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NO class of men have done
more to direct public opinion and conserve public morals in North
America than the preachers of the Gospel who have settled in the United
States and Canada from Scotland. In speaking of the Scotch clergy on
this continent, and particularly in the United States, we generally
think of them as Presbyterians. The majority of them certainly were, and
are, of the Kirk of John Knox, but we also find them in all
denominations, Episcopalian and Baptist, Methodist and Roman Catholic.
Indeed, one of the Bishops of the latter Church in the United States who
died a year or two ago was a native of Scotland, and as proud of the
fact as he was of his crozier. Presbyterianism, however, is so much
associated with the history of Scotland that when we speak of a Scottish
clergyman in America he is generally supposed to be a Presbyterian—until
the contrary is made known. Then, many Scotch preachers ordained in some
one of the Presbyterian denominations in Scotland become
Congregationalists when they reach America, believing that that form of
Church government is more suited to the requirements of the country than
any other, and many have found in the pulpit of the Reformed Dutch
Church a haven from which they could preach the Word. Such changes may,
of course, be made without sacrificing one iota of the preachers' early
notions of the unity of the denomination and the inter-dependence of
individual congregations taught in the policy and practice of the
religious organization under which their fathers had -worshipped, and in
which they themselves had been trained for the work of the ministry.
Sometimes we read of a
Scotsman who crossed the Atlantic to further the views of his
denomination as a missionary, and of this the history of the Quakers has
already furnished us with several examples. Sometimes the head and front
of a new denomination settles in America, hoping in a new country to
find men ready to change the views they had previously held, or at least
so open to conviction as to hold out some hope in the way of making
converts. This was the case with Robert Sandeman. He was born at Perth
in 1718, and after a short university course at Edinburgh entered into
commercial life in the linen trade. He married the daughter of the Rev.
John Glas, minister of Tealing, near Dundee, whose views against a
national church and other matters led to his deposition and to the
founding of a new sect—the Glassites. Sandeman not only adopted his
father-in-law's views, but reduced them to a system. The Glassites had
some peculiar views on church government, and were pronounced against
all State connection with religion. They did not believe that their
spiritual teachers should be set apart, or that they should contract
second marriages, or that prayer should be promiscuous. They had love
feasts—real feasts—celebrated the Lord's Supper every Sabbath,
interpreted the Scriptures literally, disapproved of eating animals that
had been strangled, and adopted such minor matters as washing the feet
of brother disciples and implanting the kiss of charity, and many other
views which drove them apart from the other communities into which the
religious world of Scotland was divided. Sandeman became what might be
called the evangelist of the new church, and was instrumental in
organizing in connection with it many congregations, not only in
Scotland, but in London, Newcastle, and other English towns. In 1764,
leaving Mr. Glas to watch over the denomination at home, Sandeman
crossed to Boston and founded a church there, the body being known in
America by his name—Sandemanians. He also established a church at
Danbury, Conn., and congregations elsewhere, but the progress of the
movement was hampered by the uncertain political conditions which began
to prevail, and Sandeman suffered many disappointments. He died at
Danbury in 1771. Probably not more than 5,000 persons in America could
then have been regarded as adherents to Sandeman's views, and after his
death that number began steadily to decrease, although, to a small
extent, they are still represented in American denominational lists.
During the Revolutionary War they were noted for their loyalty to
Britain, and that fact alone kept them from winning the amount of
attention which their earnestness, their charity, and their striving
after pure Christianity entitled them.
Another worker in a new sect—a sect,
however, whose purpose was to unite all the sects, with the Bible as the
sole bond of union, was Walter Scott, who, it has been claimed by some
of his admirers, could claim kinship with the "Author of Waverley." He
was born in the now popular and pleasant town of Moffat in 1796. He
landed in the United States in 1818 and became acquainted with Thomas
and Alexander Campbell, father and son, two Irishmen who had the courage
to think out religious problems for themselves. For Alexander Campbell,
Scott conceived a warm friendship, and the views of the Disciples of
Christ, as the holders of the Campbellite doctrines were called, found
in him a devoted believer. As a preacher, Scott exhibited such
oratorical powers that he became recognized as a leader in the new
ranks, and his writings formed a feature for years in Alexander
Campbell's paper, "The Christian Baptist." The sect thus founded spread
rapidly over many sections of the United States, and it has churches in
various parts of the world. Its vitality seems to increase with the
passing of time—the great wrecker of so many sects—and it now has over
2,000 ministers and some 2,500 churches. For much of this popularity the
labors of Walter Scott must receive credit, for in the work of the
organization he seemed never to tire. Just before the outbreak of the
war of the rebellion, as night be expected from one holding such broad,
simple views of Christian life, he spoke against an appeal to arms, and
in a pamphlet called "The Union," issued in 1861, a short time before
his death, he uttered a ringing protest against the impending conflict.
Words, however, by that time were of no avail—affairs had passed that
stage, and the bombardment of Fort Sumter announced the beginning of one
of the most appalling of modern wars. Scott was then in infirm health,
and the grief which the news of the doings at Sumter occasioned hastened
the end, and closed in gloom a life that had been spent in trying to
infuse light and joy through the world. He died at Mayslick, Ky., in
1861. Sometimes we
find Scotsmen among the pioneers or active workers in fields that are
neither orthodox nor established, seekers after something new, as
zealous as the typical Yankee. Even in the ranks of the Mormon Eldership
the ubiquitous Scot can be found, and those of them we have met have
displayed the greatest earnestness in their work and expressed a most
complete belief in the righteousness of the doctrines held by that
people. So, too, in the circles of the Spiritualists and such-like
"new-fangled" folks, Scotsmen seem to hold prominent rank. The most
noted of all the modern Spiritualists was David Douglas Home, who was
born. in Edinburgh in 1833 and died in Paris—a lunatic—in 1886. He
settled in America in 1840, and at the age of seventeen blossomed out
into a medium. His life may generally be classed as that of an
adventurer, with his fame as a spiritualist as its foundation, while as
the prototype of Browning's study of "Mr. Sludge, the Medium," he even
found a place in poetry. His spiritualistic performances were
remarkable, whatever way we may look at them, and included all sorts of
manifestations. Home had a career in Europe as well as in America. In
1858, while in St. Petersburg, he married a Russian lady of rank. He
joined the Roman Catholic Church, but was expelled for some of his
manifestations. In London he was one of the curiosities of the capital
for several years, and, his wife having died in 1862, he married
again—this time also a Russian lady of noble birth—in 1872. He wrote a
number of works on spiritualism, and certainly made many converts to his
peculiar views. If,
however, we want to measure fully the influence which Scotland's clergy
have had upon America, we need look no further than to the history of
Presbyterianism in the United States. It is not much more than a century
ago that the first General Assembly, with its 17 Presbyteries and 180
ministers, met in Philadelphia. Now there is hardly a town in the
country where at least one church belonging to the denomination is not
to be found, while its array of colleges, its missionary operations, and
the extent and variety of its evangelistic work, make the American
Presbyterian Church, North as well as South, one of the most active
agents in the modern religious world. In the early history of the
country Scotch Presbyterianism was even a much more pronounced factor in
its religious and moral development, despite its comparative meagreness
of workers, adherents, and means, than now, and one authority says that
two-thirds of the Presbyterian ministers in America, prior to 1738, were
graduates of Glasgow University. In the first Presbytery meeting, at
Philadelphia, in or about 1700, there were seven ministers, and two of
these, Nathaniel Taylor and John Wilson, were natives of Scotland, three
belonged to the North of Ireland and were of Scotch descent and
educational training, and one was a native of New England, of whose
education and ancestry nothing seems to be known. Thus, six of this
pioneer band of seven owed to Scotland the grit and fidelity of purpose
that enabled them to assume the dangers and hardships of pioneer life.
One of these Irish Scots, the Rev. Francis Makemie, a graduate of
Glasgow University, is credited with being the founder of
Presbyterianism in America, having organized a church at Snow Hill, Md.,
in 1684, with the aid of his trusted Scotch elder, Adam Spence. A claim
for priority is also made for a church at Hempstead, which was founded
in 1644 by the Rev. Mr. Denton, a Presbyterian preacher from England,
but Denton should rather be placed under the general head of
Nonconformist, and as we judge from the story of his ministry at
Hempstead, the church he founded was a Congregational rather than a
Presbyterian institution. Makenzie not only founded one church, but four
others, within comparatively easy reach of Snow Hill, and did not rest
content until he had the churches he founded and those of other pioneers
organized into a Presbytery, and with the organization of that body
began, really, the history of Presbyterianism in America. In 1716 the
first Synod, constituted by four Presbyteries, was held in the "City of
Brotherly Love," and in 1789 the organization of the Church was
completed by the meeting of a General Assembly. No better or more
inspiring "visible sign" of Scotland's influence upon America is to be
found than in the growth and present wide-reaching influence of the
Presbyterian Church in all its branches on the continent.
But under whatever denominational flag the
Scotch preachers in America have enrolled themselves, their influence
has been, with very few and very far-separated exceptions, for good in
their ministerial relations, while as citizens they have been ever
active and practical in manifesting how the duties of honest, upright,
loyal citizenship should be considered and performed. Even as far back
as the time of the Revolution there is abundant evidence to show that
they were fast in their loyalty, whether their sentiments caused them to
remain faithful to King George or, as was more generally the case, their
convictions impelled them to transfer their loyalty to the Continental
Congress. The leading characteristic of the great majority of the
Scottish-American preachers in the past seems to have been their intense
earnestness, their undoubted sincerity. They had the national dourness,
the argumentative disposition of many of their countrymen, and several
of them were led into uncongenial positions—to change even from one
denomination into another in the hope of finding more freedom for their
views or more peace for the current of their daily lives; but over all,
as we study the careers of these preachers, or such of them, rather, as
we have been privileged to read about, we find one grand principle ever
sustaining and inspiring them—that of performing faithfully the
commission, as they conceived it, which the Master had given them to do.
A recent writer in a religious paper has estimated that among the
foreign ministers who have preached in this country from its beginning
some 3,000 have hailed from Scotland. We do not know how the writer
arrived at his figures, but we think his estimate rather under than
above the mark. With his calculation, however, assumed as correct, it
can he understood that all types of good men are contained among the
host. One of the
most famous of the early Scotch ministers to visit America was the Rev.
William Dunlop, who afterward became Principal of Glasgow University. He
was the son of a minister in Paisley, was graduated at the University of
Glasgow, and in 1679 obtained his license as a preacher. The year 1679,
however, was a distracting one in the history of the Scottish Kirk, for
in it were fought the battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge. In May of
that year Archbishop Sharp met his death by violence on Magus Moor, near
St. Andrews, and the Covenanters were persecuted with the most fiendish
cruelty. Dunlop, naturally, was on the persecuted side, and was active
in the movements against the State enactments, and to escape from the
dangers to which he was exposed he joined a party which was formed to
cross the Atlantic, and he settled in South Carolina. There he resided,
preaching and teaching until 1690. He was highly esteemed, and doubtless
had he remained in America would have attained an influential position
in the ministry, but he looked upon himself simply as an exile, his
heart yearned for home, and less than two years after the Revolution
brought peace to Scotland he was again in his native land. He was at
once appointed by King William Principal of Glasgow University, and held
that position until his death. He had married in early life Sarah,
sister of the famous Principal Carstairs, "the Cardinal" of King
William's Court, and she accompanied him to South Carolina, and there
their eldest son, Alexander, was born in 1684. He went to Scotland with
his parents in 1690, and ultimately became Professor of Greek in the
University of Glasgow, and was regarded as the foremost teacher of that
language of his time.
A preacher much more actively identified
with the history of Presbyterianism in America was the Rev. George
Gillespie, who was born near Stirling in 1683, and, after being educated
in Glasgow University, was licensed as a preacher in 1712. In that same
year he arrived in Boston with a highly commendatory letter from
Principal Stirling of Glasgow to Dr. Cotton Mather and was soon placed
in charge of the church at Woodbridge, N. J. He remained there only a
short time, as, toward the close of 1713, he was ordained minister of
White Clay Creek, Del. There he became one of the busiest men in the
Church, for he had several preaching stations to attend to, and he
spared neither time nor labor in the faithful discharge of his duties to
each. He was a noted leader in the controversies which had sprung up in
the Church and which resulted, in 1741, in a memorable secession. As a
writer his pen was particularly ready not only in forwarding, his own
views, but in advocating, tolerance for the views of others. His
treatise "Against Deists and Freethinkers," published at Philadelphia in
1735, was an able argument against such heresies, and in considering the
events of his somewhat bitter controversial career we read with a smile
his "Sermons against Divisions in Christ's Churches" when we remember
that they were issued in Yew York in 1740, just as an impending schism
was about to distract the energies of the Church—a schism which, in a
manner natural in a Scotsman, he had a considerable share in bringing
about. Mr. Gillespie died in 1760.
A contemporary of Mr. Gillespie who was also
noted as a controversialist, but of a less bitter type, was the Rev.
Alexander Garden, who was horn at Edinburgh in 1685 and settled in
Charleston, S. C., in 1719 as rector of St. Philip's (Episcopal) Parish.
From the first he was a success in the work of the ministry, and he soon
became noted as a leader in local religious circles. He brought about a
series of annual meetings of the clergy in and around Charleston, and by
that means alone did a great amount of practical good, but his great
claim to kindly remembrance lies in the interest he took in the
education and religious instruction of the negroes. In 1740 he entered
into a controversy with the famous George Whitefield which attracted
much attention all over the country. His arguments against the famous
Apostle of Methodism were printed under the title of "Six Letters to the
Rev. George Whitefield" and had a wide circulation, and he also
published a few of his sermons—able, orthodox, and practical
discourses—which are much superior to the ordinary run of such
productions. Mr. Garden was a most enthusiastic Scot, and his name
appears among the members of the St. Andrew's Society of Charleston, the
oldest organization of that name in America. In 1754 he resigned his
pastorate on account of ill-health, to the general regret of the people
of Charleston, irrespective of denominational differences, and was
presented with a valuable service of plate. He died two years later. His
son, Alexander, who was born at Edinburgh in 1713, became famous as a
physician and botanist. In 1754 he was elected Professor of Botany in
Kings (Columbia) College, and maintained an extensive correspondence
with European scientists, including Linnacus, who named the genus
Gardenia in his honor. When the Revolution broke out, Prof. Garden
retained his loyalty, lost everything he possessed, and was glad to
escape to England, where he died in 1791. As another evidence of how
that war separated families we may state that Prof. Garden's son,
Alexander, who was born at Charleston in 1757 and died in 1829, served
in the Revolutionary Army as aide to Gen. Greene and as an officer in
Lee's legion. For his services, his father's property, or most of it,
was given to him, and he was justly esteemed by his companions in the
army. This warrior also inherited the literary tastes so noted in his
family, and his work entitled "Anecdotes of the Revolution and Sketches
of Its Characters" was very popular when first issued, and has several
times been reprinted,
A stormy, turbulent,
unsatisfactory career was that of George Keith, a Presbyterian, Quaker,
and Episcopalian, by turns, who was born in Aberdeen in 1645. It is
possible that, he was a brother of the Rev. James Keith, a worthy
Aberdonian, who settled at Boston about 1662, and from 1664 till his
death in 1719 was the honored minister of a Congregational church at
Bridgewater, Mass.; but this is only a surmise, for Keiths were and are
as plentiful around "the City of Bon-Accord" as blackberries on a hedge.
George Keith was originally a Presbyterian, and was educated at
Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he formed a strong friendship for a
fellow-student, Gilbert Burnet, who afterward became famous as Bishop of
Salisbury and as a historian. The two entertained the warmest regard for
each other throughout their lives. After graduating, Keith left the
Presbyterian fold and joined the Society of Friends. Shortly afterward
he was induced by the leading Quakers in Aberdeen to emigrate to
America, with the view not only of bettering his own temporal condition,
but of helping to spread their doctrines in the New World. He arrived at
New York in 1684, and for some four years was Surveyor in New Jersey. In
1689 he removed to Philadelphia, where he conducted a Friends' school,
but that occupation was far too quiet and monotonous to suit his
disposition, and he soon gave it up. He started to travel in New
England, like a Quaker Don Quixote, to win people to the views of the
Society, and he was at once engaged in a bitter series of controversies
with Increase Mather, Cotton Mather, and others. He did not by his
journey add much to the numerical strength of his adopted people, and
when he returned to Philadelphia he even managed, without loss of time,
to quarrel with the Friends there. This quarrel seems to have been due
to his own temper, to his sense of disappointment. to his disposition to
escape from the leveling tendencies of the teachings of the Society, and
to some peculiar innovations he advocated, and which none of the
brethren seemed disposed to listen to. Then he went to England, and laid
his whole case before William Penn, but that leader denounced him as an
apostate, and Keith was excommunicated from the Society, as completely
as the gentle Quakers could excommunicate anybody. Then he founded a
religious denomination of his own, which he called the Christian or
Baptist Quakers, (popularly called the Keithians,) and in which he had a
chance for ventilating some original views he held on the millennium and
concerning the transmigration of souls. The Keithians, however, did not
hold long together, and in 1702 its founder was a full-fledged and
enthusiastic minister of the Church of England. Here, probably because
years had softened the natural contentiousness of his dispositon, or the
Church itself allowed more latitude for individual views on various
matters, he found peace. Nay, more, he found an opportunity for repaying
the Society of Friends for its rather summary treatment of him. He was
sent as a missionary to Pennsylvania and New-Jersey, with the view of
converting, or perverting, as many Quakers as possible, and used to
boast that in that expedition some seven hundred Friends were by his
instrumentality received into communion with the English Church. Soon
after his return to England he was appointed Vicar of Edburton, in
Essex, and in that beautiful parish his declining years were spent in
tranquillity. Keith was a titan of decidedly superior cast of intellect,
an eloquent and attractive speaker and preacher, an able and ready
conversationist, and, but for his choleric disposition, would have lived
a life of more than ordinary usefulness, and might even have attained to
real power and eminence. He was a voluminous writer, and in the fifty or
so volumes (some in bulky quarto) or pamphlets which we know to have
come from his pen, we can trace the current of his religious views
through all their changes. He appears in them all to have been
singularly honest, made no attempt to conceal or belittle his own
changes, and even published retractions of his own published writings.
His later works were mainly taken up with what he regarded as the
fallacies of Quakerism, and he attacked the Society of Friends from
every point of view and with the utmost savagery and unrelenting
acerbity. It is
relief to turn from the waywardness of this turbulent character to the
life of quiet consistency which is exemplified in the career of one of
the most useful ministers who ever occupied a New York pulpit, the Rev.
Dr. Archibald Laidlie. He was a native of Kelso, and preached his first
sermon in this city in 1764. He joined the St. Andrew's Society a year
later, a sufficient evidence that he was not forgetful of his native
land. Mr. Laidlie had previously been pastor for four years of the
Scotch Church at Flushing, in Holland. The success of his ministry there
induced the Dutch Reformed Church in New York to invite him to settle in
that city, and it was notable that he was the first minister of that
denomination in New York to preach in English. He was a most successful
preacher and a man of very considerable learning, and one of the works
by which he is still gratefully remembered is his translation, for use
in his church, of the Heidelberg Catechism in 1770—the year that
Princeton gave him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. When the time came
for men to declare themselves in the Revolutionary struggle Dr. Laidlie
held aloof, but had to retire from his charge, and he went to Red Hook,
Long Island, ,where, in 1719, he passed away at the comparatively early
age of fifty-two years.
It is seldom that we hear of a preacher who
knows how to defend himself with his fists with the skill of a
Prizefighter, and the story of one is preserved in the history of the
United Presbyterian Church at Oxford, Penn., one of the oldest associate
congregations in America, and which still exists in a flourishing
condition. It was founded in 1753 by the Rev. Alexander Gellatly, who,
along with the Rev. Andrew Arnott, settled in America, from Scotland, in
response to invitations from the Presbyterians in Lancaster and Chester
Counties, Penn. In 1738 the Oxford church called another preacher from
Scotland, the Rev. Matthew Henderson, who had been trained for the
ministry in Glasgow University. He was a good, earnest man, much beloved
by his people, and had many eccentricities of manner. Several anecdotes
concerning him are still related at Oxford, some of which recall the
stories told of many of the Old Country preachers in Scotland in the
early part of the century. Among others, it is said, that once, noticing
a young woman with a new calico gown moving frequently to various parts
of the church, he called out: "That is the fourth time, my lass, that
you hae left your seat. You can sit doon now; we hae a' seen your braw
new goun." As he was journeying over the mountains to meet with his
brethren in the Presbytery he halted for the night at an inn. While
resting in the common sitting room, two loafers, noticing that he was a
minister, persisted in trying his patience by their roughness, and
finally insisted on fighting. This caused his Scotch blood to "boil."
Drawing off his coat, he exclaimed: "Lie there, the Rev. Mr. Henderson,
and, now, Matthew, defend yoursel'." He threw one of his tormentors
through the window, the other ran away.
In the annals of Presbyterianism in America
no names are sweeter than those of the Masons—father and son—who for
many years were the recognized leaders in that communion in the United
States. The Rev. John Mason was born in Linlithgowshire in 1734. He was
trained for the ministry in the Secession Church, and was an ardent
believer, as were all his family, in the views held by the Anti-Burghers
in Scotland. It is well to remember this in considering Dr. Mason's work
in America, for the Anti-Burgher views are generally considered to be
the narrowest and most closely confined of any held by Presbyterian
denominations. But from the time he settled in New York, in 1761,
shortly after he was ordained, and took charge of the Scotch
Presbyterian Church, on Cedar Street, he was the apostle of liberality
and toleration. He saw Presbyterianism not only divided, but the
sections threatening to drift wider apart, and while he recognized the
existence in Scotland of political and historical reasons which almost
naturally created schism and embittered feeling, he saw no reason for
there being any divisions at all in the New World. With that idea, he
labored with intensity and determination, and his labors were, to a very
considerable extent, crowned with success in 1782, when the Associate
Reformed Presbyterian Church was organized, and of its Assembly he was
the first Moderator. In all the religious and charitable movements of
his time in New York, Dr. Mason was a leader. He was one of the prime
movers in the American Bible Society, and issued an address on its
behalf which was circulated broadcast among the people. This movement he
conceived to be one of the most notable ever inaugurated in the interest
of Christian union. Its platform and purpose were such that all
Christians could unite upon, and, indeed, except for some objections
from a few Episcopalian dignitaries and others, it was accepted in the
spirit of union by all denominations, and has since done a mighty work.
In charitable enterprises he was equally prominent, while as Chaplain of
the St. Andrew's Society, from 1785 till his death, in 1792, he was
brought into the closest contact with his countrymen, and aided largely
in promoting the society's mission to "Relieve the distressed."
Dr. Mason's son, the Rev. John Mitchell
Mason, who was born in New York in 1770, was in many ways the most
representative and admired minister America has yet produced. He
graduated at Columbia College in 1789, and then went to Edinburgh to
complete his theological studies. He succeeded to the pastoral charge of
his father's church on the latter's death, in 1792, and he succeeded his
parent as Chaplain of the St. Andrew's Society, an office he held until
1821, when he left the city to become Principal of Dickinson College,
Carlisle, Penn. He returned to New York in 1824 and resumed the active
work of the ministry. As a preacher he was unrivaled in his day, and it
is said that when the famous Robert Hall heard him preach a discourse on
"Messiah's Throne" he said: "I can never preach again." Says one writer:
"His aspect was on a scale of grandeur corresponding to the majesty of
the mind within. Tall, robust, straight, with a head modeled after
neither Grecian nor Roman standards, yet combining the dignity of the
one and the grace of the other; with an eye that shot fire, especially
when under the excitement of earnest preaching, yet tender and tearful
when a pathetic passage was reached; with a forehead broad and high, and
a mouth expressive of decision, Dr. Mason stood before his audience a
prince of pulpit orators." He died in New York City in 1829.
Old Dr. Mason quietly adopted the American
side in the Revolutionary struggle, but, unlike Dr. Witherspoon, was
regarded so much as an unoffensive partisan that he retained the good
will of his friends in Scotland to the last. As an offset to his example
we may here recall a clergyman who was an uncompromising foe to the
Revolutionary movement. That was the Rev. Henry Munro, who was born at
Inverness in 1730. His first acquaintance with America was when he
crossed the Atlantic as the Chaplain (Presbyterian) of the old
Seventy-seventh Regiment, (Montgomerie's Highlanders.) He was with that
gallant body at Fort Duquesne, Crown Point, and Ticonderoga, and was not
only present at the capture of Montreal in September, 1760, but preached
a rousing thanksgiving sermon a day or two later on the side of Mount
Royal. As one reward for his campaigns he got a bounty of 2,000 acres of
land in what is now Washington County, in Yew York State, but this land
never added to his wealth, for the troubles of the Revolution interfered
with its settlement, and it was confiscated as soon as the progress of
events made confiscation possible. In 1762 he settled at Princeton, and
for some reason or another joined the Church of England, and in 1765 was
stationed as a missionary at Yonkers. Three years later he became rector
of St. Peter's, at Albany, and was active in his missionary labors among
the Mohawk Indians, whose language he knew perfectly. When the war broke
out he was unsparing in his denunciations of the "rebels," and made
himself so obnoxious on that score that he had to escape to the British
lines. Then he made his way back to Scotland, where he died, at
Edinburgh, in 1801, a broken-hearted old man whose life went out under a
sense of having suffered deep wrongs. He had married in 1766 a daughter
of Peter Jay, and the lady and her family were as enthusiastic in favor
of the Revolution as Munro was opposed to it. She not only refused to
accompany him, but retained with her their only son—Peter Jay Munro.
Father and son never afterward saw each other. The lad was educated
under the direction of his famous uncle, John Jay; accompanied that
statesman to Spain as an attache of the American Embassy, and then
studied law in the office of Aaron Burr. He rose in time to become one
of the foremost members of the New York Bar, and served in the
Constitutional Convention of 1821. He died at Mamaroneck in 1833.
Few clergymen have led more stirring lives
than did the Rev. William Smith, a man of broad culture, of intense
energy, of more than ordinary ability, and a preacher of wonderful
force. He was born at Aberdeen in 1727, and graduated from the
university there. He began life as a teacher, and came here in 1752 to
take charge of the seminary in Philadelphia, out of which grew the
University of Pennsylvania. In 1753 he went to England and received
orders in the national Church there. On his return he was an active
preacher as well as a successful teacher, and when, in 1759, he
revisited England his merit and ability were so widely recognized that
he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the Universities of
Oxford, Aberdeen, and Dublin. He threw himself heartily into the popular
side in the Revolution, preached frequently to the troops, and did
whatever he could, consistent with his position, to favor the movement
for independence. His very consistency raised up several enemies, and
caused even a doubt to be cast on the sincerity of his sentiments, but
such doubts were utterly unfounded. In June, 1775, he preached a sermon
in Philadelphia to Col. Cadwallader's battalion which created a
sensation, so outspoken were its sentiments, so clearly did he proclaim
the righteousness of the cause of the dissidents. Even this sermon gave
rise to criticism. The bane of his career was that his personal
character in many ways was not a lovable one. He had a sharp temper and
a tongue that was often intemperate in its expressions of personal
dislike. Then the impetuosity of his disposition involved him in
countless arguments and impelled men who really ought to have been
ranged among his friends to be ranked among his enemies. The sentiment
against him was so bitter in some influential quarters for a time as to
cause the charter of the college in Philadelphia, of which he was the
head, to be suspended for ten years, and later to defeat the approval by
the General Convocation of his Church of his election as Bishop of
Maryland. But he continued preaching and teaching —mainly at Chesterton,
Md., (where he established Washington College,) until the clouds rolled
away, and his latter years in Philadelphia, where he died in 1803, were
spent pleasantly and peacefully. The blemish in Dr. Smith's career was
his fondness for secular pursuits, notably for land speculation, a
weakness that has never yet, so far as our experience goes, added much
to the popularity of a clergyman. It may safely be said, however, that
his business ventures never interfered with his duties as a teacher, a
Principal of a seat of learning, or as a preacher of the Gospel. He was
an incessant worker, a marvel of energy. In spite of his numerous
avocations he devoted a great deal of time to his study, and was a
voluminous writer on religious and secular topics and a patient
investigator of scientific matters. A nephew of this sturdy divine,
William Smith—also an Aberdonian and a zealous upholder of the
Revolutionary cause—was rector of Trinity Church, Newport, for seven
years, having previously held rectorships at Stepney, Md., and
Narragansett, R. I., and afterward, until his death, in 1821, at the age
of sixty-seven years, was a preacher and teacher in New York. His pupils
were mainly private ones, and as a classical instructor he was regarded
as the foremost in the city. He was the author of several religious
works, which seem now to be unobtainable—and forgotten.
Having recalled two pro-Revolutionary
ministers, the strict impartiality of this survey again impels us to
consider two who were conspicuous in their own circles on the opposite
side. The first of this pair was the Rev. Dr. Myles Cooper, a poet of no
mean order, as well as a theologian and life-long student. The place of
his birth is uncertain. He seems to have been educated at Oxford, and
was a Fellow of Queen's College there. In 1763 he was elected second
President of King's College (now Columbia College,) New, York, and in
the performance of all the duties pertaining to that office he was
faithful and zealous and deservedly popular. He, however, took up such a
thoroughgoing loyal stand against the Americans in the troubles with the
mother country that in 1775 he was obliged to return to Britain. Dr.
Cooper soon after his return was made rector of the Episcopal Church
(now a Roman Catholic church) in the Cowgate of Edinburgh, and he
continued in charge of that congregation until his death in 1785.
The Rev. Thomas Rankin was another refugee.
He was born at Dunbar in 1738, and crossed to America as a missionary
sent by John Wesley. Before that he had been preaching in various
Methodist Episcopal circuits, Sussex, Devonshire, and others, and was
regarded as a successful evangelist and a most devoted worker in the
promulgation of Scriptural truths. He was equally successful in his work
in America until the outbreak of hostilities, when his intense loyalty
made him turn his abilities to keeping the clergy of all denominations
fast in their loyalty to George III. He thought there was no use of
preaching the Gospel to men who were arrayed in open opposition to
lawful authority. "God," he said, "would not revive His work in America
until they submitted to their rightful sovereign." Holding such views,
his usefulness in the New World was at an end, and he returned to
England, spending his latter years in missionary work in London. We may
close our selection of Revolutionary era preachers by recalling the name
of the Rev. Alexander Hewat, who may be classed as an inoffensive
partisan. He was born at Kelso in 1745, educated at the grammar school
there, and became pastor of the Scotch Church at Charleston, S. C., in
1762. He remained in Charleston until it seemed certain that war was
about to break out, when, unwilling to renounce his allegiance, he
relinquished his charge and returned to the mother country. His interest
in America did not, however, cease when he left it, for in 1779 he
published in London a valuable and interesting "History of South
Carolina and Charleston," his only published work of which we have
knowledge excepting a volume of sermons, which he published in 1803.
Within a year after reaching America Mr. Hewat testified to his native
patriotism by joining the Charleston St. Andrew's Society. That society
in the early period of its career was watchful to add to its list of
members all notable arrivals to the Scottish community, and among its
pre-Revolutionary members we find such names as those of Gov. James
Wright of Georgia, Sir Alex Nesbit, Gov. Johnston of North Carolina, Sir
James Home, Gov. James Grant of East Florida, and Gov. James Glen of
South Carolina. The early records are full of military names, and in one
year the resident members placed on the roll the names of the Earl of
Eglinton and all the officers of Montgomerie's Highlanders they appeared
to have been acquainted with.
Henceforth, in this chapter at all events,
we deal with men of peace—men who were permitted to carry on their
spiritual work without interference from the roll of drums or the
agitations of political strife. The clergy who settled in America from
Scotland after Washington and his compatriots placed the United States
in the list of nations accepted the situation loyally. In fact, Scotsmen
generally accept a change in such respects with equanimity—when it is
made for them. Even in religious matters, what in Scotland would be
deemed a momentous change is accepted by the Scot in foreign lands
without scruple. We have known Scotsmen who at home would have turned
pale at the thought of a harmonium in a kirk be quite satisfied with the
assistance of an organ in a church in America, and can recall instances
of many dour opponents of the use of anything in the worship of praise
except the "Psalms of Dauvit" who willingly saw spiritual beauty in many
hymns by uninspired writers after they had been a few weeks in the
United States or Canada.
The Rev. James Muir, Presbyterian minister
at Alexandria, Va., from 1789 till his death in 1820, deserves to be
held in kindly remembrance for the able manner in which he handled in at
least one published volume the heresies of Thomas Paine, the sceptic,
when they were enjoying more influence than they do now, or than they
ever deserved. Mr. Muir was born at Cumnock, Ayrshire, in 1757, and had
studied for the ministry at Glasgow and Edinburgh. He had been pastor of
the Scotch Church in London, and of a church in Bermuda for eight years,
before settling in America in 1788. He was a man of wide views, tolerant
of all opinions which he believed to be honestly held or uttered, and
thoroughly orthodox in all he himself said or wrote, as may be seen by a
perusal of the volume of sermons he published in 1810. His son, Samuel,
had a strange history. He was born in the District of Columbia in 1789,
and in due time was sent to Edinburgh to study medicine. In 1813 he was
appointed a surgeon in the United States Army. That position he resigned
in 1818, when he married the daughter of the then chief of the Sac, or
Fox, Indians. He settled among his wife's people, assumed their ways,
and became regarded as one of their leaders. In 1828 he left the Indian
settlements and earned his living again by practicing medicine at
Galena, Ill. In 1832, when there was an epidemic of cholera among the
United States troops, he volunteered his services. His offer was
accepted, and he saved many lives by his skill, but fell himself a
victim to the disease within a few months.
It is refreshing after dwelling so long
among "the cloth" to turn to a lay preacher who did magnificent work for
the Master in his day and generation and around whose name many fragrant
memories yet linger. This was John Clark, better known as Father Clark,
whose only educational training was that which he received in the school
of his native parish of Petty, near Inverness. He was born there in
1758, and in early life is said to have been a sailor. In the course of
one voyage he landed in America and concluded to associate his future
with it. He settled for a time in South Carolina, where he taught in a
backwoods log school, and then moved to Georgia, where he joined the
Methodist Church and became a class leader. Desiring to revisit his
native land, in 1787 he engaged to work his passage before the mast, and
did so, but remained at home only a short time. Returning to America in
1789, he became an itinerant preacher in connection with the Methodist
body, his travels being mainly throughout Georgia. He was a man of
devout spirit, outspoken in his views and ready to denounce wrong
wherever he found it, without regard to church affiliation, general
policy, or self-interest. As might be expected, he was a bitter foe to
slavery, and it is on record that he twice refused to accept his annual
salary of $60 because the money was obtained through slave labor.
Doctrinal differences at length led to his withdrawal from the Methodist
Church, and he went to Illinois, where he taught school, preaching as he
got an opportunity, without owning allegiance to any denomination. Then
he joined the anti-slavery Baptist organization known as the "Baptized
Church of Christ, Friends of Humanity," and in connection with that body
he resumed his work as a traveling evangelist.
"Father Clark," as he was lovingly called,
was indefatigable in his work of spreading a knowledge of the Gospel.
His missionary wanderings led him far into the then unknown West and
southward through Florida. We have a record of his having walked, when
seventy years of age, over sixty miles to fulfill a preaching
engagement, and one missionary journey of 1,200 miles was performed
alone, partly on foot and partly with the aid of an old canoe. He died
at St. Louis in 1833. In his wanderings and devotion "Father Clark" was
the best modern prototype of St. Andrew of whom we have knowledge.
Few ministers have found it more difficult
to find a congenial denomination to cling to than did the Rev. Walter
Balfour, who was born at St. Ninians in the year of American
independence and died at Charlestown, Mass., in 1852. Early in life he
became a protege of the sainted Robert Haldane, and was educated through
that gentleman's instrumentality for the ministry. He was intended for a
pulpit of the Church of Scotland, but shortly after crossing the
Atlantic, in 1806, he associated himself with the Baptists. In that
communion he remained, latterly much discontented, until 1823, when,
after much thought and careful study into the tenets of every Christian
denomination, and with much mental misgiving, he affiliated with the
Universalists, and there found that entire freedom from doctrinal
restraint for which he had so long yearned. In that Church he reached
the height of his popularity as a preacher, orator, and as an author.
His work entitled '`Essay on the Intermediate State of the Dead" was
long considered a model of its kind for closeness of argument, delicacy
of thought, and beauty of language.
Along with the names of the Masons in the
religious history of New York stand those of the McLeods in the regard
and veneration of those who have studied it. The founder of the American
family was Dr. Alexander McLeod, who was born in the Island of Mull in
1774, and died in New York in 1833. He settled in America when young,
and was trained for the ministry, graduating from Union College in 1798.
For a short time he was pastor of a church at Wallkill, N. Y., but what
may be termed his life connection was the pastorate of the First
Reformed Presbyterian Church in New York. During that long pastorate
"Dr. McLeod's kirk" was a Scottish landmark in New York, and the fame of
the preacher was carried all over the country by hosts of his
countrymen, who, after sojourning in the American metropolis for a time,
departed for other sections of the continent. His powers as a pulpit
orator were of a high order, and his discourses were prepared with rare
analytical skill. Every subject he touched was thoroughly discussed,
and, while strictly orthodox, he exemplified by his pulpit
administrations that a man can be at once orthodox and original. As one
of the Chaplains for many years of the St. Andrew's Society he kept in
active touch with his countrymen in New York of all classes, and was
beloved by them all. After his death his son, the Rev. John Neil McLeod,
succeeded to his pastorate. He was an able man, as his published
sermons, like those of his father, still testify, and under his care the
First Reformed Church continued to be a power in the religious life of
New York. He was a Calvinist of the sternest school, and was throughout
his long life bitterly opposed to secret societies of all sorts or to
the singing in public worship of anything except the metrical version of
the Psalms of Israel's sweet singer. He died in 1874. A brother of this
worthy minister had rather a strange career. He broke away from the
Presbyterian fold when a young; man and entered the Episcopalian. Then,
like so many others in such circumstances, he went to the end of his
tether—followed his changing views to their natural end—and became a
Roman Catholic. For several years prior to his death, the result of a
railroad accident near Cincinnati, in 1865, he was Professor of Rhetoric
in a Roman Catholic college in Ohio. Xavier Donald McLeod was a man of
marked ability and scholarship. Among his published writings are a "Life
of Mary, Queen of Scots," a "Life of Sir Walter Scott," and at least one
volume of poetry.
Another New York clergyman who was well known on both sides of the
Atlantic was the Rev. Archibald Maclay, who was born at Killearn in 1778
and settled in New York in 1805. He had been a minister for a short time
in Kirkcaldy before crossing the Atlantic, and on his arrival in New
York he at once got charge of a small Presbyterian church in Rose
street. In the course of a year or two his views on the subject of
baptism so changed that he felt impelled to throw in his lot with the
Baptist denomination, and in connection therewith he founded a. church
on Mulberry Street, (afterward in Second Avenue,) of which he continued
to be pastor for nearly thirty years. In 1837 he retired from pastoral
work and became agent of the American and Foreign Bible Society. In that
capacity he traveled extensively through the United States, Canada, and
Great Britain. In 1850 he was one of the organizers of the American
Bible Union, and was elected its President. He was drawn to take the
great interest he did in the dissemination of the printed Scriptures
because he realized that to be one of the quickest means in the power of
man for spreading into every nook and corner of the world a knowledge of
the unspeakable riches of the Truth. He regarded every Bible, or portion
of the Bible, as a missionary ever ready to do effective work and
enjoying a closeness of communion which no merely human teacher could
hope to equal. At the same time Dr. Maclay was outspoken in arguing the
desirability of a new translation of the Scriptures, or the need, at
least, of a revision of that which was given to the world under the
patronage of King James, "the Sapient and the Sext" of Scotland. It was
with this object in view that he helped to organize the Bible
Translation Society of England. There is no doubt that he did good work
in forming public opinion to the necessity of revision, and that it was
due to him, as much as to any single individual, that the work was begun
in 1800—ten years after he had passed from his labors to his reward.
Almost equally prominent during a long
American career was the Rev. Dr. James Laurie of Washington. He was
educated for the ministry in his native city of Edinburgh and obtained
his license as a preacher in 1800. Two years later he determined, on the
invitation of Dr. T. M. Mason, to settle in America, and in 1803 he was
installed as pastor of the Associate Reformed Church in Washington. At
first he preached in. the old Treasury Building—a structure that was
afterward burned by the British troops, in 1814. One of his first duties
was to procure a decent church for his people. This he accomplished in
1807, after acting the part of a "big beggar man" in every quarter of
the country where contributions were likely to be had. He preached and
implored wherever lie went, for it was a period when money was scarce
and the "art of giving" was not understood as well as now. He continued
to act as pastor of his church for forty-six years, and for a time held
a position in the Treasury Department, closing a life of devotion to the
cause to which he had devoted his pilgrimage, at Washington, in 1853.
Another of Dr. Mason's proteges was the Rev. R. Hamilton Bishop, a
native of Edinburgh, who settled in America in 1801, and, after
preaching for several years in New York, went West as a missionary and
subsequently was connected, as teacher or Principal, with several
Western colleges. He died at College Hill, Ohio, in 1865.
Dr. William Al. Taylor, who died at New York
in 1895, in the dignified position of a "pastor emeritus" of the church
to which he gave the best years of his active life, was a worthy
successor to the Masons and McLeods, whose pulpits were so long lights
to the Scottish dwellers in the commercial metropolis of the United
States. Born at Kilmarnock in 1829 and educated for the ministry of the
United Presbyterian Church, at Glasgow and Edinburgh, William Mackergo
Taylor was a painstaking and brilliant student. For two years, from
June, 1853, lie was minister of a church at Kilmaurs, near his native
town. In 1855 he went to Bootle, near Liverpool, and he remained there
until 1872, when he accepted a call to the Broadway Tabernacle, New
York, of which, after many years of faithful labor, he became pastor
emeritus three years before his death. By his writings Dr. Taylor
enjoyed the acquaintance of a wide circle of readers. His monograph on
"John Knox" is the best short life of the great Scotch Reformer which
has yet been written—the best for those to read who have not the
patience or the time to enjoy McCrie's classic work. His books on Bible
biographies have been circulated. by the thousand, and his published
sermons have also had thousands of readers. In 1886 Dr. Taylor was the
"Lyman Beecher Lecturer" at Yale Theological Seminary, and in connection
with that appointment delivered a series of lectures on "The Scottish
Pulpit from the Reformation to the Present Day," which is virtually a
sketch of the ecclesiastical history of his native land. By the
terseness and lucidity of his style in these lectures Dr. Taylor
controverted unconsciously the oft-repeated fallacy that men who are in
the habit of preaching lose the power of condensing their thoughts and
arguments. Faithful
lives in the ministry, might be the words used in summing up the careers
of such men as Dr. W. C. Brownlee, a native of Lanarkshire, who closed a
long life of usefulness in New York in 1860; of Andrew Stark, a
Stirlingshire man, who was pastor of Grand Street Church, New York, for
a few years, and died in Scotland, as did one of his successors in that
charge, the Rev. Dr. John Thomson; of Robert Kirkwood, once of Paisley,
who died at Yonkers in 1866, after holding pastorates at Courtlandville
and Auburn, N. Y., and after several years' experience as a missionary
in Illinois: of Dr. john Lillie, a Kelso man, who was one of the
foremost ministers at Kingston, N. Y., from 1836 till his death in 1867,
and gave many evidences of the possession of ripe scholarship, notably
by his translations in connection with Lange's magnificent series of
commentaries, of Dr. Peter D. Gorrie, who was carried across the
Atlantic in 1820, when only three years old. from his native city of
Glasgow, and was a noted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
died at Potsdam, N. Y., in 1884; of Dr. J. Harkness of Jersey City, who
was born in 1803 and died in 1878, whose birthplace was in
Roxburghshire, and whose first charge was at Ecclefechan, where his son,
William Harkness, the famous astronomer, was born in 1836; of Dr. Duncan
R. Campbell, long of Covington County, who was born in Perthshire in
1814 and was President of Georgetown College when he died, in 1861; of
David Inglis, a native of Greenlaw, Berwickshire, who, after holding
various minor pastorates, became, in 1871, a professor in Knox College,
Toronto, and died in 1817, while pastor of a Dutch Reformed Church in
Brooklyn, and of hundreds of others—enough to make up a very respectable
dictionary of representative clerical biography.
These men belonged to generations which have
passed. What may be called our own generation is still adding to the
list—adding, it may be said, in greater proportion than any previous
one, so far as our records enable us to judge. In Canada the great
majority of the Presbyterian divines are of Scotch birth or of immediate
Scottish descent. In the States such men as the Rev. William Ormiston,
now of California, provide us with names sufficient to show that
Scotland still "leavens the lump."
Latterly we have been dealing with preachers
pure and simple; with ministers who by their own merits won positions of
pre-eminence for themselves in the world of theological thought, or by
their eloquence made their pulpits conspicuous "above the lave," or by
their sainted lives left memories which are still among the precious
heritages of their own churches and denominations. In thinking over the
influence which Scotland has exerted over the history of religion in
America we somehow overlook, however, the ecclesiastical dignitaries
who, have adorned the Churches in which their lifework was done, or is
being done. The bulk of Scotsmen are so accustomed to their
Presbyterian, or Congregational form of Government, with the practical
independence of each church and the equality in rank of all ministers,
that they seldom contemplate Deans and Bishops, and an Archbishop seems
to them a man who stands a long way off, so little does he enter into
their calculations. Sometimes they are told that the Moderator of a
Presbytery is a sort of Bishop, and that the Moderator of a General
Assembly is virtually an Archbishop. But the men who have field such
positions seldom, if ever, think so themselves; and if they did they
would soon be dispossessed of such thoughts. Beside, they hold such
offices only for a brief period and by the votes of their brethren, and
after a short interval lay down their honors and fall into line once
more with the rank and file unless—as is often the case—their own
ability wins for them continued prominence and influence. There never
was a purer form of democracy conceived by man than that which prevails
in the Government of the Kirk.
But Scotland can point to a long array of
Bishops—good, bad, and indifferent—and the race in America has had its
influence on the Episcopal throne as well as in the halls of Assembly
and of Congress. The Scottish-American Bishops, however, were—or are—all
good men and true, and however we may differ from their views or
standpoints, we cannot withhold from them that commendation which the
sanctity of their lives, the devotion of their purposes, and their high
abilities imperatively demand.
In the annals of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in the United States few memories are more precious than that of
Bishop James Kemp of Maryland. He was born in the Parish of Keith-Hall,
Aberdeenshire, in 1764, and educated for the Presbyterian ministry at
Marischal College, Aberdeen. In 1787 he crossed the Atlantic, and for
two years was employed as tutor in a family in Dorchester County,
Maryland. During these two years his views on Presbyterianism underwent
a change and he was led to study the tenets of the Church of England,
and finally to fully and loyally accept them. He devoted all his spare
time to the study of theology, and in 1789 was ordained a priest in the
Protestant Episcopal Church. In the following year he was appointed
rector of Great Choptank Parish in Maryland. There he remained,
faithfully fulfilling his pastoral duties and steadily adding to his
store of learning, until, in 1813, he was elected rector of St. Paul's
Church, Baltimore. By that time he was recognized as the most profound
theologian in the diocese, and his ability as a preacher, his able
executive qualities, and the native kindliness of his disposition, had
won him hosts of friends. In these circumstances, when it became
necessary, in 1814, to appoint a suffragan Bishop to aid Bishop Claggett,
there was little opposition to the selection of Dr. Kemp, and he was
duly consecrated. Two years later he succeeded, on the death of Dr.
Claggett, to the full honors of the Bishopric, and occupied that
position, as well as the office of Provost of the University of
Maryland, till his death, in 1827, at Baltimore.
Bishop Kemp published during his lifetime
several of his sermons on special occasions and a number of
controversial tracts, but such specialties are by no means contributions
to literature, and have, naturally, been long forgotten. Not so,
however, the example of his life, his devotion to duty, and the manner
in which he administered and discharged every trust confided to him.
The Episcopal Church in the Dominion gives
us several examples of noted Scotch Bishops, for the Scot in Canada
flourishes and forces his way to the front under all sorts of
conditions. One of the earliest of these dignitaries was Charles J.
Stewart, Bishop of Quebec. He was the fifth son of John, seventh Earl of
Galloway, and was born at Galloway House, Wigtownshire, in 1775. He was
educated at Oxford. Having selected the ministry for his lifework, his
studies were directed toward that end, and in 1800 he was ordained a
priest. His first charge was a small parish near Peterborough, England,
where he remained eight years. Then, desiring to engage in mission work,
he applied to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and was
assigned to the mission of St. Armand, P. Q. There he built a church at
his own expense; but his district was a wide one, and he was equally
ready to preach the Gospel in a parlor, a barn, or a room in a village
inn, as in the sacred edifice he had had constructed. In 1819 he became
visiting missionary in the Diocese of Quebec, virtually embracing the
whole of Canada, and the story of his journeys in the discharge of his
duties, involving discomfort, danger, fatigue, and discouragements,
would furnish themes for many romances. Bishop Mountain of Quebec died
in 1825, and the faithful missionary was nominated to the see. He was
consecrated in Lambeth Palace, London, and at once entered on his
duties. These he performed with rare fidelity till his death, in 1837.
"He was," wrote Mr. H. J. Morgan, "a most zealous servant and soldier of
Christ, a noble, disinterested being, endowed with rich qualities of
heart and mind, and a mouth that spoke no guile."
Bishop Strachan of Toronto will long be
remembered in Canada as having virtually ruled the Church of England
there during many years of his life, and for having ruled it well. He
was born at Aberdeen in 1778, graduated at King's College in that city,
and afterward studied theology at St. Andrews. After a brief experience
as a teacher in Scotland he emigrated to Canada in 1799, and taught
school at Kingston, Ontario, for some three years. He was ordained to
the priesthood in 1803, and opened a school at Cornwall, where he
remained until, in 1812, he became rector of York (Toronto.) Here he
commenced his career as a statesman as well as a pastor. He was
nominated an Executive Councillor, took his seat in the Legislative
Council, and continued to show an active and direct interest in politics
until the end of his career. In 1825 he was appointed Archdeacon of
York, and in 1839 reached the highest of his ecclesiastical honors when
he was nominated Bishop of Toronto. Few men possessed more influence in
Canada than this noted prelate. He established some fifty-seven
rectories in Ontario, and to his efforts was due the foundation of
Trinity College, Toronto. The cause of education was possibly clearer to
his heart than any other earthly agency, and as a successful teacher
himself he knew how to appreciate success in others. Quite a large
number of eminent men sat under him as pupils. In Scotland during the
few years he taught there he had among his boys David Wilkie, afterward
the famous painter, and Capt. Robert Barclay of Lake Eric fame. In
Canada Sir John Beverley Robinson, Chief Justice Sir James B. Macaulay,
and the Hon. Judge Jones attended his classes. The friendship of these
men and scores like them he retained until death dissolved mere earthly
ties, and Sir David Wilkie often asserted that to Bishop Strachan he
owed everything. The good Bishop died at Toronto in 1867. To the end he
preserved the Aberdeen dialect in all its freshness, and a stranger,
hearing his accent, might have been excused for thinking he was
listening to one who was fresh from the "City of Bon Accord." "Bishop
Strachan," writes one who knew him, "when he came to Canada, taught
school in Cornwall, and educated some of the best men we have ever had
in Canada. There are few of them left, I am sorry to say. What was
curious about the old Bishop was, he never lost the Aberdeen accent,
although he thought he had. I have heard him preach. In pronouncing the
benediction he always said: 'The peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, keep your herts.' Many years ago he had a clergy--man
come from Aberdeen. He asked him: 'Far dae ye come fae?' The minister
said: 'Fae Eherdeen.' After asking some more questions the Bishop
insisted on the clergyman getting clear of his Scotch accent, adding:
'I had some trouble in getting clear of it, but I have none of it now';
yet all this was said in the broadest `Eberdeen' dialect."
Turning to the Roman Catholic Church, we
find the Scot flourishing there as elsewhere. In the Lower Provinces few
names are held in more kindly remembrance than Bishop Angus McEachern of
Charlottetown, Bishop Ronald McDonald of Pictou, or Bishop William
Fraser of Antigonish, Vicar Apostolic of Nova Scotia in 1821. The latter
deserves to be honored by Scotsmen, for he certainly suffered much for "puir
auld Scotland's sake." In fact, it was complained of him at Rome that he
devoted himself exclusively to the Scotch members of his flock, for a
long time hardly recognizing any others, and finally rarely journeyed
outside of the Scotch settlement at Antigonish. He seemed to have a
special aversion to Irish Roman Catholics.
In point of devotion to duty, liberality of
views, and earnestness of purpose, no fault could be found with Bishop
Alexander MacDonell, who was born at Glen Urquhart, near the shore of
Loch Ness, in 1769, and is said to have belonged to the family of
Glengarry. Long before he was consecrated Roman Catholic Bishop of
Kingston, at Montreal in 1826, he had done rare service to Canada by
inducing Highlanders to settle in its wild lands, and he had seen active
service in Ireland as Chaplain in a regiment of Catholics. In fact, his
services were such that he was publicly thanked by the Prince Regent. He
was a thoroughly patriotic Scotsman, and one of his earliest
undertakings was the formation of a Highland Society in Ontario, of
which he became President, and which was designed to be of real use to
settlers and intending settlers. He built no fewer than forty-eight
churches and established missions at every point. He had a profound
faith in the wonderful future of Canada, and believed in building the
foundations of the Church he served so loyally on a scale worthy of that
future. Personally he was a kindly man, who made friends wherever he
went, and his death, in 1840, while revisiting his native land, was
regretted by all classes in the community.
"Bishop MacDonell," once wrote a
correspondent to a Canadian newspaper, "was a very kind-hearted man. He
was a great means of settling the part of Canada called Glengarry. Some
of them were more than ordinary big, strong men, and the present
generation of them are worthy of their sires. I never heard that he was
particular to have them all Roman Catholics. There are a number of
Presbyterians amongst them, and they have a good congregation in
Alexandria. The good Bishop gave all the first Roman Catholic settlers
in Glengarry a copy of the Holy Bible, which the Presbyterian clergyman
told me they would not part with for any money.
"I have been told many good stories about
the Bishop by an old French friend. I will only mention one. In the
early settlement of the County of Kent the roads were very bad and there
were very few places to stop at. The Bishop was exploring through the
county on horseback, and, being benighted, he had to ask a farmer for
lodgings for the night. After getting supper, and time to go to bed, the
farmer said he would show him his bed. The Bishop said: 'Are you a
Scotchman and don't take the "Book" before going to bed?' The Scotchman
was ashamed to confess that he did not. The Bishop took the Bible and
read and prayed with and for the family. The farmer was astonished when
the Bishop told him who he was."
Bishop Gilmour of Cleveland, Ohio, who died
in Florida in 1891, was born in Glasgow in 1824, and moved in early
life, with his parents, to New Glasgow. He was educated in Canada. After
many years spent in missionary work he was assigned to the pastorate of
St. Patrick's in Cincinnati in 1857, and was consecrated Bishop of
Cleveland in 1872. his administration of the diocese was most
successful, and was particularly noted for the manner in which it
developed the system of parochial schools.
A Catholic prelate need not be a Bishop, and
the Very Rev. Monsignor Seton of St. Joseph's, Jersey City, is a case in
point. Descended from the ancient noble family of Winton, Dr. Seton's
ancestors came to America before the Revolution, carrying with them many
historical relics of the family to which they were proud to belong in
spite of its misfortunes. One of these American settlers, William Seton,
(of whom Dr. Seton is the great-grandson,) was from 1766 to 1771 an
officer in the New York St. Andrew's Society, and to the present day the
members of the family are proud to recall the fact that their forbears
hailed from "dear old Scotland." |
