FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 UMekm 
 
 Section 
 
 
a.4 
 
 ( 
 

SOME 
 
 'S? 
 
 ^OFPR/JV^s 
 
 REMARKABLE P A ,§ SS^ES J931 
 
 IN THE 
 
 3* 
 
 OBIQNLSm 
 
 ;■>.- 
 
 & 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Hon. Col. JAMES GAR DI NER, 
 
 Who was Slain at the 
 
 BATTLE of PRESTON PANS, 
 
 SEP T E MB E R at, 1745. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED, 
 
 The S E R M O N, 
 
 OCCASIONED BY HIS 
 
 HEROICK DEATH. 
 
 by P. DODDRIDGE, d. d. 
 
 -Juftior alter 
 
 Nee Pietatefuity nee Bello major & Ar mis . Virg. 
 
 PRINTED at BOSTON, 
 
 by I. THOMAS and E. T. ANDREWS, 
 
 FAUSTs Statue, No. 45, Newbury Street. 
 
 M,DCC,XC1I. 
 
T O 
 
 Cornet in Sir JOHN COPE's 
 
 Regiment of Dragoons* 
 Dtar Sir, 
 
 V T HILE my heart is following you 
 with a truly paternal folicitude, through ail the 
 dangers of military life, in which you are thus 
 early engaged, anxious for your fafety amid ft the 
 iafiiuments of death, and the far more danger- 
 ous allurements of vice ; I feel a peculiar. pleaf- 
 ure in being able at length, though after fuch 
 long delavs, to put into your hands the Memoirs- 
 with which X now prefciit you. They contain 
 many particulars, which would have been wor- 
 thy of your attentive netice, had they related to 
 a- -per foil of the rnoft diflant nation or age; But 
 they wiil, I doubt not, command your peculiar 
 regard, as they are facred to the memory of tha* 
 excellent man, from whom you had the honour 
 to derive your birth, and by whofe generous and 
 . affectionate care you have been laid under all the 
 obligations which the belt of fathers could con- 
 fer on a laoft beloved fon, 
 
 Herb 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 Here, Sir, you fee a gentleman, who with all 
 the advantages of a liberal and religious educa- 
 tion, added to crery natural accomplishment that 
 could render him moil agreeable, entered, before 
 he had attained the feature of a man, on thofe 
 arduous and generous fervices to which you ary 
 devoted, and behaved in them with a gallantry 
 and courage, which will always give a fplendor 
 to his name among the fjritifh foldiery, and ren- 
 der him an example to all officers of his rank. 
 But alasT amidfl ail the intrepidity of the mar- 
 tial Hero, you fee him rarnjuifhed by the blan- 
 difhmerrts of pleafure, and in cha^e of it plung- 
 ing himfelf into follies and vices, for which no 
 \va?rt of education or genius could have been a 
 rfE'fcient excufe. You be,hold him urging the 
 igooble and fatal purfuit, unmoved by the terrors 
 whjch death was continually darting around him, 
 and the moil fig*iai deliverances by which Prov- 
 idence again and again refcued him from thofe 
 terrors ; till at length he was reclaimed by aa 
 ever memorable interposition of divine grace. 
 Then you have the pleafure of feeing him be- 
 * come in good earneii a Convert to ChrijUanity y and 
 by fpeedy advances growing up into one of its 
 brighteit ornaments ; his mind continually filled 
 with the great ideas which the gofpek of our Re- 
 deeemer fuggefts, and bringing the blefled influ- 
 ence of its fublime principles into every relation 
 
 of 
 
D ED ICATIO N." 
 
 of military and civil, of public and domeflic life* 
 You trace him perfevering in a Ready and uni* 
 form courfe of goo^dnefs, through a long feries 
 of honourable and profperous years-, the de- 
 light, of all that were fo happy as to know hir^ 
 and, in his fphere, the mofl faithful guar- 
 dian of his country ; till at lad, worn out with 
 honourable labours, and broken with infirmities 
 which they had haftened upon him before the 
 time, you fee him forgetting them at once at the 
 call of duty and Providence ; with all the gen- 
 erous ardour of his mofl vigorous days rufhing 
 on the enemies of religion and liberty, fuftaining 
 their (hock with the mofl deliberate fortitude, 
 when deferted by thofe that fhould have fup- 
 ported him, and cheerfully facnficing the little 
 remains of a mortal life, in the triumphant views 
 of a glorious immortality. 
 
 This, Sir, is the noble ' object l" prefent to 
 your view ; and yoa will, I hope, fix your eye 
 eontinually upon it^ and will never allow you*- 
 felf for one day to forget, that this illuflrious 
 man is Colonel Gardiner, your ever hon- 
 oured father ; who having approved his fidelity 
 to the death and received a crown of life, feems as 
 it were, by what you here read, to be calling out 
 to you from amidfl the cloud of witneffes with 
 which you are furrounded, and urging you by 
 
 cverv 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 every generous, tender, filial fehtiment, to mark 
 the footfteps of his Christian race, and lirenu- 
 oufty to maintain that combat, where the victory 
 is through divine grace certain, and the prize 
 an eternal kingdom in the Heavens," 
 
 My hopes, Sir, that all thefe powerful motives 
 wyil efpecially have their full efficacy on you, 
 are greatly encouraged by the certainty which I 
 have of your being well acquainted with the 
 evidence of ChrUlianity in its full extent; a 
 criminal ignorance of which, in the mtdit of 
 great advantages for learning them, leaves fo ma- 
 ny of our young people a prey to Deifm, and fo 
 to vice and ruin, which generally bring up its 
 rear. My life* would be a continual burthen to- 
 me, if I had not a confeioufnefs in the fight of 
 God, that during the years in which the import- 
 ant truft of your education was committed to my 
 •care, I had laid before you th^ proofs both of 
 natural and revealed religion, in .what I aiTured- 
 ly efteem to be, with regard to the. Judgment, if 
 they are carefully examined, an irreli liable light: 
 and that I had endeavoured to attend them with- 
 thofe addreiles, which might be mofi likely to 
 imprefs your heart. You have not$ dear Sir. 
 forgotten, and I am confident you can never en- 
 tirely forget, the afliduity with which I have la- 
 boured to form your mind, not only to what 
 
 might 
 
DED1 CATION. 
 
 might be ornamental to y«u in human life, b*t 
 above all, to a true tafte of what is really excel- 
 lent, and an early contempt of thofe vanities by 
 which the generality of our youth, efpecially in 
 your flation, are debafed, enervated, and undone* 
 My private, as well as publick addrefles for this 
 purpofe will, I know, -lie remembered by you, 
 and the tears of tendernefs with which they have 
 fo.pften been accompanied : And may they be 
 fo remembered, that they who are moft tenderly 
 concerned, may be comforted under the lofs of 
 fuch an ineftimable friend as Colonel Gardi- 
 ner, by feeing that his character, in all its mod 
 amiable and refplendent parts, lives in you ; and 
 that how difficult foever it may be to a£fc up to 
 that height of expectation, with which the eves 
 of the world will be fixed on the fon of fuch a 
 father, you are, in the flrength of diving grace 
 attempting it ; at lead are following him with 
 generous emulation, and with daily folicitude, 
 that the fleps may be lefs unequal ! 
 
 May the Lord God of your Father, and I will 
 add, of both your .pious and honourable parents, 
 animate your heart more and more with fuch 
 views ^and fentiments as thefe ! May he guard 
 your life amid ft every fcene of danger, to be a 
 prote&ion and bl effing to thofe that are yet un. 
 fc>orn; and may he give you, in fome far diftant 
 
 period 
 
D E J)I CATION. 
 
 ^period of time, to re/ign it by a gentler drtTola- 
 tion than the hero from whom you fprung, or if 
 unerring wifdom appoint otherwife, to end it 
 *with equal glory J 
 
 I an, 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Your ever faithful, 
 
 Affe&ionate friend, and 
 
 Obliged humble -ferv ant, 
 
 P. DODDRIDGE. 
 
 JffirthamjUcn, July i, 1747. 
 
 S O M k 
 
OF THE 
 
 Hon. Col. JAMES GARDINER. 
 
 WHEN I promifed the public fomc 
 larger account of the life and char- 
 acter of this illuftrious perfon, than I could 
 conveniently infert in my fermon on the 
 fad occafion of his death, I was fecure, that 
 if Providence continued my capacity of 
 writing, I fhould not wholly difappoint the 
 expe&ation. For I was furnifhed with a 
 variety of particulars, which appeared tome 
 worthy of general notice, in confequence of 
 that intimate friendfhip with which he had 
 honored me during the fix laft years of his « 
 life ; a friendfhip which led him to open 
 B his 
 
14 LIFE of Col, GARDINER. 
 
 his heart to me in repeated converfations, 
 with an unbounded confidence, (as he then 
 affured me, beyond what he had ufed with 
 any other man living) fo far as religious ex- 
 periences were concerned : And I had alfo 
 received feveral very valuable letters from 
 him, during the time of our abfence from 
 each other, which contained moft genuine 
 and edifying traces of his Chriftian charac- 
 ter. But I hoped farther to learn many 
 valuable particulars from the papers of his 
 own clofet ; and from his letters to other 
 friends, as well as from what they more cir- 
 cumftantially knew concerning him : 1 
 therefore determined to delay the execution 
 of my promife, till I could enjoy thefe ad- 
 vantages for performing it in the moft fatis- 
 faflory manner.; nor have I, on the whole, 
 reafon to regret that determination. 
 
 I (hall not trouble the reader with all the 
 caufes which concurred to hinder thefe exi- 
 pe£led affiftances for almoft a whole year : 
 the chief of them were the tedious languifh- 
 ing illnefs of his affii&ed lady, through whofe 
 hands it was proper the papers fhould pafs$ 
 together with the confufion into which the 
 rebels had thrown them, when thev ranfack- 
 ed his feat at Bankton, where moft of them 
 were depofited. But having now received 
 
 fuch 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 15 
 
 fuch of them as have efcaped their voracious 
 hands, and could conveniently be colleQed 
 and tranfmitted, I fet myfelf with the great- 
 eft pleafure to perform, what I efteem, not 
 merely a tribute of gratitude to the memory 
 of my invaluable friend, (though never was 
 the memory of any mortal man more prec- 
 ious and facred to me) but of duty to God, 
 and to my fellow creatures : for 1 have a 
 mod cheerful hope, that the narrative I am 
 now to write, will, under the divine bleffing, 
 be a means of fpreading, what of all things 
 in the world every benevolent heart will 
 mod defire to fpread, a warm and lively 
 fenfe of religion. 
 
 My own heart has been fo much edified 
 and animated, by what I have read in the 
 memoirs of perfons who have been eminent 
 for wifdom and piety, that I cannot but wifh 
 the treafure may be more and more increaf- 
 ed : and I would hope, the world may gather 
 the like valuable fruits from the Life I am 
 now attempting ; not only as it will contain 
 very Angular circumftances, which may ex- 
 cite a general curiofity, but as it comes at- 
 tended with fome other particular advan- 
 tages. 
 
 The reader is here to furvey a chara£ier 
 of fuch eminent and various goodnefs, as 
 
 might 
 
i6 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 might demand veneration, and infpire him 
 with a defire to imitate it too, had it appear- 
 ed in the obfcureft rank : but it will furely 
 command fome particular regard, when 
 viewed ift fo olevated and important a fta- 
 tion ; efpecially as it (hone, not in ecclefiaf- 
 tical, but military life, where the temptations 
 are fo many, and the prevalency of the con- 
 trary character fo great, that it may feem no 
 inconfiderabie praife and felicity to be free 
 from diflfolute vice, and to retain what in 
 mod other profeflions might be efteemed 
 only a mediocrity of virtue. It may furely 
 with the highefl judice be expe&ed, that 
 the title and bravery of Colonel Gardiner 
 will invite many of our officers and foldiers, 
 to whom his name has been long honorable 
 and dear, to perufe this account of him with 
 fome peculiar attention : in conference of 
 which, it may be a means of increafing the 
 number, and brightening the charafter, of 
 thofe who are already adorning their office, 
 their country, and their religion ; and of re- 
 claiming thofe, who will fee rather what they 
 ought to be, than what they are. On the 
 whole, to the gentlemen of the [word I would 
 particularly offer thefe memoirs, as theirs by 
 fo diftinguiihed a title : yet I am firmly 
 perfuaded there are none whofe office is fo 
 
 facred 
 
LIFE or Col. GARDINER. 17 
 
 facred, or whofe proficiency in the religious 
 life is fo advanced, but they may find fome- 
 thing to demand their thankfulnefs, and to 
 awaken their emulation. 
 
 Col. James Gardiner, of whom we write, 
 was the fon of Capt. Patrick Gardiner, of 
 the family of Torwood-head, by Mrs. Mary 
 Hodge, of the family of Gladfmuir. The 
 Captain, who was mailer of a handfome ef- 
 tate, ferved many years in the army of King 
 William and Queen Anne, and died abroad 
 with the Britilh forces in Germany, quickly 
 after the battle of Hochftet, through the fa- 
 tigues he underwent in the duties of that 
 celebrated campaign^ He had a company 
 in the regiment of foot, once commanded by 
 Colonel Hodge, his valiant brother in law, 
 who was flain at the head of that regiment, 
 my memorial from Scotland fays, at the 
 battle of Steenkirk, which was faught in the 
 year 1692. 
 
 Mrs. Gardiner, our Colonel's mother, was 
 a lady of a very valuable chai after ; but it 
 plea fed God to exercife her with very un- 
 common trials : for fhe not only loft her 
 hufband and her brother in the fervice of 
 their country, as before related, but alfoher 
 eldeft fon, Mr. Robert Gardiner, on the day 
 which completed the fixteenth year of his 
 B 2 age, 
 
i8 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 age, at the fiege of Namur, in 1695. But 
 there is reafon to believe, God bleffed thefe 
 various and heavy affli6tions, as the means 
 of forming her to that eminent degree of 
 piety, which will render her memory hon- 
 orable as long as it continues. 
 
 Her fecond fon, the worthy perfon of 
 whom I am now to give a more particular 
 account, was born at Garriden in Linlith- 
 gowfliire, on the 10th of January, A. D. 
 1687^8, the memorable year of that glori- 
 ous Revolution, which he juft<y efteemed 
 among the happieft of all events. So that 
 when he was flain in the defence of thofe 
 liberties, which God then by fo gracious a 
 providence refcued from utter deftru&ion, 
 i. e. on the 21ft of September, 1745, he was 
 aged 57 years, 8 months, and 11 days. 
 
 The annual return of his birth day was 
 obferved by him, in the latter and better 
 years of his life, in a manner very different 
 from what is commonly pra6tifed : For in- 
 ftead of making it a day of feftivity, I am 
 told, he rather diftinguiftied it as a feafon of 
 more than ordinary humiliation before God; 
 both in commemoration of thofe mercies 
 which he received in the firft opening of 
 life, and under an affeftionate fenfe, as well 
 of his long alienation from the Great Au- 
 thor 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 19 
 
 thor and fupport of his being, as of the many 
 imperfe&ions which he lamented, in the beft 
 of his days and fervices. 
 
 I have not met with many things remark- 
 able concerning the early years of his life, 
 only that his mother took care to inftru6i 
 him, with great tendernefs and affeftion, in 
 the principles of true chriftianity. He was 
 alfo trained up in human literature at the 
 fchool at Linlithgow, where he made a very 
 confiderable progrefs in the languages. I 
 remember to have heard him quote fome 
 paffages of the Latin claffics very pertinent- 
 ly ; though his employment in life, and the 
 various turns which his mind took under 
 different impulfes in fucceeding years, pre- 
 vented him from cultivating fuch ftudies. 
 
 The good effe&s of his mother's prudent 
 and exemplary care were not fo confpicuous 
 as fhe wifhed and hoped, in the younger 
 part of her fon's life ; yet there is great rea- 
 fon to believe, they were not entirely loft, 
 As they were probably the occafion of many 
 conviftions, which in his younger years 
 were overborne ; fo I doubt not, that when 
 religious impreffions took that ftrong hold 
 of his heart, which they afterwards did, that 
 ftock of knowledge which had been fo early 
 laid up in his rnind^ was found of confider- 
 able 
 
so LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 able fervice. And I have heard them make 
 the obfervation, as an encouragement to pa- 
 rents, and other pious friends, to do their 
 duty, and to hope for thofe good conse- 
 quences of it which may not immediately 
 appear. 
 
 Could his mother, or a very religious aunt 
 (of whofe good inftru&ions and exhortations 
 I have often heard him fpeak with pleafure) 
 have prevailed, he would not have thought 
 of a military life ; from which, it is no won- 
 der, thefe ladies endeavoured to diffuade 
 him, confidering the mournful experience 
 they had of the dangers attending it r and 
 the dear relatives they had loft already by 
 it. But it fuited his tafte ; and the ardour 
 of his fpirit, animated by the perfuafions of 
 a friend who greatly urged it,* was not to be 
 reftrained. Nor will the reader wonder, 
 that thus excited and fupported, it eafily 
 overbore their tender rem on (trances, when 
 he knows, that this lively youth faught three 
 duels before he attained to the ftature of a 
 man ; in one of which, when he was but 
 eight years old, he received from a boy much 
 older than himfelf, a wound in his right 
 cheek, the fear of which was always very ap- 
 parent. 
 
 * I fuppofe this to have been General Rue, who had 
 from his childhood a peculiar affection tor him. 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 21 
 
 parent. The falfe fenfe of honor which in- 
 ftigated him to it, might feem indeed fome- 
 thing excufeable, in thofe unripened years, 
 and confidering the profeflion of his father, 
 brother, and uncle ; but I have often heard 
 hkn mention this rafhnefs with that regret 
 which the refle&ion would naturally give to 
 fo wife and good a man in the maturity of 
 life. And I have been informed, that after 
 his remarkable converfion, he declined ac- 
 cepting a challenge, with this calm and truly 
 great reply, which in a man of his experi- 
 enced bravery was exceeding graceful : " I 
 fear finning, though you know I do not fear 
 fighting." 
 
 He ferved firft as a Cadet, which muft 
 have been very early ; and then, at 14 years 
 old, he bore an Enfign's commiflion in a 
 Scots regiment in the Dutch fervice ; in 
 which he continued till the year 1702, when 
 (if my information be right) he received an 
 Enfign's commiflion from Queen Anne, 
 which he bore in the battle of Ramillies, 
 being then in the 19th year of his age. In 
 this ever memorable a6lion, he received a 
 wound in his mouth by a mufket ball, which 
 hath often been reported to be the occafion 
 of his converfion. That report was a mis- 
 taken one ; but as fome very remarkable 
 
 circumftances 
 
!22 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 circumftances attended this affair, which I 
 have had the pleafure of hearing more than 
 once from his own mouth, I hope my reader 
 will excufe me, if I give him fo uncommon 
 a ftory at large. 
 
 Our young officer was of a party in the 
 Forlorn Hope, and was commanded on 
 what feemed almoft a defperate fervice, to 
 difpoffefs the French of the church yard at 
 Ramillies, where a confiderablc number of 
 them were pofted to remarkable advantage. 
 They fucceeded much better than was ex- 
 pefted ; and it may be well fuppofed, that 
 Mr. Gardiner, who had before been in 
 feveral encounters, and had the view of 
 making his fortune, to animate the natural 
 intrepidity of his fpirit, was glad of fuch an 
 opportunity of fignalizing himfelf. Ac- 
 cordingly he had planted his colours on an 
 advanced ground ; and while he was calling 
 to his men, (probably in that horrid Lin* 
 guage which is fo peculiar a difgrace to our 
 loldiery, and fo abfurdly common in fuch 
 articles of extreme danger) he received a 
 fhot into his mouth ; which, without beat- 
 ing out any of his teeth, or touching the 
 fore part of his tongue, went through his 
 neck, and came out about an inch and an 
 half on the left fide of the vertebra. Not 
 
 feeling 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 23 
 
 feeling, at firft, the pain of the ftroke, he 
 wondered what was become of the ball, and 
 in the wildnefs of his furprize, began to iuf- 
 pe£t he had fwallowed it ; but dropping 
 ibon after, he traced the paffage of it by his 
 finger, when he could difcover it no other 
 way ; which I mention as one circumftance 
 among many which occur, to make it pro- 
 bable that the greater part of thofe who fall 
 in battle by thefe inftruments of death, feel 
 very little anguifh from the moft mortal 
 wounds. 
 
 This accident happened about fire or fix 
 in the evening, on the 23d day of May, in 
 the year 1706 ; and the army purfuing its 
 advantages againfl the French, without ever 
 regarding the wounded, (which was, it 
 ■feems, the Duke of Marlborough's con ft ant 
 method) our young officer lay all night in 
 the field, agitated, as well may be fuppofed, 
 with a great variety of thoughts. He affur- 
 «d me, that when he reflefted upon the cir- 
 cumftances of his wound, that a bvllfhould, 
 as he then conceived if, go through his head 
 without killing him, he thought Cod had 
 preserved him by miracle ; and therefore 
 afluredly concluded that he fhould live, 
 abandoned and defperat^ as his ftate then 
 feemed to be. Yet, which to me appeared 
 
 very 
 
24 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 very aflonifhing he had little thoughts of 
 humbling himfelf before God, and return- 
 ing to him after the wanderings of a life fo 
 licentioufly begun. But expe&ing to re- 
 cover, his mind was taken up with contriv- 
 ances to fecure his gold, of which he had a 
 pretty deal about him ; and he had recourfe 
 to a very odd expedient, which proved fuc- 
 cefsful. Expe6ling to be (tripped, he firft 
 took out a handful of that clotted gore, of 
 which he was freequently obliged to clear 
 his mouth, or he would have been choaked ; 
 and putting it into his left hand, he took 
 out his money, (which I think, was about 
 19 piftoles) and (hutting his hand, and bef- 
 tnearing the back part of it with blood, he 
 kept it in this pofition till the blood dried 
 in fuch a manner that his hand could not 
 eafily fall open, though any fudden furprize 
 fhould happen, in which he might lofe 
 the prefence of mind which that conceal- 
 ment otherwife would have required. 
 
 In the morning the French, who were 
 matters of that fpot, though their forces 
 were defeated at fome diftance, came to 
 plunder the (lain ; and feeing him to ap- 
 pearance aimoft expiring, one of them was 
 juft applying a fword to his bread, to def- 
 troy the little remainder of life ; when in 
 
 the 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 25 
 
 the critical moment, upon which all the ex- 
 traordinary events of fuch a life as his after- 
 wards proved were fufpended, a cordelier, 
 who attended the plunderers, interpofed, 
 taking him by his drefs for a Frenchman ; 
 and faid, " Do not kill that poor child." 
 Our young foldier heard all that palled, 
 though he was not able to fpeak one word ; 
 and opening his eyes, made a fign for fome- 
 thing to drink. They gave him a fup of 
 fome fpirituous liquor, which happened to 
 be at hand ; by which he faid he found a 
 more fenfible refrefhment, than he could 
 remember from any thing he had tailed ei- 
 ther before or fince. Then figning to the 
 Friar to lean down his ear to his mouth, he 
 employed the firft efforts of his feeble breath 
 in telling him, (what, alas ! was a contrived 
 falfehood) that he was nephew to the Gov- 
 ernor of Huy, a neutral town in the neigh- 
 borhood, and that, if he could take any 
 method of conveying him thither, he did 
 not doubt but his uncle would liberally re- 
 •ward him. He had indeed a friend at 
 Huy, (who I think was Governor, and if I 
 miftake not, had been acquainted with the 
 Captain his father) from whom he expeft- 
 ed a kind reception ; but the relation was 
 only pretended. On hearing this, they 
 laid him on a fort of hand barrow, and fent 
 C him 
 
26 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 him by a file of mufqueteers towards the 
 place ; but the men loft their way, and got 
 into a wood towards the evening, in which 
 they were obliged to continue all night. 
 The poor patient's wound being (till un- 
 dreffed, it is not to be wondered that by 
 this time it raged violently. The anguifh 
 of it engaged him earneftly to beg, that they 
 would either kill him outright, or leave him 
 there to die, without the torture of any far- 
 ther motion ; and indeed they were obliged 
 to reft for a confiderable time, on account 
 of their own wearinefs. Thus he fpent the 
 fecond night in the open air, without any 
 thing more than a common bandage to 
 flanch the blood. He hath often mention- 
 ed it as a moft aftoniflhing providence, that 
 he did not bleed to death ; which, under 
 God, he afcribed to the remarkable coldnefs 
 of thefe two nights. 
 
 Judging it quite unfafe to attempt carry- 
 ing him to Huy, from whence they were 
 now feveral miles diftant, his convoy took 
 him early in the morning to a convent in. 
 the neighborhood ; where he was hofpitably 
 received, and treated with great kindnefs and 
 tendernefs. But the cure of his w r ound was 
 committed to an ignorant barber furgeon, 
 who lived near the houfe ; the beft fhift that, 
 could then be made, at a time when it may 
 
 eafily 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 27 
 
 eafily be fuppofed perfons of ability in their 
 profeffion had their hands full of employ- 
 ment. Thp tent which this artift applied, 
 was almoft like a peg driven into the wound ; 
 and gentlemen of (kill and experience, when 
 they came to hear of the manner in which 
 he was treated, wondered how he could 
 poffibly furvive fuch management. But by 
 the bleffing of God on thefe applications, 
 rough as they w r ere, he recovered in a few 
 months. The Lady Abbefs, who called 
 him her fon, treated him with the affe&ion 
 and care of a mother ; and he always de- 
 clared, that every thing which he faw within 
 thefe walls, was conduced with the flricteft 
 decency and decorum. He received a great 
 mr^y devest admonitions from the ladies 
 there ; and they would fain have perfuaded 
 him to acknowledge what they thought fo 
 miraculous a deliverance, by embracing the 
 Catholic faith, as they were pleafed to call 
 it. But thev could not fucceed : for though 
 no religion lay near his heart, yet he had 
 too much of the fpirit of a gentleman, light- 
 ly to change that form of religion which he 
 wore, as it were loofe about him ; as well as 
 too much good fenfe, to fwallow thofe mon- 
 ftrous abfurdities of popery, which imme- 
 diately prefented themfelves to him, unac- 
 quainted 
 
18 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 quainted as he was' with the niceties of the 
 controverfv. 
 
 When his liberty was regained by an ex- 
 change of prifoners, and his health thor- 
 oughly eftablifhed, he was far from render- 
 ing unto the Lord, according to that wonder- 
 ful difplay of divine mercy which he had 
 experienced. I know very little of the par- 
 ticulars * of thofe wild, thoughtlefs, and 
 wretched years, which lay between the 
 nineteenth and the thirtieth of his life ; ex- 
 cept it be, that he frequently experienced 
 the divide goodnefs in renewed inftances, 
 particularly in preferving him. in feveral hot 
 military actions, in all which he never re- 
 ceived fo much as a wound after this, for- 
 ward as he was in tempting danger ; and 
 yet, that all thefe years were fpent in an en- 
 tire alienation from God, and an eager pur- 
 fuit of animal pleafure, as his fupreme good. 
 The feries of criminal amours, in which he 
 was almoft inceffantiy engaged during this 
 time, muft probably have afforded fome re- 
 markable adventures and occurrences ; but 
 the memory of them is perifhed. Nor do 
 I think it unworthy notice here, that amidft 
 all the intimacy of our friendfhip, and the. 
 many hours of cheerful as well as ferious 
 converfe which we fpent together, I never 
 remember to have heard him fpeak of any 
 
 of 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 29 
 
 of thefe intrigues, otherwife than in the gen- 
 eral, with deep and folemn abhorrence. 
 This I the rather mention, as it feemed a 
 moft genuine- proof of his unfeigned repent- 
 ance ; which I think there is great reafon to 
 fufpeft, when people feem to take a pleas- 
 ure in relating and defcribing fcenes of vic- 
 ious indulgence, which yet they profefs to 
 have difapproved and forfaken. 
 
 Amidfl all thefe pernicious wanderings 
 from the paths of religion, virtue, and hap- 
 pinefs, he approved himfelf fo well in his 
 military charafter, that he was made a Lieu- 
 tenant in that year, viz. 1706 : And I am 
 told, he was very quickly after promoted to 
 a Cornet's commiffion in Lord Stair's regi- 
 ment of the Scots Greys ; and on the 3 1 ft of 
 January, 17 14-15, was made Captain-Lieu- 
 tenant in Col. Ker's regiment of dragoons. 
 He had the honor of being known to the 
 Earl of Stair fome time before, and was made 
 his Aid de Camp ; and when, upon his 
 Lordfhip's being appointed Ambaffador 
 from his late Majefty to the court of France, 
 he made fo fplendid an entrance into Paris, 
 Capt. Gardiner was his mafter of the horfe ; 
 and I have been told that a great deal of the 
 care of that admirably well adjufted cere- 
 mony fell upon him ; fo that he gained 
 great credit by the manner in which he con- 
 C 2 dufted 
 
30 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 dufted it. Under the benign influences of 
 his Lordfhip's favour, a Captain's commiff- 
 ion was procured for him, dated July 2 2d, 
 1715, in the regiment of dragoons com- 
 manded by Col. Stanhope, (now Earl of 
 Harrington) and, in the year 1717, he was 
 advanced to the majority of that regiment ; 
 in which office he continued till it was re- 
 duced, on Nov. 10th, 1718 ; when he was 
 put out of commiflion. But then his Ma- 
 jefty George I. was fo thoroughly apprifed 
 of his faithful and important fervices, that 
 he gave him his fign manual, entitling him 
 to the firft majority that fhould become va- 
 cant in any regiment of horfe or dragoons, 
 which happened about five years after, to 
 be in Croft's regiment of dragoons, in which 
 he received a commiflion, dated June lft, 
 1724 ; and on the 20th of July the fame year, 
 he was made a Major of an older regiment, 
 commanded by the Earl of Stair. 
 
 As I am now fpeaking of fo many of his 
 military preferments, I will difpatch the ac- 
 count of them by observing, that on the 24th 
 of January, 1729-30, he was advanced to 
 the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the fame 
 regiment, long under the command of Lord 
 Cadogan ; with whofe friendfhip this brave, 
 and vigilant officer was alfo honoured for 
 many years. And he continued in this 
 
 rank 
 
, LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 31 
 
 rank, and regiment, till the 19th of April, 
 1743, when he received a Colonel's commif- 
 fion over a regimentof dragoons, lately com- 
 manded by Brigadier Bland ; at the head 
 of which hevaliantly fell, in the defence of 
 his Sovereign and his country, about two 
 years and a half after he received it. 
 
 We will now return to that period of his 
 life which paffed at Paris, the fcene of fuch 
 remarkable and important events. He con- 
 tinued (if I remember right) feveral years 
 under the roof of the brave and generous 
 Earl of Stair ; to whom he endeavoured to 
 approve himfelf by every inftance of diligent 
 and faithful fervice. And his lordfhip gave 
 no inconfiderable proof of the dependence 
 which he had upon him, when, in the be- 
 ginning of the year 1715, he entrufted him 
 with the important dilpatches, relating to a 
 difcovery, which, by a feries of admirable 
 policy, he had made, of a defign which the 
 French King was then forming, for invading 
 Great Britain in favour of the Pretender ; 
 in which the French apprehended they 
 were fo fecure of fuccefs, that it feemed a 
 point offriendfhip in one of the chief coun- 
 fellors of that court, to diffuade a dependant 
 of his from accepting fome employment un- 
 der his Britannic Majefty, when propofed 
 by his envoy there ; becaufe it was faid, that 
 
 in 
 
32 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 in lefs than fix weeks there would be a rev- 
 olution, in favour of what they called the 
 family of the .Stuarts. The Captain dif- 
 patched his journey with the utmoft fpeed ; 
 a variety of circum fiances happily concur- 
 red to accelerate it ; and they, who remem- 
 ber how foon the regiments which that e- 
 mergency required were raifed and armed, 
 will, I doubt not, efteem it a memorable in- 
 fiance, both of the mod cordial zeal in the 
 friends of the government, and of the grac- 
 ious care of Divine Providence, over the 
 houfe of Hanover, and the Britifh liberties, 
 fo infeparably connefted with its intereft. 
 
 While Capt. Gardiner was at London, in 
 one of the journies he made upon this occa- 
 fion, he, with that franknefs which was nat- 
 ural to him, and which in thofe days was 
 not always under the mofl prudent reftrainf, 
 ventured to predi£t, from what he knew of 
 the bad (late of the French King's health, 
 that he would not live fix weeks. This was 
 made known by fome fpies who were at St. 
 James's, and came to be reported at the 
 court of Verfailles ; for he received letters 
 from fome friends at Paris, advifing him not 
 to return thither, unlefs he could reconcile 
 himfelf to a lodging in the Baftile. But he 
 was foon free from that apprehenfion ; for, 
 if I miftake not, before half that time wawS 
 
 accomplished, 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 33 
 
 accompliftied, Lewis XIV. died ;* and, it is 
 generally thought, his death was haftened by 
 a very accidental circumftancc, which had 
 fome reference to the Captain's prophecy. 
 For the laft time he ever dined in public, 
 which was a very little while afte: the re- 
 port of it had been made there, he happened 
 to difcover our Britifh Envoy among the 
 fpediators. The penetration of this illuf- 
 trious perfon was too great, and his attach- 
 ment to the intereft of his royal mafter too 
 well known, not to render him very difagree- 
 able to that crafty and tyrannical prince, 
 whom God had fo long fuffered to be the 
 difgrace of monarchy, and the fcourge of 
 Europe. He at firft appeared very languid, 
 as indeed he was ; but on calling his eye 
 upon the Earl of Stair, he affe£led to appear 
 before him in a much better ftate of health 
 than he really was ^ and therefore, as if he 
 had been awakened on a fudden from fome 
 deep reverie, immediately put himfelf into 
 an eretl poflure, called up a laboured vivac- 
 ity into his countenance, and eat much more 
 heartily than was by any means advifable, 
 repeating it two or three times to a noble- 
 man then in waiting, c< Methinks I eat very 
 well, for a man who is to die fo foon."f 
 
 But 
 
 * September ift, 17 15. 
 
 t II me femble, que je ne mange pas mal pour un 
 homme qui devoit mourir fi tot. 
 
; 
 
 34 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 But this inroad upon that regularity of liv- 
 ing, which he had for fome time obferved, 
 agreed fo ill with him, that he never recov- 
 ered this meal, but died in lefs than a fort- 
 night. This gave occafion for fome humor- 
 ous people to fay, that old Lewis, after all, 
 was killed by a Briton. But if this ftory be 
 tv\xe y which I think there can be no room to 
 doubt, as the Colonel, from whom I have 
 often heard it, though abfent, could fcarce 
 be milinformed) it might more properly be 
 Xaid, that he fell by his own vanity ; in which 
 view I thought it fo remarkable, as not to be 
 unworthy a place in thefe memoirs. 
 
 The Captain quickly returned, and con- 
 tinued with frnali interruptions at Paris, at 
 leaft till the year 1720, and how much longer 
 I do not certainly knofr. - The Earl's fa- 
 vour and generofity made him eafy in his 
 affairs, though he was, as has been obferved 
 before, part of the time out of commiffiop, 
 by breaking the regiment to which he be- 
 longed, of which before he was ivlajor. This 
 was, in all probability, the gay eft part of 
 his life, and the mod criminal. Whatever 
 wile and good examples he might find in the 
 family where he had the honor to refide, it 
 &$ certain that the French court, during the 
 regency of the Duke of Orleans, was one of 
 the moft diffblute under heaven. What, by 
 
 a wretched 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 35 
 
 a wretched abufe of language, have been 
 called intrigues of love and gallantry , were fo 
 entirely to the Major's then degenerate tafte, 
 that if not the whole bufinefs, at leaft the 
 whole happmefs of his life con fitted in them ; 
 and he had now too much leifure, for one 
 who was fo prone to abufe it. His fine 
 conftitution, than which perhaps there was 
 hardly ever a better, gave him great oppor- 
 tunities of indulging himfelf in thefe ex- 
 cefles ; and his good fpirits enabled him to 
 purfue his pleafures of every kind, in fo 
 alert and fprightly a manner, that multi- 
 tudes envied him, and called him by a dread- 
 ful kind of compliment, the happy rake. 
 
 Yet ftill the checks of confcience, and 
 fome remaining principles of fo good an ed- 
 ucation, would break in upon his mod li- 
 centious hours ; and I particularly remem- 
 ber he told me, that when fome of his diffo- 
 kf;e companions were once congratulating 
 him on his diftinguifhed felicity, a dog hap- 
 pening at that time to come into the room, 
 he could not forbear groaning inwardly, and 
 faying to himfelf, <c Oh that I were that 
 dog !" Such then was his happinefs ; and 
 fuch perhaps is that of hundreds more, who 
 bear themfelves higheft in the contempt of 
 religion, and glory in that infamous fervi- 
 tude which they affe£t to call liberty. But 
 
 thefe 
 
36 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 thefe remonftrances of reafon and confcience 
 were in vain ; and, in fhort, he carried things 
 fo far, in this wretched part of his life, that 
 I am well affured, fome fober Englifli gen- 
 tleman, who made no great pretences to re- 
 ligion, how agreeable foever he might have 
 been to them on other accounts, rather de- 
 clined than fought his company, as fcaring 
 they might have been infnared and corrupt- 
 ed by it. 
 
 Yet I cannot find, that in thefe mod a- 
 bandoned days, he was fond of drinking. 
 Indeed he never had any natural relifh for 
 that kind of intemperance, from which he 
 ufed to think a manly pride might be fuf- 
 ficient to preferve perfons of fenfe and fpir- 
 it : as by it they gave up every thing that 
 diftinguifhes them from the meaneft of their 
 fpecies, or indeed from animals the mod be- 
 low it. So that, if he ever fell into any ex- 
 ceffes of this kind, it was merely out of corfi- 
 plaifance to his company, and that he might 
 not appear ftiff and lingular. His frank, 
 obliging, and generous temper, procured 
 him many friends ; and thefe principles, 
 which rendered him amiable to others, not 
 being under the dire&ion of true wifdom 
 and piety, fometimes made him, in the ways 
 of living he purfued, more uneafy to him- 
 felf, than he might perhaps have been if he 
 
 could 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 37 
 
 could entirely have outgrown them ; efpe- 
 cially as he was never afceptic in his prin- 
 ciples, but ftill retained a fecret apprehcn- 
 fion, that natural and revealed religion, 
 though he did not much care to think of 
 either, were founded in truth. And with 
 this convi£iion, his notorious violations of 
 the moft effential precepts of both, could 
 not but occafion fome fecret mifgivings of 
 heart. His continual negleft of the great 
 Author of his being, of whofe perfections 
 he could not doubt, and to whom he knew 
 himfelf to be under daily and perpetual 
 obligations, gave him, in fome moments of 
 involuntary refle£tion,inexprefIibleremorfe; 
 and this, at times, wrought upon him to fuch 
 a degree, that he refolved he would attempt 
 to pay him fome acknowledgments. Ac- 
 cordingly for a few mornings he did it ; re- 
 peating in retirement fome paffages out of 
 the Pfalms, and perhaps other icriptures, 
 which he ftill retained in his memory ; and 
 owning, in a few ftrong words, the many mer- 
 cies and deliverances he had received, and 
 the ill returns he had made for them. 
 
 I find, among the other papers tranfrnit- 
 ted to me, the following verfes, which I have 
 heard him repeat, as what had impreffed 
 him a good deal in his unconverted date : 
 and as I fuppofe they did fomething towards 
 D fetting 
 
38 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 fetting him on this effort towards devotion, 
 and might probably furnifti out a part of 
 thefe orifons, I hope I need make no apol- 
 ogy to my reader for inferting them, efpec- 
 ially as Tdo not recolleft that I have feen 
 them any where elfe. 
 
 Attend, my foul! the early birds infpire 
 My grov'ling thoughts *vith pure celeftial fire : 
 They from their temp'rate fleep awake, and pay 
 Their thankful anthems for the new born day. 
 See, how the tuneful lark is mounted high, 
 And, poet like, falutes the eaftern fky ! 
 He warbles through the fragrant air his lays, 
 And feems the beauties of the morn to praife. 
 But man, more void of gratitude, awakes, 
 And gives no thanks for the fweet reft he takes ; 
 Looks on the glorious fun's new kindled flame, 
 Without one thought of him from whom it came;. 
 The wretch unhallow'd does the day begin ; 
 Shakes off his fleep, but fhakes not off his fin. 
 
 But thefe drains were too devout to con- 
 tinue long in a heart as yet quite unfan£tu 
 fied : for how readily foever he could re- 
 peat fuch acknowledgments of the divine 
 power, prefence, and goodnefs, and own his 
 own follies and faults ; he was ftopt fhort by 
 the remonftrances of his conscience, as to the 
 flagrant abfurdity of confeffing (ins he did 
 not defire to forfake, and of pretending to 
 praife God for his mercies, when he did not 
 
 endeavour 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 39 
 
 endeavour to live to his fervice, and to be- 
 have in fuch a manner as gratitude, if fin- 
 cere, would plainly dictate. A model of 
 devotion, where fuch fentiments made no 
 part, his good fenfe could not digeft ; and 
 the ufe of fuch language before an heart 
 fearching God, merely as an hypocritical 
 form, while the feiftiments of his foul were 
 contrary to it, juftly appeared to him fuch 
 daring profanenefs, that, irregular as the 
 (late of his mind was, the thought of it ftruck 
 him with horror. He therefore determined 
 to make no more attempts of this fort ; and 
 was perhaps one of the firft that deliberate- 
 ly laid aiide prayer, from fome fenfe of 
 God's omnifcience, and fome natural prin- 
 ciple of honour and confcience. 
 
 Thefe fecret debates with himfelf, and in- 
 effeftual efforts, would fometimes return: 
 but they were overborne, again and again, 
 by the force of temptation ; and it is no 
 wonder, that in confequence of them his 
 heart grew yet harder. Nor was it foften- 
 ed, or awakened, by fome very memorable 
 deliverances, which at this time he received. 
 He was in extreme danger by a fall from his 
 horfe, as he was riding poft, (I think in the 
 ftreets of Calais) when going down a hii), 
 the horfe threw him over his head, and 
 pitched over him ; fo that, when he rofe, the 
 
 beaft 
 
40 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 beaft lay beyond him, and almoft dead* 
 Yet though he received not the leaft harm, 
 it made no ferious impreffion on his mind. 
 In his return from England in the packet 
 boat, (if I remember right, but a few weeks 
 after the former accident) a violent ftorm, 
 that drove them up to Harwich, toffed them 
 from thence for feveral hours in a dark 
 night, on the coaft of Holland > and brought 
 them into fuch extremity, that the Captain 
 of the veffei urged him to go to prayers im- 
 mediately, if he ever intended to do it at 
 -all ; for he concluded, they would in a few 
 minutes be at the bottom of the fea. In 
 this circumftance he did pray, and that very 
 fervently too : And it was very remarkable, 
 that while he was crying to God for deliv- 
 erance, the. wind fell, and quickly after they 
 arrived at Calais. But the Major was fo 
 little affe&ed with what had befallen him, 
 that when fome of his gay friends, on hear- 
 ing the ftory, rallied him upon the efficacy 
 of his prayers, he excufed himfelf from the 
 fcandal of being thought much in carneft, by 
 faying, " that it was at midnight, an hour 
 " when his good mother and aunt were a- 
 " fleep ; or elfe he fhould have left that part 
 cc of the bufinefs to them." A fpeech which 
 I fhould not have mentioned, but as it (hews 
 in fo lively a view the wretched fituation of 
 
 his 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 41 
 
 his mind at that time, though his great de- 
 liverance from the power of darknefs was 
 then nearly approaching. He recounted 
 thefe things to me with the greatefl humili- 
 ty, as (hewing how utterly unworthy he was 
 of that miracle of divine grace, by which he 
 was quickly after brought to fo true, and fo 
 prevalent a fenfe of religion. 
 
 And now 1 am come to that aftonifhing 
 part of his (lory, the account of his conver* 
 Jion ; which I cannot enter upon without 
 affuring the reader, that I have fometimes 
 been tempted to fupprefs many circum- 
 ftances of it; not only as they may feem in- 
 credible to fome, and enthufiallical to oth- 
 ers, but as I am very fenlible they are liable 
 to great abufes ; which was the reafon that he 
 gave me for concealing the mod extraordi- 
 nary from many perfons to whom he men- 
 tioned fome of the reft. And I believe it 
 was this, together with the defire of avoid- 
 ing every thing that might look Jike oftenta- 
 tion on this head, that prevented his leaving 
 a written account of it ; though I have of- 
 ten intreated him to do it : as I particularly 
 remember I did in the very lafl letter I ever 
 wrote him ; and pleaded the poffibiiity of 
 his falling amidft thofe dangers, to which I 
 knew his valour might in fuch circumftances 
 naturally expofe him. 1 was not fo happy 
 D2 , as 
 
42 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 as to receive any anfwer to this letter, which 
 reached him but a few days before his death : 
 nor can 1 certainly fay, whether he had, or 
 had not, complied with my requeft ; as it is 
 very poffible a paper of that kind, if it were 
 written, might be left, amidft the ravages 
 which the rebels made, when they plundered 
 Bankton. 
 
 The ftory however was fo remarkable, that 
 I had little reafon to apprehend I fhould 
 ever forget it ; and yet, to guard againft all 
 contingencies of that kind, I wrote it down 
 that very evening, as I had heard it from his 
 own mouth : and I have now before me the 
 memoirs of that converfation, dated Auguft 
 14, 1739, which conclude with thefe words, 
 (which I added, that if we fhould both have 
 died that night, the world might not have 
 loft this edifying and affe&ing hiftory, or 
 have wanted any atteftation of it I was capa- 
 ble of giving :) " N. B. I have written down 
 <c this account with all the exaftnefs I am 
 <c capable of, and could fafely take an oath 
 " of it as to the truth of every circumftance, 
 u to the beft of my remembrance, as the 
 " Colonel related it to me a few hours ago." 
 I do not know that I had reviewed this pa- 
 per fince I wrote it, till I fet myfelf thus 
 publicly to record this extraordinary faft ; 
 but I find it pun&ually to agree with what 
 
 I have 
 
LIFE of Col, GARDINER. 43 
 
 I have often related from my memory, which 
 I charged carefully with fo wonderful and 
 important a fa6L It is with all folemnity 
 that 1 now deliver it down to pofterity as in 
 the fight and prefence of God, and I chufe 
 deliberately to expofe myfeif to thofe fevere 
 cenfures which the haughty, but empty, 
 fcorn cf infidelity, or principles nearly ap- 
 proaching it, and effeftually doing its per- 
 nicious work, may very probably diftate 
 upon the occafion, rather than to fmother a 
 relation which may, in the judgment of my 
 confcience, be like to conduce fo much to 
 the glory of God, the honour of the gofpel, 
 and the good of mankind. One thing mere 
 I will only premife, that I hope none who 
 have heard the Colonel himfelf fpeak fome-* 
 thing of this wonderful fcene, will he fur- 
 prifed if they find fome new circumftances 
 here ; becaufe he aflured me, at the time he 
 firft gave me the whole narration, which was 
 in the very room in which I now write, that 
 he had never imparted it fo fully to any man 
 living before. Yet at the fame time he gave 
 me full liberty to communicate it, to whom- 
 foever I fhould in my confcience judge it 
 might be ufeful to do it, whether before, or 
 after his death. Accordingly I did, while 
 he was alive, recount almoft every circum- 
 ftance I am now going to write, to feveral 
 
 pious 
 
44 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 pious friends ; referring them at the fame 
 time to the Colonel himfelf, whenever they 
 might have an opportunity of feeing or writ- 
 ing to him, for a farther confirmation of what 
 I told them, if they judged it requifite. 
 They glorijied God m him ; and I humbly 
 hope m my of my readers will alfo do it. 
 They will foon perceive the reafon of fo 
 much caution in my introduftion to this 
 ftory,, for which therefore I lhall make no 
 further apology.* 
 
 This memorable event happened towards 
 the middle of July, 1719 ; but I cannot be 
 *exa6l as to the dhiy. The Major had fpent 
 the evening (and if I miftake not it was the 
 Sabbath) in fome gay company, and had an 
 unhappy affignation with a married woman, 
 of what rank or quality I did not oarticular- 
 
 * It is no fmall fatisfaftion to me, fince I wrote this, to 
 have received a letter from the Rev. Mr. Spears, minifter 
 of the go f pel at BruntifUnd, dated January 14, 1746-7, in 
 which he relates to me this whole ftory, as he had it from 
 the ColonePs own mcuth, about four years after he gave 
 me the narration. There is not a fin Me circumftance, in 
 which either of our narrations difagree ; and every one of 
 the particulars in mine, which feem nioft aftoni/hing, are 
 attefted by this, and fometimes in (Iron^er words ; one 
 only excepted, on which f fhall add a fhort remark when 
 I come to it. As this letter was written near Lady Frances 
 Gardiner, at her defire, and attended with a poftfcript 
 from her own hand, this is, in effecl, a fufficient atreftation 
 how agreeable it was to thofe accounts which fhe mud 
 have often heard the Colonel give of this matter. 
 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 45 
 
 ly inquire, whom he was to attend exaftly at 
 twelve. The company broke up about 
 eleven ; and not judging it convenient to 
 anticipate the time appointed, he went into 
 his chamber to kill the tedious hour, perhaps 
 with fome amufing book, or fome other 
 way. But it very accidentally happened, 
 that he took up a religious book, which his 
 good mother or aunt had, without his knowl- 
 edge, flipped into his portmanteau. It was 
 called, if I remember the title exa&ly, The 
 Chnjlian Soldier, or He&ven taken by Storm ; 
 and was written by Mr. Thomas Watfon. 
 Gueffing by the title of it, that he fliould 
 find fome phrafes of his own profeffion fpir- 
 itualized, in a manner which he thought 
 might afford him fome diverfion, he refolv- 
 ed to dip into it ; but he took no ferious 
 notice of any thing he read in it : And yet, 
 while this book was in his hand, an impref- 
 fion was made upon his mind, (perhaps God 
 only knows how) which drew after it a train 
 of the moft important and happy confe- 
 quences. 
 
 There is indeed a poffibility, that while 
 he was fitting in this attitude, and reading in 
 this carelefs and profane manner, he might 
 fnddenly fall afleep, and only dream of what 
 he apprehended he faw. But nothing can 
 be more certain, than that when he gave me 
 
 this 
 
46 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 this relation, he judged himfelf to have been 
 as broad awake, during the whole time, as 
 he ever was in any part of his life ; and he 
 mentioned it to me feveral times afterwards, 
 as what undoubtedly paflfed, not only in his 
 imagination, but before his eyes.* 
 
 He thought he faw an unufual blaze of 
 light fall on the book while he was reading, 
 which he at firft imagined might happen by 
 fome accident in the candle. But lifting up 
 his eye^ y he apprehended, to his extreme 
 amazement, that there was before him, as it 
 were fufpended in the air, a vifible repre- 
 fentation of the Lord Jefus Chrift upon the 
 croft, furrounded on all fides with a glory ; 
 and was imprefled, as if a voice, or fome- 
 thing equivalent to a voice, had come to 
 him, to this effeft, for he was not confident 
 as to the very words, " Ob, finner ! did I 
 
 fuffer 
 
 * Mr. Spears, in the letter mentioned above, where he 
 .iic* s the Colonel teiling his own ftory, has thefe 
 v s : « All of a fudden there was prefented in a very 
 ely manner, to my view or to my mind, a reprefenta- 
 c of my glorious Redeemer," Sec. And this gentle- 
 
 ids, in a parenthefis, " It was Co lively and ftriking, 
 he could not tell whether it was to his bodily eyes, 
 " or to chofe of his mind." This makes me think, that 
 had faid to him on the phenomena <>f vlfions, ap- 
 &c. (as being, when mod real, fupernatnral im- 
 s on the imagination, rather than attended with 
 il object) had fome influence upon him. Yet 
 lent, he looked upon this as a vifion, whether 
 , eiore the eyes or in the mind, and not #j a dream. 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 47 
 
 fuffer this for thee, and are thefe the re- 
 turns ?" But whether this was an audible 
 voice, or only a ftrong impreffion on his 
 mind equally ftriking, he did not feem vary 
 confident ; though, to the belt of my re- 
 membrance, he rather judged it to be the 
 former. Struck with fo amazing a phenom- 
 enon as this, there remained hardly any life 
 in him, fo that he funk down in the arm 
 chair, in which he fat, and continued, he 
 knew not exaftly how long, infenfible ; 
 (which was one circumftance that made me 
 feveral times take the liberty to fuggeft, that 
 he might poffibly be all this while afleep :) 
 But however that were, he quickly after 
 opened his eycs y and faw nothing more than 
 ufual. 
 
 It may eafilv be fuppofed, he was in no 
 condition to make any obfervation upon the 
 time in which he had remained in an infenf- 
 ible ftate ; ncr did he, throughout the re- 
 mainder of the night, once recollect that 
 criminal and deteftable affignation w T hich 
 had before engroffed all his thoughts. He 
 rofe in a tumult of paffions, not to be con- 
 ceived, and walked to and fro in his cham- 
 ber till he was ready to drop down, in un- 
 utterable aftonifhment and agony of heart ; 
 appearing to himfelf the vileft monfter in 
 the creation of God, who had all his life 
 
 time 
 
46 JLJUPE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 time been crucifying Chrijl afrefh by his 
 fins, and now Jaw , as he aifuredly believed, 
 by a miraculous vijion, the honor of what he 
 had dune. With this was conne&ed fuch a 
 view, both of the majefty and goodnefs of 
 God, as caufed him to lothe and abhor him- 
 felf ^ and to repent as in dufl and ajhes. He 
 immediately gave judgment againft himfelf, 
 that he was moil juftly worthy of eternal 
 damnation : He was aftonifhed that he had 
 not been ftruck dead in the midft of his 
 wickednefs : And, which I think deferves 
 particular remark, though he affu redly be- 
 lieved that he fhould ere long be in hell, 
 and fettled it as a point with himfelf for fev- 
 eral months, that the wifdom and juftice of 
 God did almoft neceffarily require, that fuch 
 an enormous (inner fhould be made an ex- 
 ample of everlafting vengeance, and a fpec- 
 iacle, as fuch, both to angels and men> fo that 
 he hardly durft prefume to pray for par- 
 don ; yet what he then fuffered, was not fo 
 much from the fear of hell, though he con- 
 cluded it would foon be his portion, as from 
 a fenfe of that horrible ingratitude he had 
 ihewn to the God df his life, and to that 
 bleffed Redeemer, who had been in fo af- 
 fe&ing a manner Jet forth as crucified before 
 him. 
 
 To 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 49 
 
 To this he refers in a letter, dated from 
 Douglas, April 1, 1725, communicated to 
 me by his lady,* but I know not to whom 
 it was addreffed. His words are thefe :— 
 u One thing relating to my converfion, and 
 c< a remarkable inftance of the goodnefs of 
 * God to me, the chief of finners, I do not 
 " remember that I ever told to any other 
 * c perfon. It was this ; that after the aflon- 
 " ifhing fight I had of my blejfed Lord, the 
 c< terrible condition in which I was, proceed- 
 " ed not fo much from the terrors of the 
 u law, as from a fenfe of having been fo un- 
 u grateful a monfter to him whom / thought 
 <c / faw pierced for my tranfgreffions." I 
 the rather infert thefe words, as they evi- 
 dently 
 
 * N. B. Where I make any extracts as from Colonel 
 Gardiner's letters, they are either from originals, which I 
 have in my own hands, or from copies, which were trans- 
 mitted to me from perfons of undoubted credit, chiefly by 
 the Right Honourable the Lady Frances Gardiner, through 
 the hand of the Rev. Mr. Webfter, one of the minifters of 
 Edinburgh. This I the rather mention, becaufe fome let- 
 ters have been brought to me as Colonel Gardiner's, con- 
 cerning which I have not only been very dubious, but 
 morally certain, that they could not have been written by 
 him. I have alfo heard of many, who have been fond of 
 afturing the world, that they were well acquainted with 
 him, and were near him when he fell, whofe reports have 
 been moft inconfiflent with each other, as well as contrary 
 to that teftimony relating to the circumftancesof his death, 
 which, on the whole, appeared to me beyond controverfy 
 the moft natural and authentic : From whence therefore I 
 (hall take my account of that affecting fcene. 
 
 E 
 
50 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 dently atteft the circumftance which may 
 feem moft amazing in this affair, and con- 
 tain fo exprefs a declaration of his own ap- 
 prehenfion concerning it. 
 
 In this view it may naturally be fuppof- 
 that he paffed the remainder of the night 
 waking ; and he could get but little reft in 
 feveral that followed. His mind was con- 
 tinually taken up in refledting on the divine 
 purity and goodnefs ; the grace which had 
 been propofed to him in the Gofpel, and 
 which he had reje&ed ; the fingular advan- 
 tages he had enjoyed and abufed ; and the 
 many favours of Providence which he had 
 received, particularly in refcuing him from 
 fo many imminent dangers of death, which 
 he now faw muft have been attended with 
 fuch dreadful and hopelefs deflru&ion. — 
 The privileges of his education, which he 
 had fo much defpifed, now lay with an al- 
 moft infupportable weight on his mind ; 
 and the folly of that career of fmful plea- 
 fure, which he had fo many years been run- 
 ning with defperate eagernefs and unwor- 
 thy delight, now filled him with indigna- 
 tion againft himfelf, and againft the great 
 deceiver, bv whom (to ufe his own praife) 
 he had been iC fo wretchedly and fcanda- 
 loufly befooled." This he ufed often to 
 excrefs in the ftrongeft terms ; which I 
 
 (hall 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 51 
 
 fhall not repeat fo particularly, as I can- 
 not recolleft forne of them. But on the 
 whole, it is certain, that by what palTed be- 
 fore he left his chamber the next day, the 
 whole frame and difpofition of his foul was 
 new modelled and changed ; fo that he be- 
 came and continued to the laft day of his 
 exemplary and truly chriftian life, the very 
 reverfe of what he had been before. A va- 
 riety of particulars, which I am afterwards 
 to mention, will iliuftrate this in the moft 
 convincing manner. But I cannot proceed 
 to them, without paufhig a while to adore 
 fo illuftrious an inftance of the power and 
 freedom of divine grace, and intreating my 
 reader ferioufly to reflect upon it, that his 
 own heart may be fuitably affe&ed : For 
 furely, if the truth of the fa6l be admitted 
 in the loweft views in which it can be plac- 
 ed, (that is, fuppofing the firft impreflion to 
 have paffed in a dreavi) it mult be allowed 
 to have been little, if any thing, lefs than 
 miraculous. It cannot in the courfe of na- 
 ture be imagined, how fuch-a dream fhould 
 arife in a mind full of the moft impure ideas 
 and afFe&ions, and as he himfelf often plead, 
 more alienated from the thoughts of a cruci- 
 Jied Saviour, than from any other objeft that 
 can be conceived : Nor can we furely fup- 
 pofe it fhould, without a mighty energy of 
 
 the 
 
K2 LIFE o? Col. GARDINER. 
 
 D 
 
 the divine power, be effe&ual to produce 
 not only fome tranfient flow of paflion, but 
 fo entire and fo permanent a change in char- 
 after and conduft. 
 
 On the whole, therefore, I mud beg leave 
 to exprefs my own fentiments of the matter, 
 by repeating on this occafion what I wrote 
 feveral years ago, in my eighth fermon on 
 Rtgeneration> in a paffage dictated chiefly by 
 the circumftantial knowledge which I had 
 of this amazing ftory, and methinks fufEc- 
 iently vindicated by it, if it flood entirely 
 alone ; which yet, I muft take the liberty to 
 fay y it does not : For I hope the world will 
 be particularly informed, that there is at 
 ieafl a fecond, that very nearly approaches 
 it, whenever the eflablilhed church of Eng- 
 land fhall lofe one of its brighteft living or- 
 naments, and one of the mod ufeful mem- 
 bers, which that, or perhaps any other Chrift- 
 ian communion, can boaft : In the mean 
 time, may his exemplary life be long con- 
 tinued, and his zealous miniftry abundantly 
 profpered ! I beg my reader's pardon for 
 this digreffion. The paffage I referred to 
 above is remarkably, though not equally, 
 applicable to both the cafes, as it Hands in 
 page 263, of the firft edition, under that 
 head where I am fhewing, that God fome- 
 times accomplishes the great work of which 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 53 
 
 we fpeak, by fecret and immediate impref- 
 fions on the mind. After preceding illus- 
 trations, there are the following words, on 
 which the Colonel's converfion will throw 
 the juftefl light : " Yea, I have known thofe 
 " of diftinguifhed genius, polite manners, 
 <c and great experience in human affairs, 
 u who, after having outgrown all the im- 
 cc preffions of a religious education ; after 
 u having been hardened, rather than fubdu- 
 u ed, by the mofl lingular mercies, even va- 
 u rious, repeated and aftonifliing deliver- 
 • f ances, which have appeared to themfelves 
 cc no lefs than miraculous ; after having liv- 
 u ed for years without God in the world, no- 
 " torioufly corrupt themfelves, and labour- 
 " ing to the utmofl to corrupt others, have 
 €i been ftopt on a fudden in the full career 
 <c of their fin, and have felt fuch rays of the 
 <c divine prefence, and of redeeming love, 
 <c darting in upon their minds, almoft like 
 (i lightning from heaven, as have at once 
 u rouzed, overpowered, and transformed 
 11 them : So that they have come out of 
 ff their fecret chambers with an irreconcile- 
 i( able enmity to thofe vices, to which, when 
 " they entered them, they were the tameft 
 " and mod abandoned flaves ; and have ap- 
 u peared from that very hour the votaries, 
 11 the patrons, the champions of religion ; 
 E 2 and 
 
54 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 <c 
 
 " and after a courfe of the moll refolute 
 " attachment to it, in fpite of all the reafon- 
 " ings or the railleries, the importunities or 
 u the reproaches, of its enemies, they have 
 " continued to this day fome of its brighteft 
 u ornaments : A change, which I behold 
 with equal wonder and delight, and which, 
 if a nation fhould join in deriding it, I 
 €< would adore as the finger of God." 
 
 The mind of Major Gardiner continued 
 from this remarkable time till towards the 
 end of O&ober, that is, rather more than 
 three months, but efpecially the two firft of 
 them, in as extraordinary a fituation as one 
 can well imagine. He knew nothing of the 
 joys arifing from a fenfe of pardon ; but, on 
 the contrary, for the greater part of that 
 time, and with very fhort intervals of hope 
 toward the end of it, took it for granted, that 
 he muft, in all probability, quickly perifhi, 
 Neverthelefs, he had fuch a fenfe of the evil 
 of fin, of the goodnefe of the Divine Being, 
 and of the admirable tendency of the Ghrift- 
 ian revelation, that he refolved to fpend the 
 remainder of his life, while God continued 
 him out of hell, in as rational and as ufeful 
 a manner as he could ; and to continue call- 
 ing himfelf at the feet of divine mercy every 
 day, and often in a day, if peradventure 
 there might be hope of pardon, of which all 
 
 that 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 55 
 
 that he could fay was, that he did not abfo- 
 lately defpair. He had at that time fuch a 
 fenfe of the degeneracy of his own heart, 
 that he hardly durft form any determinate 
 refolution againft fin, or pretend to engage 
 himfelf by any vow in the prefence of God ; 
 but he was continually crying to him that he 
 would deliver him from the bondage of cor- 
 ruption. He perceived in himfelf a mo ft 
 furprifing alteration with regard to the dif- 
 pofitions of his heart ; fo that, though he 
 felt little of the delight of religious duties, 
 he extremely defired opportunities of being 
 engaged in them ; and thofe licentious 
 pleafures, which had before been his heaven, 
 were now absolutely his averiion. And in- 
 deed, when I confider how habitual all thofe 
 criminal indulgences were grown to him, 
 and that he was now in the prime of life, 
 and all this while in high health too, I can- 
 not but be aftoniflied to reflect upon it, that; 
 he fhould be fo wonderful \y fanBijitd in body ■, 
 as well as in foul and fpirit> as that, for all 
 the future years of his life, he, from that 
 hour, fhould findfoconftant a difinclination 
 to, and abhorrence of, thofe criminal fenfu- 
 alities, to which he fancied he was before fo 
 invincibly impelled by his very conftitu- 
 1 tion, that he was ufed ftrangely to think, 
 and to fay, that Omnipotence itfelf could not 
 
 reform 
 
56 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 reform him, without deftroying that body, 
 and giving him another.* 
 
 Nor was he only delivered from that 
 bondage of corruption, which had been ha- 
 bitual to him for fo many years, but felt in 
 
 his 
 
 * Mr. Spears expreiTes this wonderful circumftance in 
 thefe remarkable words : " I was ((aid the Colonel to me) 
 •' effectually cured or all inclination to that Jin I was lo 
 *' ftrongly addicled to, that I thought nothing but (hooting 
 €i me through the head could have cured me of it ; and all 
 *' defire and inclination to it was removed, as entirely as 
 " if I had been a fucking child ; nor did the temptation 
 tc return to this day." Mr.Webfter's words on the fame 
 fubject are thefe : " One thing I have heard the Colonel 
 " frequently fay, that he was much addicted to impurity 
 u before his acquaintance with religion ; but that, fo loon 
 €i as he was enlightened from above, he felt the poiver oj the 
 " Holy Ghojl changing his nature fo wonderfully, that his 
 " fanclification in this reipect feemed more remarkable 
 " than in any other." On which that worthy perfon 
 makes this very reafonable reflection : " So thorough a 
 4i change of fuch a polluted nature, evidenced by the mod 
 U unblemiihed walk and converfation for a long courfe of 
 " years, demorifhates indeed the pouoer of the hlghejl^ and 
 M leaves no room to doubt of its reality/ 7 Mr. Spears 
 fays, this happened in three days time : But from what 
 I can recoiled, all that the Colonel could mean by that 
 exprefllon, if he ufed it, as I conclude he did, was, that 
 he began to make the obfervation in the fpace of three 
 davs ; whereas, during that time, his thoughts were fo 
 taken up with the wonderful views prefented to his 
 mind, that he did not immediately attend to it. If he 
 had within the firft three days any temptation to leek 
 fome cafe from the anguifh of his mind, in returning 
 to former ienfualities, it is a circumftance he did not 
 mention to me ; and by what I can recollect of the 
 (train of his difcourfe, he intimated, if he did not ex- 
 prefs, the contrary. 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 57 
 
 his breaft fo contrary a difpofition, that he 
 was grieved to fee human nature, in thofe to 
 whom he was mod entirely a ftranger, prof- 
 tituted to fuch low and contemptible pur- 
 fuits. He therefore exerted his natural 
 courage in a very new kind of combat, and 
 became an open advocate for religion, in all 
 its principles, fo far as he was acquainted 
 with them, and all its precepts, relating to 
 fobriety, righteoufnefs, and godlinefs. Yet 
 he was very defirous and cautious, that he 
 might not run into an extreme, and made it 
 one of his firft petitions to God, the very 
 day after thefe amazing impreffions had been 
 wrought in his mind, that he might not be 
 fuffered to behave with fuch an affe&ed 
 ftiffnefs and precifenefs, as would lead others 
 about him into miftaken notions of religion, 
 and expofe it to reproach or fufpicion, as if 
 it were an unlovely or uncomfortable thing. 
 For this reafon he endeavoured to appear as 
 cheerful in converfation as he confcientiouf- 
 ly could ; though, in fpite of all his precau- 
 tions, fome traces of that d* ep inward fenfe 
 which he had of his guilt and mifery, would 
 at times appear. He made no fecret of it, 
 however, that his views were entirely chang- 
 ed, though he concealed the particular cir- 
 cumftances attending that change. He told 
 his moll intimate companions freely, that he 
 
 had 
 
[ 58 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 had reflefted on the courfe of life in which 
 he had fo long joined them, and found it to 
 be folly and madnefs, unworthy a rational 
 creature, and much more unworthy perfons 
 calling themfelves Chriftians. And he fee 
 up his ftandard, upon all occafions, againft 
 principles of infidelity, and pra&ices of vice, 
 as determinately, and as boldly, as ever he 
 difplayed or planted his colours, when he bore 
 them with fo much honour in the field. 
 
 I cannot forbear mentioning one ftruggle 
 of this kind, which he defcribed to me, with 
 a large detail of circumftances, the fii ft day 
 of our acquaintance. There was at that 
 time in Paris a certain lady, whofe name, 
 then well known in the grand and the gay 
 world, I mufl beg leave to conceal, who had 
 imbibed the principles of Deifm, and valued 
 herfelf much upon being an avowed advo- 
 cate for them. The Major, with his ufual 
 franknefs, though I doubt not with that po- 
 litenefs of manners which was fo habitual to 
 him, and which he retained throughout his 
 whole life, anfwered her, like a man who 
 perfeftly faw through the fallacy of her ar- 
 guments, and was grieved to the heart for 
 her delufion. On this flie brifkly challeng- 
 ed him to debate the matter at large, and to 
 fix upon a day for that purpofe, when he 
 fhould dine with her, attended with any Cle r- 
 
 gym a n. 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 59 
 
 gyman he might chufe, whether of the Prot- 
 eftant or Catholic communion. A fenfe of 
 duty would not allow him to decline this 
 challenge ; and yet he had no fooner ac- 
 cepted it, but he was thrown into great per- 
 plexity and diflrefs, left being (as I remem- 
 ber he exprefifed it, when he told me the 
 ftory) only a Chrijlian of fix weeks old y he 
 fhould prejudice fo good a caufe, by his un- 
 flulful manner of defending it. However, 
 he fought his refuge in earned, and repeated 
 prayers to God, that he, who can ordain 
 Jlrength, and per f eft praife^ out of the month 
 of babes andfucklmgs, would gracioufly dis- 
 able him, on this occafion, to vindicate his 
 truths in a manner which might carry con- 
 vidHon along with it. He then endeavour- 
 ed to marfhal the arguments in his own mind 
 as well as he could ; and apprehending that 
 he could not fpeak with fo much freedom 
 before a number of perfons, efpecially before 
 fuch whofe province he might in that cafe 
 feetn to invade, if he had not devolved the 
 principal part of the difcourfe upon them, 
 he eafily admitted the apology of a Clergy- 
 man or two, to whom he mentioned the af- 
 fair, and waited on the lady alone upon the 
 day appointed. But his heart was fo fet 
 upon thebufinefs, that he came earlier than 
 lie was expe&ed, and time enough to have 
 
 two 
 
60 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 two hours difcourfe before dinner ; nor did 
 he at all decline having two young perfons, 
 nearly related to the lady, prefent during 
 the conference. 
 
 The Major opened it, with a view of fuch 
 arguments for the Chriflian religion as he 
 had digefted in his own mind, to prove that 
 the Apoftles were not miflaken themfelves, 
 and that they could not have intended to 
 impofe upon us, in the accounts they give of 
 the grand fa£is they atteft ; with the truth 
 of which fafts, that of the Chriflian religion 
 is mod apparently connefted. And it was 
 a great encouragement to him, to find, that 
 unaccuftomed as he was to difcourfes of this 
 nature, he had an unufual command, both 
 of thought and expreffion ; fo that he recol- 
 lected, and uttered every thing, as he could 
 have wifhed. The lady heard with atten- 
 tion ; and though he paufed between every 
 branch of the argument, (he did not inter- 
 rupt the courfe of it, till he told her he had 
 finifhed his defign, and waited for her reply,. 
 She then produced fome of her obje&ions, 
 which he took up and canvaffed in fuch a 
 manner, that at length fhe burft out into 
 tears, allowed the force of his arguments and 
 replies, and appeared, for fome time after, 
 fo deeply imprefled with the converfation, 
 that it was obferved by feveral tff her friends : 
 
 And 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 61 
 
 And there is reafon to believe, that the im- 
 preffion continued, at leaft fo far as to pre- 
 vent her from ever appearing under the 
 chara&er of an unbeliever or a fceptic. 
 
 This is only one fpecimen among many, 
 of the battles he was almoft daily called out 
 to fight in the caufe of religion and virtue ; 
 with relation to which I find him exprefling 
 himfelfthus, in a letter to Mrs. Gardiner, 
 his good mother, dated from Paris, the 25th 
 of January following, that is, 1719-20, in 
 anlwer to one, in which fhe had warned him 
 to expe£l fuch trials : " I have, (fays he) 
 cc alreadj' met with them, and am obliged to 
 u fight and difpute every inch of ground : 
 cc But all thanks and praife to the great Cap- 
 u lain of my falvation> he fights for me ; 
 " and then it is no wonder, that I come off 
 " more than conqueror ;" by whiclrlaft ex- 
 prefiion I fuppofe he meant to infinuate, 
 that he was ftrengthened and eftablifhed, 
 rather than overborne by this opposition. 
 Yet it was not immediately, that he gained 
 fuch fortitude. He has often told me how 
 much he felt in thofe days, of the emphafis 
 of thofe well chofen words of the Apoftle, 
 in which he ranks the trial of cruel mockings, 
 with fcourgings, and bonds, and imprifon- 
 ments. The continual railleries with which 
 he was received, in almoft all companies 
 F where 
 
62 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 where he had been moft familiar before, did 
 often diftrefs him beyond meafure ; fo that 
 he has feveral times declared, he would 
 much rather have marched up to a battery 
 of the enemy's cannon, than have been o- 
 bliged, fo continually as he was, to face fuch 
 artillery as this. But like a brave foldier in 
 the firft a6lion wherein he is engaged, he 
 continued refolute, though fhuddering at 
 the terror of the aflault ; and quickly over- 
 came thofe impreffions, which it is not per- 
 haps in nature wholly to avoid : And there- 
 fore I find him in the letter referred to a- 
 bove, which was written about half a year 
 after his converfion, cc quite afhamed to think 
 C€ of the uneafinefs which thefe things once 
 Cf gave him." In a w r ord, he went on, as 
 every refolute Chriftian by divine grace may 
 do, till he turned ridicule andoppofition in- 
 to refpeft and veneration. 
 
 But this fenfible triumph over thefe diffi- 
 culties, was not till his Chriftian experience 
 had been abundantly advanced by the blefT- 
 ing of God on the fermons he heard, partic- 
 ularly in the Swifs chapel, and on the many 
 hours which he fpent in devout retirement, 
 pouring out his whole foul before God in 
 prayer. He began, within about two 
 months after his firft memorable change, to 
 perceive fome fecret dawnings of more 
 
 cheerful 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 63 
 
 cheerful hope, that vile as he faw himfelf to 
 be, (and I believe no words can exprefs how- 
 vile that was) he might neverthelefs obtain 
 mercy through a Redeemer. And at length, 
 if I remember right, about the end of Otto- 
 ber, 1719, he found all the burthen of his 
 mind taken off at once, by the powerful irn- 
 predion of that memorable fcripture upon 
 his mind; Rom. iii. 25,26.. Whom God 
 hath fet forth for a propitiation through faith 
 in his blood y to declare his rightemifnefs in the 
 
 re?nifion of fins that he might be jifl y and 
 
 the jufifer of him that believeth in Jefus. 
 He had ufed to imagine, that ihe juftice of 
 God required the damnation of fo enormous 
 a finner, as he faw himfelf to be : But now 
 he was made deeply fenfible, that the divine 
 juftice might be, not only vindicated, but 
 glorified, in faving him by the blood of Jefus, 
 even that bloody which cleanfeth ns from all 
 fin. Then did he fee and feel the riches of 
 redeeming love and grace, in fuch a manner, 
 as not only engaged him, with the utmoft 
 pleafure and confidence to venture his foul 
 upon it ; but even fwallowed up, as it were, 
 his whole heart in the returns of love, which 
 from that blefted time became the genuine 
 and delightful principle of his obedience, 
 and animated him with an enlarged hearty 
 (0 run the xvay of God's commandments. Thus 
 * God 
 
64 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 God was pleafed, (as he himfelf ufed to 
 fpeak) in an hour to turn his captivity. All 
 the terrors of his former ftate were changed 
 into unutterable joy, which kept him almoft 
 continually waking for three nights together, 
 and yet refrefhed him as the nobleft of cor- 
 dials. His expreflions, though naturally 
 very ftrong, always feemed to be fwallowed 
 up, when he would defcribe the feries of 
 thought through which he now palled, under 
 the rapturous experience of that joy unfpcak- 
 able, and full of glory , which then feemed to 
 overflow his very foul ; as indeed there was 
 nothing he feemed to fpeak of with greater 
 relifh. And though the firfl ecftacies of it 
 afterwards fubfided into a more calm and 
 compofed delight, yet were the impreflions 
 fo deep and fo permanent, that he allured 
 me, on the word of a Chriftian and a friend, 
 wonderful as it might feem, that for about 
 feven years after this, he enjoyed almoft an 
 heaven upon earth. His foul was fo con- 
 tinually filled with a fenfe of the love of 
 God in Chrift, that it knew little interrup- 
 tion, but when neceffary converfe, and the 
 duties of his ftation, called oiF his thoughts 
 for a little time : and when they did fo, as 
 foon as he was alone, the torrent returned 
 into its natural channel again ; fo that, from 
 the minute of his awakening in the morning, 
 
 his 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 65 
 
 his heart was rifing to God, and triumphing 
 in him ; and thefe thoughts attended him 
 through all the fcenes of life, till he lay 
 down on his bed again, and a fhort paren- 
 thefts of fleep (for it was but a very fhort 
 one that he allowed himfelf) invigorated his 
 animal powers, for renewing them with 
 greater intenfenefs and feniibility. 
 
 I fhall have an opportunity of illuftrating 
 this in the mod convincing manner below, 
 by extrafts from feveral letters which he 
 wrote to intimate friends during this happy 
 period of time : letters which breathe a 
 fpirit of fuch fublime and fervent piety, as I 
 have feldom met with any where elfe. In 
 thefe circumftances, it is no wonder, that he 
 was greatly delighted with Dr. Watts's im- 
 itation of the 126th Pfalm ; fince it may be 
 queflioned, whether there ever was a perfon, 
 to whom the following ftanzas of it were 
 more fuitable. 
 
 When God revcal'd his gracious name, 
 
 And chang'd my mournful ftate, 
 My rapture feem'd a pleafing dream; 
 
 The grace appear'd fo great. 
 
 The vvtSekl beheld the glorious change, 
 
 And did thine hand confefs ; 
 My tongue broke out in unknown Arams, 
 
 And fung furprifmg grace. 
 
 F 2 « Great 
 
66 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 " Great is the work," my neighbors cry'd, 
 
 And own'd the power divine : 
 " Great is the work," my heart reply'd, 
 
 " And be the glory thine." 
 
 The Lord can change the darkeft fkies, 
 
 Can give us day for night, 
 Make floods of facred forrow rife 
 
 To rivers of delight* 
 
 Let thofe that fow in fadnefs, wait 
 
 Till the fair harveft come : 
 They (hall confefs their fheaves are great, 
 
 And fhout the bleflings home. 
 
 I have been fo happy as to get the fight 
 of five original letters, which he wrote to his 
 mother about this time ; which do, in a very- 
 lively manner, illuftrate the furprifing 
 change made in the whole current of his 
 thoughts, and temper of his mind. Many 
 of them were written in the mod hafty man- 
 ner, juft as the courier who brought them 
 was, perhaps unexpe6ledly, fetting out ; and 
 they relate chiefly to affairs, in which the 
 public is not at all concerned :' yet there is 
 not one of them, in which he has not infert- 
 ed fome warm and genuine fentiment of re- 
 ligion. And indeed it is very remarkable, 
 that though he was pleafed to honour me 
 with a great many letters, and I have feen 
 feveral more which he wrote to others, fome 
 
 of 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 6 7 
 
 of them on journies, where he could have 
 but a few minutes at command, yet I cannot 
 recolledt, that I ever faw any one, in which 
 there was not fome trace of piety. And the 
 Rev. Mr. Webfter, who was employed to 
 review great numbers of them, that he might 
 feleft fuch extra 6h as he fhould think proper 
 to communicate to me, has made the fame 
 obfervation.* 
 
 The Major, with great juftice, tells the 
 good lady his mother, " that when fhe faw 
 cc him again, fhe would find the perfon in- 
 M deed the fame, but every thing elfe entire- 
 " ly changed." And fhe might eafily have 
 perceived it of herfelf, by the whole tenor of 
 thofe letters, which every where breathe the 
 unaffe&ed fpirit of a true Chriftian. They 
 are taken up, fometimes with giving advice 
 and dire&ions concerning fome pious and 
 charitable contributions ; one of which I 
 remember amounted to ten guineas, though, 
 as he was then out of commiffion, and had 
 
 not 
 
 * His words are thefe : " I have read ever a vart 
 " number of the Colonel's letters, and have not found 
 41 any one of them, however fhort, and wrote in the 
 " moft pafling manner, even when porting, but what is 
 11 expreflive of the mod paflionate breathings towards 
 " his God and Saviour. If the letter confifts but of 
 " two fentences, religion is not forgot, which doubrlefs 
 u deferves to be carefully remarked, as the id eft un- 
 " contefted evidence of a pious mind, ever under the 
 " warmeft imprefliona of divine things," 
 
68 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 not formerly been very frugal, it cannot be 
 fuppofed he had much to fpare ; fometimes 
 in fpeaking of the pleafure with which he 
 attended fermons, and expefted facramental 
 opportunities ; and at other times, in exhort- 
 ing her, eftabliftied as (he was in religion, to 
 labour after a yet more exemplary charac- 
 ter and conduft, or in lecommending her to 
 the divine prefence and blefTing, as well as 
 himfelf to her prayers. What fatisfa£tion 
 fuch letters as thefe mud give to a lady of 
 her diftinguifhed piety, who had fo long 
 wept over this dear and amiable fon, as quite 
 loft to God, and on the verge of final de- 
 ftru&ion, it is not for me to defcribe, or in- 
 deed to conceive. But haftily as thefe let- 
 ters were written, only for private view, I 
 will give a few fpecimens from them in his 
 own words ; which will ferve to illuftrate, as 
 well as confirm, what I have hinted above. 
 
 " I muft take the liberty," fays he, in a 
 letter dated on the firft day of the new year, 
 or according to the old ftile, Dec. 21, 1719, 
 " to intreat you, that you would receive no 
 " company on the Lord's day. I know you 
 <c have a great many good acquaintance, with 
 " whofe difcourfes one might be very well 
 " edified : but as you cannot keep out, and 
 <f let in, whom you pleafe, the beft way, in 
 " my humble opinion, will be to-fee none." 
 
 In 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 69 
 
 In another, of Jan. 25, " I am happier than 
 " any one can imagine, except I could put 
 c< him exa&ly in the fame fituation with 
 "myfelf; which is what the world cannot 
 u give, and no man ever attained it, unlefs it 
 u were from above." In another, dated 
 March 30, which was juft before a facrament 
 day, " Tomorrow, if it pleafe God, I fhall be 
 "happy ; my foul being to be fed with the 
 u bread of life , which came down from heav- 
 iC en. 1 (hall be mindful of you all there." 
 In another of Jan. 29, he thus exprefles that 
 indifference for worldly poffeffions, which 
 he fo remarkably carried through all the re- 
 mainder of his life ; fC I know, the rich are 
 " only ftewards for the poor, and muft give 
 " an account for every penny ; therefore 
 <c the lefs I have, the more eafy will it be to 
 <f render a faithful account of it." And to 
 add no more from thefe letters at prefent, in 
 the conclufion of one of them he has thefe 
 comprehenfive and folemn words : fC Now 
 u that he, who is the eafe of the affii&ed, the 
 " fupport of the weak, the wealth of the 
 " poor, the teacher of the ignorant, the an- 
 " chor of the fearful, and the infinite reward 
 " of all faithful fouls, may pour out upon 
 " you all his richeft bleffings, (hall always be 
 cc the prayer of him who is entirely your's, 
 
 C\,C, 
 
 To 
 
70 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 To this account of his correfpondence 
 with his excellent mother, 1 fhall be glad to 
 add a large view of another, to which (he in- 
 troduced him, with that reverend and valu- 
 able perfon, under whofe paftoral care (he 
 was placed, I mean the juftly celebrated 
 Dr. Edmund Calamy, to whom fhe could 
 not but early communicate the joyful news 
 of her fon's converfion. I am not fo hap- 
 py as to be pofleffed of the letters which 
 pa{Ted between them, which I have reafon 
 to believe would make a curious and valua- 
 ble colleftion : But I have had the pleafure 
 of receiving, from my worthy and amiable 
 friend, the Rev. Mr. Edmund Calamy, one 
 of the letters which the Do£lor, his father, 
 wrote to the Major on this wonderful occa- 
 fion. I perceive by the contents of it, that 
 it was the firfl: ; and indeed it is dated as 
 early as the third of Auguft, 1719, which 
 in ufl be but a few days after his own account 
 dated Auguft 4, N. S. could reach England. 
 There is To much true religion and good 
 fenfe in this paper, and the counfel it fug- 
 gefts may be fo feafonable to other perfons in 
 circumftances which bear any relemblance 
 to his, that I make no apology to my reader 
 for inferring a large cxtraft from it. 
 
 " Dear Sir, I conceive it will not much 
 <( furprife you to understand th it your good 
 
 u mother 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 71 
 
 " mother communicated to me your letter 
 <c to her, dated Aug. 4, N. S. which brought 
 " her the news you conceived would be fo 
 " acceptable to her. I, who have often 
 cc been a witnefs to her concern for you on 
 cc a fpiritual account, can atteft with what 
 " joy this news was received by her, and im- 
 <c parted to me as a fpecial friend, who flic 
 Cc knew would bear a part with her on fuch 
 " an occafion. And indeed, if (as our Sav- 
 " iour intimates, Luke xv. 7, 10) there is y in 
 <c fuch cafes, joy in heaven, and among the 
 " angels of God, it may well be fuppofed, 
 xc that of a pious mother, who has fpent fo 
 <c many prayers and tears upon you, and 
 " has, as it were, travailed in birth with you 
 <c again, till Chirjl was formed in yon, could 
 " not be fmall. You may believe me if I 
 " add, that I alfo, as a common friend of 
 <c her's and your's, and, which is much more, 
 " of the Prince of light, whom you now de- 
 <c clare you heartily fall in with in oppofi- 
 " tion to that of the dark kingdom, could 
 " not but be tenderly affefted with an ac- 
 <c count of it under your own hand. My 
 " joy on this account was the greater, con- 
 " (idering fhe importance of your capacity, 
 " interefts, and profpefts ; which, in fuch 
 " an age as this, may promife mod happy 
 " confequences, on your heartily appearing 
 
 "on 
 
72 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 f< on God's fide, and embarking in the in- 
 " tereft of our dear Redeemer. If I have 
 <c hitherto at all remembered you at the 
 c< throne of grace , at your good mother's de- 
 <c fire, (which you are pleafed to take notice 
 cC of with fo much refpeft) I can affure you 
 <( I fhall henceforward be led to do it, with 
 <c more concern and particularity, both by 
 cc duty and inclination. And if I were ca- 
 cc pable of giving you any little affiftance in 
 * the noble defign you are engaging in, by 
 tf correfponding with you by letter, while 
 €€ you are at fuch a diftance, I fhould do it 
 " moft cheerfully. And, perhaps, fuch a 
 <c motion may not be altogether unaccepta- 
 *' ble : For I am inclinable to believe, that 
 " when fome, whom you are obliged to con- 
 * c verfe with, obferve your behaviour fo dif- 
 t€ ferent from what it formerly was, and 
 <€ banter you upon it as mad and fanciful, it 
 cc may be fome little relief to correfpond 
 <c with one who will take a pleafure in heart- 
 " ening and encouraging you. And when 
 c< a great many things frequently offer, in 
 cc which confcience may be concerned, where 
 cc duty may not always be plain, nor fuita- 
 c< ble perfons to advife with at hand, it may 
 c< be fome fatisfa6lion to you to correfpond 
 * c with one, with whom you may ufe a friend- 
 " ly freedom in all fuch matters, and on 
 
 u whofe 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 73 
 
 " whofe fidelity you may depend. You 
 u may therefore command me in any of 
 cc thefe refpe&s, and I fhall take a pleafure in 
 u ferving you. One piece of advice I fhall 
 u venture to give you, though your own 
 u good fenfe will make my enlarging upon 
 cc it lefs needful, I mean, that you would, 
 u from your firft fetting out, carefully dif- 
 " tinguifh between the ejfentials of real re- 
 <c ligion, and thofe things which are com- 
 " monly reckoned by its profeflbrs to belong 
 <c to it. The want of this diftin&ion has 
 cc had very unhappy confequences from one 
 <c age to another, and perhaps in none more 
 " than the prefent. But your daily con- 
 " verfe with your Bible, which you mention, 
 fc may herein give you great afliftance. I 
 " move alfo, that fince infidelity fo much a- 
 " bounds, you would, not only by clofe and 
 " ferious confideration, endeavour to fettle 
 u yourfelf well in the fundamental principles 
 " of religion ; but alfo that, as opportunity 
 ft offers, you would converfe with thofe 
 fC nooks which treat mofl judicioufly on the 
 cc divine original of Chriftianity, fach as 
 cc Grotius, Abadie, Baxter, Bates, Da Plef- 
 fC fis, See. which may eftablifh you againfl 
 cavils that occur in almoft all converfa- 
 . ahd furnifh you with arguments 
 cc which, when properly offered, may be of 
 G "ufe 
 
74 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 " ufe to make fome impreffions on others 
 " But being too much ftraightened to en- 
 u large at prefent, I can only add, that if 
 €i your hearty falling in with ferious religion 
 <c fhould prove any hindrance to your ad- 
 " yancement in the world, (which I pray 
 cc God it may not, unlefs fuch advancement 
 <c would be a real fnare to you) I hope you 
 " will truft our Saviour's word, that it fhall 
 cc be no difadvantage to you in the final if- 
 c< fue : He has given you his word for it, 
 u Mat. xix. 29. upon which you may fafely 
 u depend ; and I am fatisfied, none, that 
 fC ever did fo, at laft repented of it. May 
 " you go on and profper, and the God of 
 " all grace and peace be with you." 
 
 I think it very evident from the contents 
 of this letter, that the Major had not im- 
 parted to his mother the mod fmgular cir- 
 cumftances attending his converfion : And, 
 indeed, there was fomething fo peculiar in 
 them, that I do not wonder he was always 
 cautious in fpeaking of them, and, efpecially 
 that he was at fir ft much on the referve. We 
 may alfo naturally reflet, that there feems to 
 have been fomething very providential in 
 this letter, confidering the debate in which 
 our illuffrious convert was fo foon engaged ; 
 for it was written but about three weeks 
 fore his conference with the lady above men- 
 tioned, 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 75 
 
 tioned, in the defence of Chriftianity ; or, 
 at leaft, before the appointment of it. And 
 as fome of the books recommended by Dr. 
 Calamy, particularly Abadie and Du Pleffis, 
 were undoubtedly within his reach, (if our 
 Englifh advocates were not) this might, by 
 the divine bleffing, contribute confiderably 
 towards arming him for that combat, in 
 which he came off with fuch happy fuccefs. 
 And as in this inftance, fo in many others, 
 they who will obferve the coincidence and 
 concurrence of things, may be engaged to 
 adore the wife conduct of providence in e- 
 vents, which, when taken fingly and bv 
 themfelves, have nothing very remarkable 
 in them. 
 
 I think it was about this time, that this 
 refolute and exemplary Chriflian entered 
 upon that methodical manner of living, 
 which he purfued through fo many fuc- 
 ceeding years of his life, and I believe, gen- 
 erally, fo far as the broken ftate of his health 
 would allow it in his latter days, to the very 
 end of it. He ufed conftantly to rife at 
 four in the morning, and to fpend his time 
 till fix in the fecret exercifes of devotion, 
 reading, meditation and prayer ; in which 
 laft he contra&ed fuch a fervency of fpirit, 
 as I believe few men living ever obtained. 
 This certainly tended very much to ftrength- 
 
 en 
 
76 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 en that firm faith in God, and reverent an- 
 imating fenfe of his prefence, for which he 
 was fo eminently remarkable, and which 
 carried him through the trials and fervices 
 of life, with fuch fteadinefs, and with fuch 
 a6iivity ; for he indeed endured, and afted 
 as always feeing Him who is invijible. If at 
 any time he was obliged to go out before fix 
 in the morning, he arofe proportionably 
 fooner ; fo that when a journey, or a march, 
 has required him to be on horfeback by 
 four, he would be at his devotions at fartheft 
 by two. He like wife fecured time for re- 
 tirement in an evening ; and that he might 
 have it the more at command, and be the 
 tttore fit to ufe it properly, as well as the 
 better able to rife early the next morning, 
 he generally went to bed about ten : And 
 during the time I was acquainted with him, 
 he feidom eat any fupper, but a mouthful 
 of bread with one glafs of wine. In confe- 
 quence of this, as well as of his admirably- 
 good conftitution, and the long habit he 
 had formed, he required lefs fleep than moft 
 perfons I have known : And I doubt not 
 but his uncommon progrefs in piety was in 
 a great meafure owing to thefe refolute 
 habits of felf denial. 
 
 A life any thing like this, could not, to be 
 fure, be entered upon, in the midfl of fuch 
 
 company 
 
LIFE or Col. GARDINER. 77 
 
 company as he had been accuftomed to 
 keep, without great oppofition, efpecially, 
 as he did not entirely withdraw himfelf from 
 all the circle of cheerful converfation ; but 
 on the contrary, gave feveral hours every 
 day to it, left religion fhould be reproach- 
 ed, as having made him morofe. He how- 
 ever, early began a pra&ice, which to the 
 laftday of his life he retained, of reproving 
 vice and prof anenfo \ and was never afraid 
 to debate the matter with any, under the 
 confcioufnefs of fuch fuperiority in the 
 goodnefs of his caufe. 
 
 A remarkable inftanoe of this happened/ 
 if I miftake not, about the middle of the* 
 year 1720, though I cannot be very exa6t 
 as to the date of f the ftory, It was how- 
 ever on his firft return, to make any con- 
 fiderable abode in England, after this re- 
 markable change. He had heard, on the 
 other fide of the water, that it was current- 
 ly reported among his companions at home, 
 that he was Jiark mad : A report, at which, 
 no reader, who knows the zuifdom of the 
 world in thefe matters, will be much fur- 
 prifed, any more than himfelf. He con- 
 cluded, therefore, that he fhould have many 
 battles to fight, and was willing to difpatch 
 the bufinefs as faft as he could. And there- 
 fore, being to fpend a few days at the coun- 
 ts 2 try 
 
78 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 try houfe of a perfon of diftinguifhed rank, 
 with whom he had been very intimate, 
 (whofe name I do not remember that he 
 told me, nor did I think it proper to en- 
 quire after it) he begged the favour of him 
 that he would contrive matters fo, that a day 
 or two after he came down, feveral of their 
 former gay companions might meet at his 
 Lordfhip's table : that he might have an 
 opportunity of making hi* apology to them, 
 and acquainting them with the nature and 
 reafons of his change. It was accordingly 
 agreed to ; and a pretty large company met 
 on the day appointed, with previous notice 
 that Major Gardiner would be there. A 
 good deal of raillery paffed at dinner, to 
 which the Major made very little anfwer. 
 But when the cloth was taken away, and the 
 fervants retired, he begged their patience 
 for a few minutes, and then plainly and fe- 
 rioufly told them, what notions he enter- 
 tained of virtue and religion, and on what 
 confiderations he had abfolutely determined,, 
 that by the grace cf God he would make it 
 the care and bufmefs of life, whatever he 
 might lofe by it, and whatever cenfure 
 and contempt he might incur. He well 
 knew how improper it was in fuch com- 
 pany to relate the extraordinary manner in 
 which he was awakened ; which they would 
 
 probably 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 79 
 
 probably have interpreted as a demonftra- 
 tion of lunacy, againlt all the gravity and 
 folidity of his difcourfe : But he contented 
 himfelf with fuch a rational defence of a 
 righteous, fobeif and godly life, as he knew 
 none of them could with any fhadow of rea- 
 fon conteft. He then challenged them to 
 propofe any thing they could urge, to prove 
 that a life of irreligion and debauchery was 
 preferable to the fear, love, and worfhip of 
 the eternal God, and a conduft agreeable to 
 the precepts of his gofpel. And he failed 
 not to bear his teftimony, from his own ex- 
 perience, (to one part of which many of 
 them had been witneffesj that after having 
 run the wide ft round of fenfual pleafure, 
 with all the advantages the belt conftitution 
 and fpirits could give him, he had never 
 tafted any thing that deferved to be called 
 happinefs, till he had made religion his ref- 
 uge and his delight. He teftified calmly 
 and boldly, the habitual ferenity and peace 
 that he now felt in his own breaft, (for the 
 moft elevated delights he did not think fit to 
 
 o 
 
 plead, left they fhould be efteemed enthufi- 
 afm) and the compofure and pleafure with 
 which he looked forward to objedls, which 
 the gayeft finner muft acknowledge to be 
 equally unavoidable and dreadful. 
 
 I know not what might be attempted by 
 fame of the company in anfwer to this ; but 
 
 I well 
 
8o LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 I well remember he told me, the matter of 
 the table, a perfon of a very frank and can- 
 did difpofition, cut fhort the debate, and 
 faid, " Come, let us call another caufe : We 
 " thought this man mad, and he is in good 
 cc earned proving that we are fo." On the 
 whole, this well judged circumftance faved 
 him a geat deal of future trouble. When 
 his former acquaintance obferved, that he 
 was fl ill converfable and innocently cheer- 
 ful, and that he was immoveable in his refo- 
 lutions, they de filled from farther importu- 
 nity. And he has alfured me, that inftead 
 of lofing any one valuable friend by this 
 change in his chara£ter, he found himfelf 
 much more efteemed and regarded, by many 
 who could not -perfuade themfelves to imi- 
 tate his example. 
 
 I have not any memoirs of Col. Gardi- 
 ner's life, or of any other remarkable event 
 befalling him in it, from the time of his re- 
 turn to England, till his marriage in the year 
 1726 ; except the extrafts which have been 
 lent me from fome letters, which he wrote to 
 bis religious friends during this interval, and 
 which I cannot pafs by without a more par- 
 ticular notice. It may be recolle&ed, that 
 in confequence of the redu&ion of that reg- 
 iment of which he was Major, he-was out of 
 commiffion from Nov. 10th, 1718, to June 
 lft, if 24. And after he returned from 
 
 Paris J 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 8* 
 
 Paris, I find all his letters, during this peri- 
 od, dated from London, where he continued 
 in communion with the Chriftian fociety 
 under the paftoral care of Dr. Calamy. As 
 his good mother alfo belonged to the fame, 
 it is eafy to imagine it muft be an unfpeak-* 
 able pleafure to her, to have fuch frequent 
 opportunities of converfing with fuch a fon, 
 of obferving in his daily condu£l and dif- 
 courfes the bleffed eftefts of that change 
 which divine grace had made in his heart, 
 and of fitting down with him monthly at 
 that facred feaft, where Chriftians fo fre- 
 quently enjoy the divined entertainments 
 which they expe6i on this fide heaven. I 
 the rather mention this ordinance, becaufe as 
 this excellent lady had a very high efteem 
 for it, fo flhe had an opportunity of attend- 
 ing it but the very Lord's day immediately 
 preceding her death, which happened 0£k. 
 1 y 1 7 2 5> after her fon had been removed 
 from her almofi a year. He had maintain- 
 ed her handfomely out of that very moder- 
 ate income, on which he fubfifted fince his 
 regiment had been difbanded ; and when 
 fhe exprefled her gratitude to hirn for it, he 
 affured her, (I think in one of the lad letters 
 ftie ever received from him) u that he ef- 
 ,c teemed it a great honour, that God put it 
 u into his power, to make (what he called) a 
 
 - very 
 
82 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 
 cc very fmall acknowledgment of all her care 
 u for him, and efpecially of the many prayers 
 c< fhe had offered on his account, which had 
 lc already been remarkably anfwered, and 
 cc the benefit of which he hoped ever to en- 
 
 "joy." 
 
 I apprehend that the Earl of Stair's regi- 
 ment, to the Majority of which he was^pro- 
 moted on the 20th of July, 1724, was then 
 quartered in Scotland ; for all the letters in 
 my hand, from that time to the 6th of Feb. 
 1726, are dated from thence, and particular- 
 ly from Douglas, Stranrawen, and Air : But 
 J have the pleafure to find, from comparing 
 thefe with others of an earlier date from Lon- 
 don and the neighboring parts, that neither 
 the detriment which he muft fuffer by being' 
 fo long out of commiflion, nor the hurry of 
 affairs while charged with it, could prevent 
 or interrupt that intercourfe with heaven, 
 which was his daily feaft, and his daily 
 flrength. 
 
 Thefe were mod eminently the happy 
 years of his life : For he had learned to efli- 
 mate his happinefs, not by the increafe of 
 honour, or the poffeffion of wealth, or by 
 what was much dearer to his generous heart 
 than either, the converfe of the deareft and 
 worthiefl human friends ; but by nearnefs 
 to God, and by opportunities of humble 
 
 converfe 
 
LIFE of Col, GARDINER. 83 
 
 converfe with him, in the lively exercife of 
 contemplation, praife, and prayer. Now 
 there was no period of his life, in which he 
 was more eminently favoured with thefe ; 
 nor do I find any of his letters fo overflow- 
 ing with tranfports of holy joy, as thofe 
 which were dated during this time. There 
 are indeed in fome of them fuch very fub- 
 lime paflages, that I have been dubious 
 whether I fhould communicate them to the 
 public or not ; left I fhould adminifier mat- 
 ter of profane ridicule to feme, who look 
 upon all the elevations of devotion as a con- 
 temptible enthufiafra. And it has alfo giv- 
 en me fome apprehenfions, left it fhould dif- 
 courage fome pious Chriftians, who after 
 having fpent feveral years in the fervice of 
 God, and in humble obedience to the pre- 
 cepts of his gofpel, may not have attained to 
 any fuch heights as thefe. But on the 
 whole, I cannot fatisfy myfelf to fupprefs 
 them ; not only as I number fome of them, 
 confidered in a devotional view, among the 
 moft extraordinary pieces of the kind I have 
 ever met with ; but as fome of the moft ex- 
 cellent and judicious perfons I any where 
 know, to whom I have read them, have af- 
 fured me, that they felt their hearts in an 
 unufual rranner imprefled, quickened, and 
 edified by them. 
 
 I mil 
 
«4 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 I will therefore draw back the veil, and 
 fliew my much honoured friend in his moft 
 fecret receffes, that the world may fee what 
 thofe fprings were, from whence ifTued that 
 clear, permanent, and living flream of wiL 
 dom, piety, and virtue, which fo apparently 
 ran through all that part of his life which 
 was open to public obfervation. It is not 
 to be imagined, thatletters written in the in- 
 timacy of Chriftian friendfhip, fome of them 
 with the moft apparent marks of hafte, and 
 amid ft a variety of important public cares, 
 fliould be adorned with any ftudied elegance 
 of expreffioj, about which the greatnefs of 
 his foul would not allow him to be at any 
 time very folicitous ; for he generally (fo fat 
 as I could obferve) wrote as fail as his pen 
 could move, which happily, both for him 
 and his many friends, was very freely. Yet 
 here the grandeur of his fubjeft has fome- 
 times clothed his ideas with a language 
 more elevated, than is ordinarily to be ex- 
 pe&ed in an epiftolary correfpondence. 
 The proud fcorners, who may deride fenti- 
 rnents and enjoyments like thofe which this 
 truly great man fo experimentally and pa- 
 thetically defcribes, I pity from my heart ; 
 and prieve to think how unfit they muft be 
 for the Hallelujahs of heaven, who pour 
 contempt upon the neareft approaches to 
 
 them^ 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 85 
 
 them : Nor fhall I think it any misfortune 
 to lhare with fo excellent a perfon in their 
 profane derifion. It will be infinitely more 
 than an equivalent for all that fuch igno- 
 rance and petulency can think and fay, if I 
 may convince fome who are as yet ftrangers 
 to religion, how real, and how noble its de- 
 lights are ; if I may engage my pious readers 
 to glorify God for fo iliuftrious an inftance 
 of his grace ; and finally, if I may quicken 
 them, and above all may roufe my own too 
 indulgent fpirit, to follow with lefs unequal 
 fteps an example, to the fublimity of which 
 I fear few of us fhall after all be able fully 
 to attain. And that we may rot be too 
 much difcouraged under the deficiency, let 
 it be recolle£ted, that few have the advan- 
 tage of a temper naturally fo warm ; few 
 have an equal command of retirement ; and 
 perhaps hardly any one, who thinks himfelf 
 moft indebted to the riches and freedom of 
 divine grace, can trace interpofitions of it, 
 in all refpe&s equally aftonifhing. 
 
 The firft of thefe extraordinary letters 
 which have fallen into my hand, is dated 
 near three years after his converfion, and 
 addreffed to a lady of quality. I believe it 
 is the firft the Major ever wrote, fo imme- 
 diately on the fubjeft of his religious confo- 
 lations and converfe with God in devout 
 H retirement. 
 
86 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 retirement. For I well remember, that he 
 once told me, he was fo much afraid that 
 fomething of fpiritual pride fhould mingle 
 itfelf with the relation of fuch kind of expe- 
 riences, that he concealed them a long time. 
 But obferving with how much freedom the 
 facred writers open all the mod fecret re* 
 ceffes of their hearts, efpecially in the Pfalms, 
 his confcience began to be burdened, under 
 an apprehenfion, that for the honor of God, 
 and in order to engage the concurrent praifes 
 of fome of his people, he ought to difclofe 
 them. On this he fet himfelf to refleft, who 
 among all his numerous acquaintance feem- 
 ed at once the mod experienced Chriftian 
 he knew, (to whom therefore fuch things as 
 he had to communicate might appear folid 
 and credible) and who the humbleft. He 
 quickly thought of the Lady Marchionefs of 
 Douglas in this view : And the reader may 
 well imagine, that it (truck my mind very 
 ftrongly, to think that now, more than 24 
 years after it was written, Providence fhould 
 bring fo my hands (as it has done within 
 thefe few days) what I afluredly believe to 
 be a genuine copy cf that very letter ; which 
 I had not the lead reafon to expeft: I fhould 
 ever have feen, when I learnt from his own 
 mouth, a/nidfl the freedom of an accidental 
 
 oanverfationj 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 87 
 
 converfation, the occafion and circumftances 
 of it. 
 
 It is dated from London, July 21, 1722, 
 and the very firlt lines of it relate to a re- 
 markable circumftance, which from others 
 of his letters I find to have happened feveral 
 times. I mean, that when he had received 
 from any of his Chriftian friends a few lines 
 which particularly affected his heart, he 
 could not (lay till the ftated return of his 
 devotional hour, but immediately retired to 
 pray for them, and to give vent to thofe 
 religious emotions of mind, which fuch a 
 correfpondence raifed. How invaluable was 
 fuch a friend ! and hew great reafon have 
 thofe of us, who once pofTefifed a large (hare 
 in his heart, and in thofe retired and facred 
 moments, to blefs God for fo fingular a fe- 
 licity ; and to comfort ourfelves in a pleat- 
 ing hope, that we may yet reap future bleff- 
 ings, as the harveft of thofe petitions which 
 he can no more repeat ! 
 
 His words are thefe : cc I was fo happy as 
 " to receive your's juft as I arrived, and I 
 " had no fooner read it, but I fhut my door, 
 cc and fought him whom my foul loveth. I 
 "fought him i and found him ; and would not 
 u let him go, till he had bieffed us all. It is 
 " impoflible to find words to exprefs what I 
 " obtained ; but I fuppofe it was fomething 
 
 " like 
 
S3 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 ci like that which the difciples got, as they 
 ' iC were going to Emmaus, when they faid, 
 " Did not our hearts burn zvithin us, &c. or 
 " rather like what Paul felt, when he could 
 " not tell whether he ivas in the body or out of 
 £C iL" He then mentions his dread of fpir- 
 itual pride, from which he earneftly prays 
 that God may deliver and preferve him. 
 " This/' fays he, <f would have hindered 
 " me from communicating thefe things, if I 
 " had not fuch an example before me as the 
 cc man after God's own heart, faying, I will 
 u declare zohat God hath done for my foul ; 
 if and el fe where, The humble fhall hear there- 
 l( of arcd be glad : Now I am well fatisfied, 
 * c that } our Ladyfliip is of that number." 
 He then adds, u I had no fooner finiftied 
 " this exercife," that is, of prayer above 
 mentioned, <c but I fat down to admire the 
 " goodnefs of my God, that he would vouch- 
 cc fafe to influence by his free fpirit fo un- 
 cc deferving a wretch as I, and to make me 
 c< thus to mount up with eagles wings. And 
 cc here I was loll again, and got into an 
 " ocean, where I could find neither bound 
 <c nor bottom ; but was obliged to cry out 
 rf with the Apoftle, the breadth, the length, 
 cf the depth, the height, of the love of Chrif, 
 <( which pa feth knowledge ! But if I give way 
 " to this (train, I fhall never have done. 
 
 (f That 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 89 
 
 u That the God of hope may fill you with all 
 "joy and peace in believing, that you may 
 ct abound in hope through the power of the 
 cc Holy Ghojly (hall always be the prayer of 
 ".him, who is, with the greateft fkicerity 
 " and refpeft, your Lady (hip's, &c/' 
 
 Another paffage to the fame purpofe I 
 find in a memorandum, which he feems to 
 have written for his own ufe, dated Monday, 
 March 11, which, I perceive from many 
 concurrent circumftances, muft have been 
 in the year 1722-3. " This day," fays he, 
 " having been to vifit Mrs. G. at Hamp- 
 <c (lead, I came home about two, and read a 
 <c fermon on thofe words, Pfalm exxx. 4. 
 " But there is forgivenefs with thee y that thou 
 <c mayefl be feared : About the latter end of 
 a which, there is a defcription of the mifer- 
 " able condition of thofe that are (lighters of 
 iC pardoning grace. From a fenfe of the 
 i€ great obligation^ I lay under to the Al- 
 <c mighty God, who hath made me to differ 
 " from fuch, from what I was, and from the 
 " reft of my companions, 1 knelt down to 
 " praife his holy name : And I know not, 
 " that in my life time I ever lay lower in the 
 <c duft, never having had a fuller vitw of my 
 " own unworthinefs. I never pleaded more 
 cc ftrongly the merits and interceffion of 
 " him, who I know is worthy ; never vowed 
 H 2 " more 
 
90 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 <c more fincerely to be the Lord's, and to 
 c< accept of Chrift as he is offered in the 
 " gofpel, as- my king, prieft, and prophet; 
 " never had fo ftrong a defire to depart, that 
 " I might fin no more ; but — my grace is 
 U fuffic'vnt — curbed that defire. I never 
 " pleaded with greater fervency for the com- 
 " forter, which our bleffed Lord hath prom- 
 cc ikd,Jhall abide with as forever. For all 
 " which I defire to afcribe glory, 8cc. to him 
 " lhatfitteth on the throne, and to the lamb." 
 
 There are feveral others of his papers, 
 which fpeak much the fame language ; 
 which, had he kept a diary, would, I doubt 
 not, have filled many fheets. I believe, my 
 devout readers would not foon be weary of 
 reading extracts of this kind : But that I 
 may not exceed in this part of my narrative, 
 I fhall mention only two more, each of them 
 dated fome years after ; that is, one from 
 Douglas, April 1, 1725; and the other from 
 Stranrawen, the 25th of May following, 
 
 The former of thefe relates to the frame 
 of his fpirit on a journey. On the mention 
 of which I cannot but recolleft, how often 
 I have heard him fay, that fome of the mofi; 
 delightful days of his life were days in which 
 he travelled alone, (that is, with only a fer- 
 vant at a diftance) when he could, efpecially 
 in roads not much frequented, indulge him- 
 
 felf 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. gi 
 
 felf in the pleafures of prayer and praife. 
 In the exercife of which laft, he was greatly 
 aflifted by feveral Pfalms and Hymns, which 
 he had treafured up in his memory, and 
 which he ufed not only to repeat aloud, but 
 fometimes to fing. In reference to this I re- 
 member the following paflage, in a tatter 
 which he wrote to me many years after, 
 when on mentioning my ever dear and hon- 
 oured friend, the Rev. Dr. Watts, he fays, 
 w How often in finging fome of his Pfalms, 
 " Hymns, or Lyricks, on horfeback, and 
 " elfewhere, has the evil fpirit been made to 
 M flee ! 
 
 M Whene'er my heart in tune was found, 
 " Like David's harp of folemn found !" 
 
 Such was the firft of April above men- 
 tioned, in the evening of which he writes 
 thus to an intimate fiiend : " What would 
 " I have given this day, upon the read, for 
 M paper, pen,, and ink, when the fpirit of the 
 u Mofi High refiedupon me ! Oh for the pen 
 " of a ready writer, and the tongue^of an 
 u angel, to declare what God hath done this 
 <c day for my foul ! But in fhort it is in vain 
 " to attempt it : All that I am. able to fay, 
 " is only this, that my foul has been for fome 
 " hours joining with the bleffed fpiiits a- 
 " bove, in giving glory % and honour, and 
 
 " praife, 
 
92 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 u praife, unto him that fit teth upon the throne, 
 u and to the lamb, for ever and ever. My 
 u praifes began from a renewed view of him, 
 " whom I faxv pierced for my tranfgrejftons. 
 " I fummoned the whole hierarchy of heav- 
 ff * en to join with me ; and I am perfuaded 
 Cf they all echoed back praife to the Mod 
 u High. Yea, one would have thought the 
 u very larks joined me with emulation. 
 " Sure then I need not make ufe of many 
 " words, to perfuade you that are his faints, 
 ci to join me in blefling and praifing his holy 
 cc name." He concludes, <c May the bleff- 
 cc ing of the God of Jacob reft upon you 
 f< all ! Adieu. Written in great hafte, late,, 
 €C and weary.' ' 
 
 Scarce can I here refrain from breaking 
 out into more copious reflexions on the ex- 
 quifite pleafures of true religion, when rifen 
 to fuch eminent degrees ; which can thus 
 feaft the foul in its folitude, and refrefh it 
 on journeys ; and bring down fo much of 
 heaven to earth, as this delightful letter ex- 
 prefles. But the remark is fo obvious, that 
 I will not enlarge upon it ; but proceed to 
 the other letter above mentioned, which was 
 written the next month, on the Tuefday af- 
 ter a facrament day. 
 
 He mentions the pleafure with which he 
 had attended a preparation fermon the Sat- 
 urday 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 93 
 
 urday before ; and then he adds, <c I took a 
 c walk upon the mountains that are over 
 c againft Ireland ; and I perfuade myfelf, 
 f that were I capable of giving you a de- 
 c fcription of what palled there, you would 
 c agree, that I had much better reafon to 
 1 remember my God from the hills of Port 
 c Patrick, than David from the land of Jor- 
 c dan y and of the Hermonites,from the hill of 
 f Mizar." I fuppofe he means in refer- 
 ence to the clearer difcoveries of the gofpel 
 with which we are favoured. " In fhort," 
 fays he immediately afterwards, in that fcrip- 
 ture phrafe which was become fo familiar to 
 him, " I wrejlled fome hours with the Angel 
 " of the covenant, and made fupplications to 
 " him y with floods of tears and cries, until I 
 cc had almoft expired: But he drengthened 
 " me fo, that like Jacob I had power with 
 " God, and prevailed. This," adds he, " is 
 ct but a very faint defcriptidn : You will be 
 li more able to judge of it by what you have 
 <f felt yourfelf upon the like occafions. Af- 
 <c ter luch preparatory work, I need not tell 
 " you, how bleffed the folemn ordinance of 
 <c the Lord's fupper proved to me ; I hope 
 iC it was fo to many. You may believe, I 
 u fhould have been exceeding glad, if my 
 c ! gracious Lord had ordered it fo, that I 
 c( might have made you a vifit as I propof- 
 
 ed ; 
 
94 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 cc ed : But I am now glad it was ordered 
 ci otherwife, fince he hath caufed^o much of 
 <c his geodnefs to pafs before me. Were I to 
 rc give you an account of the many favours 
 <c my God hath loaded me with, fince I 
 €< parted from you, I mull have taken up 
 u many days in nothing but writing. I hope 
 Sf you will join with me in praifes for all the 
 u goodnefc he has (hewn to your unworthy 
 n brother in the Lord." 
 
 Such were the ardours and elevations of 
 his foul : But while I record thefe memori- 
 als of them, I am very fenfible, there are 
 many who will be inclined to cenfure them 
 as the flights of enthufiafm ; for which rea- 
 fon I mud beg leave to add a remark or two* 
 on the cccafion, which will be illuftrated by 
 feveral other extracts, which I fhall intro- 
 duce into the fequel of thefe memoirs. The 
 one is, that he never pretends, in any of the 
 paffages cited above, or elfewhere, to have- 
 received any immediate revelations from 
 God, which fliould raife him above the or- 
 dinary methods of inftruttion, or difcover 
 anv thing to him, whether of doctrines or 
 fa6ls. No man was farther from pretending 
 to predict future events, except it were from 
 the moral prognoftications of caufes natur- 
 ally tending to produce them ; in tracing of 
 which he had indeed an b!e fagaci 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 95 
 
 as I have feen in fome very remarkable in- 
 ftances. Neither was he at all inclinable to 
 govern himfelf by fecret impulfes upon his 
 mind, leading him to things for which he 
 could affign no reafon but the impulfe it- 
 felf. Had he ventured, in a prefumption on 
 fuch fecret agitations of mind, to teach, or 
 to do any thing, not warranted by the dic- 
 tates of found fenfe and the word of God, I 
 fhould readily have acknowledged him an 
 enthufiaft ; unlefs he could have produced 
 fome other evidence than his own perfua- 
 fion, to have fupported the authority of 
 them. But thefe ardent expreflions, which 
 fome may call enthufiafm, feem only to evi- 
 dence a heart deeply affe6ted with a fenfe of 
 the divine prefence and perfe&ions, and of 
 that love which paffeth knowledge ; efpec- 
 ially, as manifefted in our redemption by 
 the fon of God, which did indeed inflame 
 his whole foul. And he thought he might 
 reafonably afcribe the ftrong impreffions, to 
 which men are generally fuch ftrangers, and 
 of which he had long been entirely defti- 
 tute, to the agency or influence of the fpirit 
 of God upon his heart ; and that, in pro- 
 portion to the degree in which he felt 
 them, he might properly fay, God was 
 mefent with him, and he converfed with 
 
 God. 
 
96 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 God.* Now when we confider the fcrip- 
 tural phrafes, of walking with God, of having 
 communion with the Father and his Son Jefus 
 Chrifi, of Chrifi' s coming to them that open 
 the door of their hearts to him, and Supping 
 •with them, of God's /bedding abroad his love 
 in the heart by his Spirit, of his coming with 
 Jefus Chrifi, and making his abode with any 
 man that loves him, of his meeting him that 
 worketh right eoufnefs, of his making us glad 
 by the light of his countenance, and a variety 
 of other equivalent exprefhons ; I believe 
 we (hall fee reafon to judge much more fa- 
 vourably 
 
 # The ingenious and pious Mr. Grove, (who I think 
 was as little fufpecled of running into enthufiaftical ex- 
 tremes as mod divines I could name) has a noble paiTage 
 to this purpofe, in the fixth volume of his Pofthumous 
 Works, p. 40, 41, which refpect to the memory of both 
 ihefe excellent peifons, inclines me to infert here. — 
 ci How often are good thoughts fuggefted," (viz. to the 
 pure in heart) " heavenly affections kindled and inflamed ! 
 *' How often is the Chriftian prompted to holy actions, 
 il drawn to his duty, reftored, quickened, perfuaded, in 
 (i fuch a manner, that he would be unjuft to the fpirit of 
 4i God, to queftion his agency in the whole ! Yes, oh my 
 " foul, there is a Supreme Being, who governs the world, 
 l( and is prefent with it, who takes up his more fpecial 
 li habitation in good men, and is nigh to all ivho call upon 
 " him, to fanclify and aflift them ! Hart: thou not felt him, 
 <f oh my foul, like another foul, actuating thy faculties, ex- 
 fl alting thy views, purifying thy pallions, exciting thy 
 " graces^ and begetting in thee an abhorrence of fin, and 
 " a love of holinefs ? And is not all this an argument of 
 "his prefence, as truly as if thou didjl fee him?' 1 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 97 
 
 vourably of fuch expreffions as thofe now in 
 queftion, than perfons who are themfelves 
 ftrangers to elevated devotion, and perhaps 
 converfe but little with their Bible, are in- 
 clined to do ; efpecially if they have, as ma- 
 ny fuch perfons have, a temper that inclines 
 them to cavil and find fault. And I mufl 
 farther obferve, that amidft all thofe free- 
 doms, with which this eminent Chriftian o- 
 pens his devout heart to the mod intimate 
 of his friends, he ftill fpeaks with profound 
 awe and reverence of his heavenly father, 
 and his faviour, and maintains (after the ex- 
 ample of the facred writers themfelves) a 
 kind of dignity in his expreffions, fuitable to 
 fuch a fubjeft ; without any of that fond 
 familiarity of language, and degrading mean- 
 nefs of phrafe, by which it is, efpecially of 
 late, grown falhionable among fome, (who 
 neverthelefs I believe mean well) to exprefs 
 their love and their humility. 
 
 On the whole ; if habitual love to God, 
 firm faith in the Lord Jefus Chrift, a fteady 
 dependence on the divine promifes, a full 
 perfuafion of the wifdom and goodnefs of 
 all the difpenfations of providence, a high 
 efteem for the bleffings of the heavenly 
 world, and a fincere contempt for the vani- 
 ties of this, can properly be called enthufi- 
 afm ; then was Colonel Gardiner indeed 
 I one 
 
98 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 one of the greateft enthufiafts our age has 
 produced ; and in proportion to the degree 
 in which he was fo, I mult efteem him one 
 of the wifeft and happieft of mankind. Nor 
 do I fear to tell the world, that it is the de- 
 fign of my writing thefe memoirs, and of 
 every thing elfe that I undertake in life, to 
 fpread this glorious and blefled enthufiafm ; 
 which I know to be the anticipation of 
 heaven, as well as the mod certain way to 
 it. 
 
 But left any fhould poffibly imagine, that 
 allowing the experiences which have been 
 defcribed above, to have been ever fo folid 
 and important, yet there may be fome ap- 
 pearance of boafting in fo free a communi- 
 cation of them ; I muft add to what I have 
 hinted in reference to this above, that I find 
 in many of the papers before me very gen- 
 uine expreffions of the deepeft humility and 
 felf abafement ; which indeed fuch holy 
 converfe with God in prayer and praife, 
 does above all things in the world tend to 
 infpire and promote. Thus in one of his 
 letters he fays, " I am but as a beafl before 
 "him." Jn another he calls himfelf "a 
 " miferable hell deferving finner :" And in 
 another he cies out, " Oh, bow good a maf- 
 c< ter do I ferve ! but alas, how ungrateful 
 " am I ! What can be fo aftoniftiing as the 
 
 i€ love 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 99 
 
 " love of Chrift to us, uniefs it be the cold- 
 " nefs of our finful hearts towards fuch a 
 <c Saviour ?" With many other claufes of 
 the like nature, which 1 fliall not fet myfelf 
 more particularly to trace, through the va- 
 riety of letters in which they occur. 
 
 It is a farther inftance of this unfeigned 
 humility, that when (as his lady with her 
 ufual propriety of language exprefles it, in 
 one of her letters to me concerning him) 
 u thefe divine joys and confolations were 
 " not his daily allowance," he with equal 
 freedom, in the confidence of Chriftian 
 friendfhip, acknowledges and laments it. 
 Thus in the fir ft letter I had the honour of 
 receiving from him, dated from Leicefcer, 
 July 9, 1739, when he had been mentioning 
 the bleffing with which it had pleafed God 
 to attend my laft addrefs to him, and the in- 
 influence it had upon his mind, he adds, 
 f* Much do I ftand in need of every help, to 
 " awaken me out of that fpiritual deadnefs, 
 u which feizes me fo often. Once indeed it 
 <c was quite otherwife with me, and that for 
 <c many years : 
 
 " Firm was my health, my day was bright, 
 u And I prefum'd 'twould ne'er be night : 
 " Fondly I faid within my heart, 
 " Pleafure and peace fhall ne'er depart, 
 
 " Bat 
 
loo LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 *' But I forgot, thine arm was ftrong, 
 
 u Which made my mountain ftand fo long ; 
 
 " Soon as thy face began to hide, 
 
 ** My health was gone, my comforts died." 
 
 " And here," adds he, " lies my fin, and 
 my folly." 
 
 I mention this, that the whole matter may 
 be feen juft as it was, and that other Chriftians 
 may not be difcouraged, if they feel fome a- 
 batement of that fervour, and of thofe holy 
 joys, which they may have experienced dur- 
 ing fome of the firft months or years of their 
 fpiritual life. But with relation to the Col- 
 onel, I have great reafon to believe, that 
 thefe which he laments as his days of fpir- 
 itual deadnefs were not unanimated ; and 
 that quickly after the date of this letter, and 
 efpecially nearer the clofe of his life, he had 
 farther revivings, as the joyful anticipation 
 of thofe better things in referve, which were 
 then nearly approaching. And thus Mr. 
 Spears, in the letter I mentioned above, 
 tells us he related the matter to him ; (for he 
 ftudies as much as poflible to retain the 
 Colonel's own words :J " However," fays 
 he, " after that happy period of fenfible 
 u communion, though mv joys and enlarge- 
 " ments were not fo overflowing and fenfi- 
 cc ble, yet I have had habitual real commun- 
 iC ion with God from that day to this ;" the 
 
 latter 
 
LIFEof Col. GARDINER. 101 
 
 latter end of the year 1743 ; cc and I know 
 <c myfelf, and all that know me fee, that 
 c< through the grace of God, to which I af- 
 <c cribe all, my converfation has been be- 
 " coming the gofpel ; and let me die, when- 
 €< ever it fliall pleafe God, or wherever it 
 " fhall be, I am fure I fhall go to the man- 
 " fions of eternal glory," &c. And this is 
 perfedtly agreeable to the manner in which 
 he ufed to fpeak to me on this head, which 
 we have talked over frequently and largely. 
 In this connexion I hope my reader will 
 forgive my inferting a little ftory^ which I 
 received from a very worthy minifter in 
 Scotland, and which I fhall give in his own 
 words : "In this period," meaning that 
 which followed the firft feven years after his 
 converfion, " when his complaint of com-. 
 " parative deadnefs and languor in religion 
 u began, he had a dream ; which, though 
 Cl he had no turn at all for taking notice of 
 M dreams, yet made a very ftrong impreflion 
 " upon his mind. He imagined that he 
 u faw his blefled Redeemer on earth, and 
 " that he was following him through a large 
 K field, following him whom his foul loved, 
 " but much troubled, becaufe he thought 
 u his bleflfed Lord did not fpeak to him ; 
 ** till he came up to the gate of a burying 
 " place, when turning about he fmiled up on 
 I 2 lf him 
 
102 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 u him, in fuch a manner as filled his foul 
 <c with the mod ravifhing joy ; and on after 
 " refle&ion animated his faith, in believing 
 cc that whatsoever ftorms and darknefs he 
 u might meet with in the way, at the hour 
 u of death his glorious Redeemer would 
 cc lift up upon him the light of his life giv- 
 u ing countenance." My correfpondent 
 adds a circumftance, for which he makes 
 fome apology, as what may feem whimfical, 
 and yet made fome impreffion on himfelf; 
 <c that there was a remarkable refemblance 
 " in the field in which this brave man met 
 u death, and that he had reprefented to him 
 u in the dream." I did not fully under- 
 ftand this at firft ; but a paffage in that let- 
 ter from Mr. Spears, which I have men- 
 tioned more than once, has cleared it. 
 u Now obferve, Sir, this feems to be a liter- 
 " al defcription of the place where this 
 ** Chriftian Hero ended his forrows and 
 u conflifis, and from which he entered tri- 
 u umphantly into the joys of his Lord. For 
 * c after he fell in the battle, fighting glori- 
 *' oufly for his King and the caufe of his 
 u God, his wounded body, while life was 
 * f yet remaining, was carried from the field 
 fi of battle by the eaft fide of his own inclo- 
 " fure, till he came to the church yard of 
 " Tranet, and was brought to the minifter's 
 
 <c houfe > 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 103 
 
 u houfe, where he foon after breathed out 
 u his foul into the hands of his Lord, and 
 <c was conduced to his prefence, where there 
 cc is fulnefs of joy , without any cloud of in-- 
 " terrupt ion forever." 
 
 I well know, that in dreams there are di- 
 verfe vanities, and readily acknowledge, that 
 nothing certain could be inferred from this : 
 Yet it feems at leaf! to Ihew, which way the 
 imagination was working, even in fleep ; and 
 
 I cannot think it unworthy of a wife and 
 good man ; fometimes to reflect with com- 
 placency on any images, which paffing 
 through his mind even in that ftate, may 
 tend either to exprefs, or to quicken, his 
 love to the great Saviour. Thofe eminent- 
 ly pious divines of the church of England,, 
 Bifhop Bull, and Biftiop Kenn, do both in- 
 timate it as their opinion, that it may be a 
 part of the fervice of miniftering angels to 
 fuggeft devout dreams :* And I know, that 
 
 the 
 
 * Bifnop Bull has thefe remarkable wards: " Although 
 M I am no doater on dreams, yet I verily believe, that 
 il fome dreams are monitory, above the power of fancy, 
 
 II and imprefTed upon us by fome fuperior influence. For 
 " of fuch dreams we have plain and undeniable inftances 
 11 in hiftory, both facred and profane, and in our own age 
 " and obiervation. Nor ihall I fo value the laughter of 
 " fceptics, and the feoffs of the Epicureans, as to be afham- 
 " ed to profefs, that I myfelf have had fome convincing 
 u experiments of fuch impreffions." 
 
 Bi/b. Bull's Serm, <voL II. p, 489, 490, 
 
*e4 £IFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 the worthy perfon of whom I fpeak, was 
 well acquainted with that midnight hymn of 
 the latter of thofe excellent writers, which 
 has thefe lines : 
 
 " L©rd, left the tempter me furprife, 
 " Watch over thine own facrifice ! 
 •« All loofe, all idle thoughts caft out, 
 u And make my very dreams devout !"' 
 
 Nor would it be difficult to produce other 
 paffages much to the fame pnrpofe,* if it 
 would not be deemed too great a digreffion 
 from our fubjeft, and too laboured a vindi- 
 cation of a little incident, of very fmall im- 
 portance, when compared with moft of thofe 
 which make up this narrative. 
 
 I meet not with any other remarkable e- 
 vent relating to Major Gardiner, which can 
 
 properly 
 
 * If I miftake not, the fame Bifhop Kenn is the author 
 of a midnight hymn, concluding with thefe words; 
 "May my etherial guardian kindly fpread 
 «* His wings, and from the tempter fcreen my head; 
 M Grant of celeftial "light fome piercing beams, 
 €l To blefs my fleep, and fanclify my dreams !" 
 
 As he certainly was of thofe exaclty parallel lines — 
 " Oh may my guardian while I fleep, 
 " Clofe to my bed his vigils keep j 
 •' His love angelical infill , 
 U Stop all the avenues of ill ! 
 * f May he celeftial joys rehearfe, 
 " Andthought to thought with me ccnverfe \" 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 105 
 
 properly be introduced here, till the year 
 1726; when, on the 11th of July, he was 
 married to the Right Hon. the Lady Frances 
 Erfkine, daughter to the late Earl of Bu- 
 chan, by whom he had thirteen children, 
 five only of which furvived their father, two 
 fons and three daughters : Whom I cannot 
 mention without the mod fervent prayers to 
 God for them, that they may always behave 
 worthy the honour of being defcended from 
 fuch parents ; and that the God of their fa- 
 ther, and of their mother, may make them 
 perpetually the care of his providence, and 
 yet more eminently happy in the conflant 
 and abundant influences of his grace ! 
 
 As her iadyfhip is (li!I living, (and for the 
 fake of her dear offspring, and numerous 
 friends, may fhe long be fpared) I fhall not 
 here indulge myfelf in faying any thing of 
 her, except it be, that the Colonel allured 
 me, when he had been happy in this intimate 
 relation to her more than fourteen years, 
 that the greateft imperfe6tion he knew in her 
 charafter was, c< that fhe valued and loved 
 u him, much more than he defefved." And 
 little did he think, in the fimplicity of heart 
 with which he fpoke this, how high an en- 
 comium he was making upon her, and how 
 lailing an honour fuch a teftimony muft 
 
 leave 
 
loo LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 leave upon her name, as long as the memo- 
 ry of it (hall continue. 
 
 As I do not intend in thefe memoirs a 
 laboured effay on the chara&er of Colonel 
 Gardiner, digefted under the various vir- 
 tues and graces which Chriftianity requires, 
 (which would, I think, be a little too formal 
 for a work of this kind, and would give it 
 fuch an air of panegyric, as would neither 
 fuit my defign, nor be at all likely to render 
 it more ufeful ;) I (hall now mention what 
 I have either obferved in him, or heard con- 
 cerning him, with regard to thofe domeftic 
 relations which commenced about this time, 
 or quickly after. And here my reader will 
 eafily conclude, that the refolution of Joflhua 
 was from the firft adopted and declared, As 
 for ?ne, and my houfe, we vjillfcrve the Lord. 
 It will naturally be fuppofed, that as foon as 
 he had a houfe, he ere£ied an altar in it ; 
 that the word of God was read there, and 
 prayers and praifes were con flan tly offered. 
 Thefe were not to be omitted, on account of 
 any gueft ; for he efteemed it a part of due 
 refpeft to thofe that remained under his 
 roof, to take it for granted, they would look 
 upon it as a very bad compliment, to imag- 
 ine they would have been obliged, by neg- 
 lefting the duties of religion on their ac- 
 count. As his family increased, he had a 
 
 minifter 
 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 107 
 
 minifter ftatedly refident in his houfe, who 
 both difcharged the office of a tutor to his 
 children, and of a chaplain; and who was 
 always treated with a becoming kindnefs 
 and refpe£L But in his abfence, the Colo- 
 nel himfelf led the devotions of the family ; 
 and they were happy, who had an opportu- 
 nity of knowing, with how much folemnity, 
 fervour, and propriety, he did it. 
 
 He was conftant in attendance upon pub- 
 lick worfhip, in which an exemplary care 
 was taken, that the children and fervants 
 might accompany the heads of the family. 
 And how he would have refented the non 
 attendance of any member of it, may eafily 
 be conjectured, from a free, but lively paf- 
 fage, in a letter to one of his intimate friends, 
 on an occafion which it is not material to 
 mention : " Oh, Sir, had a child of yours 
 c< under my roof, but once negle&ed the 
 cc publick worfhip of God, when he was able 
 a to attend it, I fhould have been ready to 
 u conclude he had been diftra&ed, and 
 <f fliould have thought of {having his head, 
 Cf and confining him in a dark rooTO." 
 
 He always treated his Lady with a manly 
 tendernefs, giving her the mod natural evi- 
 dences of a cordial habitual efteem, and ex- 
 prefling a mod affe&ionate fympathy with 
 Jjer, under the infirmities of a very delicate 
 
 confutation. 
 
1 
 
 to8 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 conftitution, much broken, at leaft towards 
 the latter years of their marriage, in confe- 
 quence of fo frequent pregnancy. He had 
 at all times a moft faithful care of all her 
 interefts, and efpecially thofe relating to the 
 ftate of religion in her mind. His conver- 
 fation and his letters concurred to cherifh 
 thofe fublime ideas which Ghriftanity fug- 
 gefts ; to promote our fubmiffion to the 
 will of God, to teach us to center our hap- 
 pinefs in the great Author of our being, and 
 to live by faith in the invifible world. Thefe, 
 no doubt, were frequently the fubje&s of 
 mutual difcourfe : And many letters, which 
 her Lady Chip has had the goodnefs to com- 
 municate to me, are moft convincing evi- 
 dences of the degree in which this noble and 
 moft friendly care filled his mind, in the 
 days of their feparation ; days, which fo 
 entire a mutual affe&ion muft have ren- 
 dered exceeding painful, had they not been 
 fupported by fuch exalted feniiments of 
 piety, and fweetened by daily communion 
 with an ever prefent and ever gracious God. 
 The neceffity of being fo many months 
 together diftant from his family, hindered 
 .him from many of thofe condescending la- 
 bours in cultivating the minds of his child- 
 ren in early life, which to a foul fo benevo- 
 lent, fo wife, and fo zealous, would un- 
 doubtedly 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 109 
 
 doubtedly have afforded a very exquifite 
 pleafure. The care of his worthy confort, 
 who well knew that it is one of the brighteft 
 parts of a mother's chara&er, and one of the 
 molt important views in which the fex can 
 be confidered, made him the eafier under 
 fuch a circumftance : But when he was with 
 them, he failed not to iriftruft and admonifh 
 them ; and the conftant deep fenfe with 
 which he fpoke of divine things, and the real 
 unaffe&ed indifference which he always 
 (hewed for what this vain world is mod 
 Teady to admire, were excellent leffons of 
 daily wifdom, which I hope they will recol- 
 left with advantage in every future fcene of 
 life. And I have feen fuch hints in his let- 
 ters relating to them, as plainly fhew with 
 how great a weight they lay on his mind, 
 and how highly he defired above all things, 
 that they might be the faithful difciples of 
 Chrift ; and acquainted betimes with the 
 unequalled pleasures and bleflings of relig- 
 ion. He thought an excefs of delicacy, and 
 of indulgence, one of the mofl dangerous 
 faults in education, by which he every where 
 faw great numbers of young people undone : 
 yet he was folicitous to guard againft a fe- 
 verity, which might terrify or difcourage ; 
 and though he endeavoured to take all pru- 
 dent precautions to prevent the commiffion 
 K of 
 
no LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 of faults, yet, when they had been commit- 
 ted, and there feemed to be a fenfe of them, 
 he was always ready to make the rood can- 
 did allowances for the thougbtleffnefs of 
 unripened years, ^nd tenderly to cherifh ev- 
 ery purpofe of a more proper conduft for 
 the time to come. 
 
 It was eafy to perceive, that the openings 
 of genius in the young branches of his fam- 
 ily gave him great delight, and that he had 
 a fecret ambition to fee them excel in what 
 they undertook. Yet he was greatly cau- 
 tious over his heart, left it fhould be too 
 fondly attached to them ; and as he was one 
 of the mod eminent proficients I ever knew 
 in the bleffed fcience of refignation to the 
 divine will, fo there was no effeft of that 
 refignation which appeared to me more ad- 
 mirable than what related to the life of his 
 children. An experience, which no length 
 of time will ever efface out of my memory, 
 has fo fenfibly taught me, how difficult it is 
 fully to fupport the Chriftian charafter here, 
 that I hope my reader will pardon me, (I 
 am fure at leaft the heart of wounded par- 
 ents will) if I dwell a little longer upon fo 
 interefting a fubjeft. 
 
 When he was in Herefordfhire, in the 
 month of July, 1734, it pleafed God to vifit 
 his little family with the fmall pox. Five 
 
 days 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER, m 
 
 days before the date of the letter I am juft 
 going to mention, he had received the agree- 
 able news, that there was a profpeft of the 
 recovery of his fon, then under that awful 
 vifitation ; and he had been expreffing his 
 thankfulnefs for it, in a letter which he had 
 fent away but a few hours before he was in- 
 formed of his death, the furprize of which, 
 in this connexion, mull naturally be very- 
 great. But behold (fays the reverend and 
 worthy perfon from whom I received the 
 cop}') his truly filial fubmifiion to the will 
 of his heavenly father^ hi the following lines 
 addrefifed to the dear partner of his affli&ion : 
 u Your refignation to the will of God under 
 <c this difpenfation gives me more joy, than 
 " the death of the child has given me for- 
 u row. He to be fure is happy ; and we 
 " fhall go to him, though he fhall not return 
 " to us. Oh that we had our latter end al- 
 <c ways \A view! — We fhall foon follow; 
 " and oh wSfet reafon have we to long for 
 " that glorious day, when we fhall get quit 
 " of this body of Jin and death, under which 
 " we now groan, and which renders this life 
 lc fo wretched ! 1 defire to blefs God that 
 
 " [another of his children] is ia fo 
 
 w good a way : But I have refigned her. 
 
 * We mud not chufe for ourfelves ; and it 
 
 <f is well we mud not, for we fhould often 
 
 make 
 
ii2 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 " make a very bad choice. And therefore 
 <€ it is our wifdom, as well as our duty, to 
 Cf leave all with a gracious God ; who hath 
 u promifedj that all things Jhall work together 
 u for good to thofe that love him : And he is 
 u faithful that hath promifed, who will in- 
 u fallibly perform it, if our unbelief does 
 cc not ftand in the way.*' 
 
 The greateft trial of this kind that he ever 
 bore,, was in the removal of his fecond fon, 
 who was one of the mof! amiable and prom* 
 ifmg children that has been known. The 
 dear little creature was the darling of all who 
 knew him ; and promifed very fair, fo far as 
 a child could be known by its doings, to 
 have been a great ornament to the family, 
 and bleflTing to the public. The fuddennefs 
 of the ftroke muft, no doubt, render it the 
 more painful ; for this beloved child was 
 fnatched away by an illnefs, which feized 
 him but about i% hours before i 4 : carried 
 him off. He died in the month of Oftober, 
 1733, at near fix years old. Their friends 
 were ready to fear, that his affe6lionate par- 
 ents would be almoft overwhelmed with 
 fuch a lofs : But the happy father had fo 
 firm a perfuafion, that God had received the 
 dear little one to the felicities of the celeftial 
 world ; and at the fame time had fo ftrong 
 a fenfe of the divine goodnefs^ in taking one 
 
 of 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 113 
 
 of his children, and that too, one who lay fo 
 near his heart, fo early to himfelf ; that the 
 forrows of nature were quite fwallowed up 
 in the fublime joy which thefe confidera- 
 tions adminiftered. When he refle&ed, 
 what human life is ; how many its fnares 
 and temptations are ; and how frequently 
 children, who once promifed well, are in- 
 fenfibly corrupted, and at length undone ; 
 with Solomon, he blejfed the dead already 
 dead, more than the living who were yet alive, 
 and felt an unfpeakable pleafure in looking 
 after the lovely infant as fafely and delight- 
 fully lodged in the houfe of its heavenly fa- 
 ther. Yea, he affured me, that his heart was 
 at this time fo entirely taken up with thefe 
 views, that he was afraid, they who did not 
 thoroughly know him, might fufpeft that he 
 was deficient in the natural affefiions of a 
 parent ; while thus borne above the anguifh 
 of them, by the views which faith adminif- 
 tered to him, and which divine grace fup- 
 ported in his foul. 
 
 So much did he, on one of the mod try- 
 ing occaiions of life, fnanifeft of the temper 
 of a glorified faint ; and to fuch happy pur- 
 poses did he retain thofe leflbns of fubmif- 
 fion to God, and acquiefcence in him, which 
 I remember he once inculcated in a letter 
 he wrote to a lady of quality, under the ap- 
 K 2 prehenfion 
 
H4 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 prehenfion of a breach in her family, with 
 which providence feeiried to threaten her, 
 which I am willing to infert here, though a 
 little out of what might feem its mod proper 
 place, rather than entirely to omit it. It is 
 dated from London, June 16, 1722, when 
 fpeaking of the dangerous illnefs of a dear 
 relative, he has thefe words: " When my 
 u mind runs hither,'* that is, to God, as its 
 refuge and ftrong defence, as the connexion 
 plainly determines it, " I think I can bear 
 f< any thing, the lofs of all, the lofs of health, 
 " of relations on whom I depend, and whom 
 " I love, alt that is dear to me, without re- 
 u pining or murmuring* When I think, 
 u that God orders, difpofes, and manages all 
 u things, according to the counfel of his own 
 u will ; when I think of the extent of his 
 c< providence, that it reaches to the minuteft 
 c< things ; then, though a ufeful friend or 
 <( dear relative be fnatched away by death, 
 u I recall myfelf, and check my thoughts 
 u with thefe considerations. Is he not God, 
 f< from everlajlingy and to overlaying ? And 
 c< has he not promifed to be a God to me ? 
 " A God in all his attributes, a God in all 
 f< his perfons, a God in all bis creatures and 
 " providences ? And fhall I dare to fay, 
 cc What fhall I do ? Wis not he the infinite 
 " caufe of all I met with in the creatures ? 
 
 And 
 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 115 
 
 u And were not they the finite effe&s of his 
 u infinite love and kindnefs ? I have daily 
 iC experienced, that the inftrument was, and 
 M is, what God makes it to be ; and I know, 
 u that this God hath the hearts of all men in 
 " his hands, and the earth is the Lord's, and 
 " the fulnefs thereof. If this earth be good 
 u for me', I fhall have it, for my father hath 
 u it all in poffeflion. If favour in the eyes 
 " of men be good for me, I fhall have it; 
 " for the fpring of every motion in the heart 
 
 " of man is in God's hand. My dear 
 
 " feems now to be dying ; but God is all 
 Cf wife, and every thing is done by him for 
 " the beft. Shall I hold back any thing 
 " that is his own, when he requires it ? No, 
 u God forbid ! When I confider the excel- 
 11 lency of his glorious attributes. I am fatis-^ 
 " fied with all his dealings. V I perceive 
 by the introdu6lion, and what follov/s, that 
 moft, if not all of this, is a quotation from 
 fomething written by a lady ; but whether 
 from fome manufcript, or a printed book, 
 whether exaftly tranfcribed, or quoted from 
 memory, I cannot determine : And there- 
 fore I thought proper to infert it, as the 
 Major (for that was the office be bore then) 
 by thus interweaving it with his letter makes 
 it his own ; and as it feems to exprefs in a 
 very lively manner the principles which 
 
 bore 
 
n6 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 bore him on to a condufl fo truly great and 
 heroic, in circumftances that have over- 
 whelmed many an heart, that could have 
 faced danger and death with the greateft in- 
 trepidity. 
 
 I return now to confider his chara6ler in 
 the domeftic relation of a matter, on which 
 I (hall not enlarge. It is however proper 
 to remark, that as his habitual meeknefs and 
 command of his paffions, prevented inde- 
 cent Tallies of ungovernable anger towards 
 thofe in the loweft ftate of fubjeftion to him, 
 (by which fome in high life do ftrangely de- 
 bafe themfelves, and lofe much of their au- 
 thority) fo the natural greatnefs of his mind 
 made him folicitous to render their inferior 
 ftations as eafy as he could; and fo much 
 the rather, becaufe he confidered all the 
 children of Adam, as fianding upon a level 
 before their great Creator, and had alfo a 
 deeper fenfe of the dignity and worth of 
 every immortal foul, how meanly foever it 
 might chance to be lodged, than moft per- 
 fons I have known. This engaged him to 
 give his fervants frequent religious exhorta- 
 tions and inftruftions, as I have been affured 
 by feveral who were fo happy as to live 
 with him under that chara&er. One of the 
 firft letters after he entered on his Chriftian 
 courfe, expreffes the fame difpofition ; in 
 
 which 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 117 
 
 which with great tendernefs he recommends 
 a fervant, who was in a bad ftate of health, to 
 his mother's care, as he was well acquainted 
 with her condefcending temper ; mention- 
 ing at the fame time the endeavours he had 
 ufed, to promote his preparations for a bet- 
 ter world, under an apprehenfion that he 
 would not continue long in this. And we 
 fhall have an affe&ing inftance of the prev- 
 alency of the fame difpofition, in the clofing 
 fcene of his life, and indeed in the laft words 
 he ever fpoke, which expreffed his generous 
 folicitude for the fafety of a faithful fervant, 
 who was then near him. 
 
 As it was a few years after his marriage 
 that he was promoted to the rank of Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel, in which he continued till 
 he had a regiment of his own, I fhall for the 
 future fpeak of him by that title ; and may 
 not perhaps find any more proper place, in 
 which to mention, what it is proper for me 
 to fay of his behaviour and conduft as an 
 officer. I fhall not here enlarge on his 
 bravery in the field, though that was very 
 remarkable, as I have heard from others : I 
 fay, from others, for I never heard any thing 
 of that kind from hirnfelf, nor knew, till af- 
 ter his death, that he was prefent at almoft 
 every battle that was faught in Flanders^ 
 while the illuftrious Duke of Marlborough. 
 
 commanded 
 
ai8 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 commanded the allied army there. I have 
 alfo been allured from feveral credible per- 
 fons, fome of whom were eye witneffes, that 
 at the fkirmifh with the rebels at Prefton in 
 Lancafhire, (thirty years before that engage- 
 ment at the other Prefton, which deprived 
 us of this gallant guardian of his country) 
 he fignalized himfelf very particularly : For 
 he headed a little body of men, I think a- 
 bout twelve, and fet fire to the barricado of 
 the rebels, in the face of their whole army, 
 while they were pouring in their fhot, by 
 which eight of the twelve that attended him 
 fell. This was the laft a&ion of the kind in 
 which he was engaged, before the long peace 
 which enfued : And who can exprefs how 
 happy it was for him, and indeed for his 
 country, of which he was ever fo generous, 
 and in his latter vears fo important a friend, 
 that he did not fall then ; when the profane- 
 nefs which mingled itfelf with this martial 
 rage, feemed to rend the heavens, and (hock- 
 ed fome other military gentlemen, who were 
 not themfelves remarkable for their caution 
 in this refpe£t. 
 
 But I infift not on things of this nature, 
 which the true greatnefs of his foul would 
 hardly ever permit him to mention, unlefs 
 when it tended to illuftrate the divine care 
 over him in thefe extremities of danger, and 
 
 the 
 
LIFEof Col, GARDINER. 119 
 
 the grace of God in calling him from fo a- 
 bandonvrd a ftate. It is well known, that 
 the charaftsr of an officer is not only to be 
 approved in the day of combat. Colonel 
 Gardiner was truly fenfible, that every day 
 brought its duties along with it ; and he was 
 conftantly careful, that no pretence of amufe- 
 ment, friendfhip, or even devotion itfelf, 
 xnight prevent their being discharged in their 
 feafon. ( 
 
 I doubt not, but the noble perfoas in 
 whofe regiment he was Lieut. Colonel, will 
 always be ready to bear an honourable and 
 grateful teftimony to his exemplary diligence 
 and fidelity, in all that related to the care of 
 the troops over which he was fet, whether 
 with regard to the men or the horfes. He 
 knew, that it is incumbent on thofe who 
 have the honour of prefiding over others, 
 whether in civil, ecclefiaftical, or military 
 offices, not to content themfelves with doing 
 only fo much as may preferve them from 
 the reproach of grofs and vifible negleft ; 
 but ferioufly to confider, how much they 
 can poffibly do, without going out of their 
 proper fphere, to ferve the public, by the 
 due infpe6tion of thofe committed to their 
 care. The duties of the clofet and of the 
 fan&uary, were fo adjufted, as not to inter- 
 * fere with thofe of the parade, or any other 
 
 place 
 
•i*o LIFE of Cou GARDINER, 
 
 place where the welfare of the regiment call- 
 ed him, On the other hand, he was folic- 
 itous, not to fuffer thefe things to interfere 
 with religion ; a due attendance to which he 
 apprehended to be the fureit method of at- 
 taining all defirable fuccels in every other 
 intereft and concern in life. He therefore 
 abhorred every thing that fliould look like a 
 contrivance to keep his foldiers employed 
 about their horfes and their arms at the fea- 
 fcms of public worfhip; (an indecency, which 
 I wifli there were no room to mention :) Far 
 from that, he ufed to have them drawn up 
 juft before it began, and from the parade 
 they went off to the houfe of God. He 
 underftood the rights of confcience too well, 
 to impofe his own particular profeflion in 
 religion on others, or to ufe thofe who dif- 
 fered from him in the choice of its modes, 
 the lefs kindly or refpe&fully on that ac- 
 count. But as moft of his own company, 
 and many of the reft, chofe, when in Eng- 
 land, to attend him to the diffenting chapel, 
 he ufed to march them thither in due time, 
 fo as to be there before the worfhip began. 
 And I mud do them the juftice to fay, that 
 fo far as I could ever difcern, when I have 
 feen them in Jarge numbers before me, they 
 behaved with as much reverence, gravity, 
 
 &nd 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 121 
 
 and decorum, during the time of divine fer- 
 vice, as any of their fellow worfhippers. 
 
 That his remarkable care to maintain 
 good difcipline among them (of which we 
 (hall afterwards fpeak) might be the more 
 effe&ual, he made himfelf on all proper oc- 
 cafions acceffible to them, and expreffed a 
 great concern for their interefts, which being 
 fo genuine and fincere, naturally difcovered 
 itfelf in a variety of inftances. I remember, 
 I had once occafion to vifit one of his dra- 
 goons, in his laft illnefs, at Harborough, and 
 I found the man upon the borders of eterni- 
 ty ; a circumftance, which, as he appre- 
 hended it himfelf, mufl; add fome peculiar 
 weight and credibility to his difcourfe. And 
 he then told me, in his Colonel's abfence, 
 that he queftioned not, but he fhould have 
 everlafting reafon to blefs God on Colonel 
 Gardiner's account", for he had been a father 
 to him in all his interefts both temporal and 
 fpiritual. He added, that he had vifited 
 him almoft every day during his illnefs, 
 with religious advice and inftruSion, as well 
 as taken care that he (hould want nothing 
 that might conduce to the recovery of his 
 health. And he did not fpeak of this, as 
 the refult of any particular attachment to 
 him, but as the manner in which he was ac- 
 cuftorned to treat thofe under his command, 
 L It 
 
122 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 It is no wonder, that this engaged their af- 
 fe&ion to a very great degree. And I doubt 
 not, that if he had fought the fatal battle of 
 Prefton Pans at the head of that gallant 
 regiment, of which he had the care for fo 
 many years, and which is allowed by moft 
 unexceptionable judges to be one of the 
 fineft in the Britifti fervice, and confequent- 
 ]y in the world, he had been fupported in a 
 much different manner ; and had found a 
 much greater number, who would have re- 
 joiced in an opportunity of making their 
 own breads a barrier in the defence of his. 
 
 It could not but greatly endear him to his 
 foldiers, that fo far as preferments lay in his 
 power, or were under his influence, they 
 were diftributed according to merit ; which 
 he knew to be as much the diftate of pru- 
 dence as of equity. I find by one of his let- 
 ters before me, dated but a few months after 
 his happy change, that he was folicited to 
 improve his intereft with the Earl of Stair, 
 in favour of one whom he judged a very 
 worthy perfon ; and that it had been fug- 
 gefted by another who recommended him, 
 that if he fucceeded he might expeft fome 
 handfome acknowledgment. But he an- 
 fwers with fome degree of indignation, cc Do 
 you imagine I am to be bribed to dojujlice ?" 
 For fuch it feems he efteemed ir, to confer 
 
 the 
 
LIFEof Col. GARDINER. 123 
 
 the favour which was aiked from him, on 
 one fo deferving. Nothing can more effec- 
 tually tend to humble the enemies of a ftate, 
 than that fuch maxims fhould univerfally 
 prevail in it : And if they do not prevail, 
 the worihieft men in an army or fleet may 
 be funk under repeated difcouragements, 
 and the bafeft exalted, to the infamy of the 
 public, and perhaps to its ruin. 
 
 In the midft of all the gentlenefs which 
 Colonel Gardiner exercifed towards his fol- 
 dicrs, he made it very apparent, that he 
 knew how to reconcile the tendernefs of a 
 real, faithful, and condefcending friend, 
 with the authority of a commander. Pti- 
 haps hardly any thing conduced more gen- 
 erally to the maintaining of this authority, 
 than the ftrift decorum and good manners, 
 with which he treated even the private gen- 
 tlemen of his regiment ; which has always a 
 great efficacy towards keeping inferiors at a 
 proper diftance, and forbids, in the lead of- 
 fensive manner, familiarities, which degrade 
 the fuperior, and enervate his influence. 
 The calmnefs and fleadinefs of his behaviour 
 on all occafions, did alio greatly tend to the 
 fame purpofe. He knew how mean a man 
 looks in the tranfports of paffion, and would 
 not ufe fo much freedom with any of his 
 men, as to fall into fuch tranfports before 
 
 them ; 
 
124 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 them ; well knowing, that perfons in the 
 lowed rank of life, are aware how unfit they 
 are to govern others, who cannot govern 
 themfelves. He was alfo fenfible, how nee- 
 effary it is in all who prefide over others, 
 and efpecially in military officers, to check 
 irregularities, when they firft begin to ap- 
 pear : And that he might be able to do it, 
 he kept a ftrift infpe£tion over his foldiers ; 
 in which view it was obferved, that as he 
 generally chofe to refide among them as 
 much as he could, (though in circumftances 
 which fometimes occafioned him to deny 
 himfelf in fome interefts which were very 
 dear to him) fo when they were around him, 
 he feldom (laid long in a place ; but was 
 frequently walking the ftreets, and looking 
 into their quarters and (tables, as well as re- 
 viewing and exercifing them himfelf. It 
 has often been obferved, that the regiment 
 of which he was fo many years Lieutenant 
 Colonel, was one of Jthe mod regular and 
 orderly regiments in the public fcrvice ; fo 
 that perhaps none of our dragoons were 
 more welcome than they, to the towns where 
 their chara6ler was known. Yet no fuch 
 bodies of men are fo biamelefs in their con- 
 du£t, but fomething will be found, efpecially 
 among fuch confiderable numbers, worthy 
 of cenfure, and fometimes of punifhment. 
 
 This 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 125 
 
 This Colonel Gardiner knew how to infli£i 
 with a becoming refolution,and with all the 
 feverity which he judged neceffary : A fe- 
 verity the more awful and impreffing, as it 
 was always attended with meeknefs ; for he 
 well knew, that when things are done in a 
 paflion, it feems only an accidental circum- 
 fiance that they are a£ls of juftice, and that 
 luch indecencies greatly obftru6l the ends 
 of punifhment, both as it relates to reform- 
 ing offenders, and to deterring others from 
 an imitation of their faults. * 
 
 One inftance of his condufr, which' hap- 
 pened- at Leicefter, and was related by the 
 perfon chiefly concerned, to a worthy friend 
 from whom I had it, I cannot forbear infert- 
 ing. While part of the regiment was en- 
 camped in the neighbourhood of that place > 
 the Colonel went incognito to the camp in 
 the middle of the night > for he fometimes 
 lodged at his quarters in the town. One of 
 the centinels then on duty had abandoned 
 his poft, and on being feized broke out into 
 fome oaths, and profane execrations againft 
 thofe that difcovered him, a crime of which 
 the Colonel had the greateft abhorrence, 
 and on which he never failed to animadvert. 
 The man afterwards appeared much afham- 
 ed and concerned for what he had done. 
 But the Colonel ordered him to be brought 
 L 2 early 
 
126 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 early the next morning to his own quarters, 
 where he had prepared a piquet, on which 
 he appointed him a private fort of penance : 
 and while he was put upon it, he difcourfed 
 with him ferioufly and tenderly upon the 
 evils and aggravations of his fault ; admon- 
 iftied him of the divine difpleafure, which 
 he had incurred ; and urged him to argue 
 from the pain which he then felt, how infi- 
 nitely more dreadful it muft be, to fall into 
 the hands of the living God, and indeed to 
 meet the terrors of that damnation, which 
 he had been accuftomed impioufly to call 
 for on himfelf and his companions. The 
 refult of this proceeding was, that the offen- 
 der accepted his puniftnnent, not only with 
 fubmiffion, but with thankfulnefs. He 
 went away with a more cordial affeftion for 
 his Colonel than ever he had before ; and 
 fpoke of it fome years after to my friend, in 
 fuch a manner, that there feemed reafon to 
 hope, it had been inftrumental in producing 
 not only a change in his life, but in his 
 heart. 
 
 There cannot, I think, be a more proper 
 place for mentioning the great reverence this 
 excellent officer always exprefled for the 
 name of the bleffed God, and the zeal with 
 which he endeavoured to fupprefs, and if 
 poffible to extirpate^ that deteftable fin of 
 
 fwearing 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 127 
 
 fwearing and curlings which is every where 
 fo common, and efpecially among our mili- 
 tary men. He often declared his fentiments 
 with refpedl to this enormity, at the head of 
 his regiment ; and urged his Captains, and 
 their fubalterns, to take the greatefl care, 
 that they did not give the fan&ion of their 
 example, to that which by their office they 
 were obliged to punifh in others. And in- 
 deed his zeal on thefe occafions wrought in 
 a very aclive, and fometimes in a remarkably 
 fuccefsfui manner, not only ampng his e- 
 quals, but fometimes among his fuperiors 
 too. An inftance of this in Flanders, I (hall 
 have an opportunity hereafter to produce ; 
 at prefent I fhall only mention his conduft 
 in Scotland a little before his death, as I 
 have it from a very valuable young minifter 
 of that country, on whofe teftimony 1 can 
 thoroughly depend ; and I wifh it may ex- 
 cite many to imitation. 
 
 The commanding officer of the King's 
 forces then about Edinburgh, with the other 
 Colonels, and feveral other gentlemen of 
 rank in their refpeftive regiments, favoured 
 him with their company at Bankton, and 
 took a dinner with him. He too well fore- 
 fa'w what might happen, amidft fuch a vari- 
 ety of tempers and chara6lers : And fe.uing,. 
 left his confcience might have been enfnared 
 
 by 
 
128 LIFE 6f Col. GARDINER. 
 
 by a finful filence, or that on the other hand 
 he might feem to pats the bounds of decen- 
 cy, and infringe upon the laws of hofpitali- 
 ty, by animadverting on guefh fo juftly en- 
 titled to his regard ; he happily determined 
 on the following method of avoiding each of 
 thefe difficulties. As foon as they were 
 come together, he addrefied them with a 
 great deal of refpeft, and yet at the fame 
 time with a very frank and determined air ; 
 and told them, that he had the honour in 
 that diftricfc to be a juftice of the peace, and 
 confequently that he was fworn to put the 
 laws in execution, and among the reft thofe 
 againft fwearing : That he could not exe- 
 cute them upon others with any confidence, 
 or by any means approve himfelf as a man 
 of impartiality and integrity to his own 
 heart, if he fuffered them to be broken in his 
 prefence by perfons of any rank whatfoever : 
 And that therefore he entreated ail the gen- 
 tlemen who then honoured him with their 
 company, that they would pleafe to be upon 
 their guard ; and that if any oath or curfe 
 fhould efcape them, he hoped they would 
 confider his legal animadverfion upon it, 
 as a regard to the duties of his office and the 
 di&ates of his confcience, and net as owing 
 to any want of deference to them. The 
 commanding officer immediately fupported 
 
 him 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 129 
 
 him in this declaration, as entirely becoming 
 the ftation in which he was, alluring him, 
 that he would be ready to pay the penalty, 
 if he inadvertently tranfgreffed ; and when 
 Colonel Gardiner on any occafion ftepped 
 out of the room, he himfelf undertook to be 
 the guardian of the law in his abfence ; and 
 as one of the inferior officers offended dur- 
 ing this time, he informed the Colonel, fo 
 that the fine was exafled, and given to the 
 poor,* with the univerfal approbation of the 
 company. The ftory fpread in the neigh- 
 borhood, and was perhaps applauded highly 
 by many, who wanted the courage to go and 
 do likezuife. But it may be faid of the wor- 
 thy perfon of whom I write, with the ut- 
 moll propriety, that he feared the face of no 
 man living, where the honour of God was 
 concerned. In all fuch cafes he might be 
 juftly faid, in fcripture phrafe, tofet his face 
 like ajlint 5 and I affuredly believe, that had 
 he been in the prefence of a fovereign Prince, 
 who had been guilty of this fault, his looks 
 
 at 
 
 * It is obfervable, that the money, which was for- 
 feited on this account by his own officers, whom he 
 never fpared, or by any others of his foldiers, who rather 
 ehofe to pay than to fubmit to corporal punishment, was 
 by the Colonel's order laid by in a bank, till fome of 
 the private men fell fick ; and then it was laid out in 
 providing them with proper help, and accommodations 
 in their diftrefs. 
 
130 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 at leaft would have teftified his grief and 
 furprize, if he had apprehended it unfit to 
 have borne his teflimony any other way. 
 
 Lord Cadogan's regiment of dragoons, 
 during the years I have mentioned, while he 
 was Lieutenant Colonel of it, was quartered 
 in a great variety of places, both in England 
 and Scotland, from many of which I have 
 letters before me ; particularly from Ham- 
 ilton, Air, Carliile, Hereford, Maidenhead, 
 Leicefter, Warwick, Coventry, Stamford, 
 Harborough, Northampton, and feveral 
 other places, efpecially in our inland parts. 
 The natural confequence was, that the Col- 
 onel, whofe character was on many accounts 
 fo very remarkable, had a very extenfive ac- 
 quaintance : And I believe I may certainly 
 fay, that wherever he was known by perfons 
 of wifdom and worth, he was proportiona- 
 bly refpefted, and left behind him traces of 
 unaffefted devotion, humility, benevolence 
 and zeal, for the fupport and advancement 
 of religion and virtue. 
 
 The equable tenor of his mind in thefe 
 refpefts, is illuftrated by his letters from fev- 
 eral of thefe places ; and thougfi it is but 
 comparatively a fmall number of them which 
 I have now in my hands, yet they will af- 
 ford fome valuable extradis ; which I fhall 
 therefore here lay before my reader, that he 
 
 may 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER; 131 
 
 may the better judge as to his real charac- 
 ter, in particulars of which I have already 
 difcourled, or which may her- ifter occur. 
 
 In a letter to his lady, dated from Carlifle, 
 Nov. 19, 1733, when he was on his journey 
 to Herefordfhire, he breathes out his grate- 
 ful cheerful foul in thefe words : " I blefs 
 <c God, I was never better in my life time ; 
 " and I wifh I could be fo happy, as to hear 
 <c the fame of you ; or rather, (in other 
 cC words) to hear that you had obtained an 
 <c entire truft in God. That would infallibly 
 cc keep you in perfeft peace ; for the God of 
 " truth hath promifed it. Oh, how ought 
 <c we to be longing to be with Chrift, which 
 cc is infinitely better than any thing we can 
 u propofe here ! To be there, where all 
 " complaints fhall be forever banifhed ; 
 <c where no mountains fhall feparate between 
 <c God and our fouls : And I hope it will 
 u be fome addition to our happinefs, that 
 cc you and I fhall be feparated no more ; 
 " but that as we have joined in finging the 
 cc praifes of our glorious redeemer here, we 
 " fhall fing them in a much higher key, 
 cc through an endlefs eternity ! Oh eternity, 
 " eternity ! What a wonderful thought is 
 " eternity !" 
 
 PVom Leicefter, Aug. 6, 1739, he writes 
 thus to his lady : " Yefterday I w^s at the 
 
 Lord's 
 
132 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 c< Lord's table, where you and the children 
 cc were not forgotten : But how wonderfully 
 ff was I aflifted when I came home, to plead 
 <( for you all with many tears !" And then, 
 fpeaking of fome intimate friends, who were 
 impatient (as I fuppofe by the connexion) 
 for his return to them, he takes occafion to 
 obferve the neceffity "of endeavouring to 
 4( compofe our minds, and to fay with the 
 u Pfalmift, My foul, wait thou only upon God." 
 Afterwards, fpeaking of one of his children, 
 of whom he heard that he made a commend- 
 able progrefs in learning, he exprefles his 
 fatisfa&ion in it, and adds, " But how much 
 c< greater joy would it give me, to hear that 
 ■f he was greatly advanced in the fchool of 
 " Chrift ! Oh that our children may but be 
 " wife to falvaiion ; and may grow in grace \ 
 jf as they do in ftature !" 
 
 Thefe letters, which to fo familiar a friend, 
 evidently lay open the heart, and fhew the 
 ideas and afFeftions which were lodged 
 deepeft there, are fometimes taken up with 
 an account of fermons he had attended, and 
 the imprefTion they had made upon his 
 mind. I {hall mention one only, as a fpec- 
 imen of many more, which was dated from a 
 place called Cohorn, April 15. <c We had 
 <f here a minifter from Wales, who gave us 
 Cf two excellent difcourfes on the love of 
 
 " Chrifl " 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 133 
 
 a Chrift to us, as an argument to engage our 
 " love to him. And indeed, next to the 
 u greatnefs of his love to us, methinks there 
 " is nothing fo aftonifhing as the coldnefs of 
 u our love to him. Oh that he would Jhed 
 " abroad his love upon our hearts by his holy 
 " fpirit y that ours might be kindled into a 
 " flame ! May God enable you to truft in 
 " him, and then you will be kept in perfect 
 "peace I**- 
 
 We have met with many traces of that 
 habitual gratitude to the bleffed God, as his 
 heavenly father and conftant friend, which 
 made his life probably one of the happieft 
 that ever was fpent on earth. I cannot o- 
 mit one more, which appears to me the more 
 worthy of notice, as being a (hort turn in as 
 hafty a letter as any I remember to have 
 feen of his, which he wrote from Leicefter, 
 in June, 1739. " I am now under the deep- 
 u eft fenfe of the many favours the Alrnigh- 
 " ty has beftowed upon me : Surely you 
 <c will help me to celebrate the praifes of our 
 <c gracious God and kind benefactor." This 
 exuberance of grateful afFedion, which, 
 while it was almoft every hour pouring it- 
 leif forth before God inrthe mod genuine 
 and emphatical language, felt itfelf ftill as 
 it were ftraitened for want of a fufficient 
 vent, and therefore called on others to help 
 M him 
 
134 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 ,him with their concurrent praifes, appears 
 to me the mod glorious and happy ftate in 
 which a human foul can find itfelf on this 
 fide heaven. 
 
 Such was the temper which this excellent 
 man appears to have carried along with him, 
 through fuch a variety of places and circum- 
 ftances ; and the whole of his deportment 
 was fuitable to thefe impreffions. Strangers 
 were agreeably ftruck with his firft appear- 
 ance, there was fo much of the Chriftian, 
 the well bred man, and the univerfal friend 
 in it ; and as they came more intimately to 
 know him, they discovered more and more 
 the uniformity and confiftency of his whole 
 temper and behaviour : So that whether he 
 made only a vifit for a few days to any place, 
 or continued there for many weeks or 
 months, he was always beloved and efteem- 
 ed, and fpoken of with that honourable tef- 
 timony from perfons of the mod different 
 denominations and parties, which nothing 
 but true (lerling worth, (if I may be allowed 
 the expreffion) and that in an eminent de- 
 gree, ran fecuie. 
 
 Of the juftice of this teflimony, which I 
 had fo often heard from a variety of perfons i 
 I myfelf begari to be a witnefc about the 
 lime when the laft mentioned letter was dat- 
 ed. In this view I believe I (hall neve* 
 
 for p*e t 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 135 
 
 forget that happy day, June 13, 1739, when 
 I firft met him at Leicefter. I remember, 
 I happened that day to preach a lecture from 
 Pfalm cxix. 158. I beheld the tranfgrcjfors, 
 and was grieved, becaufe they kepi not thy tawl 
 I was large in defcribing that mixture of in- 
 dignation and grief, (ftrongiy expreffed by 
 the original word there) with which the good 
 man looks on the daring tranfgreflbrs of the 
 divine law ; and in tracing the caufes of that 
 grief, as arifmg from a regard to the divine 
 honour, and the intereft of a redeemer, and 
 a companionate concern for the mifery fuch 
 offenders bring on themfelves, and for th 1 
 mifchief they do to the world about them. 
 I little thought how exactly I was drawing 
 Colonel Gardiner's character under each of 
 thofe heads ; and I have often reflected up- 
 on it as a happy providence, which opened 
 a much fpeedier way than I could have ex- 
 pe6ted to the breaft of one of the mod ami- 
 able and ufeful friends, which I e.ver expeffc 
 to find upon earth. We afterwards fung a 
 hymn, which brought over again fome of 
 the leading thoughts in the fermon, and 
 {truck him fo ftrongiy, that on obtaining a 
 copy of it, he committed it to his memory, 
 and ufed to repeat it with fo forcible an ac- 
 cent, as (hewed how much every line ex- 
 preffed of his very foul. In this view the 
 
 reader 
 
136 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 reader will pardon my inferring it ; efpec- 
 ially, as I know not when I may get time to 
 publifh a volume of thefe ferious, though 
 artlefs compofures, which I fent him in 
 rnanufcript fome years ago, and to which I 
 have fince made very large additions. 
 
 Arife, my tend'reft thoughts, arife, 
 To torrents melt my ftreaming eyes ! 
 And thou, my heart, with angui/h feel 
 Thofe evils which thou canft not heal ! 
 
 See human nature funk in fhame ! 
 See fcandals pour'd on Jefu's name ! 
 The father wounded through the fon ! 
 The world abus'd, the foul undone ! 
 
 courfe of vain delight 
 Hig In everlafting night ! 
 In flames that no abatement know, 
 The briny tears forever flow. 
 
 My God, I feel the mournful fcene ; 
 
 My bowels yearn o'er dying men : 
 
 And fain my pity would reclaim, 
 
 And fnatch the fire brands from the Same. 
 
 But feeble my companion proves, 
 
 d can but weep, where moft it loves. 
 Thine own all faving arm en: 
 And turn thefe drops of grief to joy ! 
 
 The Colonel, immediately after the con- 
 clufion of the fervice, met me in the veflry, 
 
 and 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 137 
 
 and embraced me in the moft obliging and 
 affe&ionate manner, as if there had been a 
 long friendihip between us ; allured me that 
 he had for fome years been intimately ac- 
 quainted with my writings ; and defired 
 that we might concert meafures for fpending 
 fome hours together, before I left the town. 
 I was fo happy as to be able to fecure an 
 opportunity of doing it ; and I mud leave 
 it upon record, that 1 cannot recoileft I was 
 ever equally edified by any converfation I 
 remember to have enjoyed. We palled that 
 evening and the next morning together; 
 and it is impoflible for me to defcribe the 
 impreffion which the interview left upon my 
 heart. I rode alone all the remainder of 
 the day ; and it was my unfpeakable happi- 
 nefs that I was alone, fince I could be no 
 longer with him ; for I can hardly conceive 
 what other company would not then have 
 been an incumbrance. r i he views which 
 he gave me even then, (for he began to re- 
 pofe a molt obliging confidence in me, 
 though he concealed fome of the moft ex- 
 traordinary circumfiances of the methods by 
 which he had been recovered to God and 
 happinefs) with thofe cordial fentiments of 
 ^evangelical piety and extenfive gcodnefs, 
 which he poured out into my boforn with 
 fo endearing a freedom, fired my very foul; 
 M 2 and 
 
138 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 and I hope I may truly fay, (what I wiflh 
 and pray many of my readers may alfo a- 
 dopt for themfelves) that I glorified God in 
 him. Our epiftolary correfpondence im- 
 mediately commenced upon my return ; and 
 though, through the multiplicity of bufinefs 
 on both fides, it fuffered many interruptions, 
 it was in fome degree the bleffing of all the 
 following years of my life, till he fell by 
 thofeunreafonable and wicked men, who had 
 it in their hearts with him to have deftroy- 
 ed all our glory, defence and happinefs. 
 
 The firft letter I received from him was 
 fo remarkable, that fome perfons of eminent 
 piety, to whom I communicated it, would 
 not be content without copying it, or mak- 
 ing fome extra6h from it. I perfuade my- 
 felf, that my devout reader will not be dif- 
 pleafed, that I infert the greateft part of it 
 here ; efpecially, as it ferves to illuftrate the 
 afFe6lionate fenfe which he had of the di- 
 vine goodnefs in his converfion, though more 
 than twenty years had pafied fince that 
 memorable event happened. Having men- 
 tioned my ever dear and honoured friend, 
 Dr. Ifaac Watts, on an occafion which I 
 hinted at above, (page 99) he adds, Cf I have 
 <c been in pain thefe feveral years, left that 
 cc excellent perfon, that fzveet finger in our 
 u Jfrael, fliould have been called to heaven 
 
 " before 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 139 
 
 11 before I had an opportunity of letting him 
 
 w know how much his works have been blefT- 
 cc ed to me, and of courfe of returning him 
 u my hearty thanks : For though it is owing 
 <c to the operation of the bleffed fpirit, that 
 " any thing works effefihially upon our 
 c< hearts, yet if we are not thankful to the 
 c< inftrument which God is pleafed to make 
 c< ufe of, whom we do fee y how fhall we be 
 " thankful to the Almighty, whom we have 
 " notfeen ? I defire to blefs God for the 
 N good news of his recovery, and intreat you 
 cc to tell him, that although I cannot keep 
 cc pace with him here, in celebrating the high 
 u praifes of our glorious redeemer, which is 
 " the greateft grief of my heart ; yet I am 
 " perfuaded, that when I join the glorious 
 "' company above, where there will be no 
 ,f drawbacks, none will out fing me there ; 
 " becaufe I fhall not find any, that will be 
 "' more indebted to the wonderful riches of 
 u divine grace than I. 
 
 M Give me a place at thy faints feeV 
 " Or fome fall'n angel's vacant feat ; 
 " I'll drive to fing as loud as they, 
 c< Who fit above in brighter day. 
 
 " I know it is natural for every one, who has- 
 <c felt the almighty power which raifed our 
 11 glorious redeemer from the grave, to be- 
 
 " lieve 
 
i4o LIFE of Col. GARDINER, 
 
 u lieve his cafe lingular : But I have made 
 f< every one in this refpe6l fubmit,,as icon as 
 ** he has heard my ftory. And if you 
 u feemed fo furprizcd at the account which 
 * c I gave you, what will you be when you 
 * c hear it all ? 
 
 " Oh if I had an angel's voice, 
 
 ♦• And could be heard from pole to pole; 
 
 " I would to all the lifKning world 
 
 u Proclaim thy goodnefs to my foul." 
 
 He then concludes, after fome expreffions- 
 of endearment, (which, with whatever pleaf- 
 ure I review them, I mull not here infert) 
 u If you knew what a natural averfion I 
 u have to writing, you would be ailonilhed 
 €< at the length of this letter, which is, I be- 
 <f lieve, the longeli I ever wrote. But my 
 cc heart warms when T write to you, which 
 " makes my pen move the eafier. I hope 
 Cf it will pleafe our gracious God long to 
 ,c preferve you, a bleiTed inftrument in his 
 u hand, of doing great good in the church 
 '* of Chrift ; and that you may always enjoy 
 u a thriving foul in a hpalthfui bod}', (hall 
 i( be the continual prayer of, Sec. 99 ' 
 
 As our intimacy grew, our mutual affec- 
 tion increafed ; and " my deareft friend," 
 was the form of addrefs with which moll of 
 his epifties of the laft years were begun and 
 
 ended. 
 
LIFEof Col. GARDINER. 141 
 
 ended. Many of them are filled up with 
 his fentiments of thofe writings which I pub- 
 lifhed during thefe years, which he read 
 with great attention, and of which he fpeaks 
 in terms which it becomes me to fupprefs, 
 and to impute in a conGderable degree to 
 the kind prejudices of fo endeared a friend- 
 fhip. He gives me repeated affurances, 
 " that he was daily mindful of me in his 
 prayers ;" a circumftance which I cannot 
 recolleft without the greateft thankfulnefs ; 
 the lofs of which I fliould more deeply la- 
 ment, did I not hope, that the happy effeft 
 of thefe prayers might {till continue, and 
 might run into all my remaining days. 
 
 It might be a pleafure to me, to make fev- 
 eral extrafts from many others of his letters : 
 But it is a pleafure which I ought to fup- 
 prefs, and rather to refleft with unfeigned 
 humility, how unworthy I was of fuch re-* 
 gards from fuch a perfon, and of that divine 
 goodnefs which gave me fuch a friend in 
 him. I fhall therefore only add two gen- 
 eral remark?, which offer themfelves from 
 feveral of his letters. The one is, that there 
 is in fome of them, as our freedom increafed, 
 an agreeable vein of humour and pleafant- 
 ry ; which fhews how eafy religion fat upon 
 him, and how far he was from placing any 
 part of it in a gloomy melancholy, or ftiff 
 
 formality; 
 
14* LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 formality. The other is, that he frequently 
 refers to domeftic circumftances, fuch as the 
 i'llnefs or recovery of my children, &c. which 
 I am furprifed how a man of his extenfive 
 and important bufinefs could fo diftin&ly 
 bear upon his mind. But his memory was 
 good, and his heart was yet better * and his 
 friendfhip was fuch, that nothing which 
 fenfibly affe&ed the heart of one whom he 
 honoured with it, left his own but {lightly 
 touched. 1 have ail imaginable reafon to 
 believe, that in many inftances his prayeu 
 were not only offered for us in general terms, 
 but varied as our particular fituation requir- 
 ed. Many quotations might verify this ; 
 but I decline troubling the reader with an 
 enumeration of paffages,. in which it wa3 
 only the abundance of friendly fympathy, 
 that gave this truly great, as well as good 
 man, fo cordial a concern. 
 
 After this correfpondence, carried on for 
 the fpace of about three years, and fome in- 
 terviews which we had enjoyed at different 
 places, he came to fpend fome time with us 
 at Northampton, and brought with him his 
 lady and his two eldeft children. I had 
 here an opportunity of taking a much nearer 
 view of his chara&er, and furveying it in a 
 much greater variety of lights than before ; 
 and my efleem r n* him increafed,. in oro- 
 
 portion 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 143 
 
 portion to thefe opportunities. What I 
 have wrote above, with refpeft to his con- 
 duct in relative life, was in a great meafure 
 drawn from what I now faw : And I fhall 
 mention here fome other points in his be- 
 haviour, which particularly ftruck my mind ; 
 and iikewife fhall touch on his fentiments on 
 fome topics of importance, which he freely- 
 communicated to me, and which I remarked 
 on account of that wifdom and propriety 
 which I apprehended in them. 
 
 There was nothing more openly obferva- 
 ble in Colonel Gardiner, than the exempla- 
 ry gravity, compofure, and reverence, with 
 which he attended public worftiip. Copi- 
 ous as he was in his fecret devotions before 
 he engaged in it, he always began them fo 
 early, as not to be retarded by them, when 
 he fhould refort to the houfe of God. He, 
 and all his foldiers who chofe to worfhip 
 -with him, were generally there, (as I have 
 already hinted) before the fervice began ; 
 that the entrance of fo many of them at 
 once might not difturb the congregation al- 
 ready engaged in devotion, and that there 
 might be the better opportunity for bringing 
 the mind to a becoming attention, and pre- 
 paring it for converfe with the divine being. 
 While acts of worfliip were going on, whether 
 -raver or finging, he always flood up • 
 
 and 
 
1*4 LIFE or Col. GARDINER. 
 
 and whatever regard he might have for per- 
 rons who palled by him at that time, though 
 it were to come into the fame pew, he never 
 paid any compliment to them : And often 
 has he expreiTed his wonder at the indeco- 
 rum of break,: g off oar addrefs to God, to 
 bow to a Pel ture ; which he thought 
 
 a much greater indecency, than it would be 
 on a like occafion and circumftance, to in- 
 terrupt an addrefs to our Prince. During 
 the time of preaching, his eye was common- 
 ly fixed upon the minifter, though fome- 
 times turned round upon the auditory, where 
 if he obferved any to trifle, it filled him w r ith 
 juft indignation. And I have known in- 
 ftances, in which, upon making the remark, 
 he has communicated it to fome friend of the 
 perfons who were guilty of it, that proper 
 application might be made to prevent it for 
 the time to come. 
 
 A more devout communicant at the table 
 of the Lord has perhaps feldom been any 
 where known. Often have I had the pleas- 
 ure, to fee that manly countenance foftened 
 to all the marks of humiliation and contri- 
 tion, on this occafion ; and to difcern, in 
 fpite of all his efforts to conceal them, ft reams 
 of tears flowing down from his eyes, while he 
 has been directing them to thofe memorials 
 of his redeemer's love. And fome, who 
 
 have 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 145 
 
 have converfed intimately with him after he 
 came from that ordinance, have obferved a 
 vifible abftra&ion from furrounding obje£ts ; 
 by which there feemed reafon to imagine, 
 that his foul was wrapped up in holy con- 
 templation. And I particularly remember, 
 that when we had once fpent great part of 
 the following Monday in riding together, he 
 made an apology to me for being fo abfent 
 as he feemed, by telling me, " that his heart 
 €( was flown upwards before he was aware, 
 <f to him, whom not having feen, he loved ;* 
 ic and that he was rejoicing in him with fitch 
 M unfpeakable joy, that he could not hold it 
 u down to creature converfe." 
 
 In all the offices of fiiendfhip he was re- 
 markably ready, and had a moft fweet and 
 engaging manner of performing them, which 
 greatly heightened the obligations he con- 
 ferred. He feemed not to fet any high val- 
 ue upon any benefit he beftowed ; but did 
 it without the leafl parade, as a thing which 
 in thofe circumftances came of courfe, w here 
 he had profeflTed love and refpeft, which he 
 was not over forward to do, though he treat- 
 ed ftrangers, and thofe who were moft his 
 inferiors, very courteously, and always feem- 
 
 ed, 
 
 * This alluded to the fubjeel of the fermon tjie day 
 before, which was i Pet. i. 8. 
 V 
 
146 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 ed, becaufe he in truth always was, glad of 
 any opportunity of doing them good. 
 
 He was particularly zealous in vindicat- 
 ing the reputation of his friends in their ab- 
 fence : And though I cannot recolleft, that 
 I had ever an opportunity of obferving this 
 immediately, as I do not know that I ever 
 was prefent with him when any ill was 
 fpoken of others at all ; yet by what I have 
 heard him fay, with relation to attempts to 
 injure the chara6ters of worthy and ufeful 
 men, I have reafon to believe, that no man 
 living was more fenfible of the bafenefs and 
 infamy, as well as the cruelty, of fuch a con- 
 duft. He knew, and defpifed the low prin- 
 ciples of refentment for unreasonable expec- 
 tations difappointed, of perfonal attachment 
 to men of fome eroding interefts, of envy, 
 and of party zeal, from whence fuch a con- 
 duct often proceeds ; and was particularly 
 offended, when he found it (as he frequent- 
 ly did) in perfons that fet up for the greateft 
 patrons of liberty, virtue and candour. He 
 looked upon the murderers of reputation and 
 tifefulnep, as fome of the vileft pefts of foci- 
 ety ; and plainly (hewed on every proper 
 occafion, that he thought it the part of a 
 generous, benevolent, and courageous man, 
 to exert himfelf in tracing and hunting down 
 the flander, that the authors or abettors of 
 
 it 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 147 
 
 it might be lefs capable of doing mifchief for 
 the future. 
 
 The moft plaufible obje&ion that I ever 
 heard to Colonel Gardiner's chara&er is, 
 that he was too much attached to fome re- 
 ligious principles, eftablifhed indeed in the 
 churches both of England and Scotland, but 
 which have of late years been much difput- 
 cd, and from which, it is at leail generally 
 fuppofed, not a few in both have thought 
 proper to depart ; whatever expedients they 
 may have found to quiet their confciences, 
 in fubfcribing thofe formularies,- in which 
 they are plainly taught. His zeal was es- 
 pecially apparent inoppofition to thofe doc- 
 trines, which feemed to derogate from the 
 divine honours of the fon and fpirit of God, 
 and from the freedom of divine grace, or the 
 reality and neceffity of its operations in the 
 converfion and falvation of finners. 
 
 With relation to thefe I mull obferve, that 
 it was his moft ftedfaft perfuafion, that all 
 thofe notions, which reprefent our blefled 
 redeemer and the holy fpirit as mere crea- 
 tures, or which fet afide the atonement of 
 the former, or the influences of the latter, 
 do fap the very foundation of Chriftianity, 
 by reje&ing the moft glorious do&rines pe- 
 culiar to it. He had attentively obferved 
 (what indeed is too obvious) the unhappy 
 
 influence 
 
148 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 influence which the denial of thefe princi- 
 ples often has on the charadier of minifters, 
 and on their fuccefs, and was perfuaded, 
 that an attempt to fubftitute that mutilated 
 form of Chriftianity which remains, when 
 thefe effentials of it are taken away, has 
 proved one of the moft fuccefsful methods 
 which the great enemy of fouls has ever 
 taken in thefe latter days, to lead men by 
 infenfible degrees into deifm, vice, and per- 
 dition. He alfo fagacioudy obferved the 
 artful manner in which obnoxious tenets are 
 often maintained and infmuated, with all 
 that mixture of zeal and addrefs with which 
 they are propagated in the world, even by 
 thofe who had moft folemnly profefled to 
 believe, and engaged to teach the contrary : 
 And as he really apprehended, that the glo- 
 ry of God, and the falvation of fouls was 
 concerned, his piety and charity made him 
 eager and ftrenucus in oppofing what he 
 judged to be errors of fo pernicious a nature. 
 Yet I muft declare, that according to what 
 I have known of him, (and I believe he 
 opened his heart on thefe topics to me, with 
 as much freedom as to any man living) he 
 was not ready upon light fufpicions to charge 
 tenets which he thought fo pernicious on 
 any, efpecially where he faw the appear- 
 ances of a good temper and life, which he 
 
 always 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 149 
 
 always reverenced and loved in perfons of 
 all fentiments and profeffions. He feverely 
 condemned caufelefs jealoufies, and evil fur- 
 mifings of every kind ; and extended that 
 charity in this refpeft, both to clergy and 
 laity, which good Bilhop Burnet was fo 
 ready, according to his own account, to limit 
 to the latter, "of believing every man good 
 "till he knew him to be bad, and his no- 
 " tions right till he knew them wrong." He 
 could not but be very fenlible of the unhap- 
 py confequences, which may follow on at- 
 tacking the chara&ers of men, efpecially of 
 thofe who are minifters of the golpel : And 
 if through a mixture of human frailty, from 
 which the bed of men in the beft of their 
 meanings and intentions are not entirely 
 free, he has ever, in the warmth of his heart, 
 dropped a word which might be injurious to 
 any on that account, (which I believe very 
 feldom happened) he would gladly retradfc 
 it on better information ; which was perfect- 
 ly agreeable to that honeft and generous 
 franknefs of temper, in which I never knew 
 any man who exceeded him. 
 
 On the whole, it was indeed his deliberate 
 judgment, that the Arian, Socinian, and Pe- 
 lagian dotlrines, were highly difhonourable 
 to God, and chngerous to the fouls of men ; 
 and that it was the duty of private Chrifl- 
 N 2 ians, 
 
i 5 o LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 ians, to be greatly on their guard againft 
 thofe minifters by whom they are entertain- 
 ed, left their minds Jhould be corrupted from 
 the JimplicUy that is in Chrijl. Yet he fin- 
 cerely abhorred the thought of persecution 
 for confcience fake ; of the abfurdity and in- 
 iquity of which, in all its kinds and degrees, 
 he had as deep and rational a convi6lion, as 
 any man I could name. And indeed the 
 generality of his heroic heart could hardly 
 bear to think, that thofe glorious truths, 
 which he fo cordially loved, and which he 
 affuredly believed to be capable of fuch fair 
 Support, both from reafon and the word of 
 God, fliould be difgraced by methods of de- 
 fence and propagation, common to the moft 
 impious and ridiculous falfehoods. Nor 
 did he by any means approve of paffionate 
 and furious ways of vindicating the mod 
 vital and important do6irines of the gofpel : 
 For he knew, that to maintain the moft be- 
 nevolent religion in the world by fuch ma- 
 levolent and infernal methods, was dejlroy- 
 ing the end to accomplijh the means ; and that 
 it was as impoflible, that true Chriflianity 
 fhould be Supported thus, as it is that a man 
 fhould long be nourifhcd by eating his own 
 flefh. To difplay the genuine fruits of 
 Chriflianity in a good life, to be ready to 
 plead with meeknefs and fweetnefs for th« 
 dodtrines it teaches, and to labour by every 
 
 office 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 151 
 
 office of humanity and goodnefs to gain up- 
 on them that oppole it, were the weapons 
 with which this good foldier of Jefus Ghrift 
 faithfully fought the battles of the Lord. 
 Thefe weapons will always be vi&orious in 
 his caufe ; and they who have recourle to 
 others of a different temperature, how ftrong 
 foever they may feem, and how (harp foever 
 they may really be, will find they break in 
 their hands when they exert them moll fu- 
 rioufly, and are much more likely to wound 
 themfelves,than to conquer the enemies they 
 oppofe. 
 
 But while I am fpeaking of Colonel Gar- 
 diner's charity in this refpefii, I muft not o- 
 mit that of another kind, which has indeed 
 ingroflTed the name of charity much more 
 than it ought, excellent as it is ; I mean 
 almfgiving, for which he was very remarka- 
 ble. 1 have often wondered, how he was 
 able to do fo many generous things this way : 
 But his frugality fed the fpring. He made 
 no pleafurable expenfe on himfelf, and was 
 contented with a very decent appearance in 
 his family, without affecting fuch an air of 
 grandeur, as could not have been fupported, 
 without facrificing to it fatisfa£tions far no- 
 bler, and to a temper like his, far mare de- 
 lightful. The lively and tender feelings of 
 his heart, in favour of the diftreffed and af- 
 flicted, 
 
*5* LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 fli£ted, made it a felf indulgence to him to 
 relieve them ; and the deep convi&ion he 
 had of the vain and tranfitory nature of the 
 enjoyments of this world, together with the 
 fublime view he had of another, engaged him 
 to difpenfe his bounties with a very liberal 
 hand, and even to feekout proper obje&s of 
 them : And above all, his fmcere and ardent 
 love to the Lord Jefus Chrift, engaged him 
 to feel, with a true fympathy, the concerns 
 of his poor members. In confequence of 
 this, he honoured feveral of his friends with 
 commiffions for the relief of the poor ; and 
 particularly, with relation to fome under my 
 paftoral care, he referred it to my difcretion 
 to fupply them with what I fhould judge 
 expedient, and frequently preffed me in his 
 letters to be Jure not to let them -want. And 
 where perfons (landing in need of his chari- 
 ty happened, as they often did, to be perfons 
 of remarkably religious difpofitions, it was 
 eafy to perceive, that he not only loved, but 
 honoured them ; and really efteemed it an 
 honour which providence conferred - upon 
 him, that he fhould be made, as it were, the 
 almoner of God, for the relief of fuch. 
 
 I cannot forbear relating a little (lory 
 here, which, when the Colonel himfelf heard 
 it, gave him fuch exquifite pleafure, that I 
 hope it will be acceptable to feveral of my 
 
 readers. 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 153 
 
 readers. There was in a village about three 
 miles from Northampton, and in a family 
 which of all others near me was afterwards 
 mod indebted to him, (though he had never 
 then feen any member of it) an aged and 
 poor, but eminently good woman, who had 
 with great difficulty, in the exercife of much 
 faith and patience, diligence and humility, 
 made fliift to educate a large family of child- 
 ren, after the death of her hufband, without 
 being chargeable to the panfh ; which, as it 
 was quite beyond her hope, (he often fpoke 
 of with great delight. At length, when 
 worn out with age and infirmities, fee lay 
 upon her dying bed, file did in a mod live- 
 ly ard affcding manner exprefs her hope 
 and joy in the views of approaching glory. 
 Yet amid ft all the triumph of fuch a prof- 
 peft, there was one remaining care and dif- 
 trefs which lay heavy on her mind ; which 
 was, that as her journey and her ftock of 
 provifions were both ended together, fhe 
 feared that fhe mud either be buried at the 
 parifli expenfe, or leave her mod dutiful and 
 affe&ionate daughters the houfe dripped of 
 fome of the few moveables which remained 
 in it, to perform the lad office of duty to 
 her, which die had reafon to believe they 
 would do. While fhe v/ds combating with 
 this only remaining anxiety > I happened^ 
 
 though 
 

 154 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 though I knew not the extremity of her ill- 
 nefs, to come in, and to bring with me a 
 guinea, which the generous Colonel had fent 
 by a fpecial meffage, on hearing the charac- 
 ter of the family, for its relief. A prefent 
 like this, (probably the mod confiderable 
 they had ever received in their lives] corn- 
 ing in this manner from an entire ftrangeiy 
 at fuch a crifis of time, threw my dying friend 
 (for fuch, amidft all her poverty, I rejoiced 
 to call her) into a perfect tranfport of joy. 
 She efteemed it a lingular favour of provi- 
 dence, fent to her in her laft moments, as a 
 n of good y and greeted it as a fpecial mark 
 of that loving kindnefs oj God, which fhould 
 attend her forever. She would therefore be 
 raifed up in her bed, that fhe might blefs 
 C-pd for it upon her knees, and with her laft 
 breath pray for her kind and generous ben- 
 efaftor, and for him who had been the in- 
 ftrument of dire&ing his bounty into this 
 channel. After which fhe foon expired, 
 with fuch tranquillity and fweetnefs, as could 
 not but mod fenfibly delight all who be- 
 held her, and occafioned many, who knew 
 the circumftances, to glorify God on her be- 
 half 
 
 The Colonel's laft refidence at Northamp- 
 ton was in June and July, 1742, when Lord 
 Cadogan's regiment of dragoons was quar- 
 tered 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 155 
 
 tered here : And I cannot but obferve, that 
 wherever that regiment came, it was remark- 
 able, not only for the fine appearance it 
 made, and for the exa&nefs with which it 
 performed its various exercifes, (of which it 
 had about this time the honour to receive 
 the mod illuftrious teftimonials) but alfo for 
 the great fobriety and regularity of the fol- 
 diers. Many of the officers copied after the 
 excellent pattern, which they had daily be- 
 fore their eyas, and a confiderable number 
 of the private men feemed to be perfons, not 
 only of ftrift virtue, but of ferious piety. 
 And I doubt not, but they found their a- 
 bundant account in it ; not only in the fe- 
 renity and happinefs of their own minds, 
 which is beyond comparifon the moft im- 
 portant consideration ; but alfo, in fome de- 
 gree, in the obliging and jrefpectful treat- 
 ment which they generally met with in their 
 quarters. And I mention this, becaufe I 
 am perfuaded, that if gentlemen of their 
 profeflion knew, and would refleft, how 
 much more comfortable they make their 
 own quarters, by a fober, order) v, and oblig- 
 ing conduft, they would be regular out of 
 mere felf love ; if they were not influenced, 
 as I heartily wifh they may always be, by a 
 nobler principle. 
 
 Towards 
 
156 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 Towards the latter end of this year he 
 embarked for Flanders, and fpent fome con- 
 siderable time with the regiment at Ghent ; 
 where he much regretted the want of thofe 
 religious ordinances and opportunities which 
 had made his other abodes delightful. But 
 as he had made fo eminent a progrefs in that 
 ■divine life, which they are alLintended to 
 promote, he "could not be una6live in the 
 caufe of God. I have now before me a let- 
 ter dated from thence, Oftober, 16, 1742, in 
 which he writes, iC As for me, I am indeed 
 " in a dry and barren land, where no water is. 
 fi Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, be- 
 " caufe nothing is to be heard in our Sod- 
 cc om, but blafpheming the name of my 
 " God ; and I am not honoured as the in- 
 iAi ftrument of doing any great fervice. It is 
 * c true, I have reformed fix or feven field 
 '" officers of fwearing, I dine every day with 
 " them, and have entered them into a vol- 
 u untary contra£t, to pay a fhilling to the 
 cc poor for every oath ; and it is wonderful 
 <c to obferve the effe£l it has had already. 
 cc One of them told me this day at dinner, 
 f< that it had really fuch an influence upon 
 %< him, that being at cards laft night when 
 €C another officer fell a fwearing, he was not 
 c< able to bear it, but rofe up and left the 
 ^company. So you fee, reftraints at firft 
 
 u artfing 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 157 
 
 " arifing from a low principle, may improve 
 " into fomething better." 
 
 During his abode here, he had a great 
 deal of bufinefs upon his hands ; and had 
 alfo, in fome marches, the care of more reg- 
 iments than his own : And it has been very 
 delightful to me to obferve, what a degree 
 of converfe with heaven, and the God of it, 
 he maintained, amidft thefe fcenes of hurry 
 and fatigue ; of which the reader may find 
 a remarkable fpecimen in the following let- 
 ter, dated from Lichwick, in the beginning 
 of April, 1743, which was one of the laft I 
 received from him while abroad, and begins 
 with thefe words : " Yefterday being the 
 " Lord's day, at fix in the morning, I had 
 " the pleafure of receiving yours at Norto- 
 " nick; and it proved a Sabbath day's bleff- 
 " ing to me. Some time before it reached 
 " me," (from whence by the way it may be 
 obferved, that his former cuftom of riling fo 
 early to his devotions was fl ill retained) "I 
 " had been zurejlling with God with many 
 €i tears ; and when I had read it, I returned 
 c< to my knees again, to give hearty thanks 
 cc to him for all his goodnefe-to you and 
 " yours^ and alfo to myfelf, in that he hath 
 cc been pleafed to fiir up fo many who are 
 u dear to him, to be mindful of me at the 
 u throne of grace." And then, after the 
 O mention 
 
158 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 mention of fome other particulars, he adds, 
 1 Blefled and adored forever, be the holy 
 c name of my heavenly father, who holds 
 
 * my foul in life, and my body in perfeft 
 f health ! Were I to recount his mercy and 
 c goodnefs to me, even in the midfl of all 
 c thefe hurries, I fhould never have done. — 
 c I hope your matter will flill encourage 
 c you in his work, and make you a bleffing 
 f to many. My deareft friend, I am much 
 
 * more yours than I can exprefs, and (hall 
 " remain fo while I am J. G." 
 
 In this correfpondence I had a farther 
 opportunity of difcovering that humble re~ 
 fignation to the will of God, which made fo 
 amiable a part of his charafter, and of which 
 before I had feen fo many inftances. He 
 fpeaks, in the letter from which I have juft 
 bfeen giving an extraft, of the hope he had 
 exprefled in a former, of feeing us again that 
 winter ; and he adds, " To be fure it would 
 c< have been a great pleafure to me : But we 
 " poor mortals form proje£fo, and the al- 
 " mighty ruler of the univerfe difpofes of all 
 u as he pleafes. A great many of us were 
 " getting ready for our return to England, 
 cc when we received an order to march to- 
 cc wards Frankfort, to the great furprife of the 
 cc whole army ; neither can any of us com- 
 cc prehend what we are to do there, for there 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 159 
 
 u is no enemy in that country, the French 
 ci army being marched into Bavaria, where 
 u I am fure we cannot follow them. But it 
 cc is the -will of the Lord, and his will be done ! 
 u I defire to blefs and praile my heavenly 
 u father that I am entirely refigned to it. 
 " It is no matter where I go, or what be- 
 €f comes of me, fo that God may be glorified 
 <c in my life or my death. I fhould rejoice 
 u much to hear, that all my friends wexQ e- 
 Cf qually refigned." 
 
 The mention of this article reminds me 
 cf another, relating to the views which he 
 had of obtaining a regiment for himfelf. 
 He endeavoured to deferve it by the moil 
 faithful fervices ; fome of them indeed be- 
 yond what the ftrength of his conftitution 
 would well bear : For the weather in fome 
 of thefe marches proved exceeding bad, and 
 yet he would be always at the head of his 
 people, that he might look to every thing 
 that concerned them, with the exa&eft care. 
 This obliged him to negleft the beginnings 
 of afeveriQi illnefs; the natural confequence 
 of which was, that it grew very formidable, 
 forced a long confinement upon him, and 
 gave animal nature a (hock which it never 
 recovered. 
 
 In the mean time, as he had the promife 
 of a regiment before he quitted England, his- 
 
 friends 
 
160 LIFE or Col. GARDINER. 
 
 friends were continually expecting an occa- 
 sion of congratulating him on having receiv- 
 ed the command of one. But ftill they 
 were difappointed ; and on fome of them 
 the difappointment feemed to lit heavy. 
 As for the Colonel himfeif, he feemed quite 
 eafy about it ; and appeared much greater 
 in that eafy fituation of mind, than the high- 
 eft military honours and preferments could 
 have made him. With great pleafure do I 
 at this moment recolle6i the unafFe&ed fe- 
 renity, and even indifference, with which he 
 expreffes himfelf upon this occafion, in a 
 letter to me. dated about the beginning f 
 April, 1743. u The difappointment of a 
 " regiment is nothing to me ; for I am fat- 
 " isfied that had it been for God's glory, I 
 u fhould have had it ; and I fhould have 
 <f been forry to have had it on any other 
 " terms. My heavenly father has beftowed 
 c< upon me infinitely more than if he had 
 cc made me Emperor of the whole world." 
 
 I find feveral parallel exprefiions in other 
 letters ; and thofe to his lady about the 
 fame time, were juft in the fame ftrain. In 
 an extraft from one which was written from 
 Aix la Chapelle, April 21, the fame year, I 
 meet with thefe words : " People here ira- 
 " agine I mud be fadly troubled, that I 
 " have not got a regiment, for fix out of 
 
 " feven 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. iSi 
 
 cc feven vacant are now difpofed of ; but 
 <c they are flrangely miftaken, for it has giv- 
 " en me no fort of trouble : My heavenly 
 " father knows what is bell for me ; and 
 " blefled and forever adored be his name, 
 cc he has given me an entire refignation to 
 " his will : Befides, I do not know that ever 
 <c I met with any difappointment fmce I 
 " was a Chriftian, but it pleafed God to dif- 
 <c cover to me, that it was plainly for my ad- 
 <c vantage, by bellowing fomething better 
 " upon me afterwards : Many inftances of 
 " which I am able to produce ; and there- 
 " fore I fhould be the greateft of monlters, 
 " if I did not truft in him.'' 
 
 I fiiould be guilty of a great omiffion, if I 
 were not to add, how remarkably the event 
 correfponded with his faith, on this occafion. 
 For whereas he had no intimation, or ex- 
 peftation, of any thing more than a regiment 
 of foot,, his Majefty was pleafed, cut of his 
 great goodnefs, to give him a regiment of 
 dragoons, which was then quartered jufl in 
 his own neighbourhood. And it is properly 
 remarked by the reverend and worthy per- 
 fon through whofe hands this letter was 
 tranfmitled to me, that when the Colonel 
 thus expreffed himfelf, he could have no 
 profpefl of what he afterwards fo foon ob- 
 tained ; as General Bland's regiment, to 
 O 2 which 
 
162 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 whidi he was advanced, was only vacant on 
 the 19th of April, that is, two days before 
 the date of this letter, when it was impoffi- 
 ble he fhould have any notice of that vacan- 
 cy. And it alfo deferves obfervation, that 
 fome few days after the Colonel was thus 
 unexpeftedly promoted to the command of 
 thefe dragoons, Brigadier Cornwallis's regi- 
 ment of foot, then in Flanders, became va- 
 cant : Now had this happened before his 
 promotion to General Bland's, Colonel Gar- 
 diner, in all probability would only have 
 had tkat regiment of foot, and fo have con- 
 tinued in Flanders. When the affair was 
 iffued^ he informs Lady Frances of it, in a 
 letter dated from a village near Frankfort, 
 May 3, in which he refers to his former of 
 the 21ft of April, obfervinghow remarkably 
 it was verified "in God's having given him," 
 (for fo he expreffes it, agreeably to the views 
 he continually maintained of the univerfal 
 agency of divine providence) c< what he had 
 <c no expe&ation of, and what was fo much 
 cc better than that which he had miffed, a 
 " regiment of dragoons quartered at his own 
 u door." 
 
 It appeared to him that by this remarka- 
 ble event providence called him home. Ac- 
 cordingly, though he had other preferments 
 offered him, in the army, he chofe to return > 
 
 and 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. i0 3 
 
 and I believe the more willingly, as he did 
 not expeft there would have been an a&ion. 
 Juft at this time it pleafed God to give him 
 an awful inftance of the uncertainty of hu- 
 man profpe&s and enjoyments, by that vi- 
 olent fever, which feized him at Ghent in 
 his way to England, and perhaps the more 
 feverely, for the efforts he made to pufh on 
 his journey, though he had for fome days 
 been much indifpofed. It was, I think, one 
 of the firft fits of fevere illnefs he had ever 
 met with ; and he was ready to look upon 
 it, as a fudden call into eternity : But it gave 
 him no painful alarm in that view, Ke 
 committed himfelf to the God of his life, 
 and in a few weeks he was fo well recovered, 
 as to be capable of purfuing his journey, 
 though not without difficulty : And I can- 
 not but think, it might have conduced much 
 to a more perfeft recovery than he ever at- 
 tained, to have allowed himfelf a longer re- 
 pofe, in order to recruit his exhaufted 
 ftrength and fpirits. But there was an ac- 
 tivity in his temper, not eafy to be rcftrun- 
 ed ; and it was now ftimulated, not only by 
 a defire of feeing his friends, but of being 
 with his regiment ; that he might omit noth- 
 ing in his power, to regulate their morals 
 and their difcipiine, and to form them for 
 public fervice. Accordingly he pafled 
 
 through 
 
*64 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 through London about the middle of June, 
 1743, where he had the honour of waiting 
 on their Royal Highneffes the Prince and 
 Princefs of Wales, and of receiving from 
 both the moft obliging tokens of favour and 
 efteem. He arrived at Northampton on 
 Monday the 20th of June, and fpent part of 
 three days here. But the great pleafure 
 which his return and preferment gave us, 
 was much abated, by obferving his counte- 
 nance fo fadly altered, and the many marks 
 of languor, and remaining diforder, which 
 evidently appeared ; fo that he really looked 
 ten years older, than he had done ten months 
 before. I had however a fatisfa&ion, fuf- 
 ficient to counterbalance much of the con- 
 cern which this alteration gave me, in a re- 
 newed opportunity of obferving, indeed 
 more fenfrbly than ever, in how remarkable 
 a degree he was dead to the enjoyments and 
 views of this mortal life. When I congrat- 
 ulated him on the favourable appearances 
 of providence for him in the late event, he 
 briefly told me the remarkable circumflances 
 that attended it, with the moft genuine im~ 
 preflions of gratitude to God for them ; but 
 added, cc that as his account was increafed 
 " with his income, power, and influence, and 
 €€ his cares were proportionably increafed, 
 u it was as to his own -oerfonal concern much 
 
 M the 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 165 
 
 u the fame to him, whether he had remained 
 <f in his former ftation, or been elevated to 
 iC this ; but that if God fbould by this means 
 iC honour him, as an inflrument of doing 
 <c more good than he could otherwife have 
 u done, he fhould rejoice in it." 
 
 I perceived that the near views he had 
 taken of eternity, in the illnefs from which 
 he was then fo imperfectly recovered, had 
 not in the leaft alarmed him ; but that he 
 would have been entirely willing, had fuch 
 been the determination of God, to have 
 been cut (hort in a foreign land, without 
 any earthly friend near him, and in the 
 midft of a journey, undertaken with hopes 
 and profpe&s fo pleafing to nature ; which 
 appeared to me no inconfiderable evidence 
 of the ftrength of his faith. But we fhall 
 wonder the lefs at this extraordinary refig- 
 nation, if we confider the joyful and allured 
 profpeft which he had of an happinefs in- 
 finitely fuperior beyond the grave ; of which 
 that worthy minifter of the church of Scot- 
 land, who had an opportunity cf converfi-ng 
 with him quickly after his return, and hav- 
 ing the memorable ftory of his converuon 
 from his own mouth, as I have hinted above, 
 writes thus in his letter to me, dated Jan. 
 14, 1746-7. <c When he came to review his 
 " regiment at Linlithgow in fummer 1743* 
 
 iC after 
 
i66 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 a after having given me the wonderful ftory 
 u as above, he concluded in words to this 
 " purpofe : Let me die, whenever it fhall 
 cc pleafe God, or wherever it fhall be, I am 
 u fure I fhall go to the manfions of eternal 
 <c glory, and enjoy my God and my redeem- 
 cc er in heaven forever." 
 
 While he was with us at this time, he ap- 
 peared deeply affe6ted with the fad ftate of 
 things as to religion and morals ; and feem- 
 ed to apprehend, that the rod of God was 
 hanging over fo finful a nation. He ob- 
 ferved a great deal of difafFe&ion, which the 
 enemies of the government had, by a variety 
 of artifices, been raifingin Scotland for fome 
 years ; and the number of Jacobites there, 
 together with the defencelefs ftate in which 
 our ifland then was, with refpe6l to the 
 number of its forces at home, (of which he 
 fpoke at once with great concern and afton- 
 ifhment) led him to expedt an invafion from 
 France, and an attempt in favour of the pre- 
 tender, much fooner than it happened. I 
 have heard him fay, many years before it 
 came fo near being accomplifhed, " that a 
 " few thoufands might have a fair chance for 
 " marching from Edinburgh to London un- 
 " controlled, and throw the whole kingdom 
 cc into an aftonifhment." And I have great 
 reafon to believe, that this was one main 
 
 confideration^ 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 167 
 
 confideration, which engaged him to make 
 fuch hafte to his regiment, then quartered in 
 thofe parts ; as he imagined there was not a 
 fpot of ground, where he might be more like 
 to have a call to expofe his life in the fer- 
 vice of his country ; and perhaps, by ap- 
 pearing on a proper call early in its defence, 
 • be inftruthental in fuppreffing the begin- 
 nings of moft formidable mifchief. How 
 rightly he judged in thefe things, the event 
 did too evidently fhew. 
 
 The evening before our lafl feparation, as 
 I knew I could not entertain the invaluable 
 friend who was then my gueft more agree- 
 ably, I preached a fermon in my own houfe, 
 with fome peculiar reference to his cafe and 
 circumftances, from thofe ever memorable 
 words, than which I have never felt any 
 more powerful and more comfortable : Pfal. 
 xci. 14, 15, 16. Becaufe he hath fet his love 
 upon me, therefore will I deliver him ; I will 
 fet him on high, becaufe he hath known my 
 name : He.fhall call upon me, and I will an- 
 fever him : 1 will be with him in trouble, I 
 will deliver him, and honour him : With long 
 life (or length of days) will 1 ' fatisfy him, and 
 fhew him myfalvation. This fcripture could 
 not but lead our meditations to furvey the 
 chara&er of the good man, as one who fo 
 knows the name of the bleffed God, (has fuch 
 
 a deep 
 
i-68 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 a deep apprehenfion of the glories and per- 
 fe£tions of his nature) as determinately to ftt 
 his love upon him , to make him the fupreme 
 ohje£l ot his moft ardent and conflant affec- 
 tion. And it fuggefted the moft fublime 
 and animating hop^s to perfons of fuch a 
 charafter ; that their prayers (hall be always 
 acceptable unto God ; that though they 
 may, and muft, be called out to their (hare 
 in the troubles and calamities of life, yet they 
 may affure themfelves of the divine prefence 
 in all ; which (hail iffue in their deliverance, 
 in their exaltation, fometimes to diftinguiflb- 
 ed honour and efteem among men, and, it 
 -may be, in a long courfe of ufeful and hap- 
 py years on earth at leaft, which fhall un- 
 doubtedly end in feeing, to their perpetual 
 delight, the complete falvation of God, in a 
 world where they fhall enjoy length of days 
 forever and ever, and employ them all in 
 adoring the great author of their falvation 
 and felicity. It is evident, that thefe nat- 
 ural thoughts on fuch a fcripture, were mat- 
 ters c-f univerfal concern. Yet had I known 
 that this was the la ft time I fhould ever ad- 
 drefs Colonel Gardiner, as a minifter of the 
 gofpel, and had I forefeen the fcenes through 
 which God was about to lead him, I hardly 
 know what confiderations I could have fug- 
 gefted with more peculiar propriety. The 
 
 attention, 
 
LIFE of Col; GARDINER. 169 
 
 attention, elevation, and delight, with which 
 he heard them, was very apparent ; and the 
 pleafure which the obfervation of it gave 
 nie, continues to this moment. And let 
 me be permitted to digrefs fo far, as to add* 
 that this is indeed the great fupport of a 
 Chriftian minifter, under the many dif- 
 couragements and disappointments which 
 he meets with, in his attempts to fix upon 
 the profligate or the thoughtlefs part of 
 mankind a. deep fenfe of religious truth; 
 that there is another important part of his 
 work, in which he may hope to be more 
 generally fuccefsful ; as by plain, artlefs, but 
 lerious difcourfes, the great principles of 
 Chriftian duty and hope may be nourifhed 
 and invigorated in good men, their graces 
 watered as at the root, and their fouls ani- 
 tnated both to perfevere and improve in ho- 
 linefs. And when we are efFe6lually per- 
 forming fuch benevolent offices, fo well 
 fuiting our immortal natures, to perfons 
 whofe hearts are cementecf with ours in the 
 bonds of the mod endearing and facred 
 friendship, it is too little to fay it overpays 
 the fatigue of our labours ; it even fwallows 
 up all fenfe of it, in the mod rational and 
 fublime pleafure. 
 
 An incident occurs to .my mind, which 
 happened that evening, which at leaft for 
 P the 
 
170 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 the oddnefs of it may deferve a place in 
 thefe memoirs. I had then -with me one 
 Thomas Porter, a poor, but very honeft and 
 religious man, now living at Hatfield Broad- 
 oak in Effex, who is quite unacquainted 
 with letters, fo as not to be able to diftin- 
 guifh one from another ; yet is matter of 
 the contents of the Bible in fo extraordinary 
 a degree, that he has not only fixed an im- 
 menfe number of texts in his memory, but 
 merely by hearing them quoted in fermons 
 has regiftered there the chapter and verfe, in 
 which thefe paffages are to be found : This 
 is attended with a marvellous facility in di- 
 re6ling thofe that can read, to turn to them, 
 and a mod unaccountable talent for fixing 
 on fuch as fuit almoft every imaginable va- 
 riety of circumftances in common life. 
 There are two confiderations in his cafe, 
 which make it the mere wonderful : The 
 one, that he is a perfon of a very low geni- 
 us, having, befides a Hammering, which 
 makes his fpeech almoft unintelligible to 
 flrangers, fo wild and aukward a manner of 
 behaviour, that he is frequently taken for an 
 idiot, and feems in many things to be indeed 
 fo : The other, that he grew up to manhood 
 in a very licentious courfe of living, and an 
 entire ignorance of divine things, fo that all 
 thefe cxa£l imprefiions on his memory have 
 
 been 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 171 
 
 been made in his riper years. I thought it 
 would not be difagreeable to the CoL to in- 
 troduce to him this odd phenomenon, which 
 many hundreds of people have had a curi- 
 ofity to examine : And among all the ftrange 
 things I have feen in him, I never remem- 
 ber any which equalled what palled on this 
 occafion. On hearing the Colonel's pro- 
 feffion, and receiving fome hints of his re- 
 ligious charafter, he ran through a vafl va- 
 riety of fcriptures, beginning at the Penta- 
 teuch and going on to the Revelation, re- 
 lating either to the dependence to be fixed 
 on God for the fuccefs of military prepara- 
 tions, or to the inftances and promifcs oc~ 
 curring there of his care of good men in the 
 mofl imminent dangers, or to the encour- 
 agement to defpife perils and death, while 
 engaged in a good caufe, and fupported by 
 the views of a happy immortality. I be- 
 lieve he quoted more than twenty of thefc 
 paffages ; and I mud freely own, that I 
 know not who could have chofe them with 
 greater propriety. If my memory doth not 
 deceive me, the lafl of this catalogue was 
 that from which I afterwards preached on 
 the lamented occafion of this great man's 
 fall : Be thou faithful unto death, and I will 
 give thee a crown of life. We were all af- 
 tonifhed at fo remarkable a faft ; and I 
 
 queftion 
 
172 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 queftion not, but that many of my readers 
 will think the memory of it worthy of being 
 thus preferved. 
 
 But to return to my main fubjeft : The 
 next day after the fermon and converfation 
 of which I have been fpeaking, I took my 
 laft leave of my ineftimable friend, after at- 
 tending him fome part of his way north- 
 ward. r I he firft ftage of our journey was 
 to the cottage of that poor, but v^ry religious 
 family, which I had occafion to mention a- 
 bove, as relieved, and indeed in a great 
 meafure fubfifted, by his charity. And 
 nothing could be more delightful, than to 
 obferve the condefcenfion, with which he 
 converfed with thefe his humble penfioners. 
 We there put up our laft united prayers to- 
 gether ; and he afterwards exprefled in the 
 ftrongeft terms I ever heard him ufe on 
 fuch an occafion, the Angular pleafure with 
 which he had joined in them. Indeed it 
 was no fmall fatisfa&ion to me, to have an 
 opportunity of recommending fuch a valu- 
 able friend to the divine prote&ion and 
 blefling, with that particular freedom, and 
 enlargement on what was peculiar in his 
 circumflances, which hardly any other fitu- 
 ation, unlefs we had been quite alone, could 
 fo conveniently have admitted. We went 
 from thence to the table of a perfon of dif- 
 
 -tindtion 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 173 
 
 tin&ion in the neighbourhood ; where he 
 had an opportunity of fhewing, in how de- 
 cent and graceful a manner he could unite 
 the Chriftian and the gentleman, and give 
 conversation an improving and religious 
 turn,, without violating any of the rules of 
 polite behaviour, or faying or doing any 
 thing which looked at all conftrained or af- 
 fected. Here we took our laft embrace, 
 committing each other to the care of the God 
 of heaven ; and the Colonel purfued his 
 journey to the north, where he fpent all the 
 remainder of his days. 
 
 The more I refle£l upon this appoint- 
 ment of providence, the more I difcern of 
 the beauty and wifdom of it ; not only as it 
 led direftly to that glorious period of life, 
 with which God had determined to honour 
 him, and in which I think, it becomes all 
 his friends to rejoice ; but alfo, as the re- 
 tirement on which he entered, could wot but 
 have a happy tendency to favour his more 
 immediate and complete preparation for fo 
 fpeedy a remove. To which we may add, 
 that it mud probably have a very powerful 
 influence to promote the interefts of relig- 
 ion (incomparably the greatefl of all inter- 
 efts) among the members of his own family ; 
 who mufi furely edify much by fuch dally 
 leffons as they received from his lips, when 
 P 2 they 
 
174 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 they faw them illuftrated and enforced by 
 fo admirable an example, and this for two 
 complete years. It is the more remarkable, 
 as I cannot find from the memoirs of his life 
 in my hands, that he had ever been fo long 
 at home fince he had a family, or indeed, 
 from his childhood, ever fo long at a time 
 in any one place. 
 
 With how clear a luftre his lamp fhone, 
 and with what holy vigour his loins were 
 girded up in the fervice of his God, in thefe 
 his latter days, I learn in part from the let- 
 ters of feveral excellent perfons, in the min- 
 iftry, or in fecular life, with whom I have 
 fince converfed or correfponded. And in 
 his many letters dated from Bankton during 
 this period, I have (till farther evidence how 
 happy he was, amidft thofe infirmities of 
 body, which his tendernefs for me would 
 feldom allow him to mention ; for it ap- 
 pears from them, what a daily intercourfe 
 he kept up with heaven, and what delight- 
 ful communion with God crowned his at- 
 tendance on publick ordinances, and his 
 fweet hours of devout retirement. He 
 mentions his facramental opportunities with 
 peculiar relifh, crying out as in a holy rap- 
 ture, in reference to one and another of 
 them, " O how gracious a mafter do we 
 <c ferve ! how pleafant is his fervice ! how 
 
 " rich 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 175 
 
 " rich the entertainments of his love ! yet, 
 " oh how poor and cold are our fervices !" 
 But I will not multiply quotations of this 
 fort, after thofe I have given above, which 
 may be a fufficient fpecimen of many more 
 in the fame ftrain. This hint may fuffice 
 to fhew, that the fame ardour of foul held 
 out in a great meafure to the laft ; and 
 indeed it leems, that towards the clofe of 
 life, like the flame of a lamp almoft expir- 
 ing, it fometimes exerted an unufual blaze. 
 He fpent much of his time at Bankton in 
 religious folitude ; and one mod intimately 
 converfant with him affures me, that the 
 traces of that delightful converfe with God, 
 which he enjoyed in it, might eafily be dis- 
 cerned in that folemn yet cheerful counte- 
 nance, with which he often came out of his 
 ciofet. Yet his exercifes there muft fome- 
 times have been very mournful, confidering 
 the melancholy views which he had of the 
 ftate of our publick affairs. " I fhould be 
 " glad," fays he, in a letter which he fent 
 me about the clofe of the year 1743, ic to 
 <c hear what wife and good people among 
 u you think of the prefent circumftances of 
 u things. For my own part, though I thank 
 " God I fear nothing for myfelf, my appre- 
 u henfions for the publick are very gloomy, 
 " confidering the deplorable prevalency of 
 
 11 almoft 
 
176 LIFE of Col. CARDTNEK. 
 
 " almoft all kinds of wickednefs amongft us ; 
 " the natural confequence of the contempt 
 * € of the gofpel. I am daily, offeririg my 
 ff prayers to God for this finful land of ours, 
 Ci over which his judgments feem to begath- 
 fi ering ; and my ftrength is fometimes fo ex- 
 c< haufted with thofe ftrong cries and tears 
 " which I pour out before God on this oc- 
 " cafion, that I am hardly able to (land when 
 <c I arife from my knees. " If we have 
 many remaining to (land in the breach with 
 equal fervency, I hope, crying as our prov- 
 ocations are, God will ftill be intreated for 
 us, and fave us. 
 
 Moft of the other letters I had the pleaf- 
 wre of receiving from him after our la ft Yep* 
 aration, are either filled, like thofe of former 
 years, with tender expreffions of affectionate 
 folicitude for my dome flic comfort and pub- 
 lick ufefulnefs,. or relate to the writings I 
 publiflied during this time, or to the affairs 
 of his elded fon then under my care. But 
 thefe are things, which are by no means of 
 a nature to be communicated here, ft is 
 enough to remark in the general, that the 
 Chriftian was ftill mingled with all the care 
 of the friend and the parent. 
 
 But I think it incumbent upon me to ota 
 ferve, that during this time, and fome pre- 
 ceding years,, his attention, ever wakeful to- 
 
 fuch 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 177 
 
 fuch concerns, was much engaged by fome 
 religious appearances, which happened a- 
 bout this time, both in England and Scot- 
 land ; with regard to which fome may be 
 curious to know his fentiments. He com- 
 municated them to me with the moll unre- 
 ferved freedom ; and I cannot apprehend 
 myfelf under any engagements to conceal 
 them, as I am perfuaded that it will be no 
 prejudice to his memory that they fhould be 
 publickly known. 
 
 It was from Colonel Gardiner's pen that 
 I received the firft notice of that ever mem- 
 orable fcene which was opened at Kyliyth, 
 under the miniftry of the Rev. Mr. Mac- 
 Culloch, in the month of February, 1741-2. 
 He communicated to me the copy of two 
 letters from that eminently favoured fervant 
 of God, giving an account of that extraor- 
 dinary fuccefs which had within a few days 
 accompanied his preaching ; when, as I re- 
 member, in a little more tban a fortnight, a 
 hundred and thirty fouls, who had before 
 continued in long infenfibility under the 
 faithful preaching of the gofpel, were awak- 
 ened on a fudden to attend it, as if it had 
 been a new revelation brought down from 
 heaven, and attefted by as aftonifhing mira- 
 cles as ever were wrought by Peter or Paul ; 
 though they heard it only from a perfon, 
 
 under 
 
178 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 under whofe miniftry they have fate for 
 feveral years. Struck with a power and 
 majefty in the word of God, which they had 
 never felt before, they crowded his houfe 
 night and day, making their applications to 
 him for fpiritual dire6tion and affiftance, 
 with an earneftnefs and lblicitude, which 
 floods of tears andcries, that fwallowed up 
 their own words and his, could not fuffic- 
 iently exprefs. The Colonel mentioned 
 this at firft to me, <c as matter cf eternal 
 praife, which he knew would rejoice my 
 very foul : §i And when he faw it fpread id 
 the neighbouring parts, and obferved the 
 glorious reformation which it produced in 
 the lives of great multitudes, and the abid- 
 ing fruits of it for fucceeding months and 
 years, it increafed and confirmed his joy. 
 But the facts relating to this matter have 
 been laid before the world in fo authentic a 
 manner, and the agency of divine grace ia 
 them has been fo rationally vindicated, and 
 fo pathetically reprefented, in what the rev- 
 erend and judicious Mr. Webfter has writ- 
 ten upon that fubjefi ; that it is altogether 
 fuperfluous for me to add any thing farther 
 than my hearty prayers, that the work may 
 be as extenfr/e as it was apparently glorious 
 and divine. 
 
 It 
 
LIFE or Col. GARDINER. 179 
 
 It was with great pleafure that he receiv- 
 ed any intelligence of a like kind from Eng- 
 land ; whether the clergy of the eftablifhed 
 church or diflen ing minifters, whether our 
 own countrymen or foreigners, were the in- 
 ftruments of it. And whatever weakneffes 
 or errors might mingle themfelves with val- 
 uable qualities in, fuch as were a&ivein fuch 
 a work, he appeared to love and Jionour 
 them, in proportion to the degree he faw 
 reafon to believe.their hearts were devoted 
 to the fervice of .. Chrift, and their attempts 
 owned and fucceeded by him. I remember 
 that mentioning one of thele gentlemen, 
 who had been remarkably fuccefsful in his 
 miniftry, and feemed to have met with 
 fome unkind ufage, he fays, cc I had rather 
 " be that defpifed pcrfecuted man, to be an 
 " inftrument in the hand of the fpirit, in 
 ic converting fo many fouls, and building up 
 " fo many in their holy faith, than I would 
 " be Emperor of the whole world." Yet 
 this fleady and judicious Chriftian, (Tor fuch 
 lie mod afluredly was) at the fame time thai- 
 he efteemed a man for his good intention 
 and his worthy qualities, did not fuffer him- 
 felf to be hurried away into all the Angular^ 
 hy of his fentiments, or to admire his im- 
 prudences or excefles. On the contrary, he 
 Saw and lamented that artiSce which the 
 
 £re<vt 
 
180 LIFE op Col.. GARDINER. 
 
 great father of fraud has fo long and fo fuc- 
 cefsfully been praftifing ; who, like the en- 
 emies of Ifrael, when he cannot entirely 
 prevent the building of God's temple, does 
 as it were offer his affiftance to carry on the 
 work^ that he may thereby get the raoft ef- 
 fectual opportunities of obftru&ing it. The 
 Colonel often expreffed his aflonifhtnent at 
 the wide extremes into which fome, whom 
 on the whole he thought very good men, 
 were permitted to run in many doftrinai 
 and fpeculative points; and dtfcerned how 
 evidently it appeared from hence, that we 
 cannot argue the truth of any doftrine from 
 the fuccefs of the preacher ; fince this would 
 be a kind of demonflration, (if I may be al- 
 lowed the expreffion) which might equally 
 prove both parts of a contradi&ion. Yet 
 when he obferved, that an high regard to the 
 atonement and righteoufnefs of Chrift, and 
 to the free grace of God in him, exerted by 
 the operation of the divine fpirit, was gen- 
 erally common to all who had been peculi- 
 arly fuccefsful in the conversion and refor- 
 mation of men, (how widely foever their 
 judgments might differ in other points, and 
 how warmly foever they might oppofe each 
 other in confequence of that diverfity ;) it 
 tended greatly to confirm his faith in tbefe 
 principles, as well as to open his heart in 
 
 love 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. i8t 
 
 love to all of every denomination, who 
 maintained an affe&ionate regard to them. 
 And though what he remarked as to the 
 conduft and fuccefs of minifters of the mod 
 oppofite drains of preaching, confirmed him 
 in thefe fentiments ; yet he always efteemed 
 and loved virtuous and benevolent men, 
 even where he thought them moft miftaken 
 in the notions they formed of religion, or in 
 the methods by which they attempted to 
 ferve it. 
 
 While I thus reprefent what all who knew 
 him mud foon have obferved of Colonel 
 Gardiner's affe£fronate regard to thefe pe- 
 culiar doftrines of our holy religion, it is 
 neceffary that I fhould alfo inform my read- 
 er, that it was not his judgment, that the at- 
 tention of minifters or their hearers fhould 
 be wholly ingroffed by thefe, excellent as 
 they are ; but that all the parts of the fcheme 
 of truth and duty fhould be regarded in their 
 due connexion and proportion. Far from 
 that diftempered tafte, which can bear noth- 
 ing but cordials, it was his deliberate judg- 
 ment that the law fhould be preached as well 
 as the gofpel ; and hardly any thing gave 
 him greater offence, than the irreverent 
 manner in which fome, who have been ig- 
 norantly extolled as the moft zealous evan- 
 gelical preachers, have fometimes been 
 Q tempted 
 
182 LIFE of Col.. GARDINER. 
 
 tempted to fpeak of the former ; much in- 
 deed to the fcandal of all confident and ju- 
 dicious Chriftians. He delighted to be in- 
 firu&ed in his duty, and to iiear much of 
 the inward exercifes of the fpiritual and di- 
 vine life. And he always wifhed, fo far as 
 I could obferve, to have thefe topics treated 
 in a rational as well as a fpiritual manner, 
 with folidity and order of thought, with per- 
 fpicuity and weight of expreflion ; as well 
 knowing, that religion is a mod reafonable 
 fervice ; that God has not chofen idiots or 
 lunatics as the inftruments, or nonfenfe as 
 the means of building up his church ; and 
 that though the charge of enthufiafm is often 
 fixed on chriftianity and its minifters, in a 
 wild, undeferved, and indeed (on the whole) 
 enthufiaftical manner, by fome of the loud- 
 eft or mod folemn pretenders to reafon ; 
 yet there is really fuch a thing as enthufiafm, 
 againft which it becomes the true friends of 
 the revelation to be diligently on their guard, 
 left chriftianity inftead of being exalted, 
 fhould* be greatly corrupted and debafed, 
 and all manner of abfurdity, both in doc- 
 trine and pra&ice, introduced by methods, 
 which, like perfecution, throw truth and 
 falfehood on a level, and render the groffeft 
 errors at once more plaufible and incurable. 
 :He had too much candour and equity to fix 
 
 general 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. ifj 
 
 general charges of this nature ; but he was 
 really, and I think not vainly, apprehenfive 
 that the emiffaries and agents of the moffc 
 corrupt church that ever dilhonoured the 
 Chriftian name, (by which it will eafily be 
 underftood, I mean that of Rome) might 
 very poffibly infinuate themfelves into focu 
 eties, to which they could not otherwife 
 have accefs, and make their advantage of 
 that total refignation of the underftanding, 
 and contempt of reafon and learning, which 
 nothing but ignorance, delirium, or knav- 
 ery, can dictate,, to lead men blindfold 
 whither it pleafed r till it fet them down a: 
 the foot of an altar, where tranfubftantiatiou 
 itfelf is confecrated. I know not where I 
 can more properly introduce another pare 
 of tlie Colonel's chara&er, which, obvious 
 as it was, I have not yet touched upon ; I 
 mean his tendernefs to thole who were un- 
 der any fpiritual diflrefs ; wherein he was 
 indeed an example to minifters, in a duty 
 more peculiarly theirs. I have feen many 
 amiable inftances of this myfelf • and I have 
 been informed of many others: One of 
 which happened about the time of that a* 
 wakening in the weftern parts of Scotland, 
 which I touched upon above ; when the 
 Rev. Mr. Mac Laurin, of Glalgow, found 
 occafiod to witnefs to the great propriety, 
 
 judgment, 
 
184 LIFE o? Col. GARDINER. 
 
 judgment, and felicity, of manner, with 
 which he addreffed fpiritual confolation to 
 an affli&ed foul, who applied to the profeff- 
 or, at a time when he had not an opportu- 
 nity immediately to give audience to the 
 cafe. And indeed as long ago as the year 
 1726, I find him writing to a friend in a 
 ftrain of tendernefs in this regard, which 
 might well have become the moft affe&ion- 
 ateand experienced paftor. He there con- 
 gratulates him on fome religious enjoyments 
 lately received, (in part it feems by his 
 means) when among others he has this mod- 
 eft cxpreflion : c< IF I have been made any 
 f< way the means of doing you good, give 
 " the whole glory to God ; for he has been 
 u willing to Ihew, that the power was entire- 
 " ly of himfelf, fince he has been pleafed to 
 " make ufe of fo very weak an inUrnment." 
 In the fame letter he admonifhes his friend, 
 that he (hould not be too much furprifed, if 
 after having been, as he expreffes it, upon the 
 mount,' he fhould be brought into the valley 
 again ; and reminds him that c< we live by 
 u faith, and not by fenfible affurance;" rep- 
 refenting, that there are fome fuch full com- 
 munications from God as feem almoft to 
 fwallow up the afilings of faith, from whence 
 they take their rife : u Whereas, when a 
 " Chriftian who walks in darknefs, and fees 
 
LIFE or Col. GARDINER. 185 
 
 <c no light, will yet hang (as it were) on the 
 .!* report of an abfent Jelus, and," as one ex- 
 preffesit inallufionto the (lory of Jacob and 
 Jofeph " can put himfelf, as on the chariot 
 f< of the promifes,, to be borne on to him, 
 ff whom now he fees not ; there may be fub- 
 " limer and more acceptable a&ings of a pure 
 " and ftrong faith, than in moments which 
 " afford the foul a much more rapturous 
 " delight." This is the fubflance of what he 
 fays in the excellent letter. Some of the 
 phrafes made ufe of, might not perhaps be 
 intelligible to feveral of my readers, for 
 which reafon I do not exaflly tranferibe 
 them all : But this is plainly and fully his 
 meaning, and mod of the words are his 
 own. The fentiment is furely very juft and 
 important ; and happy would it be for many 
 excellent perfons,. who through wrong no- 
 tions of the nature of faith (which was never 
 more mifreprefented than now among fome) 
 are perplexing themfelves with moft; ground- 
 lefs doubts and fcruples, if it were more 
 generally underltood, admitted and cofid- 
 ered. 
 
 An endeared friend, who was moft inti- 
 mately converfant with the Colonel during 
 the two laft years of his life, has favoured 
 me with an account of fome little circum- 
 fiances relating to him ; which I efteem as 
 Q 2 precious 
 
186 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 precious fragments, by which the confident 
 tenor of his chara&er may be farther illuf- 
 trated. I fhall therefore infert them here, 
 without being very felicitous as to the order 
 in which they are introduced. 
 
 He perceived himfelf evidently in a very 
 declining date from his firft arrival in Brit- 
 ain, and feemed to entertain a fixed appre- 
 henfion, that he fhould continue but a little 
 while longer in life. u He expefled death," 
 fays my good correfpondent, " and was de- 
 lighted with the profpett, which did not 
 grow lefs amiable by a nearer approach. The 
 word of God % with which he had as intimate 
 an acquaintance as mod men I ever knew,' 
 and on which (especially on the New Tef- 
 tament) I have heard him make many very 
 judicious and accurate remarks, was ftill his 
 daily ftudy ; and it furnifhed him with mat- 
 ter of frequent converfation, much to the 
 edification and comfort of thofe that were 
 about him. It was recollected, that among 
 other paffages he had lately fpoken of the 
 following, as having made a deep imprefiion 
 on his mind : My fail, wait thou only upon 
 God ! He would repeat it again arid again, 
 Only, Only, Only ! So plainly did he fee, 
 and fo deeply did he feel, the vanity of crea- 
 ture confidences and expectations. With 
 the ftrongefl atteftation would he often 
 
 mention 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER, 187 
 
 mention thofe woHs in Ifaiah, as verified by 
 long experience ; 1 nou wilt keep him in per- 
 fect peace, whofe mind isjlayed on thee; be- 
 caufe he trufteth in thee. And with peculiar 
 fatisfadtion would he utter thofe heroic 
 words in Habakkuk, which he found armour 
 of proof againft every fear and every con- 
 tingency : Though the Jig treejhall not blof- 
 fom, neither Jhall fruit be in the vines ; the 
 labour of the olive fhall fail, and the fields 
 jhall yield no meat ; the flocks fhall be cut off 
 from the fold, and there jhall be no herd m 
 the flails : Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I 
 will joy in the God of my falvation. The 
 cxlvth Pfalm was alfo fpoken of by him with 
 great delight, and Dr. Watts's verfion of it ; 
 as well as feveral other of that excellent per- 
 fon's poetical compofures. My friend who 
 tranfmits to me this account, adds the fol- 
 lowing words, which I defire to infert with 
 the deepeft fentiments of unfeigned humil- 
 ity and felf abafement before God, as moll 
 unworthy the honour of contributing in the 
 Jeaft degree to the joys and graces of one 
 fo much my fuperior in every part of the 
 Chriftian chara&er. " As the joy with 
 u which good men fee the happy fruits of 
 " their labours, makes a part of the prefent 
 c< reward of the fervants of God and the 
 11 friends of Jefus, it mud not be omitted, 
 
 " even 
 
*88 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 * even in a letter to you, that your fpiritual 
 u hymns were among his moft delightful 
 " and foul improving repafts ; particularly 
 u thofe, on beholding tranfgrejforswith griefs 
 " and Chrift's me/age." What is added 
 concerning my book of the Rife and Prog- 
 refs of Religion, and the terms in which hs 
 expreffed his efleem of it, I cannot fuffer to 
 pals my pen ; only defire moft fincerely to 
 blefs God, that efpecially by the laft chapters 
 of that treatife, I had an opportunitv at fo 
 great a diflance of exhibiting fome offices of 
 Chriftian friendlhip to this excellent perfon^ 
 in the clofing fcenes of life ; which it would 
 have been my greateft joy to have perform- 
 ed in perfon, had providence permitted me 
 then to have been near hirm 
 
 The former of thofe hymns my corref- 
 pondent mentions, as having been fo agree- 
 able to Colonel Gardiner, I have given the 
 reader above, (fee page 136) thje latter, which 
 is called ChrifVs meffage, took its rife from 
 Luke iv. 18, &feq* and is as follows ; 
 
 1 
 HARK f the glad fotrnd ! the Saviourcomes> 
 The Saviour promis'd long ! 
 Let ev'ry heart prepare a throne, 
 And cv'ry voice a fong. 
 
 On 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 189 
 11 
 
 On him the fpirit largely pour'd 
 
 Exerts its facred fire : 
 Wifdom, and might, and zeal, and love, 
 
 His holy breaft infpire. 
 
 Ill 
 
 He comes, the prifoners to releafe 
 
 In Satan's bondage held : 
 The gates of brafs before him burft, 
 
 The iron fetters yield. 
 
 IV 
 He comes, from rhickefl films of vice 
 
 To clear the mental ray, 
 And on the eyeballs of the blind 
 
 To pour celeflial day. # 
 
 V 
 He comes, the broken heart to bind,. 
 . The bleeding foul to cure ; 
 And with the treafures of his grace 
 T' inrich the humble poor. 
 
 VI 
 His filver trumpets publifli loud 
 
 The jub'lee of the Lord ; 
 Our debtrare all remitted now, 
 
 Our heritage reftor'd. 
 
 VII 
 Our glad hofannahs, Prince of Peace, 
 
 Thy welcome (hall proclaim; 
 And heav'n's eternal arches ring 
 
 With thy beloved name. 
 
 • Thti ftanza ii moftly borrowed from Mr. Pope, 
 
igo LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 There is one hymn more I fhall beg leave 
 to add, plain as it is, which Colonel Gard- 
 iner has been heard to mention with partic- 
 ular regard, as expreffing the inmoft fenti- 
 ments of his foul ; and they were undoubt- 
 edly fo, in the lafl rational moments of his 
 expiring life. It is called, Chriji precious to 
 the believer ; and was compofed to be fung 
 after a fermon on u Pet. ii. 7. 
 
 1 
 JESUS t I love thy charming name,.. 
 
 'Tis mufic to my ear : 
 Fain would I found it out fo loud, 
 
 That earth and heav'n (hould hear. 
 
 II 
 Yes, thou art precious to my foul, 
 
 My tranfport and my truft : 
 Jewels to thee are gaudy toys, 
 
 And gold is foididduft. 
 
 lit 
 All my capacious 'pow'rs can wite, 
 
 In thee mod richly meet : 
 Nor to my eyes is life fo dear, 
 
 Nor friendfhip half fo fweeU 
 
 IV 
 Thy grace dill dwells upon my heart, 
 
 And (h.eds its fragrance there ; 
 The nobleft balm of all its* wounds, 
 The cordial of its care. 
 
 I'll 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINEPv. 191 
 v 
 
 I'll fpeak the honours of thy name 
 
 With my laft Iab'ring breath ; 
 Then fpeechlef* iaip thee in my arms, 
 
 The antidote of death. 
 
 Thofe who were intimate with Colonel 
 Gardiner, nm ft have obferved how ready he 
 was to give a devotional turn to any fubjett 
 that occurred. And in particular the fpir- 
 itual and heavenly difpofition of his foul 
 difcovered itfelf in the reflexions and im- 
 provements which he made, when reading 
 iiftory ; in which he took a good deal of 
 -pleafure, as perfons remarkable for their 
 •knowledge of -mankind, and obfervation of 
 providence generally do. I have an in- 
 fiance of this before me, which though too 
 -natural to be sit all furprifing, will! dare 
 fay be pleafing to the devout mind. He 
 had juft been reading in Rollings extract 
 from Xenophon, the anfwer which the lady 
 of Tigranes made, when all the company 
 were extolling Cyrus, and expreffing the 
 -admiration with which his appearance and 
 behaviour ftruck them : The queflion being 
 alked her, what (he- thought of him? fhe 
 anfwered, I don't know, I did not obferve 
 him. On what then, faid one of the com- 
 pany, did you fix your attention ? On him, 
 leplied fhe, (referring to the generous fpeech 
 
 which 
 
192 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 which her hufband had juft made) who /aid 
 he would give a thoufand lives to ranfom my 
 liberty. " Oh," cried the Colonel when 
 reading it, " how ought we to fix our eyes 
 u and hearts on him, who not in offer but in 
 <c reality, gave his own precious life to ran- 
 <c fom us from the mod dreadful flavery, 
 cc and from eternal definition !" But this is 
 only one inftance among a thoufand. His 
 heart was fo habitually fet upon divine 
 things, and he had fuch a permanent and 
 overflowing fenfe of the love of Chrift, that 
 he could not forbear conne&ing fuch reflec- 
 tions, with a multitude of more diflant oc- 
 cafions occurring in daily life, where lefs 
 advanced Chriflians would not have thought 
 of them : And thus, like our great mafter, 
 he made every little incident a fource of de- 
 votion, and an inftrument of holy zeal. 
 
 Enfeebled as his coriftitution was, he was 
 ftill intent on improving his time to fome 
 valuable purpofes : And when his friends 
 expoftulated with him, that he gave his body 
 fo little reft, he ufed to anfwer, <c It will reft 
 " long enough in the grave." 
 
 The July before his death, he was per- 
 fuaded to take a journev to Scarborough for 
 the recovery of his health ; from which he 
 was at leaft encouraged to expeft fome little 
 revival* After this he had thoughts of going 
 
 to 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 193 
 
 to London, and defigned to have fpent part 
 of September at Northampton. The ex- 
 pectation of this was mutually agreeable ; 
 but providence faw fit to difeoncert the 
 fcheme. His love for his friends in thefe 
 parts occafioned him to exprefs fome regret 
 on his being commanded back : And I am 
 pretty confident, from the manner in which 
 he expreffed himfelf in one of his laft letters 
 to me, that he had fome more important 
 reafons for wiftiing an opportunity of mak- 
 ing a London journey juft at that crifis ; 
 which, the reader will remember, was before 
 the rebellion broke out. But as providence 
 determined it otherwife, he acquiefced ; and 
 I am well fatisfied, that could he have dif- 
 tinfiily forefeen the approaching event, fo 
 far as it concerned his own perfon, he would 
 have efteemed it the happieft fummons he 
 ever received. While he was at Scarbor- 
 ough, I find by a letter dated from thence, 
 July 26, 1745, that he had been informed of 
 the gaity which fo unfeafonably prevailed at 
 Edinburgh, where great multitudes were 
 then fpending their time in balls, aflemblies, 
 and other gay amufements, little mindful of 
 the rod of God which was then hanging 
 over them ; on which occafion he hath this 
 expreffion : "I am greatly furprifed . that 
 ? the people of Edinburgh fhould be em- 
 ft ployed 
 
ig4 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 u ployed in fuch foolifh diverfions, when 
 " our fituation is at prefent more melan- 
 cc choly than ever I faw it in my life. But 
 u there is one thing which I am very fure 
 Cf of, that comforts me, viz. that it fhall go 
 * € well with the righteous, come what will/' 
 
 Quickly after his return home, the flame 
 burft out, and his regiment was ordered to 
 Stirling, It was in the caftle there that his 
 lady and eldeft daughter enjoyed the laft 
 happy hours of his company ; and I think 
 it was about eight or ten days before his 
 death, that he parted from them. A re- 
 markable circumftance attended that part- 
 ing, which hath been touched upon by fur- 
 viving friends in more than one of their let- 
 ters to me. His lady was fo affe£ted when 
 ihe took her laft leave of him, that fhe could 
 not forbear burfting out into a flood of tears, 
 w r ith other marks of unufual emotion. And 
 when he afked her the reafon, fhe urg^d the 
 apprehenfion (he had of lofing fuch an in- 
 valuable friend, amidft the dangers to which 
 he was then called out, as a very fuflficient 
 apology. Upon which (he took particular 
 notice, that whereas he had generally com- 
 forted her on fuch occafions, by pleading 
 with her that remarkable hand of provi- 
 dence, which had fo frequently, in former 
 in (lances, been exerted for his prefervation, 
 
 and 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 195 
 
 and that in the greateft extremity, he faid 
 nothingof it now ; but only replied, in his 
 fententious manner, M We have an eternity 
 " to fpend together." 
 
 That heroic contempt of death, which had 
 often difcovered itfelf in the midft of former 
 dangers, was manifefled now in his difcourfe 
 with feveral of his mod intimate friends. I 
 have referved for this place one genuine ex- 
 preffion of it many years before, which I 
 tho't mi^ht be mentioned with fome advan-* 
 tage here. In July, 1725, he had been fent 
 to fome place, not far from Hamilton, to 
 quell a mutiny among fome of our troops. 
 I know not the particular occafion ; but I 
 remember to have heard him mention it as 
 fo fierce a one, that he fcarce ever appre- 
 hended himfelf in a more hazardous circum- 
 fiance. Yet he quelled it by his prefence 
 alone, and the expoftulations he ufed ; e- 
 vidently putting his life into his hand to do- 
 it. The particulars of the (lory flruck me 
 much; but I do not fo exadlly remember 
 them, as to venture to relate them here. I 
 only obferve, that in a letter dated July 16, 
 that year, which I havsnow before me, and 
 which evidently refers to this event, he 
 writes thus : <c I have been very bufy, bur- 
 " ried about from place to place ; but bleff- 
 cf "ed'be God, all is over without bloodEbed,. 
 
 "And 
 
ig6 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 " And pray let me afk, what made you fhew 
 " fo much concern for me in your laft ? 
 u Were you afraid I fhould get to heaven 
 €€ before you ? Or can any evil befall thofe 
 <c who are followers of that which is good ?"* 
 And as thefe were his fentiments in the 
 vigour of his days, fo neither did declining 
 years, and the infirmities of a broken con- 
 ftitution on the one hand, nor any defires 
 of enjoying the honours and profits of fo 
 high a ftation, or what was much more to 
 him, the converfe of the moft affe&ionate of 
 wives, and fo many amiable children and 
 friends on the other, enervate his fpirifcs in 
 the lead : But as he had in former years of- 
 ten expreffed it, to me and feveral others as 
 his defire, " that if it were the will of God, 
 €< he might have fome honourable call to 
 
 u facrifice 
 
 * I doubt not but this will remind fome of my readers 
 of that noble fpeech of Zuinglius, when, according to the 
 ufage of that country, attending his flock to a battle, in 
 which their religion and liberties were all at ftake, on his 
 ?eceiving a mortal wound by a bullet, of which he foon 
 expired, while his friends were in all the firft aftonifhment 
 of grief, he bravely faid as he was dying, " Ecquid hoc in- 
 fortunii P Is this to be reckoned a misfortune }" How 
 many of our deifts would^iave celebrated fuch a fen- 
 tence if it had come from the lips of an ancient Roman ? 
 Strange, that the name of Chnft fhould be fo odious, that 
 the brightell virtues of his followers fnould be defpifed for 
 his fake ! But (o it is ; and fo our mailer told us it would 
 be.: And our faith is in this connection confirmed by 
 thofe that drive moft to overthrow it. 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 197 
 
 fC facrifice his life in defence of religion and 
 w the liberties of his country ;" fo that when 
 it appeared to him mod probable that he 
 might be called to it immediately, he met the 
 fummons with the greateft readinefs, This 
 appears in part from a letter which he wrote 
 to the Rev. Mr. Adams, of Falkirk^ juft as 
 he was on marching from Stirling*, which 
 was only eight days before his death : " The 
 " rebels," lays he, " are advancing to crofs 
 " the Firth ; but I truft in the Almighty 
 H God, who doth whatfcever he pleafes, in the 
 cc armies of heaven> and among the inhabitants 
 M of the earth." And the fame gentleman 
 tells me, that a few days after the date of 
 this, he marched through Falkirk with his 
 regiment • and though he was then in fo 
 languifhing a ftate, that he needed his affift- 
 ance as a fecretary, to write for fome rein- 
 forcemeat, which might put it in his power 
 to make a Hand, as he was very defirous to 
 have done, he expreffed a mod genuine and 
 noble contempt of life, when to be expofed 
 in the defence of a worthy caufe. 
 
 Thefe fentiments wrought in him to the 
 iaft, in the "mo ft effeftual manner ; and he 
 feemed for a while to have infufed them into 
 the regiment which he commanded : For 
 they expreffed fuch a fpirit in their march 
 from Stirling, that I am affured fclie Colonel 
 R 2 was 
 
198 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 1 
 
 was obliged to exert all his authority to pre- 
 vent their making incurfions on the rebel 
 army, which then lay very near them ; and 
 had it been thought proper to fend him the 
 reinforcement he requeued, none can fay 
 what the confequence might have been. 
 But he was ordered to march as faft as pof- 
 fible, to meet Sir John Cope's forces at 
 Dunbar; which he did : And that hafty 
 retreat, in concurrence with the news which 
 they foon after received of the furrender of 
 Edinburgh to the rebels, (either by the 
 treachery or weaknefs of a few, in oppofition 
 to the judgment of by far the greater and 
 better part of the inhabitants) ftruck a panic 
 into both the regiments of dragoons, which 
 became vifible in fome very apparent and 
 remarkable circumftances in their behav- 
 iour, which I forbear to relate. This af- 
 fefted Colonel Gardiner fo much, that on 
 the Thurfday before the fatal aclion at Pref- 
 ton Pans, he intimated to an officer of con- 
 fiderable rank and npte, (from whom I had 
 it by a very fure channel of conveyance) that 
 he expe&ed the event would be, as in faft 
 it was. In this view,* there is all imaginable 
 reafon to believe he had formed his refolu- 
 tion as to his own perfonal conduct, which 
 was, <c that he would not, in cafe of the 
 €< flight of 'thofe under his command, retreat 
 
 u with 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 199 
 
 "with them ;" by which, as it Teemed, he 
 was re \fonabiy apprenenuve he might have 
 ftained the honour of his former Cervices,, 
 and have given fome occafion for the enemy 
 to have fpoken reproachfully. He much 
 rather chofe, if providence gave him the 
 call, to leave in his death an example of fi-r 
 delity and bravery, which might very prob- 
 ably be (as in fa£i it feems indeed to havie 
 been) of much greater importance to his 
 country, than any other fervice, which in 
 the few days of remaining life he could ex- 
 pedi to render it. I conclude thefe to have 
 been his views, not only from what I knew 
 of his general chara6ler and temper, but 
 likewife from fome intimations which he 
 gave to a very worthy perfon from Edin- 
 burgh, who vifited him the day before the 
 aftion ; to whom he faid, H I cannot influ- 
 c< ence the conduct of others, as I could w r ifh, 
 <c but I have one life to facnfice to my coun- 
 <c try's fafety, and I (hall not fpare it ;" or 
 words to that effeft. 
 
 I have heard fuch a multitude of incon- 
 liftent reports of the circumftances of Colo- 
 nel Gardiner's death, that I had almoft def- 
 paired of being able to give my reader any 
 particular fatisfaftion concerning fo inter- 
 efting a fcene. But by a happy accident I 
 have very lately had an opportunity of be- 
 
20O LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 ing exaftly informed of the whole, by that 
 brave man Mr. John Fofter, his faithful 
 fervant, (and worthy of the honour offend- 
 ing fuch a mailer,) whom I had feen vvith 
 him at my houfe fome years befoie. He 
 attended him in his !aft hours, and gavr me 
 the narration at large ; which he would be 
 ready, if it were requifite, to atteft upon 
 oath. From his mouth I wrote it down 
 with the utmoft exa^tnefs, and could eafily 
 believe from the genuine and afFe&ionate 
 manner in which he related the particulars, 
 that according to his own ftriking expref- 
 fion, <c his eye and his heart v^trc always 
 €< upon his honoured mafter during, the 
 whole time/'* 
 
 On Friday, September zo, (the day be- 
 fore the battle which tranfmitted him to 
 his immortal crown,) when the whole army 
 was drawn uv % I think about noon, the Col- 
 onel rode through all the ranks of his own 
 regiment, addreffing them at once in the 
 moll refpeclful and animatir>g manner, both 
 
 as 
 
 * Juft as I am putting the laft hand to thefe memoir?, 
 March 2, 1746-7, I have met with a corporal in Colonel 
 Lafcelles's regiment, who was alfo an eye witnefs to what 
 happened at Prefton Pans on the day of the battle, and the 
 day before : And the account he has given me of fome 
 memorable particulars, is fo exactly agreeable to that 
 which I received from Mr. Potter, that it would much 
 corroborate his teuimeny, if there were net io many other 
 confidcrations to reader it convincing. 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 201 
 
 as foldiers, and as Chriflians, to engage them 
 to exert themfelves courageoufly in the 
 fervice of their country, and to negle6t 
 nothing that might have a tendency to pre- 
 pare them for whatever event might hap- 
 pen. They feemed much affefted with 
 the addrefs, and expreffeda very ardent de- 
 fire of attacking the enemy immediately : 
 A defire in which he and another very gal- 
 lent officer of diflinguifted rank, dignity, 
 and charafter, both for bravery and con- 
 du£t, would gladly have gratified them if it 
 had been in the power of either, He ear- 
 neflly preffed it on the commanding officer, 
 both as the foldiers were then in better fpi- 
 rits than it could be fuppofed they would 
 be after having palled the night under arms ; 
 and alfo as the circumftance of making an 
 attack would be fome encouragement to 
 them, and probably fome terror to the e- 
 nemy, who would have had the difad- 
 vantage of (landing on their defence : A 
 disadvantage, with which thofe wild bar- 
 barians (for fuch moil of them were) per- 
 haps would have been more flruck than bet- 
 ter difciplined troops ; efpeciallv, when they 
 fought againft the laws of their country 
 too. He alfo apprehended, that by march- 
 ing to meet them, fome advantage might 
 have been fecured with regard to the ground ; 
 
 with 
 
202 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 with which, it is natural to imagine, he 
 mud have been perfectly acquainted, as it 
 lay juft at his own door, and he had rode 
 over it fo many hundred times; When 
 I mention thefe things, I do not pretend to 
 be capable of judging how far this advice 
 was on the whole right. A variety of cir- 
 cumftances, to me unknown, might make 
 it otherwife. It is certain however, that it 
 was brave. But it was overruled in this 
 refpeft, as it alfo was in the difpofition of 
 the cannon, which he would have had plant- 
 ed in the centre of our fmall army, rather 
 than juft before his regiment, which was in 
 the right wing ; where he was apprehenfive 
 the horfes, which had not been in any en- 
 gagement before, might be thrown into fome 
 diforder by the difcharge fa very near them. 
 He urged this the more, as he thought the 
 attack of the rebels might probably be made 
 on the centre of the foot ; where he knew 
 there were fome brave men, on whofe (land- 
 ing he thought under God the fuccefs of the 
 day depended. When he found that he 
 could not carry either of thefe points, nor 
 fome others, which out of # regard to the 
 common Tafety he infifted upon with fome 
 unufual enrneftnefs, he dropped fome inti- 
 mations of the confluences which he ap- 
 prehended, and which did in fa Gt follow ; 
 
 and 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 203 
 
 and fubmitting to. providence, fpent the re- 
 mainder of the day in making as good a dif- 
 pofition, as ■ circum fiances would allow.* 
 
 He continued all night under arms, wrap- 
 ped up in his cloak, and generally ftieltered 
 under a rick of barley which happened to 
 be in the field. About three in the morn- 
 ing, he called his domeftic fervants to him, 
 of which there were four in waiting. He 
 difmiffed three of them, with mod affection- 
 ate chriftian advice, andfuch folemn charges 
 relating to the performance of their duty 
 and the care of their fouls, a&feemed plain- 
 ly to intimate, that he apprehended it at 
 leafi: v^ry probable, he was taking his laft 
 jfarewel of them. There is great reafon to 
 believe, that he fpent the little remainder of 
 the time, which could not be much above 
 an hour, in thofe devout exercifes of foul, 
 
 which 
 
 * Several of thefe circumstances have fince been con- 
 firmed by the concurrent testimony of another very credi- 
 ble perfon, Mr. Robert Douglafs, (now a furgeon in the 
 navy) who was a volunteer at Edinburgh juft before the 
 
 .rebeis entered 1 he place ; whofaw Colonel Gardiner corne 
 from Haddington to the field of battle the day before the 
 action in a chaife, being (as from that circumftance he 
 fuppofed) in fo weak a ftate that he could not well endure 
 the fatigue of riding on horfeback. . He obferved Colonel 
 Gardiner in difcourfe with feveral officers, the evening 
 before the engagement ; at which time it was afterwards 
 
 .reported,, he gave his advice to attack the rebels ; and 
 when it was overruled, he afterwards faw the Colons! 
 dk by himfelf in a very penfive manner* 
 
204 LIFE of Ccxl. GARDINER. 
 
 which had fo long been habitual to him, and 
 to which fo many circumftances did then 
 concur to call him. The army was alarmed 
 by break of day, by the noife of the rebels 
 approach, and the attack was made before 
 fun rife ; yet when it was light enough to 
 difcern what paffed. As foon as the enemy 
 came within gun (hot they made a furious 
 fire ; and it is faid that the dragoons which 
 conftituted the left wing, immediately fled. 
 The Colonel, at the beginning of the onfet, 
 which in the whole lafted but a few minutes, 
 received a wound by a bullet in his left 
 breaft, which made him give a fudden fpring 
 in his faddle ; upon which his fervant, who 
 had led the horfe, would have perfuaded 
 him to retreat : But he faid it was only a 
 wound in the flefh ; and fought on, though 
 he prefently after received a (hot in his right 
 thigh. In the mean time it was difcerned, 
 that fome of the enemies fell by him ; and 
 particularly one man, who had made him a 
 treacherous vifit but a few days before, with 
 great profeffions of zeal for the prefent eC- 
 tablifliment. 
 
 Events of this kind pafs in lefs time than 
 the defcription of them can be written, or 
 than it can be read. The Colonel was for 
 a few moments fupported by his men, and 
 particularly by that worthy perfon Lieuten- 
 ant 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 205 
 
 ant Colonel Whitney, who was fhot through 
 the arm here, and a few months after fell 
 nobly in the battle of Falkirk ; and by Lieu- 
 tenant Weft, a man of diftinguifhe.d brav,. 
 ery ; as alfo by about fifteen dragoons, who 
 flood by him to the laft. But after a faint 
 fire, the regiment in general was feized with 
 . a panic ; and though their Colonel and fome 
 other gallant officers did what they could to 
 rally them once or twice, they at laft took a 
 precipitate flight. And juft in the moment 
 when Colonel Gardiner feemed to be mak- 
 ing a paufe, to deliberate what duty requir- 
 ed him to do in fuch a circumftance, an ac- 
 cident happened, which muft, I think, ia 
 the judgment of every worthy and generous 
 man, be allowed a fufficient apology for ex- 
 pofing his life to fo great hazard, when his 
 regiment had left him.* He faw a party of 
 
 the 
 
 * The Colonel, who was well acquainted with military 
 hiftory, might pofllbly remember, that in the battle at 
 Blenheim, the illuftrious Prince Eugene, when the horfe 
 of the wing he commanded had run away thrice, charged 
 at the head of the foot, and thereby greatly contributed 
 to the glorious fuccefs of the day. At leaf! .fuch an 'ex- 
 ample may conduce to vindicate that noble ardour, which, 
 amidft all the applaufes of his country, fome have been fo 
 cool and fo critical as to blame. For my own part, I 
 thank God that I am not called to apologize for his fol- 
 lowing his troops in their flight ; which I fear would have 
 been a much harder tafk ; and which, dear as he was to 
 me, would have grieved me much more than his death, 
 with thefe heroic circumfiances attending it. 
 
 s 
 
*o6 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 the foot, who were then bravely fighting 
 near him, and whom he was ordered to 
 fupport, had no officer to head them ; upon 
 which he faid eagerly, in the hearing of the 
 perfon from whom I had this account, 
 u Thofe brave fellows would be cut to pieces 
 c( for want of a commander ;" or words to 
 that effeft : Which while he was fpeaking, 
 he rode up to them, and cried out aloud, 
 u Fire on, my lads, and fear nothing/' But 
 juft as the words were out of his mouth, an 
 Highlander advanced towards him, with a 
 fcythe fattened to a long pole, with which 
 he gave him fuch a deep wound on his right 
 arm, that his fword dropped out of his hand ; 
 and at the fame time feveral others coming 
 about him, while he was thus dreadfully 
 entangled with that cruel weapon, he was 
 dragged off from his horfe. The moment 
 he fell, another Highlander, who, jf the 
 King's evidence at Carlifle may be credited, 
 (as I know not why they (hould not, though 
 the unhappy creature died denying it) was 
 one Macnaught, who was executed about 
 a year after, gave him a ftroke, either with a 
 broad fword, or a Lochabar axe, (for my 
 informant could not exaftly diftinguifh) on 
 the hinder part of his head, which was the 
 mortal blow. All that his faithful attendant 
 faw farther at this time was, that as his hat 
 
 was 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 207 
 
 was fallen off, he took it in his left hand, 
 and waved it as a fignal to him to retreas * 
 and added, what were the laft words he ever 
 heard him fpeak, " Take care of yourfelf :* f 
 Upon which the fervant retired. 
 
 It was reported at Edinburgh on the day 
 of the battle, by what feemed a confiderable 
 authority, that as the Colonel lay in his 
 wounds, he faid to a chief of the oppofite 
 fide, " You are fighting for an earthly 
 Cf crown, I am going to receive an heavenly 
 n one ;" or fomething to that purpofe. 
 When I preached the fermon, long fince 
 printed, on occafion of his death,. I had great 
 reafon to believe,, that this report was true ; 
 though before the publication of it I began 
 to be in doubt : And on the whole, after 
 the moft accurate inquiry I could poffibly^ 
 make at this diftance, I cannot get any con- 
 vincing evidence of it.- Yet I muft here 
 obferve, that it does not appear impoflible^, 
 that fomething. of this kind might indeed be 
 uttered by him ; as his fervant teftifies, that 
 he fpoke to him after receiving that fatal 
 blow, which would feem moft likely to have, 
 taken away the power of fpeech ; and as it 
 is certain he lived feveral hours after he fell. 
 If therefore any thing of this kind did hap~. 
 pen, it mufl have been juft about this in- 
 ftant. But as to the ftory of*his being taken. 
 
 prifoner 
 
208 LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 prifoner and carried to the pretended Prince, 
 (who by the way afterwards rode his horfe, 
 and entered upon it into Derby) with feverai 
 other circumftances which were grafted up- 
 on that interview, there is the moft un- 
 doubted evidence of it's falfe'hood : For his 
 attendant mentioned above allures me, that: 
 he himfelf immediately fled to a mill, at the 
 diftance of about two miles from the fpot of 
 ground on which the Colonel fell ; where he 
 changed his drefs, and, difguifed like a mil- 
 ler's fervant, returned with a cart as foon as 
 poflible ; which yet was not till near two 
 hours after the engagement. The hurry of 
 the action was then pretty well over, and he 
 found his much honoured mailer, not only 
 plundered of his watch and other things of 
 value, but alfo ftripped of his upper gar- 
 ments and boots ; yet flill breathing : And 
 adds, that though he were not capable of 
 fpeecb, yet on taking him up he opened his 
 eyes ; which makes it fomething queftiona- 
 fele, whether he were altogether infenfible. 
 In this condition^ and in this manner, he 
 conveyed him to the church of Tranent, 
 from whence he was immediately taken into 
 the minifter's houfe, and laid in bed, where 
 he continued breathing and frequently 
 groaning, till about eleven in the forenoon ; 
 when he took-fiis final leave of pain and 
 
 forrow, 
 
LIFE of Cot. GARDINER. 209 
 
 forrow, and undoubtedly rofe to thofe dif- 
 tinguifhed glories which are referved for 
 thofe who have been fo eminently and re- 
 markably faithful unto death. 
 
 From the moment in which he fell, it was 
 no longer a battle, but a rout and carnage. 
 The cruelties which the rebels (as it is gen- 
 erally faid,. under the command of Lord 
 Elcho) infli&edon fome of the King's troops 
 after they had aflced quarter, are dreadfully 
 legible on the countenances of many who 
 farvived it. Tbey entered Colonel Gard- 
 iner's houfe, before he was carried off frern 
 the field ; and, notwithftanding the ftri£i 
 orders which the unhappy Duke of Perth 
 (whofe conduft is faid to have been very 
 humane in many inftances) gave to the con- 
 trary, every thing of value was plundered, 
 to the very curtains of the bed and hangings 
 of the rooms. His papers were all thrown 
 into the wildeft diforder, and his houfe made 
 an hofpital, for the reception of thofe who 
 were wounded in the adtion, 
 
 Such was the clofe of a life, which had 
 been fo zealoufly devoted to God, and filled 
 up with fo many honourable fertices. This 
 was the death of him, who had been fo high- 
 ly favoured by God, in the method by which 
 he was brought back to him after fo long and 
 fo great an eftrangement, and in the progrefs 
 S 2 of 
 
2io. LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 
 
 of fo many years, during which (in the ex- 
 preffive phrafe of the moft ancient of writers) 
 
 he had walked with him ; to fall as God 
 
 threatened the people of his wrath that they 
 fhould do, with tumult, with flouting, and 
 with the found of the trumpet. (Amos, ii. 2.) 
 Several other vttry worthy, and fome of them 
 very eminent perfons, fhared the fame fate ; 
 either now in the ba*ttle of Prefton Pans, or 
 quickly after in that of Falkirk : Providence,, 
 no doubt, permitting it, to eftabliflh our 
 faith in the rewards of an invisible world ; 
 as well as to teach us, to ceafe from man, 
 and fix our dependence on an almighty 
 arm. 
 
 The remains of this Chriftian hero, (as I 
 believe every reader is now convinced he 
 tnay juftly be called) were interred the 
 Tuefday following, September 24, at the 
 parifh church at Tranent, where he had uf- 
 iially attended divine fervice, with great fo- 
 leninity. His obfequies were honoured 
 with the prefence of fome perfons of diC- 
 tin&ion, who were not afraid of paying that 
 laft piece of refpeft to his memory, though 
 the country was then in the hands of the 
 enemy. But indeed there was no great 
 hazard in this - for his chara&er was fo well 
 known, that even they themfelves fpoke 
 honourably of hi 23, and feemed to join with 
 
 his 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 1 1 1 
 
 his friends in lamenting the fall of fo brave 
 and fo worthy a man. 
 
 The remoteft pofterity will remember, for 
 whom the honour of fubduing this unnat- 
 ural and pernicious rebellion was referved 5. 
 and it will endear the perfon of the illuftri^ 
 ous Duke of Cumberland, to all but the 
 open or fecret abettors of it in the prelent 
 age, and confecrate his name to immortal 
 honours among all the friends of religion 
 and liberty who fhall arife after us. And I 
 dare fay it will not be imagined that I at all 
 derogate from his glory, in fuggefting, that 
 the memory of that valinat and excellent 
 perfon, whofe memoirs I am now conclud- 
 ing, may in fome meafure have contributed 
 to that fignal and complete victory," with 
 which God was pleafed to crown the arms 
 of his Royal Highnefs : For the force of 
 fuch an example is very animating, and a 
 painful confcioufnefs of having deferted 
 fuch a commander in fuch extremity, mult 
 at leaft awaken, where there was any fpark 
 of generofity, an earneft defire to avenge his 
 death on thofe who had facrificed his blood, 
 and that of fo many other excellent perfons, 
 to the views of their ambition, rapine, or 
 bigotry. 
 
 r l he refleftions I have made in my funeral 
 fermon on my honoured friend, and in the 
 
 dedication 
 
212 LIFE or Col. GARDINER. 
 
 dedication of it to his worthy and moll afL 
 ftidted lady, fuperfede marry things which 
 might otherwife have properly been added 
 here. I conclude therefore with humbly 
 acknowledging the wifdom and goodnefs of 
 that awful providence, which drew fo thick 
 a gloom around him in the laft hours of his 
 life, that the luftre of his virtues might dart 
 through it with a more vivid and obfervable 
 ray. It is abundant matter of thankfulnefsy 
 that fo fignal a monument of grace, and or- 
 nament of the Chriftian profeffion, was raif- 
 ed in our age and country, and fpared for fo 
 many honourable and ufeful years. Nor 
 can all the tendernefs of the moft affe&ion- 
 ate friendfhip, while its forrows bleed afrefh 
 in the view of fo tragical a fcene, prevent 
 my adoring the gracious appointment of the 
 great Lord of all events, that when the day 
 in which he muft have expired without an 
 enemy, appeared fo very near, the laft ebb 
 of his generous blood fhould be poured out, 
 as a kind of facred libation, to the liberties 
 of his country, and the honour of his God ! 
 that all the other virtues of his chara&er, 
 embalmed as it were by that precious ftream, 
 might diffufe around a more extenfive fra- 
 grancy, and be tranfmitted to the moft re- 
 mote pofterity, with that peculiar charm 
 which they cannot but derive, from their 
 
 connexion 
 
LIFE of Col. GARDINER. 213 
 
 connexion with fo gallant a fall : An event 
 (as that bleffed Apoftle, of whofe fpirit he 
 fo deeply drank, has expreffed it) according 
 to his carnejl expectation, and his hope, thai; in 
 hirfi Chriji might be glorified in all things p 
 whether by his- life, or by his death. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Relating to the Colonel's Per/on. 
 
 IN the midfl of fo many more important articles, T 
 had really forgot to fay any thing of the perfon 
 of Colonel G/vr diner, of which neverthelefs it 
 may be proper here to add a word or two. It was, 
 as I am informed, in younger life, remarkably grace- 
 ful and amiable : And I can eafily believe it, from 
 what I knew him to be, when our acquaintance 
 began ; though he was then turned of fifty, and had 
 gone through fo many fatigues as well as dangers, 
 which could not but leave fome traces on his coun- 
 tenance. He was tali, (1 fuppofe Something more 
 than fix £eet) well proportioned, and ilrongly built: 
 His eyes of a dark grey, and not very large ; his 
 forehead pretty high ; his nofe of a length and 
 height no way remarkable, but very well fuited to 
 his other features ; his cheeks not very prominent, 
 his mouth moderately large, and his chin rather a 
 little inclining (when I knew him) to be peaked* 
 He had a ftrong voice, and lively accent ; with an 
 air very intrepid, yet attempered with much gentle- 
 nefs : And there was fomething in his manner of 
 addrsfs molt perfectly cafy and obliging, which was - 
 in a great meafure the rcfult of the great candoar 
 and benevolence of his natural temper ; and which, 
 no doubt, was much improved by the deep humility 
 which divine grace had wrought into his heart ; as^ 
 well as his having been accuftomed from his early 
 youth, to the company of perfons of diftinguifhed 
 rank and polite behaviour. 
 
 VERSED 
 
APPENDIX. ti$ 
 
 VERSES 
 
 On the Death of Colonel Gardiner. 
 
 Ey the Rev. Benjamin Sowden. 
 
 Quis defideriQ Jtt pttdor, out modus, 
 
 Tarn chart caf'tth? Hoi., 
 
 /^OULD piety perpetuate human breath, 
 
 ^■^ Or (hield one mortal from the {hafts of death, 
 
 Thou ne'er, illuftrious man ! thou ne*er hadftbeen 
 
 A palid corpfe on Prefton's fatal plain. 
 
 Or could her hand, though impotent to fave 
 
 Confummate worth, redeem it from the grave, 
 
 Soon would thy urn refign its facred trull:, 
 
 And recent life reanimate thy dud. 
 
 But vain the wifh. — The favage hand of war — . 
 Oh how (hall words the mournful tale declare ! 
 Too foon the news affii&ed friendlhip hears, 
 Too foon, alas ! confirm'd her boding fears. 
 
 Struck with the found, unconfeious of redrels, 
 She felt thy wounds, and wept fevere diftrefs. 
 A while diflblv'd in trucelefs grief fhe lay, 
 Which left thee to relentlefs rage a prey. 
 
 At length kind Fame fufpends our heaving fighs, 
 And wipes the forrows from our flowing eyes ; 
 Gives us to know, thi«e exit well fupply'd 
 Thofe blooming laurels vi&oty deny 'd. 
 When thy great foul fupprefs'd each timid moan, 
 And foar'-d triumphant in a dying groan, [ plaint, 
 Thy fall, which rais'd, now calms each wild com- 
 Thy fall, which join'd the hero to the faint* 
 
 As 
 
Si6 APPEND! X. 
 
 As o'er th' expiring lamp the quiv'ring flame 
 Colie&s its luftre in a brighter gleam, 
 Thy virtues,' giimm'ring on the verge of night, 
 Through the dim fhade diffus'd ceieftial light ; 
 A radiance, death or time can ne'er defiroy, 
 Th' aufpicious omen of eternal joy. 
 
 Hence ev'ry unavailing grief ! No more 
 As haplefs thy removal we deplore. 
 Thy gufhing veins, in ev'ry drop they bleed, 
 Of patriot warriors fhed the fruitful feed. 
 Soon {hall the ripen'd harvefl rife in arms 
 To crufh rebellion's infolent alarms. 
 While profp'rous moments footh'dthro' life his way, 
 Conceal'd from public view the hero lay: 
 But when affli&ion clouded his decline, 
 It not eclips'd, but made his. honours fhine ; 
 Gave them to beam confpicuous from the gloom, 
 And plant unfading trophies round his tomb. 
 
 So ftars are loft, amidft the blaze of day : 
 But when the fun withdraws his golden ray, 
 Refulgent thro' th' etherial arch they roll, 
 And j*ild the wide expanfe from pole to pole. 
 
 a SERMON, 
 
The Cbrtjiian Warrior animated and 
 crowned : 
 
 SERMON, 
 
 OCCASIONED BY THE 
 
 HEROICK DEATH 
 
 . OF THE 
 
 Hon. Col. JAxMES GARDINER, 
 
 WHO WAS SLAIN IN THB 
 
 BATTLE at PRESTON PANS, 
 September 21, 1745. 
 
 Pleached at Northampton, Ottober 13, 
 
 by P. DODDRIDGE, d. d. 
 
 -Itle Timorum 
 
 Maximus haud urget Lethi Metus :— 
 « Jgnavum Rediturae parcerc Vitas. 
 
 Lvcan, 
 
 PRINTED at BOSTON, 
 
 by I. THOMAS and E. T. ANDREWS, 
 
 FAVSTs Statu?,, No. 45, Km bury Street* 
 MDCCXC1I, 
 
TO THE 
 
 Right Honourable the 
 
 Madam, 
 
 VCLTIGM 
 
 OshmcLk 
 
 * 
 
 azavntr* 
 
 
 1HE intimate knowledge I had of Col. 
 Gardiner's private as well as pwblick character, 
 and of that endeared friendfhip which fo long 
 fubfifted between him and your ladyfhip, makes 
 me more fenfible than mod others can be, both of 
 the inexprefiible lofs you have fuftained, and of 
 the exquifite fenfe you have of it. I might, in 
 fome degree, argue what you felt, from the agony 
 with which my own heart was torn by that ever 
 to be lamented flroke, which deprived the nation, 
 and the church r of fo great an ornament andblelf- 
 ing : And indeed, Madam, I was fo fenfible o£ 
 your calamity, as to be ready in my firft thoughts 
 to congratulate you, when 1 heard the report 
 which at firft prevailed, that you died under the 
 fhock. Yet cooler reflection teaches me, on ma- 
 ny accounts, to rejoice that your ladyfhip has fur- 
 vived that deareft part of yourfel£ ; though after 
 having been fo lovely and pleafant in your lives, 
 it would have been matter of perfonal rejoicing, 
 in death not to have been divided. The numer- 
 ous and promifing offspring with which God 
 hath blefled your marriage, had evidently the 
 
 highefl 
 
220 DEDICATION. 
 
 highefl intereft in the continued life of fo pious 
 and affectionate a mother : And I hope, and af- 
 furedly believe, there was a' more important, and 
 to you a much dearer intereft concerned, as God 
 may be, and is, fignally honoured, by trie manner 
 in which you bear this heavieft and raoft terrible 
 ftroke of his paternal rod, 
 
 God had been pleafed, Madam, to make you 
 both eminent for a variety of graces ; and he has 
 proportionably diftinguifhed you both, in the op- 
 portunity he has given you of exercifmg thofe, 
 which furt the moft painful fcenes, that can attend 
 a pious and an honourable life. But when I Gen- 
 ii der what it is, to ^have loft fuch a man, at fuch 
 time, and in fuch ciicumftances, Imuft needs de- 
 clare, that brave and heroick as the death of the 
 Colonel was, your ladyihip's part is beyond all 
 comparifon the hardeft. Yet even here has the 
 grace of Chrift been fufRcient for you; and 1 join 
 with your ladyfhip in adoring the power and 
 faithfulnefs of him, who has here fo remarkably 
 {hewn, that he forgets not his promife to all his 
 people, of a ftrength proportionable to their day ; 
 that they may be enabled to glorify him in the 
 hotted furnace, into which it is pofllble they 
 fhould be call. 
 
 To hear, (as 1 have heard from feveral perfons 
 of diflinguifhed character, who have lately had 
 the happinefs of being near your ladyfhip) of that 
 
 meek 
 
DEDICATION. 221 
 
 meek refignation to the divine will, of that calm 
 patience, of that Chrifiian courage, with which, 
 in f© weak a {late of health and fpirits, you have 
 fupported under this awful providence, has given 
 me great pleafure, but no furprife. So near a re- 
 lation to fo brave a man might have taught ibme 
 degree of fortitude, to a foul lefs fufceptible of it 
 than your ladyihip's. Nor is there any doubt but 
 that the prayers he has fo long been laying up in 
 ftore for you, efpecially fince the decay of his con- 
 stitution gave him reafon to expert a fpeedy re- 
 move, will afTuredly at fuch a feafon come into 
 remembrance before God. And above all, the 
 fublime principles of the Christian religion, fo 
 deeply imbibed into your own heart as well as 
 his, will not fail to exert their energy on fuch an 
 occafion. Thefe, Madam, will teach you to view 
 the hand of a wife, a righteous, and a gracious 
 God in this event ; and will {hew you, that a 
 friendfhip founded on fuch a bafis, fo very in- 
 dearing, and fo clofely cemented, as that which 
 has been here for many years a blefling to you 
 b6th, can know only a very {ho rt interruption 1 , 
 and will foon grow up into a union infinitely 
 nobler and more delightful, which never fhall be 
 liable to any feparation. . 
 
 In the mean time, Madam, it may comfort us 
 
 not a little under the fenfe of our prefent lofs, to 
 
 think what religious improvement we may gain by 
 
 it, if wc are not wanting to ourfelves : And happy 
 
 T 2 ihall 
 
222 DEDICATION. 
 
 fli all we be indeed, if we fo hear the rod, a* to 
 receive the inftru&ions it fo natui atty fuggefts and 
 inforces. Perfons of any ferious reflection will 
 learn from this awful event, how little we can 
 judge of the divine favour by the viiiblc difpenfa- 
 tions of Providence here : They will learn, (and 
 it may be of great importance to confider it, juft 
 in fuch a crifis as this) that no diftinguifhed de- 
 gree of piety can f ecure the very beft of men from 
 the fivord of a common enemy : And they will 
 fee (written, alas, in characters of the moft prec- 
 ious blood, that war ever fpilt in our ifland)- the 
 vanity of the furefr protectors and comforters 
 which mortality can afford, at a time when they 
 are moll needed. 
 
 Thefe are general inftru&ions, which I hope 
 thoufands will receive, on this univerfally lament- 
 ed occafion : But to you, Madam, and to me, and 
 to all that were honoured with the moft intimate 
 friendship of this Chriftian hero, his death has a 
 peculiar voice* Whiift it leads us back into fo 
 many pad fcenes of delight, in the remembrance 
 of which we now pour out our fouls within us, it 
 ealls aloud, amidil all this tender diftrefs, for a. 
 tribute of humble thankfulnefs to God, that ever 
 we enjoyed fuch a friend, and efpecially in fuch 
 an intimacy of mutual affection ; and that we had 
 an opportunity of obferving, in fo many inftances, 
 the fecret recedes of a heart, which God had en- 
 riched, adorned, and ennobled with fo much of 
 
 his 
 
DEDICATION. 223 
 
 his own image, and fuch abundant communica- 
 tions of his grace : It calls for our redoubled dil- 
 igence and refolution, in imitating that bright af- 
 femblage of virtues, which fhone fo refplendent 
 in our illuftrious friend : And furely it muft, by 
 a kind of irrefiftible influence, mortify our affec- 
 tions to this impoverifhed world ; and muft caufe 
 nature to concur with grace, in railing our hearts 
 upwards to that glorious world, where he dwells 
 triumphant and immortal, and waits our arrival 
 with an ardour of pure and elevated love, which 
 it was impofiible for death to quench, 
 
 Next to thefe views, nothing can give your 
 ladyfhip greater fatisfa£lion, than to reflect, how 
 happy you made the amiable confort you have 
 loft, in that intimate relation you fo long bore to 
 each other ; in which, I well know, that grow- 
 ing years ripened and increafed your mutual ef- 
 teem and friendihip, Nor will your generous 
 heart be infenfible of that pleafure, which may a- 
 rife from reflecting, that the manner of his death 
 (though in itfelf fo terrible, that we dare not truft 
 imagination with the particular review) was to 
 him, in thofe circumftances, mod glorious, to re- 
 ligion highly ornamental, and to his country, great 
 as its lofs is, on various accounts beneficial. For 
 very far be it from us to think, that Colonel 
 Gardiner, though fallen by the weapons of rebell- 
 ion and treafon, has fought and died in vain. I 
 truft in God, that fo heroick a behaviour will in- 
 
 fpire 
 
2*4 DEDICATION. 
 
 fpire our warriors with augmented courage, now 
 they are called to exert it in a caufe, the moft no-, 
 ble and important that can ever be in queftion, 
 the caufe of our laws, our liberty, and religion. 
 I- truft, that all who keep up a correfpondence 
 with heaven by prayer, will renew their intercef- 
 fion for this bleeding land with increafing fer- 
 vour, now we have loft one who flood in the 
 breach with fuch unwearied importunity. And 
 1 am well aflured, that of the multitudes who lay 
 up his memory in their inmoft hearts with ven- 
 eration and love, not a few will be often joining 
 their moft affectionate prayers to God, for your 
 ladyfhip, and the dear rifing branches of your 
 family, with thofe whieh you may, in confequence 
 of a theufand obligations, always expeS from 
 
 Madam T 
 
 Your ladyfhip's moft faithful 
 
 and obedient humble fervant, 
 
 P. DODDRIDGE. 
 
 N&tkmptonylsovt 27^ 1745.. • 
 
E R M O N. 
 
 REV. II. 10. Utter part. 
 
 — — BS THOU rAIIiiU'L LWTO DEATH, AHD I WILL GIVE THEfl 
 A CROWN OF LIFE. 
 
 IT is a glory peculiar to the Chriflian re- 
 ligion, that it is capable of yielding joy 
 and triumph to the mind, amidft calamities, 
 in which the flrength of nature, and of a 
 philofophy that has no higher a fupport, 
 can hardly give it ferenity, or even patience. 
 Thofe boafted aids are but like a candle in 
 fome ternpeftuous night, which how artific- 
 ially foever it may be fenced in > is often ex- 
 tinguifhed amidft the florin, in which it 
 fliould guide and cheer the traveller, or the 
 mariner ; whom it leaves on a fudden, in ; 
 darknefs, horror, and fear : While the con- 
 folation of the gofpel, like the fun, makes a 
 fure day even when behind the thickefl 
 
 clould 
 
226 
 
 cloud, and foon emerges from it with an 
 acceflion of more fenfible luftre. 
 
 The obfervation is verified in thefe words, 
 confidered in connexion with that awful 
 providence, which has this day determined 
 my thoughts to fix upon them, as the fub- 
 je£l of my difcourfe ; the fall of that truly 
 great and good man, Colonel Gardiner : 
 The endearing tendernefs of whofe friend- 
 fhip would have rendered his death an un- 
 fpeakable calamity to me, had his chara&er 
 been only of the common flandard ; as on 
 the other hand, the exalted excellency of his 
 character makes his death to be lamented by- 
 thoufands, who were not happy in any pe- 
 culiar intimacy or perfonal acquaintance 
 with him. 
 
 While we mourn the brave warrior, the 
 exemplary Chriflian, and the afFe&ionate 
 friend ; loft to ourfelves and our country, 
 to the church and the world, at a time when 
 we mofl needed all the defence of his brav- 
 ery, all the edification of his example, all 
 the comfort of his converfe : Struck with the 
 various and aggravated forrow of fo fudden, 
 and fo terrible a blow, methinks there is but 
 one voice that can cheer us, which is this of 
 the great captain of our falvation, fo lately 
 addrefling him, and flill addreffing us, in 
 thefe comprehenfive and animated words r 
 
 Be 
 
227 
 
 Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give 
 thee a crown of life. 
 
 With regard to the connexion of them, it 
 may be fufficient to obferve, that our Lord, 
 in all thefe feven epiftles to the Afiatick 
 churches, reprefents the Chriflian life as a 
 warfare, and the bleflings of the future ftate 
 as rewards to be beftowed on conquerors. 
 To him that overcometh, will I give fuch 
 and fuch royal donatives. Purfuing the 
 fame allegory, he warns the church of 
 Smyrna of an approaching combat, which 
 fhould be attended with fome fevere cir- 
 cumftances. Some of them were to become 
 captives ; the Devil (hall cafl fome of you 
 into prifon : And though the power of the 
 enemy was to be limited, in its extent as well 
 as its duration, to the tribulation of ten days, 
 it feems to be implied, that while many were 
 harraffed and diftreffed during that time, 
 fome of them fhould before the clofe of it 
 be called to refill unto blood. But their 
 great leader furnifhes them with fuitable 
 armour, and proportionable courage, by this 
 gracious afTurance, which it is our prefent 
 bufinefs farther to contemplate : Be thou 
 faithful unto death, and I will give thee a 
 crown of life. 
 
 In which words you naturally obferve a 
 charge — and a promife by which it is in- 
 forced. 
 
828 
 
 forced. I {hall briefly ifluftrate wch, and 
 then conclude with fome reflections upon 
 the whole. 
 
 Firft, I am to open the charge here given : 
 Be thou faithful unto death. 
 
 Concerning which I would obferve, that 
 though it is immediately addrefled to the 
 church at Smyrna, yet the nature of the 
 thing, and numberlefs paflages of the divine 
 word concur to prove, that it is common in 
 its obligation, to all Chriftians, and indeed 
 to all men. 
 
 I (hall not be large in explaining the na- 
 ture of faithfulnefs in general ; concerning 
 which I might fhew you, that the word here 
 rendered faithful, has fometimes a relation 
 to the teftimony which God has given us, 
 and fometimes to fome truft that he has re- 
 pofed in us. In the former fenfe, it is 
 properly rendered believing, and oppofed to 
 infidelity : Be not faithlefs, but believing.* 
 In the latter, it is oppofed to injuftice : He 
 that is faithful in that which is leaft, is faith- 
 ful alfo in much ; whereas he that is unjuft 
 in the leaft, is unjuft alfo in much.t And 
 it is in reference to this fenfe of it, that our 
 Lord rcprefetits himfelf, as faying to the 
 man who had improved his talents aright, 
 well done, good and faithful fervant.J Our 
 
 deceafed 
 ♦John xx. 27. f Luke xvi. 10. J Mat. xxv. 23. 
 
229 
 
 deceafed friend was fo remarkably faithful 
 in both thefe fenfes ; fo ready to admit, and 
 fo zealous to defend the faith once deliver- 
 ed to the faints ; and fo adiive in improving 
 thofe various talents, with which, in mercy 
 to many others as well as to himfelf, God 
 had intruded him ; that it was very natural 
 to touch upon thefe fignifications of the 
 word, though it has here a more particular 
 view to another virtue, for which he was fo 
 illuftrioufly confpicuous, I mean, the cour- 
 agious fidelity of a foldier in his warfare. 
 
 In this fenfe of the word, it is oppofed to 
 treachery or cowardice, defertion or difobe- 
 dience to military orders. And thus it is 
 ufed elfewhere in this fame book of the Rev- 
 elation, when fpeaking of thofi who war 
 under the banner of the lamb, the King of 
 Kings, and Lord of Lords, the infpired 
 writer tells us, they are called, and chofen, 
 and faithful,* a feledl body of brave and 
 valiant foldiers. 
 
 This hint will alfo fix the eafiefl and 
 plaineft fenfe, in which the perfons, to 
 whom the text is addrefled, are required to 
 be faithful unto death : Which, though it 
 does indeed in general imply, a patient con- 
 tinuance in well doing,t in whatever fcenes 
 
 of 
 
 * Rev. xvii. 14, f Rom. ii. 7, 
 
 .u 
 
230 
 
 of life divine providence may place us ; yet 
 does efpecially refer to martial bravery, and 
 exprefs a readinefs to face death in its mod 
 terrible forms, when our great General fhali 
 lead us on to it. You well know this to be 
 an ihdifpenfable condition of otir being r ac-* 
 knowledged by him ill the day of hifr final 
 triumph : And of this he warned thofe that 
 gathered around him, when he was firft raif- 
 ing his army, under the greateft difadvan- 
 tages in outward appearance ; exprefsly and 
 plainly telling them, that they muft be con- 
 tent to follow him to martyrdom, to follow 
 him to crucifixion, when they receive the 
 word of command to do it ; or that all their 
 profefiion of regard to him would be in 
 vain. If any man, fays he, will come after 
 me, let him deny himfelf, and take up his 
 crofs, and follow me :* For he that loveth 
 his own life more than me, is not worthy of 
 me ;t he does not deferve the honour of 
 bearing my name, and pafling for one of my 
 foldiers ; indeed he cannot on any terms be 
 my difciple.J 
 
 This therefore is in effeft the language of 
 our Lord, when he fays, be thou faithful 
 unto death : It is as if he had faid, c< Re- 
 ff member all you of Smyrna, or of any oth- 
 <c er place and country, that call yourfelves 
 
 <f Chriftians, 
 
 * Mark, viii. 34.. f Mat. x. 37, 39. J Luke, xiv. z6. 
 
231 
 
 " Clinicians, thpughout ajl generations, that 
 " you were by baptifm inlifted under my 
 " banners : Remember, that you have as it 
 €i were fealed, and fubfcribed your engage- 
 " ment to me, by every facrament you have 
 " fince attended ;" (as indeed it is well 
 known, the w.ovd facrament originally figni- 
 fies a : military oath, which fold iers took as a 
 pledge. of fidelity to their General :) " Re- 
 " member, therefore, that you are ever to 
 u continue with me, and to march forward 
 " under my direction, whatever hardfhips 
 " and fatigues may lie in the way. .And 
 " remember, th^t if I lead you on to the 
 " mod formidable combat, vou muft cheer- 
 <c fully obey the word of command, and 
 <f charge boldly, though you fhould imme- 
 cc diately die, whether by the fword, or by 
 iK fire. Should you dare to flee, I am my- 
 <c feif your enemy ; and the weapons which 
 cc I bear, would juftly be levelled at your 
 " own traiterous heads. But if you bravely 
 " follow me, I know how to make you am- 
 cf pie amends, even though you fall in the 
 " aftion. When no human power and 
 " gratitude can reach you, it is my glorious 
 cc prerogative to engage, that to thofe who 
 " are thus faithful unto death, I will give a 
 cc crown of life." We are therefore, 
 
 Secondly, 
 
2 3 2 
 
 Secondly, To confider the promife, by 
 which the charge is enforced : I will give 
 thee a crown of life. 
 
 And here I might obferve, a crown of life 
 js the glorious reward propofed, and it is to 
 be received from the hand of Ghrift. 
 
 1 . A crown of life is the reward propofed : 
 Which we are fure jn this connexion im- 
 plies, both grandeur and felicity ; here, 
 though rarely, oonne&ed together. 
 
 There is, no doubt, an allufion in thefe 
 words, to the ancient, and I think very pru- 
 dent, cuftom of animating the bravery of 
 foidiers by honorary rewards, and particu- 
 larly by crowns ; fometirnes of laurel, and 
 fometimes, more rarely, of filver and gold ; 
 which they were permitted to wear on pub- 
 lick occafions, and in confequence of receiv- 
 ing which they were fometimes intitled to 
 fome peculiar immunities. But here our 
 Lord Jefus Chrift^ confcious of his own di- 
 vine power and prerogative, fpeaks with a 
 dignity and elevation, which no earthly 
 prince or commander could ever affume ; 
 promifing a crown of life, and that, as was 
 obferved before, even to thofe who fhould 
 fall in the battle ; A crown of life in the 
 higheft fenfe ; not only one, which fhould' 
 ever be frefh and fair, but which fhould give 
 immortality to the happy brow it adorned ; 
 
 and 
 
233 
 
 and be forever, worn, not only as the monu- 
 ment of bravery and vi£lory, but as the en- 
 fign of royalty too : A crown conne&ed 
 with; a kingdom, and with what no other 
 kingdom can give, perpetual life to enjoy it; 
 perpetual youth, and vigo.ur to relifh all its 
 delights, And this is agreeable to the lan- 
 guage of other fcrip tares, where we read of 
 the crown of life, which the Lord hath 
 promifed to them that love him ;* a crown 
 of righteoufnefs, which the Lord the right- 
 eous Judge ihall give ;t a crown of glory, 
 which fadeth not away. J; We may alfo 
 obferve, 
 
 2. That it is faid to be given by ChrifL 
 This fome pious commentators have ex- 
 plained, as intimating, that it is the gift of 
 •the Redeemer's free and unmerited grace, 
 and not a retribution due to the merit of 
 him that receiveth it. And this is an un r 
 doubted truth, which it is of the highefi 
 importance to acknowledge and confider. 
 The proper wages of fin is death ; but eter- 
 nal life is (in oppofition to wages) the gift 
 of God through Jefus Chrift our Lord. § 
 We ftould humbly own it every day, thai: 
 there is no proportion between the value of 
 
 our 
 
 * Jam. i. i2. f a Tim. iv. 8. X f Pet - v - 4« 
 
 \ Rom. vi. 23. 
 
 U2 
 
234 
 
 our fervices i and the crown which we expeS 
 
 to receive : Should own that it is mercy 
 
 that pardons our fins, and grace that accepts 
 
 our fervices ; much more, that crowns them. 
 
 Grace, grace, fhall (as it were) be engraven 
 
 upon that crown, in chara&ers; large and 
 
 indelible : Nor will that infcription diminifh 
 
 its luftre, or impair the pleafure with which 
 
 we fhall receive it. I could not forbear 
 
 mentioning this thought, as a truth of the 
 
 utmoft importance, which ftands on the 
 
 firmeft bafisof very many exprefsfcriptures ; 
 
 a truth, of whichperhaps no man living had 
 
 ever a deeper fenfe, than our deceafed friend. 
 
 But I mention it thus obliquely, becaufe it 
 
 may be doubted whether we can juftly argue 
 
 it from hence ; fince the word give is fome- 
 
 times u fed for rendering a retribution juftly 
 
 due, and that in inftances where grace and- 
 
 favour have, in propriety of fpeech; no 
 
 concern at all.* 
 
 But it is certain-that this expreflion, I will 
 
 give thee a crown of life, is intended to lead* 
 
 our thoughts to this important circum fiance ; 
 
 that this crown ifr to be received from the 
 
 hand of Chrift himfelf. And the Apoftie 
 
 Paul evidently refers to the fame eircum- 
 
 fiance, 
 
 * Compare M^t. xx. 3* Give the labourers their hire. 
 Col. iv. i. Makers, give unto your fervants that which 
 is j aft and equaL 
 
2 Ji 
 
 fiance, iri terms which fhew how much he 
 entered into the fpirit of the thought, when 
 he fays, the Lo d the righteous judge (hall 
 give it m° :* 1 1 8 himfelf, the great judge of 
 the conteft, whofe- eye witneifes the whole 
 courfe of it, whofe decifion cannot err, and 
 from whofe fentenee there is no appeal; 
 Alluding to the judge who prefided in the 
 Grecian games, who was always a perfon of 
 rank and eminence, and himfelf reached 
 forth the reward to him who overcame in 
 them. 
 
 So that on the whole, when our Lord J e- 
 fus Chrifl fays, be thou faithful unto death,, 
 and I will give thee a crown of life ; methtnfcs 
 our devout meditations may expatiate upon 
 the words, in fome fuch paraphrafe as this. 
 It is,as if he had faid, to you, and to me, and 
 to all his people, " Oh my faithful foldiers, 
 u fear not death in its moli terrible array, 
 u for you are immortal. Fear not them 
 u that can kill the body :t You have a no- 
 u bier part, which they cannot reach ; and I 
 " will undertake, not only for its refcue, but 
 u its happinefs. I will anfwer for it, on the 
 ? * honour of my royal word, that it (hall live 
 M in a ftate of noble enlargement, oP tri- 
 " umphant joy. Think on me : I am he 
 u that liveth, though 1 was dead ; and be. 
 
 "hold, 
 
 * 2 Tim. iv. 8. f Mat. x. 2S. 
 
236 
 
 <c hold, I am alive for ever more ; :* : And be- 
 cc caufe I live, you : £hall live alfo ;f ihall 
 cc exift in a Rate, that deferves the great and 
 u honourable na L me of life ; fo that earth in 
 ft. all its Luftre and pleafure, \yhm compared 
 41 with it, is but a fcene qi death, or at beft 
 cc as an amufing dream when one a waketb. "J 
 We may alfp confider him, as pur.fuing 
 this animating addrqfs, and faying, " My 
 u brave companions in tribulation and pa- 
 c< tience, you (hall not only live, but reign. 
 <c Think not, thou good foldier, who art now 
 f< fighting under my banner, that thy Gen- 
 4( eral will wear his honours alone. If I 
 <c have my crown, if I have my triumph, be 
 u aflured that thou alfo (halt have thine. 
 " Thou mayeft indeed feem to periflh in the 
 €i combat, and thy friends may mourn, and 
 " thine enemies infult, as if thou wert ut- 
 €i terly cut off.i But behold; true- victory 
 <c fpreads over thee her golden wing, and 
 €i holds out, not a garland of fading flowers 
 fC or leaves, but a crown that {hall keep its 
 t( luftre, when all the coftlieft gems on earth 
 if are melted in the general burning ; yea, 
 "when the luminaries of heaven are extin- 
 u guifhed, and the fun and flars fade away 
 fl in their orbs." 
 
 " Nor 
 
 * Rev. i, 18. t Jo^n, xiv. 19. X Pkl* lxxiiie 20. 
 
*37 
 
 M Nor will I," does he feem to fay, " fend 
 " thee this crown by fome inferior hand; 
 " not even by the nobleft angel, that waits 
 " on the throne I have now afcendedi 
 " Thou fhalt receive it from mine own 
 " hand ;" (from that hand, which would 
 make the leaft gift valuable : What a digni- 
 ty then will it add to the greateft !) " Nor 
 " will I myfelf confer this reward in private ; 
 " it fhall be given with the moft magnificent 
 " folemnity. Thou {halt be brought to me 
 " before the affembled world : Thy name 
 cc fhall be called over ; thou fhak appear, 
 & and I will own thee, and crown thee, in 
 " publick view. Thy friends (hall fee it 
 " with raptures of joy, and congratulate an 
 " honour in which they {hail alfo fhare. 
 cc Thine enemies fhall fee it with envy and 
 cc w r ith rage, to increafe their confufion and 
 <c mifery : They fhall fee, that while by their 
 lC malicious affaults ihey were endeavouring 
 * c to deftroy thee, they were only eftabliftiing 
 cc thy throne, and brightening the luftre, 
 " which fhall forever adorn thy brow ; while 
 <c theirs is blafted with the thunder of refift- 
 " lefs wrath, and deep engraven with the 
 u indelible marks of vengeance. This cro wn 
 " fhalt thou forever wear, as the perpetual 
 u token of my efteem and affe&ion : Nor 
 u fhall it be merely a fhining ornament : A 
 
 ' " rich 
 
238 
 
 " rich revenue, # glorious authority, goes 
 " along with it. Thou (halt reign forever 
 " and ever ;* and be a king, as well as a 
 "prieft, untoGod."t 
 
 They who enter by a lively faith into the 
 import of thefe glorious words, will (I doubt 
 not) pardon my having expatiated fo largely 
 upon them. We have believed, and there- 
 fore have we fpoken :+ And I queftion not, 
 but that many of you have, in the courfe of 
 this representation, prevented me in fome 
 of the refledtiqns, which naturally arife from 
 fuch a jfubjeQ:. Yjet it may not be improper 
 to aflift your devout meditations upon them. 
 1. What reafon have we to adore the 
 grace of our blefled Redeemer, which pre- 
 pares, and bellows, fuch rewards as thefe ! 
 
 While we hear him faying, be thou faith- 
 ful unto death, and I will give thee a crown 
 of life ; methinks it is but natural for each 
 of our hearts to anfwer, " Lord, doft thou 
 fpeak of giving a crewn, a crown of life 
 aptd glory to me ! Too great, too great, 
 might the favour feem, if I, vvho have fo 
 often lifted up my rebellious hand againft 
 thy throne, might be allowed to lay down 
 this guilty head in the duft, and lofe the 
 memory of my treafons, and the fenfe of 
 my punifhment together, in everlafting 
 
 for^ifulnefs. 
 * Rev. xxii. 5. f R ev * *• 6 ' t 2 Cor. **• J 3» 
 
 €i 
 
*39 
 
 * forgfctfulnefs. And is fuch a crown pre- 
 " pared, and wilt thou, my injured fovereign, ' 
 "who mighteft fo juftly arm thyfelf with 
 " vengeance againft me, beftow this crown 
 
 * with thine own hand ; with all thefe othef 
 " circumftances of dignity, fo as even to 
 
 iC make my triumphs thine own ! What 
 
 " is my drifted fidelity to thee ? Though I 
 c< do indeed (as I humbly defire that I may) 
 cc continue faithful unto death, I am yet but 
 m an unprofitable fervant ; I have done no 
 <c rtiore than my duty.* I have purfued 
 " thy work, in thy ftrength ; and, in confe- 
 " quence of that love which thou haft put 
 u into my heart, it hath been its own reward : 
 H And doll thou thus crown one favour with 
 
 w another ! Blefled Jefus, I would with 
 
 " all humility lay that crown at thy feet, 
 " acknowledging before thee, and the whole 
 fC world, (as I {hall at length do in a more 
 €< expreffive form) that it is not only the gift 
 <c of thy love, but the purchafe of thy blood. 
 n Never, never had I beheld it, otherwife 
 n than at an unapproachable diftan;;e, as au 
 " aggravation of my mifery and defpair, 
 " hadft not thou worn another crown, a 
 f< crown of infamy and of thorns. The 
 iC gems which mud forever adorn my tem- 
 cl pies, were formed from thofe precious 
 
 u drops 
 * Luke, xvii. xo, 
 
" drops, that once trickled down thine; and 
 . fc all the fplendor of my robes of triumph is 
 €t owing to their being waftied in the blood 
 c< of the lamb."* With what pleafing 
 wonder may we purfue the thought ! And 
 while it employs our mind, 
 
 2. How juftly may this awaken a gener- 
 ous ambition to fecure this crown to our- 
 felves ! 
 
 Dearly as it was purchafed by our blefled 
 Redeemer, it is moft freely offered to us* t<* 
 the youngeft, to the rneaneft, to the moft 
 unworthy. It i« not prepared, merely for 
 thofe that have worn an earthly diadem or 
 coronet : (Would to God it were not de- 
 fpifed hympft of them, as a thing lefs wor- 
 thy of. their thoughts, than the. moft trifling 
 amufement, by which they unbend their 
 minds from the weighty cares attending their 
 ftation !) But it is prepared for you, and for 
 you; even for every one, who thinks it 
 worth purfuing, and accepting, upon the 
 terms of the gofpel covenant ; for every 
 one, who believing in Chrift, and loving 
 him, is humbly determined through his 
 grace to be faithful unto death. And fhall 
 this glorious propofal be made to you in 
 vain ? Were it an earthly crown that could 
 lawfully be obtained, are there not many of 
 
 us, 
 
 * Rev. vii. 14. 
 
24* 
 
 us, notwithftanding all its weight of anxie- 
 ties, and all the piercing thorns with which. 
 we might know it to be lined, that would 
 be ready eagerly to feize it, and perhaps to 
 contend and quarrel with each other for it ? 
 But here is no foundation for contention. 
 Here is a crown for each ; and fuch a crown, 
 that all the royal ornaments of all the 
 princes upon earth, when compared with it, 
 are lighter than a feather, and viler than 
 duft. And fhall we negle6i it ? Shall we 
 refufe, it, from fuch a hand too, as that by 
 which it is offered ? Shall we fo judge our-* 
 felves unworthy of eternal life,* as thereby 
 indeed to make ourfelves worthy of eternal 
 death ? For there is no other alternative. — 
 But blefled be God, it is not univerfally 
 negle6led. There are, I doubt not, among 
 you, many who purfue it, many who (hall 
 affuredly obtain it. For their fakes let us 
 refleft, 
 
 3. How courageoufly may the heads 
 which are to wear fuch a crown, be lifted up 
 to face all the trials of life and death ! 
 
 Thofe trials may be various, and perhaps 
 extreme ; but if borne aright, far from de- 
 priving us of this crown, they will only ferve 
 to increafe its luftre. It is the apoftle Paul's 
 exprefs affertion ; and he fpeaks, as tranf- 
 W ported 
 
 * Afts, xiii. 4-6. 
 
242 
 
 ported with the thought : For this caufe we 
 faint not, but though the outward man per- 
 ifh, yet the inward man is renewed day by 
 day : For our light affli&ion, which is but 
 for a moment, worketh for us a far ir.ore 
 exceeding and eternal weight of glory ; 
 while we look not at the things which are 
 feen, but at the things which are not feen ; 
 for the things which are feen are temporal, 
 but the things which are not feen are -eter- 
 nal.* Surely with this fupport, we may 
 not only live, but triumph, in poverty, in 
 reproach, in weaknefs, in pain : And with 
 this we may die, not only ferenely, but 
 joyfully. Oh my friends, where are our 
 hearts ? Where is our faith ? Nay, I will 
 add, where is our reafon ? Why are not our 
 eyes, our defires, and our hopes,. more fre- 
 quently direfted upward ? Surely one ray 
 from that refplendent diadem might be fuf- 
 ficient to confound all the falfe charms of 
 thefe tranfitory vanities, which indeed owe 
 all their luftre to the darknefs in which they 
 are placed. Surely when our fpirits are 
 overwhelmed within us, one glance of it 
 might be fufficient to animate and elevate, 
 and might teach us to fay, in the midft of 
 dangers, farrows, and. death, in all thefe 
 things wc are more than conquerors, through 
 
 him 
 
 * 2„Cor. iv. 16, 17, i.£. 
 
243 
 
 him (hat loved us.* Thus have fome tri- 
 umphed in the lafl extremities of uature ; 
 and both the fubjeft, and the occafion alfo, 
 loudly calls us to reflect, 
 
 4. What reafon we have to congratulate 
 thofe happy fouls, that have already received 
 the crown of life ! 
 
 When we are weeping over the cold, yea 
 the bleeding remains of fuch, furefv it is for 
 ourfelves, and not for them, that the ftream 
 flows. The thought of their condition, far 
 from moving our companion, may rather 
 infpire us with joy, and with praife. Loclc 
 not on their pale countenance, nor on the 
 wide and deep wounds, through which per- 
 haps the foul rufhed out to feize the great 
 prize of its faith and hope ; though even 
 thofe wounds appear beautiful, when earned 
 by diftinguifhed virtue, by piety to their 
 country, and their God* Look not on the 
 eyes doled in death, or the once honoured 
 and beloved head, now covered with the 
 dull of the grave : But view, by an internal 
 believing eye, that different form which the 
 exalted triumphant fpirit already wears, the 
 earnefl of a yet brighter glory. Their great 
 leader, whofe care of them we are fond- 
 ly ready to fufpeft, or fecretly to com- 
 plain of as deficient in fuch circumftance;? 
 
 a> 
 
 * Rom. viii.37. 
 
Hi 
 
 as thefe, points, as it were, to the white 
 robes, and the flouriftiing palms, which he 
 has given them ; and calls for our regard to 
 the crowns of life, which he has fet on their 
 heads, and to the fongs of joy and praife to 
 which he has formed their exulting tongues. 
 And do we fully and difhonor their triumphs 
 with our tears ? Do we think fo meanly of 
 heaven, and of them, as to wifh them with us 
 again ; that they might eat and drink at our 
 tables ; that they might talk with us in our 
 low language ; that they might travel with us 
 from fiage to flage in this wildernefs ; and 
 take their fhare with us in thofe vanities of 
 life, of which we ourfelves are fo often 
 weary, that there is hardly a week, or a day, 
 in which we are not lifting up our eyes, and 
 faying with a deep inward groan, oh that we 
 had wings like a dove ! Then would we flee 
 away, and be at reft.* 
 
 Surely, with relation to thefe faithful fol- 
 diers of Jefus Chrifl:, who have already fall- 
 en, it is matter of no fmall joy to reflect, 
 that their warfare is accomplished ;t that 
 they have at length pafled through every 
 fcene in which their fidelity could be en- 
 dangered ; fo that now, they are inviolably 
 fecure. How much more then fhould we 
 rejoice, that they are entered,, not only into 
 the reft, but into the joy of their Lord ; that 
 
 * Pfal. \v. 6. t Ifai. xl. 2. they 
 
!l2 
 
 they conquered, even when they fell, and 
 are now reaping the fruits, the celeflial and 
 immortal fruits, of that laft great victory ? 
 
 A fenfe of honour often taught the hea- 
 thens, when attending thofe friends to the 
 funeral pile who had died honourably in 
 their country's caufe, to ufe fome ceremo- 
 nies expreflive of their joy for their glory ; 
 though that glory was an empty name, and 
 all the reward of it a wreath of laurel, which 
 was foon to crackle in the flame, and vanifh 
 into fmoak. And fhall hot the joy and 
 glory of the living fpirit affe£l us, much 
 more than they could be affefted with the 
 honours paid to the mangled corpfe ? 
 
 Let us then think with reverence, and 
 with joy, on the pious dead ; and efpecially 
 on thofe, whom God honoured with any 
 fpecial opportunities of approving their 
 'fidelity, in life, or in death : And if we 
 mourn, (as who, in fome circumftances, can 
 forbear it ?) let it be as Chriftians with that 
 mixture of high congratulation, with that 
 ereft countenance, and that undaunted 
 heart, which becomes thofe that fee by faith 
 their exaltation and felicity ; and burning 
 with a ftrong and facred eagernefs to join 
 their triumphant company, let us be ready 
 to fhare in the moft painful of their trials, 
 that we may alfo fhare in their glories. 
 
 Vv 2 And 
 
246 
 
 And furely, if I have ever known a life, 
 and a death, capable of infpiring us with 
 thefe fentiments in their fublimeft elevations, 
 it was the life and the death of that illuftri- 
 ous Chriflian hero, Col. Gardiner ; whofe 
 charafter was too well known to many of 
 you, by fome months refidence here, to need 
 your being informed of it from me ; and 
 whofe hiftory was too remarkable, to be con- 
 fined within thofe few remaining moments, 
 which mud be allotted to the finifhing of 
 this difcourfe. Yet there was fomething fo 
 uncommon in both, that I think it of high 
 importance to the honour of the gofpel and 
 grace of Ghrift > that they fhould be deliv- 
 ered down to pofterity, in a diftin£l and 
 particular view. And therefore, as the 
 providence of God, in concurrence with 
 that mod intimate and familiar friendfhip 
 with which this great and good rpan was 
 pleafed to honour me, gives me an oppor- 
 tunity of fpeaking of many important things, 
 efpecially relating to his religious experi- 
 ences, with greater exaftnefs and certainty 
 than moft others might be capable of doing ; 
 and as he gave me his full permiffion, in cafe 
 I fhould have the affliction to furvive him, 
 to declare freely whatever I knew of him, 
 which I might apprehend conducive to the 
 glory of God, and the advancement of re- 
 ligion;* 
 
247 
 
 ligion ; I purpofe publishing, in adiftindi 
 tra£t, fome remarkable paffages of his life, 
 illuftrated by extrafls from his own letters, 
 which fpeak in the mofl forcible manner the 
 genuine fentiments of his heart.. But as I 
 promife myfelf confiderable affiftance in this 
 work from fome valuable perfons in the 
 northern part of our ifland, and poffibly 
 from fome of his own papers, to which our 
 prefent confufions forbid my accefs, I muft 
 delay the execution of this defign at leaft 
 for a few months ; and muft likewife take 
 heed, that I do not too much anticipate whair 
 I may then offer to the publick vie\v y by 
 what it might otherwife be very proper to 
 mention now. 
 
 Let it therefore fuffice for the prefent to 
 remind you, that Colonel Gardiner was one 
 cf the mofl illuftrious inftances of the en- 
 ergy, and indeed I muft alfo add, of the 
 fovereignty of divine grace, which I have 
 heard or read of in modern hiftory. He 
 was in the mofl amazing and miraculous 
 manner, without any divine ordinance, with* 
 out any religious opportunity, or peculiar 
 advantage, deliverance, or affliftion, reclaim- 
 ed on a fudden, in the vigour of life and 
 health, from the mofl licentious and aban- 
 doned fenfuality, not only to a fteady courfe 
 of regularity and virtue, but to high devo- 
 tion, 
 
*i8 
 
 tion, and ftrift, though unaffe&ed fan&tty 
 of manners : A courfe, (in which he per- 
 fifted for more than twenty fix years, that 
 is, to the clofe of life) fo remarkably eminent 
 for piety towards God, diffufive humanity 
 and Chriftian charity, lively faith, deep 
 humility, ftri£t temperance, a6Hve diligence 
 in improving time, meek refignation to the 
 will of God, fteady patience in enduring 
 affliftions, unafFefted contempt of fecular 
 intereft, and refolute and couragious zeal in 
 maintaining truth, as well as in reproving 
 and (where his authority might take place) 
 reftraining vice and wickednefs of every 
 kind ; that I muft deliberately declare, that 
 when I confider all thefe particulars together, 
 it is hard to fay where, but in the book of 
 God, he found his example, or where he has 
 left his equal. Every one of thefe articles, 
 with many more 3 I hope, if God fpare my 
 life, to have an opportunity of illufirating, 
 in fuch a manner as to fhew, that he was a 
 living demonflration of the energy and ex- 
 cellency of the Chriftian religion ; nor can 
 I imagine how I can ferve its interelb bet- 
 ter, than by recording what I have feen and 
 known upon this head, known to my own 
 edification, as well as my joy. 
 
 But oh, how lhall 1 lead back your 
 thoughts, and my own, to what we once 
 
 enjoyed 
 
*49 
 
 enjoyed in him, without too deep and ten- 
 der a fenfe of what we have loft ! To have 
 poured out his foul in blood ; to have fallen 
 by the favage and rebellious hands of his 
 own countrymen, at the wall of his own 
 houfe ; deferted by thofe, who were under 
 the higheft obligations that can be imagined 
 to have defended his life with their own ; 
 and above ail, to have feen with his dying 
 eyes the enemies of our religion and liber- 
 ties triumphant, and to have heard in his 
 latefl; moments the horrid noife of their in- 
 fulting fhouts ;— -is a fcene, in the \icv/ of 
 which we are alrnoft tempted to fay, where 
 were the fiiields of angels ? Where the eye 
 of Providence ? Where the remembrance of 
 thofe numberlefs prayers, which had been 
 offered to God for the prefervation of fuch 
 a man, at fuch a time as this ? But let faith 
 aifure us, that he was never more dear and 
 precious in the eye of his divine leader, than 
 in thefe dreadful moments, when if fenfe 
 were to judge, he might feem mod negieft- 
 ed. That is of all others the happiefl death, 
 which may mod fenfibly approve our fidel- 
 ity to God, and our zeal for his glory. To 
 ftand fingly in the combat with the fierceft 
 enemies, in the caufe of religion and liberty, 
 when the whole regiment he commanded 
 fled s. to throw himfelf with fo noble an ar- 
 dor 
 
250 
 
 dor to defend thofe on foot, whom the whole 
 body which he headed were appointed to 
 fupport, when he faw that the fall of the 
 neareft commander cxpofed thofe brave men 
 to the extremity of danger ; were circum- 
 ftances that evidently fhewed, how much he 
 held honor and duty dearer than life. He 
 eould not buc be confeious of the diftin- 
 guifhed profeffion he had made, under a re- 
 ligious character ; he could not but be fen- 
 fible, how much our army, in circumflances 
 like thefe, needs all that the moft generous 
 examples can do, to animate its officers and 
 its foldiers : And therefore he feems delibe- 
 rately to have judged, that altho* when his 
 men would hear no voice but that of their 
 fears, he might have retreated without infa- 
 my, it was better he Ihould die in fo glorious 
 a caufe, than have it thought that his regard 
 to religion and liberty was but a mere pro- 
 feffion, that was not flrong enough to make 
 him faithful unto death. He had long fell' 
 the force of it ; and had too high a value for 
 his king and country, to think of deferting 
 the truft committed to him ; too great a 
 love for the proteftant religion, to think of 
 exchanging it for the errors of Popery ; and 
 rather than give way to a rebellious crew, 
 by whofe fuccefs an inlet would be opened 
 to the cruel ravages of arbitrary power, and 
 
 to 
 
2 5 1 
 
 to the bloody and relentlefs rape of Pupifih 
 fuperftition, he loved not his hie unto the 
 death.* And in this view his death was 
 martyrdom, and has, I doubt not, received 
 the applaufes and rewards of it : For what 
 is martyrdom, but voluntarily to meet death, 
 for the honour of God, and the teftimony 
 of a good confeience ? And if it be indeed 
 true, as it is reported on very confiderable 
 authority, that before he expired he had an 
 interview with the leader of the oppofite 
 party, and declared in his prefence " the full 
 M aifurance he had of an immortal crown, 
 c< which hs was going to receive,' ' it is a cir- 
 -cumftance worthy of being had in everlafU 
 ing remembrance : As in that cafe, provi- 
 dence may feem wonderfully to have united 
 two feemingly inconfiftent circumftances, in 
 the manner of his dying ; the alternative of 
 either of which he has fpoken of in my 
 hearing, as what with humble fubmiffion to 
 the great Lord of life, he could mod ear- 
 neftly wifh : "That if he were not called 
 cc dire£tly to die for the truth," which he 
 lightly judged the mofl glorious and happy 
 Jot of mortality, " he might either fall in the 
 fc field of battle, fighting in defence of the; 
 M religion and liberties of his country ; or 
 ' f plight have an opportunity of expreflin^ 
 
<c 
 
 25* 
 
 " his hopes and joya, as a ChrifUan, to the 
 <c honour of his Lord, and the edification of 
 cc thofe about him, in his departing mo- 
 " ments ; and fo might go off this earthly 
 " ftage," as in the letter that relates his 
 death, it is exprefsly faid that he did, " tri- 
 " umphing in the aflurance of a blefled im- 
 u mortality/ * 
 
 How difficult it muft be in our prefent 
 circumftances, to gain certain and exaft in- 
 formation, you will eafily perceive : But 
 enough is known, and more than enough, 
 to fhew how juftly the high confolations of 
 that glorious fubjeft which we have been 
 contemplating, may be applied to the pref- 
 ent folemn occafion. From what is certain 
 with relation to him, we may prefume to 
 fay, that after he had adorned the gofpel by 
 fo honourable a life, in fuch a confpicuous 
 ftation, God feems to have condefcended, as 
 with his own hand, to raife him an illuftri-* 
 ous theatre, on which he might die a ven- 
 erable and amiable fpeftacle to the world, 
 and to angels, and to men ;* ballancing to 
 his native land by fuch an exit, the lofs of 
 what future fervices it could have expe&ed, 
 from a conftitution fo much broken as his 
 was, by the fatigues of his campaign in 
 
 Flanders, 
 
 * 1 Cor. iv. 9. 
 
253 
 
 Flinders, where he contra£ted .an ill- 
 nefs, from which he never recovered. 
 
 On the whole therefore, whatever 
 <:aufe we have, (as indeed we have great 
 caufe) to fympathize with his wounded 
 family, and with his wounded country ; 
 and how decent foever it may be, like 
 David, to take up .our lamentation 
 over the mighty fallen, and the brighteft 
 weapons of our war periflied ;* (a»d Oh, 
 how naturally might fome of us adopt 
 the preceding words too !) Yet after all, 
 let us endeavour to fumrnon up a fpirit, 
 like that with which he bore the lofs of 
 friends, eminent for their goodnefs and 
 ufefulnefs. And while we glorify God 
 in him,t as on fo many accounts we have 
 reafan to do, let us be animated by fuch 
 an example to a resolution of continuing 
 3ike him, itedfaft in our duty, amidft de- 
 fertion and danger, and all the terrors 
 that can befetus around. As he, having 
 been fo eminently faithful unto death, 
 has undoubtedly received a crown of life, 
 which fhines with diflinguifhed luftre, a- 
 
 mong 
 
 * 2 Sam» i. 27, 
 
 t Gal. ir 24. 
 
 x 
 
254 
 
 mong thofe who are come out of much 
 tribulation ;* let us be courageous fol- 
 lowers of him, and of all the glorious 
 company of thofe, who through faith and 
 ^patience inherit the promifes.t Then 
 may we be able to enter into the comfort 
 and fpirit of them all, and of this prom- 
 ife in particular ; and fhall not be dif- 
 couraged, though we are called toendure 
 a great fight of affli£lions,J or even to 
 facrifice our lives, like him, in defence of 
 our religion and liberties : Since in this 
 caufe we know, if we Ihould fall like him, 
 even to die is gain 5 1t and while his 
 memory is bleffed,** and his name had 
 m honor, we are affured upon the beft 
 authority, that having fought the good 
 fight with fo heroick a fortitude, and fin- 
 ifhed his courfe with fo fteady a tenor, 
 and kept the faith witlv fo unfliaken a 
 lefolution, there is laid up for him a 
 crown of brighter glory than he has yet 
 received, which the Lord the righteous 
 judge will give unto him in that great 
 expe&edday; and not unto him only, 
 but unto all them that love his appear- 
 ance. 2 Tim/nv. 7, &> Amen ! 
 
 * Rev. vii. 14. * Phil. i. 21. 
 
 + Heb. vi. 12. ** Fr«>v. x. 7. 
 
 I Heb. x, 32. 
 
AN 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 Sung aftct the Sermon. 
 
 I. 
 
 HARK ! 'tis our Heav'nly Leader's voice 
 F'om his triumphant feat : 
 Midft ail the war's tumultuous noife, 
 How powerful, and how fweet I 
 II. 
 « Fight on, my faithful band," he cries* 
 
 " Nor fear the mortal blow : 
 Who firft in fuch a warfare dies, 
 Shall fpeedieft vi£lory know. 
 III. 
 I have my days of combat known, 
 
 And in the duft was laid : 
 But thence I mounted to my throne, 
 And glory srowns my head. 
 IV. 
 That throne, that glory, you (hall fhare ; 
 
 My hands the crown ihall give : 
 And you the fparkling honours wear, 
 While God himfelf {hall live." 
 V. 
 Lord, 'tis enough ! our bofoms glcfw 
 
 With courage, and with love : 
 Thine hand (hall bear thy foldiers thro^ 
 And raife trwir heads above. 
 VI. 
 My foul, while deaths befet me round, 
 
 Erecls her ardent eyes ; 
 And longs, thro' fome illuftrious wound, 
 To rufh and feize the prize, 
 


 

 
 
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