vx VI CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 092 462 237 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924092462237 SIX SAINTS OF THE COVENANT PEDEN : SEMPLE : WELWOOD CAMERON : CARGILL : SMITH BY PATRICK WALKER Edited with Illustrative Documents Introduction, Notes, and a Glossary BY D. HAY FLEMING and a Foreword BY S. R. CROCKETT IN TWO VOLUMES VOLUME I NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY LONDON: HODDER AND STOUGHTON 1901 DFV1 /f33/3® Edinburgh : T. and A- Constable, (late) Printers to Her Majesty CONTENTS TION, . Additional Passages, Postscript, . John Semple's Life, Postscript, . James Welwood's Letter, PAGE Foreword by S. R. Crockett, vii Editor's Introduction, . . xix Author's Preface, ... .3 Alexander Peden's Life, . 45 Short Relation of the Defections in 1685, . . 101 Alexander Peden's Letter to Prisoners in Dunnottar, 110 Alexander Peden's Notes on the Covenant of Redemp- 114 117 138 181 201 202 John Welwood's Life, . 206 Richard Cameron's Life, . .218 Vindication of Cameron's Name, . 237 FOREWORD Like many another among the scions of Cameronian families throughout Scotland, I can set no date to my acquisition of the little pamphlets, "on grey paper in blunt type, collected and published by Patrick Walker, and to be sold in his house within the Bristo-port, opposite to the Society Gate.' Nor can I recall a time when I did not pore over these delightful pages. In this I was assisted by their size— the format of the ' pedlar's pack ' editions being so small that they could be concealed by day in the breast of a boy's blouse. So for years they accompanied me everywhere, and I do not doubt that many of the spots, specks, and splotches which, alas ! my editio princeps now discloses, are due to the fact that I was wont to peruse it while crumb- ling 'farles' of cake high-perched in the branches of some beech, umbrageous and sheltering as ' Sandy Gordon's Oak ' in the pleasaunces of Earlstoun. At night they even accompanied me to bed, and were often had recourse to at earliest dawn, when sleep had refused my pillow, and the powers that be still delayed to clothe my body. It may seem a little viii FOREWORD thing, but it has always appeared probable to me that I may actually have learned my letters from those massive and generous title-pages, set up in Bristo-port, and carried to Galloway upon Patrick AValker's pack-saddles. And thus it may be that to-day certain cadences of honest Patrick's speech touch my heart like nothing else in the world save the memory of a mother's voice heard praying at a child's bedside in the night. I can see, of course, all the narrowness and occasional bitterness of the creed he expressed so admirably in the most vivid and distinctive Scots (of the Biblical sort) ever written. But these defects are to me no more than so many wrinkles on a well- beloved face. They tend to increase affection, telling as they do of trial and weary watchings, of bonds and imprisonments for conscience' sake, of Dunnottar and ' that kenned place, Darmead.' Curiously enough, though no picture of Patrick Walker exists, so far as I know, there has always been present to my mind one unvarying image of him, as distinct as if I had seen him with the eye of sense. And, indeed, it was not till I had left behind many years of adolescence that I became aware how impossible it was that this could really have been so. I could recall the man so absolutely — his broad blue bonnet, his grey checked plaid, his coat deep-skirted, with the flaps pinned back to the FOREWORD ix waist, his corduroy knee-breeches, his blue rig-and- fur stockings, and shoes latched with a leather tag, being as clear to me as my own kilt and bare legs paddling to school over the heather. He came on a white pony, and doffed his bonnet at our hallan door to call down a blessing on the dwelling into which he was entering. That was Patrick Walker, the packman, and I had seen him ! I have since thought that this curiously vivid impression of the noble high countenance, and even the detail of his clothing, must have come from the confusing impression of an actual visitor (Dr. William Symington, or other), with some picture of ' Old Mortality ' perhaps engraved in a chance volume of the ' Waverley Novels,' which I have not been able to identify. But as these last were wholly contraband in a Cameronian house, I cannot imagine how the strong and enduring picture was first formed. At all events, a man so clad, of a keen wrestling visage, a narrow high brow overhung with plentiful greying locks, sunburnt and weather-beaten, remains with me to-day as the bodily presentment of Patrick Walker, who from that house in Bristo Port opposite to the Society's Gate percolated all the west and south of Scotland with his wares ; and — oh joy of joys ! — provided for succeeding generations of Cameronian and Auld Licht boys Sabbath literature of a superior kind, orthodox enough to x FOREWORD pass any scrutiny, and interesting enough to vie in enthralment even with the Scottish Chiefs or Thad- deus of Warsaw. I did not know then that Walter Scott had long before written down Patrick Walker's account of the Sufferings as the best of all extant contemporary narratives of the time ; still less that a lad in Edin- burgh, some ten years my senior, was at that moment distilling out of his father's copy of the Biographia Presbyteriana the spirit which breathes in a certain little green-covered pamphlet on The Pentland Rising, that earliest and rarest of the prose writings of Robert Louis Stevenson. I only knew that, as Elizabeth's ambassador Randolph said of John Knox's preaching, ' the voice of him stirred me more than five hundred trumpets.' So indeed it does still ; and any gift of understand- able writing which I may have attained since, has been first of all owing to this rugged, vehement, dis- cursive Patrick, who, with all his roughness, had yet the nicest possible discrimination for a clean-cut phrase or a sonorous sentence. Perhaps few will feel in the matter as I do, but about much of the writing of this unlettered pack- man there seems a natural melody and fervour — like that of a linnet singing on a twig, a moment's burst and no more. Then the clang and rasp of dialectic divinity goes on as before. And as for FOREWORD xi what is now called 'local colour,' how wholly admirable he is — few like him among the mighty ! Thus, after a certain Mr. Barclay has defected from the particular section of the Covenantmen to whom this fiery-tender pedlar and ex-prisoner of the Lord pertained, Patrick Walker thus lays him out for decent burial : ' After that expedition was over, Mr. Barclay said, " He had some business at Edinburgh, but would shortly return and take part with them " ; but when he came to the witty lown- warm air of Edinburgh, the heat of the summer of 1685 being over, the tables better covered, the chambers warmer, and the beds softer than the cold hills and glens of Carrick and Galloway, or the watery mosses and bogs of cold Calder Muir, he forgot to fulfil his promise, and suffered them to shift for themselves.' Of a surety ' witty,' but by no manner of means ' lown-warm ' is this noted indweller and burgher of Edinburgh, whose house so appropriately fronts the Society Gate ! If to do such things easily and naturally be not ' style,' I do not know what it is. As Mr. Matthew Arnold once said in conversa- tion : ' Style, style ! What is all this talk about style ? I do not know anything about it, except that a man should have something to say, and then say it as briefly as possible, in language suited to the occasion.' xii FOREWORD And this is the best definition of style with which I am acquainted, and one which our author, in many passages, conspicuously exemplifies. According to his subject, Patrick laments in the language of Jeremiah the Prophet ; he denounces like the Book of the Revelation ; he is bitter as the Rutherford of Lex Rex, tender and sweet as the Rutherford of Joshua Bedivivus, that mysteriously named collec- tion of familiar letters. Out of the warring gloom of his life, embittered, as he says, by 'fourteen months in prison, without distinct information, and especially by three months shut up in Dunottar Castle,' there emerge sweet calm ' Gospel-blinks,' refreshful to the spirit of man as a Scottish Sabbath morn when the cloths are laid white along the book-boards, and the silver cups glisten clean upon the table of the Lord. And then, how triumphantly graphic he can be ! Consider the account of the killing of John Brown, the Carrier of Priesthill, and the appalling spectacle of Peden the Prophet on that grey dawn when he took his farewell, coming out of the door of the doomed house, saying to himself — shaking his head, I doubt not — ' Poor woman, a fearful morning ! ' And then twice over, ' A dark, misty morning ! ' It makes one shiver as one reads. I have always thought that a great deal of the incision and directness of the late Mr. Stevenson's FOREWORD xiii style in narration could be traced to his familiarity with Patrick Walker's account of the death of John Brown. Those curious in the matter, and familiar with the wonderful histories of Alan Breck and David Balfour, will be able to parallel many phrases in a somewhat remarkable manner— that is, not at all literally, but in the spirit of them. Mr. Stevenson himself, when taxed with the fact, only responded unblushingly with ' Well, you 're another ! ' * In especial, one of the best pieces Stevenson ever wrote, Thrawn Janet, is in the exact key of ' that old singular Christian woman in the Cummerhead, named Jean Brown.' The tale might have been jotted down by Patrick Walker and annotated by his arch-enemy, the orthodox Robert Wodrow, minister in Eastwood — so excellently superstitious it is. Yet this honest warring Patrick had no idea of 1 ' I have lately been returning to my wallowing in the mire. When I was a child, and indeed until I was nearly a man, I consistently read Covenanting books. Now that I am a grey-beard — or would be, if I could raise the beard — I have returned, and for weeks back have read little else but Wodrow, Walker, Shields, etc. Of course, this is with an idea of a novel, but in the course of it I made a very curious discovery. I have been accustomed to hear refined and intelligent critics — those who know so much better what we are than we do ourselves — trace down my literary descent from all sorts of people, including Addison, of whom I could never read a word. Well, laigh i' your lug, sir — the clue was found. My style is from the Covenanting writers. Take a particular case — the fondness for rhymes. I don't know of any English prose-writer who rhymes except by accident, and then a stone had better be tied around his neck and himself cast into the sea. But my Covenanting buckies rhyme all the time — a beautiful example of the unconscious rhyme above referred to.' — The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, vol. ii. p. 312. xiv FOREWORD style, or indeed of anything beyond putting his Observes, Passages, and Accounts, his Deliverances and Singular Instances upon record in the exact words in which they had reached his ear, fresh and warm from the popular heart — the very essence and spirit of the later Covenant, as it was expounded in the hoggish wastes and swart moss-hags where never any Toleration had come nor the least breath of witty lown-warm Edinburgh air breathed abroad over the waste. It appears to me that for directness and vigour the pedlar's account of the death of Peden would be difficult to surpass, so simple, so effortless it is in its sober unimpassioned statement of events. The Calvinistic ' Kismet ' (which is not fatalism) serves well in troublous times. ' God's will be done ! ' they say with bowed head. ' At last, one morning early, he came to the door and left his cave. His brother's wife said, " Where are you going ? The enemies will be here ! " ' He said, " I know that." ' " Alas ! sir — what will become of you ? You must back to the cave again." ' He said, " I have done with that, for it is dis- covered. But there is no matter, for within forty- eight hours I will be beyond the reach of all the devil's temptations, his instruments in hell and on earth, and they shall trouble me no more." FOREWORD xv 'About three hours after he had entered the house the enemies came, and finding him not in the cave, searched the barn narrowly, casting the unthreshen corn ; and searched the house, stobbing the beds, but entered not the place where he lay. . . . He told them that, bury him where they would, he would be lifted again ; and within forty-eight hours he died. The enemies gat notice of his death and burial, sent a troop of dragoons, and lifted his corps and carried them two miles to Cumnock Gallows-foot, and buried him there after forty days in the grave beside other martyrs.' Writing these words far from all books of reference (saving only the little grey pamphlets aforesaid), and in the very birth-house of that other warring Covenanter of the Cevennes, Jean Cavalier of Ribaute among the mountains of the Gard, I cannot but feel that the prisoner of Dunnottar had something of the spirit of that lad of twenty who baffled Louis the Great, defeated Marshal Villars and the greatest generals of the greatest armies in Christendom, and died at sixty a field-officer of the English army and Governor of Jersey. For though, after the adventure of Dunnottar, the old pedlar kept with some care upon the bieldy side of the law, he was yet undauntedly warring to the last with tongue and pen against ' right-hand defec- tions and left-hand extremes,' during those very xvi FOREWORD years when Jean Cavalier was defending the Tour- de-Bellot against the persecuting Malignants of his creed and country. And yet, in spite of rank and honours, field- officer's plumes, governor's mandate and such like, I judge that the Scot had the advantage; for he died testifying, and not, as Voltaire reports of Cavalier, ' much failed of his first enthusiasms.' Still to the very end, to this stout Patrick of ours King James's Act of Grace ' in the 1687 ' was no better than a ' Hell-browen and Rome-blinked Popish Toleration,' and all who accepted it were guilty of the 'height of base flattery, juggling, and dis- sembling, like boatmen looking one way and rowing another.' Their gratitude for the king's clemency he held equally ' abominable, sinful, shameful.' So he keeps the crown of the causeway, this plain- spoken, belligerent Patrick. Take that and that, ye Arians — Arminians — Socinians — enthusiastic Quakers ! What indeed are you but ' the height of the damnable errors of Antichrist ! ' It were a pity, thought one well able to judge, that the devil should have all the good, stout, resounding words which fill the mouth of the speaker and fall with audible thwack upon the shoulders of the adver- saries. Patrick Walker is of the same mind, and in some other humble judgments he is right. But after all, and with it all, there is a strange FOREWORD xvii sweetness and kindliness about the person and heart of the man, altogether apart from his hard-hitting cudgel-practice — which, it may be admitted, is too often done with a sprig of the crab-tree, very grievous. Yet after all the storms and gloom, the spurts of flame and hail, he dreams most of all of a quiet time, a Sabbath of rest, a summer of the Gospel, for this poor distracted Scotland, when ' No Quarters ' shall no more be the word nor ' Blood ' the sign ; but when in an exceeding peace the folk of the Great Tribulation shall take sweet counsel together, and walk to the House of God in company. It seems likely, however, that when the pedlar topped the final brae and laid down his earthly pack at the Last Ford, he would find many breasting the waves with him or waiting on Jordan's farther bank whom he little expected to see in these parts. For it is perhaps the chief of the worthy man's faults that he has not discovered how in his Father's house there are many mansions — with perhaps even a back door or two for the accommodation of those in whose faces more orthodox entrances are shut. S. R. CROCKETT. INTRODUCTION Patrick Walker and his works were long and widely known in Scotland. His fame and popularity were partly due to the stirring times of which he wrote, partly to the picturesque freshness of his style and the variety and nature of the incidents he records. In some respects Patrick was singularly well qualified for the work he undertook ; in some respects he laboured under great disadvantages. His qualifications were that he had lived in the times of which he wrote, that he personally knew many of the Covenanters and martyrs of whom he wrote, and that he was himself a shrewd observer and was endowed with a tenacious memory. His chief disadvantage lay in the lack of education. He does not say how he learned to read and write ; but probably he received all his instruction, as his friend Sergeant Nisbet did, while hiding from the red- coats. The collecting of his material proved to be a difficult and laborious task ; but he owns that he encountered a greater in putting it in black and white, in what he describes as ' this critical and censorious age,'' when ' it is hard to know what or how to speak, far more to write, especially to me, who have never learned the grammar. 11 He afterwards betrayed a pardonable pride in telling that, although his first literary venture was censured 'for want of grammar,' it was, on the other hand, fathered upon men who knew Latin, Greek, and 1 Infra, i. 5. xx INTRODUCTION Hebrew. 1 He might even have become vain had he been able to foresee that his works would not only live through the eighteenth century and the nineteenth, but that several of the leading literary lights of the latter would borrow freely from his pages to enliven their own, and that many of his statements would be incorporated in historical works. As Patrick's own life was a very eventful one, it is to be regretted that he does not seem to have prepared his intended account of the ' Remarkable steps of the Lord's Dispensations ' towards him. 2 Nearly all that has been known of him hitherto has been gleaned from incidental references in his own works ; but I have succeeded in finding a number of other interesting facts concerning him in the imprinted Register and Warrants of the Privy Council, 3 and elsewhere. A brief summary of his career may not be unacceptable. In 1684 he is described as ' a boy of eighteine years of age,' and as son ' to umquhill Patrick Walker in Clugh.' 4 The statement as to his age may be accepted as approximately correct, and his birth may therefore be placed in 1666, the year of the Pentland Rising. There is a Cleugh in Carnwath parish ; but though his father was associated with Cleugh at the time of his death, it does not necessarily follow that Patrick was born there. His parents probably favoured the good old way, for he says : ' I have had the happiness to be a hearer of the Gospel from my infancy in fields and houses.' 5 One of his sentences seems to imply that he was present at the battle of Bothwell Bridge. 6 At that time he was a mere boy 1 Infra, i. 163. 2 Infra, i. 353. 3 The industrious Wodrow acknowledges that he did not examine the Warrants of the Privy Council, because, in his time, they were ' unsorted and in no small confusion' (History of the Sufferings, 1828 edition, i. p. xl). 4 Infra, ii. 192, 193, nn. 3, 5. 6 I«fra, i. 15. « Infra, i. 335. INTRODUCTION xxi of thirteen. From another of his own statements it may be inferred that he was in the neighbourhood of Newcastle in the end of December 1681. 1 He affirms explicitly that, in 1682, he was 'denounced a rebel over the Cross of Edinburgh. 12 In the Stirlingshire portion of a List of Fugitives, published in May 1684, there occurs the name — ' Patrick Walker in Drumcria.' 3 This may have been the future publisher and author, although at present that cannot be proved. In the following month he fell into the hands of the enemy. He and other four were captured in bed, and soon made acquaintance with the interior of 'Linlithgow thieves-hole.' On the 1st of July he was brought into Edinburgh, and next day was examined before the Privy Council. The indictment laid against him and other two Covenanters he thus sums up : — ' Owning our Covenants, defensive arms, and hearing the Gospel in the fields, especially Mr. Cargill and Mr. Renwick; not owning the authority, as then called; refusing to call Both- well-bridge rebellion, and the Bishop's death murder, and suchlike nonsense.' On the 3rd of July they received sentence of banishment to America, without the option of returning save under pain of death. ' This sentence,' he says, ' was pro- nounced by the Arch-prelate of St. Andrews, and within a month thereafter he got sentence elsewhere.' Meanwhile, it had leaked out that Patrick had been present at, or had had something to do with, the death of trooper Francis Gairden or Gairne in 1682, and he was accordingly brought up again for examination. Having refused to ' discover his complices,' the Privy Council, as the record bears, on the 22nd of July, ordained him ' to be questioned by torture thereanent before the Committie of Councill for Publict Affaires to-morrow at nyne a clock in the forenoon.' At the same time, Arthur 1 Infra, ii. 6o. 2 Infra, i. 350. 3 Infra, ii. 192, ». 99. xxii INTRODUCTION Tackett — who had been ' with the rebells lately in armes,' and who also refused * to declare anent his complices ' — was like- wise ordained to be questioned by torture. It is not quite clear whether Patrick was tortured next day or not ; but it may be noted in passing that it was on the next day, the 23rd of July 1684, that the Scottish Privy Council authorised for the first time the use of ' a new inventione and ingyne called the thumbekins, 1 which they thought would be very effectual in ' expiscateing of matters relateing to the governement. 1 1 Patrick says that on the 23rd ' there was a strong debate among them ; many were for my life, and others for publick torture, others said I was under sentence of law and no new thing either confessed or proven.' A few days later, Tackett suffered martyrdom in the Grassmarket, after being tortured in ' the thumbekins. 1 2 Patrick was subjected to both boots and thumbekins ; but I have been unable to ascertain the precise date. Either to him or to Tackett, however, apparently pertains the distinction of being the first in Scotland to experience the expiscating power of the 'new inventione and ingyne.' On the 24th of July, the Privy Council — having considered ' ane addresse made to them by Robert Malloch, merchant in Edinburgh, in favors of and for Patrick Walker,' and having heard the Committee's report on Patrick's case — ordained that he should be delivered to Malloch for transportation to Carolina. From Patrick's own narrative it is learned that during all this time he had lain ' with a great weight of irons ' upon him; and that on the 1st of August he was put on board ship, but on the 6th was taken back to prison. That he was taken ashore again is proved by the Register of the Privy Council, from which it further appears that, on 1 Infra, ii. 130, n. 12. 2 Wodrow's History of the Sufferings, iv. 66, 67. INTRODUCTION xxiii the 7th of August, notwithstanding another petition from Malloch, His Majesty's Advocate was ordered 'to insist against the said Patrick Walker before the Justices, for his alleadged accessione to the killing of the said Master Gairden.' Although Malloch petitioned twice in Patrick's favour, and ' had found sufficient cautione under the penalty of one thousand merks to land him in the plantationes of America,' it does not follow that he was moved by other than mercenary motives. At this very time Lord Fountainhall recorded in one of his volumes that Malloch would get i?10 sterling for each of the prisoners in Carolina ; 1 and Patrick, in afterwards telling how Malloch and others made merchandise of the people of God, expresses no kindly feeling or gratitude towards him. 2 Patrick says that he was brought back from the ship with a design to take his life, and he adds : — ' I lay in prison until the 18th day of May 1685, that I was with many others sent to Dunnottar Castle.'' This can hardly mean that he lay in prison continuously from the 6th of August 1684 until the 18th of May 1685, for I have found record evidence to prove that he was set at liberty on the 8th of November 1684, ' George Chalmers in Esterinch of Bathgait ' having bound him- self, under the penalty of 4000 merks Scots, to present him to the Laird of Meldrum on ten days notice. This bond bears (1) that Patrick had been arrested for his alleged presence at and accession to the trooper's death, and had been examined before the Lords of Justiciary thereanent, and banished by them for ' the said cryme,' and thereafter remitted by them to the Laird of Meldrum until ' he should fynd probation ' against him ' for being gilty of the said murder '; (2) that the Laird of Meldrum had consented to his being set at liberty on security because of ' his great sickness and indisposition of body '; and (3) that 1 Historical Notices, Bannatyne Club, ii. 547. 2 Infra, ii. 45. xxiv INTRODUCTION Chalmers bound himself that Patrick, while at liberty, should ' live regularly' and not ' vaige in armes against his Majestie nor his awthoritie.' Within a week after Patrick's liberation the Laird of Meldrum suddenly died, and his death was regarded by Patrick as one of ' two remarkable steps of Providence ' for saving his life. The Laird had evidently been much more anxious to avenge his trooper's death than was his successor, the Earl of Airlie. The Register of the Privy Council shows that Patrick was produced at the bar on the 4th of December, when it was ordained that he ' be committed prisoner to the tolbuith of Edinburgh till furder order.' Patrick says nothing of his weary march to Dunnottar in May 1685, but refers more than once, though briefly, to the barbarous usage to which he and the other prisoners were there subjected. Over eight score in all, male and female, they were shut up for a time in a single vault — damp, dark, and other- wise unwholesome — ' without air, without ease, without place either to lie or walk, and without any comfort save what they had from heaven.' In August he was brought back to Leith with the others ; and on the 18th of that month he was made over by the Privy Council to Scot of Pitlochie to be trans- ported by him to New Jersey. Scot had a ship lying ready in the road of Leith, but before Patrick could be transferred to it he escaped out of the tolbooth. It was fortunate for him that he did so, as the voyage was a most disastrous one. The ship was badly provisioned, fever broke out, many of the prisoners and of the crew died, as also did Pitlochie and his wife. During the fourteen months that Patrick was in the hands of the superior powers he was examined no fewer than eighteen times. 1 1 For the details of Patrick's troubles and experiences while a prisoner, see infra, i. 349-52 ; ii. 191-95- INTRODUCTION xxv After escaping from ' these butchering enemies,' he went to Caldermuir, the members of the Societies there being his intimate acquaintances ; and, having learned the rights and the wrongs of the quarrels which had broken out among the United Societies, he hasted to Ren wick, and threw in his lot with him and the party which adhered to him. 1 Patrick's own troubles were by no means over. When, in September 1686, a search was made for arms in the south-west of Scotland, he * very narrowly and remarkably ' escaped recapture. 2 At the Revolution, Patrick took part with the other Society People — Cameronians, or Mountain-men, as they were called — in destroying 'monuments of idolatry,' and in ousting the curates. On this work he looked back with peculiar satisfac- tion, his chief regret being ' that that golden, none-such inter- regnum was not more and better improven.' 3 That his fellow-members in the Societies respected him is proved by his having been chosen, in March 1689, as the representative of 'the Societies in the overward of Clidsdale' to watch in Edinburgh the ' emergencies that might fall out ' while the Convention of Estates was sitting. 4 Again, in June 1690, he was one of the five men appointed, at a general meeting of the United Societies, to draw up a representation of grievances and a protestation against defections, in view of the first meeting of the General Assembly after the Revolution. 6 With the Revolution, both in its civil and ecclesiastical aspects, he was very dissatisfied. He was level-headed enough, however, to recognise and accept the situation as an immense improvement on what had gone before. He owns that he * would have rejoiced more than in great sums to have seen the bishops sent legally down the Bow ' — that was the direct road 1 Infra, i. 104, 105. 2 Infra, i. 7, 346. 3 Infra, i. 319-23. 4 Infra, ii. 174, «. 44. 5 Infra, ii. 173, n. 42. xxvi INTRODUCTION to the Grassmarket — 'that they might know what hanging was,' as they had been ' the main instigators to all the mis- chiefs, cruelties and bloodshed.' 2 In Patrick's eyes the Prince of Orange was a great deliverer, and he was not prepared to disown his authority on the ground that he had not sworn the covenants. With the Union of 1707 he was greatly displeased, as he also was with the restoration of patronage and the toleration of Prelacy; but his displeasure did not affect his loyalty. To the claims of the Pretender he was ardently opposed. Though he disapproved of many things in the Church as then established, he waited diligently on the preaching of those ministers who faithfully proclaimed the Gospel of Christ, and who had not denied their souls by swearing the Oath of Abjuration. 2 He had longed to see General Assemblies set up again, but candidly confesses that they, and the other ecclesiastical judicatories, had greatly disappointed him by their procedure. ' If, 1 he says, ' I were not mortally guilty I would rather venture my neck before our Justiciary Lords, where I would get clean pith and fair-play for my life, than before Church-judicatories ; for if I were opposite to the back- sliding spirit of the day I would be sure to come off with loss.' s Patrick's first work — his Peden — was issued in 1724. It bore no printer's or publisher's name and no place of publica- 1 Infra, i. 254. - To the Gospel he always gave the chief place. Perhaps he would not have altogether approved the words of Burns : — ' The fear o' Hell 's a hangman's whip To haud the wretch in order ' ; but he believed that * right views, conceptions and apprehensions of the incom- prehensible love of God, manifested in the sending of Jesus Christ into the world,' had a greater influence on the conduct of true believers than ' the threatning of ten thousand hells ' (Infra, i. 16). 3 Infra, i. 248. INTRODUCTION xxvii tion. From beginning to end of the little volume Patrick's name never occurs. He was content to disclose his identity by adhibiting his initials at the end of the preface, and by saying that further remarkable passages may be sent ' to me, to be found at Bristo Port in Edinburgh. 1 In collecting and verifying information he travelled ' upwards of a thousand miles in the years 1722 and 1723,' and met with many dis- appointments. Some were averse to speak of the old times, some promised much and performed nothing, and some gave him 'indiscreet upbraiding language.' Peden's Life took so well that two distinct editions were published in 1725 — one at Edinburgh, and another, which I believe was pirated, at Glasgow. Patrick's third edition, in which many alterations and much new matter were introduced, was issued in 1728. It is the edition which has been followed in this reprint. Patrick's second venture was his Semple, Welwood and Cameron, printed in 1727. By this time he had no doubt seen or heard of the Glasgow edition of Peden, hence, in all probability, the note at the end of the 1727 volume : — ' I hope, after I have been at so great pains, travel, and expence in collecting these edifying passages of the lives of these worthies, none will be so invidious as to reprint them while I am upon the stage.' The third, and apparently the last, of his own works which he published was his Cargill and Smith, which was issued in 1732. I have seen no second edition of his Semple, Welwood and Cameron, or of his Cargill and Smith, issued in his own lifetime. 1 While Patrick was still alive, his veracity and discretion were privately impugned and publicly assailed; and down 1 For a list of the various editions which I have examined, see infra, ii. 237-40. xxviii INTRODUCTION almost to the present day he has seldom lacked detractors. Patrick's faith in his own principles and productions would not have been shaken in the slightest degree either by the rabid abuse of Mark Napier or the depreciatory estimate of the younger M'Crie. Writing to Wodrow in April 1725, Lord Grange thus refers to Patrick and his Peden : — ' A great deal of pains were taken to dissuade him from printing it ; at least till it should be revised by men of sound judgment; but all in vain, and he would not stop one day.' It is fortunate that Patrick was willing to bear the whole responsibility, and refused to allow any one to revise his work for him. Had it been submitted to Grange's 'men of sound judgment,' it would have been stripped of its peculiar characteristics, and robbed of its charm. ' Whoever takes offence,' says Patrick, ' let them lay the blame intirely upon me, for I have consulted none, neither in matter nor method, no not so much as in the wording.' 1 Even Grange bears witness to Patrick's honesty, for in the same letter he adds : — ' I have talked about it with some who were personally acquainted with Mr. Peden, and were often in his company, and from whom I have heard several uncommon things about him. They say the author is mistaken as to several circum- stances; but as to the main, in all the passages, or most of them, whereof they had particular knowledge (and were eye and ear witnesses of diverse), they say he tells the truth ; but missing of circumstances, and a wrong way and manner of narrating, in matters so delicate, gives them a very different form and appearance.' 2 Dr. Thomas M'Crie the second, in professedly citing the latter part of this quotation, has unwarrantably altered Grange's language to read thus : — ' that 1 Infra, i. 40. Q M'Gavin's edition of The Scots Worthies, 1827, p. 516. INTRODUCTION xxix what is true has been garbled, so as to give it a very different form and appearance.' 1 In November 1725, Wodrow expressed the opinion that PederCs Life contained ' a heap of singular things without sufficient vouchers to some of them, and others of them very different from what I have from, I thought, good hands, and some of them not in my opinion agreeable to the spirit of Christianity.'' 2 Many of Patrick's statements can now be neither verified nor disproved ; but, in going carefully over his printed works, I have been agreeably surprised to find that a number of his marvellous stories can be corroborated from other works, some of which he never saw. His quotations are fairly accurate, and his dates are on the whole amazingly correct. When he records what he had personally seen or heard, his statements may, I think, be taken as absolutely truthful, subject of course to some allowance in details for lapse of memory, seeing that some of his stories seem to have floated in his mind for forty years before they were committed to paper. Although he appealed at the close of each pamphlet for additional informa- tion, it must not be supposed that he was credulous enough to believe everything and to insert anything. Credulous in some ways he undoubtedly was, but he was not destitute of the critical faculty, as some learned to their cost who tried to trip him up. It is true that in Patrick's works one may stumble upon a sentence which fills more than a page, and which it would nevertheless be impossible to break up unless it were re- written. It is also true that he sometimes omits the verb, sometimes the nominative, and occasionally loses himself in a sentence which is more than usually involved. But, considering his want of 1 M'Crie's Miscellaneous Writings, 1841, p. 254 «. 2 Wodrow Correspondence, iii. 230. xxx INTRODUCTION education, his power of expressing his meaning is remarkable. He had a great command of language, and could pile up his adjectives in a most effective and astonishing way. Some of his passages are very pathetic and touching in their simplicity. The younger M'Crie has said that he tells his stories ' in the most rude and ungainly style,' and that ' it is hardly possible to read his vulgar and gloomy pages without an occasional feeling of disgust.'' M'Crie never dreamt that the style he so depreciated would, be admired by more than one of the most prominent literary men of the last decade of the nineteenth century. When Patrick thought of his own times — of ' the foul mismanagements of the backslidden upsitten lukewarm ministers, elders and professors,' and of the right- hand extremes and left-hand- defections — he was apt to become depressed; but his pages are always racy, never gloomy, and they can only be regarded as vulgar by those who are ' too genteel ' to appreciate his homely and expressive vernacular. He frequently indulges in strong language, but seldom uses a coarse word — never, in fact, save when he is quoting what some one has said ; as, for example, in his account of the drowning of the two women at Wigton, when he intro- duces the expletives of the profane persecutors. Some of his own expressions are peculiarly happy, and some of them exceed- ingly pithy. To him, Episcopacy was ' strumpet Prelacy,' the bishops were ' graceless graces,' the Liturgy was the ' lethargy,' one Episcopal dignitary he dubbed a 'baptized brute,' and, considering the character of the man, the epithet was not too strong. A minister, who ventured to criticise Pederis Life, is described as 'my calumniator minister,' and his epistle as ' that serpentine letter.' Professor Simson, the great Presby- terian heretic of his time, is denounced as ' a hotch-potch or bagful of Arrian, Arminian, Socinian, Pelagian, old condemn'd, INTRODUCTION xxxi damnable errors. ' Archbishop Sharp is briefly described as ' that compend of wickedness ' ; and the hated Grierson of Lag — who was still living — has his character summed up as ' a great persecuter, a great swearer, a great whorer, blasphemer, drunkard, liar, and cheat, and yet out qfhelV It was doubt- less such expressions as these which induced Sir Walter Scott to speak of Patrick's 'always expressing the most daring confidence in his own correctness of creed and sentiments, sometimes with narrow-minded and disgusting bigotry.' 1 Patrick, however, was far from regarding himself as either immaculate or infallible ; and he certainly did not hold that salvation was only to be found within the pale of the church to which he belonged. 2 Of his style, Sir Walter says, he ' writes with a simplicity which sometimes slides into the burlesque, and sometimes attains a tone of simple pathos. 1 His touching account of John Brown's martyrdom reminded Sir Walter of the Bible story of Ruth, and he embodied it in his notes to the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border as well as in his Tales of a Grandfather. No doubt there was a connection between Patrick's life-long study of the Scriptures and his power of expression. 1 Note to TTie Heart of Mid- Lothian. 2 His own words are : — ' Next to my original guilt, the sin of my holy things and days lies heaviest upon me. I have found my sins humbling to me, and duties puffing up: sometimes when water goes out wind goes in; and if I be not saved by the merits, vertue and incense of Christ's satisfaction, Christ's obedience and intercession, I am lost for ever, and will die in my sins, and perish in mine iniquities, and must bid farewel to heaven and happiness, and embrace hell and wo for ever' (infra, i. 17). And again: — 'At the time I think, but I may think otherwise to-morrow, for I have gotten many proofs of myself, and yet myself is a mystery to myself (infra, i. 364). Though much opposed to the 'way of Independency,' he could recognise that 'many great gracious souls' had preferred that way (infra, i. 152); and, though he dis- approved strongly of the Jurant ministers, yet he was so far from condemning the ' serious gracious souls ' who cleaved to them, that he was willing to forgo his own profit and comfort rather than ' be stumbling to any of these ' said serious souls (infra, i. 173). xxxii INTRODUCTION Patrick had his own likes and dislikes ; and the degree of his appreciation of those to whom he frequently refers in the highest terms can be read between the lines. Of Peden he always speaks with the greatest respect, of Cargill with love and reverence, but the chief place in his affections was held by Renwick, whom he invariably mentions in the tenderest way. He does not seem to have ever seen or heard Peden, but Cargill he had heard, and felt specially indebted to him for delivering him from the snare of the Gibbites. 1 Renwick he knew well, as also Alexander Sheilds and many of the other sufferers. As he considered himself an authority at first-hand on the history of the persecution, he did not hesitate to refer to those who had previously written on that period and to point out their errors. De Foe, he says, ' wrote impartially/ but on some matters had been ' misinformed. 1 Wodrow does not get off so easily. He is contradicted on many points, and is charged with ' gross mistakes ' and ' misrepresentations.' Gilbert Burnet is still more hardly but much more briefly dealt with. He is contemptuously referred to as 'Arminian, blasphemous, and perjured Prelate Burnet.' This gradation is chiefly to be accounted for by the attitude these historians had respectively taken towards the most steadfast and thorough-going section of the Covenanters. In regard to Wodrow, however, there was perhaps a little of the personal element. In the Register of the Privy Council, the in- defatigable historian of The Sufferings of the Church of Scotland had come across the passage regarding Patrick's examination on the 22nd of July 1684 ; and, in summarising it, said that 'he confesses he was present at the murder of Francis Garden, one of the Earl of Airly's troop, and refuses 1 It has been said that Patrick was one of John Gibb's followers ; but he was only in danger of becoming one. Cf. infra, i. 286 ; ii. 23. INTRODUCTION xxxiii to discover his accomplices.' Patrick was very indignant at this summary, because, he thought, it transmitted his ' name under the notion of a murderer. 1 Had Wodrow said that Patrick killed the trooper, he might not have been so angry. The sore point with him was that Wodrow spoke of the trooper's death as murder, or rather affirmed that Patrick confessed that he was present at the murder. To show that it was not murder, Patrick did what he had not intended to do while he was * upon the stage,' he gave what he calls ' a brief and true account of that man's death.' It is impossible to read that account without coming to the conclusion that it was Patrick who fired the fatal shot, ' out of a pocket-pistol, rather fit for diverting a boy than killing such a furious, mad, brisk man.' To him it appeared simply a matter of self- defence, for which his heart never smote him. Perhaps he did not think it quite safe even thirty-eight years after the Revolution to be more explicit on the point, but he expressed his intention ' to leave a more full account of that.' 1 Patrick's writings occupy a unique position among the histories of that stirring period through which he lived, and no one who studies that period can afford to neglect him. His pages supply what no formal history can do — a series of vivid realistic pictures drawn by an untrained but born artist. I, for one, would rather forgo whole volumes of common- place histories written or. revised 'by men of sound judgment,' than give up Patrick's life-like sketches of the weird Peden, the resolute Cameron, the devoted Cargill, and the lovable Renwick — the hunted leaders of what seemed, to all but them- selves and their followers, a forlorn hope and a lost cause. The secret of their steadfast zeal, their unflinching courage, and their moral influence, is revealed in Patrick's pages. As 1 See infra, i. 352-54. C xxxiv INTRODUCTION Cargill put it, they did not preach salvation to others until they were sure of their own ; and while they earnestly pressed public duties upon their hearers, they never forgot that these were not the main things. Those who have a weakness for ' decorous ' and liturgical services may sneer at Peden's quaintly expressed exhortations and prayers ; but such unconventional exhortations from one who was enduring so much for his principles, and who was so intensely in earnest, touched the hearts and consciences of his hearers, when the carefully polished essays of a well-fed and ' well-found ' pastor might not have made even a fleeting impression. To some it may seem as if, in his prayers, Peden expressed undue familiarity with the Deity, but it was a familiarity which was neither begotten by nor bordered on irreverence. Amid imminent perils, the eye of his faith had been so long fixed on the mercy-seat that it became as natural for him to call upon God in all emergencies as for a child in distress to cry to its parent. He practised the advice he so frequently gave to others — ' pray meikle,' for ' it was praying folk that would win through the storm. 1 1 It is not only on the pre-Revolution period that Patrick's writings throw considerable light. He has much to sav on the unhappy differences and disputes which followed the Revolution and rent the covenanting party. He was not one of the extreme men. Ever since ' Blest Cargill ' had delivered him from the snare of the Gibbites he had shunned right-hand extremes as well as left-hand defections. In his ecclesiastical position he held by Hepburn of Urr ; and when the Marrow-controversy arose, he keenly espoused the cause of 1 Of course it should be always kept in mind that in Peden's sermons, which have been printed from the notes of hearers, and also in Patrick's passages, the preacher's homely expressions never become less homely. INTRODUCTION XXX v the Representers and Protesters. Of M'MilWs position he strongly disapproved, and still more so of that taken up by the Harleys and Peter Grant. 1 In the course of the three works here republished, Patrick intimates his intention to write a good many more. He may have actually done so, and been unable to get them printed. His finances were not in the most flourishing condition. In his Cargill he says that he must not insist, 'otherwise it would swell above my reach to publish.' 2 That was in 1732 ; and in 1728 he had expressed the resolution that, if he could not get his projected works published, he would leave them in the hands of some of his ' best friends of different sentiments, to prevent the burying or altering of them. 1 3 Possibly some of his manuscripts may yet be recovered. He did write a Life of Archbishop Sharp, which he did not print because, as he explains, he had been forestalled by ' a more large and sure hand.' 4 As a publisher, Patrick did not confine himself to his 1 In such a work as Hutchison's Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland, its Origin and History, one may look in vain even for the names of the small sections whom Patrick calls Adamites, Harlites, Howdenites, and Russelites ; or for 'the Cot-moor folk.' In 1697, Widow Cleghorn alias Isobel Wright testified on her death-bed ' against those who are commonly called the Cotemuir- folk,' of whom she says : — ' I never saw any in my time that professed godliness have such a practice as they ; or of such exasperate spirits, and so full of revenge in all their writings and scribblings. I never saw [in them] anything that was Christ-exalting, or self-abasing ; or that was for the credit of truth, or godliness, but that was for the credit of themselves. And they stand not to say, and constantly to maintain, that the testimony of Jesus is in their hands, and in the hands of no other but them and such as adhere to them ' (Calderwood's Collection of Dying Testimonies, 1806, pp. 38, 39). William Wilson, one of Patrick's plain-spoken antagonists and an uncompromising non-hearer, who died in iy$7> left his ' witness and testimony against the sinful intrusion of John and Andrew Harlaws, once in Cotmuir, who, after they had fallen into several doting delu- sions, did usurp the holy office of the ministry of the Gospel, without being any way qualified for the same ; without the trial and ordination of any presbytery, and without any lawful call thereunto, either ordinary or extraordinary ' (Ibid. PP- 375- 376). 2 Infra, ii. 42. 3 Infra, i. 42. 4 Infra, i. 212. xxxvi INTRODUCTION own writings ; * but he had nothing to do with the pretended prophecy fathered on Peden. 2 Kirkpatrick Sharpe affirmed that Patrick was 'a sort of pedlar, who wandered through Scotland vending his wares, and collecting anecdotes of the Presbyterian sufferers. His shop was in the West Bow of Edinburgh, long noted for a colony of whigs.' 3 Among the numerous authentic references in the following pages to Patrick's domicile, there is not the slightest indication of his having ever lived in the West Bow. 4 It is quite certain that, for a time at least, his house was in Candlemaker Row. If that house had any back-windows they would look into the Greyfriars Churchyard, where so many of his beloved fellow-sufferers were buried, and where, it seems, he too was at last laid to rest. Sir Walter, in The Heart of Mid- Lothian, says that the merit of killing Francis Gairden or Gordon lay between David Deans ' and his friend Patrick Walker, the pedlar, whose works he was so fond of quoting ' ; and in a note, in which he confesses that it would be ' base ingratitude' on his part to pass over Patrick without some notice, he describes him as ' by trade an itinerant merchant or pedlar. 1 David Deans himself refers to him as ' that singular worthy Peter Walker the packman at Bristo-Port'; and, in her first interview with the Duke of Argyll, Jeanie Deans took care to inform him that her father ' is specially mentioned in the books of, Peter Walker the packman.' The younger M'Crie speaks of him as * a travelling packman,' 1 See infra, ii. 198. 2 Infra, ii. 140, «. 50. 5 Kirkton's History, p. 437 n. ' In 1724, he is 'at Bristo Port in Edinburgh' (ii. 143) ; in 1725, 'at Bristo Port ' (ii. 143), and ' within Bristo Port ' (ii. 198) ; in 1727, ' within Bristol Port ' (i. 179), and 'at Bristo Port' (i. 365); in 1728, 'within Bristo Port' (ii. 198), and 'within Bristo Port opposite to the Society Gate' (i. 178) ; in 1731, 'with- in Bristo Port at the Upper Gate of the Grayfriars Church ' (ii. 198) ; and in INTRODUCTION xxxvii and as a ' Cameronian pedlar ' ; x and he figures as ' Patrick the Pedler 7 on one of Mark Napier's title-pages. 2 Else- where, Napier refers to him as ' the fanatical pedlar,' ' the half-crazy pedlar,'' ' the murderous pedlar. 13 For this pedlar theory I have been unable to find any contemporary or reliable evidence, no basis in fact of any kind beyond the statement of his opponent Andrew Harley : — ' As long as he had a pack to pin we were not troubled with him, but when his means went from him, he became a vagrant person, without a calling, and wandred through the country gathering old stories.'' 4 Possibly the phrase ' a pack to pin 1 is responsible for the current belief that he was a pedlar. To me it seems that the phrase has been misunderstood. It is a mere metaphor. Had Harley said, ' As long as he had another string to his bow, we were not troubled with him,' some one might perhaps have inferred that he was an archer. Harley 's further state- ment that ' when his means went from him, he became a vagrant person, without a calling, and wandred through the country gathering old stories,'' rather implies that when he had a ' pack to pin, 1 he had not wandered through the country ; and that when he did take to wandering, it was not as a packman, but as a collector of old stories. This would agree with his own 1732, ' within Bristo Port at the Upper Gate of the Grayfriars Church' (ii. I). ' The fundatioun and beilding of the howssis for aill and beir brewing, besyd the Grayfreir Port, callit the Societie, was begun in the yeir of God 1598' (Historic and Life of King James the Sext, Ban. Club, p. 374). In Patrick's time, when houses were unnumbered, it was difficult to give a precise address without being cumbrous. Adam Gib's Warning against Mr. George Whitefield bears this imprint : — ' Edinburgh, Printed for and sold by David Duncan at his House in the Grass- Market, opposite to the Corn-Market, South-Side of the Street, the second Door up the Timber-ravel'd Fore-Stair. MDCCXLII.' 1 M'Crie's Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 254, 255. 2 The Case for the Crown. 3 Memorials of Claverhouse, i. 105, 263. * This statement occurs in Harley's Letter printed in 1727 and reprinted in Biographia Presbyteriana, 1827, i. 33S"47- xxxviii INTRODUCTION statement about his extensive travels in 1722 and 1723, when he was searching for information and confirmation. The editor of the Biographia Presbyteriana thought that Patrick probably died shortly after the publication of CargilVs Life in 1732. There is satisfactory evidence, however, that Patrick lived for a considerable number of years beyond that date. On the 21st of December 1737 he is found at Kinross, showing cause, to a committee of the Associate Presbytery, why Andrew Clarkson should not be licensed as a preacher by the Presbytery. Clarkson had been a follower of M'Millan, and in a book which he wrote, or helped to write, it is said that Patrick's ' Remarkable Passages ' contain * some remark- able lies. 1 1 Patrick's appearance before the committee, however, was not the outcome of malice or vindictiveness. After hearing Clarkson's explanations he declared that he was ' fully satisfied ' ; and both he and Clarkson ' declared themselves willing to forgive and bury whatever mistakes on either side had taken place, and took one another by the hand in presence of the committee.' 2 The only later reference which I have found to Patrick is in the Register of Burials in Greyfriars Churchyard. Under date Monday 11th March 1745 is the significant entry — 'Patrick Walker, Indweller, 1. 70. aged.' The meaning of the first numeral is rather uncertain, but it may possibly refer to the mortcloth which was used at his funeral. The ' 70 ' is evidently intended to refer to his age, though by that time he must have been about 79. The word ' aged ' indicates that he died of old age, as in that column, opposite other names, are such words as fever, chincough, teething. 3 From one of his own incidental statements it 1 Plain Reasons for dissenting from the Revolution Church, 1731, p. 276. s Infra, ii. 235, 236. 3 It may be thought perhaps that the discrepancy of nine years in the age is fatal to the theory that this is the same Patrick Walker ; but it is quite INTRODUCTION xxxix appears that he had been twice married, the name of his second wife being Marion Kinloch. 1 In the text, I have scrupulously followed Patrick's own editions, save in the following particulars : (1) In the case of obvious misprints the spelling has been corrected. 2 (2) The punctuation has not been adhered to, as it was faulty, fre- quently obscured the meaning, and could hardly be regarded as Patrick's. (3) The system of italicising all the proper names, and of giving all the nouns capitals, has been departed from. (4) Direct quotations have been uniformly marked by inverted commas. Patrick sometimes used inverted commas, sometimes italics, but occasionally did not distinguish them in any way, which was rather perplexing when his own remarks were interwoven with them. (5) I have not hesitated to insert words, when by doing so the sense is made clearer ; but each of my insertions is enclosed within square brackets. (6) The head-lines have all been supplied by me, as Patrick had none. possible that the recorder, or his informant, may have merely made a guess at the age. The Register of Burials for St. Cuthbert's parish begins in March 1740. I searched it from that date to the end of 1750, and also searched the Canongate Burial Register from January 1737 to December 1750, but found no Patrick Walker in either. After seeing the reference, in the Minutes of the Associate Presbytery, to Patrick and Clarkson in 1737, and the Greyfriars burial entry of 1745, I hoped to find definite proof of Patrick's having become a Seceder ; but if he ever became a. member of ' the Associate Congregation in and about Edinburgh,' no proof seems to survive. Mr. Mair, of the Synod Hall Library, showed me the Roll of Members kept by Adam Gib for the year begin- ning in October 1743, and containing over twelve hundred names. Among these occur David Walker, and Mary Logan his wife, in Candlemaker Row, but Patrick is not there. Mr. Thin very kindly looked over the papers which are under his charge as session-clerk of Bristo congregation, and he also failed to find any trace of him. 1 Infra, i. 285. 2 Unless Patrick's spelling was improved by the printer, it was very much better than that of Claverhouse, an example of whose orthography may be found in vol. ii., p. 137. Yet, according to Mark Napier, the latter devoted 'a few years ' to classical and scientific studies at St. Andrews (Memorials of Claver- house, ii. 2). Between the spelling of Alexander Sheilds (infra, ii. 234) and that of Claverhouse there is no comparison. xl INTRODUCTION In my Notes, many of Patrick's statements have been traced to their sources ; some have been confirmed, some have been disproved. The titles of many of the rare pamphlets have been quoted. In Old Mortality, Sir Walter has drawn almost nothing from Patrick ; but in The Heart of Mid- Lothian he has avowedly and unavowedly borrowed incidents from him, and has frequently appropriated his language and phraseology. In one case he has confounded John Semple and James Welwood. In my Notes a few of his obligations have been pointed out to show their nature and variety. I have not attempted even to indicate the indebtedness of John Howie to Patrick. It may be enough to say that much of Patrick's ma- terial is familiar to all readers of The Scots Worthies. Scattered through the Notes are a goodly number of extracts from mss., few of which have been previously printed. 1 New light has been thrown on some obscure points. The hitherto impene- trable mystery concerning Donald Cargill's parentage has been satisfactorily cleared up by a concatenation of record evidence. 2 Proof has been furnished that 'the Bluidy Banner,' alleged to have been carried at Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge, was in reality a product of the early part of the following century ; and that the party which was responsible for it only comprised about half a dozen men, and fewer women, for some of them were unmarried, and those who were married had ' not all wives of their own opinions.' 3 The 'Illustrative Documents' are, it is believed, now pub- lished for the first time, and some of them will be found to be of special interest. The four ultra-conscientious men who signed the Prisoners' Protest had been imprisoned on account of the Sanquhar Declaration of 1692, and were among the few Covenanters prosecuted after the Revolution. ' Some 1 See Index sub Manuscripts. 2 Infra, ii. 199-203. s Infra, ii. 216. INTRODUCTION xli supplicating for them to the Council, without their consent and knowledge, got them out.' Hence their protest or testi- mony. John Clark is said to have been ' a quick and sharp man.' Thomas M'Millan, who died in 1696, is described as ' P re tty sharp, but of a slow speech, yet very sure therein.'' 1 In these Illustrative Documents, as in my other extracts from manuscripts, the original spelling has been rigidly adhered to, although contracted words have been extended, and such inversions as v for w and j for i have been corrected. The press-mark of vol. 344 in the Laing Collection of mss. in the Edinburgh University Library is H f 5 ; and of vol. 350, H f 2. As Patrick uses so many out-of-the-way and obsolete words, a glossary has been added. For the generous loan of many valuable and rare pamphlets I have been indebted to Mr. Sturrock, of the Original Secession Church; Mr. Kennedy, of the New College Library; Mr. M'Math, President of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society ; the late Mr. J. H. Thomson, of Hightae ; and Mr. Cochrane, of the Synod Hall. Mr. Sturrock has also read the proofs. And Mr. Cochrane lent me an ms. Diary, and, with Dr. Small, directed my attention to the very interesting entry concerning Patrick Walker in the Minutes of the Associate Presbytery. To Mr. Anderson, of the Historical Department of the Register House, my thanks are specially due for directing me to various ms. sources of information which otherwise I might have overlooked. D. H. F. 12th April 1901. 1 Calderwood's Dying Testimonies, pp. Si, 82. SOME REMARKABLE PASSAGES OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MR. ALEXANDER PEDEN LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL AT NEW GLENLUCE IN GALLOWAY Singular for Piety, Zeal and Faithfulness ; but especially, who exceeded all to be heard of in our late Ages, in that Gift of Foreseeing of Events, and Foretelling what was to befal the Church and Nation of Scotland and Ireland, particular Families and Persons ; and of his own Life and Death : A few Instances, amongst many through his Life, take these that follow. A third Edition with Amendments, and Additions, with SO New aditional Passages, and Answers to some few of the many Reflections upon the Preface, Passages and Notes. Judg. ii. 10. And also all that Generation were gathered unto their Fathers ; and there arose another Generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the "Works which he had done for Israel. Psal. lxxviii. 3, 4. Which we have heard and known, and our Fathers have told us, we will not hide them from their Children, shewing to the Generation to come, the Praises of the Lord, and his Strength, and his wonderful Works that he hath done. These with the 5, 6, 7, and 8 Verses. EDINBURGH Collected and Published by Patrick Walker, and to be sold at his House, within Bristo-Port, opposite to the Society-Gate MDCCXXVIII TO THE READER The Lord, who preserves both man and beast, whose goodness and grace is very precious, hath in his sovereignty been pleased, not only to continue me upon the stage, far beyond my deservings and expectations, when so many others have been swept off, that were more fruitful and useful in a short time of their life than ever I have been all my days ; and hath brought me to and back many times from the gates of death, both natural, accidental, and violent : but also to dispose and order my lot so that I have had the occasion to see, hear, and be witness to many remarkable things, and to have a more perfect understanding of these times, without vanity, than any I know now alive ; having had the happiness to be so much in converse with many martyrs, sufferers, and other worthy Christians in and from all corners of the land, both in prison and when wandering in desert places, in that time of persecution, and at other times since. Notwithstanding of all this that I have seen, heard, and been witness to, upwards of forty years past ; yet there being so many remark- able passages, that I have frequently heard, but was not distinct nor sure beneath foot, which made me uneasy until I made all search for further informa- 4 PEDEN'S LIFE tions and confirmations ; which obliged me to travel upwards of a thousand miles, in the years 1722 and 1723, in Scotland and Ireland : wherein I am obliged to acknowledge the Lord's good hand of providence in the preserving me, both by sea and land, and leading me in desert, pathless ways, which I knew not, and making my journey prosperous, getting informations and confirmations far beyond my expectation, especially in Ireland ; which so refresh'd and revived my old drooping spirit, that made my body some way light like my purse. Never- theless, I wanted not several discouragements ; as, first, when I travelled many miles, enquiring for my old acquaintances of the gleanings of that unheard-of persecution, it was for the most part answered, 'They are dead, and off the stage.' 2dly, Others of them, whom I found alive, [were] confused, and quite rusted, and averse from discoursing upon these things which I wanted, wherein I have heard them take delight : nevertheless they were obliged to say that then it was better with them than now ; especi- ally these who have got the world in their arms, and too much of it in their hearts, and lost sight of both their eyes, and fallen in contentedly with this back- sliding and upsitten church. 3dly, Others promised fair to bethink themselves, and collect their memories, and lay themselves out for informations and con- firmations, and to write distinct accounts ; but per- formed nothing. 4thly, Others, upon the right-hand, of the bigot Dissenters, looking upon me with an evil eye, and constructing all to the worst about me, AUTHOR'S PREFACE 5 gave me indiscreet, upbraiding language, calling me a vile old apostate. But these were no new things to me, being weather-beaten, having been in the midst of these fires of division, between the left-hand defections and right-hand extreams, upwards of forty years. As these have been a part of my discourage- ments in the gathering, so I want not far mo and greater in the publishing, in this critical, cen- sorious age ; that it is hard to know what or how to speak, far more to write, especially to me, who have never learned the grammar. But many will take exceptions, and make reflections, being so divided in parties ; as, First, There being so many in this perishing age, so far given up of God, as to make sport of heaven, and hell, and all sacred things ; als being violently driven of the devil upon the highest topicks of the dangerous, perishing rocks of atheism, as ever the Gaddarene swine were. 2dly, To the most part of the old generation, all these signal manifestations and remarkable steps of the Lord's Providence, in that time, are now out of date, and lookt upon as idle tales ; and few of the young incline or desire now to be informed. 3dly, The most part of the great wits of the age will think, as Mr. Wodrow writes, that there was too much prophesying in these days. Malignant nonsensical reflections of that nature are now need- less ; for such foresights of events are now quite ceased. We may all now cry out, ' Watchman, what ' of the night ? Watchman, what of the night ? ' 6 PEDEN'S LIFE with all the sleeping churches of Christ through the world, not one of them to waken another. And how long this melancholy day may last, there is not a prophet nor any one that can tell us the time how long, nor when the deliverance will be, from under the power of these plagues spiritual and temporal, under which the nation and Church of Scotland are brought very low. Tho' I know nothing now that ever any of these worthies, either minister or people, did foresee and foretell of what events might fall out, (tho' never one of them did take upon them to prophesie, and Mr. Durham, and other great men, do not condemn this ; and there are many such instances in the Fulfilling of the Scripture * and other humane writings) but what is altogether and fully accomplished, except that of outlandish people, especially from France, should come to this land, and the old serpent's brood, the Popish, prelatical and malignant faction, enemies of God and godliness, should take part with them, and raise a massacre, and lay much of this land desolate, especially the west of Scotland ; and tho' the Lord should show a miracle of mercy to sinful Scotland, and make our time a time of love, yet these seers were not mistaken ; all that they did foresee, fear, and spake of, hath been designed ever since the most part of them were taken off the stage : and six times endeavoured and attempted, as in the 1708, when the Pretender was upon our Firth from France. 2dly, At the Rebellion 1715. 3dly, At Glenshiels 1719, when the Spaniards were taken AUTHOR'S PREFACE 7 there. But there were other three times that escaped me then ; 2 before the Revolution, in the years 1684 and 1685, when we were all in a mistake about enemies' designs in exercising such unheard-of tyranny : but, since that time, a gentleman, that writes of Court-affairs in Britain for twenty of these years, asserts, that the very design of that Killing Time was to provoke the Lord's people in the West of Scotland to rise in arms in their own defence, as at Pentland, Bothwel, and Airdsmoss, that they might get the sham occasion to raise fire and sword in the West of Scotland, to make it a hunting-field, as the Duke of York openly threatned, saying, There was no other way of rooting out phanatism out of it. 2do, In September 1686, when they made that narrow search in the West for arms, that the people might have nothing to defend their families from a devouring sword, and their houses from the flames : I can assert the truth of this, having escaped their hands so very narrowly and remarkably in that search. 3dly, The very design of that Popish tolera- tion 1687, was, to lull all asleep, that they might get their bloody designs effectuate in a massacre ; 3 which were all stopt and crusht of their desires and designs, by very remarkable steps of the Lord's Providence. And further, it is still to be remembred and con- sidered, that these worthies, particularly, Mr. Cargil, and Mr. Peden, who spake most of this, did set no time to it. And as Mr. Cargil used to express him- self in speaking of it in publick, ' That a delayed ' thing was neither forgotten nor forgiven ; and the 8 PEDENS LIFE ' longer it was delayed, the sorer when it came.' It was fifty years after Manasseh went to his grave, who caused all Israel sin, and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon, ere that stroke of the Babylonish captivity came; and upwards of forty after Christ's Ascension, ere that tremenduous non-such stroke came upon Jeru- salem, wherein eleven hundred thousand perished of the sword, famine and pestilence ; the foresight of which made our blessed Saviour to weep, when he looked on the city. What has not yet been, may be ; we are more bent to backsliding this day, than that day, when that evil resolution-spirit entred in amongst the bulk of our ministers, and other leading persons in State and Army, at the fiftieth year, seventy-eight years ago, which may be justly reckoned our Gibeah days, from which we have sinned : we are a generation of sinful men, risen up to augment the fierce anger of the Lord against sinful Scotland, serving our selves heirs to the sins of our Publick Resolutioners, Indulged, addressers, accepters and improvers of York's Popish Tolera- tion, fathers. O for the sharp sight and clear eye, distinct and impartial pen of our leading staters, maintainers, and sealers of our sworn-to and sealed testimony, to draw up, and set in clear view, a full catalogue of Scotland's sins from that day to this day ; especially to discover the sins, snares and defections of the present black infatuate bargain of Union, toleration and patronages ; but especially to rip up, and lay in broad-band, the foul moniplyes AUTHOR'S PREFACE 9 of that bundle of these intricate, implicate, multi- farious, and unnecessary oaths, imposed upon this nation and ministers of this Church, by the authority of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, with their foul, cunning, rotten distinctions, as Ass and WhicKs, thereby swearing away a Presbyterian king from the throne of Britain, and [involving] submission to Eras- tianism and to the height of the usurped power of abjured Prelatical Hierarchy ; being imposed, by their authority, upon the ministers of this Church, and that as they are ministers, without their consent, under the same penalty, with civil officers in State and Army, who have their commissions and benefices from them : whereas ministers of the gospel hold neither of them; yet, without submission to these un- happy encrochments, to be deprived of both office and benefice ; 4 contrair to an express act and declaration of the General Assembly, in the year 1648, against all new oaths and bonds in the common cause, im- posed without the consent of the Church, which they looked upon as a snare to the people of God, to involve them in guiltiness, and to draw them from their former principles and vows in the Solemn League and Covenant. They are more than half- blind that do not see, that, as the causes of God's wrath, attended with all aggravating circumstances to make them very hainous, are many and great ; so the evidences and effects of his displeasure and hot anger are visibly appearing against all, both spiritually and temporally; as, First, The spirit of conviction and conversion restrained, the power and 10 PEDEN'S LIFE blessings of the gospel with-holden, the wonted fruits and effects of the gospel do not now appear ; the most part darkned, deadned and hardned, under ordinances and providences of mercy and judgment ; that as the old reverend Mr. James Kirkton 6 fre- quently expressed himself in publick, that ' the ' grace of preaching was much gone, and the gift ' remained, and we contented our selves with the ' gift without the grace ; this,' said he, ' was one of • the main causes why the gospel was so ineffectual ' in Scotland.' I have often thought these years past, that it were a mercy to many that their gifts were as far decayed, dead and withered, as the exercises of their graces are ; they themselves and others would know better how it is with many of them. 2dly, A reforming, covenanting spirit so far gone out of request, that our covenants, that enemies burnt and all ranks have broken, were laid in the grave by our first General Assembly, 6 and our precious Confession of Faith made the grave-stone, injoining all ministers and elders to subscribe the same, and the late Church Formula laid also upon it, to make all sure ; and not only the greater part passing by it in forgetfulness and deep silence, but many, both ministers and professors, denying the binding obligation of it. It was far otherways in our blest, convincing, converting, reforming, covenant- ing days, in these lands, when both State and Church concluded and enacted, that [all], from the king upon the throne to the least office in the kingdom, AUTHOR'S PREFACE 11 at their admission, should be obliged to subscribe the same ; yea, and none entred to the college nor none admitted to the sacrament without it. And the General Assembly, and Commissioners at London, in the year 1644, Henderson, Gillespie, and Rutherfoord, and their brethren the English divines, called the Solemn League and Covenant the founda- tion and chief part of the work, and obligation of it perpetual that no power on earth could loose. It must be a strange building that we have now, that wants both foundation and chief part ; but they are now upon another footing. 3dly, Tho' the Lord has been pleased in his sovereignty to restrain these lion-judgments, of sword, famine and pestilence (the fore-sight and fore-thoughts whereof made our worthies to tremble) to rore and yell upon us, to awake us out of the deep sleep that the foolish are fallen into, and slumbring of the wise ; yet all may see the moth-judgments, both spiritual and temporal, consuming us secretly and insensibly, the nation wasting and the Church sinking, blasting us in all our projects and endea- vours both by sea and land ; the most part either at a stand or going back ; the Scots blood gone out of our veins, honesty out of our hearts, and zeal off our spirits; and the English abominations drunk in as sweet wine with pleasure, a swift decay of good, and speedy increase of ill, pining away in our iniquities, and spending our wretched years in trouble, great vexation on all spirits, and wrath upon this people. The Reverend Mr. James Webster, in his last 12 PEDEN'S LIFE publick lecture, upon the first verses of the eighth chapter of Hosea, said, ' He knew not if ever he ' came to that place again, and durst not but give ' them warning, that there were storms and strokes ' coming upon this land, that would make the ears ' of other nations to tingle ; and that there were ' many new projects amongst us, to insure our houses ' and raise our selves ; but if ever any project that we ' took in hand proved succesful, until the breaches of ' our covenants were confest, mourned over, and they ' renewed again, he was far mistaken.' 4thly, Prodigious outbreakings through the land, unusual and unheard-of ways of sinning fallen upon, which are not only great causes of wrath, but great signs that judgments are at the very door : what cutting of throats, hangings and drownings, and such deep forgetfulness of God and of the Sabbath, that three in one parish, 1716, and nine together in the neighbour parish, in the year 1717, all of them professors, went to the corn-fields, in these Sabbath- mornings, and did shear so many sheaves of corn ; of whom and where better things might have been expected ; which our fathers knew not of, especially in and about sinful Edinburgh, the sink of abomina- tions, that has defiled the whole land, where Satan sometime a day had his seat, and a throne of iniquity was established by law, and whose streets did run with the precious blood of the Lord's people. 5thly, A young uprising generation, few of them in their right mind, or have their faces heavenward, the most part carried down the stream and current AUTHOR'S PREFACE 13 of profanity, vanity, or a ruining security and in- differency about all these great things, tho' they have the aspect, and may have the prospect, of scant and want and leanness both of soul and body, if these melancholly days be lengthned out. 6thly, Whatever has been the many and long un- happy debates, about the doctrine, of controversy and the cross ; yet the Church of Scotland has been admired by other churches, for unity and purity in the doctrine of the gospel, until unhappy Professor Simson's days, that he started up to revive old con- demned errors : which plea got the wrong name, when it was called Mr. Webster's and Mr. Simson's Plea ; 7 whereas it was truth and error indeed. And of all the weather-cock turnings, that have been amongst them, these hundred and twenty eight years, this gave the greatest discovery of them, that there were so few to take truth's part, in a positive manner ; and so many fighting with long staves, to save the Professor's erroneous head, being so possest with affection and prejudice, and so little zeal for the truths of the great God. I was a witness to this, to my great grief, in the committee appointed for that end, which made the Reverend Mr. Andrew Cameron 8 say, ' Moderator, you may fight with long staves as you ' will, but it will not be within the compass of your ' power to save the Professor's head.' And tho' it was commonly said, that all this moor-burn flowed from Mr. Webster's ill humour and hot contentious temper ; yet, a little before his death, he said to my self, that ' he was in that debate as he was never in 14 PEDEN'S LIFE ' any — , for all that time he never found his blood ' warm ; and whatever discouragements and griefs ' he got in these judicatories, as soon as he got alone ' he was perfectly free, easy and comforted.' At the same time he said also, that ' we might linger on for ' some time ; but if the doctrine of the gospel was ' suffered to be corrupted, it would hasten vengeance ' on this poor land.' What a blot and stain was it to this Church, and how stumbling and offensive to many serious and zealous ministers and people, that Professor Simson was suffer'd to continue in the office, to poison the fountains of learning, that might infect the whole land ; and that there was not a note of infamy put upon him, by deprivation and excom- munication, and set him up as a beacon to terify and make others afraid to split upon such dangerous rocks. 7thly, There are also, in these later years, debates risen upon the difference between the doctrine of grace, or of the gospel, and the legal formal doctrine of works ; which also gets the wrong name, when it is industriously and maliciously spread, both by word and writ by many ministers and professors, that it is a contending for an erroneous book, 9 thereby darkning and blotting that plea, keeping people in ignorance, who live by an implicite faith, that they cannot read, nor have a right uptaking of this con- troversy : whereas it was publickly said by the Protestors, before the supreme judicatory, that ' tho' they owned the scope of that book sound, ' and the design of it good ; yet there were several AUTHOR'S PREFACE 15 ' unguarded expressions in it, that they would not ' defend ; ' and branding also the author, as a sly Antinomian, and all the Protestors, with the odious name of Antinomians. 10 And I doubt not, if the high-flown wits of this age would consult and rack their unsanctified gifts, and criticise as much upon the writings of Rutherfoord, Durham and Owen, or any other of our most sound humane writings, but they would find out defects, and make them also offenders for words. And above all the unhappy pleas, that have fallen out in my time, this has had the maniest good effects, that has put so many professors to make earnest, like the Bereans, search- ing into the difference, truth and falshood of these things ; and so many ministers to dig deep into the profound mysteries of the gospel, and to unfold them to the people. And tho' I have had the happiness to be a hearer of the gospel from my infancy, in fields and houses ; yet of late I have heard some liths and nicks of the gospel made plain, and the way of salvation more perfectly taught than ever. I have also heard some of the new mode of legal, formal sermons, of good works, to my grief; particularly upon that text, ' Let the wicked forsake ' his way,' etc., standing straight up without motion in the pulpit, having all in readiness, and delivering all in a neat fine stile, without once making mention of the sweet name of Jesus, who saves his people from their sins, or the riches and power of the free grace of Christ, in the inlightning, convincing and converting a sinner from sin. Great Durham calls 16 PEDENS LIFE this refined hypocrisy, the going round of all duties, and doing for life, by so doing to move God to have pity and compassion on them ; and Doctor Owen calls all this loss and dung, and not the rock of the glorious Person of Christ, God-Man, or the rock of his blessed doctrine that believers should build upon, which will stand against all blowing of winds and coming of floods. And whoever teaches this [legal] doctrine puts a toom spoon in their mouth, which will not only starve them but poison them ; and whoever drinks in, and rests upon this doing and believing, and doing for life, will have a cold coal to blow at in the end : and I am perswaded that whoever gets right views, conceptions and apprehen- sions of the incomprehensible love of God, manifested in the sending of Jesus Christ into the world, it will have more weight and influence upon an inlightned, believing soul, to the sincere, serious, frequent per- formance of all commanded duties, than the threat- ning of ten thousand hells for not doing. This is the bed that the most part are sleeping soundly and securely on, and have no need of rocking ; that ' they ' will do all they can or dow, and Christ will do the ' rest of it,' making Christ copartner with them in the work of their salvation. This is nothing but the old, broken, bottomless covenant of works, that the wisdom of heaven never thought fit to mend ; but in goodness, love and wisdom, found out a new and living way in the new covenant of grace. But let them boast of their doings, and believings, and workings for life as they will, without they fall upon AUTHOR'S PREFACE 17 another way of doings and workings than ever I could find these forty- four years, their best doings will be most humbling to them. Next to my original guilt, the sin of my holy things and days lies heaviest upon me. I have found my sins humbling to me, and duties puffing up : sometimes when water goes out, wind goes in ; and if I be not saved by the merits, vertue and incense of Christ's satisfaction, Christ's obedience and intercession, I am lost for ever, and will die in my sins, and perish in mine iniquities, and must bid farewel to heaven and happiness, and embrace hell and wo for ever. What Mrs. Katharine Hamilton said to the Popish priests, was good sense, when examined upon the peril of her life, about the time of her famous brother's burning at St. Andrews, our first noted martyr, Mr. Patrick Hamilton, when pressing her with the merits of good works ; ' Work here, work there, ' what working 's all this ? ' said she ; ' no works will ' save me but Christ's merits.' n And the man of God, Mr. Donald Cargil, when speaking in publick of legal ministers, who had no experience of regenera- tion, called them 'maiden midwives, who stifled ' the children in the birth'; 12 and others of them that were backslidden, silent and unfaithful to souls, called them 'thunder-slain or blasted'; and, within eight hours of his martyrdom, said, ' My soul ' trembles to think how little of regeneration there ' is amongst the ministers and professors of Scot- ' land : O the ministers of Scotland, how have they ' betrayed Christ's interest, and beguiled souls ! B 18 PEDEN'S LIFE ' They have not entred in themselves, and them that ' were entring they hindred.' 8thly, All who do not shut their eyes must see that the Lord has divided us in his anger, and poured out a spirit of confusion and division, which may be great thoughts of heart to all, who allow themselves to think upon the causes, and what shall be the end of these things, that never a people were so divided, since these non-such judgments were poured out upon that infatuate people devoted to destruction at Jerusalem. The Jews' privileges, sins and judgments may be thoughts of heart to all thinking Scotsmen : all may know that Presby- terians in Scotland are now divided in ten parties, 13 and love so far decayed that there is an inclination to division, and the most part blinded with affection and prejudice, and a thrice cursed spirit of self-con- ceit, self-seeking and self-confidence, poured out upon all : all right in their own eyes, and none right ; all wrong, and none wrong, is our case ; every party confident that they have the testimony, some have one part of it, and some have another, but not one party in all Scotland has the whole of the sworn- to and sealed testimony against Popery, Prelacy, Erastianism, Sectarianism, Schism, Error, Tyranny and Defection, and whatsoever is contrary to sound doctrine and the power of godliness. That precious testimony was never in such danger of being blotted and bluthered, that the poor, more than half-blind, uprising generation will not read it, nor know what their fathers contended for ; what by left-hand de- AUTHOR'S PREFACE 19 fections and right-hand extreams, the two chief parts of it being now heartily and willingly renounced and deserted by solemn oaths — [viz. the parts] against Prelacy and Erastianism, that have been earnestly contended against in Scotland these hundred and fifty-four years — with prayers (taking the Lord's name in vain, at best) to be helped in all these foul steps of defection : but, whatever god help them, none, who are any way versed in the contendings through the periods of this Church, will allow them- selves to think, that Jacob's God, the God of Bethel, will help them to the undoing of the same, who raised up, spirited and endowed with gifts and graces, and answered our fathers in the day of their distress, and was with them by the way, strength- ning, supporting and comforting them, in their stating, maintaining and sealing of the truth, and who counted nothing too dear for the same. And whatever faint opposition the judicatories of this Church have made, these years bygone, against all these grievous impositions upon us, they have still blown and holden meal in their mouth, 14 at and ever since the Revolution, in their consulting and racking the rules of carnal state-policy, thereby licking up their father's vomit, in their publick acknowledg- ments ; and none of their addresses have had the tinkle or sound of the declarations and faithful warn- ings of the General Assemblies of this Church in our good, reforming, covenanting days. Take one instance of many that might be given ; in the year 1642, the General Assembly's answer to the declara- 20 PEDEN'S LIFE tion of the Parliament of England, hath these express words, 'Yea, what hope can the kingdom ' and kirk of Scotland have of a firm and durable ' peace, until Prelacy, which hath been the main ' cause of their miseries and troubles first and last, ' be plucked up, root and branch, as a plant which ' God hath not planted, and from which no better ' fruits can be expected, than such sowre grapes as, ' this day, do set on edge the kingdom of England. ' The Prelatical Hierarchy being put out of the ' way, the work will be easy.' 15 And the few ministers that have got restraining grace, and been kept from running the same length, there is such a confusing, fainting fear among them, that there is no publick, plain, joint, positive testimony given against all these wide, foul steps of defection ; but, upon the contrair, keeping communion with them at sacraments and otherwise, thereby helping them to stifle their convictions, and harden them in their defections ; to the great offence and stumbling of many serious, zealous souls, through the land, that know not what hand to turn them to, whether to hear or forbear ; having now sitten their time, and slighted their seasonable, golden opportunity of giving an active testimony against these nation-wasting and church-sinking abominations of Union, toleration, and patronages, 16 and that bundle of unhappy oaths, for themselves, and [slighted] following the pathed road of their renowned ancestors, equally opposing white devils and black devils, giving a good example to others who are to come after them, and being as AUTHOR'S PREFACE 21 he-goats before the flock ; but this seasonable time and testimony being let slip and neglected, whoever would now, or afterwards, stand up to supply this lamentable want would be looked upon as (Paul and Silas were) men going to turn the nations up- side down ; which are so far out of sight, that they must have a clear eye and be long-sighted, that see them setting up their heads, that appear to be of that growth in piety, zeal and faithfulness, as to supply this sad defect. The most part of the young have only got a clatter of learning in their heads, and the frothy air of the time about their ears ; others of gifts, learning and grace, quite discouraged ; seeing all methods taken to close doors upon all, and access to none who will not bow to their formulas, and obtain the approbation of their professors of divinity, and patrons' presentations. I know that unhappy argument, that has done so much unspeakable hurt in all the backsliding times of this Church, together with divisions, especially the many right- hand extreams, have also done much hurt to these few Non-Jurants, viz. ' That many of these swearing ' ministers are good men, and therefore cannot with- ' draw from them ' : but whatever be their goodness, this is no part of it; and the better they are, it aggravates their guilt in the departing so far out of the way, causing so many to stumble, and made them- selves so contemptible and base in the eyes of many of their most serious, zealous people ; their empty kirks, these years past, through many places of Scotland, can witness this ; and if they get not a 22 PEDEN'S LIFE cast by common, it may be with them as it has been with great and good men, who have had a gloomy evening, and their sun setting under a cloud with them. What famous Mr. Rutherfoord 17 said to Mr. David Dickson, 18 who shined bright in his young days, but in his old age was one of the ministers of Edinburgh, and took part with the Publick Resolu- tioners, 'Davie, Davie, ye '11 shine in heaven, but ' no more on earth.' And there is ground to fear, that, if that handful of Non-Jurants be dealt with, as some good and great men have been, (which I pray the Lord may in love prevent,) for their slighting of so seasonable a testimony, and for their un- hallowed unions with these swearing ministers; these Jurants shall not only be continued as thorns in their sides, but these of them, who shall continue any time upon the stage, shall be left to fall in some foul national snare and defection. Some instances of this may be given, passing by what was in that 42 years' backsliding from the 1596 until the 1638, First, The Protestors, being once fairly parted with the Resolutioners, did unite and mix with them again, 19 which was the chief reason or cause that there was no testimony given against that heaven- daring Act Rescissory, nor the establishing of abjured Prelacy; 20 six hundred of their brethren Resolutioners going out at the first puff of that wind of persecution, as chaff at the back barn-door, to the embracing the same ; which made the worthy Mr. M'Ward and others say that they would go mourning to their graves for their re-uniting again, AUTHORS PREFACE 23 and for not protesting against that unhallowed union with them ; and not only their sinful and shameful silence, at all these horrible things, the most part went and heard them, even after they had changed their head and holding ; and many of them advised the people to do the same ; whereby the body of the land was involved in deep perjury. 2dly, At the 1669, when the first Indulgence was embraced, there were so many that not only gave no testimony, but prest keeping up com- munion with them, and were left to embrace the second, in the 1672, 21 very like unto the first and second classes of the Jurants in our day. 3dly, Many yet gaping after a third, with the cautionry-bond, 22 which was quickly snatcht from them ; then all of them fell into a deep silence, except Mr. Cargill and Mr. Cameron, which were soon cut off; Mr. Hog, Mr. Welwood, King, and Kid were honestly off the stage ; Mr. Blackadder [and] Mr. Dickson 23 being in the enemy's hands; Mr. Peden and Mr. Hepburn being gone off the kingdom ; these were not silent at the snares and sins of that day, as Mr. Blackadder used to say, when speaking of the Indulgence, that ' sometimes the tongue would not ' be h olden.' [9.] It hath been so remarkable through the periods of this Church, which has obliged many to take notice of it, that these who have been helped to stear the most steady course, in contending for substance and circumstances of the attained-to testimony, have 24 PEDEN'S LIFE had most light, life, strength, joy and comfort, both in their life and at their death ; and these that have done otherwise, in drawing back and turning aside to the left or right hand, in omissions or commis- sions, it hath been far otherwise with them, both in their life and death ; and that one wrong step draws, leads, and makes way for another; and few that have lost their feet, and quit their ground, have found them, and taken up their ground again, (a famous Mackward and Mr. Shields 2i are two rare instances of doing of this) ; and oft-times with many, a backslidden spirit has turned to a persecuting spirit, many with tongues, and some with hands. Many instances of this might be given through the periods of this Church, especially in my own time. 10. Then again, upon the right hand, their un- warrantable, schismatical separations, from all that will not, nor dare not, go their length in judgment and practice, which was never heard of in Scotland until unhappy John Gib's days, forty-seven years ago ; and these two unhappy principles, viz. that ' every difference in judgment is a ground of separa- tion'; 25 and that 'there is no keeping up nor carrying on of a testimony but by separation,' which has led some out of the way ever since, which I have been a witness to, unto my great grief : and of late they have published some wild, enthusiastick, deluded, demented, nonsensical pamphlets, called the Mani- festo, Bond of Union, and Grand Juglers, 26 and others ; which if all our staters, maintainers, and AUTHOR'S PREFACE 25 sealers of our testimony, were alive, they would not know what to make of them, nor what they would be at, and their breath that they speak and write with would be strange to them ; all these have a direct tendency to blot and bury that dear-bought testimony, and make it contemptible in the eyes of all. 11. Notwithstanding that our backslidings, up- sittings, turnings aside to the left and right hand, have been of a long continuance, many and great, and attended with all aggravated circumstances to make them very hainous, that may make all fear that our judgments, spiritual and temporal, shall be many, long and great, and shall want no circum- stances to make them terrible; that as old Mr. James Kirkton said, when praying publickly, ' Lord, ' we know not whether thou wilt come against us as ' a moth or as a lion ; we deserve both, and may ' fear both.' And tho' the causes of God's wrath are many and great, and the evidences and effects of his hot displeasure are many and great, yet how few are fasting, mourning, sighing, and crying, for their own and for the national abominations, past and present ! National fasting and mourning are so far gone out of request that they are quite neglected by this Church, the power being given up into the hands of the magistrate ; and what fasts we have now are by the authority of the King and his Council, made up of Lords Spiritual and Temporal ; and the most part of people knows not whether they are the English saints' holy days or not, nor what 26 PEDEN'S LIFE saint it is; 27 a confused, implicite way of fasting indeed : such juggling and dealing in such matters, and what may be their effects, consequences and tendencies, may be great thoughts of heart to all thinking souls in Scotland. There is ground to conclude, that if ever the Lord return to Scotland and pour out a spirit of mourning upon us, we will mourn that we have not mourned, and fast over our fastings, and mourn over our mournings ; especially since the Revolution, that the fasts we have had have been so lame and defective in their causes. 12. As this great duty of national humiliation is now neglected and spoiled, so the soul-refreshing sacrament of the Lord's Supper is quite marred to many serious souls in many places of the land, ever since the greater part of ministers defiled their hands with these land-defiling oaths, which have made so many tender Christians to scruple and scunner to take the food of their souls out of their unclean hands. Some, when they have begun to examine themselves and prepare for it, the national sins that ministers are guilty of, with their aggravating circumstances, have multiplied so in their eye that their confusions, doubts and fears have been in- creased, and they made to question if it was their duty to go there or not. This has stopped some : others have gone over the belly of all these, and eaten doubtingly, and come home more darkned, deadned, hardned, confused and discouraged : then again, others, who have gone to the not-swearers, AUTHOR'S PREFACE 27 some who travelled far have been sadly disappointed when they saw some of the swearing-ministers there, which hath been great grief of heart to them ; and when they have gone to the table, seeing Non- Jurants standing by the elements as if they were to serve that table, and Jurants sitting at the head of it as if they were to communicate, using that hen- wyle to get the tables full, many know what delays, stoppings and pressings to get the tables full ; and when made up, Jurants have started up and served that table; which has so filled the souls of many worthy persons with confusions and discourage- ments, that have quite marred the rational exercise of their souls : instances of times, places and persons might here be given. 28 By these, and many other instances, they and all may see what a poor pass they have brought themselves into, and how con- temptible, base and frightful they are to many solid, serious, tender, yea zealous souls. The worthy old Mr. James Kirktoun said, in a publick sermon at the West Kirk, that 'our judgments would begin ' with divisions among our selves ; and many, who ' now admired some ministers, would run the kirk ' when they saw them enter the pulpit.' Further, many, who have been fully perswaded in their minds against hearing, and receiving church-privileges from them, have desired testificates to go elsewhere, where they might get cleanly wholesom food to their souls, and be refresh'd, strengthned and con- firmed ; which many have found in some places these years bygone, to their joyful experience. And 28 PEDEN'S LIFE when they have sought testificates to go elsewhere for baptism to their children, many ministers have not only refused but boasted and threatned them, tho' they had nothing to say against their conversa- tion ; which hath obliged some to travel upwards of forty miles, who thereafter have been vexed with summonses before their judicatories, to give an account who baptized their children. And ministers, whom they suspected, have met with no small trouble ; yea, even in these parishes where these hireling, intruding fleecers, seeking theirs but not them, have been thrust in upon them, not only without their consent but over the belly of all legal opposition by force of armed men ; frightful elders indeed ! And many have taken more strict notice of honest, tender Dissenters, than of the most wicked or profane within their bounds and parishes. I have often thought, these several years bygone, that it was a mercy to this land that the Government, in their wisdoms, overlookt Dissenters, and thought it not worth their while to take notice of them ; for, if there had been as much of a persecuting spirit in the State, as there has appeared in the Church, there had been sad news in this sinful land, that would have sounded in the ears of other nations. This might be instructed from times, persons and places ; but for the time take these two following instances. First, their tossing and deposing of old, praying, pious Mr. John Hepburn, minister of the gospel at Orr in Galloway, instigating the State to detain him so long in prisons and confinements from his people ; 29 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 29 especially old Mr. William Vetch in Dumfries, who in his dotted old age wrote so viporously and maliciously against him, which Mr. Hepburn did distinctly and satisfyingly answer, which are both published to the world ; 30 and all this for taking part with the bulk of the gleanings of that unheard-of persecution, who kept their ground in a legal testi- mony, against all discouragements, against the back- sliding courses, from the beginning until the unhappy Union, that the Church went out of their sight, and lost hope of their returning and halting : all which are to be found in their Humble Pleadings for the Good old Way, 31 which, above all the divided parties in Scotland since the Revolution, had most of the old Covenanters' plea in hand ; and for his pitying these honest Dissenters in their melancholly circum- stances, taking a turn three or four times yearly in these corners where most of them resided, preaching Christ, catechizing and baptizing their children. It might have been thought, if they had sight or sense of their offensive courses, and what stumbling-blocks they have laid in people's way by their foul mis- managements, and if they had been ministers of gospel-spirits, they would rather have rejoiced that Christ was preached, and the number of the visible Church increased ; considering also that few or none of these Dissenters would have come to them for church-privileges, but were living without the gospel and their children unbaptized, being as sheep with- out a shepherd, straying in pathless ways, running upon right-hand extreams, as alas too many have done. 30 PEDEN'S LIFE A second instance is, their not only suspending and deposing, but running the height of excom- munication of the pious and faithful Mr. James Gilchrist, minister of the gospel in Dun score in the shire of Nithsdale, following the wicked, hellish example of their old plagued Resolution-fathers, who excommunicated worthy Colonel Strachan for his taking part with the Protesters against their unhappy courses of defection in that day ; which excom- munication many of the Lord's zealous people, ever since, reckoned among the causes of God's wrath. The Presbytery of Dumfries did not only suspend and depose, but were authorized by the General Assembly for the excommunication of the said Mr. Gilchrist, and by their authority intimate through all the Kirks, which very few refused, whereby it became the deed of the whole Church. The sentence was pronounced by Mr. Paton minister in Dumfries, and all this for his not keeping com- munion with this whorish Church, after the taking of these unhappy oaths ; tho' he went to that Synod, to give his grounds and reasons, legally, wherefore he could not sit and keep communion with them as formerly ; where he met with very rude and unheard-of treatment, when he would not take his seat, [they] calling to their officers to put him to the door ; yet, after he was gone, sent after him to return and let bygones be bygones, notwithstanding of all that they had maliciously charged him with, of which he publickly vindicated himself so that never one of them have contradicted ; and for his protesting AUTHOR'S PREFACE 31 against their backsliding courses, and on a publick fast-day giving that bundle of oaths the deserved name of Perjuration ; and for his pity and sympathy with honest Dissenters, preaching Christ and the way of salvation to them, and baptizing their children, all which they call Schism and Irregu- larities. Yet, in his last words, [he] freely forgave them, and wished the Lord might forgive them, for all their unjust sentences and other hard speeches against him ; and died in much peace, not regarding their unjust sentences, being perswaded and confirmed that he was in the Lord's way in all these steps. 32 The old saying holds, that 'All's well that ends ' well ' : and if these backslidden, upsitten, luke- warm ministers, elders, and professors get not a cast by common, their sun will not set so clear, nor they lay down their heads in such peace, as the foresaid two and many other worthies, whom they have vented their bastard-zeal against, whatever were their passing clouds ; it being the crowning blessing of purchased and promised blessings to die with full assurance of faith in the Lord. I have often thought in my melancholy days, these years bygone, that if it might be supposed, that the souls of our worthies were come from heaven, and the dust of their mullered bodies from their graves, and reunite again ; I mean, our Hamiltons, Wisharts, in that period ; our Knoxes, Welshes, Melvils, Davidsons, Bruces, in that period ; our Rutherfoords, Hendersons, Gillespies, Guthries, 32 PEDEN'S LIFE M'Wards, Browns, Livingstones, in that period; our M'Kells, Welwoods, Mitchels, Kings, Kids, Blackadders, Camerons, Cargils, Pedens, Renwicks, Shields, with all the rest of the faithful followers of the Lamb ; and if it might be supposed that they could be diverted from thinking and speaking of his decease which he did accomplish at Jerusalem, and from what they have felt, seen and heard since they left us, they would stand astonished, and not own us for their successors, that have come so far short of their piety, zeal and faithfulness, and few or none walking in the pathed way that they chalked out for us : and few or none contending earnestly for sub- stance and circumstances, hair and hoof of that dear-bought testimony, that they handed down to us by their fightings, wrestlings, prayers, tears and blood, for the which they counted nothing too dear, and now let so easily slip through our slippry, feeble, feelless fingers. What's easily come by is oft easily parted with. But, I must for a little leave this melancholly day, and return to that good, ill time of persecution, a day of great sinning and suffering, which was a defiling furnace to the most part, which is not purged away to this day ; but a purifying day to these who keeped clean hands and garments ; a day of the power of the gospel, to the conviction and conversion of many souls, which made some to call in question if there had been a greater, since the apostles ceased out of the world, in so short a time and in so little bounds of the earth, as in the south AUTHOR'S PREFACE 33 and west of Scotland, for some years after the standard of the gospel was publickly set up in the fields, 83 especially in the four occasions of the sacra- ment dispensed in the open fields, viz. Maybole, Irongray, East-Nisbet-Haugh, and Haughhead, in the years 1677, 1678, 1679, before Bothwel ; 34 a day of great confirmations, support and comfort to the souls of his people, and of very remarkable steps of his providence towards their bodies, until they were some way fitted and spirited for trials, and their hour come, wherein the Lord answered them in the day of their distress, and wherein they had their Bethels, Penuels, and Machanaims, which made them to set up stones, and write on them Ebenezer, that hitherto had the Lord helped ; and gave to both ministers and people the foresight and forethoughts of events, both as to the Church, themselves, and others ; but these dispensations required these mani- festations. It was also a day of very astonishing apparitions, both in the firmament and upon the earth, which I can instruct the truth of: as, first, before the gospel was sent to the fields and desert places, in the year 1668 or 1669, in these places where the gospel was most frequently preached afterwards ; how surprising and astonishing was the sight, both by night and day, of brae-sides covered with the appearance of men and women with tents, and voices heard in them ! Particularly, the first night that Mr. John Dickson preached in the fields in the night-time, east from Glasgow upon Clide's-side, 35 his parish being on the south-side, Ruthglen, where he c 34 PEDEN'S LIFE was settled minister before the unhappy Restoration, and, after long persecution and imprisonment in the Bass and other places, was re-settled there again, and died there since the Revolution ; that first night, several people together, before they came to the appointed place, they saw upon their way a brae- side covered with the appearance of people, with a tent, and a voice crying aloud, ' This is the ever- ' lasting gospel ; if ye follow on to know, believe ' and embrace this gospel, it shall never be taken ' from you ' ; when they came to join them, all disappeared. Other companies of people, in another way going there, heard a charming sweet sound of singing the 93 Psalm, which obliged them to stand still until it was ended ; other people who stayed at home in several places, some heard the singing of the 44 Psalm, others the 46 Psalm. When the people who were there came home, they who stayed at home said, ' Where have ye been so long ? For ' the preaching was near-by, for we heard the Psalms ' sweetly sung, and can tell you a note of the sermon,' which was the foresaid note. Worthy Mr. John Blackadder, who was a blest instrument to the experience of many after this, who used to call these years the Blink, 36 was at all pains to examine the most solid Christians in that bounds, upon their hearing and seeing these things, who all asserted the truth of the same ; and there are some yet alive, worthy of all credit, who heard the said Mr. Blackadder, after this, discoursing with the foresaid Mr. Dickson in Borrowstounness, in the house AUTHORS PREFACE 35 of Skipper William Horn, that old exercised, singular, self-denied, tender Christian, which is very rare to be found now. Mr. Dickson was modest, being preacher himself that night ; but Mr. Black- adder concluded that it was of the Lord, and that the gospel would go to the fields, and be blest with power and success there. A daughter of the said Mr. Blackadder, worthy of all credit, yet alive at Edinburgh, declares she heard her father relate the same to her mother with chearfulness. 2dly, Before the gospel came to that known place, Craigmad, where it became frequent after- wards, to the sweet experience of some yet alive ; it lies within the shire of Stirling, and betwixt the parish of Falkirk and Moranside : how many did see that know or brae-side, as close covered with the appearance of men and women as they many times saw it afterwards, particularly one day, Alexander Stirling, who lived in the Redden near that place, a solid, serious, zealous Christian, who told this several times to some yet alive, worthy of all credit, who told me of it, that he, with some others, one day was in that desert place, and saw that brae- side closs covered with the appearance of men and women, singing the 121 Psalm, with a milk-white horse, and blood-red saddle on his back, standing beside the people ; which made that serious, discern- ing, observing Christian conclude, that the gospel would be sent to that place, and that the white-horse was the gospel, and the red-saddle persecution. 3dly, That known place Darmead, where the 36 PEDEN'S LIFE gospel was more frequent afterward than any place I know betwixt Clidesdale and Lothian, for which it was called the Kirk of Darmead, five parishes meet about it, the like was seen there, singing the 59 Psalm. And whoever will consider these fore- said psalms, will see how suitable they were to these dispensations, and were oft sung by the Lord's suffering people in that time ; but this bruitish, carnal age knows not what it is to syllable the Scriptures, or feed upon them. 4thly, In the year 1678, in that spot of ground without Glasgow, what showers of swords and bonnets fell there, with the appearance of armed men marching in order, where the Highland host drew up the same year that they came to the West, is known to many yet alive. 37 5thly, That blazing star that appeared for many nights together, after Bothwel, 1679, which was commonly called ' the comet star ' ; which was long and bright like a rainbow, clearly seen through all Europe for ought I know : when Mr. Mackward, who then was a-dying, heard of it, he desired Mr. Shields and other friends to carry him out that he might see it ; when he saw it, he blest the Lord that was now about to close his eyes, and [that he] was not to see the woful days that were coming upon Britain and Ireland, especially upon sinful Scotland. 38 6thly, In the year 1683, which was such a long and great frost that from November to the middle of March there was no labouring of the ground ; 39 yet even before the snow fell, when the earth was as AUTHORS PREFACE 37 iron, how many graves were in the west of Scot- land in desert places, in ones, twos, threes, fours, fives together, which was no imaginary thing ; many yet alive, who measured them with their staves exactly the deepness, breadth, and length of other graves, and the lump of earth lying whole together at their sides, which they set their feet upon, and handled them with their hands ; which many con- cluded afterwards did presage the two bloody slaughter-years that followed, 1684, 1685, wherein 82 of the Lord's suffering people were suddenly and cruelly murdered in desert places, where-ever that heaven-daring enemy found them, and few to make graves or bury them for fear of that enemy, who left their dead corps where they killed them. 7thly, In the year 1686, especially in the months of June and July, many yet alive can witness that about the Crosfoord-boat, two miles beneath Lanark, especially at the Mains, on the Water of Clyde, many people gathered together for several after- noons, where there were showers of bonnets, hats, guns, and swords, which covered the trees and ground, companies of men in arms marching in order upon the water-side, companies meeting com- panies, going all through other, through other, and then all falling to the ground and disappearing ; and other companies immediately appearing the same way. I went there three afternoons together, and, as I could observe, there were two of the people that were together saw, and a third that saw not ; and tho' I could see nothing, yet there was such a 38 PEDEN'S LIFE fright and trembling upon these that did see, that was discernable to all from these that saw not. There was a gentleman standing next to me, who spake as too many gentlemen and others speak, who said, ' A ' pack of damn'd witches and warlocks, that have ' the second-sight, the devil-ha't do I see.' And immediately there was a discernable change in his countenance, with as much fear and trembling as any woman I saw there, who cried out, ' O all ye ' that do not see, say nothing ; for I perswade you ' it is matter of fact, and discernable to all that is not ' stone-blind ' ; and these who did see told what works the guns had, and their length and wideness, and what handles the swords had whether small or three-barred or Highland-guards, and the closing- knots of the bonnets, black or blue ; and these who did see them there, where-ever they went abroad, saw a bonnet and a sword drop in the way. I have been at a loss ever since what to make of this last : however a profane age may mock, disdain, and make sport of these extraordinary things, yet these are no new things, but some such things have been in former times, 40 as Fox, Clark, and other historians give an account of; particularly what strange ap- paritions were there seen in Germany, before these terrible forty years bloody wars brake out, which made Luther say to his daughter Magdalene, when a-dying, ' My daughter, enter thou into thy rest for ' I will shortly be with thee ; for God will not suffer ' me to see the heavy judgments of blood, famine ' and pestilence, poured out upon Germany, that I AUTHOR'S PREFACE 89 ' see hanging above it ' ; which came to pass shortly thereafter. And whatever singular passages are in this, and may be in the following sheets that I design to publish, in the life and death of these following worthies, both ministers, martyrs, sufferers, men and women, as old Mr. Semple, minister in Carsfern, Mr. John Welwood, Mr. Richard Cameron, Mr. Donald Cargil, Mr. Alexander Peden (which here follows), Mr. James Renwick, Mr. Alexander Shields, and about fifteen singular Christians, some of them martyrs, who got no time to write, tho' most of them were my intimate acquaintance, of whom I have not the world to seek for these accounts about them ; together with a short historical relation of the most remarkable things through the several periods of this Church, especially in my own time, these forty-four years past, that I have been witness to, which has been matter of great sorrow and joy to me ; as also some remarkable judgments inflicted upon some of our hand-weal'd persecutors, both in their life and death ; also some remarks upon the mistakes of Mr. Wodrow's volumes. And what of all these passages I have not been ear and eye- witness unto, I have not wanted an open ear and ready mind to drink in and retain these many years ; and these few years past I have spared neither travel, pains nor expence, in Scotland and Ireland, for further informations and confirmations ; and as I have received them I have insert them, as near their own words as possible ; and as I have not, so I shall neither add or diminish, or be byassed 40 PEDEN'S LIFE either with affection or prejudice ; and I have insert nothing but what I dare with confidence assert as to matter and substance, having insert nothing but what I have from persons of intire credit ; only some few passages that I have insert, and have not given the names of my authors, that have been passing from hand to hand these many years without con- tradiction, and I doubt nothing of the truth of them, and I find many such instances in our authentick histories, as Mr. Knox words it, that it was ' bruited,' that 's commonly reported ; and the late historian Wodrow does the same ; knowing that this is a censorious, head-strong age, meikle in their heads and mouths, but little in their hearts ; the most part speaking with as much confidence, as wit and sense would live and die with them, and would not leave as much of it behind them, that day their heads go to the grave, as to bewail their death and lament their own misery. And further, being per- swaded that many will think and say that I am more plain than pleasant, and some of all the divided parties will be offended, tho' I have neither given, desired, nor designed the offence of none, but the edification of all. Whoever takes offence (yet I have given none, but spoken what many others through the land think) and have the maniest objections, let them lay the blame intirely upon me, for I have consulted none, neither in matter nor method, no not so much as in the wording : and let none think that these are new flights, or flowing from prejudice or passion ; AUTHOR'S PREFACE 41 but these have been my views and digested thoughts, that I have summer 'd and winter'd these many years, according as they have come to pass. I know that ministers, elders, and witty professors will have maniest exceptions and sharpest reflections, repent- ance in church-men being very rare ; but who will either defend, deny, or extenuate their guilt. Even an Aaron, who had his hand at one of the brutishest, basest actions that ever a saint of God had ; and tho' he had not the impudence altogether to deny his dreadful guilt, being taken rud-hand by that rare man Moses, yet had the blushing confidence to ex- tenuate and lay the blame upon the people. I have for some years altogether kept silence, knowing that it is in vain to speak to them, whatever their defec- tions may be, while in the midst of the airy applause, vain-glory, pleasures and profits of the world : but I have often wished to have the occasion to speak with them upon these heads (if they die not stupid or insensible) when dying ; and calling to mind one of the last advices of Mr. Cargill, within eight hours of his violent death, who said, « Cease to contend ' with these men that are gone from us,' meaning the indulged, backslidden, silent and unfaithful ministers, and complying professors ; ' for nothing ' will convince them but judgment' But knowing also that there is a goodly handful yet in the land, to whom these accounts will be ac- ceptable, and some yet alive who will bear witness to the truth of many of them ; and further, being perswaded that if ever the Lord pity this weather- 42 PEDEN'S LIFE beaten Sardis, Laodicean Church, and send forth a thaw-wind, and spring-tide day of the gospel, to thaw the frozen face of affairs, as was at Stewartoun, and spread through the west of Scotland as muir- burn, a hundred years since, and at the kirk of Shots five years thereafter, and in our reforming covenanting days between the Thirty-eight and Forty-nine, and in our late persecution when his people was driven to the wilderness, then the Lord allured and spake comfortably to them there (when they got their bread with the peril of their life, be- cause of the sword of that devouring enemy), that these, and many other things that now are wersh and unsavoury, will come in request again. But finding my self oblig'd to divide these relations into parcels, I have concluded, for the time, to pub- lish the Life and Death of Mr. Peden, with a letter that he sent to upwards of eight-score of prisoners, in July the year 1685, in Dunnottar-Castle, with some Notes upon the Covenant of Redemption, which 1 can assert the truth of, being one of them ; and for the rest, I resolve, if the Lord spare, to put them in some order ; and, if I cannot get them pub- lished, to leave them in the hands of some of my best friends of different sentiments, to prevent the burying or altering of them ; having longed for some years to have my head drained, and my mind emptied of these relations, finding myself stricken in years, and not knowing when the day of my death may be, calling to mind the old saying, that ' if once a man pass fifty, he goes, sixty he runs, AUTHOR'S PREFACE 43 ' and seventy he flies ' ; as also the advice of Mr. James Renwick, and some others whose names are savoury to me, who advised me to take heed to my self of all I had, and might be witness unto ; for if I took all to the grave with my head, I would not lay it down in peace : and there being so much depends on that, this also has had its own weight with me. And so I conclude with an earnest desire from the bottom of my heart, that never none of the Lord's people, that comes after me, may experience the hundredth part of the toil of my body and sorrow of heart and grief of mind, these forty-eight years that I have had in the seeing, hearing, and gathering of these accounts, and chewing of my cud upon them ; but upon the contrary it is and shall be the serious wish of my soul, that all may exceed and outstrip me in joy, comfort, and edification : and let this stand good for preface to all. P. W. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MR. ALEXANDER PEDEN LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL AT NEW GLENLUCE IN GALLOWAY Who died the 28th day qf January 1686, being about sixty years of age. As, 1. He was born in the parish of Sorn, in the sheriffdom of Air. 1 After that he past his courses at the college, he was employed for some time to be schoolmaster, precentor and session-clerk to Mr. John Guthrie, minister of the gospel at Tarboltoun. 2 When he was about to enter to the ministry, a young woman fell to be with child in adultery, a servant in that house where he stayed. When she found her self with child, she told the father thereof : he said, ' I '11 run for it and go to Ireland ; father it ' upon Mr. Peden, he has more to help thee and ' bring it up ' (he having a piece of heritage) 8 ' than I ' have.' The same day that he was to get his act of licence, she came in before the Presbytery, and said, ' I hear you are to license Mr. Peden to be a ' minister ; do it not, for I am with child to him.' He, being without at the time, was called in ; the moderator told him ; he stood for some time silent, 45 46 PEDEN'S LIFE and then said, ' Moderator, I am surprized, I cannot ' speak, but let none entertain any ill thought of me, ' for I am utterly free of it ; and God will vindicate ' me in his own time and way.' He went home, and walked at a water-side upwards of 24 hours, and would neither eat nor drink ; at last came in, and said, ' Give me meat and drink, for I have got what ' I was seeking and I will be vindicate, and that poor ' unhappy lass will pay dear for it in her life, and ' will make a dismal end ; and for this surfeit of grief ' that she has given me, there shall never none of ' her sex come in my bosom ' ; accordingly he never married. There are various reports of the way that he was vindicate ; 4 some say, that in the time that she was in child-birth, Mr. Guthry charged her to give an account who was the father of that child, and discharged women to be helpful to her until she did it : some say that she confessed ; others, that she remained obstinate : some of the old people, when I made enquiry about it in that country-side, affirmed that after the Presbytery had been at all pains about it, and could get no satisfaction, they appointed Mr. Guthry to give a full relation of the whole before the congregation, which he did ; and the same day the father of that child was present ; and, when he heard Mr. Guthry begin to read, stood up, and desired him to halt, and said, ' I am the father of ' that child and I advised her to father it upon Mr. ' Peden, which has been a great trouble of con- ' science to me, and I could get no rest until I came ' home to declare it.' However, it is certain that PEDEN'S LIFE 47 afterwards she was married, and every thing went cross to them, and wandred from place to place, and were reduced to great poverty ; at last she came to that same spot of ground, where he stayed upwards of twenty-four hours, and made way of her self. 2. After this, he was three years settled minister at New-Glenluce in Galloway; and when he was obliged, by the violence and tyranny of that time, to leave that parish, he lectured upon the 20 chapter of the Acts, from the 17 verse to the end, and preached upon the 31 verse in the forenoon, ' Therefore watch ' and remember that by the space of three years I ' ceased not to warn every one night and day with ' tears.' Asserting that he had declared the whole counsel of God, and had keeped nothing back ; and protested that he was free of the blood of all souls. And in the afternoon, he preached on the 32 verse, ' And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and ' to the word of his grace, which is able to build you ' up, and to give you an inheritance among all them ' that are sanctified.' Which was a weeping day in that kirk, the greater part could not contain them- selves ; he many times requested them to be silent, but they sorrowed most of all that he told them that they should never see his face in that pulpit again. He continued until night, and when he closed the pulpit-door, he knocked hard upon it three times with his Bible, saying three times over, ' I arrest ' thee in my Master's name, that never none enter ' thee, but such as comes in at the door as I did ' : accordingly, never neither curate nor indulged entred 48 PEDEN'S LIFE that pulpit, until after the Revolution, that a Presby- terian minister opened it. 5 I had this account from old persons in that parish, who were witnesses to it, worthy of all credit. 3. After this, he joined with that honest, zealous handful, in the year 1666, that was broke at Pent- land-Hills, 6 and came the length of Clyde with them, where he had a melancholly view of their end, and parted with them there. James Cubison in Baluch- beaties, my informer, to whom he told this, he said to him, ' Sir, you did well that parted with them, ' seeing ye was perswaded they would fall and flee ' before that enemy ' : at which he was offended, and said, ' Glory, glory to God, that he sent me not to ' hell immediately ; for I should have stayed with ' them, tho' I should have been cut all in pieces. ' 4. That night the Lord's people fell and fled before the enemy at Pentland-Hills, he was in a friend's house in Carrick, threescore miles from Edinburgh ; his land-lord, seeing him mightily troubled, enquired how it was with him; he said, ' To-morrow I shall speak to you,' and desired some candle. That night he went not to bed ; the next morning early, calling to his land-lord, said, ' I have ' sad news to tell you : our friends that were together ' in arms, appearing for Christ's interest, are now ' broken, kill'd, taken and fled every man.' The good-man said, 'Lord forbid that that be true.' He said, ' Why do you speak so ? There is a great part ' of our friends, prisoners in Edinburgh.' About forty-eight hours thereafter, they were sadly con- PEDEN'S LIFE 49 firmed of the truth of it. This was spoken to William Machutchen in Barranthrough parish. 7 5. After this, in June 1673, he was taken by Major Cockburn, in the house of Hugh Fergusson of Knockdow in Carrick, who constrained him to tarry all night : Mr. Peden told him that it would be a dear night's quarters to them both ; accordingly, they were both carried prisoners to Edinburgh : Hugh Fergusson was fined of a thousand merks for reset, harbour, and converse with him : the council ordered fifty pounds sterling to be paid to the major out of the fine, and ordained him to divide twenty- five pounds sterling amongst the party who appre- hended them : sometime after examination, he was sent prisoner to the Bass, where he remained prisoner, there and at Edinburgh, until December 1678, that he was banished. 8 6. While prisoner in the Bass, one Sabbath morning, being about the publick worship of God, a young lass, about the age of thirteen or fourteen years, came to the chamber-door, mocking with loud laughter. He said, 'Poor thing, thou mocks and ' laughs at the worship of God ; but ere long, God ' shall write such a sudden, surprising judgment on ' thee, that shall stay thy laughing, and thou shalt ' not escape it.' Very shortly thereafter, she was walking upon the rock, and there came a blast of wind, and sweeped her off the rock into the sea where she was lost. 9 While prisoner there, one day walking upon the rock, some soldiers passing by him, one of them D 50 PEDEN'S LIFE cried, 'The devil take him.' He said, 'Fy, fy, poor ' man, thou knowest not what thou 'rt saying, but ' thou wilt repent that ' : at which words the soldier stood astonished, and went to the guard distracted, crying aloud for Mr. Peden, saying, the devil would immediately take him away. 10 He came and spoke to him, and prayed for him ; the next morning he came to him again, and found him in his right mind, under deep convictions of great guilt. The guard being to change, they desired him to go to his arms ; he refused, and said he would lift no arms against Jesus Christ his cause, and persecute his people, I 've done that too long. The governor threatned him with death to-morrow at ten a clock ; he confidently said three times, tho' he should tear all his body in pieces, he should never lift arms that way. About three days after the governor put him out of the garrison, setting him ashore : he having wife and children took a house in East-Lothian, where he became a singular Christian. Mr. Peden told these astonishing passages to the foresaid James Cubison, and others, who informed me. 7. When brought from the Bass to Edinburgh, and sentence of banishment past upon him, in December 1678, and sixty more fellow-prisoners for the same cause, to go to America, never to be seen in Scotland again under the pain of death : u after this sentence was past, he several times said that that ship was not yet built that would take him or these prisoners to Virginia, or any other of the English plantations in America One James Law, PEDEN'S LIFE 51 a solid grave Christian man, being one of them, who lived in or about the Water of Leith, told me this, that Mr. Peden said to him, ' James, when your wife ' comes in, let me see your wife,' which he did. Going to Mr. Peden 's room, after some discourse, he called for a drink ; and when he sought a blessing, he said, ' Good Lord, let not James Law's wife miss her ' husband, until thou return him to her in peace ' and safety, which we are sure will be sooner than ' either he or she is looking for ' ; accordingly, that same day month that he parted with. her at Leith, he came home to her at the Water of Leith. 8. When they were on ship-board, in the road of Leith, there was a report that the enemies were to send down thumbikins to keep them from rebelling; at the report of this, they were discouraged; he came above deck, and said, ' Why are you so discouraged ? ' you need not fear, there will neither thumbikin 12 ' nor bootikin come here ; lift up your hearts and ' heads, for the day of your redemption draweth ' near ; if we were once at London we will all be ' set at liberty.' And when sailing in their voyage, praying publickly, he said, ' Good Lord, such is thy ' enemies' hatred at thee, and ^malice at us for thy ' sake, that they will not let us stay in thy land of ' Scotland, to serve thee, tho' some of us have ' nothing but the canopy of thy heavens above us, ' and thy earth to tread upon ; but, Lord, we bless ' thy name, that will cut short our voyage, and frus- ' trate thy wicked enemies of their wicked designs, ' and will not [let them] get us where they intend ; 52 PEDEN'S LIFE ' and some of us shall go richer home than when we ' came from home.' James Pride, who lived in Fife, an honest man, being one of them, said many times he could assert the truth of this. I had these accounts both from the foresaid James Law and Robert Pounton, a known publick man, worthy of all credit, who was also under the same sentence, who lived in the parish of Dalmeny near the Queensferry. 9. When they arrived at London, the skipper who received them at Leith was to carry them no further ; the skipper who was to receive them there, and to carry them to Virginia, came to see them, they being represented to him as thieves, robbers, and evil-doers ; but when he found that they were all grave Christian men banished for Presbyterian principles, he said he would sail the sea with none such. In this confusion, that the one skipper would not receive them, and the other would keep them no longer, being expensive to maintain them, they were all set at liberty. Others reported, that both skippers got compliments by friends at London ; however, it is certain, they were safely set free without any imposition of bonds or oaths ; and friends at London, and in their way homeward through England, shewed much kindness to them. 13 10. That dismal day, the 22nd of June, in the year 1679, at Bothwel-bridge, that the Lord's people fell and fled before the enemy, he was forty miles distant, near the border, kept himself retired until the middle of the day, that some friends said to him, ' Sir, the PEDEN'S LIFE 53 ' people are waiting for sermon.' He said, ' Let the ' people go to their prayers : for me, I neither can * nor will preach any this day ; for our friends are ' fallen and fled before the enemy at Hamiltoun ; ' and they are hagging and hashing them down, ' and their blood is running like water.' 11. After this he was preaching in Galloway. In the forenoon he prayed earnestly for the prisoners taken at and about Bothwel ; but in the afternoon, when he began to pray for them, he halted, and said, ' Our friends at Edinburgh, the prisoners, have done ' somewhat to save their lives ; but, as the Lord ' lives, that shall not do with them, but the sea- ' billows shall be many of their winding-sheets, and ' the few of them that escape shall be useful for ' God in their generation ' ; which was sadly verified thereafter. That which the greatest part of these prisoners did, was the taking of that bond, com- monly called the Black Bond, after Bothwel, wherein they acknowledged their appearance in arms, for the defence of the gospel and their own lives, to be rebellion ; and engaged themselves, never to make any more opposition that way. 14 Upon the doing of which, these perfidious enemies promised them life and liberty ; this, with the cursed subtile arguments and advices of several ministers who went into the New-yard where they were prisoners (particularly Mr. Hugh Kennedy, Mr. William Creighton, Mr. Edward Jamison, and Mr. George Johnston, these took their turns into the yard where the prisoners were), together with a letter that was sent from that 54 PEDEN'S LIFE Erastian meeting of ministers, met at Edinburgh in August 1679 for the accepting of a third indulgence with the cautionry bond, [misled them]. Notwith- standing of the enemy's promise, and the unhappy advices of these ministers not indulged, after they were ensnared in this foul compliance [there were] banished two hundred and fifty -five, whereof two hundred and three perished in the Orkney seas. 15 This foul step, as some of them told me, both in their life and when dying, lay heavy upon them all their days ; and that these unhappy arguments and advices of ministers prevailed more with them than the enemy's promise of life and liberty. In August 1679, fifteen of Bothwel prisoners got indictments of death. Mr. Edward Jamison, a worthy Presbyterian minister as Mr. Wodrow calls him, was sent from that Erastian meeting of ministers, in to the Tolbooth, to these fifteen, who urged the lawfulness of taking the bond to save their lives, and the refusal of it would be a reflection upon religion and the cause they had appear 'd for, and a throwing away their lives, for which their friends would not be able to vindicate them. He prevailed with thir- teen of them : 16 this sowr'd in the stomachs of some of these thirteen, and lay heavy upon them both in their life and death. These prisoners, taken at and about the time of Bothwel, were reckoned about fifteen hundred. The faithful Mr. John Blackadder did write to these prisoners, disswading them from that foul compliance ; and some worthy persons of these PEDEN'S LIFE 55 prisoners, whom he wrote to, said to me with tears, that they slighted his advice, and followed the unhappy advices of these ministers, who were making peace with the enemies of God and following their foul steps, for which they would go mourning to their graves. I heard the said Mr. Blackadder preach his last publick sermon, before his falling into the enemy's hands, in the night-time, in the fields, in the parish of Livingstoun, 17 upon the side of the moor, at the New-house, on the 28th of March, after Bothwel, where he lectured upon Micah 4 from v. 9. Where he asserted, that ' the ' nearer the delivery, our pains and showers would ' come thicker and sorer upon us ; and that we ' had been in the fields, but ere we were delivered ' we would go down to Babylon ; that either Popery ' would overspread this land, or would be at the ' breaking in upon us, like an inundation of ' waters ' : and preach'd upon that text, ' that no ' man should be moved with those afflictions, for ye ' your selves know that ye are appointed there- ' unto ' : where he insisted upon what moving and shaking dispensations the Lord had exercised his people with in former ages : especially that man of God that went to Jeroboam's Bethel, and delivered his commission faithfully, and yet turned out of the way by an old lying prophet, how moving and stumbling the manner of his death was to all Israel ; and earnestly requested us to take good heed what ministers we heard, and what advices we followed. When he pray'd, he bless'd the Lord 56 PEDEN'S LIFE that he was free of both band and rope ; and that he was as clear, willing and free to hold up the publick, blest standard of the gospel as ever ; and said, 'The Lord rebuke, give repentance and for- ' giveness to these ministers that perswaded these ' prisoners to take that bond ' ; for their perishing by sea was more moving and shaking to him than if some thousands of them had been slain in the field. He was thereafter taken the 6th day of April, 18 by Major Johnston in Edinburgh, and de- tained prisoner in the Bass 5 years, Avhere he died. As the interest of Christ lay near his heart through his life, amongst his last words he said, ' The Lord ' would defend his own cause.' 12. After the publick murdering of these two worthy women-martyrs, Isabel Alison and Marion Harvie, in the Grass-market of Edinburgh, January 1681, 19 he was in Galloway. A professor of some note, who had more carnal wit and policy than suffer him to be honest and faithful, after reasoning upon the grounds of their sufferings, affirmed that they would never be reckoned among the number of the martyrs. Mr. Peden said, after musing a little, ' Let alone, you 11 never be honoured with such a ' death ; and, for what you have said against these ' two honest, worthy lasses, your death shall be both ' sudden and surprizing ' ; which was verified shortly thereafter : that man, standing before a fire smoking his pipe, dropt down dead, and that without speaking more. 13. In the month of June 1682, he was in the PEDEN'S LIFE 57 house of James Brown in Paddockholm above Douglas ; John Wilson in Lanark was with him, who suffer'd martyrdom in the Grass-market of Edinburgh, the next year, May 1683. 20 He lectured at night upon the 7th chap, of Amos, and repeated these words in the 9th verse three times, 'And I ' will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the ' sword.' He laid his hands on the said John, and said, ' John, have at the unhappy race of the name ' of Stewarts ; off the throne of Britain they shall ' go, if all the world would set side and shoulder to ' hold them on.' Afterwards, in that exercise, he broke out in a rapture about our martyrs, saying, ' They were going off the stage with fresh gales and ' full sails, and now they are all glancing in glory. ' O if you saw them ! they would fley you out of ' your wits.' He again laid his hand upon the said John, and said, ' Encourage your self in the Lord, ' and follow fast, John ; for you '11 win up yonder ' shortly, and get on all your bra's.' That night he went to the fields ; to-morrow, about six a clock, John went to seek him and found him coming to the house. He said, ' John, let us go from this house, ' for the devil is about it and will take his prey with ' him.' John said, ' We will take breakfast ere we ' go ; 'tis a question when we get the offer again.' He said, ' No, no, I will eat no more bread in this ' place ; our land-lord is an unhappy man, the devil ' will get him shortly, for he will hang himself; which very shortly came to pass. His daughter Jean Brown was the first that got him, in her arms, 58 PEDEN'S LIFE hanging in the stable. She was reckoned by all to be a grave Christian lass, but from that day had never her health, and died of a decay at last, after she had been some time in prison for her principles. This passage the said John Wilson reported several times to many, and some yet alive can bear witness to the truth of it. 14. In the year 1680, after the murdering of Mr. Cameron, and these worthies with him at Airds- moss, he was near Machline in the shire of Air. One Robert Brown of Crosshouse, who lived near the Newmills, and one Hugh Pinaneve, factor to the Earl of Lowdon, stabled their horse in that house where he was, and went to a fair in Machline ; and in the afternoon, when they came to take their horse, they got a drink ; and in the time of it, the said Hugh, a wicked wretch both in principle and practice, brake out in railing against sufferers, particularly against Mr. Cameron. Mr. Peden being in another room, over-hearing all, was so grieved that he came to the chamber-door, and said to the said Hugh, ' Sir, hold your peace ; ere twelve a ' clock you shall know what for a man Mr. Cameron ' was : God shall punish that blasphemous mouth ' and cursed tongue of yours, in such manner as ' shall be astonishing and affrighting to all that shall ' see you ; and shall set you up as a beacon to all ' railing Rabshakehs.' Robert Brown, knowing Mr. Peden, hasted to his horse, being perswaded that Mr. Peden's words would not fall to the ground, and fearing that some mischief might befal him for PEDEN'S LIFE 59 being in the said Hugh's company. They rode hard home ; Robert went to his own house and Hugh to the earl's house; and [Hugh] casting off his boots he was struck with such sickness and pain through his body, with his mouth so wide and his tongue hang- ing so far out in a fearful manner, they sent for the said Robert, being used to take blood. He got some blood of him, but all in vain ; he died before midnight. The said Robert, an old man, told me this passage, when in prison together. 15. In the year 1682, he was in Kyle, and preach- ing upon that text, ' The plowers plowed upon my ' back, and drew long their furrows ' ; where he said, ' Would you know who first yoked this plough ? ' It was cursed Cain, when he drew his furrows so ' long and so deep, that he let out the heart-blood ' of his brother Abel ; and all his cursed seed has ' and will design, desire, and endeavour to follow ' his cursed example : and that plough has and ' will gang summer and winter, frost and fresh- ' weather, till the world's end ; and at the sound of ' the last trumpet, when all are in a flame, their ' theats will burn, and their swingle-trees will fall ' to the ground ; the plow-men will lose their grips ' of the plough, and the gade-men will throw away * their gades ; and then, O the yelling and skreeching ' that will be among all his cursed seed, clapping ' their hands, and crying to hills and mountains to ' cover them from the face of the Lamb and of ' him that sits upon the throne, for their hatred ' of him and malice at his people ! ' 60 PEDEN'S LIFE After sermon, when marrying a pair of folk, when the man had the woman by the hand, he said, ' Indeed, man, you have a bonny bride by the hand ; ' I see a covetous devil in her, she is both a thief ' and a whore : let her go, let her go, you will be ' ashamed of her ' ; the man kept fast her hand ; he said, ' You will not take my advice, but it will tend ' to thy disgrace.' After marriage, when praying, he said, ' Good Lord, many a plough hath been ' yoked upon the back of thy Church in Scotland : ' Pagans yoked theirs, Antichrist yoked his, and ' Prelacy hers, and now the plagued Erastian ' indulged they have yoked theirs, and ill it became ' them. Good Lord, cut their theats, that their ' swingle-trees may fall to the ground.' Ensign John Kirkland was witness to this sermon and marriage ; he was my very dear acquaintance, who told me several times of this, and more of that sermon. 16. About the same time, he was marrying two pair of folk ; he said to the one, ' Stand by, I will ' not marry you this day ' ; the bridegroom was anxious to know his reason, after marriage inquired privately ; he said, ' You will thank me for this ' afterwards, and think your self well quit of her, for ' she is with child to another wife's husband ' ; which was matter of fact, as time afterwards discovered. 17. Shortly after that sad stroke at Bothwell, he went to Ireland, but did not stay long at that time. In his travels through Galloway, 21 he came to a house, and looked in the goodman's face and said, ' They call you an honest man, but if you be so, you PEDEN'S LIFE 61 • look not like it ; you will not long keep that name, ' but will discover your self to be what you are ' ; and shortly thereafter, he was made to flee for stealing sheep. In that short time he was in Ireland, the Government required of all Presbyterian ministers in Ireland, that they should give it under their hand, that they had no accession to the late rebellion at Bothwell-Bridge in Scotland, and that they did not approve of it ; which the most part did, and sent Mr. Thomas Gowans a Scotsman, and one Mr. Paton from the North of Ireland, to Dublin, to present it to the Lord Lieutenant ; the which when Mr. Peden heard, he said, ' Mr. Gowans and his brother Paton ' are sent and gone the devil's errand, but God shall ' arrest them by the gate ' : accordingly Mr. Gowans by the way was struck with a sore sickness, and Mr. Paton fell from his horse and broke or crusht his leg ; and both of them were detained beyond ex- pectation. 22 I had this account from some worthy Christians when I was in Ireland. 18. In the year 1682, he married John Brown in Kyle, at his own house in Priesthall, that singular Christian, upon Isabel Wier. After marriage he said to the bride, ' Isabel, you have got a good man to be ' your husband, but you will not enjoy him long ; ' prize his company, and keep linen by you to be his ' winding-sheet, for you will need it when ye are not ' looking for it, and it will be a bloody one ' ; this came sadly to pass, in the beginning of May 1685, as afterwards shall be made appear. 19. After this, in the year 1682, he went to Ireland 62 PEDEN'S LIFE again, and came to the house of William Steil, in Glenwhary 23 in the county of Antrim ; he enquired at Mrs. Steil if she wanted a servant for threshing victual. She said they did ; and enquired what his wages were a day, or week. He said the common rate was a common rule, to which she assented ; at night he was put to the barn, to bed with the servant lad, and that night he spent in prayer, and groaning up and down the barn ; to - morrow he threshed victual with the lad ; the next night he spent the same way. The second day in the morning, the lad said to his mistress, ' This man sleeps none, but ' groans and prays all night ; I get no sleep with ' him ; he threshes very well, and not sparing of ' himself; tho' I think he has not been used with ' it, for he can do nothing to the bottling and order- ' ing of the barn ; and when I put the barn in order, ' he goes to such a place, and there he prays for the ' afflicted Church of Scotland, and names so many ' people in the furnace.' He wrought the second day : his mistress watched and overheard him pray- ing, as the lad had said; at night she desired her husband to enquire if he was a minister, which he did, and desired him to be free with him, and he should not only be no enemy, but a friend to him. Mr. Peden said he was not ashamed of his office ; and gave an account of his circumstances ; he was no more set to work, nor to lie with the lad. He stayed a considerable time in that place, and was a blest instrument in the conversion of some, and civilizing of others, tho' that place was noted for a PEDEN'S LIFE 63 rude wild people, and the fruits of his labours appear to this day. There was a servant lass in that house, that he could not look upon but with frowns ; and some times, when at family-worship, he said, point- ing to her with a frowning countenance, ' You come ' from the barn and from the byre, reeking in your ' lusts, and sits down amongst us ; we do not want ' you nor none such.' At last he said to William Steil and his wife, ( Put away this unhappy lass from ' your house, for she will be a stain to your family, ' for she is with child and will murder it, and will ' be punished for the same.' Which accordingly came to pass, and [she] was burnt at Craigfergus ; which is the usual punishment of murderers of children there. I had this account from John Muir- head, who stayed much in that house, and other Christian people when I was in Ireland. 20. On the 2d day of August 1684, he was in a Christian Scots woman's house, called Margaret Lumbernor. That day there was an extraordinary shower of big hail, such as he had never seen the like ; she said, ' What can be the meaning of these ' extraordinary hail ? ' He said, ' Within a few ' years there would be an extraordinary storm and ' shower of judgments poured out upon Ireland ; ' but, Meg,' said he, * you shall not live to see it ' ; and accordingly she died before that rebellion ; and the rest had a sad accomplishment at Derry and the Water of Boyn. 21. On the 2d of February 1685, he was in the house of one Mr. Vernor, in the same county, at 64 PEDEN'S LIFE night, he and John Kilpatrick, Mrs. Vernor's father, a very old worthy Christian ; he said to him, ' John, ' the world may well want you and me.' John said, ' Sir, I have been very fruitless and useless ' all my days, and the world may well want me ; but ' your death would be a great loss.' ' Well, John, ' you and I will be both in heaven shortly ; but ' tho' you be much older than I, my soul will get ' the forestart of yours, for I will be first in heaven, ' but your body will have the advantage of mine, for ' ye will get rest in your grave until the resurrec- ' tion ; but for me, I must go home to the bloody ' land ' (for this was his ordinary way of speaking, bloody or sinful land, when he spake of Scotland) ' and die there ; and the enemies, out of their great ' wickedness, will lift my corps unto another place ; ' but I am very indifferent, John ; for I know my body ' shall lie among the dust of the martyrs ; and tho' ' they should take my old bones and make whistles ' of them, they will all be gathered together in the ' morning of the resurrection ; and then, John, you ' and I, and all that will be found having on Christ's ' righteousness, will get day about with them, and ' give our hearty assent to their eternal sentence of ' damnation.' The same night after this discourse, while about family-worship, about ten or eleven of the clock, explaining the portion of Scripture he read, he suddenly halted, and hearkned, 24 and said three times over, 'What's this I hear?' and hearkned again a little time, and clapt his hands, and said, ' I hear a dead shot at the throne of PEDEN'S LIFE 65 ' Britain ; let him go yonder, he has been a black ' sight to these lands, especially to poor Scotland ; ' we re well quit of him ; there has been many a ' wasted prayer waired on him.' And it was con- cluded by all, the same hour, in the same night, that unhappy man Charles the II. died. I had this account from John Muirhead and others who were present, and confirmed in the truth of them by some worthy Christians, when I was in Ireland. 22. Upon the fourth of February following, 1685, he preached at a wood-side, near the said Mr. Vernor's house ; he read the whole of the 59 Psalm ; after reading, he charged his hearers that none of them open their mouth to sing, but those who could do it knowingly and believingly. For some few lines, few opened their mouth, but as John Muirhead and John Waddel, who were present, two solid Christians and great sufferers, who lived and died in the parish of Cambusnethan, or Shots, said to me, they and the greater part could not contain and forbear singing, but brake out with their hearts and whole strength, so that they were never witness to such loud singing through the whole psalm. After singing, in preface he cried out, ' Pack and let us go to Scotland, pack ' and let us go to Scotland. Let us flee from one ' devouring sword and go to another : the poor ' honest lads in Scotland are running upon the hills, ' and have little either meat or drink, but cold and ' hunger ; and the bloody enemy are pursuing them, * and murdering them wherever they find them : ' their blood is running like water upon scaffolds E 66 PEDEN'S LIFE ' and fields : rise, let us go and take part with them ; ' for we fear they bar us out of heaven. Oh secure ' Ireland, a dreadful day is coming upon thee within ' a few years, that they shall ride many miles and ' shall not see a reeking-house in thee : oh hunger, ' hunger in Derry, many a black and pale face shall ' be in thee ; and fire, fire ' upon a town whose name I have forgot, which was all burnt to ashes. This had an exact accomplishment four years there- after. 'And for the profanity of England, and ' formality and security of Ireland, for the lothing ' and contempt of the gospel, covenant-breaking ' and burning, and innocent blood in Scotland, none ' of these lands shall escape ere all be done : but ' notwithstanding of all this, I '11 tell you good news, ' keep in mind this year, month and day : and ' remember that I told you, that the enemies have ' got a shot beneath their right wing, and they may ' rise and fly like a shot bird, but ere this day seven ' years the strongest of them all shall fall.' Then upon the sixth, he was in that wood all day, and at night he came in to the said Mr. Vernor's house, where several of our Scots sufferers were ; he said, ' Why are you so discouraged ? I know you 've got ' ill news of the dreadful murder of our friends in ' Scotland ; but 1 11 tell you good news — that un- ' happy, treacherous, leacherous man, who has made ' the Lord's people in Scotland tremble these years ' bygone, has got his last glut in a lordly dish from ' his brother ; and he 's lying with his tongue cold in ' his mouth.' The news of this came not to Ireland PEDEN'S LIFE 67 for twenty four hours thereafter. The foresaid John Muirhead and John Waddel, and others of our Scots sufferers, who had heard him preach the Sabbath before, concluded that this was the shot beneath the right wing, that he spake of Charles the 2d being dead the Friday's night before. 25 23. After this, he long'd to be out of Ireland, what through the fearful apprehensions of that dismal day of rebellion in Ireland, that came upon it four years thereafter, and that he might take part with the sufferers of Scotland, he came near the coast one morning ; John Muirhead came to him lying within a hedge ; he said, ' Have ye any news, John ? ' John said, ' There is great fears of the Irish arising.' He said, 'No, no, the time of their rising is not yet ; but ' they will rise, and dreadful will it be at last.' He was long detained waiting for a bark, not daring to go to publick ports, but to some remote creek of the sea ; Alexander Gordon of Kinstuir in Galloway had agreed with one ; but Mr. Peden would not sail the sea with him ; Mr. Peden having somewhat of the foresight of what he did prove afterwards. In the beginning of August before, this Kinstuir was relieved at Enterkin-Path, going from Dumfries to Edinburgh prisoner. 26 When the news of it came to Ireland, our Scots sufferers their acquaintance were glad of the news, especially that Kinstuir was escaped. He said, ' What means all this Kinstuir- ' ing, Kinstuiring ? There 's some of them relieved ' there, that one of them is worth many of him, ye '11 ' all be ashamed of him ere all be done.' Being in 68 PEDEN'S LIFE this strait, he said to Robert Wark, who is yet alive near Glasgow, an old Christian worthy of credit, ' Robert, go and take such a man with you, and the ' first bark ye can find, compel them, for they will be ' like the dogs in Egypt, not one of them will move * their tongue against you ' ; accordingly Robert and his comrade found it so, and brought her to that secret place where he was. Robert and his comrade came and told him ; he was glad and very kind and free ; he seemed to be under a cloud at that time. He said, ' Lads, I have lost my prospect wherewith ' I was wont to look o're to the bloody land, and ' tell you and others what enemies and friends were ' doing. The devil and I puddles and rides time ' about upon other ; but if I were uppermost again ' I shall ride hard and spurgaw well : I 've been ' praying for some time for a swift passage over to ' the sinful land, come of us what will : and now ' Alexander Gordon is away with my prayer- wind ; ' but it were good for the remnant in Scotland he ' never saw it : for, as the Lord lives, he shall wound ' that interest ere he go off the stage ' : which sadly came to pass in his life, and was a reproach to it at his death. A little before they came off, he baptized a child to John Maxwell, a Glasgow man, who was fled over from the persecution. In his discourse before baptism, he burst out in a rapture, foretelling that black day that came upon Ireland, and sad days upon Scotland, and then good days. Mrs. Maxwel or Mary Elphinston the mother of the child, yet alive in Glasgow, who told me this, that in the time PEDEN'S LIFE 69 he was asserting these things, she was thinking and wondering what ground or assurance he had for them ; he cryed aloud, shaking his hand at her, said, ' Woman, thou art thinking and wondring within ' thy self, whether I be speaking those things out of ' the visions of mine own head, or if I be taught by * the Spirit of God ; but I tell thee, woman, thou ' shalt live and see that I am not mistaken.' She told me that she was very lately delivered ; and out of her great desire to have her child baptized before he came off, that she took travail too soon, and being weak, and so surprised with telling her the thoughts of her heart, that she was in danger of falling off the chair. At this exercise also he told them that he could not win off till he got this done, and that this was all the drink-money he had to leave in Ireland, and to the family, pointing to his landlord, for all the kindness he had met with from them. After baptism they got breakfast ; there was plenty of bread upon the table, and seeking a blessing he put his hands beneath the bread, holding it up with much affection and tears, said, ' Lord, there is a well covered table, ' and plenty of bread ; but what comes of the poor, ' young, kindly, honest lad Renwick (that shames us ' all, in staying and holding up his fainting swoon- ' ing mother's head, now when of all the children ' she has brought forth, there 's none will avowedly * take her by the hand) and the poor, cold, hungry ' lads upon the hills. For the honour of thine own ' cause let them not starve : thou causedst a raven- ' ous beast, greedy of flesh it self, feed Elijah, and 70 PEDEN'S LIFE ' thou fed thy people in the wilderness with angels' ' food, and blessed a few' loaves and small fishes and ' made them sufficient for many, and had experience ' of want, weariness, cold and hunger, and enemies ' daily hunting for thy life, while in the world ; look ' to them, and provide for them ; we '11 all get the ' black-stone for leaving him and them.' The waiters being advertised of the bark in that place, they and other people came upon them, which obliged them that were to come off to secure the waiters and people altogether, for fear of the gari- son of Craigfergus apprehending them, being near to it, which obliged them to come off immediately, however it might be with them : after that, he and twenty-six of our Scots sufferers came aboard; he stood upon the deck and prayed, being not the least of wind, where he made a rehearsal of times and places when and where the Lord had heard and answered them in the day of their distress, and now they were in a great strait. Waving his hand to the west, from whence he desired the wind, [he] said, ' Lord, give us a loof-full of wind ; fill the sails, ' Lord, and give us a fresh gale, and let us have a ' swift and safe passage over to the bloody land, ' come of us what will.' John Muirhead, Robert Wark and others who were present told me that when he began to pray the sails were all hanging straight down, but ere he ended they were all like blown bladders. They put out the waiters and other people, and got a very swift and safe passage. The twenty- six Scots sufferers, that were with him, PEDEN'S LIFE 71 having provided themselves with arms, and being designed to return to Scotland, being then such a noise of killing ; and indeed the din was no greater than the deed, being in the heat of Killing Time, in the end of February 1685. 27 When at exercise at night, in the bark, he said, 'Lord, thou knowest ' thir lads are hot-spirited, lay an arrest upon them ' that they may not appear : their time is not yet ; ' tho' Monmouth and Argyle be coming, they '11 work ' no deliverance.' And at this time, no report of their coming, and they came not for ten weeks there- after. In the morning after they landed, he lectured before they parted, sitting on a brae-side, where he had fearful threatnings against Scotland, saying the time was coming that they might travel many miles in Galloway and Nithsdale, Air and Clidsdale, and not see a reeking house, nor hear a cock crow : and further said that his soul trembled to think what would become of the indulged, backslidden and upsitten ministers of Scotland. As the Lord lives, none of them should ever be honoured to put a right pin in the Lord's tabernacle, nor [to] assert Christ's kingly prerogative as Head and King of his Church. To the same purpose, said the never to be forgotten Mr. Donald Cargil, within eight hours of his martyrdom, that he feared, tho' there were not another ministry in all the earth, He would make no more use of them in a national reforma- tion ; but dreadful judgments upon themselves, and a long curse upon their posterity. 28 And Rutherford said, in his day, 1656, that sad and heavy were the 72 PEDEN'S LIFE judgments, and indignation from the Lord was abid- ing the unfaithful watchmen of Scotland : meaning the unhappy Resolutioners. When ended, he [i.e. Peden] prayed earnestly for many things ; par- ticularly, that all their Ireland-sins might be buried in that place, and might not spread with them thorow the sinful land. 24. When the greater part took their farewel of him, he said to the rest, ' To what house or place ' will we go ? ' One Hugh Kenneday said, ' We ' will go to such an house.' He said, 'Hewie, ye ' will not get your nose set there ; for the devil and ' his bairns are there.' Notwithstanding Hugh went, and found the house full of the enemies : and that night, a woman in that house made way of her self. Hugh came quickly back and told him. He said, ' We '11 go to such an house ; I have an 4 errant there.' When they went, the good- wife was dying under great doubts and fears ; where he was a blessed instrument of comfort to her : and said to Hugh, ' Hewie, this is the errant I had here.' 25. They went eastward, somewhat contrair to his inclination ; they came to the top of an hill, upwards of two miles distant from the house to which they designed. He halted, and said, ' I will ' not go one foot further this way ; there is un- ' doubtedly danger before us.' An herd-lad being there, he gave him a groat, and desired him to go to that house and fetch them meat and news. When the lad came to the house, the good- wife hasted, and gave him meat to them, saying, 'Lad, PEDEN'S LIFE 73 ' run hard, and tell them that the enemies are ' spread, and we are every minute looking for them ' here.' As the lad was going from the house, eighteen of the enemy's foot were near, crying, ' Stand, dog.' The lad ran, and 6 of them pursued half a mile, and fired hard upon him ; the ball went closs by his head. All that time, Mr. Peden con- tinued in prayer for him his alone, and with the rest, being twelve men, when praying with them, he said, 'Lord, shall the poor lad that's gone our ' errand, seeking bread to support our lives, lose his ? ' Direct the bullets by his head, however near, let ' them not touch him ; Good Lord, spare the lap of ' thy cloak and cover the poor lad.' And in this he was heard and answered, in that there was a dark cloud of mist parted him and them. 26. About this time, there was an honest, poor wife brought him and them some bread and milk ; when seeking a blessing, he said, 'As the gyse of ' the times goes now in this bloody land, this poor ' woman has endangered her life in bringing bread ' to support ours ; we cannot pay her for it, but, ' Lord, it is for thy sake she has brought it ; there 's ' no need that she should be a loser at thy hand ; ' thou gives plenty of bread to many who are not ' so worthy of it ; giving does not impoverish thee, ' and withholding does not enrich thee ; give this ' poor wife many bonnacks for these few.' And the wife said several times afterwards, she got many bonnacks ; for after that she was never so straitned for bread as before. 74 PEDEN'S LIFE 27. About this time, upon a Sabbath-night, he preached in a shield or sheep-house, in a desert place; a man standing at the door as he came in, he gripped him, and said, ' Where are you going, ' sir, and what brought you here ? go home, sir, go ' home, ye 've neither art nor part with us, there ' will be a black account heard of you ere long ! ' Accordingly, very shortly thereafter he went to Edinburgh, and took that black test. 29 That night he lectured upon the 7th chapter of Amos, ' And I ' will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people, ' the house of Israel.' He cried out, 'Oh, how few ' of the ministers of Scotland will answer this plumb- ' line ! Lord send us a Welwood, a Cargill and a ' Cameron, and such as they, and make us quit of ' the rest. " And I will rise against the house of ' Jeroboam with the sword.'" He said, 'I '11 tell you ' good news, our Lord will take a feather out of ' Antichrist's wing, 30 which shall bring down the ' Duke of York, and banish him out of these king- ' doms, and will remove the bloody sword from ' above the heads of His people ; and there shall ' never a man of the name of Stewart sit upon the ' throne of Britain after the Duke of York, whose ' reign is now short, for their leachery, treachery, ' tyranny, and shedding the precious blood of the ' Lord's people ; but oh, black, black, black will the ' day be, that will come upon Ireland, that they ' shall travel forty miles, and not see a reeking- ' house nor hear a cock crow.' At this he started up to his feet, and clapt his hands, and with a PEDEN'S LIFE 75 ravishing voice, cried aloud, ' Glory, glory to the ' Lord, that has accepted a bloody sacrifice of a ' seal'd testimony off Scotland's hand ; we have a ' bloody clout to hold up, and the lads that got the ' bullets through their heads, the last day at Glen- ' troll, 31 their blood has made the clout the redder ; ' when our Lord looks upon the bloody clout, he ' will keep the sword of his avenging justice in the ' sheath for a time : but if Scotland shall not con- ' sider the merciful day of their visitation, nor his ' long-suffering patience and forbearance lead them * to repentance, as we fear it will not, but harden ' them in their sin ; and the greater part turn ' gospel-proof and judgment-proof, and wax worse ' and worse ; then will the Lord accomplish all that ' he has threatned, [that] well deserved, foreseen and ' foretold of day of vengeance ; when he begins, ' he will also make an end, especially against the ' house of Eli, for the iniquity which they cannot ' but know.' When ended, he and those that were with him lay down in the sheep-house, and got some sleep ; he rose early, and went up the burn-side and stayed long ; when he came in to them, he did sing the 32d Psalm from the 7th verse to the end ; when ended, he repeated the 7th verse : — Thou art my hiding place, thou shalt from trouble keep me free ; Thou with songs of deliverance about shalt compass me ,* saying, ' These and the following are sweet lines, 76 PEDEN'S LIFE which I got at the burn-side this morning, and ' we '11 get mo to-morrow, and so we 11 get daily provision : he was never behind with any that put ' their trust in him, and he will not be in our ' common, nor none who needily depends on him ; ' and so we will go on in his strength, making ' mention of his righteousness and of his only.' The foresaid James Cubison went eight miles with him ; when he took good-night, he said, ' Sir, I think ' I'll never see you again.' He said, 'James, ye ' and I will never meet again in time ' ; and two several times when he went to Ireland before, when they parted, he told him they would meet again. The said James, John Muirhead, and others of our sufferers who were present, gave me these accounts. 28. Shortly after they landed from Ireland in Galloway, the enemy got notice, they being then in garrisons, foot and horse, and it being Killing-Time. The alarm came to them in a morning, that foot and horse were coming upon them ; the foresaid John Muirhead being struck with a violent pain in his head, they started up to run for it ; he said, ' Stay, ' stay, lads, let us pray for old John ere we go ' : he stood up, and said, ' Lord, we hear tell that thy ' enemies and ours are coming upon us, and thou ' hast laid thy hand of affliction upon old John ; ' have pity upon him, for thy enemies will have none, ' his blood will run there where he lies : spare him ' at this time, we know not if he be ready to die.' And, as John told me with the tear in his eye, the pain of his head and the indisposition of his body PEDEN'S LIFE 77 quite left him, and he started up and ran with the rest. The enemies, seeing them, pursued them hard, sometimes the horse and sometimes the foot being near them ; mossy, boguish ground did cast about the horses. After they had run some considerable way, they got some little height betwixt the enemy and them: he stood still, and said, 'Let us pray ' here ; for, if the Lord hear not our prayers and ' save us, we are dead men and our blood will run ' like water ; if we must die, let the enemy kill us, ' and let our blood fill up their cup, that the day of ' vengeance that 's coming upon them may be ' hastned.' Then he began and said, ' Lord, it is thy ' enemies' day, hour, and power : they may not be ' idle ; but, hast thou no other work for them but ' to send them after us ? Send them after them to ' whom thou wilt give strength to flee, for our ' strength 's gone : twine them about the hill, Lord, ' and cast the lap of thy cloak o'er old Sandy and ' thir poor things, and save us this one time ; and ' we '11 keep it in remembrance, and tell it to the ' commendation of thy goodness, pity, and com- ' passion, what thou didst for us at such a time.' In the mean time, there was a dark cloud of mist came betwixt them. After prayer, he ordered two of them to give notice of the enemies' motion, and the rest to go their alone and cry mightily to the Lord for deliverance. In the mean time that they were thus exercised, there came posts to the enemy, for them to go and pursue Mr. Renwick and a great company with him. After the enemy were gone, he called 78 PEDEN'S LIFE them together, and said, ' Let us not forget to return ' thanks to the Lord, for hearing and answering us ' in the day of our distress ' ; and charged the whole creation to praise the Lord, and adjured the clouds to praise him. Then he sat down at the side of a well, and enquired if they had any crumbs of bread : some of them had some few crumbs ; when seeking a blessing, he said, 'Lord, thou who bless'd the few ' loaves and fishes, and made them sufficient for so ' many, bless this water and these crumbs to us : for ' we thought we should never have needed any more ' of these creature- comforts.' 29. A few days after this, the foresaid John Muir- liead was in a house alone, at a distance from the rest ; and the morning was a dark mist, and he knew not whither to go, or where to find them ; only he heard him speak of the name of a place, where he was to baptize some children. He gave a sixpence to a lad to conduct him to that place, which was six miles distant ; when he came, he was pray- ing. After baptism, he came to John and said, ' Poor straying sheep, how came you to stray from ' the rest ? I had a troubled morning for you ; do ' not this again, otherwise it will fare the worse with ' you.' 30. About this time, he and John Clark, who ordinarily was called little-John, were in a cave in Galloway. They had wanted meat and drink long. He said, 'John, better be thrust thro' with the sword, ' than pine away with hunger : the earth and the ' fulness thereof belongs to my Master, and I have PEDEN'S LIFE 79 ' a right to as much of it as will keep me from faint- ' ing in his service ; go to such a house and tell them ' plainly that I have wanted meat so long, they will ' willingly give it.' 32 John said, ' Sir, I am not willing ' to leave you in this place your alone, for some ' have been frighted by the devil in this cave.' ' No, ' no, John, you need not fear that, I will take my ' venture of him for a time.' John went, and the people willingly gave him some meat ; when he came back, he said, ' John, it is very hard living in this ' world, incarnate devils above the earth, and devils ' beneath the earth ; the devil has been here since ' ye went away ; I have sent him off in haste, we '11 ' be no more troubled with him this night.' 31. A little after this, he being yet in Galloway, John Muirhead and some others being with him, John said to him, ' This is a very melancholly, weary ' time,' it being Killing Time : he replied and said, * There are more dark weary days to come, when all 1 your pulpits will be full of Presbyterian ministers, ' and it will turn so dark upon you that many shall ' not know what to do, whether to hear or forbear ; * and they shall then be reckon'd happy that wan ' well through at Pentland, Bothwell and Airdsmoss, ' and wan fairly off the stage and got martyrdom ' for Christ ; for the ministers will cut off many of * the most serious, and zealous godly at the web's ' end. But I '11 be hid in a grave.' They enquired, ' What will become of the testimony of the Church ' of Scotland ? ' Then he plucked the bonnet from his head and threw it from him, saying, 'See ye 80 PEDEN'S LIFE ' how my bonnet lies ? The sworn-to and sealed ' testimony of the Church of Scotland will fall from ' among the hands of all parties, and will ly as closs ' upon the ground as ye see my bonnet ly.' How lamentably is this accomplished, to the observation of all who see with half an eye ! 32. At this time it was seldom that Mr. Peden could be prevailed with to preach, frequently answering and advising people to pray meikle, saying it was praying folk that would win through the storm : they would get preaching both meikle and good, but not meikle good of it until judgments were poured out to lay the land desolate. And at other times, [he said] we needed not look for a great or good day of the gospel, until the sword of the Frenches were amongst us to make a dreadful slaughter ; and then after that, bra' good days. He and Mr. Donald Cargil saw as it had been with one eye, and spake with one breath; and frequently, when they prest him to preach, he had the same expressions in his answers. 33. Three lads murdered at Wigtoun ; at the same time he was praying at Craigmyne, many miles distant, he cryed out, ' There 's a bloody sacri- ' fice put up this day at Wigtoun ; these are the ' lads of Kirkelly.' 33 And these who lived near knew not of it till it was past. I had this account from William M'Dougal, an old man in Ferrytoun, near Wigtoun, worthy of credit, who was present. 34. After this, in Auchengrooch muirs in Niths- dale, Captain John Matthison and others being with PEDEN'S LIFE 81 him, they were alarmed that the enemies were coming fast upon them ; they designed to put him in some hole and cover him with heather, he not being able to run hard by reason of age. He desired them to forbear a little until he prayed, where he said, ' Lord, we are ever needing at thy hand ; and ' if we had not thy command to call on thee in the ' day of our trouble, and thy promise of answering ' us in the day of our distress, we wot not what ' would become of us. If thou have any more work ' for us in thy world, allow us the lap of thy cloak ' the day again ; and if this be the day of our going ' off the stage, let us win honestly off and com- ' fortably thorow, and our souls will sing forth thy ' praises to eternity, for what thou hast done to us ' and for us.' When ended, he ran his alone a little and came quickly back, saying, ' Lads, the bitterest ' of this blast is over ; we '11 be no more troubled ' with them to-day.' Foot and horse came the length of Andrew Clark's in Auchengroch, where they were covered with a dark mist ; when they saw it, they roared like fleshly devils, as they were, crying out, ' There 's the confounded mist again, we ' cannot get these damned whigs pursued for't.' I had this account from the said Captain John Mathison. 35. About this time, he was in a house in the shire of Air, where James Nisbet was staying, who, till last year, lived in the castle of Edinburgh, but is now honestly off the stage and gone to his rest. 34 At night he was standing before the fire, where he F 82 PEDEN'S LIFE uttered some imprecations upon the cursed intelli- genters, who have told the enemy that I'm come out of Ireland. When James took him to the place where he was to rest a little, James said, ' The ' servants take notice of your imprecations upon the ' intelligenters ' ; he said, ' Ye will know to-morrow ' before 9 of the clock what ground I have for it ; ' I wish thy head may be preserved, for it will be in ' danger for me ; I '11 take my own time and be ' gone from this house.' Some time in that night he went to a desert place, and darned himself in a moss-hag. The next morning James was going at the harrows ; about 8 of the clock there was a troop of the enemies surrounding the house; when James saw them he ran for 't ; they pursued him hard, and he wan to a moss where they could pursue him no furder with horses : they fired upon him, and he having knots upon his hair on each side of his head, one of their bullets took away one of the knots. He ran where Mr. Peden was, who said, ' Oh, Jamie, ' Jamie, I am glad your head 's safe, for I knew it * would be in danger.' He took his knife, and took away the other knot. 36. About this same time, James Wilson in Dowglass, a singular known man to many, was in Airdsmoss ; and being together some time without speaking, as Mr. Peden's ordinar was when there was any extraordinar thing in his head, they came to Mr. Cameron's grave where he and other eight were buried. After some time sitting upon the grave he gave James a clap on the shoulder with his PEDEN'S LIFE 83 heavy hand, and said, 'James, I am going to tell ' you a strange tale.' James said, ' I am willing to ' hear 't.' He said, ' This is a dreadful day both of ' sinning and suffering,' as indeed it was, it being Killing-Time, wherein many fainted and could not endure the scorching heat of that persecution ; and to some the Lord in his love gave gourds of strength, support and comfort, that keeped them from fainting: 'but,' said he, 'tho' it be a dreadful ' day, it will not last long ; this persecution will be ' stopt within a few years, but I will not see it. ' And you are all longing and praying for that day ; ' but when it comes ye will not crack so much of it ' as you trow. And ye 're a vain man, James, and * many others, with your bits of papers and drops of ' blood (meaning our martyrs' testimonies and blood), ' and who but you, and your bits of papers and ' drops of blood ! But, when that day comes, there ' will a bike of indulged, luke-warm ministers come ' out of Holland, England and Ireland, together ' with a bike of them at home, and some young ' things that know nothing, and they will all hyve ' together in a General Assembly ; and the red- ' hands with blood, and the black-hands with defec- ' tion, will be taken by the hand, and the hand given ' them by our ministers : and ye will not ken who ' has been the persecutor, compiler or sufferer ; and ' your bits of papers and your drops of blood will be ' shot to the door, and never a word more of them, ' and ye and your testimony cut off at the web's * end, and ye and the like of you will get their back- 84 PEDEN'S LIFE ' side.' He gave him another sore clap upon the shoulder, saying, ' Keep mind of this, James Wilson ; ' for as the Lord lives it will surely come to pass.' James Wilson told me this shortly thereafter, and renewed it again at the first General Assembly [after the Revolution], when he and I and many others saw the accomplishment of this in every particular, to our great grief. 37. In the beginning of May 1685, he came to the house of John Brown and Isabel Weir, whom he married before he went last to Ireland, where he stayed all night ; and in the morning, when he took his farewel, he came out at the door saying to him- self, ' Poor woman, a fearful morning,' twice over, ' a ' dark misty morning.' The next morning between five and six hours, the said John Brown, having performed the worship of God in his family, was going with a spade in his hand to make ready some peat-ground ; the mist being very dark [he] knew not until bloody, cruel Claverhouse compassed him with three troops of horses, brought him to his house, and there examined him ; who, tho' he was a man of a stammering speech, yet answered him distinctly and solidly ; which made Claverhouse to examine these whom he had taken to be his guides thorow the muirs, if ever they heard him preach : they answered, 'No, no, he was never a preacher.' He said, ' If he has never preached, meikle has he prayed ' in his time.' He said to John, ' Go to your prayers, ' for you shall immediately die.' When he was praying, Claverhouse interrupted him three times. PEDEN'S LIFE 85 One time that he stopt him, he was pleading that the Lord would spare a remnant, and not make a full end in the day of his anger. Claverhouse said, ' I gave you time to pray, and ye 're begun to ' preach ' ; he turned about upon his knees, and said, ' Sir, you "know neither the nature of preaching nor ' praying, that calls this preaching ' ; then continued without confusion. When ended, Claverhouse said, ' Take goodnight of your wife and children.' His wife standing by, with her child in her arms that she had brought forth to him, and another child of his first wife's, he came to her and said, ' Now Isabel, ' the day is come, that I told you would come, when ' I spake first to you of marrying me.' She said, ' Indeed, John, I can willingly part with you.' Then he said, ' That s all I desire, I have no more to ' do but die, I have been in case to meet with ' death for so many years.' He kissed his wife and bairns, and wished purchased and promised blessings to be multiplied upon them, and his blessing. Claverhouse ordered six soldiers to shoot him ; the most part of the bullets came upon his head, which scattered his brains upon the ground. Claverhouse said to his wife, ' What thinkest thou of thy husband ' now, woman ? ' She said, ' I thought ever much ' good of him, and as much now as ever.' He said, ' It were but justice to lay thee beside him.' She said, ' If ye were permitted, I doubt not but your ' cruelty would go that length ; but how will ye ' make answer for this morning's work ? ' He said, * To man I can be answerable ; and for God, I will 86 PEDEN'S LIFE ' take him in my own hand.' Claverhouse mounted his horse, and marched, and left her with the corps of her dead husband lying there ; she set the bairn upon the ground, and gathered his brains, and tied up his head, and straighted his body, and covered him with her plaid, and sat down and wept over him ; it being a very desert place where never victual grew, and far from neighbours. It was some time before any friends came to her ; the first that came was a very fit hand, that old singular Christian woman in the Cummerhead, named Jean Brown, 35 three miles distant, who had been tried with the violent death of her husband at Pent! and, after- wards of two worthy sons, Thomas Weir, who was killed at Drumclog, and David Steil, who was suddenly shot afterwards when taken. The said Isabel Weir, sitting upon her husband's gravestone, told me, that, before that, she could see no blood but she was in danger to faint, and yet was helped to be a witness to all this without either fainting or confusion, except, when the shotts were let off, her eyes dazled. His corps were buried at the end of his house where he was slain, with this inscription on his gravestone : in earth's cold bed the dusty part here lies of one who did the earth as dust despise. here in that place from earth he took departure, now he has got the garland of the martyre. 36 This murder was committed betwixt six and seven in the morning ; Mr. Peden was about ten or eleven PEDEN'S LIFE 87 miles distant, having been in the fields all night ; he came to the house betwixt seven and eight, and desired to call in the family, that he might pray amongst them. He said, ' Lord, when wilt thou ' avenge Brown's blood ? Oh, let Brown's blood be ' precious in thy sight, and hasten the day when ' thou 'It avenge it, with Cameron's, CargiU's,' and many others of our martyrs' names ; ' and O for that ' day when the Lord would avenge all their bloods.' When ended, John Muirhead enquired what he meant by Brown's blood ; he said twice over, ' What ' do I mean ? Claverhouse has been at the Preshill ' this morning, and has cruelly murdered John ' Brown ; his corps are lying at the end of his house, ' and his poor wife sitting weeping by his corps, and ' not a soul to speak comfortably to her. This ' morning after the sun-rising, I saw a strange ' apparition in the firmament, the appearance of a ' very bright clear-shining star fall from heaven to ' the earth ; and indeed there is a clear-shining light ' fallen this day, the greatest Christian that ever I ' conversed with.' 37 38. After this, two days before Argyle was broken and taken, 38 he was near to Wigtoun in Galloway ; a considerable number of men were gathered together in arms, to go for his assistance ; they pressed him to preach, but he positively refused, saying he would only pray with them ; where he continued long, and spent some part of that time in praying for Ireland, pleading that the Lord would spare a remnant, and not make a full end in the day of his 88 PEDEN'S LIFE anger, and would put it in the hearts of his own to flee over to this bloody land, where they would find safety for a time. After prayer, they got some meat, and he gave every one of his old parishioners who were there a piece out of his own hand, calling them his bairns ; where he advised all to go no further, but ' for you that are my bairns, I discharge * you to go your foot-length, for before you can * travel that length, he will be broke ; and tho' it ' were not so, God will honour neither him nor ' Monmouth to be instruments of a good turn for i his church, they have dipt their hands so far in the ' persecution.' And that same day that Argyle was taken, Mr. George Barclay was preaching, and per- swading men in that country to go to Argyle's assistance : after sermon, he said to Mr. George, 'Now Argyle is in the enemy's hands and gone,' though he was many miles distant. I had this account from some of these his bairns who were present ; and the last from Mr. George Barclay's self. 39 39. After this, he was to preach at night, at Pen- darroch in Carrick ; the mistress of the house had been too open-minded to a woman, who went and told the enemy, and came back to that house that she might not be suspected ; Mr. Peden being in the fields came in haste to the door, and called the mistress and said, 'Ye've play'd a bonny sport to * your self by being so loose-tongu'd ; the enemy is ' informed that I was to drop a word this night in * this house, and the person who has done it is in PEDEN'S LIFE 89 ' the house just now ; you '11 repent it ; to-morrow ' morning the enemy will be here, and ye '11 have an ' ill rid-up house. Farewel, 1 11 stay no longer in this ' place.' To-morrow morning, both foot and horse were about the house. 40. In the same year, within the bounds of Car- rick, John Clark in Muirbrook, being with him, said, ' Sir, what think ye of this present time ? Is it not ' a dark and melancholly day ? and can there be a ' more discouraging time than this ? ' He said, ' Yes, John, this is indeed a dark discouraging time, ' but there will be a darker time than this. These ' silly, graceless, wretched creatures, the curates, ' shall go down, and after them shall arise a party ' called Presbyterians, but having little more than ' the name ; and these shall as really as Christ was ' crucified, without the gates of Jerusalem on Mount ' Calvary, bodily ; I say, they shall as really crucify ' Christ in his cause and interest in Scotland, and ' shall lay him in his grave ; and his friends shall ' give him his winding-sheet, and he shall lie as one ' buried for a considerable time. O then, John, ' there shall be darkness and dark days, such as the ' poor Church of Scotland never saw the like of ' them, nor shall see if once they were over ; yea, ' John, this shall be so dark that if a poor thing ' would go between the east sea-bank and the west ' sea-bank, seeking a minister to whom they would ' communicate their case, or tell them the mind of ' the Lord concerning the times, he shall not find ' one.' 40 John asked where the testimony should be 90 PEDEN'S LIFE then. He answered, ' In the hands of a few, who ' shall be despised 41 and undervalued by all, but ' especially by these ministers who buried Christ ; ' but after that, he shall get up upon them ; and at ' the crack of his winding-sheet, as many of them as ' are alive, who were at his burial, shall be distracted ' and mad for fear, not knowing what to do : then, ' John, there shall be brave days, such as the Church ' of Scotland never saw the like ; but I shall not see ' them, but you may.' The said John Clark has been at Mr. Murray's since, [to say] that it is all one for matter and substance with what Mr. Peden said to him in this 40 passage. 42 41. In the same year 1685 ; preaching in the night-time, in a barn at Carrick, upon that text, Psal. lxviii. 1, 2, 'Let God arise, and let his ' enemies be scattered : let them also that hate him ' flee before him. As smoke is driven, so drive thou ' them ' : so insisting how the enemies and haters of God and godliness were tossed and driven as smoke or chaff, by the wind of God's vengeance while on earth, and that wind would blow and drive them all to hell in the end ; stooping down, there being chaff among his feet, he took a handful of it, and said, ' The Duke of York, the Duke of York, ' and now king of Britain, a known enemy of God ' and godliness ; it was by the vengeance of God ' that ever he got that name; but as ye see me throw ' away that chaff, so the wind of that vengeance ' shall blow and drive him off that throne ; and he, nor * no other of that name, shall ever come on it again.' PEDEN'S LIFE 91 42. About this time, preaching at Carrick, in the parish of Girvin, in the day-time in the fields, David Mason, then a professor, came in haste, trampling upon the people to be near him ; he said, ' There ' comes the devil's rattle-bag, we do not want him ' here ' : after this the said David became officer in that bounds, and an informer, running throw, rattling his bag, and summoning the people to their unhappy courts for their non-conformity ; for that, he and his got the name of the devil's rattle-bags, and to this day do. Since the Revolution, he com- plain'd to , his minister that he and his got that name ; the minister said, ' Ye well deserved it, and ' he was an honest man that gave you it : you and ' yours must enjoy it, there 's no help for it.' 43. A little before his death, he was in Auchin- cloigh, in the parish of Sorn, where he was born, 43 in the house of John Richman, there being two beds in the chamber, one for him and one [for] Andrew Black, who dwelt in or about the New-milns. When Andrew offered to go to his bed, he heard him very importunate with the Lord, to have pity upon the west of Scotland, and spare a remnant, and not make a full end in the day of his anger ; and when he was off his knees, walking up and down the chamber, crying out, ' Oh the Monzies, the French ' Monzies, see how they run, how long will they ' run ? Lord, cut their houghs, and stay their ' running.' Where he continued all night, some- times on his knees, and sometimes walking. In the morning, they enquired what he meant by the 92 PEDEN'S LIFE Monzies ; he said, ' Oh, sirs, ye 11 have a dreadful ' day by the French Monzies, and a sett of wicked ' men in these lands who will take part with them, ' the west of Scotland will pay dear for it ; they '11 ' run thicker in the water of Air and Clyde than ' ever the Highland men did.' I lay in that chamber seven years ago, and the said John Richman and his wife told me that these were his words. At other times, to the same purpose, saying, ' O the Monzies, ' the Monzies will be thorow the breadth and length ' of the south and west of Scotland ; O I think I see ' them at our fire-sides, slaying man, wife and ' children ; the remnant will get a breathing ; but ' they will be driven to the wilderness again, and ' their sharpest showers will be last.' To the same purpose, spoke these two following ministers, to wit, Mr. Thomas Lundie, a godly minister in the north at Rotry ; 44 his sister, a lady in that country, who died in the year 1683, gave this following account, that the said Mr. Lundie, after some sickness, and seeming recovery again which comforted them ; but one morning, staying longer than ordinary in his chamber, the foresaid lady knocking at his chamber-door, who opening it, found him more than ordinary weighted ; she asked him the reason, seeing he was now better ; whereupon smiling, he said, ' Within a few hours I '11 be taken ' from you ; but alas, for the day that I see coming ' upon Scotland : the Lord has letten me see the ' Frenches marching with their armies thorow the ' breadth and length of the land, marching to their PEDEN'S LIFE 93 ' bridle-reins in the blood of all ranks, and that ' for a broken, burnt and buried covenant ; but ' neither ye nor I will live to see it.' As also, one Mr. Douglas, a godly minister in Galloway, a little before his death, seeming as slumbering in his bed, his wife and other friends standing by, when he awak'd he seem'd more than ordinary weighted, and groan 'd heavily, saying, 'Sad days for Scotland'; his wife asked him, 'What will be the instruments ? ' he said, ' The sword of foreign enemies, they will be ' heavy and sharp, but not long, but they will not ' be yet, but not long to them : but, O glorious days ' on the back of them to poor wasted Scotland.' 45 As also, some notes of a preface by godly Mr. John Welsh, sometime minister of the gospel in the parish of Irongray, in Galloway, a little after the break at Bothwell-Bridge, who shortly thereafter ended his days in peace at London, after many years' hunting for his life. He said, ' O but I have great news to ' tell you this day ; but you may say, can you tell us ' greater news than them that 's in Edinburgh, that ' they are heading, and hanging, and shedding the ' blood of the saints ? But,' said he, ' I have greater ' news to tell you from my great Master, and that ' is, I see all Scotland a field of blood ; and I see ' all England and Ireland a field of blood ; but ' before that time the Church will get a breathing, ' but she will fall asleep and will not improve it ; ' but the first wakning she will get, the man will ' step over his bed-side in his wife and children's ' blood ; then the Church will awaken, and it will 94 PEDEN'S LIFE ' be at such a nick of time that one of the nations ' will not be able to help another. O but any of ' you, who have moyen with our Lord, had need to ' pray that that sad day may be prevented ; but the ' decree is gone forth, and past in heaven, 'tis past ' remedy.' 44. Some notes of Mr. Peden's last preface in the Collomwood, at the water of Air, a little before his death : — My Master is the rider, and I 'm the horse ; I never love to ride but when I find the spurs ; I know not what I have to do amongst you this night. He wish'd it might be for their good, for it would be the last. It is long since it was our desire to God to have you taken off our hand ; and now he 's granting us our desire. There are four or five things I have to tell you this night, and the first is this, A bloody sword, a bloody sword, a bloody sword for thee, O Scotland, that shall pierce the hearts of many. 2dly, Many miles shall ye travel, and shall see nothing but desolation and ruinous wastes in thee, O Scotland. 3dly, The fertilest places in Scotland shall be as waste and desolate as the mountains. 4thly, The women with child shall be ript up and dashed in pieces. 5thly, Many a con- venticle has God had in thee, O Scotland ; but ere long, God shall have a conventicle that will make Scotland tremble. Many a preaching has God waired on thee ; but ere long God's judgments shall be as frequent as these precious meetings were, wherein he sent forth his faithful servants, to give PEDEN'S LIFE 95 faithful warning of the hazard of thy apostacy from God in breaking, burning, and burying His cove- nant, persecuting, slighting, and contemning the gospel, shedding the precious blood of his saints and servants. God sent forth a Welwood, a Kid and a King, a Cameron and a Cargil, and others to preach to thee ; but ere long God shall preach to thee by fire and a bloody sword. God will let none of these men's words fall to the ground, that he sent forth with a commission to preach these things in his name ; he will not let one sentence fall to the ground, but they shall have a sure accomplishment, to the sad experience of many. In his prayer after sermon, he said, ' Lord, thou ' hast been both good and kind to old Sandy thorow ' a long tract of time, and given him many years ' in thy service, which have been but as so many ' months : but now he 's tyr'd of thy world, and ' hath done the good in it that he will do ; let him ' win away with the honesty he has, for he will ' gather no more.' 45. When the day of his death drew near, and not able to travel, he came to his brother's house in the parish of Sorn, where he was born ; 4S he caused dig a cave, with a saughen-bush covering the mouth of it, near to his brother's house ; the enemies got notice and searched the house narrowly many times. In the time that he was in this cave, he said to some friends 47 that 'God shall make Scotland a ' desolation. 2dly, There should be a remnant ' in the land, whom God should spare and hide. 96 PEDEN'S LIFE ' 3dly, They should lie in holes and caves of the ' earth, and be supplied with meat and drink ; and ' when they come out of their holes they should ' not have freedom to walk for stumbling on dead ' corps. 4thly, A stone cut out of the mountain ' should come down, and God should be avenged ' on the great ones of the earth and the inhabitants ' of the land, for their wickedness, and then the ' Church should come forth with a bonny bairn-time ' at her back, of young ones.' He wished that the Lord's people might be hid in their caves, as if they were not in the world, for nothing would do it until God appeared with his judgments, and they that wan through that bitter and short sharp storm, by the sword of the Frenches and a sett of unhappy men taking part with them, then there would be a spring-tide day of the plenty, purity, and power of the gospel ; giving them that for a sign, If he were but once buried, they might be in doubts ; but if he were oftner buried than once, they might be perswaded that all he had said would come to pass ; and earnestly desired them to take his corps out to Airdsmoss, and bury him beside Ritchie, meaning Mr. Cameron, that he might get rest in his grave, for he had gotten little through his life ; but 1 know ye will not do this. He told them, that bury him where they would, he would be lifted again ; but the man that put first to his hand to lift his corps, four things should befal him. 1. He should get a great fall from a house. 2. He should fall in adultery. 3. In theft, and for these he PEDEN'S LIFE 97 should leave the land. 4. Make a melancholly end abroad for murder ; which accordingly came to pass. This was one Murdoch, a mason to his trade, but then in the military service, who first put to his hand to his corps. A little before his death, he said, 'Ye will all be angry where I will be buried ' at last ; but I discharge you all to lift my corps ' again.' At last, one morning early, he came to the door and left his cave ; his brother's wife said, ' Where are you going ? the enemies will be here. ' He said, ' I know that.' ' Alas, sir, what will ' become of you ? you must back to the cave again.' He said, ' I have done with that, for it is discovered ; ' but there is no matter, for within 48 hours I ' will be beyond the reach of all the devil's tempta- ' tions, and his instruments in hell and on earth, ' and they shall trouble me no more.' About three hours after he entred the house, the enemies came, and found him not in the cave, searched the barn narrowly, casting the unthreshen corn, and searched the house, stobbing the beds, but entred not the place where he lay. He told them that, bury him where they would, he would be lifted again; and within 48 hours he died. He died in January 28th, 1686, being past sixty years, and was buried in the Laird of AfHect's isle. The enemies got notice of his death and burial, sent a troop of dragoons, and lifted his corps, and carried them two miles to Cumnock gallows-foot, and buried him there, after 40 days being in the grave, beside other martyrs. 48 G 98 PEDEN'S LIFE His friends thereafter laid a grave-stone above him, with this inscription : HERE LIES ME. ALEXANDER PEDEN, A FAITHFUL MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL SOMETIME AT GLENLUCE, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE JANUARY 28TH, 1686, AND WAS RAISED AFTER SIX WEEKS OUT OF HIS GRAVE, AND BURIED HERE OUT OF CONTEMPT. After this, that troop of dragoons came to quarter in the parish of Cambusnethen, two of them were quartered in the house of James Gray, my acquaint- ance, being frighted in their sleep, started up, and clapped their hands, crying, 'Peden, Peden.' These two dragoons affirmed that, out of their curiosity they opened his coffin to see his corps, and yet they had no smell, tho' he had been 40 days dead. 49 All the tyranny and cruelty of these times, by these enemies of God and godliness, that were exer- cised upon the bodies and consciences of the Lord's people, was said, that ' it was all for rebellion.' There was no ground to think or fear that the corps of that servant of Christ, after six weeks lying in the grave, would rise in rebellion against them ; this is somewhat like that which historians give an account of, that the Popish party made search for the bones of John WickliefF, their great opposer in his life by his writings, 42 years after his death, found bones, but were uncertain whether they were his or not, and took them up to the head of an hill, and burnt them, and gathered up the ashes in a pock, PEDEN'S LIFE 99 and threw them into a river. Mr. Samuel Clark gives another instance of a Christian Jew in Italy, who, after the Popish party had murdered him, laid his corps in the open street of the city, prohibiting all to bury him, where they lay 9 days, and instead of stink they had a sweet charming smell, which induced many people to stand and wonder ; which, when the enemies found the sweet smell themselves, they caused take them up and bury them. All these foregoing instances I am surely informed of, for matter and substance, except the 40th pas- sage, which is said he spoke to John Clark in Muirbrock, within the bounds of Carrick, in the 1685 year, and has been passing from hand to hand almost ever since in write. I sent a friend 20 miles to him for the certainty of it ; and altho' he was my old acquaintance, he delayed to give it ; but promised to visit Mr. Murray in Penpont, in September 1723, and give him a full account, but has not performed his promise. Captain John Campbell of Walwood, his master, promised to get a true account from himself and send it to me, but has not done it ; I am informed that some other friends enquired at the said John, who owned that that 40th passage was all one for matter and substance of what Mr. Peden said to him. There are other two passages, that for many years I 've often heard from friends, and I doubt nothing of the truth of them in my own mind, tho' I be not pointed in time and place. First, one day preaching in the fields, in his 100 PEDEN'S LIFE prayer he prayed earnestly for the preservation of the people, and again and again pray'd for that man that was to lose his life. The enemies came upon them the same day, and fir'd upon the people, and there was none of them either wounded or killed, save one man, and he was shot dead. A 2d passage, One time he was preaching, and giving a very large offer of Christ in the gospel- terms ; an old. woman sitting before him, he laid his hands upon every side of her head, and rocked her from side to side, and said, ' Thou witch -wife, thou ' witch- wife, thou witch- wife, I offer Christ to thee, ' quit the devil's service, thou hast a bad master, ' thou will never make thy plack a babee of him ; ' and if thou will break off and renounce the devil's ' service, I promise thee, in my Master's name, that' ' he will give thee salvation.' After this, there was a discernable change in her practice ; and when she was a dying, she confessed that she was either engaged in the devil's service or was engaging : and exprest her great thankfulness that she had the happiness to hear Mr. Peden at that time. As for that paper, that has been passing from hand to hand in print, these several years, in Mr. Peden's name, which is said to be found in Ireland, and supposed to be his ; I made all search, both in Scotland and in Ireland ; but could never find one, that had been conversant with him, that ever heard him have many7of the expressions that are in that paper. 60 PEDEN'S LIFE 101 A short relation of the defections, and way of wounding of the interest, that Alexander Gordon and John Dick, and many others in the year 1685 fell into, which Mr. Peden did foresee and foretell before, as is to be found in the 23d passage, into which he fell himself, for which he expressed great sorrow to James Wilson, and to Mr. Renwick in that discourse that past betwixt them when dying. First, This Alexander Gordon, before this, was joint in principle and suffering with Mr. Renwick and that people ; but, after this, was turned off with Robert Cathcart, John and Quintin Dicks, 51 George Welsh, and many others, in the societies of Carrick, some in Galloway and Calder-Muir, chiefly by the means and influence of Mr. George Barklay [and] Mr. Robert Langlands. The most part of all the ministers having deserted the publick standard of the gospel, after Bothwel-Bridge, and left people to be destroyed both soul and body, by the foxes, wolves, snares and sins of that day ; especially the foresaid two, and others who went to Holland, laid themselves out at home and abroad, by misrepre- sentations and informations against honest people and the grounds of their sufferings, which had a direct tendency to quench love, and mar the sympathy of all foreigners and strangers, with that suffering Society-People : hence in April 1685, Mr. George Barklay, and others, came to the west of Scotland, in order to engage, preach up, and prepare a people 102 PEDEN'S LIFE to join Argyle, who came to Scotland about the middle of May thereafter, with some men and many notable arms ; which, when Mr. Renwick, and the general correspondents of the United Societies saw, his manifesto made them to demur, and hesitate to concur in that expedition, upon these grounds and reasons, first, because it was not concerted according to the ancient plea of the Scottish Covenanters, in defence of our Reformation, expresly according to our Covenants, National and Solemn League. Secondly, because no mention was made of these Covenants, nor of Presbyterian government, of purpose lest the sectarian party should be irritate. Thirdly, because it opened a door for confederacy with sectarians and malignants. Fourthly, because of promiscuous admission into trust [of] persons who were enemies to the cause and accession [i.e. acces- sories] to the persecution, to wit, Argyle's self, who, many times, if not always, was a member of the bloody council, from May 1663 until 1681, and whose vote took away the life of Mr. Donald Cargil ; 52 and next to him, Sir John Cochran of Ochiltree, who was so guilty of that great gush of the precious blood of Mr. Cameron, and these with him at Airdsmoss. 53 These grounds and reasons are to be found in Mr. Renwick's Informatory Vindication, and in his Life and Death : these reasons, Mr. Wodrow calls heats, heights and extreams. 54 This insensed these that set up and took part with Argyle, and made them to express themselves more bitterly against that con- tending handful. Thus, after Mr. Barclay, and PEDEN'S LIFE 103 others with him, had kindled a fire of division amongst that people, who had been unite for five years before : and after that expedition was over, Mr. Barclay said he had some business at Edinburgh, but would shortly return and take part with them ; but when he came to the witty, lown-warm air of Edinburgh, the heat of summer 1685 being over, the tables better covered, the chambers warmer, and the beds softer than the cold hills and glens of Carrick and Galloway, or the watery mosses and bogs of cold Calder-Muir; he forgot to fulfil his promise, and suffered them to shift for themselves. Mr. Langlands and Mr. Adam Alcorn took one turn more in these places, and added more fuel to these fires of divisions, and then left them altogether, and sided with the indulged and luke-warm, and thereafter with York's toleration. 55 Then the simple and misled of these societies saw themselves led and left upon the ice ; many of them returned with blushing to Mr. Renwick and their former societies ; but never that cordialness, love, light, life, nor zeal, as before ; the foresaid topping, leading-men, in these divisions, waxed worse and worse in ridiculing, making sport and rythm, with laughter upon Mr. Renwick, and their former brethren ; some, who had been witness to it, unhappily told Mr. Renwick. I saw him much troubled and grieved ; after a little musing, with much calmness, [he] said, ' Well, well, I ' am sorry for them'; 'but,' said he to James Wilson and my self, 'mark ye these men, and remember ' that I said it, that as they are now fallen from 104 PEDEN'S LIFE ' strictness of principles, they will not long retain ' strictness of practice ; and their laxness and loose- ' ness shall be such that shall make them con- ' temptible in their life, and their names unsavoury * when dead.' In the beginning of this month of May, Mr. Peden was at family-worship in the shire of Air ; in his discourse he was asserting some truths, the foresaid John Dick being present, he said, ' This ' is as true as thou John Dick shall make defection ' and wound the testimony ere Lambass ' ; James Nisbet was witness to this. The truth of these things I can assert, not only that their thriving days in religion and zeal were now gone, but some of them I saw scandalously drunk, and credibly informed of gross things in their practices. The foresaid Mr. Gordon, being in drink, went out to a combat and lost much blood, and going up stairs he lost his feet, and brain'd himself, where he died, in Edin- burgh. It was the observe of several solid tender Christians, that ' Mr. Gordon, and these with him, ' had always more of a fighting and contending spirit, ' by swords, guns, and tongues, than ever they had of ' a spirit of prayers and tears, which are the saints' ' chief weapons.' I was, before this, fourteen months in prison without distinct informations, but especi- ally three months closed up in Dunottar Castle, in the very heat of those divisions ; when I happily escaped out of the hands of these butchering enemies I came to Calder-muir, the members of these societies being all my intimate acquaintances, leaving them all of one mind, but found them so PEDEN'S LIFE 105 divided and confused that I knew not what to believe, nor whom to believe, except a few of the most serious and tender, who remained unmoved or [un]shaken. In this perplexity, I went and heard Mr. Langlands, for my own information and satisfaction, preaching in a house to a very few; where I got more offence, both in his conduct and discourse, but especially in converse, speaking bitterly against some conclusions of the general correspondence of the United Societies, for management and order among themselves (which every society might do), calling them notable devices of the devil, [and] venting their zeal more against Mr. Renwick, that cause and people, than [against] any other party or wicked thing in the land. 66 These things made me to haste to Mr. Renwick, having heard and been with him before I was taken. I found him, and these that stood with him, as I left them, in a sweet, calm, refreshing gospel-air, with an uniform zeal, which was both confirming and comforting to me. After Mr. Renwick's death, I had the occasion of riding twenty miles with Mr. Langlands, where I used all freedom with him, of all things that were most offensive to me in that time, especially that letter that he wrote to Gavin Witherspoon, against Mr. Renwick, that cause and people. He said he was never so much ashamed of any thing in his life ; ' for,' said he, ' I ' dipt my pen in gall against him, but he dipt his in ' honey to me.' Whoso desires to be further informed in the divisions and confusions of that juncture of time, let them peruse the Life and Death 106 PEDEN'S LIFE of Mr. Renwick, a little after his publick martyrdom written by Mr. Alexander Shields, which are now published to the world. 58 The kindling of a fire of division and confusion amongst the United Societies, is not so much to be wondered at, as the influence of the false misrepre- sentations and informations, and unhappy advices of Mr. George Barclay and Mr. Robert Langlands, had upon that singular man Mr. Peden, to make him express himself so bitterly against Mr. Renwick, that he would set himself in opposition to him, and make his name stink above the ground ; 59 and fell into the same defections, and wounded the same interest, at the same time that he did threaten, foresee, and foretell, that others would fall into — particularly Alexander Gordon, as may be seen in the 23d passage; and John Dick and his — with aggravations beyond theirs, that he helped them to stifle their convictions, and harden them and others in their defections, and make them vaunt, and be more confident in breaking of the heart of Mr. Renwick more and more, with reproaches, and talk- ing to the grief of those who were sore wounded with the tyranny and defections of that day, even after so many years, and so many evidences and expressions of love, sympathy, and being well pleased with him, and that people, cause, and way of con- tending for the same. One instance see in the 23d passage of his Life, and after converse with him a little after he came out of Ireland, at Carrentable ; where, when Mr. Renwick pressed him to join and PEDEN'S LIFE 107 assist in keeping up the publick standard of the gospel, he answered, 'Be ye busy about the work ' God has put you to, and look not to me nor any ' other minister, for neither of us will see the de- ' liverance.' 60 How astonishing may this be to all ! for which he payed dear afterward ; that as he said to James Wilson, that from the time that he drank in these false reports and followed these unhappy advices, it had not been with him as formerly ; and when he was a dying, sent for Mr. Renwick, who hasted to him, who found him lying in very low circumstances, overgrown with hair, and few to take care of him, as he never took much care of his body, seldom he unclothed himself, these years, or went to bed. When Mr. James came in, he raised himself upon his bed, leaning upon his elbow with his head upon his hand, said, ' Sir, are ye the Mr. James ' Renwick that there is so much noise about ? ' He answered, ' Father, my name is James Renwick ; but ' I have given the world no ground to make any * noise about me ; for I have espoused no new ' principle or practice, but what our Reformers and ' Covenanters maintained.' ' Well, sir,' said Mr. Peden, ' turn about your back ' ; which he did in his condescending temper. Mr. Peden said, 'I think ' your legs too small, and your shoulders too narrow, ' to take on the whole Church of Scotland upon ' your back : sit down, sir, and give me an account ' of your conversion, and of your call to the ministry, ' of your principles, and the grounds of your taking ( such singular courses, in withdrawing from all other 108 PEDEN'S LIFE ' ministers ' ; which Mr. Renwick did in a distinct manner ; of the Lord's way of dealing with him from his infancy, and of three mornings successive in some retire place in the King's Park, where he used to frequent before he went abroad, where he got very signal manifestations and confirmations of his call to the ministry, and got the same renewed in Holland a little before he came off: with a distinct short account of his grounds upon which he contended against tyranny and defections, and kept up an active testimony against all the evils of that day. When ended, Mr. Peden said, 'Ye have answered me to ' my soul's satisfaction, and I am very sorry that I ' should have believed any such ill reports of you, ' which have not only quenched my love to you, and ' marred my sympathy with you ; but made me • express my self so bitterly against you, for which ' I have sadly smarted. But, sir, ere you go ' you must pray for me, for I am old and going to ' leave the world ' : which he did with more than ordinary enlargement ; when ended, he took him by the hand, and drew him to him, and kissed him, and said, ' Sir, I find you a faithful servant to your ' Master ; go on in a single dependence upon the ' Lord, and ye will win honestly through and ' cleanly off the stage, when many others that hold ' their head high will fall and ly in the mire, and ' make foul hands and garments ' ; then prayed, that the Lord might spirit, strengthen, support and com- fort him in all duties and difficulties. James Wilson was witness to this, and James Nisbet, who then PEDEN'S LIFE 109 lived in that country-side, could have asserted the truth of this. These and many such instances may be a warning to all tender, zealous souls, to beware in calling in question or debating of known, clear, confirmed duties and sins, which oft have drawn on more darkness, and led and made way for snares and sins, and to follow no man, even a Paul, further than they follow Christ ; and many great and good men have been in greater hazard and got more hurt by pretended friends, yea real friends and good men, than from the common enemies. That faithful and valiant man of God, that was sent to Jeroboam's Bethel, was turned out of the way by an old ly-by, lying prophet, who had the impudence to pretend the Word of the Lord for it, and the manner of that worthy man's death set up as a beacon to all the Lord's people in all ages ; a Barnabas, carried away with the dissimulation of a fainting relapsing Peter ; the unhappy misrepresentations and advices of these two deserving good men and ministers, Mr. George Barclay and Mr. Robert Langlands, who had their hands at many good turns in their time, had more influence upon that singular good man Mr. Peden to put his feet out of the theats than all the six and twenty years tyranny of perse- cution he endured. It tended much to the perpetual commendation of the never to be forgotten Mr. Renwick, who was never dantened with frowns, nor inchanted with flatteries ; let all the Lord's people make that use of it also, however long they have 110 PEDEN'S LIFE been upon the stage, and whatever steady course they have steared, and whatever have been their attainments and experiences, still not to be high minded, but fear. The man of God, blest Cargill, a little before his publick murder and violent bloody death, preaching upon that text, 'Be not high ' minded, but fear,' said, among many other of his sententious sayings, that a Christian might go through ninetine trials, and carry honestly in them, and fall in the twentieth. While in the body, be not high minded, but fear. The exact Copy of a Letter from Mr. Alexander Peden to the Prisoners in Dunnottar Castle, in the Month of July 1685, being above Eight- score, being Sixscore and two men, and Forty- six Women, all driven into one vault. 61 Dear Friends, — I long to hear how you spend your time, and how the Grace of God grows in your hearts : I know ye and others of the Lord's people, by reason of the present trial, have got up a fashion of complaining upon Christ; but I defy you to speak an ill word of him, unless you wrong him ; speak as you can, and spare not ; only I request you, let your expressions of Christ be suitable to your experience of him. If ye think Christ's house be bare, and ill provided, harder than ye looked for, assure your selves Christ minds only to diet you, and not to hunger you ; our steward kens when to spend and when to spare. Christ PEDEN'S LIFE ill knows well whether heaping or straiking agrees best with our narrow vessels, for both are alike to him ; sparing will not enrich him, and spending will not impoverish him ; he thinks it ill- win that 's holden off his people ; grace and glory comes out of Christ's lucky hand. Our vessels are but feckless, and contain little; his fulness is most straitned when it wants a vent. It is easy for Christ to be holden busy in dividing the fulness of his Father's house to his poor friends ; he delights not to keep mercy ore night, every new day brings new mercies to the people of God ; he 's the easiest merchant ever the people of God yoked with ; if ye be pleased with the wares, what of his graces makes best for you, he and ye will soon sort on the price ; he '11 sell good cheap, that ye may speir for his shop again, and he draws all the sale to himself. I counsel you to go no further than Christ ; and now, when it is come to your door either to sin or suffer, I counsel you to lay your count with suffering, for an outgate coming out of any other airth will be prejudicial to your soul's interest. And for your encouragement, remember, he sends none a ware- fare on their own charges ; and blest is the man that gives Christ all his money ; it will be best for you to block with him, when you want hand- money; and the less ye have, he has the more heart to frist you, and so it is best for you to keep in with your old acquaintance. New acquaintance with strange lords is the ready way ^to make a wound in grace's side, which will not heal in haste ; 112 PEDEN'S LIFE the sore may close before the wound dry up ; for grace is a tender piece, and is very easily dis- tempered with the backslidings of our present time ; and if the wheels of it be once broke with sin, all the moyen in the world will not make it go about, until it be put in Christ's hand. I hope I have said more on this matter than is needful, for I have seen the marks of tenderness deeply drawn on your carriage. The temper of these backsliding times invites us to double our diligence in seeking of God; for it seems God has a mind to search Jerusalem with lighted candles, and to visit all your chambers ; and there shall not be a pin in all your graces, but God shall know whether it be crooked or even ; he will never halt until he be at the bottom of men's hearts. He has turned out some folk's hearts already, and has slit mo ; it seems he has a mind to make the inside the outside. There was but a small wind in our former trials, and therefore much chaff lay scattered and hid among the corn ; God has now raised a strong mighty wind, and it is certain that Christ's corn cannot be driven away ; he will not want a hair of his people's head, he knows them all by head-mark ; if our hearts could bleaze after him, we would rather choose to die believing and suffering than sin by compliance. I defy the world to steal a lamb out of Christ's flock unmist ; what is a wanting at the last Day of Judgment, Christ must make them all up. The storm will not ly long when the people of God have the worst of it, when the wind is both in their LETTER TO PRISONERS 113 back and face; a great fire in God's furnace will soon divide the gold from the dross ; God's mill has been grinding fast, and it will not stand for want of water, if the people of God would hold out of the gate, and give enemies a rid field, that God may be full of their flesh, and it is like he may give his enemies a knock ore his people's head. God is giving the saints a little trial, somewhat sharper than ordinary, that they may come out of the furnace as a refined lump, that they may run and be ready at the touck of the drum. It is honourable to be a footman in Christ's company, and run at Christ's foot from morning to evening ; the weakest in all Christ's company will not tire to go and ride time about, for Christ will take his friends on behind him ; when they begin to weary, and dow not hold foot, Christ will wait on them. O how sweet will it be to see Christ marching up in a full body, with all the trumpets sounding the triumph of the Lamb's victory, when his sword shall be made red with the blood of his enemies, when all the heathens shall be rounding among themselves that he has done so great things for his followers ! Verily, I fear, the followers of the Lamb shall be forced to tread on the dead corps of wicked men ere all the play be played ; the whole land shall have enough ado to shovel them into the earth ; Christ will kill faster with his own hand than the kingdom will be able to bury ; and many shall be buried unstraighted, and moals shall be the winding-sheet of many that look life-like in that day. The blood of God's foes H 114 PEDEN'S LIFE shall preach strange things to his people, and we should rejoice with trembling; they that will not serve God, to themselves be it said. The day is near, when blood shall be the sign of Christ's soldiers, and ' No Quarters ' shall be their word ; ' Death and destruction ' shall be written in broad letters on our Lord's standard, a look of him will be a dead stroke to any that comes in his way. It is best for you to keep under the shadow of God's wings, and to cast the lap of Christ's cloke over your head until ye hear him say that the brunt of the battle is over, and the shower is slacked ; I am confident the safest way to shoot the shower is to hold out of God's gate, and to keep within his doors, until the violence of the storm begin to ebb, which is not yet full tide. Christ deals tenderly with his young plants, and waters them oft, lest they go back : be painful, and lose not life for the seeking. Grace, mercy and peace be with you. I recommend these views, thoughts and notes upon the Covenant of Redemption, as the extract of God's love, that in crosses and out of crosses ye may rejoice. Be it known to all men, that, in the presence of the Ancient of Days, it was finally contracted, and unanimously agreed, betwixt these honourable and royal persons in the God-head, to wit, the great and infinite Lord of Heaven and earth, on the one COVENANT OF REDEMPTION 115 side ; and Jesus Christ, God-man, his eternal 62 and undoubted heir, on the other side, in manner, form and effect, as follows ; That forasmuch as the Lord Jesus Christ is content and obliges himself to be- come surety, and to fulfil the whole law ; and that he shall suffer and become an offering for sin, and take the guiding of all the children of God on him, and make them perfect in every good word and work ; and that of his fulness they shall all receive grace for grace ; and also present them, man, wife and bairns, on Heaven's floor, and lose none of them ; and that he shall raise them up at the last day, and come in on Heaven's floor with all the bairns at his back : therefore, the noble Lord of Heaven and earth, on the other side, binds and obliges himself to Christ, to send all the Elect into the world, and to deliver them all fairly to Christ ; and also to give him a body, flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone ; and to carry Christ through in all his undertaking in that work, and to hold him by the hand : and also, let the Holy Ghost, who is our equal, go forth into the world, that he may be sharer in this great work, and also of the glory of this noble contrivance ; and let him enlighten the minds of all those whom we have chosen out of the world, in the knowledge of our name ; and to con- vince them of their lost state ; and perswade and enable them to embrace and accept of his free love offer ; and to support and comfort them in all their trials and tribulations, especially these for our name's sake ; and to sanctifie them, soul and body, and make 116 PEDEN'S LIFE them fit for serving us, and dwelling with us, and singing forth the praises of the riches of our free grace in this noble contrivance, for ever and ever. Likewise, the same noble Lord of Heaven and earth doth fully covenant grace and glory, and all good things, to as many as shall be perswaded and en- abled to accept and embrace you, as their Lord, King and God : and moreover, he allows the said Jesus Christ to make proclamations by his servants, to the world in his name, that all that will come and engage under his colours, he shall give them noble pay in hand for the present, and a rich in- heritance for ever ; with certification, that all those who will not accept of this offer, for the same cause, shall be guilty and eternally condemned from our presence, and tormented with these devils, whom we cast out from us, for their pride and rebellion, for the glory of our justice, through eternity. In testimony whereof, he subscribes thir presents, and is content the same be registrate in the Books of Holy Scripture, to be kept on record to future generations. Dated at the throne of Heaven, in the ancient records of eternity. ADVERTISEMENT 117 Having three years ago published the then gathered Passages of Mr. Pedens Life and Death, with an earnest request to all, that what further passages I had not then been informed and confirmed of the certainty thereof, that they would send me distinct accounts of the same, and I promised they should be faithfully published : accordingly since, persons of integrity have written to me the following accounts from England, Ireland, and several places in Scotland; and some by word of mouth asserting, as matter of fact, the former passages ; and some ministers and others have inquired at my informers who are alive, whose names I mention, the truth of these passages, all of them own them to be matter of fact ; and John Clark, whom I mentioned in the 40th passage of what Mr. Peden spoke to him the year 1685, within the bounds of Carrick, some- time since hath visited the Reverend Mr. Murray, 63 minister in Penpont, according to his promise, and asserts all, or to the same purpose, as I have related them. 64 FOLLOW THE THIRTY NEW ADDITIONAL PASSAGES. 1. In the year 1666, when the Lord's persecuted and oppressed people was gathering together for their own defence, who were broke at Pentland-hills, he, with Mr. Welsh, and the laird of Glor-over in the parish of Ballentrea, were riding together in the 118 PEDEN'S LIFE same parish, met upon the way a party of the enemy's horse, and no eviting of them, the laird fainted, fearing they would all be taken ; Mr. Peden, seeing this, said, ' Keep up your courage and con- ' fidence, for God hath laid an arrest upon these ' men that they shall not harm us.' When they met they were courteous and asked the way. Mr. Peden went off the way, and shewed the foord of the Water of Titt ; when he returned, the laird said, ' Why did ' you go with them ? you might have sent the lad ' with them.' He said, ' No, no, it was more safe ' for me, for they might have asked questions at the ' lad, and he might have fainted and discovered us ; ' for my self, I knew they would be like Egyptian ' dogs, they would not move a tongue against me, ' for my hour of falling into their hands, and day of ' trial, is not yet come, that is abiding me.' There is an old Christian gentlewoman, yet alive in Edin- burgh, a daughter of the said laird's, who told me of late that she had several times heard her father give an account of this. She also told me that, since Bothwel-Bridge, she heard him preach in the fields in the foresaid parish ; a wife sitting before the tent looking up to him, he said, ' How have you the con- ' fidence to look up ? Look down to hell, whither ' you are going ; the devil has a fast grip of you, ' and will not lose it.' That woman lived and died under the mala fama of a witch, and many strong presumptions of the same. 2. About the year 1670, he was in Armaugh in Ireland. One John Goodale with his wife, two ADDITIONAL PASSAGES 119 serious, zealous Christians, living in Armaugh, who had gone from Scotland, who was a wheel-wright to his imployment ; his zeal was such against the superstitious worship and keeping so many holy-days, when [the clergy were] going and coming by his shop- door he wrought most hard ; for this he was excom- municate. He told Mr. Peden, who said, 'Rejoice in ' that, John, that you are cast out of the devil's count- ' book. ' 65 After this, he was preaching privately in John's house ; in his preface, he said, ' Our Lord has ' been taking great pains on you in Ireland, to get you ' to learn your lesson perquire ; and few of you have ' been brought to say your lesson off the book. He ' has gotten a goodly company in Scotland that he 's ' learning to say their lesson off the book, and they ' are brave scholars ; but ere long he '11 try some of ' you with it also ; he '11 say, " Come out, thou man ' " in Armaugh, and thou man in Benburb, and say '"your lesson off the book." The Bishop of Armaugh (where singular Mr. Usher 66 was called Bishop of) or his underling, was so enraged against the said John that he rode 60 miles to Dublin, to get an order or caption from the Lord Lieutenant there, for apprehending the said John, and George Fleeming in Benburb, which he easily obtained ; and came quickly back, and was in such haste to deliver his order that upon horse-back he called for the chief magistrate. When delivering his com- mission, his horse cast up his head, and gave him such a stroke upon the breast that he died the 4th or 5th day thereafter. George Fleeming went out 120 PEDEN'S LIFE of the way, who was father to Mrs. Fleeming, that Christian motherly woman who kept a school in the Castle-hill, and died there of late. The foresaid John was immediately put in prison ; his wife and other friends came to visit him; his wife said, ' Now, my dear, learn to say your lesson off the ' book.' He said, ' I 'm much obliged to your kind- ' ness, that minds me of that note.' The jaylor, at night, said, ' John, you 're called an honest man ; if you will promise to return to-morrow, I will let ' you go home to your bed.' John said, 'That will ' I not do.' The keeper said, ' Will you run for it ? ' He said, ' No, no, I have done no ill thing that needs ' make me either afraid or ashamed.' ' Well,' said the keeper, ' go home to your bed, and I '11 send a ' servant for you the morrow's morning.' When he went home, it was his ordinary, 67 in his family- worship, to sing these lines in the 109 Psalm : ' Few be his days ; and in his room His charge another take,' etc. When ended, he said to his wife, ' I never found ' such a gale upon my spirit in the singing of these ' lines ' ; she said it was so with her also. ' Well,' said he, ' let us commit our case and cause to the ' Lord and wait on him, and we shall know the ' meaning of this afterwards.' That unhappy man fell immediately ill, and said that all this mischief had come upon him for what he had done against John Goodale ; and caused write and sign'd a dis- charge, and sent it to the said John, that he might ADDITIONAL PASSAGES 121 not be troubled for the expence he had been at in the getting of that caption. He died under great horrour of conscience : notwithstanding he [i.e. John] was detained three years prisoner, working in his imployment in the Tolbooth the day, and went to his bed at night. The said John and his wife returned to Scotland, and died since the Revolution ; his wife, when a dying at Leith, gave this relation. 68 3. When Mr. Peden was prisoner in Edinburgh, under sentence of banishment, James Millar mer- chant in Kirkaldy was under the same sentence : his wife came to visit him ; Mr. Peden said to her, ' 'Tis no wonder you be troubled with your husband's ' going to the Plantations, but if any of us go there ' at this time the Lord never spake by me.' 4 In their voyage to London, they had the oppor- tunity to command the ship and make their escape, but would not adventure upon it without his advice; he said, ' Let alone, for the Lord would set them all ' at liberty, in a way more for his own glory and ' their safety.' 5. About this time in their voyage, on the Sab- bath the prisoners pressed him to preach, the winds blowing very hard ; in that sermon he said, ' Up ' your hearts, lads, and be not discouraged ; for this ' man thought he got a great prize, when he got the ' gift of us from the wicked bloody Council ; but, ' in a few days, he shall be as glad to be quit of us ' as ever he was to get us.' A little time ago, I had a long scroll of many accounts about Mr. Peden from an old Christian English gentleman, who was 122 PEDEN'S LIFE much in his company and gives me many notes of his sermons, and asserts the truth of many things I have said about him, that he was witness to and had from persons of great integrity ; he assures me the only instrument the Lord raised up for the relief of Mr. Peden, and these sixty prisoners with him, was my Lord Shaftsberry, who was always friendly to Presbyterians; who went to Charles the 2d, and, upon his knees, begged the relief of these prisoners, but could not prevail ; then he went to the master of the ship, and said that, if he did not set these prisoners at liberty, he should never sail in English seas ; at length he came down to Gravesend and set them at liberty. After that, the Scots and English shewed more than ordinary kindness to them ; which should be kept in remembrance in favouring of our out- casts. 69 6. After they were set at liberty, he stayed at London, and through England, until June 1679 ; upon the 21st of June he was come to the south of Scotland, being Saturday, the day before the Lord's people fell and fled before the enemy at Bothwell- Bridge; in his exercise in the family he cried out, ' I tell you, sirs, our deliverance will never come by ' the sword. Many thought, when the bishops were ' first set up, that they would not continue seven ' years ; but I was never of that mind : but it is now ' near three sevens ; they will not see the fourth ' seven, but I fear they will come near to it'; which sadly came to pass. 7. He went that night to the fields, and came in ADDITIONAL PASSAGES 123 on the Sabbath morning about the sun-rising, weep- ing and wringing his hands; one John Simson, a godly man, enquired what the matter was that made him weep ; he said, ' I have been wrestling all night ' with God, for our friends that are in arms in the ' west, but cannot prevail.' I gave an account, in the former passages, about the middle of that day 70 many people [were] waiting for sermon ; when some told him, he said, ' Let the people go to their prayers, ' for he could preach none ; our friends are fled and ' fallen before the enemy, and they are hagging and ' hashing them down, and their blood is running like ' water.' At night he was called to supper, having tasted nothing that day, several friends being pre- sent ; in seeking a blessing, he brake out in a rapture of weeping and lamentation for that sad stroke upon the bodies of the Lord's people ; but much more for the dead stroke the greater part had got upon their spirits, that few of the ministers and professors of Scotland should ever recover (which sadly held true, as I formerly mentioned in my scrapes of writings) of that blast of east-withering wind. He also insisted in prayer for the wounded who were wallowing to death in their blood, and for the many prisoners. When ended, he went off, and all others, without tasting of their supper, tho' it was upon the table. At this time, he was 40 or 50 miles distant from Bothwell-Bridge. 8. About this time, he was preaching in the south upon that text, ' But they are not grieved for the ' afflictions of Joseph' ; he had some edifying remarks 124 PEDEN'S LIFE upon the foregoing verses, especially upon the first line, ' Wo to them that are at ease in Zion.' He insisted upon the true nature of grieving, and lamented that there was so little grieving for the present great afflictions of the Church of Scotland. One wife standing amongst the people, [he,] pointing to her, said, ' Some of you will grieve and greet more ' for the drowning of a bit calf or stirk than ever ye ' did for all the tyranny and defections of Scotland.' That woman had a calf drowned a few days before, for which she made great noise ; she challenged his landlady for telling the minister that she grat for her calf : she replied, ' I could not tell him that which I ' knew not,' and as little did he. At the same time, he saw some of the people turning weary ; he said, ' Ye are not taking notice ; some of you are think- ' ing upon one thing and some upon another.' The Lady Hundelsop sitting by him, but [he] knew her not, he turn'd to her and said, ' And you are thinking ' on greeting Jock at the fire-side.' This was a son of hers called John, that she had left very weak of a decay at the fire-side upon a couch ; she told this to several afterwards, that in the very time there was a drow of anxiety overwhelmed her about him. 9. In the year 1682, he went to Ireland ; Peter Aird, who lived in the parish of Galstoun, who was taken with me and imprison 'd together, told me that he followed him some good piece of way, to detain him until he got his child baptiz'd ; he said, ' I resolve to come back very shortly, and I hope the ' Lord will preserve your child,' which accordingly ADDITIONAL PASSAGES 125 he did ; and after baptism he said to Peter, ' If the ' man of the parish ' (which was Mr. James Veitch one of the actually indulg'd) 'had baptized your ' child, you would have got your horn'd beasts kept, ' and now you will lose them ' : which came to pass a few days thereafter ; the enemies came and took away his cattle every beast ; he fled with his horses. 10. In the same year 1682, he married John Kirk- land and Janet Lindsay, who were both my very dear acquaintances, who told me that, when they were standing before him, he sighed deeply and said, ' First one husband killed, and then another, ' and must have a third ; if it must be so, let her ' say, " Good is the will of the Lord " ' : which was, and did come to pass ; her first husband, Thomas Weir in Cumberhead, was deadly wounded at Drumclog 71 by Claverhouse, the 1st day of June 1679, being the Sabbath, and died the 5th day : and, Ensign John Kirkland was killed in Flanders ; Kersland, Fullerton, and he, were all buried in one grave : and since, William Spence baillie in Coulter, who also was my intimate acquaintance, married her, both now in their graves. 11. In the year 1684 he was in Ireland, in the house of John Slowan in the parish of Conert in the county of Antrim ; about ten of the clock at night, sitting at the fire-side discoursing with some honest people, [he] started to his feet, and said, ' Flee, old ' Sandie, and hide your self, for Colonel is ' coming to this house to apprehend you ; and I ' advise you all to do the like, for they will be here 126 PEDEN'S LIFE ' within an hour,' which came to pass ; and when they had made a very narrow search within and with- out the house, and went round the thorn-bush under which he was lying praying ; they went off without their prey. He came in and said, 'And has this ' gentleman ' (designing [him] by his name) ' given ' poor Sandie such a fright, and other poor things ? ' For this night's work, God shall give him such a ' blow, within a few days, that all the physicians on ' earth shall not be able to cure ' ; which came to pass, for he died in great misery, vermine flowing from all the parts of his body, with such a noisom stink that few could enter the room. 12. About the same time, he was in the same parish and county. One David Cuninghame minister there in the meeting-house, one Sabbath-day, brake out in very bitter reflections on Mr. Peden and these who heard him. One Mr. Vernor, one of Mr. Cuning- ham's elders, was very much offended at the same ; he told Mr. Peden on Monday what Mr. Cuning- hame had said ; Mr. Peden walking in his garden, took a turn about, came back, and charged him to go and tell Mr. Cuninghame from him, that before Saturday's night he should be as free of a meeting- house as he was ; which came to pass, he was charged that same week not to enter his meeting- house under the pain of death. This account one John M'George in the parish of Orr in Galloway gives, who was there present. 13. About the same time, he was in the house of the foresaid John Slowan, who was a great friend to ADDITIONAL PASSAGES 127 our Scots sufferers, who fled there from the per- secution here, as I have heard John Muirhead and others give an account ; his son James Slowan gives me this and several other distinct accounts. The foresaid Mr. Cuninghame carried over many of the 'Reviews of the History of the Indulgence,' 72 to spread in Ireland, in defence of the Indulgence here ; when Mr. Peden heard of them, he said to some friends, ' Be not discouraged, for these books ' will do no hurt in this country, for I saw the sale ' of them spilt this last night ' ; and so it came to pass, the most of them was returned to Scotland. 14. He was preaching one Sabbath-night in the said John Slowan's house, a great number both within and without hearing him ; where he insisted, shewing the great need and usefulness of seeking and getting spiritual riches ; brought in an example, If any man of you were going to Belfast or Bellimony, they would be looking their pockets, what they had to bear their charges. One man standing without said quietly, ' Lord help me, for I have nothing to ' bear mine ' ; Mr. Peden said immediately (pointing to the door), 'Poor man, do not fear; for I have ' it out of Heaven, as with an audible voice, thy ' charges shall be born and that in a remarkable ' manner' ; which rejoiced him to think his case was made known to him. However, that man has been mercifully and remarkably supported since, and that in the way of his duty. 15. In the same place, in a Sabbath-morning's family worship, he sang the 145 Psal. the 17 verse ; 128 PEDEN'S LIFE he said, ' Sirs, I charge you to sing this Psalm in ' faith, for we '11 have a toom throne belyve ; some ' have [given] him a deadly wound, tho' poor Mon- ' mouth hath no hand in it; a fowler when he shoots ' a bird it may rise and fly, but not far for there is ' some of the shot in it' Within ten days after, the news of Charles the 2nd's death was confirmed. 16. About the same time, he said to James Slowan, ' We must go to another house this night, ' or I am mistaken if there be not a very narrow ' search this night.' They went to William Craig's, and James went with him to the house, and re- turned to his own bed ; when he awak'd the house was full of people, constables and others, making search for prisoners who had broke prison and fled, but found none. 17. Mrs. Maxwel, or Mary Elphingston, yet alive, whom I mentioned in the former passages, whose heart-thoughts Mr. Peden told when her child was baptized ; that child is now a married woman, and hath children of her own, whom I spoke with last about three months ago, come far from Kilmarnock to publick occasions about 50 miles distant. Mrs. Maxwel told me since, when last in Glasgow, that, when she told me that, she forgot to tell me also that when the child was in her father's arms Mr. Peden said, ' That child's coming here at this time ' is a testimony against the unfaithfulness of the ' ministers in Ireland ; Ireland thinks that Carolina ' in America will be a refuge for them, but as the ' Lord lives it shall be no shelter to them. And ADDITIONAL PASSAGES 129 ' these of them, designing [to go] there at this time, ' many of them shall lose their lives, and the rest ' come home in great distress.' And at that time, there were two ships setting out from Ireland to Carolina, one of them was cast away near Carolina, and [of] seven-score of people in her the one half was lost : Mr. James Brown, 73 one of the ministers of Glasgow since the Revolution, was one of the 70 who were preserved ; the other ship was driven back to Ireland, shatter'd and disabled, and the people greatly distressed. 18. One time travelling his alone in Ireland, the night came on, and a dark mist, which obliged him to go into a house belonging to a Quaker ; Mr. Peden said, ' I must beg the favour of the roof of your ' house all night.' The Quaker said, 'Thou art a ' stranger, thou art very welcome, and shalt be ' kindly entertained, but I cannot wait upon thee, ' for I am going to the meeting.' Mr. Peden said, ' I will go along.' The Quaker said, 'Thou may if ' thou please, but thou must not trouble us.' He said, 'I shall be civil.' When they came to the meeting, as their ordinary is they sat for some time silent, some with their faces to the wall, and others cover 'd ; being a void in the loft above them, there came down the appearance of a raven, and sat upon one man's head, who started up immediately and spoke with such vehemence that the froth flew from his mouth ; 7i it went to a 2d, and did likewise. Mr. Peden, sitting next to his land-lord, said, 'Do ' you not see? you will not deny yon afterwards.' l 130 PEDEN'S LIFE He said, 'Thou promised to be silent' From a 2d to a 3d man's head, who did as the former two. When they dismissed, going home, Mr. Peden said to his land-lord, ' I always thought there was ' devilry among you, 75 but I never thought that he ' did appear visibly among you, till now I have seen ' it. O, for the Lord's sake, quit this way, and flee ' to the Lord Jesus, in whom there is redemption ' through his blood, even the forgiveness of all your ' iniquities.' The poor man fell a weeping, and said, ' I perceive that God hath sent you to my house, ' and put it in your heart to come along with me, ' and permitted the devil to appear visibly amongst ' us this night, I never saw the like before ; let me ' have the help of your prayers, for I resolve, through ' the Lord's grace, to follow this way no longer.' After this, he became a singular Christian ; and, when he was a dying, blessed the Lord that in mercy sent the man of God to his house. 19. There is an old Christian woman living at the Water of Leith that, in the beginning of 1685, went to Ireland, to the forsaid parish of Conirt (being beg with child), to an aunt's house who lived there. Shortly after she was safe delivered, Mr. Peden baptized her child; after she was recovered, she went in a Sabbath's morning to the foresaid John Slowan's house, where Mr. Peden was, expecting sermon ; being snow, she and others sat down in the kitchen at the fire-side. Mr. Peden came, calling for water to his hands ; when he saw them he said, ' For what do ye come here without ye had ADDITIONAL PASSAGES 131 ' been advertised ? for I have nothing prepared for ' you.' They said, 'O sir, you must not send us ' away empty, for we are in a starving condition.' He said, ' I cannot promise ye ; but, if I can get ' any thing, ye shall not want it.' A little while thereafter, he called and said, ' Let not these people ' away, for I '11 come to them shortly ' ; which he did, and preached upon that text, ' The day being far ' spent, they constrained him to tarry all night' Where he brake out in strange raptures, expressing his great fears of the Lord's departure from these lands ; England for superstition and profanity ; ' Ireland for security and formality, great shall thy ' stroke be, that in few years ye may travel 40 miles ' in Ireland, and not get a light to your pipe ' : which came to pass 4 years thereafter in that last rebellion. ' O Scotland, many, long and great shall thy judg- ' ments be of all kinds, especially the west and south, ' for loth and contempt of the gospel, covenant- ' breaking, burning, and burying, shedding of inno- ' cent, precious, dear blood. O ! all ye that can ' pray, tell all the Lord's people to try by mourning ' and prayer, if ye can taigle him ; O see if ye can ' taigle him, taigle him, especially in Scotland ; for ' we fear he will depart from it.' When ended, he said, 'Take ye that among you, and make a good ' use of it, for I have gotten it new and fresh out of ' heaven, and had nothing of it this morning.' The foresaid John Muirhead, and the said old woman, and others, told me they were never witness to such a day for many tears, both from preacher and hearers. 132 PEDEN'S LIFE 20. After this, this old woman longed to be home to Scotland ; her husband, whose name was Paton, being in danger, and hearing of such a killing in Scotland, being 1685, one of the bloody years upon scaffolds and fields ; and indeed the din was no greater than the deed : a bark being to go off with passengers, she resolved to go along, went to take her leave of Mr. Peden, who found him in a wood, with John Muirhead and others of our Scots suf- ferers. She told him her design ; he mused a little and then said, ' Go not away till I speak with you ' : he took a turn through the wood ; when he came back he said, 'Janet, go back to your aunt's, for ' you will not see Scotland these five months, and ' there will strange things go through Scotland ere ' you go to it, and you will see a remarkable provi- ' dence in your being stopt.' The bark went off, and was cast away, and 17 dead corpses of the pas- sengers were cast out to the place where they took them in ; in which bark she resolved to have been with her child. John Muirhead gave me this account also. 21. After he came to Scotland in the beginning of March 1685, fleeing from the enemy on horse-back, and they pursuing, forced him to ride to a water, where he was in great danger of being lost; when he got out he cried, 'Lads, follow not me; for I ' assure you, ye want my boat, and so will certainly ' drown ; consider where your landing will be ; ye ' are fighting for hell, and running post to it ' : which affrighted them to enter the water. ADDITIONAL PASSAGES 133 22. At another time [he] being hard pursued, [the enemy] forced him to take a dangerous bog, and a moss before him ; one of the dragoons, more forward than the rest, run himself into that bog, and he and horse were never seen more. 23. Lying sick in a village near Cumnock, he told his landlord, who was afraid to keep [him] in his house, the soldiers being to travel through that town the next day, ' Ye need not fear to let me stay ' in your house, for some of these soldiers shall keep ' centry at this door, but shall not come in ' ; which came to pass. His landlord, being digging stones at the end of that village, told the officers that he was afraid the soldiers would plunder his cottage ; they said, 'Poor man, you deserve encouragement ' for your virtue ; be not afraid for your house, we ' shall order two soldiers to stand at your door, ' that none may enter to wrong you ' ; which they did. 24. Lying sick about the same time, his landlord was afraid to keep him in his house ; the enemy being in search for hiding people, he was obliged to make a bed for him amongst the standing corn, at which time there was a great rain raising the waters, but not one drop to be observed within ten foot of his bed while he lay in the field. 76 25. About this time, he came to Garfield in the parish of Mauchlin, to the house of Matthew Hog, a smith to his trade. He went into his barn, but thought himself not safe ; foot and horse of the enemy being searching for wanderers, as they were 134 PEDEN'S LIFE then called. He desired the favour of his loft, being an old waste house two story high ; Matthew refused him ; he said, ' Well, well, poor man, you will not ' let me have the shelter of your roof, but that house ' shall be your judgment and mine.' Sometime after, the gavel of that house fell, and killed both him and his son dead. Many neighbours were at the taking of the many stones off them, which crushed their bodies in a frightful manner, as some of them who were present told me. 26. About the same time, he came to Andrew Normand's house in the parish of Alloway in the shire of Air, being to preach at night in his barn. After he came in, he halted a little, leaning upon a chair-back, with his face cover'd ; when he lifted his head he said, 'They are in this house that I have ' not one word of salvation unto ' ; he halted a little again, saying, 'This is strange, that the devil will ' not go out, that we may begin our work.' Then there was a woman went out, ill look'd upon almost all her life and to her dying hour for a witch, with many presumptions of the same. It escaped me in the former passages, what John Muirhead, whom I have often mentioned, told me, that when he came from Ireland to Galloway, he was at family- worship, and giving some notes upon the Scripture read, there was a very ill-looking man came in, and sat down within the door, at the back of the halend ; immediately he halted, and said, 'There is some ' unhappy body just now come in to this head, I 4 charge him to go out, and not stop my mouth ' ; ADDITIONAL PASSAGES 135 the body went off, and he insisted, and saw him neither come in nor go out. 27. In that bloody year 1685, he came to a house in the shire of Air; Captain John Mathison and other twelve of our wanderers being in the house, he said, 'Lads, ye must go to the fields and seek ' your beds, for the enemy will be here this night, ' and I '11 go to my cave.' They said, ' Some of us ' will stay with you, for you will weary your alone.' ' No,' said he, ' I will not weary ; for, as a sign to ' you that the enemy will be here this night, a godly ' eminent Christian man, whom I have often heard ' of but never saw, will come and ly with me this ' night ' : all which came to pass ; for the men fled, and himself entred the cave and fell asleep ; and a little thereafter the said man coming to the family, and asking for Mr. Peden, desired access to the cave and to ly with him ; who, when lien down in bed, found Mr. Peden slumbering, but within a little he awoke, and naming the man ask'd how he did. The soldiers came that night, but missed their prey. The next morning when these said men returned, he said, 'Lads, it was well I came to this house ' yesternight, otherwise ye had been among their ' bloody hands this day/ 28. In the said 1685, he came to Welwood to Captain John Campbell's, 77 he having escaped out of the Canongate Tolbooth, in the month of August 1684 ; and he, in danger every day, resolved to go to America, took farewel of friends, and went a ship-board. Mr. Peden said to his mother, ' Mistris, 136 PEDEN'S LIFE ' what 's become of Johni ? ' She said, ' He 's gone 'to America.' He said, 'No, no, he's not gone; ' send for him, for he '11 never see America.' Accord- ingly it was so ; a storm rose, where he was in danger, but was preserved and came off, and is yet alive. 29. Since the publishing of the former passages of Mr. Pedens Life and Death, with the preface, I received two letters from Sir Alexander Gordon of Earlstoun, 78 in the years 1725 and 1726, since gone to his grave : shewing, that he was not only fully satisfied, but much refreshed, both with preface and passages ; requesting me not to delay the publishing of all that I propose in that preface ; and that he longs to see them, ere he go off the stage : knowing that my day is far spent, being long since I was his fellow-prisoner, and taught him from my own experience how to manage the great weight of irons that was upon his legs ; and wishing that all the Lord's people, who have any zeal for the sworn-to and sealed testimony, and savoury remembrance of the names of Christ's slain witnesses for the same, and of the Lord's signal manifestations of his faith- fulness and all-sufficiency to them in their life and death, would give me all incouragement in such a piece of good great generation- work, that may be useful and edifying when he and I are both mouldered to the dust : for himself he willingly would, and sometime of day could ; but now being 74 years of age, and seven years imprisonment, and often times in irons, and many other troubles ADDITIONAL PASSAGES 137 through his life, his memory and judgment were much broke, he could make me little help ; only he remember'd, he was once sent from the societies in Galloway to Carrick, to call Mr. Peden to preach ; 79 when he told him for what end he was come, Mr. Peden went for sometime his alone ; when he came back he said, ' I 'm sorry, Earlstoun, you are come ' so far in vain, for I cannot answer your desire ; I ' can get nothing to say to your people : nothing ' will convince this generation but judgments, and ' a surprising lump of them upon the West of Scot- ' land.' Earlstoun said, 'Sir, you was once legally ' ordained and authorised to preach the gospel, and ' the Lord's people's call is sufficient': he looked upon that [reason of Peden's] as atentation of enthusiasm : Mr. Peden said he sometimes feared that ; but since he was driven from his people in Glenluce, his Master, in mercy and goodness, gave him more encouragement; and gave one instance, that one time he was called, and resolved, and prepared as he thought, to go ; when his horse was drawn, he went in to the barn once more, where he was stript bare of all his thoughts, and a darkning damping cloud overwhelmed him, that stopt him ; and he afterwards saw a remarkable providence in it, and need-be for it. And further, he said the last time that he saw Mr. Peden was with Mr. Donald Cargil, where they continued a long time comparing notes ; seeing with one eye, and thinking with one mind, and speaking with one breath, of all things, past, present, and what was to befal this church and nation. 138 PEDEN'S LIFE 30. In his last sermon, which, I said before, was in the Colum-wood ; where he said that, a few years after his death, there would be a wonderful altera- tion of affairs in Britain and Ireland, and the perse- cution in Scotland should cease, upon which every body should believe the deliverance was come, and consequently would fall fatally secure : ' But I tell ' you,' said he, ' you will be all very far mistaken ; ' for both England and Scotland will be scourg'd by ' foreigners, and a sett of unhappy men in these lands ' taking part with them, before any of you can pre- ' tend to be happy, or get a through deliverance ; ' which will be a more severe chastisement than ' any other they have yet met with, or can come ' under if once that were over.' so POSTSCRIPT CONTAINING Answers to a few of the many Reflections upon the foregoing Preface and Passages of Mr. Pedens Life and Death, and his Notes upon the Cove- nant of Redemption ; as, 1. I am reflected upon, and that several times to my face, by all divided parties, especially Dissenters, and particularly by these of them commonly called M'Millanites, but quite wrong designed, who should POSTSCRIPT 139 be called Hamiltonians after Robert Hamilton, 1 who was the only man (as I shall afterwards instruct) that led them in these untroden, dangerous paths of positive disowning of the State, and separation from the Church, and [from] all others that dare not nor will not go their lengths in principles and practices, proclaiming the same to the world ; but it is streight before me, and I firmly resolve, if the Lord will, to give a more distinct account of the rise, steps, and unheard-of heights of all the right-hand extreams that have been in Scotland these 49 years, past and present ; and set them up as beacons to the following ages, to beware of splitting upon such dangerous rocks. That which they chiefly reflect upon is, in page 3d, for my saying, that without vanity, I have a more perfect understanding of the former period of persecution (I should have added remembrance) than any I know now alive. Answ. If they and others were not blinded with prejudice at me, and a vain fool conceit of them- selves and their actings, they, and all may see, that I frequently spake of 44 years then, now 48 ; and of these whom I know yet upon the stage, not but that there may be some yet alive, whom I know not, and others of a longer standing and remem- brance much older ; and these, whose names they mention, I have conversed with them, and find them quite rusted, the edge of their zeal being as blunt as culters, and utterly averse from giving any account of what they were witness unto, being now idle tales to them. But it is plain that these 140 PEDEN'S LIFE form'd, divided parties of Dissenters are so puft up with a frothy conceit of themselves and their actings, that they speak and write with, as if religion, zeal and faithfulness, wit and sense, would live and die with them ; and none to know any thing of the times, nor what Israel ought to do, disdaining, disesteeming, disregarding, rash and harsh con- structing of all who differ from, or oppose, them or their way of managing of a testimony ; the very reverse of a gospel spirit. And I am sadly con- firmed, by the many, long, melancholly debates these 48 years, of the truth of this spiritual pride rampant amongst them. And for as much as I am charged with defection and apostacy, by tongue and pen published to the world ; 2 yet, this day, I ingenuously declare, after a serious backlook of all these 48 years, I know nothing in these national concerns that ever I espoused either in principle or practice, but what, if I were back in that period under the same dispensations and circumstances, I would be more confident of and forward in than ever : and all that I have seen and heard, ever since the Revolution, have been confirming to me of the well-founded covenanted plea against tyranny and defections, left and right-hand. But these sepa- ratists, and disowners of all judicatories, civil and ecclesiastick, their tongues and their pens are their own, and who is Lord over them ? being smitten with a mixed conscience, partly tender, partly erring and scrupulous ; and three mistakes that I have found common amongst them, POSTSCRIPT 141 1st, With the 5th monarchy-men or millenaries, mistaking the case of the militant Church, expecting a more pure, refined Church, than they have ground from the Scriptures, and writings of our most sound and solid divines. 2dly, Their mistaking the case of the Church of Scotland, because of there being a handful and suc- cession of faithful witnesses through all the periods thereof (with all due respect to the Lord's worthies in former ages and churches) that, since the Apostles were taken off the stage, none exceeded them. But, as the Scots saying is, ' They take their marks by ' the moon ' ; not knowing or not considering the sad falling-away that was betwixt the 1596 and the 1638 and 1642 years, as I have before made plain, amongst the most part, both ministers and people ; and from the 1650th year to this very day. 3dly, Their mistaking, and not having the experi- ence of the difficulties of wielding both swords, civil and ecclesiastick, at all times, but more especially in this critical censorious age ; for whatever sad lamentable restraint there is upon the spirit of con- viction and conversion, and of a reforming covenant- ing spirit ; the serious exercise and solid practice of Christianity almost gone out of request amongst the greater part of all ranks, iniquity abounding, and love waxing very cold ; yet there is an increase of world's wit and activity [so] that none can make a wrong step but some will make an handle of it against them. And many things would have been taken in good part off the hands of our fathers that 142 PEDEN'S LIFE will not pass now; and if these form'd, divided parties of Dissenters had the sword of discipline and government in their hands, it would be odd hagging and hashing they would make, and seldom hit upon the right lith or joint. Further, I earnestly request of all the Lord's people, who have any well- balanced zeal according to knowledge for the sworn to and sealed testimony, and savoury remembrance of the names of Christ's slain witnesses in this land for the same; that they would carefully advert that tho' these Dissenters — of Harlites, Howdenites, M'Millianites, 3 and these who gave him and that the wind of their heels, for their representing grievances and seeking redress from King George I. after he was proclaim'd king, but not crown'd (for until then they did not reckon him King of Britain) — be all form'd and divided parties one from another ; and every party pretending to be the only Antis i in the kingdom, against all evil things, and for all good; maintaining and transmitting the testimony, as it was handed down to the Revolution : yet they all agree in these two Anti-Presbyterian principles in such a period, [1.] In a positive proclaiming their dis- owning of the State, and separation from the Church and [from] all ministers and members that dare not go up with them in every jot in their overstretch'd consequences. 2. They all agree against paying of all Crown-dues, even under this peaceable Government under which we enjoy religion, life, and liberty. Which never any of our ministers, martyrs, did preach or witness against : I appeal to all their POSTSCRIPT 143 testimonies, even under that period of reigning tyrants and raging tyranny, when we were deprived of all that was near and dear to us as men and Christians ; they did indeed preach, and martyrs did indeed leave their testimonies, against paying of that additional cess, enacted and uplifted and the end of it proclaimed for upholding reigning tyrants, encreasing, strengthning and lengthning of tyranny. The Gibbites in 1681, and Russelites 6 in 1682, and for some years, did maintain the same unhappy principles and practices; and stated their testi- monies against paying of excise and customs, and other fool things, not only for themselves, but sepa- ration from all that durst not go their lengths, even when imprisoned together going as far from us as the walls of the prison would allow them, and stopping their ears when we went about publick worship three times a day, which was our ordinary in each room ; which, if the Lord spare, I shall give a full account of. It is a piece of dimented infatua- tion to make little or no difference betwixt that period and this, and to follow the same methods that the Lord's people were obliged to take against tyranny and defections. Let all who desire to be truly informed of the beginning, rise, height and length of the tyranny of that 28 years' persecution, read the Sufferings and Grievances of Presbyterians, especially those of them nick-named Cameronians, 6 written by famous Mr. Shields. He sometimes said, since the Revolution, that he was as clear and free to write and preach in the defence of the lawfulness of 144 PEDEN'S LIFE paying the cess to this government, as ever he was to write or preach against the unlawfulness of pay- ing of it under the former reigns. Notwithstanding I can instruct place and persons, where Mr. M'Millan refused baptism to an honest man's child, asking no other question, but, 'If he paid the cess.' He said, 'It was not required of him.' Mr. M'Millan said, ' If it were, would you pay it ? ' He answered, ' He ' would, for he did not look upon the paying of it ' now, as in the time of persecution.' He said, ' He would administer Church-privileges to none ' who were of that judgment.' Disowning, disown- ing of the State ; separation, separation, separation is their testimony, even amongst themselves, from one another, and from all who dare not go their unheard-of lengths, both ministers and professors, who are as free of the defections of the day as any of them can pretend to. I wish from my very heart that all of them would bethink themselves, and consider the sins, snares, and dangers of these dis- owning, dividing courses, and what may be their sad effects and consequences to themselves and others, especially in such a perillous time, when the wind of error is blowing so hard upon the foundations of the doctrine of the gospel, by unhappy Simson and the many legal formalists, among ministers and professors ; and that they and all would read our Bibles, confessions of faith, catechisms, and Sum of Saving Knowledge ; 7 and that excellent catechism by Mr. Hamilton, sometime minister in Airth, 8 now when so many, through the land, have cast off POSTSCRIPT 145 all ministers, quitting one of the special means of salvation, and many getting but a sermon or two in the whole year ; and thereby learn to be sound Protestants in principles, who make so much noise of being strict Presbyterians in judgment ; and not place so much, if not all, of their religion in these thorny points ; and seriously peruse that sententious published letter, writ and sent by blessed Cargill to the Gibbites in the correction-house, 9 the greater part of them gracious souls, and [which] had good effects upon them ; and that they would lay aside prejudice, and consider that compendious treatise written by worthy Mr. Shields upon Church Communion, and against Separation from the Church of Scotland ; 10 which they say, in a slanderous, fool, lying postscript n to their pamphlets, that Mr. Linning, who was the publisher, hath fathered it upon him ; but it is plain to all (that it fathers itself) who have read his writings, and heard him preach, reason and debate, assoon as we entred into this period under other dispensations and circumstances ; and as he was the only and alone minister that concurred and assisted the never to be forgotten Mr. James Renwick in the writing the Informatory Vindication,™ and Testimony against the Toleration™ so he was the only fit man to sense and explain them ; and his published Methods and Motives u that induced him and others to unite with the Church at that time, considering his answers to their objections ; and there are some yet alive, worthy of all credit, who were witnesses to his publick conference with them on these heads, who K 146 PEDEN'S LIFE can testify that he spake with the same breath that now is published. And when Robert Hamilton came from abroad among them, they got a brow of brass, calling him [i.e. Shields] a liar, and upbraided him to his face, saying, altho' he used these arguments to draw them out of the way of the Lord, yet you dare not publish them. I well remember he said, ' Dare I ' not ? dare I not ? I promise before you all, I both ' dare and will, and avow it before the world.' But alas ! they still gave us a deaf ear, and now will not be spoken to nor pled with ; however it stands for our mite of testimony. That, as blest Cargill said, that performance of duty was one thing and success was another; but he would rather be wanting in the success, than he were wanting in the performance, although both be desirable. But, if the Lord spare, I resolve to give the world a more surprising account of the rude treatment and unheard-of ingratitude Mr. Shields, Linning, and others received at that time, and since, at their hands. They say, in the end of that lying postscript, 15 that it ill became Mr Linning to oppose them ; for it was to their purses he was beholden for what advances he attained to when abroad. I know none now alive who was more concerned, both in contributions and distribu- tions, than I was in these years ; and yet, I ingenu- ously declare, I never heard Mr. Linning's name mentioned amongst us as a person in these circum- stances ; and I know assuredly that he was supplied in and by the honourable Laird of Kersland's family. And, altho' it had been as they say, it was but the POSTSCRIPT 147 least part of it that belonged to them; all know that it was the fewest number of the United Societies, that was led off with Robert Hamilton to the dis- owning of King William as King of Britain and his Government ; the greater part reckoned it their duty to take a legal unite way of witnessing, by humble pleadings, representations, and protestations, pleading for and with their mother to put away her whoredoms. But that which hath induced them to publish that lying postscript was to evite the dint of Mr. Shields's unanswerable answers to their objec- tions against communion with this Church, now when they know he is not to answer for himself; if he had been spared to this day, 16 he would have owned and avowed all that is in it, for I was witness to his writing of it in Corsick, in the parish of Car- michael, shortly after that promise in a publick meeting in the kirk of Douglas ; and I well remember the best chamber he then had when he wrote it was an old kiln, and a pickle of his horse's hay for his chair, and his feet below his horse's belly. I have sometimes wondered that these people were not ashamed to speak of this, which I heard them in a publick meeting at Douglass, at which Mr. Shields and others were very much ashamed ; but far more to publish to the world, when we are so expresly prohibite, out of our blessed Lord's own mouth, not to let our left-hand know what our right-hand doth in these things. This is a sounding of the trumpet indeed, and I have thought strange that Mr. John M'Neillie, 17 one of their preachers and specially con- 148 PEDEN'S LIFE cern'd in their publick prints, suffered this to be insert, when he himself was so much supported that way. I well remember that, at our publick distribu- tions, singular James Wilson frequently said, ' Let ' us not forget Willie M'Neillie's son, there is some ' thing in him, I know not whether he will do good ' or ill with it ' ; which remains a question to this day, all things considered. If Mr. M'Neillie were only their preacher, and not principally concern'd in their publick managements, it should have been far from me to have mentioned this ; however, this and many other things about them and amongst them are holding evidences, and sad swatches, of what manner of anti-gospel spirits these form'd divided parties are of, that do not blush to slander with tongue and pen those who differ from them ; and the more pious, tender and zealous they are, they more set and bent that way, to reproach, exclaim, and defame the names of all such, as I shall afterwards instruct. But oh ! and alas ! how lamentable is it, and to be lamented with bitter weeping ! If we saw with clear eyes, it would affect and break our hearts to look back upon our many and long 78 years left-hand defections, and 49 years right-hand extreams, and look about us at the time, the nation wasting, and Church sinking, and that spirit of delusion, division and confusion poured out amongst the foresaid formed divided parties, and their managements, which have a direct tendency to blot and bluther that active testimony, maintained and sealed against tyranny and defection in the former period, and to make the POSTSCRIPT 149 present and following ages to conclude that all our earnest contenders were men of like spirits. And now, these four years past, two new lights risen up, to darken all the burning shining lights that have been through the periods thereof, and to augment the fierce anger of the Lord against sinful Scotland, viz. Professor Simson in Glasgow, and Mr. Glass in Tealing, 18 both with Edom's children crying, ' raze, ' raze the very foundation.' Mr. Simson, a hotch- potch or bagful of Arrian, Arminian, Socinian, Pelagian, old condemn'd damnable errors, infecting the youth, giving ground to fear it will spread further and leaven moe, and such tares long or never rooted out of this land ; notwithstanding, the greater part of ministers pleading in his favours against deposition and excommunication ; altho' the Lord in mercy, as a token for good, hath given a spirit and open mouth to a few, earnestly to contend against him and them, and plead for both [deposition and excommunica- tion]. His sham dry-eyed repentance to prevent both, which his favourites made a handle of, especially Principal Chalmers in Aberdeen compared him to Peter, altho' he fell he got his commission renewed. Whereas there was no comparison, Peter's fall being a violent surprise of tentation, suddenly committed and quickly repented of, and that with bitter weeping : whereas Simson came not the length of Judas, saying, ' I have sinned ' ; but hath been obstinate, jangling and wrangling these 14 years, since worthy Mr. James Webster first accused and opposed him, when he [i.e. Webster] had few to stand by him ; and since that 150 PEDEN'S LIFE time waxing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived ; and, as if he were a simpleton, and could not speak for himself, nor hell to assist him, he is allowed to bring in his law-advocates, and others sitting there as elders, with their long harangues in his defence, wasting the Assembly's time, and pratting like parots in a cage upon the highest and deepest points of divinity, as that of Christ's necessary existence and self-independence ; which cannot but be very grievous to any tender gracious soul. The judicatories of this Church took other methods and measures with the godly, zealous painful ministers of Christ, Mr. Hepburn and Mr. Gilchrist, touched in the foregoing preface ; and the astonishing height of excomunication of Mr. Gil- christ and Taylor, which was the deed of the whole Church. The Representee and Protesters, Mr. Hog, Mr. Kid, and Mr. Bathgate and others, at different times and judicatories, got the greater part to speak and vote against them, and few to speak in their favours. And Mr. Gabriel Wilson, after long toss- ing for his synodical sermon, ' The Trust,' 19 which would require some threaves of his and its accusers to deliver such a sermon : he was discharged from speaking in defence of his doctrine in open Assembly, and himself called insolent, and the few words he spake, insolence, as I have before related. 20 What ground of rejoicing may all these things be to the Philistines, and hardning to the hardned age ! 2dly, Mr. Glass striking at the foundation of our Covenanted Reformation, overturning the constitu- POSTSCRIPT 151 tion, government and discipline of this Church, and setting up an Independent Church within this Church, which was never heard of before in Scotland (which is a direct breach of his ordination-engagements, altho' he hath been a member all his days, and fixed minister for some years ; and now denying the law- fulness of national covenanting under the New Testament dispensation, and [saying] all our martyrs who had the owning of our National Covenants, with the many other articles of their indictments, died so far unenlightned), by denying church-privileges to all who cannot give a credible account of their faith, which is a very unsafe and unsure rule to walk by. Many, by a clatter of common gift, can talk about faith that know not what it is in good earnest : others, who know by experience what it is, cannot express themselves, especially in publick. It was a saying of one of our blessed primative martyrs to their enemies, that tho' they could not debate for Christ yet they could burn for Him. The Presbyterian rules are much more sure and safe, if they were practised ; that is, a competency of knowledge, a professed belief of all heaven's revelations, subjection to all gospel- ordinances, and nothing in practice contradictory unto and incon- sistent with the same. I have often thought that the Independents run upon the extream of strict- ness, and the greater part of Presbyterians upon the opposite of laxness, and never more than at this day; which possibly hath been stumbling to Mr. Glass, as it is indeed very offensive to all tender 152 PEDEN'S LIFE gracious souls. It was the gross corruptions of the Church of England and gross errors among other sectaries, the laxness and loosness in principle and practice* and promiscuous admissions of Presby- terians in England and other places, that stumbled many great gracious souls amongst the Independents, that made them fall into that way of independency; who, when some of them were in Scotland with Cromwel, when they saw the form and order of the Church of Scotland, particularly great Doctor Owen said to Mr. Donald Cargil that, if he was to reside in Scotland, he would entirely fall in with this Church, and think it his honour to sit a member in one of her assemblies. Nevertheless, tho' they be the most refin'd of all sectaries, yet the very first that we engage against, in our Engagements to Duties. 21 There are several other things in Mr. Glass's published papers distinctly answered by pens which I cannot pretend to: but Mr. Arch- bald, minister in Guthry, 22 in the shire of Angus, is yet more unexcusable, who hath expressed more than ordinar strictness in Presbyterian principles, and his zeal for our National Covenant engage- ments ; which overjoy 'd the Hamiltonians, in hopes that he would break off from the Church and take part with them : and had so much sympathy with Mr. M'Millan that he travelled 50 miles by sea and land to Edinburgh, to marry him upon this present wife; 23 and, who hath been esteemed a serious Christian and painful minister by many, and did undergo the trials of his parts and principles at his POSTSCRIPT 153 ordination ; and in July last prayed and preached in the forenoon of the fast-day before the sacrament, at Tealing, upon that text, ' Except thy presence go ' with us, carry us not up hence ' ; yet, in the after- noon, stood up with some professors, and gave an account of his faith, before the members of that new constitute Church ; Mr. Glass, having a list of their names about 50 or 60, enquiring at every one of them, man and woman, if they were all satisfied to receive them into their communion, which they all gave their consent to. When he and these professors were taken by the hand, Mr. Glass repeating these words, 'And ' they were daily added to the Church such as should ' be saved ' ; which sounds harsh enough, as if salva- tion were only to be found in that new erected Church. Mr. Glass did also enquire at him, if he had any thing to object against them, why he could not continue in communion and breaking of bread with them. Which he said he would do monthly. Mr. Glass did also enquire at every one of his scrol'd members, if they were all satisfy'd to give tokens to such and such persons in other congregations. There is much noise of the great piety and parts of Mr. Simson and Mr. Glass, and the great good they have done in their respective charges ; so was Arrius, Arminius, Socinius, and Pelagius, and many others, who first invented and spread errors, whether more gross or refin'd. For as much as the devil hath and will undergo to eternity, for his pride and subtilty, yet he retains more of that than to lay his leg over a bauchle that will not answer his design. 154 PEDEN'S LIFE A 2d reflection is,upon page 10th [p. 1 1], for mysay- ing, that Scots blood has gone out of our veins,honesty out of our hearts, zeal off our spirits, and the English abominations drunk in as sweet wine with pleasure. Answ. This is a lamentably sad truth, which will be denyed by none who either hears, sees, under- stands, or thinks upon these few amongst many instances that might be given, 1st, Their building and erecting meeting-houses for their High-Church liturgy (or rather lethargy), with their service-books, of reading preachings and prayers, and bag-pipes of organs, and singing boys ; 24 an easy wanton gate, if it were the way to heaven ; but very unsavoury food to an enlightned believing soul, that sees its lostness and need of Christ, which will not only starve but poison them. King James the 6th called it an ill-mumbled mass ; 2B and [now] few tongues or pens to move against it. It was far otherwise in Scotland, at the dawning of our blessed Reformation from strumpet Prelacy at the 1638, after 42 years' defection, when they brought in their service- books to the kirks of Edinburgh, Torphichen, and other places, where women threw their kirk-stools at their faces, and made them begone in haste ; 26 and some few faithful ministers made their pulpits to ring against them. 2dly, 'Tis said by some intelligent publick persons that adultery exceeds fornication in Scotland ; that they find more married people in bawdy-houses, than lads and lasses. This vile abomination is known to abound in England. POSTSCRIPT 155 3dly, Bigamy and poligamy is known, of men having two, yea, some four wives ; this is much to be imputed to a sett of scum-curates, and base off-casten Presbyterians, who, above all men that the sun shines upon, are the most contemptible ; who must have their pint and their gill, damn and confound like other debauchees, which I can instruct ; and will marry a man upon his mother or sister, for a shilling of money and a pint of twopenny. 27 I can instruct place and persons who made this agreement, and the man had a wife and children of his own ; by these means, no parent is sure of their children when they go out, but they may be married ere night and the marriage confirmed, as they speak, upon a few hours' acquaintance ; yea, by many 'tis thought a stain to be orderly proclaimed and married. As few or none of these seek God's blessing to their marriage, as few gets it ; but the old saying holds with the most part of these, ' Hasty marriages are ' sudden vengeances ' ; and these of them that have been in uncleanness will get their marriage-lines anti- dated for sixpence, to evite censure and shame. 4thly, Their dreadful unheard-of ways of swearing, the devil's free volunteers crying to 'Damn their ' souls for Christ's sake,' and others ' for his glory's ' sake,' which are to be heard in our streets ; others wagering their bottles of wine, who to outstrip in greatest oaths ; others, when their comerades are going for England, request them, as their best service and news, that if there be any new-coined oaths, to write and send them down for the old ones in 156 PEDEN'S LIFE Scotland are become stale. Many have changed the holy and blessed name of God to ' Gad,' one of his sinful mortal creatures ; yea, some called Presby- terian ministers, who affect the English cant, follow their hellish example even in their pulpits, which I have heard ; which struck me with consternation and filled me with indignation to hear the holy name of God so irreverently mentioned, or rather blasphemed; and many tender souls, complaining of it to me, declared that it made their hearts to quake. The reverend sententious old Mr. James Kirkton said, in his pulpit in Edinburgh, that swear- ing was not a saint's sin, for it was not possible that a saint of God could be guilty of it habitually. I remember near forty years ago, I was with an old tender singular Christian, who came under great trouble of spirit which put her in a distemper, which was surprising and affecting to her old intimate Christian acquaintances, her distemper being some- what high ; James Wilson and I were holding her hands, she had the word * devil ' in her mouth but got it not fully pronounced ; her heart so smote her, which made her throw her hands out of ours, clapped and wrung them and cried out, 'Now I know ' assuredly that I am cast off and forsaken of God, ' that my enemy triumphs thus over me, the least of ' oaths was never in my mind or mouth before ' ; for which she wept bitterly until she fell asleep. She came to her right mind about two years before her death, she minded it and was ashamed of it. How much more reason have our debauchees [to be POSTSCRIPT 157 ashamed] who are running as in a race, in this and other courses of wickedness, who to be foremost to hell ; and many professors, who frequently have 'devil, ' faith, fiend, shame,' and such like in their mouths ; but custom in sinning sears and slays the conscience. 28 5thly, Open prophanation of the Lord's day is so common in England, that it is hard among the greater part to know the Sabbath from the week day, and more and more abounding in Scotland ; the throng streets, particularly fields, milk-houses, ale-houses in and about sinful Edinburgh, is a sad evidence of this ; many going to the fields before sermons, and after sermons multitudes go to their walks ; and through the kingdom people coming and going to and from kirks, and between sermons, not one word amongst the greater part of the Sabbath, or where they are going, or where they have been, and what they have been hearing ; as some tender Christians have said to me, that they have been very straitned how to be free of all company coming and going; and their hearing so much carnal discourse, and wisned, warsh, coldrife formal sermons, have made them many times stay at home and spend the day their alone : an holding evidence, amongst many others, of a great restraint upon the spirit of grace. It was far otherwise in our sun-blink days of the gospel, as some of our old, exercised, tender, self- deny 'd Christians have said to me, that they were straitned of a convenient place coming and going, so many lying in corn-furrows and under bushes. The 500 converts at the Kirk of Shots sacrament, 158 PEDEN'S LIFE the 1630 year, 20 day of June, 29 while these Christians were upon the stage, they would have had little time when they met but they would have had some notes of that sermon. It is one of the holdingest signs or marks, to try our selves and others, to know how it is with us and them, according as we remember and keep or forget and break the Sabbath. I know from sad experience the heart will not be kept ; but, I am as sure, we may keep our tongues, tho' we should stop them with our hand, and not sin our own souls and the souls of others. Open pro- faning the Sabbath is such a sin, that sometimes hath been punished by letting them fall into crimes that have brought them to a dismal end, as I have heard many of our malefactors confess. One instance, amongst many that might be given, I cannot pass here, of the Lord's very remarkably punishing the open breach of the Sabbath ; which I had from Mrs. Hamilton that singular Christian in Donochadee in Ireland, when I was there, since gone to her rest. When her father, Mr. Andrew Stewart, was minister in that place, he discharged all boats or barks to loose on the Sabbath ; one Sabbath-morning six brisk gentlemen, with fine horses and servants, they threatned the seamen to take them in and go off; they acquainted their minister. He came to the shore in his night-gown 30 and spoke to them ; one of them put his hand to his sword and threatned him, giving him ill names ; he walked a little upon the shore and then said, ' Go ye off, but if God do not remark- ' ably punish you for contempt of his day, and POSTSCRIPT 159 ' threatning me, he never spake by me.' He advised the seamen quietly to take ten days' provision with them, for they would need it, and not let the gentlemen know of it, otherways they would take it from them when they came to a strait. Being a fair gale, and 4 or 5 hours' sailing to Portpatrick, they took no provision, neither for themselves nor horses. They went off, and were not out of sight when the wind turned, and rose to a very great height, and drove them up to the north-seas of Scotland, where they were in great danger and distress more than eight days ; their horses died for hunger, and some of themselves ; and the rest liv'd not long thereafter. Let our many takers and travellers of journies, foot and horse, upon the Lord's day (never so much practised in Scotland, as at this day, tho' common in England) take a look of this frightful beacon. 31 6thly, A sixth instance, that scandalous omission of the worship of God in families, which is too universally found in England, and abounding more amongst us in Scotland, especially in Edinburgh, the most part singing only a verse of a Psalm and reading a chapter; on the Sabbath evening some pray, and many not, and no more till the next Sabbath evening : and, through the kingdom, some only at night, when they and their families are indisposed being too late, sparing only that bit of time which cost them nothing. And in the morning, ere they get their eyes cleared, the devil crying in at the window, ' Up, up, there is so much to do ' ; 160 PEDEN'S LIFE and to work and meat they go like beasts, without sparing half an hour of their time with their families, to sing forth the Lord's praise for their safety and rest through the night, or prayer to the Lord to be kept in his fear through the day. In Scripture they are reckon'd among the heathen, and the prophets have prayed for the outpouring of the Lord's fury upon both ; and not only the wicked, but all that forget to seek the Lord, will be turn'd into hell. It was one of the sententious publick sayings of blessed Cargil, that avowed enemies of God, and strangers to a God in Christ, were like rivers that run contrair, to the east and to the west, but all ran in to the ocean of God's wrath at last. The world shall never perswade me that any gracious soul, that ever bowed a knee in good earnest in secret, will dare habitually to neglect the worship of God in their families who have them ; and yet how many church- officers 32 and members are guilty of this, and admitted to all church-privileges without censure for it ! But, for the most part, there is nothing now censured by church-judicatories but adultery and fornication. It hath been otherwise, sometime a day in Scotland, that nothing was to pass without censure, less or more, that might be a stain or blot or ill example to a Christian congregation. 7thly, Some years ago we had a profane, obscene meeting called ' The Horn-order ' : 3S and now we have got a new assembly and publick meeting called ' Love for Love,' but more truly, ' Lust for ' Lust'; all nurseries of profanity and vanity and POSTSCRIPT 161 excitements to base lusts ; so that it is a shame to speak of these things that are said and done amongst them. Some years ago also our women deformed their heads with cockups ; and now they deform their bodies with hoops or fardingales, nine yards about, some of them in three stories, very unbecoming women professing godliness, more fit for harlots : if they had now distinguishing attires, and places where they resorted, as it seems they had of old, they would be easeful to men overrun and overdriven with the fury of unbridled lusts, as Judah was when he went to shear his sheep. If we would allow our selves to think or consider, we need not be so vain or look so high, being born heirs of wrath, and our bodies to go to a consuming stinking grave, and after that the resurrection and great day of judg- ment ; and considering the end of our clothing, and how we came by them, to cover our nakedness, and for warmness to our bodies, made frail by reason of sin ; and that the sheep's old clothes are our new. I remember about thirty years ago, when cockups were in fashion, some of them half-yard high, set with wires ; a solid serious Christian gentlewoman told me she was going to a friend's wedding, her comrades constrained her to put her self in that dress ; she was uneasy in her mind and thought she was not her self through the day. When she came home, before she changed her self, 34 she went to her closet to bethink her self how she had spent that loose time, as weddings and fairs are to the most part, and few that keep a bridle-hand to their spirits 162 PEDEN'S LIFE at such times ; after some thoughts, she went to prayer, her conscience challenged her so sharply that she rose hastily, plucked it off, and threw it from her saying, ' Thou nor no such thing shall ' ever come on my head or body, that I dare not ' pray with.' O that all gracious praying souls, who have a mind for heaven, would take good heed what their Bible says, and notice this and such like instances, and lothe, hate and abhore the sinful, vain, fool fashions of their day, that the perishing world are ambitious of, who have neither heaven nor hell in their eye or mind, that all must go to without exception ; many to hell, and few to heaven ; and remember that heart and life holiness is the way to the last, tho' not the meritorious cause of it : and all that have ground to expect the end must endeavour, by all commanded and appointed means, to take and keep the way to it. And in our speech, our Scripture and old Scots names are gone out of request ; instead of ' father ' and ' mother,' ' mamma ' and 'papa,' training children to speak nonsense and what they do not understand. These few instances, amongst many that might be given, are additional causes of God's wrath, and the effects and evidences of his displeasure appearing more and more against us, since the incorporating Union, mingling our selves with the people of these abominations, making our selves liable to their judgment, of which we are deeply sharing ; particularly, in that sad stroke and great distress upon many families and persons, of the burning ague, fevers never heard of before in POSTSCRIPT 163 Scotland to be universal and mortal ; that, as blessed Cargill said, we needed not doubt of judg- ments of many kinds, great and long, coming upon this land ; for, while we remained a national and backsliding people, He remained a holy and just God, to punish us nationally for our backslidings. A third reflection, page 13th [p. 15], where I say, ' Tho' I have had the happiness to be a hearer of the ' gospel from my infancy, in fields and houses, yet of ' late I have heard some liths and nicks of the gospel ' made plain, and the way of salvation more perfectly ' taught than ever ' ; which, they say, is a great reflec- tion upon our worthy ministers, who preached the gospel in these days and suffered for the same. Answ. This is no ground of reflection, if all would consider that it has been the devil's design through all the periods of the Church, when he could not get her burnt with the fire of persecution then to drown her with floods of errors ; witness the half-hour's silence in Constantine the Great's time, who was the first Christian emperor and converted in a miraculous way, out of his great zeal and love to ministers [he] gave them great benefices which they abused, to the great increase of pride and ambition amongst them ; which brought Prelacy, and Prelacy Popery; the Arrian and other errors broke out, darkness and deadness seized upon the most part of their ministers (as, alas ! it is the complaint of many thousand gracious souls through Scotland, of the greater part of our own ministers), some of the old Christians of that time, who had seen the end of these ten terrible 164 PEDEN'S LIFE persecutions, and saw the beginning of that day of peace, said, ' When we were poor and had wooden ' cups at our sacraments, we had golden ministers ; ' but since we have turned rich and have gotten ' golden cups, we have wooden ministers.' 85 And if this half-blinded age would consider the great differ- ence betwixt our last period and this, in that time the devil sought to destroy us by the consuming flames of persecution (by reigning tyrants and raging tyranny in State, Church, and military) ; now he 's about to drown us with floods of errors. The Lord, in his mercy and pity to us, did not suffer such an east withering wind to blow in the day of such a rough wind ; the foundation of the doctrine of grace was not then struck at ; Simson and the legal formalists were not then started up ; our worthy ministers then had the national snares and sins to discover and give warning of, and the doctrine of the cross and how to bear it to preach to us ; they had not time, books, and conveniences for study, being forced to flee for their lives, especially after Bothwell-Bridge, and hide in glens and caves. These few keeping up the publick standard of the gospel, and retaining their faithfulness, they did indeed then preach the substance of all gospel-truths, and a word in these days went, for a blessing and power went along therewith; it came from their hearts, and went to ours, and stuck there, to the conviction and conversion, confirmation and comfort of these who had the bloody ropes and bullets to their necks and heads, and many other terrible hard things to POSTSCRIPT 165 meet with. I have several times heard the never to he forgotten Mr. Renwick say that he was never satisfied with himself when he got not the work of publick days divided (not knowing but it might be his last, and the last to many of them ; as, alas ! it was sadly verified in many of the chiefest, the next news being that they were in the enemies' hands, hang'd, shot, or banished) in his lectures upon con- troversies, and his forenoon sermon upon the doctrine of the gospel, and afternoon upon the way of bear- ing the cross. And, if this carnal brutish age would allow themselves to consider, this is not a matter of reflection, but matter of thanksgiving and blessing God, that he is yet continuing his loving-kindness to sinful, bloody Scotland ; that he has not altogether left us, in that he is raising up a succession of witnesses, both ministers and people, to contend earnestly for the faith ; a handful of ministers so enlightned and spirited of the Lord to unfold the mysteries of the gospel, and teach the way of salva- tion in such a clear and distinct manner and method, as ever it was since the apostles went off the stage : but this also gives ground of fear that, if our half- hour's silence or day of peace be lengthned out, the wind of error, delusion, division and confusion blow more hard than ever. A 4th reflection is upon the seven strange appari- tions that I assert and insert in the 30th to 34th page [pp. 33 - 38]. The certainty of them I no more doubt than if I had seen and heard them with my own eyes and ears ; I had them from Christians 166 PEDEN'S LIFE of entire integrity, who were my very dear and inti- mate acquaintances. And why should the truth of these preternatural things be called in question, and thought incredible, more now than in former ages? Long since miracles, prophesying, and the apostles ceased to be, and the canon of the Scripture com- pleated : altho' it be no miracle or extraordinary providence we lean or must lay any stress upon, anent the truth of Christianity (we have the Scriptures a compleat rule of what we are to believe and practise) ; yet it is the undoubted duty of all the Lord's people to observe the great works of the Lord, and consider his extraordinary appearances, to keep in mind and record them ; as we find the Lord's people have done in former ages, as Josephus, Fox, Clark, and singular Mr. Livingston, minister in Ancrum, in The Fulfilling of the Scripture, and God's great appear- ances under New Testament dispensation, commonly called a 3d Part, whereof he was the author, and Mr. Fleeming the publisher, as I shall make evident afterwards. 36 A few instances amongst many that might be given, 1st, Constantine the Great going to war when he was in doubts of the truth of Christianity (having only heard some short accounts about it from his father when dying), at noon-day, the day before he join'd battle with Maximinius, he and his army saw a vision in the heavens, with that motto upon it, ' In ' Christ ye shall overcome.' And that night he was much troubled, and concerned to know the meaning, and was made to know it by an audible voice ; POSTSCRIPT 167 which motto he caused put upon his coin to he kept in remembrance, and was a mean of his thorow conversion. 2dly, When the damnable error of Arrianism brake out, denying the divinity of the Son of God, which spread so fast that it became a common saying, that ' all the world was become Arrian,' which was earnestly contended against by famous Athanasius and others ; a voice cried aloud at Rome, ' To-day ' is poison and venome pour'd out upon the Church.' Afterwards Arrius was called for this error before the Council of Nice, and oblig'd to subscribe the Nicean Creed ; when doing it, Constantine being present said, ' Arrius, see that you do it with your ' heart.' He had a written signed paper in his breast asserting his own tenets ; he clapp'd upon his breast and said, 'While I live I shall adhere to this.' He went out, and was obliged to turn into a common jack, and purg'd out all his inwards ; when they found him dead and took off his clothes, they found that signed paper in his breast. Let our Arrian Simson, his proselytes and favourites, look to this astonishing frightful none-such beacon ; which did some way resemble that of Judas, who hanged him- self over a steep rock, the rope brake, and in his fall all his bowels gushed out. But considering what back-door distinctions our Scots Arrius, Simson, makes use of when at any time he's pinch 'd by dint of argument, he may justly be called the most wylie and subtile fox that ever Satan let loose into Christ's vineyard in Scotland since the Reformation : 168 PEDEN'S LIFE but, how lamentable is it that so many in Church and State, ever since he started up, should join in a growing combination, especially at the last Assembly, 87 to oppose his deposition and excom- munication ; whereas, according to the sentiment of some great men, he deserveth death by the Divine law. 3dly, The astonishing showers of blood 38 that fell in Germany upon their clothes and tables, that could not be washed off; which struck the Emperor and all that saw it with fear, before the 40 years bloody wars began, that these showers of blood did presage. There were also great swarms of locusts of a strange form, which did eat up the fruits of the ground, that increas'd that great famine, follow'd with terrible pestilence ; all which Luther did foresee and fore- tell, which came to pass immediately after his death. These strange things that have been in former ages, and in our last period, may be asserted that they were, but who can give an account how they were? But, because these things are above the reach, and cannot be comprehended by the old Socinian and Simsonian god of refin'd reason, that is capable to understand all things needful to be known, [there are] lately started up in Scotland bruitish fools, that neither understand nor believe what they say nor whereof they affirm. What can the midnight dim light of nature understand of Divine revelations, with- out Divine illumination ? The preaching of Christ and him crucified, and salvation alone in his name, was a stumbling-block to the wise Jew, and foolishness POSTSCRIPT 169 to the learned Greeks ; but the wisdom of God, and the power of God, to every one to whom it was given to believe. But, that which the learned criticks, and head-strong wits of young ministers and expectants quarrel most, and have upbraided me to my face for, is, that 7th apparition at the Cross-foord boat, in the months of June and July in the year 1686, two miles beneath Lanark ; which I say, I was there 3 days together and saw nothing, which is all matter of fact and the naked verity, which I am only ambitious of in all my relations. But will these wild ass-colts tell me, what stopped the eyes of the long clear-sighted Balaam, that saw a star to arise out of Jacob, a clear prophecy of the coming of the Messias, and yet saw not the angel standing with a drawn sword in his hand, and his dull ass saw him and stopt three times ? And what stopped the eyes of the men that were with Daniel, at the river Hiddekel, when he saw the vision, but they saw not, but greatly quaked ? And what stopped the ears of Paul's companions in wickedness, going the devil's errand to Damascus, that saw the light and made them fall to the ground, but heard not the words of the voice that spake to him ? And what stopt the ears and eyes of the Captain of the Castle of Edinburgh, who was alarm'd three times at night, while the centinels were with him, but when they were sent off he both saw and heard the different beating of drums, both English and Scots, in that strange apparition in the year 1650, before the English came to it ? 39 170 PEDEN'S LIFE A 5th reflection was sent to me in a malicious, slanderous, fool letter, stuft with gross lies, dated June 24, 1726, from a minister of this Church (who hath got himself settled in a parish, by subtile policy and cunning craftiness ; mentioning our Covenants, Pentland-hills and Both well-bridge, which are now idle tales to the most part, to deceive the hearts of the simple) ; wherein, I am sure, he was either in- toxicate, or mad with wrath against me or what I have published. 1st. He says that it is a base practice in me and the devil's office, who is the accuser of the brethren, for me to give such a relation of ministers. Answ. It is the devil's office first to tempt to sin and then accuse for it ; [I know not] how he or any other can instruct that ever I tempt, either by advice or example, to any of the many great and long defections, these 78 years in Scotland of all ranks, wherein the hand of the greater part of ministers hath been chief, first and last, and theirs attended with aggravations beyond all others. But oh, and alas ! for the blindness of the most part of these called watchmen, that have neither sight of the many and great causes of wrath, nor sense of the effects and evidences of the Lord's hot anger appearing against us all this day, under which the nations is wasting, and the Church is sinking, and few laying it to heart or enquiring what meaneth the heat of this great anger. 2d. My calumniator minister, in that serpentine letter, says that he had seen a pitiful pamphlet POSTSCRIPT 171 signed by me, which, among other things, is famous for a draught of Mr. Peden's Notes upon the Cove- nant of Redemption ; bearing, that it was made be- twixt God the Father and God-man the Son, which is modern divinity. Answ. This is no new sentiment or expression ; that he is both God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person for ever, are the express words of our standards, and of our greatest and soundest divines; but this [objection] has a rank smell of damnable Arrianism (denying that God the Son is self-existent and self-independent) that once overspread the world, and now is entring and spread- ing in the covenanted lands of Britain and Ireland, especially Scotland, where it was never heard of before. There are several other things in that letter, that I may take notice of and lay in broad- band afterwards, being so much noise about it by his vaunting of it ; which will tend to his shame, if he were not above it. The sixth and worst reflection is, Professor Hamil- ton charged it publickly before the Commission of the Assembly with blasphemy ; and none made him any answer, knowing his design was to divert them from insisting against Mr. Dunlop's published Confes- sion of Faith. i0 Upon what sentence or expression he founds blasphemy, I know not, if it be not upon that mistake, in the press and 1st edition, of adding letter x in that word eternal, 41 in his Notes upon the Covenant of Redemption, which makes it run a very bad sense. Other Jurant ministers said it was 172 PEDEN'S LIFE prejudice, for all might see that it was neither the design of the author or publisher. This is a swatch how they ly at the catch, and snatch at every thing that tends to their own hurt and others, and will make a man or men offenders not only for a word but a letter. The 7th and last reflection that I take notice of at the time, I am charged with inconsistency with my self, that after I have spoken and written so much against the snare and sin of these hearty, willing, swearing ministers, that yet I hear some of them at publick occasions ! Answ. When I took a look with a dim eye of the height, depth, breadth, and length of the defection of these ministers, heartily and willingly swearing that bundle of intricate, implicate, multifarious and unnecessary oaths (with their sad and bad effects and consequences, whereby the two chief parts of the sworn-to and sealed testimony are heartily and wil- lingly renounced and deserted), being impos'd by the usurped and abjur'd authority of the Lords spiritual and temporal upon the ministers of this Church, and that as they are ministers, under the same penalty with civil officers of State and military : Prelacy and Erastianism being the two chief things against which there have been so mnch wrestling, con- tending, and resistings unto the blood of so many, these 158 years ; I resolved that either there should be a wonderful change of dispensations, or change upon them or me, ere ever I should designedly go to hear any of them. But, at the same time, I POSTSCRIPT 173 concluded, having given my publick mite of testi- mony, that (if any of them came where I did not expect nor desired them, and if my consent had been sought would have been far from giving it; at the same time, also, I considered that many worthy Christians, who far every way outstrip me, that, however griev'd they were at these backsliding steps, yet they would not see them sufficient grounds of withdrawing ; and many serious, gracious souls out of the simplicity of their hearts should cleave to them, these things being no thought of heart to them), I would rather be denied to my profit and comfort than direct or be stumbling to any of these. And I think all should be more sparing of scourging me so sore with tongues and pens, when I willingly allow every one to follow their own light and stay or go, at these solemn occasions, as they have freedom and be fully perswaded in their own minds ; and that there should be a mutual forbearance one of another, in these our melancholly none-such circumstances : doubting nothing but some of these have, do, and may, get good of these Jurant ministers (when I cannot) that preach Christ and him crucified, and salvation alone in his name : as all will do, who have got a hearty smack of the sweet- ness of the gospel themselves, and gospel-graces in exercise. But as for these climbing fleecers, whom God never sent nor his people called ; and these legal ministers, who seldom make mention of the blessed name of Jesus (even in their prayers and sermons), through whose blood alone we have re- 174 PEDEN'S LIFE demption and forgiveness of all our sins ; and when they do [mention it] to help the discourse, they speak it with such a breath as takes away the savour of it, and evidenceth that it is wersh in their mouths ; and mix our vile works with his perfect, and patch his unspotted righteousness with the filthy rags of ours, which quite mars the beauty, excellency, and usefulness of his admirable and adorable doing and dying ; [they,J and whoever are led in these ruining paths with such leaders, will certainly be destroyed. Andrew Harlay, in that malicious, slanderous, wicked pamphlet, 42 stuft with gross lies, that he has signed and published against me, in name of the rest of that enthusiastick, Quakerish party ; amongst other gross lies, says that I sat at a table when a swearing minister was serving it, and other people went off and gave their testimony against them. This is not matter of fact; I never then had the occasion or tentation ; or if it had been so that I had been in a mistake, I own I would not have risen, but betaken my self to another way of thinking at such a nick of time. I wish from my very heart, that these few ministers whom the Lord hath kept in this hour of tentation (that is come upon us to try us which have [has] made sad unexpected discoveries of the most part), whatever freedom they have for themselves to invite these Jurants with such foul hands, to their assistance at sacraments, to keep their [i.e. the Jurants'] justly sinking, stinking credit, that yet they would have respect to the stumbling, offence, and grieving of so many gracious souls POSTSCRIPT 175 throughout the land, who labour under manifold discouragements, and the ills and wrongs about their ministers the greatest ; when they came from afar to these publick occasions, to be in such straits as not to know what to do, whether to stay or go. And these, most of the Jurants that invite them [to help], it is not love to them, or to what they deliver from the word of the Lord, but to whiten their [i.e. the Jurants'] black spots, and gather the people to them, whom they have given too just ground to forsake or withdraw from them, as many have [withdrawn] and all should do. It was far otherwise with our old godly, zealous ministers, who were very tender of discouraging or grieving godly Christians that came to their publick occasions, as is to be found in the 4th passage of Mr. Semple's life ; and the singular Mr. John Livingston, at that last sacrament that he administred in Ancrum, served twelve or fourteen tables all with one breath, on this very account. 43 However a prophane age may mock, and divided parties may disdain all my published relations, digressions and expressions, being all matter of fact, and the carnal Gallios do count them old stories and idle tales ; yet I know they have been and will be useful in informing, confirming and edifying to many gracious, zealous, and serious souls through the world, that have not heard, seen, nor been witness to what I have been these forty-eight years past; and may be exciting and up-stirring to these two loudly called for duties this day, at the hands of all the Lord's Israel. 1. Mourning, 176 PEDEN'S LIFE sighing, and crying for Scotland's abominations of all kinds, past and present, these 78 years ; for these and these only have ground to expect the benefit of the Lord's sanctuary, now when his moth -judgments, spiritual and temporal, are going through the breadth and length of the land. 2. For frequent and fervent prayer that the Lord, in his rich mercy, free grace, and pure love, would hasten over this winter, where- in he is scattering his hoar frost, and casting forth his morsels of ice ; who can live in its cold ? and for his glory's sake, the elect's sake, would send a spring-tide, spreading-day of the light, purity, and power of the gospel to the Jews and Gentiles, who are sitting in darkness and have no light, that they may be brought to trust in the name of the Lord ; and a discovering day of the damnable delusions of Mahomet, errors of Antichrist, Arrians, Arminians, Socinians, Quakers, and gross errors abounding among the divided sectaries through the world, that the blind may no more lead the blind in such a thronging to the fearful pit; and that he would send a thaw-wind to the decayed face of Christianity through all the churches called by his name ; and that he would put a stop and stay to that bensil of backsliding, that hath been in Scot- land these seventy-eight years, and rebuke a spirit of error, delusion, division and confusion, that hath been raging even amongst his own people these forty- nine years, and cause these unclean spirits to pass out of the land ; and pour down a convincing, con- verting, reforming, covenanting spirit again upon POSTSCRIPT 177 Britain and Ireland, that the serious exercise and solid practice of Christianity may yet again come in request ; and that the Lord would raise and keep up a succession of faithful witnesses, whom he will fit, spirit, and direct to right methods and measures, in their earnest contendings for substance and circumstances of the sworn-to and sealed testimony of this Church (against Popery, Prelacy, Erastianism, sectarianism, schism, error, tyranny, and defection, and whatever is contrair to sound doctrine and the power of godliness), transmitted and handed down to us by the vast expence of wrestlings, prayers, tears, innocent precious dear blood, blood of so many, for which [testimony] they counted nothing too dear. Christ's reigning, and his Church's flourishing, is the only desireable thing in time to be longed for and prayed for : these things have been, are, and I hope shall be, the earnest desire of my soul while I am upon the stage. Patrick Walker. I must again renew my former request, to all in- to whose hands this may fall, that what further edifying passages are not come to my hand, in the lives and deaths of these great worthies, Masters Semple, Welwood, Cameron, and Peden, let them write distinct accounts to M 178 PEDEN'S LIFE me, and I promise they shall be carefully transmitted ; To be found within Bristo-Port, opposite to the Society-Gate, Edinburgh. FINIS SOME REMARKABLE PASSAGES OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THESE THREE FAMOUS WORTHIES, SIGNAL FOR PIETY AND ZEAL, WHOM THE LORD HELPED AND HONOUR'D TO BE FAITHFUL UNTO THE DEATH, VIZ. Mr. JOHN SEMPLE, Mr. JOHN WELWOOD, Mr. RICHARD CAMERON, MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL, ACCORDING AS THEY WERE TAKEN OFF THE STAGE ; WHO WERE ALL SHINING LIGHTS IN THIS LAND, AND GAVE LIGHT TO MANY, IN WHICH THEY REJOICED FOR A SEASON. Together with a Vindication of Mr. Cameron's Name, and other worthy Ministers, Martyrs and Sufferers, from the many malicious Fool-Nick-names and Reproaches cast upon them : With Remarks upon Twenty-eight gross Misrepresentations and groundless and scandalous Reflections in Mr. Wodrow's History, and Answers thereto. Shewing also the Non-such Danger the sworn-to and seal'd Testimony of this Church is in at present, by Left-hand Defections and Right- hand Extremes, of being blotted, darkned, and buried in Contempt, by all divided Parties whatsomever ; so that few of the Young, far less afterwards, if these melancholly Days be lengthned out, will have an Uptaking, or read what their renowned Fathers contended so earnestly for, through all the Periods of this Church. EDINBURGH : Collected by, and printed for Patrick Walker, and to be sold at his House within Bristol-Port. 1727. Gen. xviii. 17. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do ? Amos iii. 7. Surely the Lord will do nothing, but he revealeth hia secrets to his servants. Isai. xl. 29, 30, 31. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength, v. 30. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail : v. 31. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run, and not be weary ; they shall walk and not faint. Isai. lvii. 1. The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart ; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous are taken away from the evil to come. SOME REMARKABLE PASSAGES OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MR. JOHN SEMPLE LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL AT CARSPHEKN IN GALLOWAY {Commonly called John Semple) : x who died in the 7%d Year of his Age. 1. Mr. Semple, by his singular piety and exem- plary walk, was had in such veneration that all ranks and sorts of people stood more in aw of him than [of] many ministers ; yea, he was a great check upon the lazy corrupt part of the clergy, who were much afraid of him. Upon his coming from Cars- phern to Sanquhar, which are twelve miles 2 of bad rough way, on a Monday's morning, after the sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper had been administrate there, the ministers in all haste got out of their beds to prevent his reproof; but he, perceiving them putting on their clothes, said, ' What shall become ' of the sheep when the shepherd sleeps so long ? ' In my way thither, I saw some shepherds upon the ' hills looking after their flocks.' The consideration of his age, and early journey so many miles after his 182 JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE preaching the whole day at home, had great influence upon them, and made them much ashamed. 2. There were few parochial visitations that he heard of, or were within his reach, but he was at them, for encouraging of laborious godly ministers, and censuring of such as were scandalous, even tho' he was not appointed. By his publick spirit, he became a terror to all that were insufficient and lazy, and over-awed them in such a manner that all about him used more diligence in their publick ministerial work. 3. He was very painful and laborious amongst his own people, preaching frequently on week-days, which is now rarely done in country-places. The Lord's presence with him in preaching, catechising, and in the exercise of church-discipline, reclaimed that people, who were scarcely civilized before ; severals of whom became eminent Christians, and were endued with the grace of prayer ; of whom Mr. Peden used to say that they had moyen at the court of heaven beyond many Christian professors of religion he knew. 4. He sometimes had the Lord's Supper admini- strate two Sabbaths together 3 in the year, to which many godly people came from a great distance ; of whose edification he was so tender that the ministers, who were countenanced with their Master's most gracious presence, were invited by him from remote places to feed God's children. He reckoned it no good policy to invite his easy brethren, as he called them, to be sharers of communion work, for support- JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE 183 ing their justly sinking credit or whitening their black spots, when they stumbled honest godly people. He several times said that king's children should be waited upon by the best servants, they being most expert in what was most for the king's honour, and for the good of the bairns. His slight- ing, as 'tis called, of some of his neighbouring brethren was never resented by them, having that good effect, through the divine blessing, that some of them grew better men. 5. He was much given to secret prayer, and ordinarly prayed in the kirk before the sacramental occasions, because the kirk was more retired than the manse. He set apart the Friday for wrestling with his Master for his gracious presence on the Communion-Sabbath ; and he being favoured with merciful returns, to the great comfort of both ministers and people, he appointed a week-day for thanksgiving to God. 6. He used to wait very carefully upon church- judicatories, and very rarely was absent, and that from a principle of conscience; tho' Carsphern be twenty-four miles distant from Kirkcudbright, 4 the Presbytery's seat, notwithstanding that much of the way is very bad. When he was going to the foord in the water of Dee, in his way to the Presbytery, he would not be hindred from riding the water, tho' he was told by some that the water was impassible, saying, ' I must get through if the Lord will, I am ' going about his work.' He entred in, and the strength of water carried him and his horse beneath 184 JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE the foord ; he fell from his horse, and stood up in the water, and taking off his hat prayed a word to this purpose, ' Lord, art thou in earnest to drown ' me, thy poor servant, who would fain go thy ' errands ? ' After which, he and his horse got both safely out, to the admiration of all onlookers. He was never for sustaining of frivolous excuses in ministers, for their absence from church -judicatories ; nothing would satisfy him as an excuse, but invin- cible hindrances, such a[s] sickness, and unpassible waters, and the like. 7. The grace of God inspired him with courage and boldness, so that he was afraid of no man ; he was as free with persons of quality as with the poorest. A certain nobleman, from whose house he was going home, sent one of his rudest servants, well- furnished with a good horse, broad sword, and loaded pistols, to attack him after day-light was gone, in a desert place ; ordered his servant to do all he could to put him in a fright. Accordingly the wicked servant surprized him, with holding a pistol to his breast, bidding him render his purse upon pain of being shot dead immediately. He answered with much presence of mind, altho' he knew nothing of the pre-concert, ' It seems you are a wicked man, ' who would take either my life or purse, if God ' give you leave. As for my purse, it will not do you ' much service tho' you had it ; and as for my life, ' I am willing to lay it down when and where God ' pleases ; however, if you will lay by your weapons, JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE 185 ' I will wrestle a fall with you for my life, which you ' cannot refuse if you be a man, for I have no ' weapons to fight you with.' In short, after many threats in vain, the servant at last discovered the whole plot, and ask'd Mr. Semple if he was not afraid at the first threatning. ' Not in the least,' said he ; ' for, altho' you had killed me as I knew not but ' ye might, I was sure to win the sooner to heaven.' So they parted. 8. Tho' he was a sharp reprover of all sorts of wickedness, in the highest as well as in the lowest ; yet he was so convincingly a man of God that the very wickedest, to whom he was a terror, had great kindness for him, and spake very favourably of him, as one that wished their souls well. When some persons of quality called him a varlot ; another person of quality, whom he had often and very sharply reproved for his wickedness, said he was sure, if he was a varlot, he was one of God's varlots. (The word varlet, signifies the vilest and worst of all creatures. ) 9. There was such a concern upon his spirit about Charles the First, that one time coming from Edin- burgh with some others, betwixt Biggar and Coulter he lighted from his horse to pray for him ; when he came up, some asked him what kept him behind. He said he had been praying that the king might be delivered from Cromwell the usurper his selfish and cruel designs ; but could not prevail. 10. Some Scots regiments in the year 1648, in their march through Carsphern for Prestoun in 186 JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE England, to the duke's Ingagement 6 (as it was called), some of his soldiers, being informed that the sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper was to be administrated there the next Lord's Day, went to Carsphern and put their horses in the kirk, and went to the manse and destroyed the communion-elements in a very prophane manner. Mr. Semple being from home, the next day he complained to the commanding- officer ; in his complaint he represented the vileness of such an action so pathetically that it made a great impression on the foresaid person, who not only regrated what was done, but punished the most guilty, and gave money liberally for furnishing the elements again. After which, he said, with great concern of spirit, to the foresaid officer he was sorry for the errand he was going, for he would not prosper, the prophanity of their army would ruin them. And all may see that many were the com- plaints of the General Assembly, in their faithful warnings in these times, of the sins and snares of that unlawful Ingagement, and great wickedness of that army going to invade England; their great prophanity of the Sabbath, and abusing of women going and coming from ordinances, and many other ways. 11. After this, preaching at Dumfries, some regiments of that army being there, he said to the officers and soldiers, ' Go ye up to Ramoth-Gilead ' and prosper ; but, if ye prosper in the way that ye ' are going, God never spake by me ; for I have ' beheaded your duke like a sybow ; if ye were once JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE 187 ' in England, his head shall as sure go off him as if ' I had it in my gown-lap ; for God is not with you ' and he will break you in his wrath. And many of ' you shall never see your native land again ; and ' these of you that escape, however brave ye are now ' in your fine clothes, ye shall come home bare and ' naked, swarming with lice, for God shall smite you ' with one of the plagues of Egypt.' An old man, who was one of them, told me that he was sure this threatning was made out upon them, for they were like to be eaten up with a swarm of them. After sermon, a colonel being his hearer challenged him upon the street, for speaking against what was their duty and good design, to fight for king and country ; and gave him ill names, calling him a varlot, old greeting carle. To whom he answered, that he was no more a varlot than he [i.e. the colonel] had the saving grace of God ; and that he was as free of as the birk is of leaves at Yool-even ; and ' as to my ' preaching, I have told you the truth, which you ' will find to your sad experience, and many will see ' to be no falshood ; for ye are neither for the good ' of the king nor country, but against God.' 6 12. After the news came to Carsphern that the duke's army were near Prestoun, Mr. Semple, being in company with several gentlemen, went out of their company for about the space of an hour. When he returned, they asked him where he had been ; he took up the lap of his night-gown and said, ' I have gotten the duke's head there, ye will ' hear that the cavaliers are routed, and that their 188 JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE ' general will lose his head ' ; all which came to pass, as the history of these times declare. 7 13. When the news came that the usurper Crom- well, and these with him, were trying Charles I. for his life, some asked Mr. Semple what he thought would become of the king ? He went to his closet a little, and coming again to them he said, 'The ' king 's gone, he is a dead man, he will neither do ' us good nor ill any more.' Which also was a truth. 14. Mr. Semple passing by the house of Kenmure, to which the masons were making some additions, he said, ' Lads, ye are very busy in enlarging and ' repairing that house, but it will be burnt like a ' crow-nest, in a misty May- morning.' 8 After he was gone, the masons told my lord that Mr. Semple was gone by and had spoken to them ; he asked them what he said to them ; they told his lordship as above. He said, 'Alas, it will be too ' true, if he said so ' : which accordingly came to pass, in a very dark misty May-morning, by the English. 15. Having foretold that some people, who were to be transported to Carolina in America, should never see it, and being misinformed that they were arrived there, he became melancholly ; and after some time receiving the true account that they never reached Carolina, being forced [back] by stormy contrary winds, he took off his hat before several gentlemen and others, when he was assured of their return, he said, with great joy, ' I thank ' my God, he never beguiled me yet.' JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE 189 16. He often said to a person of quality (which was my Lord Kenmure) that he was a rough wicked man, for which God would shake him over hell be- fore he died ; yet God would give him his soul for a prey. At last, it came to pass ; for the said person was seized with great terror of conscience, for his original guilt and wicked vitious life, almost to the height of utter despair ; yet God was so gracious to him before his death that he not only relieved him from these terrors, but favoured him with the consolations of Christ: so that, to the conviction of all about him, he died well, and to the great joy and satisfaction of his relations. 17. One time hearing the old worthy Mr. Andrew Cant, sometime minister in Aberdeen, and his son Mr. Andrew Cant preach in Edinburgh, after supper being desired to pray in the family, he had these singular expressions anent their sermons, ' Lord, we ' had a very good dish set before us this forenoon in ' a very homely dress ; and in the afternoon wholsom ' food, but in a very airy fine dress. Good Lord, ' pierce his heart with the compunction of a broken ' law, and fright him with the terror of the curses ' thereof; good Lord, brod him, and let out the ' wind out of him, make him like his father ; other- ' wise he will be a sad grief of heart to many ' : as was sadly verified afterwards, he turning one of the prelatical curates in Edinburgh, which his honest old father always feared and sometimes told him. One time, going a piece of way together, he was skipping before his father, he said, ' Souple 190 JOHN SEMPLES LIFE ' Andrew, I fear that be thy fault all thy days, both ' in principle and practice.' 9 18. When he visited his parish, he caused every head of a family pray after he had prayed, and ex- horted every member of the family ; this method of obliging heads of families to pray, before the minister and family, has been remarkably followed with success, altho' many now refuse it ; but they were all so subject to him that few positively re- fused, excepting one man who was left of God to do far worse afterwards. 19. He had a singular custom of obliging every minister who lodged with him all night to give some notes, or observations, upon the Scripture read in the family ; or, if there had been three or four ministers, every one to make their observes, accord- ing to their standing in the ministry ; which was not only edifying to the family, but useful to ministers, in that it was a tye upon them to be well versed in the Bible, being a sort of an extemporary lecture. Altho' this custom be generally gone out of request, yet it was look't upon as no small trial of ministers' ability. "Tis said of a Scots minister, who lectured without premeditation on the ordinary 10 of an honour- able family in England (where were present several persons of distinction), to the conviction of some of the High-Church party, who upbraided their curates with naughtiness, and insufficiency to do the like. Some ministers practise this yet, which tends much to their honour, being very sure this is not en- thusiastical impressions, as formalists and neutralists JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE 191 calls it, but the fruit of much reading and a distinct knowledge in the Scriptures ; an evidence of a good stock of divinity. 20. He gave tokens to two youths, one of four- teen the other sixteen years, that they might come to the Lord's table at Carsphern. Before he gave them the tokens, he prayed for advice (they being come from afar, some say from Fife) ; and after examination, he found them endued with a great measure of Christian knowledge ; but some ministers quarrelled his giving tokens to such boys ; wherefore he desired these ministers to catechise them, which the ministers did, and allowed of their admission to the Lord's table ; and, after the com- munion, they gave satisfying accounts of their case, and proved solid Christians ; of whom Mr. Semple said to the rest of the ministers, these are God's bairns, and had more grace than many that were far older, and therefore he could not deny them God's food to their souls ; they came from afar to meet with the Lord, whom they had heard to be sometimes remarkably present at Carsphern, and he hoped they would not repent their journey. He dismissed the lads with encouraging exhortations to be stedfast in the faith, and to make good use of their Bibles. 21. When a neighbouring minister was dis- tributing tokens before the sacrament, Mr. Semple, standing by and seeing the minister reaching a token to a woman, said, 'Hold your hand, that ' woman hath got too many tokens already, for 192 JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE ' she is a witch ' : of which none suspected her then ; yet afterwards she confessed her self to be a witch, and was put to death for the same. 22. A minister in the shire of Galloway, sending one of his elders with a letter, earnestly desiring Mr. Semple to come and assist him at the sacrament, three weeks before the time ; he read his letter, and went to his closet a little, came back and said to the elder, ' I am sorry that you have come so far a ' needless errand ; go home, and tell your minister ' he hath had all the communions that ever he will ' have ; for he is guilty of fornication, and God will ' bring it to light before that time by his own con- ' fession ' : which came to pass as he had said ; for that minister confessed the scandal before that time, and was justly deposed for the same. 23. As Mr. Semple was going to Glasgow, he lodged in Crawfoord-john, in his way thither, on a Sabbath-day ; and being in the kirk in the forenoon, the minister seeing him earnestly desired him to preach in the afternoon, which he utterly refused. In Sabbath's evening, being at family -worship, when he prayed he had these expressions anent that minister, ' Good Lord, make this people quit of ' such a dead, lazy, unsufficient minister, for they ' will never get good of him ' : soon after that, that minister, of his own accord, left that place. 24. He said of a young minister, that was thought to be very weak and not much regarded, that ' he ' would prove an honest man, and the longer he ' lived he would grow more and more in gifts and JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE 193 ' grace ' ; which was known to be truth, for that minister survived the persecution, and died in good repute many years since the Revolution. 25. He was preaching on repentance, and in his application he said that, except sinners repented, they would as surely perish as that the water was taking away the bridge of Douch. At this very mean time, this bridge is said to have been two miles up the water from the kirk of Carsphern, and it was found that a flood, by an excessive rain that day, took away that bridge in the very instant he uttered these words. 26. Another day, preaching upon justification, whether by faith or good works, he said, 'Come ' here, Bellarmine, let me hear what you say to this ' doctrine.' Bellarmine, ' Tis by good works.' 'O ' Bellarmine, Bellarmine, you speak always with a ' stinking breath ; there is much of such poisonous, ' erroneous, and damnable doctrine in your Church ' and breast. But, come here, Calvine, let us hear ' what you say.' ' 'Tis by faith, in the receiving ' and resting upon the Lord Jesus Christ alone for 'salvation.' 'That is well said, John Calvin, you ' speak always with an honest, wholsom, sweet ' breath ; come, man, set your foot to my foot and ' we shall hough Bellarmine.' u 27. Many know that Carsphern is a place for pasturage ; there had been some good years to- gether, their flocks was increased, and they were coveting others' fields, which occasioned great strife and contention among them. About the term of N 194 JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE Martinmas, in the application of his sermon he said, ' The Lord has been favouring you with good ' seasons, and ye are lifted up and not thankful, and ' coveting others' fields ; and there is strife and con- ' tention risen among you, which is a great enemy ' to the exercise of grace, and a direct breach of the ' tenth command, and a great grief of heart to me ; ' but keep in mind this day, (he mentioned the day ' of the month) and remember that I told you, and ' advised you, to take no more rooms at Martinmas ' than ye will plenish at Whitsunday ; ye that ' have a thousand sheep this day shall not have an ' hundred then, and ye that have an hundred shall ' not have ten.' That winter was somewhat of an universal death of sheep, but especially in that parish ; for, ere the middle of May, there were few living sheep in that parish. 28. One time, among many, he designed to ad- ministrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper; and, before the time came, he assured the people of a great communion by Christ's gracious presence, which should be most remarkable for the effusion of the Spirit ; he told them also that the devil would be so envious, about the good work they were to go about, that he was afraid he would be permitted to raise a storm in the air with a speat of rain, to raise the waters, designing to drown some of them ; but it will not be within the compass of his power to drown any of you, no not so much as a dog. Accordingly it came to pass on Monday, when they were dismissing, they saw a man, all in black JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE 195 entring the water to wade a little above them ; they were afraid, the water being big ; immediately he lost his feet (as they apprehended) and came down lying on his back and waving his hand : the people ran and got ropes, and threw in to him ; and tho' there were about ten or twelve men upon the ropes, they were in danger of being drowned into the water. Mr. Semple looking on, cryed, 'Quit ' the ropes, and let him go, (he saw who it was) 'tis ' the devil, 'tis the devil ; he will burn, but not ' drown ; and, by drowning you, would have God * dishonoured, because he hath gotten some glory to ' his free grace, in being kind to many of your souls ' at this time, and [would have] the wicked world ' to reproach the work of God. Oh ! he is a sub- ' tile wylie devil, that lies at the catch waiting his ' opportunity, that now, when ye have heard all and ' gotten all ye will get at this occasion, his design ' is to raise a confusion among you, to get all out of ' your minds that ye have heard, and off your spirits •" that ye have felt.' 12 He earnestly exhorted them all to keep in mind what they had heard and seen, and to retain what they had attained, and to go home blessing God for all, and that the devil was dis- appointed of his hellish design. All search was made in that country to find out if any man was lost, but none could be heard of; from whence all concluded that it was the devil. 29. At another time, designing to administrate the sacrament, the fast-day in the morning being an excessive rain, some of his elders came in to him, 196 JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE and said the people would not be able to sit with- out ; he said, ' 1 : 11 go out with you.' They went to the kirk ; for some time he walked up and down the kirk very melancholly, at last opened a little door that looked to the north, where he stood for some time ; at last, with much chearfulness, said, ' Out of ' the north cometh fair weather, 13 we '11 be no more ' troubled with rain until this solemn occasion be ' over. But tell all your friends to be in readiness ' and go quickly off, and take good heed to them- ' selves in waters, for the rain will be excessive ' then.' Which accordingly came to pass in every jot. 80. At another time, administrating the sacra- ment, after the forenoon's work was over, Elisabeth Corsane, Mr. James Renwick's mother, that singular Christian, told me this, with many other of these passages (her husband and she commonly were at all his publick fasts and solemn occasions), she knew not where to get any retired place to go to, there being such a great multitude, and the greater part of them gone alone ; being some dissle of rain in the time, she went in to a quiet place in the kirk ; a minister's daughter came in to her, comparing notes together how it had been with them at that occasion, especially that forenoon. Some of the common hearers came into the body of the kirk, and raised a noice of shouting and clapping of their hands ; which occasioned others to come in, and join with them in that confused noise. The ministers in the manse got notice, and came in haste to the kirk, JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE 197 and spoke to them, but in vain. Mr. Semple's servant ran to some place where he knew his master frequented ; he came in haste, and when he entred the kirk, he cried, 'O ye subtile wylie ' devil, that lies alwise at the catch, begone, begone ' out of this house ; I thought I had fenced this ' house in His name ; ye have neither art nor part ' with us. His broken body and shed blood, was ' never broken nor shed for you, but ye are eternally ' excluded ; begone, begone.' Immediately they ceased. Elisabeth Corsane and the other gentle- woman were greatly affrighted; but they sat still, without opening of their mouth. Mr. Semple, and others of the ministers that were there, examined some of these people, what moved them to make the noise ; but they could give no account. 31. A gentleman in a neighbouring parish, who frequented his kirk much, and frequently took home some of his parishoners to sup with him, and detained them too long drinking and with idle discourse ; Mr. Semple got notice, and went to him and said, ' Sir, I am come to tell you that God is ' very angry with you for prophaning his Sabbath, ' and enticing some of my people to do the same ' ; and earnestly exhorted him to forbear any such practice, or else it would fare the worse with him. Accordingly, for some time he refrained, but re- turned again to his former practice. Mr. Semple went to his house, but would not enter his door, and told him he had heard he was returned with the dog to his vomit again, and within a few days he 198 JOHN SEMPLES LIFE should not have a cock to crow day. Accordingly, in a short time he was cast into prison for debt, and arrestments cast upon him, his effects seized upon and disposed of, which obliged him to engage in the military. Some time thereafter he gat orders to apprehend Mr. Semple ; he intreated to excuse him, for Mr. Semple was the minister and man he would not meddle with ; for he was sure, if he did that, some terrible mischief would suddenly befal him. Mr. Arthur Coupar, who was Mr. Semple's precentor, told these passages to a reverend minister in the church, yet alive, worthy of all credit, who told me. 32. He was so concerned for the right managing of the publick worship of God, that he could not endure any thing that looked like carelesness and un- concernedness about it, such as sleeping or rambling looks in the time of it, or what gave any disturbance, such as fighting of dogs in the church or the like ; he took very wise methods for preventing of these evils, so that few durst either sleep or look about them, or bring dogs to the kirk. 33. He had a very heavenly melodious sound in giving out or raising of a psalm ; which was so affecting to his hearers, that many of them said it helped them to a serious frame; and that his voice in singing a psalm, tho' not very loud, was so peculiar to himself that they never heard any to exceed him. 34. After the unhappy Restoration and estab- lishing of Prelacy, his zeal was so great and flaming JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE 199 against bishops and their underlings that, wherever he was, and whoever were his hearers, great or small, he could never read and explain any portion of Scripture but he found bishops and their under- lings, and somewhat in it against them ; even in the beginning of the Genesis, the account of the whole creation, but not one word that God created bishops (as such), and from that he inferred they were none of God's creatures. This he spoke in that friendly house of Duddistoun, where he resided much in that time. 35. A little before his death he was apprehended, and, after nine months imprisonment in the Castle of Edinburgh, was taken before the Council for his nonconformity; they threatned him severely with death or banishment; he answered with boldness, ' He is above that guides the gully, my God will ' not let you either kill me or banish me, but I will ' go home and die in peace, and my dust ly among ' the dust of the bodies of my people ' ; accordingly the Council dismissed him. 36. After this he went home, and entred his pulpit ; he said, ' I parted o'er easily with thee, ' which has been many a sore heart to me ; but I ' shall hing by the wicks of thee now ' : and on his deathbed, his zeal and concernedness for the salvation of his people was such that he sent for them and preached to them, freely shewing them what danger their souls were in by reason of their unbelief and estrangement from the power of godli- ness ; laying before them their manifold sins, to 200 JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE make them sensible of their need of Christ; ex- pressing his great sorrow to leave many of them graceless as he found them, and his great fears that he would give up his accounts, as to many of them, with grief. Which words were so accompanied with power that made many of them to weep bitterly ; which would be a wonder in this hardned and obdured age, and mocked at as the only effects of a silly waterish constitution — as if all the tempers of the saints were flashy, such as David and Peter, yea, and Christ himself (in whose constitution was nothing defective), who did frequently weep. How- ever, Mr. Semple's weepers were not all of the flashy kind, for many of them proved solid Christians, and lived to acquit themselves like men and Christians on proper occasions. 37. He died with much assurance of heaven, and longed to be there, rejoicing in the God of his salvation ; and under great impressions of dreadful judgments to come on these covenanted lands, especially on Scotland, and the west and south thereof above all other places, by the bloody sword of Popish, and others taking part with them ; repeat- ing these words three times over, ' A bloody sword ' for Scotland.' He was buried in the church-yard of Carsphern, and it is said his grave is known there to this day. JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE 201 POSTSCRIPT The worthy author [i.e. subject] of the foresaid passages, whose piety and zeal was such, against wickedness and wicked persons, that made him fre- quently express himself fervently after the unhappy Restoration, complaining that all ranks were growing worse and worse ; but, as for our nobility and gentry, he thought the devil was run away with the greater part of them. At other times, he said, would they know what the devil was doing in hell ? He said, he was going with a long rod in his hand, crying, ' Make way and room ; for the king, council and ' bishops, and the rest of the persecuters in Scotland ' were coming posting here, and few of them would ' turn back.' These, and such like expressions, made him despised in the eyes of the godless and wicked crew, both in his life and since his death. The mocking, lying atheist, the author of the Presbyterian Eloquence, to this purpose, says that, in the day of judgment, the Lord will say, ' Who 's ' that there ? ' John Semple will answer, ' It 's e'en ' poor old John Semple, Lord.' ' Who 's that with ' you, John ? ' John would say, ' It 's a few poor ' honest bonnetted men.' ' Strange, John, where 's ' all your great folk with their hats and silk-hoods ? ' ' I invited them, Lord, but they would not come.' ' It 's not your fault, John ; come forward, ye are ' very welcome, and these few with you.' u I am at a loss, that I could not give a distinct 202 JOHN SEMPLE'S LIFE account, tho' I have enquired at many, how long he was minister in that parish, nor what year he died after the Restoration. 16 The copy of a letter written in the year 1665 by Mr. James Welwood, minister of the Gospel at Tindergirth in Annandale, to a brother minister. Let us put on courage in thir sad times ; brave times for the chosen soldiers of Jesus Christ to shew their courage into ; brave times, offering brave opportunities for shewing forth the bravity of spirit in suffering ; that love, that loyalty, meekness, that patience, and every Christian vertue, that cannot be shown forth in not suffering times. Let us live in a lively hope of a glorious victory over these enemies, risen up of late, whom Christ shall very shortly tread under foot : let us look for a return of the many fervent prayers of the many thousands of the godly in these lands, which will be by terrible things in righteousness, terrible judgments poured forth in haill vials upon the heads of the enemies. Let us look for a glorious Church to spring out of these trials and troubles, which the greater they shall be, and of the longer continuance, the more glorious shall the Church be. Let us enter into our chambers and shut the doors about us, until the indignation be over-passed that is to be upon this land. Great is JAMES WELWOOD'S LETTER 203 the indignation, dreadful are the judgments that are coming upon this land; I tremble to think upon them, and yet I cannot tell you : for as feared as I am for them, I am not deprecating them, but desiring rather they may come, and convince the land of the horridness of these sins now reigning into it, which are counted but light sins by some, and no sins by other some, and gloried in as high virtues and duties by many ; and that they may convince the land of the innocency and equity of the cause and covenant of God, condemned of great iniquity as the cause of all the troubles that have come upon the land ; and that they may put an end to these sins that will never be at an end, but will grow daily more and more to a monstrous height and hugeness, till judgments put an end to them and the committers of them. And oh that God would consume out of the land the great consumers of the land, and would send pests among the pests of the land, and would send blood among the bloody men of the land, and set every one against another ! Oh that our dreadful judgments, that reach to the soul, were turned into these that but reach the body ; and that we were exceeding miserable in our temporal condition, rather than so lost and forlorn in our spiritual ! Oh that the great furnace were set up, that is to be set up in this land when the little furnace is taken down ! It is but the little furnace that is presently set up, pretty hot, and to be much hotter in a little time by the High Commission ;* and it is for the godly only, to purge them and try 204 JAMES WEL WOOD'S LETTER them. And many are warming themselves at this furnace, and many are playing and dancing about it, especially the lown[s] of the ministry ; but it is to be taken down shortly, when it hath come to its hottest ; and then the great furnace will be set up in the place of it, exceeding hot, whereat no man shall warm himself or dance about it, but all shall be put into it; especially the lowns of the ministry that warmed themselves at the little furnace, and danced about it, while they saw their poor brethren burning into it. The godly themselves shall not altogether pass free of this furnace, but shall pass through it ; howbeit, but lightly, to be purged over again from the remainder of that dross and tin which the little furnace did not purge out of them. The ungodly shall all of them be casten into it, in great heaps, that they may be consumed ; till a few that should come out again, after a huge number are consumed, and those that remain of them unconsumed but very ill burnt, as brands plucked out of the fire, shall join themselves to the godly, some of them by flatteries, some of them sincerely, well wrought upon by the judgments. And when the godly shall be well purged, and made ripe for the great and glorious deliverance, and capable to bear it without abusing it, then shall be the glorious days of the gospel in these lands, which the servants of God have spoken of that were upon his counsel, and knew his thoughts towards the Church of Scotland ; then shall this great captivity return in one day almost; then shall our banished brethren return, JAMES WELWOOD'S LETTER 205 ' They shall return to Sion with singing ; and all ' the trees of the fields shall clap their hands, the ' hills shall break forth before them into singing.' Brother, ye do well in biding closs by your charge, and keeping your self quiet: to be silent in their 2 times, as far as may be without sin, is a great point of prudence. Your very loving brother whom ye know. Let not this letter be seen, nor known from whence it is, because of some things in it that may seem hard. My wife sends her hearty commenda- tions to you and the two lads. The author of the foregoing letter was a minister of singular piety and great zeal ; many evidences of both are given of him. 3 I shall at the time insert only one remarkable passage, viz. that the night his wife died, he spent the whole ensuing night in prayer and meditation in his garden ; the next morning one of his elders coming to visit him, and lamenting his great loss, and want of rest; he replied, ' I declare, I have not all this night had one ' thought of the death of my wife, I have been so ' taken up in meditating on heavenly things ; I ' have been this night upon the banks of Ulai, ' plucking an apple here and there. ' 4 SOME REMARKABLE PASSAGES OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MR. JOHN 1 WELWOOD LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL Who died at Perth, in the year 1679, in the month of April, about the 30th year of his age. The worthy author of the above sententious letter had three sons that I have heard of; one Mr. Andrew, who is the author of the Glimpse of Glory, lately published ; 2 and another, who is a doctor of physick at London : 8 but it is Mr. John Welwood I now speak of, whose singular piety and flame of love and zeal the world hath heard of; which I dare not, neither can, bury in forgetfulness these few rare following instances both in his life and death, having had them from sure hands well attested, altho' I do not publish their names. As, first, I am indeed somewhat lame, being 48 years since his death, that I cannot give an account when, where, or by whom he was ordained ; only it is certain it was [by] some of our persecuted Presby- terian ministers. 4 Some have many of his letters that 206 JOHN WEL WOOD'S LIFE 207 he sent to some of his intimate Christian friends, wherein he insists much upon the distinct actings of faith and love, spirituality and zeal. I never saw nor heard any of his sermons published, save one that he preached at Bogle's-hole in Clidsdale, upon that text — ' If the righteous scarcely be saved,' etc. 6 2dly, Tis said by some in Annandale that he preached six sermons in Tindergirth, formerly his father's parish, blessed with more discernable good effects than all the diligent painfulness and faithful- ness that his father exercised in the ministry these six years he was minister in that parish. Further, 3dly, He was a fervent presser to all the duties of Christianity, and in particular to the setting up and keeping up of society-meetings for prayer and conference, wherein the souls of many have been refreshed ; and frequented them much himself. Particularly, one night, at the Newhouse in Living- stoun parish ; when the night was far spent he said, ' 'Tis good loosing a going plough, let one pray and ' be short, that we may win to our appartments ' before it be light, that we be not seen.' It was the turn of one who exceeded many in gifts ; but, before he ended, it was as light within the house as without. He said, ' James, James, your gifts have ' the heels of your grace.' And to the rest he said, ' Be advised, all of you, not to follow James at all ' times, and in all things ; otherwise there will be ' outs and inns in the tract of your walk.' When the most of them was gone, he said, ' What was he, ' that ye were all in such haste to get him a seat ? ' 208 JOHN WELWOOD'S LIFE Some answered, ' He is a very honest useful man.' He said, ' He 's a round-spun Presbyterian ; 6 he will ' not long keep that name among you ; his house ' will be rather a court-house and prison-house than ' a friend's house ' ; which sadly came to pass after- wards, as is known to many. [There was] one John Hasty a weaver who was obliged to make himself a seat in the peat-nook, afterwards when he [i.e. Welwood] enquired for his acquaintances in that bounds, he frequently said, ' And how is the honest ' man that sat in the peat-nook ? He 's worth half ' a dozen of some that were at that meeting.' 4thly, In the year 1677, there was an Erastian meeting of ministers, of actually -indulged and not- indulged, kept at Edinburgh, procured by the indulged and their favourites, in order to get union made up and kept up, or rather a conspiracy-peace without truth, unity without verity ; an holding evidence of false-prophets and backsliders. The godly Mr. John Blackader said in this meeting, ' Before ye come to any conclusion, let us set days ' apart, and humble our selves before the Lord for ' our manifold provocations and defections, especially ' in deep compliance with Erastianism.' They cried out, 'Divisive, divisive; let us unite, let us unite.' The famous M' Ward's Cont endings 1 are very plain about this unhappy meeting, now published to the world. Mr. Welwood, Mr. Cameron, and a third (but who the third was I cannot give an account, if it was not the faithful unto the death Mr. John Kid) were called before this meeting, in order to get JOHN WELWOOD'S LIFE 209 them deposed, and the act of licence taken from Mr. Cameron, for their faithfulness in preaching separation from the actually-indulged, to make them publick examples to terrify others ; but they declined them as a lawfully constitute and qualified judicatory, being made up of actually-indulged. The north-country Mr. Thomas Hog, as he was commonly called, being in town at that time, but would not meet with them ; some of the ministers went to him for advice what to do with them. He said, ' His name is Welwood ; but if ye take that ' unhappy course to depose them, they will turn ' Thorterwood.' 5thly, Mr. Welwood was a man always of a lean tender body ; he slept, ate or drank little, being always under deep exercise about his state and case, and a great concern upon his spirit with the tyranny and defections of that day, especially of the indulged, and so many others pleading in their favours ; but after this meeting, he turned more and more melan- cholly and tender. 6thly, Among his last publick days in preaching the gospel, he preached one Sabbath at the Boulter- hall in Fife, not far from St. Andrews, upon that text, 'Not many noble,' etc. 8 He wished that all the Lord's people, whom he had placed in stations of distinction there and every where, would express their great thankfulness that that word ' Not many ' was not ' Not any,' that the whole of them was not excluded. In the end of that sermon, he said, (pointing to St. Andrews) If that unhappy Prelate o 210 JOHN WEL WOOD'S LIFE Sharp should die the death of all men, God never spake by him. 9 The bishop at that time had a man- servant, who asked his liberty upon Saturday's night to go and visite his brother, who was servant to a gentleman near that Boulterhall. The bishop ordered him to be home on the Sabbath evening. He went with the laird and his brother to hear sermon that day. Mr. Welwood noticed him with the bishop's livery upon him. When sermons were ended, he desired him to stand up, for he had some- what to speak to him ; ' I desire you,' said he, * and ' lay it upon you before all these witnesses, that, ' when ye go home, ye '11 tell your master from me ' that his treachery, tyranny and wicked life is now ' near an end, and his death shall be both sudden, ' surprising and bloody ; as he had thirsted [for] and ' shed the blood of many saints, he shall not go to his ' grave in peace, and that shall be in the beginning of ' May next.' The youth went home, and, at supper, the bishop asked if he had been at a conventicle. He said he was. He asked what his text was, and what he said. The lad told him several things, ' But,' said he, ' my lord, there is one thing he laid ' upon me before all the multitude, that I should ' tell your grace that your treachery, tyranny and ' wicked life was now near an end ; and your death * shall be both sudden, surprising and bloody. As ' ye 've been blood-thirsty and shed the blood of ' many saints, ye should not go to your grave in ' peace; and that shall be in the beginning of May ' next.' The bishop made sport of it. His wife said, JOHN WELWOOD'S LIFE 211 ' I advise you to take more notice of that, for I hear ' that these men's words are not vain words.' And 'tis said that, in the beginning of May, his wife spoke of it to him, and desired him to stay at home. Some yet alive, who were witnesses to Mr. Welwood's saying that, that day, and saw the exact accomplishment of it upon the third day of May, told it to a minister and others of my acquaintance, worthy of all credit, who gave me this account. The extraordinary death of this monster of wicked- ness of many sorts and kinds was foreseen and foretold by severals, long before it came to pass. It is said that the famous, and faithful unto the death, Mr. James Guthry, when he was regent to the college of St. Andrews, and Mr. Sharp a promising young man there, several times wrote that verse upon him, If thou, Sharp, die the common death of men, 111 burn my bill, and throw away my pen. 10 And there 's an old honest man, one Stephen Porteous, yet alive at Edinburgh, told me, when he was at London, banished in the year 1678, with Mr. Peden and others, 11 a godly old minister in Wapping near London, called Mr. Rydder, invited him and others of these banished prisoners to dine with him. He desired them, in the time thereof, to give him a short account of the persecution in Scotland, especially of Prelate Sharp's active hand therein ; which they did. After dinner he went to his closet ; when he returned, he said he was astonished at the account they had given him of Prelate Sharp's 212 JOHN WELWOOD'S LIFE treachery and tyranny ; but God had assured him that he would raise up some Norman Lesly in Scot- land, to execute justice upon him as upon Cardinal Beatton, and his wicked life was now near an end. This he spoke within two months before it came to pass. Some time ago I wrote a short account of the unheard-of wicked steps of his life, particularly his strangling his own child (begot in fornication) with his napkin, and burying it below the hearth- stone, and his cruel treacherous treatment of the mother thereof; 12 but his Life and Death being now published, by a more large and sure hand, 13 has pre- vented me, which I am glad of. Great Mr. Ruther- foord, of whom apostate Sharp was a malicious persecutor, said, when ministers and others were admiring him for goodness, that he would trample upon all their necks. I have often wondered if ever the sun shined upon a man guilty of so many dreadful unheard-of acts of wickedness, attended with all aggravating circumstances to make them prodigiously hainous, except his dear brother Judas, who murdered the young Prince of Iscariot and his own father, married his mother, and betrayed his Lord. All knows what end he [i.e. Sharp] made (and so much noise of his death, making it one of their insnaring criminal questions of that time), 14 for which five faithful martyrs were executed and hung in chains, in that spot of ground, Magus-Muir, the 25th of November 1679, who were actually free of his death, having never been in the shire of Fife, as is to be seen in Naphtali. 15 JOHN WELWOOD'S LIFE 213 7thly, One Sabbath, among his last publick days, a tent was set up for him ; the laird of that ground caused lift it, and set it upon another laird's ground. When Mr. Welwood saw it, he said, ' In a short ' time that laird should not have a furr of land.' Some quarrelled him for this saying, that laird then being a great professor. He said, 'Let alone a ' little, and he will appear in his own colours.' Shortly thereafter, he fell in adultery, and became miserable and contemptible, and was said by many to be one of York's 4 pound the week Papists. 8thly, In the beginning of the year 1679, he said to William Nicolson, a Fife-man, 'Ye shall have a ' brave summer of the gospel this year ; and, for ' further encouragement, they would be an old man ' or woman, that might not live for age to see the ' bishops down, but the Church not delivered ; but ' ere all be done, ye will get few faithful ministers ' in all Scotland to hear. But keep you ay among ' the poor mourning remnant that is for God ; for, ' there is a cloud coming on the Church of Scotland, ' the like of which was never heard, for the most ' part will turn to defection : but I see on the other ' side of it the Church's delivery, with ministers and ' Christians that we would think shame to open our ' mouths before them.' 9thly, He went to Perth about three months be- fore he died; he was now, through bodily weakness, laid aside from serving his Master in publick. He lingered under a consumptive distemper till the beginning of April 1679, when he died. He lodged 214 JOHN WELWOOD'S LIFE all the time in the house of John Barclay, an honest man ; and, while he was able to speak, he laid out himself to do good to souls. None, but such as were lookt upon to be friends to persecuted truths, knew that he was in town ; and his practice was to call them in, one family after another, at different times, and to discourse them about their spiritual state. His conversation was both convincing, edifying and con- firming; many reaped much spiritual good during the time of his sickness, and [he] continued thus to preach Christ while he was able to speak. Many came to visit him during the time of his sickness, and among the rest Andrew Aiton, younger of Inchdarny in Fife, about 18 years of age, a promising youth, who grew and ran fast his time being short, giving Mr. Welwood further accounts of the great tyranny and wickedness of Prelate Sharp. Mr. Welwood said, ' You '11 shortly be quit of him, and he '11 get a ' sudden and sharp off-going, and ye will be the ' first that will take the good news of his death to ' Heaven.' Accordingly upon May the 3d, which was upon a Saturday, 16 when he was killed, Inch- darny knowing nothing of it, and hearing of no sermon near-hand upon Sabbath, he was riding with a design to go to a friend's house that night, where he might have occasion of hearing a sermon to- morrow ; enemies, raging and riding for the killers, came in his way ; fearing that they were seeking him he fled, and they fired upon him, and wounded him so deadly that he died to-morrow. 17 lOthly, About the same time, he said to another JOHN WELWOOD'S LIFE 215 friend who came to visit him, 1. That many of the Lord's people should be in arms that summer for the defence of the gospel ; but he was fully per- swaded they should work no deliverance, but God should take a testimony off their hands. 2. After the breaking of that party, the publick standard of the gospel should fall and be buried for a time. 3. After that, there should not be a minister in Scotland, that any could hear or converse with anent the case of the Church, except two, and they should seal the testimony with their blood. 4. After that, there shall be a dreadful apostasy and defection. 5. God will pour out his wrath upon the enemies of his Church and people. 6. That many of the Lord's people should die in the common calamity, especially these who have made defection from the way of the Lord. 7. He was perswaded that the stroke should not be long ; and, upon the back of that, there should be the most glorious delivery and reformation that ever was in Britain. 8. That this Church should never more be troubled with Prelacy. 18 llthly, In his conversation with his friends upon his death-bed, he used very freely to communicate his own exercise and experience, and the assurance he had obtained of his interest in Christ. He said, ' I have no more doubt of my interest in Christ ' than if I were in Heaven already.' At another time he said, ' I have been for some weeks without ' sensible comforting presence, yet I have not the ' least doubt of my interest in Christ : I have often 216 JOHN WELWOOD'S LIFE ' endeavoured to pick a hole in my interest, but ' cannot get it done.' That morning that he died, when he observed the light of the day, he said, ' Now, ' eternal light, no more night nor darkness to me.' No mo of his last words are remembred. 12thly, The night after he died, his corps were removed from John Barclay's house into a chamber where one Janet Hutton, an eminent Christian, lived alone, till his friends would consult about his burial, as much as might be to keep off trouble from John Barclay and his family. It was quickly noised through the town that an intercommun'd preacher was dead in the place ; upon which the magistrates ordered a messenger to go an[d] arrest his corps. They lay the second night in Janet Hutton's ; and the next day a considerable number of his Fife friends came into town in good order. The magistrates would not allow his corps to be interr'd in the burial-place of Perth, alledging that his friends would insult them. They ordered the town militia to be raised ; John Brice, at the time box-master to the Gildry, had the militia arms in custody; he refused to give them out, and boldly told the magistrates he saw no use they had for them ; for which he was cast into prison. This honest man was (after the Revolution) baillie in Perth. The magistrates allowed his Fife friends to carry his corps out of the town, and bury them where they pleased without their precincts ; but, any town's people that they observed accompany the funerals, they caused apprehend them and JOHN WELWOOD'S LIFE 217 commit them to prison. After they were gone out of the town, friends sent two honest men before them to Drone, four miles from Perth, to prepare a grave in that church-yard; the two men went to Mr. Pitcairn's, minister there, 19 one of the old plagued Resolutioners, (one of these men is yet alive, who informs this) and desired from him the keys of the church-yard, that they might dig a grave for Mr. Welwood's corps ; he refused to give them. The honest men went over the church-yard dike, and digged the grave, where the corps were interr'd. Thus the church-yard of Drone is honoured with the precious dust of that pious and faithful preacher of the gospel. This is another lasting witness of the tyranny and cruelty of that day, upon the living bodies and dead corps of the Lord's people ; they would not suffer them to live upon the earth, nor go and ly beneath the earth ; witness their lifting of Mr. Peden's corps after forty days in the grave ; 20 and fixing many heads, hands, and other parts of their bodies divided in quarters, upon publick ports ; and hanging in chains, November 27, 1679, the five innocent martyrs at Magus-Muir 21 (where that com- pend of wickedness, Bishop Sharp, got his just deservings), and murdering of John Wharry and James Smith, who were my very near acquaintances, at Glasgow-cross, June 11, 1683, laying their dead bodies on a cart, driving them upwards of six miles to Inch-berry Bridge, hanging their naked bodies, as they were born, in chains, to be gazing-stocks to the world. 22 SOME REMARKABLE PASSAGES OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MR. RICHARD CAMERON LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL Who was killed at Airs-Moss, and other eight private Christians with him, in the year 1680, the %%d of July, whose dust lies there. 1. He was born in Falkland in Fife, his father was a merchant there. 1 After he had passed his courses of learning, he was school-master and precentor to the curate in Falkland, and sometimes heard the indulged. 2 At length he went to hear the persecuted gospel in the fields. In that sun-blink day of power, when the net of the gospel [was] let down at the right side of the ship, then a great draught of perish- ing souls was effectually caught ; and it natively follows, that whom the Lord savingly enlightens to see sin, and the sinfulness thereof, and their lost state thereby [also see the public sins and the snares of the time], as the worthy Mr. George Mair 3 said to my self. When he [i.e. Mair] went to the north to preach Christ, he never touched the sin of Prelacy, nor any of the rest of our national abominations ; 218 CAMERON'S LIFE 219 for, if the Lord were pleased to bless any word that came out of his mouth, to the thorow conviction and conversion of any poor perishing soul, all these would come in their own time. 4 It was that which made Mr. Cameron leave Falkland, and came to Sir William Scot of Harden to be their chaplain; but his refusing to go with them to hear the indulged, for which he gave his reasons, this made him unacceptable to him and his lady. 6 He came south, and was some time in company with Mr. Welsh and other field-ministers. Mr. Welsh perceived that he was not only exercised unto godliness, but had his own share of gifts and learning. Mr. Welsh and others pressed him to undergo his trial before them, in order to get an act of licence to preach the gospel. For some time he refused, but after much intreaty he was prevailed with. Accordingly he got his licence from Mr. Welsh, and Mr. Gabriel Semple and others, at Haugh-head in Teviotdale, at Henry Hall's house. He told them he would be a bone of contention among them ; for if ever he preached against a national sin in Scotland it should be against the indulgence, and [for] separation from the indulged. This account he gave of himself to some friends, a little before his death. 2. The first place they sent him to, to preach, was Annandale. He said, How could he go there ? for he knew not what sort of people they were. Mr. Welsh said, ' Go your way, Ritchie ; set the fire of ' hell to their tail.' The first day he preached upon that text, 'How shall I put thee among the 220 CAMERON'S LIFE ' children ? ' In the application, he said, ' Put you ' among the children, the offspring of robbers and ' thieves ! ' Many have heard of Annandale thieves. Some of them, who got a merciful cast that day, told it afterwards that it was the first field- preaching that ever they heard ; and that they went out of curiosity, to see how a minister would preach in a tent and people sit on the ground : 6 but if many of them went without an errand they got one that day. After this, he preached several times with Mr. Welsh, and Mr. Semple and others ; and no noise about him, until 1677, that he and others were called before that unhappy Erastian meeting in Edinburgh, of indulged and not-indulged. 7 3. He preached several times at May bole, where were many thousands of people, being the first time that the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was dis- pensed in the open fields ; at that time he used yet more freedom, for which he was again called at a meeting of ministers at Din dough in Galloway. After that, he was again called before a presbytery at Sundewal in Dunscore in Nithsdale. This is the third time they designed to take his act of licence from him ; 8 against which Robert Gray a North- thumberland-man, who suffered in the Gras-mercat, May 19, 1682, Robert Neilson and others, who were my very dear acquaintances, protested. Robert Gray mentions this protest in his last testimony, and says he was the only instrument of confirming him in the faith. 9 At this meeting, they prevailed with Mr. Cameron to give his promise for a short CAMERON'S LIFE 221 set-time to forbear such explicite preaching against the indulgence, and [for] separation from the in- dulged, which [promise] lay heavy upon him after- ward, which I shall touch if the Lord will. 10 And it was not these that sat in the presbytery that so prevailed with him ; but others, who would not sit with them upon that design, who pretended to be as much against the indulged men as he was, who over- came him. The lamentable paralel case we had in Scotland these years bygone. All know what a fleece went off, in the year 1712, to the imbracing of that bundle of unhappy oaths, flowing from that same poisonable fountain of Erastianism, and the prelatical hirearchy (both abjured by solemn oaths before the Lord) that the indulgence flowed from. Many, tho' they refused them in the 1712, yet were gaping after them, some of which could have thrust down the cow (to wit, that bundle of oaths) but the tail stuck in their throats (viz. of taking these oaths ' heartily and willingly ') ; who, very Balaam-like, with bocking and gapping, with upstretched and outstretched necks and watry eyes, with their wives and other pretended friends by unhappy advices chapping hard upon their backs to help them down with the tail ; and when they got all over they went off" in two's and three's at different times (some of whose names I could mention) like persons ashamed, doing an ill turn, not heartily and willingly n as they all swear at the end of these oaths ; and then, in the 1719, there was a softning, soupling, sweetning oil, composed and made up by the cunning art of carnal 222 CAMERON'S LIFE wit and state-policy ; 1Z then all went over with ease, and yet nothing but an old tout in a new horn. What a mercy had it been to many, that all these classes of the indulged and our late swearers had all gone off in a full body together ! It is possible, that the few not-swearers, who have refused them upon their peril, which is some sort of a testimony against them, would have taken other methods in keeping up a more active testimony against them, in refusing to join with them on fast-days without [i.e. unless] these broad and deep oaths of defection had been among the chief causes of fasts ; and in mixing and joining with them in the administration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper [they have been] thereby helping them to stifle their convictions, and hardning them in these defections, to the great stumbling and offence of many serious, tender, zealous souls, thorow the land ; some travelling 40 or 50 miles, spending their time, wearying their bodies, and neglecting their necessary duties, when they may have the same very way at home, and take rest to their bodies when they cannot expect edification to their souls. Far be it from me to limit the Holy One, or determine what the Lord may do in the acts of his sovereignty to particular persons ; but if ever these legal formal preachers shall be helped to be the instruments of conviction and conversion, and swearers of the lately imposed oaths be honoured to be national reformation-workers, unless they get a cast by-common, then I am under the power of a strong delusion. CAMERON'S LIFE 223 4. After the giving of that weary promise, finding himself bound up by vertue thereof from declaring the whole counsel of God,' he turned melancholly ; and, to get the definite time of that unhappy promise spent, in the end of the 1678 he went to Holland, 13 not knowing what work the Lord had to do with him there, and to converse with Mr. M'Ward and others of our banished worthies, where he was in the time of that lamentable stroke of Bothwell- bridge, when the Lord's people fell and fled before these devouring enemies. His private converse and exercises in families, but especially his publick in the Scots kirk at Rotterdam, were very refreshing to many souls, where he was close upon conversion, from that text, ' Come unto me, all ye that are ' weary,' &c, and most satisfying and delightsom to Mr. Brown, M'Ward and others, who were sadly misinformed by the indulged and lukewarm that he could preach nothing, but bable against the indulgence and cess-paying; but there he touched none of these, except in prayer lamenting over the lamentable case of Scotland by tyranny and defections. 14 Shortly thereafter there was an in- demnity proclaimed, with the grant of a third indulgence, with the cautionry-bond, for every parish to call what minister they please, binding themselves that what minister they called should walk orderly and live peaceably, and deliver them up when called for, under the penalty of six thousand merks : which famous Mr. Brown, then in Holland, wrote against, discovering the snare and sin of this 15 224 CAMERON'S LIFE bargaining with the enemy, called, The Banders Disbanded; which book is extant in the hands of some, to which Mr. M'Ward wrote the preface But this indemnity lasted but one month, and in this month of August the field-ministers met at Edinburgh, wherein the greater part of them com- plied, and agreed to accept of that indulgence, and to preach no more in the fields, or keep the publick standard of the gospel, nor to license or ordain any that would do it ; with other instructions and restrictions ; against which Mr. M'Ward wrote plainly, now published to the world. Upon the 14th day of this month of August, when the greater part of ministers were making peace with these enemies, the never to be forgotten pious, zealous, and faithful unto the death ministers and martyrs, King and Kid, were butchered at the Cross of Edinburgh ; their heads and hands were hashed and hagged off by the common hangman with his bloody gully, and set up before sun and moon upon the Netherbow-port, to be gazing-stocks to the world. 16 In this melancholly hour and power of darkness, when the publick, faithful, free preaching of the gospel was given over, and the publick standard thereof deserted in Scotland, great Mr. M'Ward said to Mr. Cameron, 'Richard, the publick standard ' of the gospel is fallen in Scotland ; and, if I know ' any thing of the mind of the Lord, ye are called to ' undergo your trials before us and go home and ' lift the fallen standard, and display it publickly * before the world ; but before ye put your hand to CAMERON'S LIFE 225 ' it, ye shall go to as many of the field ministers ' (for then they were so called) ' as ye can find, and ' give them your hearty invitation to go with you : ' and if they will not go, go your alone, and the ' Lord will go with you.' Accordingly, when the day of his ordination came (which was performed by Mr. M' Ward, and Mr. Brown, and Mr. Coulman a Dutch minister, whose piety, zeal and faithfulness the world has heard of), when their hands were lifted off his head, Mr. M'Ward continued his hand, and cried out, ' Behold, all ye beholders, here is the ' head of a faithful minister, and servant of Jesus ' Christ, who shall lose the same for his Master's ' interest, and shall be set up before sun and moon ' in the publick view of the world.' 17 5. Mr. Cameron came to Scotland in the beginning of the year 1680, 18 and spent some time in going from minister to minister, of those who formerly kept up the publick standard of the gospel ; but all in vain, none of them would go with him, except Mr. Donald Cargil and Mr. Thomas Douglas who came together, and kept a publick fast-day in Dar- meid-muirs, betwixt Clidsdale and Lothian. One of the chief causes [of the fast] was the reception of the Duke of York into Scotland, a sworn vassal of Antichrist, ' the devil's lieutenant ' (as Mr. Shields used to call him in publick), with all the evidences of joy and rejoicing, when he was rejected in England and other places ; as Mr. M'Ward makes plain, in his publick writings now published to the world. They kept another fast-day, for the same causes, p 226 CAMERON'S LIFE at Auchingilloch, upon the south-side of Clidsdale ; which James Robertson, and others of our martyrs, give their testimony unto, even their faithful and free preaching. This Mr. M'Ward wrote to him, that they would set time apart and mourn, and make the reception of the Duke of York one of the chief causes ; and excite and stirr up all the Lord's people to mourn in publick for all the abominations of Scotland ; which is also now published. 19 6. After this, they were obliged to separate, and preach in different corners of the land, upon the urgent call and necessity of the people, being in a starving condition for the want of the bread of life, having been for a twelvemonth before without a meal : but behold, a greater famine came on ; for they wanted the gospel from the first of July next year, that Mr. Cargil fell into the enemies' hands, until the September 1683, that Mr. James Renwick came from Holland, and with courage and confidence lifted this fallen standard, 20 fallen from all hands, who displayed it publickly his alone for two years, in opposition to all, until December 1685, that Mr. Shields escaped out of the enemies' hands, and took part with him. Then was sadly accomplished, to the great grief of many of the Lord's serious zealous people, what Mr. Kid said in his last dying words, that he feared not only a greater scarcity of honest preaching and preachers, but a real famine of the word; 21 and what Mr. John Walwood said on his death-bed, that there would not be a faithful minister in all Scotland, that honest people could hear, but CAMERON'S LIFE 227 two, and these would seal the testimony with their blood ; 22 that for two years' time there would be such midnight-darkness that neither moon nor star-light appeared. Then was it, that the Lord's people might go thorow the breadth and length of Scotland, and from mountain to mountain, seeking the word of the Lord, and could not find it except in the ladies' fine chambers in Edinburgh, and such like, where very few had access ; then it could not be said that the poor had the gospel preached to them. 7. After their parting, Mr. Cameron had a publick, desirable, confirming and comforting day (to the sweet experience of some yet alive) at the Swine- know in Newmunkland in Clidsdale, upon that sweet, soul-refreshing text, Isa. xxxii. 2, 'And a ' man shall be an hiding place from the wind, and ' a covert from the tempest, as rivers of waters in ' a dry place, and the shadow of a great rock in a ' weary land.' In his preface that day, he said he was fully assured that the Lord, in mercy to this church and nation, would sweep the throne of Britain of that unhappy race of the name of Stewart, for their treachery, tyranny, leachery, but especially their usurping the royal prerogatives of King Christ : this he was as sure of as his hand was upon that cloth, yea more sure ; for he had that by sense, but the other by faith. 8. Mr. H. E. that worthy good man, who had his own share of the sufferings of that time both in prison and otherwise, yet had his feet so far out of the theats, and so far from taking part with Mr. 228 CAMERON'S LIFE Cargil and him in the indispensable duty of that day, that he studied a sermon to preach against them ; but on the Saturday's night there was a voice spoke aloud to him, saying, ' Audi,' two times. He answered, ' Audi est,' I hear. The voice said again, 'Beware of calling Cameron's words vain.' This stopt him from preaching against them. This Mr. H. E. himself told to an old reverend minister, yet alive, his intimate acquaintance, from whose mouth I have it. 23 9. He preached at the Grass-Water, near Cum- nock, upon the fourth day of July, 18 days before his death. In his preface he said, ' There are three ' or four things that I have to tell you this day, ' which I must not omit, because I will be but a ' breakfast or four-hours to the enemies some day ' shortly, and my work will be finished and my time ' both; and the first is this, as for that unhappy man, ' Charles the II. who is now upon the throne of ' Britain, after mm there shall not be a crowned king ' in Scotland of the name of Stewart. 2 * Secondly, ' there shall not be an old Covenanter's head above ' the ground, that swore these covenants with uplifted ' hands, ere ye get a right Reformation in Scotland. ' Thirdly, a man may ride a summer-day in Galloway, ' the shire of Air and Clidsdale, and not see a reeking ' house nor hear a cock crow ; and several other ' shires shall be little better, ere ye get a right and ' thorow Reformation in Scotland. Fourthly, the ' rod that the Lord will make use of shall be the ' French and other foreigners, together with a wicked CAMERON'S LIFE 229 ' party in this land joining with them. But, ye that ' stand to the testimony in that day, be not dis- ' couraged with the fewness of your number ; for ' when Christ comes to raise up his work in Scot- ' land, he will not want men enough to work for ' him : yea, he may chap upon the greatest man in ' Scotland, and he may be a great malignant, and ' say, " Sir, let alone this Babel-building of yours, for ' " I have another piece of work to put in your hand "; ' and he will gar him work for him, whether he will ' or not. It may be, he '11 convert the man, and ' give him his soul for a prey. And there are some ' of you that are hearing me may live for age to see ' these things accomplished ; and, after these defec- ' tions and judgments are over, ye may see the ' nettles grow out of the bed-chambers of noblemen ' and gentlemen, and their names, memorials, and ' posterity to perish from the earth.' 10. Twelve days before his death, he kept his chamber-door closs until night : the mistress or good- wife of that house having been several times at the door, but no access ; at last she forced up the door, and found him very melancholy. She earnestly en- quired how it was with him ; he said, ' That weary ' promise that I gave to these ministers has lyen ' heavy upon me, 25 for which my carcase will dung ' the wilderness, and that will be within a fortnight.' The like instance we have of famous Mr. Robert Bruce, who came under a promise not to preach for ten days, for which he fell under such a terror of conscience that cast him in a fever. 26 230 CAMERON'S LIFE 11. He had got such a large earnest, that made him have a soul-longing for a full possession of the inheritance, that seldom he prayed in a family, or sought a blessing, or gave thanks, but he requested to wait for patience till the Lord's time came ; as several of my very dear acquaintances, who travelled much with him, told me. It was so with many of our sufferers and martyrs in that day, which I hope to give some accounts of. The like instance we have of the said Mr. Robert Bruce, who had such a soul-longing for his change, so as sometimes he said, ' I wonder how I am kept by my Master so long ' here, since I have lived two years already in ' violence ' (being 72 years of age). 27 I do not re- member such instances of any of the saints recorded in Scripture, except old Simeon who took the child in his arms, and the singular apostle and martyr Paul. 12. His last Sabbath, Mr. Cargil and he preached upon the Kype-ridge in Clidsdale. His text was Psal. 46, 'Be still and know that I am God.' That day he said that he was assured the Lord would lift up a standard against Antichrist, that would go to the gates of Rome and burn it with fire ; and that ' Blood ' should be their sign, and ' No Quarters ' their word; 28 and earnestly wished that it might first begin in Scotland. At their parting, they concluded to meet the next Sabbath save one at Craigmeid ; but he was cut off on the Thursday thereafter. 29 Mr. Cargil preached a tearful sermon for his death, the next Sabbath in the Shoats parish, CAMERON'S LIFE 231 upon that text, ' Know ye not that there is a great ' man and prince fallen this day in Israel ? ' 13. The last night that he was in the world, he was in the house of William Mitchel in Meadow- head at the water of Air. About fourty foot and twenty horse, being in the fields, stayed with him that week, being in doubts whe[ther] to stay together and to defend themselves from the fury of the enemies, or to disperse and shift for themselves in glens and caves, and not appear but when going and coming from following and hearing of the gospel. There is a fool story handed down, that that handful was divided among themselves, which is false ; they were of one heart and soul, their company and con- verse being so edifying and sweet ; and having no certain dwelling place, they stayed together, waiting for further light in that non-such juncture of time. There is a daughter of that William Mitchel's fore- said, now an old woman, living at Edinburgh, who told me (of late) again and again, that she gave him water to his hands his last morning ; and when he dried his face and hands with a tool, he looked to his hands, and laid them on his face, and said, ' This ' is their last washing, I have need to make them ' clean for there is many to see them.' Her mother wept ; he said, ' Weep not for me, but for your self ' and yours, and for the sins of a sinful land ; for ' ye have many melancholly, sorrowful, weary days ' before you.' 14. Bruce of Earlshall, that wicked and violent persecutor, having got the command of my Lord 232 CAMERON'S LIFE Airly 's troop and Strachan's dragoons, was in search for him and them; Sir John Cochran of Ochiltree gave them notice where they were to be found. Accordingly, at four of the clock in the afternoon, they came upon them with great haste and fury, lying in the east end of Airs-moss, a very desert place. When they saw the enemy so near, and no escaping, they gathered closs about him, when he prayed a short word, and had these expressions three times, 'Lord, spare the green, and take the ripe.' When ended, he said to his brother, ' Michael, come ' let us fight it out to the last ; for this is the day ' that I have longed for, and the death that I have ' prayed for, to die fighting against our Lord's ' avowed enemies ; and this is the day that we will 'get the crown.' And to the rest he said, 'Be ' encouraged, all of you, to fight it out valiantly ; for * all of you that shall fall this day I see Heaven's ' gates cast wide open to receive them.' John Potter, who suffered with Archibald Stewart the first day of December thereafter, whose heads were fixt upon the West-port, 30 related this, and some of my very dear intimate acquaintances, who wept there- after that they died not there that day, for they were afraid that they would never [again] be in such a case for to meet with death. And these eight that died on the spot with him were ripe, and longing for that day and death. Mr. Wodrow says that most of these with Mr. Cameron were cut off; 31 but this is a mistake : there were nine killed dead ; David Haxton of Rathillet, John Pollock and William CAMERON'S LIFE 233 Manuel [were] taken prisoners. There were in all sixt) r -three, twenty-three horse and fourty foot. David Haxton ordered a part of these foot to take the wind of the enemy ; but he that had the command of that party fled too soon, and cried to the rest to flee ; which some of them regrated to my self, that they ran not in among the rest of foot and horse, and fought it out to the last. Whoso desires to be furder informed may see a distinct account in the Cloud of Witnesses, written by Rathillet, 32 who had the chief command of them, who was cruelly murdered and butchered at the Cross of Edinburgh a few days thereafter, in the same month of July ; the hangman cutting off" his secrets, and throwing them at his face, ripping up his breast with a durk, and taking out his heart alive, going round the scaffold with it fluttering upon the point of the durk ; the hangman crying aloud, ' There is the heart of a traitor ' ; and then threw it into the fire, which they had in a chimney upon the scaffold, with his secrets. His hands and head were struck off alive, and his body divided into four quarters, and placed upon publick ports of the nation. William Manuall died of his wounds, entering the Tolbooth of Edinburgh ; John Pollock was thereafter banished. 33 Earlshall gave a guinea to cut off Mr. Cameron's head and hands, which he hagged off with a durk, with John Fowler's head in stead of Michael Cameron's. Mr. Cameron's body with the other eight were all buried upon the spot, with a large grave-stone upon four high pillars, with his name upon the head of it, and the form of 234 CAMERON'S LIFE an open Bible before him, and the names of the other eight round the sides of it, which were, Michael Cameron, John Fowler, John Hamilton, John Gemmel, James Gray, Robert Dick, Robert Paterson, and Thomas Watson : and downward upon the same stone was the following inscription, all in very legible letters : HALT, CURIOUS PASSENGER, COME HERE AND READ OUR SOULS TRIUMPHS WITH CHRIST OUR GLORIOUS HEAD : IN SELF-DEFENCE WE MURDER'd HERE DO LY, TO WITNESS 'GAINST THE NATION^ PERJURY. 34 In the year 1723, when I came from Mr. Peden's grave-stone at Cumnock, I came to Airs-moss to that grave-stone, and stayed some time in that bloody spot, and can assert the truth of this. Earlshall marched to Edinburgh with Mr. Cameron's head and hands, and John Fowler's, with the foresaid three prisoners. When they came to the city, he caused take them out of the sack into which they were carried, and put them upon a halbert, and carried them to the Council. The foresaid Robert Murray said, ' There 's the head and hands that lived praying ' and preaching, and died praying and fighting.' The Council ordered the hangman to fix them upon the Netherbow-port. Mr. Cameron's father being in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh for his principles, 35 they carried them to him, to add grief to his sorrow, and enquired if he knew them. He took his son's head and hands, and kissed them, and said, ' I know ' them, I know them, they are my son's, my dear CAMERON'S LIFE 235 ' son's'; and said, * It is the Lord, good is the will ' of the Lord, who cannot wrong me nor mine, but ' has made goodness and mercy to follow us all our ' days.' Mr. Cameron's head was fix'd upon the port, and his hands close by his head, with his fingers upward. 15. Stephen Cuthel, who lived in Borrowstoun- ness, a solid serious Christian, known to many, who died in the end of the year 1715 in much peace and calmness, often told me that, immediately after this melancholly dispensation of the fall of these worthies at Airs-moss, he went to Holland, and (as his ordinary was) went and visited Mr. M'Ward, who said, ' Come away, Stephen, I longed to see ' you, and give me an account of the murder of ' singular Cameron, and these other worthies with ' him.' When he gave him a full account, he wept, and said, ' Oh worthy Cameron ; highly honoured of ' the Lord, Cameron ! O Covenant-breaking and ' burning Scotland, O blood-guilty Scotland, how ' many, long, and great shall thy judgments be!' Stephen said to him, ' Sir, since I came to this ' place, it was said to me that, that day that Mr. " Cameron was ordained, ye continued your hand ' upon his head, and said, " Here 's the head of a ' " faithful minister and servant of Jesus Christ, who ' " shall lose the same for his Master's interest, and ' " which shall be set up in the publick view of the ' " world, before sun and moon." ' He said, ' Indeed, ' Stephen, 'tis most true; and it was no foresight ' nor forethoughts in me ; but when my hand was 236 CAMERON'S LIFE ' upon his head, I was as much perswaded of it, and ' as much affected with it, as if I had been at Airs- ' moss and seen his head and hands cut off, or as if ' I were standing at the Netherbow-port looking to ' it ; I could be no more perswaded, affected and ' afflicted, than I was at that time.' Mr. Hog also of late told me that he was present at that ordina- tion ; that Mr. M'Ward prayed last, with much fervency, and said, 'The head on whom thir hands ' are laid shall be soon and cruelly cut off.' That dispensation, of the fall and flight of these worthies at Airs-moss, was a day of great joy and rejoicing, not only to the stated enemies, but also to the indulged and their favourites, telling it one to another, as their joyful news, and some of them with loud laughter, whose names I could mention. Some old men, who were publick at that time, assert that Earlshall got 500L. sterling for that bloody action. Some of these bloody enemies, that were there, said to my self that that handful were men of the greatest courage that ever they saw set their faces to fight, tho' they had been at battles abroad ; and if they had been as well trained and armed and horsed as we were, we would have been put to the flight, and few of us escaped; their shots and strokes were deadly, and few recovered ; tho' there were but nine of them killed, there were twenty- eight of us killed dead, and died in their wounds in a few days. VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 237 Follows a short vindication of Mr. Cameron's name from the many foul reproaches cast upon it ; as also of his faithful contendings for substance and circumstances of the sworn-to and seal'd testimony of this Church, thorow all the periods thereof. But oh ! how lamentable is it, and to be lamented, that that pious, zealous, and faithful minister of Christ, and martyr for Christ, Mr. Richard Cameron, that not only his name should be buried in the vile ashes of all our impressions and notions of wild extreams, but also his faithful contendings for sub- stance and circumstances of our attained Reforma- tion, sworn-to and sealed testimony, should be so blotted and bluthered with these right-hand ex- treams and left-hand defections, that many have been left to fall into, so that few in the present age, far less in the following generations, can or will have an uptaking of what he, and these worthies that concurred with and succeeded him, contended so earnestly for, for which they counted nothing too dear. As first, his name being made contemptible by drums and pipes in 'The Cameronian March.' 1 I wish that none of these (so called) had marched so hastily that way, at that time, in these national circumstances, all things considered ; tho' many good men rose out of the simplicity of their hearts, and form'd that regiment called 'The Cameronian Regiment,' z having good designs ; thinking thereby to be in a better capacity to drive away the prelatical 238 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME curats, to apprehend and bring to condign punish- ment our hand-waild murderers, and to represent grievances to State and Church, seeking hot water beneath cold ice. But when they came under military command, they were bound up from all these and other good things they designed ; which made the greater part of these, who retained their former zeal and tenderness, weary, and come off. Nevertheless, they were never without some evi- dences of the Lord's care, kindness and protection, particularly at Dunkeld, a little after they were regimented, where they were so wonderfully pre- served, when 5000 Highland-men came furiously to cut them off, being inraged with their defeat, and Claverhouse's death at Killicranky a little before. 3 And designed treachery by Collonel Ramsay, who since was general and died in a surfeit of wine, he having then the chief command at Perth, who sent three posts in haste to my Lord Cardross, that worthy good nobleman, to come off with his regiment of horse, and leave them alone ; which he was obliged to do with a sore heart. They being but about 800, and destitute of powder and lead, sent to the fore- said Ramsay for them. He sent them barrels of figs and razins, good to eat, but could neither hurt nor kill the enemy ; and yet these 5000 were forced to flee, being frustrate of their design in setting some houses on fire, that thereby the smoke might come upon them ; but remarkably the wind turned, and drave the smoke both of what houses they had fired and of what houses that regiment had set on VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 239 fire. And tho' that regiment still gets the name of ' Cameronian,' the greater part now cry as much for damnation, as they did then for salvation. And some worthy Christians said to my self, both in their life and at their death, that if ever they knew what the presence of the Lord was, it was in the very time of that action, as I hope to give account of. 4 2dly, By pipers and fidlers playing ' The Camer- ' onian March,' carnal vain springs, which too many professors of religion dance to ; a practice unbe- coming the professors of Christianity to dance to any spring. But somewhat more to this. What- ever be the many foul blots recorded of the saints in Scripture, none of them is charged with this regular fit of destraction. We find it has been practised by the wicked and prophane, as the dancing at that brutish base action of the calf-making ; and it had been good for that unhappy lass, who danced off the head of John the Baptist, that she had been born a criple and never drawn a limb to her. Historians say that her sin was written upon her judgment, who sometime thereafter was dancing upon the ice, and it broke and snapt the head off her ; her head danced above and her feet beneath. There is ground to think and conclude that, when the world's wickedness was great, dancing at their marriages was practised ; but when the heavens above and the earth beneath were let loose upon them with that overflowing flood, their mirth was soon staid ; and when the Lord in holy justice rain'd fire and brim- 240 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME stone from heaven upon that wicked people and city Sodom, enjoying fulness of bread and idle- ness, their fiddle-strings and hands went all in a flame; and the whole people in thirty miles of length, and ten of breadth, as historians say, were all made to fry in their skins. And at the end, who ever are giving in marriages and dancing, when all will go in a flame, they will quickly change their note. I have often wondered thorow my life how any, that ever knew what it was to bow a knee in earnest to pray, durst crook a hough to fyke and fling at piper's and fidler's springs. I bless the Lord that ordered my lot so in my dancing days, that made the fear of the bloody rope and bullets to my neck and head, the pain of boots, thumbikins and irons, cold and hunger, wetness and weariness, to stop the lightness of my head, and the wantonness of my feet. What the never to be forgotten man of God, John Knox said to Queen Mary, when she gave him that sharp challenge, which would strike our mean-spirited tongue-tacked ministers dumb, for his giving publick faithful warning of the danger of Church and nation thro' her marrying the Dauphine of France, when he left her bubbling and greeting, and came to an outer court where her Lady Maries were fyking and dancing, he said, ' O brave ladies, ' a brave world if it would last, and Heaven at ' the hinder-end ; but fy upon the knave Death ' that will seize upon these bodies of yours, and ' where will all your fidling and flinging be then ? ' 5 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 241 Dancing being such a common evil, especially amongst young professors, that all the lovers of the Lord should hate, has caused me to insist the more upon it, especially that foolish spring, 'The ' Cameronian March.' 6 Thirdly, The author of the Proper Project for Scotland, altho' he takes the fool title to himself of being 'true blue,' he cannot give his pamphlet a title, without declaring himself not excessively ' Cameronian.' 7 How can he or any other instruct that Mr. Cameron, or these who concurred [with] and succeeded him, did exceed the bounds of cove- nanted Presbyterian principles ? Fourthly, The author of the Scots Memoirs dates that nick-name from the 1670 year, 8 whereas it took no place till after Mr. Cameron's death, and was very little to be heard of until the Revolution, that they invented that foolish spring ; and the late Kersland calls them by that name at Drumclog before Bothwell-bridge. 9 Why do they not all call them ' Cargillites?' if they will give them a nick-name (as Bishop Burnet does in his history), 10 who was of the same principle and practice a little after Mr. Cameron was born, and which he sealed with his blood as Mr. Cameron did. Fifthly, John and Andrew Harleys, and several others with them, overrun and overdriven with enthusiastick quakerish notions, acted and led by John Gib's spirit, and Mr. Patrick Grant and some few with him, 11 have been dotting with a dizzy head these 14 years, since I was in debate with him. Q 242 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME And these years past, John and Andrew Harleys have usurped the office of the ministry, taking upon them at their own hand, not being orderly called, to preach, marry and baptize, which all sound Presby- terians abhore, however [otherwise] qualified they may be. I went and heard Andrew Harley make the fashion of preaching upon a Thursday, in the Cowgate of Edinburgh, being their ordinar week-day, for in- forming my judgment and to confirm me of my ill thoughts of them and others, as I have done several times and always got my errand ; his hearers con- sisted of five women, his brother John, a boy and a girl. He rambled thorow the whole 58th chapter of Isaiah ; but his sermon had neither top, tail, nor mane, he had not one material sentence ; 12 and there are others much of the like stamp, of bloody murder- ing principles, who not only separate from all, but are for cutting off all who are not of their wild senti- ments (which all have ground to be thankful for that the power is not in their hands), which is evident to all in their publick writings. 13 And yet all these are foolishly called ' Cameronians ' ; but more of these afterwards, if the Lord will. Sixthly, In the year 1721, one Alexander Cairns, a servant in Tillycoultry parish near Stirling, working with a spade at a ditch or dike, his head turned round. Some say that some mocking youths (he being reckoned a serious man) lying hid spake through a speaking-trumpet; he apprehended that it was a voice from Heaven speaking to him, ' Come ' up hither, and I will shew thee things to come.' VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 243 He stood gazing ; he apprehended again the voice said, ' There will a great light arise out of the north 'and go to the south, which should affright many, ' and put some women distracted, and that there ' should be four years of dearth,' with other fool notions. He came [so] under the power of such delusions that he quit his work, and betook himself to fasting, prayer, and wrestling, to know what should be the end of these wonders ; but it had been better for him to have wrestled with the plough and other servile-work. When the set day of May that he condescended on came, the Castle of Edinburgh and other places were throng with people to see that light ; but when the day was far spent, my soul was vexed to hear the debauchees crying to damn the Cameronian ; others saying, yea some of our luke- warm professors, ' The Cameronian is deceived, he is ' o'er like his name-father.' Seventhly, Some years ago, one Mr. John Adam- son, who got an act of licence from the Presbytery of Perth, came to the west of Scotland, and desired to. join with the Dissenters ; but they delayed, until they were better informed about him : at which he took offence, and set up for his own hand, to raise himself upon the ruins of all other parties whatsom- ever, and got a party to take part with him in the shires of Air and Clidsdale, 14 and no where else ; a stain to these two ancient shires, where the gospel had its first, greatest, and longest seat. Tho' Scot- land was reckoned among the rudest and wildest of the heathen nations, yet very early after Christ's 244 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME ascension, among the first of the gentile-nations, the Lord was pleased, in his unspeakable goodness and mercy, to send the gospel to Britain. In these two shires, the Culdees, and after them the Lolards, had their residence, who first imbraced the gospel, and retained and maintained it against much opposition. This was a blot upon these two shires, for such a man as Adamson (on whose head the moon had influence, especially at its height ; his publick letters to the Presbytery and Magistrates of Perth are a sufficient evidence of this) to get a party and have such publick meetings. So many hearing him, I went upon my foresaid design to hear him, there being such a noise about him, and got it. He rambled the whole day, touched many things, but I could gather nothing ; he put a toom spoon in that people's mouth, that could not feed nor nourish them. The Church excommunicated him, and he gave them groats for pease, he excommunicated them. Some serious Christians observed that he took little or no time alone for prayer, meditation or reading ; for this reason, some of the Humble Pleaders for the Good Old Way, particularly in Auchinclough in the parish of Sorn, four of them watched 48 hours night and day. And tho' he had the conveniency of that chamber where Mr. Peden had the troubled night about the French Monshies, and fields ; yet they said to me, when I was there six years ago, that they were sure he took not one moment's time for any of the foresaid duties. The report of this, and many noticing this more and VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 245 more, made many desert him ; and tho' he had only an act of licence, yet he took upon him to baptize and marry : this made moe and moe to forsake him. At length he proclaimed his own marriage at some of his publick meetings, and drew up the form of a marriage- oath, and caused a man under a malafama read it before them ; this was all the marriage he sought. 15 The two foresaid Harleys and others took wives to themselves, breaking the good order of the Church of Scotland. After this, people quite deserted him. He went to Fife, and built a house for himself in some common place there ; he having made a good hand among them in the west for a piece of money, tho' the most part of those that followed him were poor, and none of the best. At last, he went some miles to baptise a child, the way he was not called, being not lawfully and legally ordained and authorized so to do. Coming home, having the ague and taking one of these fits, he went into a house by the way ; but the people were so rude to him that they would not suffer him to stay ; they having heard what challenges the pious, zealous, and faithful Mr. James Bathgate minister of Orwell (who ran fast, his time being short) 16 got by the ministers of that bounds, for his suffering him to stay all night in his house, it being very stormy, and for letting him pray in his family, and for singing Psalms at his examinations of his own parish, and for his keeping a fast-day in his own parish, for his praying for Mr. Gabriel Wilson when he was under censure for his sermon called ' The Trust,' 17 and for 246 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME his giving thanks publickly to the Lord for helping him to stand his ground when so many were fighting so fiercely against him. Mr. Adamson was also very desirous to have joined the Representee and Pro- testers ; 18 which they utterly refused. He went home, after these people put him to the door, and died within a few days, leaving his death upon that family who would not suffer him to stay till that fit went off. He and these that followed him in the west were also foolishly called Cameronians. Eighthly, Mr. James Taylor, sometime minister of Wamphry in Annandale, was process'd before the Presbytery of Lochmaben, and Synod of Dumfries, upon several accounts, since that national defection of taking that bundle of unhappy oaths ; 19 and ever since, the swearers have sought but a hair to make a teather of, against that small handful of non-swearers, being so blinded and byast with affection and pre- judice ; affectioned to all who go foot for foot with them in backsliding courses, and looking upon all with an ill eye, and constructing all to the worst of all others, who dare not go their length, venting more of their bastard zeal against these not-swearers, and these worthy ministers and Christians nick-named 'Marrow-folk,' 20 than against all the damnable errors and abominations of whatever kind abounding in these covenanted lands of Britain and Ireland. Many lamentable instances might be given, consider- ing what the reverend Mr. James Hog, 21 and Mr. Bathgate, and several others, have been tossed and vexed with ; but, above all, their running the length VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 247 and dreadful height of deposing Mr. Hepburn, Mr. Gilchrist, and Mr. Taylor; but especially of running the astonishing height of excommunicating the last two by the Synod of Dumfries, authorized by the General Assembly, whereby it became the dead [i.e. deed] of the whole Church; 22 as also the tossing of Mr. Gabriel Wilson, minister of the gospel at Maxton, for near two years from judicatory to judicatory, for that sermon he preached before the Synod of Kelso, called ' The Trust,' now published, 23 which speaks more for it self, than all his and its opposers have or can say against him and it. I wish he had published all their ' Queries,' and his ' Answers,' which would have given much light to all who desire the knowledge of gospel truths. 24 At last, when he came before the whole Assembly, and many other witnesses, he said, ' Moderator, I have a ' few words more to say, I shall not be tedious to ' this venerable Assembly.' Mr. Robert Dundas of Arnistoun, then his Majesty's Advocate, said, 'Not ' one word, not one word.' Mr. Wilson said, ' Moderator, seeing I have not liberty to speak, I ' adhere to the protestation of my representing ' brethren.' Then there was a speaking amongst the long-heads about the helm, some saying, ' O ' insolence ! ' and others, ' O insolent ! ' others saying, ' After all the work about him, we have not gained ' the least ground of him.' Let the unbyast world be judge what a stain this is to the sometime famous General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, heard of thorow the world : an unprecedented case, for 248 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME an elder (for as such he spoke there, and no law- advocates as such should sit or speak before Church- judicatories) to discharge a minister accused for his doctrine to speak in his own defence, and none to cry out of unjustice and wrong : a shame for us all, who were witnesses to it, to keep silence ; much more for members, where properly it became them to speak. 25 I have often since the first Assembly, because of what I saw there and since (altho' I long'd to see General Assemblies and other Church-judica- tories) been made to wish I had never seen any such unfaithful judicatories ; and if I were not mortally guilty, I would rather venture my neck before our justiciary lords, where I would get clean pith and fair play for my life, than before Church-judicatories ; for if I were opposite to the backsliding spirit of the duty [? day], I would be sure to come off with loss. How may the heathens shame us ? Some who have been amongst them say that some of their judges keep their courts in the night-time, that they may hear what is spoken but not who speaks, that thereby they may give justice to all parties. It was a wicked- ness in these judicatories to give such offences, and a weakness in Mr. Taylor to take such offence. Two blacks will never make a white. What I have to say against Mr. Taylor, I harled out of his own mouth. In the year 1723, I was in the Muirs of Evandale, providentially upon the Lord's Day ; and he being to preach in the Muirs of Killbride, I went and heard him preach before a considerable multi- tude, where he sung the 19th Psalm from the 7 to VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 249 the 12, holding forth 12 advantages in these five verses, exhorting all to prize and improve their Bibles, for they would be scarce in the west of Scotland if once the Papists were amongst them ; and lectured very distinctly upon the 88th Psalm, of what troubles were upon Heman's soul and body ; and preached upon that text, ' Buy the truth, and ' sell it not.' He concluded, that Christ was the substance of all truths ; where he insisted in a very large and free offer of the gospel, for all to ' come ' without money,' etc. He insisted in the afternoon upon the many ways of buying and selling of the truth ; and said, for him[self ] he had been a seller of the truth, as well as others. I heard him with much satisfaction the whole day, until the application of the whole, where he went out of my sight, in saying, tho' he was none of the youngest men, some elder than he thought and said that this was one of the most melancholly dispensations that had gone over the Church of Scotland's head, that it was hard for any man to speak, preach, or write, but some would take exceptions, and make reflections. [Firstly,] He was excepted against for refusing Church-privileges of both sacraments to persons, that were not nor would enter into society-meetings for prayer and con- ference. 2dly, He was reflected upon for refusing Church-privileges to persons who would not come up the length of the testimony. I knew not what to make of this length, until some of his leading followers said that it was [aimed at] these that heard any of the ministers without exception, and bind themselves 250 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME in bonds so to do. I said, 'Mr. Taylor could not ' instruct any of our contenders that espoused such ' a principle or practice.' He said, ' Mr. James ' Renwick. ; These things parted Mr. Gilchrist and him [i.e. Taylor], and made Mr. Gilchrist say, when dying, ' Poor man, he will run on in these untrodden * paths, and ruine himself.' But, let Mr. Taylor father this bastard zeal upon whom he will, Mr. Renwick was neither father nor mother to it. None that I know now alive was more witness [to], nor so much concerned with, his conduct and managment in these things than I was ; yet I never saw nor heard of his asking any such questions [as] whether they were in society-meetings or not, or requiring any such obli- gation. He did indeed preach up, and exhorted to, this duty of setting up and keeping up of society- meetings ; but if he got known persons to testify that they were free of publick scandal, national and personal, of commission and omission, (for persons, who came to him for Church-privileges, could not have certificates, nor would he have received certifi- cates from curats or indulged), and if they had a competency of knowledge in the fundamentals, this was all he required. And sometimes, when fathers were ignorant, or publick wrong steps in their life ; in that case, if mothers were satisfying, he allowed them to present their children, the father standing by and receiving rebukes and exhortations to amend ; at other times, admitting of sponsors, when no other course could be taken. I wish from my heart, that Mr. Taylor and all others would beware of charging VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 251 Mr. Renwick's name with falshoods. Reproaches broke his heart while alive, but then he defended himself with tongue and pen ; and now, when he 's long ago honestly off the stage, to bury his name in the rubbish of right-hand extreams is a great injury. Besides all his other singular enduements, he had a deep reach of solid mother-wit, and (of his standing) was well versed in Church-discipline ; and, if he [had] lived until this day, would have been esteemed a great man for discipline. Ninthly, These Dissenters, for some years commonly called 'M'Millan's Folk,' who were a part of the United Societies before the Revolution (commonly since nick-named ' Cameronians ') for eight years time, except the unhappy debates in the year 1685 mentioned in my former preface, 26 were of one heart and soul, until the happy Revolution, that the spirit of division and confusion was poured out amongst us ; then we were all like men in a dream, as the pious Mr. John Blackadder (commonly called ' Guess ' again ') said in a sermon upon that text, Psal. cxxvi. 1, in the fields, wherein he asserted, the Lord would turn back our captivity. He desired all the wise heads of wit in the world to guess when and how the Lord would turn back our captivity ; for him- [self] he would guess none, for we would all be as men in a dream. Then were there many stumbling-blocks laid in our way, on which many stumbled and fell, and never recovered themselves till this day : first, by the State, when King William was admitted to the throne without our covenants proposed to him, 27 252 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME contrary to the national laws of this kingdom, en- acted in Parliament, when Charles II. was present, in the year 1650. 2S 2dly, When we saw so many of hand-bloody persecutors sitting in that Convention of States, for this there was no help, being their birth-right, or legally cited to sit there, not ours. 3dly, Some whose hands were reeking in the blood of martyrs, whom we apprehended and sought justice to be executed upon them ; but in vain, for the greater part of them that sate there were either guilty themselves or their near relations. 4thly, Some were offended that any of our societies should have concurred with many other honest men in guarding that Convention, when there was so much need for it, having no forces in the kingdom, and not knowing what the Lord was about to do in this doubtful juncture, Claverhouse having upwards of an hundred horse in readiness in town, and many other wicked men gathered to the town, and dwelling in the town, designed to raise the Con- vention. And these two worthy good men, my Lord Crawford Lindsay and my Lord Cardross, and others, who had their own share of that perse- cution, were in danger of being murdered, both by night and day ; to prevent which a guard was kept at their lodgings. 29 Claverhouse and many others being inraged to see so many honest men in arms, every day enquiring at the convention, What meant the inbringing of the rabble. 30 5thly, The hasty rise of Angus's Regiment was ill taken by some. These were a part of our unhappy debates about the State ; VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 253 notwithstanding there were some promising things in this Convention. The bishops frequented that house for some days, and said prayers in the morning (the Bishop of Dunkeld was the last), where they prayed for the man for whom they had often watered their couches. 31 The Convention discharged them to enter there again, and said]- they had no use for spiritual lords ; and [so] they were put out with disdain and contempt. Skelmorly said, 'Let ' them stay a little, and explain their prayers, or ' else he would explain them as he understood them. ' For the man, no doubt it was the Duke of York ; ' but his doubt was in the manner of watering their ' couches ; for, sure he was, it was never with their ' tears, but it behoved to be by p g and spuing, ' when they lay drunk upon them.' When they came out, some of the Convention said they wished that the honest lads knew that they were put out, for then they would not win away with heal gowns. All the fourteen gathered together with pale faces, and stood in a cloud in the Parliament-closs. James Wilson, Robert Neilson, Francis Hislop, and my self, were standing close by them. Francis Hislop with force thrust Robert Neilson upon them ; their heads went hard upon one another. But there being so many enemies in the city, fretting, and gnashing their teeth, waiting for an occasion to raise a mob, where undoubtedly blood would have been shed ; and we, having laid down conclusions among our selves to guard against giving the least occasion to all mobs, kept us from tearing of their gowns. 254 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME Their graceless graces went quickly off; and neither bishop nor curate was seen in the streets ; this was a surprising sudden change, not to be for- gotten. Some of us would have rejoiced, more than in great sums, to have seen these bishops sent legally down the Bow, 32 that they might have found the weight of their tails in a tow, to dry their hose- soles, that they might know what hanging was ; they having been active for themselves, and the main instigators to all the mischiefs, cruelties and bloodshed of that time, wherein the streets of Edin- burgh, and other places of the land, did run with the innocent, precious, dear blood of the Lord's people. When the Convention came to discourse whether the Crown was vacant or not, Sir Patrick Home, then of Polwart, said that 'the Duke of York had ' never a legal right to it, nor legal parliament.' Some said, ' If ye mention that, ye will be as wild ' as ever Ren wick was.' The Laird of Blair said, ' Wild ! we have been hanging and shooting honest ' men for wildness, and now we are all turned wild ' together.' They unexpectedly, at this time, did also justify and approve of what we had done in destroying the monuments of idolatry, and putting away the pre- latical courts. 33 There were several other encourag- ing and promising things in the State ; but nothing but discouragements from the Church, from which better things might have been expected. Upon the 16th day of October 1690, the General VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 255 Assembly conveened, and had so little sight or sense of their dreadful national defections in addressing and accepting of York's toleration, and having their general meetings under the same, as they were then called, that they had the confidence to mention Mr. Gabriel Cunninghame, one of the actually-in- dulged, as their last moderator. 34 Their new-chosen moderator was Mr. H. K., 35 who was deposed for his zeal and faithfulness in his young days by the Publick Resolutioners, and, after that, preached none until the year 1679, that the third indulgence was granted ; then he preached four Sabbaths within the parish of Mid-Calder, where he was formerly minister, and assisted at an indulged sacrament in West-Calder in October thereafter, where all that had been in the late insurrection at Bothwell-bridge were debarred ; and then preached no more until York's toleration, being one of the eight who gave thanks for the same, in name of the whole Church of Scotland ; and who had baptized with the curat in Bathgate, and paid stipends and cess ; and, being an heritor there, sent John Hervy, wright, (who lately died there) to the enemies' camp upon a horse, to inlist his name under the dragoons' banner, which all heretors were charged to do: and he with Mr. David Home drew up that declaration commonly called ' Hamiltoun-Declaration,' S6 which divided and rent that handful of the Lord's people in arms for the defence of the gospel at Bothwell- bridge. And tho' he, after long silence, preached the foresaid four Sabbaths and the whole time of 256 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME York's toleration ; yet Mr. Pitcairn in Drone, 37 who was active in deposing of honest ministers for their faithfulness in that day, opposed his being moderator, where he got some sort of reponing again. Their choosing such a moderator, so guilty of our national defections, of commissions and omissions, was a sufficient swatch of what members this first Assembly was made up of; men who had sinned away zeal and faithfulness, by wallowing in the sink and puddle of our national abominations of indulgences and toleration, and many otherwise guilty of sinful and shameful silence and unfaith- fulness ; the greater part tongue-persecutors, and some by hands. These are the chief reasons why these latter times have been so unlike our former times of reformation. Then the most zealous and faithful were moderators, and sat at the helm of Church-affairs, and naughty men were made stand back ; but at this time, the publick, witty and polititious, consulting and racking the rules of carnal state-policy, began like broken heirs serving them- selves to their grandfathers, going back near a hundred years in settling the Church, passing over all the great things that were wrought and done from the year 1638 to 1649, not asserting the in- trinsick power of the Church. And all they desired and sought of the Convention, when drawing up the Claim of Right, was to rescind Prelacy and to establish Presbytery, being the inclinations of the people ; a very louse unsure foundation. 38 Not one word of its divine right, nor renewing our broken burnt cove- VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 257 nants ; which was very surprising to some good men in the Convention. It was also all that Mr. William Crightoun, 39 Mr. Hugh Kennedy, Mr. David Jamison desired or sought of King William, when sent to him, who was willing to grant all at his first ac- cession to the throne (before he was imposed [upon] and biassed by the Englishes) that might have tended to the good of the nation and Church of Scotland : a none-such golden season slighted and lost, without acquainting him with the constitution of this Church, and steps of our Reformation, and the superadded ty of our solemn national covenants, or seeking the renewing of them : but above all the sin and danger of Erastianism, in picking out of any of the pearls of King Christ's crown, which [the former occupants of King William] his throne are dreadfully guilty of ; which affords ground to conclude that it is one of the chief causes why the Lord, in holy justice and mercy to this Church, has made the crown tumble from the heads of the unhappy race of Stewarts. It is remarkable what good honest Samuel said to Saul, for his meddling with the priest's office, (the first ill turn he did after he was made king) ' Thy kingdom shall not continue, for the Lord hath ' rejected thee from being king.' Next, When we saw our manifold and manifest defections, especially in our ministers, was to be passed, without either personal acknowledgment or being doctrinally condemned : and tho' it had been, as some write, that all our national defections had been epidemical, that is, the most part of all ranks R 258 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME involved therein, yet then the personal censure and confessing of them ceased; only national fasting and humiliation. But several of our national defec- tions were not epidemical ; and tho' all of them had names and distinctions one from another, yet most of them lost their names, and were not insert in the causes of that first national fast appointed by that Assembly. This also was very offensive, and stumbling to all who retained sight and sense of the multitude and hainousness of the same : a slight way of healing indeed, which now is undercotted, and seems to be incurable ; the nation wasting, and the Church sinking under the dead weight of these, and our innumerable provocations since, pyning away in our iniquities, and spending our wretched years in trouble. Next, The hard and bad treatment Masters Shields, Linnen, and Boid met with ; their paper containing their grievances only read in a committee, not one speaking in favours of it, except an old minister from the North, who said, ' That is a fell sort of a ' paper, it deals the beetle among the bairns, and ' gives me a cuff in the by-going ' ; and condemned in open Assembly, tho' few of them knew what was in it. Old Sir James Stewart, advocate, 40 said several times, ' this was a stain to that Assembly.' And let the unbiassed world judge if that paper deserved these epithets they gave it, inserted in their published acts, viz. that it contains several peremptor gross mistakes, unseasonable and unpracticable proposals, uncharitable and injurious reflections. 41 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 259 Further, When we were sent from the United General Correspondents to represent our grievances, we were long put off, and with great difficulty got them laid before them, many of them about the helm looked upon us with a frowning countenance ; and when we saw many of our bitter-tongued per- secutors sitting there as elders, and had so little regard to our grievances, and esteem of us, that they thought it not worth their while to give us any answer; these and other things made us come out with our hearts filled with sorrow; 42 which made James Wilson say to me, ' Now is that sadly ac- ' complished what Mr. Peden said to me at Mr. ' Cameron's grave,' which is to be found in the 36 passage of his Life;* 3 this was a juncture of time when we had both mercy and judgment to sing of, tho', alas ! the most part quite mistuned, a time of weeping and rejoicing. These who had seen our first temple in our reforming covenanting days, and who had walked about our Zion, and tell'd her towers, and marked her bulwarks of reformation, they wept when they saw this so unlike it. Others, who had not seen nor taken notice, they rejoiced ; some lost sight of both their eyes, and regarded nothing, either right or wrong ; some lost sight of their left-eye and saw nothing wrong ; others of their right-eye and saw nothing right. Oh they are happy who see with both their eyes, whose souls the Lord puts in life and keeps in life, and whose feet he keeps from sliding, under the strange steps and changes of his dispensations. 260 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME The foresaid grievances in the State, but especially in the Church, being many, laid the foundation for all the unhappy divisions and separations that have continued now these 36 years. Some are confident that these grievances were a sufficient ground of dis- owning the State, and separating from the Church, and [from] all others that durst not or could not go their length in principle and practice : these were very bitter against the former three ministers. Mr. Shields much lamented his silence before the Assembly, and coming so far short of his former resolutions, ' that if ever he saw such an occasion, he * should not be tongue-tacked ' : Masters Linn en and Boyd had too much influence upon him, being in haste for kirks, stipends and wives. The greater part of the gleanings of that persecution were for humbly pleading for the good old way, in a legal manner representing these grievances to judicatories of both kinds : this, we thought, was a legal testi- mony against them and exoneration of us, and that nothing more was required of us, in our stations and capacities, but to mourn before the Lord for the great and grievous wrongs in the State, but especially in the Church : the snares being broke, and the practices of these defections stopt by this merciful Revolution-dispensation, tho' the sin of the tyranny and defections of that time did and do still ly as a dead weight upon this sinful land. This we did to the Convention ; 4 * and when it was turned into a parliament, Mr. Shields having drawn up grievances to represent to them, he read them VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 261 before a General Correspondent, which all were well pleased with, (one thing which we sought, amongst many others, of that Parliament was the rescinding of all the wicked acts and laws, made in favours of abjured Prelacy, and against our covenanted work of Reformation and Presbyterian principles ; which was never done to this day, but stands in the registers ; 45 an unhappy foundation for a new mischief of per- secution,) and choosed Michael Shields, James Wilson and my self, to present them ; but Mr. Shields advised us, before we gave them in, to take Mr. Thomas Hog's advice, (commonly called the north- country Mr. Hog) he being then at Edinburgh, which we did. He desired 24 hours to consider our paper, which we gave him. .He took our paper in his hand, and said, ' I have considered your paper, and ' I 'm well-pleased with every sentence and expres- ' sion in it, and your method in keeping up a legal ' testimony against the many wrongs of this day ; ' and have found my self obliged to go to my knees, ' and bless the Lord that there is yet a remnant in ' Scotland, thinking, speaking, and writing with this ' zeal and faithfulness : only I am in doubts if ye ' shall give it in at this time ; but let them hag and ' hash on, for they will make no cleanly work, neither * in State nor Church ; and when ye see wherein ' they have done wrong, and what they have left ' undone, then to tell them in plain terms. But ye ' may do as ye have in commission and freedom ; ' for I will neither perswade, nor diss wade you.' At this time it was delayed. 46 All knows we continued 262 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME to represent to the Church judicatories from the beginning, against all discouragements, until the infatuate demented Union, and since the taking of these black oaths many have laid aside thoughts of further representing ; many fearing, and some assert- ing, that they have changed their head and holding, and hold their ministry now by the authority of the lords spiritual and temporal, having subjected their ministry to them, and submitted to mischiefs enacted by them; and their being involved in such deep compliances, and daubing and plaistering these, and sinfully and shamefully more and more silent at the time's abominations, and altogether dumb, when these oaths were first invented, and enacted to be imposed upon officers civil and military, without [giving] the least warning of the snares, sin and danger of submitting to the usurped abjured authority of spiritual lords : this was a defection in officers of State and army, but a double defection in ministers, to submit not only to the power of prelatical hier- archy, but also to the usurped abjured supremacy of magistrates, to impose oaths upon ministers of the gospel as they are ministers ; these two being equally sworn against, and the chief grounds of all our con- tendings, wrestlings and sufferings, and innocent blood, precious blood, dear blood, blood that cries both loud and long, and is crying this day, against all actors, concurrers, connivers and approvers, which takes in the most part of all ranks in Scotland these 156 years, since the war began, chiefly upon these two grounds, betwixt the woman's seed and the serpent's brood. VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 2G3 Upon these foresaid grounds, the Humble Pleaders for the Good Old Way " dare not own these swear- ing ministers, nor address and represent to them grievances, as judicatories of Christ, if it were not by way of remonstrance and protestation ; the most part being so involved in these national defections. The foresaid lamentable divisions and separations in these called ' M'Millan's Folk,' from all that durst not go their length in principle and practice, was not neither are stated either in substance or circumstances, but only in overstretched consequences, or different methods and manner of keeping up a testimony ; they concluding that these grievances in State and Church were a sufficient ground of proclaiming to the world their disowning the State, and separation from all others that durst not walk in these dangerous unprecedented paths ; they making no difference betwixt our present condition, and our former period of tyranny and defection, when we were under different dispensations and circumstances. Then we had no judicatories, that we durst either with safety to our consciences nor bodies appear before ; but since the Revolution, there was [no] danger to either : before the black Union, our grievances lay mostly in omissions and unfaithful mismanagments ; but now, in their manifold and manifest defections. All owns that each period of the Church has its own different dispensations and circumstances, wherein the sovereign wisdom of God is to be acknowledged, for the trial of his people ; for if all were alike, then it would be no trial or difficulty to the Lord's people 264 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME to know the times, and what they ought to do : but different dispensations and circumstances call for changes of methods and manners of managing a testimony against the snares and sins of the time. Under the last period, we were deprived of religion, life and liberty ; under this, we may enjoy all these things. All present know this time ; and whoever desires a short compendious account of that period, let them glance over the Informatory Vindication, especially the 41, 42, 43 pages thereof, which Mr. Renwick and Mr. Shields wrote, and Mr. Renwick owns in his last words ; and which was published at the desire, and with the approbation and consent, of all the United Societies ; which Mr. M'Millan's people have represented, and call theirs, tho' I know no humane writing strikes more directly against the measures and methods they have taken since the Revolution, particularly the 80, 81, 82, 83, 84 pages, which they look upon as insufficient grounds of withdrawing from either ministers or members of this covenanted Church : and the six various cases the Church may be in, and what the people should do in every one of these cases, pag. 75, 76, 77, 78 ; and the nine grounds of withdrawing from ministers and others, guilty of such and such things, from the 88 page to the 110 page, wherein it is frequently said that, in that period, under these dispensations and non-such circumstances, that they withdrew. These unhappy divisions and separations were among the gleanings of that persecution, whereof the most part are now off the stage, which [divisions] have had VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 265 many bad and sad effects and consequences, and few looking upon them as judgments and miseries, but too many taking delight therein, every one being right in their own eyes : an alienation of love and affection, and more love to opinion than piety, and drinking in of all ill reports with pleasure, however groundless and malicious they be, without searching into the truth or falshood, and reporting them to others; whereby they both wrong themselves, the persons they speak to, and these they speak of. I know none more guilty of this than professing women, who have got more of notional religion than heart religion ; and the more they possess and con- cern themselves with national controversies, the more guilty of spreading ill reports of these who differ from them. I wish that all the Lord's people, who have a mind for heaven, would keep a bridle- hand here : it is given as one of the characters of a citizen of Zion, that ' they do not slander with their ' tongues, nor take up and spread ill reports to the ' hurt of their neighbour.' The type David says that 'slanderers and liars shall not dwell in his ' house ' [; and slandering is] directly contrair to many other Scriptures. I have been witness (to my grief) to much of this, these 46 years, among divided parties ; and I have had my leal share of wrongs this way, and may expect more and more of it. I have often thought, these many years, that the greater part think and speak too little of the break- ing, burning, and burying of our national covenants, and the innocent blood of the Lord's worthies ; 266 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME other some think and speak more of them than of the broken covenant of works, and the blessed sweet covenant of grace, or Christ's doing and dying. The blest Mr. Cargil says in his last words, to the first of these, ' The religion of the land, and the zeal ' for the Lord's engagements, are come to nothing ' but a supine, lothsom and hateful formality ; and ' there cannot be zeal, liveliness and Tightness in ' people, who want heart-renovation '; and 'let never ' any think that they are in the right exercise of ' true religion that want a zeal for God's publick ' glory.' And to the last he says, that he had followed holiness, and taught truth, and had been most in the main things ; not that he thought the things concerning the times little, but he thought none could do any thing to purpose in God's great and publick matters, till they were right in their own conditions. Oh that all had taken this course ! there had been fewer apostasies in this land. 48 I know not a more holding evidence of carnality, and want of that love so much commanded and com- mended among the Lord's people, and such an enemy to the serious exercise of grace, and inconsistent with a gospel-spirit, and a stop to sweet edifying conversation, as [i.e. than] this ; and by these unhappy separations from all ministers, even those whom they cannot charge with any actual step of defection, but are as much grieved and mourn more before the Lord, for all the backslidings of this land, as the most part of them do ; only they dare not go their length in positive declinings and separations, fearing VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 267 the remedy to be worse than the disease. These Dissenters have not only deprived themselves of some soul-refreshing blinks of the gospel, which some of the Lord's people can tell from sweet ex- perience, these years bygone ; but also have sadned the hearts of these ministers, and have been a dead weight upon their ministry, and lessened their authority, and have had a sad influence upon many ignorant people, especially the younger, making them conclude that they have more to say against such ministers and others, than upon good ground they have or can say, lessening their esteem of the ordinances of Christ ; and [setting] a bad example to the carnal, unconcerned slumberers, loiterers, and clatterers-away of the Sabbath. Separating from all without distinction hardens the actually guilty in their defections, and mars one of the ends of our withdrawings, to wit, that they may be ashamed of their evil deeds. Further, the four declarations over the Cross of Sanquhar ; the first, August 10th, 1692 ; the second, November 6th, 1695 ; the third, May 21st, 1703 ; the fourth, May 1707, proclaiming to the world their disowning of the State. 49 What ever or who ever moved and stirred them up to take that way ? That declaration 1707 was a Popish malignant contrivance, there being at that time a designed rebellion amongst them. 50 Some in the Government allowed the late Laird of Kersland to feign himself to be on their side, that he might find out all their secrets, and discover 268 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME them ; and when he drew frankly up with them, they knowing that he lived in the midst of many Dissenters, and was intimate with them, they pressed him to go and to perswade the Cameronians to pro- claim their disowning of the State, and they would perswade the King of France that the Cameronians would join them ; and this would have great influ- ence with him to send men and arms for their assistance ; which Kersland did, and conveened M'Millan's folk with one of their preachers at the Cross of Sanquhar, and proclaimed the same, and fixt a copy thereof upon the cross : and tho' the Pretender's interest was not insert directly, yet it was couched in it. This Kersland has insert in his Memoirs, left behind him to the world. 61 Many thorow Britain and Ireland, but especially in Scotland, were surprised with the first of these declarations, when they heard that the persecuted Presbyterians in Scotland had proclaimed their dis- owning the Prince of Orange as King of Britain, the man whom the Lord, in his sovereignty, mercy and goodness to these lands, especially Scotland, had raised up, helped and honoured to be the instrument to put a stop to tyranny and the flood of Popery coming upon us as an inundation of waters, and the designed massacre, especially in the west of Scotland ; and struck his enemies in such terror and confusion, that they could not manage their arms at Salisbury- plains, when there were so many thousands gathered together against him, which made him in some respects a conqueror ; as some, who were witness to VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 269 it, told me. He might have lived in peace, safety and honour all his days, and got a bit to his mouth and brat to his back, and never involved himself in such manifold dangers ; especially when he went in person to Ireland, for the relief of the massacred Protestants by the bloody Irish Papists. Whatever too much eye he had to the crown of Britain, as some writers say, see what the worthy banisht Brown says in his postscript to The Banders Dis- banded,™ what wants and wrongs may be about kings, before that people can warrantably proclaim their disowning of them. It is said of a thinking king, who took the crown from his head and set it upon the table, that he said, 'If the world knew what ' thorns and briars thou art lined with, they would ' not reckon thee worth the uptaking at their foot.' Crowns are like other created profits, pleasures and honours ; they look better afar off than when in hand ; and give so much toil to the body, and vexa- tion to the spirit, as almost takes away the comfort and sweetness of all other enjoyments, all being vanity and vexation of spirit. I have often thought that our unthankfulness may be reckoned among the causes of God's wrath, that we did not understand nor regard the doing of the Lord's hand, in delivering us when we were at the brink of perishing ; especially the sufferers in the United Societies, whose necks were upon the blocks (being excluded in York's toleration), that we did not in a special manner sing forth his praises for his goodness, and works of wonder done for us in 270 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME particular, when our storm was turned into a calm. And it is well known that King William had a sympathy with the persecuted Church of Scotland, and shewed kindness to her sufferers, for which he got a sharp challenge from his uncles by writing : and also our Church had great kindness of Queen Mary, in whom only of that ill family there was not only some good thing but things found ; one hold- ing evidence was that she had some concern about salvation, that few kings and queens and the most part far below them have. Mr. William Carstares put in her hand one of that compendious treatise of Mr. Guthry's, The Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ.™ Sometime thereafter he enquired how she pleased [i.e. relished] the little swatch of Scots Presbyterian writings ? She said she admired it, and should never part with it while she lived. And King G. if he had got things right, they had not been so far wrong as they are. All know that these three nation - wasting and church - sinking abominations of Union, toleration, and patronages, were established by law, by the last of that unhappy race of Stewarts : and whatever wants and wrongs have been about K. William, Q. Mary and K. George, blame the representatives of the nation, that are law-makers and law-executers, in whose hand is the power of setting up and putting down of kings ; but especially the Church, who have never dealt faithfully and freely with them, by giving them warning of the great and dreadful guilt lying upon that throne, especially of Erastianism ; K. William VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 271 and K. George being members of other churches, who have their testimonies for Christ's prophetical and priestly offices. But it has been the glory and honour of Scotland alone, to contend for Christ's kingly office, as head and king of his own dear- bought Church. They have been far from the valiantness of the fourscore priests, that withstood Uzziah for encroaching upon the priest's office, for which he was remarkably punished. And tho' the sword in K. William and K. George's hands have not been so much a terror to all ill-doers as they ought, yet it has never been a terror to well-doers ; as Mr. Shields said, 'Under the former reigns there ' was nothing but tyranny, and under this govern - ' ment there 's too much mercy and lenity, and both ' these are extremes.' Since these dangerous and unhappy disownings and separation began at the Revolution, there have been many stumbling-blocks laid in the way by the State, but especially by the Church, upon which many serious Christians stumbled, and got an ill impression, and went home and gave it to others, which has remained upon their spirits till this day : and tho' the most part of these old worthy gleanings be off the stage, yet there are some risen up in their room, espousing the same principles and practices, but far from their self-denial, growth, attainments, and experience in the ways of the Lord ; and they have got many more offences since, and there is ground to fear will get more and more, if these melancholly days be lengthned out. 272 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME From the dear-bought experience I have of being 14 months in the enemies' cruel bloody hands, in the very heat and height of that tyranny, and 18 times examined, and one time with boots and thumbikins ; 6i and when the owning of authority, or rather pure tyranny, was one of their many wicked, fool, ensnaring questions ; I have been often made to wonder, if the State had been as hard upon Dissenters as the Church have been upon some, where these good well-meaning people, upon the peril of their necks and the bloody rope, would have got the strength, confidence, support and comfort to set up their faces, and say that they do not own King William and King George as kings of Britain. But I have wondred most, that Mr. M'Millan, a teacher and defender of these principles and practices, (when his fainting, as his people calls it, was so great before his brethren in the Church judicatories, where there were neither boot, thumbikins, fire- matches, and the neck in no danger of the bloody rope,) did judicially and solemnly again and again confess his great sin, and profess his great sorrow for his separating courses, and promise ammendment ; and yet thereafter, at Auchinsauch above Douglas, before a great multitude of people did make con- fession of that confession, and profession of sorrow at that profession, and promises of amendment of that promise : 55 such confessions, professions and promises are enough to turn all such things out of request to an unthinking world. There is yet a subdivision of good people scattered VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 273 thorow the land, who have deserted Mr. M'Millan, since K. George's accession, for his representing grievances and seeking redress of the same : these live altogether without gospel ordinances, and are very confident that they only are in the principles and practices of Christ's slain witnesses in this land ; whereas there is not one party in Scotland maintain- ing the whole testimony against Popery, Prelacy, Erastianism, Sectarianism, schism, error, tyranny, and defections left and right-hand, and whatsoever is con- trair to sound doctrine and the power of godliness, handed down to us. So that it was never in such danger of being darkned and blotted, that the poor young and following ages cannot, neither will, have a right uptaking of it in all the parts thereof. It has been some of my weary night and days thoughts these many years, that the most part of ministers were shaped out and spirited with their left-hand defections, to be stumbling - blocks to people ; and these years bygone more and more in many respects, and few of them that regard it. There are three further instances, most stumbling and offensive at the time. First, Their homologating and complying with patronages, thereby robbing the Lord's people of their natural right and Christian liberty in calling of their own pastors in a gospel-way, that, for the clothing of one back and feeding of one intruding fleecer's belly, they will starve a thousand souls, committing the charge of souls to soul-destroyers. This is far from the exercise and practice of great 274 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME Mr. Welsh minister of Air, who used to frequent his garden in the night-time, to wrestle with God by prayer for the people under his charge ; and who, when challenged by his wife for being so unmerciful to his body, answered, ' Tis otherwise with me than ' with you ; for I have the charge of three thousand * souls whom I must answer for, and know not ' how it may be with many of them.' 56 And some other godly painful ministers have doubted if there was a minister got heaven, considering their charge and how far short they come; and that serious, zealous, tender souls desire and design to evidence themselves to be of Christ's sheep, not to follow or hear such strangers, violently thrust in upon them in such a strange way, not by the door of Christ's orderly appointment. Mr. Shields, and other great men, assert that wrong entries is a sufficient ground of disowning and withdrawing from all such. Many have heard what censurings honest ministers have gotten, and are getting, for their pitying and sympathizing with tender parents in their very melancholly cir- cumstances, for baptizing their children : and of late it is proposed and pressed in the Synod of Merse and Teviotdale, for an act against all the elders giving testificates and tokens at sacraments, thereby to deprive the Lord's people (whose souls are grieved with their backsliding courses) of their Church- privileges. But they must be loose-principled and mean-spirited elders, who would suffer themselves to be robbed of their just power and due right and privilege, tho' they should make a thousand such VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 275 acts. There are some of late have written A Cry of an Howl in the Desert to all Elder ships. , &r for a general correspondence to give a general puhlick testimony against this unheard-of step of defection ; but thereby they are seeking hot water beneath cold ice. The greater part of elders, and all others who are fallen in contentedly with this backslidden, up- sitten, Sardis and Laodicean Church, are like the deaf adder to all such cries and calls ; as the pious, zealous Mr. John Dury, sometime minister in Dalmeny, said in publick, ' Of all knaves* the knave minister ' and elder was the greatest.' There were many toom pulpits in Scotland, tho' the gowns were in them; there has been and are many naughty and insufficient men in that office, both in principle and practice, who have none of these things either in head or heart. It is remarkable what the faithful unto a violent death, Mr. James Guthry, says in his last publick dying words, ' That he was hated for his ' endeavours to get the Church of God purged of ' corrupt ministers and elders '; 5S of which [purging] there was never more need than in this non-such corrupt time. The back-look, and fore-sight, and firm perswasion of mind, that as corrupt elders have been a plague unto this Church, so there would be more, constrained me (at the Revolution) with some worthy Christians who signed with me, who are honestly off the stage, to present to the Presbytery of Linlithgow exceptions against all such; and to protest that none guilty of our national defections should be admitted to that 276 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME sacred office, without their particular publick ac- knowledgment of the same before the congregation where they were ordained ; which has been a great satisfaction to me ever since. There are indeed (blessed be the Lord for it) a goodly remnant yet in Scotland, who have a good understanding of this time, seeing with both their eyes, and with one eye, and speaking with one breath, who, if they were gathered together in a general correspondence, might do somewhat in keeping up a publick testimony against the wrong steps of the day : which I would take as a token for good. 2dly, The keeping of the Church of England's superstitious holy-days, imposed and appointed by the king and his council, made up of lords spiritual and temporal ; and the last General Assembly's sup- plicating the king for a publick national fast, and to appoint the day ; which he, with the advice of his counsel, lords spiritual and temporal, appointed to be the 7th of July 1726, as all may see in his proclamation ; which was kept by all ministers, swearers and not - swearers, except two, that I heard of. What a poor low pass have the Church of Scotland voluntarily brought themselves unto, in giving up their Church-privileges ! The seers of the sometime renowned General Assembly of this Church, in former good days, condescended upon causes of humiliation and thanksgiving, and ap- pointed days most convenient, and sought only the civil sanction of the magistrate to interpose their authority for the due observance of the same. VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 277 3dly, Our national covenants that the serpent's brood, the Popish, Prelatical, and malignant faction, heaven -daringly broke and burnt ; and it is 59 made criminal for any of the Lord's people to own them ; and all ranks have presumptuously broken and cast them by, as almanacks out of date ; and some ministers, and many others, deny the indispensible and perpetually binding obligation of them. And of late, some ' Willies with the wisps,' or ' spunkies of wild-fire,' seen mostly in boguish myrish ground, in louring, foulsom, unwholsom weather, viz. — An unhappy woful Professor Simpson, striking at the doctrine or foundation of our Christian religion, reviving old condemn'd errors. Some years ago, the worthy Mr. James Webster was much blamed by the most part for his opposing of him ; it was then reckoned his plea. Can the world understand how it was his plea alone then, and now the church's plea ? 60 It is the same man that is venting the same erroneous tenets ; but therein they may read their sin in their judgment, that now, after he has poisoned so many youths, and turned more insolent (therein is that Scripture fulfilled, that ' Evil men ' and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving ' and being deceived ') that they did not then not only depose him, but give him over to Satan, whom he was then and is serving; and crushed these unspeakably unhappy things in the bud. And also a glazing glancing-glass, 61 who loves to hear himself speak and the world to notice him, affecting such unheard-of unhappy singularities, 278 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME wherein he cannot propose or have the prospect of being useful or edifying, in our present melancholly circumstances, to any of the godly zealous of the Lord's people, but most stumbling and offensive to all such, and tending to the increase of the ruining detestable neutrality and indifferency in these great concerns, that we have expresly sworn against in these covenants, 62 and making all the Philistines rejoice ; razing the foundation or one of the chief parts of our national Reformation, affirming, that national covenanting was peculiar to the Jews ! How offensive, affecting, and afflicting is it to many serious, zealous, tender souls, who are fearing that these spunks of wild-fire, that are soon kindled but not so easily quenched, break out into a flame ! It had been better for these dangerous men, that they had never been born, or cast into the sea, than so to offend so many thousands of Christ's little ones, for whom he died. Christ's woes are heavy woes upon all by whom offences come ; and blessed are they, this day, who are kept from giving and taking offences when offences are so abounding amongst all divided parties. And if the foundation be thus destroyed, what have the many thousand righteous persons been doing these 170 years in Scotland ? (which I am sure, if ever any deserv'd the name of righteous since the apostles ceased out of the world [they do], both evangelically, inter- pretatively, and comparatively) building castles in the air, without a foundation on the rock of God's word; whom the Lord remarkably raised VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 279 up, spirited, fitted, and endowed with graces and gifts ; who reckoned it a great part of their generation-work, wherein their souls rejoiced, to spend and be spent in making, renewing, and pursuing the ends thereof, and to own and adhere to and seal these covenants with their best blood, for which they counted nothing too dear, being sensibly and discernably strengthned, supported and comforted in doing of all. And the Lord, who will not put his seal to a blank, has discern- ably ratified and sealed these covenants, in the conversion of many thousand souls, since their first entring into them ; there being nothing in them but what is morally binding, and the end and design of them- — the glory of God, national and personal reformation. But this is an Independent principle abjured in these covenants, among the rest of all other sectarian errors, whether more gross or refined. Beside, we ought to have some regard to the many faithful contendings of some of our great, pious, sound divines, who have asserted the perpetual obligation of them ; particularly the foresaid faithful minister and martyr for Christ, Mr. James Guthry, in his last dying words, which I have by me ; 63 the famous Mr. Shields his assertions on that head ; and the late deceast Mr. Haliburton professor of Divinity in St. Andrews, and others, which I design to let the world hear afterwards. And there are few that stumble and fall that rise again. Now is sadly come to pass what that clear and 280 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME long-sighted, never to be forgotten, faithful unto the death Mr. Robert M'Ward saw begun in the end of the year 1679, and foresaw what was to come to pass in this land, what by left-hand defections and right-hand extremes and divisions, that so con- founded and filled his heart with sorrow that brought him to the gates of death, as he expresseth him- self in that letter now published without a date, 64 which he wrote in the end of that year, and which I saw passing from hand to hand in the beginning of the year 1680. And it was this new-begun unhappy division that made worthy Mr. Walter Smith to leave his testi- mony against it, that morning he got martyrdom, wherein he says, 'I was withdrawn from by some, ' as having given offence to them by my protesting ' against their way in particular, wherein I am sure ' they were wrong ; and tho' they had been right it ' was not a ground to have made such a separation ' from me, much less [from] these that joined with ' me : and if any division be longer kept up upon that ' account, they will find it great iniquity if rightly ' considered.' 65 And there are some yet alive, who were in Holland when that division began, and concerned in it when it spread in Scotland, to whom Mr. M'Ward ex- pressed the same sure grounds, weighty arguments, and piercing reasons against that and all other ill- grounded separations, and did earnestly request to the contrair, with arguments such as these, that it is one of the devil's notable devices, when he cannot VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 281 get the Lord's people carried to left-hand snares, by all means to fling and throw them in to excesses on the right-hand extreams, that the poor remnant may run down one another with divisions, and rush into courses, however painted over at first to make them pleasant, yet in the end will prove most dangerous yea destructive of the whole old cause of the Church of Scotland : and that he told these, when he was at the gates of death, who were beginning and maintaining unwarrantable separations, that if the principle whereby they defended their practices were followed, it would not only dissolve the unity of the Church, but also of the Christian societies, and the whole frame of Presbyterianism be certainly de- stroyed ; and whosoever maintains such principles and practices, he affirms they blow the fire with their breath that Christ would quench with his blood ; that this way of witnessing is such as Christ will witness against as not his way ; 66 and that there are many other patent and obvious methods to wit- ness against the evils of the ways of those, who have not made actual defection from the sworn-to and sealed testimony. And he had many other free and faithful warnings, sentences, and expressions, by word then, and now published in print ; especially against that then begun division and unwarrantable separations, which have been espoused, and practised by some to this day, and I fear will outlive me ; altho' some Dissenters say, both by word and print, that it was written in the spring 1681, (to evite the dint of his sure, weighty, piercing arguments against 282 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME unwarrantable separations) alledging that 'he de- ' signed it against John Gib and his followers ' ; but there was no fear of John Gib till the beginning of the year 1681 : but that which constrained him to write that letter was pious Mr. Robert Fleeming was prisoner in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh in the year 1679, in the time of Bothwelbridge. He was left in the afternoon of his day (and indeed in old age many great and good men have made wrong and foul steps) to take the wrong end of that un- happy plea, to plead for union by word and write with the indulged, altho' he was never actually in- dulged himself. 67 He dealt earnestly with the never to be forgotten, faithful unto the death, Mr. John King and Mr. John Kid, when they were under the sentence of death, that they would give a heal- ing testimony in favours of the indulged. They answered, they would now write at their death, as they had professed and preached in their life. He was liberate upon the terms of the foresaid in- demnity, namely, that he should not preach at field- conventicles, these rendesvouzes of rebellion, as then called, (which was the devil's grand eye-sore, and great vexation of all his friends and the foes of reformation) even the faithful and free preached gospel in the fields. Mr. Robert Fleeming went straight to Holland, and was settled minister in the Scots congregation in Rotterdam. 68 He invited Mr. James Vetch one of our Scots actually-indulged to preach with him, who was there occasionally. Many of our Scots VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 283 sufferers being there, fled over from the persecution here, scrupled to hear him upon the foresaid accounts. Mr. M'Ward said to Mr. Thomas Douglas and Mr. Walter Smith and others, ' It is not enough for us ' to separate from him so hastily ; let us go hear ' him, and converse with him, and we will know ' the better what to say to him or against him ' : accordingly they went, and did both; for which Mr. Hamiltoun, Mr. Bogues and others would not look upon them as formerly ; which he complains of in the foresaid letter, that they had withdrawn from poor him and others upon that head. 69 This was somewhat, to withdraw from Mr. Fleeming; but an unheard-of stretch to separate from the foresaid worthies, having nothing to say more against them. We have the parallel case in Scotland this day, putting the swearing ministers in place of the actually-indulged, (which many ways are like unto them, all flowing from the poisoned fountain of Erastianism and the prelatical hierarchy, both equally sworn and witnessed against thorow the periods of this Church ; only our late swearing ministers have more directly submitted and complied with the usurped abjured power of prelaticall hierarchy than the actually-indulged then did) putting our not- swearers in the room of Mr. Fleeming whom they are sadly too much like unto in this respect. Now these [alone] are not separated from, but all others who dare not withdraw from them, and will not go their {i.e. the Dissenters'] length in principle and practice in these separations. I know not if ever there have been 284 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME such disjoinings and separations amongst the Lord's chosen serious zealous people in any age, as have been within these 48 years in Scotland, and when so many of them have gone and will go to heaven, since these two unhappy unheard-of dangerous prin- ciples were first invented and practised, viz. 'That ' every difference of judgment in our national con- ' troversies, is a ground of separation'; tho' no people in the world can understand them. 2dly, 'That ' there is no keeping up, or carrying on of a testi- ' mony, but by separation.' 70 How often have I heard it said to others within these 46 years, and many times by those both on left and right-hand has it been said to my self, that ' if ' ye speak so and so, we will not join with you ' ; and have been separated from, both in prison and out of prison, upon right and left-hand, for my different sentiments. The wild-fire of bastard-zeal is easily kindled, but not so soon quenched again. Mr. Douglas, Mr. Smith and Mr. Bogues returned to Scotland; but Mr. Bogues and others still maintained this debate, which was a great grief to Mr. Cargil, being so much in his company; and occasioned Mr. Thomas Douglas to leave Scotland and go to England. This debate continued until Mr. Donald Cargil, Mr. Smith and Mr. Bogues were all in the enemy's hands, and brought to Edinburgh Tolbooth ; then Mr. Bogues came under a very dark cloud, and sharp challenges, especially upon this head of groundless unwarrantable separations, particularly from these VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 285 singular worthies, M'Ward, Douglas, Smith and others ; which obliged him to come weeping to Mr. Smith, and acknowledge his great sin in being so hot and stiff in that unhappy debate ; and also acknowledge his great offence to Mr. Cargil in not taking his advice; and earnestly requested them both to forgive and pray for him ; for, before he died in that case, he would go to the highest and deepest compliances with the enemy. Mr. Smith took him in his arms and kissed him, and said he not only heartily and willingly forgave him, but should endeavour to pray for him ; which Mr. Cargil and Mr. Smith spent some part of a day of their few days they had to live in prayer for him ; and before night the cloud was removed. And they all three chearfully hang upon one gibbet with William Cuthel and William Thomson, at the Cross of Edinburgh, July 27th, 1681 ; and their heads were all struck off together, with the hangman's bloody gully, and put upon publick ports, as afterwards (if the Lord will) I shall make plain. 71 Barbara Brice, and Marion Kinloch my first wife (whose names are savoury to all who knew them, for two desirable Christians) who lived in the parish of West-Calder, travelled 12 miles to visit these prisoners, being their acquaintances : and to them Mr. Cargil and Mr. Smith told this, because men, to whom they would have told this, durst not nor had not access to them : but especially Mr. Bogues was most particular, requesting them to tell all the Lord's people to take good heed upon what ground 286 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME they separate from the godly who were not charge- able with any actual defection ; for he had paid dear for what he had done in that. I wish from my very heart that all those of the Lord's people, who are overdriven with a party- spirit, and bent for separation right or wrong, would take a serious narrow look of this astonishing beacon, but more of the unheard-of frightful beacons, that I design (if the Lord spare) to set up afterwards in the publick view of all, present and to come, to beware of splitting upon such dangerous rocks, which may hinder them from an easy and com- fortable arriving at their desired haven or harbour. How useful would such beacons have been to many of the Lord's serious zealous people 45 years ago, and to poor me among the rest, in the time of John Gib's delirious delusions, 72 which were painted and gilded over with the highest pretensions to piety, zeal, and mourning for their own sins and the land's abominations ; wherein I was in more danger than in all the national snares and sins since : which has made me more afraid ever since, being then very young, and somewhat of a gale of young zeal upon my spirit, fearing no danger upon the right- hand if I held off the left. But that snare was discover'd and broken, and I, with many others of far greater age, knowledge and experience, escaped as birds out of the snare of the fowler, by means of hearing blest Mr. Cargill publickly preach ; which has endeared his name to me, upon this and other accounts, above all other ministers ; of whom I hope VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 287 to give a more distinct account afterwards in the passages of his life and death, which I design to publish, together with the gleanings of Mr. Ren wick's life which have escaped Mr. Shields, and Mr. Shields's own life and death; and which will be my next parcel, according as I proposed in my former preface to the passages of Mr. Peden's life and death : with a short account of Mr. Smith's life and death, and 22 steps of national defections, and 24 rules for the right managing of society-meetings, which he drew up a little before his death. 78 Nevertheless, it must be owned that the Lord's serious, zealous and faithful ministers and people have got many great offences and stumbling-blocks laid in their way these 76 years bygone, considering that Christ in his interest has been upon the cross a-crucifying ever since the 1649. Eleven years by treachery : the Publick Resolution ers, in State, Church, and military, dealt very treacherously, to the undermining and overturning of a covenanted great work of Reformation ; and from the unhappy Restoration 1660, for 28 years, by unheard-of tyranny, manifold and manifest defections of all ranks ; and since the Revolution, by unfaithful mis- managements, consulting and racking the rules of carnal State-policy. And these 20 years past, our covenants have gotten deadly wounds, and been laid in the grave by the demented, infatuate, black bargain of Union, toleration, and patronages ; and the swearing ministers have heartily and willingly, without either boots, thumbikins or fire-matches, or 288 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME any hazard to the neck by the bloody rope, shooled on the grave-moulds. O that all the Lord's people would come and see, and ly at this grave, and weep, sigh and mourn, cry and pray for a merciful resur- rection, which I sadly fear to be longer than the long 20 years that the ark abode at Kirjath-jearim. And have we not all ground to cry out this day in Scotland, 'Ichabod, Ichabod,' the glory is departed 74 from this land, the power and blessings of the gospel restrained, and the wonted fruits and comfortable effects do not now appear ; a reforming covenanting spirit, the serious and solid practice of Christianity, is almost gone out of request, which was the glory of our nation ; so that the most part of ministers and professors are in the greatest of danger of professing and confessing, preaching and praying themselves further and further from the heart-affect- ing knowledge, and soul-transforming belief of all truths. And all these great revelations and mani- festations of the Lord are like to become as idle tales to us ; they are in the heads and mouths of many, but in the hearts of very few. I wish from my very heart that all the Lord's people would bethink and take heed to themselves in this non- such perilous juncture of time, and in good earnest examine their knowledge and faith, what they believe, and upon what foundation they build and rest ; and profess and confess, preach and pray no more with their mouths than what they believe with their hearts, and are affected with and practise. The faith of devils is a great mystery to the greater VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 289 part of preachers and prayers ; but oh and alas ! the general, slight, and easy way, that the most part content themselves with, flows mainly from our want of a thorow conviction of our original guilt, or lost state by nature ; we go not near nor stay we long enough at Mount Sinai, scarce to hear the thunderings and see the lightnings, but haste to Mount Sion, and there lick our selves whole of our scarce skin-deep wounds ; conversion goes no deeper nor further than conviction goes. These things give grounds of fears that many, both ministers and professors in this age, will make Saul's testament, saying, ' We are sore distrest, and the conquering ' Philistine death is come upon us, and we have no ' strength ; and the worst comes last, that God is ' departed from us and answereth us no more.' 75 And our not-swearers stood, and were witness to all this, and have been very sparing of setting the trumpets, that the Lord put in their hands, to the mouths which God hath given them, to cry aloud of treachery, murder and robbery ; treachery to such a great trust, transmitted to them by such great treasure of expences ; murder of a covenanted great work of reformation ; robbery, robbing of a young uprising generation, if not generations, of all these precious jewels and pearls of a sworn -to and sealed testimony. All may know that ambiguous doctrine and not making application, in not discovering and giving warning of publick snares and sins of the day, are deeply censureable by the standing acts and laws 290 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME of this Church ; and it has been the saying of some great men, that a minister might preach sound doctrine all his days, and never be accounted a faithful minister, that does not discover and give warning of the national snares and sins of their time. The height, depth, breadth and length of these new begun courses of national defections, Union, toleration, patronages, and bundle of Erastian prelatical oaths, required a plain positive testimony, thereby to break the ice, and give a good example to all present and to come. It serv'd to the perpetual commendation of that man of God, who went to Bethel, and gave faithful testimony against that new course of defection invented and furiously drive[n] on by cursed Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused all Israel to sin. I have sometimes heard the never to be forgotten Mr. Shields say, ' We are much obliged to our worthy ancestors. ' And shall none be the better of us ? If we have ' no precedent or example, let us be good ones to ' them who come after us.' But if we shall forsake all that handful of non- swearers for this lamentable defect, to what place of the whole world or to whom shall we go, where we will find their equals, or any to outstrip them in grace, gifts, learning, doctrine, and practice ? It was one of the sayings of worthy John Livingtoun a sailer in Borrowstounness, and which he said to my self, that when he was any time at home, he saw many defects and faults amongst us ; but when he went abroad into another nation, he thought VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 291 there was a goodly number in Scotland without either spot or wrinkle; and if the Lord in his sovereignty shall take away only as many as he has swept off the stage these few years bygone, viz. Mr. Halyburton professor of Divinity at St. Andrews, Mr. Webster in Edinburgh, Mr. Brisbane in Stirling, Mr. Mair in Tulliallan, Mr. Cuthbert in Culross, Mr. Plenderleith in Saline, Mr. Bathgate in Orwell, Mr. Simpson in Morebattle, Mr. Reid in Lochrutton, Mr. Wright in Kilmarnock, and Mr. Boid in Port-patrick, they must be clear and far- sighted to see one coming up to fill their room ; and if any would, all doors are shut against them. Great Durham says, before he were the member of no church, he would rather be a member of a corrupt church ; and great M'Ward, in that fore- said letter, requests all to consider what length now glorified Mr. Brown and he went in The History of the Indulgence ; and we saw it impossible to go a further length, retaining Presbyterian principles, on which we founded our withdrawing from the indulged. 76 And Mr. Cargil and Mr. Cameron, be- fore they lifted the publick fallen standard of the gospel in the year 1680, dealt earnestly with the not-indulged to go and take part with them in that work. And Mr. Cargil, preaching at Lothian- hill, upon the 5th May 1681, on that text, 'Weep ' not for me ' ; in the end of that forenoon, gave warning of the snares and sins of John Gib, and some with him, who had said to Mr. Cargil's self that they did not want ministers, and that it was 292 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME never better with them than since they parted with all of them ; he said, 'Oh ! for the Lord's sake, pray ' for faithful ministers to your selves, and never ' content your selves without them ; for ye will not ' continue long sound in the faith, and straight in ' the way, if ye want faithful guides.' And Mr. James Renwick said several times to my self, and in my hearing to others, that tho' the world reckoned him very wild, yet he never durst preach withdrawing from all the ministers of Scotland, for many might get good of them that did not know about them what he knew. And Mr. Shields said to me, in our last parting at Edinburgh before he went abroad, ' Altho' ye have many naughty ' ministers in this Church, yet ye have some worthy ' men ; cleave to the best, for it is not only dread- ' fully dangerous to separate from all, but utterly ' unwarrantable and cannot be defended ; wait on, ' for I am perswaded there is somewhat coming ' upon this Church that will pull you out of doubts ' of withdrawing from the most part.' Whatever be the sad effects and consequences of these unhappy, dangerous, positive disownings and separations of these foresaid Dissenters, to blot and darken that testimony against tyranny and defections left and right-hand, and to make Christ's faithful witnesses in that day lightly esteemed in the present and following ages ; yet Mr. Wodrow exceeds all, being the authentick historian in that period. It needs not be surprising to any what Arminian, blasphemous, and perjured Prelate Burnet was guilty VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 293 of; whom yet Mr. Wodrow calls an ornament to his native country. 77 He and all such have been a plague to the Church of Scotland, but never a honour to the nation ; for he being a Scotsman born, and having lived for many years [in] it, yet says in his History that all the Lord's people that followed the gospel in the fields were struck with an enthusiastick frezzy, and a tumultuary, enthusiastick, strange spirit of fury had broke loose on some Presbyterians called ' Cargillites,' who were much followed to the great reproach of the nation ; Cameron, one of their furious teachers, was killed ; and, at the same time, Haxton and Cargill were taken : which is a gross lie ; Mr. Cargill was not taken for a year thereafter. He says, when Haxton's hands were cut off, he was in such enthusiastick rapture that he enquired if they were to cut off his feet also : which is another base lie ; for, when the hangman hashed so long at his right-hand, he desired him to strike on the joint of the left, for his own ease ; as some yet alive, who were witnesses to it, can assert. 78 Prelate Burnet says further, Cargill and many others of that mad sett suffered with such obstinacy that, tho' the Duke of York sent a pardon to the scaffold to Isabel Alison and Marion Harvy (who suffered the 26th of January 1681) if they would pray for the king, yet they would not accept of it : 79 which is a manifest he, as some yet alive can witness. He says further,, that about 15 or 16 died under that enthusiastick madness, of which he says Cargill was one. Naphtalt and the Cloud of Witnesses 80 bear witness of how 294 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME many fifteens and sixteens died. He says also that the Duke of York stopt this persecution, and appointed them to be put in the correction-house, and kept at hard labour : this is another bruitish lie, there was none of the sufferers put in the correction- house ; some few women, who followed John Gib, were sent there for a short time, and that persecution lasted seven years thereafter. All these gross lies and malignant sentences are to be found in two or three pages of his History lately published. 81 But it may be and will be surprizing, stumbling and offensive to all thorow-paced Presbyterians in principle and practice, who are well-versed in the faithful contendings thorow the periods of this Church, especially in our last period of persecution, upon which Mr. Wodrow writes, to find him, a toping leading Scots Presbyterian, in such gross mistakes, misrepresentations, and groundless, slan- derous reflections upon the faithful followers of the Lamb, giving them so many nicknames, as * Camer- ' onians,' ' society-people,' the ' warm party,' the * warmer sort,' ' warm hot persons,' the ' violent party,' ' highfliers ' ; transmitting their contendings against defections of all kinds, and testimonies which they sealed with their blood, under the names of heights, heats, excesses, extremes, and flights : 82 and not only this, in both his volumes, of Mr. Donald Cargill, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Renwick, and other ministers, who were hunted as partridges in the wilderness, and the United Society-people, who were for some years as sheep without a shepherd ; but also of our VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 295 banished worthies, Masters Brown, M'Ward, Living- stone, and others, whose books he was not worthy to carry, who were helped and honoured of the Lord to be faithful in their life and death, and give warning by their pens of the snares and sins of that day, especially indulgences, cess-paying, etc., saying, ' These wrote with warmness,' and ' this came from ' Holland,' and ' this came over seas.' But this is the foulsom unwholsom air he has lived in, being over-run and over-driven with the backsliding spirit of the day. But whatever his unhappy groundless reflections are, I have often thought thorow my life, that it was a remarkably merciful dispensation, (as the selling of Joseph into Egypt) the banishing of these foresaid worthies out of their native land ; the enemies meant it for ill, but the Lord turn'd it for good, considering how much of their time they have spent in praying for the Church of Scotland and her sufferers, how useful they were with their pens, what influence they had upon all men who savoured of religion, and built in Holland (as it were) a sanctuary for all sufferers who fled there, being men of such piety and parts ; whereby we were more obliged to the prayers and purses of Holland than all the world besides known to me. It is not worth my while to insert all the passages that [have] such sentences and expressions, wherein such gross mis- takes [and] misrepresentations are to be found in Mr. Wodrow's History : 83 if he or any other shall deny or contradict any of them, I have a note of them by me, and am ready to instruct them. 296 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME First, he says, in his preface, that the happy improvement Presbyterians made of York's tolera- tion tended much to the strengthning of the Protestant interest. 84 Answ. Let the unbiassed world judge how far contrair to Presbyterian principles, and the testi- monies of this Church, the addressing for and accept- ing of it in such terms were. To do ill that good may come of it is neither honesty nor true policy, which was and is one of the chief causes of God's wrath against this land. 2dly, He challenges De Foe, the author of the Scots Memoirs, of uncommon ignorance, in saying that the Highlanders were in the south and west of Scotland sometime after Bothwel. 85 Answ. There are many thousands yet alive can witness from their sad experience, that there were 1000 Highlanders in the month of March 1685, six years after Bothwel, 86 who were sent to the south and west of Scotland (it being Killing- Time) to assist the forces, they being more swift of foot (to run through bog and moss, hill and glen, to apprehend the sufferers) than the standing forces, who were turn'd fat and lazy with free quartering, and strong feeding upon the ruins of the Lord's people : as also, these Highlanders were brought to the west, to rob and plunder, and to frighten people, more especially women and children, by their strange language, not knowing whether they were to kill them or save them alive ; which is a great aggrava- tion of a judgment. And what great murder and VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 297 robbery they committed these three months that they were in the south and west of Scotland, there is one instance (amongst many that I could give) which I cannot pass : when they came south thorow the parish of Morrinside, the curat there, Mr. Andrew Ure, informed them of worthy Peter Gilles who lived in that parish, who apprehended him, with John Brice who lived in the parish of West-Calder ; and when they went thorow the parish of Carluke, they apprehended William Finneson and Thomas Young who lived there, whom the Laird of Lee's footmen apprehended, on whom they exercised great cruelty : they carried these four prisoners to Machlon, and apprehended one John Binning waiting upon cattle, without stocking or shoe, and took their Bibles from them, and would suffer none either to sell them or lend them Bibles (the first four were my very dear acquaintances), and hang'd them all up upon one gibbet, without suffering them to pray at their death; and their corps were buried upon the spot, and upon their grave-stone this inscription was written : BLOODY DUMBARTOUN, DOUGLAS AND DUNDEE, MOV'D BY THE DEVIL AND THE LAIRD OF LEE, DRAG'd THESE FIVE MEN TO DEATH WITH GUN AND SWORD, NOT SUFFERING THEM TO PRAY, NOR READ GOD'S WORD ; OWNING THE WORK OF GOD WAS ALL THEIR CRIME ; THE EIGHTY-FIVE WAS EvV A KILLING TIME. 87 Whatever the foresaid author was himself, yet he wrote impartially in our Scots affairs, wherein he was rightly informed, being a stranger, born (as 298 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME they said) in England, of French parents. He was indeed misinformed that the indulgences was a con- trivance of the bishops ; ^ for tho' they sat then in Council, and could not get it opposed, being the king's orders, contriv'd by John Duke of Lauder- dale, upon such and such terms ; yet it grieved them that any favour should be shown to Presbyterians (however clogged) and not the whole of them cut off. De Foe was also misinformed in the circum- stances of Drumclog, which occasioned the rise of Bothwel-bridge, and the relieving of the prisoners at Enterkin-path in the beginning of August 1684. 3. Mr. Wodrow says it was the violence of the persecution that drave some people to extremes and wildness. 89 Answ. He might have laid the saddle upon the right horse ; it was the defections, silence and un- faithfulness of ministers and professors that much prevailed with John Gib and others with him to run in these extreams, as some of them yet alive can witness. But more of this afterward, if the Lord will. 4. He says, That ministers leaving their people, and being faint in owning their commissions to preach the Gospel, gave the first handle to people, out of their ignorant scrupulosity, to censure ministers ; but this temper run higher afterwards, to censure them, carry as they would. 90 Answ. Ministers leaving their people, and silence after the unhappy Restoration, was indeed very stumbling and offensive to the Lord's children ; and VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 299 several of these ministers that did so did lament it to their dying day, and reckoned it among the causes of God's wrath ; as Mr. Shields and others sometimes said on fast-days, that the tout of a horn over the Cross of Edinburgh blew most ministers out of their pulpits. 5. He says, That nothing is more certain than that all the people willingly received the indulged ministers when they came back; these indulged were required to do ill, but did it not; and that the whole ministers pitched upon by the Council were willing to accept, and had the consent of their brethren. The whole Presbyterians thorow Scotland chearfully submitted to their ministry. 91 A?isw. This is another gross mistake, and not matter of fact ; Mr. Donald Cargil was in the list and did not accept, 92 and lived and died witnessing against it, and many worthy Christians lived and died the same way, and several ministers preached against the indulgence as a step of defection, tho' not separation from the indulged, whose names I could instance ; and in particular, some of the elders and others of the parish of Evandale did protest against their entring there, and many of my very dear acquaintances did never hear them, but were well seen in the snare and sin from the very beginning. And whoever writes upon this present period, has as good ground to say that the whole ministers and professors in Scotland were well pleased with these late unhappy oaths, when there was a representation of the ills of these oaths, and a protestation against 300 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME ministers complying with them, given in to the Synod of Glasgow and Presbytery of Lanark, with upwards of 300 subscribers. But all knows that in the time of persecution we had not judicatories, that people could give in representations and pro- testations to. Further, 6. He says, That matters continued thus, until some of the banished ministers in Holland, upon misinformation, wrote over some letters and reasons with warmness against joining with the indulged; this began a flame, which by degrees rose to a very great height. 93 Answ. Mrs. [i.e. Messrs.] Brown, M'Ward, Living- stoun, and others, did not take such weighty things upon trust, nor wrote at random, but lived and died writing and speaking with one and the same breath. 7. He confidently affirms that the Lord eminently countenanced these indulged in their ministry ; and that they found as great assistance in the work of the gospel as ever, and their success was not small. 94 Answ. This is the very reverse of the thoughts, sentiments and perswasions of some ministers, and many worthy solid old Christians, both in their life and at their death, both in Scotland and Ireland, who were in Scotland at that time, that from the time that they fell a gaping after that way, and tampering with these enemies of God and godliness, their graces languished, and they were made to toil in the dead exercise of their gifts. These have been the observations and sayings of many tender zealous Christians thorow the periods of this Church, as the VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 301 fruits [and] effects of doing violence to light, and making defection in a day of trial, which made them by degrees abandon their practical personal tenderness, which appeared to neutral spectators. And some of these indulged ministers, whom I could name, when dying confessed that, from the time they were taken in that snare, it was never with them as it was formerly ; and doubted if they had been the instruments of the edifying of one soul ; and that they were sure God would never honour them to be the instruments of any publick good, for what they had done and left undone. And many people who heard them at first, when they came out and heard the persecuted gospel in the fields, did find it to have another sort of relish and sweet- ness; which made many to forsake them. The parallel case we have this day in Scotland, the difference betwixt the swearing ministers and not- swearers, which I refer to the experience of many serious solid Christians, as some of them have told me. 8. [He says] That this year 1685, he finds the Presbyterians much troubled with one Houston, who came from Ireland and joined the Society-People, who was deposed there for irregularities. 96 Ans. If he had known what contradiction and opposition Mr. David Houston met with from many of the Society-People, to which I was a witness and active, he would have saved himself the trouble of inserting his name, to get a reflection upon the Society-People. However far wrong that man was 302 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME in his head, many of his sayings have had a sad accomplishment. I remember, about the time when King William landed in England, he was praying earnestly in publick that the Lord would make his army succesful, and honour him to be the instru- ment of our deliverance from tyranny, and put a stop to the flood-gate of Popery that it might not over-spread this land ; and that he would stop them of their designed massacre. ' But oh, good Lord,' (said he) ' if it be so, keep back the unhappy hands ' of the Holland mid- wives from the delivery of our ' Kirk : Erastianism, Erastianism has been the plague ' of this Church ; and prevent our fears, that it be ' not more and more so.' However, when I was in Ireland, I was credibly informed that he gave many evidences of his dying well. He had a brother, called Mr. William, who was guilty of many bad things ; and many of his unhappy things are charged upon Mr. David, by mistake. 96 9. He says, That all agreed that acceptance of the indulgence was no ground of separation. 97 Ans. 'Tis a lamentable truth that too many agreed in that ; but it is an untruth that all agreed ; for many instances might be given in the contrary, and ministers' and professors' names might be insert. 10. He says, What could they propose to them- selves by preaching against the indulgence, but the raising of a flame ? 98 Ans. What! had they not the word of Christ's patience to keep in that hour of temptation, in asserting that he was a king (now when his kingly VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 303 prerogatives were invaded by the usurper, and [the invasion] complied with by their acceptance of the indulgence) ; and in following the noble example of their renowned ancestors, particularly Masters Welsh and Forbes, when under the sentence of death upon the same head, as is to be found in The Fulfilling of the Scripture? 9 And the pious, zealous, and faithful unto the death Mr. Andrew Melvil, in the very beginning, when King James VI. unhappily laid the foundation of many mischiefs that have followed since, and began to make encroachments ; Mr. James Melvil, and Mr. Andrew, and others, were sent to him to tell him the sin, snare, and danger, to him- self, Church and nation, of such and such courses. When Mr. James began to speak in his mild manner, he would not hear him ; but offering to leave them, Mr. Andrew took him by the sleeve, and desired him to stand and hear what they had to say, calling him God's vassal ; and said further, ' Sir, when ye was in ' your swadling-clothes, Christ reigned freely in this ' land, his ministers and servants did then in his ' name what they ought to do ; and now, when ye ' are come to your kingdom, will ye take it upon you ' to make encroachments ? I have often told you, ' that there are two distinct kingdoms, one whereof ' Christ is the head, and whereof K. James VI. is ' only a silly member.' 1 11. He says, Happy had it been for this poor Church, if they had remained united in their first ways. 2 Ans. This had been a great piece of unhappiness, 304 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME if they had all conspired together, and the testimony lame ; and that ever they were united that way is false, and their first ways nonsense. 12. [He says] But when love cooled, people, who ought to have been learners, set up for teachers ; yea, they turned managers and directors to ministers; and, ere all was done, some of them offered rules, even as to the matter, subjects, and the very text they would have them preach upon ; and some ministers fell in with these people and acted en- tirely under their direction, and then the flame broke out terribly. 3 Arts. This way of writing is an holding evidence that Mr. Wodrow had no experience of a suffering lot, nor serious thoughts about it. This implicite faith, and way of working, would have made melan- cholly suffering when hard came to hard, of boots, thumbikins and fire-matches, the bloody rope to the neck, and bullets to the head; as many of these singularly worthy ministers and people endured with joy, gladness, and rejoicing in the Lord, the God of their salvation. The blest Cargill taught us other- wise, a very little before his falling into the enemies hands, from that text, ' The devil is come down, ' having great wrath ' ; wherein he asserted that, tho' the devil's wrath was great, yet it would be greater in his short time of persecution. But to all of us, who resolved to endure his wrath and ride out this storm, there were three things absolutely necessary to make them comfortable sufferings. 1st, An assurance of our interest in Christ. 2dly, The VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 305 knowledge of the goodness of the cause for which we suffered. 3dly, To be conscious of our own integrity, that it was not for our sin or fault that enemies run ; this would give us confidence to cry to the Lord to awake and meet us with his help. To turn back was not the way to obtain these ; and to go forward [without them] would be heaviness. I had the unspeakable happiness (tho' most unworthy) to be reckoned among the high-fliers of that time, and was much in their company, and let into the secrets of these worthy ministers and Christians ; yet I seriously declare, I never heard nor saw the least sign or evidence of these lying fool stories that he fills up his volumes with ; but upon the contrary, if it had been possible to have plucked out our own eyes, and given them to these ministers [we would], our love to them and reverence of them was greater than in the least to impose upon them, or be uneasy to them any manner of way. 13. He says that it was very rare, if ever, any field-meetings were kept within parishes where the indulged were fixt and settled. 4 Answ. This is a gross mistake, and not matter of fact. There were indeed too many that would not preach, baptize, nor marry out of their parishes, as Mr. David Home, Mr. Geo. Johnston, and some few others of these who preached in the fields ; but the greater part preached wherever people called them, baptized and married, without making any question whether curate or indulged; and, in lieu of many places that might be instanced where the u 306 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME persecuted gospel was preached, [take] that known place Darmeid, betwixt Clydsdale and Lothian, compassed round with indulged, as Mr. Knox in the east in the parish of West-Calder, Mr. Curray in the north in the Shoats, Mr. Veilot and Mr. Kid in the west in Cambusnethen and Carluke, and Mr. Greig in the south in Carstairs. 14. He says the banisht ministers in Holland wrote warmly against the paying of the cess ; and such ministers here, who were of their sentiments, preached against the paying of it ; and some of the hearers violently prest ministers to preach against it. 5 Answ. It was the Convention of Estates that im- posed that cess, declaring in the narrative of the Act the end for which it was uplifted, to wit, the strengthning of tyranny, by raising more forces; for banishing the gospel out of the land ; and for suppressing the field-conventicles, rendesvouzes of rebellion as then called ; and murdering the preachers and followers of the gospel. 6 And it is commonly said that Lauderdale, who had the publick manag- ment of affairs for many years, proposed and pressed that narrative ; and when it was objected against, that it would stop all people from paying of it to let them know the end, he said he should have all Scotland perjured, as he had perjured himself. Our banished ministers abroad and at home wanted no violent pressing to write and preach against it ; the Lord, in mercy, gave them both sight and sense of that, and all other national snares and sins of that time. It was one of the three heads, upon which VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 307 Mr. Renwick chearfully suffered all his veins to be emptied of his precious blood, his disowning the Duke of York to be lawful King of Britain, and the lawfulness and duty of defensive arms, and the sin of paying of the cess; and he said, 'Such a 'testimony was worth many lives.' 7 But what or who these people were, that took the confidence or rather the impudence violently to press these ministers, is unknown to me: but this is another lying, fool, made-up story. He wastes time and paper giving an account of old Quintin Dick, one of his dawties, how he was cleared in paying of it by his Balaam-like prayers. 8 I knew more of Quintin Dick, and James Gray, whom he speaks so meikle of, than he did, being in prison with them. He makes use of that unhappy argument, which was much tossed in that time by these who had more pawky wit and policy than honesty, that the not-paying of it did strengthen the enemy's hand more than paying, considering how much enemies robbed for not-paying. He gives one instance of Gilbert M'Michan, an heritor in New-Glenluce, how long a party of Claverhouse's troop lay upon him in a free quarters, and how much they took away with them ; 9 but that was his suffering, not his sin : he is yet alive, and does neither repent that nor want it. I hope to let the world see the weighty and holding arguments against paying of it, wrote by our banished worthies, especially Mr. M'Ward. 15. He says that, about this time, matters were running to very sad heights among some of the 308 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME field-meetings ; and, until this spring 1679, nothing of unsafe doctrine could be charged upon field- preachers : indeed separation and schism from the indulged violently inculcate ; yea some of them did openly threaten that they would insult the indulged ministers, if they met with them ; upon which some of them found it needful to retire from their houses. 10 Answ. It was two years before this, that some ministers did preach separation from the indulged ; and many, from the 1669, that the first indulgence was imbraced, did preach against the indulgence, tho' not separation from the indulged ; and many of the Lord's people did withdraw from the first, they [i.e. the indulged] having changed their head and hold- ing, and become ministers of the king and council, lords spiritual and temporal, having come under their restrictions and injunctions, and terms upon which they were to enjoy that liberty, and leaving their brethren in the storm, to be destroyed by the destroyers of that time ; and for receiving their missions from them to such and such parishes, thereby intruding themselves, without the consent or call of the people, or legal settlement by presby- teries ; and the council's transporting them from one parish to another at pleasure, and sometimes two together to one parish, as Mr. Knox 11 and Mr. Weir to West-Calder ; but Mr. Weir, for his preaching up Christ's headship over the Church, was quickly turned off. By these steps, the prelatical curats had more of the face of a church than they [i.e. the indulged] could pretend to. Altho', upon these, and other VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 309 sufficient grounds, ministers did preach against them, and people did separate from them; yet all the high-fliers (as he calls them) that ever I heard of, or spoke with, were so far from insulting or wronging their persons and goods, that they loved and esteemed them as good men : but this is a viporous, groundless, wicked story, raised at that time, not by enemies, but by them and their favourites, and now trans- mitted to ages in his History, that our most faithful ministers and people were not only wild in their principles, but bloody and murdering ; and that our most faithful ministers were Jesuits, as Masters Kid, Renwick, and others ; 12 which they were obliged to vindicate themselves from in their dying words ; and that they were factious, divisive, and seditious, and the people of murdering principles ; and all this to take away their good name, to bespatter their contendings and grounds of their sufferings, and to make all contemptible to following generations. 16. By the proclamation of the terms of the 3d Indulgence, July 4th, 1679, to all ministers who preached at field conventicles, only one minister to one parish, and that parish to give in their names to the privy-council, with security for their peaceable behaviour, and to present them when called for, under the penalty of 6000 merks ; and that all ministers in prison for preaching at field- conventicles are to be liberated, they enacting themselves in the council-books for their peaceable behaviour, and that they shall not preach at field-conventicles: 13 Mr. Wodrow says it is plain this was one of the 310 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME least clogg'd favours granted Presbyterians since the Restoration ; and 'tis very probable this indulgence would have been so managed as to have cured our divisions, and tended to a comfortable change in Scotland, and was of great use to the Church. 14 Anstv. This indulgence lasted only one month ; and the never to be forgotten, faithful unto the death Mr. Brown and Mr. M'Ward did discover to the world the clogs, snares, sin and defection of this indulgence, in that piece of theirs called The Sanders Disbanded, yet in the hands of many ; 1B and Mr. Cargil, in that now-published letter in the Cloud of Witnesses, that he wrote to some friends, when he went to Holland, immediately after the murdering of Masters King and Kid, says that ' these ' things, which many are looking upon as favours, are ' but come to bind men in bundles for a fire : I am ' sure, if these things be embraced, there shall not be ' long time [given] for using of them ; and this last ' of their favours and snares is sent to men, to shew ' that they are that which otherwise they will not ' confess themselves to be. Tell all, that the shelter ' and benefit of this shall neither be great nor long, ' but the snare of it shall be great and prejudicial.' 16 The pious and faithful unto the death Mr. John Kid (who suffered with Mr. King, the 14th day of the same month of August, at the Cross of Edinburgh, when these little clogged favours, as Mr. Wodrow calls them, were granted to accepters upon the terms foresaid) said in his dying words that, tho' there be great appearance for spreading and preaching the VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 311 gospel, yet he feared there was a snare at the bottom, and poison in the dish, which may gender and be productive, not only of greater scarcity of honest preaching and preachers, but a real famine of the word ; 17 which sadly came to pass, as I intend afterwards to make plain. 17. He says, Upon the 8th day of August, six days before the publick murdering of the foresaid worthy ministers and martyrs, there was a more numerous meeting of Presbyterian ministers than any since judicatories were discharged, wherein they concluded that all, who after were to be licensed to preach, be particularly taken obliged unto subjection to the meetings who licensed them, and to submit themselves to their discretion, to prevent any hazard from persons who shall afterwards be licensed. 18 Answ. The reverend and great Mr. M'Ward would not allow this meeting the name of a Presby- terian meeting, but an Erastian synagogue ; 19 and it was these unhappy conclusions that barred the door upon all who designed and desired to be found faithful in declaring the whole counsel of God, and keeping nothing back that might be useful and edifying to the Lord's people ; it was these conclu- sions that obliged Mr. James Renwick and others to go abroad to other churches for ordination, which was so much quarrelled by the Erastian lukewarm of that day. 18. Mr. Wodrow says that the singular steps Mr. Donald Cargill took, toward the end of his course, were as much to be attributed to the regard 312 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME he had to the sentiments of others, as to his own inclinations. 20 Anstv. What ground has he for this fool-fancied opinion ? Mr. Cargill being an old, singular, experi- enced, confirmed, established Christian and minister, in his last dying words, within eight hours of his bloody murder, he says his preaching had occasioned persecution; but the want of it, he fear'd, would occasion worse. However, he had preached truth ; and as he had believed so had he preached, and had not an ill conscience in preaching truths, whatever has followed ; and this day he was to seal with his blood all that ever he had preached : and that he had followed holiness, and taught truth, and had been most in the main things ; not that he thought the things in our time little, but he thought that none could do any thing to purpose in God's great and publick matters till they were right in their own conditions. (O that all had taken this method ! there had been fewer apostasies in the land) and that there was a small remnant in Scotland, that his soul had its greatest comfort on earth from ; and that his soul would be exceedingly troubled anent that remnant, were it not that he thought the time would be short; wherefore hold fast, for this is the way that is now persecuted : and wished their increase in holiness, number, love, religion, and righteousness ; and bade them wait, and cease to contend with these men that are gone from us, for nothing will convince them but judgment. Satisfy your consciences, and go forward ; for the nearer you are to God, and the VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 313 further from all others, whether stated enemies or luke-warm ministers or professors, it shall be the better. 21 19. He says that Mr. James Ren wick was led into tenets and heights, and intirely led by his followers instead of leading them ; and which otherwise he would not have gone into. And when he gives an account of his death, he says, had not this good man been overdriven by several of the people he was embarqued with, he would not have run the length he went ; and had he been alive at the Revolution, I make no question but he would have come in with Mr. Shields, and join'd with the establishment of this Church, and might have been a very useful instrument in her : but after the death of Mr. Cargill, he joined himself with a party who cast off the king's authority, and set up on a lay distinct from the principles and practices of Presbyterians since the Reformation. 22 Answ. In short (for I am wearied in contradicting his lies and groundless stories, and answering non- sense) what are those tenets he was led into, and the heights that he was driven to by his followers, either in principle or practice, but what he owns and refers himself unto in the Informatory Vindication, and Testimony against the Toleration, 23 when under sentence of death, and none to lead or overdrive him, none having access to him except his mother and two sisters within three hours of his death ? and no doubt they would speak little to him, their 314 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME hearts being filled with grief for his death. I know none now upon the stage was more in his com- pany and converse, nor more concerned about him than I was ; and yet I ingenuously declare, I never found him alter in one jot (even after I was absent from him by fourteen months' imprison- ment) I found him always where I left him, speak- ing with the same breath he died with, against tyranny and defections of all kinds, both of right and left-hand ; neither ever heard I of any that seem'd in the least to impose upon him, except one man and a woman who challenged him for a par- ticular which they thought laxness. I never heard him answer any with so much shortness and sharp- ness, saying, 'Let alone, for I will be led by the ' nose with none ; I have my principles and practices ' to answer for, and all to seal with my blood in the ' end.' And if he had been led into any tenets or driven to any heights, that he could not have lookt devils, men, death and eternity in the face with, he would not have in his last words said, ' Farewel ' sweet , Societies, and desirable General Meetings,' and that there was nothing on earth that he was sorry to leave but us. 24 And Mr. Kid in his last words says, ' That those who were most branded ' with singularity will be found to have been most ' single.' 26 Mr. Cameron was suddenly cut off, and got nothing left behind him. What influence the Revolution-dispensation might have had upon Mr. Renwick cannot be determined ; he was fallible and changeable, as other men; but according to his VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 315 former principles and conclusions, laid down in the Informatory Vindication, there is ground to con- clude that he would have taken part with the Humble Pleaders for the Good Old Way, 26 in a legal method. As for the party he joined with after the death of Mr. C argil, their disowning the king's tyranny, and settling upon a lay distinct from the principles and practices of Presbyterians since the Reformation ; it is fully vindicated in the Hind let loose? 1 Informatory Vindication, Testimony against the Toleration, and other publick testimonies, where- in they have more to say in defence of these prin- ciples and practices than Mr. Wodrow and all the world has to say against them. 20. He says that Mr. Smith, who suffered with Mr. Cargil, at his last spoke without that heat and these heights he discovered in the former part of his life. 28 Ans. What are these heats and heights, but what are to be found in the two and twenty steps of defection ? which he drew up a very little before his bloody death, at the desire of societies in Clydsdale, and which he owns within eight hours of his death, and refers his judgment to in our national contro- versies ; which I have by me, with some few remarkable things in his life. 29 21. He says, As for such who left testimonies behind them, I am apt to think they were straitned in prisons, irons, and hindered from a full ponder- ing of what they left behind them ; and others of them, who were not in case to draw papers them- 316 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME selves, had their testimonies written by some of the warmer sort of their way, and approved of the draught when red to them. 30 Answ. I had the happiness of being in prison in Killing- Time, when prisons were more throng than ever, even in Dunnottar-Castle, where eight-score and eight of us were driven into one vault ; 31 and yet I never saw throngness nor irons marr any from writing : and tho' there were many that suffered in that time, and some who could not write were obliged to employ others, yet they dictate every word to them that were writing : so that this is another groundless, idle story ; which I can assert. Mr. Wodrow, out of his ignorance and want of experience, writes of suffering, and embracing of the bloody rope, as if it were bairns-play. But now there is ground, not only to fear, but also to con- clude from what they have done and left undone these many years bygone, and from the breath they speak and write with, (if they get not another spirit) that the greater part both of ministers and pro- fessors give but the old price, and find no beans in Prelacy, nor get a sufficient ground to state their sufferings upon, on this side of black Popery, as long as they have either soul or conscience to mort- gadge in the case ; and if these would not do, to sell all out of the ground. 22. He says that Archibald Stewart, sailor in Borrowstounness (who suffered with John Potter, at the cross of Edinburgh, the first day of December 1681, whose heads were fixt upon the West-port) VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 317 said, when before the counsel, that it was lawful to kill the king or any of his council. 32 Answ. See his own dying words to the contrair, where he says, ' That however I and that suffering ' remnant be misrepresented, that we are of murder- ' ing principles ; yet it is a malicious untruth and ' forged calumny, which enemies and the indulged ' have raised, more like themselves and their prin- ' ciples. And it is a forged lie, that I said before ' the council that it was lawful to kill the king or ' any of his council.' 33 Mr. Wodrow says the same of William Gogar, Christopher Millar, and Robert Sangster 34 (Stirling-shire men) who suffered in the Gras-market of Edinburgh, March 11, 1681 ; who say the contrair in their last joint dying words, ' That the suffering remnant and we are maliciously ' reproached, as if we were of bloody principles : ' but all should beware of speaking these things ; ' for the contrair is known, that they are not ' murderers, neither have they any such intentions ' to kill any, except in the defence of the gospel and ' their own lives.' 35 And let the thinking world be judge, whether the dying words of these glorified martyrs, whom the Lord helped and honoured to be faithful unto the death, or the writings of these bloody murderers, who were given up of God to work all abominations with greediness, children of the devil (like their father) that do not stand to invent and write lies, are most to be regarded. And if Mr. Wodrow had regarded the testimonies of martyrs, and stooped so low as to notice their 318 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME dying sentences and expressions, he would not have insert these malicious untruths; and if all these glorified shining saints, whom he with his pen en- deavours to make black, were upon the stage, with their tongues in their heads and pens in their hands, they would make his name and History to stink and be contemptible to all ages. 23. He says that Cornelius Anderson, who was under sentence of death with other seven sufferers, and who became hangman to the rest, died in a few days of a distraction. 36 Answ. He is misinformed here ; the world knows what great sufferings that singular Christian William Sutherland, a Highland-man, who was hangman in Air at that time, did undergo for refusing to be their executioner. Upon December the 27th, 1666, in the morning, the magistrates there came in to prison and said, ' This day you are all to die ; and ' if any of you will undertake to be executioner to ' the rest, he shall have his life.' The foresaid Cornelius said, if the rest would forgive him, he would do it. They answered, if he did it, they should wish him repentance and forgiveness. The magistrates gave him drink, and keept him tozy until the murder was over. When he came off the gibbet, the boys and others stoned him out of the town. The report ran faster than his feet could carry him. His conscience troubling him, and every person disdaining him, he went to Ireland, where he was no better; no body would give him either work or lodging. He built a little house in VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 319 some common place near Dublin, where he, and it, and all were burnt to ashes. I had this account from severals in Ireland, especially from that worthy Christian woman (who was witness to that murder, and spoke several times with these martyrs when under sentence of death) to wit, Mrs. Hamilton in Donoughadee, daughter to Mr. Andrew Stewart sometime minister there, of whom great and good things the world have heard, in The Fulfilling of the Scripture. 31 The names of the seven martyrs murdered at Air were James Smith, Alexander M'Millan, James M'Millan, George M'Kairtny, John Short, John Graham, John Muir- head. Upon their grave-stone was this inscription : HERE LY SEv'n MARTYRS FOR OUR COVENANTS ; A SACRED NUMBER OF TRIUMPHANT SAINTS. PONTIOUS M'ADAM TH 1 UNJUST SENTENCE PAST ; WHAT IS HIS OWN, THE WORLD WILL KNOW AT LAST : AND HEROD DRUMMOND CAUs'd THEIR HEADS AFFIX. HEAVEN KEEPS RECORD OF THE SIXTY SIX ; BOOTS, THUMb'kINS, GIBBETS, WERE IN FASHION THEN : LORD, LET US NEVER SEE SUCH DAYS AGAIN. 38 24. He says that when the curats were put from their churches, the people caused them promise they should never return again. 39 Answ. This is a mistake ; for in the end of the 1688, at the happy Revolution, when the Duke of York fled and the crown was vacant, in which time we had no king nor judicatories in the kingdom ; the United Societies, in their General Correspondents, considering this surprizing, unex- 320 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME pected, merciful step of the Lord's dispensation, thought it some way belonged to us, in the inter- regnum, to go to all Popish houses, and destroy their monuments of idolatry with their priest's robes, and to apprehend and put in prison them- selves ; which was done at the Cross of Dumfreis and Peebles, and other places. That honourable and worthy gentleman, Donald Ker of Kersland, having a considerable number of us with him, went to the house of Traquair, in frost and snow, and found a great deal of Romish wares there, but wanted the cradle, Mary and the babe, and the priest's robes. He sent James Arcknyes, and some with him, to the house of Mr. Thomas Louis, who had the name of a Presbyterian minister : Kersland ordered them to search his house narrowly, and be- have themselves discreetly, which they did. Mr. Louis and his wife mocked them, without offering them either meat or drink tho' they had much need of it. At last they found two trunks locked, which they desired to have opened; Mr. Louis then left them. They broke up the coffers, wherein they found a golden cradle, with Mary and the babe in her bosom ; in the other trunk, the priest's robes, (the earl and the priest were fled) which they brought all to the Cross of Peebles, with a great deal of Popish books, and many other things of great value, all Romish wares, and burnt them there. 40 At the same time, we concluded to go to all the prelatick intruding curats, and to give them warning to remove with all that belonged to them, VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 321 giving them some time so to do; and told them that we should not meddle with them upon the Lord's Day, nor in the night; and we should not taste either their meat or their drink, nor wrong any thing that belonged to them except their gowns; and whatever ill words or provocation we got, we should give none : that we should call for the Church's goods, cups and bason ; and also for the kirk-box, wherein was nothing but a few doits ; likewise for the session-book and kirk-door keys; and that we should deliver all to men of credit, in every place, to be forthcoming for them. The time of their fall was now come, which many longed for, even for long 28 years ; faintness was entred into their hearts, insomuch that the greater part of them could not speak sense, but stand trembling and sweating, tho' we spoke with all calmness to them. I enquired at them, what made them to tremble, they that had been teachers and defenders of the prelatical principles, and active and instrumental in many of our national mischiefs. How would they tremble and sweat if they were in the Grass-market, and other such places, going up the ladder, with the rope before them, and the lad with the pyoted coat at their tail. But they were speechless objects of pity. I have, many times since, thought that all who put their hands to that good work ought to be thankful that there fell not something out in our hands to make us ashamed, and our names con- temptible, all things considered, especially what they had been and done, and that the reins were x 322 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME now laid upon our necks to do what we pleased, and yet nothing done by us to any, but what we might avow. 41 Indeed, there were some loose men, brought up under their own wings, who were very rude, in eating, drinking, and spoiling of their houses : this was laid in our names, which obliged us to publish a vindication of our selves, as to all such things, at the Cross of Douglas, 42 where Mr. Shields was present, and did sing some verses of the beginning of the 76th Psalm, 'In Judah's land God is well known, ' His Name in Isra'l's great,' etc., where he had some notes upon the same, saying, ' This psalm was ' sweetly sung by famous Mr. Robert Bruce, at the ' Cross of Edinburgh, at the break of the Spanish ' Armada, this same time hundred years.' The curates, these poor objects of pity, afterwards published an account of their sufferings, stuffed with gross lies. Some ministers wrote to me, to give a distinct account of every thing in the manner of their being put away ; which I did of all the fifteen that I was at. It was given into the hands of Doctor Rule, who, instead of confuting their gross lies, (wherein he had a large field) he vindicated the moderate Presbyterians of all such things, altho' the Convention of Estates justified us : 43 which we represented as one of our many and great grievances before the General Assembly, but were answered by silence, as in all other things ; but [there was] not one word, either in our conclusions or practice, that they [i.e. the curates] should not return again. 44 There was never any publick work that I put my VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 323 hand to, wherein I took so much delight, until the Convention of Estates sat down, and then I thought that it was no more proper for us. But alas that that golden, none-such inter-regnum was not more and better improven. 25. Historian Wodrow says that Robert Garnock and others with him were sentenced to die, merely for their wild opinions, which they owned before them. 45 Answ. Their dying words are to be found in the Cloud of Witnesses, and reprinted by themselves of late, 46 which will best declare whether the grounds of their sentences were wild opinions or not. This Robert Garnock was one of the fifteen who got indictments of death for being at Bothwel-bridge, and refusing the black bond imposed and press'd at that time, which Mr. Edward Jamison (one of Mr. Wodrow's worthy Presbyterian ministers) sent from that unhappy meeting of ministers on the 8th of August, who prevailed with 13 of them to take that bond, which lay heavy upon some of them both in their life and death, as I mentioned in my preface to Pederis Life} 1 Robert Garnock was esteemed by all to be a singular Christian, of deep exercise, high attainments, great knowledge and experience in the way of the Lord. He lay two years in prison, and in irons night and day, who Mr. Jamison could not bow with his fair speeches, nor enemies break with their threatnings. The never to be forgotten Mr. James Renwick told me that he was witness to this publick murder at the Gallowlee, betwixt Leith and 324 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME Edinburgh, where he saw the hangman hash and hag off all their five heads, with Patrick Foreman's right-hand. Their bodies were all buried at the gallows' foot; their heads, with Patrick's hand, were brought and put upon five picks on the Pleas- ance-port. Some honest old men told me of late that they were witness to the same, and saw the hangman drive down their heads to the foot of the pike, and thereby broke their sculls. Mr. Renwick told me also that it was the first publick action that his hand was at, to conveen friends, and lift their murthered bodies, and carry them to the West Church-yard of Edinburgh, and buried them there. Then they came about the city to the Nether- bow Port, with a design to take the heads, hands, and other parts of our martyrs' bodies down ; but a woman, holding over a candle to let some people see the street, marred them. Then they took down these five heads, and that hand ; and day being come, they went quickly up the Pleasance; and when they came to Lauristoun Yards, upon the south-side of the city, they durst not venture, being so light, to go and bury their heads with their bodies, which they designed ; it being present death, if any of them had been found. Alexander Tweedie a friend being with them, who at that time was gardner in these yards, concluded to bury them in his yard, being in a box (wrapped in linen) where they lay 45 years except three days, being executed upon the 10th of October 1681, 48 and found the 7th day of October 1726. That piece of ground for some VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 325 years lay unlaboured ; and trenching it, the gardner found them, which affrighted him ; the box was consumed. Mr. Schaw the owner of these yards caused lift them, and lay them upon a table in his summer-house. Mr. Schaw's mother was so kind as to cut out a linen-cloth and cover them. They lay twelve days there, where all had access to see them. Alexander Tweedie, the foresaid gardner, said, when dying, there was a treasure hid in his yard, but neither gold nor silver. Daniel Tweedie his son came along with me to that yard, and told me that his father planted a white rose-bush above them, and further down the yard a red rose-bush, which were more fruitful than any other bush in the yard ; and he is perswaded that some others of our martyrs' heads were buried there, as Archibald Stewart, John Potter, William Cuthel, William Thomson, 49 and others, whose heads were fixt upon the West-port, but shortly taken away by friends. Some of our Dissenters went and saw them, and desired to have them in their burying, none being [they said] in the principles and practices of our martyrs but them, who have also reprinted these testimonies, with a slanderous elegy upon them. 60 However they reflected upon the most of all that were at that burial, and however many came out of curiosity, yet I rejoiced to see so many concerned grave men and women favouring the dust of our martyrs. There were six of us concluded to bury them upon the ninteenth day of October 1726, and every one of us to accquaint friends of the day and hour, being Wednesday, the day of the week 326 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME upon which most of them were executed, and at 4 of the clock at night, being the hour that most of them went to their resting graves. We caused make a compleat coffin for them in black, with four yards of fine linen, the way that our martyrs' corps were managed ; and, having the happiness of friendly magistrates at the time, we went to the present Provost Drummond, and Baillie Nimmo, and acquainted them with our conclusions anent them; with which they were pleased, and said, if we were sure that they were our martyrs' heads, we might bury them decently and orderly. (It was far otherwise at the happy Revolution ; when our friends gathered the heads, hands, and other parts of our martyrs' bodies, off publick ports, to the Magdalene- Chappie, 51 the magistrates threatned them ; and Presbyterian ministers, who had accepted the Duke of York's Popish toleration, and who then were ministers in the meeting-houses of Edinburgh, such as Mr. D. W. and H. K. 52 frown'd upon them, saying, ' Will ye never be quiet ? ' And, for that, friends would not suffer them to put their hands to a hand-spaik, tho' they offered.) Accordingly we kept the foresaid day and hour, and doubled the linen, and laid the half of it below them, their nether jaws being parted from their heads ; but being young men, their teeth remained. All were witness to the holes in each of their heads, which the hangman broke with his hammer ; and, accord- ing to the bigness of their sculls, we laid their jaws to them, and drew the other half of the linen above VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 327 them, and stufft the coffin with shavings. Some pressed hard to go thorow the chief parts of the city, as was done at the Revolution ; but this we refused, considering that it looked airy and frothy to make such show of them, and inconsistent with the solid serious observing of such an affecting, surprizing, unheard-of dispensation : but took the ordinary way of other burials from that place, to wit, we went east the back of the wall, and in at Bristo-port, and down the way to the head of the Cowgate, and turned up to the church-yard; where they were interred closs to the Martyrs' Tomb, with the greatest multitude of people old and young, men and women, ministers and others, that ever I saw together. However some deny, and others will not believe, that all this is matter of fact, far less will many believe it, 40, 50, or 60 years after this, when boys and girls of 6, 8, or 10 years of age, who were witnesses to it, shall tell, that ' we saw five heads ' wanting bodies reburied, 45 years after they were ' murdered, for maintaining Presbyterian principles, ' in a time of persecution that was in the days of ' our fathers, by the Popish, prelatical and malignant ' faction.' However some may reckon of that dispensation of the earth's now disclosing (as not being able any longer to cover) the blood of these slain witnesses ; yet doubtless they are five witnesses, of 45 years old, of the tyranny and cruelty of that never to be for- gotten time : and their being now found out is the more remarkable, that at this time so many, wicked 328 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME in principle and practice, are denying much of the tyranny of that time as matter of fact; and when historian Wodrow, with the lukewarm, backslidden and upsitten ministers, he with his pen, and they with their tongues, are saying that many of these martyrs suffered for their wild opinions. One thing they much insist upon is that 'they would never ' pray for the king.' They were not bid do this alone, but to satisfy them of all their other wicked questions : and it was not salvation to his soul that they would suffer them to pray for ; but pre- servation to his body, and lengthning out of his days, that he might exercise more tyranny. But he having not only broken the mutual compact upon which he was made king, and exercised the very reverse of what he was sworn to do, (for which he got a dispensation from the Pope, to make a stirrup of our covenants to mount the throne of Britain, that he might be in a capacity the better to effectuate Rome's designs, as he and his brother had engaged with Popish princes abroad to do ; which some historians give an account of, with all the articles they signed when abroad) and not only so, but usurping the royal prerogatives of our Lord Jesus Christ, as King and Head of his Church. Thus stated, they were required to pray for him ; 53 and the oath of allegiance, that all were required to swear to him, was twisted with the oath of supremacy. When some of our pawky - witted primitive trucklers, in my hearing, said that they would pray for him so and so, and subscribe their VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 329 allegiance to him in such and such senses ; I have heard Sir George Mackenzie answer them, ' Do not ' cheat your own consciences, and deceive the world. ' Ye must pray for him, and swear allegiance to ' him, in the sense of the imposers ; for ye that are ' swearers and prayers, ye have no power to put ' your sense upon our words.' The broth was hell-hot in these days ; they wanted long-shanked spoons that supped with the devil. I could give many instances, but at this time shall only mention the drowning of these two women at Wigtoun in Galloway, the 11th of May 1685 (which some deny to be matter of fact), 64 viz. Margaret Lauchlan, who was past 63 years, and some of her intimates said to me, she was a Christian of deep exercise through much of her life, and of high attain- ments and great experiences in the ways of godliness; and Margaret Wilson, who was put to death with her, aged 23. The old woman was first tyed to the stake, enemies saying, ' 'Tis needless to speak to ' that old damn'd bitch, let her go to hell. But,' say they, ' Margaret, ye are young ; if ye '11 pray for ' the king, we will give you your life.' She said, ' I '11 pray for salvation to all the elect, but the ' damnation of none.' They dashed her under the water, and pull'd her up again. People looking on, said, ' O Margaret, will ye say it ? ' She said, ' Lord, ' give him repentance, forgiveness and salvation, if ' it be Thy holy will.' Lagg cry'd, ' Damn'd bitch, ' we do not want such prayers ; tender the oaths to ' her.' She said, ' No, no sinful oaths for me.' They 330 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME said, ' To hell with them, to hell with them, it is o'er ' good for them.' Thus suffered they that extra- ordinary and unheard-of death. Margaret Maxwel, now an old infirm woman, told me of late in Borrowstounness that she was then prisoner with them, and expected the same sentence ; but she was ordained to be scourged through the town of Wigtoun by the hand of the common hang- man 3 days successively, and to stand each day one hour in juggs ; all which was done. But such was the cruelty of these days, that all, who retained any thing of humanity toward their fellow- creatures, abhorred such barbarity ; so that all the three days the foresaid Margaret was punished and exposed, there was scarce one open door or window to be seen in the town of Wigtoun, and no boys or girls looking on. The officers and hangman enquiring if they should shorten the hour, she said, ' No, let ' the knock ' (or clock) ' go on,' she was neither wearied nor ashamed. The hangman was very tender to her. All this cruelty was acted by Sir Robert Grierson of Lagg (who stirred up others to assist him), a great persecuter, a great swearer, a great whorer, blas- phemer, drunkard, liar and cheat, and yet out of hell. 55 Altho' the publishers first and last of the foresaid testimonies, of Robert Garnock and the other three, confidently say that they only and alone are in the principles and practices of our martyrs ; yet it is evident to all that they have shown no kindness to VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 331 the remembrance of Alexander Russel's name (who is the fifth, who suffered with them) inserting so much of his ill, and so little of his good ; as, that he was 14 years a hearer of the curates, given to all manner of licentiousness, keeping company with the profane, drinking, swearing, Sabbath-breaking, re- proaching the godly, taking the black-bond, out of curiosity hearing the gospel, where he was converted. Some have been both convinced and converted, and made to believe, to whom the gift of suffering has not been given. And further they say, that ' his ' testimony differs nothing in substance from the ' rest.' 56 There was the more need of publishing his, which would have tended much to the commenda- tion of the riches of the Lord's free grace, in strengthning, supporting and comforting him in all his sufferings, and in undergoing a violent death ; and so much the more that I never heard of any of our sufferers, that either they themselves or others could charge them with any such ill things : the death of his three children in ten days, being a melancholly fit, could be no clear call alone for him to go out to the help of the Lord against the mighty at Bothwell-Bridge. Follows a Funeral Poem upon these five martyrs' heads, viz. Robert Garnock, Patrick Foreman, James Stewart, David Ferry, and Alexander Russel, who were executed and buried at the Gallow-lee, betwixt Leith and Edinburgh, being the first of our martyrs who 332 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME were executed there, where the greatest of malefactors are hang'd and hung in chains; 57 and which was the reason of lifting their dead corps, upon the 10th of October 1681, and bury- ing them elsewhere. The sculls were dig'd up, upon the 7th of October 1726, and reinter'd upon the 19th day of the said month. But suffering in that place became common after- wards. When for our fathers' sins, by angry heaven, To persecuting prelates power was given, Then they became the nation's scourge and rod, And for a season on the saints they trode : Like furious floods from fiery dragon's mouth Sweep't off the true adherers to the truth, To desert places they pursu'd the kirk, And set all torturing engines to work : The League and Covenant burnt at the cross, And men were murdered in muir and moss. Allow'd no law nor time to call for grace, And the self-contradicting test took place ; Then abjur'd Prelacy, like sister Rome, Did basely on mens consciences presume. Then Presbyt'ry, which lately prop't the crown, Was by exalted perjury trode down ; Then non-conformity inferred death, And cursing was the common shibboleth : With squeezing boots malignant malice sported, Crimeless confessions cruelly ex[t]orted, Made drunk with blameless blood (like myst'ry Babel) Which vengeance calls aloud, like that of Abel ; Then dying speeches were by drums beat down, The common privilege of man o'erthrown, VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 333 Then to that grand dilemma men were driven, To loose their lives, or live and forfeit heaven. Twas then these heads boldly imbrac'd their fate, To be cut off, and plac'd on every gate, Gave testimony with their latest breath, And loved not their lives unto the death ; Adhering to the Covenant and Cause, To a good conscience, liberty and laws, Confessing Christ to be the only King And Head of his own Church, in every thing, And as they to that truth had bravely stood, So they rejoicing seal'd it with their blood ; With blood of saints Edinburgh's streets were dy'd, A sacrifice to sacrilegious pride; And by their barbarous insulting power, Posted their heads on every port and tower. When I behold these venerable bones, Methinks I hear them utter heavy grones, Not for themselves, but their degenerate sons ; To see their former zeal now quite worn off, Their cause and suffering become a scoff. These sculls were surely sent upon the stage, Bearing the marks of mad malignant rage, To call aloud to this lethargick age, Of the impending vengeance from above, On breach of covenant, and buried love. 26. Mr. Wodrow says that Mr. Cameron was the first that preached separation from the indulged. 58 Answ. This is not matter of fact ; several ministers and places might be instanced, especially Mr. John Walwood ; and the worthy Mr. John Kid whom the Lord helped and honoured to be faithful unto the death, preaching at Tintuhill (sometime before there 334 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME was any noise made about him) before a great multitude, and singing a part of the second Psalm, ' Yet notwithstanding I have him to be my King ' anointed,' etc., and prefacing upon that Psalm, cried out with many tears, ' Treason, treason, treason, ' against King Christ in Scotland : they would have ' him a King without a kingdom, and a King with- ' out subjects : there is not a clean pulpit in all Scot- ' land this day, curate nor indulged ; wherefore come ' out among them, and be ye separate, saith the ' Lord, and touch not these unclean things, and I ' will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons ' and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.' 27. He says that tho' Mr. Welsh earnestly prest Mr. Cameron to come forth to the work of the ministry, yet he was far from approving of the heights he ran into afterwards. 59 Answ. It was the observe and saying of several solid Christians, especially Mr. John Dick, that singular Christian, and chearful sufferer at Edin- burgh the fifth of March 1684, 60 who rode much with that gracious, worthy, good man Mr. Welsh, ' That ' he had always had ups and downs in his case, ' warm blinks and clouds, but especially from the ' time that he took the wrong end of that plea, in ' pleading in favours of the indulgence, and censur- ' ing the more faithful by witnessing against it, and ' opposing the inserting of it among the steps of our ' defections and [as] one of the causes of a day of ' humiliation ' ; when the Lord's people were in arms at Hamiltoun, before their fall and flight there, upon VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 335 which it was neglected, tho' there was much need for it in their singular circumstances. He, and Mr. David Home, and others, published that declaration, commonly called 'Hamiltoun-Declaration,' 61 both at Glasgow and Hamiltoun, when many, both ministers and people, had so many weighty objections against it, especially the taking in the tyrant's interest; which made Mr. M' Ward write ' that the blood of ' that quarrel would be found in the skirts of penners ' and publishers ' ; 62 altho' Mr. Wodrow says, ' that ' some who died afterwards, were put upon it to ' bear, testimony against it ' : 63 whereas many of the most eminent, both ministers and people, were all that time so displeased, that if the enemies had not come upon us that Sabbath-morning, they were firmly resolved on Monday to go home (staying to hear sermon that day) being fully perswaded they would fall and flee before that enemy, the quarrel being mistated. But from the time that Mr. Welsh began to plead in favours of Erastianism and com- ply ers with it, (far below his grand -father's zeal and faithfulness, for which he came under sentence of death in King James the Sixth's time — the man that laid the foundation of many of our mischiefs, especially Erastianism — yet the Lord, who will not put his seal to a blank, sealed their sufferings with strength, support, and comfort, which he and Mr. Forbes give wonderful accounts of, which is to be found in The Fulfilling of the Scriptures,) 64 ' our late worthy Mr. Welsh his clouds grew thicker, darker and longer from the foresaid time, and died at 336 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME London under a cloud at last. 65 But who can under- stand what these heights were that Mr. Cameron ran into ? was it the height of the damnahle errors of Antichrist, Arianism, Arminianism, Socinianism, enthusiastick Quakerism, or any other of the more refined Sectarianism ? I wish that Mr. Wodrow's welwishers would pray for him, that he may come to himself, and be of a right mind, who has been so lavish of his misrepresentations and groundless re- flections, causing the present and the following ages to conclude that many of our ministers and martyrs were more than half Papists, living and dying in implicit judgments and faiths. There were indeed four things wherein Mr. Cameron differed from the most part of ministers and professors in that none- such juncture of time, tho' he had some ministers who concurred with him, and some ministers and many professors that succeeded him, 1st, in lifting the fallen publick standard of the gospel (deserted by its old promoters) who had their large share of the manifestations of that day, and were not straited in preaching and praying. See what a testimony Mr. King and Mr. Kid give to the keeping up of the publick standard of the gospel in the field-meet- ings (nicknam'd conventicles) in their dying words, 66 and the reverend worthy Mr. George Barclay, who was very publick at that time, and had his hand at many a good turn, and was a blest instrument to the edification of many souls, but got a waff of that murthering east-wind in the 1679, and after that gathered too much old wit, and got too VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 337 much of the world in his arms, and left too much of it to a sinful fool to his hurt, having no children alive, as he said to my self when near the gates of death. He being struck with a palsy, and his memory and judgment much gone, yet took delight, with the tear in his eye, smiling, to discourse of the warm blinks they had in that day, wherein they had not only a praying spirit, but a preaching and fighting spirit, whereof he had his leal share, with a singular gift of prefacing, which was always practised in that day, for the tuning and tempering of the minds and spirits of people for duties thorow the day : but (as he said) above all places in Scotland, he found the greatest gale upon his spirit upon the water of Clide; which he attributed much to the plentiful succesful prayers of some of the old Christians, and their offspring, who got a merciful cast of free grace, when casts were a dealing at the Kirk of Shotts, the 20th of June 1630, 67 which perfumed and gave a scent to the overward of Clidsdale above all other places, but, alas ! is now much gone. But, he said, the best day that ever he had in preaching of the gospel was in the bounds belonging to the Laird of Haugh-head, worthy Henry Hall, (whom the Lord helped and honoured to be faithful unto the death) 68 preaching upon the Monday, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper being dispensed in the fields the Sabbath before, upon that text, ' And he that ' hath begun a good work in you,' etc. In the time of his sermon, there was a small dissle of warm rain, and he was as sensible of a dissle of the dew of y 338 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME heaven upon his own soul and the souls of that people, as he saw the rain fall down upon their bodies. 'Digressions' (said he) ' from texts are much ' cry'd down now, but he should never blame a ' minister for an edifying digression ; for when it ' was best with him, he had manyest of these.' But from that sad fall and flight before the enemy, June 22d, 1679, and that Erastian meeting in August thereafter, gaping after a third indulgence, and laying down the foresaid unhappy conclusions ; they went (without any stretch it may be justly said) back, and walked no more with him in a national way of witnessing. The Lord was with them while they were for him : but from the fore- said 22d of June, until the next year that Mr. Cameron came from Holland, who was suddenly cut off, (except a little time in the 1681, that Mr. Cargill was in the fields, who was also quickly cut off by the butchering enemy) and until the 1683, that Mr. Renwick with courage and confidence lifted that fallen standard ; the most part of these ministers, who formerly jeoparded their lives in the high places, became tame about the enemy's hand : they could then say to prisoners, ' Ye shall have any of ' your own ministers to converse with.' And the Reverend Mr. Riddel said to Mr. John Vance 69 the manager of the prison, ' If these lasses ' (to wit, Isabel Alison and Marion Harvy, whom he had been conversing with, as is to be seen in the Cloud of Witnesses) ' desire to speak with me again, I am ' to be found in such a place.' 70 The time was when VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 339 Mr. Vance and the Tolbooth would have been a terror to him. 2dly, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Cargill, and Mr. Thomas Douglas, their keeping a fast at Darmeid, in Auch- ingilloch and other places, exciting and stirring up the Lord's people to mourn for the kindly reception of the Duke of York, a sworn vassal of Antichrist, with such rejoicing into Scotland, when he was excluded out of other nations. But the snare, sin and stain of this to Scotland is at large insisted upon by Mr. M'Ward, in his book now published to the world. 71 I have often thought these many years that, if the foresaid great shining lights had been continued upon the stage, and retained that light, life, zeal and faithfulness which they then had, they not only would have given light in that none-such Egyptian darkness that afterwards followed, but would have been as high-goats before the little flock 72 of the United Societies, in maintaining an active testimony against unparalleled tyranny and defections of all kinds, both left and right-hand ; and a great en- couragement to Mr. Renwick, Mr. Shields, and others taking part in the work of that day ; but also would have lived a mournful, tearful life, to have seen, heard, and felt the dreadful height of tyranny, and the monstrous steps and heights of defections of all kinds, that now we are arrived at. When they were so affected and afflicted with York's reception into this land, rather as a fugitive to lurk for a time than a prince to rule and reign ; how much more 340 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME the very next year, July 28th, when he sat down Commissioner to the Parliament the very day after, he and they got that great and lamentable glut of Mr. CargilFs innocent, precious, dear blood, and the foresaid other four with him, upon one gibbet, at the Cross of Edinburgh ! 73 Then again, upon the sixth day of February 1685, when he was proclaimed king over these covenanted lands, and owned and acknow- ledged as such, by all ranks, contrair to the law of God and the establish'd laws of the kingdom; 74 and in the 1687, when he gave forth his hell-browen, and Rome-blinked Popish toleration, by vertue of his royal prerogative and absolute power, which all were to obey without reserve, which the foresaid famous Mr. Andrew Melvil called 'the bloody gully'; 75 and all ranks of the land accepted of it, and eight of the leading Presbyterian ministers sent to him an abominable, sinful, and shameful letter of thanks in name of all Presbyterian[s] in Scotland ; 76 and de- sired that all who dissented therefrom might not be lookt upon as any of their perswasion— the height of base flattery, juggling and dissembling; for neither he nor they thought or designed as they spoke and wrote, like boat -men looking one way and rouling another : and not any to give a publick, active testimony against all these unheard-of acts and steps, save Mr. Renwick, Mr. Shields, and the United Societies ; which testimony the faithful unto the death Mr. Renwick sealed with his innocent, precious, dear blood. Then again, the Duke of York appointed the 17 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 341 day of January 1688, as a day of thanksgiving, because his wife was with child ; which the greater part kept, altho' Mr. Wodrow says that no Pres- byterians kept it. 77 But I can instruct the names of some leading Presbyterian ministers, as Mr. William Crightoun at Hilderstoun, etc., who kept it, and prayed earnestly for her and the child's preservation, and for a safe and easy deliverance to her. And, as was then said, the Pretender was born upon the 10th day of June ; and the 21st day is appointed for another solemn thanksgiving-day for his birth, in the diocess of Edinburgh, and the 28th day of the same month for all the rest of the kingdom ; 78 which was kept at Edinburgh with the greatest solemnity that ever was for any prince in Scotland ; witness, the North-loch was all in a flame with fire-works, which thousands were witnesses to : 79 and all the addressers and accepters of his toleration very pub- lickly and devoutly kept it, with great expressions of thankfulness, blessing God that there was such a gracious and merciful king upon the throne of Britain, and a young prince born of that royal race to succeed him ; and continued their prayers for father, mother, and son, until the end of that year, that they were obliged to leave these kingdoms; and then these ministers quit their prayers for them, when they had most need of them ; and now these 38 years have been preaching and praying against them, and these years bypast have heartily and willingly abjured him with solemn oaths, ' That he ' has no right nor title whatsoever to the crown of 342 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME ' Britain ' ; 80 with unheard-of prayers for help. All these dreadful lengths gone unto, not in secret, but in sight of the sun ; and I appeal to the consciences of many ministers and professors yet upon the stage, of the nation's guilt, and their own, in these un- heard-of steps. And our historian Wodrow says, in his flattering dedication of his History to King George, ' The least inclination to a Popish pretender ' to the crown of these realms is a crime so black ' in our eyes, and contrair to our principles and ' interest, that we want words to express our abhor- ' rence of it.' 81 What is he now, but what his said father was then ? only he is not chargeable with the sinking dead weight of dreadful national guilt, in which his father was many ways active, especially in our persecution, both as contriver, and causer to be put in execution in Scotland and England, especially in the year 1685, after the Duke of Monmouth's murder : the unheard-of cutting off 250 poor in- nocents in England in such a short time, some boys of ten or twelve years of age; hanging one poor man, for sparing 3 pence worth of grass to the Duke of Monmouth's horse ; the Lady Lisle, whom they could charge with nothing but shewing favour in succouring sufferers ; and their burning of Mrs. Gant (who lived in Wapping) to the death, of whom I heard many desirable accounts for a singular Chris- tian, tho' they could charge her with nothing but harbour, supply, and support to Dissenters, especially our Scots sufferers. Much of this done by one Jeffreys and Colonel Hill; who hanged twelve of VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 343 them upon one gibbet in one day, with a huzza and a glass of wine, with pipers and hautboys to every one's being cast off; hanging some of them at the stenchels of windows, and many others, beside these 250, hanged and destroyed in cold blood. 82 What is the Pretender now, but what all had ground to conclude he would be, he coming from the loins of a sworn vassal of Antichrist, and the womb of such a bigotted Papist (as then was said) and of such an education ? Such weathercock-turnings, preachings and prayers, swearings and writings, are enough to turn all such things out of request to an unthinking atheistical world. I have often thought these many years that, if the Lord in mercy and free-love had not perswaded me in my young days that there was a reality in Christianity, tho' none in all the world had professed it but my self, 1 would long since have professed my self an atheist, and made sport of heaven and hell and all sacred things, considering how weather- cock-like [are] the greater part of ministers and pro- fessors, especially these ministers, whose hand has been chief in all our defections these 166 years since our first General Assembly, which was in the 1560, where the singular and never to be forgotten John Knox did preside as moderator, 83 which well became him, having fought valiantly for it to get this Church to that pass. I have also many times thought, since the foresaid reception of the Duke of York, 'the devil's lieutenant,' (as Mr. Shields sometimes called him in publick) our eyes have 344 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME been darkning, and now we have almost lost the sight of the damnable nature of Antichrist's errors, ' That ' (as great Durham and other solid divines assert) ' living Papists, and dying so, holding the ' complex body of their principles, there is no salva- ' tion for them.' 2dly, Ever since, our zeal has been a-cooling, and now is turned lukewarm ; so there is not that long- ing and praying for the promised day of Babylon's fall, as was amongst our zealous fathers. 3dly, Our fears of Popery overflowing this land have been ever since decreasing, as has been remarked by some godly worthies ; and there has never been such a growth and increase of it, since the Reforma- tion from it, as at this day in many places of Scotland, especially in the north, where it is asserted that there are 1600 Papists in some two parishes, with swarms of priests more and more from Rome, who have great pretences to morality and hospi- tality ; and other means are to blind the eyes and deceive the ignorant. The famous John Knox said that he was more afraid of one mass in Scotland than of ten thousand enemies invading the kingdom. 8 * We have forgot that their principles are not only damnable, but also treacherous and bloody; that they do not reckon themselves obliged to keep either faith or promise to hereticks, as they call us ; and also say that 'tis not only lawful to kill us, but meritorious of heaven, as their priests have perswaded them, when falling upon their massacres, especially in Ireland, that if VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME U5 they killed three hereticks, they needed not fear either hell or purgatory. And as their principles are, so have their practices been, to the doleful experience of many thousands through the world, especially in Paris in France, and the suburbs thereof, where ten thousand were killed in 3 days. 88 And the foresight and forethoughts of some of our seers, of somewhat of this nature abiding this land, have made them to tremble, especially Edinburgh and the west of Scotland : and all that ever they did foresee and foretell has come to pass but that ; and that we would never have a convincing, converting, reforming, or covenanting day, till that be over. I mentioned, in my preface to Mr. Pedens Life, 86 three times that this was designed and endeavoured, by French influence, with their dear friends the prelatical malignant faction taking part with them, since the Revolution, viz. in the years 1708, 1715, and 1719 : but there were other three times that escaped me then, which were before the Revolution ; as in the years 1684 and 1685, when we were in a mistake about the court-designs in exercising such unheard-of tyranny : but since that time, some, that write of court-affairs of Britain for 20 of these years, assert, ' that the very design of that Killing-Time was ' to provoke the Lord's people in the west of Scot- ' land to rise in arms in their own defence, as at ' Pentland, Bothwel, and Airs-moss ; that they might ' get the sham occasion to raise fire and sword in ' the west, to make it a hunting-field,' as the Duke of 346 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME York had openly threatened, saying, ' there was no ' other way of rooting out phanaticism out of it.' 87 2d]y, In September 1686, when they made that narrow search in the west for arms, that the poor people might have nothing to defend themselves and their families from the flames of a devouring sword. I my self can assert the truth of this, I having escaped their hands very narrowly and remarkably. 3dly, The very design of that Popish toleration, in 1687, was to lull all asleep, that they might get their bloody designs effectuate in a massacre. 88 But alas ! how forgetful and unthankful have we been for these multitudes of the Lord's tender mercies, many ways manifested to this sinful land, above all lands, especially since our last remarkable deliverance from blood and slaughter at the Rebellion 1715, that discernibly every year since there has been a swift decay of all good, and speedy increase of all ill whatsoever ! So that it is matter of unspeakable grief and sorrow, to consider what great indignation the Lord hath let forth against us, heaping wrath upon wrath, and making one judg- ment to follow another, as the waves of the sea : and, for the most part, the fruits thereof through the land have been no other than further departing from the Lord and his ways, and dividing us one from another in judgment and affection. Our breaches are wide as the sea : who can heal them ? Spiritual judgments especially are multiplied upon us, and divine influences restrained : and as we have all the sins, with all aggravating circumstances, that ever VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 347 provoked the Lord to pour down wrath and judg- ments upon a nation and people ; so we have all the effects and evidences of the Lord's hot anger in these moth-judgments, both in our spirituals and temporals, so that, whatever any sow or look for in both, it is little increase the greatest part gathers in. And this day we have all the symptoms and signs of a generation of his wrath, from whom he has taken away his peace, even loving-kindness and tender mercies; being turned gospel -proof and judgment-proof; many fretting and murmuring, and few mourning or turning to the Lord that smiteth ; the foolish fallen sound asleep, and the wise slumbring, perishing in security, carnality, formality, hypocrisy, neutrality and indifferency about all these great concerns ; and know not how soon these moth-judgments may be turned to lion- judgments of sword, famine and pestilence, and these well-deserved, long-threatned, foreseen and foretold days of vengeance, that all may be accom- plished, and the midnight cry be heard amongst us. I hope that all the Lord's serious zealous people will excuse me for this and all other digressions ; for many times I have resolved, if ever I came to the publick with my scrapes of writings, that I should keep nothing back that ever has been useful to me for information or confirmation, edification, and matter of either joy or sorrow, in these national concerns, thorow my life. 3dly, 89 Their proclaiming to the world their dis- owning of Satan's seat for the throne of God, tyranny 348 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME for magistracy, tyrants for magistrates, devils in men's skins, setting the edge and point of their sword against all well-doers, inverting all the ends of government, and perverting religion, laws and liberties, which he was obliged to maintain, both by his office and trust, and the superadded tye of our solemn national covenants. 4thly, Their disownings, and giving faithful warn- ing of the snares and sins of the indulgence, and [duty of] separation from the indulged for their Balaam-like looking greedily over the steep, slippry brae of backsliding, where there is no standing ; and God suffering them, in holy justice, to follow their look ; and headlong they went to the unfathomable depth of defection, in their embracing of the Christ- dethroning, church-ruining, remnant-renting, zeal- quenching indulgence ; where they lay in that puddle, with foul hands and garments, the first of them for 18 years, and the second for 11 years, juggling and dissembling, and keeping the unhappy birth and restoration-day, 90 and otherwise ; and some of them sometimes challenged by the Council for not keeping their restrictions, injunctions, and terms upon which they got that liberty. Then, in the end of the 1684, the enemies having resolved and concluded on unheard-of, violent, tyrannical measures, and having gained their design by them, they were summoned to compear before the Council. They kept their day, and came to the Parliament-closs ; they were ordered by a macer to go to the Tolbooth. 91 There came a great cloud of VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 349 them, and called at the outer gate, which I was a witness to, being then prisoner; they got access, where they continued until we were sent unto Dun- nottar Castle. Their carriage in that house was very stumbling, voluntarily leaving their rooms, coming to the common-hall, and hearing the curats every Sabbath, to the great offence of many suffering people there upon that head, giving occasion to the wicked to mock all such. And after Mr. Shields's fainting before the enemy, 92 for which there was such grief upon his spirit that he was in danger of a fever, he was advised to take blood ; when it was doing, they said, with loud laughter among them, ' Take more, for there 's abundance of wild blood in ' his veins ; and much of it in this house, there being ' many who have need to open a vein ' ; and many other offensive speeches, which I was ear- witness to. At last, they bound themselves to walk orderly and live peaceably, and keep their parish-kirks, and never preach more without a licence from the supreme magistrate. Some few of them were sent to the Bass, as Mr. Peter Kid and Mr. John Greig, for refusing this; what became of them afterwards, I know not. 93 The Lord in mercy prevent my fears (that I could not shake my self free of ever since) that these men, and men of their spirits, will be a plague and dead weight upon this Church, of a longer continuance than the most part are either fearing or thinking upon. 28. Mr. Wodrow says, upon the 22d of July 1684, he finds that Patrick Walker (a boy) before 350 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME the Council confessed that he was present at the murdering of Mr. Francis Gordon one of the Earl of Airly 's troop ; and, upon the 16th day of August, was banished, with many others. 94 Answ. If this be all that he found in the records concerning me, 95 he and all may see how lame they are ; and if he had been witness to as much of their way of writing as I was, he would have taken no notice of them, so as to transmit them. It was seldom they wrote as prisoners spoke, which did great hurt to prisoners. Take an instance amongst many, as follows : When it was enquired if the killing of the bishop was murder, and we answered that ' it was not our action, it was done in Fife, and we ' were never in that shire,' with other arguments ; they wrote in short, 'And refuses to call the ' bishop's death murder,' 96 and many such. And if he found a full account concerning me, and inserts this so very lame, this is a partial biassed relation. That I was present at that unhappy man the bishop's death (who ran so violently upon his own ruine) is a gross lie. That was what they wanted, but I would not give it, but put them to probation. That I was banished upon the 17th day of August is also false ; it was upon the 3d day of July that sentence of banishment was first past upon me. 97 Their hasty passing of that sentence, together with Meldrum's death, 98 were two remarkable steps of Providence for the saving of my life ; for I was denounced a rebel over the Cross of Edinburgh two years before that ; " and if they had called that to mind, I would not VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 351 have got such a sentence. I being taken upon the 29th of June, with other four, out of our beds, and brought out of Linlithgow thieves-hole upon the first day of July to Edinburgh, upon the 2d day [we] were examined before the council, and that night got indictment. James Edward, John Gardiner, and me, the heads and articles of our indictment were common, viz., ' Owning our covenants, defen- ' sive arms, and hearing the gospel in the fields, ' especialy Mr. Cargil and Mr. Renwick ; not own- ' ing the authority,' as then called ; ' refusing to ' call Bothwell-bridge rebellion, and the bishop's ' death murder,' and such like nonsense. And upon the 3d day, sentence was past on us to go to America, never to return to Scotland under the pain of death. This sentence was pronounced by the Arch-Prelate of St. Andrews, and within a month thereafter he got sentence elsewhere. 1 I lay under that sentence until the 16th day. When they had got notice that I was among their hands, I was then again examined, and upon the 22d I was examined also, 2 and upon the 23d day there was a strong debate among them; many were for my life, and others for publick torture ; others said, I was under sentence of law, and no new thing either confessed or proven; among thir last was my Lord Tarbat. They renewed the foresaid sentence again. 3 I had lyen all that time with a great weight of irons upon me, until the first day of August, when I was sent to a ship with other thirteen, and upon the 6th day of the month, at one o'clock in the morning, brought 352 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME back, with a design to take my life ; 4 and I lay in prison until the 18th day of May 1685, 5 that I was with many others sent to Dunnottar-Castle, 6 and brought back to Leith the 18th day of August ; and I escaped at eight o'clock at night, in a con- fusion, out of Leith Tolbooth. 7 In these 14 months I was 18 times examined, and only three times about that unhappy man's death, with all the rest of the rat-rythm of questions, wherein all may see what singular steps they took with me, which they did never with any, tho' they reckoned me a boy. 8 But, because Mr. Wodrow has transmitted my name under the notion of a murderer (I wish him repentance and forgiveness for what unaccountable wrongs he has done by his pen to the testimony, and to the names of Christ's slain witnesses for the same. For my self, I am easy ; my tongue is yet in my head, and my pen in my hand ; and what I have to say upon that head, for my self and these with me, will run faster and further than he has feet to go. I am reflected upon, for my not giving Mr. Wodrow better information. Answ. Before his History came out, when I heard of his manuscripts going from hand to hand among the long-heads — I knew it would be patched up according to the back- sliding spirit of the day — I desired the Reverend Mr. James Webster to give me account when he came to his house, that I might have a short con- versation with him. Mrs. Webster told him my desire. He answered, he depended on the records of that time 9 ) I shall give a brief and true account of VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 353 that man's death, which I did not design to do while I was upon the stage. I resolve indeed (if the Lord will) to leave a more full account of that, and many other remarkable steps of the Lord's dispensations towards me thorow my life. It was then commonly said that Francis Gordon was a volunteer out of wickedness of principles, and could not stay with the troop, but was still raging and ranging to catch hiding suffering people. Meldrum and Airly 's troops, lying at Lanark, upon the first day of March 1682 ; Mr. Gordon and another wicked comrade, with their two servants and four horses, came to Kilcaigow, two miles from Lanark, searching for William Caigow and others under hiding. Mr. Gordon rambling thorow the town offered to abuse the women. At night they came a mile further to the Easter-seat to Robert Muir's, he being also under hiding. Gordon's comrade and the two servants went to bed, but he could sleep none, roaring all night for women. When day came, he took only his sword in his hand, and came to Moss-platt ; and some men (who had been in the fields all night) seeing him, they fled, and he pursued. James Wilson, Thomas Young, and my self, having been in a meeting all night, were lyen down in the morn- ing: we were alarmed, thinking there were many mo than one ; he pursued hard, and overtook us. Thomas Young said, ' Sir, what do ye pursue us ' for ? ' He said he was come to send us to hell. James Wilson said, ' That shall not be, for we will ' defend our selves.' He said that either he or we 354 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME should go to it now. He run his sword furiously thorow James Wilson's coat. James fired upon him, but miss'd him. All the time he cried, ' damn his ' soul.' He got a shot in his head out of a pocket- pistol, rather fit for diverting a boy than killing such a furious, mad, brisk man ; which notwithstand- ing kill'd him dead. The foresaid William Caigow and Robert Muir came to us. We search'd him for papers, and found a long scroll of sufferers' names, either to kill or take; I tore it all in pieces. He had also some Popish books and bonds of money, with one dollar, which a poor man took off the ground ; all which we put in his pocket again. Thus he was 4 miles from Lanark, and near a mile from his comrade, seeking his own death, and got it. And, for as much as we have been condemn 'd for this, I could never see how any could condemn us, that allows of self-defence, which the laws both of God and nature allow to every creature. For my own part, my heart never smote me for this ; when I saw his blood run, I wished that all the blood of the Lord's stated and avowed enemies in Scotland had been in his veins ; having such a clear call and opportunity, I would have rejoiced to have seen it all gone out with a gush. I have many times wondered at the greater part of the indulged, luke- warm ministers and professors in that time, who made more noise of murder, when one of these enemies has been kill'd even in our own defence, than of 20 of us being murdered by them. None of these men present was challenged for this, but my VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 355 self. Thomas Young thereafter suffered at Mach- line, 10 but was not challenged for this ; Robert Muir was banished ; James Wilson outlived the persecu- tion ; William Caigow died in the Canongate Tolbooth, in the beginning of 1685 ; Mr. Wodrow is misinformed, who says, that he suffered unto death. 11 But let Mr. Wodrow, with his premeditate de- liberate pen, and the unthinking, unbridled-tongu'd world, write and speak as they please of these singular ministers and people, who stated and main- tained an active testimony in that day against tyranny and defection of all kinds, both left and right-hand, and who counted nothing too dear for the same ; for my part, I reckon my self obliged while I live to bless the Lord that I had the happi- ness to be their hearer, and so much in converse with both ministers and people, especially so near (even upon the murdering bloody days of) their deaths ; and was witness to so much of their joy and rejoicing in the Lord, that they were counted worthy to seal their testimony with their blood, being so strengthned, supported and comforted, and dying with such full assurance of faith. These were the excellent ones of the earth, in whom I had all my delight and pleasure on earth in these days ; and I have often thought since that, tho' I were to live many years, I would despair to see such an united handful of ministers and people, with so much zeal, faithfulness, love, sympathy and harmony, 356 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME with so many good things and so few ill things : whatever single persons were among them (at that time blameless) who afterwards proved naught, and whatever unguarded expressions were in their publick papers, yet their scope and design was always simple and good ; however some put the worst sense upon them, and left them as sheep without a shepherd, to be destroyed of these destroyers in the midst of snares and sins. I have often wondred, these many years, if ever there were so many of so few, and in so few years, that not only went to heaven but went off the stage with such fresh gales and full sails. It is remark- able that the Lord, in his sovereign wisdom and love, has put respect upon piety and zeal, above all other graces ; an Enoch who walked with God 300 years, and a zealous Elijah, these two the Lord took straight to heaven, without either a consuming grave, or a fool-fancied purgatory by the way. Many instances in our own land might be given of signal manifestations of the Lord's love to the souls of his ministers and people, and remarkable favours of his providence toward their bodies in the days of their distress, especially in suffering and dying for his sake : I shall for the time only give three, passing by our martyrs in the period I have been treating of, which I may notice afterwards. First, Mr. David Black minister of the gospel at St. Andrews, who was an eye-sore to K. James VI. for his zeal and faithfulness, as the world may see in Calderwood's History. 12 After that he got the VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 357 crown of England, then he reckoned himself a king indeed; (tho' the uniting of the crowns tended indeed to his great honour and profit, and his un- happy offspring after him, yet it tended unspeakably to the great hurt of this Church and nation ; and it is evident to all that Scotland ever since has been under a consumption, how much more now by these sinful unhappy transactions of the uniting of the nations!) and to get his own unhappy designs carried on in Scotland, of Erastianism and Prelacy (knowing them all by head-mark, having been with them who were his greatest opposites, retaining their zeal and faithfulness) he sent for eight of them to London, and ten he banished to Holland ; Mr. Welsh and Mr. Forbes he cast in prison ; Mr. Bruce he confined in Inverness, whom a little before he reckoned worth the half of his kingdom. When he got these and some few mo out of the way, he got Presbytery overturned, and Prelacy established, which continued fourty two years. 13 Who could have believed this at 1596, that 20 years time before his death (which was in the year 1624) u the greater part would have made such sad and foul discoveries of themselves, and few remained faithful in principle and practice to the testimony in that day, which has been and is the testimony to this day, against Prelacy and Erastianism. The foresaid Mr. Black for his faithfulness was confined beyond Tay, to a remote part in Angus, where he died ; where he was admitted to great nearness with the Lord, and ex- traordinary assistance, with a gale of the Spirit, to 358 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME the humbling of the hearts, and melting the spirits of his hearers. He found also upon his own soul such a taste of heaven, and was seized with such a fervent longing to be with the Lord, giving him a secret intimation of his death being near, that he could not conceal it from his family and flock, taking farewel of them all. The next day, after sermon and celebration of the sacrament, he had scarce ended, when he found the approaches of his death seize upon him, with such a present change, as his friends essayed to hold him up on every hand; but he pressing to be at his knees, with his hands and eyes lift up to heaven in the very act of adoration, as in a transport, is taken away without either pain or sickness. This, his old familiar friend and colleague, famous Mr. Andrew Melvil, relates, and much more about him. 15 The second instance is great Mr. Rutherfoord, who was upwards of fourty years publick upon the stage, and retained his piety, zeal and faithfulness to the very last, which is very rare to be found : his sound writings upon several subjects do evidence his great parts and learning ; and his publick Letters 1S (which now the debauchees are drinking their bottles with, and some young preachers and expectants say, ' They are only fit for old wives,') do witness his deep exercise, high attainments and great expereence in the exercise and practice of godliness. And while he was a dying, the last day of February 1661, it is commonly said that the first wicked Parliament after the Restoration sent heraulds VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 359 to St. Andrews to summon him before them. He spoke out of the bed, and said, ' Tell them that sent ' you that I have got summons already before a ' superior Judge and judicatory, and I behove to ' answer to my first sunmons; and ere your day ' come, I will be where few kings and great folk come.' When they returned, and told that he was dying, the Parliament put it to a vote, 'Whether they ' should let him die in the college, or not ? ' The vote carried to put him out, few dissenting. My Lord Burleigh said, ' Ye have voted that honest man ' out of the college, but ye cannot vote him out of ' heaven.' Some said, ' He would never win there ; ' hell was o'er good for him.' Burleigh reply 'd, ' I ' wish I were as sure of heaven as he is ; and I would ' reckon my self happy to get a grip of his sleeve, ' to hale me in, when Mr. Rutherford enters the ' gates.' 17 And 12 days before his death, he signed his testimony to the covenanted work of reformation, and dealt faithfully with all that came to visit him, especially these ministers who had sided with the Resolutioners. But, beside the many and great evidences of his sound judgment and faithfulness thorow his life, his plain and free dealing with his dear brethren, (when prisoners in the Castle of Edinburgh) against their petitioning the Committee of Estates, and their not being free and faithful according to covenanted Presbyterian principles, who were seized upon when drawing a remonstrance to present to the Parliament 18 against the overturning of the work of reformation, 360 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME in the first Parliament after the Restoration ; and this light, life, and spirit, in and about him, when de- parted from the greater part of all ranks, being one of the melancholiest hours that have gone over the Church of Scotland's head since the Reformation ; the heaven -daring Act Rescissory past, and Prelacy established, without a protestation ; several synods raised in the king's name, and charged to purge out the rebels, meaning the honest Protesters, not only without a protestation, but some of them without prayers; and after a drunken meeting at Glasgow (commonly so called) six hundred of the plagued Resolutioners went to the unclean bed, where some of them had lyen in uncleanness before the 1638, with that old gray-headed strumpet Prelacy, (a bonny bride indeed) mother and daughter of Popery, with her skin and face as black as a blackmoor with per- jury and defection : and this is the more to be wondred at, that it was so shortly after such a great, clear light of the gospel and national reforma- tion. But the Lord was pleased in this Egyptian dark hour, to blow out this great burning and shin- ing light, wherein many were made to rejoice for a long season, February last 1661, 19 some of his last words were these, ' I shall shine, I shall see Him as ' he is, and all the fair company with him, and shall ' have my large share. 'Tis no easy thing to be a ' Christian ; but as for me, 1 have gotten the victory.' And after some fainting, 'Now I feel, I believe, I ' enjoy, I rejoice.' To Mr. Blair he said, ' I feed on " manna, I have angels' food.' One speaking to him VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 361 of his painfullness in the ministry, he said, ' I disdain ' [? disclaim] all ; the port I would be in at is redemp- ' tion thorow his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.' And thus, full of the Spirit, as it were in a transport, overcome with sensible enjoyment, his last words were, ' Glory, glory dwells in Immanuel's land.' 20 A third instance is Mr. William Guthry in Fen- wick, whose piety, zeal and faithfulness the world have heard of, and who was a blest instrument to the conviction and conversion of many souls in the west of Scotland, where he was fixed minister, especially after the Restoration, in discovering and giving warning of the national sins and snares of the time, the most part having changed their head and holding; and these who did not embrace Prelacy left their people : which brings me in mind of what Mr. Shields sometimes said in publick, ' That the tout ' of a horn, over the Cross of Edinburgh, blew the ' greater part of the ministers of the Church of Scot- ' land out of their pulpits.' Mr. Guthry continued until the 1664, and then was obliged to leave that country-side, although the Earl of Glencairn spoke to the bishop in his favours, who gave him a very short answer ; which made the earl say, ' We have ' set up these men, and they will trample upon us.' 21 Mr. Guthry was much afflicted with the gravel thorow his life ; which obliged him, contrary to his inclination, to take diversion : and frequently in summer he visited his friends, who were of one sentiment; but above all, his cousin Mr. James Guthry minister in Stirling. The last time he was 362 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME there, he was very melancholly, which was not his ordinary, especially in time of dinner. Mr. James said, ' A peny for your thought, cousin.' He said, ' There 's a poor man at the door, give him the peny,' which he willingly did : and Mr. William said, ' I '11 ' tell you, cousin, what I 'm not only thinking upon, ' but I am sure of it, if I be not under a delusion ; ' and it is this, that the malignants will be your ' death, and this gravel will be mine ; but ye will ' have the advantage of me, for ye will die honour- ' ably before many witnesses with a rope about your ' neck, and I will die whinging upon a pickle straw ; ' and I will endure more pain ere I rise from your ' table than all the pain you will have in your 'death.' 22 He was much affected and afflicted with Mr. James's bloody death, and was once resolved to have gone to the scaffold with him ; but fearing his fainting, and that he would not carry it out, and friends perswading him that he would be in danger by these murdering enemies, stopt him. At last he went home to Angus where he was born, and was seized with both gravel and gout, which soon carried him off. His pain was so great that friends were obliged to hold up his feet and down his head. 23 He said, ' O but the Lord be kind ' to old sinful Will, for all the ill turns he has done ! ' And with the same breath said, ' Lord, tho' I should ' die red-wood, yet I know well I will die in Thee. ' Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, at all ' times, but more especially when a flood of errors, VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 363 ' snares, sins and judgments are beginning or coming ' upon a church, nation, or people.' Although in my preface to the Life and Death of Mr. Peden, I told the world that I had consulted none, either in matter or method ; 24 yet, how many have had their groundless, foolish, nonsensical re- flections upon it! Others quarrelling it for want of grammar ; some fathering it upon men who have both Latine, Greek, and Hebrew, who knew nothing of it, and had their own dissatisfaction with some things in it ; others charging it with bitterness. I wish that all would consider that I meddle with no man's state, heart, personal sins, or natural in- firmities and weaknesses. 'Tis only national defec- tions, and turnings aside from the sworn - to and seal'd testimony of the Church of Scotland, that I can never enough mourn for, abhor, and witness against ; and if ever I shall change my sentiments in these things, and the edge of my zeal turn blunt against them, 'tis high time I were tinkling over Mr. Peden's last publick prayers, ' Let me away with ' the honesty I have, for I will gather no more.' 25 And if it were not for the sakes of a few upon the stage, (and I would fain hope there will be a suc- cession of them) I would reckon it a wasting of time and pains, to write one sentence to the greater part of this infatuate, demented, perishing age; wherein there are so few that take notice, or regard what Moses and the prophets and apostles say ; and these that will not hear them, will hear none, tho' they were rising from the dead. 26 But, as I said in that 364 VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME preface, whoever are dissatisfied with these foregoing relations, let them lay the blame intirely upon me, for I have consulted none. And at the time I think (but I may think otherwise to-morrow, for I have gotten many proofs of my self, and yet my self is a mystery to my self) that if I be not under the power of a strong delusion, and if I had a concur- rence of providences to clear my call, and the full assurance of faith ; I say, I now think, that (thro' the strengthning, supporting, and comforting free grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, freely given to me) I would esteem it before all that the sun shines upon, to seal the scope, design, matter and substance of what I have been writing (whatever mistakes in circumstances and unguarded expressions may be) either in that preface or the foregoing relations, all with my blood ; and thus to win honestly off the stage. However, for the time, let them stand for my mite of testimony 27 against Scotland's abomina- tions of tyranny and defection, and turning aside to the left or right-hand, these 76 years. And the good Lord, who is rich in mercy, for his love wherewith he loved us, and for his glory's sake, the elect's sake, and the sake of an uprising genera- tion, shorten these melancholly days (and prevent my fears, that I have found my self obliged to entertain these 36 years, that there may be mo and greater causes of wrath, effects and evidences of the Lord's great anger and hot displeasure against this Church and nation) which may be of longer con- tinuance than the greater part are either fearing or VINDICATION OF CAMERON'S NAME 365 thinking upon, and all these evils of whatsoever kind be not as the beginning of sorrows to us. Patrick Walker. P.S. If any person has any passages in the lives of thir worthies, or of Mr. Peden, let them send them to my house at Bristo-port, and they shall be printed. I have some further edifying accounts of Mr. Peden 's life, which I design to publish with the former. I hope, after I have been at so great pains, travel and expence in collecting these edifying passages of the Hves of these worthies, none will be so invidious as to reprint them while I am upon the stage. FINIS