Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 9.djvu/316

580 of the laird of Blebo, who was appointed Archbishop of St. Andrews, by King Robert III., about the year 1385. The father of Robert Traill, who was minister of the Greyfriars' Church, Edinburgh, was one of those bold witnesses for the Covenant, who lived during the stormy period of the Commonwealth, and the still more trying season of the Restoration, in which, at the age of sixty, he was banished from Scotland for life upon the charge of holding a conventicle, because he had read and expounded Scripture to a few friends who were assembled in his house. In consequence of this sentence he retired to Holland, the usual place of refuge for the exiled Presbyterians of Scotland, and there spent the rest of his life. It was in the midst of these troubles that the subject of the present memoir was ushered into the world. He was born at Elie, in Fifeshire, of which parish his father at first was minister, in May, 1642. Being destined for the ministry, at a period when the office in Scotland possessed few secular attractions, and was best fitted to test the disinterestedness of its candidates, he prosecuted the usual course of study in the university of Edinburgh, and secured by his proficiency the approbation of the professors. While a divinity student, and as yet only nineteen years old, he evinced his sincerity and courage by attending James Guthrie, of Stirling, to the scaffold, when that faithful martyr was executed for his adherence to the persecuted Kirk of Scotland. It was easy to foresee from such a commencement that the course of the young man would be neither a profitable nor a safe one. On the banishment of his father two years afterwards, the circumstances of the family were so straitened, that Robert Trail, who shared in all their trials, was often without a home. Matters in 1666 became even worse, in consequence of some copies of the "Apologetic Relation"—a work obnoxious to the prelates and privy council, having been found in their house; for in consequence of this discovery, his mother, brother, and himself were obliged to hide themselves from pursuit. While he was thus a fugitive, the unfortunate rout at Pentland occurred; and as in the trials that followed, all the homeless and persecuted in Scotland were assumed as being more or less implicated in the insurrection—Robert Traill, whether truly or falsely, was said to have been in the ranks of the insurgents, in consequence of which charge, he was liable every hour to be apprehended and executed as a traitor. In this difficulty he fled to Holland in 1667, and joined his father, who had been settled there four years. Here he resumed his studies in theology, and assisted Nethenus, professor of divinity at Utrecht, in publishing "Rutherford's Examination of Arminianism."

The stay of Robert Traill in Holland must have been a short one, probably only till the close of 1668; for in April, 1669, he was preaching in London upon a Thursday previous to the administration of the Lord's Supper. It is probable, that having completed his theological studies in Holland, he had come to England in the earlier part of the year, and received ordination from the London Presbytery. Here he preached for some time without any settled charge, and was afterwards permanently appointed to the Presbyterian Church at Cranbrook, a small town in Kent. In this retirement he could exercise his calling in safety, as the Presbyterianism of England was not regarded as either so formidable or so important as to provoke the interposition of state persecution. But the case was very different in his native Scotland, which he visited in 1677. During his sojourn in Edinburgh he privately preached there, notwithstanding the severe laws against conventicles; and as the privy council