but they went to victory—a
complete proof that the more religious a man is, he is the better soldier,
and that the more a man fears God, he is the less likely to fear man. There
is another thing that prevents the army from being the true representative
of a Christian nation; and that is, that domestic comforts and influence are
denied to the soldier. Now, that is a grievous wrong, and it is idle to
prove it. I hold that if celibacy is a bad thing in the church, it is a
worse thing still in the army. They may blame the soldier if they would, but
I blame the system under which the soldier is tempted. Ah, it will be said,
married soldiers would be a great expense. But what right-has a Christian
nation to secure its defence at the risk of the ruin of a man's happiness?
Give a soldier better pay. That's it. The soldier was at one time paid twice
the wages of a day labourer; and I say, that until they pay the soldier as
well as they do the mason or the carpenter, they will not do the army
justice."
The Doctor was fond of seeing innocent
amusements. "He liked to see a kitten chasing its own tail, if it had
nothing else to do." But his toleration on this point was used as a
testimony against him. On one occasion, at Dundee, h« had advocated more and
better ways and means of providing amusement for the working classes, and,
to quote his own words, "a short time afterwards there was sent me a play
bill. Yes, a play bill with my name in it! The Reverend Dr Guthrie in a play
bill issued in Dundee by some provincial players! I never was more
astonished in all the days of my life, I found that my friends, the players,
had made an unfair use of an expression made by me on that occasion, and had
stuck my name into the, bill between, if I recollect, The Merry Wires of
Windsor and A Roland for an Oliver. Surely I may say, necessity makes
strange bedfellows, and play bills strange companions.''
In keeping with his kindly disposition and
commiseration for those whose lines had fallen in less pleasant places, he
never tired of speaking a word in season, if it was likely to have anything
like an ameliorating influence. He was particularly anxious that the harsh
practice of allowing "no followers" to servant girls should be dispensed
with. To the horror of not a few old ladies, and with the result of lowering
himself in their estimation, he asserted that "lads and lasses should have
opportunities for courting," and declared that he "had always given his
servants facilities for seeing decent and respectable young men.'" Speaking
of the "no follower" condition, he said—"The world would come to an end
before many years if that rule was to take place; and what is the world to
do? I say that is not the way to treat a servant. No good servant would like
to have boundless liberty; but I say that every servant should have liberty
to have her holiday, and that every servant should have liberty to see her
lad at a decent hour, and the more (I was going to say), the more she had
the betterI but that would not be good. I say that every attempt to fly in
the face of nature and prudence can only lead to mischief; and to prevent a
decent servant girl from being courted, for, firstly, she will be courted
whether you will or no; and, secondly, to refuse, a servant girl proper time
and opportunities for being courted, is to drive her into dangerous times
for being courted."
As might be anticipated, Dr Guthrie took a deep
interest in the movement for the abolition of slavery in America and
throughout the world. He regarded slavery as the sum of all villanies, and
the origin of the worst evils that afflict humanity, Hence, he was ever
ready to lift up his pen and his voice against the accursed system. Among
other meetings at which he spoke with effect on this subject, there is one
that stands out with special prominence. It was the meeting held in the
Queen Street Hall, Edinburgh, on the 24th December, 1859, to express
sympathy with Dr Cheever under the painful circumstances in which that
eminent divine was placed—some of the wealthier portion of his congregation
having, it will be remembered, endeavoured to get him to resign in
consequence of his preaching on the subject of slavery, and, failing in
that, sought, by withholding all support from the congregation, to shut him
up to the necessity of abandoning the position which he held as pastor of
the Church of the Puritans in New York. Referring at this meeting, which was
exceptionally numerous and influential, to his having declined many
invitations to go to America, Dr Guthrie assigned as his reason for not
going, that, if he went, he could not keep his temper on seeing the
operation and effects of slavery. "I could not," he said, "go and see a
fellow-creature, a little child, or a woman, set up to be sold by auction,
perhaps with a horse or a wheelbarrow; it would stir my blood, and I could
not hold my tongue. I could not stand the sight of such things in the South,
and there are things also in the North which 1 could not stand. I could not
go into one of their pulpits and see a large sea of faces, and there behold
some poor negro, in whose beaming eye, in the tears rolling down whose
cheeks, I see a loving heart towards my blessed Lord and Saviour, and who,
perhaps, is a believer passing any in that house— I could not see that man
standing in a corner and professing Christians refusing to sit down with him
at the Lord's table -—the man who perhaps will go into the kingdom of
heaven, in front of them all —these are things which I could not stand.
Neither could I stand this in a railway carriage— some poor woman whose
misfortune it is, if it is a misfortune, to be black, and who, because she
is black, is turned out of that carriage, and dares not. set her foot among
her white-footed and proud oppressors. These are things I could not stand;
and therefore I have never gone to America."
When the war which led to the complete abolition
of slavery in the United States was at its height, many meetings expressive
of sympathy with the North were held all over the United Kingdom. Being such
a pronounced abolitionist, Dr Guthrie's feelings were entirely in favour of
the Northern States, not so much because he wished to see the integrity of
the Union preserved, as because the success of the North ultimately
involved, as its necessary corollary, the abolition of slavery. On this
account he believed that good would come out of evil. "There," said he, "in
America at this moment, you have a house divided against itself. You have
brethren in mortal combat by the cradle where they were rocked, over the
graves of their common parents. The world has never seen such a horrid
strife; and, if the dead walk this earth, I could fancy the spirits of the
Red Indians saying, that the hour of their revenge had come now, when the
sons of those that had exterminated them were exterminating each other. Ay,
and I could fancy the negro, though he does not express it, chuckling in his
heart at the sight which America now presents, when the men who hunted him,
and the men who assisted in the hunt, are in a death grapple, and having
each other by the throat, and are burying their swords in each other's
bosoms; and if the negro knows our proverb, I can fancy him saying to
himself, 'When de rogues fall out, de honest men will get dair own.'
"I believe God will overrule the American
struggle for good, and, I hope, that when fathers in America are washing the
blood from the bodies of their sons, they will come to abhor the cause of
all the turmoil and ruin in that country! I say of it, what the man now
lying in Dundee jail under sentence of death, said of drink. He was a poor,
honest, well-doing man, and the highest testimony was borne to his character
at the trial. When his wife learned the habit of drinking, she spent his
hard-earned wages! His children were ragged and neglected. Driven to
desperation, the man took to drinking himself. On one occasion, he gave her
twenty shillings to pay an account, but soon after the creditor came in, and
he found that his wife had only paid thirteen shillings, and had drunk the
rest! Back she came with the children. His passions were roused. He knocks
her down. He tramples on her body, he beats her with his heavy shoes, till
he beats her dead. By-and-by the storm is over. Ah! there is the bleeding
corpse of his wife. They assure him she is dead. He hangs his head in
misery, and covering his face with his hands, exclaims, 'Curse that drink.'
And when America stands over the bleeding bodies of her own sons fallen in
this fraternal war, I trust she will cover her face with her hands, and
cry, 'Curse that Slavery:' |
