In 1791, Dr Campbell was seized with a violent ill MSS, and his life was despaired of. On this occasion, he gave a testimony to Christianity, which it is proper to record : 44 God has been pleased," said he, to give me some understanding of his promises in the Gospel of his Son Jesus Christ. These I have communicated to others in my life. I now entertain the faith and hope of them ; and this may be considered as the testimony of a dying man." Contrary to all expectation, he was re stored to the capacity of engaging in his former duties and studies. After labouring for four years longer, hav ing lost his wife whom he tenderly loved, feeling himself inadequate, from age and infirmity, to the vigorous and multifarious exertions which his several offices required, and satisfied that he was to be succeeded by a person who was every way qualified to fill the situations from which he was to retire, he resigned them all in the year 1795, in favour of Dr W. Lawrence Brown, with whom he soon acquired habits of intimacy, and with whose ap pointment he frequently declared himself highly pleased. He received from government a pension of 3001. a year; a mark of public respect and gratitude which gave him unfeigned satisfaction, but which he did not live long to enjoy. On the 31st of March 1796, he was affected with a stroke of palsy, which deprived him of the power of speech, and seemed to deaden all his sensibilities. He languished under it for some time, and died without pain, leaving behind him a reputation for piety and worth, talents, learning, and usefulness, of which there are not many such examples in the history of the church. In private life, he was sincere, affectionate, and friendly.
His manner, in company, was unassuming and mild : his conversation lively, agreeable, and instructive. By the few whom he honoured with peculiar confidence and intimacy, he was remarkably beloved. All who were acquainted with him, paid him the willing homage of esteem and veneration. In him the sterner and the gen tler virtues were happily united : he awed by his un bending regard to integrity and truth, and he delighted by his affability and condescension. He belonged to what is called the moderate party in the church, but he was truly moderate. No entreaty on the part of his ec clesiastical friends could prevail upon him to become Moderator of the General Assembly ; and no considera tion could ever prevent him from speaking and acting in church courts, or in any other place agreeably to his owl: independent views. He had too much candour to be the leader, and too much elevation of mind to be the adhe rent, of a party.
Since his death, several works which he left in manu script have been given to the public. These are his Lec tures onEcclesiastical History, which are thought by many to be latitudinarian in their views of church government. and have been the subject of much able and angry criti cism :—his Lectures on Systematic Theology and Pulpit Eloquence, in which, with a great deal of sound and ju dicious remarks, there appears to be a portion of unrea sonable prejudice against systems of divinity—and his Lectures on the Pastoral Character, which seems to be the most feeble and most faulty of the Doctor's produc tions, and might with great propriety have been sup pressed by the editor. (7)