CAMPBELL, George, D. D. was born at Aberdeen in December 1719. He was educated at the grammar school in the same town, and intended for the employment of signet-writer, an occupation similar to that of an English attorney, in which he was bound an apprentice. The love of study, however, prevailed over every opposition: in 1741 he attended divinity lectures at Edinburgh before the term of his apprenticeship was fully completed, and soon after became a regular student in the university of Aberdeen, attending the lectures of Professor Lumden in King's, and Professor Chalmers in Marischal, college. In 1746 he was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Aberdeen. In 1748 he obtained the living of Banchory Ternan, in which situation he became a married man, and was fortunate in possessing a lady "remarkable for the sagacity of her understanding, the integrity of her heart, the general propriety of her conduct, and her skill in the management of domestic economy." Mutual happiness was the consequence of this union, which was not terminated till her death in 1792. In 1757 he was translated to Aberdeen, to be one of the ministers of that town, and in 1759 was presented to the office of principal of Marischal college.
Mr Hume's Treatise on Miracles gave the new principal an opportunity of evincing that he was not unworthy of his office. He opposed it in a sermon preached before the provincial synod of Aberdeen, in 1760, which he was requested to publish; but he preferred the form of a dissertation, and in that state sent the manuscript to Dr Blair, to be by him communicated to the metaphysician. Availing himself then of the remarks of his friends, and his opponent, he gave it to the world in 1763, with a dedication to Lord Bute: but however desirable the patronage of the minister might be in other respects, it was of very little assistance in giving circulation, in the literary world, to an essay which, from the favourable impressions of Blair and Hume, was eagerly read, and universally admired.
In 1771 he was elected professor of divinity in Marischal college, on which he resigned his office as one of the ministers of Aberdeen: but as "minister of Gray Friars, an office conjoined to the professorship about a century ago, he was obliged to preach once every Sunday in one of the established churches." Few persons seem to have entertained truer notions of the office of a teacher in an university than our new professor; and the plan he had in view, on entering upon his lectures, though expressed in rather too strong
language, may be recommended to every one who undertakes a similar employment. Campbell.
"Gentlemen, (he thus addresses his pupils) the nature of my office has been much misunderstood. It is supposed, that I am to teach you every thing connected with the study of divinity. I tell you honestly, that I am to teach you nothing. Ye are not school-boys. Ye are young men, who have finished your courses of philosophy, and ye are no longer to be treated as if ye were at school. Therefore, I repeat it, I am to teach you nothing; but, by the grace of God, I will assist you to teach yourselves every thing." In 1771 he published his excellent sermon on the Spirit of the Gospel; and, in 1776, his Philosophy of Rhetoric. In this latter year, also, he acquired the friendship of Dr Tucker by a sermon, then much admired, and very generally read, on the Duty of Allegiance, in which he endeavours to show "that the British colonies in America had no right, either from reason or from Scripture, to throw off their allegiance;" and he uses those vulgar arguments, which, as being purely political, and more especially adapted to the sentiments of the majority of that day, were very improper topics for the pulpit. It is so much the fashion for divines to make the varying politics of the hour the subject of their discourses, and in them to follow the sentiments of those whose patronage is deemed most advantageous, that we must not be very severe in our animadversions on the present occasion. In 1777 he chose a better subject for a discourse, which he published at the request of the Society for propagating Christian Knowledge, and in which the success of the first publishers of the Gospel is ably treated as a proof of its truth. In 1779, when many of his countrymen, led away by the madness of enthusiasm and fanaticism, were rushing headlong into the most antichristian practice of persecution, he published a very seasonable address to the people of Scotland, on the alarms which had been raised by the bill in favour of the Roman Catholics.
In the same year, also, he published a sermon on the Happy Influence of Religion on Civil Society. The last work which he lived to bring before the public was his Translation of the Four Gospels, with preliminary dissertations, and explanatory notes, of which it is unnecessary to say any thing farther in this place than that it is worthy of his talents and character.
In 1795 he resigned his professorship, in a letter to the moderator of the presbytery of Aberdeen, which they voted to be inserted in their records. Soon after the resignation of his professorship, he resigned also the principalship, on a pension of 300l. a-year being conferred on him by government: but this pension he possessed for a very short time; for, on the 31st of March, 1796, his last illness seized him, and on the next morning it was followed by a paroxysm of the palsy, which destroyed his faculty of speech, and under which he languished till he died. His funeral sermon was preached on the 17th of April by Dr Brown, who had succeeded him in the offices of principal and professor.
His character, very justly drawn by the same gentleman, we shall now lay before our readers. "Dr Campbell, as a public teacher, was long admired for the clearness and copiousness with which he illustrat-
Campbell ed the great doctrines and precepts of religion, and the strength and energy with which he enforced them. Intimately persuaded of the truth and infinite consequence of what revelation teaches, he was strongly desirous of carrying the same conviction to the minds of his hearers, and delivered his discourses with that zeal which flows from strong impressions, and that power of persuasion which is the result of sincerity of heart, combined with clearness of understanding. He was satisfied, that the more the pure dictates of the gospel were studied, the more they would approve themselves to the mind, and bring forth, in the affections and conduct, all the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The unadulterated dictates of Christianity, he was, therefore, only studious to recommend and inculcate; and knew perfectly to discriminate them from the inventions and traditions of men. His chief study ever was, to direct belief to the great objects of practice; and, without these, he viewed the most orthodox profession as "a sounding brass, and a tinkling cymbal." But, besides the character of a preacher of righteousness, he had also that of a teacher of the science of divinity to sustain. How admirably he discharged this duty, and with what effect he conveyed the soundest and most profitable instruction to the minds of his scholars, let those declare who are now in various congregations of this country, communicating to their fellow Christians the fruits of their studies under so able and judicious a teacher. Discarding all attachment to human systems, merely considered as such, he tied his faith to the Word of God alone, possessed the happiest talent in investigating its meaning, and communicated to his hearers the result of his own inquiries, with a precision and perspicuity which brought light out of obscurity, and rendered clear and simple what appeared intricate and perplexed. He exposed, without reserve, the corruptions which ignorance, craft, and hypocrisy, had introduced into religion, and applied his talent for ridicule to the best of all purposes, to hold up to contempt the absurdities with which the purest and sublimest truths had been loaded.
"Placed at the head of a public seminary of learning, he felt all the importance of such a situation, and uniformly directed his influence to public utility. His enlarged and enlightened mind justly appreciated the extensive consequence of the education of youth. He anticipated all the effects resulting to the great community of mankind, from numbers of young men issuing, in regular succession, from the university over which he presided, and occupying the different departments of social life.
"His benevolent heart delighted to represent to itself the students under his direction usefully and honourably discharging the respective duties of their different professions; and some of them, perhaps, filling the most distinguished stations of civil society. With these prospects before him, he constantly directed his public conduct to their attainment. He never suffered his judgement to be warped by prejudice or partiality, or his heart to be seduced by passion or private interest. Those mean and ignoble motives by which many are actuated in the discharge of important trusts, approached not his mind. A certain honourable pride, if pride it may be called, diffused an uniform dignity over the whole of his behaviour. He felt the man degraded
by the perversion of public character. His understanding also clearly shewed him even personal advantage attached to such principles and practice, as he adopted from a sense of obligation, and those elevated conceptions of real worth which were so congenial to his soul. He saw, he experienced, esteem, respect, and influence, following in the train of integrity and beneficence; but contempt, disgrace, aversion, and complete insignificance, closely linked to corruption and selfishness. Little minds are seduced and overpowered by selfish considerations, because they have not the capacity to look beyond the present advantage, and to extend to the misery that stands on the other side of it. The same circumstance that betrays the perversity of their hearts, also evinces the weakness of their judgements.
"His reputation as a writer is as extensive as the present intercourse of letters; not confined to his own country, but spread through every civilized nation. In his literary pursuits, he aimed not, as is very often the case, with men of distinguished literary abilities, merely at establishing his own celebrity, or increasing his fortune; but had chiefly at heart the defence of the great cause of Religion, or the elucidation of her dictates.
"At an early period he entered the lists as a champion for Christianity against one of its acutest opponents. He not only triumphantly refuted his arguments, but even conciliated his respect by the handsome and dexterous manner in which his defence was conducted. While he refuted the infidel, he spared the man, and exhibited the uncommon spectacle of a polemical writer possessing all the moderation of a Christian. But while he defended Christianity against its enemies, he was desirous of contributing his endeavours to increase, among its professors, the knowledge of the sacred writings. Accordingly, in the latter part of his life, he favoured the world with a work, the fruit of copious erudition, of unwearied application for almost thirty years, and of a clear and comprehensive judgement. We have only to regret, that the other writings of the New Testament have not been elucidated by the same pen that translated the Gospels. Nor were his literary merits confined to theology, and the studies more immediately connected with it. Philosophy, and the fine arts, are also indebted to his genius and labours; and in him the polite scholar was eminently joined to the deep and liberal divine.
"Political principles will always be much affected by general character. This was also the case with Dr Campbell. In politics, he maintained that moderation which is the surest criterion of truth and rectitude, and was equally distant from those extremes into which men are so apt to run in great political questions. He cherished that patriotism which consists in wishing, and endeavouring to promote, the greatest happiness of his country, and is always subordinate to universal benevolence. Firmly attached to the British constitution, he was animated with that genuine love of liberty which it inspires and invigorates. He was equally averse to despotism and to popular anarchy; the two evils into which political parties are so frequently hurried, to the destruction of all that is valuable to government. Party-spirit, of whatever description, he considered as having an unhappy tendency to pervert, to the most pernicious purposes, the best principles of the human mind, and
Campbell and to clothe the most iniquitous actions with the most
Camphora specious appearances. Although tenacious of those
sentiments, whether in religion or politics, which he
was convinced to be rational and just, he never suffered
mere difference of opinion to impair his good will,
to obstruct his good offices, or to cloud the cheerfulness
of conversation. His own conversation was enlivened
by a vein of the most agreeable pleasantry."