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all along fince continued, the affembly being firft diffolved in the name of Jefus Chrift, by the Moderator as their mouth, and in the name of the magiftrate by the Com

miffioner.

In April following, the fynod meeting at Dunse, entered on making an act, afferting their principles with refpect to the established government of the church. Against which, Mr Alexander Orrock minifter at Hawick, a man of vaft parts, and the greatest affurance I ever knew, protested, and left the fynod; pretending the fame to be a railing of groundless jealoufies against the magiftrate; though in the mean time the grounds of jealoufy were looked on as not fmall. With him joined Mr Robert Bell minifter at Cavers, now at Crailling, Mr Robert Cuningham at Wilton, afterward at Hawick, and Mr Robert Scot at Roberton. Upon the other hand, I was diffatisfied with the act, for that it touched not the particular point in which the church was at that time efpeci ally aggrieved; namely, her intrinfic power of meeting, and treating, in her judicatories, of her affairs, as necelfity might require, for the honour of her Head, and the fpiritual welfare of her members. And fince, for the faid caufe, I could not approve of it, and had not fo clear accefs as ordinary to give my vote, I declared this my mind before the fynod ere it was put to the vote. Whereupon Mr Charles Gordon minifter of Afhkirk, a learned and holy man, of uncommon integrity, fometime chofen to be profeffor of divinity in Aberdeen, though he accepted it not, fpoke fomething in anfwer thereto, and for the act, which thereafter was voted, and approved by the reft. But that fame night, I think, he fent for me to his quarters, where he lodging together with Mr William Macghie minister of Selkirk, we fupped together, and were brought acquainted. And this, I believe, was the occaLion of the prefbytery of Selkirk their fetting their eye on me for the parish of Etterick. And I had the comfort of his declaring to me, on his deathbed, some time after my coming to Etterick, the fatisfaction he had in having feen Mr Gabriel Wilfon, my friend, and me, fettled in their prefbytery.

I being only a fingular fucceffor, and not heir to my father, was liable to Drummelzier, the fuperior, in a year's rent of my tenement, for entry, which otherwife would have been but the double of the feu-duty: fo, on the 15th

of

of April, I compounded with him for L. 60 Scots; for which the town-clerk having drawn a bond in the jog-trot ftyle of bonds for borrowed money, I refused to fign it; but drew a bond with my own hand, with the which Drummelzier was fatisfied. This I figned accordingly; and relieved, by paying the money, on May 14. thereafter. Having upon that affair had occafions of converfing with Drummelzier, who was a fober fenfible man, I afterward found, he had upon occafions fhewn himself friendly difpofed, in his own way, towards me: particularly, that it being told him, fpeaking of planting me in Dunfe, then vacant, that I was too hot; he thereupon mentioned another place for me, as one as hot as I, viz. Etterick. So early Providence was at work for bringing about my fettlement in that place, where I was to fpend the most of my strength and days.

Invited by Mr Gabriel Semple retaining of his former difpofition towards me, I preached at Jedburgh Feb. 27. forenoon and afternoon. The congregation being convened again, about a quarter of an hour after, he, from the reader's desk, made a short discourse on the fifth command, particularly the duties of hufbands and wives. The things he infifted on were indeed common and ordinary; but they were delivered in fuch a manner, and fuch power accompanied them, that I was in a manner amazed; and they went out through me, and in through me, fo that I faid in my heart, Happy are thofe that hear thy wifdom.' Mr Gabriel Wilfon being then his affiftant, but preaching that day at Oxnam, there began at that time an acquaintance betwixt him and me, which by fome interviews afterward, and particularly by a meeting at Simprin, advanced to a particular friendship. And after I was fettled in Etterick, and he in Maxton, the fame grew up into a noted and uncommon ftrictnefs, continuing, through the mercy of God, inviolate unto this day.

On March 21. about two o'clock in the morning, my fon Robert was born; and he was baptized on the 26th, by Mr John Lithgow minifter at Swinton.

This year was remarkable to me, with refpect to my ordinary in preaching, and my ftudies; of both which I fhall here give an account.

As to my ordinary in preaching, occafionally mixed. with other fubjects; having begun, as faid is, the fecond Sabbath in Simprin after my ordination, I continued

Y 2

preaching

preaching man's natural ftate, until Aug. 10. 1700. As which time I entered on preaching Chrift the remedy for man's mifery. From which I proceeded, Oct. 19. 1701, to the doctrine of the application of the remedy: in the which, entering Feb. 18. 1702, on the particulars of the ordinary method of the Spirit with finners in converfion; being fenfible of the delicacy of the subject, and defiring to fay nothing thereon but what I had digefted beforehand, I began writing my fermons at large, and to venture very little on extemporary expreflion. And this was the occafion of my falling into a habit of writing my fermons at large, which I have fince for ordinary continued, as I had accefs, and could reach it: a yoke which often fince that time I would have been glad to have shaken off, but could not get it done. Nevertheless I have been convinced, it was a kind and honourable difpenfation of Providence that kept it on me. Howbeit, whereas in my notes at that time, as alfo before and after unto this day, may be fometimes found Latin, Greek, and perhaps Hebrew, it was not my manner to exprefs them in the pulpit to the people; but in their mother tongue to exprefs the thing the best way I could. In fermons indeed coram clere, as prefbyterial exercifes, I ufed all freedom in that point but fo doing in fermons before the people, in country or town, I ever despised, and had a contempt of, as pedantic, and unbecoming the weight of the facred myfteries. Mean while, having dispatched that fubject, I proceeded, Nov. 15. 1702, to the privileges of believers in Christ. And finally, on Feb. 14. 1703, I entered on the believers duty wherein, after the general doctrine, coming to particulars, I went through all the ten commands which done, I fhewed the ufe of the law to thofe that are out of Chrift; the believers deliverance and freedom from the law as a covenant; and preffed the regarding thereof, as a rule of life: with which I clofed that ordinary of subjects, in the month of April this year 1704.

Withal on the 4th of May following, I began an ordinary of week-days fermons on the Song of Solomon: in which, I think, I continued till my removal to Etterick; where I had no more access to fervice of that kind. In that time I went through the 2d and 3d chapters of that book, and had entered on the 4th: and thefe afforded us many a fweet hour together. Thefe fermons are in re

tentis.

tentis. But I judge I had before that gone through the first chapter in fome exercises, without writing any notes.

As to my ftudies, when I was fettled in Simprin, I had very few books; which occafioned my borrowing, as I had accefs; and moreover, where I wanted to be fatisfied in fome particular points, obliged me to think of the fame, if fo I could find out what to reft fatisfied in, not having access to confult many authors. And thus my scarcity of books proved a kind difpofal of Providence towards me; 1, in that method, arriving at a greater diftinctness and certainty in these points, than otherwife I could readily have obtained. The chief of thefe points I wanted to be fatisfied in, were two; namely, the doctrine of the grace of God in Chrift, and the fubject of baptifm.

As for the doctrine of grace, how the Lord was pleafed to give my heart a fet toward the preaching of Christ, and how I had feveral convictions of legality in my own practice, is already narrated. I had heard Mr Mair often fpeak, of being divorced from the law, dead to it, and the like; but I understood very little of the matter. Howbeit, my thoughts being, after my fettlement at Simprin, turned that way, that I might understand somewhat of thefe things; fome light, new to me, feemed to break up from the doctrine of Chrift: but then I could not fee how to reconcile the fame with other things which feemed to be truth too. And I think, that among these first rays of light, was a notion, that the fins of believers in Chrift, even while yet not actually repented of, did not make them, being in a state of grace, liable to eternal punishment. And on this head I did, by a letter, confult Mr Murray in Penpont; but was not thoroughly fatisfied with what he advanced upon it. Mean while, being ftill on the fcent, as I was fitting one day in a house of Simprin, I efpied above the window-head two little old books; which when I had taken down, I found intitled, the one The marrow of modern divinity, the other, Chrift's blood flowing freely to finners. These I reckon had been brought home from England by the mafter of the house, a foldier in the time of the civil wars. Finding them to point to the fubject I was in particular concern about, 1 brought them both away. The latter, a book of Saltmarth's, I relished not; and I think I returned it without reading it quite through. The other, being the firft part only of the Marrow, I relifhed greatly; and having purchased it at

length

length from the owner, kept it from that time to this day; and it is still to be found among my books. I found it to come close to the points I was in queft of; and to fhew the confiftency of thefe, which I could not reconcile before: fo that I rejoiced in it, as a light which the Lord had feafonably ftruck up to me in my darkness.

What time, precifely, this happened, I cannot tell: but I am very fure, that, by the latter end of the year 1700, I had not only feen that book, but digefted the doctrine thereof in a tolerable measure; fince by that time I was begun to preach it, as. I had occafion, abroad. Such opportunities I took, to give way to the then bent of my heart, which I could not fo directly fatisfy at home, being on the ordinary aforefaid.

The firft parcel of books I got added to my small library, was in the year 1702. The which year, in Auguft, Mr Simfon aforefaid being in my clofet, and looking at my book-prefs, fmiled: the which, from whatever principle he did it, touched me to the quick, being conscious of my want of a tolerable quantity. Among these were Zanchy's works, and Luther on the Galatians, which I was much taken with: and Providence alfo laid to my hand, about that time, Beza's Confeffion of Faith. Moft of the books mentioned in the 2d, 3d, and 4th pages of my catalogue yet in retentis, whofe prices are fet down with them, were purchased in that year, and the following 1703. And from the year 1704, the catalogue aforefaid goes on orderly, according to the years, generally, wherein the books came to my hand.

In

Being thus provided, I was in better cafe to purfue my fearch, to my further inftruction and confirmation. this manner, I reached, through grace, a distinctness and certainty, as to feveral points of the doctrine of grace, that I had not before. And what contributed much thereto was, that I purpofely ftudied fome points of that nature, for my own fatisfaction; and fet down my thoughts in writing; particularly thefe three points, viz. 1. Whether or not the fins of believers, while unrepented of, make them liable to eternal punishment? 2. Whether or not all fins, paft, prefent, and to come, are pardoned together and at once? 3. Whether or not repentance be neceffary, in order to the obtaining of the pardon of fin?

Meanwhile, after I was let into the knowledge of the doctrine of grace, as to the ftate and cafe of believers in

Chrift,

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