Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/200

228 thiguished them, the triumphant deaths of many of them bore the still more decisive testimony to the good seed sown among them having been watered by the dews of Divine influence. It has been affirmed, that the parish of Portmoak was long after distinguished above all the parishes around it for the attainments of the people in religious knowledge, and for their marked attention to the rules of godliness and honesty.

But it was not to his pirish alone that Mr Erskine's labours were made a blessing. Serious Christians from all quarters of the country, attracted by the celebrity of his character, were eager to enjoy occasionally the benefits of his ministry, and on sacramental occasions he had frequently attendants from the distance of sixty or seventy miles. So great was the concourse of people on these occasions, that it was necessary to form two separate assemblies besides that which met in the church, for the proper business of the day; and so remarkable was the success attending the word, that many eminent Christians on their death-beds spoke of Portmoak as a Bethel where they had enjoyed renewed manifestations of God's love, and the inviolability of his covenant. In the midst of his labours, on the death of his dear brother Mr Macgill of Kinross, an attempt was made to remove Mr Erskine from Portmoak to that burgh. Though the call, however, was unanimous and urgent, the affectionate efforts of the people of Portmoak were successful in preventing the desired translation. Shortly after this, Mr Erskine received an equally unanimous call to the parish of Kirkaldy, which he also refused, but a third minister being wanted at Stirling, the Rev. Mr Alexander Hamilton, with the whole population, gave him a pressing and unanimous call, of which, after having maturely deliberated on the circumstances attending it, he felt it his duty to accept. He was accordingly, with the concurrence of the courts, translated to Stirling, in the autumn of the year 1731, having discharged the pastoral office in Portmoak for twenty-eight years. The farewell sermon which he preached at Portmoak, from Acts xx. 22, "And now behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there," had in it something particularly ominous, and as such 'seems to have been received by the people. "This," says an eye and ear witness of the scene, "was a sorrowful day to both minister and people. The retrospect of twenty-eight years of great felicity which were for ever gone, and the uncertainty of what might follow, bathed their faces with tears, and awoke the voice of mourning throughout the congregation, for the loss of a pastor, the constant object of whose ministry Mas to recommend to their souls the exalted Redeemer in his person, offices, and grace, who had laboured to rouse the inconsiderate to repentance and serious concern, and who had not failed, when religious impressions took place, to preserve and promote them with unwearied diligence. So much was the minister himself affected, that it was with difficulty lie could proceed till he reached the end of the doctrinal part of his discourse, when he was obliged to pause, and, overcome with grief, concluded with these words, " My friends, I find that neither you nor I can bear the application of this subject." So strong was the affection of the people of Portmoak to Mr Erskine, that several individuals removed to Stirling along with him, that they might still enjoy the benefit of his ministry; he was also in the habit of visiting them and preaching to them occasionally, till, through the melancholy state of matters in the church, the pulpits of all the parishes in Scotland were shut against him.

In the new and enlarged sphere of action which Mr Erskine now occupied, he seemed to exert even more than his usual ability, his labours here met with singular acceptance, and appeared to be as singularly blessed; when an attempt was made, certainly little anticipated by his friends, and perhaps as little