qualities which are essential to a popular and effective pulpit speaker.
Many of his best pulpit efforts, and notably his sermons preached before
the Queen at Crathie, are among the most excellent of their class, and
may be read with as much profit and interest as the discourses of Wesley
and Whitfield. Yet to those who have heard only of his great fame, apart
from the pulpit, and who are naturally led to associate that fame to
some considerable extent with his pulpit utterances, there must, in some
respects, be disappointment in store. His voice is far from musical,
being too much pitched on one key, and that not the most melodious on
the gamut. His discourses lack the fire and finish of Caird or Guthrie;
while his composition and style are neither so graceful nor so polished
as those of Spurgeon or Newman Hall. He makes no attempt at nicely
rounded periods, or subtle verbal distinctions. But he has other
qualities entirely his own. His speech is homely, familiar, almost
conversational. There is no "darkening of counsel with vain words." He
is not only easily understood, but it is difficult, even on the most
recondite points, to misunderstand him. What he states in the plainest
possible phraseology, he renders still more intelligible by some apt
illustration. Herein lies one of the great secrets of his success in the
pulpit. Possessed of a very acute mental faculty and a warm heart, his
sermons are always eminently practical, full of conclusive argument,
appealing directly to the consciences of his hearers, and permeated
above all by strong common sense, called so as _locus a non lucendo_,
because so uncommon even in the pulpit. His thoughts, often strikingly
original, are always expressed in a vigorous, manly style. He does not
hesitate to call a spade by its proper name. Hence he has often been
taken to task for what, gauged by the rule of the Confession of Faith,
would be called loose, if not absolutely heterodox notions on sacred
things. His memorable speech on the Decalogue is a case in point. The
Presbytery of Glasgow woke up one fine morning to find that the minister
of the Barony recommended in almost so many words that the Decalogue,
inasmuch as it was a Judaical institution, was not for modern
Christians. Of course the rev. gentleman brought a hornet's nest about
his ears; and he had to explain away, as best he could, the "damnable
and pernicious doctrine." There are more learned men in the Church of
Scotland, but none have a greater share of sagacity, penetration, and
strong, pungent, mother wit. Another distinguishing trait in the
doctor's character is his charitable and tolerant disposition in
reference to religious things. He does not believe that anything is
gained by denominational differences, and would put an end to the
intestinal strife that separates the various branches of the Church of
Christ. To all who would say, "I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am
of Cephas!" he has but one reply. Dogmatism is to his broad and liberal
mind a foolish and unnecessary thing in theology, and hence he is to be
found in the van of all progressive and tolerant measures as opposed to
the _odium theologicum_, although in political matters he maintains a
mildly Conservative tone. It is a curious fact that, despite his anxiety
to keep pace with the times, Dr. Macleod has never yet been able to
procure the introduction of an organ to the Barony Church, and it is not
less remarkable that, notwithstanding his popularity both as a preacher,
as a writer, and as a public man, his church, which might reasonably be
expected to be one of the handsomest and largest in the city, is little
better than a village school. Strangers visiting Glasgow are almost
bound to "do" the Barony Church. Dr. Macleod is one of the "lions" of
the city, and people from all quarters flock to see and hear him. Yet
the building in which he preaches is, without exception, the ugliest in
Glasgow, both externally and internally. It is situated in one of the
most ill-favoured localities in the city, although in the immediate
vicinity of the Cathedral and the classic Molendinar, with the statue of
sturdy John Knox looking down upon it from the Pisgah of the
Necropolis--that God's acre of Glasgow worthies through many
generations. Chagrin and dismay will, we fancy, have been the feelings
predominant in the breasts of many who entered the Barony for the first
time. Between the preacher and the pews there is certainly neither
affinity nor _vraisemblance_. Worship is also conducted in the most
primitive fashion. Most of the Established Churches in Glasgow have now
got educated up to the introduction of organs, as accessories of public
worship, but here there is only an indifferently competent choir to lead
the service of praise. Of course the emoluments of the living or parish
are not regulated by "outward and visible signs," or the Barony minister
would only draw a sorry stipend.
We have already had occasion to notice Dr. Macleod's acuteness of
intellect. If there is anything in phrenology, his perceptive faculties
must be very highly developed. Few men are so observant of all that
passes around. Wherever he goes, he puts himself _en rapport_ with his
society for the time being. He can read
Sermons in stones,
Books in the running brooks,
And good in everything.
In this fact we have a sufficient explanation of the rich store of fun
and fancy--of humour and pathos--of anecdote and illustration--upon
which he draws _ad libitum_. Adopting Captain Cuttle's plan, he makes a
note of everything within his reach, and the merest trifles--incidents
which to an ordinary mind would be
Like a snow-flake on the river--
A moment seen, then lost for ever!
he treasures up in the storehouse of a highly retentive memory.
In seeking briefly to analyse the secrets of Dr. Macleod's wide-spread
fame, we are almost constrained to think that they will be found to lie
in qualities belonging to the heart rather than the head. His _bon
hommie_ is unique; he has a rich, pawky humour, which with his own
countrymen is almost worshipped. In all circumstances he displays the
_suaviter in modo_. In short, he is excellent company. "Aye ready!"
might be his motto, if Dr. Macleod has any dealings with the literature
of the Herald's College. He will speak, and that effectively, on any
mortal subject; and if he cannot say much pertaining to the matter in
hand, he will at least say something else, equally or perhaps more
edifying and acceptable.
Of the high position which Dr. Macleod holds in the esteem of Her
Majesty, our readers will have heard and seen so much, that we need say
but little. Since his appointment as one of her Majesty's Chaplains in
Ordinary for Scotland Dr. Macleod has had many gracious marks of Royal
condescension bestowed upon him; and these he has reciprocated by
vindicating, whenever opportunity offered, the character and conduct of
the Queen from the aspersions and calumnies of her detractors. From him
we have had glimpses, now and again, of what transpires behind the
scenes at Balmoral, and we have as it were felt our hearts knitted more
closely than before to a Sovereign who is a pattern to all her sex.
REV. DR. BUCHANAN.
The Rev. Dr. Robert Buchanan has many claims to be esteemed one of the
"Pilgrim Fathers" of the Free Church of Scotland. He was one of the
first to obey the injunction dictated by the Ten Years' Conflict, "Come
out from among them, and be ye separate." Ready to abandon a Church that
adopted principles, and practised a system, of which he could not
approve, he was also in the front van of the handful to whose wisdom,
prescience, and fostering care the Free Church owes its remarkably
successful career. Of the many who took a more or less prominent part in
the Disruption, Dr. Candlish, of Edinburgh, and Dr. Robert Buchanan, of
Glasgow, are now the only two left who have been recognised from the
outset as leaders in the great and memorable crisis. The Free Church has
not within her pale, at the present moment, a man more generally
esteemed, or more influential in all that relates to the discipline and
welfare of the body, than he whose career and character we now propose
briefly to sketch.
The century was very young when Dr. Buchanan first saw the light at the
quiet, rural village of Gargunnock, near Stirling. His father, who
followed mercantile pursuits, was able to give Robert a good, sound
education; and as he displayed, when little more than a child, a
tendency for reasoning and disputation, it was resolved that he should
be brought up for the ministry. After receiving the rudiments of his
education at a country school, he entered the University of Glasgow as a
divinity student. In 1827 he was ordained a minister of the Established
Church of Scotland. His first charge was Saltoun, in East Lothian, where
Principal Fairbairn, his friend and co-worker, subsequently ministered.
From Saltoun Dr. Buchanan came to the Tron Church, Glasgow, in 1834, and
he continued to labour in that congenial sphere until the year 1857,
when, in consequence of circumstances to be afterwards stated, he
entered upon the pastorate of the College Church, where he still
continues to labour with much acceptance. After the Disruption, Dr.
Buchanan, with other 474 ministers that were identified with the
Establishment, formed what has since been known as the Free Church of
Scotland. Leaving the Old Tron, he and his followers made use of the
City Hall for a time, until the Free Tron Church, which was built
specially for Dr. Buchanan's congregation, was completed. The means were
not long awanting to provide a church for a minister so popular and so
well-beloved, and hence the period of his ministry in the City
Hall--that asylum of needy, distressed, and transitional
congregations--was very short.
A movement was set on foot about the year 1855 to change the sphere of
Dr. Buchanan's labours from the Free Tron to the West-End of the city. A
disjunction was drawn up; the advice of Dr. Candlish and Mr. Gray of
Perth was taken as to the proper mode of procedure; a memorial, signed
by about 150 members of his congregation, was laid before Dr. Buchanan,
inviting him to transfer his services to a new church in the West-End;
and a similar memorial was laid before the Presbytery, craving their
consent to the project. After the preliminary arrangements had been
carried out, the disjunctionists found a friend in Dr. Clark of Wester
Moffat, the founder of the Free Church Training College in Glasgow, who
offered, upon the most liberal terms, to provide them with a site. One
of the conditions laid down was that fifty free seats should be reserved
in perpetuity for the use of the students attending the college. It was
also stipulated as a _sine qua non_ that Dr. Buchanan should accompany
the disjunctionists to the new church. Both of these pre-requisites
having been agreed upon, the new College Church was commenced. The total
cost of its erection was upwards of L10,000, and about five years ago
this amount was fully paid off. The new church grew and prospered under
Dr. Buchanan's ministry, until it has now a membership of over 400,
including not a few of the most influential and liberal men in the city.
For the first time in its history, the College Church subscribed last
year the second largest amount of any church in Scotland towards the
Sustentation Fund, the exact sum being L1201, as compared with L3435
raised by St George's, Edinburgh, (Rev. Dr. Candlish's), which stands
highest on the list. The total amount raised last year by the Free
College Church for all purposes was L2939, being higher than the
aggregate of any other church in Glasgow. It is not too much to say that
Dr. Buchanan's admirable financial talents have been greatly
instrumental in bringing the fiscal arrangements of the Free Church to
such a high point of perfection. His eminently methodical and far-seeing
mind set itself to work, immediately the necessity presented itself, to
devise ways and means of putting the ministers of the Church who were
all at once, without any preparation, and many of them under much
physical disadvantage, compelled to bid adieu to "the fleshpots of
Egypt." The ordeal was so terrible that it might well have appalled the
timid. Suffering for conscience sake, these noble-minded men chose to
leave behind them the _Lares_ and _Penates_ belonging to the
Establishment: but their adoption of Moses' choice, did not, after all,
entail much privation. Congregations and ministers alike resolved on
surrendering a position which they could not any longer, with a good
conscience, retain; and both proved equal to the emergency of dealing
with financial problems which all at once they were called upon to
solve. Casting herself promptly and entirely on the system of Free-Will
Offerings as the means of her future sustenance, the Free Church met
with a response so liberal and spontaneous that it is almost without
parallel in history. In all these arrangements Dr. Buchanan took an
active interest, and his sound practical advice was on all occasions of
financial embarrassment consulted by his colleagues. As to the manner in
which these difficulties were met Dr. Buchanan, himself, in a paper
read on the 15th March, 1870, before the Statistical Society of London,
stated that "The Free Church at once and unanimously adopted, as the
backbone of her financial system, the plan of a common fund, to the
support of which all her congregations should contribute, and in the
benefits of which all her ministers should share. With whom the central
idea of the scheme originated it is impossible to say. The very nature
of the case was such as almost inevitably to suggest it to any one who
was seriously and intelligently considering the subject. Of one thing,
however, there can be no doubt or question, that the authorship of the
system of finance, into which the idea now spoken of was gradually
developed, belonged to Thomas Chalmers. It had taken shape in his mind,
and in at least some of its leading features had been put in writing by
his pen in the summer of 1841. It is true that in the autumn of the same
year, and without any notion of the views or plans of Dr. Chalmers, the
principle of a common fund, to be distributed in equal shares, was given
out by Dr. Candlish at a great public meeting held at Edinburgh, in
anticipation of the event which, even then, had begun to loom out, not
indistinctly, through the storm and tempest of the time. It was not,
however, till the month of November, 1842, that it took the form of a
fully-planned scheme for the future support of the church, drawn out in
detail and supported by elaborate argument. This form it assumed in a
speech of great power and eloquence, which is still preserved, and which
was delivered by Dr. Chalmers at a very memorable meeting. The meeting
to which I refer was called 'the convocation,'--a name familiar enough
in England, though descriptive there of a quite different assembly. The
Scotch convocation was not a court, but simply a private, unofficial
conference of ministers interested in the common cause of the then
impending disruption. They met alone, because they desired to look their
position, prospects, and responsibilities calmly and prayerfully in the
face, without being liable, under the influence of public feeling, to
be either turned back or to be carried further or faster forward in the
direction in which events were moving, otherwise than as their own
deliberate judgment and sense of duty might seem to them to sanction and
require."
It is for his labours in connection with the formation of the
Sustentation Fund, of which he has for many years been convener, that
Dr. Buchanan is most prominently known. Indeed, we are not sure but the
idea of a Sustentation Fund was entirely his own--at least he had a
great deal to do with its development. The great object of the
Sustentation Fund is the support of the ministry to the extent and
effect of at least securing for each minister a certain minimum stipend.
From the first it was the aim of the Church to bring up the minimum to
L150, although that was not reached until the year 1863. The
Sustentation Fund Committee, of which Dr. Buchanan has been convener and
chairman ever since the death of Dr. Chalmers in 1847, is appointed
annually by the General Assembly, and consists of about a hundred
ministers and elders, in nearly equal proportion, nominated by the
Assembly, and of one member, who may be either minister or elder,
nominated by each of the fourteen Synods of the Church. The committee
meets once a month in Edinburgh, and is usually attended by about 60
members.
This is scarcely the time or place to enter into an exhaustive account
of the finances of the Free Church, or we might pursue these
observations until we had traced the mighty river that now is, to the
small and comparatively insignificant stream from which it took its
source. The Free Church has set an example to the world in fiscal
arrangements, showing what steady determination, backed by courage and
sound judgment, can eventually accomplish. Not only had the Free Church
to provide means for supporting its ministers, but also for building
places of worship, manses or parsonages, and elementary schools. Since
the Disruption, the Church has built 920 churches, 719 manses, and 597
schools, the total amount raised towards the general and local building
fund during the twenty-six years intervening between May, 1843, and
1869, being L1,667,714. Three Theological Colleges for the training of
candidates for the ministry, and two large and flourishing Normal
Schools have also been provided.
Ministers of the gospel may be divided into two classes. There is the
warm, enthusiastic, emotional evangelist, who flashes across the
ecclesiastical horizon like a meteor, and creates a temporary
"sensation," so to speak, among the dry bones in the valley of vision.
Then there is the more steady-going preacher of the Word, who maintains
an even pace throughout, turning neither to the right nor to the
left--whose _forte_ is to conserve the truth, and keep it alive where it
has once been found. In the latter category we may include Dr. Buchanan.
He is not by any means a brilliant preacher, in the ordinary acceptation
of the term. He does not draw the multitude about him. He is no
Boanerges of the Temple; but he is a giant as regards a firm grasp of
doctrinal truth. He never evolves new shapes or fantastic theories, "won
from the vague and formless infinite;" but he "proves all things," and
"holds fast that which is good." If he is not an essentially popular
preacher--and this is a merit which even his most partial admirers would
scarcely venture to claim for him--he is edifying and didactic, and few
ministers are better qualified to build up and consolidate a church.
Rather too stereotyped (if we may hint such a fault) in his tendencies,
he is yet deeply skilled in the form of sound doctrine, and his style is
terse, vigorous, and polished. There is, perhaps, what not a few would
be disposed to term a want of animation in his pulpit utterances.
Habitually grave and dignified, he seldom indulges in anything like an
ebullition of fancy or of mirth. His sentences are cut, polished, and
beautified like a piece of Parian marble. People are so much accustomed
now-a-days to hear orators whose hearts (like Coriolanus) are upon their
lips, that they have little sympathy with scholarly and erudite
prelections, pure and simple, come from whatsoever quarter they may. But
it does not therefore follow that calm, dispassionate, logical
reasoning, of which Dr. Buchanan is both a master and exponent, is
without its merits and admirers. On the contrary, it is impossible to
sit under the minister of the Free College Church without being "built
up" in all the Christian graces. He is an uncompromising foe to the
Scarlet Lady, to the materialistic tendencies of the present day, to
looseness and infidelity, of every kind, in religious matters; and some
would perhaps object that his sermons are too strongly impregnated with
the Confession of Faith, the Deed of Demission, and the Shorter
Catechism. But he is on this account all the more entitled to rank as a
living embodiment of the principles and practice of the Free Church of
Scotland; and when questions on which a little margin of difference may
be allowed are brought under consideration, Dr. Buchanan will be found
to be tolerant and even liberal in his views. With a presence so
commanding and dignified as to be almost leonine, a deep, melodious
voice, and a head of snowy whiteness, Dr. Buchanan's appearance, as he
ascends to the pulpit, conveys the impression of conscious power. He
enters upon the services of the sanctuary with an evident sense of their
solemnity and importance. No glimpse of humour, no _outre_ illustration,
no divergence from the beaten track is attempted; the heavy and
portentous gravity of his manner and matter is unrelieved by a single
touch of light--all is sombre, deep, profound. One can fancy that Dr.
Buchanan is inclined to think, with Dr. Johnson, that a punster is as bad
as a pickpocket.
But it would be unfair to estimate Dr. Buchanan from his pulpit
appearances only. Listening to his discourses from the pew, one can form
but a faint conception of the greatest merits--the strongest points--of
the minister of the Free College Church. It is in the ecclesiastical
Forum that Dr. Buchanan is found most in his element; there, like Mark
Tapley, he comes out the stronger, the greater the pressure and
opposition brought to bear upon him. No man in the Free Church is more
completely "posted up" in all the questions that come before the
Assembly--no man is more entitled to rank in that body as the Rupert of
debate. In the Glasgow Presbytery he takes a leading part in the
discussion of all prominent questions; and no member is listened to with
greater attention. It is not too much to say that, although he may meet
with a foeman worthy of his steel in the General Assembly, he has not in
the more circumscribed sphere of the local Presbytery, a single rival
who is in any sense his match. The late Dr. Gibson was frequently
accustomed to tackle him, and perhaps he sometimes did so successfully;
but while the latter was undoubtedly an able debater, he lost ground
from his impetuosity of temper--an infirmity to which Dr. Buchanan never
gives way. In all circumstances he is cool, calculating, unruffled; he
measures the full meaning and effect of every sentence; he can be fierce
and withering, and still maintain a calm and composed demeanour. The
gladiatorial conflicts in which these two combatants took part were
often a source of rare amusement even outside the pale of the
Presbytery, and, inasmuch as they were both well fortified with weighty
and telling arguments, the spectacle was not always unedifying. On the
question of Union, as is well known, they took diametrically opposite
views. Many a passage of arms passed between them on this _questio
vexata_, while the younger and less athletic backers surrounded the
arena, waiting the shock with eager anticipation; for
"When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war."
But the one has been taken and the other left; and no man, we believe
will be more ready to do justice to the memory of his deceased
fellow-_confrere_ than Dr. Buchanan himself.
We have specially mentioned the question of Union, because of late years
Dr. Buchanan has closely and completely identified himself with it, and
he is pledged to see it carried through. He has made eloquent and
effective speeches in favour of Union at almost every meeting of the
General Assembly held since it was brought on the _tapis_; and only last
year he opened the debate in an address that has seldom been equalled
for sound argument and rhetorical effect. It would be superfluous to
make any selections or quotations from the rev. gentleman's speeches on
this subject; his views are already well known to all who take an
interest in the cause for which he pleads, and before that cause has
reached its final consummation it is more than likely that he will again
be at Ephesus, fighting on its behalf.