Testimonial to Thomas Guthrie
The following two passages are from
"Chapters From The History of the Free Church of Scotland"
by Norman
L.Walker D.D. and published by Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier 1895.
THE FIRST FREE CHURCH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
But perhaps no
deputation was regarded with so much interest as that which came to carry the
greetings of the Synod of United Original Seceders. Their presence gave a
special historical significance to the events which were then occurring. A
century before, the Erskines had seceded, not, as they themselves testified,
from the Church of Scotland, but only from what was then the prevailing party
in that Church; and now the Free Churchmen of 1848 had the gratification of
hearing, from one of the ablest descendants of the Erskines, the following
remarkable tribute to the position which they had been led in Providence to
occupy.
"I recognise in you," said Mr. White of Haddington, "not the
prevailing party from which our fathers seceded, but that free, faithful, and
reforming General Assembly to which they appealed." The testimony was felt to
be a peculiarly interesting one; and the speech of Dr. Guthrie, in proposing a
vote of thanks to the deputation, glistened with a genial and joyful wit from
beginning to end, and while it was followed throughout with cheers and
laughter, it closed - as the report tells us - amid "tremendous applause."
RECONSTRUCTING THE FRAME WORK
A college for the training of young men
for the ministry was of course also from the first regarded as a necessity, and
a house in George Street, Edinburgh, was bought, in which the work was begun.
But the rearing of a suitable building for the classes was not lost sight of
for a moment; and at the Assembly of 1845 it was reported that, besides a large
sum which Mr. Macdonald had promised to raise, £21,000 had been
subscribed for the purpose by twenty individuals, - one of the twenty
undertaking for £2000 instead of £1000.
But another work
needed to be done. It is highly creditable to the ministers of the Disruption
age, that they showed themselves so willing to postpone the consideration of
their own wants to the more urgent public claims of the Church. Many of them
endured almost intolerable hardships when driven out of their manses in 1843.
In many cases no suitable dwelling-houses could be found in the parishes where
they laboured, and it was the commonest thing possible for men to send away
their families to towns at a distance, while they themselves found
accommodation of the poorest kind in the cottages of their neighbourhood. This
state of matters could not be suffered long to continue, and in the Assembly of
1844 an outcry arose against it from among the laity. A Committee was then
appointed, and some subscriptions came in. But the movement was then regarded
as premature, and no general effort was made till 1845, when, at the
suggestion, it is believed, of Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Guthrie was invited to
undertake the task of raising £100,000 for manse-building alone.
No man then living was better fitted to undertake this business.
Born
in 1803 at Brechin, and educated there and (for a short time) at Dun, he was
sent to the University of Edinburgh when he was twelve years of age, and was
licensed to preach in 1825. His father had political influence enough to secure
for him very soon afterwards the presentation to an important charge, but one
of the conditions on which it was offered to him was that he should ally
himself to the Moderate party. That condition he refused to accept, and he
remained a probationer for five years. In 1830, however, he was settled at
Arbirlot, and there he remained till 1837, when he was translated to Edinburgh
to become the colleague of Mr. Sym in the Old Greyfriars. Here his home
missionary predilections found scope so far, inasmuch as he and his colleague
held a service each every Sabbath in the Cowgate; but in coming to Edinburgh he
had always contemplated devoting himself to work a district on the territorial
plan, and when the new Church of St. John's was completed, it was with great
satisfaction that he undertook to become its first minister. The church filled
almost immediately, and here and in the new Church of Free St. John's, which
was built for him after the Disruption, Dr.
Guthrie maintained for many years the position of the most popular preacher
in the city. Brought up an Evangelical, he fought, both at Arbirlot and
Edinburgh, in the Conflict for the Church and the people, and when the crisis
of 1843 arrived, he was one of the band of distinguished men who, without
hesitation, withdrew from the Establishment. Alike in the pulpit and on the
platform he showed that he possessed the power of moving whatever audience he
addressed.
Especially he had the gift of touching men so that they broke
into laughter or melted into tears. And when it was known that he had
undertaken to raise a fund for the erection of manses, the general feeling was
that the work was virtually done. Nor were those who cherished this hope doomed
to be disappointed. Dr. Guthrie set out on the great enterprise on the 9th of
July, and, six weeks later, he was able to tell the Assembly at Inverness that
he had raised £35,000 of the whole amount in Glasgow and its
neighbourhood alone. Not only so. When the Assembly of 1846 came round, he had
the satisfaction of reporting that the whole and more had been promised ,- the
entire sum subscribed (including £5000 from Lord Breadalbane) being
£116.3 70.