Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/412

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Candlish
408
Cane

came to support it. He was desirous of seeing some security provided for religious teaching, but was satisfied when it was proposed to leave this matter in the hands of school boards, elected by the people. On the passing of the act to this effect, he advocated the abandonment of the Free church schools as such, and the transference of the buildings as free gifts to the school boards of the parishes where they were situated. The normal schools were retained in their church connection.

On the death of Dr. Chalmers in 1847, and the readjustment of the chairs in the New College (the theological institution of the Free church at Edinburgh), Candlish was appointed to a chair of divinity, but on consideration he declined the appointment. He continued ministerof St. George's Free church to the end of his life. In 1862 he was appointed principal of the New College, withont a professor's chair, the duties being chiefly honorary, and the appointment being conferred partly in consideration of his eminent abilities and partly in the expectation that new life would be thrown into the college by his vigour. In 1841 Candlish received the degree of D.D. from the college of New Jersey, commonly called Princeton College, in the United States, and in 1865 the university of Edinburgh gave him the same degree. In 1861 he was moderator of the general assembly.

Among movements outside his own church in which he took an active share was that for the formation of the Evangelical Alliance in 1845. Another was directed towards the union of four presbyterian churches, the Free, United Presbyterian, and Reformed Presbyterian of Scotland, and the Presbyterian church of England. This scheme was defeated through the opposition of Dr. Begg and his friends. The union of the Free church with the Reformed Presbyterian was subsequently carried into effect.

Candlish made his last appearance in the general assembly in May 1873. Occasional flashes of his former fire could not conceal from his friends his failure of strength. Some weeks spent in England in the autumn produced no favourable result. On returning to Edinburgh he took to his bed, and after a brief illness, in which his mind continued clear and unimpaired, and many tokens were given of his serene trust in God and tender regard for his friends and brethren, he passed away on the evening of Sunday, 19 Oct.

The following is a list of Candlish's publications (many pamphlets, speeches, sermons, &c, being omitted): 1. ‘Contributions towards the Exposition of Genesis,’ 3 vols. 1842. 2. ‘The Atonement,’ 2nd edit. 1845. 3. ‘Letters to Rev. E. B. Elliott on his "Horse Apocalypticse,"’ 1846. 4. ‘Letter to the Marquess of Lansdowne on Schools in Scotland,’ 1846. 5. ‘Scripture Characters and Miscellanies,’ 1850. 6. ‘Examination of Mr. Maurice's Theological Essays,’ 1854. 7. ‘Life in a Risen Saviour,’ 1858, 8. ‘Reason and Revelation,’ 1859. 9. ‘The Two great Commandments,’ 1860. 10. ‘The Fatherhood of God’ (Cunningham Lectures), 1865. 11. ‘Relative Duties of Home Life,’ 1871. 12. ‘John Knox and his Devout Imagination,’ 1872. 13. ‘Discourses on the Sonship and Brotherhood of Believers,’ 1872. 14. ‘The Gospel of Forgiveness.’ 15. ‘Expository Discourses on 1 John.’ 16. Sermons (posthumous), 1874. 17. ‘Discourses on the Epistle to the Ephesians’ (posthumous), 1875. With regard to Candlish's theological views, it has been shown by Principal Rainy, in his very able chapter on ‘Dr. Candlish as a Theologian,’ that while he was thoroughly attached to the theology of the reformers, it was not as a mere theology or logical system that he had regard to it, but as something given from above to meet the exigencies of the human soul. In opposing Mr. Maurice, he found himself called to vindicate the forensic aspect of the gospel, as founded on law, and demanding that that law be maintained, but he delighted to show its application also to the whole sphere of human life, to show that contact with Christ meant not only pardon, but life, joy, strength, and purity. In life and in death he showed how he not only held but was held and moved by his theology, and derived from it the courage and hope with which he seemed to be inspired.

[Memorials of Robert S. Candlish, D.D., by William Wilson, D.D., with concluding chapter by Robert Rainy, D.D.; Buchanan's Ten Years' Conflict; Disruption Worthies; Memoir by James S. Candlish, D.D., prefixed to Posthumous Sermons; Sunday Magazine, December 1873; Scotsman newspaper, 20 Oct. 1873.]

W. G. B.

CANE, ROBERT, M.D. (1807–1858), Irish naturalist, was born at Kilkenny in 1807. After acting for some time as a pharmaceutical assistant, he found the means of attending the College of Surgeons, Dublin, and during a severe cholera epidemic distinguished himself by his devoted attendance on the patients in the cholera hospitals. He was also equally known for his patriotic real, and acted as chairman at democratic meetings of the medical students and alumni of Trinity College. He graduated M.D. in 1836, and,