160. wit THOMA§ i dSTON. 31 as I was going into the kirk Very penfive, and thinking of the hazard of fwooning in the pulpit, and how it Would be matter of reproach, I heard the precentor rea'ding, and found them finging Pfal. lvii. 3. " From heaven he (hall fend down, and me front his reproach defend," &c.. which was fweetly feafonable to my foul. Havingbeen for'fome time very indifpofed, I was under Tome apprehenfions of death, but very unwilling and afraid to die : in which cafe I had occafion to ride by that spot of ground where I was formerly fo content to die, (fee p. 95.), which let me fee a vaft difference in the frame of my fpirit now from what it was then. Márch 14. The call was drawn ùp for Abbay himfelf, my Lord Merfington, a good-natured, well-inclined man, being the chain agent in the affair ; at whofe door the poor people, among whom there were wet cheeks on that occafion, laid the blood of their fouls but it prevailed not with him. One of the elders, Abbay's own tenant, was brought to fubfcribe the call. It was brought before the prefbytery, on the 15th ; and Merfington hav- ing a commiffion fromAbbay, had fig-nett it for him in his name as an heritor. Two elders and a parifhioner appeared that day before theprefbytely, and reclaimed, earneftly intreating them to confider, that they behoved to anfiver to God for what they did. But the prefbytery fuftained the call. Mr Colden would fay no- thing in the matter, but went out in the time. They appointed him to write toLord Rofs, and to the minifter of Paifley, todeal with my Lord on my account with refpeét to Foulden. This was the ungofpel-like way that even then much prevailed in the cafe of planting of churches; a way which I ever abhorrèd. I had been namedby the commiflionof the affembly togo toCaith- nefs, a fewdays before the moderating of that call : but Mr Colden telling them, that, on the Thurfday after, a call, was to be moderated fbr me, it was dropped. So by it Providence diverted that miffion of me, which would have been very heavy. On the 29th, the writing of the letters aforefaid having been forgot, a letter fromMr Wilkie, bailieofFoulden, was read corar, bearing, that he would cordially concur for my fettlement in Foulden ; but thought reafon and good- breeding required that I fhould go to Lord Rofs. Whereupon they peremptorily enjoined me to go to him : and Mr Colden told me, I would be out of my duty if I went not. Neverthelefs, havingno clearnefs for it in My own confcience, T continued unmoved in my refolution; though it troubled me that they fhould have appointed me. At the April fynod I was invited to the prefbytery of Kelfo; but being advifed to wait till the following presbytery-day, I preached at Foulden : and, May 1.. hearing there that my Lord Rofs was to fend them another man, I refolved forthwith to go to the prefbytery of Stirling, having given over thoughts of Kelfo. D A-,
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