IT is now a hundred years since Dr. M’Crie, one of Scotland’s ablest ecclesiastical historians, passed to his rest. His name will ever be linked with that of Knox whose reputation he so successfully cleared from the load of obloquy and misrepresentation that had long rested upon it. “Half the literary power of the country,” says Hugh Miller, “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 witling as he passed by, flung his handful of filth.” It was to the task of clearing the memory of Scotland’s greatest Reformer from misrepresentation that M’Crie set himself and his success was seen in the number of monuments erected to Knox, the literature that has gathered round his name, and the high esteem in which he is held by the best of his countrymen. It was M’Crie’s Life that paved the way for the striking character sketches of Carlyle, Froude, and Hill Burton. Never did a man face a literary task so seemingly hopeless and never did Scotland witness such a thorough piece of historical research in the vindication of one of her greatest sons. By his pen he made “the literature of a whole century,” to quote Hugh Miller again, “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.”
Prior to the publication of his Life of Knox M’Crie was unknown but to a few. He belonged to one of the Secession bodies—the General Associate Synod. This section of the Secession, like the Burghers, passed through the fires of the Voluntary or New Light Controversy. M’Crie was opposed to Voluntaryism and wrote what is reckoned to be the classic work in the defence of what is known as the Establishment Principle of Religion. This is his well-known Statement. It was while gathering material for this work that M’Crie laid the foundation of those studies which were to bear fruit in his lives of John Knox and Andrew Melville. To a friend who once questioned him on the subject he acknowledged that had it not been for the New Light Controversy he would probably never have thought of writing the Life of Knox. Before this controversy he had been asked a question by one of his congregation during a pastoral visit about some point in the history of the Scottish Church, which he was unable to answer. Ashamed of his ignorance he determined to make himself more acquainted with the ecclesiastical history of his own country. From his note-books, as his son and biographer points out, it is evident he began that course of reading and research which bore such fruit as we have in his lives of Knox and Melville. In the preface to the first edition of his Life of Knox, M’Crie states his motives for embarking on his great task. “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.” The first edition of the Life of Knox was published in 1811. The work soon attracted the attention of the famous literary critics of the day. They were conscious of the advent of a real historian and they were not slow in saying so. The story of how the book came to the notice of his old Professor, Dugald Stewart, has a touch of human interest. The Professor was confined to the house one Sabbath through indisposition. All the family were at church except his man-servant. As the Professor required his service for some purpose he rang a bell but got no response to his call. The bell was rung again but with no better result. The Professor then went down stairs to see what had happened to his faithful attendant. On entering his room he found him deeply engrossed in reading a book. The Professor’s curiosity was aroused as literature was a new pursuit to John. He was asked what book he was reading, to which he replied: “It’s a book my minister has written, and really it’s a grand ane.” The Professor took it with him to his room and soon became as deeply engrossed in it as John. Next day he called on the author and expressed his admiration for the book. “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 applauses of mankind.'” The work can still be had secondhand and the interested and intelligent reader will find in it real edification and instruction.
M’Crie’s Life of Melville, another of Scotland’s noble sons, has not received such praise as the Life of Knox but in its own way it is a masterpiece of biographical and ecclesiastical literature for here, as in Knox’s Life, M’Crie blended the biography and the church history of the period into one. His other works such as the History of the Reformation in Spain and History of the Reformation in Italy are very useful in giving an account of the Reformation movement in these countries. His review of Sir Walter Scott’s Tales of My Landlord is one of the finest pieces of historical criticism that we have in Scottish literature. In this work he came to the defence of the Covenanters and showed how seriously Scott was astray in his knowledge of the history in which he prided himself as being an expert. The memory of such a man deserves to be remembered and if anything we have written here will send some of our readers to read or re-read his Life of Knox and his other works we will feel that we have not written this imperfect and brief sketch in vain.