AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER
.
The Rev. Mr. Robert Traill was descended
of an ancient family, that had been in possession of the estate of Blebo, in
Fife, from the time of Walter Traill, archbishop of St. Andrews, 1385, who
purchased it, and gave it to his nephew. Robert Traill, son of James Traill,
and father of our author, was minister first of Ely, in the east of Fife,
afterwards of the Grayfriars church in Edinburgh, and was much distinguished
for his fidelity and zeal in discharging the duties of his function. He married
Jean Annan, of the family of Auchterallan, by whom he had three sons and three
daughters; William, who died minister of Borthwick; Robert, the author of the
following sermons; James, lieutenant of the garrison in Stirling castle; Helen,
married to Mr. Thomas Paterson, minister of Borthwick; Agnes, married to Sir
James Stewart of Goodtrees, Lord Advocate of Scotland, and Margaret, married to
James Scot of Bristo, writer in Edinburgh. At the restoration, Mr. Traill, with
other ministers, was prosecuted before the Scotch council, and, in consequence
of their sentence, was imprisoned seven months in Edinburgh, and banished from
the realm. His answers to his libel do him much honour, as a man and a
Christian. From these, and some of his private letters still extant, he appears
to have been a judicious and holy servant of our Lord Jesus Christ.1 He
afterward returned to Scotland, and died during the time of the persecution; we
have seen nothing of his in print, but a letter to his wife and children, from
Holland. His son Robert, the subject of this Memoir, was born at Ely, May 1642.
After the usual course of education at home, he was sent to the university of
Edinburgh, where he recommended himself to the several professors, by his
capacity and diligent application to his studies. Having determined to devote
himself to the work of the ministry, he pursued the study of divinity with
great ardour for several years. He was intimate with the Rev. William
Guthrie of Finwick, and several others of the Presbyterian
ministers; and was present when Mr. James Guthrie suffered death for his
adherence to the peculiar principles of the Scottish church. His father being
banished, had taken refuge in Holland; the family he left behind him were in
great straits; in this situation our author had no settled residence.
In
1666, he was obliged to lurk for some time, together with his mother and elder
brother, because some copies of a book, entitled, An Apologetic Relation,
&c. which the privy council had ordered to be publicly burnt, were found in
Mrs. Traill’s house. At that time the Presbyterians in Scotland were
treated with great severity, and the privy council, in the execution of cruel
laws that had been enacted by the legislature, at the instigation of the
bishops, was continually harassing them by their tyrannical edicts, enjoining
conformity to the established prelatical church, under most unreasonable civil
pains and penalties, and enforcing their arbitrary and intolerant decrees by
the terror of military quarter and execution. These harsh and unjustifiable
methods provoked many of that oppressed and unhappy people; and inflamed their
spirits to that degree, that they took up arms, and advanced the length of
Pentland-hills, near Edinburgh, where they were totally defeated and dispersed
in an engagement with the king’s forces. Our author was suspected of being
among those that were in arms; and a proclamation was issued by the council for
apprehending him, which obliged him to retire to Holland, to his father, where
he arrived in the beginning of the year 1667.
Here he continued to study
divinity, and assisted Nethenus, professor of divinity in the university of
Utrecht, in the republication of Rutherford’s Examination of Arminianism.
In the preface to his edition of that book, Nethenus speaks of Mr. Robert
Traill as a pious, prudent, learned, and industrious young man. Coming over to
Britain in 1670, he was ordained to the ministry by some Presbyterian clergymen
in London. Being in Edinburgh 1677, he preached privately. Here, in the month
of July, he was apprehended and brought before the privy council. To them, he
acknowledged he had kept house-conventicles; being interrogate, if he had
preached at field-conventicles, he referred that to proof, and declined to
answer, it being criminal by law; upon which he was ordered by the council to
purge himself, by oath, of preaching or hearing at them. This he peremptorily
refused, as what, in justice, he could not be obliged to do in his own cause.
He owned he had conversed with Mr. John
Welsh, on the English border. He was on these accounts sent to the
Bass. Here he enjoyed the company of Messrs.
Frazer of Brae,
Peden, and others, confined for their
attachment to the testimony of Jesus.
From this prison he was relieved, by
order of government, in the month of October the same year. Afterwards he
returned to England, and preached in a meeting house at Cranbrook, a small town
in Kent. From this he removed to London, where for many years he was pastor to
a Scottish congregation, there he laboured faithfully and successfully,
performing the duties of his ministry, both on Sabbaths and in a lecture on
week days; he modestly details his experience in the following words:—I
have no name to come to God in but Christ. My own name is abominable to myself,
and deservedly hateful in heaven. No other name is given under heaven, but that
of Jesus Christ, in which a sinner may safely approach unto God. Since the
Father is well pleased with this name, and the Son commands me to ask in it,
and the Holy Ghost hath brought this name to me, and made it as ointment poured
forth, Song 1:3, and since its savour hath reached my soul, I will try to lift
it up as incense to perfume the altar and throne above; since all that ever
come in this name are made welcome, I will come also, having no plea but
Christ’s name, no covering but his borrowed and gifted robe of
righteousness. I need nothing, I will ask nothing, but what his blood hath
bought (and all that, I will ask); I will expect answers of peace and
acceptance only in that blessed beloved—beloved of the Father, both as his
Son and our Saviour, and beloved of all that ever saw but a little of his grace
and glory.
In 1691, upon the republication of Dr. Crisp’s works, a
flood of legal doctrine seemed to break in among the Dissenting ministers and
others in London—a sort of medium between Calvinism and Arminianism was
proposed, and the doctrines of grace, as explained by the Reformers, were
branded as Antinomianism. In this controversy, Dr. Chauncy, Messrs. Thomas
Cole, Nathaniel Mather, Thomas Goodwin, younger, and others, with much ability
defended the doctrines of the Gospel; among these Mr. Traill appeared with much
lustre, as a well informed and evangelical divine. In his sermons preached
about that time, particularly on Galatians 2:21, he clearly illucidates the
doctrines of grace; and in a letter to a country minister (afterwards
published,) he plainly discovers his sentiments and spirit, and throws much
light on the controverted subjects. The late celebrated Hervey says of this
letter, “This is a judicious performance, it rightly divides the word of
truth, and lays the line, with a masterly hand, between the presumptuous
Legalist, and the licentious Antinomian.” This excellent man died May
1716, aged 74.
During his life-time, he published a sermon in the morning
exercise, on 1 Timothy 4:16, in answer to the question, By what Means may
Ministers best win Souls to Christ, 1682; afterwards, Thirteen Sermons on the
Throne of Grace, Hebrews 4:16; and Sixteen Sermons on the Lord’s Prayer,
John 17:24; after his death was published a volume, entitled, Stedfast
Adherence to the Professions of our Faith, from Hebrews 10:23. This is prefaced
and recommended by the Rev. Messrs. Tong, Nisbet, and Clarke, eminent ministers
in London. In 1778 and 1779, was published another volume, transcribed from Mr.
Traill’s MSS eleven of these are from 1 Peter 1:1-4 and six on Galatians
2:21. He also wrote a short account of the Rev. William Guthrie, author of a
small but excellent tract, The Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ; and a
recommendation of Marshall on Sanctification.