BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 49
system. But, while he deprecated patronage in the abstract, he was equally
averse to popular election. The plan which he promulgated, in his address, was
similar in principle to the act in 1732. He proposed that one entire vote
should remain with the patron, a second with the heritors, and a third with the
elders ; the majority of these three bodies to decide the election of the minister.
In order to obtain the concurrence of the patrons to this partial divestment
of their power-“Let it be provided,” he says, “ that all vacant stipends
shall be declared to become their absolute property, instead of being conveyed
in trust for any other purpose ;” and, by way of explaining such an extraordinary
clause, the Rev. gentleman adds-“ The vacant stipends are appropriated
in law to pious uses within the parish, but indeed are very seldom so bestowed,
and parishes would in fact suffer nothing by their total abolition !” This plan,
as might have been foreseen, was not at all calculated to meet the views of the
popular party ; but it had the effect of introducing the author to public notice,
and of paving the way for his subsequent advancement,
In 1784, only two years after the publication of his “Principles of Moderation,”
Dr. Hardie was called, by the Town Council of Edinburgh, to be one of
the Ministers of the High Church. Here he soon attracted notice as a preacher ;
and an exposition which he gave of the Gospel according to St. John, was so
generally esteemed, that an Edinburgh bookseller is said to have offered him a
very considerable sum for the copyright. On the proposal being made to him,
however, it was discovered that the lectures had never been written out, but
delivered from short notes only. In consequence of delicate health, and finding
himself unable for so large a place of worship as the High Church, he was
at his own request removed, in 1786, to Haddo’s Hole, or the New North
Parish, where he continued the colleague of Dr. Gloag until his death.
In 1788 Dr. Hardie was elected to the Professorship of Ecclesiastical History
in the University, vacant by the death of the Rev. Robert Cumming.
For many years previously this important class had been in a languishing condition
; but the appointment of Dr. Hardie infused a new spirit among the students.
His course of lectures was well attended ; and his fame as a Professor
soon equalled, if it did not surpass, his popularity as a preacher. His views of
church history took an extensive range ; and the boldness of his sentiments was
not less vigorous than the manly tone of his eloquence.
Although thus placed in a situation of high honour and importance, and his
time necessarily much engaged, Dr. Hardie still interested himself actively in
matters of public moment. He was one of the original members of the “ Society
for the Benefit of the Sons of the Clergy of the Church of Scotland;” and in
1791, preached the first anniversary sermon before the Society: which was
afterwards published. Other sermons, preached on public occasions, were also
“ The Benevolence of the Christian Spirit ; a sermon preached in the Tron church of Edinburgh,
31st May 1791, before the Society for the Benefit of the Sons of the Clergy of the church of
Scotland. By Thomas Hardie, D.D., one uf the ministers of the city, and Regius Professor of
Divinity and Church History in the University of Edinburgh.” Creech, Is.
VOL. IL H .