Life and diary of Lieut. Col. J. Blackader

CHAP. XX. MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS. 497
April 1. Being appointed a member to the Synod
of Glasgow and Ayr, I took journey yesterday and
came to the Synod at Ayr. I observed a stiff and
fiery spirit got in among them. Lord, rebuke their
spirit ; heal our distempers and plagues ; restore the
spirit of love, charity, and meekness.
April 2. There was sad work this day in the
Synod. Mr. Anderson gave in a violent libel against
the ministers of Glasgow.* There was much wrangling
and contention on both sides. A healing overture
was proposed, but it displeased both parties, and both
protested. Next day we could not come to an agree-
ment, and nothing but voting could bring the matter
to a decision. When my opinion was asked, I said,
Moderator,— -I have not inclined to speak upon
this subject all this while ; now I shall give my mind
freely upon the whole. This debate is between two
parties, which I am sorry should be contending parties,
and which should never be at A r ariance, viz. the mi-
nisters and the people of a city. I see the business
has been managed on both sides with much cross, ill
humour. Both have committed faults ; a great fer-
ment has been raised, and a great fire kindled. It is
* Mr. Anderson was minister at Dumbarton, and figured much in
the controversies of his time. He wrote with great virulence against
Prelacy and the Liturgy ; and was answered with equal scurrility by
Mr. Calder, an Episcopal minister in Edinburgh. His call to Glas-
gow was favoured by many of the citizens and burgesses, but opposed
by the clergy and University ; and it was in answer to their complaints
against him that he appeared at the Synod of Ayr. One of his op-
ponents observed, " Why should the peace of the Church be broken
by one man ? Let Jonah be thrown into the deep, and the storrn shall
be calm."—" No," replied another, " let him rather be sent to the
city to preach repentance. "«— Fi'i/. Pamphlets on the Subject-
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