BY THE REV. D. BEATON, WICK.
IT is now almost a century since this important work first appeared, and though new documents have been discovered since then which have thrown fresh light on certain incidents in Knox’s career, still MacCrie’s Life is regarded as the classic biography of Knox. For years the fair fame of Knox had been under a cloud. Scottish historians, such as Hume and Robertson, disliked the stern religious fervour of the man who was so signally successful, under the hand of God, in working one of the most mighty revolutions for good that Scotland has seen. Sentimentalists, whose tears flowed copiously when they thought of the tragic fate of Scotland’s ill-fated queen, had no love for the man who “garred her grat, but never grat a tear himsel’.” For them and their kind, the fate of a nation going down to darkness is not such a catastrophe as a fair queen paying the dread penalty that retribution meted out to her swift and stern. To the literary world of Scotland[^1] Knox was the embodiment of all that was hateful. This view was given expression to by the Edinburgh Reviewer in his notice of MacCrie’s Life. “The prevailing opinion,” he says, “about John Knox, has come to be that he was a fierce and gloomy bigot, equally a foe to polite learning and innocent enjoyment; and that, not satisfied with exposing the abuses of the Romish superstition, he laboured to substitute for the national religion and regulated worship of enlightened men, the ardent and unrectified spirit of vulgar enthusiasm, dashed with dreams of spiritual and political independence, and all the impracticabilities of the earthly kingdom of the saints.”
It was to the task of turning this great stream of obloquy that MacCrie set himself, and how successful he was, the monuments that have been erected to Knox’s memory, the literature that has gathered round his name, and the high esteem in which he is held in his native land, is proof sufficient. What Carlyle did for Cromwell, and what Froude attempted to do for Henry VIII., MacCrie successfully accomplished for Knox. It was MacCrie’s Life that paved the way for the striking estimates of Knox’s character given by Carlyle, Froude, and Hill Burton. Never did a man embark on so seemingly hopeless a task, and never did Scotland witness a more thorough piece of historical research. As yet unknown to fame, MacCrie set himself the task of turning the stream of truth through the Augean stable[^2] of contempt, hatred, and falsehood. By the stroke of his pen, he made “the literature of a whole century,” to quote Hugh Miller, “go down before him—Hume, Stuart, Whitaker, Robertson, and the poets—all the great names among the dead; and the living—men of a lower stature—he foiled with scarce an effort.”
To the literary and ecclesiastical world of Scotland, the name of MacCrie, as has already been incidentally noticed, was unknown. True, a number of years before the Life had appeared, he had a bitter controversy with a number of his brethren of the Anti-burgher Synod, who had adopted Voluntary or New Light views. And so heated did the controversy become that, alas! MacCrie and three of his brethren were cruelly deposed. It was during this controversy that MacCrie had his attention turned to the doctrine of the Reformed Church of Scotland on the subject, and in a way laid the foundation of his future work as a biographer.[^3] The literary fruit of this controversy was his famous Statement, the ablest presentation of the principle of Establishment as opposed to Voluntaryism in Scottish theology.
Previous to this an incident, trivial enough in itself, but having important consequences for the future, is referred to by his son.[^4] During his pastoral visitation, Dr. MacCrie had been asked a question about some point in the history of the Scottish Church, which he was unable to answer. Ashamed of his ignorance, he set himself to acquire a better knowledge of the ecclesiastical history of his country. As early as 1800 we find him writing in reply to a friend in London—”Send me anything respecting the history of the British Churches.” According to his son, his notebooks give evidence that he had carefully studied the history of Christianity in Scotland from its earliest dawn in the writings of the ancient chroniclers. In the preface to the first edition, we have MacCrie’s own account of the motives that lay behind this undertaking. “Though many able writers,” he says, “have employed their talents in tracing the causes and consequences of the Reformation, and though the leading facts respecting its progress in Scotland have been repeatedly stated, it occurred to me that the subject was by no means exhausted. I was confirmed in this opinion by a more minute examination of the ecclesiastical history of this country, which I began, for my own satisfaction, several years ago. While I was pleased at finding that there existed such ample materials for illustrating the history of the Scottish Reformation, I could not but regret that no one had undertaken to digest and exhibit the information on this subject which lay hid in manuscripts and in books which are now little known or consulted. Not presuming, however, that I had the ability or the leisure requisite for executing a task of such difficulty and extent, I formed the design of drawing up memorials of our national Reformer, in which his personal history might be combined with illustrations of the progress of that great undertaking, in the advancement of which he acted so conspicuous a part.” With these words, so full of modesty, MacCrie sent forth to the world his famous biography. The deep sense he had of the righteousness of the Reformation cause was an incentive to him in his work. Speaking at the Anti-Patronage Society in 1833 he said—”I had read the deeds of her reformers and confessors at first with mere youthful curiosity. It was not until I had satisfied myself that the system of doctrine and discipline they introduced was not more consonant to the oracles of truth than it was conducive to the best interests, temporal and spiritual, of the nation, that I minutely studied their history. Then, I confess, the fire began to burn, and I could not forbear to impart to others what I myself had felt.” His method in preparing his work was peculiar to himself. He carefully read his authorities, collecting his materials as he went along in notes and references to the subjects to be introduced into the biography, and began at once the work of composition as if preparing for the press.[^5]
The first edition of the Life was published in one volume in November, 1811. The Edinburgh Courant of 18th November had the following notice concerning it:—”This day is published by John Ogle and William Blackwood, handsomely printed in one large volume octavo, price 12/3, boards, The Life of John Knox: (containing Illustrations of the History of the Reformation in Scotland, etc.), by Thomas M’Crie, Minister of the Gospel, Edinburgh.” That the author had very little idea of the remarkable success which was to attend his labours may be inferred from what he said in writing to a friend. “Owing to the size of the book,” he says, “and the additional expense incurred by alterations, which I often found it necessary to make upon the proof-sheets, it could not, I believe, be afforded cheaper. Even though it should all sell, the half of the profits (which was allotted to me) will not exceed threepence per copy.” Whatever may have been his own opinion he was not long left in doubt that the work had evoked the highest praise from unexpected quarters. His old professor, Dugald Stewart, was one of the first to congratulate him on his success as a historian. Hugh Miller’s account of the matter is so interesting and picturesque that it is worthy of quotation. “The ‘Life of Knox,’ ” he says, “was destined to no long probation, for it soon fell under the notice of very superior men. Shortly after its publication, the author’s old favourite Professor, Dugald Stewart—certainly the most eloquent, if not the most profound, of all our Scottish metaphysicians—was confined one Sunday to the house by a slight indisposition. All the family were at Church except his man-servant, an old and faithful attendant; and the Professor, on some occasion which required his services, summoned him by the bell. To his surprise, however, the careful domestic did not appear, and the bell was rung again and again, but with no better effect. The Professor then stepped downstairs to see what could have possibly befallen John, and threw open the door of the old man’s apartment. And there, sure enough, was John, leaning over a little table, and engrossed heart and soul in the perusal of a book, as unconscious of the presence of his master as he had been an instant before of the ringing of the bell. The Professor’s curiosity was aroused—literature was rather a new pursuit to John—and shaking him by the shoulder, he enquired what book it was that had so wonderfully captivated his fancy. ‘Why, sir,’ said John, ‘it’s a book that my minister has written, and really it’s a grand ane.’ The Professor brought it with him to his room, to try what he could make of John’s minister’s book; and when once fairly engaged, found it as impossible to withdraw himself from it as John himself had done. He finished it at a sitting, and waited next day on the author to express the admiration he entertained for his performance. The Doctor bowed to the praises of his old Professor with the modesty of real genius, and replied in one of those happy compliments which show the elegant and delicate mind. ‘Pulchrum est laudari a laudato.‘—’It is delightful to be praised by one who has gained the applause of mankind.'”
In 1812 an article appeared in the Edinburgh Review, which spoke in the highest possible terms of the Life of Knox; it was described as a “work which has afforded us more amusement and more instruction than anything we ever read upon the subject; and which, independent of its theological merits, we do not hesitate to pronounce by far the best piece of history which has appeared since the commencement of our critical career. It is extremely accurate, learned, and concise, and at the same time full of spirit and animation—exhibiting, as it appears to us, a rare union of the patient research and sober judgment which characterise the more laborious class of historians, with the boldness of thinking and force of imagination which is sometimes substituted in their place.” The Edinburgh Review was at this time the most powerful periodical in Europe. Lord Jeffrey, to whom the above article is generally attributed, was at the height of his great career as a literary critic, and such a notice coming from this quarter, it is needless to say, introduced the work to a class of readers high in the literary world, who might never have known the work but for the Edinburgh Review’s highly commendatory notice.
This article was followed by one in the Quarterly Review in the following year, which, notwithstanding its Episcopalian tendencies, recognised the true greatness of the work. It condemned the religious sentiments, but spoke of Dr. MacCrie as “a really great biographer, such as it has not been the lot of Knox’s equals, or even his superiors, always to attain; for, however ably the characters of Luther and Calvin have been treated in the general histories of their times, where has either of them found a biographer like the present?” With the benedictions of these two great literary rivals, the Life of John Knox set forth on its successful and enlightening career.
It has received testimony to its worth from men whose special studies give weight to what they say. Prof. Hume Brown, in his important work John Knox, recognises in MacCrie’s Life a biography which, alike from its learning and ability, must remain one of the standard books in the language, and Dr. Laing gives it a like high place.
The work has passed through many editions. The second appeared in 1813 in two volumes, with great improvements in the style, and with many alterations and additions. In 1840 the sixth edition had appeared, and by this time had been translated into French, Dutch, and German. In 1855 a new edition, with editorial notes by the younger Dr. MacCrie, appeared as the first volume of Dr. MacCrie’s works. As late as 1905 an edition was issued and sold at the extremely reasonable price of a shilling.
In estimating the place of MacCrie’s masterpiece in historical literature, it is well to bear in mind the fact that he was dealing with one of the greatest epochs in Scottish history—an epoch storm-swept as by the whirlwind—when the fate of a nation was hanging in the balance. The great powers of liberty and slavery—slavery of the human soul—were meeting for one great gigantic effort for supremacy. It was a revolution not so much attended with fire and blood as revolutions usually are, but none the less significant. And the man who was deputed by Heaven to guide the Scottish people at this time was one whose very nature seemed a counterpart to the mighty upheaval that was going on around. That stern, unbending figure is one of the most impressive spectacles in the record of a people’s marvellous past. It was the task of presenting Knox as he really was, truly great, Heaven-sent, guiding the passions of men, who for the time being seemed intoxicated with the first sweet taste of liberty. But, if the events he was called upon to narrate were on a magnificent scale, MacCrie recognised their greatness, and made his readers feel that this was the struggle of a nation to break the chains by which they were bound. He, furthermore, believed in the righteousness of the cause which Knox so powerfully advocated. To MacCrie, as to Knox, it was a struggle between the powers of light and darkness, and Knox was but the instrument to carry out the will of the Most High. Such a conception of history, it is needless to say, gives an added interest, and invests with a kind of noble grandeur events which might otherwise be regarded as somewhat commonplace. It was no mere earthly struggle this, but a struggle in which Heaven was deeply interested, and MacCrie wrote of his hero under this inspiration, and gave an added grandeur to Knox’s work.
It must also be recognised that the extreme care with which the book was prepared gives a solidarity to the work which impresses every student in reading it. While he was composing the Life of Knox, a friend found him seated, as usual, with a huge mass of books and manuscripts before him. “I positively shudder to look at them,” he said to the gentleman who was expressing his astonishment at their numbers. Ample evidence of the use which he made of this formidable heap of authorities is discernible in the notes and references with which the volumes abound, and which he himself considered as, in some respects, the most valuable portion of the work. A fond admirer of the Life, who has been at the pains of counting them, makes out 161 authorities, more or less quoted. A better idea of their value may be formed, when it is known that there is no attempt to swell the number, by stringing a long list of names to authenticate facts which were never disputed. He has been heard to mention, that, having forgotten where he had met with the fact mentioned respecting Gawin Douglas, of his storming the cathedral of Dunkeld, it cost him a six weeks’ search before he discovered his authority. As the reward of his labour, he was enabled to add to the note, in the second edition, “Life of Gawin Douglas, prefixed to his translation of the Aeneid; Ruddiman’s Edition.” — Life of Dr. MacCrie, p. 188.
The careful study of original documents, calm and judicious sifting of evidence so much recognised in modern historical writing as the sine qua non of the historian, were possessed by MacCrie in an admirable degree. His strong, masculine, common-sense view of things saved him from the errors of the sentimentalist, and his deep interest in his subject saved his work from that frigid and lifeless style of composition so characteristic of a certain class of historians, who marshal their facts with all the precision and decorum of a judge, but write of men as if the warm blood never coursed through their veins, their hearts never felt a generous impulse, or were moved by tempestuous passions. The style of the work has been criticised; its somewhat inelegant diction in places, with a few Scotticism here and there, have been singled out by men with literary tastes. MacCrie himself would be the last to deny these charges. It cannot be compared for elegance of style to the histories of Hume or Robertson, but as a work of solid worth, it surpasses both.
[^1]: “Half the literary power of the country had been employed for more than a hundred years in blackening the memory of our noble-hearted Reformers. Hume, at once the shrewdest infidel that ever opposed the truth, and the ablest historian that ever perverted it, had done his worst. Gilbert Stuart, no mean writer, had done his worst too, and even in a bitterer spirit. Tytler, Whitaker, and a whole host of others, including some of our most popular poets, had followed in their track; and the pictures of the more wary but not less insidious Robertson—pictures illustrative of the remark of Pope, that what men are taught to pity they soon learn to love—had prejudiced the public mind even more powerfully against the opponents of Mary than the attacks of more open assailants. The memory of Knox and his coadjutors was pilloried in the literature of the country; every witting as he passed by, flung his handful of filth.”—Hugh Miller’s Headship of Christ, p. 78, Edin. 1889.
[^2]: “Never before did an honest and able man turn the stream of truth through such an Augean stable of calumny and falsehood as this admirable writer in elucidating the history of the Reformation. He accomplished such a revolution in public opinion regarding the characters and events of the period as the well-chosen hero of his first biography accomplished in religion.”—Hugh Miller’s Headship of Christ, p. 66.
[^3]: “To a friend, who once questioned him on the subject, he did not scruple to avow that, had it not been for ‘new light,’ he would probably never have thought of writing the Life of Knox.”—Life of Dr. MacCrie, p. 162.
[^4]: Ibid., p. 161.
[^5]: Life of Dr. MacCrie, p. 166.