After Pentland affair, in the space of six weeks, Mr. Mitchel went abroad, in the trading way, to Flanders, and was for some time upon the borders of Germany, after which he, in the space of three quarters of a year, returned home (with some Dutchmen of Amsterdam), having a cargo of different sorts of goods, which took some time up before he got them all sold off.

Mr. Mitchel, being now excluded from all mercy or favour from the government, and having not yet laid down arms, and taking the arch-bishop of St. Andrews to be the main instigator of all the oppression and bloodshed of his faithful brethren, took up a resolution anno 1668, to dispatch him, and for that purpose, upon the 11th of July, he waited the bishop's coming down in the afternoon to his coach, at the head of black friar's wynd in Edinburgh, and with him was Honeyman bishop of Orkney.——When the arch-bishop had entered, and taken his seat in the coach, Mr. Mitchel stepped straight to the north side of the coach, and discharged a pistol (loaded with three balls) in at the door thereof; that moment Honeyman set his foot in the boot of the coach, and reaching up his hand to step in, received the shot designed for Sharp in the wrist of his hand, and the primate escaped. Upon this, Mr. Mitchel crossed the street with much composure, till he came to Niddry's wynd-head, where a man offered to stop him, to whom he presented a pistol, upon which he let him go; he stepped down the wynd, and up Steven Law's closs, went into a house, changed his cloaths, and came straight to the street, as being the place where, indeed, he would be least suspected. The cry arose, that a man was killed; upon which some replied, It was only a bishop, and all was very soon calmed. Upon Monday the 13, the council issued out a proclamation offering a reward of five thousand merks to any that would discover the actor, and pardon to accessories; but nothing more at that time ensued.

The managers, and those of the prelatical persuasion, made a mighty noise and handle of this against the presbyterians, whereas this deed was his only, without the knowledge or pre-concert of any, as he himself in a letter declares; yea, with a design to bespatter the Presbyterian church of Scotland, a most scurrilous pamphlet was published at London, not only reflecting on our excellent reformers from popery, publishing arrant lies anent Mr. Alexander Henderson, abusing Mr. David Dickson, and breaking jests upon the remonstrators and presbyterians (as they called them), but also, in a most malicious and groundless kind of rhapsody, slandering Mr. Mitchel.

After this Mr. Mitchel shifted the best way he could, until the beginning of the year 1674.; he was discovered by Sir William Sharp, the bishop's brother, and ere ever Mr. Mitchel was aware, he caused a certain number of his servants (armed for that purpose) lay hold on him, and apprehend and commit him to prison; and on the 10th of February was examined by the lord chancellor, lord register and lord Halton; he denied the assassination of the arch-bishop, but being taken apart by the chancellor, he confessed (that it was he who shot the bishop of Orkney while aiming at the arch-bishop), upon assurance of his life, given by the chancellor in these words, "Upon my great oath and reputation, if I be chancellor, I shall save your life." On the 12th he was examined before the council, and said nothing but what he had said before the committee. He was remitted to the justice-court to receive his indictment and sentence, which was, To have his right hand struck off at the cross of Edinburgh, and his goods forfeited; which last part was not to be executed, till his majesty had got notice; because, says lord Halton, in a letter to earl Kincardine, assurance of life was given him upon his confession.

However, he was, on the second of March, brought before the lords judiciary, and indicted for being concerned at Pentland, and for the attempt on the arch-bishop of St Andrews; but he pleaded not guilty, and insisted that the things alledged against him should be proved: The lords postponed the affair till the 25th; meanwhile, the council made an act March 12, specifying that Mr. James Mitchel confessed his firing the pistol at the arch-bishop of St. Andrews, upon assurance given him of life by one of the committee, who had a warrant from the lord commissioner and secret council to give the same, and therefore did freely confess, &c. In the said act it was declared, That, on account of his refusing to adhere to his confession, the promises made to him were void, and that the lords of justiciary and jury ought to proceed against him, without any regard to these. About the 25, he was brought before the justiciary; but as there was no proof against him, they with consent of the advocate protracted the affair, and he was again remanded to prison.

Thus he continued until Jan. 6th, 1676, that he was ordered to be examined before the council by torture, concerning his being in the rebellion (as they formed it) in the year 1666. Accordingly he was brought before them upon the 18th, about six o'clock at night;—Linlithgow, being preses, told him, He was brought before them to see whether he would adhere to his former confession.—He answered, "My lord, it is not unknown to your lordship, and others here present, that, by the council's order, I was remitted to the lords of justiciary, before whom I received an indictment at my lord advocate's instance, &c. to which indictment I answered at three several diets, and at the last diet, being deserted by my lord advocate, I humbly conceive, that, both by the law of the nation, and the practice of this court, I ought to have been set at liberty; yet notwithstanding, I was, contrary to law, equity and justice, returned to prison; And upon what account I am this night before you, I am ignorant." The preses told him, He was only called to see if he would own his former confession.—He replied, "He knew no crime he was guilty of, and therefore made no such confession as he alledged." Upon this, the treasurer depute said, The pannel was one of the most arrogant liars and rogues he had known.—Mr. Mitchel replied, "My lord, if there were fewer of these persons, you have been speaking of, in the nation, I should not be standing this night at the bar; but my lord advocate knoweth, that what is alledged against me is not my confession." The preses said, Sir, we will cause a sharper thing make you confess.—He answered, "My lord, I hope you are Christians and not pagans." Then he was returned to prison.

On the 22d, he was again called before them, to see if he would own his former confession, and a paper produced, alledged to be subscribed by him; but he would not acknowledge the same. The preses said, You see what is upon the table (meaning the boots), I will see if that will make you do it. Mr. Mitchel answered, "My lord, I confess, that, by torture, you may cause me to blaspheme God, as Saul did compel the saints; you may compel me to speak amiss of your lordships; to call myself a thief, a murderer, &c. and then pannel me on it: But if you shall here put me to it, I protest before God and your lordships, that nothing extorted from me by torture, shall be made use of against me in judgment, nor have any force in law against me, or any other person. But to be plain with you, my lords, I am so much of a Christian, that whatever your lordships shall legally prove against me, if it be truth, I shall not deny it;—but, on the contrary, I am so much of a man, and a Scotsman, that I never held myself obliged, by the law of God, nature and nations, to be my own accuser." The treasurer-depute said, He had the devil's logic, and sophisticated like him: ask him whether that be his subscription. Mr. Mitchel replied, I acknowledge no such thing; and he was sent back to prison.

Upon the 24th, they assembled in their robes in the inner parliament house, and the boots and executioner were presented. Mr. Mitchel was again interrogated, as above, but still persisting, he was ordered to the torture. And he, knowing that, after the manner of the Spanish inquisition, the more he confessed, either concerning himself or others, the more severe the torture would be, to make him confess the more, delivered himself in this manner:—"My lord, I have been now these two full years in prison, and more than one of them in bolts and fetters, which hath been more intolerable to me than many deaths, if I had been capable thereof; and it is well known, that some in a shorter time have been tempted to make away with themselves; but respect and obedience to the express law and command of God hath made me to undergo all these hardships, and I hope this torture with patience also, viz. that for the preservation of my own life and the life of others, as far as lies in my power; and to keep innocent blood off your lordships persons and families, which, by shedding of mine, you would doubtless bring upon yourselves and posterity, and wrath from the Lord to the consuming thereof, till there should be no escaping; and now again I protest, &c. as above: When you please, call for the man appointed for the work." The executioner being called, he was tied in a two armed chair, and the boot brought; the executioner asked which of the legs he should take; the lords bade him take any of them; the executioner laying the left in the boot, Mr. Mitchel, lifting it out again, said, "Since the judges have not determined, take the best of the two, for I freely bestow it in the cause;" and so laid his right leg into the engine. After which the advocate asked leave to speak but one word, but notwithstanding, insisted at a great length; to which Mr. Mitchel answered, "The advocate's word or two hath multiplied to so many, that my memory cannot serve, in the condition wherein I am (the torture being begun) to resume them in particular; but I shall essay to answer the scope of his discourse; whereas he hath been speaking of the sovereignty of the magistrate, I shall go somewhat further than he hath done, and own that the magistrate whom God hath appointed, is God's depute; both the throne and the judgment are the Lord's, when he judgeth for God and according to his law; and a part of his office is to deliver the poor oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor, and shed no innocent blood, Jerem. xxii. 3, &c. And whereas the advocate hath been hinting at the sinfulness of lying on any account; it is answered, that not only lying is sinful, but also a pernicious speaking of the truth, is a horrid sin before the Lord, when it tendeth to the shedding of innocent blood; witness the case of Doeg, Psalm lii. compared with 2 Sam. xxii. 9. But what my lord advocate hath forged against me is false, so that I am standing upon my former ground, viz. the preservation of my own life, and the life of others, as far as lies in my power, the which I am expressly commanded by the Lord of hosts."

Then the clerk's servant, being called, interrogated him in the torture, in upwards of thirty questions, which were all in write, of which the following are of the most importance.

Are you that Mr. James Mitchel who was excepted out of the king's grace and favour?

A. I never committed any crime deserving to be excluded.

Q. Were you at Pentland?

A. No.

Q. Were you at Ayr, and did you join with the rebels there?

A. I never joined with any such.

Q. Where was you at the time of Pentland?

A. In Edinburgh.

Q. When did you know of their rising in arms?

A. When the rest of the city knew of it.

Q. Where did you meet with James Wallace?

A. I knew him not at that time.

Q. Did you go out of town with captain Arnot?

A. No.

The other questions were anent his going abroad, &c. He perceived that they intended to catch him in a contradiction, or to find any who would witness against him.—At the beginning of the torture he said, "My lords, not knowing that I shall escape this torture with my life, therefore, I beseech you to remember what Solomon saith, He who sheweth no mercy, shall have judgment without mercy, &c.—And now, my lords, I do freely, from my heart, forgive you, who are sitting judges upon the bench, and the men who are appointed to be about this horrible piece of work, and also those who are vitiating their eyes in beholding the same; and I intreat that God may never lay it to the charge of any of you, as I beg God may be pleased for Christ's sake to blot out my sins and iniquities, and never to lay them to my charge here nor hereafter."

All this being over, the executioner took down his leg from a chest whereon it was lying all the time in the boot, and set both on the ground; and thrusting in the shelves to drive the wedges, began his strokes; at every one of which, enquiring if he had any more to say, or would say any more; Mr. Mitchel answered no; and they continued to nine strokes upon the head of the wedges; at length he fainted, through the extremity of pain at which the executioner cried, Alas! my lords, he is gone! then they stopped the torture and went off; and in a little time, when recovered, he was carried, in the same chair, to the tolbooth.

It is indeed true that Mr. Mitchel made a confession, upon the promise of his life; but the managers, having revoked their promise, because he would not adhere to his confession before the justiciary, (being advised by some friends not to trust too much to that promise) and be his own accuser. "The reader must determine (says a very impartial historian[155]) how far he was to blame now, in not owning his confession judicially, as they had judicially revoked the condition upon which the confession was made, and to put a man to torture for finding out things, for which they had not the least proof, seems to be unprecedented and cruel, and to bring him to a farther trial appears to be unjust." For as another author has well observed, "That when a confession or promise is made upon a condition, and that condition is judicially rescinded, the obligation of the promise or confession is taken away, and both parties are statu quo, Josh. ii. 14, &c. That, in many cases it is lawful to conceal and obscure a necessary duty, and divert enemies from a pursuit of it for a time. 1 Sam. xvi. 1, 2. xx. 5, 6. Jer. xxxviii. 24, &c. That when an open enemy perverts and overturns the very nature and matter of a discourse or confession, by leaving out the most material truths, and putting in untruths and circumstances in their room, it no longer is the former discourse or confession, &c. That when a person is brought before a limited judicatory, &c. before whom nothing was ever confessed or proven, the person may justly stand to his defence, and put his enemies to bring in proof against him, &c."

After this Mr. Mitchel continued in prison till the beginning of next year, when he and Mr. Frazer of Brae were with a party of twelve horse and thirty foot, sent to the Bass, where he remained till about the 6th of Dec. when he was again brought to Edinburgh, in order for his trial and execution; which came on upon the 7th of Jan. 1678. On the third of the month Sir George Lockhart and Mr. John Ellis were appointed to plead for the pannel; but Sharp would have his life, and Lauderdale gave way to it. Sir Archibald Primrose, lately turned out of the register's place, took a copy of the council's act anent Mr. Mitchel, and sent it to this council; and a day or two before the trial, went to Lauderdale, who, together with lord Rothes, lord Halton and Sharp, was summoned: The prisoner's witness, Primrose, told Lauderdale, That he thought a promise of life had been given——The latter denied it——The former wished that that act of the council might be looked into——Lauderdale said, He would not give himself the trouble to look over the book of council.

When his trial came on, the great proof was, his confession, Feb. 16. 1674.; many and long were the reasons upon the points of the indictment. Sir George Lockhart[156] argued in behalf of the prisoner with great learning, to the admiration of the audience, That no extra-judicial confession could be allowed in court, and that his confession was extorted from him by hopes and promises of life. The debates were so tedious that the court adjourned to the 9th of January; the replies and duplies are too tedious to be inserted here: The reader will find them at large elsewhere.[157]

The witnesses being examined, lord Rothes (being shewn Mr. Mitchel's confession) swore that he was present, and saw him subscribe that paper, and heard him make that confession, but that he did not at all give any assurance to the prisoner for his life; nor did he remember that there was any warrant given by the council to his lordship for that effect, &c. Halton and Lauderdale swore much to the same purpose; but the arch-bishop swore, that he knew him, at the very first sight at the bar, to be the person who shot at him, &c. But that he either gave him assurance or a warrant to any to give it, was a false and malicious calumny. That his grace gave no promise to Nichol Somerville, other than that it was his interest to make a free confession. This Nichol Somerville, Mr. Mitchel's brother-in-law, offered, in court, to depone, That the arch-bishop promised to him to secure his life, if he would prevail with him to confess. The arch-bishop denied this, and called it a villainous lie. Several other depositions were taken; such as Sir William Paterson, Mr. John Vanse, and the bishop of Galloway, who all swore in Sharp's favour, it being dangerous for them, at this juncture, to do otherwise.

After the witnesses were examined, the advocate declared he had closed the probation; whereupon Mr Mitchel produced a copy of an act of council March 12th, 1674, praying that the register might be produced, or the clerk obliged to give extracts; but this they refused to do.——"Lockhart (says Burnet[158]) pleaded for this, but Lauderdale, who was only a witness, and had no right to speak, refused, and so it was neglected."

The assize was inclosed, and ordered to return their verdict to-morrow afternoon, which being done, the sentence was pronounced, "That the said Mr. James Mitchel should be taken to the grass-market of Edinburgh, upon Friday the 18th of Jan. instant, betwixt two and four o'clock, in the afternoon, and there to be hanged on a gibbet till he be dead, and all his moveables, goods and gear escheat, and in-brought to his majesty's use, &c." No sooner did the court break up, than the lords, being upstairs found the act recorded, and signed by lord Rothes the president of the council. 'This action' says the last-cited historian, 'and all concerned in it, were looked on by all the people with horror, and it was such a complication of treachery, perjury and cruelty, as the like had not perhaps been known.'

Two days after the sentence, orders came from court, for placing Mr. Mitchel's head and hands on some public place of the city; but the sentence being passed, no alteration could be made; and if Sharp had any hand in this, he missed his end and design. About the same time, his wife petitioned the council, that her husband might be reprieved for some time, that she might be in case to see and take her last farewel of him, especially as it was not above twelve days since she was delivered of a child, and presently affected with a fever; but no regard was paid to this: The sentence must be executed[159].

While he was in prison, he emitted a most faithful and large testimony[160]. In the first place, testifying against all profanity. Then he gives the cause of his suffering, in the words of Elijah, 1 Kings xix. 14. I have been very zealous for the Lord of hosts, &c. He adheres to the covenanted work of reformation and the covenant; approves of lex rex, the causes of God's wrath, apologetical relation, Naphtali, jus populi, &c. Afterwards he speaks of magistracy in these words, "I believe magistracy to be an ordinance and appointment of God, as well under the new Testament as it was under the old; and that whosoever resisteth the lawful magistrate in the exercise of his lawful power, resisteth the ordinance and appointment of God, Rom. xiii. 1. &c. 1 Pet. ii. 13. Deut. xvii. 15, &c. The lawful magistrate must he a man qualified according to God's appointment, and not according to the people's lust and pleasure, lest in the end he should prove to them a prince of Sodom and governor of Gomorrah, whom God, in his righteousness, should appoint for their judgment, and establish for their correction, &c." Then he comes to be most explicit in testifying against the givers and receivers of the indulgence, as an incroachment on Christ's crown and prerogative royal, &c.; protests before God, angels and men, against all acts made anywise derogative to the work of God and reformation; likewise protests against all banishments, imprisoning, finings and confinements that the people of God had been put to these years by-past; describing the woful state and condition of malignants, and all the enemies of Jesus Christ. And in the last place speaks very fervently anent his own sufferings, state and condition, which he begins to express in these words, "Now if the Lord, in his wise and over-ruling providence, bring me to the close of my pilgrimage, to the full enjoyment of my long-looked for and desired happiness, let him take his own way and time in bringing me to it. And in the mean time, O thou my soul I sing thou this song, Spring thou up, O well of thy happiness and salvation, of thy eternal hope and consolation; and whilst thou art burdened with this clogg of clay and tabernacle, dig thou deep in it by faith, hope and charity, and with all the instruments that God hath given thee; dig in it by precepts and promises; dig carefully, and dig continually; ay and until thou come to the source and head of the Fountain himself, from whence the water of life floweth: Dig until thou come to the assembly of the first-born, where this song is most suitably sung, to the praise and glory of the rich grace and mercy of the Fountain of life, &c." And a little farther, when speaking of his mortification to the world, and other sweet experiences, he says, "And although, O Lord, thou shouldst send me in the back track and tenor of my life, to seek my soul's comfort and encouragement from them, yet I have no cause to complain of hard dealing from thy hand, seeing it is thy ordinary way with some of thy people, Psalm xlii. 6. O God, my soul is cast down in me, from the land of Jordan and the hill Hermon, &c. Yea, though last, he brought me to the banquetting house, and made love his banner over me, among the cold highland hills beside Kippen Nov. 1673. He remembered his former loving kindness towards me; but withal he spoke in mine ear, that there was a tempestuous storm to meet me in the face, which I behoved to go through, in the strength of that provision, 1 Kings xix. 7." Then, after the reciting of several scriptures, as comforting to him in his sufferings, he comes at last to conclude with these words, "And seeing I have not preferred nor sought after mine own things, but thy honour and glory, the good liberty and safety of thy church and people; although it be now misconstructed by many, yet I hope that thou, Lord, wilt make thy light to break forth as the morning, and my righteousness as the noon-day and that shame and darkness shall cover all who are enemies to my righteous cause: For thou, O Lord, art the shield of my head, and sword of my excellency; and mine enemies shall be found liars, and shall be subdued. Amen, yea and Amen.

Sic subscribitur, JAMES MITCHEL."

Accordingly, upon the 18th of Jan. he was taken to the grass-market of Edinburgh, and the sentence put in execution. In the morning he delivered some copies of what he had to say, if permitted, at his death; but not having liberty to deliver this part of his vindicatory speech to the people, he threw it over the scaffold, the substance of which was as follows.

"Christian people,

"It being rumoured abroad, immediately after I received my sentence, that I would not have liberty to speak in this place, I have not troubled myself to prepare any formal discourse, on account of the pretended crime for which I am accused and sentenced; neither did I think it very necessary, the same of the process having gone so much abroad, what by a former indictment given me near four years ago, the diet of which was suffered to desert, in respect the late advocate could not find a just way to reach me with the extra-judicial confession they opponed to me; all knew he was zealous in it, yet my charity to him is such, that he would not suffer that unwarrantable zeal so far to blind him, as to overstretch the laws of the land beyond their due limits, in prejudice of the life of a native subject; next by an extreme inquiry of torture, and then by exiling me to the bass; and then, after all by giving me a new indictment at the instance of the new advocate, who, before, was one of mine, when I received the first indictment; to which new indictment and debate in the process, I refer you; and particularly to these two defences of an extra-judicial confession, and the promise of life given to me by the chancellor, upon his own and the public faith of the kingdom; upon the verity thereof I am content to die, and ready to lay down my life, and hope your charity to me a dying man will be such as not to mistrust me therein; especially since it is notoriously adminiculate by an act of secret council, and yet denied upon oath by the principal officers of state present in council at the making of said act, and whom the act bears to have been present: the duke of Lauderdale, being then his majesty's commissioner, was likewise present;——and which act of council was, by the lords of justiciary, most unjustly repelled, &c. Thus much for a short account of the affair for which I am unjustly brought to this place; but I acknowledge my private and particular sins have been such as have deserved a worse death to me; but I hope in the merits of Jesus Christ to be freed from the eternal punishment due to me for sin. I am confident that God doth not plead with me in this place, for my private and particular sins, but I am brought here that the work of God may be made manifest, and for the trial of faith, John ix. 3, 1 Pet. i. 7. That I might be a witness for his despised truths and interest in this land, where I am called to seal the same with my blood; and I wish heartily that this my poor life may put an end to the persecution of the true members of Christ in this place, so much actuated by these perfidious prelates, in opposition to whom, and testimony to the cause of Christ, I at this time lay down my life, and bless God that he hath thought me so much worthy as to do the same, for his glory and interest. Finally, Concerning a christian duty, in a singular and extraordinary case, and anent my particular judgment, concerning both church and state, it is evidently declared and manifested elsewhere. Farewell all earthly enjoyments, and welcome Father, Son and Holy Ghost, into whose hands I commit my spirit.

JAMES MITCHEL."

Here we have heard the end of the zealous and faithful Mr. James Mitchel, who, beyond all doubt, was a most pious man, notwithstanding all the foul aspersions that have been, or will be cast upon him (not only by malignant prelates, but even by the high fliers, or more corrupted part of the presbyterian persuasion) namely, on account of his firing at bishop Sharp; which, they think, is enough to explode, affront or bespatter all the faithful contendings of the true reformed and covenanted church of Scotland. But in this Mr. Mitchel stands in need of little or no vindication; for by this time the reader may perceive, that he looked upon himself as in a state of war, and that, as Sharp was doubtless one of the chief instigators of the tyranny, bloodshed and oppression in that dismal period, he therefore, no doubt, thought he had a right to take every opportunity of cutting him off, especially as all the ways of common justice were blocked up; yet all this opens no door for every private person, at their own hand, to execute justice on an open offender, where there is access to a lawful magistrate appointed for that end. Yea what he himself saith anent this affair, in a letter dated Feb. 1674. may be sufficient to stop the mouths of all that have or may oppose the same, a few words of which may be subjoined to this narrative; where, after he has resumed what passed betwixt him and the chancellor, he says, that as to his design against Sharp, "He looked up him to be the main instigator of all the oppression and bloodshed of his brethren, that followed thereupon, and of the continual pursuing of his life; and he being a soldier, not having laid down arms, but being still upon his own defence, and having no other end or quarrel at any man but what (according to his apprehension of him) may be understood by the many thousands of the faithful, besides the prosecution of the ends of the same covenant, which was and is in that point, the overthrow of prelates and prelacy, and he being a declared enemy to him on that account, and he to him in like manner; and as he was always to take his advantage, as it appeared, so he took of him any opportunity that offered——For," says he, "I, by his instigation, being excluded from all grace and favour, thought it my duty to pursue him at all occasions, &c." And a little farther he instances in Deut. xiii. 19. where the seducer or inticer to a false worship is to be put to death, and that by the hand of the witness, whereof he was one; takes notice of Phinehas, Elijah, &c.; and then observes, that the bishops would say, what they did was by law and authority, but what he did was contrary to both; but he answers, The king himself and all the estates of the land, &c. both were and are obliged by the oath of God upon them, to extirpate the perjured prelates and prelacy, and, in doing thereof, to have defended one another with their lives and fortunes, &c.



The Life of Mr. JOHN WELWOOD.

Mr. John Welwood, born about the year 1649, was son to Mr. James Welwood, sometime minister at Tindergirth (and brother to Mr. Andrew Welwood and James Welwood doctor of medicine at London). After he had gone through the ordinary courses of learning he entered on the ministry, and afterwards preached in many places, but we do not hear that he was ever settled minister in any parish, it being then a time when all who intended any honesty or faithfulness in testifying against the sins and defections of the times, were thrust out of the church and prosecuted with the greatest extremity. It is said, that he preached some five or six sermons in the parish where his father was minister, which were blessed with more discernible effects of good amongst that people than all the diligent painfulness his father had exercised in the time he was minister of that parish.

And besides his singular piety and faithfulness in preaching, he was a most fervent presser to all the duties of the christian life, particularly to the setting up and keeping of fellowship and society meetings, for prayer and christian conference, which he often frequented himself. One time, among several others, at the new house in Livingston parish, after the night was far spent, he said, Let one pray, and be short that we may win to our apartments before it be light; it was the turn of one who exceeded many in gifts.——But before he ended it was day-light within the house. After prayer he said, James, James, your gifts have the start of your graces: And to the rest he said, Be advised, all of you, not to follow him in all times and in all things, otherwise there will be many ins and many outs in your tract and walk.

Anno 1677, there was an Erastian meeting of the actually indulged and non-indulged, procured by the indulged and their favourites, in order to get unity made and kept up (but rather in reality a conspiracy without any truth, unity or veracity among these backsliders and false prophets).—Mr. Welwood, worthy Mr. Cameron, and another minister were called before this meeting, in order to have them deposed, and their licence taken from them, for their faithfulness in preaching up separation from the actually indulged. But they declined their authority, as being no lawful judicatory of Jesus Christ, whilst thus made up of those who were actually indulged. Some of them went to Mr. Hog, who was then in town, though not at this meeting, for his advice anent them. To whom he said, His name is Welwood, but if ye take that unhappy course to depose them, he will perhaps turn out their Torwood at last.

Mr. Welwood was a man of a lean and tender body. He always slept, ate and drank but little, as being one still under a deep exercise, the state and case of his soul laying a great concern upon his spirit, about the defections and tyranny of that day, especially concerning the indulged, and so many pleading in their favour. But, being of a sickly constitution before, he turned more melancholy and tender. Much[161] about this time, he was informed against to the managers at Edinburgh, that having intruded upon the kirk of Tarboltoun, in the shire of Ayr; the council appointed Glencairn and lord Ross to see that he be turned out and apprehended; but there is nothing further can be learned anent this order.

One Sabbath when he was going to preach, and the tent set up for him, the laird on whose ground it was, caused lift it, and set it on another laird's ground. But when Mr. Welwood saw it, he said, in a short time that laird shall not have one furr of land. Some quarrelled him for saying so (this laird being then a great professor). He said, Let alone a little and he will turn out in his own colours. Shortly after this, he fell out in adultery, and became most miserable and contemptible, being, as was said, one of York's four pound papists.

In the beginning of the year 1679, he said to William Nicolson a Fife-shire man, Ye shall have a brave summer of the gospel this year, and for your further encouragement an old man or woman for very age may yet live to see the bishops down, and yet the church not delivered, but ere all be done we will get a few faithful ministers in Scotland to hear; but keep still amongst the faithful poor mourning remnant that is for God, for there is a cloud coming on the church of Scotland, the like of which was never heard; for the most part will turn to defection.——But I see, on the other side of it, the church's delivery, with ministers and christians, that you would be ashamed to open a mouth before them.

Among his last public days of preaching, he preached at Boulterhall in Fife, upon that text, Not many noble, &c. Here he wished that all the Lord's people, whom he had placed in stations of distinction, there and everywhere would express their thankfulness that the words not many were not not any, and that the whole of them were not excluded. In the end of that sermon he said, (pointing to St. Andrews) "If that unhappy prelate Sharp die the death of all men, God never spoke by me." The bishop had a servant, who, upon liberty from his master on Saturday's night, went to visit his brother, who was a servant to a gentleman near Boulterhall (the bishop ordering him to be home on Sabbath night). He went with the laird, and his brother that day. Mr. Welwood noticed him with the bishop's livery on, and when sermon was ended, he desired him to stand up, for he had somewhat to say to him. "I desire you, said he, before all these witnesses when thou goest home, to tell thy master, that his treachery, tyranny and wicked life are near an end, and his death shall be both sudden, surprising, and bloody; and as he hath thirsted after and shed the blood of the saints, he shall not go to his grave in peace, &c." The youth went home, and at supper the bishop asked him, If he had been at a conventicle? He said, He was. He asked, What his text was, and what he said? The man told him several things, and particularly the above message from Mr. Welwood. The bishop made sport of it. But his wife said, I advise you to take more notice of that, for I hear that these men's words are not vain words.

Shortly after this he went to Perth, and there lodged in the house of one John Barclay. His bodily weakness increasing, he was laid aside from serving his Master in public; and lingered under a consumptive distemper until the beginning of April 1679, when he died. During the time of his sickness, while he was able to speak, he laid himself out to do good to souls. None but such as were looked upon to be friends to the persecuted cause knew that he was in town; and his practice was, to call them in, one family after another, at different times; and discourse to them about their spiritual state. His conversation was both convincing, edifying and confirming. Many came to visit him, and among the rest one Aiton, younger of Inchdarny in Fife, (a pious youth about eighteen years of age) and giving Mr. Welwood an account of the great tyranny and wickedness of prelate Sharp, Mr. Welwood said, "You will shortly be quit of him, and he will get a sudden and sharp off-going, and ye will be the first that will take the good news of his death to heaven." Which literally came to pass the May following.

About the same time he said to another who came to visit him, "that many of the Lord's people should be in arms that summer for the defence of the gospel; but he was fully persuaded that they would work no deliverance; and that, after the fall of that party, the public standard of the gospel should fall for some time, so that there would not be a true faithful minister in Scotland, excepting two, unto whom they could resort, to hear or converse with, anent the state of the church; and they would also seal the testimony with their blood; and that after this there should be a dreadful defection and apostacy; but God would pour out his wrath upon the enemies of his church and people, wherein many of the Lord's people, who had made defection from his way should fall among the rest in this common calamity; but this stroke, he thought, would not be long, and upon the back thereof there would be the most glorious deliverance and reformation that ever was in Britain, wherein the church should never be troubled any more with prelacy."

When drawing near his end, in conversation with some friends, he used frequently to communicate his own exercise and experience, with the assurance he had obtained of his interest in Christ, he said, "I have no more doubt of my interest in Christ, than if I were in heaven already." And at another time he said, "Although I have been for some weeks without sensible comforting presence, yet I have not the least doubt of my interest in Christ. I have oftentimes endeavoured to pick a hole in my interest, but cannot get it done." That morning ere he died, when he observed the light of the day, he said, "Now eternal light, and no more night and darkness to me."—And that night he exchanged a weakly body, a wicked world, and a weary life, for an immortal crown of glory, in that heavenly inheritance which is prepared and reserved for such as him.

The night after his exit his corpse was removed from John Barclay's house into a private room, belonging to one Janet Hutton (till his friends might consult about his funeral) that so he might not be put to trouble for concealing him. It was quickly spread abroad that an intercommuned preacher was dead in town, upon which the magistrates ordered a messenger to go and arrest the corpse. They lay there that night, and the next day a considerable number of his friends in Fife, in good order, came to town in order to his burial, but the magistrates would not suffer him to be interred at Perth, but ordered the town militia to be raised, and imprisoned John Bryce, box-master or treasurer to the guildry, for returning to give out the militia's arms. However the magistrates gave his friends leave to carry his corpse out of town, and bury them without their precincts, where they pleased. But any of the town's people, who were observed to accompany the funeral were imprisoned. After they were gone out of town, his friends sent two men before them to Drone, four miles from Perth, to prepare a grave in that church-yard. The men went to Mr. Pitcairn, the minister there (one of the old resolutioners), and desired the keys of the church-yard that they might dig a grave for the corpse of Mr. Welwood, but he refused to give them. They went over the church-yard-dyke and digged a grave, and there the corpse was interred.

There appears to be only one of his sermons in print (said to be preached in Bogles-hole in Clydesdale), upon 1 Peter iv. 18. And if the righteous scarcely be saved, &c.—

There are also some of his religious letters, written to his godly friends and acquaintances, yet extant in manuscript. But we are not to expect to meet with any thing considerable of the writings of Mr. John Welwood[162], or the succeeding worthies; and no wonder, seeing that in such a broken state of the church, they were still upon their watch, haunted and hurried from place to place, without the least time or conveniency for writing; yea, and oftentimes what little fragments they had collected, fell into the hand of false friends and enemies, and were by them either destroyed or lost.



The Life of WILLIAM GORDON of Earlstoun.

William Gordon of Earlstoun was born about the year——. He was son to that famous reformer Alexander Gordon of Earlstoun, and was lineally descended of that famous Alexander Gordon who entertained the followers of John Wickliffe, and who had a new testament of the vulgar tongue which they used to read in their meetings at the wood near Airds beside Earlstoun. William Gordon, having thus the advantage of a very religious education, began very early to follow Christ. As early as the year 1637, Mr. Rutherford in a letter admonishes him thus: "Sir, lay the foundation thus and ye shall not soon shrink nor be shaken: make tight work at the bottom, and your ship shall ride against all storms; if withal your anchor be fastened on good ground, I mean, within the vail, &c.[163]" And indeed by the blessing of God, he began very early to distinguish himself for piety and religion with a firm attachment to the presbyterian interest and a covenanted work of reformation; in which he continued stedfast and unmoveable until he lost his life in the honourable cause.

What hand he had in the public affairs during Cromwel's usurpation, I cannot so well say: we must suppose him upon the remonstrators' side. But the first public testimony he gave after the restoration of Charles II. recorded in history, was, about the year 1663, when some commissioners were appointed by the council to go south and inquire anent some opposition that was then made by the people to the settlement of curates at Kirkendbright and Irongray: and the said commissioners, knowing this worthy gentleman's firmness to the presbyterian principles, and being designed either to make him comply in settling an episcopal incumbent in the parish of Dalry in Galloway (where, by the once established laws, he had some right in presenting) or, if he refused to concur with the bishop, which they had all reason imaginable to suspect he would, to bring him to further trouble. Accordingly they wrote him a letter in the following tenor:—"Finding the church of Dalry to be one of those that the bishop hath presented, an actual minister Mr. George Henry fit and qualified for the charge, and that the gentleman is to come to your parish this Sabbath next to preach to that people, and that you are a person of special interest there,—we do require you to cause his edict to be served, and the congregation to conveen and countenance him so as to be encouraged to prosecute his ministry in that place."—Your loving friends and servants,

LINLITHGOW, GALLOWAY, ANNANDALE, DRUMLANERK.

To this letter Earlstoun give them a very respectful return, shewing, upon solid reasons, why he could not comply with this their unjust demand, as the following excerpt from that letter evidences:—"I ever judged it safest to obey God, and stand at a distance from whatsoever doth not tend to God's glory and the edification of the souls of his scattered people, of which that congregation is a part. And besides, my Lords, it is known to many, that I pretend to lay claim to the light of patronage of that parish, and have already determined therein with the consent of the people to a truly worthy and qualified person, that he may be admitted to exercise his gifts amongst that people; and for me to countenance the bearer of your Lordship's letter, were to procure me most impiously and dishonourably to wrong the majesty of God and violently to take away the Christian liberty of his afflicted people and enervate my own right, &c."[164]

This was, without question, what the managers wanted, and so his trouble began: for, on the 30th of July following, "the lords of council order letters to be directed, to charge William Gordon of Earlstoun to compear before them—to answer for his seditious and factious carriage:" that was, his refusing to comply with prelacy, and hear the curates, and for his favouring and hearing the outed ministers. And further, Nov. 24th, same year, "The council being informed, that the laird of Earlstoun kept conventicles and private meetings in his house,—do order letters to be directed against him to compear before this council to answer for his contempt, under the pain of rebellion." But all this no-ways dashed the courage of this confessor of Christ in adhering to his persecuted and despised gospel; which made these malignant enemies yet pass a more severe and rigorous act against him; in which it was exhibited that he had been at several conventicles (as they were pleased to call the preachings of the gospel) where Mr. Gabriel Semple, a deposed minister, did preach in the Corsack wood and wood of Airds; and heard texts of scripture explained both in his mother's and in his own house by outed ministers; "—and being required to enact himself to abstain from all such meetings in time coming, and to live peaceably and orderly, conform to law," he refused to do the same: They did, therefore, order the said William Gordon of Earlstoun to be banished, and to depart forth of the kingdom within a month, and not to return under pain of death, and that he live peaceably during that time, under, the penalty of 10,000 l. or otherwise, to enter his person in prison.

Here it would appear, that he did not obey this sentence. And although we have little or no particular account of his sufferings, yet we are assured he endured a series of hardships.—In the year 1667, he was turned out of his house and all; and the said house made a garrison for Bannantine that wicked wretch and his party; after which, almost every year produced him new troubles, until the 22d or 23rd of January, 1679, that he emerged out of all his troubles, and arrived at the haven of rest, and obtained his glorious reward in the following manner—

Having some affairs to settle (perhaps on a view never to return) he could not join that suffering handful who were then in arms near Bothwel: he sent his son who was in the action. He himself hastening forward as soon as possible to their assistance, and not knowing of their disaster, was met near the place by a party of English dragoons who were in quest of the sufferers, and, like another valiant champion of Christ, he refused to surrender or comply with their demand, and so they killed him straight out upon the spot[165]; his son being out of the way, and his friends not obtaining that his body should be urned amongst the bones of his ancestors; he was interred in the church-yard of Glassford: and though a pillar or monument was erected over his grave, yet no inscription was got inscribed because of the severity of these times.

Thus fell a renowned Gordon, one whose character at present I am in no capacity to describe: only, I may venture to say, that he was a gentleman of good parts and endowments; a man devoted unto religion and godliness; and a prime supporter of the Presbyterian interest in that part of the country wherein he lived.—The Gordons have all along made no small figure in our Scottish history;—but here was a patriot, a good Christian, a confessor and (I may add) a martyr of Jesus Christ.



The Lives of Messrs. JOHN KID and JOHN KING.

Messrs. John Kid and John King suffered many hardships during the persecuting period, namely, from the year 1670, to the time of their martyrdom 1679. Mr. King was sometime chaplain to lord Cardross; and it appears, he was apprehended and imprisoned in the year 1674. but got out on a bond and surety for 5000 merks, to appear when called. Next year he was again, by a party of the persecutors, apprehended in the said lord Cardross's, but was immediately rescued from their hands by some country people, who had profited much by his ministry. After this, he was taken a third time by bloody Claverhouse near Hamilton, with about 17 others, and brought to Evandale, where they were all rescued by their suffering brethren at Drumclog. After which he and Mr. Kid were of great service, and preached often among the honest party of our sufferers, till their defeat at Bothwel, where Mr. Kid, among other prisoners, was taken and brought to Edinburgh. It would appear that Mr. King was apprehended also at the same time in or west from Glasgow[166]. For a party of English dragoons being there, and one of them on horseback called for some ale, and drank to the confusion of the covenants. Another of his comrades asking him at the stable-green port, where he was going, he answered, To carry King to hell. But this poor wretch had not gone far whistling and singing, till his carbine accidentally went off, and killed him on the spot. God shall shoot at them with an arrow, suddenly shall they be wounded, Psal. lxiv. 7.

Mr. King was taken to Edinburgh, where both he and Mr. Kid were before the council, July 9th. Mr. King confessed, when examined, That he was with those who rose at that time, &c. Mr. Kid confessed, he had preached in the fields, but never where there were men in arms, except in two places. They signed their confession, which was afterwards produced in evidence against them before the justiciary. On the 12th Mr. Kid was again examined before the council, and put to the torture. It seems he was more than once in the boots, where he behaved with much meekness and patience. Mr. King was examined on the 16th before the justiciary, and Mr. Kid on the day following. On the 22d, they received their indictments. Their trial came on upon the 28th. They were again before the justiciary, where, upon their former petition on the 24th, advocates were allowed to plead for them[167], but no exculpation was allowed them. When their indictments were read, the advocate produced their confessions before the council, as proof against them; and accordingly they were brought in guilty and condemned to be hanged at the market cross of Edinburgh on Thursday the 14th of Aug. and their heads and right arms to be cut off, and disposed of at the council's pleasure.

Accordingly, the same day the king's act of indemnity was published in the forenoon, and, to grace the solemnity, the two noble martyrs (who were denied a share therein) were in the afternoon brought forth to their execution. It was related by one there present, that, as they approached the place, walking together hand in hand, Mr. Kid, looking about to Mr. King with a cheerful countenance, said, "I have often heard and read of a kid sacrificed, but I seldom or never heard of a king made a sacrifice." Upon the scaffold they appeared with a great deal of courage and serenity of mind, (as was usual with the martyrs in these times), and died in much peace and joy; even a joy that none of their persecutors could intermeddle with. Their heads were cut off on another scaffold prepared for the purpose.

Thus ended these two worthy ministers and martyrs of Jesus Christ, after they had owned their allegiance to Zion's king and Lord, and given a faithful testimony against popery, prelacy, Erastianism, &c. and for the covenanted work of reformation in its different parts and periods. The reader will find their dying testimonies in Naphtali and the western martyrology, page 146. &c. A few of their sermons I had occasion lately to publish.



The Life of Mr. JOHN BROWN.

Mr. Brown was ordained minister at Wamphray in Annandale. There is no certain account how long he was minister there, only it was some time before the restoration of Charles II. as appears from his great faithfulness in opposing prelacy, which was then about to be intruded upon the church; insomuch that, for his fortitude and freedom with some of his neighbouring ministers for their compliance with the prelates, contrary to the promise they had given him, he was turned out of that place.

Upon the 6th of Nov. 1662, he was brought before the council. Whether by letters to converse with the managers, or by a citation, it is not certain. But the same day, the council's act against him runs thus:

"Mr. John Brown of Wamphray, being conveened before the council, for abusing and reproaching some ministers for keeping the diocesan synod with the arch-bishop of Glasgow, calling them perjured knaves and villains, did acknowledge that he called them false knaves for so doing, because they had promised the contrary to him. The council ordain him to be secured close prisoner in the tolbooth till further orders."

He remained in prison till Dec. 11, when, after Mr. Livingston and others had received their sentence, the council came to this conclusion anent him, "Upon a petition presented by Mr. John Brown minister of Wamphray now prisoner in Edinburgh, shewing, that he had been kept close prisoner these five weeks by-past, and seeing that, by want of free air and other necessaries for maintaining his crazy body, he is in hazard to lose his life, therefore, humbly desiring warrant to be put at liberty, upon caution to enter his person when he should be commanded, as the petition bears; which being at length he heard and considered, the lords of council ordain the king's supplicant to be put at liberty, forth of the tolbooth, his first obliging himself to remove and depart off the king's dominions, and not to return, without licence from his majesty and council, under pain of death."

Great were the hardships he underwent in prison, for (says a historian) he was denied even the necessaries of life; and though, because of the ill treatment he met with, he was brought almost to the gates of death, yet he could not have the benefit of the free air until he signed a bond obliging himself to a voluntary banishment, and that without any just cause.[168]

But, upon the 23d of the same month, on presenting a petition to the council to prorogue the time of his removal from the kingdom, in regard he was not able to provide himself with necessaries, and the weather so unseasonable that he could not have the opportunity of a ship, &c. as the petition bears; which being read and considered, "They grant him two months longer after the 11th of Dec. by-past; in the mean time he being peaceable, acting nothing in prejudice of the present government, &c."—And next year he went over to Holland (then the asylum of the banished) where he lived many years, but never, that we heard of, saw his own native country any more.

How he employed himself mostly in Holland we are at a loss to say; his many elaborate pieces, both practical, argumentative and historical, witness that he was not idle; which were either mostly wrote there, or published from thence; and particularly those concerning the indulgences-paying, &c. sent for the support and strengthening of his persecuted brethren in the church of Scotland, unto whom he and Mr. M'Ward contributed all in their power, that they might be kept straight (while labouring in the furnace of affliction) under a scene of sore oppression and bloody tyranny. But hither did the malice of their enemies yet pursue them. For the king, by the infliction of prelate Sharp, anno 1676, wrote to the states-general to remove them from their province. And although the states neither did nor could reasonably grant this demand, seeing they had got the full stress of laws in Scotland many years before, yet it appears that they were obliged to wander further from the land of their nativity.

Some time before his death, he was admitted minister of the Scots congregation at Rotterdam; where he, with great prudence and diligence, exercised that function; it being always his study and care to gain many souls to Christ. For as he was faithful in declaring the whole counsel of God to his people, in warning them against the evils of the time, so he was likewise a great textuary, close in handling any truth he discoursed upon, and in the application most home, warm and searching, shewing himself a most skilful casuist. His sermons were not so plain, but the learned might admire them; nor so learned, but the plain understood them. His fellow-soldier and companion[169] in tribulation gives him this testimony, "That the whole of his sermons, without the intermixture of any other matter, had a specialty of pure gospel tincture, breathing nothing but faith in Christ, and communion with him, &c."

The ordination of faithful Mr. Richard Cameron seems to have been the last of his public employments; and his last but excellent discourse (before his exile from this world, which appears to have been about the end of the year 1679) was from Jer. ii. 35. Behold I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned, &c. And having finished his course with joy, he died in the Lord. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.

No doubt Mr. Brown was a man famous in his day, both for learning, faithfulness, warm zeal and true piety. He was a notable writer, a choice and pathetical preacher; in controversy he was acute, masculine and strong, in history plain and comprehensive, in divinity substantial and divine; the first he discovers in his work printed in Latin against the Sodinians, and his treatise de causa Dei contra anti-sabbatanios, which the learned world know better than can be here described. There is also a large manuscript history intitled, Apologia pro ecclesia, &c. anno Domini 1660, consisting of 1600 pages in 4to, which he gave in to Charles Gordon, sometime minister at Dalmony, to be by him presented to the first free general assembly of the church of Scotland, and was by him exhibited to the general assembly anno 1692; of this history the apologetical relation seems to be an abridgment. His letters and other papers, particularly the history of the indulgence, written and sent home to his native country, manifest his great and fervent zeal for the cause of Christ. And his other practical pieces, such as that on justification, on the Romans, Quakerism the way to Paganism; the hope of glory; and Christ the way, the truth and the life; the first and second part of his life of faith, and Enoch's testament opened up, &c.; all which evidence his solid piety, and real acquaintance with God and godliness.



The Life of HENRY HALL of Haugh-head.

Mr. Hall of Haugh-head (in the parish of Eckford in Teviotdale), having had a religious education, began very early to mind a life of holiness, in all manner of godly conversation. In his younger years he was a most zealous opposer of the public resolutions (that took place anno 1651) insomuch, that when the minister of that parish complied with that course, he refused to hear him, and often went to Ancrum to hear Mr. John Livingston. After the restoration of that wicked tyrant Charles II. being oppressed with the malicious persecutions of the curates and other malignants, for his non-conformity, he was obliged to depart his native country, and go over to the border of England anno 1665, where he was very much renowned for his singular zeal in propagating the gospel, by instructing the ignorant, and procuring ministers to preach now and then among that people, who before his coming were very rude and barbarous, but now many of them became famous for piety. Anno 1666, he was taken prisoner on his way coming to Pentland, to the assistance of his covenanted brethren, and imprisoned with some others in Cesford castle. But, by divine providence, he soon escaped thence, through the favour of his friend the earl of Roxburgh, (who was a blood-relation of his), unto whom the castle then pertained. He retired again to Northumberland, where, from this time until the year 1679, he lived, being very much beloved, of all that knew him, for his care and concern in propagating the gospel of Christ in that country, insomuch that his blameless and shining conversation drew love, reverence and esteem even from his very enemies. About the year 1678, the heat of the persecution in Scotland obliged many to wander about in Northumberland, as one colonel Struthers was violently pursuing all Scotsmen in those places. Haugh-head was in that scuffle near Crookham, a village upon the English border, where one of his nearest intimates, that gallant and religious gentleman Thomas Ker of Hayhop, fell. Upon which he was obliged to return again to Scotland, where he wandered up and down in the hottest time of the persecution, mostly with Mr. Donald Cargil and Mr. Richard Cameron. During which time, beside his many other Christian virtues, he signalized himself by a real zeal, in defence of the persecuted gospel in the fields. He was one of these four elders of the church of Scotland, who at the council of war at Shawhead-muir June 18. 1769, were chosen, with Messrs Cargil, Douglas, King and Barclay, to draw up the causes of the Lord's wrath against the land, which were to be the causes of a fast on the day following. He had, indeed, an active hand in the most part of the transactions among the covenanters at that time; as being one of the commanding officers in that army, from the skirmish at Drumclog, to their defeat at Bothwel-bridge.

After this, being forfeited, and diligently searched for and pursued after, to eschew the violent hands of these his indefatigable persecutors, he was forced to go over to Holland (the only refuge then of our Scots sufferers). But he had not stayed there long, until his zeal for the persecuted interest of Christ, and his tender sympathy for the afflicted remnant of his covenanted brethren, who were then wandering in Scotland, through the desolate caves and dens of the earth, drew him home again; choosing rather to undergo the utmost efforts of persecuting fury, than to live at ease in the time of Joseph's affliction, making Moses's generous choice, rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy what momentary pleasures the ease of the world could afford. Nor was he very much concerned with the riches of this world; for he stood not to give his ground[170] to hold field preachings on, when few or none else would do it; for he was still a true lover of the free and faithful preached gospel, and was always against the indulgence.

About a quarter of a year after his return from Holland, he was mostly with Mr. Cargil, lurking as privily as they could about Borrowstoness and other places on this and the other side the frith of Forth. At last they were taken notice of by these two bloody hounds, the curates of Borrowstoness and Carridden, who soon smelled out Mr. Cargil and his companion, and presently sent information to Middleton, governor of Blackness castle (who was a papist). After consultation, he immediately took the scent after them, ordering his soldiers to follow him at a distance, by twos and threes together, at convenient intervals, to avoid suspicion, while he and his man rode up after them at some distance, till they came to Queensferry; where perceiving the house where they alighted, he sent his servant off in haste for his men, putting up his horse in another house, and coming to the house to them as a stranger, pretended a great deal of kindness and civility to Mr. Cargil and him, desiring that they might have a glass of wine together.—When each had taken a glass, and were in some friendly conference, the governor, wearying that his men came not up, threw off the mask, and laid hands on them, saying, they were his prisoners, and commanded the people of the house, in the king's name to assist. But they all refused, except one Thomas George a waiter; by whose assistance he got the gate shut. In the mean while Haugh-head, being a bold and brisk man, struggled hard with the governor, until Cargil got off; and after the scuffle, as he was going off himself, having got clear of the governor, Thomas George struck him on the head, with a carbine, and wounded him mortally. However he got out; and, by this time the women of the town, who were assembled at the gate to the rescue of the prisoners, convoyed him out of town. He walked some time on foot, but unable to speak much, save only some little reflection upon a woman who interposed, hindering him to kill the governor, that so he might have made his escape more timeously. At last he fainted, and was carried to a country house near Echlin; and although chirurgeons were speedily brought, yet he never recovered the use of his speech any more. Dalziel, living near-by, was soon advertised, and came quickly with a party of the guards, and seized him; and although every one saw the gentleman just a-dying, yet such was his inhumanity, that he must carry him to Edinburgh. But he died, on their hands, on the way thither; and made an end of this his earthly pilgrimage to receive his heavenly crown. His corpse was carried to the Cannongate tolbooth, where they lay three days without burial; and then his friends conveened for that end, to do their last office to him; yet that could not be granted. At last they caused bury him clandestinely in the night; for such was the fury of these limbs of antichrist, that after they had slain the witnesses, they would not suffer them to be decently interred in the earth; which is another lasting evidence of the cruelty of those times.

Thus the worthy gentleman, after he had in an eminent manner, served his day and generation, fell a victim to prelatic fury. Upon him was found, when he was taken, a rude draught of an unsubscribed paper, afterwards called the Queensferry paper; which the reader will find, inserted at large, in Wodrow's history, vol. II. Appendix, No. 46; the substance of which is contained in Crookshank's history, and in the appendix to the cloud of witnesses.



The Life of Mr. RICHARD CAMERON.

Mr. Richard Cameron was born in Falkland, in shire of Fyfe (his father being a merchant there). He was of the episcopal persuasion at first; for, after he had passed his course of learning, he was some time schoolmaster and precentor to the curate of Falkland. He sometimes attended the sermons of the indulged, as he had opportunity; but at last it pleased the Lord to incline him to go out to hear the persecuted gospel in the fields; which when the curates understood, they set upon him, partly by flattery and partly by threats, and at last by more direct persecution to make him forbear attending these meetings. But such was the wonderful working of the Lord by his powerful Spirit upon him, that having got a lively discovery of the sin and hazard of prelacy, he deserted the curates altogether, and no sooner was he enlightened anent the evil of prelacy, but he began more narrowly to search into the state of things, that he might know what was his proper and necessary duty. The Lord was pleased to discover to him the sinfulness of the indulgence, as flowing from the ecclesiastical supremacy usurped by the king; and, being zealously affected for the honour of Christ, wronged by that Erastian acknowledgment of the magistrate's usurped power over the church, he longed for an opportunity to give a testimony against it. This made him leave Falkland, and go to Sir Walter Scot of Harden, who attended the indulged meetings. Here he took the opportunity (notwithstanding of many strong temptations to the contrary) to witness in his station, against the indulgence. Particularly on Sabbath when called to attend the lady to church, he returned from the entry, refusing to go that day; and spent it in his chamber, where he met with much of the Lord's presence (as he himself afterwards testified) and got very evident discoveries of the nature of these temptations and suggestions of Satan, which were like to prevail with him before; and upon Monday, giving a reason unto the said Sir William and his lady why he went not to church with them, he took occasion to be plain and express in testifying against the indulgence, in the original rise, spring, and complex nature thereof. After which, finding his service would be no longer acceptable to them, he went to the south, where he met with the reverend Mr. John Welch. He stayed some time in his company, who, finding him a man every way qualified for the ministry, pressed him to accept a licence to preach; which he for sometime refused, chiefly upon the account that having such clear discoveries of the sinfulness of the indulgence, he could not but testify against it explicitly, so soon as he should have opportunity to preach the gospel in public, &c.——But the force of his objections being answered by Mr. Welch's serious solicitations, he was prevailed on to accept of a licence from the outed ministers, who were then preaching in the fields, and had not then complied with the indulgence. Accordingly he was licenced by Mr. Welch and Mr. Semple at Haugh-head in Teviotdale, at the house of Henry Hall. Here he told them, He would be a bone of contention among them; for if he preached against a national sin among them it should be against the indulgences, and for separation from the indulged.

After he was licenced, they sent him at first to preach in Annandale. He said, How could he go there.——He knew not what sort of people they were. But Mr. Welch said, Go your way, Richie, and set the fire of hell to their tail. He went, and, the first day, he preached upon that text, How shall I put thee among the children, &c. In the application he said, Put you amongst the children! the offspring of robbers and thieves. Many have heard of Annandale thieves. Some of them got a merciful cast that day, and told it afterwards, That it was the first field-meeting that ever they attended; and that they went out of curiosity, to see how a minister could preach in a tent, and people sit on the ground. After this, he preached several times with Mr. Welch, Mr. Semple and others, until 1679, that he and Mr. Welwood were called before that Erastian meeting at Edinburgh, in order to be deposed for their freedom and faithfulness in preaching against the sinful compliance of that time.

After this he preached at Maybole, where many thousands of people were assembled together, it being the first time that the[171]sacrament of the Lord's supper was then dispensed in the open fields. At this time he used yet more freedom in testifying against the sinfulness of the indulgences, for which he was also called before another meeting of the indulged at Dinugh in Galloway; and a little after that, he was again called before a presbytery of them, at Sundewal in Dunscore in Nithsdale: And this was the third time they had designed to take his licence from him. Here it was where Robert Gray a Northumberland man (who suffered afterwards in the Grass-market in 1682.), Robert Neilson and others protested against them for such a conduct. At this meeting they prevailed with him to give his promise, That for some short time he should forbear such an explicit way of preaching against the indulgence, and separation from them who were indulged:——Which promise lay heavy on him afterwards, as will appear in its own proper place.

After the giving of this promise, finding himself by virtue thereof bound up from declaring the whole counsel of God, he turned a little melancholy; and, to get the definite time of that unhappy promise exhausted, in the end of the year 1678, he went over to Holland (not knowing what work the Lord had for him there,); where he conversed with Mr. M'Ward and others of our banished worthies. In his private conversation and exercise in families, but especially in his public sermon in the Scots kirk of Rotterdam, he was most refreshing unto many souls, where he was most close upon conversion work from that text, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, &c.; and most satisfying and agreeable to Mr. M'Ward, Mr. Brown and others, who were sadly misinformed by the indulged, and those of their persuasion, that he could preach nothing but babble against the indulgence, cess-paying, &c. But here he touched upon none of these things, except in prayer, when lamenting over the deplorable case of Scotland by defection and tyranny.

About this time Mr. M'Ward said to him, "Richard, the public standard is now fallen in Scotland, and, if, I know any thing of the mind of the Lord, you are called to undergo your trials before us; and go home, and lift the fallen standard, and display it publicly before the world; but before ye put your hand to it, ye shall go to as many of the field-ministers (for so they were yet called) as ye can find, and give them your hearty invitation to go with you; and if they will not go, go alone, and the Lord will go with you."

Accordingly he was ordained by Mr. M'Ward, Mr. Brown and Roleman, a famous Dutch divine. When their hands were lift up from his head, Mr. M'Ward continued his on his head, and cried out, "Behold, all ye beholders, here is the head of a faithful minister and servant of Jesus Christ, who shall lose the same for his Master's interest, and shall be set up before sun and moon, in the view of the world."

In the beginning of the year 1680, he returned home to Scotland, where he spent some time in going from minister to minister, of those who formerly kept up the public standard of the gospel in the fields; but all in vain, for the persecution being then so hot after Bothwel, against all such who had not accepted the indulgence and indemnity, none of them would adventure upon that hazard, except Mr. Donald Cargil and Mr. Thomas Douglas who came together, and kept a public fast-day in Darmeid-muir, betwixt Clydesdale and Lothian; one of the chief causes of which was the reception of the duke of York (that sworn vassal of antichrist) unto Scotland, after he had been excluded from England and several other places. After several meetings among themselves, for forming a declaration and testimony, which they were about to publish to the world, at last they agreed upon one, which they published at the market-cross of Sanquhar, June 22d, 1680. from which place it is commonly called the Sanquhar declaration. After this they were obliged, for some time, to separate one from another, and go to different corners of the land: And that not only upon the account of the urgent call and necessity of the people, who were then in a most starving condition, with respect to the free and faithful preached gospel, but also on account of the indefatigable scrutiny of the enemy, who, for their better encouragement, had, by proclamation, 5000 merks offered for apprehending Mr. Cameron, 3000 for Mr. Cargil and Mr. Douglas, and 100 for each of the rest, who were concerned in the publication of the foresaid declaration.

After parting, Mr. Cameron went to Swine-know in New-Monkland, where he had a most confirming and comforting day upon that soul-refreshing text, Isa. xxxi. 2. And a man shall be a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, &c. In his preface that day, he said, He was fully assured that the Lord, in mercy unto this church and nation, would sweep the throne of Britain of that unhappy race of the name of Stuart, for their treachery, tyranny and lechery, but especially their usurping the royal prerogatives of Christ, and this he was as sure of as his hands were upon that cloth, yea and more sure, for he had that by sense, but the other by faith.

Mr. H. E.[172] who suffered much by imprisonment and otherways in this period, and though otherways a worthy good man, yet was so misled that having one time premeditated a sermon, wherein he intended to speak somewhat against Mr. Cameron and Mr. Cargil, (so far was he from taking part with them): But on the Saturday's night he heard an audible voice which said twice unto him, audi, he answered, audio, I hear: the voice spoke again, and said, "Beware of calling Cameron's words, vain." This stopt him from his intended purpose. This he told himself afterwards unto an old reverend minister, who afterwards related the matter as above said.

When he came to preach in and about Cumnock, he was much opposed by the lairds of Logan and Horseclugh, who represented him as a Jesuit, and a vile naughty person. But yet some of the Lord's people, who had retained their former faithfulness, gave him a call to preach in that parish. When he began, he exhorted the people to mind that they were in the sight and presence of a holy God, and that all of them were hastening to an endless estate of either well or woe. One Andrew Dalziel, a debauchee (a cocker or fowler), who was in the house, it being a stormy day, cried out, "Sir, we neither know you nor your God." 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 surprizing 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. This admonishing passage, together with the power and presence of the Lord going along with the gospel dispensed by him, during the little time he was there, made the foresaid two lairds desire a conference with him, which he readily assented to. After which they were obliged to acknowledge, that they had been in the wrong to him, and desired his forgiveness. He said, From his heart he forgave them what wrongs they had done to him, but for what wrongs they had done to the interest of Christ, it was not his part, but he was persuaded that they would be remarkably punished for it. And to the laird of Logan he said, That he should be written childless; and Horseclugh, That he should suffer by burning. Both of which came afterwards to pass.

Upon the fourth of July following (being 18 days before his death), he preached at the Grass-water-side near Cumnock. In his preface that day, he said, "There are three or four things I have to tell you this day, which I must not omit, because I will be but a breakfast or four-hours to the enemy, some day or other shortly; and then my work and my time will be finished both. And the first is this, As for king Charles II. who is now upon the throne of Britain, after him there shall not be a crowned king of the name of Stuart in Scotland[173]. 2dly, There shall not be an old covenanter's head above ground that swore these covenants with uplifted hands, ere ye get a right reformation set up in Scotland. 3dly, A man shall ride a day's journey in the shires of Galloway, Ayr, and Clydesdale, and not see a reeking house nor hear a cock crow, ere ye get a right reformation, and several other shires shall be little better. And 4thly, The rod that the Lord will make instrumental in this, will be the French and other foreigners, together with a party in this land joining them: but ye that stand to the testimony in that day, be not discouraged at the fewness of your number, for when Christ comes to raise up his own work in Scotland, he will not want men enough to work for him, &c."

In the week following, he preached in the parish of Carluke, upon these words Isa. xl. 24. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty? &c. And the Sabbath following, at Hind-Bottom near Crawford-John, he preached on these words, You will not come to me that you may have life. In the time of which sermon he fell a-weeping, and the greater part of the multitude also, so that few dry cheeks were to be seen among them. After this, unto the death of his death, he mostly kept his chamber door shut until night; for the mistress of the house where he stayed, having been several times at the door, got no access. At last she forced it up, and found him very melancholy. She earnestly desired to know how it was with him. He said, That weary promise I gave to these ministers has lain heavy upon me, and for which my carcase shall dung the wilderness, and that ere it be long. Being now near his end, he had such a large earnest of the Spirit, which made him have such a longing desire for full possession of the heavenly inheritance, that he seldom prayed in a family, asked a blessing or gave thanks, but he requested patience to wait until the Lord's appointed time came.

His last-sabbath[174] he preached (with Mr. Cargil in Clydesdale) on Psal. xlvi. 10. Be still and know that I am God, &c. That day he said, He was sure that the Lord would lift up a standard against Antichrist, that would go to the gates of Rome and burn it with fire, and that blood should be their sign, and no quarter their word; and earnestly wished that it might begin in Scotland. At their parting, they concluded to meet the second Sabbath after this at Craigmead.—But he was killed on the Thursday thereafter. And the Sabbath following, Mr. Cargil preached in the parish of the Shots upon that text, Know ye not that there is a great man and prince fallen this day in Israel?

The last night of his life, he was in the house of William Mitchel in Meadow-head, at the water of Ayr, where about 23 horse and 40 foot had continued with him that week. That morning a woman gave him water to wash his face and hands; and having washed and dried them with a towel, he looked to his hands, and laid them on his face, saying, This is their last washing, I have need to make them clean, for there are many to see them. At this the woman's mother wept. He said, Weep not for me, but for yourself and yours, and for the sins of a sinful land, for ye have many melancholy, sorrowful and weary days before you.

The people who remained with him were in some hesitation, whether they should abide together for their own defence, or disperse and shift for themselves. But that day, being the 22d of July, they were surprised by Bruce of Earls-hall; who, having got command of Airely's troop and Strahan's dragoons (upon notice given him by Sir John Cochran of Ochiltree[175]) came furiously upon them about four o'clock in the afternoon, when lying on the east end of Airs-moss. When they saw the enemy approaching, and no possibility of escaping, they all gathered round about him, while he prayed a short word; wherein he repeated this expression thrice over, Lord, spare the green and take the ripe. When ended, he said to his brother with great intrepidity, Come, let us fight it out to the last; for this is the day that I have longed for, and the day that I have prayed for, to die fighting against our Lord's avowed enemies: this is the day that we will get the crown.—And to the rest he said, Be encouraged all of you to fight it out valiantly, for all of you that shall fall this day, I see heaven's gates open to receive you.

But the enemy approaching, they immediately drew up eight horse with him on the right, the rest, with valiant Hackston, on the left, and the foot in the middle; where they all behaved with much bravery until overpowered by a superior number. At last Hackston was taken prisoner (as will afterwards be more fully narrated) and Mr. Cameron was killed on the spot, and his head and hands cut off by one Murray, and taken to Edinburgh. His father being in prison for the same cause, they carried them to him (to add grief unto his former sorrow), and inquired at him, if he knew them. He took his son's hands and head, which were very fair, being a man of a fair complexion with his own hair, and kissed them, and said, "I know, I know them; they are my son's, my own dear son's; it is the Lord, good is the will of the Lord, who cannot wrong me nor mine, but has made goodness and mercy to follow us all our days." After which, by order of the council, his head was fixed upon the Nether-bow port, and his hands beside it, with the fingers upward.

Thus this valiant soldier and minister of Jesus Christ came to his end, after he had been not only highly instrumental in turning many souls unto God, but also in lifting up a faithful standard for his royal Lord and Master, against all his enemies, and the defections and sinful compliances of that time. One of his and Christ's declared enemies, when he took out his head at Edinburgh, gave him this testimony, saying, "There the head and hands of a man who lived praying and preaching, and died praying and fighting." And wherever the faithful contendings of the once famous covenanted church of Scotland are honourably made mention of, this, to his honour, shall be recorded of him.

When he was slain, there was found upon him a short paper, or bond of mutual defence, which the reader will find inserted in Wodrow's history, and in the appendix to the cloud of witnesses. There are also some few of his letters now published with Mr. Renwick's collection of letters, but the only sermon of his that appeared in print formerly, is that preached at Carluke, intitled, Good news to Scotland, published anno 1733. He wrote also in defence of the Sanquhar declaration, but we can give no account of it ever being published. Some more of his sermons were lately published.

An ACROSTIC on his Name.

Most noble Cameron of renown, A fame of thee shall ne'er go down; Since truth with zeal thou didst pursue, To Zion's king loyal and true. Ev'n when the dragon spil'd his flood, Resist thou didst unto the blood:

Ran swiftly in thy Christian race, In faith and patience to that place Christ did prepare to such as thee, He knew would not his standard flee. A pattern of valour and zeal, Rather to suffer than to fail; Didst shew thyself with might and main,

Counting that dross others thought gain; A faithful witness 'gainst all those, Men of all sorts did truth oppose; Even thou with Moses didst esteem Reproaches for the God of heaven: On him alone thou didst rely, Not sparing for his cause to die.



The Life of DAVID HACKSTON of Rathillet.

David Hackston of Rathillet, in the shire of Fife, is said in his younger years to have been without the least sense of any thing religious, until 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, and became such a true convert, that after a most mature deliberation upon the controverted points of the principles of religion in that period, he at last embarked himself in that noble cause (for which he afterward suffered), with a full resolution to stand and fall with the despised persecuted people, cause and interest of Jesus Christ.

There is no account of any public appearance that this worthy gentleman made, amongst that party, until the 3d of May 1679, that we find him, with other eight gentlemen, who were in quest of one Carmichael, who, by means of the arch-bishop, had got commission to harrass and persecute all he could find (in the shire of Fife) for non-conformity; but not finding him, when they were ready to drop the search, they providentially met with their arch-enemy himself. Whenever they descried his coach, one of them said, It seems that the Lord hath delivered him into our hand; and proposed that they should choose one for their leader, whose orders the rest were to obey. Upon which they chose David Hackston for their commander; but he absolutely refused, upon account of a difference subsisting betwixt Sharp and him in a civil process, wherein he judged himself to have been wronged by the primate; which deed he thought would give the world ground to think, it was rather out of personal pique and revenge, which he professed he was free of. They then chose another, and came up with the coach; and having got the bishop out, and given him some wounds, he fell on the ground. They ordered him to pray, but, instead of that, seeing Rathillet at some distance, (having never alighted from his horse), he crept towards him on his hands and his feet, and said, Sir, I know you are a gentleman, you will protect me.—To which he answered, I shall never lay a hand on you. At last he was killed; after which every one judged of the action as their inclinations moved them. However, the deed was wholly charged upon him (and his brother-in-law, Balfour of Kinloch) although he had no active hand in this action.

About the latter end of the same month of May, that he might not be found wanting to the Lord's cause, interest and people, upon any emergent or occasion, he, with some friends from Fife, joined that suffering handful of the covenanters at Evandale, where, after he and Mr. Hamilton, &c. had drawn up that declaration (afterward called the Rutherglen declaration), he and Mr. Douglas went to the market cross of Rutherglen, and upon the anniversary day the 29 of May, where they extinguished the bonefire, and published the said testimony. They returned back to Evandale, where they were attacked by Claverhouse, upon the first of June near Drumclog. Here Mr. Hackston was appointed one of the commanding officers (under Mr. Hamilton who commanded in chief), where he behaved with much valour and gallantry during that skirmish.—After which he was a very useful instrument among that faithful remnant (as witness his repeated protests against the corrupt and Erastian party), and had an active hand in the most part of the public transactions among them, until that fatal day the 22d of June, where he and his troop of horse were the last upon the field of battle at Bothwel-bridge[176].

But, this worthy and religious gentleman, being now declared a rebel to the king (though no rebel to Zion's king), and a proclamation issued out, wherein was a reward offered of 10,000 merks to any who could inform of or apprehend him, or any of those concerned in the death of the arch-bishop of St. Andrews. Upon this and the proclamation after Bothwel, he was obliged to retire out of the way for about a year's space. In which time he did not neglect to attend the gospel in the fields, where-ever he could have it faithfully dispensed. But this pious gentleman, having run fast and done much in a little time, it could not be expected he should continue long, and upon the 22d of July 1680, having been with that little party a few days, who attended Mr. Richard Cameron at Airs-moss, they were surprized by Bruce of Earls-hall, Airly's troop and Strahan's dragoons.

Here, being commander in chief of that little band, and seeing the enemy approaching fast, he rode off to seek some strength of ground for their better advantage, and the rest followed; but seeing they could go no further, they turned back, and drew up quickly. Eight horse on the right, and fifteen on the left; and the foot who were but ill armed in the middle. He then asked, If they were all willing to fight? They all answered, They were. Both armies advanced, and a strong party of the enemies horse coming hard upon them, their horse fired, killed and wounded severals of them, both horse and foot; after which they advanced to the enemies very faces, when, after giving and receiving fire, valiant Hackston being in the front, finding the horse behind him broke, rode in among them, and out at a side, without any damage; but being assaulted by severals with whom he fought a long time, they following him and he them by turns, until he stuck in a bog, and the foremost of them, one Ramsay, one of his acquaintance, who followed him in, and they being on foot, fought with small swords, without much advantage on either side. But at length closing, he was struck down by three on horseback behind him; and falling after he had received three sore wounds on the head, they saved his life, which he submitted to. He was, with the rest of the prisoners, carried to the rear, where they gave them all a testimony[177] of brave resolute men. After this he was brought to Douglas, and from thence to Lanerk, where Dalziel threatened to roast him for not satisfying him with answers. After which he and other three prisoners were taken to Edinburgh, where, by order of the council, they were received by the magistrates at the water-gate, and he set on a horse's bare back, with his face backward, and the other three laid on a goad of iron, and carried up the street (and Mr. Cameron's head on a halbert before them) to the parliament closs, where he was taken down, and the rest loosed by the hand of the hangman.