William Guthrie, one of the
holiest and ablest of the experimental divines of Scotland, was
born at Pitforthy, the seat of his ancestors, in the shire of
Angus, in the year 1620. The branch of the house of Guthrie from
which he sprang was ancient and honorable; and its interest in
the cause of truth and godliness was proved by the fact, that
four of the children had early been devoted to the ministry of
the gospel. The only one of these who did not obtain a fixed
charge was Robert, who soon lost health and life by his abundant
labours in the cause of Christ; Alexander was settled at
Strickathrow, within his native shire, in 1645, and continued
there till his death, in 1661; while John, the youngest of the
family, became minister of Tarbolton, Ayrshire, from which he
was ejected, for adherence to Presbyters, after the restoration
of Charles II to the throne of Britain, and speedily sank under
the hardships to which he was exposed, dying in the year 1669.
The superior genius of William, the eldest of this excellent
band of brothers, was displayed in his early and successful
attention to learning; but he did not, till his entrance into
college life, obtain that intimate and saving acquaintance with
Divine truth which enabled him at once to stay his own soul upon
God as the God of his salvation, and to prescribe most skilfully
for the cases of spiritual disease that came under his notice.
He felt himself greatly indebted for acquaintance with the way
of holiness to the instructions of a near kinsman. This was Mr.
James Guthrie, then holding one of the chairs in the New College
of St. Andrews, and afterwards highly esteemed as the faithful
minister of Stirling during the period of the Covenant; for his
faithful adherence to which he obtained a martyr's crown. Samuel
Rutherford, who became Professor of Divinity at St. Andrews in
1639, took the guidance of William Guthrie's theological
studies, confirmed and cherished the principles of piety already
implanted, and brought him, with his whole soul, to devote
himself to the service of Christ. That he might not be entangles
in the network of earthly concerns, he resigned his estate at
Pitforthy to a younger brother, not engaged at that time in the
prosecution of sacred studies. Thus trained in the schools of
literature, and rendered familiar with religion both in theory
and practice, William Guthrie was well fitted for usefulness as
a preacher of the gospel; and received license, with the high
approbation of the Presbytery, in August 1642. It was fully two
years later that he obtained a church in the newly erected
parish of Fenwick; and was ordained minister, in compliance with
the harmonious call of the people, in November 1644. His success
and popularity were soon found to be great; and extended far
beyond the Ayrshire district in which his parish lays--to
Clydesdale, Stirling, and the Lothians. Several calls were
addressed to him, but ineffectually, to quit his beloved people,
till, about a year after his settlement, and very soon after his
marriage to an excellent lady of the noble family of London, he
left them for a season, by appointment of the General Assembly,
to attend the Scottish army as chaplain during the civil war
that ended in the execution of Charles I, and the subjection of
Scotland to the Protectorate of Cromwell. While the Protector's
troops kept possession of Glasgow about that time, Mr. Guthrie's
Christian heroism was called into exercise on a communion
Sabbath in Mr. Andrew Gray's church. 'Several of the English
officers had formed a design to put in execution the disorderly
principle of a promiscuous admission to the Lord's table, by
coming to it themselves without acquainting the minister, or
being in a due manner found worthy of that privilege. Mr.
Guthrie, to whose share it fell to dispense the sacrament at
that table, spoke to them, when they were leaving their pews in
order to make their attempt, with such gravity, resolution, and
zeal, that they were quite confounded, and sat down again
without occasioning any further disturbance.' The arrangements
then made by the Church Courts regarding chaplains in the army,
render it probable that he had been relieved by his brethren at
several intervals, and thus enjoyed occasionally the endearments
of his home, and opportunities of pastoral and public
usefulness. He was providentially preserved throughout the war,
and returned to his flock with increased ardour and devotion.
They needed his care; for at the commencement of his ministry,
profanation of the Sabbath, desertion of the house of God,
neglect of family religion, and gross ignorance, with a train of
attending evils, were prevalent among his parishioners. His
talents, natural and acquired, were dexterously applied to check
abounding iniquity. Let one instance suffice for
illustration--that of a fowler in his parish engaging in his
sport and deserting public worship on the Lord's day,--a
practice in which he had long indulged. "Mr. Guthrie asked
him what was the reason he had for so doing? He told him that
the Sabbath-day was the most fortunate day in all the week. Mr.
Guthrie asked him what he could make by that day's exercise? He
replied that he could make half-a-crown. Mr. Guthrie told him if
he would go to church on Sabbath, he would give him as much; and
by that means got his promise; after sermon was over, Mr.
Guthrie asked if he would come back the next Sabbath-day, and he
would give him the same? which he did, and from that time
afterwards never failed to keep the church. He afterwards became
a member of his session.' The stated calls made by him at the
houses of his people were very acceptable and profitable. The
visitation of the sick and the dying, whom he never neglected;
the instruction of the young in the doctrine that is accenting
to godliness, and the ministrations of the pulpit, declared him
a workman who needed not to be ashamed. As a consistent
office-bearer, he duly attended to the government and discipline
of the Church, in the session and superior judicatories. He
seems to have been a member of the general Assembly of 1649, and
stands in the lists of its Commission, along with such
illustrious names as James Guthrie, the Marquis of Argyle,
Dickson, Durham, and Samuel Rutherford. During the unhappy
division of the Church of Scotland into the parties of
Resolutioners and Protesters or Remonstrants, the two Guthries,
Samuel Rutherford, and several of the most pious and zealous
Presbyterians, adhered to the latter; and Baillie mentions in
his Letters, that at the meeting of their western synod, in
1654, 'the Remonstrants chose Mr. William Guthrie for their
Moderator.' His forbearance towards brethren taking the opposite
side in that fatal schism has been acknowledged by his
biographers; and his pastoral care was fully exercised. Ere long
he published 'The Christian's Great Interest.' This work had
gone through numerous editions, been translated into various
languages, and continues to embalm his memory in the estimation
of intelligent Christians of every name. The first edition of it
appeared shortly before the restoration of Charles II. Not long
after the commencement of the persecution, Mr Guthrie made one
of his last efforts for the preservation of ecclesiastical
freedom in the courts of the Church. This stand he took at a
meeting of the Synod of Glasgow and Aye, in April 1661, when he
framed an address, designed for presentation to Parliament had
the troubles of the time permitted, which the Synod approved of,
as 'contain faithful testimony of the purity of our reformation
in worship, doctrine, discipline, and government, in terms
equally remarkable for their prudence and their courage. Two
months later his zeal for the same cause was manifested by his
earnest desire to attend, on the scaffold, his illustrious
kinsman, Mr. James Guthrie, who sealed his testimony with his
blood, in June 1661, at the cross of Edinburgh. His deference to
the warm entreaties of his session alone prevented him from
engaging in so perilous a service. The respect which his affable
deportment and able performance of pastoral duty gained for him
from high and low, screened him from persecution, and he
persevered in preaching to his flock the truth as it is in
Jesus. His intellectual powers and Christian experience were
conspicuous in his discourses, and many, we believe, were the
imperishable seals of his ministry, for it is averred by one of
his contemporaries, Mr. Matthew Crawford, minister at Eastwood,
that 'he converted and confirmed many thousand souls, and was
esteemed the greatest practical preacher in Scotland.' Another
of them declares his diligence and success among the people of
Fenwick to have been so great, that almost all of them 'were
brought to make a fair profession of godliness, and had the
worship of God in their families. And it was well known that
many of them were sincere, and not a few of them eminent
Christians.' His own words to the person who ejected him, thus
humbly, yet boldly, ascribed his great success to God: 'I thank
him for it; yea, I look upon it as a door which God opened to me
for preaching this gospel, which neither you nor any man else
was able to shut, till it was given you of God.' He was now
called to experience those trials, which had been delayed longer
in his case than in that of most of his faithful brethren,
through the influence of the Earl of Glencairn, then Chancellor
of Scotland, who both respected him as a man of worth, and
recollected with gratitude Mr. Guthrie's kindness to him during
an imprisonment to which the Earl had been subjected for his
loyalty to the King during the sway of Cromwell. Sabbath, the
24th of July, was fixed as the day for enforcing the decree. The
people of Fenwick, greatly grieved at the prospect of losing so
faithful a minister, observed the Wednesday preceding as a day
of humiliation and prayer. Mr. Guthrie found an appropriate text
for the occasion in these words of Hosea 13: 9, 'O Israel, thou
hast destroyed thyself;' solemnly inculcated on his flock
patience and perseverance in the way of holiness, and appointed
an early meeting of the congregation for the following Sabbath.
The light of that day of the Son of Man ushered in a sorrowful
morning for the people who then met to listen for the last time
to the welcome voice of their beloved pastor. His theme, most
suitable for the day, was the latter clause of his Wednesday's
text, "but in Me is thine help,' and at the close of his
sermon every countenance was suffused with tears, while he
directed his hearers to the 'Fountain of help, when the gospel
and ministers were taken from them; and took his leave of them,
commending them to this great God, who was able to build them
up, and help them in the time of their need.' Before nine
o'clock the congregation had dispersed, sorrowing exceedingly
that they should listen to his persuasive discourses no more. No
sound occurred to disturb the quiet of the hallowed day, till
the tramp of horses was heard in the distance, and the troop
soon appeared headed by a rider in black, the curate of Calder,
whom a fee of five pounds had induced to give formal notice of
the sentence of suspension. He observed the ceremony of
preaching the church vacant in presence of a congregation of
soldiers and children. In the manse he was courteously received
by Mr. Guthrie, who declared, in presence of the officers of the
party, his reason for submission to the sentence as not arising
from respect to the prelate's authority, which had no weight
with him, adding, 'were it not for the reverence I owe to the
civil magistrate, I would not cease from the exercise of my
ministry for all that sentence.' The following passage formed
part of his solemn reply to the Archbishop's message: 'I here
declare, I think myself called by the Lord to the work of the
ministry, and did forsake my nearest relations in the world, and
give up myself to the service of the gospel in this place,
having received a unanimous call from this parish, and being
tried and ordained by the Presbyters; and I bless the Lord He
has given me some success, and a seal of my ministry upon the
souls and consciences of not a few that are gone to heaven, and
of some that are yet in the way to it.' His bodily health, but
indifferent before, suffered a severe shock on this occasion; he
preached no more in the parish; and about two months after
retired to his paternal estate at Pitforthy, now become his
possession in consequence of the decease of a surviving brother.
It was his but for a year of pain and sorrow, caused by a
complication of diseases, and by the calamities that were
befalling the Church and nation. He was attended during his last
illness by visitors belonging to all parties, received kindly
but faithfully the Episcopalian clergy who came to converse with
him, and died full of faith in the glorious gospel he had
preached, with the confident hope of complete redemption. His
death occurred on the afternoon of Wednesday, the 10th of
October 1665. Two daughters of a family of six children survived
him, one of whom became the wife of the Rev. Patrick Warner, of
Irvine, and mother of Margaret Warner, who was afterwards
married to the Rev. Robert Wodrow, of Eastwood, the faithful
chronicler of the sufferings of the Church of Scotland. None of
his sermons appear to have been published during his lifetime.
As a specimen of the faithful and practical character of his
preaching, we give an extract from a discourse long preserved
among the Wodrow MSS., and recently printed, entitled, 'A Sermon
on Sympathie.' The text is Matthew 15: 23, 'Send her away, for
she cryeth after us.'--'Is it so that sympathy is so cold and
weak among God's people at this time, when so much of it is
called for? Then I would have yow drawing these three
conclusions from it:--1. When any thing ails yow, pray much for
yourself; I assure yow ye will get little help of others. 2. As
yow would lippen little to other folk's prayers, so ye would
make meikle use of Christ's intercession. These prayers are
little worth that flow not from sympathy; and, 3. Reckon all
your receipts to be free favour, and neither the return of your
own or other folks' prayers. I do not forbid yow to pray
yourself;-nor to seek the help of other folks' prayers, nor do I
judge yow or them void of sympathy; but I would have yow
lippening less to them, and making more use of Christ and His
intercession.' His theological tutor and bosom friend, Samuel
Rutherford, thus expresses his regard for Mr. Guthrie and his
flock, during a season of public agitation:--'Dear Brother, help
me, and get me the help of their prayers who are with you in
whom is my delight.' The author of 'The Christian's Great
Interest' was also very highly esteemed by another of his
illustrious contemporaries, Dr. Owen, who, on one occasion,
drawing a little gilded copy of Mr. Guthrie's treatise from his
pocket, said to a minister of the Church of Scotland, 'That
author I take to have been one of the greatest divines that ever
wrote; it is my Vademecum, and I carry it and the Sedan New
Testament, still about with me. I have written several folios,
but there is more divinity in it than in them all.' Many years
after the author's death, this work, with others of a similar
nature, was instrumental in arousing to deeper concern for his
soul's salvation, John Brow then a shepherd boy in the
neighbourhood of Abernethy, and afterwards highly distinguished
as a minister of the gospel, and Professor of Divinity for
nearly twenty years in one of the branches of the Secession
Church. How more may be the cases in which it has been blessed
to the conviction, conversion, and edification of those whom it
might enable to teach others also, the great day alone shall
declare. The following references to it, in the interesting
Memoirs of Dr. Chalmers, prove the high opinion he had formed of
the genius it displays:--'Would you inquire for 'Guthrie's Trial
of a Saving Interest in Christ?' It is a small duodecimo; and
has been long the favourite author of our peasantry in Scotland.
He wrote about a hundred and fifty years ago; and one admirable
property of his work is, that while it guides it purifies. It
males known all our defects, but ministers the highest comfort
in the presence of a feeling of our defects. To find mercy we
need only to feel misery. ... I am on the eve of finishing
Guthrie, which I think is the best book I ever read. I shall
leave it as a present to the Anster folks, and pass from it to
'Brook on Religious Experience, ... I should like to know how
the little book I left was relished among you. I still think it
the best composition I ever read relating to a subject in which
we are all deeply interested, and about which it is my earnest
prayer, that we may all be found on the right side of the
question.' Having given the opinions of these eminent divines
regarding the 'Christian's Great Interest', we presume not to
attempt a delineation of the merits of its excellent Author. The
wise and the good of his own day, as well as of subsequent
times, have held him in grateful remembrance, and his works
continue to praise him in the gates.
