Settlement in Perth, 1839–1840
R. MILNE left Aberdeen in 1839, and was settled in St. Leonard’s, Perth, on the 7th of November of that year. In that settlement no one rejoiced more than his old friend Mr. Andrew Gray, who, at the first meeting of Presbytery after the return of the Palestine deputation in the end of the same year, introduced him to my brother of Collace, with the remark, ‘ Now, I’m sure you two will be friends.’ And so indeed they were from that day forward. In a letter, some sixteen years after, from India, which will be found in full in another place, he refers to this : —
‘J still remember our first meeting in the Old Presbytery, — and where I was sitting when you came in and shook hands; and‘then R. M‘Cheyne and you coming in to me at 14 Rose Terrace, and laughing at my carte blanche to Miss to collect a staff of lady Sabbath-school teachers; and then our next meeting in the vestry of Kinnoul Street Church.’
The following letters, as having reference to this period, may be quoted here, as giving us a glimpse of himself by himself : — ‘ Perth, 2d Oct. 1839. — MY DEAR SIR, — I have only this moment received your letter, having been for a few days in the country. I am ashamed to think that I should have been so long in writing to you. ‘But this arose in some measure from the peculiar circumstances in which I was placed. On arriving here, just a week ago, I found my friends waiting for me, and expecting me to go before the Presbytery; which I did, and went through this part of the customary trials, and had this day fixed for the remainder. I then took up my abode with Mr. Gray, with whom I lived till Sunday, when I went out to officiate for another Aberdeenshire man, Mr. Noble of St. Madoes. I did not come to town till to-day, which was the reason of my not getting your letter sooner. To-day I met the Presbytery, and finished my trials, when they fixed the 7th of November for my ordination. It might have taken place sooner, but I rather wished it to be put off till after the Sacrament, which takes place on the 3d of that month. I am sorry to say that, till to-day, I gave way too much to the unhappy depression under which I had so long laboured. It was very foolish, for I found every one here very kind. I have just been looking for lodgings, but have not yet fixed upon a place, though I shall probably do so to-morrow. It would not, I find, answer to take up house at present, as the expense of housekeeping would, I fear, be more than my income could well afford. I think it will be better therefore to get rid, as soon as possible, of the furniture which I have in Aberdeen. Perhaps you will add to your many former kindnesses, that of assisting my aunt in doing so, and in getting my books packed and forwarded as soon as possible. I shall not feel at home till I have them about me. Mr. Gray, who is now sitting beside me, says he will call upon you when he is in Aberdeen, whither he is going to assist at Mr. Primrose’s Sacrament. I shall expect to hear from you by him, or sooner if convenient. The truth is, I am almost ashamed to write, after all the sin and obstinacy and absurdity of which I have been guilty. I must endeavour now to redeem the time, and by diligence and devotedness to make
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what amends I can for past unstedfastness and vacillation. I had sat down to write to you this day week, but was called away to something else; and on the following day, I felt again so dispirited, that I put off writing from time to time. — Believe me, my dear Sir, very. sincerely yours, — JOHN MILNE,
‘ P.S. — You were right in thinking that preaching would do me good. I have felt better ever since, and now hope that all will go forward prosperously.
‘FRANCIS EDMOND, Esq., advocate, Aberdeen.’
A few weeks later, he thus writes to the same esteemed friend and correspondent : —
‘ Perth, 14 Rose Terrace, 30th Oct. 1839. — MY DEAR SIR, — I was duly favoured with your letter in immediate answer to my own; and I feel ashamed when I think how long a period I have suffered to elapse without answering it. You are, however, aware what a dilatory correspondent I am, and will find an explanation, if not an excuse, for the delay, in my perverse and inveterate habit of procrastination. I have heard repeatedly from my aunt, and have learned from her the kind regard which you have expressed for me, and the great trouble which you have taken about my affairs; and when I add to this all the kindness I personally experienced before I came away, I feel myself at a loss how to express my thankfulness. I shall only say that the conduct which you have on this occasion pursued towards me makes me think better of our common nature, and also strengthens my faith in the love of God; for, if we receive such constant and ill. requited regard from the creature, may we not expect as much from Him who gives to all liberally, and upbraideth not? I trust that what has passed between us will lay the foundation of an intimate and abiding friendship. I am now settled in Rose Terrace, in the family of a Mr. M‘Naughton, and think I shall find myself very comfortable. The situation is, I think,
LETTERS — ORDINATION SERVICES. 15
the best about Perth, facing the North Inch; and you will be delighted with the prospect from the windows. I received my books in safety, and have to thank you for your kind care in getting them packed and forwarded. I felt rather at a loss till they arrived. I have not, however, been doing much in a ministerial capacity since I came here. It was only last Sabbath that I began preaching in St. Leonard’s, having hitherto been engaged in officiating for the country brethren. I have, however, visited some of the congregation, and found them ready to receive me with a hearty welcome. I have not yet met with any of those difficulties which so much alarmed me; and I cannot help looking back upon this part as on a troubled dream, the origin of which I find it difficult to explain..
Let me remind you that my ordination takes place on the 7th November, to-morrow week, when I expect to have the pleasure of seeing you, notwithstanding the doubt which you expressed regarding it.’
Some days after his ordination, he thus writes to the same : —
‘The proceedings of Thursday went off very comfortably, The ordination service was conducted by Mr. Duncan of Abernethy. His text was 2 Cor. iv. 5, “Ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” The sermon, though long and heavily delivered, was faithful, for he is a good man. In the evening a large party met, and spent a very pleasant evening, There was a great deal of speechifying, and I am happy to say that our Aberdeen friends made a very favourable impression on the people of Perth, by the displays they made of this kind of eloquence. Yesterday Mr. Bryce and I preached; and now I trust I have plain sailing before me, save that I must look for the usual difficulties from without, incident to this office, and the peculiar hindrances which I know I shall experience from my own indolence and unbelief. It is, however, as you have often told me, a good work; and I trust we shall have no reason to regret what we have done: you, that you have urged me to enter on it; and I, that I have yielded to your entreaties — let me add, your tears. My dear sir, my heart will always warm at the thought of you, and I hope we shall soon have the pleasure of meeting. — Perth, 11th Nov. 1839.
The depressions referred to in the above letters seem to have rather increased in intensity as he grew older; as ministerial work pressed upon him; as annoyances troubled him, or sorrow weighed upon his tender and loving spirit. During his first residence in Perth they were of frequent occurrence (sometimes brought on by very trivial causes), but not to such a degree as afterwards. After the death of his first wife and second child he sank much; and then came the thought of India. In India he had occasional depressions; but none very severe till 1856, when alone. In 1857 one seemed coming, but passed off. That in 1859 was very severe; but when it passed off he had not another, not even in the slightest degree, till the last in 1867, which was the severest of all. Mysteriously did that stroke upon his head in boyhood develop its effects in his subsequent life. How it told upon his mental energies and spiritual health, is difficult to determine. How it helped or how it hindered; how it roused or how it paralyzed; what it made him learn or unlearn; how it softened and subdued, and moulded and mellowed, can only be known hereafter. Without these sharps and flats, the full compass of his life’s music could not have been brought out. It was that stroke (called accident or calamity by man) which gave to the weapon that edge and point, that temper and polish, without which it would not have done its proper work. If the great adversary sought by that bruise to mar or destroy a chosen instrument, he was certainly disappointed; and if he thought, by thus making the Lord’s servant often go heavily, to arrest his work, he was foiled. These clouds, though they sometimes intercepted his joy, did not lead him to question his heavenly sonship, or rob him of the Spirit of adoption. He might at times think himself a broken vessel, cast out as useless; but he could still stand beneath the shadow of the cross, as a sinner who had accepted God’s testimony to the finished work of His Son. ‘These recurring burdens kept him low and docile; thus magnifying the grace of God in him, and leading him to give the glory of what was done through him, to Him who did it all. And does not that singular experience of the apostle teach us much P — ‘ Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me A THORN IN THE FLESH, the messenger of Satan to buffet me’ (2 Cor. xi 7):
It was soon after his settlement in Perth that he became the friend of Robert M‘Cheyne, with whom he wrought so congenially during the interesting years that followed. It was regarding this acquaintanceship that he made one day a statement in the pulpit, which one would not like to forget: ‘ When I was in Dundee, I went to the house of a man prosperous in the world. The family spoke to me of a strange minister there who had said, “That he would rather depart and be with Christ.” “Did you ever hear of such a thing?” said the worldly man.’ ‘Need I
say, added Mr. Milne, ‘that from that time my heart
B
was glued to that man?’ ‘That man’ was Robert
M‘Cheyne.
From the beginning to the end of his ministry, he held fast that which he had received, both in doctrine and practice; preaching the one old gospel, and walking in the simplicity of old ways. The constant study of the word kept him from the deflections of the age; nor did he require novelties, either ecclesiastical or theological, to excite his spiritual system.
Religion in a soul or a church must be sick and ready to die, when it requires the use of stimulants to restore it, — the stimulants of music, and dresses, and postures, and ceremonies; or the stimulants of speculation and mysticism, and the ‘enticing words of man’s wisdom.’ Rather, we may say, that it is dead; and these are galvanic appliances to make a dead man look, and stare, and roll his eyes like a living one.
Yet, after all, ‘that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’ Mr. Milne’s ministry was to be a testimony to all this; his life was to be an exhibition of it. He knew that what the world needs is ‘regeneration;’ nothing short of this. He understood that what God had sent was ‘salvation;’ nothing less than this. His life and ministry were the embodiment of these mighty truths. He did not trifle with the souls of men, nor with the cross of Christ, nor with the work of the Holy Ghost.
His mind, as we shall see, was one of great vigour and versatility; his style was lucid and pointed. If the test of talent be, as some seem to think, the power of mystifygl eat
ing the simple, he had it not; but if it consist, as surely it does, in the power of simplifying the abstruse, he was no ordinary man.
He was not a theologian in the strict sense of the word. The structure of his mind was not theological, and his spiritual experience had not drawn him into system. But he was not the less clear in his enunciation of the faith once delivered to the saints. The Church needs both the theological and the non-theological mind; the one to preserve and define truth in its integrity, the other to prevent that integrity from freezing into the stiffness of unimpressive abstractions. That eminent divine and man of God, Dr. John Duncan, mentioned to me that he had heard Mr. Milne, many years ago, in Mr. Moody Stuart’s, and that he did not altogether assent to some of his opening statements, thinking them not quite theologically correct, ‘ But,’ says he, ‘I heard the whole sermon to the end, and I soon felt that I was listening to a man that loved Christ better than I did myself.’ In the course of conversation, Dr. Duncan made some remarks on two of our well-known men, which are worth preserving. ‘ Dr. Chalmers,’ he said, ‘had a more theological mind than Dr. Cunningham, but Dr. Cunningham was the better theologian. The mind of the former was a great manufactory, that of the latter a great warehouse.’