He was rewarded by being nominated to the see of Glasgow on 21 January 1687, upon the illegal deprivation of Archbishop Alexander Cairncross. On 29 January 1688 he preached a thanksgiving sermon at Edinburgh for the queen's being with child, in which he mentioned that she often spent six hours at a time on her knees in prayer. At the Revolution he, with the majority of the bishops, adhered to James II. At the meeting of the estates in April 1689, when nine bishops were present, of whom seven were against declaring the throne vacant, "the Bishop of Glasgow made a long discourse of passive obedience".