than that he should spend and
be spent in the service of his dear Lord and Master,' down to 1840,
when he published his sermon on the 'Present Position of the Church,
and the Duty of its Members,' and urged, with the solemnity of an
oath, that 'the Church of Scotland was engaged in asserting
principles which the allegiance it owes to Christ would never permit
it to desert,' Mr. Clark stood forward on every occasion the
uncompromising champion of spiritual independence, and of the rights
of the Christian people. He took his place far in the van. He was no
mere half-and-half non-intrusionist,--no complaisant eulogist of the
Veto,--no timid doubter that the Church in behalf of her people
might possibly stretch her powers too far, and thus separate her
temporalities from her cures. Nothing could be more absurd, he
asserted, than to imagine such a thing. On parade day, when she stood
resting on her arms in the sunshine, Mr. Clark was fugleman to his
party,--not merely a front man in the front rank, but a man far in
advance of the front rank. Nay, even after the collision had taken
place, Mr. Clark could urge on his brethren that all that was
necessary to secure them the victory was just to go a little further
ahead, and deprive their refractory licentiates of their licences.
We found that for eleven of the fourteen years, as we have said, Mr.
Clark was uniformly consistent. But in the twelfth year the conflict
became actually dangerous, and Mr. Clark all at once dropped his
consistency. The great suddenness--the extreme abruptness--of the
change, gave to it the effect of a trick of legerdemain. The conjurer
puts a pigeon into an earthen pipkin, gives the vessel a shake, and then
turns it up, and lo! out leaps the little incarcerated animal, no
longer a pigeon, but a rat. It was thus with the Rev. Mr. Clark.
Adversity, like Vice in the fable, took upon herself the character of a
juggler, and stepping full into the middle of the Church question,
began to play at cup and ball. Nothing, certainly, could be more
wonderful than the transformations she effected; and the special
transformation effected on the Rev. Mr. Clark surpassed in the
marvellous all the others. She threw the reverend gentleman into a
box, gave him a smart shake, and then flung him out again, and lo! to
the astonishment of all men, what went in Mr. Clark, came out Mr.
Bisset of Bourtie. In order, apparently, that so great a marvel
should not be lost to the wor