A Remarkable Cicle of Friends

Two centuries ago, God was visibly at work in Scotland’s national church. Widespread spiritual darkness was giving way before the light of the gospel.

The number of evangelical ministries was growing, a new day had dawned for many of the Church’s congregations, whilst the church as a whole was beginning to look beyond its borders to the foreign mission field. But there was also something God was doing that was as yet invisible. Growing up in Scottish homes were boys whom, from the mid-to-late 1830s onwards, God would use in remarkable ways. They would be converted, train for gospel ministry, serve in Church of Scotland parishes, and be the instruments in God’s hands of a spiritual awakening more powerful than had as yet been felt.

These young men, along with others, were friends as well as fellow ministers. Many of them were students together; all were indebted to their great mentor, Thomas Chalmers. When they were settled in congregations they wrote to one another, prayed for one another, and preached for one another. Their lives and ministries significantly intertwined. Extensive scholarship, prayerfulness, holiness of life, strong faith, and an intense passion for the gospel marked each of them.

In these chapters, something of the life and ministry of each of the friends is sketched. So, too, of their friendship with each other. It truly was a remarkable circle of friends.