The Missionaries 4

Scotland in the 19th Century

One Thursday morning in March, 1845, 1 had been looking over our Circuit accounts;

and finding God had blessed us with a
considerable increase upon the quarter, whilst upon my knees
returning thanks to Almighty God, the postman came to the door,
and on opening the letter I read as follows —

“Dear Sir — Our preacher at Edinburgh, having gone over to
the old body, the Committee have resolved upon your going there
forthwith, if you are willing ; and the Revs. J. Molineux
and D. Rutherford, are appointed to visit your Circuit, with a view to
your immediate release: the Committee will appoint a suitable
supply for your Circuit, until the next Annual Assembly. You will
oblige by having the brethren together to meet the Deputation on
Friday evening next.”  Yours truly, H. Breeden, Cor. Sec."

I was surprised !  Go immediately to Edinburgh ! A meeting
to-morrow night !  Again I read the letter : but it was true ! The
meeting was convened, and the deputation came and were heard.
All was silent. It was an urgent case ; and, finally, it was moved
and seconded, by two of our most aged and beloved leaders, both
weeping as they rose, “That this meeting comply with the request
of the Connectional Committee."

At half-past five, on the Wednesday morning after we had
received the letter from the Committee, we were seated upon the
coach, and off for Edinburgh. To what changes of scenes and
persons are itinerant ministers subject! Having arrived in
Manchester, a few of our Salford friends accompanied us to the
Liverpool railway. As my brother Thomas was then in Liverpool,
he and a few friends took tea with us at Mr. D. Rowland's, where
we were commended to the care of Almighty God ; and by seven in
the evening we were on board the steam ship which was bound for
Glasgow. We had the best bedrooms, but as we were sea-sick until
noon the next day, when we got into smooth water, it was to us a
weary, uncomfortable passage. We arrived at Glasgow, and were
surprised with its magnitude and grandeur. By half -past six in the
evening, on the wings of steam, we were ready to be borne along
the iron road to the capital of Caledonia ; and travelled by train to
Edinburgh. About nine in the evening, on Good Friday, March 21st,
1845, we were put down by the cabman, at the mouth of Close, Grass Market,
Edinburgh : and having found our way up the darkest alley we were
ever in before, and groped up a winding stair to the third flat, we
found ourselves in the comfortable apartments of, and met with a
hearty welcome from, Mr. Jonathan Bladworth and family.

On the following Sabbath I opened my mission in Wesley Chapel,
North Richmond Street, in the old city of Edinburgh. I had seen
on the Saturday, advertisements that I should be there, and preach
morning and evening ; and to my bitter disappointment, there were
only forty persons present in the morning, and about sixty in the
evening. Sabbath after Sabbath rolled away, and scarcely a new
face could be seen in the chapel.

There was in this city the most efficient Teetotal Society I ever
met with. Its officers were men of moral and religious influence in
the city. I was waited upon and requested to speak at the next
Tuesday night meeting ; which offer I gladly embraced ; and here
I had the ear of 500 persons, who received my speech with hearty
applause. Persons taking the
Temperance pledge in Edinburgh, had first to provide themselves
with a card, which cost a penny ; then the person had to attend
the weekly meetings in the hall.  After the speaking, the president
for the year would request those persons, who would that
night take the pledge, to stand up. He then, after having read
distinctly the pledge, requested them to signify their assent by
holding up their right hands, until he counted them. Then these
persons had their cards filled up by the secretaries, each person
paying two pence ; so that it was a matter of care, solemnity, and
expense ; and from December 1845 to December 1846, the average
signatures thus taken were one hundred per week. Oh ye brave,
disinterested, moral reformers of Caledonia ! I am glad that I ever
saw your faces, and witnessed your zeal in this great cause ; and
though so far removed from you, I am still of the same mind, and
engaged in the same work. Oh ye dwellers in that
“ Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,
Land of the mountain and the flood ; "
how long will you refuse those soft and balmy waters which roar
from your sublime country, or roll from your magnificent lakes,
or glide from your perennial fountains!  And prostrate in body —
in soul — in circumstances — drink instead of the burning, reddening,
deadening river of Death ; produced by the maltreatment of the good
grain, sent for other purposes and clearly intended to be used as
food, and not to be changed into alcohol ! O ye standard-bearers
of Emmanuel ! Ere this, we trust many of you have ceased to sign
the annual certificates of those who obtain their living by serving
at the soul-stained altars of Bacchus ! Surely ere this, you have
ceased to press to the bosom of your churches those iron-hearted
men who, for sordid gain, hold their bottles to the mouths of the
fathers, and mothers, and sons, and daughters of your victimized,
whiskey-stricken, and dying population !

Shortly after, we held our anniversary for Missions, and I
resolved to try the strength of the Evangelical Alliance principle.
We first waited upon Dr. Alexander, and requested him to preach
in the morning. He told us that last night he had denied the
Wesleyans for that day on which they intended to reopen their
chapel ; that they were having Drs. Beaumont and Candlish, and
that they had strongly urged Dr. Alexander ; but, said he, "I
thought they were doctoring the thing too much. Now, we
sympathise with your church polity, and believe that you with us
are contending for Christian liberty." Then looking at me, he said,
“Well, my Brother Townend, if you will take my pulpit that
morning, it will afford me much pleasure to take yours." I could
scarcely believe my own ears, but replied, "If you dare trust me,
sir, I will." He said, dryly, "I'll trust you." The Rev. Mr. Watson, Baptist,
preached in the evening, and in the afternoon. And
for the Missionary meeting and soiree, we had plenty of help from
the various Dissenting ministers. These things were very healing
.and balmy to the members of our little church; and we raised
upwards of 4 Guineas to the Missionary funds that year. A Mrs. Binney,
an elderly lady of but small means, contrived to spare me a
considerable sum, which I distributed amongst the sick and poor
as opportunity and necessity dictated ; this enabled me to visit places
where otherwise I could not have found access; and
frequently I received the sincere benediction of the afflicted and
the dying, who otherwise would have been neglected.

Our little church now began to thrive, the congregations were
doubled, the prayer-meetings, class-meetings, and love feasts —
which we called experience meetings, and held, after preaching, on
Sabbath evenings — were all well attended, and we were very happy.
Edinburgh, with its suburbs, is enchanting beyond description,
uniting within a circle of four miles, the sea, the land, the city,
the country, — the beautiful, the magnificent, and the sublime.