Professor W. G. Elmslie, D.D.: Memoir and Sermons — John Shaqi
Professor W. G. Elmslie, D.D.: Memoir and SermonsElmslie, William Gray
Religion
Professor W. G. Elmslie, D.D.: Memoir and Sermons
Elmslie, William Gray
Elmslie, William Gray, 1848-1889; Sermons, English -- 19th century; Theologians -- Scotland -- Biography
"It makes me so glad, dear, every time I think of it, to know that we
chose each other for no base worldly motives, but out of pure love and
esteem for what (with all faults and defects) was good, and tender, and
true, in one another. It was not for the mean things that the world and
fashion make much of and worship that we two came together, meaning to
go hand in hand through life with mutual help and kindness. We knew
quite well the world's ways, and we could feel the pressure of its lower
estimates and aims. But this act at least was done not with shallow
hearts and for mean ends, but in honest friendship out of true
affection, and with a very earnest wish to do only what was good and
right, and to help each other to live a happy and a noble life." Such a
life it was, though its years were few; and when the news of his death
came, amid all the absorbing and confounding regrets which filled many
minds, the thought was ever uppermost of the wife and child left
desolate in the home that had been so full of sunshine.
Dr. Elmslie gave himself unsparingly to the work of his chair. He
declined preaching engagements, and made zealous preparation for his
classes. Apart from his own high standard of duty, he greatly respected
the opinion of students. He thought Professors could have no fairer
judges. The diligent study of the Old Testament, with the aid of the
best German commentaries, was of course the main part of his preparatory
work. But he did more with dictionaries than with commentaries, and made
up his mind for himself. He always kept pace with the progress of
research, and followed with deep attention the absorbing discussions of
recent years on the structure of the Old Testament. As he was himself so
chary in expressing publicly the conclusions he had arrived at on these
subjects, it would not be right for me to say much. Of this, at least,
he was sure, that the worth and message of the Old Testament were
unimpaired by criticism, and would be so whatever the ultimate
conclusion might be. He was also exceedingly sceptical as to the
finality of the critical verdicts generally accepted at present: he
believed that the analysis would be carried much farther. But although
he diligently studied these things, and was an accurate and exact
grammarian, he had his own theory of the duties of a Professor, which
cannot be better described than in his own words, in an anonymous
article contributed to the _British Weekly_ for September 16th, 1887.
There he says—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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