SCOTCH CLERGYMEN OF TO-DAY.'
This is a clever book, of a kind which it is difficult to write with good taste, and which, on the whole, perhaps ought not to be written at all. In these latter days, it seems, we must put up as best we can with what the author of The Egoist terms the " little scoundrel imps who have attained to some respectability as the dogs and pets of the comic Spirit," and who live by making " announcements " and dealing in gossip of the sort now known as " personal." The writer—who styles himself, or perhaps herself, " Deas Cromarty "--cer-
• Scottish Ministerial Miniatures. By Peas Cromarty. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1592.
tainly does not belong to the gaminesque class of " the dogs and pets of the comic Spirit." Yet this volume of sketches of Scotch professors and clergymen would probably not have been written but for the popular craving for " personal" information as to public personages—for knowledge as to not " what he believes," but " what he eats ; " not " whether he is a Radical or a Conservative," but " whether he wears a full beard or simply a moustache "—which exists quite as much in what are styled " religious circles " as in any other. Even on this side of the Tweed, a good deal is known of the work done in very different spheres by Principal Caird of Glasgow, and Principal Rainy of Edinburgh. But to very many such knowledge will be infinitely less interesting than the information that "the head of Dr. Caird is large for the rest of the frame ; it gives massiveness and nobility. The face is without beard and strongly cut, the brow high and straight, the eyes full, with clear-cut lids." In the case of Dr. Rainy, "that well-filled, well-carried figure, that clear-cut, classic, attentive face, that air of composed information and ability for every affair in hand; are they not, purely, the marks of the Edinburgh man of counsel, whether Lord of Session, W S., or Churchman ?" And yet Deas Cromarty " knows perfectly well what sort of sauce his (or her) readers wish to have served up with their personalities. Take, for example, what he says of Mr. George Macdonald :- " His countenance bears the marring of the Christian soldier; his frame is long, lean, not graceful ; he has fine, thin, nervous hands, which hang before him, and are wrung while he speaks. To know him even a little is to know a man of parts and of inward culture, and of patient, devout grace. He is one of those who are sure that our Redeemer liveth, and shall stand in the latter day upon the earth." It may be all perfectly inoffensive, this information about the beards, moustaches, thin nervous hands, and well-carried figures of the men who, in the present day, preach the Gospel north of the Tweed. But to many, the Scotland of the past, the Scotland which, in the spirit that suffuses Sartor Resartus, looked upon its preachers simply as the expositors of creeds and the embodiments of eternal principles, will appear prefer- able to the Scotland of "Deas Cromarty," which apparently looks at them with the eye of the " Society" journalist.
The chief value of this volume, however, is that, so far as we are aware, it is unique. We know no book which professes to exhibit the Scotch religious teachers and preachers of all denominations as they are at work. It gives portraits of fifteen professors (one of these, Principal Cairns, is now dead), and forty-six ministers in charges. It should be noted, perhaps, that although the professors and ministers of all denominations are included in "Deas Cromarty's " list, he (or she) is evidently inclined to show special favour to the lights of Presbyterian Dissent. In the list of professors, there figure only two Churchmen, Principal Caird and ProfessOr Cowan, as against nine Free Church teachers. Does this really mean that, in the opinion of the author of this book, the Free Church professors are, as a body, much more distinguished than their brethren of the Establishment P Again, what does "Deas Cromarty " mean by his (or her) treatment of Dr. Caird, unquestionably the most eminent Churchman of the day ? He is highly praised up to a certain point. We are told that he is " half a Puritan, but the Hellene comes in," and that "one may say that he has just missed being a poet such as Arnold, but with more warmth." Bnt, then, " the religious consciousness is to him the highest term of knowledge," and the verdict is passed that this is not enough. " Puritanism will have the soul, and the soul cries out for the risen and redeeming Christ." Does this mean that Principal Caird does not preach what, in the old language of Scotch Presbyterianism— more intelligible than that of "Deas Cromarty"—used to be styled " saving faith " ? If so, the charge should be definitely made. This author has indeed the art of innuendo, although it is not used for malicious purposes. Thus, we are told of "A. K. H. B.'s" preaching smartly enough that "it is the &cutest, liveliest worldly wisdom, with a soupcon of Father Faber to give it the more fascination." But, then, we are told also that " perhaps that sort of thing has little comfort for most of us ; perhaps it is little of a cordial for weak wills and sunk, self-weary man. " Is this not an insinuation that, whatever virtues "A. K. H. B.'s" sermons may possess, they are not of the " guile gospel " sort ? Again, what is the meaning—or perhaps, we should rather ask, what is not the meaning—of this sentence, which occurs in a sketch of the Rev. Mr. Hunter, a Congrega- tionalist minister in Glasgow ?—" Perhaps in all a lecture the name of Christ is hardly mentioned ; but a great deal is pre- supposed when congregation and preacher come together, and the omission may be an accident." In dealing with a book of this kind, consideration must be had for the author's point of view. The point in this case is rather difficult of definition. "Deas Cromarty " is essentially Evangelical, but has much sympathy with the advanced or young party in the Free Church, whose leaders are Professors Dods, Davidson, Cand- lish, and George Adam Smith. Then "Deas Cromarty" is evidently familiar with the New Stylists and the New Humourists, has adopted a few devices in the way of sentence-twisting, and talks glibly about Thrums and "Louis Stevenson." One consequence of all this is that smartness is perpetually treading on the heels of almost unctuous piety. Another consequence is, that " Deas Cromarty " seems to fish on both sides of the theological water. While the author of Olrig Grange is warmly eulogised, and it is said of him that "even the Dingwall Free Presbytery has got used to him, and never so much as thinks of arresting his hand," the Rev. Murdoch Macaskill, who is the leader of that Presbytery, and who has within the past eighteen months come to the front as the active force of the theologically—and, to a certain extent, also politically—Conservative party in the Church, is also spoken of with something more than kindness. It is said of him that " the powers of a passing day are with him ; the con- fidence and vigour of a generation fifty years nearer the creeds," and that he " believes that Christianity is a great living poem as much as a science ; and his own power is that of the bard."
The chief weakness of this book is the fact of its con- taining too much. Third-rate and fourth-rate preachers have their portraits given in it. Language of eulogy—appro- priate, perhaps, at congregational tea-meetings and church bazaars—is used in profusion, and such language is never literature by any chance. Happily, the best and least fan- tastic or impressionist portraits are those of the best-known Scotch clergymen,—such as Dr. McGregor, Dr. Donald MacLeod, and Dr. Hutton. This book seems to show that the Protestant, and especially the Presbyterian, Churches of Scotland can boast of a number of capable and earnest ministers, but that (with the possible exception of Dr. Caird, who seldom preaches nowadays) there is no outstanding pulpit orator like Dr. Chalmers, or even like Dr. Norman MacLeod or Dr. Thomas Guthrie.
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