CONTENTS.

DEDICATION,

PREFACE TO THE READER,

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE BIRTH, PARENTAGE, AND CHARAC-
TER, OF THE REV. THOMAS HALYBURTON, WITH SOME OTHER
CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS LIFE,
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF REV. THOMAS HALYBURTON, WRITTEN
BY HIMSELF SOME YEARS BEFORE HIS DEATH.-INTRODUCTION,

PART I.

NARRATING THE STATE OF MATTERS WITH ME FROM THE TIME
OF MY BIRTH, TILL I WAS ABOUT TEN YEARS OF AGE, OR
THEREBY,

PAGE

5

7

17

25

26

PART II.

CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, INTERRUP-
TIONS, REVIVALS, AND ISSUES OF THE LORD'S STRIVINGS WITH
ME, DURING THE TEN OR ELEVEN ENSUING YEARS OF MY LIFE,
FROM MAY 1685 TO AUGUST 1696.

CHAP. I. Containing an account of the first rise of any
concern about religion-its result; revivals and other
occurrences thereto relating for the first two years
of this time,

CHAP. II. Containing an account of the revival of convictions, their effects, progress, issues, and interruptions, from the close of 1687 to 1690 or 1691, when I went from Perth to stay at Edinburgh,

CHAP. III. Giving an account of the increase of my con-
victions, during my stay at Edinburgh, from harvest
1690 or 1691, till May 1693, and the vain refuges I
betook myself to for relief,

CHAP. IV. Containing an account of the progress of the
Lord's work, the straits I was reduced to, and the
courses I took for relief, from May 1693, when I left
Edinburgh, till I went to the family of Wemyss,
August 1696,

PART III.

CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROGRESS OF THE LORD'S WORK
FOR THE SPACE OF ABOUT THREE YEARS ENSUING, FROM
AUGUST 1696 TO JUNE 1699; THE DREADFUL STRAIT I WAS AT
LAST BROUGHT TO, WITH MY OUTGATE, AND THE STATE OF
MATTERS WITH ME FOR SOME TIME AFTER THIS.

CHAP. I. Giving an account of the progress of my con-
victions, temptations, and vain reliefs, from the time
I went to the Wemyss, till I was at last brought to the
utmost extremity,

PAGE

79

i

got

CHAP. II. Containing an account of the outgate
about the close of January 1698, and the state of mat-
ters thereon,
CHAP. III. Containing an account of the pleasure of my
case at this time, the mistakes I was still under, the
sad effects of them, and the way of their discovery,
CHAP. IV. Containing an account of my strugglings with
indwelling sin, its victories, the causes of them on my
part, and God's goodness with respect to this trial,
CHAP. V. Containing an account of my exercise about
the guilt of sin, the means of obtaining pardon, and
the intimations thereof,

CHAP. VI. Recounting my exercise about the being of
God, and showing my outgate from the way of this
temptation,

98

118

130

137

154

CHAP. VII. Containing an account how I came to be satisfied that the Scriptures are the word of God, and how temptations in reference to them were repelled, 161 CHAP. VIII. Containing a short account of the issue of some other temptations wherewith I had been exercised, and the relief I got with respect to them from the Lord,

169

PART IV.

CONTAINING SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS ORDINATION UNTO THE HOLY
MINISTRY, AND HIS CONDUCT THEREIN.

CHAP. I. Of his being licensed to preach the gospel,
CHAP. II. Of his entering on the ministry at Ceres,
CHAP. III. Of his management in the work of the
ministry,

CHAP. IV. 'Containing his judgment concerning several
cases, especially with respect to his own exercise and
practice,

181

185

187

193

208

CHAP. V. Of his marriage and conduct in his family,
CHAP. VI. Of his entering upon the profession of divinity, 223

AN ACCOUNT OF SOME OF THE LAST WORDS OF THE REV. THOMAS
HALYBURTON, PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN ST. ANDREWS, ON
HIS DEATH-BED, SEPTEMBER, 1712,

APPENDIX,

226

301

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

THE LADY HENRIETTA CAMPBELL.

MADAM,

It will not be thought strange, by any who know your Ladyship, and the esteem you had for my dear husband, now in glory, that I take the boldness to present you with these Memoirs of his Life. The character your Ladyship bears, the acquaintance you have with Christian exercise, the share you have had in the sufferings of this Church, and your steady adhering to the truth in the worst of times, and under all the trials your Ladyship has met with, together with those other excellent qualifications wherewith the Lord hath endued you, may easily account for my presuming so far, and give me assurance that the present will be acceptable to your Ladyship, and that you will readily pardon my presumption, in prefixing your honourable name to it

which is all I have access to do, in testimony of that profound respect your Ladyship may justly claim, and which I shall always be ambitious to pay: Being in all sincerity,

MADAM,

Your Ladyship's most humble,

And most obedient Servant,

JANET WATSON.

THE PREFACE TO THE READER.

Of all biography, the lives of eminent saints are, beyond all controversy, the most edifying and useful, being, in some measure, a transumpt of the holiness of God and his word. Their laudable and amiable example carries in it such a secret and powerful efficacy to make impressions on fellow-Christians, yea, on all generous souls with whom there are any remains of conscience, that it has often provoked them to love and good works, and. by a pious emulation, to tread their steps, to glorify God, and mend their pace heaven-ward. (Heb. x. 24; Matt. v. 16; 1 Pet. ii. 12, iii. 1.)

Without the holy and exemplary lives of the votaries of religion, the gospel of Christ usually is so far from gaining ground, that it daily loses the room it has in the world; of which the present melancholy state of the reformed churches is too plain a document. I am persuaded, that next to the great outpouring of the "Spirit from on high" (Isa. xxxii. 15), the rapid and admirable success of the glorious gospel was greatly owing to the holy lives of its professors, especially their shining in the peculiar and distinguishing duties of Christianity, and their cheerful and undaunted boldness in suffering for Christ. Therefore, since in our day the gospel is so