LORD ROSEBERY AND DR CHALMERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3195, 9 June 1915, Page 73

LORD ROSEBERY AND DR CHALMERS.

K FINE APPRECIATION OF ONE WHO PREACHED NOTHING BUT

MASTERPIECES.

It was 100 years ago last April since Dr Thomas Chalmers began his famous ministry at Glasgow, and the centenary was celebrated in Scotland by a meeting of 5000 citizens, which filled St. Andrew’s Hall in that city. Lord Rosebery, Professor W. P. Paterson, and Rev. Dr Denney were the speakers. Lord Rosebery’s fine appreciation was well reported by the Glasgow Herald : —One of the Greatest of Our Race. —

“We Scotsmen do well to take every opportunity of revering and burning incense before the memory of Dr Chalmers,” said Lord Rosebery. For he was one of the greatest of our race; a commanding character, a superb orator, the most illustrious Scottish Churchman since John Knox. —(Applause.) _ His memory remains green and vivid with us, when statesmen, writers, and philosophers are, if not forgotten, languishing in the shade. It is <i noble and a blessed life, none more enviable. _ “But it -is specially in Glasgow that it is fitting to commemorate him, for it is here that his most fruitful years were spent. Here he revealed himself not merely as a preacher and divine, but as a statesman. Here he tried that great experiment which sought to preserve the thrift and independence of_ the Scottish people. The experiment failed in practice because it "required a Chalmers to carry it out—nay, a score of Chalmerses. This, in his modesty, he always vehemently denied; nevertheless it was a truth. We know that the plan continued in operation after his departure in no slight degree, an afternmtii of his barvest j but no one but himself could have continued his system long in the face of the overpowering influences against him. Could even he ? . . .

—Glasgow’s Motto. — “Ah! gentlemen, when we think of Dr Chalmers’s work in Glasgow we are irresistibly reminded of the origin ox your motto. That was an ancient inscription; ‘Lord, let Glasgow flourish through the preaching of Thy Word and praising Thy name.’ The next edition was: ‘Lord, let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of the Word’; and the last and only authorised heraldic form is, ‘Let Glasgow flourish (laughter and applause)—a sensible and wholly secular aspiration. —(Laughter.) But may we not say that when Chalmers reigned in Glasgow his motto, at any rate, was the earlier form that I have quoted, and that his ambition and ideal for Glasgow were wholly spiritual and exalted. “For with him those quaintly pious words were a living truth. He believed in no other means and no other aim. Even those whose creed is weaker will pause to admire his glowing and singleminded faith, and to marvel at all that it achieved. His instruments for this high work were twofold: his preaching and his personality. As to the splendours of his preaching, the overwhelming power of his oratory, we possess conclusive proofs. One is, of course, the sermons .and speeches, which remain to nrove themselves. —Powder of Chalmers’s Oratory.— “He had a lavish gift of diction, a profusion of powerful and gorgeous sentences which gathered an irresistible momentum and impetus as they rolled on. He began, we are told, weakly and almost inaudibly, dull-eyed and lifeless, so that strangers prepared themselves to be disappointed, but" in a few moments he warmed up, presently he glowed, and isoon he was hurling with stormy vehemence thunderbolts of eloquence from the volcanic heights of his soul on an audience almost paralysed with emotion. He would, indeed, pause from time, to time to allow human nature to recover itself from the strain. Then breath would be drawn, the suppressed coughs would be released, and after a space the orator would proceed again with the same fervour until again he had to allow a minute or two of relaxation. This to a congregation occupying every inch of space right up into the pulpit, which had waited for hours, and which remained steaming and breathless under the wand of the enchanter through sermons of an hour and 40 minutes and more. —These Sermons were Read.— “And, what makes the effect still more remarkable, these sermons w'ere read. Chalmers’s ordinary manuscript wvas almost illegible. What was this peculiar shorthand of his? Yet these discourses seem to have been delivered from this impenetrable script. His accent, too, was the broad Doric of Fife, and his pronunciation often original. Yet he controlled his English audiences as much as his Scottish. These mannerisms, indeed, assisted rather than marred his effects. His appearance must also have aided him. .The huge forehead which seemed to crush down by its weight the sweet and mobile mouth must have been a formidable ad : junct to his eloquence. His eye, however, ’had not the glint of oratory. It was inanimate and leaden, _ but he had what Americans call a Daniel Webster head, and tradition tells how his class students, ■whenever they got the chance, would try on his hats with humiliating results.— (Laughter.) But one fancies that the impression produced by his appearance was that of commanding intellect and an unaffected benevolent simplicity. —He Preached Nothing but Masterpieces.—

“I like to be told that ho had not many sermons 5 that ho concentrated himself upon comparatively few, and advised other ministers to do the same. So that he preached nothing but masterpieces,

whether in the little church of Kilmany or to the excited audiences of Glasgow and London. And each time that he repeated them he gave them new life-. He gave, in fact, at all times of his best, and disdained to offer anything less. * —His Audiences. — “The other substantial proof of his immense oratorical power was his audiences. When he preached in London for the Missionary Society, though the service began at 11 the church w r as packed by 7, and many thousands were turned away. This, you may say, was anticipation. but it was anticipation so fully realised that, though he was so exhausted in the middle of the service that he sat down while two verses of a hymn were being sung, one of his auditors wrote that he was still under the nervousness of having- heard and witnessed the most astounding display of human talent that perhaps ever commanded sight or hearing. It was at this visit to London that Canning, the most brilliant and fastidious orator of his day, was moved to tears by the preaching of Chalmers, and declared ‘the tartan beats us all.’

“Again on this visit, but on another occasion, Chalmers himself could not penetrate the crowd, and had almost abandoned the - idea of preaching when, as it would appear, he was admitted over a plank through a window. I take these examples from London, which might be supposed to be indifferent, but it was always the same pressure in Glasgow. Here, even when he preached on Thursdays, the tide of the whole city seemed to flow into the doors. Here, too, his church was constantly taken by storm, and at his last sermon in St. John’s a strong force of police having failed to stem the torrent, the military had to be called in. We who have seen the great mass meetings, wonderful as they were, addressed by Mr Gladstone at the height of his fame and popularity, have nothing to record like this. There can be but few parallels to it in history. —Chalmers a Living Soul. —

“Oratory, then, must have been one main secret of his amazing power. Energy was another. Tenderness, the tenderness of sympathy, another. Read the story of his connection with young Thomas Smith, ahd you will hear his heart beating aloud. But his base was character. Through all the splendours of his speech, through all his activity of administration, through all his powerful and voluminous writings there flamed the glory of a living soul; a supreme, unquenchable, fervent soul. For him Christianity was everything; his faith inspired every action of his life, every moment of his day, every word that he uttered, every letter that he wrote.

“That was the real secret of his power, that drew all hearts willingly or unwillingly to him, and that gave a mystery of inspiration to his discourse. He wrote enormously, he spoke continually. He revealed his inner self in every possible way, but after his first struggles and victory every word that remains on record seems instinct with a pervading, undoubting, eager Christian faith. There was an unconscious sanctity about him which was, as it were, the breath of his nostrils ; he diffused it as his breath, it was as vital to him as his breath. This is ■what'we mean by a saint, and if ever a halo surrounded a saint it encompassed Chalmers. It is not breaking the Tenth Commandment to covet his spirit, tiiough one may despair of the intellect which it animated. —His War Sermon.—

v “But this sanctity was by no means innate. It is indeed a consolation to weaker mortals to know that it had not always been so. Till he was past 30, as we know, the faith of Chalmers, such as it was, sat lightly on him. Then he was principally a mathematician, a philosopher, a cordial neighbour, giving his church and his parish what remained of his time after secular study had been adequately accomplished. It was in these early Kilmany days that he enlisted in St. Andrew’s Volunteers, became chaplain and lieutenant; and it is recorded that he preached a war sermon with such violence of gesture that he tore his gown aside_ and revealed the uniform beneath, exclaiming in words that come home to us now : ‘ May I be the first to ascend the scaffold erected to extinguish the worth and spirit of the country; may my blood mingle with the blood of patriots; and may I die at the foot of that altar on which British independence is to be the victim.’—-(Applause.) So he said with regard to the threats of Napoleon, and so we say with regard ro the menace of far mightier hosts than ever Napoleon ever dreamt of.—(Applause.) When He Soared Aloft.— “ Then an illness lifted him into a higher sphere, and he soared aloft. There he remained to the end in communion with the Divine; from that time he was what he continued to be till death, a unique personality, of prodigious powers all devoted to the sole purpose of sendee to God. Again, it should be said that this saintliness was not that of an anchorite brooding in religious solitude. Here was a man bustling, striving, organising, speaking, and preaching with the dust and fire of the world on his clothes, carrying his shrine with him everywhere. He did not shrink from his fellow men; on the contrary, he sought them, for it was the business of his life to permeate them with his message. Yet, like the Duke of Wellington, he had no small talk. Mr Gladstone, who accompanied him on some of his pastoral visits, said that he sat embarrassed and almost silent. In Glasgow he would only utter a blessing or a short prayer on such occasions. But his visits were prized, for he radiated benevolence. “ I have almost entirely confined myself in what I have been saying to the eight years of his Glasgow life, and yet do not rend me if I say I am not sure if his whole heart was ever in Glasgow'.— (Laughter.) His energies were there, his love for the people was there, the field for

the beneficence in which he delighted was there, his fame rose there. But you asked too much of your minister in the way of secular business. You made too many extra-parochial calls on his time. You paid him too many visits; dare I say it, I am not sure that he relished the climate.

The Aims of Chalmers.—

“What, outside Church questions, were this great man’s aims and policy? I do not pretend to have read the manifold volumes of has works, but that is not necessary to form a conclusion. It is sufficiently clear that the ideal was to raise the nation by Christianity, by Christian co-operation, Christian education, Christian worship. lie thought that by these means he would be able to rear a character and race which would disdain State aid or State jaatronage, and be independent of all but the faith. It was a sublime vision, and although he could not accomplish it, it animated him- to do great things while working for it, and it gave an inspiration to his smallest acts. —(Applause.) The rush of time and events, the torrent that sweeps human effort into eternity, may have effaced much of Chalmerds practical work. The world creeps on its blind course through the centuries, we know not whither, but it certainly does not seem to tend towards the aims of Chalmers. That, however, dees not obliterate the glory of the effort and the enterprise. He was. indeed, the Moses of his country, pointing to a land of promise into which neither he nor his countrymen entered or ■were destined to enter.” In another nart of his address Loi'd Rosebery dealt again with Chalmers’s oratory, saying: “It is to he doubted if any other orator in Britain has ever wielded the sublime thunder of Chalmers.” May, 18, 1843. The end of Lord Rosebery’s speech was devoted to the “fifth act of Chalmers’s magnificent career.” ‘ May 18, 1843, was one of the most memorable days in the history of Scotland,” he said. “It still thrills the nation to its core.—(Applause.) When in the course of affairs it is recalled, it moves cur hearts with a. faint remote harmony like that which the evening breeze evokes from the zEolian harp. It matters not today who were in the right or who were in the wrong on that immortal occasion, but the sight of more than 400 ministers proceeding from St. Andrew’s Church, leaving behind them their manses, their kirks, and their homes; casting on the waters the daily bread of themselves and their families, separating themselves from the Church in which they bad ministered so devoutly, from beloved traditions, from precious friendships; marching resolutely into the wilderness, and all for conscience’ sake, was one which will never be obliterated from the minds of their countrymen. —(Applause.) They may have been right. They may have been wrong. But those who made so glorious a sacrifice could scarcely have been wholly wrong. —(Applause.) That, thank God, matters little now, for all parties at this stage can afford to admire and anplaud the Apostolical procession in which Dr Chalmers followed the protesting Moderator, Dr Welsh.

He had been standing,’ we are told ‘ immediately to the left. He looked vacant and abstracted while the protest was being read. But Dr Welsh’s movement awakened ihim from the reverie. Seizing eagerly upon his hat, he hurried after him with all the air of one impatient to be gone.’ —Towards Unity.—

“That has always struck me as a living portrait. Since then much has happened, and w© have found the Law Courts discussing what were Dr Chalmers’s real views on policy on that occasion. To us now that is of no consequence, for we are approaching, if we have not actually reached, a happier time. Those controversies are dying, if not dead. We meet in temples of concord to bury them and to proclaim peace over their graves. And may we not feel that from our present brotherly discussions, too tardy and elaborate though laymen may feel them to be, but which perhaps require full time to ky strong, ample, and compact the bases of a restored and permanent structure, the benediction of Chalmers is not absent?

'' Nay ! is it presumptuous to believe that if departed souls are ever permitted to revisit the scene of their activities in this life, there may be present in the congress of the Fathers of the Church, striving for Christian fellowship and Christian harmony, the spirit of Chalmers, rejoicing with the pure ecstasy of an angel in the blessed prospect of the completed unity of our national Church?" : —(Loud applause.)