Churchyard was written by his early and much-loved friend, the Rev. Andrew Craig, minister of Lisburn. It is as follows:

:

"Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Thomas Cuming, Presbyterian minister, formerly of Dromore and latterly of Armagh. A warm heart, gentle manners, and a cheerful temper, the love of liberty, civil and religious, rational piety and integrity of life, endeared this excellent man to his family, to his congregation, and to an extensive circle of friends. Having faithfully discharged the duties of his sacred office, and animated with the hope of a happy immortality, he was called from this world on the 19th of August, 1816, in the thirty-third year of his ministry and fifty-ninth of his

age.

"He was," says Dr. Stuart," a man of sterling worth, an admirable preacher, and highly respected by the clergy and laity of all denominations."

His son, Dr. Thomas Cuming of Armagh, has for many years sustained the character of an able physician and an upright man, and still survives (1879) to enjoy the evening of a long and useful life.

PREACHING TO THE POOR.

Let us never by our indolence, by our indifference, or by our timidity, forfeit our claim to the high praise that in the Presbyterian Church the poor have the Gospel preached to them, and that its discipline and worship are fully adequate to incline the most numerous and useful portion of the human race to fulfil with propriety the unostentatious but often arduous duties of their humble station, and to guide them in the faithful discharge of every obligation which they owe to one another, to their country, and to their God, through the short and stormy passage of this life to a state of eternal and undisturbed order, serenity, and peace.

In thus training up the poor to the faithful discharge of their moral and religious duties, let us be animated by the most lively concern for their temporal and eternal welfare. Let us remember that the least of mankind are our fellow-creatures; that we owe them good-will not as a favour, but as a debt, and that we really

injure tham if we refuse it. If they are in need of instruction (especially if Providence have committed the instruction of them to our care), it is our bounden duty to deliver it in such manner as to produce its proper effects. Let us consider the disadvantageous circumstances of the lower part of mankind for obtaining just and true notions of religion. How much time is spent in the necessary affairs of life; how they toil from morning to evening, from day to day, and from year to year; and how little time they have to employ in religious inquiries. Let us consider, further, that no rational being can be supposed to be willingly in a mistake or error; that all men have a passion rather for truth than falsehood; and that the poor, in particular, are commonly more open to conviction, much less wedded to systems and opinions, more anxious to receive information, and more ready to receive truth, than the higher ranks. These considerations will cause us, when we see erroneous, or superstitious, or licentious notions prevailing in the minds of the multitude, to cherish compassion towards them, and consider their instruction as our most sacred and indispensable duty. They will not fail to make us perform with cheerfulness and zeal the part which we have undertaken; will enable us, by displaying the tenderest concern for their persons, and even their prejudices, to wean them from these very prejudices, and win them over to the love of truth and the practice of righteousness. This was the amiable, the condescending, the compassionate manner of teaching observed by our Saviour. 37, 38.

Let us walk in His steps.-Synodical Sermon, pp.

CHAPTER C.

MINOR WRITERS OF THE PERIOD (1731-1800).

To save space, we group into a separate chapter the less important writers of the time.

1. GEORGE CHERRY, M.A. (1725–1765), Minister at Clare. The Duty of a Minister to be a Pattern of Good Works. A Sermon preached before the Particular Synod of Ardmagh, on Tuesday, July 27, 1736. 12mo, pp. 37. Dublin, 1736. [Tit. ii. 7.] Mr. Cherry sympathised with the New Light ministers, and differed in this respect from his father-in-law, the Rev. Gilbert Kennedy of Tullylish (ch. xxxi.).

M. C. D.

2. A MINISTER OF THE GENERAL SYNOD (1742).

A New Creed Considered; or, the Principles of the Belfast Society, alias the Presbytery of Antrim, lately published by the Reverend Dr. James Kirkpatrick, briefly examined. 12mo, pp. 24. Dublin, 1742. M. C. D.

This is a comment on the six propositions of the Presbytery of Antrim, printed by Kirkpatrick in the appendix to Duchal's funeral sermon for Abernethy. It led to Kirkpatrick's last work, the Defence of Christian Liberty.

3. THE PRESBYTERIES OF ARMAGH AND DROMORE (1743-1745).

1. A Declaration in favour of Truth and Christian Liberty. 1743. 2. An Appeal to the Impartial World. By the Presbytery of

Armagh, 1744.

VOL. IL

21

3. An Answer to the Appeal of the Presbytery of Armagh, wherein the proceedings of the Presbytery of Dromore are laid open to public view.

4. A Reply. 1744.

1744.

5. A Defence of the Answer to the Presbytery of Armagh's Appeal. 1745.

This is an account of a miserable local controversy, explained by Dr. Killen, History, vol. iii. ch. xxvii. p. 252.

4. ANONYMOUS (1744).

Some Queries offered to the Consideration of the Rev. Mr. Thomas Nairn and his Admirers. 18mo, pp. 16. Londonderry, 1744.

W. D. K.

This tract, of unknown authorship, addressed ad vulgus, proves that so early as 1744, the year after the Rev. John M'Millan, a deposed minister of the Church of Scotland, and the Rev. Thomas Nairn, previously a Seceding minister, had united to form the first Reformed Presbytery, popularly known as Covenanters. Mr. Nairn visited Ireland on an evangelistic tour, and excited some surprise among the ministers of the General Synod by preaching and baptizing over the country. The tract is intended to expose the extreme opinions of the new party, but in a literary point of view is contemptible. It is, so far as I know, the earliest existing product of the Derry press.

5. ALEXANDER MACLAINE, M.A. (1735-1759), Minister at Ballynahinch and Antrim.

1. A Sermon preached at Antrim, December 18, 1745, being the National Fast. [Ps. cxxii. 6-9.] pp. 24. Dublin, 1746.

2. A Sermon, occasioned by the death of the late Rev. Henderson, preached at Dunean, January 7, 1753. 23.] pp. 22. Belfast, 1753.

C. P. L. Mr. John

[Job xxx. A. C. B.

This minister, brother of the Rev. Archibald Maclaine of Banbridge, was ordained on the 18th of August, 1735, as successor to the Rev. James M'Alpin, who, after resigning his philosophy school at Killyleagh, acted as

pastor of Ballynahinch (1714-1732). When Duchal removed to Dublin, Maclaine succeeded him at Antrim, in 1742, in the Old Congregation. His fast-day sermon is a political homily, in which he shows the right of the House of Hanover against the Stuarts; but although it asserts the doctrine of a particular providence, it is colourless enough as to all other Gospel doctrines. He married a daughter of the celebrated Abernethy (see ch. xxv.), and one of his own daughters became the wife of his successor, the Rev. William Bryson. Mr. Maclaine died in 1759, and was buried at Antrim.

6. CHARLES LYND (1708-1751), Minister at Coleraine. A Short and Plain Vindication of several Scripture Principles, especially of the Conditionality of the Covenant of Grace, and that Faith is the primary and comprehensive condition thereof, in opposition to the Antinomian Principles of the Seceders; with Remarks on some public prints between the Seceders in Scotland, and an Address to those persons who admire and follow the Seceding Preachers. 1749.

Charles Lynd was of Huguenot extraction. His family settled at Rathmullan, and he himself, after studying at Edinburgh, became minister of Fannet on the 25th February, 1708. He was qualified to preach in Irish, but we do not know to what extent he used his talent. He became in 1728 the first minister of the Second Congregation of Coleraine. His tract, issued when the Seceders came to the district, I have never seen. He died on the 21st December, 1751. Dr. Reid speaks of him as an "experienced Christian and a most zealous minister."

7. ROBERT PEEBLES (1758-1761), Minister at Loughgall.

Against the Seceders. 1750.

Dr. Clark of Cahans, writing in 1750, speaks of him with some contempt as "an ancient probationer" who had published a pamphlet against the Seceders, the real author of which, he hinted, was the Rev. James Orr of Loughgall. The pamphlet is now supposed to be lost.