Columbia ^^nitJtrsiiti) 
 
 tntl)f(£itpofl^fUj]forb 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
\ 
 
 ^" 
 
THE 
 
 SECRET AND TRUE HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE RESTORATION TO THE YEAR 1678. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. Mr JAMES KIRKTON. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDEDj 
 
 AN ACCOUNT 
 
 MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP, 
 
 By JAMES RUSSELL, 
 
 AN ACTOR THEREIN. 
 
 EDITED FROM THE MSS. 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES KIRKPATRICK SHARPE, Esq. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. 
 FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, LONDON 
 
 AND 
 
 JOHN BALLANTYNE, HANOVER-STREET, EDINBURGH. 
 
 1817. 
 
TO 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOUEABLli 
 
 GEORGE, EARL GOWER, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 3|S grattfuUp DcbirateD 
 
 BY 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 
 
 Of the Rev. Mr James Kiuktox's pedigree, which probably was 
 ever very obscure, nothing has as yet been ascertained. He left no 
 memoirs of himself that have reached posterity ; and his sufferings 
 in the cause of presbytery did not obtain him a place in that copious 
 volume of Caledonian martyrology, entitled, " Biographia Scoticana, 
 or a Brief Historical Account of the Lives, Characters, and memo- 
 rable Transactions of the most eminent Scots Worthies." 
 
 From several passages in his History, and one in Lord Fountain- 
 hall's Diary, it is probable that he was born about the year 1620. 
 
 To a quarto copy of the Solemn League and Covenant (printed 
 at Edinburgh by Evan Tyler, 1648) Kirkton's signature has been 
 discovered ; and as aU, or the greater part of his companions who 
 subscribed, are known to have been clergymen at that time, and as 
 he styles himself !Mr James Kirkton, (he sometimes wrote Kirton,) 
 a distinction confined, in a great measure, to those who had been 
 ordained preachers, it is to be presumed that he was then in orders. 
 The date of his Covenanting Work, as it was called, is 11 Aprile, 
 1649. 
 
VI BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 
 
 Thus, according to an expression of Wodrow, Kirkton was " one 
 of the Antediluvian Presbyterian Ministers, that is, such who had. 
 seen the glory of the formei;' Temple, and were ordained before the 
 Restoration." He obtained, but at what time I know not, the 
 living of Mertoun, in the ^lerse ; from which, in the year 1662, he 
 was expelled by an act of councU made at Glasgow, and aimed 
 against those presbyterian clergymen who refused to observe holy- 
 days, to take the oaths of allegiance or supremacy, own church pa- 
 tronage, and subject themselves to episcopal jurisdiction. 
 
 In the year 1671, Ku-kton entered into a very intemperate dis- 
 pute with Gideon Scott of Highchester, who had been infected 
 with the errors of quakerism, concerning which he addressed a 
 letter to the Rev. jNIr Donaldson, a friend of Kirkton. Donald- 
 son answered Scott in a style Avhich the quaker, in his rejoinder, 
 termed blasphemous ; but death prevented the other from vindi- 
 cating himself from so foul an aspersion, and Kirkton stept in to 
 defend the memory of his friend, and refute the sophisms of his 
 antagonist. The combatants met by chance upon the 18th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1671, " when," says Scott in a letter to Kirkton, " being to- 
 gether in companie of such as have a good estieme of your ministrie, 
 to retaine which you were not Avanting to assert sundi-ie things, in 
 your wonted dialect, of the quakers, and their tenets ; and averred 
 that it was ane easie thing to refute them : I desyred you to try 
 yourself, and write against them, for everie one would not take that 
 upon trust ; ye said, that was done over and over againe ; I told, 
 you did wiselie to assert stoutlie, but referre men to the long saids, 
 for probation." 
 
 The whole of this paper war is to be found among Wodrow's 
 MSS. ; of course, it is more verbose than logical ; and fi'om the 
 date of Gideon Scott's last letter, it appears to have gone on for 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL KOTICE. VU 
 
 two years, concluding, as such debates generally do, in tlie conver- 
 sion of neither of the parties.* 
 
 * In the year 1657, George Fox, the celebrated quaker, made a pilgrimage to Scot- 
 land, ill order to observe and encourage the operations of the spirit in his northern 
 friends. The Scots are reviled in his Journal as a dark carnal people, yet he antici- 
 pates great increase of quaking among them ; " for when I first set my horse's feet 
 upon the Scottish ground, I felt the seed of God to sparkle about me like innumerable 
 sparks of fire. Not but there is abundance of thick cloddy earth of hypocrisie that is 
 a top, and a briary brambly nature which is to be burnt up with God's word, and 
 plowed up with his spiritual plow," &c. In this presage of conversion he was not mis- 
 taken ; for the sect spread rapidly, especially about Aberdeen and Elgin ; and subse- 
 quently excited a severe persecution, by fining and imprisonment, illegally grounded 
 on a strained construction of an act of parliament levelled against conventicles. Among 
 less distinguished fa uilies which caught the contagion of quakerism, that of Hardea 
 was more particularly tainted ; for though Sir William Scott himself adhered to the 
 presbyterian creed, his brothers, Walter Scott of Raeburn, and Gideon Scott of 
 Highchester, with whom Kirkton entered into a controversy, were both obstinate 
 quakers. The registers of the privy council (a. d. 166.5, 1666) prove the hardships in- 
 flicted upon Scott of Raeburn by that administration, which Wodrow accuses of so much 
 lenity to all sects but his own. He was long incarcerated in the tolbooth of Edinburgh, 
 compelled to pay heavy fines, and his children were torn from him and their mother, in 
 order to be preserved from the infection of his religious principles. By an order of 
 the privy council, these infants were committed to the care of Raeburn's eldest bro- 
 ther Sir William Scott of Harden, who possessed himself of his wards by the conni- 
 vance of their maternal uncle, MakDougal of Makerston ; it is said that their mother 
 followed them, when they were removed from the house of Lessudden to that of 
 Makerstoun, where, on being excluded from entering, she fell upon her knees, and 
 prayed that those who thus forcibly separated the child and parent might have 
 no heir-male to succeed them, — a petition which seemed to have been granted, as 
 the male line of both uncles became extinct ; and had it proceeded from a pres- 
 byterian, would, with its consequences, have made no little figure in Wodrow and 
 the Scotch Worthies. It may be remarked, that the female quakers of Scotland are 
 not known to have been guilty of those excesses which their sisters of England fell 
 jntp ; they neither constituted a liarem for a favourite brother, nor stript themselves 
 
Viii BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 
 
 Sept. 3d, 1672, Mr James Kirkton and Mr John Greg were 
 named, by act of council, as indulged ministers in the parish of 
 Carstaii-s, in Lanerkshire, " to repair there, and to remain therein 
 confined ; and permitted and allowed to preach, and exercise the 
 other parts of their ministerial function." Of this indulgence, so 
 abhoirent to the rebellious spirit which then possessed his sect, 
 Kirkton did not avail himself; and in his History he endeavours 
 to prove the iniquity of complying Avith such a measure. But it is 
 impossible, either as a churchman or a politician, to allege any good 
 reason against it ; and Avhat Kirkton and his associates deemed, 
 or pretended to think, a noble stand for religion and liberty, can be 
 regarded by an unprejudiced eye in no other light than that of bi- 
 gotted obstinacy, and unprovoked rebellion. 
 
 That men of tender consciences, who had once taken the cove- 
 nant, should be unwilling to yield entirely to the abjured system 
 of episcopacy, is neither to be reprobated nor wondered at ; but 
 when an indulgence such as this was tendered, which permitted a 
 free exercise of their religion, and merely forbade unseemly political 
 discussions from the pulpit, railing against dignities there, and de- 
 prived churchmen of that lordly jurisdiction with which they had 
 formerly tyrannised, those who spurned at it must either have been 
 imfit to exist under any civil government, or madly ambitious of 
 dying martyrs to the good old cause in the Grassmarket of Ediii- 
 biu'gh. 
 
 November, 1673, Ivirkton was in England ; for the council order 
 
 naked in public to be a sign to the people. Such abuses in England were derived from 
 the Ranters, a set of shameless enthusiasts, according to Richard Baxter, " who spake 
 most hideous words of blasphemy, and many of them committed w — edoms common- 
 ly : insomuch, that a matron of great note for godliness and sobriety, being perverted 
 by them, turned so shameless a w— e, that she was carted in the streets of London." 
 
BiouKArmcAT, NOTICE. ix 
 
 him to be cited to compear within sixty days, to answer for not ac- 
 cepting of the indulgence. He returned to Scotland ; and the year, 
 following preached to great crowds of his own persuasion in the 
 church of Cramond, near- Edinburgh. 11th June, 1674, the coun- 
 cil gave out a decreet , against the heritors of Cramond, because, 
 " notwithstanding the acts against conventicles, in April or May 
 last, Mv George Johnstoun and Mr James Kirktoun kept a con- 
 venticle in the kirk and kirk-yard of Cramond ;" and on the 16th 
 of July^ Kirkton, with many of his brethren, was denounced r«bel, 
 and put to the horn, for holding these unlawful meetings ; but he 
 seems to have contrived to escape tlie arm of justice until the year 
 1676, when Captain Carstares seized him, and he was rescued by 
 his brother-in-law, Mr Baillie of Jerviswood. This event is circum- 
 stantially detailed in his History ; and also in that of Bisliop Bur-* 
 net, who varies from the other in almost every particular, and de- 
 scribes Kirkton as " an eminent preacher among the presbyterian 
 teachers, wh6 Avas as cautious as the rest were bold, and had avoided 
 all suspicious and dangerous meetings ;" though he seems really to 
 have been as intrepid as his brethren, at least in the year 1674. 
 Jerviswood paid dearly for the rescue* of his brother-in-law, who-, 
 
 * He was severely fined, and sent prisoner to Stirling Castle, together with Mr Kei- 
 of Kersland. Kersland had been apprehended in his wife's chamber, and examined 
 before the privy council. " When he was going away, the chancellour asked him 
 what it was his lady said to him at parting, having got information from some of the 
 party. He had really forgot the express words, being in a hurry, and answered, He 
 did not exactly remember. The other told he would refresh his memory, and said, 
 she had exhorted him to cleave to the good old cause." — Wodrow, vol. I. p. 4.24'. It 
 is astonishing to consider how anxious the female zealots at that time were to make 
 their husbands — nay, their favourite preachers, obtain the martyr's crown through the 
 medium of a halter. Guthrie is said to have been absolutely diverted from his purpose 
 of yielding obedience to government by the laiies who visited him while in prison. 
 
X BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 
 
 on his escape, was infercoinmuned ; that is, all persons were forbid to 
 converse with, shelter, or supply him with any thing, on pain of 
 treason. He retired to Holland ; birt appears to have returned to 
 his native country before the month of Juh% 1679- On the 31st of 
 that montli, an anonymous correspondent of the Re^^ Mr Robert 
 Wyllie gives an account of a disaster that had befallen him, Avhicli 
 is ludicrous, through the rogueiy of the soldiers, who seized the 
 poor man, and seem to have treated him as cats torment a mouse'; 
 it would appear from the passage that Kirk ton had at that time 
 made his peace with the ruling powers. 
 
 " Mr Kirtone "was not to preach either in town or country that 
 day he was taken. I told you he was taken at Liberton ; the rea- 
 son was because he fled at the sight of a redcoat, and 2 or 3 dayes 
 thereafter he was taken three tymes at Leith, the soiddiers preying 
 on him to get more ; at length he was fetched to the Cannongate 
 guard, from thence to the tolbooth ; and thence to Dalyell his lod- 
 ging, who being informed of his ill usage and innocence, caused 
 restore the 7 dollars to him, and give up his bond of £.200 ster. to 
 compier when called. That day he was at Leith he promised to 
 meit with his brethren, but keept not.". — Wyllie's Correspond- 
 ence, WODROW MSS. 
 
 In the year 1685, Kirkton and his family resided at Rotterdam. 
 The Rev. Mr Thomas Halyburton states, that " during his own 
 abode there, on Monday and Friday's night JSIr James Kirkton 
 commonly lectured in his family. On Saturday he catechised the 
 
 In the year 1680, when Skene, Potter, and Stuart were lianged, Potter on the scaffold 
 seemed to hesitate, and it was thought would have accepted of the pardon offered if 
 he would say "God save the King ;" but his wife seizing his arm, almost pushed him 
 off the ladder, and said, "Go die for the good old cause, my dear ; see Mr Skene (who 
 was already executed) will sup this ni|;ht witlj Christ Jesus." 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. U 
 
 children of the Scots sufferers who came to him." — (Halybuuton'S 
 3Iemoirs.) — He appears to have remained in Holland till the year 
 1687, when he availed himself of ICing James's toleration, and once 
 more repaired to Edinburgh, where he excited some heat among 
 his brethren, by declining their ecclesiastical authority in distribu- 
 ting of ministers. This we learn from Lord FountainhaU's IMS. 
 Diary : — " October, 1687. The presbyterian ministers have a Gene- 
 ral Meeting or Assembly at Edinburgh, where they lay down riUes 
 for providing ministers to preach in their meeting-houses, and got 
 in letters from sundry places, craving ministers to be sent them. 
 Mr James Kirkton being designed by the meeting to be one of 
 the ministers in Edinburgh, and he finding it a great toU to one of 
 his age to lecture and preach twice every Sunday, and once every 
 week, and having ane invitation to Newbottle, declined it ; and 
 they resolving to use authority, he protested against their power, 
 they not being a judicature, and that his former parocheners of 
 Merton were not cited or acquainted. This made some animosity 
 among them." — However, Ivirkton seems to have given up the 
 point, as he is known to have preached to numerous congregations 
 in a meeting-house on tlie Castle-hill, immediately previous to the 
 Revolution. 
 
 On that joyful event he had the satisfaction of seeing all his old 
 rivals of the opposite persuasion either torn from their pvilpits, beat, 
 abused, and half-murdered by the rabble, (a mode of treatment to 
 which many of them had been formerly weU inured,*) or those 
 
 * " What instances of this nature these few years have produced, all the nation 
 knows. How many of the niiniiiters have been invaded in their houses, their houses 
 rifled, their goods carried away, themselves cruelly beaten and wounded, and often 
 made to swear to abandon their churches, and that they should not so much as com- 
 plain of such bad usage to those in authority. Their wives also escaped not the fury 
 
XIJ BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE., 
 
 of the degraded faith who made compliance with presbyterianism, 
 craftily ejected from their livings by some device of fixing scandal on 
 their private lives. IMr AndreAV INIeldrum, the usui-per of Kirkton's 
 parish in the Merse, was forced to yield np his flock to their old pas- 
 tor in the year 1690, ' himself dying about 1697,' says the author of 
 a IMS. List of Episcopal Ministers in Parishes at the Revolution, 
 ' a scandalous dnnikard ;' but Kirkton seems now to have discovered 
 that he was not too old to exercise his function in Edinburgh, and 
 therefore gave up the parish of INIerton, after preaching there only 
 two Sundays. The foUoAving details of his conduct in these parti- 
 culars are extracted from a pamphlet, entitled, " An Account of the 
 late Establishment of the Presbyterian Government by the Parlia- 
 ment of Scotland, 1690." 
 
 " The famous ]Mr J. Kirkton, one of the most noted pres: preach- 
 ers in the whole kingdom. This known sound man had entered by 
 the thing called the popular call, to the church of Martin, in the last 
 times of presbytery, and had been deprived with the rest, 1652. 
 ^Vhen K. James gave his Tol". A. 1687, he was preferred to a meet- 
 ing-house in Edin. where it seems he found better encoui'agement 
 than he expected to meet with, if he shovdd return to his own coun- 
 try parish of INI: and in this meeting-house he continued till after 
 this act of parUament passed. Mr INIeldrum, the epis'. minister at 
 
 of these accursed zealots, but were beaten and wounded, some of them being scarce 
 recovered out of their labour in child-birth. Believe me, these barbarous outrages 
 have been such, that worse could not have been apprehended from heathens. And if, 
 after these, I should recount the railings, scoffings, and floutings which the conform- 
 able ministers meet with to their faces even on streets and publick high-ways, not to 
 mention the contempt is poured on them more privately, I would be looked on as a 
 forger of extravagant stories." — Bishop Burnet's Vindication of the Oaths, Consti- 
 tution, and Laivs of the Church and Slate of Scotland, &c. printed 1673. — See also 
 W OD now, passim i and Sy-mson's Preface to his Tripatriarchicon. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL KOTICE. XUl 
 
 M. had complied witli the civil government, and done all duty ; and 
 so continued still in the exercise of his ministry there till toward the 
 end of August, 1690, that is ten or twelve Aveeks after Whitsunday ; 
 and not till then it was that good Mr Kirkton Avent to visit his 
 poor old parish. But then he went indeed with energy suitable to 
 his party ; for no sooner arrived he there, but presently he turned 
 peremptory, demanded the benefit of the act of parliament, thrust 
 INIeldrum from the parsonage-house and the church, preached two 
 Sundays there, and secured thereby his title to the whole benefice 
 from Whitsunday 1689, and then returned to Edin: where (as I 
 hear) he has still resided since, without ever minding his old flock 
 at IMartin ; and who can blame him ? for every one who knows 
 them both knows that Edin: is a much better place, and now he has 
 left his meeting-house, and possessed himself of a church in that 
 city, after a certain sort of providential manner : but I will not 
 trouble you with an account of it at present, hoping that you may 
 learn it shortly from another hand ; in the mean time Martin con- 
 tinues still vacant. Kirkton is wiser (as I have said) than to put it 
 in the ballance with Edin: the rest of the presbyterian divines think 
 it reasonable to take the best benefice so long as they have so much 
 scope for choice ; neither will they suffer JNIeldrum the prelatist to 
 return at any rate. And they are in the right, for the first book of 
 Discipline saith, ' It's better to have no minister at all than a bad 
 one.' Now the subsumption is easy, if the man ever owned epis- 
 copacy." 
 
 This account of Ivirkton's rapacity, which probably is much ex- 
 aggerated, Avas denied in sundry pamphlets written by Dr Rule, 
 and others, who asserted that he gave one half of the stipend to the 
 ejected clergyman, and the other to the poor; it was about this 
 time also that he was reviled as an intolerant bigot, and an eccle- 
 
 b 
 
Xiv BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 
 
 siastical mountebank, in the Jacobitical History of the First Gene- 
 ral Assembly of the Scottish Church after the Revolution, print- 
 ed at London. On one occasion he is said to have become Aveary of 
 the tedious prayers of his brethren in the Assembly, and to have 
 exclaimed, " What means all this fool praying ?" which agrees with 
 his character, as represented in Dr Pitcaim's ingenious play, called 
 the Scotch Assembly, where he is introduced under the name of 
 Mr Covenant Plain-dealer ; he also occupies a considerable share of 
 the preface, and a sample of his pulpit oratory is produced, much 
 too indelicate and profane to be here repeated. 
 
 But of all the abusive pamphlets which assailed him, Kirkton 
 seems to have been chiefly enraged by a scurrilous work, entitled, 
 Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed, which appeared very 
 soon after the Revolution. This he mentions in his History with 
 much resentment. The author inveighs against him, not only for 
 his wrongful appropriation of the year's stipend of INIerton, but for 
 his ridicvdous manner of preaching, and foolish or unsound doctrine ; 
 he is accused of having asserted, in one of his sermons, that Abra- 
 ham fled from the land of Chaldea for debt ; and the following spe- 
 cimen of his eloquence, at the celebration of a monthly fast, is 
 vouched as authentic by the author of the book, who pretends that 
 he himself heard him pronounce it. " After he had read his text, 
 which, if I rightly remember, was, In that day I will not regard their 
 prayers nor their tears, &jC. In speaking to these words, says he, I 
 shall show you five lost labours, three opportunities, three feai's, 
 three woes, three lamentations, three prophecies, and a word about 
 poor Scotland : For the three fears, the first is a great feai", and that 
 is, lest this king give us all our will. The second is a very great 
 fear, and that is, if we should get all our will, I fear we should not 
 make good use of it. The third fear is the greatest of all, but I 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. XV 
 
 must not tell you that fear, sirs, for fear it should fear you aU to 
 hear it. All the town knows that this is true, and he never preaches 
 but after this ridiculous manner."* 
 
 Perhaps a juster estimate of Kirkton's method in conveying in- 
 struction from the pulpit, may be formed by perusing some notes 
 of one sermon, printed from a MS., and another entire discourse, 
 published after his death, which are svibjoined to this notice. Yet, 
 
 * In " The Memoirs and Spiritual Exercises of Elizabeth West, written by her own 
 hand," very frequent and honourable mention is made of Kirkton, and his impressive 
 style of preaching. Among other things, slie says, " Oftentimes Mr James Kirkton 
 had this expression in the pulpit of Self, ' That dead dog, self! it is as easy to pull 
 the marrow out of our bones, as to pull self out of our hearts.' She also mentions his 
 disapprobation of a book which his sect are reported, by the author of the Presbyterian 
 Eloquence, to have abhorred. " There is a book which the curates have among them, 
 which they call ' The Whole Duty of Man,' which book is a clear discovery of their 
 errors ; for in all that book there is nothing but morality preached up. The eminent 
 servant of Christ, Mr James Kirkton, very frequently in the pulpit gave his testimony 
 against this book ; he said, that it was so far from being the whole duty of man, that 
 it was not half of the duty of man ; for his thoughts were, that the whole duty of man 
 consisted in receiving Christ ; and in all this book there was never a word of^Christ, 
 either as to receiving or employing him in any thing whatsoever ; and yet they cry 
 up this book before all others." 
 
 Another accusation brought against Kirkton by his adversaries, consists of some 
 strange expressions which he used when praying publicly for a woman much troubled 
 in spirit. " A wholesome disease, good Lord ! a wholesome disease, Lord ! for tlie 
 soul. Alas ! said he, few in the land are troubled with this disease. Lord grant that 
 she may have many fellows in this disease !" — It was then the custom of many clergy- 
 men to terrify their penitents into a despair which terminated in the most fatal conse- 
 quences. For the mode in which they were wont to administer spiritual coiisolation, 
 see an account of the Death-bed Horrors of John Viscount Kenmuir, printed in the 
 Scots Worthies, or rather, " The Conflict in Conscience of a dear Christian, named 
 Bessie Clerkson, in the Parish of Lanerk, which she lay under Three Years and a 
 Half. Glasgow, printed by Robert Sanders, one of his Majesties Printers, 1698." 
 
XVI BIOGRAPHICAL N'OTICK. 
 
 after wading tlirough much intolerable and wicked stuff, which has 
 been vended as the sermons of covenanting clergymen dm'ing the 
 reigns of Charles the First and of his sons, one is convinced that the 
 fragments of Presbyterian Eloquence, shamefully raked together in 
 the pamphlet of that name, are not forged, or even exaggerated. 
 And here it may be observed, that though it has been far indeed 
 from the editors design, in selecting passages from the above-men- 
 tioned discourses, to make the profane laugh or the pious shudder, 
 nevertheless he entertains some fears that he may have gone too 
 great lengths in extracting, with the deepest reverence for our holy 
 religion and its true ministers, what was alone meant to illustrate 
 his author. The impious man who shall peruse the discourses of the 
 covenanted preachers, may collect a manual of blasphemy and ob- 
 scenity, together with every species of nonsense, too shocking to be 
 easily conceived ; and it is truly astonishing, with such models of 
 pulpit eloquence as England and France could then furnish, that 
 the Scottish clergy, even in the reign of William, continued their 
 old vulgar method of preaching, derived from Knox, Henderson, 
 Rutherford, and other ministers, almost totally devoid of sound doc- 
 trine,- solid learning, common sense, or the slightest gUmmer of 
 imagination. 
 
 On the 24th July, 1689, Kirkton, among many other ministers, 
 liad a call to the city of Edinburgh ; where he continued to preach 
 in the ITolbooth Church to his death. 
 
 In the month of August, 1690, he was constituted one of the 
 visitors for purging the College of Edinburgh from malignant 
 niasters, and Jacobite professors.* The proceedings of these vi- 
 
 * In the catalogue of books presented to the library of Edinburgh College, com- 
 mencing Sept. 1667, are the following entries : — " Mr James Kirkton, minister of the 
 
 11 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. XVU 
 
 sitors may be found in a pamphlet, entitled, Presbyterian Inqui- 
 sition, as it was lately practised against the Professors and Col- 
 ledge of Edinburgh, printed 1691. Two of the articles of accu- 
 sation brought against the learned Dr Monro, president of the 
 college, were " his causing take down out of the library all the 
 pictures of the reformers, and when quarrelled by some of the 
 magistrates, gave this answer, That the sight of them might not 
 be offensive to the chancellor (Lord Perth) when he came to vi- 
 sit the coEege ; and when ^Mr Cunninghame had composed his 
 Eucharistick Verses on the Prince of Wales, he not only ap- 
 proved them, but presented them to the chancellor with his own 
 hand." — " Nothing," says the author of the Presbyterian Inquisi- 
 tion, " pleased the gossipping sisters so much as the story of the pic- 
 tures ; for they hugged and embraced each other at the hearing of 
 it : some said that the doctor did take away the pictures out of the 
 college. No, sister, said another, he sent them away down to the 
 Abbey of Holyroodhouse, and there they were burned by the pa- 
 pists." — INIonro's place was supplied by Dr Rule, (originally a doc- 
 tor of physic,) a violent whig, whose ignorance of Latin is much 
 laughed at by the pamphleteers of the other party. '■ Asking one 
 of the students what was his name, the youth told him so and so, 
 but not adding his surname, he asked him again. Quid est totiim no- 
 men ? At another time, missing the key of a certain box that is kept 
 in the library, when he would have opened it, he told them that 
 were about him, Nescio quid factum est de iis, hahui 7)iox."* 
 
 o 
 
 gospel at Merton, gifted (the 15 Nov. 1671) Historiis Majoris Britannice, Sjc. per Johan- 
 nem Major, a. d. 1675, by Mr James Kirkton, Lambard de Priscis Anglorum Legi- 
 bi(S, Saxonica Scriptum. Item, Kepler de Cotnetis. A. d. 1769, by Mr J. Kirkton, 
 Eliot's Indian Primer." 
 
 * In Doctor Pitcairn's Comedy of the Scotch Assembly, where Dr Rule is intro- 
 
Xviii BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 
 
 Kirkton died at Edinburgh in the month of September, 1699, 
 and was buried in Trotter's tomb, in the Gray Friar's Church- 
 yard, 
 
 " Wliere Cameronians come with groans, 
 To sigh upon the martyr's bones." 
 
 He appears to have married a sister of JSIr Baillie of Jervis\vood, as 
 he is known to haA^e been his brother-in-law ; and Baillie's wife was 
 a daughter of Sir Archibald Johnston of Warriston. Kirkton had at 
 least two children ; his son George, a surgeon, gave in a petition to 
 the town council of Edinburgh on the 29th November, 1699, 
 " Anent the half year's stipend, of which a part was due on the 
 death of his father ; and for the respects they have to the memorj- 
 of the said INIr James Kirktoii, and the respects they have to the 
 petitioner, the toA\ai council warrand and appoint George Law- 
 son, present town-treasurer, to pay the petitioner" 1250 merks 
 Scots." 
 
 duced under the name of Mr Salathiel Little-sense, is another specimen of his skill in 
 the Latin tongue. " Bihlia, the Bible ; potest apprehcndi, can be apprehended ; cum 
 mediis extraordinarihus et super naturalikis, with supernatural and extraordinary means. 
 It was ay good Latin that runs smooth, and sounds well." Dr Rule had a son, Mr 
 Alexander, a clergyman, who proved, says Mrs Elizabeth West, " a very naughty and 
 abominable person ;'" what he was guilty of she does not specify. In this degeneracy 
 of his offspring, Dr Rule shared the fate of the celebrated Mr Cant, whose son, accord- 
 ing to Spalding, stole the money out of the poor's-box at Aberdeen. It is well worthy 
 of remark, that during the periods of covenanting fury, the clergy of Scotland were 
 not- only thus unfortunate in the misconduct of their children, but they themselves fre- 
 quently fell into sins, not to be expected in men of their extreme outward sanctity. 
 As a proof of this, the reader is referred to Lament's Diary, where, among other ex- 
 traordinary instances, is that of Mr John Lyndsay, ane old man, who, in the year le^Q, 
 " was deposed for adultrie and fornicatione, which were proven against him." 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE, XIX 
 
 Young Kirkton probably did not altogether coincide with his fa- 
 ther in his political principles, as he was an intimate friend of the 
 learned Dr Pitcairn, a confirmed Jacobite, Avho addressed him, after 
 his death, in two elegant Latin poems. From the fii'st of these, it 
 is probable, that he did not long survive his father. 
 
 Kirkton had also a daughter ; for we are told by the author of 
 the Presbyterian Eloquence, that, preaching one Sunday in his 
 chinch at Edinburgh against cockups (hats or caps turned up be- 
 fore,) he said, " I ha^'e been this year of God preaching against the 
 vanity of women, yet I see' my own daughter in the kirk even 
 now have as high a cockup as any of you all." This lady, indeed, 
 may have been his daughter-in-law.* 
 
 * Cockups seem to have been as offensive to the clergy of later times, as the wear- 
 ing of hoop-petticoats, which Knox terms " Targetting of tails," was to that reformer 
 and his brethren, at the beginning of the Reformation in Scotland. The following nar- 
 rative, in which Cockups make a great figure, is reprinted from Wodrow'a Collection 
 of Pamphlets. — The original consists of eight pages, 12mo. 
 
 " An True Account of WonderfuU Signs of God's Judgements, against Mockers 
 and Slighters of God's Ministers, which has been from time to time publickly seen on 
 the Mockers and Maligners of God's Servants ; and especially on James Shearer, in 
 the Parish of Stannos, near Hamilton : who at first pretended to be a great Friend to 
 Mr Foyer, Minister in Stannos, and thereafter the said James Shearer turned the said 
 Mr Foyer's greatest Enemy. Printed in the Year 1714. 
 
 " Mr Foyer, after that he had called the forsaid James Shearer into his chamber, 
 told him several accidents should fall out in James Shearer his house, by a sign of 
 God's judgement falling upon him, viz. that there should be a mare about his house 
 ibal two foals 
 
 '■ One of these foals shall be half woman, half beast, with a woman's face. Also he 
 
XX BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 
 
 Of Kirkton's History, two other MSS., besides that in tlie posses- 
 sion of the editor, (which was presented to him by Robert Surtees, 
 
 particularly declared to hira, as one of God's judgements that should ensue upon liim, 
 and that was, that he should have a hen should bring out a clecken of birds, and 
 amongst these birds there should be one with a woman's face, and Coclups upon the 
 head of it. After the death of the minister, there came a spirit to James his bed-side, 
 and told him these things should happen to his family ; and so it came literally to pass, 
 that when one of his mares was about to foal, or rather the night immediately proceed- 
 ing, thwe was heard a most terrible noise, as all the devils in hell were ringing about 
 Iiis house, the whole country being afrighted at the noise, which lasted the whole night 
 over, none of the family could get sleep, himself being tossed the whole night with 
 great fear ; his own son rising, being amazed what it might be, opened tlie door ; and 
 immediately opening his eyes, he saw upon the medding-head a tall black man of a 
 grim countenance, with cloven feet, in appearance like the Devil ; so afterwards he 
 went, or rather ran up to his father, (being almost beside himself with fear,) desiring 
 him to rise, who answered, he would not rise ; but his son running down in order to 
 secure the door, he sees a great black bull standing before the door with his head to- 
 wards the door, at which he was greatly afrighted, and went and lay down in his bed : 
 in the morning, when all the people were returning to their work, they saw this marc 
 with her two foals, one on each side, standing fore against the door, which put them 
 all in great amazement to see one of the foals (according as the minister predicted) 
 having a face like a woman's, and a foot and d, hand on one side ; and the other side 
 was half beast ; they took both the foals and buried them in a wood near his own house, 
 which when they were doing, they were almost disturbed from their work by a certain 
 noise like clapping of hands, which was heard, and thought to be very near them : how- 
 ever, by the prayers of some of the company the noise ceased, and the above-mention- 
 ed foals were gotten under ground. 
 
 " About a fortnight tiierafter, thinking that all things were settled, then happened 
 the other dreadfuU sign of God's judgement, which the minister predicted : 
 
 " A Hen belonging to him, when a cloaking, brought forth chickens, one whereof 
 was most dreadfull to behold, the like not happening in the memory of man, having 
 a woman's face, with Cochips upon the head of it. The neighbourhood having all 
 seen this great wonder, and sign of God's judgement upon the man, took it up, and 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. XXI 
 
 Esq. of Mainsforth,) are knoAvti to be extant. One is in the British 
 IMusevim, with this note at the beginning : " This book contains Mr 
 James Kirkton's History of his own Times, to the year 1679. He 
 was a person of good understanding, and of a great deal of witt." 
 The other is in the Advocates' Library of Edinburgh, amongst the 
 INISS. which belonged to the Rev. Mr Wodi-ow, author of the His- 
 tory of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland. None of the three 
 is in the hand-writing of Kkkton, whose history has been followed 
 by Wodrow in his own work with great closeness, and sometimes 
 transcribed verbatim ; he acknowledges these obligations, and styles 
 him " a minister of great zeal, knowledge, and learning, a most cu- 
 rious searcher into the natural, civil, and ecclesiastical liistory of 
 Scotland, and a most successful and sententious preacher of the 
 gospel." 
 
 The reader wUl find that Kirkton's History is Avritten with much 
 .spirit, and, in spite of the strong prejudices which he had imbibed, 
 frequently with a great degree of candour. And this fragment is 
 valuable, not only as containing various anecdotes of the author's 
 contemporaries, hither unpublished, but as the production of a man 
 once so highly reverenced by his own sect. Besides these JMemoirs, 
 he wrote a treatise on Indefinite Baptism, preserved among the 
 Wodi-ow MSS., and the Life of the Reverend JMr John Welch. 
 
 threw it into the fire ; this is attested by all the neighbourhood, being all honest men, 
 that never would make such lies, but still averr it for a truth, that these great wonders 
 were seen about this James Shearer's house, about the middle of May last, 1714 years : 
 as for the judgement that was to fall upon hira, it is not as yet accomplished, but is 
 still expected by the neighbourhood to seize upon him, being a man of a lewd life, con- 
 tending with ministers and people about, especially Mr Foyer, his own minister, he 
 being before Mr Foyer his friend, who afterwards turned his mortall enemy, finis." 
 
 C 
 
XXll. EIOGRAnriCAL NOTICE. 
 
 Wodrow, in one of his-]MSS., talking of a Scottish INlartyrology, 
 which he intended to compile, says, " From papers left by the pious 
 learned and curious ]Mr James Kirktoune, minister at Edinburgh, 
 who Avas well qualified, by his diligence and curious enqiiirics into 
 our Scots antiquities and history, to give accounts of Mr ^'\''elch. 
 and the othei* worthies of that period and since, was published, the 
 History of INIr John Welch, mijiister at Air, printed at Edinburgh, 
 1703, in 4to. ; but from some inaccuracies, this work could not have 
 had Mr Kirktoune's last hand." 
 
 Kirktoii's name is not prefixed to this Life, which has been fre- 
 quently reprinted. Among the ^Vodrow ]\ISS. also, are two Let- 
 ters addiessed by him, under the name of James Hay, to IMr Ro- 
 bert jM^Waird, then in Holland, whom he calls " His brotherlie 
 friend, Robert Long." In the first, which is dated 26th November, 
 1677, talking of his contest concerning Quakerism with Gideon 
 Scott of Highchester, he says, " You desire to have my reply to 
 him, which, in my opinion, w'ould be of small use, in regard I de- 
 signed not so much to fall upon materiall questions as to repell 
 cavils, and declyne his comicall and satyricall taiaits : besydes that 
 I was much straitened in the length of the paper ; but as to cita^ 
 tions that may be of use to you in your designe, I must acquaint 
 you, that if you have Thomas Hickes against the Quakers, it is the 
 richest treasury of discoveries of these monstrous abominations that 
 ever I saw." 
 
 To Kirkton's Histoiy the editor has deemed it proper to add 
 .Tames Russell's Narrative, preserved among the Wodi-ow IMSS. : 
 it is there entitled an Account of Archbishop Sharp's INIurder, but 
 vt'ill be found to contain many valuable particulars respecting other 
 events, subsequent to that assassination. Russell's original MS. 
 lias been transcribed by some person who could not in many cases 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. xxiiji 
 
 decyplier words, and has made numerous blunders as to proper 
 names, which the editor was unable to correct ; but these defects 
 are immaterial, while the dark shades of the horrible picture in the 
 first part, and the ridiculous grotesque of clerical squabbles in the 
 latter, are given to the public in faithful preservation. 
 
SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED BY MR KIRKTON, ON HEAVEN'S BUSS, 
 October 13, 1698.* 
 
 1 Philip. 21. — F01' me to live is Christ, and to dije is gain. 
 
 The last observation we made upon our text was, death was gain, 
 and a profitable thing to the people of God. We vuidertook to prove 
 the point by two reasons ; the first reason was, because by death 
 they are delivered from the misery of this life, and of this we have 
 spoken. The second reason we have now presently to handle, and 
 that is, by death they acquire a kingdom of bliss ; and by the way 
 I must teU you. Heaven's bliss is far above the miserys of earth : 
 the miserys on the earth are very great in the sense of us all, but 
 they are finit, — Heaven's bliss is not only very great, but it is eter- 
 
 * This and the following Sermon were obligingly communicated by Mr David Laing, 
 jun. bookseller in Edinburgh, to whom, as well as to Mr Archibald Constable, the edi- 
 tor is indebted for many similar favours. At first, he was strongly tempted to expunge 
 some objectionable passages, but on consideration retained them ; for if mutilated, 
 these discourses would afford no complete specimen of Kirkton's pulpit oratory ; and 
 happily the sacred cause of religion cannot be injured by the foolish expressions of 
 some of its unworthy ministers. 
 
XXVi SERMON, PREACH-ED BY MR KIRKTON, 
 
 nail and infinite ; alwayes, before I come to speak of Heaven's bliss, 
 I must give you these four prefaces. 
 
 The first is, While Ave are here upon earth, we understand no- 
 thing but what enters by our senses ; and therefore the prophets of 
 the Lord, Avhen they come to speak of Heaven, they are constrain- 
 ed to make use of sensible comparisons! They shall rest upon their 
 beds ; a bed is very pleasant. They shaU go to Paradise ; a garden 
 is very pleasant. But this is \ipon necessitie and not upon choice, 
 for eye has not seen, ear has not heard, what God has reserved for 
 his people in HeaA^en. 
 
 Secondly, My next preface tkat I shall give you shall be this, The 
 blessings of Heaven are mysterious abstract things, altogether above 
 our imagination and beyond the reach of our understanding. Like- 
 wise the Apostle, Avhen he is Avriting to the Corinthians, 2 Epis. v. 
 12. says, I saAv things Avhich are unspeakable. Translators knows 
 not how to interpret the Greek Avord, and I Avill not repeat it to 
 you, for I never spoake it in such a congregation ; ahvaise in my 
 opinion the meaning of the Avord is, It is impossible to make you 
 understand the things that I saw in Heaven ; Avhy ? Avhy ? Ave un- 
 derstand not their language ; the blessings that are in Heaven have 
 not a name in our country, and therefore I cannot name them, 
 therefore ye cannot understand them. Noav if you Avill think but 
 upon eternity, Avhich is one of the blessings of Heaven. How think 
 we on it ? I'll tell you hoAv Ave think on it ; Ave cannot fathom it, 
 it is infinite ; Ave cannot grip it, it is not sense ; and therefore Avhen- 
 ever it enters our thoughts Ave use cA'en to lett it alone. This is aU 
 our meditation upon eternity, and sudi is our meditation upon the 
 blessings of Heaven, abstract things. 
 
 Thirdly, The third preface I shall give you shall be this. There 
 is very little of the bliss of Heaven revealed to us in the Avorld. 
 Many a time I Avonder upon this, but I'll tell you Avhat reason I 
 
ox HEAVi:N"s BLISS. XXTU 
 
 give for it. I think the Lord knows we are that base, we are ra- 
 ther guided by fear than by hope ; if ye read 28 Deut. throwout, 
 ye shall find tliere is 12 verses of blessings, but there is 48 of cui'ses. 
 Why get we so long a curse, and so few blessings ? we need more 
 curses to afflict than blessings to comfort. That is a sad matter ; 
 and many people does mistake very much the description of Hea- 
 ven ; when they read the 28 of Isa. and the 22 of Revel, the golden 
 streets and the wall of pretious stones, and no temple and no sun, 
 they think, O it must be A^ery pleasant to be there ! and they take 
 that for the joys of Heaven : but it is not so, for that is only the 
 blessedness of the New Testament chui-ch on earth. ^tVe cannot 
 tell what heaven is : as for hell, it is called a pit, a bottomless pit. 
 Well, that is very sad. Weeping and gnashing of teeth ; tliat is 
 very sad. The devil and his angels ; bad company. Fire that 
 shall never be quenched ; that is as sad as any of them. That is 
 hell. There is five or six names of it. What is heaven, we can- 
 not find in all the Scriptures. Three names of heaven, 16 Psal. 
 riA'crs of pleasures, joys for evermoi-e ; Ave can find but little moi-e. 
 Fourthly, The fourth preface I shall give you shall be. This is the 
 reason Ave are taken up so little in contemplating heaAen. These 
 who are serious spenders of their time, they think upon the way to 
 heaven, and the door of heaven, Avhat shall Ave do to be saved ? and 
 not upon the rooms of heaven, and the furniture of heaven. Truely, 
 in some respects, it is the excuse some people makes, I care not 
 much Avhat the joy of heaven be upon condition I come there, for 
 I knoAV Avhen I come there I Avill get my fill of joys. 
 
 NoAV I come to speak of Heaven's bliss itself, and before I begin 
 I must tell you this : it is a pittie that any minister in the Avorld 
 should preach on heaven, for he may believe he wiU mar it ; it is a 
 pitiful thing for a man to come and tell you the news, that knoAvs 
 neither the name of the person nor the name of the place, and even 
 
XXviii SERMON, PREACHED BY MR KIRKTON, 
 
 such is oiir discourse of heaven. We cannot teE what it is ; alwaise 
 now I shall be short upon it, and ye shall get what I can gather 
 ovit of scripture. The bliss of Heaven I make to consist in these 
 four : There is rest in heaven, there is perfection in heaven, there 
 is joy in heaven, there is glory in heaven. 
 
 First, There is rest in heaven. What is this we call rest ? True- 
 ly there is little rest upon earth. We better understand rest when 
 it is absent than when it is present, for in the midst of a man's 
 trouble he imderstands somewhat what rest is ; when a man is 
 weary and when he goes to bed at night, and all his bones aiking 
 for the pain of his body, there is trouble ; but where is rest ? True- 
 ly after the man has slept, and when he has slept well, and when he 
 finds himself refreshed as if he were anointed with a fresh oyU, he 
 says, O how pleasant a thing is rest ! we do not understand rest, 
 while upon earth we are in trouble : in heaven we shall have rest ; 
 there the wicked cease from troubling, they shall rest upon their 
 beds, Isa. 37. 2- I think truely that is a pleasant thing. Naomie 
 says to Ruth, My daughter, shall I not find rest to thee ? that is a 
 sad thing to see you coming out of your father's land with me that 
 is troubled in going up and down the harvest rigs seeking a stalk of 
 barley ; that is trouble, my daughter ; shall not I seek rest for thee ? 
 When she was married to Boaz I warrant you she came to rest, but 
 not till then. They wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, 
 and they lodged in caves and dens of the earth. Sheep skins and 
 goat skins ! wo's me, the goat's skin nearest a man's skin, that is 
 just hair-cloath, which is a tormenting thing. A pitiful torment : 
 wandered about, they durst not lye upon the hill side, they behoved 
 (may be) to travel after they were Aveary, to go to a cave of the 
 earth, and they thought now we will lye down here and get some 
 rest, Ave will be secure, the persecutors will not find us out in this 
 hole. Who made their supper ready, who made their bed ? nay. 
 
ON HEAVEN S BLISS. XXIX 
 
 they went to seek rest without either the one or the other. When 
 we come to heaven we shall get rest. 
 
 Secondly, The second thing that is in heaven is perfection, no 
 perfection iipon earth indeed. But in heaven we shall be perfect. 
 When we are on earth we are perfect ; if Ave go out of ourselves Ave 
 are perfect in Christ Jesus ; but when we come to heaven we will 
 be perfect in ourselves, tho' Christ be the cause of it. Not a wrong 
 Avord Avill be spoicen in all heaven, there is not one \ATong tune ; 
 they shall be like the angels in heaven, — Avhat is a man even now ? 
 There is in man the understanding ; the vuiderstanding shall be 
 light. There is in man the Avill ; the ^vill shall be straight, as 
 straight as the laAV of God. There is in man the affections, Avhat 
 are they ? the affections shall be under command, neither to move 
 nor to rest in the body, that is a piece of man that is ahvays strong 
 upon earth, and wots not hoAV to be at ease here. It shall be at rest 
 there : Avhat shall Ave say ? The poor man that has his body fuU of 
 sores, full of issues, fiiU of leprosie, his body shall be made like the 
 glorious sun in the heavens ; there shall be perfection indeed, soul 
 perfect, body perfect, Ave caiuiot come to that upon earth. Now go 
 up and doAvn the Avorld and hear tAvo men speaking of a third man, 
 and if they make their discourse long and fuU, may be they will 
 .speak Aery long upon a man's good properties, truly he is this good 
 and that good, he has this excellency and that excellency, and the 
 other excellency, that is all A^ery good : but if they speak long, I 
 assure you they AviU come to the weak side of the man, they aa^II 
 be forced to say, but notAvithstanding of all his good properties he 
 has this fault and that faidt, he is weak, he is poor : The man is not 
 perfect : that is the greatest nonsense in the world to say there is a 
 perfect man, the best man in the world is but half a man ; what 
 shall Ave say, man whcreui he exults is somewhat imperfect ; who 
 Avas the wisest man in aU the Avorid ? King Solomon. But truely, 
 
 d 
 
XXX SERMON, PREACHED BY MR KIRKTOX, 
 
 for as wise as he was, he had some foolish actions, and truely, in 
 some respects, Solomon was one of tlie greatest fools ever was in 
 the world, a multitude of Avifes that carried him away from the 
 true God, after God had revealed himself to him twice. ^Vhere was 
 perfection ? Solomon M^as not wise, but when Ave come to heaven 
 we shall be perfect ; nobody in heaven shall cry, O miserable man 
 tliat I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? O 
 I cannot bear my cross. O I cannot do my duty. O Lord pittie 
 me. I am a beast before thee. Solomon Avas a beast. We shall 
 not reckon om'seh'es so Avhen Ave come to heaA'en, Ave shall not sus- 
 pect our OAvn hearts for hypocrisie ; alacxs ! Avhile Ave are upon earth 
 A\c never s})cak a right Avord. BelieAe that never man on earth 
 speaks a right Avord, but in one of the eight points Avhich are neces- 
 sary, for the perfection of a performance, he fails ; but in heaven 
 he shall be perfect. Lord, help us thither ! 
 
 Th'irdhj, The third thing that is in heaA^en is the joy of heaA'en, 
 this is cAen the highest of all the three. Truly there is A'ery little 
 joy upon earth, Ave are here in the Aalley of tears. As for the joy 
 that is to be foimd upon earth, I'll tell you tAvo bad properties it 
 has. The first is, it is ever more imj>erfect. We Avant something. 
 "We miss something. Where shall I get you an example of- joy 
 upon earth ? Til teU you of one in Scripture, I think truly Jacob 
 when he received the ncAvs of his son Joseph's being alive and Avas 
 a great man, and saAv the Avagons (and I A\'arrant you somcAvhat 
 more) he Avas a Acry glad man. '• I^et me go doAvn and see my son 
 Joseph, and I Avill seek no more. O, I Avill seek no more, I Avill 
 dye of joy." W-a-s, his joy perfect think ye ? no, I Avill tell you hoAv 
 1 think it was imperfect. I Avarrant you he said, O had Kachell 
 been alive to share of this joy, and to seen her son that Ave thought 
 had been torne into pieces Avith wild beasts, she Avould been glad. I 
 
 Avarrant you he Avanted something, his joy AA^as not perfect. Ill tell 
 9 
 
ON heaven's bliss. xxxi 
 
 you another bad property of our joy on earth, we have some little 
 joy ; but the truth is, the little thing we have of joy uses to run in 
 a man's head, and makes him sometimes mistake himself; it is like 
 strong wine, it makes a man act nonsensically, it makes a man say, 
 as Peter upon the top of the hill, " Let us make here three taber- 
 nacles ; Peter, what is this come over you now ? O I am full of joy." 
 That joy made him drunk. That joy was not perfect, but the joy 
 of heaven shall be perfect ; tlie joy of heaven shall not make us di'unk, 
 for indeed this is resolved upon by all divines, the joy of heaven is 
 so strong that except man's spirit were new moulded, and made 
 strong that it may endure strong joy, the wine would burst the 
 casque ; and if you would say to me. What will the joy of heaven 
 be ? ^Vhat is the thing in all heaven would make a man most glad ? 
 Truly, we shall come to the congregation of the fii'st born, we shall 
 see aU the saints in heaven, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and we shall 
 see oiu* friends, and there is many one who says, O if I might see 
 but one of my fi-iends, but an houre or two. Saul says of Samuel, 
 " O that I might see Samuel to comfort me in this horn- of my per- 
 plexitie !" There is no doubt we will know our friends, there is no 
 doubt we wiU see our friends, and that wiU be a piece of our joy ; 
 but it will be nothing in regard of this I am going to tell you, we 
 will see the King in his beauty, we will see God as he is, we will 
 understand God as he is ; we wUl love him as we should, we wiU 
 enjoy him to the full, that is the top of Heaven's joy ; upon earth 
 we know not what the love of God is, and if we know the love of 
 God in any measure, we knoAV very little what it is to enjoy God. 
 But in heaven we shall see God ; we know not what that is to see 
 God upon earth, and we shall love God in another manner than we 
 do now, we shall be satisfied abundantly. I wlU not say that all 
 that are in heaven are eqviaU in glory, I never thought that, but I 
 think aU that are in heaven shall be satisfied, and fully content. I 
 
XXXU SERMON, PREACHED BY iMR KIRKTOK, 
 
 think we shall all be like the poor Avidow's vessals ; she filled them 
 all with oyU. She had some vessals of flagons, and some vessals of 
 gallons ; the flagon was as full as it could hold, and the vessals of gal- 
 lons could hold no more, could receive no more either. The people 
 in heaven shall desire no more than they have, there will be in 
 heaven nither pryd, nor envy, nor discontent, (O Lord,. if we were 
 there !) O if we were fit for it. Alace ! the pleasures of sin are not 
 to be compared with the pleasures of heaven. O blessed, blessed is 
 the man that the Lord takes by the hand, and makes him under- 
 stand what the difference betwixt the pleasures of sin and the plea- 
 sures of heaven. In heaven there are rivers of pleasure. 
 
 Then the last point of Heaven's bliss is glory. The glory that is 
 in heaven : What is this we call glory ? The glory of heaven is the 
 shining of grace. That is all the description we can give of it. As 
 for glory on earth, I'll tell you what I think of it ; I think it is no- 
 thing but vanity. Where shall we find glory on earth ? Solomon 
 in all his glory. When Solomon is sitting in his royaU robes upon 
 his throne of judgement, there he was in glorie. AVhat was his 
 giorie ? He sat among a dozen of bones. What think ye of his 
 lions upon the stairs ? He had a painted gown upon him, he had a 
 piece of gold upon his head, but what is that to a dying man ? 
 When a king is crowned and enters into the possession of his king- 
 dom, so many men goes before him, doing this and that, and the 
 other thing : A^Tiat is that to you, what is that to your conscience ? 
 It is vain ; and for that cause, long since, when Christians were bap- 
 tized, there was never a minister of the primitive church would 
 baptize a Christian that was come to age but he promised to re- 
 nounce the devU and all his works. Well, do you renounce the 
 world ? I renounce the world. Do you renounce the beauty of 
 the world ? Yes, I renounce the beauty of the world. Renounce 
 ye all the pomps ? Yes, I renounce all pomps, all splendour, all 
 
ON HEAVEN S BLISS. XXXIU 
 
 ^ glory upon earth, it is but vain ; bvit the glory of Heaven is not 
 vain. Eveiy man shone in the graces, &c. Truly, I'll tell you what 
 I think is the beautifullest thing in heaven, it is the humility that 
 is among the people in heaven. What does the saints of God in 
 heaven ? There are some of them has more grace than others, but 
 tlie man who has most grace is even as ready to answer him that 
 has little grace, as he that has little grace is ready to answer him 
 that has most .grace, and humility and wisdom are two pleasant 
 companions. I'll tell you what I say more, I think some of us may 
 say, I woidd be content of half heaven, upon condition God would 
 bring me there, and forgive me my sins, and give me rest and 
 quiet. I tliink I were well enough, for the perfect joy of heaven 
 becomes not me ; when I come to heaven I wUl be ashamed to set 
 up my face among the saints of God that are there ; I am not for 
 their conapany. Truly, I think a man may think all this, alwaise when 
 we come to heaven we will get humility and wisdom, to bear the 
 glory that is there. What is it ? You may even guess, for indeed I 
 cannot tell you. O to be holy as the Lord is holy, and to forsake 
 sin, and to live according to his law ! and O to be near to him ! — 
 We shall come to heaven in the Lord's own time, and in the Lord's 
 own way, but we cannot tell when our day will come, 
 
 FINIS. 
 
A SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED IN THE TOLBOOTH CHURCH OF EDINBURGH, ON SEPT. 3, 1699j 
 BY MR JAMES KIRKTOX, 
 
 BEING THE LAST SERMON THAT EVER HE PREACHED. 
 
 Edinburgh : Printed and sold by John Moncur, at his Printing-House in the LawH'Market, 1 726. 
 
 1 John, 2. 25. — And this is the promise he hath 2)rot>iised us, even 
 
 life eternal. 
 
 OaR fost observation we made upon this text, was, that it is the 
 common trade of the people of God, to live by the promises, Heb. 
 11. These aU lived by the promises, lived by faith, not having recei- 
 ved the promises. 
 
 2. Our second observation which Ave made upon this text, was. 
 that the greatest promise that God has made to poor sinnei-s, is the 
 promise of eternal life. Ye may say to me, there are some promises 
 (I think) are above that. I answer, the promise of eternal life com- 
 prehends all the promises in Scripture, the promise of Christ, the 
 promise of the spirit, the promise of grace, and the promise of glory. 
 We entered upon this text, and explained it as we could, and we 
 came to the use, and the use is, O professor ! life eternal is promised 
 to you, think you, you will get it ? Or wiU you miss it ? Truly if 
 
XXXVi KERMON, PREACHED BY MR KIRKTON, 
 
 you miss it, it Avill be your own fault, God breaks no promise ; have 
 you made your salvation sure, tbrough fear and trembling? I fear few 
 of you have done it. How many of you can say to your own consci- 
 ences, when you are sad, or when you are like to die, I care not 
 when I die, for I know mercy is built for me, I have the key of 
 heaven's gate ? This is a strange thing ; look out at your ^vindow, 
 as Solomon did long since, and you shall see the children of men 
 upon the streets, some running fast, some walking at leasure, some 
 very sad, some very cheerful ; you may say to yourself, AVliat are 
 all these people doing ? "Whither are they going ? Some of them 
 are going south, and some of them are going north ? But what, are 
 they all walking towards heaven ? No, I am going about my busi- 
 ness, says one. What to do ? To make myself rich, to make my- 
 self an easy life, to make myself honourable ; that is the business of 
 the childi-en of men, and I fear you inay be among them. What 
 are you doing ? Are you going to Heaven ? Are you going to an 
 appointment with our Lord Jesus Christ ? Some are doing that ; 
 but O very few. I am making myself rich, you rise early, sits up 
 late, eats the bread of sorrow all the day, and if you miss your reck- 
 onino- at night, you are very sad ; that is the work of the children 
 of men, O fy upon you ! Now, before the Lord, of all the wonders 
 that I have concerning the childi-en of men, this is the greatest won- 
 der, that they should neglect their souls, and prefer a temporary 
 life. Sometimes if ^ve heare of a people in a town, that are unthrifty, 
 we Avill say, no wonder these people die beggars, for never one of 
 them has so much wit as to provide for his family, when he may do 
 it. But what shall we say of people in a town, that all the people 
 dies out of the Lord ; that all the people dies in the devil's arms ; 
 that aU the people dies at the mouth of hell ? Well, beloved, what 
 shall we say of you ? God knows whether it be so of you or no, I 
 must speak a word upon it ; there was among the children of Israel, 
 
ON THE PROMISE OF LIFE ETERNAL. XXXvii 
 
 long ago, one feast, they called the Feast of Tabeniacles, and that 
 was kept in remembrance of their travel through the wilderness : 
 What was it ? That day the feast of tabernacles was, every man 
 went up to the top of his house, (for ordinarily they were platform 
 houses,) they dwelt in houses of small branches of trees, and they 
 would not go into a great hall to take their dinner, but they went 
 into their booths and took their dinner, and may be they lay there ; 
 would ye not thought it a strange thing for a man to come in 
 among that people, and seen them all the days of the year making 
 preparation for his entertainment, and to take no preparation eight 
 days before the Feast of Tabernacles upon the head of his house, 
 would you not have thought that ill-spent time ? But the children 
 of men, that are at pains to prepare for this life, and take no pams 
 to prepare for eternity, they are like this man, and so are many of 
 you, God knows. Alace, alace ! it may be said of some of you, as 
 it was said long ago of the childi-en of Israel in the wilderness, they 
 saw many mu-acles, ten temptations ; always God has not given 
 them eyes to see, nor hearts to understand ; I am sure the people 
 of Scotland have heard the word, and I wLU tell you what the note 
 is, that the ministers of Scotland have insisted most on ; I'll tell you 
 what it is that the ministers of Scotland are most serious, and most 
 frequent in exhorting their people, I pray you make yourself sure 
 of your salvation before you die ; and in England they did it not 
 so much, and in France, and in Germany, and the Low Countries, 
 they did it not so much ; but the ministers of Scotland was always 
 vipon this strain, try yourself if you be in a state of grace or no ; if 
 ye be, well it is, go on ; if not, let this be the first work you do. 
 Now, this is the first exhortation of the ministers of Scotland ; but 
 whether ye have regarded it or no, God knows, always I say tliis, 
 try yourselves ; and I wUl say this to my auditory, there are few 
 of you, I believe, if I were going thorow you all, and if I would say 
 
 e 
 
XXXViii SERMON, PREACHED BY MR KIRKTON, 
 
 to you all. Whether will you go to Heaven or no ? What answer 
 would I get ? Yes, I hope I will go to heaven ; but will you trust 
 that ? The wise man will try before he trust, and so must ye do, 
 and I pray ye do it for the Lord's sake ; there is a hope that is of 
 grace, and there is a hope that is false, that is a traitor ; beware of 
 the traitor-hope, that ye bring it not into your heart. I must speak 
 a word upon this, and before I come to particulars, I wonder at the 
 people of Scotland, for three reasons, that they should not take pains 
 to make themselves sure of their salvation before they die. 
 
 I. I wonder for this reason, your time is. short, may be you have 
 very much ado, and therefore you should be busy ; How short is 
 your time ? many one has gone to the devil (as we used to say) to 
 cast their horoscope, and to get news what death they should die, 
 or what day they should die upon : I will cast the horoscope of all 
 my people now presently, and it shall be out of the word of God ; 
 and I'll tell you wherein it consists, it consists in two words. 
 
 1. I will assure you yoiu" time is short, Psalm 39- Thou hast made 
 my days like an hand-breadth, that is a very short measiu-e. 
 
 2. Next I wiU assure you your time is uncertain, ye cannot tell 
 
 when the Lord will come, he will (it may be) come at midnight, 
 
 the bridal Avas at midnight, time is short and imcertain ; what if 
 
 such a thing as this were told to you, (as it has been told to many 
 
 one in the world,) I will assure you, you will die to-morrow, what 
 
 Avould you say ? I thank God I am to live a night ; I wot well I shall 
 
 be busy this night, and to-morrow, what would you do ? I'll tell you 
 
 what I would do, I would do just the thing Manasseh, a wicked 
 
 king of Judah, did ; What did he ? He was sxmk under the sense 
 
 of sin ; And what did he ? Manasseh humbled himself greatly, that 
 
 was weU done ; Manasseh offered many sacrifices, that was well done ; 
 
 Manasseh prayed to God, that was well done ; What came of that ? 
 
 Manasseh had lived a wicked life, yet one day of Manasseh's life 
 
 brouo-ht him from death to life; so would it. it mav be. be with 
 
 O 
 
ON THE PROMISE OF LIFE ETERNAL. XXXix 
 
 you : Now will you take to-morrow ? May be you will say as these 
 who were invited to the feast, We have some other thing ado always, 
 your time is uncertain and short. 
 
 II. I will give you another reason, it is a sad matter if you make 
 not your salvation sure ; for I assm-e you, 'tis a pleasant thing for a 
 man to be saved ; can there be any thing more pleasant, than to tell 
 a man (that has a historical faith) I assure you, you will easily come 
 to heaven, if you put out your hand, you may have it : But what 
 think you of the man that is brought to the threshold of heaven's 
 door, and if he would but knock, it would open to him, and he AviU 
 not be at the pains to knock ; we would say, it is well bestowed he 
 go to hell, and as reasonable it should be so, and so he will. May 
 be it is so with you : How easy it is (you may say to me) for a man 
 to be saved ? I'll tell you what I would say, I thmk it is a pity for 
 me to say this out of a pulpit, I would tell it to a man that were 
 upon his death-bed, I would say you are a very great sinner ; yet I 
 would say, if you foUow my counsels, you may get your sins for- 
 given, and you may get your salvation very easy. How easy ? I 
 would teU then, but I thuik I have little heart to tell it just now, 
 and I will tell you wherefore, I fear you will abuse it, always I shall 
 teU you, abuse it as you wiU, to yourselves be it said, remember 
 what our Lord Jesus Christ said to the man that had the poor sick 
 child. Do you believe that I can help your child ? Yes, I beheve. 
 Lord help my unbelief; he gave even a sort of a backwai'd answer : 
 Now do ye believe in Christ ? That is but a thought, if ye think 
 right ye shall go to heaven. Ye are very angry at Adam and Eve, 
 that came out of paradice so unworthily ; ye may as easily go back 
 to paradice, and wo be to you if you do it not. 
 
 3. A thkd reason of my wonder, and it is this, ye are very fre- 
 quently Avarned : How many of you has lived beside a neighbour 
 that has died suddenly ? O ! some will say he was very well this day 
 
xl SERMON, PREACHED BY MR KIRKTOX, 
 
 eight days, that was a long time ; yet I must tell you this of these 
 people that died suddenly, some takes a feaver upon the Monday, 
 dies upon the Wednesday or Thursday, is buried upon the Friday ; 
 ye may say he died Avell for all that, he had time to cry to God for 
 mercy : I will not say but he may get mercy ; but I will assure you, 
 for these three or four days before his death, I'U tell you what I say 
 of it, his sickness takes up his mind wholly, weakens his spirit, and 
 he gets no good of that time, he is even as bad as if he had died the 
 fii'st day he took his sickness, always the Lord knows what warnings 
 we get. I have heard of a man that lived a profane life, and he was 
 in the company of a civil man that died suddenly, and after that he 
 said to himself, O ! God might have taken away my life, as he has 
 tane this man's life ; I am spared, yet my time is very uncertain ; 
 therefore, if it please the Lord, I will take pains and prepare myself 
 for death ; it shall not overtake me unawares : and I shall tell you 
 this by the way, I have heard of a relig-ious people they called Wal- 
 denses, over in Savoy, that are now persecuted ; the man that first 
 turned unto that profession and religion, got his religion, not by a 
 note of the preaching, but by the sudden death of a neighbour ; 
 how many of these may you see ? and yet, may be you are this 
 day where you was this day fourth-night. O fy upon you ! eternal 
 life is promised to you ; and this shall be the sting of the pain of 
 hell, when you come to hell ; this thought will make you sadest 
 of any thought that will come into your mind, I might easily have 
 been in heaven, and I have brought myself here unAvorthily, by my 
 own misbehaviour, and I was many times told it. Therefore, I say, 
 since life eternal may be had, and may be had easily, and in a very 
 short space, for the love of God be wise : I'll tell you what all of you 
 will say, I have good hopes of heaven, I hope I am secured, come 
 death when it will ; well, tho' it be so, that you have the hope of 
 heaven, have you built your house vipon a rock ? Yes, I hope I 
 
ON THE PROMISE OF LIFE ETERNAL. xU 
 
 have built my house upon a rock. Now ministers examines their 
 people when they come before them, and they examine them upon 
 this question and tliat question ; but yet I would (if it were not for 
 shame, and for lake of ingenuity among people,) tell you what would 
 be the question I would most ask at them. i^Hiether do ye think 
 ye are going to heaven or no ? and what would they ans^vcr ? Yes, 
 1 hope I will go to heaven. AVhat is your reason ? And may be they 
 would give me a reason that would make me (if I were as I should 
 be) weep at them, and weep at them so, that my tears should be like 
 rivers : wo is my heart that ye should beguile yourselves ; that is not 
 the way to heaven ; always I'll teU you what people thinks, there 
 are some that thinks themselves sure of heaven, that shall be be- 
 guiled, and I fear ye be among them : I'll tell you five rocks upon 
 which people thinks they build well, and there is none of them will 
 bear a house. 
 
 1. I hope I shall get eternal life, I hope I am prepared, because 
 God has made me ; I am sure I am the work of the Lord's hands ; 
 had the Lord no other thing ado, but to make me a faggot for the 
 fii-e of hell ? Will his Avisdom and his goodness make no other use 
 of me but that ? I am sure I can say what the Psalmist says, Psal. 
 138. Forget not the ivorh of thy hands ; I am sure I am God's liandy- 
 work, why will he destroy me ? he is full of mercy. Do not trust 
 to this, it is a foundation that wiU not bear your roof: What cares 
 God for a soul ? It is the greatest foUy that is in the world, and the 
 greatest spice of self-love I know. O ! God has made me, there- 
 fore I shall be saved ; What cares God for your sovil and my soul ? 
 He can make a soul of a picle of sand ; I'll tell you what I say to 
 these that says, I am God's creature ; and therefore I hope he shaU 
 never condemn me : Have you never heard tell of the fallen angels ? 
 have you never heard of the multitude of devils that are in heU, in 
 the air, and in the clouds ? Some says there are as many devils as 
 
xlii SERMON, PREACHED BY MR KIRKTON, 
 
 there are men ; truly I cannot tell how many there are ; but did 
 not God make devils ? Wherefore did God make devils ? Only to 
 be tormented in heU, and their torment is greater than the torment 
 of men : the devils were a while in heaven ; how long was the de- 
 vils in heaven ? (I do not love to speak of this.) The gi-eatest scho- 
 lers in the world says, the devils were not an hour in heaven ; why 
 did the Lord make them ? O ! he made them for his own reasons. 
 Trust not to this, that you were created, may be you were created 
 to be a faggot in hell's fire, Isa. 27. He that made them will have no 
 mercy on them ; therefore go not to trust upon this, ye must have a 
 better rock for yovu- salvation. 
 
 2. There is another rock upon which people builds their house, 
 and that is. Do you hope to be saved ? Yes ; what is your reason ? 
 I am one of the people of God, I have many priviledges, blessed be 
 the Lord, I profess the true religion, I am a christian, I am a pro- 
 fessor of the best sort, I ever more sorted myself with the people of 
 God, and when there was a question of the time, whether should ye 
 do this or that, I Avas always for the right question, and for the good 
 cause : That is very well, always ye shall have my counsel not to 
 trust in this, for all are not Israel that are called Israel ; ye know 
 what the Apostle Paul says, I was a Jew, and born a Jew, and lived 
 a very good life, as I thought, but had not the Lord told me that 
 covetousness was a sin, I would have perished eternally ; may be 
 ye build upon a sandy bank, vipon which Paul found he buUt be- 
 fore his conversion ; think not this, I was all my days a protestant, 
 I was all my days a strict presbyterian ; think no thing of that. 
 
 3. There is a third rock upon which some people builds, and that 
 is, I thank the Lord for it, I am not only among the people of God, 
 and follows the true profession ; but I also have been a fruitful tree 
 unto the Lord, I have done this, and I have done that. And what 
 have you done ? what have you done ? I have abounded in duties. 
 
ON THE PROMISE OF LIFE ETERNAL. xliii 
 
 Can you say the thing that the Pharisee said ? I know nobody that 
 can say the thing the Pharisee said, I fast twice a week. Fast you 
 two days of the week ? Make you a private fast twice a week ? T 
 know none of my acquaintances does that ; so a man may abound- 
 in duties, and may have many duties, evening and morning, and 
 be but a Pharisee before the Lord, and never enter into life eternal, 
 but death eternal, that is a sad matter. I'll teU you three duties 
 upon which the people of Scotland think very much. 
 
 1. Some of the people of Scotland think very much upon the duty 
 of sacrificing ; I wot weU the Lord knows I am a sinner, but many 
 a time I have offered a sacrifice, and confessed my sins, and desired 
 the Lord to accept of the blood of Christ, and that is the great sa- 
 crifice.. Have ye done this ? Truly the man that has done it in sin- 
 cerity, his bread is beaken, and well is he : But I am sure, there are 
 many that have sacrificed to no pm-pose, Ezek. 9. It shall be ivith 
 him that sacrijiceth, as tvifh him that sacrificeth not. Ye have many 
 times made the fashion of sacrificing, but ye shall get no mercy for 
 all that, you sacrificed all wrong ; always that is one duty people 
 think too much of. 
 
 2. There is another duty that the people of Scotland think much 
 upon, and that is, I have suffered for the Lord ; and truly I think 
 this is a very great duty, and blessed is the man that has suffered 
 for the Lord, as many one in Scotland has done : But I must have 
 liberty to say this word, I know none in aU Scotland more profane 
 in their lives and conversations than some sufferers, and I know 
 none in Scotland that are nearer heU than some sufferers. Take 
 heed it be not so with you, you may say you suffered, you were in 
 prison, you wandered, never one of you lost your lives ; many a 
 one has given their bodies to be burnt, and wanted charity ; many 
 of you may come a great length in suffering, and not go to heaven, 
 and therefore you need not be proud of your suffering ; and I will 
 
Xliv SERMON, PREACHED BY MR KIRKTON, 
 
 get you some that are very proud of a trifle ; how much has some 
 of you suffered ? 1 have heard of a man that has been brought be- 
 fore the court, and fined in a groat ; was that a great suffering ? It 
 . was not worth the naming. 
 
 3. A third duty upon which the people of Scotland think very 
 much, is this : I thank God I have not only sacrificed, I have not 
 only suffered, but I have been a praying man all my days. There 
 are many praying people, but O for the lame prayers up and down 
 Scotland ! O the base prayers ! Some prays in their family once in 
 ten days ; some comes home, and prays in their family at night, 
 may be half drunk ; these are not right prayers. There are some 
 that are very grave and civil ; they can say. Truly these 20 years 
 (I thank God for it) I never mist a morning prayer nor an evening 
 prayer, and therefore I conclude I shall go to heaven. We may 
 say, morning praj^er and evening prayer has a resemblance to the 
 two sacrifices of the Levitical law ; the priests morning and even- 
 ing sacrificed. But give me leave to tell you this by the way, I be- 
 lieve there is no man that is guided by the spu-it of God, and has 
 the spirit of prayer moving in him, but he is sometimes led to pray 
 at another time than the two hours at morning and evening ; and 
 I shall give you an example in Scripture for this. The Apostle Pe- 
 ter was a praying man. When made Peter his prayers ? He made 
 his morning prayers about six a clock, and at night about six or 
 seven a clock, but he prayed even at other times of the day : ye 
 wiU find in Acts 10, Peter went up to the top of the house to 
 pray ; what time of day was it ? morning or evening ? It was at 
 the sixth hour of the day, just at our twelve a clock ; now that was 
 not a fit time for prayer, but it was Peter's time. If you be a pray- 
 ing man, you will be made to pray at any time, either when God 
 calls you by an extraordinary dispensation, or when the spirit calls 
 you by an extraordinary motion, any time a day. Now there arc 
 
ON THE PROMISE OF LIFE ETERNAI,. xlv 
 
 even few can say this, there are many prays but once in the morn- 
 ing, Bless me all day ; and in the evening, Bless ;\ie all night : I like 
 not that prayer. O fy, how many folk will cry in the day of the 
 Lord, when they are disappointed of their expectation of eternal 
 life. 
 
 4. There is a fourth rock upon which many builds, and that is, 
 I hope I shall go to heaven. What is your reason ? I am an old 
 man, I am an old woman ; God has favoured me, I have lived long, 
 and therefore I hope God loves mc. What favour have you recei- 
 ved of the Lord ? Tridy I think I can say as much as David says. 
 David says. Thou hast deUvered me from the paw of the lion, and 
 fi-om the paw of the bear ; I have been in sickness, and delivered ; 
 I have been in debt and prison, and delivered ; many tokens of fa- 
 vour have I gotten ; and therefore I hope God is my father. Build 
 not upon this rock ; read Job 21, and there you may see what com- 
 mon favours God bestows upon the wicked man ; there are many 
 that get all these that are hated of God, and therefore build not 
 upon it ; indeed if you can say to me, I have seen the face of God, 
 I have nothing to say against that. You will go to heaven ; but 
 for outward deliverances, and outward favours, care not for them ; 
 for wicked men have received more than ever you did. 
 
 5. Then the last rock that many build upon, with which many 
 beguile themselves ; and it is this : I have been under exercise, I 
 have been imder doubts and fears ; I have not only heard the "Word, 
 but I have apply ed the Word ; and when the minister said, you Avill 
 not be saved, I said within myself, I fear I shall not be saved. I 
 know not what your hearts wiU say, but when I have told you of 
 these five false rocks, I shall tell you before I go further, God be 
 mercifiil to us, poor unworthy mmisters, for we have more of these 
 five rocks to plead for our salvation than many ; and for duties, 
 we can say this, (as there are many who can say to the Lord,) have 
 
 f 
 
xlvi SERMON, PREACHED BY MR KIRKTON, 
 
 not we preached, and prayed in thy name, (and that is a very great 
 matter,) and cast oxit devils in thy name ? Yet the Lord says, De- 
 part from me, and will cast such into hell ; O Godj be merciful to 
 ns all : and I shall say this for myself, what God will do to me I 
 cannot say here, but 1 am sure, I have more to answer than any u> 
 my congregation, and all ministers have more to answer than their 
 congregations have. Now I say, the last defence is, I have been 
 >mder doubts and fears, and therefore I hope I shall go to heaven. 
 Truly I love them very Avell that are under doubts and fears ; when 
 a minister comes to a congregation where there is a number of pro- 
 fane people, may be he wiU hear, that in such and such a house there 
 is a very sore disquiet, and such a man has roused himself up, and 
 the minister says. This, I hope, is a law-work, and I hope a gospel- 
 work will come next ; then when the minister comes to try, he finds 
 it is a work of the law, but it never comes to a work of the gospel ; 
 and even as sure as tiie word is true, there are many under the work 
 of the law, and a seeming work like the work of the gospel upon them, 
 that shall never taste of eternal life ; they shall taste of the joy of Hea- 
 ven, but they shall never taste of the life of Heaven ; and therefore 
 beware, and say not you shall be saved, because you have been vin- 
 der exercise, Ezek. 33. says, We pine away in our sins ; many pines- 
 away under exercise ; got they mercy ? Never a word of that ; 
 alace ! who shall be saved ? None but these that are anxious, none 
 but these that are serious, none but them that says, "V-NHiat shall we 
 do to be saved ? O ! would to God this were the exercise of you all ; 
 but I must even say this by tlie way, I am now an old man, I do- 
 not remember that I have seen the people of Scotland imder less 
 exercise, and God is witness, and you are witness, that within these 
 ten years there was more exercise in Scotland than there is now ; 
 the time was when we heard the word, and lived in private ; O fy 
 upon it ! And what is there in Scotland just now ? A cloud of sins.. 
 
ON THE PKOMISE OF LIFE ETEUXAL. xlvil 
 
 there are many in Scotland, Avhich may make us fear, that the 
 next day, God shall bring a cloud of wrath upon Scotland, and may 
 be you will see it : God knows what he has done to the people of 
 France ; they are now galley-slaves, and lying in prisons among dogs 
 and beasts, and vermine, that is a sad Ufe : they had the word among 
 them, but they made not that use they should have made of it. The 
 people of Scotland have gotten a great deliverance, but little fruit is 
 brought forth unto the Lord. I am sure the people of Scotland are 
 guilty of Hezekiah's sin, which was unthankfulness ; and therefore 
 the Lord may remove the banquet, because we weary of it, and can- 
 not eat. But I would speak one word, even to them who boads very 
 fair for heaven ; and what is that ? They have been under exercise ; 
 
 1 have been, under exercise, and I have been chased to Christ, and 
 therefore I hope I shall be saved'; I believe there are many under 
 exercise, and some Of you have been under it ; but I have three 
 complaints to make on the exercise of the people of Scotland at this 
 time. I'll tell you what they are. 
 
 1-. The first complaint I have, is, Ye are not sad enough ; now I 
 never saw so much wantonness and hghtness among the people of 
 Scotland as there is just now ; wo is my heart therefore ; I have 
 spoken many times my thoughts and my conscieince concerning it, 
 to no purpose. There are too many dancing-schools, too much 
 dancing, too much fineness of apparel, alace for it : is not this true ? 
 What will God say to you, when j'^ou come before him ? too much 
 security, too much laughing ; we did not understand that exercise 
 before. 
 
 2. Ill tell you what I have to say of the exercise of the people of 
 Scotland. As you are not sad enough, so you are not tender enough. 
 Tender ! you have not so many scniples as there was, and as a ten- 
 der christian should have ; once there was many scruples in Scot- 
 land, but now there are none, except about ministers : But I have 
 
Xlviii SERMON, PREACHED BY MR KIRKTON, 
 
 seen when the people of Scotland had great scruples about eating 
 and drinking, and wearing their cloaths, and doing this and doing 
 that ; now the Lord knows by what rule many of the people of 
 Scotland walks ; I have not wUl to be particidar, but little tender- 
 ness now. The gross liver that fears not Gk)d, I'U teU you what 
 I have to say of him ; he goes to the tavern, and he drinks tiU he 
 be drunk, and like a beast ; no man calls that man a christian or a 
 godly man, or a tender man : But then I wiU teU you of another, 
 one that is a member of the church ; he goes to the tavern, and sits 
 very long, not tiU he be drunk, and when he comes out nobody can 
 say he is di'unk ; and if any body ask him, AMiere have you been ? 
 I have been in the wine-house. How long ? I have been so long, 
 and so long. O fy, you should not have sitten so long. I am not 
 drunk. I cannot say that, but you have tippled, you have abused 
 the creature, ye are not tender, too little tenderness among the 
 people of Scotland ; God knows whether I be speaking true or no. 
 3. Some are under exercise, doubts and fears, but they are not 
 painful enough ; Lord knows what exercise ye have. Do you pray 
 continually ? We read of an honest woman in Scripture, that they 
 called Anna ; ye knov/ AveU enough the story of her, poor thing ; she 
 lost her husband when she was young ; after that she continued in 
 the temple fasting and praying, till she was four score years old, 
 (and ye must understand, that the temple was not one chamber, 
 nor one house, but the temple was a house that had a great court 
 built in it, and many chambers built there, and they that were de- 
 vout and zealous, they took a chamber, and dwelt there ;) and how 
 did she spend her time ? >Jight and day she prayed, and heard 
 preaching, and saw the sacrifices ; and what came of her ? What 
 was her priviledge ? She got first a revelation, then she got a vision, 
 then she went to heaven ; few of these among us ; many gets false 
 revelations. It was revealed to her, that she should not die till she 
 
ON THE PROMISE OF LIFE ETERNAL. xHx 
 
 saw Christ ; and what came of it ? She saw Christ ; few Anna's 
 among us, alace therefore ; always what will make the people of 
 Scotland holy ? Alace ! will a change of government or the change 
 of a kinff do it ? or will a drawn sword do it ? God forbid he use 
 these means ; but I fear there be a black day coming upon us, 
 because of our behaviour, and little amendment that is to be seen 
 among us. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 On the Friday, in the last prayer he had in his family, he had 
 these expressions following : 
 
 " O Lord, if the wedding garment be not perfected, if there be 
 but one stitch of it wanting, Lord hasten to perfect it, hasten to 
 perfect it." 
 
 After which night he slept, and never spake more, but departed 
 this life on the next Saturday about twelve at night, and no doubt 
 went to everlasting glory. 
 
Defection in a Church useth ordinarily to be attended with si- 
 lence among the Avitnesses, so that succeeding ages can hardly have 
 ane account hoAv the gold became di'osse, or how the faithfuU wo- 
 man became a harlot. Therefore, having my self been a sad specta- 
 tor of the lamentable revolutions in the Church of Scotland, I con- 
 ceived it dutie at least to preserve some memorial of what I hade 
 heard and seen, if happily it might be of any vise. Many have desired 
 this might be done : none that I knoAV hath undertaken it. I think, 
 better I had ane imperfect account transmitted than none at all. 
 
 A 
 
2 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 But that the darkness of the night may the bettei- be conceived, I 
 think it not impertinent briefly to run over the progrcsse of the 
 gospel in Scotland, both in its dauning and morning, till at length 
 the Church arrived at the top of her perfection and glory, when her 
 sun went down at noon, and the tyde turned toward defection and 
 lamentable apostaeie. 
 
 In the fii-st place, then, you most tmderstand, that of all the 
 churches in the western woiid (except the Saveyards, who never 
 owned the Pope) the Church of Scotland had always lest obligation 
 to, or dependence upon, the Roman bishop. She received the 
 Christian faith a little after the dayes of ovir Saviour, in the dayes of 
 Domitian (as it is thought) from some of John's disciples, which 
 was by them committed to faithfull men, who were nothing ac- 
 quainted either with the glory of a hierarchy or man's tyranny over 
 conscience ; and was a chast virgin some centuries of years, before 
 she hade the least correspondence with Rome, or ever heard of the 
 notion of a bishop distinct from, or superior to, ane ordinary pastor. 
 These mmisters were commonly called Culdees, that is, worshippers 
 of God, discharging the office of ane ordinary countrey pastor,* in- 
 structing the people in the simplicity of the gospel ; and of them 
 you may find a traditional memorial almost in eveiy village in Scot- 
 land. Yea, even when the Pope hade sent PaUadius his factor into 
 Scotland to accommodate it to his model, in hierarchy and rites, 
 
 * Buchannan roundly asserts, that before the mission of Palladius there were no 
 bishops in theScottish church. " Nam, ad id usque tempus, Ecclesia absque Episcopis 
 per monachos regebantur, minore quidcm cumja&tu, et externa ponipa, sed majore 
 simplicitate et sanctimonia." — On the other hand, Hector Boece affirms, tliat bishops, 
 prior to the arrival of the legate, were elected from the monks and Culdees by the 
 suffrage of the people ; and it is very certain, that the Culdees had among them the 
 titles of abbot and bishop, to whatever ecclesiastical stations they then pertained. 
 
THE CHUKCH OF SCOTLAND. 3 
 
 (wliich two are the vitals of the Romish religion) both he and his 
 successors were opposed by these godly men in both the one and 
 the other for many a year thereafter* And when they hade raised 
 a sort of bishops in Scotland, they were nothing like these in other 
 nations, being only a few itineranes, neither posted in diocess, nor 
 of number or power sufficient to manadge the whole nation, but 
 most of all because they were ordained by ordinary pastors and not 
 bishops : so they seem only to have been bishops in name, and not 
 lords over the Lord's inheritance. However, these primitive teach- 
 ers continued in authority amongst the people of Scotland till near 
 the fourteenth century ; about which time, by the spite of the Pope 
 and the negligence of the King, they were entirely supprest. And 
 than in then* place the Lord raised for himself another sort of wit- 
 nesses in Scotland, who were called the Lollards of Kyle, who, 
 though they differed nothing fi-om other witnesses of these times m 
 any pouit of doctrme, yet in their national dispensation they differ- 
 ed m this, the true faith was amonoj them, not the blessing; of sino-u- 
 lar persons as elsewhere, but the hereditary possession of several fa- 
 
 * " Palladius was a man most careful in promoting Christian religion, and the first 
 that made Christ be preached in the Isle of Orkney, sending Servanus, one of his dis- 
 ciples, thither. Another, called Tervanus, he employed among the northern Picts, 
 and ordained both of them bishops. His own remaining, for the most part, was at 
 Fordon, in the country of INIernis, where he built a httle church, which from him is 
 to this day, by a corrupted word, called Padie Church : there was his corpse, after 
 his death, interred. In the year 1494, William Shevez, archbishop of St Andrews, 
 visiting that church, did, in reverence of his memory, gather his bones, and bestow 
 them in a silver shrine, which, as the report goeth, was taken up at the demolishing 
 of the churches, by a gentleman of good rank who dwelt near unto that place. The 
 people of the country, observing the decay which followed in that family not many 
 years after, ascribed the same to the violation of Palladius' grave." — Spottiswood's 
 History of the Church of Scotland. 
 
4 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 milies, both gentlemen and commons, among whom it was delivered 
 from father to son even till Luther's dayes.* 
 
 * This sect, which first appeared in Scotland during the government of Robert, 
 Duke of Albany, is by some authors traced back to the year 1509, when a body of 
 strolling hypocrites, called Lollards, deceived certain women of quality in Hainault 
 and Brabant. Others affirm that Walter Lollard began to preach his errors in Ger- 
 many about the year 1315 ; and from him, who was burnt as a heretick at Cologne 
 1322, it is pretty evident that these enthusiasts obtained their name. The monkish 
 writers, however, derive Lollard from Lolium, a wicked weed sown by the Devil, and 
 condemned to the fire, bringing it nearer the term by a false quantity, LolUum ; and 
 Mosheim, in his Ecclesiastical History, would discover its origin in the old German 
 word Lollen, to lull, as the Lollards toned out their preachments and chaunted their 
 psalms in a low, drowsy manner. Lord Hailes thinks, that, in modern language, they 
 would have been termed the sect of the humdrums. — (Hailes' MS.) 
 
 When Lollardism first appeared in England, the bishops were quite at a loss how 
 to describe its tenets. In the year 1387, Henry, Bishop of Worcester, gravely in- 
 formed his clergy, that these hereticks were followers of Mahomet. Indeed their creed 
 seems never to have been unanimously agreed to, in all its points, by themselves. The 
 German Lollards believed that the damned in hell and the evil angels should one day 
 be saved, while the confession of faith, as presented by the English Lollards to parlia- 
 ment in the reign of King Richard the Second, contains nothing, a few fanatical con- 
 ceits excepted, but what any good Christian might profess. Some articles in this 
 statement are curious enough ; for instance, declaring against the celibacy of the 
 clergy, it is remarked, " delicata cibaria virorum Ecclesiasticorum volunt habere na- 
 turalem purgationem ;" and, in another place, the Lollards argue, that if all the in- 
 struments of our Saviour's passion, such as the nails, crown of thorns, &c. are to be 
 reverenced as relicks, Judas Iscariot's lips should be held in very high veneration. 
 
 From the continuation of Fordun we learn, that, in the year 1407, James Resby, an 
 Englishman, and a disciple of Wickliffe, was burnt for Lollardism in Scotland. Among 
 forty of his heretical conclusions were these tenets : " Papa de facto non est Vica- 
 rius Christi ;" and " Nullus est Papa, nee Vicarius Christi, nisi sit sanctus ;" which 
 were enough, of themselves, to destroy him, without the other thirty-eight. His wri- 
 tings on the points of his creed, we are told, " curiose servantur per Lolardos in 
 Scotia." 
 
 The next martyr for this cause was Paul Craw, also a follower of Wickliffe and 
 
THE CIIUKCH OF SCOXLAMli. 
 
 Than when Luther had begun his reformation, partly by the doc- 
 trine and sufferings of that eminent martyr, IMr Patrick Hamiltoun, 
 and partly by the ministry of the Scotish John Baptist, Mr George 
 "Wishart,* the people of Scotland Avere in many places ripened into 
 
 Hus, "aBoheme," according to Knox, " deprehendit in the universitie of Saint Androis, 
 and accusit of Heresie, before suche as then (1431) wer called Doctors of Theologie." 
 At his execution, " they put ane ball of bras in his mouthe, to the end that he sould 
 not gif confession of his faythe to the pepill, neyther yit that thai sould understand 
 the defence which he had against thair injust accusation and condemnation." He 
 proceeds to state, that " in the tyme of King James tlie Fourt, in the sext yeir of his 
 reigune, and in the 22 yeir of his age, whiche was the yeir of 149i, wer summonit 
 befoir the King and his grit counscill, by Robert Blackeder, callit Archbischope of 
 Glasgow, the number of thirtie personis, remaining some in Kyllestewart, some in 
 Kingis Kylle, and some in Cunninghame : among quhome wer George Campbell of 
 Sesnok, Adam Reid of Barskymminge, John Campbell of Newmylnes, Andro Schaw 
 of Powenmate, Helein Chalmer Ladie Pokelie, Chalmer Ladie Stairs. These wer 
 callit the Lollards of Kyle." He then gives their creed, consisting of twenty-four ar- 
 ticles, one of which he himself must have held in utter abhorrence, " That it is not 
 lawful to fight or to defend the fayth." He adds, characteristically enough, " We 
 translate according to the barbarousnes of their Latin and Dytement." 
 
 The last article is, " That thai quhilk ar callit Principals in the Kirk ar theins and 
 rubers," and as such the Lollards seem to have treated their judges at their examina- 
 tion. Adam Reid, who appears to have been the wag of the party, called the arch- 
 bishop " Churle" and " proud Prelate" to his face. " The King, willing to put an 
 end to farder reasoning, said to the said Adam Reid, Wil thou burne thy bill ? He 
 answerit. Sir, and the Bischope and ye will. (N. B. The wit here hes in the rhyme.) 
 With these and the lyk scoiEs, the Bischope and his band war so daschit out of coun- 
 tenance, that the grittest parte of accusation was turnit to lauchter." 
 
 • The first of these martyrs was by birth a gentleman, and " ane cunning clerk," ac- 
 cording to Pitscottie. When still very young, he was made abbot of Perm, and quickly 
 afterwards imbibed the reformed doctrines. In the year 1527, by the sentence of Arch- 
 bishop Beatoun, he was burnt at St Andrews, aged about twenty-three years. At his 
 execution the combustibles were so unskilfully arranged, that the flame only scorched 
 his cheek and hand ; " than ane baxter, call Myrtoun, ran and gatt his amies full of 
 
KIRKTON'S HISTORY 01' 
 
 a disposition not only to change their own profession, but to endea- 
 vour a national reformation ; and Providence highly favoured the 
 
 itrae, and kest in the fire to kindle it : but thair cam sick ane thud of easterne wind out 
 of the sea, and raised the flame of fire so vehementlie, that it flew upon the frier wlio 
 accused him and dang him to the earth, and brunt the foir pairt of his couU ; and pat 
 him in sick a fray that he cam nevir in his rycht spiritis againe, bot wandrit about the 
 space of fourtie dayes, and then depairted." — Lindsay of Pilscoltie's Chronicles. 
 
 As to George Wishart, " who took Iiis flight by a fiery chariot into heaven, and ob- 
 tained the martyr's crown, 1st IMarch, 1546," we are told by one of his own scholars, 
 that " he was a man of a tall stature, black haired, long bearded, of a graceful person- 
 age, eloquent, courteous, ready to teach, and desirous to learn ; that he ordinarly 
 wore a French cap, a freize gown, plain black hose, and white bands and handcuffs." 
 At his execution, " the hangman that was his tormentor sat doun upoun his knees, and 
 said. Sir, I pray yow forgive me, for I am not giltie of your deyth ; to ijuhome he an- 
 swerit, Come hither to me. Quhen lie was com to him, he kissit his cheek, and said, 
 Lo, heir is a token that I forgive thee ; my hairt, do thy office." Knox.— He was 
 burnt at St Andrews, after predicting Cardinal Beatoun's death, who beheld his exe- 
 cution from the battlements of the castle. At Wishart's martyrdom, as at Hamilton's, 
 the elements, if we can believe Lindsay, were greatly perturbed ; " Than they laid the 
 fire to him, and gave him the first blast of powder, quhilk was vcrrie terrible and odi- 
 ous to sie, for thair cam so great ane thud of wind out of the sea, and so great ane 
 cloud of raine out of the heavenes, that when the wind and weitt niett togidder, it had 
 sick noyse and sound, that all men wer alFrayed that hard or saw it : it had sick force 
 and strenth that it blew down the stone wallis, and the men that satt thereon, to the 
 number of two hundreth persones, quhilkis fell in the bischopis yaird, about the draw- 
 well thairof, and so monie of thame fell thairin, that twa of thame drowned imraediat- 
 lie, and so thair was sacrifice both of fyre and watter." 
 
 Though the Cardinal and the other priests treated Mr George with extreme rigour, 
 it must be confessed that some of his assertions were highly contemptuous and irrita- 
 ting ; for he was accused of affirming, " that holie watter was not so gude as wasche 
 purine), and that a priest standing at the altar, saying mess, was lyke a fox wagging his 
 taill in JuHe ;" — -the latter simile, however, he attempted to qualify, by decliiring h.e 
 ^nly said, that " the moving of the body outward, without the inward moving of thp 
 hairt, is nocht e!!s but the playing of ane ape, and not the trew moving of God." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAXD. 7 
 
 design, fox' the nation was at that time under the government of 
 Mary of Lorrain (ane egge of the bloody nest of Gnise) and a 
 stranger ; she was neither beloved nor feared, and the fii-st woman 
 that ever governed Scotland, who, to the discontent of the people, 
 had intruded her self into that office,* to the prejudice of the laAvfuU 
 governour, which seemed to be a contrivance of Providence ; for 
 under her weak government, the reformed religion made such pro- 
 gress, that not only multitudes of the common people, but also of 
 the gentrie, and chiefly of the nobility, thereof made publick profes- 
 sion. Thereaftei", when the multitude of professors found themselves 
 both numerous for multitude, and considerable for quality, their 
 next care was to jirovide themselves of pastors. AVhereupon, by 
 their solemn invitation, that blessed instrument, INIaster Knox, re- 
 turned from his unjust exile into his native countrey, to perfyte 
 publickly what he hade formerly essayed privately, and most wel- 
 come he was to aU that knew loim.f Immediately upon his arry vale. 
 
 Between these CKCcutions of Hamilton and Wishart, several hereticks had been put 
 to death at Edinburgh by " the Cardinal, the Chancellar, the Bischope of Glasgow, 
 and the incestuous Bischope of Dumblane;" and at Perth, *' war a grit number of ho- 
 nest men and women callit befoir the Cardinal, accuisit of heresie ; and albeit thai 
 could be convict of nothing, but onlie of suspicioun that thai had eitten a gus upoun 
 Fryday, four men war adjugit to be hangit, and a woman to be drownit, quhilk cruell 
 and niaist injust sentence was without mercie put in executioun : the housband was 
 hangit, and the wyf having a souking babe upoun hir breist, was drownit." Knox. 
 — Spottiswood informs us that the woman had refused to invoke the virgin, during her 
 travail, and that three of the men, besides eating the goose, were convicted of having 
 outraged the image of St Francis, by fixing " two ram's horns to his head, and a cow's 
 tail to his rump !" 
 
 * " Sche was made regent in the yeir of God, 1554, and a croun put upoun her 
 heid ; als seimlie a sicht, gif men had eyes, as to put a saidill upouu the back of ane 
 unrewlie cow." — Knox's Historic, Lib. I. p. 89. 
 
 f A pretty just estimate of this reformer's political morality may be formed from a 
 
8 kirkton's history op 
 
 he repaired to Perth, being at that time a very zealous town for the 
 reformed rehgion, and his fu'st essay Avas a fervent sermon against 
 the idolatry of the Romish church. The Romish clergy hearing 
 this, immediately after he hade done a priest entered the church, 
 and, to counterwork IMr Knox, would needs say masse in the most 
 splended manner, and thereupon opens a great armory fuU of glo- 
 rious images, that their splendor to the eye might efface what ]Mr 
 Knox hade wrought by the ear. But he was strangely disappoint- 
 ed, for there was amongst the spectators ane inconsiderable young 
 boy, who, fi-om the effect of the sermon, in the zeal of his spirit 
 threw a stone into the armory and broke one of the images. This 
 indeUberate act kindled the flame, which consmned popery in Scot- 
 land very speedily ; for the priest faUing upon the boy and the 
 people upon the priest, the tumvdt increased, till the common peo- 
 ple had withovit counsel destroyed all the frier's houses, and all the 
 
 passage in one of his letters to Sir James Crofts, representing the great importance to the 
 congregation of speedy aid from England, without which the meditated attack upon the 
 fortifications of Leith was likely to prove abortive ; the court of England, he observed, 
 ought not to hesitate at offending the French, of whose hostile intentions against them 
 they had the most satisfactory evidence ; but " if j'e list to craft with thame, the send- 
 ing of a thousand or mo men to us can breake no league nor point of peace contracted 
 betwixt you and France : for it is free for your subjects to serve in weir anie prince or 
 nation for their wages ; and if yee fear that such excuses will not prevail, ye may de- 
 clare thame rebelles to your realme when ye shall be assured that thai be in our com- 
 panye." — This is plain enough ; and it is remarkable that in his history, mentioning 
 a trick exactly similar, he takes occasion to snarl, after his usual manner, at the faith- 
 less politicks of crowned heads : — " The sure knowledge of the trubilles of Scotland 
 cuming to France, (IS^O,) thair was prepaired ane navye and armic ; the navye was 
 such as never was seen to cum fra France — how sone so evir they tuke the plaine 
 seyis, the read Lyoun of Scotland was displayed, and they haldin as rebellis unto 
 France, (such policie is iiojahhoode in princes,) for gude peice stude betwix France and 
 Ingland." 
 
THE CIIUKCH OF SCOTLAND. 9 
 
 monuments of idolatry about that town. This happened ]\Iay 11, 
 1559. This was the beginning of Scotland's cleansing the temple, 
 and this example was quickly followed in most other towns through 
 the kingdome, and upon these waters the Lord laid his foundation, 
 whatever the lawj'^ers may say. 
 
 However, this offended the Queen Regent, so that she presently 
 gathers her army to destroy Perth ; and because there was never 
 one parasite divine to condemn defensive arms at that time, the 
 Protestant lords judged it their duty to preserve their brethren from 
 deJitruction. So they take arms also, and at Couper-moore both ar- 
 mies niett. The protestants were above the papists both for unity, 
 courage, and number ; so the business was composed by a sort of ex- 
 torted treaty, wherein the regent promised not only indemnity for 
 what was passed, but fuU liberty for the reformed religion in all 
 time coming, and so the armies dissolved. Treaties extorted by 
 arms use soon to expire, and the regent keept her engagement so 
 very unfaitlifully, that the reformed nobility found themselves ob- 
 lidged that same harvest to suspend her from her government, after 
 which, within a little she left this life, and the kingdome of Scotland 
 in great confusion.* And though at that time Mary, heretrix of 
 
 * Knox gives an amusing account of tlie Queen Regent's joy, a little while previ- 
 ous to her death, (tho' about that time " began her belly and loathesome leges to 
 swell,") at sight of the discomfiture of her enemies, attempting to assault the town of 
 Leith, " where the Frenche mens harlotis, of quhome the maist parte war Scotia huris, 
 did no less cruelties than did the souldiours ; for besyed that thay charged thair pieces, 
 and ministrate unto thame uther weaponis, sum continewally cast stones, sum caryed 
 chimneyis of burning fyre, sum brocht timber, and uther impediments of weicht, quilk 
 with gret violence they threw over the wall upoun our men, bot especially quhen they 
 began to turne their backes — the Quene Regent sat at the tyme of the assault (quhilk 
 was bothe terribill and lang) upoun the foir wall of the castell of Edinburgh, and quhen 
 sche perceaved the overthrow of us, sche gave ane gawf of lauchter, and said, Now 
 
 B 
 
10 KIEKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 Scotland, was also Queen of France, being married to the French 
 king, which was a great accession to her power ; yet, so formidable 
 were the protestants in Scotland, that they obtained from the French 
 king and Scotish queen a liberty to conveen in parliament, wherein 
 Pope and popeiy were almost unanimously condemned, and the re- 
 formed religion established in the place of it. 
 
 Then began the few reformed ministers in Scotland, neither by 
 order from king nor parliament, but from the authority the Lord 
 hade given them in his word, and the example of the ancient perse- 
 cute church, to constitute themselves in a judicatorie. And though 
 they were but twelve in number, yet so publick was their spirit, 
 they would needs undertake the whole nation for their paroche, and 
 
 will I go to the mes, and prays God for that quhilk my eyis have seen ; and so was 
 Frier Black ready for that purpois, quhorne sche herself a litell befoir had deprehend- 
 ed with his harlotte in the chapell. Bot huredome and idolatry agrie weill together, 
 and that our court can witnes this day, the 16 of May, 1560" In a MS. of Knox's 
 history, now belonging to the library of the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh, is a 
 copy of verses on this Friar Black, which affords an excellent specimen of the satirical 
 poetry of the reformers. It is inserted, after the above passage respecting the queen, 
 by the transcriber of the MS., who notes in the marghi ; " This added by Thomas 
 Wood, quhilk I hard, though not mentioned by Mr Knox. ' Of this blak frier was 
 these verses written, because he was born in the Blackfriers in Edinburgh, and was a 
 man of black personage, called Black to his name, and ane of the orders of Black 
 
 friers. 
 
 " There was a certaine blak frier alwayes called blak, 
 
 And this was no nickname, for blak was his wark, 
 
 Of all the blak friers he was the blakest dark 
 
 In the Blak friers borne, to a blak wark ; 
 
 He hyred a blak hussie to wash his blak sark. 
 
 Committing with the blak hussie black fornicatioun. 
 
 Blak was his soull to shut at such a blak mark, 
 
 This blak frier, called Frier Blak, black was his occupation." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 11 
 
 not betake themselves to so many private congregations, there to 
 lurk; and thereupon they canton'd Scotland into 12 parts, accord- 
 ing to the number of the ministers, appomting each man to his heavie 
 charge. Also, at their first meeting, they framed a sort of confes- 
 sion of faith, (which was rather opposed to atheism than popery) 
 which was afterward confirmed in parliament. Likewise, also they 
 agreed upon a sort of church government, accommodate to the pre- 
 sent scarcitie of pastors, till the church should be provided of fixed 
 ministers in every congregation, wherein they might better look to 
 particulars. 
 
 Within a little time the queen became a widow, and returning 
 into Scotland, married her cousine Heiuy StcAvart, and thereafter 
 bare her son K. James, in the year 1566, who was afterward crown- 
 ed in his infancy, and bred in the true religion. If Queen IMary 
 had keept the crown, she might have done much to smother the Re- 
 formation in its infancy, but her unhappy mamages were miich for 
 the advantage of it ; for, first, her shamefuU amours with Bothwell in 
 her husband's time, and than the lamentable death of the king her 
 husband, of which the whole world accused her, and thereafter her 
 marriaare with Bothwell, either the naurtherer ov executioner, made 
 both her person and government so hateftiU, that she was turned 
 out, and the government settled upon her son.* This infant king, 
 
 * The inflexible spirit of the ministers towards Marie and her son is strongly mark- 
 ed by an event which took place at Edinburgh, after sentence of death had been pro- 
 nounced upon the queen by her sister of England. " James, to manifest his natural 
 affection, commanded the salvation of his mother, both as to body and soul, to be 
 prayed for in all religious assemblies ; and also appointed a particular day of fasting 
 and prayer, commanding Adamson, Archbishop of St Andrews, to officiate in St 
 Giles's church. But the ministers perched up in the pulpit a young fellow, one John 
 Couper; upon which the king exclaimed, ' Master John, that place was designed 
 for another, yet, since you are there, do your duty, and obey the charge to pray for 
 
12 KIEKTON S HISTORY OP 
 
 at his coronation, engaged by proxy to maintain the true religion, 
 and indeed, all the time of his minority, under the government of 
 the four regents, Murray, Lennox, Marr, and Mortoun, the refoi'm- 
 ed religion prospered and spread her root and branches mightilie, 
 yea, even for a shoi't Avhile after he hade taken the government in his 
 own very young hand, the gospel hade course and flourished ; for 
 besides, that, in consideration of the defects in the fii-st confession of 
 faith, the Church hade most deliberately embraced the Helvetic con- 
 fession, (excepting only the article of holy dayes) because that con- 
 fession was pure and full, it was thought necessaiy to adde ane other 
 in form of ane oath, wherein popish errors were abjured, and the 
 present religion and government were asserted and confirmed, not 
 only by oath, but subscription. The church received the Helvetic 
 confession in the year 1566. And the king sware and subscribed 
 the small confession of faith, together with all his court, in the year 
 1581 : the authentick instrimient is yet in a private libraiy in Scot- 
 land, as I have seen. But all the time betAvixt these two notable 
 events, the godly ministry advanced their business without im 
 peachment or interruption from the civil powers, the regents being 
 
 my mother.' Couper replied, ' that he would speak no otherwise than as the spirit 
 should direct him ;' and beginning to pray in his own manner, with a shower of scrip- 
 tural nicknames upon the poor queen, « The king's majesty commanded him to stop ; 
 whereupon he gave a knock on th? pulpit, using an exclamation in these terms : 
 ' This day shall bear witness against you in the day of the Lord. Woe be to thee, O 
 Edinburgh ! for the last of thy plagues shall be the worst.' After having uttered 
 these words, he passed down from the pulpit, and, together with the •whole wives in the 
 hirJc, removed from the same. Immediately the Bishop of St Andrews went up to the 
 pulpit, and preached a sermon concerning praying for princes, whereby he convinced 
 the whole people who remained in the kirk, that the desire of the king's majesty to 
 pray for his mother was most honourable and reasonable." — Moyses' Mem. ii. 115. 
 Spoxxisvvood, ;3. 354. Sanderson, -p. 120. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 13 
 
 friends, and the young king unable. All this time there was no 
 church judicatorie in Scotland, but only the national assembly, which 
 ordinarily mett twice a-year, and as for particulars through the coun- 
 trey, they were dispatched by their visitors and superintendents ; 
 and though these last are aUeadged by some to have been bishops, 
 certain it is they hade neither the name nor the chai-ge, nor yet any 
 ordination save that of ordinary ministers ; and for their power they 
 were so far from dominion, that they were subjected to the com- 
 mand and censure of the meanest minister in aU the church. 
 
 But a very little after King James had taken the government in 
 his own hand, he began to shew another spirit ; for, first, eitlier by 
 persuasion, or for favour to the Stewarts of Lennox, his popish cou- 
 sins,* he endeavoured the introduction of bishops, to the great dis- 
 turbance and damnage of the church, (but of these bad counsellors 
 the Scotish lords made themselves qvxickly rid at Ruthven-road, as 
 it was called,) and than thereafter in the time of Captain James 
 Stewart, (as he was called) he resumed the same design, persisting 
 in his purpose, but was still crossed by the same hands at the road 
 of Stirling, till after so many checks, and being forciblie sequestrate 
 from his pernicious flattering counsellors, he was at lenglh perswa- 
 ded for a time (perchance from fear) to goe along with the godly 
 ministrie in advancemg the work of the gospel. This course he 
 followed some years, and was in such fair terms with JVIaster Robert 
 Bnice, that he recommended Scotland Jo his care, when he himself 
 
 * Esme, Duke of Lennox, the only amiable favourite that James ever adopted, was 
 driven from Scotland by a faction pretending to believe liim a papist, an emissary of 
 Rome, and guilty of concealing a certain desk, or coffer, covered with green velvet, 
 which had belonged to the Earl of Bothwell, and contained the proofs of Darnley's 
 murder. The King bewailed the loss of his favourite in a lamentable poem called the 
 Phenix, and ever after regarded his family with almost paternal tenderness. 
 
14 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 travelled into Denmark to bring home his Queen Anne.* It was 
 indeed observed there was more peace and less disorder that one 
 year in which the king was absent, than hade been any year prece- 
 
 * Tlie king and Mr Robert were not always on such amicable terms : Maxwell, 
 Bishop of Ross, in his " Burden of Issachar," (printed 1616) informs us that " it is 
 to this day remembered, when Master Robert Bruce came from his visitation in the 
 ■west or south, returning to Edinburgh, and entering by the Canon-gate, King James 
 looking out at his window in his palace at Halirude House, with indignation, (which ex- 
 torted from him an oath) said, ' Master Robert Bruce, I am sure, intends to be king, 
 and declare himselfe heire to King Robert the Bruce." At another time, wishing to re- 
 call the three banished lords, Angus, Huntley, and Errol, James attempted to gain the 
 consent of Master Robert, who possessed more power in Edinburgh, through his com- 
 mand of consciences, than the sovereign himself. Being ushered into the king's bed- 
 chamber, James opened unto him his views upon the English crown, and his fears lest 
 the papists in Scotland, of whom these lords were the chief, should contrive to join 
 with their brethren of England, and raise obstacles to his succession. He continued, 
 " Doe you not think it fit that I give them a pardon, restore them to their honour and 
 lands, and by so doing, so gain them, that thus I may save the effusion of Christian 
 blood ?' To this demand, so piously made, the answer was, ' Sir, you may pardon An- 
 gus and Arroll, and recall them ; but it is not fit, nor will you ever obtain my consent 
 to pardon or recall Huntlie :' To this the most gracious king sweetly replyed, ' Mas- 
 ter Robert, it were better for me to pardon and recall him, and not the other two, then 
 the other two without him ; first, because you know he hath a greater command, and 
 is more powerfuU than both of them ; secondly, next you know I am more assured of 
 his affection to me, for he hath married my deare and neare kinswoman, the Duke of 
 Lennox his sister ;' his rejoyner was, ' Sir, I cannot agree to it." The king desiring 
 him to consider of it, dismissed him ; but when sent for once more. Master Bruce still 
 continued inexorable : *' I agree with all my heart,' said he, ' that you recall Angus and 
 Arrol, but for Huntlie it cannot be ;' the king resumed, and repeated his reasons be- 
 fore mentioned, and added some more, he obstinately opposed and contradicted it : 
 all doe know, who knew any thing of these times, that Angus and Arrol were as bigot 
 papists, if not more, then Huntlie : there was no difference in religion : the truth is. 
 Master Bruce was a lover of the Earl of Argyle, who loved not much the Earl of 
 Huntlie ; this was the spirit inspired him, as it seemeth. King James desired his rea- 
 
THE CHUnCH OF SCOTLAXD. 15 
 
 ding, though Mr Bruce was only watchman, and not civil judge ; 
 which moved the king upon his return, and in presence of the Ge- 
 neral Assembly, not only highly to commend the purity and beauty 
 of the Scotish church, but also in comparison to preferr it to all 
 others, especially to the English church, which he censured as mun- 
 grel and half popish. Yea, in so good ane humor he was, that he 
 straitly charged them to be constant, promising to be ane example 
 to them all. But this calm lasted not long, for when the Church 
 seemed to be in her flower, and hade established her government, 
 condemned episcopacie, and renewed the covenant with the Lord, 
 in the year 1596, Iving James of a sudden resumed his old project 
 of estabUshing abjured bishops in Scotland, which he never forsook 
 till he brought it to pass. It cost him indeed great pains to get mini- 
 sters designed commissioners for parhament, and thereafter visitors 
 of the countrey, yet at length being made King of England, and in 
 condition to compell Scotland, he perswaded a few unworthy men 
 to perjure themselves, and after their episcopall consecration by the 
 English bishops in England, to exerce that odious office in Scot- 
 land against their own oath and the consciences of their brethren ; 
 this was done in the year 1610, full fifty years after the reformation 
 fi-om popery. But because the introduction of bishops had mett 
 
 sons ; he gave none, but spoke majestically ; then the king told him downright, ' Mas- 
 ter Robert, I have told you my purpose : you see how nearly and highly it concerneth 
 me : I have given you my reasons for m)' resolution, you give me your opinion, but 
 you strengthen it not with reasons ; wherefore I will hold my owne resolution, and doe 
 as I first spoke to you ;' to the which, with christian and subject-like reverence he re- 
 turned this reply, ' Well, sir, you may doe as you list, but chuse you, yee shall not 
 have me and the Earle of Huntlie both for you.' Judge by this, in what case mo- 
 narchie is in such a government ; for that this is truth, [ am as much assured of as 
 moral certaintie can assure any man of morall truth, which with his own eares he hath 
 not heard ; and yet this man was but minister of Edinburgh." 
 
16 kirkton's history of 
 
 with great opposition, they could not be established but with great 
 violence, for of the best ministers in ScotlaJid some were condemned 
 to die, some were banished, some called into England upon friendly 
 pretences, and never suffered to return, though never so much as 
 accused of a crime ; but this was the first watering of that place. 
 However, so just was King James, that to recompense the flattery 
 of the English bishops, in their extolling his power and changeing 
 his coronation oath, he was content in his old age to make a trouble- 
 some voyage into Scotland, there to establish the English ceremo- 
 nies in worship, as he had formerly established the Eiighsh govern- 
 ment by bishops. So in a corrupt assembly at Perth, he first got 
 his five hated articles concluded, and thereafter enacted in parlia- 
 ment at Edinburgh in the year 1621. This parliament was alwayes 
 by common consent called the Black Parliament, not only because 
 of the grievous acts made therein, but also because of a number of 
 dismal ominous prodigies which attended it, the vote it self which 
 accomplished the design of the meeting being accompanied with 
 horrible darkness, thunder claps, fire, and imheard tempest, to the 
 astonishment of both parliament and city, as was observed by all. The 
 bishops hade procured all the dissatisfied ministers to be discharged 
 the town, so diverse of them upon the last day of the parHament 
 went out to Sheens, near Edinburgh, where in a fi-iend's house 
 they spent the day in flisting and prayer, expecting the event, of 
 which they were as then luicertain. After the aged ministers had 
 prayed in the morning with great straitning, at length a messenger 
 from the city, with many tears, assured them all was concluded con- 
 trary to theu- request. This brought them all into a fitt of heavi- 
 ness, till a godly lady* there present desired IMr David Dickson, be- 
 
 • From " Memorable Characteristics, &c. collected by the famous Mr John Living- 
 stone, minister at Ancrum," we learn that this godly lady was Elizabeth Melville, 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 17 
 
 ing at that time present, might be imployed to pray, and though he 
 was at that time but a young man, and not very considerable for 
 his character, yet was he so wonderfully assisted and enlarged for 
 
 wife to the Laird of Culross. Livingstone's biographical sketch, which his editor 
 thought fit to curtail, is subjoined from a MS. : — " Elizabeth Melvill, Lady Culross, 
 the daughter of the Laird of Hahill, who professed he had got assurance from the 
 Lord that himself, his wife, and all his children should meet in heaven. She was fa- 
 mous for her piety and for her dream anent her spiritual condition, which she put in 
 verse, and was by others published. Of all that ever I saw she was most unwearied 
 in religious exercises, and the more she attained of access to God therein, she hun- 
 gred the more. At the communion of the Shotts, June 1630, when the night after the 
 Sabbath was spent in prayer by a great many Christians in a large room where her bed 
 was, and in the morning all going apart for their private devotion, she went into the 
 bed, and drew the curtains that she might set herself to prayer. William Rigg of Ad- 
 derney coming into the room, and hearing her have great motion on her, although she 
 spoke not out, he desired her to speak out, saying there was none in the room but him 
 and her woman, as at that time there was no other ; she did so, and the door being 
 open, the room filled full ; she continued in prayer with wonderfuU assistance for large 
 three hours t3'me." 
 
 Her dream, mentioned by Livingstone, is a poetical effusion, the first edition of 
 which was published in thin quarto, with this title, " Ana Gndlie Dreame, compylit 
 in Scotish Meter, be M. M. Gentlewoman in Culross, at the Requeist of her Friendes. 
 Introite per angustam portam, nam lata est via quae ducit ad interitum. Edin : 
 Printed be Robert Charteris, 1603." The following extract may suffice as a speci- 
 men of the " gentlewoman in Culross" muse, being the moral of the tribulations she 
 endured in her dream : — 
 
 " Thocht waters greit do compas yow about, 
 Thocht Tirannes freat, thocht Lyouns rage and roir. 
 Defy them all, and fier not to win out, 
 Zour guyde is neir to help zow ever moir. 
 Thocht prick of iron do prick zow wonderous soir, 
 As noysura lusts that seek zour saull to slay : 
 Zit cry on Christ, and hee sail go befoir, 
 The neirer heaven, the harder is the way. 
 C 
 
18 kirkton's history of 
 
 the space of two hours, that he made bold to prophesie, that from 
 that discom-aging day and foreward the work of the gospel shovdd 
 both prosper and floAvrish in Scotland, notwithstanding all the hnvs 
 made to the prejudice of it * And accordingly it came to pass, for 
 
 " Rejoyce in God, let nocht zour courage faill, 
 Ze chosen Sancts that ar afflictit heir : 
 Thocht Satan rage, hee never sail prevaill, 
 Fecht to the end, and stoutlie perseveir. 
 Zour God is trew, zour blude is to liim deir, 
 Feir nocht the way since Christ is zour convoy : 
 Quhen clouds ar past, the weather will grow cleir, 
 Ze saw in teares, but ze sail reap in joy." 
 
 At the end of the book is " a comfortabill song to the tune of Sail J let her go ?" 
 
 * " Mr David Dickson was a man singularly endowed with an edifying gift of preach- 
 ing. While suspended from his cure for non-conformity, many Christians in the west 
 were earnest with God for his return, and amongst the rest Margaret Campbell, a 
 godly woman in Irvine, got repeated assurances of it in prayer. Extraordinary power, 
 and singular movings of the affections had accompanied his parting sermon. At his 
 examination before the prelates, Archbishop Spottiswood called him knave, swinger, 
 a young lad, and said he might have been teaching bairns in the school : Tliou know- 
 est what Aristotle saith, said he, but thou hast no theology. While at Irvine, multi- 
 tudes were convinced and converted, so that people, under exercise and soul-concern, 
 came from every quarter about Irvine, and attended his sermons, yea, not a few came 
 from distant places, and settled at Irvine, that they might be under the drop of his 
 ministry ; yet he himself observed that the vintage of Irvine was not equal to the 
 gleanings of Ayr in Mr Welch's time. By his week-day sermons the famous Stuarton 
 sickness (as it was called) was begun about the year 1630, and spread from house to 
 house for many miles in the valley, where Stuarton water runs. Satan indeed endea- 
 voured to hing a reproach upon such serious persons, as were at this time under the 
 convincing work of the spirit, by ruining some, seemingly under serious concern, to 
 excess, both in times of sermon, and in families." Vide Scots Worthies, and Living- 
 stone's Characteristics. — Dickson afterwards signalized himself greatly among the 
 
 Covenanters during the grand rebellion, and died in the year 1662, declaring that he 
 
 6 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 19 
 
 within three years began that wonderfull exercise of conscience 
 amongst the people in Stewarton paroch, and divers other places, 
 which was a dispensation both strange and new amongst the people 
 of Scotland. The poor people, piu'ely from conscience, were seased 
 with such ane apprehension of God's UTath, and fear of eternal 
 damnation, because of their sins, that rest they could have none. 
 This they were able to demonstrate to be no melancholy fancy, but 
 a rational apprehension of their real danger, being at that time both 
 ignorant, profane, and absohitly strangers to Jesus Christ, by whom 
 they could have neithpr liope of mercy, nor title to salvation, and 
 this was beyond the reply of any dJA-ine. Than when by godly mi- 
 nisters (especially ISIr Dickson, their neighbour) they were directed 
 to the performance of these duties which accompUsh conversion 
 from Satan to Christ, their peace became as strong as their terror 
 had been troublesome, and was followed with Avoi'ks worthy of 
 ammendment of life, to the wonder of many, and the example of 
 some.* 
 
 was certain Jesus Christ would not put up with the indignities against his work and 
 people. " I have taken," added he, " all ray good deeds, and all my bad deeds, and 
 have cast them together in a heap before the Lord, and have fled from both to Jesus 
 Christ, and in him I have sweet peace." 
 
 * The reverend Mr Robert Blair, in the Memoirs of his own Life, makes mention 
 of " the people of Stewarton, a parish in Cunningham, where the Lord had a great 
 work in converting many. Numbers of them were at first under great terrors and 
 deep exercise of conscience, and thereafter attained to sweet peace and strong conso- 
 lation. I preached often to them in the time of the college vacancie, residing at the 
 house of that famous saint, the Lady Robertland, and had much conference with them, 
 and profited more by them than I think they did by me, though ignorant people, and 
 proud secure livers, called them The daft (i. e. mad) people of Stewarton. Mr Ro- 
 bert Boyd (of whom I have formerly made mention) came from his house in Carrick 
 to meet with them, and having conferred with both men and women, he heartily bless- 
 ed God for the grace of God in them. The Countesse of Eglintoune did much coun- 
 
20 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OP 
 
 After this King James did little more in Scotland. He died 
 within four years of this parliament, in the year 1625. A king he 
 was both of a publick and private character. The courtier laughs 
 when he reads the historian's description of a long whom he knew. 
 He was certainly a prince of excellent endouments, — learned, for 
 which he was beholden to Buchanan ; reserved, which he learned 
 from his difficult society and court in his youth. INIany princes 
 make religion only ane ornament of policy. English writers com- 
 plain, that for his religion he was so modest, he could have denyed 
 the half of his own, so he might agree with TJome, but for his pre- 
 rogative he was so peremptory, he reckoned it blasphemy to dis- 
 pute the king's power, and both these he pi'ofessed before the Eng- 
 lish parliament. Except his swearing, he was judged innocent of 
 these personal vices which reign in princes. He mightily enlarged 
 the prerogative, abridged the power of the nobility, but enriched 
 the merchant : and, above all, the pviritane found the sting of his 
 spirit. And though he spent more of his time upon the establish- 
 ment of bishops in Scotland than any other design in the world, 
 
 tenance them, and persuaded her noble lord to .spare his hunting and hawking some 
 dayes to confer with some of them, whom she had sent for to that effect. Her lord, 
 after conference with them, protested that he never spoke with the like of them, and 
 wondered at their wisdom they manifested in their speech. As many of them as were 
 able to travel went to the ^londay mercat of Irvine with some little commodities, such 
 as they had : but their chief intention was to hear the lecture that ended before the 
 mercat Jbegan, and by their example many of that parish (their minister encouraging 
 them to it) and out of other parishes went thither, whereby the power of rehgion was 
 spread over that part of the countrey. I bless the Lord that ever I was acquainted 
 with that people, and for the help I had by interchanging letters with blessed Mr 
 Dickson, after he left the college. Hereby I was helped to releive, according to my 
 power, them that w-ere in need, and to sympathise tenderly with such as I knew to be 
 tempted and lying under heavy pressures of conscience, whereby I still learned more 
 of the wicked wyles of Satan and of the blessed wayes of God." — Blair's MS. Me- 
 moirs. 
 
THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND, 21 
 
 yet did he never eat the fruit of that tree, bishops never having the 
 honour to doe him one penny-worth of service. It may be, he hade 
 grief to hear of Bishoji Nicholson's death-bed despair, and shame to 
 hear how Spotswood hired a whore Avith the king's jeAvel given him 
 when in royal favoiu-.* Honour from them he never hade, being 
 himself constrained to excuse the bisliops' baseness, from his own 
 necessity, having none else to choise ; and, last of all, they were his 
 sons overthrow, so \mprofitable use many times ambitious designs 
 to be both to contrivers and abettors. 
 
 But upon this youth of the Scotish church I must passe a remark 
 or two before I leave it, and truely, Avhatever the nation or coim- 
 trey be, the dispensation of the Church of Scotland hath been sin- 
 gular among the churches. And, first, it is to be admired, that 
 whereas in other nations the Lord thought it enough to convert a 
 few in a city, village, or family, to himself, leaving the greater part 
 in darkness, as it was in France and Poland, or perchance the magis- 
 trate and greater part of the people, as it was in Germany, the Low 
 Countreys, and in England, in Scotland the whole nation was con- 
 verted by lump ; and within ten years after ])opery was discharged 
 
 * " Mr James Nicholson, being stricken with sickness of body, and seized with 
 melancholy of mind and horror of conscience, could get no rest. Physicians being 
 brought, he told them his trouble was of another kind, for which they could give him 
 no cure ; for, said he, the digesting of a bishoprick hath racked my conscience. I 
 have, against much light, and over the belly of it, opposed tlie truth, and yielded up 
 the liberties of Christ to please an earthly king. And so, in great horror of con- 
 science, he made his exit, August 1609." — God's Justice exemplified in his Judgements 
 upon Persecutors, &c. In the same work Spottiswood is termed " an adulterer, a 
 simoniac, a drunkard, tippling in taverns till midnight, a profaner of the Lord's day, 
 by playing at cards and jaunting through the country, a falsifier of the acts of assem- 
 bly, a reproacher of the national covenant," &c. but there is no mention of the king's 
 jewel. 
 
22 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 in Scotland, there was not in all Scotland ten persons of quality to 
 be found who did not profess the true reformed religion, and so it 
 was among the commons in proportion. Lo ! here a nation born in 
 one day, yea, moulded into one congregation, and sealed as a foun- 
 tain with a solemn oath and covenant : this was singvilar. Ane 
 other particular in the Scotish dispensation was the quality of their 
 ministers. Though a stranger may perchance suspect or doubt, yet 
 what I write I w^-ite from certain knowledge and in conscience of 
 the truth. Such men have rarely been found in the Christian 
 church since the primitive times. There was among them Mr 
 Knox, who hath hade indeed the common lot of glorious instru- 
 ments, for, while alive, he was persecute and maligned,* and after 
 
 * Wliile Knox was busy in his reproofs of JNIary's pretended incontinence, and 
 scrutinizing the real disorders of one of his own sect, Paul Methven, minister in Jed- 
 burgh, whose maid-servant " had borne a chylde, no father to it culd sche find, bot 
 alleged hirself to have been oppressed lait in ane evening," (Knox's Hist.) he himself 
 was reported to be guilty of the like crimes. The following extract is taken from the 
 records of the town-council of Edinburgh : — 
 
 " 18mo Junii, 1563 The samyn day, in presence of the baillies and counsele, 
 
 comperit Jhone Gray, scribe to the Kirk, and presentit the supphcatione following, 
 in name of the haill Kirk, bering, that it was laitlie cummen to thair knowledge bi the 
 report of faythfull bretherin, that within thir few dayis Eufame Dundas, in the pre- 
 sence of ane multitude, had spoken divers injurious and sclandarous wordis baith of 
 the doctrine and ministeris : and in especiall of Jhonne Knox, minister, sayand, that 
 within few dayis past, the said Jhonne Knox was apprehendit and tane furth of ane 
 killogye with ane commoun hure ; and that he had bene ane commone harlot all his 
 dayis. Quhairfore it was maist humblie desyrit, that the said Eufame myt be callit 
 and examinat upone the said supphcatione, and gif the wordis abone written, spoken 
 bi hir, myt be knawin or tryit to be of veritie, that the said Jhonne Knox myt be pu- 
 nist with all rigour without favour : otherwyse to tak sic ordour with hir as myt stand 
 with the glory of God, and that sclander myt be takin from the Kirk : as at mair 
 length is contenit in the said supphcatione. Quhilk beind red to the said Eufame, 
 personallic present in judgement, scho denyit the samyn, and Fryday the 25 day of 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAKD. 23 
 
 death hath been traduced as every way base, though he was indeed 
 a gentleman, ane university man of great learning, but greater pie- 
 ty, prudence, and, most of all, eminent he was for the blessing which 
 attended his ministry. He hade the honour to beget his native 
 countrey to the Lord intirely, and, before he died, he saw the Church 
 of Scotland not only estabhshed, but flowrishing in holiness and 
 righteousness ui spite of aU opposition. His providences were mi- 
 racidous, his speeches prophetical ; and those who would not believe 
 his instructions, found the truth of his comminations verified to 
 their cost, as the brothers of Lethingtoun may well testifie to the 
 world, though the one scoffed him, the other libelled him : but his 
 name shall be savory in everlasting remembrance. Another emi- 
 nent man was ISIr John Davidson,* excellently learned, eminently 
 
 Junii, instant, assignet to hir to here and see witness producit for proving the allegi- 
 ance abone expremit, and scho is wamyt apud acta." 
 
 * " Mr John Davidson, minister at Prestonpans, who in several particulars shewed 
 that he had somewhat of the spirit of prophecy. He told Mr John Ker, when he was 
 going in a scarlet cloak as a courtier, that he behoved to succeed him in the ministry 
 at Prestonpans, which accordingly came to pass. One time being moderator of the 
 provincial synod of Lothian, at Tranent, wherein Mr John Spottiswood, minister at 
 Calder, and Mr James Law, minister at Kirkliston, were to be censured for playing 
 at the football on the Sabbath-day, he urged that they might be deposed, but the 
 synod agreed not thereto, and when they were called in, he said, ' Come in, ye pretty 
 football men, the synod have ordered you only to be rebuked.' And turning to the 
 synod, he said, ' And now, brethren, let me tell you what reward ye shall get for your 
 lenity : these two men shall trample on your necks, and on the necks of the ministry 
 of Scotland.' And thereafter Spottiswood was first Bishop of Glasgow and after of St 
 Andrews, and Law Bishop of Glasgow, and both did much mischief. At anotfi^ time, 
 he and Mr Robert Bruce dyning with a bailly of Edinburgh, he foretold that that 
 bailly would carry them both to prison, which accordingly came to pass." — Memora- 
 ble CkaraderisiicJcs, Sfc. hy the famous Air John Livingstone, some Time Minister of 
 the gospel at Ancrum, MS. 
 
 See also Biographia Scoticana, Apologetical Relation, and Calderwood passim. — 
 
24 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 pious, and endoued with the spirit of propliesie. The savour of his 
 piety, and admiration of his gift of jiropliesie, are even till this day 
 fresh among the people of that countrey where he lived. He was 
 the salt of the Cliurch of Scotland both in the pulpit and judicato- 
 ries, both for zeal and constancy, and died a sufferer inider King 
 James, notwithstanding all the respect the king professed to have 
 for hinn. There was also among them Mr John Welch,* who has 
 indeed left clear evidences of his great learning in diverse of his 
 works yet extant, but was, above all, in respect of his spiritual life 
 
 This Davidson was concerned in the Raid of Ruthven, and in almost every measure 
 adopted by the ministers to thwart King James while in Scotland, 
 
 * There is a life of Mr John. Welch, printed in 4to, 1703, from which we learn 
 that " he was born a gentleman, his father being Laird of Collieston, in Nithis- 
 dale." When a stripling, he frequently eloped from school, and joined the thieves 
 on the English border ; but at college became a sincere convert to piety. He was 
 first of all minister at Selkirk ; he married Elizabeth Knox, daughter of the Re- 
 former, and heiress to no small share of her father's spirit, by whom he had three 
 sons. The eldest, a doctor of medicine, was killed in the Low Countries, the second pe- 
 rished at sea, and the third was Josias, " minister at Temple Patrick, in Ireland, com- 
 monly called the Cock of the Conscience by the people of that country, because of 
 his extraordinary awakening and rousing gift." 
 
 So miraculous a person was Welch, that he is said to have been seen, wliile at prayer, 
 surrounded by a heavenly light ; but as this was at night, and in a garden, it is proba- 
 ble that there were glow-worms on the bushes. " He would many times retire to the 
 church of Ayr, which was at some distance from the town, and there spend the whole 
 night in prayer ; for he used to allow his affections full expressions, and prayed not 
 only with an audible, but sometimes a loud voice ; nor did he irk in that society all 
 night over, which liath, it may be, occasioned the contemptible slander of some mali- 
 cious enemies, who were so bold as to call him no less than a wizzard. Mr Welch's 
 preaching," continues his biographer, " was spiritual and searching ; his utterance ten- 
 der and moving ; he did not much insist upon scholastick purposes ; he made no show 
 of his learning. I heard one of his hearers, who was afterwards minister of Moorkirk, 
 in Kyle, say that no man could hardly hear him, and forbear weeping, his conveyance 
 was so affecting." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 2o 
 
 and fiuiiiliarity with his Maker, a man unparalleled. His prophet- 
 ical letters are yet extant : I saw one of them verified in the execu- 
 tion of Sir Robert Spotswood forty years after the date.* He lived 
 
 His sermons, many of which are printed, contain nothing remarkable, save " his fa- 
 mih'arity with his Maker ;" and were originally, according to Spottiswood, abundantly 
 treasonable also. In the year 1596, he boldly affirmed from the pulpit, in the High 
 Church of Edinburgh, that the king was possessed with a devil, and one devil being 
 put out, seven more were entered in place, and that his subjects might lawfully rise, 
 and take the sword out of his hand, &c. Welch died about the year 1622 ; at the 
 end of his sermons (printed IT^t) is an admirable poem " on the Life of Mr John 
 Welch," composed by his editor, William Gray, bookbinder in tlie Grass-Market of 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 " He was a faithful labourer 
 
 Into his Lord's vineyard. 
 
 In keeping of the tender vines 
 
 With careful watch and ward ; 
 
 UntUl the bulls of Bashan did 
 
 Him from his labour take. 
 
 And in the prisons of the earth, 
 
 Him for to groan did make," &c. &c. 
 
 * Welch's prediction respecting the Spottiswood family is contained in a letter to 
 Sir William Livingstone of Kilsyth, denouncing the wrath of God against Archbishop 
 Spottiswood, " which assuredly shall fall, except it be prevented. Sir, Dagon shall 
 not stand before the ark of the Lord, and these names of blasphemy that he wears of 
 Lord Bishop and Archbishop will have a fearful end ; his name shall rot, and a male- 
 diction shall fall upon his posterity after he is gone." Welch's Life. — This was writ- 
 ten in the year 1605, from the dungeon of Blackness, (whither Lady Culross sent a 
 tender sonnet, addressed to Mr Welch, preserved in the Wodrow MSS.,) and in the 
 year 164'6, Sir Robert Spottiswood, the archbishop's son, lost his head at St Andrews, 
 for his loyalty. The pleadings on this trial are stuffed full of scriptural quotations, 
 wrested, as was customary, to the sense desired, but the issue was well known before 
 the trial commenced. Sir Robert, when led forth to execution, displayed an undaunt- 
 ed courage, and attempted to address the people, but the provost of the town prevent- 
 
 D 
 
26 kirkton's history of 
 
 ane exile in France near twenty years, and died in a strange land, 
 only upon the account of his opinion, that he believed the officers 
 of the Church might go view their flocks Avhether they hade the 
 authority of the civil magistrate to warrand them, yea or no. One 
 more I shall only add : JMr Robert Bruce, a man honourablie de- 
 scended, bred a lawyer and designed for a statesman, but wonder- 
 fully called to the ministrie, and wonderfiiUy countenanced in it ; 
 he made alwayes ane earthquake upon his hearers, and rarely preach- 
 ed but to a weeping auditory. I have heard ane eminent minister 
 say, he believed never man in the latter ages spoke with ]\Ir Bruce 
 his authority. A poor Highlander hearing him, came to him after 
 sermon, and offered him his whole substance (which Avas only two 
 kowes) upon condition Mr Bruce would make God his friend ; ane 
 evidence of the power of his muiistrie, as evident as it was simple. 
 
 ed him, being incited to this by Robert Blair, the fanatical minister of the place ; he 
 then betook himself to his devotions, when " the same minister having asked him if he 
 would have him and the people to pray for the salvation of his soul, he made answer 
 that he desired the prayers of the people, but was not solicitous for his prayers, which 
 he believed was abominable unto God : for, added he, of all the plagues with which the 
 offended majesty of God hath scourged this nation, this was the greatest, (greater than 
 the sword, fire, or pestilence,) that for the sins of the people, God had sent a lying 
 spirit into the mouth of the prophets. With which free and undeniable saying this 
 preacher finding himself touched, grew so extremely in passion, that he could not for- 
 bear scandalous and contumelious language against Sir Robert's father, who had been 
 long dead, and against himself who was now a-dying, which this mild gentleman took 
 no notice of, having his mind fixed upon higher matters." Memoirs of Sir Robert 
 Sfottiswood, prefixed to /its Practices. — In another account of his execution, Blair is 
 said to have reminded him of Welch's prophecy, to which Sir Robert replied, that both 
 he and Welch were lying prophets. Blair's son, in the continuation of his father's 
 memoirs, remarks, " in January 1646, there being some execute by the order of the 
 Parliament sitting at St Andrews, some wicked nialignants did most unjustly calumni- 
 ate him for vindicating the servants of God." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 27 
 
 and many such he hade.* Yet this wortliy man, for thirty years of 
 his latter age, was sechided from his ministerial charge at Edinburgh 
 by the king's express command, and all because he would never jus- 
 tifie Cowrie's slaughter at Perth. IMore of the eminent Scotish mi- 
 nisters I shall not add, though there be many. Another singularity 
 in tlie Church of Scotland was the piu-ity of their doctrine. Scot- 
 land believeth nothing but what all the Christian churches profess- 
 ed ; Scotland would embrace no positi^•e article but what was clear- 
 ly demonstrate from Scripture ; and though for the love she bare to 
 the unity of the church and the communion of the saints, she joyned 
 with the rest of the reformed churches in their common confession 
 of faith (which was the latter Helvetic,) yet because they found in 
 it one article which they found not in Scripture, to witt, holy-dayes, 
 here they made ane exception, and this they did reject. Their next 
 neighbour, the English church, though reformed a little before Scot- 
 land, they woiUd hever make then- pateni, partly because they 
 judged her reformation ane impexfect mixture of truth and error, 
 purity and superstition, (honest Latimer was wont to compare it to 
 supues meat in a ti-ough) and partly because, notAvithstanding all 
 their pretensions to antiquity, they beheved it was no Avay conforme 
 
 * Bruce told Livingstone iu private, '■' that he had dreamed, and had seen a great 
 long book with black broads flying in the air, and all the black fowls flying about it, 
 and that as it touched any of them, they fell down dead, and tliat he heard a voice, 
 which he said was as audible as 1 heard him speak, This is the yre of God upon the 
 ministers of Scotland, and than he presently fell a weeping. One day, when I came 
 to his house, he was late ere he came out of his study ; he had heard that day of Dr 
 Alexander Leighton's censure at London, (for writing a book against Episcopac}',) 
 and when he came out all his face was foul with weeping. He told me what he had 
 heard, and that his grief was not for Dr Leighton, but for himself; Sir, said he, if I 
 liad been faithful, I might have had the pillory as well as he, but he hath got the crown 
 from us all." 
 
2S KirvKTOM''S HISTORY OF 
 
 to the patem of true antiquity, but, either in negatives or positives, 
 A\"as found differing from every century thereof Lastly, the unity 
 of the Church of Scotland was unparalleled ; for whereas aU other 
 churches were troubled with division or error, there was never in 
 Scotland one minister censured for error, save only Mr John Hep- 
 burn, a soul-sleper : Jior ever any schism in the Cluu'ch of Scotland, 
 except concerning the introduction of bishops, for all the time the 
 true government of the Church stood in it. And this was as ane 
 evident token of the Lord's presence, so also a blessing denyed to 
 the purest of the primitive churches. These were both the honour 
 and the hazard, the blessing and the debt, for which that poor peo- 
 ple must iH?ckon to the Master of the great Vineyard : and more of 
 this I shall not add. 
 
 After the death of King James, King Charles came to the crown 
 with as much joy and triumph as uses ordinaiily to attend the be- 
 ginning of a tragedy, and such his reign was. He meddled little 
 with the religion of Scotland for the first seven years of his govern- 
 ment, being diverted partly by his home-bred contestations with 
 parliaments in England, and partly by his foreign military attempts 
 on Germany, France, and Spain, in all which he came by the loss 
 lamentably. But being at ease in the year 1633, he began to long 
 for the glory of the ancient crown of Scotland ; therefore he de- 
 manded, first, it might be seiit to him in England, to save him a 
 journey ; which being most solemnly refused by the Scotish nobili- 
 ty, he found himself necessitate to make that long journey, that he 
 might acquire the honour. So to Scotland he came towards the 
 coronation, which was the occasion that many a Scotish man spent 
 his estate upon superfluities ; and that Scotland might in some mea- 
 sure match, if not the riches, yet at least the bravery of England. 
 The king hade no necessary business adoe in Scotland, all being 
 quiet to bis mind : but being fatally fond of the English forms, lie 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 29 
 
 would needs urge the parliament to gi-ant him a power to prescribe 
 the ministers the apparel they should use ; and truely one would 
 think it a poor office for a king to become a fashioner to a company 
 of mean men, and a contemptible occasion for a wise man to adven- 
 ture either displeasure or offence. JMight not a godly man wear a 
 doublet or a coat als well as a long cassock ? or what is the sacra- 
 mental difference betwixt buttons and a sursingle ? and that almost 
 all Scotland thought. Besides, the Scots thought the proposal itself 
 a contemptible trifle, yet they considered that a preparative as small 
 as a needle may make way for the introduction of a gTeat bulk : 
 But the king would have his will upon any terms, and you shall 
 know the cunning he used to come at his puqjose.* 
 
 The heathen emperors of old used, in the mercate-place, to rear 
 their own image close beside the image of their heathnish god, to 
 oblidge the poor Christians, m passing by, either to salute the idol 
 in saluting the emperor, or aiFront the prince in neglecting the idol. 
 So the king caused incorporate the article concerning ministers' ap- 
 
 * " The Archbishop of St Andrews, the Bishops of Murray, Dunkeld, Ross, Dum- 
 blain, and Brechin, served about the coronation (which was done by the said Bishop 
 of Brechin) with white rochets and white sleeves, and loops of gold, having blue silk 
 to their foot. Sunday the 23d of June (the King) came frae the abbey by coach to St 
 Giles's kirk, and heard John Bishop of Murray teach in his rochet, which is a white 
 luien or lawn drawn on above his coat, above the whilk his black gown was put on, 
 and his arms through the gown sleeves, and above the gown sleeves is also white linen 
 or lawn drawn on, shapen like a sleeve. This is the weed of archbishops and bishops, 
 and wears no surplice, but churchmen of inferior degree, in time of service, wears the 
 samen, which is above their cloaths, a side linen cloth over body and arms like a sack. 
 
 " The people of Edinburgh, seeing the bishop teach in his rochet, which was never 
 seen in St Giles' kirk since the Reformation, and by him, who was some time one of 
 their own Puritan ministers, they were grieved and grudged hereat, thinking the samen 
 smelled of popery, which helped to be the bishop's deposition, as after does appear." 
 — Spalding's History, p. 26. 
 
.iO KIRKTOK'S HISTORY OF 
 
 parel in the same act of parliament with his title to the crown, to 
 oblidge the parliament either to acknowledge him fashioner for the 
 ministers, or else deny him to be King of Scotland, which he belie- 
 ved wovild straiten them. Also, when the act was to passe to the 
 vote, he took pen and paper in his hand to mark the names of such 
 as durst dissent, withall telling them, he should now know who 
 were good subjects and who were bad, though one might think it 
 a poor test for a man's honesty. And yet when all was done, after 
 much sharp dispute (chiefly by the Lord Loudon) it was found 
 there were in the parliament a number of noblemen, gentlemen, 
 and bvn-gesses, who choised rather to disown the king's title to the 
 crown of Scotland as it stood in the act, than to acknoAvledge his 
 power to encroach upon the latitude of Christian liberty ; but none 
 of these dissenters were ever admitted into his presence with any 
 favour for aU the time he stayed in that countrey. And when all 
 was done, the king's cassock was disdahied by a hundered where it 
 was Avorn by one : And so the king desisted from innovating in 
 the Chvu'ch of Scotland for four years more. 
 
 But when the appointed time was come that Bishop Laud thought 
 all ripe and the king thought all ready, then was the fatal project of 
 the service-book set on foot. So the king, to beget Scotland into 
 the likeness of England, sent down a liturgy, which was indeed a 
 great deal nearer the Roman missall than the English service-book 
 was. I have seen the principal book, corrected with Bishop Laud's 
 own hand, where, in every place which he corrected, he brings the 
 word as near the missaU as English can be to Latine. This book 
 was nothing desired by the wisest 6f the Scotish bishops, for they 
 desired no moi-e of the English church but the riches and the ho- 
 nour ; bvxt the unanswerable argument of the king's pleasure in the 
 mouth of one or two of the yoimg proud bishops, prevailed with 
 the secret council to resolve it should be presently read in the 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 31 
 
 churches : So upon July 23, 1637, they began in the churches of 
 Edinbiu-gh. But he who was to officiat in the high-church had no 
 sooner begun to read, till he was interrupted by a tumult. First, 
 ane unknown obscure woman threw her stool at his head ; a num- 
 ber of others did the hke by her example ; the whole mvdtitude 
 clapt their hands ; some cried, A pope ! A pope ! The lords of coun- 
 cil and magistrates were threatened by the people when they went 
 about to still the tumult ; both preacher and reader were forced out 
 of the church and followed home with a shower of stones, hardly 
 escaping with their lives.* 
 
 As the first reformation that abolished popery begun at Perth 
 with the throw of a stone in a boy's hand, so the second reforma- 
 tion, which abolished episcopacy, begun with this throw of a stool 
 in a woman's hand.f Such inconsiderable beginnings have the gTeat- 
 
 * " So soone as the bishop begun to open the service-book, and to read thereon, 
 and the people perceiving the deane opening his book also, all the common people, 
 especiallie the women, rose up with such a loud clamour and uproare, so that no- 
 tliing could be heard ; some cryed, Woe, woe ! some cryed, Sorrow ! Sorrow for this 
 dolefuU day, that they are bringing in Poperie among us ! — Others did cast their 
 stooles against the deane's face, others ran out of the kirk with a pitiful lamentation, 
 so that the reding upon the service-book was then interrupted. The Archbishop of 
 St Andrews, (now also Chancellor) and the rest of the bishops who were in the kirk, 
 cryed for peace and quietnes, but were not heard ; thairfor the bishop left his reding, 
 and taught a sermon, but a very short one. After sermon, when the bishop came out 
 of the pulpit and went out of the kirk, he found the streete full of people, who ran 
 about him, crying that he was bringing in a new religion among them, and bringing in 
 poperie upon them. The bishop, put in a greate fear, ran up the nearest staire to 
 have gotten into my Lord Weemes' ludging, crying to the people that he had no 
 wyte of the matter ; yet the people had rather been in hands with the deane, but he 
 keeped himself in the kirk till the great tumult was appeased." — MS. History of the 
 Church oj' Scotland, by John Row, Minister at Camoch 
 
 \ This pious woman's sirname was Geddes ; her christian name was either Margaret 
 (the common appellation) or Janet, as she is termed in a rude ballad, beginning, " Put 
 
32 kirkton's history of 
 
 est revolutions in the world. Other tumults there Avere, both in 
 Edinburgh and through the countrey : the Bishop of Briechin hard- 
 ly escaped with his hfe in one. But this opposition was so unex- 
 pected, that Bishop Spotswood hade that day provided a great treat 
 for his friends at Gilmertoun ; and Bishop Fairly, consecrate but two 
 dayes before, hade the same day appointed his consecrated gossop- 
 ing in his own house in Edinburgh (the hovxse took ominous fire 
 in time of the tumult) : but this unexpected fray spoiled two feasts. 
 There was indeed no more appearance nor expectation of it that 
 morning than of ane earthquake or a massacre, and so the greatest 
 plots of Providence use ordinarly to be execute. Immediatly upon 
 the back of this tmnult, the secret covuicil found themselves daily 
 importimcd witli multitude of petitions fi"om honourable hands, and 
 great multitudes, all vehemently opposing the service-book and in- 
 novations ; and it was thought wonderfuU, the first noble petition- 
 ers mett at the door of the council-chamber, as it were, casually and 
 without correspondence, which was to them aU matter of both en- 
 couragement and amazement. These petitioners being numerous, 
 
 the gown upon the Bisliop." It is said that she had done penance, on the stool of re- 
 pentance, for fornication, the Sabbath previous to this exploit. From the continuation 
 of Baker's Chronicle, we learn that she survived the Restoration. 
 
 " Salute all our friends, and especially at your night-meetings for devotion, salute 
 the sisters with a holy kisse ; to whom you doe but your duty when you acknowledge 
 your cause much obliged to them, and that in those your Esthers and Judiths your work 
 had but a small beginning : and when men durst not resist the beginnings, it's wisely 
 observed by you, that God moved the spirit of these holy ivomcn to scourge the buyers 
 and sellers out of God's house, and not to suffer the same to be polluted with that Jhul 
 booke of Common Prayer." The Epistle Congratulatorie of Lysimachus Nicanor, of 
 the Societie of Jesu, to the Covenanters in Scotland, 1640, p. 73 — The tumult, which 
 was commonly called " the casting of the stools" (Blair's Menu) began " in the Mid- 
 Kirk of St Giles, the East Kirk being at that time repairing for the altar, and other 
 pedicles of that idolatrous service."— CRAUfuuD's Hist, of the University of Edin- 
 burgh, 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 33 
 
 and men of all degrees, thought fitt to continue at Edinburgh to 
 promote their sute, and there they constitute themselves in several 
 meetings, Avhich were called tables, one for the noblemen, another 
 for the gentlemen, and so for the citizens and ministers. And after 
 they hade extorted from the council a suspension of the liturgy, 
 they proceed to renew their old covenant : And though only eleven 
 private men (and some of them very inconsiderable) hade the bold- 
 ness first to begin this work, without ever asking leave of king or 
 coiuicil, jet was it very quickly taken by all the people of Scotland 
 with hands lifted up in most solemn manner. Nor did these peti- 
 tioners give over till they hade obtained of the king bberty to meet 
 in a free general assembly, now after twenty years intermission, to 
 settle disorders in their discomposed church. This assembly con- 
 veened at Glasgow, November 21, 1638. But as gifts of adversa- 
 ries are never designed to enrich the party, so the king designed 
 nothing less than the reformation of Scotland, but rather to esta- 
 blish the tottering bishops, and by this assembly to overthrow both 
 the expectations and designs of the late covenanters. U^5on this 
 account he commissionate Hamilton, a politick man, to open their 
 general assembly, and try theu- pidse ; but he finding the covenant- 
 ers' design and spirit were both of a piece, and that it could not be 
 ane English tractable convocation, but would prove a Scottish as- 
 sembly, for many state reasons thought fit presently to dissolve the 
 assembly, discharging them to sitt, under the pains of treason. This 
 command, upon the consideration of their duty as church officers S 
 deriving their power from Christ alone, they found they might not 
 obey, and so continued to act as a general assembly. And fallino- 
 upon their business, they condemned the bishops, censured heresies 
 newly sprung up, and constitute and reformed the several presby- 
 tries through the land, subordinating presbytries to synods, and/ 
 synods to the national assembly, which fi-om this meeting derived 
 
 E 
 
Ji KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 a pure series which continued in authority for thirteen years. This 
 was the cause of the salvation of many a man : for now a flood of 
 godly expectants, formerly secluded by the bishops, entered into 
 the ministry, new rules of government were appointed, manners 
 were reformed, another spirit fell upon people, working a wonder- 
 full change, alwayes because the king judged the actings of the 
 covenanters, rebellion ; therefore, next spring, he provided warlike 
 preparations sufficient to overwhelm poor Scotland. Huntly raised 
 ane army in the north, Hamiltone invades the &th by sea, the king 
 himself rendevouzed his brave anny at the Birks, near Tiveed. But 
 all these were but clouds of vapours before the north wind of the 
 covenanters, who, though ahnost destitute of cavalry, and but mean- 
 ly equipped, yet so tenible were they by reason of their unity, re- 
 solution, and gravity of behavioin*, that the king was glade to give 
 them their wiD, approving and alloAving all they hade done, indict- 
 ing a new assembly for church matters, and a parUament to ratifie 
 all. This pacificatione bare date June 18, 1639- And so the fa- 
 mous leagiu'e at Dunslaw dissolved, eveiy man seeming well satis- 
 fied. 
 
 The assembly did indeed conveen in August following, wherein 
 Traquair, the king's commissioner, that what hade been formerly 
 disputable might become unquestionable, in full assembly and very 
 solemnly, not only ratifies aU done at Glasgow foniierly, but him- 
 self subscribes the covenant, and all the dissatisfied grandees upon 
 his example become covenanters. The promised parliament did in- 
 deed conveen, but, instead of ratifying what Avas done in the assem- 
 bly, they are by the king adjourned, doing nothing ; Avhich begot 
 a jealousie in the Scots, and occasioned a solemn address by honoui'- 
 able commissioners fi-om the nation, that conditions might be keept, 
 as hade been promised. But so far Avas the king from listening to 
 their desii-es, that they are made prisoners, and the sentence of death 
 
THE CHUECII OF SCOTLAND. 35 
 
 pronounced against Lowdon,* their great agent (which he narrowly- 
 escaped as ever man did) ; and, moreover, the king fortifies Edin- 
 burgh castle against the city ; so that, upon the evidence of a warr 
 designed, the Scots once again, with a gallant army, not only ap- 
 pear at the borders to defend, but invade England ; when, having 
 beaten the king at Newburn, they seize Newcastle, and, bringing 
 the north of England under contribution, they there continued at 
 their ease for a whole year. 
 
 The peace was afterward concluded at Rippon and Westminster, 
 
 * Chancellor Loudon, one of the chief pillars of the Covenant, was a man of disso- 
 lute morals. We learn from Burnet that his wife, who was an heiress, and had brought 
 him almost all he possessed, threatened him with a process of adultery, of which she 
 could have had copious proof, if he would not retract his promises of service, made 
 while in England, to the king and the Hamiltons ; for these engagements he did pub- 
 he penance in the High Churcli of Edinburgh, with many hypocritical tears. Bur- 
 net, vol. i. p. 4'4. — " 1651, the commission of the kirke satt at Stirling, at which tyme 
 Chanceloure Campbell was brought before them, and challenged for adulterie with one 
 
 Major Johnston's wyfe.surnamedLyndsay." Lamont's Dwry, p. 38 Scott of Scots- 
 
 tarvet tells us that " the matter could not be gotten cleared at that time, both because 
 the English army was then near the Border, and the presbytery was greatly his friends, 
 for the help they had got from him in the augmentation of their stipends." Staggering 
 
 State, p. 24'. — Samuel Rutherford, in one of his epistles, addresses him thus : " Bless- 
 
 ed are ye of the Lord ; your name and honour shall never rot or wither in heaven (at 
 least) if ye deliver the Lord's sheep that have been scattered in a dark and cloudy 
 day, out of the hands of strange lords and hirelings, who with rigour and cruelty have 
 caused them to eat the pastures troden upon with their foul feet, and to drink niuddv 
 water, and who have spun out such a world of yards of ind/fferencies in God's worship, 
 to make and weave a web for the Antichrist, (that shall not keep any from the cold,) 
 as they mind nothing else but that by the bringing in of the Pope's foul tail first, upon 
 us (their wretched and beggarly ceremonies) they may thrust in after them the Anti- 
 Christ's legs, and thighs, and his belly, head and shoulders, and then cry down Christ 
 and the gospel, and up the merchandise aud wares of the great whore." 
 
 To my Lord Lowdon, Jan. 4, 1638. 
 
36 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 and 1-atified in parliament : the Scots hade all their demands grant- 
 ed, their army payed even for their rebellion against the king, (as 
 it was called,) and the king himself came down in shew to coimte- 
 nancc. in reality to practise upon, the Scots parliament, where, find- 
 in"- himself unsuccessful, he withdi-ew in a manner neither approven 
 nor expected : But so the Scottish broils ended. 
 
 Now the warrs betwixt the king and parliament of England came 
 in place of the Scottish commotions. There is no historian can teU 
 you, nor lawyer can define, how this warr begun, or who was the 
 affgressor, who the defender ; and as certain it is, there is none wlio 
 doubts who carried the victory, the warr not ending in a peaceable 
 composition, but total extinction of the one party. Alwayes certain 
 it is, that, for the first two years of the warr, the king prevailed, 
 and, after the rout of Fairfax and Waller, so low were the parlia- 
 ment, that it was put to the vote in the house of commons, not 
 only Avhether they should submit to the king, but whether upon 
 their knees they should beg his pardon, yea or no. The vote in the 
 clerk's report passed in the affirmative ; till INIaster CreAV, a mem- 
 ber of the house, stood up, and desired the voices might be num- 
 bered : Which being done, it was found the vote was refused, one 
 vote only casting the balance; so narrow a misse had this most 
 dano-erous adventure. 
 
 The parliament finding themselves low, sent their commissioners 
 into Scotland to entreat their assistance ; and the Scots, partly fi-om 
 zeal for the true religion, and partly fi-om apprehension of danger 
 that their second peace at Rippon should be keept only as their first 
 peace at Berwick was, while force and awe were the warrantees, 
 were content to assist the parliament upon conditions : First, that 
 what they did being done from zeal toward the advancement of 
 Christ's kingdom, they desired England might make a thorough 
 reformation, and unite with this body of the reformed churches. 
 
THE CHUKCII OF SCOTLAND. 37 
 
 Next, forasmvicli as Scotland apprehended danger to her self, if 
 once England were discussed, they desired assurance of mutual as- 
 sistance. They were very particidar in the business of their reli- 
 gion, declaring not only against popery, heresy, and prelacy, but 
 likeAvayes distinctly for the preservation of the Scottish religion, 
 not only in doctrine and discipline, but also government as it was 
 then established, (which was the presbyterian received in all reform- 
 ed churches) engadging England to bring their church to uniformity 
 in all these. ]Many provisions were added for the king's interests, 
 the parliament's privUedges, and against enemys' endeavours. All 
 these conditions were moulded into ane oath, commonly called tlie 
 League and Covenant, which was SAVorn and subscribed by all the 
 men in Scotland, (few excepted) and by the House of Commons 
 and a great part of England. 
 
 After this treaty the Scots advance into England with a gallant 
 army in January 1644. The reputation of this army brought the 
 baffled parliamentarians in heart, yet the warr continued ambiguous 
 and vmcertain all that following year, tiU the parliament found it 
 necessary to moidd all their unsuccessfvill armies inider Essex, Wal- 
 ler, INIanchester, and others, into one, under the command of Gene- 
 ral Fairfax and I^ieutenant-General Cromwell, after Avhich the kinaj's 
 armies were entirely beaten from all the fields in England, himself 
 shut up and besieged by General Fairfax in the city of Oxford. 
 
 I am noAv in ane open field : the warr twixt king and parliament 
 is writte by many, belyed by not a few, yet a man may find the 
 truth in print if he make diligent enquiry. However, the king at 
 Oxford was in the jaws of despair, so it came to a dispute in his 
 cabinet what he should doe for his last effort, whether he should 
 cast himself upon the parliament or upon the Scottish army. Most 
 of his friends advised him to goe for London, and sui-prise the par- 
 liament by a confident surrendry : and so to make a final peace by 
 
38 KIEKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 condescensions. But himself ehoised rather to cast himself upon 
 the Scots, in hopes to turn their sword against tlie parliament, and 
 so make peace by force and warr. However, when he came into 
 the Scottish army, though he came as Jack Ashburnham's postilion, 
 in a most lamentable disguise, he was received with all demonstra- 
 tions of honour and respect. The general himself rendered his bare 
 sword upon his knee, which it was observed the king did not re- 
 deliver. When he came fii'st into the Scottish quarters, he offered 
 to play the general himself, in commanding the souldiers' posts and 
 setting the guards, till old Lesly told him in his homely manner, 
 that he, being the elder souldier, would save his majesty that la- 
 bour : after which he forebare. 
 
 Upon this followed a solemn treaty betwixt the parliaments of 
 both nations and the king. The Scots offered, if either he would 
 take the covenant and satisfie both parliaments, then they should 
 see the English keep condition at their hazard, or if he would re- 
 tire into Scotland with them tiU he were advised, they should pro- 
 tect him in honour and safety : But both these he rejected with 
 disdain and reproach. The Scots indeed told him plainly, they 
 coidd not obey his government tiU he gave satisfaction ; and partly 
 because of this, and partly because they could not break with the 
 English parliament upon his command, he resumed his old rejected 
 advice of casting himself upon England. So upon the conclusion 
 of the grand treaty, (as it was called) the king resolved to goe for 
 Holmbie, where he was to remain vmder the guard of the English 
 prcsbyterians, who were to hu7n a gTcat deal more true than trusted. 
 The parliament had given the Scots all imaginable security, not 
 only for the safety of his person, but also for his freedom, both 
 which he shortly lost by his own imhappy mistake. Alwayes the 
 Scots rendered the king rather to himself than the English, and 
 much against their hearts. And though many malicious pens make 
 
THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 39 
 
 the payment of the Scots arrears the real cause of the king's dispo- 
 sal, yet certain it is, that, in one separate treaty, it was resolved the 
 Scots should be payed full five months before there was any dispute 
 concerning the king's motion or stay in England, so these two hade 
 no relation one to another. Also it was then resolved, that the 
 English armie imder Fairfax should disband, and the Scottish army 
 retu'e into Scotland ; which is enough to vindicate the Scots of the 
 odious imputation of selUng their king.* 
 
 * The Marquis of Argyll attempted to vindicate his country from this imputation, 
 in a tract dedicated to Oliver Cromwell, and entitled, " A short Vindication of two 
 Aspersions cast upon Scotland upon mistaken Grounds — the first, their joyning in a 
 League and Covenant with the Parliament of England after their own Affairs were 
 settled — the second, their leaving the King in England when their Army returned back 
 into Scotland." (VVodhow, MS. vol.5.) — After giving a brief account of public trans- 
 actions, he continues : " I have here sett down a true narration in generall of the pro- 
 gress of the business of these dominions in as short a compend as possible, only for 
 taking off two great aspersions laid on Scotland ; one is, the joyning with England 
 when they had all their own affairs settled to their contentment ; the second is, their 
 leaving the king in England, which open-mouth'd malignants calls selling of the king. 
 Before I say any thing to answer the calumnies, I must reprehend ane error which 
 possesses the most part of men ; it is this : they are most strict judgers of actions by 
 the effects onlj', which is a very uncertain rule ; for this way weakest men (who are 
 indeed readiest to censure others) may judge the wisest and best men, and their actions, 
 yea, I must say, if that were a good rule, wise men might be oft times judged the 
 greatest fools, and on the contrair ; but this must be confest, the Lord turns the coun- 
 sells of Achitophell to folly, for the wisedom of the world is foolishness with him ; and 
 there is no wisedom, counsel!, or understanding against the Lord : and soe, when he 
 has determined wrath, none can turn it away. Soe then to the first calumny of Scot- 
 land's entring in a league and covenant with England when their own affairs were set- 
 tled to their contentment. I am confident none but byassed men, or such as are not 
 able to judge but by the effect, will condemn Scotland for this, if they will consider 
 two things : first, that the design of the popish and prelaticall party was to alter fun- 
 daraentalls in religion, and that the king and his juncto had found their error in begin- 
 
 6 
 
40 KIRKTON'S HISTORV OF 
 
 The king, within a little time, partly by the cunning of the in- 
 dependents, (whom he favoured more than th • pr sbyterians) and 
 
 ning at Scotland. The second thing to be considered is, that the same game was act- 
 ing in England which begun in Scotland, as was evident by the great trust the popish 
 and prelaticall party had, both in the king's councills and armies ; the queen and 
 Canterburie"s influence shall serve for instance. Now let any wise Christian man 
 judge, if the king had gote power in his hand by his sword, what might be expected 
 by Scotland. But there is a common objection here to be answered : But, say some 
 men, what better are j'e now, when other men have the power of the sword ? This 
 is but to return to the former error already spoken of, in judging by eifects. And, 
 farder, I will say, any thing is in that was the king and his counsellors own faults, that 
 tcould not satisfy Ins people's desyres in iyme, but drove on still to greater and greater 
 extremities, and gave ground for practising these two maxims, " Extremis malis ex- 
 trema remedia," and that " Salus populi suprema lex." Now to the other calumny 
 of selling the king, I am soe charitable as to think no man will averr it, but such as are 
 malignants, or have a very malignant spirit within them ; for let any indifferent man 
 judge when the king had refused to agree to the propositions of both kingdoms, and it 
 was known he was endeavouring to stirr up a war betwixt the kingdoms upon his in- 
 terest, still refusing to satisfie the people, yea, resolving to prosecute his former de- 
 signes, what could Scotland doe in such a case but as they did, to leave the king in 
 England amongst his own subjects, equally engadged to him, knowing that many in 
 England desired a pretence to keep up ane army, and that the money conditioned to 
 Scotland at that tyme was only for the arriers of the Scotts army, is soe weel known, 
 that it needs noe proof; and since this calumny was forged and promulgate upon the 
 usage the king had after he was left in England, I must speak one word more, as in my 
 answer to the former aspersion, that what fell out in that was most occasioned through 
 the king's own fault, and iiis councellors, who neglected and refused all opportunities 
 of settling, till men tvere driven to necessities of doing things tvhich could be easily cleared 
 lucre never designed, before they were upon necessity resolved to be practised, for after 
 the Scotts army was returned to Scotland, applications were made to the king, both by 
 the parliament and army, as severall ordinances of parliament and declarations of the 
 army may evidence. I hope this will be sufficient to vindicat Scotland from these un- 
 just calumnies ; and if any remain soe wicked and uncharitable as not to be satisfied, 
 I hope it will be none of the best or wisest people ; for others, such as are wicked and 
 malicious will be soe still. Et qui vult decipi, decipiatur." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. H 
 
 partly by his own unfortunate conduct, wheedled himself into Ham- 
 mond's hands, when he was made close prissoner in the Isle of 
 A^^ight, where I must leave him for a time. 
 
 Scotland sleept not all the time of the English wan- ; somethin<T 
 veiy considerable happened both in church and state. The Enolish 
 parliament a little after the king forsook them, in consideration of 
 the lameness of theu- reformation, both in doctrine and government, 
 thought fitt to conveen ane assembly of divines at Westminster, by 
 whose advice they resolved to reform their church. They called 
 men of all persuasions. Some episcopal, some Erastian, and thither 
 also they invited the General Assembly to send their commissioners 
 for assistance. The assembly, to further so good a work, sent Mr 
 Alexander Henderson, eminent for his grave prudence, JMr Samuel 
 Rutherford for his heavenly gifts, [Mr George GiUespie, that emi- 
 nent disputant, and Mr Robert Baillie,* a man for communications. 
 
 * " Henderson, a minister of Edinburgh, was by much the wisest and gravest ot 
 them all (the Covenanters,) but as all his performances that I have seen are flat and 
 heavy, so he found it was an easier thing to raise a flame than to quench it." Burnet's 
 Hist. vol. I. p. 34.— -Rutherford is asserted by Swift, in his notes on Burnet, to have 
 been half fool, half mad. His sermons and letters are replete with blasphemy, obsce- 
 nity, and nonsense ; more particularly his letters, addressed to many godly ladies, such 
 as Kenmure, Boyd, and Culross. We learn from the History of the University of 
 Edinburgh, that " in the end of the year 1625, Mr Samuel Rutherford, Professor of 
 Humanitie, having given some scandal in his marriage, was forced to demit his charo-e." 
 —Gillespie wrote a book, entitled " A Dispute against the English Popish Ceremo- 
 nies," &c., and died railing at the royalists. " I esteem the malignant party in these 
 kingdoms to be the seed of the serpent, enemies to piety and presbyterial government," 
 &c. Vide his Testimony in the Scots Worthies — Baillie's political principles were per- 
 haps not so violent as those of his colleagues, yet, " after reasoning, reading, and pray- 
 er, he came heartily into the measures of the covenanters, and died under a rooted 
 
 aversion to prelacy in this church." Wodrow's Hist « These men," says Burnet, 
 
 " were all of a sort. They affected great sublimities in devotion : they poured them- 
 selves out in their prayers in a loud voice, and often with many tears. They had but 
 
 F 
 
42 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 together with the Lord IMaitland, afterwards Earle and Duke of 
 Lauderdale, a man of excellent parts, hade they been blessed and 
 improven, but as then his reputation was entire. This assembly sat 
 diverse years, and ended rather by a consumption than a dissolu- 
 tion ; but in the time they were together, they aggreed upon ane 
 excellent confession of faith, and two catechisms, with full harmony, 
 till they came to the government, Avhere they were both constrain- 
 ed to omitt the decision of the great question concerning the power 
 of congregational elderships, forbearing for lack of harmony to de- 
 termine the great question. Whether a single congregation may ex- 
 commvmicate or not ? and when they came to define the depend- 
 ence of congregations upon presby tries as subordinate thereto, they 
 met with the famovis dissent of the seven independant brethren, so 
 renouned for learning and piety. This dissent was followed with a 
 large printed dispvite betwixt the synod and the dissenters. But 
 though the independents gave the presbyterians the last word in the 
 dispute, they took to themselves the advantage of the last stroke in 
 the politick contestation, by which they made themselves masters, 
 if not of the assembly, yet both of parliament and army. The con- 
 fession, catechisms, and directory were considered, and received in 
 the General Assembly of Scotland in their session, 1648, as may be 
 seen in the acts. Nothing at all was altered, one only article was 
 interpreted, as you may find ; and this was the alteration or advance 
 that was made in the church of Scotland, since the assembly at Glas- 
 o-ow in all the time of King Charles the First. 
 
 an ordinary proportion of learning among tbera ; something of Hebrew, and very little 
 Greek : books of controversy with papists, but above all with the Arminians, was the 
 height of their study. A way of preaching by doctrine, reason, and use, was that they 
 set up on : and some of them affected a strain of stating cases of conscience, not with 
 relation to moral actions, but to some reflexions on their condition and temper ; that 
 was occasioned chiefly by their conceit of praying by the spirit, which every one could 
 not attain to, or keep up to the same heat in at all times." 
 
THE CHUUCH OF SCOTLAND. 43 
 
 But the civil state of Scotland was not so quiet, for immediatly 
 after the Scots army hade marched into England to the parliament's 
 assistance, did the king commissionate IMontrose to raise a warr in 
 Scotland, by which he made account either to oblidge the covenant- 
 ers to recall their army out of England, or at least to make that na- 
 tion smart for their boldness. And this indeed he did effectually ; for, 
 landing in the West Highlands, with a party of bloody Irish papists, 
 who hade been but a little before flesht in the cruel massacre of the 
 innocent protestants, he over rvxn the whole countrey, and beat the 
 covenanters' forces in six bloody conflicts. His warr, I believe, was 
 the most cruel in the world. The behaviour of his souldiers was to 
 give no quarter in the field, and ordinarly wherever they came in the 
 countrey, they deflowred the Avomen and butchered the poor men, 
 not contenting themselves with common slaughter, except they bar- 
 barously mangled the carcase.* And that you may know what 
 Scotland suffered in two of his bloody dayes, he made two hunder- 
 ed widows in St Andrews and Kirkaldy, and this was much to his 
 hatred and the king's dishonour. At length, after a year's prospe- 
 rity, he was beat at Philiphaugh by David Leslj',f and thereafter 
 
 * I find no mention of this barbarity in any other author. In the year 1648, Lord 
 Francis Villiers, brother to the Duke of Bucicinghara, aged eighteen, was killed by the 
 Puritans at the rout of Bansted-downs, and his body " abused in a beastly manner, 
 not fit to be mentioned." Lloyd's Memoirs, SfC. p. 678. — Of this unfortunate youth, 
 Ludlow says, " The Lord Francis, presuming, perhaps, that his beauty would have 
 charmed the souldiers, as it had done Mrs Kirk, for whom he had made a splendid 
 entertainment the night before he left London, and made her a present of plate to the 
 value of a thousand pounds, staid behind his company : where, unreasonably daring 
 the troopers, and refusing to take quarter, he was killed ; and after his death there 
 was found upon him some of the hair of Mrs Kirk, sewed in a piece of ribbon that 
 hung next his skin." 
 
 f Some idea of the inhuman cruelties of David Lesly, afterwai'ds Lord Newark, 
 may be formed from the following memoranda of Sir James Turner, extracted from 
 
ii: KIKKTOK'S HISTOliY Ol' 
 
 shrunk out of the land by the king's order, when he came first to 
 the Scottisli army in England. 
 
 the original MS. Sir James joined General Lesly, the Marquis of Argyll, Ma- 
 jor-General Holborne, &c. in the year 1647, when busied in reducing the north of 
 Scotland to the thraldom of the committee of estates : — " Alaster Macdonald, like a 
 fool, (for no sojor he was, though stout enough) put in 300 of his best men in a house 
 on the top of a hill called Dunavertie, environed with a stone wall, where there was 
 not a drop of water but what fell from the clouds. Then leaving Kintire he went to 
 Yla, where he play'd just such another mad prank, leaving his old father, commonlie 
 called Coll Kettock, with neere 200 men, in castle called Dunneveg, where was no wa- 
 ter either bot what the heavens afforded. The rest of his men he carried with him to 
 Ireland, (ane excellent Generall Major) where he was killed in a battell fought by those 
 with whom he joyned against my Lord TafFe, now Earle of Carlingford. We besieged 
 Dunavertie, which keep'd out well enough till we stormed a trench they had at the 
 foot of the hill, whereby they commanded two stripes of water. This we did take. In 
 the assault fortie of them were put to the sword. We losed five or sixe, with Argile's 
 major. After this, inexorable thirst made them desire a parley ; I was ordered to speake 
 with them, neither could the Lieutenant-Generall be moved to grant any other condi- 
 tions, then that they sould yield on discretion, or mercy ; and it seemed strange to me 
 to heare the Lieutenant-GeneralFs nice distinction, that they sould yield themselves to 
 the kingdome's mercy, and not to his. At length they did so ; and after they were 
 com'd out of the castle they were put to the sword, everie mother's sonne, except one 
 young man, Mackoull, whose life I beg'd, to be sent to France, with a hundreth coun- 
 trey fellows, whom we had smoak'd out of a cave as they do foxes, who were given to 
 Captain Campbell, the Chancellor's brother. 
 
 " Heere it will be fit to make a stop, till this cruell action be canvas'd. First, the 
 Lieutenant-Generall was two days irresolute what he sould doe ; the Marques of Ar- 
 gile was accused, at his arraignment, of this murther, and I was examined as a wit- 
 ness. I did declare, which was true, that I never heard him advise the Lieutenant- 
 Generall to it : what he did in private I know not. Secondlie, Argile was but a co- 
 lonell there, and so had no power to doe it of himselfe. Thirdlie, thogh he had advi- 
 sed him to it, it was no capitall crime, for counscll is no command. Fourthlie, I have 
 severall times spoke to the Lieutenant-Generall to save these men's lives, and he al- 
 ways assented to it, and I know, of himselfe he was unwilling to shed their blood. 
 Fifthlie, Mr John Nave (who was appointed by the commission of the Kirke to wait 
 on him as his chaplaine) never ceased to tempt him to that bloodshed, yea, and threat- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 45 
 
 The last effort that was made to rescue the king out of his impri- 
 sonment, was made by the parliament of Scotland in the year 1648. 
 The Church of Scotland was against engadging in warr with the 
 Enghsh parliament at that time, partly because they judged the 
 king hade given no security for religion and peace, and partly be- 
 cause they doubted the stiffness of his temper, fearing that upon his 
 enlargement he might return to his old designs ; however, the par- 
 liament by the plurality carried the warr, contrare to a protestation 
 
 ened him with the curses befell Saull, for sparing the Atnalekites, for with them his 
 theologie taught him to compare the Dunavertie men : and I verilie believe that this 
 prevail'd most with David Lesly, who looked upon Nave as the representative of the 
 Kirk of Scotland. Lastlie, there is no doubt bot the Lieutenant-General might, legal- 
 lie enough, without the least transgression of either the custome, practice, or law of 
 warre, or his own commission, have used them as he did, for he was bound by no ar- 
 ticle to them, they haveing submitted themselves absolutelie to his discretion. It is 
 true, on the other hand, summum jus, summa injuria; and in such cases mercy is the 
 more christian, the more honorable, and the more ordinare way in our warres in Eu- 
 rope. But I reallie beleeve, advise him to that act who woll, he hath repented it many 
 
 times since, and even very soone after the doeing it. 
 
 " From Yla we boated over to Jura, a horride isle, and a habitation fit for deere and 
 wild beasts ; and so from isle to isle, till we came to Mull, which is one of the best of 
 the Hebrides. Heere Maclaine saved his lands with the losse of his reputation, if ever 
 he was capable to have any. He gave up his strong castles to Lesly, gave his eldest 
 sonne for hostage of his fidelitie, and, which was unchristian baseness in the lowest 
 degree, he delivered up fourteene very prettie Irishmen, who had beene all alon" faith- 
 full to him, to the Lieutenant-Generall, who immediatlie caused hang them all. It was 
 not well done to demand them from Maclaine, but inexcusablie ill done in him to be- 
 tray them. Heere I cannot forget one Sir Donald Cambell, a very old man, flesh'd in 
 blood from his very infancie, who with all imaginable violence press'd that all the 
 whole clan of Maclaine sould be put to the edge of the sword, nor wold he be com- 
 manded to forbeare his bloodie sute by the Lieutenant-Generall and the two Generall 
 Majors, and with some difficultie was he commanded silence by his cliiefe the Marques 
 of Argile. For my part I said nothing, for indeed I did not care thogli he had prevail- 
 ed in his sute, the deliverie of the Irish had so much irritated me against that whole 
 
4b' KIEKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 of many members, and a petition from almost every paroch in Scot- 
 land. And here begun the lamentable jiistling betwixt church and 
 state. Ahvayes the Scottish army Avas beatten at Prestoun by Crom- 
 wel, and the command of Scotland was, by a rising of the dissatisfied 
 party in arms, wholly wrung out of the hand and reach of the late 
 governing party, who were by a capitulation not only constrained 
 to lay down arms, but also to engadge thereafter to meddle no more 
 with the government of the nation. This was done at the Whiirsfs' 
 Road, as was called, and so the protestors in parliament became en- 
 tire masters of Scotland. 
 
 The English independents fearing now neither Scotland nor Eng- 
 land, immediatly vipon the back of the defeat of the Scots brought 
 the king from the Isle of Wight to his tiyal at London, where, con- 
 trare to the heart of the parliament of England, and the protestation 
 of the Scots commissioners there present, they condemned liim to 
 die, and struck off his head, to the gi-eat astonishment of the world, 
 and the sad regrate of Scotland, excepting these who had lossed their 
 relations by his sword. He Avas a gentleman, because of his conti- 
 nual misfortunes pitied by most, and admired by many. I will not 
 say but there are great mysteries in king's genealogies and charac- 
 ters : Common historians serA-ing them as popish legendaries doe 
 their latter saints, concealing all their vices, extolling common vir- 
 tues as heroick. Yet I never heard his enemys blame him for the 
 common vices of princes, except the two bastards in his youth, and 
 his swearing ui his old age.* People generally think his greatest 
 
 * This is the only notice we meet with in any author of Charles's early incontinence 
 and subsequent impiety. Sir Edward Peyton, who has raked together many improba- 
 ble scandals respecting the king, makes no mention of illegitimate children ; and Mrs 
 Hutchinson, more likely than any other, from her sex and character, to be acquainted 
 with these circumstances, pronounces Charles a " temperate, chaste prince." Memoirs, 
 p. 65. — As to his swearing, his religious bias seems to contradict the accusation ; but 
 Kirkton had imbibed all the prejudices of his sect against the king, and misrepresents 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 47 
 
 iinhappiness was, he mistook wilfullness for constancy, liis condescen- 
 sions alwayes coming too late, granting nnprofitably to his people to- 
 day that which would haA^e abundantly satisfied yesterday, and the 
 next day that which Avould have satisfied this day, but all out of time. 
 The Scots, immediatly upon the news of his death, proclaim his 
 eldest son king, upon the 5th of February, 1649, providing alwayes 
 that he was not to be admitted to the exercise of his government 
 
 his conduct throughout, falsifying the truth of history in many 'particulars ; as respect- 
 ing the condemnation of Loudon, Charles's measures after his flight to the Scottish 
 army, and numerous other circumstances, obvious to every reader of our national an- 
 nals. Inflamed by recent controversies, and the fervour of professional enthusiasm, it 
 was natural enough, perhaps, for Kirkton to write thus ; but it is wonderful to observe 
 how widely, of late times, it hath become fashionable to rank King Charles among 
 tyrants and wicked men, and his destroyers with the meritorious and the pure. Mo- 
 dern historians have gone great lengths in their endeavours to prove his ambition of 
 arbitrary sway, his faithless system of politicks ; and if they cannot fix actual vice 
 upon his private character, would fain represent him as a prince of manners so ex- 
 tremely harsh and forbidding, that in this age of urbanity his deportment amounts 
 almost to a crime : but it should still be remembered, that at his accession to the 
 throne, the royal prerogative extended beyond definition, and had been stretched to 
 all extremes by the former sovereigns of England ; that his temptations to equivocate 
 and juggle (granting him guilty of such meanness) were almost irresistible, environed 
 as he was with a crew of the falsest hypocrites that ever existed ; and as to his cold 
 and repulsive demeanour, — for a person of so unhappy an address, he certainly could 
 boast of the warmest and most constant friends that ever man possessed. 
 
 But, after all, the cavils of his enemies signify little ; the siftings and sophistications 
 of party cannot overturn the established records of truth. As long as moderation and 
 good sense are prized, or literature and a turn for the fine arts admired — while con- 
 stancy under the most bitter and unmerited misfortunes is respected, or piety enduring 
 to the very last esteemed a virtue, this good prince must continue to be revered, in 
 spite of those historians who disguise the Stuarts in the imperial purple of Rome, that, 
 like Brutus, they may boast of having assassinated tyrants ; and through the bosom of 
 King Charles the Martyr and his descendants, aim a blow at the very heart of royalty 
 and all hereditary honour. 
 
 6 
 
48 KIKKTOX'S HISTORY OF 
 
 till he should give satisfaction for religion and peace ; nor could they 
 make warr upon England for their king, tiU he and they were at a 
 point, which was not for two years after ; but these two years, in 
 my opinion, were the best two years that Scotland ever saw. 
 
 For though alwayes since the assembly at Glasgow the work of the 
 gospel hade prospered, judicatories being reformed, godly ministers 
 entered, and holy constitutions and rules daily brought into the church, 
 yet, now after Duke Hamilton's defeat, and in the interval betwixt 
 the two kings, religion advanced the greatest step it hade made for 
 many years ; now the ministry was notablie purified, the magistrac}' 
 altered, and the people strangly refined. It is true, at this time 
 hardly the fifth part of the lords of Scotland were admitted to sit in 
 parliament, but those who did sitt were esteemed truely godly men ; 
 so were all the rest of the commissioners in parliament elected of 
 the most pious of every corporation. Also, godly men were im- 
 ployed in all offices, both civU and military ; and about this time the 
 General Assembly, by sending abroad visitors into the countrey, 
 made almost ane entire change vipon the ministry in several places 
 of the nation, purgeing out the scandelous and insufficient, and 
 planting in their place a sort of godly young men, whose ministry 
 the Lord sealed with ane eminent blessing of success, as they them- 
 selves sealed it with a seal of heavy sufferings ; but so they made 
 full proof of their ministry. Scotland hath been, even by emulous 
 foreigners, called Philadelphia ; and now she seemed to be in her flow- 
 er.* Every minister was to be tried five times a year, both for his 
 
 * This Jloiver of Scotland, in the perfection of her church, was plentifully bedewed 
 with the blood of malignancy. Exempli gratia : — In one day the covenanters drowned 
 eighty women and children, found guilty of following Montrose's camp, by precipita- 
 ting thera over the bridge at Linlithgow ; and six more shared the same fate at Elgin. 
 Sir George Mackenzie's Vindication, Sfc< — From the account of the battle of Philip- 
 haugh, published under authority by the victors themselves, we learn that they shot 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 49 
 
 personal and ministerial behavior ; every eongi-egation was to be vi- 
 sited by the presbyterie, that they might see how the vine flowrish- 
 ed, and how the pomegi'anate budded. And there was no ease nor 
 question in the meanest family in Scotland, but it might become the 
 object of the deliberation of the General Assembly, for the congrega- 
 tional session's book was tried by the presbyterie, the presbyterie's 
 book by the synod, and the synod's book by the General Assembly. 
 Likewayes, as the bands of the Scottish church were strong, so her 
 beauty was bright ; no error was so much as named, the people were 
 not only sound in the faith, but innocently ignorant of vmsovmd 
 doctrine ; no scandalous person could live, no scandal could be con- 
 cealed in all Scotland, so strict a correspondence there was betwixt 
 ministers and congregations. The General Assembly seemed to be 
 the priest with Urim and Thumim, and there were not ane 100 per- 
 sons in all Scotland to oppose their conclusions ; aU submitted, all 
 learned, all prayed, most part were really godly, or at least counter- 
 fitted themselves Jews. Than was Scotland a heap of wheat set 
 about with lilies, uniform, or a palace of silver beautifully propor- 
 tioned ; and this seems to me to have been Scotland's high noon. 
 
 an hundred Irish prisoners " at a post," on which occasion a covenanted minister ob- 
 served, " this wark gaes bonnilie on." General Hurry, being sentenced to perpetual 
 banishment by the parliament, his life was peremptorily demanded, and obtained, by 
 the commission of the Kirk. Memoirs of the Somerville Family. — The Marquis of Hunt- 
 ly, a venerable nobleman of eighty, had been previously beheaded, chiefly owing to a 
 like Christian application. After the execution of Sir Robert Spottiswood, indeed, the 
 clergy solicited the parliament that more royalists might be slaughtered, but could not 
 obtain their desire. Guthrie's Memoirs. — The massacres at Dunnavertie and in Jura 
 are particularized in a former note ; the first was promoted, if not caused, by Lesly's 
 chaplain, who exclaimed, in a sermon preached before the troops, " What meaneth 
 then this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen ?" applying 
 that text of scripture to the victims still unbutchered. 
 
 G 
 
50 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 The only complaint of prophane people was, that the government 
 was so strict they hade not liberty enough to sin. I confess I 
 thought at that time, the common sort of ministers strained too 
 much at the sin which in these dayes was called IMalignamcie, (and 
 I should not paint the moon faithfully if I marked not her spots,) 
 otherwayes I think if church officers could polish the saints on earth 
 as bright as they are in heaven, it were their excellencie and the 
 churches happiness. But this season lasted not long. 
 
 For all this time Scotland thirsted after her young banished king, 
 the people desired to see religion and laws established by his con- 
 sent, and that the government might run in the old channel. The 
 nobles doubted their own safety till they were settled upon that 
 rock, and private designes furthered not a little these publick incli- 
 nations. So the Scottish parliament send their commissioner to their 
 king at Breda, intreating him, upon satisfaction to be granted to 
 their demands, to accept of the crown and government of Scotland. 
 His unsuccessfullness in all his other attempts prevailed with him to 
 close with the Scots, more than all the arguments their commission- 
 ers could use, of ane episcopal man to become a covenanted pres- 
 byterian. And the INIarquesse of Argile being all that time almost 
 dictator of Scotland, to make all sure for himself, being in great 
 danger from the envy of his enemies, thought good to strike up a 
 match betwixt the king and his daughter Lady Anne, to which the 
 king consented with all assurance, though all that poor family hade 
 by the bargane was a disappointment so grievous to the poor young- 
 lady, that of a gallant young gentlewoman, she lossed her spirit and 
 turned absolutely distracted : so unfortunately do the back wheels 
 of private designes work in the puppet playes of the publick revo- 
 lutions in the world. 
 
 The commissioners hastening to engadge the king, transgressed 
 their instructions, though in the time of the treaty it was found he 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTI.AXO. 51 
 
 had invaded Scotland by his bloody General INIontrose, which was 
 a token to many he acted rather as a politician than a convert. Al- 
 wayes, because even INIontrose himself was broke and execute, the 
 king for his last shift closes with Scotland, promising to ratifie all 
 they hade done of late, and to take the covenant in most solemn and 
 hearty manner. So for Scotland he sett saU, and swore the covenant 
 in the hands of ]\Ir John Livingston,* upon the 23d of June, 1650, 
 
 * Livingstone wrote his own memoirs, which, though curtailed by his publisher, are 
 well worthy of perusal. Like Rutherford, he carried on an epistolary correspondence 
 with all the distinguished female enthusiasts in Scotland, and I have seen many letters 
 addressed to him by the Marchioness of Hamilton, the Countesses of Eglintoune and 
 Wigtoun, Ladies Boyd and Culross, &c;, expressing wonderful attachment to his per- 
 son, as well as to the covenanted cause. Asa specimen of the style in which these 
 she-saints wrote, a letter of Lady Culross, much more brief than the generality of her 
 religious rhapsodies, is subjoined, from the original MS. 
 
 " To my tuorthy and loving hrother, Mr John Livingstoun, preacher of the ivord of God. 
 " My worry worthy and deir brother, I have written to you alredy, I knaw not if it 
 be cum to your hands. I am presently in John Gillon his house. We cam weill over, 
 blessed be God. I hope ye will meet us in the Shots the morn so soon as ye can. 
 John Gray and his wyf are heir. We long ernestly for you. Be ernist with God, and 
 do as he derrecte. This is my first voyage heir, if ye disapoint me — I will say na 
 mair. I hope God sail bring you heir, and furnish you as we have neid I was stayit 
 the first day with storms, sair against my will. Com and mak us amends for all faults. 
 John Gray, your you7ig bab, longs for the pap ; blessed be God for that change ; com 
 help to confirm him. We have all neid of you. If ye com not it will greve me, ther- 
 for mak no excusis. Pray ernistly for us ; nevir sic neid. The sprite of God be with 
 you and conwoy you ; his grace be with you till meitting and for evir. In haist. Zours 
 in Christ, 
 
 E. Melvill. 
 Your clais are heir, quilk ye left with us to mak 
 us the mor sure of you ; and yet ye faild us. Do 
 not so now, for fear lue poind your nicht cap." 
 June, 1629. 
 
52 kirkton's history Ol- 
 
 at the month of Spey, and before ever he sett foot on the Scottish 
 shore. The anthentick instrument is yet in a private hand in Scot- 
 land, upon which future ages may comment. 
 
 Immediatly upon the king's landing, Cromwel invaded Scotland, 
 and the Scottish army le\yed for the king being entirely beaten at 
 Dumbar by the English, division entered both state and church, 
 which is not as yet even to this day removed. Here the staff of 
 
 Livingstone man-ied the daughter of Bartliolomew Fleeming, merchant in Edin- 
 burgh. The account of his previous doubts and their conclusion is curious : — " When 
 I went a visit to Ireland, in February 1634'," says he, " Mr Blair propounded to me that 
 marriage. [ had seen her before several times in Scotland, and heard the testimony of 
 many of her gracious disposition, yet I was for nine months seeking, as I could, direc- 
 tion from God about that business ; during which time I did not offer to speak to her, 
 who I believe had not heard any thing of the matter, only for want of clearness in my 
 mind, although I was twice or thrice in the house, and saw her frequently at commu- 
 nions and publick meetings, and it is liEe I might have been longer in such darkness, 
 except the Lord had presented me an occasion of our conferring together ; for in No- 
 vember 1634, when I was going to the Friday meeting at Ancrum, I met with her and 
 some others going thither, and propounded to them by the way, to confer on a text 
 whereupon I was to preach the day after at Ancrum, wherein I found her conference 
 so judicious and spiritual, that I took that for some answer of my prayer to have my 
 mind cleared, and blamed myself that I had not before taken occasion to confer with 
 her. Four or five days after I propounded the matter to her, and desired her to think 
 upon it ; and after a week or two I went to her mother's house, and being alone with 
 her desiring her answer, I went to prayer, and urged her to pray, which at last she 
 did ; and in that time, I got abundance of clearness that it was the Lord's mind that 
 I should marry her, and then propounded the matter more fully to her mother. And 
 although I was fully cleared, I may truly say it was above a month before I got mar- 
 riage affection to her, although she was for personal endowments beyond many of her 
 equals, and I got it not till I obtained it by prayer. But thereafter I had a great dif- 
 ficulty to moderate it." 
 
 Livingstone died in banishment at Rotterdam, 1672. His sermon on Lot's wife is 
 one of the most extraordinary specimens of pulpit eloquence extant. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 53 
 
 bands was broken. The cause of this rent was this : After the de- 
 feat of Dumbar the king required a new army to be le\yed, wishing 
 earnestly it might be of another mettall than that which hade been 
 lossed. So he desired that sort of people who were called malignants, 
 his darlings, might be brought into places of trust both in council and 
 army, though they hade been secluded from both by theu- own con- 
 sent. And this request was granted both by committee of estates and 
 commission of the church sitting at Perth. But there was a party 
 in both these councils, which alleadged confidently, that though the 
 malignants were content to profess repentance for their former prac- 
 tices, yet they should be found to be men neither sincere in their 
 professions, nor successfull in their undertakings. This was the be- 
 ginning of the fatal schism in the Scottish church. For though the 
 king, to secure Scotland, was content once more to take the cove- 
 nant at his coronation in Scoon, (which instrument he caused burn 
 at London) yet the dissatisfied party continued still in their jealou- 
 sies, and even of the king himself, whom they doubted most of all. 
 This party was called Protesters and Remonstrators, as the other 
 was called Resolutioners : which names occasioned lamentable dis- 
 traction. However, the king would try his new levyed army, com- 
 posed of his loyal malignants, but it prospered just as it had been 
 foretold ; for, after many vmfortunate attempts in Scotland, they 
 entered England, partly in the way of flight and partly in the way 
 of invasion, where they were entirely beaten at Worchester upon 
 the 3d of September, 1651, being the same remarkable day upon 
 which the Scots had been beaten at Dumbar the preceding year.* 
 
 * The corporation of Edinburgh, through hatred to Cromwell, and the importunity 
 of the loyal party, joined the national engagement in favour of Charles, and advanced, 
 instead of 1200 men they had originally pledged themselves to furnish, the sum of 
 3300 pounds, which they contrived to borrow, the town funds being then low. After 
 
54 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 The king escaped into France, and the English became peaceable 
 masters of Scotland for the nine years following. So, after all the 
 counties of Scotland hade formally acknowledged the English for 
 their sovereigns, they appointed magistrates and constitute judica- 
 tories to govern the land for their time. They did indeed proclaim 
 a sort of toleration to dissenters amongst protestants, but permitted 
 the gospel to have its course, and presbyteries and synods to conti- 
 nue in the exercise of their powers, and all the time of their govern- 
 ment the work of the gospel prospered not a little, bvit mightily. It 
 is also true, that because they knew the generality of the Scottish 
 ministers were for the king upon any termes, therefore they did 
 not permit the General Assembly to sitt, (and in this I believe they 
 did no bad office) for both the authority of that meetting was de- 
 nyed by the protesters, and the Assembly seemed to be more sett 
 upon establishing themselves than promoving religion : also the di- 
 vision of the church betwixt protesters and resolvers continued in 
 the church for six or seven years with far more heat than became, 
 and errors in some places infected some few ; yet were all these 
 losses inconsiderable m regard of the gTeat successe the word preach- 
 ed hade in sanctifying the people of the nation. And I verily be- 
 lieve there were more souls converted to Clrrist in that short period 
 
 the unfortunate battle of Worcester, this honourable body of Covenanters totally dis- 
 claimed the engagement for which the money had been raised, neither would they re- 
 pay one farthing to those who had lent it ; but, to have their consciences set entirely 
 at ease respecting the honesty of the measure, they consulted the committee of the 
 General Assembly, " Whether, the engagement being unlawful, they were bound in 
 conscience to pay the money borrowed in support of it ;" and the committee of the 
 reverend Assembly declared, " It is the judgement of the commission, that the pro- 
 vost, bailies, and council of Edinburgh who state the case, should not, in conscience, 
 pay any part of the foresaid sum, nor interpose their authority for paying of the same." 
 — Arnot's Hist, of Edinburgh, p. 123. Council Register, vol, 17, p. 215-359. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 55 
 
 of time, than in any season since the Reformation, though of treeple 
 its duration. Nor Avas there ever greater pm-ity and plenty of the 
 means of grace than was in their time. IVIinisters were painfull, 
 people were diligent ; and if a man hade seen one of their solemn 
 communions, where many congregations mett in great multitudes, 
 some dozen of ministers used to preach, and the people conti- 
 nued, as it were, in a sort of trance (so serious were they in spii-i- 
 tual exercises) for three dayes at least, he would have thought it a 
 solemnity unknown to the rest of the world. Besides, the minis- 
 ters, after some years, began to look at the questions about which 
 they hade divided as inconsiderable. And what did it import 
 whether the Idng was a real covenanter and presbyterian, as the 
 publick resolutioncrs said, or that he hade only dissembled for his 
 interest, as the protesters said, while in the mean time he was a ba- 
 nished man, and out of case either to fulfill or violate his covenant ? 
 Therefore ane aggreement was framed betwixt the two parties in 
 most of the synods, by which it was concluded, every man should 
 enjoy his own opinion without impeachment from the acts of the 
 contraverted assemblies, which hade mightily inflamed the division ; 
 also it Avas found, error made no gi-eat progress in all Scotland, the 
 genious of the people being neither very curious nor easily chang'd : 
 So truely religion was at that time in veiy good case, and the Lord 
 present in Scotland, tho' in a cloud. 
 
 In the time of greatest plenty of the word, a poor woman in 
 Glenluce had a strange revelation, upon which she called for her 
 minister, IMr John Scot, exhorting him to be very diligent in his 
 time ; for Avithin a short Avliile a bloody throne shoidd be raised in 
 Scotland, the people of the Lord should be made very miserable, 
 the purses of the nobles filled Avith the blood and substance of the 
 saints, ministers chased from their congregations, and forced to 
 preach in woods and mountains ; adding, that deliverance would 
 
56 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 come, but it would take a time to come, and than a cloud of wratli 
 should break upon the persecutors. This happen'd October 5, 1652, 
 when there was alse small probability of what the poor woman 
 spake, as there was evidence it was true within a few years there- 
 after. And aU this tune faithful watchmen, in the midst of this 
 plenty, both foresaw and foretold a sad change ; because, the' the 
 word was fruitfull, it answered not the Lord's pains in any just 
 proportion. 
 
 The English many times offered the government of the nation 
 to the protesters, which they upon scniple did alwayes refuse, till 
 Cromwell, weary with the protesters' scrupolosity, and being highly 
 carressed by Mr (afterward Bishop) Shai-p liis large proffers in be- 
 half of the resolutioners, was forced to allow them equal hberty, 
 and so they continued in a baUance till after his death. The divi- 
 sion happening in the army betwixt Lambert and Monck, and 
 Lambert being ruined by the discord of his own party, ISIonck be- 
 came sole master of the parUament anuy, and all Brittan, Avhich 
 his victory he improved by bringing about the much-desired change 
 of bringing home the king, after which strange changes happened : 
 Upon which wee purpose more particularly to insist. 
 
THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 57 
 
 LIB. 11. 
 
 THE RETURN OF CHARLES THE SECOND. 
 
 The king's return from liis miserable exile into his languishing 
 confounded countrey, was both the object of many fervent desires, 
 and the foundation of veiy many high expectations ; nor am I able 
 to judge whether he longed more to enjoy his royal palace, or his 
 people to see him established upon his throne. Indeed his exile 
 was veiy comfortless to himself, for, m France, first he was coldly 
 entertained by his nearest neighbours and relations, and thereafter 
 shamefully banished, and partly upon ]\Iazarine's base pick. In 
 Colen he quickly fovuid himself a burdine to his host, and thereaf- 
 ter became the publick object of his dishonour, the boys in the city 
 making a solemn anniversaiy mock pageant to the scorn of the 
 king without land. And when he was driven to seek shelter and 
 rest in the Spanish Netherlands, where he made his longest abode, 
 yet Avas he still hunted by his enemies, betrayed by his servants, 
 and most unsuccessfull in all his attempts, besides his continual 
 sorrow for his losse, his fear from his hazard, and the poor shift he 
 was constrained to make among strangers for his svipply. And 
 there he learned to believe kings might have reason to pray for 
 their daily bread fi-om the Lord, which he coxdd never beheve 
 from his tutor, inculcating into his mind the petitions of the Lord's 
 Prayer while he was yet a young child. All these, and many more, 
 you may think were enough to make him long for what might at- 
 
 H 
 
58 KIRKTON'S HISTORY 01' 
 
 tend the command of Brittain. Upon the other side, his people 
 were most impatient under the grief from his absence, partly from 
 their discontent with, and disdain they hade towards their present 
 lords, and partly from the love they bore to his unknown person. 
 Indeed the nations were brought under and kept under by a party 
 of men, small for their number, being only the rump of that body 
 of people who commenced the warr against Charles the Fhst ; and 
 likewayes inconsiderable for their parts, few of them being men ei- 
 ther of birth or breeding ; and tho' they were wonderfully success- 
 ful!, yet their victories smellcd alwayes more of ane admireable air 
 of prosperity, than ordinary military valor. And, lastly, tliat party 
 was despicable for their quality in the world, being almost all of 
 them citizens or husband men, which the nobles of Brittain disdain- 
 ed very much. Moreover, tho' these men were of the most sober 
 behaviour of any that ever commanded by the sword, yet you may 
 expect something would happen in their administration that woidd 
 be grievous : forasmuch as even justice and courtesic both were 
 disdained from their hand. Besides, they were constrained to keep 
 up ane army for their own support, and heavily to biu'dine the na- 
 tions for the maintenance of the same ; which was the more odious, 
 being from these who called themselves patrons of the people's li- 
 berty. And nothing made the nations roar louder for their king, 
 than that a people, who had taken arms upon pretence of conscience 
 to purge the reformed religion of superstitions of the episcopal 
 chiu'ch, should not only tolerate, but also encourage the vilest blas- 
 phemies : And tho' it was sore against the heart of their head, yet 
 so much did that whole party adore the idol of hberty, he was ne- 
 cessitate to forbear what he durst not suppresse. It is also to be 
 considered, that as it is ane easy matter for a man in discontent to 
 imagine any condition sweeter than the present case, so very many 
 considerations drawn from the king's case and personal character 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 59 
 
 heightened much the desire of the nations after their king's return. 
 The compassions the world hade for his father's misfortunes and 
 sufferings, and his oAvn youth being spent in continual toyle, at- 
 tended with losse, dishonour, and grief, Avere enough to make a 
 gentle nature to pity him. He was known to be of a meek tem- 
 per, which he coidd well improve by his wondei-fidl reservedness, 
 courtesie, and dissimulation, for eveiy man had at least fair words 
 and big promises : so compassion begat affection, and affection 
 heightened every shadow of virtue in him. Few conversed in his 
 court except these who were fuU of the same spirit with himself; 
 all those suppressed all noise of his impei-fections, and proclaimed 
 his virtues, so he was made to the world a paragon of virtue as 
 well as ane example of pity. The people of Scotland had no cor- 
 respondence with him, or what they hade came from these courtiers 
 who study more to be smooth than faithfull. He wrote indeed a 
 friendly letter to JNIr Hamilton, the minister in Edinburgh, (whom 
 in a special manner he seemed to affect,) assuring him he was the 
 same in France that he hade been in Scotland, by which ambiguous 
 expression he seemed both to defend his own constancy and out- 
 reach the minister : yet was that letter looked at by many in Scot- 
 land as if it hade been a renewing of the covenant. And tho' it be 
 now confidently affirmed he corresponded with the Pope, and no 
 crime noAV to say he was then a papist, yet was it at that time high 
 IfEse majesty to doubt he was any other thing than a sincere cove- 
 nanter. If it were told them he used the English liturgy in his 
 chapel, it was excused as being rather necessity than choice, people 
 believing he could have no other. So their affections to his person 
 were equal to their discontent with the republican governors. And 
 to compleat the people's appetite for the king's return, the hopes 
 founded upon his restauration were nothing behind either the dis- 
 content under Cromwell, or the affection to his person : for then 
 
60 kiekton's history of 
 
 did every fellow that hade catched a scarr in a fray among the to- 
 ries (though perchance pillaging ane lionest house) expect to be a 
 man all of gold. All that hade suffered for him in his warr, lossed 
 for him of their estate, or been advocates for him in a tavern dis- 
 pute, hoped well to be noticed as his friends, or to receive not only 
 a compensation from his justice, but a gratuity from his bounty. I 
 believe thei-e were more gaping after prizes than his sufficiency, 
 hade it been ten times greater than it was, could ever have satis- 
 fied. All believed it would be the golden age when the king re- 
 turned in peace ; and some of our Brittish divines made the date of 
 the accomplishment of the glorious promises in the apocalypse, not 
 doubting he was assuredly to be the man should destroy Rome as 
 sure as he was Constantine's successor. In fine, the eagerness of their 
 loneini' was so s;reat, some would never cvit their hair, some would 
 never di-ink wine, some would never wear linen, till they might see 
 the desire of their eyes, the king. 
 
 Weell : when time was ripe, a sort of parliament conveened in 
 England by the authority of the committee of council, upon which 
 the rump of the long-successfvill parliament hade derived their 
 power, before their voluntary dissolution, as General JMonck and 
 his cabal had resolved ; and immediatly upon their fii'st assembling 
 the king thought good, by Sir John Greenvile, to addi'esse to them 
 ane obhdging letter, wherein he engadged to presei-ve every man 
 in his profession, and protect every man in the freedom of his con- 
 science, with many other large promises : Upon Avhich tlie parHa- 
 ment (being mostly made of presbyterians) thought fitt to invite 
 him home by a splended legation of Lords and Commons, among 
 whom was the Lord Fairfax, that he who hade ruined the father in 
 the field might doe the world reason by restoring the son in peace. 
 Accordingly the king, accompanied with his two brothers, his tri- 
 umphant court, and many a poor maimed cavaleer, having sett sail 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAXD. 61 
 
 from Schevelin, took land at Dover upon the 25th of May, 1660, 
 where he was received with all the honour and I'everent splendor 
 England could strain in the highest degree. From thence he was 
 conveyed throw London to Westminster, upon the 29th of May, 
 1-660, which Avas the so much celebrated date of the blessed restau- 
 ration. Some men are indeed blessed of God, because their birth- 
 day proves sometimes the diet of happy events to them. The king 
 wiU" needs be reckoned amongst these, and therefore contrived his 
 journey so as to thrust the glory of his restauration upon the day 
 of his birth,, to prove it a blessed Sabbath through all generations. 
 The same day he entered the parliament also, and ha\ing there 
 made his short compliment of thanks and promises, retired that 
 night to his palace, aU the multitude being in ane extasie, and him- 
 self on the top of joy. That night it is reported Barbara ^'illiers,* 
 
 * " In a slaslit doublet then he came ashore, 
 
 And dubb'il poor Pahuer's wife liis royal " State Poems, vol. I. 
 
 " Which Barbara," says Collins, " by reason of her noble descent from many worthy 
 ancestors, and her father's death in his majesty's army, as also in respect of //?/• ow;* 
 pergonal virtues, and that in former times the raising of eminent women to n-rcat titles 
 of honour had not been unusual in this realm, his majesty therefore, in pursuance of 
 those so laudable examples, did, by letters patent, advance her to the title of Baroness 
 Nonsuch, in the county of Surrey, as also to the dignities of Countess of Southamp- 
 ton, and Duchess of Cleveland, &c." Of all the ladies who, at the Restoration, stood 
 candidates for the royal favour, (and the Duke of York declared that the whole court 
 vied with each other in soliciting his brother's embraces and his own) none excelled 
 tlie Duchess of Cleveland in beauty. She was the daughter of William, Viscount 
 Grandison, mortally wounded at the siege of Bristol ; a brave man, whose fault, ac- 
 cording to Clarendon, was an inclination " to be too prodigal of his person ;" in ano- 
 ther sense, the foible of his daughter also ; for, at one time, her list of lovers included 
 the king, Jacob Hall the rope-dancer, Harry Jermyn, afterwards Lord Dover ; Church- 
 ill, afterwards Duke of Marlborough, then a page ; Wycherley the poet, and Good- 
 
62 KIRKTON'S HISTOUY OF 
 
 afterwards known by the name of Mistris Palmer, made such coin-t 
 as thereupon to ascend to the dignity of ]\Iiss Paramount, and 
 Dutchess of Cleveland afterward. 
 
 man the player. On tlie neediest of those admirers she bestowed large suras of moncj', 
 and lived to prove that ingratitude wliicli generally attends meretricious profusion : 
 become old, and poor, and a prey to gamblers, she was refused a loan of twenty guineas 
 at the basset table by the Duke of Marlborough, upon whom, while a page, she had 
 lavished, on one occasion, no less a sum than five thousand pounds. The yielding stay- 
 lace, and a gush of blood from the nose, gave relief to the bitter agitations of her fury. 
 (Lord Chestekfield's Characters — Manlby's Atalantis.) — There is a most extraor- 
 dinary anecdote of this Duchess, who was a papist, contained in a MS. note of Lord 
 Colrain's, in his copy of Dugdale's History of St Paul's Cathedral, afterwards in the 
 Harleian library; if genuine, it proves that the violence of her religious bigotry equal- 
 led her other excesses, though the mummy of Bishop Eraybreok afforded her a relic 
 that few pious women but such devotees as herself would have thought it seemly to 
 secure. Her husband, Lord Castlemaine, was also an enthusiast in the catholic faith, 
 and a great traveller; he discovered that the Grand Turk is the great Leviathan; 
 (Vide an Account of the present War between the Venetians and the Turks, 8fc. 1666.) 
 and visited Palestine, to which Thomas Price, the editor of another of his works, wise- 
 ly informs us he had a particular relation, by his name Palmer or Pilgrim. Andrew 
 Marvel, in his " Instructions to a Painter, 1667," mentions, 
 
 " That isle, 
 
 When Pilgrim Palmer travel'd in exile, 
 With the bull's horn to measure his own head, 
 And o'er Pasiphae's tomb to drop a bead." 
 
 He died in July 1705, and the Duchess, three months after, bestowed her withered 
 hand on the celebrated beau Fielding, who used her so barbarously, " by beating her 
 Grace, rifling her trunks, and locking her up a-days without sustenance, to starve 
 her," (Captain Smith's Court of Venus, vol. II. p. 20,) that she was ovcrjoj'ed to dis- 
 cover a former marriage into which the beau had been trepanned by the machinations 
 of one Mary Wadsworth, a woman of ill-fame, who passed herself upon him as a widow 
 
 with a fortune of forty thousand pounds ; the Duchess had him tried for bigamy at the 
 
 10 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAXD. 63 
 
 Little thing was done at court for some weeks, except receiving 
 presents and bestowing compliments. Only the king, to secm*e the 
 people of England from hazard upon the old score, and also to se- 
 cure himself from the danger of a desperate effort, indemnified the 
 whole nation, excepting only some of his father's judges, and two 
 private gentlemen, Sir Henry Vane and IMajor Lambert. The great 
 offices were likeAvayes bestowed, as the present case required, for 
 some old cavaleers were preferred, Hyde was made chancelour, some 
 countrey lords, Southampton was made tlieasurer, some old round- 
 heads, IManchester was made chamberlain, and some new favourites 
 were advanced, as INIonck was duke and great minion. Diverse of 
 the nonconform ministers, after they hade preached before the king 
 with applause, Avere nominate his chaiplanes, and so continued some 
 moncths. He in the mean time bemoaning to his old friends in se- 
 cret, that he could not find places enough to obliedge his old ene- 
 mys whom in that juncture of time he behooved to preferr to his 
 
 Old Baile)', and he was condemned to be burnt on the hand, but had previously pro- 
 cured the Queen's warrant to suspend execution of the sentence. Orlando the Fair, 
 for so Fielding is termed by the Tatler, died in the Fleet prison ; and a dropsy carried 
 o£F the Duchess, 1709, in her 69th year; " how penitent," says Captain Smith, " I 
 know not ; but this I may observe of her Grace, had her honour and chastity equalled 
 her wit and beauty, those accomplishments would have made her an angel on earth 
 and a saint in heaven." It is very probable that none of her children, except the Duke 
 of Cleveland, were by the king ; indeed it was a long while before Charles could be 
 brought to acknowledge the Duke of Grafton, who was looked upon by all the world 
 as the son of her favourite, Churchill. Her daughter, Lady Barbara, had a child to 
 Lord Arran, afterwards Duke of Hamilton, which was born at Cleveland House, 
 London, 1691, during Arran's confinement in the Tower. Queen Mary and the Duke 
 of Hamilton, enraged at the discovery of the intrigue, made Lady Barbara's retreat 
 to the continent the principal stipulation of his release ; the unfortunate lady with- 
 drew to the nunnery of Pontoise, where she died. 
 
64 kiektom's history of 
 
 old friends. But mth English affairs wee pui*pose Hot much to 
 meddle. 
 
 Now before wee speak of the alteration court influences made 
 upon the church of Scotland, let us consider in what case it was at 
 this time. Thei-e be in all Scotland some 900 paroches, divided into 
 68 presbytries, which are again canton'd into fourteen synods, out 
 of all which, by a solemn legation of commissioners fi'om every 
 presbytrie, they used yearly to constitute a national assembly. At 
 the king's return every pai'oche hade a minister, every village hade 
 a school, every family almost had a Bible, yea, in most of the coun- 
 trey all the childi-en of age could read the Scriptures, and were pro- 
 vided of Bibles, either by the parents or their ministers. Every mi- 
 nister was a very full professor of the refonned religion, according 
 to the large confession of faith framed at Westminster by the divines 
 of both nations. Every minister was obliedged to preach thrice 
 a-week, to lecture and catechise once, besides other private duties 
 wherein they abounded, according to their proportion of faithfulness 
 and abilities. None of them mii>ht be scandalous in their conversa- 
 tion, or negligent in then office, so long as a presbytrie stood ; and 
 among them were many holy in conversation and eminent in gifts ; 
 the dispensation of the ministry being fallen from the noise of wa- 
 ters and sound of trumpets to the melody of harpers, which is, alace ! 
 the last messe in the banquet ; nor did a minister satisfy himself 
 except his ministry hade the seal of a divuie approbation, as might 
 witness liim to be really sent fi-om God. Indeed, in many places 
 the spirit seemed to be powred out with the word, both by the mul- 
 titude of sincere converts, and also by the common work of reforma- 
 tion upon many who never came the length of a commimion ; there 
 were no fewer than sixty aged people, men and women, who went 
 to school, that even then they might be able to read the Scriptures 
 with their own eyes. I have lived many years in a paroch where I 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 65 
 
 never heard ane oath, and you might have ridde many miles before 
 you hade heard any : Also, you could not for a great part of the 
 countrey have lodged in a flimily where the Lord was not worship- 
 ped by reading, singing, and pubUck prayer. No body complained 
 more of our church government than our taverners, whose ordinaiy 
 lamentation was, their trade was broke, people were become so so- 
 ber. The great blemish of our church was, the division betwixt 
 protesters and publick resolution-men, (as they were called) but as 
 this was inconsiderable vipon the matter, so was it also pretty weU 
 composed by expi-ess agreement among brethren, even while the 
 English continued oiu- governours. It was also much bemoaned, 
 that though ministers continued in possession of presbyteries and 
 synods, yet hade wee no assembly after the king's first landing, save 
 only one, so jealous were the EngUsh of that di-eadfuU name. But 
 for this it was thought the Lord compensed the external form by 
 his internal power, and high authority is alwayes dangerous, except 
 amongst subdued spirits ; yet, even at tliis time, did they who were 
 wise and provident, perceive on the spuits and behaviour of this 
 grave people tokens of ane approaching change, and this was pub- 
 lickly declared to the people in many places, as it was also more 
 firmly apprehended by many, than improven, alace ! by those who 
 were concerned. 
 
 Now, in the midst of this deep tranquility, as soon as the certam- 
 ty of the king's return arrived in Scotland, I beUeve there Avas never 
 accident in the Avoi-ld altered the disposition of a people more than / 
 that did the Scottish nation. Sober men observed, it not only in- 
 ebriat but really mtoxicate, and made people not only di-unk but 
 fi-antick ; men did not think they coidd handsomely express their 
 joy, except they turned biiites for debauch, rebels and pugeants ; 
 yea, many a sober man was tempted to exceed, lest he should be 
 condemned as unnatural, disloyal, and unsensible. Most of the no- 
 
OQ kirkton's histouy of 
 
 bility, and many of the gentry and hungiy old souldiers, flew to 
 London, just as the vulture does to the carcase. And though many 
 of them were bare enough, they made no bones to give 15 of the 
 100 of exchange. Then when they were come to court, they desi- 
 red no more advyce but to know the king's inchnations, and he was 
 the best politician that could outrun obedience, by anticipating a 
 command. Alwayes at their arrival almost all hade good words, 
 some hade pensions never to be payed, and some who came in time 
 hade offices for awhile. Glencairn was made chancelour for his ad- 
 venture among the tories, Crawford theasurer for his long imprison- 
 ment, Lauderdale was made secretary, and the only one Scottish 
 gentleman ot the bed-chamber, that he might be ahvays near his 
 very kind master. Su- William Fleeming was made clerk of the 
 register, a place of great gain, for M-hich he was as fitt as to be pro- 
 fessor of the rrietaphysicks in ane imiversity ; but he was so wise as 
 to sell it to Sir Archibald Primrose, who coidd husband it better, as 
 indeed he did, for in a few years he multiplied his estate, by just 
 computation, from one to sixteen. Sir John Fletcher Avas made 
 king's advocate, though he hade been one of the first in Scotland 
 who forsware tlie king, that he might find employment under the 
 English. But partly by IMiddleton's procurement, (of whose affinity 
 he was,) and partly because he was ane honest man of the new mode, 
 (that is, a man void of principles,) he was placed in that dangerous 
 office, in which he hade the opportvmity to make all the subjects of 
 Scotland redeem their lives at his own price, from his criminal pur- 
 suit, upon the account of their old alleadged rebellions, and their 
 late compliances with the Enghsh, in which himself had been a i-ing- 
 leader. Middleton was judged a fitt man to act the part which af- 
 terward he did discharge over and above. He hade, from the de- 
 gree of a pickman in Colonel Hepburn's regiment in France, by his 
 great gallantry, raised himself to the chief command, sometimes in 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 67 
 
 the parliament's armys, and afterwards in the king's, though he was 
 als vuihappy under the latter as he was successful vmder the fu-st. 
 Alwayes because of his constant adherence to the king, even in his 
 exile, (wherein he suffered much) and the great adventures he hade 
 made among the tories in the Highlands, when the EngUsh com- 
 manded Scotland, and most of all because of his fierce soiddier-like 
 disposition, he was judged a fitt mstrument to cow Scotland, and 
 bring that people down from their ancient freedom of spu-it (so much 
 displeasing to their late king) to that plyant softness which might 
 better suite with the designes of a free pruice. In his exile m Ger- 
 many he was wont to boast, how in his youth a certain pahnister 
 hade assured him he should rise to great honors, and even to the 
 supreme command of his countrey ; but the end of this prediction 
 he alwayes concealed, which made his companions suspect it was 
 tragical, as afterward it did indeed prove* However, he was nomi- 
 
 * « Sir William Dugdale did inform me that Major-General Middleton (since Lord) 
 went into the Highlands of Scotland, to endeavour to make a party for King Charles 
 the First. An old gentleman (that was second-sighted) came and told him that his en- 
 deavour was good ; but he would be unsuccessful, and moreover, that they would put 
 the king to death : and that several other attempts would be made, but all in vain : 
 but that his son would come in, but not reign ; but at last would be restored. This 
 Lord Middleton had a great friendship with the Laird Bocconi, and they had made an 
 agreement that the first of them that died should appear to the other in extremity. 
 The Lord Middleton was taken prisoner at Worcester fight, and was prisoner in the 
 Tower of London, under three locks. Lying in his bed pensive, Bocconi appeared to 
 him ; my Lord Middleton asked him if he were dead or alive ? he said dead, and that 
 he was a ghost ; and told him, that within three days he should escape, and he did so, 
 in his wife's cloaths. When he had done his message, he gave a frisk, and said, 
 
 Givanni, Givanni, 'tis very strange, 
 In the world to see so sudden a change ; 
 
tiS kiekton's history of 
 
 nate commissioner for the parliament presently to be caUed, in which 
 he most effectually destroyed the covenant, (much against his so- 
 lemn engagement in the church of Dundee, where, with the tears 
 in his eyes, he confessed his covenant breaking, in joynuig with the 
 duke's engagement, promising for ever thereafter to be a covenant 
 keeper,) and that was his great errand to Scotland. The Earle of 
 Lithgow he was made colonel of the regiment of foot-guards, a 
 place in which he feathered his nest well ; but no man could give 
 the reason of his promotion, unlesse the descent of a popish fiimily 
 might perchance promise satisfieing inclinations toward hidden de- 
 signes. The poor old maimed officers, colonels, majors, and captains. 
 
 and then gathered up, and vanished. This account Sir William Dugdale had from 
 the Bishop of Edinburgh.'" — Aubrey's Miscellanies, p. 113. 
 
 This strange story is told after a different manner by the Rev. Mr Robert Law, in 
 " Memorialls of remarkable Things in his Time, from Ifi.'^fl to 1RS4," MS. — " The late 
 Lord Midleton, in the yeir 1650, being in cumpany with the Laird of Barbigno, in 
 Stirling, before the fight at Dunbar, in a drunken rant, covenanted one with another, 
 that which of them dyes first should come to the surviving person, and give him newes 
 from the dead. This Barbigno dyeing first, the devill in his lykness comes to Midle- 
 ton, when he was prisoner at London, and putts him in mynd of his covenant, and now 
 that he had come to fulfill it, and told him he should be once a great man, and should 
 escape prison, but advised him to take held of his end. And so it fell out. He was 
 afterward, at the king's return, made commissioner to his parliament in Scotland, but 
 was outed by the Lord Lauderdale, and sent over by the king to Tangiers to be go- 
 vernour of it. Where, upon a certain tyme, he proving a young horse, was cast oiFbjr 
 him, and in the fall hurt himself exceedingly, so that he sickens and dyes of it. 
 
 Plumaches above, and Gamaches below, 
 
 It's no wonder to see how the world doth go." 
 
 These lines, with which Law concludes his story, appear to be another reading of the 
 spirit's speech in Aubrey's narrative. 
 
THE CHtmCH OF SCOTLAND. 69 
 
 who expected great promotion, were prefen-ed to be troupers in the 
 king's troup of life-guards, of which Newburgh Avas made captain. 
 This goodly imployment obliedged them to spend with one another 
 the small remnant of the stock their miseries hade left them, but 
 more they could not have, after aU their hopes and sufferings. Gen- 
 tlemen and lords came down from court with empty purses and dis- 
 contented minds, having nothing to put in place of their flown mo- 
 ney, except the experience of a disappointment, which uses to be a 
 bitter reflection upon a man's own indiscretion, ui mistaking mea- 
 sures, and making false judgement upon events, as they hade done. 
 There remained only one comfort among them, wdiich was, that 
 when the phanatick shoidd be fined and forfaulted, they should 
 glut themselves with the spoil; and this was enough to some 
 thoughtless minds, but was indeed as groundless as fruitless, for ne- 
 ver one of them ever tasted that much desked fruit. 
 
 But though England after all the bloody war was intirely indem- 
 nified, (excepting only the king's judges, and Vane* and Lancibert,) 
 poor forlorn Scotland was whoUy shutt up under Avrath. The whole 
 nation Avas concluded guilty of treason, in submitting to the con- 
 quering EngUsh, and hade nothing now before then- eyes, but either 
 to turn court converts, contrare to their old professions and consci- 
 ences, or to expect certain threatned destruction, and some were 
 quickly made examples. The first thunder-clap of royal indigna- 
 
 * " Wlien Sir Harry Vane saw his death was designed, he composed himself to it 
 with a resolution that surprised all who knew how little of that was natural to him. 
 Some instances of this were very extraordinary, though they cannot be mentioned 
 with decency." Burnet's Hist. vol. I. p. 164. — On this Swift remarks, " his lady 
 conceived by him the night before his execution," The posthumous child tradition 
 asserts to have been very like the Vane family, which should obviate any suspicion of 
 the lady's honour. This anecdote of Vane is almost as extraordinary as tliat which 
 Captain Creichton relates of the Reverend Mr David Williamson. 
 
70 KIRKTON S HISTORY OF 
 
 tion fell upon the ^larques of Argyle, who, upon the news of his 
 majesties return, and (as it was beUeved) upon good encoin-agement 
 to expect hearty welcome, when he hade posted to London with 
 the rest, entering Wliitehall with confidence to salute his majesty, 
 had only this for his entertainment, that, as soon as ever the king 
 heard he was there, with ane angry stamp of the foot, he command- 
 ed Sir WiUiam Fleeming to execute his orders, who therevipon con- 
 veyed the Marques straight to the Tower, there to ly till he was 
 sent down to Scotland to die a sacrifice to royal jealousy and re- 
 venge. His imprisonment was not at first much bemoaned by ig- 
 norant people, partly because he was among all the grandees head 
 of that party that kept most closs to the covenant, from which a 
 great part of the nation hade made defection, and partly because he 
 hade kept his authority after the fall of almost all his competitors, 
 which occasioned him (as is usual) a great deal of envy, and being 
 very mse and pohtick, he was by many reckoned either subtile or 
 false ; however, his imprisonment was constructed by these who 
 were Avise and constant covenanters, to be a stroke at the root, as 
 afterwards it clearly proved, but whether fi-om hatred for what was 
 past, or jealousie of what might come, it Was thought good to re- 
 move this obstacle out of the way. 
 
 The next blast fell upon three gentlemen, Su- Archibald Johnston 
 of Wariston, Sir John Chiesly, and Sir James Stewart, whom the 
 king, by a letter, ordered Major-General ^lorgan, at that time com- 
 mander of the English forces in Scotland, to sease and incarcerat : 
 Wariston escaped for the first day by hearing the news of his friends' 
 imprisonment, when he was very near the town upon his return 
 from a friendly visit. But the Major-general hearing Su* John was 
 in a private house about his busieness, taking alongst with him Sir 
 James, being provest of Edinburgh for the time, went straightway 
 
 to the house where Sir John was, and instantly required Sir James, 
 
 8 
 
THE CHUBCH OF SCOTLAND. 71 
 
 (it belonging to his office) to apprehend Sir John and carrie him to 
 the castle, whither all the three went, and when Su' James was to 
 take leave of Sir John his friend, the INIajor-general told him he be- 
 hooved to stay and bear Sir John company, and there he left them 
 both prisoners for many a day. These three gentlemen hade been 
 the heads of the Remonstrators, a sort of men hated by the king 
 above all mortals. And whether it was for theu* displeasing princi- 
 ples in state matters, or their strict pi'inciples in morals, God knows ; 
 but it was believed they suffered as much from hatred as from fear. 
 However, these two gentlemen weve still either in prison or under 
 bond, till death sett them free, and with great difficulty they esca- 
 ped with their afflicted Uves,* 
 
 * Sir John Chiesley of Carswell was originally the servant of Alexander Hender- 
 son, and had been knighted by the king in the Isle of Wight. Sir James Stewart of 
 Coltness finally obtained his releasement 1670, and died 1681. The following pane- 
 gyric on sundry of their fellow-sufferers, is extracted from the " Preface of a Sermon 
 preached at Hemplar-bank, 1676, by John Welch, late minister of Irongray, in Gal- 
 loway :"— 
 
 " Sirs, I do not grudge much that I see not many of these folk that they call Gen- 
 tiles here ; I shall never repine at that which Christ rejoices in ; I thank thee, O Fa- 
 ther, who hath revealed these things into babs. What is come of them all ? — there is 
 never one of the lords and lairds and great men (as ye call them) for him. And it is a 
 great mercy, God hath taken a sacrifice, and a noble sacrifice, at the very beginning j 
 he took a nobleman at the beginning, that worthy great man, the Marquess of Argyle, 
 and he got a minister too to seal his covenant. And a very worthy man he got, a gen- 
 tleman, a very eminent considerable gentleman, Wariston, that worthy gentleman, he 
 died for the covenant. He has taken one of all ranks to seal the covenant and his 
 truths ; and then after that, he took the commons, he took many of them that were 
 poor men that he brought out, and honoured them with scaffolds, and gave testimony 
 for the cause and covenant of God. And ever since that day, there is ay some body 
 that follows him, and ay some body that God takes testimony from : some witli fyning, 
 and some with confyning, and some with imprisonment. Ye that are young ones, i% 
 may be ye will spier the question, Wherefore was it that all that was ? and how came 
 
72 kirkton's history of 
 
 Yet all this could not terrifie that sort of people called protest- 
 ers, but they still thought it theu- duty to essay somewhat for the 
 pubhck interest, even of the most unpleasant nature and most dan- 
 gerous consequence in the world, and that was to admonish their 
 covenanted king of duty. So waiting that very day whereupon the 
 committee of estates appointed by the last preceeding Scots parlia- 
 ment in the year 1651 were fu-st to constitute themselves a com- 
 mittee, some of these protesters, conveening in Robert Simpson's 
 house in Edinburgh, resolved to addi-ess his majesty by a supplica- 
 tion. Their names were IMrs James Guthrie, Robert Traile, Alex- 
 ander INIoncreif, John Semple, John Scot, John Stirling, Gilbert 
 Hall, John Murray, George Nairn, and Thomas Ramsey, in all ten 
 ministers, with two gentlemen, ]Mr Andi'ew Hay of Craignethan, 
 and James Kirkco of Sandiwell ; and m this their address, after a 
 full acknowledgement of the Lord's mercy in dehvering the king, 
 and deep protestations of their loyalty, they humbly crave leave to 
 put him in mind of the covenant obligations upon his own person, 
 and the nations over which the Lord had placed him, wishing his 
 return might be like the reign of David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, and 
 Josiah, and so conclude as it is to be seen in the printed coppy. 
 That same day, the Committee of Estates, after nine years interrup- 
 tion by the English, mett and constitute themselves the first Scot- 
 tish judicatory after the Revolution. There were present the chan- 
 celor, president, and some few others lately advanced to places, or 
 who expected advancement speedily. Alwayes upon hearing of the 
 
 it that their preachings were upon hill sides, and that persecution was ? It may be the 
 day is coming it will be told ; and we tell you it the day from this hill side, it will be 
 told ; and the young ones will spier, How could that be ? (co' the bairns) — was that in 
 covenanted Scotland ? what was the cause of this ? there but to be some abominable 
 provoking cause of this ; and it will be answered, It was even the sins of his people 
 that had provoked him." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 7S 
 
 meeting of the ministers, they instantly dispatch some gentlemen to 
 the house, where tliey seased all the men with their papers upon the 
 table : only ISIr iVndrew Hay hade the happiness to escape after the 
 messengers entered the room. All the rest were carried to the cas- 
 tie, and some of them were never Uberat from prison but by the 
 sentence of death. This meeting hade resolved to call another meet- 
 ing of their brethren at Glasgow, within a few weeks, to consider 
 what was to be done in the present case ; but the meeting never 
 conveen'd. 
 
 It Avas a sad observation, that that very day of the moneth, being 
 the 23d of August, was the very same day whereon, a 100 years be- 
 fore, the popish religion hade been abohshed and the ti'ue reUgion 
 established in parliament, and some feared this might be the turn- 
 ing of the tide backwards. It was also the fost act of our new go- 
 vernours, and some apprehended it should not be the last of that 
 nature. But the committee were not so severe unto all, for at that 
 very time they liberat several bloody murderers out of prison with- 
 out punishment. This designed paper of the ministers was present- 
 ed to his majesty, than which nothing could have been less accept- 
 able. But it was not presented as the humble petition of the poor 
 ministers, but, alace ! as their lybeU and accusation, or as a testi- 
 mony of the diligence of our new statesmen, and was entertained by 
 him only with disdain and laughter ; the terror of which made divers 
 of the addi-essers to waver and faint in their adlierence to their de- 
 signed testimony, which was the first weakness found among the 
 ministers of that party ; but it was then the hour and power of 
 darkness. 
 
 The Committee of Estates did little that harvest, only they called 
 for these gentlemen that were called Remonstrators and Protestors, 
 engadgeing them, by threatnings and unprisonment, to give bond 
 
 E 
 
74s KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 for the peace, and to disown the remonstrance, to which few of them 
 were accessory. They sent also for JNIr Patrick Gillespie out of 
 Glasgow, and him they laid np in Stirling Castle, to bide his tryal 
 before the ensuing parliament. ,,Also, the souldiers without order 
 seased INIr James Simpson, minister at Airth, as he was upon his 
 journey for Ireland, upon pui-pose to settle in the ministry there; 
 but the Committee of Estates retained him when once brought be- 
 fore them, (though never so illegally) tiU the parliament banished 
 him Scotland. The rest of that time was spent in choosing commis- / 
 sioners through the counties and towns, and makeing preparation I 
 for the approaching parliament, which was appointed to meet at 
 Edinburgh, Jan. 1, 1661. But the ministers, called pubUck resolu- 
 tion men, must in this mean time doe something ; INIr James Sharp, 
 their trustee, hade been very early commissionat by them, and his 
 charges liberally provided, even while the king was in Holland ; and 
 after his return (as was reported by themselves) the ministers of 
 Edenburgh thought good to dii-ect a letter to the kmg, but what 
 the purport of that letter was, few knew except then* agent, for it 
 was never pubUshed, only it was thought to be of a far softer strain 
 than the protesters' letter was, and that it did produce the goodly 
 letter to the presbyterie of Edinburgh, which the king was pleased 
 at that time to direct to them by Sharp, (together with 20 chalders 
 of victual to himself yearhe for a rewai'd of liis diligence,) which 
 made so great a noise in Scotland for a while. 
 
 The letter bare date September 3, 1660. And in it, first, he re- 
 flects severly upon those he never loved, the protesters. Next, to 
 quench the jealousy of some well-meanuig people, he engadges to 
 discountenance profaneness, and contemners of ordinances, also to 
 protect and preserve the government of the church of Scotland, as 
 it is settled by law, without violation, and to maintain the acts of 
 the Assembly at St Andrews and Dundee, (these were almost only 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 75 
 
 levelled at the protesters,) promising also to call for IMr Robert 
 Douglass, and some others, that he might advice with them ; so ex- 
 horting them to keep within their sphere, (a darling phrase at that 
 ^ time,) he recommends himself to then- prayers, and so concludes. 
 This letter, Avhen it came to the presbytery of Edinburgh, was re- 
 ceived with no small joy, and by them printed and transmitted to 
 all the presbyteries of Scotland. And indeed it hade its perfect 
 designed effect ; for, as it was contrived by the court and IMr Shai-p 
 to instigate judicatories to the destruction of the protesters, (whom 
 the court knew well to be most resolute enemies to theu- designes,) 
 so in this it hade its effect. Our synods after this doing httle other 
 thing then censuring and laying aside those of that way ; and tho' 
 the preceding harvest before the king's return, all the synods of 
 Scotland hade aggreed to bury by past differences ; yet, upon the 
 receipt of this blest letter, the old wounds opened, and wherever 
 the publick resolution-men were the plurality, the protesters were 
 censured upon the hurried differences. In the synod of IMerse they 
 laid aside five ministers ; in Lothian, many were laid aside both in 
 Lithgow and Biggar presbyteries ; so it was in Perth and in the 
 north ; and the truth is, hade not the course of synods been inter- 
 rupted by the introduction of bishops, few hade keeped their places 
 who were afterward ejected by that uifamous proclamation at Glas- 
 gOAV, in the year 1662. 
 
 But the marrow of the gi-acious letter (as they called it) was the \. 
 king's promise to protect and defend the govermnent of the church, 
 as it is settled by law. Here the church divided ; the publick men 
 maintamed stoutly that the king in these words engadged to defend 
 the presbyterian government for ever, for as much as at that time 
 it was the government settled by law. The protesters smiled, and 
 said to then- brethren, they were bade grammarians in taking the 
 iiifinitive mode for the indicative, and that the clause imported no 
 
7G KIEKTON'S HISTOUY OF 
 
 more, but the king resolved to maintain that government of the 
 church Avhich at any time comeing shovild be the legal government, 
 whatever it was or should be; and that as in that year, 1660, the 
 government was presbyterial, so in the year 1662, the legal govern- 
 ment might be episcopacy, and either of these the king engadged 
 to protect. Providence cleared and confirmed this interpretation. 
 However, the ministers of Edinburgh were in such a transport of 
 joy upon the letter, they thought it not enough to praise it in their 
 pulpits, but bought for it a silver box, a shrine for svich a precious 
 rehct, which Avas both Shai-p's contrivance and his message. 
 
 Several other ministers were brought into trouble that harvest, 
 upon the account of free speaking, such as Mr James Newsmith, 
 IVIr William Wishart, and Mr John Dicksone, who was convict of 
 sedition and treason ; and all this was done to terrific the spirits of 
 that sort of men who followed the good old way of the Church of 
 Scotland. And indeed sad was the fi-ame of spirit of the people of 
 Scotland at that time ; for, first, eveiy man knew well no man in 
 the nation was either sure of life or estate, since it was certain our 
 new rulers resolved to make submitting to the conquering English 
 a crime capital, tho' this was a practise without a precedent, and 
 these who were their than judges and persecutors of their neigh- 
 bours were the guiltiest in the land. Sharp was the first man that 
 ever engadged for the peace of the English government, (when aU 
 his feUow-prisoners in the Tower refused it.) IVIoreover, every 
 thinking man saw mine at the door ; for all that would not profess 
 the change of principles, and be for the introduction of episcopacy, 
 as many did against their own consciences.* And last of all, to 
 
 * " But now you see what is the duty or office of a king ; to bring back the people 
 of God to God ; wa ! what has the king done and these rulers ? wa ! their exercise in 
 these kingdoms has been to debauch folk from their obedience to God ; in a word, it 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAXD. 77 
 
 desti'oy all hope of mercy, the king, by a proclamation dated Octo- 
 ber 12, 1660, declared he hade Avholly devolved upon the ensueing 
 parliament the consideration and judging the behaviour of these 
 subjects dureing the time of the late troubles ; discharging any 
 subject in Scotland to trouble him with any addi-esse or petition 
 whatsoever, and commanding them all to submitt to and acqviiesce 
 in the determination of the parUament ; and this was understood to 
 be no act of indemnity. Now diAisions among ministers began 
 to leaven high ; the protesters ciying out upon the silence and 
 blindness of publick men ; these again fretting to see themselves 
 not only disappointed but mocked, and their antagonists in proba- 
 bility to Carrie the verdict and approbation of Providence ; yet stiU 
 struggUng to keep a sort of presbyterians in favours with the king, 
 if it were but a concun-ing with him for destroying the protesters, 
 the men they knew well he so much hated ; and these divisions 
 were of gi'eat use to the enemies of presbyterian govermnent, so 
 sad was the heart of every one that feared a God. But hade you 
 been in the country to observe the fi-ame and behaviovir of our no- 
 bles and gentry, as they came down from court, you would have 
 
 has been to exauterate that authority of God, and introduce and heighten men's au- 
 thority ; and has not that been that which all of them has been carrying on ? Let the 
 commands of man be great to you, and the commands of God be small ; this they 
 have employed themselves all into : but never a word of the commands of God, nor 
 his authority. But I say, this is the work and matter he employs himself into ; he 
 goeth through Judah, and he bringeth the people back again to God, hke run-away 
 servants, or the Levite's concubine. They had been away : but now this holy king he 
 employs all his power to bring them back again to God ; and he thinks them good 
 subjects, if they be good saints. But what is obedience to him in respect of obedience 
 to God ? but the contrary is said and done by the men of this generation : we are 
 sure we see this plain from the scripture, or word of God, that this is a part of the 
 office of a king : and he that hath no regard to this, ought no more to be esteemed a 
 king, but a tyrant and enemy to God." — Sermon ly Mr Donald Carcii.l. 
 
78 KIRKTOK'S HISTORY OF 
 
 thought that they had been in another world, where men change 
 their genius, and every way to the worse. Many of them brouglit 
 do^vn a contagiovis disease, (which at that time began to be very 
 common, and forsooth to be commended and called Legall.) but 
 they brought also with them more contagious manners, principalis, 
 and discovn-ses : No talk there was of reformation, but high were 
 the clamours against the behaviour of the nation in opposing their 
 graceious king. Great were the commendations of the king's ex- 
 cellencies : terrible threatenings against his enemies, amongst whom 
 all were to be listed that were not released by a deed of favour to 
 be purchased at the rate of changing their principles and profes- 
 sions. As for that notion Religion, many of them hade it in the 
 •same esteem a chamber-maid has a spider in a window, wishing 
 heartily to be rid of it ; and if they could not destroy the thing, 
 they resolved at least to suppresse the name : Nothing to be seen 
 but debauch and revelling, nothing heard but clamorous crimes, all 
 flesh cormpted theu- way.* Hade you been a protester and in one 
 
 * " The saints lies set up stoupps and way marks in every laire, and cryes ryd about, 
 howbeit fooles too many will throw at the nearest and stick ther ; the saints going be- 
 fore is a benefite to us, we see the pooles and stanks that cumbered them. Hold ofFadul- 
 terie, David stuck in that laire. Hold off drunkenness, Noah and Lot weat their feet in 
 that dub. Beware to mock and persecute the saints, Paul's ship had almost sunk in 
 that sand. See the dead carcases lying in the gate, Judas, Demas, Hyraeneus, and 
 Phiiites, brak their necks in making a mint to Canaan. Mak this use of holy men's 
 lives here condemned that followed the devil's cloud of witnesses, the world, and the 
 fashions thereof Rom. 12. Be not ye conform to the world, follow not their guyses, 
 and yet we can justifie all the ill we doe. Wherefor is vanities in marriages and ban- 
 quets, it is the fashion say they. Wherefor vanity of apparel, so that women are ftirn- 
 ed guysers and monsteres, and men are putting haill barronies of land upon their 
 backs. It is the fashion, say they. O proud and poor Scotland, men cutted out to 
 the skin, and women wants not vanity ; but they are not cutted to the bone, wherefrae 
 comes whoring, swearing, drinking. Whom see ye otherways .' says they, is not this 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 79 
 
 of our synods that harvest, you should have thought yourself a cap- 
 tive in ane enemies court of guard ; it was not enough to censure 
 them, but it was done with so much spite and disdain, notwithstand- 
 ing their late agreement, it was a horror to a man to beiiold it : and 
 as for the disposition of the people of the nation, it divided the na- 
 tion into despair because of their late complyance with the conquer- 
 ing English, and hope to raise a broken estate out of the spoils of 
 forlorn fanaticks. This was the compeUation by which that self- 
 seeking man JNIonck hade blasted honest people, Avho would not 
 serve their own interests to the mine of their profession, as he had 
 done. 
 
 Few of our noblemen who hade been actors in the late times 
 were then ahve, and of the old men, some of them were devoted 
 to destiiiction, as Loudon ; some hade perfectly sold themselves to 
 vain hopes, as Home ; the rest were mostly young men, bred in 
 Avant, when then- fathers were pinched by their creditors, xmder the 
 
 the fashion of this age ? — if ye but follow such 'a cloud of witnesses, let me conclud, 
 run to hell too, for I assure you that is the fashion. " Let us run the race." — Demas 
 gallopped a while after the gospel, and Paul thought it a hungrie gate, and the world 
 crossed his gate, the world in her silks and velvets like a faire strumpet, ran in his way 
 and gave him a kiss, and he to the gate, sorrow of his part of any more of the gospel. 
 The third sort is those that has some more love to this race, and yet they cannot away 
 with the world like a young man (Matth. xix. 2 and 22 verse) that ran to Christ and 
 said he keeped the commandments from his youth ; when Christ bad him goe and sell 
 all he had and give it to the poor, and come and follow him, he went away with his 
 heart in his hose, looked as if his nose wer bleeding, for he had great possessions. 
 Will thou make Christ a pack horse to carrie thy clay and thy lusts.' how long is it 
 since he behoved to cary thy pockmantie ? believe me he is no cadger horse ; Judas 
 and Demas, and the like, that would have ridden upon Christ with all their baggs of 
 clay, ken ye how Christ did with them ? he flang them and their clay off at tlie broad 
 side, and let them ly ther, and posted away." — Sermon by thatjloiwr of the church, Mr 
 Samuel Rutherford, 4io. 
 
80 kirkton's histoky of 
 
 English, haveing no hope but in the king's favour, whose humour 
 they were to study at any rate, and one engadged another. Among 
 the affrighted people of the coiuitrey, some choised the chancellor 
 for their patron to keep them from a capital pursuite ; some choised 
 the register, (and these were great gainers) ; but most of all. Sir 
 John Fletcher, the new advocate, was courted with vaste soumes. 
 He used a sett form of speech, by which he made people under- 
 stand they behooved to give him money, which was so very com- 
 mon in his house, that when poor gentlemen hade sent their ser- 
 vants to his house with a load of money, which was the ordinary 
 present, his wife would command the bearer to throw it down upon 
 the floor, as if it hade been coals or billets for the fire ; but within 
 four years it became more precious in that hovise, however very 
 much was given amongst those Avho hade power either to sell fa- 
 vour or pervert justice. 
 
 About this time died the Duke of Glocester, and of the small- 
 pox, in a manner much lamented, by the secure ignorance of his 
 physicians, who sent him viols instead of prayers to convey him to 
 the next world ; also the Queen of Bohemia, after the most unhap- 
 py life of any princess in the world ; and, lastly, the Princess of 
 Orange, of whom as yet the world has not seen the secret history.* 
 The spirit that moved the whole engyne of the Scottish govern- 
 
 * The Princess of Orange, after having long supported an unblemished reputation 
 for chastity and prudence, was finally supposed to have shown too much partiality to- 
 wards Henry Jermyn, afterwards Lord Dover. — Vide King Charles's Letter to his Sis- 
 ter on the subject of Jermyn. — Thurlow's State Papers, vol. I. ]% 663. — She also suf- 
 fered herself to be persuaded by her mother, who, says Burnet, had the art of making 
 herselfheWeve any thing she had a mind to, that the King of France might be inclined 
 to marry her ; and on that idea went to Paris with so extravagant an equipage, that she 
 involved herself in debts, and was compelled to sell all her jewels, together with some 
 
 estates that were in her power as her son's guardian. — Burnet, vol. I. p. 238. 
 
 6 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 81 
 
 ment, in order to the great designed alteration, was INIr James 
 Sharp, a man whose name is better known than liis history, of 
 which there is a great deal more true than will be believed, as it 
 uses to be m cases and events extraordinaiy. His father was she- 
 riff-clerk in the shyre of Banff :* his mother was a gentlewoman of 
 
 * •' As to liis father, William Sharp, we shall give this short account of him, that he 
 was the son of a piper, who was only famous for his skill in the spring, called 
 Coffie. But although the grandfather had been less skilful in his calling, (of which we 
 find little use, but to induce wantonness and obscenity,) and although his springs had 
 given no price, yet we think it had been more for the advantage of the charch, at least 
 it should have received less detriment, if the grandchild had been bound his appren- 
 tice, and had been rather a piper than a prelate : but we might well have wanted both 
 the one and the other ; pipers and prelates agree well together for the service of their 
 bell}'. God cannot be enough promoted without such instruments as blows up their 
 lust; but if the pipe and bags be yet in the prelate's possession, (which belongs to 
 him as eldest son to his father, and so hfir by progress to his grandfather,) it is like he 
 may have use for them, to gift them to some landart church, to save the expences of a 
 pair of organs, which may do well enough for our rude people, who can sing as well 
 to the one as to the other. And if instrumental music in the service of God be Juris 
 Divini, (as the prelates highly assert it,) it cannot be thought that any people should 
 be so phanatick, as to admit the organs in divine service, and refuse the bag-pipe, es- 
 pecially it being the prelate's gift, and all the heirship goods that he had of his grand- 
 father, which he would so freely bestow upon the church." — Life of Arch.bishop Sharp, 
 \9.mo. 
 
 Another biographer states, that the archbishop was grandson to a gentleman in 
 Pwthshire, whose son, named David, became a considerable merchant in the town of 
 Aberdeen, and married Magdalen Haliburton, nearly related to the family of Pitcur, 
 by whom he had William Sharp, sheriff-clerk of Banffshire, who married Isabel Lesley, 
 daughter to the Laird of Kininvy, descended from the family of Rothes. The au- 
 thor of a libel on Sharp, entitled " A Character of the Monster of Inhumanitie, who 
 is the great Reproach of Mankynd ; or, Judas, Scoto-Britannus, his Lyfe, Lamenta- 
 tion, and Legacie," (MS. Adv. Lib.) remarks, that during the power of the Duke of 
 Rothes in Scotland, " that relation was then, on both hands, often remembered. " The 
 archbishop himself married Miss Moncrief of Randerston, described in the libellous 
 
 L 
 
82 kirkton's history of 
 
 the name of Lesley, of Avhom it was observed, that all the time this 
 licr goodly son was in her belly, she would never taste liquor, ex- 
 cejit only wine, (herein he was not a deliverer like Sampson.) His 
 education was mean : he was a poor schoUar in St Andrews in the 
 time Spotswood was archbishop, and before Duncelaw. There goes 
 a story of him which I have many time heard before his miserable 
 death, that while he was a schollar in the coUedge, lying in one bed 
 M'ith his comerad, one night in his sleep and dream he fell into a 
 loud laughter, and therein continued a pretty time, till his bedfel- 
 low thought fitt to awake him, and ask him what the matter was, 
 and why he was so merry. He answered, he hade been dreaming 
 the Earle of Crawford hade made him parson of Creil, Avhich Avas a 
 great matter in his eyes at that time. Another night, in bed with 
 
 Life of the Primate, as " an ordinary swearer, tipler, scold, and prophaner of the Sab- 
 bath-day," while the other narrative extolls her character to the skies. That Sharp , 
 himself has been more blamed than he deserved for promoting episcopacy in Scotland, \ 
 is certain. The measure would have been carried through without his aid, and in spite 
 of his opposition. And the heavy charge of having previously deceived his constitu- 
 ents at the Restoration, when sent up from Scotland to court, still remains unproved. ■ 
 The presby terians always affirmed him guilty of this treachery ; but his own party as- 
 serted, that while employed by the presbyterians, he acted fairly ; and bore no com- 
 mission from them, when he gave way to the stream of episcopacy. Moreover, Wod- 
 row is accused of gross injustice in garbling Sharp's letters to Douglas ; and Bur- 
 net is known to have been so great an enemy to the archbishop, that his conduct is not 
 to be estimated from the statements of that most spiteful and disingenuous author. He 
 certainly, as a clergyman, was regular in his deportment ; and it is known that he dis- 
 pensed charity with a liberal hand, even to the poor of the presbyterian principles, em- 
 ploying for that purpose a daughter of Lord Warriston, who adhered to her father's 
 creed. But private charities could not do away his public wickedness, for, " in a word, 
 the ambition of Diotrephes, the covetousness of Demas, the treachery of Judas, the 
 apostacy of Julian, and the cruelty of Nero, did all concenter in him." — God's Jtistice 
 exemplified in his Judgements upon Persecutors, Sf-c—See also Burnet, Wodrow, 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 i- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAJs'D. 85 
 
 the same bedfellow, he feU asleep, and in his sleep a laughing, 
 which made his comerad wonder what the matter was, for he 
 laughed a great deal louder than at the fu'st ; so his comerad 
 thought fitt to awake him again, with which he was very much 
 offended, for (said he to his bedfellow) I thought I was in a para- 
 dise, because the king hade made me Archbishop of St Andrews. 
 Then said his comerad, I hope ye wiU remember old friends : Af- 
 terward he fell a dreaming once more, and in his di-eam a weeping, 
 and wept most lamentably for a long time. His comerad thought 
 he should not be blamed any more for interruptions, and so suflfer- 
 ed him to continue a long time ; at length he awoke, and when his 
 comerad told him he had changed his tune, and asked what the 
 matter was, he answered, he had been dreaming a very sad dream, 
 and that was, that he was driving in a coach to hell, and that very 
 fast. Wliat way he drove I shall not say, but all the countrey 
 knew lie di'ove most fiercely to his death that day he was killed, 
 tho' he choised bypaths, because of some warnings he hade that 
 morning at Kennaway, where he had lodged.* 
 
 He was a man of parts and a schoUar, as he shewed himself when 
 a regent in St Andi'ews, but a schoUar rather cautious than able ; 
 rarely would he ever engadge in a dispute, lest he might faU under 
 disadvantage, and never would be the opponent, which he knew was 
 the most difficult part. His great gift was his prudence, dissimula- 
 tion, and industry, which qualified him well for his terrible underta- 
 
 * " That truculent traitor, James Sharp, the arch-prelat, &c., received the just de- 
 merit of his perfidie, perjury, apostacy, sorceries, villanies, and murders, sharp ar- 
 rowes of the mighty, and coals of juniper. For, upon the 3d of May, 1679, several wor- 
 thy gentlemen, with some other men of courage and zeal for the cause of God, and 
 the good of the country, executed righteous judgement upon him in Magus Moor, 
 near St Andrews."—^ Hind let loose, by the Rev. Alexander Shields, p. 123i 
 
Si KIEKTOX y HISTORY OV 
 
 kings. He was by all that knew him taken to be no better than a 
 flate Atheist ; he used no private prayers, and once in a nioneth ser- 
 ved his family : yea, he was known to be a man of a flagitious life, 
 and not only a debauched pailliard, but a cruel niurtherer. There was 
 in St Andrews while he was a regent a beautifull serving woman, 
 one Isobel Lindcsay ; her he debauched to be his whore : and when 
 she had brought forth a poor infant, he strangled it with his own 
 hands, and she buried it.* This the poor woman, from trovible of 
 mind, revealed to many. Wlien he was at his highest, yea, when 
 he was preaching to his diocesian meeting, she stood up before all 
 his miserable underlings, exhorting them to beware of one that 
 would lead them to the Devil ; and as she was about to proclaun 
 the sad stoiy, she was by his friends interrupted, and iinprisoned ; 
 yet durst they never put the matter to a tiyal, lest the truth should 
 have appeared : Yea, when she came to complain to the king's 
 councill, it was thought wisdom to pass it over in silence. Many 
 believed him to be a demonaick and a Avitch ; it is certain, w-hen 
 he was killed, they found about him beside his dagger, in his pock- 
 et, (without which he never walked) several strange things, such as 
 pairings of nailes and such like, which were judged mchantments. 
 
 * This story seems to have been founded on the ravings of a mad woman, who dis- 
 turbed the congregation while at sermon in St Andrews, by starting up, and bestow- 
 ing many scurrilous epithets on the archbishop. She declared that she once saw Arch- 
 bishop Sharp, Dr Pitullo, and Mr Robert Rait, minister of Dundee, all dancing in the 
 air. " And her head ran so much upon witches that she frequently complained, there 
 was no course now taken with them, which was not wont to be ; and actually scanda- 
 lized an honest woman for being one, which she complained of to the ministers of the 
 place ; and all the ground she had for it was that the honest woman's husband (when 
 melancholy) called her an old witch ; and when she would have gone to her cellar, and 
 heard rats, she used to say over and over again, God keep me from witcfie^.'^S-SAUP's 
 Life, Appendix to the Preface. 
 
THJE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. :85 
 
 And this I can say of certain knowledge, the chii'urgeon who fu-s,t 
 handled his body, when dead, told me his liody was not pierced 
 with any of the ball shott at him, tho' at a very near distance.* 
 Yet did tliis woefidl man insinuate so far upon the leaders of the 
 publick resolution party, as to be by them constitute theii- agent 
 and procurator both at Cromwell's court and the king's. And 
 when he was by some blamed for overturning the government he 
 was sent to preserve, he answered, he was sent to suppress the 
 protesting party, and if that was not done effectually let him be 
 blamed : But at the time of the new parhament he ruled all. 
 
 About this time the king, to strengthen himself with friendship 
 abroad, made a league with the United Provinces, wherein it was 
 
 * Yet he was wounded by a shot, below the right clavicle, betwixt the second and 
 third rib, as is proven by the certificate of several medical men, made public in order 
 to confute the idea of his invulnerability. At that time, notions of spells to prevent 
 gun-shot wounds were common, and most of the persecutors, as they are called, were 
 supposed to possess such secrets. " Witches can make stick-fries, such as shall en- 
 dure a rapier's point, musket-shot, and never be wounded ; of which reade more in 
 Boissardus, cap. 6. de Magia, the manner of adjuration, and by whom 'tis made, where 
 and how to be used " in expeditionibus, bcllicis, praeliis, duellis, with many peculiar 
 
 instances and examples." Burton's Anatomy of Melancholij, vol. I. p. 179 For the 
 
 method of forming a waistcoat of proof, vide Scott's Discovery of Witchcraft. The 
 Earl of Gowrie, slain at Perth, wore magical characters, which only prevented an ef- 
 fusion of blood, useless, one would think, save against hemorrhage of the nose, iSrc. 
 The question respecting gun-shot invulnerability is thus sagely handled by a fanatical 
 writer : " Perhaps some may think this, anent proof shot, a paradox, and be ready 
 to object here as formerly, concerning Bishop Sharp and Dalziel, how can the devil 
 have or give a power to save life ? &c. Without entering upon the thing in its reality, 
 I shall only observe, 1. That it is neither in his power or of his nature to be a saviour 
 of men's lives ; he is called Apollyon, the destroyer. 2. That even in this case he is 
 said only to give enchantment against one kind of mettle and this does not save life : 
 for the lead would not take Sharp and Claverhouse's lives, yet steel and silver could 
 do it : and for Dalziel, though he died not in the field, he did not escape the arrows 
 of the Almighty," 
 
8b" KIRKTON'S HISTORY Ol- 
 
 observed he made a great many more provisions against his own 
 subjects att home, who might disobey or rebell, than against his 
 enemies abroad. And great was the caution that was used in the 
 league, that none of his exiles should find shelter in these countreys 
 any time hereafter ; which yet he was not able to hinder Avhen it 
 was necessary : But this treaty of his was judged ominous. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. Sf 
 
 LIB. III. 
 
 MIDDLETON'S FIRST SESSION OF PARLIAMENT. 
 
 Now when Scotland was in this sad discomposure, through des- 
 perate fear, drunken hope, burning avarice, and sad discourage- 
 ment, upon the first of January, 1661, the terrible parliament con- 
 veened in great pomp. There you might have seen them who, 
 some weeks before, were companions to owles, hydeing themselves 
 from messengers pvu'sueing them for debt, vapouring in scarlet and 
 ermines, upon good hopes to be all men of gold. The new made 
 Earle of INIiddletoun Avas commissioner ; he had acquired honour 
 from the king, but without estate ; for he hade no more land but a 
 small parceU he hade purchased with his pay under the covenanters, 
 yet he was in good hope to be shortly a Duke when Argyle should 
 be forfaulted, whose successor he hoped to be ; but he missed his 
 mark. 
 
 Alwayes whatever his secret instructions were, certainly his 
 great design and business Avas to make the king absolute, and to 
 make the tyrant described 1 Sam. 8. to be received and acknow- 
 ledged for the true lawful king according to K. James his interpre- 
 tation. For this cause defensive arms must be condemned for re- 
 bellion ; non-resistance received for the first noble primitive Chris- 
 tian duty ; the laws made only a signification of the king's pleasure, 
 with which he might sport himself; and last of all, the people must 
 believe the king to be universal lord of property of the subject, as 
 Robert Hamilton disputed (for which he hade both ane estate and 
 
88 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 honour) and Doctor Turner and IMore taught, and in this design 
 indeed JNIiddleton made a great progress. 
 
 The commissioners of counties and towns were according to the 
 complexion of their principals Avho sent them. INIany honest gen- 
 tlemen were sent ; but loyalty was so on horseback amongst them, 
 and withaU they were so much under fear for their late actings, 
 which were all rejjuted treasonable, that their actings were very 
 faint, and they might not name a God beside a king. The town 
 of Lanerk sent a fellow who hade been their musician to be their 
 commissioner, which occasioned a parliament jest, that I^aiierk hade 
 sent her town-piper to be her commissioner ; and when Sir John 
 Fletcher the advocate cursed and sware upon it, it was answered, 
 there was not a man in all the town but such as were remonstra- 
 tors (whom they would not receive) except their piper, and him 
 they behooved of necessity to send. But when they were consti- 
 tute, they acted so as to make their constitutions and actings dis- 
 puteable imto this day ; for whereas it was provided by the parlia- 
 ment immediatly preceeding, the king and three estates being pre- 
 sent, that all ensueing parliaments should in the fu-st place eveiy 
 man sign the covenant, otherwise the constitution of the parliament 
 was declared null and void, this was at that time neglected ; and 
 when this was objected by Mr John Dick at his tiyal some 23 years 
 after, I never yet could hear ane answer to it : forasmuch as it was 
 a parliament constitute contrare to the standing luicontraverted 
 laws of the land. It hade been formerly the customc for the Gene- 
 ral Assembly or the Commission of the Church to provide preach- 
 ers to the parliament ; but this parliament would be then- own car- 
 vers. So a letter from the king's advocate was made the call to 
 preach before them. Indeed, on their first Sabbath, they employed 
 INIr Robert Douglass, because of bis gi-eat authority and unques- 
 tioned loyalty, (the virtue in respect,) and next after him JMr John 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 89 
 
 Smith, whom, because he affii-med many who caUed themselves the 
 king's friends to be men that feared not God, they affi-onted in the 
 next weeldy gazette. But their delight was in the northern turn- 
 coats, such as ]VIr John Paterson, old and young, (both afterwards 
 preferred to bishopricks,) and one Chalmbers, a man als perverse as 
 profane, and, as it was confidently reported, flagitious ; yet was he, 
 even before episcopacy was established, promoted to one of the best 
 benefices in Scotland (Dumfi-eice) : and these enflamed the parlia- 
 ment in a strange manner, by proolaiming that wliich as yet was a 
 secret. Their strain was the wickedness of rebellion, and such as 
 they declared the late reformation and covenant (before the parlia- 
 ment hade declared it such) ; the sinfullness of defensive anns, con- 
 demning thereby not only the ancient national practise of Scotland, 
 but many, or most of their present hearers ; the largeness of the' 
 king's power, which they stretcht higher than any man could be- 
 lieve : and such stuff as this, instead of recommending either godli- 
 ness or Avisdom, hereby instigating theu- auditorie to all the ensue- 
 ing severities which followed thereupon. Truely when a parUa- 
 ment man died, he did not use to employ one of these men, whom 
 they knew weU to serve their beUy more than their God ; but they 
 wei-e good enough to distemper a time and serve the turn, and in- 
 deed the best could be found in all Scotland. 
 
 Wee come now to the actings of this parhament. After Shai-p 
 hade seasoned them at their first meeting with his instructions, 
 wherein he planted the root that brought forth aU the bitter fruits,' 
 their first undertaking was to assert his majestie's royal prerogative,' 
 as they were pleased to entitle their acts of parhament, and this 
 they sealed with ane oath, which they caUed only aUeadgance, but 
 was indeed supremacy, as you may see in the story. But bemuse 
 this oath was to be the foundation-stone of theh- whole building, 
 therefore they began with it in theii- fii-st act: wherein, after they 
 
 M 
 
90 KIllKTON'S HISTORY 01' 
 
 have declared the chancelor for the time to be the constant presi- 
 dent in parliaments, (which was contrair to the practise of the co- 
 venanters, whom in every thing they would oppose.) they contrive 
 the terms of their oath, which, because it is in print, I shall not 
 transcribe. Only the matter of it is, first, a declaration that the 
 king is the only supreme governour of this kingdome over all per- 
 sons, and in all causes ; next, the swearer renounces all fon-eign ju- 
 risdictions, and then engadges never to decline his majestie's power 
 nor jurisdiction, as he shall answer to God. This became fost the 
 great object of dispute, thereafter the causes of bitter suffering. It 
 was cunningly contrived in ambiguous termes, which they them- 
 selves would afterward interpret, without regard to the swearer's 
 intention. Some said there was nothing in it but ane assertion of 
 the king's lawfull power in civil causes ; for it does not express his 
 power in causes ecclesiastick, as the English oath of supremacy does. 
 Others argued against it, first, because it is ambiguous, as no oath 
 should be, in regard ambiguous propositions are not certain truths, 
 even in Bishop Sanderson his learned opinion ; and every oath 
 ought to be certain truth, or else be rejected. Next, it was certain 
 enough they designed a royal papacj^ ; and as that was the sense 
 inteiided, so the words would well bear it. Thirdly, the swearers 
 engadged never to decline Ins majestie's authority, which is a larger 
 extension of the royal supremacy than the English oath is, in re- 
 gard the English oath allowes indeed a certain power to the king 
 in all causes, (and a sort of power of this kind presbyterians allow,) 
 but the Scottish oath implyes not only a power in aU causes, but 
 in aU instances, which is a great deal more : So, if the king consti- 
 tute himself judge in case of excommunication, the Scottish swearer 
 must either sustain his authority in that cause, or else violate his 
 oath ; this was made the clear meaning of it, as was declared No- 
 vember 16, 1669? in Lauderdale's parliament, where the sense is 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTIvAND. 
 
 91 
 
 made als clear as ample, and as ample as terrible. However, at the 
 time it was first framed, few members of parliament refused it, and 
 only two noblemen (Cassills and IMelvill) of all the peerage of Scot- 
 land. It became afterwards the states shiboleth for aU the poor sus- 
 pected people in Scotland ; for their way was, whenever any sus- 
 pected person was cited before them, to offer them this oath, and if 
 they took it, whatever were objected against them they were ab. 
 solved ; but, if they were so scrupulous as to refuse, without ever 
 calling a witness to prove the accusation, they were condemned 
 without mercy, as many ane instance in record can prove. 
 
 Now, after they have installed their king a sort of Pope, they 
 proceed by so many steps to explain or enlarge his prerogative : 
 first, by declareing it to be a part of his prerogative to choice by 
 himself alone his officers of state, counsellors and lords of session ; 
 next, that it is his prerogative by himself alone to caU, hold, pro- 
 rogue, or dissolve, all parliaments, conventions, or meetmgs of es- 
 tates, and all meetijigs caUed without his special waiTant to^'be void 
 and nidi ; thirdly, that he only may make leagues and bonds among 
 his subjects ; fourthly, that he only may make peace or waiT. Now 
 they thought they were near the foundation of the league and co- 
 venant, which behooved either to be overturned, or they believed 
 the royal power could never be estabhshed. tet they would ad- 
 vance by another unnecessary step, which was to declare that con- 
 vention of estates which hade contrived and sworn the league and 
 covenant with the parliament of England, in June 1643, to be void, 
 nuU, and of none effect. This was upon the matter unnecessary,' 
 for they hade done this in general in their act concerning caUing of 
 conventions, and in their act concerning making leagues and bomls ; 
 but so much did they di-ead to toutch the sacred name of the cove' 
 nant, which hade indeed in Scotland universal respect next to the 
 scriptiu-e, that they thought it prudence once to be sure by a tiying 
 
92 KIRKTOX'S HISTORY OF 
 
 vote, which if they hade miscamed, they resolved to attack the 
 forti'ess another Avay. And therefore they made one exprcsse act to 
 destroy the foundation upon which the covenant was built, that so 
 it might fall to ground ; and when they found it proceeded smooth- 
 ly, then their next adventure is to dissolve the obligation of the co- 
 venant, which they did in their seA^enth act, and it passed very 
 easily, upon the preparations they hade made Avith the distinction 
 they used. Their preparatorie acts declared the covenant to be the 
 deed of ane usurping meeting. The distinction they used was, 
 whatever excellency might be in the matter of the covenant, that 
 yet it was no binding law obliedging the people of Scotland ; and 
 these two considerations so blinded the eyes of many poor people, 
 they professed they believed tliey might renunce the power of the 
 covenant as a law, and preserve it as a private oath. However it 
 passed, according to the expectation of all. Yet .some of all raaks 
 dissented, and many withdi-ew, choising rather innocent silent ab- 
 sence than the hazard of a solemn judicial dissent, Avhich might 
 make the old guilt of their late rebellion altogether unpardonable 
 by this new irritation. One ingenious man there was among them, 
 whose ordinary vote in all these »j[uestions, preparatoiy and princi- 
 pal, was, he would doe nothing against his lawfull oath and cove- 
 nant : this was George Gordon's, baillie of Burntisland, a man 
 Avhom the leaders thought fitt rather to oversee than check. 
 
 But so much did they di-ead and hate the covenant, they thought 
 never to be sure enough agamst it ; and therefore, as they advanced 
 by steps preparatory, they concluded with cutting off the dead man's 
 head ; for, after they had disrobbed it of the authority of a law in 
 the seventh act, they next destroy the matter of it, by enervating 
 the obligation and binding power of it in their eleventh act. Then 
 they commanded it to be solemnly renunced (tho' it was in another 
 session it was the same pai'liament) and condemned as unlawfull. 
 
THE CIirRCH OF SCOTLAND. 93 
 
 And last of all, in a follomng parliament, where Queensbeny w»as 
 commissioner, it is declared capital for any man to adliere to the 
 covenant ; so tiie veiy name of it became like the name of ane idol, 
 not to be mentioned amongst honest people* All these pieces of 
 
 • " Ye were all perjured in the beginning with complying with prelacy, and hearing 
 these cursed curates, after ye had covenanted and sworn to God, and engaged your- 
 selves in that covenanted work of reformation ; and as long as ye mourn not for that 
 sin as much as for whoredom, adulterie, murder, or stealing, the gospel will never do 
 you good."— Sermon preached hy Alexander Peden, at Glenluce. 
 
 This was orthodox doctrine with many ; and so great an impression did the breach 
 of covenant make upon the minds of the vulgar, that tlie mournful idea haunted them 
 in their last moments, even upon the scaffold. Jean Weir, sister of the noted Major, 
 and a partaker of his foul crimes, when about to suffer death in the Grassmarket of 
 Edinburgh, " ascending up the ladder, spoke somewhat confusedly of her sins, of her 
 brother, and of his enchanting staff; and, with a ghastly countenance, beholding a 
 multitude of spectators, all wondering and some weeping, she spake aloud,— There 
 are many here this day, wondering and greeting for me, but, alas!/e«, mourn for a 
 broken covenant. At which words many seemed angry ; some called to her to mind 
 higher concerns- and I have heard it said that the preacher declared, he had much 
 ado to keep a composed countenance."— 5'a<a«'jt Invisible World Discovered, hy Mr 
 George Sinclair, Professor of Philosophy in the College nf Glasgorv.~The very word 
 Covenant had a peculiar sweetness to tiie ears of the presbyterian sufferers, and their 
 preachers laboured to introduce it in their sermons, as an almost universal adjective. 
 " We shall never ken better that God is our covenanted God than by this, that we are 
 brought into captivity ; there is no cross nor trouble that we can go through, but a 
 covtmjHted God is at the contriving of it, covenanted Mercy and covenanted Love is at the 
 contriving of it and carving out of it. And think ye. that since covenanted Love and 
 covenanted Mercy is at the carving out of it, that our ruin will be carved out in the 
 midst or it." Vide Prophetical Sermons preached by that faithful and glorified Martyr, 
 Mr James Rexwick, p. 27.— One Mitchelson, a pretended prophetess of the Puritans, 
 had before set the example of this absurdity. When she spoke of Christ, she usually 
 called him the covenanting Jesus. This was during the infancy of the covenant , and 
 in such reverence was she held, that Rollock, then minister of the College Church of 
 Edinburgh, being desired to pray with her, answered '■ that he durst not ;. for it would 
 be ill manners in him to speak, when his master, Christ, was speaking in her,"— King's 
 Declaration, p. 227. 
 
 10 
 
94 KirivTON'S HISTOKY OF 
 
 the king's enlarged power they put together in one instrument and 
 act called the prerogative, to be subscribed by aU persons in publick 
 trust. And now they thought they hade arrayed their king in his 
 robe royal, having given him absolute power to choise his officers : 
 and him alone to call parliaments and conventions, and to make 
 peace and warres ; hereby condemning all the resistance that ever 
 hade been made to any of the antient tyrants ; and more especially 
 all that the estates of Scotland hade done in the late reformation 
 since Duncelaw, (though formerly approven by king and parlia- 
 ment,) and now last of all razed the fortresse of the covenant, the 
 king's great eye-sore ; and, in effect, hade done what they could to 
 render their king absolute and to limit their God, hereby to change 
 both the fi-ame and principal] of the people of Scotland. 
 
 Now, after they hade compleated the modell of the king's power 
 and prerogative, because they would make a perfect alteration in our 
 government, and because, to be sure, they did many things twice 
 over, therefore they proceed to approve the engadgement in waiT 
 with England in the year 1648, which was by many called unlaw- 
 ful!, and I think may well by all be called unhappy, foreasmuch as, 
 instead of liberating the prisoner king, by its miscarriage it brought 
 him to ane untimely death ; and therefore, to make clean work, 
 they rescind all parliaments since 1633, though the king hade been 
 sometimes personally present, and all of them hade been ratified 
 and approven by Charles the Second in fidl parhament at his coro- 
 nation. Then for a copestone, they, in their sixteenth act, abolish 
 presbytery and establish episcopacj^ but in as dark and insensible a 
 manner as they could ; — by declaring the government of the church 
 to be moveable, and at his majesty's pleasure to be settled by him 
 as he in his wisdom shall think fitt ; by which they overturn pres- 
 bytery, and give power to his majesty, without consent of pai'lia- 
 ment, to introduce the much-desired bishops, which he did within 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 95 
 
 some few months in his secret council ; and because bishops may 
 not stand alone, they establish patrones and patronages to accom- 
 pany them : mean time allowing the continuance of dyeing presby- 
 tery, which expired with that short year. But because Middletoun 
 knew well this was the king's darling design, and tlie copestone of 
 his work, therefore he would deliberate before he concluded. So, 
 upon a convenient day, he calls into his cabinate Sir Archibald 
 Primrose, clerk register, Sir George INIackenzie, Lord Tarbet, Sir 
 John Urquhart of Cromartie, (who hade lately counterfeited the 
 protester, and afterwards so lamentably died by his own liands) ;* 
 
 * " The fatall and cursed death of Cromarty I cannot lament, if it hath been with 
 his own Iiands." Letter from Patrick S.mythe, ofMetfn-ai, to k is Lad//, April, 1G7S, 
 in the possession of George Smithe, Esq — It is said, that Sir John Urquliart's pecuniary 
 affairs getting into disorder, a deep melancholy seized him, whicli at length disordered 
 his senses, and concluded in suicide. The day of his death, Lady Jane Urquhart, his 
 daughter-in-law, (sister of the third Marquis of Montrose,) hearing groans in the 
 dining-room, repaired thither, and found Sir John pacing about the chamber, with his 
 morning gown closely drawn over his bosom ; to her anxious enquiries respecting his 
 disordered appearance, he wildly replied, " Woman, would you see .2" and, throwing 
 open his robe-de-chambre, displayed his breast stuck full of knives and forks, which had 
 been lying on the beaufet, and covered with blood. At this horrible spectacle she fainted 
 away, and afterwards suffered severely in her health from the shock ; but as Sir John 
 was of a temper naturally iierce and tyrannical, his family was supposed to feel but 
 little rugiet at his death. It is probable that his madness was hereditary. His cousin. 
 Sir Thomas, the author of many eccentric productions, laboured also under a derano-e- 
 ment of intellect. His Essay on Trigonometry is mentioned by Samuel Colvili, in 
 liis Whig's Supplication (printed IGSI ,) as the offspring of « brains that have a bee ;"— 
 and this book Sir Thomas dedicated to his own mother, (a daughter of Lord Elphin- 
 stone,) to whom he says, " I beseech Almighty God that it may please his divine Ma- 
 jesty so to blesse your ladieship with continuance of dayes, that the sonnes of those 
 whom I have not as yet begot may attaine to the happinesse of presenting unto your 
 ladieship a brain-babe of more sufficiencie and consequence." His Translation of Ea- 
 belais, which is executed with wonderful spirit, has been greatly mutilated and injured 
 
96 KIEKTON S HISTORY OF 
 
 and the fourth counsellor was Sir John Fletcher, INIiddleton's all}-. 
 To them he propounds the cases, telling them he knew weU bishops 
 were the thing the king desired most, and that he believed the par- 
 
 in the latter editions. He also wrote a Pedigree of the Urquhart Family, beginning 
 from Adam, in which he asserts, that one of his ancestors married a daughter of Bac- 
 chus, whom he had accompanied in his conquest of the Indies ; and that on his return 
 from thence into Greece, he passed through the territories of Israel, " where being ac- 
 quainted with Deborah the judge and prophetess, he received from her a very rich 
 jewel, which afterwards, by one of his succession, was presented to Pentasilea, that 
 queen of the Amazons that assisted the Trojans against Agamemnon." There are, in- 
 deed, many more impudent falsehoods than this in our pedigrees and books of herald- 
 ry, both old and new. Sir Thomas's work, calletl the Jewel, is perhaps the most won- 
 derful of all his productions. Talking of Scotland, he says, " how covetousness, under 
 the mask of religion, took such deep root in that land, was one way occasioned by 
 some ministers, who, to augment their stipends, and cram their bags full of money, 
 thought fit to possess the mindes of the people with strong opinion of tlieir sanctity, 
 and implicit obedience to their injunctions : to which effect, most rigidly Israelitizing 
 it in their synagogical sanhedrims, and officiously bragging in their pulpits (even when 
 Scotland, by divers notorious calamities of both sword, plague, and famine, was brought 
 very lowe) that no nation (for being likest to the Jews of any other) was so glorious as 
 it ; they, with a pharisaical superciliosity, would always rebuke the non-covenanters 
 and sectaries as publicans and sinners, unfit for the purity of their conversation, unless 
 by the malignancie or over-mastering power of a cross winde they should be forced 
 to call the hypocritical bunt, let fall the top-gallant of their counterfeit devotion, and 
 tacking about, to sail a quite contrary course, (as many of them have already done) 
 the better at last to cast anchor in the harbour of Profit, which is the butt they aimed 
 at, and sole period of all their dissimulations." 
 
 A strange and shocking occurrence in the house of Cromarty is recorded by Spald- 
 ing, which appears to regard Sir Thomas Urquhart's mother, mentioned above, as Sir 
 Thomas himself died unmarried. " Upon Wednesday the 5th of February (IG'iS) 
 there came to the place of Cromarty, where the lady was, Hutcheon Ross of Auchin- 
 cloch, with two other gentlemen, where they were made welcome, and supped merrily ; 
 ■but unluckily got a collation, which was provided for another, and were all three found 
 dead in their beds upon the morn. Pitiful to behold ! — It is said the young Laird of 
 Calder was married to Cromarty's daughter j he thereafter betame mad, and of whom 
 
THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 97 
 
 liament was in such a frame he might easily satisfie the king to the 
 full, desireing their advyce : Sia- Archibald rrimrose ans^vered fost, 
 that it was his opinion his Grace would doe well to advance the in- 
 troduction of bishops strongly, but slowly ; for, says he, if you ad- 
 vance strongly, you shall keep yourself in favour ; if slowly, ye 
 shall continue your employment ; whereas, if you have soon done, 
 you shall lose your power. The commissioner answered, he thought 
 he would serve his majesty in a more gentile manner, and doe his 
 business at one stroake ; to which the other three counsellors as- 
 sented, applauding his generosity ; so it was concluded in privat, 
 and compleated in publick. But it was observed that INIiddleton, 
 and aU his tlii-ee counsellors, w^ere out of all place and employment 
 within a very few months thereafter. The establishing of episcopacy 
 in Scotland being in all experience like the building of Jericho, in 
 Canaan. 
 
 The last considerable act this session of parliament concluded was 
 ane act in their own favours for paying their OAvn debts Avithout 
 mojiey ; in this the noble and the rich took the advantao-e of the 
 poor and the mean, both by prolonging the day of the payment of 
 the debt, and diminishing the summe. This was not like Nehemiah's 
 act betwixt the debitor and creditor, wherein he allowed the poor 
 the ease, charity and generosity doe easily grant in cases of necessi- 
 ty. However, I am sure this favour our riders did to themselves 
 broke many poor familips. and some sad hearts. They framed di- 
 verse civil acts concerning the affaires of the countrey, Avhich I 
 wholly ommitt ; and some, forsooth, for the advantage of relioion 
 such as act agamst blasphemy, swearing, di-unkenness, and Sabbath- 
 
 his young lady had no pleasure. Thus.he being with her in the place of Cromarty, this 
 poison was in a quart-stoup provided for him, but fell otherwise, as ye have heard ; 
 whereupon young Calder was hastily removed by his friends out of that place, and 
 never more tried."--SFAi,DiNG's Hist. vol. II. p. 70. 
 
 N 
 
98 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 breaking. Also they taught the people of the land how to obey 
 these acts by their own behaviour, Avhich was such as seldom law- 
 makers in the world have used toward their own infant lawes, the 
 grossest contempt in a world. 
 
 But they confirmed then- lawes with passive examples of an- 
 other sort ; and because they were to alter Scotland every way, 
 they would not only change lawes and principles, but likewayes 
 rid the land of some of the dangerous men as Avell as bad princi- 
 ples, and for then- examples they indeed choised of the best. They 
 begun with Wariston, against whom they made two several acts, 
 the one as unnecessary as the other unjust ; for, first, they declare 
 him uncapable of employment, when he was hiding himself in 
 strange countreys no man knew where, and hade been formerly 
 proclaimed fugitive, which was enough of itself to render him un- 
 capable of employment : Yet, to make all sin^e, they proceed to 
 sentence of forfaulture and death, which evacuate their former acts ; 
 but he was not at that time in their hands. Theii- next choise 
 was the noble INIarquesse of Argyle, who was sent down by the 
 king, partly to be a sacrifice to revenge, and partly to be a beacon 
 for terror. He came down in a vesseU with Swinton, who, of a 
 zealous professor, fu-st became a sensual epicure, and thereafter a 
 blasphemous heretick ; but he catcht no harm at such hands, for 
 the queen-mother and papists brought him off.* As for Ai-gyle, 
 
 * " July 20, 1660. Sif John Swinton of that ilk, one of the judges under Crom- 
 well, and called the Lord Swinton, was taken out of his bed in a Quaker's house in 
 King's-street, London, and sent in fetters to the Gate-house. He had been once a 
 zealous professor of reformation, and a covenanter ; but falling in with the usurper 
 and English sectaries, he first turned lax, and of late took on the mask of Quakerism." 
 WoDBOw's Hist. vol. I. p. 6. — Swinton had been so active in support of the English 
 interest in his native country, that lie was attainted of high treason by the parliament 
 held at Stirling in the year \65l, though he had fallen on the device of getting a 
 
 party of Oliver's soldiers to seize him, and carry him, as if by force, into England. 
 
 4 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 99 
 
 it was observed the pai-liament were urged by reiterate messao-es 
 from court to hasten his processe, which they did with all diligence. 
 He hade been justice-general and sheriff of Argyle, and these of- 
 fices obliedged sometimes to punish malefactors ; and punishment, 
 with the unjust, is fi-equently resented as ane injury. This occa- 
 sioned complaints ; these complaints Avere greedUy entertained by 
 the wicked of the land, who hated his activity for the work of re- 
 formation, and en^yed his long prosperity after the fall of his ene- 
 mies ; so many ugly calumnies were spread, great matters were 
 promised by his enemies, and expected by the countrey ; and when 
 
 This attainder, in the dedining posture of the king's affairs, proved of very little con- 
 sequence. After his apprehension in the year 1660, he was brought down to Edin- 
 burgh by sea, together with Lord Argyle, and had nearly perished in a storm, which 
 destroyed the ship containing the records of Scotland. As a Quaker, and excomrau- 
 nicated, he was conveyed through the streets of Edinburgh to the castle, with his head 
 uncovered, and guarded by the town-officers, while the Marquis walked with his hat 
 on, betwixt two baillies of the city. (Wodrow, p. 43.)— The change of his religious 
 opinions was ascribed much more to convenience than conviction ; and it was said, 
 that if Swinton had not trembled, he never would have quaked. On his trial he dis- 
 played all the meekness of his sect, as it now exists, (for in those days Quakers abound- 
 ed not much in patience and long-suffering,) waving strong legal arguments against the 
 validity of his former attainder, and professing that he was, at the time such crimes 
 were imputed to him, in tlie gall of bitterness and bond ofhuquity; but that God ha- 
 ving since called him to the light, he saw and acknowledged his past errors, and did 
 not refuse to pay the forfeit of them, even though it should extend to his life. It is 
 asserted that Middleton saved him from punishment, through hatred to Lauderdale, 
 who had got a grant of Swinton's estate; yet Lauderdale, in answer to an application 
 in his favour from the Scottish Privy Council, writes, " Though I had before begged 
 the life of that unfortunate man Swinton from the king, yet, in obedience to you, I 
 did .<»gain renew my sute before honest witnesses, but all in vain." Primrose's MS. 
 Letters, Advocates' Library.— S\t John afterwards continued in his new persuasion, and 
 made many converts to Quakerism, of whom Barclay, the father of the celebrated Apo- 
 logist, was one of the most conspicuous. 
 
100 kirkton's history of 
 
 tliey hade accomplislit their most clihgent search, they could find 
 nothing at all against him but his necessary submission to the con- 
 quering English, after every county in Scotland, in their pubUck 
 meetings, hade acknowledged the English for their law^ull supe- 
 riors : and this was judged duty by all the people of Scotland. 
 However, these accusations of his enemies were his providential 
 vindication, for nothing covdd be made out, which produced him 
 ane absolution in every honest man's conscience. I heard him say 
 to myself, that, in that session of parliament, not so few as thirty 
 several libells hade been formed against him, upon injuries, oppres- 
 sions, murders, alleadged to have been committed by him from his 
 youth, but all evanished as calumnies use to doe ; so they were 
 constrained to betake themselves to that innocent necessary crime 
 of complying with the English. But as the sacrifice of old was first 
 washed before it was offered, so he must fij'st be found ane innocent, 
 and then sacrificed to royal revenge. However, the only article 
 upon which the advocate, Sh- John Fletcher, insisted, was his com- 
 plyance with the English ; and, to aggravate his offence, two parti- 
 cvdars were aUeadged against him : first, that he had borne armes 
 in the Highlands in conjvmction with the EngUsh. To this he an- 
 swered, that he being sheriff of Argyle, hade alwayes and behooved 
 of necessity to use armes to keep the countrey in safety in a broken 
 time ; but that ever he joyned with the English in armes, that he 
 denied, nor could they prove it. It was next objected, that he hade 
 taken some of Glencaim's men prisoners, even when Glencami acted 
 as the king's general. To that he answered, that indeed his servants 
 hade taken two suspected men wandering through the country, and 
 brought them to him, but as soon as he heard them aUeadge their 
 relation to Glencairn, he only sent them to the next town (Dum- 
 barton), to see if they could clear themselves indeed to be these 
 men, with orders to dismiss them if they did it ; which according- 
 
THE CHURCH OV SCOTLAND. 101 
 
 ly, upon the testimony of their acquaintance, was done, and that 
 was all. So his innocent complyance, in which he hade never 
 wronged any man, was the only cause of his death. He hade once 
 sitt in the parliament of England in the year 1659, and this he did 
 only to protect Scotland from oppressions ; and being occasionally 
 present in toAvn Avhen once the Protector was proclaimed, ho was 
 (as many thousands were) a witness, and this was all his crime. 
 But because he was so fuUy cleared of all his odious aspersions, and 
 because there was so little to say against him in the matter of his 
 publick guilt, many of the members of parliament began both to 
 scruple and coole in their pursuite ; and this was likewayes a piece 
 of his advantage, they had endeavoured to find him some way ac- 
 cessory to the death of Charles the First, but herein he was most 
 evidently vindicated, which encreased the trouble of those who were 
 to be his judges, so that the king's great instnnnents begane to doubt 
 the danger of a casting vote. Hereupon it was thought fitt to ac- 
 quaint the king, so Glencairn and Rothes post to court, to give the 
 king a true account of the state of affaires ; but before they went 
 they wheedled the whole parliament into a subscription of a letter, 
 wherein the whole past proceedings were owned ; which was one 
 of the greatest tentations honest men in the parliament, dureing the 
 whole session, ever underwent. But from the day of then- arrival 
 to the day of his condemnation, the parUament hade no rest fi-om 
 reiterated messages to dispatch that processe. Most part thought 
 not because of the crime, but because of the man, who was as much 
 hated for his activity in the late Reformation, and feared because of 
 his power, abiHties, and principles, as he was otherwayes innocent. 
 So to his sentence he came fi-om the Castle of Edinburgh, May 25, 
 which was, that he should be beheaded at the Cross, ]May 27, being 
 the next Munday ; so he was remanded to the Tolbooth, witli Bail- 
 lie Wauchop to attend him. Great was the lamentation was made 
 
102 KlRKTO^^ S HISTOKY OF 
 
 for him, many and various were the discourses and reasonings upon 
 and against his severe sentence. Himself was both a judicious law- 
 yer and ane eloquent orator ; and I have seen a large book, contaii>- 
 ing nothing but his own pleadings in his own case. And that helped 
 to make it a thin house that day he was condemned, when all Avith- 
 di'ew but only these who hade engadged to follow the course of the 
 times : Besides, he hade many relations and allyes in the parliament, 
 who, if they might neither dissent nor be silent, thought next best 
 to withdraw. Others in the countrey argued he suffered unjustly, 
 forasmuch as he did nothing but what was both necessary for self- 
 preservation, (his single and solitary resistance could never have re- 
 stored om- king,) and also just in obeying the magistrate Providence 
 hade established. Lawj^ers say, conquest followed with consent 
 make a good title to every conqueror ; otherAvayes many a king 
 may quite his crown ; and the EngUsh were conquerors, to whose 
 obedience all Scotland hade consented at Dalkeith, April 2, 1652, 
 by their commissioners, in a most solemn manner. Moreover, no 
 man in England or Ireland suffered for acknowledging Cromwell, 
 though as he was reckoned a conqueror in Scotland, he was only 
 counted a rebell in England ; so their crime was less excuseable. 
 Besides all this the people asked, "Was his crime great ; was the 
 king so poor of justice as to punish one only man for a guilty na- 
 tion ? Was his crime small ; was the Icing so scant of mercy, he 
 might not forgive one having forgiven so many ? He was con- 
 demned to die by these who were complices in the crime, and in 
 the transgression before himself (as he had told Sir John Fletcher 
 himself) but all would not serve ; the leaders of the parhament be- 
 hooved to please their king ; and the king thought well to make 
 him the grave stone of resisting princes, though it turned otherwayes 
 about. AU the time of his tedious tryals his behavioiu* was most 
 composed, tho' frequently provocked and abused by the Advocate 
 
THE CIIUIICH OF SCOTLAND. 103 
 
 and others. And when he received his sentence to losse his head, 
 forfault his estate, and have his head placed on the top of the 
 Tolbooth, (which they say was Calendar's motion,) he said no 
 more, but that he had the honour to sett the crown npon the king's 
 head, (as he was indeed the only man Avho made him king of Scot- 
 land,) and now (he said) he hastens me to a better crown than his 
 OAvn. When he was in prison, and when his friends saw his case 
 was desperate, there was a way contrived by force and art to have 
 him sett free, and a considerable number of gallant men were en- 
 gaged in it ; yea, it was once brought that length tliat he was once 
 in a compleat disguise, and so was to be brought out of the castle, 
 when suddenly he changed his mind ; he woidd not flee from the 
 cause he publicly so owned, and so threw aside his disguise, resold 
 ving to suffer the uttermost.* 
 
 Before he entered the Tolbooth after his saitence, his lady was 
 there before him to receive him, and as soon as he saw her, (they 
 hade now given him tiU INIimday to Uve with hei',) and therefore, 
 says he, let us make for it ; whereupon she fell a-weeping and he 
 himself also ; the baillie, though no great friend, could not refrain, 
 nor any in the company ; but thci'eafter he was most composed and 
 most cheerful, and so he spent his time in a dyeing Christian's exer- 
 cise tin the ]Munday came. The night before his death, Mr David 
 Dickson was his bed-feUow ; and aU that time betwixt his sentence 
 and his death, tho' he was commonly called timorous, his fi-iends 
 hade more adoe to I'estrain his deskes after his last hour, then to 
 strengthen his courrage. Before he went to death he dined with 
 
 * " He kept his bed for some days ; and liis lady being of the same stature with 
 himself, and coming to him in a chair, he had put on her cloaths, and was going into 
 the chair : but he apprehended he should be discovered, and his execution hastened ; 
 and so his heart failed hini."i— Burnex's Hist, vol, L p. 124. 
 
104 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 his friends cheerfully, and after dinner went to secret prayer, then 
 retiu'ned to his friends, telling them, now the Lord hade sealled his 
 charter, and said to him. Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgi- 
 ven ; and so, accompanied with divers noblemen and gentlemen, he 
 went to the scaffold. When he came hither he spoke to the people 
 briefly of diverse gi-eat things. He protested his innocency from 
 treacheiy, double-dealling, or self-designes ; he forgave his judges, 
 but could not condemn himself; he justified the work of reforma- 
 tion, protested his adherence thereto and to the covenant ; he re- 
 proved the abounding wickedness of the land, and professed his hope 
 of mercy, and vindicate himself of the late king's death, which was his 
 great reproach, and so closed. Thereafter he tooke leave of his friends 
 in very gentle manner, distributing his tokens, and so received the 
 stroke with very great lamentation, not only of fiiends but convm- 
 ced enemies. His head was fixed on the top of the Tolbooth, to be 
 a monument either of the parliament's justice or of the land's mi- 
 sery. He was a man of singular piety, prudence, authority, and elo- 
 quence ; and tho' he hade been much both en\yed and callumniated, 
 yet his death did aboundantly vindicate him. He left his desolate 
 family upon the Lord's providence, and the king's uncertain favour. 
 As he was a very great support to the Avork of reformation, so it 
 was buried with liim in one grave for many a year.* 
 
 * Argyle's character is one of the least dubious of his own times. His father warn- 
 ed King Charles the First against him, as a treacherous ungrateful youth. Claren- 
 don's History. — His cruelties during the Rebellion were notorious ; while his signal 
 hypocrisy at length ceased even to deceive the lower ranks of the puritans, by whom 
 (as by almost all the world) he was cordially hated. Baillie's Letters. — He was 
 also a coward, as his conduct at Inverlochie, and on two other occasions of a like na- 
 ture, proved. Bishop Guthrie tells us, that " Argyle and Earl Crawford must needs 
 fight a duel at five of the clock morning, at the Links of Stoney-hill, Major Innes, Ar- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTL^iNB. 105 
 
 In this session the parliament hade made aue act, that the 29th day 
 of May should be a solenm holy day, both because it was the birth- 
 gyle's second, and Lanerick, Crawford's They were an hour at the place, and might 
 have fought, for none came to disturb them." Though no blood was shed, the kirk 
 made the marquis perform public penance, " because he had such a hostile mind ; and 
 this combat," adds the bishop, " furnished us with sport for a time." See also Baillie, 
 {vol. II. p. 284,) who observes, " that Argyle's enemies had of a long time burdened 
 him, among many slanders, with that of cowardice and cullionry." In private life, if 
 we are to believe Clement Walker, [Appendix to the Histori/ of Independency,) he was 
 as false and selfish as in public, depriving his brother of his estate, and cheating his 
 sisters out of their portions. To complete the picture, tradition describes Argyle as 
 of mean stature, red-haired, and with squinting eyes, so that to this day he is denomi- 
 nated the glied marquis. It is singular that Kirkton does not mention the fatal letters 
 sent down to Scotland by Monk during Argyle's trial, though the production of such 
 a proof of disloyalty seems scarcely necessary in this case, and probably lias had greater 
 stress laid upon it by some authors than it really deserves. The marquis's head must 
 have been devoted ab initio. His articles of agreement with the English parliament of 
 the Commonwealth are subjoined from the original MS., in the possession of the 
 editor. 
 
 Articles of Agreement betweene Archibald Lord Marquess of Argile, on the behalfe of 
 himself c and Friends, on the one part; and Major-Generall Richard Deane, on Ike 
 behalfe of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, on the other part. 
 
 1. It is agreed, and the said lord marquess doth hereby obleige himselfe, that his 
 lordshipp shall neither directly nor indirectly act or contrive any thing to the preju- 
 dice of the parliament of the Commonwealth of England, their forces, or authority ex- 
 ercised in Scotland, but shall live peaceably and quietly under the said government, 
 and shall use the utmost of his endeavours that his children and family shall doe the 
 same ; and if any waike otherwise, his lordshipp upon cognizance thereof shall forth- 
 with make it knowne to the chiefe officer of the next garrison, or the commander-in- 
 chiefe in Scotland ; it being alwaies intended that this shall not hinder his lordsliipp's 
 good endeavours for the establishing religion according to his conscience, provided it 
 
 O 
 
lOG . KIRKTOX"s HISTORY OF 
 
 day of the king, and also the day of his restaiu-ution. This was a 
 great offence to all the children of the clmrch of Scotland, who used 
 
 be not by acting or conlriveing any way of hostility or force in the least manner against 
 the aforesaid authority. 
 
 2. It is agreed, and tlie Lord INIarquess of Argile doth heerby obleige himselfe, that 
 hee shall use the utmost of his endeavours that tlie inhabitants of the shire of Argile, 
 and all others either vassalls or tenants, that hold land of, or have dependance upon 
 his lordshipp, shall deport themselves conforme to what his lordshipp is engaged for 
 himselfe, in the preceding article. 
 
 3. It is agreed, and the Marquess of Argile doth heerby obliege himselfe, that 
 either his lordshipp or- his eldest sonne, the Lord of Lome (whither of them the par- 
 hament shall thinke titt) sliall upon notice given to his lordshipp repaire into England 
 to such convenient place as the parliament and councell of state shall appoint, and not 
 remove from thence without leave ; provided they bee not confined to less then twenty 
 miles compass, and may have leave to waite on the parliament and councell of state, 
 as their occasion shall require. 
 
 4. And in consideration of the premises, Major Generall Deane doth heerby obliege 
 himselfe, in the name of the parliament of the Commonwealth of England, that the 
 said Lord Marquess of Argile shall enjoy his liberty, estate, lands, and debts, and 
 whatever duely belongs unto him, free from all sequestration or molestation from the 
 parliament of the Commonwealth of England, or any by authority from them ; pro- 
 vided alwaies, that this shall not,extend to the freeing of the said Lord Marquess or 
 his estate from paying a cess, or other publique burthens proportionably with other the 
 good people under the parliament's protection ; nor any of his houses from garrisoning 
 if there shall be need, except Inverary and Carrick, which shall not be garrisoned but 
 upon extraordinary necessity. / 
 
 In confirmation whereof wee have severally and interchangeably oblieged ourselves 
 as abovesaid : VVitnes our hands and seales this nineteenth day of August, one thou- 
 sand six hundred fifty and two. 
 
 Memorandum. Before signeing and sealing of this it is agreed, that after notice 
 given, there shal bee a monthe's time, at least, allowed for the Lord Marquess of Ar- 
 gile, or his Sonne, the Lord of Lome, to prepare themselves for their journey into 
 England. 
 
 Ei. Deane. 
 Aargyll. 
 
THK CHURCU OF SCOTLAND. 107 
 
 to be very zealous for the observation of the Lord's Sabbath, but 
 very much also for the preservation of Christian liberty for all other 
 daves, nor could they appi'ehend the obligation upon the nation, 
 either upon the account of the king's birth or restauration, to be so 
 
 Thursday, ISth of March, 1655. — At the councell at Whitehall. The Lord Lam- 
 bert reporte the articles of agreement between Archibald Lord Marquiss of Arguile, 
 on the behalfe of himselfe and friends, on the one part; and Major-Generall Richard 
 Deane, on the behalf of the parliament of the Commonwealth of England, on the other 
 part, the 19th of August, 1652. Ordered, by his Highness the Lord Protector and 
 the Counsell, that the said articles of agreement be confirmed and ratified. 
 
 Hen. Scobell, Gierke of the Councell. 
 
 On the scaffold Argyle inveighed severely against the debaucheries of the time, 
 and observed, " that religion must not be made the cock-boat, but the ship," extoll- 
 ing the solemn league and covenant, which he called the cause and work of God. 
 WoDROw's Hist. vol. I. p. 56. — Archbishop Sharp, in a letter to Sir Archibald Prim- 
 rose, observes " Argyle hath done his family more wrong by his speech upon the 
 scaffold, than he hath done them right by his letter to the king, dated the 27th of 
 May, which letter I read upon Saturday last." — Woduow MSS. 
 
 " Argyle," says Professor Baillie, in a letter to Mr Spang, ' long to me was the best 
 and most excellent man our state of a long time had enjoyed ; but his complyance with 
 the English and remonstrants took my heart off him these eight years ; yet I mourned 
 for his death, and still pray to God for his family. His two sons are good youths, and 
 were ever loyal. The ruin of the family may prove hurtful to the king and kingdom. 
 Without the king's favour, debt will undo it. When Huntly's lands are rendered, and 
 Montrose paid near 100,000 pound, his old debts of 400,000 or 500^000 merks will not 
 be got paid. Many wonder of his debt, and think he must have money, for he got 
 much, and was always sober and sparing. My good son, Mr Robert Watson, was with 
 his lady in Rosmeath the night the king landed in England. He told me all the dogs 
 that day did take a strange howling and staring up to my lady's chamber windows for 
 some hours together. Mr Alexander Colvill, justice depute, an old servant of the 
 house, told me that my Lady Kenraure, a gracious lady, my lord's sister, from some 
 little skill of physiognomy which Mr Alexander had taught her, had told him some 
 years ago that her brother would die in blood." 
 
108 KIKKTOM S HISTORY OF 
 
 great as to bind those that refused to keep Christmas for Christ's 
 birth-day, or Pasch for his i-esurrection day, to doe that for Chai-les 
 they scrupled to doe for their Saviour. And even by these who 
 pretended to honoiu* it, it was not kept to the Lord ; but rather be- 
 cause of the riot, madness, swearing, solemn drunkenness, it seemed 
 to be appointed for the service of the devil ; and as it was the most 
 prophane day in the year, so it seldom past without the attendance 
 of some sad accident or otlier. However, it was the occasion of 
 many ane honest man's suffering. And now when it was fost ob- 
 served, it hade the ^larquesse of Argyle's death for a preface, and iVIr 
 James Guthrie's death for a conclusion, within three dayes of it.* 
 
 * " Another wicked act was framed at the same time by that same perfidious par- 
 liament, for an anniversary thanksgiving commemorating every 29 of May, that blas- 
 phemy against the spirit and work of God, and celebrating that unhappy restauration 
 of the rescinder of the Reformation ; which had not only the concurrence of the uni- 
 versality of the nation, but (alas ! for shame that it should be told in Gath, &c.) even 
 of some ministers who afterwards accepted the Indulgence, (one of which, a pillar 
 among them, was seen scandalously dancing about the bonefires,) and others, who 
 should have alarmed the whole nation, quasi pro oris et fock, to rise for religion and 
 liberty to resist such wickedness, did wink at it. O hov/ righteous is the Lord now in 
 turning our harps into mourning ! though, alas ! we will not suffer ourselves to this 
 day to see the shining righteousness of this retribution : and though we be scourged 
 with scorpions, and brayed in a mortar, our madness, our folly in these irreligious fro- 
 licks is not yet acknowledged, let be lamented. Yet albeit, neither in this day, when 
 the covenant was not only broken, but cassed and declared of no obligation, nor after- 
 ward when it was burnt, (for which Turks and Pagans would have been ashamed and 
 afraid at such a terrible sight, and for which the Lord's anger is burning against these 
 bold burners, and against them who suffered it, and did not witness against it,) was 
 there any publick testimony by protestation or remonstrance, or any publick witness ; 
 though the Lord had come then, and some who came out afterward with the trumpet 
 at their mouth, whose heart then sorrowed at the sight : and some suffered for the 
 sense they showed of that anniversary abomination, for not keeping which they lost 
 both church and liberty." — The Testimony of the sixth Period, in the Hind let loose, by 
 the Rev. Alexander Shields. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 109 
 
 So the next man brought to the scaffold was INIr James Guthrie, mi- 
 nister at StirUng, who hade still been prisoner since the last preceding 
 August. He was the son of the I^aird of Guthrie, and so a gentle- 
 man ] when he was a regent in St Andrews, he was very episcopal, 
 and was with difficulty perswaded to take the covenant. There 
 goes a story, that when first he yielded to joyn with the covenanters 
 in ]Mr Samuel Rutherford's chamber, as he came out at his door he 
 mett the executioner in the way, which troubled him ; and the next 
 visit he made thither he mett him in the same manner again, which 
 made him apprehend he might be a sufferer for the covenant, as in- 
 deed he was. He hade also a warning of his approaching sufferings 
 three years before the king's return, and upon these he fi-equently 
 reflected. He was a man of great piety, learning, judgement, and 
 eloquence, but was pitched upon for a sacrifice and example amongst 
 the ministers, partly because he Avas a great leader amongst the pro- 
 testers,* and a great vmfriend to malignants and scandalous minis- 
 ters ; partly because he Avas desperatly hated by Middleton, whom 
 he hade formerly excommunicated. As for the pretended cavise of 
 his suffering, it Avas only his accession to the book called The Causes 
 of God's Wrath against Scotland, together Avith his declining the 
 Idng's authority in causes ecclesiastick, and his accession to the de- 
 signed imperfect petition, on August 23d, 1660. HoAvever, for these 
 he was condemned to be hanged at Edinburgh Cross in June 1st, 
 
 * Guthrie was a violent protestor ; " for which, and his faithfulness, he was one of 
 those three who were deposed by the pretended Assembly at St \ndrews, 1657 : Yea, 
 such was the malice of these woful resolutioners, that upon his refusal of one of the 
 party, and accession to the call of Mr Rule to be his colleague at Stirling, upon the 
 death of Mr Bennet in 1656, they proceeded to stone this seer in Israel with stones, his 
 testimony while alive so tormented the men who dwell upon the earth." — Scots Wor^ 
 thies, 
 
 5 
 
1 10 kirkton's history of 
 
 iGGl, to liiive his head affixed on the Netherbow, his estate confis- 
 cate, and his amies torn ; this was accordingly execute on the day 
 appointed. 
 
 In one of his speeches imniediatly after the first reading of his 
 indytement, Feb. 20, 1661, (as he was a most excellent orator) af- 
 ter he has at length made the useless defence of his opposition to 
 the English, he ansAvers all the articles of his indytement, especi- 
 ally his declining the king's authority in matters ecclesiastick, pro- 
 ving both by King James his declaration, written Avith his own 
 hand, and sent to the commissioners of the kirk at Lithgow, Dec. 
 7th, 1585, Avherein the king expressly disowns all ecclesiastick au- 
 thority ; but all his defences was to no purpose, for he was designed 
 for a sacrifice.* All the time betwixt his sentence and his death, he 
 carried himself altogether as unconcerned ; and Avhen he came to the 
 scaffold he shelved the same constancy of mind which he hade sheAV- 
 ed through the AA'hole course of his life. He spoke to the people, but 
 Avas interrupted, therefore he deliAered his mind in a paper, Avhere- 
 in. first, he protested his own innocency ; then he oAA'ned the Avork of 
 reformation in all the steps of it; thereafter he testified against the 
 defection of the land ; and last of all, encoiu'aged the Lord's people to 
 constancy, assureing them the Lord should once more appear in this 
 land to then* joy. But because both his speeches are yet extant, I 
 shall say no more. After that he rendered his spirit unto the Lord 
 
 * Burnet says, that Guthrie's defence " signified nothing to justify himself, but 
 laid a great load on presbytery ; since he made it out beyond all dispute that he had 
 acted upon their principles, which made them the more odious, as having among them 
 some of the worst maxims of the church of Rome ; that in particular, to make a pul- 
 pit a privileged place, in which a man might safely vent treason, and be secure in doing 
 it, if the church judicatory should agree to acquit him. So upon this occasion great 
 advantage was taken, to shew how near the spirit that reigned in presbytery came up 
 to popery." 
 
THE CHL'RCII OF SCOTLAND. Ill 
 
 most patiently, and hade his head sett upon tlie Netherbow.* There 
 suffered with him one W^illiam Gowan, for which they say the com- 
 missioner hade no order from court ; ane action so insignificant, I ne- 
 ver yet heard a man alleadge a reason for it. Some conjectured it 
 was to cloud eminent examples vdth obscure attendants, and that 
 was all. Mr Patrick Gillespie was under processe of treason at the 
 same time, but becavise he hade many friends in the time of the 
 English, (which was jNIiddleton's appology to the king when he was 
 challenged for spareing him,) and because he used some expressions 
 which were by tlie parliament interpreted as ane acknowledgement 
 of error, he was not condemned to die.f 
 
 * " It was very confidently asserted at this time, that some weeks after Mr Guthrie's 
 head had been set up on the Netherbow Port of Edinburgh, the commissioner's coach 
 coming down that way, several drops of blood fell from the head upon the coach, 
 which all their art and diligence could not wipe off. I have it very confidently affirmed, 
 that physicians were called, and enquired if any natural cause could be assigned for the 
 blood's dropping so long after the head was put up, anW especially for its not wearing 
 out of the leather, and they could give none. I'his odd incident beginning to be talked 
 of, and all other methods being tried, at length the leather was removed, and a new 
 cover put on ; this was much sooner done than the wiping off the guilt of this great and 
 good man's blood from the shedders of it, and this poor nation." — Woduow's History, 
 vol. I. p. 70. 
 
 f Gillespie had made great efforts for a pardon, and offered to promote episcopacy 
 in Scotland. This is proved by a letter of Sharp to Mr Robert Douglas, from which 
 Wodrow, who quotes it in his preface, was careful not to make the following extract : 
 " I had it from a sure hand, that the other week Gillespie's wife came to the Lord 
 Sinclair, and having wept, and told him that the stream against her husband she saw 
 to be so great as he would be ruined, desired if she might use freedom with his lord- 
 ship. When he had bid her speak what was in her heart, she shew'd him a letter from 
 Mr Patrick to her, bearing that she might deal with the Lord Sinclair, that he would 
 move the king in his behalf, and know what length his majesty would have him to go 
 as to the bringing in episcopacy into Scotland, and give all assurance that he would 
 do the king service to his utmost, and nothing should be enjoyned him for promoting 
 thereof which he would not most faithfully and vigorously obey and perfect. Tliis 
 
112 KIHKTON'S HISTOIIY OF 
 
 The parliament thought fitt to joyn other sufferers to these why 
 suffered to the death, and their punishment was banishment. The 
 first I shall mention was INIr Robert INI'^AVard, minister at Glasgow, 
 a godly man, and of great gifts ; his accusation was, that when he 
 saw the tendency of the parliament's actings, one day in the pulpit 
 most solemnly he dissented from all acts of parliament made to the 
 prejudice of the covenanted work of reformation in Scotland, and 
 protested himself free of the guilt thereof, takeing the LoixVs people 
 witnesses thereto, exhorting them to mourn for the present defec- 
 tion. Upon this he was brought before the parliament, Avhere he 
 botli avowed and justified all he hade said, which occasioned a tedi- 
 ovis processe, in which he hade occasion to shew both his judgement 
 and liis parts, expecting aU along no other end to his processe, but 
 the sentence of death, for which he was most resolute. But it plea- 
 sed the Lord his sentence was only banishment from the king's do- 
 minions, (which was more than their power could reach ;) to which 
 he gave obedience, and travelling to Holland, after many years exile 
 he died at Rotterdam, where he was employed awhile as minister, 
 though he was even banished thence by the king's insatiable hatred, 
 and died therein in a lurking place. The next I shall remember was 
 Mr James Simpson, mmister at Airth ; he was necessitate to leaA^e 
 his paroch upon the king's return, because he hade been deposed by 
 the contraverted General! Assembly at Dundee, in the year 1651 ; 
 and having occasion to travel into Ireland, Avas officiously without 
 order seased prisoner at Portpatrick, and kept prisoner in Edinburgh 
 jayle aU the time of the parliament, tiU toward the end he was accvised 
 by the advocate, and hade his lybell delivered to him to answer, but 
 
 Sinclair hath undertaken to move, (as seeing no other way for securing of Patrick,) 
 and was prompted to it by the person to whom he communicated it, who yet resolves 
 to break the design upon that account another way : for I find our noblemen have no 
 will of Gillespie's coming into play, knowing his domineering humour." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 113 
 
 witliout ever calling or waiting for his answer, condemned him to 
 banishment, as Mr M'Ward was ; so he was sentenced unheard, ane 
 example of the parliament's justice, and orderly method, so their 
 acts were sealled both with blood and tears.* 
 
 Lastly, when this session hade finished their work, overturned the 
 foundation of Scotland's old freedom, and the work of reformation 
 both first and last, and after they hade laid a new foundation upon 
 which they designed to build, and that was the king's pleasure, 
 they thought good to adjourn their next meeting till the 12th of 
 ISIarch, which was afterw^ard prorogate to the 8th of May, 1662. I 
 cannot pass the personal behaviour of the authors of these acts, and 
 I assure you, as was their publick conduct, such was their private 
 conversation. The exceUencie of a history is naked truth, and who^ 
 soever will read the ancient historians, either sacred or civil, when 
 they give you the character or story of a wicked man, will find a 
 very great difference betwixt their strain and the stUe of our late his- 
 torians, who to carry credit, use to minee the matter by suppressing 
 
 * Simpson's life was probably saved through Sharp's intercession with the king, 
 which Wodrow knew, but suppresses in his history. Sharp writes thus to Sir Archi- 
 bald Primrose, lord register : " That your parliamentary acts of justice have been 
 tempered with mercy, I think should not be displeasing, especially since the object of 
 that mercy hath made a confession which I wish may have as binding an influence for 
 converting of those of his way, as his former actings had upon perverting them. I did, 
 at my first access to the king, beg that the lives of Mr Gillespie and Mr Guthrie might 
 be spared, which his majesty denied me ; but now the recommendation of the parlia- 
 ment, upon a ground which I could not bring, I hope will prevail with so gracious a 
 prince, more merciful! than the kings of Israel. Upon an earnest letter from Mr 
 James Simpson to me, to whom I did owe no great kindness, I begged of the king 
 that he might not be proceeded against for his life and corporal punishment, which 
 his majesty was pleased graciously to grant to me by a letter for that purpose directed 
 to my Lord Commissioner. When your Lordship shall hear my inducements, I hope 
 you will not condemn me."— Wodrow MSS. 
 
 P 
 
114 KIUKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 the greater part of the truth, that the little thing they say may seem 
 the more probable, though the truth ought alwayes to be told ; and 
 as providence uses to provide witnesses, so likewayes it uses to re- 
 commend discovered truth. But for the behaviour of our parliament 
 men, it was most lamentable. Many of the ancient covenanter 
 lords, as they were dissenters in parliament, so they followed the 
 old rules of behaviour, such as Loudon, Cassills, Sutherland, Craw- 
 ford, Lothian, Borthwick, and Torfiken, or it may be others ; but 
 for the body of the young men, the spirit of the time acted in them 
 as leaders and examples. Scotland hade been more sober and grave 
 from Duncelaw till the king's return, and most quiet some years pre- 
 ceding that date, so that the vintiners complained they were broke 
 for want of customers. But then, indeed, the fashion changed. 
 Our three commissioners, IMiddleton, Rothes, and Lauderdale, gave 
 every one of them the parliament they governed a denomination 
 (in the observation of the vulgar) from then* own behaviovn- ; and 
 this parliament was called the di'inking parliament. The commis- 
 sioner hade £50 Knglisb a-day allowed him, which he spent faith- 
 fliUy amongst his northern pantalons ; and so great was the luxury, 
 and so small was the care of his famUy, that when he filled his wine- 
 cellars, his steward thought nothing to cast out fiill pipes to make 
 way for others. Himself was sometimes so disordered, that when 
 he hade appeared upon the throne in full parliament, the president, 
 upon the whisper of the principal members, would be necessitate to 
 adjourn. Then they made the church their stews ; then you might 
 have found chambers filled with naked men and naked Avomen ; and 
 many, who lived under sober report formerly, turned harlots and 
 drunkards ; you may believe cursing, swearing, and blasphentiy, were 
 as common as prayer and worship was rare. Debauching was loy- 
 alty, gravity smelled of rebellion ; every man that hade eyes percei- 
 ved what spirit ruled among them ; and among all the families in 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 115 
 
 town, none gave greater scandal then Fletcher the advocate, where 
 the vaste sums extorted from the innocent presbyterians in danger 
 of criminal pursuit, were turned into crying scandals, unparalelled 
 in the history of Scotland. One Sabbath-day, when his lady was 
 lying in child-bed, he and his gossips hade a debauch ; I think it 
 better to cover with a cloud then expose it, to the abhorrency and 
 curse should fall upon it, were it exposed to the view of the world.* 
 
 • The following curious passage is extracted from " The Church's Comfort, or a 
 Sermon on John, xvi. 22. preached in the Old Church of Edinburgh upon the 29tli 
 December, 1661, by Mr William Thomson. — Edin. printed in the year 1706." 
 
 " The third evidence that we shall name, that may give us a sad evidence of fear 
 that Christ may go away, is the toleration of ungodliness and all kinds of wickedness 
 in the land ; and we need go no farther now than this same city, the mother city of 
 the nation, which sendeth out a dark smoak and cloud of prophanity throughout all 
 the land ; these abominations take up their beginning in her, and overspreads and de- 
 files the whole land. Our hearts have been like to bleed some nights, when we have 
 been sitting in some lodging houses upon the way side, as the Lord called us to be in 
 our way in some parts of the land, where we heard great number of travellers at night 
 where they lodged, as they were returned from Edinburgh, singing over the most pro- 
 fane and ungodly songs that could be devised, tending only to the stirring up of cor. 
 ruption in all unregenerat and unmortified hearts who hear the same ; and one of them 
 saying to another, ' this is the most common and chief song that is now in fashion in 
 Edinburgh ; there is no such song as this, for it is singing up and down the streets ;' 
 this is a known truth that it is so. Would not the hearing of such abominable things 
 make Christians ears abhor the same, or a sanctified mind to record the same in me- 
 mory ? if necessity did not require for reproving such unfruitful works of darkness. 
 Ye know that this is no secret, for have not most of your own ears heard these pro- 
 phane songs in the streets nightly and dayly, which is yet tolerated unto this day, and 
 never curbed nor punished by these that are in authority, which speaks out much in- 
 difierency, and want of zeal for our dear Lord Jesus Christ. And is it not sad to see 
 our mother city, where once righteousness dwelt, become now such a mother of pro- 
 phanity and ungodliness ? and may not all this give us too much ground to fear that 
 our dear Lord Jesus Christ is like to go away and leave us ? And besides this, there is 
 many other dreadful abominations committed by night and by day, which would make 
 
116 
 
 One may ask what was become of all the active zeal which hade 
 wrought so high among the ministers and people of Scotland, when 
 all this was done ? I answer, it was a time of sad defection, and (as 
 
 Christian ears abhor to hear or tongues to relate. O ! but this is not all ; will ye but 
 hear a little, we will tell you yet of a greater abomination than this, tho' little minded 
 or laid to heart by many, and that is turning over this Holy Bible to stage plays : is 
 not this horrid blasphemy r' Yet this is not done in a corner only, they openly avow 
 the same ; for will ye hut stand at tlip rinss hpads, they proclaim their wickedness, 
 when they call on passengers, saying, " Walk in, gentlemen, and ye shall see a new 
 piece of work ; ye shall there see Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, walking in a lively- 
 manner, to see how they were created naked, and then deceived by the serpent." 
 Oh ! oh ! was it not this that began all our misery ? and was it not this that was the 
 ground of all our misery, sorrow, and lamentation? and shall this be turned over to a 
 stage play, and a sport to make people laugh, and make merry ? O ! that some would 
 cause plead for this, that order might be taken with such abuses. These things we 
 could not but mention, they being so abominable in the sight of God ; and might not 
 this say, that he can have but little heart to stay among us, seeing that we have little 
 esteem of his holy and blessed word ? 
 
 " The fourth sad evidence of Christ's departure which we shall name, is the corrup- 
 tion of God's worship and order of his house in a violent way, the setting up of vain 
 self-seeking perjured men over the inheritance of the Lord, who also renounced the 
 ministry as not of God ; and if such men be fit for ruling the house of God, let the 
 Bible and people of God be judge in this matter : this manner and way was never 
 blessed of God in our land formerly, as to the conversion of souls, and much less it is 
 now to be expected that he will bless the same. O ! how unbecoming a title would 
 Paul have thought it, if any would have come unto him, and called him your Lord- 
 ship, or your Lordship's Grace. O ! how abominable would he have thought himself, 
 if he had seen a prelate's mitre upon his head, and their side robes upon him, with 
 some bearing up their tails : there is no ground from the Bible for this, and yet it is 
 done. (He did see some laughing, and others affrighted, which made him to speak 
 thus) : Let this neither be looked upon as a matter of laughter to strangers, or af- 
 frighting to friends, seeing necessity constrains Us to speak of these things unto you. 
 Now may not this give us sad ground of fear that the Lord will go away and leave us, 
 seeing such abominations are set up among us ?" 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 117 
 
 usually it useth to be) attended with a strong tentation. The Lord 
 was upon the way of deserting the land, men were filled with fear 
 and deafened with threatenings, they were also discouraged with in- 
 testine divisions : The publick resolvition men, resolving to make 
 their separation from, and zeal against the protesters, their defence 
 against the king's displeasure ; men saw publick acting would be- 
 but unprofitable to the church, and destruction to themselves ; all 
 that could be projected was only to testifie against what they could 
 not help, and upon this they could not agree, so certainly too little 
 was done among them all. Yet something was done ; in many of 
 the pulpits of the land, the ministers preached freely, warning the 
 people both of the sins and dangers of the times ; and where the mi- 
 nister hade no enemy among his people, he escaped at hazard from 
 publick persecution, but not so in every place ; as, besides those I 
 mentioned, some proclaimed congregational fasts, as Mr Adam Key, 
 and there he used great freedom. Some were as full and free in 
 their doctrine as any man in Scotland liade ever been, as Mr Wil- 
 liam Guthi-ie, which, together with the excellency of his gifts, did 
 so recommend him to the affections of the countrey people about 
 him, that they turned the corn-field of his glieb into a town, every 
 one bnUding a house for his family upon it ; only that they might 
 live under the drop of his ordinances and ministry. Yet, notwith- 
 standing his bold plainness, he was for a long time protected by 
 Glencairn, upon the earnest dyeing request of his father-in-law, the 
 Earle of Eglintoun. Judicatories also endeavoured something. The 
 presbyteiy of Edinbui-gh, when they heard the pai'liament was about 
 to overturn all by their act rescissory, drew a petition to the parlia- 
 ment, wherein they required, that since our religion and church go- 
 vernment were to be despoiled of the protection of the old laws, 
 they would be pleased to confirm them by new laws for that effect. 
 This petition they sent to the commissioner by the hands of ]\Ir 
 
118 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 John Smith, Mr Robert Lawrie, and INIr Peter Blair. The commis- 
 sioner perswaded them that day, partly by promises, partly by 
 threatnings, to forbear for that time ; and then that same afternoon 
 passed the rescissory act. To-morrow the presbytery mett, and de- 
 legated others of their number, among whom was Mr David Dick- 
 son, to carry the same message to the commissioner, who when they 
 came were veiy harshly received. INIiddleton told Mr Dickson he 
 was mistaken if he thought to terrific him with papers, he was no 
 coward ; Mr Dickson replyed, they knew well he was no coward, 
 ever since the bridge of Dee, (this was a skirmish on June 19, 1638, 
 wherein Middleton appeared very gallant for the covenant against 
 the king,) to this Middleton made no answer ; so INIr Dickson, know- 
 ing he hade diverse weU- wishers ui the parliament, (for there hade 
 been 42 dissents from the act recissory) insisted much to have the 
 petition read m publick, and after long debate, thought fitt to put 
 INIiddleton in mind of the exercise he hade been under at St An- 
 drews in the year 1645, when he was in hazard of death by anc 
 iliack passion, to which he answered in disdam, Wliat ! did he tell 
 him of a fitt of a fever ? and this was all the fruit of then- dili- 
 gence. Thereafter they sent then- petition to the king, but with 
 the same success. And because now every tliinking man began 
 to perceive the danger, and to believe the house would be riffled, 
 because the keyes were changed, and that om- religion would be 
 overturned, because the church government was destroyed ; there- 
 fore divers more up and do%vn the countrey made some essay to- 
 wards a testimony. The presbytery of Couper in Fife, upon the 
 18 of Aprile, 1661, in a solemn deliberat manner declare their ad- 
 herence to the doctrme and government of the Chm-ch of Scotland 
 according to the covenant, and this they recorded in then- presby- 
 terie's book. Also the synod of Fife, at the same time, contrived 
 and concluded a solemn warnmg to all the people under their 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 119 
 
 charge, wherein, after a very prolix protestation of their loyalty to 
 their king, and abhorrence of the late English usurpation, and 
 founding their resolution in part upon the late gi'acious letter his 
 majesty hade written to the presbytery of Edinburgh, dated Sept. 
 3d, 1660, (for they were mostly publick resolution men, and so 
 mistook the king's words,) they proceeded to declare against pre- 
 lacy, and protest theu- adherence to the doctrine, discipline, and 
 government of the church of Scotland ; and, lastly, they admonish 
 theii- people to be constant in the Lord's way, and exhort them to 
 the exercise of repentance ; but before this was finished, the synod 
 was peremptorily dissolved by the Earle of Rothes, appointed com- 
 missioner and inspector by the parliament to watch over the pro- 
 ceedings of that synod. The synod of Dumfi-ies agreed upon a 
 declaration, wherein they professed their adlierence to the doctrine 
 and government of the church of Scotland according to the cove- 
 nant ; but before they could see the light, the synod was dissolved 
 by Queensberry and Hartfield, and both lamentably drunk, as the 
 report Avent. In the synod of Glasgow, they designed a supplica- 
 tion to the parliament for the preservation of the doctrine and go- 
 vernment of the church ; but before they could finish it, they were 
 dissolved in the king's name by the parliament's commissioner, the 
 Earle of Galloway, (for they hade a commissioner in every suspect- 
 ed synod almost) ; yet after they were discharged, they reftised to 
 dissolve till first the moderator, Mr John Park, with aU the bre- 
 tluen, hade protested against the injury done to their judicatory by 
 the encroachment of the civil magistrate, and thereupon took in- 
 struments in the clerk's hand, and then, after solemn prayer, dis- 
 solved at leisure. In the synod of Lothian, their commissioner, the 
 Earle of Calendar, urged them only to depose the protesters, where- 
 in he found them very ready ; but as soon as ever they began to 
 talk of the state of the church, they were commanded to the door 
 
120 KIRKTON'S HISTORY Ol 
 
 in the king's name. The synod of Glasgow, at their first meeting, 
 April 2d, resolved once to have petitioned the parliament for a new 
 establishment of our religion, the old being removed, but herein the 
 plurality were opposed by the brethren for the publick resolutions, 
 and chiefly Mr James Ferguson, with whom joyned Mr Robert 
 Bimie and JNIr James Hamilton, minister at Camnethan ; they did 
 not so much oppose the thing itself, as the season of it in these cir- 
 cumstances, desireing only the synod might adjourn some dayes, 
 that if in the mean time other synods designed petitioning, they 
 might Avith advantage joyn in ane unite course. ISIeantime they were 
 content to record a declaration in their book, wherein they unani- 
 mously profess, that forasmuch as their is a fear that some ministers in 
 this church inclyne to make defection from the government of the 
 church, therefore they unanimously declare theu* resolution, by the 
 grace of God, to remain constant in the doctrine, discipline, and 
 government of the chm'ch, in opposition to prelatical episcopacy. 
 This pitifvdl declaration satisfied not the zealous people either in 
 the synod or in the countrey, and therefore they called it the mis- 
 carrieing womb. First, they were displeased at the distinction of 
 episcopacy insinuate in it, as if, by renuncing prelatical episcopacy, 
 they had tacitely allowed a modest presbyterian episcopacy. Next, 
 when it was urged that a clause concerning the obligation of the 
 covenant, the seal of our religion, might be insert, it was violently 
 opposed, Mr Hamilton protesting, that if it were mentioned he 
 would not concurr ; so desire of imity made it pass : yet one would 
 have thought that they all said enough to keep them fi-om being 
 bishops at lest for one year, but IMr Hamilton turned bishop within 
 eight months ; such constant men oiur bishops were. 
 
 The synod, upon hopes of acting imanimously, hade adjourned till 
 the second Tuesday of May ; but before that day came, Middleton 
 hade, by a solemn proclamation at the Mercat Cross, discharged them 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 121 
 
 Yet when the day came, they mett in INIr Ralph Rodger's house, 
 and there a good many of them (for their meeting was not full) re- 
 solved to send their testimony to the commissioner INIiddleton, de- 
 clareing their forbeaiing to constitute themselves in a synod did 
 not proceed fi-om any scruple concerning their intrinsick power, 
 and that they hoped they shoidd no more be hindered to meet at 
 their ordinary diets. This they sent to the commissioner by Mr 
 Patrick ColvUl, their last moderator, without any return, and this 
 was the last synod in that place. Only in all Scotland the synod of 
 Aberdeen agreed to supplicate the parliament for the re-estabUsh- 
 ment of episcopacy, and this supplication all members present did 
 subscribe, to the great satisfaction of the court party. 
 
 During this session of parUament INIr Samuel Rutherford depart- 
 ed tliis life : But tho' he died in liis bed, and at peace with the Lord, 
 he might not die at the king's peace ; for after the state had burnt 
 the book, called Lex Rex, both at the Crosse of Edinburgh, and 
 the gate of the New CoUedge of St Andrews, the parliament was 
 pleased to cite him before them to answer ane accusation of high- 
 treason ; but, even at that time, the Lord called him to ane higher 
 tribunal, where it's hoped he found more favour. He died much 
 lamenting that he was withholden from giving his testimony against 
 the course of the times, and otherwayes fiill of joy and hope. His 
 acquaintance doubted whether his subhme scholastick invention in 
 dispute and controversy, or his sweet popular famUiar strain in his 
 sermons, was the more admirable: but his works speak both the 
 one and the other after his death.* Att this time also our parlia- 
 
 * As a specimen of Rutherford's sublime scholastic invention in dispute and contra- 
 xersy, the following passage is extracted from •' Apeaceable and temperate Plea for Paul's 
 Presbyterie in Scotland, or a modest and brotherly Dispute of the Government of the 
 Church of Scotland," &c. 1642. " The essential ingredients and reasons of a lawfuil 
 
 Q 
 
122 . "KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 nient thought fitt to lionour ]\Iontrose his carcase with a glorious 
 second burial, to compense the dishonour of the first ; and with him 
 one Hay of Dclgatty, (a flagitious papist) who was one of his colo- 
 nells, and would be buried with him. Montrose his History is Avrite 
 in good Latino, (supposed to be by Bishop Wishart) but with as 
 little truth as most in the world. However, the parliament would 
 needs own all he hade done, and so take the innocent blood he hade 
 
 divorce (of the churches) are here. 1. We could not lye in one bed with that some- 
 time sister church uf Rome, but our skin behoved to rub upon her botch-boyle, and 
 therefore we did separate from nothing but corruption. 2. There was there persecu- 
 tions, and in that we are patients, rather then departers on foot and horse. 3. A pro- 
 fessed dominion over our consciences. 4. Necessity of receiving the marks of the beast, 
 to worship images, and the works of men's hands, a necessity of professing fundamen- 
 tal errors, that subvert the foundation of faith, did all necessitate our separation." p. 
 123. — " Howbeil, I say Rome is a church teaching and professing, and hath something 
 of the life and being of a true church., yet I hold not that Rome is Christ's body, nor 
 his wife. Neither meane I with our Late novators, prelates and their faction sometimes 
 in this land, and now in England, that Rome is a true church, as they taught, that is, 
 so true a church, as, 1. We erred in separating from that leaper w — e. 2. That her 
 errours are not fundamentall, and that we and this mother can be reconciled, and bedde 
 together," <S:c. p. 131. — As to Rutherford's sweet popular Jamiliar strain in his sermons, 
 it cannot now be enlarged upon with propriety. One specimen shall suffice, taken from 
 Christ's Napliin, or a Sermon preached in Kii'/ccudbright at the Communion, May 12, 1633, 
 by thatjiower oj" the Church, famous, famous Mr Samuel Rutherford. "David, 
 Psalms 6, when he thought God strake him in his wrath, was at ' how long, Lord ?' — a 
 cutted word 1 — I think that he looked like a poor hungry beast, looking over the dyke, 
 that would fain have had a mouthful ; he was even going to seek a slapp, to break over 
 the dyke of his doubtings, &c. Now here is a price set, and an offer made, to him that 
 overcometh, to him that will mount up by Faith and Hope, and leap up in Christ's cha- 
 riot, and betide him life, betide him death, he will go throw : but they are cowards that 
 take a side gate, and lets the devil coup them in a gutter." — For more of this stuff see 
 also Christ and the Doves Heavenly Salutations, tvith their pleasant Coiference together, 
 or a Sermon preached before the Communion in Anwoth, by thatjloixier of the Church, Mr 
 Samuel Ruthebford, 4?o. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTI,AXD. 123 
 
 slied upon their own heads. This man, after lie hade most cruelly 
 destroyed his own nation, employing for his souldiers the barbarous 
 Irisli papists, who hade cruelly murdered two hundered thousand 
 innocent protestants some years before (some poor women in Scot- 
 land knew and noticed these very same men who hade murthered 
 then* husbands and children before their eyes in Ireland, and saAV 
 them receive the just reward of their cruelties when they were ta- 
 ken prisoners at Philiphaugh, where Montrose was defeat,) and af- 
 ter he hade left the countrey for a time, returning to make a new 
 warre even in the instant when the king was agreeing Avitli the 
 states of Scotland, was at last defeat by Colonel Strachan, and taken 
 prisoner by INI'Laud of Assin, who sent him to Edinburgh to the 
 parUament then sitting. That parUament condemned him to a la- 
 mentable deatli, and after his death fixed his head upon the top of 
 the Tolbooth, burying his body ignominiously in the Borrowmoore, 
 under the gibbet.* Now this parliament resolved to repair his ho- 
 
 • Montrose, after his last defeat, suffered such extremity of hunger while wandering 
 among the hills, that he was compelled to devour his gloves, ( Commons War of England, 
 p. 100.) . He was betrayed by MacLeod of Assint to General Lesly for four hundred 
 bolls of meal, (Maci.eod's Indictment, Criminal Records, 1674',) and brought into Edin- 
 burgh in the most ignominious manner, having many wounds upon lum, u7(/t7;, ac- 
 cording to the Diurnal, might have been cured. The covenanted clergy laboured to in- 
 vent new torments both bodily and spiritual for this signal malignant, who had eaten a 
 live toad in his infancy, (Staggering State,) and afterwards shed so much venom on the- 
 followers of the good cause. He was guarded in prison by Major Weir, afterwards 
 burnt for sorcery and many abominable crimes, who reviled him with despiteful lan- 
 guage, in which he possessed a wonderful fluency, and continually smoked tobacco, 
 which Montrose was known to abhor, (Ravaillac Redivivus.) " At his trial, he came 
 into the house apparrelled in a very rich suit, thick overlaid with costly lace, and over 
 it a scarlet rocket, and on his head a beaver hat with a very rich hat-band upon it, with 
 carnation silk stockings, garters, and roses, with other habiliments suitable ; all which 
 
 he had caused to be made for him immediately upon his coming to Edinburgh, as if he 
 
 5 
 
I'^l KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 iiour ; r,o he was fiist unbiiried, and then again buried in the Higlj 
 Church of Edinburgh, with all pomp and honour, the king's com- 
 mission, by virtue of which he hade done so much mischief, being 
 carried before him to his grave. There was a scaffold raised for ta- 
 king down his head with safety, and no small reverence was given 
 
 liad been going rather about some festival tlian tragical affair." Account of the Condemn 
 ■nation and Execution of the Marquis of Montrose, — The following letter, written by 
 IVTontrose's deadly foe, Argyle, on the day of his rival's barbarous murder, is printed 
 from the original in the possession of the Marquis of Lothian. It is extremely charac- 
 teristick, and seems calculated to inspire Charles the Second with suspicions of Mon- 
 trose's fidelity. The address is to Lord Lothian, Argyle's nephew, and subsequently 
 his son-in-law. 
 
 " My nobil Lord, 
 " I am much in your lordship's debt, for I had many long letters from your lordship 
 without returne, and yet I hope your lordship will censure me favourablie if I mak not 
 amends at this tym, for wee faill not in our ordinar way of long sitting, and it being 
 now leat, 1 confes I am wearie, for all last night my wyf was crying, who, blessed be 
 God, is saiflie brocht to bed of a dochter, whois birth day is remarkable in the tragick 
 end of James Grahame at this cros. He was warned to be spairing in speaking to the 
 king's disadvantage, or els he had donne it ; for befor the parliament, in his own justi- 
 fication, he said he had severall commissions from the king for all he did, yea, he had 
 particular orders ; and that leatle for cuming to the main land of Scotland. He got 
 sum resolution after he cam her how to go out of this world, but nothing at all how to 
 enter into ane other, not so muche as once humbling himself to pray at all on the scaf- 
 fold, nor saying any thing on it that he had not repeated many tyms before when the 
 ministers were with him. For what may concern the publick, I leave it to the publick 
 papers and Mr James Darrimpl's relation ; I houpe Mr Gillespie will satisfie you of 
 any prejudice can be conceived against particular men's cariag ; thair was muche splen 
 agains Mr James, and it went hard to get him returned to you ; the fear was, leist he 
 should give hard impressions of sum men's cariag, howsoever I end with Mr Pewik's 
 sentence at Newcastell, your lordship knows it. I houpe to waite upon your lordship 
 if once you wer in Scotland, I dar say the sooner the better; let this serve for my Lord 
 Libberton, to whom I haive no new thing to say. Your lordship knows how honest a 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAXn. 12') 
 
 to that relict ;* there's some boAving, some kneeling, some kissing 
 it, and so it was bvu-ied with the body. But it was observed in the 
 meantime that the Lord of Gorthie, the gentleman who tooke his 
 
 man the bearer is, so if j-our lordship can ingadg him in sum place about the king, it 
 cannot be repented. 
 
 " I am your lordship's affectionat uncle and servant, 
 
 " Argyll. 
 " Edin. 22o? May." 
 
 Montrose, a man of gallantry as well as a soldier, (his letters from many ladies, 
 " flourished, says Bishop Guthrie, with Arcadian compliments," were made public by 
 Lord Sinclair, sent to explore his cabinet for more important documents,) had exerci- 
 sed his genius in poetical composition ; and after condemnation he possessed sufficient 
 presence of mind to write a few verses, which a late ingenious historian treats with as 
 much severity as if the marquis had passed them off as a translation from the Gaelic. 
 But Hume, a man of delicate taste, commends this trifle ; and Voltaire, whose judge- 
 ment in such affairs is still more to be respected, says, *' Ce brave homme dit a ses 
 juges, qu'il n'etait fache que de n'avoir pas assez de membres pour t-tre attaches 
 a toutes les portes des villes de I'Europe, comme des monumens de sa fidelite pour 
 son roi. II mit meme cette pensee en assez heaux vers, en allant au supplice." — Vol- 
 taire continues, " C'etait un des plus agreables esprits qui cultivassant alors les lettres, 
 ct I'ame la plus heroique qui fCit dans les trois Royaumes." — Essay sur I'Hisloire 
 Generale. 
 
 * After the execution of Montrose, Lady Napier, the wife of his near relation and in- 
 timate friend, purchased his heart at a great price, and enshrined it in an urn, which 
 is represented in her portrait, belonging to Lord Napier. The fashion of preser- 
 ving such relics, however, did not belong entirely to the loyal party, but subsequently 
 infected the presbyterians themselves, if we are to credit a volume of IMS. poems, 
 written during the reigns of Charles the Second and his brother, one of which cele- 
 brates a certain Mrs Mary Creighton, who wore a Cameronian tooth as a relic : — 
 
 " She showed to me a box wherein lay hid 
 The pictures of Cargill and Mr Kid ; 
 A splinter of the tree on which they're slain | 
 A double inch of Major Weir's best cane; 
 
126 KIRKTOM'S HISTORY OF 
 
 head fi-om the iron-spyke upon which it was fixt, died within some 
 few hours, and the Laird of Pitcurre, one of INIontrose's gi-eat adhe- 
 rents, after he hade drunk liberally in the Advocate's house that same 
 day, went to bed in health, but was taken up stark dead to-moiTOW 
 morning ; and such was the testimony of honour heaven was plea- 
 sed to alloAv INIontrose's pompuous funerals. This was done some 
 few dayes before the death of the jNIarquesse of Ai-gyle. 
 
 I cannot omit one example of the madness of the people at that 
 time. Upon the first 29th of INIay, 1661, the town of Lithgow, 
 Robert Mill being chief author, and Mr James llamsey (who after- 
 w^ard ascended the height of the pitifull bishojjrick of Dumblane) 
 being minister, after they hade filled their streets with bonfires very 
 tlirong, and made their crosse run wine, added also this ridiculous 
 pageant : They framed ane arch upon four pillars, and upon one 
 side the picture of ane old hagge Avith the Covenant in her hand, 
 and this inscription above : A glorious Reformation. On the 
 other side of the arch was a Avliigge with the Remonstrance in his 
 hand, with this inscription, No Association with Malignants. 
 On the other side w^as the Committee of Estates, with this inscrip- 
 tion, Ane Act for delivering vv the King. On the fourth 
 side was the Commission of the Kirk, Avith this inscription. The 
 Act of the West Kirk. On the top of the arch stood the De- 
 
 Rathillet's sword beat down to table knife, 
 Wliich took at Magus Muir a bishop's life ; 
 The worthy Welch's spectacles, who saw 
 That windle straws would fight against the law ; 
 The windle straws were stoutest of the two, 
 They stood their ground, away the Prophet flew. 
 And lists of all the prophets names were seen 
 At Bothwell-bridge, Aird-moss, and RuUion green." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 127 
 
 vil, with this inscription. Stand to the Cause. In the midst of 
 the arch was a litany : 
 
 From Covenants with uplifted hands, 
 From Remonstrators with associate bands. 
 From such Committees as govern'd this nation, 
 From Church Commissioners and their protestation, 
 Good Lord dehver us. 
 
 They hade also the picture of Rebellion in religious habit, with 
 the book Lex Rex in one hand, and the causes of God's Avrath in 
 the other, and this in midst of rocks, and reels, and kirk stools, logs 
 of wood, and spurs, and coa' enants, acts of assembly, protestations, 
 with this inscription. Rebellion is the Mother of Witch- 
 craft. Then after the minister hade sanctified the debauch with 
 a goodly prayer, and while they were drinking the king's health, 
 they put fire to the whole frame, which quickly tiu-ned it to ashes. 
 Lastly, in place of this there appeared a table supported by four 
 Angels with a sonnet to the king's praise, and so with drunkenness 
 enough they concluded the day. This was not required by any 
 law, but they would outrun the law. All these men some twelve 
 years before hade renewed the covenant with upUfted hands, but 
 single perjury could not satisfie them, except they boasted in their 
 sin with a triumph. 
 
1 'IS KIUKTON'S HISTORY Ol 
 
 LIB. IV. 
 
 middleton's second session of parliament. 
 
 The king hade been crowned at Westminster on Aprile 23d, St 
 George's day, (to oblidge that amorons chimerical saint to be propi- 
 tious to England,) and was aiTayed with glory and pomp enough. 
 They who wrote his history will teU you, he made his pleasure his 
 business, and that at length he came to that pass, that it was thought 
 nothing uncivil for the peers of England to talk of his popish misses 
 in their house of parliament even befoi'e the king's face, nor for the 
 commons to ninnber his bastards in their house, and that with a 
 scoffe. Alwayes after Middleton hade finished his first session of 
 parliament, to court he posts, with als much joy as ever he felt when 
 he returned victor from the field, having done more by his commis- 
 sion than ever he hade done by his sword ; and a welcome man you 
 may believe he Avas to his majesty, whom he told, he had now peo- 
 pled Scotland with a new generation of subjects, als obsequious as 
 ever his and their fathers had been rebellious. Welcome also he 
 was to the bishops of England, having acquired one national church 
 more among all the reformed to bear them company in their way 
 to heaven. Indeed he carried more high while he was iji Scotland 
 than ever any of our 108 sober limited kings hade done ; and some- 
 thing of his lieight of spuit he I'etained even after his return to 
 England, and that large as much to his hurt as his advantage. But 
 now the king's darling design of establishing bishops waf. ripe, and 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 129 
 
 ready to bring forth ; forasmuch as the parliament hade given the 
 king power to estabUsli what forme of church government he 
 thought good ; so tlie first consultation at court was not indeed 
 what to doe, (for bishops was the end and aim,) but how to doe it, 
 and by what method to proceed with best advantage ; and in this 
 they were secure enough, for IMiddleton assured them they needed 
 not fear opposition. Yet tho' no publick opposition was made to 
 the introduction of episcopacy, great was the grief and fear among 
 the people of Scotland vipon that occasion. Episcopacy hade never 
 been popular in Scotland, not in the dayes of ancient ignorance ; 
 but since the Reformation, in regarde Scotland was reformed by a 
 sort of missionaries from Geneva, bishops were alwayes looked at 
 with a frown. Indeed the people of Scotland (leaving the argu- 
 ments from Scripture and the testimonies of Jerom to schollars) 
 -used much to insist upon a sort of popular concrete arguments. 
 The bishops hade almost all been both patrones of sin and paterns 
 of profaneness ; and if a man in repute turned bishop, it was ob- 
 served he changed both frame and practise to the worse ; and, as 
 Beza had foretold, bishops Avould introduce epicurisme and atheism ; 
 so Scotland found godliness withered imdcr their shaddoAv, and 
 wickedness overspread the land fii'st and last. They had a sthif for 
 no man but a puritan or a presbyterian ; beside, they knew well 
 that the bishops, having perjured themselves most solemnly, would 
 do as the fallen Angels did, — endeavour to corrupt mankind by 
 involving all Scotland in their own sin, that so their personal sin 
 might be excuseable as being the sin of the times. They hade also 
 seen a curse attend almost aU the bishops' persons and families, and 
 all that were active to introduce them were plagued as these that 
 rebuUt Jericho, and such as these they loved not. It was also found 
 by experience, that as episcopacy is a branch of popery, so it led 
 alwayes to the root, and therefore bishops were looked at as the 
 
 R 
 
1^0 kirkton's history 0£ 
 
 papists harbingers. So the body of the people of Scotland were 
 heart enemies to bishops ; and even those of the ministry who joyn- 
 ed with the bishops in their pretended synods and presbyteries, pro- 
 tested themselves enemies to episcopacy, protesting they believed 
 Avhat they did might well consist with the principles of a presbyte- 
 rian, and they kept themselves in place only that they might be in 
 condition to oppose the bishops' course, Avhich they alleadged the 
 ministers turned out could not so well doe.* However, the kins 
 
 * " Presbytery and prelacy will never agree, because prelacy hath invented a new 
 way of worshipping God by a set form of prayer, which they call, The Book of Cora. 
 iTion Prayer. Truly they have given it a right name, for it is but a common prayer 
 indeed ; it is not the book of spiritual prayers, so it cannot be acceptable to God, who 
 only must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Of all the books in the world, it is the 
 most useless and unreasonable, to think that a book can teach us to pray to God ; 
 whereas it is the office of Christ, as a Prophet, to teach ; we need not employ Christ 
 when we have a book to teach us. O wliat can ail prelacy at precious Christ, that they 
 strike so hard to rob him of his glorious titles ! The king must have one, the bishop 
 another, the service-book a third. O unreasonable, to print prayers I Prayer does not 
 consist in words, Rom. viii. 26. The Spirit helpeth our infirmities, with sighs and groans 
 which cannot be uttered. Great Mr Samuel Rutherfoord says, they cannot print sighs 
 and groans ; so then printed prayers are but toothless and pithless. John Knox, wri- 
 ting to a gentlewoman, exhorts her to beware of the service-book, for it was but the 
 dregs of popery. It is a most unreasonable book, if we will consider the relation God 
 comes under to his people ; he is their Husband, their Father ; what, needs the wife a 
 book to learn her how to speak to her husband ? or the child a book to speak to his 
 father ? The intimacy that is betwixt them produces converse ; but it seems the pre- 
 lates and their companions have little intimacy with Christ. For, as a godly minister 
 said, they speak to him as if they had never spoken to him all their days before. Think 
 they, by their printed prayers, to compliment Christ out of his rights ? Many sweet 
 liour the people of God enjoys with him without a prayer-book. Where got Jacob his 
 prayer-book when he wrestled all night and prevailed .' To be sure, printed prayers 
 cannot be called wrestling, so neither can they prevail. What if a man going to a phy- 
 sician with a distressed and distempered body, one meets him and says, I will give you 
 a book that will teach you how to make your distemper known to the doctor ? O I 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAXD. 131 
 
 (even as his fathers) was resolute for bishops, notwithstandincr his 
 oath to the contrair. He kneAv well bishops would never be re- 
 provers of the court, and the first article of their catechism was non- 
 resistance. They were men of that discretion as to dissemble great 
 men's faults, and not so severe as the presbyterians. They were the 
 best tools for tyrannic in the world ; for, doe a king what he would, 
 their daily instruction was, kings could doe no wi-ong, and that none 
 might put forth a hand against the Lord's anointed and be in- 
 
 says the man, that is unreasonable. I know my trouble better than all the books in 
 the world can tell me : they need not want a prayer-book that have an ill heart. So 
 is this new invented way of worship, the presbyterians will never agree with prelacy ; 
 because it is not of God's appointment ; for in all the Scripture we never read of a 
 prayer-book. Now, is this, whether is presbytery or prelacy rightest, to serve God by 
 a form or in spirit ? 
 
 " Presbytery will never agree with prelacy ; because they have invented some holy- 
 days, no where warranted in all the Scripture, such as the 25th of December, which 
 they call Yule-day, or Christmas, on which day, they say, Christ was born : therefore, 
 in testimony of their thankfulness, they will eat the best meat, and drink the best drink 
 that can be had, and in so doing they think they put respect on Christ's birth day. 
 But the truth is, the observation of this day is rather to please their greedy appetite, 
 than any thankfulness for his birth ; but that religion goes best down that consists in 
 worldly honours and sensual pleasures. O souls I do you think that your eating will 
 be pleasing to him, when you are using his good creatures to excess ? But how do they 
 know that he was born on this day ? Or, where have you any express command for 
 the observation of it in such a manner ? Would you know the original of Yule-day ? 
 In the year 1521, in the time when popery overspread these lands, there was one Ju- 
 lius Caesar, to whom this day was kept in memory of him ; and therefore was called 
 Yule-day : but after this they thought fit to celebrate it to the honour of Christ's birth, 
 therefore it was called Christmas. Now, you see they have no other warrant for keep- 
 ing this day, than what the church of Rome has taught them. But some may say, 
 may we not eat good meat on that day as well as on other days ? Yes, you may ; for, 
 under the New Testament, all meats may be made use of for the support of nature, 
 all days are alike, but to eat that meat that is prepared for the superstitious observa- 
 tors of Yule-day (it being a sacrifice to an idol) is expressly forbidden, 1 Cor. viii. Now 
 
132 KIRKTON S HISTORY OF 
 
 nocent. The king knew also he should be sure of their vote in 
 parhament, desire what lie -would, and that they would plant a sort 
 of ministers which might instill principles of loyalty into the people 
 till they turned them fii'st slaves and then beggars. They were all 
 for the king's absolute powei*, and most of them for the universal 
 propriety, and to make the people believe the king was lord of aU 
 their goods without consent of parliament : And for these reasons, 
 and such as these, they were so much the darhngs of our kings, 
 that King James was wont to say, no bishop no king ; so bishops 
 the king would have at any rate. Mean tinie the king's character . 
 stood so high in the opinion and idolatrous affections of the misera- 
 ble people of Scotland, that a man might more safely blasphemed 
 Jesus Christ than derogate in the least from the glory of his per- 
 fections ; people would never believe he was to introduce bishops 
 till they were setled in their seat ; and there was a certain man 
 hade his tongue bored for saying the Duke of York was a papist, 
 which the priests at London would not believe upon his coronation 
 day ; and that day he went fost to masse, 14 of them choised for 
 their text Psalm 118. 22. making him the corner stone of the pro- 
 testant religion. As for King Charles, many a time did the mini- 
 
 tlie presbyterians will never agree with this : and, because they knew not Christ's par- 
 ticular birth-day, they will every day remember it with thankfulness, it being the bless- 
 cdest news that ever came to the world : therefore they will not be bound up to a 
 yearly, but a daily remembrance." — Memoirs, or Spiritual Exercises o/" Elizabeth 
 West, (a pious waiting-woman of Edinburgh,) written by her otvn hand. — N.B. She 
 was a wonderful runner after preachers, though she had " a load weight of corruption 
 bearing her down, like a draff-pock at her heels," and a great recorder of her own 
 experiences. One time, among many others, being weary of a sermon in the Tron 
 Kirk, a dog bit her leg most desperately, in which she saw the hand of Providence, 
 and could not but acknowledge, " righteous art thou, O Lord, in all thy procedure 
 against me." 
 
THE CHURCH Ol' SCOTLAND. 133 
 
 sters of Scotland (and even many godly men among them) give the 
 Lord liearty thanks that wee had a gTacious protestant king, though 
 Avithin a fe^v years he pubhshed it to the world, that he lived a se- 
 cret papist all his lite, and died a professed one, with the hostie in 
 his mouth. Alace ! that the world should be so ignorant of that 
 which concerns them so much. 
 
 As it is certain the king was in his heart for bishops, so no doubt 
 the design of settling them in Scotland was projected immediatly 
 upon his return ; for though he and the English bishops believed it 
 impossible to effectuate it in Scotland in regarde of the aversion the 
 nation hath alwayes shev/ed from that office, yet, being encouraged 
 by some of our Scottish lords, he listened to the offer with very 
 great delight. AVlien the lords went fu-st up to welcome the king, 
 there was ane occasional meeting of a good many of them, where 
 the question Avas debated what form of government the king should 
 establish in the church of Scotland. ]Middleton and Gicncairn were 
 resolute for bishops, promising they Avould both compose the church 
 and manadge it to the king's mind ; Lauderdale opposed it stifFely, 
 affirming the king should losse thereby the affectiones of the people 
 of Scotland, and that the bishops slioidd be so far from enlargeing 
 the king's power, they would prove a burdine too lieaAy for him to 
 bear ; and herein he proved als true a prophet as he A\'as a faitlifidi 
 friend to the king. Ahvayes then begane the discord betAvixt Lau- 
 derdale and jMiddleton, which ended not tiU JMiddleton was ruined ; 
 however, princes many times love flatterers better than friends, and 
 .so it was at this time. AVithin some few dayes Gicncairn came to 
 visit Lauderdale in his chamber, where resuming the late debate, 
 he told Lauderdale, that tho' the other day he hade declared him- 
 self for bishops, he desired not to be mistaken, for he was only for 
 a sort of sober moderate bishops, such as they were in the primitive 
 times, but not for the lordly prelats, such as were in Scotland be- 
 
134 KIRKTOX'S HI.STORY OF 
 
 fore. Lauderdale answered liim with ane oath, that since they hade 
 chosen bishops, bishops they shoidd have, higlier than any that ever 
 were in Scotland, and that he should find. But now Middleton 
 triumphed so on the successe of his first session of parliament, the 
 design was judged ripe to bring forth, as presently it did. The 
 method by which the king proceeded was this : first, by a procla- 
 mation of 10th of June, 1661, he declared, that forasmuch as the par- 
 liament hade, by then- act INIarch , referred the settlement of the 
 government to his will, therefore he would take care to establish 
 such a government as might best suite with monarchy and the 
 peace of the nation, and in the mean time allowes synods and pres- 
 by tries to continue in poAver till further order. So wee hade pres- 
 bytery depending upon supremacy ; but because this was only ane 
 external denomination, ministers took no notice of it, and acted as 
 formerly. But that you may know what a comfortable shaddow 
 the supremacy is to presbyteiy, by a new proclamation, dated Sept. 
 6, the king declares he will, and hereby does, restore the ancient 
 government by bishops, dischargeing all synods to meet any time 
 thereafter. So presbytery, by the allowance of the supremacy, last- 
 ed in Scotland near three months ; and this proclamation was the 
 first considerable act our new constitute secret councill of Scotland 
 (who were first constitute JuUy 13th before) did ever enact. And 
 now at length the dispute of the king's intentions came to ane end, 
 and the letter to Edinburgh presbytrie was cleared. 
 
 Then followed the time of soliciting at court for preferrment to these 
 who aspired to the bishopricks, where greatest fiiendship made the 
 bishop. In the mean time INIr Sharp makes (for the fashion) a visit to 
 jNIr Robert Douglass at his own house, where, after his preface, he 
 informed him it was the king's purpose to settle the church under 
 bishops, and that for respect to him his majesty was very desireous JNIr 
 Douglass would accept the archbishopric of St Andrews. Mr Don- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 13a 
 
 glass answered, he would have nothing to doe with it, (for in his pri- 
 vate conversation he used neither to harangue nor to dispute) ; Sharp 
 insisted and urged him ; JNIr Douglass answered as formerly, where- 
 upon Sharp arose and took leave. Mr Douglass convoyed him to 
 his gallery door ; and after he hade passed the door, INIr Douglass 
 called him back, and told him, James, (said he,) I see you will en- 
 gadge, I perceive you are clear, you will be bishop of St Andrews : 
 take it, and the cvu'se of God with it. So clapping him upon the 
 shoulder, he shutt his door upon him. Mean time, after the last 
 proclamation, our new-made councill discharged all the presbytries 
 of Scotland to ordain any ministers, choising rather to have the 
 people altogether improvided than to hazard the admission of one 
 who might perchance prove disaffected to episcopacy, and some 
 presbytries Avere called before our new councills, and severely 
 threatned for admitting expectants at that tune contrare to their 
 proclamation. 
 
 But that you may understand the disposition of our new bishops 
 the better, you must know a man may wonder whether it was 
 their clear light (which no man thought) or their gi-eat avarice 
 made them embrace ane office so odious and so dangerous. All the 
 bishopricks in ScotlaJid set together will not make 4000 lib. English 
 in ordinaiy years, and some of them are but trifles. The revenue 
 of the bishopricke of .^Vrgyle is ordinarly about 130 lib. English, 
 Dumblane about 120 ; so it would seem a weak tentation hes done 
 well enough with their strong corruption. Now the men the king- 
 named were, first, Mr James Sharp, of whom before, but something 
 is yet to be discovered many yeai-s after this ; he was for St An- 
 drews, the metropolitan. Mr Andrew FfairfouU, for Glasgow, a man 
 of good learning and neat expression, but was never taken for a man 
 either serious or sincere, and was, moreover, judged a man both 
 prophane and scandalous ; all the Merse talked of his amours with 
 
lod KIRKTOX'S HISTORY OF 
 
 Eroiiii, the fair wife of Polwart. Then came INIr Georsje Wish- 
 
 art, he was for Edinburgh, a man of learning, but who hade been 
 censured by the old covenanters at DuncelaAV ; he Avas a daily 
 dnmkard and ane infamous sweai'er, even upon the streets.* Mr 
 George Haliburton, for Dunkell, was a man of utterance, but who 
 hade made mm-e changes then old infamuons Eccebolius, and was 
 never thought shicere in any, he seemed to be so ingenious and 
 never was, you may guesse what savour was in that salt. Mr 
 Thomas Saintserf hade been formerly Bishop of Galloway, and was 
 deposed not only for the common errors of the bishops, but also for 
 erroneous doctrine ; but he was now by the king appointed for 
 Orknay, tlie better benefice.f IMr David INIitchell, once minister at 
 Edinburgh, but deposed for heresy, he was for Aberdeen. ]Mr 
 James Hamilton, presently minister at Camnethan, was appointed 
 for Galloway, a man only noticed for his warry time-serving, other- 
 wayes, a man of most contemptible parts. Mr Robert Wallace, a 
 relation of the Chancelour's, appointed for the Isles. Mr David 
 Fletcher, minister at JNIeh-ose, a man of many pious prefaces, but 
 who never missed ane occasion of embracing tiiis present world ; af- 
 ter he was made Bishop of Argyle, he continued minister at ISIel- 
 rose, because it hade a good stipend ; and yet he would boast of it 
 as if he hade been a man more spiritual then the rest of his breth- 
 ren, who preached none ; after he was made bishop, he never hade 
 almost one dayes peace because of sorrow and sickness. INIr Patrick 
 Forbes, the degenerate son of ane excellent father, Mr John For- 
 
 * Wishart had been chaplain to Montrose, and was guilty of writing, in elegant 
 Latin, that narrative of his exploits, which was suspended by a cord from the marquis's 
 neck (through the wretched spite of his enemies) during his execution. 
 
 •J- Burnet of Crimont, in a letter to Warriston, justifies the Bishop of Galloway as 
 more learned and more conscientious than any of those who were upon his excommu- 
 nication. — Memorials and Letters, S)-c. published by Lord Hailes. 
 
 4 
 
THE CHURCH OF SC0TI.AK1). 137 
 
 be.s, banished for holdinc^ the assembly at Aberdeen, he was ap- 
 pointed for Caithness. IMr David Sti'achan, because he was INIid- 
 dleton's minister, was made poor Bishop of Breichen. Mv John Pa- 
 terson was made Bishop of Rosse ; and ;Mr ^Murdoch M'Kenzie 
 was made Bishop of INIurray ; both men very inconsiderable, and 
 therefore obscure. JNIr Robert Leightoun, then principal of Edin- 
 burgh CoUedge, was made Bishop of Dumblane ; thus he choised 
 to demonstrate to the world avarice was not his principle, it being 
 the smallest revenue ; a man of good learning, excellent utterance, 
 and very grave abstract conversation, but almost altogether desti- 
 tute of a doctrinal principle, being almost indifferent among all the 
 professions that are called by the name of Christ ; and these were 
 the king's choise, at the request of a friend, to be the first Bishops 
 of Scotland. Four of these, Sharp, Ffairfoull, Hamilton, and Leigh- 
 ton, the king called up to London, that there they might receive 
 episcopal ordination, a flower not to be found in a Scottish gardine ; 
 so, by Doctor Sheldon, Bishop of London, and two or three suffra- 
 gans, they were solemnly consecrate. But fu'st there was a question 
 to be answered, and that was. Whether they were to be reordained 
 presbyters, yea or no ? Shai-p desired they might be excused, and 
 that their presbyterian ordination might be sustained. Episcopal 
 they could not have, and the fonner EngUsh bishops had sustained 
 Spotswood's presbyterian ordination in the year 1610 ; but Sheldon 
 was peremptory, either they must renunce their old presbyterian 
 ordination, or misse their expected episcopal coronation, so they 
 were content rather to deny themselves to be presbyters then not to 
 be received bishops ; and when they consented, Sheldon told Sharp 
 that was the Scottish fashion, to scruple at every thing and swallow 
 any thing. But with a gi'eat processe of change of vestments, of- 
 fices, prayers, bowing to the altar and kneeUng at the communion, 
 they were reordained presbyters and consecrated bishops both in 
 
i;js kirkton's history oi' 
 
 one day, and this was a preface to a flit episcopal banquet, and so 
 their work ended: This was done December 1661. 
 
 The first tiling done after the bishops' consecration, and for theu* 
 establishment, was a proclamation emitted by the councdl discharge- 
 ing all the presbyteries of Scotland to meet or exerce any jurisdiction 
 over the people of Scotland, inhibiting also all the people of Scotland 
 to OAvn, countenance, or obey any of them, and this with great threat- 
 ning ; this bare date January 2, 1662. When it came abroad, mini- 
 sters divided about it; the gi-eater part of presbyteries resolved to 
 give full obedience to it ; some, who desired to continue in their pos- 
 session, mett together, but foimd they covdd doe no bussinesse, and 
 the essay of a few was but taken for a vain shew by many ; so, by little 
 and little, the presbyteries of Scotland were whoUy deserted. It was 
 a time wherein men spent more of their thoughts upon apprehen- 
 sion of approaching suffering then upon dangerous undertakings ; 
 nor was there that spirit to be found amongst either ministers or 
 people that was necessary for such a work. About this time died 
 John Earle of Loudon, late Chancellor, and it was thought grief 
 was no small part of the cause of it ; he hade been a great actor in 
 the late Reformation, which exposed him very much to the king's 
 most bitter hattred, and the envy of the malignant party whom he 
 hade so much suppressed. He hade earnestly desired the king's re- 
 mission, and was alwayes peremptory refused ; and he knew his life 
 was at the king's mercy, as the whole nation lay imder the guilt of 
 treason by submitting to the English, and there was no indemnity 
 granted as yet, which made him whoUy despau- of life. He was 
 often heard to exhort his lady to pray fast that he might never see 
 the next session of parhament, else he would be sure to follow his 
 chiefe Argyle, and the Lord granted this request. He was a man 
 of excellent endouments, learning, wisdom, judgement, and cou- 
 rage ; he died a very godly death, and purged himself of his sins 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 139 
 
 by ingenious confession and hearty application of the blood of 
 Jesus. 
 
 INIiddleton was now merry at court, and bussie brooding over 
 his designs and hopes to advance himself in this next session of par- 
 Uament, as much as he fancied he hade obliedged his master in the 
 former ; he lookt at the former session as his seed-time, he and his 
 creatures hoped well the next should be their harvest ; meantime, 
 the quarrel betwixt him and Lauderdale encreased every day. 
 Little thing was done in Scotland by our nilers till, near the diet of 
 the parliament, they thought fitt to give a proof of their zeal for 
 the new bishops, which was to make ane example of terror in some 
 of the most considerable or most hated of the ministers in the west 
 countrey ; this they hoped should cudgel the rest of that ti'ibe 
 into humble submission to bishops to prevent personal suffering. 
 The ministers were, Mr John Carstares, INIr James Newsmith, JNIr 
 INIatthew IVIowat, Mr James Rowat, INIr James Vetch, JNIr Alexan- 
 der Blair, ]Mr William Adair, and INIr William FuUerton, (it seems 
 he has been past, for I find no mention of him in the act ;) IMr WA- 
 ham Adair took a separate course from his honest brethren, and so 
 saved himself, but ^vith very great offence. The other six were 
 brought before the chancellor, and then after they hade been suf- 
 ficiently reproved and threatned for their rebellious principles and 
 disloyal practices, in particular some late reflectiones found in their 
 sermons, they were commanded to stay in Edinburgh till the par- 
 liament should meet, and to answer before them. After the parlia- 
 ment were conveened, INIay they were brought before it, and 
 (to put then* whole affair together, though it was acted by parts) 
 hade for a try el of their honesty the oath of supremacy tendered to 
 them (but under the false name of the oath of aUeadgance,) and were 
 
 required to subscribe it as it stood in the act of parliament. They 
 
 6 
 
14(J kirkton's history of 
 
 took the paper into consideration, and, after some dayes serious de- 
 liberation, returned their answer in write, wherein they declared 
 they believed the king was supreme governour over all persons and 
 in all causes, not only civil, but ecclesiastick ; but that this power of 
 the kuig's is, in its own nature, only civil and extrinsick as to causes 
 ecclesiastick, and so they interpret the dark and dangerous clause in 
 the oath, but this was upon the matter to refiise it ; this they sub- 
 scribe and present. Our rulers intended either to make them ane 
 example of obedience or ane example of suffering ; and because they 
 refused to obey, and for satisfying the bisliops whom they must 
 serve, the brethren were instantly commanded to prison, three and 
 three in a chamber, to the great prejudice of their health, till they 
 were, by the parliament, banished the king's dominions. Afterward 
 the chancellor, upon second thoughts, being infoi-med it would be 
 to the dishonour of the parliament to banish them, upon a paper aU 
 reformed churches Avovdd approve, got them referred to the counciU, 
 by whom, upon September the tenth following, they were (as many 
 as hade been banished, for Mv Carstares being detained through 
 sickness Avhen the sentence was pronounced, was not present) libe- 
 rate from the punishment of exile, but strictly forbidden to exerce 
 their ministry at their charges, declaring their churches vacant, and 
 commanded to forsake them, and not to meddle with the preceed- 
 ing year's stipend ; and so ended this persecution, rather confirm- 
 uig than any way terrifying any whom the parUament purposed to 
 have tausrht with briars and thorns. 
 
 jSIiddleton was at this time as full of expectations as he was of 
 confidence ; he hade formerly foimd the parliament as pliant and 
 soft as wax to the seall, now he hopes to find his master as hberal 
 as he hade been officious ; but somewhat more must be done for 
 establishing our beloved bishops. Wee hade thu- bishops establish- 
 
THE CHURCH -OF SCOTLAND. 141 
 
 ed by the king's authority upon the foundation of his supremacy ; 
 but this Avas not enough, wee must now have them confirmed by 
 act of parliament. So the fu-st act they fall upon was, Act establish- 
 ing Bishops, wherein, after they have declared and explained the 
 king's supremacy at large, they doe redintegrate the estate of bi- 
 shops, restoring them to their ancient places and undoubted privi- 
 ledges in parliament, and to theu- other accustomed dignities, privi- 
 ledges, and jurisdictions, and to the exercise of the episcopal func- 
 tion, presidence in the church, power of ordination, inflicting of 
 censm-es, and aU other acts of discipline ; which office they are to 
 exerce Avith the advice of such of the clergy as they shall think fitt. 
 Thereafter they restore them to tlieir civil rights, possessions, patron- 
 ages, superiorities, and all their other emoluments, in most ample 
 manner. They were their OAvn carvers, for the act was drawn by 
 Bishop Sharp's advice, though some say they grumbled because 
 they got not all they reqviired ; however, whoso shall compare this 
 sett of bishops with the old bishops established in the year 1612, 
 shall find that these were but a sort of pigmeys, compared with pvir 
 new bishops ; for, fii-st, the presbyteries were standing judicatories, 
 useing the power of the keyes in the time of the former bishops ; 
 but in the time of the new bishops there was no shadow of church 
 power in Scotland, except what resided or flowed from the bishop 
 in person ; and as presbyteries were discharged before ever our ncAv 
 prelates entered upon their throne, so it was a considerable time, even 
 some years, before ever ministers were permitted to meet together, 
 so much as for the exercise of their ministerial gifts ; and Avhen 
 they fii-st mett, they were constitute a meeting for such and such 
 effects, by virtue of the bishop's commission allowing the ministers 
 of the precinct secluding the rviUng elders. Moreover, the fii-st bi- 
 shops were, m effect, allowed no more but a sort of negative vote, 
 
142 kirktom's history of 
 
 and gi'eat were the conflicts betwixt some stout presbyteries and 
 the encroaching bishops ; but the new bishops had not only a ne- 
 gative, but a positive A^ote, haAdng the full power of government 
 lodged upon their solitary person, their assistants being only their 
 arbitrary attendants, or shaddows. However, men said the bishops 
 grunibled because they were not reponed to all that the popish 
 bishops enjoyed. 
 
 At tliis very time the king married Katherine of Portugal, a 
 marriage that produced a great many disappointments and nothing 
 else. The king thought well to have secured his government in 
 his happy issue ; he never hade any by her, and so was disappouit- 
 ed. The queen thought to have been a glorious happy queen ; she 
 was so treated, that, within a very little time, she begged of her 
 gracious husband leave to return to her nunneiy where she hade 
 been bred. The King of Portugal expected great fi-iendship of his 
 brother-in-laAv, and he hade even as much friendshij) as our king 
 hade satisfaction in the marriage. Chancellor Hyde had provided 
 a barren woman to be queen, that the crown might devolve upon 
 his issue by his daughter the Dutchess of York. How this will 
 hold, God knows ; but I am sm'e he who now wears the croAvn is 
 none of Hyde's posterity. 
 
 About this time also happened ane accident upon which IVIiddle- 
 ton built both designs and hopes. The estate of the late INIarquesse 
 of Ai'gyle, forfavdted by the parliament, by the Scottish law falling 
 into the king's hand, was the morsell Middleton designed for his 
 owne mouth, trusting well that should be the king's reward of his 
 noble service ; he imagined also he might add the title of duke to 
 the marquesate, and so he should be at anchor for Tiches and ho- 
 nour ; but hearing, to his griefe, the marquesse his eldest son was 
 fau' for his father's estate, by his favour with the king and friend- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLxlKD. 143 
 
 fihip at court, he found that obstacle must be removed before he 
 shoidd compasse his design ; and the way he took was this. The 
 estate of the late IMarquesse of Huntley, formerly forfaulted by the 
 Scottish parliament, hade been given to the late Marquesse of Ar- 
 gyle, his brother-in-law, as being his greatest creditor, but with the 
 burdine of 400,000 merks of Himtley's debt. Now this parliament 
 thought good to restore Huntley to his estate free of burdine, and 
 leave the debt of Huntley's to be payed by the estate of Argyle, 
 when they heard the marquesse his son was m hopes of it. This 
 grieved the young nobleman very much ; he complained to Iris 
 friends, and, among the rest, signified his resentment in a letter to 
 the Lord DufFus, his brother-in-law. This letter was by INIiddleton 
 uitercepted, and because the young nobleman hade used some ex- 
 pressions which seemed to reflect upon those who hade been active 
 in this most prejudicial act of parliament, the parliament declare it 
 high ti-eason, though all that he said was, he hoped this cloud would 
 pass over, and some mens cheatings should be discovered. There- 
 after the parliament write to the king to send down the young 
 nobleman to answer for his letter, and then the parliament condemn 
 him as guilty of high-treason, referring only the time of his execu- 
 tion to the king's pleasure ; then the estate of Argyle came into 
 Middleton's prospect for the second time, though he missed it for 
 ever, for the young nobleman was pardoned by the procurement of 
 Lauderdale, INIiddleton's perpetual adversary ; but he continued a 
 while in prison, and then was liberate and possessed his fatlier's 
 estate, though only with the title^f earle. 
 
 The parliament was also pleased, at this time, to send a lybell of 
 treason to a good many of the protesting ministers both in the west 
 and m the south, but because of the constancy they found in the 
 first six ministers, whom they intended to have made examples, they 
 forebore to prosecute these ramisters at that time. But the next 
 
144 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 considerable act of parliament was upon the young ministers -who 
 hade entered to the ministry since the beginning of the year 1649, 
 when patronages hade been by laAv abohshed ; these they declared 
 to have hade no right to their stipends at any time since their ad- 
 mission to the ministiy, requireing them to obtain presentation 
 from the patron, and collation from their respective bishops, betwixt 
 and the 20th day of September next ; and in case he neglect so to 
 doe, then the church to be provided by patron and prelat according 
 to the new laws. INIany wondered that the old ministers who hade 
 promoted the two covenants, hade been at Duncelaw and INIarston- 
 INIoore in armes against the king, were graciously forborn, and these 
 innocent youths, who hade exerced their ministry under the con- 
 quering English, to whom they were alwayes opposite, (and some 
 of whom hade suffered for the king) should be by our parliament 
 made both the first and greatest svifferers under bisliops. Indeed, 
 many of the old ministers were permited to continue in their mi- 
 nistry, (even tho' non-conforme) and to die in thek manse, Avhen the 
 poor young men were not only outted off their ministry, but tossed 
 like locusts ; but the father eat the sowr gTapes, and the childi-ens' 
 teeth were set on edge. It was thought strange that they who hade 
 acquired ane estate, or possessed a rent, whatever it was, were 
 judged lawfull possessors, and permitted to enjoy their purchase, 
 whatever it was ; only the young ministers who entered to their 
 ministry according to the rules of the scripture (where there are no 
 patrons to be found) and the acts of parliament in force for the time, 
 approven by the king and three estates, should be judged mtruders 
 or robers ; but the true reason of this was, our bishops believed the 
 young men would make the weakest opposition, and it may be 
 make that excuse which some made, that they hade not been per- 
 sonally active in the late alterations ; and herein they were much 
 mistaken, for where there was ane old man that suffered for op- 
 
THE CHTJRCH OF SCOTLAND. 145 
 
 posing bishops, tliere were three young men that suffered for that 
 cause ; but so it uses to be, persecutors are many times as far from 
 Ansdom as they are from justice. 
 
 The next considerable act was ane act ordaining all such as should 
 exercise any office or trust in Scotland, to subscribe the declaration, 
 wherein, fii-st, they declare it vmlawfuU for subjects, under any pre- 
 tence whatsoever, to enter into leagues or covenants, or to take up 
 armes against the king, or any commissionate by him ; and that the 
 National Covenant, (as explained in the year 1638, and thereafter) 
 also the Solemn League and Covenant, are in themselves unlawfiill 
 oaths ; and that their lyes no obligation on the subscriber fi-om any of 
 these oathes. It was enough with all nations to break ane oath if 
 they judged it unlawful! ; but our governours in Scotland can never 
 doe enough against these oathes. First, they declare them illegal 
 and against law, this was negative ; and although they hade in this 
 second session of parliament, in a preceeding act, condemned them 
 the second time, yet this is not enoxigh, except it be done in a for- 
 mal instrimient by itself, this declaration ; and, last of aU, it came 
 to be not only renunced by the declaration, but foresworn by the 
 test, that one oath might expell another. It was a sad thing to 
 hear the same man who hade pressed and commended the Covenant 
 as the great duty of the times, and a mode of the covenant of grace, 
 the next day call it rebellion and sin ; and this made so many of the 
 poor people of Scotland turn wild and abhorre the ministry, and 
 atheists to abhorre preaching ; and the oath of supremacy, the de- 
 claration, and the test, were the great tentations of Scotland, and, 
 in some respect, hke David's lines upon the INIoabites, (though in 
 another sense) two lynes to put to death, and Avith one lyne to 
 keep alive. 
 
 The last considerable act in this session was the much-desired 
 Act of Oblivion and Indemnity, wherein his majesty pardons all 
 
 T 
 
146 KIRKTON'S HISTOUY OF 
 
 the subjects of Scotland for any thing done by them in the time 
 of the late warrs or troubles upon the public account, but with 
 divers exceptiones, particularly two, one called the Act of Fynes, 
 the other the Act of BiUeting. In the Act of Fynes, the parlia- 
 ment, by a committee appointed for the purpose (who were ob- 
 liedged not to discover any name tiU the act was past) fyned 
 about 7 or 800, of whom they leavied a vast sume, which Mid- 
 dleton hoped well to distribute amongst his dependents and retain- 
 ers for a sort of druik-money, but hade never the power to com- 
 mand one farthing of it, either for himselfe or liis friends. But 
 amongst these who were fined, fii-st there were some found who 
 were in their graves, as Thomas Scot in Selkrige ; next, some were 
 on the nurse's breast, as Andrew Scot of ; and some who 
 
 could not be foimd in Scotland, because they hade never been in the 
 world ; several who lived out of the poor's box ; and Robert Ker of 
 Graden (because ane honest man, a merchant in Kelso, refused to 
 afford him a suite of cloaths upon trust, for he doubted payment) 
 caused the man to be fyned in six hundred merks Scots for a noble 
 revenge. But this was the prudence and justice of poor Scotland 
 at that time, and by this you may judge what a directory for 
 conscience our Scottish lawes were. However, these fynes were 
 aU exacted by miUtary execution and quartering of troupers, 
 where they hade any hopes any thing could be found, ^lany 
 ministers were once named, but of that they were afterward asha- 
 med ; it may be they thought it would be hard to raise fynes 
 where there was no money, or to quarter upon a man that hade 
 not a house, as it was with the ministers within a little time. 
 
 Another exception in the indemnity was the famous Act of Bil- 
 leting, wherein the parliament, by a billet from every member, con- 
 cluded twelve persons incapable of office or employment in Scot- 
 land ; and one was so jocund in his biUet, he named twelve of the 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 147 
 
 bishops, that you may know how serious they were in it. Ahvayes 
 this act was Middleton's engyne, by which he hoped well to have 
 blowen Lauderdale, his competitor, out of court and favour ; but it 
 occasioned such a reckoning betAvixt king and parliament as was 
 never in Scotland before. The king aUeadged he was misinformed 
 by the parliament, which made him consent to it ; the parliament 
 alleadging they wei'e disappointed by the king, who first command- 
 ed it and then discharged it. Certain it is, the king once gave 
 order for it, and thereafter disclaimed and reduced it : But it was 
 believed, hade Middleton kept his court and Lauderdale fallen, the 
 billeting had stood (Lauderdale being the chief man the jiarliament 
 hade incapacitate,) and the authority of the act depended upon the 
 event of the combat betwixt them two ; and how that controversie 
 was manadged wee shall shew hereafter. But jifter this act was 
 past, Middleton thought he hade wrought a noble exploit, having 
 so much enlarged the king's power, and secured the bishops both 
 to flatter and support him : So he adjourned the parliament till 
 May 20th, in the year 1663. About this time happened the Eng- 
 lish Saint Bartholomew, even upon the 24th of August. All the 
 ministers of England who ^vould not conform to the alterations in 
 the church of England, both in government and ceremonies, were 
 by a severe proclamation forbide and discharged the exercise of their 
 ministry, upon which 3000 chvu-ches werc laid desolate in one day ; 
 and this the people of England compared with the king's promise 
 and declaration at Breda, wherein he promised liberty and protec- 
 tion to tender dissenting consciences. But now this tree of death, 
 episcopacy, is planted in the church of Scotland ; and as for the fmit 
 it produced, you may read the records of our councill, who were in 
 effect the bishops' journeymen, and for many years spent one day 
 ef the Aveek to serve the bishops and to destroy their opposits. 
 
148 KIEKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 There you may find imprisonments, fynes, scourgings, exile, tor- 
 ture, selling for slaves, scattering of poor families, night searches, 
 and afterward hanging and beheading ; for they used no other po- 
 hcy, by the bishops' counsell, but Pharaoh's policy to suppresse 
 Israel, and it hade the same effect, for the more their enemies op- 
 pressed them the more they multiplied. And now the first fruites 
 of the tree were upon the 16th of September. The commissioner 
 and the counciU call before them Mr James Hamilton, Mr John 
 Smith, and INIr George Hutcheson, requireing them to engadge for 
 submission to the bishops, which they refusing, the counciU by ane 
 act command the magistrates of Edinburgh to make intimation to 
 aU the ministers within the city, that if, betwixt and the first of Oc- 
 tober next, they gave not satisfaction to the bishop for owning the 
 o-overnmcnt and concurring in discipline, they shall remove them- 
 selves and their families out of the city at JNIartinmas next, and re- 
 side elswhere. All of thom, JMr Robert Douglass, IMr James Ha- 
 milton, Mr John Smith, jMr George Hutcheson, INIr Thomas Gar- 
 van, jNIr John Stirling, obeyed and removed ; IMr Robert Traile 
 hade withdrawn before ; only one, INIr Robert Lourie, kept his 
 benefice, and changed his profession ; him the common people call- 
 ed the nest egge ; but afterward he came to be the sorrie Bishop of 
 Briechen, which he enjoyed not long, and disowned when he died, 
 desireing the bellman to design him minister, but not bishop, and 
 so he left the stage. 
 
 Now IVIiddleton was at leisure to divert himself, and therefore 
 he will make a progresse into the west countrey. But first he dis- 
 patches Sir George INI'Kenzie of Tarbett to court to agent the bil- 
 leting business, and if possible to pull down Lauderdale, and then 
 he takes his journey. He hade alwayes at hand a quorum of the 
 councill, if any occasion happened for them ; but such a rant as he 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAXD. 149 
 
 made in that progresse was never known in Scotland before or af- 
 ter. They who hade a mind to entertain him agreeably, hade not 
 oidy their dining room for eating, but their drinking room for suil- 
 ling, their spueing room for vomiting, and their sleeping room when 
 men hade lost their senses. AVhen he came to Glasgow he was en- 
 tertained by Bishop Fau-foull with a very sad complaint, that, not- 
 withstanding the act of parliament, never a young minister hade 
 acknowledged or owned him for a bishop, and that he hade onlv 
 the hatred that foUowes a bishop, but not the power that belongs 
 to one ; so it would be necessary they shovJd either in their pru- 
 dence find a more effectual expedient, or otherwayes bishops would 
 be only ciphers. INIiddleton desired to know what overture he 
 would make. The bishop answered, that if the councill would 
 make a peremptorie act and proclamation, banishing all the youno- 
 ministers from their houses, paroches, and the boimds of their re- 
 spective presbytries betwixt and the first of November next, that 
 would make them all run to the bishops, assureing the commissionei- 
 there would not be ten men among them all would losse their sti- 
 pend in the cause. At his desire the councill is conveened October 
 4th, and because it was ane extraordinary one, I shall give their names. 
 There were present IMiddlcton, commissioner, Glencairn, chancellor, 
 Duke Hamilton, INIontrose, JMorton, Eglinton, Lithgo^v, Callendar, 
 Newburgh, Sinclair, Sir James Lockhart of Lee, and Blaclihall ; 
 and the report was, being conveened at Glasgow, there was never 
 a man among them but he was drunk at the time, except only Lee. 
 But when they were sett, the commissioner propounds the case and 
 the bishop's overture, which all approve except the Lord Lee. He 
 told them they would all be mistaken ; that proclamation would 
 only lay the countrey desolate, and increase the hatred to bishops, 
 and confusions among the people ; and that they would find the 
 young ministers would svifFer more than losse of stipend before they 
 
 10 
 
150 KlUKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 would acknowledge bishops ; and both sides pawned the reputation 
 of their judgement upon the successe of the proclamation. How- 
 ever the act past, and is published at all the mercate crosses in Scot- 
 land. The commissioner was so high upon it, that because he would 
 use authority, it ^vas made a clause in the act and proclamatioii, that 
 none of the young ministers shoidd dare preach after the first day of 
 October ; and because he heard Mr John Inglis, minister of Hamil- 
 ton, hade been so bold as to preach upon the fifth, INIiddleton swore 
 deeply, hade it not been for respect to Duke Hamilton, he should have 
 hanged him before his own door. But when he heard what a goodly 
 effect the act hade up and down Scotland, and that the countrey was 
 laid waste, the people were turned desperate, and that which they 
 hade done was not only gi-ievous to the coiuitrey, but very offensive 
 to their own friends, then they began to look upon one another as 
 people who wander in a wildernesse use to doe ; no man in Scotland 
 was more dissatisfied then Bishop Sharp, Avho complained of Fair- 
 foull, and said his foUy hade ruined them. However, of the 900 
 ministers in Scotland, by this act 300 were turned out, and left not 
 their congregations as the curats did in the year 1689, when they 
 were obliedged and engadged upon oath by their congregations to 
 get them gone, and never to return. I believe there was never svich a 
 sad Sabbath in Scotland, as when the poor persecuted ministers took 
 leave of their people. It did not content the congregation to weep 
 all of them, but they howled with a loud voice, weeping with the 
 Aveeping of Jazer, as when a beseiged city is sackt.* Then Middle- 
 ton began to curse and swear (as he spared not) what would these 
 
 * While fanaticism prevailed in Scotland, it was customary to give free vent to all 
 the pious feelings, and to practise every grimace of hypocrisy, during the public cele- 
 bration of divine worship. " l^th Oct. 1650. In Edinburgh and other places the 
 Scots come to hear our ministers, and they make such a groaning noyse in the time of 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 151 
 
 mad fellows doe ? he kiiew very well many of them hade not a stock 
 covdd maintain their poor families for six moneth ; and that was 
 very true, but he understood not they resolved to live by faith, as 
 sufferers use to doe. 
 
 When the ministers left their paroches the question was stated 
 to their consciences, Whither they shall sin in going to the bishop 
 to receive collation, or suffer and goe into exile in their own 
 coxmtrey ? They judged it best not to choose the first, for many 
 reasons ; first, they knew it was impossible for them to main- 
 tain their post against a persecuting state, and as for the bene- 
 fite of the people for some few dayes, before force should come, it 
 would not compense the losse, the ministers total destruction or 
 exile ; besides, because every preaching after October first was pro- 
 claimed a seditious conventicle, people forbore to come to church 
 these few dayes ministers preached after the proclamation. Next, 
 no man doubted the magistrate hade power over ministers' persons 
 and families, and might as well banish as imprison or execute ; and 
 this proclamation was such. JNIoreover, at that time the honest 
 people encouraged their ministers to enter upon the course of suf- 
 fering, and were so far from being dissatisfied with them, that they 
 praised God for their honesty and constancy. Many in Scotland 
 rejoyced to see their ministers give that proof of their sincerity, and 
 many longed for it ; for there were some v/ho affirmed, not 20 mi- 
 nisters in Scotland would losse their stipends for refusing to sitt 
 with a bishop. They hade the example of all the ministers in suf- 
 fering churches, and the late practise of the ministers of England, 
 
 prayers as I never saw, as if they were extraordinarily affected therewith ; but it seems 
 it is the custom of the people here to do soe, by a form and custom that they have 
 used." — Letter Jrom an Englishman at Edinburgh, printed in the Diurnal. 
 
I -i':- KIEKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 who were commended for forbearing tiieir ministiy, wTiich was di- 
 rectly discharged in England, whereas in Scotland it was biit dis- 
 charged by consequence. And certain it is, hade the ministers con- 
 tinued preaching, the people should have suspected them to have 
 been at a secret peace with the bishops, as they did with some few 
 who stayed a short while after the rest. Lastly, hade they stayed 
 tdl they hade been turned out forcebly one by one, and their places 
 planted immediatly as Bishop Sharp designed, the change hade never 
 been so sensible, nor the opposition to bishops so considerable; where- 
 as Providence made the course ministers took the fii-st act of clear 
 opposition to that course, by the alienation it made upon the people, 
 and the break it made upon the countrey, the bishops and aU their 
 might was never able to heal ; yet, such was the weakness of the 
 people, that many of them began to censure Avhat they hade for- 
 merly approven, and the ministers' bitter suffering turned with some 
 rather into offence, then ane edifjdng example. Such was the cloud 
 upon us at that time, ignorance, scrupulosity, and censure, being 
 frequently conjoyned in our sad experience.* 
 
 Now JNIiddleton, after he hade made his prodigious progresse 
 through the west, (and the report went, that at Air his company 
 drank the devil's health at the crosse in the night time,) returns to 
 Edinburgh to his post ; and tho' all men were convinced they hade 
 made a false step in then* proclamation at Glasgow, yet he and his 
 councill judged it fitt to doe more, and therefore perceiving the 
 
 * " You that are people of God, be not too forward upon suffering, except ye be sure 
 that He call you to it : O, saith Peter, Master, I will die for thee. Peter was too for- 
 ward : Stay man, says Christ, till once I bid thee ; and I trow Peter got the brajd of 
 his back, to learn him more wit in the time to come." — Sermon, by the Rev, Alexan- 
 der Peden. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, 153 
 
 party to be obstinate, to destroy if they could not terrific. So thev 
 call before them Mr John Livingston, minister at Ancrum ; and, first, 
 Glencairn, upbraiding him with his rebellious principles and prac- 
 tises, asks him if he hade preached upon the 29th day of May last ? 
 He answered he hade, for it was his ordinary week dayes sermon. 
 Then the chancellor askt if he hade or would engadge to keep that 
 day afterward ? which he desired they would forbear to presse. Then 
 they told him he appeared to be a disloyal person, and therefore be- 
 hooved to take the oath of alleadgeance, which he refused. Then 
 they desired him to take time and advise upon it ; this, he said, he 
 needed not, for he was clear and resolute ; upon which they instant- 
 ly banished him, obhedging him to subscribe a bond never to return 
 to his majesties dominions without licence, under the pain of death, 
 which sentence he was constrained to obey within some few weeks. 
 The same course they took with JNIr Robert Traile, JMr John Ne- 
 voy, minister at Newmills,* JMr James Gardner, minister at Sadie, (to 
 be ane example to the ministers of Argyle.) IMr John Brown, mini- 
 ster of Wamphray, (accused for reproving one of his neighbours who 
 hade complyed with the bishops.) and Mr John Cameron, who was 
 for necessary reasons forborne ; all the rest went into exile, and died 
 ill a strange land, except IMr Traill, who returned and died privatly 
 in Scotland, and IMr Gardner, who, through his tedious exile fallino; 
 
 * This was the Mr John Nave who instigated tlie massacre at Dunavertie, vide p. 
 ^■t. He spelt his name Neave. Wodrow says, " this excellent man was the Earl of 
 Lowdon's minister, and very mucli valued by his lordship, and therefore must be at- 
 tacked now : he was a person of very considerable parts, and bright piety. There is 
 a handsome paraphrase of his upon the Song of Solomon, in Latin verse, printed ; and 
 I have seen some accurate sermons of his upon Christ's temptations^ which I wish were 
 published. He obeyed the sentence, and died abroad." 
 
 U 
 
154 kirkton's histouy of 
 
 into melancholly distempers, adventured home and was by the state 
 overlookt. 
 
 About this time the king hearing of the unreasonableness of the 
 fynes, sent down a proclamation, whereby the payment of the fynes 
 was prorogate, for, by the Act of Fynes, the one-half of the fynes were 
 to be payed at Candlemass next, in the year 1663, but by this pro- 
 clamation it was continued for some time. INIiddleton would fain 
 have been at the fuigering the money, and therefore forbai'e to pub- 
 lish this proclamation, which highly offended the king, and was 
 much improven by Lauderdale to INIiddleton's disadvantage. The 
 last thing was done this year was the proclamation, Dec. 23, where- 
 in the coimcill, finfling they hade mistaken themselves at Glasgow . 
 in their rash act, allow all the ministers concerned in that act liberty," 
 (if their churches be not planted) to obtain presentations from the 
 patron, and collation from the bishop, at any time betwixt and the 
 first of February following, in the year 1663. But if these ministers 
 neglect this favour, then they command them to remove, not only 
 out of their own ^jaroches and presbyteries, but altogether out of 
 the diocy of St Andrews and Edinburgh, and that two of them shall 
 not reside in one paroch ; and as for these who reside in the diocie 
 of St Andrews or Edinbiu-gh, they are commanded to transport 
 themselves and their families to the north side of Tay, betwixt and 
 the first of INIai'ch. This proclamation was taken in that sense by 
 some, as if ministers hade been permitted to return to their charges 
 till the 1st of ]March, and so some did, but found they were mista- 
 ken ; and this was the first thing that made the people censure mi- 
 nisters leaving their parodies. About this time also Sir George 
 JNI'Kenzie returned from court, and brought with him a terrible 
 alaniie to Middleton, and that was, he believed his rival Lauder- 
 dale would Carrie the victory in the contest at court betwixt JMid- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 155 
 
 dleton and him. Upon this Middleton hastens out of Scotland to 
 court as fast as he can. It is reported, that as he passed Tweed a 
 poor countrey woman at Coldstream told him, since he hade been 
 so bussie to destroy their ministers, he should never have more 
 power in Scotland : fiom what spirit she spake I know not, but 
 then as she said, so it came to pass. 
 
156 KIRKTOX'S HISTORY OF 
 
 LIB. V. 
 
 KOTHESSE, HIS SESSION OF PARLIAMENT. 
 
 Now INIiddleton has left the stage of Scotland, upon which he 
 never acted more ; for, according to the countrey woman's predic- 
 tion, thither he never retmiied, except for one stolen start, wherein 
 he was as obscure as ever he hade been glorious. Nor was either 
 his presence or government desired, his behaviour being so fierce 
 and tyranncous, his designes vast, but built upon the ruines of his 
 countrey ; his commands were souldier-like, his ordinary, tlireatning ; 
 and for one instance, he hade most uncivilly threatned to kick the 
 Countesse of Kaithness with his foot, while she was sitting upon 
 her knees before him to beg her dead father Argyle's head to be 
 Ijuried* Alwayes to court he flees, and there he meets with cold 
 
 * " 1657. Sept. 22. — The Earle of Caithness married a daughter of the Marquesse of 
 ArgyUis, viz. Mary Carabell, his second daughter ; the mariage feast stood at Rose- 
 neath, the dwelHng-house of Argylle, (divers of Caithnes friends were not weill pleased 
 with this liis mariage,) her toucher was only twenty-two thousand pounds Scots."— 
 Lamont's Diary. — This lady, whose portrait is at Taymouth, possessed a great share 
 of beauty, and appears to have inherited a good deal of her father's talents, as many 
 letters of hers, which I have seen, are very remarkable for craft, and ingenuity in mi- 
 nor politicks. Her first husband, Lord Caithness, allowed his aifairs to fall into ex- 
 treme disorder, after which he was induced to make a disposition of his whole estates 
 and earldom, with the heritable jurisdictions and titles of honour, to Sir John Campbell 
 of Glenorchy, who took the burden of Caithness's debts upon himself. The earl died 
 at Thurso East in May, 1676, and Sir John, who then resided with him, got a patent 
 
THE CHUKCH OF SCOTLAND. 157 
 
 entertaiiiment ; his first Avelcome was a severe repremand from the 
 king for stopping the proclamation for prorogueing the payment of 
 the fynes. The king asked him if he believed he hade been sent to 
 
 creating himself Earl of Caithness ; and also married his widow. But Caithness's near- 
 est male heir disputed the titles, and a feud between the clans of Sinclair and Glenor- 
 chy commenced, in which Sir John, or Lord Caithness, behaved with extreme crueltj-, 
 under the odious warrant of fire and sword, then too easily obtained. ( Vide Fountain- 
 hall's Decisions.) At length the title of Caithness was awarded to the rightful claim- 
 ant, and Campbell received that of Breadalbane in lieu of it. As a curious trait of pri- 
 Tate negociation in the year 1661, some extracts from Instructions given by Georo-e, 
 sixth Earl of Caithness, (Glenorchy's predecessor in the title,) to the Laird of Plus- 
 cardin and Patrick Smythe of Draco, at London, are subjoined from the original MS. 
 The earl wished to resign all his lands into the king's hands for new infeftments ; and 
 also to obtain a ratification of his heritable sheriffship, concerning which there had been 
 some dispute. After stating these points at considerable length, he proceeds, " It' 
 you find ray Lord Lauderdale scruple at this particular of the heritable shcreffship, or 
 at any uther particular expresst in my signatur, all which are prejudicial! to none, but. 
 conteined in my predecessor's rights as said is, then ye ar to tak a prudentiall way with 
 his lordship, by bearing in upon him his relations to me, and how carefuU and observing 
 I resolve to be in all his lordship's interests and concernments ; and that notwithstand- 
 ing thereof you may tak upon you, that if his lordship will effectualiie befriend my in- 
 terest, and get his majestie's hand to my signatur, as it is drawn up, and purchase a 
 letter to the parliament (if sitting) or exchequer, from the king, desyring my gift to 
 pass, I will be content to give his lordship ane 100 pound sterlin, or two, befor my bu- 
 sines be undone ; bot in this ye wold be verrie circumspect by whom }'e mak this offer, 
 and upon their avertisement I sail pay the money. 
 
 " Yow are to salute my Lady Balcarras, [[this was the pious Countess of Balcarras, 
 the friend of Richard Baxter, afterwards the second wife of Lord Argyle,]] and delyver 
 my letter to her ladyship ; and informe her of my busines, to the efiFect she may speak 
 to the secretarie and her other friends upon my accompt ; and tak her advyce how to 
 manadge the offer of money to his lordship ; if ye think fitt, ye are to press the sub- 
 scryving of my signatur with all diligence, and (if obtained) send it speedilie down, to 
 the effect I may get this parliament's ratification thereof before it dissolve. 
 
 " Yow ar to deliver my ladle's letter to Sir Robert Murray, and shew him by your 
 
158 KIUKTON'S HISTOUY OF 
 
 Scotland to be a check upon the king, and to controule the king's 
 orders, which he was bound to execute ? The next was a terrible 
 accusation of high treason from Lauderdale, founded upon many 
 particulars ; and one Avas, that he hade taken brybes from the great- 
 est criminals in the nation to save them from just deserved fyning. 
 Alwayes the conflict continued betwixt them two all that winter. 
 ISIidtlleton was a soiddier and hade suffered with the king, and un- 
 dertaken for him a veiy dangerous part, to command the tories on 
 the hiUs in Cromwell's time ; and he hade for his patrons the Duke 
 of York and Chancellor Hyde. Laviderdale Avas a witt and a cour- 
 tier ; he hade suffered much for the king, and was his privado in 
 his secret pleasures, in which office, to keep himself in favour, he 
 acted a most dishonourable part ; for after the king's fleet was burnt 
 at Chattam and the Dutch retired, he came to the king's privy cham- 
 ber and danced in a woman's petticoat to dispell the king's melan- 
 cholly. But he knew well what the king's delights were ; he choosed 
 for his patron neither statesman nor prince ; Barbara Villiers, first 
 ISlrs Palmer, then Dutchesse of Cleveland, was his choise ; and be- 
 fore her bedside he would have kneeled ane hour at one time to 
 implore her friendship with the king, because he knew weU what 
 influence his miss hade upon him, and with thir weapons he pre- 
 vailed. Some expressions escaped INIiddleton v/hich did him much 
 hint. Being one day in a company where they were all very mer- 
 
 information how much it concerns my lord's interest and my ladie's securitie for her 
 ladieship's joyntur to get this signatur past, and by interposing himself herein, how sin- 
 gularlie he will obleig them both, and mak them assert his interest in all faithfulnes. 
 
 " Yow ar, ante omnia, to secuir my Lord Lauderdaill's chief servant and secretarie, 
 and what is depursed be you sail upon notice given hereof to me be presentlie repayed, 
 and for wlUch I have given you presentlie fyftien pund sterlin. 
 
 (Signed) " Caixhnes." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 159 
 
 ly, one dreAV JMidcUetoii's sword, and asked him if he thought it 
 possible ever that sword should be di-awn against the king ? INIid- 
 dleton said it was not ; then the other asked him, ^^''iKit if a differ- 
 ence should happen betwixt the Duke of York and him ? IMiddle- 
 ton answered, he thought, if ever it Avere possible, it was possible in 
 that case. But after they hade drolled a while, one in the company 
 drew his sword, and swore he would have all the company swear 
 nothing spoken at that time should be reported, (for he feared dan- 
 ger from INIiddleton's words) ; and after they hade all sworn secrecy, 
 Avithin ane hour these dangerous words were reported to the king- 
 to liis great resentment. Another time, speaking disdainfully of his 
 rival Lauderdale, he said, he would scorn to be pimp to any prince 
 in Europe. This the king heard, and resented as much as Lauder- 
 dale himself However, the king kept the issue of the confhct in 
 his own breast till the next session of parliament drew nigh ; and 
 IMiddleton's friends in Scotland disputed his victory till he was even 
 in the dust. At length, notwithstanding his gallantry in the field, 
 his successe in the parliament, and the diligence of all his friends, 
 the Duke and Hyde, and most of aU the English bishops, his great- 
 est patrons because of his activity to conform Scotland to their mo- 
 dell, he was constrained to leave the court and spend his time in 
 back lanes among persons obscure and malecontents, till Ruther- 
 ford's place, governour of Tangiei-, fell vacant ; and thither the king 
 sent him for his glorious reward of his estabUshing bishops in Scot- 
 land. There he lived some httie time, in misery and contempt 
 enough, till death caught him, Avhen by a fall in his drunkenness 
 he broke the bone of his arme, so that one part of it pierced not 
 only the flesh of his arme, but his side and ribes, and so wounded 
 his noble parts that he turned fii'st stupid and then died : And such 
 
 ane end hade this valiant unhappy man. 
 
 4 
 
160 laRKTON's HISTORY OF 
 
 All this winter and spring the chiu-ches in the west and a great 
 part of the south lay desolate, the people having no preachmg m 
 them, and in this time the poor people hade leisure enough to whet 
 their zeal against the bishops and theii- followers. The first dioce- 
 sian synod our bishops kept, (even of those who were not ejected by 
 the proclamation at Glasgow) in some places they were very unfre- 
 quent ; in some the bishop had not so many ministers present as 
 he had presbytries in diocie, and in some synods none at all appear- 
 ed. However, for that winter they were very bussie to leavy a 
 crew of young curats, (as the country people called them, by a name 
 rather odious than proper,) and these they fetched almost wholly 
 out of the north countrey, where they found a sort of young lads, 
 unstudied and unbred, who hade all the properties of Jeroboam's 
 priests, most of them of two or tlu'ee years standing, miserable in a 
 Avorld, and imable to subsist, which made them so much long for a 
 stipend ; and so profane and void of conscience themselves, that 
 they beheved there was none in any other, and that the humor of 
 profession might be as easily dispelled by profite or losse as it hade 
 been in themselves. So they went to their churches with the same 
 intention and resolution a sheephcrd contracts for herding a flock 
 of cattell. A gentleman in the north cursed the presbyterian mini- 
 sters, because (said he) smce they left their churches wee cannot get 
 a lad to keep ovir cows, they turn all ministers ; and indeed that 
 swarm spread not only over the south of Scotland, but England 
 also, even to the Isle of Wight. Some old expectants there were, 
 who, because of their scandal or insufficiency, could fuid no imploy- 
 ment under the presbyterians, were provided to churches m the 
 first place. The patrons in many places, because they were to serve 
 the bishops' design by their presentations, disdained to present, so 
 the right devolved into the bishop's hand, and all the curats were 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 161 
 
 almost of the bishop's choosing. But in this they were to be ex- 
 cused, for no choice they hade, and the ordinary way of calling by 
 elders and people was wholly laid aside. Yet a more grievous 
 chanse was never made in a church. The curats came to the south 
 and west of Scotland as the IMoores came into Spain, or the Spain- 
 zards into America ; it resembled the change vipon King Saul's 
 spirit, a bad spirit after a good. Some two years before, there Mas 
 neither minister nor expectant but he professed and protested him- 
 self a covenanted presbyterian. 
 
 Now, when these men came to their churches, they came Avith 
 ane inscription of perjiny written upon their foreheads (where holi- 
 ness to the Lord should have been,) besides the complaints attend- 
 ing their personal character, and their want of a call ; no wonder 
 then their welcome and entertainment were agreeable. Well, when 
 they came about the end of the spring, in some places they were 
 welcomed with tears and requests to be gone, and not to ruine the 
 poor congregation and their own soul ; in some places they were en- 
 tertained with I'easonings and disputes, in other places with threat- 
 nings and curses, and in others with strange affronts and indigni- 
 ties ; some stole the bell tongue, that the people's absence from ser- 
 mon might be excuseable ; some barricadoed the door, to oblidge 
 the cvu-at to enter by the window literally. A shepherd boy, find- 
 ing in the field a nest of pismires, fills a box with them ; this he 
 empties in the curat's boot-heads as he is going to pulpit ; the poor 
 man began his exercise, but was quickly oblidged to interrupt, the 
 miserable insects gave him so much pain and disturbance. Two 
 curats being at a drinking meeting with some of the gentlemen in 
 the countrey where they lived, and their wives being with them, 
 sitt up too late ; their wives find it necessary to goe to bed in the 
 next room : and so they did, every woman laying her cloaths at her 
 own bedside. But the curats will not quite their drmking company 
 till the gentlemen were weary ; so some of them goes into the roome 
 
 X 
 
162 kikkton's history or 
 
 Avhere the two poor women were sound sleeping, and shifts their 
 cloaths, laying one woman's cloaths at the other woman's bed- 
 side, and so to her again. The cm-ats at length come late to bed,, 
 antl guesse their wives bed by their neighbour's cloaths ; so for 
 that night the curats exchanged wives, iipon which the gentlemen 
 next morning took witness, to the poor men's gi-eat confusion. 
 How the Laii'd of Arldand \ised a drvuiken curat (his bedfellow) 
 for a night, was a common story in that countrey, but I am ashamed 
 to write it.* In many places where the curats entered, the people 
 mett together in multitudes, and not only opposed their establish- 
 ment but stoned them : yea, even when they returned with armed 
 force, the people sometimes not only opposed the curat's entrance, 
 but chased the king's souldiers : For aU which the state made a se- 
 vere inquiry for the greater part. The fii'st transgressors of this 
 kind were (as I remember) the poor people of Irongi'ay, where JNIr 
 John Welch had been pastor ; where, because the curat could not 
 have peaceable possession, he brought alongst with him a party of 
 the king's guard, where he was not only opposed, but his party 
 beaten with stones ; no man durst appear in such a bussiness, nor 
 any woman of foshion, only the poorest women of the paroch ga- 
 thered, and one IVIargaret Smith for their leader, avIio was next day 
 brought before our lords, and banished to Barbtidoes ; but she told 
 her tale so innocently, that our lords were ashamed to execute it.f 
 
 * Captain John Creichton gives the following anecdote of a drunken whig preacher : 
 
 " One of those eight fanatic teachers, who were permitted, at the Restoration, to 
 
 keep their livings, came to Sir John Carmichael's house, within a mile of Lanerick, 
 where I was then upon a visit to Sir John. We drank hard till it was late, and all the 
 company retired, except Sir John and myself. The teacher would needs give us pray- 
 ers, but fell asleep before he had half done ; whereupon Sir John and I, setting a bottle 
 and glass at his nose, left him upon his knees. The poor man sneaked off early the 
 next morning, being, in all appearance, ashamed of his hypocrisy." 
 
 f " A party, with ^ome messengers, was sent with a curate to intimate that another 
 
THE CHCRCH OF SCOXLAXK. 163 
 
 The next offenders were in Kirkcudbright, where some teii Avomen 
 were first incarcerate in Edinburgh, and thereafter sett with j^apers 
 on their heads : but these were followed by, I believe, a hundered 
 congregations, up and doAvn the countrey, the' the jiunishment be- 
 came banishment to America, cruel whipping, and heavy fynes. 
 These extravagant practices of the rabble Avere no Avay approven 
 by the godly and judicious presbyterians ; yea, they were ordinarly 
 the actions of the profane and ignorant ; but I think they were 
 "^ enough to demonstrate to the world what respect or affection the 
 curats should fuid among their congregations. I have known some 
 profane people, if they hade committed ane error at night, thought 
 affroiiting a curat to-morrow a testimony of their repentance. 
 
 All that winter and spring people in the west and south found 
 their churches desolate, and so were consti-ained to wander for lack 
 of bread, sometimes to the churches where the old forlorn presby- 
 terian ministers continued their ministrj-, sometimes to share of the 
 family exercises of the younger ministers, who were outted but so- 
 journed among them ; and sometimes the multitude that came to 
 partake of the family exercises increased so, that the minister was 
 constrained to preach without, and at length to goe to the open 
 fields, which was the cause and original of field meetintys in Scot- 
 
 curate was to enter that kirk for their ordinav. Some women of the parish heariii" 
 thereof before, placed themselves in the kirk -yard, and furnished themselves with their 
 ordinary weapons of stones, whereof they gathered store, and thus, when the messen- 
 gers and party of rascalls with swords and pistoUs came, the women so maintained 
 their ground, defending themselves under the kirk dyke, that, after a hot skirmish, the 
 curate, messengers, and party without, not presuming to enter, did at length take them- 
 selves to retreat with the honourable blae marks they had got at that conflict. Many 
 such affronts did these prelates curates meet with in their essayes to enter kirks after 
 that manner, especially by women, which was a testimony of general dislike and aver- 
 sion to submit to them as their ministers." — Memoirs of the Rev Mr John Blackad- 
 DER, written by himself, MS, 
 
KU kirkton's iiisTonv or 
 
 land, Avhich made so great a noise. The first Avho begxnie to preach 
 in the fields Avere Mr John Welsh and ]Mr Gabriel Semple, and 
 were indeed, because of their painfullness and boldness, in no small 
 respect among the common people ; but partly because of the deep 
 disdain the people bore to the curats, partly because of their scan- 
 dals and insufficiency, and partly because of the admonitions some 
 of the niinisters gave the people to be constant in the good old way 
 of the church of Scotland, and to beware of false teachers coming 
 among them, very many of the jieople refused to hear the ciu'ats 
 after they were settled in their pvdpits. And the first fi-uit of their 
 ministry was scattering of the flocks. And now sprung up the la- 
 mentable q\iestion of hearing the perjured curats ; and though very 
 many agreed in the conclusion of forbearing to hear, yet gi-eat Avas 
 the difference in the reasons for which people did forbear ; for some 
 forbare because they believed their ministers to be mdl and altoge- 
 ther illegal, either because the bishops w^ere illegal and nuU in law, 
 or because they hade fallen from their office by the transgression of 
 their clamorous perjury. Some refused to hear, because they believed 
 they hade no call to such a particular congregation, and that forbear- 
 ing to hear was a proper testimony against their intrusion. Some 
 would not hear, because they thought them so profane that they 
 were not for ane honest man's company, much lesse to be acknoAv- 
 ledged ministers. And some forbare to hear them, to shun the of- 
 fence of poor honest people. However, the first fruite of the scru- 
 ple Avas empty churches, and thereafter persecution, till many were 
 compelled to doe that against their profession which they declared 
 was altopether against their Conscience ; but this was a lasting tenta- 
 tion to poor Scotland.* 
 
 * " Now, ye in this country side, ere it be long ye will all be charged to go and hear 
 these cursed curates ; and when ye are charged to go there, look the fifth of the Gal. 
 V. 19, 20. I say, look to that Scripture well, and think with yourselves tliat day, poor 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 165 
 
 Now the diet of the parliament's meeting di-ew near, and a commis- 
 sioner must therefore be provided. Lauderdale had can-ied the vic- 
 tory in the conflict betAvixt him and INIiddleton ; so IMiddleton can- 
 not be the man. It was at Lauderdale's dispossall, and he pitched 
 upon Rothes, a yoxuig man, none of Middleton's cabal, a favorite of 
 the king's, and a man Lauderdale thought well he might manadge. 
 So Rothes is chosen commissioner for this session of parliament, and 
 this was the beginning of his promotions. He is now made com- 
 missioner, next he is made high theasurer, then keeper of the sealls, 
 and then chancellor and high commissioner in the interval of par- 
 liaments, and he was the first that ever served in that office ; last 
 of all he died duke.* Alwayes, tho' Lauderdale had chosen him, he 
 
 lads and lasses in tliis country side, that such a fool as I have told you it, that goinw to 
 hear these profane hirelings would take you to hell as soon as idolatry, adulteries, 
 witchcraft, or any of these sins which is named in that place I have cited to you. And 
 now, people of God, what are ye doing ? the pope and papists at Rome is rejoicing and 
 burning bonefires. They are rejoicing that Britain and Ireland are coming home again 
 to their antient mother church, as they call themselves. What are ye doing, O people 
 of God ! O for such a party as Esther and her maidens !" — Sermon preached hy Peden, 
 at Glenluce. 
 
 * Tiie Earl of Rothes, afterwards duke, was the son of a reforming father, whose 
 moral practice kept no measure with his religious theory. Kmg Charles the First had 
 at one time some hopes of gaining Iiini to his cause by the marriage of the rich Countess 
 of Devonshire. Bur>'et — But this affair came to an unhappy conclusion, and Rothes 
 continued a covenanter. He died at Richmond of an infamous disorder, under the care 
 of his aunt, Lady Roxborough, August IGil, { Akchbishop Laud's History of his own 
 Troubles and Trials,) and left his son an infant. This young earl seems to have inhe- 
 rited his father's turn for gallantry, though he escaped his disloyalty and fanaticism. 
 " 1658, Januar 3 — Being the Sabbath, the Earle of Rothes being at Edenboroughe, he 
 was taken by the governour, and carried to the Castle of Edenboroughe, by a particu- 
 lar order sent downe by his highnes. About the same time the Viscount of Howard 
 was commanded to stay at Berwicke, by his highnes also, for the report went that 
 Howard was jealous of his lady, and therefore was coming down to Scotland to pistoll 
 Rothes, because he had beine too familiar with her (as was supposed) when she came 
 
 11 
 
l(i(i KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 thinks it not fitt to send him alone, lest perchance he might some 
 way decline from his orders ; so he came down himself to tutor his 
 pupil ; and partly for a favour, partly for a revenge, with him he 
 brought a fuU remission to Archibald Campbell, dischargeing his 
 forfaulture past in the preceeding session of parliament, and so he 
 became Earle of Ai-gyle, which utterly ruined the hopes which 
 Middleton had nourished of becomhig himself Duke of Arg-yle. 
 And now comes the 18th of June 1663, and then the parliament 
 conveen with their new commissioner ; and the fii-st thing they doe 
 (because they heai-d of the peoples refuseing to hear the curats) they 
 frame ane act, by which they provide, fii-st, that aU ministers who 
 
 (lowne to this countrey with her sister-in-law, the Lady Balgonie. This was noised 
 abroad to be the cause of both their restraints. In April, 1658, Rothes was seques- 
 trat. Dec. 1, 1658, he obtained libertie to returne to Leslie, by General Monck's 
 uioying, (cautioners for his good behaviour were the Earle of Weynns, the Lord Bal- 
 gonie, and Dury.") Lamont's Diary, j). 130. See also Baillie's Letters and Jour- 
 nals. — The following extract, which regards Rothes when chancellor of Scotland, is 
 taken from Lord Fountainhall's MS. Decisions : — " 25th June, 1672. Umquhile 
 Sir Robert Seaton of Windygoule, having made ane excambion with his brother 
 the Earl of Wintoun, whereby in lieu of his lands he got a heritable right in my 
 Lord Dumfries his lands, to which soumes Garleton, as air, laying claime, com- 
 pierance was made for Sir Robert's sisters, who alledged the soumes behoved to be- 
 long to them, who would be his executors in law, because made moveable by Sir 
 Robert in his life tyme, in so far as he required them, and charged the debtors with 
 horning, quo facto aniniiim dcclaravit. Against which it was alledged that the same 
 aught to be repelled, in regard they offered them to prove that it was never his inten- 
 tion to transmit this soume to his executors by the said charge, seeing esto he had got 
 it, he was frequently hear say, his sister should never have a penny of his means : yea, 
 they themselves in their ordinar discourse boast that good providence hath thrown that 
 in their lap, which their brother never designed for them. Notwithstanding of all 
 which pregnant qualifications, they found the sum, as moveable, to belong to the sis- 
 ters, who were executors. This was judged hard : only Garleton had the misfortune 
 to be generally ill loved, and the \a.d\es Jo and favour ivitk my lord chancelor, ii:ho is ane 
 enemy to none of that sex, if they he handsome." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 167 
 
 refuse to joyn with bishops in their ecclesiastick meetings, called 
 the diocessian meetings, or in any other act of church discipline, 
 shall for the first fault be suspended by the bishop and for the 
 next deprived, (here the act of parliament is the ecclesiastick canon 
 to du'ect the holy bishops) and thereafter removed from their hou- 
 ses. Next they provide that eveiy nobleman or heritor who shall 
 absent himself from his curat's church on the Sabbath day, ordinarly 
 or willfully, shall lose a fourth part of that year's rent in which they 
 are accused ; each yeoman or farmer the fourth part of his moue- 
 ables ; and each burgesse shall lose the same, together with theu* 
 freedom in the tOAvn where they dwell. This act was the bishops 
 ch'agg-net, and therefore frequently altered, helped, and confimied ; 
 but it cost the people of Scotland more money then any act ever 
 made in Scotland since King Fergus, his dayes. It is to be obser- 
 ved, this act makes popish withdi'awers censurable as well as pro- 
 testants ; but this clause was afterward expunged in Lauderdale's 
 parliament, and honest papists left to their freedome to come or 
 stay as they pleased ; only the poor whig is to smart for his sepa- 
 rating, as indeed he did ; but wee were then upon our modest begin- 
 nings of defection. The next act was a repetition of the first act of 
 the preceding session of parliament, requiring all persons in publick 
 office to subscribe the declaration, only it adds a day, \az. the ijth 
 of November following, betwixt and which they were to subscribe 
 this declaration in presence of their respective courts. This act 
 made no great change among oiu* great officers, only John Earle of 
 Crawford by it losed the office of tlieasurer, and Sir James Dundass 
 of Arnistoun alone, among all the Lords of the Session ; and more I 
 remember not. Their third act constitutes a national synod, ap- 
 pointing it to consist of bishops, dignitarys, and one minister, to be 
 cliosen by the plurality of every presbytrie, and one or two from 
 the universities a-piece, who, together with his majesties commis- 
 sioner, are to treat only of such particulars as shall be referred to 
 
168 KIKKTOM'S HISTOKY OF 
 
 the Archbishop of St Anch-ews, president of the synod, to be by him 
 communicate to this synod, and determined by phuaUty of the mem- 
 bers of the said synod ; where I observe, contrary to the foiinda- 
 mentals of episcopal government, which lodgeth the power of juris- 
 diction in the hands of the bishops alone, the meanest presbyter is 
 allowed equal authority with the metropolitan himself, wholly con- 
 trare to the constitution of their diocesan meeting, where the pres- 
 byters hade only a consultative vote, and no more ; but let them 
 agree about this, for such ane assembly as this Scotland never saw. 
 The fourth considerable act was a tender of 20,000 footmen and 
 2000 horsmen, with fom'ty dayes provision, to serve his majestic 
 when and wheresoever he wiW, in any place of his majesties domi- 
 nions. Other civil or inconsiderable acts I omit, they are to be 
 found in print ; and, for a conclusion, they reverse the famous Act 
 of Billeting, which was Lauderdale's tiiumph and INIiddleton's disho- 
 nour, and so conclude.* But because the walls of Babylon have 
 
 * This scheme of billetting was so extremely resented by Lauderdale, that he was 
 displeased with Primrose, the tlerk register, for afterwards inserting the mere titles of 
 the acts, in the printed Book of Acts of the Scottish Parliament. His letter on the 
 subject is extracted from Primrose's Correspondence. 
 
 FOR MY LORD REGISTER AT EDINBURGH. 
 
 My Lord, Whitehall, 6th Fehy. 166|. 
 
 " Yesternight I received the express pacquet with the acts of parliament. That 
 same night I waited on my Lord Rothess to the king, and was witness to the delivery 
 of the book you sent to his majesty, where I received the command for the inclosed 
 letter. I thank you for my copy, yet I must complain of you to yourself, but it shall 
 only be to yourself, for I hope it is but the printer's fault. You know the act against 
 billetting commands these two acts to be razed and expunged out of the record, and 
 yet your printer, to perpetuate their memory, hath fairly printed the title of them both 
 among the titles of the unprinted acts of the second session of parliament. Tliis is an 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. l69 
 
 blood for their morter, duroing this session of parliament, the inno- 
 cent and godly I^ord AN'aristone must be made a sacrifice to the 
 king's personal malice. This gentleman was cruelly himted after 
 the king's return, and after he hade escapt very narrowly a great 
 many dangers, with much adoe got beyond seas in the disguise of 
 a merchant, and after that lurked two years, sometimes in the 
 Low Countries, and sometimes in Germany, mostly at Hamburg : 
 at length he fled most imadvdsedly to France, and was taken at 
 Rowan, even while he was at prayer. And a very little Avhile after 
 he came to the house, our king hade some notice of it, I know 
 not how, but he called before him a poor Enghshman, one IVIajor 
 Johnson, whom he severely threatened with hanging, tiU he disco- 
 vered what he knew, after he hade been awhile in prison. As soon 
 as ever he got home he feU into tliat grief that he never more sa\\ 
 the Sim, but pined away tiU he died. The king sent over one 
 crooked Alexander ^Murray to take him, and that he did most dex- 
 truously ; a fitt instrument he was for such ane employment, living 
 and dicing a profest atheist. But after Wariston was in prison in 
 France, when it came to be disputed whether the French king 
 
 injury to the persons who are billetted, and a greater injury to your lordship, for there 
 you print tlie title of two dead damned things, of which I am sure you can give no ex- 
 tract, unless a new parliament receive them. Had another than you put his hand to 
 such a list of unprinted acts, I would have made noise on it ; but 1 am sure you did not 
 do it out of an ill design, and therefor I hope you will dash these tn-o lines out of all 
 the copies, or if that be not possible, something must be printed to clear the mistakes, 
 or the act itself against billetting printed and added to every copy, (for in the list of 
 the unprinted acts of the 3d session, the title of it is much barer then the title of the 
 other two pretended acts which it rescinds and damns,) of this I pray you let me have 
 an answer as soon as you can, and how this shall be mended, for sure it shall not stand 
 thus. I am your lordship's aifectionat servant, 
 
 " Lauderdale." 
 Y 
 
] 70 KIRKTON S HISTORY OF 
 
 !,houlcl retain him or give him up, his eoimcil were for retaining 
 liim ; but the king (who was appointed for a persecutor) would give 
 him up ; so to the Tower of London he was brought about Febru- 
 ary, and thence to Edinburgh, to be sacrificed about the beginning 
 of June. And the pity was, he Avas not then his own man, for, 
 partly through excessive blood-letting, (and other detestable means 
 used by his wicked physician, Doctor Bates, who they say was hi- 
 red either to poison or distract him) and partly through melancholy, 
 (being a man of weak passions) he hade in a manner AvhoUy lost his 
 memory, and weakened his jvidgement ;* which consideration, to- 
 gether with the respect all sober men bare to him, inchned the most 
 part of the parliament to have spared his hfe. So that when the 
 question was stated in parliament. Whether he should presently be 
 execute, and a day fixed for that effect ? these who voted fii'st were 
 for a delay, which Lauderdale perceiving, (knowing weU he needed 
 never return to court if Wariston were spared) was forced, contrare to 
 order, in the midst of the vote, to make a threatning harrangue for 
 his blood ; upon which the vote passed for death, and 22d of Jully 
 appointed to be the day. Some of the bishops' creatures wovdd 
 have hade the 23d of Jully, because that was the day on which op- 
 position to bishops, in the year 1637, was first made ; and they would 
 have hade punishment on Wariston, expiating the sin of the people 
 of Edinburgh, but it was carried in the contrare. His sentence was to 
 
 * His mental imbecility seems to have been occasioned in some measure by fear. 
 Lord Middleton writes thus to Primrose : " Mr Secretary Bennett, my Lord Dum- 
 fries, and myself, were taken up this whole day with examination of Warriston and 
 some others. He pretends to have lost his memory, and so will give no account of 
 any thing. He is the most timorous person that ever I did see iii my life, and pretends 
 he can do the king great service if he will give him his life, in putting the registers in 
 good order, and settling the king's prerogative from old records. London, Feb. 3d, 
 1663."— WoDROW MSS. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. I7I 
 
 be hanged to death at Edinburgh Cross, and his head fixt on the 
 Netherbow Port, beside his dear friend Mr James Guthrie's head, 
 which was accordingly done ; but, after some years, his head was 
 buried with Iris body in the church-yard, by the favour and pro- 
 curement of Lievitenant-General Drummond, Waristoii's son-in- 
 law. I spake with him in prison, and though he was sometimes 
 under great heaviness, yet he told me he could never doubt his own 
 salvation, he hade so often seen God's face in the house of prayer.* 
 
 • Among the MSS. in the Advocates' Library, are a few scanty extracts from War- 
 riston's Journal of his Soul Exercises, &c., which contain nothing historically interest- 
 ing In the year 1650, he notes, " I got liberty before supper, but especially in the 
 grace after supper, for an hour, with sweet overflowing gushes of tears, and great 
 groans, access of soul unto the Lord's bosom for me and my seed. It pleased the 
 Lord to bear in upon my spirit, that the Lord moving me to commit my seed to him, 
 before my children's sickness, hath been one mean, in his mercy, to preserve them from 
 death, whereof five of them this last week was in danger by the pox." — These pious 
 Journals were long commonly kept by the presbyterians, of which some have been 
 printed, as that of Frazer of Brae, and of Elizabeth West. I have before me one in MS. 
 contained in a sort of pocket-book, which seems to have belonged to the Laird of Pol- 
 lock. As a specimen of the method of recording spiritual tribulation, comfort, pro- 
 vidences, &c. the following passages are subjoined :— 
 
 * Mearns, Id Sept. 1655. 
 
 Matter of sad humiliation. Ther being before the congregations for such gross 
 sins, one adulteress, one quadrilapse fornicatrix, 3 trilapse fornicatrlx. 
 
 Close of the Weeke, Oct. 1655- 
 Praise. Much tentation prevented. Some lusts restrained. Himself commended. 
 Knowledge communicated. 
 Providences. J. D. Enemies made to bow before me. 
 Sins. Passion. Carnall laughter. 
 E.'tperiences. Passion when boiling restrained by prayer. 
 
172 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 When his day came, notwithstanding all the weakness of his spirit, 
 he went to the scaffold composed and courageous ; thereafter he 
 read his speech, (which is in print) Avherein he speaks his heart con- 
 cerning both his frame, his sins, and infirmities, liis exercise and 
 hope ; and so rendered up his spirit into the Lord's hand with much 
 comfort of mind, and much bemoaned by all that knew him. A man 
 he was, godly, learned, eloquent, and very zealous for the publick 
 
 Duties. Touching Mearnes. Keeping the expres. Suites depending. 1. Diffi- 
 cultie of self examination. 2. Confusion and indistinctness of my state with God, or 
 his outgoings towards my spirit. 3. Misbeleife. 4. To remarke the issue of all the 
 dependant prayers. 
 
 Glandersion, Thursday, 11th Sept. 1655, mane. 
 In prayer with my wyfFe. The woefullest wandering and roaving in mynd that I 
 Iiave seene. 
 
 Od. 1655. 
 Remarkable providence. Rideing through the water deepe at mine own house on 
 my wyffe's stumbling horse, being safe through the water he stumbled, and the bridle 
 broke, which if it had so fallen out in the water, ray danger had been rerie certaine. 
 
 PoUock, Friday, mh Oct. 1655, Ve.'tper. 
 Seene a sad roll of abominations in the parish of Mearnes, for which I am deeply 
 to be humbled before the Lord. 
 
 Close of the Weeks. 
 There be so many sins as I cannot draw them up in a roll. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 173 
 
 cause of religion, in which he spent most of his time. He spent 
 more time in prayer, reading, meditation, and obserA'ing liis provi- 
 dences, than any man e\er I knew in the world. He was a great 
 observer of providences, and, according to the rule, mett with veiy 
 many remarkable providences himself. All flesh is gi-ass ; one ble- 
 mish in his life the world censured, and he lamented to his dying 
 day ; and that was, that when the English settled fost in Scotland 
 and began to employ Scotsmen in offices under them, he was so strict 
 for the king's interest, forsooth, that, as he was a man verv resolute, 
 he spoke and wrote much against it ; and yet afterward, in the vear 
 1657, when he went to I^ondon upon a publict account, he entered 
 to his old office of clerk-register, under Cromwell ; after which he 
 Avas alwayes afflicted and sad, never prosperous, because he hade 
 made himself a trespasser. The real cause of his death was not his 
 activity in publick business, but our king's personal hatred, because 
 when the king was in Scotland, he thought it his duty to admonish 
 him because of his very wicked debauched life, not only in A\'hore- 
 ing and adultery, but he violently forced a young gentlewoman of 
 quality ; this the king could never forgive, and told the Earle of 
 Bristol so much when he was speaking for Wariston.* But he stu- 
 died Christ's honour more than man's, and was a man that used ar- 
 gument more then complement ; he wrote almost all that he did or 
 happened him. I have read in his dairy, 22d August, 1662, that 
 
 * Charles's licentious conduct while in Scotland seems to have been greatly exao-ge- 
 rated by his enemies. Sharp, in his correspondence with Douglas after the Restora- 
 tion, writes from London, that he found many persons there possessed with the belief 
 that the king when with them had violated all terms and engagements, " and was vi- 
 cious, and unclean, and a scorner of ordinances, and a discountenancer of ministers." 
 But that he had set himself to detect these " lies and malicious forgeries, declaring he 
 could not say the king broke with tliem, and that the honest party were well satisfied 
 with him," 
 
171' kirkton's history of 
 
 tho', because of selfish mixtures in instruments, oin* deliverance 
 might be retarded, yet he doubted not God would visit Scotland 
 \vith a merciful! reformation, which at length came to pass. He left 
 his lady and numerous family in mean estate, tho' afterward the 
 Lord provided better for many of them than if their father hade 
 stood in his highest grandeur* 
 
 * Sir Archibald Johnston's character is set in a very favourable light by Burnet, his 
 nephew, who had somewhat of his own pliability in politics. But it is remarkable that 
 the bishop says nothing of the affair of Bates, which is rendered very improbable both 
 by Warriston's insignificance, and the temper of King Charles. Warriston himself de- 
 clared, in his last speech, that he had got had plij/sic. " The nearer he was to his 
 death, he was the more quieted in his mind, which had been discomposed by poison 
 and the drawing of threescore ounces of blood, the physicians intending hereby to dis- 
 tract him, or make him an ideot fool. The night before his death he sleeped very 
 sweetly, and in the morning was very full of comfort, uttering many sweet expressions 
 as to his assurance of being cloathed with a long white robe before night. — His pre- 
 cious head was taken off at one stroke, which was afterwards set upon the Netherbow 
 Port, where it standeth by the blessed head of that precious and cleanly martyr, and 
 slain yet witnessing witness of our Lord Jesus Christ, Mr James Guthrie. His me- 
 mory, after the letting of his blood, and giving him the poison, was so much wasted 
 that he knew not whether he was an Englishman or Scotsman, Frenchman or Dutch- 
 man, nor whether Genesis or Revelation did begin the Bible, nor whether he had or 
 wanted wife or children," &c. — Vide The last Discourse of tlie Right Hon. the Lord fVii' 
 rislouiic, (IS he delivered it upon the Scaffold at the Mercat-cross of Edinburgh, July 22, 
 1665, being immediately before his Death. Whereunlo is added, A short Narration of his 
 Carriage during the Time of his Imprisonment, hut more cspecialli/ at his Death : All 
 which is very comfortable and refreshing to all those that take Pleasure in the Dust of 
 Zioii, and favour the Stones of our Lord's broken down Building amongst us. By a Fa- 
 vourer of the Covenant, and Work of Reformation, ilo. 1664. 
 
 Warriston, after having declaimed and written against those who accepted of offices 
 under Cromwell, repaired to London in the year 1657, and went heartily into all the 
 measures of the usurper. This backsliding neither he nor his friends could ever con- 
 trive to palliate. Wodrow indeed observes, that " he fell before the temptation thai 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 17.5 
 
 Several old ministers Avere at this time called for, because of their 
 authority or freedom they used in their sermons. But the bishops 
 
 all fesh, even the best, may appear to be grass. The following poem, composed on his 
 apostacy, is printed from a MS. 
 
 " What, Warriston, and must thy zealous knees 
 
 Bow to Baal, has Shimei gone to Gath, 
 
 And shall not die for't ? — he that prophesies 
 
 Death to coraplyers, should he tred their path ! 
 
 Is't Hushai's part yow act, mind to defeat 
 
 Their plots against the Lord's anointed ? nay, 
 
 It's Naboth's vineyard, which, with your estate, 
 
 Yow must entaill to your posteritie. 
 
 Wast height of honour, or the breadth of lands. 
 
 That thee did separate from the love of God ? 
 
 Or wast usurping traitors base commands 
 
 That made thy wayes, which seem'd once even, now odd ? 
 
 Or wast God's slighted cause for to advance. 
 
 And with thy horn of pow'r, fiercely to push 
 
 That wild beast Heresie, and truth inhaunce ? 
 
 Alas, my lord, a serpent's in the bush. 
 
 Will you eat flesh, whereby your brothers stumbled, 
 
 With purpose to defeat this weaknesse, must 
 
 The cause of God and people both be jumbled 
 
 With thy fair-foul intents, O judge unjust ? 
 
 If Ziba robb'd his master by a lie. 
 
 And Gain with Guile the type, may not thou then 
 
 With tygers, foxes, cats, and wolves goe prey, <• 
 
 With beasts of Ephesus, and call them men ? 
 
 Gainst such blasphemous beasts Paul did make war 
 But neer comply'd — Sir, why doe yow oppose 
 The apostle's practice ? ah, I'm fear'd yow are 
 The gospell's, • I goe, sir' — but never goes. 
 This is the product of your purgatives. 
 Wherewith our armie was spent to the half. 
 
176 kirktom's history ok 
 
 neither likeing to have a presbyterian minister a ncighbonr to liis 
 own paroch, nor yet neighbour to tlieniselves, moved the secret coim- 
 cill, upon Aug. 13th, to emitt a proclamation, wherein they command 
 all outted ministers, under the pains of sedition, (that is death) to 
 remove themselves and families 20 miles from the bounds of their 
 own parodies, six miles from every cathedi-al, and three miles from 
 every burgh royal. This was the fourth proclamation punishing the 
 presbyterian ministers, and was by many judged imjust in itself; 
 for God himself doth not punish one offence twice, and the presby- 
 terians hade been pimished thrice before upon the accoimt of their 
 nonconformity, and were guilty of no new crime. It was thought 
 strange that the episcopal party, ^vho ordinarly call the government 
 of the church a point indifterent, should violent men at such a rate 
 to that which is unnecessaiy. The presbyterians were only guilty 
 of one omission, which ignorance might excuse at the hand of a 
 charitable man. Lastly, it was impossible to obey this proclama- 
 tion, for as much as no geographer in Scotland can find accommo- 
 dation for 350 ministers, one only in one paroch, (for so the procla- 
 mation provided) and keep all the distances required in that procla- 
 mation ; so many wearied to remove their poor families the third 
 
 By flaming zeal in purposed fugitives, 
 
 So flames melt Israel's Jewells in a calfe ! 
 
 Goe, Shimei, goe to Gilgall to the king, 
 
 Put ofF the remonstrator of a knave, 
 
 Or wee, who preacli'U thee to thy power, shall sing 
 
 And tune thy triumphs to thy epitaph." 
 
 Madam Aplira Behn has introduced Lord Wariston as one of her characters in the 
 comedy of the Roundheads, or Good Old Cause, a play well worthy of perusal from the 
 extraordinary picture of manners which it contains. 
 
 4 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 17T 
 
 time in one year, tho' some were at the pains to doe it. After the 
 parliament hade done their work, upon the 9th of October they dis- 
 solved. The commissioner and all the estates rode from the palace 
 of Halyriide-house to the Parliament-house, in triumph and gran- 
 deiu"; and among the rest, the loathsome Archbishop Fairfoull 
 finished his stinking office of bishop : He began it with stink, for 
 he broke wind as he boAved to the altar when he was to be 'conse- 
 crate, and two dayes before this glorious day he hade taken physick, 
 (as the report was) which fell a-working upon him as he was riding 
 up the way, that the bearer of his train, when he allighted from his 
 horse, was almost choakt ; no man could sitt near him in the Parlia- 
 ment-house ; so he was forced to rise and goe home a footman as he 
 came a horseman, and so he made but the half of this 'miserable 
 triumph, and after he was got home, he never came abroad ; and 
 because he would never believe the physician, who assured him 
 death was at hand, he died by surprisal and undesired, perishing 
 like his own dung.* He was so greedy he never reapt the profit of 
 his benefice ; for because he refused a reasonable composition to en- 
 ter his vassals, therefore in his short time he hade very little, and 
 left the profits to his successor. His poor chikken were vagabonds 
 
 * " Nov. 2. Archbishop Fnirfowl died in his lodgings in Edinburgh upon the 11th 
 instant ; his corpse was carried to St Giles's East Church, now the New Church, in 
 Edinburgh, and laid in mourning before the pulpit. The bells rang for the funeral ser- 
 mon at four in the afternoon. Mr John Hay, parson of Peebles, now Archdean of 
 Glasgow, preached from Eccles. xii. 5. When sermon was over, the corpse was put 
 into a mourning coach, and carried to Holyrood-house, with the nobility and principal 
 gentry in town, the magistrates, the lords of session, in coaches, and the rest on foot, 
 with trumpets sounding, and two heralds, and two pursevants, with coats displayed be- 
 fore the corpse, with great numbers of torches ; the chancellor with his purse after the 
 corpse, and the Archbishop of St Andrews and other bishops in coaches; and the 
 body was interred in the east end of the Abbey Church.'' — Wodrow. 
 
 Z 
 
178 kirkton's history of 
 
 and runagate, turning popish for a piece of silver and a morsel of 
 bread ; and such was the end of his tragedy, and the confusioiA of 
 this most lamentable parliament, leavi)ig the church in sad confu- 
 sion and distraction, instead of beautifull reformation ; the poor 
 countrey in sad apprehensions of miseries at hand, which eveiy man 
 of sense foresaw ; and a sharp sting in the conscience of many of the 
 members, as afterward they discovered to the world. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 179 
 
 LIB. VI. 
 
 THK BISHOPS AND THEIR HIGH COMMISSION. 
 
 No\v' the great machine of episcopacy is perfected, established, 
 confirmed, and fortified. The king expects by it his prerogative 
 would be heightened, his poAver amplified, his pleasures secured. 
 Contrary wayes it will be found it was a reed of Egypt, it pierced 
 liis hand, was a burdine upon his authority, a vexation to his sjii- 
 rit, and, last of all, dethroned him in the hearts of the people of 
 Scotland. After this, the history of Scotland is made up of the ab- 
 surdities and wickedness of the clergy, the opposition of a grieved 
 oppressed people, and the cruel severities of a persecuting power. 
 Iff you ask what sort of men they were, I cannot but say, tho' they 
 were very bad, yet the countrey made them large as Avicked as they 
 were ; and the reason was, because the body of them was certainly 
 so debauched a company, common people would not believe ane ho- 
 nest man would continue in their company. Certainly the man 
 that writes the truth of them shall be in hazard to be distrusted, the 
 truth looks so very like hatred ; but it is the honesty of a historian to 
 write the naked truth, whatever his censure may be ; he who wrote 
 the history of King Saul, or Ahaz, or Manasseh, or Jeroboam, Avould 
 in our days have certainly been called a partial man ; but he Avho 
 Avrites the truth of the wicked, must say more than amounts to in- 
 differency : Alwayes some taste of their disposition I shall give, 
 with protestation that no man believe it is the hundered part of the 
 
i80 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 truth. You shall have then ane example of the scandals of these 
 Avho were sett to be examples to the flocks of poor Scotland : First, 
 for swearing, it was so common I need to say nothing. I take the 
 Lord to witness, I've heard the curats upon Edinburgh streets 
 swear as fast as ever I heard a debaucht red-coat. I heard once one 
 of them in pulpit maintain, that to swear by faith and conscience, 
 and such like, was ane innocent form of speech ; and cited for his 
 author the renowned Eishop AndreAvs.* Of (b-unkenness I need 
 not accuse them ; no man will deny they wallowed in our gutters 
 di-unk in their canonical gowns. Bishop Wishart preached in Edin- 
 burgh pulpit, that he was not to be called a di-imkard who was now 
 and then overtaken with wine, but he who made a trade of follow- 
 ing after strong diink daily. And Samuel Colvill, in his Whigge, 
 will teU yon of their diinking healths to ports and bridges, ane ex- 
 pression so abominable, it is not to be interpreted by a gi-ave per- 
 son.f Come to more gi'oss scandals, I have not heard of a more 
 
 * " How comes it that there is so little knowledge of God in this land ? — because of 
 swearing, lying, stealing, and committing adultery. I wonder if there be any such 
 sinners here this day ! — I will tell you that there are enow of you in the west country 
 that scruple not to swear by faith and troth. We have but little to do with such pro- 
 fessors. It is a very sad thing, that though we reprove you, we cannot get you to 
 leave off your minced oaths, haith and faith," &c. — Sermon hy the Rev. Richard Ca- 
 
 MEnON. 
 
 f " We cannot help it for our life, 
 Sir, who can rule a lawless wife ? 
 Though they cause whip them through the town. 
 Though they them hang, though they them drown, 
 Seeing priests drunk at third bell ringing, 
 They'l up with stones, and fall a flinging — 
 If once these preachers mend their hves, 
 There will be no stone-throwing wives ; 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAXU. iSl 
 
 profligate whoremaster in Scotland then Bruce, curat (as 1 believe) 
 of Balmerinno, and Bishop Sharp's chaplane ; I dare not be particu- 
 lar upon the violence he used upon some, because they were of that 
 quality that requires forebearance ; a terror he was to the poor coun- 
 trey lasses, because they heard of the violence he used upon some of 
 them, even by the highway side. Another instance I shall give, 
 among many : JNIr John Chisholme, of Lilieslease, kept a serving- 
 ^voman, whom he made his whore for a long time ; at length the 
 poor Avoman told him she coidd conceal theii- wickedness no longer ; 
 the ciu-at entreated her to keep quiet, aUedging to her the practise of 
 Joseph toward the Virgin JSIary upon his mistaken supposition, and 
 that it was righteousness to conceal his sin : But aU this hindered 
 her not one day at a great field-meeting on Longiiewton IMoore, 
 
 Forbid them scandalize the Hedges, 
 
 By drinking healths to ports and bridges," &c. 
 
 Samuel Colvill's Whig's Supplication, 1681. 
 
 Colvill (whose verses were long circulated in MS. previous to publication, and sold, 
 I believe, for the benefit of the author,) was the third son of the pious Lady Culross, 
 authoress of The Dream — a degenerate child of a godly parent ; whom he held in so 
 little reverence, that in the preface of his Whig's Supplication, he quotes the followin"' 
 lines, composed on himself, which allude to the poetic eflPusions of his mother : — 
 
 " Samuel Colvill's gone to France, 
 Where he hath learnt to sing and dance, 
 
 And play upon a fiddle ; 
 He is a man of great esteem. 
 His mother gat him in a dream, 
 
 At Culross, on a girdle." 
 
 It is to be noted, that Culross was long celebrated for its manufacture of girdles, 
 that is, circular plates of cast-iron, for toasting cakes over the fire. 
 
182 KIKKTON'S HISTORY Ol' 
 
 when ]Mr George Johnston was preaching, to proclame the whole 
 story befor thousands ; for Avhicli, all the punishment inflicted on 
 the curat was, the poor woman was cast, and kept in prison many 
 a day, and sore threatned to recall her confession, which she would 
 never doe ; but he believed her unjust sufferings would be his vindi- 
 cation. I believe there be not many in Edinburgh but they know 
 well how ]Mr John Paterson, when he was a regent in St Andrews, 
 was constrained to marry a poor young girle upon whom he hade 
 committed a violent rape, and that was lest he should have losed his 
 office ; also how kind a husband he proved, and that he once offered 
 her a knife to kill herself, when she Avas complaining he gazed too 
 much upon a gentlewoman's picture which hang in his chamber, 
 and over whom his poor wife was jealous. The story of his amours 
 Avith Dutch Ami INIurray were no secret. That gentlewoman com- 
 plained to '\^^illiam Earle of Lothian how she Avas continuall)^ tor- 
 mented with his wicked sohcitations, and that his complement was 
 to kneel upon his knees and repeat the words, Isaiah xxvi, 9, " with 
 my soul have I desu-ed thee in the night ;" for Vvhich the nobleman 
 desu'ed her to keep a ponyard to defend her chastity.* The accovuit 
 
 * About this time it is certain that one lady at least carried a similar weapon of 
 defence, though probably not to protect her chastity. " August 26, 1679. This day did 
 Christian Hamilton, wife to A. Nimmo, merchant, kill James Lord Forrester with his 
 own sword, in his garden at Corstorphin. She confessed the fact, and pretended she 
 was provoked thereto, because he in his drink had abused her and called her w — e. 
 Being apprehended and imprisoned, the sheriffs of Edinburgh gave her an indictment 
 to the 28th of August, when she made a long discourse of the circumstances and man- 
 ner of it, seeking to palliate and extenuate it, yet subscribed her confession of the fact ; 
 and for putting it beyond all cavillation, they also adduced three witnesses, two men 
 and her woman, who saw it : but she having pretended she was with child, the sheriff 
 and his deputes directed a commission, recommending to Doctors Stevenson and Bal- 
 four, &c. to visit her, and report ; who having done so, they declared that after trial 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 183 
 
 of the infamous history of his abominable snuff-box, carved with 
 some of tlie most ugly of Aretin pictures and postvu'es, is in print ; 
 and lest he should deny it, a gentleman in Fyfe keeps his letter. 
 
 they could perceive no signs of her being with child. However, if the pannel had been 
 with child, she did not deny but it was to Lord Forrester, which was both adultery 
 (she being married and not divorced) and incest, she being my lord's first lady's niece, 
 and sister's daughter ; so that the visible judgement of God may be read both upon 
 her and him. Her affirming herself to be with child was but a shift to procure a de- 
 lay. On 19th September Christian Hamilton gave in a bill to the lords of privy coun- 
 cil, representing that the sheriffs gave her no time to provide herself with advocates, 
 so that she had omitted her defences, and begged the council would examine her wit- 
 nesses, and take trial of the manner of the commission of the slaughter, viz. that he 
 was then di-unk, in which condition he commonly was very furious; that she was ex- 
 ceedingly provoked ; tliat ho run at her with his sword ; that she took it from him to 
 preserve herself from hazard ; and that he ran upon the sword's point, and thereby gave 
 himself the mortal wounds whereof he died, and so killed himself; and she stood only 
 upon her lawful defence. This relation was known to be false, and therefore the lords 
 of the privy council did now little regard it, tho' it was relevant in itself. She was a 
 woman of a godless life, and ordinarily carried a sword beneath her petticoats. On tho 
 29th of September she made her escape out of the Tolbooth, in men's apparel, in the 
 glooming, about 5 o'clock at night, but was the next day found at Fala-Mill, where 
 she had staid, and did not hasten to the English Borders, and was brought back to the 
 Tolbooth on the 1st of October, and was beheaded at the Cross of Edinburgh the 12th 
 Nov. She was all in mourning, with a large wail, and before the laying down of her 
 head, she laid it off, and put on a whyte taffetie hood, and bared her shoulders with 
 her own hands, with seeming courage eneugh." Fountainhall's Decisions, MS. — 
 His lordship adds, " Mrs Bedford, who murdered her husband, and committed adul- 
 tery with Geilles Tyre, was this Mistris Nimmo's cusing germane, and of the family of 
 Grange. And they say that the Ladie Warriston, who about 100 years ago strangled 
 her husband Kincaid of Warriston, she was of the same family." 
 
 It is remarkable that Lord Forrester was one of the presbyterian zealots of the times, 
 and had erected a meeting-house near Edinburgh, after the indulgence granted in the 
 
 year 1679. It was also reported, that a dispensation from the pope to marry the n'o-. 
 
 9 
 
ISi KIRKTON'S HISTOEY OF 
 
 wherein he owns it, aiid this he shews to many a man. He hade a 
 pair of band-strings i'rom a gentlewoman great in liis favour, which 
 every day wlien he entered the pulpit he kissed before he spoke ; 
 this was seen by many, and is in print by one of his own way. He 
 hath been deprehended in stairs and back rooms with base queens ; 
 yet this is a man sanctified to be a Scottish archbishop.* One of his 
 
 man who murdered him, was found in his closet after his death, and that his delay in 
 using this was the occasion of her fury. Popery and Schism equally dangerous in the 
 Church of England, p. 39. — The inhabitants of tlie village of Corstorphine still re- 
 late some circumstances of the murder, not recorded by Fountainhall. Mrs Nim. 
 mo, attended by her maid, had gone from Edinburgh to the Castle of Corstor- 
 phine in seai'ch of Lord Forrester, but not finding him at home, she sent for him from 
 the ale-house in the village, where he had been drinking all the morning. After a vio- 
 lent altercation, she stabbed him repeatedly with his own sword. He fell under a tree 
 near the Pigeon-house, both of which still remain, and died immediately. The lady 
 took refuge in the garret of the castle but was discovered by one of her slippers, which 
 dropt through a crevice of the floor. It need scarcely be added, that till lately the 
 inhabitants of the village were greatly annoyed, of a moonlight night, with the appari- 
 tion of a woman, clothed all in white, with a bloody sword in her hand, wandering and 
 wailing round the pigeon-house and the tree, which stand very inconveniently within 
 sight of the cottage gardens. 
 
 » All these scandals, and many more respecting Paterson and the episcopal clergy, 
 are detailed at great length in an answer to the Pamphlet called Presbyterian Elo- 
 quence. The author relates the story of the two drunken curates told by Kirkton 
 above, but with many variations. Their names, according to him, were Mr George 
 Young, curate of Kirkmaiden, and Mr James Adarason, of Stony Kirk. He says that 
 Sir John Urquhart of Cromarty's suicide was occasioned by his chaplain, who defend- 
 ed the crime ; which is not extremely probable. As to the reports concerning Pa- 
 terson, however, they are alluded to in many other pasquils of that time ; and the 
 following extract from Lord Fountainhall's MSS., sets the bishop's conduct, as a re- 
 former of the church, in no very flivourable point of view. " Mr John M'Queen, one 
 of the ministers of Edinburgh, in Dec. 1683, having by trapane got a petycoat of Eu- 
 phame Scotts, after Lady Eymouth, (and spous to Wynram of Eymouth, who is now 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 185 
 
 last good works was a pamphlet he wrote to fix Doctor Oats his 
 popish plot upon the presbyterians, and so to divert the enquiry 
 from the papists. But hade you heard the reckoning that was be- 
 twixt JMr James Goi-don, the avithor of The Reformed Bishop, and 
 him, before a commitee of the secret councill, where diverse of our 
 presbyterian lords sat judges in the controversy, there you should 
 have hade a more clear discovery of the good man's morals ; for my 
 part, I think I have said enough. I will give you ane instance of 
 the justice our curats used to doe in such a case. There was one 
 Mr Walter Kieth, curat in Chiiigle Kirk, who was, all the countrey 
 knew, (and many stories there were of it) a common adulterer with 
 his neighbour James Wilson's wife. The poor man resented it, and 
 complained to his neighbours upon it. The curat, to be first in 
 play, summonds him before the presby trie of ErUstoun (his ordinary) 
 to answer there a slander of his godly pastor. The man could not 
 deny what he hade spoken before so many ; but because he could not 
 by two eye-witnesses prove that they saw Kieth commit adultery 
 wdth his wife, he is condemned to confess his slander in sackecloath 
 upon all the pillories in the presbyterie. Yet one eye-witness there 
 was ; for my Lord of Jedburgh his lackey lyeing one day in James 
 Wilson's barn, saw the curat and the wife enter the barn, and was 
 both eye and ear-witness to what I need not write. The lackey resolved 
 to make advantage of it ; so after they hade left the barn, he went 
 boldly to the curat's stable and took away his horse, which the curat 
 soon mist, but could not find it. The next day the lackey comes 
 
 broken, and she dead,) with whom he was deadly in love, the' she hated him, he made 
 thereof a wastecoat and drawers ; for which he was suspended : but the Bishop of Edin- 
 burgh, Paterson, reponed him in Feb. IGSi." 
 
 2a 
 
186 K1RKT0^''S HISTORY OF 
 
 that way rideing upon the ciirat's horse, and so was seased by the 
 ])eoj)le of the \ illage and brought before the curat, who threatned 
 him very sore ; he whispers the whole story into the carat's ear in 
 so convincing a manner, the curat thought it even best to quite his 
 horse for fear of a worse. Alwayes, poor James Wilson hade no 
 other satisfaction but this : Being a vintner, he made a painter draw 
 a pair of bull's horns upon his sign-post, with a scurrelous epigrame 
 containing the sinne of the shamefull stoiy ; and this was a memo- 
 rial to be contemplate by all that travell that most patent road, as I 
 have seen it myself many times ; and with this the curats durst ne- 
 ver meddle, nor Kieth himself, tho' he dwelt within a few paces of 
 it.* Another example of scandals of this sort I shall give : — Mr 
 Thomas Hamilton, curat of CaruAvath, kept his sister Mary with 
 him in his house, while he was unmarried ; with her he fell in in- 
 cest, and by her had a child, as was well kiiown to the people of the 
 village, who not only heard her crying when she was in her pains 
 of child-birth, but also (h-ew so near as to hear the words he spoke 
 to her in the time, (for other midwife they sought none ;) and as for 
 the poor child it was never seen by the world, tht i ^port went they 
 buried it under a bush : HoAvever, the clamour of the scandal be- 
 came so flagrant, he judged it necessary to vindicat himself; so, by 
 the procurement of the King's Advocate, ane assize was caUed, and 
 
 * Burnet of Crimont (Bishop Burnet's father) writing to his brother-in-law Waris- 
 ton, respecting the tyranny of the Covenanters, observes, " It is a wanton life to make 
 good fare upon other men's purses, and lye in their wives bosom all night, and then 
 urge other men, that may be as good and acceptable to God as themselves, to be per- 
 secuted." — Memorials and Letters relating to the History of Britain, jmhlished by Lord 
 Hailes. 
 
THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAXll. 187 
 
 witnesses were chosen, such as he knew well knew nothino' in the 
 matter, and upon their ignorance he was absolved. But he escaped 
 not so ; for afterwards, when he was at Hamilton, and a married 
 man, the Duke and Dutchesse came to be so clear that his guilt was 
 real, and his accusation (of that and other things not to be named) 
 true, that he called him one day into his chamber and commanded 
 him to get him gone out of Scotland, else he would accuse him 
 upon his life ; whereupon the guilty wretch forsook Scotland and his 
 miserable wife, and went, no man knew whither, which he would 
 never have done if he diu'st have abidden a fair and just tryal and 
 proper witnesses. We shall come to scandals against the sixth com- 
 mand : There was INIr Archbald Bieth, curat in Arran, who kill- 
 ed a poor merchant only for bringing over some Irish tactual to re- 
 lieve the poor people of Scotland in a time of more than ordinary 
 dearth ; for this I saw him before the Lords Justices of Scotland, 
 where he found favovn- enough, but the case was so clear, he was, 
 by ane assize of honest men, found guilty of murther and condemn- 
 ed to die ; yet for the honour of the clergy, he Avas by Charles the 
 Second pardoned, and sent home to his parocli to preach upon the 
 sixth command. There was yet a more sad murther found among 
 them : One Mr Duncan, a cm-at, near Perth, kept a servant woman, 
 by whom he hade a child in fornication ; but fearing the discovery 
 of his scandal might deprive him of his stipend, he secretly mur- 
 thered the poor infant, and biuTied it in his own kitchen under a 
 great stone. Alwayes the cry of innocent blood brought his crime 
 to light, for which he was by the Earle of Perth, baillie of that 
 regality, condemned to be hanged, and was accordingly execute.* 
 
 * " June 6, 1682. One Mr Duncan, a minister in Perthshire, is condemned to death 
 by the Earl of Perth, as Stewart of CrieiT, for murdering an infant begotten by him in 
 fornication with his servant maid ; it being found buried under his own hcarth-stono. 
 
188 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 But the 1-nost sad of all was that of Mr Edward Thomson, curat of 
 Anstrudder ; this luau was the son of a godly father, a minister, 
 who bred his son in the knowledge of the truth and profession of 
 o-odliness ; and Avhen the honest father died, he straitly charged 
 this his son to follow his father's way, and in any case to beware 
 of conforming to the course of the bishops. This course he followes 
 for some time, but wearying of the poverty of non-conformists, he 
 went to one of then- mock presbytries, and there entei-ed upon his 
 tryals. The report went, that when he was upon his tryals, his fa- 
 ther appeared to him and threatned him for engadging in such a 
 course, whereupon he desisted for some time ; but the same tenta- 
 tion returning, he once more engadged with the bishops, entered 
 upon his tryals, and having passed, settled at Anstrudder. He hade 
 while he was there wife and children ; afterwards, being a widoAv, 
 he continued in his ministry, but at length became very sad and 
 heavy. One Satiu-day, at night, he went to make a visit, and stay- 
 ed out very late, and as he returned homeward, the wench that 
 bare his lanthron, as they past a bridge, affirmed the bridge trem- 
 bled and shoke, also that she saw something like a black beast }>ass 
 
 He was convicted on very slender presumptions, which, however they might amount 
 to degradation and banishment, yet it was thought hard to extend them to death." — 
 Lord Fountainhall's Decisions, p. 185. — Tradition strongly asserts the innocence of 
 the curate of Kinfauns, a man of irreproachable character, previous to the accusations 
 preferred against him by his maid-servant, wlio was a Drummond, (as was the real fa- 
 ther of the child) and connected with persons of that name, who had some influence 
 over Lord Perth. It is said that the privy council dispatched a rejM-ieve for the un- 
 happy man ; but the Drummonds contrived to detain the boat belonging to the river 
 Erne on the opposite bank, until Duncan was executed. The elements, it is added, 
 testified a'^ainst this cruelty with an unwonted tempest of rain and thunder ; and the 
 subsequent misfortunes of the Drummond family are still attributed by the supersti- 
 tious to the unjust sentence pronounced upon Duncan by James, fourth Earl of Perth. 
 
THK CHUUCII OF SCOTLAND. 189 
 
 the bridge before him. This made some suspect he medled with 
 the devil, and he was knoAvn to have a brotlier that was a diabolick 
 man.* However, home he came very late, and after he hade lyen 
 
 * Though the great reformer Knox is said by Livingstone to have " dispossessed 
 an evil spirit out of a chamber in Ormiston, in East Lothian ;" yet even he was accu- 
 sed of sorcery by his enemies. " About this tyme, to wit, the 5 or 6 of Januar (1572) 
 Jhone Law, the post of St Androis, being in Edinburgh, and also in the Castle, ane 
 deniandit if Jhone Knox was banist St Androis, and gif that his servant Richard was 
 deid, who knawing no sic thing, confessit the treuth. But the Ladie Home and utheris 
 wald neidis thraip in his face that he was banist the said toune ; becaus that in the 
 yarde he had raisit sum Sanctis, araongis whome thair come up the devill with hornis • 
 which when his servant Richart sawe, ran woode, and so died." — Bannatyne's 
 Journal, p. 309. 
 
 " All the disciples of this monstrous beast, Martin Lauter, dois put sik 
 
 fcelicitie in the lust of the flesch, that in auld men, quha to the judgment of the varld, 
 according to thair vou levit chaist to the tyme they var mekil mair nor threscoir of 
 zeiris, and had almaist the ane fut iu the graif, the spirit of fornicationc and adulterie 
 enterit with sik inordinat lust, that skarselie could it be quenchit ather by vyf or hyre 
 voman. I might produce, for example, that runegat and perjurit priest, Schir Johan 
 Kmnox, quha, alYer the death of his first harlat, quhUk he niareit, incurring eternal 
 damnation be breking of his vou and promiss of chastitie; quhen his age requyrit ra- 
 ther that vith tearis and lamentation he sould have chastised his flesh, and bevailit the 
 breaking of his vou, as also the horribil incest with his gudmother in ane killogie of 
 Hadintoun; zit notwithstanding, heaving laid asyd al feir of the panics of hel, and re- 
 garding na thing the honeslie of the warld, as ane band sklave of the devil, being kea- 
 dillit with ane unquenshible lust and ambition, he durst be sua bauld to enterpryze the 
 sute of marriage with the maist honorabil ladie, my ladie Fleming, ray lord duke's eld- 
 est dochter, to the end that his seid being of the blude royal, and gydit by thair fa- 
 ther's spirit, might have aspyrit to the croun; and because he receavit ane refusal, it is 
 notoriouslie knawin how deidlie he haited the hail hous of the Hamiltones, albeit being 
 deceavit by him traitorouslie, it was the chief upsettar and protector of his hceresic. And 
 this maist honest rei'usal could nather stencii his lust nor ambition ; hot a lytel efter he 
 did persew to have allyance with the honorabill hous of Ochiltree, of the Kyng's M. 
 
190 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 a while in bed, rose early upon Sabbath morning, and threw him- 
 self into the river, where he Avas taken up dead, to the great 
 astonishment of his poor neighbours. One instance more I shall 
 give of their morals : INIr Giden Penman, curat at Creighton, was 
 well known to be a witch ; divers eye-witnesses deponed they hade 
 many times seen him at the witches' meetings, and that the devil 
 called him ordinarly. Penman, my chaplane. Also upon a time 
 when Satan administred his communion to his congregation. Pen- 
 man sat next the devil's elbow ; and that when then- deacon had 
 served the table with wafers, in the popish fashion, when there re- 
 
 awin blude ; rydand thair with ane gret court, on ane trim gelding, nocht Ij'k ane pro- 
 phet or ane auld decrepit priest, as he was, hot lyk as he had bene ane of the blude 
 royal, with his bendis of taffetie feschnit with golden ringis, and precious stanes : and 
 as is planelie reportit in the countrey, be sorcerie and vitchcrqft did sua allure that puir 
 gentil woman, that scho could not leve without him : whilk appeiris to be of gret pro- 
 babilitie, scho being ane damosel of nobil blud, and he ane auld decrepit creatur of 
 maist bais degree of onie that could be found in the countrey : sua that sik ane nobil 
 hous could not have degenerat sua far, except Johann Kmnox had interposed the 
 powar of his maister the devil, quha as he transfiguris him self sumtymes in an angel of 
 licht, sua he causit Johann Kmnox appeir ane of the maist nobil and lustie men that 
 could be found in the warld." — Disputation concerning the controversit Headdis of Re- 
 ligion. 
 
 Haldin in the realme of Scotland the zeir of God ane thousand fyvc hundrelh 
 foiirscoir zeirx, betuix the j)rete?idit Ministers of the defonnil Kirk in Scotland, 
 and Nicol Bvrne, Professor of Philosophic in S. Leonardis College, in the citic 
 of Sanciandrois, brocht up from his tender cage in the pervcrsit sect of the Cal- 
 vinists, and tion be ane special grace of God ane membrc of the halie and Catho- 
 lick Kirk. 
 
 Dedicat 
 
 To his soverane the Kingis Ma. of Scotland, 
 
 King James the Saxt. 
 
 Jmprented at Parice thejirst day of October, 15S1. 
 
 a 
 
THE CHURCH OK SCOTLAND. IQl 
 
 maiiiecl two wafers more than served the company, the deacon laid 
 down liis two wafers before the devil, which two the devil gave to 
 Penman, and bid him goe carrie these to the papists in Winton. 
 But he escapt without punislnnent.* 
 
 I am weary of their scandals. AVee shall come to their doctrine ; 
 and, first, it must be considered, their episcopal church owned no 
 confession of faith as the standard of their doctrine and faith. It is 
 true, in the acts of parliament (their only rule) there is a confession 
 of faith, but so gejieral and short, it seems to have been Avritten ra- 
 ther to oppose atheism than heresy ; and as it stands in our print- 
 ed acts it is both nonsense and heresie ; and if ye wiU take Bishop 
 Paterson's interpretation of it, (which was allowed by the secret 
 council,) it is ane uncertain insignificant cypher ; so this was of no 
 use, and was by them every day contradicted. So every man might 
 teach what he pleased ; and because they loved to follow England, 
 therefore Hamond, Thorndyke, Sherlock, Taylor, and such, were 
 
 • " Criminal Court, Sept. 1678. Eight or ten witches, all (except one or two) poor 
 miserable like women, were pannelled ; some of them were brought out of Sir Robert 
 Keith's lands, others out of Ormiston, Crighton, and Peucaitland parishes. The first 
 of them were dilated by these two who were burnt in Salt-Preston, in May 1678, and 
 they divulged and named the rest, as also put forth seven in the Lonehead of Laswade ; 
 and, if they had been permitted, were ready to file, by their delation, sundry gentlewo- 
 men and others of fashion ; but the justices discharged them, thinking it either the 
 product of malice or melancholy, or the devil's deception, in representing such per- 
 sons as present at \.\\s\x field-meetings, who truly were not there. However, they were 
 per:nitted to name Mr Gideon Penman, who had been minister at Crighton, and for 
 sundry acts of uncleanness and other crimes was deprived. Two or three of the 
 witches constantly affirmed that he was present at their meetings with the devil ; and 
 that when the devil called for him, he asked, Where is Mr Gideon, my chaplain ? and 
 that ordinarily Mr Gideon was in the rear of all their dances, and beat up these that 
 were slow. He denied all, and was liberate upon caution." — Fountainhall's Deci- 
 sions, p. H. 
 
192 KiRKTON'S HISTORY OV 
 
 our young divines' authors ; with their heifers they plowed.® They 
 liade ane humor of creating doctors of divinity, and every empty 
 young man who was so vain as to be a doctor gott himself graduat, 
 and then for one demonstration of his sufficiency was to propound 
 and dispute for some one Popish or Socinian error, or, it may be, 
 two or three. But if ye would understand a Scotch curat's faith, 
 take Burnet's dialogues, (he was curat of Sal ton, he is now bishop 
 of Sannn,) and there you see what soundness and zeal was to be 
 foiuid among them. He begins with the governments. Non-resist- 
 ance he makes a necessaiy foundaniental you maj' be sure, and at a 
 high rate ; but how to reconcile his practise at Torbay when he 
 landed in arms against his irresistable soveraign King James, you 
 may guesse.f He does indeed essay the agreement in his pastoral 
 letter, but with that successe, his pamphlet was judged by the Eng- 
 lish parliament men to be worthy of the noble reward of publick 
 burning by the executioner's hand. However, after his sound doc- 
 trine concerning the two governments, he goes to arminianism.. 
 which he avouches in so rude a manner, I am confident he hade no 
 
 * The theological sUidies of the whigs are thus particularized by Colvill : — 
 
 " We'll read on the true convert's mark, 
 Or we will read on Bessie Clark, 
 Or else on Baker's heavenly beam, 
 Or on the Lady Culross' dream ; 
 Which sundry drunken asses flout, 
 Not seeing the jewel within the clout." 
 
 i" See Lord Clarendon's Diary for a curious account of Burnet's behaviour after his 
 landing in England with the Prince of Orange. At Salisbury, he went to prayers in 
 the Cathedral, where, to the astonishment of the people, when the Collect for the king 
 was read, " he rose from his knees, sate down in his stall, and made an ugly noise 
 with his mouth." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 193 
 
 thanks from Holland. Then he asserts the Popish errors, and, lastly, 
 the Socinian, to that height he scoffs the blessed Trinit)^ ; but he 
 professes himself a man of that high strain of moderation and cha- 
 rity, that he has a bosom for every sect that wears the name of 
 Christian, except only ane impardonable dissenter from his church.* 
 Yet he was thought fitt to be a father in our church, and placed in 
 Glasgow colledge to breed our young divines ; and what a fry his 
 disciples were, the Lord knows better than the godly people of Scot- 
 land, who refused to hear them or own them. Some of them de- 
 clared themselves papists, and forsook both the church and then* 
 congregation, as JVIr Alexander Irvine and Mr John Row. But 
 their most common politick profession was latitude and indifferency 
 in opinions and questions, and this truely not because they thought 
 so, but because hereby they were in best case to turn and serve the 
 tianes without the reproach of inconstancy, and they knew little 
 what the publick profession of the land might turn to be. And. 
 lastly, if you would know what integrity of spirit was among them, 
 
 * " Compesce me, Muse, those stout bravadoes 
 Of these stiff-necked reformadoes, 
 Who still maintain, unto this day 
 They have th' office, though they want pay ; 
 In otliers harvests putting their sickles, 
 Troubling the land with conventicles ; 
 Whose stubborn heart cannot be turned 
 By the dialogues of Gilbert Burnet." 
 
 Whig's Supplication. 
 
 Tliese dialogues Burnet dedicated to the Duke of Lauderdale, in the most fulsome 
 strain of flatter)'. But on his quarrel with that nobleman, he had the dedication can- 
 celled in as many copies as he could procure. To form a proper estimate of Burnet's 
 meanness and versatility, compare this dedication with the character of the duke given 
 in his history. 
 
 2 B 
 
194 KIRKTON'S HISTOllV OF 
 
 consider their last work, the sting- in their tail, The Presbyterian 
 Eloquence. The authors are said to be Mr Gilbert Crockat and ]Mr 
 John Monroe, confessors for the Scotch bishops and pensioners to the 
 English. And truely one would think, a thinking man who reads 
 that piece may wonder first what conscience governs these men, 
 who publish, to abuse the world, such stories, which they themselves 
 know to be hes, as well as they whom they bely. Next, what wisdom 
 is among them, who knew well enough there are thousands of ho- 
 nest people to refute their calumnies ! or what impudence rules in 
 them, who may well know the people in Scotland may well by their 
 book be perswaded to believe the curats are impudent atheists, but 
 not that the presbyterians are such men as their adversaries woidd 
 make them ! and what these malicious children of Satan would doe 
 (if they hade power) to those they so cruelly mock. Can a man think 
 that ever the spirit of tnith will accompany the lips belonging to 
 such a pen ? For my part, I never heard of a soul converted by a 
 curat's preaching ; but this is their last poor effort. When they 
 cannot reach the Lord's servants with theu- hands, they shoot, for 
 their arrows, bitter words ; they are like their father the Devil, 
 whose works, lyes, and murthers they do ; his delyte is their delyte 
 also ; he delighted in Judas his treason, tho' thereby he destroyed 
 his own kingdome, and they delight in malicious lyes, tho' the fruit 
 of it be to gett themselves abhorred of men, and cursed by Jesus, 
 who shall one day judge them by those men whom they have so 
 much injured.* I seem to have said enough to discover what a 
 
 • The pamphlet, which seems to have enraged Kirkton so much, is written on the 
 plan of L'Estrange's Dissenter's Sayings, and was published under this title, " The 
 Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence, or the Foolishness of their Teaching discovered from 
 their Books, Sermons, and Prayers, with some Remarks on Mr Rule's late Vindication 
 of the Kirk." Kirkton's own flowers of eloquence preserved there are generally too 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 195 
 
 pack they were, but I have not said all ; and this is a great sin I am 
 to write, if it be a lye, and if a truth, a testimony for the sufferers 
 in Scotland, and that is, I could fill a large vohnnne with true rela- 
 tions of these miserable men's scandals and crimes ; it may be ano- 
 ther will do it. God forbid I should say the Lord had no interest 
 among them ; but this is true, if there were secret saints among 
 them, they did ;iot appear ; they were hid in the crowd ; and many 
 a presbyterian minister has offended many ane honest saint by de- 
 fending or speaking good of some of them ; yet hade the Lord a 
 testimony fi'om some among them, and that of several sorts. First, 
 the conscience of some of them awoke and threatned them att a hiah 
 rate even with the terrors of damnation. There was never a pres- 
 byterian troubled in his conscience upon his death-bed, because he 
 kept his covenant and disowned bishops ; but many a poor curat 
 Avas sore tormented for what he had done. 
 
 Tiiere was Mr Donald Richman, a man that once professed him- 
 self a presbyterian of the strictest sort, but after he hade been a while 
 a curat in the west countrey, Avhen his dyeing day came, he died a 
 troubled man, professing, that since he first put his foot in the stirrop 
 to go to the bishop, he never found comfort in God, and so dej^arted 
 in great grief and terror. There was another, JNIr INIann, a curat near 
 Lithgow, who died in a most lamentable manner fuU of horror, as was 
 
 indecent for transcription ; he, moreover, is termed the everlasting comedian of the 
 party, and accused of extreme covetousness. The pamphlet itself (which has gone 
 through a number of editions) is blameworthy, as preserving a multitude of profane 
 expressions uttered by foolish or ignorant presbyterian clergymen, to the scandal of 
 any church ; but that these expressions have been exaggerated, as the Covenanters 
 pretend, there is no reason to believe ; nay, extracts might be made from sermons still 
 extant, both in print and in MS., almost equally gross and abominable with those 
 which disgrace the pages of the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence. 
 
li>ii kirkton's history of 
 
 known amongst his neighbours, but the particulars I have not heard. 
 And the saddest example among them was of two brothers of the 
 name of Weems, who lived near Perth, the one at Aberdalgy, Avhere 
 IVIr George Haliburton hade been presbyterian minister ; this poor 
 man lived in great trouble, and seemed to die in despair ; for when 
 he took his death-bed, first he sent for JNIr Haliburton, and craved 
 him pardon for entring into his church contrare to the will of God ; 
 then he desired him to pray for him, which ]\Ir Haliburton did very 
 heartily, but to small purpose, alace ! for his horror continued, be- 
 cause of his perjury, even to the last. He Avas sometimes visited by 
 a countrey woman in that village, which used to visit such people, 
 being a midwife to her occupation, which also attended him at his 
 death, and assured my informer, a godly and grave person, she had 
 never heard a woman in the torments of child-birth roar as that man 
 did even when he expired. His brother curat at Scoon, as I remem- 
 ber, feU sick much abont the same time, and Avhen he came to die, 
 he told his neighbours he hade preacht of heaven and hell, but never 
 beUeved there Avas either the one or the othei-, tUl noAv he found he 
 was certainly damned to hell because of his perjury and falsehood to 
 Jesus Christ. IVIore examples I shall not add, tho' I might add many. 
 There Avas another sort of Avitnesses among the curats against the 
 curats, to whom the liAang conviction came in due time. These, 
 notwithstanding all the miseries and sufferings Avhich they saAV at- 
 tended the presbyterians, declared publicly against bishops and con- 
 formity, condemned themselves for Avhat they hade done, forsook 
 their churches and stipends, and Avere ordinarly Avelcomed into the 
 estate of non-conformists by some severe punishment of imprison- 
 ment or exile, and ncA^er missed the bishop's deposition. Among 
 these were Mr John and Alexander Carmichal, tAA^o brothers, the one 
 foUoAving the other, and both able men. Also Mv Thomas Foster, 
 
THE CHUnCH OF SCOTLAND, 197 
 
 Mr Alexander Symer,* JNIr xVngus ]M'Cane, and several more. The 
 conversion of jNIr John ^lonroe made much noise. This man went to 
 a field-meeting, where he heard IMr John Welsh was to preach ; and 
 having satisfied ]Mr John Welsh in the morning concerning his change, 
 desired to preach with ]Mr Welsh that day, which M^as granted ; so 
 after Mr Welsh hade ended sermon before noon, IMr Monroe stood 
 up before the great field-meeting, and after he hade made his de- 
 claration and recantation, preacht in the afternoon to great satisfac- 
 tion, and so continued ; and those men were commonly the most 
 zealous adversaries to bishops in all Scotland. Lastly, some before 
 they would quite their post would needs testify their dissatisfac- 
 tion with then- party. Mr ^Villiam Spense, at the desire of diverse 
 of his brethren, (^vho promised to stand by him,) publickly offered 
 before Bishop Ramsey, in his synod at Dumblane, to wliich Mr 
 Spense belonged, to prove a gTeat many of his neighbours in that 
 diocie either guilty of heresy or scandal, if witnesses might be heard 
 and fiiir justice done ; and all the justice he hade was, first to be de- 
 posed as a slanderer, and then excommvmicate, which sentence the 
 bishop pronunced in a most infornnall manner, and in a prayer to 
 God gave the honest man to the devil ; so his brethren forsook 
 him, and he turned uregular preacher, as they were called, till the 
 I^ord restored him to a more comfortable ministry. 
 
 Now, of what use shall these curats be among the honest people 
 of Scotland ? Truely they have much to doe, for they are appoint- 
 ed not only to subdue the people of Scotland to a conformity ^vith, 
 and subjection to, the odious bishops, but also they liave the people 
 of Scotland to perswade to change their prmciples, and new mould 
 our chm'ch into such a frame, that our bishops by their activity 
 
 * See a ridiculous letter of tliis convert in Hicks's Ravillac Redivivus. 
 
198 kiukton's history of 
 
 might be in case to amplify the king's power, advance his designes, 
 and secure his pleasmes, for these were the great designes in this 
 new reformation. But how shall such despicable men be cloathed 
 with authority for this effect ? Truely, you may think it was a hard 
 task, but our state must undertake and goe through with it. "Wlien 
 a presbyterian minister entered to his charge upon the call of the 
 people, the course he took was faithfullness and painfulhiess, private 
 exhortation, publick instruction, catechising, preaching, and wrest- 
 ling witli the Lord by prayer to gain his people : and so it came to 
 pass his congregation many times gathered as a cloud, and like doves, 
 because they could not enter by the doores, the house was so throng, 
 crouded to the windows, that they might hear without the help of 
 souldiers to drive them thither. The bishops take another way to 
 possess the curats of the affections and respect of their people, and 
 this was by violent compulsion, wherein b-uely many desiderat their 
 wisdom as much as their justice in their covn-se. If people be com- 
 pelled to hear a man preach, they hear him with so much prejudice, 
 they will censure his doctrine and loath his person, as it was their 
 experience ; but this is the course they will take unto their ruine. 
 The Apostle Paul sayes, he recommended himself unto the con- 
 sciences of his people, by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffer- 
 ing, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the 
 word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteous- 
 ness. But the curats commend themselves to the consciences of the 
 people of Scotland, by fyning, by imprisonment, by relegations, by 
 selling for slaves, by banishment, by scourging, by stigmatizing, by 
 bloody executions : these hade ane effect suitable.* 
 
 * The true spirit and essence of presbyterian invective against the clergy of the rival 
 persuasion is contained in the following lines, (from a collection of MS. poetry written 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 199 
 
 I shall begin with their expedient of fyning, in which their me- 
 thod was this. The secret council!, finding the people of the west 
 the most dissatisfied with the late change, thought good to quarter 
 the forces when in pay among that people. Among all the soul- 
 diers there was one Sir James Turner,, ane old servant of the Cove- 
 nanters, but a turncoat, as many were at that time ; and because 
 he was a fierce harsh man, therefore he was judged a fitt instrument 
 for such a Avork. To him the councill direct a letter, dated Nov. 
 14, 1663, by which they require him to see the laws execute against 
 those who withdi-aw from the new ministers. This was a text he 
 coidd well interjn-et, especially with the help of INIr James Hamil- 
 ton, Bishop of Galloway ; and to help them in this, besides the Act 
 of Fyning, there is a proclamation emitted by the councill, to fine 
 every person in 20 shiU. Scots for every dayes absence from the 
 church. Also another proclamation there is, discharging all sort* 
 of meetings for religious exercises, under pain of sedition. And, 
 lastly, a proclamation commanding aU masters of families and all 
 heritors to command their tennants to obey the laws and keep their 
 
 after the Revolution, in the possession of the editor,) entitled, " Ane Answer to Curat 
 Caddel's Satyre upon tlie Whigs :" — 
 
 " Jacobites, wicked sprites, hypocrites, by tongue and mouth, 
 111 inventors, earth's tormentors, curs'd dissenters from the truth ; 
 Blasphemous speakers, covenant-breakers, test-takers, filthy frogs. 
 Perverse ones, Babel's sons, idle drones, and dumb dogs ; 
 Beggar bucklers, cheating trucklers, unclean cucklers, lustfull rams. 
 Mammon curriers, butchering burriers, wolf worriers of the lambs; 
 Pulpit jesters, state infestors, church pesters, by intention, 
 Hellish kites, mothish mites, with your rites of Rome's invention ; 
 Beastly bodies, senseless nodies, venemous todies, nothing other, 
 Priests of Baal, one and all, soon may you fall, with Rome your Mother." 
 
 9 
 
200 KIRKTOX'S HISTORY OF ' 
 
 paroch church, otherwayes to remove them out of their houses or 
 lands under all highest pains. Now this foundation being laid, the 
 curats accuse when they please to Sir James, any of his officers, 
 or it may be a private centinel ; and here there was a short pro- 
 cess ; the souldier is judge, no witnesses is used, the sentence is 
 pronimced, the soiddier executes his own sentence, and receives the 
 money for his own use, and many times the fyne exceeds the sum 
 appointed by law. If they be not able, or unwilling to pay, they 
 are quartered upon till they be eaten up ; their goods are distrain- 
 ed and sold for a triffle, till many poor people were constrained to 
 scatter their families, and either lurk or leave the countrey. While 
 they quartered in these poor families, none of the old Lord Danes 
 were so insolent. They mockt religious worship, they beat the 
 poor people, the men they bind and Avovnid, they di-agg to church 
 and prison, and both with equal violence. The curats use to make 
 a roll of their parishioners ; this they call after their sermon ; all 
 absent (if they please) are given vip to the soiddiers ; they extort 
 the money or quarter upon the people ; no defence saved a fyne. 
 They quartered sometimes in the houses of a man that kept the 
 church, because another man who kept it not dwelt there before. 
 Another practise was common among them, and that was, because 
 the people used to goe and hear the presbyterian ministers who were 
 not as yet turned out, and the cursed souldiers wovdd run in troops 
 to these churches ; they enter the church and inteiTupt the worship ; 
 they make the congregation pass out at one door ; they make them 
 all swear whether they be members of that congregation yea or not. 
 Those that are not, they presently fine ; if they hade not money, 
 they take from them their books and g-arments, with many a buffet, 
 and sometimes bloody woundings. This was often done at the 
 churches of Eaglisham, Ochiltree, Kilwinning, Irwine, Stewarton, 
 and several other places. And when all these outrages were com- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 201 
 
 mitted, they forced the poor people under their hand to dedare 
 they hade been civily used by them, who used them most barba- 
 rously. 
 
 But all this did not the turn of Scotland, Avliich loathed bishops 
 and curats formerly, and this made them abhorr them. Alwayes, 
 they resolved, if they be not loved they shall be feared, as tyrants 
 use to reason ; and therefore at this time Bishop Sharp posts to 
 court, to procure of the king the erection of a court of high com- 
 mission, which hade been the former bishops' great I'ock in the 
 times of K. James and K. Charles, — a court so odious and tyran- 
 nical, that when England restored K. Charles to all his prerogatives 
 and dignities, of the high commission they Avould never hear ; but 
 any thing is welcome to slaA'ish flattering Scotland, and such it was 
 at that time. The bishop gained his point. And the king, by his 
 letters, dated 12 January, 1664, by -sirtue of his prerogative royal 
 and ecclesiastick supremacy, gives and grants to the Archbishop of 
 St Andi-ews, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Rothes, Theasurer, the 
 Archbishop of Glasgow, Duke Hamilton, the INIarquesse of INIont- 
 rose, the Earles of Argyle, Athol, Eglinton, Lithgow, Hoome, Gal- 
 loway, Tweddale, Leven, and ISIurray ; the Bishops of Edinburgh, 
 Galloway, Dunkell, Aberdeen, Brichen, Isles, and Argyle; the 
 Lgrds of Drumlanerick, Cochran, Haukerton, Bellenden, Pitsiigo, 
 and Frazer ; the Lord Advocate, Justice Clerk, Hatton, Philorth, 
 Sir Andi'ew Ramsey, Sk William Thomson ; the Provests of Aber- 
 deen, St Andi-ews, Glasgow, Air, and Dumfries, Sir James Turner, 
 and the Dean of Edinburgh, or any 5 of them, (a bishop being one,) 
 to use_ then- uttermost endeavour that the acts of parliament and 
 councill, made for the order and peace of the church, and in behalf 
 of episcopal government, be put into vigorous and impartial execu- 
 tion against all and every one within the kingdome of Scotland who 
 presume to disobey these acts now settled; and for this effect to 
 
 2 c 
 
S02 KiuKTON's histohy of 
 
 summond and call before them, when and where they please, all 
 popish traffiquers and Jesuits or mass priests, (this is for the fashion,) 
 and who condemn the discipline of the church, and censured there- 
 fore, all keepers of conventicles, aU ministers who continue in the 
 exercise of their ministry in their parodies or preach in private 
 houses, aU who keep meetings, (this is twice before,) all preachers 
 who come from England or Ireland without the bishop's licence, 
 all who speak, preach, write, or print to the scandal or detriment 
 of the government of the church or state, aU who contemn or mo- 
 lest regular ministers, aU who do not ordinarly attend all ordinances 
 in their paroches, all who goe about as bussie bodies to divert the 
 people from their aUeadgance, all who express their dissatisfaction 
 to the present acts about church affaires ; with power to them to 
 appoint ministers to be censured by suspension and deposition, and 
 to pvmish, by fyning and incarcerating, all persons who shall be 
 foinid transgressors, their fynes not exceeding the sume appointed 
 by law ; commanding all captains, constables, magistrates, to re- 
 ceive their prisoners, and the lords of councill to grant letters for 
 their fynes, and no suspension to be granted but upoii the bishop's 
 warrand ; appointing Mr Thomas Young clerk, and ]Mr Alexander 
 Keith receiver of the fynes, the one half of which was to be imploy- 
 ed for defraying the charges of the court, the other half for pious 
 uses ; appointing this commission to continue till November next, 
 or till it be discharged, and the first meeting to be on the first 
 Wednesday of !March following ; commanding the sealls to be ap- 
 pended without further warrand or order. This is the sume of the 
 commission of this hemiophrodite court, partly civil, wherein lay- 
 men hade power to judge ministers' doctrine and depose them, and 
 churchmen hade power of coi-poral punishment in a civil case ; but 
 it was the very genuine birth of our supremacy, and very like the 
 parent. This same day, the king, by his letter from Whitehall, de- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 203 
 
 clared it to be his pleasure tliat the Bishop of St Andrews have the 
 precedency of the chancellor and all the subjects Avithin the king- 
 dome ; and this was for the honour of the church and the authority 
 of the commission.* 
 
 But before I speak of the actings of the commission, some occur- 
 rences of the time I must remember. The bishops made it part of 
 their bussiness, for two or three years after the young ministers Avere 
 turned out, to send the old ministers after them, and so make a clean 
 house. Their way was, where they found ane old minister that hade 
 been ordained before the year 1649, and did not attend his diocesian 
 meeting, first to summond him before himself in his synod, and 
 then (because almost never one appeared) to depose him. In some 
 places the bishop made a fashion of calling the roll of the curats, as 
 if, forsooth, they hade hade some interest in the government ; but 
 in some places, as St Andrews and Edinburgh, the bishop pronun- 
 ced the sentence according to the act of parliament, the canon of 
 their government. And because some grumbled at what the Bishop 
 of Edinburgh did, he told them the power of govemment was lodged 
 in his solitary person. Alwayes there were not very many of the 
 old ministers that suffered for their profession, and the Avhole num- 
 ber of them made not up the third part of the company that were 
 witnesses for the covenant and way of the church of Scotland. It 
 was indeed thought strange, that those who hade been in armes for 
 the covenant, and preached the husband fi-om the wife, and the fa- 
 ther fi-om the childeren, should have been so base in ane hour of 
 tryal ; but it was a time of great discoveries. 
 
 This spring, also, the Chancellor Glencah-n left the world and his 
 short-liv'd honor. He died at Bolton, in East-Lothian, of a fever 
 
 * " Archbishop Sharp had such a letter, but never made use of it."— Fountain- 
 hall's Decisio7is, vol. Lp, 184. 
 
204 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 of 5 (layes ; and tho' he hade Uved among the bishops and the cu- 
 rats, yet he desired earnestly to die among the presbyterians ; and 
 therefore, as soon as he apprehended death, he posted away a mes- 
 seno-er to INIr Robert Douglass, who sojourned then at Preston, but 
 he was not to be gotten, being absent in Fyffe. Then he sent for 
 IVIr Robert Ker, in Haddington ; but before he could come the 
 dyeing man had lost his senses, and so he was reproved in his sin, 
 tho' he hade made his last choise of those whom he hade sore perse- 
 cute. And so did many of our grandees, Avhen they hade their eyes 
 opened with the terrors of death, particularly the Duke of Rothes 
 and Earle of Annandale, and many more. Jilany a time the chan- 
 cellor cryed out, O to have my last three years recalled ! but it 
 would not be granted.* Albeit, that time that Middlcton was tot- 
 tering before his fall, he said one day in private discourse to Sir 
 Alexander Morison of Preston-grange, who told me the story, that 
 if Middleton fell, it would make people say it were a curst thing to 
 introduce bishops into Scotland ; for, first. Captain James Stewart 
 liade introduced a sort of bishops, and he died a lamentable death ; 
 next, the Earle of Dumbar hade estabhshed bishops, and he was 
 
 * Walker, in his Life of Donald Cargill, pretends that the duke on his death-bed 
 believed tlie sentence of excommunication pronounced against him by Cargill at the 
 Torwood hiiidiiig then, mid to all eternitij — fiee also Wodrow's History, vol. II. p. 222. 
 and God's Justice excmplijied in his Judgements upon Persecutors. — " The Duke of Rothes 
 died at his lodgings in the Abbey, 26th July, 1681, of the jaundies and hydropsy. He 
 was brought up to the High Church of Edinburgh, and in great state conveyed thence 
 to the Abbey Church, and frae that to Leith, 23d August, 1681 ; and next day carried 
 to Lessly, and interred there. He was of excellent parts, though void of learning. He 
 gave himself great libertie in all sorts of pleasures and debaucheries, particularly with 
 Lady Ann, sister to the first Duke of Gordon, whom he took along with him in his 
 progress through the country, with hat and feather ; and by his bad example infected 
 many of the nobility and gentry."— iorrf Fountainhall's Mf>- Diary, 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 265 
 
 both fii-.st and last of his house ; and now, if ISIiddletou fall, it will 
 make people say it is a curst practice. Sir Alexander answered. 
 Indeed, my Lord, you were very bussie yourself He answered, 
 Indeed he was for a sort of moderate bishops, but not for such as 
 they hade got ; but Lauderdale was a true prophet, and the Scot- 
 tish lords begiuled themselves. For they thought well to have 
 brought in a sort of bishops to serve them by suppressing ministers' 
 freedom, which they called sauciness ; and they brought in indeed 
 a sort of bishops, who were their masters. And it was verily be- 
 lieved, some words Bishop Sharp spoke stuck so in his stomach, 
 they might be part of the cause of his death. About this same time 
 died ]Middleton, a banisht man, in the manner I have already told. 
 Also a third builder of Babel, Sir John Fletcher the advocate, tho' 
 he died not at this time, was turned out of his office for bribes and 
 other miscarriages, and little richer he was than when, he entered 
 into his tenibie employment, notwithstanding all the vast sumes 
 he hade extorted from honest people, who, fearing his power and 
 mallice, were glade to buy his friendship at a very dear rate.* 
 
 Before I speak of the actings of the commission, I must speak a 
 little of their way and maimer in generaU. Their power is very 
 ample ; they make many offenders, and sort them strangely, even 
 in their commission ; but they hade their commission both enlarged 
 and renewed, and yet it was observed they exceeded the boundaries 
 of the largest. Their coiu-t was like the old Lyon in the Cave, — 
 
 * " Fletcher was a man of a generous temper, who despised wealth, except as it 
 was necessary to support a vast expence. He was a bold and fierce man, who hated 
 all mild proceedings, and could scarce speak with decency or patience to those of the 
 other side ; so that he v/as looked on by all that had been faulty in the late times, as 
 an inquisitor-general. On the other hand, Primrose took money liberally, and was the 
 intercessor for all who made such effectual apphcations to him." — Burnet's Hist. vol. 
 I. p. 104'. 
 
20G kirkton's history of 
 
 many came toward him, none returned from him, because all were 
 devoured : So, for ought I coidd hear, never one appeared before 
 them that escapt without punishment. Their custom was, without 
 premonition or lybell, to ask a man a question, and judge him pre- 
 sently cither upon his sUence or his answer. They vised not to pro- 
 ceed upon the testimony of witnesses ; all lybells Avere proven suf- 
 ficiently if the party refused the oath of supremacy, and absolved if 
 he took it. They many times doubled the legal punishment ; and 
 not being satisfied with the fyne appointed by law, they used to add 
 rehgation to some remote places, or deportation to Barbadoes, or 
 selling into slavery ; so by this their tyranous practise they altoge- 
 ther deterred people from appearing before them. They made the 
 noblemen for shame dishaimt their meetings ; so when they could 
 get neither judges to sitt nor parties to appear, they were constrain- 
 ed to give over. So this Craill Court dissolved after they hade sitt 
 about two years. But to give ane particidar account of their cruel- 
 ties were indeed to transcribe their records, and write a martyro- 
 logy ; therefore I shall content my self to represent some examples 
 of their justice, and doe no more. 
 
 The first I shall notice was James Hamilton of Aikenhead ; his 
 lybell was, that he heard not his curat. To that he answered, that 
 he could not hear him, because of many injuries the curat hade 
 done him. These pffended the Bishop of Glasgow so much, he 
 promised that man should stay no longer in that paroch. Yet tliey 
 urge My Hamilton to engadge himself thereafter to hear the preacher 
 to be settled, and because he refused this, tho' he hade many friends 
 among them, he is fyned in a fourth part of his yearUe rent, and is 
 dismissed for that time ; but 'scapt not so. For within three months 
 he is again called, and being infonned by Burnet, Bishop of Glas- 
 gow, that he continued still averse from hearing the ciu-at, he is 
 again fyned in 300 hb. sterUng, confined to Inverness, 150 mUes 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. il07 
 
 from his house, and commanded to present himself to the magi- 
 strates there within three weeks, and himself to be incarcerate in 
 Edinbm-gh Tolbooth tiU he find surety to enter to his confinement. 
 As for his confinement, lie obeyed ; but being unable to pay the 
 fine, presently they sequestrate liis rents till his fyne was payed and 
 received. Like unto this was the case of Porterfield of Duchall, 
 who being conveened before them for the same crime of not hear- 
 ing his curat, answered, he hade just reason to refuse such a man 
 for his pastor, who abused him with base and injurious reproaches. 
 The commission confessed, if he could prove his excuse it was suf- 
 ficient, whereupon witnesses are adduced ; and the first witness pro- 
 ving all that was said abundantly, the commission fearing the gen- 
 tleman would vindicate himself by law, in the midst of the exami- 
 nation of witnesses the commission requires him to take the oath 
 of supremacy, Avhich he scrupling to doe, they desert the process of 
 his vindication which fonnerly they hade granted, and fyne him in 
 9000 merks, and thereafter relegate him to Elgine, where he lay 
 long, and hade his estate sequestrate till his fyne was raised. 
 
 This year, also, INIr James Wood, professor of divinity in St An- 
 drews, departed this life. He hade been Bishop Sharp's very inti- 
 mate comerade, and therefore was visited by the bishop once and 
 again. The fruit of these visits was, the bishop spread a loud re- 
 port, that Mr Wood, being near to death, had professed himself indif- 
 ferent in the point of church government, and that he was as much 
 for bishops as presbytrie. Tliis report coming to INIr Wood's ears, 
 grieved him so much, he could have no peace till he vindicate him- 
 self by a solemn declaration before a notar-publick, subscrived with 
 his own hand and the notai-s, before two famous witnesses, both mi- 
 nisters, JNIr John Carstaires and IMr William Tullidaffe. In this he 
 declares, contrare to the bishops calumny, that he hade never spoken 
 what the bishop hade falsely affii-med, but that he believed presby- 
 
208 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 terian gOA'ernment to be of Divine institution, and that it was a 
 point of truth for which a Christian is oblidged to lay down his life 
 il' the Ijord call him to it. At this the bishop raged, and thereupon 
 caused sumniond 3Ir Carstaires (whom he alleadged to be the con- 
 triver of the paper, as the notar had informed him,) and ISIr TuUi- 
 daife, with John Pitcairn the notar. The two last compeared, and 
 both declared INIr AA'^ood hade endyted that paper, word by word, 
 and the notar wrote it, as it was his office. Here the bishop once 
 more was made a Ijar to his face by the notar ; but because JNIr 
 Carstaires appeared not, but absconded, the bishop was constrained, 
 upon the judgement of the commission, to dismiss the other two 
 without further punishment, Mr TuUidaffe being his great acquaint- 
 ance, and his design being only against Mr Carstaires. The bishop 
 shewed his malice, and reaped only shame for his reward. 
 
 The chancellor's place hade been vacant near six moneths, partly 
 because they covdd not resolve upon a fitt man whom they would 
 trust ; at length the expedient they choiced was to make Rothes 
 (who was high-theasurer for the time) lord-keeper ; he was for Lau- 
 derdale, against ]\Iiddleton, abundantly trusted by the bishops, and 
 thought to be in favour with the king, because of some likeness of 
 luunor and behaviour ; so he is appointed keeper by the king's let- 
 ter to the councdl, bearing date 19th October, 1664: And, to ad- 
 vance him higher, he is, by another letter of the same date, appoint- 
 ed commissioner, to continue for ane uncertain time, as it did, in- 
 deed, for several years ; and he was the fii-st constant commissioner 
 tlu-ow all times that ever was seen in Scotland, and was taken by 
 many for ane encroachment upon the liberty of the nation ; how- 
 ever, after this Rothes ruled in the high commission. The next in- 
 stance 1 shall give is the story of INIr Alexander Smith, ane outted 
 minister, being at that time at Leith : This man was brought before 
 
 the commission for preaching privately, or (as they call it) for keep- 
 
 4 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 209 
 
 ing conventicles, he appeared, and because he called Bishop Sharp 
 only Sir, the commissioner askt him, if he knew to whom he spake ? 
 He answered, he knc^v he spoke to Mr James Sharp, sometime fel- 
 low minister with himself. Kothes replyed, he hade not before 
 acted as commissioner, but now he woidd begin ; and, without more 
 adoe, commanded to put the poor man in irons, and lay him in the 
 dungeon called the Theeves' Hole, in company Avith a poor furious 
 distracted man ; and there he lay, till the great respect and courtisie 
 the people of Edinburgh shewed him, made the bishops think it 
 better to carrie him to another roome, where, because of cold and 
 bad acconnnodation, he fell sick ; yet there he continued till he was 
 relegate to Shetland, and there he lay many a year. I heard him 
 say he was in ane island four years, where he hade neither food nor 
 fii-e, but to keep in a miserable life, his bread being only barley, his 
 feuel sea-tangle. One example more shall be this : The chiu'ch of 
 Ancrum being vacant through good IMr John Li^■ingston's exile, 
 one INIr James Scot, who hade been excommunicate 20 years before, 
 and still continued so, though he was possessed of two benefices else- 
 where, is presented to the church. Upon the day appointed for his in- 
 duction, a number of the poor people conveened to give him the 
 welcome abhorred pastors vise to get ; one poor woman amono-st 
 them desu-ed earnestly to speak with him, hopeing to disswade him, 
 but he flung away fi-om her, whereupon she takeing hold of his cloak 
 to detain him, he beat her with his staff; this made some boyes 
 throw a stone or t^vo, which neither touched him nor any of his com- 
 pany ; this is proclaimed a treasonable tumult. The countrey bail- 
 lifFs both imprisoned and fyned them. But this saved them not from 
 the claws of the commission, whither, when they were brought, first 
 four boys appeared. The commissioner told them hanging was too 
 
 2d 
 
310 kirkton's history op 
 
 little for them, so their sentence was to be scourged through Edin- 
 burgh, burnt in the face, and sold in Barbadoes. Sir John Gdmore 
 told them there was no law for such a cruel sentence ; however, it 
 stood, and the poor boyes endured their punishment both like Chris- 
 tians and resolute men. Thereafter they called for two brothers and 
 their sister, the Trumbles of Astneburn ; the two brothers, though 
 both heads of famihes, they sent to Vu-ginia, (to Barbadoes they 
 would not, lest they should have the comfort of their neighbours) 
 and the poor sister, a married woman, they appoint to be scourged 
 through Jedburgh streets. And when some charitable people en- 
 treated Bishop Burnett to spare the poor woman, supposing she 
 might be wdth child, he answered, he should claw the itch out of 
 her shoulders ; and indeed he was both the mover and director in 
 this persecution, and many more. Alwayes, when the day of her 
 suffering came, the executioner choiced rather to be kind to his in- 
 nocent neighbour than true to the bishops ; so he permitted her to 
 keep on her cloaths, scarce ever touched her, and lun-t her not at aU. 
 Her brother led her by the hand, and the execution was attended 
 with more laughter than tears, the people proclaiming the execution- 
 er had made the bishop a false prophet, and the bishops were more 
 bitterly curst than she was whipt. In the end of this year, upon 
 November 17th, the commission emitt another proclamation, dis- 
 chargeing any presbyterian minister to come to Edinbui-gh without 
 licence : and the reason of this was, that Avhen they came to town 
 they were so attended with salutations, caps, and knees, it made 
 the bishops and curats, who had so httle respect, to fi-et at the heart. 
 This was the 5th punishing proclamation ; and as aU the rest pro- 
 ceeded from fear or hatred, this proceeded from pure envy. 
 
 I have put the bussiness of the commission together, tho' it was 
 acted by parcells, and say no more of it. The lords began to weary 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 211 
 
 of the bishops' cruelty and cbudgery ; the bishops began to suspect 
 their friendship ; dissension arose ; people cited refused to appear, 
 choising rather to be outlaws than certainly ruined : So this goodly 
 court, of which the bishops expected so great matters, after a short 
 continuance evanisht in a smoke. 
 
212 KIRKTOX'S HISTORY OF 
 
 LIB. VII. 
 
 ROTHES HIS GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Rothes is now governour of Scotland, a man of mylder temper 
 then INIiddleton, never so cruel as in the high commission. Hade 
 his morals been as pure as his addresse was gentle, his character 
 hade been more perfect ; but his infamous converse with Lady Ann 
 Gordon highly disparaged his reputation, and, as it was confidently 
 repoi'ted, touched his own conscience so much, tliat one day being 
 under the dint of his own conviction, and reflecting upon his mis- 
 behaviour toward his worthy lady, (whom he could not but admu-e,) 
 he thre^v all the wretched love-tokens his miss hade given him into 
 the fire, upon suspicion and fear he was detained her captive by the 
 poAver of witchcraft, as very many said he Avas.* However, him the 
 
 * Among the letters of Archbishop Sharp to tlie Duke of Rothes, there is one, (froni 
 London, 1666,) in which some wortls concerning Lady Ann Gordon have been care- 
 fully erased. But in another, dated June 30, are to be found several passages, evidently 
 alluding to that lady, whose brother, a minor, had been educated by his mother in the 
 Popish persuasion, and was now about to be taken from her, in order to his conversion, 
 and she sent to the north of Scotland, probably as much to separate her daughter from 
 Rothes, as her son from herself. — " What I wrote of the defamations of your grace 
 whispered here to persons of great note, I thought it was my duty to declare against 
 them, as false and calumnious, and give your grace notice of them, which I did with- 
 out any design to insinuate, for your grace may reckon that your adversaries are 
 myn; but only that you might know that you are not exempted from the fate of all 
 great men, which is to have their carriage, inclinations, and actions sifted, and often 
 
 1 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 213 
 
 king gave us for oui' governour. And truely this year produced no 
 great changes in oiu- church, for partly the plague raging at Lon- 
 don so terribly that there died sometimes a 1000 a day, and partly 
 the Dutch war, made our government more calm in their proce- 
 
 misconstructed, and therefore they had need to take heed to their wayes, especially 
 tliose who hve in Scotland. 
 
 " If upon my writing with so much passion and concern by my last to your grace, 
 about the removing of the Lady M. of Huntly to the north, your grace takes offence, 
 so as to change your affection to me, which would be more grievous than any evil I 
 have niett with in my life, I shall only say this, my infelicity is great, to be put to that 
 strait, that I must either incurr your displeasure, before which I cannot stand, or be 
 wanting in the duty of a taithfull friend and servant, to tell 3'ou what is for your good, 
 though displeasing (which a flatterer will not do) in a matter wherein I am upon unde- 
 n3'able evidences perswadit, your honour, your standing, the repute of the king's au- 
 thority in your person, the satisfaction of the kingdom, the stopping the mouths of 
 j'our adversaries are more visibly concerned than in any thing else you can take into 
 consideration. I have chosen that which is my duty, which I cannot dispense, unless I 
 should justly draw upon my self the censure of all here, and at home, as having prosti- 
 tuted my conscience, the reputation of ray office, and abandoned all regard to your 
 weel-being, honour, and good fame, (which is as dear to me as my life,) and so to be 
 concluded by all persons as a base man, unworthy of my trust, and the office I bear, and 
 worthy to be abandoned ; and having once for all sayed this, which is to yourself alone, 
 I must lye at the foot of your mercy, and wait upon God, who I hope will lead you to 
 take resolutions suitable to the eminency of your trust, the honour of your person and 
 familj', and the reputation of your name, which is necessary for you in the eyes of the 
 people, if you would have the authority and actions of your place regardit and vene- 
 rated by them as they ought to be. Whatever reflection you may have of this now, I 
 trust in God, do I live or perish, you shall 7 years hence have cause to say my free- 
 dom in this has proceedit more from pure duty and sincere affection and concernment 
 for you than any thing else it can be imputed to. Pardon this my scribbling, God 
 guyd and preserve you, and when you shall do to me what you please, you will still 
 tind that I am inviolably yours." Vie/c Burnet, vol. I. p. 239, for a false representa- 
 tion of Sharp's conduct in this affair. — As to Lady Anne's witchcraft, it is probable 
 
314 kirkton's history of 
 
 dure. As for the Dutch warr, it is out of my road ; I shall not 
 meddle with it ; only this remark was almost by all made vxpon it : 
 Our king by it acquired more dishonour than ever any king of 
 England since then- was a king in it ; for tho' many judged Eng- 
 land to have the better cause than the Dutch, yet the Dutch car- 
 ried the honour of the warr most perfectly. Att the same time the 
 king declared warr against France ; but before he began, March 
 3d, 1665, our councill proclaimed a fast through all our churches 
 for successe in the warr, and this successe it hade. In the begin- 
 ning the Bishop of Mvmster (whose aUyance our king bought for 
 500,000 lib. Enghsh) hade some petty successe, but soon deserted 
 our kino-, and gifted his forces to serve against our king. Also, at 
 the Daggei'bank, the EngUsh had a considerable victory over the 
 
 that it chiefly consisted in her beauty, though the belief in charms, as the practice of 
 administering love philtres, was still very prevalent. A strange instance of this su- 
 perstition is to be foimd in the Criminal Records of Edinburgh, 11th January, 1638. 
 
 " Ad : aguens Colquhon of Lusse, and Thomas Carlips, German, his servant, for 
 consulting of necromancers and sorcerers, and incest contrare the 73 act of the 9 Pari, 
 of Q. Marie, and the 14th act of the 1 Pari, of K. James the 6. 
 
 " The fact was thus : Lus was m''. to Ladle Lilias Grahame, the E. of Montrois his 
 eldest daughter : the E. being dead, the Lady Lus brings home hir 2d sister, the Ladie 
 Catharine, to her ounc house, where Lus, unmindful of all law, delt with the said Ladie 
 Catharine to bereave hir of hir chastity, and not prevailing, he consulted with the said 
 Carlips, his man, (who was a negromancer,) and with other witches and sorcerers, 
 how to gain his point, who gave him sundrie filtra and other impoysoned and en- 
 chanted tokens of love, and especially a jewell of gold set with rubies and diamonds, 
 which being intoxicat, had a secret and develish vertue of alluring and forcing the re- 
 ceiver to expose hir bodie, fame, credit, and all, to base and unlawfull pleasures ; 
 which Jewell he having given hir, she was so bewitched that she had no power to re- 
 fuse him after ; so that he had straight carnall dealing with hir, and so committed in- 
 cest, and carried her to London with him. He is denounced fugitive, and put to the 
 hoTue,"— Abbreviate of the Register of Justiciarie, MS. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 315 
 
 Dutch in June, (for which in Scotland wee made 3 thanksgivings,) 
 but were repulsed at Bergen by the Dutch with very great losse in 
 August following. Thereafter, the next year, the Dutch hade a 
 great victory over the English in the moneth of June, (but our go- 
 vernours thought it policy to appoint a thanksgiving for it ;) and 
 then, in JuUy thereafter, the English hade the better of the Dutch 
 upon the coast of Holland. Yet the conclusion of aU Avas this : the 
 king was not able to keep a fleet at sea the 3d year, and thereupon 
 the Hollanders, taking advantage upon June , 1667, burnt the 
 king's fleet at Chattam, carried away the royal Charles prisoner, and 
 spoiled divers places thereabout, and might (as it was thought) have 
 adventured upon London, because of the fearfull consternation that 
 was in it at that time, hade they been well informed : All which 
 discoin-aged our king ; so he was constrained to send over Sir Tho- 
 mas Clifford, ambassador, to make peace upon any terms what- 
 somever, and if no other would doe it, to beg it. The o-entleman 
 when he came to Hague, Avould gladly have made peace for his 
 master's honour by the overture and interposition of the Sweddish 
 ambassador. This the States rejected with disdain, and told the 
 Sweddish ambassador, that if the English king desired peace, his 
 ambassador might seek it of them liimself Whereupon Sir Tho- 
 mas was forced to appear at the States' barre, and in formal words 
 declare his master hade sent him over to seek peace fi-om them ; 
 which they granted, but not till they triumphed in his submission : 
 So ended this inglorious warre. But if the Dutch hade the honour, 
 the king answered it with bitter resentment and hatred, as after- 
 ward it was seen. 
 
 At home our counciU did no great bussiness, yet something they 
 would doe. In the spring they disarmed the whole west countrey, 
 the most popular part of Scotland ; the pretence was, lest the pha- 
 naticks (so they called all honest covenant keepers) should perchance 
 
216 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 joyn with the Dutch. Never till now did the King of Scotland dis- 
 arm his own subjects, but he feared their aifections would be like 
 their obligations. And for the same reason, afterward they incar- 
 cerate several gentlemen, such as they thought might have any 
 power with that party ; Sir Heugh Campbell, Sir William Mure, 
 Su- James Stewart, Sir John Chiesly,* ]\Iajor-General INIontgomric. 
 Leutennant-General Holburn, the Laird of Dunlop, and others. 
 Some were laid in Edinburgh Castle, some in other prisons, where 
 they lay till the peace was made. Also, upon June 6, there is a 
 convention of states called to assist the king in his warr. The 
 Bishop of St Andi'ews hade the harangue, tho' Rothes the commis- 
 sioner was present. He, in his cold tedious manner, exhorted the 
 States to contribute willingly and liberally, which was the substance 
 of his speech. Alwayes the convention granted to leavy the summe 
 of . The Duke of Hamilton was made collector, (no glo- 
 
 rious office for a prince,) and a great share of the summe came to 
 his hand, for his collector's fee, and other debts due by the king to 
 the family. All that Scotland could give was but as a drop throA\ni 
 
 * Sir John Chiesly, though originally a virulent Covenanter, made the most humble 
 submission to the king at the Restoration, which has been passed over silently, accord- 
 ing to his custom, by Wodrow, among whose MSS. is preserved the following letter 
 from Lauderdale to Primrose ; — 
 
 " My Lord, 
 '* I have been earnestly spoke to by my Lord Chamberlain, and diverse English of 
 quality, in favour of Sir John Chieslie ; and knowing by the bearer that he hath great 
 confidence of your favour, I could not refuse my commendation of him to you. He 
 professeth great loyalty and duty to his majesty, and freely confesses his former faults, 
 which swayes most with me. I shall add no further, but that I am your lordship's af- 
 fectionate servant, 
 
 " L.^UDERDALE. 
 «' Whiteliall, 29th Drr^ 
 
TIIE CHURCH OF SCOTLA^ND. 217 
 
 into the ■s^st treasures the English pariiament levied, and triiely as 
 little for the honour of Scotland, as it did ser\'ice to the king. Also, 
 on June 28, the councill enacted, that all schoUars, to take degrees 
 hi iniiversities, should either take the oath of supremacy or lossc 
 their degree. This was the bishops' policy, with a sinfull oath to 
 corrupt the spirits of the youth of Scotland, and in this they hade 
 but too great successe. No man might either buy or sell withovit 
 the beast's mark ; but they only consulted to cast a man down fi-om 
 his excellency, as the fallen Angels tempted man. 
 
 Upon the 7tli of December this year, our council! eniitt two pro- 
 clamations more. One was foi- the constitution of presbytries ; but 
 that dangerous name they would not use> howbeit the curats ixp 
 and downi for their own credit used it still. The proclamation de- 
 riving the power frotn the king's supremacy, allow es the bishops to 
 depute such a number of tlieir curats as they judged qualified to 
 conveen for exercise, and to assist in discipline as the bishop should 
 direct. But he kept alwayes to himself the power of censure, ex- 
 cept rebuke ; neither suspension, deprivation, nor excommunica- 
 tion might they touch ; and, in effect, they were no more but the 
 bishops' spyes and informers. This was the constitution of their 
 episcopal presbytrie : So the bishop, under his hand, gi'anted a de- 
 putation to his curats, and sometimes the number was very small : 
 for elders they allowed none, and so they conveened in their fii-st 
 meetings. Now what a plant this Avas in the Lord's house a man 
 may easily judge. The root was a popish king, who hade given 
 his power to the beast ; the stock was a perjured bishop, acting as 
 the king's minister or servant ; the curats the branches. Hoav could 
 the fruit be edification ? Indeed it was destruction, Avormwood, and 
 gall, informations, and prosecutions. The other proclamation first 
 extends all censures laid upon the young ministers who hade been 
 
 2e 
 
218 KmKTO^''S HISTORY OF 
 
 turned out at Glasgow, to all the old ministers turned out by the 
 bishops since that day; that was, to commaiKl them all to keep 
 their distances from towns and bishops' seats. Next, it discharges 
 any Scots man to let a house in any place of Scotland to any pres- 
 byterian minister ; that wvls, that they might starve in the fields 
 for lack of shelter ; but, to make all sure, they join hunger to cold, 
 discharging any man to grant them charity or supply of any sort. 
 
 All the persecutors of the world may learn from this act how to 
 destroy, and such another as this is not to be found among the hea- 
 then ten persecutions, nor yet in Bohemia, Savoy, or France. But 
 this was according to Bishop Burnet's desire, who affirmed, the only 
 way to convert a phanatick was to starve him. The Earle of Kelly, 
 tho' no great friend to presbyterians, said, they would doe well to 
 make these mLnisters wear a badge, otherwayes he might both set 
 them house and lands. This was the 6th persecuting proclamation. 
 These men bore alwayes worse and worse About this time Sir John 
 Nisbit was made advocate in place of Fletcher, a man of far more dan- 
 gerous temper ; for money might sometimes have hired Fletcher to 
 spare blood, but Nisbit was always so sore afraid of lossing his own 
 great estate, he could never in his own opinion be officious enough 
 to serve his cniel masters. The presbyterian ministers were at this 
 time quiet ; they hade permission, or rather connivance, to five ui 
 their houses, and the call of the importunate multitude was not yet 
 common ; so, except to preach to theii- families or some few neigh- 
 bours, httle more they did. Yet among them some there were who 
 went up and down the mountains among these people who altoge- 
 ther refused to hear the curats ; and among the first of these were 
 My John Welsh and IVIr Gabriel Semple,* who is yet alive, and there- 
 
 * " For trash, or any earthly thing, 
 We never did oppose the king, 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, 219 
 
 fore of him I shall say nothing. But as for the other, he must have 
 ane extraordinary character, as he hade ane extraordinary province. 
 He was grandchild to that incomparible man, Mr John Welsh, mi- 
 nister at Air ; his father, JNIr Josias, was likewise ane excellent gos- 
 pel minister, and, because of his mighty rousing wakening preach- 
 ing gift, he was called by the people in the north of Ireland, The 
 Cock of the North. This Mr Welsh was a godly, meek, humble 
 man, and a good popular preacher ; but the boldest inidertaker that 
 ever I heard a minister in Clirist's church, old or late ; for, notwith- 
 standing of all the threats of the state, the great price sett upon his 
 head, the spyte of the bishops, the diligence of all blood-hounds, he 
 maintained his difficult post of preaching upon the mountains of 
 Scotland, many times to many thousands, for near 20 years time, 
 and yet was alwayes kept out of his enemies' hands. It is weU 
 knowTi that bloody Clavers, upon intelligence that he was lurkino- 
 in some secret place, would have ridden 40 miles in a winter night, 
 yet when he came to the place he alwayes missed his prey. I haAc 
 known him ryde 3 dayes and 2 nights without sleep, and preach 
 upon a movmtain at midnight in one of the nights. He used to say 
 to his fiiends, who coimselled him to be more wary, that he believed 
 Ck)d would presen-e him so long as he continued among dangers, 
 but that whenever he should betake himself to safety, then his time 
 should come : which accordingly came to pass ; for after Bothwel 
 Bridge, when all jieople forsook field-meetings, he went to London, 
 and there died ; but was honourably hurried near the king's palace. 
 
 Yea, all of us, both great and small, 
 Will quit him lives, and lands, and all, 
 So he give way to purge the temple, 
 As pleaseth Mr Gabriel Semple." 
 
 Whig's Supplication', 
 
i>20 kiekton's history op 
 
 as was his grandfather.* This year also the presbyterians lost one 
 of theii- pillars, IVIr William Guthrie, minister at Fennick, one of 
 the most eloquent, successfull popular preachers that ever was in 
 
 * Welch's escapes from Claverhouse and his otiier pursuers were very extraordinary, 
 though he rode to his conventicles accompanied by a number of armed men, called Mr 
 Welch's body guard, and had all the fanatick country women, who usually acted as 
 scouts to give warning of the enemy's approach, most sincerely at his devotion. La- 
 dies too, of a better fashion, were studious of his personal safety, while they frequent- 
 ed his field-meetings ; and sometinjes made their husbands pay dearly for " a hearty 
 smack of the sweetness of the gospel, according to Peter Walker, which they got 
 in those good days." Wodrow mentions " a very severe prosecution of a worthy 
 
 lady, 1679 Sir William Fleming of Fern and his lady appear before the council, and 
 
 a libel is read at the instance of his majesty's advocate, bearing, that whereas Mr John 
 Welch and some others having kept a conventicle at Langside, in the parish of Cath- 
 cart, upon Feb. 9 last ; and Dame JMargaret Stewart, spouse to Sir William Fleming 
 of Fern, commissary of Glasgow, and Macdougal, spouse to William Ander- 
 son, late provost of Glasgow, were present at the said field-conventicle, upon high chairs 
 on either side of Mr John W^elch, and kept company with the said Mr Welch at other 
 times ; the premises being verified, their said husbands be decerned to pay to the trea- 
 sury the fines they have incurred." Sir William's fine was 4000 merks. In Blackad- 
 der's Memoirs is a prodigious eulogium on the wonderful sanctity and eloquence of 
 Welch, with sundry instances of his powerful preaching ; after which follows this an- 
 ecdote. " xVnother passage I relate, as I remember, from the person herself; a young 
 gentlewoman and cuzine of his, who lived in Fife, and I suppose had not seen him be- 
 fore hearing him, one day was put to such admiration at the power which attended the 
 word that she professed she exceeded, giving him higher esteem than his due ; she 
 hearing that he was to preach on a week-day following at Kinnanachar, did cheerfully 
 resort thither with the rest, nothing doubting but to find Mr Welch as she found him 
 the day before, perswading herself that the morrow should be as the other day, and 
 much more abundant ; but her disappointment was such, that she found nothing like 
 the former, but rather more straitened than another man, (which was also observed by 
 others) and tho' it was a vexing temptation for the time, yet she protested she got as 
 much edification in that disappointment as she had got in the former, and occasion of 
 humiliation, by seeing her own folly, doting on the creature instrument, and not giving 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 221 
 
 Scotland, a godly man, and died a sufferer, (for he Avas deposed by 
 the bishops,) but in hope that the Lord Avould oiie day deliver Scot- 
 land from her thraledome. 
 
 Doctor Alexander Burnet was at this time Bishop of Glas- 
 gow, a man of the best morals among them, (setting aside his si- 
 monaick regress to his bishoprick after he hade been turned out 
 of it.) but a most zealous biggot for the English superstitions, 
 and was as foreward to have them establisht in Scotland as any 
 among them. At his first diocesian meeting, he received and or- 
 dained 5 or 6 curats by the form of the EngUsh pontifical, design- 
 ing them priests, and making them kiss the Bible. He was so great 
 ane oppressor of the city of Glasgow in the choice of their magi- 
 strates, that lie obhdged the greatest mahgnants in the town, the 
 Bells and Campbells, to protest against him. This man was chief 
 director of the persecution of the west countrey, and found the spi- 
 rit of his imderlings the curats as foreward as his own. Truely at 
 this time the curats' auditories were reasonable throng ; the body 
 of the people in most places of Scotland waited upon then- preach- 
 ings ; and if they would ha^e been content with what they hade, 
 (in the opinion of many) they might have stood longer than they 
 did, but their pride vowed they would be more glorious and better 
 followed than the presbyterians ; and because respect would not doe 
 it, force should. Sir James Turner hade made ane expedition to the 
 west countrey to subdue it to the bishops (just as the Spainyard 
 
 the glory of the power to God, whose gracious countenance and assistance alone mad'e 
 the difference between Mr Welch and another minister ; and was convinced it was her 
 duty afterwards to cease from man, look more to, and depend on God alone for the 
 efficacy, and to esteem of instruments as the ministers of Christ, and no more but ser- 
 vants ; and having there got him set only in his own room, she with many others heard 
 him afterwards to much more advantage : which passage I mark for' others' edifica- 
 tion,"' 
 
322 KIEKTON'S HXSTOUY OF 
 
 went to America) in the year 1664 : another in the year 1665 ; and 
 a third in the yea*- 1666 ; and this was the worst. The ciirats, with 
 two or three soiddiers, fyned whom they would, and even as they 
 thought good. They spared not the gentleman, if liis wife, or ser- 
 vants, or tennants, withdrew from the curats, tho' himself attended 
 most punctually ; nor yet the tennant, if the landlord withdrew, 
 tho' they themselves attended. They spared not the widow and 
 the fatherless, nor the bedrid, or the beggar who was forced to beg 
 his fyne, that he might pay them ; they snatcht the meat from the 
 childeren, that they might give it to their dogs ; they quartered in 
 houses till they destroyed their substance, and burnt the furniture ; 
 they chased the husband from the wife, and the wife fi-om the hus- 
 band ; many a family they scattered, and in one poor paroch (Iron- 
 gray) no lesse than 16. If the poor people complained to their officers, 
 they were beaten ; if to the state, they were neglected ; and indeed 
 some of our gi-eat men cared not how odious the bishops made them- 
 selves. In a short time they gathered of a few countrey people the 
 sume of 50,000 Hb. Scots, which was thought a great sume at that 
 time. But ere the bishops hade done, I knew a gentleman payed 
 thrice the sume for his own land. There are several lists made of 
 the particulars in this violent persecution. This made the curats 
 and bishops, if they were formerly loathed because of their perjury 
 and profaneness, to be absolutely abhorred, not only by the suffer- 
 ers, but by every honest ingenious person ; and their own counsels 
 and practise ruined them a great deal more than the industry of all 
 the field preachings, but this course they would take. 
 
 Beside these fines imposed by the curats, there was another sort 
 of fynes levied upon the poor people of Scotland at this time, and 
 that was, the fynes imposed by INIiddleton in his second session of 
 parliament. • The king suspended the payment of them when Mid- 
 dleton was turned out ; thereafter they were divided mto 2 moye- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 223 
 
 ties, and a day fitted for the payment of the fii-st moyetie ; and all 
 that were able and well-informed payed their first moyetie and took 
 their discharge ; others payed none at that time ; so there were ne^v 
 appointments made for paying these moyeties, till at length all that 
 %vere fyned were appointed to make payment betwixt and the 
 day in this year, 1666. ^^Hien that was past, the conncill referred it 
 to the commissioner to take his own way to collect them, and his 
 way was this : He sent abroad the troupers of the life-guard with 
 a list of the names of so many as they were to cause pay, require- 
 ing them to quarter upon the people fyn'd till they hade payed the 
 last farthing ; excepting only those who should take the oath of 
 supremacy and the declaration publickly in a court, and to such 
 the one half of the fyne was remitted, otherwayes all was exacted, 
 and with rigour. In the west, many poor commons (beside noble- 
 men and gentlemen) were fyned, and theu- way was, as soon as the 
 wicked troupers were come into their house, to goe borrowe the 
 money to pay the fyne ; but this did not satisfie the cruel messen- 
 gers, till first they behoved to run to Edinburgh and report the re- 
 ceiver's discharge, and there satisfie the troupers for theu- pains be- 
 side, and this exaction they called their rideing money ; so that 
 sometimes the troupers' rideing money was a greater sume than 
 the fyne itself And beside all the money of the fyne, the two 
 shires of Air and Renfrew payed three thousand merks a-day for a 
 considerable time. No excuse was allowed, no defence sustained 
 except only that the party fyned had taken the oath and declara- 
 tion before the day prefixed ; and some tlid this, but not many. 
 Some offered to renunce the benefit of the indemnity and under- 
 goe a tryal at law, as being fi-ee of all acts of rebellion, (and this was 
 the only certification in the act of parHament ;) but it satisfied not 
 the troopers, — all must pay ; only these who could neither enter- 
 tain troupers nor provide money were hal'd to prison, where some 
 
224 IIIRKTOX'S HISTOUY Ol" 
 
 of them lay long upon the king's charges. Indeed there were some 
 so extreamly poor, that when the troupers mett a beggar in the 
 streets, they would ask in jest if he were a fyned })erson. How- 
 ever, vast sumes were collected. Sir WiUiam Bruce was receiver, 
 and his fees were so great as to enable a broken man to buy land 
 and build palaces.* Our grandees hoped well to have divided this 
 spoil, but they were deceived, for it came to another use. JNIean 
 time people's spirits were so imbittered they became desperate, and 
 alike grieved with the civil as they hade been with the ecclesiastick 
 government ; and because oppression makes a wise man mad, no 
 
 * This alludes to the house of Kinross, built by Sir William Bruce, whose eldest 
 son, Sir John, married the Lady Christian Lesley, daughter of John Duke of Rothes, 
 and widow of James, third Marquis of Montrose. The following curious notice re- 
 specting their nuptials is to be found in an anonymous letter, addressed to the Rev. 
 Mr Robert Wyllie, among the Wodrow MSS. " 1687, We have at lenth, on Satur- 
 day last, at 8 at night, had my Lady Marquis of Montrose marry'd in her own lod- 
 gings, to whom therin I sincerelie wish much joy ; tho' truly she hath had non of her 
 former husband's relations, nor any of her own, except a youth of 15 yeares, Kilbir- 
 nie, to wish her so much. But the lady hath taken strong heart, and carys joy enough 
 in her countenance, and indeed I do not suspect her guiltie of dissimulation therein. 
 Sir Charles Halket and Sir William Bruce came heir on Sunday's night to bid her joy, 
 and she is to go from this to Kinros for good and all upon Wednesday. She lookes, 
 now that she is free of her sables, alse faire and gracefuU as ever, has gained an huge 
 respect from all persons by that debonnaire temper, which, with other qualifications, 
 she deriveth from her father, and ajipeares to be blist from heaven with as stretching a 
 temper towards her circumstances as any person I know. A most fonde wife she was 
 to her former husband, a most passionate mourner for him, and each year keipt the 
 day of his death, which she solemnized with floodes of teares. Wednesday last was 
 the day for this year, how she performed the usual ceremonies of the day I know not, 
 the Lady Craighall wold doubtless something divert ; but on Thursday she did me the 
 honour of a visite, and really she bare the countenance of one that had been afflicted 
 the day before ; and now that she is marryed, she appeares alse joyfull and fonde a 
 
 bryde as any in the kingdome." 
 
 10 
 
THE CUmCH OF SCOTLAND. 225 
 
 wonder if poor common people, miserable and desperate, began to 
 desii-e rest, and (as it hath been most ordinary in Scotland, where 
 the people are as impatient of tyrranie as the kings have loved to 
 be arbitrary,) tliink and talk of vindicating themsehes, if possible. 
 But as poor weak people are soon moved (it may be) to undertake, 
 so these that are wise need neither trust nor fear them, because they 
 use to be as unconstant as rash. 
 
 However, at this time Bishop Sharji posts to court, and, because 
 his designs were so odious, he cared not to advance them by vio- 
 lence. And the high commission being now dissolved, he resolves 
 a standing army ; and violent souldiers would be ane instrument 
 very proper for such a hand as his own. So the king is perswaded, 
 and (it may be) easily enough, to raise ane army for suppressing 
 the phanaticks, guarding the bishops, and executing arbitraiy com- 
 mands. Thomas Dalyell, Laird of Bins, is imployed to command 
 in chief He was a man both rude and fierce for his natural dispo- 
 sition, and this hade been much confirmed by his breeding and ser- 
 vice in INIuscovia, Avhere he hade the command of a small army, and 
 saw nothing but tyrranie and slavery. He lived so, and died so 
 strangely, it was commonly believed he was in covenant with the 
 Devil : but he must be the bishops' general!.* Next to him was 
 
 * " One William Hannah was brought before the council, and when pleading he 
 was too old to banish, Dalyell told him roughly, he was not too old to hang ; he 
 would hang well enough. This was amongst the last of his public manoeuvres .• for 
 that same day, August 22, when at his beloved exercise, drinking wine, while the cup 
 was at his head, he fell down (being in perfect health) and expired." God's Justice ex- 
 emplified in his Judgements upon Persecutors.— Lord Fountainhall, in his Diary, notes, 
 " General Dalyell buried (who dyed suddenly) splendidly, after the military form, be- 
 ing attended by the standing forces, and six piece of cannon drawn before his herse, 
 with his led horse and his generall's battoon, August, 1685." 
 
 2 F 
 
^21) KIKKTOXS HISTOKY OF 
 
 ^Villiam Druniuiond, brother to the Lord INIadertie, a man of bet- 
 ter breediiiii; than the other, but of veiy high designes. And under 
 them, beside the large troop of guards divided into two, and Lith- 
 
 General Dalyell, the son of Thomas Dalyell of Binns, descended from the family of 
 Carnwath, was born about 159J ; at an early period of life he adopted the military pro- 
 fession, and adhered to the cause of Charles I. He commanded at Carrickfergus in 
 Ireland, and was there taken prisoner, 1650; again, 1651, he was taken prisoner at the 
 battle of Worcester, and carried to the Tower, from whence he escaped ; after which 
 his estates were forfeited, and himself exempted from the general act of indemnity. 
 Charles the Second recommended Dalyell, for his eminent courage and fidelity, to 
 Prince Radzivil, the King of Poland, and other foreign dignitaries, in the years 1655 and 
 1656. The Czar of Muscovy, Alexis Michaelovitch, under whose banner he fought 
 courageously against the Turks and Tartars, for his great bravery and military conduct, 
 promoted him to the rank of general, and on his return to Scotland, ordered a testimony 
 of his services, in the most honourable terms, to pass the great seal. " He was bred up 
 very hardy from his youth," says Captain Creichton, " both in dyet and cloathing. He 
 never wore boots, nor above one coat, which was close to his body, with close sleeves, like 
 those we call jockey-coats. He never wore a peruke, nor did he shave his beard since the 
 murder of King Charles I. In my time, his head was bald, which he covered only with 
 a !)eaver hat, the brim of which was not above three inches broad. His beard was white 
 and bushy, and yet reached down almost to his girdle. He usually went to London 
 once or twice a j'ear, and then only to kiss the king's hand, who had a great esteem for 
 his worth and valour. His unusual dress and figure, when he was in London, never 
 failed to draw after hira a great crowd of boys, and other young people, who constant- 
 ly attended at his lodgings, and followed him with huzzas, as he went to court, or re- 
 turned from it. As he was a man of humour, he would always thank them for their 
 civilities, when he left them at the door to go into the king ; and would let them know 
 exactly at what hour he intended to come out again, and return to his lodgings. 
 When the king walked in the Park, attended by some of his courtiers, and Dalyell in 
 his company, the same crowds would always be after him, shewing their admiration of 
 liis beard and dress, so that the king could hardly pass on for the crowd ; upon which 
 his majesty bid the devil take Dalyell, for bringing such a rabble of boys together, to 
 have their guts squeezed out, while they gaped at his long beard and antic habit, re- 
 (juesting him, at the same time, (as Dalyell used to_ express it) to shave and dress like 
 
THK ClIUUCH Ol' SCOTI-VNIJ. 
 
 oow's regiment of foot, there were levied 2 regiments of foot and (> 
 troops of horse ; the one foot I'egiment was comnuuided by Dal yell 
 himself, the other by the Lord Newburgh. The troops of horse 
 
 other Christians, to keep the poor bairns out of danger : all this could never prevail on 
 him to part with his beard, but yet, in compliance to his majesty, he went once to court 
 in the very height of the fashion; but as soon as the king and those about him had 
 laughed sufficiently at the strange figure he made, he re-assumed his usual habit, to 
 the great joy of the boys, who had not discovered him in his fashionable dress." — The 
 accusation of being a wizard, Dalyell shared with almost all the active loyalists of his 
 time ; whom, however, if wc can trust the author of God's Judgements, he so far ex- 
 ceeded in " devilish sophistry, that he sometimes beguiled the devil ; or rather, his mas- 
 ter suffered himself to be outwitted by him." He has also been denounced as a per- 
 son of manners singularly rude and brutal, chiefly because at an examination of whigs 
 before the privy council, lie struck one Garnock (who had railed against him as " a 
 Muscovia beast, that roasted men,") with the porael of his sword, till the blood sprang. 
 But it should be remembered that soldiers are not wont to bear such epithets tamel)'. 
 " By my troth, captain, these are very bitter words ;" and, moreover, at that period, a 
 liberality in bestowing of blows was practised by the higher ranks towards their infe- 
 riors, now scarcely credible. In almost every comedy of that age, the fine gentleman, 
 as he is called, beats his valet-de-chambre, and generally his whole household, when- 
 ever a fit of ill humour incites him to exercise his cane; and this brutality must have 
 commonly prevailed, else it would not have been suffered on the stage. In the MS. 
 Sermons of Mr Hugh Mackaile, is a passage concerning conjugal correction, which 
 bears upon this point, and is here printed at length, as the disquisition is highly edi- 
 fying and important, putting what regards the chastisement of inferiors entirely out of 
 the question ; — 
 
 " Particularlie learn that a husband may not stryk his wyf. Wee reid of the correc. 
 tion of children and servants, because they are under a more servil subjection. But no 
 word of the wyf's correction, because her subjection is not servil, but frie ; shee being 
 made of a rib of his syde, and not of a bone out of his foot. Objection. May not a man 
 draw blood of himself for his health ? Answer. Of a legge or arme, why not? but not 
 of his heart, and a man's wyf is his heait. Obj. Does not Christ correct his kirk.^ 
 Ans. Christ is not onlie the kirk's husband, but her absolut Lord and King over her, as 
 no husband is over his wyf; therfor as Job reproved his wyf, so may hee, but no stry- 
 
'^28 KIRKTON'S HISTOKY Ol' 
 
 were bestowed upon our greatest lords, as Duke Hamilton, P^arle 
 Aiinandale, iVirly, Kincardin. 
 
 In all, the army made 3000 foot and 8 troops of horse. They 
 were soon levied and mustured, and commanded absolutely to obey 
 Dalyell ; and because the fynes were the fond upon which they 
 were to be maintained, the exchequer is commanded to reckon with 
 the new general for every farthing of them, to be applyed for soul- 
 diers' pay. So both the JVIiddletonians who imposed them, and the 
 T^auderdalians Avho exacted them, were quite disappointed, though 
 both the one and the other hade devoured them in their imagina- 
 tion and hope. This same moneth, INIr Robert Blair, that godly 
 and able minister, departed this life in his confynement, whither he 
 was sent by the state at the bishops' request. He was a man of great 
 piety, ability, and high experience ; and tho' he died a sufferer, yet 
 he died full of hope that the Lord would deliver Scotland, and very 
 confident God would rub shame (as he expressed it) upon Bishop 
 Sharp, as it came to pass. 
 
 tTpon the 3d of September following, begane the fire which con- 
 sumed London. LT^Jon this there were more disputes and debates 
 than conclusions and resolutions. But the discourse of the coim- 
 
 king. Obj. What if a woman be verie stubburn ? Ans. A man in this case hath to 
 look what end he had before him in his choice ; and if to gett his eye and his hand fill- 
 ed hath been his maine end, he must drink as he hath brewin, and seik to be humbled, 
 and to walk so as hee give his partie no offence or matter of irritation to make het 
 worse. And if hee be conscious hee hath acknowledged God in his choice, and yet 
 hee is dissappoynted of his expectation, hee is to pray to God for his wyf, and tak upe 
 his crosse, and beir it after Christ. And if shee be so stubburn that there is no coha- 
 biting with her, ther are both civil and ecclesiastick censures. The magistrat is custos 
 utriusque tabulae ; and if a brother or sister walk inorderlie, they are to be noted, and 
 proceedit against by the censures of the kirk." — An Abridgment of the Sermons upon 
 the Epistle to the Ephesians, preached at Irvin bi/ Mr Hew Mackaile, before 1649. 
 
THK CHURCH OF SCOTL.VXl). 229 
 
 trey Avas, that as it highly encouraged popish designes, being in- 
 deed the bulwark of the protestant interest in Brittain, so the papists 
 were very glade of it. And King James making it manifast King- 
 Charles was a secret papist, it was believed he Avas not sad. though 
 a poor distracted fellow (Hubert) was execute for it, to colour se- 
 cret joy with publick zeal. It was also observed, that Doctor 
 Creichton, a man both bold and eloquent, preaching upon a solemn 
 festival day before king and court, after he hade boldly affirmed 
 the cause of that burning was the martyrdome of the late king, 
 which could not otherwayes be purged but by burning the guilty 
 city, was so deserted in his work he could speak no more, to the 
 astonishment of all that heard him, which many thought was a tes- 
 timony against his lyeing. 
 
 I come now to the lamentable story of ane unsuccessfuU attempt 
 made by some of these poor tempted people in the west countrey, 
 and thus I received it from the most understanding upon the party. 
 Sir James Turner and his ruffians continued his oppression and vio- 
 lence till the countrey was near ruined, many families scattered, 
 both gentlemen and others were forced to flee their dwellings, and 
 lurk in movm tains and mosses till November 13th ; which day be- 
 ing Tuesday, four countrey men coming from their wanderings to- 
 wards the old town of Dairy to seek refreshment after long fast- 
 ing, mett providentially upon the highway with 3 or 4 soiddiers 
 diy ving before them a company of poor neighbour men to compel! 
 them to thresh the corns of a poor old countrey man, (who hade 
 fled from his own house himself,) that out of his corns they might 
 make money to satisfy his church fynes, as they were called.* This 
 
 * Sir James Turner, in his Memoirs, positively declares, that he never exacted 
 more than one half of his fine from any Covenanter. 
 
230 KlRKTOX's HISTORY OF 
 
 troubled the poor countrey men very much, yet they passed it in 
 silence, till, coming to the house where they expected refreshment, 
 they were informed the souldiers liade seized the poor old man, and 
 were about to bind him and set him bare upon a het iron gird-iron, 
 there to torment him in his own house. Upon this they run to 
 relieve the poor man, and coining to his house, desired the soul- 
 diers to let the poor man goe, which the souldiers refused, and so 
 they fell to words ; wherevipon two of the souldiers rushing out of 
 the chamber with di'awn swords, and making at the coimtrey men, 
 hade almost killed two of them behind their backs, and unawares ; the 
 countrey men having weapons, one of them discharged his pistoU, and 
 hurt one of the souldiers with the piece of a tobacco pipe, with which 
 he hade loaded his pistoU instead of baD. This made the souldiers 
 deliver their armes and prisoner* Now the poor countrey men are 
 
 * " This was a story," says Burnet, " made only to beget compassion ; for after the 
 insurrection was quash'd, the privy council sent some round the country to examine 
 the violences that had been committed, particularly in the parish where it was given 
 out that this was done. I read the report they made to the council, and all the depo- 
 sitions that the people of the country made before them ; but this was not mentioned 
 in 'any one of them." — The wounded soldier told Sir James Turner that he was shot 
 because he would not take the covenant. Turner's Mem. i\/<S'.— It has generally been 
 understood, that thia man died shortly after; but the following petition, discovered 
 among the Linlithgow papers, proves the contrary. 
 
 " To the Right Honourable the Lords of his Majcslt/s most Honourable Privy Councill, 
 the humble Petitioii of George Deanes, Corporall in Sir Alex, Thomsons Companie. 
 
 " Whereas your lordships' petitioner, about the middle of November, 1666, was set up- 
 on in the parish of Dairy by a number of the late rebells, and after other inhuman usage, 
 was barbarouslie shot in the bodie with a great many pieces of tobacco pipes, ten 
 
TH£: CHUUCH OF SCOTLAXJ). ^31 
 
 engadgecl, and in as great danger as they coidd be ; this tliey knew 
 very A\'ell, and therefore resolve to goe through with it ; and because 
 there Avere about a dozen of souldiers in another place oppressing the 
 same paroch, lest they should be destroyed by these they resolve to 
 prevent them ; and next morning, with the attendance of other six 
 or seven countrey men who joyned them, they seize these dozen of; 
 souldiers also ; all of them quietly rendered their armes save one, 
 who making resistance, was killed. Upon this the countrey takes- 
 the alarm, and being all of them certain Sir James Turner and his 
 soiddiers would avenge this affront hi his own cruel way, and make 
 the innocent suffer with the guilty, the countrey peojjle gather to 
 the number of 50 horsemen of the countrey men, and some few foot 
 men, resolving to be before hand with Sir James ; and thereupon 
 
 whereof afterward were by the surgeon's care taken out ; and in that manner, with 
 Uttle or no hope of life, carried to Drumfries, in which toune, as also in Glasgow, your 
 petitioner lay long bed fast, under the care of chirurgeons, who hath of a long time de- 
 manded, and still doth demand payment, from your petitioner, he haveing given them 
 bond for the same ; the griefe of which misfortune occasioned the sickness and death 
 of your petitioner's poore wife, which had followed him out of her oune countrey, and 
 much assisted him to gaine his livelihood, whereby your petitioner is driven to great 
 want, his pay not being sufficient to maintene him and pay the surgeons, and make up 
 the losses of severall things taken from him by the rebells ; and seeing it hath pleased 
 j'our lordships' very noblie and generouslie to bestow recorapences and gratuities on 
 others who hath suffered by the said rebells, in that manner as your petitioner hath 
 done, whereby you have not onlie encouraged them, but all other loyall subjects, to 
 hazard the losse of their lives and blood in his majesty's service. May it therfor please 
 your lordships to take your lordships' petitioner Iiis sad condition to your serious con- 
 sideration, that ane allowance, according to your lordships' good pleasure, may be 
 given him, as hath been given to his fellow^sufferers ; and your lordships' petitioner shall 
 ever pray," &c. &c. 
 
232 kirkton's history of 
 
 march streidit towards Dumfries Cross, and there, forsooth, di-ink 
 the king's good health, — a labour they might weU have spared, for 
 they hade cruel thanks. Such was the beginning of this insurrec- 
 tion, ane occasional tumult upon a sudden fray, and this was the 
 preamble to the purpose. Sir James was taken upon Nov. 15th ; 
 and he who Avas chief in the party that took him was one Andrew 
 Gray, ane Edinburgh merchant, who immediatly deserted them, as 
 did many more, tho' so many kept stiU together as were the begin- 
 ning of the small army which gathered to them.* Indeed, while 
 
 * On coming to Dumfries tlie rebels searched for the episcopal clergyman, but he 
 had fled. They secured Turner's papers, and a sum of money sent from Edinburgh 
 to pay the troops, together with part of the fines for nonconformity, which had been 
 recently exacted. This money they entrusted to Andrew Gray, who after^vards ab- 
 sconded with tlie whole. The Rev. Andrew Symson, minister of Kirkinner, in the pre- 
 face to his singular poem, Tripatriarchicon, or the Lives of the Three Patriarchs, Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, and Jacob, gives the following account of Gray from a Journal written by 
 " an inquisitive person" who was present with the insurgents during the ivlwle cam- 
 pnign. " November 15th, 1666, betwixt 8 and 9 in the morning, one who called him- 
 self Captain Gray, being attended with several armed men, seized on Sir James Tur- 
 ner at Dumfries, together with a coffer of his, wherein were baggs of money, cloaths, 
 and papers ; whereupon, after they had taken himself, his money, papers, horses, arms, 
 cloaths, and linnens, they marched in haste away from thence, and came that night to 
 Glencairn, and thence to Castle Feme. On the 16th they came to the Old Clachan 
 of Dairy, and at night Captain Gray and Sir James were lodged at Mr Chalmers of 
 Waterside's house. Captain Gray, about 11 or 12 o'clock at night, being allarmed 
 with a report that the Earl of Annandale, Lord Drumlangrig, and some others, were 
 coming against him, he marched Immediately, though the right was very dark and 
 raining, and the way very bad, 8 miles to Carsphairn, where, having committed Sir 
 James to the charge of 16 horsemen, he retired with the money and baggage he had 
 got at Dumfries, so quietly, that he was never seen by any of his own party after that- 
 My author in his manuscript, I remember, tells, that although he made strict inquiry 
 concerning him, yet he got no other answer from those of his own party but that they 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 233 
 
 they continued in Galloway, tho' that conntrey hade suffered most, 
 and tho' their oppression was the quarrel, yet their number was still 
 very small, not exceeding three hundi'ed, the diverse landed men 
 and heritors hade joyned them. 
 
 The commissioner Rothes hade taken journey to London a day 
 or two before the success at Dairy ; and therefore, when he came 
 to London, he knew nothing of it. So as soon as he came into the 
 king's presence, the king askt him, What news from Scotland ? 
 He answered. None but good. Then the king gave him the letter 
 he hade received from his councill by ane express, bearing the news 
 of the horrid rebellion, (as it was called,) which much astonished 
 Rothes. But in the time of Rothes his absence, it fell the Arch- 
 bishop of St Andrews to preside in the counciU, even tho' it was a 
 time of warre, which made some of our lords both grumble and 
 curse. Hade they no body to give them orders but a priest ? Al- 
 wayes, the first thing the councill did upon the news was to com- 
 mand Dalyell and the army to march westward to suppress the 
 rebells ; and him they accompany with a severe proclamation, com- 
 manding all the rebells in armes to lay down their armes within 
 24 hours after the pubhcation of the proclamation, but without any 
 promise of indemnity, (Avhich is usuale and necessary in such cases,) 
 and this was just to command to come to the scaffold. ISIoreover, 
 they command all the subjects in Scotland to assist the general with 
 
 knew nothing of him, except that he called himself Captain Gray, and that he had 
 brought an order with him to them all to obey him." — Of the insurrection itself, Sym- 
 son observes, that it is not his business to give an account as to the true causes, " or 
 to enquire whether it were only accidental, upon the account that one of Sir James 
 Turner's souldiers was wounded by Barscob at the Old Clachan, or whether it was 
 contrived some time before." 
 
 3g 
 
234 kirkton's history of 
 
 all their power, under the pain of rebelhon, which made many joyn 
 him sore against their conscience. A\^hen the news came first to 
 J]dinburgh that the people in Galloway were in amies, one even- 
 ing some of them being together, after prayer the question was 
 stated, >Vhat they judged their duty in the present jimcture ? And 
 after several discourses, because it was late, they adjourn the meet- 
 ing to ]Mr Alexander Robison's chamber, at seven in the next 
 morning ; where being conveened, and having prayed, the ques- 
 tion was resumed. All there present agreed it was their duty to 
 assist their poor brethren so cruelly opprest ; only Ferguson of 
 Katloch seemed unclear to appear at that time. However, the rest 
 engadged presently ; and among them was CoUonel James Wallace 
 and Mr John Welsh, beside ]\Ir Robison, who was also a preacher. 
 The coUonel resolved for the west presently ; but Mr Robison (who 
 was a very resolute man) assiu-ed him, that in the paroch of Libber- 
 ton there Avere -iO well-mounted horsemen, Avho were ready to joyn 
 them ; vipon which the collonel went thither, and found all the 40. 
 shrink down to 7 or 8. However, Avith these they made towards 
 Lintoun, where the collonel with his company made in all about 
 80 horse. Thereabout the collonel sent off Mr Robison, A\ith some 
 frwo or three, toward Lesraahegow to make preparation, being him- 
 self to follow him thither ; and thereafter he and his company Avent 
 first to Dunsyre. and then to the place Avhere INIr Robison hade 
 promised to aAvait the collonel, but he found him in another place, 
 and there all the company stayed for one night, being Sabbath. At 
 night they heard that ^^^illiam I^ochart of W^irkatshaAV, Avith a party 
 of Carluke men, and diverse others, Avere marched toAvards the party 
 in GalloAvay. Thereafter the collonel made toAvards ]\Iachline, re- 
 solving to take Captain Robert Lockhart's house in the Avay, be- 
 cause there he hoped to find JNIr Robison ; but Avhen he came there, 
 he found both the captain and him Avere gone to the main body ; 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 235 
 
 So the collonel and his company advance in their journey. And 
 when they came to Evandale, there they heard the first news of 
 Blackwood liis desireing to speak with the collonel, or to vmdei-- 
 stand his design and motions ; and thereafter proceed toward INIach- 
 line. By the way they overtook Captain Arnot, a brother of the 
 Laird of Lochrigge, with a com])any of Clidsedale men, all going 
 the same way : So all goe on to IMachline together upon Tuesday 
 at night. But when they were there, they were informed that the 
 body of their friends were gone to Air, and thereupon resolve to 
 follow them thither. Their mistaken hopes made them expect, that 
 when they came to that coimtrey all the gentry and ministry should 
 px-esently joyn them ; but when they come hither, they find JNIajor- 
 Geneial INIontgomrie and the Laird of Gadgirth (of whom they ex- 
 pected great matters) were both gone to meet Dalyell at Eglinton, 
 imd the ministers living quietly in their families. This offended the 
 coUonel's party very much, that friends in the countrey should be 
 so little concerned. The fi-iends in the countrey were as much 
 grieved with the undertaking, believing it to be imadvised, and 
 fearing; it would be unsuccessfuU. But at lenofli the collonel and 
 his party arri\'e at Air, and there they found the body of their 
 friends at a rendivouze beyond the bridge of Doone, whither, as 
 they were marching, word came from some in Cunninghame, that 
 they desired some might be sent to bring them up, for they feared 
 to come alone ; upon which the collonel sent Captain Arnot, with 
 •10 horse, to further them, and thereafter he, Avith his party, joyned 
 the main body at the rendivouze. This was upon the AVedensday ; 
 and there they hade certain intelligence Dalyell and his army were 
 at Glasgow ; upon which the whole body resolve their next rendi- 
 vouze shall be at Ochiltree, where they mett, and Mr Gabriel Scra- 
 pie preacht ; and there they put themselves first in form of ane 
 army, quartering their body conA'eniently, and setting their guard. 
 
236 kirkton's iiistouy ov 
 
 Thither came JMr John Guthrie to them, with a small party of Tor- 
 bolton men. There they conveened their couneill ; and there, after 
 prayer, it was resolved, that forasmvich as they could expect no 
 more assistance from the south or from the west, (excepting Cap- 
 tain Arnot's expected company,) therefore it would be their best to 
 march eastward toward Clidsedale ; fearing, if they continued longer 
 there, the enemy might attack them before they were in case, and 
 because they expected assistance in that countrey. So they turn east- 
 ward ; first, toward Cumnock upon the Friday ; and then they 
 heard John Ross and his party was broke by Duke Hamilton's 
 troop, and that the enemy was drawing near them. There upon 
 that same day, in a most tempestuous rainy evening, they sett fore- 
 ward toward JNIoorku-k of Kyle, through a miserable deep moore, 
 so that they came not to their quarters till two houres within night. 
 Then* poor souldiers were drouckt with rain as if they hade been 
 ch'agged through a river ; theii' foot were forced, wet as they were, 
 to lodge in the church without any meat, and very little fire to drie 
 them. That night IMr Andi-ew INIacormock (commonly called the 
 goodman) came to Collonel Wallace, being then commander-in- 
 chief of the whole small body, to tell him it was the opinion of 
 Captain Robert Lockhart and Mr Alexander Robison that they 
 should follow that bussiness no further, but dismiss the people in 
 the fairest manner they could. This they communicat also to Mr 
 Gabriel Semple, a man of great authority among that party, and 
 this they urged with all earnestness. Nothing was done about this 
 that night ; and to-morrow, being Saturday, they marched to Dou- 
 glass, and by the way received Captain Arnot with his Cunning- 
 hame supply, which, instead of the 200 promised, amounted not to 
 40. Alwayes, that night they arrived at Douglass ; and having sett 
 their guards, (becavise they were all armed,) they went to coimsell 
 about Robert Lockhart's proposal and desu-e. After prayer, when 
 
THE CHUHCH OF SCOTLAND. 237 
 
 the Avhole heads of tlieii* party were together, the question was sta- 
 ted, ^\''hether they should scatter or continue in amies ? The mini- 
 sters first gave their opinion, and afterwards the commanders. All 
 agreed in this, that they believed the Lord hade called them to this 
 undertaking, and that they would not goe till he who bid them 
 come should likewayes command them to goe ; that the Lord need- 
 ed not men, and that they were assured they were a handfull of 
 men in whom the Lord was concerned. If these who hade encou- 
 raged them to this enterprize, and promised to assist, should foil, to 
 themselves be it said. As for them, they were resolved ; and that 
 tho' they should die at the end of it, a testimony for the Lord were 
 a sufficient reward for all their labour and loss. So Captain Lock- 
 hart and ]Mr Robison's proposal was rejected, tho' they were both 
 friends and of then* party. Two other questions were agitate among 
 them also : one was about renewmg the covenant to-morrow, being 
 the Sabbath-day, at some church, one or other. To this all agreed 
 unanimously. The other was, Wliether to put Sir James Turner to 
 death or not ? (him they carried alwayes about with them, not be- 
 ing masters of any prison in all Scotland.) About this question 
 they divided, many being for the affii-mative, but more for the ne- 
 gative : So he escapt. When morning was come, they marched 
 toward Lanerk, by Lesmahagow, and closs by Robert Lockhart's 
 house, but neither he nor ]Mr Robison appeared ; yet by the way 
 Knockbreck's two sons, with some few from GaUoway, overtook 
 them, and told them there were no more to come, tho' they hade 
 been otherwayes informed. And here this day they compleated 
 the modell of their poor army, appointing officers to every compa- 
 ny, and of these they were very scarce. That Sabbath night they 
 came to Lanerk, sett their guards, and intimated to the people of 
 the place that to-morrow they were to renew the covenant, which 
 
1238 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 they believed would be ane oblidgeing- practise, tho' few or none of 
 the town joyned with them ; such a terror there Vv as upon the spi- 
 rits even of their greatest friends, as indeed I^anerk A\as. To-mor- 
 row morning word comes that the general was within two myles of 
 them ; upon which some Avere for delaying the renewing of the co- 
 venant, but it was carried in the contrare. So, after they hade sent 
 out their scouts, the foot gathered together tipon the High-street, 
 and Mr John Guthrie, standing upon the Tolbooth staires, preached 
 to them, and thereafter read the covenant, to which they all en- 
 gaged solemnly, with uplifted hands, and great affection. The horse 
 eonveened at the town-head, where Mr Gabriel Semple and I\Ir 
 John Crookshanks preached, and then read and renewed the cove- 
 nant in like manner. ISIr Semple, in his sermon, cited and applied 
 Prov. 24 — 11, 12, which much affected the people, and, it may be, 
 perswaded some to joyn them. Here this rolUng snoAV-ball was at 
 the biggest, having received all the supply they could expect in the 
 west. Their number when here was judged to be near 3000 men, 
 one and other, but neither armed nor ordered ; yet many thought 
 that if they would fight, they hade best have foughten tbeie, be- 
 cause their defeat and scattering among their friends hade been 
 more safe than among their enemies. Thither came INIajor Kilgour, 
 and Mr John Scot, minister at Hauick, to have joyned them ; but 
 when they saw their order and discipline, they suddenly withdrew. 
 Thither also came William Lowrie of Blackwood. They believed 
 he came to joyn them ; but he told them he came only from Duke 
 Hamilton to commune with them, and to see what they desired, 
 and whether they would lay down their amies. He addrest him- 
 self most to ISIr Semple, and never desired a meeting with the offi- 
 cers. This offended the coUonel much ; so keeping at a distance 
 
 from one another, he withdre^v without a good night, and some 
 
 3 
 
THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 239 
 
 of them were offended they hade not made him prisoner* Mean- 
 time all the countrey was in armes ; every sheriff mustured the 
 heritors ; all were ready to siippresse the rebellion, as they called 
 it. They made a report run, that 40 ships, with ane army from 
 
 * This Lowrio, alias Weir of Blackwood, was supposed to have carried on a secret 
 correspondence with the Pentiand insurgents ; as he afterwards did with those who 
 
 were defeated at Bothwell Bridge " Nov. 22. 1682. ^At privy council, William Low- 
 
 rie, elder of Blackwood, late chamberlain to the Marquis of Douglas, and repute a bad 
 instrument between him and his lady in their dift'erences, is imprisoned for harbouring 
 and resetting fugitive ministers, and convening with rebels who had been at Bothwell 
 Bridge, and other intercommuned persons, and for receiving mail and duty from them. 
 He was referred to the criminal court, to be pursued there by his majesty's advocate, 
 for these treasonable deeds." Fountainhall's Decisions. — In the criminal court the 
 lords found the ditty relevant to infer treason. " Though this interlocutor is of a most 
 dangerous consequence, yet it could not have happened to any that was less regretted 
 or worse beloved than Blackwood." He was tried, and sentenced to be beheaded at 
 the Cross of Edinburgh. " This seeming rigorous procedure with Blackwood," con- 
 tinues Fountainhall, " who had been very wary, cautious, and circumspect in his walk- 
 ing, (tho' of disaffected principles) frightened and alarmed many ; for they considered 
 that there were few in the six western shires but were more guilty of that sort of con- 
 verse with those that had been at Bothwell Bridge than he : and now it was apparent 
 that the chancellour and present government were resolved to put these laws rigour- 
 ously in execution." — Lowrie was respited from time to time, and his sentence never 
 put in execution. He seems to have been a man of but an indifferent character. 
 " Juli/ 17, l6Si. The Marquis of Douglas having got a letter from the king, by 
 Queensberry's power, recommending to the judges the care of that antient family, 
 and giving his son, the Lord Angus, a pension of L.200 sterling a-year to breed him, 
 he pursues his step-mcther, the Lady Sutherland, before the council, for an aliment 
 out of her jointure of 12,000 merks per annum, seeing, deducing the annual rents of 
 his debts, he had not behind to sustain his dignity. She spoke for herself a long time, 
 and alledged it was hard, when apparent heirs mismanaged their estates, and suffered 
 chamberlains (this luas against Blackwood) and others to impose on them, that onerous 
 provisions in contracts matrimonial should be burdened with them," &c Fountain- 
 hall's Deep. 298. 
 
240 kirkton's history of 
 
 Holland, were landed at Dumbar to assist the wliiggs, (as they 
 were called at that time,) and all this to render them odious. That 
 jMunday afternoon, Dalyell, with his aniiy, came within sight of 
 Lanerk ere they left it, and was above Stonebyres while they were 
 in the toAvn. Now they hade. but little time to deliberat, a man 
 would have thought for them to march eastward, would be taken 
 for a plain flight, DalyeU following close upon their rear. But be- 
 cause some imhappy ignorants hade informed them that West-Lo- 
 thian would rise and joyn them, and Edinburgh would befriend 
 them, (than which nothing was lesse probable,) therefore, and chief- 
 ly upon the design of their private souldiers, they resolve for Edin- 
 burgh, and to take Bathgate in their way, where they expected 
 their friends in that countrey. At this time Edinbvirgh is all in 
 amies against them : Sir Andrew Ramsey, the provest, very active ; 
 not ane advocate almost but he is in his bandileers ; the guards with 
 the great guns planted at their gates. Yet so fatal it was for those 
 poor people to embrace false intelligence, thereupon to fovmd false 
 hopes, and so to take theu- false measures, that to Bathgate they will 
 goe that night, which was just to brhig themselves into a net, and 
 run upon the sword point. To Bathgate they came through piti- 
 full broken moores in ane extraordinary dark and rainy night, and 
 two houres after day-light was gone. No accommodation can they 
 find there to men both wett, weary, and spent ; and about twelve 
 o'clock at night, upon ane alarm from the enemy, they are constrain- 
 ed to begine their march toAvard the New bridge, whither when they 
 were come in the morning, they looked rather like dyeing men than 
 soiddiers going to conquer. It would have pitied a heart to see so 
 many faint, weary, half-drowned, half-starved creatures betwixt their 
 enemies behind and enemies before. That night it was believed 
 they lossed more than the half of their poor army, who stuck in the 
 clay, and fainted by the way ; yet, as if they hade not beeji in dan- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 241 
 
 ger enough then, further they will advance toward Edinburgh. So 
 their next post they design shall be Collinton, within three miles 
 of enemies before them, and five miles of ane army behind them 
 at CaldCT, for thither was Dalyell come. As they were upon their 
 way toward Collinton, Blackwood comes again with more ex- 
 press orders, and desire fi-om the duke to advise them to lay down 
 armes, upon hopes of ane indemnity the duke should procure ; and 
 BlackAVOod concurred with the duke in the same proposal, which 
 they took very harsh. They gave him admonition to take heed to 
 his way, and so they parted. That day, being Tuesday, to Collin- 
 ton they came. And now, when they perceived their friends at 
 Edinburgh stirred not, (all that they did, as also all their fi-iends in 
 the countrey, being only to fast and pray for them in secret, few 
 being clear to take armes,) then they came to ane end of both hopes 
 and counsells. Then comes the Lau-d of Barkskimin and Black- 
 wood the third tune to renew his former proposall, telluig them 
 also that he hade obtained the general's parol of honor for a cessa- 
 tion of armes till to-moiTow morning, and that he hade undertaken 
 as much for them, with which they were dissatisfied ; but finding 
 themselves in such a desperate case, at length they resolve to send 
 a commissioner with Blackwood to Dalyell to treat with him. 
 Blackwood told them their commissioner would not be acceptable, 
 because he was ane outlaw ; and then they resolve to write to the 
 General with Blackwood himself The letter was di'awn and sub- 
 scrivet by Collonel Wallace. It contained a representation of theu- 
 oppressions and gi-ievances, their design to petition the councill, de- 
 syreing a pass for their commissioner to carrie their petition to the 
 secret councill, and that Blackwood might return to them his an- 
 swer with all speed, as Blackwood hade promised to them to doe. 
 Blackwood returned to Dalyell, and was by him sent to attend the 
 
 2 H 
 
242 kirkton's history of 
 
 councill with his own letters, and the west countrey men's grie- 
 vances. But notwithstanding this imperfite treaty, Wallace and 
 his party now at length resolve upon the retreat, and thereupon, 
 turning the east end of Pentland hills, they take the way to Biggar. 
 They came that day from Collinton to the House of the Moore, 
 and there, upon their fatal spot called the Rullion-gi-een, they di-ew 
 up their discouraged remnant, not exceeding 900 spent men. The 
 reason they drew up was not in order to a battle, (for they were still 
 in expectation of some peaceable conclusion from BlackAvood's nego- 
 tiation,) but only to view the state of their poor companies and pre- 
 vent straggling ; bvit as soon as they were in order, they found them- 
 selves called to another exercise. The way Wallace di-ew up his 
 men was this : Upon the back of a long hiU running from the south 
 with a low shoidder toward the north, where it hade a high steep 
 shoulder, he divided his men into three bodies ; first, under the 
 low shoulder upon the south, he placed a small body of horse, un- 
 der the command of Barscob and the Galloway gentlemen ; in the 
 middle were the poor unarmed footmen, under his own command ; 
 and upon the left hand stood the greatest pai-t of his horse, under 
 Major Lermount. They were not well in order when alarme comes 
 that a body of horse is approaching them. Some hoped it might 
 have been their friends ; but they quickly perceived it was Dal- 
 yell's van, who hade cut through the ridge of Pentland hiUs from 
 Calder streight towards them, and were luidiscovered till they were 
 within a quarter of a myle over against them upon ane opposite hiU, 
 with a great descent betwixt them, so that they could not meet. 
 After they hade viewed one another a long time, Daly ell sends out 
 a party of 50 gallant horse to squint along the edge of the hiUs, and 
 to attack their left hand ; upon which Wallace commands Captain 
 Arnot, Avith ane equal number of his horse, to receive them ; so he 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 243 
 
 di'aws up towards tliem, and upon a piece of equal plain ground they 
 meet. After they hade spent their fire, tliey close upon the sword point, 
 and fought it stoutly for a considerable time, till at length, notAvith- 
 standing all their advantage, DalyeU's men run ; and hade it not 
 been for the difficultie of the ground, then- losse hade been far greater 
 than it was. Diverse fall on both sides ; and of Arnot's party, IVIr 
 John Crookshanks and ISIr Andrew Maeormock, two Irish mini- 
 sters, and the great instruments to perswade the people to this un- 
 dertaking. After this Wallace advances a party of foot towards 
 the body of their horse, being upon a place imaccessable for horse- 
 men. This oblidged them to shift their station, and draw up upon 
 a bank more easterly, and there they stopt till all their foot came 
 up. Thereafter Dalyell advanced toward Wallace, and drew up 
 his ai-my upon the skirt of the same hill, where Wallace hade the 
 ridge and Dalyell hade the skirt beneath him, which is the RuUion- 
 gi-een. U'^hen he was there, he sends a great party of horse, attend- 
 ed with some foot, to charge Lermont's wing. Wallace sends down 
 another party of horse, flanked with foot, to meet them. After the 
 horse on both sides hade spent their fire, they close upon another, 
 while Wallace his poor foot makes DalyeU's to run, and thereupon 
 the horse run likcAvise. Then advances a second party of horse that 
 same way upon Lermont's body. Another body of Lermont's men 
 is sent down to meet them, with that successe, that they chase them 
 beyond the ii-ont of their army ; but a third party of horse made 
 them retire up the hill to their old station. Now, Avhen all the dis- 
 pute was upon AVallace his left hand towards the head of the hill, 
 Dalyell advances the whole left wing of his horse upon Wallace 
 his right, where he hade but thirty weak horse to receive them. 
 Those they soon overrun, and carried their charge so stoutly home, 
 that all Wallace's companies were made to run, and could never 
 
244 KIRKTON'S HISTOKY OF 
 
 rally.* The slaughter was not great, for the west countrey men 
 were upon the top of a hill. It was almost dark night before the 
 defeat, and the horsemen who hade made the chase being most part 
 gentlemen, pitied their own innocent countrey men. There were 
 about 50 killed, and as many taken of Wallace his men, and 5 or 6 
 of DalyeU's. This happened on November 28, 1666. The countrey 
 people were very cruel, both in killing the fleeing men, and taking 
 many prisoners. I hade occasion to i-ide through Carnwath some 
 two years after this defeat, and asked the countrey people whether 
 it was true that a fire was seen sometimes rise out of the midst of 
 their moss, and creep alongst the earth till it came to Carnwath, 
 and there it covered the house of a man, who, as the report was, 
 hade carried some of the poor fleeing men into the moss and mur- 
 thered them, and buried them in the place, which was the place of 
 the fire. The people told me it Avas very true, and told me the 
 man's name, and shewed me the house.f Wallace and Mr Welsh 
 
 * " Captain Paton, who was all along with Captain Arnot, in the first encounter 
 behaved with great courage and gallantry. Dalyell, knowing him in the former wars, 
 advanced upon him himself, thinking to take him prisoner. Upon his approach, each 
 presented their pistols. Upon their first discharge, Captain Paton perceiving the pis- 
 tol-ball to hop down upon DalyeU's boots, and knowing what was the cause, (he ha- 
 ving proof,) put his hand to his pocket for some small pieces of silver he had there for 
 the purpose, and put one of them into his pistol. But Dalyell, having his eye on him, 
 in the meanwhile retreated behind his own man, who by that means was slain." — Life 
 of Captain John Paton. 
 
 f " I find among some of my notes, written in the year 1666, that Richard Chap- 
 lain and his brother George, both of them merchants in Haddington, coming home 
 late from Edinburgh upon a Saturday night, being the Uh of November, 1666, and 
 riding o£F the moor at a place called the Two-Mile Cross, within two mile of their own 
 home, saw four men, in grey clothes and blue bonnets, standing round about a dead 
 corpse, lying swaddled in a winding-sheet. Their dog was so feared that he durst not 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 245 
 
 fled over the hills northward, and after they hade turned their horse 
 away, entered into a poor countrey man's barn, and there slept that 
 night more securely than they hade done many before.* 
 
 This was the end of that poor party, and it was a wonder they 
 proved so brave on the day of their defeat, considering either the 
 constitution or conduct of such ane army. They hade not matter 
 to work upon, their number being so small ; a handfull of poor na- 
 ked countrey lads who hade never seen warre. They hade few of- 
 ficers, and those had no authority ; every private centinel would 
 either be satisfied about the secrets of their councill of warre, or was 
 in hazard of clamouring the company into a mutiny, and then de- 
 serting the party upon a scruple ; so miserable a thing did Admiral 
 Chatillon find it to command ane army of volunteers. Wallace him- 
 self was a gentleman, godly and resolute, but such ane undertaking 
 Avas for a man of miracles. Alwayes man's heart deviseth his way, 
 but the Lord directeth his steps. They protested alwayes their de- 
 sign was to testifie for the Lord ; herein Providence and they agreed. 
 
 go forward, but came running back among the horsps' feet. The one brother is yet 
 living, a sober and Cliristian man, who can attest this. If I Iiave varied, it is only in 
 some small circumstance, which doth not alter the thing itself. It is the more remark- 
 able, because it was about twenty days before Rullion Green." — Sincl.\ir's Satan's 
 Invisible World. 
 
 • " Mr Welch (as is reported) during the fight, prayed with up-lifted hands to the 
 Lord of Hosts against Amalek, (as his spirit moved him to miscall the royall forces,) 
 and had his hands stayed up bj' some of his brethren, as Moses had his by Aaron and 
 Hur." HicKs's Ravillac Redivivus. — Sir James Turner, a more respectable authority 
 than Hicks, does not mention this circumstance ; but says, that during the engagement 
 he and his guards were removed from a hill, on which they Iiad originally been posted, 
 " and by llie way we met with Mr Welch and JNIr Semple, who were going to take that 
 advantage of ground which we formerlie had, and by doing so, I thought both of them 
 had provided indifferentlie well for their oune saftie." After ascending the hill, when 
 the ministers imagined that their friends gained any advantage, they shouted out. 
 
24i6 KIRKTOX'S HISTORV OF 
 
 for tlio' they came not by the way of victory, yet by the way of 
 their noble sufferings they made up all the disadvantages in their 
 conduct. Before Wallace was broke, some gentlemen in the west 
 hade gathered a small company of liorsemen, amoujiting to 50, and 
 were upon their way to have joyned ^^"allace. They came as flir as 
 Glasford, but hearing Dalyell avus betA\'ixt them and their friends, 
 they were constrained to retire and dissolve. Of this troop, INIure 
 of Caldwell was captain ; with him were Robert Ker of Kersland, 
 Maxwell of Blackston, Cakhvell of Caldwell, John Cunninghame of 
 Bedland ; and of ministers, INIr Gabriel IMaxAvell, Mr George Ram- 
 sey, and Mr John Carstaires, who came along much against his in- 
 clination, only to satisfie the importunity of his friends, for in secret 
 he perswaded his friends not to appear. But if this company scapt 
 the sword at Rullion-green, they scapt not hereby sufferings, the 
 ryfeling of their houses, forfaidture, and exile. After a while, Cald- 
 well's estate was given to Dalyell, and Kersland's to Dnimmond, for 
 a reward of their great service ; and these were the two best estates 
 belonging to that part5\ and these Dalyell and Drummond possess- 
 ed till King WiUiam altered the scene of affaires. 
 
 Now follows the second part of this mournfuU tragedy ; the la- 
 mentable executions and svifferings which fell upon this broken 
 party, and indeed many suffered with them who were not of their 
 company ; few fearing God were not concerned in the calamity. 
 Of all Scotland, only Mid- Lothian was crviel ; they took many pri- 
 soners, killed some, and were some of them so barbarous as to un- 
 bury them, that they might rob them of their winding-sheets in 
 
 " The God of Jacob ! the God of Jacob !" which was re-echoed by Turner's guards. 
 
 The prudent conduct of Welch and Semple is strongly contrasted by that of the two 
 
 preachers from Ireland, who fought courageously, and were left dead on the field of 
 
 battle. 
 
 1 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 247 
 
 which the honest people of Edinburgh hade buried them ; yet even 
 in that countrey many were kind to them ; Alexander Pennicook, 
 that famous surgeon, harbovn-ed some and cured many ; yea, even 
 among the curats, some hade so much of a man as to preserve some 
 of them. But up and down the countrey many grew sick of grief, 
 and some died. Particularly Mr Arthure IVIurray, ane honest out- 
 ted minister, dwelling in a suburb of Edinburgh, by which Dalyell's 
 men entered the city after the victory. He hearing they were pass- 
 ing by, opened his window to view them, where he saAV them dis- 
 pla)^ theii' banners tainted in the blood of these innocent people, and 
 heard them shout victory, upon which he took his bed and died 
 within a few dayes. 
 
 However, all the prisoners were brought to Edinburgh, and 
 there by the provest's command croiided into Haddock's-hole.* 
 The covuitiy people, beside those taken, brought in about thirty 
 more ; some of the chief they lodged in the Tolbooth ; and al- 
 wayes as a handfull of them were condemned to die, they were 
 secured there, as being a more sure prison then the other was. The 
 council made quick dispatch, and Bishop Sharp was willing presi- 
 dent, for Avithin 9 dayes of the defeat the first parcel] of them was 
 execute. But when the question was first stated at the councill-. 
 
 * This is a part of the High Church of Edinburgh, so denominated from Sir John 
 Gordon of Haddo, who was there confined previous to his execution for loyalty to 
 King Charles the First. While the Pentland rebels were imprisoned in this and other 
 places, they were liberally supplied with food by Wisheart, Bishop of Edinburgh, who 
 well knew the horrors of incarceration, having himself been immured by the covenant- 
 ers for seven months in a dark, loathsome dungeon, where he was allowed only once 
 to change his linen, and had like to have been devoured by rats, the marks of whose 
 voracity he bore on his face to his grave. I'ide Burnet, who observes, that tiie pri- 
 soners were so plentiful!}' supplied both by the bishop and many others in Edinburgh, 
 that they ran a great risk, having no air or exercise, of falling martyrs to unwonted 
 repletion ! 
 
348 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 table, what should be done with them, forasmuch as they seemed to 
 have their lives spared by the kiug, in regarde they hade quarter 
 oranted them by those who hade the king's commission, either to 
 kill or to save aUve, the councill debated upon it, and Sir John 
 Gilmoure, the greatest lawyer, declined to give his judgement, 
 knowing if he spoke for spareing he should offend the blood-thh'sty 
 bishops, and if he spoke for blood he should grieve his conscience. 
 But it fell unhappily upon the Lord Lie to declare, he believed, 
 tho' the prisoners hade the souldiers quarter in the field, it prejud- 
 ged not their tryal by law ; so to bloody executions they went. 
 
 And these they call out to be the first bloody sacrifice, were Major 
 Rlaculloch, a reverend old gentleman. Captain Andi'ew Arnot, 
 Thomas Paterson (who was condemned, but died of his wounds,) 
 the two Gordons, Gavin and James Hamilton, John Neilsone of 
 Corsack, &c. These they referr to the judges criminal. Sir John 
 Home of Renton, (one of the best friends the bishops hade in Scot- 
 land,) and ]Mr William Murray, advocate, were the judges ; Sir 
 John Nisbit, pursuer, Mr William Maxwell and George M'Kenzie, 
 defenders ; but it abode a short dispute. Wlien the king's quarter 
 was objected, Nisbit answered, it was not a lawfull warre, but rebel- 
 lion, and therefore quarter was no defence ; so the bloody sentence 
 past, that they should be hanged at Edinburgh Cross, on December 
 7th, their woods confiscate, and thereafter their bodies dismembred, 
 and the heads of INIajor M'CuUoch and the two Gordons should be 
 pitched on the gate of Kirkcudbright ; the two HamHtons and 
 Strongs' heads should be affixed at Hamilton ; the heads of Ross 
 
 at Kilmarnock ; and Captain Arnot's sett 
 on the Watter-gate at Edinburgh. The armes of all the ten, be- 
 cause they hade with uplifted hands renewed the covenant at La- 
 nerk, were sent to the people of that town, to expiate that crime by 
 placeing these arms on the top of their prison. Accordiiigly these 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 249 
 
 ten suffered on the day appointed. Thereafter another parcell were 
 condemned, and execute on Dec. 14th ; among these was Mr Alex- 
 ander Robison, Avho hade been basely betrayed by the Laird of ]Mor- 
 toun, whom he trusted upon promise of life ; and Humphray Col- 
 houn, merchant in Glasgow. Last of all, the third parceU were con- 
 demned to die upon Dec. 22, being eight in number, but 4 were 
 reprived and pardoned, and some of them took the declaration. 
 Among these who suffered last were Ralph Shields, Englishman. 
 •John Wodrow, merchant, and JNIr Hew IM'Kaill, a preacher. The 
 particulars of their execution I shall not fuUy enumerate, only some 
 generals I shaU observe. None of them would save their life by ta- 
 king the declaration, and renunceing the covenant, tho' it was offer- 
 ed to them all ; aU of them died constant, and justifying what they 
 hade done ; all of them left their written testimony behind them ; 
 some of these are printed in Naphtali, but not aU ; aU of thein died 
 cheerfully, and full of hope of salvation, tho' some of them had lived 
 long in great anguish, particidarly John Neilson of Corsack ; some 
 of them strove who should climb the ladder first, and triumphed 
 when they got upon it, as George Crawford, yeoman. All of them 
 died in hope that God would deliver Scotland. But never men died 
 in Scotland so much lamented by the people, not only spectators, 
 but these in the countrey. When Knockbreck and his brother were 
 turned oyer they clasped each other in their armes, and so endured 
 the pangs of death. When Humphray Collioun died, he spoke not 
 like ane Ordinary citizen, but like a heavenly minister, relating his 
 comfortable Christian experiences, and called for his Bible and laid 
 it on his wounded arm, and read John, iii. 8, and spoke upon it most 
 sweetly to the admiration of all. But most of all, when ]\Ir JVPKaill 
 died, there was such a lamentation as was never known in Scotland 
 before ; not one diy cheek upon aU the street, or in all the number- 
 less windows in the Mercate-place. He was a proper youth, learn- 
 
 2l 
 
250 KIKKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 ed, travelled, and extraordinarily pious. He fasted every week one 
 day, and signified frequently his apprehension of such a death as he 
 died ; and heavy were the groans of the poor spectators when he 
 spoke his joyes in death ; then aU cursed the bishops who used to 
 curse, then all prayed who used to pray, entreating God to judge 
 righteous judgement ; never was there such a mournfull day seen 
 in Edinburgh, never such a mournfull season seen in Scotland in any 
 man's memory.* The mourning of the people was attended with 
 wonderful! prodigies in the air ; many honest people in Pittinweam 
 made faith upon it, that at night, about this time, they heard the 
 voice of a multitude, as they judged about Welstoun IMount, prai- 
 sing and singing psalmes, with that space betwixt lines which used 
 to be allowed for reading the line, and much talk there was of much 
 more of that kind. Before the executions were begun, the councill 
 thought good to put John Neilson of Corsack and JNIr IM'Kaill, both 
 to torture, a practise not used in Scotland for 40 years before, and 
 very seldom at any time, but now revived by the bishops, and very 
 common afterward.* The councill's pretence was, to discover the 
 
 * M'Kaile had deserted the insurgents previous to the battle at Pentland ; and he 
 denied any participation in their enterprize, when examined by the privy council. ThU 
 
 fainting in a day of trial, as he calls it, he greatly bewails in his last speech and testi- 
 mony ; which, together with many other documents respecting him and his fellow-suf- 
 ferers, are to be found in a ito pamphlet, entitled, Samson's Riddle, or a Bunch of bit- 
 ter Wornmood bringing forth a Bundle of Sweet smelling Myrrh — Two nights previous 
 to his execution, (Dec. 22,) he said to his companions at supper, " Eat to the full, and 
 cherish your bodies, that we may be all a fat Christmas pie to the prelates." He him- 
 self, though a comely proper youth, was lean and consumptive ; and had lain for a con- 
 siderable time in a fainting fit at Air, before he deserted from the presbyterian in- 
 surgents. 
 
 * The boot was an instrument of torture " made of four pieces of narrow boards 
 nailed together, of a competent length for the leg, not unlike those short cases we use 
 to guard young trees from the rabbets." Mouer's ShoH Account of Scotland. — Af- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 25X 
 
 plot upon which the whiggs hade founded their insiu'rection. No 
 plot did the innocent men discover, nor could they, for there was 
 none. What they said the councill did not i-ecord, because they 
 foimd nothing. 
 
 ter the criminal's leg was laid in, wedges were driven down, which caused intolerable 
 pain, and frequently mangled the limb in a shocking manner. In the year 1684, Ar- 
 thur Tacket, a presbyterian tailor in Hamilton, was ordained by the council to be ques- 
 tioned in the boots ; but his legs were so slender that the surgeon present on such 
 occasions assured the king's advocate the torture would certainly break them. Wo- 
 DROW — .A young woman, called Wood, and John Tosach, were booted in the year 
 1632, concerning the mysterious conflagration of the Tower of Frendraught, in which 
 Lord Aboyne and several of his friends perished. This seems to have been the last 
 application of the boot, previous to the affair of Pentland. In more remote times it 
 was used, with great cruelty, in cases of witchcraft ; and was applied, once at least 
 during the examinations regarding the Gowrie conspiracy. Nicholson writes to Cecil 
 " Master William Rynd, the pedagogue, hath been extremely booted, but confesseth no- 
 tliing of that matter against the earl and his brother." In the year 1689, Chislie of 
 Dairy was put to this torture, exactly ten days before the estates of parliament passed 
 the act and declaration concerning King James's Jbrfaultioe of the crown, through il- 
 legal assumption and exercise of power, in which declaration it is asserted, " that the 
 use of torture, without evidence, and in ordinary crimes, is contrary to law.'' The last 
 state criminal tortured in Scotland was Nevil Payn, but he suffered in the thumbkins 
 an instrument calculated, by means of screws, to press the thumbs so powerfully, that 
 the blood sometimes gushed from their extremities, and the arms of the criminal swell- 
 ed to the shoulder. This contrivance is said by Wodrow and others, to have been 
 brought from Russia by Generals Dalyell and Drummond ; but whatever improvements 
 on the machinery of the thumbkins they might import, it is probable that the instru- 
 ment itself, or something extremely similar, was well known in Scotland long previous 
 to the reign of Charles the Second. — " 24th of June, 1596. John Stewart, master of 
 Orkney, indyted for consulting Alison Balfour, a witch, for the destruction of Patrick 
 Earl of Orkney, his brother, by poison. — His majesty gave a warrant to insist De- 
 fences — As to the first part of his dittay, founded on Allison Balfour's confession, no 
 regard can be had to it, in respect the said confession was extorted by force of tor- 
 ments, she having been kept 48 hours in the caspie claws ; her husband^ almost 90 years 
 
252 kirkton's history of 
 
 The executioner favoured Mr M'Kaill, but Corsack was cruelly 
 tormented, and screight for pain in terrible manner, so as to have 
 moved a heart of stone. This was done on Dec. 4th, and they were 
 examined by Rothesse, who called frequently for the other toutch. 
 All that they said was, that the oppressions of the countrey hade 
 turned the people into a tumult, and more there was not to say. 
 Yet the councill would not give it over so, for after the executions 
 were ended at Edinburgh, Rothes travelled through the west coun- 
 trey, carrying with him a quorimi of the councill, and there they 
 condemned, first, a number of poor countrey people to be hanged at 
 Glasgow, and thereafter some to die at Air, and only two to suffer 
 at Irvine. AU of them died just as their fellows at Edinburgh suf- 
 fered, tho' poor illiterate unbred men. At Glasgow, the soiddiers 
 beat the drums about them when they were speaking their last 
 words, lest the Avords of dying men should have established the 
 hearers more than the sufferings terrified them. At Aii", the exe- 
 cutioner fled from the town, because he would not murther the in- 
 nocent ; so the condemned hade almost escapt, if malicious Provest 
 Cunninghame hade not invented this expedient, that one of the 8 
 who were to suffer should have his life spared if he would execute 
 the rest, which one of them yielded to doe ; but when the execu- 
 tion-day came, lest he should have fainted, the cniell provest caused 
 
 of age, put in heavy irons ; her son put in the buits, when he suffered 57 strakes ; and 
 her daughter, about seven years old, put in the pilniewinks, or cairds, all in the wo- 
 man's presence, to raake her confess ; and afterwards, baith on her trial and execution, 
 she denied all ; and that her confession was extorted from her by the cruel torture of 
 the caspie claws, in which she was put twice a-day for U days, cawit in the buits, and 
 whipt with cords till neither flesh nor hyde was left on her body." Abbreviate of the 
 Records of Jtisticiarie, MS. — From a childish nursery game, too ridiculous to be detail- 
 ed, I am tempted to believe that the pilnie-winks, or cairds, was an instrument of tor, 
 lure on the same construction with the thumbkins. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 253 
 
 fill him almost di-uiik with brandy, a practice like the rest of his go- 
 vernment. The two poor men that died at Irvine, were very much 
 discouraged while they were in prison ; and when the minister, Mr 
 Alexander Nisbit, visited them, he found them both sad and igno- 
 rant ; but when the day came, they died full of joy and courage, 
 even to admiration. The executioner of Irvine, a poor ignorant 
 Highlandman, "^^''illiam Sutherland, refused to take the lives of the 
 servants of God, which offended the great men there so much, they 
 told him he shoidd be shott to death if he would not ; but, he still 
 persisting, they tyed liim to a stake, and presented the musquateers 
 to give foe. uMl this moved him not ; then Drummond whispered 
 his command, that they should aU run in upon him Avith great 
 noise, while his face was covered. This was done for a -base reason, 
 which I will not write ; but they resolved to make him feell the fear 
 of death if he scapt the pains of it, and this was his martyrdome. * 
 
 * When seated in the stocks, he descanted to the admiration of his hearers on the 
 ^ide tails (i. e. long trains) of the bishops, demanding, " How know ye, but the Lord 
 liath revealed more to me than to your bishops with their side tails .'"—His declaration, 
 printed by Wodrow, is a very extraordinary composition, and so ludicrous, that it is a 
 matter of some surprise how the grave minister of Eastwood himself could forbear from 
 a smile. Sutherland, giving an account of the earlier part of his life, narrates, that by 
 sundry mishaps he was reduced to great poverty in his capacity of a shepherd, " and 
 was engaged by the counsel of some honest men from that scripture, Sitffer not a witch 
 to live, to execute a witch, and to cleanse chimney heads, whereby I gained something 
 for livelyhood.— The first night I was prisoner, there was one Mr White, a, curate, 
 came to me to persuade me to do my office on the said persons, and said, ' What is 
 this you are doing ? Do you not know that thir men are guilty of rebellion ?' and from 
 the 1st Sam. 15, told me that the rebellion whereof these men were guilty, was the sin 
 of witchcraft :" (This was taking him in his own strain.) " To whom I answered, that that 
 rebellion was Saul's rebellion against the immediate command and revealed will of God, 
 and that for sparing Agag and the best of the cattle, and was as the rebellion spoken 
 of the children of Israel, when they rebelled and refused to go to the land of Ca- 
 naan, but would have chosen captains, and have gone back again to Egypt. And that 
 
 8 
 
254 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 After the commissioner had preambulat the west, he set a compass 
 by the south, and execute two poor men more at Dumfiies, and so 
 returned to Edinburgh, having with all his diligence discovered that 
 indeed there was nothing to be discovered. Now the bishops tri- 
 imiphed, believing their fear was discussed, their warre at ane end, 
 their last enemies buried ; but they mistook the case. Mr Robert 
 Lowrie, that he might efface the impression the sufferers hade made 
 in Edinburgh, in the height of his authority, declared, the sufferers 
 hade gone down to the pit with a lie in their right hand ; this 
 brought disdain and hatred to himself, but hurt not the sufferers' 
 cause. Bishop Sharp, during the time he presided in the councill, 
 stumbled upon diverse misfortunes : First, dureing the time the 
 whiggs Avere in aranes, the provest of Edinburgh appointed a guard 
 to secure his lodging ; and indeed they discovered theu* respects for 
 him, for if they of necessity behooved to keep him safe, they resol- 
 ved, at least, he should have no quiet sleep when they watched. So 
 every half hour he hade a false alarme, one centinel crying loud in 
 the bishop's ears, Stand ; another, Give fire ; as if some body hade 
 been coming to assault him. Every hour in the night the bishop was 
 
 is like the rebellion spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, ' All day long have I stretched out 
 ray hands to a stiiF-necked, rebellious, and gainsaying people.' I told him this was not 
 rebellion against man, and in the New Testament it is called a trespass, and our Lord 
 said to Peter, ' if thy brother trespass against thee, forgive unto 70 times seven.' So I 
 think if the Galloway men should trespass twenty times, it was far less than 70 times 
 7, the king should forgive them, tho' it were rebellion against him, which I do deny. 
 The provost of Air, when he saw me altogether refusing, he rounded in my lug, 
 ' What, are you afraid of the country folk ? I shall give you fifty dollars, and you may 
 go to the Highlands, or where you please.' 1 answered him, speaking out loud that all 
 might hear, ' What, would you have me sell my conscience .' where can I flee from God ? 
 remember Jonas fled from God, but the Lord found him out, and ducked him over the 
 lugs ; so shall he me if I go over the light of my conscience.' Then I was taken away, 
 and put in the stocks." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 253 
 
 SO tormented for want of sleep, he was constrained to goe lodge in 
 the castle. A worse misfortune happened to him, and that was, he 
 wrote one letter up to Lauderdale the secretary, to be shewed to 
 the king, wherein he affirmed all went well in Scotland, and that 
 every man was in his duty, except the few phanaticks in armes, 
 Avhom he feared not ; but he wi-ote up another letter to a nobleman 
 at court, wherein he affirmed all was wrong, no man was faithfuU to 
 the king, they were all sold. Both these letters were read to the 
 king, and Avhen he saw Sharp's two faces, then he discovered his 
 dishonesty, which he would never believe before, but after that could 
 never hear of his name ; and last, by a letter from the king, dis- 
 charging the taking any more lives, was directed to him, to be by 
 him dehvered to the covuicill. This he kept up till all that were 
 condemned were execute. This was cast in his teeth by those who 
 took his life, who told him, as he hade never shewed mercy to any, 
 so mercy he should have none himself. And indeed from the day 
 and date of these poor people's sufferings, the episcopal mterest de- 
 cayed even tiU their subversion. The noblemen began to weary of 
 following them, the persecution slackened, people began to dishaunt 
 the churches, the outted ministers begun to preach in more publick 
 manner ; and the poor people who were at that time in contempt, 
 called Whiggs, became name fathers to all that owned ane honest 
 interest in Brittain, who wei'e called Whiggs after them, even at the 
 court of England ; so strangely doth Providence improve man's mis- 
 takes for the furthering of the Lord's purpose. As for Blackwood, 
 he veiy narrowly escaped the sentence of death for the fu-st time, 
 and that was the reward he hade for his embassy of peace. 
 
 After this, Tom DalyeU (as he was commonly called) marched 
 westward, to improve his victory and destroy his enemies ; and here 
 he carried himself as if he had been in Muscovia. The souldiers 
 take free quarters and doe what they will ; the whole substance of 
 
256 KIRKTOK'S HISTORY OF 
 
 the countrey is consumed. Himself takes up his quarters at Kil- 
 marnock, and there upon private examination of any whom he sus- 
 pected either to have been in armes, or to harbour any of them, he 
 not only threatned, but cruelly tortured whom he pleased. He 
 thrust so many into the ugly dimgeon at Kilmarnock, called the 
 Theeves-hole, that they could not bow their bodies, but were forced 
 to stand upright ; Avhen one of them fell dangerously sick, he would 
 not liberate him till he hade surety he should be returned living or 
 dead ; and accordingly the poor sureties were forced to bring his car- 
 case to the prison-door, where he lay a long time, till att last Dal- 
 yell permitted them to bury the dead man. A certain man at New- 
 milnes, called David Finlay, was, upon Dalyell's command, brought 
 before him, and because he either would not or coidd not dilate and 
 accuse the rich whiggs whom he hade seen in armes at Lanerk, was 
 presently, by Dalyell's command, without sentence of judge, wit- 
 ness, or councill of warre, appointed to be shot to death, tho' he was 
 no manner of way under the generall's command. When the poor 
 man was carried out to die, neither he nor the lieutenant that was 
 to execute the sentence, believed the general to be in earnest ; and 
 when the souldiers told the poor man he behooved to die, he begged 
 earnestly one night's time to prepare for eternity ; upon which the 
 lieutennant returned to the generall, intreating the poor man might 
 be forborn for one night ; but the answer he had was sevei'e, threat- 
 nuig he would teach him to obey without scruple ;* so the poor man 
 was instantly shott dead, and stript naked on the ground. The 
 
 * General Dalyell was a very strict disciplinarian in military matters. Lord Foun- 
 tainhall records in his Diary, (1680,) " his causing execute a souldier for stealing a 
 pair of pistoUs out of the magazine ; and he caused a council of war condemn another 
 for being found sleeping at the Abbey-gate : but the Duke of York obtained his 
 pardon." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 257 
 
 sergeant that hade brought the poor man to the generall, and there- 
 after gone to take a sleep, when he heard the news as he awaked, 
 that the poor man Avas so suddenly dispatcht, took his bed presently, 
 would neither eat nor di'ink till he died, which was within a few 
 dayes. 
 
 Another example of their cruelty was, Tom Dalyell kept a gar- 
 lison in the castle of the Dean, closs by Kilmarnock ; the souldiers 
 in the castle one day chassing a poor whigg, because he run thro' a 
 poor countrey woman's house, she knew not whither ; for as soon as 
 he hade passed the house he clapped down in a ditch full of watter, 
 which she did not see ; yet, because she would not find them the 
 man, they let her down into a deep pit under the castle, full of ser- 
 pents, and shrieking in a most dreadfull manner, tiU all the people 
 in the vUlage hade their ears pierced with her cries, but durst not 
 so much as speak for her, lest they should have been so used them- 
 selves ; and so they used otliers beside.* Sir Mungo INIurray, be~ 
 cavi^e he heard two countrey men hade lodged two whiggs a night, 
 bound the two men's bodies together, and hanged them up by the 
 armes to hing all night, and so he went to bed. The poor men were 
 in such torment they had certainly dyed, if Sir INIimgo's souldiers, 
 more merciful! then himself, had not hazarded his Avrath, and cutt 
 them doAvn to save their lives. These were part of their wayes, but 
 much more there was of that sort. Sir James Turner and Sir WU- 
 
 * " A petty heritor in the parish of Uchiltree being apprehended upon a groundless 
 suspicion of reset of traitors (as they term it), was brought to Kilmarnock ; where, be- 
 ing an old man full of obstructions, he was so suffocated with the smoke there occa- 
 sioned by a coal-fire, wanting a chimney-vent, that often times a day the souldiers have 
 in derision carried him out as dead, and after a little recovery by reason of the free 
 aire, with cruel scorn ignominiously returned him unto his prison ; which barbarity they 
 still continued, untill by extremity of such usage, he is reduced to such weakness as 
 there is little hope of life." — Napthali, or the Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland. 
 
258 kirktom's history of 
 
 liam Bannatyne hade by theh- cruelties driven the poor people of 
 Galloway into despair, but they were saints compared to Tom Dal- 
 yell and his souldiers. INIeantime the poor whiggs either wandered 
 in a strange land, or knked inider dissembled names in remote places 
 of the countrey, or hid themselves hi caves or coal-pits ; and indeed 
 it was a sad winter, when the poor people of the countrey perceived 
 Dalyell and his sovddiers took to themselves the same power over 
 the bodies and lives of the countrey people, that they had over 
 dogs ; and this was the first time ever Scotland endured so much 
 tyrannic. 
 
 But our grandees framed another design : Tliey hade never as yet 
 reapt the harvest of their hopes from the king's return, and their 
 mouthes hade missed the fat morsel of the fynes. Now they hope 
 so to improve tlie insurrection in the west as to turn it into a 
 golden myne ; and their method was this : First to perswade the 
 king that all the phanaticks, whiggs, and presbyterians must be ex- 
 tirpate ; then to get the execution of the design trusted into their 
 hands, and so they should divide the spoil. And, therefore, Avithin 
 two days of the defeat, they write up to the king, that the people 
 of Scotland were so leavened with rebellious principles, there could 
 be no expectation of a peaceable government Avithout a more vigo- 
 rous application of the king's poAver (this Avas the mystical expres- 
 sion they used.) for the rooting out of these principles in persons 
 suspected or dissafFected. This was the stile of the letter, but the 
 meanuig was that the councill shoidd have poAver from the king to 
 press the declaration upon any rich presbyterian they pleased to 
 call, and in case of refuseal, to forfault them. This Avould have 
 made them all men of gold. The letter Avas subscrived by Rothes 
 in name of the councill, and great Avas the importunity used by the 
 bishops and all then* friends at court to have this sute granted in 
 the full latitiide. Dalyell and Drummond Avere both received 
 
THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAXD. 259 
 
 councellors immediately after the defeat ; and the truth is, there was 
 no great difference bet^vixt Dalyell's eouncill of warre, and the 
 secret council! of Scotland at that time, for most of the great men 
 in the secret eouncill were officers of the army, and members of 
 Dalyell's eouncill of warre. Duke Hamilton, in the counciU of 
 warre, Mas only Rit-master Hamilton (as Dalycll used to call him) ; 
 Rothes was Rit-master Leslie ; Lithgow, Collonel Livingston ; and 
 so of the rest. And indeed their purpose was to have hade their 
 army the power and spirit of Scotland, and all the rest of the 
 people, only their tennants and provisors. Accordingly, in Jaiiuary 
 1667, a convention of states is called, only for the effect of providino- 
 money for the army. Also, about this time, Drummond goes to 
 court, and it was much suspected upon dangerous designes, and 
 particularly to agent the councill's design for pressmg the declara- 
 tion ; but Lauderdale, the secretary at that time, had neither 
 forgotten the old principles of a presbyterian nor a Scottish man, 
 and because his power Avith the king was very great, and in a 
 manner absolute, knowing the councill's design to be both cruel 
 and base, he ordered the matter so, that the king wrote down in 
 answer to their letter, that they might doe well to press the decla- 
 ration upon suspected persons, and if they refuse, he aUowes them 
 to incarcerate the refuser. This was a miss, a cooling card : They 
 cared not for incarcerating the fanaticks, because it produced no 
 money ; and they were more desirous of the fanaticks estates than 
 their conversion. So never a fanatick was called to appear ; but it 
 pleased the Lord this cruel design proved ane abortive. This letter 
 bare date March 12, 1667, and was one of the best ever Lauderdale 
 subscrived. Yet, lest our councillors should appear negligent and 
 careless over the king's enemies, (as they pretended), they once 
 more disarm the Avest, and dismount them also, which was a prac- 
 tice unjust, hurtful, and turned to no other account, but to gather 
 armes sometime thereafter to be burried in the sea. 
 
260 kirkton's history of 
 
 But, because our soulclier councellors perceiA ed they were crossed 
 in their designes by Lauderdale, there s]5nuig up a faction of new op- 
 posites to hiin, even among those who had been his friends formerly, 
 when the competition was betwixt him and INIiddleton. These were, 
 Duke Hamilton, (and indeed I^auderdale and he were never friends 
 after this), Rothes, Newburgh, Lithgow, the officers of the army, and 
 the bishops. And he hade among them his own party : Argyle, 
 Tweddale, Kincairn, Cochrane : And this summer he sent down Sir 
 Hobert INIiu'ray, the great mathematician and favorite,* who was 
 
 * As any notice respecting so distinguished a person as Sir Robert iSIurray may be 
 deemed valuable, the following extract is printed from a letter written by the Duke of 
 Lauderdale to Lord Kincardine, concerning his death : — Sir Robert, in his youth, 
 had been selected by Lord Dysart as a husband for his daughter, afterwards Duchess 
 of Lauderdale ; and though the lady did not bestow iier hand upon him, they lived 
 long in terms of the strictest friendship. IVIurray was also, for several years, the con- 
 fident and adviser of Lauderdale himself; but the duchess, who, if we are to believe 
 Burnet, persuaded her husband to quarrel with his best friends, made a breach betwixt 
 them, on the pretence that Sir Robert assumed all the merit of the duke's political 
 administration to himself. — " Bath, July 7, 167fi. This morning I received yours of 
 the 5th, and was as much surprized with the suddain death of Sir Robert Murray as 
 you was. You know how he carried himself to me since I came last from Scotland, 
 what a quarrel d'alleman he made without the least provocation, when at my going to 
 Scotland he parted with me so fair, and never did pretend the least injury 1 had done 
 liim since ; and the king knows how far I was from doing him the least injury, or so 
 much as resenting it, though you know he owed me as many obligations as man could 
 owe. You know I lent him one thousand pounds sterling five and twenty years ago : 
 Indeed he payed me the prlncipall when the king gave him 16001., but I have payed 
 interest for it 25 years, of which I shall never have a penny : So I lost my money, and 
 one I once thought my friend. Had he died a year ago, I should have been very 
 much troubled for him, but he cured me of that. One use I shall make of it : I shall 
 be very unwilling to dine with the lord chancellour, seeing his meat digests very ill. 
 It would be well done that the king would appoint you and Mr William Areskine to 
 see Sir Robert Murray's papers, that they fall not into ill hands ; and if his majesty 
 have not disposed his lodgings, they would be very fit for my office, for which I have 
 
THE CHUi'.CH OF SCOTLAND. 4261 
 
 received a councellor with Tweddale his kinsman. He contracted 
 a nearer relation at tliis time, by mariying his only daughter and 
 presumptive heiresse, to Tweddale's eldest son, the Lord Yester, 
 which was a splendid glorious marriage at court, the king himself 
 leading the bride uncovered to the church. But with those friends, 
 and the power he hade with the king, he was able enough both to 
 overturn his enemies and all their designes against him ; and to 
 weaken them he begins with Rothes, whom, from being lord-keeper, 
 he advanced to be lord liigh chancelloi% neither for respect nor con- 
 fidence, but to prepare him for the losse of the commissioner's place 
 and pension, Avhich happened shortly thereafter ; for he was declared 
 chancellor on Jully 4, and his commission to be high commissioner 
 declared void in September following. But that he might not be 
 turned altogether a private man, he is made chancellor, which he 
 took ill so bad a part, he was once resolving to have refused it, 
 because he was not a schollar, but his friends told him he hade 
 better be chancellor than nothing at all. So he accepted.* One 
 
 not room in my lodgings ; but say nothing if the king have an inclination otherwise: 
 So, with my service to all friends, adieu." 
 
 • Rothes's disorderly conduct in private life occasioned imputations of negligence 
 as to publick affairs. — This, as much as his feud with the Duke of Lauderdale, 
 diminished his influence with the king, and consequently his power in Scotland. Arch- 
 bishop Sharp, whose letters to Rothes do him much credit as a candid friend and 
 sage adviser, writes thus to the duke from London : — '« By Tny last I scribled, being 
 straitned with time, I do not remember well what : only what comes into my heart I 
 take a freedome to utter to your grace, whyle I am with you by word, and at this 
 distance by write. I have been these two days much at Lambeth, and yesterday 
 morning had a full and free discourse with a confident of Worcester-House, 
 
 and found there has been endeavours, since your parting from this place, to do me ill 
 offices, and not good service to your grace. It is apprehendit here that I am abso^ 
 lutely yours, (and I confess I doe not take pains to dispossess them of that opinion); 
 
262 
 
 o 
 
 great design more Lauderdale accomplished this summer, and that 
 was the disbanding of the army. He knew they oppressed the 
 countrey : They could not be mamtained but by ruining Scotland 
 (Avithin a little time, a captain's place would have been better than 
 a Scottish barrony). He knew likcwayes they were his personal 
 enemies, and therefore he would have it done ; but sore was the 
 struggling was made against it at the coiuiciU-table : One while a 
 letter comes that the whiggs are all in arms ; another wliile the 
 
 aiul therefore they have thought it fitt for them to make bold with me, by using all the 
 «a3'es tiieir malice could prompt them to blast my reputation and credit with my 
 most gracious master, with the duke, and churchmen my friends ; and their having 
 begun with me, (whom they thought, in my absence, it was easy to oppress) they 
 might without much controll have opportunity to make their calumnies of your 
 grace to take place, that you are unfitt to prosecute the king's service, not at all con- 
 cerning yourself seriously in it, being dissolute, lascivious, and wholly given up to 
 follow your pleasures, caring for none, and being intimate with none, but such kind of 
 persons who are without brains and morality, who j'ou keep alwayes about you, for 
 drinking, carding, dyceing, and w—g ; so as your family and way gives the example to 
 all loosnes throughout the country. Finding that these suggestions were made of 
 you, I thought it was fitt for me upon Munday morning to speak to the king, and to 
 read your note written to me, of which I do not repent. I did justify you to my Lord 
 Canterbury, of whose fidelity and friendship to you I can give you assurance. Having 
 taken my Lords of Atholl and Stornient to dyne with him yesterday at Lambeth, he 
 entertained them very kindly, and sayed to them at the table, that by the account I 
 had given him, he found that the king's commissioner for Scotland, his noble friend,, 
 liad done the part of a faithfull minister to his master ; and having called for a glass 
 of shearie, he pulled off his hatt, and drank out to your grace's health, and made it 
 go round the table, all being uncovered. I am not solicitous or doubtfull but that 
 you are so ordering your carriage as will cutt off occasion or pretensions to those 
 who envy your greatness to traduce you. Before I part from hence, your interest 
 with the king, and tliose who govern here^ shall be more surely fixed then can be un- 
 derminded or lessened by the attgijipt^. of any." 
 
THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. ^63l 
 
 souldicrs would pcrsonat the wliiggs, and plunder in their name 
 They made Sir A'N'^illiam Baimatyne, in Galloway, execute the bonds 
 poor people hade given him before the day of payment came, in 
 hopes the people woidd resist palpable violence by force. The 
 duke protested he was not sure of his life, but that his enemies (to 
 whom, indeed, he hade been very severe), might kill him at his 
 sport. To this Tweddale answered : — He thought, indeed, the 
 coimcill should have a care of my lord duke's safety ; and therefore 
 moved a squadi'on of the Ufe guard might quarter at Hamilton. 
 This was fau, but not taken as favourable. 
 
 However, all would not doe, for, upon the 13th of August, comes a 
 peremptory command to pay and disband the whole army, except 
 two troops of horse, and Lithgow's foot guards. And this was a good 
 turn to the poor countrey, but a sore heart to many a wicked man : 
 They hade bought their offices in the army with their money, and 
 spent their stock upon their equipage ; and now this dissolution of 
 the anny was like a shipwrack to a merchant. But yefe something 
 must be done to satisfie those who lonoed for the reward of unrioht- 
 eousness ; therefore, according to a proclamation of summonds which 
 liade past in June last, a justice court is holden at Edinburgh 
 within few days after the disbanding of the army was commanded 
 at Whitehall, and before the army was actually reduced. The 
 judges were, the Earl of Athol, Justice Generall, Lithgow, appoint- 
 ed assessor by the coimcill to assist him. Nisbit, the advocate, 
 pursued ; and, indeed, there was speedy justice. INIany who were 
 summoned to be upon the assyse refused, but they found abound- 
 ance to undertake it : Such as Somervell of Drum, chancellor of 
 the assyse ; Sir Robert Daly ell, Sir "William Bannatyne, Major 
 Grant, all three present officers of the army ; Sir John Falconer ; 
 Kennie, secretar to DalyeU ; Robert Hay, a papist, son to JNIr John 
 Hay, advocate ; Johnston of Skeins, Lockhart of Cleghorn, Hepburn 
 
264 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 of Bearford, John Rigge, sometime of Carberry. and Robert Baird, 
 baillie of Edinliiirgh. By these the lairds of Caldwell and Kers- 
 land, Bedland, Cunninghame and Quarrletone, Avith his brother 
 Alexander, are all forfaulted for life and fortune ; and diverse others 
 besides them, whose names occvn-e not. As for the rest of the 
 persons named in the proclamation, none of them appeared in the 
 court ; but for lake of evidence they could not be forfaulted. They 
 were excepted out of the indemnity proclamed in the October 
 following. Among these were Collonel James Wallace, IVIajor 
 Lermont, INIaxwell of INIonci-ief, younger, JM'Lelland of Barscob, 
 Gordoxi of Parbreck, INI'Lelland of Balmacharchan, Canon of Bro- 
 mishallock, younger, Canon of Bairly, younger. Canon of JMar- 
 drogat, younger, Welsh of Skar, Welsh of Cornley, (who was 
 dead at the time), Gordon of Garrery, Gordone of Holme, younger, 
 Demster of CarridoAV, Kirkco of Sandy well, Dalgoner, several poor 
 countrey men in diverse places, the Goodman of Caldwell, Lockart 
 of Wicket§haw. And for ministers, ISIessrs Robert Traille, Gab- 
 riel Semple, John Guthrie, John Welsh, Samuel Arnot, James 
 Smith, Alexander Ready,* WiUiam Vetch, John Paton, John 
 
 • This was the celebrated Alexander Peden, commonly called " Auld Saundie," 
 who afterwards made a great figure, both as a preacher and a prophet. His Life and 
 Predictions, long the text book of the presbyterian vulgar, is worthy of perusal. Even 
 Wodrow seems to believe him a prophet. The greatest miracle attending his minis- 
 stry was, that he had the good fortune to die in his bed. He wai long the bitter 
 enemy of Renwick, another preacher of the same stamp, who also, according to the 
 minister of Eastwood, " wanted not his impressions." Peden had one sore conflict 
 with Satan in a cave in Galloway; and proved a notable discoverer of witches. Yet, 
 in his youth, he himself was accused of having fallen into a snare, from which he 
 found some diflSculty to escape blameless. — " When he was about to enter to the mi- 
 nistry, a young woman fell to be with child in adultery, a servant in the house where 
 lie staid. When she found herself to be with child, she told the father thereof. He 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 265 
 
 Crookshanks, (who was dead), Gabriel INIaxweU, John Carstairs, 
 James Mitchell, ^Villiam Forsyth, and one Orr. The estates of 
 the foriaulted gentlemen were given to the bishops' hectors ; but it 
 
 said, " I'll run for it, and go to Ireland. Father it upon Mr Peden ; he has more to 
 help thee and bring it up (he having a piece of heritage) than I have." The same day 
 that he was to get his act of licence, she came in before the presbytery and said, <' I 
 hear you are to licence Mr Peden to be a minister ; do it not, for I am with child by 
 him." He being without at the time, was called in by the moderator ; and being 
 questioned about it, he said, " I am surprised, I cannot speak ; but let none ever en- 
 tertain an ill thought of me, for I am utterly free of it, and God will vindicate me in 
 his own time and way." He went home, and walked at a water-side upwards of twen- 
 ty-four hours, and would neither eat nor drink. When he returned, he said, " I have 
 got what I was seeking, and I will be vindicated ; and that poor unhappy lass will 
 pay dear for it in her life, and will make a dismal end ; and for this surfeit of grief 
 that she hath given me, there shall never one of her sex come into my bosom." And 
 accordingly he never married. There are various reports in the way that he was vin- 
 dicated : Some say, that in the time she was in child-birth, Mr Guthrie charged her to 
 give account who was the father of that child, and discharged women to be helpful to 
 her untill she did it. Some say that she confessed; others that she remained obsti- 
 nate. However, it is certain, that after she was married, every thing went cross to 
 them, and they wandered from place to place, and were reduced to great poverty. At 
 last she came to that same spot of ground where he staid upwards of twenty-four 
 hours, and made away with herself." — The Life and Prophecies of the Rev. Mr Alex- 
 ander Peden. 
 
 Peden's prayers were deemed of wonderful efficacy, and were generally ansiuered; 
 yet on one occasion a strange disappointment befell him : Being anxious to get over 
 fVom Ireland to Scotland, and a vessel being with some difficulty procured, " when 
 Robert Wark and his comrade came and told him, he was glad, and very kind and 
 free ; but he seemed to be under a cloud at that time. He said, ' Lads, I have lost my 
 prospect wherewith I was wont to look over to the bloody land, and tell you and 
 others what enemies and friends were doing. The devil and I puddles and rides time 
 about upon other ; but if I were uppermost again, I shall ride hard, and spurgaw 
 well. I have been praying for a swift passage over to the sinful land, come of us 
 what will ; and now Alexander Gordon is away tviih mi/ prayer wind, but it were good 
 
 2 L 
 
a66 kikkton's history of 
 
 was observed this was the fii'st thiie ever the king's vassalls were 
 forfaulted in absence, or by any judge except a lawfull parliament. 
 And this Avas Sir John Nisbit's first essay in his bloody office of 
 king's advocate. So I conclude the affair of the insurrection in 
 the west. 
 
 And now the May is prepared for the government of the more 
 favourable and moderate faction, where Tweddale and Sir Robert 
 Murray governed under the influences and directions of Secretary 
 Lauderdale. And the first question of moment stated at our coun- 
 cill-table is, How the countrey shall be composed in peace, now when 
 force is laid aside ? The one faction was for pressing the declaration 
 iipon aU suspected persons, for tho' they hade no present prospect 
 of forfaulture and gain, yet they hoped it might irritate and inflame, 
 and so at length bring in violence and rapine. The other faction 
 was for a bond of peace to be taken by all to whom it should be 
 tendered ; and this they thought behooved either to be taken, and 
 so their expedient should hold, or otherwayes make the refusers 
 odious in refusing so easy a demand. The question is stated before 
 the couneill, and when it was first voted. Sir Peter Wedderburn, 
 clerk to the couneill, affirmed the declaration carried it. Sir Ro- 
 bert Murray affirmed the contrare; so they vote again, and Sir 
 Peter affirmed as before, as also Sir Robert, and they were hot 
 about it. till at length the 3d time the votes were called, and 
 distinctly marked, and than it is found that the bond of peace must 
 be the expedient. The band it self contained but 6 lines, wherein 
 
 for the remnant in Scotland he never saw it." For a speciman of his pulpit 
 eloquence, see The Lord's Trumpet sounding an Alarm against Scotland, and Warning 
 of a Bloody Sword, being the Substance of a Preface, and ttvo prophetical Sermons, 
 preached at Glenluce, Anno 1682, by that great Scottish Prophet, Mr Alexander Pe- 
 THiNE, late Minister of the Gospel at Glenluce, Uo. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 267 
 
 the subscriber engadges to keep the publick peace (this was the 
 mystical expression) ; and in case he fail to pay a year's rent of his 
 estate, and also that all his tennants shaU keep the publict peace, or 
 otherwayes the subscriver shall pay to the state the tennants' year's 
 rent, and the servants' year's fee. This was to be the security of the 
 present government. This instrument was contryved, as many 
 other papers and oaths, which were the tentations of Scotland ; the 
 words were so general, that, when they were tendered, it might be 
 confidently affirmed, they contained nothing contrare to the princi- 
 ples of a covenant-keeper ; but also they were so ambio-uous, that 
 after a man hade subscrived, it might be confidently affii-med by the 
 judge who tendered them, that the subscriver hade homologate the 
 present government, civil and ecclesiastick. So this bond became 
 the theme of dispute among the people of Scotland opposite to 
 bishops, as many other of their papers hade. Great were the con- 
 tentions about it, and papers were then enough write upon it. The 
 question turned upon this hinge : Whether he who engadges to 
 keep the publict peace, engadges to doe nothing to disturb the 
 present laws upon which the peace is founded, yea or not? Or 
 whether he who engadges to keep the publick peace, binds only to 
 the duties of righteousness commanded by the law of God ? If the 
 first be true, the bond was unlawfull. If the 2d was true, it was 
 lawfuU. Certain it is, if the King of England make peace with 
 the Kmg of France by solemn treaty, he is not only bound to all 
 duties of righteousness, but even to hurt himself, if the treaty hath 
 so provided. And whether he, who riseth in armes against tyrants 
 and unjust laws, (as our reformers did) can be said to keep the 
 publict peace, is a subtile debate, as this indeed became ; yet, how- 
 ever it was, people divided about it, for some took and some refii- 
 sed it, but it pleased the Lord it was no lasting tryal, for it was 
 quickly laid aside by our govemours. 
 
 3 
 
'268 KIRKTOX'S HISTORY OF 
 
 Several things concurred at this time to soften the severity of 
 our governours. The king's inisuccesfuUness in the Dutch wan*e, 
 (they appeared in our firth with their fleet, and made a faint 
 attack upon Burntisland, but it was enough to make us know they 
 were masters of the sea) ; the wonderfull effect the sufferings of the 
 poor sufferers hade upon the people to make the bishops and their 
 party odious, (it was said, in presence of the secret councill by the 
 Earle of Drumfreis, that if they did not forbear taking more lives, 
 all Scotland would turn svich fanaticks as these who suffered Avere, 
 as I was told) ; the change of the king's cabinet councellors, (for, at 
 this time, he laid asyde Chancellor Hyde) ; the inclination of oin- 
 new governours, who neither loved the bishops nor hated godly 
 men, so much at least as their predecessors. All these put toge- 
 ther allovN'ed some calme in the tempest upon the people of Scot- 
 land. In England, the king called for severaU of the non-conform- 
 ists, such as Manton and Bates, and in private encouraged them to 
 hold their meetings ; and at London people were so bold as to 
 build meeting-houses for the puii:>ose. Moreover, in Scotland, the 
 Lord himself witnessed against the fierce persecution, by smiteing 
 the persecutors in the eye of the world. One example, among 
 many, I shall give : One David M'Braer, in the paroch of Iron- 
 gray, a landed man, a grievous persecutor, and Avho accused Mr 
 John Welsh, his paroch minister, upon his life, before Middleton's 
 parliament, being upon a time found hideing himself among his 
 tennants, (because he was in hazard of being imprison'd for debt) 
 was providentially rencoimtred by one John Gordon, a merchant 
 in the north, and just such ane one as himself; and because M'Braer 
 looked somewhat sad, Gordon apprehends him to be a Avhigg, and 
 requu'es him to goe with him to Drumfreis, wliich M'Braer refused 
 to doe, because he feared the prison for his debt. Gordon suspects 
 liim then more strongly, and because he hade come to the south to 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 269 
 
 agent the cause of a northern curat, and hade borrowed Chambers, 
 that infamous curat of Drumfreis, his sword, this sword he draws 
 and presents to IVl'Braer ; the other, either resisting or fleeing, is 
 presently run through the body by Gordon with Chambers his 
 sword. After this he vaunted he had killed a whigge, but when 
 the people of the countrey saw the body, they told him the dead 
 man was as honest a man as himself, (and just so he was) ; where- 
 upon he is carried to Dumfreis, and there, by the Earle of Dumfreis 
 and Nidsedale, is condenmed to be hanged to-morrow, which sen- 
 tence was accordingly execute ; which made people of the countrey 
 say, the Lord made one enemie destroy another, and that it was a 
 curst thing to persecute the whiggs. 
 
 Alwayes our new governours resolved upon a more mild manner 
 of government, and accordingly both the presbyterian ministers and 
 the people begin to lift up their heads. Bishope Burnet hade prophe- 
 sied the gosjjell was banisht out of his dioecy that day the army was 
 disbanded, and indeed after that day his flower begane to wallow. 
 Ourstate also.for aproof of their zeal against popery, bored the tongue 
 of a wretched fellow for speaking truth, in saymg the Duke of York 
 was a papist ; and by this a man may see in what a case Scotland was, 
 for either our governours were falsely informed, and if so, that was 
 bad ; or if they ^vere truely informed, than they were very unfaithfull, 
 and that was worse ; for the duke declared afterward, that indeed he 
 was than a papist, and had been long before. But what would they 
 have done (may a man think), if he hade spoken the truth of our 
 king, for whom all the pulpits blessed God, as for the patern and 
 protector of the protestant religion. Also our state this summer 
 call before them Sir James Tvirner and Sir William Bannatyne, to 
 punish them for their misdemeanours ; and warning hade been sent 
 to the west countrey to provide information against them, upon 
 \vhich the councill might proceed. Their business took up the 
 
270 KIRKTOX'S HISTORY OF 
 
 councill for some time. ^lany gentlemen in Galloway witnessed 
 and informed many grievous things against Sir James, but he de- 
 fended himself by producing his commission, subscribed with the 
 hands of the Commissioner Rothes, and the two archbishops, whicli 
 he affirmed had been taken from him when he was taken prisoner 
 at Drumfries, but afterwards recovered by himself.* He was, not- 
 withstanding his commission, removed from his place, which many 
 thought too mild a censure ; bxit whether his commission did ex- 
 cuse, or he exceeded his commission, is a question Scotland could 
 never answer to this day ; only if himself was to be believed, his 
 severities were not so great as he was enjoyned. There were more 
 outrages objected against Sir William than against Sir James : 
 Horrid extortions to get money, rajjs, cruelties ; that he hade 
 made great fires, and laid down men to rost them. Among the 
 rest, a poor gentleman who had been in armes with the whiggs, 
 comeing home to his own house sick unto death, because of hard 
 usage, that Sii" ^^^iUiam hade sent for him, commanding his sovd- 
 diers to bring him living or dead ; whereupon the souldiers hearing 
 his case, took with them a cart to caiTy him, and told him, dyeing 
 as he was, he behooved to goe with them. The poor gentleman 
 raised himself up in his bed, and told them, now he defied Sir 
 WiUiam and all his persecutors ; and so laying himself down again 
 
 * Sir James Turner was a man of spirit, according to Burnet ; and when examined 
 respecting his authority for his conduct in the west by that party in the privy council 
 hostile to Rothes and the Archbishop of Glasgow, as the government had used him 
 harshly, he would not show his vouchers nor expose his friends. He himself says, 
 " The reason I would not show them (his instructions) was, that I feared matter of 
 complaint might be picked out of them, which would not at all save me; and this I 
 was sensible enough of, that the showing them might wrong my lord chancellor, and 
 doe me no good, for I was told that I was lyable to punishment for giving obedience 
 to illegal commands." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 271 
 
 ill his bed, expyred before them all. There were also dangerous 
 speeches proven against him, upon which they say the couneill laid 
 most weight; however, he was fyned in 300 lib. English, and 
 l^anisht the kingdome. To court he went, and because Lauderdale 
 would not reverse his sentence, men say he undertook designs 
 against Lauderdale's life, and so left Brittain, and went into the Low 
 Countries, where he was killed at the seige of the Grave, by a canon- 
 baU carrying his heart out of his body, according to his ordinary 
 curse, as his acquaintance observed. 
 
 These censures, tho' not very severe, yet made the world perceive 
 our new governours believed ane injury might be done to a fana- 
 tick, and that they would walk by a rule which hade hardly been 
 seen in Scotland for seven years before that time, when all that was 
 done against them was approven. INIeantyme they wiU not neglect 
 the fanaticks. Mr Michael Bruce, ane Irish minister, who came to 
 Scotland upon the return of bishops, and kept both great house 
 conventicles and also field conventicles, which was at that time a 
 very rare practise, there being but few ministers in Scotland who 
 used to preach in the fields at that time : Him Captain Arskin, 
 captain of Stirling Castle, apprehended with a party of souldiers, 
 and in taking him wounded him very dangerously. Ai-skin hade 
 a reward for his service, and so brought him before the couneill, by 
 whom, upon his oAvn answers, he was banished Scotland for time of 
 life. But when the court heard of it, they call for him. So up he 
 was sent, and then ordered to goe for Tangier, there to serve ; 
 wliich punishment he scapt with great difficulty.* 
 
 * Bruce, who made a stout resistance when seized, and dangerously wounded one 
 of the soldiers, is described by Wodrow as a worth}', useful, and affectionate preacher, 
 a person of great boldness, and nruch love to souls. The following specimen of his 
 oratory is taken from a sermon, entitled SouUConfirmation, preached in the parish of 
 
272 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 This summer our council! thought fitt, because the army was 
 disbanded, to compense that losse by ordering a militia according 
 to the act of parhament. So they modelled a militia of 22,000 men, 
 
 Cambusnethen, in Clyds-daill. " The men of the world think they do us an ill turn 
 when they bring many crosses and troubles upon us ; little ken they that our Master 
 can borrow the devil's wind to gar his ship sail the better to the harbour ; tribulation 
 shall blow us to the kingdom, and shall not blow us by it. But I may not stand to pre- 
 face ; that I may clear the words, you may see Paul and Barnabas, in verse 6, 7, 8, they 
 are very busie preaching about every piece of their Master's work ; and there is a poor 
 criple man there, and they restore him to health, and all the countrie side wondered at 
 that, and they call them gods : Barnabas they call Jupiter, and Paul, Marcurius, be- 
 cause he was the chief speaker, and they will do sacrifice to them. Well, there comes 
 in some ill minded Jews, and they trouble the libertic of the city wherein they are, and 
 puts the countrie side to rise up, and stone them with stones ; there is a strange guise, 
 sirs, even now they will have Paul and Barnabas two gods, and they will sacrifice to 
 them, and or ever I wote, they are at the stoneing of them. Who was so busie for a 
 work of reformation, as our great men, and the whole body of Scotland ? they will be 
 for a covenant and a work of reformation ; and now, if any body will own it, they will 
 head and hang them. O i the change that comes upon men and women's spirits, when 
 grace takes not a grip of them. 
 
 " — This soul-confirmation is such as excludes four. I trow your soul-confirma- 
 tion came never that length yet. First, it excludes a weavering and tossing with every 
 wind of doctrine, Eph. iv. 14, For saints nmsf be routed and grottnded. It excludes you 
 and your work, that has one religion this year and another religion the next year, and 
 one religion with one company, and another religion with another. I will not give a 
 gray groat for your religion. Therefore this confirmation excludes this teasting that 
 is among many professors. Secondly, it excludes all double-facedncss that is among 
 many professors : there is many folk that has a face to the religion that is in fashion, 
 and there is many folk, they have ay a face to the old company, they have a fiice for 
 godlie folk, and they have a face for persecutors of godlie folk, and they will be dad- 
 dies bairns and minnies bairns both ; they will be prelats bairns, and they will be ma- 
 lignants bairns, and they will be the people of God's bairns ; and what think ye of that 
 bastard temper ? Poor Peter had g trial of this soupleness, but God made Paul an in- 
 strument to take him by the neck and shake it from him : and O that God would take 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 273 
 
 horse and foot, through the country, but would allow no foot men 
 to be armed in the western counties. The officers were men of 
 their own choosing, who hade past the oathes in fashion, and it was 
 
 us by the neck, and shake our soupleness from us ! There is such a bastard-like souple- 
 ness among the professors of this generation, we can never get our neck stitFed, but 
 they are ay for tliat thing they call prudence, which is tlie plague of this generation, it 
 is the plague of God, being given over to joine with a course of perjurie ; but I tell 
 you in the name of the Great God, your prudence shall be called pcrjurie, and you 
 shall put a shape upon it every day in the year ; perjurie shall be naked before God and 
 man, therefore I warn you in the name of the Great God, perjurie lyes at all your 
 doors, that are not straight and even dotvn for God to the utmost of your power. 
 
 " — O sirs, there is much of childish humors among us, but any of you that has win 
 to soul-confirmation, ye have win beyond the reach of them. The more soul-confirma- 
 tion he has, he puts the devil to the loss of two : he losseth his pains and his profit. 
 The devil has the ministers and professors of Scotland now in a sive, and O as he sifts, 
 and O as he riddles, and O as he rattles, and O the chaff he gets ! and I fear there be 
 more chaff nor there be good corn, and that will be found among us or all be done : 
 but the soul-confirmed man leaves ever the devil at two raoe, and he has ay the mat- 
 ter gadged, and leaves ay the devil in the lee side. Sirs, O work in the day of the 
 cross ! 
 
 " — Soul- confirmation, in the matters of God, is a rare engagement, and should be 
 most studied. But do not mistake, thou may be seeking it, and yet thy Master keep 
 it up from thee, untill thou be farder under the water, with many troubles, and then he 
 will tryste thee with it, and never till then, in the 6 of John's Gospel, where Christ 
 does a poor man good, and when the Pharisees heard of it, they find fault with it, and 
 they trail him from this court to that court, and at last they give him a clash of the 
 kirk's craft, they cast him out of the synagogue. Take tent of that, sirs, it may be 
 some of you get a clash of the kirk's craft ; that's a business, I warrand you, a fair 
 dirdim of their synagogue ; but I tell you news, sirs, the poor man lost not all by that 
 means : For whan did he give the poor man soul-confirmation ? it was when he was 
 cast off by them, he took him and confirmed him in this, that he was the Messias. O ! 
 says the poor body, I can never come at soul confirmation in the matters of God : I 
 have ay a hiuk in my heart about the Covenant, and I have ay a hink in my heart 
 about the work of reformation, and fain would I be soul-confirmed, if I could win at 
 
 2 M 
 
274 IvIUKTOX'S HISTORY or 
 
 indeed a very unjust oppression upon some poor heritors ; for such 
 a large proportion of land was appointed to furnish a horseman ; in 
 it there was ordinarly a laird, who did no more but mounted a 
 
 it ; very good, when thou would fain be over the staggering of thine heart, and thou 
 is praying and wrestling against them, thy soul-confirmation, O Christian, is reserved 
 to the stormie and troublesome time, and when thou is at the extremity of thy cross, 
 then he will season all with a new confirmation. The man of the world says, what is 
 j-our master doing at this time ? He is idle. I will tell yon two things he is doing at 
 this time for me. And the first is this, that old long syne, communion manifestations 
 that then I fain would have had, he kept them up till I had neither house nor harbour, 
 he kept them up till I was forced to keep the bogs and the woods, then gave he me 
 thera there. And are they not als good for me, and something better, for now I am 
 in no such hazard to he lifted up, as then I would have been. 2dly. My Master is 
 doing this, he is confirming my soul in the truths of the Covenant, since the last storm 
 I met with. These are the two things my Master is doing for me under my cross. 
 
 " — Soul-eonfirmation in the matters of God is not easilie wone at ; and it is easil}' 
 lost when it is attained : therefore you that keeps only your old job-troot, and does 
 not mend your pace, you will not wone at soul-confirmation ; there is a whine old job- 
 troot niinisters among us, a whine old job-troot professors, they have their own pace, 
 and faster they will not go ; O, therefore they could never win to soul-confirmation in 
 the matters of God ; and our old job-troot ministers is turned curats, and our old job- 
 troot professors is joined with them, and now this way, God has turn'd the in-side out, 
 and has made it manifest, and when their heart is hanging upon their brow, I will not 
 give a gray groat for them and their profession both ; therefore I charge you in the 
 great name of the Lord to mend your pace, that you may win to soul-confirmation in 
 the matters of God, as you would not have your inside turned out, as well as your old 
 job-troot curats, and your old job-troot professors has done Continue in the ga- 
 thering up of a stock of Scripture truths in your bosom, and from that treasure and 
 stock bring forth fruits new and old, when need requires : but beware of Scripture, 
 for you may be your own neck-break : for there's many brings out of Scripture that 
 wounds them in thir days. There is three Scriptures, that I think men and women is 
 like to break their necks upon : and the first is in the 'J3 Mat., and they that plead for 
 hearing and confirmation, they break their necks about the hearing of the scribes and 
 pharisees. And spear at men and women why they do this ? The 23 Mat. is as soon 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAXB. 275 
 
 lackey upon liis own horse against the day of the rendivouze, and 
 not one groat payed he ; whereas the poor heritor was forced to 
 contribute his proportion of money to maintain the laird's horse, as 
 
 casten up. What do ye think of tlie 10 John, where Christ says, Mi/ sheep hear my 
 voice, and they folloiu me; and a stranger they ivill not fellow; but will flee from him 
 that is a stranger ; and why ? because he is a thief and a robber, he had never God's 
 call to preach. But I think the 23 Mat. shall be the neck-break of the most part of 
 the professors in Scotland. And a 2d part of Scripture tlie most part of our clergy- 
 men break their necks upon, is in that 1 Cor. ix. 16. JFo to me if I preach not the gos- 
 pel. Whenever they would take the sinful courses of perjurie by the end, then wo to 
 me if I preach not the gospel. Wo, wo to thee for preaching of it, for our Master ne- 
 ver gave such preachers a call to it. Better to be silent than a sinful speaking. A 3d 
 Scripture is in Amos 3. The prudent shaU keep silent at that time. It is an ill time, 
 what need you speak a word for the cause ; the prudent shall keep silent at that time. 
 'Sow, I fear you and your wrested Scripture, that you gar speak and bow to your prac- 
 tice, come foull off. But the business I drive at is this ; have you a stock of Scripture 
 in your bosom, that when the devil and men stile a cannon of tentation, wrested upon 
 Scripture, you may bring out a cannon of Scripture out of your bosom, and ding the 
 devil and his cannon, backed upon wrested Scripture, both down the brae. There is 
 a cannon stated upon Scripture against Christ, in Mat. 4. < It is written,' says he, ' con- 
 cerning thee, he will give his angels charge over thee, and in their hands they shall 
 bear thee up,' &c. Well, says Christ to Satan, will you take the Scripture to be a stand- 
 ing place for your cannon ?— Wa ! then it is written. Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy 
 God: there he drives and dings the devil away, and his ill-hatched Scripture, with the 
 best bits of it, down the brae. Therefore have a stock, of Scripture in your bosom, 
 that when the devil or men stile a cannon at you on wrested Scripture, you may dino- 
 them both down tlie brae. 4thly, Continue daily in receiving the word of God : O 
 suck, suck till ye come to the marrow of the matter. There is three pieces of news I 
 have to tell you in the parocli of Cambusnethen. 1st. That the bairn that sucks most 
 at these breasts, shall be the thrivingest bairn in all the paroch. Then suck, O sirs, 
 suck, and be dowing bairns ; suck at these breasts, as new-born babes desire the sin- 
 cere milk of the word ; and ye sliall thrive, whilst other folks that suck upon debates 
 and delusions shall witlier, &c — The men of the world says, ye shall never be made 
 free again, ye are commanded by acts of parliament. Never trouble ye your head with 
 
276 KIEKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 if he hade been bought for the use. And now, when all was set- 
 tled, our moderate governours began to talk of a liberty for pres- 
 byterian ministers to execute their ministry without dependence 
 on the bishops. The Earle of Tweddale, who was never cruell nor 
 ane enemy to godly men, was frequently upon this project with Mv 
 Robert Douglass and Mr John Stirling, his own paroch minister.* 
 
 that, and we continue in the faith, we shall be made free by acts of parliament in hea- 
 ven. The men of the world makes a great deal of bragging, that they are free by acts 
 of parliament : Why should not acts of parliament make men free ? But if we get the 
 faith continued in, we shall be freer than they with all their acts of parliament. And 
 lastly, this is necessarie, because by continuing in the faith thou exoners thyself at the 
 hands of thy father, and at the hands of thy children, and at the hands of thy poste- 
 ritie to come. Our perjured folk in Scotland never thinks they stand in need to be 
 exonered from their fore-fathers or from their posteritie ; O sirs, are you faithful to 
 them that went before you, and to them that is to follow after : Now, what have you 
 done to exoner yourselves at their hands, who travelled many a night and many a day 
 to get the Covenant and work of Reformation brought particularly to the pattren, and 
 they committed it to you whole and sound at your door, and what a maggled work you 
 have made it now, the heavens and the earth may bear witness : black is the compt 
 that the Christians are to make for betraying of the work that their forefathers left at 
 their door, which was to be transmitted whole and sound by you to your posterity ; 
 and they are transmitting nothing to them but bladdrie instead of wholesome good, and 
 dross and counterfeit instead of real gold." 
 
 * The following letter from Lord Tweedale to Lord Linlithgow, transcribed from 
 the original, which in some places is illegible owing to damp, proves, that the presby- 
 terians gave him more credit for compassion towards godly men than he really deser- 
 ved. The preacher Bruce, mentioned in it, is the same person who occurs above. 
 
 " TO THE EARLE OF LINLITHGOW. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 " I had yours of the 15 from Glaskow on Tewsday, and am glad it was noe wors 
 with that country then it was represented, and that it is better since you cam there ; 
 nor doe I questione bot thes peopel will be very quiet and towardly soe long as they 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAXD. 277 
 
 It was at first very welcome news, and the discourse continued till 
 ane unhappy accident man-ed the design. The accident was this. 
 
 One ]\Ir James Mitchell, a weak, scholar, who hade been in annes 
 with the whiggs, resolves he will kill Bishop Sharp, and for this 
 
 are weal look'd to, but your lordship knows the counsel's desing reachith furder then 
 to make them peaceable, (when the rod is over their head) which I beleive your lord- 
 ship will follow as far as possible, for iff ther be not som of thes turbulent peopel catch- 
 ed, all is in vayn : when they are chased out of one place they will flie to another; for 
 God's sake therfor endeavour by all means possible to learn where they haunt, and 
 whether they ar gon ; and I suppose your command is not confynd within the shyres 
 of Clydsdale and Air, bot you may send partys to catch them wher they can be had, 
 wer it 100 miles off, especialy that Mr Michael Bruce, who Edin, 
 
 had given out amongst his followers that he Ireland, wherefor the 
 
 ports wold be looked to him bak to his hous at Airth. In any wher in 
 
 that I am sur you can have intelligence ther of him, and the E Callender will 
 
 asist you. I confess I had rather you catched him, or any of that sort, as any body 
 els did, (and ther is ways enew layd for them,) it could not but be kind good service, 
 and the best at present could be doun both king and country. Pray you, ray 
 
 dear lord, sett about it vigorously, and employ persons for doing it. They will not 
 want a reward, and if my promis signify any thing, I assure it. My letters of the 12 
 tell me that all your comissions ar now ready wreatten, and that my lord secretarie 
 waits only ane opportunity to get the king to sing soe many. If you have any succes 
 befor nixt councel day in your affairs ther, I think it will not be amise you com in your- 
 self, since you leave Kelly behind. You see what freedom I use. I think it sutable 
 to our relation and friendshipe ; and you are pleased to allow it to, my lord, your most 
 faithful and humble servant, 
 
 " TWEEDALE. 
 
 " Yesler, 22 May, 1668." 
 
 Some prominent features of Lord Tweedale's character are given in the subjoined 
 " Elegie, on the Right Honourable the Marquise of Tweedale." MS, penes me. 
 
 " Thirteen times sworn, twelve times perjur'd, what then ? 
 He was of size above the most of men ; 
 
278 KIUKTON S HISTORV OF 
 
 provides himself" with a case of loaden pistol,,. One day after din- 
 ner he waits for the bishop as he was to come from his lodging 
 mto his coach. At length down comes Sharp, with Honyman, 
 Bishop of Orkney, at his back. Sharp enters the coach fii-st, and 
 
 He, regulate by higher notions, saw 
 
 Where lyes the binding force of human law, 
 
 That it no longer tyes than tlie supreme 
 
 Continues such, and justly claims that name : 
 
 Let that power lodge in many liands or few, 
 
 He thought that there alledgeance still was due, 
 
 When power was to protect ; but where was none 
 
 In any prince, he loos'd was from that one. 
 
 Thus, 'inong the various changes which he saw 
 
 He changed still, but by this par'mount law ; 
 
 Conform this principle, he did abjure 
 
 The race of Stewarts, and the regal power 
 
 In Charles the First, and, like a worthy sanct, 
 
 He took the Tender and the Covenant, 
 
 To Charles the Second swore fidelitie, 
 
 And took the Test with great sinceritie, 
 
 And own'd King James, but when he fled to France 
 
 He him disown'd, and swore alledgeance 
 
 To's son-in-law, and did associat 
 
 That he would ne'er his sovereign re-admit. 
 
 And had he lived till he came back again. 
 
 By the same principle, he would have taen 
 
 Ane hecatomb of oaths at his command. 
 
 And been true while the power was in his hand. 
 
 Great soul ! who all this time this maxim knew. 
 
 And seventy years the samine did pursue 
 
 Most reg'larlie ; who will you not commend, 
 
 Since most act thus, whatever they pretend ! 
 
 The presbyterian principle comes most nigh 
 
 To yours, and they act consequentiallie. 
 9 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 279 
 
 takes his place ; then Mitchell drawes near and presents his pistol, 
 while in the instant Honyman steps into the coach boot, and, lift- 
 ing up his hand that he might enter, receives upon his wrest the 
 ball that was design'd for the bishop. So Sharp scapt at that time. 
 After the shot, Mitcliell crosses the street quietly, tiU he came near 
 Nidrie's Wjnid head, and there a man offered to stop him, upon 
 which he presents the other loaden pistol, and so the pursuei- leaves 
 him ; there he stept down the Avynd, and, turnhig up Steven Law's 
 close, enter'd a hovise, and shifting his cloaths, past confidently to 
 the street. The cry arose, a man was kiUed. The people's answer 
 was, It's but a bishop ; and so there was no more noise. The coun- 
 cil! conveen'd presently to deliberate how to find the assassinate ; 
 but because that they could not doe, they emitt a proclamation, 
 offering 2000 merks to any that shall discover, and 3000 merks to 
 any that shall apprehend, the assassinate ; and more they did not 
 this day. This happened in June, 1668.* Also the magistrates of 
 
 Only the poor deluded Jacobites 
 
 Whom we slight as the rubbish in the streets, 
 
 Have confidence to clamour and to bawl, 
 
 And you, my lord, a temporiser call ; 
 
 Let them bawl on ! — we know well what to say, 
 
 It's only time, when sun shines, to make Hay, 
 
 And for that end, to imitate Saint Paul, 
 
 In prudence to become all things to all ; 
 
 And whosoe'er they be act otherwise, 
 
 They know not how their libertie to prize ; 
 
 A libertie that's boundless as your mind 
 
 I'th' motto of your scutcheon contain'd, 
 
 SPARE NAUGHT. 
 
 * Wodrow styles Mitchell a youth of much zenl and piety. " From ■what motives I say 
 not, he takes on a resolution to kill the archbishop ! !" Vol. I. p. 292 If we may ere- 
 
280 kirkton's history of 
 
 Edinburgh cause search the town to apprehend the assassinate, but 
 catcht nobody, tho' the town was full of Avhiggs ; and indeed some 
 of them scapt very naiTOwly. IMaxwell of JNIoncrief, one of the 
 greatest gentlemen upon the party, because he was unacquaint in 
 
 dit Dr Hickes, he was originally, in attempting to procure ordination, rejected for ig- 
 norance by the presbytery of Dalkeith. " After this repulse he began to project some 
 other way of living, and was shortly after recommended to the Laird of Dundas, to be 
 pedagogue to his children, and domestick chaplain for saying extemporary prayers. 
 He passed sometime in this family for a gifted and very holy young man, till some of 
 the servants observed an extraordinary familiarity betwixt him and a young woman, 
 who was the old gardener's wife. Being possessed with this suspicion, they observed 
 him the more, and one night as they were watching, they saw his mistress go to his 
 chamber, which was a summer-house built on the garden-wall. The key, as it hap- 
 pened, was left on the out-side of the door, which one of those that watched obser- 
 ving, gently locked the door upon them, ajid immediately ran to call his master, who 
 came to the garden to see what would be the event. After they had been as long as 
 they pleased together, at last Hortensia comes to go out ; who, to her great confu- 
 sion, finding the door locked, steps back to the adulterer, who, fearing that she should 
 be taken with him, immediatly let her down the garden-wall, by the help of his shirt, 
 she hanging at one end, and he holding the other, as naked as when he was born. His 
 patron all this while beheld him like a filthy Priapus upon the garden-wall, and the 
 next day in great indignation discharged him of his service and house : I suppose this 
 is one of his particular and private sins, which you'l find him hereafter confessing in 
 his speech, deserved a worse death than he endured. 
 
 " Afterwards he came to Edinburgh, where he Hved some years in a widow's house, 
 called Mrs Grissal Whitford, who dwelt in the Cowgate, and with whom that disho- 
 nour of mankind, Major Weir, was boarded at the same time. By his conversation, it 
 may be presumed that Mitchel improved much in the art of hypocrisie, and drunk in 
 more deeply those murderous and treasonable principles which he afterward practised 
 in the whole course of his life, and justified at his death. Now began he to converse 
 with the most bigot zealots against authority, to frequent and hold conventicles, to 
 preach up the covenant, and to the utmost of his power to promote the schism, which 
 was begun in the church. By these practises he much endeared himself to his tutor 
 Major Weir, who recommended him for a chaplain to a fanatical family, the lady 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 281 
 
 tlie town when the search was begun, came running into Nicol Moffat, 
 stabler, his house in Horse- Wynd, as unsafe a house as was in Edin- 
 burgh, told the goodman he behooved to hyde him, for he knew of 
 no shelter. Xicol answered, Alace ! there is no safe place in his 
 house. There was ane empty hogehead for holding meal that stood 
 just at the head of the table ; and Nicol told him, if he pleased to 
 venture there, he should cover him with the covering, of which the 
 poor gentleman was content, \^''ithin a little time comes the con- 
 stable with his band of souldiers, and asks !Nicol if there were any 
 whiggs there ? Nicol bids him search. This seemed to satisfie the 
 constable ; but because he and his men were very thirsty, they call 
 for drink, and sitt doAvn at this table close by the hogehead ; and 
 when they are di'inking, they fall a talking of the unsuccessfullness 
 of their search. One sayes, I know there are many whiggs in town, 
 and it may be some very near us. Another knocks violently upon 
 the covering of the hogehead, and swears it may be there is one un- 
 der that, but they hade no power to goe further ; and so, when 
 
 whereof was niece to Sir Archibald Johnston, Laird of Warriston, one of the roost fu- 
 rious rebels against the late blessed king. During his abode in this family, broke out 
 the rebellion of the fanaticks in 1666. He no sooner heard of it, but joj'ned with the 
 rebels, who were defeated at Pentland-hills. Mr Mitchel had the fortune to escape 
 from the field, but was afterwards proclaimed traitor, with many other principal actors 
 in the rebellion, and afterwards excepted by name in his majesties gracious proclama- 
 tion of pardon, that he might receive no benefit thereby. From this time he skulked 
 about, and sheltered himself among the rebellious saints of the brotherhood, till the 
 devil tempted him to assassin the lord primate, for which he hath expiated by his 
 blood." 
 
 Sir James Turner, in the Account of the Pentland Insurrection, says, " At Douglas 
 I was accosted by one Mitchell, (whome I had never seen before,) a preacher, but no 
 actuall minister, who spared not to raile sufficientlie against all authoritie, both supreme 
 and subaltern." 
 
 2N 
 
282 kirkton's history Ol' 
 
 they were gone, the poor gentleman comes out, but it may be lie 
 tasted the bitterness of death. 
 
 Another consequent of this unhappy attempt was the trouble 
 that fell upon several honest people of the town in this man- 
 ner : A certain infamous strumpet, Avho was entertained in the 
 house of one Robert Gray, merchant, for helping the household 
 bussiness for some dayes, upon a discontent with her mistress 
 runes to Bishop Sharp, and assures him she can both discover the 
 receptacle of the ^vhiggs, and also find the assassinat. Sharp 
 makes her very welcome, gives her money, and provides for her 
 security ; as also he greases the Advocate Msbit Avell, to make 
 him active in the pursuite. Upon this information Robert Gray is 
 brought before the councill, and strictly interrogate whether ever 
 any Avhiggs used his house ? He knowing well what was discover- 
 ed, answered, that such a day Major Lermont his cousine, with one 
 Welsh and INIrs Duncan, (a presbyterian minister's widow,) hade 
 dined in his house. Thereafter they asked if he kncAV who Avas 
 the assassinat ? which he denyed. The advocate will have him to 
 swear, which he refused, being against all law that a man should 
 swear in such a case. Then the advocate takes his rmg fi'om his 
 finger, and sends it by a messenger of his own to INIistress Gray, 
 the man's wife, instructing the messenger to tell her that her hus- 
 band hade discovered all he kneAV, and to desu-e her to doe the like, 
 and in tokdn thereof hade sent his ring. The poor woman upon 
 this discovers some more than her husband hade told, informing 
 them of some houses where the whiggs haunted, such as IMistress 
 Crawford, IMistress Kello, a rich widow, where Mr John Welsh 
 used both to lurk and preach, and IMistress Duncan. These three 
 poor women are incarcerate upon this. Rut when Robert Gray 
 heard how his wife hade been deceived with his ring, the poor 
 
THE CHUKCH OF SCOTLAXD. 283 
 
 man took such grief he presently took bed and died, leavino- his 
 blood upon the advocate's head. The three poor gentlewomen Avere 
 brought before the council], and strictly interrogate concernino- 
 houses that lodged whiggs or kept conventicles, or if they knew 
 the assassinat's name ? All which they refused to answer ; then 
 they threaten them with the boots of pain, and one day brought 
 the executioner with the boots into INIrs Duncan's presence, assiu-e- 
 ing her she either behooved to answer as they required, or goe to 
 the torment ; but still she continued resolute, and hade indeed en- 
 dured the torment that day, if it hade not been Rothes his courtesy, 
 who told the counciU it was not proper for gentlewomen to wear 
 boots. HoAvever, they were made prisoners for a long time, and 
 INIrs Kello sore fyned, but at length with great difficulty were libe- 
 rate.* Certain it is that Nisbit carried himself so spitefully, that his 
 famiUar friend, Sir Archibald Primrose, thought it necessaiy to tell 
 
 * The heroine of a poem, entitled " The Presbyterian Pope," complaining to the 
 kirk-treasurer of Edinburgh respecting the pious women who encroached upon hev 
 occupation, expresses herself thus : — 
 
 " Wi' bibles and psalm books they cant 
 As ilka ane of them were sanct, 
 Wi' holy keckle, pegh, and pant, 
 
 And greet and grain, 
 That every godly Bow-head plant 
 
 Gaes now to them. 
 
 " Repeating lectures, sermons, graces, 
 Telling saul-exercise and cases. 
 And making sic wast-country faces, 
 
 That I sair fear 
 That we may a' resign our places 
 
 If they thrang here." 
 
384 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 him ill liis manner, " Thou old rotten devill, Avhat art thou doing ? 
 thou will never rest till thou turn the fury of this people from 
 the bishop upon thy self, and gett thy self stabb'd some day."* 
 Another act of cruelty they committed at this time Avas : Upon 
 pretence of searching for the bishop's assassinat, they seized Mr 
 James GiUon, late minister at Cavers, and made him run on foot 
 from Curry (whither he hade retired for his health) to the West 
 Port of Edinburgh at midnight, and then was carried to prison ; 
 and when the council! found the mistake, they did indeed suffer 
 him to goe to his chamber ; but his crueU usage hade disordered 
 him so, that Avithin two dayes he died. 
 
 But ever since the defeat at Pentland hiUs, the presbyterian in- 
 terest seemed to gather strength. The constancy of the sufferers, 
 the laying aside Turner, and military executions in gathering the 
 fynes, Bishop Sharp's disgrace at court, made the noblemen Aveary 
 to chase poor people to hear ane ignorant scandalous curat against 
 their hearts. So the conventicles grew both more numerous and 
 more fi-equent ; the curats' churches were more and more dishaunt- 
 ed every day. But something the bishops and their friends Avill 
 doe to prevent this growing mischief; and the course they took 
 Avas, to call before the counciU the ministers Avho preached at the 
 conventicles, to have the pain of sedition inflicted upon them. 
 31'Kenzie, Bishop of IMurray, obtained of the councill ane order to 
 the Earle of Murray and Lord Uuffus to apprehend and incarce- 
 rate Mr Thomas Hog and JNIr Thomas Urquhart ; and they Avere 
 accordingly apprehendit and incarcerate in Forres, but very speedi- 
 
 * Bishop Burnet characterizes Sir Jolin Nisbet as " a man of great learning, both 
 in law and in many other things, chiefly in the Greek learning : he was a person ot' 
 great integrity, and always stood firm to the law." — Burnet's History, vol. I. p. 
 279. 
 
THE CHUKCH OF SCOTLAND. 285 
 
 1}-, by a letter from Tweddale, they were liberat upon bayle, to ap- 
 pear when called. About this tune also the Lord Cochrane Avas 
 made Earle of Dundonald, and he, to shew his zeal for bishops, or- 
 dered Cockburn, ane officer of the life-guard, to bring before the 
 councill, sitting at Air, several ministers in that covuitrey, who ordi- 
 narly preached in their houses. Their names were Masters William 
 Fullerton, Alexander Blair, John Spalding, Hew Archibald, An- 
 drew Dalrjanple, James Vetch, James Alexander, John Gemmil, 
 John Hutcheson, John Wallace. When the committee hade exa- 
 mined them, they inclined to have dismissed them, but Dundonald 
 would have them brought before the secret councill, andtoEdinburoli 
 they came. A committee of the councill examined them, Avhether 
 they hade preached since they were laid aside, or whether they admit- 
 ted any more to their exercise than their own families, both which 
 they confessed. Then they asked them what they minded to doe for 
 the future : They answered, they purposed to demean themselves 
 peaceably and soberly as they hade hitherto done, and to give no 
 offence : which they upon command subscribed ; but because it was 
 ordinary for some to offend at ministers' behaviour when they ap- 
 peared before the councill, they were censured as to faint in a^ow- 
 ing and defending their practise of preaching the gospel, (they be- 
 ing the fh-st that ever were questioned for that practise ;) and be- 
 cause the w^ord living peaceably was of dangerous signification, 
 therefore they agreed upon the materials of a speech, wherein they 
 should expresse their mind concerning their ministry, and the ne- 
 cessity of exercising it, even in their circumstances. IMr AVUliam 
 Fullerton delivered the speech, wherein, after a long protestation 
 of loyalty, he declared, that as they hade received their ministry 
 from Christ, fur which they were to be answerable to liim, they 
 durst not forbear their ministry, desireing earnestly the councill 
 would hiterpose with the Idng that they might have the same in- 
 
286 KIEKTOM'S HISTORY OF 
 
 diligence in Scotland their brethren hade in England and Ireland. 
 The councill heard them patiently, and all the censure they inflict- 
 ed was, that for Avhat was past they would forbear them, but by 
 ane expresse act discharged them from doing so any more upon 
 their perrill. and so dismiss them ; but that same day they ap- 
 pointed a strict proclamation to discharge conventicles under hea^y 
 fynes, upon heritors and tennants to be found guilty of that crime. 
 The ministers returned to their houses, and preacht thereafter to 
 meetings very nvimerous, — some in house, some in their courts, 
 some in the field ; and one of them preacht so plain upon Isai. 32. 
 5, and declared the properties of a churle, so that every one of his 
 auditory applyed the text to Dundonald.* About this time also. 
 
 * The preacher was Mr Matthew M'Kail, father, as Wodrow supposes, to Mr 
 Hiigli, who was hanged after the affair of Pentland. Though the sermon was much 
 talked of, the minister escaped without punishment. Such abuse of the pulpit the 
 presbyterians inherited from the first modellers of the Scottish reformation, who 
 scrupled not to call Darnley Ahab to his face, and to designate his wife by the 
 odious name of Jezebel ; and this rudeness the reformers defended by alleging, " that 
 the prophet Esaias used sick manner of speiking ; and it was no doubt but that 
 he was weill acquainted in the court, for it was supposed that he was of the king's 
 stock. But howsoever it was, his words mak manifest that he spak to the court 
 and courteours, to judges, ladies, princes, and priests." Knox's Hist. p. 315. — Sir 
 Thomas Urquhart, in his Jewel, bitterly enlarges upon the behaviour of three mini- 
 sters, placed in those parishes whereof he was patron, — " Master Gilbert .Anderson, 
 Master Robert Williamson, and Mr Charles Pape, by name, having done what lay in 
 them for the furtherance of their own covetous ends to his utter undoing : For the 
 first of these three (for no other cause but that the said Sir Thomas would not autho- 
 rize the standing of a certain pew, in that country called a desk, in the church of 
 Cromarty, put in without his consent by a professed enemy to his house, who liad 
 plotted the ruine thereof; and one that had no land in the parish), did so rail against 
 him and his family in the pulpit at several times, both before his face' and in his ab- 
 sence, and wifh such approbrious terms, more like a scolding tripe-seller's wife then 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 287 
 
 diverse more ministers were cited or brtniglit before the councill, 
 such as 3Ir James Cm'rie, IMr iViukew IMorton, IMr James Hamil- 
 ton ; but all of them v/ere so gently used, and scapt so easily, their 
 pimishment Avas. rather ane encouragement to the presbyterians to 
 take heart than a teri'or to destroy the conventicles : so both mini- 
 sters and people grew confident, and the persecuting party became 
 cold and sober for that season. The bishops and their friends used 
 another device to keep the country in order : They gott so many 
 exactors appointed to collect the fynes of these who keept not their 
 paroch church, or liaunted conventicles ; and these were, fii'st, IMr 
 Nafelianiel Fyfe, a poor advocate, and alleyed to one of the bishops, 
 he got for his province Kyle and Carrick ; the Sherriff of Niths- 
 dale, brother to the Earle of Dimifreis, a man only famous for op- 
 pressing tlie poor, he got Cunninghame ; Nithsdale, a papist, he 
 got Galloway ; Houshill got Renfrew : and Clidsedale was re- 
 ferred to Duke Hamilton. They got money from the councill to 
 encourage them ; bat because they might not leaA-y the fynes by 
 military force as Turner did, but behooAed to pursue the offenders 
 before the sherriff by law, the sherriff made the process so diffi- 
 
 a good minister, squirting the poyson of detraction and abominable falshood (unfit for 
 the chaire of verity), in the ears of his tenandry, who were tlie only auditors, did most 
 ungratefully and despitefully so calumniate and revile their master, his own patron 
 and benefactor, that the scandalous and reproachful words, striving which of them 
 should first discharge against him its steel-pointed dart, did often times, like clusters 
 of hemlock, or wormwood dipt in vinegar, stick in his throat, — he being almost ready 
 to choak with the aconital bitterness and venom thereof, till the razor of extream pas- 
 sion, by cutting them into articulate sounds, and very rage itself in the highest de- 
 gree, by procuring a vomit, had made him spue them out of his mouth into rude indi- 
 gested lumps, like so many toads and vipers that had burst their gall." — See also a 
 Sermon preached by the Rev. Robeut Dougx-as, at the Coronation of King Charles the 
 Second at Scone, 
 
 1 
 
288 kirkton's history of 
 
 cult, the exactors wearied of the pursuit ; so their employment was 
 short, and the hurt they did was but small.* 
 
 Now every body came to say, it were better there should be 
 liberty granted to dissenters in Scotland, avIio could not be subdued 
 to the bishops, then that the land should be laid waste to make 
 room for bishops. And as the country ciyed for it, so our great 
 men promised it, and begane in private to shape the form of it, es- 
 pecially the Earle of Tweddale, who was frequently in discourse 
 about it with Mr Robert Douglasse and INIr John Stu-ling. Lauder- 
 dale was ever thought to have retained his old maxims tiU his un- 
 happy second marriage, and till he made Hatton his brother his sub- 
 stitute in the government. Indeed, after these two he brought forth 
 little other fruit than his serving his wife's avarice, and his brother's 
 violence. So at length Tweddale, at that time in great favour with 
 the king and friendship with Lauderdale, made a voyage for court, 
 and brought down with him the first letter of indulgence. In it 
 the king allowes his councill to appoint such of the presbyterian 
 ministers as hade been ejected by the act of councill at Glasgow, 
 1662, to preach and exerce their ministry in vacant congregations 
 and churches, with consent of the patrons, requireing these ministers 
 to attend their respective presbytries and synods, otherwayes to 
 have no right to the stipend, but only to the manse and glieb, and 
 to confyne themselves to the limits of their respective paroches. 
 Requireing them also to keep fair quarter with their neighbour 
 ministers the conformists, and not to admitt any of any other con- 
 oreo-ation than their owni to their sermons or sacraments, and that 
 at their highest perril. Also, he aUowes a pension of 400 merks to 
 
 * About this time two gross outrages were committed upon the episcopal clergy 
 by the whigs, who broke into their houses, beat themselves and their families, destroy- 
 ed their furniture, and carried off what they pleased, — Wodrow, vol. I, p. 316. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 289 
 
 be payed yearlie to such of them a& are found moderat peaceable 
 men, till vacant churches can be provided. This was the substance 
 of the letter, and it bare date Jiuie 7, 1669; but when it came to 
 the counciU-table, great Avas the opposition the bishops made to it, 
 so that no use was made of it till Jully 27 ; upon which day the 
 councill called before them some dozen of ministers, for whom 
 friends hade procured a speciall indulgence to so many churches. 
 And when they appeared, the councill read to them ane act con- 
 taining the substance of the king's letter, commanding them all 
 that are allowed to exerce the ministiy, to keep presbyteries and 
 synods, (that is, to join with the bishops) otherwayes confyning 
 them within the limits of their respective pax'oches, discliarging 
 them strictly to admitt any of their neighbours' congregations, either 
 to saci'aments or sermons, except the congregation be vacant, and 
 this upon their highest perriU. They gave them also another act of 
 a line or two, telling them that the patron of such a church having 
 consented to their settlement in such a paroch, therefore the counciU 
 appoints such a man to exerce his ministry at such a church, and 
 this was aU. The ministers being informed how the councill would 
 proceed, conveened in private, and appointed INIr George Hutche- 
 son, the most considerable of their number, to declare in their 
 names, that whatever the councill said or did that might either 
 look like, or really be Erastianism, it was their principle, they hade 
 received their ministry from the Lord, with full prescription to di- 
 rect them in the exercise thereof, (that is, none else they would ac- 
 knowledge) upon which they were accountable to him ; and giving 
 thanks to the king for his favour, promising also all dutifuU obedi- 
 ence, and desireing the same favour may be extended to their 
 brethren, he concluded. This was the first view the presbyterians 
 hade of their indulgence, and truely even at the fii-st glance diverse 
 
 deformities appeared in it. It was derived from the king's supre- 
 
 2 o 
 
'jyO KIBKTON'S HISTOHY OF 
 
 inacy, and so judged a bitter fruit of a bitter root. INIinisters were 
 obtruded upon diverse congregations, upon the consent of the pa- 
 tron Avithout respect to the call of the people. They were requu'ed 
 to doe evil, that is, to acknowledge episcopal government ; they were 
 made prisoners, and punished in the harsh indulgence. No body 
 might partake of their ministry, that they might keep good neigh- 
 bourhood with the curats, and that was to conform their sinful! 
 ministry. Some answered, that hard beginnings were good ; after- 
 ward the indulgence Avould be made both clear and large. Indeed 
 this answer was not received, for the fii'st view was the fairest : The 
 longer it continued, the more grievous it became. So that the 
 dispvite turned upon these terms, Whether it was really a favour 
 done to the presbyterians, or only a snare to wheedle them into 
 destruction ? And certainly ane ambiguous overture it behooved to 
 be, that was called friendship to the presbyterians, but could never 
 pass at the council table till it was demonstrate by the chief advo- 
 cates for it, (particularly my Lord Stair), that it would prove the 
 mine of the presbyterians, both because ministers were shut up 
 from visiting the countrey and Avatering the dissatisfied party ; and 
 likeAvise because correspondencies among ministers were broke, and 
 no fear there Avas of neAV ordinations, that Avhich the bishops ab- 
 horred most of all. And because it was in effect to extinguish the 
 presbyterians, I can never think but the contrivers of it designed to 
 give the bishops the Aveathergage, the real advantage, and to give 
 the presbyterians a false medicine to skin the vdcer before it AA^as 
 cleansed. However, all the ministers named by the councill Avere 
 willing to accept, and by the consent of their brethren also all the 
 people of Scotland were willing to oavu their ministry ; and, indeed, 
 it was observed, some of them hade as great assistance in preaching 
 the word as ever at any time before, only Mr John BroAvn, one 
 of the exiled ministers in Holland, Avrote over to Scotland (as he 
 
THE CHUECn OF SCOTLAND. 291 
 
 did frequently), and in a small treatise, endeavoured to prove tl:e 
 unlawfuUness of undertaking a charge by virtue of the indulgence ; 
 yet this hindered not the people of Scotland (especially the gentry) 
 to procure licences for ministers, nor yet the council] to goe on for 
 half a year's time, during which space they past about 43 ministers 
 (men of all sorts), and then they shutt the door. But because Mr 
 Hutcheson's discourse, tho' generall enough, hade offended them, 
 they never suffered any indulged minister to appear before them 
 after him, but sent ahvayes their act and licence to every one pri- 
 vately, lest they should perchance have been troubled with a more 
 cleai* declaration or protestation. 
 
 As soon as the ministers were once entered and settled in their 
 churches, they began then to understand their own case better than 
 before. For, first, the council! took upon them to direct them in the 
 duties of their ministrj' and worship, particularly discharging them to 
 lecture upon the Scripture under the pain of losing their ministry. 
 And shortly thereafter they sent west a committee, partly to pro- 
 tect and vindicate the curats, Avho were disturbed by some of their 
 people ; and partly to inspect the ministeriall behaviour and censure 
 the eiTorsof the indulged ministers, whose Ordinary they were pleased 
 to call themselves. Then men began to perceive what they did not 
 apprehend. However these ecclesiastick visitors thought good to 
 call before them all the indulged ministers in the west, and strictly 
 to examine their ministeriall behavior, chiefly whether they obeyed 
 the councill's act discharging lectures ? to Avhich question few of 
 them gave that answer that satisfied either their visitors or their 
 party. IMany of them also at that time changed their way, some of 
 them changed their practise ; Avhen, as formerly, they used only to 
 read a part of a chapter, or one whole chapter at most, they beo-une 
 then to read two chapters, which though (as they pleaded) it was 
 near the form of the directoiy, yet it was not approven, that thev 
 
292 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 should enter themselves at such a time to the schoole of ane Eras- 
 tian magistrate to learn from him to worship God. Some of them 
 read a whole chapter, and without praise or prayer choiced one verse 
 for the text of their sermon ; and so they thought they lectured in 
 going through a chapter, and might be said not to lecture, because 
 they made the whole chapter one text, and so might please both a 
 jealous jieople and ane usurping magistrate. Some of them lectured 
 in place of the afternoon's sermon, and some of them laid it wholly 
 aside ; these courses no body thought were either ingenuous, or con- 
 stant, or wise. And when they were challenged, whether they obser- 
 ved the 29th of May or not ? They answered and practised the same 
 way they lectured. Wlien the visitors returned, Duke Hamilton 
 related to the councill the five ridiculous wayes they both observed 
 and not observed that day ; for some of them appointed their weekly 
 sermon upon that day of the week which would fall by course to be 
 the 29th of Maj for that year, sonae catechized that day, some bap- 
 tized, some married and exercised on a chapter, and some made 
 evening exercise as on other nights. These practices, instead of sa- 
 tisfieing both parties, offended all, and were nothing for their ho- 
 nour. Mr John Livingston, minister of Ancrum, than ane exile in 
 Holland, a person of great worth and authority, in a letter he wrote 
 to his parishioners, heavily complained upon their behavior, tho' he 
 commended the men themselves. These, and the like, made the 
 honest men's lives bitter and their ministry uncomfortable.* But, 
 
 * " At first the people of the country went to them," says Burnet, " with a sort of 
 transport of joy, yet this was soon cooled. It was hoped, that they would have begun 
 their ministry with a publick testimony against all that had been done in opposition to 
 what they were accustomed to call the work of God. But they were silent at that 
 time, and preached only the doctrittes of Christianity. This disgusted all those who 
 loved to hear their ministers preach to the times, as they called it. The stop put to 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 393 
 
 beside the vexation they hade from the covmcill and the visitors, they 
 were attended with a sort of rivals, whom om- governours sent west 
 to darken their ministry by the excellency of their gifts, which our 
 councLU hoped would either make the indulged ministers unsavoiuy 
 and tasteless in respect of their Hectors whom they sent, or at least 
 would make the world say, the people of the west countrey were 
 ignorant and unreasonable, if they slighted or disrelisht them. These 
 were by the countrey people called in a mock the bishop's evaiige- 
 hsts. 
 
 The men were, Mr James Nairn, their paragon, a man of gifts, 
 but much suspected as unsound ; ]Mr Gilbert Burnet (of whom be- 
 fore) a man more disdained in the west countrey tlian followed at 
 
 the indulgence made many conclude that those, who had obtained the favour, had en- 
 tred into secret engagements. So they came to call them the king's curates, as they 
 had called the clergy in derision the bishop's curates. Their caution brought them 
 under a worse character, of dumb dogs that could not bark. Those, who by their fierce 
 behaviour had shut themselves out from a share in the indulgence, began to call this 
 erastianism, and the civil magistrate's assuming the power of secret matters ; they 
 said, this was visibly an artifice to lay things asleep with the present generation, and 
 was one of the depths of Satan, to give a present quiet, in order to the certain destruc- 
 tion of presbytery. And it was also said, that there was a visible departing of the di- 
 vine assistance from those preachers : they preached no more with the power and au- 
 thority that had accompanied them at conventicles. So many began to fall off from 
 them, and to go again to conventicles. Many of the preachers confest to me, that they 
 found an ignorance and a deadness among those who had been the hottest upon their 
 meetings, beyond what could have been imagined. They that could have argued about 
 the intrinsick power of the church, and episcopacy, and presbytery, upon which all 
 their sermons had run for several years, knew very little of the essentials of religion. 
 But the indulged preachers, instead of setting themselves with the zeal and courage 
 that became them against the follies of the people, of which they confessed to myself 
 they were very sensible, took a different method, and studied by mean compliances to 
 gain upon their affections, and to take them out of the hands of some fiery men, that 
 were going up and down the country among them. The tempers of some brought 
 them into this servile popularity, into which others went out of a desire to live easy," 
 
29i kiekton's histoky oi- 
 
 London, for tho' he speaks the newest English diction, he spoke 
 never the lanouao-e of ane exercised conscience.* Another was ISlr 
 Laurence Charters, a silent grave man, but most unfitt to make 
 countrey proselytes because of his very cold utterance, men won- 
 dered he should have undertaken it ; then IMr James Aii'd, com- 
 monly called Mr Lighten's ape, because he could imitate his shrugge 
 and grimache, but never more of him ; Mr Patrick Cook, so ordi- 
 dinary man I have nothing to say of him ; and INIr Walter Paterson, 
 a man so obscure I never heard of him. The harvest they reapt Avas 
 scorn and contempt ; a congregation they could never gather, they 
 never pretended to have made a proselyte. In some places some few 
 went to hear them for once, and that was aU ; in some places they 
 baracado'd the doors upon them, in some places stole the rope, in 
 some places the tongue fi-om the bell ; so they quickly wearied of 
 tliis foolish employment. But they would not serve the Lord for 
 nought, for beside the stipend which belonged to the church where 
 they served, every one of them hade a liberal reward from the coun- 
 cill ; and Gilbert Burnet got money to buy soules, tho' I never 
 heard he either purchased one, or reckoned for the money.* IMoi'e- 
 
 * Burnet's diction was originally much tainted with French. In his " Discourse on 
 the Memory of that rare and truely virtuous Person Sir Robert Fletcher of Saltoun," 
 1665, he uses skelete for skeleton; and observes, that " malice and revenge only bri' 
 cole on the doer," &c. In the pulpit he used great gesticulation. 
 
 *' Like some school boys their lessons saying, 
 
 Who rock like fiddlers a playing, 
 
 Like Gilbert Burnet when he preaches." 
 
 Cleland's Effigies Clericorum. 
 
 " The Bishop of Salisbury," says Dunton, in his Life and Errors, " delivers his ser- 
 mons with a great deal of zeal and action." 
 
 * Burnet himself gives this account of the success attending his mission : — " The peo- 
 ple of the country came generally to hear us, though not in great crowds. We were 
 
THE CHUnCH OF SCOTLAXD. 295 
 
 over, at this time Bishop Leighton was placed at Glasgow to admi- 
 nistrate that bishoprick, Avhile Buniet was laid aside. He, to shew 
 that he was not a bishop of the ordinary strain, wiU shew himself both 
 pure and peaceable, forsooth, as men of heavenly minds should be. 
 And, fii'st, because the countrey was full of complaints against the 
 conversation of his carats, he constitutes a committee of cin-ats, with 
 power to receive the complaints made against any of them, and to 
 judge in their processe. The committee hade no will of a wide door 
 to encourage complainers, and therefore at first would gladly liave 
 made it a rule, that no mnn sliould be heard against a curat except 
 he tooke the declaration ; for this they were reproved by lawyers, 
 and so laid it aside. But if any failed in proving his lybeU, they 
 made him confess his slander before the congregation in sackcloath. 
 However, the evidence upon the complaint was so clear, that the 
 curat of KilleUand (and he only as I hear) was deposed, and 3 or 4 
 found very guilty were only transported. One infamous instance 
 was much noticed in the conduct of this committee, and that was 
 this. One Jaffi-ey, curat of IMayboU, sometime before alleadged he 
 hade been assaulted for his life by his parishioners, and this he 
 
 indeed amazed to see a poor commonalty so capable to argue upon points of govern- 
 ment, and on the bounds to be set to the power of princes in matters of religion : upon 
 all these topicks they had texts of scripture at hand ; and were ready with their an- 
 swer to any thing that was said to them. This measure of knowledge was spread 
 eten among the meanest of them, their cottagers, and their servants. They were, in- 
 deed, vain of their knowledge, much conceited of themselves, and were full of a most 
 entangled scrupulosity ; so that they found, or made, difficulties in every thing that 
 could be laid before them. We staid about three months in the country : and in that 
 time there was a stand in the frequency of conventicles ; but as soon as we were gone, 
 a set of those hot preachers went round all the places in which we had been, to defeat 
 all the good we could hope to do. They told them, the devil was never so formida- 
 ble, as when he was transformed into an angel of light." 
 
296 KIllKTOX'S HISTORY OF 
 
 proved by producing a book which hade been contused by a pistol! 
 ball, and this book he alleadged hade saved his life ; for he said he 
 hade it upon his breast betwix his uppercoat and his doublet, but 
 his uppercoat was neither pierced nor contused. However, he brought 
 his complaint against his people before the committee that sat at 
 Air about that time. This he did in hopes to get his paroch fyned 
 in 100 lib. English, and the money to himself; but because he not 
 only failed in his evidence, but by the circiunstanee of the action 
 made all Scotland say he had contused the book with his own pistoll, 
 no money he got bvit the hatred of his people. These, thinking they 
 may now have justice before this goodly purgeing committee, accuse 
 him there, and prove him guilty of many gross scandals, such as 
 swearing, strikeing, fighting, and drunkenness ; notwithstanding all 
 which, the committee absolved him, which made Leighton so much 
 ashamed, that out of the plenitude of his power he thought fitt to 
 forbid him the exercise of his ministry in that place, and surely either 
 the committee was unjust to absolve him if scandalous, or the bishop 
 unjust to punish him if innocent. The proof the bishop gaA^e of his 
 peaceableness, was in his famous overture for ane accommodation, 
 which was nothing else but a trick to bring the presbyterians into 
 ane unperceived subjection to bishops. But the story was this: 
 The commissioner Laviderdale, at Leighton's request, wrote to some 
 of the most eminent indulged ministers in Tjeightons diocie, JNIr 
 Hutcheson, JNIrWedderburn, andlNIrBaird, to be atEdinbm'gh, Aug. 
 9, 1670. When they appeared, Lauderdale and Leighton propound- 
 ed to them the overture for ane accommodation betwixt the two dis- 
 senting parties in the west, requireing them to give their judgement 
 presently. They answered, the case concerned then- whole party, and 
 they hade no commission ; so they hade a day in November follow- 
 ing assigned, betwixt and which they should be clear. This happen- 
 ed the following year, but I put the whole purpose of the indul- 
 
 11 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 297 
 
 gence together. The substance of the overture was, since presbytries 
 were now settled through Scotland, the presbyterian ministers should 
 joyn in their respective presbytries and synods, where they should 
 have their liberty to protest their judgement against episcopacy ; 
 that matters should be carried by a plm-ality of votes, and the 
 bishop should pass trom both his negative and positive vote. The 
 ministers mett together both in the south and west, and unanimous- 
 ly refused this accommodation as inconsistent with their principles 
 and consciences. Their reasons were, tlie presbytries were not legal, 
 being- founded only upon the bishop's commission, which he enlarged 
 or straitned as he pleased ; they were destitute of the essential 
 power of the keyes, both ordination and jurisdiction, which the 
 bishop reserved for himself; tliey wanted tlieu* constituents the 
 ruling elders. The bishop was still bishop in the presbytry, and 
 jcloathed with episcopal power, tho' he should forbear the exercise of 
 it ; so going to the presbytery should be a homologation of episco- 
 pacy. It is true, the old presbyterian ministers hade kept presby- 
 tries, but these presbytries hade all the essentials of presbytries, so 
 the case was not the same. However, Leighton insisted much upon 
 it, and got a new meeting called, first at Paisley, where 26 ministers 
 mett with him, and there he offered to alter his overture, but to the 
 same purjiose, and to none effect. And, lastly, the ministers were call- 
 ed before the chancellor, Duke Hamilton, and Tweddale, at Haly- 
 roodhouse, Avhere Leighton offered to dispute for episcopacy against 
 presbyteiy, which ]Mr Hutcheson refused, because against law. This 
 made Gilbert Burnet, then present, to triumph that they woidd not 
 dispute for Christ's kingdome. And this made Mr AVedderburn 
 accept the challenge, if the chancellor would desire him ; but the 
 offer was not accepted, and so the bussiness concluded, and the pro- 
 ject evanisht. 
 
 Moreover, this indulgence to a few was accompanied with the 
 
 2 p 
 
298 KIUKTON S HISTORY OF 
 
 persecution of the body. All the presbyterian ministers were ba- 
 nisht Edinburgh. Conventicles were punished witli rigor and some- 
 times with cruelty. In June, 1670, happened the famous conven- 
 ticle at Beeth-hill. The councill catched some that hade been pre- 
 sent, and some of these they kept in irons five weeks. Charles 
 Campbell and Robert OiTe they banished upon ane act of parlia- 
 ment made after their crime, which was to refuse to betray their 
 neio-hbours. INIr John Vernor they kept in irons at bread and wa- 
 ter till his leiy gangren'd, which rost him his life. This was thought 
 ane u<dy shaddow of ane indulgence. It was also thought ane un- 
 reasonable bargain, that for a licence to 40 ministers, all the presby- 
 terians in Scotland should captivate their soules to the wretched 
 curats through the countrey, and the body seU themselves for ease 
 to a few. And though the presbyterians kept together, discontents 
 and conventicles multiplied through the countrey all the time of 
 this first indulgence 
 
THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. !^99 
 
 LIB. VIIL 
 
 Lauderdale's parliament. 
 
 But while these things were in agitation in our church, our king- 
 hade another work upon the wheels of our state, wherein he was a 
 little more concerned, and it was this. His grandfather. King James, 
 loved never to adventin-e either his own peace or crown upon a for- 
 reign wan-e, nor seemed he much ambitious to enlarge our domi- 
 nions, by encroaching upon his neighbours' territories. He spent 
 his thoughts upon such designes as might rather make him absolute 
 at home than powerful! abroad. His son Charles inherited the 
 same genius, the same desires, and, therefore, those who were for a 
 king's absolute power and non-resistance, and those who were for 
 making kings lords of the subjects property, were his favorites, and 
 so Sibthorp and Archbishop Abbot found it. In a word, they de- 
 sired to have prerogative so enlarged that it should devoure privi- 
 ledge, nor loved they to hear of such a dangerous word. The same 
 designe was yet most of all conspicuous in Charles the 2d, by how 
 much his thoughts were more sett upon pleasure, (which loves bovmds 
 large worse than either ambition or avarice.) as it was well known 
 these were not his masters so much as the other. Now, that he 
 might be as absolute in Brittain as the French king (his patron) was 
 in France, there was but one impediment to be removed, and that 
 
300 kirkton's history of 
 
 Avas the House of Commons, in the parliament of England; for tho' he 
 might easily manadge the House of Lords, by his multitude of ser- 
 vants, officers, beneficiaries, and the dead weight of the bishops, (who 
 were alwayes ready) or, as Tom Killigrew told him, tho' he might 
 overpower his opposites in the Hovise of Peers, by nobilitating his 
 natural childi-en, or creating noblemen whom he pleased, and to be 
 master of the vote of the House of Lords at will, yet before it covdd 
 be ane act of parliament it behooved to pass the House of Com- 
 mons, and there he found alwayes so many peevish covmtreymen, 
 who preferred the interest of England to the pleasure of the king, 
 the bill used to be refused, and his darling design proved to be ane 
 abortive. But hoAV to be ride of this encumbrance was a bussiness 
 of no small difiiculty. To alter the constitution of the parliament, 
 either by suppressing the House of Commons, or packing them in 
 one house with the peers, would have been to overturn the founda- 
 mentals of England. And if the House of Commons continued in 
 the possession of their power, the king could never be absolute. At 
 length this expedient is judged proper and effectual ; that the king 
 shall first unite the two nations^ into one kingdome, and then make 
 one parliament of both parliaments ; which might excuse ane alte- 
 ration in the frame of the English parliament. And as for the tem- 
 per and inclination of the new moulded parliament, wherein lords 
 and commons of England were to sitt with the lords and commons 
 of Scotland, the king should not need to doubt it, for as he might 
 be sure of the House of Lords in England, so he might be sure of 
 both lords and commons from Scotland, where to contradict the 
 king, and fight against the king, were judged both one thing for 
 many years bypast, and every man's life was at the king's pleasure 
 ever since the king's return, by reason of our arbitrary laws and ar- 
 bitrary punishments. This was the spider web of the king's pro- 
 ject, but it was coloured with the pretence of uniting the nations 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAXD. SOI 
 
 for mutual advantage, tlie advancement of trade, and the commu- 
 nication of priviledges. However, the king choices for the advance- 
 ment of this designe Lauderdale, vi^ho for many years hade govern- 
 ed Scotland by his secret influences, and must now for this reason 
 appear above-board. So down comes Lauderdale, and indytes a 
 new parliament to meet at Edinburgh, October 19, I669. ^^"hen 
 the parliament conveened, the commissioner, Lauderdale, (as the 
 custome is) opened the meeting with a solemn harangue, wherein, 
 after he had given them double assurance of the king's resolution to 
 maintain episcopal government against conventicles and all opposi- 
 tion, he laid before them the design for which they were called, and 
 that was his majesties desire to unite the two nations into one unite 
 entu'e kingdome, and gave them the pretended reasons of this de- 
 signe in general, the mutual advantages that should accresce to both 
 nations from this happy union, and this he did most heartily recom- 
 mend to their care, and so concluded ; obleidging all the members 
 to sign the declaration. The next thing done, was the reading of 
 the king's letter to the same purpose, Avherein the king made high 
 professions of making the island happy by a perfyte union, which 
 (he said) should raise his satisfaction as high as his wishes. So the 
 first question in parhament was concerning this designed union, and, 
 indeed, there was no man so bold as to oppose it ; onely one gentle- 
 man there was, Su* George Gordon of Haddo,* (tho' afterward he 
 
 * Afterwards Earl of Aberdeen, and Chancellor of Scotland. He had the misfortune 
 to be crooked in his person, which seems to have been a source of much mirth to " that 
 truely pious and eminently faithful, and now glorified martyr, Mr John Dick," who 
 
 was hanged in the Grass iMarket of Edinburgh, 5th March, 1684 Dick, during his 
 
 imprisonment, wrote a long pamphlet, which he calls his Testimony, and had " still a 
 conceit in his misery." He says, " I hope none will offend, if for my recreation I 
 break here a jest or two, in reference to which I hope the rather I have my blessed 
 
302 KIEKTOX S HISTORY OF 
 
 learned better to comply with court designe,s,) who made bold to re 
 present one difficulty in the union, and it was this, what should be- 
 come of the crowii of Scotland, in case such a thing should happen 
 that King James his family were extinct ; at present both crowns 
 have one heir to succeed in the divided kingdomes, but, if the two 
 kingdomes were united, which of the heirs shoidd succeed to the 
 double crown. Shall Segnior the English heir succeed to the crown 
 of Scotland ? This shall be a prejudice to Hamilton the Scottish 
 
 Master's permission, that therein I intend to do despite to and spitt in the faces of a few, 
 such as have with most violence and hellish boldness, not only done despite unto the 
 spirit, but also monstrously spitten in the face of my blessed Lord and Master : the na- 
 ture of my jests shall be such as we call in Latin, Seria mixta jocis, and in broad Scots, 
 half jest half earnest, iS:c. My second jest shall be this ; I am apprehensive some may 
 be of that opinion, that it shall befall me as it did tiiat man, who for telling the truth 
 could not get quarters anywhere. This man, being wandering towards the evening, 
 meets with another, (I will not say it was our chancellor, but I think it was one like 
 him,) who says to him, ' How now, friend, what do you, travelling so late ?' The 
 other answers, ' I can get no lodging.' — ' Go with me, friend,' says the other. So 
 they came home, and are not well set down, when the poor traveller being dry, calls 
 to his landlord, ' Glicd carl, send me the cup by you.' Upon which he takes his bat- 
 ton, and chaces the poor man out o* the door, under cloud of night. And, indeed, 
 our chancellor to me was yet more unchristian and madly wicked ; what could move 
 the man's spleen I cannot guess : sure I am, whatever I thought, yet I called him not 
 glied carl. It is like this has raised his passion, that I told him he had sworn, in the 
 Test, that the act of supremacy, as explain'd, was horrid blasphemy. And was not 
 this truth, as were all the principles and practices I there owned ? And did I not offer 
 from the word of God to vindicate this ? Why am I then, by armed force, hailed out 
 oi' that house to another? (in this he was worse than the other glied carl, who let his 
 guest go free, tho' he would not give him lodging.) And there I must be arraigned 
 before the justices, who, to compliment the chancellor, or may be the Duke of York, 
 must let the world see that they are as glied in their morals, as the other in his natu- 
 rals." — Dick's Tcslimonij to the Doctrine, IVvrship, Discipline, and Government nf 
 
 the Church of Scotland, and the covenanted Work of Hrformation, S;c. 
 
 5 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAXD. 303 
 
 iieii-, and so unjust. Or shall Hamilton succeed to the crown of 
 England ? Tliis shall be ane injury to Segnior the English heir, 
 and so tuijust likewayes. I never heard of ane answer to this 
 objection, beside reproach and scoffe, from the commissioner ; so 
 upon this the parliament would not demurre, but after 3 dayes they 
 wrote up a very satisfying letter, wherein they promise to the king 
 their very hearty concurrence with his desire and design ; promising, 
 likewayes, that commissioners shall be impov/ered to treat Avith Eng- 
 land upon this desireable union, and that his majesty shall have the 
 nomination of the commissioners appointed for that effect from Scot- 
 land, reserving to the parliament of Scotland a power to determine 
 upon overtures to be made or offered for this union, and in this they 
 promise chearfuU complyance with his majesties desires. WTien 
 this letter was write, the great business of Lauderdale's errand was 
 over ; yet the better to hide the design somewhat more he must doe ; 
 so his first act was for turning the late act of alleadgeance, (as it was 
 called) while it was dark, into ane act of supremacy, by clearing it 
 to the fuU ; and in it they grant to his majesty a papal power to 
 establish such acts, orders, or constitutions, as either he, or any of his 
 successors, shall think fitt, without either advice or consent of either 
 general assembly or parhament, and this not only concerning matters 
 of ecclesiastick government, but also concerning any matter to be 
 propounded in any ecclesiastick meeting, (which truly after this are 
 not very needfuU in this church.) So by this act of parliament he 
 hath more power allowed him to establish a new confession of faith, 
 or a new religion, than to impose one penny upon our bread or 
 drink. He made also another act concerning the security of the 
 curats persons and stipends, and ane act forfaulting the poor whiggs, 
 (who had been forfaulted by the justices before,) but this was to con- 
 firm what was formerly done ; and so after some trifling acts concern- 
 ing civill business, as they stand in print, he concluded this session 
 
304 kirkton's history of 
 
 of his parliament, adjourning the next meeting till June 8 in the 
 following year, 1670, but it was afterward continued till July 28 in 
 that same year. Lauderdale stayed but short while in Scotland this 
 time, and did little beside what he did m parUament, except his tra- 
 ffiqueing with the indulged ministers to ha\'e united them with the 
 bishops, (of which I spoke before,) and that he obliged Bishop Bur- 
 net to demit the office of Archbishop of Glasgow ; what the cause 
 was is imcertain, but it was said, it was for words he spoke which 
 Lauderdale resented ; hut be it as it will, he was laid aside for some 
 years, and Leighton officiat for him, yet at length he came to his 
 place again, and that by gross simony, as all Scotland said, and the 
 story was this : Burnet's daughter hade been married to the Lord 
 Elphingston's heir, who died from her, and left her possest of a consi- 
 derable doury out of the weak estate. The next heir of the estate 
 desires in marriage Hatton's daughter, which Hatton was very loath 
 to grant, forasmuch as the estate was so sore burdened ; at length 
 this expedient is foimd, that Burnet's daughter shall renunce her 
 joyntvire to free the estate for Hatton's daughter, upon condition his 
 brother Lauderdale wiU restore Bvirnet to his bishoprick, and this 
 was obtained by Hatton's power with his brother ; so the bishop 
 was restored, after some years, in the way of Simon Magus, but 
 with better sviccesse, for the bishop's money was accepted, which Si- 
 mon's was not. Ijauderdale made a very short stay in Scotland, for 
 he gott to court at Candlemasse following, to give his majesty a com- 
 fortable account of his successe, and to tell him Scotland v.as as ply ant 
 as a glove toward the designed union, and the altered parliament. 
 
 The king hade conveened the English parliament at Westminster 
 that very same day the Scottish parliament mett, and there at the 
 opening of the meeting, first himself in person propounded the no- 
 ble designe of uniting the two kingdoms, and recommended it to 
 their consideration with great earnestnesse. Thereafter the keeper 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 305 
 
 inculcate the king's desire, urging it with many specious reasons : 
 yet because the parUanient of England smelled the designe, and 
 knew it was their own destruction was sought for, aU the time of 
 that session it was not so much as motioned, and this not a little 
 vext the king's heart ; so he made a short session of it, adjourning 
 them to February 14, in the next spring ; but when that day came 
 he found the parliament in some better humor ; for because they 
 knew well it was a gTeat way to a conclusion and to ane altered par- 
 liament, therefore they thought nothing to complement him with a 
 power to nominate commissioners for England, to treat with com- 
 missioners from Scotland, for uniting the two kingdomes in one, 
 and making one parliament of two. Upon this the king comple- 
 ments them Avith ane act against conventicles, and recalls his licenses ; 
 and so far the king's beloved designe advanced. To further it in 
 Scotland, down comes Lauderdale to hold his next session of parlia- 
 ment, which mett Jully 28th, 1670 ; diverse acts he made, as against 
 enemies to bishops, against invaders of ministers, against disorderly 
 baptisms,* and these who reflise to inform against delinquents, (that 
 is, to tell whom they saw at conventicles ;) but the most considerable 
 were, ane act impowering those the king should name for compleat- 
 ing the union betwixt the two nations ; and another Avhereby all 
 that refixse to hear the curats are to be fyned, (providing they be of 
 the reformed religion,) by which clause a sort of toUeration is pro- 
 clamed to papists, and aU laws made against them reduced. But the 
 most cruel law was ane act whereby every minister that shaU either 
 preach in the open fields, or to a house so fuU of hearers that some 
 shall be standing without doores, is condemned to deaht. Never was 
 there such a law made in Scotland smce the dayes of King Fero-us, 
 
 * I fear all the bairns that are baptised by the curates, God reckons them as chil- 
 dren of whoredom." — Prelacy an Idol, a Sermon by Mr Frazer of Brae. 
 
 2 Q 
 
306 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 that a preacher of the true gospel of Jesus Clirist shall be condemned 
 to die for his labour ; and, moreover, it is appointed, that whosoever 
 shall informe against any such, shall have 500 merks for his pains ; 
 and this was in the midst of the time of our indulgence. But this 
 was the rate at which Lauderdale served his dear master, the gra- 
 cious king. However, after a moneth's session, Lauderdale adjourns 
 the parliament till jNIay 11, 1671, but it was continued till June 25, 
 1672, and then gets him to court, his proper element. After this, 
 according to the commission of both parliaments and the king's no- 
 mination, commissioners meett from both nations, to unite the king- 
 domes, and alter or innovate the frame of the parliament of England, 
 as was desired and projected. But because the people of England 
 understood well the mystery of the designe, and there was nothing- 
 sought but the destruction of the House of Commons, (the protec- 
 tion of property and Hberty,) and the rendering the royal poAver both 
 absolute and arbitrary, therefore, when the commissioners mett, our 
 Scottish commissioners (who would have been very willing to have 
 exchanged purses with the English,) were so scoffed, and the bussi- 
 ness so treated with ridicide, the meeting of the commissioners dis- 
 solved ; and this was the end of the court designe, a plot as wyse as 
 it was just, and as successful! as it was wyse, and no more of it. 
 
 That which hade sett the king upon this godly designe was said 
 to be, that sometime before he hade (when he Avas confident of the 
 multitude of his friends and pensioners in the parliament,) prepared 
 a bill, whereby he should have been impowered in cases of extraor- 
 dinary necessity (which he coiild have found every year) to raise 
 money without a parliament ; but the mercenary members finding 
 that if parliaments were abolished, thek vote in parliament would 
 yeild no money, fell in with the honest party, and both refused it, 
 which put his majesty upon a necessity of fuiding other means for 
 attaining arbitrary poAver, and raising money at pleasure, or other- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 307 
 
 waves to stand upon his oAvn feet without depending upon a loath- 
 ed parliament. So if he could not be absokite at home, he resolved 
 to be strong abroad, tho' he should pay for it ; and therefore, rather 
 than to be fettered with a peevish parliament's restraints, he con- 
 cludes he will cast himself wholly upon the French king in this 
 manner. Some years before, after the Dutch warre was ended, with 
 good advice he entered into a league with the States General, to oppose 
 the King of France his designs upon the Spanish Netherlands, which 
 he desired to conquer ; and because the King of Sweden also entered 
 into the league, it was commonly called the triple league. This was 
 thought one of the most honourable actions ever our king did, hade 
 he been constant in it ; but tho' many princes desired to enter mto 
 it, and England was highly satisfied with it, yet because his inclina- 
 tions and councellors were for France intirely, he made of the triple 
 league a Scottish covenant, that is, he soon dissolved it ; but he hade 
 more adoe yet. His inclinations to popery were verv much suspect- 
 ed by many, even since his restauration ; but because he was a king, 
 it was dangerovis to speak of him ; and because he made so many 
 professions publickly of his sincere zeal for the true religion, he was 
 lookt at as a monster Avho seemed to doubt of it. It was Avell enouo-h 
 known to some that he hade sent over his son, the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth, to be bred a papist, and that all his misses behooved to 
 be papists,* and, moreover, how he used the poor protestants of 
 
 * Kirkton labours under a mistake here ; for though the Duchesses of Cleveland 
 and Portsmouth were popish, Nell Gwynn was a staunch protestant. — Vide, A plea- 
 sant battle between two lap-dogs of the Utopian court ; Tutty, belonging to Madam Gwynn, 
 and Snap-short, to the Duchess of Porttmouth. — State Poems, vol. 3. — It is true^ that 
 Burnet declares the king never treated Mrs Gwynn with the decencies of a mistress ; 
 on which Swift, in his Notes on the Bishop's History, asks — <' Pray, what decencies are 
 these ?" — (Burnet's heroine, Queen Mary, by his own account, could have answered 
 this question, for " she imderstood well the decencies of things." — Essay on the Memory 
 
308 kirkton's history of 
 
 France, whose fatal mistake it was to court and trust the Englisli 
 king. These poor people, perceiving their cruell king was resolved 
 to extirpate them, sent over ane agent to our king to desire his 
 friendship and protection, as Queen Elizabeth hade formerly helped 
 them ; and because he was to make a number of proposals to the 
 Idng, he referrs the poor agent to his brother the Duke of York, to 
 be heard at leisure ; so a time is appointed, at Avhich the duke places 
 the Iving of France's ambassador behind the hangings in the room 
 where the poor agent was to deliver his secret message, and there 
 he heard all the protestants fears, desires, and resolutions, which 
 (tho' not without abhorring the treachery of false friends,) he com- 
 municate to his master the Iving of France. Upon which the poor 
 gentleman, the protestant agent, tho' he fetch a strange compasse 
 on his return home, yet was catcht upon the borders of Switzer- 
 
 ofihe late Queen, p. 144.) Nell affected to be extremely orthodox, and a friend to the 
 clergy and the church. She certainly paid the debts of a clergyman whom she beheld 
 in the custody of bailiffs, as she was going through the city ; she presented a huge 
 folio Bible to Oliver Cromwell's mad porter, who preached and prophesied to the edi- 
 fication of many after he was confined in Bedlam ; and on being insulted in her coach 
 at Oxford by the mob, who mistook her for the Duchess of Portsmouth, she looked 
 out of the window, and said, with her usual good humour, " Pray, good people, be 
 
 civil ; I am the protestant w e,"— which, of course, excited loud bursts of applause, 
 
 and perhaps saved her from affronts, to which even females, who had at all distinguished 
 themselves in politics, were about that time subject, when passing through the streets 
 of Oxford. — Anthony a Wood, in his Diary, ad. ann. 1681, records " the outrage com- 
 mitted on the old Lady Lovelace, at Hunt's door, against the Crown Tavern, between 
 8 and 9 at night, by Mr Leopold Finch, son of the Earl of Winchelsea, Lord Buckeley, 
 and 2 gentlemen commoners, Lutterell one, and 4 scholars, all of Christ Church ; they 
 
 plucked her out of her coach, and called her old protesting b h, broke windows that 
 
 night, and did many misdemeanours ; one of the students, nephew to Mr Altham, is 
 expelled ; the townsmen and other envious people report, that they should say, they 
 called hex protestant b h ; the bishop extremely troubled at it ; they had been drink- 
 ing at the Crown Tavern." 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 309 
 
 land, and brought to Paris, where he was broke vipon the wheell ; 
 and this was all the help our king made the protestants in France. 
 This was enough to those who were wise to understand what he 
 was, but the mystery is now to be discovered. The French ambas- 
 sado]-, Croissy, hade long inculcate in our king's ear the misery of 
 his circiunstances in his government, and therefore the necessity of 
 taking other measures to come to a happy state, persuaded him at 
 last to throw himself upon the French king for his subsistence en- 
 tirely ; so betwixt them two this terrible league Avas contrived, but 
 much advanced by the Duchess of Orleans, who came over to Dover, 
 May 16, 1670, for that effect, and stayed only some few dayes and 
 departed. The articles of this covenant betwixt these two kings, 
 were, first, that the King of England should with all his poAver as- 
 sist the King of France to extirpate and destroy the reformed reli- 
 gion in Europe ; and that, in the first place, they two should begine 
 and destroy the United Provinces, those enemies both to God and 
 kingly government ; that when these provinces should be conquer- 
 ed, the King of England should have Zeland (containing three poor 
 towns,) for his share, or to be his retreat ; that the King of France 
 should assist the King of England against his parliament, tiU he ar- 
 ryved at absolute power in England, and the catholick religion were 
 established in his dominions ; that for this effect the King of France 
 .should yearly pay to ovir king the sume of half a million of English 
 money ; and this was his certain advantage by the bargain. It was 
 commonly affirmed this covenant the dutchesse seallcd with incest 
 with her brother, and adultery with Buckinghame, the only witness 
 to what past. She for her pains within 40 dayes was poysoned by 
 her husband Orleans, upon the account of her intollerable amours 
 with many, particularly Count de Guiche ; the story of which is 
 written in the French history of the royal palace, with as much con- 
 fidence as the story of the French conquest in Flanders and Ger- 
 
310 KIEKTOX S HISTORY OF 
 
 many. It is reported, that when she was under tlie painfull tor- 
 ments of the poyson, and in the agony of death, tho' she died a pa- 
 pist, when the priests were dressing her as a dyeing papist, she cryed 
 out frequently, " O to be washt in the blood of the Lamb !" She hade 
 indeed reason, and it may be was convinced of her uncleannesses ; 
 and many say her last meeting with her brother (which she desired 
 so much,) was that which heightned her husband's fury more than 
 all her former provocations. Alwayes this was her miserable tra- 
 oick.* And when she left her brother, she left him a token, and 
 
 * The Duchess of Orleans was supposed to have been poisoned in a glass of succory 
 water, prepared by the order of her husband, who could no longer bear the dishonour 
 of her numerous infidelities ; but the circumstances of her death are much more dubi- 
 ous than the amours which are said to have occasioned them. Though her intimacy 
 with Louis XIV. may have been, on his part, a mask to his affection for Mademoiselle 
 de la Valiicre, it is to be presumed, in spite of Voltaire's insinuations to the contrary, 
 that the duchess expected a different termination of an intercourse apparently so ten- 
 der; and both the Count de Guiche and Monsieur de Treville were universally un- 
 derstood to be favoured suitors. While in the agonies of an excruciating death, she 
 e-xclaimed, with much passion, " Adieu, Treville !" — And this speech brought an ex- 
 traordinary fit of devotion upon her lover. Burnet's Hist. vol. I. As to the scandal 
 respecting her brother King Charles, it ought not to be credited ; and perhaps this 
 young princess may be ranked among Defamation's most eminent victims, merely from 
 an excess of natural tenderness towards her nearest relations. It was her singular fate 
 to be suspected and accused of unchastity, not only with her husband's brother, and 
 her own cousin, the King of France, but with her brother the King of England, and 
 her nephew the Duke of Monmouth. 
 
 Her attachment to the Marquis des Vardes, while still connected with the Count de 
 Guiche, was extremely unfortunate, and is said to have given Monsieur the first seri- 
 ous alarms respecting his wife's conduct. Enraged at Louis's desertion, the duchess 
 confided her desires of revenge to Madame de Soissons, whom the king had misled in 
 a manner not very dissimilar while yet Mademoiselle Mancini, and under the guidance 
 of her uncle, Cardinal Mazarin. This countess, from her Italian extract, was prone 
 to revenge, as from her education rendered capable of any wickedness; and probably 
 it was fortunate for Louis that she had then no acquaintance with La Voisin, and the 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 311 
 
 that was ^Madam Caraval, afterwards the infamous Dutch esse of 
 Portsmouth, who made so great ane interest in the king's affections, 
 she hade no small influence upon the government, and was indeed 
 
 other wretches whose confessions finally drove her out of France, else he might have 
 anticipated the fate of Madame d'Orleans herself She concerted witli Madame the 
 plan of forging a letter, as if from the King of Spain, to his daughter the Queen of 
 France, calculated to rouse the jealousy of an injured wife, and interspersed with sun- 
 dry contemptuous expressions regarding Louis, the weak but natural ebullitions of fe- 
 male resentment. This letter at first filled the King of France with surprise ; but dis- 
 covering the forgery, he employed De Vardes, Madame de Soissons* lover and confi- 
 dent, to detect the authors of the plot. Meanwhile the Duchess of Orleans had 
 conceived a passion for Des Vardes, and now plainly told Madame de Soissons the state 
 of her heart. The countess, most probably tired of her old admirer, or on terms with 
 a new, resolved to imitate those magnanimous heroines of tragedy, whose conduct she 
 had seen produce such brilliant situations on the stage ; she sent for Des Vardes, and 
 in the presence of the duchess releasing liim from all his engagements, delivered him 
 over to his new mistress. The poor marquis, who imagined this scene to be contrived 
 as a trial of his constancy, declared himself incapable of change, and that in passionate 
 terms towards Madame de Soissons, yet as respectful to her rival as his emotion would 
 permit. But what lady can with patience bear the indignity of such a rejection ? — Ma- 
 dame immediately resolved to ruin Des Vardes ; and that she might save De Guiche, 
 who was also implicated in tlie conspiracy, she informed him that I(Ouis had been made 
 acquainted with every circumstance of it, and exhorted him to leave France as soon 
 as possible : the count followed her advice, and no sooner was he deemed beyond the 
 frontiers than the king knew every thing. Swayed by the artful representations of 
 the duchess, and partial to the object of his early love, (for even in later times the re- 
 membered charms of Mademoiselle Mancini could palliate the wickedness of Madame 
 de Soissons,) he made Des Vardes alone feel the weight of his resentment; he was 
 disgraced, and long detained a prisoner at Aigues Montes, where, however, he had the 
 consolation of knowing that Fate speedily avenged his injuries in the duchess's death, 
 premature, sudden, and attended with extraordinary torments. 
 
 About this period, also, the court of Charles the Second, all gay and liberal as it 
 appeared, was tainted with the black crime of conjugal revenge, effected by means of 
 poison. Lord Chesterfield's horrible device of destroying his wife, by the wine of the 
 Eucharist, is well known, though in the MS. memoirs of that lord, written by himself, 
 
312 kirkton's histoey of 
 
 ane usefiil instrument for the Iving of France. This covenant was 
 kept as secret as it was wicked. ]Many suspected the Dutchesse her 
 coming in haste to Dover, and no further, behooved to be for some 
 stranse reason, but few knew the true cause, till afterward time, the 
 discoverer of secrets, put it in every man's mouth, and now in many 
 histories. Those who knew of it wondered at it ; our Scottish his- 
 torians said, they could not paralell it in the history of the world. 
 Our king hade formerly sold to the French king the excellent Eng- 
 lish tough timber, and hyred him English carpenters to build him 
 as many ships as should make him lord of the seas, and sweep Eng- 
 land of the ocean ; and this was thought a very bad bargain, (the 
 Norman kings Avoidd not have made it,) but it was nothing to this 
 black league. Private men love theii* liberty better than their life, 
 
 which the editor has seen, he pretends that the young countess died of the plague ; 
 and Sir John Denham was compelled to affect madness, in order to screen himself from 
 the universal odium which the sudden death of his beautiful wife had drawn upon his 
 hoary head. 
 
 Wliat frost to fruits, what arsenick to the rat, 
 
 What to fair Denham mortal chocolat, 
 
 A parliament is to this chancellor." — Marvel's Poems. 
 
 Sir Kenelme Digby was reported to have set the example of these atrocities, by poi- 
 soning his lady, Dame Venetia Stanly, originally seduced by Richard Earl of Dorset ; 
 who, after her marriage, " invited her and her husband to his house once a-year, when 
 with much desire and passion he beheld her, and only kissed her hand. Sir Kenelme 
 being still by. When her head was opened there was found but little braine, which 
 her husband imputed to her drinking of viper wine ; but spitefull women would say 
 'twas a viper husband was jealous of her. After her death, to avoid envy and scandal, 
 he retired into Gresham College, at London, where he diverted himself with chymis- 
 try, and the professor's good conversation. He wore there a long mourning cloake, a 
 high cornered hatt, his beard unshorne lookt like a hermite, as signs of sorrow for his 
 beloved wife."— Aubrby's Lives, vol. II. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 313 
 
 but for a soveraign prince who compets for honour with the French 
 king to sell himself, not only to be a perpetual servant, but a jour- 
 neyman to work his task, and for one who profest himself a pro- 
 testant, and communicat every moneth the English way, to cove- 
 nant to destroy his own religion and the religion of his subjects, was 
 reaUy to sell his own soul and theirs also, and all for a pension of 
 money which was never well payed, came never into the lords trea- 
 sury ; (Baptist ISIay, the master of the privy purse, and the Dutch 
 pictures can teU the world what way it went,) this was judged one of 
 the basest bargains that ever a merchant who sold Christ made in 
 this world, since Christ was sent to a mercate.* 
 
 Our old Redshank, King Achaius, who commanded but the moun- 
 tains of Scotland, when he entered in league with Charles the 
 Great, Emperor of Rome, King of France and Italy, and sent over 
 to France his Scottish divines to teach France religion, and his 
 philosophers to teach them civility, made a bargain of a nobler 
 strain ; and if he was not so rich and powerful! as the French king, 
 would at least be free, and was acknowledged by liim for his brother 
 and equal. As this was known to few, so surely these who adored 
 our king for a god, and the protector of the protestant religion, 
 would deny it ; but within a Httle time, one jMr Garroway of the 
 House of Commons got a copy of it, and made no secret of it. Also 
 the Iving of France permitted it to be printed at Paris, and pub- 
 hckly certified the emperor he hade engadged in a leagiie with 
 the King of England for the extirpation of heresy, that is, the 
 
 * It may be deemed almost needless to warn the reader against Kirkton's statement 
 of many transactions, the true details of which are now well known to ever)!- body. 
 The editor, therefore, has refrained from multiplying notes, which could serve little 
 purpose but to swell the volume; yet here he cannot help remarking how strangely 
 Kirkton has wandered from the truth in his account of the Secret Treaty, the emis- 
 sary from the French protestants, and, above all, the projected union of the kingdoms, 
 a beneficial measure which was rendered abortive by the selfish ambition of Lauderdale. 
 
 2 1? 
 
314 kirkton's history of 
 
 reformed religion; and after the French king hade hooked our 
 king, he made no bones to print the treaty, and also became very 
 slack in paying him his money, that so he might both render him 
 irreconcileable to his parliament and people, and make him give 
 himself absolutly to him to be at his disposall, since now he hade 
 no other fond for subsistance. Now the King of France is King 
 of England, the English king is tlie King of France his servant, 
 England is a French province ; and in all the King of France his 
 woefull designes after this the King of England bath his share, and 
 his journey work chalked out to him ; yea, this league Avas the 
 fountain of most of the troubles of Europe during the life of Iving 
 Charles ; yet when he or his friends talked in the English parlia- 
 ment, and hade a mind to strain money from it, they spoke of a 
 warre with France, which behooved to be carried on according to 
 tlie triple league, when God knowes he hade more mind to fight 
 with England than France ; but this disguise continued in fashion 
 only for two year's time, and then the scene altered, and parties 
 were changed. But whatever was in the dark league, certain it is, 
 of all the leagues and contracts he made in his life, he kept this most 
 religiously with his patron the Iving of France. 
 
 For two year's time after this league was finished, things in 
 Scotland were very quiet: The advocate procured many a decree 
 against conventicles, but they were not execute, at least many of 
 them. The bussiness of the two confederate kings was to make 
 warre and preparation for it, by which the Low Countries were to be 
 conquered, and thereafter the heresy of the protestant religion to 
 be extirpate, tho' all this time our king above board was correspond- 
 ing with the United Provinces for the defence of the Spanish Nether- 
 lands against France, according to the articles of the triple league, 
 but secretly concerting the warre with the United Provinces, and 
 prepari)ig for his share of the joynt warre Finance and he \^Tre to 
 
 make. For this cause he received into favour Sir ^\'illiam Lock- 
 
 9 
 
THE CHL'RCH OF SCOTLAND. 315 
 
 hart of Lee (a man once highly disdained by him), but one that 
 might be of use at that time. And as soon as ever the warre broke 
 out, the king employed him to the princes of Germany, to perswade 
 them to concurre with France and England in the Dutch warre, 
 which made the INIarquese of Brandeburgh tell Sir William, he un- 
 derstood not what for a protestant the King of England was, who 
 not only concurred for the destruction of the reformed rehgion 
 himself, but desired his honest neighbours to doe it, tho' they con- 
 stantly refvised. Also when the Dutch wan-e begane, Lauderdale 
 was advanced to be duke, and married his old miss in his lady's 
 time, Elizabeth JNIurray, rehct of Sir Lyonal Talmach ; and such 
 marriages use never to be blessed.* The first thing she did was to 
 
 * The Duchess of Lauderdale was the daughter of William Murray, son of the mi- 
 nister of Dysart, and nephew of King Charles the First's pedagogue, who got his 
 
 young relation placed nbout the prince in quality of page and whipping boy; that is, 
 
 a slave to be chastised whenever his master should prove froward, in order to scare 
 him with the sight of punishment. It is to be presumed that Murray's flagellations 
 obtained the gratitude of Charles, whose favour he enjoyed during a long series of 
 treachery. He sent a message to the governor of Hull, advising him as a friend not 
 
 to admit the king, who was resolved, if master of the town, to secure and behead him 
 
 (£»y% ofK. James II. xcriiten hy himself), extorted forty thousand merks from parlia- 
 ment for revealing his benefactor's secrets, and finally procured the patent of an earl- 
 dom, which was really signed at Newcastle, though he prevailed with the king to ante- 
 date it, in order to enjoy the precedence of some persons whom he hated. ( Bur- 
 net's History, vol. I.) He had two daughters, the eldest of whom, after her father's 
 death, assumed the title of Dysart. She was a %voman of great beauty, and of greater 
 abilities ; — to much quickness of apprehension and vivacity of wit, she added a consi- 
 derable fund of literature, having made herself mistress of divinity, history, mathema- 
 ticks, and philosophy. During her first mai-riage, she had been on very intimate terms 
 with Lauderdale, and subsequently persuaded him that she had saved him from the 
 scaffold after the battle of Worcester, his life being made a gift to her by Cromwell 
 who also was her admirer, and certainly accustomed to confer such presents ; as we are 
 informed by Walker, that, after the battle of Dunbar, he sent " a thousand of the 
 wounded men in a gallantry to the Countess of Winton." At tlie restoration of Charlee 
 
316 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 separate betwixt the duke and the Earle of Tweddale, his cousin 
 and friend ; and so it came to passe Laviderdale hade no body by 
 whom to influence the councill and kingdome of Scotland, except 
 
 the Second, Lady Dysart imagined that Lord Lauderdale did not appear sufficiently 
 sensible of the favours which she had bestowed upon him, and for some years a suspen- 
 sion of all intercourse took place between them ; but her liusband's death produced a 
 reconciliation, which gave so much uneasiness to Lady Lauderdale, that she retired to 
 Paris, where she died. When the Duchess of Lauderdale came down to Scotland, 
 she took such state upon her, and proved so rapacious, that she speedily incurred the 
 hatred of the whole nation, which vented itself in a variety of lampoons, (still preser- 
 ved in MS.) more remarkable for their ill nature than delicacy. A parody was made 
 on Lord Dorset's song, beginning, " Methinks this poor town has been troubled too 
 long," which gives a list of the duchess's lovers. — 
 
 '■■ Methinks this poor land hath been troubled too long. 
 
 With Hatton, and Dysart, and old Lidington, — 
 
 While justice provokes me in rhyme to expresse 
 
 The truth which I know of my bonnie old Besse. 
 
 She is Besse of my heart, she was Besse of old Noll, 
 
 She was once Fleetwood's Besse, and she's now of Athole ; 
 
 She's Bessie of church, and Bessie of State," &c. &c. 
 
 On the other hand, we find " The Muses Salutation to the Duchess of Lauderdale, 
 1672," in which Erato remarks, 
 
 " Sparta for beautie famous once did shine, 
 And Paphos gloried in her lovely Quene ; 
 They soon were silenc'd when this westerne rose 
 Onlie the buds and blossoms did disclose." 
 
 Sir John Reresby tells us, that in the year 1677 he " went to visit the Duke and 
 Duchess of Lauderdale, at their fine house at Ham. After dinner her grace entertain- 
 ed me in her chamber with much discourse upon affairs of state : She had been a beau- 
 tiful woman, the supposed mistress of Oliver Cromwell, and at that time a lady of 
 great parts." — Memoirs, p. 49. After she had cantrived to make the duke settle every 
 thing he could upon herself and her son by Sir Lionell Tohuache, she was accused of 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 317 
 
 his brother Hatton, — the man of all that ever I knew in power in 
 Scotland who believed most perfectly his own pleasure to be right- 
 eousness. And now after two year's time, aU coimcills and prepa- 
 
 using him most cruelly during a disorder brought on by old age, chagrin, and extreme 
 corpulence. Lauderdale died in the year 1682 ; and his brother, who succeeded to 
 little else besides his earldom, wcHt to law with the duchess concerning her legacies, 
 &c., and for a long while the heads of the Scottish judges were distracted with their 
 litigation. The details, which are preserved by Fountainhall, from whose MS. the 
 following notices are extracted, exhibit no very amiable picture of the duchess :— 
 " Lord Lauderdale and his son Lord Maitland had signed a ratification of the rights 
 of Lethington, Duddingston, &c. disponed by the duke to the duchess, but they en- 
 deavoured to avoid this by alledging that it was only signed conditionally. Lord Pit- 
 medden affirmed, that such donations to wives ought not to be encouraged, for that 
 exposed old men, deficient in due benevolence, to be their wives' prey ; and Lauder- 
 dale was loth to be reproached that his family had been extinguished and killed by the 
 hand of a woman. The lords gave a decision against the duchess, but she got a letter 
 from the king to them, declaring his dissatisfaction with their proceedings, and order- 
 ing them to stop till he declare his pleasure : Next, Lord Maitland gets a letter from 
 the king, desiring, that for behoof of the family, the affair should be submitted to some 
 of the lords, who may determine to her a reasonable jointure ; and if either of the par- 
 ties will not abide by the decision, the king is resolved not to countenance them. The 
 duchess was enraged at this, but chose her two judges, as Lauderdale did his. How- 
 ever, they could settle nothing, and the duchess insisted on her rights. Lauderdale 
 insists that she should pay her husband's English debts, that being one of the prelimi- 
 naries when he signed the ratification. She answered, that the promise was not redu- 
 ced to writing, therefore not binding. Now, she had written a letter to some person, 
 saying that she had undertaken great payments, and Lauderdale would fain have pro- 
 ved that this alluded to the English debt, but she affirmed that she meant the expence 
 of her husband's funeral, which amounted to L. 5000 sterling. Sir George Mackenzie 
 said, to cause Lauderdale ratify, and also to pay the English debt, was to make his ra- 
 tification the winding-sheet of the earldom ; and Sir John Dalrymple added, that it 
 was a ravenous cormorant appetite in her to devour all, — which reflections were ill-re- 
 sented. Lauderdale wished the duchess to be put to her oath respecting her promise 
 of paying the English debt, and giving the library to the family, but she would not 
 depone on the expressions she used before the bishop of Edinburgh, Niddrie, and Sir 
 William Sharp. He gave in a bill to the lords, craving that she might depone, and 
 that these persons might confer with her in private to refresh her memory, but the 
 
yi8 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 rations are ready to bring forth the bloody unjust warre upon the 
 innocent Netherlands ; but our king must first begine, and accord- 
 ingly a Uttle before the warre broke out, he sent over Sir George 
 
 lords refused this. However, she did take an oath at last, and denied every tiling, 
 affirming that her letter alluded to some accounts and the funeral expences, which she 
 knew the Earl would be obliged to repay to her. This contradicted her letter ; and 
 the king, on hearing of her oath, declared that she had acknowledged to him her un- 
 dertaking of the English debt. 
 
 " The Dutchess of Lauderdale pursues the earl for an absolvitur from the duke's 
 English debt : He alleadges she wrott letters to Murray of Glendoig, late register, 
 that she should pay the sanien ; which letters Hugh Ross, Glendoig's servant, took 
 out amongst his papers, and offered them to the earl for 1000 merks, but the 
 dutchess hearing thereof, sent for Ross, (with whom she had formerly casten out) 
 and offered him more; whereupon he gave her up the letters, (which would have 
 clearly proved her perjured), and in place of giving him any money, burnt the 
 letters, and caused him be beat down stairs by her servants. I myself borrowed 
 the money at Sir Robert Mylne's desyre, which Ross should have gotten from Lau- 
 derdale, and brought the same to the earl ; but they had let Ross go away before I 
 came with the money, albeit I stayed not three quarters of ane hour ; and it was 
 thought Sir John Dalrymple had treacherously past down to the dutchess, and caused 
 her send for Ross ; and Ross was imprisoned for his trincating and falsehood to both. 
 \Sfh November, 1687. 
 
 " There being a comprising on the estate of Lauderdale, which, at the time 
 the earl signed the ratification, he knew not of; by this act he left nothing to 
 himself as heir. The duchess attempted to prove the comprising a forgery; and 
 on the 23d and 24-th of November, 1687, she herself came to the Parliament-house, 
 and on her petition was admitted to sit between the barrs, though there be an 
 act of sederunt against all but princes of the blood ; and the iNIarchioness of Mon- 
 trose some time afterwards, was not allowed the same access. The duchess sued 
 Lauderdale for the English debt, (March 6, 1688, she pursues Sir James Dick of 
 Priestfield, for forcibly taking back three swans out of five, which she had removed 
 from the loch of Duddingston), and he was decerned to discharge that. She then 
 must have two mortgages upon the land of Ham, which amounted to L. 7000 sterling, 
 paid off, then the moveables must be freed from the funeral charges. Lord Lauder- 
 dale's advocates urged that the duke by those mortgages bought Duddingston, which 
 the duchess now possessed by an exorbitant donation ; that it is usual for funeral ex- 
 pences to be discharged from the moveables ; and that she, having got the moveables, 
 
THE CirUllCH OF SCOTLAND. lily 
 
 Downing, that notable turncoat, (he hade been chaplane to Sir Ar- 
 thure Haslerigge, spye and scout to Cromwell), to corresponde with 
 the state-generall for the preservation of the Spanish Netherlands, 
 according to the triple league. And when he returned, upon the pre- 
 tence he hade not carried civily enough toward the states, the king- 
 casts him in prison in the Tower. This was all to lull them asleep, 
 and make them beleive he was their faithfull friend ; but it did not 
 so bhnd them, bnt John de Witt (at that time their leader) advysed 
 the States to take heed to their Smyrna fleet, which was at sea, for 
 they hade the King of England alwayes under suspicion, notwith- 
 standing all the fair weather he made. And even so it came to 
 pass ; for the Dutch Smyrna fleet, and Spanish fleet, which joyned 
 them in their return, were, by Sir Robert Holmes, in a great fleet of 
 wan-e, attackt upon the west of England. He hoped wecU to have 
 made prize of them all, but the weak convoy the)'- hade made such 
 
 ought to defray that charge, else she'd resemble the Egyptians, who tyrannically ex- 
 acted brick, though they did not furnish straw ; and she having got the straw, ought 
 to make her brick therewith," &c. So far Fountainhall. Her grace, by this litigation, 
 reduced her husband's family almost to beggary. It was believed, that after the 
 duke's death she intended to marry Lord Strathallan, 
 
 " You name Strathallan ; it is said below, 
 That they are married, and they further show 
 That she hath hyr'd some casing wond'rous kind 
 To kill the heir, although the boy be blind." 
 
 Epithalnmium for the Duke of Lauderdale and the Viscount of Strathallan, hy luay of 
 dialogue betxeeen the Duke and Sir Lional Tahnaoli, Jirst husband to the Duchess of 
 Lauderdale. — MS. She died June, 1696, and was buried at Petersham. Her son, 
 Lionel, Lord Dysart, was as covetous as his mother, if we can rely upon the authority 
 of Mrs Manley, who styles him " an old curmudgeon," and says he kept a house like 
 the Temple of Famine ; well nigh starving his son. Lord Huntingtower, who mar- 
 ried, contrary to his inclination, a natural daughter of the Duke of Devonshire. 
 
:J20 kirkton's histoky of 
 
 gallant resistance, that all the merchants got lionic except four or 
 five, which were not very considerable. The Dutch were so sec\ire. 
 that they brought alongst with them several Scottish merchants 
 from Spain, to whom they were so kind as to tow some of them 
 with them, because they could not bear up with them in sailing, 
 which made the poor Scots men weep when they saw the English 
 fall so foul upon them. This happened in ^larch 14, 1672 ; and 
 this was the first action of this lamentable warre. But this bussi- 
 ness behooved to be a secret in our king's breast, and. so it was, (for 
 the fu'st declaration of warre was the report of the great gvuis) be- 
 cause the king designed the advantage of a perfect surpriseall, and 
 indeed he hoped to have catcht the whole Smyrna fleet, but he mist 
 it. This way of deaUing made the Hollander both call him thief 
 and robber ; who, in the very time when he was disputing with the 
 State whether he or they observed the triple league against France 
 most reUgiously, should fall so foull upon then* innocent merchants, 
 without either premonition or provocation. Now the next thing 
 to be done is to publish his declaration, for the warx'e he hade al- 
 ready begun : The reasons he gave were, fkst injuries done to the 
 Enghsh in the Indies, which the States denyed to be true in fact. 
 Next, some Hollander hade dra\vn in a pictvire our king receiAdng 
 vast sumes of money into his open hat, and the money dripping 
 through his hat in his misses lap, which he said was much to his 
 dishonour. The States answered, first with a prayer that Christen- 
 dome might be delivered from a king that would make a bloody 
 warre for ane idle pictvu-e ; also, that if this was a personal injury, 
 their State was innocent, and that there was no complaint upon it ; 
 and, lastly, that when it was known, the States supprest it. The 
 last reason of the wan-e was, that the States fleet hade refused the 
 honour of the flagge to a small English yacht of 30 tuns, the Fair- 
 fane. They excused this from the ignorance of their admiral, who 
 •lid not believe their State fleet should vail to ane English pink ; 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 321 
 
 also they offered all satisfaction for the futvire that would be re- 
 quired in honor. But when the king was engadged to make Avarre. 
 causes must either be found or sought, so the warre advanced. 
 
 The story of the Dutch warre I shall not undertake, there are so 
 many have done it ah'eady, nor is it much to my purpose. Only it 
 was observed in generall, that tho' both the English fleet under the 
 Duke of York, and the French under the Duke of Beaufort, were 
 unite against them, yet in all the engadgements they hade the Dutch 
 hade the advantage. Next it was observed, that tho' the French 
 pretended to assist the English in all the sea fights, they carried 
 themselves rather as spectators than actors, and very indifferent 
 they seemed to be whether the Dvitch or English lost most ; yet, 
 notAvithstanding of all this, the States were so opprest with the 
 French warre by land, they were content to buy the King of Eng- 
 land's peace with 300,000 pittacoons after two years Avan-e ; and 
 then indeed the King of England Avas forced to give it over, partly 
 because his people and parliament clamoured so against him for as- 
 sisting the French to destroy the Netherlands, (alas ! they Avere io-- 
 norant of the Dover league) and partly because inoney fail'd ; and 
 France was not so ready to pay as to engadge by false promises. 
 So the peace betwixt England and the United Provinces Avas con- 
 cluded in February 1674, leaving the King of France alone to pro- 
 secute his Avarre for destroying the horeticks in the Loav Countries ; 
 and such Avas the end of our king's Dutch warre. As for the bloody 
 Avarre the French king made upon the United Provinces, as Avas 
 conceived by the DoA'er league, because it is not proper to me, I 
 purpose not to meddle Avith it ; only this one word I have to say upon 
 it, it was ane affaire attended with a AvonderfuU sort of mkacles of 
 Providence ; for, first, he begune it in a AvonderfuU haughty man- 
 ner by a peremptory denunciation in a write of feAver lines than I 
 believe he Avould use to summond a peasant before a baylie, but 
 
 2 s 
 
322 KIRKTOM'S HISTORY OF 
 
 would not trouble himself with a declaration to satisfy the world 
 by justifying his undertaking from reason and justice, as just princes 
 use to doe. He boasted when he put on his armour. Next, for his 
 progresse in this warre, he invaded a people secure and unprovided. 
 The two De Witts who governed these countries at that time hade 
 neglected to provide their towns with officers and gaiTisons, being 
 more carefidl to employ some ignorant burgo-master's son, who 
 would be a sure Lowbestecier to oppose the Prince of Orange, rather 
 than ane expert officer to resist the French. These poor countries 
 were also diverted from making head against the French by the 
 formidable w^arre the English king made vipon them at sea, threat- 
 ninf them also with a land army, under the command of Shomberg, 
 a forreigner, and Hotlegyrald, a papist. They were likewayes hor- 
 ribly divided, when the French iuA^aded, betwixt the Prince of 
 Orange and the Lowbestan faction, who loved him little better 
 than the French. From this division sprung frequent tumults, in 
 one of which they tore the two De Witts in pieces in a most bar- 
 barous manner. In another they proclaimed the Prince of Orange 
 Stadholder, tho' their state hade sworn the contrary. These altera- 
 tions seemed to threaten mine to their coimtrey. On the other side, 
 the French king invaded their countrey with a mighty anny of 
 100,000 men, commanded by the best of officers in the Avorld ; 
 Turein, Conde, and Chamilly. The king himself was there to fur- 
 ther the work. He took (they say) as many waUed towns as he 
 stayed dayes in the countrey ; and when at the same time the 
 Bishop of JNIunster hade mastered almost all Freizland and Gro- 
 ning, the King of France like a torrent overrune and conquered 
 the countrey of Cleve, Gilderland, Overissels, the Bishoprick of 
 Utrecht, (where the king kept his court for a v/hUe, with Lockhart 
 the English ambassador in his company,) and a part of Holland it- 
 self, none of all the seven provinces being free, except only the Isles 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. S2S 
 
 of Zealand. In a word, the French king in a moment, of seven 
 parts of the countrey conquered five. This made the poor Hol- 
 landers so desperate, many of them forsook their countrey ; many 
 sold their interests at a low rate. In end they were constrained to 
 bury their countrey under the water to defend it from the French 
 invasion. The city of Amsterdam were so discouraged, the ques- 
 tion was once stated in their town councUl, whether they should 
 send their city keyes to the King of France, being at that time at 
 Utrecht, in hopes that by then* humdity they might better their 
 conditions with their new master, or whether they should stay till 
 the French army came in sight, and then render their keyes and 
 their city ? No man was so bold as to give his vote they shovdd 
 hold out their strong city, that might muster ane army twice so 
 strong as the French : none at all. Only a doctor of medicine, who 
 was a counsellor, was so hardy as to give his opinion that they should 
 not send their keyes to Utrecht, but stay till the French came in 
 sight to fetch them ; and withall told them, if they resolved to send 
 away their keyes, he wovild goe to the street and raise the people 
 of the city against them. This made them take the courage to hold 
 out till the French came in sight, which they never did tiU this 
 day ; but it was a near misse. Yet, notwithstanding of all this, 
 these poor countreys were preserved and delivered out of the paw 
 of the roaring lyon ; and the way was tliis : When the States-Ge- 
 neral first apprehended their danger from a French invasion, in the 
 beginning of this year they constitute the Prince of Orange, at that 
 time a youth of 22 years, GeneraUssimo of all their forces by sea 
 and land. Then, when the French hade actually invaded their 
 countrey and carried all before them, he mustured ane army of 
 30,000 men, and them he posted at Bedegrave, a strong pass be- 
 twixt Utrecht and Rotterdam, and there he entrenched himself to 
 defend that pass, which covers all the rich towns in Holland. When 
 
324 KIKKTOX'S mSTORY OF 
 
 the French successe became a burdine to theu- king, so that he knew 
 not how to nianadge it, he calls a councill of warre, wherein were 
 two several opinions ; one was Turrein's, who ad\ased the king to 
 keep his army unite tiU he hade entirely subdued the whole coun- 
 trey, and then to choice in what places he pleased to appoint his 
 garrisons. The ether opinion was Lonvoy's, (he was the king's 
 great minister and thesavn-er.) and that was quite contrare : that 
 the king should garrison every town he took, and so make all sure 
 behind him. This opinion, being the worst of the two, the French 
 king followed ; and so it came to passe, by leaving a garrison in 
 every new conquer'd town, he diminisht his army so, that when they 
 came to Eedegrave there were but 7000 in the French camp, and 
 they durst not attack the Prince with his .'30,000 ; and here the proud 
 biUows of the French conquest was stopt, and commanded to come 
 no fin-ther. Yet he continued a declining waiTe for six years, and 
 forsook his towns in the Low Countries as unaccountably as he 
 hade taken them, till in end he made peace with the States at the 
 treaty of Nunegen. And after he hade left some hundereds of 
 thousands of French carcases behind him, he retired to his own 
 coiuitrey without purchaseing one foot of ground from the States, 
 tho' he hade in his imagination, and the league at Dover, both 
 conquered and divided their whole countrey ; and so ended the 
 French warre. But tho' our king was constrained by his people 
 and necessities to break off from the French king as to publick 
 assistance in amies, the secret friendship and designe and prin- 
 ciple continued even tiU death. 
 
 These commotions abroad occasioned great alterations in the 
 churches of Brittain ; for, first, as soon as ever the waiTe with Hol- 
 land broke out, the king publisht his declaration of toleration for 
 dissenters in England. This he did that he might have quietness 
 at home when he hade warre abroad, and he did it by the sole au- 
 
THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. :j<>.5 
 
 thority of his royal prerogative, without calling the parliament to 
 counseU, thereby taking upon himself the power to dispense with 
 the laws of England, which much dissatisfied the people, and was 
 the reason it continued so short a while. Indeed, in it the king Avas 
 more favourable to his beloved papists than to the protestant dis- 
 senters ; for whereas he permitted protestant dissenters to build 
 meeting-houses and keep their meetings, it was alwayes with this 
 provision, that before they begun they should give up the mini- 
 ster's name and have ane expresse license for him, which some 
 ministers refused to doe. There was no such thing required of 
 papists, so both their strength and number was concealed, which 
 was not granted to dissenters. However, it was good cheer to the 
 dissenters of England, where the tyranny of the bishops and tolera- 
 tion among dissenters divide the whole nation ; but in Scotland 
 they took another course, and wrought at leisure. 
 
 Duke Lauderdale came down to Scotland in Aprile, 1672, and 
 conveened his session of parliament upon the day of 
 
 wherein he first procured money for the king's warrs ; then made 
 several acts against the presbyterians, such as ane act against their 
 ordinations, ane act against private baptizmes and conventicles, de- 
 clareing it alwayes ane unlawfuU conventicle if more than four per- 
 sons beside the family were present ; then he adjourned his next 
 session of parliament till day of June next, and so concluded. 
 
 But tho' he hade ane indulgence in his pocket, yet his behaviour 
 shewed no favour either to the interest or party ; for, first, when 
 several gentlemen were brought before him to pay their exorbitant 
 fynes for their accession to conventicles, his answer >vas, " Now, o-en- 
 tlemen, ye know the price of a conventicle, and shame fall them that 
 tyres first." The Laird of Boussie, a rich gentleman, was brought be- 
 fore him for hearing a presbytei'ian minister whom he entertained as 
 
 his chaplane, and was fyned in 37,000 merks ; and this was given to 
 
 6 
 
326 kiektom's history of 
 
 the Earle of Athol to clear Lauderdale's quarters, who at this time 
 made a stately visit to the earle, with his lady and family, where in- 
 deed there was no complaint of want while they were there. Also 
 several ministers were cited before the covmcill for conventicles, and 
 because they appeared not were denunced rebells ; among these were 
 JMasters Gilbert Hall and George Johnstoun, and several others. 
 Yet at length, after many discourses and private promises, the fatal 
 day came ; it was Sept. 3d, 1672. Being the Sabbath-day, the bet- 
 ter day the better deed. On it the councill, conveened at Haly- 
 roodhouse, contrived their second indulgence in three several acts ; 
 and this they did of purpose that our ministers might think they 
 might comply with one act without regarding another. In theu* 
 first act they confyne about 80 ministers to some parodies in the 
 west countrey where conventicles were most frequent, and then 
 permit them to exerce their ministry by paires in a church, (only 
 one man gets a church alone,) and sometimes they allow four for a 
 church, allowing them such a proportion of the stipend as belonged 
 to the division ; declareing also, for the encouragement of legal and 
 regidar incumbents, there shall never be any more presbyterian mi- 
 nisters indidged. In theu* second act of that date, they prescribe 
 six several rules to be observed by all the indulged ministers ; as 
 first, that they baptize no child except of their own paroch, or that 
 bring a testimonial from theu- respective ministers ; next, that all 
 the indulged ministers in one diocy shall celebrate the communion 
 upon one day, and that they receive no person to the communion 
 without a testimonial from their respective minister ; thirdly, that 
 they preach only in their churches, and not in the church-yards, or 
 any place else, under the penalty of a conventicle ; next, that they 
 never depart out of the bounds of their own paroch without a li- 
 cence fi-om their bishop only (they would fain have made acquaint- 
 ance betwixt tlie two) ; then, that all cases referable to presbytries 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 327 
 
 in the exercise of discipline, by tlie i-ules of presbj^terian govern- 
 ment, be stUl referred to the curats' mock presby tries ; lastly, that 
 moneys payable to presbytries bursars, and presbytries and synods 
 clerks, shall be payed by the indvdged ministers. The third Act of 
 Indulgence discharges strictly all the pi-esbyterian ministers to preach 
 or exercise any part of their ministry, except the indulged ministers, 
 or those who may live in their parodies ; requireing also inferior 
 magistrates to caU before them any presbyterian minister, and to 
 requne of them their declaration and engadgement to hear and 
 communicate m the paroch where they dwell, under the pain of 
 impi'isonment. And so they believed they hade couched and con- 
 jured all the presbyterian ministers in Scotland; for this was the 
 justice of our governours, to believe if they satisfied a few parodies 
 in the west, all the rest should contentedly rest upon the curats, as 
 if the presbyterians' consciences had been in common among them ; 
 and that he who lived in Sutherland hearing the curat, should be 
 content that the presbyterians in Carrick heard ministers of their 
 own perswasion. 
 
 Now what did the presbyterians upon these acts ? Truely be- 
 cause the truth is very much wronged in report, and because my 
 information is as fuU and exact as any man's in Scotland can be, I 
 think my self the more oblidged to be particular. Pity it is, that 
 he who writes man's actions faithfully, should make so many com- 
 plaints ; but necessary it is, foreasmuch as there are so many of man's 
 actions sinfull, and so few praise worthy. However, at that time 
 there was a considerable number of presbyterian ministers who hade 
 their constant residence in Edinburgh. IMany also at that time 
 resorted thither in expectation of a sort of liberation ; so upon Aug. 
 8, 20 ministers mett together in Mr Thomas Hog his chamber, 
 near IMagdalene cliappell, and upon the flagrant discourse of ane 
 
■ i2S KIRKTOX'S HISTOEY OF 
 
 approaching indulgence, resolved to m-ite a friendly letter to my 
 Lord Stair,* their great confident in the councill, desireing any in- 
 
 * King Charles the Second observed, that there never was a rebeUion in Scotland 
 without a Campbell or a Dalrymple at the bottom of it — 
 
 " To Stair allow, as he deserves, much space, 
 And round about him the Dalryniple race ; 
 Describe how they their sovereign did betray, 
 And sell their nation's liberty away." 
 
 Robertson of Slrnans Advice to a Painter. 
 
 The first Lord Stair, so created by King William, was always the great patron of 
 the whigs, though he continued to enjoy partial glimpses of court favour in this and 
 the succeeding reign. Descended from Lollards and favourite disciples of Knox, he 
 himself fostered Peden and other vagrant preachers in his house, where they pronoun- 
 ced sermons, and baptized children. — Wodrow, vol. 2. jy. 587' His son, whose shi- 
 ning abilities were acknowledged by both parties, is described by Lockhart, in his Me- 
 moirs, as a monster, devoid of all sense of honour, and every feeling of humanity. His 
 protection afforded to the whigs, and a quarrel with Grahame of Claverhouse, after- 
 wards Lord Dundee, rendered him, in the year 16S3, obnoxious to government, by 
 whose order he was confined in the castle of Edinburgh ; but he subsequently contri- 
 ved to act the loyalist so artfully, that King James, in the year 1686, made him Lord 
 Advocate in the place of Sir George Mackenzie, who opposed the repeal of the penal 
 laws against popery. In this station he forwarded all the measures of the court, and 
 afterwards as heartily sided with the promoters of the Revolution, bragging that he 
 had contributed what in him lay to ruin his master. His activity and thirst of blood 
 in a scene which constitutes one of our greatest national reproaches, is but too clear- 
 ly proved. Every North Briton must wish the details of that massacre buried in 
 oblivion, and the darkness of eternal night. He escaped punishment, like the other 
 murderers; but Fletcher of Salton, at the Union, told him in the face of parliament, 
 that had there formerly been an act against ministers of state for giving bad advice to 
 the king, and doing things contrary to law, " his lordship had long ere now been 
 hanged for the advices he gave King James, the murder of Glenco, and his conduct 
 since the Revolution." Lord Stair died of an apoplexy some days before the union 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 329 
 
 diligence to be granted might be free of poysonous ingi-edients or 
 conditions which might scruple any conscientious presbyterian to 
 embrace it. They answered also some queries, who might accept, 
 who not ; but aU was upon guesse, for none of them at that time 
 knew what the terms of our indvilgence would be. There was a 
 dangerous humor frequently to be found in their meetings, and 
 that was, some called constantly for a testimony against the sinfull 
 government of the state ; so some of them urged some expressions 
 might be placed in the letter, which made it treason against the 
 Scottish law of the highest degree. Then there was a very ignoble 
 disposition among some of them, those Avho hade been most virgent 
 to inflame the paper with dangerous expressions, should be sure to 
 be out of town to-morrow morning early, some dozen of myles, and 
 leave their brethi'en in the town to be their proxies for martyrdom, 
 and present the papers at their personal hazard ; yet would they 
 talk gloriously among their companions m the countrey, how they 
 hade moulded a testimony at Edinburgh, but hade no mind their 
 interest in the danger should be as deep as they were bold in con- 
 tryving. Alwayes this letter grew so hot, no man was found to 
 present it, and they Avho durst not themselves were ashamed to 
 urge others, so it was laid whoUy aside ; but this uncertain motion 
 
 was completed — " As he was the bane of Scotland in general, so he and his family 
 were the great opposers of all the particular persons that did not depend upon him, 
 and go along with his designs ; and that so openly and barefacedly, that a cavalier or 
 anti-courtier was not to expect common justice in the session, where his brother was 
 president ; whereby he and his family were, at the same time, the most dreaded and de- 
 tested of any in the kingdom, ruling over whom, and in what manner they pleased. 
 This family had rose but lately from nothing ; and it was so much the stranger, that 
 they pretended, and others suffered them to usurp such a dominion as extended not 
 over the cavaliers alone, but even such of the revolution party as were of any other 
 interest beside theirs, felt the heavy effects of it." — Lockhart's Memoirs, p. 96» 
 
 2 T 
 
;}30 KIRKTON'S HlSTOliy OF 
 
 among them Avas misrepresented in the ^vcst countrey, as if the mi- 
 nisters in Edinbiirgli hade all been for accepting the indulgence if 
 a letter were write with it ; but the truth is, at this time none knew 
 what the natm-e of the indulgence would be. 
 
 So the next expedient they choice was to send two brethren to 
 my Lord Stair, to desire he would keep the indulgence free of dan- 
 gerous ingredients, and the two they sent were INIessrs Gabriel Cun- 
 ninghame and James Ivirkton. Accordingly, upon Aug. 20, the 
 two brethren went, and spoke the Lord Stair : He promised all 
 should be safe and fair, which they reported to their brethren ; but 
 still the fear among them increased, and after September 3d, when 
 they saw their indulgence, there was hardly a man to be fovmd 
 in Edinburgh but he spoke of it with indignation. Immediately 
 after the acts came abroad, there Avas a meeting of soixje dozen of 
 ministers in INIr David Hoome's chamber, where some prest earnest- 
 ly the brethren present might give their judgements against it, de- 
 clareing absolutely it was sinfull for any man to enter to a church 
 by these acts. But one answered, in regarde the case concerned the 
 whole body, and that that meeting so small could have no consi- 
 derable authority ; therefore he desired a generall meeting of the 
 brethren might be called at a convenient day, betwixt and which 
 all the party should commune and resolve among themselves, what 
 their duty might be in such a juncture of time. This overture was 
 embraced, and the 24 day of September was appointed for all the 
 commissioners to meet, M^ell instructed by their brethren what joynt 
 course should be taken. Upon that day 32 ministers mett in Mr 
 Thomas Hog his chamber : They came indeed from all the corners 
 of the countrey in very friendly manner, and for the fu-st day did 
 no more but only resolved how to give their judgement upon the 
 question at their next meeting in that place; and the way they 
 took was, to abstain from endless disputes, and eveiy man to give 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 331 
 
 his opinion with his reason. Next meeting Mr John Inglis is cho- 
 sen Moderator. He propounded the question, What was the pre- 
 sent duty of the ministers named in the indulgence, and whether 
 they should goe to the churches named to them or not ? Of all the 
 32 brethren, only 4< men were of opinion that with a testimony to 
 the state the ministers might take their churches, and 2 bi-ethren 
 were unclear. All the rest spake peremptorlie for the negative; 
 and the first man that spoke was Mr Thomas Wyllie, who, after he 
 hade given his opinion and the reason for the negative, added Mr 
 Robert Dowglass his testimony, who hade said to him, that if the 
 ministers named in the indulgence would foi-bear their churches, he 
 should leave his church at Pencatland, and stand ane outted minis- 
 ter among them : So that night the indulgence was almost unani- 
 mously refused, and so it continued for near a moneth, till Mr Gab: 
 Cvmninghame came to town. He was indeed a godly grave man, 
 but was the great cause that this indulgence was embraced. He 
 brought with him a number of papers wi'itten against the Acts of 
 Indulgence ; and people, when they heard him speak, believed he 
 hade been as averse as any man, but afterwards the contrare was 
 seen. The first meeting he desired was at Mr James Ivirkton his 
 chamber, the end of October : There, because diverse brethren hade 
 not given judgement before were present, the question was askt 
 over again, and there some who hade peremptorily refused the in- 
 dulgence before at ]VIr Hog's, changed their opinion and declared 
 for the affirmative ; and their scandal was, that their names not be- 
 ing in the list of the indulged ministers, some of our states men 
 hade promised them churches if they would comply. However, af- 
 ter they hade all given their judgements (almost all for the nega- 
 tive), INIr Cvmninghame pull'd a paper out of his pocket, written by 
 INIr Thomas AVyllie (who hade also changed his opinion), against 
 
 the indulgence, containing a number of complaints against these 
 
 u 
 
.132 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 acts, as inconsistent with a presbyterian's principles and the scrip- 
 tures. The title (which was not write) was, Certain of the many 
 Grievances in the Indulgence, straitning the Presbyterian INIinisters 
 named therein, that they cannot accept, (these were his words). 
 This paper the meeting passed, supposing it to be designed for ana 
 excuse wherefore they should not accept the indulgence, and a con- 
 firmation of the negative opinion ; but they resolved to alter and 
 pei-fj'te it before they would present it. So it was committed. 
 Within the space of two or three meetuig days, IMr Cunninghame 
 altered the title of his paper, and made it to be only, The Com- 
 plaint of the INIinisters who were to take the Indulgence upon some 
 Grievances in the Coiincill's Acts. Then it was perceived the designe 
 of the paper Avas only to be ane excuse to the council! and the 
 world for the disputed practise of these ministers who were to com- 
 ply ; and here the brethren divided in great discontent ; the brethren 
 who were for the negative complaining bitterly they hade been abu-. 
 sed with papers wi-ite seemingly against the taking of the indulgence, 
 according to their title and matter, but reaUy to further ministers to 
 their churches in a way which they believed was sinflill. These who 
 were for the affii-mative cried out, Would not their brethren con- 
 curre in a testimony for the truth ? These who were for the negative 
 answered. It was not a testimony but a church that was designed, 
 and that if they would forbear their churches, they would concurre 
 in any honest testimony, but would doe nothing to fxirther any man 
 to a church in such a manner. And, indeed, there was no little heat 
 among them ; but some calling for a testimony, others for honesty and 
 constancy, professing alwayes that they should be well content these 
 who would goe to chvirches should testifie as they might best ; but 
 they would never excuse a practise they judged sinfuU. Alwayes 
 Mr Cunninghame held bussie calling for meetings, pressing a joynt 
 paper to be presented to the state, upon which he thought ministers 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLA>:i). HSii 
 
 might enter to their churches ; the others offering to testifie if they 
 would keep together and stand their ground, but refuseing to justrfie 
 what they judged sinfull. The last meeting they hade Avas on Dec. 
 23, where the plurality of the meeting declared they would doe no- 
 thing might excuse the taking of the indulgence, and so the design- 
 ed excuse was laid aside in the great meeting at Edinburgh. Yet 
 notwithstanding of all this, these who pui-posed for their churches 
 transmitted the paper to the west countrey, where the brethren in- 
 dulged by the fast indulgence Avere indeed the great patrons of the 
 2d indulgence ; and when the paper came to the countrey it was 
 canvassed from hand to hand, and meeting to meeting, tUl it eva- 
 nisht. But what was this paper the indulged brethren called their 
 testimony ? Hade it been a declaration that forasmuch as they judged 
 these acts of the council! sinfull, they could not homologat them 
 by accepting them ; had it been this, these who rejected the indul- 
 gence would have concurred. Or was it this ? That forasmuch as 
 there were churches offered to them imder conditions requked, they 
 declared they would goe to their churches, but coiUd not own their 
 conditions. This hade been a proper excuse for those who enter- 
 ed to churches ; but it was nothing like these, it was only a nib- 
 bling at some of their acts ; but some said more, some said lesse, but 
 nothing at all to the counciU, vnth whom they hade most adoe. 
 Meantime the brethren crept into the chvirches, so that never a 
 church wanted a minister within a little time ; and when it was 
 told them they hade broke their own law, Avhich was that the indul- 
 gence might not be taken without a testimony, they answered, they 
 were willing to have testified, if their bretfaen who refused the in- 
 dulgence would have concurred with them, and so excused them- 
 selves. The brethren who refused answered, it was a most unrea- 
 sonable thing to desire of them ane act that should excuse the takino- 
 of the indulgence, a practise wholly against their conscience ; so thev 
 
334 kirkton's history »f 
 
 might well enough have presented their testimony without their 
 concourse, as they hade gone to their churches without their con- 
 sent, but they hade a greater mind for the church than for the tes- 
 timony. 
 
 Here the presbyterians, who hade been unite till now, divided : 
 nor is the wound so cured this day but the scarre is to be seen ; most 
 of the gentry in the west were for the indidgence, desyring much 
 to hear a presbyterian rather than a cm-at ; many of the commons 
 were against it, and learned to improve that dangerous principle 
 which hade been so much inculcate in their ear, that it Avas unlaw- 
 full to hear a minister who was guilty of any publict error or scan- 
 dal in his ministry, so as totally to reject their ministry, and to re- 
 fuse both their doctrine and their sacraments. It came to publict 
 dispute, and the great plea of the indvdged men was, that it was 
 most lawfuU for a man to enter to his office from which he hade 
 been most imjustly restrained, if the restraint were removed, as it 
 Avas in the indulgence. They avIio were against the indidgence an- 
 swered. Hade there been no more in the indulgence but a simple re- 
 moveal of the restraint upon their ministry, they should never have 
 questioned the laAvfullness of their practise ; but there was much more 
 in the indulgence. First, the Acts of the Indulgence were framed 
 by the king and his councUl in the height of his erastian supremacy, 
 (as most of the indulged men confest,) and that to take benefit by 
 these acts, and urge others to the obedience of these acts, (as all the 
 indulged men did in exacting their stipends,) was to homologate 
 the authority of these acts, and this was much against a presbyte- 
 rian's principles. Next, the indulgence was not a simple grant of a 
 benefite, but a conditional bargain ; the ministers should indeed have 
 leave to return to their ministry, but upon condition they observed 
 the states canons, wherein there was something erastian and some- 
 thing episcopal ; and as for the common speech among the indulged 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 335 
 
 men, that they would take the good of the acts (that is the ehvirch,) 
 and refuse the evil, (that is the canons,) the refusei's thought that as 
 good sense as to say, the fish shall swallow the bait, but not the hook. 
 If a superior grant a barronie of land to a vassal, upon condition he 
 pay such a yearly duty, truely if the vassal take seasing and pos- 
 session, the world wiU hold him engadged for the duty. Lastly, to 
 lay aside abstract arguments, (said they,) this will divide our party, 
 for many disclaimed against it before ever any minister enter'd, and 
 this would be more to their hurt then theu* publict exercise of their 
 ministry would compense. To this the indulged men answered, 
 there should have been no division at all, if all would acquiesce in 
 their practise. And these who refused replyed, this was Bishop 
 Shai-p's answer when it was told him bishops would divide Scot- 
 land, that all should acquiesce, and so there should be peace. But 
 it is far more easie to forbear a practise, tho' lawfull in itself, than 
 for a tender Christian to swallow a positive scruple. The ministers 
 in Holland Avrote a book against the indulgence, and INIr A'ilant 
 made ane answer to it. However, certain it is that they who enter- 
 ed hade a very uncomfortable ministry in many places ; some hade 
 no peace, some scattered the flock, and in some places none at all 
 came, at lest for a time, so that the minister was forced to lock his 
 church doors, as particularly Mr James Curry did at his church of 
 Shotts. Sad were the disorders occasioned by this indulgence ; the 
 ministers of Holland treated the indulged brethren almost as severe- 
 ly as the curats. Many of the common people followed this way. 
 The ministers in Scotland who opposed the indulgence, did indeed 
 contend with their brethren to diswade them from their churches, 
 but still heard them preach, and wisht earnestly for more successe 
 of their ministry than they could find ; but because they would 
 never meddle with the indulgence in their doctrine, were much cen- 
 sured by many common people, who said they were not faithful to 
 
336 kirkton's history of 
 
 their light. The ministers answered, every point of truth is not for 
 the pulpit at aU times, but this did not satisfy the people on horse- 
 back ; and indeed this modesty of theirs made the indulged men 
 acclaim it as their privilege, that no man might speak against them> 
 tho' these for the negative told them, they might as well preach 
 against the indulgence, as they preached by virtue of it. And true- 
 ly the enterance of some of the indulged brethren made some won- 
 der ; for some when they entered would not have the beU rimg to be 
 a testimony agamst the evils in the indulgence ; and some when they 
 hade preached a year, and received the stipend, deneyed they hade 
 taken the indulgence, affirming they hade only intruded into the 
 church, and the contentions of brethren were like the barrs of a cas- 
 tle. But this is the true story of the second indulgence. 
 
 In the wdnter following came Duke Hamilton to town, and took 
 his place at the counciU table ; there the rest of the lords were very 
 cvirious to learn from him, because he came from the west countrey, 
 what successe their policy in the indulgence hade, in bringuig the 
 presbyterians under their command, and in quieting the countrey ? 
 He answered, he believed the indulgence might have done their 
 business among the presbyterians, and settled the countrey, hade 
 it been received by the whole body of the presbyterians ; but, 
 because there was still a considerable party that refused altoge- 
 ther to OAvn their indulgence, and disswaded then- brethren from 
 meddling with it ; therefore he beUeved the schism (as he call- 
 ed it) would stiU continue in the church. He complamed chiefly 
 upon 5 ministers, as being the greatest opposites to the indulgence 
 in aU their meetings ; and these were Messrs Alexander Moncrief, 
 Robert Lockhart, George Campbell, Robert Fleeming, and James 
 Kirkton, but reflected upon the last with greatest vehemency, as 
 upon the man who hade vised greatest freedom in disswading 
 
THE CHL'KCII OF SCOXLAXl). 337 
 
 his brethren from complying with the state's design. Upon this 
 the eouncill resolved to rid themselves of these presbytcriaus one 
 way or other, and if they would not accept of their indulged mi- 
 nistry, they resolved at least to compell them to enter into their 
 confynement ; and so our goodly indulgence turned persecution, 
 our courtesy turn'd importunity. So the first thing they did in the 
 beginning of the next parliament, 1673, Avas to summond before 
 them the indidged ministers, and to command them to their respec- 
 tive confynements, which shoidd have been their paroches ; and ac- 
 cordingly, in the beginning of February, they called several before 
 them, as Mr George Waugh, who was to goe for Ireland, and easily 
 satisfied them. Then they called for Mr James Kirkton, and him 
 they commanded to repair to the paroch of Carstairs, (^vhither they 
 hade sent him by the indulgence,) betwixt and the fii-st of June, 
 and there to exerce the ministry ; and if he woidd not exerce his 
 ministry there, then to remain confyned there perpetually ; or if he 
 should break his confynement, they told he Avas to be seized by his 
 majesties officers wherever he was found. His ansAver was, he 
 thanked them for the favour they showed in granting him so much 
 time to advyse, and that he should desire to advyse with the Lord 
 and his conscience, and so he was dismist. The same sentence they 
 gave to ;Mr Robert Lockhart, INIr James Donaldson, Mr JNIatthew 
 M'Kaill, Mr Patrick Anderson, and I believe diverse more, who 
 gave ail the same return for answer. So indeed the coimcill Avea- 
 ried to goe through Avith them all, so the time di'OA^e OA'er tiU the 
 anniversary holy-day, jMay 29, came, and vipon that our eouncill 
 took occasion to try our indulged mi) listers and their beha\'iour. 
 In the beginning of June, the eouncill calls for a great number of 
 them to answer upon then- obedience to the act of parUament, made 
 for the observation of that day. Some gave one excuse, some an- 
 other, Avhy they hade not kept it as the eouncill desired. Then the 
 
 2 x^ 
 
338 kirkton's history of 
 
 chancellor asked, what they would doe for the time comeing ? To 
 this most present answered, they coidd not keep any holy day but 
 the Sabbath ; and that tho' a new act of parliament hade some way 
 softned the first act made about that day, yet the matter of the per- 
 formance was still exacted ; so that the day which hade been hoUy 
 was still to be observed, and this they could not doe. But unhap- 
 pily some made then* excuse that they hade not seen the canons laid 
 upon the indulged men ; and upon this the council! first fyned them 
 in half a year's stipend, (which yet they afterwards obtain'd,) and 
 thereafter delivered every man a copy of the canons, to be there- 
 after observed. The ministers knew the canons would be obtruded 
 upon them, and mett together amongst themselves for advyse, and 
 there they drew a paper upon the matter of the canons, and the ma- 
 gistrates power to prescribe ecclesiastick ndes, but could not agree 
 about the use of it. Some were for a paper to be a testimony to 
 vindicate their practise, and these were most for it who were lest in 
 hazard from it. Others were for no paper, so no paper was pre- 
 sented. But the next day they appeared,, every man had the canons 
 put in his hand. ]\Ir Alexander Blair, Avhen he received them, told 
 the councill he would receive no instructions from them for regida- 
 ting their ministry, otherwayes they should be their ambassadors, 
 not Christ's. And for tliis he was carried to prison, but could never 
 obtain his liberty till death sett him free. AVhen Mr Hutcheson 
 received his paper, he discoursed of the difference betwixt the two 
 governments, and the two sorts of civil power, formal and objec- 
 tive, intrinsick and extrinsick ; but liis discourse past without cen- 
 sure from the councill. But after this, great was the discontent 
 both of the indulged ministers, and likewayes of the zealous people, 
 reflecting sore upon the ministers' behaviour in that time of their 
 tryal, but they got all home to their churches, except Mr Alexan- 
 der Blair. Many of them presumed upon their people's affections. 
 
THE CHUllCH OF SCOTLAND. o39 
 
 which indeed hsid formerly been very fervent, but now they found 
 the scene altered, and were to their great grief treated with no lesse 
 reproach than the nickname of Councill Curats. 
 
 This summer was reasonable quiet, only the council! went on to 
 covich the ministers in their confynements, if they would not ac- 
 cept the ministiy offered to them ; and never one (as far as I could 
 hear) went when all was done. But in England things hade an- 
 other aspect. The Dutch warre was unsuccessful!, a popish interest 
 prevailed. The Duke of York married the Duke of INIodena's 
 daughter, highly to the advantage of the papists. Matters were 
 caiTied at court by 5 lords, the initial letters of whose names made 
 up the mysterious name and thing, the Cabal. These were Clifford, 
 Ai'lington, Buckinghame, Ashley Couper, and Lauderdale, who, 
 because he was both highest in the king's favour, and a stranger, 
 was therefore highest also in the offence of the people and parlia- 
 ment of England ; so when they mett that harvest, they scattered 
 the cabal, and Lauderdale, for his part, to keep himself out of the 
 parliament's way, made ane errand to Scotland, to hold his ses- 
 sion of parliament, which accordingly conveened Nov. , 1673. 
 When they were mett, after the king's letter Avas read, (wherein he 
 thanked them for their zeal against conventicles,) the commissioner 
 pronounced his harangue, desyring, as the custom is, a fresh supply 
 for his majesties necessities. Here he mett with opposition, the fu'st 
 that ever was made to the king's desires after the Restauration. 
 However, Duke Hamilton desired the parhament might first repre- 
 sent to the king the disti*est estate of the countrey, before they were 
 burdened with new impositions ; and to him adhered the generaUty 
 of the parhament ; so the desyre of the commissioner was refused. 
 Lauderdale was so confident in his speech, as not only to suppose 
 the supply would be granted, but likewayes to goe the length of 
 prescribing a method to the parliament for leavying the supply, and 
 
i)4(» kiukton's histoky of 
 
 tliat was, to referr the business to the lords of tlie articles. Diikc 
 Hamilton opposed not the supply directly, only for the method, he 
 desyred the grievances might be considered before the supply was 
 granted ; and to him the body of the parliament adherd, not only 
 for the substance of his desyre, but in every point. High and hot 
 language was among them, especially Sir Patrick Home of Pohvart, 
 at that time commissioner from the ISIerse, was obserAed for his bold 
 language ; and this was his first digression from the court way* 
 
 * Sir Patrick Home, for his sufferings in the presbyterian cause and his services to 
 tlie Prince of Orange, was created Earl of Marchmont after the Revolution. Macky 
 says, that he was " always a lover of set long speeclK's, and could hardly give advice 
 without them ; zealous for the presbyterian government in the church and its Divine 
 Right, which was the great motive that encouraged him against the crown." This 
 Lord's Memoirs have been written in a very pleasing style by his grand-daughter. 
 Lady Murray, whose owii luckless adventures, had she taken the trouble to record 
 them, would have formed an interesting narrative, with much tlie air of a romance. 
 Boyce addressed a poetical epistle to her, under the name of Serena, in which he al- 
 ludes to her unfortunate marriage, and her adventure with Arthur Gray, the footman-. 
 
 " If souls (as eastern sages say) above 
 Are pair'd in equal bonds of life and love, 
 Yours in its downward passage chanc'd to stray, 
 And miss'd its kind associate by the way," &c. 
 
 " 'Twas night — when mortals to repose incline, 
 And none but daemons could intrude on thine ; 
 When wild Desire durst thy soft peace invade. 
 And stood insulting at thy spotless bed ; 
 Urg'd all that rage or passion could inspire. 
 Death arm'd the wretch's hand, his heart was fire ! 
 You, more than Roman, saw the dreadful scene," &c. 
 
 Vide Ladi/ Mary W. Montague's Poems, for an Epistle Jrom Arthur Graij to his Mis- 
 
 frew.— Her ladyship was also supposed to liave written a ballad on the same subject, 
 
 9 
 
THE CHUIICII OF SCOTl.AND. ^ tl 
 
 Lauderdale Avas both surprized and amazed at the strange torrent 
 of opposition, but he hade no other defence but only to adjourn the 
 parliament ; fii'st, for a few dayes, thereafter for more dayes ; and 
 lastly, jMarch 12, IGT-I, upon which day he adjourned the parlia- 
 ment till October in that same year ; but it was by proclamation 
 dissolved upon 19 May, 167^^, long before the day of its last ad- 
 journment came ; and this was the last time ever our mighty duke 
 durst adventure upon a Scottish parliament. This parliament 
 produced no acts, except two or three trifles, concerning salt, 
 tobacco, and brandy, and apparell, and these past by Duke Ha- 
 milton's permission. When the division first begune, many and 
 bold were the cabals among Duke Hamilton's friends, and one 
 was found among them (as ^vas said) who offered to dispatch 
 Lauderdale, but Duke Hamilton refused it : who the person was 
 that undertooke so atrocious ane act, I could never learn. But 
 Duke Hamilton's party thought good to send ane agent to court 
 upon the first breach, and the man they employed was the Earle 
 of Dumfries ; cavalier good enough, and no fanatick, but he went 
 to court to no other purpose but to be brow-beaten. A little 
 while thereafter Duke Hamilton went to court, and with him 
 some of his party, both noblemen and gentlemen. It seems they 
 were of opinion the king might be satisfied with that refuseal 
 in parliament, but kings use not to be satisfied with excuses in 
 place of obedience. So from that day foreward Duke Hamilton 
 
 of more wit than delicacy, but she denies this in her Letters ; it was sung through the 
 streets of London, and printed at the end of Arthur's trial. The concluding stanza 
 runs thus : 
 
 " The Lady's fame shall ever last, 
 
 And live in British song ; 
 For she was, like Lucretia, chaste, 
 And eke was much more strong." 
 
342 KIKKTON'S HISTOKA' Of • 
 
 was neither faA^ourite nor courtier, but lived and died suspect al- 
 most under all the kings ; only after the Revolution, King William 
 foiuid it necessar to employ him as his commissioner to severall 
 sessions of parliament. Lauderdale hade a party in the parliament 
 which stuck by him at that time. Among these Avere Argyle, Kin- 
 cairn, and Stair, with whose hiefer he plowed most ; but wee must 
 not forget the good bishops, who stuck by the commissioner as one 
 man. When the breach opened first, Lauderdale sent up Kincairn 
 post to oppose the adverse party, and he prospered better in his er- 
 rand than all his adversaries. AU the time of this great strife, (tho' 
 some expected it would have been otherwayes.) neither of the sides 
 mentioned the notion of religion, either for distress or danger. All 
 Duke Hamilton's complaints were terminat upon the monopolies 
 of salt, tobacco, and brandy, which hade been put in the hands of 
 Lauderdale and Hatton's friends ; somewhat also they spake of 
 the coyn. And this made the lovers of reli^on to be lesse concern- 
 ed for either of the dukes, since neither of the two owned the most 
 noble interest, which was in gi-eat hazard. Meantime the conventi- 
 cles increased both in number and fi-equency, ever since the time of 
 the last indulgence ; for, first, the name of favour to presbyterians 
 was some encouragement ; next, the forraigne Dutch warre was 
 some restraint upon persecutors ; and, lastly, the division betwixt 
 the two dukes emboldened the discontents ; and truely the report 
 went that neither of the two grieved much to hear of their grouth, 
 hoping that disorder should be imputed to their adversary, tho' 
 neither of them were friends. Howevei-, Lauderdale, before he left 
 Scotland after his unsuccessfull parliament, would needs comple- 
 ment the whiggs with ane Act of Indemnity. So, upon the 4th of 
 March, 1674, by virtue of a letter fi-oni his majesty, he past ane 
 Act of Grace, wherein aU accession to conventicles preceeding that 
 day was pardoned ; and this was proclaimed some dayes thereafter 
 
THi: ciiUKCii or Scotland. 343 
 
 ill great solemnity, all the magistrats being in their robes. But 
 tho' this act was not very full in itself, it hade this effect, — to be 
 lookt at by the common people of Scotland rather as ane encou- 
 ragement for the time coming, than as a remission for what was 
 past. And from that day foreward, the truth was, Scotland broke 
 loose with conventicles of all sorts, in house, fields, and vacant 
 chinx'hes ; house conventicles were not noticed, the field conventi- 
 cles blinded the eyes of our state so much. So in the Merse, Te- 
 viotdale, the Borders, Anandale, Nithsdale, Chdsedale, Lothian, 
 Stirlingshyre, Perthshyre, Lennox, Fyfe, they fixed so many posts 
 in the fields, mosses, mures, and mountams, where multitudes ga- 
 thered almost every Sabbath, alwayes till the time of the defeat at 
 Bothwell Bridge ; and indeed at these great meetings many a soul 
 was converted to Jesus Christ, but far more turned from the bishops 
 to profess themselves presbyterians. The paroch churches of the 
 curats in the mean time came to be like pest houses ; few went to 
 any of them, and none to some, so the doores were kept lockt. In 
 the west there were not many in regard of the indulged ministers, 
 nor in the north in regard of the disposition of the people, who were 
 never zealous for a good cause. After this indemnity the Commis- 
 sioner Lauderdale got home to court, there to make his representa- 
 tions and complaints, which he did to good purjiose, that within 
 two moneths there was a new secret councUl named, and in that list 
 almost all Duke Hamilton's adlierents were omitted ; he was con- 
 tinued himself, but came little to councill for a long time, so the 
 councill was made up of Lauderdale's men. 
 
 But this spring begune the presbyterians, both ministers and 
 people, to act very high ; almost all of them preached, not only in 
 houses, but went to the fields or vacant churches. They who were 
 young and healthfuU were most bussie. Then the discourse up and 
 down Scotland was the quality and successe of the last Sabbath's 
 
3H KIllKTON'S HISTORY Ol- 
 
 conventicle, a\ ho the preachers Avcre, what the luunber of the people 
 was, what the afFectiones of the people were, what doctruie the mi- 
 nister preached, what change was among the people, how sometimes 
 the souldiers assaulted them, and sometimes killed some of them ; 
 sometimes the souldiers were beaten, and some of them killed. 
 And this was the exercise of the people of Scotland for six years 
 time. T^one was so bussie as INIr John ^Velsh, who this spring 
 made a perambulation over Fyfe, and there in vacant churches, 
 and sometimes in the fields at Glenveale, at Dury Qyre, and other 
 places, gathered sometimes armies together, for which the gentry 
 and people both smarted very sore, ^^"ithin a short time, one poor 
 gentleman payed 2000 merks because he got a night's lodging in 
 his house, tho' he himself knew nothing of it, being absent about 
 his biissiness. About some dozen of the gentlemen of the shyre 
 were brought before the councill, and imprisoned and fyned for 
 hearing him preach at his meetings. This spring the presbyterian.s 
 took possession of Cramond church, and diverse other churches near 
 Edinburgh. At AVolmet chappel sometimes there mett thousands, 
 to which the primate of St Andi'ews was one day eye-witness. 
 Upon a Sabbath they possessed themselves of INlagdalene chappei 
 in Edinburgh, Avhere INIr William Weir preached to a full audi- 
 tory, and it mist but little that they went not to the Lady Tester's 
 church. 
 
 Also this summer, because men din-st not, the women of Edin- 
 burgh would needs appear in a petition to the councill, wherein 
 they desired a gospell ministry might be provided for the starving 
 congregations of Scotland. Fifteen of them, most part minister's 
 widows, engadged to present so many copies to the principal lords 
 of councill, and upon the 4th of June filled the whole Parliament 
 Closse. When the chancellor came vip, Shai-p came up with him, 
 fmd as the cliancellov left his coach, Shai-p clapt closse to his back^ 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 345 
 
 fearing, it may be, bodily harm, which he then escapt ; only some 
 of them reproached him, calling him Judas and traitor, and one of 
 them laid her hand upon his neck, and told him that neck must pay 
 for it ere all was done, and in that guessed right ; but this was all 
 he suffered at that time. Mr John Livingston's widow undertook 
 to present her copie to the chancellor, which she did. He received 
 it, and civilly puft off his hat. Then she begane to speak, and took 
 hold of his sleeve. He boAved down his head and listened to her 
 (because she spake well,) even till he came to the councill chamber 
 door.* She who presented her copy to Stair found no such kind 
 reception, for he threw it upon the ground, which made one tell 
 him he did not so with the remonstrance against the king, which 
 he helped to pen. But when the councill conveened, the petition 
 was turned into a seditious lybell in the vote of the court. The 
 provest and guard were sent for, but none of these were very 
 cruell ; only they threatned, and the women dissolved. Thereafter 
 
 * Livingstone, in tlie " Historical Relation of his Life," mentions a very re- 
 markable accident which befel this woman while he was with the king in Hol- 
 land. " My wife, riding by the miln at Nether Ancrum, through the unskilfulness of 
 the servant that rode before her, fell in the miln-dam, and was carried down the troughs, 
 till with her body she stopped the outer wheel, then fast going. Providence so order- 
 ed, that the wheel wanting one of tiie awes, and just over against that part of the 
 wheel which wanted that piece of timber, her body was drawn down, and so stopped 
 the going of the miln, and continued in that case, the water still falling about her, till 
 a gentleman who saw her, and was about half a quarter of a mile distant, came run- 
 ning, and caused the people to go within the miln and turn the outer wheel back, and 
 so got her out, and carried her home. She was all bruised, and on the third day a 
 sore fever seized her ; yet it pleased the Lord that she recovered, and wrote to me in 
 Holland, that she thought she was therein an emblem of what our treaty was like to 
 bring on the church and land." — There is a portrait of Mrs Livingstone at Gossford 
 House, belonging to the Earl of Wemyss, a sour puckered-up face, peering fright- 
 fully out of an immense black hood and forehead cloth. 
 
 2 X 
 
340 KIlUvTON'S illSTOllV Of 
 
 for ane example some of them were cited, and some denunced re- 
 bels. Three women they incarcerate also for a time : James Clel- 
 Jand's wife, Lilias Campbell, and IHIargaret Johnston, a daughter of 
 Wariston's ; and this was the end of that brush.* 
 
 * The petition of tliese women is to be found in Wodrow. During the furies of the 
 Covenant, riotous assemblages of the female sex were very frequent in Edinburgh. 
 One Mistress Kelty, at the head of a regiment of pious sisters, threw a stone at the 
 Duke of Hamilton in the year 16i8, for which her hand was ordered to be cut off; 
 '•■ but he procured her pardon, and said, the stone had missed him, therefore he was 
 to take care that their sentence might miss her." Burnet's Memoirs of llie Dukes of 
 Hamilton. — On the day of James Mitchell's execution, the zealous women of Edin- 
 burgh assembled in order to rescue that odious assassin, but he was too powerfully 
 guarded to be benefitted by their kind intentions. In a collection of MS. Lampoons 
 regarding Scotland, in the editor's possession, is the following curious list, written af- 
 ter the Revolution by some ungodly jester of the jacobite faction : 
 
 '•' The new-modelled Fanaticall Female Regiment, composed of Presbyterian Ministers' 
 Daughters, whether Maids, Wives, or Widdoxus, and of the Waiting- Women and 
 Chamber-Maids qf Fanaticall Ladies ; but the Officers for the most part are ihcfol- 
 hwing Male Heroes, viz. 
 
 Coll : Earl Crawford. 
 Lieut.-Coll: Viscount of Stairs. 
 Major: Lord Cardross. 
 
 CAPTAINS. 
 
 Earl of Ahgyle. 
 Earl op Annandale. 
 Earl of Louthianf.. 
 Earl of Livine. 
 Loud Raith. 
 Lord Forrester. 
 The Master of STAIIl^. 
 
THE CllUlJCII OF SCOTLANl-). 347 
 
 About this time a question arose betwixt the lords of session and 
 some of our advocates. The question was, Whether a party ag- 
 grieved by a sentence of the lords of session, might lawfully appeal 
 from them to the parliament of Scotland, yea or not ? Alany of the 
 advocates maintain'd the affirmative for a time. This highly offend- 
 ed the lords, upon which these scrupulous advocates were put fi-om 
 their places, and forbide to reside at Edinburgh ; whereupon one tribe 
 of them went to live in Haddington, with their captain. Sir George 
 Lockhai-t ; another tribe went to Lithgow, with Sir John Cun- 
 ninghame, and distinguished their body into conformity, who joyn- 
 
 Every Captain hath his particular Female and Ensigne, with the speciall Mottos upon 
 
 their Banners, asjblloviis : 
 
 Crawford's Banner is borne by the Duchess of Hamilton. Motto — Rfason anH 
 <Stace. 
 
 Stairs' Banner by Sir John Maitland's Lady. Motto — Cquttg anB D^oneetH. 
 
 Cardross's Banner is borne by the Lady Stair. Motto — Eceolution ant) ?eall» 
 
 Argvle's Banner is borne by Mistris Halyburton, quondam Governess to his Sis- 
 ter. Motto — Hopaltp anD C&aetitp. 
 
 Annandale's Banner is borne by the Lady Craighall. Motto — JFiDelitp ant) IPolicie. 
 
 Louthiane's Banner is borne by the Lady Forrester. Motto — 3 /2ctD Hio^t. 
 
 Livine's Banner is borne by the Lady Mersingham. Motto — ainitincs (Stacc. 
 
 Lord Raith's Banner is borne by the MisxRis of Stairs. Motto JPcatfl tot iPIumba. 
 
 Lord Forrester's Banner is borne by Mistris Maty Birney. Motto 3 (Stcat 
 
 ff|)ance. 
 
 Master of Stairs' Banner is borne by the Lady Raith. Motto— ILobe aboUe I^onour 
 anti eTonscicncr. 
 
 The first 1 3 Files have the Lords of Session for Corporals ; there are 4 Hoyboyes, Mr 
 Kirkton, Kennedie, Law, and Wilkie, who are to play at the head of the regiment the 
 tune of ' A broken Covenant and a born-down Gospell ;' Mr Erskine is Drum-major, 
 Mr David Williamson and Mr Patrick Reid, conjunct Quaiter- Masters, Mr Gilberf 
 Eliot, Armour-bearer to the Coll : and Sir Patrick Nisbet, Ordinance." 
 
348 KDIKTONS HISTORY OF 
 
 0(1 w ith the lords ; and non-conforinists, who resolved to siifter lor 
 their tender conscience in defending the truth, tho' in a point of ab- 
 stract law. But after they hade suffered a ^vhile, many of them sa- 
 tisfied the offended lords with acknoAvledgement of their error, and 
 serious repentance ; and all of them, after they hade tasted the bit- 
 terness of losse of gain for a session or two, concluded the warre 
 Avith accommodation and submission. Yea even in the episcopal 
 chinch there were stirrs and complaints ; many of the curats and 
 some of the bishops began to murmure that their church was not 
 governed as a church, but that Bishop Sharp in the council acted 
 as Pope, thei-e being no national representative of their church. 
 Upon which some cried out for a convocation, and two bishops, 
 Lawrie in Breichen, and Ramsey in Dumblane, brought represen- 
 tations from their provincial meetings to this purpose. But after 
 Lawrie was come to Edinbm-gh, he wisely then, upon the advice 
 of friends, accommodate himself to Bishop Sharp's sentiments, and 
 supprest his pai>er. Ramsey made more noise, but after further en- 
 quiiy, came off upon his knees. Four curats, who hade made most 
 noise, Turner, Cant, Robisone, and Hamilton, were banisht from 
 their charges for conscience sake (as they said) for a while, but were 
 afterward upon satisfaction received, and no more harm done. 
 
 But the confidence of presbyterians continued not long without 
 a check ; for first, our council, to oppose the growing conventicles, 
 made a new act against conventicles, and contryved a bond to be 
 taken by all gentlemen's temiants, wherein they were to engadge 
 to attend their ordinary paroch churches, and not to be found at 
 any conventicle ; and thereafter our councill, at 4 several] mercat 
 crosses in Scotland, Edinburgh, Lanerk, Stirling, Perth, command 
 a number of outed ministers to be cited at a day so very short after 
 the citation, it should not be possible for the persons cited to have 
 information, and make their journey before the date of their ap- 
 
THE CHL'KCII Ol' SCOTLAND. li 19 
 
 pearaiice, but they would not be at the pahis to send every man a 
 pair of sumnionds to be execute at theu* dwelling-house as law re- 
 (j^uires for every criminal and malefactor ; and this they did by their 
 act Jidy 6th, 1674. No man appeared, for all men were assured 
 cither of uncertain imprisonment in some ugly prison, or banish- 
 ment for life. So within a few days all the ministers were denun- 
 ced rebells and fugitives without mercy : Their names are, INIessrs 
 Alexander Lennox, David William sone,* Alexander JNIoncrief, 
 
 • This is the " Daintie Davie" of the well-known ballad, composed on an adventure 
 of Williamson's, which is circumstantially detailed in the Presbyterian Eloquence, and 
 in the Memoirs of Captain John Creighton, written by Dean Swift. — " My first ac- 
 tion," says Creighton, " after being taken into the guards, was with a dozen gentle- 
 men more to go in quest of Mr David Williamson, a noted covenanter, since made 
 more famous in the book called the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence. I had been as- 
 sured that this Williamson did much frequent the house of my Lady Cherrytrees, 
 (within ten miles of Edinburgh), but when I arrived first with my party about the 
 house, the lady well knowing our errand, put Williamson to bed to her daughter, dis- 
 guised in a woman's night-dress : When the troopers went to search in the young 
 lady's room, her mother pretended that she was not well ; and Williamson so managed 
 the matter, that when the daughter raised herself a little in the bed to let the troopers 
 see her, they did not discover him, and so went off disappointed ; but the young lady 
 proved with child, and Williamson, to take off the scandal, niHrried her in some time 
 after. This Williamson married five or six wives successively, and was alive in the 
 reign of Queen Anne, at which time I saw him preaching in one of the kirks in Edin- 
 burgh." — Among Pitcairn's poems are two composed on this subject, Venus ad Da- 
 videm, and David's Answer. Of the goddess, her votary saith, — 
 
 " Ilia dedit sanctum populo plaudente videri, 
 Nullaque non voluit credere virgo Deae. 
 Ilia dedit stolido niysteria pandere vulgo, 
 Et dolus in nulla pene fefellit anu." 
 
 The observation of King Charles the Second on this story of Williamson, is too in- 
 
 9 
 
ySO KIBKTONS HISTORY Ol- 
 
 John Rae, David Home, Echvard Jamison, James Frazer, William 
 Wishart, Thomas Hog in Ross, Robert Loekhart. John "\AHkie, 
 George Johnston, Patrick Gillespy, James Kirktoii, John Weir, 
 Nathaniel Martin, Andrew Morton, Andi'ew Donaldsone, John 
 Crichton, "\^"illiam Row, Thomas Urquhart, Thomas Hog in Lar- 
 bore, ^VUliam Arskine, James Donaldson, Robert Gillespie, John 
 Gray, James Wedderburn, John Wardlaw, Thomas Douglass, 
 George Campbell, Francis Irvine, John ^Vallace, Andi'ew Ander- 
 
 (Iccorous to be repeated. In a pamphlet, called " The Spirit of Calumny and Slander 
 Examined, &c. 1693," mention is made of " the celebrated Mr Williamson, whom all 
 the ladies flocked to see from all the corners of the court, when he delivered his ha- 
 rangue before Queen Mary ;" and there also it is asserted, that when he preached before 
 the Scottish parliament after the Revolution, he stole the greater part of his sermon from 
 Bishop Brownrig. We are informed that " the members groaned under his powerful 
 preaching;" and well they might, if the autlior of" An Account of the late Establish- 
 ment of the Presbyterian Government by the Parliament of Scotland, 1690," shall be 
 trusted, who, in enumerating the whig preachers, whose discourses were published at 
 that time, says, " The fourth whose sermon was published, was that able man Mr 
 David Williamson, and a wonderful sermon this was as ever you read : I was once at 
 the pains to number the particulars he had amassed in it, and if my memory serves 
 mo they were about 180." He was a captain among the insurgents at Bothwell 
 Bridge; but is reported by Shields, in his Life of Renwick, to have rejoiced, as many 
 of the presbyterians did, at the apprehension of that martyr, whose death, according 
 to Sir George Mackenzie, was anxiously promoted by the covenanters hostile to his 
 sect. " It is said that Mr David Williamson, a minister near the town, was passing 
 by m the mean time, and seeing the tumult and the noise of Mr Renwick's name, 
 wagged his head, expressing some tokens of gladness whereunto he was transported 
 at the sight." It was natural enough for Williamson, now stricken in years, to dislike 
 this youthful demagogue, who had many followers, female as well as male, being " of 
 a fair complexion, and, like another young David, of a ruddy and beautiful counte- 
 nance.'' — (Scots Worthies.) Moreover, he was accused of frequenting brothel-houses. 
 Renwick's Life, p. 128. Williamson died minister of the West Kirk of Edinburgh. 
 In the poetical lampoons of the time, he is positively accused of having married no less 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 351 
 
 son, John IVIuriman, George Hamilton, Donald Cargill, Alexander 
 Bertram, James Wilson, Robert IVIaxwell, — in all 39- These Avere 
 the stock of the preaching church that was driven into the wildei*- 
 ness : Their ministry was a sort of outlawry, and by the bishops' 
 activity these (with the ministers forfaulted before and joyning af- 
 terward), made up that body of people who first made separation 
 
 than seven wives ! ! From the same source we learn that he espoused his last, Mrs 
 vTean Straiton, May 20, 1700 ; and appears to have dec^'asod shortly after, as the fol- 
 lowing silly " Roundell upon the Death of Mr Williamson, composed by an abdicate 
 Curate, Mr Ealder," is subjoined to his Epithalamiuin,— 
 
 " The seventh wife Davie 
 The kirk doth sadly want, 
 Who opposed the tribe of Levie, 
 The seventh wife Davie, — 
 The seventh gave him the spavie, 
 And kill'd a w — g sanct." 
 
 It is singular enough that Williamson never formally contradicted the story of his 
 frailty in the house of Cherry trees, as the report was so widely diffused and so univer- 
 sally credited ; but perhaps he trusted to the sanctity of his vocation for acquittal from 
 his own sect, and was regardless of the profane jesting and back-biting of malignants. 
 — See Evergreen, vol. 1. p. 71, for Semple's Expostulation with the Magistrates of 
 Edinburgh, who most harshly entreated Mistress Grissel Sandilands, in whose com. 
 pany a reforming clergyman, one Beton, had been caught. — 
 
 " To Sandylands ye war our sair, to schame hir, 
 Sen ze with council quietly might command hir ; 
 Grit fulis ze war with fallows to defame hir, 
 Haifing nae caus but common fame and sklander ; 
 Quhen finding no man in the house neir hand hir, 
 Except a clerk of godly conversation, 
 Quhat gif beside John Durie's self ze fand hir, 
 Dar ze suspect the haly congregatioii ?" 
 
352 kirkton's history oi- 
 
 from bishops and than curats, and thereafter overthre\v the party 
 and wrought the reformation. But that you may imderstand how- 
 exact their justice was in this, tliey were not indeed so exact as the 
 Jew was in laying on the number of liis stripes, for among these de- 
 nunced some were dead, some never hade a being in the world, some 
 hade never offended since the indemnity, and were preaching in 
 churches by virtue of the indulgence ; but they stood not much 
 upon a forme who hade so far destroyed the substance of the Lord's 
 law. With the ministers were joyned a number of gentlemen and 
 commons, but their names I forbear. All these ministers were not 
 alike bussie in the conventicles ; some were more, some lesse, but 
 these who were young and strong used ordinaiily to be most active, 
 and truely there were not many house conventicles kept except in 
 Edinburgh or the gi'eat cities ; for ordinarly the ministers in the 
 countrey went to the fields, and the people hade a sort of affecta- 
 tion to the fields above houses. Also when the people in the 
 countrey desii-ed a minister, they used to come to Edinburgh, or 
 the cities where the ministers' families lurked, and thence to borrow 
 a minister for their purpose. With those ministers many others 
 joyned in that practise, both expectants and actual ministers. Their 
 outlawrie chased them to the fields ; the necessities, desires, and cu- 
 riosity of the people increased the number of their meetings even 
 to thousands, and their danger from the souldiers oblidged them to 
 bring amies with them. So these conventicles, by the bishop's ac- 
 tivity, were brought to resemble armies, the thing in the world the 
 bishops hated most. To speak of particidars at these meetings 
 is a work would fill a volume, (and indeed many things very won- 
 derfuU and extraordinary happened at them ;) I shall only in gene- 
 ral say, within a little time they became so numerous and formida- 
 ble, our state thought fitt even to forbear what they could not help. 
 Not many gentlemen of estates durst come, but many ladies, gen- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 353 
 
 tlewomeii, and commons came in good multitudes.* The greatest 
 news was of the wonderfull conversion that followed upon these 
 sermons, where sometimes people discovered their oAvn secret scan- 
 dals, sometimes people of age bemoaned their want of baptisme, and 
 received it at these occasions ; and sometimes a curat would come, 
 and after the fost sermon stand up and profess his repentance for 
 his way, and afterward Avould consecrate himself to that work by a 
 solemn field-preaching. Indeed, several curats in diverse places 
 changed their Avay, forsook their churches, and joyned with the 
 conventicles, and wei'e, upon their candid acknovv^ledgement, even 
 as welcome to the- people as any presbyterian among them all. But 
 so the work of the gospell advanced in Scotland for many severall 
 years. Yet certain it is, that from the date of the establishment of 
 bishops, popery and atheism, two poysoned weeds which ought to 
 have been supprest and eradict, were not only forborn but nourish- 
 ed, and instead of crimes, came to the respect of priviledges. I 
 shall give one instance : In Leith, about the time of our indul- 
 gences, a trunk filled with popish books, (such as Turbervile's Ma- 
 nual, and others,) also pictures, crosses, and relicts, was upon a time 
 seized by the customers, and some of the copies Avere brought to 
 
 * An instance of the wonderful perseverance with which some gentlewomen attend- 
 ed these conventicles, is given in tlie Memoirs of the Rev. Mr Blackadder. 
 
 " A very honest gentlewoman in Litligow, coming to the meeting, fell off from be- 
 hind her husband and broke her arm, (a rare thing that any met with such hurt at these 
 meetings, for all the hazard they had oft been in) ; notwithstanding, she came forward, 
 and heard all the forenoon composedly without fainting, which was marked by her and 
 others as a singular mercy, and would have stayed afternoon also, being so earnest to 
 hear and see such u day in that part of the country, but the minister desired her hus- 
 band to take her home. She recovered very soone afler. She was more troubled to 
 get it kept closs for enemies insulting than for her own hurt." 
 
 f2 Y 
 
354' KIRKTON'S HISTOITY OF 
 
 our councill ; some of our covincc41ors were so liot as to throw a 
 copie in the fire, which was ane act highly niaguified by our cour- 
 tier ministers. jNIany complaints were also made upon a northern 
 priest to Avhom this treasure Avas directed. A certain councellor, 
 Sir Archibald Primrose by name, resolved to try what they could 
 doe ; so he conduced with two bold messengers to catch the priest 
 at Leith ; and because he kept himself alwayes in company of po- 
 pish gentlemen, such as Pitfoddell, the messengers resolved to have 
 a hitt at the 500 merks Sir Archibald Primrose hade promised, and 
 -therefore they provide the assistance of some stout men in case of 
 resistance. But because the chancellor suspected the hazard, he took 
 his coach quietly and got him to Leith, where he ordered the busi- 
 ness so, the priest was conveyed out of the way, and the messengers 
 mist him.* Another instance was in the paroch of Wiston, in 
 CUdsdale, when the people vvere in the highest degree of opposing 
 cin-ats. The church being vacant and a curat to enter, the people 
 rose in a tumult, and with stones and battons chased the curat and 
 his company out of the field. A lady in that paroch was blamed as 
 a ringleader in the tumult, and brought before the councill ; she 
 came to the barre, and after her lybell was read, the chancellor ask- 
 
 • " Feb. 1677. About this same tyme we had a relation about the Captain of Clan- 
 ronald's ladie, a cousin to the Earl of Seaforth, that being Roman catholick, and find- 
 ing herselfe indisposed, shee desired one Pere Whyte might be sent for from Invernes 
 to confesse hir, which hir husband, tho' protestant, assented to : this father, after some 
 stay, prevailed so far that he had debaucht hir ; and the captain having one day gone 
 to hunting, and returning suddenly to bring something he had forgot, surprized them 
 together in some unchast posture, whereon he immediatly caused lead out the priest 
 to his utter gate, and hung him over it ; and sent hir some days journey into the Hy- 
 lands, with expresse inhibition not to returne. M^K. in his Plaidoires, p. 196, affirms 
 that the Roman law allows to kill a wife taken in the act of adulterie : but see the re- 
 strictions of it in margine." — Fountainhall's MSS. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 355 
 
 ed if these accusations were true or not ? She answered briefly, the 
 devill one word was true in them. The councellors lookt one upon 
 another ; and the chancellor replyed, Well, madam, I adjourn you 
 for a fyfteen dayes ; which never yet hade ane end, and there her 
 persecution ended ; such vu-tue there was in a short curse, fully to 
 satisfie such governours, and many thought it good policy to de- 
 monstrate themselves to be honest profane people, that they might 
 vindicate themselves of the dangerous suspicion of being presbyte- 
 rians.* But after the company of ministers Avere declaimed rebells, 
 
 * Though a vast multitude of the female sex in Scotland, headed by women of 
 high rank, such as the Duchess of Hamilton, Ladies Rothes, Wigton, Loudon, Col- 
 vill, &c. privately encouraged, or openly followed the field-preachers, whose strength 
 of lungs, and affecting conveyance, as they called it, drew floods of tears from their 
 e3'es, and made the lower ranks pull off their bigonets and mutches during the spasms 
 of their hysterical devotion ; yet there were ladies of the opposite persuasion, whose 
 enthusiasm almost equalled that of the covenanting sisterhood. Anne Keith, a daugh- 
 ter of Keith of Benholm, (brother to Earl Marishall,) and by the courtesy of the time 
 stiled Lady Methven, being the wife of Patrick Smythe of Methven, signalized her- 
 self in the vigorous suppression of a conventicle, attempted to be held on the estate 
 of her husband, then absent in London with the Marquis of Montrose. She marched 
 forth, armed with a gun and sword, at the head of her vassals, to intimidate the as- 
 semblage of wliigs, which far surpassed in numbers her undisciplined retinue, and after 
 some parley, fairly scared them from off the field. From the correspondence of this 
 heroine with her husband, the following letters and extracts have been selected, as 
 exhibiting a curious contrast to the fervours of the presbyterian devotees ; and the 
 editor has subjoined a letter, addressed to her by Archbishop Sharp, which proves 
 that he at least knew how to estimate her courage and 103'alty. 
 
 " FOR THE LAIRD OF METHVEN, ATT LONDON. 
 
 " My PREciotjs Love, 
 " In answer to your frequent desires to keep your command free of disorderlie 
 people, as I wrote formerlie to you, we war tormented with a field conventickle wliicli 
 
356 KIRKTOX'S HISTORY Ol 
 
 the bishops and coimcill used but little legal execution, because in- 
 
 cam betwixt Coupmallindie and Gask's ground. Tlie Monday after their coming, I 
 caused try who had been there of our concern ; only twa wimmen, the one a vasell 
 wife, who promised to the provist and me not to goe again ; the other a widow in 
 
 ^burne. She had no body to bind for hir. I caused call a court, and, in the 
 
 king's majesties name and yours, conjured them not to break the laws and statutes 
 of this nation, under the pains of the rigour of punishments. There is non in your 
 ground gone since. Hade Tippermallo, and Balgowan the tutor, and the rest, taken 
 such course, we hade been tymelier free of thera. I caused hold a court in our own 
 hall, and the one wyfe hade not money to pay the oiEcer for summonding her ; I 
 caused her deliver her apron till she should pay. I have lattlie com to my hearing, 
 there is som of the poor vasscl-men bene there ; with the nixt ye shall have noties of 
 my handling them to the lenth of juslies. The provist tould all that spock with him 
 in that affair, if everie master kieped as strick an cje over their ground as ye allowed 
 me to doe, there wold be no conventickells in the land ; they ar an ignorant wicked 
 pack, the Lord God clier the nation of them. 
 
 " I am your faithfull deput to the power of 
 
 " Anne Keith." 
 
 " FOR MY HEART-KEEPER. 
 
 " My PRECIOUS Love, 
 " A multitud of men and women from east, wast and south, come the 13 day of 
 this October to hold a field conventickell two bows draught above our church ; they 
 hade their tent set up before the sun, upon your ground. I seeing them flocking to 
 it, sent through your ground, and charged them to repair to your brother David, the 
 baillie, and me, to the Castell-hill, where we hade butt 60 armed men ; j'our brother 
 with drawn sword and bent pistoU, I with the light horsman's piece bent, on my left 
 arm, and a drawn tuck in my right hand, all your servants well armed, merched for- 
 dert, and keiped the one half of them fronting with the other, that wer garding their 
 minister, and their tent, which is their standert. That rear partie that we yocked 
 with, most of them wer St Johnston's people ; many of them hade no will to be 
 known, but rid off to sie what we wold doe. They marched toward Busbie, we 
 marched be west them, and gained ground before they could gather in a body. They 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 357 
 
 deed people became desperate by the laws, and regarded oiily force 
 
 sent off a partie of a 100 men to sie what we meent, to hinder them to miet ; u-e told, 
 if they woid not goe from the parish of Methven presantlic, it should be a bluddiu 
 day, for I protested, and your brother, before God, we wold ware our lifFes upon thera 
 befor they should preach in our rcgallitie or parisli. They said they wold preach. We 
 charged them either to fycht or flie. They drew to a counsel! amongs theraselffs what 
 to doe ; at last, about 2 ours in the afternune, they wold goe away if we wold lett the 
 bodie that was above the church, with the tent, march frielie after them ; we was con- 
 tent, knowing they wer ten tymes as manie as we was, and our advantage was keiping 
 the one half a my lie from the other, be marching in order betwixt them. They, see- 
 ing we was desperat, marched our the Pow ; and so we went to the church, and heard 
 a feared minister preach. They have sworn not to stand with such ane atFronte, but 
 resolves to come the next Lord's day ; and I, in the Lord's strenth, intends to accost 
 them with all that will come to assist us. I have caused your officer warn a solemn 
 court of vassalls, tennants, and all within our power to meet on Thursday, where I 
 intend, if God will, to be present, and there to order them in God and our king's 
 name to convine well armed to the kirkyard on Sabbath morning by 8 ours, wher 
 your brother and I, with all our servant men and others we can mak, shall march to 
 them, and, if the God of Heaven will, they shall either fycht, or goe out of our pa- 
 rish ; but alesse ! there is no parish about us will doe the like, which discuradges our 
 poor handfull ; yett if all the eretors in the parish be loyall and stout, we will mak 
 500 men and boys that may carrie armes. I have written to your nevo the tresorer of 
 Edin : to send me twa brasse hagbutts of found, and that with the bearer. If they 
 come against Setterday, I will have them with us. My love, present my humbell 
 dewtie to my Lord Marques and my Lady, lykwayes all your friends, and, my bless- 
 fd love, comfort yourself in this, if the fanaticks chance to kill me, it shall not be for 
 roucht. 1 was wounded for our gracious king, and now in the strenth of the Lord 
 God of Heaven, I'll hazard my person with the men I may command, before these 
 rebells rest where ye have power ; sore I miss yow, but now mor as ever. 
 
 " On Monday the 14 your brother, the baillie, and 1 rade in to the toune, and 1 
 call on the provest, who cam to Lady Margrat Hay's to me. I tould him how matters 
 went the day before with us. He promises to caus garde the ports Setterday and Son- 
 day next to keep in the rabble of rebells. The sherriiF was away to Edin : else I hade 
 spock to him that he would charge Ballgowan and Tippermallo to caus their men as- 
 sist us. Mote of this ye will hear the nixt week. This is the first opposition that tliey 
 
358 kirktok's history of 
 
 and military execution. Sir Andrew Ramsey at this time acquired 
 
 have rancouutred, so as to force tliep to flie out of a parish, God grant it be good 
 hansell ! There would be no fear of it if we were all steel to the back. My precious, 
 I am so transported with zeall to beat the whiges, that I almost forgot to tell yow my 
 Lord Marques of Montrose hath 2 virtious ladys to his sisters, and it is one of the 
 loveliest sights in all Scotland, their nunrie : I sie many young gentillwomen there, 
 helping them to close a verrie fine piece of sowing. Our onest Bishop Lindsay is lay- 
 ing sick of the gutt in his knies, and down to his futt ; he was heartilie remembered to 
 yow. So is all I miet with. I wrott to yow formerlie to expeck me up if ye wold not 
 come ; now I have engaged with the conventickells, from whom I will not flie. I know 
 ye will allow me to doe what I am abell to suppress them ; I'll doe good will, God 
 give the blessing is the prayer of your 
 
 " Anne Keith. 
 " Methven-Wood, the 15 instant, 1678." 
 
 " Lyff of my Love, 
 " I wrote to you the 14 instant of the surprising rancounter I had with an intended 
 field conventickell in our parish, which was the first, and I hope shall be the last. My 
 handsell was not good to them, for Ballachen, with my Lord Marques' men, chased 
 them off Lawhill above Colluther. He desired our baillie of your regallitie to assist, 
 which I sent, and your man Speidie, the one upon the stoned hors, the other upon 
 the stage. They got a sore day's tassel amongst these Ochill hills. The Athole men 
 got sore travel, but they went laden home with less or more. It is a grievus matter 
 we dare not drawe their blude, yett must disperss them ; how should that be if they 
 come weiil armed to fight ? The acts against them are for and against ; riddells in- 
 deed not easie understood. My love, if every parisli were armed, and the stout loyall 
 heads joyning, with orders to concurr, and libertie to suppress them as enemies to our 
 king and the nation, these vaging gypsies wold settle. My most precious, upon the 
 17 day I was presant at our court, where the pitifull ignorants that had been with 
 them were fyned, and bound to obedience for time to come. Next, all your tenants, 
 v.'ith what more wold answer, was ordained to compier at the Wast-wood by 7 ours in 
 the Sabbath morning with the best armes they hade, under the pain of 10 lb. I sent 
 to Tipperraallo, who granted me his men. I sent to Ballgowan, the baillib, to require 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOIXAXD. ii5\) 
 
 the baiTonv of "Waiis'litoii, and the island or rock of tlie Bass auion<'' 
 
 liis assistance, who even clown rr fused his men, and declared, if the conventickells 
 were at his gate, he would onlic protest against them, and no more. Onest Provest 
 Hay cam to sie me on the Satturda}', and at my desire wreatt an order for all Back- 
 ellton's ground ; Busbie sent order for his, so all the most part convened with good 
 order ; they were kieped there till Dallichen sent to me intelligence we might goe to 
 the church. We have good will to keip the parish frie, but wants arms for the two- 
 part of our men. What was provided was most part borrowed from the niber pa- 
 rishes. All that is done, or can be done, will not slop them, except other acts be 
 
 made, and more severe cours be taken none of this familie, specialiic I, can goe 
 
 any way without wapons. The spirit of revenge boasts against me for beginning ther 
 stopping in this parish. My love, ther is forces lying in Kinross and Fackland, who 
 hath chased many up to Stratherne. They are commanded, as Captain reports, 
 
 to persew them no farder than FyfFe marches ; so we are exposed to the hazard, and 
 must pay for it to these that will not help us. My dear, how shall this part of Perth 
 shire oppose this unrewly multitude, who keips close where they intend to miet, and 
 we have neither arnies, nor allowance to keip men to wait them ? — In this same time, 
 if the noble and gentlemen hade command, and allowance to mantene men to wail 
 them, we would be known as daring a loyal peopell as should be in this nation. I 
 know my love will lafFat me, but it is generallie known to be truth." 
 
 " Methven-Wood, Hh Nov. 1678. 
 
 " The Marques of Atholl's men that Balleclien commanded frighted the convcn- 
 tickell more then all the sogers under pay in this nation ; sutch a fear they have golt 
 that they have had no meeting in this syde of Earne watter since that day I banished 
 them, which was the first that ever they entred upon any propertie in this syde of 
 Earne watter. It is said the Bishop of Galloway, to make trew his letters, had hyred 
 them to begin at yow. Ther is much envy and hadred for crossing the conventickells, 
 but no encouragement to a faithfull trew-hearted subjeck. Our governours are made 
 up of Machevell's principles. We look for peace this winter, since loyall Argyll lets 
 the Mackallen be ; but if they yock, be sure of all malcontents taking the opportuni- 
 
 tie our kynd provest and dene-a-gild, Glasse, was at the Archbishop of San' An- 
 
 dros for keiping the toun's libertie of choysing a new minister. He was verrie sifFel to 
 
360 kirkton's histouy of 
 
 tlio rest. This ho sold to our king, (as was reported, for some thou- 
 
 them, and after he Iiad tryed at the provest all the way of my proceeding against the 
 convcntickell, which was trewly repeatted, the Archbishop drank my good liealth, and 
 snid the clargie of this nation was obliged to me. But it was the Lord God's doing, 
 who made me his instrument ; [M-aise, honor, and glory be to his great name." 
 
 " Dec. 16. 
 
 " Tlie conventickell is every Sabbath at Thorniehill again. We have most part of 
 the shyre payd the first term's supplie, and as yet we hear of no forces coming to this 
 shyre to suppres them. If they come back again to us, in obedience to yow, and loy- 
 altie to my gratious king, they should goe warr away then they did last time, I being 
 better provided of powder and lead, and all except Ballgowen is willing to follow me 
 to so just pursuit ; tho' I have got no thanks from the counsell, nather is any parish 
 commanded to doe the lyk, yett ray dewtie and love to his sacred majestic shall en- 
 currage me to be singular against a powerfull eneraie, as they are la this nation." 
 
 / l< rp„ .J.JJJ; LADY METHVEN. 
 
 " St Amlreivs, March 27, 1679. 
 ■' Madam, 
 " I had the favour of your ladieship's letter, signifying to me your purpose that Mr 
 John Omey be presented to the church of Methven, vacant by the deceas of Mr Hew 
 Ramsey. I am well sattisfyed with Mr Omey, who is a good man and a worth3^ mini- 
 .stcr, and shall be rady to goe along with your husband the Laird of Methven his de- 
 syne in reference to him. I am glad to find that your husband, a gentleman noted for 
 his loyalty to the king and affection to the church, is so happy as to have a consort of 
 the same principles and inclinations for the publick settlement, who has given proofe 
 of her aversion to joyn in society with separatists, and partaking of that sin, to which 
 soc many of that sex doc tempt their husbands in this evill tyme, when schism, sedi- 
 tion, and rebellion are gloryed in, though Christianity does condemne them as the 
 
 11 
 
TH]', CHt.Ittll or SCOTr,AN». 361 
 
 sand pounds English, wherein usually the procuring courtier hade his 
 good share,) and a dear bargain it was.* But the use the king made 
 of it Avas, to make it a prison for the presbyterian ministers, and 
 some of them thought when they died in the prison, (as ]Mr John 
 Blackadder did.) they glorified God in the islands.f But it became 
 
 greatest crimes. Your ladieship, in continuing the course of your examplary piety 
 and zeall for the apostolick doctrine and government, shall have approbation from 
 God and all good men, which is of more value then a popular vogue from an humo- 
 rous silly multitude, who know not what they doe in following the way of seduction. 
 You are commendit to the establishment of God's grace in truth and peace, by, 
 
 " Honored Madam, 
 
 " Your ladieship's humble servant, 
 
 " St Andrews." 
 
 * " Sir Andrew Ramsay, having neither for a just price, nor by the fairest means, 
 got a title to a bare insignificant rock in the sea, called the Bass, and to a publick 
 debt, both belonging to the Lord of Wachton ; my Lord Lauderdale, -to gratifie Sir 
 Andrew, moves the king, upon the pretence of this publick debt, and that the Bass 
 was a place of strencth (like to a castle in the moon) and of great importance, (the 
 only nest of Solen geese in these parts,) to buy the rock from Sir Andrew, at the rate 
 of L.4000 sterling, and then obtains the command and profits of it, amounting to more 
 than L.lOO sterling yearly, to be bestowed upon himself." — A71 Account of Scotland's 
 Grievances, by reason of the D. of Lauderdale's Ministrie. 
 
 f Blackadder's Memoirs are to be found among the Wodrow MSS. " He was or- 
 dained minister at Troqueer 1653, was from thence ejected after the Restoration, 
 preached afterward in the fields under many hardships, was declared a rebel 1670 ; 
 was apprehended after many remarkable escapes, and brought before the council 
 1687, when he boldly avowed his preaching in the fields, and his Master's warrant so 
 to do ; and being on the reserve as to the Tonvood Excommunication, he was by them 
 sent to the Bass, where he continued prisoner until he entered into his Master's joys, 
 about the year 1686." Fait/tful Contendings displayed. — He had a son. Colonel Black- 
 adder, a soldier in the Duke of Marlborough's army, who wrote his own Memoirs, 
 which have been printed. He was as great a fanatic as his father, pretending that 
 
 2z 
 
362 kirkton's history of 
 
 to be a rule of practise among that sort of people, whenever any of 
 them was called before the councill, that either they behooved to 
 satisfie the bishop, which never ane of them did, or else goe to the 
 Bass ; so aU of them refused to appear. And our governours ex- 
 pected no more respect or obedience to their summonds. The 
 bishops hade indeed up and down the covmtrey a number of blood- 
 hounds, whose business it was to catch a minister, or it may be a 
 troiiblesome professor ; and truely the state of the countrey seemed 
 to resemble warre as much as peace, in many respects. Conven- 
 ticles increased both in houses and fields, where they were indeed 
 most offensive ; for the men went ordinarily with armes, and the 
 souldiers next adjacent lookt upon them as the appearance of ane 
 enemy. INIany skirmishes there were, much violence was used and 
 indiscretion on both sides. INIinisters preacht (without the censure 
 of their presbyteiy.) whatever was then- own opinion in any emer- 
 gent case, the people were sometimes as much judges as disciples ; 
 yet it was believed the gospel hade in these years large as great 
 successe, as if the presbyterians hade possessed the churches ; yet 
 something the bishops would doe in a legal way, and by virtue of 
 their goodly laws, and that was, if they could not reach the poor 
 preaching ministers' persons, they would needs make their being in 
 a world as bitter as might be ; and therefore oin- council emitt a 
 proclamation, wherein they promise 500 merks to any man that shall 
 catch or apprehend the person of any minister or preacher Avho 
 preached at any time ui the fields. And thereafter, as if the coun- 
 
 Heaven inspired him with means to cure himself of the tooth-ache, p. 89 ; and in his 
 epistolary correspondence, he tells his wife and another gentlewoman that he hath still 
 his Ebenezer before him, which I dare say they were very glad to hear, considering 
 the dangers of war. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 363 
 
 trey hade been infested with a civill warre, they resolve to settle 
 gariisons in a number of honest peaceable gentlemen's houses, only 
 to defend their countrey from the invasion of the conventides, es- 
 pecially the field preachers ; and in some dissatisfied paroches that 
 were large, they settled two garrisons, as in Lesmahagow ; one 
 garrison at the Corhouse, then belonging to INIr John Baimatyne, 
 (who, at that time, with many other gentlemen, was prisoner in the 
 Tolbooth of Edinburgh, only because they would not take the test, 
 and who were also fyned, some of them to the value of their estates, 
 upon pretence of harbour and resett of rebells ;) another garrison at 
 Blackwood, in the same paroch ; but because it was a most illegal 
 thing for the magistrate, who should protect every man in his just 
 possession, to turn honest people out of itheir houses ; and because 
 this method was censured even by the court itself, after they hade 
 brangled awhile, they were constrained to quite this piu-pose. Only 
 wherever the souldiers of the a"rmy were quartered, they were ap- 
 pointed to be upon their watch-tower against conventicles, where- 
 ever they might be discovered ; and so they were indeed many a 
 day. And lastly, they pickt some 20 or more of those ministers, 
 of whom they heard greatest complamts as most bussy in conven- 
 ticles and field meetings ; and these, together with a considerable 
 number of gentlemen and othei's, they intercommune, Avhich was the 
 greatest length they could goe. This intercommuning is in Scot- 
 land a very severe sentence, because it makes eveiy man who shall 
 either harbour, entertain, or converse with the persone intercom- 
 mimed, equally guilty with the principal criminal ; and the wonder 
 was, they intercommuned some maiTied women to terrifie their 
 husbands. But at this time intercommuning was not so stretcht 
 and improven as after Bothwell Bridge, Avhere converse with a few 
 vebeUs made almost all Scotland as guilty as if they hade been in 
 
364 KrRKTON's IIISTOICY 01' 
 
 amies against the king at Botlnvell Bridge. All this wna done by 
 our councill in summer 1675 ; and when they could goe no further, 
 they forbare for a time. But tho' our council sisted in their perse- 
 cutions upon denunciation and intercommuning, so did not our 
 officers and souldiers, who rested not but upon imprisoning, rob- 
 bing, Avounding, killing the poor fanatick and conventicler where 
 they might find him ; and truely many of our souldiers made 
 persecution not so mvich a duty of their office as ane employ- 
 ment of gaine. So the ordinary news were the incarceration of 
 honest men, both ministers and professors, depredations, concus- 
 sions, and many times where there were field conventicles, they 
 were attended Avith bloody skirmishes, especially in Lothian ; and 
 indeed tlie inflammations of Scotland looked large more like a civil 
 warre, manadged by bloody violence, than ane ecclesiastical shisme, 
 which uses to be confirmed by arguments. However, as the con- 
 venticles multiplied, so the number that forsook the episcopal church 
 increast likewayes ; and wherever a minister came, multitudes at lest 
 left the curat, and in many places people really changed their con- 
 \ersation, and became real converts. 
 
 The reasons of this were commonly tliese : First, people listned to 
 the presbyterians with attention, because they preached upon ha- 
 zard ; and forasmuch as this word was costly, it was the more pri- 
 zed by the people, and truely in many places it became the fashion. 
 Another reason was, the strange judgements seen upon those who 
 were or hade been persecutors. It Avas well known and observed 
 what happened those who hade injured the poor -whiggs who fled 
 from Pentland : In the upper ward of Clidsedale, AA-hen some of 
 them fled that night through Carnwath, one of the towns men car- 
 ried some of them into the moss and there nnu'dered them. It was 
 lold by the people of the village to myself within a little time there- 
 
THE CHURCH Ol' SCOTI AXI). 365 
 
 after, that frequently a fire was seen arise fi'oni that phice in the 
 moss where the murder was committed, and thereafter creeping- 
 over land, it covered the murtherer's house : Himself (as I was told) 
 ])erished, and his childeren are beggars to this day. What curses 
 befell the people of Biggar, who were guilty of tliis fact, and how 
 poor Laurence Boe died in high despair, accusing himself of the se- 
 cret murther of tAvo, was well known, and as v/ell remembred by 
 the neighbours.* Another was the scandalous stories that passed 
 upon the bishops and cnrats, both for life and doctrine ; and as 
 among these there were some false, so there were many too too true, 
 which were a tentation to atheism with some, and ane inducement 
 to foUow conventicles among others. However, little thing was 
 done by our councill after the ministers were intercommuned, and 
 things continued pretty quiet for a whole year's space, only at that 
 time Sir Patrick Home of Pol wart (for some words spoken before 
 the Lord CoUington, while he was seeking a suspension upon a 
 
 * For a most terrific account of dreadful accidents, attended with deatli-bed despair, 
 which befell the enemies of the whigs, see God's Justice Exemplified in his Judo-ements 
 upon Persecutors, S^c. printed nt the end of the Scots Worthies." Wodrow is very care- 
 ful to record these things whenever they come in his way, though he observes that 
 " we ought to be very sparing in making particular peremptory consequences from 
 providences. ' Of all such spiritual delinquencies, any outrage to the Covenant seems 
 to have been attended with the most dismal results, and seldom remained long unpu- 
 nished; nay, remorse in some cases immediately succeeded the crime, and threw the 
 offender into cureless agonies, both of body and mind. After the Restoration, a young 
 man had the audacity to hang the solemn League and Covenant upon a sign-post or 
 gibbet ; " and it pleased the Lord to strike him immediately with a sense of what he had 
 done, and he is since worn away to nothing but skin and bone ; and whether he be 
 now living or no we can give no certain account." — Mirabilis Annus Secundus, or the 
 Second Year of Prodigies, being a true and impartial Collection of many strange Signes 
 and Apparitions which hare this last Year been seen in the Heavens, and on the Earth, 
 and in the Waters, SjC. 16G2. 
 
•.i66 kiukton's history of 
 
 publict charge), was brought before the councill : His words were 
 judged a reflection upon the government, himself fyn'd and incar- 
 cerate for a long time in Edinburgh and Stirling castles ; and this 
 was his first apprenticeship, but afterAvards he th'iuik deeper of that 
 cup. Also ]Mr James JSIitchell, who- had mist the bishop with his 
 pistoll, was taken and brought before the counciU ; and as upon 
 promise of life he confest his fault, so afterward with the same con- 
 stancy he retracted his confession, but this did not his business.* 
 
 * " In the month of December, 1674. Mr James Mitchell, supposed to be the 
 man who, in 1668, aiming to pistoll the Archbishop of St Andrew's in his oune coachj 
 was ane ill gunner, and with the ball chattered Honeyman, Bishop of Orkney, (who 
 was sitting by) his arrae, being first discovered at the buriall of Mr Robert Douglas 
 the minister, and apprehended, and examined by my Lord Chancellor before witnesses, 
 who promised if he would confesse and acknowledge it, he should warrand his life, 
 upon which assurance of impunity he freely confessed he was the person ; but after- 
 wards, fearing leist faith should not be keeped to him, he resiled, and revocked his con- 
 fession; and it being emitted extrajudicially (not in presence of a quorum of the crimi- 
 nall lords) it could not bind him, nor be a relevant ground of condemnation. Find- 
 ing they could not reach him upon this head, the bishop caused indyte him as one of 
 the traitors who ware in armes at Pentland Raid in 1666, and made him be tortured, 
 and cawed in the boots to extort a confession, but hitherto he stands to his deniall, 
 and is still keipt in prison." — Lord Fountainhall's MS. 
 
 The Bishop of Orkney never completely recovered from the wound inflicted by 
 Mitchell, a subject of much triumph to the whigs, among whom James Stewart, (af- 
 terwards Sir James), in his pernicious and flat book called Jus PopuU Vindicatum, a 
 reply to the answer which the bishop wrote to Naphthali, talks of Honeyman as cap- 
 tious from his grten wound, tc/iich he got per accidens because of ill company. Mitchell 
 and his friends were sorely puzzled by a difficulty with regard to the divine impulse 
 which incited him to murder the Primate, started by Annand, dean of Edinburgh, 
 in a letter addressed to the assassin. The dean urged that this impulse could not 
 possibly come from God, like the impulse of Phineas, &c. because he failed in the at- 
 tempt, which never any person did or could do, who was moved by God to commit any 
 such action. This was a sad stumbling block to Mitchell, who could only answer that 
 success doth not always follow the comraandments of God, " more than it did to 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, 36? 
 
 At this time Lauderdale govern'd Scotland at his pleasure : What- 
 ever he desired of the king was granted ; whateAer he required of 
 the councill was obeyed more readily than a lumdred of our old 
 kings ; and tniely whatever the man was, he was neither judged a 
 cruell persecutor nor ane avaritious exactor (excepting his brother 
 and wife's solicitations) all the tim^s of his government ; so after the 
 ministers were intercommuned, things continued pretty quiet till a 
 small spark kindled a great flame, and because niuch foUovv^ed upon 
 this particular, and that it hath been falsly priiUed, i shall give it 
 more distinctly :* INIr James Kirkton, one of the outed iniiiisters, 
 walking Edinburgh street about noon> was AXTy ci^-ily accosted by 
 a young gentleman, Captain Carstakes, attended by another gentle- 
 man and a lackey. Carstaires desyred to speak a word with him, 
 to which he answered he would wait upon him, but because he 
 knew not to whom he spake, he quietly asked the other gentleman 
 (James Scot of Tushielaw) who this young gentleman might be, 
 but Scot answered with silence and staring. Then ISIr Kirkton 
 perceived he was prisoner among his enemies, but Avas very glade 
 they carried him to a private house, and not to the prison, a\ hieh 
 they were very near ; but they carried him to Carstaire's chamber, 
 ane ugly dark hole in Robert Alexander, messenger, his house. As 
 soon as ever he was brought into the house, Carstaires abused him 
 
 Israel, Jos, 7, 12. against the city of Ai, because there was an Achan in the camp, and, 
 alas ! there are many Achans in the camp of our Israel, &c." — Postscript to Mitch- 
 ell's Letter, 
 
 * The affair was detailed in a pamphlet addressed to the king, and entitled, " Some 
 particular Matters of Fact relating to the Administration of Affairs in Scotland under 
 the Duke of Lauderdale, humbly oflFered to your Majesties Consideration, in obedi- 
 ence to your Royal Commands." The author describes Captain Carstares as " a per- 
 son now well enough known to your majesty." 
 
LJGS 
 
 with his tonguo. and pusht him till he got him into his own cham- 
 ber, ■\\'hic'h niiide the })eople of the house weep. After he hade got 
 him into his ugly chamber, he sent away Scot and Douglass his 
 lackey (INIr Kirkton supposed) to fetch his companions, but as soon 
 as they wei-e alone ]Mr Kirkton askt him what he meant ? What 
 he would doe with him ? Carstaires answered, Sir, you owe me 
 money. Mv Kirkton askt him whom he took him to be, denying 
 he owed him any thing. Carstaires answered, Are not you John 
 Wardlaw ? IMr Kirkton denied, telling him Avho he was indeed. 
 Then Carstiiires answered, if he were Mr Kirkton he hade nothing 
 to say to him. IVIr Kirkton askt him who he was ? He answered, 
 he was Scot of Erkletone ; whom indeed he did much resemble, 
 but spoke things so inconsistent, INIr Kirkton knew not what to 
 think, for if Carstaires hade designed to make him prisoner, he might 
 easily have done it before. But after they hade stayed together 
 about half ane hour, Mr Kii'kton begane to think Cai-staires desired 
 money, and was just beginning to make his offer of inoney to Car- 
 staires, when Jerriswood, Andi-ew Stevenson, and Patrick Johnston 
 came to the chamber-door, and called in to Carstaires, asking what 
 he did with a man in a dark dungeon all alone ? Mr Kirkton, find- 
 ing his friends come, took heart ; " Now," sayes INIr Kirkton to 
 Carstaires, " there be some honest gentlemen at your door avIio 
 will testifie what I am, and that I am not John Wardlaw ; open 
 the door to them." " That wiU I not," sayes Carstaires ; and with 
 that layes his hand on his pocket-pistoll. which IMr Kirkton percei- 
 ving, thought it high time to appear for himself, and so clapt Car- 
 staires closs in his armes ; so mastering botli his hands and his pis- 
 toll, they struggled a while in the flooi', but Carstaires being a feeble 
 body, was borne back into a corner. The gentlemen without hear- 
 ing the noise, and one crying out of murther, burst quickly the door 
 open (for it hade neither key nor bolt), and so entered and quietly 
 
TKK CIIL'RCH OF SCOTLAND. 369 
 
 severed the strugglers, tho' without any violence or hurt done to 
 Carstaires. As soon as Mv Kirkton and the gentlemen hade left 
 Carstaires alone, Scot his companion came to him, and they resol- 
 ved not to let it goe so, but to turn their private violence into state 
 service ; and so to Hatton they goe Avith their complaint, and he 
 upon the story calls all the lords of the councill together (tho' they 
 were all at dinner), as if aU Edinburgh hade been in armes to resist 
 lawfidl authority, for so they represented it to the councill ; and 
 he told the councill, when they were conveened, that their publick 
 officers hade catcht a fanatick minister, and that he was rescued by 
 a numerous tumult of the people of Edinburgh. The councill try- 
 ed Avhat they could, and examined all they covdd find, and after aU 
 could discover nothing vipon Avhich they could fasten. IMr Ku'kton 
 hade informed his friends that it was only a reall robbery designed, 
 and that indeed money Avould have fi-eed him, if Carstaires and he 
 hade finished Avhat he begune to offer, and the councill could find 
 no more in it ; and so some councellors Avere of opinion the coun- 
 cill might doe best to pass it so altogether. But Bishop Sharp told 
 them, that except Carstaires were encouraged, and Jerriswood made 
 ane example, they needed never think a man Avould foUow the office 
 of hunting fanaticks ; and upon this all these Avho resolved to folloAV 
 the time, and please the bishops, resolved to give Sharp his will. So 
 the next councill day, after much high and hot debate in the councill, 
 JerrisAvood Avas fyned 9000 merks, (3000 of it to be given to Car- 
 staires for a present rcAvard ;) AndrcAv Stevenson was fyned 1 500 merks, 
 and Patrick Johnston in a 1000, and all three condemned to ly in 
 prison till jNIr Kirkton Avere brought to relieve them. This act bare 
 date JuUy 3d, 1676, and occasioned great complaining. All the 
 reason the councill gave of their severe sentence is, that they found 
 Jerriswood guilty of resisting authority, by Captain Carstaires' pro- 
 duction of his warrand before the councill. But this did not satisfie 
 men of reason ; for, first, it was thought unaccountable that a lybell 
 
 3 A 
 
370 kirkton's history of 
 
 should be proven by the single testimony of ane infamous accuser, 
 against the declaration of 3 unquestionable men, and all the witnesses 
 examined. Next, Carstaires producing of a warrand at the councill 
 table did not prove he produced any warrand to Jerriswood, and 
 indeed he produced none to him, because he hade no warrand him- 
 self at that time. As for the warrand he produced, it was write and 
 subscribed by Bishop Sharp after the deed was done, tho' the bishop 
 gave it a false date long before the true day. It was well known 
 Carstaires had a warrand from the bishop some moneths before, but 
 it is as well known he burnt his warrand in the Earl of Kincairn's 
 house a moneth before he took IMr Kirkton, so the foundation upon 
 Avhich the councill built was a forgery. But at that time they were 
 in such a rage, that, because a great number of the town of Edin- 
 burgh went to see what they would doe in so odious a particular, a 
 question was stated at the councdl table whether all the people in 
 the lobby should be imprisoned or not, and they escapt prison only 
 by one vote. But Sharp and Hatton must have their will ; and it 
 was strange to consider Avhat a flame this spark kindled. The fii'st 
 thing done after the vote was, Hatton sent up a false information 
 of the affah' to his brother, Avherein he accused all who hade spoke 
 against the vote, as if they hade agreed to subvert authority ; upon 
 which the secret councill of Scotland was changed, and all Avho hade 
 spoke against the vote were ejected ; among these were Duke Ha- 
 milton, (who hade said very much,) the lord privy seall, the Earle of 
 Kincairn, formerly Lauderdale's great friend, the Lord Cochrane, 
 and severall others. The next thing they did was, they intercommu- 
 ned all the 16 ministers who hade been formerly denounced rebells, 
 and were not intercomnnnied ; and among these Mr Kirkton hade 
 the fii'st place. But ]Mr Kirkton in his distresse thought fitt to try 
 his friendship at court, and therefore he took the boldness to write to 
 the Duchess of Lauderdale, whohademade great professions of fi-iend- 
 ship to him some little time before ; so he wrote and sent up a true 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 371 
 
 information of the whole affaii" to her, complaining sadly of the wrong 
 that was clone him and his friends. All the kindiiess he hade from 
 her was, (after she hade shewed his letter and information to the 
 duke, who was indeed astonished at the information, confessing he 
 hade never in his life seen two informations differ so far as IVIr Kirk- 
 ton's differed from my Lord Hatton's,) she sent down his letter and 
 information to the enraged counciU, to see what tiiey would make 
 of it for ane accusation. This made Hatton foam, and rage, and 
 swear ; but at that time it Avas not in his power to doe more. The 
 Earle of Kincairn and some others rode to court, to complain and 
 show the king the truth in the matter, and used great plainness with 
 the king, lamenting much that Scotland was abused by Hatton's ty- 
 ranny under his brother's authority, supported alwayes by the king. 
 But all to no purpose, for he hade no more of the king but two or 
 three fair words, and so he came away ; only he and Lauderdale of 
 great friends became bitter enemies, and so continued to the day 
 of their death. Now there was nothing to be seen in the countrey 
 but violence and persecution. A presbyterian might not sett his 
 head out at doors. Poor ]\Ir James GiUon, late minister at Cavers, 
 they catcht lying sick in a house near Edinburgh, and brought him 
 to Edinburgli prison, and so he died within a day or two without 
 so much as ane accusation. At this time also the counciU thovijiht 
 fitt to send for a number of gentlemen out of the west, such as Cas- 
 tlemilk, Dunlop, Aickenhead, A¥estburn, Hardgray, and many 
 more, only because the councill was in a heat ; but the gentlemen, 
 when they were imprisoned, Avere accused of accession to conventi- 
 cles, and so aU of them continued prisoners a long time, and some 
 of them were severely fyned before they were dismist. The minis- 
 ters in the time of this tempest (many of them) withdrew into 
 Northumberland, where many of them sett up the trade they hade 
 followed in the south of Scotland ; especially Mr John Welsh, that 
 
372 KIKKTO^''S HISTORY OF 
 
 arch rebell, uho hndc the confidence at that time to have a dwelUng 
 house near Tweedside, where (I heard him say,) he dwelt as plea- 
 santly for some Aveeks as ever he did in Scotland ; and sometimes, 
 Avhen Tweed was strongly frozen over, he preacht in the midst of the 
 river, that either he might shim the offence of both nations, or at 
 least the two nations might disj^iite his crime. Severall times orders 
 came from above, both from the king, the Bishop of Durham, and 
 others, to banish the Scottish fugitives ; but the English gentry 
 made no haste, so the ministers continued there for that winter. In 
 the mean time of this tempest, the court clamoured so fast against 
 the councill for what they hade done against Jerriswood and his 
 friends, it was thought necessary to liberate Andrew Stevenson and 
 Patrick Johnston within two moneths of thek imprisonment ; so they 
 were sett free both from fyne and perpetual imprisonment. But 
 you most know that this could not be done tiU Mr Stevenson pre- 
 sented Hatton with a piece of good wine, and a parcell of curious 
 lace, and then he permitted justice to be done. As for JerrisAvood, 
 after he hade lyen in prison for 4 moneths, and payed 3000 merks 
 to Carstaires for the rewai'd of his diligence, he was dismist fi-om his 
 imprisonment, and discharged the rest of his fyne, and there was 
 ane end of that particular.* 
 
 But tho' the souldiers were very bussy in catching ministers and 
 suppressing conventicles, some ministers were doing on ; and some- 
 times the military powers were affronted, notwithstanding all their 
 
 * " Jerriswood's father was a son of the Laird of St John's Kirk, who is a cadet of 
 
 I>ammington, who say they are the old BalHol's." — Lord Fountainhall's MS, 
 
 " William Livingstone of Jerriswood sold that estate to George Baillie, merchant in 
 Edinburgh, in the reign of King Charles the First." — Douglas's Peerage. — Baillie, 
 says Fountainhall, married a daughter of Lord Warriston, which first rendered him 
 hostile to government. — He was hanged for treason on the 2ith of December, IGS-i, 
 
THE CHUllCH OF SCOTLAXT). 373 
 
 might and violence ; for a conventicle at Lilisleife Moore, being at- 
 tackt by a party of dragoons, notAvithstanding all the hazard, drew 
 out a few of this company to oppose them, and tho' they were but 
 unarmed countrey people, yet they made not only the dragoons to 
 tremble so that they could hardly keep their armes in their hands, 
 but likewise retreat in great disorder, for which the commander of 
 the party was cashiered by the council! ; and indeed Bishop Sharp 
 was ane angry man. The same happened likewayes at a field con- 
 venticle near Dumbarton, where a company of foot coming to dis- 
 solve a conventicle, they were so stoutly opposed by a company of 
 Highlanders, who did no more but drew out from the conventicle 
 and presented their pieces to the souldiers, which made them all 
 run, and this was the end of a bloodless battle. Yet all this A\'inter 
 and spring was pretty quiet, and alwayes till midsummer, when 
 Lauderdale and his lady came down to Scotland ; and it was thought 
 they made the journey upon her account, for she hade two daugh- 
 ters by her first husband, Sir Lionel Talmash, and for these she 
 thought she might make a better mercat in Scotland than in Eng- 
 land ; one of them she intended to have matched to the Lord jMur- 
 ray, the heir of the JNlarquesse of Athol, my ladies' chief, whom she 
 hade so much engadged ; but that proposal was rejected, which made 
 her tvini her friendship into hatred and threatnings. However, one 
 daughter she married to Argyle's heir, (which was a most unhappy 
 marriage,*) and another to the Earle of INIurray, and so she gott her 
 
 * Kirkton's assertion respecting the unhappiness of this marriage, is confirmed by a 
 letter from the Ear] (afterwards Duivt ) of Argyle, to Mr Carstairs, the intriguing Scot- 
 tish priest, and favourite of the Prince of Orange. — " As to what you say in relation 
 to myself, and my own particular behaviour, I take it very kindly of you. I know it 
 is the effect of your friendship and concern in my person, besides ray family. I do as- 
 sure you, my carriage shall be such as I shall give no just cause of scandal or offence • 
 
374 KIKKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 biissiness done in her noble manner. As for the publict, the con- 
 venticles multiplied, the lav. es in a manner were useless ; the coun- 
 cill cited never a minister, for never one would appear ; if they hade, 
 it was now the fashion to lay them, not in the tolbooth, but in the 
 Basse, and thither all they catcht were sent. After this time a gi-eat 
 part of the nation wholly disowned the episcopal church and clergy ; 
 therefore Lauderdale must doe something to promote the king's 
 darling design. So upon August 2, 1677, a severe proclamation is 
 
 though I know some makes it their business so much to render me criminal, and at 
 least censurable, even where is the least ground, that, whilst I am burdened with the 
 error of the first concoction, I need scarce hope to be free of censure ; should 1 lock 
 myself up in a cage, daily they will be hatching something. There is one thing I know 
 will be clamoured against, that I have sent my two daughters home to Rosneath, de- 
 signing to take the charge of them myself; my reasons for so doing are, since they 
 are mine, and I am bound to provide for them, none can blame. I wish and endea- 
 vour that they be bred up with all duty and love to me, as their father ; which 1 can- 
 not expect in the circumstances they have been in hitherto, living with a mother 
 in those terms with me, and who never in her life showed them either the example of 
 good nature, or duty to their parents ; and who always carries herself to her children 
 to an extream on one side or t'other, by too much fondness, or too much severity. 
 They are coming up to an age in which its presumable they will receive impressions ; 
 and I have not forgot t!ie Latin, ' Quo semel est iinbuia,' &c. But above all, ray chief 
 reason is, she having had lately the charge of her sister Doun's daughter, some years 
 older than any of mine, she did encourage her in things I would not for all the world 
 be guilty of, wher a parent especially, which was to encourage her to wriet little bil- 
 let-dues and letters, to Carnwath, Sir George Lockhart's son and heir ; and by the 
 company she kept by her example, as the Countess of Forfar, Nanny Murray. &c. she 
 had like to a been quite ruined ; and came to that length of impudence, that, dancing 
 with Carnwath in the dancing-school, she squeezed his hand ; all which the youth 
 told, and the girl was sent for home. As you are my undoubted friend, I give you 
 the trouble of all this, though I hope the envious world themselves must acknowledge 
 a father can dispose of his children.'' — Edinburgh, 30 March, 1696. 
 
 This Duke of .'\rgyle, though he pretends to so strict a sense of propriety in his let- 
 ter to Carstairs, did not practice much of what he professed ; he died on the 25th 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 375 
 
 emitted by the councill, by which they require all heritors, ^vadset- 
 ters, life-renters, to engadge by bond, not only for themselves and 
 families, but for all those that lived under them, that none of them 
 shall keep or hear any conventicle, or employ any outted minister 
 for baptisme, and that under the highest penalties appointed by for- 
 mer laws, (which are there repeated). Also the forme of the bond 
 is annexed to the proclamation, to the same purpose ; and this pro- 
 clamation occasioned afterward a great deall of heavy trouble. But 
 notwithstanding the bond which was to be pressed upon the countrey, 
 Lauderdale was very frequent in his discourses about a 3d indul- 
 gence, and many addresses there were made to him for that purpose. 
 Severall had promises of favour who Avere among the greatest suf- 
 ferers, particularly these who were intercommuned and prisoners in 
 the Basse, and when all was done the expectation ended in just no- 
 Sept. 1703, of bruises received in a brothel. — The following paragraph is extracted 
 from a newspaper, dated Sept. 1810. — " On Monday se'nnight, the remains of a hu- 
 man skeleton were dug up on the bank side, near the southern end of Stephenson 
 Street, North Shields ; an old house was lately pulled down near the spot, to enlarge the 
 street, and within a few yards of its site the bones were discovered. A few years ago 
 another skeleton was dug up near the same place ; it is believed this was the old house 
 whereini in 1703, the Duke of Argyle, then resident at Chirton, received so many 
 bruises and wounds in a night brawl, as to occasion his death shortly after ; it was oc- 
 cupied by Paphian nymphs, and often resorted to by the noble profligate." — In a col- 
 lection of MS. lampoons, in the editor's possession, are " Lynes on the Duke of Ar- 
 gyle, that died in his w — e's arms in England, 28 Sept. 1703," — of which this is the 
 eommencement : 
 
 " Pluto did frown, but Proserpine did smile 
 
 Att hell, to hear the knocks of old Argyle. 
 
 Pluto cried out, Let no gates opened be, 
 
 If he come heir he'll surelie cuckold me. 
 
 To which the queen replied, with sighs and groausj 
 
 No fear, my Hedge," &c. &c. 
 
376 kirkton's history or 
 
 thing.* The bishops stickled so much in it, Lauderdale told the 
 prcsbyterians, he behooved to be at London before any thing was 
 
 * " October 1677. — Whence all this favour came to the non-conformists seemed 
 strange to some ; it was a politique of my Lord Duke of Lauderdale and his duchesse 
 to render himselfe gracious and acceptable to the hearts of the people, and regain hi> 
 lost credit, which undoubtedly was likewayes a caus(j^that made him listen and give 
 ear to ana indulgence and accomodation with the presbyterians, for he was serious in 
 it, and did it not meerly to cajoll or gull them ; the carriers on of it were the presi- 
 dent, Argyle, Melvill, and Arniston, with James Stewart and the ministers of that 
 party, who were allowed freely to come to Edinburgh j they offered to raise L. 15000 
 sterling presently for my Lord Lauderdale's service, and to contrive the elections so 
 that in a parliament he should carrie a subsidy, and the president gett a ratification of 
 what he pleased, providing their indulgence ware secured to them by act of parliament, 
 so that it might not be nixt day recalled. All thir propositions my Lord Lauderdale 
 i^reedily imbraced ; but when they came to explain the way how they would effectual 
 all this, he could not comprehend it so weell, wheirupon it stood. The bishops, on the 
 other hand, finding this to strike at the very vitalls of their occupation, and Diana's 
 shrynes, they to counterbalance, resolve to ply, and bid as fair as they are able, to get 
 his majesties' supremacy in spirituall matters so qualified that the king may give way 
 to erect a court of hy commission again, in which they may act by themselfs against all 
 recusants. It is like, if this ware granted them, it might prove a very ready means to 
 break their neck. 
 
 " At last my Lord Lauderdale at the secret council, on the 9th of Oct., publictly 
 disouned that ever their had been a treaty or capitulation between him and the non- 
 conformists, leist the rumour thereof might prejudge him in the affections of the Eng- 
 lish clergy ; and it was reported that the Archbishop of St Andrews had writ of it to 
 Canterbury, and Morley Bishop of Winchester, and they had applied to his majestic, 
 who wrote peremptorly to my Lord Lauderdale to desist. However, he ceast not to 
 doe favours to private persons of that party, as we have instanc't already, in relieving 
 their persons or fynes. At this time also, one IM'Kilichan, a minister in the Basse, 
 was liberat, but confined to the Isle of Skie, or Isla ; and another called Mr William 
 Hog, was confined to Kintyre ; some hardly lookt upon thir transportations as any 
 curtesie; however, they will have occasion to plant the gospell in those barbarous 
 places, which is more meritorious than to labour in their ministry- heir, where there is 
 eneugh already." — Lord Foijntainh all's MS. 
 
THi: CHURCH OF SCOTI.AXL). 377 
 
 done in that affaii*. But when the alarme of this bond came to the 
 west countrey, it caused great thoughts of heart, that men should 
 be bound for these they could not command, was to obUdge men to 
 impossibilities. No counceUor could or durst engadge for his own 
 family ; how can the countrey gentlemen, whose power is much 
 weaker, engadge for a desperate multitude ? Upon this occasion the 
 noblemen, gentlemen, and heritors, in the shu-e of Air, mett toge- 
 ther at Air, and choised the Earle of Loudon president. Then af- 
 ter they had considered the affair, they agreed to write to the coun- 
 cUl, and thereby to excuse themselves for refusing the bond which 
 they could not keep, offering like way es a more pi'oper expedient for 
 settling the peace of the country, and that was, that the king would 
 be pleased to enlarge the indulgence. This ga^-e the councill high 
 displeasure, and this began the sad charactei* which Loudon wore 
 to his death, and forced him to his voluntary exile afterwai'ds, in 
 which he ended his dayes at Leiden.* The bond found no better 
 
 * This Earl of Loudon was the son of the Chancellor Loudon, a creature of the 
 Marquis of Argyle, by whom, and by his marriage with the heiress of Loudon, he was 
 promoted to public trusts that he betrayed, and dignities of which he was but little de- 
 serving. His lady ruled him with an imperious sway, having it in her power, through 
 his conjugal infidelities, to divorce him at pleasure. This countess was ever a staunch 
 covenanter, though she sometimes found it convenient to dissemble. Bishop Guthrie 
 tells us, " that after the battle of Kilsyth, the Marquis of Montrose sent Macdonald, 
 with a party, to the west, to frighten them that had not come to express tlieir submis- 
 sion, and to him all did homage ; and no where found he so hearty a welcome as at 
 Loudon Castle, where the chancellor's lady embraced him in her arms, and having 
 treated him very sumptuously, sent afterwards her servant, John Haldane, with him, 
 to present her service to the IMarquis of Montrose." — The second earl succeeded to 
 his father's titles and political principles, but seems also to have inherited the cautious 
 temper of his mother. After the skirmish at Drumclog, lie received some of the rebels 
 into his house, but took care not to appear publicly among them. Robert Smith, in 
 his Liformation printed in the Appendix to the Bishop of Rochester's Account of the 
 
 3 B 
 
;37S kirkton's history Of 
 
 reception in Clidesdale, wliere there was a great meeting of heritors 
 at Hamilton ; and the Dvike of Hamilton being at this time highly 
 displeased with the proceedings of the councill, and a great enemy 
 to the bond, knowing well he could not answer for his own family, 
 the bond was rejected even by them who were of no principle but 
 
 horrid Conspiracy, &c. declares, " the same night after that skirmish, I was at the 
 Earl of Lowdon's house, with Robert Hamilton, John Balfour, and David Haxton, 
 (both murderers of the late Archbishop of St Andrews,) John Ker in Minebole, and 
 several others, in number about twenty-seven horse. The earl himself was in the house, 
 and I saw him pass into the garden ; but I did not perceive that he came into our com- 
 pany, though I have reason to believe that Robert Hamilton was with his lordship and 
 his lady in some of the chambers, because I saw him leaving us all of his company in 
 the great hall, and going into the private rooms, where I am sure was my lady, as I 
 do not doubt but my lord was also, for it was from thence that I saw him pass into the 
 n-arden: but my lady did publickly that night entertain and lodge all the company." 
 The lady alluded to, whose zeal could make her act the hostess to a crew of rebels and 
 murderers, was a daughter of the Earl of Eglintoune. But though so piously given, 
 she seems to have deeply offended one martyr of her own sect, John Nisbet of Hard- 
 hill, who makes a figure in Wodrow's History, and other chronicles of the like nature, 
 having a siveetness in his last sufferings, when hanged in the Grass-market of Edinburgh, 
 (1685,) for his accession to the rebellions of Pentland, Bothwell Bridge, &c. On the 
 day of his death he wrote the following letter to the Countess of Loudon, which is pre- 
 served among the Wodrow MSS. 
 
 «' Now, noble ladie, being within ane howre or two at the most to eternitie, and 
 knowing soe much of your ladieship's crewalltie to me and niyne, and to others alsoe 
 whom I need not now name, I owt of respect to your ladieship's immortall sowll's 
 Weill being, earnestlie desyres and requeists your ladieship to forbeire such courses as 
 ye have formerlie followed, or the bowse of Lowdone shall be as voyd of the name of 
 Cambells as the Hardhill is now of Nisbcts ; your ladieshipe may posablie startle at my 
 fredome, hot now when I am within ane howre or two at the most of eternitie, I tell you 
 this out of the respect that I have to the house of Loudon. O beware and turne from 
 thes courses, aqd turne to the Lord with all your heart and soull, or as the Lord lives 
 he shall root owt you and yours root and breanch. Yea, tho' ye and yours were as 
 
THE CHCRCH OF SCOTI,ANl>. 379 
 
 to save their estate. But the letter from Air, together with the in- 
 crease and boldness of the conventicles, put our governours upon 
 new resolutions. They perceived the obstinacy of the west rooted 
 in their conscience would prove incureable ; the same tliey found 
 in many other places of the countrey in proportion. And amongst 
 all the conventicles at this time, two were most noticed ; one w^as 
 
 the signet on his riglit hand, &c. he shall cast you and them out, without reall re- 
 pentance ; and for all that ye have done to me and myne, first or last, I freelie forgive 
 you ; I have met with some of your ladieship's childreine, which was no small refresh- 
 ment to me to find that they had any thing of gifts or seeming grace, bot be ye tender 
 of them, and doe not force them to any thing they are not cleire to doe ; it will be verie 
 sad for your ladieship to have your childreine to curse yow. Tho' I allwayes esteemed 
 of Mr A. S. as a mane of knowledge and understanding, yet I was alwayes persuaded 
 he was brought to the parrich of Lowdone for a snaire to it, bot especiallie for a snaire 
 to the bowse of Lowdone ; it's my sowH's desyre, ye and many might get your sowU 
 for a pray. 
 
 " John Nisbet. 
 
 Nisbet's examination before the council, written by himself, is well worthy of peru- 
 sal, as it affords a striking example of the bigotted simplicity which characterized his 
 sect, and so frequently exasperated the temper of the opposite party. He would not 
 acknowledge the Duke of York to be king because he was a Roman Catholic. " They 
 asked him next, if he, and such as he joyned with, were clear to joyn with Argyle i' 
 No more, answered he, than with you. Another asked, if they would have joyned 
 Monmouth ? He answered. No. Said another, in banter, it seems they will have no 
 king but Mr Renwick, and asked if he conversed with any other ministers than Mr 
 Renwick ? John answered, he did not." He concludes, " This is what past that was 
 material. As to drinking of healths, never one of them spoke one word to me, east 
 or west, .'^s to praying for their king, one of them said he knew I was that much of 
 a Christian that I would pray for all men. I tohl them, I reckoned myself bound to 
 pray for all ; but prayer being institute by a holy God, who was the hearer of prayer, 
 no Christian was obliged to prayer, when every profligate commanded them ; and it 
 
 was of no advantage to their cause, when they suffered such a thing." 
 
 9 
 
380 kirkton's history Ol' 
 
 at Erkfurd, in Teviotdale, where there were many tliousands ; 
 another at Girvin, in the west, where Mv Welsh celebrated the 
 communion in the fields among many thousands, and no small 
 number of armed men. The multitudes animated the poor com- 
 mon people, and truely they hade no more respect to the laws than 
 they believed there was equity in tliem. The counciU sett a high 
 price upon jNIr Welsh his head, and for that he never rode without 
 a guard of horsemen, sometimes more, sometimes less, but seldom 
 excecdintj the number of ten horsemen. Another accident at this 
 time helped to inflame the displeasure of our govemours, and that 
 was this : Captain Carstaires was at that time very bussie in the east 
 end of Fyffe ; the Lady Colvill he chased out of her own house, 
 and by constraining her to ly upon the mountains broke the poor 
 ladle's health ; ^\^illiam Sherthumb he laid in prison, but the doores 
 were opened and he sett free. But the poor people of that countrey 
 who were conventiders knew not what to doe ; so some dozen of 
 them mett at Kinloch, the house of John Balfour, a bold man, who 
 was himself present, and with him Alexander Hamilton of KincaiU, 
 a most irreconcileable enemy to the bishops ; also Robert Hamilton, 
 younger son to Sir Robert Hamilton of Preston,* a man who had 
 
 * His father's name was Thomas, not Robert. Sir Robert Hamilton, by his first 
 wife, Anne, second daughter of his cousin Sir James Hamilton of Preston, had two 
 sons, William and Robert. By his second wife, Rachel, sister of Bishop Burnet, and 
 widow of Sir Thomas Nicholson of Cockburnspath, king's advocate, he had no issue. 
 He died in 1672. Burnet, speaking of the Covenanters in 1679, says, " The person that 
 led them had been bred by me when I lived at Glasgow, being the younger son of Sir 
 Thomas Hamilton, who had married my sister, but by a former wife : he was then a 
 lively hopeful young man, but getting into that company, and into their notions, he 
 became a crack-brained enthusiast." Vol I.p.Vll. Swift, or Captain Creichton, de- 
 scribes Hamilton, of the loyal house of Preston, as a. pro/Ugate, who had spent all his 
 patrimony. 
 
THE CHURCH Ol' SCOTLAND. 381 
 
 very latly changed his character, and of a loose youth became a high- 
 strained zealot ; but a man he was who made a great deall more noise 
 than ever he did bussiness ; and some countrey men more. Of these 
 Carstaires gets intelligence, and so comes upon them very boldly 
 with his party of some 8 or 9 horses ; among whom Philip Garret, a 
 desperate English tinker, was chief Garret alights, and perceiving 
 a man standing in the door of the house, foes upon him, but misses 
 liim ; upon which one out of the chamber fires upon Garret, being 
 at that time in the court of the house ; the sliot pierced Garret's 
 shoulder, and made him fall. Carstaires fired in at another door, 
 and piei'ced the leg of a man in the house ; but upon this all v/ithin 
 horsed and chased Carstaires and his party, the' no more blood was 
 shed, only Kincaill's horse was shott, and Garret received some more 
 blows with a sword, but his life was spared. This action, upon Car- 
 staires' information, was reckoned resistance and rebellion. All pre- 
 sent, because they appeared not when called, were denunced rebells, 
 and some who were not present were denunced with the rest, as it 
 was very frequently done ; but this was charged upon the whole 
 party. Also about tins time Sir John Nisbit, because he refused to 
 lend the Lady Lauderdale money, was turned out of his place, and 
 Sii- George JM'Kenzie placed king's advocate in his roome. This 
 man was thought fitt for the state's design, and was a man that in- 
 clined more to serve than moderate the resolutions of the state. 
 
 But novv' at length our governoiu's and politicians began to dis- 
 cover the lock into which they were brought betwixt the peremp- 
 tory establishment of episcopal government, which A\'as tlie king's 
 pleasure, and the absolute aversion of the dissenters on the other 
 hand, which was the people's conscience. Their principles were the 
 same they hade been at fiist ; and now inflamed by the irritations 
 of their sufferings, their professions were every day more bold, their 
 conventicles multiplied, the number of the field-preachers increast 
 
382 KIl'.KTDX'S HISTORY OF 
 
 as the states multiplied outlaws ; not only were our laws disdained, 
 but the forces opposed and affronted ; and indeed the government 
 was but owned by a part of the people. Now the question is. 
 What remedy ? either they most slacken episcopacy, or destroy 
 the people, as they conceive, for a temper they cannot find. It is 
 at last resolved upon the last, they will destroy them they cannot 
 govern, and they will cutt off the limb they cannot heal. But be- 
 cause this was so ugly a design, they most varnish it with a colour, 
 and this is that of which they make choice : They resolve to bring 
 down anc army of barbarous Highlanders upon the west coimtrey. 
 and quarter them there till the people of the coimti'ey were cleared 
 to take the bond. Then our state hoped either they should subdue 
 their consciences, or perhaps, by the oppression of the Highlanders, 
 turn wise men mad, and drive the people into some tmmdt, insur- 
 rection, or Avarre, and then the king should have a fair quarrell to 
 extirpate them, and tm-n their countrey into a hunting forrest, ac- 
 cording to the Duke of York's wish, as was reported. It is well 
 knoAvn there is more people in one county in the Avest than in other 
 three elsewhere ; but the number of poor innocent people is not ane 
 argument to be laid in the baUance with the king's pleasure. The 
 west countrey was the head-quarter of the fanaticks so much ab- 
 horred by the king, and therefore it was thought better the coim- 
 trev shoidd be laid waste than inhabited by such wretches. And 
 now, in order to the furthering this good work, fiist the king writes 
 down a letter to the councill, Avherein he earnestly requires them 
 bv any means to suppresse and destroy conventicles, and settle the 
 countrey by their rules ; and if they be not of force enough, he 
 offers them the assistance of his English armies to be sent down to 
 them. Now, tho' ye may believe this letter of the king's was of 
 their own procurement, yet the councill made it the spring of all 
 that Avas done afterward ; thereupon the councill leavy and modell 
 
THE CHUKCH OF SCOTI-AXD. 383 
 
 ane army, which was known in Scotland by the name of the High- 
 land Host, commanding and requireing the 3Iarquies of Athol, 
 Earles of INIurray, Kaithnes, Perth, Strathmore, and Airly, to ga- 
 ther Avhat power of men they could, and Lithgow with his regi- 
 ment to joyn them, and strcight to march to the west coimtrey 
 upon free quarter if once they Avere passed Stirling Bridge, giving 
 to this army full power and commission to disarm the people of 
 the w est countrey, to take from them their horses, to put garrisons 
 in such places as they thought fitt ; sending with them a court of 
 Justiciary, before whom they might conveen any man in the coun- 
 trey, that there the}' might be punished, promising them indem- 
 nity for any thing should be done this way ; requireing the people 
 of these countreys to take the bond when they should be requu-ed. 
 And this was the substance of the commission, bearing date Dec. 
 16, 1677. The IMarquess of Huntley is appointed to keep the north 
 quiet, and preserve the Highlanders' houses and families while 
 they are about their master's bussiness in the west countrey. But 
 before the Highlandei'S made the attempt upon the west countrey, 
 our councill thought fitt to season Scotland with one example of 
 severity more, and that was Mitchell's death ; him they brought 
 from the Bass before Sir Archibald Primrose, at that time justice- 
 generall ; for the Lady Lauderdale, finding the register's place one 
 of the most lucrative places within the kingdome, hade thought 
 good to remove him fi-om the office of register, and put Sir Thomas 
 IVIurray, a friend of her own, in the office ; and he hade indeed the 
 name of the office^ but she hade from him the profits of the place, 
 he being only register nominal ; but to stop Sir Archibald's mouth, 
 they bestowed upon him the office of justice-generall, and sore 
 against his heart. However, Mitchell is brought before him, and 
 accused of his imsuccessfull attempt to kill Bishop Sharp. This 
 lybell is proven by his own judicial confession ; but because it was 
 
;iR4 KIRKTOX'S HISTORY OF 
 
 answered he confessed only upon promise of life, which promise 
 was turned into ane act and recorded in the clerk's book, the 
 "•randces who hade promised him his life are brought before the 
 justice, and there make faith (contrare to the sense of all Scotland) 
 that they never hade promised any such thing ; upon wdiich he was 
 condemned to be hanged in the Grassmercate, which sentence was 
 accordingly execute. Sir Archibald boasted to his friends, that if 
 Lauderdale made him losse his place, he hade the pleasure to see 
 liim losse his soul by perjury ; hoAvever, the sentence held good. 
 Two dayes after the sentence was pronvxnced by the justice, Bishop 
 Sharp procured a more severe sentence from com-t to be execute 
 upon him, and that was, that his head and hand might be fixed on 
 the city gates ; but because this sentence came after the legal sen- 
 tence was pronunced, the bishop mist the pleasure of his revenge. 
 Mitchell died avowing the act, and also justifying it, and there was 
 ane end of his tragedy.* 
 
 * " 7, 8, 9, and 10 days of Januar, 1678, Mr James Mitcliel was upon the pannell 
 at the criminal court for shutting at the Archbishop of St Andrews. He was senten- 
 cet on the 10, and was hang'd on the 18 of Januar thereafter. The law that reached 
 his life was the ■i act of the Pari: 1600, against invading and pershuing of councellors, 
 tho' it was only made ad terrorem, and in dissuetude, and never practised as to the 
 pain of death ; for otherwayes, Coiiatiis sine effedu consiimmaio nunquam puiiitur capi- 
 taliter. There was much debate anent the way of proving the qualification of the said 
 act of Par: that the archbishop was invaded for doing his majesties service, for that 
 being animi can only be spelled out by presumptions. Mr John Wans, in his oath, 
 was more positive than any other for proving this ; for he declared, that having ask- 
 ed Mr M. how he could adventure in cold blood to assassinat a man, especially a 
 churchman, and on who had never wronged him, he answered, ' And call you that cold 
 blood, when the blood of the saints (meaning those execute in 1667 for the rebellion 
 1666) is yet reeking hot at the croce of Edin. ?' The justices found it was not eneugh 
 to prove the assaulting a privy councellor, but the qualification of the act of Par: be- 
 hooved likewayes to be proven. As to the demembration of the Bishop of Orkney, it 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 385 
 
 And now the Highland Host (as it Avas called) appear upon the 
 stage. The west countrey men must be tempted by a sharp tenta- 
 tion, to see if possibly their despair in resistance might excuse their 
 
 was alledged the 28 act, Ja. i. anno I'lDl, makes it not capitall. The advocate, Sir 
 G. M'Kenzie, at last declared he past pro loco et tempore from the demembration, in 
 so far as it might import idtinmm sicpplicium ; then alledged, he was not guilty oi assas- 
 siniian, because Carpsovius, in Iiis Praxis Criminalis Saxonica, shews that crime is only 
 committed by on who is hyred with money to kill another ; then he denied the fact, 
 as also his former confession, as also revocked it as extrajudicial!, not being made be- 
 fore the judge competent, viz. a quorum of the justices and the assize, but only before 
 some councellors, and so it was not binding, but null, and cited Bossius his Practica Cri- 
 miitalis, Julius Clarus, and Ant: Matthaeus in ther Criminalis, and the advocat's oune 
 book of criminall law. The lords of the justiciary found the confession, being emitted 
 before the Duke of Lauderdale, being then the king's commissioner, and the commit- 
 tee of the council, was judicial!, and that it could not be retracted by him. Then al- 
 ledged, it was a confession elicit by torture, and so revokable. This was repelled, 
 because when he confesset there was nather torture nor threats adhibit. Then he 
 founded on a promise of his life. This the advocat debated against as not relevant, 
 and cited iEgidius Bossius, who, tittdo de examin: reorum, 15 and 16, sayes, Judex qui 
 induxit reum ad co)ifitendum sub jnomissiotie Venice non tenetur servare promissum inforo 
 contentioso, which seems to be ane disingcnous opinion. The lords sustained the pro- 
 mise of life relevant. Then the witnesses ware examined, the greatest that ever ap- 
 peared in a criminall cause with us. The Duke of Lauderdale, the Chancelor, the 
 Archbishop of St Andrews, Bishop of Galloway, Haltoun, Sir John Nisbet, (but he 
 was not examined,) they declared they hard him confesse, and denied they knew any 
 thing of the promise and assurance given him for his life. The pannel! entreated the 
 chancellor to remember the honour of the family of Rothes, and to mind that he took 
 him by the hand, and said, ' Jacobe man, confesse, and as I am chancellor of Scot- 
 land, ye shall be safe in lifife and limb.' All the chancellor returned was, that he hoped 
 his reputation was not yet so low as that what the pannel! said atlier their or elsewhere 
 would be credited, since he had sworne. The pannell still averred the contraire. The 
 archbishop on oath likewayes denies any promise of life, saying it was not in his power 
 to grant remissions. Nicoll Somervell the agent, brother-in-law to the pannell, boldly 
 contradicted him, and bid him remember such and such- tymes and words, and seem- 
 
 3c 
 
386 KlUKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 much-desired destruction. They rendivouze at Stirling, June 2-i, 
 1678, to the number of 8000 men, with the northern lords, collo- 
 neUs, and lairds their captains. After they past Stirling they car- 
 
 ed to make his narration very probable. The archbishop fell in a mighty chafF and 
 passion, exceedingly unbecoming his station and the circumstances he was then stated 
 in, and fell a scolding before thousands of onlookers. Nicoll yielded in nothing ; and 
 after the bishop had sworne, he cryed out that upon his salvation what he had affirmed 
 was true; which was to accuse the archbishop of downright perjurie ; but it was over- 
 looked because jtisto dolori temperare non poterat, and the misfortune was, that few 
 there but they believed Nicoll better than the archbishop. 
 
 " Then Sir George Lockhart and Mr John Elies, advocats for the pannell, produ- 
 ced ane act of secret councell, bearing, that they revocked the assurance of life given 
 him, because of his disingenuity. This the Duke of Lauderdale stormed at, and told 
 he came in obedience to a citation upon his majesties letters of exculpation to depone, 
 but not to be staged for perjurie. The justices repelled the said act as not probative, 
 and because not produced debito tempore before the said noble witnesses ware sworne, 
 and because it was clearly redargued and convelled by the depositions of the privy 
 councellors denying the same. Yet the principal was written by Hew Stevensone, 
 margined and interlined in sundry places by Sir John Nisbet, then king's advocat, and 
 they abstracted the books and would not produce them, at magis credcndum clerico in 
 actibus officii, quam judici ; and it choaked the principles of both critninall law and 
 equity to say it was to late, for nunquam in criminalibus concluditur contra ream any 
 time before the enclosing the assize. 
 
 " (For proving and instructing his confession, which he denied, they adduced the 
 privy councellors as witnesses before whom he emitted the same ; which may be ques- 
 tioned if it be a regular probation, yea or no, to prove a confession by witnesses, but 
 lieir it was in fortification of the written one.) 
 
 " And it was thought strange they startled so at it, since they saw it and heard it 
 before they came their ; and it struck many with no small amazement to see that act 
 denyed by the chancellor and others, for it's generally yet believed there was truely 
 such a thing, and it was freely talkt that if such tripping had fallen an.ong mean per- 
 sons, it would have been highly censured. And thus they hunted this poor man to 
 death, a prey not worthy of so much pains, trouble, and obloquie as thej' incurred 
 by it, and some of their oune friends and well-wishers desired they had never dipt in 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 387 
 
 ried as if they hade been in ane enemies countrey, living upon free 
 quarter where ever they came. They spread themselves through 
 the whole counties of Clidesdale, Renfrew, Cuuninghame, Kyle, 
 
 it, but only keept him in perpetuall imprisonment, for it made a wonderfull noice in 
 tlie countr)', who generally believed the law was streatched, and they feared prepara- 
 tives ; and satyres and bitter verses immediatly flew abroad like hornets in great 
 swarmes, which were caressed and pleasantly receaved, speaking much acrimony and 
 ane almost universall discontent. Sir G. Lockhart defended him with admirable 
 strength of reason and expression, but he would not communicat councells with Mr 
 EUes, tho' comanded to it by the lords, and some thought his late producing that act 
 of secret councell was ane oversight, others judged it a desyne to entrap the duke and 
 the other witnesses, and to reflect on them. The debate in the adjournall books weill 
 deserves reading ; for it was on of the most solemne criminall trialls had been in Scot- 
 land thesse 100 years. Halton deponed, that he confessed to him he lurked that night 
 after he had shott the pistol! in Sir A. Primrose's (then register) his yaird, with ou 
 Canon of Mandrogat and others. He was but a simple melancholy man, and ounes 
 the fact in the papers he left behind him as ane impulse of the spirit of God, and jus- 
 tifies it from Phineas killing Cosbi and Zimri, and from that law Deutero: command- 
 ing to kill false prophets that seduced the people from the true God. This is a dan- 
 gerous principle, and asserted by no sober presbyterian. On the scaffold they beat 
 drums when he began to touch the chancellor. They say Major Jonston undertook 
 to stob him if he had attempted ane escape, or any had offered to rescue him. The 
 secret councell would have given him ane reprivall, if the archbishop would have but 
 consented it was judged ane argument of a bad deplorat cause that they summon- 
 ed and picked out ane assyse of souldiers under the king's pay, and others who, as 
 they imagined, would be clear to condemne him. Doctor Irving and John Jossie 
 ware most unwilling to depone upon oath on the quality of the wound, alledging a 
 priviledge or exception to their profession ; but they ware not dispenced with, and it's 
 like they had been imprisoned if they had absolutely refused. If he did not shot the 
 pistoll, yet he deserved death (as Mr Hicks suggested to the king's advocat) because 
 he boasted he was the doer of it, and that by David's decision, 2 Samuel), cliapter 1. 
 V. 16."— Foontainhall's MSS. vol. 1. 
 
 Mitchell, after his attempt upon the archbishop, was greatly caressed by his party, 
 and when he took a wife, who sold tobacco and brandy, Mr John Welsh himself per- 
 
388 KIKKTOM'S HISTOUY OF 
 
 Carrick ; Galloway they did not reach. They execute their com- 
 mission exactly ; they disarmed the whole countrey once more, 
 they unhorsed the gentry, they constitute their committees, and 
 
 formed the marriage ceremony. " He was a lean hollow cheeked man, of a truculent 
 countenance, and had the air of an assassin as much as a man could have. He came 
 
 with his periwig powder'd to the bar." Raviilac Redivivus In a letter written after 
 
 his sentence, he left " his testimony against and abhorrence of balls, bordelles, moun- 
 tebanks, acts of comedies^ festival days, viz. at Yule and Pentecost, which are all the 
 product of a profane and perfidious clergy : all of them being instigated by Satan, as 
 fitted instruments for exciting and stirring up of lust to this apostat and rebellious ge- 
 neration against God, his truth, covenant, and people, and cause." Napihali. — One is 
 astonished to find a person of Mitchell's profession and purity use such an expression 
 as this. " I was the space of nine or ten weeks, as I thought, in a heavenly life, but 
 doleful was the after-clap, that came ere all was done." — Of the satires and bitter verses 
 that Fountainhall mentions as flying about after his condemnation, one is still extant 
 in MS., and printed here, merely as a specimen of the mean poetry for which party 
 spirit and spleen will find admirers. The annotations in the margin are given exactly 
 as they are arranged in the original. 
 
 Mitchell that designed to murder Dr Sharp, Archbishop of St Andreivs, his Ghost, l67S. 
 
 " And are you, mighty men, come out indeed 
 
 To kill a flie, or break a bruised reed ? 
 
 The chiefest churchmen, statesmen, laweers too, 
 
 Contriv'd to act, in law which cannot doe. 
 
 It seems your French trade, sir, (a) is at a stance, («) Duke Lauderdale. 
 
 Pray, doe not cheat the honest King of France ; 
 
 Or does the king misdout Achitophell, 
 
 When he's come down, you'll see, to hang hirasell ? 
 
 He lately tript, and now must make amends, 
 
 He has drawn blood, and slain a louse, God sain's ! — 
 
 A sacrifice to please my Lord of London, (b) (?<) Bishop of London. 
 
 Indeed a laimer sure could not be found one. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 J 89 
 
 before them they cited the whole heritors ; and tho' many took 
 their Highland bond, (as it was called,) yet the body of the gentry 
 refused it, being well encouraged to this constancy by the resolu- 
 tion of the greatest within the countrey, Duke Hamilton, Loudon, 
 Cochrane ; but especially my Lord Cassills his constancy was much 
 noticed, who, tho' he was urged by the committee in the west, and 
 tho' his cause was transported to the secret councill at Edinburgh, 
 yet still held out to the last ; and it was observed at that time, that 
 the heritors who hade taken the Highland bond, and their tennants, 
 
 But now it's said be many, and made good 
 My ladie's given to flesh, (c) my lord to blood. 
 In the old cause your father led the van, (d) 
 But you bring up the rear with Lady Ann ; (e) 
 Ane lo3'all subject, and a true, God wott, 
 And trades his master's footsteps every jott. 
 Oh ! the brave Primate, and his lying brother, 
 A lovely pair^ (y) pray shew me such another ! 
 Who trusts their word without their write is wise, 
 Deserves he not ane Mitchelin assize ? 
 That crooked Vulcan (g) will the bellows blow 
 Till he'll set all on fire, and then he'll goe 
 A packing to his Highland hills to hide him. 
 And loves not Mars, (/;) for Venus' sake, beside him, 
 Because through ways unworthy and unjust, 
 Betrayes the just, and murders under trust. 
 Two atheists swore, (?) advis'dly did they so ? — 
 Yes, and the rest at randome — O brave show ! 
 They have consulted sure the advocat, 
 The owtted laweers says he's good at that : 
 Of witnesses, assizers, and of judges, 
 
 For swearing, w g, and base subterfuges, 
 
 Of such ani- hellish crew let Mitchell rest, 
 Of all the pack (bad as he was) the best." 
 
 (f) Dutchess Lauderdale. 
 
 id) Chancellor Rothes. 
 
 (c) Lady Ann, sister to the DiJje of 
 Gordon, whom he led through 
 the cuntrie in men's clothes. 
 
 (/) Dr Sharp, and his brother Sir 
 William. 
 
 (g) Sir Geo. Mackenzie, the king's 
 advocat, and honour of his na- 
 tion. 
 
 (/() By Mars is meaned the Vis. Dim- 
 die, who wes thought to be too 
 familiar with his lady. 
 
 (i) Dr Irvine, and Samuel Weslie, 
 apothecar. 
 
390 KIRKTON'S HISTORY OF 
 
 suffered as much as tliey that refused it, for that sort of cattell who 
 were their executioners were not inured to a rule. Many of these 
 lords in the west offered the states a sort of security which they 
 called a Ratihabition, which some thought went a very great length, 
 yet it was not accepted ; so the states and the west countrey agreed 
 not at that time. As for the oppressions, exactions, injuries, and 
 ci-uelties committed by the Highlanders among the poor people of 
 the west countrey, it is a bussiness above my reach to describe ; 
 thei*e is a whole book written upon that subject, Avherein the list is 
 more particular and full than ever my information could reach ; 
 and a thinking man may apprehend what a company of barbarous 
 Highlanders would doe, when they were sent upon design to turn 
 the innocent people of the west countrey mad by their oppressions, 
 in which office mdeed you may believe they were very faithfuU ; 
 yet when, after a few weeks experience, our governours perceived 
 the west countrey would not rise in amies (as was hoped), but 
 would continue patient under their tyrrany, they began to be 
 ashamed they hade chosen ane expedient both ineffectual and odi- 
 ous to the world's end, as it was unparalell'd in the history of the 
 world from the beginning. 
 
 So after the Highlanders hade to the outmost tempted the pa- 
 tience of these poor people, tho' the devouring souldiers wearied 
 not, our councill thought good to conclude this cruell expedition ; 
 and therefore, in the end of February, they sent home the High-, 
 landers, but continued the low countrey men till Aprile 24, when 
 Lithgow, the commander-in-chief, hade orders to dismiss them all, 
 and so he did. But when this goodly army retreated homeward, 
 you would have thought by their baggage they hade been at the 
 sack of a besieged city ; and therefore, when they passed Stirling 
 Bridge, every man di'ew his sword to shew the world they hade 
 returned conquerors from their enemies land, but they might as 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. o91 
 
 well have shovven the pots, pans, girdles, shoes taken oft' coimtrey 
 men's feet, and other bodily and household furniture with which 
 they were loadened ; and among them all none purchast so well as 
 the two Earles Airly and Strathmore, chiefly the last, Avho sent 
 home the money, not in purses, but in baggs and gi-eat quantities. 
 Yet under all this oppression the poor people bare all ; only in 
 Kampsey there was one of the plunderers killed by a countrey 
 man, who yet escaped punishment.* 
 
 Nevertheless the resentment our rulers hade entertained against 
 the great men in the west for refuseing the bond continued, and to 
 it they imputed the obstinacy of the people In the countrey encou- 
 raged by their example. This brought our rulers upon thouglits of 
 pursueing these great men with moi'e severity. Upon the other 
 side, the barbarities in the government, and fears of more danger, 
 leaA'en'd strangely the spirits not only of the poor whiggs, but of 
 all indifferent spectators, especially these gentlemen who hade 
 helped well to establish bishops, and taken the declaration, and this 
 made them once to resolve to try what grace they might find in 
 the king's eyes, foreasmuch as they believed fii-mly they had ap- 
 proven themselves loyal subjects, the only saving grace required in 
 these times. So a number of noblemen (to the number of sixteen) 
 made a journey to London, among whom D. Hamilton was chief; 
 and severall who were not at all concern'd in the Highland host, 
 such as Roxburgh and Haddington, yea, some that hade been 
 named officers in the Highland host, such as Atholl and Perth, 
 will needs bear the rest company, to represent to the king the mi- 
 series of Scotland. Fourty gentlemen of the best quality in the 
 south and west attended this company, and upon the same design ; 
 
 * It is most remarkable, that not one whig lost his life during the invasion of these 
 Highland crusaders. 
 
392 KIRKTOX'S HISTORY 01' 
 
 and this raised the expectation of some of the poor opprest people 
 of Scotland. \^nien Atholl and Perth were upon their journey, 
 they took their way through Annandale towards Carlyle, and with 
 a very small retinue ; one night they wandered out of the way,- 
 and could not find so much as a cottage for a shelter ; occasionally 
 they fell upon two countrey women, who suspected their design, 
 tho' they knew not then- quality. The poor women, for the affec- 
 tion they bare to all that travelled that journey, at the noblemen's 
 request conveyed them for some part of the night to a poor cottage, 
 where, tho' the noblemen could not find a bed, yet they hade the 
 best entertainment the poor people could give them, with many 
 informations and requests. The noblemen professed they feared 
 much their horses should be stoUen, because they could not get 
 them within a locked door; but the poor countrey people told 
 them they needed not, for there was now no theeving in the coun- 
 trey since the field preachings came among them ; and of much 
 other reformation they talked, to the noblemen's great admiration 
 for the time ; but it brought furth but small fruit.* However, to 
 London all the company came safe enough, and together at one 
 
 * This reformation of the Annandale thieves, which Wodrow has recorded from 
 Kirkton, is not very probable, though the wliig preachers, from their doctrine of in- 
 subordination and wandering lawless lives, were calculated to make friends among 
 these millions of the moon ; whose new habits of honesty, at all events, were not of 
 long duration. The preacher Cameron was one of the first missionaVies to Annandale. 
 " He said, ' How can I go there ? I know what sort of people they are ;' but Mr 
 Welch said, ' Go your way, Ritchie, and set the fire of hell to their tails.' He went ; 
 and the first day he preached upon that text, Hoiv shall I put thee among the children ? 
 &c. In the application he said, ' Put you among the children ! the offspring of thieves 
 and robbers I we have all heard of Annandale thieves.' Some of them got a merciful 
 cast that day, and told afterwards, that it was the first field-meeting they ever attend- 
 ed, and that they went out of meer curiosity, to see a minister preach in a tent and 
 people sit on the ground."— Xz/e o/" Richard Cameron. 
 
THE CHUBCH OF SCOTLAND. 393 
 
 time ; but all this travel was in vain ; few of them got access to 
 the king, and when they got it, it was to no pvn-pose. When D. 
 Hamilton got into the presence, the king kept his hands behind his 
 back, lest the duke should perchance snatch a Idss of them ; and 
 when the duke came to make his complaint upon the bad govern- 
 ment in Scotland, the king answered him with taunts, and bid him 
 help what was amiss when he were King of Scotland, and this was 
 all ; only some of our lords and gentiy made acquaintance with the 
 English dissenters, Avhich stuck with them while they lived. And 
 last of all, the king ^vi-ote down a letter to his counciU, wherein he 
 approved and highly commended their government and conduct, 
 (notwithstanduig the complaints of a great part of the kingtlome,) 
 reflecting strongly upon tlie dissatisfied complainers ; and so ended 
 this as well as former tragedies. 
 
 In the beginning of May the king wrote down to the councill to 
 •all a convention of estates, which accordingly mett in JuUy, and 
 nade but one act, which was indeed enough for the distempers of 
 the poor countrey. In this act, first, they represent the miserable 
 disorders of the countrey, which they father upon the frequency of 
 the field conventicles ; then for remedy they provide the paying of 
 ane army, and for that cause impose upon the poor countrey eightein 
 hundered thousand poimd Scots, and thereafter appoint the rigorous 
 way to collect the money, and so conclude the act and session. This 
 one act was the saddest stumbling block that ever was laid before 
 the covenant-keepers in Scotland ; for it divided them who were 
 already disjoynted, and that most lamentably. Some argued to pay 
 this assessment was just to own and concurre with the persecutors 
 in the persecution, and if they destroyed the people of God, it was 
 all one whether it M'ere with their sword or their money ; for aU 
 who pajed the money leavied the warre against the I'oor conventi- 
 cles. The example of Marcus Arethusius, the Arrian bishop, was 
 
 3d 
 
394 klrkton's history of 
 
 luucli cited, who, after in his rashnes he had demolished aue idol 
 temple, choised martyrdome rather than to re-edify it. And truely 
 many of the ministers were so hot upon this argument, it w^as ordi- 
 nary for people to write upon a piece of paper, and give it in to the 
 minister even in the midst of his preaching, (as if it had been the 
 name of some sick person to be remembred in prayer,) to remember 
 not to forgett to preach against paying money for the army. And 
 indeed this was the strain not only of the weakest preachers, but 
 even of some of the most judicious and wise in the company, tho' 
 not of all. Mr M'Vaird wrote from Holland in a strain of com- 
 plaining, as if they who payed the money had denyed the faith.* 
 Others there were who argued otherways, and that forasmuch as vio- 
 lence was expected and really used, it were better for the poor people 
 of the country by giving a piece of money to preserve themselves 
 
 * M'Ward was a voluminous author. Among many smaller pieces, he wrote The 
 Poor Man's Cup of Cold Water, ministered to the Saints and Sufferers for Christ 
 in Scotland — Earnest Contendings, and Bandei"s disbanded. His History of the De- 
 fections of the Church of Scotland has never been publislied. Some idea of his ridi- 
 culous style may be formed from the following passage : — " Neither yet be hissed nor 
 hectored into a silence, by a blaze and busk of boisterous words, and by the brags of 
 the big confidence of any, while I see courses taken to fill up the measure of our ini- 
 quity, which have a tviping of our mouths for their soul and sense, as if we had done 
 nothing amiss, in all that we have done, and left undone ; at least nothing of tliat hate- 
 ful nature, and horrid heinousness, as indispensibly, under pain of disloyalty to Christ, 
 calls for a clear and continued testimony against the clamant wickedness thereof." — 
 Answer to the First Paper of Proposals Jor Union ruith the Indulged. By Mr Robert 
 M'Ward, sometime Minister of the Gospel in GlasgotU' 
 
 It is remarkable that this alliterative ranter was lucky enough to find a poet of his 
 own genius and religious persuasion, who, like Bottom, could move storms and con- 
 dole in some measure, to write his Elegy, in King Cambyses' vein, " high, lofty, in a 
 new stalking strain, bigger than half the rhymers i' the town again." Among the 
 
 poems of William Cleland, we have " Verses made upon the death of that famous gos- 
 
 9 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAKU. 395 
 
 and families alive, then by ane absolute refuseall to afford the cruell 
 collectors a pretext to destroy all, and take as much as would leavy 
 two armies ; and that because this action was not spontaneous, but 
 compelled and forced, in such a case a man was to be excused, be- 
 ing rather a sufferer than ane actor. It were a great sin for a mer- 
 chant to throw his cargo into the sea in fair weather, but no man 
 will call him a self-destroyer for lightening his ship that he may save 
 his Ufe in the time of a storm. As for the example of Marcus Are- 
 thusius, if the people of Scotland be to imitate him, then it would 
 be their duty to shutt their doors, and leave Scotland as soon as 
 may be, as some poor families did ; and it was alwayes the opinion 
 of the ministers who were for delivering the money, that if they 
 were to preach absolutly against it, they would likewayes advise 
 the people to get them gone out of Scotland. A certain young^ 
 man having preached violently against the assessment, after sermon 
 Avas earnestly entreated by a poor countrey man, who told the mi- 
 nister he was very much against the thing, but desired earnestly 
 the minister would shew him how he shovdd keep it out of the 
 collector's hand ; but truely they who were for delivering the mo- 
 ney thought it prudence to be almost silent for a little time, the 
 
 pel minister, Mr Robert M'Waird, who died in Holland, after 18 years banishment 
 from Scotland, his native country," which rumble thus : 
 
 " Was it for nought that blustering sparkling rayes 
 Of strange stupenduous comets, did the eyes 
 Of Earth's inhabitants so long detain 
 In days but lately past ?— who can refrain," &c. 
 
 " Ar^ifta? ■sr^Stoi ■srnTSTcii/ x.x.tiit imiyu ■axtenTra.VTra.^, 
 
 Aristophanis Nubes. 
 
396 kiekton's history, &c. 
 
 clainour of tiie contrare party Avas so very high ; but a i^ew moneth« 
 discussed this question, for there was no body in Scotland but they 
 payed the money ; and so many of them did, alace ! foolislily con- 
 demn themselves by buikUng again what tliey had first destroyed, 
 — a sad reproach upon a conscientious people, but this was the end 
 of this controversy. 
 
 About this time came Doctor Oats upon the stage. He disco- 
 vered to the councUl of England a plot among the papists to take 
 away the king's life. This is a historicall mystery and a controver- 
 sie ; that papists Avho use in publict bussiness to be directed by wise 
 counsellors should contry ve the destruction of a popish king, who 
 did, tho' in a dissembled way, advance their bussiness, and a great 
 deall more effectually than his brother, who was both more open 
 and more hasty. The answer given was, that some papists hade 
 not leisure to spare that they might reap the fruits in Charles his 
 slow way, but hoped well they might in James his hasty way ; for 
 certain it is, if there be faith in humane testimony, that there was 
 such a plot : it did appear both by witnesses and evident facts ; but 
 because this story belongs not to the bussiness of Scotland, I volun- 
 tarly omitt it. Mean time the conventicles of all sorts increased 
 both in frequency and number, and so did also the vigorous perse- 
 cution of our magistrates ; and this contradiction betwixt the two 
 leaven'd the countrey to that degree, the dissatisfaction of the 
 people broke out into the insurrection which ended at Bothwell 
 Bridge. 
 
 END OF KIRKTON'S HISTORY. 
 
JAMES RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MURDER 
 
 OF 
 
 ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 
 
 1679. 
 
'1 HE following Narrative, transcribed fi"om the MS. collections of VVodrow, was vrrit- 
 ten by one of the Archbishop's murderers, who, in the proclamation issued by the 
 privy coimcil after Sharp's death, is designated James Russell, in Kettle. 
 
 After the defeat at Bothwell, as he tells us himself, he retired to Holland, but re- 
 turned to Scotland in the course of a few months, and in the year 168I contrived to 
 have a sort of protestation put up upon -the door of his parish church, which was af- 
 terward printed in foUo, with this title : " A true and exact Copy of a prodigious and 
 traiterous Libel affixt upon the Church Door of Kettle in Fife, the Thu-d of this In- 
 stant, being Easter Day ; WTitten and subscribed by James Russell, one of those 
 bloody and sacrilegious Murtherers of the late Lord Primate of Scotland his Grace. 
 Published by Authority, for the Satisfaction and Information of all his Majesties loyal 
 and dutiful Subjects. Edin: printed Anno Dom: 168I." — In this paper, which is 
 extremely verbose, Russell protests against paying of feii-dutj', minister's stipend to 
 Mr James Barkley, a thief ami a robber, and taxes ; and against his mother (to whom 
 he had wTitten on the subject without success,) and James Dale, who is now labour- 
 ing his land at her instance, their paying the same. He styles the king " Charles 
 Stewart, a bull of Bashan, and all his associats are bulls and keyn of Bashan. What 
 ■would you judge to be yoiu- duty, if there were a wild and mad bull running up and 
 downi Scotland, killing and slaying all that were come in his way, man, wife, and 
 bairn ? Would you not think it your duty, and every one's duty, to kill him, accord- 
 ing to that scripture, Exod: 21. 28. 29. &c. .''" 
 
 From Shield's " Faitliful Contendings displayed, being an Historical Relation di 
 the State and Actings of the suffering Remnant in the Church of Scotland, who sub- 
 sisted in select Societies, and were united in general Correspondencies during the 
 hottest Time of the late Persecution, viz. from the Year 168I to l()91,"&c. much may 
 be gleaned respecting this worthy, who was again in Scotland in 1682, where, at a 
 general meeting of the svifTering Renmant at Tala linn, in the parish of Tweedsmuir, 
 he, being a man of a hoi and fiery spirit, bred strange confusion in the assembly, by 
 the strictness of his questioning as to their proceedings, and more particularly jf theif 
 
400 nUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 or Iheir sucleli) n-crcfrcc of paying cuxloms at ports and bridges, which ]t)ase compliance 
 ■w'lih law Russell held in abomination ; " and after, made it, among others, a cause of 
 separation from the witnessing party, by whom it was never so far stretched." They 
 were all clear not to pay the lately imposed cess (tax) enacted for wicked ends, and 
 employed for unlawful uses. — " As the questions were going through the members of 
 the meeting, there was a young man of Dumbartonshire found to have joined with 
 some that paid the cess, for which he was debarred from silting there ; as also, an- 
 other was debarred, after debate, because of his marrying with Mr Alexander Peden, 
 and joining with some that gave meat and drink to dragoons : but that which occa- 
 sioned the hottest debate and greatest confusion, was about Alexander Gordon, who 
 had joined with Mr Peden in accepting the sacrament of baptism to his child from 
 him ; whereupon the contest arose, one part of the meeting saying Mr Peden might be 
 joined with, and the other not : so seeing the matter was under debate, and could not 
 he there and then decided, it was thought most expedient to suspend Alexander Gor. 
 don from the meeting, until enquiry and trial be made, how it was with Mr Peden at 
 the time, and how it was when lie joined with him, that thereby it might be the bet- 
 ter kno\vn how to proceed therein. And for this effect, James Russell promised to 
 send one, or come himself out of Fife, and to come by Edinburgh, that one might be« 
 chosen out of Lothian to go along with him to the Monkland, where they were to get 
 a third person to go along with them to Mr Peden ; which thing James Russell failed 
 to do, and so the enquiry and trial was not made." 
 
 At the next meeting of the Remnant, Russell gave in a paper, replete with bitterness, 
 imtenderness and rejlections ; and afterwards produced a protestation, entitled, " The 
 Protestation of the Societies of True Presbyterians in the shire of Fife and Perth, 
 •igainst disorderly persons." Then followed " a paper about the names of the days of 
 the week, and months of the year, wherein were several unsuitable and unsavoury, 
 unclu'istian expressions ; and so he and his comrades left them, after lie had occasion- 
 ed some confusion, which otherwise might not liave fallen out. And after he was part- 
 ed from them he was not idle ; by taking trouble to himself, he created more to others ; 
 for he, and some few with him, seeking to justify what they had done, were at no 
 small pains to inform, or rather misinform severals about the proceedings at the last 
 and this meeting, in going through the country, reading liis papers to sundry men 
 and women : Yea, he wrote abroad to Earlston, misrepresenting the proceedings of 
 this meeting and the last, whereby he and Mr Hamilton were in hazard (as no won- 
 der) of being jealous of friends and their doings at home : to know the certainty of 
 which, he sent here a copy of the information he had got ; which when received, was 
 both astonishing and wounding to look upon." 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 401 
 
 The Remnant sent James Renwick, afterwards hanged, to justify their proceedings 
 to Gordon and Hamilton ; and this occasioned a quarrel between him and Russell, 
 who accused Mr James, as he is always stiled in the Faithful Contendings, of perjury, 
 in acquainting Hamilton with several matters, tho' he did not take the engagement to 
 secrecy. Russell retired to Groningen, where he still kept up the schism, and seems 
 to have seduced one Mr Flint, a promising disciple, from the right path. Meanwhile 
 the Remnant appoint certain of their number to be sent to Fife, " to speak with some 
 persons there, who had withdrawn with James Russell from their brethren, and were 
 continuing in that separation ; and out of brotherly love and kindness to them, to desire 
 them to come and hear the gospel preached by Mr James Renwick." These mission- 
 aries went accordingly ; and, by their own account, at Elie in Fife, conveened together 
 three men and a boy, and about seven or eight wmnen ! to whom they feelingly described 
 the great gifts of Mr James Renwick, and, in the name of the general meeting, invited 
 them to partake of that rich and unspeakable blessing, the Lord hath bestorved. But their 
 eloquence was of no avail ; for the three men, the boy, and the women declared that 
 they would neither listen to Renwick, nor join ^vith them, insisting on the abomina- 
 tion of paying custom at ports and markets, though they were willing to pay them at 
 boats and bridges ; " and as for days of the week, and months of the year, they own- 
 ed the same was not a ground of separation, yet adhered to that paper given in by 
 James Russell to the general meeting anent the same ; and pai-ticularly to that part 
 of it which says,' those who mvn such names, serve themselves heirs to that same (if not 
 gSreater) punishment, which God inflicted upon idolaters of old, which is a real contradic- 
 tion." — Faithful Contendings, p. 114. 
 
 Russell is said afterwards to have left Groningen in disgrace ; and the editor has 
 met with no particulars of his death, which, however, was not suitable to his deserts, 
 for it is certain that none of the Archbishop's murderers, save Haxton of Rathillet 
 and Andrew Guillan, perished by the hand of the executioner. 
 
 3 E 
 
rm 
 
 
 V I JMHIM ' 
 
 UroN Tuesday the eight of April, 1679, there was met by former 
 appointment at Alex. Balfiire's house in Gilston, Rathillet, INIr John 
 Bonner of Greighton, younger, John Lindsey of Baldastard, Mr 
 David Watsone in St Andrews, Robert Henderson in Bahnermo, 
 James Youle in Lathocker, Henry Corbie in Killintown, George 
 Fleman, younger in Balbathie, Alex. Henderson, son to John Hen- 
 derson in Kilbrachmont, John Scot in Lathons, James Ness in Hill- 
 Teses, and Hackstone in Nether Largo, and James and Alex, and 
 George Balfours. After prayer, and every one pressing another to 
 
 shew the causes of the meeting, and Rathillet said. Ye 
 
 have sent for me, and I desire to know the cause of your sending for 
 me. Whereupon Robert Henderson and Alexander Balfour answer- 
 ed, that the tause of sending for him and the calling of the meet- 
 ing, was to consult anent the condition of the shire, the gospel be- 
 
 I 
 
404 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 ing quite extinguished out of it, the hearts of many like to wax 
 faint anent the keeping up of the same, through the terror and cruel 
 oppression of WiUiam Carmichel, commissionat from the counsel 
 for that effect, with a company of souldiers commanded by Captain 
 Carnegy, .... Dobbie, lieutenant, and two squadrons of horse com- 
 manded by William Cockburn, sub-lieutenant to the king's guard, 
 pursuing aU that own'd the gospel by summoning such as they 
 knew did not appear, and fined them for non-compearance ; and 
 upon the expiring of charges given for payment of these unlaws, 
 wliich were the height that they could get them extended to, as if 
 they had been a lawfid judicature ; and emitted, sold, and drove 
 away all the goods they could get taken away, threating, striking, 
 and burning with matches servants to cause them reveal their mas- 
 ter, and many such insolences, not only in the houses that they were 
 searching for, but wherever they pleased, breaking up doors in the 
 night time, and if not prevented, that shire is like to lose the bene- 
 fit of the gospel ; ministers refusing to come where there is such vi- 
 sible hazard, except there be some course taken for their defence ; 
 all which they desired that it might be advised speedUy to take 
 course with, as also what was lawftil to do without sinning, anent 
 appearing before these judicatures, anent getting back their poyned 
 goods. So all with one consent judged it unlawful to have any 
 dealing with these judges, either in componing with them to get 
 
 their goods back, or any other way to own them, but to 
 
 as they found themselves capable to do. And as for keeping up the 
 gospel, both the necessity of carrying of arms, and the lawfulness of 
 opposing all that should appear to desperse these meetings of the 
 Lord's people was debated, and relating many instances of the 
 Lord's owning aU that had opposed the enemys of the gospel, and 
 particularised James Mill and some others, who had broken a com- 
 pany of men who was raised for bearing down the work of God a 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 405 
 
 * 
 
 little before, as foUoweth : — Robert Lumbsdone of St cap- 
 tain, having taken from John Duncan 7 horse upon 
 
 a Sabbath morning, for haste to be at the meeting which was ga- 
 thering at Drumcurrow Craig, assaulted the said James, being on 
 horseback armed, and Avith him some women and unarmed men, 
 and fired upon him, shooting his horse thro' the craig ; Avhereupon 
 he lighted with the women and men present, beat him off, having 
 the advantage of the ground, the place being full of stones, wound- 
 ing the captain both on back and mouth, and some of the souldiers, 
 and particularly Gilbert Duncan, who swore that morning that he 
 should neither eat nor diink until he had some of the whigs' blood, 
 and the first he got was out of his own head ; the honest people be- 
 mg encouraged, and getting word that Mr Samuel Nearn was taken 
 by the rest of the company, and one gentlewoman riding with him, 
 and upon the sight of a few of the honest folk coming to them, 
 they gave him his horse and arms that they had taken from them, 
 and intreated him to keep back the people from falling upon them, 
 which Mr Samuel did, and so they keeped their meeting peaceably. 
 The Uke passage fell out with George Beaton, lieutenant, and the 
 other half of the company that same day in the west end of the 
 shire ; and after this Captain Lumbsdone, to revenge this, sent a Ser- 
 jeant with 9 soldiers to Killmenie to search for James MUl, and if 
 that missing him, to shoot his horse, which they doing, James esca- 
 ped at a back door and went on horseback to Rathillet, and meet- 
 ing James Hackstone, shewed his case to him, and James Kenere, 
 his brother s man ; and meeting other two, told them that there was 
 two of the soldiers in James Mills, and the rest in the change-house, 
 having carried with them some bed cloaths ; whereupon they imme- 
 diately fell upon the two that was in James Mill's house, disarming 
 them ; went to the rest and called them forth, wounded and disarm- 
 ed them, and chased them home again ; among whom was Gilbert 
 
406 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 Duncan, that was swearing as they came to the door that he would 
 eat none untill he got revenge ; being summond, his head was broken 
 again. The next day Alexander Wilsone, being ensign to the com- 
 pany, to resent that, came to Killmenie with 60 soldiers, and firing 
 some shots to terrify the people, was answered with some shooting 
 upon the hiU beside ; at the hearing, being afraid and wondered who 
 it was, and being told by an woman that these they saw upon the 
 hills were but the foremost, and if they should faU on the town they 
 would presently be upon them, (and they were but herds and people 
 that ran to the hiUs to see the town destroyed as was threatened ;) 
 so they forbear to do any wrong, but gave good language, entreat- 
 ing the townsmen to send in the king's arms that they had taken 
 from the soldiers ; upon this the company wanting pay, being de- 
 nied of it by the covmsel, hearuig of their miscaniage, went all sun- 
 dry, and never met again. 
 
 At this meeting there was no more done, being scattered with an 
 alarm, appointing another meeting on Friday night, the 11th of 
 April, at John Nickolson's house, colier, beside Lathons, where met 
 the most part of the forenamed persons ; and speaking of the former 
 business, judged it their duty quickly to take some course with 
 Carmichel to scarr hun from his cruel courses ; and advising how to 
 get him, resolved to wait on him either in his coming or going from 
 St Andrews, or other place in the shire, being to sit in all the judi- 
 catures in the shu-e for taking course with the honest party ; and 
 they resolved to fall upon him at St Andrews. Some objected, 
 Avhat if he should be in the prelate's house, what shoiUd be done in 
 such a case ; whereupon all present judged duty to hang both over 
 the port,* especially the bishop, it being by many of the Lord's 
 
 * Cardinal Beaton's murderers exhibited his dead body over the wall of the castle 
 •f St Andrews ; where one Guthrie, as I.indsey informs us, treated it with a brutality 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 407 
 
 people and ministers judged a duty long since not to suffer such a 
 person to live, who had shed and was shedding so much of the blood 
 of the saints, and knowing that other worthy Christians had used 
 
 too shocking to be repeated. It is wonderful that Knox, who terms the assassination 
 a godly fact, and is extremely jocular in the details of the Cardinal's employment the 
 night previous to the murder, in settling " his accompts with Mistres Marioun Ogil- 
 by," (a daughter of the first Lord Ogilvy of Airly,) " who was espyit to depart from 
 him by the privie posterne that morning ; and therfore quietnes, eftir the reuUis of 
 physick, and a morne sleip were requisite for my lord," should have omitted this godlu 
 Jact of Guthrie. Afterwards, the humane historian tells us, " Becaus the wedder was 
 hotte, for it was in Maii, as ye have hard, and his funerallis culd not suddantlie be 
 prepaired, it was thocht best (to keep him from stinking) to give him grit salt yneuche, 
 a cope of leid, and a nuck in the bottom of the sey-tour, a plaice quhair mony of God's 
 children had been imprisonit befoir, to await quhat exequies his brethren the bischopis 
 wald prepair for him. These thingis we wryte merrille, but we would that the reidar 
 would observe God's just judgments," &c. On the score of these two murders of 
 Beaton and Sharp it is observable, that Wodrow and the other presbyterian writers 
 put the very words of the Cardinal and his assassins into the mouths of the latter 
 victim, and " the worthy gentlemen, men of courage and zeal for the cause of God," 
 (Shields' Hind let loose,) who killed him. Wodrow indeed, though he pretends not 
 to approve of the fact, relates all its circumstances with the most fraternal sympathy 
 and apologetick tenderness, like a genuine disciple of John Knox, who repaired to the 
 castle of St Andrews, and resided there with Beaton's murderers, till they were all 
 safely stowed in the French gallies, whereon the jiapists, both in Scotland and France, 
 made tliis " thair sange of triumph : 
 
 " Priestis content yow now, priestis content yow now ; 
 For Normond and his cumpanie hes fillit the gallayis fow." 
 
 Knox's Hist. p. 77. 
 
 In answer, no doubt, to another distich still preserved, by tradition, at St Andrews, 
 composed by the enemies of Beaton : 
 
 " Maids be merry now, maids be merry now, 
 
 For stickit is our Cardinal, and saltit like ane sow." 
 
408 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 means to get him upon the road before ; biit all was refen*ed to a 
 meeting that was to be in David Walker's in Lesly the Friday 
 thereafter, being the 18th of April. 
 
 At this meeting there was something spoken anent the Indul- 
 gence, and being judged by some very dishonourable to God, and 
 not contradicted tho' contraverted at some other meetings before, 
 but being all unanimous, being met, James Mill in Kilmenie, Da- 
 A'id and Archibald Walkers in Lesly, John Henderson, servant to 
 Ivinkail, with his master's commission, John Archer, Alex. Reid in 
 Patlochie, John, George, and James Mertains in Lesly, George 
 
 Bir in Kin , asked William Danziel (DingwaU), James 
 
 Russel, and several others of the forenamed persons, who, with one 
 consent, did corroborate all that had been spoken, and blessing the 
 Lord that had put it into the minds of his people to offer them- 
 selves for carrying on the Lord's work ; and particularly David 
 Walker and Archibald, and declared it had been their judgement a 
 year before, and all condescended upon 10 or moe to be mounted 
 presently with horse and arms, and choos'd RathiUet* to command 
 them, he not being present at that time, and appointed the Satur- 
 day next for seeking the Lord's mind further into the matter, and 
 that the Lord would stir up the spirits of his people to appear for 
 his cause, and appointed Tuesday the 22d of April for to meet 
 more generally, and that RathiUet, and such as would offer them- 
 selves, might be named and provided for that work, which was more 
 
 * Haxton of RathiUet. had been arrested by the Archbishop's chamberlain for a 
 debt owing by him to his master, and consequently had private pique aggravating pres- 
 byterian rancour to inflame him against Sharp. " He is said in his younger years to 
 have been without the least sense of any thing religious, untill it pleased the Lord, in 
 his infinite goodness, to incline him to go out and attend the gospel then preached in 
 the fields, where he was caught in the gospel net."— «Sco<s Worthies. 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 409 
 
 or less as was thought fit, and such as was not willing to ventui-e 
 might contribute for the rest ; and warning was appointed to the se- 
 veral corners of the shire to meet the day appointed at David Wal- 
 ker's ; and being met, instead of Avhat cordialness was expected, 
 they found David and Archibald ^Valkers dissuading from this 
 course, whether receiving any news of liberty from the court as Avas 
 svispected, and not without ground, we cannot tell ; for, notwith- 
 standing of all the clearness that they had in the meeting, David 
 Walker alone to James Russel in his chamber, declared, that he 
 was refreshed and comforted that the Lord had put it into the 
 minds of his people, for it was the thing he would have been at a 
 year before ; and considering that there was not an army given to 
 the Avest end of the shire, tho' it was belonging to them, and they 
 promised before the meeting to give them sure warning, and ap- 
 pointing John Archie to go to the west and try what the honest 
 party was doing ; and an meeting appointed to be at James Ander- 
 son's, in the T eels, the 29th April, where most of the fore- 
 mentioned persons, with several others, met from several places of 
 the shire ; and John Tucker, and James Stirk, and others, where 
 they approved all fonnerly condescended on, and choosed two per- 
 sons, John Archie and Henry Corbie to go to the south to know 
 the minds of other ministers and christians, which was evidently 
 enough made known by what was coming to their ears every day, 
 of their resisting of soldiers both at meetings and for paying cess. — 
 One Alexander Smith, a weaver at the Struther dyke, a very godly 
 man, after prayer anent their clearness in the matter about Carmi- 
 chel, desired all to go forv^ard, seeing that God's glory was the only 
 motive that was moving them to offer themselves to act for his 
 broken down work, and if the Lord saw it meet to deliver Carmi- 
 chel in their hands, he woidd bring him m their way, and employ 
 
 3 F 
 
410 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OP THE 
 
 them in some piece of Avork more honourable to God and them 
 both. 
 
 At this meeting it was appointed that they should keep Thurs- 
 day, the first of May, for seeking the Lord's counsel and assistance, 
 and that they should be earnest with God thro' the whole shire for 
 keeping such back, Avhich was offering themselves, from doing any 
 thing that either might dishonour him or wrong the cause ; and 
 that God would further and assist them in doing any thing that 
 might be for his glory and the good of the chiu'ch ; and that there 
 should be some speedy course taken with Carmichel, who was ra- 
 ging and driving away their goods every day, which was like to 
 make some take a sinful course to be freed of trouble, and getting 
 again their goods ; and it was desired by all present to search for 
 John Balfour* and John Henderson, for they were two that had 
 ventured their lives several years before for the gospel ; and ear- 
 nestly desired to lay all moying for them, and to write for them, 
 which Avas done ; and parting from this meeting A^^ednesday morn- 
 
 * John Balfour, Haxton's brotlier-in-lavv, was a ferocious enthusiast, " ahhough 
 he was by some reckoned none of the most religious. He was a little man, squint- 
 eyed, and of a very fierce aspect." {Scots Worthies.) — In the year 1677, Captain Car- 
 stares, by order of the privy council, attempted to seize him in his own house of Kin- 
 loch, but was repulsed, and he and his party put to flight by Balfour and fifteen other 
 whigs, among whom James Russell was one ; they discharged a volley of fire-arms from 
 the house, and then pursued the runaways on horseback, calling to Carstares to yield, 
 and render himself in the name of God and of the Covenant. — (See an account of this 
 aftair in Kirkton, p. 380.) — The next remarkable exploit of Balfour, or Burly, as he is 
 commonly nicknamed, probably from his strength, (Burly signifying strong,) or per- 
 haps some allusion to the title of the head of his clan, was the murder of the Arch- 
 bishop, to whom Criechton says he had been chamberlain, and through negligence 
 or knavery had run into a large arrear. A hint in Wodrow alone coincides with this 
 assertion, which is not to be found in any of the narratives respecting Sharp's mur- 
 derers published by either party. 
 
:murdeii of archbishop sharp. 411 
 
 ing, went to Bussie a considerable number of them, and staid all 
 day, where they appointed to meet on Friday night, for taking some 
 course with Carmichel on Saturday, if he could be gotten, and to be 
 I'eady together against the Sabbath for keeping of a field conventi- 
 cle, resolving to resist such as should offer to oppose the meeting, 
 and there was one away for bringing of a minister. They also re- 
 solved to draw a paper and drop it in Cuper, threatening such as 
 should buy their poyned goods ; and accordingly they did, after this 
 manner : — That Avhereas there was such robberies and spulzies com- 
 mitted in that shire by James Carnegy and his soldiers, by virtue of 
 an order from that adulterer William Carmichel, held on to it by 
 that perjured apostate Prelate Sharp, a known enemy to all godli- 
 ness ; that these were to give advertisement to all that should med- 
 dle with these spoiled goods, either by assisting, resetting, buying, 
 or any way coimtenancing the same, (however they thought them- 
 selves at present guarded by a military force, and these persons 
 spoil'd despicable,) that they should be looked on as accessary to the 
 robbery, and shoidd meet with a punishment answerable to the vil- 
 lany, and that by a party equal to all who durst own them in these 
 courses, and that so soon as God should enable them thereto, whose 
 names they should find underscrived in these following letters, affix- 
 ing thereto the 24 letters of the a, b, c : which paper Rathillet fixed 
 that night to the school door of Cupar, which being gotten the next 
 day, put a great terror to all these persons who were accessary to 
 the present troubles, troupers, soldiers, judges, clerks, and all others 
 in that shire. 
 
 On Friday's night, the 2d of INIay, upon the muii* north-east from 
 Gilston, there met of all 13 of what was expected, one of Avhom they 
 let go, not being clear to reveal to him what was designed ; the 
 other 12 were the forenamed David Hackstone of Rathillet, John 
 Balfour of Kinloch, James Russel in Kettle, George Fleman in 
 
112 RUSSELi'S ACCOUXT OF THE 
 
 Balbathie, Andrew Henderson, Alexander Henderson in Kilbraeli- 
 mont, \^^iUiam Danziel in Caddam, James, Alex., and George Bal- 
 four in Gilston, Thomas Ness* in P , and Andrew Guillon, 
 
 Aveaver in Balmerinock, who had been put out of llundee for not 
 hearing of the curate : These, after a while advice what to do, and 
 no more coming, and fearing they should be discovered, there being 
 troupers and soldiers in Cupar, Liulerney, Balkirsty, I^argo, and 
 Auchtermuchty, they went all to Robert Black's in Baldinny, him- 
 self being absent for fear of being taken, where putting up their 
 horse, and praying, and then lying down in the barn to sleep, ha- 
 ving sent one to Coupar to try Carmichel's motion, who returned 
 about 7 hours, told that he with another on horseback, and 3 on 
 foot, were gone south from Cupar toward Tervathill to hunting. 
 Upon which some of them going hastily to horse, others drawing- 
 back, judged it fit that Rathillet should go alone and try the ground, 
 and if he foimd him, give a sign and they should all come ; — he go- 
 ing hastily away and going down a steep place, his horse falling, be- 
 ing assaulted with a dog, trailed his master down the brae, brake his 
 bridle, ran away, which the rest seeing, sent Alexander Henderson 
 to help to take him ; but Rathillet getting him before he came, rode 
 safely away ; then James Russel, Alex. Henderson, George Fleman, 
 George Balfour, thinking to get in betwixt him and the town, pur- 
 sued a horseman with some foot, judging it to be Carmichel, rode 
 towards him ; he perceiving them, rode fast away, and they pursu- 
 ing, which Alexander Henderson seeing, and John Balfour called 
 back RathOlet ; but they having overtaken the horseman, found it 
 
 * " Upon tlie 27th of February, 1679, the council cite before them Thomas and 
 James Ness, with several others, to answer to the charge of being at house and field 
 conventicles since the year 1674. They not compearing, are denounced, and put to 
 the horn." — Woduow. 
 
^lURDEn OF ARCHBISHOP SHAUP. 41^ 
 
 to be the Laird of Blebo ; whereupon William Danziel coming up, 
 they again took the way west toward Tervathill on the north side, 
 and Rathillet being nearest Cupar, came back to the rest, told them, 
 as he supposed, he had seen Carmichel presently go into Cupar, 
 and that it seemed God had remarkably kept them back, and him 
 out of their hand, for if they had not been so hindered, they had 
 gotten him upon the fields ; whereupon turning about on the west 
 side of the hill, and then towards Ceres, and seeing the foot-hunters, 
 they went to them ; and then seeing two horsemen go into Ceres, 
 they went after them to be sure what they were, and finding it was 
 not Carmichel they went eastward, where Andrew Guillon met 
 them, and advising where to go, John Balfour said he was sure they 
 had something ado, for he being at Paris his uncle's house, intend- 
 ing towards the Highlands because of the violent rage in Fife, was 
 pressed in spirit to return ; and he inquiring the Lord's mind anent 
 it, got that word born in upon him, Go and prosper. So he coming 
 from prayer, w^ondering what it could mean, went again and got it 
 confirmed by that scripture, Gk), have not I sent you ? whereupon 
 he durst no more question, but presently returned. Likewise, on 
 the back of whidi, a boy came fi*om Baldinny, and said, that the 
 good wife had sent him to kiiow how they had sjied ;* they told 
 they had missed him, and asked for James and Alexander Balfour 
 
 * In the Account of the Depositions respecting the Primate's Murder, this woman 
 is mentioned : " Three daj's before the murder, some of the assassins had a meeting at 
 Millar's house in Magask, where they concerted the business ; and it is deponed also, 
 that the next night they lodged at Robert Black's house in Baldinny, whose wife, they 
 depone, was a great instigator of the fact ; and that at parting, ivhen one of them kissed 
 her, she prayed that God might bless and prosper them ; and added these words. If 
 long Leslie (this was Mr Alexander Leslie, minister at Ceres,) be with him, lay him on 
 the green also ; to which the ruffian answered, holding up his hand, There is the hand 
 that shall do it." 
 
 3 
 
414 EUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 and Thomas Ness, Avho had not come forth Avith the rest, he told 
 they were gone ; they desired him to go back and see where they 
 were gone to that they might go to them, and if" there were any 
 word come about the preaching, which they expected to be in the 
 north side to-morrow ; and judging it fit to be together, lest pur- 
 sued, the boy going and returning, said, Gentlemen, there is the 
 bishop's coach, our goodwife desired me to tell you ; which they 
 seeing betwixt Ceres and Blebo-hole, said. Truly, this is of God, and 
 it seemeth that God hath delivered him into our hands ; let us not 
 draw back, but pursue ; for aU looked on it, considering the former 
 circumstances, as a clear call from God to fall upon him. 
 
 Whereupon all agreeing to follow, it was mentioned what should 
 be done with him. George Fleman said, I will not go one foot fur- 
 der, for if we shall spare his life our hazard shall be no less, and like- 
 wise his cruelty shall be greater ; and, with some others, said, Surely 
 we have a clear call to execute God's justice upon him now when 
 in such a capacity. James Russell said it had been born in upon 
 his spirit some days before in prayer, having more than ordinary 
 outlettings of the spirit for a fortnight together at Lesly, and told 
 to several of his intimates that he had met with several scriptiu-es, 
 and that it Avas born in upon him that the Lord would employ him 
 in some piece of service or it was long, and that there would be 
 some great man, who was an enemy to the kirk of God, cut off ; 
 and he could not be quit of the thoughts of Nero, and asked where 
 he could find that scripture, for he could not get it. He was forced 
 to devote himself to God and enter in a covenant with the Lord, 
 and renewed all his former vows and engagement against papists, 
 prelates, indulgences, and all that was enemies to the work of God, 
 and opposed the flourishing of Christ's kingdom, and that he should 
 not refuse nor draw back whenever the Lord shoidd call him to act 
 for him, as far as the Lord should enable him and give him strength, 
 
:MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP. SHARP. 4.15 
 
 tho' there should be never .so much seeming hazard ; upon the 2d 
 day of INIay, at Lesly, 1679- And seeing he had before been at se- 
 veral meetings (but not mentioning all this at that nick of time, but 
 the heads of it only,) with several godly men in other places of the 
 kingdom, who not only judged it their duty to take that wretch's 
 life, and some others, but had essayed it twice before, and came to 
 the shire for that purpose, and once AVonderfuUy he escaped at the 
 Queensferry, for he went down to Leith Avith the chancellor in a 
 boat ; in the mean time they were in the other side coming over, 
 but knew nothing of it, and the Lord had kejit them back at that 
 time, he having more blood to shed, for this was about 8 days be- 
 fore INIr James INIitchell was execute ; bvit he said he was sure that 
 he had a clear call at that time, and that it seemed the Lord had 
 delivered that A\Tetch into their hand, and he durst not draw back 
 but go forward, considering what engagements the Lord had taken 
 from him the day before ; for tho' the Lord had kept him back 
 formerly, he doubted not but his offer was acceptable to the Lord. 
 And when asked what they would do with the bishop, he answered, 
 he should let them see what he should do with him, for he durst 
 not but execute the justice of God upon him for the innocent blood 
 he had shed ; and William Danziel spake to the same purpose : so 
 with one consent they desired Rathillet to command them that they 
 might not delay, and to be ready at his command whatever assault 
 they shoidd meet with. 
 
 But Rathillet answered, that the Lord was his witness he was 
 willing to venture all he had for the interest of Christ, yet he durst 
 not lead them on to that action, there being a known prejudice be- 
 twixt the bishop and him, which would mar the glorj' of the action, 
 for it would be imputed to his particular rcAenge, and that God 
 was his witness he did nothing on that account ; but he would not 
 hinder them from what God had called them to, and that he should 
 
416 Russell's account of the 
 
 not leave them ; which John Balfour hearing, said, Gentlemen, fol- 
 low me : whereupon all the 9 rode what they could to JNIagusmuir, 
 the hills at the nearest, and Andrew Henderson riding afore, being 
 best mounted, and saw them when he Avas on the top of the hill, 
 and all the rest came up and I'ode very hard, for the coach was dri- 
 ving hard ; and being come near Magus, George Fleman and James 
 Russell riding into the town, and James asked at the goodman if 
 that was the bishop's coach ? He fearing, did not tell, but one of his 
 servants, a woman, came running to him and said it was the bishop's 
 coach, and she seemed to be overjoyed ; and James riding towards 
 the coach, to be sure, seeing the bishop looking out at the door, cast 
 away his cloak and cried, Judas be taken ! The bishop cried to the 
 coachman to drive ; he firing at him, crying to the rest to come up, 
 
 and the rest throwing away their cloaks except Rathillet, 
 
 fired into the coach diiving very fast about half a mile, in Avhich 
 time they fired several shots in at all parts of the coach, and Alex- 
 ander Henderson seeing one Wallace having a cock'd carrabine go- 
 in o- to fire, gript him in the neck, and threw him down and pulled 
 it out of his hand. Andi'ew Henderson outran the coach, and stroke 
 the horse in the face with his sword ; and James Russell coming to 
 the postihng, commanded him to stand, which he refusing, he stroke 
 him on the face and cut down the side of his shine, and striking at 
 the horse next brake his sword, and gi'ipping the ringeses of the 
 foremost horse in the farthest side : George Fleman fii'd a pistol in 
 at the north side of the coach beneath his left arm, and saw his 
 daughter dight of the furage ;* and riding forwaid, gripping the 
 horses' bridles in the nearest side and held them still, George Bal- 
 
 * Isabel, the Archbishop's eldest daughter, afterwards married to John Cunningham 
 of Barns, in the shire of Fife ; his second daughter, Margaret, was married to William 
 Lord Saltoun ; both had issue. 
 
MTRDKn or ARCHBISHOP SHAIU*. 417 
 
 four fired likewise, and James Russell got George Fleman's sword 
 and lighted of his horse, and ran to the coach door, and desired the 
 bishop to come forth, Judas. He answered, he never wronged man : 
 James declared before the Lord that it Avas no particular interest, 
 nor yet for any wrong that he had done to him, but because he had 
 betrayed the chiu'ch as Judas, and had wrung his hands these 18 or 
 19 years in the blood of the saints, but especially at Pentland ; arid 
 Mr Guthrie and JNIr IMitchell and James Learmonth ; and they 
 wei-e sent by God to execute his vengeance on him this day, and 
 desired him to repent and come forth ; and John Balfour on horse- 
 back said, Sir, God is our witness that it is not for any wrong thou 
 hast done to me, nor yet for any fear of what thou could do to me, 
 but because thou hast been a murderer of many a poor soul in the 
 kirk of Scotlan/i, and a betrayer of the church, and an open enemy 
 and persecutor of Jesus Christ and his members, whose blood thou 
 hast shed like w'ater on the earth, and therefore thou shalt die ! and 
 fired a pistol ; and James Russell desired him again to come forth 
 and make him for death, judgement, and eternity ; and the bishop 
 said, Save my life, and I w^ill save all yours. James answered, that 
 he knew that it Avas not in his poAver either to save or to kill us, 
 for there was no saving of his life, for the blood that he had shed 
 was crying to heaA-en for A'engeance on him, and thrust his shabel 
 at him. John Balfour desired him again to come forth, and he an- 
 sAvered, I Avill come to yovi, for I knoW you are a gentleman and 
 will save my life ; but I am gone already, and Avhat needs more ? 
 And another told him of keeping up of a pardon granted by the 
 king for 9 persons at Pentland,* and then at the back side of the 
 
 * Burnet, Archbishop of Glasgow, was generally accused by the covenanters of this 
 cruelty, which seems to have had no foundation in truth. 
 
 3g 
 
418 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 coacli thrust a sword at him, threate)iing him to go forth ; where- 
 upon he went forth, and falling upon his knees, said, For God's 
 sake, save my life ; his daughter falling on her knees, begging his 
 life also. But tliey told him that he should die, and desired him 
 to repent and make for death. Alexander Henderson said, Seeing 
 there has been lives taken for you already, and if ours be taken it 
 .shall not be for nought ; he rising of his knees went forward, and 
 John Balfour stroke him on the face, and Andrew Henderson 
 stroke him on the hand and cut it, and John Balfour rode him 
 down ; whereupon he, lying upon his face as if he had been dead, 
 and James Russell hearing his daughter say to Wallace that there 
 was life in him yet, in the time James was disarming the rest of 
 the bishop's men, went presently to him and cast of his hat, for it 
 would not cut at first, and baked his head in pieces. 
 
 Having thus done, his daughter came to him and cursed him, 
 and called him a bloody mui-derer ; and James answered they were 
 not murderers, for they were sent to execute God's vengeance on 
 him ; and presently went to the coach, and finding a pair of pistols, 
 took them, and then took out a triuik and brake it up, and finding 
 nothing but women's furniture, and asked what should be done 
 with it ; and it was answered, that they -would have nothing but 
 papers and arms ; and Andrew Henderson lighted, and took a 
 little box and brake it up, and finding some papers, which he took ; 
 and opening a cloak-bag they found moe papers and a Bible full of 
 porterers (portraits), with a little purse hung in it, a copper dollar, 
 two pistol ball, two turners, two stamps, some coloured thiead, and 
 some yellow coloured thing like to pairings of nails, which Avould 
 not burn, which they took. At this time James Russell M^as taking 
 the rest of his men's arms, and Wallace, as he would have resisted, 
 came roundly forward, and James Russell smote him on the clieek 
 with his shabel and riped all their pockets, and got some papers and 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 419 
 
 a knife and fork, which he took ; and crying to the rest to see that 
 the bisliop be dead, William Danziel lighted, and went and thrust 
 his sword into his belly, and the dirt came out ; turning him over, 
 ript his pockets, and foiuid a whinger and knifes conform, with some 
 papers, which he took. James Russell desired his servants to take 
 up their priest now. All this time Andrew Guilon pleaded for his 
 life. John Balfour threatening him to be quiet, he came to Rathil- 
 let, who was standhig at a distance with his cloak about his mouth 
 all the time on horseback, and desired him to come and cause save 
 his life, who answered, as he meddled not with them nor desired them 
 to take his life, so he durst not plead for him nor forbid them.* 
 
 * The following narrative of this murder is to be found in Wodrow's hand-wri- 
 ting, among the MS. collections for his History. It is printed here, as it varies con- 
 siderably from Russell's account. And it ought to be remarked, that the reverend 
 historian of the church of Scotland varies from Russell also, asserting that Sharp's 
 murderers were guiltless of any robbery, save of papers and arms, whereas Russell 
 confesses to a knife and fork, (Ravillac, a similar enthusiast, stole the knife with which 
 lie murdered Henry of France,) besides the Bible, purse, &c. and a horse, from which 
 one of the primate's servants had been dismounted. In the Tory account of the mur- 
 der, printed at the time, it is affirmed, that the assassins " robbed his daughter of some 
 gold and other things she had in a little box (they had wounded her, thrusting at her 
 father, betwixt whom and them she had interposed herself, by a stab in her thigh and 
 one of her thumbs,) then they took away my lord's night-bag, Bible, girdle, and some 
 papers of moment ; they also robbed his servants, and took their arms from them." 
 The strange circumstance of the humble bee, narrated below, is also omitted by Wod- 
 row, in his printed History, for reasons sufficiently obvious. 
 
 Account of the Manner of the Death of Mr J. Sharp, Jrom itvo I'crsons n</to were 
 
 present. 
 
 " Upon May 2d, Bishop Sharp came to Captain Seton's house in Kennoway. On 
 
420 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF TH1-: 
 
 Then they all mounted, and going west gather'd up some pistols 
 which they had thrown away after fired ; and James RusseU seeing 
 Alexander Lesslv of Kennowie. rode to him and asked who he 
 
 May 3d, lie went home towards St Andrews, and took Ceyres in his way, and smoked 
 a pipe with the episcopal! incumbent there. 
 
 " There were 9 men of presbyterian perswasion on their hiding, who hearing that 
 Bailey Carmichael, one of their most violent persecutors, was to hunt that day, resol- 
 ved to attack him, without any design upon his life, and threaten him soe as they 
 hoped he should goe out of Fyfe, and they be ridd of him. They wandered up and down 
 the hills above Cupar for some time, and went to some other places, but did not find 
 him. 
 
 " The reason was, as soon almost as Carmichael came furth to his hunting, a sheep- 
 herd of Scottstarbet, if the informers be not forgote, advised the bailay to goe back to 
 Coupar, for some men had been inquiring after him, and he saw them, and judged they 
 wer come out to meet with him : and Carmichael did follow his advice. 
 
 " The 9 wanderers, wearied with attendance, were thinking to goe home, and scat- 
 ter ; when they are just going to part, there comes a servant of Black, a farm- 
 er thereabout, (Mr T. B. fewer in P.) and informs them the archbishop's coach was in 
 Cyres, upon which they consulted what to doe, and resolved, that God having thrown 
 the ti-aitor into their hands, they would cut him off. Rathillet, one of them, opposed 
 it as a matter of blood, and of the last consequence to this land, and what required a 
 great deal of more deliberation. One of them prayed for direction, and after prayer, 
 Rathillet told them he was not yet determined, nor satisfyed in his own mind. 
 
 " However, the rest went forward in their dcsigne, and descrying the bishop's coach, 
 one of them upon a fleet horse outroad the rest, and called to the postillion to stope. 
 But he driving on, at the bishop calling out Drive, drive, drive ! he cut the postilion 
 on the head, and then some of the coach traces, which sloped the coach. 
 
 " In a little time the rest came up to the coach doore, and poured in on the bishop's 
 body a shower of ball, and again mounted their horse. The bishop's daughter, who 
 was in the coach with him, was scrieching and weeping most bitterly. When they 
 were mounting, one of them heard her say. Coachman, there is life in my father yet. 
 On this he beckoned to the rest to come back, for they were riding off. And when re- 
 turning, they found the bishop safe and whole, without any hurt from shott, and for- 
 ced him out of the coach, and told him what a bloody persecutor he had been, c&c, 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 421 
 
 u as. He answered, he was one of my Lord St Andi-ew's servants, 
 and disarmed him, commanded him to quit his horse, and set him 
 away a foot, and they took up all their cloaks which they cast away 
 at the east side of IMagus, and consulting, and charging then- pis- 
 tols, where to go, and resolved to go to the Tewchits, which was 
 about three miles from the place ; and riding towards it, sent Geo. 
 Balfour to Gilston to warn his brethren and Thomas Ness of what 
 was done, and if they thought meet to come to them that they 
 might be fitter for defence if assaulted, but if not, that they should 
 keep out of the Avay, lest being surprised in the posture they were 
 in, they should be thought accessarj'^ ; which George did, and comino- 
 
 and bid him pray. He refused to pray, tlio' often desired : Andrew Guillen, from 
 whom I have it, said he would by noe means pray. He creeped on hand and foot to- 
 ward Rathillet, crying, Sir, you are a gentleman, you will protect me. To which he 
 replyed, Sir, I shall never lay a hand on you. Then he begged they might spare the 
 life of ane old man, and promised to obtain a remission, it being capitall to attack a 
 privy councellour. Andrew Guillon never touched him, but endeavoured to secure 
 his daughter from danger, when interposing herself between her father and them. It 
 deserves a remark, that the two who had noe share were the only persons who dyed 
 on this score. 
 
 " The bishop keeped up some courage still : they discharged a new shower of shott 
 on him, on which he fell back, and lay as dead. Some gave him a prick with a sword 
 on which he raised himself. Then they saw shooting would not doe, and drew their 
 swords. On the sight of cold iron, his courage failed, and he made hideouse schriechs 
 as ever wer heard ; one of them gave him a blow on the face, and his chafts fell down ; 
 then he spoke somewhat, but it could not be understood ; they redoubled their streaks 
 and killed him outright. 
 
 " They took nothing from him but his tobacco-box and Bible, and a few papers. 
 With these they went to a barn near by. Upon the opening of his tobacco-bo.\ a 
 living humming bee fljw out. This either Rathillet or Balfour called his familiar, and 
 some in the company not understanding the term, they explained it to be a devil. In 
 the box were a pair of pistoll ball, parings of nails, some worrit or silk, and some sav 
 a paper with some characters, but that is uncertain." 
 
422 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF TUT. 
 
 to the Tewehits uliere the rest were, told that they were greatly 
 astonished at the news, but refused to come to the rest, who, after 
 putting up their horse, and putting forth a man to watch if any 
 should come toward that place from any airt, then went to prayer, 
 first together, and then each one alone, with great composure of 
 spirit, and enlargement of heart more nor ordinary, blessing the 
 Lord, who had called them out and carried them so couragiously 
 thro' so great a work, and led them by his holy spirit in every step 
 that they stept in that matter, and prayed that, seeing he had been 
 pleased to honour them to act for him, and to execute his justice 
 upon that wretch, (whom all that loved the wellfare of Zion ought 
 to have striven who might have had their hand first on him,) might 
 let it be known by keeping them out of the enemy's hands and 
 straight in his way ; that they did nothing out of any self-preju- 
 dice nor self-interest, but only all they were commanded of God ; 
 and as now he had been pleased to lead and guide them by his spi- 
 rit, and made them act valiantly as soldiers of Jesus Christ, not be- 
 ing ashamed of what they had done, but desu-ed to glorify God for 
 it, and was willing, if he should be pleased and see it for his gloiy, 
 they were willing to seal the truth of it with their blood thro' his 
 grace and strength enabling them, who Avould send none a warfare 
 on their own charges ; at which exercise, except what they spent 
 in taking meat to themselves and their horse, and looking over 
 some papers, they spent that afternoon till about eight o'clock at 
 night ; then horsing (and William Danziel after prayer his alone 
 told them all that the Lord had said to him. Well done, good and 
 faithful servants,) rode all away, nine, about half a mile west, where 
 George Fleman, Andrew Henderson, and Alexander Henderson 
 parted with the rest and went home, and at Dirvine comone Wil- 
 liam Danziel parted with the rest and went home. The rest went 
 alongst Pitlessie bridge through Killoch and away, Andi*ew Guil- 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 423 
 
 Ion parting with them in Edensmoor ;* the other four went near 
 to the bridge of Erne, and suspecting that there might be some 
 enemies at the bridge, (which they learned afterwards there was 
 four waiting on who passed there,) they turned into a widow's 
 house be-east the bridge on the side of Erne, where they staid all 
 Sabbath, Munday ; and Tuesday afternoon the)- saw a squad of 
 the king's guard coming alongst the bridge from "erth, when they 
 were looking forth in the yard, who had been searching for them, 
 and a footman who lived thereabout, being an enemy to tlie good 
 cause, seeing George Balfour with their landlady's brother go mto 
 St Johnstone the day before, and getting some intelligence, ran af- 
 ter the king's guard to tell them that they were into that hovise at 
 the water side, but they riding so fast away, did not reach them ; 
 whereupon they send after the troupers to see where they went, 
 and to know their motion ; and learning they had taken quarters 
 in Abernethie, and then thinking it not safe to stay still, lest they 
 should get some notice and come back again, James Russell and 
 George Balfour presently horsed and rode to a smidey a mUe west 
 and shod their horses, and the smith told them aU the news, and 
 that Inchderny was killed, which was very astonishing to them ;f 
 
 * In the year 1683, Guillan was seized, tried at Edinburgh, and condemned to be 
 taken to the Cross of Edinburgh, and to have both his hands cut oft" at the foot of the 
 gallows, and then hanged ; his head to be cut off, and fixed at Cowpar, and his body 
 to be carried to Magus Moor, and hung up in chains. The hangman struck nine times 
 with the axe, before he got his hands ofi". Andrew in his last speech denied that he 
 died a murderer, " tho' it be laid to his charge that he joyned with those who execu- 
 ted justice upon a Judas, who sold the kirk of Scotland for fifty thousand merks a 
 year." 
 
 f Andrew Ayton, younger of Indarnie, when about seventeen years of age, was in- 
 tercomrauned for non-conformity; in Blackadder's Memoirs he is termed " a comely 
 sweet youth, well affected and seriously pious. He was travelling toward Couper with. 
 
i!i4 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF TIIK 
 
 and Avithiii a little the other two came to them against they were 
 ready, and then rode all to Diplen mill, and they staid in a house 
 
 of be-west Diplen place all Wednesday, Tliursday, Friday. 
 
 and coming back to the first house ; but they fearing, went aAvay 
 to the Ochills. Saturday morning, came to an honest man's house 
 called IVIunday, and after they had slept a little, Rathillet went to- 
 wards Balward, and George Balfoiu- went to a smidey with John 
 Balfoiu-'s horse and called on a smith, and liathillet went from 
 Balward to Lindoors, thinking to stay at Robert Cairns' house, 
 not being suspected, and being his acquaintance ; but there be- 
 ing such a terror on their spirits that he went home to his own 
 house, where he staid all Sabbath ; and going at night to a tenant's 
 house of his own, he staid all ]Monday doing his affairs, and at night 
 he and his man James Kennere horsed and came on Tuesday morn- 
 ing to Balward and staid aU day, and at night I'ode to Diplen miln. 
 and to-morrow went to the Chingles at Fortawiat kirk, where he 
 got the rest, having gone from Munday on Saturday's night to 
 
 one in his company, and his footman, whom the troopers, being on their search, per- 
 ceiving, they pursued till they overtook the man that rode with him, at whom they ask- 
 ed who it was, and notwithstanding he told them it was young Inchdarney, yet they 
 madly pursued after, and one of them, called Auchnmty, shott him with a carrabin in 
 the back as he fled, and with the rest took him prisoner to Cowper, where they used 
 him as they pleased till tomorrow, that he ended his life, with many sweet and satisfy- 
 ing expressions," &c. — Wodrow affirms that the soldier who killed him died in the year 
 1682, under great terror for the fact ; but in the printed copy of his History, belong- 
 ing to the Advocate's Library, is this MS. note. " A horrible lie, for he is yet living, 
 1724." — In the Account of the Informations respecting the Archbishop's Murder, ta- 
 ken at Cowpar, it is alleged, *' that by the letters found about young Inchdarny, and in 
 other letters found in the chest of Russell in the Kettle, it is more than evident that 
 the deed had long been premeditated by the actors, and many moe : that his grace 
 was way-laid by diverse parties (as the witnesses depone,) so that whether he had gone 
 
 straight to St Andrews, or to his house of Scotscraig, he could not escape them." 
 
 9 
 
MUHDEK OF AECHBISHOP SHARP. 425 
 
 Laurence Duncan in Aberdaigy Avood, and staid all the Sabbath, 
 and on JMonday James Russell and George Balfour went to Duplin 
 miln on their foot to see what news they could hear, and by provi- 
 dence there was a gentleman, one Mr Alexander Dunneu", who in- 
 vited them to come to a gentleman's house where he staid, beside 
 the castle of Drummond, and staid two-three days, and they went 
 back to Aberdaigy and told John Balfour, who was very refresh- 
 ed, being well acquainted with the gentleman ; and they came to 
 Duplin on JNIonday's night to the old quarters, and on Tuesday's 
 night to the Chingles, having sent for William Danziel before, who 
 had been aU the time at Dysart, in an old house belonging to INIrs 
 Dongel, alone, a piece aback from the town, who staid alone day 
 and night, except the gentlewoman and her daughters brought him 
 meat in the night time ; and one night in Lesly, in a worthy man's 
 house and woman's, called James JMertin, a cordiner, and Janet 
 IVIoses his Avife, being the day after the prelate's death, and being- 
 searched by troupers and soldiers, he wonderfully escaped at a back 
 door ; and on Thursday he came to the Chingles to the rest, and an 
 honest lass who had sent for him, called Isobel Alison,* and being 
 
 » This honest lass, and Marion Harvie, a votary of Donald Cargill, fell victims to the 
 covenant in the Grass-market of Edinburgh, 1681. Isabel's account of her examination 
 before the privy council is very characteristick. " When I was brought before the coun- ] 
 oil, they asked me, Where did you live, at St Johnstoun ? Answer. Yes. What was 
 your occupation ? To which I made no answer." (This appears somewhat suspicious.) 
 " The bishop asked, If I conversed with Mr Donald Cargill ? I answered, Sir, you seem 
 to be a man whom I have no clearness to speak to. He desired another to ask the 
 same question : I answered, I have seen him, and I wish that I had seen him oftener, 
 &c. They asked, If I did not converse with David Hackstoun 1 1 answered, I did con- 
 verse with him, and I bless the Lord that ever I saw him, for I never saw ought in him 
 but a godly pious youth. They asked, If the killing of the Bishop of St Andrews was 
 
 3h 
 
426 RUSSELL'S ACCOtTNT OF THE 
 
 altogether five, he told them that he had never so much of the pre- 
 sence of the Lord before, for all that 8 or 9 days he was in a rap- 
 ture, and the Lord had confirmed him and approved all that they 
 
 a pious act ? I answered, I never heard him say that he killed him ; but if God moved 
 any, and put it upon them to execute his righteous judgments upon him, I have no- 
 thing to say to that. They asked me. When saw ye John Balfour, that pious youth ? 
 I answered, I have seen him. They asked. When ? I answered, These are frivolous 
 questions, I am not bound to answer them. They asked, If I knew the two Hender- 
 sons that murdered the Lord St Andrews ? I answered, I never knew any Lord St 
 Andrews. They said, Mr James Sharp, if ye call him so. I said, I never thought it 
 murder ; but if God moved and stirred them up to execute his righteous judgement 
 upon him, I have nothing to say to that. They asked. Whether or not I would own 
 all that I had said ? for, said they, you will be put to own it in the Grass-market," &-c. ' 
 (Cloud of Witnesses.) — Alison's companion, Harvey, had been caught, while on her way 
 from Edinburgh to a field-meeting, by a party sent out to seize Cargill, (Cargill's 
 Life.) Wlien examined before the council, she owned the treasonable Sanquhar Decla- 
 ration and the Queensferry Paper. One of the counsellors told her a rock, a cod and 
 hohbins, tvould set her better than these debates, a truth she would not so readily acknow- 
 ledge. In her Testimony, printed in the Cloud of Witnesses, she leaves her blood 
 " upon the traitor that sits upon the throne ; then on James Duke of York, who was 
 sitting in the council when I was examined the first day. And I leave my blood on 
 the bloody crew who call themselves rulers. And I leave it on James Henderson in 
 the North-Ferry, who was the Judas that sold Archibald Stewart, and Mr Skeen, and 
 me to the bloody soldiers for so much money. I leave my blood on Serjeant Warrock, 
 who took me and brought me to prison. And I leave my blood on the criminal lords, 
 as they call themselves, and especially that excommunicate tyrant, George Mackenzie, 
 the advocate, and the fifteen assizers ; and on Andrew Cunningham that gave me my 
 doom ; and on that excommunicate traitor, Thomas Dalyell, who was porter that day 
 that I was first before tliera, and threatened me with the boots." 
 
 In this Christian frame of spirit she and Alison ascended the scaffold, where their si- 
 tuation hath been bewailed by tender-hearted historians, as about to be executed with 
 some women condemned for child murder. But one of these martyrs had been well 
 inured to the society of murderers, even by her own confession ; and the other appro- 
 ved of the archbishop's assassination. Harvie said, " at fourteen or fifteen I was a 
 
MUBDEE OF AllCHBISHOP SHARP. 427 
 
 had done, and still to the day of his death he was kept in a rapture 
 of joy, and at his death witnessed against the indulgence, and de- 
 clared that the Lord had let him see that it was hatched in hell for 
 to ruin the kirk of God, and told his brethren that was with him, 
 that if the Lord spared him, and if ever he went to the shire of 
 Fife, he should contend more nor ever he had done before, tho' he 
 
 hearer of the curates and indulged, and while I was a hearer of these, I was a blas- 
 phemer and a Sabbath breaker, and a chapter of the Bible was a burthen to me ; but 
 since I heard this persecuted gospel, I durst not blaspheme nor break the Sabbath, and 
 the Bible was my delight." — She would have said more, but the executioner cut short 
 the thread of her discourse by hanging her. 
 
 The next Cameronian female who made a figure on her trial for these principles, was 
 one Fyfe, whom Fountainhall asserts, with much probability, to have been mad.— 
 " March 27, 1682. Christian Fyfe, late indwqller in Fife, is indicted for invading a mi- 
 nister, and treason. The probation adduced against her is her confession before the 
 committee for public affairs. Edinburgh, 21 March, Christian Fyfe confesseth, that 
 on Sabbath last, she did beat Mr Ramsay in the Old Kirk, at the ending of the ser- 
 mon, and the reason was, she thought he was profaning the Sabbath. She declares 
 she thinks the king is not lawful king, nor the judges lawful judges, otherwise they 
 would never have murdered Mr Donald Cargill and Rathillet. Since Mr Cargill's 
 death she thinks there was not an honest minister in Scotland : that she thinks it very 
 good service to kill all the bishops present, and all of them that are in Scotland ; de- 
 clares the reason why she went to church was to beat, and not to hear the minister. 
 
 " When before the Lords of Justiciary, she adhered to her former confession, de- 
 clined them as judges, and added, that she went not to the kirk to beat a lawful mini- 
 ster, but one whom she thought a Judas and a devil ; and that those who killed the 
 archbishop were at their duty. She was condemned to be hanged on the 7th of April, 
 in the Grass-market of Edin:" (Wodrow, vol. II. p. 262.) — but was afterwards re- 
 prieved ; and here it may be observed, that a reprieve was actuall}' granted by the 
 privy council to the two women drowned for whiggery at Wigton ; and it was recom- 
 mended to the secretaries to procure their remission, which recommendation at that 
 time v/as looked upon as a pardon. This circumstance Wodrow has candour enough 
 to mention ; but later historians have passed it over in silence. It remains to be ex- 
 plained, how the reprieve was rendered of no avail, and those simple \vretclies drowned. 
 
 J 
 
428 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 should be looked on as never so ill, for he was as a speckled bird 
 looked on before by friends, and he promised to the Lord to be a 
 stated enemy to it, and to all that owned it while he lived. 
 
 And on Wednesday they all six took horse to the castle of Drum- 
 ond, and came there to a change-house, and sent for Mr Alexan- 
 der Duncan (he not being there) to come to them whom he had 
 trysted on INIonday at Duplin mill ; and when he came he desu-ed 
 them to carry as troupers, and made the fashion of taking him, for 
 the whole country was em-aged against theiri, and they could not 
 stay, but presently went with him to an honest man's house beside 
 the castle, called Brown, and refreshed themselves and their horses, 
 and presently horsed again and got a guide from that place with 
 them, not knowing one foot of the way, and came to Ardoch, 
 where they shod their horses ^and refreshing themselves, and pre- 
 sently took their horses and went toward Dumblain ; and as jovu"- 
 neying, one John Burden, Lord of FedUl, overtook them, a very 
 malicious enemy, and he asked them what news ; and presently he 
 began to regret the prelate's death, and of one Inchdernie's death, 
 and of one RathiUet, who had been at the bishop's murdering. 
 They answered, they heard of Inchdernie's but not of Rathillet's. 
 He taking them for troupers, they began to ask him if he heard 
 tell what way they have gone, and he said. Gentlemen, if I knew I 
 would tell you, for I am a captain of the mUitia ; and earnestly en- 
 treated them to go by to his house and take a glass of wine, being 
 but a ridge length off the way ; and they went with him and took a 
 drink on horseback, but would not light, tho' he Avas very earnest, 
 but they told him that he knew that when troupers received orders 
 they bud to obey, and he acknowledged that, and spiered whose 
 troupers they belonged to, and they told him that they belonged 
 to Mr Hamilton's troop, and desired them to stay at the bridge of 
 Doun, and he would inquire for the murderers ; and likemse told 
 
MURDEU OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 429 
 
 them that they .need to beware of themselves, for there was the 
 
 matter of a 100 horsemen that rode thro' Dumblain yesternight, 
 
 and they could not get word what they were, but thinking them 
 
 to be fanaticks. And they presently took journey and came to 
 
 Dumblain, carrying still as troupers, asked for the clerk's house 
 
 who sold brandy ; when come to the door, called for the clerk and 
 
 for a double gill of brandy ;* presently gathered a great multitude 
 
 of people about them, regretting the bishop's murder, and then the 
 
 clerk came, and he regretted it likewise ; and they sporting with 
 
 tliem, began to spier if they heard tell where they had gone, or if 
 
 they had seen any that way ; and the clerk answered and said, You 
 
 are aU of them, and said to John Balfour, You shot first at him. 
 
 Rathillet laughing, said. If all Dumblain had been here they would 
 
 not have guessed so right ; and the clerk not suspecting, he would 
 
 ha-\e them take another gill of brandy, and desired them to stay at 
 
 the bridge of Doun, and he would come to them to-morrow and 
 
 give them an accovmt of some whigs that lived thereabout, for he 
 
 • Some of the most notable saints, about this time, were not altogether enemies to 
 brandy, if we may credit Robert Hamilton, their leader at Bothwell, who, in his long 
 winded epistle to the Societies, dated Dec. 7, 1685, talking of John Haddow, Thomas 
 Hog, younger, and another, says, " When great Cameron and these with him were 
 taking many a cold blast and storm in the fields, and among the cott-houses in Scot- 
 land, these three had for the most part their residence in Glasgow, where they found 
 good quarters, and a full table, (which I doubt not but some bestowed upon them from 
 real affection to the Lord's cause ;) and when these three were together, tlieir greatest 
 work was, who should make the finest and sharpest roundels, and break the quickest 
 jests upon one another, and to tell what valiant acts they were to do, and who could 
 laugh loudest and most heartily among them. And when at any time they came out 
 to the country, whatever other things they had, they were careful each of them to 
 have a large Jlask of brandy with tliem ; which was very heavy to some, particularly 
 to Mr Cameron, Mr Cargill, and Henry Hall : I shall name no more." — FaitlifuL Con- 
 tendings, p. 198. 
 
430 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 durst not tell them before the people, for there was some of them 
 that would destroy him ; but taking their leaves, rode forward, be- 
 ing near night, and not knowing where to go to, rode very hard and 
 sent back their guide at Dumblain, not being able to hold up with 
 them, and they came to the kirk of Kipping, having taken a gixide 
 out of his bed as troupers, which alarmed the whole covintry, being 
 honest folk, and came to a change-house beside the kh-k, and they 
 put up their horse, not going to bed, for they knew not that they 
 were friends, and prayed together in a chamber ; but the people was 
 in their beds, except some who Avas warning the country, and one 
 that waited on their horse and noticed what they did ; and timous 
 in the morning they went to their prayers, and the lad that waited 
 on their motion overhearing them at prayer, wondered and told the 
 rest of the family, and they suspected, but was not sure.* Then they 
 
 * The fanaticks made a wonderful noise during prayers, sighing, weeping, and hea- 
 ving forth many groans. " He breaks his buttons, and cracks seams at every saying 
 he sobs out." Jonson's Bailholomeiv Fair. — A religious man of Irongray parisli vvas 
 discovered in the fields, by these noises, which led the soldiers to the spot where he 
 concealed himself; they told him, " Sir, we have heard you many times howling, if 
 we hear you again," &c. Naphthali. — In Livingston's Memorable Characteristics, 
 (MS.) is an extraordinary account of the devotions of Patrick M'Lewrath, a husband- 
 man in the parish of Bailing, in Carrick, a great wrestler in prayer, and two of his 
 friends, who frequently met to impart their experiences, " two of thera sitting on a 
 form, and the other on a chair before the form, they all took other in their arms, and 
 shook to and again, and uttered their voices in a kind of cruning singing way, but not 
 uttering any articulate words, and yet the tears running down from them ; tor at that 
 time they did not understand there was any such exercise as Christians to pray toge- 
 ther, for this was before Mr James English came to be minister at Dailling." — Ruther- 
 ford advises to " beware of fashionable and dead prayers, coming from custom, not 
 conscience. Well then, ere ye go away, lay on at last a good knock, and always so 
 pray, that ye instantly urge the answer of your letter." — The Cruel fFatchmen, a Ser- 
 vion by Mr S. Rutherford. 
 
MURDEK OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 431 
 
 desired a guide to Kilsyth ; and about half a mile be-west Kippen, 
 one of them being acquaint with some honest men that lived there- 
 about, not knowing where, asked the guide if he knew where they 
 lived, and when there was any preaching ; and at last after a little 
 discourse he suspects them, and tells them that there was a minister 
 there on the Sabbath, and if they were honest men and were ac- 
 quainted with him, he could get intelligence to him ; and they pro- 
 mised not to wi'ong him, and told their names, and the lad went to 
 him, and they staid on horseback untUl he came and took them 
 away to the honest man's house, and several there knew them, and 
 staid untill the Sabbath, being the 18 day of JMay, and went to a 
 preaching appointed be-west Kippen two miles, upon tlie liUl be- 
 west, called Fintry Craigs ; where some of the people being met 
 and the rest coming, they sees a party of troopers and soldiers co- 
 ming toAvards them, being in number of horse 25, and 50 foot fi-om 
 Stirling ; and they expecting that the meeting woidd be conveened 
 before the party were their length, expecting a great multitude, but 
 the people that was coming saw the party, and they not expecting 
 that the meeting would hold, they went back again ; however, the 
 little handful that was met resolved to fight them before they a\ ere 
 scattered, being about 24 country lads with giuis, and some with 
 forks, and some women. 
 
 Two or three of the troupers came first and desired them to dis- 
 miss, and they told them they were come there to worship the Lord, 
 who was king and head of his church, and the troupers desired them 
 to dismiss in the name of the king ; and they told them that they 
 had a commission from Jesus Christ to come there to worshijj him 
 who was king of kings, and they would not dismiss, but was resol- 
 ved to defend the gospel to the shedding of then- blood. Then the 
 troupers would fain been away, but there was a wicked loun com- 
 manding them and the foot, called Sleeman, commanded them, after 
 
432 RUSSELL'S ACCOrNT OF THE 
 
 they had turned their backs, to go again, and 12 musketeers to fire 
 on the meeting ; and after they fired the honest party fired on them, 
 and wounded two-three of them, and all the rest, both horse and 
 foot, fired a considerable time, and the honest party not haying am- 
 munition, yet still fired as long as they had any thing ; and at last 
 the troopers went about the back side of the hill, and came vip at a 
 pass not expecting it, and fired at some of these 6 horsemen ; and 
 then the honest party of the foot not being able to stand any longer, 
 and these 6 horsemen beinej sundered, three of them beino- firing 
 above the brea at the troupers, and the rest under the brea, and 
 shot one of the troupers' horse, and wounded a man, and the Lord 
 brought them off without the least wrong : Only John Balfour's 
 horse was shot in the hoof but no worse, and they took only one 
 herd lad and let him go again, for they were ashamed to take Mm 
 with them ; and they five rode only about the hill the matter of a 
 mile and an half, and met with John Balfour by pro\ddence, not 
 expecting but he had been killed, but friends took him thro' a moss 
 Avhich the troupers knew not, and they presently came back again 
 to the same place and expected to have kept the meeting, but the 
 minister being gone away, they staid a little and gathered up many 
 of the enemy's ball in the place where they stood, and not so much 
 as one of all the meeting were Inu't, only one man was shot thro' 
 the coat, but did not touch his skin, one Robert Rainie and one 
 Donald INI'ConneU both riding with them six ; and they staid 
 thereabout tiU Tuesday, INIr Riddel keeping another meeting near 
 by, and that night horsed and went to an honest man's house about 
 
 two miles be-east Campsie, called ]Mr James , and staid all 
 
 Wednesday ; and that night went to Arnbuckle, where they met 
 with horse and foot in arms watching for keeping of a fast on 
 Thursday, 22 of INIay, which was kept, being a great meeting ; and 
 many, both horse and foot, well armed, some havuig met with 5 or 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 433 
 
 6 of the king's foot soldiers, for they were lying at Lanrick, took 2 
 of them and brought them to the meeting, and the rest got away 
 a-foot with speed, but keeping these 2 all day at the meeting, and 
 sent away at night ; there preached Mr Cargil, INIr King, and INIr 
 Kidd, and then they sent ]Mr James Boog, Avho was at the meeting, 
 presently to Fife for AndreAv and Alexander Hendersons and George 
 Flemane, Avho was hiding themselves at home, having gone openly 
 about their affairs 5 or 6 days after the prelate's death, bvit then was 
 hiding with great difficulty, for the troupers were searching for them 
 and the soldiers every day, so that they wonderfully escaped being 
 surprised, for Andi-ew Henderson lay in a little hole, and the troup- 
 ers and soldiers came to the hole side, but were so restrained of the 
 Lord that they got not leave to look in, for the commander cried to 
 him that was going up and doAvn searching, Are you seeking hens ? 
 Avhicli word caused him to come away from the place where Andrew 
 was lying, being within his own length to the place where he was, 
 and so escaped, and then went away with his brother Alexander, 
 and lay in a cave at the sea side until Mr James Boog came to them, 
 and they two and George Flemane and Mr James Boog came away 
 to Duplin mill, and from thence to Dumblain, and towards Kilsyth 
 and thence to Arnbuckle, and all the way they were taken for those 
 who had killed the bishop, but the Lord wondei'fully carried them 
 through, and they came to the rest, being then in ai-ms, upon the 
 3d day of June, near Strevan.* 
 
 * The plan of an insurrection had been long concerted by the whigs, though bitter 
 schisms among themselves greatly retarded, as at length they rendered it abortive. 
 " There were several well forward sticklers among the people, who stirred much un- 
 derhand among the commonalty (may be from zeal, doubtless with much precipitancy,) 
 in the West, amusing them with a design to rise in arms, though there was no such joint 
 resolution, for ought I know, either among gentry or ministers, nor the most pious, 
 
 3 I 
 
■i'Ji KUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 The 22d day of May, the meeting at Arnbiickle being ended, the 
 2 soldiers that was kept went presently to Lanrick to their captain, 
 and told him of the meeting and how good order they Avere in ; 
 and the counsel getting intelligence that they were to keep a com- 
 mvmion on the Sabbath, they resolved to send the whole forces to 
 dismiss it, and an alarm comes to-morrow that the Earl of Hume 
 and Clavers,* and 7 company of foot, was come to the west kirk of 
 
 solid, and grave among the yeomen, to my best information. A young gentleman, 
 Robert Hamilton, did mainly concern himself; he, I say, with some others, drew some 
 of the well-meaning people to several meetings in the country, to consult about that 
 affair ; then drew on a sort of more general meeting of correspondence from several 
 parts, who met at Edinburgh, and were purposed to essay such a thing the year before 
 Bothwell." — Black adder's Memoirs. 
 
 * The following notices respecting Lord Dundee, " the last and best of Scots," are 
 extracted from a very scarce volume, entitled, A short Account of Scotland, S^c. tvritten 
 hy the late Reverend Mr Thomas Morbr, Minister of St Ann's, tvithin Aldcrsgale, when 
 he was Chaplain to a Scotch Regiment. Printed at London, 1715. 
 
 '' Dundee was by name Graham, and by title Clavers, educated at St Andrews, 
 where, in his minority, he was admired for his parts and respects to church-men, which 
 made him dear to the archbishop of that See, who ever after honour'd and lov'd him. 
 Grown to maturity, he goes to Holland, where he was in the service of the Prince of 
 Orange, but continued not very long upon some disgust there given him. At his re- 
 turn, however, the prince gave him a letter of recommendation, directed to the Duke 
 of York, with a request to provide for him ; which accordingly the duke did, by inter- 
 ceding with his brother. King Charles the Second, for an horse-captain's commission 
 in Scotland, where forces were then raising : and 'twas a particular testimony of the 
 king's favour ; for tho' he allowed Duke Lauderdale to dispose of the other commis- 
 sions as he thought good, yet he excepted Mr Graham's, and 'twas the only exception 
 on that occasion. He behaved himself so well in this post, that afterwards some scat- 
 tered and independent troops being formed into a regiment. Captain Graham was made 
 their colonel, and in progress of time major-general of all the Scotch forces, with which 
 character he came into England at the landing of the prince, 1688. Being found very 
 capable to serve the crown, he was admitted iiUo the privy council, who iiilarged his 
 
MURDEK OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 435 
 
 the Monkland, being at night ; they 6 horses Avith the country men 
 thereabout, both foot and horse, and went to JMuffat hills, being near 
 Arnbuckle, and then send out some scouts to try the enemy's mo- 
 tion. The enemys hearing that the whole country was in arms, was 
 
 commission, and gave him power to reduce the West, and make the dissenters comply 
 with the constitution of the church as it then was ; which he happily compassed by 
 many struggles, and by laying great fines on 'em, but seldom exacting them with ri- 
 gour. By King James the Seventh he was made Viscount of Dundee, his seat being 
 near that burrough. And, upon the news of the prince's coming, he was order'd to 
 march with his regiment into England, where he was like to have commanded as eldest 
 major-general, but that the English officers with the same commission would not bear 
 it. He advised K. James to three things ; one, to fight the Prince of Orange ; another, 
 to go personally to the prince, and demand his business ; the last, to make his way into 
 Scotland, upon the coldness he observed in the English army and nation. This advice 
 the king was inclined to take, but that the news of some Scotch peers and gentlemen's 
 hast'ning to London dishearten'd him, who were suspected to favour the prince's de- 
 sign. On the king's departure, he apply'd himself to the prince, with whom he was 
 too free in declaring his thoughts, and therefore could expect no kind reception. Upon 
 this he retired ; and hearing of the Scotch Convention, he began his journey to Edin- 
 burgh to be present at it. A while he sat at this Convention, but discovering a design 
 in hand to assassinate him, he first complain'd ; and the complaint not taking effect, 
 he absented from that meeting ; and, at last, with 40 horse (which a little before he 
 commanded, and were resolved to run his fortune,) rid home, having had first some 
 communication with the Duke of Gordon, who, in behalf of King James, commanded 
 the Castle, and would not deliver it up for any proposals made by the Convention. 
 This treating with the Duke of Gordon gave his enemies advantage, who thereupon 
 obtain'd a vote to make him an intercommun'd person, and sent an officer to require 
 him to appear before 'em at Edinburgh. But he excused himself by two reasons; 1st, 
 his own danger ; 2d]y, the indisposition of his lady, who then lay in, and was also in 
 some danger on the account of labour. Whereupon the Convention proceeds, orders 
 him to be apprehended, and by that means forces him, with his little guard, into the 
 mountains, where the Highlanders flock'd to him in such numbers that at last they be- 
 came a formidable army : with these he came to Gillicranky ; and had he not been 
 there killed, he had been at Edinburgh a few days after. 
 " He was a gentleman fix'd in his religion, so that King James could not charm him 
 
436 IIUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 SO afraid that they durst not sunder, tho' there was but the matter 
 of 30 horsemen and about 140 foot, who staid all night in arms at 
 the IMufFat hills, and the morning went east about a mile and staid 
 until near night ; and their sentries came in and told them that the 
 enemys was all to Lanrick, and only had taken a horse or two, for 
 they were in a great fear ; and then they dismissed and went home, 
 appointing a meeting on the Sabbath ; but Alex. Ross and Alex. 
 Henderson in Edinburgh came with an alarm from Edinb\u-gh on 
 the Sabbath day of the morning, and told them that the forces was 
 
 two miles out of the town, a coming here to join with the 
 
 rest, and the honest party considered it and thought it fit to delay 
 
 into any dislike of it ; but the more he found it opposed, the more he loved it. He 
 was a great admirer of the church of England worship ; and often wished Scotland so 
 happy, that where God is served, the service might be done in some visible instances 
 of reverence, such as are order and decency. He was of deep thought and indefati- 
 gable industry, ready to execute what he design'd, and quick in the contrivance as well 
 as the execution of it. He was a man of bravery and courage, and therefore led up all 
 his regiments, which indeed were unwilling to advance without him ; yet used the care 
 of a general to expose himself no farther than necessity requires, as being the guide 
 and head of his army. And because he was forced to appear often at the head of each 
 regiment to aflvise and inspirit 'em, just before the battel he put on a sad colour'd 
 coat over his armour, tho' he appeared in red all the morning before. He seeni'd to 
 have no base ends in resisting the present government, but (as he said) for conscience 
 and loyalty-sake. And by virtue of this principle it was, that when he surprised Perth, 
 he suffered not the least violence or damage to be done the town ; and finding L.500 
 in the collector of the revenue's room, besides what belonged to the king, he did not 
 touch it, but said, he intended to rob no man ; tho' what was the crown's he thought 
 he might make bold with, seeing what he was then doing was purely to serve his mas- 
 ter. He was so great a patron to the clergy, that they could hardly mention him with- 
 out a tear. His death he took with patience, and had at it a sufficient confidence of 
 the divine favour. For when his favourite, Pitcur, asked him hoxv he did ? and told 
 him withal how things went, and that all was xvell if he were so. Then / am well, said 
 he, and so immediately died." 
 
JIUllDEll OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 437 
 
 the meeting ; then they horsed with 12 of the countrey men and 
 rode away towards Strevan, where there was a meeting within a 
 mile, JNIr Douglas preaching, where they met with INIr Hamilton, 
 ISIr Cleland, and several others, who were in very good order, con- 
 siderable in number of horse and foot, who Avas still expecting the 
 enemy that night. AVilliam Danziel and James Rvissell and George 
 Balfour met about 2 miles west from Strevan, and staid 2 days ; Mr 
 Hamilton, Rathillet, John Balfour, went on INIonday to Glasgow to 
 meet with JNIr Cargill* and INIr John SpreAvl, and advised about gi- 
 
 » " The Life and Prophecies of that faithful Minister of God's Word, Mr Donald 
 Cargill," were compiled by Peter Walker, a historian well suited to his hero, being a 
 sort of pedlar, who wandered through Scotland, vending his wares, and collecting an- 
 ecdotes of the presbyterian sufferers. His shop was in the West-Bow of Edinburgh, long 
 noted for a colony of whigs, doubtless originally planted there by Major Weir, who re- 
 sided in that street. At the Torwood, in Stirlingshire, (1680,) Cargill had the audacit}' to 
 excommunicate the king, the Dukes of York, Monmouth, Lauderdale, Rothes, Sir G eorge 
 Mackenzie, king's advocate, and General Dalyell. He made many wonderful escapes 
 from apprehension, more especially at the Queensferry, where he was rescued by a rab- 
 ble of pious women, and got off with a broken head only ; at length he was seized by Ir- 
 vine of Bonshaw at Covington-Mill, and carried to Glasgow. " When they came near 
 the city, they turned him upon the horse, and led him backward ; which made many to 
 weep, to see their old minister in that posture, he being for some years settled minister 
 in the Barony Kirk ; and some wicked, to rejoice. When they came to the Tolbooth, 
 they halted until the magistrates came to receive them. John Nisbet, Bishop Pater- 
 son of Glasgow's factor, looking over the stair, out of his great wickedness merrily 
 said, Mr Cargill (three times over in sport) in effect, will you not give us one word 
 more ? This he said because Mr Cargill in public sometimes said, In effect we will say 
 that one word, or, I have one word more to say. Mr Cargill looked to him, and with 
 concernedness said, Wicked poor man, why do ye mock .'' ere you die, you will desire 
 one word, and will not get it. Shortly thereafter he was struck dumb, his tongue 
 swelling in his mouth." Cargill's Life.— See also Wodrow for the same story.— 
 Lord Fountainhall, in his MS. Journal, thus mentions Mr Donald's catastrophe. " Mr 
 Donald Cargill, a presbyterian preacher, who had excommunicate the king, was ap- 
 prehended at Covington-Mill, near Lanerk, with two of his associates, Smith and Boig, 
 
438 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 ving a testimony against the anniversaiy day, and I'eturned, appoint- 
 ing a meeting to be about a mile be-north-west from Strevan on the 
 29th of ]May, being Thursday, where met a considerable party, but 
 not the half that was expected, not getting Avarning. The meeting- 
 being ended and dismissed, the horsemen being drawn up, and be- 
 ing about 50 or 60 horse, Mr Hamilton read over the testimony to 
 them, and desired all that Avas willing to go Avith him, and those 
 that Avas not AvUling to go and offer themselves to go their Avay ; 
 but all being overjoyed at the motion, Avent away ; and about half 
 an hour before the sun, or one hour at most, came to Rutherglen, 
 and thinking to have gone to Glasgow, but the Avhole forces being 
 in arms at the end of the toAvn, turned into Rutherglen, and caused 
 put out all the fires that Avas burning on the streets, and then di'CAV 
 tip round about the cross in order, called for the magistrates, and 
 then sent William Danziel and James Russell to be sentry at the 
 bridge of Glasgow, Avho saw the forces all the time, and was within 
 little more than musquit shot of them ; and they lighted and gave 
 their horse a beat of corn near the bridge, and a little refi-eshment 
 theirselves ; and Avhen they Avere called in they fii-ed tAvo jjistols, 
 and came then- Avay. , 
 
 13 July, 1681 ; and upon the 26 ditto, he, Mr Walter Smith, Mr James Boig, with 
 Cuthil and Thomson, were hanged at Edinburgh Cross. They disowned the king, 
 calling liira tyrant, and to save their lives they refused to say God save him. Cargill 
 behaved most timerously, begged banishment, but finding that could not be granted, 
 he put on more resolution after his sentence." — Alexander Peden, in a sermon on the 
 text, Cri/ aloud, spare not, lift tip thy voice like a trumjjet, thus canonizes Cargill. " O 
 sirs ! Christ had a wheen noble vrorthies in Scotland not long ago, that set the trumpet 
 to their mouth, and gave fair warning in his name ; he had a Welch, a Cameron, a Car- 
 gill, and a Wallwood, a noble party of them proclaiming his name in Scotland. O 
 sirs ! if ye could be admitted to see and speak to them, they would tell you that it is 
 nothing to suffer for Christ ; they are all glancing in glorie now ; they would flee you 
 out of your wits to behold them, with these white robes, and glorious crowns, and 
 palms in their hands." 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHxVRP. 439 
 
 In this time, first IVIr Duglass spake a little, and prayed and sing- 
 ing and speaking a little, JMr Hamilton reading all the wicked acts 
 that was against the liberty of the kirk of Scotland, and speaking a 
 little to the people, caused fix a copy of the testimony to the Cross, 
 and brunt them in the fire publicly, and they came aU away to the 
 bridge of Glasgow, where retiring a little of the way, dismissed 
 every one to their own homes most composedly ; and these Fife 
 men went to Eagiesham with INIr Hamilton ; and having rested a 
 while in the morning, there came in word to their quarters that the 
 troupers had been within half a mile and less of them presently, but 
 the Lord so restrained them that they came not where they were, 
 tho' they were all scattered in several houses, and being suspected 
 too. About ten hours of the day they horsed and went all to two- 
 three houses near Newmihis, be-west Loudon hill about a mile, and 
 staid till Saturday at night : when going to bed, the alarm comes 
 that Clavers Avas rindging all the country for them ; they presently 
 horsed, and met altogether in the house where the minister and Mr 
 Hamilton was ; and the honest people gathered to them and staid 
 there all night, and in the morning they resolved to keep the ineet- 
 ing in the place appointed ; and presently getting intelligence that 
 Clavers had taken INIr King and 18 prisoners with him, and had 
 them all bound on horse bare backs hke beasts ;* in a little came 
 
 * King for nine years had been troublesome to government, preacliing sedition at 
 very many conventicles with great cunning and perseverance. He was chaplain to 
 Lord Cardross, and, according to Captain Creichton, debauched Lady Cardross's fa- 
 vourite waiting maid, who proved with ciiild by him. He is described as " a bra 
 muckle carle, wi' a white hat, and a great bob o' ribbons on the cock o't." — When 
 Claverhouse was routed at Drumclog, he fled past his triumphant prisoner, who had 
 been stationed in a small cabin on Loudon hill, with a dragoon sentry to prevent his 
 escape ; King shouted after him to stop, and take the afternoon's preaching. Being 
 again apprehended after the defeat at Bothwell, he made no scruple to deny his guilt, 
 
440 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 Heiidiy Hall, and Thomas AVeir in Commerhead, and his brother, 
 who had been at ]\Ir "Welch, dealmg with him to preach against the 
 indulgence, but did not prevail, and regretted it very sore ; and 
 then Mr Cleland* came, and some with him, from Lesmehagow, 
 
 declaring in his petition to the privy council for mercy, " that his being in company 
 with the rebels did proceed from no rebellious principles ; but being taken prisoner by 
 Claverhouse, he ordered him to be bound in cords, and after that Claverhouse and his 
 party had retired from Loudon-Hill, he was found by the rebells in that posture, and 
 detained almost still a prisoner by them untill the defeat, and not suffered to go from 
 them, so that in effect he was always in the quality of prisoner. During the time he 
 was with them, he not only refused to preach, but he was so far from encouraging them 
 to rebellion, that he made it his xvork to persuade them to return to their Jbrmer loyalty 
 and obedience ; ani, ide Jacto, persuaded severals to go from them and desert them. 
 Albeit he had sometimes a sword about him, yet he never offered to make use of the 
 same directly or indirectly, or to make any resistance to authority ; and he only car- 
 ried a sword to disguise himself, that he might not be taken for a preacher ; and he did 
 make his escape before the engagement." 
 
 * A volume of Colonel William Cleland's poems was published in 1697 ; and is novr 
 scarce, having never been reprinted. It would exceedingly puzzle a critic to decide 
 whether he or Colvill composed the more wretched trash, in their presumptuous imi- 
 tations of Hudibras. Cleland observes, that to describe the Highland Host surpasses 
 
 the art 
 
 " Of Lucan, Virgil, or of Horace, 
 Of Ovid, Homer, or of Floras .'", 
 
 This covenanting hero also dealt in Elegy and Song. Of his elegiac powers, a speci- 
 men has already been given, to which may be added the following extracts from Verses 
 on Thomas Ker of Hayhope, a whig gentleman^ killed at Crookham by a party com- 
 manded by Colonel Struthers, 1678. 
 
 " Come, let us meet with tears ; this fate allows ; 
 You lofty heavens, contract your clowdy brows. 
 Turn vapours into tears, that we with you 
 May mourn and mourn again, since it is true 
 
IMURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 441 
 
 and meeting at the place appointed before the ordinary time of day, 
 resolving to go to rescne the prisoners, if the Lord should enable 
 them ; and sending away to warn some men in Lesmehagow to 
 meet them at Loudon hill ; and the people about Kilmarnock hear- 
 ing tell of Clavers, did not come the sixth man that was expected, 
 for there was to have been a very great meeting ; notwithstanding, 
 they being met resolved to offer themselves, knowing that the Lord 
 coidd save as well with few as with many ; and the minister pray- 
 ing and after spake a little, and then laid out the case to the people, 
 and many of them was willing to offer themselves, for Clavers had 
 gotten a commission to kiU all whomsoever he got either coming 
 or going, or at a preaching, or made any resistance. They being 
 about 50 horse and about as many guns, and about 150 with forks 
 and halberts, and marching towai-ds them, desired aU that was not 
 willing to offer themselves to go away ; but men and women that 
 had nothing to pursue nor yet to defend went, there was such u 
 spirit given from the Lord ; and half a mUe be- west Drumclog. 
 
 That he is torn fi-om us by rapid fate, 
 
 By so perfidious hands, at such a rate ! — 
 
 O heavens, O earth, O floods, O roaring seas. 
 
 Ye lofty mountains, groves, and stately trees, 
 
 Ye rampant lions, and ye savage bears. 
 
 Ye cruel tigers, all burst forth in tears." 
 
 Ex ungue leonem. Cleland's Song, entitled, " Hollo, my Fancy," is the most tolerable 
 of his effusions, though greatly inferior to the poem of which it is an imitation. He was 
 killed 21st August, 1689, in the church-yard of Dunkeld, which his regiment defend- 
 ed against a body of Highlanders. It is said that his son, or grandson, was the author 
 oi an infamous book but too well known ; his son certainly wrote the letter prefixed 
 to Pope's Dunciad. The most useful, and perhaps ingenious publication which has ap- 
 peared under the name of Cleland, is Mrs Cleland's Book of Cookery. 
 
 3 K 
 
44!^ llUSSEUAs ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 there came a few of those men that was sent for from LesmehagoAv, 
 and then seeing Clavers with his troup of horse and two companies 
 of dragoons, never fearing, but went forward, and di'CAv up all in a 
 body, and then prayed and sang ; Clavers coming fiercely forward, 
 and gave his men that word, No quarter ! resolving to cut off every 
 man : and one Grahame, that same morning in Strevan his dog was 
 leaping upon him for meat, and he said he would give him none, 
 but he should fill himself of the whigs' blood and flesh or night ; 
 but instead of that, his dog was seen eating his own thrapple, (for 
 he was killed,) by several ; and particularly James Russell, after the 
 pursuit, coming back to his dear friend James Dungel,* who was 
 sorely wounded, asked at some women and men who it was ; they 
 told that it was that Graham, and afterward they got certain word 
 what he said to liis dog in Strevan.f 
 
 The commanders was Robert Hamilton, Robert Fleman, Rathil- 
 let, John Balfour, ^Vilham Cleland, Hendry Hall, and John Lou- 
 don : WiUiam Cleland and some others commanded the foot. Cla- 
 vers commanded off" two first to view the ground, and then came 
 himself, as they that had seen him before said ; but there was a 
 great g\itter like a stank ; being no way to get about it, he com- 
 manded off fii"st 12 well-mounted troupers or dragoons, for they 
 
 * Sic, in MS. 
 
 f Robert Grahame, cornet to Claverliouse, was slain by a musket-shot from one 
 John Alstoun, a miller's son, and tennant of Weir of Blackwood. Wodrow, vol. II. p. 
 
 293. " The rebels," says Creichton, " finding the cornet's body, and supposing it to 
 
 be that of Clavers, because the name of Grahame was wrought in the shirt-neck, treat- 
 ed it with the utmost inhumanity ; cutting off the nose, picking out the eyes, and stab- 
 bin"- it through in a hundred places." Guild, in his Belium Roihucllianum, mentions 
 the same barbarity ; but from Russell's narrative, it is to be hoped, that the mangling 
 of Grahame's corpse should not altogether be attributed to the beastly fury of the 
 Covenanters. 
 
MURDEll OF ARCHBISHOP SHAKP. 443 
 
 ^vel•e not well kiio\vii, being all so weU mounted, to fire on the 
 honest party ; and the honest party sent ovit other twelve, which 
 was Thomas Weir in Cummerhead, and Mr Walter Smith, and 
 William Danziel, and James Russell, not minding the rest's names ; 
 but these 12 being best mounted both of horse and arms, marched 
 forward and fired each at other ; but none faUing on either side, 
 Clavers' men retired, and the honest party retired back to the body, 
 being pistol-shot long from that body ; and Clavers commanded 
 other 12 off to fire, and they same that had been before off firing 
 of the honest party went again, and fired as before, but none fell of 
 either side : Could not tell if there was any wounded of Clavers' 
 men, but no wounds was among the honest party retiring. Cla- 
 vers commanded other 12 off to fire, and they same that had been 
 before two times Avent again, with John Bahbvu- and six footmen 
 with guns, and fired both sides, but none fell except one of Clavers' 
 men fell off the horse ; whether he was mortally wounded they 
 could not tell, but he rose with great difficulty. Then Clavers 
 commanded the matter of thirty dragoons to hght and give fire. 
 ^Vilham Cleland, with the matter of 12 or 16 foot with guns, and 
 the matter of 20 or 24 with pikes and forks and halberts, advanced 
 and fired on them, and after they had all fired he ran forward alone, 
 and fired a gun and killed one of the dragoons, as these that looked 
 on said, being the first that was killed of either side ; and in the 
 wheeling of the honest party there was another party of diagoons 
 that fii-ed, and killed one of the honest party. Presently Clavers 
 advanced all in a body to the stank bree, when he was within shot 
 of the honest party, and fu-ed desperately ; and the honest partj- 
 having but few guns, Avas not able to stand, and being very con- 
 fused in the coming off of the last party, cried all out, For the 
 Lord's sake, go on ! and immediately they ran violently forAvard, 
 and Clavers was tooming the shot all the tune on them ; but the 
 
444 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 honest party's right hand of the foot being nearest, Cleland went 
 on on Clavers' left flank, and all the body went on together for 
 against Clavers' body, and Cleland stood until the honest party was 
 joined among them both with pikes and swords ; and William 
 Danziel and Thomas Weir being upon the right hand of the ho- 
 nest party, all the forenamed who fired thrice before being toge- 
 tlier, and loupping owr the gett among the enemys, William Dan- 
 ,ziel received his wound ; his horse being dung back by the strength 
 of the enemy, fell over, and dang over James Russell's horse, being 
 upon his right hand, and James presently rose and mounted and 
 pursued, calling to a woman to take up his dear friend William 
 Danziel, (for the women ran as fast as the men,) and she did so. 
 Thomas AVeir rode in amongst them and took a standard, and he 
 was mortally Avounded and knocked on the head, but pursued as 
 lono- as he Avas able, and then fell. The honest party pursued as 
 lono- as their horse would trot, being upward o£ two miles. There 
 was of the enemy killed 36 dead on the ground, and by the way in 
 the pursuit, as it was certified by these who told them that same 
 night, and there was only 5 or 6 of the honest pai-ty, and only 3 
 dead, for Thomas Weir lived 3 days, and William Danziel lived 
 more than 24 hours after.* He was in a rapture of joy all that day. 
 
 * Durin<' the engagement, one of the parishioners of Evandale, concealing himself 
 behind a hillock, fired eight shots at Claverhouse, but none of his balls had any effect, 
 (Statistical Account of Evandale,) owing, no doubt, to the spells with which he was pro- 
 tected. After the skirmish, Robert Hamilton slaughtered one of the prisoners in cold 
 blood, and seems to have regretted all his life that five more did not share the same 
 fate. In his Letter of Self-vindication to the Anti-popish, Anti-prelatick, Anti-erastian, 
 Anti-sectarian, true Presbyterian Remnant of the Church of Scotland, (ISS*,) he says, 
 " as for that accusation they bring against me, of killing that poor man (as they call 
 him) at Drumclog ; I may easily guess that my accusers cannot be other but some of 
 
 the house of Saul or Shemei, or some such risen again to espouse that poor gentle- 
 
 11 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 445 
 
 and it was put on him to pray with that twelfe that charged the 
 enemys thrice ; and he was ravished with joy, and freely offered 
 himself in prayer to seal the truth, but especially the controverted 
 truth, with his blood, and after prayer he was made to praise in the 
 time of action ; and when he was had into a house at the place, he 
 was made to praise the Lord that he had accepted of his offer ; and 
 when James Russell came back as fast as he could ride from the 
 pursuit of the enemy, he aske^ at him how he was, and speired 
 and said, Dear brother WiU, ye many times told me ye was sure 
 enough of heaven ; have ye any doubts now ? He scarcely could 
 speak, but said. No doubts, but fully assured- — fully assured ; and 
 on INIonday before he died all pain left him, and then lie began and 
 exhorted all present to beware of meddling Avith that woful indul- 
 gence, ■ and then fell out a praising of God, that had honoured him 
 to witness against aU the abominations, but especially that woful 
 indulgence, and to seal it with his blood : and Thomas Weir like- 
 wise said many things to this purpose ; they both spake to the as- 
 tonishment of all beholders, so that these that never saw WiUiam 
 
 man's (Saul) his quarrel against honest Samuel, for his offering to kill that poor man 
 i\gag, after the king's giving him quarters. But I, being called to command that day, 
 gave out the vrord that no quarter should be given ; and returning from pursuing Cla- 
 verhouse, one or two of these fellows were standing in the midst of a company of our 
 friends, and some were debating for quarters, others against it. None could blame me 
 to decide the controversy, and I bless tlie Lord Jor it to this day. There were five 
 more, that without my knowledge got quarters, who were brought to me after we were 
 a mile from the place, as having got quarters — which I reckoned among the first step- 
 pings aside ; and seeing that spirit amongst us at that time, I then told it to some that 
 were with me (to my best remembrance it was honest old John Nisbet) that I feared 
 
 the Lord would not honour us to do much for him. I shall only say this ; I desire 
 
 to bless his holy name, that since ever he helped me to set my face to his work, I never 
 had, nor would take a favour from enemies, either on right or left hand, and desired to 
 give as few." 
 
HO RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 Danziel before wept so much, that at his grave, in Strevan kirk- 
 yeard, they sat down and wept before all the people, for he was 
 buried at Strevan on Tuesday, being the 3d of June, 1679* 
 
 * After the Revolution, a grave-stone and epitaph were bestowed upon Dingwall by 
 his friends; the epitaph begins thus : " This hero brave who here doth ly." — At tiie 
 conclusion of the Cloud of Witnesses the whole may be seen, as also much doggrel on 
 other presbyterian martyrs, of which the epitaph made by Captain Creichton's friends 
 on David Steel is not at all a burlesque ; — 
 
 " Here lies the body of Saint Steele, 
 Murdered by John Creichton, that deel." 
 
 Upon the grave-stone of the martyrs buried at Mauchline, we find ; 
 
 " Bloody Dumbarton, Douglas, and Dundee, 
 
 Moved by the devil and the Laird of Lee, 
 
 Drag'd these five men to death." » 
 
 Of James White we are told : 
 
 " This martyr was by Peter Inglis shot, 
 By birth a tiger rather than a Scot," &c. 
 
 The inscription on the tombstone of James Nisbet, James Lawson, and Alexandei 
 Wood, buried at the gallows foot at Glasgow, runs thus :— 
 
 " Here lie martyrs three, 
 
 Of memory, 
 
 Who for the covenants did die i 
 
 And witness is 
 
 'Gainst all these nation's perjury." 
 
 For the prototype and essence of all these elegies and epitaphs, see, at the end of 
 Satyre Menippee, Regret Funebre, a Mademoiselle ma Commere sur le trespas de son Asne 
 Ligueur—on lejit niourir en laflcur de son age le mardy, 28 d'Aoust, 1590. 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 447 
 
 On Sabbath after the pursuit they went all to Strexan and re- 
 freshed themselves, and went, to Hamilton all night, resolving still 
 to pursue, expecting no quarters from the enemy if they should 
 dismiss, but waiting on Thomas Weir of Greenrige, who was co- 
 ming with a great body of foot and horse, and being come, he was 
 desired to give satisfaction for being at Pentland, or else they could 
 not join with him. He delayed it until ministers came in ; and 
 when come, they were so far from desiring him that they dissuaded 
 him not to do it, saying that it was enough that he was offering 
 himself: which time the enemy got intelligence that they were 
 coming to Glasgow, and they fortified themseh^es with carts and 
 stones, being terribly feared. The honest party coming to Glasgow 
 on IMonday about 12 hours of the day, and entering in on the east 
 and north side of the town, and running furiously toward the ene- 
 my, and received their fire and immediately fired, and firing several 
 times on both sides, was forced to retreat, they being so well forti- 
 fied, having lost four or five men only ; for the eneinys being so 
 feared, shot out owr their heads, saving themselves with their bara- 
 cadoes ; and having retired, rallied be-east the town about a mile, 
 being thrice as many of the enemy killed ; and many left the honest 
 party, but di-ew up on Towcross moor ; and the enemy seeing so 
 few that staid, followed them with all their forces ; and the honest 
 party not being able to fly, being sorely distressed for want of rest, 
 so that their horses was not able to trot, they resolved to stand and 
 fight ; and John Balfovu-, -with 6 horse and 6 foot, advanced to^^'^ards 
 the enemy, being a small party foremost, retired ; and all their body 
 advancing, Kathillet, with the matter of 30 or 40 horse, advanced 
 with John Balfour toward the enemy. The enemy seeing, present- 
 ly retired in to Glasgow, and they to their own body, not being- 
 able to pursue, but retired to Hamilton that night, keeping guard 
 at Bothwell Bridge and other places all night, having taken several 
 
448 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 horses that night, and in th6 morning retired about two mUes south 
 from Hamilton, going to a counsel anent the taking in of persons 
 to take charge, being afraid to join with those who were guilty of 
 pubUc sins of the time, for which God was contending against the 
 land, as blood-shed, giving bonds, and taking unlaA\'fid oaths, and 
 paying of cess, for paying of such as was bearing down the Lord's 
 work and joining with tTie indulgence, and other sins, so that they 
 durst not join with any that had been guilty of them without re- 
 pentance and public confession. 
 
 This bred a great stir, for one Thomas Weir, who was at Pent- 
 land, refused to give satisfaction, tho' he knew that it would hinder 
 others likewise ; but he leaving them, and others went away with 
 him, and the enemy approaching toAvards them at Bothwell Bridge, 
 Rathillet, with a party of 26 horsemen, advanced to Hamilton 
 ^loor ; and getting notice of the enemy being at the bridge in a 
 bush waiting for him and an small party, retired, thinking to en- 
 trap him, which he seeing, retired to the body, but sent to see Avhat 
 to do and for moe men. They were all in a confusion, so that he 
 got no men ; but fearing lest the enemy should have advanced and 
 disordered them altogether, staid opposite to the enemy's face, then 
 following and advancing towards him ; and upon John Balfour's 
 coming to him with 12 moe horse, and told him the army was 
 marching towards Strevan, and then he retired, leaving and send- 
 ing out scouts. The enemys retired to Glasgow and he to Strevan, 
 where he found George Fleman, Andrew Henderson, and Alexan- 
 der Henderson, and Mr John Balfour, being presently come, who 
 related that the whole shire of Fife, all above sixteen years of age, 
 had compeared and cleared themselves of the bishop's death, who 
 was buried the day of May, to whose burial came the most of 
 
 the nobility and gentry, where they appointed new diets of meeting 
 for discovering of the actors at the several presbyteries, viz. at St 
 
MUKDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 449 
 
 Andrews the 21 and 22, at Cupar the 23, at Ivirkcaldy the 27 and 
 28, at Dunferniling the 30 and 31, advertisement being given at 
 the kirk doors the Sabbath preceding ; whereupon the whole pres- 
 byterians of the shire compeared and cleared themselves, except some 
 here and there, whose number amounted to 44 thousand, as was cer- 
 tified.* The actors then being discovered, gi-eat search was made, 
 
 * After Sharp's murder, the heads of his party took every measure to ascertain the 
 actors of that atrocious crime, uot only for the sake of justice, but to secure their own 
 personal safety. The following remarkable letter, addressed to the Earl of Linlith- 
 gow, and printed from the original MS., shows tlie ferocious temper of the whigs, and 
 in what jeopardy the principal loyalists then stood. It is written in a fair hand, on 
 paper with gilt edges, and concludes with a mark, by way of signature, somewhat like 
 a wheel. 
 
 Mv Lord, 
 ." I might have sent to your lordship sure intelligence off sundry things wherein your 
 lordship might have been verie servisable to the king's interest, iff the counsell had allow- 
 ed money, and I know I might have engadged both ane expectant of the phanatick par- 
 tie and one of the preachers to have been intelligencers : bot the publick affaires of the 
 land are in a verie lamentable condition by the sparing of expences, and will be so more 
 and more if another course be not taken to prevent it, seeing there are tliree conven- 
 tikel preachers already taken, for whom nothing hath been given, besydes Mr Law. If 
 I had had money, much more might have been doon at the last search, bot what diffi- 
 culty I had to accomplish what was doon I shall now forber to mention. My Lord, 
 I doubt not bot your lordship knows what a partie most horridlie bloodie are the fol- 
 lowers of Cameron, and some other five or sex preachers, who are, I can assure your 
 lordship, for I have good intelligence thereof, not only for private murthering by the 
 sword, but to cutt off by fire, by poyson, and all uther wayes can be invented ; and 
 sundrie have come over out of Fife, and hath joyned with them. I have been instru- 
 mentall, what I can, by proposing contrivances to such phanaticks who hate them, to 
 hinder ther number to incress, and to divert some from them, bot I am disabled to 
 do what I wold by having nothing allowed for careing letters through the cuntrie, and 
 for uther things requisite. I have spent so much of my oune money that way, that I 
 am now necessistat to forbear. I entreat your lordship be careful! of your self, and 
 
 3 L 
 
450 RrSSElL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 and they wonderfully escaped, and on the 30 of iNlay took 
 
 journey to Duplin mill, Avhere Mr Walter Denune preached ; and 
 being alarm'd of 15 troupers that was pursuing them, so that night 
 at 11 hours they took journey, coming through all these enemys, 
 where all Fife men Avas broken who had so compeared and cleared 
 themselves of the bishop's death. Being come, Rathillet being cap- 
 
 doe not travell abroad Avithout a considerable guard ; the spirit of cruelty is raging in 
 these Cameronians. Ther cam a partie, I suspect, from Fife, upon Friday was eight 
 days, airlie in- the morning, and lurked in the Langsyde Wood till Saturday afternoon; 
 whether they had a designe for your lordship, iff they had got intelligence of your co- 
 ming home that way, I kno not ; hot it has bein, no doubt, upon some bad designe they 
 lurked ther so long. My lord, I am informed, yea, from a canventicle preacher who 
 was present, that there was a conventicle of the Cameronians in the parish of Evin- 
 daill the last Sabbath, guarded with about 500 footmen, and ner 200 horsmcn ; and 
 that they made use of a peace of ground naturallie fortified. I kno if your lordship 
 got orders, ye had crushed that partie or now. We have had thir conventickles so of- 
 ten tymes within four, sometyraes withine eight myles of Lanerick, I understand not 
 how that partie is so much spared, being most bloodie, and if ther be not another 
 course taken quicklie, I have to much ground to appreheiKl that men's ears shall be 
 filled with the reports of maney and most horrid murders committed by ther emissa- 
 ries. If the counsell would give money, I kno whom I could employ to travell through 
 Clydesdale, and would give exact intelligence, bot I fear the not allowing of it will be 
 the ruine of this land. Not doubting bot your lordship will keep me still close, 
 
 "lam." 
 
 The principles of assassinationbeingso strongly recommended in Napthali, Jus Po- 
 jmli Viiidicatum, and afterwards in the Hind let Loose, which books were in almost as 
 much esteem with the presbyterians as their Bibles, (though Dr Rule, in his Answer to 
 the Presbyterian Eloquence, denies it ;) it is wonderful enough that more assassina- 
 tions were not committed during those intemperate times. The most signal murder, 
 after the archbishop's, was that of Mr Pierson, curate of Carsphairn, whose house be- 
 ing beset in the night by a band of whigs, who knocked at the door, he arose from his 
 bed, and on going out, was immediately shot dead by one of the rufBans, There were 
 •in all about thirteen soldiers assassinated by the suffering Remnant. 
 
HURDEK OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 451 
 
 tain, John llussell, lieutenant, and George Fleman, quartermaster, 
 Andrew Henderson and Alexander Henderson, corporals, and that 
 night the army quartered about Strevan ; and the next morning 
 being alarmed, (tho' falsely,) rendezvoused at a place called Kips, 
 be-south Strevan ; and so marching that day, being the 4 of June, 
 through Strevan, and quartering betwixt it and Kilbride the Thurs- 
 day, they rendezvoused and marched to Commissar Fleming's park, 
 where they quartered that night, and about it. On Saturday they 
 kept a counsel of war, and choosed officers and a clerk, and con- 
 cluded that none guilty of the public sins of the time should be 
 taken into them without pubUc satisfaction ; but some desired the 
 publication thereof might be forborn, which was Birkhill and some 
 others. Hall and Smith, and some others, protested for the pro- 
 claimed, -but it was not proclaimed. On Friday the 6th they ren- 
 dezvoused ; and still increasing, being near six thousand, marched 
 toward Glasgow, resolving to search it for arms. The enemys not 
 being far fi'om Glasgow, but so many wanting arms was willing to 
 venture, they choosed out about 300 foot, A\^illiam Cleland com- 
 mander, and 80 liuise, with John BiiLfour, both under command of 
 one Brown, an old soldier, to go to search Glasgow ; when \\ ithin 
 a mile, was alarmed that the enemy was on the east of it entering 
 the town, which news discouraged Brown, so that he refused to go 
 further ; whereupon John Balfour, with the rest of the Fife men, 
 
 went alone, and one with tliem, and entered the town, being 
 
 only John Balfour, George Fleman, and Alexander Henderson, and 
 George Balfour, and James Russell, and Rathillet, and Andrew 
 Henderson, was with the troop, friends still dissuading because of 
 the hazard ; but going still forward, and sent back word to the rest 
 to come forward, Robert Hamilton and Rathillet and William Cle- 
 land coming and drawing up at the tolbooth, and the commanded 
 party still riding for waiting the enemy's motion, who seeing that 
 
45!3 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT Ol' THE 
 
 party, retired eastward towards Stirling, but being lying with the 
 body at Kirkintilloch, and being so frighted left their cannon, which 
 they sent for the next day, still retiring till they Avere at Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 The Laird of Barscob* came to the army at Glasgow, and went 
 away to bring their friends in Galloway, for there was a short de- 
 claration proclaimed over the Tolbooth stak against all the sins of 
 the time, and defections, supremacy, and all flowing from it ; and 
 that night marching out of the town to the body, for they were 
 di-awn up about a mile off the town, and then marched 3 or 4 miles 
 south and quartered, and on Saturday marched within a mile of 
 Glasgow and rendezvoused, whose number was about six thousand, 
 all unanimous for owning the Rutherglen Testimony and that Glas- 
 gow Declaration. 
 
 At this day's counsel of war came Birkhill and John Dick, with 
 news of ISIr ^Velch coming with the forces of Carrick. There was 
 instructions for the army drawn up and given to be published, but 
 
 * It is probable that this was that Laird of Barscob, afterwards murdered by some 
 high-flyers of his own party. " Nov. 1683, some of these men of the wild principles go 
 into the house of Barscobe, a gentleman in Galloway, who had been of a long time a 
 prisoner for joyning with the men at Pentland Hills, and got free upon his taking of 
 the bond of peace, (which thing incensed them) and strangles him in his own house." 
 The Rev. Robert Law's Metiiori alls of remarkable Things in his Time, MS. — These en- 
 thusiasts were very ready to dispatch persons of their own principles when they chanced 
 to differ from them in opinion as to some trifling points. Robert Hamilton, in his Let- 
 ter to the Society, mentions " a company, who, after the break at Bothwell, sat down 
 in the Old Clachan of Galloway, and plotted and determined to take away my life, for 
 my contending with Mr John Welch, and those gentlemen he brought with him, and 
 my opposing and disowning of Hamilton Declaration ; and after the Lord wonderfully 
 disappointed them by discovering their design, yet again met, and wrote a letter," &c. 
 — Faithful Conlendivgs, p. 188. 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 453 
 
 some desired forbearance lest offence should be taken, while others, 
 fearing the rotten-hearted that was coming with Mr Welch, was the 
 more for publishing, not willing to forbear duty for any ; the leaders 
 w'as Robert Hamilton, Hendry Hall, John Patton, William and 
 James Carmichels, Rathillet, John Balfour, James Henderson, Wil- 
 Uam Cleland, Mr William Smith, and others ; and preachers, Mr 
 CargiU, Mr King, Mr Duglas. At this time came Mr Welch with 
 the Carrick forces, which were about 140 horses, and the young 
 
 Laird of Blaehan upon their lioad, and about 300 foot, with w^liom 
 
 was Mr George Barkly ; and hearing that ]\Ir Welch was joining 
 with all sort of indulged folk, kept at a distance that night, and 
 
 quartered about Rutherglen, and that night, and Mr Welch 
 
 in Glasgow with his party ; and on the Sabbath the army conveen- 
 ed at Rutherglen with all the ministers, where they contraverted 
 about preaching, for these officers that the Lord had honoured to 
 bring the work that length, opposed any that would not be faithful 
 and declare against all the defections of the time ; but ministers 
 taking on them to agree these, they preached at 3 several places ; 
 the one party preached against all the defections and encroachments 
 upon the prerogatives of Jesus Christ, Mr Welch and his party 
 preached up the subjects' allegiance to the magistrate.* These 
 
 * This was in a very different strain from Mr Welch's usual doctrine, and much un- 
 like his practice. For he had long set every magistrate in Scotland at defiance, ridin<» 
 about in stately fashion to his conventicles, with a party of armed men, who went un- 
 der the name of Mr Welch's body guard ; from a passage in the Justiciary Record, as 
 quoted by Wodrow, we learn the pay and accoutrements of these satellites. " May 
 12, 1679, John Scarlet, tinker, being examined by the lords of justiciary, declares, 
 that in summer, IGTi, the declarant did take on to serve with Mr John Welch, and 
 was to have twelve pounds in the half-year, and clothes ; that he had a horse from him, 
 with a sword and pistols, upon which he rode ; and that he was but with him a fort- 
 night," &c.— This Scarlet, who had six or seven women whom he termed his wives, 
 
454 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 tilings gave great offence on all hands, for such as adliered to the 
 former testimonies found that a step of defection if they should 
 join with it, and these which favoured the king's interest and in- 
 dulgence were Ukewise displeased ; and that day Mr Hall, Rathil- 
 let, Carmichel, Mr Smith, was commanded out to Gampsie, the 
 militia being rendezvousing there, to scatter them, whether design- 
 edly or not we cannot tell, for they were all honest and strangers. 
 However, there began strife and debate thro' all the army, the one 
 
 who travelled about the country with him, was suspected to have had a hand in the 
 murder of two soldiers at Newmills, the circumstances of which are thus narrated by 
 Wodrow. " Three foot soldiers of Captain Maitland's company had been sent to quar- 
 ter upon a countryman near Lowdon-hill, because he had not paid the cess ; they con- 
 tinued there near ten days ; the man in the house being sick, they ixere not altogether 
 so outra<rious as many of their gang at this time used to be. The wife, or woman servant, 
 had during. that time threatned them, that if they left not the house they might come 
 to repent it ; hut they were not much careful about that, and answered, they came by 
 orders, and behoved either to have their errand, or orders to go away. One of the 
 three went down to Newmills upon Saturday, and staid all night, whether he was any 
 way conscious to the design, or only affrighted by the warning, was not known. But 
 upon Sabbath morning, April 20, five horsemen, and about as many foot, came about 
 two of the clock in the morning, and rudely knockt at the barn-door where the re- 
 maining two soldiers were lying. They taking it to be their comrade come from New- 
 mills, one of them rose in his shirt, and opened the door : he was saluted with reproach- 
 ful words. Come out, you damn'd rogues, and was shot through the body, and fell down 
 dead without speaking one word. The other got up upon this to put to the door, and 
 received a shot in the thigh from the same hand. The assassine alighted from his 
 horse, and came in upon the soldier, who grappled a little with him, till another came 
 up and knocked him down. He was perfectly dammished with the stroke ; and when 
 he recovered his senses, Jie thought it convenient to ly in the place as dead. The mur- 
 derers came into the barn, and took away the soldier's arms and clothes, and in a little 
 went off. This soldier lived, to the Friday or Saturday after, and then died of his 
 wounds/" WoDROw's Hist. vol. II. p. 25 — N. B. Wodrow does not mention a report, 
 very prevalent at the time, that the murderers committed this crime as a preparative to 
 
 tlje enjoyment of a field-conventicle, whither they were bound that morning. 
 
 10 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 455 
 
 party pleading the Lord's interest, and the other the king's and 
 their own, and cried out agauist the honest party as fastious and 
 seditious. 
 
 On jNIonday the 9 of June (for the foot marched to Glasgow and 
 quartered that night) there was a counsel of Avar called in an house 
 in GlasgOAV, where the debates was increased, the one party protest- 
 ing that all the defections should be declared against, a declaration 
 to this purpose produced, and against the taking in of persons guilty 
 to the places of trust or to vote in counsel, Avithout the acknow- 
 ledgement thereof, which had been the method that they had walk- 
 ed in, and had been owned of God while they did so ; but being 
 opposed by the other party, INIr Welch and INIr Hume, who said 
 their personal appearance for the cause was enough ; they likewise 
 mentioned a letter-writing to the gentlemen to invite them to come 
 out and help, but this opposed by the honest party, fearing the ef- 
 fects that after came to pass ; for these gentlemen whom they would 
 have written for, sent letters to the counsel a little before for pres- 
 byterial preachers, and promised to acknoAvledge their supremacy, 
 and to quite extinguish and extirpate field meetings ; and this be- 
 ing knowii to many in the army, debates still grooving greater, occa- 
 sioned the going aAvay of many of the godly that durst not venture 
 to join Avith them, and broke the spirits of others aa^Iio staid. That 
 night the foot staid at Glasgow, and the horses went to places three 
 or four mUes round about because of the enemy. 
 
 On Thursday the 10th Ave Avere at G4asgoAv all day, these tilings 
 still debated. The honest party proved that the indulgence Avas a 
 homologating of the supremacy in the hands of these Avho had 
 usurped it from Jesus Christ, to Avhom it belongs : the other party 
 crying out, Would they cast off INIr Welch, and aU the ministers 
 /except a few ? This night the army marched to ToAvcross ; the 
 loot, Avith some of the horse, lay in the park, the rest of the horse 
 
456 EUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 in places about, leaving all the ministers except Duglass to consult 
 anent these affairs. On Wednesday morning, some officers going 
 in to Glasgow learned that the ministers had written a letter, invi- 
 ting all gentlemen and others who was seeking a new indulgence, 
 to which jNIr Cargil had sided, they promising to consent to his de- 
 sires afterward ; which, when these officers objected against as a fall- 
 ing back and a joining again with these in that sin for which God 
 had separate him and countenanced them while faithful in decla- 
 ring against it, it was answered by these ministers, that if they 
 would not yield to these things they would take the leading of that 
 army off their hands, and get fitter persons for that effect ; which 
 answer was very acceptable to many, finding that many godly with- 
 drew, and that many of the new incomers through that door (ven- 
 turing their fives is a sufficient satisfaction for aU sins) were men 
 botli of corrupt principles, ignorant of the Lord's matters, for which 
 the godly was contending, and loose in tlieir practice, especially 
 Carrick men that came with Mr Welch ; for where they quarte: -d 
 in godly houses there was many complaints given of them, so that 
 troupers and soldiers did not exceed them, which was the mean 
 that kept these officers together, expecting to get this excuse to 
 leave them.* The chief men that carried on this was Thomas Weir 
 of Greenrige, Mr Ure of Shirgaton, and James Carmichel (a young 
 man), Blachane, and some others, with the ministers who came in 
 on Wednesday. 
 
 The army marched to Hamilton, where quartered the foot in the 
 
 * This is a grievous accusation of theft and robbery, only paralleled by Sir James 
 Turner's Account of the Conduct of the Insurgents routed at Pentland. He affirms, 
 that on their march they took free quarters every wliere, saying they would pai/ when 
 they returned ; and at Douglas stole a silver spoon and a night-gown on the Sabbath, 
 plundering and exercising their troops during the whole of that day. 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 457 
 
 park and some horse also, and some horse in places about. On 
 Thursday a counsel of war was called, at which there was a draught 
 of a declaration from JMr Welch and that party, which did not re- 
 lish with the other party ; there was also the draught of one pro- 
 duced by ISIr Cargil, which Mr Welch and that party did contra- 
 dict ; and the difference betwixt parties was, the honest party would 
 had a day of humiliation, but Mr Welch' party and himself object- 
 ed and opposed it, and would have every thing forborn that irritate 
 the wildest of wretches, tho' it was as clear as the light of the day, 
 according to the example of our forefathers and the scriptures, that 
 which that poor party was seeking. 
 
 This occasioned great differences ; but coming to a vote in the 
 counsel of war, it was carried that all these defections should be 
 named, name and thing ; after which Mr Welch and JMr Hume, 
 and that party, ever after shunned this day of humiliation. At 
 this counsel one Watson, a flesher in Glasgow, was ordained to be 
 shot for murdering one of their brethren, which sentence, tho' past 
 with the whole consent of the counsel of war as a thing sufficiently 
 proven, was much cried out on by JMr AVelch and his party, and 
 pressed to have him sent to the magistrates of Glasgow with his 
 
 dittay, which was this murder and confession * upon the 
 
 sentence past against him, at which the rest of the officers was of- 
 fended, knowing that the magistrates of Glasgow would have let 
 him go as a good subject to his majesty ; but he was shot, and an- 
 other's ear nailed to the gallows, for abusing and taking of money 
 from inhabitants in Glasgow. 
 
 On Friday morning, being alarmed (tho' fiilsely) with the news of 
 the enemy's approach, JMr Welch and JMr Hume pressed the read- 
 ing of the declaration, which being stopt, they charged them that 
 
 * Scelus nefandum cum vacca. 
 3 M 
 
458 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 opposed it as guilty of the blood these men being hinderers of 
 
 such as would come to help their brethren ; whereupon they called 
 together some of the officers with IVIr King, and, reading over the 
 declaration, pressed for giving satisfaction to such as they said would 
 not join until they saw a declaration, and that it might be proclaim- 
 ed. It was greatly objected against it, that it took only in the third 
 article of the covenant, concerning the king's defence and his right, 
 (and why not the whole ?) and the acknowledgement of sins and 
 engagements to dutys, without which they would not consent to 
 the publishing of it. It was answered, that it was ah'eady spread, 
 and could not be altered, tho' this was enough to have opposed it, 
 it being done without consent of the counsel of war ; yet upon per- 
 suasion of some that pressed much for peace, and Mr Welch and 
 Mr Hume's promise that Mr King should publish it, and that they 
 should not print it tiU altered, and such things as they desired put 
 into it, and that afterward they should be faithful in testifying 
 against aU the defections of the time, particularly the indulgence, 
 it was condescended to ; but still some protested against it, and the 
 most part of those officers that was faithful being absent ; but Mr 
 Welch and Hume kept none of their promises, but presently upon 
 this liberty granted went to Hamilton Cross, and there cried up the 
 king's right and prerogative as a lawful magistrate, and passed by 
 all the sins of the time, except prelacy, which grieved the spirits of 
 all these who adhered to Rutherglen testimony, and that they 
 should have yielded to them herein, finding them now so far con- 
 trary to promise. 
 
 Mr Hackstone of Rathillet witnessed against it, fearing the sad 
 effects which indeed followed ; and Robert Fleman, who from the 
 beginning had kept straight, was led aside by these ministers ; and 
 some others, without the knowledge of the other party, and con- 
 trary to promise, went to Glasgow and caused print it, and publicly 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 459 
 
 spread it through all the country, whereby they opened a door to 
 all persons to join with them, and caused godly men leave them 
 daily ; whereupon these that were dissatisfied pressed that a decla- 
 ration might be put forth, whereby they should make known all 
 their former principles at Rutherglen and Glasgow, and against all 
 the sins of the time, and for that effect employed the ministers that 
 were faithful herein ; and marching this night to West Monkland, 
 and quartered all night ; and on Saturday the 14 of June they 
 called a council at the Hags, where they sent to Mr Welch and 
 Hume to entreat them to preach against all the sins of the time, 
 particularly the indulgence, without which they could not be satis- 
 fied with them, seeing the Lord had countenanced all that had been 
 faithful herein. 
 
 !Mr Hume and that party took this at a high rate, and said they 
 were giving ministers instructions what to preach ; so staying there 
 all night, the army met on the Shaw-head IMoor on the Sabbath to 
 hear sermon, where the debates were great. Some that owned the 
 Rutherglen testimony declared against such as would not declare 
 the whole causes of God's wrath, and against the whole defection. 
 Mr Hvime and that party cried out against this as an encroachment 
 upon the ministerial authority. Also Mr Hume came where Mr 
 Kid* was going to preach, and commanded him out of the place as 
 
 * Mr Kid was afterwards hanged with Mr King. In their joint petition to the privy 
 council, denying all accession to the rebellion, Kid alleges, that " at the desire of them 
 that were most peaceable, he went, in the simplicilij of his heart, to Haniiltoun, to per- 
 suade the rebels to obedience, and for no other end or account whatsomever. When 
 Robert Hamilton, and some others of the ringleaders, became enraged with the peti- 
 tioner's peaceable advice, he came on his journey homeward, and was pursued by a 
 party of rebels, who threatened to kill him if he would not return; neither had he any 
 arras, but a short sword, to disguise himself from being known as a preacher." 
 
460 KTISSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 one that had been a troiibler of the church, which occasioned gi-cat 
 controversies, the people pleading a power to call what ministers 
 they pleased ; so when the day was far spent they preached at se- 
 A^eral places where they pleased. The abuses of this day was great ; 
 Mr Hume thrust Mr Douglas from the place where he was going 
 to preach, and preached himself, crying up the king's lawful autho- 
 rity, and the accepting of all persons to the army. 
 
 After noon. Major Learmonth came in with a considerable body 
 of horse and foot from Tweeddale that night, where was a council 
 of war called at the Hags, the officers meeting in one room and the 
 ministers in another. At the council there was a draught of a de- 
 claration produced, containing several steps of defection that the 
 land was guilty of, which was acceptable to all except two of INIr 
 Welch's party. They also voted unanimously a day of humilia- 
 tion ; but the mhiisters coming in, Mr Cargil told, it seemed now 
 they must part, and took all to witness, and instruments, that the 
 cause of parting was the rest of the ministers refusing a day of hu- 
 miliation and acknowledgement of the sins of the land ; all they 
 said was, that they would not keep one till other friends came. 
 But others, fearing that either they should strengthen that party 
 that were against it, and that it had been too long delayed, and 
 that this was but a shift lest the indulged men should be touched, 
 resolved to have it, and, if they oppose it, to part witli them ; 
 whereupon Mr Welch and that party craved liberty to enquire the 
 Lord's mind anent it, and they would give an answer, ^^hich the 
 other party condescended, thinking to win them to their duty, be- 
 ing loath to have a rent, if they would have joined to so great a 
 work. So quartering still there that night, appointing to meet to- 
 morrow in the Shaw-head Moor again, which meeting was thin, by 
 reason of great rains all day, and no ministers with them ; so part- 
 ing to their several quarters they met on Tuesday in that same 
 
MrRDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. ' 461 
 
 place, the ministers being absent. They hearing of some forces 
 that were going towards Edinburgh, sent WilHam Carmiehel, John 
 Balfour, and Andrew TurnbuU, with a party of horse, about 100, 
 to Linlithgow, who returned on ^Vednesday, giving account that 
 there were many foot and horse in Linlithgow, so that they durst 
 not enter, and bringing a prisoner with them, who was a Perth- 
 shire man, and he told that it was the militia Avho had been sent 
 forth to seduce them, and entice them into the town. 
 
 There was that day a counsel of war in a barn beside the moor, 
 where were the most part of the officers and ministers, who, with 
 one consent, (except Shergaton and James Carmichael, who desired 
 a delay till INIr Welch and Mr Hume were there,) appointed Thurs- 
 day to be a day of humiliation, and chose 4 old men, elders of the 
 church, and 4 ministers, to draw up and condescend upon the causes 
 of the Lord's wrath that they might be concerned for ; and these 8 
 went to a barn by themselves, and agi-eed imanimously, and the 
 clerk was beginning to write. JNIr Welch came into the barn where 
 the officers were agreeing about a place for going about it, and 
 bringing with him some of his party Avho made a great stir, dissua- 
 ding fi-om the work, and upbraiding them as men that had forsaken 
 the old path, and again bragging of consulting betters to lead the 
 army ; and the other party pressing the day of humiliation, Mr 
 Welch desired that that might be one of the causes of God's wrath, 
 ministers preaching against the indulgence and people hearing such, 
 until it should be determined by a general assembly, being a con- 
 troversy ; and when asked if they should mourn for the ministers 
 preaching, and the testimony of dying men, both on scaffijlds and 
 in the fields, and in their wounds at Drumclog, he said Yes. This 
 was very sad to many to hear the like from him, and satisfying to 
 others that he had vented himself thus, being, as they thought, 
 good ground of parting and going to the other barn. He raised 
 
462 kussei.l's accoxjxt of the 
 
 sucli a stir among all thro' the heat of this controversy, the whole 
 army Avas put in confusion, who before were rejoicing to get their 
 sins acknowledged, some giving their men liberty to part ; and the 
 army marching towards Erdry, it was not thought a fit place to 
 stay in, being in such a confusion ; whereupon they returning, 
 marching all night along Bothwell Bridge to Hamilton ISIooi-, 
 where resting Thursday forenoon, in the afternoon they went to 
 resolve about making a declaration which might separate them, 
 they were alarmed with news of the enemy approaching in parties 
 towards them, whereupon they sent out parties first of some volun- 
 teers, commanded by Robert Dick, and then John Balfour's troop ; 
 next Mr Walter Smith and Andrew TurnbuU. These rencoimter- 
 ing a party of the enemy in the dark of the night, fired upon other, 
 upon which the enemies fled (and, as was said, some of them killed) 
 to the body lying be-east the Shott kirk, strengthened with mosses 
 on every hand, that these parties durst not follow them, tho' the 
 enemies were in great fear, but they wanting guides, and not know- 
 ing the way, returned to the army ; Rathillet's troop went out 
 alongst Bothwell Bridge, and standing all night in arms, went near 
 to the enemy Friday morning, and returned. This day, being the 
 20 June, the Galloway gentlemen and others that Mr Welch had 
 written for came in, and joining themselves with that faction, and 
 all together, sent up a paper to Robert Hamilton, and those with 
 him, desiring him to subscrive it, which Avas a binding them to ad- 
 here to the Hamilton declaration, and forbear all other differences, 
 until a general assembly and free parliament. 
 
 This troubled the other party ; for, first, they knew that it was 
 an establishing of that defection of indulgence, which they esteemed 
 as a great encroachment on the privileges of Jesus Christ, as prelacy, 
 and a contradicting of Ruthcrglen testimony, which the Lord visi- 
 l)ly owned them in, and was likewise contrary to that promise, that 
 
MCTRDER OF ABCHBISHOP SHARP. 463 
 
 it should be enlarged to their mind, and altered before printing; or 
 publishing thereof; so they desired those Avho was sent with the 
 paper to declare these differences what they were, that they would 
 put off tiU a general assembly, tho' they knew that that could not 
 be had, but one of erastian perjured men who had joined with tht- 
 abominations of the time. So no more was done that night, but 
 sent out parties of horse, some alongst Bothwell Bridge, and some 
 thro' the ford be-east Hamilton, who standing in their arms all 
 night, in the morning James Cleland was killed, who with other 
 3 encoimtered 18 of the enemies, and, firing each on other, he was 
 killed with a shot in the thigh, and presently the other three pur- 
 sued the enemies, who fled fast to their party and aU into their 
 body ; and the two parties of their own mistaking other, thought 
 that each Avas enemies, pursued no further, but stood on their 
 ground and then retired. 
 
 James Cleland was buried at Hamilton that day, after which a 
 council was called on the moor, where came all these new-come 
 gentlemen. The first thing amongst them was, they desired that 
 the ministers should be called ; and the other answered, the mini- 
 sters whom they owned was not there, and for others, they could 
 not join with them no longer, for they had broken all promises ; 
 but they pressed that they might be taken in ; and the other press- 
 ed that elders might be taken in likewise, for they had been hazard- 
 ing all that they had when many of these gentlemen had been sit- 
 ting at ease. These gentlemen told plainly that they owned the 
 indulgence, and all that accepted of it ; whereupon Robert Hamil- 
 ton and that party rose, telhng them they durst not join any more 
 with them, for they expected that the Lord would not further pros- 
 per them if they should return to these sins which they had testi- 
 fied against, the Lord so signally owning them therein. And these 
 Galloway men told likewise that they disowned all officers formerly 
 
464 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 chosen, and would countenance none but such as shoukl be chosen 
 by the gentry ; whereupon IVIr Hamilton, with almost all the former 
 officers that had carried on the woi-lc to this time, removed, sadlv 
 thinking of the rent, expecting either the breaking of that army, or 
 else their turning back to all the abominations that they had testi- 
 fied against formerly ; and after an hours sundering, these men 
 going to consult what to do, Earlstoun the younger, and INIr King, 
 and some others, came to them from the Galloway men, desiring 
 them to come to them again, and they would endeavour to satisfy 
 them in all things, which, after a consultation, it was thought fit to 
 hear them ; who coming, and protesting that they adhered to their 
 former principles, it was demanded if they would condescend to 
 supplicate the Duke of JNIonmouth ? which they rejected as a thing 
 luilawful, and jjroved it by many reasons, especially the treating 
 with any rulers while they stood cloathed with the JNIediator's ho- 
 nours, and guilty of so much innocent blood of the Lord's people 
 for owning Christ's prerogative, as also the door of supplications be- 
 ing closed by these in power. This bred a hot debate, yet at length 
 they produced one, having in their absence chosen Killoch preses, 
 and waited this Supplication, which the ministers had ready for 
 them, tho' some of them denied it. 
 
 After a hot debate and a new separating, they pressed that an in- 
 formation migiit be sent to him of the wrongs done to Jesus Christ 
 and the church, which they said, he wondered being so long there, 
 that he had not gotten ere now ; it was asked, how they knew that 
 he expected any address from them, and that it seemed they had 
 correspondence with the enemy, which there was many presump- 
 tions of; Mr Hume answered, that it was fi-om friends that had 
 it from some with the duke. Whereupon these that sought peace 
 among them, of which there was severals, prest that a minister and 
 a gentleman of each party might be chosen to commune of these 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 465 
 
 things, which was done, and they going aside, condescended that an 
 information of the horrid things which were the cause of their ap- 
 pearing in arms might be drawn and sent to the duke, which was 
 committed to Mr Don. Cargil to oversee it that it had nothing like 
 
 a supplicating or consenting to any terms anent the of 
 
 the church, with these that had usurped that power from Jesus 
 Clirist ; and appointing the army how to lie all night, expecting the 
 next counsel of war to separate ; for it was perceived, that Mr 
 Welch and Hume having gotten in these indulged gentlemen and 
 ministers, and that some of their party were with the enemy, with 
 whom there was a constant correspondence, which either would tend 
 to agreement, to desert such as had begun the work, or engaging 
 them with svich wicked courses as they had been testifying against, 
 and the betraying of the cause. 
 
 About midnight they were alarmed with the news of the enemy's 
 approach toward them, whereupon Henry Hall, Rathillet, and 
 TurnbuU, being with their three troops at Bothwel Bridge all night, 
 and sending out parties, encountered with parties of the enemy, and 
 firing on other, retired ; whereupon the three troops marching 
 forward, learned that the whole body of the army was near them, 
 and retired within the bridge, where was a company of foot com- 
 manded by John Fouler,* and Alexander Ross another. The whole 
 army by this time was in arms, and advising what to do, were as- 
 saulted by ]Mr Hume and that party, for sending some to the duke 
 as had been condescended on the day before, and charged these 
 that seemed to be busy about ordering the army, and listened not 
 
 * Fowler was afterwards killed at the skirmish of Airs-moss, and his head carried in 
 a bag (Cameron's being exalted on a pike) before Hackston, when he was marched 
 as a prisoner along the High Street of Edinburgh. 
 
 3X 
 
K)(> KUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 to it, Avith the blood of all these men if they would not. It was an- 
 swered, it seemed they had not come there to fight, but to suppli- 
 cate ; but being so importunate, and choosing two of Robert Hamil- 
 ton's party, feaiing the unfaitlxfuhiess of the other party, Avhich no 
 sooner yielded to, but there going was prevented by Mr Hume ; 
 and a Galloway laird, IMurdoch, sent a di'ummer to desire hearing, 
 which was granted, and going over the bridge upon the enemy ad- 
 vancing, which was about six troops of troopers and cbagoons of 
 English ; but before they two went over, Baskcob, with six troops 
 of horse and some foot, was commanded to go over and fight them, 
 but refused absolutely. 
 
 Fh'st, six of the dragoons lighted and went near the water with- 
 in shot, and fired on the honest party, then they were answered by 
 some shot from them, tAvo or three of these six fell, but not dead, 
 only wounded ; there Avas one of their men hurt in the foot, and 
 .after this the drummer beats a parley ; being granted, JNIr Hume 
 and JNIurdoch went over, and the duke asked ]Mr Hume if he would 
 own the Rutherglen Testimony ? answered, God forbid, and told 
 him that he owned Hamilton Declaration. However, nothing would 
 please the duke except they would lay down their arms and come 
 in his mercy, wliich they refused ; whereupon making all ready, an 
 English trumpeter sounding a parley, was asked Avhat it meant ; and 
 it was answered, that they should make ready, and they should liave 
 half an hour to do it, tho' they refused any cessation formerly, but 
 by this means they got all their cannons planted, and Mr Hume and 
 JNIurdoch went over, but presently returned ; only the duke told 
 them that he would hear a parley at the last gasp, and or ever Mr 
 Hume and Murdoch v/as well over the biidge, the enemy fired five 
 piece of cannon, with a considerable number of cb-agoons that was 
 di-awn up, and had casten a little ditch in the time of the parley for 
 their safety, tho' contrary to order. 
 
MUr.DEll OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 467 
 
 In the mean time Rathillet and many of the officers were at the 
 bridge, and commanded to fire the cannon, having no more, and 
 being a brazen piece, fired ; and all the enemy fled and left their 
 cannon, and severals of them killed. Then David Lesly cried, 
 Would they flcg for country fellows ? and presently rallied and ad- 
 vanced to their cannons, but the bridge being stopt with an bara- 
 cade for defence, otherwise they might easily have taken their can- 
 nons ; but being all discouraged with IMr Himae's going over to 
 tamper with the enemy, and it was visibly seen that tlie Lord had 
 deserted them for seeking peace with these wretches whom he had 
 declared war against ; and after several times firing on both sides, 
 Baskcob and Carmichel retired to the body who was drawn up in 
 the moor, about two musket-shot off, and then the rest and Rathil- 
 let, being last, went off in order, and all the time stood before the 
 mouth of the cannon, and stiU playing on them, yet never so much 
 as one of his troup stirred, and one but of the party of horse that 
 was at the bridge was feld with the cannon, and some said the horse 
 was only feld and not the man, and very few foot was feld, but se- 
 verals of the enemy was feld, being retiring to their body, the ene- 
 my's cannons playing all the time, and being to come alongst the 
 bridge, their Avhole body advancing, being drawn up about a mile 
 benorth the bridge, being called 2300 foot and horse in all, and the 
 honest party was about 5 and 6 thousand, the enemy di-awn up as 
 fast as they could, placed their cannons first and played still ; the 
 honest party having a wonderful opportunity to have beaten the 
 enemy, when there was but two three regiments drawn up in order, 
 and all the rest but coming and in disoi-der, and drawing up, ha- 
 ving the bridge to come alongst ; but alas ! being aU in conflision 
 about their debates with tliat party that was for the king's interest 
 and indulgence, so that tliey would not obey any command of that 
 
468 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 honest handful, but was still seeking parley with the enemy, so that 
 the enemy got leave to draw up deliberately. 
 
 Then Mr Hamilton and Learmonth commanding them to make 
 ready to fight, and to go on with a desperate charge, Thomas Weir 
 of Greenrige being about the midst of the army, first with James 
 Carmichel without command, went away to the left hand where 
 Rathillet and Hall was drawn up, and marching by them, desired 
 them to back him, for he was going forward to take the enemys 
 cannon, being on the right hand ; and the mean time the enemys 
 firing, the Galloway men was seeking a drummer to beat a parley, 
 so that there was scarcely one to command their men, but was all 
 crying out they had none to lead them on, for aU their captains 
 were away. Mr Hume at this time was desiring them to take 
 courage, for the cause was good ; and James Russell having been 
 speaking to Mr Hamilton, telling him that there was some of the 
 foot running away, and coming riding back fast to their troop, 
 hears Mr Hume, and told him that he was guilty of all that blood, 
 for he had denied the Lord's cause, so that they could not stand 
 before the enemy ; but INIr Hume had not a face to answer him, 
 but went away ; and as James Russell came to their troup with 
 Thomas Weir and Carmichel, Thomas Weir first draws off his men 
 four men deep, upon the firing of the cannon, being standing 5 or 
 6 rigs broad before the body, and his men wheeled all in confusion 
 together, except some that was foremost, and brake through both 
 horse and foot that was standing behind him, and trod many of 
 them dowTi ; and the foot, thinking tliat he was flying altogether 
 away, began to run, but he declared that he was but going to draw 
 up farther back, for if he had stood, all his men would have been 
 feld Avith the cannon, tho' there was not one of them so much as 
 hurt with the cannon at that time. 
 
Ml'RDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 469 
 
 However, he never rallied again, but fled, and all presently ran 
 away ; the right hand standing a little, but seeing all the left hand 
 running, they presently fled all in disorder, many of the foot cast- 
 ing away their arms, being commanded by William Cleland and 
 some other honest officers, so that the most part of the regiment 
 was killed and taken prisoners, flying towards Hamilton. The 
 greatest body of horse fled towards Strevan, being pursued with a 
 party of the enemy till Strevan ; and then they drew up the south 
 side of Strevan, where was Mr Hamilton and John Balfour and 
 Baskcob, Mr Hamilton being but presently come forward, and the 
 Fife men, and marched towards the Castle of Cumlock, and quar- 
 tered thereabout ; and to-mon-ow, hearing of a party still standing, 
 wondered who it could be, for they being on the field as long as 
 there was any standing. 
 
 However, they returned to the Moorkirk of Kyle, where they 
 heard that none of them was standing ; they being about 3 troops 
 of horse together, went toward Crawford Jolm on the Monday 
 night, where they all sundered, their heats and debates being still 
 the more.* 
 
 * For many particulars of the heats and debates among the covenanters previous to 
 the battle of Bothwell Bridge, see Hamilton's Letter in Justification of himself, Faith- 
 ful Contendings displayed, p. 186. — He mentions that Major Carmichael, to prevent 
 Home the preacher from reading the Declaration, was necessitate to drive him axvaij 
 mth his draxvn sxvord ; and it is probable enough, that had the rebels been successful 
 in this conflict, they would have put the gallows, which they are said to have erected 
 for the destruction of their malignant enemies, to the more extended use of purging 
 their camp of Achans, and all Erastian professors. Their merciful disposition towards 
 their prisoners is thus recorded by Creichton : " The cruelty and presumption of that 
 wicked and perverse generation will appear evident from a single instance. These re- 
 bels had set up a very large gallows in the middle of their camp, and prepared a cart- 
 
470 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 Robert Hamilton, Hendry Hall, and the Fife men, except Ratli- 
 illet, who being a little after the rest in the field, so when he sa^v 
 the foot coming he left his troup, thinking to hold them again, so 
 
 full of new ropes at the foot of it, in order to hang up the king's soldiers, whom thej' 
 already looked upon as vanquished and at mercy ; and it happened, that the pursuers 
 in the royal army, returning back with their prisoners, chose the place where the gal- 
 lows stood to guard them at, without offering to hang one of them, which they richly 
 deserved, and had so much reason to expect." — This gallows is also mentioned by 
 Guild, in his Bellum Bothuellianum, and by the anonymous author of an English (or 
 rather Scottish) Poem, composed on the same subject, entitled, A short Compend or 
 Description of the Rebels in Scotland, in Anno 1679, by a Well-wisher of his Majes- 
 ty, published by Authority. Edinburgh, printed in the Year 1681. 
 
 " But when their foot did take the flight, 
 To make escape with all their might, 
 .Some ran to hcles, some to the height, 
 
 With many a wallaway. 
 The Highlanders did quickly follow. 
 In victory them up to swallow, 
 Caused many in their blood to M'allow, 
 
 Crying, alace ! that day. 
 
 " They were committed to the guard, 
 
 Expecting but a bad reward, f 
 
 The gallows which themselves prepar'd 
 
 Their captives on to hing : 
 To that same gallows were they brought. 
 Where all of them expected nought 
 But Haman-like, up to be caught, 
 
 A punishment condign." 
 
 ■In the Memoirs of the Rev. Mr Blackadder, the prisoners are said to have been 
 
 "■ al! gathered together about u galloxus, luhich stood there." This, if not erected by the 
 
 4 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 471 
 
 that he knew not what way his friends went, he being pm-sued by 
 the enemy, went westward, escaping, he staid with John Paton and 
 thereabout be-west Loudon-hill ; the enemies lying thereabout, he 
 escaped wonderfully many times. INIr Hamilton and John Ealfour, 
 Andrew Henderson and Alexander Henderson, George Fleman and 
 James Russell, and INIr King and INIr Duglas, with several others, 
 went to the Stewartry of Galloway towards Baskcob's, taking a horse 
 of a papist, and some arms from a rascal, who had taken and was 
 lying in the way to take all that came that way at Entrekine ; and 
 
 healing teU that Avas in arms with a number of men to wait 
 
 on, on all that came that way, not knowing where to go, they went 
 straight to beside Earlstone ;* lying all night oh grass, can^e 
 
 whigs, must have been the gibbet of an exposed malefactor ; which is not probable. 
 Wodrow takes no notice of the reports concerning the gallons and ropes, though they 
 must have come within his knowledge, but says, that the prisoners, after Bothwell, 
 were treated on their way to Edinburgh in an inhuman manner. " When they were 
 come to Corstorphine, within two miles of Edinburgh, great multitudes came out of 
 the town to stare and gaze upon them. Both sides of the road were lined with people, 
 and some of them were most bitter and malicious in their jesting, and reproaching the 
 prisoners as they went by. Too many of that profane mob followed the pattern of the 
 old mockers literally, and said, ' Where is now your God ? Take him up now and Mr 
 Welch, who said you should win the day :'— that good man had no such expression." 
 ]\Ir Welch was accused of having affirmed, that the very windle-straws would fight for 
 the good cause ; and in all probability did so, though Wodrow denies it. He also 
 thinks fit to disbelieve (vol. II. p. 89,) the word. No Quarter, given by Hamilton at 
 Drumclog, which Hamilton himself acknowledged ; and terms the execution of the 
 butcher at Glasgow a malicious untruth, though Russell expressly mentions that cir- 
 cumstance in his Narrative. 
 
 * Gordon, Laird of Earlston, killed on his way to join the insurgents at Both well by a 
 party of English dragoons, was a blood-thirsty covenanter, of whom Robert Smith, in 
 his Information printed at the conclusion of Spratt's Account of the Rye-House PJqt,^ 
 
472 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 there on Wednesday morning, being the 25th of June, and quarter- 
 ed all night in a park beside Earlstone, and went to Earlstone on 
 Thm-sday, and Friday to Dinduchal, and lay in a park, and went 
 to Carfaim ; and Alexander Gordon came from Baskcob, and the 
 gentlemen thereabout, and intreated the Fife men, with some others, 
 not to sunder, expecting to raise all the country ; and sundering 
 with Mr Hamilton and Hall at Earlstone, and Baskcob took them 
 to Kenmoor town and supped, and then lay in a meadow all night, 
 and staid at the Barniaclaling kirk forenoon ; and then Archibald 
 Stewart and James Pagan, and some others, went away to ISIinigaff, 
 being a preaching to be on Sabbath, and staying all night by the 
 way ui' a little house, and Sabbath morning came to INIinigaff with 
 Andi-ew TurnbuU ; and going to the preaching 2 miles be- west it, 
 where Mr Samuel Arnott, and Mr George Barclay, and INIr Robert 
 Archibald preached, and at night went to Barclay and Castle Stew- 
 art, and staid until Tuesday ; and meeting all at a house about a 
 mile be-east Barclay, and consulting where to go to, Andrew and 
 Alexander Henderson, and George Fleman, and James llussell, 
 went to Baldone, and spake to JVIr Barclay and TurnbuU, and 
 thence went to Barchanary, and staid till Thursday ; and then 
 
 gives this anecdote : — " As we were passing by the old castle of Thrieve, where his 
 late majesty, of blessed memory, had a garrison in the beginning of the unhappy trou- 
 bles of his reign, old Gordon of Earlston, who in a few days after was kiUed at Both- 
 well Bridge, in my hearing spoke to the officers about him as followeth : Gentlemen, 
 I was the man tliat commanded the party which took this castle from the late king, 
 who had in it about 200 of the name of Maxwell, of whom the greatest part being pa- 
 pists, we put them all to the stvord, and demolished the castle, as you see it : and now 
 (tho' an old man) I take up arms against the son, whom I hope to see go the same 
 way that his father went : for we can never put trust in a covenant breaker : so, gen- 
 tlemen, your cause is good, ye need not fear to fight against a forsworn king." 
 
MrRDER Ol' ATlCHBISIIOr SHAItl'. 47« 
 
 commg back again, and spake to Mr Barclay in Baldone ; and JNIr 
 Turnbull, and Robert and John Dick, came with them to Archi- 
 bald Stewart's, and then sundered near MinigafF; and Andrew and 
 Alexander Henderson, and George Fleman and James Russell lay 
 out all night, being disappointed of their quarters, and meeting to- 
 gether at IMinigafF on Friday ; and John Balfour and Blacktor went 
 to Castle Stewart, and iVndrew and Alexander Henderson went to 
 Cochley, and James Russell, George Fleman, in a gentleman's house 
 called ISIartin ; and being alamied, met all be-west Castle Stewart, 
 
 and went west to , . . all night ; and in the Sabbath morning 
 
 going to the preaching, and being near the meeting place, the alarm 
 comes from ]MinigafF that Clavers was come. Then all, being so 
 affrighted, dismissed ; and these Galloway men that was so kmd 
 and pressing for the Fife men to stay together, left them, not know- 
 ing: where to go to : but having two men come fi'om INIr Welch 
 from CaiTick on Friday to INIinigafF the 3d day of July, in order to 
 rising again, and desiring them to stay together, not knowing what 
 to do, all the country flying, they ordering west toward Carrick, 
 
 lighted at ... and refreshed themselves and their horse ; and 
 
 then horsing and riding, came to , where IMr Welch was, 
 
 and staid till Tuesday ; and being alarmed, Clavers being pursuing 
 and within a mile, presently horsing and came to Drummellintoun 
 Tuesday afternoon ; and shoeing their horse, and refreshing them- 
 selves, went to Waterhead all night ; and on Wednesday went to 
 a den be-east the Waterhead with Mr Welch, and staid till after- 
 noon ; and the Lairds of Canick A\Tote to Mr Welch, desiring him 
 either to part with these men, or else they would have no more ado 
 ■H-ith him ; and JNIr Welch caused read the letter, being very grieved. 
 And Andrew and Alexander Henderson, and George Fleman and 
 James Russell, and James Kenere and John Fostex", and William 
 
 2 o 
 
474- RUSSELL'S ACCOUXT OF THE 
 
 Kirk, horsed ; John Balfour and TurnbuU staid thereabout, John 
 Balfoiu' not being able to travel of his woinid in his thigh that he 
 got at Hamilton pickating afore the enemy,* and they left him and 
 went toward the castle of Cumlock, resolving home to Fife. 
 
 And lighting and refreshing themselves in a house, and getting 
 a guide to the castle, and then a guide to Dornell, and baited their 
 horse, and got a guide to Barnbrack, and lying forth all night, the 
 guide going Avell, and came there in the morning ; and resting till 
 12 hours forenoon, horsed, and going toward Pudock-hoome with 
 a guide, met Avith James Weir in Lesmehagow, who was flying 
 fi'om the enemies, who told them that the troupers were in through 
 all the country, and the English dragoons Avas at Arnbuckle, and 
 through all the coimtry there, so that it was impossible to escape ; 
 and consulting what to do, resolved to stay at a house, being Thurs- 
 day, being the 1 0th day of July ; and coming to it, staid all night, 
 and sent James Kenere and a little boy to Hamilton to see where 
 the troupers were lying, and if he could get any word of Rathillet 
 his master ; and he getting word of his master, came back on Sa- 
 turday to the head of Douglas water, where he found the rest in a 
 den lying ; for the people being feared to shelter them, resolved to 
 lie there forth ; and he being come, told them that he had gotten 
 word that his master was west about Eaglesham and the east of 
 Finnick, and presently sent him away for him, who came back with 
 his master on IMonday, being the l-ith day of July, and staid Tues- 
 day, and about a mile be-west lay all night. Their horses being 
 a-seeking, got them again, and horsing, came to Dorell at night, 
 having gotten by the way word that there were 6 or 7 troupers 
 
 * In the depositions of witnesses respecting those concerned in Bothvvell Insurrec- 
 tion, as quoted by Wodrow, one person depones, " that when Balfour was fleeing, he 
 heard him say that he had received a shot, the devil cut off' the hands that gave it." 
 
INIUKDER OF ARCIiniSHOP SHAl!!'. 475 
 
 spoiling the country, and taking all the horses that they could get. 
 They lay that night beside the Dorell upon grass. On Thiu'sday 
 
 morning, Jo came to them, and told them that the whole 
 
 country would be spoiled if there Avcre not some course taken Avith 
 these troupers, and earnestly desired them to go with him, for there 
 was 6 or 7 Avithin a mile aaIio had robbed and taken horse and mone\' 
 whereA'er they came. They all presently horsed, and meetinp- Avitli 
 
 two or three friends, A\'ho told them that they A\'ere in eA'en 
 
 noA\' ; and riding hard, came Avithin sight of the tA\^o troupers, AA^ho 
 was spoihng and taking horse and cloaths from })oor bodies ; and 
 being three of them, aa ith all the horse at the grass beside the toAvn. 
 and the other three A\'as spoiling AAdthin doors beside them, coniing 
 forAA'ard at the gallop, and desires them to render their arms ; they 
 refusing, fked on them, and one of them being on horse, rode aAAay, 
 and presently the rest came to help. The Fife men, desking them 
 to render their arms, and they refused likeAA'ise, presently fii-ed on 
 them, and took one of their pistols and fii-ed it on the troupers them- 
 selves, but being nothing in her but poAA'der, only burnt his face ; 
 and he presently AA'ent to the house and told he AAas shot, and all 
 the rest Avas quitting their arms and taking quarters. The Fife men 
 resolving to take all their horse and arms, but the people of the 
 toAvn being feared for trouble afterhend, prayed them not to Avrong 
 them, only to take all that they had taken, Avhich the troupers Avas 
 willing to give ; and on the persuasion of the people they let them 
 go, after they had gotten all again that they had robbed, as the 
 people said themsehes ; but there Avas none of them hid, and the 
 Fife men come to the house Avhere the troupers had been all night, 
 refreshed themselves, and then Avent to an house Avith one that had 
 gotten his horse that they had taken, and staid a little, and then 
 went to Cumlock Castle, and baited their horse and refreshed them- 
 selves. 
 
47t) IirsSELL'S ACCOfNT OF TliE 
 
 In the mean time, William Cleland and John Fuller came to the 
 door. Jolm Fuller being taken prisoner at Hamilton, and in the 
 yard of Edinburgh they wonderfully escaped, and horsing altoge- 
 ther, rode about a mile to one Gamil's, and lay all night thereforth. 
 and on Friday went to Waterhead, where we met with Andrew 
 Turnbull and John Balfour, and some others ; and Rathillet and 
 John Balfour, and William Cleland and John Fuller, went to Earl- 
 ston ; and Andrew Henderson and Alexander Henderson, George 
 Fleman, went to Carsfairn be-east the kirk a mile, and on Saturday 
 they horsed and went to Dindeuch and dined with some friends, 
 and went to Earlstone all night to INIr Hamilton* and RathiUet 
 and others, and took again a horse of Earlstone's from one who was 
 fining all the honest people in Nithsdale, and then staid all night 
 there forth, and on Wednesday rode about 4 or 5 mile west and 
 
 • Hamilton, whom Mr Laing in his History strangely mistakes for a preacher, soon 
 after the battle of Bothwell Bridge escaped to Holland, where he appears to have 
 lived in continual broils with divers of the backsliding brethren. And what dismal de- 
 fections they were then and afterwards guilty of may be gathered, not only from their 
 treatment of liimself and Mr James Ren wick, as detailed in the Faithful Contendings, 
 but also from anecdotes of sundry other malignancies, recorded in that book. Among 
 these, one of the most signal and ludicrous occurs at page 474' of the Appendix, where 
 the reprobate state of Scotland after the Revolution, more especially with regard to its 
 clergy, who concurred in sinful levies for the prosecution of the French war, is men- 
 tioned with much horror. " Mr William Boyd, that he might shew what kindness he 
 had for his old friends, that he might be behind none in this, after he was settled in 
 Dairy, caused his elders in the night to take out of their beds severals of the dissenters 
 in that parish, and upon the Sabbath morning shaved the old men's beards to make them 
 appear young, that so they might pass for the parish, and so presented them to the re- 
 cruiting officer : but was in this disappointed, as the officer would not accept of them 
 because of their age. Such was a part of the reward Mr Boyd returned to his old 
 friends for contributing so largely for his maintenance while he was abroad, as is be- 
 fore related." 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 477 
 
 staid all night, and then went to Blackous on Thursday ; and Wil- 
 liam Cleland, and Andrew Henderson, and John FuUerton, to Dn- 
 glas ; and there being troupers robbing the coinitry of their horse 
 and all other things, they met with 4 or 5 of them at Gnylcarcruch, 
 and firing on each other, the troupers fled, and they pursued ; and 
 taking some horse from them, came back on Saturday to the rest. 
 
 who met them 3 or 4 at be-south-east of the castle of Cum- 
 
 lock, and staying thereabout all the Sabbath in the fields, went to 
 John Gamil's and his brother all night ; and on JMonday, being the 
 29 day of July, horsed at night, and being alarmed, rode to the 
 head of Duglas water on the Tuesday ; being sore wearied, could 
 neither get meat nor drink to man, and little to horse ; finding a 
 well, drank so that they were all refi-eshed as they had got never so 
 great fare ; and not knowing what to do, there came a woman out 
 of Edinbvirgh seeking them, and with letters to INIr Hamilton that 
 resolved them all what to do ; and horsing Tuesday night, came to 
 Duglas, and supped at the east side of the toAvn, and went all night 
 
 to and staid ; and INIr Hamilton and Hall having sundered, 
 
 William Cleland at Poudockhome and Fouler went to Edinburoh. 
 and Rathillet and John Balfour, and Andrew and Alexander Hen- 
 derson, and George Fleman and James Russel, and James Kenere, 
 went to the Midren and refreshed themselves ; and being alarmed 
 that the troupers were rindging the fields, staid within a mile of 
 them all day, and horsing, went to Arnbuckle on Thursday night, 
 and got a guide to Kilsyth, Clavers being lying in Campsie and 
 about Kilsyth ; and riding through Kdsyth in the night, there was 
 a party of troupers new lighted, so that they saw the candles, and 
 people came to the doors ; but riding to one Thomas Riijssel, about 
 a mile west, got a guide, and went to the back side to one Andrew 
 Dun's, an honest man's house ; but being gentlemen at the present 
 in his house who was maligned, he being feared for hazard, would 
 
478 IIUSSELL'S ACCOUXT OF THE 
 
 not SO much as speak to them, but one of his servants told them 
 that they could not escape if there were a hvmdred of them, for the 
 enemy was waiting on their home-coming, and if he should but 
 guide them any way, they would take and hang him. They not 
 knowing what to do, their horses being so tired, not able to trot, 
 and seeing no remedy, being surrounded with enemies, went over 
 the hills and staid all day two miles be-west Kijjpcn ; and horsing 
 and going towards Dumblain, having forced a guide, met one 
 Broch, with 10 or 12 horsemen with him, who had broken all the 
 Fife men before. JSIaking all ready, resolving to fight as long as 
 the Lord shoidd enable them, and having all their carrabines and 
 pistols ready, came roundly forward. Broch never owned them ; 
 but being guided at several places where they were to pass, and at 
 the Bridge of Doim being will what to do, rode off the way to seek 
 a guide to take them another way, and by providence Ughted on 
 an honest man, who took them away to James Henderson's, about 
 two miles from Stirling northward, and staid and refi'eshed them- 
 selves and their horse ; and horsing in the morning, being Satur- 
 day, went towards Blackford, and being taken for troupers, refresh- 
 ed themselves, and got a full account how the Fife men was broken, 
 and then horsed and went towards Dunning about 12 horns ; and 
 then near Duplin John Balfour sundered with the rest, and went 
 
 to Duplin mill ; and coming to , and lay and rested our 
 
 horse on the grass ; and being horsed, and Rathillet and his man 
 went to Balward, and the other four went towards the glen, and 
 that night to Balgurno, and staid all night ; and Sabbath, being 
 the 5 day of August, and at night went to Farneyside, and went 
 to Abrackment, and to some places thereabout, all that week ; and 
 John Balfour being come east, and RathiUet to their sisters in the 
 
 IVIorton, and being gotten notice of by Sir William , was 
 
 assaulted by 30 men in the night time at the JMorton. They being 
 
Munm-.u OF AUciiBisHOP sHAF.r. 479 
 
 in their bed, the mistress of the house and John Eallxnu-'s -wife 
 rising, told them that they ^vere all dead men : and putting on 
 their clothes, the mistress of the house came to the door and let 
 them in, and desired them to be merciful, for they were here that 
 they were seeking ; and lighting candles, went to all the chambers 
 of the house except tliat which tliey were in, and many of them 
 ffuardino- the door and yate : Rathillet, thinking he was taken, but 
 resohed to assay aU means, came forward, and John Balfour at his 
 back, and his sister holding the candle, blew it out, and being de- 
 sired to stand and be taken, dang some of them o'er, and escaped 
 both, they crying and firing on them ; and his wife likewise esca- 
 ped after them, notwithstanding it was moon-light and near day, 
 
 and went to all day, and then after went towards the west 
 
 end of the shire, but could get no quarters, for all was so feared, 
 and there being so great search for them ; went toward Broomhal, 
 and staid one or two nights there, and then went to Culross and 
 staid several days, where the rest came to them, John Fleman, An- 
 drew Henderson, Alex. Henderson, James Russell, the 5th da}^ in 
 Kilbrackment and 6th in Stenton, and the 9th day in Kinkail, and 
 the 10th and 11th day in Kinkail. The 10th day, at night, James 
 RusseU went home, being refused of quarters be the way from these 
 with Avhom he was very intimate with before ; and going home, 
 staid aU INIonday, and went to Ivillbrackment at night, Avhere he 
 met with the rest, who was presently come from Kinkail, being 
 the 11 day of August, and went to Balbouthie on Wednesday and 
 Thursday, and Friday to Stenton, being alarmed that JMr Hackston 
 and Balfour was set upon by 30 men and had escaped ; and going 
 to Edi-oss on Saturday night, and staid until INIonday, 26 day, and 
 then to KiUnucks aU night, and the next night to the Starr, and 
 the next night to Dysart, and the next night to Bruntiland, and 
 on Saturday night to Culross, coming there on Sunday morning, 
 
4S0 ItrsSELL'S ACCOUXT OP THE 
 
 being the 31 day of Axigvist ; and on Thursday night went to Bor- 
 rowstounness, where they staid, and where they met with Rathil- 
 let* and John IJalfbiir. who Avent away on Friday, being the 5th 
 
 • Ilackston was finally made prisoner at the skirmish of Airs-moss, and carried into 
 Edinburgh, where he was condemned to have his hands cut off, and then to be hanged, 
 drawn, and quartered. Burnet saj-s that " he had so strong a hearty that notwithstand- 
 ing all the loss of blood by his wounds, and the cutting off his hands, yet when he was 
 hanged up, and his heart cut out, it continued to palpitate some time after it was on 
 the hangman's knife." — From his speeches and letters published in the Cloud of Wit- 
 nesses, his heart seems in one sense to have been stronger than his head. Yet, on his 
 examination before the privy council, when the king's advocate enquired ivhere he was 
 the 3d daij of May rvas a year, (the day of the archbishop's murder,) he answered, I 
 am not bound to keep a memorial of where I am, or what I do every day. It may not 
 be improper to conclude the notes to this volume with an Abridgement of the Cri- 
 minal Letters, raised 2d April, 1683, against several of Hackston's friends, and many 
 rebels who had fled from justice to Holland, as they contain some notices respecting 
 these worthies not elsewhere to be found. " Anent Criminal Letters raised by Sir 
 George Mackenzie of Rosehaugli, his majesty's advocate, against John Balfour of Kin- 
 loch, called Captain Burleigh, John Russell, portioner of Kettle, Robert Hamilton, 
 brother to Sir William Hamilton of Preston, Mr John Hog, minister at Rotterdam, 
 
 Mr Robert Fleming there, Smith, Mr Robert Langlands, Andrew Russell, factor, 
 
 John Russel, factor, and James Stuart, son to Sir James Stuart, Lord Provost of Edin- 
 burgh ; making mention, that notwithstanding of many acts of parliament against trea- 
 son, rebellion, and rising in arms, which they have broken ; and whereas by Act 11. 
 Sess. 1. Pari. 2. Char. 2. the king's advocate, warranted by the privy council, may and 
 ought to insist against such persons in absence ; and if cited and not compearing, the 
 lords are to proceed to forfeiture, as if they were present : and it is so verily, that the 
 said John Balfour and John Russell, with the deceast David Hackstoun of Rathillet, 
 and others, discharged several shots in the coach of his Grace James Archbishop of St 
 Andrews, about two miles from the city of St Andrews, in Magus-muir, when travel- 
 ling, with his daughter, most securely, and most sacrilegiously invaded him and his 
 daughter ; and his Grace having opened the door, and come forth, and fallen down on 
 his knees, begging mercy, or time to recommend his soul to God, and to pray for his 
 
 murderers, so cruel and inhumane were they, that without pitying his gray hairs, or 
 
 2 
 
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 481 
 
 September, with John Ritchie to Holland ; and they staid in Bo'- 
 ness until the 18 day of October, and then went away to Holland, 
 but having a great storm, was di-iven in to Harish, and from Ha- 
 
 the shrieks of his weepiing daughter, or respecting his character or office, most cruelly 
 and furiously gave him many bloody and mortal wounds in his head and other places, 
 and left him dead and murdered on the place ; and then went into the west, and rose 
 in rebellion at Bothwell Bridge, under the command of the said Robert Hamilton. 
 And when, by the diligence of his majesty's forces, they could no longer stay in the 
 nation, they fled to the United Provinces of Holland, when the said Mr John Hog. 
 Mr Robert Fleming, Mr Robert Langlands, &c. conversed with them, harboured, sup- 
 plied, and furnished them with money and necessaries, in the year 1679, 80, 81, or 82, 
 and the said Mrs Hog, Fleming, Smith, and Langlands, did, in one of the months of 
 the years foresaid, employ Mr Donald Cargill, Mr Richard Cameron, Mr John Rae, 
 Mr David Hume, Mr John King, Mr John Kid, Mr John Weir, Mr Thomas Hog, Mr 
 Andrew Anderson, Mr John Ross, Mr Alexander Wilson, Mr Alexander Bertram, 
 Mr Francis Irvine, Mr John Walhvood, Mr Thomas Macgill, ministers, fled from their 
 native country, for their hand in the rebellion, 1679, and who were intercommuned. 
 And the said Messrs Hog, Fleming, Smith, and Langlands, are arrived to that height of 
 impiety, to own and maintain that treasonable and sacrilegious covenant, (which occa- 
 sioned so much bloodshed, and the loss of the lives of so many good subjects, and was 
 the engine of the whole catastrophe of the rebellious, and unparalleled and accursed 
 murder of our sovereign lord Charles L, to the everlasting reproach of the protestant 
 religion,) and in an impious and insolent manner, did take upon them to debar from 
 the Lord's table such as owned his majesty's authority, or assisted or served him in the 
 government, as enemies to Christ and his kingdom ; and consulted and treated for ad- 
 mitting the said John Balfour to the table of the Lord ; and during the Dutch war, they 
 prayed publickly for the success of the forces of the States, against their sovereign lord 
 the king ; and the said James Stuart, being the son of a father whose disloyal princi- 
 ples and practices tended to the destruction of his majesty's authority and government 
 in the times of the late rebellion, he no sooner arrived at any height of knowledge, 
 than he used all ende.ivours to disturb the government, both in church and state, and 
 by his writings and practices to sow sedition ; and after he was forced to lurk and flee 
 the nation, when returned after the Indemnity, he wrote and drew a representation of 
 the late Earl of Argyle's case, which paper was designed to be printed, wherein he ex- 
 
 3 P 
 
482 RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT, &c. 
 
 rish to Holland the 4th day, where they met with their friends 
 bein^ the 4th of November, 1679- 
 
 treraely reflected on the late parliament, and test, appointed to be a bulwark to the 
 protestant religion and his majesty's government ; and drew and wrote reasons against 
 the said test, treasonably asserting, that subjects were bound by the covenant and con- 
 fession of faith, to oppose the civil magistrate in defence of religion ; and hath assist- 
 ed, supplied, and done favours to the said John Balfour and Russell, and continues in 
 a desperate state of rebellion and treason. Wherefore these things being proven, the 
 wiiole of tiie above named persons ought to be punished with forfeiture of life, and 
 lands and sjoods." 
 
 END OF RUSSELL'S ACCOUNT, &c. 
 
LETTER 
 
 FROM SIR WILLIAM SHARP, THE ARCHBISHOP's SON, TO SIR JAMES BAIRO, AT BAMT, 
 
 Giving an Account of his Father s Murder. 
 
 Honoured Sir, 
 This horrid and stupendous murther has so confounded me, that I am not able to 
 give a suitable return to your excellent and kind letter. What I have learnt of that 
 execrable deed is, that on Friday the 2d of this instant month, my worthy father cross- 
 ed the water, lay at Kennoway all night, next morning set out for St Andrews. Being 
 two miles off", 27 of those villainous regicides had a full view of the coach, and not 
 finding the opportunity, divided into three parties, which took up the tlu-ee ways he 
 could take homewai-ds. Nine of them assaulted the coach within two miles of this 
 . place, by discharging their pistols, and securing his servants. The coachman drove on 
 for half-a-mile, until one of his horses was wounded in three places, and the postUion 
 wounded in the hand. Then they fired several shot at the coach, and commanded my 
 dearest father to come out, which he said he would. When he had come out, (not be- 
 ing yet wounded,) he said. Gentlemen, I beg my hfe. No ! bloody villain, betrayer 
 of the cause of Christ, no mercy ! Then, said he, I ask none for myself, but have 
 mercy on my poor child, (his eldest daughter was in the coach with him,) and hold- 
 ing out his hand to one of them, to get his, that he would spare his child, he cut him 
 in the wrist. Then falling down upon his knees, and holding up his hands, he prayed 
 that God would forgive them ; and, begging mercy for his sins from his Saviour, they 
 murdered him, by sixteen great wounds, in his back, head, and one above his left ej'e, 
 tlu'ee in his left hand, when he was holding them up, with a shot above his right 
 breast, which was found to be powder. After this damnable deed, they took the pa- 
 pers out of his pocket, robbed my sister and their servants of all their papers, gold, and 
 money ; and one of these hellish rascals cut my sister in the thmnb, when she had him 
 
 by the bridle, begging her father's life. God of his infinite mercy support this poor 
 
 3 
 
484. LETTER, &c. 
 
 family, under this dreadful and unsupportable case, and give us to know why God is 
 thus angry with us, and earnestly beg not to consume us in his wrath, but now that 
 his anger may cease, and he may be at peace with us, through the blood of a reconci- 
 led Saviour ; and also may have pity upon this poor distressed church, and that he may 
 be the last sacrifice for it, as he is the first protestant martyr bishop in such a way. 
 
 Dear Sir, as my worthy father had alway a kindness and particular esteem for your- 
 self, son, and family, so I hope you will be friendly to his son, who shall ever con- 
 tinue, worthy sir, your most faithful, &c. &c. 
 
 W. Sharp. 
 St Andrew's, 10 May, l679. 
 -f- hour after receipt of yoiu"'s. 
 
 On Saturday next is the funeral. 
 
 Edinburgh : 
 Printed by James Ballantyue & Co. 
 
This book is due two weeks from the last date stamped 
 ^ilow, and if not returned at or before that time a *=• 
 -ents a day will be incurred. 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 0035520302 
 
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 00 
 
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 a: 
 
 MAY 12 1931