Memoir of Dr. Guthrie

Dr. GUTHRIE was born at Brechin, in Forfarshire, July 12, 1803, and was a younger son of the late Mr. David Guthrie, merchant and banker in that ancient city. The family was one of great respectability and considerable antiquity, having been connected with Brechin for more than two hundred years. With one or two short intervals the office of Provost has been held in succession by five members of the family, the present occupant being John Guthrie, M.D., Dr. Guthrie’s nephew. It is probable, but not certain, that Dr. Guthrie was a lineal descendant of the well-known Rey. William Guthrie, author of the “Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ,’ who was cousin of James Guthrie, the martyr. At the very least he was a kinsman of both, and Dr..Guthrie used to refer with pride to his connection with the martyr, who was not only, like himself, a Forfarshire man, but connected with the town of Brechin, having been owner of a small estate in its immediate neighbourhood. Alexander, one of Dr. Guthrie’s elder brothers, was a medical man, who enjoyed a large practice and no small local reputation. Another brother, Charles, nearest to himself in age, and his favourite in the family joined the Indian army, in which he held the rank ll MEMOIR.

of captain, and fell in the first Burmese War, to the great sorrow of his brother and all his family.

Dr. Guthrie’s education was carried on in his native town till he arrived at the age of eleven, at which period, in accordance with the practice of the time, but very foolishly, as he always thought and said, he was sent to study at the University of Edinburgh. It was hardly.to be expected that at such an age he would make any great figure in the University classes. Having resolved to devote himself to the ministry, he passed through the Divinity Hall, which at that time was in a singularly inefficient state. We have not heard through what influence he was led to make the ministry his profession, but it is likely that the influence of his mother, who was both a godly and a clever woman, may have disposed him towards it. This excellent lady had been brought up a Seceder, but the Guthrie family were of the Established Church. Through his mother, Dr. Guthrie may be said to have inherited a respect for the Seceders; he was in the habit of occasionally attending their chapel in Brechin; and, perhaps through the force of these early associations, was strongly disposed for union between them and the Free Church, even before the union movement became popular among his brethren. The parish minister of Brechin, or rather one of them (for it was a collegiate charge), whose daughter Dr. Guthrie subsequently married, was an earnest preacher, and of an excellent and very evangelical family — the late Rev. James Burns, father of the Rev. J. C. Burns, of Kirkliston, and uncle of the late William C. Burns, the Missionary to China, and of the late Professor Islay Burns. From a very early period evangelical doctrine took a firm hold of Dr. Guthrie’s heart, and all through his life it was at the foundation of his ministry.

At a very early age he was licensed as a preacher by the Presbytery of Brechin, but for a number of years no opening occurred for his entering on the ministry. He was content to wait, however; the more especially that, through the influence of the late Hon. William Maule, of Panmure (afterwards Lord Panmure), the father of the present Earl of Dalhousie, he had the prospect of being presented to a parish, the incumbent of which was far advanced in years. One benefit that came to him in this delay was that, dipping into more than one secular pursuit, he came to know much more of human nature and of the ordinary ways and feelings of the world than the somewhat monastic training of many a clergyman enables him to obtain. While exercising his gifts occasionally as a probationer, he assisted his father in his banking office on week-days. The knowledge of mankind in their money relations which he there obtained was no common advantage, and contributed in no small degree to that sagacity which characterized him afterwards in the more ordinary matters of life. Dr. Guthrie was also very deeply interested in the study of medicine. So eager was he in the pursuit that he spent the winter of 1826 — ’27 in Paris, attending medical classes, and getting whatever insight into medical matters the hospitals of that capital could enable him to acquire.

At last, in the year 1830, the parish of Arbirlot, in the Presbytery of Arbroath, became vacant, and, at the instance of Mr. Maule, the Crown issued a presentation in favour of Mr. Guthrie. In consequence of the death of George IV. and the accession of William, there was considerable delay in issuing the presentation; and in the Gaze/¢fe an odd transposition of names occurred, and it was announced that the King had presented Rev. So-and-so (naming the late iv MEMOIR.

minister) to the church and parish of Arbirlot, in room of the Rev. Thomas Guthrie, deceased. This act of official murder having been somehow got the better of, Mr. Guthrie was settled as minister of the parish of Arbirlot. It was a purely rural parish, and it had this remarkable peculiarity, that during his ministry there was but one single individual in it, a kind of free-thinker, who did not attend the parish church. Mr. Guthrie’s talent as a preacher soon began to appear. He set out with a fixed determination to make himself understood, and to try to gain the attention of the people. Watching what parts or passages of his sermons seemed to impress them most, he saw that it was his illustrations, and he resolved to give special attention to illustration in every sermon. He had another way of finding out what was most adapted to his audience. It was his habit to go over his sermons with a class of young people, and from their answers he easily gathered what parts of his sermons they understood and felt, and what parts, on the other hand, they had little interest in. By all these lessons he sagaciously profited in his after preparations.

His ministry roused the people of Arbirlot out of the profound sleep in which they had been permitted to indulge, and was accompanied by a measure of spiritual blessing. His fame began to spread, and was considerably increased by a public lecture which he delivered at Arbroath, in opposition to the extreme Voluntaryism of Dr. Ritchie, of Potterrow, Edinburgh, with which he never sympathized. The attention of the late Mr. Alexander Dunlop, afterwards Mr. Murray Dunlop, M.P., was drawn to him, and we believe that Mr. Dunlop went to Arbirlot to hear him preach, and carried back to Edinburgh the report of his great powers ‘in the pulpit. It is worthy of

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mention that, during his ministry at Arbirlot, Dr, Guthrie was prostrated by a very serious attack of fever. For many days his life hung in the balance, and night after night his friends watched him with hardly a shadow of hope that he would see the morning. Had he not had a frame of great vigour he could not have survived the attack; but through God’s mercy his life was preserved for the valuable and important services which he had been pre-ordained to render.

In the year 1837, the death of Dr. Anderson having caused a vacancy in the then collegiate Church of Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh, the Town Council conferred on the minister of Arbirlot the greatest compliment, as it was then considered, to a country minister, by electing him to the vacant Edinburgh charge. Arbirlot and its people had taken a great hold on his heart, and to leave its fresh rural fields to work in the dingy closes and “lands’’ of the Cowgate of Edinburgh, which was embraced in his parish, was no ordinary trial. Impelled, however, by that providential force, which so often urges men of power to abandon an easy for a more difficult post, Mr. Guthrie accepted the call to Greyfriars.

From the first he took rank as a preacher of singular vigour and vivacity. In Edinburgh, no less than in Arbirlot, he was resolved not to let his people sleep. If at first his manner and illustrations had a certain homespun character, he came by and by to see the advantages of adapting himself even to the most cultivated taste, and took. much more pains with his style. His labours in the Greyfriars’ were divided between preaching on Sundays in the parish church and “excavating’ on week-days in the parish purlieus. It was not long before the parish church became crowded with hearers, many of them persons of v MEMOIR.

the first position and influence in Edinburgh. Among his regular hearers were Lords Jeffrey and Cockburn. The story is told of Cockburn that, being asked by a friend who met him one Sunday where he was going to church, he answered, “Going to have a greet wi’ Guthrie.” Lord Rutherfurd was also among his regular hearers, and so was Lord Cunningham, whose views on church controversies were diametrically opposite. Hugh Miller joined his congregation when he came to Edinburgh, and continued through life his warm and admiring friend. Many other citizens of influence attended, and in the latter part of his ministry, after he left the Establishment, his church was the resort of innumerable strangers. At first, however, the influx of ladies and gentlemen from the New Town was rather embarrassing. When he came to Edinburgh the Voluntary controversy was raging, and the reproach was flung out on the one side, and repudiated on the other, that the Established Church was the church only of the gentry, and that the odious Annuity-tax was levied on the poor to support the ministers of the rich. Mr. Guthrie at that time believed in the Established Church as the church of all classes, and besides he was diligently working in his parish, and was annoyed at the Town Council laying on seat rents, which really went to exclude the poor, and furnished some reason for the reproach of the Dissenters. Under the influence of these views he promoted the uncollegiating of Old Greyfriars’ Church, and got a new church and parish erected in 1840, close to the Cowgate, called St. John’s, in which it was intended to try the experiment of allocating one portion of the sittings to the people of the parish, and allowing the rest to be let to the public at comparatively high rates. The experiment proved highly successful, but Mr. Guthrie had not occus

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pied his church long before events occurred that led to a revolution in the ecclesiastical arrangements of St. John’s and of the whole of Scotland.

We have seen that Mr. Guthrie was an enemy of extreme Voluntaryism, and a conscientious upholder of the Established Church. He had accepted more than one presentation from lay patrons, but the veto law was then in operation, and patronage was checked by the efficient control which that law had given to the people against unsuitable appointments. But a high-handed patronage he never would have brooked. Neither could he have borne the interference of the State in the spiritual functions and prerogatives of the Church. His theory of the connection of Church and State was that, as co-ordinate powers, they were in friendly alliance, and that neither of them had any right, either inherently or by statute, to override the other in its proper domain. ‘The decisions and actings of the civil courts in the Auchterarder and other cases were, in his view, entirely unconstitutional. A great stand must be made against them. For, whatever advantages the State might confer on the Church, if these advantages interfered with its freedom or impaired its spirituality — if they interfered with its right and obligation to regard the mind of Christ, as expressed in His Word, as the supreme rule by which it was to regulate its procedure, he would not scruple to renounce all these advantages in order to retain the Church’s freedom. Dr. Guthrie, moreover, had a great regard for the rights of the people. He had confidence in the popular appreciation of the chief qualities to be sought in a preacher of the gospel, and stood bravely by popular rights. The outrageous disregard of these rights in the settlements of Auchterarder and Marnoch roused his indignation. With great decision and great energy he threw in his lot with

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what was called the non-intrusion party. When the Strathbogie ministers were suspended, and when, in their great folly, they applied for and obtained interdicts from the Court of Session prohibiting the ministers appointed by the General Assembly from preaching in their parishes, Mr. Guthrie was one of those who set the interdict at defiance, and proclaimed himself prepared to go to prison — which was the threatened penalty — rather than be guilty of rendering to Cesar in this matter the things that were God’s. In the great public meetings in Edinburgh and elesewhere, held to promote the cause of those who were struggling against the oppression of the civil courts, Mr. Guthrie’s eloquence was always one of the most efficient popular forces. Cunningham was more learned, and Candlish more subtle and more skilled in giving expression and form to the thoughts and aspirations of his party; but in humour, in illustration, in appeals to the broad feelings and convictions of the people, Guthrie excelled them both. The remarkable combination of humour and pathos by which he was characterized had more scope on the platform than in the pulpit. Occasionally he would rise to the sublime, but the fertility of his fancy in the realm of humour supplied a constant and almost irrepressible means. of enlivening and refreshing his audience. Side by side with the illustrious men by whom, in some high qualities, he knew that he was eclipsed, it cannot be said that Dr. Guthrie showed any of the weakness of jealousy. Never did he utter a finer sentiment than on one occasion before the Disruption, when, in reference to the tremendous conflict of the day, he adverted to the invaluable help which would have been rendered by the late Dr. Andrew Thomson, had he been alive, and said that he did not know what inscription had been placed over his ashes, but, if it

were yet to choose, he would suggest that which the Carthaginians placed on the tomb of Hannibal — “We greatly desired him in the day of battle.” From that he proceeded to remark how wonderfully his mantle had fallen on his successor in St. George’s Church, and on the other champions who had been provided for the battle. Dr. Guthrie, had afterwards occasion to differ on important points from Dr. Candlish and others with whom he was then associated — notably from Dr. Begg, who was often his comrade in arms in those days — but no one ever heard him say anything but what was kind of them personally, even when he most disapproved of their doings.

When the Disruption happened in ea Dr. Guthrie’s course was clear. At the Convocation he had taken up his ground firmly, and had been useful in confirming the minds of some that were wavering then. On the 18th of May he was among the foremost and heartiest of the leaders of the Free Church movement, and the cheery tones of his voice, ringing through Tanfield Hall, were in singularly close accord with the feelings of the enthusiastic multitude that cheered-him to the echo. On leaving St. John’s Church, his congregation obtained temporary accommodation in the Wesleyan Chapel in Nicolson Square. This served to draw closer the bonds which already attached him to the Wesleyan body. He always cherished for them a very high esteem; some of them were his most intimate friends, such as Mr. Percival Bunting, of Manchester, and the late-Mr. Chubb, of London; and he was ever ready to lift up his voice on their behalf, and bear testimony to the eminent service they had rendered to vital religion and Christian Missions. In the course of a few years a new church was built for the congregation of Free St. John’s, close to the old one, on the Castle Hill, and Dr. Guthrie entered x MEMOIR.

on a new era of his ministry, and was more popular than ever.

It is not necessary to attempt a critical estimate of the style of his oratory. It is too well known to make this necessary. There was nothing very intellectual in his sermons, nor was he, in so far as substance was concerned, original. His originality lay in his illustrations. The profusion of imagery at once delighted and dazzled his audience; but along with this there was a wonderful power of touching the feelings and arresting the sympathy.

The pulpit of Edinburgh was then singularly rich in varied and brilliant ability, but in his own department he was facile princeps. During the greater part of his ministry his sermons were prepared at no ordinary cost of time and labour. Often the labour was performed in the vestry of his church, for the interruptions to which he was subject at home made continuous application there impossible. After being carefully written and corrected, the sermon was committed to memory — the preacher being somewhat aided by a skeleton, bringing out prominently the leading ideas and words. But no pains were spared in this part of his work; and the persevering labour which, week after week, and year after year, Dr. Guthrie spent in so mastering his sermons that the delivery might be as efficient as possible was one of the most remarkable features of his character, as it was one of the most important elements of his success. y

Nor was he merely the orator. His ministry was fruit.) ful in conversion, more, perhaps, in that than in the build- — ing-up of the converts. The gospel message was brought to the ears of many not likely to hear it elsewhere; and in several instances, with the blessing of God, men who went — as Augustine went to hear Ambrose — for the sake

of the eloquence were, like him, too, arrested by the truths which the eloquence conveyed. Dr. Guthrie exercised a marked influence in Edinburgh, along with other eminent preachers, in giving to evangelical truth the commanding place which it got in the pulpit. This was one of the least noticed results of his influence at the time, but to the historian it will be held to be one of the greatest services which he and others rendered to the Christian Church.

During the early years of the Free Church, no man was more laborious and earnest than Dr. Guthrie in helping forward its interests, and pleading, not indiscriminately for all, but for most of its schemes. The interests of the country ministers had a very large place in his heart. The Building and Sustentation Funds had done much to equalise the position of town and country ministers, but, notwithstanding this, it was lamentably apparent that, in one respect, at all events, the country ministers who had left the Establishment were in much worse plight than their city brethren. In many cases, the want of suitable dwelling-houses entailed a suffering which could not be thought of without distress: Thinking how he could help them, he was led to devise one of those Herculean labours, which only men of the largest heart and the most unflinching courage are able to entertain. He proposed the scheme of a General Manse Fund that would give efficient aid to all, and he offered to go through the whole of Scotland, plead for the fund in every town, village, and parish, where there was the likelihood of contributions being got for it, and do his utmost to raise for it a hundred thousand pounds. In many cases, Dr. Guthrie visited personally all the members of congregations who were able to give a good start to the subscrip-Xll MEMOIR.

tion, explaining the arrangements and urging the claims to each. At what an amount of personal and domestic sacrifice this was done cannot be estimated; but one little circumstance may be mentioned. In the midst of his engagements for this fund, scarlet fever assailed his large household; and for a time, at each of the hurried visits which he was able to snatch from his work to visit his family, he found an additional couple of his children prostrated by the disease. The result of his effort was, that not only the proposed one hundred thousand pounds was subscribed, but a large sum beyond. His family all recovered; but to the noble-hearted advocate of the scheme himself the consequences were very serious, The excessive labour was too much even for his powerful frame, and, as happens so commonly in the case of men whose energies are over-taxed, the heart became affected (1848), and the foundation was laid of the ailment which, after an interval of twenty-five years, has now sent him to the grave, to the irreparable loss of his Church and his friends.

Cordially though Dr. Guthrie went in with the Free Church movement, and with most of its schemes and undertakings, he did not think that there was a call to establish an Education Scheme on the wide footing contemplated by other leading members of the Church. On the subject of education his views were always liberal. He did not think that it belonged to the Church to educate, and he was very desirous that those divisions and separations, which had become inevitable in our churches, should not be introduced into our schools. He did not, - therefore, deem it right to set up a school in connection with Free St. John’s. But a conviction had been maturing in his mind that a demand of the most imperative kind existed for another kind of school. His experience

as a parish minister of Old Greyfriars, had shown him that there was a mass of children in Edinburgh whose parents were either dead or utterly profligate, and who, instead of being trained up to industry and honesty, became the pests and torments of the community. Instead of throwing his energies into the work of providing an ordinary day school, he resolved to aid in establishing a Ragged School. The Ragged School movement had already been begun in London, under the auspices of his noble friend Lord Shaftesbury, then Lord Ashley, and in Aberdeen under those of Sheriff Watson — but in Edinburgh nothing had been done. To this triumvirate — Ashley, Watson, and Guthrie — this memorable movement owes its birth and much of its early success. Dr. Guthrie’s “‘ Plea for Ragged Schools” was universally felt to be one of the most successful brochures of the kind ever issued. It constituted an era in the history of these undertakings. It did more than probably any similar production to rouse public attention to a class of children that had previously been utterly neglected, but whose claims on Christian philanthropists were of the most imperative kind. His name became imperishably associated with the enterprise; and, often though he spoke and wrote on it in after years, nothing that he spoke or wrote ever eclipsed his first effort, or cast into the shade his memorable “Plea.”

But universally though the object was applauded, the new-born institution was destined in its infancy to pass through a severe ordeal. Dr. Guthrie’s principle always was that when the Directors of the Ragged Schools undertook the charge of neglected children they came to stand to them zz loco parentis. ‘They came under the responsibilities of parents, and, in reference to the religious training of the children, they were bound to act according to their view of what was right. Consequently, he felt it a duty that all of the children should receive Bible instruction. In the case of ordinary schools, much though he valued Bible instruction, he would not have claimed the right to insist on it, but would have felt it right to leave it to the parents; but in the case of ragged schools and gutter children the case was different. There the children had been neglected by the parents, and the directors stepped forward to exercise the function which had been neglected by their proper guardians. Dr. Guthrie would not recognise the common distinctions of sect in regard to the church they were to go to — indeed, the Ragged School children were sent not to the Free but to the Established Church; but he and his brother directors stood firm to the Bible, and refused to propose anything else, but that all who became pupils of that school should have their education conducted, in accordance with the Word of God. In this purpose he was vehemently opposed by a number of influential citizens, who insisted that, while a common sécular education ought to be given to all the children, their religious instruction should be separated, and Protestant pastor and Romish’priest should be called in to supply the religious element, according to what might have been the religious profession of their parents. Dr. Guthrie was supported by the Duke of Argyll and many others, men of the highest character and the soundest judgment, and the consequence was that, while the United Industrial School was started to carry out the more latitudinarian programme, Dr. Guthrie’s school — or the Original Ragged School — continued to exhibit an open Bible as the symbol of its practice and the source of its teaching.

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We may introduce here the testimony of a competent authority as to the effects of this noble enterprise in checking the alarming progress of crime in the city of Edinburgh. Mr. Smith, Governor of the Edinburgh Prison, whose early interest and valuable co-operation in the movement are well*known, made the following statement at a meeting of those interested in Ragged Schools, held in Edinburgh on the roth June, 1868: “The incidence of the Ragged Schools on juvenile offenders was soon apparent. In the year ended 30th November, 1847, the commitments of juveniles under fourteen years of age constituted over five and a-half per cent. of the total commitments to prison. In the year ended November, 1850, the commitments of juveniles under fourteen had fallen to one and a-third per cent. — that is to say, the commitments in the latter were not one-fourth what they were in the former of these years, the actual numbers being 260 in 1847, and 61 in 1850. It was to be expected, as a natural sequence, that if crime was checked in juveniles under fourteen, and fewer of them were committed to prison, there would also be fewer of a class arrived at a still more critical age — namely, youths from fourteen to sixteen; and such was found to be the case. In the year ended November, 1848, there had been 552 commitments of that class; in the year ended November 1850, there were 227; and, not. to occupy time by a detailed statement showing from year to year the influence for good of ragged industrial schools, I may in a word or two say that, when the Original Ragged Schools were commenced in 1847, there were five times as many commitments of juveniles as there were last year (1868) — the actual numbers being 260 in 1847, and 52 in 1868, while the commitments of youths from fourteen to sixteen had decreased in a still xvi MEMOIR.

greater ratio, being less than one-seventh in 1868 of what they were in 1848. Of course this most pleasing change is the result, not of the Original Ragged Industrial Schools alone, but of the combined action of these and all similar schools in the city.” To this we may add that the bene-? ficial operation of these industrial schools has saved the — city and county of Edinburgh a large sum which it would otherwise have been necessary to expend for additional prison accommodation. The institution and maintenance of Dr. Guthrie’s Ragged Schools is the grandest philanthropic enterprise in Edinburgh during the present generation; and, on the whole, it has been recognized as such by all classes. There were no public meetings more numerously and influentially attended, while Dr. Guthrie was able to attend them, than the Annual Meetings of the Original Ragged School, and no institution which elicited a larger measure of sympathy and support from Christian people.

A considerable part of his life had elapsed before Dr. Guthrie came before the public as an author, apart from pamphlets and “pleas.” His first, and certainly not the least characteristic or remarkable of his books, was “The Gospel in Ezekiel.” It consisted of a series of discourses, which were very carefully revised and retouched again and again before they were submitted to the public. The verdict of the public was given most unmistakeably in its favour. Upwards of forty thousand copies have been sold — a number almost if not altogether without precedent in the case of a volume of sermons somewhat high in price. ‘ Ezekiel” was followed by “Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints.” The number of his works published since that time has been very large, mostly of similar character; the great fundamental truths of the

Gospel constantly underlying his expositions, and receiving that brilliant and lively colouring which has contributed so largely to the popularity of his writings.*

The affection of the heart which Dr. Guthrie had contracted while pleading the cause of the Manse Scheme made it imperative that he should obtain permanent help, in his pastoral charge. By special arrangement of the General Assembly, St. John’s became for the time a collegiate charge, and the Rey. William Hanna, of Skirling, son-in-law of Dr. Chalmers, and author of his life, became Dr. Guthrie’s colleague. Wide though the difference was in some respects in the nature of the gifts and tastes of the two men, their colleagueship was most harmonious. Both were full of warmth and affection; both were devout and earnest; both were interested in the spiritual welfare of the whole congregation; and the connection was unattended by the evils which colleagueship often breeds. Dr. Hanna supplied to the congregation the element of detailed pastoral oversight which the public engagements of Dr. Guthrie had not allowed him to furnish. In compactness and organic life the congregation made great progress under Dr. Hanna’s ministry, and, as the two pastors were so much the complement of one another, the provision of spiritual nourishment was the more complete. The arrangement had gone on pleasantly for a number of years, but about 1863 Dr. Guthrie’s health became so much more impaired that even the duties” of half the charge were more than he could sustain. In the beginning of 1864 a consultation was held among three eminent medical men, all now deceased — Sir J. Y. Simpson, Dr. Begbie, and Professor Miller; as the result of which

* The works of Dr. Guthrie have been reprinted in America by RoBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, in nine volumes,

it was found that he could no longer in safety prosecute his ministerial labours. Dr. Guthrie was most reluctantly constrained to tender a resignation, which was equivalent to his retirement, save, perhaps, on a few exceptional occasions, from the pulpit and the platform, and the discontinuance of those modes of service in which all his active life he had been in use to do the work of his Master.

The wrench that separated him was severe. It seemed hard for one who had gained such force and freedom as a public speaker to take his place as a silent hearer, and suppress what of remaining fire and energy he yet felt that he possessed. Dr. Guthrie acquiesced very quietly in the — necessity. Freedom from the pressure of constant duty, however, tended greatly to restore his health, and from time to time during the following years he set the doctors at defiance, and raised his voice with not a little of the power and persuasion of former years. Once and again he undertook important services for the Church, but was unable to fulfil them. In 1867 he was appointed a deputy to visit the Presbyterian Churches of America, along with Principal Fairbairn and Mr. Wells; but, after he had not only taken his passage, but had sailed to Queenstown, he found himself obliged to abandon the voyage and return to Scotland. In 1872 he was on the eve of setting out to fulfil an appointment of the Continental Committee of the Free Church to officiate in their Church at Rome; but illness again prevented (October), an illness so sharp and severe that the gravest fears were excited among his friends that he would not recover.

Dr. Guthrie was not left without substantial proofs of the esteem and sympathy of his friends in the circumstances in which he was now placed. A movement was set on foot for presenting him with a testimonial that

should at once show the regard in which he was held, and form an item in the sources of support for him and his family in the future. His professional income had always been small, not exceeding five or six hundred pounds a-year, and it was only with such a struggle as many of the clergy knew well that he could make it suffice for the ‘wants of his family. The sum of five thousand pounds was very cheerfully contributed by friends and admirers in all parts of the kingdom. The late Mr. Robert Balfour, secretary of the City of Glasgow Insurance Company in Edinburgh, conducted the business part of this movement, and it was largely owing to his rare tact and perseverance that it proved so thoroughly successful. Some pieces of plate accompanied the gift, and the spokesman on the occasion of the presentation was the late Mr. George Dalziel, W.S., an elder of Dr. Guthrie’s congregation, and one of his most attached personal friends.

Not long after his retirement it was proposed to him by Mr. Strahan .that he should undertake the editorship of the Sunday Magazine, which that enterprising publisher was at that time projecting. The proposal which Mr. Strahan has told the public he made to the late Dr. Macleod when he started Good Words was made more emphatically to Dr.-Guthrie, that, if Dr. Guthrie would become captain of the ship, Mr. Strahan himself would do the duty of the sailing master. Dr. Guthrie felt that the duties of an editor were somewhat alien to his habits, and hesitated about the proposal. But, as the post was not of his seeking, as the offer of it coincided with his retirement under providential circumstances from his own more cherished sphere, as Mr. Strahan was to relieve him of editorial details, as the opportunity of usefulness was great, and as many collaborateurs of his own views were xX MEMOIR.

willing to give their aid, Dr. Guthrie agreed. As he left the management to a large degree in Mr. Strahan’s hands, the magazine in some departments did not exhibit all his image and superscription, but it has ever been marked by at least two of his characteristics — his catholicity of spirit, eager to welcome and to turn to account the good of Christian men of all denominations, and his noble Christian philanthropy — his intense sympathy with sorrow and suffering, and his unfaltering confidence in the Gospel as the foundation of all that is truly fitted to elevate and bless mankind.

Set free as Dr. Guthrie now was from the pressure of constant work, he was enabled to avail himself more fully of a source of pleasure which he had always greatly relished — travel in foreign countries. France, Switzerland, and Italy were all objects of great interest and sources of much enjoyment. But of all the places and people that he knew, none laid a greater hold of his heart than the Piedmontese valleys and their people. For the last few years of his life the Waldensian Churches were cherished with the warmest regard, not simply on their own account, but because he regarded them as destined in the providence of God to perform a right memorable service in the cause of the Gospel in Italy. He always regarded the Waldenses as the proper evangelists of Italy, and urged their mission with singular earnestness on public attention. He preached, wrote or spoke on their behalf; attended London drawing-rooms, and sought to interest high and low in their welfare. It was a great joy to him to see Italy free for the entrance of the Gospel; but, the door having been set open, he urgently sought that the right agents should enter in. Some of his friends, he thought, might have given their active support to the

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Waldensian Mission instead of setting up a denominational enterprise of their own.

It would not be easy to enumerate all the Christian and charitable objects to which Dr. Guthrie contributed his powerful advocacy. Wherever there was suffering to be redressed, and an adaptation between the means proposed and the end contemplated, he was eager to aid to the utmost of his power. In the earlier part of his life he was a zealous teetotaler, but the illness under which he suffered, rendering it necessary by medical orders that his system should be stimulated, he had not the same freedom in ‘advocating teetotalism as he would otherwise have had. Among the objects that specially interested him of late years we may mention the Contagious Diseases Act. He was thoroughly opposed to them root and branch; yet he could not but feel that our army system, making little or no provision for the marriage of soldiers, was the root of bitterness that tempted our legislators and doctors to fall on the device of these Acts — a device in whose efficacy, even for medical purposes, he had no confidence. The education question greatly interested him, and his brief letter on that subject to the people of Scotland produced a great impression. The union of the Nonconformist Presbyterian Churches of Scotland was also very dear to his heart; and, seeing clearly the blessings it was likely. to bring, and the scandal and other evils it would avert, he mourned as a great public calamity the opposition, founded on somewhat subtle theoretical principles, that grew to such a height..

In conversation Dr. Guthrie shone greatly. His manner was easy, natural, and very lively; he always showed a courteous respect for his company, and seemed to know instinctively how to accommodate himself to them. Full of humour, his wit often flowed in a sparkling stream, making him the most agreeable of companions. But even in miscellaneous company he knew how to.serve his Master, and those who were much with him can remember occasions in which he showed no small measure of moral courage and faithfulness in this way. Some persons have the impression that his respect for the aristocracy was beyond what might have been looked for in one of so manly and Christian a type of character. We believe that this was a mistake. Dr. Guthrie was neither an aristocrat nor a toady of aristocrats. He was essentially a man of the people and for the people. He never used his influence with the upper classes for himself or for any of his children. He encouraged his family to continue in that industrious middle class in which they were born, as not only what was natural, but also as what was the best and happiest lot for them. The ranks of the upper ten thousand had quite as many drawbacks as advantages in his eyes, even for those born in them, and far more for those who might climb into them. At the same time it is quite true that his attractive manners and character, as well as his eminent position, greatly impressed some members of the aristocracy, and led them to cultivate his society. No one can accuse of sycophancy to the Sutherland family the man who went up and down the whole country, while advocating the Manse Scheme, telling of the two ministers of Tongue — father and son — whom he found dying in ‘separate closets of the miserable dwelling to which they -had been obliged to betake themselves. It was creditable to the Duke of Sutherland, not only that he came to see his error in opposing the Free Church, but that he became the friend of the man who drew so much attention and sympathy to this distressing case. Certain it is that

the regard of the late Duke and Duchess for Dr. Guthrie was of the highest kind. The Duke and Duchess of Argyll, too, had the warmest affection for him, and in their house he was in the habit of meeting the first society of the country. Instances could be told of his refusing to meet men even of the highest rank when he knew them to be living as they ought not to have been.

To his friends — those in his own sphere of life — Dr. Guthrie’s attachment was very strong. Any ill-treatment of them vexed him most deeply. When he was moved to keen and vehement words it was because his heart was smarting for the wound of his friend. He was greatly displeased when the late Dr. Gunn, of the High School, was objected to and cast overboard as Government Inspector of Schools for the Free Church; not less so when Dr. Cunningham’s views of college matters were overborne; and most of all when disrespectful language was applied in the course of the Union controversy to Dr. Candlish and other fathers, to whom he felt that the Free Church owed more than words could tell. Sons and daughters of old friends had always a warm place in his heart. His circle of friendship was very wide, and few that. knew him will fail to cherish the remembrance of their intercourse -with him among the most interesting events of their life.

Dr. Guthrie was well read and well informed on ordinary subjects, but, as he readily acknowledged, he was no scholar. His intellect was intuitive rather than logical. His reasons were the reasons of common sense, founded on human nature and his observations of its workings. In fact, the great sagacity of Dr. Guthrie, in combination with genius, formed one of his most remarkable characteristics. The dash of eccentricity which is usually allied to genius was not to be traced in him. He was as sound in judgment as he was imaginative and discursive in eloquence. But he was not familiar with musty folios of, Greek and Latin. It was more in deference to his position as a distinguished minister of the Gospel, orator, and social reformer, than as an erudite divine, that in 1849 the University of Edinburgh conferred on him the degree of D.D., — the first instance of their giving that honour to a minister of the Free Church.

Dr. Guthrie, as we have said, married a daughter of the late Rev. James Burns, of Brechin, whose constant devotion to her husband, and cordial sympathy with him in all his many-sided labours, did much to render Dr. Guthrie’s one of the happiest, as well as most useful of lives. Their family was large, consisting of ten children — six sons and four daughters. Nothing could have been smoother or happier than the course of his family life, nor could a father well have left a family behind him more disposed to tread in his footsteps, or more full of honour for his example and his memory.

LAS Taw LENE SS.

Dr. GUTHRIE left Edinburgh on the 29th of January. He travelled in one day to London, and stood the journey well. While in London, he saw Dr. Walshe, the eminent consulting physician for diseases of the heart and lungs. Dr. Walshe gave a report which considerably cheered the members of the family, but at the same time indicated clearly the very dangerous nature of Dr. Guthrie’s malady. On the following day Dr. Guthrie went to St, Leonards,

and was much fatigued by the journey there. During his residence at St. Leonards the weather was very unfavourable, and it was impossible for him to be so much in the open air as he had been advised was necessary for his recovery. He made no progress, but became slowly weaker. It was not till Sunday, 16th February, however, that any immediate alarm was felt. On that day he accompanied, in a carriage, some members of his family to the United Presbyterian Church at Silver Hill. He did not go in, but returned in the carriage, and was very much exhausted on the way home. On Sunday night he was restless, and had several attacks of fainting. On Monday he became so alarmingly ill that, on the advice of Dr. Underwood, of Hastings, who attended him during his residence at St. Leonards, the different members of his family were summoned. ‘There were, besides Mrs. Guthrie, (who accompanied her husband to St. Leonards,) five sons present — Rev. David K. Guthrie, Free Church minister of Liberton, near Edinburgh; James Guthrie, agent of the Royal Bank, Brechin; Patrick Guthrie, of Dymock & Guthrie, Edinburgh; Thomas Guthrie, of Quilmes, near Buenos Ayres; and Charles John Guthrie, student for the Scotch bar. The only son absent was Alexander, of Balfour, Guthrie & Co., merchants, San Francisco, who is at present in California. Three daughters were present — Mrs. Welsh, Mrs. Williamson, and Miss Guthrie; the youngest daughter, Mrs. David Gray, Glasgow, being absent through illness; two sons-in-law — Reyv. William Welsh, of Mossfen-. nan, Free Church minister of Broughton; and Stephen Williamson, Copley, Cheshire, of Balfour, Williamson & Co., merchants, Liverpool; Mrs. Patrick Guthrie, a daughter-in-law, was also present. On Tuesday morning he was pronounced sinking, and it was not expected that he could survive more than a few hours. Gradually, however, he rallied, and completely emerged out of the state of partial insensibility into which he had fallen. Notwithstanding this rally, his strength steadily decreased until the close; his voice, once so rich and powerful, became gradually reduced to a whisper. The massive frame lay helpless like a child in the arms of his attendants, and the eyes so full of expression became dim and lustreless, but the mind remained clear and powerful to the close. Often he was much oppressed with drowsiness, and at such times it was difficult to know whether he clearly understood all that was said to him, but when he emerged from such state all the old mental vigour returned. On Sunday morning, the day before he died, one of his sons was reading to him the passage “Hell and the grave combined their force,” and though at the time his eyes were shut, he remarked quite distinctly that the word translated “Hell” there only meant the state of the dead. Within an hour before death, he made by signs an intelligible answer to a question put to him. He then passed into a very sound sleep, from which he never woke. About ten minutes before he breathed his last, his nurse, a Highland girl, to whom he was much attached, and on whose arms he was resting, remarked that the wrinkles on his forehead were smoothing out. The members of the family not at the time present were at once called, and in their presence, at ,twenty minutes past two, on the morning of Monday the ‘24th February, 1873, without a struggle or sigh, and so “peacefully that it was impossible to tell the exact moment - of departure, Thomas Guthrie passed away. His conversation during the last week of his life was full of affection, wisdom, and joy. He was frequently under great bodily distress from breathlessness, but he never

murmured, although he often prayed that he might have a speedy deliverance. ‘Towards the close he longed to depart, and viewed with no feelings of dread, but rather of thankfulness, the signs of approaching dissolution. One day his sight was somewhat confused, and when one of his family remarked that this was of “little significance,” he said, “Ah, no; it is just like the land birds coming lighting on the mast, which presage to the weary mariner the nearness of his desired haven.”’ On Saturday, Admiral. Baillie Hamilton, who has visited him daily and whose kindness he valued highly, told him he thought he was looking better. “Ah,” said he, “a good man comes with evil tidings.”’ He delighted to talk of Heaven, and of the many friends gone before who would welcome him there. In particular he pictured to himself his son John, who died in infancy and whose memory he always fondly cherished, running to the golden gate to meethim. He had no doubt of the recognition of friends in Heaven, and, in reference to this, quoted the saying of an old woman — ‘‘ Do you think we shall be more. foolish in Heaven than we are here?” On Thursday the Rev. Thomas Vores, incumbent of St. Mary-in-the-Castle, whose attention he highly valued, prayed with him. Dr. Guthrie was too weak to speak directly to him, but whispered to one of his sons — ‘ Tell him my journey is nearly ended — ask him to pray that I may have a speedy entrance into Heaven, and that we may have a happy meeting there, where we shall no longer have to proclaim Christ, but where we shall enjoy Him for ever and ever.”; Yet he never lost his interest earthwards. He spoke to each member of his family with the most overflowing affection. He was greatly gratified by them all, with the exception of two, being able to be present, and he often thanked

God for the comfort they had all without exception been to him. To those absent he sent loving messages, saying to one of them, “Stand up for Christ in all circumstances.” These words, “Stand up for Christ,” he repeated twice, and very emphatically. To many of his many friends he also desired to be remembered, and always asked an interest in their prayers. One of the most touching incidents of his illness was the affection he displayed towards one of his grandchildren, Anita Williamson, a little child of four years of age. When she was taken into the sick room and shown to Dr. Guthrie, a smile full of the old sweetness, but such as suffering had almost banished, at once lit up his face. He flung his arms around the little child’s neck, kissed her, and called her endearing names. It was very affecting to see her thereafter sitting on the bed fanning him or rubbing his often chilly hands. On the day before he died she came into the room as usual in the morning. His eyes by this time were very much changed, but the moment he saw her he said, “Put her up;” and when, having been lifted on to the bed, she crept up to him and kissed him, he nodded to her and whispered, ““My bonnie lamb.” His hope and confidence never wavered, and nothing was more striking than the calm way in which he expressed them. The mingling of reason with faith was as noticeable in his death as in his life; yet his trust was as simple as that of a child. During his illness he was often soothed by hymn and psalm singing, and of no hymns was he more fond than such as are called “children’s hymns’ — such as “Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me; bless Thy little lamb to-night,” and “There is a happy land.” On Friday night he asked his family to sing, and, on being asked what he would like, he said, ‘Give mea bairn’s hymn.” He often thanked God he had not left his preparation to a dying hour, and remarked on the folly of those who leave “to the mercies of a moment the vast concerns of an eternal scene.” He placed his whole confidence in Christ, and when asked on Tuesday morning, at a time when he was thought to be sinking, “You have that Saviour now?” “Yes,” he said, “I have none else.” Even when unable to speak many words, and in bodily distress, his ejaculations showed how peaceful was his mind. On the same morning he was heard to say, “On the other side,” and again, with a sweet smile on his face, “Happy, happy!”

The disease of the heart under which he suffered was one of long standing. ‘Twenty-four years ago he was told by the late Sir James Clark, the eminent consulting physician in London, that he could not preach again. At that time, and in subsequent years, he consulted Sir James Simpson, Professor Miller, Dr. James Begbie, and his brother, Dr. Alexander Guthrie, of Breehin, all of whom thought ill of his case, but yet all of whom he has survived. Latterly he had consulted Sir Robert Christison, Dr. Cumming, and Dr. Warburton Begbie in Edinburgh, and, as already mentioned, Dr. Walshe, in London. At St. Leonards, as above stated, he was attended by Dr. Underwood. His malady was complicated by a severe attack of rheumatism, which he had last year, and which seemed to have left permanent effects behind. During his last illness he suffered no pain, but very great uneasiness, which he bore with a wonderful patience.

That catholicity which was so prominent a feature of Dr. Guthrie’s character was well exemplified in his dying hours. The clergymen who attended him, and prayed with him almost daily, were the Rev. Thomas Vores, of the Church of England, the Rev. James Griffin, of the Independent Church, and the Rev. Geo. Carr, of the United Presbyterian Church. Their visits he always welcomed with pleasure, as he did also those of Admiral Baillie Hamilton, who is a member of the Episcopalian Church. On Sunday prayers were offered for him in many of the churches and chapels in Hastings and St. Leonards.

Death, in the case of Dr. Guthrie, has been robbed of much of its terror. Notwithstanding the distressing nature of his complaint, he has had merciful intervals of relief from pain, and has been enabled to testify by his death, as he has done by his long and useful life, to the support and consolation of the faith which was in him, Attended by his devoted wife and most of the members of his family, he had all the solace which domestic affection and tenderness could afford; and committing them and himself to his Saviour, he has thus died, like the old Hebrew patriarch, at a distance from his native place indeed, but in a good old age, and in the presence of all his brethren. In his pilgrim progress he had reached the land of Beulah, remaining peacefully and contentedly there till the King’s messenger came for him with a sure token; or, to use his own beautiful thought, he felt as if he was permitted to mount to the mast-head now and then, to look out for the desired haven. He has now reached the happy shore, and those who are left behind may weep for themselves, but cannot weep for him. And yet, after all the warnings we have had, it is difficult to realize that the tall, stately form, the genial countenance, the ready smile and sympathizing word of Dr. Guthrie will never more be seen or heard in our midst.

Dr. Candlish preached on Sunday morning (March 2d) in Free St. John’s Church, which was densely crowded, from the text, Hebrews ix. 27, 28: “And as it is appoint-MEMOIR. XXx

ed unto men to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many: and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation.”” In concluding his discourse, he said: I ask you, beloved brethren, to listen to these sentences which I am about to read, and which are not mine, but another’s. “Thank God, my tongue has been unloosed!”

‘‘ All reserve is gone — I can speak out now.” “Oh! most mighty and most merciful, pity me, once a great sinner, and now a great sufferer.” “Blessed Jesus! what would I now do but for Thee!” “I am a father, and I know

what a father’s heart is. My love to my children is no more to God’s infinite love as a Father than one drop of water to that boundless ocean out there.” “Death is mining away here, slowly but surely, in the dark.” “TI often thought, and even hoped, in past years, that God would have granted me a translation like Chalmers or Andrew Thomson. But it would appear now this is not to be the way of it.” “Oh! the power yet in that arm” — the right arm stretched out with force while in bed. “I doubt it presents the prospect of a long fight. And if so, Lord help me to turn my dying hours to better purpose than ever my preaching ones have been.” “The days have come. in which I have no pleasure in them.” “Vanitas Vanitatum! I would at this moment gladly give all my money and all my fame for that poor body’s” (a smiling countrywoman tripping by) — “vigour and cheerfulness.” “A living dog is better than a dead lion.” “TI have often seen death-beds. I have often described them; but I had no conception till now of what hard work dying really is!” “Had I known this years ago, as I know it now, I would have felt far more for others in similar circumstances than I ever did.” “Ah! my dear children,

you see I am now just as helpless in your arms as you ever were in mine.”’ Of telegraphic messages about him, he said: “I bless God for the telegraph; because these will serve as calls to God’s people to mind me in their prayers. Of the Queen’s inquiry: “It is very kind.” Of a young attendant: “Affection is very sweet; and it is all one from whatever quarter it comes — whether from this Highland lassie or from a peeress — just as to a thirsty man cold water is equally grateful from a spring on the hillside as from a richly ornamented fountain.” Parting with a humble servant: “God bless you, my friend.” “I would be most willing that any man who ever wrote or spoke against me should come in at that door, and I would shake hands with him.”’ These are fresh and racy death-bed utterances; true to the nature of the man who, to the last, retained his genial originality; the man who, with genuine courtesy and his wonted humour, apologized for the trouble he was giving, referring to Charles the Second’s begging his courtiers to excuse him for being such an unconscionable time in dying; the man who, child-like as he always was, chose “bairns’ hymns,’ as he called them, for his solace in his weakness: “Oh! that will be joyful,” “There is a happy land;” relishing them as he relished that one of Cowper’s “There is a fountain filled with blood;” and preferring them to all other uninspired songs of praise. Here I would fain stop, and leave the last words of a singularly true and gifted man to tell with their own proper weight, free from the intrusion of more commonplace remarks. I cannot, in fact, in the view of such an affecting chamber of sickness, find it in my heart to deal in the ordinary topics of consolation and edification for which death furnishes occasion. I am in no mood for moralizing or sermonizing over my beloved brother’s grave.

Nor can I attempt to compose a funeral oration or ¢lage upon the life and character, the rare endowments and accomplishments, the manifold good works and services of him who is gone. This is not the place, this is not the time for eulogy. JI am not the man competent to such a theme. His praise is in all the churches, and through all society in many lands. I am here simply to express my own feelings and yours under the pressure of a heavy grief. How I admired and loved Thomas Guthrie, and how he reciprocated my affection during all the years, some five-and-thirty, of our close familiarity and most intimate and cordial friendship; how genuine and trustworthy a friend I ever found him; what experience I have often had of his noble generosity; how very pleasant he has been to me, I dare not trust myself to say. Friend and brother, comrade in the fight, companion in tribulation, farewell! But not for ever. May my soul, when my hour comes, be with thine! A great man truly in Israel has fallen. Men of talents, men of abilities, men of learning, are not uncommon. Men powerful in thought and speech are often raised up. But genius, real poetic genius like Guthrie’s, comes but once in many generations. We shall not look upon his like soon, if ever. Nor was it genius alone distinguished him. The warm heart was his and the ready hand; the heart to feel, the hand to work. ‘No sentimental dreamer or mooning idealist was he. His pity was ever active. Tears he had, but also far more than tears, for all who needed sympathy and help. His graphic pictures of the scenes of misery he witnessed were inspired by no idle dreamy philanthropy after the fashion of Sterne or Rousseau, but by a human love for all human beings, intensely real and vigorously energetic. His self-denying labours among the families of the Cowgate, where he shrank from no drudgery for himself, and shunned no contact with poverty and vice in others; his noble zeal in every good and holy cause; his rising, almost alone at first, to the full height of one of his best enterprises — the rescuing of children from sin and sorrow, from ignorance and crime; these and many other like memorials of his wide, comprehensive, practical benevolence, will not soon pass from the grateful memories of his countrymen. The fruits of his evangelical ministrations, and that powerful preaching of the Word which captivated so many thousand ears and hearts, the day will declare. The blank which his removal makes in our own Church, the Church of our fathers, the Free Church of Scotland, is one that can scarcely soon, if ever, be supplied. It will be felt for years to come. In fact, the Church does not seem to me what it was now that Guthrie is away. He was a power unique in himself, and rising in his uniqueness above other powers. He did not indeed venture much on the uncongenial domain, to him, of ecclesiastical polemics, or the wear and tear of ordinary church administration, leaving that to others whose superiority in their department he was al-. ways the first to acknowledge. But in his own sphere, and in his own way, he was to us, and to the principles on which we acted, a tower of strength. His eloquence alone — so expressive of himself — so thoroughly inspired by his personal idiosyncracy — so full always of genial humour — so apt to flash into darts of wit — and yet withal so profoundly emotional and ready for passionate or affectionate appeals — that gift or endowment alone made Guthrie an invaluable boon to our Church in the times of her ten years’ conflict and afterwards. But the Guthrie monument, so far as our Free Church is concerned, is in our thousand manses, a monument which he himself reared, and in the rearing of which he may be truly said to have sacrificed his health and strength. But endangered health

-and diminished strength did not quench the ardour of his burning soul. Laid aside from enforced professional labour, in pulpit or in parish, Guthrie was still the man for men — holding himself always open to all calls and appeals in the line of Christian and catholic benevolence. To our own Church he was, to the last, loyal and loving. No one more so. But he grew, as I would desire to grow, more and more from year to year, in sympathy with all who love Jesus and hold the truth as itisin Him. May the Lord, in His own good time, answer his many prayers for the repairing of all breaches in Zion, and send to the divided and. distracted Christian family all over the world that peace and living unity on which his large heart was set.

THE FUNERAL.

THE mortal remains of the Rev. Dr. Guthrie were laid in the grave on the Friday following his decease, in presence of the greatest funeral gathering seen in Edinburgh since the death of Sir James Simpson. The place of interment was the family burying-ground, next the south wall of the Grange Cemetery, and directly opposite the broad walk which passes through the middle of the cemetery, by the tunnel below the terrace. A simple slab of stone let

into the wall bears the inscription, “Burying-Ground of Rey. Thomas Guthrie, D.D.,” and flowers mark the graves of his youngest son, John, and of a grandchild. The wall around the stone is thickly covered with ivy, and at each side of the ground, which is of more than ordinary extent, there is a weeping ash. It is the sunny side of the pleasant grounds of the Grange, and it is natural to suppose that, with his keen sense of the beautiful in nature, and of what is becoming in Christian burial, the good man whose loss we mourn selected a spot where grassy turf should cover his dust, and

“Many an evening sun shine sweetly o’er his grave.”

From an early hour in the forenoon visitors began to enter the Grange Cemetery, and made their way to the open grave, where several constables were stationed as a guard. For more than an hour before the time fixed for the funeral the various approaches to the cemetery were thronged with citizens wending their way to the grounds.

It was a choice winter day. The sun was shining brightly and even warmly through a clear, blue, frosty sky, flecked with fleecy clouds. It was such a day as one could have wished and almost expected for the funeral of a man of sunny nature, and whose name will ever be associated with sunny memories. As the hour approached, the thousands who covered the terrace walk eagerly directed their gaze towards the entrance gate, this being the first point at which the intervening houses permitted them to see the funeral train. Shortly after two o’clock the departure of the cortege was signalled by the striking of a bell at the Cemetery offices, and another bell, twenty minutes later, announced the arrival of the first of the procession. There were

many moist eyes and half-suppressed sighs as the boys of Dr. Guthrie’s Ragged School made their appearance, and recalled so vividly to recollection who it was that had transformed these helpless, neglected youths into honest, industrious and hopeful members of society. Nothing could have spoken more eloquently of the nature and completeness of this noble enterprise than the clean and tidy and comfortable appearance of the scholars, both boys and girls. And their demeanour was not less pleasing. There were no more decorous mourners than those little lads and lasses, with their spotless clothing, black cravats and mits, badge of black cloth on their arm, and sobered expression of countenance as they marched in step, four deep, in front of the procession. The discipline and moral training must be admirable which can produce such results that in so large a company of boys and girls not a word was spoken, not a movement was out of place or out of keeping with the solemnity of the occasion.

The coffin was removed from the house about twenty minutes past two, and placed in a catafalque made specially for the occasion. The catafalque consisted of an elegant stage mounted on wheels, and having ornamental pillars at each corner supporting a canopy. The edges were finely carved, and it was appropriately ornamented with drapery. It was surmounted with two tiers of black plumes. The coffin, which rested on the platform underneath the canopy, was covered with a black silk velvet pall, on the top of which were four wreaths made of camelias, snowdrops, lilies of the valley, hyacinths, and primulas.

The Procession slowly moved out of the Salisbury Road in the following order : —

Detachment of Policemen.

Boys and Girls of Original Ragged School. Edinburgh Industrial Brigade (Directors and Boys). Kirk-Session and Deacons’ Court of St. John’s Free Church. U. P. Presbytery of Edinburgh and Leith.

Free Presbytery of Edinburgh.

Professors and Students of the New College.
Magistrates and Town Council.

High Constables.

Mutes.

The Wearse, soith Pall — Bearers.

Relatives and Mourners.
Congregation of St. John’s Free Church.
General Public.

Private Carriages,

The attendance of the ministers and elders of the Free and United Presbyterian churches was large and representative. A body of the students of the New College, to the number of ninety, also formed part of the procession, and were headed by Professors Davidson, Smeaton, Macgregor, Rainy, Blaikie, and Duns. Then came the City Officers, with draped halberts and the sword and mace, which were also enveloped in crape. The members of the Town Council in their robes of office, the City Chamberlain and Depute City Clerk, the Treasurer, and the Convener of the Trades followed; and after them the Magistrates and the Lord Provost in their ermine robes. Certainly this was by far the most striking portion of the procession, and as such came in for a large share of attention. The High Constables came next, and then the Funeral Car, drawn by four black horses and preceded by four baton-men and two mutes — the latter in antique costume and carrying staves. The Pali-Bearers were : — Rev.

David Kelly Guthrie, Free Church minister of Liberton; Mr. James Guthrie, Agent of the Royal Bank, Brechin; Mr, Patrick Guthrie, of Messrs. Dymock & Guthrie, Edinburgh; Mr. Thomas Guthrie, of Quilmes, near Buenos Ayres; Mr. Charles John Guthrie,-student for the Scotch bar, — sons of the deceased; Rev. William Welsh, of Mossfennan, Free Church minister of Broughton; Mr. Stephen Williamson, Copley, Cheshire, of Messrs. Balfour, Williamson & Co., Liverpool; and Mr. David Gray, merchant, Glasgow — sons-in-law; Rev. J. C. Burns, Free Church minister, Kirkliston, brother-in-law; and Mr. David Guthrie, Jun., grand-nephew of deceased, representing his father, Colonel Guthrie. Along with the pall-bearers walked the following grand-children of Dr. Guthrie : — Thomas Clement and Wm. Kirk Guthrie, and Archibald Thomas Guthrie; Alexander and Stephen Anstruther Williamson. The carriage of the deceased followed, and then seven mourning carriages, in the two first of which were : — Mrs. Welsh, Miss Guthrie, and Mrs. Williamson, daughters; and Mrs. D. K. Guthrie, Mrs. James Guthrie, Mrs. Patrick Guthrie, and Mrs. Thomas Guthrie — daughters-in-law of the deceased; and in the remainder relatives or intimate friends who could not easily walk. Then came a great number of the congregation of Free St. John’s and the general public.

The procession was about three-quarters of a mile long; and it was computed that there were over thirty thousand people on the route. As the funeral-car proceeded slowly up the Grange Road the people uncovered to mark their respect for his remains. When it arrived at the grave, the people approached as near as they could get, and watched with great interest the entombment. The coffin was removed from the car and laid by the side of the grave.

The ladies of the family stood behind the chief mourner. Rev. Professor Blaikie, of the New College, co-editor with the deceased of the “Sunday Magazine,” offered up a prayer most suitable to the occasion, and the boys and girls of the Original Ragged School sang the hymn, “There is a happy land.” The coffin, the wreaths having been placed on it by the deceased’s daughters and grandchildren, and a bouquet by Mrs. Dr. Cumming, Ainslie Place, was then lowered into the grave. The inner coffin was of zinc, and the outer of polished oak. A brass plate on the lid bore the following inscription : —

THOMAS CUTHRIE,
D.D.,
BORN JULY 12TH, 1803.
DIED FEBRUARY 24TH, 1873.

After the grave had been closed, Mr. Thain, Superimtendent of the Original Ragged School, made way for two of the children — a little girl and a boy — who placed a wreath on the grave. It was a most: affecting incident, which provoked the tears of many. The great concourse of people then gradually dispersed.

The manuscripts of the deceased, along with an Autobiography, finished down to the time of the Disruption, are left to his sons — Rey. David Kelly Guthrie and Charles John Guthrie — to be used by them for publication, with the advice of his son-in-law, Rev. William Welsh.