Biographical Sketch
Robert Traill was born in Elie, May, 1642. After the usual
prepatory studies, he was sent to the College of Edinburgh, where he
distinguished himself in the several classes. He devoted his life to the
ministry and the cause of the church of his fathers.
This devotion was
greatly manifested by his attendance upon Mr. James Guthrie, minister of
Stirling, on the scaffold of martyrdom, 1661. In 1666, in consequence of some
copies of the Apologetical Relation, a work (penned by John Brown, of Wamphray)
hated by the prelates, and condemned by the Privy Council to the flames, found
in his home, he was obliged with his mother and brother to go into hiding.
It is reported that Robert Traill was in arms with the Covenanters when
they were routed at Pentland Hills. Because of this, he found it necessary to
flee to Holland, where his father was already, in 1667.
Sometime around
1669, he returned to London and commenced his ministry there.
In 1677,
while visiting Scotland, he was apprehended and arraigned before the Privy
Council. He refused to clear himself by their unlawful oath and was, upon
little evidence, sentenced to imprisonment on the
Bass rock. He was
released after three months and returned to London where he continued to
officiate as pastor of a Presbyterian congregation until his death, in May,
1716.
A little more and some pictures on Bass Rock
can be seen here
Works:
Six Sermons from Galatians II.21.
Sermon on "By What Means Ministers May
Best Win Souls." Vindication of the Protestant Doctrine Concerning
Justification, and of its Preachers and Professors, from the Unjust Charge of
Antinomianism.
Sermon on Hebrews XII.29.
Sermon on Isaiah LXIII.16.
Three Sermons on Matthew VII.13,14.
Sermon on Ephesians III.8.
Sermon on Philippians II.12,13.
Sermon on 1 Corinthians II.10.
Two
Sermons on Hebrews VI.4,5,6.