less, because it is of so much variety of selected examples, and the stages are so short, you may begin and leave off where you will without wearying. But when all is done, there is one only blessed story wherein our souls must dwell, and take up their rest: for amongst all the rest we shall not read, Venite ad me, omnes lassi et laborantes, et ego vobis requiem prestabo:-come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I shall give you rest; and never any yet that tried him but found him as good as his word: to whose sweet embraces I recommend you, and desire to meet you there."

At this time in Scotland, as at all times when a form and profession of religion is fashionable, a number of formalists and hypocrites mingled in the crowd, and as hollow vessels sound loudest, they were generally the most noisy. To such as these Leighton seems to allude in the following epistle, supposed to have been written much about the same time.

66 Sir,-Oh what

weariness is it to live among men, and find so few men, and among Christians, and find so few Christians, so much talk, and so little action, religion turned almost to a tune and air of words; and amidst all our pretty discourses, pusillanimous and base, and so easily dragged into the mire, self, and flesh, and pride, and passion, domineering while we speak of being in Christ and clothed with him, and believe it, because we speak it so often, and so confidently. Well I know you are not willing to be thus gulled, and having some glances of the beauty of holiness, aim no lower than pertection, which in end we hope to attain, and in the meanwhile the smallest advances to it are more worth than crowns and sceptres. I believe it you often think on these words of the blessed champion Paul, 1 Cor. ix 24, "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? so run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things: now, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away." There is a noble guest within us, Ó! let all our business be to entertain him honourably, and to live in celestial love within, that will make all things without be very contemptible in our eyes. I should rove on did not I stop myself, it falling out well too for that, to be hard upon the past hours ere I thought of writing. Therefore good night is all I add: for whatsoever hour it comes to your hand, I believe you are as sensible as I, that it is still night, but the comfort is, it draws nigh towards that bright morning that shall make amends. Your weary fellow pilgrim,-R. L."

During the troublous period of the civil war, the parties, and sects, and sections of sects, were probably not so numerous as in the present day, but they were more violent, in as much as religion then was more the occupation of a man than it is now, and the public attention was more undividedly directed towards that subject, as general knowledge was neither widely spread, nor much cultivated by the community at large. Good men, however of all parties, deplored the spirit of strife and de

bate which in too many instances was allowed to corrode the vitals of Christianity, and destroy that spirit of love without which the purest orthodoxy is of little consequence in promoting the cause of Christ. Among these Leighton was conspicuous, and incessant in inculcating the doctrine of peace and charity, and this he did by directing the minds of his hearers to the more important matters of the law, and not by indifference to any fundamental truth. The manner in which he fulfilled his duty towards his pupils while Principal of Edinburgh University, he explains in a beautiful valedictory oration which he delivered to the students before he retired.

"Though this," says he, "I imagine is the last address I shall ever have occasion to make to you, I will not detain you long from your studies, nor encroach on the time allowed you for recreation. This is, to be sure, the first time that some of you have heard me, but I have a great many others to bear witness of the constant design of all my dissertations in this place. They will testify, that the intention of all my discourses, was that the " form of sound words," that is, the Christian doctrine, and, consequently, the fear and love of God, might not only be impressed, but also engraven upon your hearts, in lasting and indelible characters, and that you might not only admit as a truth, but also pay the highest regard to, this indisputable maxim, "that piety and religion is the only real good among men." Moreover, that your minds might be the less encumbered in their application to this grand study of religion, and the more expeditious in their progress therein, I constantly endeavoured, with all possible warmth, to divert you from those barren and thorny questions and disputes, that have infected the whole of theology; and this at a time, when the greatest part of divines and professors, and those of no small reputation, engaging furiously in such controversies, have split into parties, and unhappily divided the whole world.

"It was my constant practice, to establish those great and uncontroverted articles of our holy religion, which are but few and clear; some part whereof are confirmed by the common consent of nations, and all the human race, and all the rest by the unanimous voice of the whole Christian world. Of the first sort, are those we have often advanced in treating of the being and perfections of the one Supreme and Eternal Principle, and the production of all things by him, the continual preservation and government of the world by his providence, the law of God given to mankind, and the rewards and punishments annexed to it. This other class of the grand articles of religion, are indeed peculiar to Christian philosophy, but believed in common by all the professors of that religion. These are the great foundations of our faith, and of all our hope and joy, with regard to the incarnation of the Son of God, his death and resurrection for the destruction of sin, and consequently of death, his ascension into the highest heavens with that same flesh of ours in which he died, and his exaltation there above all ranks of angels, dominions, and throngs, whence we expect he will return in great glory, on that day when he will be glorified in all his saints, and admired in those that believe.

"As

many therefore as desire to receive him in this his last manifes

b

tation, with joy and exultation, must of necessity be holy, and in conformity to their most perfect and glorious Head, sober, pious, upright, and live in contempt of this perishing, transitory world, their own mortal flesh, and the sordid pleasures of both; in a word, all the enjoyments which the mean and servile admire, they must trample under foot and despise. For whoever will strive for the victory, and strive so as at last to obtain it, the Lord will own him for his servant, and the great Master will acknowledge him for his disciple. He will attain a likeness to God in this earth, and after a short conflict, will triumph in the divine presence for ever. These are the doctrines which it is our interest to know, and in the observation of which our happiness will be secured. To them you will turn your thoughts, young gentlemen, if you are wise; nay, to them you ought to give due attention that you may be wise; these phantoms we catch at fly away; this shadow of a life we now live, is likewise on the wing. These things that are without the verge of sense, and above its reach, are the only solid and lasting enjoyments. "Why are ye fond of these earthly things," says St Bernard, "which are neither true riches, nor are they yours?" "If they are yours," continues he, "take them with you." And Lactantius admirably well observes, "that whoever prefers the life of the soul, must of necessity contemn that of the body; nor can he aspire to the highest good, unless he despise advantages of an inferior kind. For the all-wise God did not choose that we should attain to immortality in a soft and indolent way, but that we should gain that inexpressible reward of eternal life, with the highest difficulty and severest labour.

"And that you may not be discouraged, remember the great Redeemer of your souls, your exalted Captain, hath gone before you, and we have to do with an enemy already conquered. Let us only follow him with courage and activity, and we have no ground to doubt of victory; and indeed it is a victory truly worthy of a Christian, to subdue the barbarous train of our appetites, and subject them to the empire of reason and religion; while on the other hand, it is the most shameful bondage, to have the more divine part of our composition meanly subjected to an ignoble earthly body. Now this victory can only be secured by stedfast believing, vigorous opposition to our spiritual enemies, unwearied watching, and incessant prayer. Let prayer not only be the key that opens the day, and the lock that shuts the night; but let it be also, from morning to night, our staff and stay in all our labours, and enable us to go cheerfully up into the mount of God. Prayer brings consolation to the languishing soul, drives away the devil, and is the great medium whereby all grace and peace is communicated to us. With regard to your reading, let it be your particular care to be familiarly acquainted with the sacred scriptures above all other books whatever; for from thence you will truly derive light for your direction, and sacred provisions for support on your journey. In subordination to these, you may also use the writings of pious men, that are agreeable to them for these also you may improve to your advantage, and particularly that little book of à Kempis of the

Imitation of Christ,-since the sum and substance of religion consists in imitating that being that is the object of your worship.

"May our dear Redeemer Jesus, impress upon your minds a lively representation of his own meek and immaculate heart, that, in that great and last day, he may by this mark know you to be his : and together with all the rest of his sealed and redeemed ones, admit you into the mansions of eternal bliss. Amen."

With this admirable address, which I have not chosen to abridge, Leighton appears to have closed his University labours; a new scene now began to open upon him, one for which he suffered much in his reputation and usefulness among his contemporaries, and which his admirers, even now, find it hard to do more than excuse, his abandoning the Presbyterians, and accepting a Bishopric from Charles II. Had Leighton merely exchanged the Presbyterial form for the Epis copalian, his conduct would have admitted of an easy justification; his earliest sentiments appear to have been in favour of a modified Episcopacy, unconnected with temporal power, or lordly state; and the power of a Presbytery, when tyrannically exerted, he considered as more oppressive than that of a prelate,-in which opinion he entirely coincided with Owen;-besides, he considered church-government as a matter of comparatively little moment, when put in competition with personal holiness, and his meek soul was daily harassed by angry controversialists who surrounded him, of many of whom he thought justly, that, while they contended fiercely for the form, they felt little of the power of religion. Changing therefore merely from the one profession to the other, under such circumstances, and holding such opinions upon these matters, would have been comparatively, if at all, a venial error. But to join hands with such a set of men as those with whom he associated, and lend the sanction of his name to as foul a usurpation of the supreme Kingship of Christ in his Church, and as unblushing an invasion of the rights of Christian people, as ever was attempted, since the day when temporal potentates first assumed an unholy influence within her pale, was a proceeding which it is extremely difficult to account for.

Presbyterian church-government, and civil liberty, had been solemnly sanctioned by Charles II. at his coronation at Scoone, and ratified by the most sacred oaths, and most awful engagements known among men; an immense majority of the nation were strongly attached to it; and he had promised, in a written communication to the ministers at Edinburgh, after his restoration, to preserve it. But the profligate advisers by whom he was surrounded, had determined to establish a civil despotism, to which, from early education, and his residence abroad, he was mightily inclined; and the constitution of the Scottish Church being esteemed a barrier, it was resolved that it should be swept away;-besides, the king, and several of the leading men, had found the strictness of Presbyterian discipline, and the decent morality which it required, totally inconsistent with the licentiousness they loved, and the conduct they intended to pursue.

Sharpe, who should have defended, allured by the primacy, betrayed his Church, and a crowd of sycophants, who hastened to London

to secure their private interests, were easily persuaded to join in the false representation, that a majority in Scotland detested the covenant, and desired her overthrow. Episcopacy therefore was resolved upon, and the hated fabric of prelacy, which had been so triumphantly levelled, was once more to be reared. Sydserf, the old Bishop of Galloway, was the only fragment of the former Hierarchy that remained. He had been deposed by the Assembly 1638, for erroneous doctrine, but was now nominated to the Bishopric of Orkney, a much better living. The others were named chiefly by Sharpe, and promoted on account of their subserviency to the cause, rather than from any fitness for the office. Wiseheart, formerly chaplain to Montrose, and accused of a military freedom of manners, had Edinburgh, and Fair. foul, a person of no good fame, got Glasgow ; nor were any of the rest men of much reputation, either for learning or sanctity. Leighton alone formed one exception, and Kirkton, who is not very willing to praise whoever accepted the prelatic dignity, thus notices his appointment: "Mr Robert Leighton, then principal of Edinburgh College, was made Bishop of Dumblane; thus he choised to demonstrate to the world, avarice was not his principle, it being the smallest revenue; a man of good learning, excellent utterance, and very grave abstract conversation, but almost altogether destitute of a doctrinal principle, being almost indifferent, among all the professions that are called by the name of Christ." We are indebted to Burnet for an account of the manner in which the Bishopric was offered, and he was induced to accept of the nomination.

His brother Elisha had devoted himself to the Court, and in order to serve his ambitious purposes, had changed his religion; in this he appears to have succeeded, for he became at once a papist, a knight, and secretary to the Duke of York; he was a person of considerable talents and vivacity, loved to talk of great sublimities in religion,yet very immoral. Living in terms of close intimacy with Lord Aubigny, a brother of the Duke of Richmond, a great favourite at court, who had also changed his religion, and though a Priest, was likewise "a very vicious man," he brought Mr Robert Leighton and him together. Aubigny, who was acquainted with the then secret of the King's religion, which was popish, and with his design to establish it if possible, was induced by the representations of Sir Elisha, and by the mild manners of Leighton himself, to suppose that he might be rendered subservient to the scheme, and mentioned him to the King. Charles, who had sufficient penetration to perceive that the accession of such a man to the Scottish prelacy would be of immense importance, named him himself as one of the number. Leighton was exceedingly averse at first to the proposal, but the entreaties of royalty, and the urgency of his brother, who expected to rise still higher through his means, with some faint expectation that he might be instrumental in moderating or healing the differences of the truly devout of the two persuasions, overcame his reluctancy, and he at last accepted, yet not without a struggle, as the following letter, which is supposed to have been written while he was deliberating, evinces. It is addressed to the Rev. Mr Aird [afterwards] minister at Tornay." My dear Friend,