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THE

SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERALD,

CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

"THE FEAR Of the lord, THAT IS WISDOM."

No. 50.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1837.

ON THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE
REVELATION.
No. I.

BY THE REV. GEORGE GARIOCH,
Minister of Meldrum.

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life:

Do man cometh unto the Father, but by me."-JOHN xiv. 6. Ir was not in the introduction of sin alone, that the deplorable effects of the fall of Adam and Eve were exhibited. As one of the undoubted characteristics of the loss of the divine image, the blight of a deeply inwrought and wide extending depravity passed over the soul, involving an obscuration of those noble perceptions of a moral and spiritual nature by which it was originally distinguished, and comprehending the progress of a deterioration, to which no limits can be assigned. Sin produced a separation between God and his creatures, which to them must have been followed by the feelings of selfcondemnation and despair, overwhelmed, as their souls must have been, by a conviction of guilt, and by the contemplation of that purity and holiness, by which the divine nature was pre-eminently adorned. As far, therefore, as the moral degradation and the spiritual destitution of the fallen posterity of Adam were proofs of the consummation of their misery, and of their abandonment by God, there was abundant evidence of the deplorable catastrophe which brought death into the world.

But among those conflicting elements, in the midst of which the miseries of a fallen condition were manifested, there were other tokens apparent of the degraded nature of man, and of the hopelessness of that state, from which there could be no deliverance by human means. The darkness of ignorance interposed an obstructing medium to the reception and comprehension of the exalted truths of religion, which could only be penetrated by a ray of that light divine, which gladdened the soul of man in the state of innocence. An incapacity for perceiving the infinite perfection of God, and the strict undeviating harmony and correspondence of all His glorious attributes, was coeval with the destruction of the moral fabric of the human soul; spiritual death was the awful result of the combination of both,—a result, to the removal of which, the illumination of the understanding by wISDOM FROM VOL. II.

PRICE 14d.

ABOVE, is as necessary as is the aid of divine grace to the purification of a sinful nature. On the day when Adam fled from the presence of his Maker, and hid himself among the trees of the garden, his soul not only experienced the removal of that holy and elevated purity, which the divine presence inspired and perpetually nourished, but the abstraction of that spiritual knowledge which God him

self could alone communicate.

There has generally, however, been a manifest inconsistency in the confessions of mankind, with respect to the extent of their depravity and of their ignorance, in as far as the former is admitted and the latter has been denied. The corruption of the human soul has been acknowledged with scarcely any qualifications, and the inheritance, by all the posterity of Adam, of innate moral depravity. On what other grounds, indeed, can the facts of history be explained? From the fall of Adam until the present time, the records of history have been records of the baseness and profligacy of mankind. Crime, in all its terrific proportions, in all its monstrous shapes, in all its deepest hues, has stood prominently forward, the most hideous and loathsome object, in that extended picture of human life, which is presented to the eye of the mind in the successive ages of the world's duration. The annals of our race may, with truth, be said to be annals of guilt, and to bear a dismal, but unchanging, testimony to the truth of the scriptural declaration, that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." And let consciousness speak as to the state of the carnal and unsanctified soul, and it will also proclaim the accuracy of the description of the inspired writer, that it is "dead in trespasses and sins." There comes, therefore, to our assistance, in vindicating the truth of the scriptural doctrine of a primeval fall from a state of moral rectitude, the unimpeached and unimpeachable evidence of history and consciousness, to which may be added, the testimony of personal observation of the character and conduct of our fellow-men. All these interpret this doctrine to the heart, by a process of fearful, but irresistible, demonstration, and leave the understanding to grapple with other truths, which may be less easily understood, or less readily admitted.

manifested, and that character shadowed forth in the works which he has made. They endeavoured to discover in the wonderful constitution of the human mind, and in the complicated structure of the human body, in the magnificence of the starry firmament, in the varieties of organised existence, in the productions on the surface of the earth, and in the materials which are hidden within her, the proofs of those truths divine, which had already been clearly manifested in the written Word of God. They desired to ascertain these, and their labours have been crowned with great and growing success,-a success which was to be anticipated, from the consideration, that an infinitely glorious and perfect Being will be recognised by the display of his attributes, wherever they are brought within the sphere of observation.

Nor can it reasonably be a matter of doubt, that the same agents in the work of illumination, will afford conclusive evidence of the truth of the scriptural doctrine of the fallen condition of man, in as far as it is shewn by his inability to discern and comprehend the great truths of religion, until he is enlightened by God. On this part of the subject, however, I am aware that our conclusions will not meet with the same ready and cordial assent; and that the pride of the philosophic intellect, which does not conceive itself in any degree implicated in the admission of moral depravity, will be indignantly aroused to vindicate what it considers to be the just and undoubted claims of the human understanding. There enters, in fact, into this question, a specious but delusive fallacy, which has never failed to perplex and embarrass it, and to lead to a pronouncing of judg- But to what, in reality, do the brightest achievement in a perverse and dogmatical manner. The ments of natural theology amount? Certainly not fallacy to which I allude, consists in receiving the to the discovery, but simply to the illustration speculations of philosophers upon the subject of of religious knowledge. Their whole excellence religion and morals, as if they were the pure and consists in the confirmation which they bring to genuine product of reason. If it can be shewn, that which was previously known, by the very that they have no just pretensions to be consider-striking and interesting proofs which they afford ed such, the inferences which have been drawn from them, as to the power of the mind of man to discover the great truths of religion, are illegitimate and unsound; and the lofty structure which has been raised in commemoration of the triumphs of human intellect, being reared upon an insufficient foundation, must fall to the ground.

allusion has been made, or to others who may yet travel over the ground which they have occupied, to whom it must be a matter of consciousness, that those doctrines of religion which form the science of natural theology had, long before the proof by which they seek to establish them, been impressed upon their minds, through the instrumentality of that training in a Christian. land, to which every one is accustomed from his infancy. It is consequently impossible, that the mind which has been imbued with the doctrines of Christianity, should be able to divest itself of its scriptural information, or to enter on the investigations of natural theology, without being previously enlightened in the knowledge of the whole circle of truths which it embraces. And the reader of treatises on natural theology, who is acquainted with the book of Revelation, is well aware that the doctrines contained in the former, are those with which he has long been familiar.

of the truth of some of those great doctrines which are revealed in the Sacred Scriptures. Those who contend for the supremacy of reason, may suppose that we are now underrating its powers; but in making deductions from the demands of natural theology, when any one is inclined to claim for it the title of an original science, no injustice is The science of natural theology, as it is now done to it. Still less is injustice done to the desystematically arranged and successfully illustrat-serts of the celebrated writers, to whose works ed, is a very interesting study. Its utility, also, may be readily admitted, in as far as it can be rendered subsidiary to the illustration of Christian evidence, and successfully employed as an instrument for combating the predilections and prejudices of the philosophic intellect. But this admission of its utility, is made under a full conviction of the emptiness of its pretensions, if it lay claim to originality in the discovery of religious truth. When we peruse the works of Ray, Derham, and Paley, or the Bridgewater Treatises, we feel convinced, that those grand fundamental truths of religion, the existence of a first great and glorious cause of all things, his divine perfections, and his moral government of this world, which it is the object of those valuable productions to establish and confirm, were fully perceived and appreciated by the authors, as preliminary and acknowledged principles. We know the source from which their knowledge has been acquired; and that they did not enter on an examination of the material and immaterial world, in order to establish any primary truths in relation to the Creator, of which they were previously ignorant. They did not seek for an "unknown God," but for proofs of the being and perfections of that God, whom they already acknowledged. His existence had been ascertained in the Sacred Record; in its pages, his divine and holy character shone forth in bright and irresistible splendour; and the object of these writers, was to find that existence

It cannot, therefore, fail to be remarked, that the doctrines of religion, in as far as they are exhibited in treatises of natural theology, can never be justly considered as the genuine product of those treatises, and that the light in which they shine, is reflected from the Word of God. That which is original in them, is the correct and happy illustration of divine truth, drawn from the material and immaterial world; and it is only a mind of high and varied accomplishments that is capable of furnishing such illustration.

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more zealous in the cause of Protestantism than John
Erskine, Baron of Dun. This eminent person, who was
sprung of an ancient family, was born in the year 1509.
domestic tutor, he was sent, at a suitable age, to King's
After having been educated, for some time, under a
College, Aberdeen. Possessed of a naturally acute and
vigorous mind, he made great progress in the acquisition
of such knowledge as the colleges of Scotland could at
that time impart ; and such was his ardent thirst for infor-
nation, that he spent several years at the castle of Dun,
after his academic career was terminated, in the study
of the ancient classic and the primitive Christian writers.
With a mind thus enlightened and improved by the
perusal of the best authors, it was scarcely to be ex-
pected that if ever he was in communion with the Ro-
mish Church, he should continue, for any length of
time, within its pale.

When the Laird of Dun, accordingly, had scarcely
reached his twentieth year, he became an active sup-
porter of the Reformation, and the warm friend of its
adherents. By the divine blessing upon the exertions
of Luther and Melancthon, the Protestant doctrines
were rapidly spreading in Germany, and from the liter-
ary intercourse which then subsisted between that
country and Scotland, the same spirit of hostility to the
superstitions of the Papal hierarchy soon manifested itself
with a keenness scarcely inferior to that which charac-
terized even the birth-place of the Reformation. The
Romish clergy, anxious to check summarily the rising he-

which has been made of the Sacred Volume, by writers on natural theology, tends, in a very high degree, to increase our confidence in its value, and to confirm our convictions of its divine truth. The test which has been applied to it is of this nature: the great truths of religion have been taken from it, and made to adorn the systems of natural theology; human learning has exhausted its powers in order to illustrate them; and the reasonings of this science have afterwards been made the grounds upon which the excellence of scriptural doctrine itself has been subjected to examination. Truth is able to come through such a process uninjured; and scriptural truth has come through it, not only uninjured, but triumphant. The purport of the preceding observations is to shew, that no argument can be drawn from modern treatises on natural theology, to prove, that the human mind, unassisted by divine revelation, is capable of arriving at the true knowledge of God. The soul, as has been already remarked, experienced, at the fall, not only the destruction of its moral nature, but the obscuration of that perception of spiritual and divine truth, which was possessed by the parents of our race, during their state of innocence, and which was then main-resy, as they considered it, resolved to have recourse to tained in brilliant and unclouded exercise, by an intimate and uninterrupted intercourse with the great and glorious source of perfection. A darkness of the understanding, in regard to the holy nature of God, and the doctrines of true religion, is a characteristic defect, as well as a symptom of misery, in fallen men, which can only be removed through the medium of divine revelation; and if any one be inclined to call in question the truth of this remark, he must establish the contrary proposition, not by appealing to modern systems of natural theology, which are formed with all the advantages arising from a knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures, but to those systems of religious belief, which existed in the world, previously to the publication of Christianity. Such an appeal will bring under consideration, the testimony of history; and to that testimony I shall refer for a proof of the fact, that the mind of fallen man is incapable of discovering the great and glorious truths of religion, and that there is consequently an indispensable necessity for divine revelation to enlighten it. In the course of this examination, it will appear, that although the triumphs of human genius are manifest, in the fields of science, and philosophy, and literature, "there is, perhaps, nothing more thoroughly beyond the cognizance of the human faculties, than the truths of religion, and the ways of that mighty and invisible Being, who is the object of it."*

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

JOHN ERSKINE, BARON OF DUN,

ONE OF THE EARLY SCOTTISH REFORMERS.

AMONG the distinguished individuals whom the Reformation in Scotland called into active operation, none was

* Dr Chalmers' " Evidence and Authority of the Christian Relig." Chap. X.

the most severe and arbitrary measures. The first vic-
Hamilton, Abbot of Ferme, who, in consequence of
tim of their relentless cruelty, in Scotland, was Patrick
his zeal in the cause of truth and righteousness, was
doomed to be burnt at the stake, and thus earned for
himself the high honour of being the first Scottish martyr.
It has often been remarked, as confirmed by the history
of the world in all ages, that "the blood of the martyrs
is the seed of the Church." And this was fully ex-
emplified in the case of Hamilton. From the hour of
his death, Protestant principles acquired a prominence,
in the estimation of the people, which they had never
enjoyed before, and a spirit of inquiry was awakened
which the utmost vigilance and activity of the Romish
clergy were unable to repress.

Among those who entered most cordially into the
doctrines of the Reformers was the young Laird of Dun.
He studied the Bible with the utmost ardour and de-
sire to know the truth, and he employed a great part of
his time in expounding its blessed statements to his
friends and dependents. In this way he was instru-
mental in diffusing the principles of the Reformation to
tinguished for their zeal in behalf of these principles,
a great extent, and many who afterwards became dis-
owned their obligations to the instructions of Mr Er-
skine. It is impossible to attribute his conduct, as many
might have wished to have done, to motives either of
interest or worldly ambition. Still in the bloom of youth
and in the enjoyment of wealth, he might have been
tempted, one would think, to ally himself with those
who had it in their power to dispense places of honour
and preferment. His, however, was a purer, a nobler
ambition. He resolved to cast in his lot with the perse-
cuted adherents of the Reformation, and with an intre-
pidity and heroism, which the Gospel alone could ori-
ginate, he fearlessly espoused their cause. From that
moment his efforts were chiefly directed to the propa-
gation of the tenets which he had deliberately and con-
scientiously embraced. Nor were his exertions unat-
tended with success. One instance, in particular, is
recorded in Knox's History, of an individual who was
converted from Popery by the instrumentality of Mr
Erskine, and who remaining firm to his principles,
suffered martyrdom at Edinburgh, in the year 1534.
His conversion is thus described by Knox:-

1

"He had not learned to read; but, one day, when the young Laird of Dun was in a certain quiet place in the fields, reading to him out of the New Testament, and happened, as God had appointed, to read to him the words of our Saviour, He that denieth me before men, in the midst of this wicked generation, I will deny him in the presence of my Father, and before his angels,' Mr Straiton suddenly became as one enraptured. He threw himself upon his knees, extending his hands; and, after looking some time earnestly towards heaven, burst forth in these words: O Lord, I have been wicked, and justly mayst thou abstract thy grace from me: But, Lord, for thy mercies' sake, let me never deny thee, nor thy truths, for fear of death or corporal pains.' His prayer was graciously answered; for Spottiswood says, that David Straiton stood, at his trial and death, most constantly to the defence of the truth; and gave great encouragement to another gentleman, Norman Gourlay, who suffered death along with him.” Mr Erskine, by the consistency of his character, no less than by his wealth and station, attained very high influence in his neighbourhood, so that at an early period of his life he was appointed chief magistrate of Montrose. Gladly availing himself of the increased means of doing good which his office afforded him, he rendered all subservient to the advancement of the Reformation. He proved himself the avowed patron of George Wishart of Pittarrow, who had also imbibed Protestant principles, and besides procuring for him the appointment of master of the Grammar School of Montrose, he readily sheltered him in his own house from his persecutors, and endeavoured, by all the means in his power, to protect and befriend him. Wishart's zeal, however, was not to be repressed, and, as is well known, he at length perished at the stake.

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The castle of Dun was indeed an asylum, open, at all times, to those who preached or professed the reformed faith. Mr Erskine hospitably entertained them as the persecuted followers of Jesus, and he joined with them in meetings for prayer and the expounding of the Scriptures. Long before he became a regular minister, Mr Erskine was in the habit of officiating on such occasions as an exhorter, an order of men who existed in the Church even after the Reformation.

In the year 1554 the cause of Protestantism in Scotland received a powerful impulse by the arrival of the celebrated John Knox from Geneva. Many of his intimate friends, among whom was the Laird of Dun, had invited him to return, without delay, to his native country, and it was in consequence of their urgent solicitations that he took up his residence in Edinburgh. While there, Mr Erskine and some other leading reformers were in the habit of meeting with Knox, that they might profit by his experience and information, and that they might be strengthened in their attachment to those principles which they felt to be alone consistent with the doctrines of Revelation. One evening, in particular, at the Laird of Dun's lodgings, a number of the reformed ministers and others being present along with Knox, they came to the unanimous resolution that, at whatever risk, they would henceforth discontinue their attendance on the Popish Mass; and that as soon as circumstances should permit, they would have the Lord's Supper administered to them according to the same simple form as was observed in the Reformed Churches abroad.

At the earnest invitation of Mr Erskine, Knox spent some months at the castle of Dun, where, for the first time, he publicly denounced the vices of the Romish clergy, and their ignorance of the real and obvious meaning of Scripture. Embracing the opportunity of Knox's visit, the Laird of Dun invited to the castle all his influential friends in the neighbourhood. The chapel was thrown open for the free admission of all who wished to hear the great champion of the Reformation, and such was the intense interest excited by the power

mer.

ful appeals which he made to the reason and the conscience, that before he left the castle, he was compelled to promise that he would return the following sumNext year, accordingly, he again visited Dun, and had the high satisfaction of dispensing the Sacrament to a great number of the leading gentlemen in Angus and Mearns; and at a meeting which was regularly summoned, they declared their determination to oppose the idolatry of the Romish Church, as far as lay in their power.

Thus was Mr Erskine made the instrument of commencing the great work of Reformation from Popery in Scotland. He led the way, throwing the whole weight of his character, and station, and wealth, into the scale of the Protestant party, and his example was speedily followed by many even of the nobles of the land. At length, in the end of the year 1557, he, along with the Earl of Argyle, the Earl of Glencairn, and all the Protestant nobility and gentry of Scotland, subscribed a covenant, binding themselves in the presence of God to advance the cause of the Reformation. In this deed the subscribers termed themselves the "Congregation of the Lord," and declared it to be their intention, with the assistance of God, to apply their whole power, substance, and very lives, to maintain, set forward, and establish the Word of God against Satan and all the wicked powers who might intend tyranny and trouble against the said congregation." bond was transmitted for signatures throughout the length and breadth of the land, and it was soon apparent that the "Congregation" was both a numerous and a powerful party.

66

This

In the meantime, Henry II. of France, anxious to connect his kingdom with that of Scotland, proposed to negotiate a marriage between the Dauphin and Mary the young Queen of Scots, who had been educated at his court. Having prevailed upon the Scottish Parliament to accede to his measure, he requested them to send commissioners to represent the three estates of the kingdom at the marriage of their queen. Among these commissioners appears the name of "John Erskine of Dun, knight and provost of Montrose," a circumstance which shows the confidence reposed in him by his country, notwithstanding his well known adherence to a party whose principles were opposed to those of a great majority of the Parliament. The commissioners sailed for France in February 1558. Besides encountering a severe storm in the course of their voyage, the embassy itself was peculiarly unfortunate. The French king, perceiving that the commissioners decidedly refused to sanction the secret designs which he evidently entertained upon Scotland, could not conceal his disappointment, and though the marriage of the young queen was celebrated, very few of the ambassadors returned to their native country, having died in rapid succession from a cause which must ever remain an impenetrable mystery. Of the few who reached Scotland in safety, Mr Erskine was one, and great, no doubt, was the satisfaction felt by the Reformed party on the return of so able and devoted an adherent.

The "Congregation," now strong, both in numbers and influence, assumed a still bolder position than they had hitherto done, and, unmoved by the power or the wealth of their adversaries, they took advantage of an assembly of Popish dignitaries being met at Edinburgh, to lay before them certain points, on which an immediate change was absolutely necessary. The most obvious and glaring defects respected the use of the Latin language in the public prayers and the administration of the sacraments, an unscriptural mode of electing the ministers, and the consequent influx of an immoral and unprincipled priesthood into the Popish Church in Scotland. The individual selected to urge upon the assembly of the Romish clergy an immediate removal of these abuses, was Mr Erskine of Dun; and al

office of Bishop, and was recommended, by the First Book of Discipline, to supply the spiritual wants of large districts, until a greater number of efficient pastors could be obtained. It was one part, indeed, of the superintendent's office, to endeavour, as far as possible, to procure spiritual instructors for every parish belonging to his district.

though with the utmost calmness and moderation he
entreated them to yield a little to the spirit of the
times, they were inexorable. They absolutely refused
to satisfy the Protestant party in a single point. The
Queen Regent, who had been hitherto guided by the
advice of the Popish bishops, perceiving the growing
confidence with which the "Congregation" urged their
claims, resolved to exert herself to the utmost in en-
deavouring to suppress the heretical opinions. By one
bold stroke, accordingly, she thought to effect her ob-
ject. She summoned all the Protestant ministers of
Scotland to appear at Stirling on the 10th of May
1559, there to answer to the charge of heresy and
schism. The alarm was immediately sounded throughout
the country, and the leading gentlemen of each county
resolved to accompany the ministers of their respective
districts to the place of trial. The counties of Angus
and Mearns, which had so remarkably profited by the
labours of Mr Erskine, poured forth their multitudes
on that occasion. Crowds, not merely of the weal-
thier but also of the poorer classes, hastened forward
to testify their attachment to the Reformed principles,
but they had proceeded no farther than Perth, when
the Queen Regent, alarmed at the spirit which herself
had raised, sent for Mr Erskine to meet her at Stir-ed to accept his demission.
ling, that she might confer with him on the points at
issue, with a view to an amicable adjustment. To
this request he readily assented, and leaving the adhe-
rents of the Reformed party at Perth, he proceeded
forthwith to meet the princess.

Meanwhile Knox, who had again been on a visit to the churches at Geneva, arrived in Scotland, and accordingly obeyed the summons which had been forwarded to him by the Queen Regent. The presence of this master-spirit imparted fresh courage to the brethren, who were still at Perth waiting anxiously the result of the conference in which Mr Erskine was engaged at Stirling. The agreeable news at length reached them, that the Queen Regent had agreed to discharge the Protestant ministers from the diet which she had proposed to hold. On receiving this intelligence, the great body of the people quitted Perth, and retired to their several homes. Knox, however, and many of the ministers, naturally suspicious of the crafty princess, resolved to remain in a body till the 10th of May was past. Nor were their suspicions ill-founded. On the evening of that very day, Mr Erskine arrived from Stirling with the news, that the Queen Regent had suddenly changed her mind, and as the Protestant ministers were not in Stirling on the day at first appointed for their trial, they were denounced as rebels, and all persons were forbidden, under pain of treason, to assist, to comfort, or to receive them. Such perfidious conduct excited the strongest indignation of the reformers, and they resolved to unite in maintaining that cause which was dearer to them than their lives.

The treachery of the Queen Regent, as might almost have been anticipated, soon led to a civil war, which, though happily not attended with much bloodshed, continued for thirteen months. In this war the Laird of Dun occasionally took a part as a temporal baron.

In the course of the protracted contest, Mr Erskine, whether from his own convictions, or the advice of his friends, thought it his duty to lay aside the sword, and to become a preacher of the Gospel on Protestant principles. That he was fully qualified for the office, seems to be admitted on all hands; for while Buchanan styles him a "learned," Knox speak of him as a "godly man." Accordingly, when peace was obtained by the death of the Queen Regent, and the ministers of the reformed religion were appointed to their several districts, Mr Erskine was nominated ecclesiastical superintendent of the counties of Angus and Mearns. This office, which was merely resorted to by the Church as a temporary expedient, was somewhat analogous to the

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In December 1560, the first General Assembly of the Protestant Church of Scotland met and ratified the nominations of superintendents, which had been made by the Committee of Parliament; and in their first session, they recognised Mr Erskine's clerical character, by declaring "that John Erskine of Dun was apt and able to minister." In the laborious, but honourable, situation which the Church had assigned him, he continued to exert himself with unremitting diligence for thirty years. Often does he appear to have felt himself overpowered by the multifarious duties which devolved upon him, and in three successive Assemblies, we find him requesting "to be exonered of his burthensome calling." The services of such a man, however, were too valuable to be dispensed with, and, accordingly, even in 1574, when he demitted his office purely and simply into the hands of the Assembly, they refus

During the reign of Queen Mary, Mr Erskine was frequently in Edinburgh; and such was the suavity of his manners, that in the visits which he occasionally paid to court, he was more readily received by the Popish Queen than some of the other reformers. Knox, indeed, declares that she once said, "Above all others, I would gladly hear the superintendent of Angus, Sir John Erskine, for he is a mild and sweet natured man, and of true honesty and uprightness."

In the discharge of his clerical duties, Mr Erskine was indefatigable; and to enable him the better to fulfil them, he refrained from acting in his capacity as a baron. Being possessed of an independent fortune, as was the case indeed with the whole of the superintendents, he exercised his pastoral office without payment, and even assisted many of those poor and pious men, whom he employed to officiate in the different parishes of his district. Such a state of matters could not be expected to continue, and accordingly, in an Assembly held at Stirling in August 1571, a commission was given to Mr Erskine and a few others, to attend Parliament, and plead in behalf of the Church. Their application, however, was not at that time successful, chiefly owing to the civil dissensions which raged in the country.

Mr Erskine was one of the commissioners employed in preparing the Second Book of Discipline-a work which was carried on with the utmost care and attention, and which was at length presented to the Assembly in 1579, and by them approved. He was held in the highest honour by his brethren, and no better proof can be adduced than the fact, that he was five times elected Moderator of the General Assembly. last meeting of that ecclesiastical body which he attended, was held in 1587, when he, along with some others, was appointed to collect the acts of Parliament which favoured the Reformed religion, that they might see the Church consolidated, and upheld in all its privileges as a National Church.

The

Mr Erskine was now far advanced in years, and his bodily infirmities were evidently increasing. He had survived the other four superintendents, so that he was the last who held that important office; and at his death, which occurred on the 12th of March 1591, the function of the superintendents was merged in that of the Presbyteries, or Elderships, as they were then called.

For some years previous, indeed, more especially after the return of Andrew Melville from Geneva, the propriety of continuing the office of the superintendents was publicly questioned. No steps were taken, however, toward its abolition; the five individuals who held

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