Reformed Covenanter
Cancelled Commissioner
I do not recall reading anything about where Archbishop Robert Leighton stood on the subject of ruling elders, though, from what I have read, his approach to church polity would best be described as Presidential Presbyterianism. Here is one reference to ruling elders in his commentary on 1 Peter 5:1, though it does not seem entirely clear that he saw it as a distinct office from that of the minister:
The name of Elders indifferently signifies either age or their calling: and the name of Ruling elders sometimes denotes civil rulers, sometimes pastors of the church; as, amongst the Jews, both offices often met in the same person. Here, it appears that pastors are meant, as the exhortation, of feeding the flock, evidences; which though it sometimes signifies ruling, and here may comprise it, yet is chiefly by doctrine.
Robert Leighton, A Practical Commentary Upon the First Epistle General of Saint Peter (1693-94) in The Whole Works of the Most Reverend Father in God, Robert Leighton, D.D., Archbishop of Glasgow (2 vols, London: James Duncan, 1828), 1: 564.
The name of Elders indifferently signifies either age or their calling: and the name of Ruling elders sometimes denotes civil rulers, sometimes pastors of the church; as, amongst the Jews, both offices often met in the same person. Here, it appears that pastors are meant, as the exhortation, of feeding the flock, evidences; which though it sometimes signifies ruling, and here may comprise it, yet is chiefly by doctrine.
Robert Leighton, A Practical Commentary Upon the First Epistle General of Saint Peter (1693-94) in The Whole Works of the Most Reverend Father in God, Robert Leighton, D.D., Archbishop of Glasgow (2 vols, London: James Duncan, 1828), 1: 564.
