By REV. D. M. MACDONALD, Edinburgh.
(Continued from Vol. LXI., p. 336.)
In the spring of 1805 Mr. Haldane decided to make another tour to the north accompanied by Mr. Campbell. In due time they reached Wick where in 1797, only three families worshipped God, but now they heard the noise of melody in almost every dwelling. Such was the change brought about in the town through the preaching of the Gospel. Both of his former tours were fondly remembered and some of the people now came twenty miles to hear. They remained in Caithness for a fortnight and before leaving it we may take notice of an entry in the first Journal of the tour in 1797 under date of October 9th, where it is said “Visited a woman ill of fever and another who had long been confined.” The person alluded to as having been long confined was a Miss Campbell to whom Sir George Sinclair in a letter, dated Thurso Castle, 13th August, 1852, thus refers to:—
If any circumstances should prevent you from visiting Mauntau-baun this year I hope you will bend your steps northward in the course of the present autumn and even during the continuance of our present lovely harvest glean a few precious memorials of your revered father’s labours of love, which are still so highly appreciated throughout this district. Had you come a few weeks ago you would have still seen one of his earliest converts, a pious and excellent female, to whom he preached at her bedside during his first sojourn on Thurso, supposing that she had not long to live; but it pleased God that she should remain sixty-nine years’ confined, without intermission to her bed.”
In a short biographical notice of this remarkable case published in a Caithness newspaper it is stated that after having been confined to bed fourteen years, “the late Mr. J. A. Haldane preached beside her the last sermon she ever heard!” She survived his memorable visit fifty-five years and died at the age of eighty-four. It is added: “Though labouring under complete prostration of body and during the last few years of her life afflicted with deafness neither were the faculties of Miss Campbell’s mind impaired, her temper soured nor her sympathies contracted by her lengthy affliction. She looked steadily at ‘things unseen and eternal’ and her cheerful resignation to her trying lot was not more conspicuous than her profound interest in the welfare of her numerous and attached friends. Sustained and cheered by the truths of revelation, and by the sympathy of kindred spirits and cared for with unwearied affection by her younger sister her life glided away in tranquil happiness. Her end, like her life, was peace. She died from exhaustion of nature. The day previous to her death she was much in her usual way, but her mind was impressed with the idea that her end was near, and having given directions concerning her funeral and some other matters, she quietly waited in religious exercises for her departure. Her spirit passed away without even a sigh. When one thinks of her life as prolonged to such a period without exercise or even exposure to the open air, of the changes which have taken place in individuals and nations since she lay down on her bed of weakness; oh her peace and happiness in a condition of so much suffering and weakness; it is difficult to say, whether her history, thus briefly indicated is more interesting to the physiologist, moralist or the Christian.” We may add that she was an outstanding example of the sustaining power of grace. We have never heard of a similar case. Whether it be at the stake with its flames, or on the scaffold, or in the stocks in prison like Paul or being stoned to death like Stephen or on the bed of weakness and pain the Saviour’s grace will enable the believer to rise superior to his suffering and bring him in triumph to eternal glory.
In connection with Mr. Haldane’s preaching in the vicinity of Edinburgh the following incident took place near North Berwick: He had announced the service in the usual manner and had begun to preach one summer’s evening not far from the shore of the beautiful bay which stretches for almost twenty miles along the coast. At that time the convivial habits of East Lothian were notorious. There were many of the lairds who drank so hard and habitually that, it is said, by those who knew them well that they never went to bed sober. It happened that the officers of the East Lothian Yeomanry and certain justices of the peace including a Baronet who long sat in Parliament for the county, were dining with the Provost and magistrates of North Berwick. According to the wretched habits of the times they were already deep in their potations when they were informed that Mr. Haldane was preaching in their immediate neighbourhood to the assembled people of North Berwick. Being already heated with wine they began to consult in what way they should stop the service. One of them more reckless that the rest said that they should seize the preacher and send him on board a man-of-war. He was told that this would be dangerous as Mr. Haldane’s uncle was Admiral of the North Seas. As they drank on they became determined that he should be silenced and open-air preaching crushed in North Berwick. Rising from the table the Provost and Magistrates sallied forth threatening that if the preacher did not desist they would make a law to stop him if they did not find one. In this infuriated condition they rushed forward to the spot, a rowdy throng, with oaths, imprecations, and other sad proofs of their half-inebriated state. Mr. Haldane received them with calm self possession and in reply to their demands intimated that he was infringing no law and interrupting no thoroughfare. He said also that if, as magistrates, they required him to desist from preaching in that particular spot, he would certainly obey, but added when he heard men in authority setting such an example of profanity he would not say what he thought of them. His determined composure seemed now to have paralysed the godless gang who had rushed from their revel to seize upon the preacher. At this juncture a respectable farmer came forward and requested him to adjourn to his field which was private property outwith the jurisdiction of the Provost. He did so, drawing a moral from the enmity to the Gospel just witnessed, preached a powerful and impressive sermon, which sent away the people awed and solemnized. It was long remembered at North Berwick and in the neighbourhood. Nettled at the defeat they had sustained the Provost and Magistrates prevailed on one of the county gentlemen who commanded the Yeomanry to lend his drum in order to drown the preacher’s voice. This unworthy act did not succeed, however, as the drummer was not allowed to enter the field.
There was a sad sequel to this affair. Shortly afterwards Mr. Haldane was returning home and as he reached his house in Edinburgh, No. 16 George Street, he observed the unusual spectacle of a great funeral procession with two hearses passing his door. He inquired whose funeral it was, when he was shocked to learn that it was the funeral of the Provost of North Berwick and his wife, who had both died suddenly, and were about to be buried in the same grave.
Twenty years afterwards, when walking one summer evening near Portobello with some of his children, Mr. Haldane met a tall portly gentleman of commanding presence, who, on seeing, rather abruptly left the footpath, and uncovering made a profound bow. Mr. Haldane returned the unlooked for courtesy of the stranger and next day discovered that it was the officer who lent the drum at North Berwick. Since that evening he had never met the preacher but had deeply repented the part which he had been tempted to act in the affair; it was a recollection that lay heavy on his conscience; and he afterwards charged his sons to do what in them lay to show respect for Mr. Haldane and kindness to his family. It is still more pleasing to think that this officer was himself a trophy of Divine Grace, and that the preacher to whom he had refused to listen and whose voice he had tried to drown spoke to him the words of peace and prayed by his side when laid on the bed of death. Two of his sons distinguished themselves in defence of their country and both became, what was far better, good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
It was with reference to such scenes as that with the magistrates of Kintyre, North Berwick and the Sheriff of Argyll that Dr. Lindsay Alexander thus spoke in his impressive funeral sermon preached in February, 1851: “Of all the influences that have been operating upon our people during the half century, just closed, none, perhaps has been more powerful and extensive in all its bearings that that which commenced when God touched the heart of James Haldane with evangelic fire, and sent him from secular occupations to the streets and highways of his native country to proclaim to his fellow-men ‘the unsearchable riches of Christ.’ It needed such a man to accomplish such a work as he had to undertake. Men educated in the retirement of Colleges—men of sensitive or delicate tastes and temperament—men infirm of purpose or hesitating in action, would have been bent and scattered before the storm which interest and prejudice, and the old hatred of the human heart to all that is earnest in religious life, everywhere stirred up against the itinerant preachers. It needed a man who had been trained amid scenes of danger and of strife, and whose spirit was accustomed to rise with opposition to encounter and brave the tempest. Such a man was found in Mr. James Haldane. The habits he had acquired at sea in battling with the elements and with the untamed energy of rude and fearless men, stood him in good stead when called to contend for liberty of speech and worship in opposition to the bigoted and tyrannical measures of those who would fain have swallowed up alive the authors of the new system. He was not a man to quail before priestly intolerance or magisterial frowns. Dignified in manner, commanding in speech, fearless in courage, unhesitating in action he everywhere met the rising storm with the boldness of a British sailor and the courtesy of a British gentleman as well as with the uprightness and inoffensiveness of a true Christian. To the brethren who were associated with him, he was a pillar of strength in the hour of trial; while upon those who sought to put down their efforts by force or ridicule it is hard to say whether the manly dignity of his bearing or the blameless purity of his conduct produced the more powerful effect in paralysing their opposition, when he did not succeed in winning their applause.”
Many interesting incidents, in addition to what has been written, might be mentioned but it might take up too much Magazine space to do so. Mr. Haldane’s zeal for the salvation of his fellow sinners and the advancement of the kingdom of Christ continued without abatement to the end of his life. After a short illness he entered into the joy of his Lord on the 8th February, 1851. About an hour before his departure, his devoted wife said, “You are going to Jesus. How happy you will be soon.” A vivid smile lighted up his face with an expression of great joy, as he said, “Oh! yes.”
The funeral, although intended to be strictly private, drew together a large concourse of the citizens of Edinburgh, anxious to do homage to his public character and private worth. The Scotsman said that such a spontaneous tribute of respect “has rarely been paid to any private individual,” and excepting the funerals of Dr. Chalmers and Dr. Thomson, “there has not been such an unsolicited demonstration of public feeling on any like occasion.”
The following testimony is taken from the Edinburgh Witness: “Till the appearance of these memoirs the younger reading public, we believe, were not aware of the greatness of James Haldane nor of the influence and extent of those Evangelistic labours which he extended to almost every corner of Scotland, and to the farthest Orkneys. He was raised up to do a great work just before the revival of Evangelical religion dawned in the Establishment, and this work he prosecuted with an indomitable will, an intrepid meekness, an energy not to be broken by labour, and with a success for which Scotland will not fail to hold him in everlasting remembrance.”