Annals of the Disruption P.459
It is difficult for the younger generation to understand
what the Free Church of 1843 owed to that noble band of influential laymen who
stood forward in her support, and to whom we have already referred. Nowhere was
the revival of evangelical religion more marked than among the upper circles of
Edinburgh society. Dr. Erskine, Sir H. Moncreiff, and Dr. Jones had done much
during the former generation, but it was when Dr. Andrew Thomson
appeared in St. George’s and was joined by Dr. Gordon and other men of
similar power in the Edinburgh pulpits, and by Dr. Chalmers and Dr. Welsh in
the Professors’ chairs, that the array of intellect and genius on the side
of Gospel truth made its influence felt through all classes of the community.
The general feeling changed. A series of sermons by Dr. Thomson on the
evils of the stage had such effect that the Edinburgh theatre was almost
deserted. Many of the leading lawyers, physicians, bankers, and merchants were
earnest Christian men, keeping up family worship regularly in their houses, and
devoting themselves to Christian work in the different congregations with which
they were connected. This was the class who instinctively, in the great
majority of cases, rallied round the Free Church in her contendings.
What
admirable men these Edinburgh laymen were as a class, all Scotland knew.
Annals of the Disruption 1843
By Revd.
Thos. Brown D.D.
