81 BIOGRAPHICAL ‘SKETCHES.
promoting what has been considered a remarkable revival of religion in the
west of Scotland at that period ; and about ten years afterwards, in 1756, in
a letter to the Rev. Dr, Gillies of Glasgow, he alludes, with a glow of satisfaction,
to its remaining salutary effects in the parish of Killearn.
During the whole period of his ministerial labours in connection with the
Established Church, he displayed great public spirit ; and, even while a country
clergyman, confined to his retired sphere of exertion, he was, as he had opportunity
in the Church courts, a zealous defender of her liberty, independence, and
legal rights, and a determined opponent of what he considered ecclesiastical
tyranny, or an encroachment on her privileges. His feelings on these matters
were distinctly and strongly expressed, connected with the procedure in his
case at the bar of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1766.
The conduct of that Court, in 1752, in deposing the Rev. Mr. Thomas Gillespie,
of Carnock, from the office of the ministry, as well as some more recent proceedings,
were understood to have made a strong impression on his mind.
Considering them as infringing on the cause of religious liberty, they had undoubtedly
a powerful influence in inducing him to resign his pastoral charge in
Paisley. In the opinion of some of his friends, however, an occurrence, toward
the close of his ministry in that town, was not without its effect.
A vacancy in the office of session-clerk of the parish having taken place, a
keen dispute arose as to who had the right of appointing a successor-whether
the Kirk Session or Town Council. Each of these public bodies maintained
their claim with obstinate tenacity. After much angry dispute, in which the
whole community took an interest, the case came to be litigated in the Court
of Session, and was finally.decided in favour of the Town Council. This
decision produced much disagreeable feeling among the members of Session, and
some of them resigned. With the discontented party Mr. Baine accorded, and
keenly pleaded their cause ; but his reverend colleague having taken part with
the members of Town Council, a painful misunderstanding was produced
between these two distinguished clergymen, and followed with consequences
probably affecting the’future destinies of both: To this disagreeable event Mr,
Baine particularly refers, in his letter to the Moderator of Paisley Presbytery,
had presided. It is, however, well known to those acquainted with the history of that eventful period,
that, in 1775, on the breaking out of the American revolutionary war, his laudable and useful labours
were interrupted by the confusion and disasters which ensued. The buildings of the College were made
a barracks for the royal army ; the library, with other parts of the premises, were entirely destroyed ;
and the President himself, upon the approach of the hostile legions, was obliged to fly to a place of
safety. Having espoused the cause of the revolted colonies, he was at an early period of the contest
appointed a member of Congress ; and, in that station, he became in a high degree beneficial to the
cause by his talents as a writer and political economist. Many of the most important papers connected
with the business of that Assembly were known to be the production of his pen.
After a life of great activity and usefulness, Dr. Witherspoon died at Princetown, New Jersey, in
1794, in the seventy-second year of his age.
Kay, in his notes, alluding to the variances of the two clergymen, somewhat wittily remarks
that the call of Mr. Baine to the Relief Congregation in Edinburgh “may be supposed to have
afforded relief to both.’’
