for them, but on every day throughout the week there were preachings and prayer-meetings, either in the churches or at the houses of private individuals. Mr Welch, already mentioned, made a point of preaching in public once every day; which, with his private meditations, must cer tainly be considered an extraordinary degree of exertion. At the celebration of the communion, moreover, it was not an unusual thing to spend a whole week in uninterrupted devotion. There was once an occasion of this kind at Stirling, where two sermons, probably several hours long, were preached every day, and the people observed all the abstinence of a public fast.

But in estimating the exertions of the clergy, we are not to consider their sermons alone, or their ordinary family prayers. It would appear that they never ascended the pulpit without previously spending a considerable time in invoking what they called "the spirit." This was a sort of divinus afflatus, which supplied the place of what modern clergymen term study, and without which, to inspire and bless their exertions, they found themselves totally unable either to pray or preach. It was the custom, for instance, of Mr Robert Bruce, the clergyman already mentioned as so remarkable in the History of Scotland for his personal quarrels with King James,5 to retire, after the first sermon, to a chamber near the church, where he proceeded to implore the divine aid for the remaining duties of the day. On one occasion, some noblemen, being anxious to see him during the interval of worship, as they had to travel a considerable distance after the evening service, sent the bellman, or bedral, as he is call→ ed, to call him out from his place of retirement.

"Presently," says the pious narrator of this incident,6 ,6" the man returned, and said, ' I think he shall not come out this day at all, for I hear him always saying to another, that he cannot go except the other go with him, and I do not hear the other answer a word at all.' The poor foolish bellman knew not that he was dealing with God." In proof of the importance which was attached by the clergy in general to this mysterious system of inspiration, it may be mentioned that Mr Welch, before going to preach, often sent for his elders, and, informing them that " he found himself sorely deserted," so as to be afraid to ascend the pulpit, desired one or two of them to pray with him. He would then proceed to his duties; and "it was observed," says his historian," that this humbling exercise used ordinarily to be followed with a flame of extraordinary assistance. He would many times retire to the church of Ayr, which was at some distance from the town, and there spend the whole night in prayer; for he used to allow his affections full expression, and prayed not only with an audible, but with a loud voice: nor was that solitude irksome to him the whole night over.".

That Mr Welch was in the habit of filling the whole measure of his Sundays with religious exercises, is incidentally testified by an anecdote which is thus related of him, by Mr Livingston. "There was in Ayr, before he came to it, a minister of the town, called Porterfield, who was judged to be a man of no bad inclinations, but of so easy a disposition, that he would many times go great lengths with his neighbours, in their profane amusements. He used, in particular, to frequent the bow-butts and archery on Sabbath afternoons, to Mr Welch's great dissatisfaction;

but the way he used to reclaim him was not bitter severity, but gentle policy. Mr Welch, together with John Stuart and Hugh Kennedy, his intimate friends, used to spend the Sabbath afternoons in religious conference and prayer; and to this exercise they invited Mr Porterfield, who of course could not refuse to attend. By these means, he was not only diverted from his former sinful practices, but likewise brought to be more watchful and edifying in the rest of his behaviour."

If the zeal which this distinguished clergyman displayed in the discharge of his duties, can be held as a fair example of what was practised by his brethren, it would appear almost impossible for any ecclesiastical body to surpass the Scotch ministers of the period in the requisite qualities of their order. Not only did Welch pray eight hours a-day in private, and preach once every dáy in public, besides performing all the laborious duties of the Sabbath, but he exerted himself with equal anxiety in a branch of secular duty, which is certainly much more difficult, as it is also more praiseworthy-the task of humanizing the people. There is an account preserved of his exertions in this way at Ayr, which not only serves to show his infinite zeal, but is also valuable as a pieture of the manners of the people residing in the Scottish burghs at the close of the sixteenth century. When he went to reside in Ayr as its clergyman, such was at once the rudeness of the people, and their antipathy to his doctrines, that, although he was already a favoured and respected preacher, not one of the citizens would give him a lease: of a house to live in; and he was obliged, for some time, to take shelter with a merchant of the name of Stewart, who alone, of all the rest,

had any veneration for his profession. The people were divided into factions, each infuriated against the other; and, as in the capital itself at this time, the streets often became the scene of personal combats, which sometimes were attended with bloodshed. To such an extent did this unhappy system prevail, that it is said to have been absolutely impossible to appear on the streets of Ayr without danger. Mr Welch directed his attention, in the first place, to quell the quarrels of the people, which he saw to be an insuperable obstacle to their spiritual reformation. In this task he did not scruple even to endanger his own person. Whenever he saw two parties begin to fight upon the street, it was his custom to rush into the midst of them, without regard to the swords which flashed, or the blood which flowed on every side; only using the precaution of first putting on a head-piece; but scrupulously abstaining from arming himself with any offensive weapon, in order that the people might see he interfered for the suppression, and not the aggravation, of their disputes. After he had succeeded in restoring peace, he used to call for a table, which he caused to be covered on the street, and there he would invite the combatants to eat and drink together, as a token of reconciliation-a mode of cementing broken friendships, which King James himself put in practice on one occa sion at the cross of Edinburgh, for the conciliation of a number of his unruly nobles. When these strange feasts were concluded, Mr Welch always sung a psalm, and uttered a suitable exhortation; practices which, with his ordinary prelections, at length effected the complete civilization of his hitherto barbarous parishioners.

Self-denial, and a contempt for the wealth and vanities of the world, were other remarkable cha-, racteristics of the Scottish clergy. Their stipends were invariably small, and they were obliged, in too many instances, to look for support to the elee-, mosynary contributions of their flocks; yet it is truly wonderful how little affected they seem to have been by their depressed and dependent circumstances. It is, indeed, by no means hypothetical to suppose, that the cheapness in which they, held the good things of this world, was, in a great measure, the cause of their aversion to Episcopacy, Knowing the weakness of the human heart, and, having the lamentable example of the Catholic system before their eyes, they seem to have entertained an idea that the glitter of mere gold and title, which the dignities of the Episcopalian church held out, was apt to dazzle and mislead all who were subjected to its temptation. tious they may have been, and even, as their ene mies insinuate, superstitious and irrational; but it is impossible to deny that the only light which they permitted to guide them in their earthly ca reer, was that which resides in heaven.

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'Disinterested, however, as their motives might be however pure might be their feelings, and however lofty their aspirations-it must be ac, knowledged, the very excess of their enthusiasm led them into errors, which even their best friends cannot help regretting; such were their pretensions to the prophetic character, and their zeal in main, taining the fabric of popular superstition. It may be stated in their defence, that no individual, or body of individuals, is ever found so enlightened as to reject the delusions which prevail in their particular age. Yet it is difficult to find an excuse