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panied with a short exhortation and prayer. Besides these regular of fices, he visits occasionally every distressed and dying person in his parish. Thus the pastor, when he fulfils his duties, is considered as the common friend and father of his people, to whom they are acc stomed to look up for advice in their spiritual, and often too in their temporal concerns; and he is expected to be accessible to them at all hours. These duties Mr. Leechman performed, not merely with propriety, but with an uncommon concern for those under his care. The affability and simplicity of his manners; his great tenderness to the distressed; his liberality, which often excerded the expectation even of those who applied to him for relief; together with his earnest and animated manner in the public offices of religion, especially in the devotional part of them, could scarcely fail to gain the hearts of an unprejudiced people.

While Mr. Leechman was minister of Beith, that class of dissenters from the Church of Scotland, called Seceders, arose. The first leaders of that zealous party erected tents in the fields, and preached to vast crowds of people. They laboured to inflame the minds of their hearers against the doctrine and lives of the established clergy; and inveighed with great acrimony against some measures of the general assembly, in regard to lay patronage. Mr. Leechman, when those preachers came into his neighbourhood, manifested a spirit of forbearance and candour worthy of a Christian minister: he forbore to make his pulpit the vehicle of recrimination; on the contrary, he gave his people to understand, that it would give him sincere joy if any of them should reap more benefit and improvement from their instructions than from his. When the Seceding preachers erected their standard in his own parish, he went himself to hear them, in company with his parishioners. And on one occasion, after a more than ordinary

freedom had been taken with the character of the established clergy, Mr. Leechman thought proper to request a conference with his zealous brethren, and acquitted himself so much to the satisfaction of those who were present at it, as to give a considerable check to the spirit of division then spreading fast in that part of the country. In October, 1740, Mr. Leechman was elected Moderator of the Synod of Glasgow and Air; and in the spring following, he opened the synod at Glasgow, with a sermon to the clergy, on the Temper, Character, and Duty of a Minister of the Gospel. Among the numerous sermons and charges published on this subject, few perhaps will bear a fair comparison with this first attempt of a young minister, in respect of the variety of useful suggestions crowded into a small compass, and the striking, yet delicate, manner in which those suggestions are convey, ed. In 1743, he published a sermon, on the Nature, Reasonableness, and Advantages of Prayer; which has since been frequently republished, and is certainly a masterly performance. During the course of that year, he married Miss Balfour, of the family of Pilrig, near Edinburgh; a young lady very worthy of his choice; qualified, by the serious, amiable, and generous turn of her mind, to value and enjoy the advantages and endearments of his society, which she did to the last day of his life; and qualified also, by the great propriety of her conduct, and the easy elegance of her manners, to do honour to herself and her husband, in the superior stations in which they were destined afterwards to appear. Soon after his marriage, he was waited on by two gentlemen from Ireland, commissioned by a respectable Presbyterian congregation in Belfast, to invite him to be their minister, and to offer him a better income than he enjoyed at Beith. This offer Professor Dunlop and his other friends at Glasgow, joined by Mrs. Leechman's relations,

persuaded him to decline. Professor Dunlop had always been anxious to obtain a situation for him in the university, and he had the satisfaction of seeing him advanced to the theological chair the year after his marriage (1744). His lectures in the Divinity Hall soon established his reputation, and made the University justly glory in her adopted son. He gave a lecture of a full hour's length, regularly, four days every week, during a six months' term. Besides this, he spent an hour every Friday, and sometimes on Saturday, in hearing the discourses composed by the students, on particular texts or portions of Scripture prescribed to them. After they were delivered, the Professor made his observations on them in a manner that shewed the most accurate attention; commending with judgment, or censuring with delicacy. When a stronger censure was requisite, it was reserved to a private conference with the student.

On Monday, Professor Leechman gave a critical lecture on the New Testament; reading the passage in the original language; adverting, when it was necessary, to the different senses put upon the Greek words by the commentators, without naming them; to the connection; to the particular probable views of the writer or speaker, and the situation of the minds of the hearers; to any ancient customs, or historical facts, necessary to illustrate the passage. Thus he exhibited the precise sense of it, answered at the same time the principal objections, and intermixed occasionally short pertinent observations. As this lecture was of the first importance to the stu dents, so to the Professor it seemed to be the easiest part of his work, for he had been accustomed to something like it while he was the minister of a parish. The instruction on Sunday morning from most of the pulpits of Scotland, is of a similar kind, though managed there in a more popular way. On Tuesday and Thursday, he lectured on pole

mical divinity. Considering how little Professor Leechman had of the spirit of a polemic, his accurate knowledge of all the principal controversies which have agitated the Christian world was surprising, and the judgment and candour with which he conducted this delicate and dangerous part of his office was highly pleasing to every liberal mind. He first used as a text book, Pictet's shorter system, which he afterwards changed for Ostervald. He finished this part of his course of lectures in two terms. He warmly recommended to the students candour and moderation in the discussion of certain deep points of controversy, concerning which the wisest and best men had thought differently in every age of the church; and painted, in strong colours, the indecency of a rash presumptuous judgment on such topics, and the fatal effects of bigotry. On the Wednesdays, he delivered, in the course of two years, lectures on the evidences of Christianity, and on the composition of sermons. In lecturing on the evidences of Christianity, after a short historical account of the principal opposers and defenders of the Gospel, especially during the first four centuries; after exhibiting Christianity as a chain of past, present, and future facts, and marking, in the spirit of Bishop Butler, the presumptive evidence in its favour, arising from a general view of the scheme itself; he divided his sub. ject into two great branches:1. The internal evidence of Christianity, resulting from the perfection of the moral doctrine and charac ter of its Author: 2. The more direct or external evidence, arising from miracles and the accomplishment of prophecies. His lectures on the composition of sermons, were divided into the three following branches:-1. The more material or essential parts of a sermon: The more circumstantial parts of it; the dress and ornaments, the language and composition: 3. The complexion and temper of mind

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with which discourses designed for the instruction of mankind, ought both to be composed and delivered. He enlivened the controversial part of his course, by occasionally lecturing on the Excellence of the Scriptures, on the Law of Moses, and the civil and religious Constitution of the Israelites.

Dr. Leechman continued in the theological chair seventeen years, paring off from time to time such parts of his lectures as were least valuable; enriching them with something new or more important, suggested by the train of reading in which he was engaged, or by his own fertile mind; especially vindicating the great truths of natural and revealed religion, against the principal objections made to them by Mr. Hume, Lord Bolingbroke, Voltaire, and other sceptical writers, whose books made their first appearance during that period, and, from the literary reputation of their authors, attracted more of the public attention than they deserved, Dr. Leechman was, indeed, qualified, beyond most men, to be a successful teacher and defender of truth. His love of it was pure and warm; yet this generous warmth was strictly guarded by the modesty of his own mind, and never betrayed him into any harsh or indecent language towards those whose opinions he could not but consider as hostile to truth, and to the best interests of mankind. He had a remarkable talent of selecting what was most important, or most striking, on every subject he handled; and the exertion of his distinguished powers of reasoning was stimulated and heightened by a fervent spirit of devotion, which, through the blessing of God, excited and kept alive the sacred flame in the hearts of many of his pupils. Dr. Leechman's fame and success as a teacher were such as might be expected from his superior talents and exalted piety. The Divinity Hall at GlasCow was crowded, in his time, with a greater number of scholars than

any other in Scotland. His labours there greatly contributed to increase the rising reputation of that university, and did eminent service to the Church of Scotland. Even the young men designed for the ministry among the Seceders, the most rigid sect in Scotland, attended Dr. Leechman's lectures, in considerable numbers, and thus manifested a thirst for knowledge, and a liberality of mind, which did them much honour. Many ingenious young men from England and Ireland attended his lectures, and improved under his tuition; several of whom afterwards distinguished themselves both in the Episcopal Church and among the Dissenters. Ilis numerous scholars, however they might differ in their sentiments of speculative theology and church government, were all cordially united in their affection and veneration for their old master, imbibed early, and retained to the last.

In the summer of 1744, Professor Leechman visited London. He was accompanied by a young gentleman who had been under his private tuition at Edinburgh, whose name was Geddes; and who, after having practised at the bar for some years with great reputation, was cut off in the prime of life. After his death, Professor Leechman revised his papers, and published, in 1748, his posthumous Essay on the Composition and Manner of Writing of the Ancients, especially Plato; in which Mr. Geddes ventured to attack Warburton, then in the zenith of his fame, and to expose some of his fanciful opinions respecting Plato, by many just criticisms, mixed with a pleasant vein of good humour.

In May 1757, Dr. Leechman was chosen Moderator of the General As sembly; and the year following he opened their meeting with a sermon on the Wisdom of God in the Gospel Revelation, which was published. It contains a greater variety of uncom mon and striking observations on the subject, than are to be found in any other publication of the same

size; and the advice to the clergy at the end of the sermon is truly excellent. About the beginning of the year 1759, the state of his health became so precarious as to alarm his friends. Early in the summer, his physicians sent him to Bristol, where he received great benefit from the use of the waters. He remained there several months, and at the commencement of the college term he returned to Glasgow. In different places of England, Dr. Leechman unexpectedly met with several of his old scholars, who embraced him with very warm feelings of friendship and affection. On the whole, his health was so much confirmed by this excursion, that he was able to give lectures regularly during the two following years.

In 1761, Dr. Leechman was advanced to the office of Principal of the University of Glasgow, by a Royal presentation. For this last step of his advancement, he was chiefly indebted to his old pupil, Mr. Mure, then one of the Barons of the Exchequer in Scotland. The students of divinity saw with regret their Professor removed from a station where he had been so useful to them; yet they were happy to see him raised to what is the summit of ambition to a clergyman of the Church of Scotland, placed at the head of an university of high respectability, and in a situation where he could enjoy otium cum dignitate. Indeed the state of his health had been for some time so precarious, and he exerted himself with so much ardour in doing his duty to others, and so much indifference about his own health and life, that nothing could be more seasonable than this relaxation from the labour of public teaching. Yet it was impossible for a mind so conscientious and so ac tive as his was, to enjoy much ease in his new station, entrusted as he was with the oversight of the lite rature and morals of so numerous a society, and the management of the various branches of its revenue. Be sides, he did not confine himself to

the ordinary routine of duty connected with his office, but entered warmly into every scheme suggested for the benefit and improvement of the University, and prosecuted with great activity some schemes of his own suggestion. He gave a lecture for some time, once a week, to the students of divinity, which he was entitled to do as Primarius Professor, and during several terms he delivered Sunday Evening Lectures before the University, upon the design of Academical Institutions, and the duties incumbent on masters and scholars to answer this design; Self-knowledge, as subservient to this, as well as to our general conduct in life; the Wisdom and Benefit of early Piety; the Excellency of the Scriptures; with some other lectures formerly delivered in the Divinity Hall, and now adapted to a more mixed auditory.

These lectures were long remembered, and spoken of as well calculated to inspire young minds with an ardour both for literary and moral improvement; to guard them against the influence of scepticism and licentiousness; and to prepare them to make a manly stand in their riper years for the interests of religion and virtue. These lectures seem not to have been continued longer than the year 1766; but for more than ten years after, he continued to preach frequently in the college chapel on subjects peculiarly adapted to his auditory. In June 1767, he was called to preach before the Society for propagating Christian Knowledge in Scotland. He published the sermon which he preached on that occasion, on the Excellency of the Spirit of Christianity, as a spirit of fortitude, of love, and of a sound mind, a discourse not inferior to any of his former publications.

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His faculties remained in full vigour amidst the increasing infirmities of old age, and his taste for valuable knowledge as acute as ever. Thus he was enabled to be useful to many in his private capacity. His house was open to students in every walk; where the conversation usu

ally turned on interesting subjects; and contributed much to their improvement. The students of theo

logy he naturally considered as more under his patronage than the rest; and he laid himself out to be especially useful to such of them as chose to cultivate an acquaintance with him, by drawing them into easy unreserved conversation, tending to open and enlarge their minds; by directing the course of their reading, and freely giving them advice with a candour and persuasive warmth in some sort peculiar to himself. When he perceived in any of them real genius and worth, which were likely to be extinguished by poverty and neglect, such students he cherished with the care of a fond parent, assisting them in the prosecution of their studies, not only with his advice, but with money and books, and with his interest to obtain for them the university exhibitions, and his recommendations to such as were able to provide for them according to their merit. His efforts to do good were by no means confined to this particular channel, but were equally assiduous and spirited in every other within his reach. Having no children of his own, he acted the part of a father to several children of his friends, who were brought up under his roof; and his bounty to necessitous families and individuals appeared, to the few who knew of it, far to exceed his abilities. He was also a lover of hospitality; but the funds of his bounty were supplied by a prudent economy,and even a generous self-denial. When a lady, who was his intimate friend, pressed him one day to change his open carriage for a close one, he walked several times up and down the room without returning any answer: "I hear you think ing," said she, "Shall I be so vain as to set up a fine carriage?"-"No," said he, "I was thinking, whether the difference in the tax, &c, would not give more comfort to a certain family, than I could enjoy from that convenience myself."

He sometimes thanked God for having been in a low station of life, because it taught him the many dif ficulties and hardships attending that state, to which otherwise he must have been a stranger. He often visited his relations in Dolphinton, who all, in their stations, deserved his countenance and approbation. He inquired feelingly into their circumstances and prospects; took care that their children should be properly educated, and put out to business; and whatever was needed for those purposes, beyond what they could conveniently raise, he supplied. As he was above the pride of station or rank, so he was equally above every other kind of pride. Distinguished as he was by his talents and virtues in the eyes of others, he seemed ignorant of this distinction himself. He had much of that childlike modesty and simplicity which is the genuine fruit of Christian principle. Nor did he ever give a look, or ulter a sentence, that betrayed a consciousness of any superiority, even over the lowest of mankind.

For the last twelve years of his life he was distressed with asthmatic and gravelly complaints, which he bore with great patience. Having in his youth improperly accustomed himself to late rather than early hours of study; this, together with his asthma, gradually brought on a habit of waking in the night, insomuch that for several years he had no sleep till six or seven in the morning, and then only very little, sometimes none at all for a night or two together; yet he never complained. When Mrs. Leechman expressed her regret for these tedious and tiresome nights, " Why should I tire?" said he: "I have God, providence, my Bible, and every thing connected with them, to think of; and being free from pain, I am always able to pursue such a train of thought as is sufficiently agreeable." Nevertheless, the want of this best of all restoratives by degrees wasted his flesh, and exhausted his bodily strength, but without hav

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