N natural science, it is admitted as an axiom that all effects have their proportionate causes. Some have thought this untrue in moral affairs, from the difficulty o? making any calculations in reference to the actions of voluntary beings, who appear to be governed often by caprice, rather than by reason. The difficulty of tracing human actions to adequate causes is not, however, an argument against the existence of such causes, any more than the difficulty of accounting for the changes in the weather is a proof that such changes are not due to sufficient causes. Our inability may arise, not from the absence of such causes in human affairs, but from our imperfect knowledge of human nature, and from the complexity and abstruseness of the subject. It is certain that, in most cases, human actions can be traced to motives entirely sufficient to account for them; and it is not to be doubted that if we were perfectly familiar with all the springs of human action, and all the influences, physical, moral and spiritual, which act upon man's complex organism, we should be able to reduce to the rule of some fixed law, effects which now seem the result of some inconsistent whim or unaccountable and passing fancy.

      The power of surrounding circumstances to mould [147] human character is familiar to all, and it is one of the most interesting points in the lives of those who have become distinguished in any particular field of labor to note the methods by which Divine Providence has thus often prepared their hearts and minds for the sphere for which they were designed, and changed or modified their own purposes and plans until these were in harmony with their appointed life-work. It was, as formerly stated, the cherished desire of Thomas Campbell that his son Alexander should become a minister of the gospel in the Seceder denomination, to which he belonged; and in this arrangement Alexander seems to have acquiesced, rather from respect to his father's wishes than from any original purpose of his own. It was not until he encountered the perils of the shipwreck that, as formerly stated, he finally resolved, from his own convictions of duty, to devote himself to the ministry, in pursuance of which determination he was now attending his preliminary course at the University. Thus far, everything seemed tending toward the end so much desired by Thomas Campbell, who, having received intelligence of the shipwreck, and the consequent delay of the family at Glasgow, had written to them a letter full of affectionate solicitude and consolation, and highly commending all their proposed arrangements. But Alexander's stay at Glasgow, while it left his main purpose unaltered, was destined to work an entire revolution in his views and feelings in respect to the existing denominations, and to disengage his sympathies entirely from the Seceder denomination and every other form of Presbyterianism.

      This change seems to have been occasioned chiefly through his intimacy with Greville Ewing. This gentleman seemed to take a special interest in Alexander [148] and in the family, and performed so many kind offices in their behalf that he became greatly endeared to them. Alexander was frequently at Mr. Ewing's to dinner or to tea, where he formed many agreeable intimacies with the guests at his hospitable board, and acquired, during this intercourse, an intimate knowledge of Mr. Ewing's previous religious history, and that of his coadjutors, the Haldanes and others. As the facts thus presented to Mr. Campbell produced a lasting effect upon his mind, it will be necessary to present a brief sketch of them, and of the eminent men concerned in the reformatory movement then progressing in Scotland--a movement from which Mr. Campbell received his first impulse as a religious reformer, and which may be justly regarded, indeed, as the first phase of that religious reformation which he subsequently carried out so successfully to its legitimate issues.

      Among those connected with the Haldanes, Mr. Ewing himself stood deservedly high. He possessed very fine personal qualities; was a man of deep and fervent piety, and of varied and extensive learning. He was particularly well acquainted with biblical criticism, and was regarded as a skillful expositor of the Sacred Volume. He was a native of Edinburgh, and had been destined by his father for the mercantile business; but as soon as his apprenticeship expired, having a strong predilection for the ministry, he applied himself with great assiduity to the preparatory studies necessary for obtaining license in the Church of Scotland. After passing his examinations with great credit, he was licensed to preach at twenty-five years of age, and in 1793 accepted a call from the worshipers in Lady Glenorchy's chapel in Edinburgh, and was [149] ordained as the colleague of Mr. Jones, in connection with whom he preached for some years to an immense concourse of hearers. It was about this time that the brothers Haldane commenced those enterprises which produced such important religious changes in Scotland, and greatly influenced the course of Mr. Ewing's future labors.

      These two brothers, Robert and James A. Haldane, were of a distinguished Scottish ancestry, and sons of a very pious mother, who was the sister of the celebrated Admiral Duncan of the British navy. Both were thus naturally led, from this relationship, to look to the sea as the theatre of their future achievements. In due time, Robert, the elder, obtained a situation in the navy, and served with honor in the war with France, on board of the Monarch, under his uncle, and afterward in the Foudroyant, under Admiral Jervis. In the action of the Foudroyant with the Pegase, he was sent on board the captured vessel in a very stormy sea, in which two boats had been previously lost; and he so much distinguished himself by his prudence and decision in bringing the French commander on board the British vessel that he received the highest commendation from his brother officers and from Admiral Jervis. Peace being made in 1783, he relinquished the naval profession, and retired to his fine estate near Stirling, called Airthrey, to the improvement of which he devoted himself, with his accustomed energy, for ten years. But amid these peaceful pursuits the early religious impressions received from his mother revived with unwonted force. He became a daily student of the Scriptures, and devoted himself, with great earnestness, to a thorough examination of the evidences of Christianity, from which he derived great benefit. About this time, [150] Dr. Innes, the minister of the kirk in Stirling, induced him to commence family worship, and it was his delight to converse with Dr. Innes and other preachers on religious themes. It was, however, to a conversation with a pious stone-mason, with whom he once walked some miles through the woods of Airthrey, that he attributed his first clear conceptions of the plan of justification, and of the important truth that faith must cast away all reliance on frames and feelings, and rest only upon Christ. He no sooner thus learned to rely upon him alone, than he was relieved from all the doubts and uncertainties which had perplexed his mind amidst conflicting religious theories, and came to realize his personal interest in the salvation of the gospel. From this moment he determined to devote his life and his property to the promotion of the interests of religion--a resolution in which his amiable and pious wife heartily concurred. "Christianity," he well observed, "is everything or nothing. If it be true, it warrants and commands every sacrifice to promote its influence. If it be not, then let us lay aside the hypocrisy of believing it." "It immediately struck me," he says in his narrative, "that I was spending my time in the country to little profit, whilst, from the command of property, which, through the goodness of God, I possessed, I might be somewhere extensively useful."

      Greatly impressed with the importance of the missionary work in India, then commenced by Mr. Carey, his first idea was to go, with some companions, in order to introduce Christianity among the natives of Bengal. Having induced the amiable Dr. Innes, with whom he was on terms of great intimacy, to be one of the number, he was persuaded by him to propose the matter also to Greville Ewing, the doctor's brother-in-law, [151] whose consent having been also obtained, as well as that of Doctor Bogue, of Gosport, England, an old and valued friend of Robert Haldane, he proceeded at once to make arrangements for the enterprise. For each of his coadjutors Mr. Haldane was to supply the necessary outfit and passage-money, and also to provide all independent competence for those whose co-operation involved the loss of their means of subsistence; and he engaged, furthermore, to bestow the sum of thirty-five hundred pounds upon any one of them who might be compelled to return home. He accordingly determined to sell his beautiful estate of Airthrey, in the cultivation and embellishment of which he had taken so much pleasure, and proceeded to engage a printing establishment and all necessary assistants; but, upon application to the East India Company for permission to establish the mission among the Hindoos, this was positively and unexpectedly refused. The most earnest appeals having been made in vain to induce the Company to revoke their decision. Mr. Haldane was compelled, in the course of this year, 1797, to relinquish the enterprise, after having disposed of his estate. But this disappointment only served to direct his beneficence into other channels.

      During the previous year Mr. Ewing had become the editor of a periodical called the "Missionary Magazine," published under the auspices of Doctor Charles Stuart, of Edinburgh, who had once been a minister of the Kirk of Scotland, but had resigned his charge, become a Baptist, and was then engaged in the practice of medicine. He was a man of high birth, being a lineal descendant of the Regent Murray, and had renounced worldly distinction, seeking only to promote Christian and benevolent enterprises. The object of [152] the Missionary Magazine was to awaken the churches to the importance of missions to the heathen world; and it was conducted with marked ability by Mr. Ewing, and caused no little stir throughout Scotland, not only from the novelty of the subject, but from certain leanings toward Independency, which soon awakened the jealousy and hostility of the Kirk. Religion was at this time at a very low ebb in Scotland. The open infidelity of Hume, Adam Smith and others had infected all ranks, beginning with the classes at the University and penetrating the Church itself. The eminent Professor Playfair had actually renounced Christianity, and many others who continued to officiate as ministers were imbued with skepticism or Socinianism,¹ while religious apathy seemed to brood over the entire Church, with a few brilliant exceptions. This became strikingly [153] evident by the fact that when, at length, the subject of missions was brought up in the General Assembly, upon the resolution offered, "That it is the duty of Christians to send the gospel to the heathen world," this, after debate, was voted down by a large majority--a favorite argument of the opposing party being that there was plenty of ignorance, unbelief and immorality at home to occupy the efforts of all.

      This remark struck with great force the mind of James Alexander Haldane, who was present at the discussion, and was well aware that no adequate efforts were made, or were likely to be made, by the Church to remedy the evil. This remarkable man had, like his brother Robert, entered upon a seafaring life in the East India trade, in which the family had already an interest. After making several voyages to India, in which he greatly distinguished himself by his courage, seamanship and enterprising spirit, and during which, like the Rev. John Newton, he experienced many remarkable providential deliverances, he at length became captain of the East India vessel called the Mellville Castle. About this time he married a Miss Joass, niece of Sir Robert Abercrombie, and made all necessary preparation for sailing with a large East India fleet, which was expected to start from the Downs, under convoy, in December, 1793. The fleet, however, being unexpectedly detained until the month of May, he became, during this interval of leisure, much impressed with the subject of religion. He read religious books and a portion of the Scripture every day, and began to form a habit of prayer. He thought also of becoming a communicant in the Church, and experienced a strong inclination to abandon the sea in order to devote himself to religious matters, which had now become much [154] more congenial to his feelings. Receiving from his brother Robert a letter earnestly recommending this step, he decided to adopt it, and selling out his interest in "The Mellville Castle" for fifteen thousand pounds, he returned with his wife to Scotland, and finally settled in Edinburgh. Here his religious impressions continued to deepen. He sought the society of religious persons and continued to read religious books, but was, we are told, particularly devoted to the Scripture, which he considered a certain authority; and whenever he found it against any of his opinions, he readily gave them up. Continuing his investigations, he began to read the Bible in a still more child-like spirit, without seeking for any interpretation that should agree with his own ideas. But his own account of his progress is so interesting, that it is here given in his own words:

      "I now saw more of the freeness of the grace of the gospel, and the necessity of being born again, and was daily looking for satisfactory evidence of this change. My desire was now set upon frames and feelings, instead of building on the sure foundation. I got no comfort in this way. Gradually becoming more dissatisfied with myself, being convinced especially of the sin of unbelief, I wearied myself with looking for some wonderful change to take place, some inward feeling by which I might know that I was born again. The method of resting simply on the promises of God, which are yea and amen in Jesus Christ, was too plain and easy; and like Naaman, the Syrian, instead of bathing in the waters of Jordan and being clean, I would have some great work in my mind to substitute in place of Jesus Christ. The Lord gradually opened my eyes. He always dealt with me in the tenderest manner, and kept me from those horrors of mind which, in my ignorance and pride, I had often desired as a proof of my conversion. The dispensations of his providence toward me much favored the teaching which he [155] has vouchsafed to afford. The conversations of some of the Lord's people with whom I was acquainted were helpful to my soul; and, in particular, I may here add that the knowledge of the Scriptures that I had acquired in early life was very useful to me when my views were directed to the great concerns of eternity. Many things were then brought to my remembrance which I had learned when young, although they seemed wholly to have escaped while I was living in forgetfulness of God. Instead of those deep convictions which are experienced by some with much horror of mind, the Lord has rather shown me the evils of sin in the suffering of his dear Son, and in the manifestation of that love which, whilst it condemns the past ingratitude, seals the pardon of the believing sinner. In short, I now desire to feel, and hope in some measure that I do feel, as a sinner who looks for salvation freely by grace; who prefers this method of salvation to every other, because thereby God is glorified through Jesus Christ, and the pride of human glory stained. I desire daily to see more of my own unworthiness, and that Jesus Christ may be more precious to my soul. I depend on him for sanctification as well as for deliverance from wrath; and am in some measure (would it were more!) convinced of my own weakness and his all-sufficiency. When I have most comfort, then does sin appear most hateful; and I am in some measure made to rejoice in the hope of being completely delivered from it by seeing, in all his beauty, Him who was dead and is alive, and liveth for evermore. Amen."

      Thus it was that both the brothers had been, by a careful study of the Scriptures and a gradual enlightenment, and not by any sudden impulse or external influence, brought under deep religious convictions, and, in both, this occurred about the same time, though it seems to have been developed a little earlier in James. Both the brothers were strongly attached to each other, and sympathized with each other in their religious changes and undertakings. After the failure [156] of the Bengal mission, and while J. A. Haldane was residing at Edinburgh, he was great] y benefited by his intercourse with the pious Mr. John Aikman, who was then attending the divinity lectures with a view to the ministry. Much was also due to his intimacy with Mr. John Campbell, a man of singular piety, and of remarkable practical and executive powers in benevolent and Christian enterprises. The mental changes he had undergone closely resembled those of the brothers Haldane, in whose memoirs, by a son of J. A. Haldane, Alexander Haldane, Esq., the following brief but interesting notice of Mr. Campbell occurs:

      "For many years he had known and believed the truth; but his views of Christ had been rather sought in the reflection of the inward work of the Holy Spirit in his heart than in the finished righteousness of Christ; and he had neither peace nor joy in believing. It was a subjective rather than an objective faith. Doubts, fears and actual backslidings had often shaken his hope, and driven him almost to despair, even at the time he was esteemed by other Christians and regarded as a pattern. At last, to use his own earnest words in a letter published by Mr. Newton, 'the cloud which covered the mercy-seat fled away--Jesus appeared as he is! My eyes were not turned inward but outward. The gospel was the glass in which I beheld him. In the time of my affliction, the doctrine of election appeared irritating and confounding; now it appears truly glorious and truly humbling.   *     *     *   I now stand upon a shore of comparative rest. Believing, I rejoice. When in search of comfort, I resort to the testimony of God. This is the field which contains the pearl of great price. Frames and feelings are, like other created comforts, passing away. What an unutterable source of consolation it is that the foundation of our hope is ever immutably the same!--the sacrifice of Jesus as acceptable as ever it was! To this sacrifice I desire ever to direct my eye, [157] especially at the first approach of any gloom or mental change.'

      "After my deliverance," continues Mr. Campbell, " my ideas of many things were much altered, especially about faith. I perceived that this principle in the mind arises from no exertion in the man, but the constraint of evidence without. The Spirit takes the things of Christ, and discovers their reality and glory in such a manner to the mind of man that it is not in his power to refuse his belief. It is no mighty matter, nor is it any way meritorious, to believe the sun is shining when our eyes are dazzled with its beams. The internal evidences of the truth of revelation had ten thousand times more effect upon my mind than all its external evidence. There is a divineness, a glory and excellence in the Scriptures, perceived by enlightened minds, which they cannot so describe as to make it intelligible to an unregenerate person. Formerly the major part of my thoughts centred upon either the darkness I felt or the lightness I enjoyed. Now they are mainly directed to Jesus--what he hath done, suffered and promised."

      This John Campbell had a large iron-monger shop, overlooking the Grass-Market of Edinburgh; and is described as "a little man, active, with an intelligent, benevolent countenance, a quick, dark eye, and a mind far superior to his position." Earnest, single-hearted, prayerful and devoted to his heavenly Master, this indefatigable and laborious man was eminently distinguished for his successful efforts in behalf of religion and humanity.

      "He became in Edinburgh," continues the biographer whose sketch we here condense, "the living model of a city missionary, a district visitor, a Scripture reader, a tract distributor, a Sabbath-school teacher, and a Sabbath-school founder, long before Christians had learned to unite themselves together in societies to promote these objects. His warehouse [158] was then the only depository in Edinburgh for religious tracts and periodicals, and became a sort of house of call, or point of reunion, for all who took an interest in the kingdom of Christ. Mr. Campbell was the chief founder of the first tract society in the world, at Edinburgh. In 1797 he formed there a Sabbath-school society, independent of clerical superintendence, and opened a number of Sabbath evening schools, which were so successful that, in company with James A. Haldane, he visited Glasgow, Paisley, Greenock, and other places, to set before the friends of religion the duty and advantages of adopting the same plan. A week's journey led to the establishment of sixty Sabbath-schools; and no long time elapsed till there was not a single town in Scotland which was not provided with those most useful seminaries.² He was also one of the first directors of the Scottish Missionary Society; the founder of the Magdalen Asylum for the reformation of unfortunate females; and a stated visitor of the jail and Bridewell, whose unhappy inmates, though abandoned by almost every one else, he endeavored to awaken to a consideration of the one thing needful. In a large village of colliers, called Gilmerton, near Edinburgh, he found so much ignorance and irreligion that he endeavored to induce [159] preachers of different denominations to visit it, but without effect. Not being as yet himself in the habit of public speaking, he at length induced a young preacher, Mr. Rate, from Dr. Bogue's academy at Gosport, to preach a few times. The interest produced was so great, and Mr. Aikman and J. A. Haldane were so much impressed with the importance of continuing the meeting after Mr. Rate's departure, that they both finally consented to address the people."

      It was here at Gilmerton that James A. Haldane delivered his first sermon on the sixth of May, 1797, greatly to the satisfaction and edification of those present. Large crowds continued for some time to flock to these meetings to hear Mr. Aikman and the sea-captain, and great good resulted from their earnest and affectionate appeals. The clergy, however, soon began to manifest their hostility to lay-preaching; and the parish minister took means to deprive them of the house in which the meetings were held. A spacious loft was then obtained, which proving too small, the meetings were then held in a large barn.

      Shortly after this, the two preachers becoming greatly impressed with what they heard of the coldness and immorality of many of the ministers in the north of Scotland, resolved to travel through this region and preach to the people in the streets of the towns and villages. They based their right to preach to the people, as they announced, in a printed notice of their design, "upon the indispensable duty of every Christian to warn sinners to flee from the wrath to come, and to point out Jesus as the way, the truth and the life. Whether a man," they continued, "declare those important truths to two or two hundred, he is, in our opinion a preacher of the gospel, or one who declares the glad tidings of salvation, which is the precise meaning [160] of the word preach. In harmony with this view, we find that, in the beginning, when the members of the Church at Jerusalem, numbering then from eight to ten thousand, were all scattered abroad except the apostles, they went everywhere preaching the Word."

      Setting out, accordingly, on their tour in a light open carriage, accompanied a part of the way by Mr. Rate, they visited almost every place in the north of Scotland and the Orkney Islands, distributing tracts, preaching in the open air to great multitudes, and producing a very remarkable awakening, both among preachers and people. From the success of this remarkable tour, and the abundant evidence he met with of the truth of the declaration made in the debate on foreign missions in the General Assembly, and with which his mind had been so much impressed at the time, that "there were enough of heathen at home," J. A. Haldane, with some others, established at Edinburgh a society for propagating the gospel at home, January 11, 1798. In their first address they declare:

      "It is not our desire to form or to extend the influence of any sect. Our whole intention is, to make known the evangelical gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In employing itinerants, schoolmasters or others, we do not consider ourselves as conferring ordination upon them or appointing them to the pastoral office. We only propose, by sending them out, to supply the means of grace wherever we perceive a deficiency."

      The funds needed for the operations of the society were chiefly supplied by Robert Haldane, and its principles and plans were earnestly and ably recommended through the pages of the "Missionary Magazine." Mr. A. Haldane, the biographer, remarks:

      "Of that publication, the editor. Mr. Ewing, had not then [161] left the Established Church, although his position was becoming every day more untenable. On the 24th December, 1797, he delivered an eloquent and powerful sermon in defence of field-preaching, which produced a great sensation, and served still more to alarm the Moderates. The occasion of this sermon was a request to preach on behalf of the Edinburgh Sabbath-evening schools, which had been rapidly increasing under the influence of the new impulse. Mr. Ewing undertook to prove that the unfettered preaching of the gospel was one of those characters of universality which distinguish the Christian from the Jewish dispensation; and he ably contended that, in the closing words of the Apocalypse, the whole system of revelation and the whole mystery of God seem to be resolved into the provision made for the universal propagation of the gospel. The Holy Spirit and the Church unite their voice and continually cry to sinners, Come. This precious invitation is so necessary to be known, and known without a moment's delay, that every one that heareth is commanded to repeat it. Like a multiplying and never-dying echo, 'the joyful sound' must be on all sides transmitted from one to another, and in this accepted time, in this day of salvation, he that is athirst may come, and whosoever will may take the water of life freely."

      In the spring of 1798, Mr. Rate was sent out by the society to itinerate in Fifeshire, and Mr. Cleghorn and William Ballantyne, who had been Seceders and had studied theology under Dr. Bogue, were sent to the North to labor, where the great awakening had taken place during the recent tour of J. A. Haldane and Mr. Aikman. During the summer Mr. J. A. Haldane and Mr. Aikman, who did not depend on the society, but acted independently, made a preaching tour in the south and west of Scotland, attended with much opposition on the part of the clergy and the magistrates, with many striking incidents and great effect in arousing many souls to the importance of religion. While [162] at Langholm, in the county of Roxburgh, they were taking a walk along the banks of the Esk, when they observed an English clergyman conversing with the minister of the parish, and were much struck with his appearance. He was of a tall, commanding figure, had a piercing eye, an aquiline nose, and a countenance beaming with intelligence, and with an expression denoting a natural vein of humor. After their return to their inn, they were surprised by a call from this gentleman, who, having heard of them, was desirous of making their acquaintance. He proved to be the celebrated Rowland Hill, who was now on his first visit to Scotland, having been invited by Robert Haldane to come and make a tour in Scotland, and especially for the purpose of opening the religious services in a large building called the Circus, lately rented by Robert Haldane, in Edinburgh. Next morning, while the two friends remained to prosecute their tour, Mr. Hill proceeded to Edinburgh, to the residence of James A. Haldane, in George street, adjoining the house, No. 14, in which Henry Brougham, the future Lord Chancellor, then resided. He preached in the Circus July 29, and subsequently at several points in the open air, near Edinburgh, and also at Stirling, Crief, Dundee, Perth and Kinross, whither he was accompanied by Robert Haldane, greatly adding to the religious excitement which existed. Returning to the capital, he preached again in the Circus, and set off on Monday morning with Robert Haldane to preach in the church-yard of the old Cathedral at Glasgow.³ Going back to [163] Edinburgh, he preached again in the Circus and on Calton Hill to some fifteen or twenty thousand persons; and afterward made another short tour through Fifeshire, accompanied this time by James A. Haldane, who had returned from his itineracy. Coming back to Edinburgh, Mr. Hill preached there again to immense audiences twice on 2d September, soon after which he set out for home, accompanied by Robert Haldane, who went with him to Gloucestershire on his way to Gosport to visit his old friend Dr. Bogue.

      Shortly before this, Robert Haldane had taken hold of a project, which originated with John Campbell, to obtain from Africa thirty or thirty-five children, and, after educating them in Great Britain, to send them back to their native country as missionaries. They were to be children of the chiefs or principal men among the tribes, and of sufficient age to be able to retain their native language. For the accomplishment of this enterprise, Robert Haldane pledged the sum of seven thousand pounds. Accordingly, in June, 1799, Mr. Macaulay, the Governor of Sierra Leone, arrived with twenty boys and four girls, and John Campbell was immediately dispatched to London to bring them to Edinburgh, where Mr. Haldane had already [164] prepared, for their reception, a large house in the King's Park, afterward used as the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, and described by Walter Scott in his "Heart of Mid-Lothian," as that of the "Laird of Dumbiedykes. " Being detained, however, in order to be inoculated for the small pox, Mr. Macaulay, with some other Directors of the Sierra Leone Company, began to hesitate about placing the children under Mr. Haldane's exclusive care, on account, as was believed, of the liberality of his religious views. Mr. Haldane, however, very properly refusing to consent to any change in the original arrangement, and the children having created great interest in London, funds were at length otherwise provided, and the children were, after some years, sent back to Africa, carrying with them many of the arts of civilized life, though, unfortunately, their training had not been that which Mr. Haldane proposed to give, far more attention having been paid to their secular than to their religious education. The whole affair, however, serves to place in a strong light the Christian enterprise and munificent liberality of Robert Haldane.

      It was during the progress of this affair, that he became interested in several other important enterprises. He had already found it difficult to obtain a regular supply of ministers to preach at the Circus building he had rented in Edinburgh; and he had conceived the idea of having a number of pious young men educated for the ministry. He had also, during his travels with Mr. Hill, determined to erect, in the chief towns of Scotland, large buildings for preaching, after the Whitefield model, called Tabernacles. Upon his return to Edinburgh, he conferred with his brother, and the matter was broached to Mr. Innes and Mr. Ewing. The latter entered fully into his plans: and [165] on 29th November, delivering his last discourse in Lady Glenorchy's chapel, he, on 1st December, resigned his charge and left the Church of Scotland. A few days afterward, about twelve of those chiefly interested in the preaching at the Circus, and in the Society for propagating the gospel at home, including the two Haldanes, Mr. Ewing, Mr. Aikman, Mr. John Campbell, George Gibson and John Richie, met for consultation, and after prayer and deliberation, resolved to form themselves into a Congregational Church. Mr. Ewing drew out a plan for its government, and J. A. Haldane was invited to become the pastor. His earnest, faithful and successful labors hitherto in the evangelical field which he had chosen; the remarkable scriptural knowledge he had acquired, and his prayerfulness, kindly and unwearied attention to the sick, and eminent social and personal qualities, rendered him admirably fitted for this position; and although he modestly regarded himself as better suited to mere evangelical labor, he nevertheless, when the call was persisted in, yielded to it as the voice of Providence.

      The avowed object in forming this church was to enjoy the benefit of Christian fellowship on a scriptural plan, to observe the ordinances, and avoid that contracted spirit which would exclude from the pulpit, or from occasional communion, any faithful preacher of the gospel or sincere lover of Christ. It was constituted in January, 1799, and about three hundred and ten persons at once united in it, consisting not only of those who had become awakened under the preaching of J. A. Haldane, Rowland Hill and others, but of many old members of the Established Church. J. A. Haldane was duly ordained on 3d February, 1799, the service being conducted by Messrs Taylor of [166] Yorkshire, Garie of Perth, and Greville Ewing. Mr. Haldane answered at length to the questions propounded, giving an interesting account of the views and motives which had led him to engage in preaching, and accepting the charge in dependence on the grace of Jesus Christ, though stipulating that he might still occasionally labor as an itinerant, to which he thought he had been especially called. James A. Haldane thus became the first minister of the first church formed among the new Congregationalists of Scotland; and continued most faithfully and successfully to discharge the duties then assumed, for fifty-two years, up to the time of his triumphant death, February 8, 1851, in his eighty-third year.

      As soon as J. A. Haldane had consented to officiate at Edinburgh, his brother Robert, in furtherance of his plans, proceeded to Glasgow, and purchasing, at a cost of three thousand pounds, a very large building in Jamaica street, which had been used as a circus, converted it into a tabernacle for a congregation, over which Mr. Ewing was to preside. From Glasgow he went in company with Mr. Ewing to Stirling, to propose to Mr. Innes a similar arrangement with regard to Dundee. To this Mr. Innes finally consented,⁴ and accordingly broke off his connection with the Church of Scotland. A number of students for the ministry having been by this time collected, the first class was placed under the care of Mr. Ewing, who remained in Edinburgh during the winter, and removed to Glasgow in May following. The class commenced with twenty-four, all of whom were Presbyterians. [167]

      "Some of us," says Mr. Monroe, one of the number, "belonged to the National Establishment, others to the Relief, and not a few were Burghers and Anti-Burghers. The only qualifications for admission to the seminary were genuine piety, talents susceptible of cultivation, and a desire to be useful to our fellow-sinners by preaching and teaching the words of eternal life. The grand object proposed by the zealous originators of the scheme was, to qualify pious young men for going out literally to the highway? and hedges to preach the gospel, unconnected with the peculiarities of any denomination."⁵ "The students were all maintained," remarks Mr. Haldane's biographer, "at Mr. Haldane's expense, according to the scale, for each married and unmarried student, drawn up at the time by those well acquainted with such matters. Before their admission, they underwent a strict examination as to their abilities and qualifications. But next to the importance of engaging in the work on purely Christian principles, nothing was more strongly impressed upon their minds than the assurance that there was no design to elevate them in their social position, and that it was not intended to make gentlemen of such among them as were mechanics, but catechists and preachers; and that after their term of study was over, they must not look to their patron for support, but to their own exertions and the leadings of Providence."⁶

      In June, 1800, J. A. Haldane took another tour in company with John Campbell, visiting Ayr, Port-Patrick, Aran and Kintyre, preaching every day in the open air to large numbers. On this trip they were [168] held for some time under arrest by the Highland chiefs, at the instigation of the clergy. But notwithstanding the opposition, great good was effected, and a marked religious reformation was accomplished, especially in Kintyre.

      With regard to Robert Haldane, he not only largely maintained the religious enterprises previously spoken of, but published at his own expense myriads of religious tracts, and distributed Bibles and Testaments, when as yet there were no tract or Bible societies. He had formed, also, many Sabbath-schools; and inviting Andrew Fuller to Scotland, aided largely, by his own liberality, example and influence, in promoting the Serampore translation of the Scriptures. He also sometimes labored in preaching, until he was compelled to refrain from public-speaking on account of a spitting of blood. Soon after his brother became pastor of the Circus Church, he erected, at the head of Leith Walk in Edinburgh, a spacious place of worship called the Tabernacle, capable of holding four thousand persons, entirely at his own expense. Not long afterward, owing to the vast size of the congregation, Mr. Aikman, co-pastor with J. A. Haldane, concluded to build, at his own cost, a chapel, in the old town of Edinburgh, where he continued to preach to a part of the congregation.

      In May, 1801, James A. Haldane made a trip to the south, and preached in Dumfries and the neighboring towns and villages. He then crossed over to Ireland, in September, where he was very kindly received, being allowed to preach in the parish church of Portadown. At Coleraine, he first became acquainted with Dr. Alexander Carson, who had been a classmate of Greville Ewing in Scotland, and had lately left the [169] Presbyterians, and become an Independent. At Omagh, he was kindly received by James Buchanan, who, afterward coming to America, was, for many years, British Consul at New York, and became one of Alexander Campbell's warmest personal friends, and an earnest advocate of the religious reformation urged by the latter. It was while on this tour that J. A. Haldane visited and preached at Rich-Hill, as formerly related.⁷

      It was about this time (1802) that the studies of the [170] second class of Mr. Ewing's missionary students ended. The Glasgow Seminary was then closed, and another one was opened in Edinburgh, on a larger scale, under the instruction of Mr. Aikman and John Campbell in theology, and Thomas Wemyss as classical tutor, the whole being under the immediate superintendence of the brothers Haldane. Subsequently, John Campbell retired, and was succeeded by William Stevens, once an actor, but then a popular and powerful preacher. He came from Aberdeen to assist in the tabernacle at Edinburgh, and remained there until he became a Baptist, upon which he removed to Rochdale in England, where he continued to preach for many years until his death.⁸ [171]

      In the summer of 1804 James A. Haldane again visited England, and passed from thence over to Dublin, and preached a number of times at the Bethesda Episcopal Chapel, where Mr. Mathies and the learned John Walker of Trinity College then officiated. Mr. Walker had not left the Church of England at this time, but sympathized largely in the efforts of the Haldanes and concurred to a considerable extent in their religious views.

      Thus it was that, during this eventful period, many individuals, not altogether coinciding in their views upon all points, were nevertheless co-operating with each other in the effort to spread simpler views of the gospel, and awaken men to a true sense of religion. Through the intercourse, personal or epistolary, which existed among them, their knowledge of the Bible, which was practically regarded by them all as the only true guide in religion, was greatly increased, and their views of many questions were changed or modified. Among all these efforts, however, none were so scriptural, so simple, and so consistent as those of the brothers Haldane; and it was mainly in consequence of this that theirs were most successful. It is not to be doubted, however, that without the liberality of Robert Haldane, the views and principles he endeavored to promote would have required many more years to obtain the circulation and influence they then possessed. Before Alexander Campbell's visit to Glasgow, Robert Haldane had already expended about sixty thousand pounds for the spread of the gospel at home; and the innumerable ministries thus set on foot, together with the incessant and effective labors of his brother James Alexander, added to his own personal efforts, all brought to bear within a few years upon religious society, [172] produced a most powerful impression, which was felt throughout almost the whole Protestant world.⁹ [173]

      Notwithstanding his unbounded liberality, however, Robert Haldane was not permitted to escape the slanderous insinuations by which Satan usually tries to impair the influence of those who seek to promote the interests of the kingdom of God. Thus he was charged with making money by renting the seats in the tabernacles. But the truth was, the income arising from the rent of the seats in the tabernacles went to the support of the preachers and of the seminaries. Thus Mr Ewing was to have two hundred pounds annually, Mr. Haldane agreeing to make up this amount if there should be any deficiency in the amount derived from seat-rents, and allowing him two hundred pounds [174] additional while he was teacher of the seminary. Notwithstanding all, however, groundless complaints were not wanting on the part even of some who co-operated with Mr. Haldane in his religious enterprises. Thus even Mr. Ewing, with his large and wealthy congregation, seemed to think that Mr. Haldane should make a present of the Glasgow Tabernacle to the church, and both were quite dissatisfied when he, who had his own views with regard to the best appropriation of his means, would only agree to give one thousand pounds of the purchase-money, desiring to devote the other two thousand pounds to the printing and circulation of the Scriptures. It was during Mr. Campbell's residence at Glasgow that the unhappy difficulty between Robert Haldane and Mr. Ewing, arising partly from this affair, created a good deal of public excitement. After hearing the matter, however, at Mr. Ewing's, Mr. Campbell was very decided in his conviction that Mr. Ewing was in the wrong. The latter had previously become dissatisfied because Mr. Haldane, being not well pleased with certain divergencies from his views of religious reform which began to be entertained by Mr. Ewing, had removed the Glasgow Seminary from under his care to Edinburgh; yet on Mr. Haldane's part, these divergencies, which had respect chiefly to church order and church ordinances, seemed to occasion no diminution of Christian regard for Mr. Ewing, with whom he still desired to remain on terms of religious fellowship. [175]

[MAC1 147-175]