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THOMAS GUTHRIE (1803-1873)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 742 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THOMAS See also:GUTHRIE (1803-1873)  , Scottish divine, was See also:born at See also:Brechin, See also:Forfarshire, on the 12th of See also:July 1803 . He entered the university of See also:Edinburgh at the See also:early See also:age of twelve, and continued to attend classes there for more than ten years . On the and of See also:February 1825 the See also:presbytery of Brechin licensed him as a preacher in connexion with the See also:Church of See also:Scotland, and in 1826 he was in See also:Paris studying natural See also:philosophy, See also:chemistry, and See also:comparative See also:anatomy . For two years he acted as manager of his See also:father's See also:bank, and in 183o was inducted to his first See also:charge, Arbirlot, in Forfarshire, where he adopted a vivid dramatic See also:style of See also:preaching adapted to his See also:congregation of peasants, farmers and weavers . In 1837 he became the colleague of See also:John Sym in the pastorate of Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh, and at once attracted See also:notice as a See also:great See also:pulpit orator . Towards the See also:close of 1840 he became See also:minister of St John's church, See also:Victoria See also:Street, Edinburgh . He declined invitations both from See also:London and from See also:India . He was an enthusiastic supporter of the See also:movement which led to the Disruption of 1843; and his name is thenceforth associated with the See also:Free Church, for which he collected £116,000 from July 1845 to See also:June 1846 to provide manses for the seceding ministers . In 1844 he became a teetotaller . In 1847 he began the greatest See also:work of his See also:life by the publication of his first " Plea for Ragged See also:Schools." This pamphlet elicited a beautiful and sympathetic See also:letter from See also:Lord See also:Jeffrey . A Ragged School was opened on the See also:Castle See also:Hill, which has been the See also:parent of many similar institutions elsewhere, though See also:Guthrie's relation to the movement is best described as that of an apostle rather than a founder . He insisted on bringing up all the See also:children in his school as Protestants; and he thus made his schools proselytizing as well as educational institutions .

This interference with religious See also:

liberty led to some controversy; and ultimately those who differed from Guthrie founded the See also:United See also:Industrial School, giving combined See also:secular and See also:separate religious instruction . In See also:April 1849 the degree of D.D. was conferred on Guthrie by the university of Edinburgh; and in 1850 See also:William See also:Hanna (1808-1882), the biographer and son-in-See also:law of See also:Thomas See also:Chalmers, was inducted as his colleague in Free St John's Church . In 1850 Guthrie published A Plea on behalf of Drunkards and against Drunkenne.ls, which was followed by The See also:Gospel in See also:Ezekiel (1855); The See also:City: its Sins and Sorrows (1857); See also:Christ and the See also:Inheritance of the See also:Saints (1858) ; Seedtime and See also:Harvest of Ragged Schools (186o), consisting of his three Pleas for Ragged Schools . These See also:works had an enormous See also:sale, and portions of them were translated into See also:French and Dutch . His advocacy of See also:temperance had much to do with securing the passing of the See also:Forbes See also:Mackenzie See also:Act, which secured See also:Sunday closing and shortened See also:hours of sale for Scotland . Mr See also:Gladstone specially quoted him in support of the See also:Light Wines See also:Bill (186o) . In 1862 he was See also:moderator of the Free Church See also:General See also:Assembly; but he seldom took a prominent See also:part in the business of the church courts . His remarkable oratorical talents, See also:rich See also:humour, genuine pathos and inimitable See also:power of See also:story-telling, enabled him to do See also:good service to the See also:total See also:abstinence movement . He was one of the See also:vice-presidents of the Evangelical See also:Alliance . In 1864, his See also:health being seriously impaired, he resigned public work as pastor of Free St John's (May 17), although his nominal connexion with the congregation ceased only with his See also:death . Guthrie had occasionally contributed papers to Good Words, and, about the See also:time of his retirement from the See also:ministry, he became first editor of the Sunday See also:Magazine, himself contributing several See also:series of papers which were afterwards published separately . In 1865 he was presented with 5000 as a See also:mark of appreciation from the public .

His closing years were spent mostly in retirement; and after an illness of several months' duration he died at St Leonards-on-See also:

Sea on the 24th of February 1873 . In addition to the books mentioned above he published a number of books which had a remarkable circulation in See also:England and See also:America, such as Speaking to the See also:Heart (1862) ; The Way to Life (1862) ; See also:Man and the Gospel (1865) ; The See also:Angel's See also:Song (1865) ; The Parables (1866) ; Our Father's Business (1867); Out of See also:Harness (1867); Early Piety (1868) ; Studies of See also:Character from the Old Testament (1868—187o) ; Sundays Abroad (1871) . See Autobiography of Thomas Guthrie, D.D., and Memoir, by his sons (2 vols., London, 1874-1875) .

End of Article: THOMAS GUTHRIE (1803-1873)
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