[410] In 1638, one of the most eminent of the Scotch clergy writes: ‘Our maine feare’ is ‘to have our religion lost, our throats cutted, our poore countrey made ane English province, to be disposed upon for ever hereafter at the will of a Bishope of Canterburie.’ Baillie's Letters and Journals, vol. i. p. 66. Compare p. 450. ‘This kirk is a free and independant kirk, no less then the kingdom is a free and independant kingdom; and as our own Patriots can best judge what is for the good of the kingdom, so our own Pastors should be most able to judge what form of worship beseemeth our Reformation, and what serveth most for the good of the People.’ Two generations later, one of the most popular arguments against the Union was, that it might enable the English to force episcopacy upon Scotland. See De Foe's History of the Union between England and Scotland, pp. 222, 284, 359. ‘The danger of the Church of Scotland, from the suffrages of English bishops,’ &c.

[411] The hatred which the Scotch naturally felt against the English for having inflicted so much suffering upon them, was intense about the middle of the seventeenth century, notwithstanding the temporary union of the two nations against Charles. In 1652, ‘the criminal record is full of cases of murder of English soldiers. They were cut off by the people whenever a fitting opportunity occurred, and were as much detested in Scotland as the French soldiers were in Spain during the Peninsular war.’ The Spottiswoode Miscellany, vol. ii. p. 98, Edinburgh, 1845. See also p. 167: ‘a nationall quarrell, and not for the Stuarts.’

[412] Browne's History of the Highlands, vol. ii. pp. 75–77: ‘the English army was augmented to twenty thousand men, and citadels erected in several towns, and a long train of military stations drawn across the country to curb the inhabitants.’

[413] Clarendon, under the year 1655, says, ‘Though Scotland was vanquished, and subdued, to that degree, that there was no place nor person who made the least show of opposing Cromwell; who, by the administration of Monk, made the yoke very grievous to the whole nation; yet the preachers kept their pulpit license; and, more for the affront that was offered to presbytery, than the conscience of what was due to majesty, many of them presumed to pray for the king; and generally, though secretly, exasperated the minds of the people against the present government.’ Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, p. 803.

[414] And, what they must have felt very acutely, he would not go to hear them preach. A writer of that time informs us that, even in 1648, when Cromwell was in Edinburgh, ‘he went not to their churches; but it is constantle reported that ewerie day he had sermons in his oune ludginge, himself being the preacher, whensoewer the spirit came upon him; which took him lyk the fitts of an ague, somtyms twise, sometyms thryse in a day.’ Gordon's Britane's Distemper, p. 212. In 1650, according to another contemporary, ‘he made stables of all the churches for hes horsses quhersoeuer he came, and burned all the seatts and pewes in them; riffled the ministers housses, and distrayed ther cornes.’ Balfour's Annales of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 88. The clergy, on the other hand, employing a resource with which their profession has always been familiar, represented Cromwell as opposing Providence, because he was opposing them. Rutherford (Religious Letters, reprinted Glasgow, 1824, p. 346) says, that he fought ‘against the Lord's secret ones;’ and Row (Continuation of Blair's Autobiography, p. 335), under the year 1658, triumphantly observes: ‘In the beginning of September this year, the Protector, that old fox, died. It was observed, as a remarkable cast of divine providence, that he died upon the 3d of September, which he, glorying of routing of our armies at Dunbar and Worcester on that day, used to call his day. On that same very day the Just Judge called him to an account,’ &c.

[415] See contemporary notices of this, in Nicoll's Diary, p. 110; and in The Diary of Mr. John Lamont of Newton, pp. 56, 57. But the best account is that given by Baillie, in a letter to Calamy, dated Glasgow, 27th July 1653. He writes: ‘That on the 20th of July last, when our Generall Assemblie was sett in the ordinarie tyme and place, Lieutenant-Colonell Cotterall besett the church with some rattes of musqueteirs and a troup of horse; himself (after our fast, wherein Mr. Dickson and Mr. Dowglas had two gracious sermons) entered the Assemblie-house, and immediately after Mr. Dickson the Moderator his prayer, required audience; wherein he inquired, If we did sitt there by the authority of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England? or of the Commanders-in-chiefe of the English forces? or of the English Judges in Scotland? The Moderator replyed, That we were ane Ecclesiasticall synod, ane Spirituall court of Jesus Christ, which medled not with anything Civile; that our authoritie wes from God, and established by the lawes of the land yet standing unrepealed; that, by the Solemn League and Covenant, the most of the English army stood obliedged to defend our Generall Assemblie. When some speeches of this kind had passed, the Lieutenant-Colonell told us, his order was to dissolve us; whereupon he commanded all of us to follow him, else he would drag us out of the rowme. When we had entered a Protestation of this unheard-of and unexampled violence, we did ryse and follow him; he ledd us all through the whole streets a myle out of the towne, encompassing us with foot-companies of musqueteirs, and horsemen without; all the people gazing and mourning as at the saddest spectacle they had ever seen. When he had ledd us a myle without the towne, he then declared what further he had in commission, That we should not dare to meet any more above three in number; and that against eight o'clock to-morrow, we should depart the towne, under paine of being guiltie of breaking the publick peace: And the day following, by sound of trumpet, we were commanded off towne under the paine of present imprisonment. Thus our Generall Assemblie, the glory and strength of our Church upon earth, is, by your souldiarie, crushed and trod under foot, without the least provocatione from us, at this time, either in word or deed.’ Baillie's Letters and Journals, vol. iii. pp. 225, 226.

[416] In August 1640, the army marched into England; and ‘it was very refreshfull to remark, that after we came to ane quarter at night, there was nothing almost to be heard throughout the whole army but singing of Psalms, prayer, and reading of Scripture by the souldiers in their severall hutts.’ Select Biographies, edited by Mr. Tweedie for the Wodrow Society, vol. i. p. 163. ‘The most zealous among them boasted, they should carry the triumphant banners of the covenant to Rome itself.’ Arnot's History of Edinburgh, p. 124. In 1644, the celebrated divine, Andrew Cant, was appointed by the Commissioners of the General Assembly, ‘to preach at the opening of the Parliament, wherein he satisfied their expectation fully. For, the main point he drove at in his sermon, was to state an opposition betwixt King Charles and King Jesus (as he was pleased to speak) and upon that account to press resistance to King Charles for the interest of King Jesus. It may be wondered that such doctrine should have relish'd with men brought up in the knowledge of the Scriptures; and yet, such was the madness of the times, that none who preach'd in public since the beginning of the Troubles, had been so cried up as he was for that sermon.’ Guthry's Memoirs, pp. 136, 137.

[417] ‘The rooting out of prelacy and the wicked hierarchy therein so obviously described, is the main duty.’ Naphtali, or the Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland, pp. 53, 54. This refers to the Covenant of 1643. So, too, the continuator of Row's History of the Kirk, p. 521, says, under the year 1639, that the object of the war was, ‘to withstand the prelaticall faction and malignant, countenanced by the kinge in his owne persone.’ Compare the outbreak of the Reverend Samuel Rutherford, against ‘the accursed and wretched prelates, the Antichrist's first-born, and the first fruit of his foul womb.’ Rutherford's Religious Letters, p. 179.

[418] Our civil war was not religious; but was a struggle between the Crown and the Parliament. See a note in Buckle's History of Civilization, vol. i. p. 359.

[419] In September 1643, Baillie, writing an account of the proceedings of the Westminster Assembly in the preceding month, says, ‘In our committees also we had hard enough debates. The English were for a civill League, we for a religious Covenant.’ Letter to Mr. William Spang, dated 22nd September 1643, in Baillie's Letters and Journals, vol. ii. p. 90.

[420] ‘The Solemn League and Covenant,’ which ‘is memorable as the first approach towards an intimate union between the kingdoms, but, according to the intolerant principles of the age, a federal alliance was constructed on the frail and narrow basis of religious communion.’ Laing's History of Scotland, vol. iii. pp. 258, 259. The passage, however, which I have quoted, in the last note, from Baillie, shows that England was not responsible for the intolerant principles, or, consequently, for the narrow basis.

[421] The Chancellor of Scotland ‘did as good as conclude “that if the king would satisfy them in the business of the Church, they would not concern themselves in any of the other demands.”’ … ‘And it was manifest enough, by the private conferences with other of the commissioners, that the parliament took none of the points in controversy less to heart, or were less united in, than in what concerned the Church.’ Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, edit. Oxford, 1843, p. 522. See also p. 527: ‘that the Scots would insist upon the whole government of the Church, and in all other matters would defer to the king.’

[422] See this extraordinary document in Acts of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 1638 to 1842, pp. 122–128, Edinburgh, 1843. It is entitled ‘A solemne and seasonable warning to the noblemen, barons, gentlemen, burrows, ministers, and commons of Scotland; as also to armies without and within this kingdom.’ In it (p. 123) occurs the following passage: ‘And for our part, our forces sent into that kingdom, in pursuance of that Covenant, have been so mercifully and manifestly assisted and blessed from heaven (though in the mids of many dangers and distresses, and much want and hardship), and have been so farre instrumentall to the foyling and scattering of two principall armies; first, the Marquesse of Newcastle his army; and afterwards Prince Rupert's and his together; and to the reducing of two strong cities, York and Newcastle, that we have what to answer the enemy that reproacheth us concerning that businesse, and that which may make iniquitie it self to stop her mouth. But which is more unto us than all victories or whatsomever temporall blessing, the reformation of religion in England, and uniformity therein between both kingdoms (a principal end of that Covenant), is so far advanced, that the English Service-Book with the Holy-Dayes and many other ceremonies contained in it, together with the Prelacy, the fountain of all these, are abolished and taken away by ordinance of parliament, and a directory for the worship of God in all the three kingdoms agreed upon in the Assemblies, and in the Parliaments of both kingdoms, without a contrary voice in either; the government of the kirk by congregational elderships, classical presbyteries, provincial and national assemblies, is agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, which is also voted and concluded in both Houses of the Parliament of England.’

[423] In 1644, ‘God ansuered our Wednesday's prayers: Balfour and Waller had gotten a glorious victorie over Forth and Hopton, and routed them totallie, horse and foot.’ Baillie's Letters and Journals, vol. ii. p. 155. In the same year, thanksgivings being offered at Aberdeen for the victory of Leslie over Rupert, ‘oure minister Mr. William Strathauchin declairit out of pulpit that this victory wes miraculous, wrocht by the fynger of God.’ Spalding's History of the Troubles, vol. ii. p. 254. In 1648, the Commissioners of the General Assembly, in an address to the Prince of Wales, stated that the Deity had been ‘fighting for his people;’ meaning by his people, the Scotch people. They added, that the fact of their enemies having been repulsed, was a proof of ‘how sore the Lord hath been displeased with their way.’ Clarendon State Papers, vol. ii. p. 424, Oxford, 1773, folio.

[424] Two Scotch notices are now before me of the fatal battle of Dunbar. According to one, the defeat was intended to testify against ‘the great sin and wickedness’ of the people. Naphtali, or the Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland, p. 75. According to the other, it was owing to the anger of the Deity at the Scotch showing any favour to the partizans of Charles. For, says the Reverend Alexander Shields, ‘both at that time, and since that time, the Lord never countenanced an expedition where that malignant interest was taken in unto the state of the quarrel. Upon this, our land was invaded by Oliver Cromwell, who defeat our army at Dunbar, where the anger of the Lord was evidently seen to smoke against us, for espousing that interest.’ Shields' Hind let loose, p. 75. These opinions were formed after the battle. Before the battle, a different hypothesis was broached. Sir Edward Walker, who was in Scotland at the time, tells us, that the clergy assured the people that ‘they had an army of saints, and that they could not be beaten.’ Journal of Affairs in Scotland in 1650, in Walker's Historical Discourses, London, 1705, folio, p. 165.

[425] ‘Each new victory of Montrose was expressly attributed to the admonitory “indignation of the Lord” against his chosen people for their sin, in “trusting too much to the arm of flesh.”’ Napier's Life of Montrose, Edinburgh, 1840, p. 283. Compare Guthrie's Considerations contributing unto the Discovery of the Dangers that threaten Religion, pp. 274, 275, reprinted Edinburgh, 1846. Guthrie was at the height of his reputation in the middle of the seventeenth century. Lord Somerville says of the Scotch, when they were making war against Charles I., that it was ‘ordinary for them, dureing the wholl tyme of this warre, to attribute ther great successe to the goodnesse and justice of their cause, untill Divyne Justice trysted them with some crosse dispensatione, and then you might have heard this language from them, that it pleased the Lord to give his oune the heavyest end of the tree to bear, that the saints and people of God must still be sufferers while they are here away; that that malignant party was God's rod to punish them for their unthankfullnesse,’ &c. Somerville's Memorie of the Somervilles, vol. ii. pp. 351, 352.

[426] Baillie mentions, in 1644, an instance of these expectations being fulfilled. He says (Letters and Journals, vol. ii. p. 138), ‘These things were brought in at a very important nick of time, by God's gracious providence: Never a more quick passage from Holy Island to Yarmouth in thirtie houres; they had not cast anchor halfe an houre till the wind turned contrare.’ Compare p. 142: ‘If this were past, we look for a new lyfe and vigoure in all affaires, especiallie if it please God to send a sweet northwind, carrying the certain news of the taking of Newcastle, which we dailie expect.’

[427] No one, perhaps, carried this further than John Menzies, the celebrated professor of divinity at Aberdeen. ‘Such was his uncommon fervour in the pulpit, that, we are informed, he “used to change his shirt always after preaching, and to wet two or three napkins with tears every sermon.”’ Note in Wodrow's Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 222. James Forbes, also, was ‘an able and zealous preacher, who after every sermon behooved to change his shirt, he spoke with such vehemency and sweating.’ Select Biographies, published by the Wodrow Society, vol. i. p. 333. Lord Somerville, who wrote in 1679, mentions ‘their thundering preachings.’ Memorie of the Somervilles, vol. ii. p. 388. A traditionary anecdote, related by the Dean of Edinburgh, refers to a later period, but is characteristic of the class. ‘Another description I have heard of an energetic preacher more forcible than delicate—“Eh, our minister had a great power o' watter, for he grat, and spat, and swat like mischeef.”’ Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character, by E. B. Ramsay, Dean of Edinburgh, p. 201.

[428] He ‘was a very learned and pious man; he had a strange faculty of preaching five or six hours at a time.’ Burnet's History of his own Time, vol. i. p. 38. Even early in the eighteenth century, when theological fervour was beginning to decline, and sermons were consequently shorter, Hugh Thomson came near to Forbes. ‘He was the longest preacher ever I heard, and would have preached four (or) five hours, and was not generally under two hours; that almost every body expected.’ … ‘He was a piouse good man, and a fervent affectionat preacher, and, when I heard him, he had a vast deal of heads, and a great deal of matter, and generally very good and practicall, but very long.’ Wodrow's Analecta, vol. iv. p. 203.

[429] In 1653, Lamont casually mentions, in his journal, that ‘the one came doune from the pulpit and the other went vp, in the tyme that the psalme after the first sermon was singing, so that ther was no intermission of the exercise, nether were the peopell dismissed till both sermons were ended.’ The Diary of Mr. John Lamont of Newton, p. 58. Burnet (History of his own Time, vol. i. p. 92) says, ‘I remember in one fast day there were six sermons preached without intermission. I was there myself, and not a little weary of so tedious a service.’

[430] When Guthrie preached at Fenwick, ‘his church, although a large country one, was overlaid and crowded every Sabbath-day, and very many, without doors, from distant parishes, such as Glasgow, Paisley, Hamilton, Lanerk, Kilbryde, Glasford, Strathaven, Newmills, Egelsham and many other places, who hungered for the pure gospel preached, and got a meal by the word of his ministry. It was their usual practice to come to Fenwick on Saturday, and to spend the greatest part of the night in prayer to God, and conversation about the great concerns of their souls, to attend the public worship on the Sabbath, to dedicate the remainder of that holy day in religious exercises, and then to go home on Monday the length of ten, twelve or twenty miles without grudging in the least at the long way, want of sleep or other refreshments; neither did they find themselves the less prepared for any other business through the week.’ Howie's Biographia Scoticana, 2nd edit., Glasgow, 1781, p. 311. One woman went forty miles to hear Livingstone preach. See her own statement, in Wodrow's Analecta, vol. ii. p. 249.

[431] Spalding gives the following account of what happened at Aberdeen in 1644. ‘So heir in Old Abirdene, upone the sevint of July, we had ane fast, entering the churche be nyne houris, and continewit praying and preiching whill tua houris. Efter sermon, the people sat still heiring reiding whill efternone's sermon began and endit, whiche continewit till half hour to sex. Then the prayer bell rang to the evening prayeris, and continewit whill seven.’ Spalding's History of the Troubles, vol. ii. p. 244, edit. Edinburgh, 1829, 4to. See also p. 42: ‘the people keipit churche all day.’ This was also at Aberdeen, in 1642.

[432] ‘Out of one pulpit now they have thirty sermons per week, all under one roof.’ A Modern Account of Scotland, in The Harleian Miscellany, vol. vi. p. 138, edit. Park, London, 1810, 4to.

[433] ‘But where the greatest part was more sound, they gave the sacrament with a new and unusual solemnity. On the Wednesday before, they held a fast day, with prayers and sermons for about eight or ten hours together: on the Saturday they had two or three preparation sermons: and on the Lord's day they had so very many, that the action continued above twelve hours in some places: and all ended with three or four sermons on Monday for thanksgiving.’ Burnet's History of his own Time, vol. i. p. 108.

[434] ‘The power of those kirk-sessions, which are now private assemblages, in whose meetings and proceedings the public take no interest whatever, is defined to be the cognizance of parochial matters and cases of scandal; but in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially during the Covenanting reign of terror after the outbreak of the Civil War against Charles I., the kirk-sessions of Scotland were the sources of excessive tyranny and oppression—were arbitrary, inquisitorial, and revengeful, to an extent which exceeds all belief. It is truly stated by the author of the “Memoirs of Locheill”—“Every parish had a tyrant, who made the greatest Lord in his district stoop to his authority. The kirk was the place where he kept his court; the pulpit his throne or tribunal from whence he issued out his terrible decrees; and twelve or fourteen sour ignorant enthusiasts, under the title of Elders, composed his council. If any, of what quality soever, had the assurance to disobey his orders, the dreadful sentence of excommunication was immediately thundered out against him, his goods and chattels confiscated and seized, and he himself being looked upon as actually in the possession of the devil, and irretrievably doomed to eternal perdition.”’ Introduction to The Kirk-Session Register of Perth, in The Spottiswoode Miscellany, vol. ii. pp. 229–230, Edinburgh, 1845. In regard to the perdition which the sentence of excommunication was supposed to involve, one of the most influential Scotch divines of that time merely expresses the prevailing notion, when he asserts, that whoever was excommunicated was thereby given up to Satan. ‘That he who is excommunicated may be truly said to be delivered to Sathan is undeniable.’ Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming, or the Divine Ordinance of Church Government Vindicated, 1646, 4to, p. 239. ‘Excommunication, which is a shutting out of a Church-member from the Church, whereby Sathan commeth to get dominion and power over him.’ Ibid. p. 297. ‘Sure I am an excommunicate person may truly be said to be delivered to Sathan.’ p. 424.

[435] Clarendon, under the year 1640, emphatically says (History of the Rebellion, p. 67), ‘The preacher reprehended the husband, governed the wife, chastised the children, and insulted over the servants, in the houses of the greatest men.’ The theory was, that ‘ministers and elders must be submitted unto us as fathers.’ Shields' Enquiry into Church Communion, 2nd edit., Edinburgh, 1747, p. 66. In the middle of the seventeenth century, one of the most famous of the Scotch preachers openly asserted the right of his profession to interfere in family matters, on the ground that such was the custom in the time of Joshua. ‘The Ministers of God's house have not only the ministry of holy things, as Word and Sacraments, committed to their charge, but also the power of ecclesiastical government to take order with scandalous offences within the familie; both these are here promised to Joshua and the Priests.’ Hutchison's Exposition of the Minor Prophets, vol. iii. p. 72, London, 1654. In 1603, the Presbytery of Aberdeen took upon themselves to order that every master of a house should keep a rod, that his family, including his servants, might be beaten if they used improper language. ‘It is concludit that thair salbe in ewerie houss a palmar.’ Selections from the Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen, printed for the Spalding Club, 4to, Aberdeen, 1846, p. 194. It also appears (p. 303) that, in 1674, the clergyman was expected to exercise supervision over all visitors to private houses; since he ought to be informed, ‘iff ther be anie persone receaved in the familie without testimoniall presented to the minister.’

[436] In 1650, it was ordered, ‘That everie paroche be divydit in severall quarteris, and each elder his owne quarter, over which he is to have speciall inspectioun, and that everie elder visit his quarter once everie month at least, according to the act of the Generall Assemblie, 1649, and in thair visitatioun tak notice of all disorderlie walkeris, especiallie neglectouris of God's worship in thair families, sueareris, haunteris of aill houses, especiallie at vnseasonable tymes, and long sitteris thair, and drinkeris of healthis; and that he dilate these to the Sessioun.’ Selections from the Minutes of the Synod of Fife, printed for the Abbotsford Club, Edinburgh, 1837, 4to, p. 168. ‘The elders each one in his own quarter, for trying the manners of the people.’ The Government and Order of the Church of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1690, p. 14. This scarce little volume is reprinted from the edition of 1641. See the advertisement at the beginning.

[437] In 1652, the Kirk-Session of Glasgow ‘brot boyes and servants before them, for breaking the Sabbath, and other faults. They had clandestine censors, and gave money to some for this end.’ Wodrow's Collections, vol. ii. part ii. p. 74, Glasgow, 1848, 4to.

[438] ‘It is thocht expedient that ane baillie with tua of the sessioun pas throw the towne everie Sabboth day, and nott sic as thay find absent fra the sermones ather afoir or efter none; and for that effect that thay pas and sersche sic houss as they think maist meit, and pas athort the streittis.’ Selections from the Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen, p. 26. ‘To pas throw the towne to caus the people resort to the hering of the sermones.’ p. 59. ‘Ganging throw the towne on the ordinar preiching dayes in the weik, als weill as on the Saboth day, to caus the people resort to the sermones.’ p. 77. See also p. 94; and Wodrow's Collections, vol. ii. part ii. p. 37: ‘the Session allous the searchers to go into houses and apprehend absents from the kirk.’

[439] ‘Another peculiarity was the supervision wielded over the movements of people to such a degree that they could neither obtain lodging nor employment except by a licence from the Kirk-Session, or, by defying this police court, expose themselves to fine and imprisonment.’ Lawson's Book of Perth, p. xxxvii. Edinburgh, 1847.

[440] In 1652, Sir Alexander Irvine indignantly writes, that the presbytery of Aberdeen, ‘when they had tried many wayes, bot in vaine, to mak probable this their vaine imaginatione, they, at lenthe, when all other meanes failed thame, by ane unparalelled barbaritie, enforced my serwandis to reweall upon oathe what they sawe, herd, or knewe done within my house, beyond which no Turkische inquisitione could pase.’ The Miscellany of the Spalding Club, vol. iii. p. 206, Aberdeen, 1846, 4to.

[441] In 1656, a servant was ordered to be brought before the Kirk-Session of Aberdeen ‘for her rayleing againest Mr. Andrew Cant, minister, in saying that becaus the said Mr. Andrew spak againest Yuill, he spak lyke ane old fool.’ Selections from the Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen, p. 138. In 1642, the Presbytery of Lanark had up a certain James Baillie, because he stated the extremely probable circumstance, ‘that two fooles mett togither, when the Minister and his sone mett togither.’ Selections from the Registers of the Presbytery of Lanark, printed for the Abbotsford Club, Edinburgh, 1839, 4to, p. 30.

[442] In 1644, ‘If you dissent from them in a theological tenet, it is heresy.’ Presbytery Displayed, 1644, p. 39, reprinted London, 1663, 4to. In 1637, ‘If ye depart from what I taught you in a hair-breadth for fear or favour of men, or desire of ease in this world, I take heaven and earth to witness, that ill shall come upon you in end.’ Rutherford's Religious Letters, p. 116. In 1607, ‘Mr. William Cowper, Minister, complained upon Robert Keir that he had disdainfully spoken of his doctrine. The (Kirk) Session ordained him to be warned to the morrow.’ Lawson's Book of Perth, p. 247.

[443] In 1619, a man was summoned before the Kirk-Session of Perth, because, among other things, he would not perform ‘that civil duty of salutation, as becomes him to his pastor;’ but ‘passed by him without using any kind of reverence.’ The Chronicle of Perth, Edinburgh, 1831, 4to, p. 80. The complaint was preferred by the minister himself. Indeed, the Scotch clergy took these things so much to heart, that they set up a theory to the effect that whoever showed them any disrespect, was prompted thereto by Satan. ‘It is Satan's great engine to draw men to contemne God and his word, under pretext of disrespect and prejudice against the Messengers only.’ … ‘It may let us see their guilt who despise most eminent ordinary Messengers.’ Hutcheson's Exposition of the Minor Prophets, vol. i. pp. 205, 233.

[444] The General Assembly of Saint Andrews, in 1642, passed ‘an act against using ministers' names in any of the public papers, without their own consent.’ Stevenson's History of the Church of Scotland, p. 503.

[445] ‘Directions for a believer's walk, given by Christ's ministers from his word, are his own, and are accounted by him as if he did immediately speak them himself.’ Durham's Exposition of the Song of Solomon, p. 102. I quote from the Glasgow reprint of 1788. That my references may be easily verified, and any error, if error there be, detected, I mention that the exact edition used will, in every case, be found specified in the List of Authors at the beginning of this work. But, if it will give the reader any additional confidence, I will venture to observe, that I am always scrupulously careful in reference to quotations, having looked out each passage afresh, as the sheets came from the printers hands. Some of the circumstances narrated in this chapter are so monstrous, that I hope to be excused in saying that I have taken all possible pains to secure their literal accuracy.

[446] ‘Yea, such was their arrogance, that, as if they had been privy to the councils of God, or the dispensers of his vengeance to the world, they presumed to pronounce upon their future state, and doomed them, both body and soul, to eternal torments.’ Wishart's Memoirs of the Marquis of Montrose, p. 237. ‘Ye heard of me the whole counsel of God. Rutherford's Religious Letters, p. 16. 'I am free from the blood of all men; for I have communicated to you the whole counsel of God.’ Ibid. p. 191. ‘This is the great business of Gospel Ministers, to declare the whole counsel of God.’ Halyburton's Great Concern of Salvation, p. 4. ‘Asserting that he had declared the whole counsel of God, and had keeped nothing back.’ Life of the Rev. A. Peden, p. 41, in vol. i. of Walker's Biographia Presbyteriana.

[447] ‘The power of the keys is given to the Ministers of the church, wherewith not only by the preaching of the word, but also to church censures (sic) they open and shut the kingdom of heaven.’ Dickson's Truth's Victory over Error, p. 282. ‘To preach the Word, impugne, rebuik, admonishe, exhort and correct, and that under no less paine then casting both bodie and soull into eternall hell's fire.’ Forbes' Certaine Records touching the Estate of the Kirk, p. 519. ‘The next words, “Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven,” being spoken to the Apostles, and in them to other Ministers of Jesus Christ.’ Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming, p. 366. ‘The keys of the kingdom of Heaven’ … ‘are committed and intrusted to the pastors and other ruling officers of the Church.’ Ibid. p. 260.

[448] ‘Gird up the loins of your mind, and make you ready for meeting the Lord; I have often summoned you, and now I summon you again, to compear before your Judge, to make a reckoning of your life.’ Rutherford's Religious Letters, p. 235. ‘Mr. Cameron, musing a little, said, “You, and all who do not know my God in mercy, shall know him in his judgments, which shall be sudden and surprising in a few days upon you; and I, as a sent servant of Jesus Christ, whose commission I bear, and whose badge I wear upon my breast, give you warning, and leave you to the justice of God.” Accordingly, in a few days after, the said Andrew, being in perfect health, took his breakfast plentifully, and before he rose fell a-vomiting, and vomited his heart's blood in the very vessel out of which he had taken his breakfast; and died in a most frightful manner.’ Howie's Biographia Scoticana, p. 406.

[449] ‘Sitting at supper with the Lord Ochiltree (who was uncle to Mr. Welsh's wife), as his manner was, he entertained the company with godly and edifying discourse, which was well received by all the company save only one debauched Popish young gentleman, who sometimes laughed, and sometimes mocked and made faces; whereupon Mr. Welsh brake out into a sad abrupt charge upon all the company to be silent, and observe the work of the Lord upon that profane mocker, which they should presently behold; upon which immediately the profane wretch sunk down and died beneath the table, but never returned to life again, to the great astonishment of all the company.’ History of Mr. John Welsh, Minister of the Gospel at Ayr, in Select Biographies, vol. i. p. 29. ‘Mr. Welsh being by the Captaine, set at the upper end, intertained the company with grave and edifying discourse which all delighted to hear, save this young Papist, who, with laughter and derision, laboured to silence him, which was little regarded by Mr. Welsh. But after supper, while the guests sate a little, this youth stood up at the lower end of the table, and while Mr. Welsh proceeded from grave to gracious entertainment of his company, the youth came to that height of insolence as with the finger to point at him and with the face to make flouting grimaces, whereby he grieved the holy man, so as on a suddain he was forced to a silence. The whole company, who had heard him with delight, were silent with him. Within a little, Mr. Welsh, as moved by the spirit of God, broke forth into these words: “Gentlemen, the spirit of God is provoked against us, and I shall intreat you not to be afraid to see what God shall do among you before you rise from the table, for he will smite some of you with death before you go hence.” All were silently astonished, waiting to see the issue with fear. And while every man feared himselfe, except the insolent youth, he fel down dead suddenly at the foot of the table to shew the power of God's jealousie against the mockers of his Spirit and the offers of his grace.’ Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture, pp. 374, 375.

[450] ‘When they sat doun to supper, it seems, knives were forgote; and when the servant was rebuked, Mr. Hogg said, there was noe matter, for he had one in his pocket, and it was a necessary companion for a travailer; and, as his use was upon evry thing, he took occasion to raise a spirituall discourse from it: “If we wer soe carefull about accommodations in our way here, what care should we take in our spirituall journey!” and the like; at which the factour takes a kink of laughing. Mr. Hogg looked at him with a frown, and went on in his discourse. Within a little, at somewhat or other, he laughed out yet louder, and Mr. Hogg stoped a litle, and looked him very stern in the face, and went on in his discourse, upon the free grace of God; and, at some expression or other, the man fell a laughing and flouting very loud: Upon which Mr. Hogg stoped, and directed his discourse to him, to this purpose: “Alace!” sayes he, “my soul is afflicted to say what I must say to you, sir, and I am constrained and pressed in spirit to say it, and cannot help it. Sir, you nou dispise the grace of God, and mock at it; but I tell you, in the name of the Lord, that the time is coming, and that very shortly, when you (will) seek ane offer of grace, but shall not find it!” Upon which the man arose, laughing and flouting, and went to his room. After he was away, the lady asked Mr. Hogg, What he thought would come upon him? He answered, he kneu noe more then he had said, and that he was constrained and oblidged to say it against his inclination; and he could not accompt for some of these impressions he sometimes felt, and after Providences would clear, and that shortly; but what it was, when, or where, he kneu not. The man told some of the servants that a phanatick Minister had been pronouncing a curse on him, but he did not value him nor it either. After Mr. Hogg had been somtime with the lady, he went to his room; and after he had, as he used to doe, spent some time in prayer, he putt off his cloaths, and just as he was stepping into his bedd, a servant comes and knocks at the dore and cryes, “For the Lord's sake, Mr. Hogg, come doun staires, presently, to the factour's room!” He put on his cloaths, as quickly as possible, and came doun, but the wretch was dead before he reached him!’ Analecta, or Materials for a History of Remarkable Providences, mostly relating to Scotch Ministers and Christians, by the Rev. Robert Wodrow, vol. i. pp. 265, 266. Compare The Life of Mr. Thomas Hog, in Howie's Biographia, p. 543, where a version is given, slightly different, but essentially the same.

[451] ‘He tells me, that when in the South country, he heard this story, which was not doubted about Geddart’ (i.e. Jedburgh): ‘Mr. Gabriel Semple had gote a habite, when speaking and preaching, of putting out his tongue, and licking his lipps very frequently. Ther was a fellou that used to ape him, in a way of mock; and one day, in a druken caball, he was aping him and putting out his tongue; and it turned stiffe and sensless, and he could not drau it in again, but in a feu dayes dyed. This accompt is soe odd, that I wish I may have it confirmed from other hands.’ Wodrow's Analecta, vol. ii. p. 187.

[452] ‘About the same time, wading Douglas-water very deep,’ (he) ‘came to a house there; the good wife of the house insisted (as most part of women do not keep a bridle-hand) in chiding of him; which made him to fret, and said, I wonder that your tongue is not sore with so much idle clatter. She said, I never had a sore tongue nor mouth all my days. He said, It will not be long so. Accordingly, her tongue and gooms swelled so, that she could get no meat taken for some days.’ Account of the Life and Death of Mr. Walter Smith, p. 93, in vol. ii. of Walker's Biographia Presbyteriana.

[453] ‘I hear from Lady Henriett Campbell, who was present at a Communion at Jeddart (Jedburgh), some years before Mr. Gabriel Semple's death, that, either on the fast day, or Saturnday, ther wer three gentlmen either in the parish or noturely knouen thereabout, who rose in the time of the last sermon, and with their servants went out of (the church), either to some fair or some race, not farr off. After sermon, when Mr. Semple rose to give the ordinary advertisments, he began with taking nottice of this, and said, he had remarked three gentlmen rise in time of sermon, and contemptuously and boldly leave God's service to goe to a fair, or race, as he supposed; but sayes, “It's born in upon me, and I am perswaded of it, the Lord will not suffer them to goe off time, without some remarkable judgment, and I am much mistaken if the most part that have seen them committ the sin, will not hear of the punishment of such open despite to the ordinances of Christ.” This peremptoryness did very much surprize Lady H(enriett), and coming home from sermon with my Lord Lothian and his Lady, in coach, she expressed her surprize at it. My Lord Lothian said, “The Minister is a man of God, and I am perswaded not one word of his will fall to the ground!” Within some feu moneths, my Lord or my Lady, writing to Lady H(enriett), signifyed to her, that one of these gentlmen was found in his room, (if I forgett not), with his throat cutt; and a second, being drunk, fell off his horse, and broke his neck; and some while after, shee heard the third had dyed some violent death.’ Wodrow's Analecta, vol. i. pp. 344, 345.