xlviir The PRE FA C . had been in his youth induftrious in his ítudies ; and, with a very quick apprehen- fion, he had a memory fo ftrong and faith- ful, that he loft very little of what he had read. He was íkilful in the languages and claflical learning, which he fo retained, that to the laft, when upwards of fixty, he could fpeak in the latin tongue with eafe and fluency, though his bufinefs in life did not call him to any particular care to pre - ferve it. He underftood the philofophy, which was taught in the univerfities at the time he attended his ftudies in them; and had made great progrefs in divinity, efpe- cially in the polemic part, in which he was thought to excel. When he appeared in the world as a preacher, he was highly efteemed ; and his thorough knowledge of the prefbyterian conflitution, and all the rules of that difcipline, in which he was very exalt, made him very ufeful to the fynod. He all along retained an aftive temper, and induflrious in ftudy: He made himfelf well acquainted with the late im- provements in natural philofophy, and had a genius capable of mofl confiderable ad- vances in any branch of learning ; fo that in the decline of life, having applied himfelf to
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