hands. Dr. Dick always dwelt with peculiar delight on her memory, and never spoke of her but with enthusiasm. It is but proper to add, that she was permitted to reap the reward of her labours, as she lived to witness the distinction and the eminent usefulness of her son.

Dr. Dick received his early education in the grammarschool of Aberdeen; and there, at a very early age, gave proof of those abilities by which he afterwards rose to eminence. There is an incident connected with his entering the university of Aberdeen, and in proof of this, which is worthy of being related. At the commencement of the session he presented himself, without the knowledge of his father, as a candidate for a scholarship, which was to be determined by open competition. The exercise prescribed to the candidates was to translate two passages, the one from a Latin and the other from an English author, into the opposite languages respectively: and to preclude the possibility of unequal aid, each candidate was sent to a room by himself, without books or any other assistance; and though by much the junior competitor, he carried off the prize. He was then only in his twelfth year. While at the university, the late Rev. Robert Hall of Bristol, Sir James Macintosh, and the eminent Greek scholar, Dr. Charles Burney, were among his fellow students. With the former he at that time became but slightly acquainted; the two latter gentlemen were among his intimate associates and friends. It is rather an uncommon coincidence, that three such men as Robert Hall, Sir James Macintosh, and Dr. Dick should have been brought together to the same college at the same time; and still more, that they should have been all spared to a good old age, and cease from their labours within little more than a year of each other.

Dr. Dick was a particular favourite with all the professors whose classes he attended. Professor Ogilvy, under whom he studied Latin, entertained a very special attachment for him and was very desirous, knowing that his pupil was designed for the ministry, that he should enter the Established church. As he could not conscientiously unite with the Establishment, he resolved to connect himself with the Secession church, of which his father was a minister, although strongly urged also by family relatives belonging partly to the church of

Scotland and partly to the Episcopal church, to join one or the other of these denominations. To the professor's credit it deserves to be related, that the independence of his pupil was not allowed to terminate their friendship.

He completed his course at the University in 1780, when only sixteen years old, and immediately afterwards entered the Theological Seminary of the Secession Church, then under the care of the celebrated Rev. John Brown of Haddington.

In 1785, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Perth and Dunfermline. His talents, which had hitherto been known only among his particular friends, now began to attract very general attention. Soon after his licensure, he received invitations from a number of congregations to become their pastor. His first settlement was in Slateford, a village in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. Here he was ordained, in 1786, to the high gratification of the people of his charge, and much to his own satisfaction, as the rural charms of the spot, one of the most beautiful in Scotland, delighted his imagination; and the retirement of the village afforded him the best opportunity for study. While at Slateford, though burdened with the cares, and subject to the many interruptions of the pastoral life, he formed a plan of study to which he ever afterward most scrupulously adhered, and by which he was doubtless enabled to gather those rich literary and theological stores, of which we have an example in these volumes. It will be interesting to all, and may be of service to some, to know what was the plan of study of such a man, who, while most diligent in the discharge of all his ministerial duties, was still enabled to make those attainments which gave him a place among the first theological scholars of Great Britain. "His plan," says his son, "was to rise in the morning before six o'clock, and immediately to begin the study which it may be said formed the business of the day. It was of course interrupted by his duties as a parent and head of a family; and in addition to such intervals, he regularly allowed himself two or three hours about midday, which he spent in visits of duty or friendship. His afternoon and evening studies were commonly suspended, or intermingled by conversation with his family or friends. At least one day of each. week was devoted to the pastoral visitation of the families of

VOL. I.-b

his congregation. His morning studies were employed in the first place in making some progress in his preparations for the ensuing Sabbath. His discourses on that day were indeed begun on the Sabbath evening previous, sometimes even before it; and in general they were fully prepared by a day or two before the week ended. It may here be noticed that he seldom spoke in the pulpit or out of it, without having previously written what he meant to say: not that he wanted the ability to speak extempore, but because he disliked the inaccurate sentiments and unfinished phraseology incidental to that mode of speaking, and because he wished to offer in the sanctuary only the richest fruits. Of the quality of his expository lectures, which occupied the morning, and the sermons which occupied the afternoon of the Sabbath, a judgment may be formed from the printed specimens; there being between them and those of every Sabbath no perceptible difference. Whatever time allotted for study was not taken up in preparing for the pulpit, was devoted to various branches of learning, with the exception of part of the forenoon and the whole of the afternoon of Saturday, which he usually spent with his family. We conclude with stating what is necessary to complete the picture, that his studies were pursued apparently without toil, were resumed or laid aside with ease, and never seemed to be engrossing his mind while in the company of his family or friends; that, although a hard student, he did not leave undone any one of the more active duties of his profession; and that while his labours in the closet and out of doors, when put together, exceeded, perhaps, those of the most of men, he overtook them all without bustle and without hurry, and never performed them in a superficial manner, but left on every thing he touched the marks of careful finishing."

In 1788, Dr. Dick first appeared before the public as an author, in a sermon, entitled "The Conduct and Doom of false Teachers of Religion." This was occasioned by the appearance of a work, entitled, "A practical Essay on the Death of Christ," by Dr. M'Gill of Ayr, in which that author, though a Presbyterian minister, boldly advanced Socinian sentiments. This sermon, though not possessing the high polish nor the condensation of sentiment which characterize most of his subsequent productions, contains a large body of scriptural truth

and deep moral reflection, and everywhere breathes a truly apostolic spirit against those who would corrupt the fundamental doctrines of the gospel.

His next publication appeared in 1796, "On the Necessity of Confessions of Faith." A large number of the members of the Synod to which he belonged, and among them Dr. Dick himself, wished to have a change made in their ordination-service, in regard to a few points of a purely speculative kind. The proposal awakened considerable controversy, in the course of which, those who pleaded for the change were charged with acting inconsistently with their subscription to the standards of the church. The sermon is entitled, "Confessions of Faith necessary, and the Duty of the Church in regard to them explained." In this sermon he of course defends the moderate use of confessions: the substance of his defence will be found in its proper place among his Lectures, and need not, therefore, be here repeated. It is proper, however, here to state, that he considered, and in this discourse endeavours to show, that one capital error on this subject has been committed by the great majority of Protestant churches, and one which has perhaps been a more prolific source of angry debate and schismatic division than almost any other: the error consists in their practically considering their various "Articles," "Confessions," and "Constitutions," as perfect and infallible. He does most pointedly and justly condemn that undue reverence for them which forms an almost impassable obstacle in the way of any subsequent revision when once they have been adopted, and which elevates them to a place in the estimation of a large portion of the religious public, to which, as the works of imperfect and fallible men, they can have no sort of claim—a place which belongs, in fact, only to the perfect word of God. He held, that they should be frequently revised, and that the contrary but most common practice is inconsistent with our profession as Protestants, and unworthy of those who are daily students of the Bible. As these views have not been very commonly expressed by the defenders of "Confessions," or, to say the least, have not been held up very prominently to view, and as the opposite and hitherto almost universal practice has given occasion to those who are hostile to "Creeds and Confessions" to "speak reproachfully" of them, we regret that this

sermon has not been more generally known in this country, particularly of late years.

His next work, "On Inspiration," which, prior to the publication of his "Lectures on Theology," formed the chief basis of his reputation as a theological writer, is said to have been occasioned by the same controversy that gave birth to the former. In the course of the discussion. about the power of the civil magistrate in ecclesiastical matters, and on the binding obligation of those "covenants" entered into by the church. and parliament of Scotland in the seventeenth century, which agitated a considerable portion of the Scottish church about forty years since, frequent reference was made to those events in the history of the Jews supposed by some of the disputants to be analogous to those events in Scottish history which were the matters of debate. They who denied these covenants to be any longer binding, it was affirmed, virtually questioned the inspiration of such portions of the Old Testament as had been referred to in the course of the controversy. The charge, being made in the heat of debate, was too contemptible to receive serious notice; it, however, induced Dr. Dick to direct his attention to the general subject of inspiration. He prepared and preached to his peopie a series of discourses on the subject. His mother, who heard them, and who was well qualified to judge of their merit, united with his people in asking their publication. With this request Dr. Dick did not then see fit to comply; but after a careful revision, he threw them into the form of an essay, and published it some years afterwards to aid in stemming the torrent of infidelity which was then setting in upon Great Britain with fearful power, owing to the popularity of French philosophy and politics. It is one of the best works upon the subject, and has already passed through a large number of editions in Great Britain, and through several in the United States. The substance of this work will also be found in its proper place among the Lectures on Theology.

These writings, and his occasional labours in various parts of the church, gained for him a very high reputation, and prepared the way for his being called to a more prominent position, and his entering on a more enlarged sphere of labour than he had previously occupied. He was twice called by the church