Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/315

Rh Mr. Cowie, of Huntly, the Whitefield of the north, "heard Mr. Haldane on his late tour; and I confess, though I have been little short of thirty years a minister, have heard many excellent preachers, and laid my hand on many heads, I have very seldom heard anything so much to my satisfaction, and nothing that could exceed Mr. Haldane's discourses. I could even say more, but I forbear. He carries his credentials with him, and needs not recommendatory letters"

This was but the first of a series of tours of a similar character, which were continued at intervals for years, not only in the north, south, and west of Scot- land, but in England and Ireland, and which only ceased when the increase of a faithful ministry, and the general revival of a religious spirit, superseded the necessity of such itinerancy. They also abounded in striking incident, not only of bold adventure and fierce hostility, but of wonderful conversions from darkness and guilt to the light and holiness of a renewed life—cases by which the heart of Haldane was animated in a career otherwise so thankless and profitless. But these were only incidental ad vantages, compared with the influence of his labours upon the general change that was now at hand. The public attention was awakened to those great principles of religion which had been rapidly passing away, and the progress of that apathetic Socinianism arrested, which, in course of time, would have converted Scotland into a wholesale Geneva of religious doubt and indifference. Hume was already taking the place of Knox, while the theology of the pulpit was little more than the morality of Seneca without its depth, or the vague aspirations of Plato without their earnest, heart- stirring eloquence. And was it a small matter that Haldane should have been so influential in checking that downward progress which would have terminated in national degradation and destruction, and bringing back the spirit of the land to that Rock of strength from which it had so mournfully wandered?

While Mr. James Haldane was thus pursuing his course as an itinerating and lay preacher, events soon occurred by which the office of an ordained minister, and the superintendence of a regular congregation, were added to his employments. His brother Robert, after having failed in his attempt to establish a great Indian mission, was now employed in the opening of tabernacles and the extension of evangelical religion at home. It was natural that in such a work he should seek the able co-operation of his brother, and that, too, at Edinburgh, the metropolis and head-quarters of the new movement. The circus or tabernacle, a large place of worship capable of holding 2500 hearers, had been opened for this purpose, and on the 3d of February, 1799, Mr. James Haldane was ordained as its minister. It was opened upon those eclectic principles which Independency has constantly advocated ; and the following extract from the account of Mr. J. Haldane's ordination will fully explain his views and purposes on entering into the solemn office. He " expressed his intention of endeavouring to procure a regular rotation of ministers to assist him in supplying the tabernacle. He declared his willingness to open his pulpit for the occasional labours of every faithful preacher of the gospel, of whatever denomination or country he might be. He signified his approbation of the plan of the church which had chosen him for their pastor, as being simple and scriptural, but disavowed any confidence in it as a perfect model of a church of Christ, to the exclusion of all others. He wished to remember himself, and ever to remind his hearers, that the kingdom of heaven was not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Finally, he declared that he meant not to confine his exertions to that church, but to devote a por-