1641, Mr Gillespie had a call from the town of Aberdeen to be their minister; but the Lord Commissioner and him self appeared in his cause, and managed it so well, that he was continued at Wemyss. But in 1642, the General Assembly consented unto his transportation to the city of Edinburgh. And he was one of those four eminent ministers, who were sent as Commissioners from the Church of Scotland, to the famous Assembly of Divines at Westminster, in the year 1643. He was but a young man when he went to that Assembly. There, however, he reasoned and conducted himself with all the skill and prudence of a veteran. Equally acute and learned, he commanded respectful attention when he spake. He even ventured to contend, with the eminently learned Selden and Lightfoot, who were at that time the great cham pions in the Erastian controversy, and truly formidable for their extraordinary acquaintance with Jewish antiqui ties and Rabinical learning." Against those eminent op ponents, Mr Gillespie laboured with success, in proving two courts among the Jews, from Deut. xvii. 12. re specting one going up from one court to another; that is, for appeals, as he strongly urged from hence: The man who will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest who standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: Making the priest to hold one court, and the judge another. And certainly to contend with such men of the field of controversy, required great store of erudition and much power of intellect. Mr Baillie, one of his colleagues in that Assembly, who had the best opportuni ty of being well acquainted with his abilities and learning, speaks of him as follows. "How many and how learned debates we had, in twelve or thirteen sessions, from nine to half-two, it were long to relate. None in all the com pany did reason more, and more pertinently, than Mr Gillespie. That is an excellent youth; my heart blesses God in his behalf." And when Acts xiv. 23. was pro

-

a Stevenson, vol. iii. p. 979. Baillic, vol. i. pp. 306, 307. b Stevenson, vol. iii. p. 1063.

e Lightfoot's Rem. Pref. pp. 13, 17, 18.

Mr

laced for a proof of the power which the apostles had f ordination, and after much debate, was going to be oiced, Baillie says; "Very learned and accute Mr Gilespie, a singular ornament of our Church, than whom ot one in the whole Assembly speaks to better purpose, nd with better acceptance by all the hearers, advertised, hat the Greek word, of purpose by the Episcopal transators turned ordaining, was truly chusing, importing the eople's suffrages in ellecting their officers. Hence arose tough debate, that took up two whole sessions. lenderson's overture ended the plea." And again, the ame author says; "We get good help in our Assemblylebates of my Lord Wariston; but of none more than of hat noble youth Mr Gillespie. I truly admire his faculy, and bless God, as for all my colleagues, so for him that faculty with the first of the whole Assembly.' And, in a letter to Mr Robert Blair, dated March 26th, 644, the same writer says: Mr G. Gillespie, however had a good opinion of his gifts, yet I profess he has auch deceived me. Of a truth there is no man whose arts in a publick dispute, I do so admire. He has tudied so accurately all the points which ever yet came o our Assembly, he has gotten so ready, so assured, so olid a way of publick debating, that though there are in he Assembly divers very excellent men, yet, in my poor udgement, there is not one who speaks more rationally, nd to the point, than that brave youth has ever done; o that his absence would be prejudicial to our whole ause, and unpleasant to all here who wish it well.* And it has been said, that once when both the Parlianent and the Assembly were convened, and a long studi ed discourse was made in favour of Erastianism, to which aone seemed readily to offer any answer, that, Mr Gilles, pie, being urged by his brethren, the Scottish Commis sioners, repeated the substance of the whole discourse, and refuted it, to the admiration of all persons who were present. And what struck them most was, that though it was common for the members to take notes of what

a Baillie, vol. i. pp. 407, 419, 431, and 451.

was spoken in the Assembly as helpful to their memory, and Mr Gillespie appeared to be so employed during the delivery of that speech to which he afterward made a reply, yet the persons who sat next him declared, that upon looking into his note book, they found nothing of that speech written, but in different places, Lord, send light-Lord, give assistance-Lord, defend thine own

cause.

After his return to his own country from London, he was much employed in the public affairs of the Church of Scotland. And, having been eminently distinguished in the Assembly of Divines at Westminster for his erudition and zeal in the cause of truth, he was chosen Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which convened at Edinburgh on the 12th of July, 1648. In this Assembly, several good acts were made in appro bation and favour of the covenanted work of Reformation. And, in it, Mr Gillespie was nominated one of those mi nisters who should prosecute the Treaty of Uniformity in Religion with the English Parliament and their Assembly of Divines. But in a short time after this, he was seiz ed with sickness. Mr Rutherford, in a letter to him, when on his death-bed, dated St. Andrews, Sept. 27th, 1648, says: "I dare say nothing against his dispensa tion; I hope to follow quickly. The heirs who are not there before you, are posting with haste after you, and none shall take your lodging over your head. Be not heavy the life of faith is now called for; doing was never reckoned in your accounts; though Christ in and by you hath done more than by twenty, yea, an hundred gray-haired and godly pastors. Believing now is your last. Look to that word, Gal. ii. 20.-Ye must leave the wife to a more choice Husband, and the children to a better Father. If ye leave any testimony to the Lord's work and covenant, against both malignants and sectaries, which I suppose may be needful, let it be under your hand, and subscribed before faithful witnesses."-Mr

a Stevenson, vol. ii. pp. 1260, 1281. Acts of General Assembly, edit. 1682.

Gillespie was always firmly attached to the work of Reformation, and left a faithful testimony in favour of it, and against all the prevailing evils of that time. He died toward the end of the year 1648; some say about the 17th of Dec. He was very little past the prime of life, and his death was greatly lamented. And the Public had such sense of his real worth, that first the Committee of Estates, and then the Parliament, ordered one thousand pounds sterling to be given to his widow and children but through the troubles of the times that was not paid.* Of Mr Gillespie's abilities, both natural and acquired, we have the most irrefragable proofs, in the testimony of his co-temporaries, and also in the excellent writings which he has left behind him. With the original languages of the Holy Scriptures he was intimately acquainted; his knowledge of antiquity was extensive and profound; and his talent, both for written argument and extemporary debate, has been generally allowed. We are much indebted to him, for that remarkable patience and ardour of research, which have enabled him to cast very great light on the deeply interesting subject of Churchgovernment. In all his labours, he seems to have been truly active and zealous for the Lord God of Hosts, and to have been well directed in his zeal, by the Spirit of wisdom and of holiness,

Mr Gillespie has left behind him the following learned writings. Beside The English Popish Ceremonies, obtruded upon the Church of Scotland, above-mentioned, 4to. 1637, and 1660, said to be his; we have his Asser. tion of the Government of the Church of Scotland, pub. lished in 1641, in which he successfully combats the Independent Scheme.-A sermon preached from Ezek. xliii. 11. to the House of Commons, at their Solemn Fast, March 27th, 1644. 4to. pp. 42. London, 1644. A sermon from Mal. iii. 2. to the House of Peers, Fast, 27th of Aug. 1645. 4to. pp. 30. London, 1645.Aaron's Rod Blossoming; Or, The Divine Ordinance of a Stevenson, vol. iii. p. 1285.

Church-Government Vindicated. 4to. pp. 590. Lon. don, 1646. In this elaborate work, the Erastian doctrine is clearly and triumphantly refuted. Mr Gillespie's Pieces on the Erastian controversy, in answer to Mr Coleman, are mentioned in Mr Coleman's Life. Male Avilis, by Mr Gillespie, 4to. pp. 56. Lond. 1646.-His Treatise of Miscellany Questions was printed at Edinburgh, 1649. 4to. pp. 281. And one of these Cases was selected, and printed again at Paisley, 1791, in a Collection.

ALEXANDER HENDERSON,

MINISTER OF EDINBURGH, AND ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS FROM THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND TO THE ASsembly oF DI VINES AT WESTMINSTER.

THE HE memory. of eminent men, who have performed services of great importance to their country, and who have filled conspicuous places with much reputation, ought to be greatly respected. In such respect is the memory of that illustrious statesman, the strenuous, yet temperate, Assertor of the liberties of his country, John Hampden, still held by his grateful countrymen, that, it is said, some years ago, one of his descendants being deficient in an account of public money, he was exonerated from the debt due to Government by an Act of Par liament, particularly expressing that it was for the services his illustrious relation had done to his country that this mark of favour was shown to him. Certainly less honour ought not to be paid to the memory of this eminent Reformer, who is the subject of the following Me moir, and who cheerfully performed many remarkable services of very great importance to his country, and to the church of Christ. And, both his character, and the

a See Coleman's Life.

5 Anecdotes of distinguished Persons, vol. iii. 3d edit. London.