centricity, absurd sayings were
invented for him, and when, at any time, a singular statement, or an
uncouth expression, was heard to proceed from him, it was seized upon with
avidity, treasured up, and repeated as an illustration of the kind of
preaching that was common among the ministers of his church. It is almost
inconceivable, therefore, how many, even among the intelligent classes of
society, in the present day, have been led, most unwarrantably, to form
their estimate of the literary qualifications of the ministers of
Scotland, in the seventeenth century, from the grotesque "Pockmanty
Sermon" of the Rev. James Row, minister at Monnivaird and Strowan, from
Hobbes's Behemoth, from the unpolished, unauthenticated(43) discourses of
some of the field preachers, or from that collection of profanity and
obscenity entitled "Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Display'd."(44)

Bishop Hall bears honourable testimony to the character and professional
accomplishments of the ministers of Scotland, in the early part of the
seventeenth century. In a sermon preached by him in London, on Easter
Monday, 1618, he says, "For the northern part of our land, beyond the
Tweed, we saw not, we heard not, of a congregation without a preaching
minister, and though their maintenance generally hath been small, yet
their pains have been great, and their success answerable. As for the
learning and sufficiency of those preachers, whether prelates or
presbyters, our ears were for some of them sufficient witnesses; and we
are not worthy of our ears, if our tongues do not thankfully proclaim it
to the world."

When we approach somewhat nearer the time of Binning, we can point, in the
Church of Scotland, to such men as Robert Leighton, who was then the
Presbyterian minister of the parish of Newbottle, and to Alexander
Henderson, minister of the parish of Leuchars, in the county of Fife, men
who would have done honour to any Protestant church in Europe. Nothing
need be said of the piety and eloquence of Leighton, whose name has been
preserved from obscurity, by his subsequent elevation to the episcopal
chair, and the publication of his admirable writings. The name of
Henderson may not be so familiar to some. But what says an English
historian of him? "Alexander Henderson, the chief of the Scottish clergy
in this reign, was learned, eloquent, and polite, and perfectly well
versed in the knowledge of mankind. He was at the helm of affairs in the
General As