2.00. THE LESSER PARABLES OF OUR LORD

The Lesser Parables of Our Lord
and Lessons of Grace in the Language of Nature By Rev. William Arnot. With Biographical Notice by Canon Bell.
T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW.
EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK.
Copyright 1884.

---> Contents <--- A. THE LESSER PARABLES OF OUR LORD.

  1. The harvest field and the harvest labourers. Part 1.
  2. The harvest field and the harvest labourers. Part 2.
  3. The fields white already to habvest,
  4. Liberty
  5. True, yet tender — tender, yet true,
  6. The food that jesus loved and lived on,
  7. The food that jesus gave to his own,
  8. The two families— the natural and the spiritual,
  9. Trees of righteousness. Part 1. ...
  10. Trees of righteousness. Part 2. ...

B. Lessons of grace in the language of nature.

1. Adam a type of Christ
2. Epistles of Christ
3. Christians the light of the world
4. A comprehensive confession
5. Rooted in love,
6. Drawn and dragged,
7. The fixed compass,
8. The Good Shepherd,
9. Personal adorning,
10. The salt of the earth, C. Readings in first peter.

1. Peter, an apostle,
2. Apostolic benediction,
3. The heirs and their inheritance, ...
4. Mighty to save,
5. The latter end is peace,
6. Rejoicing in tribulation,
7. Salvation by substitution,
8. No cross, no crown,
9. Jesus in the midst,
10. Obedient children,
11. Bought with a price,
12. Love on the spring,
13. Man and his glort,
14. "Christ in you the hope of glory,"
15. The bane and the antidote,
16. Living stones,
17. "On either side one; and jesus in the midst,”
18. "The Lord’s people, the lord’s treasure,"
19. The way and the fruits of redemption,
20. The warfare
21. The witness of a pure life,
22. The scriptures sanction civil authority,
23. The dignity of man,
24. No respect of persons,
25. The brotherhood
26. Love the brotherhood, D. Life in Christ.

  1. Life in Christ,
  2. Christ and the sacraments— the spirit and the body,
  3. Faith and a good conscience,
  4. The prodigal,
  5. No cross, no crown,
  6. The relation between doctrine and life

WILLIAM ARNOT.

Biography

WILLIAM ARNOT was a remarkable man. He was a power in his time, and made himself felt as preacher, writer, lecturer, both on this and on the other side of the Atlantic. His life contains but few incidents, but is nevertheless well worthy of being related, partly by his own graphic pen in a short Autobiography, and partly by his daughter through a selection from his private papers and correspondence.

We have only to look at the portrait attached to the Autobiography and Memoir, and we know at once what manner of man he was. If the mind be written in the face, here we have a man simple yet strong-brained, earnest and true, full of humour, full too of “the milk of human kindness.”

These traits all gradually become apparent as we read his story from childhood onward to manhood, and at last see him placed in an honoured grave, mourned not only by that branch of the Church to which he belonged, but by all who can estimate genius when sanctified by grace and devoted to the highest aims.

William Amot was born at Scone in 1808. His father lived here for about twelve years, and here seven children were bom; and here his mother died when she gave him birth. While William was still an infant, his father removed with his family to the Boat of Forgan, on the river Earn, in the parish of Forgandenny, about four miles from PertL This he always looked upon as his native place, as he never could feel an interest in the spot where he was bom, since he never knew it as a home. This was the home of his youth. No other spot on earth was half so dear to him; and to use the touching words of the Autobiography, “ The love of it is fresh in my bosom yet when many other emotions are fading.” And again, when describing the place connected with his earliest recollections, he says, “ There are three trees at the west end of the house, and two — a venerable plane and widespreading ash — at the edge of the garden, right behind the bam.

Oh, the hum of bees in the top of that plane tree on a summer afternoon, when its blossoms hung from every twig! I think I hear it now; and it makes me weep to think that I shall never hear it as I was wont to hear it with the fresh, buoyant hopeful bosom of boyhood. I should like to sit beneath it again on a warm summer evening and hear that hum. I do not know whether it would gladden my heart again, or break it; but I would like to try.” His parents lived in the faith and the fear of God. They were universally respected. The following is a characteristic anecdote of his father: — The small iarm which he cultivated was rented from Lord Kuthven. He had obtained a verbal authority from his landlord to execute some building, and repay himself by retaining his rents. Lord Ruthven left home for the Continent, where he resided some seven years. The building was erected, and the cost was £49, 10s. Robert Amot retained this sum; but as he had no voucher, the factor could not give him a discharge. On Lord Buthven’s return, the factor sent Amot a letter, stating that this sum stood on his book as arrear of rent, and advising him to get the necessary voucher. He carried the factor’s letter to Lord Ruthven, and received one in return to the factor. “ On presenting his lordship’s letter to the man-of-law, my father observed him smiling as he read, and asked the cause of his merriment. Whereupon he read aloud the contents of the letter, which were as follows: * I believe whatever this man says.’ “His mother was a woman who loved her Bible and walked with God. He notes down one very characteristic habit of hers which had reached him, “ When employed in spinning, she was wont to have her Testament lying open upon the body or framework of the wheel, within sight, and would catch a verse from time to time without interrupting her toil. ’ Diligent in busin ess; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.’ “ Though he had never seen his mother, he delighted to think that all his blessings came in answer to her prayers; and he felt it was very good for him to have grown up with the conception of his mother being a glorified saint “ Her company has often awed me out of evil, and encouraged me to good. Even yet, the thought of my mother’s eyes fainting in death, taking a last look of me, her helpless infant, melts me as nothing else is able to da” So, although his birth was humble, and the scenes and circumstances which surrounded his childhood rude, he could with thankfulness take up the words of the poet Cowper, —

“ My boast is not that I deduce my birth From loms enthroned and rulers of the earth; But higher far my proud pretensions rise —
The son of parents passed into the skies.” The glimpse which he gives us into his boyhood is interesting. His memory was so good that it retained a connected and continuous record of events from the time that he was four years old. This period was to him ’* like the era which divides the fabulous from the authentic history of a nation.” He takes us to the village school, and paints the teacher in a few graphic touches.

“ He was an elderly man, lame in body, and of a most inoffensive and gentle disposition* His character penetrated right through the childlike, and stuck fast in the childish. He was, however, a good, conscientious. Christian man, of a most unblemished reputation.” He describes the school, with its two stone steps outside the door leading to the floor, a little elevated above the level of the road. We see the little boy standing on the street, and looking through the opened door at the whole extent of the schoolroom, where his eye is arrested by “ the rows of dangling feet and legs, whose owners were seated at the tables above, and not so directly in my view I was soon introduced to the master and the alphabet I had the credit of being a good scholar from the commencement.” That he had a lively imagination, may be gathered from the following incident: — “Somewhere about this time my brothers and sisters and companions began to persuade me that I had been enlisted, and that as soon as I should grow up they would take me away to be a soldier. The foundation of this dangerous joke was this: Some soldier, or perhaps a yeoman going to Perth for drill, took me up in his arms and gave me a shilling, when I was quite an infant. It was afterwards repeated, as I thought seriously, that I was enlisted and must be a soldier. I never spoke of it; I was too much afraid even to mention it; but it often imbittered my joys throughout the period of childhood It was a grievous wrong that was done me. Why will not all mankind speak truth, and only truth, to children? “Amot had no distinct remembrance of the dawn of religious impressions on his mind. He was sure, however, that the influence of prayer and the Bible at school was good. He had a very vivid recollection of the first prayer that he ventured to offer in his own words and thoughts, and he felt the emancipation from the trammels of prayers learned by rote to be very great. At seven years of age he was sent to school at Aberdalgie, the nearest parish on the other side the river. Its master, Mr. Peddie, was a teacher in advance of his age, and a fine specimen of an old gentleman. He used to give Scripture lessons with a vigour and a genius that made the Bible stories most attractive to his scholars. “ I remember well the hearty laugh of the scholars when the worthy old gentleman, who was somewhat corpulent and very tall, enacted David throwing the stone at the Philistina How he did swing his one arm round his white head, while the loose sleeve where the other arm should have been danced in the wind; and what a race forward he took to give additional impetus to the stone -when at last it was let off; and how earnestly he looked forward to see whether his missile had taken effect on the forehead of his adversary! The whole essence of the training system was thera”

While at this school and other schools he did much as other boys do. He fought many a battle, played the truant, and proved the truth of the saying that ’ evil communications corrupt good manners.” His father married again when he was about eight or nine years of age. As the boy grew in years and strength he was kept at home in the summer to herd cows, and attended school only in the winter. He had but few books; but amongst them were “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” Brydone’s “Tour through Sicily and Malta,” “ The Arabian Nights,” and “ Don Quixote.” These were greedily devoured, and, whetting his appetite for mental food, contributed to his intellectual development The historical parts of the Bible were an inexhaustible theme, and Watts’ “ Hymns for Children “ became a part of memory itself. The first glimpses he obtained of the political world were connected with the trial of Queen Caroline. Robert Liddel, owner and master of a sloop trading from Perth, and married to Mary Laing, his cousin, often visited his father, and sometimes brought with him a newspaper; and in this way he first found out the existence and nature of government. When about fourteen, his father sent him to a school in Perth; but he had not been there more than six or seven weeks when he was compelled to leave through illness. An attack of measles, and then of acute inflammation in the chest, was so severe that for two or three days his family were apprehensive for his life.

He recovered, however, and from the period of convalescence in the summer he dates a most important era in his spiritual history.

He was made to feel the reality of his sin and danger, and ardently to desire the safety of his soul. Baxter’s “ Saints’ Rest,” which he read at this time with great profit, gave reality and power and personal interest to all that he had previously known of divine things. In the autumn of the same year, while he was still feeble, he was invited to reside with a cousin of his father, Mr. William Thompson, at Leadketty, in the parish of Dunning. Mr. Thompson was a farmer, and young Amot was set to work on the farm, the horses being chiefly intrusted to his care. The open-air employment and the constant exercise were favourable to health, and he became strong and robust The inward man did not prosper so much as the outward man. Evil influences were manifold. He was almost wholly in the society of ploughmen and other young persons employed on the farm. The moral tone was low. The conduct in many instances was most vicious. He was now fifteen years of age and far from his father’s house. It was only on Sabbath evenings that he escaped from the society of the servants and farm-labourers, for on such occasions he was invited to drink tea with the family in the parlour. A painful experience at this time of the truth that the way of transgressors is hard” begat in him a resolution which coloured all his future days. At an annual fair in a neighbouring village, he went with Mr. Thompson’s foreman and other men into several public-houses, where they gave him whisky-toddy. After he reached home, he became sick and giddy, passed a wretched night, and, gnawed by thirst, left his bed at three in the morning, and seeking a well at the bottom of the garden, drank of its clear, cool stream. He was not well for several days after; and the sickness and disgust produced so great an effect upon his mind that for many years he could not endure the taste of whisky in any shape, and could not even remain in a house where toddy was emitting its fumes. The illness of that night, and the loathing of spirits which resulted from it, became a shield of defence to him from that time forth. The reflective powers which were so prominent a feature of his character began now to put forth some faint buddings. “ One hot summer day I was alone in a field, driving three horses in the harrows. The ground was soft and dry. The harrows raised the hot dust round my head, and my feet at every step sank heavily into the dry ground. It was a weary day; it was fatiguing work.

I had no human being to speak to. I betook myself to rhyme.

I composed a poem on a snowdrop. It occupied my thoughts pleasantly, and diverted me from the oppressive exercise of my lungs and limbs.” When the hour of release came, he unyoked the horses, leaped joyfully on the bare back of one, and, leading the other two, soon had the poor brutes in the stable. Hurrying to his sleeping-room, he committed the lines to paper. They were “ sad doggerel,” he says; “ they have long been lost, and not one could I now recall. But though the lines are lost, and would be of no value if found, the memory of the making of these lines, with the attendant circumstances, is still fresh and sweet. It is one of a number of little mental efforts which served to keep me from being entirely absorbed in the mass of coarse vulgarity.” That experience on the farm, hard as it was, he never regretted. “The rude contact with men and familiarity with horses rubbed off a good deal of my constitutional ’baimliness and imparted a dash of manliness to my character, which I think is by no means to be despised. I certainly do not regret that I held the plough at sixteen years of age, or that I could throw myself on the bare back of a horse while he was in motion, or that I learned horsemanship at the expense of many a fall It has helped, I think, to wring the womanhood out of a nature somewhat soft in its original contextura It enables me to feel easy in many positions which are sufficient to annoy those who have been more tenderly cradled in their youth. I delight to notice every one, even the least, of the multifarious influences which during youth go to mould the character of the man.”

About the year 1824 or 1825 he went home, and was called to occupy for a time the place of his brother, who had been apprenticed to the business of a gardener at Kilgraston, in the parish of Dunbamey, and who was laid aside by illness. When he left Kilgraston he returned to his father’s house, and became an apprentice to the gardener of Lord Ruthven at Freeland. His father was not favourable to this step, believing that a lawyer’s office offered better prospects of remuneration; yet many influences combined to attract young Amot to the occupation. A spice of the romantic in his nature, a strong desire to continue under his father’s roof, and a decided contempt for money-making, made him prefer the open air and freedom of a garden to a desk in a county town. He entered joyfully on his duties at Martinmas (November 11th) 1824, when he was just sixteen years of age His work was often heavy, but he was in good health, and lived in great happiness. With regard to his religious impressions he thus writes: — ’ My mind made some progress in spiritual understanding; but there was a great conflict between the claims of Christ and the claims of pleasure One thing I ought to record with unmeasured thankfulness, — that the enemy in that conflict never got the advantage over me which results from actual indulgence in vice.

I am well aware that there may be to a great extent the abstinence from vice where Christ is not permitted to dwell in the heart by faith; but I am most firmly convinced that every defilement of the conscience by actual guilt strengthens the adversary’s hold, and diminishes the power of resistance. The conflict in my experience was hard enough; and I thank God now that elements were not permitted to enter which would have made it tenfold harder, — that such giant lusts as drunkenness and licentiousness were kept at bay without the camp, and never obtained the advantage of actual possession. One touch of defilement on the conscience corrodes the very sinews of the combatant’s strength The vain thoughts — the pleasures of sense — the dislike of seriousness, — these and a multitude of other sins maintained within me the conflict against the truth But at this hour I rejoice with trembling that their power was not then reinforced by those lusts which, besides presenting enticements to the spirit, lay hold of the body, and drag down the man by all the force of natural laws.”

About this time he freed himself by a desperate struggle from the bondage of the recognized drinking usages of society. And though in doing so he had to run the gauntlet of sarcasm and scorn, yet his own strong common-sense prevailed, aided as he was by the support and counsel of his father, who not merely condemned excess, but was ’* opposed to the drinking customs root and branch.’’

“The great ruling event of my youth, the event which by sovereign wisdom was made the pivot on which my life and character turned, was the long illness and death of my only brother.” This brother was obliged in the year 1825 to leave his employment finally, and to come home an invalid. He had grown up to manhood with many qualities fitted to gain the esteem of his fellows. His person was handsome, his manners refined, and he possessed a considerable amount of mechanical genius. From his frolicsome and social qualities, as well as from the purity of his conduct, he was a favourite in every circle, and greatly beloved. He came home to die from a disease of the spine, which gradually increased, paralyzing the limbs, and telling with effect on his general health The companionship of this brother became a turning-point in William Arnot’s life. For his brother was a true Christian; his faith was seen by its fruits, and the new life was manifested in his conversation. Communion with this brother, sometimes by the river-side, or in the woods, where William carried him in his arms “ as a nurse takes a child; “ sometimes on a grassy bank, where they basked in the softened rays of the evening sun; or sometimes on a bed in the sick-room, — was the training provided by his heavenly Father to break the power of the world over his heart And when at last his brother died, and his “dearest earthly treasure was torn away,” a new purpose was formed in his heart, and he wished to devote himself to the ministry.

He now commenced the study of Latin in right earnest, and the account which he gives of his preparation for the work to which his after-life was to be consecrated is remarkable, and shows us the earnest, determined, noble character of the man: —

“ Even during the hours of labour I continued to learn something. Digging, which was one of our most laborious occupations, became nevertheless, by a little management a favourable occasion for learning a conjugation or a rule of syntax. The management was after this manner. When three or four persons were together digging a large plot of ground, we followed each other closely, each carrying a furrow across. When the first man reached the edge with his furrow, he stood aside and waited till the others completed theirs, and turned with each a new one in the opposite direction. Then he who had «arrived first at this side struck in last when the motion began towards the other side. Thus at each round we obtained in turn two or three minutes to stand and change the position for the relief of the muscles I latterly fell upon the plan of having my elementary books of Latin or Greek in my pocket. During the moments of rest I snatched the book, ran over a tense or a portion of whatever might be in hand, and put the book in my pocket again when it was time to move on again with a new furrow. While toiling across a field I kept conning and trying the portion I had read. At the next halting I corrected the errors, and took up a new portion. This was done without any prejudice to the work. I found in it a double benefit. The memory in these circumstances acted very freely; the lesson was easily learned, and the employment of the mind on that subject acted as a diversion, greatly lessening the weariness of the toil”

Truly William Amot was a man of mark, and one who proved himself able to rise above the circumstances which would have dragged a man of weaker nerve or infirmer purpose down.

He had now begun to save every penny of his wages that could be spared from necessarie& He earned nine shillings a week during the two latter years of his labour, and his father, thinking the discipline good for his son, charged him two and sixpence a week for his board. He had saved twenty pounds in November 1828. His father would fain have persuaded him to remain at home, and offered to take a farm and stock it for him; but when he saw that his heart was set upon the work of the ministry, he fell in with his views, and encouraged him in every possible way.

He now devoted all his time to study, preparatory to entering college He went to Perth, and placed himself under a Mr. Thomas Scott, a probationer, lately licensed, who had begun to keep a school. Here he read the whole of the j neid of Virgil, acquired some knowledge of the Greek grammar, and read portions of the New Testament and other selections from Sandford’s “Extracts.” At the invitation of his uncle, Robert Fisher, who offered him lodging in his house free of expense during the first session, he went to Glasgow on the 8th of October 1829. On the 10th October he purchased a red gown, paid his matricidation fee at the library, and his tickets for the reek and Latin classes, and was ready to commence work on the following day. And work he did, — obtained an honourable place in his classes, — carried off prizes, and enjoyed learning not only for its own sake, but for the enlargement of mind which it brought. The amount of his private teaching, which was needful for his support while at college, was no doubt a hindrance to his own studies, and prevented him from specially distinguishing himself as a student. He felt this necessity keenly at the time, and regretted it in after-years.

While at college he formed some life-long friendships. With two students especially he was intimate, and enjoyed with them a tender and hallowed brotherhood. They were both men of mark, and both entered into rest before him. He was the eldest of the three, and yet it was his singular lot to begin his own literary life-work by composing the Memoir of one of his friends, and to close it by composing the Memoir of the other. These friends were Halley and Hamilton; and now, as the author of Amot’s Memoir beautifully says, they three “who paced long ago the dingy quadrangle of Glasgow College, now pace the golden streets, praising together the Lord whom they all three loved and served 80 faithfully on earth/’

“ All the friends were earnest workers in the cause of Sunday schools. Some of them, including Mr. Amot, were amongst the first promoters of the Glasgow Sabbath-School Union.” He taught for four years an advanced Bible class for young women, in connection with the mission at St Kollox. His work was much blessed, and many were the testimonies he received as to the good that was done. His correspondence at this time with his intimate friends is very interesting, and throws much light on his character in all its phases. “Some letters overflow with playfulness, and sparkle with humour; others are full of serious thoughts on the most solemn subjects; in many the grave and the humorous lie side by side in very close contact, but never mingled so far as to jar on the strictest sense of propriety.”

He was keenly alive to all that took place in the great city, and threw himself as far as he was able into the questioa of Negro Emancipation and of Beform, and into the other public movements of the day. Through the whole of his college life the love of home runs like a strong current through all his correspondence; and his love of flowers crops up in almost every letter; so that when a parcel has to be sent from home the invariable request is, “Be sure to send me a flower.” On the 4th of October 1837 Mr. Amot was licensed as a preacher of the gospel by the Presbytery of Glasgow. Soon afterwards he was appointed assistant to the Bev. John Bonar, then minister of the united parishes of Larbert and Dunipace, and entered on his duties in November 1837. The year spent in the work at Larbert and with Mr. Bonar was both pleasant and profitable, and was a time which he always liked to look back to.

He had hardly been a year at Larbert when he received a call to St. Peter’s Church, Glasgow. “ He began his ministry here on the first Sabbath of January 1839; but before many weeks had passed, his health, already much enfeebled, broke down completely under the new strain. A severe illness ensued, which disabled him entirely for work during a period of about three months.” When he recovered from this illness, he very soon gathered around him a large and warmly attached congregation. His preaching had a peculiar attraction for young men, who, both in Glasgow and afterwards in Edinburgh, formed an important element in his congregation. Though his church became crowded, and his hearers eagerly drank in the Word as it fell from his lips, the preacher himself was far from satisfied with his work. His private journal and letters “ show how strictly he scrutinized his work, with all its springs and motives; and how sternly he judged, and how unsparingly he condemned, when he himself was the prisoner at the bar.”

He was truly at this time in labours abundant; and besides the duties more particularly connected with his own church and congregation, he began to take his share in more public work, and his name was announced in the prospectus of ’’a course of lectures on the* physical, educational, and moral improvement of the people, especially of the great towns.” Fully occupied with the laborious work of a city charge, he took no prominent part in the proceedings which led to the Disruption. But when the crisis came, he, with his whole congregation, left the Establishment, though they continued for some years in possession of their old place of worship. On the 30th Jidy 1844 he married the second daughter of Mr. Fleming of Clairmont, Glasgow; and although a stranger to all the family but the lady herself, he gradually gained their love, and exercised a growing influence for their good. In the spring of the following year he was requested by the Colonial Committee of the Church to supply the newly-organized Free Church congregation in Montreal for some months. To this he agreed, and sailed from Liverpool on the 4th May, accompanied by his wif a During his absence he wrote some pastoral letters to his people, giving an account of his journey and his labours, and exhorting them to cleave with stead&ust heart unto the Lord. He left for home in the end of September. From his own letters we learn the number of calls he received to become the pastor of other churches, and to minister to other congregations. Now the call comes from Lerwick, in Shetland; now it comes from Canada; now it is to a professorship in the Presbyterian College in London. These different proposals to remove from Glasgow caused him considerable anxiety, and brought him to the throne of grace for guidance; but bound by theties of strong affection to his flock, he refused them all, and for twentyfive years he continued to minister to the same people.

St. Peter’s congregation was not, like many others, ejected from their place of worship immediately at the Disruption. The church belonged to the Church Building Society, and continued until the commencement of the year 1849 to be used by the Free Church congregation, they paying to the Society a yearly rent of XI 00. But in February 1849, by a decision of the Court of Session, the congregation, along with others similarly situated, were formally ejected from their place of worship, which was declared to be the property of the Established ChurcL A new church, however, had been building in Main Street for Mr. Amot and his congregation. This was opened on the 26th May 1850, and Dr. Hamilton preached the opening sermon. In 1851 he published his first volume of sermons. It was entitled “ The Eace for Eiches, and some of the Pits into which the Runners Fall: Six Lectures applying the Word of God to the Traffic of Men.” The first edition of one thousand was sold out within two months, and a second thousand printed At the close of the next year a little book appeared with a fictitious signature, but which his friends at once ascribed to William Amot The title of this was, “ The Drunkard’s Progress: being a panorama of the overland route from the station at Drouth to the general terminus in the Dead Sea; in a series of thirteen Views, drawn and engraved by John Adam, the descriptions given by John Bunyan, junior.” He was a determined foe to drinking under all its forms during the whole course of his life. He entered heart and soul into the battle against it, and there can be no doubt that his manly and consistent protest against the evil did much to advance and strengthen the temperance cause.

During his long ministry in Glasgow, from the close of 1838 till October 1863, there are few striking events or great changes to be recorded to mark the progress of the years. To use his own words in describing a similar period in, the life of James Hamilton, — “ Where there are no battles, the history of a country ia brief and dull; but great are the happiness and progress of the people.

It is the same with the work and sphere of a Christian minister, when he is faithful and his flock affectionate. The minister, loving and beloved, is felt everywhere as a rallying-point and centre of attraction. The beneficent machinery goes smoothly round, Christian charity lubricating every wheel; and precisely because everything is going on well there is not much for the historian to teU.” But his time is fully occupied. Now he is engaged on a new series of tracts; now he prepares a paper for some periodical; then he writes a warm letter of sympathy to a friend on the occasion of his mother’s death, or he sends a kind farewell letter to a young man connected with the congregation going abroad. And many a proof do his letters afford of a rich affectionate nature, of ripe wisdom, of strong common-sense, of kindness toward man, and of love toward God. His Autobiography and Memoir gives us pleasant glimpses of the writer, and lecturer, and preacher at home. We see him in his holiday time giving daily lessons to his two girls in the rudiments of Latin, or reading aloud to his children Longfellow’s poem of “Hiawatha.” “The peculiar rhythm of this poem took his fancy, and he would frequently improvise long screeds of mock-heroic verse in imitation of it Any little incident at home or in his walks furnished a subject, and he would proceed as uninterruptedly as if reciting from a book. If a rhyme was wanted and did not immediately present itself, a word was coined to suit the emergency.”

Amidst his busy life, Mr. Amot found time to write and publish some works of lasting interest, great originality of conception, and remarkable freshness of thought. Amongst these may be mentioned lectures on the Book of Proverbs, entitled “ Laws from Heaven for life on Earth;” a volume illustrating the Parables of our Lord; a volume of sermons called “Roots and Fruits of the Christian life;.” and “ The Church in the House, or Primitive Christianity as exhibited in the Acts of the Apostles.”

How active was this man of God, how energetic in body and mind, may be gathered from the fact that he spent six months in Canada in evangelistic work, that he paid several visits to the Continent, attended the meetings of the Evangelical Alliance at Geneva, and preached the gospel at the Salle Evang lique in the Paris Exhibition of 1867. Besides all this, he twice visited the United States, — agoing on the first occasion as one of ’’a deputation from the Free Church to the United Assembly of the Presbyterian Churches in America; “ and on the second occasion being invited to attend the meetings of the Evangelical Alliance at New York in the autumn of 1873. His two eldest sons were engaged in business in the United States, and this strongly influenced him to accept the invitation — which was further pressed upon him, in a personal interview, by Mr. G H Stuart of Philadelphia and Dr. Hall of New York. During this latter visit “ he traversed the Pacific Railway to San Francisco and back — a great undertaking for one of his years, and alone; indeed, the result proved that it was too great. A serious illness detained him some days in Salt Lake City; and though he recovered so as to be able to complete the journey, the fatigue of it more than balanced the pleasure, and the very recollection of it was never anything but dreary to him.’’ It should have been mentioned that in 1863 he received a call to the Free High Church, Edinburgh, which he accepted, as believing it to be the leading of Providence, though it was directly opposed to his own inclinations at the time. Once settled in his new sphere, he soon began to feel at home, and enjoyed his work, rapidly filling a church which had been thinned during the long vacancy.

During Mr. Amot’s first absence in America the editorship of the Family Treaawry became vacant, and the publishers proposed that he shoidd undertake the conduct of the magazine. On his return it was definitely arranged that he should become editor, and his duties commenced with the beginning of the year 1871.

It added considerably to his labours; but he enjoyed the work, and entered upon it with all his might. He was now in his sixtythird year. So his life ran on quietly, happily, usefully. He had many blessings and some sorrows. He took both from his Father’s hand, and both were made to work together for his good.

One of his great sorrows was the death of that eminent man Dr. Candlish. He heard the tidings on his return from his second visit to America. “At Queenstown, on Monday night, Irish newspapers came on board. I was listlessly glancing over paragraphs in one of them, when my eye fell on one of two and a half lines, thus: — * At the funeral of Dr. Candlish yesterday, in Edinburgh, the procession was nearly a mile long.’ It blinded me like a flash of lightning in my faca It was the first intimation to me of our great bereavement. Edinburgh seems naked and empty since.” And then Mr. Amot adds: “ Many beautiful things are told of his faith and love and childlike demeanour towards the closa I must tell you a thing that he said of myself, that I count a very precious legacy. His mind was wandering; he thought he was in some meeting of Presbytery or Assembly. Suddenly and sharply, after a pause, he said, * That’s Amot; I want to hear what he is saying.’ His son took occasion to say, * Do you love Amoti’ *Love him! who would not love Amot? I love him as a brother.’ These words have distilled like oil to soothe other rufflings ever since — all the more that they were spoken while the intellect was beclouded, and judgment not sitting on watch to restrain the expression of the heart’s thoughts.”

Towards the close of the year 1873 the two American evangelists, Moody and Sankey, paid their first visit to Edinburgh, and Amot was one of the first to throw himself heart and soul into their work. He also wrote occasional notices of the work, both for the Family Treasuiy and also for an American paper. The lllutstrated Christian Weekly, to which he was, from the time of his last visit to America, a frequent contributor. In the autumn of 1874 he once more spent a month on the Continent, and during the winter of the same year he lectured in Exeter Hall to the Young Men’s Christian Association. His subject was, “ The Foe and the Fight; or. The Trinity of Evil,”— Belial (vice). Infidel (unbelief). Idols (superstition), 2 Corinthians 6:15-16.

Throughout the winter his strength declined steadily, but so gradually that it was only on looking back over a considerable period that the difference could be observed. A formal application was made in the November of this year to the Assembly, in his name, for a colleague and successor. At the monthly meeting of the Presbytery, in January 1875, the proposal was brought forward, and the necessary steps taken for bringing it befpre the General Assembly in May. “ Little did he then think that by the time it reached the highest court of the Church the need of such an application would be only too apparent. He lived only two days after it was sanctioned by the Assembly.” For two or three months before the end his strength began to fail, and to his friends he would let fall some touching hints that the end was drawing near. To one he said, “I do not know whether it is the spring season, or whether it is the a ttumn of my life; but I have never felt before as I do this spring.” To another he wrote, “ The strength has leaked out of me this spring more than ever heretofore.” And so there followed some months of gradual decline and “ calm decay.” But still he continued to work as his strength permitted h\m. In April he went to Stirling, to attend a religious convention; and the same day left for Glasgow, to be present at the funeral of a near relatiya In May he went to London as a deputy from the Free Church to the Synod of the English Presbyterian Church; and during the week he spent there he spoke twice at the Synod, twice at Moody’s meetings in the Opera House, and preached on Sunday, in the forenoon, at Hampstead, and in the evening at Begent Square. On the 16th, the last Sunday that he preached, his text in the morning was, “ We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Against the wishes of his family, who feared for his strength, he spoke in the afternoon, shortly and simply, on the wise men from the east being guided by the star to Bethlehem. On Monday he finished the preparation of the June number of the Family Treasury. On Tuesday he attended the noon prayer-meeting in the Assembly Hall, when he opened his mouth in public for the last time. “ Taking his text, as he so often did, from Nature, he told how that morning, on going into his vinery, he observed a branch drooping. On examining it, to discover the cause, he found that it was a tie which he had himself bound round it, some time before, to give it support. The branch had grown since then, and the tie was now so tight that it impeded the flow of the sap. He took out his knife and severed it at once. He then spoke ofties around our souls hindering us from full fruitfulness, and of the means by which the great Husbandman loosens them. ’ Sometimes he takes the knife and cuts them through; sometimes he sends such a rush of life through the soul that it bursts every bond.’ The friend who after his death reported the substance of what he said, added: ’ It seemed to me as if his own soul was being visited with such a blessed rush of life.’ ’’ A few days of weariness followed, during which he was bright and cheerful as ever. The last glimpses which his children got of him, weak though he was and much confined to his room, were very pleasant. Oftentimes he would sit in his easy-chair in his garden, looking at his shrubs and flowers, and gladdened by their beauty. “Never had earth seemed so fair to him in the fresh green of early summer; and expressions of admiration often burst forth from his happy heart” He knew that he was drawing near the goal; but the good fight had been fought out and his course finished. “ Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peaca” The last day of his life he remained in bed most of the day, — taking pains, however, to say that it was not because he felt worse, but because he felt so useless when he was up. In the evening he rose and went to another room, where he sat for several hours.

Some letters arrived by the late post; they were read to him after he had lain down again. One was from a daughter at school, and he laughed heartily at some girlish fun described in it Another was from the Convener of the Continental Committee, asking him to go to Bome for the winter. His wife and daughters were delighted with this proposal, knowing his desire to see Rome, and thinking that the rest and change would recruit his strength. When he was asked his opinion, he smiled, and said, *’ I feel like the laddie who was offered jelly when he was too sick to take it, and said, *You never give me good things but when I canna tak* them.’ “ About three in the morning he awoke in profuse perspiration. Noticing the sweet warbling of the birds, he said, “These sweet birds! they are singing for me.” A little afterwards his wife, hearing him speak, asked if he wished anything.

“No, dear,” he answered; “I was not apeing to you,” In less than two hours she was awakened by the sound of coughing, and running to his side, saw the blood flowing from his mouth. The silver cord was being loosed, and the golden bowl was being broken at the fountain. “ He sank back on his pillow as if in a swoon, and without a sigh, without a quiver, the spirit escaped away from its tabernacle of clay.”

He was buried in the Grange Cemetery, beside his eldest sister and his infant child. On his monument are inscribed the appropriate words: “ He walked with Grod: and he was not; for God took him.” This sketch of a good man cannot be better closed than with an extract from the sermon preached by Professor Blaikie on the Sunday following his death: “ And now along the golden path, and through the golden gate, he himself has passed to his Father’s housa And to you his death just deepens the lessons and exhortations of his life— ’Choose the path to glory; see how it stretches from your very feet upward to the heavenly Jerusalem; let your citizenship be in heaven; and while you are on earth walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.’ “