New-York tribune., 1908-12-19

the Free Church in Losiealmond ana I'M
rather less happy years as junior pastor u
Free St Matthew's. Glasgow. In 1851 "nen
he was thirty years old, he commenced "na' ne
always considered the real work OF his IRE, ms
tu,er+v6ve wears ministry in Seton PARK
C,bprcb Liverpool II in his youth ne had gone
o,r,,deinglv to the theological disciplines' thhe
and some fostering star had at length eFoneu
qualities that made him an ideal priest ~ NJ
srr mon watson's singular adaptabihty was
due not to any calculating versatlhty' out
the elements that met in him. an eVahse
unction which felt the holding charm Oh Catn-
Ollie mysticism an intellectual cnS'i'S
made it impossible for him to use Hauline
,o+bods IN dealing with doubt. he ufuef-
stood them ALL" says his biographer' the my
-. Tho catholic. the Evangelical the revlVailst'
the moralist, the skeptic, ana LOT e"0H as ~
time came round he had a living message
Tba sefton Park congregation grew steaohy
under its Inspiring leader Among regular
tendants were Sir Edwar3 Russell the Joui 1N4.
ig+ end Sir Oliver Lodge. 1t was matter Oh
-,ao ,i+b the pastor that several men OF the
.o, had heen members OF the Liverpool lily
C-o,,rcu and that six of them had during MS
nsstorate been elevated 70 the mayolai'E
while the great, liberal. devoted ana eHec'iH
church which he built up year by year "as '-'0
outward monument Of his successlu HILLS )
tbers were abundant individual instances u '-0
vav in which Watson proved himseh d sHep
herd SET for the care of souls SPEAKING u -.
,,bIic ministry. Dr. Nicoll recalls the faet thEI
HT.+.bAw Arnold had attended sefton farA
-, -, the morning Of the day he died:
He vas va TP deePy ana remarked that had rarely
been SO affectsd e TED byne6s by any sns RsZe Was
SON. one %6en Ns the SURVEYS nn the wcndTOgs
On which the Prince of Glory "a, dlGG, Ewes and
he
said that the hymn was the hneSt Sa Cross remain
sPguasss Ss in fss stPsts hs of the soul makes its an
cient appeal"
THE love of letters had MADE It's mar -.
suburban minister in such wise that MS u''e
arces were protected from misplaced Strain 0,-4
from, the encroachment of commonplace Se' A'
had no hankering after authorship. w men ~
Robertson Nicoll first proposed MS "Iit'4e ~
.r-ba Fxposition" Watson could not see his way
D.. ao;rc so Later on he wrote a series OF ar
.ioIes on the leading ideas Of Jesus, and they
~-era nuhlished in a volume entitled "The Mlno
Of the Master" 1t took much prodding on the
part Of Dr. Nicoll, this time as editor OF Inc
British Weekly" to get the hard working pastor
to try his hand at short stories renecuhs 0cots
ufa and character as he had seen II In Logical
rnond The rest is history, and In $3.50 as the
autFor-parson complained Ian MacIareh was
bet+ar known than John Watson. From that
and wrote at the rate OF two books year. IN
the cbapter devoted to Beside the Bonnie Brier
Eueb, DR. Nfcoll allows the reminiscent editor
+o give place to the literary Judge, and he ac-
knov-ledges that Ian Maclarens idyls did not
wholly escape the dangers of sentimentaIsrn
A disproportionate space was given 70 uedIh-
beds and he thinks the author deliberately ana
cruelty narrowed the feelings by an accumula-
ton of pathetic incidents and words The hghter
side was not ignored, however, and II Is much 10
he able to see and to portray the perennial
nobIeuess and heroism of the homeliest human
nature. so that DR.. NicolI ventures to think that
when all abatement is made there Is much IN
Ian Maclaren's contribution which may perhaps
endure This is a fairly cautious Judgment, but
wa are not sure that in explaining the popu-
1aritv Of the idylIs DR.. Nicoll has attached due
importance TO the fact that the stories reached
largely a religious constituency that was not
averse to the humanized theology which was
never quite separable from the laughter ana
tears of the authors characters The last word
has not been said of the worth of Watson's con-
tributions as a theological uliddleman, of the
high usefulness of books like The Mind Of the
Master and Doctrines Of Grace by which he
was able to help many confused minds in fnd-
ing the foundations of their faith.
During the later years of his life Watson was
almost norbidly diligent. He carried his honors
sensbly and always rose to the new occasions,
whether serving the Presbyterian Church OF
England as its moderator raising the funds
for establishing Westminster College at Cam
bridge. or going on tour in America, the best
welcomed lecturer since Dickens. Great oppor-
tunities for blundering were offered him, but
humor was the good genius OF his life. In con-
versation he was at his very best, and, though
some Of his favorite stories are reproduced
must asionalIy imagine accompaniments not
reducible to type. The foibles of his country
men did not escape him. There was. for ex-
ample the Scotsman's scmbre delight in
funerals:
tail a walking funeral, div We see Jamie
Thomson walking In the front side by side wi
the chief moUrner. and him no drop o blood to
Fine I him, q orward upsettin' ambeetious
body he would be inside the hearse if he could
the most awful and therefore the most enviable
position for a sober minded Scot
A favorite tale of his was one that Illustrated
economy raised TO the ecclesiastical degree. A
minister in the parish next to that of DIR. Nor
man Mcleod sent for to a working
man who was dangerousIy i'll. After he had
visited him in his bedroom he came into the
kitchen TO have some conversation with the
mans wife. The minister asked if she and her
husband attended his church:
Ma. ma" with .ane flavor OF contempt both for
Wen, that's ali right. YOU co9ldnt 60 70
better But why did you send for me?'
"Losh, bless We. div ye think that we wud risk
Norman wi typhus fever?
The reluctance with which John Watson first
turned toward the work of the Church was a
poor prophecy of what was to be, for as his