1821.] 



Mimoirs of Dr. Lmdsay. 



tSQ 



dination, seems to have impressed his 

 mind, as the general course of his preach- 

 ings has amply testified. From this time his 

 engagements were ni.fiierous, as he soon 

 became connected with a school at Newing- 

 ton Green ; and he often complained that 

 he had less time to devote to preparation 

 for the pulpit than he wished to have had. 

 But he had rich stores in his own capacious 

 mind, and a command of language which 

 must have rendered composition much more 

 easy to him than it would have been to 

 many others. 



Those who constantly attended his minis- 

 try were instructed aud impressed by his 

 clear statement and powerful enforcement 

 of practical truth. None of them could 

 be at a loss to know that his sentiments did 

 not agree with some of those which were 

 held by persons who, in modern times, 

 have assumed the appellation of Unitarians, 

 and more especially such as concerned the 

 person of Christ and the eflficacy of his 

 mediation; they must be well apprised, 

 that while he asserted and maintained the 

 unity of God, and admitted only one object 

 of religious worship, he believed the pre- 

 existent dignity of Jesus Christ ; and 

 thought him degraded by those who con- 

 sidered him as a mere man ; and that he 

 ascribed offices and powers to him under 

 the Christian dispensation, which in his 

 judgment, constituted in part the excel- 

 lence and value of Christianity, and which 

 contributed to render it peculiarly impor- 

 tant and interesting to mankind. 



He called no man master on earth : he 

 believed that the kingdom of Christ was 

 not of this world : whilst he rendered unto 

 Caesar the things that were Caesar's, he no 

 less conscientiously rendered unto God the 

 things that were God's. He allowed of 

 no interference on the part of ecclesiastical 

 synods or presbyteries, and much less of 

 civil magisti-ates, iu prescribing authorita- 

 tively to the faith and worship of Chris- 

 tians. Although he was educated under 

 an establishment, he asserted and main- 

 tained on all occasions, the unalienable 

 right of private judgment ; nor would he 

 suffer any one to invade the empire of con- 

 science without the penalty of that animad- 

 version which the powers of his eloquence 

 could inflict. He interdicted and proscrib- 

 ed the use of all other weapons in the pro- 

 vince of religion. 



Besides the office of pastor, which he 

 sustained in connexion with this society, 

 with undiminished, I should rather say 

 with increasing acceptance and attachment 

 for about thirty-eight years, there was ano- 

 ther department of no less importance and 

 utility which he occupied ; and tfiis was 

 the instruction of youth. For this office, 

 his natural talents, his acquired endow- 

 ments, and the habits of his early life had 

 singularly qualified him; and when we 



take into the account the disposition as well 

 as the powers of his mind, we need not 

 wonder that his school should have gained 

 high reputation, and that it should have 

 maintained its reputation for many years. 

 Soon after his settlement with this congre- 

 gation, he undertook the charge of Mrs. 

 Cockburn's academy at Newington-Green, 

 which she, in a few years, resigned in his 

 favour. During his residence there, he 

 married Mrs. Cockbum's niece, who at her 

 death left him with the charge of four 

 daughters who survive him. At this time 

 he officiated as afternoon preacher at New- 

 ington-Green Chapel, with the late Rev. 

 Dr. Towers for his colleague, as moniing 

 preacher for twelve years; he also preached 

 the Sunday evening lecture at Salters' Hall 

 Meefiug-house, in connexion with Mr. 

 Worthington, and Mr. (now Dr.) Morgan ; 

 a vacancy in that lecture having been occa- 

 sioned by my resignation. During the last 

 two years of his life, I had the pleasure and 

 benefit of his assistance, as afternoon 

 preacher, at the Old Jewry Chapel in Jewin- 

 street. 



In the year 1805, the University of King's 

 College of Aberdeen, conferred upon him 

 the degree of D.D., and never was this 

 honour more properly bestowed. In the 

 same year he removed with his flourishing 

 academy to Bow, in Middlesex, to a house 

 and situation in every respect suitable to 

 his purpose. In his employment as a teach- 

 er of youth, he had an opportunity of ren- 

 dering distinguished service to the present 

 generation, and in its remoter influence to 

 future ages. Many of his pupils are now 

 reflecting honour on the institution that 

 had the charge of their early years, and 

 not a few of them are sincere mourners in 

 deploring the decease of the instructor and 

 guardian of their youth ; and in bearing 

 testimony to the degree in which they re- 

 spected and loved him. Among the atten- 

 dants at his funeral, we had the pleasure of 

 observing a considerable number of them, 

 who had expressed their wishes to follow 

 his remains to the grave. 



The diffusion of knowledge and the edu- 

 cation of the poor, were objects always 

 dear to his heart, and to the promotion of 

 which his whole life had been devoted. In 

 the prosecution of these objects he met his 

 brethren on the day of death, apparently 

 in excellent health and spirits ; and after 

 having delivered an address to them on the 

 occasion, calm and composed, but in his 

 usual manner, animated and interesting; 

 and having assured them, with a spirit of 

 concession and conciliation which did him 

 honour, that disapproving some of the pro- 

 visions of Mr. Brougham's education bill, 

 and wishing for further modifications of it, 

 not likely to be obtained, he should concur 

 with them in the measures upon which they 

 were deliberating, aud which they unani- 

 mously 



