bers; "that he was capable of union to Christ, and regeneration by the influences of the Holy Spirit, and capable of justification, and acceptance with God, and complete salvation by grace-confessing their original corruption and guilt, with fervent and frequent prayer to God, for the best blessings of the covenant to them and him, they would dedicate him solemnly to God, and he would be solemnly recognised by the church, as a part of herself, and a trust committed to her care. They would receive the seal of the promise containing spiritual blessings, not initiating him into the church visible, but recognising him as a member. They would dedicate themselves to God, as their own God, in the faith of his promise; they would do the same with their infant, perhaps their first born, they would call to their remembrance that gracious declaration of their Lord, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God;" as if he had said, These children are related to me, as members of my church, and subjects of my kingdom, therefore let them by no means be hindered from coming unto me. They are taken into the same visible covenant relation to God, put under the same gracious dispensation of mercy, have the same promises, and are declared capable of the same blessings, as their adult parents. Infants being recognised in the promise, would be to them the grand plea of faith. When they brought their child to receive the seal and token of the covenant, they would, above all, seek the application of new covenant blessings to their child. They would plead the fulfilment of God's covenant to him, in the saving efficacy of it, that he might be one of that seed, who should serve God, and be accounted for a generation, when his parents, having served their generation, should have fallen asleep in Christ. They would, upon this solemn occasion, endeavour to call to remembrance the blessings which baptism as an ordinance exhibits, as well as the duties to which it obliges. They would consider it as it exhibits pardon, for we are enjoined to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins. It exhibits Christ as the Lord our righteousness; for as many as are baptised into Christ, put on Christ-it represents our union to Jesus, and our participation of the fruits of his death, in destroying the power of sin, and raisingus to a new life. We are buried with him by baptism into death-for putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, and that we should also walk in newness of life. It exhibits our union to the church, and fellowship with her, for by one Spirit we are all baptised into one body. It expresses the ef fusion of the Spirit, and his work of regeneration; for Christ baptiseth with the Holy Ghost, in the washing of regeneration. It represents the Three-one gracious God, as the consummate portion of his people; for they are baptised in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. But while baptism represents our most valuable gospel privileges, they would also consider, that it lays us under the most indispensable obligations to love God, to live by faith, to mortify sin, to live above the world, and to pursue holiness." Such would be the solemn, but delightful employment of this religious couple while confessing their sins, dedicating themselves and their child to God, praying, and receiving the sign and the seal of new covenant blessings to them and their child. His mother, like Mary of old, would keep all these thoughts and sayings in her heart. His father might be glad, but she would rejoice. She had spent months of care, anxiety, and fear how she was to usher him into the world of sin, sorrow, and suffering. Now she was to have the pleasure of nursing and rearing her son. While rocking him in the cradle, she would cherish the pleasures of hope. "Lo! at the couch, where infant beauty sleeps, In form and soul; but, ah! more blest than he ! And chase the world's ungenerous scorn away. Wilt thou, sweet mourner, at my stone appear, Thomson's Discourses. Every morning, evening, and noon, and often seven times in the day, she had him to pray for. Having dedicated him unreservedly to the Lord, she would anticipate, that if he lived, he would serve the Lord, in the gospel of his Son. Having heard Jehovah Jesus, her own God, say to her as it were, Take this child, and nurse him for me, and I will give thee thy wages; all the days of his life, like Hannah, she would lend him to the Lord. The times indeed were changeful, and truly troublous. The minister's home was the mountain, the morass, the solitary glen, and the prison-house; but she would hope for a change, ere he was fit to make an open profession of discipleship to Christ, and a resolute stand for his honour and interest. Or she would, if he was called to it, esteem it her delight, that he should have the distinguished honour to lay down his life for His sake. Thus would she sit pensive, and alone, or wander on the banks of the Dee, or on St Mary's Isle, and, commending the babe on her breast to the Lord, take a perspective view of the bright and dark passages of his life. But her great consolation would always be that she was enabled in faith to say, Jehovah Nissi, the Lord my banner, and Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. Death and life, cloud and sunshine, would pass before her, but like David, she would say, "Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. We cannot tell all a mother's fears, and hopes, and joys, and sorrows, but nothing would be neglected, which prayer and endeavour could accomplish. She had the highest earthly satisfaction-she saw him rise up like an olive-plant, round about her table— she saw him docile and simple, and sincere, not given to the frowardness, and waywardness of youth, and ultimately eminent for learning, and venerable for piety. Whether she saw him minister of Wamphray, we cannot say, although it is very probable she did; but from the fact brought out by his will, that his father had at least three children by a second marriage, she did not live to see his troubles and trials, after the Restoration, and to weep over his unjust and cruel banishment from his native land. Her eyes were closed in death before he was driven into exile, never to return. The school where Mr Brown received the elements of education can only be conjectured by what we have attempted to establish concerning his father and mother's residence. It is almost certain, that he was both born and educated in Kirk cudbright. This is further confirmed from his complete knowledge, not only of the English but also of the Latin language. He must have received a correct knowledge of the Latin tongue at school. It might indeed be acquired pretty fully and correctly at college, but when the elements are not correctly taught and obtained at school, they are seldom so completely acquired at college. Few of the clergy of the Church of Scotland can write the Latin language readily and correctly, even in the present day, when the principles of it are correctly taught in almost every parochial school. There were grammar schools in the principal towns, even before the Reformation, where Latin was taught, and they had lecture schools in many places for the vernacular tongue. The Church endeavoured to get schools erected in every parish after the Reformation. They got an act of council for this purpose in 1616, about the time when Mr Brown would be acquiring the English language, but it was not ratified by parliament till 1633, when Mr Brown must have left school several years. Before this, the readers in the churches taught the youth to read the Scriptures, and the Catechism, in their native language. But though an act was passed in 1633 to found a parochial school in every parish, they would not be generally founded for some years after; and even when they were instituted, it might be many years before there were teachers generally found, who were capable to teach, even very incorrectly, the very rudiments of the Latin language. It was only in the burghs that young men, at that period, could be prepared for college. We are aware that there were excellent insulated schools in some places, where there was not a royal burgh, but we are not aware that there were any in all Galloway, except in the burghs, nor do we know how even the burghs were provided; but from Mr Rutherford's letters, it rather appears, that Kirkcudbright was disposed to attend to the choice of a proper clergyman, and they were also likely to attend to the choice of a qualified teacher, There were parishes, at the beginning of this century, in which there were teachers totally ignorant of Greek, and not well fitted to instruct in Latin. The records of the town of Kirkcudbright will tell, if they exist, who then was teacher, and perhaps also something about his qualifications. What Catechism was then taught, whether Craig's, written at the request of the Assembly, in 1592, or any other, we cannot discover. The present translation of the Bible was then extant, having been published in 1611, and would soon be circulated, so that there would be copies in the town of Kirkcudbright. But whatever translation might be general, there would be abundance in it to make wise unto salvation. The metrical version of the Psalms which we possess did not then exist, having been made in1647-50; but whatever version was used, if the teacher · selected the most appropriate psalms, and, in his opinion, the most fitting portions of Scripture, and endeavoured to impress them upon the tender mind, and if he regularly opened and closed the school with solemn prayer, and, on the Saturdays, caused them repeat the Catechism then used, he would carry forward the learning which young Brown received from his mother, and thus the school would be an excellent conductor between the family and the church. "The parochial schools of Scotland, so highly and so justly celebrated for their salutary tendency, and extensive usefulness, were originally intended to be seminaries, no less of religious instruction, than of the first principles of learning. Besides the daily reading of the Scriptures, and repetition of questions of the Catechism, it was the common practice with the teachers, and we hope the custom is in some degree kept up, to devote a great portion of the time on Saturday, to examination and exhortation on topics of religion and morality. In such exercises the teacher generally received, less or more, the countenance and aid of the minister."* Taught as Mr Brown was at home, and we presume would be at school, he would be carried by his mother regularly to the house of God, and would be favoured to see some of the great communion days at Anwoth. His acquirements at school, which were of the first order, would thus be based upon eternal truth, and being sanctified by the operation of the Holy Spirit, would profit more than the greatest learning, without the fear of the Lord, which constitutes true wisdom. Whether he received only the pulp of learning, and rejected the husk, and whether he imbibed it quickly, or drank it in more deliberately, we cannot discover, but one thing is indisputable, that he was not only acquainted with human learning, but also with divine. Implanted by the Holy Spirit, cherished by his parents, and fostered by his teacher, they had grown and strengthened with his growth. Thus, when fully qualified, and his powers of body and mind pretty fully expanded, he would enter college, better enabled to apply his mind to what was taught, and to judge of the matter, as well as the form of learning, with which he was presented. Life of Eben. Erskine, by Dr Fraser, Kennoway. |