A Generous Soul - Part 12

John Watson (3 November 1850 – 6 May 1907), was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland. He is remembered as an author of fiction, known by his pen name Ian Maclaren. I'm currently reading his short story collection "St Jude", but am also fascinated by his life. Here was a man who stood out against a narrowness in his creed, and who was indeed "a generous soul".

The Life of The Rev. John Watson, D.D. "Ian Maclaren"
A Generous Soul
By W. Robertson Nicoll

"Beside The Bonnie Brier Bush"

Almost immediately the nom-de- plume which he selected, Ian Maclaren, was widely recognised. He took the Gaelic form of his own Christian name John, and the surname of his mother. There was very little mystification about the authorship. His own friends knew the tales they had heard from him. Dr. George Adam Smith sent him a post-card on the appearance of the first sketch, " Bravo, Ian Maclaren ! " and was answered by another post-card containing the words, " Bravo, Higher Criticism ! "

“Each one was turned over in my mind for months before I put pen to paper. It took a prodigious amount of labour before I even had a story formed in my head. Then I blocked it out at one sitting. Then the thing was put aside while I went over and over in my mind each detail, each line of dialogue, each touch of description, determining on the proper place, attitude, share, colour, and quality of each bit, so that the whole might in the end be a unit, and not a bundle of parts. By and by came the actual writing with the revision and the correction which accompanies and follows. The actual composition of the Brier Bush occupied fifteen months. They were the more difficult because in every case the character is revealed in dialogue exclusively. It is different when the writer has a plot, because then there is something definite to hold the attention, and one can dash ahead, but I was compelled to make slow progress.”

The popularity of Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush and The Days of Auld Lang Syne made a great difference in Watson's position. He became well known to the British and the American public. His services as a speaker were demanded from all quarters. In 1896 he arranged with the well-known American lecture-manager, the late Major J. B. Pond, to make a tour in America. Mrs. Watson accompanied him, and the three months that followed were perhaps the busiest and most exciting of all his life.

Immediately before leaving America Watson was presented with an address from the Brotherhood of Christian Unity in which he was thanked for doing " a work of unspeakable value in awakening and uniting the deepest sympathies of our common human nature. To this great blessing you have added another by formulating a Creed of Christian life which embodies the spirit and essence of Christ's teachings. The change of emphasis from doctrine to life expresses a demand of the age and will give a new spirit and form to Christian civilisation. We accept your Life Creed not as a substitute for the historic creeds, but as an interpretation of them." The Creed referred to in the address was as follows :

A Life Creed

I believe in the Fatherhood of God.
I believe in the words of Jesus.
I believe in a clean heart.
I believe in the service of love.
I believe in the unworldly life.
I believe in the beatitudes.
I promise to trust God and follow Christ; 

to forgive my enemies, 

and to seek after the righteousness of God.