nor qualifying. He knew, and tens of thousands felt, that God was with him of a truth, making the gospel rebound from his heart to their hearts; melting them by warming him; winning their souls, by absorbing his soul with the glories of salvation.

Happily this spirit cannot be imitated in preaching. It may be imbibed and breathed by any devotional and devoted minister; but it cannot be copied. No tones, looks, nor tears, can demonstrate the presence of the Spirit in a sermon, if the preacher has not been "in the Spirit," before coming to the pulpit. Neither the melting nor the kindling of men but half devoted, or but half-hearted in devotion, can melt down or wield an audience, by the gospel; because the Holy Spirit will not honour fits and starts of fidelity. The minister must be a holy temple unto the Holy Ghost, who would have that Spirit speak to the hearts of men by him. Never does a preacher dupe himself, or endanger others, more, than when he imagines that the Spirit will give power to the gospel amongst his people, whilst it has not power upon himself. God makes ministers a blessing to others, by blessing themselves first. He works in them, in order to work by them. "I throw out these hints, not to ministers, but to private Christians, who know what it is to pray in the Spirit, and what it is to see divine things in the light of eternity. Preaching with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, is just what praying in the Holy Ghost is; not form, nor forcing, nor copying; but the outpouring of a heart penetrated with the greatness of the great salvation, and absorbed with the solemn responsibilities involved in the hope of salvation. Did such hearers sustain such preachers, by prayer, and esteem, and co-operation, there would be far more demonstration of the Spirit in the evangelical pulpits of the land: and many who now content themselves with depending on the Holy Spirit, would be compelled to cultivate the fellowship of that Spirit, instead of merely complimenting his power.

18*

CHAPTER IX.

WHITEFIELD IN SCOTLAND.

1741.

THE state of religion in Scotland at this time will be best understood, as well as most fairly represented, by a brief view of the rise and progress of the Secession. That second Reformation in Scotland brought into full light and play all the good and evil of the national church. I shall, therefore, state the facts, just as they now challenge and defy investigation. I have never seen the final appeals of the Associate Synod invalidated; and therefore I employ their own words.

"The secession is regarded both by its friends and its enemies as a highly important event in the history of the church of Scotland. However slight and accidental the circumstances by which it was immediately occasioned may appear, it unquestionably arose from a general state of matters in the church, naturally tending towards such a crisis. Divine Providence, whose operations are often apparently slow, but always sure and progressive, had been gradually paving the way for an open division, calculated, notwithstanding all its accompanying evils, to prevent the utter extinction of religious principle and freedom in the land, and to advance the interests of truth and piety. A torrent of corruption, which threatened the overthrow of every thing sacred in doctrine and valuable in privilege, was proceeding to so great a height, that enlightened and conscientious men were impressed with the necessity of bold and decisive steps.

"The prevalence of those erroneous tenets and oppressive measures, which gave rise to the Secession, may be traced back to the defects attending the settlement of ecclesiastical affairs at the era of the Revolution 1688. That era was truly glorious; and in no quarter of the British empire were its blessings more necessary, or more sensibly experienced, than in Scotland. Religious as well as civil rights and liberties

were then restored to a nation, which, under the tyrannical sway of Charles II. and James VII. had been most cruelly degraded and oppressed. Episcopacy was abolished; the presbyterian worship and government re-established; pastors who had been ejected from their churches in 1661, were replaced; and the law of patronage, though not absolutely annulled, was so modified, and, in consequence, so gently administered, that it was scarcely felt as a grievance.

"But while the Scottish presbyterians had much cause for gratitude and joy, they had at the same time several sources of regret. The omission of an act formally asserting Christ's sole headship over the church, and expressly condemning the royal supremacy which had been assumed under the two preceding reigns, was deeply lamented. Nor was it an inconsiderable evil, that, in compliance with the wishes of the court, about three hundred of the prelatical incumbents, some of whom had even been active agents in the work of persecution, were, upon easy terms,' permitted to retain their stations in the parishes of Scotland, and to sit in the ecclesiastical courts. Attached, in many instances, to unscriptural doctrines, no less than to episcopalian forms of worship and discipline, these men could not fail to obstruct the efforts of those faithful ministers who attempted to promote the cause of evangelical truth and practical religion. Among those ministers themselves, there were comparatively few who displayed all that magnanimity and zeal which the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom required; and the exercise of which, on that momentous occasion, might have proved incalculably advantageous to vital Christianity in their own days, and in succeeding ages. Owing to the pusillanimity of some clergymen, and the waywardness of others, lamentable symptoms of degeneracy in principle and practice were discernible within a short period after the happy Revolution. The worthy Halyburton accordingly, amid the triumphant expressions of Christian faith and hope, which he uttered on his death-bed, in 1712, deplored in the strongest terms the growing apostacy' of the times, and, in particular, that indifference to the peculiarities of the gospel and to the power of godliness which prevailed among a great proportion of the clergy. He exclaimed, for example, Oh that the ministry of Scotland may be kept from destroying the church of Scotland. Oh that I could obtain it of them with tears of blood, to be

concerned for the church! Shall we be drawn away from the precious gospel, and from Christ.' Fraser's Erskines.

"The secession did not originate in any dissatisfaction with the professed principles of the church of Scotland, which seceders venerate as a precious summary of divine truthsthe most valuable inheritance they have received from their fathers and which they are anxious to transmit in purity to their children. But for some time before they were expelled from the communion of the national church, a tide of defection had been flowing in from the prevailing party in her judicatories, which, while it spared the erroneous in doctrine, and the irregular in conduct, bore down the Christian people contending for their religious privileges, and those ministers who testified faithfully against ecclesiastical misconduct.

"A professor of divinity, in one of the universities, taught that the souls of children are as pure and holy as the soul of Adam was in his original condition, being inferior to him only as he was formed in a state of maturity; and that the light of nature, including tradition, is sufficient to teach men the way of salvation. For these doctrines, subversive of the first principles of Christianity, a process was instituted against him, in which it was clearly proved that he was chargeable with teaching publicly these and other errors. But so far from being subjected to the censure he deserved, he was permitted to retain his place in the university and the church; and the General Assembly were satisfied with declaring that some of his opinions were not evidently founded on the word of God, nor necessary to be taught in divinity, and prohibiting him from publishing such sentiments in future.

"The Marrow of Modern Divinity' teaches, that God in the gospel makes a gift of the Saviour to mankind as sinners, warranting every one who hears the gospel to believe in him for salvation; that believers are entirely freed from the law as a covenant of works; that good works are not to be performed by believers that they may obtain salvation by them.' In the unqualified condemnation of these principles, the General Assembly materially condemned some of the most important doctrines of the gospel, such as the unlimited extent of the gospel call, and the free grace of God in the salvation of sinners.

"For a short time after the revival of the law of patronage, in 1712, such as received presentations were backward to ac

cept of them, and the church courts were unwilling to proceed to their settlement, where opposition was made by the people of the vacant charge. But presentees and judicatories became gradually less scrupulous, and several settlements afterwards took place in reclaiming congregations, which gave plain evidence that the rights of the members of the church would be no longer regarded. The little influence which might occasionally be left to the people in the choice of their ministers, was destroyed by an act of the General Assembly, passed immediately before the commencement of the secession. This act, providing that where patrons might neglect, or decline to exercise, their rights, the minister should be chosen by a majority of the elders and heritors, if protestant, was unconstitutionally passed by the Assembly, as a great majority of the presbyteries, who gave their opinions upon the subject, were decidedly hostile to the measure.

"Many pious and faithful ministers were grieved by these defections; but being deprived, by the prevailing party in the Assembly, of the liberty of marking their disapprobation in the minutes of the court, no method of maintaining a good conscience remained, except testifying against defection, in their public ministrations. This method was adopted; and for a public condemnation of these corruptions by the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, 1732, a process was instituted against him, which terminated, 1733, in first suspending him and three of his brethren, the Rev. Messrs. William Wilson, Alexander Moncrieff, and James Fisher, who had joined him, from the exercise of the ministerial office, and afterwards, 1740, dissolving their relation to their congregations and the national church." Dr. Waugh's Life.

"The valuable order of husbandmen, who constituted a very considerable portion" of the secession, "were, at this period, of the third generation in descent from the covenanters, who lived towards the latter end of the seventeenth century; to whom their country owes a deep debt of gratitude, for their pious zeal, their patient sufferings, and their severe, long-protracted, and ultimately successful struggle with a despotic and persecuting government. Like their ancestors, whose memory for the most part they warmly cherished and venerated, besides being zealous presbyterians, they were distinguished by frugal habits, simple manners, and an ardent regard for evangelical doctrines. In addition to a regular and exemplary attendance on the public ordinances of divine