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PREFACE TO ILLUSTRATED EDITION.
A very generally-expressed desire to have Portraits of the Clergymen,
delineated in the series of Sketches, has led to great efforts to meet
it. In making these the publishers met with the cordial co-operation of
the Clergymen whose portraits now appear. Some of them kindly sat to
painters of eminence, well known in Glasgow, and others of them
cheerfully allowed the use of family portraits. It were folly to expect
that, in every case, successful portraits have been secured. A number of
them are unquestionable likenesses; and, of all of them, it may be said
that they, at least, suggest the originals. No expense has been spared
to render them, as far as possible, truthful, and in many cases parties
interested have been pleased to express their entire approbation.
Considerable change will be found in the literature of this edition.
Some sketches have been omitted and others introduced, and important
changes have been made upon others. The volume, as it now appears, will
be rendered more valuable by the lapse of time. The
fidelity of the sketches is now a matter of history, and as the
originals disappear from this transitory scene, the mental, moral, and
physical portraiture of them will become more and more interesting and
valuable. We retain the originals of many of the portraits, and
these are exceedingly creditable to the artists. The difficulty was to
copy with fidelity so large an impression—extending to several
thousands; and, despite the greatest attention, it must be admitted that
not a few beautiful originals were considerably marred. If the volume is
only as popular tuith the portraits
as it has been without them,
the publishers will have no reason to regret the cost and care bestowed
on the present edition.
PREFATORY NOTE
The respect in which the clergy, of a nation, are held may generally be
considered as an index of its true civilisation. Not the mere
civilisation of scientific improvement—not civilisation by the kindred
arts of painting, sculpture, music, and poetry—not the civilisation of
secular literature however enriched by exaltation of mind or brilliancy
of fancy, but all these superstructed on the enduring basis of Christian
morality and of Christian piety. For long years preceding the French
revolution the writings of Voltaire and the Encyclo-prediaists, and the
conduct of the Roman Catholic clergy themselves, had turned the
mummeries and superstitions of the church, and the profession of the
priesthood, into ridicule, and, what is worse, had brought Christianity
itself into contemptuous question and disrepute. Yet France was
reckoned the centre of the civilisation of the world. The fist of
her celebrated men contained all that was great in science
or illustrious in literature. The abilities of her generals were great
by scientific rule, and the valour of her armies terrible from
scientific power. Her language was the language of civilisation, and her
literature the delight of the refined. Her ancient aristocracy dwelt in
noble palaces exquisitely adorned with the all but breathing marble, and
the canvass that seemed as if it would every moment burst into life.
France was the grand nation of the Grand Monarque. She had secular
civilisation enough, but her priesthood were disrespected, her people
the most degraded in Europe, and from the monarch, and the peer, to the
artist, and the peasant, the nation was one vast mass of moral
corruption. The gorgeous ritual, the imposing but hollow ceremonies of
her church were, perhaps, rated at tliefr true value, but salvation was
the theme of jest, the work of Christ matter for a sneer, and the Divine
glory a fertile subject for the disproving abilities of infidel
philosophers. Yes, France was a civilised nation, scientific and
immoral, polite and corrupt, learned and atheistical.
Then came the terrible revolution, the natural and necessary
consequences of an irreligious civilisation, of a human religion and
abhorred clergy. A long enslaved people robbed of their highest hopes,
forgetful of the regeneration to which they were called, trampled under
foot alike all that was good or bad in the national institutions. For a
time the inferior clergy became popular, not from their cloth but from
their acquiescence in the early progress of the revolution; but as the
revolutionary car rolled on they were left behind, and perished with a
heroism worthy of the first martyrs. The reign of terror, and
atheism, was established. In La Vendee alone, where the philosophy of
infidelity had not penetrated, where the ministers of a religion,
superstitious as it was, commanded respect, the people remained faithful
to humanity and morality, and horrified at the excesses of their free
and enlightened brethren rallied around the royal standard, and ceased
not their exertions till their homes were a desert and the bones of a
million human beings lay bleaching on the fertile fields of the Bocage.
But let us not be mistaken. Superstitious respect of ministers is no
criterion either of civilisation or religion, else were Spain a paragon
of enlightened piety and moral excellence, and Italy, as of old, the
vanguard nation of all that is great, and noble, and godlike in man. A
blind, bigotted, uninquiring regard for spiritual teachers is not
characteristic of a religious and enlightened people. An unquestioning
reliance on the teachings of ministers, and a determination never to see
aught wrong in the pastoral character, are the grossest
superstitions, subversive alike of man’s reason, of the right of private
judgment and of the authority of the Scriptures. It is only when we are
satisfied, by the closest examination, of the truth of the doctrines
taught, and of the undeviating harmony of their lives with their exalted
office, that we can accord them our willing respect as the rational
expounders and enforcers of God’s revealed will.
In our own country civilisation and Christianity are terms of synonymous
import. The arts and sciences are the handmaids of religion. The
recognition of il faith, hope, and charity,” is not
speculation but a fact. Civilisation is not the patron and endorser of
the truths of Christianity, but Christianity is the supporter and
propagator of civilisation. The Bible is the corner stone of the social
edifice, and the illuminator of scientific discovery for the instruction
of man.
In no country are the clergy, as a body, more esteemed than in our own.
It is because we recognise religion—not the faith of erring sects “wide
as the poles asunder" in non-essentials, but as the religion of God,
that we respect the ministers of our faith. We see in them men called to
a high office to strew with the flowers of immortality the dreary
paths of mortal existence, to smooth the pillow of sickness and death,
by pointing to the portals of glory, which introduce the just to a
brighter and a better world. We study the book of life for ourselves,
and behold in them teachers of its hallowed truths, and naturally and
justly associate them with a mission so divine. Nor do we unreflectingly
bestow upon them our confidence. Nowhere are their lives more strictly
watched, and their shortcomings more duly noted. It is because on the
whole, considering the nature of humanity, that we find their
professions and practice in reasonable agreement, that we esteem
our ministers as members of the noblest profession the world knows, and
as the communicators of means of happiness infinite as the boundaries of
the universe of God.
Such being the views entertained by the writers of
the “ Sketches,” the design of the publication is to enable
ministers and people to form a correct estimate of the present state
of the Scottish pulpit. The position of clergymen is unfavourable to
acquiring a comprehensive and impartial view of ministerial talent and
success. Occupied, as they generally are, every Sabbath-day, they have
but rare opportunities of hearing others preach, and when at any time
they may happen to hear a discourse, the preacher is too much in
juxtaposition or competition with themselves to permit that
candour which leads to truth. Of the publishing portion of
ministers, data is supplied to determine the literary standing, but
from special discourses very little can be learned of ordinary
ministrations. In opposition to these specially-prepared discourses, the
Sketches have been taken, without the knowledge of the clergymen, while
they were doing their ordinary work, and though one has had less and
another more than average preparation, a general average is faithfully
secured. They who have been taken when their appearance was less
favourable than they would have wished, will have an additional argument
for being, as seldom as possible, obliged to preach with hasty
preparation. As ministers have but little opportunity of judging of the
matter and manner of their contemporaries, they are still more
unfavourably situated for judging righteously regarding their own
ministrations. Generally speaking, every congregation consider their own
minister superior, taking him all in all, to others. Indeed, they chose
him for that reason. Facts, however, prove that this supposed excellence
cannot be absolute, though it may often be relative. Clergymen,
though not possessed of superior talent or general accomplishments,
may be the most acceptable and profitable for the congregations to which
they minister. It is far from the intention of the writers to lower any
one clergyman in the estimation of his people— that estimation being the
key to their heart and conscience. But though there is no wish to weaken
that feeling of admiration and affection, which is the bond of
successful teaching, it is desirable that a clergyman should have other
standards to try himself by than the judgment of his hearers. It is to
him a small matter to be judged of any man, but in as far as opinion may
stimulate him to effort or encourage him in difficulty— that opinion
being viewed as the exponent of His mind whose judgments are unerring
and whose decisions are ultimate. These Sketches, then, may tend to lead
ministers to encourage a nobler ambition than the applause of those who,
in virtue of their relationship, can scarcely do other than respect and
esteem them even above their comparative excellence. On the one hand,
they may encourage humble talent, and, on the other, rebuke flippant
mediocrity.
Besides correcting erroneous judgments on the part of individual
clergymen and individual congregations, it is hoped the work may tend to
destroy sectional bigotry. While each sect ought to be fully persuaded
as to its peculiarities, it is desirable that it, at the same time,
should give others credit for equal sincerity. It is believed that the
faithful delineation of the clergymen of different sects, when that
delineation refers exclusively to their non-sectarian aspects, may tend
to create or strengthen catholicity of sentiment among all
denominations. Though the writers cannot pretend to be free of
all sectarian bias, the fact that they are mixed up with all the sects
included, goes far to destroy that partiality which concludes one
clergyman, in virtue of his connexion, superior to another.
But there are still higher aims which the writers intend this work to
serve. It is not merely meant to draw Christians closer together, but to
show that they are already one. The doctrines and the duties taught by
the different clergymen are the same. The clergyman of the National
Church preaches the same gospel as the clergyman who disowns all secular
control. Sectional peculiarity has been driven from the
pulpit. Preachers “ teach the same thing in all the churches.” The sneer
of the infidel at divisions among Christians is unmerited. Christians
are one in faith, in hope, and in love.
In this volume, ministers of all the chief denominations in the country
were reported as they prosecuted their usual work; and, among all the
fifty-two Sketches, we challenge infidelity to point out one
discrepancy—one contradiction, as regards the truths taught. Christians
are ranked under different banners; but they are in the service of one
King, and their different banners interfere not with their loyalty or
their love. The volume will serve to prove the unity of the Church
of God, and, as such, is calculated, at once, to rebuke infidelity, to
dissipate doubt, and to encourage faith.
The volume is now offered to the world in the hope that' it may be of
some use both to believers and unbelievers—to believers, by showing them
that they hold the faith of all evangelical denominations, however much
these may differ in mere forms—to unbelievers, by convincing them that
Christianity is not the mere sectional thing they supposed, but, on the
contrary, that unity dwells where external uniformity is absent, and
that the office of the pulpit is not to gratify sectarian ambition, but
to expound Christian duty and enforce Christian practice.
Glasgow, May 12, 1848.
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