Thomas Guthrie. By Oliphant Smeaton. (Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier. is.
6d.)—This is a volume of the "Famous Scots Series "; few names of the thirty.tive—this is the number now reached—better deserve a place. Thomas Guthrie began his ministerial life at a time when the antagonism between the Moderates and the Evangelicals was sharply accentuated. He was admitted a licentiate in 1825, but failed for five years to secure a call to a parish because he would not avow himself a Moderate. In 1830 he was appointed to Arbirlot in Forfarshire. In 1837 he accepted the charge of the Old Greyfriars Church in Glasgow, and here the Disruption movement found him. He took a leading part in the action which resulted in the creation of a Free Church. The party had not a few great men, but Dr. Guthrie probably stood in the first place as an orator. Mr. Smeaton speaks with commendable moderation of those who stayed behind. Even the heritors who refused sites for Free Church buildings have their case fairly stated. This is a well- considered study of a very vigorous and attractive personality. Could not a chapter have been given to the humour which was among Dr. Guthrie's most marked characteristics ? But possibly all records of it have passed away.
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