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274 system of doctrine entire. When her scattered ministry began to be assembled, however, it was found that the sword of persecution, or the scythe of time, had cut off the chief of her strength. The few that had escaped were men, generally speaking, of inferior attainments. Some of them had been protected purely by their insignificancy of character, some by compliances, real or affected, with the system of prelacy, and not a few of them had actually officiated as the bishops' underlings, but for the sake of the benefice were induced to transfer their respect and obedience from the bishop to the presbytery, and to sign the Confession of Faith as a proof of their sincerity. This was the more unfortunate that there was among them no commanding spirit, who, imbued with the love of truth, and living under the powers of the world to come, might have breathed through the body an amalgamating influence, and hare insensibly assimilated the whole into its own likeness. So far from this, their leading men, under the direction of the courtly Carstairs, were chiefly busied in breaking down to the level of plain worldly policy any thing that bore the shape of really disinterested feeling, and regulating the pulse of piety by the newly graduated scale of the court thermometer. In consequence of this state of matters, there was less attention paid, both to doctrine and discipline than might have been expected; and even with the better and more serious part of the clergy, considerable confusion of ideas on the great subject of the gospel, with no inconsiderable portion of legalism, were prevalent. A spirit of inquiry was, however, at this time awakened, and the diffusion of Trail's works, with the works of some of the more eminent of the English nonconformists, had a powerful effect in correcting and enlarging the views of not a few of the Scottish clergy, among whom, was the subject of this memoir, who, from a very early period of life, seems to have felt strongly, and apprehended clearly, the great scheme of the gospel. Mr Ralph Erskine had been a most diligent student, and had made very considerable progress in the different branches of science, which were commonly studied at that time, but among his people he determined to know nothing save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Having been exercised to godliness from his earliest years, he, by the grace of God, manifested himself to be a scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, bringing forth out of his treasures things new and old. He continued to be a hard student even to his old age, generally writing out his sermons in full, and for the most part in the delivery, keeping pretty close to what he had written. For the pulpit, he possessed excellent talents, having a pleasant voice and an agreeable winning manner. He peculiarly excelled in the full and free offers of Christ which he made to his hearers, and in the persuasive and winning manner in which he urged their acceptance of the offer so graciously made to them on the authority of the divine word. He possessed also, from his own varied and extensive experience, a great knowledge of the human heart, and had a singular gift of speaking to the varied circumstances of his hearers, which rendered him more than ordinarily popular. On sacramental occasions, he was always waited upon by large audiences, who listened to his discourses with more than ordinary earnestness. During his incumbency, Dunfermline, at the time of dispensing the sacrament, was crowded by strangers from all parts of the kingdom, many of whom, to the day of their death, spoke with transport of the enlargement of heart they had there experienced. To all the other duties of the ministry he was equally attentive as to those of the pulpit. His diligence in exhorting from house to house was most unwearied, his diets of public catechising, regular ; and he was never wanting at the side of the sick bed when his presence was desired. Ardently attached to divine truth, he was on all occasions its dauntless advocate. In the case of professor Simpson, he stood up manfully for the regular exercise of discipline, both in his first and second pro-