Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 1.djvu/117

Every one encouraged another. The sight of their nobles, and their beloved pastors, daily raised their hearts. The good sermons and prayers, morning and evening, under the roof of heaven, to which their drums did call them for bells; the remonstrance very frequent of the goodness of their cause; of their conduct hitherto, by a hand clearly divine; also Leslie's skill, and prudence, and fortune, made them as resolute for battle as could be wished. We were feared that emulation among our nobles might have done harm, when they should be met in the field; but such was the wisdom and authority of that old, little, crooked soldier, that all, with an incredible submission, from the beginning to the end, gave over themselves to be guided by him, as if he had been great Solyman.—Had you lent your ear in the morning, or especially at even, and heard in the tents the sound of some singing psalms, some praying, and some reading Scripture, ye would have been refreshed. True, there was swearing, and cursing, and brawling, in some quarters, whereat we were grieved; but we hoped, if our camp had been a little settled, to have gotten some way for these misorders; for all of any fashion did regret, and all promised to do their best endeavours for helping all abuses. For myself, I never found my mind in better temper than it was all that time since I came from home, till my head was again homeward; for I was as a man who had taken my leave from the world, and was resolved to die in that service without return." This expedition ended in a treaty between the Scottish leaders and their sovereign, in terms of which hostilities ceased for a few months. On the renewal of the insurrectionary war next year, Baillie accompanied the Scottish army on its march into England, and became the chronicler of its transactions. Towards the end of the year 1640, he was selected by the Scottish leaders as a proper person to go to London, along with other commissioners, to prepare charges against Archbishop Laud, for his innovations upon the Scottish church, which were alleged to have been the origin of the war. He had, in April, before the expedition, published a pamphlet, entitled, "Ladensium Αυτοκατακρισις: the Canterburian's Self-conviction; or an Evident Demonstration of the avowed Arminianisme, Poperie, and Tyrannie of that Faction, by their own confessions," which perhaps pointed him out as fit to take a lead in the prosecution of the great Antichrist of Scottish presbytery. Of this and almost all the other proceedings of his public life, he has left a minute account in his letters and journals, which are preserved entire in the archives of the church of Scotland, and in the university of Glasgow, and of which excerpts were published in 2 vols. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1775. These reliques of Mr Baillie form valuable materials of history. Not long after his return to his native country, in 1642, he was appointed joint professor of divinity at Glasgow, along with Mr David Dickson, an equally distinguished, but less moderate divine. It affords some proof of the estimation in which he was now held, that he had the choice of this appointment in all the four universities of Scotland. He performed his duties from this period till the restoration, and at the same time attended all the General Assemblies as a member, except during an interval in 1643-6, when he was absent as a delegate to the Westminster assembly of divines. In this latter capacity, he conducted himself in an unobtrusive manner, but fully concurred in the principles and views of the more prominent men. It is observable from his letters, that, with the pardonable earnestness of his age and party, he looked upon toleration as a thing fatal to religion, and strenuously asserted the divine right of the presbyterian church to be established in complete ascendancy and power as a substitute for the church of England. From 1646 to 1649, he discharged his ordinary duties as a theological teacher, without taking a leading part in public affairs. But in the latter year, he was chosen by the church, as the fittest person to carry its homage to king Charles II. at the Hague, and to invite