The Rev. Dr. Robert Buchanan has many claims to be esteemed one of the "Pilgrim Fathers" of the Free Church of Scotland. He was one of the first to obey the injunction dictated by the Ten Years' Conflict, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate." Ready to abandon a Church that adopted principles, and practised a system, of which he could not approve, he was also in the front van of the handful to whose wisdom, prescience, and fostering care the Free Church owes its remarkably successful career. Of the many who took a more or less prominent part in the Disruption, Dr. Candlish, of Edinburgh, and Dr. Robert Buchanan, of Glasgow, are now the only two left who have been recognised from the outset as leaders in the great and memorable crisis. The Free Church has not within her pale, at the present moment, a man more generally esteemed, or more influential in all that relates to the discipline and welfare of the body, than he whose career and character we now propose briefly to sketch.

The century was very young when Dr. Buchanan first saw the light at the quiet, rural village of Gargunnock, near Stirling. His father, who followed mercantile pursuits, was able to give Robert a good, sound education; and as he displayed, when little more than a child, a tendency for reasoning and disputation, it was resolved that he should be brought up for the ministry. After receiving the rudiments of his education at a country school, he entered the University of Glasgow as a divinity student. In 1827 he was ordained a minister of the Established Church of Scotland. His first charge was Saltoun, in East Lothian, where Principal Fairbairn, his friend and co-worker, subsequently ministered. From Saltoun Dr. Buchanan came to the Tron Church, Glasgow, in 1834, and he continued to labour in that congenial sphere until the year 1857, when, in consequence of circumstances to be afterwards stated, he entered upon the pastorate of the College Church, where he still continues to labour with much acceptance. After the Disruption, Dr. Buchanan, with other 474 ministers that were identified with the Establishment, formed what has since been known as the Free Church of Scotland. Leaving the Old Tron, he and his followers made use of the City Hall for a time, until the Free Tron Church, which was built specially for Dr. Buchanan's congregation, was completed. The means were not long awanting to provide a church for a minister so popular and so well-beloved, and hence the period of his ministry in the City Hall—that asylum of needy, distressed, and transitional congregations—was very short.

A movement was set on foot about the year 1855 to change the sphere of Dr. Buchanan's labours from the Free Tron to the West-End of the city. A disjunction was drawn up; the advice of Dr. Candlish and Mr. Gray of Perth was taken as to the proper mode of procedure; a memorial, signed by about 150 members of his congregation, was laid before Dr. Buchanan, inviting him to transfer his services to a new church in the West-End; and a similar memorial was laid before the Presbytery, craving their consent to the project. After the preliminary arrangements had been carried out, the disjunctionists found a friend in Dr. Clark of Wester Moffat, the founder of the Free Church Training College in Glasgow, who offered, upon the most liberal terms, to provide them with a site. One of the conditions laid down was that fifty free seats should be reserved in perpetuity for the use of the students attending the college. It was also stipulated as a sine qua non that Dr. Buchanan should accompany the disjunctionists to the new church. Both of these pre-requisites having been agreed upon, the new College Church was commenced. The total cost of its erection was upwards of £10,000, and about five years ago this amount was fully paid off. The new church grew and prospered under Dr. Buchanan's ministry, until it has now a membership of over 400, including not a few of the most influential and liberal men in the city. For the first time in its history, the College Church subscribed last year the second largest amount of any church in Scotland towards the Sustentation Fund, the exact sum being £1201, as compared with £3435 raised by St George's, Edinburgh, (Rev. Dr. Candlish's), which stands highest on the list. The total amount raised last year by the Free College Church for all purposes was £2939, being higher than the aggregate of any other church in Glasgow. It is not too much to say that Dr. Buchanan's admirable financial talents have been greatly instrumental in bringing the fiscal arrangements of the Free Church to such a high point of perfection. His eminently methodical and far-seeing mind set itself to work, immediately the necessity presented itself, to devise ways and means of putting the ministers of the Church who were all at once, without any preparation, and many of them under much physical disadvantage, compelled to bid adieu to "the fleshpots of Egypt." The ordeal was so terrible that it might well have appalled the timid. Suffering for conscience sake, these noble-minded men chose to leave behind them the Lares and Penates belonging to the Establishment: but their adoption of Moses' choice, did not, after all, entail much privation. Congregations and ministers alike resolved on surrendering a position which they could not any longer, with a good conscience, retain; and both proved equal to the emergency of dealing with financial problems which all at once they were called upon to solve. Casting herself promptly and entirely on the system of Free-Will Offerings as the means of her future sustenance, the Free Church met with a response so liberal and spontaneous that it is almost without parallel in history. In all these arrangements Dr. Buchanan took an active interest, and his sound practical advice was on all occasions of financial embarrassment consulted by his colleagues. As to the manner in which these difficulties were met Dr. Buchanan, himself, in a paper read on the 15th March, 1870, before the Statistical Society of London, stated that "The Free Church at once and unanimously adopted, as the backbone of her financial system, the plan of a common fund, to the support of which all her congregations should contribute, and in the benefits of which all her ministers should share. With whom the central idea of the scheme originated it is impossible to say. The very nature of the case was such as almost inevitably to suggest it to any one who was seriously and intelligently considering the subject. Of one thing, however, there can be no doubt or question, that the authorship of the system of finance, into which the idea now spoken of was gradually developed, belonged to Thomas Chalmers. It had taken shape in his mind, and in at least some of its leading features had been put in writing by his pen in the summer of 1841. It is true that in the autumn of the same year, and without any notion of the views or plans of Dr. Chalmers, the principle of a common fund, to be distributed in equal shares, was given out by Dr. Candlish at a great public meeting held at Edinburgh, in anticipation of the event which, even then, had begun to loom out, not indistinctly, through the storm and tempest of the time. It was not, however, till the month of November, 1842, that it took the form of a fully-planned scheme for the future support of the church, drawn out in detail and supported by elaborate argument. This form it assumed in a speech of great power and eloquence, which is still preserved, and which was delivered by Dr. Chalmers at a very memorable meeting. The meeting to which I refer was called 'the convocation,'—a name familiar enough in England, though descriptive there of a quite different assembly. The Scotch convocation was not a court, but simply a private, unofficial conference of ministers interested in the common cause of the then impending disruption. They met alone, because they desired to look their position, prospects, and responsibilities calmly and prayerfully in the face, without being liable, under the influence of public feeling, to be either turned back or to be carried further or faster forward in the direction in which events were moving, otherwise than as their own deliberate judgment and sense of duty might seem to them to sanction and require."

It is for his labours in connection with the formation of the Sustentation Fund, of which he has for many years been convener, that Dr. Buchanan is most prominently known. Indeed, we are not sure but the idea of a Sustentation Fund was entirely his own—at least he had a great deal to do with its development. The great object of the Sustentation Fund is the support of the ministry to the extent and effect of at least securing for each minister a certain minimum stipend. From the first it was the aim of the Church to bring up the minimum to £150, although that was not reached until the year 1863. The Sustentation Fund Committee, of which Dr. Buchanan has been convener and chairman ever since the death of Dr. Chalmers in 1847, is appointed annually by the General Assembly, and consists of about a hundred ministers and elders, in nearly equal proportion, nominated by the Assembly, and of one member, who may be either minister or elder, nominated by each of the fourteen Synods of the Church. The committee meets once a month in Edinburgh, and is usually attended by about 60 members.

This is scarcely the time or place to enter into an exhaustive account of the finances of the Free Church, or we might pursue these observations until we had traced the mighty river that now is, to the small and comparatively insignificant stream from which it took its source. The Free Church has set an example to the world in fiscal arrangements, showing what steady determination, backed by courage and sound judgment, can eventually accomplish. Not only had the Free Church to provide means for supporting its ministers, but also for building places of worship, manses or parsonages, and elementary schools. Since the Disruption, the Church has built 920 churches, 719 manses, and 597 schools, the total amount raised towards the general and local building fund during the twenty-six years intervening between May, 1843, and 1869, being £1,667,714. Three Theological Colleges for the training of candidates for the ministry, and two large and flourishing Normal Schools have also been provided.

Ministers of the gospel may be divided into two classes. There is the warm, enthusiastic, emotional evangelist, who flashes across the ecclesiastical horizon like a meteor, and creates a temporary "sensation," so to speak, among the dry bones in the valley of vision. Then there is the more steady-going preacher of the Word, who maintains an even pace throughout, turning neither to the right nor to the left—whose forte is to conserve the truth, and keep it alive where it has once been found. In the latter category we may include Dr. Buchanan. He is not by any means a brilliant preacher, in the ordinary acceptation of the term. He does not draw the multitude about him. He is no Boanerges of the Temple; but he is a giant as regards a firm grasp of doctrinal truth. He never evolves new shapes or fantastic theories, "won from the vague and formless infinite;" but he "proves all things," and "holds fast that which is good." If he is not an essentially popular preacher—and this is a merit which even his most partial admirers would scarcely venture to claim for him—he is edifying and didactic, and few ministers are better qualified to build up and consolidate a church. Rather too stereotyped (if we may hint such a fault) in his tendencies, he is yet deeply skilled in the form of sound doctrine, and his style is terse, vigorous, and polished. There is, perhaps, what not a few would be disposed to term a want of animation in his pulpit utterances. Habitually grave and dignified, he seldom indulges in anything like an ebullition of fancy or of mirth. His sentences are cut, polished, and beautified like a piece of Parian marble. People are so much accustomed now-a-days to hear orators whose hearts (like Coriolanus) are upon their lips, that they have little sympathy with scholarly and erudite prelections, pure and simple, come from whatsoever quarter they may. But it does not therefore follow that calm, dispassionate, logical reasoning, of which Dr. Buchanan is both a master and exponent, is without its merits and admirers. On the contrary, it is impossible to sit under the minister of the Free College Church without being "built up" in all the Christian graces. He is an uncompromising foe to the Scarlet Lady, to the materialistic tendencies of the present day, to looseness and infidelity, of every kind, in religious matters; and some would perhaps object that his sermons are too strongly impregnated with the Confession of Faith, the Deed of Demission, and the Shorter Catechism. But he is on this account all the more entitled to rank as a living embodiment of the principles and practice of the Free Church of Scotland; and when questions on which a little margin of difference may be allowed are brought under consideration, Dr. Buchanan will be found to be tolerant and even liberal in his views. With a presence so commanding and dignified as to be almost leonine, a deep, melodious voice, and a head of snowy whiteness, Dr. Buchanan's appearance, as he ascends to the pulpit, conveys the impression of conscious power. He enters upon the services of the sanctuary with an evident sense of their solemnity and importance. No glimpse of humour, no outrÉ illustration, no divergence from the beaten track is attempted; the heavy and portentous gravity of his manner and matter is unrelieved by a single touch of light—all is sombre, deep, profound. One can fancy that Dr. Buchanan is inclined to think, with Dr. Johnson, that a punster is as bad as a pickpocket.

But it would be unfair to estimate Dr. Buchanan from his pulpit appearances only. Listening to his discourses from the pew, one can form but a faint conception of the greatest merits—the strongest points—of the minister of the Free College Church. It is in the ecclesiastical Forum that Dr. Buchanan is found most in his element; there, like Mark Tapley, he comes out the stronger, the greater the pressure and opposition brought to bear upon him. No man in the Free Church is more completely "posted up" in all the questions that come before the Assembly—no man is more entitled to rank in that body as the Rupert of debate. In the Glasgow Presbytery he takes a leading part in the discussion of all prominent questions; and no member is listened to with greater attention. It is not too much to say that, although he may meet with a foeman worthy of his steel in the General Assembly, he has not in the more circumscribed sphere of the local Presbytery, a single rival who is in any sense his match. The late Dr. Gibson was frequently accustomed to tackle him, and perhaps he sometimes did so successfully; but while the latter was undoubtedly an able debater, he lost ground from his impetuosity of temper—an infirmity to which Dr. Buchanan never gives way. In all circumstances he is cool, calculating, unruffled; he measures the full meaning and effect of every sentence; he can be fierce and withering, and still maintain a calm and composed demeanour. The gladiatorial conflicts in which these two combatants took part were often a source of rare amusement even outside the pale of the Presbytery, and, inasmuch as they were both well fortified with weighty and telling arguments, the spectacle was not always unedifying. On the question of Union, as is well known, they took diametrically opposite views. Many a passage of arms passed between them on this questio vexata, while the younger and less athletic backers surrounded the arena, waiting the shock with eager anticipation; for

But the one has been taken and the other left; and no man, we believe will be more ready to do justice to the memory of his deceased fellow-confrÈre than Dr. Buchanan himself.

We have specially mentioned the question of Union, because of late years Dr. Buchanan has closely and completely identified himself with it, and he is pledged to see it carried through. He has made eloquent and effective speeches in favour of Union at almost every meeting of the General Assembly held since it was brought on the tapis; and only last year he opened the debate in an address that has seldom been equalled for sound argument and rhetorical effect. It would be superfluous to make any selections or quotations from the rev. gentleman's speeches on this subject; his views are already well known to all who take an interest in the cause for which he pleads, and before that cause has reached its final consummation it is more than likely that he will again be at Ephesus, fighting on its behalf.

The soundness of his judgment and the eminently dispassionate views which he is able to take of all questions laid before him are so fully recognised by his brethren in the Free Church that Dr. Buchanan is consulted on nearly every matter that relates to the welfare of that body. He can discriminate so nicely and so fairly on the merits of any one question submitted for his adjudication—his judicial faculty is so highly developed, that some of those who know him best have hazarded the prediction that, had he been trained for the bar instead of for the pulpit, he would by this time have held the position of Lord President of the Court of Session. Dr. Buchanan is a man of such varied gifts and accomplishments that he would have shone in any sphere, and in the interests of Christianity it is a source of congratulation rather than otherwise that he chose the pulpit for his profession. In this connection we may mention the fact that Dr. Buchanan has spoken at many public meetings of a moral, social, and political, as well as of an ecclesiastical character. One of his last appearances on the City Hall platform was on the occasion of a meeting held last year to take measures for providing additional church accommodation in Glasgow—a desideratum for which he has often and eloquently pleaded.

As an author, Dr. Buchanan's name will be handed down to posterity—at least so far as his own church is concerned. His "Ten Year's Conflict" is the only complete and authoritative record of the causes and effects of the Disruption that has yet been published. He has also published an able and scholarly work on the "Ecclesiastes;" while his leisure hours on a holiday tour in the Mediterranean have been turned to advantage by his publication of an interesting volume entitled "Clerical Furlough."