continue in the valleys?—The character of to the mother country-and the history of the Scottish presbyterian churches in the new world. The letters of Mr. Wodrow to these individuals, and their replies, form together a mass of correspondence that is extremely interesting. Not the least curious of these documents, are, a letter of some length, from a converted Jewish Rabbi who taught Hebrew in Harvard college, together with a most truly Christian reply by our excellent author. The name of the Jew was Rabbi Judah Monis; and of his future history one would wish to obtain some farther information. The letter is written in pure Hebrew, and also in Rabinnical characters and dialect. The original is now before me. It is a beautiful specimen of penmanship; and forms altogether a literary curiosity. Its date is "Cambridge 4. 5tæ mensis 1723." The reply bears date, July 23, 1724. the present pope,-what you can learn of the differences between him, and the king of Sardinia.-How the difference stands betwixt the court of Rome and the king of Portugal. -The state of learning in Portugal and Spain. What is in the accounts we have in the prints, of the manuscripts 12 or 1400 years old, found in an island in the Red Sea by some Portuguese, and sent, I think, to Lisbon, or extracts of them. What may be expected from the press at Constantinople, and the copies of manuscripts taken by the king of France's interest there and brought to Paris? All the accounts you may have of the state of Christianity in the Dutch settlements in the East Indies.-The translation of the Bible into the Malayan tongue, the success of the Danish missionaries in the East Indies. What you can gather as to the state of the Greek churches in Asia under the Turks; the Greek Christians in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, &c.-Is learning and knowledge penetrating into Muscovy? All the discoveries made of Greek MSS. by the late Czar, and the progress made by the academy at Petersburg.-Let me have a list of the professors at Leyden and Utrecht; and the most considerable men at Franeker and Groningen; and the most famed learned men in the Protestant universities in Germany. Let me have a hint of the new books, that are most talked of, &c. &c." It is certainly matter of regret that the replies to these queries, were by no means so full as might have been wished; and yet there are in the MS. letters entitled "Foreign Literature," many valuable articles of miscellaneous information. There is one subject which engaged the mind of Mr. Wodrow, in common with all the zealous friends of evangelical truth throughout the empire, for a considerable number of years; I allude to the well known case of professor Simpson of Glasgow. This gentleman was the immediate successor of Mr. Wodrow's venerable father; and this circumstance seems to have touched the delicacy of our author's feelings, while it by no means prevented him from taking a very active share in the ecclesiastical process, which was instituted against the professor. It would be foreign to the design of this brief sketch, to enter at all into the merits of the controversy, either in regard to its subject matter, or the mode in which it was carried on. Professor Simson appears from His chief correspondents in America were his defences to have been a man of conthe celebrated Dr. Cotton Mather, the friend siderable acuteness; and in learning probably and patron of Benjamin Franklin; Mr. not inferior to his opponents. He seems to Benjamin Colman, president of Harvard have been a decided Arian; but his wish to college, Boston; Mr. Wigglesworth, professor retain his place led him to throw a veil of of divinity there; together with the minis- mystery over his sentiments. After a tedious ters of the Scots churches in Pennsylvania, and disagreeable process, he at length sucNew Jersey, and New York. The intelli- cumbed to the general voice of the church, gence communicated by these correspond- and avowed his belief in the catholic doctrine ents embraces chiefly the state and progress of of the trinity, as held in our public standliterature, religion, and manners in the states, ards. Still an impression remained on the -the disputes regarding political and theolo- minds of all parties in the question, that gical questions, the relations of the states he was either not sincere in his averments, or that he had not capacity sufficient, to draw the exact line of distinction between opposite systems. The tardiness also, with which he brought out his real creed, and the dubious complexion, to say the least of it, which his theological prelections had long exhibited, convinced the general assembly, that he was not a fit person to be charged with the theological tuition of the sons of the church, and he was therefore suspended from his charge, while the emoluments of the office were still reserved, with an amiable, but mistaken liberality, to the man, who was, with one voice, declared unfit to do that duty, which forms the only claim to these emoluments. During the period of his suspension, and even to the day of his death, the whole duties of the professorship devolved on principal Campbell, who was ex officio, primarius professor of theology. Mr. Wodrow was a very efficient, and certainly a most moderate and judicious member of the assembly committee for purity of doctrine, to whom the case of professor Simpson was referred; and both by correspondence, and by personal exertion, he contributed much to save the church of Scotland from a tide of heterodoxy, which threatened to overwhelm it. Among clerical coadjutors, he had very able assistants in Mr. John M'Laurin of Glasgow, and Mr. James Webster of Edinburgh; and amongst the lay brethren, on this trying occasion the names of lord Grange, and lieutenant colonel Erskine of Carnock, both elders of assembly, stand conspicuous. The letters addressed by the former to Mr. Wodrow, and which form a leading part in his voluminous correspondence, display a talent of no ordinary kind, combined with a profound knowledge of divinity, and a power of clear and discriminating statement. Mr. W.'s own accounts of the various steps of the process, in his private minutes of committees, and assemblies, throw much light on the minutia of the controversy, and still afford a rich repast to any one who intends to write a history of that interesting, but critical period of our church. On the 10th and 11th June, 1727, Mr. Wodrow preached two sermons in the Barony church of Glasgow, on Isaiah ix. 6. in which he took occasion to illustrate at length, the great doctrine of the divinity of our blessed Saviour, in opposition to the sentiments of Arians and Socinians. These sermons seem to have made a considerable noise at the time; for on the day following, a challenge to a public or private disputation or to a written controversy, was sent him by one Mr. William Paul, a student of theology, and known to be tinctured with Arian sentiments. The letter is on the whole, respectfully written; but while it "wisheth to Mr. W. charity and impartial reasoning," it throws out some dark but harsh insinuations against Mr. John M'Laurin and Mr. George Campbell, two of the ministers of Glasgow; the latter of whom was well known and respected as a zealous and pious labourer in the vineyard; while the former, by the confession of all parties, stands at least as high in the ranks of theology, as his brother Colin does in the scale of mathematics. It is pretty certain that Mr. W. did not accept the challenge, but whether he made any return, to it, or what measures he felt it his duty to pursue, we have no means of determining. He was not at all fond of disputation; and he prob ably saw, that the mind of the young man was not in a proper tone for the serious and successful investigation of spiritual truth. On the subject of the Marrow controversy, which was keenly agitated at this period, and which indirectly led the way to the secession in 1733, Mr. Wodrow held a middle course. He thought that Mr. Boston, and the other divines who patronized the doctrines contained in "the Marrow of Modern Divinity," went rather far in their attempts to vindicate sentiments and modes of expression, which seemed to him somewhat unscriptural and antinomian in their complexion. On the other hand, he thought that the assembly had busied themselves too much in the criticism and condemnatior of the book, and had anticipated evil too readily. He disliked the whole controversy; and recommended those virtues of which his own example afforded a most consistent pattern, charity and mutual forbearance. On the grand question about subscription | Wodrow was incessantly engaged, should have told upon his bodily health and even shortened his days. His constitution was naturally good, and in the earlier part of life he enjoyed excellent health. But his studious habits of constant reading and writing, together with the vast variety of concerns both public and domestic, which pressed upon his mind, would soon have told upon a frame even more robust than his. It appears that in the course of the year 1726, he first began seriously to complain, for in that year we find his friend colonel Blackadder inviting him to Stirling, by way of relaxation and for the recovery of his health; and farther recommending air and exercise on horseback, as among the most likely restoratives. It is interesting to see the affectionate sympathy of his friends on this occasion. His correspondent the Rev. Thomas Mack, minister of Terregles, after noticing the symptoms of his disorder, and strongly recommending a trial of the Bath waters, thus expresses himself: "Your letter does signify to me you are yielding too much to despondence. I hope you will guard against melancholy, the fruit of too much confinement. None that love our cause will neglect to have sympathy with you, and if my letters can divert you, you shall always have the use of them. I am sorry for your affliction. I hope you bear it patiently, and study a resignation to the will of God. My advice is, you divert from to articles of faith, then keenly agitated in Ireland and in England, our historian assumed a more bold and determined part. The Marrow controversy, he deeply deplored, because it tended to divide the friends of the Redeemer, who, in the main, were "of one heart and of one mind." The question regarding subscription, he, along with all the tried friends of orthodoxy in Scotland, held to be a vital one. He saw ranged on opposite sides, with very few exceptions, the friends and the enemies of the Deity of the Saviour; and the design of the nonsubscribers he knew could not be favourable to the cause of evangelical Christianity. With eminent ministers both in England and in Ireland, he held on this, as on other topics, a regular and extensive correspondence. Dr Fraser, who seems in his latter days to have gone in to the Arian hypothesis; Dr. Calamy, Dr. Evans, Dr. Abraham Taylor of London; Mr. Masterton, Mr. Samuel Smith, Mr. M'Racken, Mr. William Livingston, Mr. Iredale, Mr. Gilbert Kennedy, Mr. M'Bride of Ireland, are among his leading correspondents on this and kindred subjects. The letters from these gentlemen are very numerous, and in general very minute, and apparently candid in their statements. The minutes of Irish presbyterian synods are given at length, together with private accounts of the transactions of committees. Any person who wishes to write a narrative of presbyterianism in Ireland-a desideratum in ecclesiastical history-will find a treasure of information in these letters. The results of the controversy are highly instructive. The Arians and Unitarians, ranging themselves under the banners of the nonsubscribing and liberal party, have for upwards of a century displayed the deadening tendency of their system in the annihilation of many flourishing churches while evangelical doctrine, taking an opposite direction, has shed upon the north of Ireland, those purifying and ennobling influences which contributed so powerfully to render Scotland in her better days, "a praise in the whole earth," It need not surprise us that labours so numerous and severe, as those in which Mr. : all study as much as possible, and if you can go out, preach to your people, though you do not write: it will ease your mind. Suffer not your spirits to sink. Prepare to go to the Bath, or to some mineral water.” " I saw," says Mr. John Erskine, afterwards professor of Scots law, and the father of the late venerable Dr. Erskine of Edinburgh, I saw Mr. Warner (of Irvine) this night with my father (colonel Erskine) who came to town this evening. I'm exceedingly concerned to hear from him that your trouble is not abated; and though I'll make no promises, I may venture to say this, that if I was to follow my inclinations, I would be at Eastwood this spring, to bear you company for some days in your distress." (Edinburgh, 15th January, 1726.) "I am heartily sorry" says Mr. Walter Stewart removal of such a man in the critical state "to hear by yours, that your indisposition still continues. I pray God may restore you to your wonted health, and preserve you a lasting blessing to your friends and charge." (January 19th, 1726.) of the church of Scotland at the time, was felt as a severe dispensation of the Almighty. His growing infirmities had prevented him from taking any part in the disputes which had just arisen relative to the secession. His views were directed to a better country; and the rising troubles of the church militant on earth, led him to pant with greater ardour of spirit after the serenity and peace of the church triumphant in heaven. It is not unlikely that Mr. Wodrow took the advice of his friends in regard to his health, but, although he so far recovered as to be able to go on with his usual labours for several years after this period; it does not appear that he ever completely recovered Mr. Wodrow was married in the end of his former strength. A species of rheuma- 1708, to Margaret Warner, grand daughter tism or gout seems to have given him great of the venerable William Guthrie of Fenuneasiness, while it occasioned many inter- wick, author of the "Trial of a Saving ruptions in his favourite studies. In the Interest in Christ;" and daughter of the latter end of the year 1731, a small swell- Rev. Patrick Warner of Ardeer, Ayrshire, ing appeared on his breast, which gradually and minister of Irvine; a man who had increased till April 1732, when an unsuc-borne his full share in the troubles of the cessful attempt was made to remove it by caustic. The effect on his bodily frame was very injurious. He became greatly emaciated, and gradually declined till his death, which happened on the 21st of March, 1734, in the 55th year of his age. He bore this long continued distress with admirable fortitude, and unabated piety. The faith of the gospel supported his mind "in perfect peace;" and he gave a testimony in his practical experience to the efficacy of those holy truths, which he had preached so faithfully, and vindicated so nobly by his writings. His dying scene was truly edifying. The day before his death, he gathered his children around his bed, gave each of them his dying blessing, with counsels suitable to their age and circumstances. The two youngest boys, (James, afterwards minister of Stevenston, and Alexander who died in America,) were both under four years of age at this time, and of course too young to understand and feel those marks of his affection; yet after the example of the venerable patriarch, (Gen. xlviii. 15.) he drew them near to him, laid his hands upon their heads, and devoutly prayed, "that the God of his fathers, the Angel who had redeemed him from all evil, would bless the lads." He carried with him to the grave the affectionate regrets of a strongly attached people; of a large circle of friends; and of the whole church of God. His death was felt as a public loss; and the persecuting era, and whose name stands deservedly high among the worthies of our church. Mrs. Wodrow was the widow of Mr. Ebenezer Veitch, youngest son of the celebrated Mr. William Veitch of Dumfries; and a young minister of uncommon piety. He was settled minister at Ayr, in 1703; and died after a short but severe illness, when attending his duty at the assembly commission in Edinburgh, December, 1706. His wife, afterwards Mrs. Wodrow, was a lady remarkable at once for personal accomplishments, and for exalted piety; she had sixteen children to Mr. Wodrow, nine of whom with their mother, survived their venerable parent. The following is a brief, but authentic account of the family. There were surviving at the time of the historian's death, four sons, and five daughters. The eldest son, Robert, was his successor in the parish of Eastwood, but retired from the charge by reason of bad health, and other infirmities. He was twice married, and had six or seven children. His eldest son settled early in America, and his only surviving daughter went there also about 20 years ago, with her husband and family. The second son, Peter, was minister at Tarbolton; married the youngest daughter of Mr. Balfour of Pilrig, near Edinburgh; and left one son. His third son, James, became minister of Stevenston; married Miss Hamilton, daughter of Mr. Gavin Hamil c ton, a distinguished bookseller in Edin- | character in those days, though Mrs. Fry, burgh, and son of Mr. William Hamilton, professor of divinity, and afterwards principal of the college of Edinburgh; and left one daughter, Miss Wodrow, now residing at Saltcoats in the parish of Ardrossan. His fourth son, Alexander, settled in America, ad an estate there, and died about the end of the first American war. After the death of the historian his widow and daughters lived in Glasgow, and were much respected for their enlightened piety, and agreeable manners. Mrs. Wodrow died in 1759; leaving behind her in her eminently Christian example, a legacy to her family, far more valuable than all that the wealth of India can command. After her death, the eldest daughter, Mary, acted as the head of the family, and managed its concerns with great prudence and discretion. She was confined mostly to bed seven years before her death, and exhibited to all around her, a distinguished pattern of cheerful resignation and lively hope. The second, Margaret, was married to Mr. Biggar, minister of Kirkoswald, and left four daughters; the youngest of whom is at present the amiable spouse of Mr. Inglis, the worthy pastor of the parish. The third daughter, Marion, kept house with her brother at Stevenston, till his marriage, when she returned to her sisters in Glasgow, whom she attended with affectionate care through life and in death. She had a literary turn; corresponded in the magazines of the day; and wrote some popular Scotch songs, a small collection of which are still extant in manuscript. The fourth daughter, Janet, was a most singular and some other distinguished daughters of benevolence in modern times, render her character not so uncommon now. Her days and nights were devoted to the poor, to whom she gave her personal but unostentatious attendance, as her deeds were not known, even to her sisters, till after her death. She visited the haunts of the poor, the sick, the helpless, and the dying; and kindly ministered both to their temporal comforts, and their spiritual welfare. She died at the early age of forty, and her funeral was attended by an unusual crowd of afflicted mourners. The youngest daughter, Martha, died early, after a long course of very infirm health, during which she exhibited much amiable and Christian resignation.—The surviving male representative of the family in this country, is Mr. Wodrow of Mauchline, Ayrshire; whose son William is at present the accomplished and pious pastor of the Scots church, Swallowstreet, London. Mr. Wodrow's mortal remains lie interred in the church-yard of Eastwood, where no stone as yet appears to mark the sacred deposite. Be it so." The memory of the just is blessed," and to our venerable ecclesiastical Historian, may the sublime words of the Apocalypse be emphatically applied"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." Paisley, January 17th, 1828. R. B. |