of the Church of Scotland was a truly solemn event, but it has become inevitable. Mingled feelings of sorrow and joy struggled in my breast, but joy I think predominated."

On Sabbath, 28th May, the farewell sermon was preached in the church at Benholm. "I was carried through to the last beyond all expectation; but after the blessing was pronounced I was a good deal affected while the people were retiring."

On the following Thursday the manse was left; and as we have so few examples of these scenes in the Disruption Mss., we ask attention to the narrative :-" Our family, on the 1st of June, removed from the manse to the farm-house of Ballandro. In some respects this is a very sad event, but in truth I did not feel it as such. The Lord was pleased to give me such assurance that I was in the path of duty that I could take part in preparing stuff for removing,' and see all carried away without almost any emotion. I bless the Lord for His kindness to me and mine on this memorable day. My sister-inlaw and our two little girls went off in the forenoon in one of the carts, not to return again to that sweet abode. My poor wife and myself set off on foot before one o'clock, having seen all carried out and put on the carts. We went away in a solemn frame of mind, but by no means downcast. The Lord gave my wife great firmness, and she shed not a tear till she began by the way to speak of the grave which held the remains of our dear little boy. His dust sleeps there, but his soul is in heaven.

"A very wet afternoon, but people were kind to us, and we got all our things safely under roof; and when we sat down to tea amidst trunks and boxes, our hearts were full of gratitude to God that He had given us such an abode in existing circumstances. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits!

Meantime his health, never robust, began to feel the strain of Disruption trials, and the work that was needed in surrounding parishes.

One Sabbath, he says: "Very feeble; have cause to wonder that I am able to preach at all." Another time: "Had little strength this day. I sometimes fear that my vigour is so im

paired that it may never be restored to me." Again: "Preached but feebly to-day by reason of bodily infirmity. Oh, that my inefficient services may not injure the cause of Christ among my people." Once again: "Painful feeling in my head, which often greatly unfits me for public duty. This is indeed at present my thorn in the flesh."

In the midst of these feelings there was another cause of anxiety which lay heavy on his heart-the low state of spiritual life, as he considered it, in the parish, and the fear lest his own defects and shortcomings might be to blame. Many a sentence in these notes tells of the sensitiveness of his feelings on these points and the severity of the standard by which he judged himself.

"Weak this day. Had little comfort, and I fear gave little satisfaction.

"Had but little power this day. The Lord forgive my great unworthiness.

"Considerably embarrassed all this day. Oh, that the Lord would pity me, for I am weak."

Bodily weakness was thus combined to some extent with mental depression; but all through those records it is striking to observe how bravely, under a sense of duty, he goes on doing his work.

The opening of the New Free Church took place on the 10th of December, 1843, and is noted as a memorable day in the parish of Benholm. "I was permitted to preach in the forenoon on Gen. xxviii. 17; a poor sermon as written, but I was enabled to add some useful passages in delivering it; and I do bless the Lord for the gracious support given me. Mr. Nixon of Montrose, preached afternoon and evening, both able and faithful discourses. He baptised our little Margaret at the former diet. Oh, that the church which we endeavoured to consecrate to God may indeed be one of His own templesa Bethel, a house of God! Oh, what cause of thanksgiving to God, that He has so provided for a handful of poor people in this place! The Lord's name be praised!"

Now it was that his longings for the revival of religion began more prominently to show themselves. The awakening of reli

gious life, which was so marked in various districts of Scotland, had stirred up in the minds of many ministers an intense desire that "the shower of blessing" might visit their own part of the vineyard; and we give Mr. Glen's experience as an example of what was really a very widespread feeling in the Free Church at the time.

The opening of the church was followed at once, on Monday evening, by a prayer meeting, which he addressed from Ps. lxxxv. 6: "Wilt Thou not revive us again?" "I wish to press the subject of a revival on my people. The Lord revive His work in my own soul!"

Next Sabbath "took up the point that a revival of religion is needful. I bless the Lord for the countenance shown me throughout this day."

Again, during the same month, he returns to it, preaching on the efficient cause of revivals: "Oh, that the Lord for His own glory may own this feeble attempt to revive His work in this place! Were my own piety more genuine and high-toned, I have cause to believe that my influence might be greater."

From this time forward he gives a long course of sermons on the subject. It formed, indeed, the great theme of his preaching during the year which followed, as he went on expounding and urging home his views with all the earnestness of a man of God who looked and longed for the blessing from on high. The spirit which prompted these appeals comes out from time to time as the series goes on. "Was enabled to speak with considerable energy from Ps. cxix. 93. The congregation very large. Oh, that I truly felt the solemnity and responsibility of my station when called to address large assemblages of my fellow-sinners! Oh, that the Spirit were poured out to touch the hearts of many!"

The outward success of the congregation pleases but does not satisfy him. In March he finds there has been an addition to the number of communicants. "The cause of the Free Church is, therefore, as yet gaining ground in this place, and I do bless God for so much encouragement. Oh, that we saw still more cheering encouragement in the true conversion of many souls!"

To such longings, however, there seemed for a time to be

little response, and at the end of four months he is led to great searchings of heart. "To all appearance, the long series of sermons on revivals has been productive of no good. There must be something wrong in myself. The Lord show me how may be more useful, if it is His holy will to spare me a little longer for His service."

I

Still the earnestness does not relax, and signs of encouragement are not wholly withheld.

"Not very well; speaking with some difficulty. I leave what was said in the hands of God. A very large audience drawn together I know not for what cause. I trust God has some gracious end in view."

"Great freedom given me this day. Oh, how easy it is to preach when God is pleased to give gracious support!"

"Greatly assisted this evening, and wonderfully upheld. The audience seemed much affected."

After his return from the Assembly of 1844, he gave some account of the proceedings connected with Dr. Charles Brown's sermon : "Some little excitement among the people. The Lord increase it more and more."

"Oh, that I saw more fruit of my labours; or, rather, oh, that there were more fruit whether I see it or not!”

Such earnest longings on the part of a good and faithful servant are none the less impressive because he was called to go on sowing the seed, faithfully, ably, prayerfully preaching the Gospel and watching for souls, but destined to prove the truth of the saying that "one soweth and another reapeth."

These notices of Mr. Glen's personal experience and inner life may give some indication of the religious earnestness which prevailed in Disruption times. Few, indeed, were so devout as he. Few led a life of such close walking with God. But generally among the manses of the Free Church there was no small measure of the same state of mind. It was a season of religious awakening, in which men were feeling the impulse of quickened spiritual life, and all over the Church there were prayers going up to heaven, and longing desires cherished that God would come amidst scenes of revival to "refresh His heritage when it was weary."

LXIII. REVIVAL

THE Free Church, if true to her antecedents, might well cherish those longing desires to which we have referred. She "had been nursed," as Dr. Charles Brown once reminded the Assembly, "in the bosom of religious revival." It was in 1839, the year in which the fatal Auchterarder decision was pronounced, that William Burns preached at Kilsyth, when that great spiritual movement began, the effects of which were felt all over Scotland down to the time of the Disruption. Even amidst the turmoil and struggle of 1843 the impulse was not lost, as the memorable meeting of Assembly in 1844 sufficiently proved. During the years that followed, amidst the earnest, evangelical preaching of deputations and the more ordinary means of grace, there were tokens of spiritual blessing in various localities. At Ferryden, for example, not far from Benholm, on the same line of coast, Dr. Brewster was permitted in 1846 to see among the fishermen something of that religious movement which Mr. Glen was praying for and longing to see among the people of Johnshaven. "I spent three hours," says Dr. A. Bonar, "speaking with anxious souls in private, and preached to them twice. The scene one day reminded me of Dundee times. They were so easily moved to tears and sobs, though their faces were those of hard rough fisher-women. There are about thirty very deeply convinced of sin, and many more under the Spirit's strivings, Dr. Brewster's female teacher has been remarkably useful.*

But though individual cases of this kind were met with here and there over the country, it was not till a later period that the movement assumed such proportions as to arrest general attention.

* Letter dated 18th September, 1846; Miss. Record, 1847, p. 218