SECT. PH. THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 319 



and management in carrying it into effect. And 

 I strongly doubt, if one instance of a violent set- 

 tlement can be produced, where the business has 

 been wisely and prudently conducted. 



I had the honour of being acquainted with a 

 gentleman, who had the charge of settling 20 

 churches for 30 years ; during .all which period, 

 every settlement under his direction was effect- 

 ed peaceably and without a struggle, Besides 

 the temper and address he discovered in manag- 

 ing the passions and prejudices of men, his ge- 

 neral character contributed, in no small degree, 

 to his success. His personal piety, his steady 

 regard to the interests of religion, and the peace 

 of the church, the affability of his manners to- 

 wards his inferiors, and the warm interest he 

 took in whatever concerned their good, secured 

 to him universal respect and esteem. Hence it 

 happened, that his opinions, his advices, and re- 

 commendations, in every thing relative to their 

 religious, as well as their temporal affairs, were 

 listened to with a kind of veneration, and al- 

 most implicitly followed. Simi4aj effects will 

 flow from similar causes ; and I am convinced, 

 that if church-settlements had - been universally 

 conducted with the same wisdom and address, 

 most of those religious animosities and disputes, 

 which, to the great prejudice of true religion 

 and social happiness, have distracted and soured 

 the minds of the lower classes, would have been 

 prevented, and the additional burden of main- 

 taining a separate order of clergy, would never 

 have been necessary, or at least would not have 

 been so extensively felt. 



