1666*, for what reason I have not been able to learn; probably on account of the distracted state of the times, and the great difficulty of procuring a man of talents and temper to moderate the rage of party. Ever since the Reformation, that important office had been filled up by the votes of the clergy in the diocese of Aberdeen, which was now under the government of Mr. Scougal's father, of whom Bishop Burnet, in his History of his own Times, gives the following character:-" A man of rare temper, great piety, and prudence." A striking contrast this to the character which the same prelate gives of the majority of the Episcopal College in Scotland at that time. Wherever the vacant professorship became the subject of conversation, all eyes were directed to the minister of Auchterless; and when the matter came before the synod, in 1674, Mr. Scougal was elected, by the unanimous voice of that reverend and venerable body, professor of divinity, being only twentyfour years of age. Far from being elated with so flattering a mark of distinction, Scougal, in the true spirit of Ambrose and Gregory Nanzianzen, shrunk from the appoint ment with fear and trembling. His mind was so deeply impressed with the weight and importance of the charge, as well as with a sense of his own unworthiness, that he con• The first professor of divinity in King's College, after the Reformation, was Dr. John Forbes, son to the fourth Protestant bishop of Aberdeen. He had studied in several Protestant universities abroad, and was a profound theologian. After filling the chair several years, with great ability, he resigned it in 1635, and was succeeded by Dr. Andrew Strachan, who died the year following, when Dr. John Forbes was re-elected, and remained till 1643, when he was ejected for refusing to sign the covenant, and was succeeded by the Rev. W. Douglas, Minister of Forgue, in Aberdeenshire; a man of the greatest name among the Covenanters, next to the cele brated Alexander Henderson. At the Restoration, however, he joined the Episcopal party, and remained in the chair of divinity until his death, in 1666.

tinued in a state of suspense until the next meeting of the synod, when, after much serious deliberation and prayer, he undertook the office.

His advancement to the chair of theology, at so early an age, without a dissenting voice in the synod, and that too in a period of such turbulence and distraction, is a sufficient testimony of his unrivalled merit. Science and literature were then cultivated with more success in Aberdeen than in the other universities of Scotland. The clergy in that part of the kingdom far exceeded their brethren in the western and southern counties, in classical learning, and in every branch of theological science, more especially in the study of the fathers of the primitive church, and an acquaintance with ecclesiastical history. Many of them, and those chiefly of the episcopal persuasion, were animated by that pure and heavenly flame which glowed in the breasts of a Cyprian and a Jerome. "Their excellency," to use the words of Bishop Burnet, "lay in their sense of spiritual things and of the pastoral care." They were alive to their heavenly Master, dead to the world, and impressed with a deep sense of the value of those souls that were committed to their charge. Of this school were Forbes, Burnet, Gairden, and Scougal, men who would have done honour to the church in her purest days; and had all the synods of Scotland, at the Restoration, contained as large a portion of the good leaven as the synod of Aberdeen, in all probability episcopacy would have stood its ground. "Trojaque nunc stares-Priamique arx alta ipaneres !"

Scougal was such a burning and shining light that no man despised his youth; and like the inimitable Leighton, he enjoyed the rare felicity of gaining the esteem of the zealots of all parties*. He had full credit

«He did not confiue his charity within a sect or party, but loved goodness wherever

given him for the purity of the motives by which he was actuated in accepting the professorship: no one suspected him of grasping at preferment. Neither filthy lucre, nor vanity, nor ambition, were supposed to have any share in determining his choice; and all who knew him were convinced that he undertook the important charge, to which he had been called by the public voice,

be found it, and entertained no harsh thoughts of men merely upon their differing from him in this or that opinion. He was grieved at the distractions and divisions of the church, and that religion, the bond of love, should be made so much the bone of contentions. The several sects among us lament his loss, and seem to confess that a

few like him would soon heal our schisms, and that his pious life, and meek instructions, if any thing, would soon have recovered them from their errors." Gairden's Fune

ral Sermon.—In a sermon, preached before the synod of Aberdeen, Scougal mentioned, with approbation, the following declaration of an eminent and holy clergyman then living, "that he would rather be instrumental in persuading one man to be serious in religion than the whole nation to be conformists," that is, to have no more than the outward form without the power; "for," as he adds, "if a man continue a stranger to that, it is little matter whether he be Protestant or Papist, Pagan or Mahometan, or any thing else in the world; nay, the better his religion is, the more dreadful will his condemnation be." What he meant by " persuading men to be serious" is thus expressed in the same sermon, in words that ought to be engraven on the heart of every clergyman; "The great business of our calling is to advance the divine life in the world, to frame and mould the souls of men into a conformity to God, and to superinduce the beautiful lineaments of his blessed image upon them, to enlighten their understandings, inform their judgments, rectify their wills, and order their passions, and sanctify all their affections.

The world lieth in sin, and it is our work to

awaken men out of that deadly sleep. No

thing below this should be our aim, we should never cease our endeavours until that gracious change be wrought in every person committed to our charge; and this is so great and wonderful a charge, that as only Omnipotence is able to produce it, so certainly they have a mighty task who are employed as instruments in it."

with a single eye to the glory of his divine Master and the good of his church.

The theological lectures of Scou. gal embraced a wide field. As became a Protestant divine, he directed the attention of the students, in the first place, to the sacred oracles, as the grand furniture of a candidate for the Christian ministry. He endeavoured to obviate the chief diffi culties that occur in studying the scripture system, and to vindicate them from the most weighty objections of sceptics and infidels. He gave his pupils a clear and comprehensive view of the principles of genuine Protestantism as opposed to the corruptions which Popery had engrafted upon the written word, and took especial care to guard them against the delusive artifices of the Romish

priesthood to entangle their proselytes in the yoke of bondage, and to deprive them of the glorious liberty of the sons of God. He read lectures on casuistical divinity; a branch of his course wherein he was truly excellent, being himself a man of a a most scrupulous and tender con science, and having an utter abhorrence of the least deviation from the plain path of godly sincerity. His whole system of theological casuistry was briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man. He gave no quarter to the casuistical divinity of the sons of Loyola; which seemed to have been framed, not to keep men from sin, but to teach them, quam prope ad peccatum liceat accedere sinè peccato*. He unravelled their specious sophistry, unmasked their plausible but licentious maxims, and cautioned his pupils against all those evasive, equivocating, and accommodating arts which had rendered Jesuitism a synonimous term with falsehood and hypocrisy, and which ought not sa * How near to sin they might lawfully come without sinning. This was the censure passed by Sir Thomas More, himself a zealous Papist, on the general run of Romish ca

uists.

much as to be named in Protestant schools of theology.

In regard to the grand points of controversy between the Lutheran and Reformed churches abroad, as well as between the Episcopalians and Presbyterians at home, he mani fested a truly Christian spirit of moderation and candour. While he firmly avowed his own conclusions, he forbore to fulminate, ex cathedra, against those who were of the contrary part; being aware that there were among them, men of unquestionable learning, wisdom, and piety, whose right to abound in their own sense of the holy Scriptures could not be denied, upon the original principles of the Protestant Reformation. Many of your readers will, no doubt, peruse with great satisfaction, the following passage from the pen of his reverend friend Dr. Gairden, and which I transcribe as an index of his prudence, his peaceable spirit, and his humble piety, in regard to the Predestinarian controversy. "There were no debates he was more cautious to meddle with, than those about the decrees of God, being sensible how much Christianity had suffered by men's diving into things beyond their reach; secret things belonging to the Lord, and things revealed to us and to our children. But he had always a deep sense of the powerful efficacy of God's grace upon our souls; and that all our good was entirely to be ascribed to God, and all our evil unto ourselves." The caution with which Professor Scougal trod upon such tender ground, is well worthy the imitation of all who are raised to the dignity of masters in our Israel. Christian divines should learn to exercise moderation and charity, on certain points which, in all ages, have perplexed the reason of the wisest and most inquisitive among the sons of men-points on which men of acknowledged piety have differed, in every period of the church, and will probably continue to do so till the end of time. In fact, all the controversies on the sub

jects of predestination and free-will, from the days of St. Austin down to the present moment, seem only to shew the inadequacy of the human faculties to fathom the deep things of God. It were well if all Christian divines would learn from St. Paul humbly to acquiesce in the sovereignty, the wisdom, and the justice, of the great Creator and Lord of the universe, to avoid all questions which might lead the thing formed to say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? and to oppose the following devout exclamation to the arrogance of "reasoning pride:" 0 the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

I have always admired the caution with which the ever-memorable Melancthon handled this mysterious and incomprehensible subject*. The Augsburg Confession, which reflects so much credit on the learning, the judgment, and the prudence, of that illustrious divine, is totally silent on the article of predestination; and, in my humble opinion, it would have been well if the master builders of every other Protestant church had followed his example, although, it must be owned, that the seventeenth article of the Church of England evinces a spirit of moderation and candour on the unfathomable subject of the divine decrees, which we do not find in the systematical confessions of the Helvetic, Belgic, or Scots churches. Had the article been drawn up by Calvin, or Jerom Zanchius, there is no doubt that it

* See the article de Prædestinatione, in Melancthon's Loci communes, the first protestant body of divinity that was published in Germany. This book was a powerful doctrines of the Protestant Reformation. It instrument in promoting the fundamental was regarded, during the sixteenth century, as a form of sound words, in doctrinal points, in all the theological schools of the Lutheran, or (as they used to call themselves, without deeming it arrogant) of the evangelical church.

would have worn a more rigid aspect; but the reformers of the Anglican church had been more in the habit of corresponding with Wittemberg than with Geneva; and in the conclusion of the seventeenth article, they seem to have had their eye on the following passage in the Saxonic confession of Melancthon. "Quia conscientiis in pœnitentia consolationem proponimus, non addimus quæstiones de prædestinatione, seu de electione, sed deducimus omnes lectores ad verbum Dei, et jubemus ut voluntatem Dei ex verbo ipsius discant. Non quærant alias specuJationes. Certissimum est prædicationem pœnitentiæ ad omnes homines pertinere, et accusare omnes homines, ita promissio universalis est, et omnibus offert remissionem peccatorum. In hanc universalem promissionem singuli se includant, et non indulgeant diffidentiæ, sed luctentur ut assentiantur verbo Dei, et obsequantur Spiritui Sancto, et juvari se petant." Melancthon never would enter into controversy on the deep points of predestination and election, notwithstanding Calvin frequently urged him to be more explicit in his declarations. It will readily be allowed, however, by every equitable and candid person who hath studied the writings of these two burning and shining lights, that the points on which they agreed were of much higher importance than those on which they differed, or rather on which Melancthon thought it more

The Saxonic confession was drawn up in 1551, with a view to be presented to the council of Trent. Let the reader compare the above quotation from Melancthon, with the last sentence in the seventeenth article. «Furthermore, we must receive God's promises in such wise as they be generally set forth to us in holy Scripture; and in our doings, that will of God is to be followed which we have expressly declared to us in the word of God." Other instances of coincidence, no less plain and evident, might be pointed out, on a comparison of the Augsburg and Saxonic Confessions with the thirtynipe Articles. Melancthon was, beyond all question, in higher esteem with the early

expedient to be silent*. Their sentiments were perfectly in unison on the doctrines of original sin, freewill+, and justification, and whatever shades of difference there might be in their opinions respecting the decrees of God, and some points of ecclesiastical polity, there never was anysuspension of their mutual esteem, no deviation in their controversial correspondence from the royal law of love, without which, though we speak with the tongues of men and of angels, we are become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal; and without which, though we understand all mysteries and all knowledge, we are nothing.

Scougal thought as the Wirtemberg Professor did, respecting the predestinarian controversy; and every humble inquirer after truth, every friend of Christian liberty and peace, must wish that our divinity chairs may always be occupied by men of their stamp. Had Gomar and Ar

fathers of the Church of England, than any other foreign divine,

In one of Calvin's letters to Melancthon,

there is the following passage: "Ac tibi omnino videndum est quidem mature, ne tibi apud posteros dedecori sit nimia taciturnitas;" alluding not only to his silence on the subject of the divine decrees, but to his caution in regard to the doctrine of the real presence, concerning which it is well known he did not altogether coincide in opinion with his master Luther.

"

On the subject of free-will, take the following passage from the Augsbourg confession: De libero arbitrio ecclesiæ apud nos decent quod humana voluntas habeat aliquam libertatem ad efficiendam civilem justitiam, et diligendas res rationi subjectas." But as the same writer, namely, Melancthon, expresses himself in the Saxonic Confession; "Homo nequaquam potest se liberare a peccato et morte æterna viribus naturalibus, sed hæc liberatio et conversio hominis ad Deum, et novitas spiritualis fit per Filium Dei vivificantem nos spiritu suo sancto." I presume, that if the bishop of Lincoln had perused the writings of Luther and Melancthon with sufficient diligence, his lordship would scarcely have pressed them into his service so peremptorily as he has done.

minius imbibed the spirit of Melancthon and Scougal, in all probability we should never have heard of a synod of Dort: and with all due deference to the memory of some truly pious men who formed part of the majority of that assembly, I cannot but think that it might have been happy for the peace of the church, in these last days, if they had never been convened. Mutual forbearance should be exercised on a question which is not likely to be decided in this stage of our existence.

In matters of ecclesiastical polity, Scougal manifested a pacific and healing spirit: and here it must be allowed, that, as a professor of divinity in Scotland, at that period, he had a difficult and delicate task to perform. The two great religious parties in the nation, were the episcopalians and presbyterians: the zealots of the former party contending for the divine right of episcopacy; those of the latter no less strenuously for the divine right of presbytery. Scougal was decidedly in favour of the episcopal form of church government, although it does not appear that he contended for the jure divino right. He appears rather to have been a disciple of the immortal Hooker, who, in the third book of his Ecclesiastical Polity, hath laid down, in the clearest manner, those principles upon which alone a sound and consistent Protestant can reason upon this subject. The view which is there given of the church of Christ as a body mystical, or a congregation of faithful men; the clear and broad line of distinction which is there drawn between matters of church polity and matters of faith and salvation; the candour which is manifested towards those churches who had adopted the model of Knox and Calvin, together with the excellent writer's judicious vindication of the episcopal form of church government, render the whole book a precious treasure to all who are desirous of defending the Church of England with weapons drawn from the armoury of God.

Scougal preferred episcopacy to presbytery, in the first place, from a persuasion that it was most agreeable to the word of God; and secondly, as having the sanction of primitive authority, as well as having generally prevailed in the Christian world, down to the æra of the Protestant Reformation, but there is no ground to presume that he would have joined the disciples of Laud in unchurching the protestants abroad, or leaving the dissenters at home to uncovenanted mercy. It had been happy for Scotland if all her prelates, at that time, had displayed the candid and pacific spirit of Scougal.

(To be continued.)

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. You will allow the remark, that to prove clearly and demonstrably, from the New Testament, the lineal descent of our Lord Jesus Christ from David, establishes one primary article in proof of the true and undoubted Messiahship of Jesus. That the Messiah should arise from the royal house of David,was well known among the Jews in Christ's time: so the Pharisees acknowledge, Matt, xxii. 41. "While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David."" It was, therefore, one point in proof of the Messiahship of Jesus, that he was of the house and lineage of David, according to the prophecies. This the Apostles every where taught and maintained; and especially St. Paul not only testified that Jesus was the Messiah prophesied of in the Holy Scriptures, but also that "he was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh." Rom. ch.i. That is to say, Ile was truly and properly begotten of the seed of David, and the fruit of his body.

The commentators, I believe, uniformly admit, that the genealogy Matt. ch. i. is the genealogy of Joseph, recording his progenitors in