The Scottish Philosophy [238]
for the wants of the poor by a voluntary relief which did not interfere with their spirit of independence. The whole system bulked in magnificent proportions before his splendid imagination. No doubt he saw that the church was not realizing this pattern: he knew that there were ministers around him who were not fulfilling these high ends. But then the church, by the exercise of the high prerogatives given it by Christ, could restrain the evils of patronage, and carry out thoroughly the original design of the Church of Scotland. He did not foresee the difficulties he would have to meet in carrying out his grand ideal,-difficulties arising from the State, which did not wish too zealous and too powerful a Church, and on the part of the people, who were jealous of too strong an ecclesiastical organization.
He was called to Glasgow in 1815, and there labored with all his might to put his idea in execution, first in the Tron Church and then in St. John's Church, -- built expressly for him. He preached as no man in Glasgow had ever preached before. He visited from house to house, and thus became aware of, and hastened to proclaim to all men, the awfully degraded condition to which Glasgow, and, as was soon discovered by others, to which all the great cities in Scotland and England had been reduced. The world, as well it might, was startled and awed by the scene disclosed. The philosophers had made no inquiry into the subject, and had no remedy for the evil. The refined city ministers were satisfied with preaching well-composed sermons, moral or evangelical, to the better classes. The dissenters ministered zealously to their own select congregations, but were not able for the Herculean task of cleansing the impurity which had been accumulating for ages. But the evils must be remedied. So he set about erecting chapels, and {397} called on the paternal government to endow them. But he met with opposition from statesmen not willing to tax the community for the benefit of one sect, and from dissenters who believed that their own method of spreading the gospel was the better. The voluntary question was started, and he threw himself into the fight, and defended religious establishments on the ground that man, being carnal, would not seek for spiritual things, which could not, therefore, be left to the ordinary political principle of demand and supply, -- thereby, as some of us think, overlooking the power in the living converted members of the church, who are more likely than the State to supply what is wanted to the careless and the outcast. He certainly did not estimate, as he ought to have done, the enmity of the world toward the church,-an enmity which met him at every point. But he persevered manfully, never losing sight of his grand aim. His course may seem an inconsistent one to a superficial observer; but there was a unity given to it by the end which he pursued as steadfastly as the sun moves in the heavens above the winds and clouds of the earth. He must have the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ preached to every creature, and he supported the Established Church as fitted to accomplish this end, at the same time holding resolutely by the spiritual independence of the church as given it by Christ, and as necessary to enable it to fulfil its grand ends. And when he found that the church he so loved was interfered with in carrying out its designs, he went on bravely to the disruption of 1843, and amidst convulsions led on an exodus towards a land which he saw before him, but into which he could scarcely be said to enter. Ere he departed in 1847, he had by his wisdom established a sustentation fund for the benefit of the ministers of religion, which he hoped would secure the stability and other benefits of an established church without its temptations. He lived to see churches multiplied by means of the secession far beyond his most sanguine expectations; but he did not live to see such a union among churches as is fitted to secure the grind end which he kept ever before him, -- the spread of the gospel in all the destitute
He was called to Glasgow in 1815, and there labored with all his might to put his idea in execution, first in the Tron Church and then in St. John's Church, -- built expressly for him. He preached as no man in Glasgow had ever preached before. He visited from house to house, and thus became aware of, and hastened to proclaim to all men, the awfully degraded condition to which Glasgow, and, as was soon discovered by others, to which all the great cities in Scotland and England had been reduced. The world, as well it might, was startled and awed by the scene disclosed. The philosophers had made no inquiry into the subject, and had no remedy for the evil. The refined city ministers were satisfied with preaching well-composed sermons, moral or evangelical, to the better classes. The dissenters ministered zealously to their own select congregations, but were not able for the Herculean task of cleansing the impurity which had been accumulating for ages. But the evils must be remedied. So he set about erecting chapels, and {397} called on the paternal government to endow them. But he met with opposition from statesmen not willing to tax the community for the benefit of one sect, and from dissenters who believed that their own method of spreading the gospel was the better. The voluntary question was started, and he threw himself into the fight, and defended religious establishments on the ground that man, being carnal, would not seek for spiritual things, which could not, therefore, be left to the ordinary political principle of demand and supply, -- thereby, as some of us think, overlooking the power in the living converted members of the church, who are more likely than the State to supply what is wanted to the careless and the outcast. He certainly did not estimate, as he ought to have done, the enmity of the world toward the church,-an enmity which met him at every point. But he persevered manfully, never losing sight of his grand aim. His course may seem an inconsistent one to a superficial observer; but there was a unity given to it by the end which he pursued as steadfastly as the sun moves in the heavens above the winds and clouds of the earth. He must have the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ preached to every creature, and he supported the Established Church as fitted to accomplish this end, at the same time holding resolutely by the spiritual independence of the church as given it by Christ, and as necessary to enable it to fulfil its grand ends. And when he found that the church he so loved was interfered with in carrying out its designs, he went on bravely to the disruption of 1843, and amidst convulsions led on an exodus towards a land which he saw before him, but into which he could scarcely be said to enter. Ere he departed in 1847, he had by his wisdom established a sustentation fund for the benefit of the ministers of religion, which he hoped would secure the stability and other benefits of an established church without its temptations. He lived to see churches multiplied by means of the secession far beyond his most sanguine expectations; but he did not live to see such a union among churches as is fitted to secure the grind end which he kept ever before him, -- the spread of the gospel in all the destitute