THE present age is not one that exemplifies the spirit, or holds fast the principles, of our Covenanting ancestors. The general character of the time is of an entirely different, or even opposite, cast. Most of the fundamental doctrines, which the Covenanters valued so highly as the very truths of God most pure, are now esteemed as antiquated and unbelievable, while their noble spirit of resolute adherence to principle and bold opposition to error has given place to a spirit of compromise and surrender, which assumes to itself the sacred name of charity. And yet, strange to say, much has been spoken and written in our time in praise of their character and lives. Their love of freedom, and the greater sacrifices they made for it, no doubt still appeal to the popular mind, but it is very clear notwithstanding, that their view of liberty, as regulated by the laws of God’s infallible word, is quite removed from the lawless notions of it that obtain among the majority of learned and unlearned, religious and profane, at the present day.
We are glad, however, to welcome almost any book that describes the character of our witnessing ancestors, and extols their glorious deeds, and one such, much above the common in excellence, though not quite our ideal, we have found in the “Men of the Covenant,” by the Rev. Alexander Smellie, M.A., of the Original Secession Church. Mr. Smellie is already well known as the accomplished editor of a series of new and beautifully got-up editions of such gems in religious literature as “Augustine’s Confessions,” “Bunyan’s Grace Abounding,” “Edward’s Religious Affections,” and “Guthrie’s Saving Interest,” which he has prefaced with finely written introductions. The “Men of the Covenant,” which is now before us, is his latest effort, and it is his best. From the beauty and freshness of its style it is admirably adapted to attract a multitude of readers among all classes, while the author’s powers of vivid and winning description are fitted to kindle admiration, if not love, in the hearts of even a generation of “Pliables,” to the stern and faithful men of the Covenant. In fact, we think the chief merit of Mr. Smellie’s work, as a record of facts and a eulogy of men of God, in whose footsteps we would do well to tread, lies in its manifest power to win the attention and esteem of outsiders, who are ignorant of, or alien to, the thoughts and ways of our noble progenitors in the faith. It is with the keenest regret that we shall have occasion to notice, however, some things that must be regarded from an orthodox point of view as decided blemishes in an otherwise beautiful book.
Mr. Smellie does not set himself in this work to deal with the period of the First Reformation; it is that of the Second Reformation he describes. He does not go back so far as Knox and Melville, though he has references to them, but he takes up mainly the story of the 28 years’ persecution, beginning at the year 1660, and pourtrays the “Men of the Covenant” then flourishing. The titles of his various chapters are fresh and apt. The chapter on Samuel Rutherford is entitled “A Deathbed at St. Andrews;” on the Marquis of Argyle, “Marquis and Martyr;” on James Guthrie, of Stirling, “The Short Man who could not Bow;” on Archbishop Sharp (for Mr. Smellie describes the bad men as well as the good), “Sharp of that Ilk;” on William Guthrie, “A Sabbath Morning at Fenwick;” on Richard Cameron, “The Lion of the Covenant;” on Robert Baillie, of Jerviswood, “For a Gentleman there is Mr. Baillie;” and on James Renwick, “He was of Old Knox’s Principles.” It is a matter of much satisfaction that Mr. Smellie in the main upholds the attitude of the more faithful and uncompromising Covenanters. He argues in their defence, even where he does not fully endorse their proceedings, and is always dignified and tender when he handles the words and ways of men who loved not their lives unto death for the sake of Christ and His truth.
Now, a word as to the blemishes. Mr. Smellie devotes the seventeenth chapter to a review of the preaching of the Covenanters, whom he well designates as “Spokesmen of Christ.” In the course of his review he points out that they were in a most noticeable degree expositors of the Word of God, and then proceeds to quote a statement of Dr. George Adam Smith’s in commendation of the expository lectures of the Scottish pulpit and its “continuous tradition and habit of scholarship.” A little further on Mr. Smellie adds, “Much was necessarily wanting—the results of modern research, and the conclusions of a believing and reverent criticism.” Now, we are constrained to express our doubt, to say the least of it, as to the wisdom or appropriateness of quoting the opinion of Dr. G. A. Smith, as if he were somebody whose name ought to be associated with the Covenanters, unless it be on the principle embodied in the words, their enemies themselves being judges. Has not Dr. Smith written of the covenants of Scotland as covenants with death and hell? And, moreover, are we to conclude that Mr. Smellie associates Dr. Smith with “the conclusions of a reverent and believing criticism?” Anyone who knows Dr. Smith’s recent book on the Old Testament can only associate him with the most unbelieving and irreverent criticism that has ever appeared in Scotland. Criticism has nowadays come to be almost another word for infidelity, so that Mr. Smellie, if he means something entirely different from what we attach to his words, should have been much more explicit than he is. A true and loyal son of the Covenanters, who loved God’s word as their very life, should give forth no uncertain sound in regard to the dangerous character of the higher critics. There are a few other passages in the book that afford scope for criticism, but we forbear.
A very interesting feature of the work is “a whole gallery of admirable pictures.” Some of these are quite new to us, such as those of Samuel Rutherford, John Livingstone, and William Guthrie. The book, which consists of 440 large pages, is got up in excellent style, print and paper being all that can be desired. The price (7s. 6d. net), however, is rather high for the common people, but it may be found possible to have a cheaper edition yet.