Who Was William Arnot? The Gardener Who Became a Great Preacher
William Arnot was a Scottish preacher who lived from 1808 to 1875. He grew up on a farm, worked as a gardener until he was about twenty, and then trained for the ministry. He served for twenty-five years at St. Peter's in Glasgow and then for twelve years at the Free High Church in Edinburgh. His sermons were known for their vivid pictures from nature, trade and everyday life, and his books on the parables of Jesus and on the book of Proverbs were read across Britain and America.
Here's the story of his life, what made his preaching memorable, and which of his books to read first.
A farm boy in Perthshire
Arnot was born on November 6, 1808, on a farm in the parish of Forgandenny in Perthshire, Scotland. He was the youngest of seven children, and his mother died when he was born. He went to the local parish school, and then, instead of going on to study, he was trained as a gardener under his older brother. For several years in his late teens he earned his living working in gardens.
It's easy to hear the gardener in his sermons. He talks about seeds and roots, grafts and branches, soil and weather, and he knows what he's talking about. One of his books of sermons is called Roots and Fruits of the Christian Life.
Student and young minister
Around the age of twenty Arnot set his heart on the ministry. He studied privately for a time and in 1829 entered the University of Glasgow. Among his classmates was James Hamilton, who became his closest friend and later wrote the much-loved Life in Earnest. The two men stayed friends for life, and after Hamilton's death Arnot wrote his biography.
The Church of Scotland licensed Arnot to preach in 1837, and he served for a short time as assistant to John Bonar at Larbert. In 1838 he was ordained minister of St. Peter's in Glasgow, one of the new churches built under Thomas Chalmers's plan to plant churches in the crowded parts of Scottish cities.
The Disruption
In 1843 the Church of Scotland split in what's called the Disruption. Several hundred ministers left the established church over the right of congregations to choose their own ministers without interference from patrons and the courts, and they formed the Free Church of Scotland. Arnot went with them, and most of his congregation went with him. They built a new church, Free St. Peter's, and he stayed with them for another twenty years.
In 1844 he married Jane Fleming. They had several children, and one of his daughters later wrote a memoir of him to go with his autobiography.
Edinburgh and beyond
In 1863 Arnot moved to Edinburgh to become minister of the Free High Church, which met in the hall of New College, the Free Church's school for training ministers. From 1871 he also edited The Family Treasury, a popular Christian monthly.
He was well known in North America. He visited Canada in 1845, and in 1870 the Free Church sent him to the United States to greet the Presbyterian churches of the North when they reunited. He went back in 1873 for a meeting of the Evangelical Alliance in New York. He was warmly received, in part because he had stood with the North and against slavery. Universities offered him honorary degrees, and he turned them down.
He died at his home in Edinburgh on June 3, 1875, after six months of illness. He was sixty-six.
How he preached
Arnot's gift was to take a picture from ordinary life and turn it toward the gospel. His sermon "The Anchor of the Soul," on Hebrews 6, starts with a ship riding at anchor off a dangerous shore in a storm. Then he says:
The soul is tossed by many temptations; but the anchor of the soul is sure and steadfast within the veil.
The Anchor of the Soul and Other Sermons, The Anchor of the Soul
He liked short, balanced sentences that stick in the mind. On sin he could say:
As there is no sin so great that the blood of Christ cannot blot it out, so there is no sin so small that it cannot destroy a soul.
The Parables of Our Lord, The Mustard Seed
And on the work of the Holy Spirit in showing us Christ:
I do not need any ministry to make Jesus more lovely; but I do need a ministry to make me love Jesus.
The Anchor of the Soul and Other Sermons, He Shall Glorify Me
He preached to a commercial city, and he wasn't shy about money, trade and drink. His book on Proverbs has chapters with titles like "Filthy Lucre," "Capital and Profit" and "The Deceitfulness of Strong Drink." But he always came back to Christ. He read the wisdom of Proverbs as pointing to Christ, the wisdom of God:
We could not make our own way back to God, but he has come to us.
Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, chapter 60
His books
Arnot published sermons, short books for working men and young people, and lives of two friends, James Halley and James Hamilton. His best-known works are The Parables of Our Lord, a full exposition of about thirty parables, and Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, short chapters on the book of Proverbs. He also wrote a study of the book of Acts called The Church in the House. After his death his autobiography was published with a memoir by his daughter.
Why he's still read
Preachers have kept Arnot's Parables on their shelves for a century and a half because he explains each story plainly and then presses it on the conscience. Ordinary readers enjoy him because he's never dull. He writes like a man who has worked with his hands, and he loves the gospel of grace.
The salvation of a soul depends not on frightened earnestness in the moment of departure, but on faith's calm closing with Christ, before the moment of departure comes.
The Parables of Our Lord, The Ten Virgins
Where to start
TheWay Library has eight of his books, all free to read.
- Start with The Parables of Our Lord. Read one parable at a time.
- For a book you can dip into daily, try Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, on Proverbs.
- For a walk through Acts a lesson at a time, read The Church in the House.
- For what the Bible says about money and business, read The Race for Riches.
- For sermons, read The Anchor of the Soul or Roots and Fruits of the Christian Life.
- For the life of his friend, read Life of James Hamilton. Our article on who was James Hamilton tells that story in short. His earlier Memoir of the Late James Halley remembers a student friend who died young.
Our guide to William Arnot's books describes each one, and our collection of William Arnot quotes gathers his best lines. All his books are on the William Arnot author page.