1846–1849

Upox his return to London late in 1846, with his health in good measure restored, Mr, Hamilton began his ministry with renewed earnestness. During his enforced silence he had considered deeply what he ought to say if his lips should again be opened. At once he began to execute his long-cherished plan of giving some lectures on the evidences of revealed religion at the ordinary hour of public worship on the Lord’s day. In his own judgment this was a service which the Lord required of him, and he loyally rendered it, in spite of formidable difficulties that crossed his path. In simplicity of heart, and with a far-reaching purpose, he adopted and prosecuted this method as the best contribution it was in his power to make for the cause of the Gospel There is no question at all regarding the purity of his aim and the singleness of his eye in the whole transaction; but there may be room for doubt as to the soundness of his judgment, in as far as, while able for only one discourse each Sabbath, he substituted for a time an argument on the evidences for the preaching of the Gospel in the ordinary way.

“London, Dec. 16, 1846.

“My deae William, — ... Though I preach only once each Sabbath, yet a short course on the evidences gives occasion for abundance of reading, and perhaps more care - ful composition, than ordinary lectures. I have delivered six of the nine which I originally projected, and every Sabbath that passes and adds one to the series, I feel so thankful. I hope that if completed they will do a considerable amount of good. I have frequently noticed particular hearers much impressed. It is only in places like this that such a course is likely to be useful, or indeed would be justifiable. I have enjoyed ’ strong consolation’ in my own soul while surveying the immoveable foundations of the faith, and have been much affected by the kind providence of God in preserving the evidence so abundant and entire.”

At a meeting held on 19th January 1847, the first full and regular report of the congregation’s work was submitted. It is an able, comprehensive, and instructive document.-’ Indeed it approaches the character of a treatise on educational and evangehstic effort. It contains a sketch of what had been done or attempted during the two preceding years, and submits bold yet wise schemes for the future. Although not much is said of the minister’s own department, the report bears evidence that his spirit is felt in the centre of operations, and that he has already gathered around himseK a body of intelligent and energetic Christian philanthropists.

Besides notices of the mission begun in Corfu, and the

1 Drawn up by Dr. A. P. Stewart, a fellow-stiTdent formerly at Glasgow, and at that time one of the deacons of Regent Square.

mission meditated in China, it goes fully and heartily into the problem regarding the degraded condition of the masses in various districts of the city of London. In certain districts contiguous to Regent Square the visitors discover a population of more than ten thousand, sunk in poverty and ignorance and vice. Schools on Sabbath and on week-days are forthwith planted, humble at first, but rapidly advancing both in bulk and efficiency. Missionaries are engaged, and paid to devote their whole strength to the locality, and many, both of men and women, contribute their own personal exertions. Eed tape is finally thrown away, and a raid is made upon the bush, and the wild things that find cover there, without counting cost or keeping by the tracks of former operators. A lady, finding that to teach city Arabs for an hour on Sunday makes little impression on their life, obtains a room and teaches them herseK on the week-days also. The missionary, finding no opening in the morning to the busy adults, fills up the time by collecting a class of children who are employed later in the day, and teaching them to read between the hours of nine and eleven. One of his hopeful scholars is a little girl, whose brother is a blind fiddler. He needs her to lead him through the streets, but as he does not commence the labours of his calling till near noon, the missionary is welcome to teach her the way of life at a time when no other use can be made of her.

Tor some years at that period their lay missionary, Mr. Sinclair, in a simple but wise and inventive way, rendered effective service on that difficult field.

304 YOUNG men’s association.

We learn incidentally that after Mr. Hamilton’s settlement a great increase took place in the number of the Sabbath- school teachers; and, as encouragement to attendance at certain monthly meetings, it is intimated that “Mr. Hamilton will deliver a missionary address;” but instead of doing, or seeming to do, all himself, the comparative silence regarding his work maintained in the report accords to him the greater praise of inducing many to consecrate their talents in concert to the work of the Lord.

Among other departments of the congregation’s wide-spread agency, the Young Men’s Association is specially mentioned. It was first constituted on 2 2d September 1841, and the date of its birth reveals the influence with which it originated. This association has continued in vigour till this day, and has exercised a beneficent influence on a generation.. Affectionate reference is made to members who even at that early stage had left the city for other spheres of duty, and specifically to Mr. Alexander Swan, one of their number, who had lately settled at Folkestone, as superintendent of the engineering works of the Continental Steam-Packet Company, and whose influence had already been successfully employed in diminishing the amount of Sabbath labour in the affairs of a great mercantile copartnery.

From this time forward a full report of congregational work was prepared and printed annually. The series amounts now to two goodly volumes, and constitutes a noble monument of intelligent, energetic, and patient Christian work for the age and for its great metropolis.

“7 Lansdowne Place, Jan. 25, 1847.

“My dilvr MAM^LA., — ... This last week I heard of six instances of good done by the Lectures on the Evidences.”...

About this time he manifested an unwonted tendency to defend his own course as to the character of the lectures which he addressed to the congi-egation on the Lord’s day. It may be frankly confessed that he was thrown into an attitude of defence by adverse judgments which reached him from many quarters. Among others, the late eminently amiable and pious Duchess of Gordon pronounced rigorously against him. Having come to Regent Square one Sabbath, according to her wont when in London, she was shocked to find that the time was occupied with criticism of ancient manuscripts and quotations from the early fathers, instead of the usual proclamation of mercy to sinners through the blood of Christ. Her opinion was conveyed to the minister, whether by letter or through the report of a third party, I do not remember. Without abandoning his own judgment, he was always ready to explain the grounds on which it rested. Accordingly he addressed a letter to the Duchess, containing a full exposition of his views. He showed that he remained of the same mind as formerly regarding the one way of salvation, and that, in the course to which she objected, he was, according to his best judgment, becoming all things to all men that he might gain some. His remark to a friend afterwards was, “The good Duchess never answered me, and the good Duchess never returned to Regent Square.”

It was a case in which persons equally sound in the faith, but providentially led by different paths, and looking on the world from different view-points, formed diverse conclusions regarding the expediency of a specific course, and of its fitness to promote the kingdom of Christ. For our own part, we love the Duchess none the less, that, having no need of more argument for the confirmation of her faith, she was unwilling to spend even one Sabbath in listening to the reasonings which might convince the gainsayer; but, on the other hand, we the more regard James Hamilton as an able minister of the New Testament, that, knowing the stability which a consideration of the evidences imparted to his own mind, he sympathized with honest doubts and grieved over flippant unbelief, and so dared, contrary to the usual routine, to meet the wants of a class in London whose souls were precious, and were in special danger of being led astray.

The result was, as might indeed have been predicted from the nature of the case, that he received more of articulate and emphatic approval, and also more of articulate and emphatic condemnation, of this course of lectures, than of any other course in the exercise of his ministry,

“7 Lansdowne Place, April 2, 1847.” My dear William, — ... This is Good Friday, a nice, quiet day for study. No visitors. The town quiet, like the country. Nothing open except Episcopal churches, bakers’ shops and fishmongers’ — the latter for the sale of hot- cross buns and salt fish, all three, churches, buns, and fish, being alike means of grace in the eyes of many people

CAMOENS” LUSIAD. 307

here. I have read a good piece of Simeon’s Life. At Dr. Hanna’s request, I think I shall make it the foundation of a paper for the North British. It is very delightful to go back to those fresh days and fervent spirits. — Your ever affectionate brother, James Hamilton.”

The paper on “Simeon and his Predecessors,” or rather, as it might with greater accuracy have been designated, “His Predecessors and Simeon,” appeared in due time in the North British Review. It is one of the freshest and most vigorous of his essays, — a prose poem on a great spiritual struggle and revival It is reprinted in vol. iv. of his collected works.

“LoNDOK, April 26, 1847.

“My dear Andbew, — ... Our Synod met on Tuesday. Amot was unanimously chosen Professor of Divinity. I do not know whether he will accept. Wm. C. Burns was present, declared his willingness to go to China, and when asked when he would be ready, answered, ‘To-morrow. I have all my things with me, and would rather go at once.’ Accordingly he was, after the precedent of Acts xiii., set apart to the work on the morrow, and proceeded to London, where he is now.

“A new edition of Camoens’ Lusiad (Portuguese), noticed in last Athenceum, brought twenty years ago to remembrance. I read it then in a huge quarto translation, and remember nothing but one thing, a voyage. Indeed, a very slight effort of fancy will transform that Eussialeather quarto any day into an old-fashioned galley with every sail spread, heaving slowly along over a surging sea.

However, it is something if one get a single idea from each book one reads, or each town one visits. From Sunderland I carried nothing away but its lofty bridge of iron, with the ships far below it. Were Turner standing on that bridge some evening, and letting his eyes dazzle into luxurious indistinctness, he might make of the long lines of craft, and the forest of masts seen from above, and the rippled water, one of those mysterious and unfathomable pictures which you never can make out entirely, and are compelled to look at notwithstanding. The best of Wordsworth’s poetry seems to me analogous to Turner’s painting.”

The appointment of Mr. William Burns as the Synod’s Missionary to China was a great event, and would appear great if we could see it from the other side. As a fellow-student, I am in a position to bear witness that he possessed a strong, manly intellect, and had acquired stores of exact learning. But these and all other things were in his case so completely subordinated to his zeal for Christ’s kingdom in the world, that they were not permitted to appear. Not more than two or three, if any, missionaries in modern times have equalled him in elevation above the earth, and absolute devotion to the risen Redeemer’s wish and will. The Spirit dwelt in William Burns with a sort of Pentecostal power, carrying him away as by a rushing, mighty wind. Only the day shall declare his work; for, of all missionaries, he was the most reticent. In China, long before the country was opened by treaty, he deliberately abandoned his base on the sea ‘* QUITTING THE MANSE.” 309

and plunged alone into the heart of the country, dressing, and eating, and speaking like the natives, that he might win them to Christ. “We shall hear of this mission from time to time, aa our narrative proceeds. Mr. Hamilton had charge of it, as convener of committee, from its commencement till the period of his own death.

“7 Lansdowne Place, May 14, 1847. “My dear LIamma, — If not to-morrow, at least on Monday, we hope to hear of your safe arrival. “We both miss you very much. The house is not the same without you, and people pity two helpless young creatures like us left to ourselves. On Wednesday we went to the Royal Academy Exhibition to console ourselves. There is a capital picture there by Harvey of Edinburgh, —” Quitting the Manse.” We recognised a good many likenesses, — Mr. Bruce, Fox Maule, Campbell of Monzie, etc. This morning I breakfasted with Dr. Chalmers. Isaac Taylor, Morell, your metaphysical acquaintance, and Baptist Noel were there. By the days of the week it is twenty years since the Doctor opened Regent Square (Friday, May 11, 1827), so the talk was mostly about E. Irving. Mr. Taylor’s view of his character was very just, and many interesting things were said and told. — Ever your affectionate son, James Hamilton.”

TO ME. ARNOT.

“My dear Friend, — Very possibly it may end in my coming to Glasgow after all; but there are some reasons why I would prefer remaining here, e.g., the expense, my lothness to leave home after repeated and lengthened absenteeism, my having promised an article to the North British, which, in that event, I could not write. Nor do I really think it will be needful. Surely when you get to a standing-point high enough, and see the vastness of this opportunity, you will make up your mind so resolutely that no urgency will be able to detain you. Here it is. A vitalized Presbyterianism might, under God, be the present salvation of England. I have no security about the English Establishment. If things go on as at present, in twenty years its rulers will not endure sound doctrine. There will be no place found for Evangelism within its pale.... There is a very considerable craving for Eree Church preaching, a craving which a little more strength in our Church, and a little less stiffness in our ministers, might convert into a perfect rage. But the power of our Church, both to create and meet this demand, resides in the college. I only repeat that it is a vitalized Presbyterianism, sound doctrine in warm English hearts, and from fluent English lips, guided by Scottish sense, and systematically propagated by Presbyterian organization, which promises, in the hand of the quickening Spirit, to retrieve the interests of Evangelical piety in England.

“Now, my dear Arnot, you have open eyes, and a fresh and active mind, and power of adapting to circumstances. If you were here, you would soon see how the land lies, and what the present exigencies of this England are, and you would train and instruct our students accordingly. ...

“I know that you will not found a new school in theology, but I believe that you will put new life in the old one. And I firmly believe, if you come here in high heart and hope, and with a two years’ stock of patience, that you will be blessed by God to render a most signal service to the Christianity of this empire.

“Send me a line, and if your path is not plain I will try to come down; but oh! how thankful I would be to hear that your doubts were ended.”

“Maij 26th.

“I wish you could have considered this question in the dispassionate atmosphere of London, or at all events on the neutral territory of the border. You must make a great allowance for the deflection of the pendulum in the neighbourhood of such a Schehallion as St. Peter’s....

“Dr. Chalmers has no doubt that a regard for wider interests requires you to come to us. He said so to a friend of mine.”

I cannot now form a judgment on the question how far Mr. Hamilton’s ardent anticipations of spiritual benefit to England would have been fulfilled if the Free Church and her individual ministers had at that period heartily responded to his call, and fully equipped the college and the principal churches in the south: but any one can judge easily and surely that his advocacy does him the highest honour.

This attempt, like many of those which preceded it, failed not from an unwillingness on the part of the minister who was called, but because the Presbytery that judged in the case gave all their moral influence against it, and refused to share in any degree the responsibility of the translation.^

“London-, July 16, 1847.

“My dear Andrew, — For some days I have been very anxious to write, as you might be thinking it long, but I have been sadly hindered. The first week of June, as you know, was devoted to Glasgow and Arnot, The third week was occupied by Dr. Candhsh and others, who had come up as a deputation for the Free Church Missions. Last week I had to go to Liverpool, on an errand of the Synod, and I have had more than usual work visiting among the people, as well as more fatigue, having resumed two sermons on Sabbath. Amidst all this, I have been struggling to get ready two articles for the North British, — one on Simeon and his predecessors, the other on Dr. Chalmers. But I have found it very difficult, for I went on the principle of neglecting no invalid, no committee, no work, which I should otherwise have done, and have been obliged to rise early, and take refuge sometimes in the church. To-day, having sent off the second proof, I feel quite relieved, and give my emancipated pen to you.

“Being disappointed of Arnot, our College Committee has turned its thoughts to your present neighbour, Merle d’Aubignd Last week I wrote to him, and, unless he puts

The Presbytery of Glasgow refused, on technical grounds, to permit an appeal to the Assembly, although both the English commissioners and the minister whom they had called pleaded for that favour, in order to obtain the deliberate judgment of the Church.

PROPOSAL TO INVITE MERLE d’aUBIGNE. 313

a peremptory veto on it, we will likely send him a deputation of one or two. To me, there is nothing chimerical in the proposal He knows Enghsh. He would have the command of abundant libraries. We would do everything to make him comfortable. He would have the half of every year for study. He would be attended by many who do not mean to become Presbyterian ministers. He would be in a condition to put the stamp and impress on a rising church which he deemed most Christian and evangelical It is very likely that the Tree Church will invite Dr. Duff to succeed Dr. Chalmers. I have also heard some hint of their trying Merle d’Aubigne, but I sincerely think he would bestow himseK much better on us than on Scotland. He might mould us, but Scotland is so strong that no individual can be much else than what the Free Church is. I enclose a note to Dr. Merle, but by this time you have probably met him. Ross of Brighton gets on admirably. His church is filling. He published a funeral sermon for Dr. Chalmers (one of ten which I have seen advertised), really able and original: along with J. Macaulay, he dined with us on Wednesday, and came out very racy. He knows Carlyle; and I think has a sHght infusion. I charged him with it, but he disowns it. He and Welsh of Liverpool are our most powerful men. The River Terrace people have called Mr. Weir of Belfast, and he will be settled in a fortnight. James Stewart was licensed at last Presbytery.

“You are much to be envied at actual Geneva, the * Mother dear Jerusalem ’ of John Knox’s Scotland, and Beza’s home, besides all your lettered friends, Rousseau,

De Stael, Gibbon, Byron, Shelley. For me, Vinet seems the finest thinker, most evangelical, yet fresh, on all the Continent. I should like much that his life were written. Dr. Wilson of Bombay is about to proceed up the Rhine, and pass your way, most likely, on the route to India. Perhaps you may forgather. He has published two thick volumes of Eastern travel. He is really one of Bacon’s ’ full ’ men, brimming with information and communicative alacrity. Have you been to hear the Eanz des Vaches? or to eat a glacier? (with us, has been a week of torrid weather, ice- suggesting) or drink milk in a mountain chalet? I enjoyed both your Abbey rapture and (though second-hand, vid Stonehouse) your ascent of the Drachenfels.”

TO MR. W. HAMILTON.

“Ryde, August 27, 1847.

“I see in the present state of matters few symptoms of progress and denominational enlargement. Collectively we are wanting in that ardour and disinterestedness and unity of purpose which are essential to a rising and triumphant cause....

“As for the idea of my giving lectures, even if I were to be stronger this winter than I have ever been, I would not attempt it. I want to preach. Hitherto it has been my fault to dabble in too many things, and the pulpit has not got justice. I wish to do my very utmost there before I die.”

Eyde, I. OF Wight, Aug. 28, 1847.

“On the 25th of October I resumed my work, preaching till the beginning of summer only the haK of each Sabbath.

In pursuance of my plan, and after asking wisdom from above, I gave a short course of eight lectures on the Evidences as the commencement of my new curriculum. I told the reasons for my doing it, and, as some of the lectures might have a more secular sound than was usual in our Sabbath-day discourses, and as they might be superfluous to those who were fully persuaded in their own minds, I entreated beforehand the forbearance of the members of the church, and begged their prayers that God would bless them to the conviction and instruction of those young men and undecided persons for whom they were especially intended. And in order more effectually to obviate prejudice, I put into the lectures as much essential truth as I could, and tried to make the landing-place of each the direct GospeL But they were not ’ the good old thing.’ They were fresh, and they required attention. They made the historic truth too vivid, and they disturbed the perfunctory class who love to take things for granted. I could read discontent on the face of the congregation, and though I worked at them as ha,rd as I could, the complaints and murmurings which daily reached me made it up-hill work. Some of the most pious hearers absented themselves from church till this heathenish course should be ended, and I was told that if I persisted I should disperse the congregation. ... I know that Mr. Hamilton took my part against others who censured, but I believe that both he and Mr. Gillespie (who were too kind to say anything against them) were heartily glad when they were done. Except my mother and a few of the deacons, I do not recollect one voice of positive approval and encouragement, and had it not been for a firm conviction of duty I could not have gone on. Had the course been printed, I might have called the book Benoni.

“I still. believe I was right. At a subsequent communion several of the candidates proved to be the fruits of this series. And by-and-bye I heard of some intelligent families who had in consequence taken seats in the church; and for these tokens of approbation I felt unusually thankful This experiment has taught me a good deal.... Even those who have been led into some knowledge of the truth have no patience for the process by which their minister seeks to lead others into it.

“I cannot say that this experiment has abated my love for my people. Robert M’Cheyne told me that when he came back from Palestine, many of the people were disappointed at his return. They would rather have had “William Burns. His sin had been to idolize his congregation, and he felt their estrangement a rebuke from God. In a different way, I had idoHzed Regent Square. They had contributed so largely to the Free Church Building Fund, and done so many things of which I was proud, and I gave them credit for tolerance and enlargement of mind beyond most congregations. I was sure of their love, and was conscious of a yearning affection towards them, and felt that with them I might venture almost anything.”

“Ryde, Aug. 30, 1847.” What goodness and mercy have met me since I wrote the first lines of this little book at Bangor a year ago! I then crept about a pensive invalid, not knowing whether my eai’thly desire should ever be fulfilled, and whether I should be restored to my work and people again.

“On the 5th of January that desire was fulfilled, and Annie became my own. Already eight months of new and pecuHar happiness have passed, and the longer we live the more our minds grow into one another.

“And for more than nine months I have preached about every Sabbath, and some Sabbaths twice.

“Besides which, I have published four tracts — China, and The Vine, Cedar, and Palm, the sermon after Mr. Wilson’s funeral (he was in full vigour when I thought myseK dying), and two articles in the North British Review, to which I may add a sketch of Matthew Henry, wiitten since coming here.

“Heavenly Father, how can I sufficiently magnify Thy mercy to a sinful worm! Thou knowest my foohshness, and though pride and vanity would often overrate my importance to my fellow-mortals, I know that my goodness extendeth not to Thee. Let my own vileness make me humble, and Thy munificence make me thankful And should I be longer spared, sanctify and kindle me into a living sacrifice.”

The tale of work for the press this year does ndt bulk so largely; but its quality quite sustained his character. The tract on China was the right word, spoken at the right time. It filled a blank and exerted a power. An interest in that vast and mysterious empire had begun to spring up in the country, but information regarding its condition was very scanty. Hamilton possessed the rare and useful faculty of observing exactly where the want lay and what would supply it; then his stores of miscellaneous knowledge and his ready pen were at hand to deal the appropriate blow at the appropriate moment. His tract was, like all the products of his pen, graphic and lively; it was greedily read, and it did much to popularize and spread whatever authentic information was at that time accessible regarding China as a field for Christian missions. The subjects with which it deals have now become familiar; but at the time of its publication the long closed gates of that distant and dark realm were only about to be opened to the commerce and Christianity of the west. The Vine, The Gedar, and The Palm were a series of religious tracts. They were written with the view of presenting the gospel in a form attractive alike to common people, and to the cultivated classes. As the names imply, each tractate endeavoured to suspend the doctrines of grace upon a parallel from nature — as forest trees are pressed into service to sustain the feeble but fruitful branches of the vine. Several of them have been translated into two or more European languages, including Dutch and Swedish, where through a revived evangelism a demand for such literature arose. These, with some others of kindred character, were afterwards published as a volume, under the general title EmUems from Eden, and are included in the uniform edition of his works.

«^Ryde, Sept. 1, 1847.

“My dear William, — ... I mean to act more on your advice hereafter. I am quite satisfied with the course

I have hitherto pursued, as a tiling past, but hereafter 1 shall accept whatever remuneration is offered me for anything I may write. I got £30 for my papers in the last North British. I read Foster’s Life at Ems, and marked a great many memorabilia. But I had not the enjoyment of Foster personally that I have had of Arnold and RomiUy and some others whose lives I have read with a consciousness of congeniality. There are few more readable compositions than Macaulay’s contributions to the Edinburgh Eevieio. I was at a volume this week, but their moral tone is low. I have been much struck by a very original poem, Festiis, by Bailey, who was my coeval in the logic class at Glasgow.

“Vestry of Mr. Ferguson’s Church,
Liverpool, Oct. 6, 1847.

“My dearest Annie, — ‘Let dogs delight,’ etc., would be a good hymn with which to open the Lancashire Presbytery meetings. “We have been occupied for hours trying to restore peace and harmony in this quarrelsome body. It is a pity, for they are all good men, but ill assorted. — Your ever affectionate husband, James Hamilton.”

Let the playful tone of this remark pass in consideration of the quarter to which it is addressed; but its substance may remain as a lesson to all whom it may concern. In these matters it is certain that James Hamilton did not claim for himself a license which he reproved in others. It is the testimony of survivors that one of the great benefits that the Church derived from his talents and character, consisted in the soothing and healing influence of his presence in Church Courts. He was watchful and skilful to interpose with something both good-humoured and humorous whenever he perceived that zeal was threatening unawares to grow too warm. His peculiar grave playfulness was an admirable non-conductor, keeping spark asunder from spark, and so preventing a conflagration. Since this temporary spurt has been incidently mentioned, it ought to be recorded here that the Presbytery of Lancashire are noted for the gravity and order of their procedure.

“October 22, 1847. — ... I have got a premature copy of the first volume of Dr. Chalmers (Memoir by Dr. Hanna), and have read enough to feel that all is right and safe, and that the book will add to the Church’s wealth and his own renown.”

“October 26, 1847. — The month of September was devoted to a course of sermons on Philippi, i.e., Lydia and the jailer. A blessing seemed to attend them. Frequently the people listened with solemnity, and several have since opened their minds and expressed their anxiety about their souls.

“I have in contemplation a course of lectures on the application of Christianity to the various ranks and professions of life, — teacher, merchant, labourer, servant, etc., in which I may use up my reading in Christian biography, the department of Christian literature with which I am best acquainted.

“At present I am happy. The ministry is not without tokens of God’s approval and presence. The prayer-meeting last night was excellently attended, and I was much affected by Mr. Webster’s prayer and Mr. Eobertson’s. Mr. Nisbet presided. Ten days ago we paid a pleasant visit to Mr. Thomson at Haysden. Yesterday passed a delightful hour with Mrs. Finnie. The accounts from Scotland good, our own home full of sweet tranquillity.”

“London, Nov. 2, 1847. “My dear Mother, — ... Following an advice of Dr. Darling, I intimated from the pulpit that I did not wish to see visitors on Fridays and Saturdays, nor on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays till after one. This is now coming into operation, and I find it a great comfort, but even with this caveat I sometimes get into arrears. Last Sabbath morning I rose at five, and Annie rose too and gave me coffee, and lay at my feet on the rug and cried. She has got as great a horror of London work as you used to have, but amidst it all I rather gain than lose. And at present it looks as if some good were done. At night the church is nearly filled, in the morning quite, and several have called on me in deep concern — young men and women. After the Communion I intend a course of evening sermons on Christianity exemplified and applied in the different callings and professions of life: the servant, the labourer, the teacher, the man of business, the man of science, the man of letters, the physician, the philanthropist, the missionary, the private Christian, and the Christian family.”

Here we obtain a peep behind the curtain, and what a picture! The minister, slender in body but keen in spirit, sitting at his desk at five o’clock on a Sabbath morning, in a dull wintry day, and putting forth all his powers to find acceptable words for the congregation that will assemble in Regent Square some six hours hence. His young wife, one in spirit with him, has risen at the same hour to prepare some refreshment; but looking into his face before she retires, she imagines that symptoms appear of a too rapid waste, and a premature decay; She throws herself down on the rug, and in a woman’s way seeks relief in a gush of tears. But this is a heroic woman notwithstanding. Permit nature in her to have its efflux in its own fashion, and she will leave the student undisturbed at his work. The sacrifice she thinks is great, but the cause is worthy; she will not drag the minister from his study in order to save her husband’s life; she will retire and pray. The series of lectures to various classes of society suggested in this letter was fully accomplished, and specimens have been included in his collected works.

TO THE EEV. ANDREW BONAE.

“LoNDOK, Novemher 2, 1 847.

“The congregation is, I trust, in a hopeful state at present, the evening attendance better than it ever was. More persons have come to speak about the state of their souls within the last six weeks than in any year that I have been in London. All September we tarried at Philippi with Lydia and the jailer, and the last four sermons have been on ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.’ Please to remember that next Sabbath is our Communion. I am drawn to the text John i. 29. How is it at Collace just now, and in the neighbourhood?

“A fortnight ago we baptized a most interesting young Jew, Dantziger, the son of a Hamburgh merchant.”

•’ Bedford Square, Brighton,
Dec. 2, 1847.

“My dear William, — ... This treeless town never looks wintry, and as the sun shone powerfully, and the sky was blue and the ocean calm, and all the Steynes bright with gay dresses, and the drives glittering with carriages and dancing with riders, it had quite a soothing and exhilarating effect on shattered nerves, and at night, for the first time this fortnight, I lay down with no fever. Going into a shop to-day we found a pile of Life, in Earnest on the counter. The bookseller knew me, and told me that Mr. Pease, a Quaker, had given him an unlimited order to send a copy to every family whose address he knew, hoping that it might have a good effect on the frivolous young ladies with whose numbers and nonoccupation this good Friend was grieved, as I myself have sometimes been.”

But that fortnight’s fever is the legitimate offspring of the overstrain last month to provide convenient food for Kegent Square, “quite full in the morning and nearly full at night.”

7 Lansdowne Place, Dec. 14, 1847.

“My dear IVIamma, — ... On Sabbath evening I preached my sermon to working men. The church was crowded. The Sabbath before that it was to servants, and I have had letters of thanks both from them and their mistresses.”

A little snatch of such news as wHl cheer a mother’s heart; our mother shall get the news accordingly. There is much pressure upon the minister of Regent Square at

324 “DAYS NUMBERED AND NOTED.”

this time, but not enough to press his mother out of her place.

His sermon on the last Sabbath of the year, from the text, “So teach us to number our days,” etc., was printed at the request of the Session, for private circulation, under the title Bays Numlered and Noted. It is an interesting study in connexion with what we now know of his inner life during that year. It was a time of quickening in his own spirit, and the public ministrations felt the glow of the preacher’s faith and love. The address is suggestive and searching. It goes right to the point, and keeps nothing back.

It may not be amiss to introduce a portion of the introductory paragraphs. Besides their spiritual lesson, they will show the affluence of his analogical resources.

“The infant passes on to childhood, and the child to youth, and the youth to manhood, and the man to old age, and he can hardly teU when or how he crossed the boundary. On our globes and maps we have lines to mark the parallels of distance — but these lines are only on the map. Crossing the equator or the tropic, you see no score in the water, no line in the sky to mark it; and the vessel gives no lurch, no alarum sounds from the welkin, no call is emitted from the deep, and it is only the man of skill, the pilot or the captain, with his eye on the signs of heaven, who can tell that an event has happened, and that a definite portion of the voyage is completed. And so far, our life is like a voyage on the open sea, every day repeating its predecessor — the same watery plain around and the same blue dome above — each so like the other that you might fancy the charmed ship was standing stilL But it is not so. The watery plain of to-day is far in advance of the plain of yesterday, and the blue dome of to-day may be very like its predecessors, but it is fashioned from quite another sky. “However, it is easy to see how insidious this process is, and how illusive might be the consequence. Imagine that in the ship were some passengers — a few young men, candidates for an important post in a distant empire. They may reasonably calculate on the voyage lasting three months or four; and, provided that before their arrival they have acquired a certain science, or learned a competent amount of a given language, they will instantly be promoted to a lucrative and honourable appointment. The first few days are lost in the bustle of setting all to rights, and in the pangs of the long adieu. But at last one or two settle down in solid earnest, and betake themselves to the study of the all-important subject, and have not been at it long till they alight on the key which makes their after progress easy and delightful. To them the voyage is not irksome, and the end of it is full of expectation. But their comrades pass the time in idleness. They play cards, and smoke, and read romances, and invent all sorts of frolics to while away the tedium of captivity; and if a more sober companion venture to remonstrate, they exclaim, ‘Lots of time. Look how little signs of land-True, we have been out of port six weeks; but it does not feel to me as if we had moved a hundred miles. Besides, man, we have first to pass the Cape, and after that we may manage very welL* And thus on it goes, till one morning there is a loud huzza, and every passenger springs on deck. ‘Land a-head!” AVhat land?” Why, the land to which, we all are bound.” Impossible; we have not passed the Cape.’ * Yes, indeed; but we did not put in there. Yonder is the coast. “We shall drop anchor to-night, and must get on shore to-morrow.’ And then you may see how blank and pale the faces of the loiterers are. They feel that all is lost. One takes up the neglected volume, and wonders whether anything may be done in the remaining hours; but it all looks so strange and intricate, that in despair he flings it down. ‘To-morrow is the examination-day. To-morrow is the day of trial. It is no use now. I have played the fool, and lost my opportunity.’ Whilst their wiser friends Kft up their heads with joy, because their promotion draweth nigh. With no trepidation, except so much as every thoughtful spirit feels when a solemn event is near, without foreboding and without levity, they look forth to the nearer towers and brightening minarets of that famed city, which has been the goal of many wishes, and the home of many a dream. And as they calmly get ready for the hour of landing, the only sorrow that they feel is for their heedless companions, who have lost a glorious opportunity to make their calling and election sure.

“And so, my dear friends, we here are a ship-full of voyagers bound for eternity,” etc.

“7 Lansdowne Place, March 16, 1848.

“My DEAE William, — ... When Dr. Hanna was here, a fortnight ago, we had Mr. Lennox of New York at dinner, — quite a state dinner, — Mr. and Mrs. W. Hamilton, Mr. Gillespie, Monsieur Bost, the Misses Williams, Dr.

Stewart, Jas. Anderson. Yesterday he called. I was not in, but he left with Annie £50 for our Home Mission, £25 for Mr. Bost, and as much for the poor of London. This last will be a great relief to my over-taxed charity purse. I wish I had seen more of him. He is a very superior man. On Tuesday of last week I made a holiday. Went down to “Woolwich with Dr. Stewart, Lord Blantyre, and Jas. Anderson. CoL Anderson showed us over the arsenal, with its 24,000 cannons, and 4,000,000 of balls. Then we steamed up to Deptford, where a warm-hearted Scotchman, Dr. Bruce, had prepared beef-brose and pancakes for us, it being ShrovB Tuesday. Then we saw the mill which makes cocoa or chocolate for 14,000 men every day, and the place where they bake the daily biscuits of 40,000 seamen. Then after a bachelor dinner with Dr. Stewart, went to the Linnsean Society, of which I had been some weeks a member without taking my seat. The Bishop of Norwich was in the chair, and I was introduced by old ]Mr. Spence (of Kirby and Spence), if not the father, the uncle of modern entomology. Yesterday and to-day have been a good deal occupied with the Council of the Evangelical Alliance. I like to meet the good men there. “We have one of them staying with us, a Mr. Walters, a layman from Newcastle. If spared to August I think I would like to try a new and short memoir of our father. The present one is a sad farrago. If you can glean anything from uncle John as to his early days, or if anything occurs to your own memory, I would like you to jot it down, and when we meet we may compare notes. I am sorry that there should not be an interesting record of such a life. Next Sabbath evening I shall close my lectures to classes and professions. To myself they have been very interesting, as refreshing old readings in biography. You would hardly think how rapidly they have been written. This fast-writing is to me a new and perhaps dangerous talent. Our London mobs are not more desperate than the one through which you passed so triumphantly at Glasgow. There will be more misery in France. Events seem ominous for Antichrist. This day’s news is that the Roman mob is besieging the Vatican, and clamouring for reforms which the Pope dare not concede. In consequence, I suppose, of-’our proposal to move into a smaller house, the Church Building Committee have increased my stipend to £500. With our exemplary thriftiness, this will do for house-keeping, but for books and journeys, as well as charities, I must still call in the aid of the crow-quill. Delightful place this London, but very dear. Tell Christina so any time that she proposes to flit. But Mr. Walters will be coming back, and I have a great long snake of a proof-sheet coiled on the table, so good-night, and love, brotherly and sisterly love, from, dear William and Christina, your affectionate brother and sister, “James and Annie Hamilton.”

The “crow-quill” in this letter is not merely a figure of speech. He used that instrument almost exclusively to the last. The stately feather from the goose’s wing was early abandoned, and the modern metallic inventions, brass and gold, were not adopted till a very late period of his life, and not frequently used even then. Little boys, who lived near rookeries in far-off Scotland, were bribed to gather the precious pinions.

TO THE REV. ANDREW BONAR.

“7 Lansdowne Place, March 29, 1848.

“Mj DEAR Brother, — A letter sealed with white wax came this morning, but it did not contain the expected cards. When are they coming? I was beginning to be rather afraid of you, so unconscious of your forlorn condition did you seem. And now I feel that Miss Dickson has much merit in dispelling your monkish delusion, and by herself becoming one of our sisterhood, restoring you to our perfect brotherhood. Now it is all right. Robert M’Donald, Horatius, Milne, and, at last, you and I. They have often reproached us ministers as growing less active and zealous when we got our homes all comfortable; and we must try and do away with this accusation. It should not be true; for, besides being a help -meet, a good wife should be a strong motive. I know very well that yours will be both, and I think you will find some new advantages for your work. We wish you would take your marriage trip to London. Will you not? It would delight us greatly if you would. We often pray for you, and for her who is soon to be your wife. We are glad that we know her, having enjoyed a short sight of her last year. I have just been reading William Dickson’s notices of his mother’s last days, — a fine specimen of the mellow piety

of old Scotland.”

“London, June 29, 1848.

“My dear William, — ... My leisure has been all occupied in writing tracts for the times, the first-fruits of which I enclose. I share a good deal in the popular prejudice against tracts, and therefore have disguised my lucubrations as well as I could, and have got Punch’s next door neighbour to publish them, as the Berners Street imprint might have awakened suspicion.

“I hope that Christina has got strong again, and that the heir-apparent waxes and is well.”

“Brightoit, May 18, 1848.

“My deae William, — ... Nothing can surpass London in the month of May. Our lilacs, laburnums, and pink hawthorn run riot. The picture exhibitions are open, and the town is full of nice people. But I am writing a few short tracts for working people, and want three days’ leisure. Chartism has frightened some dignitaries of the Church.”

“7 Lansdowne Place, July 21, 1848.

“My dear Mother, — ... I have just heard of the death of Dr. Hamilton, of Leeds. Of all the English Dissenters he had the richest scholarship, and the most aspiring and chivalrous mind, with a noble infusion of the old Puritan sap and vigour.”

“KiLMXJN, Aug. 21, 1848.

“My dear Mamma, — You must feel that you have got into quite a patriarchal dispensation with all these grandchildren starting up around you. Even as their old uncle, I grow venerable in my own eyes. I am well pleased with the sample here. Little William is very good, and Jane is a funny, sagacious, and selfish lassie, fast spoiling her papa. One sometimes wonders how all these little things are to warsle through the world. Not so badly, perhaps, if their parents are spared; but if these were taken away, there are few aunts like Aunt Elizabeth. However, if they are intrusted to Him, the Father of the fatherless will take charge of them Himself.”

TO MR. WILLIAM HAMILTON

•’Carnwath, by Carstairs, Sept. 11, 1848. “I hope to finish this week my tracts for the working people. I hear that they have been a good deal bought by the class for whom they are intended, and I trust that though a very feeble agency, they may be accepted by the Lord, and used for good.”

These tracts for the working people demand and deserve some notice.

It was the year 1848. Revolution was in the ascendant abroad; Chartism threatened all established institutions at home. There was distress of nations, with perplexity. The ship of the State laboured like the ship that bore the fugitive Jonah, and every one on board was fain to awake and call upon such god as he knew and trusted. The storm, as we now know, although it did some mischief in knocking over certain rather ricketty thrones, did much good in the way of blowing unhealthy vapours out of our political atmosphere.

There was too much, both of the Christian and the patriot, in James Hamilton, to permit him to sit still and fold his hands at such a crisis. He was not so much alarmed as were some dignitaries of Church and State. He had mingled much with the people, and knew the good qualities that still remained in the mass. He did not tremble for the existence of the commonwealth; but neither did he think light of the danger which threatened its wellbeing. There was hope of weathering the storm; but there was need of exertion. He will not stand idle; he too will put his hand to the work of preservation. But he saw preservation only through reformation, and to reformation of the dangerous classes he accordingly addressed himself. The weapon which at this crisis he seizes, is the old and well-tried one — a tract.

This time, however, he has a different audience to address, and accordingly he must employ a different method. The problem in hand is not to lead gently forward the educated and well-disposed: it is to arrest the attention and win the favour of the alienated and the dangerous classes of the community. With this view he deserts for a time his publishers in Berners Street, and enters into an alliance with Mr. Bogue, who happens to be next neighbour of Punch. The tracts shall be anonymous, and, as far as possible, the writer’s style shall be disguised. But alas! the change of publisher and the omission of his name availed no more than the very simple scheme of the ostrich, who hides his head — the smallest part of him — in the sand, in order to conceal his huge body from the hunters. His speech bewrayed him in every line. The tracts were indeed published anonymously, but the writer did not remain unknown.

The series consisted of twelve, which, when collected into a small volume, assumed the general designation, The Happy Home. They attracted considerable notice at the time. To some extent they reached the section for whose benefit they were designed, — the discontented and uneasy classes who heaved and foamed ominously at that period, near the base of society; but even from the first, it must be confessed, that they were read more for their remarkable literary characteristics by people of refined taste, than by the unrefined, for the instruction which they contained. There are many gems of description, and many streaks of sage humour, and many adventurous sallies, — all the work of a really earnest man, honestly aiming at a great object; yet the result has been a speculative interest in his peculiar method as a work of art, rather than an arrestment, on any large scale, of our clever but wayward, and unlettered and unchristianized, artisan population. To make the effort was honourable; and the effort, even as to its direct aim, was not by any means in vain. It is no disgrace to the writer that for their original purpose these tracts are by no means perfect. Indeed it might have been with certainty predicted that his style would not prove an instrument nicely adapted to go right home to the understandings and the tastes of the lapsed masses. There is so much of essential poetry, and of covert, elegant allusion, and of peculiar idiom, that the average artisan must in reading them experience many a breach in the continuity of his comprehension. Some men of less brilliant parts have since that time addressed the same classes in a style better fitted for the purpose. The Happy Home will continue to be read with interest, but mainly by those who have already reached and passed the moral and economic reformations which it so warmly urges, and so felicitously recommends.

It may indeed be questioned whether any printed address, however skilfully adapted, will ever make much impression on that particular stratum of society to which this effort pointed. This kind of spirit goeth not out by a preacher that can be sent by post. The living voice and loving look of a brother seem the necessary, the divinely-appointed means, of conveying effectually to these quarters the message of reconciliation with God, and consequently with men. Into this form, accordingly, in recent years, earnest Christians, taught by experience, have mainly thrown their efforts, with such a measure of success as suffices to encourage them to perseverance.

7 Lansdowne Place, Nov. 15, 1848.” My dear Andrew, — ... I hope you will continue to enjoy health, spirits, and friends. I know the sort of slumbers which you are now enjoying. Indeed, without being an epicure in sleep, I am a connoisseur. (I am not an epicure, for I am glad to get whatever comes.) I know by some experiences that sort of sleep which goes off you clean and light, and leaves you calm and hale — like an ether bath or a cloud-blanket rolling off. But sleep seldom leaves me in this way. I usually leave it, and come out of it like one who has been over head and ears in some viscus (say treacle), and who has clots of drowsiness sticking to him for an hour after he gets up. London, I must confess, is ill supplied with air. I wish there were some Sir Hugh Myddleton and a New Representation Company to supply the town with Hanoverian or Elberfeldian atmosphere, of the standard quality — 21 per cent, of oxygen. By-the-bye, Dr. Witling will be glad to hear that a Londoner has taken out a patent for the essence of sunshine. By a new application of galvanism he can produce a light having all the intensity and other qualities of solar light, and by some means can parcel it out so that for three farthings a night you can command a piece of sun big enough to supersede one hundred candles. I have just come in from lecturing to the students for the third time. I had them all at tea last night. They are a good set (nine — the Muses), intelligent, willing, and in earnest. Even to myself the course may be of some use. It will set me in my old age to study English. I wish I had a musical ear. I can trust my judgment in the selection of synonymes, and in the use of figures, etc., but I cannot trust my ear in the structure of sentences. I often suspect that I fall into monotony and jingles, as well as into harsh combinations. I have bought the Faery Queen. It would be a good sermon or speech which filled the sense like one of its cantos: as varied, round, and ample.

“Your philosophers will expect some scientific news. Well, I went to the Linnsean Society on Tuesday last week, when it was proved pretty conclusively that the potato-blight is a fungus allied to Botrychium infestans, the spores of which enter from within by the sap vessels. And on Monday evening, Adam White emerged from a six months’ aestivation, and invited me to the British Museum, to get a private view of the Nimrod marbles. They throw a flood of light on such passages as Nahum ii., etc. The sculptures give with wonderful vividness the private and military life of old Nineveh. There is something very solemn in the exhuming of God’s witnesses 2500 years after the event.”

“London, Dec. 5, 1848.

“My dear Andeew, — ... I am going out to the funeral of old Mrs. Bunting. We have lost three of our most venerable hearers within a fortnight; besides herself, the oldest of all, Mrs. Pritchard and Mr. T. Johnstone, the elder. He had just taken a house in Calthorpe Place in order to be near us; and on the Sabbath morning, the day to which he always looked forward with desire, he awoke with a pain which he had often felt, and very soon expired.

“Do you know Gaussen’s Theopneustia? It is a conclusive book, making an end of the matter, quite a masterpiece of sanctified genius. Such books I am inclined to call ‘Prophecies,’ in the New Testament acceptation of the term. Their writers are not evangelists, nor teachers, nor pastors, but they are prophets. They give stability to some pillar-truth of revelation, or raise to a stately and commanding elevation some neglected doctrine or duty. Instance Edwards on The Will, Butler, Paley’s Ilorce, Foster on Decision, Chalmers’s Astronomical and Commercial Discourses, The Paradise Lost, Calvin’s Institutes, and perhaps living’s Orations. It is the tendency of the churches to ‘despise prophesyings,’ for they do not furnish light reading or comfortable preaching; but to them Christianity owes all its strength and grandeur (outwardly).

“We have again got a Scotch Lord Mayor, Sir J. Duke. Last Sabbath he and the Lady Mayoress oame to Regent

Square, and their grand coach made quite a sensation among the young folks. There is a novel just completed by Thackeray — Vanity Fair, which is said to be the most remarkable fiction printed for many years. Last week I got it from the library, and abhor it. It is ’ a novel without a hero,’ and its object is to make humanity contemptible. It is written without any moral, any curative design; and is, devil-like, a derision of all that is good or bad in man. I am sorry at its extreme popularity. The hero-worship which forgets man’s depravity, seems to be not nearly so disastrous in its tendency as this sardonic fooling — this blasphemy against a nature originally made in God’s image.”

FROM MR. ARNOT.

“Glasgow, 23cZ January 1849.

“My dear brother Hamilton, — ... To show you that I have no ill-will, I have turned out a broad-sheet in the good old fashion under the heavy postage. The only objection I have to the cheap postage is its demoralizing effects on the size and the sense of letters. I venture to affirm that the next generation of biographies will not be so rich in really good and substantial letters as the last. These loathsome little sheeticules, — two pages going to an ordinary sentence, — how can they have anything in them fit for posterity?...

“As it will gratify the honest pride of an author, I cannot deny myself the pleasure of informing you that Happy Home is an especial favourite of my eldest daughter She calls for it as frequently as for any of her literary and pictorial store. She is well acquainted with Caspar

338 AIM OF “the happy home.

Eauchbilder.* She knows that is his wet coat hanging on a chair before the fire. She can point out the column of smoke ascending over his head, and tell the uninitiated what it is, and she enjoys a hearty laugh every time it is opened, at the sight of the dog running off with the pudding. As to my own opinion, an author, when he reaches so many thousands, may well appeal to public opinion, and let private opinion take its course; yet I could not write without congratulating you on the peculiar honour of making the attempt. To that point I chiefly look. To succeed is evidence of talent, but to try, there is virtue. I suppose that you will. have been made aware that, amid a very general admiration, some wicked people (M’Phail’s, etc.) revile, and some timid people start and rub their eyes, and look again, and ask what do you think of that? To the wicked people, I think, for I have no opportunity of saying, ‘You lazy scoundrel, you stand there high and dry with your hands in your breeches’ pockets, and look down on that other man, who has stripped and plunged into the quarry-hole, and is manfully plucking drowning bairns from beneath the broken ice, — you find fault with the method of his operation. He don’t dive elegantly, etc. You insufferable fellow, go, jump into the quarry-hole and do it better, and when you come out criticise your neighbour.’ To the timid people I say, * Don’t be afraid, — here is a new walk, here is a man doing battle with the enemy in a field which they have long had to themselves, Goliath has been defying the armies of

Each tract was originally published separately, and each was adorned with An appropriate picture.

the living God, and if a stripling accept his challenge and go right ont to meet him, we must let the youth take his own weapons and his own way of using them. Our regular weapons and our prescribed sword exercise have not repressed the incursions of these uncircumcised Philistines; why should we bind them on the back of this champion? Let him alone. What although he choose a tiny-looking weapon; what although he give it queer outlandish twirls round his head; that is his own way of giving impetus to the missile. Let him alone. If he strike Goliath in the forehead, that is the main point.’ Well, I must say good-night. All our family welL Hitherto we have been preserved. W. A.”

“London, Feb. 2, 1849. “My dear WHiLlAM, — ... At dinner I sat next Lord Ashley, the only time I ever met him in private. His hobby is the same as Mr. Guthrie’s, and all night he talked of nothing but ragged schools. In one thing I believe he is right. The London thieves are perhaps the sharpest and most susceptible race in London; but I can’t find, either from him or from the Secretary of the Ragged School Union, who is a member of Regent Square, that many tangible cases have yet occurred where they have been reclaimed. What I am far more anxious to see is a movement, wise and systematic, to Christianize our working men. In such a movement I think Mr. Noel is ready to take a zealous part; but it will be some time before his ecclesiastical relations are fixed, and till then he will not preach, nor appear in public.”

TO MK. ARNOT.

“February 15, 1849,” I am not at all discouraged by the reception of Bogue’s series {The Happy Home). I daresay they are very open to criticism when read in parlours, but I wrote them for working people, and perhaps they are the only tracts which working people buy. The other day I had an anonymous letter from an operative in Birmingham, saying that he had hung up my picture near his bed that he might see it every morning when he awoke (poor fellow! I suspect he win not be allowed much time to look at it); and I often hear of poor people (for instance, a man selling hot potatoes in the streets) going and buying them, Now, I think it possible to write better and more interesting tracts, and I wish some of you would go and do it, for it is cheaper philanthropy to get the people to buy their own tracts, than to need to coax them to accept them. Popularity in this quarter is the only sort of distinction about which I feel no sheepishness.

“Remember me kindly to the presiding genius of your own happy home, and give Caspar Eauchbilder’s love to Miss Arnot, J. H.”

“7 Lansdowne Place, Feb. 21, 1849.” My dear William, — ... I was glad to hear such an account of your Communion, Our own was a profitable season too. Some of the new communicants were interesting cases. Four of them were the sons of Mr, D, Napier, the engineer; all fine young men. That Sabbath was the first in which their father officiated as an elder, and two of them were to sail the same week for Otago. Another

was the daughter of Mr.. She was naturally a

proud and strong-willed creature, and most resolute against all religion. But last November she was deeply awakened

by a sermon on Judas Iscariot. Another was, the

boot-maker, a man at middle life, and in a very respectable business, who seems at last to have received the truth in the love of it. And most of the young communicants (twenty in all) seem to have received their religious impressions quite recently. J. H.”

“London, Feb. 26, 1849.” My dear Mamma, — ... Yesterday morning I was preaching on ‘Cast thy bread on the waters,’ and just before I went into the pulpit who should come into the vestry but Andrew Melville? He is still forester to the Earl of Malmesbury, doing well in the world, and as good as ever: and this morning a nice-looking young woman came in and told me that she had been in church yesterday, and that it was by the sermons in Eoxburgh Church, eight years ago, when she was one of Miss Spence’s scholars, that she had been brought under the truth as it is in Jesus. Her name is C —, and she, along with her mother, keeps house for her brother at Gravesend, who has a good place in the Customs. She has an aunt in town, and frequently comes up to attend Regent Square on the Sabbaths. I was much interested with many things she said, and much struck with the providential commentary on the morning’s text. On Friday, a minister at Islington told me that, when pastor of an Independent church near Cambridge,

342 “the PRESBYTERIAN MESSENGER.”

at one comnmnion he admitted two members, one of whom had been converted by reading the Mount of Olives, and the other by Life in Earnest. It is very cheering to hear such news now and then.

“Yesterday we had with us, for the last time, Arnot’s brother-in-law, John Fleming, a j&ne youth, who has improved much even in London, and who, I hope, will turn out well.”

“London-, March 27, 1849. “My DEAR William, — ... Om Presiyterian Messenger is not paying, and is not thriving, and I have been called in as sick-nurse. I hope to cure it by light diet and gentle exercise. But it is a great trouble; meanwhile, I have had to write nearly the whole number myself.”

So, whenever a wheel of the Presbyterian waggon stuck in the mud, it was to his shoulder that people looked for the needful push, — a shoulder strong morally, but, alas! physically unfit to bear the burden. Wisely judging that a magazine which should contain denominational as well as general intelligence, was a prime necessity for the Church, he cheerfully undertook the work, and successfully accomplished it. Henceforth he led it with his own hand, until it was able to walk alone; and even then continued to keep a fatherly eye on its movements. By a few sentences from the address which he inserted on the occasion of assuming editorial charge, we may contribute a specimen of that amazing skill with which he contrived to brighten, by a ray of his own hopefulness, a prospect that otherwise would have appeared forlorn: —

PROSPECTUS OF THE “MESSENGER.” 343

“!Many readers have hitherto deemed the Messenger too massive in its structure, and too denominational in its tone. On the correctness of this impression it is not for the present editors to pronounce; but such readers will not be displeased to learn that the magazine is hereafter to be conducted on principles more accordant with their tastes. The larger portion of its pages will be devoted to biographical sketches, missionary intelligence, short practical essays, and those scriptural or historical miscellanies which may entertain our younger friends, whilst they convey instruction to all. We shall be more anxious than ever to detail the progress of our China and Corfu Missions, the proceedings of our several presbyteries and congregations, the increase of our schools, the on-goings of our college. And whilst we shall gladly insert whatever may tend to elucidate or endear to its adherents our ecclesiastical polity, we shall be open to all sound and judicious suggestions toward the improvement of its working. But our plan will necessarily exclude many articles which might be prized in other periodicals. We have not space for critical or homiletic disquisitions, and we are not in the humour for controversial reviews. Our little barque makes no magnificent pretensions. She is too lightly built for heavy goods, nor will she carry the thunderbolts of war. But like her namesake among the South Sea Islands, it is all her hope to be a “Messenger of Peace,” a little coaster carrying tidings and a few plain commodities, in her monthly voyage, amongst our insulated congregations; and if cheered by a little kind encouragement, no pains will be spared to provide an acceptable cargo.

344 ‘ME. NOEL.

“Some well-wisliers may be startled at the prospect of a monthly sixpence instead of the present moderate sum. And we ourselves confess that to a doubled price we would greatly prefer a doubled circulation. If, therefore, by the exertions of our friends, we receive during the next two months the assurance of 2500 new subscribers, the price and size will remain as at present. But if our readers practically decide against both alternatives, — that is, if they will give us neither the additional pence nor the additional subscribers, the pleasant month of June will put a period to the Presbyterian Messenger. And after paying their debts, should a few sovereigns of their private resources still remain to them, the gratuitous editors and the grievously mulcted ’ promoters ’ will seek to recover their spirits at Brighton or Southampton, or some other watering place, where they may find the skies still azure and the brethren true blue.”

“London, March 27, 1849.” My dear Mamma, — ... I feel sorry for you all in your bleak and upland dwellings — William often so ill at Stonehouse, and Jane so invalid at Carnwath. But even London is not proof against influenzas. I have had one since Tuesday last, and though I tried to preach on Sabbath morning, I felt my throat so tender that I begged Mr. Noel, who was in church, to go on with the service. This he kindly did, and preached a beautiful sermon from Genesis xxii. 16-18: so that his first appearance since he left Bedford Eow has been in Regent Square. A good many of his old hearers were present, and much affected to see him ascend into the pulpit. ...

“I have read with much interest lately three memoirs, the life of iMrs. Sherman of Surrey Chapel, and John M’Donald of Calcutta, and Tom Campbell the poet, I have seen all three, and Mrs. Sherman I knew. She was a beautiful combination of nature and grace, her piety was so natural, her nature so gracious.

“I hope that James the Less is behaving magnanimously during his mamma’s illness; and I trust, through the goodness of God, health and quiet may soon revisit your abode.”

He refers here to his only remaining sister, the wife of Mr. Walker, minister of the Free Church at Carnwath. The hope he fondly entertained was not fulfilled — the sickness was unto death. The letters which follow exhibit a very great grief, balanced by a still greater consolation: —

“London, ^j)nn 6, 1849.

“My dear William, — My impulse would be to speed back to Carnwath, but there are some matters to which no one can attend except myseK, at least for the next two days, — especially the writing of the Foreign Mission Report and preparing for the press next Messenger. It seems strange to myself that I feel quite equal to the doing of such things, especially when I remember how dull I was on Saturday week. But one great reason is that to me it scarcely seems as if Jane were gone. I feel that she is living and happy, and with Christ. When I see poor Annie sitting and crying, I think that she would weep less if she had been with me at Carnwath last week, and if she had been led (as I have been) to think not so much of our own loss as of her sain.”

“Tuesday Evening.

“Deakest William, — This day my mind has been much divided, but whilst feeling drags me to Carnwath, duty seems to detain me here. Many things would faU into confusion were I leaving even on Thursday night; and I am not without fear of catching cold, owing to the season, especially if I travelled overnight, as I would need to do. Oh, how fain would I pay the last tribute of a brother’s love to that dear dust, and how I would like to shed a tear with them that weep; but nobody can do the things that I have got to do here, and must do this week.

“In regard to the Sabbath, I think Dr. Hanna, or some one who knew and loved her, can improve the occasion best, better than either of us.

“I feel it hard to stay away, and nearly impossible to go.

“May the Comfoi-ter come to dear mamma and James. — Your ever affectionate brother, J. Hamilton.”

“Monday, April 16, 1849.

“Mt beloved Uncle, — Our dear Jane has entered into rest. I left her on Saturday morning very very weak, half hoping she might recover, and happy to think that if she did not get better she was going home to God. And thither she departed gently and peacefully yesterday morning at twenty minutes past six. When asked to her marriage, you said that on such occasions you saw not only gay carriages but a hearse at the door. I saw her that day, then when I went to baptize her little boy, and then last week when on her dying bed.

“Owing to the meeting of Synod, I do not think that I can return to Carnwath; hut William is there, and my dear mother is most mercifully supported.”

TO HIS MOTHER.

•’ 7 Lansdowne Place, April 20, 1849.

“... I am glad to hear, dear mamma, that you have been so supported under this most afflicting dispensation. My own feeling on behalf of our sainted sister is thankfulness, more than anything else; and it is only when I think of those left behind that sadder thoughts come over me. No one ever passed through twenty-seven years of earthly life so inoffensive, so innocent, so seK-denied, up to the limits of her strength so useful, nor one who, in her own quiet, truthful, and kindly walk more adorned the doctrine. Calm, sweet, and holy will be her memory, like the remembrance of a summer Sabbath at Strathblane.

“What is your plan about little James? Poor little fellow, I wish we had him here, if James would let him come. Would it not be your best plan to come up to us as soon as you can and bring him with you? Stonehouse is too cold, both for him and you, and we have plenty of room. I hope it may come to this.”

“52 Hamilton Terrace, May 25, 1849.” My dear William, — ... A delicious summer has now arrived, and nothing can surpass the beauty of the outlook from the window where I si. Every season, I am more struck with the beauty of our London environs. There can nowhere be a finer blending of the picturesque and

348 HIS sister’s character.

the sumptuous. But looking out on this lovely spring, I think often of one who can no longer smell the lilac and wallflower, nor walk over this soft new grass. “Where is that ransomed spirit’s home? and is she cognisant of physical beauty in any way? Or is it for the present mere intercourse of soul with soul — meditation, communion, worship?”

Jane was the only one of his sisters with whom the present writer was personally acquainted. As it lies within his power, it seems to be his duty to bear testimony that the terms in which her brother describes her character, are in no degree exaggerated by fraternal fondness. She was bright and sportive like a lamb, and like a lamb too in a certain simplicity and pureness which won all hearts. While mother and brothers mourned their loss with a very great sorrow, her husband was well-nigh stricken down by the blow. For a long period his spirit was crushed and his health enfeebled. Such is life on earth, even for the disciples of Christ; the more precious the treasure bestowed, the more dreadful is the rending when it is taken away. The space here is too narrow for the full development of our Father’s plans; He needs a larger room whereon to exhibit in the ultimate issue the love and wisdom of His comprehensive purpose. “What thou knowest not now, thou shalt know hereafter.”