Anderson received a call to John Street U.P. Church, Glasgow--his first and only charge. This was in the year 1822 when William was only in his twenty-third year. At the time he entered upon the charge of John Street Church, the congregation was in anything but a flourishing condition.
Rent by dissentions from without and from within, it was in a lamentably disorganised state, and presented a decidedly uninviting sphere for the maiden efforts of a young and inexperienced minister. But William Anderson was neither disheartened nor dismayed. He approached the work of reconstructing and a.s.similating his congregation in a spirit of love and charity, which, mingled with tact and firmness, succeeded in subduing the anarchy and mismanagement that had previously prevailed.
His victory over the turbulent spirits under his charge was as signal and complete as that he had achieved over the Presbytery, which in March, 1822, consented to his ordination, after having threatened to ostracise him on the ground that he would persist, under all circ.u.mstances, in reading his discourses. But that which George Gilfillan has happily described as the "tender mercies of a Scotch Presbytery," did not induce him to turn aside from his purpose, or to make an abject and inglorious submission. From his first start in life, Dr. Anderson showed that he not only held opinions of his own, but unless there was some cogent reason to the contrary, he clung to them tenaciously. So it was with the _casus belli_ of ma.n.u.scripts in the pulpit. Failing to understand that the use of "the paper" could interfere in the remotest degree with the due and proper effect of the pulpit, and knowing that he could not do either himself or his congregation adequate justice by extempore preaching, Dr. Anderson continued to adhere to written sermons, until the Presbytery at last gave way, leaving him master of the situation. The feud between Dr.
Anderson and his Presbytery has been described by himself as "the eleven months of anguish to which I was subjected by the prosecution--I do not say persecution--of the Presbytery for my using my ma.n.u.script in the pulpit, and for certain alleged errors and improprieties in my preaching, such as--that in two of my sermons I had quoted Shakespeare."
This contretemps proves that the Presbyterian Church was as strongly opposed to the use of ma.n.u.scripts in the pulpit half a century ago as it is now--or was until lately--to the introduction of organs as accessories of public worship. Fortunately, we have fallen on more tolerant and tolerable times.
If the interference of the Presbytery had no other effect, it tended to secure for the subject of these remarks an exceptional amount of public attention at a very early period of his ministerial career. People were naturally solicitous to improve their acquaintance with the young man, little more than out of his teens, who had had the hardihood to brave the discipline and upset the prejudices of a whole Presbytery on a question which, at that time of day, was considered to be of vital importance. Contrary, in all probability, to his own expectations, Anderson woke up one fine morning to find himself famous. Although there were few outward and visible signs of approval with his rebellious spirit, he yet retained in secret the countenance of many colleagues in the ministry, who had long pined for a freer and more tolerable ecclesiastical atmosphere, and the issue of Dr. Anderson"s independence had the proximate result of achieving their release from one of the most grievous and galling fetters imposed upon them by the exacting and puritanical spirit of the times--a spirit which, however well it may have answered the requirements of a less enlightened age, was an insult to the freedom of action that belonged to the nineteenth century. While the Presbytery was left in anything but a dignified position, Dr.
Anderson could confidently say, "Veni, vidi, vici!" It was the old story over again. It was not one of the pillars in Israel--it was one of the weak things of the Church that was chosen to confound the mighty.
From the first, Dr. Anderson secured a rare measure of popularity as a preacher. His zeal, energy, and power were acknowledged on all hands, and it is no small tribute to his genius and popularity that in a city where Dr. Chambers was still in the zenith of his fame, where Dr.
Wardlaw had built up his splendid reputation, and where, last but not least, Edward Irving was making his magic influence felt, Dr. Anderson was able, not only to hold his own, but to make fresh friends and admirers every day. He seemed to have a special talent for drawing the mult.i.tude about him. And yet it was not done by any dexterous shuffle of the theological cards, or by pandering to the morbid pa.s.sions and tickling the vanities and weaknesses of his hearers. He never hesitated to tell his hearers that they were poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked. Thackeray has ridiculed the idea of a man with a long rent-roll, and a comfortable cushioned pew, believing himself to be a miserable sinner; but, he must have been obtuse indeed who would not wince under this rough and _bizarre_, but terribly earnest and fervid preacher. For a long period he gave a series of evening lectures which were crowded to suffocation, and as the fame of him went abroad throughout all the city, he was often the cynosure of eyes that were neither friendly nor devout. But, if he sometimes failed to make a deep impression, he always succeeded in persuading his hearers of the seriousness and importance of eternal things, so that "many who came to laugh remained to pray."
In most of the great political and ecclesiastical controversies of his day, Dr. Anderson has stood forward as the unflinching champion of justice and mercy. He was a prominent and effective speaker on the Voluntary question; and he rendered effective service to the movement for the repeal of the slave trade. Besides these pet themes, Dr.
Anderson has always been a vigorous a.s.sailant of Popery, on which he has spoken perhaps more frequently, and with greater effect, than any other man of his time. During his crusade against Popery he received an anonymous letter threatening that if he proceeded with his lectures on the subject of the Ma.s.s, his life would be in danger. Nothing daunted, however, he sent the anonymous letter to the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Glasgow, with the intimation that it was still his intention to persevere with his lectures despite threats and cajolery. About this time he challenged to a public discussion the well-known Dr. Cahill, who was then regarded as the champion of the Romish Church in this country.
His challenge was respectfully declined; but so bitter was the _animus_ raised against him that on more than one occasion he had to be escorted to the platform of the City Hall by policemen. Finally, he overcame the opposition of the Papists so far as to secure a patient hearing, and it has since been admitted that his lectures were greatly instrumental in arousing public opinion to a just sense of the errors and insidious influence of the priests and the Papacy. There are, doubtless, not a few still living in Glasgow who will remember Dr. Anderson"s scathing denunciations of American slavery and the strong sympathy which, from the outbreak of the civil war, he expressed with the Federals. When Henry Ward Beecher visited and lectured in Glasgow, he was supported by Dr. Anderson, who spoke so bitterly and with such emphatic disapprobation against the Southern States and their policy, that his sentiments evoked the hisses of his audience. Nothing discomfited, he pursued the even tenor of his way, until he reached the climax of his argument, when bearing down upon his opponents with irresistible force, he cried out, in a voice of triumph, "Hiss, noo, gin ye dare." On that occasion he created a profound impression by his eloquent appeal to Mr.
Ward Beecher to interpose with his countrymen to avert from Britain the consequences which her sympathies for the slave-holding States had justly entailed.
For the greater part of his long ministerial career, Dr. Anderson was without a colleague. About ten years ago, however, the congregation called the Rev. Alex. Macleod (now of Birkenhead) to become his a.s.sistant, and he was succeeded in 1865 by the Rev. David M"Ewan of College Street Church, Edinburgh, upon whom the active duties of the pastorate now devolve. Some years previous to Dr. M"Ewan"s appointment the old church in John Street was removed, and the present splendid edifice was erected at a cost of upwards of 10,000. It is undoubtedly one of the most handsome and comfortable churches in the city, and presents some architectural features of a unique character.
Although Dr. Anderson has not been a very voluminous writer, some of his works are well known and generally appreciated. His earliest productions, issued in the shape of pamphlets on the subjects of the hour, have not acquired any lasting celebrity; but one or two subsequent publications, notably his "Treatise on Regeneration," and a volume of sermons that appeared in 1844 (and now, we believe, out of print), have placed him in the front rank as a theologian. Some time afterwards he issued a second volume of sermons which were very favourably reviewed, and elicited a complimentary notice from Lord Brougham. Among his later literary efforts we may specify a "Treatise on the Popish Ma.s.s," a "Treatise on the Millennium," and a volume on "The Filial honour of G.o.d."
On the occasion of his jubilee Dr. Anderson was entertained by his friends and admirers to a dinner in Carrick"s Royal Hotel, and on the same evening (March 7, 1871) he was presented, at a soiree held in the City Hall (which was crowded in every part), with a cheque for 1200, as a mark of esteem for his character and talents. On both occasions the chair was occupied by the Rev. David M"Ewan, his estimable colleague and successor, who made the presentation. Dr. Anderson declined to accept the money for himself, but gave it back to be funded for scholarships in connection with the United Presbyterian Church, to be called the "William Anderson Scholarships." In acknowledging the gift the recipient made a characteristic speech, remarking that "in "68, in the course of one month, I preached (at canonical hours, observe) in an Independent Church, an Established Church, a Free Church, and a Methodist Church. A short time before that I had preached in a Baptist Church; and, latterly I have preached in two churches of the Evangelical Union, and I have had a Sabbath afternoon of more than common congeniality of feeling in fellowship with a church of the Reformed Presbyterians."
REV. DR. JOHN KER.
Glasgow seems to be peculiarly favourable to the growth of United Presbyterianism. It is the great stronghold of that body--the garrison from which they send out skirmishing parties all over the world. Some of the wealthiest congregations, as well as some of the ablest ministers in Glasgow belong to this denomination. The "dissidence of dissent" has found favour in the eyes of our merchant princes, and among all ranks and conditions of men the views which, when promulgated by Ebenezer Erskine, caused a shudder to pa.s.s through the lines of the hard and fast, albeit not over conscientious theologians of his day, are now hailed with toleration and cordial approval. The growth of United Presbyterianism is one of the most remarkable chapters in our ecclesiastical history. The principles upon which this particular form of creed are founded must be sound at the core, otherwise they could never have achieved such signal and lasting triumphs; but their development was entrusted to men of rare energy, discrimination, and ability--men who have left behind them no unworthy prototypes, although the lines have fallen to the latter in more pleasant places, and their heritage is of a more excellent kind.
The Rev. Dr. John Ker occupies, as his character and accomplishments ent.i.tle him to do, a prominent place among the "reverend fathers and brethren" of the United Presbyterian Church. He was born at Tweedsmuir, in the upland pastoral district of Peeblesshire, where his father was a farmer. Here he spent the first years of his childhood, a circ.u.mstance which had probably more influence on his future character and tendencies than might be supposed on the first blush. "The boy is father to the man," and while he was yet a mere child, Dr. Ker was laying up a store of memoranda bearing upon the romantic vicissitudes of the "good old times, when George the First was King;" or, perhaps, long anterior to that much vaunted period. The isolated condition of the peasantry and agricultural cla.s.ses generally in those days prevented the free and constant intercourse which may now be found all over Scotland. Railways had not yet been evolved from the matrix of the future, newspapers were scarce and dear, books were few, the means of education and mental improvement were limited, and thus in the rural districts the reminiscences of the past were handed down in the form of traditions, communicated orally from generation to generation, or a.s.suming the less perishable shape of ballad literature. Young Ker"s mind, which was ever ready to receive and retain impressions, became the conservatory of a vast selection of ancient lore, written and unwritten, which he has never forgotten. His memory is quite an encylopaedia of ballads and stories, which it would probably be difficult, if not impossible, to find elsewhere, and upon this rich storehouse he can and does draw _ad libitum_ "for doctrine, for instruction, for reproof," or for the entertainment of his friends. Dr. Ker"s ancestors of five generations lie buried in the little rural churchyard at Tweedsmuir, a spot, of which Lord c.o.c.kburn says, "It is the most romantic in Scotland." Many are the stories that are still told by the "ingle cheek" of farmers" houses in that deeply interesting locality, relative to the Covenanters who lived in the glens around, and the soldiers who went up there in the "45.
After completing his studies as a Divinity student at Edinburgh--where he was a most distinguished student, and was universally regarded as a young man of excellent promise--Dr. Ker was licensed as a minister of the United Presbyterian Church. He was ordained in the year 1845, his first charge being in Alnwick, Northumberland, where he continued to minister until the year 1851. During the interval he received several calls from Glasgow and elsewhere. Twice he was called to preside over the United Presbyterian Church in East Campbell Street of this city. The first call he decidedly refused; but upon representations being made to him that the church was in anything but a satisfactory condition, so far as its pastorate was concerned--both Dr. Kidston and Dr. Brash, who then presided over it, being in infirm health and disqualified for the active discharge of ministerial duties--Dr. Ker, foreseeing no doubt that there was a large and ample field in Glasgow for the exercise of his energy and talents, at last agreed to accept the call. His ultimate consent was given, we believe, mainly through the importunity of the Rev. Dr.
Taylor, who has for many years been his most attached and intimate friend. Dr. Taylor went to Alnwick with the view of seeing and arranging personally with Dr. Ker; and it is a notable fact that although Dr. Ker had determined to treat the second call as he had treated the first--by returning a distinct and unqualified refusal--Dr. Taylor"s entreaties had the effect of inducing him to alter his decision. So far, indeed, had Dr. Ker"s mind been made up that he had actually written a letter negativing the call, and the letter was on its way to Glasgow while Dr.
Taylor was _en route_ to Alnwick, the two having thus crossed each other. We do not, however, believe that Dr. Ker has had any reason to regret his decision. The field that was open for his efforts in Glasgow was much more extensive if not more congenial than that presented by a remote country town like Alnwick, and Dr. Ker has been instrumental in raising up a congregation second to none in Glasgow as regards numbers and influence. Shortly after he removed to Glasgow an effort was made to secure a more eligible church for his large and increasing congregation, which was at length removed from East Campbell Street to Sidney Place.
The new church cost upwards of 8000, and the opening services were conducted by Dr. Edmond and Dr. Cairns of Berwick, the respected pastor being himself absent at the time from ill health. At the present hour there are upwards of 800 members in connection with Sidney Place Church, and it is seldom indeed that the membership of a church covers so wide a radius, some coming four and six miles every Sunday.
During the first few years of his residence in Glasgow, and even prior to that date, Dr. Ker was most zealous and indefatigable in the promotion of every good word and work. No one was more frequently before the public during the years 1854-55-56 as the upholder of truth, as the advocate of justice, as the bitter and uncompromising foe of error and ignorance, as the alleviator of misery and distress. The amount of physical and mental work which he undertook during these years was more than any ordinary mortal could stand; but it was to him a labour of love, and he did not stay his hand until an enfeebled and broken-down const.i.tution warned him that the laws of nature had been transgressed.
Dryden has described Shaftesbury as
A fiery soul, which, working out its way, Fretted the puny body to decay, And o"er-informed the tenement of clay;
and it has all along been Dr. Ker"s misfortune that his body would not bear the strain imposed upon it by his active and vigorous mind. As might be supposed, he was at this time a prominent speaker in the Church Courts, where his sage counsel and kindly disposition made him a favourite and a power. In 1857 he was requested by the Synod of his own Church to accept the office of Home Mission Secretary. The whole Synod stood up in token of their approval and esteem when the appointment was moved; and Dr. Andrew Thomson of Edinburgh, in supporting the nomination of Dr. Ker, remarked of him that "his very presence was a benediction."
To the infinite disappointment of the Synod, however, Dr. Ker declined, for private and no doubt weighty reasons, to undertake the appointment.
The choice of the Synod then fell on Dr. M"Gill, who continued to discharge the functions of Home Mission Secretary with zeal and efficiency until he was changed to the "Foreign Office." The result of too close attention to his ministerial duties led Dr. Ker into a dangerous illness, from which he suffered severely for a period of three years. During that time he visited many places both at home and abroad, travelling in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, and America. In the course of these journeys Dr. Ker cultivated his _penchant_ for antiquarian lore and old traditions. He also improved his very extensive knowledge of the Continental languages; and there are few men so thoroughly conversant with German, French, and Italian, who have not made these languages a special study. In addition to modern languages, however, Dr. Ker is a master of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.
At the time of the Irish revivals several years ago, Dr. Ker took a deep interest in the spiritual awakening, and he travelled over the country with the view of a.s.sisting its promotion, preaching very frequently every day in the week. Nothing is more remarkable in Dr. Ker"s character than the immense power of mental and physical endurance he has displayed as a preacher. He has not unfrequently delivered four sermons or homilies in one Sunday, besides preaching more or less frequently during the week. These sermons are not thrown off on the spur of the moment.
Every pulpit effort is thoughtfully and carefully prepared beforehand.
His readiness to preach and a.s.sist in every good work has been largely taken advantage of by the numerous charitable and religious societies in Glasgow, which have, perhaps, rather ungenerously taxed his good nature and anxiety to make himself useful.
Although Dr. Ker has seldom been prominently before the public in connection with political or social agitations, he has all along taken an active part in the establishment and advancement of Sunday and day schools and missionary schemes. At the same time he has been ready to a.s.sist in any movement of a political kind that presented itself to his view as one worthy of support and encouragement. While he is always earnest and conscientious in his pulpit and platform labours, he can out-Spurgeon Spurgeon in his gift of pointing a moral, with an amusing ill.u.s.tration. His alternations between grave and gay are always in season; he takes good heed to Solomon"s admonition that "there is a time for everything." But while he sometimes condescends to tickle the midriff of his hearers, consciously or unconsciously--for his quaint yet pungent remarks are not unfrequently the inspirations of the moment--he can afford to indulge his relish for humour without let or hindrance at a select party or by his own fireside. In either of these situations his solid and volatile qualities appear to vie with each other for the mastery. With quips and jokes, apposite and sparkling, he "is wont to set the table in a roar." Hence his society is much courted.
As a preacher, Dr. Ker has few if any superiors in Glasgow. His imagination is very fine and subtle, although not so exuberant and flowery as many other speakers who have an equally ready flow of language. He is apt in ill.u.s.tration, and he generally contrives to set forth his arguments in the most intelligible and convincing form; but he does not introduce ill.u.s.trations for the mere sake of rhetorical effect.
He rather makes every figure of speech to arise as it were by a natural sequence in the course of his reasoning, and few men have a greater facility for making "crooked paths straight, and rough places plain."
The most abstruse and knotty points he makes so obvious and clear that his hearers are inclined to wonder why they did not think of them in that light before--giving to themselves, or to the merits of the question in hand, a credit that is only due to the preacher whose discernment has removed the lions of doubt and difficulty from the path of the reader or hearer. As a _litterateur_ his taste is highly cultivated, and his discriminating judgment enables him to compose sermons the diction of which is as beautiful as the argument is sound.
By all who know him, and especially by his congregation, he is very much esteemed for his literary gifts and graces, and the public appreciation of his sermons is attested by the fact that a volume which he published several years since, has gone through eight large editions, the last edition having been issued only a few months ago. It is perhaps a pity that Dr. Ker has not been constrained to adopt Mr. Spurgeon"s plan of publishing his sermons regularly as they are delivered. They would certainly form a serial literature that the people of Glasgow would not be slow to appreciate.
REV. DR. JOHN EADIE.
The Rev. Dr. Eadie was born in 1813, at Alva, in Stirlingshire, where his parents occupied a comparatively humble rank in life. After receiving the rudiments of his education at the school of Tillicoultry, in which he afterwards became a.s.sistant to the Rev. Mr. Browning, a man of uncommon ability both as a preacher and as a thinker, Dr. Eadie entered the University of Glasgow, where he pursued his studies on a more extended scale. From the University he went to the United Secession Divinity Hall, with the view of qualifying himself for a place in the ministry of that Church. At the University he was a most successful student, and distinguished himself more especially by his knowledge of Latin and Greek. This is all the more noteworthy when it is remembered that during his University career he had the private tuition of many students to undertake. Dr. Eadie"s first charge was Cambridge Street U.P. Church. At the time he entered upon that charge he was only over 21 years" of age, and it is a fact worth recording that, within three months of being licensed, he was called to and bold enough to accept a city charge. Cambridge Street Church was built about nine months before Dr. Eadie became its pastor. Commencing with a membership of only 60, he raised his church during his pastorate of over 25 years to a membership of 1100, many of his adherents being the foremost men in connection with the U.P. body in Glasgow, of which the rev. gentleman himself soon became a distinguished ornament. Before leaving Cambridge Street to enter upon his new church in Great Western Road, Dr. Eadie, on his semi-jubilee, was presented by his congregation with a purse containing 300 guineas and a silver salver, and he then informed his congregation that "they had changed his wages five times, every change representing a substantial advance." Many of his West-End members found Cambridge Street too great a distance to come to worship on the Sabbath day, and Dr. Eadie removed with them to Lansdowne U.P. Church, where he has gathered a large and aristocratic congregation. We believe that Dr.
Eadie is the only U.P. minister in Glasgow who has been the first pastor of two new churches, the only parallel case within our knowledge being that of Dr. M"Ewen, who first founded a new church at Helensburgh, and afterwards in Claremont Street, Glasgow. From the Great Western Road Dr.
Eadie"s church has a commanding appearance. It is built in accordance with the strictest Gothic principles, and has one of the finest spires in the city. Its cost was about 12,000, and of this sum upwards of 1200 was raised on the occasion of its opening.
In the month of May, 1843, Dr. Eadie was chosen Professor of Biblical Literature in the Divinity Hall of the U.P. Church. He delivered his first lecture in the month of August following. By his students the rev.
gentleman is greatly esteemed and beloved, none the less so that he imposes upon them mental discipline of the strictest and most severe description. It is perhaps even more owing to his _entente cordiale_ with his students, than because of his eminence as a preacher and author, that Dr. Eadie has been so often selected to open new churches all over the country. Certain it is that no minister in the U.P. Church has been more frequently called into requisition for "special services"
both at home and abroad. One of the last new churches he opened was in Dundee, when the collections taken on a single Sunday amounted to 1090.
He also opened the church of Dr. Macfarlane, of London; and along with Dr. Alexander, of Edinburgh, he took part in the inauguration services of Springhill College, Birmingham. We may here mention the well-known fact that Dr. Eadie has been appointed to the Moderator"s Chair in the U.P. Synod--the highest office in the power of the Church to confer; and, although he has never taken a very prominent part in the Church Courts, his speeches are invariably full of weighty matter and sound argument. He spoke strongly in the Synod for toleration as to the use of organs in public worship. In the negotiations for Union with the Free Church he has taken a peculiar interest. Although he has received calls from other churches, Dr. Eadie has steadfastly maintained his attachment to Glasgow. In the year 1846 he was twice called to Rose Street U.P.
Church, Edinburgh--Dr. Finlayson"s--but the call was met each time with a firm refusal.
Dr. Eadie first brought himself into prominent notice as an author by the publication of a manual of Cruden, intended for popular use, about the year 1841. This abridged concordance has had an enormous sale among all cla.s.ses, both at home and abroad. Up to the year 1850 it had gone through no fewer than fourteen different editions, and we believe that the latest edition issued is either the twenty-first or the twenty-third. The preface to Dr. Eadie"s "Cruden" was furnished by Dr.
King, and is a masterly performance of its kind. It is worth while noticing that no other copy of "Cruden" is used or recognised by the Tract Society, who have at different times issued it on their own account. In 1848 Dr. Eadie published his Biblical Cyclopaedia, of which in 1868 twenty-four thousand copies had been sold, being upwards of one thousand every year. Of the merits of this work we need not here speak, as to all of our readers it must be known more or less familiarly. It is essentially what it professes to be--a dictionary of history, antiquities, geography, natural history, sacred a.n.a.lysis, biography, and Biblical literature generally, ill.u.s.trative of the Old and New Testaments. He has also compiled from Henry and Scott a Bible which has gone through many editions, and has commanded a sale of not fewer than 60,000 or 70,000 copies. First published in folio form, it had been sold within seven years to the tune of 36,000 copies, and thousands of working men were enabled from the cheapness with which it was issued, to possess themselves of this Bible who might otherwise never have had a Family Bible in their houses. The first edition was issued in 1851, and in Sept., 1858, another and still larger edition was put through the press. Dr. Eadie published in 1856 a work ent.i.tled "An a.n.a.lytical Concordance of the Holy Scriptures, or the Bible presented under distinct and cla.s.sified heads and topics," published by Richard Griffin & Co., London. In 1862 he published an "Ecclesiastical Cyclopaedia of antiquities, architecture, controversies, denominations, doctrines, governments, heresies, history, liturgies, rights, monastic orders, and modern Judaism." As the biographer of the well-known and esteemed Dr.
Kitto, Dr. Eadie has also achieved a considerable reputation. Collected from papers furnished by Dr. Kitto"s personal friends, this biography is perhaps one of the best and most interesting in the English literature, and it deservedly met with a very large circulation. In a surprisingly short s.p.a.ce of time it went through several editions, and even at the present day it is referred to and quoted as an authority on ecclesiastical matters of a particular kind. Dr. Kitto was one of the best Biblical scholars of his day. Like Dr. Eadie himself, he was possessed of an extraordinary memory, and highly cultivated lingual powers; and after he returned from the East he was frequently employed to do literary work for Mr. Charles Knight, for whom also Dr. Eadie contributed occasional papers. In short, the one man was eminently qualified, both by his acquirements, by his disposition, and by the exceptional facilities which he enjoyed, to become the biographer of the other, and Dr. Eadie has approached his task with such a spirit of love, and with so genuine and well-founded an esteem of the man whose Boswell he aspired to be, that the biography will rank in some respects almost equal with that of Dr. Johnson. Some years later, Dr. Eadie published through the Messrs. Oliphant, of Edinburgh, a series of lectures on the Bible for the young, which met with a very large sale. He has also written and published a well known work ent.i.tled "Divine Life," being a series of discourses, most of which were preached from time to time to his own congregation, and all of them breathing a spirit of true orthodoxy and Christian feeling. In 1859 he issued another book called "Paul the Preacher; or a popular and practical exposition of his discourses and speeches as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles," a work which is treated in the author"s best style, and displays much evidence of high literary attainments. In addition to works already quoted, and comprising many years of arduous toil and research, Dr. Eadie has published a series of Commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul, commencing in 1853 with that of the Ephesians. This was followed in 1856 by his Commentary to the Colossians; in 1859 by his Commentary to the Phillipians; and in 1869 by his Commentary to the Galatians. Upon these Commentaries, and upon his popular handbooks to sacred literature, namely, his Cruden"s Concordance, his Biblical Cyclopaedia, and his Ecclesiastical Cyclopaedia--Dr. Eadie"s well-earned fame as a biblical scholar and author will securely last for generations. Next to the profound knowledge displayed in his works, we are struck with Dr.
Eadie"s surpa.s.sing fertility as a writer. Very few men, indeed, have published so many works within so short a compa.s.s of time; and it is a marked characteristic of all books bearing his sign-manual, that they are masterly both in style and in matter, that they have been well and carefully thought out, and that they display great learning and extraordinary research. We must not forget that while thus copiously contributing to ecclesiastical literature, Dr. Eadie gave unremitting attention to his pulpit duties. He never had a coadjutor or a.s.sistant, and he has occupied his own and other pulpits every Sunday since the date of his ordination. And even the long list we have enumerated does not complete Dr. Eadie"s literary efforts, for we find him contributing now to Dr. Kitto"s and Princ.i.p.al Fairbairn"s Biblical Cyclopaedia (published by Blackie, Glasgow), then to the "North British Review," and again to the "Journal of Sacred Literature." Several of his works are now out of print, but all of them are of untold value in their way, and are highly esteemed by those best qualified to form a just estimate of their merits. Dr. Eadie is a member of the Committee for the Revision of the New Testament; a post which he holds conjointly with Professor Brown and Professor Milligan, of Aberdeen, the only other Presbyterian members of the New Testament Revision Committee who belong to Scotland. The Committee, we may here explain, commenced its sittings in June of 1870.
Once a month it is accustomed to meet in the Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster Abbey--a room fraught with the most interesting historical recollections, for it was here that the Commissioners met who drew up the Scottish Confession of Faith, and here also the Lower House of Convocation is accustomed to hold its sittings. After deliberating for two years, the Committee have only as yet reached the end of Saint Luke"s Gospel. The labour inc.u.mbent upon the Committee may be estimated to some extent by the fact that for four days in every month it sits, without any interval, from eleven o"clock forenoon till six o"clock in the evening.
Dr. Eadie"s literary and scientific attainments have been recognised and rewarded by the degree of LL.D. from Glasgow University, while the University of St. Andrews has conferred upon him the degree of D.D. He is a member of several learned bodies, and is also chaplain of the 19th Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers.
MR. DANIEL MACNEE, R.S.A.
Among Scotch artists Mr. Daniel Macnee occupies a conspicuous place, while in Glasgow, his adopted city, he stands at the head of his profession. Born in Fintry, in Stirlingshire, he was destined originally for mercantile pursuits, but from an early age he showed an unmistakeable bent for the profession of an artist, and even while at school receiving the rudiments of his education, he used to while away his leisure hours by drawing different subjects, especially portraits, for which he showed a considerable apt.i.tude. About 1820 he was apprenticed to Mr. John Knox, a teacher of drawing, in Glasgow, who was celebrated as a landscape painter, and than whom no one was ever better qualified to teach the principles and practice of art. a.s.sociated with Mr. Macnee at this time were Mr. Horatio M"Culloch and other young men who subsequently became artists of eminence, and the lessons imparted by Mr. Knox laid the foundations of the correct taste and careful attention to detail which distinguished all of his more ill.u.s.trious pupils. After attending Mr. Knox"s cla.s.ses for a period of four years, Mr. Macnee proceeded to Edinburgh and entered himself as a pupil under Sir William Allan, who was at that time head of an inst.i.tution termed the Honourable Board of Trustees for Manufactures in Scotland, which was established in terms of an Act of Parliament pa.s.sed at the time of the Union, towards "encouraging and promoting the fisheries and such other manufactures and improvements in Scotland as may conduce to the general good of the United Kingdom." The funds set apart for the maintainance of this Inst.i.tution amounted to 2000 a year, and in carrying out the purposes of the Act, the Trustees, originally twenty-one in number, offered premiums for the best designs or drawings of patterns for the improvement of manufactures. In 1760 a master was permanently appointed to instruct the youth of both s.e.xes in drawing, thus laying the foundation of the School of Design, which existed and prospered under the management of the Board for more than a century afterwards. The main reason for the establishment of this Board was a fear on the part of the promoters that by the Act of Union the manufactures and arts of Scotland would be transferred to England, and thus be prejudiced to a very considerable extent. Sir William Allan was an artist of great power and varied experience. Mr. Thomas Duncan, who afterwards became an a.s.sociate of the Royal Academy, and produced a number of high-cla.s.s pictures, with which all lovers of art are familiar, was one of Sir W. Allan"s pupils, contemporaneously with Mr. Macnee, and from this coincidence, a friendship, which was life-long and intimate, sprang up between them, but it was unhappily severed by the early death of Duncan. Sir David Wilkie, Sir William Allan, Sir John Watson Gordon, Burnet, the engraver and painter, Lizars, the Lauders, the Faeds, and other painters of note, were students in the Trustees" Academy. It may be remarked in pa.s.sing, that this Board is still in existence, but instead of being controlled, as originally intended, by a certain number of trustees, it is under the management of the Department of Science and Arts at South Kensington.
Mr. Macnee"s studies at this time were various, but they princ.i.p.ally took the shape of drawings from the antique statues. When he first went to Edinburgh, Mr. Macnee became connected with Mr. Lizars, the eminent engraver, by whom he was employed in executing anatomical drawings, colouring engravings, and other cognate works, which greatly tended to amplify his experience, and through Mr. Lizars he obtained numerous commissions from lithographers in Edinburgh, which brought him in emoluments of considerable value. Having completed his studies under Sir W. Allan, Mr. Macnee set up in Edinburgh as a professional artist on his own account, and for several years he continued to paint portraits and finished sketches from ordinary life. He returned to Glasgow in the year 1832, since which he has resided, except at rare intervals, in the Metropolis of the West. For a number of years subsequent to his taking up his residence here, he was largely employed in executing crayon portraits, and he was a large exhibitor at most of the Art Exhibitions in Edinburgh, London, Glasgow, and elsewhere. Indeed, it is perhaps not too much to say that Mr. Macnee has exhibited more pictures in the Royal Scottish Academy than any other living artist.
The first pictures exhibited by Mr. Macnee in the Royal Academy of London were portraits of Sir Charles, afterwards Lord Hardinge, and General Messurier, hereditary Governor of Guernsey. The latter picture was executed for the States" Hall, in Guernsey, where it is still exhibited. In 1855 he showed a portrait of Dr. Wardlaw in the French Exhibition at Paris, and for which he was awarded a gold medal, being one of three medals that were then secured by Scotch artists. The other two fell to Sir John Watson Gordon, and Mr. Hamilton, the architect of the High School of Edinburgh, respectively. Among other notable pictures executed by Mr. Macnee we may mention his portrait of Lord Brougham, which is now in the Parliament House, Edinburgh, and for which his lordship sat only a few years before his death. Before being hung in the Parliament House, this picture was exhibited in the Royal Academy of London, and attracted a considerable amount of attention. A portrait of Viscount Lord Melville, which he executed for the Archers" Hall, and another picture of Lord Belhaven, painted for the County Hall, in Lanark, are also considered two of his most excellent works. Since the death of Mr. Graham Gilbert, Mr. Macnee has been without a rival in the West of Scotland, and there are not more than one or two artists in Edinburgh who have any pretensions to compete with him as a portrait painter. In the painting of presentation portraits, Mr. Macnee"s services are largely called into requisition, both in London, where he has been accustomed to spend three months during each summer for a number of years past, and in the West of Scotland. Among his earliest and most attached friends were Horatio M"Culloch, and Mr. L. Leitch, also a Glasgow artist, and, perhaps, the most accomplished water-colour painter of the day. It was Mr. Leitch who instructed Her Majesty in this department of art, and he has been largely employed by the n.o.bility both of Scotland and of England, in imparting instruction in this study.
The Royal Scottish Academy, of which Mr. Daniel Macnee has for many years been a prominent member, was established forty-five years ago.
Previous to that date an organisation, named the "Inst.i.tution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts," founded on the 1st of February, 1819, on the principle of the British Inst.i.tution of London, was carried on for the purpose of having annual exhibitions of pictures by the old masters, as well as the works of living artists. This a.s.sociation consisted of n.o.blemen and gentlemen, who, by the payment of 50, became shareholders or life members. By its const.i.tution "no artist was capable of being elected on any committee, or of voting as a governor, while he continued a professional artist." This and the superscilious treatment which they received in other respects caused great discontent among the artists who were a.s.sociate members. In the nature of things such a disagreeable relationship could not last, and, consequently, in the year 1826, several of the a.s.sociates, disgusted with the treatment to which they were subjected, commenced making arrangements to found a Scottish Academy. A doc.u.ment was handed round containing the proposal to found this Academy, which, when published, had twenty-four names attached to it, viz., thirteen academicians, nine a.s.sociates, and two a.s.sociate engravers, the original number of the Academy"s members. Mr. Macnee was not one of the original promoters of the Academy but some of his works were shown at their first exhibition, which took place in February, 1827. This opening exhibition was not so successful as might have been expected. The Academy had to compete with the Royal Inst.i.tution already alluded to, which had many things in its favour, and was backed by the influence of a large number of the n.o.bility, from the King downwards.
The second exhibition, however, was more successful, and for the third exhibition such energetic efforts were put forth that the Royal Inst.i.tution was fairly driven from the field. Ultimately, under the award of Lord c.o.c.kburn and Mr. John Hope, afterwards Lord Justice-Clerk, the two inst.i.tutions amalgamated under the name of the Royal Scottish Academy. It is one of the standing rules of the Academy that the members shall not number more than thirty-nine, and those artists who are ultimately admitted to membership are obliged to graduate as a.s.sociates for some time previously. Mr. Daniel Macnee and his friend Duncan were exceptions to this rule. They were admitted at once as full members without any previous a.s.sociation, an honour which was due to the great promise they exhibited in their earlier career, and which both have amply fulfilled in their maturer years. There are thirty members and twenty a.s.sociates of the Royal Scottish Academy.
Having said so much as to Mr. Macnee"s professional career and abilities, it would be doing him scant justice were we not to allude to his excellent social qualities. Full of animal spirits and humour, he is one of the favoured few who have been described by De Quincey as drawing the double prize of a fine intellect and a healthy stomach, and having none of what Burke has called "the master vice Sloth" about him, he gets through an enormous amount of work, while he cultivates the social amenities of life to the fullest possible extent. "Dan" Macnee is a universal favourite. No dinner party in the upper circles of Glasgow society is fully complete without him; and no one ever met him for the first time without forming the impression that he was a "jolly good fellow"--an impression which is strengthened by a more matured acquaintance. He is one of the most amiable of men, having a benignant smile and a kindly word for everybody, and many of the most entertaining post-prandial jokes and stories are fathered upon him, sometimes justly and at other times wrongly, simply because he is known by all diners-out to excel in this form of entertainment. In short, Mr.
Macnee is exactly what Carlyle described Sir William Hamilton to be, "finely social and human," and wherever he may chance to meet with company he leaves behind him a pleasant memory.