The second son of a Berwickshire farmer, Fairbairn was born at Hallyburton on 28 January 1805. He studied at Edinburgh University from 1818 to 1826, moving to Orkney to work as a tutor. During this time he became a German and Hebrew scholar, and was called to be the first minister of the new "Extension" Church in Bridgeton before moving to Salton, East Lothian.
The Disruption saw him take a lead in organising the Free Church Presbytery of Haddington, while retaining the friendship of co-presbyters who opposed him in ecclesiastical policy. In 1853 he was appointed to the chair of theology in Aberdeen, and in 1856 he became principal at the Free Church College in Glasgow.
His published work stretched from his 1845 "Typology of Scripture" to his posthumous "Pastoral Theology". His work was regarded as neither brilliant nor original, but patient and careful. He died on 6 August 1874.
PATRICK FAIRBAIRN was the second son of a Berwickshire farmer. He was born at Hallyburton, in the parish of Greenlaw, on the 28th of January, 1805, and in due time was sent to the parish school to be prepared for the University. Like many another Scotch boy, he began his college career at a very early age; he matriculated in Edinburgh in November, 1818, before he had seen his fourteenth birthday. The lad was too young to profit much by university lectures, nor were the professors, in his college days, men likely to kindle the sacred fire in the breasts of students of any age. Christopher North, it is true, was delivering brilliant orations in the moral philosophy class-room, and Leslie was sustaining the scientific reputation of the University, but their colleagues were respectable nobodies. Young Fairbairn attended the classes, paid the fees, did his allotted tasks, and taught himself. The lad's real teacher, a man called Hay, lived in the quiet village of Gordon, kept a small shop, collected a library of choice books in literature and philosophy, and poured out his information to young men who came to his little parlour to enjoy his conversation. The Divinity Hall was even duller than the Arts Faculty. Good Dr. Brunton had kindly words and kindlier deeds for the young men who came to his classes, but he did not teach them much Hebrew, and exegesis was then a thing unknown.
Patrick Fairbairn left the university in 1826, and next year went to Orkney to be tutor in the household of Captain Balfour, through whose interest he was appointed by the Crown to the living of North Ronaldshay in 1830. When Fairbairn entered on his charge many of his parishioners were "wreckers," and all of them were addicted to strange semi-barbarous practices. The improvement he effected was so marked that it attracted attention. It was during his six years' residence in the most northern of the Orkney Islands that he began the serious studies of his life. He became a good German and Hebrew scholar, and mastered the principles of biblical study which afterwards appeared in his published writings. From North Ronaldshay he was called to be the first minister of the new "Extension" Church of Bridgeton in Glasgow. After three years' service there he was translated to Salton, in East Lothian, where he made diligent use of the manse library, the gift of Gilbert Burnet, William III.'s Bishop of Salisbury.
The Disruption took place while Mr. Fairbairn was minister at Salton. He had always taken the evangelical side in the unhappy controversy which divided the Church of Scotland, and, when the time came, he had no hesitation in leaving his church and manse to join the Free Church. He took a leading part in organizing the Free Church Presbytery of Haddington, but it was characteristic of the man that he retained the private friendship of Dr. Cook and his other co-presbyters who had taken the opposite side in ecclesiastical policy.
He began his career as a teacher of theology in the winter of 1847-8, when he delivered a course of lectures in the English Presbyterian College, and in 1853 he was appointed by the General Assembly to the Chair of Theology in Aberdeen. When the Free Church College was founded in Glasgow in 1856 Professor Fairbairn became Principal and Professor of Church History and Exegesis there, and presided over the institution till his death, on August 6th, 1874.
Principal Fairbairn was modest and retiring in his habits and feelings, and shunned anything like display. He asked his friends not to allow his biography to be written, and destroyed letters and other documents which might have led them to a disregard of his wish. He did not take a very active part in Church courts, but was invariably listened to with respect when he felt it his duty to speak, and his Church showed its appreciation of his work by raising him to its Moderator's Chair in 1864. Nor was he what might be called a prominent citizen, and yet few Glasgow men were more universally esteemed, and he took part in all that concerned the moral and religious welfare of the city. The Examination Board of the Free Church, which tests the acquirements of students at the beginning and at the end of the theological course of study, a scheme afterwards adopted by the United Presbyterian and Established Churches of Scotland, owes its existence mainly to Dr. Fairbairn. His wise oversight contributed not a little to the success of the Glasgow Theological Hall. He spent much time and work in raising the necessary subscriptions, in selecting site, plan of building, and equipment of the new college. The arrangement of studies, the distribution of work, and the encouragement of diligence among the students by a system of bursaries gained by examination, were all planned and carried out by him.
He bestowed great pains on the College Library, and was zealous to keep out what he called "rubbish." His own collection of books has now been added, and has materially enhanced the value of the library. He was fond of books, and liked to have them well bound - "A good book deserves a good dress," was one of his maxims. He was a hard and systematic student, working at his desk almost every evening till eleven o'clock up to the very day of his death; but he had a noted aversion, which he often expressed, to the professional or specialist student of theology. He preached frequently, always in summer and often during the session, regarding it as a most important thing to be in continual contact with the practical work of the ministry.
He began his literary work when at Salton by translations from the German. In 1845 he published his "Typology of Scripture," a work which reached a fifth edition. It was followed by "Ezekiel and the Book of his Prophecy" (1851); "Jonah" (1852); "Prophecy viewed in its Distinctive Nature, its Special Functions, and Proper Interpretation" (1856); a "Hermeneutical Manual" (1858); "The Revelation of Law in Scripture" (1868); "The Pastoral Epistles" (1874); and "Pastoral Theology," which appeared posthumously, edited by the Rev. James Dodds of Dunbar. Perhaps his most important bit of work was editing and contributing to Blackie's "Imperial Bible Dictionary," which was finished in 1866. Along with Dr. Eadie and Dr. Weir he represented Glasgow scholarship from the first on the Committees for the Revision of the English Bible. It is somewhat difficult to estimate the value of the theological work of Dr. Fairbairn. The best part of it was undoubtedly the stimulus he gave to the students who came under his influence. He would probably have desired to be judged by his "Typology," which was one of the most important theological works of its day. It appeared at a time when Scotland was singularly barren in theological scholarship, and gained for its author a great reputation, not only in his own country but also in England and America. But it would be idle to imagine that either the ideas or the method of the book can stand the test of modern theological and exegetical standards. Dr. Fairbairn's work was neither brilliant nor original: it was patient and careful. His direct theological influence can never extend farther than his own generation; but his indirect influence will go far beyond his own time, for he was one of those who teach others to go beyond their teachers.
Back to Contents